Much misunderstanding here2Timothy 3:5 Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
Revelation Chapter 17
John is once more caught up in the Spirit as this angel shows him the future judgment of Mystery Babylon who is the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. Mystery Babylon is described first as a great whore that sits on many waters. She is a mystery to John when the vision was given to him, but now made very clear since the sixteenth century Reformation.
The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet colors. These are the main colors of the Roman Catholic Church. The woman is the city of Rome known as Vatican City and the scarlet beast is the spiritual and worldly empire it controls being that of the Roman Catholic Church and all its believers through out the nations.
The seven heads are that of the Babylonian Empire: (Iraq), Medo - Persian Empire: (Iran), Grecian Empire: (Greece, Turkey, Syria, Egypt), Roman Empire. The ten horns represent the nations the Roman Empire scattered to when the deadly wound was put upon them, Daniel 7:23-25.
These ten nations were the Anglo-Saxons (English), the Franks (French), Suevi (Portuguese), Visigoths (Spanish), Burgundians (Swiss), Alemanni (Germans), Lombards (Italians), Ostrogoths, Heruli, and the Vandals in northern Africa. The last three being Ostrogoths, Heruli, and the Vandals had already been destroyed by the Roman Empire before their deadly wound came in 1798.
The woman was drunk with power the beast (Satan) gave her as she made martyrs of the saints and prophets of God as their blood was shed for their faith in Christ Jesus as they refused to denounce Christ in order to take the mark of this beast and bow down to this one world political, economic, educational and religious system.
The mystery of the woman is now revealed to John as being the Babylonian Empire (was, and is not). The same Empire that in time became the Roman Empire that has captured John and sent him to the isle of Patmos as a prisoner for preaching the word of God to the seven Churches in Asia. The same Empire that have always persecuted, even to death, the saints, the Prophets, the Apostles and even Christ.
The beast, being Satan, has always controlled the seven heads and ten nations as he works through those to kill, steal and destroy that which is God’s. We read back in Chapter 13 about the beast out of the sea and the beast out of the earth and who the son of perdition is as being Satan who works through the Luciferians religious system with their Jesuit Militant Priesthood and their false prophet being the Pontifex Maximus.
The beast that was and is not and yet is had its beginning with Nimrod and continuing with all the imperial kings, pharaohs and Roman Caesars that claimed to be priest/god/kings and held the official office and title of Pontifex Maximus who commands worship from their subjects.
The Pope, being possibly the end of days son of perdition revealed, claims to have inherited the title Pontifex Maximus (Pontiff) directly from Babylon. Another title is Vicarius Filii Dei meaning in the place of God as he calls himself the Holy Father and the only one who can forgive sin.
The seven mountains are not literal mountains, but symbolic of present day Iraq, Iran, Greece, Turkey, Syria, Egypt and Rome being part of Satan’s ruling power found in the four nations of the Babylonian Empire, Medo-Persian Empire, Grecian Empire and Roman Empire. John would have known of all these nations throughout history and surely knew the Roman Empire in his lifetime.
The five fallen kingdoms that have always persecuted Gods people before John's lifetime were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece. John could only know that of the Roman Empire in his life time as Israel was in subjection to Rome. Before John’s time Israel was in subjection to Greece, Persia and Babylon and in its earlier history was in slavery to Assyria and in its beginning was in slavery to Egypt.
One is: is that of the Roman Papal government up till 1798 when it received it deadly wound when General Berthier and Napoleon had abolished the papal government back in 1798 and established a secular one.
And the other not yet come and when he cometh, he must continue a short space is the reestablished Roman Catholic Church given back in 1929 when the Lateran Treaty had been signed between the Roman Catholic Church and Mussolini’s fascist Italian government. The treaty was signed by Benito Mussolini on behalf of King Victor Emmanuel III and by Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Gasparri for Pope Pius XI. The Lateran Treaty and the Concordat unilaterally established the independent State of the Vatican City on February 11, 1929 and granted Roman Catholicism special status in Italy.
The beast that was: was Pope Pius VI (25 December 1717 – 29 August 1799) born Count Giovanni Angelo Braschi reigned as Pope from 15 February 1775 to his death in 1799. There were no other Popes until 1929 when Pope Pius XI ruled over Vatican City as he exercised principal legislative, executive and judicial power as all the other Popes have since that time.
There have been eight Popes starting with Pope Pius XI up to the seventh and eight Pope being Pope Francis. The reason Pope Francis is the seventh and eight is that Pope Benedict XVI being the seventh king (Pope) resigned. A new Pope is not selected until the former one dies.
The beast out of the earth that Satan gives power to, Rev 13, is this seventh and eight king (Pope) that will go into perdition causing a falling away before the return of Christ, 2Thessalonians 2:2, 3, as he sits on the mount of the congregation in the sides of the north taking his seat on the same mount that use to be the Temple of God as he deceives the nations claiming to be like God, Isaiah 14:12-14.
The ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received their kingdoms as the Vatican's New World Order Headquarters and the United Nations Organization, One Security Council that claims authority over the world are waiting for ten permanent members. In 2009 the UNO divided the world into ten economic regions and each one will have a Jesuit Provincial set over them, but their end will come with the glory of the Lord striking them down when He returns with us His army. (Will study more about the army in Rev 19)
Ten Kingdoms of a One World Government:
Kingdom 1: Canada, Mexico and the United States of America
Kingdom 2: European Union – Western Europe
Kingdom 3: Japan
Kingdom 4: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel and Pacific Islands
Kingdom 5: Eastern Europe
Kingdom 6: Latin America, Central and South America
Kingdom 7: North Africa and the Middle East
Kingdom 8: Central Africa
Kingdom 9: South and Southeast Asia
Kingdom 10: Central Asia
Part of the multitudes of the ten nations/ten horns that speak in various languages are Gods people throughout the earth that were persecuted, but not to death as their fellow servants were. They refuse to bow down and take the mark of this beast being the Jesuit Priesthood religious system (whore) with their false prophet (son of perdition) being the Roman Catholic Pontifex Maximus (Pope).
God's will is that He would that none should perish, 2Peter 3:9, 10. Those who are in Christ and He in them detest this Jesuit Priesthood religious system and yet while they are imprisoned they still preach the Gospels to those who will finally have ears to hear it preached to them. It’s like that of Paul and Silas when they sang praises to the Lord while in prison, Acts 16:25-31.
It is the patience and endurance of those saints that wait for the coming of the Lord who will take vengeance on those who have persecuted Gods children as their earthly kingdom temporarily belongs to the whore as it has always been in the past until all the words of God be fulfilled. The great city is Vatican City that has gathered all nations unto her self as she is ruled by none other than Satan and will be destroyed in the lake of fire.
Pontiff means “bridge builder,”
Could also mean pastor teacher
Vicar of Christ and that means Christ continues his mission ministry power and authority thru the apostles Jn 20:21-23
Who all have authority to forgive sin
The whore is the pagan Roman Empire drunk with the blood of the saints the great persecution lasted for the first three hundred years of the church