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In this message we come to Rev. 17, where we see a woman sitting on a scarlet beast (v. 3). It is important that we all have a clear understanding of what is revealed here.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls spoke to the apostle John, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters” (17:1). In verse 3 the apostle John says, “And he carried me away in spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.” Verse 1 speaks of the great prostitute, and verse 3 speaks of a woman. As the prostitute riding on a scarlet beast, this woman has power and authority. This beast, the same as that described in chapter thirteen, has seven heads and ten horns. All Bible students agree that the beast here refers to both the Roman Empire and to Antichrist, the last Caesar of the revived Roman Empire. However, there has been debate concerning the identity of the woman, the prostitute.
Who is this great prostitute sitting on many waters? Before we answer this question, we need to say a word about the woman. According to verse 18, the woman is the great city, the city of Rome, which was built on seven mountains signified by the seven heads of the beast (v. 9). Although the woman is Rome, the prostitute cannot also be Rome, because the beast will eventually hate the prostitute, make her desolate, and burn her with fire (v. 16). Antichrist, the last Caesar of the Roman Empire, will certainly not burn his own capital. Therefore, that which is burned by the beast must not be the city of Rome, but something else. Now we must ask this question: According to the Bible and according to world history, who is the prostitute riding on the Roman Empire? Who is the one so intimately related to the Roman state? The prostitute is so closely related to the city of Rome that the two are almost identical. In verse 1 the angel called her the prostitute, and in verse 18 he called her a woman. The prostitute is the apostate Roman Catholic Church. History reveals that only one figure, one character, matches the description of the female in this chapter, and that figure is the Roman Catholic Church. A prostitute does not have a husband. This indicates that God has never admitted having any relationship with the apostate Roman Church.
In message thirteen of this life-study I gave a strong word concerning the Roman Catholic Church based upon this chapter. According to the Scriptures, the great prostitute in this chapter is the Roman Catholic Church. If the female in Revelation 17 is not the Roman Catholic Church, then who is she? Surely, according to history, only the Roman Catholic Church fits the description of the woman given here.
Eighteen years ago I spent some days in Rome for the specific purpose of seeing the Vatican. In order to have a full view of that apostate thing, I took eight tours. The more I saw, the more I was convinced that the Roman Catholic Church is the great prostitute in Revelation 17, about which I had studied years before. Revelation 17:4 says, “The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet.” The color red abounds in Catholicism. The cardinals, for example, are clothed in red robes. When many Catholics hear that the Roman Church is the great prostitute, they will be offended and not be able to believe it. Some may say, “How can you say that the Catholic Church is the great prostitute? Don’t we worship God and believe in Jesus? Don’t we also have the Scriptures?” The answer is in verse 4 of this chapter.
Notice that verse 4 says that the woman has in her hand “a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication.” In typology gold signifies the divine nature. Although this woman is called the great prostitute, she holds a golden cup signifying the nature of God. This gold, however, is merely the outward appearance of the cup, not its contents. Outwardly, it appears to be divine, but inwardly it is filled with abominations and uncleanness. Although the apostate Roman Catholic Church does have certain holy things, it adds filthy things to them. Consider, for example, the worship of Mary. The Mary in the Roman Catholic Church is actually the goddess Venus. Catholicism has absorbed from paganism the demonic legend of Venus. In his book, The Great Prophecies, G. H. Pember points out that even Buddha, under the name of Saint Josaphat, has entered into Catholicism. In the Catholic calendar there is a saint named Josaphat, whose story is actually that of Buddha. Babylonianism entered into Buddhism, and Buddhism, a further development of Babylonianism, was assimilated into Catholicism. Let us now read in full the relevant paragraph from The Great Prophecies (p. 104) by Pember:
In less than a century after the death of Belshazzar, a new...faith was spreading in India, the Buddhist religion, which is but a slightly changed Babylonianism....Indeed...Buddha himself is actually a saint in the Roman Catholic Calendar under the name of Saint Josaphat. For the story of Josaphat and Barlaam, which first appears in the works of John of Damascus, a theologian of the early part of the eighth century, and became extremely popular in the Middle Ages, has now been certainly identified with that of Buddha.
Thus, the story of Buddha was taken into Catholicism. This is one example of the assimilation of paganism into the Roman Catholic Church.
Another example is Christmas. Christmas is a blasphemy to Christ, and no Christian with a pure conscience should have anything to do with it. As the book, The Two Babylons, proves, Christmas originated from European paganism. Centuries before the Christian era, on December 25 the European pagans celebrated the birthday of the sun. When Constantine embraced Christianity, he encouraged the Roman citizens to become Christians, and he even rewarded many thousands for being baptized. Thousands who knew nothing of Christ were baptized and came into Christendom, bringing their pagan customs with them. Later, the name of Christ was attached to the birth of the sun god celebrated on December 25. In principle, the celebration of Easter is the same. Although some Christians in Orange County condemn us as heretical, they themselves still practice the pagan festival of Christmas. To be sure, during the three and a half years of the great tribulation all Christians will abandon such things as Christmas, Easter, the worship of Mary, and all paganism.
In message forty-eight I shared with you my belief that the United States is the nation of the eagle and that in the coming years the local churches will exert a positive influence among Christians. I further believe that the Lord’s recovery will spread to the leading cities throughout the world. Already there are some churches in Europe and at least seventeen churches in Brazil. Moreover, there are churches in Ghana, Nigeria, Australia, New Zealand, and many throughout all the countries in the Far East, including Taiwan, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. The Lord’s recovery is spreading. In many leading cities the local church stands as a testimony to both believers and unbelievers. We must sound our trumpet and testify of Christ and the Body. Eventually, all the Christians in the world will be influenced. Presently, some argue with us, fight against us, and oppose us. But the day is coming when every mouth will be shut, for all we have been ministering will be fulfilled. The overcomers will be raptured, and Antichrist will be manifested. Furthermore, the Roman Catholic Church will be utterly burned and destroyed. As Antichrist and the ten horns are destroying the Vatican, do you think that people in the United States will still attend the Catholic Church? Certainly not! By that time many genuine Christians in Catholicism will turn to the way of the Lord’s recovery.
I strongly believe that the Lord is using His recovery to produce the living firstfruit. This is the first function of the Lord’s recovery. After the rapture of the firstfruit, the local churches will be used by the Lord to help all the remaining Christians. This will be the second function of the recovery. During the great tribulation, Christians will have a proper place to which they can go. Christmas, Easter, and all the traditional things of Christianity will be discarded. There will be no more arguments, all the divisive names of the daughters of the great prostitute will be abandoned, and the Lord will absolutely vindicate His way of the church.
No one can deny that there is something real in the Roman Catholic Church. She holds a golden cup in her hand, and she is gilded with gold, precious stone, and pearls (v. 4), the same materials with which the New Jerusalem is built. The outward appearance of the great prostitute and the New Jerusalem is similar. But there is a vast difference inwardly: the prostitute is filled with abominations, uncleanness, and spiritual fornication. This is the actual situation, and we need insight in order to perceive it. It is not a small thing for me to say these things. Oh, how we all need to have a clear view!
The more I have been with the Lord regarding this matter, the more burdened I have become to sound the trumpet so that the Lord’s recovery with the proper church life may spread throughout the world. Here and there, in all the leading cities, there needs to be a lampstand shining in the dark night. If not today, then at least during the years of the great tribulation, whoever loves the Lord with a pure heart and seeks Him in sincerity will see this light. By that time a lampstand will be shining brightly in every leading city. The rapture of the firstfruit will cause the local churches to shine more brightly than they do today. Suppose fifty-five brothers and sisters in the church in Anaheim were raptured first. Certainly all the remainder would be stirred up and seek the Lord desperately. This will take place throughout the world. When Christians begin to see prophecies fulfilled in front of their eyes, they will no longer care for the confusing divisions, the religious traditions, or all the sinful and worldly things. Rather, they will flee to the proper and pure church life. I am fully assured that this will take place.
We are not dealing with an insignificant matter, but with a matter that is very crucial for the coming age. We do not care for men’s arguments and opposition. The more they argue and oppose, the more our ministry is confirmed. Many times, after saying something uncomplimentary about Christianity in a message, I wondered why I was so strong, and I resolved to be a little softer. Nevertheless, what I say in the ministry is not my decision. It does not depend on me — it depends on the speaking Spirit. If in my ministry I do not speak boldly regarding Christianity, I have no peace, and I lose the anointing. If I fail to do this, my ministry will be weakened. When I do speak out, the opposition is aroused. But I am confirmed even by the opposition. The deeds and reactions of the opposers fully expose them. I am burdened that we would be enlightened, see through all the veils, and enter into the inner chamber to perceive the reality of today’s situation in Christianity.
It is not a matter of the doctrine of the Trinity or of the teaching concerning the local church. It is absolutely a matter of Babylon. To call a pastor “reverend” — that is Babylonian. To set up a Christmas tree and to honor Santa Claus — that is Babylonian. To call yourself by a denominational name, such as Lutheran, Methodist, or Episcopalian — that is Babylonian. All denominational names are Babylonian factors of division and confusion. When Christians see the destruction of the great prostitute at the hands of Antichrist, they will be convinced about the church. Then they will see what the church is and where the church is. They will realize that the church has nothing to do with anything Babylonian. Any group that still practices Babylonian things or holds them is not the pure church.
You must beware of divisions because divisions are another form of Babylonianism. It was at Babel, which means confusion, that the language of mankind was confused and confounded. Babel is the Hebrew term for Babylon. Anything divisive causes confusion, and confusion denotes Babylonianism. Today there are hundreds of free groups; they are everywhere. But what they are practicing is divisive and confusing; hence, it is Babylonian.
In 1957 a dear brother who was considered spiritual and as one having a rich ministry was invited to Taiwan. As the result of his visit, some young people, all of whom had been under my training, were influenced to care only for so-called spirituality, not for the practicality of the church. Eventually, they divided among themselves again and again, and the result was Babylonian confusion.
In the United States some have stayed for a while in the Lord’s recovery and have learned the practice of the church life. Then they went out on their own to set up an independent work for themselves. This also has caused divisions resulting in Babylonian confusion. Today some read Brother Nee’s books and learn what they think is the way to practice the local church. If they meant business with the Lord for the recovery of genuine oneness, they certainly would have fellowshipped with us. However, they refuse to fellowship with those who are already in the local churches. This also results in Babylonian confusion.
When the work of the Lord’s recovery began in the United States in 1962, I was very strong in this matter of the local church. Some warned me against speaking about the local church, saying that if I did so, people would be offended. I emphatically rejected their warning, saying that we are here for the recovery of the local churches. Less than ten years later, the term “local church” had become a popular item in the Christian marketplace. This term is even used by certain preachers on Christian radio stations. It seems that many, including pastors in denominations, want to say that they are the local church. This confusion is another form of Babylonianism.
When I consider a particular situation, I may not say anything to anyone, but I may say to myself, “This is false. It is not the genuine thing.” Neither the Catholic Church, the denominations, nor the divisive and confusing free groups can do any preparation of the Bride. In order for the Bride to be prepared, the Lord must recover the genuine church life, a church life without division, confusion, or anything Babylonian.
In verse 5 we see the name of the great prostitute: “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” The title “Mystery” here indicates that Babylon the Great in this chapter is not the material one in chapter eighteen, but the religious one. The religious Babylon, the apostate church, is truly mysterious in what she is, in what she practices, and in what she teaches.
The prostitutes are the denominations and groups in Christianity with the evil doctrines, practices, and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Since the “Mother of the Prostitutes” is the apostate church, the prostitutes, her daughters, must be all the different sects and groups in Christianity who hold to some extent the teaching, practices, and traditions of the apostate Roman Church. The pure church life has no evil transmitted from the apostate church. As we all know, the so-called charismatic movement has entered into the Roman Church. This movement has even been confounded with the worship of Mary and with the sacrifice of the mass. Although the cup is golden, the people drink the abominations. It is not the cup, but the contents of the cup that get into them. If it were not for this evil mixture, the pope, in his subtlety, would never allow the charismatic movement to go on in his church.
Every denomination must be examined to see whether or not it still has something of the great prostitute in it. To have a Christmas tree in your home is to practice something of the great prostitute. Probably you cannot find one Christian group that has not been influenced by the prostitute. Perhaps only in the local churches can you find a place that has nothing of the prostitute. We have seen that the daughters of the great prostitute are the Christian groups that hold the doctrines, practices, and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. If a group holds any one of these things, that group is a daughter of the Roman Church.
Some may feel that it is too severe to say that the denominations and free groups are the daughters of the great prostitute. You may say, “Don’t those in the denominations and in the free groups believe in the Lord and love Him? Have they not also been regenerated? Don’t they have the divine life? How can you say that the denominations and free groups are the daughters of the prostitute?” Madame Guyon, a sister who was very deep in life, still worshipped at the image of Mary. Even she had been drugged by the Catholic Church. More than forty years ago, we translated most of Madame Guyon’s important writings. When I discovered that she went to worship at the image of Mary, I told the brothers that we had to include this in our translation of her works; otherwise, the brothers and sisters would think that she was entirely all right. But even she had been befuddled by the apostate Roman Church.
We may use the smell of garlic as an illustration. If we eat garlic all day long, our sense of smell will eventually be drugged. If someone with a fresh sense of smell comes into the midst of garlic eaters, he will immediately notice the odor of garlic and will not be able to tolerate it. However, the garlic eaters would have no awareness of this unpleasant odor. Madame Guyon could still worship before a statue of Mary because she had been born into the “garlic room” of the Roman Catholic Church.
One reason for saying that the denominations and most free groups are daughters of the prostitute is the presence of idols among them. Some may argue that the Lutheran Church has no idols. But the title of this denomination, Lutheran, is itself an idol. To whom do you belong — to Christ or to Luther? Is it not sufficient to call yourself a Christian? Why must you call yourself a Lutheran? These idolatrous names are abominations.
God has a governing principle of one church for one Christ, just as there is one wife for one husband. By their divisions, most of today’s Christians have violated this governing principle. Instead of following it, they practice fornication, which is confusion. Whoever breaks the governing principle of one husband for one wife commits fornication. Wherever we are, we must keep the principle of one wife for one husband, one church for one Christ.
Every division is a violation of God’s governing principle. To cause a division among Christians is to commit fornication. Anyone who does this does not care for the governing principle. Those who are divisive do not care for the one Body, the one church; they are not concerned about one local church for one city. They are like a woman who refuses to have only one husband. After she is tired of living with one man, she turns to another.
We need to see the difference between adultery and fornication. If a wife with a proper husband breaks the governing principle of marriage, she commits adultery. But a woman who has no proper husband and who breaks God’s governing principle commits fornication. The great prostitute is a fornicator; she has no husband. The situation among Christians today is filled with fornication. Many seem to say, “If I don’t like this meeting any more, I’ll go to another. And if I don’t like that one, I’ll form one of my own. Furthermore, if after a while I am no longer pleased with the meeting I have started, I’ll start still another one.” This is spiritual fornication.
If you have seen the vision, you will not dare to have any particular name, that is, any name other than the name of Christ. Moreover, you will not dare to have any division because our Husband is one, and we, His Bride, are also one. In every city there must be just one church. Wherever I go, the church is one. If our practice is otherwise, then we commit fornication. Most Christians today are committing fornication. The great prostitute in Revelation 17 is the mother of all fornication, confusion, and abominations.
If you are still wondering how Christians who truly love the Lord can commit fornication, I would point you again to the illustration of Madame Guyon, who was deep in life, yet was befuddled by the “garlic” of Roman Catholicism. Be sober, stay away from the “garlic room,” and remain in the fresh air twenty-four hours a day. If you do this, you will have a sensitive nose. I have kept myself away from all the “garlic rooms” for more than fifty years. For this reason, my spiritual nose is very keen. I simply cannot stand with any division, for I can immediately smell that it is fornication.
When some are confronted by the limitation of one church in one city, they may say, “We don’t have the freedom to release ourselves in your meeting. We want to have a meeting in our home where we can be released.” This is merely a subtle excuse for a divisive spirit. This divisive spirit is a source of fornication, division. There must not be any divisions among Christians because we are the wife of one Husband, the one church in a locality, maintaining God’s governing principle. When some hear that we are the church, they are unhappy and say, “Why do you say that you are the church and that we are not the church?” They are not the church because they are a prostitute, a woman who has a relationship with many men instead of a proper relationship with one husband. Who is your husband? If Christ is your husband, then why do you call yourself a Lutheran? If your name is truly Mrs. Smith, then why do you call yourself Mrs. Jones one day and Mrs. Harris another?
The apostate Roman Church is a prostitute, and all her daughters are also prostitutes. A prostitute is a woman who commits fornication for profit. Many of today’s Christian groups have been formed for man’s gain, empire, position, or title. This is prostitution.
Consider the entire situation regarding Christianity on earth today. Certainly the Lord needs a recovery. This recovery will produce the living firstfruit for Him, and during the three and a half years of the great tribulation, it will be a help to all the Christians still on earth. I believe that all the churches in the Lord’s recovery will serve these two purposes. The day is coming when the overcomers will be raptured and Antichrist will abolish Judaism and destroy Catholicism. Surely all Christians left on earth at that time will be revived. They will no longer attend the mass in the Catholic Church; neither will they still go to the denominations or free groups. Rather, they will say, “Years ago I heard about the church. Now I must go to the genuine church.” Although the Lord Jesus has a loving heart, as we shall see in the next message, He will use Antichrist to destroy the great prostitute, the Roman Catholic Church.
The apostate church is also the mother of the abominations of the earth. These abominations are idols (Deut. 7:25-26), with which the apostate Roman Church is filled. These idols have been mixed in with the so-called service to God. When people go to a Catholic cathedral to worship, whom do they worship? Some purchase candles and stand before the idol of their choice. In Catholicism there is an idol market, and people can pray to any idol they choose. Although many pray to Mary, that actually is not Mary — it is Venus. The cathedrals in the Catholic Church are not different from idol temples. Not even in the idol temples in China did I see as many idols as there are in the Catholic cathedrals. Certainly, the apostate church is the mother of abominations.
When the apostle John saw the great prostitute, an angel carried him away in spirit into a wilderness (17:3). A wilderness is a desert, a parched land. This indicates that the apostate church is in a desert, where there are no springs of water prepared by God. Certainly the apostate church cannot receive the water supply from God. In order to show the apostle John that the apostate church is in such a desolate place, the angel carried him there.
Verse 1 says that the great prostitute sits on many waters, and verse 15 indicates that the waters “where the prostitute sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.” These words are fulfilled in the fact that the apostate Roman Church rides on peoples and nations throughout the world. The Catholic Church actually numbers one third of the population of the entire earth.
The kings of the earth have committed fornication with this great prostitute. This means that she has sinful religious relationships with the rulers of the earth. What the apostate church commits is not adultery, the sin of an unfaithful spouse, but fornication, the sin of a prostitute. This is more sinful than adultery. The fornication of the apostate church consists of her sinful relationships with the rulers of the earth for her profit, just as a prostitute commits sin for gain. The fornication committed by the apostate church is spiritual fornication. The Catholic Church is intimately involved with worldly politics, and the kings of the earth commit fornication directly with her. In the eyes of God, this is spiritual fornication.
This great prostitute has made those who dwell on the earth “drunk with the wine of her fornication” (v. 2). The wine here refers to the heretical doctrines in the sinful religious relationships of the apostate church. They confound as wine does those who become involved in her religion. This is the wine of her fornication. In an indirect manner those who dwell on the earth are made drunk with this wine.
The heretical doctrines of the apostate church are like drugs. They befuddle people, make them dumb, and cause them to lose their senses. I have talked with many Catholics, and I have found them to be completely drugged. The more you talk to them, the less they understand. This indicates that they have been made drunk with the wine of the great prostitute.
According to verse 4, this woman is “clothed in purple and scarlet.” Purple signifies dignity with authority (John 19:2-3). This color is a blend of blue and red; it signifies the blending of heavenly things with earthly. This is the appearance of the apostate church. The woman is also clothed in scarlet, the characteristic of the apostate Roman Church. We have already pointed out that the color scarlet is found everywhere in the Vatican. The most striking use of scarlet is in the garb of the cardinals, who have red hats and red robes.
The woman is “gilded with gold and precious stone and pearls” (v. 4). Gold, precious stone, and pearls are the materials with which the New Jerusalem is built (21:18-19, 21). But the woman, the apostate church, is not solidly built with these precious things as the New Jerusalem is; she is only gilded with these treasures as an ornament for outward display. This is her deception to attract people. It is the prostitute’s false appearance.
The prostitute holds in her hand “a golden cup full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication” (v. 4). Gold in figure signifies the divine nature of God. Hence, the golden cup here means that the apostate church does have something of God in appearance. But within, her golden cup is full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication, full of idolatry, pagan practices, and filthiness in a heretical, sinful, religious relationship.
Verse 6 says, “And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.” This indicates that the Roman Church has killed the saints and the witnesses of Jesus, having slain more of the saints than the Roman Empire did. The Roman Church does not kill the saints directly, but indirectly through the Roman Empire. Thus, she is drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
The saints are those who are separated, sanctified, unto God, living a holy life for God even unto death. The witnesses are those who are a living testimony of the Lord Jesus, faithful also unto death. The witnesses of Jesus are also the saints; however, the saints may just live a separated and holy life, not complying with the apostate church; yet they may not stand out to testify against the apostasy of the Roman Church as did witnesses like Antipas (2:13). The woman is drunken with the blood of both the saints and the witnesses.
The angel told the apostle John, “And the woman whom you saw is the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth” (v. 18). While the prostitute denotes the religious Babylon, signifying the Roman Church, the woman in this verse denotes the material Babylon, signifying the city of Rome. This is called the great city, which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth. When John wrote this book, Rome was the city that had a kingdom over the kings of the earth. What Antichrist and his ten kings will hate is the prostitute, the Roman Church, not the woman, the city of Rome, where their administration is based.
