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Pious’ Prostitution

Revelation 17

   After the six trumpets, the Lord provided us with some background information that covered the history of important elements of mankind’s situation spanning time from various points ‘way back’ up unto their culmination “in the days of the seventh trumpet”.  In like manner, having shown us the wrath of God mixed with the seven last bowl judgments, He again provides us the important background that is about to conclude coincident with the last bowl.  Likewise, this imagery requires understanding a story that covers a great deal of time.

   Because it begins so far back, we will look to archeological evidence as supplementary to the scripture.  Of course, our standard and last word is always the Bible.

   It would seem that the beginning of this story is shortly after Noah and his family began repopulating the earth after the great flood.  It was in Mesopotamia that the first cities were built, and the first of these was quite naturally named after the very first city built by man before the flood---Enoch. Due to linguistic permutations, this name has come down to us as Erech or Uruk in Sumeria. 

  Cush was the grandson of Noah, being the son of Ham.  The Bible tells us:

Cush begot Nimrod; he began to be a mighty one on the earth.  He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore, it is said, “Like Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.”  And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, Erech, Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.  From that land he went to Assyria and built Nineveh, Rehoboth Ir, Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah (that is the principal city).  (Gen 10:8-12)

   That word “mighty” is an intensive form of the word which means to prevail or conquer.  Some authorities assert that Nimrod came to Sumeria from Ethiopia, but whatever the case, he became the first major conqueror.  Also, that word for “before” as in “before the Lord” means facing but comes from the word meaning to turn away or turn against and thus would be better understood to mean “against the Lord”. 

   According to Jewish legend, the great success that attended all of Nimrod’s undertakings produced a sinister effect. Men no longer trusted in God, but rather in their own prowess and ability, an attitude to which Nimrod tried to convert the whole world.

   In the midst of the tumult of war Nimrod met Semiramis -- tradition states that she was an inn/brothel keeper and a prostitute in the city of Erech. The name Semiramis is a later, Hellenized form of the Sumerian name "Sammur-amat", or "gift of the sea” (which may indicate how Nimrod arrived in Sumeria.)  The first part, "sammur", when translated into Hebrew becomes "Shinar" (the Bible’s name for lower Mesopotamia), and is the word from which we derive "Sumeria". This one woman had such a lasting impression upon world history that not only do we call by her name the land from which civilization flowed, but the Bible itself says that it was "the Land of Shinar," or Semiramis.

   Nimrod took her as his wife.  However, not content with that role, she endeavored to expand her power by inventing a false religion with herself not simply Nimrod’s queen but the “Queen of Heaven”.  Some scholars believe the religion she ‘created’ was based primarily upon a corruption of the primeval astronomy formulated by Noah's righteous ancestors before the flood. In the original, this system was the story of Satan's rebellion and the war in the heavens, his subversion of mankind, the fall of Adam and Eve, the promise of One to come who would suffer and die to relieve man from the curse of sin then be installed as Lord of Creation, and the final re-subjugation of the cosmos to God through Him.

   In her corrupted version, the great dragon is depicted as the rightful lord of the universe whose throne has been temporarily usurped by One whom we can recognize as the God of the Bible. The serpent creates man in his present miserable state but promises that a child would one day be born of a divine mother---which child would supplant God, become a god himself, and return rulership of the Earth to the serpent.  (You can easily see the source of her inspiration!)

   Now, Semiramus became pregnant out of wedlock (big surprise) and of course, Nimrod was none too pleased.  Though he was part of her phony religion, to preserve her position, his wife co-opted her priesthood into killing Nimrod.  This left her as the ruling queen.  She named her illegitimate son Damu (from the Sumerian "dam," or blood), which in the later Babylonian language became Dammuzi, in Hebrew Tammuz, and in Greek Adonis.  She later had him killed as well to preserve her power, but in order to ‘spin’ the situation she ‘enhanced’ her already polluted version of the truth.

   She claimed that she had actually conceived miraculously. Consequently, the son, named Tammuz, was considered a divine savior. Many ancient artifacts remain with the familiar motif of the mother Semiramis holding the savior-infant Tammuz, which predate Christianity. It was also said that Tammuz was killed by a wild beast and then miraculously brought back to life. Baal was the Canaanite name for the Babylonian Tammuz.

   One well known scholar documented how Semiramis developed in her system a celibate Priesthood which was answerable to her and the High Priest, Nimrod, who was known by the title of 'Pontiff' or Pontifex Maximus meaning 'bridge-maker'.  This High Priest was supposedly the ‘BRIDGE’ between this life and the life to come (which of course was before she had him brutally murdered).  He was also known as the 'fish god' Dagon and this is why a fish-mitre hat was worn by the High Priest.  It was in the shape of a fish’s open mouth. He also tells us the regular priests wore black robes, which was the color of Satanism and the occult (Fausset's Bible Ency.p291).  In addition, he documents that Nimrod had a council of 12 priests to assist him in the temporal and political affairs of running the empire.

   They were called "Cardinals' and they were dressed in scarlet &  red robes. (see The Two Babylons by A. Hislop)

   This version of ‘the truth’ permeated virtually every culture throughout history.  The holy scriptures condemn it in Eze 8:14, Jer 7:18 and 44:17-19. From Babylon it spread to Phoenicia under the name of Ashteroth and Tammuz.   From Phoenicia, it traveled to Pergamos in Asia Minor. It may very well be the reason for John's admonition to the church at Pergamos in chapter two of Revelation: "I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is . . ." (Rev. 2:13).  In Egypt the mother-child cult was known as Isis and Horus.  In Greece it became Aphrodite and Eros.  In Rome this pair was worshiped as Venus and Cupid.

   When Attalus, the Pontiff and King of Pergamos, died in B.C. 133, he bequeathed the Headship of the "Babylonian Priesthood" to Rome. When the Etruscans came to Italy from Lydia (the region of Pergamos), they brought with them the Babylonian religion and rites. They set up a Pontiff who was head of the Priesthood. Later the Romans accepted this Pontiff as their civil ruler. Julius Caesar was made Pontiff of the Etruscan Order in B.C. 74. In B.C. 63, he was made "Supreme Pontiff" of the "Babylonian Order," thus becoming heir to the rights and titles of Attalus, Pontiff of Pergamos, who had made Rome his heir by will. Thus, Julius Caesar, the first Roman Emperor became the Head of the "Babylonian Priesthood," and Rome became the successor to the long line of this perverted priesthood. The Emperors of Rome continued to exercise the office of "Supreme Pontiff" until   A. D. 376, when the Emperor Gratian, for Christian reasons, refused it.  (see Clarence Larkin's Dispensational Truth)  However, even today, some supposed Christian practices and festivals are highly influenced by this twisted religion.   With this bit of background, let’s begin our study of the Revelation.

    Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.”  The spiritual personification of the false religious system initiated by the prostitute Semiramis is seen here at the end of the ages sitting upon the people of the nations.  She has enticed the kings of the earth to idolatry (spiritual fornication) and has deluded the people with her lies (wine of her fornication).

   So, he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.  By now, we should recognize this creature.  Because it is scarlet, the beast clearly shares the bloody nature of the dragon.  Because she is riding the beast, it is apparent that he will, as “the kings of earth” before him, support her, for a time.

   The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication.  The rewards of her prostitution are handsome materially.  Material prosperity obtained through religion is a key indicator of its falsehood.  This flies in the face of contemporary Christianity, but it is the very intoxication that the beast will use.  The prophet Daniel wrote of him:

   And through his policy (shrewdness or cunning) also he shall cause craft (deceit) to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify [himself] in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many: he shall also stand up against the Prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand. (Dan 8:25)  That word for peace is better translated prosperity.  (BTW, the NKJV is off on this verse.) 

   The golden cup in her hand is the unholy grail of her demonic communion.  An abomination is literally a foul, detestable thing whereas the “filthiness of her fornication” may refer to the excrement of her prostitution.  What a detestable quaff!  

   And on her forehead a name was written:
      MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

   Her title identifies her as the source of all idolatry and all foul, detestable things (in Israel and the world).  Thus, in the end of her reign, the very planet is known by her name. 

   “Mystery” most often means something hidden and thus secret.  Until recently, that’s exactly what this whore has been.

    I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement.   This false religious spiritual force has taken special pleasure in killing both Hebrew and gentile believers. 

This vision is too much for John.  He has seen the dragon, the beast, the judgments and wrath of God but here he marvels.  Why?  Possibly it’s because although he expected and could handle the imagery of the previous things, he never imagined the true nature of false religion. 

   
   But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.  We can surmise that the antichrist will be possessed of Satan and thus his imagery as the beast  bears a near perfect resemblance to the dragon.  As we look ahead in the Revelation, it is the dragon who, after the 1000-year reign of Christ, will ascend out of the bottomless pit and later be cast into the lake of fire (or perdition). 

   Indeed, the spirit of this beast is Satan who was in heaven but is no longer (for he was cast to the earth).  Upon Christ’s triumphant return, he will be cast into the bottomless pit.  He will ascend out of it after the millennium and then, after a final conflict with Christ, will be cast into the lake of fire and thus spend eternity in perdition. 

   The marveling of those who are deluded by the beast “that was, and is not, and yet is” probably points back to the supposed resurrection of the antichrist or his government which we examined in chapter thirteen.

   Because this passage refers to both entities as seemingly one, we can foresee that indeed the beast will be spiritually possessed by the dragon.  It is once again, Satan’s vain attempt to imitate God the Father’s relationship with God the Son.  Recall, Jesus said to his disciples, “I and my Father are One.” (John 10:30)

   “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. Some have said that the Greek word for mountain here  only refers to a large mountain, but in fact, the Bible uses this word repeatedly to refer to the Mount of Olives which is really a hill. (And it uses it to refer to other hills as well.) Thus, this passage could justifiably be translated seven hills and in fact should have been.  In light of what we learned above about the transfer of headship of the Babylonian religion to Rome, I think these seven hills refer to it.  It is commonly known as the city built on seven hills.  But there’s more…

   There are also seven kings.  This should read “[and they] are also seven kings.”  The verb form used here is the third person plural present indicative.  In other words, these heads have two meanings.  First, they refer to the city of Rome and second, they refer to the seven kingdoms that have ruled over the Hebrews as we’ve mentioned before.  With that second meaning in mind, we continue…

   Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time.  At the time of this prophecy, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia and Greece had come and gone as rulers over the children of Israel.  Rome was the present power and the revived Roman empire will be the seventh and technically is already in place in the form of the Mediterranean Union.  Therein, the “clay” (the Jewish people) of Daniel’s chapter two image has officially mingled with the “iron” (Rome).  When the AC takes over this union, he will make it the seventh kingdom to rule over the Hebrews.  This arrangement will continue for only a short time – perhaps only a few years.  That’s because…

   The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition.  In the midst of the tribulation, the AC will set up his throne in Jerusalem and while in the temple declare himself to be god – the ‘unquestionable’ ruler of Israel.  As such, he himself will be the eighth kingdom, and he will use his position to both corrupt the carnally minded of Israel and attempt to annihilate God’s faithful remnant.  “He is of the seven” clearly shows that the spirit that drives him makes him a ‘member of their club’ – ‘antichrists r us’.  However, along with the dragon, he will ultimately be cast into the lake of fire as well.

   “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast. These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”  We discussed these ten horns in detail in “Little Horn and the Ten”.  In brief, these ten horns or ten kings are clearly shown as representing the final hour of the revived Roman Empire both in the ten toes of Daniel chapter two and on the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven.

   What is foretold therein, and this Revelation passage is that there will exist at the end of the age a group of ten kings that will cooperate together but remain dormant until another king arises from outside their sphere.  Since it says that they are kings, it would seem that they each have a kingdom of their own.  As a group, however, they have no kingdom or literally no authority to rule over their united kingdom until the little horn appears and takes over.  He is “diverse” or different from the first ten.  “Little” in those passages, probably does not mean lesser in authority or power but rather newer or little in time.  It can also mean a power that is diminishing or withering.  This little horn will subdue or literally humble three of the ten kings and apparently change the leadership of the group.  Unlike the ten horns, this little horn will not simply be a horn, that is, a kingdom power, but a personality, it’s like this little horn will eventually be his own kingdom so to speak – i.e. he probably will rise to power from ‘out of nowhere,’ presumably over another kingdom not included in the ten; but fundamentally his ascendance will really be about himself and his own authority.

   Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.  And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.  The final tribulation whore will be useful to the beast for a season but then, since he wants to be god, she will be in the way.  At that point the yoke of ‘the religion of the past’ will be pillaged, burned and discarded by the antichrist’s subordinate kings. 

   But a one world false religion is coming and is already in the works.  In fact, the Catholic Review commented on this when it recently said, “The unity of religion promoted by the Holy Father Pope John Paul II and approved by His Holiness the Dalai Lama is not a goal to be achieved immediately, but a day may come when the love and compassion which both Buddha and Christ preached so eloquently will unite the world in a common effort to save humanity from senseless destruction, and leading to toward the light in which we all believe.”  This is only a very small sample of what is going on behind closed doors to unite the religions of the world.

   And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”  As we’ve already covered, “great city” is literally “great throng” or multitude.  It is the whorish satanic spiritual force and deception of Babylon that has, since its inception, dominated the kingdoms of this world.  This chapter marks its end.  Praise God!