1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the judgment of the notorious prostitute who sits on many waters.
Here, the angel who had one of the seven last plagues came to John to reveal the outcome of the prostitute which in Scripture refers to a group of people claiming to be from God but in actuality is teaching false doctrine.
Exodus 34:15
15 “Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.
Once a person spiritually prostitutes him or herself with a false deity by way of believing in their teachings they will embrace and exchange the Truth for the lie and end up teaching it to others.
2 The kings of the earth committed sexual immorality with her, and those who live on the earth became drunk on the wine of her sexual immorality.”
This false church had a lot of influence on many nations and deceived them.
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit to a desert. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns.
The Holy Spirit took John to see a vision of the woman (the prostitute) to reveal who she was really in cahoots with.
“scarlet beast” is a reference to the Antichrist who is a demon of high ranking, and very powerful.
The word “scarlet” shows that the one controlling the false church is Satan himself, as the word is connected with the beast. Their clothes resemble Satan’s color who is called the RED Dragon.
Revelation 18:16
16 saying: Woe, woe, the great city, dressed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls
“The great city” is in reference to the woman sitting on the beast which shows her wearing scarlet (red).
“blasphemous names and had seven heads and 10 horns.” For an in-depth explanation click on Revelation 13:1-5
4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, adorned with gold, precious stones, and pearls. She had a gold cup in her hand filled with everything vile and with the impurities of her prostitution.
This church is very wealthy but what she’s intaking into her heart is full of vile things which means that her teachings are in conflict with God’s Word because this church embraces doctrines of demons as 1 Timothy 4:1-2 declares, Now the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will depart from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and the teachings of demons, 2 through the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared.
5 On her forehead a cryptic name was written:
BABYLON THE GREAT THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE VILE THINGS OF THE EARTH.
The word “BABYLON” is not the modern-day place which is in Iraq but is used as a spiritual meaning in the sense of worshipping false idols and gods (demons) while using Christian vocabulary.
“THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES” This false church spearheaded one of the worse false doctrines known today by twisting God’s Word in its early stage, not long after the death of the Apostles in around the 4th century. The church said that its teachings are from Christ Jesus but in reality, it contradicts the very Scriptures that they profess to follow, thus the deception.
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