After the comprehensive warning in Part 1, two other parts now follow. First, a prayer and exhortation in verses 1 to 5, and then a warning not to follow the harlot in verses 6 to 27.
All Bible texts are from the King James Version 1611 / 1769, unless otherwise stated.
A prayer and exhortation to a “restless son”; 7:1-5.
Chapter 7.
Verse 1: My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Verse 2: Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Verse 3: Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Verse 4: Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman: Verse 5: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger [which] flattereth with her words.
These five verses repeat the exhortations from chapter 6:20-23, that we should keep God’s commandments and honor God’s law as the apple of our eye. We should bind them on our fingers and keep them in our hearts so that we can remember them and live by them and pray to receive the gift of wisdom from God so that we can live rightly according to His word, commandments, laws and regulations, and keep all of God’s commandments.
If we keep God’s word, cherish God’s commandments and keep God’s law as the apple of our eye, if we take God’s word with us everywhere we go and seek God’s wisdom, then we are following these exhortations and God will help us to stay away from strange women and the flattery these women use to ensnare us. The strange woman is God’s enemy and our enemy. And we know that this enemy, who does the work of Satan, will cause us to fall from the true faith. To do this, Satan uses the means at his disposal, and if we look at how the Catholic Church has changed its rhetoric towards God’s faithful remnant, we see that it has gone from condemnation to flattery.
When we are urged to bind the commandments and the law on our fingers, it is so that the commandments and the law will prevent us from doing something that God’s word warns us against doing. Writing them on the tablet of the heart is the same as memorizing the commandments and the law so that we do not inadvertently break them. The intention of the commandments and the law is to prevent us from visiting strange women so that we do not be unfaithful to our God and Creator.
When the Reformation was new, Luther’s followers were persecuted and killed, and they were called the worst things. Gradually, the tone from Rome changed, and the reformed churches became the apostate brethren. After 2017, they are called the returned brethren. Why? Because they have signed a document called: From Conflict to Fellowship. Joint Lutheran-Catholic Commemoration of the Reformation 2017. Report from the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission for Christian Unity. Through this document, the fallen church denominations have put an end to the Reformation.
It is truly astonishing what Ellen G. White said about the last days. In the book Last Days Events, she speaks of Satan’s deceptions, and that he operates under the guise of Christendom. He does this by using the Catholic Church as his main instrument to lead God’s faithful remnant to their downfall. The closer we get to Jesus’ return, the more he strives to succeed in his deceptions. We see that the Catholic Church has already managed to bring Protestantism to an end, and soon only the small remnant who are God’s faithful people in the end times have not submitted to the supremacy of the papacy. Those who have chosen to follow the papacy have in reality chosen Satan as their god.
As we continue, we will see how the loose and strange woman attempts to cause God’s remnant to fall in the end times.
Do not follow the harlot; 7:6-27.
This part is what I believe is the most important part of this passage, and is about how the harlot tries to lure the young man in. There should be no doubt about who the harlot is, and then who the man is will also give itself away.
Verse 6: For at the window of my house I looked through my casement, Verse 7: And beheld among the simple ones, I discerned among the youths, a young man void of understanding, Verse 8: Passing through the street near her corner; and he went the way to her house,
The Greek Septuagint lay down guidelines for that it is the woman who looks out of the window of her house and looks for a victim among the passers-by. For she looks from a window out of her house into the streets, at one whom she may see of the senseless ones, a young man void of understanding, (Brenton Septuagint Translation).
However, many believe that it seems more natural from the context to keep the Hebrew translation, which puts into the context that it is Solomon who looks out of his window and observes this evil and strange woman who is out in the streets to lure young men without sense into her trap.
Regardless of how the individual chooses to interpret this, the important thing is not where the woman is, inside or outside, nor who it is who is looking out of the window. The main point of the story is to tell how the evil, strange woman tries to lure the young man who lacked sense. Here we will see the distinction I mentioned at the beginning.
Now woman is a picture of God’s people, the church or congregation, but in this sequence where two extremes are presented it would be too unclear to use woman for both the fallen and the pure church, therefore young man is used here in the sense of a single church denomination that is not part of the conglomerate that the Catholic Church is building up of fallen church denominations.
Void of understanding means that this young man does not have the Holy Spirit with him. Those who have given themselves completely under the influence of the Holy Spirit do not voluntarily go into a strange, loose woman.
Her corner and her house, in contrast to he, show that there are two different churches.
Verse 9: In the twilight, in the evening, in the black and dark night:
The middle of the darkest night refers to the period of total darkness between dusk and dawn. As we know, only the devil works in the black and dark night. All the evil forces that Satan uses in his service work under a cover of darkness in the sense of unbiblical teachings that have been Christianized by wrapping them in a Christian disguise.
Once again, I want to refer to the nicely wrapped package*: If you take a kilo of horse manure and wrap it in the most beautiful package you can imagine and decorate the package with all kinds of pomp and splendour, it will still be horse manure inside the package. The wrapping, as we know, does not change the content, it is and remains the same regardless of what kind of packaging the horse manure has. (* See Antichrist in the temple of God. Part 2.)
What this young man is doing wrong is that he entered a zone that we can call black as the black and dark night, and nothing good will ever come of that. Now this young man is a picture of a church, and like most churches today, they are not very careful where they are going. Suddenly they find themselves in a snare from which they seem powerless to extricate themselves.
They should have rejected the first prompting. Instead of following Paul’s advice in Colossians 2:21: Touch not; taste not; handle not, or what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:12: Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall, they throw themselves unrestrainedly into the arms of the evil, strange woman. This leads inexorably to a fall because the works of the evil, strange woman are works of darkness, and not compatible with the commandments and laws of God.
Verse 10: And, behold, there met him a woman [with] the attire of a harlot, and subtle of heart. Verse 11: She [is] loud and stubborn; her feet abide not in her house:
The fact that the woman was out at this time of night (verse 9) tells us what kind of woman this is. In the Middle East, women of good reputation were kept indoors in their houses and would not leave a home at night, that would be very inappropriate. Only in special cases would such a woman be allowed to move outside in the dark, but then with a retinue of several people.
Are there more people than me who see a woman dressed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and precious stones with a golden cup in her hand? (See verse 25 above and Revelation 17:3-5.) She has a cunning heart, it is said, and that means that she sets her traps consisting of cunning, flattery and persuasion.
The expression there met him a woman [with] the attire of a harlot tells us that she is dressed provocatively, and her whole being seems attractive. It is also said that she has a subtle heart in the meaning of a cunning heart, which means that she has a seductive demeanour. It is not purity and love that characterize her; she is false and evil. All she thinks about is seducing those who once opposed her.
There is nothing holding her back. Her feet are not at rest in her house means that Her urge to seduce young, simple men without sense is insatiable. She is always on the move to lure the simple into her fold, and then there is no effort too great for this church in her attempt to gather or lost brethren, as the Catholic Church called the Protestant churches.
We see that the Catholic Church is becoming more and more loud in countries like Norway, where only two – three decade ago they were almost invisible in the cityscape. Now, however, she uses her voice to teach the legislative power in Norway how Norwegian laws should be interpreted. She is visible in the news in a way she was not before, and there are constant processions that go out from the Catholic Church. We never saw this a few years ago.
In verse 11 the expression her feet abide not in her house is used. This implies that she is everywhere, and that she is busy seducing young men, and she tries to control everything and everyone.
Verse 12: Now [is she] without, now in the streets, and lieth in wait at every corner.
Her lurking around every corner means that she is a worldwide church, always on the move to find someone to wring out of God’s hands. She is unstoppable and has an insatiable appetite for both individuals and denominations that she still has no control over.
Verse 13: So she caught him, and kissed him, [and] with an impudent face said unto him, Verse 14: Sacrifices of peace offerings are with me; this day have I paid my vows, (verse 14 English Standard Version). Verse 15: Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee.
These three verses make me think of a rather recent event, the signing of The Joint Declaration. If we look at how the Catholic Church has changed its tactics against Protestants, they have kissed the Protestants by calling them separated brothers, and sacrifices of the peace offering is precisely this The Joint Declaration, which is a masterful piece of swindling from the papacy. In other words, the harlot has payed her vows to herself, by getting the Protestants to join in putting an end to the Reformation. Therefore came I forth to meet thee describes the work that the catholic church has done in secret to get the Protestant church to approach the catholic church, because as verse 11 says, her feet have no rest! The fact that the harlot has found the young man is solely due to the young man walking in wild ways, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Within 18 years, the Reformation was declared dead and buried by the ecumenical churches by a three-stage rocket that the papacy fired. Here are the three steps:
1) On October 31, 1999, the Lutheran World Federation took a major step toward annulling the Reformation when they, together with the Catholic Church, chose to sign what is titled in English: The Joint Declaration Between the Catholic Church and the Lutheran World Federation on the Doctrine of Justification.
2) On October 31, 2016, Pope Francis visited Lund, Sweden, for a joint Catholic-Lutheran ceremony. This was the next step on the path to full unity under the Catholic umbrella. This meeting was based on the document From Conflict to Communion: Joint Lutheran-Catholic Commemoration of the Reformation 2017.
3) On October 31, 2017, the Lutheran-Protestant churches joined the Catholic Church in a joint Lutheran-Catholic Commemoration of the Reformation, this was the third and final step on the path to a complete obliteration of the Reformation. This meeting was also based on the document From Conflict to Communion, the joint Lutheran-Catholic commemoration of the Reformation 2017, as well as the report of the Lutheran-Roman Catholic Commission for Christian Unity.
Is it any coincidence that the date of October 31 was chosen for the three meetings that led to the downfall of the Reformation? In no way, because this is the date on which the Reformation began in 1517.
She says in verse 15: Therefore came I forth to meet thee, diligently to seek thy face, and I have found thee. Truly, this strange and loose woman has not only found the young man who lacked understanding, she has managed to bring him into her house to commit fornication with this harlot.
Another important point in these three verses is the distinction that the evil, strange woman makes between herself and the young man who lacked understanding. This type of sacrifice was divided between the sacrificial priest and the person who brought the sacrifice. Now the young man did not bring any sacrifice, the evil, strange woman did, and she therefore puts herself in God’s place. After all, it is God Himself who both brought the sacrifice and sacrificed it—Jesus Christ. In this way, the Catholic Church puts itself at the head of all other denominations by playing the part of God.
Verse 16: I have decked my bed with coverings of tapestry, with carved [works], with fine linen of Egypt. Verse 17: I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon.
Egypt has never been a good sign in the Bible, not even here. Colourful linen from Egypt is a sign that the harlot has spread a blanket or veil over her bed, which here describes adultery and false teaching. Myrrh, aloes, and cinnamon are spices, and with this the young man is intoxicated by the harlot. All of this together makes the young man not understand the scope of what this harlot is doing.
Verse 18: Come, let us take our fill of love until the morning: let us solace ourselves with loves.
This must refer to the rituals of the church, for example sacred music and much pomp and splendour that dulls the human mind to the same extent as debauchery does. Now they are going to spend the night together because she says that her real husband is not coming back anytime soon.
In Spanish, the expression is used to empty the cup of love, where many English editions uses the fill of love. The question is whether it is not the golden cup in Revelation 17:4 that is called the fill of love, and then the text takes on a completely different meaning.
Verse 19: For the goodman [is] not at home, he is gone a long journey: Verse 20: He took his purse filled with money and will not be home till full moon, (New International Version 1984).
The husband here is Jesus, and he is not in the house where the harlot lives. Be home till full moon is to arrive at the appointed time. The moral of the harlot is that it will be a long time before her husband comes, so they can only continue their adultery for a while longer.
This is a type of temptation that most Christians in our time recognize. The evil, strange woman says when she tempts the young man that there is no danger, and that her husband will not come for a long time. They can carry out their adultery against God thinking they will not be discovered. Most young men in our time lack understanding, that is, most church denominations in our time are without the influence of the Holy Spirit. I know it is a strong statement, but most church denominations break God’s Ten Commandments with will and intention, and by definition cannot have the Holy Spirit.
If we go to Matthew 5:28, Jesus says the following in the Sermon on the Mount: … … That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart. The implication here is that being tempted is not a sin, but when temptation gives birth to lust, it is a big problem.
This means that if the condition of a church is such that it gives in to the temptations of the harlot, the condition itself is sin. Sin is defined as a lack of conformity to God’s law, whether in action, disposition, or condition. Some have aptly noted that character can be judged by what a man would do if he knew he would never be exposed. Here the argument of the evil, strange woman is precisely that they will not be exposed.
Verse 21: With her great persuasion she entices him; with her flattering lips she lures him, (verse 21 Berean Standard Bible). Verse 22: He goeth after her straightway, as an ox goeth to the slaughter, or as a fool to the correction of the stocks.
The picture drawn here is very illustrative of how it happens. We cannot ignore the fact that Catholic church buildings are filled to the brim with exquisite art and elegant statues, and they are decorated with objects in gold inlaid with precious stones. There are relics that are said to be the remains of bone fragments of Jesus’ disciples or of Jesus’ cross. Once in the Middle Ages, there were so many parts of Jesus’ cross that they could be used to build several houses. In addition to this, the clergy are dressed in flamboyant costumes, and there is almost always beautiful sacred background music that fills the church room.
All this appeals to the senses, and there is reason to wonder why it is so. When a young man void of understanding enters a Catholic church for the first time and is greeted with all this pomp and splendour, it almost takes his breath away. This is done deliberately to capture people who are not under the guidance of the Holy Spirit. And as said at the beginning (part 1), this section does not only apply to individuals or only to church denominations, it applies to both parts.
When it comes to the decoration of churches, this falls under God’s Ten Commandments, specifically God’s second commandment, which reads as follows: Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of anything] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments, (Exodus 20:4-6). The papacy has removed this commandment from God’s Ten Commandments because it prohibits statues of Mary, images of saints and relics, and this is what the individual Catholic falls down to and worships whether in the church or in public places.
But, wait a minute, many will probably say. You Adventists have pictures of your family hanging on your walls too. And that is quite right, but we do not fall down and worship them.
When the evil, strange woman has succeeded in luring the young man void of understanding into some kind of relationship, be it informal conversations, such as participating as an observer in ecumenical forums, or a visit to a church, she has succeeded in seducing the person by persuasion and flattering speech (lips). As soon as she has him in her power, this young man void of understanding will willingly follow the harlot with closed eyes like an ox being led to the slaughter.
Verse 23: Till a dart strike through his liver; as a bird hasteth to the snare, and knoweth not that it [is] for his life.
When the sin is complete, he tastes the consequences of his fall, and the young man without understanding does not realize what has happened until it is too late, and then there is no turning back. He gave in to the flattering lips and seductions of the harlot and must bear the costs of turning his back on God.
Verse 24: Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, and attend to the words of my mouth. Verse 25: Let not thine heart decline to her ways, go not astray in her paths. Verse 26: For she hath cast down many wounded: yea, many strong [men] have been slain by her.
After giving many warnings and all the exhortations not to follow the harlot and telling what the consequences will be if one still follows the evil, strange woman, Solomon comes with a new exhortation to all of us. Hearken unto me now therefore, O ye children, he says and refers back to everything he has said in this sequence and continues by saying attend to the words of my mouth. But do we follow Solomon’s exhortations, do we stay away from the fallen churches, or do we allow ourselves to be seduced and led by her alluring appearance and her flattering lips?
Those mentioned in verse 26 are those who have been seduced by the harlot and who have come to believe her lies, and in this way they were killed by her, and they are countless it is said.
Verse 27: Her house [is] the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.
Clear and pure words for the money. Anyone who gets involved with this woman and does not get out of this relationship before it is too late will meet a terrible fate. It will happen to them as with the people of Noah’s time who would not turn to the Lord, or as the inhabitants of Sodom, Gomorrah and their sister cities who were punished with fire from heaven. The problem is that they turned away from God by uniting with this evil and strange woman, and her path, says Solomon, leads down to the kingdom of hell and to the halls of death.
It is with great pain in my heart that I summarize this sequence. Unfortunately, it is a sad fact that the SDA has centrally decided that we will be observers in the ecumenical cooperation and uses as justification that then we can influence the others. They cannot believe this argument themselves. If it is so that we as a single church can influence all the other members, how much more can all the other churches influence us? Despite the fact that we are warned against this time and time again, and that the Bible is full of examples of all such forms of cooperation in the long run leading to nothing but a complete downfall, this cooperation was entered into. In ecumenical cooperation, our leaders are exposed to the flattery that this evil and strange woman uses as her snare to catch us.
If we are to base our work on Proverbs 7:1-5, then it is not biblically founded to enter into observer status in ecumenical cooperation. My son, keep my words, and lay up my commandments with thee. Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye. Bind them upon thy fingers, write them upon the table of thine heart. Say unto wisdom, Thou [art] my sister; and call understanding [thy] kinswoman: That they may keep thee from the strange woman, from the stranger [which] flattereth with her words, (Proverbs 7:1-5).