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 woman on the scarlet coloured beast in Revelation 17:3 symbolizes false religion during the bloody period of Christian martyrdom in the Roman Empire.¹ That period ended early in the fourth century AD when the emperor Constantine made apostate Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.² When that occurred, the woman of false religion seated on the bloody red (scarlet) beast became the woman ... arrayed in purple,³ and scarlet colour.⁴ Her new image represents the wealth, power, and royal status⁵ given to the so-called Christian church in the days of Constantine.⁶

Constantine arrayed this evolving woman of apostate Christianity⁷ with gold and precious stones and pearls.⁸ These images from John's vision can be seen in the outward dress of the Roman clergy,⁹ including the crimson robes of popes and cardinals.¹⁰ But the images also represent an inward worldliness¹¹ and counterfeit religion based on priestcraft.¹² Christ's true religion, by contrast, is represented by the Lamb's bride adorned in the simplicity of pure white linen.¹³

Constantine's apostate Christianity became the mistress of the Roman Empire,¹⁴ with whom kings and emperors spiritually fornicated throughout the long period of the Great Apostasy.¹⁵ Even after the Imperial Roman Empire fell in 476 AD,¹⁶ the richly adorned woman of false religion shared her bed of spiritual fornication with emerging European governments throughout the Holy Roman Empire.¹⁷ The woman evolved and matured into the mother of abominations¹⁸ as she continued to seduce the modern nations of Europe.¹⁹ Eventually, this same symbolic woman became the Great Whore of the latter days,²⁰ called Babylon the Great.²¹ Her greatness lies in her vast power to entice and seduce the whole world²² to drink from the golden cup in her hand.²³ This cup is full of abominations²⁴ and the filthiness of her fornication.²⁵

The woman of false religion seated on the scarlet coloured beast (the Roman Empire) became the mother of abominations and the Great Whore as her spiritual fornications²⁶ led to the illegitimate birth of many other harlots of false religion²⁷ in the likeness of their mother.²⁸ This abominable birthing process is most apparent during the period of the Protestant Reformation, which spawned many new and false religions.²⁹ The proliferation of false churches and abominable religious practices will continue until the Great Whore of false religion is cast down at the Second Coming.³⁰