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| Who is the mysterious woman in the apostle John's vision? |
In the late 1st century--perhaps around 90 A.D.--the apostle John received an incredible vision from God while he was in exile from Rome on a desolate island called Patmos that was located in the Aegean Sea.
What John saw was a huge beast rise from the sea that had seven heads and 10 horns. Of course, the beast was an allegorical image that represented 10 nation groups ruled by seven kings. (Revelation 13:1)
John revealed that the spiritual power behind this world government was none other than Satan who was symbolized as a dragon. (Revelation 13:2) And John revealed that this government was so powerful that no nation or nations had the ability to bring it down. (Revelation 13:4)
John also saw a garishly dressed prostitute sitting high atop this beast. He described her this way: "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries." (Revelation 17:4)
Who does this woman represent? John gave us an additional clue: "This title was written on her forehead: Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Prostitutes And Of The Abominations Of The Earth." (Revelation 17:5)
And John even revealed the earthly location of this mysterious harlot. She resides in a city that sits in the midst of seven hills. (Revelation 17:9) What city could that be? Only two cities in the world are surrounded by seven hills. They are Rio de Janeiro that's located in Brazil and Rome that's located in Italy.
Could John's allegorical harlot represent a powerful religious organization? In fact, she does. But what organization? The Vatican is located in Rome and is the world headquarters of the Catholic Church.
Furthermore, Mystery Babylon is an historical moniker that the Catholic Church has used to describe herself. And furthermore, purple and scarlet are the colors worn by the Catholic priesthood. Of course, the golden chalice is an integral component of the Eucharist that is celebrated in the sacrament of the Mass.
Remember that John recorded the Revelation around 90 A.D. That was nearly 250 years before the Catholic Church came into existence. Throughout history, many skeptics believed that the Revelation was written much later because of the symbolic imagery that pointed squarely to the Catholic Church. They were convinced that the Revelation wasn't written by John but rather by someone centuries later who hated the Catholic Church.
What does the Roman Catholic Church have to do with a coming world government? Doesn't the Catholic Church seem like a decaying institution that's become irrelevant?
It seems that way, doesn't it? And yet the Catholic Church is going to experience an amazing comeback. But how? Through an explosion of the supernatural that will feature counterfeit signs, wonders and miracles that will amaze the world. http://prophecyreviewtoday.blogspot.com/2014/07/countdown-to-counterfeit-part-iv.html
And with many Protestant and independent Christian churches now joining ecumenical hands with the Catholic Church, a new mutant form of Christianity will eventually arise when these demonically empowered signs and wonders begin to take place.
And that's going to lead to the Antichrist. He will rise through the Catholic Church and he will convince the world that he is Jesus Christ when he appears. And millions of biblically ignorant people across the world will embrace him as Jesus Christ.
This is why the city of Jerusalem is so vitally important to the Catholic Church. Because that's the city where the Antichrist will declare himself God to the world. And he will announce that in a new Jewish Temple that's going to be constructed on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. (Daniel 9:27, Matthew 24:15, 2 Thessalonians 2:4)
And so, Israel isn't going anywhere, despite the troubles the Jewish nation is currently experiencing in Gaza.
And the Catholic Church isn't going anywhere, either. At least not until she unveils the dreaded Antichrist to the world.
Who is the whore of Babylon?
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me to be a rather simple and straight forward question and answer. The whore Babylon is (in my opinion) all religion, Christian or pagan it does not matter. Religion is man’s attempt to connect with and worship god (a lower case g for a reason).
In ancient times when the Israelite people needed an altar to God for the sacrifice of sheep, goats and bulls, God forbade them from building that altar. They were to simply throw rocks together in some sort of pile and do no construction. It is interesting how people today and throughout history want to build physical monuments as well as spiritual ones to their gods. They may even think that they are building these things to the honor of our Heavenly Father who gave us His Son, Jesus Christ. But they are not doing this at all. They build physical constructs and spiritual in the form of ideas and doctrines that Our Father has clearly warned us to not be deceived by time and again through the Holy Scriptures.
These false doctrines and ideas are all curiously completely ruled by the deceitful hearts and minds of men. And then therefore are ultimately ruled by Satan himself. Religion is man’s attempt to reach god.
We can see this illustrated remarkably succinctly in the account of the construction of the Tower of Babel from which Babylon gets its name. The people were working together in one accord to build a tower to reach heaven and God. As we recount the story we see that God was most displeased with man’s efforts and He divided the people by giving them different languages. No amount of effort on the part of anyone will result in their salvation. As Abraham’s faith was counted to him for righteousness, so it is also with us.
True Christianity is God’s heart of Love reaching down to us to offer us eternal life and salvation through the Blood of Jesus Christ. Every religion that has ever been or will ever be is simply the opposite of this and counterfeit and thus borne of the harlot and whore of Babylon. All of these things please the flesh and tickle the ears of those deceived by them. These people, who are deceived, at some point in their lives, made a choice and departed from the pure simplicity of the love of the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The subsequent natural result is that after they have made this choice they go deeper and deeper into deception and fall into a ditch. This is the way that God Himself designed it. He doesn’t want people to be deceived but he will not go against a man’s free will to choose to serve Him or not. To not serve God is to serve Satan and every single person on the face of the earth who does not serve God will find themselves in the system of religion of the world and will eventually worship the beast and Antichrist.
The people of God are those who worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.