[Music] 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 by many waters with her the kings of Earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness there I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns the woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold and precious stones and pearls she held a golden cup in her hand and filled with the abominable things in the filth of her adulteries the name written on her forehead was a Mystery Babylon the Great the mother of prostitutes ended the abominations of Earth I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God's holy people the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus in Revelation 17 we see the leopard like beasts from Revelation 13 again whereas chapter 17 deals with the establishment of a theocratic governing system those who take part willfully exchange their moral integrity and worth for the necessities of life and such by receiving the mark of the beast which is why they are referred to as a prostitute the woman is drunk with the blood of the saints death and martyrdom of the saints Lucifer's main objectives are to gain control on a global scale and destroy the saints in the process the great prostitute will be punished by God she is the great city she rides and directs the Beast she is the bride her harlot of Lucifer his one world governing system contrary to the Saints the bride of Jesus those who take part in its administration will be punished by the seven bowls and ultimately destroyed by fire the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth the term the great city is a parallel concept from the Old Testament under God's plan a god sign that Jerusalem would eventually become the great city from which he would rule over all earth also cease Psalm 48 verse 1 to 3 under this plan Jerusalem would have become so great in size that it would encompass much if not all of the land of Canaan Zechariah 2 verse 2 to 5 speaks of Jerusalem being a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock within the great prostitute is defined as the great city that rules over the kings of the earth because the parallel is obvious Lucifer claiming to be God Almighty will rule over the world when he sets up his one-world theocracy the great city spoken of in this prophecy will not have walls because it is a universal government the great city is not a geographical place but rather the prostitute consists of citizens headed toward their final destruction Lucifer will rule over the kings of the earth and they will use their civil authority to enforce religious laws this is the result of babylons intoxicating wine she sits on many waters meaning controls the diverse nations of Earth note that the continents are filled with people likewise oceans are filled with water in this analogy waters represent a sea of diverse human beings in that water conforms to the shape and dimensions of the container in which it is put in whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it the kings of the earth committed adultery with her they give the prostitute their civil power for religious purposes to enforce religious behavior this is adultery the union of church and state the people of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries the wicked are willfully deceived they refused to believe the truth and it is for this reason that God sends them a powerful delusion that they would believe the lie and be condemned she has a gold cup of abominations and the filter for adulteries note the character and appearance of the woman on the Beast a gold cup attractive and alluring she appears beautiful outwardly and her appearance in what she's wearing adorned and jewellery meaning she is rich controls the world's wealth and the necessities of life yet inwardly is disgusting and detestable the mystery of the prostitute is that all those who chose to submit to her would rather rebel against a soon-coming vengeful God violate their conscience and exchange their soul their eternal destiny in order to survive on this doomed planet for a short time see Ezekiel 23 4 parallel between ancient Israel and the coming great prostitute this calls for a mind that has wisdom the seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits but also seven kings a king has authority therefore he has a kingdom of subjects because each religious system has Authority it has subjects those who adhere to certain practices of a religion submit to its authority as truth and of its beliefs thus the seven religious systems of the world can be called Kings for they have adherents five have fallen one is and one has not yet come but when he does he must remain for a little while the vision John is receiving occurred around 1895 as of that date five heads Hills or Kings had fallen religious systems of the world atheism paganism Judaism Islam Eastern mysticism Catholicism and Protestantism hills or mountains are used as an analogy because in ancient times it was believed that deity lived in the mountains see Psalms 43 verse 3 and Daniel 9:24 reference the title Islam as used here refers to the ancient religion of Ishmael even though Muhammad lived during the sixth century AD Muslims hold that Ishmael the first offspring of Abraham is the founder of Islam the sixth head Christianity was just beginning in John's day eventually this head was called the Roman Catholic Church John was a key character of this religious system but he followed in Israel's footsteps it became a false religion and blasphemous overtime the power of the Catholic Church was severely wounded in 1798 but the deadly wound will be healed during the fourth trumpet the seventh head appeared on earth around 1500 AD and is called Protestantism when we consider that six of the seven religious systems have endured for 2,000 years or more the lifespan of Protestantism is short the angel tells John that he is going to explain the mystery of the woman and the Beast she rides in verse 7 then verse 8 proceeds to start with the Beast that comes out of the abyss the seven headed dragon the purpose of this is that one must understand the dragon the devil before understanding his government the beast that you saw it was and now is no more but is about to come up out of the abyss and go to its destruction and those who dwell on the earth whose names were not written in the book of life in the foundation of the world will be astonished when they see the Beast that was and is not been yet will be note that the Beast the woman is riding on is scarlet in color we see this in verse three and is still the leopard like beast from revelation 13 think of the woman and the beast as a puppet the red dragon the devil is the hand inside controlling it thus when John sees the woman riding on the leopard like beast in Revelation 17 he notices it as scarlet in color because the devil is the power within the Beast [Music]