Whore of Babylon

The Whore of Babylon rides the seven-headed Beast.

The Whore of Babylon or Mystery Babylon the Great is a city-state mentioned in the Book of Revelation in the Bible. She is associated with the Antichrist and the Beast of Revelation by connection with the kingdom with seven heads and ten horns.

She makes her appearance in Revelation chapter 17, in which she is described as:

"the great whore that sitteth 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." (Rev. 17:1-2 KJV)

She bears the title, "Mystery Babylon the Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth", and is described as being "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus." (Rev. 17:5-6) Her apocalyptic downfall is prophesied at the hands of the kingdom with seven heads and ten horns.

Symbolism

Woodcut (unknown artist), late 15th century German print.

The “great whore” of the Bible book of Revelation is featured in chapters 17 and 18.

The symbols and characters in the passages include the following, in order of appearance.

The great whore (that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth); the many waters (peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues); the kings of the earth; a scarlet coloured beast (with seven heads and ten horns); seven heads (seven mountains); ten horns (ten kings); the blood of the saints & martyrs.

Several of the passages partly define several of the symbols, but not all of them.

Revelation 17:9 And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

Revelation 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Revelation 17:12 And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Revelation 17:18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

Rome and the Roman Empire as the Whore of Babylon

Many Bible scholars agree that Babylon in the whore's title is meant as an allegory of Rome — perhaps specifically at the time to some aspect; of Rome's rule (brutality, greed, paganism), or even a servant people that does the bidding of Rome. The Roman Catholic commentary of the Jerusalem Bible, the evangelical Protestant commentary of the New International Version Study Bible, the Rastafarians and the liberal Protestant commentary of the Oxford Annotated Study Bible all concur that "Babylon is the symbolic name for Rome" and that (1st century) "Rome" is the "type of any place where evil is supreme." (Jerusalem Bible, commentary to Rev. 17)

Elsewhere in the New Testament, in 1 Peter 5:13, "Babylon" is possibly used to refer to Rome. This is bolstered by the remark in Rev. 17:9 that she sits on "seven mountains", which could be the proverbial seven hills of Rome. "Rome" would therefore be the 'new Babylon' and all of the symbolism characterizing Babylon as a wanton "whore", would be transferable to Rome, according to this view.

However, the author of Revelation elsewhere refers to Jerusalem, as "that great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified." (Rev. 11:8)

There are a number of smaller symbolic clues - that some see as suggesting a link between Rome and Babylon — the Roman Empire in its military occupation of Palestine, its repression of the Jewish nation and religion, its destruction of Jerusalem following Jewish revolts in 70 AD and 135 AD, and its persecution of Christians, would lend meaning to the imagery of the 'whore, drunk with the blood of martyrs,' as a wantonly violent and bloodthirsty entity.

However, it must be noted that in Mt 23:35 and Lu 11:50-51, Jesus himself assigned all of the bloodguilt for the killing of the prophets and of the saints (of all time) to the Pharisees of Jerusalem. And in Revelations 17:6 and 18:20,24 almost identical phrasing is used in charging that very same bloodguilt to Babylon. This along with the characterization of Jerusalem as "Sodom" and "Egypt" in Re 11:8 would tend to cast doubt on the theory that John was referring to Rome as Babylon.

In Rastafarian ideology both Babylon and Rome are also equated with this modern world in which we live. The Rastas have popularised the name Babylon to refer to what they see as the fundamentally evil modern society.

Earthly Israel as the Whore of Babylon

The Apocalypse: The Woman of Babylon by Albrecht Dürer

Many Christian scholars point out that although Rome was the prevailing pagan power in the 1st century when the Book of Revelation was written, the symbolism of the whore of Babylon refers not to an invading infidel foreign power, but to an apostate false queen, a former "bride" who has been unfaithful and who, even though she has been divorced and cast out because of unfaithfulness, continues to falsely claims to be the "queen" of the spiritual realm.

This symbolism certainly did not fit the case of Rome at the time.

In this view, Israel or Judea ruled by the Pharisees who did not accept Jesus Christ as their Messiah, is seen as being a spiritual harlot and thus a whore.

This was not a new "christian" metaphor. Several Old Testament prophets referred to Jerusalem as being a spiritual harlot and a mother of such harlotry (Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 2:20; Jeremiah 3:1-11; Ezekiel 16:15-18; Ezekiel 23).

Some of these Old Testament prophecies concerning Judah are in fact very close to the text concerning Babylon in Revelation, suggesting that John may well have actually been citing those prophecies in his description of Babylon.

For example, in Jeremiah 13, Judah is warned that because of her whoredom: the cups of all the people will be "filled with wine", they will be "made drunk", and then the nation will be suddenly destroyed. This is identical to the scenario in Revelation 17-18. It also correlates with the warning of Jesus that Jerusalem would be suddenly invaded and destroyed just prior to his return to earth, in Luke 21: 20-22.

So according to this view, John's prophecy about Babylon was merely a detailed repetition of warnings already given by many Old Testament prophets and by Jesus himself in Matthew Chapter 23.

There are other clues in the book of Revelation supporting the idea that Jerusalem is Babylon.

Revelation 17:15-18 says the "woman" (Babylon) is "that great city".

In Revelation 11:8 , speaking of two final endtime witnesses slain by the government of the "beast", it states that "their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also Our Lord was crucified." Jesus Christ was crucified in Jerusalem.

Babylon's trappings of gold and silver and her clothing of diverse colours could refer to the Jewish temple services and the high priesthood of Judaism, according to this exegesis of Revelation, and thus to a possible Third Temple of the future in Jerusalem, in which the Antichrist person might seat himself according to the epistles of the apostle Paul, which was written while the Second Temple still was intact.

These riches are also considered by some to refer to the Jewish nation's historical involvement in the trade of precious metals, jewels, textiles, and other merchandise.

Another point that lends credence to the idea that Jerusalem is Babylon: Rome is not built upon seven mountains as the city of which Revelation speaks is, but rather upon seven hills of which the Vatican Hill was never a part.

Jerusalem, however, is built on seven mountains: Mt. Goath, Mt. Gareb, Mt. Acra, Mt. Bezetha, Mt. Zion, Mt. Ophel, and Mt. Moriah.

Both the Old and the New Testament use different words for hills and mountains. Scripture calls the small mountains of Jerusalem by the very word "mountains". ("As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so the LORD is round about his people from henceforth even for ever." - Psalms 125:2)

Those scholars who defend this position believe that earthly Jerusalem would "ride the beast" that is control and manipulate the Satanic power behind the various "pagan" or "worldly" nations.

The influence of Jerusalem and the Pharisees may also have contributed to the anti-Christian activities of ancient Rome biblical scholars say.

The See of St. Peter however in its essence would not fall due to this influence, neither did the Church of the Apostle Peter in Rome fall due to the persecutions of Nero these scholars say. The Papacy in itself would remain "until the end of time" according to the First Vatican Council.

According to this view, the "great city" in the Book of Revelation, the earthly Jerusalem of those who have rejected Christ (Judaism), is opposed to the spiritual, heavenly, new Jerusalem, which is the Christian Church of the faithful of Jesus (the bride): "And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

In this sense earthly Jerusalem is also considered by some to be tied to a world rule of hedonism and (religious) relativism, to have its centre of power in Jerusalem, State of Israel .

Roman Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon

Protestant Reformation

Some pre-Reformation writers and most of the Reformers themselves, from Martin Luther (who wrote On the Babylonian Captivity of the Church), John Calvin, and John Knox (who wrote The First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women) identify the Roman Catholic Church with the Whore of Babylon. This opinion influenced several generations in England and Scotland when it was put into the 1599 edition of the Geneva Bible.

Identification of the Pope as the Antichrist was written into Protestant creeds such as the Westminster Confession of 1646. The tradition of identifying the Roman Catholic Church with the Whore of Babylon is kept in the Scofield Reference Bible (whose 1917 edition identified "ecclesiastical Babylon" with "apostate Christendom headed by the Papacy") and pro-Reformation writings such as those of I.M. Haldeman, and it is kept alive by contemporary figures such as Ian Paisley and Jack Chick. The "drunkenness with the blood of saints and martyrs", by this interpretation, refers to the veneration of saints and relics, which is viewed by the Reformers as idolatry and apostasy. Those who accept this tradition use the phrase "Whore of Babylon" to refer to the Roman Catholic Church.

The Protestant reformers were not the first people to call the Roman Catholic Church the Whore of Babylon. There was a fairly long tradition of this kind of name-calling by opponents of the Papacy. Frederick Barbarossa published missives that called the Papacy the Whore of Babylon, and the Pope the Antichrist, during the course of his protracted quarrel with Pope Alexander III. Dante equated the corruption and simony in the office of the Papacy with the Whore of Babylon in Canto 19 of his Inferno:

Di voi pastor s'accorse il Vangelista,
quando colei che siede sopra l'acque
puttaneggiar coi regi a lui fu vista. . .

("Shepherds like you the Evangelist had in mind when he saw the one that sits upon the waters committing fornication with the kings.")

When the Florentine tyrant Girolamo Savonarola also called the Papacy the Whore of Babylon, he meant something closer to the Reformers' usage. These claims, however, were based chiefly on social and political disagreements with Roman Catholic policy, or at their strongest accuse the Papacy of moral corruption. The Protestant reformers, by contrast, seriously considered the Papacy to be at least potentially the apocalyptic figure mentioned in Bible prophecy, and included the claim in Bible commentaries as well as polemics. They meant something more than to accuse the Roman Catholic Church of political or moral corruption; they claimed that as a church it taught a Satanic counterfeit plan of salvation, one that would lead its faithful to Hell rather than to Heaven.

Mormonism

Mormon Doctrine, published in 1966 by Bruce R. McConkie, contains references linking the Roman Catholic Church to the Whore of Babylon. McConkie become an Apostle six years after its publication, and was a respected scholar and authority regarding the doctrines and beliefs of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is said that some leaders in the Church at the time urged McConkie not to identify the Roman Catholic Church as such, but the initial publications went out unchanged as McConkie intended. Later editions removed the reference. In the 1960s as well as now, most Mormons do not equate the Whore of Babylon with the Roman Catholic Church. In fact, the Catholic Church, in the 1970s, offered to build, finance, and donate 100% control of a proposed BYU-Italy to the LDS Church, an offer which was rejected by the LDS Church. The most clear LDS doctrine on the matter is that the whore consists of all who fight against Zion (meaning the pure in heart): "Wherefore, he that fighteth against Zion, both Jew and Gentile, both bond and free, both male and female, shall perish; for they are they who are the whore of all the earth; for they who are not for me are against me, saith our God." (2 Nephi 10:16). Some LDS people interpret this to mean that the whore consists of any organizations or individuals that collectively fight against God, His followers, or the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Since LDS teach that the light of Christ or conscience "lighteth every man that cometh into the world," (John 1:9) those who violate conscience or seek to overthrow or suppress free exercise of conscience, or those who seek to addict or enslave anyone, would belong to this group.

Swedenborgianism

According to Swedenborgian doctrine, the Whore of Babylon symbolizes the lust for power within the Roman Catholic Church. It is believed that the book of Revelation is a spiritual allegory for the downfall of traditional Christianity, and its revival into a New Christian Church. Each symbol in Revelation is thought to have correspondence with some aspect of the spiritual state of the Christian Church. In the book "Apocalypse Explained" Swedenborg expounds an explanation of Revelation, including judgements on the Catholic Church as the Whore of Babylon.

Catholic responses; disuse of the epithet

The Roman Catholic Church denies the claim that it is the being referred to by the Book of Revelation as the Whore of Babylon; at the height of the Reformation era tensions, Roman Catholic authors often accused specific Protestant leaders of being potential Antichrists; these leaders, however, did not include St Robert Bellarmine, who taught that a personal Antichrist would arise before the end of the world, as do most Protestants who take a position today.

The use of the idiom appears to have dwindled, along with the rise in secular terminology to replace religious symbolism. Among the explanations are that the term is contrary to evangelical methods and goals and socially unconstructive, and so the tradition is kept only internally if it is kept at all. The rise of dispensationalism as a school of interpretation of the end times has also caused many Protestants to revise their interpretation of these passages in a way that diminishes the certainty of their identification of the Whore of Babylon with any present religion.

Traditionalist Catholics

A handful of Traditionalist Catholics and sedevacantists, who do not accept the 1969 revision of the rite of Massand consider the recent popes to be heretics, believe that the official Roman Catholic Church as it has existed since Vatican II or the election of John XXIII is in fact the Whore of Babylon. [1] They differ from the Protestant view only in that they consider the Catholic Church before the Second Vatican Council to be the "real" Catholic Church, with which they claim continuity. In their eyes, the present-day Roman Catholic Church is a blasphemous mockery.

United States as the Whore of Babylon

The use of the "Great Satan" metaphor by some fundamentalist followers of Islam makes an implicit comparison of the United States to ancient Babylon and Rome. Those who equate the US with Mystery Babylon liken the US to the Roman Empire — and therefore to Babylon — because of what they charge is its high-handed treatment of other countries as a military superpower. South American intellectuals from the 60's and 70's political movements have been known to use this metaphor as well. Conservative moralists, including some in the US, especially those associated with the religious right, see US popular culture as decadent and evil, obsessed with sex and violence.

Not only is Mystery Babylon, in Revelation 17 and 18, described as a great consumer and superpower, but she is destroyed by the beast kingdom of the Antichrist with its seven heads and ten horns. The beast with seven heads and ten hornsis a reference to Daniel's description of the kingdom of the Antichrist, in Daniel 7:23–25).

Revelation 17:15 "Then the angel said to me, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages." This verse points to the USA due to its dominance over peoples, over nations, and due to New York City being the seat of the UN. Some argue that the UN is the world government so long looked for by fundamentalist Christians as the Revived Roman Empire. Most would deny this though because that would make their institutions the proprietors of that evil. However the UN did make a peace with Israel and the Palestinians that helped form the nation of Israel on May 15, 1948.

European Union as the Whore of Babylon

A number of fundamentalist Protestant writers have identified the European Union as the successor to the Roman Empire and, founded by the Treaty of Rome, with the Whore of Babylon.

In front of the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium is a statue of a woman (Europa) riding a beast (bull). This is interpreted as a reference to Rev. 17, where we learn of a woman riding a scarlet colored beast.

The EU headquarters in Strasbourg, France is modeled after the The Tower of Babel (Brueghel). Pieter Brueghel's famous painting of the Tower of Babel was used as a model for this EU Parliament building .

Soviet Union as the Whore of Babylon

During the Cold War, US popular culture was engendered to view the former Soviet Union as a "Babylon" of sorts —a monster to be defeated. Dispensationalist study Bibles and commentaries such as the Scofield Reference Bible and The Late Great Planet Earth typically identified the Soviet Union, or earlier Russia, with Gog, also an allegorical figure of evil that appears in Revelation and the Book of Ezekiel (although it is important to note that Gog and Magog are themselves defeated by the Beast who rules Babylon). A great many parallels could be drawn to the USSR, and for that matter, the British Empire, and Nazi Germany. The demise of the Soviet Union has led dispensionalists to revise their commentaries.

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Babylon the Great, the great harlot (NWT) symbolizes the world empire of false religion, including, but not limited to, Christendom, a term they use to refer to all religious organizations who tell lies about the true identity of God almighty and His purpose with mankind. Among John’s visions recorded in the book of Revelation appear pronouncements of judgment against “Babylon the Great,” as well as a description of her and of her downfall.—Re 14:8; 16:19; chaps 17, 18; 19:1-3.

In Revelation 17:3-5, Babylon the Great is described as a woman arrayed in purple and scarlet, richly adorned, and sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast having seven heads and ten horns. Upon her forehead a name is written, “a mystery: ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.’” She is also depicted as sitting on “many waters” representing “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.”—Re 17:1-15.

The luxury and the dominion attributed to Babylon the Great do not allow for simply equating her with the literal city of Babylon in Mesopotamia. After ancient Babylon fell to Cyrus the Persian in 539 B.C.E., it lost its position as a dominant world power, its captives, including the Jews, being freed. Although the city continued to exist even beyond the days of the apostles, and hence existed in John’s day, it was no longer a city of world importance, and it eventually fell into decay and utter ruin. Thus, Babylon the Great must be viewed as a symbolic city, one of which the literal city of Babylon was the prototype. Because the ancient city gives the mystic city its name, it is helpful to consider briefly the outstanding features of Babylon on the Euphrates, features that provide clues as to the identity of the symbolic city of John’s vision.

Characteristics of Ancient Babylon. The founding of the city of Babylon on the Plains of Shinar was concurrent with the attempt at building the Tower of Babel. (Ge 11:2-9) The popular cause to be advanced by the tower and city construction was, not the exaltation of God’s name, but that the builders might “make a celebrated name” for themselves. The ziggurat towers uncovered not only in the ruins of ancient Babylon but elsewhere in Mesopotamia would seem to confirm the essentially religious nature of the original tower, whatever its form or style. The decisive action taken by Jehovah God to overthrow the temple construction clearly condemns it as of a false religious origin. Whereas the Hebrew name given the city, Babel, means “Confusion,” the Sumerian name (Ka-dingir-ra) and the Akkadian name (Bab-ilu) both mean “Gate of God.” Thus the remaining inhabitants of the city altered the form of its name to avoid the original condemnatory sense, but the new or substitute form still identified the city with religion.

The Bible lists Babel first when giving the ‘beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom.’ (Ge 10:8-10) Throughout the Hebrew Scriptures the ancient city of Babylon is featured prominently as the longtime enemy of Jehovah God and his people.

Though Babylon became the capital of a political empire in the seventh and sixth centuries B.C.E., it was outstandingly prominent during its entire history as a religious center from which religious influence radiated in many directions.

Professor Morris Jastrow, Jr., in his work The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (1898, pp. 699-701), says regarding this: “In the ancient world, prior to the rise of Christianity, Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion. . . . In Persia, the Mithra cult reveals the unmistakable influence of Babylonian conceptions; and if it be recalled what a degree of importance the mysteries connected with this cult acquired among the Romans, another link will be added connecting the ramifications of ancient culture with the civilization of the Euphrates Valley.” In conclusion he refers to “the profound impression made upon the ancient world by the remarkable manifestations of religious thought in Babylonia and by the religious activity that prevailed in that region.”

Babylon’s religious influence is traced eastward to India in the book New Light on the Most Ancient East, by archaeologist V. Childe (1957, p. 185). Among other points he states: “The swastika and the cross, common on stamps and plaques, were religious or magical symbols as in Babylonia and Elam in the earliest prehistoric period, but preserve that character also in modern India as elsewhere.” Thus, ancient Babylon’s religious influence spread out to many peoples and nations, much farther and with greater potency and endurance than did her political strength.

Like mystic Babylon, the ancient city of Babylon, in effect, sat on the waters, located, as it was, astride the Euphrates River and having various canals and water-filled moats. (Jer 51:1, 13; Re 17:1, 15) These waters served as a defense to the city, and they provided the thoroughfares upon which ships brought wealth and luxuries from many sources. Notably, the water of the Euphrates is depicted as drying up prior to Babylon the Great’s experiencing the wrath of divine judgment.—Re 16:12, 19.

Distinguishing Features of Mystic Babylon. The symbolic woman bearing the name Babylon the Great is “the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth,” a kingdom that allows her, in effect, to sit on “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.” (Re 17:1, 15, 18) A kingdom over other kingdoms and nations is what is defined as an “empire.” Babylon the Great places herself above earthly kings, exercising power and influence over them. She rides the symbolic seven-headed beast, beasts being used elsewhere in the Bible as symbols of political world powers.

Some scholars assume that Babylon the Great is a political empire, either Babylon or Rome. We have already seen that Babylon as a political empire had long since ceased to exist when John received his prophetic vision. As to Rome, the nature of its political rule does not harmonize with the description of Babylon the Great’s course and her methods of dominating. She is a harlot, committing fornication with the kings of the earth, making them drunk with the wine of her fornication, misleading the nations by her “spiritistic practice.” (Re 17:1, 2; 18:3, 23) Rome’s dominion, by contrast, was gained and maintained by its ironlike military might and its firm application of Roman law among its provinces and colonies. Recognizing this fact, The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible says: “It is not sufficient to identify Rome and Babylon. Babylon embraces more than one empire or culture. It is defined rather by dominant idolatries than by geographical or temporal boundaries. Babylon is coextensive with the kingdom of that beast which has corrupted and enslaved mankind, and whom the Lamb must conquer (Rev. 17:14) if mankind is to be freed.”—Edited by G. Buttrick, 1962, Vol. 1, p. 338.

The symbol of a harlot or a fornicatrix is used frequently in the Hebrew Scriptures. The nation of Israel was warned against entering into covenant relations with the nations of Canaan because this would lead them to commit “immoral intercourse [“play the harlot,” RS] with their gods.” (Ex 34:12-16) Both Israel and Judah apostatized from the true worship of Jehovah God and were condemned by him as having engaged in harlotry, prostituting themselves to the political nations and their gods. (Isa 1:21; Jer 3:6-10, 13; Eze 16:15-17, 28, 29, 38; Ho 6:10; 7:11; 8:9, 10) It may be noted here that God was not viewing Israel or Judah as mere political entities entering into relations with other political governments. Instead God reprimanded them on the basis of their being in a sacred covenant with him, hence responsible to be a holy people devoted to him and his pure worship.—Jer 2:1-3, 17-21.

A similar usage of this figure is found in the Christian Greek Scriptures. The Christian congregation is likened to a virgin espoused to Christ as her Head and King. (2Co 11:2; Eph 5:22-27) The disciple James warned Christians against committing spiritual adultery through friendship with the world. (Jas 4:4; compare Joh 15:19.) The fornications of Babylon the Great and her “daughters” are of a similar nature and not some unique exception. (The term “daughters” at times is employed in the Bible to refer to the suburbs or surrounding towns of a city or metropolis, as the “dependent towns” [literally, “daughters” in Hebrew] of Samaria and Sodom; see Eze 16:46-48.)

An additional significant factor is that when Babylon the Great goes down under the devastating attack of the ten horns of the symbolic wild beast, her fall is mourned by her companions in fornication, the kings of the earth, and also by the merchants and shippers who dealt with her in supplying luxurious commodities and gorgeous fineries. While these political and commercial representatives survive her desolation, notably no religious representatives are depicted as still on the scene to share in mourning her downfall. (Re 17:16, 17; 18:9-19) The kings of the earth are shown as having judgment executed upon them sometime after mystic Babylon’s annihilation, and their destruction comes, not from the “ten horns,” but from the sword of the King of kings, the Word of God.—Re 19:1, 2, 11-18.

A further distinguishing characteristic of Babylon the Great is her drunkenness, she being pictured as “drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” (Re 17:4, 6; 18:24; 19:1, 2) She thus is the spiritual counterpart of the ancient city of Babylon, expressing the same enmity toward the true people of God. Significantly, it was to the charge of religious leaders that Jesus laid the responsibility for “all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah.” While those words were addressed to religious leaders from among Jesus’ own race, the Jewish nation, and while persecution against Jesus’ followers was particularly intense from that sector for a time, history shows that thereafter the opposition to genuine Christianity came from other sources (the Jews themselves suffering considerable persecution).—Mt 23:29-35.

All the above factors are significant, and they must all be considered in arriving at a true picture of symbolic Babylon the Great and what it represents.

Thestic Bible

EXCERPTS FROM THE THEISTIC EVOLUTION BIBLE INTERPRETATION:

What is often overlooked in these superimpositions of Judaism, the Roman Catholic Church, Roman, Great Britain, and such easy targets is that the Whore sits upon kingdoms themselves. The seven heads have ten horns with crowns upon them.

We must also note that the seven heads are symbolized by seven mountains. That this beast refers to a geo-political system makes sense in the hind sight of history today. That history currently available to us also excuses the previous erroneous guesses of the past, since the passage would not have made sense until today.

The seven mountains of Western Civilization were the historic seven Empires which preceeded the Renaissance. From that time on, we have seen ten minor kingdoms, once under the control of Rome, assume authority, each in its turn.

If this is correct, then the Whore remains to be identified. The Whore of Babylon must meet the specification of having reigned in every era.

It adds to the hypothesis supplied here, to further suggest that the seven foundational social institutions of our Western Society are also seven "mountains" which this geo-political beast has had to stand upon, in every case, too.

With this in mind, the following passage from the Theistic Evolution Bible Interpretation is offered for considertion among the current attempts to untie this Gordian Knot of the Ages:

Rev. 12:3 And there appeared another wonder in heaven, (in my thoughts); and behold a great red dragon, (Arian Paganism, that system of sexual exploitation and theft) having seven (institutionalized) heads (of western world empire) and ten crowns (of political leadership) upon his (seven) heads; 1), Egypt, (2), Assyria, (3), Babylon, (4), Persia/Mede, (5), Greece, (6), Rome, and (7), the whole of Western Culture to follow) having ten horns (of leadership founded) upon these seven heads: 1. Anarchy, 2. Lombard-Vandalism, 3. Papacy, 4. Charlemagne, 5. Holy Roman Empire, 6. Italy, 7. Spain, 8. France, 9. Britain, 10. Nazi Germany.

Rev. 12:4 And his tail drew (behind him, his legacy of Astrology), the third part of the ten stars of heaven, (and did reveal THE TRINITY OF Uranus, 1799 AD, Neptune, 1845 AD, and Pluto, 1930 AD), to all the earth: and the dragon, (Paganism, that SYSTEM OF SEXUAL MORES) stood, (during the short reign, 360-63 AD, of Julian the Apostate), before the woman (of Christian Church) which was ready to be delivered (since the Toleration of Constantine, 313 AD), for to devour her Church as soon as it was born.

Rev. 17:3 So he carried me away (in the spirit of thought), into the wilderness (of my imagination) and I saw (as if) a woman, (those who have Institutionized a system of sexual seduction into a failed matrimony), sit upon a scarlet coloured beast (of a brazen and corrupt sexually misdirected economic system: [Dan 3:1-5]), full of names of (Pagan) blasphemy, having seven heads: (which existed in (1) Egypt, (2) Assyria, (3) Babylon, (4) Persia/Mede, (5) Greece, (6) Rome (7) the whole of Western Culture to follow) having ten horns upon these seven heads: ( 1. Anarchy, [475 AD] 2. Lombard-Vandalism, [490 - 600 AD] 3. Papacy, [604 AD- 800 AD] 4. Charlemagne, [800 - 1000 AD] 5. Holy Roman Empire, [1200 AD-1492 AD] 6. Italy, [Renaissance, 16th century] 7. Spain, [17th century] 8. France, [18th-19th Century] 9. Britain, [19th-20th century] 10. Nazi Germany), [20th century]).

Rev. 17:4 And the woman, (symbolizing those who have Institutionized a system of sexual seduction into a failed matrimony), was arrayed in (psychologically significant:[Max Luscher Color Psychology] hues of) purple and scarlet colour (associated by statistically validate color choices for women: [Luscher Color Psychology]), and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (profits of her courtships and divorces), having a golden (spiritually significant: [Symbolic Dictionary]) cup in her hand, (holding a sacramental place in the order of religion), full of abominations (of adolescence sexual cense, AIDS, abortions, STD, even gay marriage), and the filthiness of her (sins of adolescence in her numerous) fornications (before choosing the victim of her marriage):

Rev. 17:5 And upon her forehead was a name written, (Goddess Istar), Mystery (religion of ancient) BABYLON, THE GREAT (economic wonder), THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS (teaching her subtle system of de facto prostitution) and abominations of (a subculture of adolescent promiscuity, of abortion, divorce, STD, homosexual marital consecration, and multiple marriages upon) the earth.

<"http://kofh2u.tripod.com">Excerpts from the Theistic Evolution Bible Interpretation

Rastafarianism: the British Queen as the Whore of Babylon

In Rastafarian ideology it is British Queen Elizabeth II who is seen as the modern-day Whore of Babylon. This alleged relation between the Queen and the Whore was elucidated in Jamaica, where the Queen is the Head of state, and where the Rastafarian faith was founded. Rastafarians believe that Haile Selassie is not only their God but also their king, and therefore refuse to give their loyalty to the Queen.

Other uses

The Whore of Babylon figures strongly in Thelemic theogony, appearing very similarly to Cybele or Ishtar, called under the name Babalon. The name is also a title bestowed by the magician Aleister Crowley on a number of his female companions and partners in magical rites, most notably Leila Waddell. John Whiteside Parsons attempted to envoke her in his "Babalon Working" performed with L. Ron Hubbard.

In the movie Metropolis (1927), the Robot Maria was depicted in one scene as the Whore of Babylon. In the movie The Devil's Advocate (1997) it was implied that New York was the Whore of Babylon.

Madonna adapted the Whore of Babylon as a working title for her 2004 Re-Invention tour.

Shadwell from Good Omens continually uses the phrase "Hoor of Babylon!"

The song "Dead Sound of Misery" by the power metal band Blind Guardian includes references to the Whore of Babylon.

The song "Pure Evil" by the heavy metal band Iced Earth includes references to the Whore of Babylon.

The song "Beast and the Harlot" by the heavy metal/hard rock band Avenged Sevenfold includes references to the Whore of Babylon.

The song "Babalon", from the 1980 album "Laughing Academy" by the band Punishment Of Luxury includes references to the Whore Of Babylon.

The Whore of Babylon appears in the PS2 game Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne as "The Harlot."

In Monty Python's Life of Brian the "Blood and Thunder Prophet" played by Terry Gilliam rants about "...the Whore of Babylon... and there'll be a great rubbing of parts..."

See also

• Historicism (Christian eschatology)
• Great Apostasy
• Antichrist
• Beast
• End times
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• Great Satan
• The Two Babylons
• Tower of Babel
• Garden of Eden
• New World Order (conspiracy)
• Elohim

References

• Harper's Bible Dictionary Paul J. Achtemeier, general editor (1985, Harper Collins), ISBN 0-06-069863-2
• The Jerusalem Bible, Alexander Jones, general editor. (1966, Doubleday & Co.)
• The NIV Study Bible, Kenneth Barker, general editor. (1995, Zondervan) ISBN 0-310-92589-4
• The New Oxford Annotated Study Bible with Apocrypha, Bernhard W. Anderson, Bruce Metzger, general editors. (1991, Oxford University Press) ISBN 0-19-528356-2

External links

• According to the Scriptures The whore is that great city Babylon revived.
• Catholic Answers on the Whore of Babylon
• Is the USA in Bible Prophecy?
• What is the whore of Babylon? from an Evangelical Christian perspective
• Enominepatris.com America The Great - Mystery Babylon
• European Institute of Protestant Studies EU as the Whore of Babylon
• "The End of False Religion Is Near!" - a tract distributed by Jehovah's Witnesses