Babylon

[Jerry Huerta]

Alcazar was likely the first to systematically apply preterism "to revelation", but he was not the first to apply preterism to the olivet disourse nor daniel. Alcazar held that Revelation 1-11 was about the first century conflict between church and Jewish synagoge, and that chapters 12-19 were about the Church's conflict with Rome, where he interpreted Babylon as Rome.

• "Applying the New Jerusalem to the Catholic Church, Alcazar contended that the Apocalypse describes the twofold war of the church in the early centuries—one with the Jewish synagogue, and the other with paganism—resulting in victory over both adversaries. Revelation 1 to 11 he applied to the rejection of the Jews and the desolation of Jerusalem by the Romans. Revelation 12 to 19 Alcazar allotted to the overthrow of Roman paganism and the conversion of the empire to the church, the judgment of the great Harlot being effected by the downfall of pagan idolatry; Revelation 20 he applied to the final persecution by Antichrist, and the day of judgment; and chapters 21 and 22, referring to the New Jerusalem, he made descriptive of the glorious and endless triumphant state of the Roman church."
• "Alcazar made the church’s millennium of rest to date from the downfall of old pagan Rome—his apocalyptical Babylon—with the destruction of Roman idolatry in the spiritual fires of the Catholic religion. 13 Such, in brief, was Alcazar’s Preterism."
• (https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/1579.3220#3226)

That being said, I don't agree with Alcaraz because I believe he interprets chapters 17-18 beyond the olivet discourse.

WITHIN in the context of revelation 17-18, Revelation doesn't actually reveal the true identity of Babylon. It keeps it extremely vague. John is not told whether Babylon is Rome, the papacy, "protestant liberalism", the USA, Jerusalem, etc, etc........Instead, John is simply told its the "great city". Therefore, I can't determine the true objective interpretation of the apocalyptic, symbolic, and hyperpolic meaning of babylon the great from revelation 17-18 alone.

So, I think an important question to ask is - What is the function of the book of Revelation? It is to "reveal" what must soon take place for the time is near. Therefore, Does the "what must soon take place" refer to the eschatology of the olivet discourse OR is it going beyond the olivet discourse to provide brand new information? In otherwords, can I use the olivet discourse to intepret Revelation OR can I not use the olivet discourse to interpret Revelation because Revelation is the addition of new information to the olivet discourse?

As stated in the OP, Revelation is in apocalyptic genre, and in the genre, time is used symbolically. Just as Daniel cloaked the distant event of Christ’s first advent in the imminence (within a generation) of “the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem,” Christ cloaked his distant return in the imminent event in which one stone wouldn’t be left upon another at the destruction of the Herod’s temple, which agrees with Daniel’s chapter 2, that in the days of the kings that supplant Rome, he will set up his kingdom.

Furthermore, we can’t have Christ revert to the Old Covenant in his mediation, which both preterism and futurism maintain. The temple is Revelation has to be the one built without hands and not one concerning animal sacrifices,

1 Corinthians 3
16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?

Revelation concerns the mediation of the New Covenant people, not the Old. As a result, the judgments in Revelation are upon the house of God in this age, not the past one,

1 Peter 4
17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

It was the Romans that made the merchants rich during John’s time, not the Jews, but pagan Romans can’t fall from moral rectitude, which the prophecy about mystery Babylon transmits. The Jews couldn’t even sit down and eat with the Gentiles, so how could they have committed fornication with the kings of the earth and enriched the merchants before 70 AD? History affirms the Romans invented the “Law Merchant” to maintain economic hegemony in their empire, which collapsed at the end of their empire, ending the political status of the merchants in the kingdoms that supplanted Rome. With the rise of the papacy, the merchants were relegated to an inferior position in society and kept there until the rise of Protestantism. It was the Protestants that restored the Law Merchant and held intercourse with the kings of the earth and established secular societies in the world in which the merchants were enriched, in fulfillment of the prophecy that there would be a great falling away before the Day of the LORD,

2 Thessalonians 2:
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The first-century Jews don’t fit the prophecy in any substantive study, and neither do the Jews in our time; only apostate, magisterial Protestantism fits the prophecy of the Mystery of Babylon, and from a Historicist’s hermeneutic.

 

[Davy]

If you would look more closely, you will see that I included Jerusalem of the OC with that of the Papacy of the NC as being the fulness of who M,BTG, the MOTHER [feminine] of harlots [feminine] is.

Also, don't forget that the Papacy/RCC does call itself the "Mother church" of the NC.

I did see your mention of Jerusalem, however you included... the Papacy with it, which does not belong. You can't have it both ways. The Papacy is not the Antichrist that is to come at the END. Do you really... think the unbelieving Jews would accept a Christian pope as the Biblical Messiah they are expecting in Jerusalem? This ain't difficult to figure out.

 

[Davy]

Unlike you, Davy, I address all the points of contention presented, which you dodge, which reveals I have the greater understanding from the Most High. You fail to grasp that Christ reveals he has other sheep from different folds,

What a pumped up false statement that above is. You say that and you cannot even distinguish who the "sheep" are of Matthew 25.

John 10:
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

The parable in Matthew 25 clearly demonstrates that Christ has sheep among the NATIONS when he returns with the bride, whom he meets in the clouds before taking his seat on his throne (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17),

My point all along has been, the "sheep" represent Christ's Church. But some who like to confuse the Scriptures try to create a THIRD group of sheep from what Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25 which is NOT written there! That's why you had to go to John 10 with the above post verse, can you not see that?

Thus in Matthew 25:31-33 Jesus is speaking of only TWO GROUPS, the "goats" separated on His left hand, and His "sheep" (Church) on His right hand. NO DISTINCTION IS MADE THERE IN MATTHEW 25 ABOUT GENTILE BELIEVERS VS. ISRAELITE BELIEVERS. It's ONLY about TWO groups, NOT THREE.

 

[Jerry Huerta]

I did see your mention of Jerusalem, however you included... the Papacy with it, which does not belong. You can't have it both ways. The Papacy is not the Antichrist that is to come at the END. Do you really... think the unbelieving Jews would accept a Christian pope as the Biblical Messiah they are expecting in Jerusalem? This ain't difficult to figure out.

Apparently, it's hard for you to figure.

John is shown the judgment of the whore by one of the angels about to release the final plagues, which makes John’s PERSPECTIVE our time, not the first century. The whore is seen by John seated upon the scarlet beast at the time the sixth king IS–while the scarlet beast WAS AND IS NOT,

Revelation 17
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

In the end times, the scarlet beast—who is the beast from the sea—along with the false prophet–also known as the beast from the earth–and the whore of Babylon, are the primary antagonists when Christ returns.

So, tell us, Davy, HOW CAN JOHN’S PERSPECTIVE BE THE FIRST CENTURY?

Tell us, Davy, how can the FUTURE whore Babylon be seated on the scarlet beast at the time of the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN?

Tell us, Davy, how is it that the FUTURE antichrist WAS before the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN?

Tell us, Davy, how can the FUTURE antichrist be SATAN, when he was before all of the kings, not just the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN?

Tell us, Davy, how can Revelation 13 relate the healed antichrist given 42 months in contradiction to the evidence it is only given one hours when healed in Chapter 17?

I'm still waiting!

 

[Jerry Huerta]

What a pumped up false statement that above is. You say that and you cannot even distinguish who the "sheep" are of Matthew 25.



My point all along has been, the "sheep" represent Christ's Church. But some who like to confuse the Scriptures try to create a THIRD group of sheep from what Lord Jesus said in Matthew 25 which is NOT written there! That's why you had to go to John 10 with the above post verse, can you not see that?

Thus in Matthew 25:31-33 Jesus is speaking of only TWO GROUPS, the "goats" separated on His left hand, and His "sheep" (Church) on His right hand. NO DISTINCTION IS MADE THERE IN MATTHEW 25 ABOUT GENTILE BELIEVERS VS. ISRAELITE BELIEVERS. It's ONLY about TWO groups, NOT THREE.

Again, you didn't address any of the scriptures that support my arguments and destroy your futurists dogmas.

Again, you fail to grasp that Christ reveals he has other sheep from different folds,

John 10:
16 And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.

The parable in Matthew 25 clearly demonstrates that Christ has sheep among the NATIONS when he returns with the bride, whom he meets in the clouds before taking his seat on his throne (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17),

Matthew 25:
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:

The passage above is clear that the sheep in the context represent the NATIONS, not the bride, which is supported by 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and Revelation 21,

Revelation 21
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,

Revelation 21 clearly make a clear distinction between the bride/Jerusalem and the NATIONS that bring their glory to her. We see this also supported in Zechariah 14 that prophecies that all those who are left of the NATIONS when Christ returns must observe Tabernacles,

Zechariah 14
16 And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles.

Note that in Zechariah 14:5 Christ brings his HOLY ONES with him when he returns, which is what the NT supports in passages like Matthew 13:41 and 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. In essence, Christ separates the bride from the goats prior to his return to the earth, which is contrary to your assertion there are just two groups in the parable of the sheep and the goats.

Furthermore, the bride is described as a NATION, singular, and not in the plural,

1 Peter 2
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

Matthew 21
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Malevolence lies in those who boast they represent the Most High while trying to defame the brethren holding the greater arguments, like you do. If you have the truth, why don’t you address all the pertinent passage that shed light on the issue, instead of evading them? In truth, you always resort to childish ad hominems instead of contending with the evidence. That’s hubris.

Again, tell us why Christ must join the bride with the goats again to separate them a second time in order that there be but two groups when he returns?

I'm waiting for you to rebut my work, which you obviously can't.

 

[Davy]

Apparently, it's hard for you to figure.

John is shown the judgment of the whore by one of the angels about to release the final plagues, which makes John’s PERSPECTIVE our time, not the first century. The whore is seen by John seated upon the scarlet beast at the time the sixth king IS–while the scarlet beast WAS AND IS NOT,

You apparently must be in such consternation with my posts NOT written to you, that you confuse me with someone else, just because you want to get back at me so bad. My post about the Papacy and Jerusalem was to Earburner, NOT YOU!

And I NEVER said, nor even IMPLIED that what Apostle John was shown by vision in Revelation was for the 1st century A.D.! So where did you come up with that baloney in your mind?

And I must refer you also, like I did with Earburner, to the LAST VERSE of Revelation 17 that REVEALS what the HARLOT, the "great whore" of that Chapter, actually is:

CAN YOU READ THIS?:

Rev 17:18
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
KJV

What "great city"? This one...

Rev 11:8
8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
KJV

Not the pope, not any Church, not the Antichrist, but JERUSALEM AS THAT "GREAT CITY" AT THE END OF THIS WORLD. THAT... IS WHAT THE BABYLON HARLOT IS GOING TO BE. It is the false Jews of the "synagogue of Satan" who most wish to hide that fact that JERUSALEM in an idol worship state at the end of this world is what that symbolic "woman" of Revelation 17 represents.

 

[Davy]

I'm waiting for you to rebut my work, which you obviously can't.

That is such a LAME EXCUSE used a thousand times on Christian forums by those who won't even READ posts that are replied to them! My answers to you are in my posts; try reading them.

 

[Earburner]

I did see your mention of Jerusalem, however you included... the Papacy with it, which does not belong. You can't have it both ways. The Papacy is not the Antichrist that is to come at the END. Do you really... think the unbelieving Jews would accept a Christian pope as the Biblical Messiah they are expecting in Jerusalem? This ain't difficult to figure out.

Davy, you are still drinking the kool-aid of church-ianity. There is no singular, one man band, main event called "THE Antichrist" to come. Those who are "the natural man", "the man of sin", "the lawless", "the son of perdition" is to be read and understood in the plural and not the singular. In all of the KJV, you will not find the words: "The Antichrist" describing anything of a singular human man sitting in a Jewish Temple.

However, you will find that the "spirit of antichrist" does dwell in all the unsaved [the potential temples of God], who are determined to declare that Jesus has NOT come to us in mortal flesh.
One religion that does do this, is Judaism.

 

[Jerry Huerta]

You apparently must be in such consternation with my posts NOT written to you, that you confuse me with someone else, just because you want to get back at me so bad. My post about the Papacy and Jerusalem was to Earburner, NOT YOU!

And I NEVER said, nor even IMPLIED that what Apostle John was shown by vision in Revelation was for the 1st century A.D.! So where did you come up with that baloney in your mind?

And I must refer you also, like I did with Earburner, to the LAST VERSE of Revelation 17 that REVEALS what the HARLOT, the "great whore" of that Chapter, actually is:

CAN YOU READ THIS?:

Rev 17:18
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
KJV

What "great city"? This one...

Rev 11:8
8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
KJV

Not the pope, not any Church, not the Antichrist, but JERUSALEM AS THAT "GREAT CITY" AT THE END OF THIS WORLD. THAT... IS WHAT THE BABYLON HARLOT IS GOING TO BE. It is the false Jews of the "synagogue of Satan" who most wish to hide that fact that JERUSALEM in an idol worship state at the end of this world is what that symbolic "woman" of Revelation 17 represents.

Come on, you stated the sixth king that IS was the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN. You can't have it both ways. You can't say the sixth king is the Roman Emperor Domitian and hold that the great city that rides atop the Roman Emperor Domitian is the future city of Jerusalem. That's almost as absurd the future antichrist WAS before the Roman Emperor Domitian.

According to Hebrew 6, the Church in the fallen state is guilty of crucifying Christ all over again,

Hebrews 6:
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost,
5 And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

The passage in Hebrews addresses how to interpret the “great city” in Revelation 11:8: it's cryptic.

As 2 Thessalonians 2:2-3 affirms, we are to expect a great falling away of the Church at the time of the Day of the Lord, which maintains the great city is symbolized as heavenly Jerusalem,

Hebrews 12:
22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

 

[Jerry Huerta]

That is such a LAME EXCUSE used a thousand times on Christian forums by those who won't even READ posts that are replied to them! My answers to you are in my posts; try reading them.

The lame excuse is yours. Where did you address, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Zechariah 14 and numerous texts that support my interpretation.

The answer is nowhere!

 

[Davy]

Davy, you are still drinking the kool-aid of church-ianity.

That's hilarious trying to put that label upon me.

I quit the idea of Church denominations decades ago! If God's Word does not teach it, then their denominational doctrines from men fall to the wayside like dung.

Why can't you guys just stick to The Bible as written, instead of latching onto doctrines of men the Biblically unlearned keep coming up with like business slogans and such? Can't you see they aren't truly studied enough to teach Bible? Their teaching The Gospel is OK, that's a specific office. But any more than that, most preachers today cannot find their way around in the rest of The Bible, especially in The Old Testament Books. The seminaries don't cover all The Bible. They leave it up to their students to learn The Bible for themselves after they have graduated. That's why so many brethren on Christian forums like this one are so confused as to what God's Word on prophecy about the END actually teaches. And believe it or not, God's Word prophesied that kind of thing would happen at the end of this world. Do you know where that prophecy is written?

There is no singular, one man band, main event called "THE Antichrist" to come.

If the Church you attend is teaching you that, I would never... set foot in that Church again, but that's just me, because I know better.

The subject of a coming SINGULAR ENTITY to play God/The Christ/Messiah, in JERUSALEM at the end of this world is covered by Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:23-26, and by Apostle Paul in 2 Thessalonians 2, and by Apostle John in Revelation 13:11-14, and again by Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, and of course by Apostle John again in 1 John 2:18 as he mentioned both a SINGULAR Antichrist the brethren had already heard shall come, and then the "many antichrists" that were already at work.

The early Church father Hippolytus (circa 170-235 A.D.) said the following:

"Now, as our Lord Jesus Christ, who is also God, was prophesied of under the figure of a lion, on account of His royalty and glory, in the same way have the Scriptures also aforetime spoken of Antichrist as a lion, on account of his tyranny and violence. For the deceiver seeks to liken himself in all things to the Son of God. Christ is a lion, so Antichrist is also a lion; Christ is a king, so Antichrist is also a king. The Saviour was manifested as a lamb; so he too, in like manner, will appear as a lamb, though within he is a wolf. The Saviour came into the World in the circumcision, and he will come in the same manner. The Lord sent apostles among all the nations, and he in like manner will send false apostles. The Saviour gathered together the sheep that were scattered abroad, and he in like manner will bring together a people that is scattered abroad. The Lord gave a seal to those who believed on Him, and he will give one like manner. The Saviour appeared in the form of man, and he too will come in the form of a man. The Saviour raised up and showed His holy flesh like a temple, and he will raise a temple of stone in Jerusalem. And his seductive arts we shall exhibit in what follows. But for the present let us turn to the question in hand." ​

How is it that Hippolytus in the 2nd century A.D. well understood that the coming Antichrist will be a singular person with the image of a man, and those you listen to don't know that per God's Word?

 

[Davy]

Come on, you stated the sixth king that IS was the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN. You can't have it both ways. You can't say the sixth king is the Roman Emperor Domitian and hold that the great city that rides atop the Roman Emperor Domitian is the future city of Jerusalem. That's almost as absurd the future antichrist WAS before the Romand Emperor Domitian.

Man, you mean you cannot even distinguish between DIFFERENT ERAS OF TIME? Just when... was Apostle John in prison on the Isle of Patmos, when Domitian was emperor of Rome? The early Church fathers put that being around 96 A.D.

What ERA and TIMING is the "great whore" of Rev.17, the BABYLON HARLOT going be manifested? At the END... of this present world, JUST PRIOR TO CHRIST'S FUTURE 2ND COMING. How can you not grasp such a wide scope of time between the two? JERUSALEM does not become that "great whore" that is the "great city" of Rev.17 until the false-Messiah shows up there at the END of this world. It ain't... happened yet today. Wake up!

 

[Jerry Huerta]

Man, you mean you cannot even distinguish between DIFFERENT ERAS OF TIME? Just when... was Apostle John in prison on the Isle of Patmos, when Domitian was emperor of Rome? The early Church fathers put that being around 96 A.D.

What ERA and TIMING is the "great whore" of Rev.17, the BABYLON HARLOT going be manifested? At the END... of this present world, JUST PRIOR TO CHRIST'S FUTURE 2ND COMING. How can you not grasp such a wide scope of time between the two? JERUSALEM does not become that "great whore" that is the "great city" of Rev.17 until the false-Messiah shows up there at the END of this world. It ain't... happened yet today. Wake up!

You refuse to answer the challenges.

John sees the harlot atop the beast during the time the sixth king IS, whom you say is the ROMAN EMPEROR DOMITIAN.

You can't have it both ways.

You can't say the sixth king is the Roman Emperor Domitian and hold that the great city that rides atop the Roman Emperor Domitian is the future city of Jerusalem.

That's almost as absurd the future antichrist WAS before the Roman Emperor Domitian.

 

[Davy]

The lame excuse is yours. Where did you address, 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, Zechariah 14 and numerous texts that support my interpretation.

The answer is nowhere!

I don't have all day to outline all the MANY OTHER BIBLE SCRIPTURE references to the Zechariah 14 Chapter. That Zechariah 14 Chapter is self-explanatory, as I have said before. It is about the day of Christ's future return on the LAST DAY of this present world, and then into His future REIGN over the nations, on earth. I gave enough examples of other Bible Scripture that are about some of those events in Zechariah 14 to show how it is NOT a Bible Chapter to be ISOLATED as some are TRYING TO DO IN THIS FORUM, just to serve their false doctrines of men.

 

[Davy]

You refuse to answer the challenges.

And again, that FAKE ploy has been used over and over on Christian forums. I see very little of my posts being addressed or even responded to with Bible Scripture that contain my replies. SO GO FISH!

 

[Jerry Huerta]

I don't have all day to outline all the MANY OTHER BIBLE SCRIPTURE references to the Zechariah 14 Chapter. That Zechariah 14 Chapter is self-explanatory, as I have said before. It is about the day of Christ's future return on the LAST DAY of this present world, and then into His future REIGN over the nations, on earth. I gave enough examples of other Bible Scripture that are about some of those events in Zechariah 14 to show how it is NOT a Bible Chapter to be ISOLATED as some are TRYING TO DO IN THIS FORUM, just to serve their false doctrines of men.

Translation, you don't have the answers. The texts I site destroy your futurists dogma and that's why you can't address them!

 

[Jerry Huerta]

And again, that FAKE ploy has been used over and over on Christian forums. I see very little of my posts being addressed or even responded to with Bible Scripture that contain my replies. SO GO FISH!

The fake ploy is that you don't have the time to rebut or surmount the texts that destroy your dogma! You are a poor workman of the Word!

 

[Davy]

Translation, you don't have the answers. The texts I site destroy your futurists dogma and that's why you can't address them!

You can make up whatever you want in your own mind. And that shows how Christ is working against you because of your false attitude against His written Word. Keep it up, if being Biblically illiterate is what you want. And say Hi to those fakes you listen to behind the pulpits you follow.

 

[Davy]

The fake ploy is that you don't have the time to rebut or surmount the texts that destroy your dogma! You are a poor workman of the Word!

You need to go back to my post #187 where I answered WPM about the SAME type of questions about Zechariah 14 that you BOTH ASKED. I responded with clear examples of events in Zechariah 14 that are also written in OTHER Bible Scripture. I did not... cover every event written in Zech.14, as there is no need for me to. Those few example proofs I gave in my post ought to be enough.

Since you and WPM both asked the SAME kind of questions about the Zech.14 Chapter, does that mean you two are working together??

I NOW FEEL LED TO COVER THE WHOLE ZECHARIAH 14 CHAPTER LINE UPON LINE, JUST BECAUSE OF YOU GUY'S REBELLION AGAINST THAT OLD TESTAMENT SCRIPTURE GOD GAVE TO HIS PROPHET ZECHARIAH.

 

[Earburner]

You apparently must be in such consternation with my posts NOT written to you, that you confuse me with someone else, just because you want to get back at me so bad. My post about the Papacy and Jerusalem was to Earburner, NOT YOU!

And I NEVER said, nor even IMPLIED that what Apostle John was shown by vision in Revelation was for the 1st century A.D.! So where did you come up with that baloney in your mind?

And I must refer you also, like I did with Earburner, to the LAST VERSE of Revelation 17 that REVEALS what the HARLOT, the "great whore" of that Chapter, actually is:

CAN YOU READ THIS?:

Rev 17:18
18 And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
KJV

What "great city"? This one...

Rev 11:8
8 And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.
KJV

Not the pope, not any Church, not the Antichrist, but JERUSALEM AS THAT "GREAT CITY" AT THE END OF THIS WORLD. THAT... IS WHAT THE BABYLON HARLOT IS GOING TO BE. It is the false Jews of the "synagogue of Satan" who most wish to hide that fact that JERUSALEM in an idol worship state at the end of this world is what that symbolic "woman" of Revelation 17 represents.

Again, I agree with you. Israel/Jerusalem of today is the synagogue of satan. However, it is the Papacy that is attempting to situate itself as the head of a One World religion. And for that, they are going to have to DENY the kingdom of Christ as their Lord and Savior and believe in a lie of strong delusion for a World of mandatory "peace and safety".