The Other Woman 

Rome Rides Upon the Beast and Will Fall

And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication Revelation 17:4

By William Mencarrow

Rev. 17:13-18
“These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful. And he saith unto me, The waters, which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

This is the woman John saw in Rev. 17 and later. To refresh our memory:

[1] And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
[2] With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
[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.
[4] And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
[5] And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
[6] And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
[7] And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
[8] The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
[9] And here is the mind, which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
To anyone who knows history, this passage cannot be other than a description of Roman Catholicism. It is the chief torturer and murderer of the elect, drunken with the blood of the saints, riding the beast, which sets its course, which is the papacy.

“Our Lord God The Pope”

The pope is the undisputed earthly god of the Roman Catholic religion. He rules with an iron fist. He is called, among many other deific names, “God Upon Earth” and “Our Lord God the Pope,” whose ex cathedra pronouncements on doctrine and practice are claimed to be infallible:
“Our Lord God the pope; another God upon earth, king of kings, and lord of lords. The same is the dominion of God and the pope. To believe that our Lord God the pope might not decree, as he decreed, it were a matter of heresy. The power of the pope is greater than all created power, and extends itself to things celestial, terrestrial, and infernal. The pope doeth whatsoever he listeth [wills], even things unlawful, and is more than God” (Thomas Newton, Dissertations on the Prophecies, p. 456).

“…in matters of jurisdiction [the pope] enjoys supreme, universal and immediate jurisdiction over the whole Church and every member of it. This supremacy is not given by the cardinals who elect him, but immediately by God. The Pope is the Church’s supreme and infallible teacher, its supreme legislator, and its supreme judge” (Bertrand Conway, The Question Box, p. 158).

E.B. Elliott writes in Horae Apocalypticae about Rev. 17:5 (“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”): “Mystery (a name allusive evidently to St. Paul’s predicted mystery of iniquity [II Thes. 2:7-8]) was once, if we may repose credit on no vulgar authority, written on the Pope’s tiara; and the Apocalyptic title “Mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth” the very parody, if I may so say, of the title Rome arrogates to herself, “Rome, Mother and Mistress”  Tridentine Creed #10 (1564): “I acknowledge the Holy Catholic Apostolic Roman Church as the mother and mistress of all Churches.”

And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet.” – Rev. 17:12.
Remember that the 10 administrative regions, in Biblical language “kings” of the one world civil and religious government, were not in existence during the Apostle John’s time. “…but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb…” – Rev. 17:12b-14a. Therefore, this passage is about the future: The nations of the world will turn on the Body of Christ, the elect, and attempt to obliterate it. 

We are seeing that more and more in our time. Satan, after the Roman Catholic faith has been destroyed, will then use the global government to persecute Christ’s Church in unprecedented demonic fury. But this is doomed to fail: “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues…For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” – Rev. 17:15,17

Before that happens, the 10 world divisions will be comprised of all peoples, all nations of the earth. They will give their authority to the papacy, the Antichrist. The pope will pull the strings behind the scenes, as he often does now. But this will not last but for “one hour,” a short time. Perhaps because it will fail, the nations will blame the pope, the one who orchestrated the persecution against Christians.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.” – Rev. 17:16

The world government alliance with the papacy will not be able to sustain itself. It will turn against the papacy and destroy it: “For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” The Bible assures us that all of this is the will of God. Of course it is! It cannot be otherwise: “God from all eternity, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His own will, freely, and unchangeably ordain whatsoever comes to pass.” (Westminster Confession of Faith III:I)
“In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.” – Eph. 1:11
“O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” – Rom. 11:33

“Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath.” – Heb. 6:7
“For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion…Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.” –
 Rom. 9:15,18

When global civil, religious, and economic government comes, it is because the Lord has willed it. He has put it in peoples’ hearts to agree together to serve the beast in order that His will is to be fulfilled until these words in Rev. 17 come to pass. 

Why does He will what is to us such a horrible thing? We are not told, so we are not to inquire into the deep things of God. What we can and do know is that ultimately it is to His glory, because it is His will. Ps. 76:10: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise thee: the remainder of wrath shalt thou restrain.” What this means is that even the wrath of men raging against the Lord is the fulfillment of His will and thus is praise to Him. But He restrains men’s wrath, never letting it go beyond His purposes. The Lord controls history for His glory. He controls the decisions of men and their actions as a horseman controls his mount. He says to the nations as he said to Hezekiah in Isa. 37:28-29: “But I know thy abode, and thy going out, and thy coming in, and thy rage against me. Because thy rage against me, and thy tumult, is come up into mine ears, therefore will I put my hook in thy nose, and my bridle in thy lips, and I will turn thee back by the way by which thou camest.”

The Church is called in I Tim. 3:15 “the pillar and ground of the truth.” God the Father has put all things under Christ’s feet (Eph. 1:22, emphasis added) – meaning that Christ rules over everything, including world events, including our lives and what happens to us, including the universe, the movements of the stars in the sky, down to the tiniest subatomic particles in our body. Why? For one reason only, and He explains it in Eph. 1:22: God the Father “hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the Church.” (emphasis added)

No matter what happens in the world, no matter what persecutions may come, never lose hope, never falter, never, never, never give up! Remember, we live in a tiny sliver of time. Despite what it may seem, the Lord is in control. Every person, even the most wicked, does whatever He has commanded. “For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done.” – Acts 4:28

Believers are His beloved bride, the Church of Christ, and He will let nothing happen to His bride that is not for our good. Be comforted and encouraged by His promise in Jn. 4:4: “Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.”
“...the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” – Rev. 17:14