The same thing happens to a limited extent throughout the age, and we can see examples of this. You see it in history, for instance, in the Russian Revolution in 1917, when the government suddenly struck out – you can see it this way in a measure – at luxury, and royalty, and treasure. Of course, the reason they struck out – so they thought – was the levelling of society through communism. But how interesting it was that overnight the whore, the seduction of worldliness, was shattered by revolution, and every palace was closed, and every person of wealth lost it, and everything that belongs to Babylon and luxury and this world and delicacy, was brought down. Satan, interestingly, divided against himself. You see it periodically through history, where God allows, and even orchestrates, a judgement on Babylon. Look at the society we are in now. The ascendance of Babylon; materialism is everything. Wealth and self and luxury and accomplishment, and celebrities; the entire thing is about this life and satisfaction and happiness being available through the world, and the pursuit of materialism and sensation. But at the end of time, it is all brought crashing down. There is this tension, after all, between government that represents the devil and his coercive ways, and the seductress who represents the devil in his seducing attractive ways.
Are false religions part of the whore? In Revelation 18:13, we read that among her merchandise are the souls of men. All false religions are the product of this world and can be considered part of the harlot. They are described by Paul as ‘weak and beggarly elements’(Galatians 4:9). For the devil, they are a means to an end and surely a highly unpalatable means. His strategy, in turning men away from the truth, is often to manufacture a false religion which is as close an imitation of the truth as possible but which lacks some vital element or adds some fatal poison. It is as close to the wind as he dares to sail. By such imitations, it will be easier to deceive the unwary and to offer them salvation at a discount, short of the real thing. Many will fall for this, but the devil will not stop there. He accelerates the pace of error and leads men even further away from the truth. If he revealed his full agenda up front, many would be frightened off, but by doing things gradually, he can lead fools a long way. Nevertheless the only form of false religion that really satisfies him is complete repudiation of the true God and the substitution of himself in the place of God. All false religion is ultimately leading in the direction of the worship of the antichrist. When the point arrives at which human thinking has been so badly corrupted that this is possible, the devil will abandon all the expedients of false religion that have been of temporary assistance to him. He will show his real feelings towards them. This agrees with what is said in Daniel concerning the antichrist: ‘And the king shall do according to his will; and he shall exalt himself, and magnify himself above every god, and shall speak marvellous things against the God of gods, and shall prosper till the indignation be accomplished: for that that is determined shall be done. 37 Neither shall he regard the God of his fathers, nor the desire of women, nor regard any god: for he shall magnify himself above all. 38 But in his estate shall he honour the God of forces: and a god whom his fathers knew not shall he honour with gold, and silver, and with precious stones, and pleasant things. 39 Thus shall he do in the most strong holds with a strange god, whom he shall acknowledge and increase with glory: and he shall cause them to rule over many, and shall divide the land for gain’ (Daniel 11:36-39). Daniel’s words allow room for the eradication of all other religions. The Holy Spirit tells us that after the falling away at the end of the age, the ‘man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God’ (2 Thessalonians 2:3-4).