The Desolating of Christendom by the “Disgusting Thing”

1. In view of what does a question of doubt arise as to Christendom’s desolation?

CHRISTENDOM is represented by her hundreds of religious sects. She is listed as having a membership of over nine hundred million church members. How could such a numerous, mighty religious organization ever be desolated, be brought to ruin? And yet it will be!

2. Who was it that suggested such an almost unbelievable thing, and how?

² Who, though, suggested such an almost unbelievable thing? It is One whose prophecies have not failed in one case till now. It is the Almighty God, Jehovah God, the Author of the Holy Bible. He foretold it by a number of his prophets, even by means of his Son Jesus Christ. Christendom’s destruction had its prophetic picture made nineteen hundred years ago. That picture will shortly prove to be a true prophecy. The reader may wonder, Why so? How?

3. What was the first-century type of modern-day Christendom, and how was her desolation typified?

³ The name Christendom is not found in any prophecies of the Holy Bible. But she had her type back there in Bible times. Her type, the prophetic figure of her, is the unfaithful Jerusalem of the first century of our Common Era. Such Jerusalem was considered holy by the Jews down till its destruction in 70 C.E., and it was the type, the warning example. (1 Cor. 10:6, 11) Christendom is the antitype or the thing that was typed so long ago. Hence, although not directly named in Bible prophecy, she is typed or prophetically pictured. The desolating of unbelieving Jewish Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. is a type or prophetic picture of the desolating of modern-day Christendom, which is likewise unbelieving as regards the Holy Bible and its Author, Jehovah God.

4. What came to a full conclusion at Jerusalem’s destruction in 70 C.E., and how can that be shown?

⁴ In the spring of the year 33 C.E. Jesus Christ gave his prophecy on the desolating of the Jewish Jerusalem which showed such unbelief toward him as the Messiah or Christ. He uttered that remarkable prophecy in connection with foretelling the “sign of . . . the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3) The desolating of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. brought an end to a Jewish system of things that has never been restored. The temple that was built for the worship of Jehovah as God has never been rebuilt, and never will be. The priesthood in the family of Aaron the brother of Moses that carried on the religious services at that temple does not exist anymore. No Jew can prove his qualifications as a real member of that priestly family. The national covenant with God, established on the basis of obedience to God’s law as given through the prophet Moses, does. not exist, is not in force anymore. Truly the Jewish system of things with those features came to its full conclusion with the desolating of ancient Jerusalem in 70 C.E.

5, 6. (a) To be true to type, Christendom’s desolation must come within what time period, and Daniel associates that time period with the placing of what? (b) Christendom must be desolated in connection with the end of what system, and why?

⁵ To be true to type, the desolating of Christendom must come within the time period in which a “system of things” comes to its full conclusion. Inasmuch as the “appointed times of the nations” ended in the year 1914 C.E. the present worldwide “system of things” has been in its “time of the end.” (Luke 21:24) The prophet Daniel associates the “time of the end” with the placing of the “disgusting thing that is causing desolation” when he writes: “Make secret the words and seal up the book, until the time of the end. Many will rove about, and the true knowledge will become abundant. . . . the constant feature has been removed and there has been a placing of the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.”​—Dan. 12:4-11; see also 11:40.

⁶ The present “time of the end” is therefore the period of time in which Christendom will be brought to desolation by the “disgusting thing that is causing desolation.” Christendom, be it remembered, is the dominant part of today’s worldly “system of things,” and so unavoidably she must come to an end with it.

7. (a) Why in this “time of the end” is the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” not the military “people” of the Roman Empire? (b) Daniel 11:31 associates the “disgusting thing” with what power struggle, and what has been the thing that they “put in place”?

⁷ What, though, is the “disgusting thing” that will soon bring Christendom to complete desolation? It is not the military “people,” the legions of the pagan Roman Empire. That empire has ceased to exist, and Rome today is the center of the most populous and powerful part of Christendom. According to Daniel’s prophecy, Da chapter eleven, verse 31 thirty-one, the “disgusting thing” is something that is put in place during the struggle between the “king of the north” and the “king of the south.” That verse reads: “And they will certainly put in place the disgusting thing that is causing desolation.” In this “time of the end” for both the democratic “king of the south” and the totalitarian “king of the north,” this “disgusting thing” that has been put in place has been the international organization for world peace and security.

8. What did the book Light, Volume Two, of the year 1930, identify the “abomination that maketh desolate” as being?

⁸ After World War I and down to World War II this peace-preserving organization was known as the League of Nations. In the year 1930 it was plainly called “the abomination that maketh desolate” of Matthew 24:15 in the second volume of the book called “Light,” pages 89 and 103, as published nine years before World War II. But under the title of “League of Nations” this organization did not destroy Christendom.

9. By what was the League of Nations succeeded, when, and as promoted chiefly by whom?

⁹ Today this peace-and-security organization is known as the United Nations, which in 1945 became the successor to the League of Nations that had failed to prevent World War II, it really being killed by that world conflict. The chief promoter of this international organization for world peace and security was the Seventh World Power, the Anglo-American dual world power.

10. (a) What has that Seventh World Power professed to be religiously, and so what question arises? (b) What reason, then, is there for the Bible to call the international peace organization a “disgusting thing” or “abomination”?

¹⁰ For more than two centuries this Seventh World Power has professed to be Christian and has been a stronghold of Christendom. So how could the international peace-and-security organization promoted by it be the “abomination” or “disgusting thing”? Well, the United Nations of today cannot be called a Christian organization, for about half of the 127 member nations of which it is composed do not profess to be Christian. But primarily what causes the Bible to call it “disgusting” or abominable is that it was “put in place” of God’s Messianic kingdom for which Christians are taught to pray. (Matt. 6:9, 10) In fact, in December of 1918 the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America publicly came out in favor of the then-proposed League of Nations as being “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.”

IDENTIFIED AS A DESOLATOR

11. (a) Whom, then, does this indicate Christendom’s desolator to be? (b) How is Babylon the Great implicated in this, and who actually is she?

¹¹ Well then, is it the ‘desolator’? Do we mean that the membership of the United Nations will shortly lay desolate the religious organization of Christendom? That is almost unbelievable! But this strange event is part of a bigger thing, namely, the destruction of Babylon the Great as pictured in the last book of the Holy Bible, Revelation chapter seventeen. There that old religious harlot, Babylon the Great, is pictured as riding a scarlet-colored wild beast that has seven heads and ten horns. She is an international religious harlot, for the “kings of the earth” commit spiritual fornication with her and the commercial leaders of the earth do business with her. In fact, she is said to be “the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 17:1-6, 18) Back in 1930 the publication Light, Volume II, pages 87-93, explained her to be “organized Christian religion” or “organized Christianity” as exemplified in Christendom. But, as now seen, Babylon the Great is actually the world empire of false Babylonish religion, of which Christendom is the most populous and powerful part. So what affects Babylon the Great must also affect Christendom. Necessarily, then, desolation for Babylon the Great must also include desolation for Christendom.

12. What kind of organization is pictured by the scarlet-colored beast that has seven heads and ten horns?

¹² What though, is pictured by the scarlet-colored wild beast that has seven heads and ten horns and on which Babylon the Great rides? Like other wild beasts that are used as symbols in Revelation and in Daniel’s prophecy, that disgusting, abominable kind of wild beast stands for a political organization. It is a composite organization, for its seven heads symbolize the seven world powers of human history, namely, ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the Anglo-American dual world power. As the angel explained the seven heads to the Christian apostle John: “There are seven kings: five have fallen, one is [namely, imperial Rome], the other [the Anglo-American World Power] has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while. And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.”​—Rev. 17:9-11.

13. What did the Watch Tower issue of July 15, 1926, explain the scarlet-colored wild beast to be, and how is it an “eighth king”?

¹³ Exactly so, the international organization for world peace and security springs from the preceding seven world powers or surviving relics of them, and it is in itself an eighth world power. Long ago The Watch Tower in its issue of July 15, 1926, page 215, explained that under the heading “League Foretold.” At that time the peace-and-security organization still was; it had not ceased to be, as it did during World War II. (Rev. 17:7, 8) After World War II it came out of the abyss as the United Nations, the “eighth king” or world power.

14, 15. (a) What is the case as regards love for Christendom among the member-nations of the United Nations? (b) Into what will any love turn, and who says so, and where?

¹⁴ Of the 127 members of the United Nations do the many non-Christian nations love Christendom? No, even though they may love still the various non-Christian religious elements of Babylon the Great. Love of Christendom is not going to deepen or to spread. Rather, hate will supplant any love for her. Why, hate will soon lead to the destruction of the Babylonish world empire of false religion. That destructive hate must therefore strike at Christendom, the hypocritical Christian organization. All political rulers pictured by the ten horns, yes, in fact, the whole political system pictured by the scarlet-colored wild beast will hate her. Who says so?

¹⁵ God’s angel, who said to the apostle John: “And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, . . . And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire. For God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought.” (Rev. 17:12, 16, 17) The fulfillment of this part of the prophecy takes place after the scarlet-colored wild beast ascends out of the abyss, and hence sometime after the year 1945, when it made this ascent out of the abyss.

16. (a) We look forward to see members of the United Nations act together as what toward Christendom? (b) In spite of what fact has Christendom been most forward in riding the United Nations, and why?

¹⁶ Necessarily the fulfillment of this prophecy means “great tribulation” for Christendom, the most reprehensible part of Babylon the Great. Such tribulation means utter destruction for her! Excitedly we wait to see how members of the world organization will act together as the “disgusting thing that causes desolation.” Back in the year 70 C.E. in the tribulation upon Jerusalem it was the armed forces of the Sixth World Power (Imperial Rome) that acted as the “disgusting thing that causes desolation.” In the coming “great tribulation” as it affects the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom), it is the members of the Eighth World Power that carry out the work of the “disgusting thing that is causing desolation.” And are these members of the Eighth World Power armed? All of them are armed, more heavily and destructively so than has been the case of the nations in all previous history. Yet, despite this, Christendom has been more forward than all the rest of her partners in Babylon the Great in riding the mightily armed Eighth World Power (The League of Nations and the United Nations), to have a kingdom over it, if possible.

17, 18. (a) What befell Jewish Jerusalem nineteen centuries ago, and why must the antitype of this affect Babylon the Great? (b) Why will fulfillment of Revelation 17:16 mean “great tribulation” for Christendom, and how is her desolator like that of ancient Jewish Jerusalem?

¹⁷ Nineteen centuries ago “great tribulation” came upon the ancient Jewish Jerusalem. Likewise, to fulfill that prophetic type, “great tribulation” must come upon her antitype, Christendom. Ancient Jewish Jerusalem was not a type of Babylon the Great but was a type of the most prominent and powerful part of Babylon the Great, namely, Christendom. Hence what affects the most important part will also affect the rest or remaining part of Babylon the Great.

¹⁸ So when Revelation 17:16 foretells that the symbolic wild beast and its ten horns turn to hating the religious harlot and “make her devastated and naked” and “eat up her fleshy parts” and “completely burn her with fire,” it means that this treatment will be experienced and shared by Christendom, the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem. She, like the rest of Babylon the Great, “will never be found again.” (Rev. 18:21) This will be a “great tribulation” for Christendom, a tribulation from which all the rest of Babylon the Great will not be spared in this “time of the end.” In order to be true to the type of nineteen centuries ago, who is it that must have a hand in bringing this “tribulation”? It is the “disgusting thing”!

“GREAT TRIBULATION” ENVELOPS ALL THE SYSTEM OF THINGS

19. (a) Jesus’ prophecy about the “disgusting thing” was given when foretelling the “sign” of what? (b) Is it at the desolation of Babylon the Great (including Christendom) that that “system of things” ends?

¹⁹ Jesus’ prophecy concerning the “disgusting thing” he gave when foretelling the “sign of [his] presence and of the conclusion of the system of things.” (Matt. 24:3-15) This present-day “system of things” does not itself end with the desolating of antitypical Jerusalem (Christendom) and of the remainder of Babylon the Great. Christendom and the remainder of Babylon the Great are only a part, the religious part, of this age-old “system of things.” The system includes also the political, military, secular part, including now the Eighth World Power. Thus the “great tribulation” will not be over at the desolating of Babylon the Great (including Christendom). With her the nonreligious elements of this “system of things” have committed fornication in a spiritual sense, sharing with her in her crimes against the faithful people of Jehovah God and against all the rest of his earthly human creatures. In all justice the whole system must end!

20. Is it out of affection for God that the scarlet-colored wild beast destroys Babylon the Great (including Christendom)?

²⁰ The scarlet-colored wild beast and its “ten horns” devastate Babylon the Great (including Christendom), but not because they want to glorify Jehovah God and because they have come to love him now that they have turned to hating the religious harlot. Even though they are used as an instrument in bringing devastation upon Babylon the Great, they gain no reward for this. Why not?

21, 22. (a) Why does not the scarlet-colored wild beast gain a reward for being used as an instrument in devastating Babylon the Great? (b) How does Revelation 17:12-14 describe the final efforts of the “disgusting thing”?

²¹ It is because they still fight against God’s Messianic kingdom, for they strive to keep their occupancy of the earth by their armed might. Yes, the ten-horned scarlet-colored wild beast is still the thing that Babylon the Great hailed as a substitute for God’s Messianic kingdom. So those who make up the wild beast oppose those who practice the true Christianity and who preach and faithfully stick to God’s Messianic kingdom, in which the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, serves as King under Him. Accordingly, concerning the final efforts of the “disgusting thing that causes desolation,” we read, in Revelation 17:12-14:

²² “And the ten horns that you [the apostle John] saw mean ten kings, who have not yet [in John’s day] received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast [the international organization for world peace and security; the disgusting thing that causes desolation]. These have one thought, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast [the disgusting thing]. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him will do so.”

23. (a) What is that battle called, and where is it fought? (b) Thus the “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning” begins and ends upon whom?

²³ That battle will be the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the world situation called Har–Magedon, as foretold in Revelation 16:13-16 and as symbolically described in Revelation 19:11-21. According to the description there given, this triumphant war on the part of the Lamb of God will bring “great tribulation” upon the former patronizers and consorts of Babylon the Great (including Christendom). It will bring to an end the total present-day system of things. It will be the grand finale of the “great tribulation.” During that finale “it [that is, the scarlet-colored wild beast that came up out of the abyss in the year 1945] goes off into destruction.” (Rev. 17:11) Consequently, from the start of the “great tribulation” upon antitypical Jerusalem (Christendom) and down to its end on the rest of the “system of things,” that time of trouble will prove to be the “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”

24. What does the need to cut short the days to save flesh mean for the “system of things”?

²⁴ And as Jesus added: “In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” (Matt. 24:21, 22) That means nothing less than that the entire system of things, including antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, will be annihilated, never to be restored.

THE COURSE OF THE “CHOSEN ONES”

25. (a) What signal were the “chosen ones” of nineteen centuries ago given to flee at once from Judea? (b) What question does this raise regarding the “chosen ones” of today?

²⁵ What, though, about the remnant of God’s “chosen ones” on whose account the days of the approaching “great tribulation” will be “cut short” in order for some flesh to be saved by not having too long a tribulation? Nineteen centuries ago, when Jesus gave this prophecy, the “chosen ones” included the apostles to whom he was talking. To them he said: “When you catch sight of the disgusting thing that causes desolation, as spoken of through Daniel the prophet, standing in a holy place, . . . then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains. . . . Keep praying that your flight may not occur in wintertime, nor on the sabbath day; for then there will be great tribulation.” (Matt. 24:15-21) Obediently, Jesus’ disciples in Judea did flee from that province after they saw the large army of General Cestius Gallus besiege and then suddenly retreat from the “holy city” of Jerusalem. Will God’s “chosen ones” of today yet have a similar signal to flee and begin fleeing out of the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem, Christendom? What did Jesus indicate? He did not indicate any modern date to parallel the year 66 C.E., neither any modern time period of three and a half years to correspond with the period of 66 to 70 C.E.

26. (a) What does history show as to whether the “chosen ones” have waited till now to flee out of antitypical Jerusalem? (b) What was the reason for this?

²⁶ Fleeing out of the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom) has been the right thing for them to do at any time since the end of World War I in 1918. Such fleeing out of Christendom has meant also fleeing out of Babylon the Great, for Christendom is also an integral part of religious Babylon the Great. And, as modern history shows, the anointed “chosen ones” of Jehovah God have been fleeing from bondage to Christendom and Babylon the Great since the year 1919 C.E., the year in which the “disgusting thing that causes desolation” was set up, even though they did not perceive in that year that the League of Nations was then “the abomination of desolation” or “the disgusting thing that causes desolation.” But they did understand God’s command, “Get out of her, my people,” that is, out of Babylon the Great, as including Christendom. Hence all along since 1919 they have been fleeing out of antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem. (Rev. 18:4) They did not wait until after the year 1945 nor until after they saw correctly what the “disgusting thing” is.

27, 28. (a) Till when did the “chosen ones” of nineteen hundred years ago wait before fleeing out of all Judea? (b) Was there to be something similar for the “chosen ones” of today, and what do Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:29-31 show on this?

²⁷ Nineteen centuries ago the anointed “chosen ones” did wait until they saw the “disgusting thing” standing in the holy place before they found it advisable and urgent for them to flee out of Jerusalem and all Judea, that is, from 66 C.E. onward. However, Jesus’ prophecy indicated something different in the case of the anointed “chosen ones” in the present-day “time of the end” when “great tribulation” is getting near for antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom). This something different does not restrict matters to a modern-day period of three and a half years to parallel the period of 66-70 C.E. In Matthew 24:29-31 Jesus said:

²⁸ “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in lamentation, and they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send forth his angels with a great trumpet sound, and they will gather his chosen ones together from the four winds, from one extremity of the heavens to their other extremity.”

29, 30. (a) What do those quoted words indicate about the “chosen ones” of now? (b) What do the words “immediately after” not mean, and what does Dr. A. T. Robertson say about “immediately”?

²⁹ These words emphasize, not a flight in escape to various places of safety, but a gathering of the “chosen ones” by angels.

³⁰ Jesus’ words, “immediately after,” do not mean right after ancient Jerusalem’s “great tribulation” in 70 C.E. On the word “immediately” Dr. A. T. Robertson says in his commentaries:

“This word, common in Mark’s Gospel as euthus, gives trouble if one stresses the time element. The problem is how much time intervenes between ‘the tribulation of those days’ and the vivid symbolisms of Mt 24 verse 29. The use of en tachei [‘shortly’] in Revelation 1:1 should make one pause before he decides. Here we have a prophetic panorama like that with foreshortened perspective. The apocalyptic picture in Mt 24 verse 29 also calls for sobriety of judgment.”a

31. Since when after the “great tribulation” of ancient Jerusalem has this gathering of the “chosen ones” been going on, and under guidance of what?

³¹ Since the “tribulation of those days” upon ancient Jerusalem nineteen centuries have passed. Reliable history now proves that the gathering together of the anointed “chosen ones” of Jehovah God began in 1919, or after World War I, and that in continues, at least to some extent, down till now. Their being gathered together has doubtless been done under the active guidance of the heavenly angels sent forth by the invisibly present Jesus Christ.

32. (a) How has this gathering work been done as with a “great trumpet sound”? (b) By what time will the full number have been gathered out, allowing for God to do what?

³² Other Bible texts combine together to show such guidance. Also, the gathering has been done with worldwide announcement and notification, like a “great trumpet sound,” through the witness given both by word of mouth and by means of the printed publications of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society in many languages. By the time that the “great tribulation” is due to begin upon antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom), the angels will have gathered all the foreordained number of the “chosen ones” out from all partnership with this doomed “system of things.” On that account God can then “cut short” the number of the days of the “great tribulation,” that thereby some “flesh” may be saved.

33. (a) What other gathering under angelic guidance has been going on since 1935 C.E.? (b) What salvation will they experience as regards the coming tribulation?

³³ Also, as foretold in the final part of Jesus’ prophecy, all nations have been gathered before the Son of man, Jesus Christ, enthroned in the heavens. By means of his angels he is separating the individual members of the nations just as an Oriental shepherd separates his sheep from the goats. Thus since 1935 C.E. a “great crowd” of sheeplike persons have been separated from the goatlike persons who do not do good to the anointed “chosen ones,” the spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ. The sheeplike ones, who are gathered to the right hand of the King Jesus Christ, will make up the “flesh” that will be saved by the cutting short of the days of tribulation on account of God’s “chosen ones.” So these sheeplike ones will not join the nations in beating themselves in lamentation when the Son of man makes it evident to all people on earth that he, although invisible as if enveloped with the clouds of heaven, is coming with power and great glory to destroy the goatlike persons.​—Matt. 24:30; 25:31-46.

34. (a) When in the “great tribulation” does Christendom get destroyed? (b) With whom else must Jehovah God settle accounts, and by what means?

³⁴ Then at God’s predetermined time, the “great tribulation” that will surpass anything of previous human history will begin with surprising suddenness. Down to everlasting desolation will go the antitypical unfaithful Jerusalem (Christendom). Instrumental in executing this judgment of Jehovah God upon her will be the modern-day “disgusting thing that causes desolation,” the Eighth World Power. But Jehovah God has a heavy account to settle with all the rest of the world empire of false religion, namely, Babylon the Great. The same Eighth World Power will be his handy tool in making the desolation of Babylon the Great complete.

35. Thereafter how will all other parts of the system of things show that they deserve to be destroyed?

³⁵ But will the “great tribulation” then be complete? No! Not only the religious features and elements of this wicked “system of things” must be forever desolated, but all other parts of that worldwide system must be destroyed. That such parts deserve to be destroyed also will be shown to all the universe when the disgusting desolator, the mightily armed Eighth World Power, turns its forces against the Founder of Christianity, Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God at Har–Magedon.​—Rev. 17:12-16; 19:11-21.

36. (a) Despite the destruction of Babylon the Great, what will the Eighth World Power never be able to boast of having accomplished? (b) Survivors of that series of destructive acts will look back and see that it has all been what, as Jesus called it?

³⁶ Boast for just a little while the Eighth World Power may, that it has desolated all false religion included in Babylon the Great, but it will never be able to boast that it will have desolated God’s only true religion, the miraculously preserved true Christianity. Overconfident because of having been used to destroy the false religion, the Eighth World Power will make a final attempt to desolate the true worship of Jehovah God as an act of defiance of Jehovah’s Godship and sovereignty. But all in vain! For then the closing part of the “great tribulation” will eternally desolate the disgusting desolator of all Babylon the Great. The survivors on earth will look back at the desolating of Christendom and of all Babylon the Great and the supernatural destruction of all the remainder of this “system of things” as proving to be just what Jesus Christ foretold it would be. What? A “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again,” for it needs no repeating.

37. (a) Who should rejoice at the wonderful prospect ahead? (b) May they be among those to whom what cry of praise to Jehovah is directed?

³⁷ At this wonderful prospect may all sheeplike ones rejoice, who hope to survive in the “flesh” clear through the “great tribulation” according to God’s promise. (Rev. 7:9-17; Matt. 24:21, 22; 25:46) May they be among those favored ones to whom the “great crowd in heaven” will cry out: “Praise Jah, you people! The salvation and the glory and the power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has executed judgment upon the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his slaves at her hand.”​—Rev. 19:1, 2.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 721]

The scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation chapter 17 is now the United Nations. This is the “disgusting thing” that is foretold to desolate Christendom