After this the angels prayed to the Lord. They then led the novitiates from the east to the south, and thence to the west, and they said, "Here you shall see the abomination of desolation predicted by the Lord through Daniel (Matt. 24:15)." They then showed them a black cloud extending from the boundary of the east to the end of the west, and pouring thick darkness into the south and into the north at the sides. At the sight of the cloud the novitiates became terrified, and they asked, "What is that great black cloud and thick darkness and whence is it?" The angels replied, "They are satanic spirits, who have collected themselves into crowds, and by magical arts, by abuses of correspondences, and by fantasies, have formed for themselves as it were heavens, by seizing the hills, and building upon them high places and towers, as was done in the valley of the land of Shinar (Gen. 11:1 seq.) in order that they may contrive for themselves ascents into the heavens where the angels are, for the purpose of thrusting them down; and because they are on high above this land they appear as though they were in the expanse of the sky, and the expanse appears as a cloud." And the angels said, "Lift up your eyes and stretch your sight." And behold they saw a multitude of spirits, and they heard heinous expressions from them, intermixed with the filthy things of lasciviousness, and sounds as of drunken revelers in brothels. And the angels said, "These are they who are meant by the dragon and his two beasts in Revelation (chap. 12 and 13). These are they who are meant by the harlot sitting upon many waters, and upon the scarlet beast (chap. 17). They are all from the Christian world."