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Judging the Infamous HarlotRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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“And he [the angel] carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness. And I caught sight of a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns.”—Revelation 17:3.
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Judging the Infamous HarlotRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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17. (a) In what way is the symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast full of blasphemous names? (b) Who is riding the scarlet-colored wild beast? (c) How did Babylonish religion link itself with the League of Nations and its successor right from the beginning?
17 In what way is this symbolic wild beast full of blasphemous names? In that men have set up this multinational idol as a substitute for God’s Kingdom—to accomplish what God says his Kingdom alone can accomplish. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 12:18, 21) What is remarkable about John’s vision, though, is that Babylon the Great is riding the scarlet-colored wild beast. True to the prophecy, Babylonish religion, particularly in Christendom, has linked itself with the League of Nations and its successor. As early as December 18, 1918, the body now known as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America adopted a declaration that declared in part: “Such a League is not a mere political expedient; it is rather the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. . . . The Church can give a spirit of good-will, without which no League of Nations can endure. . . . The League of Nations is rooted in the Gospel. Like the Gospel, its objective is ‘peace on earth, good-will toward men.’”
18. How did Christendom’s clergy show their support for the League of Nations?
18 On January 2, 1919, the San Francisco Chronicle carried the front-page headline: “Pope Pleads for Adoption of Wilson’s League of Nations.” On October 16, 1919, a petition signed by 14,450 clergymen of leading denominations was presented to the U.S. Senate, urging that body “to ratify the Paris peace treaty embodying the league of nations covenant.” Though the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaty, Christendom’s clergy continued to campaign for the League. And how was the League inaugurated? A news dispatch from Switzerland, dated November 15, 1920, read: “Opening of the first assembly of the League of Nations was announced at eleven o’clock this morning by the ringing of all the church bells in Geneva.”
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Judging the Infamous HarlotRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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20. Why was it blasphemous for the clergy to hail the League of Nations as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth”?
20 The dismal failure of the League of Nations should have signaled to the clergy that such man-made organs are no part of a Kingdom of God on earth. What blasphemy to make such a claim! It makes it seem as though God was a party to the colossal botch that the League turned out to be. As for God, “perfect is his activity.” Jehovah’s heavenly Kingdom under Christ—and not a combine of squabbling politicians, many of them atheists—is the means by which he will bring in peace and have his will done on earth as in heaven.—Deuteronomy 32:4; Matthew 6:10.
21. What shows that the great harlot supports and admires the League’s successor, the United Nations?
21 What of the League’s successor, the United Nations? From its inception, this body has also had the great harlot riding on its back, visibly associated with it and trying to guide its destiny. For example, on its 20th anniversary, in June 1965, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, together with Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims—said to represent two thousand million of earth’s population—assembled in San Francisco to celebrate their support and admiration of the UN. On visiting the UN in October 1965, Pope Paul VI described it as “that greatest of all international organizations” and added: “The peoples of the earth turn to the United Nations as the last hope of concord and peace.” Another papal visitor, Pope John Paul II, addressing the UN in October 1979, said: “I hope the United Nations will ever remain the supreme forum of peace and justice.” Significantly, the pope gave very little attention to Jesus Christ or to God’s Kingdom in his speech. During his visit to the United States in September 1987, as reported by The New York Times, “John Paul spoke at length about the positive role of the United Nations in promoting . . . ‘new worldwide solidarity.’”
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Judging the Infamous HarlotRevelation—Its Grand Climax At Hand!
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[Box on page 244]
“Blasphemous Names”
When the wild beast with two horns promoted the League of Nations after World War I, its many religious paramours immediately sought to give a religious sanction to this move. As a result, the new peace organization became “full of blasphemous names.”
“Christianity can furnish the good-will, the dynamic behind the league [of nations], and so change the treaty from a scrap of paper into an instrument of the kingdom of God.”—The Christian Century, U.S.A., June 19, 1919, page 15.
“The League of Nations idea is the extension to international relationships of the idea of the Kingdom of God as a world order of good will. . . . It is the thing all Christians pray for when they say, ‘Thy Kingdom come.’”—The Christian Century, U.S.A., September 25, 1919, page 7.
“The Cement of the League of Nations is the Blood of Christ.”—Dr. Frank Crane, Protestant minister, U.S.A.
“The [National] Council [of Congregational Churches] supports the Covenant [of the League of Nations] as the only political instrument now available by which the Spirit of Jesus Christ may find wider scope in practical application to the affairs of nations.”—The Congregationalist and Advance, U.S.A., November 6, 1919, page 642.
“The conference calls upon all Methodists to uphold and promote highly the ideals [of the League of Nations] as expressed by the idea of God the Father and God’s earthly children.”—The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Britain.
“When we consider the aspirations, the possibilities and the resolutions of this agreement, we see that it contains the heart of the teachings of Jesus Christ: The Kingdom of God and his righteousness . . . It is nothing less than that.”—Sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the opening of the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva, December 3, 1922.
“The League of Nations Association in this country has the same holy right as any humanitarian missionary society, because she is at present the most effective agency of the rule of Christ as the Prince of peace among the nations.”—Dr. Garvie, Congregationalist minister, Britain.
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