The real condition and end of the Catholic Church are clearly unveiled in Revelation 17. The first six verses tell us the condition, and the last three verses tell us the end. The condition is illustrated in a figure of speech by a golden cup (v. 4). A cup signifies something that is presented to a person for him to drink to meet his need. The golden cup signifies that in outward appearance the apostate church does have something of God. The Catholic Church believes that Christ is God, that He was born of a virgin, and that He died for the sins of sinners and resurrected. In their recent catechism, they also pointed out that God became a man that man might become God. In today’s Protestant churches, on the other hand, there are modernists who do not believe that Christ is God, that He was born of a virgin, and that He died on the cross as the Redeemer. They consider that Christ was a martyr and do not believe that He resurrected.
In Revelation 17 the Roman Catholic Church is called “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT” (v. 5). There are even some Catholic scholars who have recognized that the Great Babylon in Revelation 17 refers to the Catholic Church. In Matthew 13 the Lord likened the Roman Catholic Church to a woman who took leaven and put it into fine flour (v. 33). Most fundamental expositors of the Bible say that the fine flour refers to Christ as food to both God and man. Leaven signifies evil things (1 Cor. 5:6, 8) and evil doctrines (Matt. 16:6, 11-12). It includes all evil things such as heresy, idolatry, and adultery. Thus, the Catholic Church is a mixture.
The cup which the woman has in her hand is golden, but it is full of abominations and the unclean things of her fornication (Rev. 17:4). In figure, gold signifies the divine nature of God. Hence, the apostate church does have something of God, but she is full of evil things such as heresies, idolatry, pagan practices, spiritual fornication, and even physical fornication. For a woman to practice fornication means that she has many husbands. The church should be married to Christ and to the truth of the Bible. Not only is Christ the Husband, but also the truth, the Word of God, is the Husband. The Word of God and Christ are one. The Catholic Church has accepted Christ and the Word of God, yet it has also received many heresies and idols. This has made her a spiritual fornicator.
The Catholic cathedrals are full of idols. G. H. Pember pointed out that one of the saints in the Roman Catholic Church is actually Buddha (see the Life-study of Revelation, Message 51, p. 585). In Manila there is a statue of a so-called Jesus at the entrance of a certain cathedral. The feet of this statue have been touched and even kissed by people so many times that there is a hole there. This is idolatry, but it is in a “golden cup.”
One young person from a Catholic family received the Lord Jesus and then went to his parents to tell them that he had the Lord Jesus in him. His parents responded by saying that they already had Jesus, and they pointed to a picture of the so-called Jesus hanging on the wall. Because they had such a picture, they thought they had Jesus.
In 1937 when I was traveling in the interior of China, a case of demon possession was brought to my attention. I said that in principle either sin or some idols or images in that woman’s home would give the ground for demon possession. Eventually, I learned that on her wall was a picture of the so-called Jesus, and I told her to burn it. From the moment she burned that picture, the demon departed. The Catholic Church is full of idols, heresy, and all kinds of pagan and heathen practices. This is the real condition of today’s Catholic Church.
Revelation 17 also tells us the end of the Catholic Church. At the end of this age, the Antichrist will make a covenant with the Jews for seven years. In the middle part of this seven-year period, he will break this covenant (Dan. 9:27) and exalt “himself above all that is called God or an object of worship” (2 Thes. 2:4). He will persecute all religions, and the first religion persecuted by him will be that of the Catholic Church. This is because both Antichrist and the Catholic Church will be centered in Rome. Revelation 17:16 says, “And the ten horns which you saw and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked and will eat her flesh and burn her utterly with fire.” This means that Antichrist and his ten kings will persecute the Great Babylon and burn her. That will be the end of the Catholic Church.
The Protestant church is full of false believers (Matt. 13:37-42). In Matthew 13 the Lord told us that the kingdom of the heavens is like a man who sowed good seed of wheat in his field, but his enemy then came and sowed tares in the midst of the wheat. His slaves then asked if they should go to collect these tares. But the man’s response was, “Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Collect first the tares and bind them into bundles to burn them up, but the wheat gather into my barn” (v. 30). The Lord said that at the consummation of this age, He will send His angels to collect all these tares, signifying all the false, nominal Christians in any kind of church, and will cast them into the lake of fire (vv. 40-42). They will be thrown directly into the lake of fire, having no need to pass through the formality of any judgment. Their end will be the same as Antichrist and the false prophet. Both of them will also be thrown into the lake of fire directly, without any formal judgment (Rev. 19:20).