Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot -A Name, A Mystery - Conclusion

 Over the centuries, the world empire of false religion has shed oceans of blood. For example, in medieval Japan, temple in Kyoto were transformed into fortresses, and warrior-monks, invoking "the holy name of Buddha, battled one another until the streets ran red with blood. In this 20th century, the clergy of Christendom have marched with the armies of their respective countries, and these have slaughtered one another with the loss of a hundred million lives. In October 19 87 former U.S. president Nixon said: "The 20th century has been the bloodiest in history. More people have been killed in the wars of this century than in all the wars fought before the century began."  The religions of the world are judged adversely by God for their share in shedding innocent blood." (Proverbs6:16, 17) Earlier, John heard a cry from the altar: 'Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood upon these who dwell on the earth?" (Revelation 6:10) Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth will be deeply involved when the time comes to answer that question.

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 Babylon the Great is dressed in "purple and scarlet," the colors of royalty, and is "adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls." How appropriate! Just reflect on all the magnificent buildings, rare statues and paintings, priceless icons and other religious paraphernalia, as well as astronomical amounts of property and cash, this this world's religions have accumulated. Whether at the Vatican, in the TV empire of evangelism centered in the United States, in the exotic wats and temples of the Orient, Babylon the Great has amassed-and at times lost-fabulous wealth.  

Look now at what the harlot has in her hand. John must have gasped a the sight of it-a golden cup "full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication"! with which she has made all the nations drunk. (Revelation 14:8; 17:2) It looks rich on the outside. but its contents are disgusting, unclean. (Compare Matthew 23:25, 26) It contains all the filthy practices and lies that the great harlot has used to seduce the nations and bring them under her influence. Even more revolting, John sees that the harlot herself is inebriated, drunk with the blood of God's servants! In fact, we later read that "in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have slaughtered on the earth." (Revelation 18:24) What massive bloodguilt!

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - A Name, a Mystery

 As was the custom in ancient Rome, this prostitute is identified by the name on her forehead." It is a long name: "Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth." That name "is mystery," something with a hidden meaning. But in God's due time, the mystery is to be explained. In fact, the angel gives John enough information to allow Jehovah's servants today to discern the full significance of this descriptive name. We recognize Babylon the Great as being all of false religion. She is "the mother of the harlots" because all the individual false religions in the world, including the many sects in Christendom, are like her daughters, imitating her in committing spiritual harlotry. She is also the mother of "disgusting things" in that she has given birth to such revolting offspring as idolatry, spiritism, fortune-telling, astrology, palmistry, human sacrifice, temple prostitution, drunkenness in honor of false gods, and other obscene practices. 

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Chapter Thirty-Three/Judging the Infamous Harlot - A Name, a Myystery

 The apostle John is soon to learn that the great harlot has chosen a dangerous beast to ride. First, though, his attention turns to Babylon the Great herself. She is richly adorned, but, oh, how repulsive she is! "And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls she had in her hand a golden cup that was full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication. And upon her forehead was written a name, a mystery: 'Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.' And I saw that the woman was drunk with blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus." - REVELATION 17:4-6a. 

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

 What of the League's successor, the United Nations? From its inception, this body also had the great harlot riding on its back, visibly associated with it and trying to guide its destiny.  For example, on its 20th anniversary, in June 1965, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, together with Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims -said to represent two thousand million of earth's population-assembled in San Francisco to celebrate their support and admiration of the UN. On visiting the UN in October 1965, Pope Paul VI described it as "that greatest of all international organizations" and added: "The peoples of the earth turn to the United Nations as the last hope of concord and peace. " Another papal visitor, Pope John Paul II, addressing the UN in October 1979, said: "I hope the Unted Nations will ever remain the supreme forum of peace and justice" Significantly, the pope made no mention of Jesus Christ or of God's Kingdom in his speech. During his visit to the United States in September 1987, as reported by The New York Times," John Paul spoke at length about the positive role of the United Nations in promoting . . ."new worldwide solidarity.' " 

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 The dismal failure of the League of Nations should have signaled to the clergy that such man-made organs are no part of a Kingdom of God on earth. What blasphemy to make such a claim! It makes it seem as though God was a party to the colossal botch that the League turned out to be. As for God, "perfect is activity." Jehovah's heavenly Kingdom under Christ-and not a combine of squabbling politicians, many of them atheists-is the means by which he will bring in peace and have his will done on earth as in heaven. - DEUTERONOMY 32:4; MATTHEW 6:10. 

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 On January 2, 1919, the San Francisco Chronicle carried the front-page headline: "Pope Pleads for adoption of Wilson's League of Nations." on October 16, 1919, a petition signed by 14, 450 clergymen of leading denominations was presented to the U.S. Senate, urging that body "to ratify the Paris peace treaty embodying the league of nations covenant." Though the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaty, Christendom's clergy continued to campaign for the League. And how was the League inaugurated? A news dispatch from Switzerland, dated November 15, 1920, read: "Opening of the first assembly of the League of Nations was announced at eleven o'clock this morning by the ringing the church bells in Geneva." 

Did the John class, the one group on earth that eagerly accepted the incoming Messianic Kingdom, share with Christendom in paying homage to the scarlet-colored wild beast? Far from it! On Sunday, September 7, 1919, the convention of Jehovah's people in Cedar Point, Ohio, featured the public talk "The Hope for Distressed Humanity." On the following day, the Sandusky Star-Journal reported that J.F. Rutherford, president of the Watch Tower Society, in addressing nearly 7,000 persons, had "asserted that the Lord's displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League . . . because the clergy-Catholic and Protestant-claiming to be God's representatives, have abandoned his plan and endorsed the League of Nations, hailing it as a political expression of Christ's kingdom on earth." 

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 In what way is this symbolic wild beast full blasphemous names? In that men have set up this multinational idol as a substitute for God's Kingdom- to accomplish what God says his Kingdom alone can accomplish. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 12:18, 21) What is remarkable about John's vision, though, is that Babylon the Great is riding the scarlet-colored-wild beast. True to the prophecy, Babylonish religion, particularly in Christendom, has linked itself with the League of Nations and its successor. As early as December 18,1918, the body now known as the National Council of Churches of Christ in America adopted a declaration that declared in part: "Such a League is not mere political expedient; it is the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. . . The Church can give a spirit of good-will, without which no League of Nations is rooted in the Gospel. Like the Gospel, its objective is "peace on earth, good will toward men.' " 

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 This wild beast has seven heads and ten horns. Is it, then, the same as the wild beast that John saw earlier, which also has seven heads and ten horns? (Revelation 13:1) No, there are differences. This wild beast is scarlet-colored and, unlike the previous wild beast, is not said to have diadems. Rather than having blasphemous names on its seven heads only, it is "full of blasphemous names. " Nevertheless, there must be a relationship between this new wild beast and the previous one, the similarities between them are too pronounced to be coincidental. 

What, then, is this new scarlet-colored wild beast? It must be the image to the wild beast that was brought forth under the urging of the Anglo-American wild beast that has two horns like a lamb. After the image was made, that two-horned wild beast was allowed to give breath to the image of the wild beast. (Revelation 13:14, 15) John now sees the living, breathing image. It pictures the League of Nations organization that the two-horned wild beast brought to life in 1920. U.S. President Wilson had envisioned that the League "would be a forum for the dispensation of justice for all men and wipe out the threat of war forever." When it was resurrected after the second world war as the United Nations, its chartered purpose was "to maintain international peace and security. " 

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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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