Why Many Don't Believe 2

Spirit of Truth Christian Ministries

Why Many Don't Believe (cont.)

To understand why things are the way they are now, we need to make sure we understand Revelation 17. The study of Revelation 17 is often overlooked and/or misunderstood. Many interpretations of this book have come into view but none have shed more light than what we’re about to cover. Only time (history) will verify which interpretation was accurate, so I encourage you to prayerfully consider what’s presented here and ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance in your understanding of God’s word.

This chapter of Revelation actually requires a far more in-depth study of history than what we’re going to present here and more fully reveals where we are in the context of prophetic time. We won’t go into all of the historic details that validate the prophecies of this very important chapter, but we’ll touch on the highlights. I strongly suggest the reader searches the records of history for a more complete picture of the things we’ll touch on here. There are strong assertions in this study and within the website however I want to stress that I believe God has His people in all churches so this message goes out with love for everyone. Regardless of whatever Christian church anyone one of us belongs to now, we are to ALL come out of Babylon and into the single true church of Jesus Christ before He returns.

Verse 1: One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters.

The angel that shows John the vision is one of the angels who we see in Revelation 16 that pours out one of the seven bowls that represent judgments on the beast who is worshiped and those who worship it as seen in Revelation 13. The “great prostitute, who sits on many waters” represents the worldwide nature of this false system of worship.

Verse 2: With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries."

World leaders all joined in unlawful unions of church and state with this religious system and as a result, most of the world’s judgment became obscured by its false doctrines.

Verse 3: Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns.

Notice here that John is then carried away into the desert. We saw this before in Revelation 12:6 where God’s true church was in hiding or obscurity and the same symbolism is applied in this verse. However, at this point in history, it’s a different woman who is in obscurity. This represents the time after 1798 when the papacy received its “deadly wound” and represents the time since where most of the world rules with a separation of church and state, outside of the direct influence of and control from the Catholic church.

The beast that she’s sitting on represents satanic powers (predominantly powers of state) that have ruled or will rule the earth (specifically God’s people) under Satan’s influence. More on this later.

Verse 4: The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries.

The symbolism shown here reinforces the interpretation of this woman applying to the Catholic church. Not only are purple and scarlet dominant colors of this church, but the symbolism of gold, precious stones and pearls point to its vast wealth and worldliness.

There’s also an association with priestly apparel, but the absence of the color blue references the fact that this woman (church) does not adhere to the laws of God (please see Numbers 15:38-40).

- The “abominable things” represent the many false doctrines and pagan practices that made its way into Christianity by way of the Catholic church. The “filth of her adulteries” speak to the millions of people that were martyred for not bowing down to Catholicism during the 1260 years of her church / state rule.

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