She's No Lady
Published on January 21, 2009 By KFC Kickin For Christ In Religion

She's no lady.  She seeks to seduce your soul.  She's called the harlot of many harlots.  She's also called the mother of harlots. 

I'm talking about the woman mentioned in Revelation 17.  The one whom many, over the centuries, wondered about.  Who is she really?  Here's the passage in its context. 

"And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talked with me saying, Come closer, I will show you the judgment of the great whore that sits upon many waters.  With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 

So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy havng seven heads and ten horns.  And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precisious stones and pearls having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.  And upon her forehead was a name written MYSTERY BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration.  And the angel said unto me.  Wherefore why did you marvel?  I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns." Rev 17:1-7

This woman has been around a very long time, centuries in fact,  but still comes across as a young, alluring temptress as she draws you closer by her intoxicating ways.  Her clothing is beautiful and provocative turning your head as she passes by.  You can't help but notice her.  She is bi-sexual soliciting both men and women, young and old.  She opens her door to any who will come in to her. 

What does she desire?  Money? More jewelry? Extravagant living?  Your body?  No.  None of these would serve to satisfy her.  The only thing she's after is your eternal soul.  She wishes only to possess you by keeping you from a pure and holy life with the eternal God who both created you and redeemed you.  To embrace her is to deny the one who truly loves you for you.  Her taking you to her breast means to whisk you away from the one who desires an intimate, pure, holy and unconditional relationship with you.  This whore is luring you away from the one who loves you more than you love yourself.

In the scriptures the term harlot is used to describe one who is unfaithful to God.  Just as we in a physical relationship can become unfaithful to our spouse so too can one become spiritually unfaithful to God by turning to the temptations of this harlot.  The Jews of the OT were unfaithful to God and described as playing the harlot.  They were enticed by her ways and got into the business of unfaithfulness. 

This Harlot is said to be sitting on "many waters."  It's explained later in v15 as "the waters which you saw where the whore sits are peoples and multitues and nations and tongues."  In other words this tramp has been very busy and knows no boundries when it comes to color, race, or language.  Her business is worldwide.  She's quite busy. 

It says here that the Kings of the earth are fornicating with her.  They do so for political benefit.  We see here even the merchants of the earth become rich because of their association with her.  This is for economic benefit. 

The OT prophet Jeremiah wrote about her:  "Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of wine, therefore the nations are mad."  51:7

We can see this whore helps those who embrace her both politically and economically.  To the world it seems to pay to belong to this party.  The nations are drunk on her wine and know not that they have gone mad.  They are spiritually dead but do not know this.  Yet.  They feel nothing but the warm feeling that comes with drunkenness. 

Her riding upon the beast means she has a partner holding her up.  She is riding this helper who is scarlet in color and has seven heads and ten horns.  We saw this beast back in Revelation 13 and now we see its association with the harlot here.  It seems they are involved in some sort of bizzare partnership that has lasted centuries.  Business is good for the moment but time is running short.

In Daniel 7:17 we read of the great beasts which stood for Kingdoms which is what the horns stand for.  "These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth"  A beast according to Daniel is a kingdom represented by a King who ruled over it.  We learned that the four kingdoms Daniel predicted to come were Babylon, Medio-Persia, Greece and Rome and they ruled in that exact order. 

The beast here is full of names of blasphemy.  We know from history that many rulers attempted to deify themselves including the most infamous in Jewish history, Antiochus Epiphanes, who seemed to be the forerunner to Hitler hating the Jews with the same hatred as the forthcoming Nazi would. 

Paul, in his letter to the Thessalonians, wrote that the ultimate blasphemy will occur when the Anti-Christ "sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God."    This is exactly what Epiphanes did back in 165 B.C. 

So the beast represents government while the whore who is riding it represents false religion.  They are in total cahoots using each other to get what they want. 

For many centuries the Protestant scholars identified this whore as religious Rome and the beast as imperial (political) Rome.  The reason being that many were being persecuted by Rome so the identification made sense. 

Not quite, but they had the right idea in making the link between politics and religion. As we see here, there is a close association between the whore and the beast she rides.   So who exactly is the whore then? 

Notice her dress.  She's pretty decked out isn't she?  Alluring and beautiful in her purple and scarlet.  Our outside adornments give the world the impression of who we are inside.  In Revelation 12 we are introduced to another woman.  This woman is no tramp nor does she dress the part.  She, in contrast to the unfaithful harlot, represents the faithful wife who is the faithful remnant of Israel.  She is described as "a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars." 

But the whore is dressed in an excessive lavish way adorned with the best gold and precious jewels that money can buy.  Her clothing is designed to entice and impress.  In comparison to the faithful wife of Revelation 12 the world turns after the whore who represents materialism at its best or worse whichever way you look at it. 

Sad to say multitudes have been seduced by her and have turned away from God as they drink from the cup she holds in her hand.  Alcohol entices and dulls the senses.  This wine represents religion at its highest.  It seems good and something to be attained and desired and used to satisfy the senses.  But in reality the whole thing is a trick to drunken the soul, to tire the eyes and lead us into disaster. 

We were warned repeatedly to stay sober, vigilent and awake.  She, on the other hand, laughs and mocks those who do not come unto her and sit at her very crowded table.  The few that are able to resist her temptations are saddened to see so many fall into her pit of lies and seductions.  Her grip is strong and not easy to escape.   

Her identification is attached upon her forehead with a name written there.  A mystery in the bible is something that had been concealed in the OT but is now revealed in the NT.  This mystery here has been revealed that Babylon the Great is the mother of harlots and the source of all false relgion.  She is identified as "Babylon the Great."   Every false and abominable religion throughout history she has played a part in.  She is the mother of them all.

This all got started way back in the book of Genesis with a mighty hunter named Nimrod.  He was a hunter of men's souls.  His very name meant "revolt."  He was the mastermind behind the Tower of Babal in ancient Babylon.   The purpose of the tower was to reach heaven and become as God.  His idea was to unify the people into one kingdom in direct defiance to what God had instructed after the flood. 

The Anti-Christ will seek to follow the ways of Nimrod when he establishes a one world government with a one world religion and a one-world economy.  The beast and the whore will seek to ride into the sunset together.  That is, until the beast, throws the whore off his back.  The beast (government) used the whore (religion) to attract the masses but the day will come when her job will be done and Babylon The Great will have a great fall.  In the end she will be undressed, alone and naked, revealed for who she really was.  This whore will succumb to the same fate as Jezebel way back in the days of the Kings.  She will have a great fall and nothing, absolutely nothing will be left of her. 

You may be very surprised to how the harlot started her business and the characters she used along the way. 

Next time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Comments
on Jan 21, 2009

So you reckon armageddon will start with the rise of a great city-state which is sovereign "over the kings of the earth". Considering how few kings there are at the moment, I guess it's possible, but besides Monaco, Brunei and the Vatican I'm not aware of many countries that could be called city-states, so I suppose we'll be waiting for this for some time.

There's stranger things to believe, but I haven't a clue what you get out of this kind of bizarre, mushroom-inspired tale.

on Jan 22, 2009

I'm not aware of many countries that could be called city-states, so I suppose we'll be waiting for this for some time.

Oh I don't think it's going to take a long time looking at the economy and how we're all linked.  Today our world is much smaller than it was 40 years ago.  We are no longer autonomous as we once were.  We are all linked by the financial markets and it's becoming increasingly evident during these turbulent times.  What effects us, effects Japan, China, London, and most of Europe.  We're seeing countries linking themselves together more and more.  It's going to get to such a state of affairs that we will be part of the United States of Europe when all is said and done.   Wait and see.......

There's stranger things to believe, but I haven't a clue what you get out of this kind of bizarre, mushroom-inspired tale.

Well I take it you're not familiar with the book of Revelation or Daniel?  It's not a tale but serves as a warning for future events.  It makes much more sense today than it did 100 years ago and reads much like our newspapers of today. 

Revelation is a very interesting book.  You should read it sometime. 

 

on Jan 22, 2009

A city-state is a country built around a single city - Athens and Sparta were good examples. I'm assuming whoever wrote Revelations was referring to Rome, which was vaguely a city-state at that stage (not really though as the citizenship franchise was extended to much of Italy during the Sulla-Caesar-Augustus years).

It makes much more sense today than it did 100 years ago and reads much like our newspapers of today.

I'm sorry, but it doesn't even come close. Beasts with multiple heads and women in togas? Crowns of stars? What kind of newspapers are you reading? I'd much rather read those newspapers than Revelations, so that's a serious question.

on Jan 22, 2009

I'm sorry, but it doesn't even come close. Beasts with multiple heads and women in togas? Crowns of stars?

Oh ya it does, you just don't know it, nor have you tried.  It's not nearly as far-fetched as it seems. 

It's pretty self explanatory really. 

13:1-2

"And I stood upon the sand of the sea and saw a beast rise up out of the sea having seven heads and ten horns and upon his horns ten crowns and upon his heads the name of blasphemy........and I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed; and all the world wondered after the beast" 

17:9-10

"the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.  And there are seven kings, five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come, and when he comes he must continue a short space.  And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the 8th and is of the seven and goes into perdition."

seven kings, five are fallen (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Media-Persia,Greece) one is (Rome) the other not yet come but when he does will only continue for a short time (Germany).  There's your seven.  All world wide powers marked in history. 

The last one will come out of the seven and will be the worst yet and will bring the others all down into perdition (hell) when it's all said and done.  This last kingdom will be the one the AC will come out of.

Some suspect it's Rome and the revived Roman Empire somehow with a 10 nation union.  I'm starting to wonder (not sure) but am wondering if the U.S. isn't this last kingdom.  Each of the mentioned kingdoms above all ruled with an iron fist and all were persecutors of Israel or the Jews.  Each in turn had complete power for a while with Germany just falling short of achieving total control of the whole world.  We, could be the one coming from the seven and it makes sense to me because we are an extension to Europe but time will have to play all this out.

Look at how young the U.S. is and the power we have had.  We have become the new Rome, the police of the world.  The only difference is we have been protectors of Israel not persecutors of it.  So of course I'm wondering if we are going to cut Israel loose.  I'm wondering if the wounded head (nation or King from that nation) isn't the U.S. or could it be Rome coming back into power?  This is where reading the newspaper comes in handy. 

v17:12-13 "and the ten horns which you saw are ten kings which have received no kingdom as yet but receive power as kings; one hour with the beast.  These have one mind and shall give their power and strength to the beast." 

This 10 nation federation that will form somewhere in the West will be headed by the AC and these nations will give their power and commitment to him. 

We read the same in Daniel when he wrote looking ahead:

"and the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise; and another shall rise after them and he shall be diverse from the first and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the Most High (blaspheme) and shall wear out the saints (believers) of the most High .........."  7:24-25

on Jan 22, 2009

Crowns of stars?

oh, forgot this. 

The woman with the crowns of stars (Israel) is  mentioned in Rev 12:1.  It says:

"and there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet and upon her head a crown of 12 starts.  And she being with child cried travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. And there appeared another wonder in heaen and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns upon his heads.  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it were born.  And she brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron and her child was caught up to God and to his throne." 

a wonder is always symbolic for something.  This woman is Israel and is described way back in Genesis when Joseph had a dream.  He dreamed this: 

"Behold I have dreamed a dream more and behold the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me."  Gen 37:9

Joseph was a type of Christ and was the son of Israel (also known as Jacob).  He was more like Christ than any other character in scripture and is one of only two whom nothing critical is said about.  He was as perfect as one could be and still be human.

Anyhow she (Israel) cried out in pain (for thousands of years) to be delivered and she was (the birth of Christ) and the dragon (Satan) was ready to devour the child manifested in the ruler Herod (who killed all the boy babies). 

Israel, brought forth the protected by God male child (Jesus) who was caught up (resurrected) but will someday come (in the fulness of time) to rule all the nations.  It's then he will deal with the whore (false religious system) and the beast (governments) by pouring out his own cup (of wrath) upon them in the form of bowl judgments. 

The bowls of Revelation represent something that was used in Jewish ceremonial cleansing when the Temple was here.  These bowls were shallow, not deep, so they could be emptied quickly and efficiently.  So too will the cleansing of the eath be at the very end as each bowl judgment is quickly emptied. 

See not so hard is it?  It's like reading the daily news.  Only here it would be like reading the newspaper of 4 BC-30 AD

on Jan 23, 2009

I don't think you were following the line of my argument. No newspaper I've ever read is written in the style of revelations. Perhaps they should be, but I've never seen one.

Eg on recent news:

BEAST WITH ONE HEAD CROWNED IN CITY OF LAW

A sussuration of two million mewling nearly overcame the voices of celestial angels yesterday as a terrible ....

You know, a newspaper written in the style of Revelations.

on Jan 23, 2009

KFC,

   Are you aware that Revalation was written as a letter to the churches of Asia Minor as a warning about the persecution from Rome? It was not written as a pediction of events in the far off future, but rather by a preist in exile who wanted to help encourage his churches to stay steadfast in the face off massive opression and persecution by Rome. He wanted to warn and reassure his follows, but could not just come out and name Rome, because he would be put to death. A literal interpretation of Revelation is not the correct one.

on Jan 23, 2009

Are you aware that Revalation was written as a letter to the churches of Asia Minor as a warning about the persecution from Rome?

That's a preterist point of view and I am aware of that viewpoint.  It's not correct and does not make sense with the rest of scripture. 

The preterist's approach is similar to the allegorical method but is more limited in its application of nonliteral interpretation. This POV claims that there are two basic approaches to Revelation namely the predictive or the descriptive and they choose a descriptive view eliminating the prophetic element.  The scholars who oppose the literal interpretation tend to combine the preterist's view with some form of allegorical or nonliteral interpretation which will allow them to explain their POV without contradicion of the book. 

One of the main problems with this historical view is that each interpreter attempted to have this book climax with his generation which led to a great variety of interpretations.  Therefore, it is impossible to find any two historical interpretors wo have the same interpretation.  The nonliteral approach leaves the interpretation of this book in a state of confusion. 

The literal interpretation makes the most sense and is also a futuristic approach. 

The book while filled with symbolism should be taken as the other books of the bible, literally.  No different.  Each symbol has a literal meaning usually found somewhere else in scripture. 

A literal interpretation of Revelation is not the correct one.

Why not?

The literal interpretation fits perfectly with the OT prophecies as well as Matt 24 and Paul's writings to the church.  There are guidelines for interpretation of prophecy.  Are you familiar with them? 

When Jesus was asked by his disciples to give the signs of the end of the age Jesus responded exactly in Matt 24 as John did in Revelation Chap 6.  Compare the two very carefully.  So was Jesus saying the end of the world was Rome?

I don't think so.

 

 

on Jan 23, 2009

You know, a newspaper written in the style of Revelations.

oh so it's style you object to?  So just because it's not written in today's written style you reject it?

So does that mean you reject all ancient literature to be untrue or unworthy? 

BEAST WITH ONE HEAD CROWNED IN CITY OF LAW

A sussuration of two million mewling nearly overcame the voices of celestial angels yesterday as a terrible ....

hahaha cute Cacto.  Actually you would never see this (I don't suppose) in a secular newspaper but I have seen some strange titles  on Christian news sites here and there. 

In fact I have an article right here from a Christian newspaper written in March of 2007 titled:

"Prophetic scholars say that never before has it seemed more likely that the Ezekiel prophecies of a future invasion of Israel are about to be fulfilled." 

Of course I hope you know that when I'm referring to the daily news I'm speaking that even the secular news is backing scripture up as the events are lining up exactly as predicted in the scriptures. 

on Jan 23, 2009

It is not corerct because the author was not writing for all future people, he was writing for a very select audiance, his churches in Asia Minor. Do you completely ignore chapters 1 and 2, where the authors writes to these churches and tells them about the persucution to come? I am not arguing that the book has no relelveance to current Christians, but rather thats its message is not one of specific events in the future, but one of God's eternal triumph over evil. The author is letting his churches know that despite the persecution, God is on their side, and that he will triumph over evil. The bopok is prophetic, but in the way that it prophisies that good will triumph over evil. My main proble with your general argument is that people have been trying to fit events in their day into the so called Revelation Timeline since the 1800's. The same things you are saying about city-states and one wirld giovernment were uttered when the League of Nations was formed. Remember when Hitler was the Anti-Christ, or maybe it was Kruschev, or as some people say Obama. When you are constantly trying to fit world events to this, you just look silly, because it changes all the time.  People will continue to do this forever, trying to fit certain events to this book, and they will fail, as Revelations was written for a certain time, and a certain people, not as some sort of guidebook to the future.  I do not beleive I will change your mind on this, I just want to give voice to the Christians who are not literalists, and especially not literalists concerning Revalation.

on Jan 23, 2009

It is not corerct because the author was not writing for all future people, he was writing for a very select audiance, his churches in Asia Minor. Do you completely ignore chapters 1 and 2, where the authors writes to these churches and tells them about the persucution to come?

Why would you say I'm ignoring this?  Why did you skip Chap 3?

These seven churches were actual churches, as you say, but they also represent types and conditions of churches in all generations.  Have you not noticed something important?

After each address to each church a comment is made.....""he that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit said to the churches."   You'll see this same exact comment repeated (for a reason)  in 2:7, 2:11, 2:17, 2:29, 3:6, 3:13, and 3:22.

Then if you notice after the address to the seven churches  it says....."AFTER THIS....." 

The address to the seven church is finished.  The rest of the book of Revelation is a recording of a vision from the vantage point of heaven. 

Now go over and look at 13:9 where it says:  "If any man have an ear, let him hear." 

There is no "to the churches" anymore.  

So now it's up to you.  Are you going to change your mind?

but rather thats its message is not one of specific events in the future, but one of God's eternal triumph over evil.

but it is one with very specific events that cannot correspond with the time of the first century.  John wrote what he saw in a vision that to him, was unexplainable.  But to us, now, finally it's not all that far-fetched.   That's because it was meant for our time.  Same with Daniel.  He was disturbed and told to shut up his book until the end because it was not meant for his time either.

People will continue to do this forever, trying to fit certain events to this book, and they will fail, as Revelations was written for a certain time, and a certain people, not as some sort of guidebook to the future.

My thinking is EXACTLY as the early church.  So I'm not fitting anything in.  People have tried to hurry the timing by claiming that the world was going on end in 1988 or some other such dates.  But they have been proven false.  Many will listen to the cults and then dismiss the whole book when these cults are found to be in error.  However the scripture is not wrong and there is a reason why people are trying to pinpoint the timing because they do believe it's a futuristic book not a historic one. 

 

I do not beleive I will change your mind on this,

I have studied this for over 30 years.  During that time I have made minor adjustments in my thinking most of it involving timing issues.  I know all about the  amill/premill/postmill interpretations.  You have to know all of scripture to understand Revelation.  The early church starting with the other writers of the NT were anticipating the return of Christ anyday. 

It wasn't until he didn't return that interpretations started changing somewhere around the third century.  By this time the Alexandria school of theology brought in a sweeping allegorical interpretation of Scripture displacing the early church's premill view.  But in the last few centuries premill has been revived by biblical scholars which brings in the futuristic interpretation of scripture which was held by the early church. 

Paul made it clear in his writing to the Thessalonians that "first there had to be a falling away (from the faith) and the man of perdition (anti-christ) would be revealed.  Paul had previously written to them about the rapture and they misunderstood thinking they surely had missed the rapture as some of the Christians had died before seeing the second coming. 

 

on Jan 24, 2009

oh so it's style you object to?  So just because it's not written in today's written style you reject it? So does that mean you reject all ancient literature to be untrue or unworthy?

Much ancient literature is untrue or not especially worthy. It's interesting, but that doesn't make it worthy. When people dig up the complete A-Z of murder series I doubt they'll consider it true or worthy, and I shudder to think of the religions that would rise and fall on the basis of those books.

on Jan 24, 2009

I shudder to think of the religions that would rise and fall on the basis of those books.

well I'm not sure which "books" you're referring but I believe the bible (a collection of writings bound together by different sources and time periods) is more than just a "book."  

 

on Jan 24, 2009

You know, dial M for Murder, A for Assassination or however it goes.

on Jan 24, 2009

hmmmm I guess I never read those books........