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Revelation 17 is our text tonight in our ongoing study of this great apocalypse. I feel like I need to make a brief apology to those of you who have not been with us in our study of Revelation because you're going to get dropped right in the middle here and you may feel a little bit suspended because you don't know what has gone before for several weeks, many months and even into the years that we've been studying this great, great book.
We turn again to this marvelous chapter and we will pick up where we left off last time as we concluded the first six verses. Some introductory comments, I think, are appropriate as we set the context.
We have learned repeatedly through all of the months of our study of Revelation, the apocalypse, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, that the theme of this book is Christ Himself. And that the truth of this book is not to be avoided but it is to be understood and it is to be incorporated into life. The life of every Christian exposed to this book will be dramatically altered, dramatically changed. And so it should be. The promise of our Lord Himself in chapter 1 verse 3 is, "Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy and heed the things which are written in it, for the time is near." That is a beatitude, that is a blessing. We have indeed been blessed as we have studied, as we have read, as we have heard, as we have heeded the great truths of this book.
We have seen its three major divisions...the visions of the exalted Christ in the glory of His resurrection life as He ministers in His church in chapters 1 to 3. And the vision of the glorious and exalted Christ as He appears in heaven in chapters 4 and 5. The visions of the exalted and glorified Christ as He unleashes judgment on the earth, punishing those who are ungodly and reject the gospel, at the same time preserving unto eternal life those who believe and belong to Him. And that in chapter 6 and right on through chapter 18. So that's the section we're in, we're in the section of the unfolding of the judgment of Christ as He takes back the universe which is in the hands of the usurper, Satan himself.
We are already now coming to the end of this period of judgment. It ends in chapter 18. And then in chapter 19 the climactic return of Jesus Christ and that ushers us into the final part of this book which is the glorious vision of the returning, conquering Lord as He comes with His saints to destroy the ungodly, to rescue His own, to establish His Kingdom which will usher in the eternal new heavens and the new earth...all the way on right out to the very end of chapter 22.
And throughout the months that we have been studying this great book we have learned so much. We know where history is going and why it's going there and how it will get there. We know how man's final years on earth will be lived out. We have seen previews of holocausts of judgment that make any other earthly catastrophe a small and insignificant thing. We know that the universe will fly apart into unregulated chaos and the sky itself will fold up. We know about earthquakes and pestilences and famine. We know about the destruction of all of the seas and the death of everything that is in them, the destruction of the fresh water and the death of everything is in them. We know about hailstones of a hundred pounds that will hit the earth. We know about fire.
We know about signs and wonders. We know about miraculous resurrections. We know about preachers in the end time, great powerful witnesses. We know that there will be angels like satellites flying across the mid-heaven in the latter days, preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ so that all the world may hear and no one will have an excuse. We know with exact information the future deaths of millions of people and how they will occur.
We know how the career of Satan will transpire and how his millions of demons will operate, and how they will be released systematically at the end time. Some belched up out of the pit itself, others released from their captivity somewhere near the river Euphrates. We know about the future of Israel and its redemption. We know also about the deadly persecution of the Jews. We know about the anticipated joys of the church, the bride of Christ and what awaits them. There is so much we know, so much applicable to life, so much that brings us joy and gives us responsibility. We know the ultimate price of sin and we know the ultimate reward of holiness.
We know that the rejected Jesus is coming again, not to be rejected, but to be exalted. We know the One who came in humility will come in glory, and the One who came and left will come never to leave again. We know the people of God who belong to Christ will triumph over all persecution, all disaster, all death and all judgment. We know where our eternal state is, it's up. How far up, we're not sure. We know what it is like. It is marvelously described to us and we'll get more into that description as we march on through the remaining chapters.
We know where the universe, the world, and everything that is in it and everyone who is in it is headed, where it's going, how it will end. And that's just a little bit of what we know. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we could go into every history class and every philosophy class in the world and tell them all that we know?
One specific truth that we know which we are addressing in chapter 17 is that there is coming a time on earth just before the return of Jesus Christ when there will be a worldwide religious system. Everybody will, in a sense, be bowing down to the same shrine. A time when there will be given to Satan a greater control of the world than he has ever had, certainly than he even has now. A time when Satan and all of his demons in the heavens will be cast down to earth, when a certain number of temporarily bound demons in the pit will be released, when two hundred million demons bound at the Euphrates River will overrun the earth. We know there is coming a time when Satan's domain on the earth will reach its apex, its high point.
In the midst of that overrunning of Satan and demons in the world, there will be the collecting together of a one-world empire, ruled by the Antichrist. At the same time there will be a final form of world religion. The final empire of Satan, as we have seen, which will be directed on earth by his demon-possessed leader called the Antichrist, the son of perdition, the man of sin, the little horn, the willful king, whatever of the prophetic terms you want to use, will be the expression of Satan's greatest impact as he makes a final attempt to wrest the world from God and to prevent Christ from establishing His Kingdom and receiving His proper glory.
Now this final satanic world empire ruled by Antichrist, the man of sin, is called here in the book of Revelation by the name Babylon...Babylon the great. That is the name given to this empire, both in chapter 17 and in chapter 18.
Chapter 17 and 18, however, though they both deal with this great empire of Antichrist called Babylon do differ. Chapter 17 looks particularly at the religious side, the spiritual side of Babylon whereas chapter 18 looks at the economic and political side of Babylon. So as we engage ourselves in the study of chapter 17, we are studying the religious side of Satan's final world empire. As I told you last time, the world is not going to become more and more irreligious, it is going to become more and more religious. People are going to become more and more involved in religion...not the true religion, but the false religion of Satan himself. The closer we get to the end, the more religious they will become.
Satan's empire, then, has two sides initially. We'll talk more about how those two sides resolve into one, but two sides initially...a religious side and a political side, a spiritual side and an economic side.
Looking down at verse 5 in chapter 17 we get the name of the worldwide form of religion. The name of it is "MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." Now that's quite a name for a religion. I don't mean by the name of the religion that someday someone will say to you that I go to the First Mystery Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth church. I don't think you'll see it on the marquee and I question whether it will ever show up on the stationery.
But that is really what it is. It will have a much more subtle and deceptive name. But what it is, is, first of all, mystery, that is it is more than physical, it is more than geographical, it is more than a human organization. There's something deep and demonic and supernatural and even as yet hidden about it. It is Babylon. Why? Because it is the final form of religion when all the world's religions roll into one. And in so doing it is appropriate to call it Babylon because Babel is where all the world religions really began. They were all spawned out of a tower of Babel, that is why Babylon the Great is the Mother of all Harlots. Harlotry in the Bible always refers, when not referring to an actual harlot, to idolatry. Every form of idolatry and false religion was spawned out of that original false religion that developed at Babel. And when God scattered the people all over the globe in different languages, He scattered their cult, their Babylonish cult as well. And so Babylon was the originating place and all the harlot children of Mother Babylon will come home to mother in the end. And the same Satan who spawned them all will regather them all into one final form of world religion under the name BABYLON THE GREAT.
The term "mother of harlots" because all false religion and idolatry is characterized in Scripture as prostitution and harlotry. And then this is called also "the mother of the abominations of the earth" because nothing so offends God as false religion, nothing is so abominable. It is the supreme blasphemy.
So, a supremely blasphemous kind of idolatry will come to pass that has deep demonic and hidden concepts involved in it and that demonic kind of religion will reform itself around its Babylonish origins. The system will be the spiritual side of Satan's world empire. Jesus, of course, warned about this all the way back in the wonderful sermon that He preached on His own return, the Olivet Discourse. In Matthew chapter 24 and verse 21, "There will be a great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever shall." Jesus predicted this time called the Great Tribulation. "A time that unless those days had been cut short, no life would have been saved, but for the sake of the elect those days shall be cut short. Then if anyone says to you, `Behold here is the Christ, or there He is.' Do not believe him, for false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders so as to mislead if possible even the elect. Behold I have told you in advance." They're going to be so powerful, these satanic deceptions, these satanic seductions, the harlot the whore is going to seduce people into her bed to catch her fatal disease and die there with her, they're going to be able to do that because of massive worldwide deceptions based upon demonic signs and wonders that will deceive the whole world. And so well-orchestrated are they that were it possible they would even deceive the elect.
Now, this is a very essential element of Satan's final form of world rule because it is only religion that can unite the world. Politics, economics can't do it. Culture is too diverse. It has to be something transcending the physical, the geographical, the historical. It has to be something in the realm of the supernatural. Satan, who gave birth to all the counterfeits from one source, certainly has the power with all of his minions to pull them all back. That one who is disguised as an angel of light and whose ministers are as well angels of light, that one who originally deceived Adam and Eve and deceived the people at Babel will again deceive the world and collect them together.
To show you the deceptive power, only go back to chapter 16 and here's an illustration of it. Here we find a most amazing thing described. In the last days the Euphrates River is dried up in verse 12 in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. The great empires of the eastern part of the world, that is east of Israel, east of the Middle East are going to come. And in order to cross the plain of Babylon and come to Megiddo for the battle of Armageddon, the place is going to have to be dried up. You say why? Because it will be flooded. It will be flooded like never in history because previous to what happens in verse 13, go back to verse 9. Men were scorched with fierce heat. Why? Because verse 8, "An angel poured his bowl on the sun and it was given to it to scorch men with fire." What happens there obviously is going to be the earth becomes hotter and hotter, it melts the icecaps at Ararat and the mountains north of the Babylonian plain, the water comes rushing down, floods the plain and then comes an angel in verse 12, that angel pours out a bowl of judgment, the water is dried up in order that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
"And I saw...verse 13...coming out of the mouth of the dragon," that is Satan, "out of the mouth of the beast," that's Antichrist, "out of the mouth of the False Prophet three unclean spirits like frogs, spirits of demons performing signs which go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty."
Do you ever ask the question...why would all the world show up at Armageddon? Why would the kings of the east even come? Why do they care? Why would all the rest of the kings of the world gather into the plain of Megiddo and stretch all the way for two hundred miles down to the south, including through the city of Jerusalem? Why would there be this massive gathering of the forces of the world?
They are being gathered for the war of the great day of God. They are being gathered together to fight God and to fight the returning Christ. And who gathers them? Demons performing signs. It is a worldwide massive powerful seduction that gathers all these remaining armies who haven't been devastated by the prior bowl judgments, who aren't dead, to fight against the returning Christ.
Verse 16 says, "They are all gathered together to the place which in the Hebrew is called Har Magedon. Now that kind of deception that gathers all of those armies into Megiddo so that when Jesus comes He can destroy them all and the blood will splatter to the horses' bridles for two hundred miles, as the Scripture tells us. That same kind of deceptive power is the very deceptive power that is going to pull the world together on the basis of a common religion.
So as you approach 17, you approach the discussion of this religion, not its flourishing, but in fact its destruction. Verse 1 begins the discussion, "One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me saying, `Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great whore, or the great harlot, who sits on many waters."
Now we have three things, the harlot is the false religion, Mystery Babylon, the mother of all other harlots and of all the abominations of the earth. You have three aspects of her described here. You have the exposure of the harlot in verses 1 to 6. Then you have the explanation of the harlot following. And then finally down in verses 16 and 17, as we shall see, if not tonight at a later time, you have the extermination of the harlot...the exposure, the explanation and the extermination.
One of the angels who had been involved in pouring out the final bowl judgments, remember, they're sequential...first the seals, followed by the trumpets, followed by the bowls. The bowls rapid-fire, coming in just a matter of days and weeks with a fury at the end, bringing about worldwide unimaginable devastation described there in chapter 16. One of the angels involved in that then speaks with John. First he speaks of the authority of the harlot. This great harlot sits on many waters. Waters representing nations. Cities were always built by water. And water then became the means of people coming there to trade. And this is a great power that is involved with many waters. It is to say that it is involved with many, many nations. In case you might question that interpretation, look at verse 15 and you can stop questioning it. "He said to me, `The waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.'" I told you so.
Secondly...secondly, not only do you see the authority of the harlot but you see the alliances of the harlot. First of all, the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality with her. Those who dwell on the earth...that's not the leaders, that's the whole population of the earth, made drunk with the wine of her immorality. She has an alliance with the leaders of the world. She has an alliance with the people of the world. That is, both leaders and people are engulfed in this false form of religion.
And then the third aspect of the alliance, "He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness and I saw the woman sitting on a scarlet beast." She has an alliance with the Antichrist himself. She is supported by the Antichrist. She is seated on the scarlet beast. The beast then described is full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns.
So this false religious system coexists with the political economic system. They coexist. I really believe that the devil knows that the only way to build this world empire is through religion. The Antichrist then allows this religion to flourish because it is the very power that unites the world. It is religion that makes the unity of the world possible.
Then we see something of the apparel of the harlot. In verse 4, "Clothed in purple, scarlet, adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls and in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality." And here we come to see the wealth, the royalty, the prosperity, but the filth of this system. And I told you over the last two weeks that all of history, all of biblical insight that comes from the prophets points to the fact that this system is going to be involving the church at Rome, that today we know as the Roman Catholic system. There is no way around that. And we've gone into that for two weeks, I won't go into it again. The apparel of the harlot is purple, scarlet. She is wealthy with gold and precious stones and pearls and the gold cup, however, she holds is full of abominations and the filth of her immorality.
The abominations of the harlot are described. The unclean things of verse 4, and the abominations and harlotries in the name in verse 5. And then in verse 6 comes the accusation. This is a brief review. The accusation against the harlot is that she is drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. False religion born at Babylon and flourishing through all the world has martyred the true saints throughout all of human history. False religion has always been the killer of the true and it will be so in the end. So we see the exposure of the harlot.
Now let's tonight come to verse 7 and the explanation of the harlot...the explanation of the harlot. I'm quite confident we can't get through this whole chapter. I want you to stay with me. This must be understood because of the blessing attached to it and because God has gone to these lengths to get this word to us. We must understand it. I'll do the best I can to make comprehensible what is perhaps at first apparently incomprehensible.
Let's start with verse 7. "And the angel said to me, `Why do you wonder?'" Well that seems a rather silly question, doesn't it? At the end of verse 6, John's writing, "And when i saw her I wondered greatly," and we don't argue with that, we wouldn't question that. If you saw something like that you'd wonder too. But the question is not supposed to attach itself to that kind of understanding. What the angel is really saying is...why are you so worried about what this means, I'm going to tell you. I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
Again we note verse 7, the angel is speaking. This incredible section here goes between what John hears in his conversation with the angel and what he sees in his vision. It goes back and forth from the seeing to the hearing. This angel, who is identified in verse 1 as one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, is here by God's dispatch to describe to John the meaning of this harlot, to fill in what John really doesn't understand. The angel is saying you don't need to wonder, you don't need to be left in the dark, I'm here and I'm going to explain it. I'll take care of your confused amazement, your confusion at this point. I'll tell you the mystery. I'll explain it to you.
Now let's go a little more into this. The mystery to John is surely not that this is a religious system. That's not the mystery. But the mystery to John is how does this system relate to this scarlet beast? By now John knows about the beast because he was introduced in chapter 13 and very, very clearly defined as the world ruler whom all the world worships. Do you remember that? Back in chapter 13, the whole world worships the beast.
Now when a new component is introduced on the religious side, a harlot who is pulling together a worldwide system of false religion, the question comes into John's mind...Wait a minute here. If the whole world is worshiping the beast, how does this thing fit in? How is the woman connected to the beast? Who is the beast? How does this all work together? And then perhaps this question...How...how can they have such a vast influence over the world?
It may well be that the key idea is implied when the angel says, "I shall tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her." That little phrase "that carries her" to explain to you their relationship because that is essentially what the rest of this section explains.
Now would you please notice that this beast, this one who is really the ultimate and final Antichrist, though there are many antichrists, John says, there is an ultimate and final form, which is the most heinous and powerful of all. This one is defined as having seven heads and ten horns in the vision. By the way, that is also stated in verse 3 where the scarlet beast full of the blasphemous names has seven heads and ten horns.
Now before we look at this beast and the description of the beast that starts immediately in verse 8, let me rearrange these verses because I think it might help you a little bit, okay? The question in John's mind is, how does this harlot religious system work together with this beast that the whole world is worshiping? How can there be two if there's one world religion?
Now let's...let's look first at the harlot. Since in verse 7 John is told, "I'll tell you the mystery of the woman, the harlot," let's look first at the harlot, okay? To do that we go to verse 18, all the way to the end...all the way to the end. And verse 18 says, "And the woman whom you saw is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth." Now keep this in mind, he's explaining who this woman is, who this harlot is. First was the exposure, verses 1 to 6, now from verse 7 on is the explanation. I'll tell you about this woman and the beast...and when he says that he digresses for all those verses in the middle to discuss the beast, but let's go right to the woman because I think it's easier to grasp.
Who is this harlot? Who is this woman? Well, this woman, this religious system is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. Is this actually a geographical city? Well all I can say is it says "city." Now you can get real exotic and make it mean anything you want, but that's pure speculation. Apparently, safest, literal, grammatical, historical interpretation of the text would tell us that apparently in the final form of world religion connected to the Antichrist, Babylonish, political, economic, spiritual, religious empire, the ancient city of Babylon will play a role. It has been fascinating to us in the last few years to recognize that Saddam Hussein has been rebuilding Babylon. How interesting.
Babylon then may well here refer to a city, but not just a city. There are many students of prophecy and Scripture who would strongly hold to a literal rebuilding of Babylon, and I'll show you why in a moment. But it can't be limited to that, it is Babylon, perhaps, as a city, a capital city for the Antichrist's empire. But it is also Babylon as a name for a worldwide system of satanic rule. It is also Babylon to describe a worldwide cult and false religion.
Now remember, as a system the Babylonian mystery religions which were the spawning ground, who is the mother of all false religion began in a city, a city called Babel, a real city. And from that real city it permeated the world, all along maintaining its unique character in every different culture. Through all the succession of nations in world history, that religion has moved but it still has some of the same component parts, as we have pointed out to you in weeks past. And I believe that it will go back to that same city as kind of a capital city in the end. I do not believe this is a reference to the city of Rome. This text of 17 and 18 clearly refers to the city of Babylon.
The evil religious system will come home to the place where it started, as well as to the ideology that it started with. It will apparently reach its zenith in the kingdom of Antichrist where there will be a rebuilt capital city, a rebuilt Babylon. Just to affirm that, go to chapter 18 for a moment, verse 10. "Woe, woe, the great city Babylon, the strong city for in one hour your judgment has come...verse 18...what city is like the great city?" It seems to be a literal city. Verse 21, "Thus will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, will not be found any longer." Now again I think there is a real city, what role it plays I'm not sure, it may be a ceremonial city, it may be a capital city, whatever. But I think it is also emblematic of an entire world empire. Through and including the city of Babylon, the empire of Babylon, the harlot mother will reign over the kings of the earth by her seductions.
Let me just give you some thoughts on the literal character of Babylon. And don't look these up, we don't have time. In Isaiah 13 and Isaiah 14, in Jeremiah 50 and Jeremiah 51, you can jot those down...Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51. The Old Testament prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah spoke about the final destruction of Babylon. They gave a very detailed description of how Babylon ultimately would be destroyed as a city. And when they were talking, they were talking about the literal city of Babylon. What they predicted only partially happened in history past to this day. Some of what they predicted took place to Babylon when the Medo-Persians conquered the Babylonian Empire. Some of what they predicted took place in the gradual slow decline of Babylon in the centuries that followed. But by no means have all the aspects of the prophecy against the city of Babylon ever been fulfilled. And because of that, there is reason to assume that it will exist again in order that the final predictions stated specifically about that place may come to pass.
Like any Old Testament prophecies, the judgment predicted for ancient Babylon had a near fulfillment, and then a far fulfillment. Let me read you the words of one historian. "Babylon indeed will be permanently destroyed as recorded in the very next chapter, but this has not happened yet. The prophecies of Isaiah and Jeremiah also refer to the future destruction, not merely to Babylon's present day condition, as is evident from the following considerations...among others. One, the destruction will take place in the time that the stars and the sun are darkened, it says in Isaiah. Two, the city will be become as desolate as Sodom and Gomorrah, burned completely with no remains whatever, according to Isaiah and Jeremiah. Three, it shall become desolate forever with neither man nor beast entering it anymore, so say the two prophets. Four, it will be a time of judgment not only for Babylon but for all the nations of the world. Five, its destruction will be followed by universal rest and permanent peace. Six, its destruction is directly associated with the casting of Lucifer into Sheol, Isaiah 14. And seventh, Babylon's stones will never be used in future construction elsewhere, whereas the present-day ruins of Babylon have been frequently plundered and reused in later constructions," end quote.
In order for all of those components of the prophecies against Babylon to be fulfilled, Babylon has to be there and destroyed finally in the end. So there's prophetic reason for a rebuilt and then finally destroyed Babylon. It is more than a simple curiosity, is it not, that Babylon is being rebuilt? Would you remind yourself that Babylon is a very great place to build a city from which to rule the world, if indeed that is to be its use. It is near the world's richest oil fields. I don't know that you know this, but it is near the geographic center of all the earth's land masses, located strategically at the crossroads of Asia, Europe and Africa and it has an immense water supply. In fact, the historian Arnold Toynbee used to stress to his students that Babylon would be the best place in the world to build a future world cultural metropolis.
So, the world religious system will somehow be connected with the great city of Babylon which will be, in a sense, the capital city of the whole Antichrist Empire. Now go back to verse 15. "And he said to me, the waters which you saw where the harlot sits are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." As I said earlier, remember now that cities were built by water, Babylon by the Tigris and the Euphrates, a great water supply coming from Mount Ararat and the other mountains to the north and flowing right down through the Babylonian plain down to the Gulf. The waters in the imagery and the harlot sitting beside represent this great Babylonish world religious economic system with its capital city as being the focal point for nations to come. The water that is alongside the harlot city represents the worldwide influence just as the waters make access for people to come to cities. The waters represent the people and multitudes and nations and tongues. By the way, that common expression is repeated...one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, maybe eight, nine times in Revelation and it always is just a common expression meaning the nations of the whole world.
So there will be a city in which there is a system and that city and that system will become the mecca for the worldwide religion as well as in chapter 18 we will see the worldwide economy. The city then becomes the place, the system becomes the place in which the whole world traffics. It is the capital city of the world empire of Satan, Babylon the city, Babylon the great. We'll see more about the economic side of it when we get into chapter 18.
So the harlot then is exposed in verses 1 to 6 and now explained in verses 18 and verse 15. A worldwide religious part of the empire of Satan.
Now we go back please to verse 8, and the angel chooses to give to John a rather lengthy explanation of the beast that runs from verse 8 all the way to verse 14. Why does he do this? I believe he does this because this is where John's question lies. He's going to explain the significance of the harlot, but in order to understand the significance of the harlot, you have to understand her relationship to the beast. That's what's in John's mind, that's the query that distresses him. So here is the explanation of the therion, the Greek word for the wild beast that she is riding on. She's sitting on this scarlet beast, verse 3 says.
Verse 8, "The beast that you saw was and is not and is about to come up out of the abyss and to go to destruction." Now we've got to take this in small bites, folks.
The beast that you saw, that is the world ruler that rises in the last days, Satan's man embodying all the powers of human genius and leadership and then eventually energized by hell itself, this one who is portrayed in the book of Daniel. In chapter 7 of Daniel, Daniel portrays him as an intellectual genius, as an outstanding orator, as a master politician Daniel says in chapter 11. In chapter 8 he draws him up as a commercial wizard. Back in chapter 7 he portrays him as a military mastermind, as a man of unequalled power. In the New Testament he is described by the Apostle Paul as a religiously oriented man, as a king of royal blasphemer against God. He is a...he is a thousand Napoleons, he is a thousand Adolph Hitlers, he is a thousand Joseph Stalins, and that doesn't tell a tenth of the tale. He is the most incredible human leader ever in terms of his human powers, his human genius. He is Satan's supreme human instrument to destroy Israel, to prevent her salvation and her kingdom, to kill believers, to conquer the world for Satan, to defeat Christ. Quite a task, quite a man. That's who the beast is, he is the beast portrayed in chapter 13 in the first ten verses, which we covered in detail.
Now let's learn something about him. He is the beast that was and is not and is about to come. He was, he is not and yet he is again. Go back to chapter 13, let's see what this means. When the beast is first introduced here, one of his heads, verse 3, had been slain and his fatal wound was healed. There was a wound against him that was apparently fatal. And this healing of a fatal wound caused the whole earth to be amazed and to follow after the beast and worship the dragon and then worship the beast, saying, "Who is like the beast?"
Down in verse 12 comes along the false prophet, exercising all the authority of that first beast. He makes the earth and those who dwell in it to worship the first beast, here again, whose fatal wound was healed. And he, the false prophet, performs great signs so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men, he deceives those who dwell on the earth because of the signs which it was given to him to perform in the presence of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who had the wound of the sword and has come to life.
Now what have we got here? We've got a beast who was, who is not and who comes. What does that mean? That's speaking about that death wound and then coming back to life. I told you at that time as we studied that rather carefully and in detail, I believe that is a satanically faked counterfeit resurrection that somehow when the Antichrist reaches a certain level of great power, he has to be catapulted to the next level. For the first period of the Tribulation time, the religious system of Babylon exists, all the world is being gathered into one great world religion. The economic system exists over here, the false prophet runs the religious system. The Antichrist, a political, economic military power runs the economic side, and they coexist.
But the moment is coming for the Antichrist to take over everything. And in order to catapult him out of just the human realm of greatness into the supernatural realm, a fabricated resurrection is played out. And when that happens, the Antichrist who was apparently dies and comes back, but when he comes back something is very different about him. He is intolerant of the religious system that coexisted. He wants to destroy it, as we shall see.
Notice verse 8 again. The beast you saw was, is not and is about to come up out of the abyss, abussos. That is a reference to the same thing as the sea in chapter 13 verse 1. The abyss is the abode of demons. The abyss is hell, the dark place, the underworld of Satan. And what happens in this fake resurrection is that I believe when the Antichrist supposedly is resuscitated and comes back, he is no longer purely human but he has now become the dwelling place of some great demon out of the pit. He is then catapulted to another level of operation, the false prophet then coming alongside doing signs and wonders. The abyss is the abode of the dead, the abode of the demons. We have noted that, chapter 9, chapter 11, of Revelation.
Both chapters 13 and 17 tell us that this fake resurrection amazes the whole world. The beast then is the Antichrist. Let me just go a little further. I need to stretch that and say also, anytime you see the term beast, though it refers to the Antichrist in its individual interpretation, it also embodies his kingdom. So there is a sense in which he comes and goes and comes again in the fullness of his rule all over the world.
Let me give it to you in a series of simple, hopefully, statements. A man whom we will call Antichrist rises as a world ruler at the beginning of a period called the Tribulation. He conquers the world without war. Chapter 6, he rides on a white horse conquering and to conquer, he has a bow but no arrows. How does he conquer peacefully? He conquers by allying himself, I believe, with a religious system that has come together and gathered the entire world. And so he takes advantage of the collecting of humanity under this one religious banner. He then leads the world politically and economically and militarily. He is a powerfully gifted man. And he leads the world on the economic side and the Antichrist...and the False Prophet leads the religious side and they do fine together, and that's what it means when it says the harlot rides the beast, they coexist. In fact, he even supports her.
His death is then fabricated. He supposedly comes to life. Then, however, he is infused by a demon from hell itself. He is energized into the final form of his satanic enterprise. He thinks he's now at the apex, he's now going to take over the world. Now is the moment to capture the world and to defeat Christ. However, verse 8 says, "He was not...or, he was, he is not, he's about to come up out of the abyss and to go to...what?..destruction." He misunderstands where he's going. He's going to...that's the word for perdition, that's the word for eternal damnation. For him it means the lake of fire that burneth forever with fire and brimstone, and that is stated explicitly in Revelation 19 and verse 20.
But most likely the scenario unfolds that in the first three and a half years of that seven-year period, the seventieth week of Daniel, Daniel 9, the first half of that period he is coexisting with the harlot. Everything is going fine. At the mid point he wants to ascend to the rule. He wants to rule with demonic deception and he takes over everything. And we'll see what he does to the harlot. You can take a preview of it by looking at verse 16. He hates her, makes her desolate, naked, eats her flesh, burns her with fire.
What does that mean? He ends the coexisting religious system. You say, "No more religion?" No, there's religion, it's a new religion, it is the worship of...guess who? Antichrist. That's where it ultimately goes.
Back to verse 8. This is such a powerful thing that he has done, such a seduction, such a deception. It says, "And those who dwell on the earth will wonder." They will be amazed. Those who dwell on the earth is that common term for the ungodly used over and over again in the book of Revelation. You can look in your lexicon, in your concordance and find it repeatedly. Those who are enamored with the beast, who do not understand that he is on his way to hell, he's on his way to the lake of fire, he's on his way to perdition, they do not understand from whence his power has come, that it has come from the pit. And so they are deceived and they identify themselves with him.
And who are they? Listen to this, "They are those whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world." What an incredible way to back into a description of who they are. It is a rare negative regarding the elect. What it is saying here is that the people who follow the beast are the non-elect. The people whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world which was when God wrote the names of the elect in the book of life. It's a reverse way of saying that only the believers will escape the deception.
And we're right back to Matthew 24, right? That the deception will be so great that if it were possible he would even deceive...what?...the elect. But it's not possible. Don't let anybody tell you it is. I've heard the wind of some theory that it will be possible, this verse makes it abundantly clear that it is not. The only people who are going to be traumatized, who are going to be marveling, who are going to be trapped in the deception are the people who do not fit into the category of those whose names were written in the Lamb's book of life from before the foundation of the world. It's the Christ rejecters. It's those people who amazingly have already been suffering all the judgments of the first part of the Tribulation time, who have been experiencing the seal judgments, starting into the trumpet judgments and you're still just at the midpoint and the trumpets are already starting. And they're feeling all of these judgments and yet they will not respond. The trumpet judgments run their course. The bowl judgments come and still people are added to those who are deceived. Back in chapter 13 we read it a moment ago in verse 4, it says they worshiped the beast saying, "Who is like the beast? Who is able to wage war with him?"
It seems so ridiculous to me, they ought to be looking around and seeing whose got the real power. The whole world is collapsing all around them under the power of God. But they are amazed and because their names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that he was and he is not and he will come, they marvel. His supposed resurrection captures them along with all the other stuff. Back in chapter 13 verse 13, as we read, the great signs. Back in chapter 2 of 2 Thessalonians verse 9, this one who is coming in accord with the activity of Satan with all power and signs and false wonders and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish...here's the other side...because they didn't receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
Listen, they don't perish just because they weren't elect. They perish because they refused the love of the truth so as to be saved.
So, the world will be deceived by this massive power. And as I said, at the midpoint, according to verse 16, the beast will consume the harlot. And I think the False Prophet will be his ally in the consumption of that false system because in chapter 13 the False Prophet then builds an image to the beast and demands that the whole world worship him. That's the point at which I think the harlot is consumed. The whole Romish system is consumed. The whole Babylonish cult is consumed and there's nothing left in the world but direct worship of Satan and his demon-possessed leader. That's where the world is going.
Now, there is so much more, as you can tell, in this chapter. But we're going to have to wait for two weeks to find out about it. Let's bow in prayer.
We are reminded, our Father, of the words of the Apostle Peter who said, "Seeing that you know all these things shall come to pass, what manner of persons ought you to be in all godliness and holy living?" We remember the words of Paul who said, "Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men." Father, just to know how the world is going, just to know where it's going is a frightening reality. Lord, it should certainly call us to holy living and purity in order that we might be a testimony. You've told us that we are to call men to repentance. We are to call them to escape the fire of judgment. Like John the Baptist, who cried out to those Jews so early in the New Testament to escape the fire. We must cry out to men and women to put their faith in Jesus Christ and to escape the horrifying worldwide deception of the end. Satan is an angel of light and we might well know that he would be the supreme religionist who would invent the supreme religion that would capture the whole world. He did it once at Babel and he'll pull it all together again and deceive the whole world.
Lord, we now live in a world where there is so much of that Babylonish heresy and apostasy floating all over, so much of it. So much false religion, so many lies, the world is certainly fertile for unifying all of it. We thank You, our God, that You have led us to the knowledge of the truth in Christ, we who are not many noble, and not many mighty, You have chosen the common things, the base things, the humble things to confound the mighty. We thank You for the simple trust in Christ that redeems. We thank you for the simple truth of the gospel that one incarnate came into the world, God in human flesh, to die as a substitute in a sacrifice for sinners. We thank You for the great reality that that death was the satisfaction of Your wrath and Your justice in order that You might forgive believing sinners. We thank You that this is so clear to us that even a child can understand, in fact, and except one become as a little child, he cannot enter the kingdom.
O Father, help us to rejoice in the fact that we will not experience the wrath to come. The elect cannot be misled and deceived no more than any charge can be laid against us, neither can any abandonment of the faith. We thank You that You have saved us and You will keep us to the end. We thank You for the words of Jesus who said, "All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me and I have lost none of them but shall raise him up at the last day." We thank You, Father, that no matter what deceitfulness may come, Your people know You and You said, "My sheep hear My voice and they know Me and they follow Me." Lord, it's not because of us but because of You. We thank You that You've saved us from this that is to come, but, Lord, there are so many who need to hear the message. We don't understand how the ultimate decision of Your eternal sovereignty connects up with the responsibility of the sinner, but we do understand one thing very clearly, and that is we're to go into the world and preach the gospel to every creature and to call men to faith. And we also understand that whoever comes to You will not be cast out.
And may You bring many sinners to repentance. May many escape the final wrath, the final deception, the damning deception of all those who will be plunged by the returning Christ into the lake of fire. And make us ever faithful and hopeful for His glorious return. We feel like John who in knowing this felt both the bitterness and the sweet, bitterness over the death of sinners, sweetness over the return of the Savior. And so as we close tonight, it is with sweetness that we anticipate the coming of our Christ. And we ask these things, petitions for faithfulness and joy and hope in the name of our coming King. Amen.
This article is also available and sold as a booklet.
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Please contact the publisher to obtain copies of this resource.Publisher Information


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I'm writing to share my story with fellow Stocktonians.
I'm writing to share my story with fellow Stocktonians.
Just over a year ago, I found myself in a severe medical emergency. I was admitted to St. Joseph's Medical Center for emergency surgery. This is where I found my savior, Dr. Peter Tuxen, the surgeon on call that Sunday.
Over the next six days, he worked around the clock to save my life, doing five surgeries. Over the next year, I was in and out of the hospital.
There were many ups and downs, but Dr. Tuxen was there through it all. The entire staff at St. Joseph's was very supportive and always there to help.
I had 12 surgeries in all. I became very close to several of the nurses. The time I spent getting to know them showed me how devoted they are to their jobs.
I have been healthy and out of the hospital for about three months now and I wanted to share my story and appreciation.
Mary Jeung
We must acknowledge the gracious and unselfish sense of community embodied by Sam and Diane Harris, owners of Valley Springs AireServ, and the continued commitment to our communities by Calaveras Community Foundation.
The Valley Springs Youth Center began in a portable classroom that was riddled with dry-rot, home to inoperable bathroom plumbing, and was later determined to be structurally unsound. In 1997, the community came together to lay the foundation that would guide us moving forward.
In 2006, we accepted two used steel-framed portable classrooms from our local school district. We worked with area citizens to access resources to relocate and renovate the buildings at the edge of our Valley Springs Elementary School campus.
The buildings came with many age-related challenges, including the two attached heating and cooling units. Over the years, Sam and Diane Harris have adopted the Youth Center, stepping up to insure that the space is not only just livable but conducive to productive and safe working conditions.
A few years ago one of the units finally gave out and then became the "spare parts" department to keep the front unit hobbling along. Recently our Calaveras Community Foundation approved the funding necessary to replace those two units - an opportunity available to us because Sam and the team have again offered their help by providing the $7,500 installation as a gift to our children and the community.
Winter is upon us. Thanks to Calaveras Community Foundation and AireServ, at the Youth Center things are again cozy and conducive to encouraging our leaders of tomorrow.
Marti Crane
Valley Springs
I read with delight (Lori Gilbert column, Dec. 18) about Stockton during the Civil War and about Delmar McComb and his historical account. It was really great.
I think Mr. McComb would be glad that one of his former students would add a little about General Patrick Connor. He was the Postmaster General of Stockton beginning in 1854 before the war while a member of the Stockton Blues, a militia unit that he later commanded and formed into the Third California Infantry during the war.
Ray Lunsford
I would like to praise Paul Kimball and the Lincoln High Choir who gave a small concert at the Lincoln Unified School district office.
They took a moment to give a beautiful tribute to those victims of the Connecticut shooting. It was a heartwarming song they sang while holding photos of the victims. Thank you to Mr. Kimball and all of the students who sang. Beautiful!

subset: commoncrawl


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At Weymouth town councilors' request, a representative of SouthField master developer Starwood Land Ventures read through a 22-page response to 62 questions that Councilor Kenneth DiFazio posed last month regarding Starwood's controversial proposal to revamp the faltering redevelopment project.
WEYMOUTH – You've heard of 20 Questions. Monday's town council meeting was more like a game of 60 questions.At councilors' request, a representative of SouthField master developer Starwood Land Ventures read through a 22-page response to 62 questions that Councilor Kenneth DiFazio posed last month regarding Starwood's controversial proposal to revamp the faltering redevelopment project.
At 10 p.m., Matthew Barry, a vice president at Starwood, had made it through six questions covering topics such as plans to hook SouthField up to a permanent water supply through the Massachusetts Water Resource Authority, build a wastewater treatment plant and expand the board of the project's quasi-governmental overseer, South Shore Tri-Town Development Corp., from five members to nine.
The presentation was part of the council's in-depth review of Starwood's proposal to strip power from Tri-Town and shift tax revenue and responsibility for public services to Weymouth, Abington and Rockland. Company executives have said SouthField will grind to a halt without the changes.
For three weeks in a row the council has met with Starwood representatives to dig deeply into the proposal, which Starwood wants the state Legislature to approve by July 31. Each of the meetings has included a presentation followed by questions from councilors.
"It's a process we're working through and being diligent," Councilor Brian McDonald said. "It's a process we're going through in a very methodical way."
SouthField is the planned commercial and residential redevelopment of the former South Weymouth Naval Air Station. The former base includes land in Weymouth, Abington and Rockland.
Barry reiterated the same arguments Starwood has been making for months: that SouthField is doomed to fail without major changes needed to attract commercial development, and that Tri-Town is unable to keep the project moving.
"I appreciate the diligence and comprehensive nature of the questions," Barry said Monday night.
The council plans to invite Tri-Town representatives to its meeting next Monday night. Tri-Town has been critical of the Starwood proposal.
Plans for SouthField include 2,855 homes and apartments and between 900,000 and 2 million square feet of commercial space. About 500 people live on the former base now, but commercial development is at a standstill.
Christian Schiavone may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @CSchiavo_Ledger.
READ MORE about this issue.


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WASHINGTON – Democrats and Republicans rallied on a rare patch of common ground Wednesday and Congress approved legislation helping government contractors and unemployed veterans, finally giving President Barack Obama the chance to sign the first, tiny shred of his $447 billion jobs bill into law.
The House sent the bill to the White House by an overwhelming 422-0, six days after the Senate passed it 95-0.
The legislation creates tax breaks for companies hiring jobless veterans – a part of Obama's jobs plan – and beefs up vets' job-training and counseling programs.
It also repeals a 2006 law that would require the federal, state and local governments to withhold 3 percent of their payments to contractors. That statute, which doesn't take effect until 2013, was supposed to pressure contractors to fully pay their taxes, but lawmakers now say the withholding would deny cash to companies that they could better use to hire more workers.
Obama's signature would let him and lawmakers claim credit for protecting jobs at a time when the public is clearly furious over the nation's unemployment rate, which has been stuck at around 9 percent. Despite the unity shown Wednesday, the day's debate underscored the stark gulf that separates the two parties over how to fix the struggling economy, a division that is likely to dominate next year's presidential and congressional elections.
Republicans said it was time for the Senate to approve nearly 20 House-passed bills that they say would create jobs, mostly by repealing or blocking energy regulations and others, and touted Wednesday's vote as part of that drive.
"It sends a message to America's job creators that jobs are our No. 1 priority and that Congress is committed to undoing policies that stand in the way of restoring prosperity," said Rep. Wally Herger, R-Calif.
Rep. Sander Levin said the bill's provisions were modest steps toward resuscitating the ailing job market and said Republicans needed to go much further.
"Passage of this bill represents a challenge to the majority in this House: End your blockade of comprehensive jobs legislation" proposed by Obama, the Michigan Democrat said.
The president's jobs bill, introduced in September but mostly shunned by Congress, would continue reduced payroll taxes for workers and employers, extend unemployment insurance benefits and provide money to build roads, modernize schools and hire teachers, police and firefighters.
In a written statement from the White House, Obama congratulated both parties for approving the veterans' tax credits, took credit for proposing them and prodded lawmakers to go further.
"This is a good first step, but it is only a step," he said. "Congress needs to pass the rest of my American Jobs Act so that we can create jobs and put money in the pockets of the middle class."
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., returned the favor. In a written statement, he tweaked Obama by urging him to hold a bipartisan signing ceremony and to invite Sen. Scott Brown, R-Mass., who had introduced a 3 percent withholding bill.
McConnell said inviting Brown would spotlight that "there are plenty of House-passed bipartisan jobs bills that we can all agree on if only Senate Democrats would bring them up for a vote."
The tax credits for hiring veterans approved Wednesday will cost the government an estimated $95 million – a tiny fraction of Obama's overall jobs plan. The credits would be as much as $9,600 for companies hiring disabled vets who have looked for work for more than half a year. The size of the credit would be based on the worker's salary and how long the worker was unemployed.
The measure would also expand education and job training benefits for veterans, improve job counseling that troops get before leaving the military and provide an additional year of job services for disabled veterans.
The veterans' programs would be financed mostly by extending a fee the Veterans Affairs Department charges to back mortgages.
Erasing the withholding requirement for contractors would reduce federal revenues by an estimated $11.2 billion over the coming decade. It would be paid for by making it harder for some elderly people to qualify for Medicaid by changing the formula used to determine their eligibility.
Many economists have said annulling the withholding law would have a minimal impact on hiring.
Its repeal was heavily lobbied by industry groups, with no visible opposition. This week alone, a coalition of around 200 trade organizations from aeronautical repair businesses to water treatment companies wrote to House members urging passage of the legislation.


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The Lion and the Sword
The Lion and the Sword is a new module for the series Au fil de l' Epée (By the Edge of the Sword), with die-cut counters. It will constitute the third game in the Collection "Jeux d'Histoire" ("Historical Games") from Vae Victis. It covers two battles won by Richard The Lionheart, King of England, duke of Aquitaine and Normandy, count of Maine and Anjou, during the Crusade in which he took part (1190-1192).
From Sicily, where he met up with the king of France, Philippe Auguste (Philip Augustus), Richard set sail for Saint Jean d'Acre. Part of his fleet accidentally made landfall at Cyprus, and when Richard came to its rescue one thing led to another until he ended up conquering the entire island. He entered into conflict with Isaac Dukas Comnenus (nephew of the former Byzantine emperor Manuel) who had proclaimed himself independent emperor of Cyprus in 1184. Richard defeated him decisively in the plain of Tremetousia on 21 May 1191, and took possession of the island. Richard then proceeded to Acre, which surrendered to the kings of France and England on 12 July after a difficult siege. Philippe, ill and preoccupied with the affairs of his kingdom, left the Holy Land on 31 July. He left Richard alone to face the victor of Hattin (1187), the powerful Ayyoubid sultan Saladin. En route toward Jerusalem, Richard's Crusader army was attacked on the march by that of Saladin near the forest of Arsuf (or Arsour). In the great battle which ensued on 7 September, Richard gained a victory which discouraged Saladin from offering any further pitched battles. But Richard CÏur de Lion did not succeed in freeing Jerusalem, and had to be satisfied with a truce that opened the holy city to pilgrims the following year.
Battles: Tremetousia (Cyprus, May 21 1191) and Arsuf (Holy Land, September 7 1191).
|30 minutes per turn
200m per hex


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The federal government has overreached its constitutionally-established boundaries and has its hands in almost every area of our lives. Our children and grandchildren will inherit a bankrupt nation run by an unaccountable bureaucracy.
Article V of the United States Constitution allows us to call a Convention of States to restrict the power and jurisdiction of the federal government, effectively returning the citizens' rightful power over the ruling elite.
Working together, state legislators and American citizens can restore the checks and balances on federal power that were put in place by our founding fathers to protect our liberty from the abuses in Washington DC.


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Overall, employees review their satisfaction with American Linen as 4.7 out of 5. American Linen earns the highest marks for Manager Relationship with a score of 5.0 out of 5. Conversely, employees rate the company lowest for Pay Transparency, giving it 1.0 out of 5 in this area. Our research shows that Company Outlook and Appreciation are the main drivers of employee satisfaction generally, suggesting that American Linen, with scores of 4.0 and 3.7 respectively, should have higher overall employee satisfaction and lower rates of turnover. Learn More
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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — A Virginia prison inmate who's suing the state to finance a sex-change operation has been granted parole.
Virginia Parole Board chairman William Muse said Thursday that the board approved Ophelia De'Lonta's release last month. De'Lonta remains in custody at Buckingham Correctional Center pending approval of her parole plan, which Muse says can take 45 days or longer.
De'Lonta was born Michael A. Stokes and has served 34 years of a 73-year sentence for robbery. She has been diagnosed with gender identity disorder. Her desire for a sex-change operation has prompted several attempts at self-castration.
Muse says the lawsuit had no bearing on the parole decision. De'Lonta's attorney, Alan Schoenfeld, declined to comment on what effect the parole might have on the suit.
The parole decision was first reported by WWBT-TV.


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It's been said that at the end of our lives "only three things matter: how much you loved, how gently you lived, and how gracefully you let go of things not meant for you."
Have you gracefully let go, or are you still running back to what broke you?
We give our hearts, trust and time to those we love, but there are just some people that will never see you--they will never appreciate all that you have done in their lives.
Yet, we keep watering this fruitless pavement. We run back to their dysfunction; we run back to their chaos.
We fear that our lives will be unrecognizable without them, no matter how harmful the relationship. The drama is familiar and feels, mistakenly, normal. These connections, often called cyclical relationships, can only lead to continued pain. Researchers have found that running back into a relationship which has hurt you in the past will only lead to more of the same.
Resolve to never again run back to such abuse!
It has been said time and again, but remains true--self-love and self-acceptance are the key. Let's run towards a deeper understanding of our own loving, open hearts and leave them once and for all.
T.D. Jakes is a charismatic leader, visionary, provocative thinking, entrepreneur and compassion humanitarian with a voice that has reverberated from the world's most prominent stages. His look at life comes from the perspective of a father, a student, a pastor and a friend. His daytime talk show will be premiering this fall across the nation. Follow @tdjakesshow on Twitter!


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Predators of Honey Bees
Adult beetles on comb, and on exterior of hive
This beetle is not considered a serious pest in South Africa. Some Florida beekeepers however, experiencing heavy infestations, have blamed it for the quick collapse of strong colonies. According to a study by Dr. A. E. Lundie (Union of South Africa, Science Bulletin 220, 1940, 30 pp.) the beetle also defecates in the honey and in some way alters the honey causing it to ferment and run out of the combs. Most vulnerable are weak hives with stored honey or full honey supers either in storage or above bee escapes. As of the fall of 1998, the beetle appears to be restricted to colonies in areas along the south-east coast of the US. This is probably due to the sandy soil conditions in these areas which allow the beetle to pupate successfully.


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Webtrackker Technology have got 1st Pag Rank In Google and now I am a getting Business from Google
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The Federal Reserve Board on Friday launched the 2013 capital planning and stress testing program, issuing instructions to firms with timelines for submissions and general guidelines. The program includes the Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review (CCAR) of 19 firms as well as the Capital Plan Review (CapPR) of an additional 11 bank holding companies with $50 billion or more of total consolidated assets.
The aim of the annual reviews is to ensure that large, complex banking institutions have robust, forward-looking capital planning processes that account for their unique risks, and to help ensure that institutions have sufficient capital to continue operations throughout times of economic and financial stress. Capital is important to banking organizations, the financial system, and the broad economy because it acts as a cushion to absorb losses and helps to ensure that any such losses are borne by shareholders, not taxpayers. Institutions in the CCAR and CapPR programs will be expected to have credible plans that show they have sufficient capital to continue to lend to households and businesses even under severely adverse conditions, and are well prepared to meet Basel III regulatory capital standards as they are implemented in the United States.
Firms' capital adequacy will be assessed against a number of quantitative and qualitative criteria, including projected performance under the stress scenarios provided by the Federal Reserve and the institutions' internal scenarios. Boards of directors of the institutions are required to review and approve capital plans before submitting them to the Federal Reserve.
"The Federal Reserve has been focused--and will remain focused--on ensuring the nation's largest financial institutions have enough capital to weather severe, unexpected conditions and still continue lending to households and businesses," Gov. Daniel K. Tarullo said.
The 19 bank holding companies in the CCAR have increased their aggregate tier 1 common capital to $803 billion in the second quarter of 2012 from $420 billion in the first quarter of 2009. The tier 1 common ratio for these firms, which compares high-quality capital to risk-weighted assets, has more than doubled to a weighted average of 10.9 percent from 5.4 percent.
One part of the CCAR and CapPR reviews is an evaluation by the Federal Reserve of institutions' plans to make capital distributions, such as dividend payments or stock repurchases. The Federal Reserve will approve dividend increases or other capital distributions only for companies whose capital plans are approved by supervisors and who are able to demonstrate sufficient financial strength to continue to operate as financial intermediaries under stressed macroeconomic and financial market scenarios, even after making the planned capital distributions.
In a change from prior years, following the Federal Reserve's assessment of the initial capital plans, CCAR firms will have one opportunity to make a downward adjustment to their planned capital distributions from their initial submissions before a final Federal Reserve decision is made.
As in 2012, the Federal Reserve will release summary results for the 19 CCAR firms including its projections of capital ratios, losses, and revenues under the Federal Reserve's severely adverse scenario. In 2013, the Federal Reserve will release two sets of post-stressdata for each firm. One set will reflect the capital distribution assumptions prescribed in the stress testing rule mandated by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to enhance comparability of results. The other will include ratios based on each firm's own planned capital actions as proposed in their initial CCAR capital plan submissions, as well as ratios based on any adjustments made to planned capital distributions.
While the aims of CapPR are the same as CCAR, there are a number of important distinctions. For example, the Federal Reserve's assessment of capital plans under CapPR will not be based on supervisory estimates derived from independent supervisory models, but instead solely on an assessment of the firms' own capital plans and internal capital planning and stress testing practices that support them. Further, the Federal Reserve will not publish a summary of bank-specific results for CapPR in 2013.
The Federal Reserve wanted to give firms as much time as possible to prepare their submissions and therefore is issuing the instructions ahead of the release of the macroeconomic and financial market scenarios. The Federal Reserve will require institutions to use the scenarios in both the stress tests conducted as part of their capital plans and in the stress tests that are part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. The Federal Reserve expects to release the scenarios at 4 p.m. EST on Thursday, November 15.
Institutions will be required to submit their capital plans no later than January 7, 2013.
Comprehensive Capital Analysis and Review 2013 Summary Instructions and Guidance (PDF)
Capital Plan Review 2013 Summary Instructions and Guidance (PDF)


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Theatre Coup d'Etat says its mission is to "provoke an emotional and analytical response" in audiences.
Shakespeare probably never envisioned this — a woman playing Romeo as a woman in a Minneapolis theater production.
Theatre Coup d'Etat (KOO'-day TAH') plans to present "Romeo and Juliet" next month, with the love-stricken male Romeo played by a woman as a woman.
The company says the production will help support Minnesotans United for All Families' "Pledge to Vote No" campaign against the proposed gay-marriage ban.
"Romeo and Juliet" will run Nov. 8-18 at The Southern Theater in Minneapolis. Tickets are $20 general admission.


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Alexander Skarsgard and Paula Patton in "Disconnect."
Hope Davis, Jason Bateman and Haley Ramm in "Disconnect."
Paula Patton and Alexander Skarsgard in "Disconnect."
Director Henry-Alex Rubin and Alexander Skarsgard on the set of "Disconnect."
Jason Bateman in "Disconnect."
Andrea Riseborough and Max Thieriot in "Disconnect."
Alexander Skarsgard, Paula Patton and Frank Grilloin "Disconnect."
Max Thieriot and Marc Jacobs in "Disconnect."
Max Thieriot in "Disconnect."
Colin Ford and Jason Bateman in "Disconnect."
Andrea Riseborough in "Disconnect."
Alexander Skarsgard in "Disconnect."
Marc Jacobs in "Disconnect."
Poster art for "Disconnect."


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'November surge' seen in states' health care sign-upsBy SARAH KLIFF, AARON BLAKE And LENA H. SUN
The Washington Post
November 23. 2013 9:12PM
WASHINGTON - After anemic enrollment in the new health insurance marketplaces in October, states have begun to see a much faster pace of sign-ups in November, prompting health policy researchers to announce a "November surge."
By the end of October, the federal government had counted 106,000 people enrolled into private coverage through the 14 new state-based marketplaces and the federal marketplace, a small percentage of the projected half-million sign-ups.
By mid-November, though, with the state marketplaces reporting fresh data, that number had just about doubled to more than 200,000.
"The latest enrollment figures from the 14 states that are running their own marketplaces show that enrollment has climbed to at least 200,000 people nationwide," Sara Collins and Tracy Garber wrote Friday for the Commonwealth Fund. "This latest figure does not account for any new enrollment in the federal marketplaces in 36 states, which is also likely to have increased since early November."
News of the surge comes as the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it is giving people an extra week in December to sign up for coverage that begins right at the start of the new year. The previous Dec. 15 deadline is going to get pushed back to Dec. 23, spokeswoman Julie Bataille said Friday. This will only be true in December; in all other months of open enrollment after Jan. 1, the deadline for buying coverage the next month will be the 15th of the month prior.
Republicans cried foul over another on-the-fly delay in the rollout of the plan. HHS also said that it is changing the 2015 open-enrollment period for the new federal healthcare exchanges, according to an HHS official. While the 2015 enrollment period had been set to begin Oct. 15, 2014, and end Dec. 7, it will now begin Nov. 15, 2014, and end Jan. 15, 2015.
Republicans accused the administration of a blatantly political effort to push the enrollment period until after the 2014 election, which will be held Nov. 4, and delay bad news that might result from the next round of open enrollment.
"Clearly, President Obama does not want voters to see increased prices, more cancellations and decreased options under 'Obamacare' before they go to the ballot box," House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., said in a statement. "If 'Obamacare' is so great, why are Democrats so scared of voters knowing its consequences?"
Also on Friday, Jeff Zients, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to fix Healthcare.gov's problems, said he was "very confident" that the site would be able to handle 50,000 concurrent users by the end of this month. "The site was originally intended to handle this load and improvements will bring it up to this level," Zients said. "We will have the capacity that was intended."
HHS will also be implementing what they describe as a "queuing system," to deal with moments when there are too many users on the website. In those cases, users will have the opportunity to receive an email from HealthCare.gov notifying them when the site is having lower traffic and would work better.
However, the website will down for maintenance again from Saturday night to Sunday morning.
Despite weeks of bad headlines for the law and an increasing number of Americans opposing it, the vast majority of Americans still do not expect it to have a negative impact on them personally, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll. The survey found that 32 percent of people say they expect to be worse off under the measure. That number is basically unchanged from the past few years and exactly the same as it was right after the bill was signed into law in 2010.
The number expecting to be better off has declined over the years but didn't dip much in recent weeks. It went from 24 percent in September, before the health exchanges were launched, to 21 percent.
One encouraging sign of supporters: Among the uninsured, the visibility of the exchanges has increased. Nearly 30 percent of them have heard "a lot" or "some" about the marketplaces in November, double the 15 percent who were aware in September.
"It's not all doom and gloom," Kaiser Family Foundation President Drew Altman said of the November uptick in enrollments. "What this says is that the problems are system problems, not problems with demand or interest. Reason would suggest that other states can do as well over time, if we're able to do this in Kentucky or Washington."
California, which has had about 80,000 sign-ups, is reporting about 2,000 enrollments per day. New York and Washington reported double-digit enrollment numbers as of this week.
Health policy experts have always expected that enrollment would be slower in October than it would be in November or December, given that no coverage starts until January.
What they did not expect was a host of technical issues that would make it difficult for even the most eager of shoppers to purchase coverage. The White House contends that this depressed enrollment in October, at least in the federal marketplace.
That hasn't been true everywhere: Some state-based marketplaces had a pretty smooth launch and are seeing the pace of enrollment speed up daily.
California has led the bunch; the state's enrollments have grown steadily in November and account for nearly a full third of all sign-ups.
The state has had its strongest two weeks of enrollment this month.
"We're seeing much larger numbers than we expected," Covered California Executive Director Peter Lee told reporters this week.
Connecticut officials say they have seen about 14 percent of their expected enrollees sign up through mid-November. The state has had about 14,000 people sign up for coverage so far, about 58 percent of whom have purchased private coverage and 42 percent of whom have enrolled in the public Medicaid program.
And in Washington state, enrollment has nearly doubled, from 55,000 at the end of October to 98,000 through Nov. 14.
"We're definitely seeing interest continuing to build," said Michael Marchand, a Washington state exchange spokesman. "I fully suspect we may have half our enrollment coming in December. Especially for those who are buying private plans where payment isn't due until December, some of them are sitting back and waiting to take action."
Other states are expecting a similar, post-Thanksgiving wave.
"We're going to see a surge, after Thanksgiving and mid-December, and I think that mix is going to favor more folks" picking private plans than Medicaid, said Kevin Counihan, executive director of Connecticut's Access Health CT.
A handful of functional state marketplaces don't fix all the problems that states are having with the federal marketplace. Instead, Kaiser Family Foundation's Altman sees the snowballing enrollment numbers as a proof of concept.
"We're in a period of a terrible rollout," Altman said, "but the performance of the pace-setting states should be a cause of optimism for supporters."
The news is not as good for the federal health insurance website. Brokers and agents say technological problems are blocking their ability to help consumers sign up for coverage through the site.
They say it is a particular problem for people with major health issues because they are least able to weather a gap in coverage.


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Minted + domino Art Print Challenge: we partnered with design marketplace Minted to find fresh up-and-coming art to feature on domino.com! From the thousands of submissions, we've uncovered 75 brand new pieces, 25 of which are exclusive to domino.
Standard Paper & Framing
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I took this photo at Many Parks Curve in Colorado. I've always been inspired by the mountains in Colorado and aspire to one day live there again. I dream of living in a log cabin stuck up on a mountain like these with a large garden and a legit fireplace - one day.
About the Artist Kaila Keller:
Kaila Keller is a Minted community artist based in Brooklyn, New York.
Artist Location: Brooklyn, New York
For more ideas check out domino and MINTED art challenge


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Hi All,
I have not been receiving any updates so scrolled through the forums and found a lot of information. I would like to get an estimate for Canadian orders please. I knew we were last priority and were getting the orders later than US orders, however, its quite late now. My current address is going to change as well. Could someone please give an indication as to when the orders to Canada will ship.
Also the order tracking system seems to be broken and does not recognize my e-mail address. I paid with visa and have the confirmation e-mail address with a receipt number from PayPal.


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UXA hosted Old Man Monday at the House of Vans. A day for the older gods to hang out and shred! Special thanks to Peter Huynh of UXA and Chopper Dave of The House of Vans for being such a great host.
Featuring Ray Wong, Jeff Pang, Peter Bici, Rick Ibaseta, CREAM, Joey Alvarez, Erik Munday, Derek Rinaldi, Chopper Dave, Barker Barrett, AJ, EJ Singler Loki, Rob Campbell, Joey Alvarez, Justin Giraud, Geo Moya, Brian Davis, Big Frank, Brian Duke, JP Lotz, Rodney Torres, Rick Sulz, Brian Shebairo, Michael Hurley, Chopper Dave, Team POW, Team Stragglers, Oscar from Bodega, Eric LES, Rocky, Jeronimo Barrera, and more.
Video by Michael Cirelli, photos by CMART