Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot- The Harlot Rides a Beast

 What more does the prophecy disclose as the great harlot and her fate? As John now relates, a further vivid scene comes into view: "And he [the angel] carried me away in the power of the spirit into wilderness. And I caught sight of a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns." - REVELATION 17:3.

Why is John carried into the wilderness? An earlier pronouncement of doom against ancient Babylon was described as being "against the wilderness of the sea." (Isaiah 21:1, 9) This gave due warning that despite all its weary defenses, ancient Babylon would become a lifeless desolation. It is fitting, then, that John should be carried off in his vision to wilderness to see the fate of Babylon the Great. She too must become desolate and waste. (Revelation 18:19, 22, 23) John is amazed, although by what he sees out there. The great harlot is not alone! She is sitting on a monstrous wild beast!

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Sitting on Many Waters -Conclusion

 Shinto Japan provides a notable example of this. The indoctrinated Japanese soldier regarded as the highest honor to give his life for the emper0r-the supreme Shinto god. During World War II, some 1,500,000 Japanese soldiers died in battle, almost to a man, they looked at surrender as dishonorable. But as a consequence of Japan's defeat, Emperor Hirohito was compelled to renounce his claim to divinity. This resulted in a notable withdrawing of the "waters" supporting the Shino segment of Babylon the Great-alas, after Shintoism had sanctioned the shedding of buckets of blood in the Pacific war theater. This weakening of Shino influence also opened the way in recent years for more than 120,000 Japanese, the great majority of whom were formerly Shintoists and Buddhists, to become dedicated, baptized ministers of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Sitting on Many Waters

 Ancient Babylon sat on many waters-the Euphrates River and numerous canals. These were a protection to her as well as a source of commerce producing wealth, until they dried up in one night. (Jeremiah 50:38; 51:9, 12, 13) Babylon the Great also looks to "many waters" to protect and enrich her. These symbolic waters are "peoples and crowds and nations and tongues," that is, all the thousands of millions over whom she had dominated and from whom she has drawn material support. But these waters are also drying up, or withdrawing support. -REVELATION 17:15; compare PSALM 18:4; ISAIAH 8:7. 

Further, Babylon of old was described as "a golden cup in the hand of Jehovah, she is making all the earth drunk." (Jeremiah 51:7) Ancient Babylon forcing neighboring nations to swallow expressions of Jehovah's anger when she conquered them militarily, making them as weak as drunken men. In that respect, she was Jehovah's instrument. Babylon the Great, too, has made conquests to the point of becoming a worldwide empire. She is certainly not God's instrument. Rather, she has served "the kings of the earth" with whom she commits religious fornication. She has gratified these kings by using her lying doctrines and enslaving practices to keep the massed of the people, "those who inhabit the earth," weak as drunken men, passively subservient to their rulers. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Modern-Day "Harlotry" - Conclusion

 Such Catholic diplomacy illustrates the kind harlotry that religion has engaged in over the past 4,000 years in wooing the political state in order to gain power and advantage. Such religio-political relationships have fostered warfare, persecutions, and human misery on a vast scale. How happy mankind can be that Jehovah's judgment upon the great harlot is a hand. May it soon be executed!

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot -Modern-Day "Harlotry" - Continue

 Though a handful of priests and nuns protested Hitler's  atrocities-and suffered for it-the Vatican as well as the Catholic Church and its army of clergy gave either active or tacit support to the Nazi tyranny, which they regarded at bulwark against the advance of world communism. Sitting pretty in the Vatican, Pope Pius XII let the holocaust on the Jews and the cruel persecution of Jehovah's Witnesses and others proceed uncriticized. It is ironical that Pope John II, on visiting Germany on May 19187, should glorify the anti-Nazi stand of one sincere priest. What were the other thousands of the German's clergy during Hitler's reign of terror? A pastoral letter issued by the German Catholic bishops in September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II provides enlightenment on this point. It reads in part: "In this decisive hour we admonish our Catholic soldiers to do their duty in obedience to the Fueher and to be ready to sacrifice their whole individuality. We appeal to the Faithful to join in ardent prayers that Divine Providence may leald this war to blessed success. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Modern-Day "Harlotry"

 On July 20, 2933, the Vatican's interest in the rising power of Nazism was displayed when Cardinali Paceli (who later became Pope Pius XII) singed a concordat in Rome between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. VonPapen signed the document as Hitler's representative, and Paceli  there conferred on von Papen the high papal decoration of he Grand Cross of the Order of Pius. In his book Satan in Top Hate, Tibor Koeves writes of this, stating: "The Concordat was a great victory for Hitler. It gave him the first moral support he had received from the outer world, and this from the exalted source." The concordat required the Vatican to withdraw its support from Germany's Catholic Center Party, thus sanctioning Hitler's one-party "total state." Further, its article 14 stated: "The appointments for archbishops, bishops, and the like will be issued only after the governor, installed by the Reich, has duly ascertained that no doubts exist with respect to general political considerations." By the end of 1933 (proclaimed a "Holy Year by Pope Pius XI), Vatican support had become a major factor in Hitler's push for world domination. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Modern-day "Harlotry"

 Through her meddling in politics, the great harlot has brought untold sorrow to mankind. Consider, for example, the facts behind Hitler's rise to power in Germany-ugly facts that some would like to expunge from the history books. In May of 1924 the Nazi party held 32 seats in the German Reichstag. By May 1928 these had dwindled to 12 seats. However, the great Depression engulfed the world in 1930; riding out its wake, the Nazis made a remarkable recovery, gaining 230 out of 608 seats in the German elections of July 1932. Soon after, former Chancellor Franz von Papal Knight, came to the Nazis' aid. According to historians, von Papab envisioned a new Holy Roman Empire. His own short tenure as Chancellor had been a failure, so now he hoped to gain power through the Nazis. By January 1933, he had mustered support for Hitler from the industrial barons, and through wily intrigues he ensured that Hitler became Germany's chancellor on January 30, 1933. He himself was made vice-chancellor and was used by Hitler to win the support of Catholic sections of Germany. Within two months of gaining power, Hitler dissolved parliament, dispatched thousands of opposition leaders to concentration camps. and began an open campaign of oppressing the Jews.

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot -Conclusion

 Baylon (or Babel, meaning "Confusion") came to its peak of greatness in Nebuchadnezzar's time. It was a relio-political state with more than a thousand temples and chapels. Its priesthood exercised great power. Though Babylon has ceased to exist as a world power, religious Babylon the Great lives on, and after the ancient pattern, she still seeks to influence and mold political affairs. But does God approve of religion in politics? In the Hebrews Scriptures, Israel was said to prostitute herself when she got involved with false worship and when, instead of trusting in Jehovah, she made alliances with the nations. (Jeremiah 3;6, 8, 9; Ezekiel 16:28-30) Babylon the Great also commits fornication. Outstandingly, she has done whatever she deems expedient in order to gain influence and power over the ruling kings of the earth. 1 TIMOTHY 4:1.

Today, religious leaders frequently campaign for high government office, and in some lands, they share in government, even holding cabinet posts. In 1988 to well-known Protestant clergymen ran for the office of president of the United States. Leaders in Babylon the Great love the limelight; their photos are often seen in the public press as they consort with prominent politicians. In contrast, Jesus shunned political involvement and said of his disciples: "They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world." - JOHN 6:15; 17:16; MATTHEW 48:10; see also James 4:4. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - Continue

 Which religious entity? Is she the Roman Catholic Church, as some have maintained? Or is she all of Christendom? No, she must be even larger than these if she is to mislead all the nations. She is, in fact, the entire world empire of false religion. Her origin in the mysteries of Babylon is shown in that many Babylonish doctrines and practices are common to religions around the earth. For example, belief in inherent immorality of the human soul, in a hell of torment, and in a trinity of gods is to be found in most Oriental religions as well as in the sects of Christendom. False religion, spawned more than 4,000 years ago in the ancient city of Babylon, has developed into the modern monstrosity that is called appropriately, Babylon the Great. Why, though, is she described by the repugnant term "the great harlot"? 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot

 "The great harlot"! Why so shocking a designation? Who is she? Some had identified this symbolic harlot with ancient Rome. But Rome was political power. This harlot commits fornication with the kings of the earth, and this evidently includes the kings of Rome. Besides, after her destruction, "the kings of the earth, " are said to mourn her passing. Therefore, she cannot be a political power. (Revelation 18:9, 10) Additionally, since she is mourned also by the world's destruction, she could not picture big business. (Revelation 18:15, 16) We read, however. that by her spiritistic practice all the nations were misled! (Revelation 18:23) This makes it clear that the great harlot must be the worldwide religious entity. 

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