The Politics of Self-Destruction

 17 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters,2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” 3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. 5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

When I saw her, I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, “Why do you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit[b] and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come. 9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

Pay attention to the flow of the text: 

 

This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while. 

• As the text relates to the Enemy’s behavior, there are 7 Mountain Temple (Administrations of the Post/Lapsarian Covenant of Grace)
• At the time of writing, John the Baptist had served on Earth, &, after his martyrdom, was serving in Heaven as Root Non-Redeemer Mediator /Covenant Administrator of the Covenant of Grace, specifically the Johnannine Covenant.    
• His 5 predecessors (Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, & Samuel) had retired. 
• As to the Satanic parody of Adonai’s Moral Government, the previous administration (the Davidic) Covenant had seen the rise & fall of Babylon, Media-Persia, the Greek Empire, & the Seleucids, & Rome was in the process of being divided then conquered.  
• Alternatively, we can trace the parts of Nebuchadnezzar/Marduk back to Assyria, in which case the order is Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, & the Divided Kingdom run by the Seleucids.  
• The text is also describing a set of 5 figurative Enemy regimes (demonic as well as human) that had risen & fallen during the previous administrations. 
• What about the other 2 kings? 

11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 

• This 8th Empire is a product of the Seven.   Logically it is whatever the 6th & 7th Kings are cooking — &/or (given the plethora of spacey-wacey timey-wimey in Revelation, the 6th & 7th (and maybe the previous 5) are products of it’s activity. 

12 And the ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have not yet received royal power, but they are to receive authority as kings for one hour, together with the beast. 

• Keep in mind, Jude teaches that those who go they way of demons are following those who left their positions of authority, & one of the penalties for the witchcraft/sorcery, gluttony, cultic sexual immorality, & warmongering is the collapse of (more than one) civilization. 

13 These are of one mind, and they hand over their power and authority to the beast. 

• Why would an Enemy who/that craves power & authority hand their power & authority to the Beast.  
• In other words, they self-sabotage.  

14 They will make war on the Lamb, and the Lamb will conquer them, for he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those with him are called and chosen and faithful.”

• Given the nature of Satan’s Enemy (the LORD, His Christ, & His People), the Enemy would do well not to self-sabotage.  

For a classic example of self-sabotage, look no further than El Musk’s personal “recipe” for success.  

1. Question every requirement.

“Each should come with the name of the person who made it. You should never accept that a requirement came from a department ... Then you should question it, no matter how smart that person is. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous, because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me [Elon]. Then make the requirements less dumb.”

Adults who deconstruct question authority.  There’s a right way & a wrong way to do that.  You can do so using the Bible correctly exegeted, exposited, understood, & applied, or you can reject the Scriptures & run with your own intuition.    

Musk is a professed nullifidian who is notorious for his anarchic / quasi-chaotic approach to doing business.  He treats people like objects & acts as if his latest venture is another expensive toy with which to play & after which he finds himself doing whatever he can to repair the damage. That’s what you get when you introduce moral & philosophical arbitrariness into a meticulously ordered system. 

If we ought to view the Gospels as less than fully authoritative because they are anonymous, why should a federal employee read & reply to an anonymous email as if his or her life depended on it? That scenario is playing out in DC right now.  

2. Delete any part or process you can.

“You may have to add them back later. In fact, if you do not end up adding back at least 10% of them, then you didn’t delete enough.

…Like nuclear engineers, air traffic controllers & health inspectors?  Elon Musk, thy name is “Marcion.”

3. Simplify and optimize.

“This should come after step two. A common mistake is to simplify and optimize a part or process that should not exist.” 

If everything & everyone is up for grabs, how do we know what should & should not exist particularly with a VP who thinks the courts lack the legal authority to check the President’s agenda.

4. Accelerate cycle time.

“Every process can be speeded up. But only do this after you have followed the first three steps. In the Tesla factory, I mistakenly spent a lot of time accelerating processes that I later realized should have been deleted.”

Notice how he admits to having to fix his brand new toy?   What happens to churches that go this route?  They reject reformation in favor of reconstruction, & that’s how you wind up with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, & other Christian heresies.   They reject reformation & continuity in favor of reconstruction & discontinuity. 

5. Automate.

“That comes last. The big mistake in Nevada and at Fremont [Tesla factories] was that I began by trying to automate every step. We should have waited until all the requirements had been questioned, parts and processes deleted, and the bugs shaken out.” 

When Christianity flirts with radical Post-Modern deconstructionism, this stage is your new paradigm, and it’s heretical or even atheological. 

O LORD, Hear our prayer!