Vol. 2 Timely
Greetings No. 18
THE ONLY
PEACE OF MIND
Volume 2
Number 18
Copyright, 1948 Reprint
All rights reserved
V.T. HOUTEFF
THE FINAL WORLD
GOVERNMENT
COMMUNISTIC OR
CAPITALISTIC, WHICH?
TEXT FOR PRAYER
Surround Youth With
Right Influences
I am reading from Christ's Object Lessons,
pg. 53:
"When the mind is youthful and vigorous,
and susceptible of rapid development, there is great temptation to be ambitious
for self, to serve self.... In this formative period of their children's life,
the responsibility of parents is very great.
It should be their study to surround the youth with right influences,
influences that will give them correct views of life and its true success....
The more the desire for pleasure is indulged, the stronger it becomes. The interest of these youth is more and more
absorbed in amusement, until they come to look upon it as the great object of
life. They form habits of idleness and
self-indulgence that make it almost impossible for them ever to become
steadfast Christians."
We are here enjoined to pray that the youth
be trained and weaned from serving self; that the parents themselves learn
this, for in many instances parental impulses lead the children into
worldliness and pride; that the parents and children realize that the more the
desire for pleasure is indulged, the stronger it becomes and the more
impossible it is to satisfy; that we all understand that unless the youth are
given correct views of life and its true success, they will become absorbed in
amusement and come to look upon it as the great object in life.
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THE FINAL
WORLD GOVERNMENT, COMMUNISTIC OR CAPITALISTIC--WHICH?
Revelation
17, 18
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF D. SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTISTS
SABBATH,
MT.
PICTURE
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Rev. 17:1-3 -- "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials,
and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew
unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth
upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her
fornication. So he carried me away in
the Spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven
heads and ten horns."
This beast is seen to portray the world in
its day as are all the beasts of Daniel and The Revelation seen to portray the
world in their day.
The wilderness being opposite of the
vineyard denotes that the beast's domain is not in the Promised Land, not in
the vineyard (Isa. 5:7), but in the lands of the
Gentiles, the "wilderness."
From his domain, therefore, is excluded the
The beast's ten horns portray civil powers,
as do the horns of any symbolic beast.
And if the wounded head of the leopard-like beast of chapter 13 is
symbolical of a religious organization, as is taught by the Denomination, then
his seven heads must likewise be figurative of religious bodies! Thus it is that this beast in its entirety,
like all the other such beasts of the Bible, symbolizes the Gentile world in
its entirety -- civil and religious bodies (horns
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and heads).
To blaspheme is for one to speak lightly of
God, to work hypocrisy, to profess to be something other than what one actually
is. Inspiration's definition is this:
"...I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan." Rev. 2:9.
Rev. 17:4-6 -- "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and
pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of
her fornication: and upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE
GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of
the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I
wondered with great admiration."
This woman does not symbolize something new,
but something as old as the time of the martyrs, for she is the cause of their
slaying. What could she be but a
counterfeit religion which originated with Cain's unacceptable sacrifice? Since then she has brought forth
sectarianism, has become a mother of harlots.
Her abominations, you note, are made very attractive, being dispensed
from a golden cup held in hands that are gorgeously decked with the costliest
things of earth.
Rev. 17:7-13 -- "And the angel said unto me, Wherefore
didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the
mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth
her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
The beast that thou sawest was, and is
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not; and shall ascend out of
the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Book of Life from the
foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and
yet is. And here is the mind which hath
wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth. And there
are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come;
and when he cometh, he must continue a short
space. And the beast that was, and is
not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth
into perdition. And the ten horns which
thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no
kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their
power and strength unto the beast."
Here is a beast whose make-up is similar to
that of the leopard-like beast of chapter 13.
The horns of this scarlet-colored beast, though, are crownless, and none
of his heads are wounded. Also, rather
than having the name of Blasphemy written only over his heads, his whole body
is full of names of blasphemies.
In previous studies we learned that the
leopard-like beast symbolizes the world from the fall of Pagan Rome to our time
(The Great Controversy, pg. 442). Now,
since the scarlet-colored beast also has ten horns and seven heads, it is again
seen that he, too, is in the stream of time a symbol of the world with its
civil and religious powers -- horns and heads.
Inasmuch as his head is not wounded as is
the head of the leopard-like beast, and since the wound of the leopard-like is
healed, it is
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clear that the scarlet-colored beast represents the world
in the time the wound is healed, in the time the two-horned beast (Rev. 13:11-18)
makes a likeness of the leopard-like beast in its pre-wounded state.
You notice that the horns of Daniel's fourth
beast were crownless, and the horns of John's leopard-like beast crowned, and
again that the horns of the scarlet-colored beast are crownless. Inspiration by means of these symbolical
beasts portrays three periods of time, one following the other: (1) the period
before the European kings received their crowns; (2) the period in which they
were crowned; (3) a period of crownless kings in which
The fact that nearly all crowned kings of
the world have already been dethroned is proof in itself that Period No. 2, the
period of the leopard-like beast (crowned horns) is about to pass away, and
that Period No. 3, the period of the scarlet-colored beast (crownless horns) is
about to be ushered in. In order to make
the transition, the present distress of the nations is therefore inevitable.
Rev. 17:14-18 -- "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him
are called, and chosen, and faithful.
And He saith unto me, The
waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and
tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and
shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with
fire. For God hath put
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in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and
give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be
fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth
over the kings of the earth."
Again, the fact that the ten horns (kings)
have one mind (unlike the toe-kings of Daniel 2:42, 43), but have no kingdom of
their own, besides the fact that the woman rules the beast, and also the fact
that the Communist leaders (crownless kings) of the nations and have one mind
(work together for one common cause), -- all these facts show that though
Communism appears to be the next power to rule the world, this symbolical
prophecy points out that the world will next be ruled by an international
religious system, by Babylon the Great, a rival of the religion of Christ, and
a counterfeit of the woman in Revelation chapter 12. The scarlet-colored beast, therefore, is the
symbol of the world government into which the United Nations will finally
evolve.
Since those who have no part in the first resurrection,
all the unrepentant sinners from the beginning of the world to the Millennium,
are to be resurrected after the 1000 years, they will then positively discover
that their names were not written "in the Book of Life", -- no, not
one of them, even from the foundation of the world. The truth thus stands out clearly that then
only will they behold the beast in its three phases ("that was, and is
not, and yet is"); that is, he "was" before the Millennium;
"and is not" during the Millennium; "and yet is" after the
Millennium.
He "is not" during the 1000 years
because at
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the commencement of the 1000 years, the beast and the
false prophet are "cast into the lake of fire," then the
"remnant," all the rest who came not out of
To summarize, having lived before the
Millennium, and also after the Millennium, and being dead during the
Millennium, the beast is seen in three phases, in three periods: the
pre-millennial in which he "was," the millennial in which "he is
not" and post-millennial, in which he "is."
He "shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit" (out of the pit, in which Satan himself is to be bound for a 1000
years), and then "go into perdition" (Rev. 17:8); that is, he will
shortly be put to his second death from which there is no resurrection.
"He is the eighth, and is of the
seven"; that is, there are four beasts in Daniel 7, two in Revelation 13, and
one in chapter 17 -- seven beasts in all.
But the seventh lives twice, and thus after his resurrection "he is
the eighth," but "is of the seven." Then he goes into perdition, -- suffers the
second death.
The statement, "and there are seven
kings," shows that these kings are not in the symbolism; that is, they are
not the horns, nor are they the heads.
All the horns and the heads are present on the beast, whereas the
"seven kings" are not there symbolized -- five are fallen, one is,
and the other is yet to come.
We must fully realize that God through this
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symbolism summarizes the history of the entire world, for the
beast, as I said before, is symbolical not only of the pre-millennial world but
also of the post-millennial wicked world.
The seven kings of kingdoms "from the foundation of the world
before the flood; (1) The ancient world before the flood; (2) The ancient
Babylonian Empire; (3) The Medo-Persian Empire; (4)
the Grecian Empire; (5) The Roman Empire.
These are fallen. (6) The one
that is, is the world to which the present distress of nations is to give birth
(the pre-millennial), and of which the beast itself, in his first phase, is the
symbol. And (7) the one that is to come,
is the world after the 1000 years, of which the beast itself, in its third
phase, is also a symbol.
Thus along with this symbolism the world of
sin is represented from its beginning to its very end. This beast, therefore, is the symbolical
summary of the whole world.
The "one hour" is obviously the
time from the eleventh to the twelfth allegorical hours as set forth in Matthew
20:6.
Number ten in this instance, as elsewhere in
the Bible, carries the meaning of universality.
The ten kings have no kingdom while the woman drives the beast, but
jointly with the beast they will have power as kings. The phrase, "as yet," implies that
after the one hour they will receive their kingdom.
Rev. 17:14 -- "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome
them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him
are called, and chosen, and faithful."
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These kings are to be anti-religious and
therefore anti-Christian. They shall
eventually make war with the Lord and with His called, chosen, and faithful
ones, but "the Lamb shall overcome" the kings.
The woman, as shown before, is the symbol of
a confederated religious system with which the horns are not only in
disagreement but are also her enemies.
Consequently, after the symbolical hour is passed, they unseat her from
the beast, make her desolate, and burn her with fire. Then it is that they receive their kingdom "for
a season and time." Dan. 7:12.
Rev. 17:17 -- "For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to
agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be
fulfilled."
The call to come out of
The eighteenth chapter is a continuation of
the seventeenth, and so we shall study it also:
Rev. 18:1 --
"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having
great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory."
After what things? --
After the scarlet-colored beast comes into being and while the woman,
Rev. 18:2-4 -- "And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying,
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fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the
hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk
of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have
committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich
through the abundance of her delicacies.
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye
receive not of her plagues."
A heavenly voice, the Spirit of Truth, is
heard calling God's people out of
Rev. 18:5-7 -- "For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered
her iniquities. Reward her even as she
rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup
which she hath filled fill to her double.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much
torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her
heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow."
She has rewarded God's people with evil, and
now she is to be paid back double. She
has boasted of ruling the world, and has said in her heart that she is not a
"widow," that God is her husband, but she finds herself mistaken.
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Rev. 18:8-13 -- "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning,
and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord
God Who judgeth her.
And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived
deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see
the smoke of her burning, standing afar off for the fear of her torment,
saying, Alas, alas that great city
She has had everything put into her hands,
and her hands put into everything, but now her glory comes to an end.
Rev. 18:14-21 -- "And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee,
and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all. The merchants of these things, which were
made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and
wailing, and saying, Alas, alas that great city, that
was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and
precious stones, and pearls! For in one hour so great riches is come
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to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in
ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, and cried when
they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great
city! And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing,
saying, Alas, alas that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships
in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one
hour is she made desolate. Rejoice over
her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you
on her. And a mighty angel took up a
stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with
violence shall that great city
What violence! and what an
inglorious end when the ten horns take hold of
Rev. 18:22-24 -- "And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and
trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of
whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a
millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; and the light of a candle
shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the
bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great
men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets,
and of saints, and of all that were
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slain upon the earth."
We see that this system of government is set
up for no other purpose than to make its adherents rich in the name of
religion, a practice which supersedes all other forms of idolatry.
If our hearts are set on wealth, if our love
of money becomes greater than our love to help set up the Kingdom, then there
is no hope. Such shall find themselves
magnetically drawn down into
If we have the dollar when we need it, also
are certain from day to day of our clothing, food, and a bed to sleep in, we
should feel rich. We should feel as if
we had a million dollars in the bank.
Yes, if we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and mind
the Lord's business, being slothful in nothing and conscientious in everything,
then we shall have all these added unto us (Matt. 6:31-33).
We have therefore again seen that the final
world government is to be neither Communistic nor Capitalistic, but
ecclesiastical and more in favor of Capitalism than Communism.
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