The Great Harlot - Who is She?: Part 5   02.2005

Part 5

"After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird." (Rev 18:1-2)

This week we will attempt to arrive at a final conclusion of who the end time great harlot is that the Apostle John describes in the Book of Revelation. Before we do that, we briefly want to mention one more detail about the great harlot. John wrote in Revelation 17:3-4,

 "And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet." 

We know that in the Word of God every detail has significance. Here we see that the harlot was sitting on a scarlet beast and that she was dressed in purple and scarlet. Fausset's Bible dictionary writes about the color scarlet "A glaring, gorgeous color (Nah 2:3); that of the spiritual whore or corrupt church, conformed to that of the beast or God-opposed world power on which she rides."[1]

Purple and scarlet were the main colors of the Roman Empire and the colors that the Emperors wore. This is why the Roman soldiers clothed Yeshua in those colors when they mocked Him as King of the Jews (Mt 27:28, Jn 19:2). It is interesting that the Catholic Church has adopted these colors of the Roman Emperors. The Roman cardinals are all dressed in scarlet and Catholic bishops have purple in their attire.

Mother of Harlots

Revelation 17:5 calls the great harlot, "the mother of harlots." The great harlot has in other words many daughters. There is not just one, but many harlots. Pastor David Wilkerson wrote 33 years ago in his book The Vision,

"A global super-church will be formed through a union between liberal, ecumenical Protestants and the Roman Catholic Church. They will also join together politically. In this way this church will become one of the mightiest, religious forces in the world. This super-church will be spiritual in name only. They will freely use the name of Jesus Christ, but in reality it will be an antichristian and political institution.

"This mighty church union will be deeply involved in social work, gigantic charity projects and philanthropic programs. Their leaders will make big declarations about the necessity to meet the needs of all people and they will cause many to renew their interest in social problems, political activities and involvement in world finances. Rome will insist on certain compromises from the Protestant, ecumenical leaders, and will be successful. This union will look to the Pope as more of a political than religious leader. The Protestant leaders will also pressure Rome to make certain compromises. Rome will not insist that the Protestants have to accept the Pope as the infallible head of the church. The Protestants will rather accept his political leadership, but not his role as the successor of Peter."[2]

We believe that this is a prophetic vision of the end time great harlot. The Roman Catholic Church calls itself the mother of all Christian churches. An overwhelming evidence of Scripture point to the church of Rome as the mother of harlots, but the end time great harlot is not only the Roman Catholic Church. It will be a super-church centered in Rome that will include all of her daughters as well.

Not only will the liberal Protestant churches be a part of the end time great harlot. The amazing thing is that today also Pentecostal churches, Charismatic churches, Faith churches and even part of the Messianic Movement are being drawn in to unite with Rome. Who could have dreamed about this even five years ago?

The new Pope Benedict XIV has made it very clear that Christian unity is the number one priority of the Roman Catholic Church today. With this united force behind him, which also will make reconciliation with Islam, the Vatican will at the right moment make the move to take over Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, probably offering the Jewish people to rebuild their temple there as well, before the great tribulation begins. Next year an Ecumenical Meeting will be held in Rumania that will include all European churches under the theme "Christ Shines upon All – Hope for Renewal and Unity in Europe?" The goal is obviously not just unity in the church, but unity in Europe. There are no borders and no separation here. It is the great harlot sitting upon many waters.

Just like a prostitute tempts people with sexual fornication, so the great harlot in a time of upheaval and uncertainty tempts Christians with false security, greatness and influence, to stray from the straight and narrow path with simple obedience to the Word of God. In the noble quest for Christian unity, even many Charismatic and Messianic leaders are falling for this deception today.

Through intimidation, legislation, betrayal and persecution, most churches in the West will easily fall in line with the great harlot. Yeshua said, "Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also.'" (Jn 15:20) If we want to be part of the Bride, we must prepare for persecution in this hour, not just from the world but also from other believers. "At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other." (Mt 24:10)

We mentioned last week, that in the end there will be basically only two churches, the harlot church called Babylon the Great and the Bride of Messiah, which is called the Holy City Jerusalem. Both will be united, one under Rome, and the other under our Lord and Messiah and his Word.

The reason why we have written these articles about the great harlot is not because we want to speculate about Bible prophecy. There are enough of prophetic speculations going around. The only reason is because we feel such a great urgency to warn as many as possible, as clearly as we can, to come out of the end time great harlot church. God's alternative is to restore us back to our true roots among the Jewish people, and the Jewish faith of Yeshua and his apostles.

The Apostasy

In order to discern who the end time great harlot is, it is very important to understand that the apostasy in the church began very quickly after the Jewish apostles had died and Jerusalem was destroyed. Throughout the entire Book of Acts the church was a movement within Judaism with its center in Jerusalem. The good news that was preached among the nations by the apostles was that "through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus." (Eph 3:6) They told the new Gentile believers, "Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people." (Eph 2:19) They were joined into the commonwealth of Israel.

Paul had, however, clearly warned the leaders in the church at Ephesus,

“I know that after I  leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock. Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them.” (Ac 20:29-30)

In 98 CE, the leader in the Jerusalem church, Simon the Just, died. John, the last of the apostles, had also just died and the first Gentile bishop, Ignatius, took office in the church in Antioch the same year. Ignatius immediately began to write letters to the surrounding churches where he emphasized two things: he viciously attacked all teaching of "Jewish Law", and he advocated absolute obedience to ones bishop (singular). Greek anti Semitism started to distort the truth and a church government patterned after Roman hierarchy immediately set in.

The Jewish believer Hegesippus wrote in the second century about this time period,

"Up to that period (98 CE) the Assembly had remained like a virgin pure and uncorrupted: for, if there were any persons who were disposed to tamper with the wholesome rule of the preaching of salvation, they still lurked in some dark place of concealment or other. But,  when the sacred band of Emissaries had in  various ways closed their  lives, and that generation of men to whom  it had been vouchsafed to  listen to the Godlike Wisdom with  their own ears had passed  away, then did the confederacy of  godless error take its rise through the treachery of false teachers,  who, seeing that none of  the emissaries any longer survived, at  length attempted with bare  and uplifted head to oppose the preaching of the truth by preaching "knowledge falsely so called." (Hegesippus the Nazarene; c. 185 CE)
 

The New Testament writers had all warned about this apostasy in different ways. Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 4:1-4, "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods."

Already around 70 CE Jude wrote in his epistle, "Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints." (Jude v. 3) In 70 CE the faith that once for all had been entrusted to all the saints had already come under attack.

We can clearly see from this Scripture that every doctrine that has been added to the church in the different Church Councils after 70 CE, are not the work of the Spirit of God but of deceiving spirits. At the first Church Council in Nicea in 325 CE the harlot, fornicating with the kings of the earth and rejecting both the Jewish people and the Law of Moses, emerged on the scene. All priests were forbidden to marry and believers were asked to avoid eating meat on Fridays and during Lent. These doctrines taught by demons crept into the church, exactly like Paul had warned would happen. Many other unscriptural doctrines soon followed and from this time all true believers that were faithful to the word of God began to be persecuted by this apostate, harlot church. Through the centuries millions have been killed.

Restoration through the Word of God

The work of the Holy Spirit after 70 CE has always been to restore God's people back to the Biblical faith that once and for all was entrusted to all the saints. The exodus out from the great harlot began with the Reformation, when the doctrine of justification by faith was restored. Many died as martyrs during this time.

During the Reformation, however, the Protestant denominations never repented of the replacement theology and the harlot system that had started already in the second century with the so called church fathers. The time of the final restoration back to the first century Jewish, Apostolic faith with its roots in Jerusalem, is now upon us in this generation. Those who do not count the cost and move on to follow the Lamb wherever he goes in these last days will not be part of the Bride.

What happens physically in Israel, always happens spiritually in the church. To the shock and horror of those who love Israel, political leaders in Israel are today lining up with the rest of the nations of the world, by cruelly turning against their own people and driving them out of their own homes, in the land that God has given them. In the same way, some leaders within the Messianic Movement are today lining up with the apostate, harlot church and are even beginning to persecute their own Messianic brothers who are faithful to the Word of God.

Battle lines are being drawn and things are moving very quickly now! In the end, the great harlot will "become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird." (Rev 18:2) At the same time the Bride will make herself ready for her bridegroom by being washed in the water of God's Word, and will begin to shine more and more with the glory of God. Those who will sing both the song of Moses and of the Lamb are the ones who will bevictorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name (Rev 15:2-3).

Amos 8:11-13 says,

"'The days are coming,' declares the Sovereign LORD, 'when I will send a famine through the land — not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the LORD. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the LORD, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say, 'As surely as your god lives, O Dan,' or, 'As surely as the god of Beersheba lives'— they will fall, never to rise again."

For those who refuse to connect with Jerusalem in this hour, there will be a famine of the Word of God. People will “stagger from sea to sea”, moving from one popular teaching to the next without finding the word of the Lord. People will “wander from north to east” for spiritual food, but without coming up to the mountain of the Lord to learn His ways and walk in His paths. They will not be able to hear the word of the Lord. In our view this famine of the Word of God has already begun in the church.

The Book of Revelation tells us over and over again that those who embrace the Word of God and become a part of the Bride will be severely persecuted. But they will be victorious and their reward will be great.

"After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted: 'Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.'

"Then I heard another voice from heaven say: 'Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.'" (Rev 18:1-5)

"Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy. Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. …Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city." (Rev 22:11-14)

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[1] From Fausset's Bible Dictionary, Electronic Database Copyright (c)1998, 2003 by Biblesoft

[2] Translated from Swedish