In verse 5 we see the name of the great prostitute: “Mystery, Babylon the Great, The Mother of the Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.” The title “Mystery” here indicates that Babylon the Great in this chapter is not the material one in chapter eighteen, but the religious one. The religious Babylon, the apostate church, is truly mysterious in what she is, in what she practices, and in what she teaches.
The prostitutes are the denominations and groups in Christianity with the evil doctrines, practices, and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. Since the “Mother of the Prostitutes” is the apostate church, the prostitutes, her daughters, must be all the different sects and groups in Christianity who hold to some extent the teaching, practices, and traditions of the apostate Roman Church. The pure church life has no evil transmitted from the apostate church. As we all know, the so-called charismatic movement has entered into the Roman Church. This movement has even been confounded with the worship of Mary and with the sacrifice of the mass. Although the cup is golden, the people drink the abominations. It is not the cup, but the contents of the cup that get into them. If it were not for this evil mixture, the pope, in his subtlety, would never allow the charismatic movement to go on in his church.
Every denomination must be examined to see whether or not it still has something of the great prostitute in it. To have a Christmas tree in your home is to practice something of the great prostitute. Probably you cannot find one Christian group that has not been influenced by the prostitute. Perhaps only in the local churches can you find a place that has nothing of the prostitute. We have seen that the daughters of the great prostitute are the Christian groups that hold the doctrines, practices, and traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. If a group holds any one of these things, that group is a daughter of the Roman Church.
Some may feel that it is too severe to say that the denominations and free groups are the daughters of the great prostitute. You may say, “Don’t those in the denominations and in the free groups believe in the Lord and love Him? Have they not also been regenerated? Don’t they have the divine life? How can you say that the denominations and free groups are the daughters of the prostitute?” Madame Guyon, a sister who was very deep in life, still worshipped at the image of Mary. Even she had been drugged by the Catholic Church. More than forty years ago, we translated most of Madame Guyon’s important writings. When I discovered that she went to worship at the image of Mary, I told the brothers that we had to include this in our translation of her works; otherwise, the brothers and sisters would think that she was entirely all right. But even she had been befuddled by the apostate Roman Church.
We may use the smell of garlic as an illustration. If we eat garlic all day long, our sense of smell will eventually be drugged. If someone with a fresh sense of smell comes into the midst of garlic eaters, he will immediately notice the odor of garlic and will not be able to tolerate it. However, the garlic eaters would have no awareness of this unpleasant odor. Madame Guyon could still worship before a statue of Mary because she had been born into the “garlic room” of the Roman Catholic Church.
One reason for saying that the denominations and most free groups are daughters of the prostitute is the presence of idols among them. Some may argue that the Lutheran Church has no idols. But the title of this denomination, Lutheran, is itself an idol. To whom do you belong—to Christ or to Luther? Is it not sufficient to call yourself a Christian? Why must you call yourself a Lutheran? These idolatrous names are abominations.
God has a governing principle of one church for one Christ, just as there is one wife for one husband. By their divisions, most of today’s Christians have violated this governing principle. Instead of following it, they practice fornication, which is confusion. Whoever breaks the governing principle of one husband for one wife commits fornication. Wherever we are, we must keep the principle of one wife for one husband, one church for one Christ.
Every division is a violation of God’s governing principle. To cause a division among Christians is to commit fornication. Anyone who does this does not care for the governing principle. Those who are divisive do not care for the one Body, the one church; they are not concerned about one local church for one city. They are like a woman who refuses to have only one husband. After she is tired of living with one man, she turns to another.
We need to see the difference between adultery and fornication. If a wife with a proper husband breaks the governing principle of marriage, she commits adultery. But a woman who has no proper husband and who breaks God’s governing principle commits fornication. The great prostitute is a fornicator; she has no husband. The situation among Christians today is filled with fornication. Many seem to say, “If I don’t like this meeting any more, I’ll go to another. And if I don’t like that one, I’ll form one of my own. Furthermore, if after a while I am no longer pleased with the meeting I have started, I’ll start still another one.” This is spiritual fornication.
If you have seen the vision, you will not dare to have any particular name, that is, any name other than the name of Christ. Moreover, you will not dare to have any division because our Husband is one, and we, His Bride, are also one. In every city there must be just one church. Wherever I go, the church is one. If our practice is otherwise, then we commit fornication. Most Christians today are committing fornication. The great prostitute in Revelation 17 is the mother of all fornication, confusion, and abominations.
If you are still wondering how Christians who truly love the Lord can commit fornication, I would point you again to the illustration of Madame Guyon, who was deep in life, yet was befuddled by the “garlic” of Roman Catholicism. Be sober, stay away from the “garlic room,” and remain in the fresh air twenty-four hours a day. If you do this, you will have a sensitive nose. I have kept myself away from all the “garlic rooms” for more than fifty years. For this reason, my spiritual nose is very keen. I simply cannot stand with any division, for I can immediately smell that it is fornication.
When some are confronted by the limitation of one church in one city, they may say, “We don’t have the freedom to release ourselves in your meeting. We want to have a meeting in our home where we can be released.” This is merely a subtle excuse for a divisive spirit. This divisive spirit is a source of fornication, division. There must not be any divisions among Christians because we are the wife of one Husband, the one church in a locality, maintaining God’s governing principle. When some hear that we are the church, they are unhappy and say, “Why do you say that you are the church and that we are not the church?” They are not the church because they are a prostitute, a woman who has a relationship with many men instead of a proper relationship with one husband. Who is your husband? If Christ is your husband, then why do you call yourself a Lutheran? If your name is truly Mrs. Smith, then why do you call yourself Mrs. Jones one day and Mrs. Harris another?
The apostate Roman Church is a prostitute, and all her daughters are also prostitutes. A prostitute is a woman who commits fornication for profit. Many of today’s Christian groups have been formed for man’s gain, empire, position, or title. This is prostitution.
Consider the entire situation regarding Christianity on earth today. Certainly the Lord needs a recovery. This recovery will produce the living firstfruit for Him, and during the three and a half years of the great tribulation, it will be a help to all the Christians still on earth. I believe that all the churches in the Lord’s recovery will serve these two purposes. The day is coming when the overcomers will be raptured and Antichrist will abolish Judaism and destroy Catholicism. Surely all Christians left on earth at that time will be revived. They will no longer attend the mass in the Catholic Church; neither will they still go to the denominations or free groups. Rather, they will say, “Years ago I heard about the church. Now I must go to the genuine church.” Although the Lord Jesus has a loving heart, as we shall see in the next message, He will use Antichrist to destroy the great prostitute, the Roman Catholic Church.