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THE SCARLET BEAST
Of Revelation 17-18
Verse-by-Verse

For a general overview with maps please visit the lower portion of the beast page.  
Please also read about this subject in "The False Prophet" before proceeding on this page. Click here. However it's best to read that book from the beginning as it is a brick by brick empirical argument.

The leopard-bear-lion beast and scarlet beast would seem to describe different aspects of the same subject.  The leopard-bear-lion acquaints us with the physical historical realities of the successive kingdoms of mankind, while the scarlet beast appears to address the spiritual condition of mankind through that same progression. Satan's influence over mankind, attracting us toward this world, to distance us from the things of the kingdom of God.  Like the red dragon of chapter 10, the scarlet color of this beast is indicative of Satan.  

Since this website almost entirely addresses fulfilled prophecy, the portions of this prophecy exegeted below that are yet to be fulfilled, should be taken with a large grain of salt.

Revelation 17:1  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:

Angels are messengers.  The waters are "peoples, tongues and nations" we later learn in verse 15.

Revelation 17:2  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.
t
These would seem to be the kings of the successive world empires or seven heads, and their worldly material goods, money, growth, greed, and today's - oil and waste driven economies.  The governments and inhabitants of the world entirely dependent on oil, with nation-states willing to do whatever it takes to continue the supply to power the production of their luxuries.  Like the U.S. fornicating with Saudi Arabia, making friends with the "beheading capital of the world" to secure our oil supply.  Throughout man's history wars have been fought over wealth, resources, territory, material goods as well as under the guise of religiosity.

Strong's
have been made drunk
New Testament Greek Definition:
3184 methuo {meth-oo'-o}
from another form of 3178; TDNT - 4:545,576; v
AV - be drunken 5, have well drunk 1, be made drunk 1; 7
1) to be drunken
2) metaph. of one who has shed blood or murdered profusely

the wine
New Testament Greek Definition:
3631 oinos {oy'-nos}
a primary word (or perhaps of Hebrew origin 03196); TDNT - 5:162,680; n m
AV - wine 32, winepress + 3125 1; 33
1) wine
2) metaph. fiery wine of God's wrath

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,

"In the spirit" indicates a vision and so we understand that the figurative language of visions and dreams will be used.  
We will learn more about this "woman", as well as the scarlet beast she rides, later.

full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

Considering the definitions below, examples might be past Popes that were responsible for the murder of millions, or even today those prominent names in other churches that try to portray deviate behavior as Godly, or apostates that preach that all roads lead to heaven.  Though not part of the church, the most serious blasphemy to Christians is the most primary tenant of Islam - shirk - requiring Muslims to believe that to confess that Jesus is the Son of God would be to commit the single most "heinous" and only unforgivable sin in Muhammad's specifically counter-gospel, antichrist, anti-religion.  They also falsely claim to be part of our Abramic faith.  They blaspheme God's name Yahweh, or "I AM", by calling Him "Allah".

Strong's
names
New Testament Greek Definition:
3686 onoma {on'-om-ah}
from a presumed derivative of the base of 1097 (cf 3685);
TDNT - 5:242,694; n n
AV - name 193, named 28, called 4, surname + 2007 2, named + 2564 1,
not tr 1; 229
1) name: univ. of proper names
2) the name is used for everything which the name covers, everything
the thought or feeling of which is aroused in the mind by
mentioning, hearing, remembering, the name, i.e. for one's rank,
authority, interests, pleasure, command, excellences, deeds etc.
3) persons reckoned up by name
4) the cause or reason named: on this account, because he
suffers as a Christian, for this reason

Seven heads, or empires, ruled the Middle East and oppressed God's people - Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Roman Empire, and the Islamic Empire as the last (as the head that was "wounded to death" (Battle of Tours - marked the death of the First Jihad) - but was healed by Western wealth transfer through oil purchase financing the Second Jihad in the image of the First Jihad).

Maintaining an ethnographic hermeneutic might indicate ten Islamic Jihad leaders as the ten horns - perhaps both government and terrorist - as they are intertwined religiously, strategically and financially.  The ten horns of the LBL beast - or the historical portrait beast - are thought by bible scholars to be the roughly 10 nations that the old Roman Empire eventually divided into.  The 10 horns of the scarlet beast are perhaps a summary thereof, as a global end-time government, since later in this passage we learn they are gathered together and share power for "an hour" sometime in John's future.  
 
(URL to this spot)

An intriguing possibility to fill this bill is the Club of Rome. Formed in 1968 as the spawn of the CFR, or Council on Foreign Relations - America's shadow government for the last almost 100 years - they divided the world into 10 what they themselves labeled kingdoms. Today they toil away on such things as their "Regionalized and Adaptive Model of the Global World System".  
Empowered through past executive orders, in an "emergency", U.S. state boundaries are replaced by Federal regions (determined decades ago) while local governments are to be operated by FEMA.


This subject is presented in some detail in The False Prophet.

Revelation 17:4  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:

The apostate church is fornicating in increasing conformity to this fleshly world.  Besides interfaith pluralism and prosperity doctrine, we've got one pope kissing the Quran and the next bowing toward Mecca from inside a mosque. The woman's array suggests church attire and the rest perhaps suggesting objects of veneration in the physical realm in church buildings.  Indeed I grew up understanding that our physical church building was "God's house".  But scripture suggests the regenerate people within the church are God's house:  1 Corinthians 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and [that] the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?  
Acts 17:24  God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;

Revelation 17:5  And upon her forehead [was] a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Scriptural references to harlot generally mean unchaste or unregenerate. This is thought by many scholars to indicate the apostate, or ecumenical church.

Abominations in today's church include blessing deviate behavior, and trumping scripture with tradition just as the Pharisees did.  
However, the most conspicuous single abomination, in evidence for over 1300 years, is the Islamic mosque the Dome of the Rock - THE abomination of desolation - as prophesied in Daniel, Matthew, Mark and John, the symbol of the Islamic spiritual desolation of Jerusalem.  The Islamic desolation continues even today on the temple mount, as Jews and Christians are prohibited from praying or carrying "holy objects", such as bibles, onto it.  The founding verses and mosaic inscriptions, both inside and out, on the Dome of the Rock abomination read: "Far be it from His [God's] transcendent majesty that He should have a Son".  This is the spirit of antichrist.  
The Crusaders were so enamoured by it's beauty that they couldn't bring themselves to destroy it.  But then perhaps God didn't have them destroy it because we would have been left without this symbol of Islamic desolation, in evidence today, as fulfilled prophecy.

Revelation 17:6  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.

This is a reference to both Old Testament saints and Christian era martyrs, killed by the apostate church.  Though not by any stretch a church, indeed the exact opposite, Islam lays claim to the Abramic faith so this could include the 1400 years of Islamic murder of Christians and Jews, as they continue to murder and hate - particularly Jews - all over the world today.  It is my online experience that today's preterists and the Roman Church aren't far behind in this regard.

Revelation 17:7  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.

The scarlet beast is the sum of the spiritual nature of Satan's kingdoms, today in his peak of power, on earth.  He gained these kingdoms at Adam's fall, and later offered them to Jesus - but Jesus didn't take the bait - however he never contested Satan's ownership. Islam has always lusted after conquest and complete control of these kingdoms, as did the Roman Church. The scarlet beast carries the harlot, and today churches like the Methodist and Episcopal Church U.S. increasingly strive to conform to the world, or "modernize", in order to attract parishoners - that is cash. No quicker way to empty a church than to preach repentance.

Revelation 17:8  The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition:

The beast that "was" - Greece being the last in the succession of kingdoms - perhaps the sum of them - before John - and "is not", with the Roman  Empire being the "is" beast to John.  The beast "shall ascend" (future tense - in John's future).
Satan's final kingdom - the seventh head - the Islamic beast - ascended out of the pit of hell and will meet its destruction when cast into the lake of fire. Here is a good YouTube on Rev chapter 9 detailing this emergence of the Islamic Beast from the bottomless pit.

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.

Strong's:
and yet
New Testament Greek Definition:
2539 kaiper {kah'-ee-per}
from 2532 and 4007;; conj
AV - though 5, and yet 1; 6
1) although

is
New Testament Greek Definition:
2076 esti {es-tee'}
third person singular present indicative of 1510;; v
AV - is 744, are 51, was 29, be 25, have 11, not tr 15, misc 25,
vr is 1; 900
1) third person singular of "to be"

Parallel to chapter 13 the whole world wonders after the beast.  Indeed virtually everyone in John's whole world, the Middle East - where we find Satan's seat that he gave to the leopard-bear-lion beast - the Islamic Empire - along with his power and great authority, as per chapter 13 - wonders after the beast.  Most everyone in John's whole world carries the mark/name of the beast - TODAY.  Life has become intolerable for Christians and Jews in the areas outside of Israel. See Brigitte Gabriel on Islam for an inside view - "Because They Hate".

Even a non-ethnographic view is impressive with the whole literal world wondering after this manifestation of Satan's power, since he was loosed from his prison.  A world at the mercy of leopard-bear-lion oil.  With the irony of Western wealth healing the beast's wound, and financing the growth of the Islamic Empire around the world, and our own demise as a result.

Revelation 17:9  And here [is] the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

The seven heads are the successive kingdoms.  The term "mountain" is used elsewhere in scripture to represent a kingdom or empire.  Indeed mountain slopes are quite descriptive of the ascent to their peaks, and then the fall, of empires.

Some suggest that this is the Catholic Church because Rome is the city of seven hills, and perhaps in light of the Papal killing of reformation Christians and their persecution of Jews, as well as their misunderstanding of authority in the church, but the subject of this harlot may be a bit broader.  

The KJV translators favored mountain over hill, though Strong's term 3735 oros {or'-os} is defined as mountain or hill.  Mountains as kingdoms is more consistent with "heads" and our ethnographic view, as well as John's eight successive kingdom beasts and his leopard-bear-lion beast.  Satan sometimes ruled through the power of the apostate church, even burning folks at the stake, etc.

Perhaps the mother of harlots - the woman - sitteth on Satan's kingdoms and has lured men to their destruction since our beginnings through her material and fleshly attractions, and away from the kingdom of God.

Revelation 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

The next two verses are detailed on their own page in this site on "John's Eight Beasts" and briefly reviewed here. If you've read that page you can skip to Revelation 17:12.

The kings/beasts are popularly Egypt (more likely Israel?), Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece [was] perhaps as the sum of prior kingdoms, the Roman Empire [is] to John, the Islamic First Jihad [not yet come] conquered the Roman Empire and came for the relative "short space" of 152 years to its peak.  Islamic power then ebbed until Western wealth transfer in oil purchase healed the beast, as Satan was loosed from his prison, at the beginning of this "time of the end".  Satan ascended from the pit of hell ruling through this Second Islamic Jihad, in the image of the First Jihad.
All Muslims are supposed to be engaged in Jihad until such time as the world is ruled under Islamic Sharia law. Jihad is the pinnacle of Islamic worship. The dar el salaam, or house of peace, conquest of the dar el harb, or house of war.

Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

This eighth beast "was" (LBL composite beast shares the seat of the kingdoms that preceeded the Roman Empire) and "is not" (so the 8th "is not" the Roman Empire either) is the eighth, and is of the seven.  This is the final Satanically controlled end-time empire. The most powerful of them as evidenced by the Middle East maps below and the Islamic influence around the world today.  The eighth is of the seven, and perhaps of the seventh.  The Second Jihad in the image of the First Jihad.  The Greek word is translated as "seventh" on one other occasion in the KJV.

"….. it is said, five of the seven Kings are fallen, and one is, and another is not yet come; and the Beast that was and is not, being wounded to death with a sword, he is the eighth, and of the seven: he was therefore a collateral part of the seventh." - Isaac Newton

Egypt                                    


Assyria


Babylon - lion


Medo-Persia - bear


Greece - leopard


The above beasts are the beast that "was" to John - the 5 fallen kings.  Greece perhaps being the sum of, or final manifestation of, the prior kingdoms.
Revelation 17:10  And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, [and] the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

Roman Empire is John's 6th king.  This is John's "is" king that is displaced by the 7th, and then 8th beasts.  The Roman empire was also Daniel's 4th "terrible" beast, that is not part of the body of the leopard-bear-lion beast of Revelation 13 (above). The remnant of the Roman Empire and the roughly 10 western nations that it divided into are represented by the horns.


Islamic First Jihad (link to map source) John's 7th king. Islam composes the 7th head of the LBL and scarlet beasts.  The Islamic Empire conquered the Roman Empire as John's king that had "not yet come".  Mortally wounded at the Battle of Tours, the Islamic First Jihad had ruled for the "short space" of 152 years, pinned by Daniel's 1335 "days", followed later by the Islamic Second Jihad that continues to rule the Middle East today, as the second map below shows.  The Muslims continuously possessed the land throughout the period.


Revelation 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

Islamic Second Jihad (link to map source)  This is the 8th or scarlet beast.  The last in the succession of Satan's kingdoms.  Empowered by the dragon - Satan - Islam is at the power center of even our global economy.  
The eighth beast is the Islamic Second Jihad, in the image of the First Jihad.  Western powers - the two-horned beast - financed and thereby empowered this final end-time foe of God's people.
The vital oil power that lubricates the global economy is in the hands of Jihadists.  Without oil the whole world will fail.


Since Satan is the ruler of the Islamic Empire, that could be why there is no reference to an eighth king in verse 10.  This beast will go to it's destruction.....
Revelation 19:20  And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
.....but perhaps not before suffering severely by their own hand.  Is the following a description of a nuke blast zone?:  
Zechariah 14:12  And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.   

Continuing with our chapter

Revelation 17:12  And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.

The Club of Rome as the shadow global government is a fair enough fit for the ten horns, having divided the world into ten what they called "kingdoms" when this organization was founded in 1968. The ten horns/kings receive power as kings with the beast for one hour, or a little over 15 days if the day = year language of prophecy is meant.  If the 15 days of their power began 15 days ago, Jesus could return today. Through an ethnographic hermeneutic John's whole "world" is already marked by the name Islamic "beast" making it a fulfilled prophecy.

Islam could put the brakes on the world tomorrow, if they  simply demanded payment for oil in gold, thereby effectively pointing their finger at the multinational global banking emperor's "new clothes".  Thus the unholy alliance between the beast and the final global kingdom. Don't think it couldn't happen since gold and silver are the only truly Koranic money and paper is considered the money of infidels.
What would a world without money, larded with social reprobates as it is today, look like after a few days of that kind of moneyless chaos?

Bear in mind, not receiving a "kingdom as yet" only necessarily means, that these kings had not received power as of the time that John was writing in about 95 AD, but that still pretty much kills any view that these ten horns preceeded John's writing.  Also the word "shall" being used in the next verse confirms the future tense to John's writing.

Revelation 17:13  These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The U.N. is conspicuously pro-Islam and anti-Christian. The one mind could be the the Club of Rome/CFR/Bilderbergers, the Club of Rome being a think-tank/spawn of the CFR.  The modern global community, giving their power to the beast through oil purchase.  Visit their website, then Yahoo the other organizations.

Those seeking rule through global governance have one mind spiritually, with those in Islam, as they are not of God. United in the spirit of antichrist Islam is the final component - the 7th head of the beast - Satan's kingdoms and rule on this earth.  The natural fit with the U.N. and the Club of Rome. The dragon - Satan - gives his power to Islam, and the Jihadists give the Islamic beast their power and strength.

The Harlot leads rulers and people to do anything that it takes to keep their economies going.  Why else would the U.S. call a country like Saudi Arabia - the Christian beheading capital of the world - the most fundamental Islamic indoctrinators and killers in the world - our friends?  We transfer billions there in oil purchase and they spend 10 billion per year - in the U.S. alone - setting up Islamic centers and mosques, also paying these same mosques for each "convert".  The horns are also financing Islamic expansion around the world, as Satan's final kingdom.

Revelation 17:14  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.

Satanic kingdoms have throughout time, and Islamic Jihadists have for 1400 years  - and continue to - make war with the Lamb. Islam has been at war specifically against the Lamb of God since its inception.  

Surah 9.29 Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.

At war against the "people of the book", the Christians and Jews.  Indeed at war agaiinst the whole non-Islamic world.

30 The Jews call 'Uzair a son of God, and the Christians call Christ the Son of God. That is a saying from their mouth; (In this) they but imitate what the Unbelievers of old used to say. God's curse be on them: how they are deluded away from the Truth!

Sura 8:12 I will instill terror into the hearts of the unbelievers: smite ye above their necks and smite all their finger-tips off them  

Founding verses of the Dome of the Rock:  "O you People of the Book, overstep not bounds in your religion, and of God speak only the truth.  The Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, is only an apostle of God, and his Word which he conveyed unto Mary, and a Spirit proceeding from him.  Believe therefore in God and his apostles, and say not Three.  It will be better for you.  God is only one God. Far be it from His transcendent majesty that he should have a son."

But the enemies of the Lamb shall be overcome by the Lamb, whether through finding their salvation in Jesus Christ, or perhaps ultimately upon His return and their destruction.

Revelation 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

So we learn the definition of "waters".

Revelation 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore,

The Club of Rome is still a fit here, because those that are Godless view Chrisitanity as the Roman Church and it's murderous past. They hate the Pope speaking against abortion and their other touchstones. They can't discern the difference between Christians, or the apostate church.  They hate the whole concept of God.

Jihadists are jealous of freedom and thus hate the idea of God-given freedom, liberty and self-determination.

and shall make her desolate and naked,

The church ever more conforming to the world make it increasingly desolate and transparently not of God with ordination of homosexuals, the idolatry of the Roman Church, etc. Also the secular world helped to put pressure on the Roman Church to coddle Islam, with one pope kissing the Quran and the next bowing toward Mecca from inside a mosque.

Let's explore a present global vulnerability that could result in making the whore, this great global economic/flesh and self-centered Babylon, naked.  If the Middle East oil producer decided to demand payment for oil in gold (gold and silver being the only money in Islam) the world would discover in a day, that the paper and digital 20th century fraud that the global populous has been trained to believe is "money", actually isn't.  Money has become a 20th century central banking hoax that is today global in scope.  The love of money, the root of all evil, could turn into the hate of phony money, overnight.  No civilization in the history of the world has survived phony money.  It's unlikely that this will be the first.  More on money.

The kings of the Club of Rome (perhaps in part global family/central bank elites), were they the horns, could short-sell the market and profit the way the elites did in 1929, and cause economic collapse, and perhaps money could still stand, though it's hard to imagine after transcending into a purely digital object of fiction.  

The Jiahdists would seem to be in the driver's seat in this verse as the horns, at least it's hard to imagine that the Club of Rome would have an ambition for global failure, since their ambition is global power.

and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

The whore's flesh could be the things of this world that folks spend their money on, and invest their money in.  Invested in China despite their record on human rights, for example.  Following a collapse of money the value of assets, except perhaps guns, would virtually disappear.

Jihadists are burning the whore with fire presently as in the example of the wealth that was consumed in the fires of 9-11, and other terrorist attacks around the world.  
Many believe the fire to suggest a nuclear incident - Zechariah 14:12 making a compelling case - and this is perhaps how things end.  But if the global economy went through total collapse, and money disappeared, then food would disappear overnight. Might all of the cities in the world then begin to take on the character of Detroit in 1967 and Watts in 1965 burning, within days?

Revelation 17:17  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.

The Jihadists are fulfilling prophecy unto this "time of the end".  Casting their lot in with the scarlet beast.  Supplying oil to manufacture and power the goods of the whore.  And by all indications intending to engage in a war against the non-Islamic world - the Dar el Harb (or house of war) - until they prevail.

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

As some suggest, the Papacy - has and still does to some extent - reign over certain of the kings of the earth.  But the greed and lust of fleshly mankind is what also reigns over the earth.  The prime driver.  As a result all of the governments of the earth are reigned over by the things of the harlot, modern Babylon, through greed and lust for wealth and stable economies, above morality, principle, and God's laws.  Politicians are some of our most prime examples of hypocrisy and harlotry.

A lens for viewing the following chapter is found in verse 18:24  where we learn about the extent of Babylon the great: "...in her was found the blood ... of all that were slain upon the earth.  It can hardly follow then, that Babylon the great can be a subject as narrow as the "Revived Roman Empire", or the Catholic Church, or the U.S. or any such others that are arrived at through guesswork theology.  This also seems to preclude this being as narrow as the apostate, or ecumenical church, or any future church of any kind.

Ellis Skolfield understands chapter 18 to be the Lord's lament for all of the lost.
It opens with distinct transition and discusses the worldly/fleshly traps of the worldly kingdoms enticing men to perdition throughout mankind's reign on earth.

Revelation 18:1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
Revelation 18:2  And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.

This verse describes the condition of the whole world, that is increasingly unrepentant, amoral and hateful.  Fornicating with the harlot.  Just look at U.S. politics.
An ethnographic view of prophecy reveals the Islamic Middle East, Satan's religion and hate filled people, murdering saints.  The international terrorist organization Hamas was elected to head the so-called "Palestinians".

Revelation 18:3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her,

The multitudes have drunk the wine of God's wrath in fornication with wealth and flesh, over morals, principles and God's laws, and what they know is right.  Fornicating with the Harlot.  The kings of the earth as being "friends" with Saudi Arabia for oil, for example - the Christian beheading capital of the world.  Or buying Chinese goods.

and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.

Merchants of the earth enriched by the luxury items, booze, movies and media, recreational drugs, everything beyond necessities, with all of it dependent on oil for manufacture, powering and transport.

Revelation 18:4  And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

Repent and turn to the things of the next world - your eternal life - and leave those things of this one behind.  Don't be of those who will suffer when God visits His wrath upon earth.

Revelation 18:5  For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.
Revelation 18:6  Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

Not mixing words as to the gravity of things.

Revelation 18:7  How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.

At the extremes, multibillionaires as millions of others starve.  Many Western Christians can't seem to see the suffering of the martyrs in other parts of the world because they believe tribulation to be a part of some future "someday" as they expect John Darby's "great tribulation" - but only after their departure.

Revelation 18:8  Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong [is] the Lord God who judgeth her.

This is perhaps the Day of the Lord referred to in the future tense here.

Revelation 18:9  And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
Revelation 18:10  Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

One hour by the day = year language is a little over 15 days.  If the Arabs simply nullified money by demanding gold, the global mayhem could make the whole earth look like Watts in 1965 and Detroit in 1967.  Imagine.  No such thing as money.  Riots in every city in the world.  Who could control it? A couple of dozen national guard per each U.S. city?

Revelation 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:

What if there were no such thing as money to buy it with?  Only barter left.  With oil being on the short list of barter items in demand.  Iran could trade with China and Russia oil for nukes (since I first wrote this we learn they have).

Revelation 18:12  The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

The merchants are stuck eating their own stuff.

Revelation 18:13  And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

Men allured by the great harlot, loosing their souls to their love of the things of this world. Hollywood claiming the souls of many men.

Revelation 18:14  And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.
Revelation 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,
Revelation 18:16 And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!
Revelation 18:17 For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off,

Their lament happening near the end of the 15 days (one hour by day = year), just before the Day of the Lord?

Revelation 18:18  And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What [city is] like unto this great city!
Revelation 18:19  And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness! for in one hour is she made desolate.

15 days of global moneyless mayhem?

Revelation 18:20  Rejoice over her, [thou] heaven, and [ye] holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.
Revelation 18:21  And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all.

Day of the Lord?

Revelation 18:22  And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee;
Revelation 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; .....

Churches being the candlesticks.

....and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee:......

Christians gone through the gathering of the elect.

......for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.

Revelation 18:24  And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

This is where we learn the breadth and depth of the great harlot.  ALL THAT WERE SLAIN UPON THE EARTH - from Cain forward.

 
MORE ON MONEY (link)

The governments and central banks of the world are parading around in grand fashion as if money had value.  Trading it among themselves in grand show.  Loaning and borrowing, all the while inflating their phony currencies to the destruction of their citizens savings and accumulated wealth.  Switzerland was the last currency to have it's gold backing removed - by referendum - in 1999.  There may not be a single sound currency left on earth.  
Interestingly, gold and silver are the only money in Islam (indeed the only constitutional money in the U.S. up until a little less than a century ago).  All paper money is the money of infidels - the Dar el Harb.
In the entire history of the world there has never been a paper currency that survived.  Today all the central banks on earth are in league in this fraud.  The "Federal Reserve" that controls our national fraud has also been known as "The Creature from Jekyll Island".
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Consider the procession of central bankers, if the Muslims call this massive bluff, and demand payment for oil in gold:

"But the Emperor has nothing at all on!" Said a little child.  "Listen to the voice of innocence!" exclaimed the father; and what the child had said was whispered from one to another.  "But he has nothing on!" at last cried all the people.  The Emperor was vexed, for he knew that the people were right; but he thought, "The procession must go on now!"  And the lords of the bed-chamber took greater pains than ever to appear holding up a train, although, in reality, there was no train to hold." - Hans Christian Anderson

From Ayn Rand - Atlas Shrugged - "Whenever destroyers appear among men, they start by destroying money, for money is men's protection and the base of a moral existence.  Destroyers seize gold and leave to its owners a counterfeit pile of paper. This kills all objective standards and delivers men into the arbitrary power of an arbitrary setter of values. Gold was an objective value, an equivalent of wealth produced. Paper is a mortgage on wealth that does not exist, backed by a gun aimed at those who are expected to produce it. Paper is a check drawn by legal looters upon an account which is not theirs: upon the virtue of the victims. Watch for the day when it bounces, marked, 'Account overdrawn.'"

Here is what the greatest destroyer of money (in total dollars) in the history of the world wrote back in 1967 before he climbed into bed with the Harlot.  

Is it difficult to understand the difference in the intrinsic value of a 1 or a 100 dollar bill?  It is painfully obvious that the only difference whatsoever, is in the distribution of the ink.  The Federal Reserve (nothing federal about it) has more than once, created more new money in a 6 week period than the value of all the gold owned by the United States, even figured at fair market value.
http://www.fms.treas.gov/gold/01-06.html

Department of the Treasury
Financial Management Service
STATUS REPORT OF U.S. TREASURY-OWNED GOLD
June 30, 2001
Total Gold Bullion 261,557,123.164 Fine Troy Ounces

261,557,124 x $650/oz = $170,012,130,600  That's a grand total of 170 billion dollars worth of gold at $650 per ounce.  
On this chart you can see that the Fed is in the habit of producing more than a paltry 170 billion, every couple of months. But even at that pittance for gold reserves, there may be irregularities with treasury disclosure, particularly in terms of lending.  How much gold would we need to buy oil?

This chart shows the blatant phony money creation (theft of your savings through dilution via inflation) just since 1960.  
Note that the scale on the left starts at zero. The total money supply hit more than 10 trillion.  It would certainly have been impossible to create that much currency, but in the digital age it became simply a matter of number entries.

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/M3NS/24

The result?

http://grandfather-economic-report.com/mwhodges.htm

The Jihadists could accomplish global collapse in a day, by demanding payment for oil in gold.  The area of the Middle East controls 40% of oil exports - without even counting Chavez.  

The world would learn in one day, that money ..... isn't.

There are a number of verses that may be able to act as lenses through which to consider the rest of this passage.


2.  In verse 17:12  we learn that " ... the ten horns ... are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These kings hadn't received their kingdom "as yet", that is when John was writing in 95 AD, so that eliminates their being kings that preceeded his writing.  Also, each reference to these horns is qualified with a term like "shall", as in future tense to John.  And we see them, apparently together, receiving power for one hour (or about 15 days, if the day-year interpretation is meant here)
3.  In verse 17:16  We learn that  "... the ten horns ... shall hate the whore,..." If the whore is about the apostate church, then it wouldn't make sense that a 10 region secular superstate would hate an apostate church.  Perhaps the whore is about the temptation that has lured men into the trappings of this world loosing sight of the next, like a focus on luxury items, big houses, boats, luxury cars and such idolitry.
If an ethnographic view is as appropriate here as it is in the rest of prophecy, Middle Eastern Islamic leaders not only hate the wealth and prosperity of the West, and the worldly and fleshly desires of the Westerners, but they also hate the Lamb and wouldn't even notice a distinction between the real, ecumenical or apostate church, because none is Islam.

So while the apostate church would seem to be very much a part of the harlot of this chapter, it would seem the subject of the harlot may be broader.

The scarlet beast would seem the sum of Satan's kingdoms on earth that have ruled the Holy Land and Middle East, and oppressed God's people, from Israel through the Islamic Second Jihad.  With the 7th head/mountain being the 7th and 8th "beasts" of Islam.  With the apostate church joined with these satanic kingdoms.  Daniel defined beasts for us:  Daniel 7:23 Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth,...