In the book of Revelation 17:3 John received a vision in which he saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads of Revelation17:9 are the seven mountains on which the woman is sitting. The ten horns are ten kings, which have received no kingdom, as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast Revelation17:12.
The woman, which the angel of God, also called the great whore is said to sit upon many waters. In Revelation17:15 it is explained that the waters are the peoples, multitudes and nations and tongues, controlled by this woman.
In Revelation17:5, it is written that this woman has upon her forehead a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of The Earth.
In Nahum 3:4, this same woman is also referred to as the well favoured harlot, the mistress of witchcrafts that selleth nations through the multitude of her whoredoms, and selleth families through her witchcrafts. This woman has made the inhabitants of the earth to be drunk with the wine of her fornication and even the kings of the earth have committed the sin of fornication with this woman, as written in Revelation17:2. This woman, that is, this great whore, has a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.
Her attire of purple and scarlet colour portrays her to be a true spiritual harlot. And her being decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, symbolizes her great wealth.
You may wonder who this Woman is, which made many drunken with the wine of her fornication? Fornication here is implied to mean, spiritual fornication, otherwise known as religious harlotry. This great whore or this woman exercises her influence over nations and over the inhabitants of the earth through religion. The title, Mother of harlots, portrays her, as a religious institution that has given birth to many other religious harlots.
This great whore, that is, this religious institution, which is also the mother of abominations of the earth, promotes all the abominable idolatries in religion. In Revelation18:2, the fall of this religious institution, Babylon the great has been predicted because it has ‘become the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird’ (witchcraft spirit). The adherence of this religious institution according to Paul in Galatians 3:1 are been bewitched not to obey the truth. In Revelation 18:4, genuine children of God and genuine servants of God are warned by the God of heaven and earth to come out of this religious institution, that they may not partake of her sins nor receive of her plagues.
The Mystery about this great whore is that she inherited all of the religious rites and mysteries of Ancient Babylon, majority of which are now being practiced by most harlot churches. These include heathen temple worship, pagan rituals, image worship and the sentimental reverence given to graven images, to saints and to relics; private confessionals, penances, pilgrimages, sign of the cross, Christmas, Lady Day, Easter, Lent, etc.
