Revelation 17:16: And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

The ten horns in Revelation 17:16 represent the power of the ten kings mentioned in Revelation 17:12.¹ The ten kings represent the rulers and political leaders in modern nations² who spiritually fornicate with the Great Whore throughout the latter days³ and give their power to the Second Beast by doing so.⁴ Eventually, the Second Beast which is Modern Babylon,⁵ will have enough power to control entire governments and the world economy.⁶ With that control, the Second Beast increasingly attacks the Great Whore of false religion even though she spiritually fornicated with the ten kings and gave to them the power they possess.⁷ Oddly enough, as the power of the ten kings increases in the modern era, they increasingly seek to destroy the Great Whore of false religion.⁸

When the angel told John that these [ten horns] shall hate the whore, he meant that powerful leaders in modern nations will hate the Great Whore of false religion.⁹ Some scholars mistakenly believe that this imagery represents the European nations that turned against papal authority during the Reformation.¹⁰ That cannot be true, however, because the Great Whore embodies false religion in the modern era since 1830.¹¹ Therefore, hatred of the Great Whore is manifest in the growing intolerance of modern governments toward all religions on a worldwide scale.¹² Satan has turned the ten kings against the Great Whore because any attack on false religion is an attack on all religion,¹³ including the true Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.¹⁴ Christ's true church and members of this church are the real target of the latter-day assault on organized religion by the Second Beast.¹⁵ The ten horns of power that are part of the Second Beast¹⁶ have turned against the Great Whore in a not-so-veiled attack upon the true church of Jesus Christ.¹⁷

The angel also told John that when the ten kings turn on the Great Whore, they will make her desolate and naked.¹⁸ This corresponds in time with the battles of Armageddon during the Second and Third Woes. Physical Armageddon is a holy war when the wicked will destroy the wicked in the name of religion and religious ideology.¹⁹ In that conflict, the Great Whore of false religion will become like a desolate and barren wilderness.²⁰ She will be stripped of her worldly ornamentation, leaving her naked.²¹ That is, her falsity and pretense of goodness shall be laid bare for all to see. The ten kings will also eat her flesh²² to symbolize her complete annihilation.²³ The word flesh is a plural term in Greek, which indicates that the flesh of the Great Whore consists of many followers in many false religions.²⁴ These many false and fleshly religions will be symbolically eaten (destroyed) during Armageddon.

The Great Whore will also burn ... with fire when Modern Babylon burns during the Third Woe at the Second Coming.²⁵ This alludes to the penalty of death by burning that was prescribed by the law of Moses for any daughter of a priest in Israel who committed fornication.²⁶ The ancient penalty of burning prefigures God's future judgment on the Great Whore who will burn because she holds herself out as a daughter of religious piety, while she spiritually fornicates with the ten kings.²⁷ This is God's judgment on the Great Whore, which the angel promised to show John in Revelation 17:1.²⁸

Ezekiel 23 also provides an illustrative allegory²⁹ about the Great Whore in the modern era by describing the destruction of Aholibah (Jerusalem) as a foreshadow for the future burning of the Great Whore.³⁰ In Ezekiel's allegory, the Jews represented by Jerusalem committed idolatrous whoredoms with Babylon, which involved a forbidden political alliance.³¹ Eventually, God jealously turned Babylon against Jerusalem.³² Babylon stripped off Jerusalem's clothes and jewels,³³ cut off her nose and ears to mutilate her,³⁴ and then Babylon burned her residue.³⁵ Jerusalem was literally desolated by Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonian empire in 587 BC³⁶ because she whored after gentle nations until the cup of God's wrath against her was full.³⁷ This allegory foreshadows the burning and desolation of the Great Whore at the Second Coming when the cup of Modern Babylon's iniquity will be full again.³⁸

Daniel 7:11 also describes the future desolation of Modern Babylon in Daniel's prophecy of the fourth hideous Beast that burns after the gathering of saints at Adam-ondi-Ahman.³⁹ His vision has led some scholars to mistakenly believe that Modern Babylon will be destroyed at the midpoint of Armageddon,⁴⁰ when the future gathering of saints occurs at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁴¹ However, Babylon will only fall spiritually when Christ is coronated King of kings at Adam-ondi-Ahman.⁴² Babylon will fall physically 3½ years later at the Second Coming when it will burn with fire.⁴³

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 Lord uses the ten kings of Modern Babylon to fulfill his righteous purposes in the latter-days⁴⁴ just as he used ancient Babylon to fulfill his past purposes.⁴⁵ Thus, the Great Whore of false religion⁴⁶ has been raised up by God⁴⁷ and she hath put in⁴⁸ the hearts of modern nations to fulfill his will.⁴⁹ Through her adulterous relationship with the ten kings,⁵⁰ the Great Whore gets each of the ten kings to agree [to] give their kingdom unto the beast.⁵¹ By doing so they will fill the cup of their iniquity to the brim.⁵² When their cup of their iniquity is full⁵³ at the Second Coming⁵⁴ a destructive judgment will fall upon them,⁵⁵ and all the words of God shall be fulfilled against the ten kings.⁵⁶