It is very sad that a small portion of rabid protestants still play the "Whore of babylon" canard with reference to the Catholic Church. What is truly perplexing about this is that the Bible is actually quite clear in showing who the Harlot is and, in doing so, actually proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that the Catholic church could not possibly be one of the candidates. This proof is so far beyond disputable that you can only conclude that someone making this accusation is either lying or suffering from some form of mental defect.Let's go through the clues that point to the harlot and you will see how not one of them could possibly find it's fulfillment in Catholicism.
Revelation 17Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who is seated upon many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on earth have become drunk."
Here we see, plainly exposed, the fundamental deadly flaw in the false doctrine of Sola scriptura. To believe in "The Bible alone" assures (despite protestations to the contrary) that the reader will shade the passages with his/her own predjudices, injecting into the text that which is actually not present. Protestant dispensationalists actually impose their anti-Catholic bias on this passage. As a result, they must futurize an entity and events that John clearly tells us are past and present with respect to his time.
In fact, John says that even those future events will soon come to pass (1:1). The idea that the "whore of babylon" discourse is a prophecy of end time events, featuring only end-time entities is a complete protestant invention, without one letter of scriptural support.
3 And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. 4* The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her fornication;To assert this as an allusion to the Catholic Church, anti-Catholics actually undercut their arguments by mixing many metaphors. These Apocaliptic writings are very clear that the whore, the beast and the anti-christ (alluded to later) are 3 related, but distinct entities. However, anti-catholics routinely juxtapose all 3 onto catholicism. this, of course, makes them look every bit as confused and desperate as they are.
What is being shown here is clear. The beast is an agent of Satan and the woman is condemned for playing it's whore.
The first clues to the identity of the whore would have been unmistakable to the people of John's time. This is without question, referring to those inhabiting the Temple in Jerusalem-
Exodus 285 "They shall receive gold, blue and purple and scarlet stuff, and
fine twined linen.
9 And you shall take two onyx stones, and engrave on
them the names of the sons of Israel, 10 six of their names on the one stone,
and the names of the remaining six on the other stone, in the order of their
birth.
Exodus 2529 *Of pure gold you shall make its plates and
cups, as well as its pitchers and bowls for pouring libations.
It is quite clear that these things all point to Jerusalem's temple. Though you could argue that a "golden cup" could be misunderstood to allude to the Communion Chalice of the Catholic Church and that purple and scarlet vestments (along with every other color imaginable) may have been used in the catholic mass from time to time, it is clear that the totality of descriptors, including precious stones and pearls (found nowhere in catholicism) refers to the Jewish Temple.
The clincher, again, is the fact that her spiritual harlotry is recorded as having already occured in John's time. To try to make this fit catholicism is pretty difficult unless you admit that the Catholic church was present in John's time and was once God's Holy people. spiritual harlotry cannot be committed by anyone but God's people.
5 and on her forehead was written a name of mystery:"Babylon the great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations." 6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.Notice that a distinction is made between "saints" and "martyrs of Jesus". In 18:24, the distinction is between "prophets" and"saints". What is being said here is very clear and unmistakable. There are three specific groups of victims of the Whore;
- Prophets
- Old Testament Saints
- New Testament Saints (martyrs of Jesus)
Again, to futurize this passage is to take a leap that the text will simply not allow. Though one can infer that additional, future victims could happen, the text does not specifically say so, but one must stipulate that victims of the whore's villany include those prophets that existed before John's time and those New testament saints of John's time. this is, again, impossible for the catholic church and, as the Bible clearly shows, can only be fulfilled in one entity.
Matthew 2337* "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning
those who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children
together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 38*
Behold, your house is forsaken and desolate. * 39* For I tell you, you will not
see me again, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'"
Luke 1333 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and
the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from
Jerusalem.' 34* O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, killing the prophets and stoning those
who are sent to you! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not! 35* Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, 'Blessed is he
who comes in the name of the Lord!'"
On the strength of this Biblical evidence alone, it has been shown that, even if you accepted the ludicrous assertions of countless catholic murders during the middle ages, there is no scenario you can create where the catholic church was even in existence to kill all of the prophets and the martyrs of Jesus. Not even Rome or Greece or Persia or even the original Babylon can fulfill that dubious title. In fact, the city of Jerusalem is the one and only historical entity culpable for the murder of all the prophets and martyrs up to John's time. That is a fact that cannot be plausibly disputed.
When I saw her I marveled greatly. 7 But the angel said to me, "Why marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast with seven heads and ten horns that carries her. 8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is to ascend from the bottomless pit and go to perdition; and the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will marvel to behold the beast, because it was and is not and is to come
The Angel is taking great pains to show that the beast is one who did exist, now does not exist and will exist again. Whatever your interpretation of who the beast is, it cannot be the Catholic church unless you can prove that the catholic church did exist prior to AD 66, Did not exist in AD 66 and appeared again after AD 66. There is no interpretation of historical events in which this scenario works.
The only way to interpret the imagery of the Seven headed beast (called a seven headed dragon in Revelation 12) is to view it through the lens being slowly drawn in. The Beast/Dragon is first identified as Satan (Revelation 12:9) in the sense that he is the ultimate source of all evil. Drawing the lens in closer, it is that specific beast upon which the harlot has committed spiritual adultery with, to the point of even assuming it's name 'Babylon'. This is unmistakably, the evil Roman empire of John's time. Finally, bring the lens to it's closest focus, and we look at the seven heads of the larger beast to find the specific beast John is referring to.
Notice that John says, both of this beast, and of the particular head, that it was, but now not is. In other words, it is (in John's time) dead.
10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he comes he must remain only a little while. 11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to perdition.
So, let's break this down. The now dead, but soon to be "ressurected" specific beast, is a head of the larger Roman beast, which is a type of the ultimate beast- Satan. Therefore, the specific beast is not only one of the seven heads, it is one of the five that have fallen. This important fact is shown over and over again so that the people of John's time would not miss the identity of the specific beast who is a specific person who existed as one of the first 5 heads of the Roman beast.
They are;
- Augustus
- Tiberius
- Cladius
- Caligula
- Nero
John emphasizes this by telling us that the seventh King (Othos), once he came, would reign only a short while. Indeed, Othos reigned only 6 months.
Let us be clear. Whatever conclusions we draw about John's words that the beast would later rise from hell, be they figurative or literal, be they fulfilled shortly or in the end times or both, we cannot escape the fact that it was a specific person of John's time that the peoplewould have been able to deny by the clues given.
Revelation 13And to it the dragon gave his power and his throne and great
authority. 3 One of its heads seemed to have a mortal wound, but its mortal
wound was healed, .............. 18 This calls for wisdom: let him who has
understanding reckon the number of the beast, for it is a human number, its
number is six hundred and sixty-six.
Many argue that the book of Revelation shows that this partiular beast rises from the dead (either figuratively or literally) as Anti-Christ or one of his agents. Others say that his rising from the dead refers figuratively to his being a type of Vespasian who, through his son Titus, destroyed the city of Jerusalem. Still others see a dual fulfillment, in which Jerusalem is actually destroyed twice- in 70 AD and in the end times. All of these explanations are plausible. ( I hold to the third view).
What cannot be denied is the original identity of the Beast as a man, one of the first five Roman Emperors, who died and whose number in Genatria add up to the required sum of 666.
There are only two qualified candidates;
- Caligula
- Nero
To identify the Beast as Rome and, more specifically, Nero is key. For if the Beast is Rome, the harlot cannot be Rome. A whore cannot be a whore to herself.
Revelation tells us very clearly that whore is distinct from the Beast, joined only by their spiritual adultery.
This is the trap that anti-Catholics cannot escape. If, as they laughingly assert, the larger Beast is the Catholic Church and the specific beast/anti-Christ is the Pope, then just who is the whore?
Are we to believe that the Whore sits on herself and commits spiritual adultery with herself? Are we to believe that the roman beast hates itself, turns on itself, devours it's own flesh and burns itself with fire?
15 And he said to me, "The waters that you saw, where the harlot is seated, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. 16 And the ten horns that you saw, they and the beast will hate the harlot; they will make her desolate and naked, and devour her flesh and burn her up with fire, 17 for God has put it into their hearts to carry out his purpose by being of one mind and giving over their royal power to the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
Verses 9-10 tells us that the seven heads have the dual meaning of representing both the seven mountains of the Whore and the seven Kings of the Beast. This is such a strong distinction. They are two seperate cities. The seven mountains (Oros) upon which the Whore sits cannot be the same as the seven hills upon which the beast sits.
Verse 18 clinches it. The Whore is the Great City and the Great City is Jerusalem.
Revelation 117 And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, 8 and their dead bodies will lie in thestreet of the great city which isallegorically called Sodom and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.
This constitutes proof that the harlot of babylon is Jerusalem. I have not merely asserted it, I have proven it, not beyond a reasonable doubt but beyond any doubt. Those who still refer to the Catholic Church as the whore of babylon are proposing that which the Bible shows to be absolutely impossible. They continue to do so at the expense of what little remaining credibility they may have.
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