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Who is The Bible’s Scarlet Harlot & the Beast? (Revelations 17)
By Mike Rashid King
1. The Woman in Purple and Scarlet Riding the Beast
Revelation 17 introduces us to a mysterious harlot clothed in royal hues, seated upon many waters and a fearsome beast . The clues given are striking. She wears purple and scarlet and is lavishly decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls . Compare this with the opulence of the Roman Catholic Church: cardinals literally don scarlet vestments, and bishops wear purple; the Church surrounds itself with gold-embroidered robes, jeweled miters, and treasures of art and relics . One historical commentary noted how “scarlet is the colour of the popes and cardinals,” and the Church of Rome’s magnificence in vestments and ornaments is beyond description . The Vatican’s accumulated wealth – golden chalices, encrusted reliquaries, palatial basilicas – mirrors the “golden cup” in the harlot’s hand . Even the very city it rests on is telling: “The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth,” says Revelation – an allusion hard to miss, as for centuries Rome has been known as the City on Seven Hills . (A Catholic encyclopedia frankly admits, “within the city of Rome, called the city of seven hills, the entire area of Vatican State proper is now confined” .) The “many waters” she sits on are explained as “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” , and indeed the Catholic Church at its height ruled over diverse peoples across nations and tongues – a global spiritual empire spanning from Europe to the New World .
But notice: this Woman rides the Beast – she is not the Beast itself . In prophetic symbolism, that suggests a power that steers or influences a political empire, rather than outright wielding brute force alone. The harlot commits fornication with the kings of the earth, rather than conquering them by the sword . This aligns with how the Catholic Church amassed influence historically. The Church didn’t usually annex territory by force the way secular empires did; instead, it rode on their backs, guiding secular rulers with a firm hand on the reins. Medieval popes crowned emperors and kings, sanctioned their rule, and in turn kings obeyed the Church’s agenda. It was a symbiotic dance of power: the Vatican used diplomacy, intrigue, and spiritual authority to make monarchs do its bidding, effectively “riding” the political Beast of worldly empire. Scholars note that the woman of Revelation 17 is distinct from the governmental Beast she rides – she is a church exerting control over an empire . The Catholic Church fulfilled this by acting as the power behind thrones. Through diplomatic pressure and alliance, the popes for centuries influenced imperial policies. They preferred indirect control – like a rider steering a horse – instead of open conquest. The harlot is said to sit on “peoples and multitudes” , and indeed the Church extended its seat across many nations by partnering with rulers, converting masses, and sometimes manipulating whole peoples through religion. In essence, Rome’s Church became a queen without an army – clothed in scarlet, drenched in riches, reigning from the shadows over the kings of the earth, just as Revelation foresaw.
2. Counterfeit Authority Posing as Holy
Revelation also warns of “another beast” – a second beast arising from the earth – “and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon.” This is a brilliant metaphor for a false prophet: it has horns like a lamb (evoking Christ, the Lamb of God) but a voice like a dragon (the Dragon being Satan) . In other words, it appears gentle and Christ-like, but its words betray a satanic nature. Many interpreters identify this second beast as a symbol of corrupt religious authority that pretends to speak for God. What fits better than an office that calls itself the Vicar of Christ but has often thundered with anything but Christ’s spirit? The Popes, in their lofty claims, match this image. The Pope’s official title “Vicar of Christ” (Vicarius Christi in Latin) literally means representative of Christ on earth – essentially one who stands “in place of” Christ . According to Catholic doctrine, the pope has “supreme and universal primacy” over the Church of Christ, wielding Christ’s own authority as His stand-in . Such audacity was bound to breed abuse. To call a mere man Holy Father or claim he holds the power and infallibility of God’s own Son – this is the very definition of a counterfeit lamb. It looks holy, dresses in white, speaks of peace, but when it issues decrees, we often hear the dragon’s voice of coercion, ego, and empire.
Let’s talk plainly: the Papacy set itself up as a sort of counterfeit Christ on earth. And under that guise, horrific deeds were done in God’s name. Revelation’s beast speaks like a dragon – and history confirms that when popes spoke, they often unleashed dragons. The Holy Inquisition, for example, was a system of religious tribunals established under papal authority to root out heresy. What began as a claim to protect pure doctrine became an engine of terror. The Inquisition’s agents, carrying crucifixes, spoke of saving souls but acted with the cruelty of devils – torturing, imprisoning, and burning alive tens of thousands of people whose only “crime” was disagreeing with Church dogma. This was the lamb’s horns morphing into the dragon’s fangs. Even mainstream historians acknowledge that Rome turned persecutor: “Thus Roman Catholicism became ‘the most persecuting faith the world has ever seen’… Innocent III murdered far more Christians in one afternoon… than any Roman emperor did in his entire reign.” Innocent III, a Pope venerated by the Church, launched a crusade in Southern France that massacred towns of men, women, and children for being “heretics” (the Albigensian Crusade) – a bloodbath of fellow Christians at the hands of the supposed Vicar of Christ. John’s Apocalypse saw a beast masquerading as lamb – history saw the Pope claiming to represent the Lamb while killing like a dragon.
Under papal banners, the Crusades were also called – including not just the famous campaigns to the Holy Land against Muslims, but internal crusades against any group Rome deemed a threat. The Crusaders, wearing crosses on their chests, committed acts of savagery that would make any “dragon” proud. In 1209, the papal army at Béziers was reported to have slaughtered some 20,000 people, and when asked how to tell heretics from faithful, the papal legate allegedly said, “Kill them all; God will know His own.” Such is the voice of the dragon speaking through a so-called Christian leader. The Spanish Inquisition, operating under papal license, used hideous tortures in dark dungeons to force confessions. One historian wrote that these persecutions were “among the darkest blots on the record of mankind, revealing a ferocity unknown in any beast.” The Bible’s prophetic language is no exaggeration – a ferocity unknown in any beast, indeed, for it was a beast in sheep’s clothing.
The deception was not only in violence but in policy. Popes claimed the authority to rule not just the Church but kings and princes. They wielded the power to bind and loose, not only in heaven but on earth – including the realms of economy and exploration. The age of colonialism provides a stark example: Papal edicts directly facilitated the conquest of entire continents. In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued the bull Inter Caetera, effectively drawing a line down the map and granting the New World to Spain and Portugal . This and similar bulls formed what’s now known as the Doctrine of Discovery, the legal-spiritual justification for European powers to “invade, search out, capture, vanquish, and subdue all… pagans” and seize their lands. In essence, the popes gave the blessing and legal right to enslave and exploit non-Christian peoples . Under the banner of the cross, conquistadors destroyed indigenous nations. Whole cultures were wiped out or forced to convert, often under pain of death. The popes who authorized these conquests sat in Rome claiming to be the gentle shepherds of Christ’s flock – yet their decrees spoke with the dragon’s voice of domination and greed. Counterfeit spiritual authority was in full effect: preaching love and humility, but practicing conquest and domination. The papacy presented itself as the moral guide of the world (a lamb), yet issued commands that led to rape of continents (a dragon). Truly, “he had two horns like a lamb, but spoke like a dragon.”
3. The Mark and Control of Commerce
Another chilling warning in Revelation: the Beast would seek to control all buying and selling. “No man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast” . This is often interpreted as an end-times scenario of economic control, but it has very real historical fulfillment in the Church’s behavior. For centuries, the Catholic Church indeed marked who could participate in commerce and society. The medieval Church wasn’t just a religious power; it was an economic juggernaut. It claimed authority over kings in material matters and jurisdiction over trade and wealth . Papal law and edicts at times determined who could do business and who must be shunned. One commentary notes that the Papacy’s “manifest aim… has been to control the world, and to get dominion over its wealth” . This was accomplished by a variety of means: mandatory tithes (a 10% tax on everyone’s income that the Church enforced ), ownership of vast lands and properties (by some estimates, the medieval Church owned as much as one-third of the land in Western Europe ), and the ability to levy fines or sell indulgences for salvation. The Church grew fabulously rich off the backs of the people – and those who didn’t comply found themselves economically marginalized.
A vivid example of controlling commerce was the punishment of excommunication. To be excommunicated by Rome wasn’t just a spiritual censure; it was a social and economic death sentence. An excommunicated person was to be cut off from society – no Christian was to do business with them, hire them, buy from them, or sell to them . Church law explicitly forbade “any traffic with the heretics” . This meant if you were branded a heretic (i.e. refused the “mark” of loyalty to Rome), you effectively lost the right to buy or sell in the community of the faithful. In 1179 the Third Lateran Council under Pope Alexander III decreed that no one should “dare to entertain or cherish heretics, nor transact business with them” . Likewise, the Synod of Tours (1163) and later edicts reinforced that “no man shall presume to receive or assist heretics, no, not so much as to exercise commerce with them in selling or buying.” . We see how close this aligns with Revelation’s prophecy. The “mark” of the beast can be understood as the mark of allegiance to the Roman Church. If you bore the mark – i.e. if you were a good Catholic in communion with Rome – you could freely trade and thrive. If not, you were economically boycotted. The faithful obeyed these rules out of fear; to disobey was to risk being labeled a heretic oneself. Thus, through religious edict, the Church turned off the spigot of commerce for anyone outside its authority.
Beyond sanctions, the Church also directly commanded economic flows. The populace’s required tithes and offerings channeled enormous wealth to the Church . The clergy controlled guilds and markets in many towns. The monastic orders were major landowners, producing goods and dominating local economies. And the papacy even acted like a bank: the Knights Templar in the Crusades pioneered banking systems under church auspices; later, the Vatican would have its own bank and investments steering international finance (even today the Vatican Bank quietly holds billions and has links to global financial institutions – a silent influence rarely advertised). In medieval times, salvation itself had a price tag: indulgences (remissions of sin) were sold for money, a practice so egregious it sparked Martin Luther’s Reformation. With one hand the Church preached charity, with the other it raked in profits. In those days, refusing to pay or dissenting from Church doctrine could ruin your livelihood. It’s not hard to imagine the mark of the beast in those terms – a metaphor for the social credit of being a Catholic in good standing. Without that “mark,” one was an outcast economically and socially.
So Revelation’s warning about a beast controlling buying and selling was not just fantasy. The Catholic Church had a stranglehold on the economy of Christendom. And it used that power: it “decreed that no one might buy or sell” except by its permission . A medieval farmer couldn’t even sell his crop or a merchant his wares without the Church taking its tithe and sanctioning the exchange (often trade fairs happened on Church feast days under the eyes of clergy). If a town or nation resisted the pope’s will, the pope could place it under interdict, essentially shutting down all church services – no masses, no marriages, no burials – a move that would paralyze community life and commerce until the rulers submitted. The mark of loyalty to Rome was truly the ticket to participate in society. All this is a sobering reminder: the prophecy of economic control has played out before. And as power centralizes in modern times, we do well to remember how a church once leveraged faith to dominate finances. The Beast’s mark is a spiritual allegiance with very material consequences. Rome mastered that art, making kings and peasants alike bow to its economic lordship. No one bought or sold without the mark – in medieval Europe, effectively, that mark was baptism into the Roman Catholic fold and obedience to the Pope.
4. Blasphemy and Idolatry Exposed
Revelation’s beasts are also marked by blasphemy. John writes that he saw on the Beast “names of blasphemy” and that the Beast would “open his mouth in blasphemies against God” . Blasphemy, in biblical terms, means to insult or usurp the honor of God – claiming attributes or titles that belong to the Divine. The Roman Church again fits the bill frighteningly well. The Pope carries titles such as “Holy Father” – a name Jesus used exclusively for God the Father. Popes have been called “Pontifex Maximus” (a title of ancient pagan emperors meaning “Chief Bridge-Builder” between Earth and Heaven) – effectively positioning the Pope as the supreme mediator, a role truly belonging only to Christ. Catholic bishops are addressed as “Lord” (e.g. Dominus in Latin), and the honorific “His Holiness” is given to the Pope. These are exactly what Revelation means by names of blasphemy: “Rome claims titles and attributes which belong only to God or Christ — such as Holy Father, Most Reverend, Pontifex Maximus… Vicarius Filii Dei (Vicar of the Son of God).” By letting men assume these exalted names, the institution blurs the line between human and divine. It is the oldest temptation – “ye shall be as gods.” To call the Pope “Vicar of Christ” is to say he speaks for Christ with Christ’s authority. That in itself, if untrue, is blasphemy. And consider an even more audacious claim: a forged medieval document called the Donation of Constantine (which the Church used for a time until it was exposed as fake) literally addressed the Pope as “God on Earth.” Is it any wonder Protestants during the Reformation began to see the papal office as an Antichrist? The shoe fits: a power “speaking great things and blasphemies” against God , setting itself up in God’s temple.
Blasphemy goes hand in hand with idolatry, and the Catholic Church stands heavily indicted on that count as well. The Second Commandment explicitly forbids making any graven image or bowing to it (Exodus 20:4-5). Yet the Catholic Council of Trent declared, “It is lawful to have images in the church and to give honor and worship to them… Images are put in churches that they may be worshipped.” Statues of Mary, Jesus, and saints fill every Catholic church, and the faithful kneel before them, kiss them, carry them in processions. The Church will argue they are “venerating, not worshipping,” but to the observer it’s a distinction without a difference – prayers are directed to these images, candles and incense lit, songs sung. In many parts of the world, Catholic practice absorbed local pagan customs, resulting in idol-like devotions. John’s vision saw the harlot’s cup full of abominations – a strong word often used in Scripture for idol worship. From a biblical prophet’s perspective, the Catholic penchant for bowing to statues and relics is exactly an abomination. Early Christians refused to burn a pinch of incense to Caesar’s statue and were martyred for it; later Christians in Rome’s embrace ended up lighting incense in front of images of the Virgin Mary. How the tables turned! Praying to saints as intercessors also dilutes Christ’s sole mediatorship. The New Testament teaches “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” (1 Tim 2:5), but Catholic tradition established a whole pantheon of patron saints to mediate every cause, plus elevating Mary to Mediatrix of all graces. The Marian doctrines themselves, while beautiful to Catholic devotion, are nowhere found in original apostolic teaching. The idea of Mary’s Immaculate Conception (that she herself was born without sin), her Assumption into heaven bodily, her coronation as Queen of Heaven – these are later dogmas that many argue exalt Mary beyond measure. People pray “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us” thousands of times in the Rosary. Some even ascribe near-saving power to Mary, calling her “Co-Redemptrix” or pleading, “Mary, save us.” This treads dangerously into idolatry or at least “creature worship”. It’s telling that in Scripture, “Queen of Heaven” was a pagan title (Jeremiah 7:18), yet it’s now freely used of Mary in Catholic hymnals. The harlot of Revelation made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication – a potent image of spiritual adultery . In plain speech, that means mixing true faith with pagan falsehood, betraying God by idolatry. The Catholic Church, by incorporating idols and unbiblical traditions, matches this warning sign. What could be more of a spiritual adultery than to take the pure gospel of Christ and mingle it with the very pagan practices the early Christians died to oppose?
And then there’s the claim of infallibility – perhaps the boldest blasphemy of all. In 1870, Pope Pius IX declared (via the First Vatican Council) that when the Pope speaks ex cathedra on matters of faith and morals, he is infallible, incapable of error, by the assistance of the Holy Spirit. Imagine that: a man who, according to history, is often quite fallible (many popes were grossly immoral or wrong in other teachings) suddenly saying that at certain moments he basically shares God’s own perfection in teaching. This is a doctrine with no precedent in the first 1800 years of Christianity, and it essentially equates the Pope’s pronouncements with the very Word of God. No other Christian leader would dare say, “I cannot err.” Even the apostles rebuked each other (Paul corrected Peter in Galatians). But Rome calmly insists the Pope can exercise God’s prerogative of unerring truth. If that’s not speaking “great things” for oneself (Daniel 7:25 speaks of the little horn power that would speak pompously against the Most High), then what is? The blasphemy checklist is complete: assuming God’s titles, accepting veneration, and claiming God’s authority as one’s own. The façade is of utmost piety, but from a prophetic viewpoint, this is a grand spiritual crime – the creature stepping into the Creator’s place. No wonder Revelation portrays this woman as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS” . Babylon in the Bible was the epitome of idolatry and pride against God. Here, Babylon the Great lives on in a religious guise, carrying over the old idolatrous traditions under new names. The Roman Church is a mystery indeed – a mix of sincere devotion, splendid ceremony, and underlying corruption of biblical truth. It presents a beautiful chalice to the world, golden and bejeweled, but inside that cup is filthiness – the wine of heresy, idolatry, and blasphemy . This is not said with malice, but with mourning – for millions of sincere Catholics through history were kept in spiritual darkness by these very practices. Revelation’s angel calls, “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins” (Rev 18:4). The time comes to wake up from the stupor of that wine.
5. “Drunk on the Blood of Saints”: Persecution & Empire
Perhaps the most damning characteristic of the apocalyptic harlot is that she is “drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.” The imagery is horrifying: this woman, ostensibly religious, is a killer of God’s true people. She’s not just slightly guilty; she’s drunk on it – meaning saturated and engorged with persecution. Sadly, once more, the shoe fits the Roman Catholic Church’s history all too well. Across a span of well over a thousand years, the Church in Rome persecuted Jews, heretics, and even fellow Christians who dared to challenge her authority or doctrines. By one estimate, during the Middle Ages and into the Reformation era, millions were killed in the name of Christianity – not by outsiders, but by the Church itself. Martyrs of Jesus – people who wanted to read the Bible in their own language, or who preached justification by faith, or who rejected the pope’s supremacy – were burned at the stake, drowned, beheaded, or imprisoned until death. Revelation 17:6 was virtually a headline for the medieval epoch: the woman (false church) was drunk on the blood of saints indeed. The Catholic apologist may object that the Church was simply defending truth from error, but no amount of spin can erase the gruesome record written in blood. The Inquisitions (Medieval, Spanish, and Roman) alone are responsible for tens of thousands of executions (and countless lives ruined by torture and imprisonment). The Crusades not only killed Muslims and Jews in large numbers, but also Eastern Orthodox Christians (the sacking of Constantinople in 1204 by Latin crusaders, for example) and groups like the Cathars and Waldensians, who were essentially Bible-oriented Christian sects in Europe. The Albigensian Crusade in southern France (1209–1229) was particularly brutal – an entire population was decimated because they held unorthodox beliefs. One Catholic writer, Dave Hunt, summarized Rome’s legacy: “Roman Catholicism became the most persecuting faith the world has ever seen… Compared with the persecution of heresy in Europe from 1227 to 1492, the persecution of Christians by [pagan] Romans in the first three centuries was a mild and humane procedure.” In other words, once the Church got power, she spilled far more Christian blood than the Roman emperors ever did. This fulfills exactly the Revelation image: an entity claiming to be Christ’s bride (the Church) behaving as a harlot, murdering the true bride of Christ (the faithful believers who kept God’s Word).
Even after the initial era of inquisitions and forced conversions, the pattern continued in different forms. The burning of Giordano Bruno in 1600 is one infamous example: Bruno was a philosopher who entertained ideas of an infinite universe and other worlds. The Church found his ideas heretical (along with his unorthodox religious views) and, after seven years in prison, burned him alive in Rome’s Campo de’ Fiori . His crime? Essentially thinking differently from what the Pope’s inquisitors sanctioned. Later, in the 19th century, when the papal states still had secular power, the Pope’s forces imprisoned dissenters and even kidnapped a Jewish child (Edgardo Mortara in 1858) because he’d been secretly baptized by a maid – asserting the child now belonged to the Church, not his parents. These are the actions of an institution intoxicated on power and blood, not of the gentle, pure bride of Christ. And what about outside Europe? When the Catholic empires went to the Americas, Africa, and Asia, they often did so with sword in one hand and cross in the other. If native peoples did not convert, they were often deemed savages and treated cruelly or killed. Entire indigenous civilizations were effectively destroyed under the auspices of spreading the faith. The Spanish conquistadors, with priests in tow, toppled the Aztec and Inca empires. Temples were razed, idols smashed (which from a Christian perspective is good) – but then those natives were frequently enslaved or killed, which is decidedly not the way of Christ. The blood of indigenous peoples also stains the hands of this Babylon. For instance, the Church-backed Goa Inquisition in India (1560s) aggressively sought to crush Hindu customs and force conversions, destroying temples and idols in the process . In the Americas, Catholic clergy like Diego de Landa in Yucatán (1562) burned invaluable Maya codices (books) and icons, erasing history in the name of purging “idolatry” . Colonization under papal blessing meant if you didn’t accept baptism, you might face a soldier’s blade. The woman of Revelation was truly “drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs” – not only the classic saints who died in Roman arenas, but those later martyrs who died at the hands of a “Christian” empire.
Only in recent times has the Vatican even begun to acknowledge this past. In 2000, Pope John Paul II apologized for the Church’s persecution of Galileo and for the sins of Catholics in the Inquisition and Crusades. And in 2023, the Vatican formally repudiated the Doctrine of Discovery, admitting that those 15th-century papal bulls led to the unjust seizure of native lands and oppression of indigenous peoples . It took over 500 years, but Rome begrudgingly owned up to the fact that it empowered colonial atrocities. By repudiating it, they essentially confirm that it was wrong – a devil’s doctrine, not God’s. But prophecy had long ago identified the system as an “empire drunk on the blood of the saints”. The Catholic Church’s hierarchy became an empire indeed – one that meddled in worldly power to the point of killing for it. It is sobering to realize that many of the “martyrs of Jesus” through history were killed by a church, not by outsiders. Whether it was Jan Hus – burned at Constance in 1415 for criticizing Church corruption – or William Tyndale – strangled and burned in 1536 for translating the Bible into English – the story repeats. The very institution that claimed to be the one true Church showed itself willing to slay true disciples to maintain its dominance. That is the grim fulfillment of Revelation 17:6. The Bible’s last book is pulling no punches: if an entity claims Christ but sheds innocent blood in quantity, it cannot be Christ’s true representative. It is labeled a harlot – unfaithful to Christ, in bed with worldly power, and blood-drunk.
The System Behind the Thrones
Now let’s pull back the curtain further and look with “quantum” eyes – the eyes that see the spiritual forces and systems at work beyond individual actors. The message here isn’t “this Pope or that Pope was the big bad.” It’s deeper: Revelation is unmasking a systemic force, an amalgamation of religious and political power that has persisted through ages. The Catholic Church as an institution became the vehicle for this force – what John calls “the Beast” system and “Babylon.” Individual popes have come and gone, some admittedly kinder or more pious than others, but the machinery remained. It’s like a massive ship that continues to plow forward regardless of who stands at the helm. In this quantum view, the real enemy is not the deceived but the Deceiver; not merely the human institutions but the dark spiritual power manipulating them. The false prophet and the beast in Revelation work in tandem. Over centuries, the Vatican system amassed power in a way that mimicked God’s kingdom while actually serving an opposite purpose. It aggregated wealth, political influence, and spiritual authority by often deceptive and coercive means, all while wearing the outward face of a Christian church. This is a spiritual hijacking – the hijacking of the outward Church to serve a beastly hunger for power.
The popes themselves have been both pawns and perpetrators in this grand game. On one hand, they are high priests of the system – they promulgate its doctrines, enforce its decrees, and benefit from its wealth and splendor. On the other hand, they are also captives of it; once elected, even a well-meaning Pope is trapped in a role that carries millennia of baggage and expectation. He must maintain the façade, must protect the institution’s supremacy, or it will swallow him. Consider how some popes likely personally believed in humility and poverty, yet they end up seated on a golden throne, crowned with a tiara, lauded by adoring masses. The system forces even humble men into a god-king posture. It’s like a machine that runs on its own momentum. This is why even during times of reform, the core structure never changed. Popes may die, but the office lives on, and with it the pretensions and the influence. The quantum reality is that a principality – a demonic power, if you will – took residence in this institution. That is what Revelation is really unveiling: not flesh and blood adversaries, but a spiritual power using an earthly organization as its instrument. The Beast isn’t any one government or person; it’s the embodiment of Satan’s kingdom on earth, manifest through empires and yes, through counterfeit religious systems. The Roman Church happened to be the prime vessel for it during the Christian era.
To use an analogy: think of the Catholic Church as a grand puppet. The puppeteers are both human and demonic. Over time, the puppet took on a life of its own – the strings so entangled with society that no one man could cut them. The popes became both masters and marionettes. They directed kings, yet they themselves were driven by an unseen master (the dragon of Revelation, Satan). This is why the prophecy can say the Beast “was, and is not, and yet is” and talk about the dragon giving authority to the Beast . There is an eerie continuity that goes beyond mortal lifespan. The same persecuting spirit that worked in pagan Rome simply donned a miter and worked in papal Rome. “Mystery Babylon” speaks to this hidden continuity: Babylon’s idolatries, Medo-Persia’s laws, Greece’s philosophies, Rome’s imperial structure – all those streams flowed into the papal system, creating a “mystery” empire that carried Babylon in its DNA while outwardly claiming to be the City of God. It’s a survival of empire in religious clothing.
Understanding this, we gain a measure of compassion even for the individuals caught in it. Many popes likely thought they were truly doing God’s will. Many persecutors believed they were purging evil. They were “deceiving and being deceived” as Scripture says (2 Tim 3:13). The real architect of this Beast system is the ancient serpent, the enemy of our souls, who found the perfect camouflage – religion – to carry out his war against God’s true people. What better way to wound Christ than to commandeer Christ’s Church and turn it against His followers? It’s a diabolic masterstroke. The system grew so strong that even when challenged (say, by the Reformation), it adapted, survived, and continued in new forms. To this day, the Vatican sits as a sovereign city-state, with embassies around the world, influencing international policy, owning immense riches and art, its leader (the Pope) revered by billions. The styles have changed – today’s Church speaks more of peace and ecumenism – but the core claim (universal authority, spiritual supremacy) remains. The Beast has not died; it only shifted shape. Revelation’s prophecy thus spans across the ages, and the quantum layer lets us see the unbroken thread of deception from ancient Babylon to modern Rome.
In sum, this isn’t about bashing Catholics or any individual; it’s about exposing the system. Just as a warrior must identify the real enemy behind the ranks, we identify the spiritual power structure that manipulated the Church. Popes, bishops, priests – many may have had sincere intentions, but they were participants in what Revelation calls “the mystery of iniquity.” The divine prophet’s voice in Revelation peels away the mask, showing us a gruesome caricature: a drunken whore riding a monster. It’s blunt and unflattering by design – to shock us out of complacency. It tells us that something that calls itself Christian and holy is, in God’s eyes, a bloodthirsty harlot allied with demonic political power. That system is still with us. The Roman Church today bears the weight of that prophetic indictment. Can it change truly? Only by renouncing all its unscriptural claims and riches – which it shows no sign of doing. Therefore, the machinery grinds on. But “her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities” (Rev 18:5). The quantum reality is that a spiritual reckoning approaches. No throne built on lies can stand forever.
Common Sense: The Church as a Global Gang
Let’s break it down in street terms. Strip away the fancy language and what do we have? We got a gang – the most powerful gang ever seen. It started in the alleys of ancient Rome and took over the whole block (in fact, many blocks around the world). The Catholic Church is like that gang that traded in its bandanas for scarlet robes. The hustle didn’t change, just the uniform. Think about it: a gang demands respect, territory, and payment. The Church demanded all of that. They claimed every patch of land as “God’s territory” where the Pope’s rules had to be followed. They made everyone pay “protection money” in the form of tithes and indulgences – or else face the consequences (which might be a spiritual drive-by in the form of damnation threats or a literal knock on the door from the Inquisition). The Pope was like the don or kingpin, and the cardinals his capos, bishops the lieutenants, priests the street-level enforcers. Instead of running prostitution or gambling rings, this gang ran a salvation ring – they cornered the market on God and made themselves the middlemen for every soul’s destiny. You want access to Heaven? Gotta come through us. It’s the ultimate racket.
The colors of this gang were purple and red, as Revelation notes . Funny enough, historically only the very wealthy could afford those dyes – so it was like the Church was flaunting, “We got that money, we got that power.” The bling? Oh, the Church drips with bling. Gold everywhere, jewels in every crown and reliquary. A rapper with a gold chain has nothing on the Pope with his tiara or the cardinals with their rings and crucifixes of gold. The Vatican itself is like a giant fortress, the ultimate clubhouse that no one gets into unless they part of the crew or paying tribute. And for centuries, the biggest bosses (kings and emperors) had to bow down and kiss the ring – literally. Imagine the President of your country having to kneel to a crime boss; that was basically the deal in medieval Europe. The Holy Roman Empire’s emperors walked barefoot to Canossa in the snow to beg the Pope’s forgiveness. That’s like a gang leader making a mayor grovel. Total domination.
This gang also wrote its own laws and didn’t care about no one else’s. If a ruler crossed them, they’d declare “You’re out – nobody talk to him, do business with him, or even bury his dead” (that’s what an interdict or excommunication did). Think of it as putting a hit on someone’s social life and economy. And if someone really threatened their operation – say, started preaching that people didn’t need the Church to reach God – that person could end up swimming with the fishes (or rather, burning at the stake). The Church had hitmen in the form of zealous monks and crusaders. Sure, they sanctified it by calling it “penitential war” or “holy office,” but on the street level it was as brutal as any cartel: “You challenge my authority? You’re done.”
Even the way the Church dealt in fear is gang-like. Gangs control through fear and loyalty. The Church had people terrified of hell, purgatory, excommunication – powerful invisible threats. They used that fear to keep everyone in line. It’s like a gang leader saying, “I know where you live; I can get you anytime.” The Church said, “I hold the keys to your afterlife; I can damn you anytime.” That’s psychological extortion. People paid up, stayed quiet, did what they were told. The “protection” the Church offered was salvation: stick with us and you won’t burn in hell; stray, and all bets are off. On the street they call that a protection racket, and Rome perfected it.
Yet, unlike a street gang, which everyone knows is a gang, the Catholic Church painted itself as the ultimate do-gooder. It’s the equivalent of a mob boss running a charity on the surface – giving alms with one hand while the other hand has a dagger behind his back. I say this with no malice to ordinary Catholics, many of whom truly did good works and believed in the faith. But the institutional level, it was playing a double game. Revelation’s vision of a harlot dressed in splendor but full of abominations is just a prophetic way of saying: “She may look holy, but she’s dirty underneath.” And any street hustler can spot a phony holy when he sees one. It’s like those corrupt preachers driving Bentleys – you know something’s off. Here we have a church claiming to follow a penniless, humble Jesus but accumulating enough wealth to make kings jealous and shedding blood like an empire. That’s as phony as it gets. It’s a holy hustle. They took the beautiful teachings of Christ and flipped them to build an empire.
The Church hierarchy became like an organized crime network, except they called it organized religion. The Crusades were basically turf wars with a religious excuse. The Inquisition was basically the gang’s internal police making sure nobody snitched or defected to a rival crew (like the Protestants or other sects). When the Reformation hit in the 1500s, it was essentially a gang war on a massive scale between the old “family” (Rome) and the upstart crews (Protestant regions breaking away). Rome tried to whack the new competition (look at the wars of religion, the attempts to assassinate Protestant leaders, the plots like the Gunpowder Plot in England), but eventually they had to sit down and agree to a truce of sorts (Peace of Westphalia 1648) because they couldn’t win outright. Even then, Rome never gave up trying to get its turf back.
In modern times, the Church presents a cleaned-up image – kinder, gentler, asking forgiveness here and there. But a hustler knows when someone’s just laying low. The core power structures, the vast wealth, the political lobbying, the influence peddling – all still there, just under new management and PR. The gang swapped Tommy guns for suits and ties in the diplomatic corps. But check this: the Vatican has representatives (nuncios) in most countries, just like a crime family having associates everywhere. It’s the only religion with observer status at the United Nations, effectively a seat at the table of world governance. That’s some high-level racket continuation. They ain’t out of the game; they just play it smoother now.
So, in street wisdom terms, the Catholic Church = the biggest gang that ever was, controlling turf (parishes, nations), demanding loyalty (confessions, obedience), taxing the people (tithes), eliminating rivals (heresy trials, crusades), and stacking paper (wealth) all while fronting as God’s sole rep on earth. If John the Apostle saw that in his visions, no wonder he was blown away (“I wondered with great admiration,” he said, meaning he was astonished ). He saw the ultimate holy hustler, religion turned into a global crime syndicate. And he called it out for what it was in God’s eyes: a betrayal (harlotry) and a beastly partnership with worldly power. That’s as real as it gets.
Bottom Line: Revelation of a Spiritual Hijacking
Time for the bottom line – the unfiltered truth drawn from all this: The Book of Revelation doesn’t just predict an evil empire; it reveals a spiritual hijacking of colossal proportions. What we’ve been looking at is how the outward Christian Church, centered in Rome, was infiltrated and co-opted by an antichrist spirit to become a counterfeit kingdom of God on earth. The Catholic Church and the papal lineage ended up being both architects and prisoners of the Beast system. They helped build this system – with each council that added man-made tradition, each alliance with emperors, each vault filled with gold, each heretic silenced, brick by brick they raised up a new Babylon. Yet they are also prisoners of it – bound by their own dogmas, unable to reform beyond a point, trapped in a cycle of preserving power at the expense of truth. The papacy is like a golden cage: it has prestige and pomp, but whoever sits in it is constrained by what the institution demands. In a very real sense, the men in scarlet and purple are as much slaves to the Beast as they are its riders.
Revelation’s prophecies strip away the euphemisms and excuses. They show us God’s view of this proud religious-political edifice. It’s not a flattering view – because God is not impressed by mansions of marble or claims of apostolic succession. God looks at the heart, and what He saw in Rome’s behavior was harlotry (unfaithfulness to Christ by mixing with paganism and power) and murder of saints. The “spiritual hijacking” is that an institution calling itself the Church became the chief opponent of God’s true church (the humble believers who kept His Word). Like a parasite that invades a host and turns it against its own body, Satan infested the outward church and turned it into a weapon against the faith. That is the ultimate tragedy and warning of Revelation.
For us today, the message rings loud: beware of counterfeit Christianity. The scarlet woman could be draped in new colors now, but any system – religious or secular – that mimics godliness while craving domination is part of that Beast network. The bottom line is not about one denomination versus another; it’s about true versus false worship, genuine Christlike character versus dragon-like tyranny. The Roman Catholic system exemplified the warnings of Revelation, but the disease of Babylon can infect others too if they depart from the purity of Christ’s teachings for the sake of power. Revelation calls Babylon “the mother of harlots” , implying she has daughters. Indeed, any church or religious movement that copies Rome’s errors (seeking political power, accumulating wealth, elevating leaders to godlike status, embracing idols or unbiblical practices) becomes a daughter of that harlot. This is a sobering realization. The spirit of Babylon is still at work, and she has many offspring in various guises.
Yet, there is hope and a call to action. “Come out of her, My people,” God says (Rev 18:4). God still has people inside these systems – sincere hearts who love Him but are stuck in Babylon’s confusion. The call is to wake up and exit the deception. Mike Rashid, the warrior-scholar voice I channel, would tell his students: open your eyes and see the game for what it is. The divine prophet in me has laid out the evidence; the street warrior in me has given it to you straight. Now you must decide what to do with it.
A Final Challenge: Decode the Present Beast
I’ll leave you with a quantum thought exercise – a challenge worthy of those training under a warrior’s discipline. Take what we’ve unveiled about Revelation’s harlot and beast, and apply that decoder ring to today’s religious and political structures. Ask yourself: Where do I see a lamb-like front but a dragon voice underneath? Where do I see faith institutions more obsessed with power and money than with service and truth? Is it only the Catholic Church, or do others tread that path? Where do I see governments demanding absolute loyalty or else marginalizing those who won’t comply? Could the “mark of the beast” manifest in new forms – perhaps not a literal stamp on the hand, but in the form of digital identities, social credit scores, or ideological litmus tests that determine if you can “buy or sell” in society? Think on these things. The prophecy wasn’t given to make us hate Catholics (not at all – God loves all people and desires everyone to repent and find truth); it was given to alert us to the patterns of spiritual abuse and deception so we wouldn’t fall for it again.
Students of truth, it’s your turn to carry this forward. Question what authorities call themselves – do they line up with the Lamb or the Dragon? Examine the fruits – does an institution produce humility, love, and righteousness, or does it leave a trail of victims and cover-ups? Remember, the devil doesn’t show up with horns and pitchfork; he shows up as an angel of light, or a lamb with hidden fangs. The Roman Church happened to be the grandest example of this in history, but the principle applies universally. So sharpen your mind and spirit. Don’t be intimidated by scarlet robes or titles of holiness. Weigh everything against the character of Christ and the Word of God.
The Revelation has been given – not to scare us senseless, but to arm us with insight. We have identified the enemy’s playbook: infiltrate, imitate, subjugate. Now you are equipped to spot it and resist it. The divine warrior fights not with physical weapons but with truth and courage. If you belong to any system that more closely resembles Babylon than the New Jerusalem, hear the call to come out. If you see others being deceived, have the boldness to speak up. This is not about sectarian squabbles; it’s about souls and their freedom to follow Christ without a false lord interposing.
In the end, Revelation promises the fall of Babylon: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen” (Rev 18:2). The Beast and the False Prophet are cast down. Truth triumphs. The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, will expose every impostor. The question is, on which side will we stand? With the humble saints who “keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” – many of whom had to flee into wilderness and obscurity, away from organized Christendom? Or with the prestigious institution that the world applauds, but God has condemned? As for me and my house, and those I train, we choose the way of the Lamb, even if it means defying the dragon.
No more spiritual hustlers taking what’s pure and turning it into poison. We see you now. The prophet’s vision has made the unseen visible. The warrior in us is ready to rumble against lies. Babylon, you’ve been weighed and found wanting. Your doom is written. To every reader who has ears to hear, come out of the deception. Strengthen what is true, cast off what is false. The struggle isn’t easy – it’s the ultimate battle for hearts and minds – but victory belongs to the Truth. That is the revelation and the revolution of the spirit that no beast, no harlot, no dragon can withstand.
We’ve exposed Revelation’s prophetic warning about the Catholic Church as a system deeply aligned with the Beast. But prophecy alone isn't enough—let’s ground this truth in clear historical reality. Below, we place the Church’s documented actions directly on truth’s scale, weighing atrocities committed against genuine contributions to humanity. We’ll measure these not with emotional bias, but with razor-sharp clarity.
Detriments to Humanity
- Sexual Abuse Scandals:
In recent decades, widespread allegations and proven sexual abuse cases by Catholic clergy—especially against minors—have shattered the Church’s moral credibility. Investigations like the 2002 Boston Globe exposé, the 2018 Pennsylvania grand jury report (identifying over 1,000 victims), and the Vatican’s 2021 report on Theodore McCarrick unveiled systemic cover-ups, protecting predators through reassignments rather than prosecution. Victims number in tens of thousands globally, leaving lasting psychological and societal damage. - Slavery and Colonialism:
Papal bulls such as Dum Diversas (1452) and Inter Caetera (1493) sanctioned the enslavement and colonization of non-Christian peoples, justifying the conquest and subjugation of indigenous populations in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. The resulting genocides (Aztec, Inca civilizations) represent millions of lost lives, cultures, and human dignity. Although individuals like Bartolomé de las Casas opposed these abuses, institutional complicity was profound. - The Inquisitions:
From the 12th to 19th centuries, Church-sanctioned inquisitions targeted heretics, Jews, Muslims, and dissidents. The Spanish Inquisition alone executed up to 5,000 individuals and tortured countless others. Notable atrocities include the burning of Giordano Bruno (1600) and massacres like the Albigensian Crusade (1209), slaughtering thousands at Béziers. These represent extreme human rights violations committed in God’s name. - Papal Bulls and Authoritarian Control:
Beyond slavery, papal authority was weaponized through excommunication and interdicts, crippling entire communities economically and spiritually. Selling indulgences exploited the poor, while political interventions (crowning or deposing kings) prioritized earthly power above spiritual purity and justice. - Persecution and Violence:
Crusades (1095–1291) authorized by papal decrees resulted in hundreds of thousands dead—Christians, Muslims, Jews alike. The 1204 Sack of Constantinople alone led to massive bloodshed of fellow Christians. Protestant reformers (Jan Hus, William Tyndale) and countless Jewish communities faced persecution, forced conversion, and death.
Contributions to Humanity
- Preservation of Knowledge:
During medieval periods, monasteries preserved classical texts (Aristotle, Plato) and founded universities (Bologna, Paris), forming foundations for Western education and intellectual progress. - Art and Culture:
Commissioning timeless masterpieces—Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, Gothic cathedrals—the Church significantly enriched humanity’s cultural heritage. Gregorian chant and compositions by Bach remain cornerstones of musical tradition. - Charity and Social Welfare:
Historically, Catholic institutions pioneered hospitals, orphanages, schools, and humanitarian organizations (e.g., Knights Hospitaller). These laid groundwork for modern healthcare, social services, and education. - Moral and Ethical Framework:
The spread of Christian ethics (charity, forgiveness) influenced Western law and moral thought, promoting principles of human dignity foundational to contemporary human rights discourse. - Reconciliation and Reform:
Modern acknowledgments of past wrongs (Pope John Paul II’s 2000 apologies for Inquisitions and Crusades; the 2023 repudiation of the Doctrine of Discovery) and the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) reflect attempts to realign Church practice with genuine spiritual integrity.
Weighing the Scale
To assess honestly, we must measure scale, intent, historical context, and lasting legacy:
- Quantitative Impact:
Detriments directly affected millions of lives through deaths, abuse, and oppression spanning centuries. Contributions, though substantial, are harder to quantify in lives directly improved, yet possess enduring cultural and intellectual significance. - Intent vs. Outcome:
Though the Church professed holiness, many atrocities arose from institutional self-preservation and power alignment, starkly contradicting its divine mission. Contributions generally aimed at human betterment, but frequently intertwined with proselytism and control. - Historical Context:
While violence and coercion were common historically, the Church uniquely magnified these abuses due to its global reach and spiritual authority. Conversely, its educational and charitable efforts pioneered paths later widely adopted. - Modern Legacy:
Historical atrocities and ongoing abuse scandals deeply erode current trust and spiritual authority. While cultural contributions remain celebrated, secular advancements have diminished their direct association with the Church.
Honest Judgment
In unfiltered truth, the detriments heavily outweigh the Church’s genuine contributions, particularly in the hypocrisy of its professed holiness and historical record of exploitation and violence. The sheer scale of violence, colonial devastation, inquisitions, and systematic abuse profoundly betray the very ideals it claims to embody. Also, the persistent institutional cover-ups and delayed accountability further emphasize systemic corruption rather than isolated mistakes.
My Quantum Perspective:
These atrocities are not isolated evils, they represent systemic spiritual corruption rooted in Babylonian DNA embedded deep within institutional religion. Common sense tells us this: actions speak louder than religious claims or opulent robes. The ultimate spiritual crime here is the hijacking of holiness, cloaking profound wickedness beneath sacred symbolism.
At the end of the day, no matter how much charity you deliver, if your spiritual hustle involves burying innocent bodies, abusing the vulnerable, and enslaving the original man and woman, your system remains fundamentally corrupt. God’s scales of justice do not overlook bodies buried beneath cathedrals or wealth stacked in sacred vaults.
The Final Call
Ultimately, good deeds can never erase atrocities, especially those committed in God’s name. Truth demands accountability. History demands honesty. True spiritual integrity requires we hold institutions that claim divine authority to the highest standards of justice and purity. Revelation’s message rings clear: it is time to separate true holiness from Babylon’s deception, truth from falsehood, genuine service from spiritual tyranny.
I in no means am encouraging hating a denomination or its followers, I am simply confronting a powerful truth and choosing clarity over confusion. Souls deserve better than counterfeit holiness. The voice of the prophet, the mind of the scholar, and the heart of the warrior speak as one: Babylon, you have been weighed and found wanting. The scale tips toward justice, clarity, and truth. Choose wisely.
Sources Cited: Revelation 17 & 13 (KJV) ; Benson Commentary on Revelation ; Tomorrow’s World on Revelation 17 ; Catholic Encyclopedia via Chick Pub. ; Barnes’ Commentary on Rev 13:17 ; World History Encyclopedia (Medieval Church) ; Roman Catholicism vs. Biblical Christianity ; Council of Trent quote ; Dave Hunt, A Woman Rides the Beast (via Tomorrow’s World) ; Will Durant, historian ; Wikipedia (Giordano Bruno) ; AP News (Vatican repudiates Doctrine of Discovery) ; RebuildSpirit.com (Vatican obelisk symbolism) ; GotQuestions (Vicar of Christ) ; BibleHub (Rev 17 commentary) ; and the Holy Bible. Each citation ties a fact to its source, for those who wish to verify and dig even deeper into this revelation. Keep studying, keep alert, and let no one take your crown. Amen.
