Seated in Rome
The
Universal
Whore
The Great Whore is now to be associated with Rome. There is no subtle way to approach this revelation. We cannot put a cheery or "loving" face on our solemn deduction. We cannot take away this offense and say it is alright, just because those we love have been immersed in her spiritual mysteries and perverse religion. But the only reasonable conclusion remains: the "Mother of Harlots" is taking her lead from the Roman Catholic Church and her efforts toward ecumenism. Her "daughters" are the myriad of apostate Christian denominations and other forms of false religion that are coming together under the Papacy's leadership in the global ecumenical movement . This ancient whore, of which The Vatican is now the leader, has seduced the world away from the one true God in exactly the same way a harlot might seduce a husband away from his wife. She has fed the inhabitants of the earth with the wine of her fornication, an elixir of poison that has kept them drunk on pleasure, lust, pride and every abominable form of idolatrous religion. Her idolatry and perversion of the truth has caused the world to lose touch with the real God and has coaxed them into worshiping gods that they have crafted with their own imagination instead. Where the faithful have resisted she has persecuted and killed them. She has made the world drunk on idolatry, while she has kept herself drunk on the blood of the saints and prophets.
It is our assertion that the city referred to must be the city of Rome since no other city or power during the last two thousand years could even be imagined to fit the bill. What city other than Rome has held sway over monarchs, despots, democratic societies, empires, island nations and provincial governments alike. Many commentators have made sound arguments in support of this over the years and we heartily agree with their forthright and courageous studies. Most of them, however, have held to a dubious understanding that chapter seventeen and chapter eighteen are talking about two separate and distinct spiritual forces: religious Babylon and commercial Babylon. Of that we do not agree. We have the distinct advantage of being, in some cases, as much as one hundred and fifty years further in history than our venerable predecessors who so avidly studied God's Word of prophecy. But we feel they do not give The Whore enough credit for being a universal presence in the earth. We feel it is the one spirit of false religion that holds sway in not only the religious sphere of man's affairs but also in the political, social and commercial realm as well. Granted, we who live so close to the coming of the Lord are armed with the hindsight of time, so it should be easier for us to see the form that The Great Whore, this MYSTERY, BABYLON AND MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH would take in the end.
Rome's Influence Is Universal
Her sphere of influence is not only in the pulpits, churches, temples synagogues and mosques of the world but in the marketplace, social organizations and political institutions of all nations. Both the secular and ecclesiastical worlds have been held under her spell for thousands of years. Commentators have recognized that The Whore has world-wide influence and in that sense is a universal presence. They have agreed that Rome is the essence and emblem of Babylon today and that the papacy has been the seat of The Great Whore for better than fifteen centuries. The word “catholic” means: universal. The word church means: separated ones or true believers. The title Roman signifies the spirit. The name Roman Catholic Church put together means: the universal believers of the spirit of Rome. Even its name identifies it with a city; The Roman Catholic religion is the only major religion named after a city. All others are named after its founder (Buddhism, Mohammedism, Lutheran) or the type of doctrine (Methodist, Baptist).
The Catholic Church has nearly a billion devotees. Unlike the eastern and Muslim religions, Roman Catholicism has a powerful presence on every continent in nearly every nation. The influence of the Vatican in Latin America and Africa has exploded in the last three decades, doubling and tripling in membership to 120 million and 71 million, respectively. The symbolism of a harlot "sitting on many waters" is a picture of universal influence and presence that can only be ascribed to the Catholic Church.
Since the Second Vatican Council in 1963 the Ecumenical Movement has taken off. The reason it has taken off is solely because Rome has given it full support, putting her full weight and influence behind it. It has only been since that time, and due to the revival of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit in the late sixties and early seventies, that students of prophecy could begin to see the breadth and width of Roman Catholic universalism. If commentators of old had our vantage point they would have been able to see, as we do, that there is no sound reason for dividing chapters seventeen and eighteen. There is only one woman riding on The Beast, only one woman that has all of this influence in the earth, and only one woman that will be judged. This one woman dominates both the religious and commercial sectors of human existence on earth. This can best be argued when reading the two chapters together without a break. Then we see that there are at least four references in chapter eighteen that are used to describe The Whore which are the exact same descriptions of her in chapter seventeen. If God meant these two to be viewed as two different spiritual powers why would He confuse us and use the exact same descriptions of her. Though we do not have to be dogmatic about this point, it would seem easier to understand when we consider that both chapters are speaking about one and the same power.
vs. 18:3 - "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her" (The same wording as in vs. 17:2)
vs. 18.16 - "And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!" (The same wording as in vs. 17:4)
vs. 18 24 - "And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." (Drunk also on the blood of the saints and the martyrs of Jesus vs. 17:6)
vs. 18.2 - She is called by name ‑ Babylon The Great (in vs.17:5 she is named Babylon The Great.)
vs. 18.18 - She will be burned by fire (in vs. 17:16 she is burned by fire.)
To further illustrate our point, the character in eighteen is referred to as a woman, just as in the previous chapter. There is only one woman that contrasts with the sun‑clad woman and she is the same one throughout the two chapters. God also refers to The Whore as represented by a city in five verses in chapter eighteen. Why would He conclude chapter seventeen by saying this Whore is a city and then confuse us by referring to another city five times in the following 21 verses?
These facts ought to prove to us that the spirit of Babylon, embodied now in Rome with its fountainhead of spiritual power, the Papacy, is universally powerful. No other church than Rome can be said to have such influence and power with merchants, either. Her merchandise and property all around the world is enormous and her wealth beyond knowing. She owns lands and property in almost every county, town, city and hamlet in every nation on every continent; her wealth in precious gems, gold and art is beyond measure. No accounting or inventory could begin to disclose the magnitude of her immense wealth. She is the biggest business in the world. If money brings power, she is a behemoth in commercial circles. All other corporations, including Microsoft, IBM and General Motors are micro midgets in comparison to her massive holdings and glittering wealth. Her gross annual income exceeds the GNP of most countries.
At the end of chapter seventeen we are explicitly told that The Whore is a city that has reigned over the kings of the earth. As we rapidly approach the last hour before Christ's return and the final judgment of The Whore the debate has centered around whether the city is Babylon, Rome or both. If you divide the prophecy into two parts it is easy to say that Rome is the representative of religious power and that a rebuilt Babylon in present-day Iraq will be the center of this commercial whore. But if we do not divide the two but take the prophecy literally that it is "a" city then we must make a choice.
Much of the argument for the city of Revelation eighteen actually being Babylon is that Revelation uses the name Babylon and that there are Old Testament prophecies indicating that Babylon will be rebuilt and will once again rise to world prominence at the end. But there are other prophecies that are similar in nature to this, using names of other cities to describe a spirit of Mystery Babylon. Ezekiel 26‑28, for example, uses Tyre, that great city‑state of the Mediterranean, as a metaphor for religion and Satan. In similar fashion Isaiah uses Babylon as a metaphor for spiritual perversity. That Tyre is a metaphor for all that the prideful Whore stands for seems clear. At any rate, a reasonable argument that absolves Rome from being The Whore seems impossible to make. The argument that makes The Whore's seat shift from The Vatican City to another place is unlikely and irrelevant in some ways. Even if it were to shift it would still be the same spirit of the same whore. If the Pope were to take His things to Babylon and set up shop there then it would still be ''Mystery Babylon".
There has been no other city that can be equated with this kind of power in modern or even ancient history. Rome has been dubbed the "eternal city" and certainly the universal power. What place could be called a city‑state other than the Roman Catholic Church residing in Vatican City as its own temporal power. Vatican City was established for the end‑times fulfillment of prophecy in 1929 by the Latern Treaty. It is a triangular piece of ground in the midst of Rome itself. Vatican City is a sovereign nation that mints its own coins, prints its own stamps and has the Pope as its absolute ruler. It has diplomatic relations with, and sends ambassadors to, every nation and answers to no other authority but itself. In Scripture, a city is the most fundamental unit of political and national power. It is to government and order what the family is to social and moral structure. Because it is so fundamental to social order, God uses it symbolically throughout the Bible. This is why God has likened the Great Whore to a city and even inextricably connected her destiny with one metropolis. The woman in chapter twelve and the bride of Christ is also likened to a city (Rev 21.9‑10). In that passage God shows how a city is just an expression of what He offers to obedient followers. Impurities, sin, evil and death are kept out. Peace, great riches, health, enlightenment, sustenance and contentment are within its impregnable walls (Rev. 21). Isaiah 26‑28 uses the same symbolism. The city of Babylon has always stood as a citadel of security in this world for the purposes of providing escape and refuge for man from God, not to God. The city of Babylon is an expression of man's independence from reliance on God. It started with Nimrod's original city and again we saw it in Nebuchadnezzar's great city‑state of Babylon for which he was judged (Daniel 4). In Ezekiel we see the city of Tyre likened to Satan and the Antichrist (26-28).
It may be asked, why then does God use the name Babylon and not come right out and call it Rome? After all, Rome was the existing power and known throughout the world and everyone could have related to it? For precisely that reason God did not call this spirit, “Rome”. The persecution that the Church suffered in the first two hundred and fifty years was severe enough without having the Bible calling the Roman Empire the Antichrist Kingdom. The Bible would have had to survive censorship and more burnings than God wanted it to or than His plan could permit. The persecution was severe enough over the years. Estimates as high as 900 million believers have been martyred at the hands of the Roman Emperors, the Papacy and its zealot monarchs. If the Bible had expressly used her name it could have been measurably worse, even to the point of banning the Bible itself. Having said these things, the following 24 verses of chapter eighteen speak for themselves.
Now we see her sentence carried out
"And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." (Rev. 18.1-3)
Another angel now appears on the scene to administer the final judgment of the Great Whore. Using Arthur Bloomfield's criteria that every time Jesus appears we are tipped off because He has some characteristic which was used to describe Him in chapter one, we can conclude that this angel is also Jesus. He comes down with “great power” and “the earth is lightened by His glory”. Only Jesus’ presence could lighten the earth. This great angel is coming to deal out the final judgment to the force that has been His nemesis from the beginning of the redemption story. Since she has been a cancer in the midst of His people and for thousands of years has dominated, persecuted and killed true believers it is fitting that He will be the instrument of her final judgment and destruction. The angel cries out with a mighty voice, a role that is exclusively reserved for Jesus in Revelation. He has the honor of declaring the demise of the arrogant city and spiritual whore. She thought she had set herself up as the eternal habitation of peace and wealth, but now she will be the habitation of every evil and unclean thing. Desolation is her inheritance. She is utterly destroyed and there is nothing of any value or goodness that remains in her. Once again we are reminded that she has committed fornication with the kings of the earth and caused the inhabitants of the earth to be drunk with her adulterous doctrines and ways. There cannot be a religious whore and a commercial whore doing the same thing to the world. It is one spiritual power influencing the world by a multitude of different means. We are finding out that there is really only one great promoter of the "deceitfulness of riches" (Mark 4. 19). She has made it religiously correct to worship mammon instead of God. Power and wealth has been baptized by her and the merchants of the earth have cashed in on her shrewd business ways and her religious hypocrisy.
A Warning for Believers and the Severity of her Judgment
"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.
For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.
How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." (Rev. 18.4-8)
We have arrived at a point in Revelation where God’s purpose in exposing The Whore becomes crystal clear. “Come out of her, my people”, He says, “that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Can any Bible believer have any doubt about the sternness and gravity of this warning by God to His people? He has shown them the enemy from within and, like Lot in Sodom, has told them to get away from her so they will not perish along with her. We are fairly warned: withdraw from The Whore and have nothing to do with her at all.
Two things should become obvious in this warning to depart from her. First, in order to withdraw from her we must know and recognize who it is that we have to withdraw and stay separated from. That is why we have taken pains to identify The Whore as false religion and apostate Christianity in all its forms. It should be obvious that if we are to withdraw from her then we must identify her and her associates and partners or, in other words, those who agree with her or refuse to depart from her. If we do not know who and what she is then we cannot be sure we are separated and free from her influence. It therefore becomes of paramount importance that we understand every part of the revelation concerning her. It is for the protection and deliverance of the true body of faithful believers. Second, if chapter eighteen were about one commercial city of some distant future time then this warning cannot be directed at and has no great purpose for the people of God. It has no relevance for us. What would the people of God be doing in her at the last hours before Jesus' return anyway. What kind of threat is a rebuilt Babylon going to pose for true believers? Are we going to move there, or are Christians going to suddenly be induced to worship Marduk or golden calves? It makes no sense that God is issuing a warning to come away from some great commercial city because it is a spiritual whore. No, this is a universal spiritual warning about an ancient spirit of idolatry and adultery that is far more subtle than the demonic worship of past pagan days. It has to be. It should be obvious that this is about the one and only Great Whore who has universal appeal and power. It is a repeat of the warning given in II Corinthians 6 by Paul;
"And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty." (Rev. 16-19)
The statement that this woman makes in her heart is a religious one, not one made by the secular, heathen world: “for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.” God would not be interested in the carnal business world proclaiming their independence from Him. That is a given fact that goes without saying. No, this statement is the voice of hypocrisy, a statement of religious pride coming from the queen of the world's religion. Her voice echoes the sentiments of the Laodicean Church in Revelation chapter three - the Church so despised by Christ for its self‑reliance, self‑confidence and dreadful independence from Him. This is the spirit that announces that it has no need of God and yet it pretends to be His closest confidant and friend, even His wife .
It is ironic that in the end the only thing that reaches to heaven for mighty Babylon is her sins. “For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.” She had originally come together to transcend God and reach into the heavens to control her own destiny, but by her rebellion only her sins have reached unparalleled heights. God has promised to return two-fold to her al the cruelty and sin she has accumulated over the ages. She has lived in riches and pomp. The Catholic Church and others that have had the audacity to profess charity and poverty but have lived in opulent palaces like rich misers, parading the streets with jewels and robes of enormous wealth will be decimated in one day never to rise again.
The World Mourns Her, but Saints will not
"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.
And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:" (Rev. 18.9-11)
All the unfaithful people of the world will mourn over her. She was their religion and their shining example of pride and glory. She needed nothing from anyone. She had it all. She was the queen of heaven. But the believers in heaven and earth will not mourn for her at all. There will be shouts of “Hallelujah” and “Praise God” resounding through the universe .
We cannot help but envision the day that Vatican City with all its wealth, pomp and circumstance, and great pretensions against God will be turned into a smoldering heap of ashes. To borrow a favorite phrase from The Christian Spirit writer, Leroy Gardenier, - Rome, called The Eternal City, will ultimately be turned into: The Eternal Cinder!
She Deals In People and Souls
"The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men." (Rev.18.12,13)
This list of merchandise should be taken as a whole unit. It is a complete list of worldly items which The Whore has trafficked in since the earliest days of her history. It starts with the most valuable of earth's metals, gold, goes through every other conceivable thing and ends with the souls of men. The souls of men is certainly not the merchandise of the commercial world. This is the favorite merchandise of religion. This list is only another argument in favor of seeing The Great Whore in seventeen and eighteen as one and the same. This is a list of the things that the gods of this earth buy and sell. In contrast, God is the merchant of spiritual things and truth. The Scriptures tell us to; "Buy the truth and, sell it not; also wisdom, and instruction, and understanding." . God has purchased salvation for us with His own blood and won peace and life for us; these are the things God traffics in and e3ncourages us to purchase. But He outlawed those things the Whore delights to deal in. He forbade Israel to make merchandise of people or wives . But the buying and selling of slaves: and domination of souls and people’s faith has been The Whore's favorite merchandise.
She Is Once Again Identified With A City
"The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls! ...
And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.
And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." (Rev. 18.15,16; 22-24)
Rome is the abode of the spirit of Babylon. As the body is dead without the spirit, as faith is dead without works, so the city of Rome is lifeless without the spirit of Mystery Babylon. By her sorceries all the nations were deceived into worshiping false gods and its inhabitants made drunk.
The visions of this evil harlot which God presents us with in chapters seventeen and eighteen are among the most foreboding of all Scripture. The sober warning given to the faithful in chapter eighteen ‑ that they must come out from her and have nothing to do with her ‑ should make any conscientious disciple of Christ serious minded in their determination to identify her so they can totally withdraw from her and her influence. So alarming is this indictment that we are shocked and dismayed when we hear it. She is accused of being the persecutor and killer of the saints and prophets of God. She claims to be the blessed one of the earth, in need of nothing and ruler over the kings of the earth, but in reality she is the Antichrist's co-conspirator and together they have continually committed spiritual fornication, raped the Church of God, and drawn the world away from true worship to their false gods and ways. We hear the Spirit saying, "Come away from her dear children." V
It is not within the scope of this work to cover the ecumenical movement but you have only to read the Papal Bulls, Encyclicals and Homilies since Vatican II and especially Pope John Paul II’s reign to see the overtures being made to all the major religions of the world, inviting them to keep their own false religion and become a part of the One World Church all under the ambiguous banner of being “people of goodwill”.
This statement is very much like the one which Christ rebukes Laodicea in Rev. 3 for: “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.”