Revelation 17:4 What are “purple and scarlet” related to?

Rev 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

Many Protestant theologians go to great lengths to explain that the purple and scarlet cloth, gold and precious stones are used in Roman Catholic worship, to enhance the holiness and importance of the surroundings when worshiping in their churches.

However, the Bible does not mention very much about this explanation. We shall now do a short word study to find out what the words “purple, scarlet and gold” mean, when they are used for in the Bible.

Ex 25:1-8. (Offerings from the Israelites for the sanctuary). Verse 3. They included gold, silver and bronze. Verse 4. Blue, purple and scarlet thread. Verse 8. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (The purple and scarlet thread are related to the sanctuary).

Ex 25:10.11. (The ark of the testimony containing the Ten Commandments). And you shall overlay it with pure gold.

Ex 25:23.24. (The table of showbread). And you shall overlay it with pure gold.

Ex 25:31. You shall make a lampstand of pure gold.

Ex 26:1. Moreover, you shall make the tabernacle with ten curtains of fine woven linen and blue, purple and scarlet thread.

Ex 26:36. You shall make a screen/curtain for the door of the tabernacle, woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread – – -. Verse 37. And you shall make the curtain five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold; and their hooks shall be of gold – – -.

Ex 27:16. (The court of the tabernacle). For the gate of the court there shall be a curtain twenty cubits long, woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread – – -. Verse 17. All the pillars around the court shall have bands of silver – – -.

Ex 28:5. (The ephod). They shall take the gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread, and the fine linen Verse 6. And they shall make the ephod of gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread – – -.

Ex 28:15. (The breastplate). You shall make the breastplate of judgment. Artistically woven according to the workmanship of the ephod you shall make it: of gold, purple and scarlet thread.

Ex 28:33. (The robe of the ephod). And upon its hem you shall make the pomegranates of blue. Purple and scarlet, all around its hem, and bells of gold between them all around. Verse 34. A golden bell and a pomegranate etc.

Ex 35:5.6. Take from among you an offering to the Lord. Whoever is of a willing heart, let him bring it as an offering to the Lord: gold, silver and bronze; blue, purple and scarlet thread, fine linen – – -.

Ex 35:25. All the women who were gifted artisans spun yarn with their hands, and brought what they had spun of blue, purple and scarlet, and fine linen.

Ex 35:35. He has filled them with skill to do all manner of work of the engraver and the designer, and the tapestry maker, and blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine linen – – -.

Ex 36:8. Then all the gifted artisans among them who worked on the tabernacle, made ten curtains woven of fine linen, and of blue, purple and scarlet thread – – -.

Ex 36:35. And he made a veil of blue, purple and scarlet thread, and fine linen; it was worked with an artistic design of cherubim.

Ex 36:37. He also made a curtain for the tabernacle door, of blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine woven linen – – -.

Ex 38:18. The curtain for the gate of the court was woven of blue, purple and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen. The length was twenty cubits and the height along its width was five cubits, corresponding to the hangings on the door.

Ex 38:23. (A worker for the tabernacles materials). And with him was Oholiab the son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver and designer, a weaver of blue, purple and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.

Ex 39:1.2. (Making garments for the priesthood in the tabernacle). Of blue, purple and scarlet thread, they made garments of ministry, for ministering in the holy place, and made the holy garments for Aaron, as the Lord had commanded Moses. He made the ephod of gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread, and of fine woven linen.

Ex 39:8. And he made a breastplate, artistically woven like the workmanship of the ephod, of gold, blue purple, and scarlet thread, and of fine linen.

Ex 39:24. They made on the hem of the robe, pomegranates of blue, purple, and scarlet and of fine woven linen.

Ex 39:29. And a sash of fine woven linen with blue, purple and scarlet, made by a weaver as the Lord commanded.

Conclusion

Ex 25:1-8. Offerings from the Israelites for the sanctuary. Verse 3. They included gold, silver and bronze. Verse 4. Blue, purple and scarlet thread. Verse 8. And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. (The gold and silver, purple and scarlet thread, are related to the sanctuary or tabernacle).

The sanctuary or the tabernacle was used for the dwelling place of God, among the Israelite encampment in the wilderness wanderings. The sanctuary was also used for making atonement for the sins of Israel. How? If an Israelite sinned he must bring and animal e.g. a lamb to the sanctuary and he would lay his hands on the animal´s head and confess his sins over the animal. The lamb represented Jesus Christ. The sin was transferred over to the lamb´s blood by this enactment.

The lamb´s throat was then cut, and the blood ran into a little bowl where the priest afterwards took it and dipped his finger in the blood and wiped it on the horns of the altar of burnt offerings. The rest of the blood was poured out beneath the foot of the altar. With this daily practice, the sins of the Israelites were transferred from the sinner over to the sanctuary.

Once a year on the Day of Atonement, the High Priest entered the Most Holy Place and cleansed the sanctuary with the blood of a goat, hereby transferring the sins over to another live goat, which was lead out into the desert and left to wander until it died. After this practice, the sins of Israel were atoned. Lev 16:

How does the harlot or the world wide fallen church substitute the sanctuary and its practice in our day and age?

Rev 17:4. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold.

Rev 18:15.16. The merchants of these things who became rich by her (Babylon), will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, and saying, “Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold – – -.”

The merchants of Babylon are the men who do business with Babylon and sell her goods. Who are these merchants? They are priests, theologians, teachers, bishops, cardinals and popes. They sell the goods of Babylon´s false teachings, which do not agree with the Bible: Gods word.

These merchants substitute the teachings of Gods sanctuary in the Bible for their own man made teachings, giving the priests power to forgive sins and controlling the presence of God in the Eucharist or bread and wine in the communion. The Bible says only God can forgive sins. Mark 2:7. Furthermore, there is no place in the Bible that states that Gods presence is in the bread and wine in the communion. When Christ said to his disciples take eat this is my body, he was not saying that the bread was his actual body, otherwise he would be teaching cannibalism. Christ was just teaching that we should observe the communion as a symbol of his death and sacrifice on the cross. The communion includes the washing of the feet as an example of Jesus Christ´s humility here on earth. John 13:15. Jesus said, “For I have given you as an example, that you should do as I have done to you. Verse 17. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.”

Rev 17:4. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

What are the “abominations” of the harlot?

A short word study of the word abomination.

Mat 24:15.16. Therefore when you see “the abomination of desolation” spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains.

Luk 21:20.21. But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then you know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, – – -. (This happened at the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. when Titus a Roman general and his soldiers surrounded Jerusalem and destroyed it).

Deut 29:17. you saw their abominations and their idols, which were among them: wood and stone and silver and gold.

Lev 7:21. Moreover the person who touches any unclean thing, such as human uncleanness or unclean animal, or any abominable thing and who eats the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offering that belongs to the Lord, that person shall be cut off from his people.

1 Kings 11:5. For Solomon went after Ashtoroth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

1 Kings 11:7. Then Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, on the hill that is east of Jerusalem and for Molech the abomination of the people of Ammon.

(Chemosh was the chief god worshipped by the Moabites. He was the god of victory in warfare. Human sacrifices were offered to him 2 Kings 3:27. Molech was the name of the god to whom human sacrifices were offered. The Mosaic Law prohibited devoting ones children to Molech).

2 Kings 23:10. King Ahaz and King Manassah burned their children at the high places of Topeth in the Valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem “ 2 Chron 28:1. 2 Chron 33:6.)

2 Chron 15:8. And when Asa heard these words and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage and removed the abominable idols from all the land of Judah and Benjamin and from the cities he had taken in the mountains of Ephraim – – -.

Es 66:3. He who kills a bull is as if he slays a man – He who sacrifices a lamb, as if he breaks a dogs neck – He who offers a grain offering, as if he offers swine’s blood – He who burns incense, as if he blesses an idol. Just as they have chosen their own ways and their soul delights in their abominations.

Jerm 4:1. If you will return O Israel, says the Lord, return to Me; and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight. (This is referring to adultery with idols Jerm 3:8, and harlotry and adultery with stones and trees Jerm 3:9.)

Jerm 7:30.31. For the children of Judah have done evil in My sight, says the Lord. They have set their abominations in the house, which is called by My name to pollute it. And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into My heart.

Jerm 13:27. I have seen your adulteries and your lustful neighing, the lewdness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields.

Jerm 32:34.35. But they set their abominations in the house (temple) which is called by my name, to defile it. And they have built the high places of Baal which are ion the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and daughters to pass through the fire to Moloch, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination to cause Judah to sin.

Ezek 5:11. Therefore, as I live, says the Lord God, surely, because you have defiled My sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will also diminish you.

Ezek 8:10. So I went in and saw and there were every sort of creeping thing abominable beasts and all idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around the walls (of the temple in Jerusalem, verse 6).

Ezek 20:7 Then I said to them, each one of you, throw away the abominations which are before your eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt, I am the Lord your God.

Ezek 20:30-32. Therefore say to the house of Israel, thus says the Lord God: “Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations. For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.

Dan 9:27. But in the middle of the week he shall bring an end to sacrifice and offering – And on the wings of abominations shall be one who makes desolate. (Refers to the sacrifice of Christ bringing an end to all sacrifices and the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.)

Dan 12:11 And from the time that the daily sacrifice is taken and the abomination of desolation (is set) there shall be one thousand two hundred and ninety days. (1260 days is 1290 prophetic years from 508 to 1798 A.D. which was during the rule of the papacy in the Middle Ages).

Hos 9:10. I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness. I saw your father as the first fruits in the fig tree in its first season. But they went to Baal Peor. They separated themselves to that shame. They became an abomination like the thing they loved.

Nahum 3:6. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile and make you a spectacle. (This is a woe on Ninevah because of her sin).

Zech 9:7. I will take away the blood from his mouth and the abominations from between his teeth. But he who remains, even he shall be for our God, and shall be like a leader in Judah, and Ekron like a Jebusite.

In summary of the above texts the word abomination means idolatrous worship or any kind of worship that is opposite to worshipping God as outlined in the Bible. The abomination that makes desolate is the idolatrous worship, which makes ones faith desolate and has no meaning in the eyes of God.

So what are these abominations that takes the place of the sanctuary truth and cast it to the ground?

The following is a list of the Roman Catholic beliefs, which are opposite to that of the sanctuary truths found in the Bible.

1. The infallibility of the pope. One who is incapable of erring and one who is unfailing.

The pope is a human being. The Bible says in Rom 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” In addition, in the book “Catholic Power Vs. American Freedom” it states “the papal doctrine of infallibility was promulgated in 1870 by the first Vatican Council at the insistence of Pope Pius IX. However, it was not suddenly discovered, for, as Pius IX elaborated, it was a “tradition received from the beginning of the Christian faith.” This of course is not true, for there is nothing in the New Testament or the early churches to support it.[1]

2. Under the teachings of the apostolic succession, the pope has absolute authority and is the supreme ruler of the church.

The apostolic succession cannot be proven. The papacy says they have a list of credentials handed down from the apostle Peter right down to the first pope, however these credentials are false. The supreme ruler of the church according to the Bible is Christ and Christ only. Ephes 5:23.24.

3. The Eucharist or communion is the time when the bread turns into the body of Christ and the wine turns into the literal blood of Christ by some miraculous event.

This has never been proven. When Christ gave the ordinance of the Communion to his disciples in Math 26:26-28, he is referring to the bread and wine as symbols of his body and blood. When Jesus said “take eat this is my body,” the disciples did not literary eat his body, but they ate bread which was a symbol of his body.

4. The sale of indulgences. (Lyon 269). Indulgences guaranteed the crusader´s entry into heaven and reduced or abolished his time in purgatory. (Lyon 333). Under Pope Sixtus there was a need for greater amounts of money in the form of gifts and this led to the peddling of indulgences.

There is no text in the Bible referring to indulgences. It is a teaching thought up by the papacy to enlarge the coffers of the Church.

5. Purgatory is a place of spiritual purging of sins, when one has died and is on the road to heaven.

There is no scriptural reference for this teaching.

6. Salvation by works and belief in Christ.

One is only saved by faith in Jesus Christ and not by works. Ephes 2:8.9.

7. Forgiveness of sin can only be done by the pope, bishops and priests.

This is not scriptural. Only God can forgive sins. Luk 5:21. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9.

8. The papacy say that Gods word from the Bible is no rule of faith.

The Bible says 2 Tim 3:16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.

9. The papacy has changed the 10 commandments of God in their own Bible compared to the original Hebrew.
10. They have ruled out the second commandment saying, “you shall not make for yourself a graven image – – – and you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”
11. They do not specify what the Lord´s day is, like the Sabbath, which is the seventh day of the week.
12. They have divided the last commandment into two commandments which is, thou shalt not covet. To compare see Ex 20:2-17 and the Catechism of the Catholic Church at www.vatican.va/archive/ccc_css/archive/catechism
13. The papacy has changed the Sabbath day from Saturday the seventh day of the week to Sunday the first day of the week.

Peter Geiermann, The Convert´s Catechism of Catholic Doctrine, 1957, p.50. Copyright 1930 by B. Herder Book Co., St Louis. (Q=Question, A=Answer)[2]

1. Which is the Sabbath day?
2. Saturday is the Sabbath day.
3. Why do we observe Sunday instead of Saturday?
4. We observe Sunday instead of Saturday because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday.

The correct Sabbath is the seventh day of the week on a Saturday installed by God at creation   Gen 2:1-3.

11. Veneration of the saints.

The Bible says in the ten commandments Ex 20: 4

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them.” This includes the worshipping of saints and their images.

12 The immaculation of Mary the mother of Jesus Christ. Immaculation means that the virgin Mary was conceived free from the taint of original sin (in 1854 declared an article of faith of R.C. Church).

The Bible says in Rom 3:23 “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This includes the mother of Mary.

The question is how do these false teachings take away the truths of the heavenly sanctuary?

First of all, the Roman Catholic Church system of priests forgiving their members of their sins in a booth, indulgences, purgatory, is a substitute of the forgiving of sins by our heavenly Father in the heavenly sanctuary through the Lamb of God. Heb 8:1.2. “Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, which is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected and not man.” John 1:29 “The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold!  The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

So the only priest we have to come to, for the forgiveness of our sins (1 John 1:9) is Jesus Christ alone. The pope is not the supreme authority and High priest over all the church and churches in Christendom. Christ is our only High Priest and has supreme authority in the heavenly sanctuary and over all men on earth. Heb 4:14 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ So the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.” Heb 8:1.2. Heb 9:11. Ephes 5:23.24.

Furthermore, salvation in the heavenly sanctuary is not by works, but by faith alone on the merits of Christ the Lamb of God and Christ as our High Priest. John 1:29. Ephes 2:8.

In addition the Roman Catholic teaching of the Mass: where Christ is sacrificed each time one partakes of the mass and the bread turns into the actual body of Christ, and the wine changes into the actual blood of Christ; this is also a false teaching opposite to the sanctuary teaching in heaven. Heb 9:25 “not that He (Christ) should offer himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another,” Heb 9:28 “so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.”

As regarding the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath, these were written by Gods own finger on stone and placed in the ark in the Most Holy Place. Ex 31:18. Deut 10:1-5. There is no place in the Bible where it says that the Ten Commandments were done away with at the cross. They are still binding on all men and Christians because if they were done away with, all men would be allowed to steal, murder, and commit adultery etc. However, God does not allow this in his kingdom therefore the commandments are still binding in his heavenly sanctuary and are still binding on us today on earth. Rev 11:19. Rev 14:12. Rev 12:17

Much of what is said above does not only apply to the Roman Catholic Church but also to the following worldwide churches:

1. Church of the east: 0.6 million.
2. Restoration and Non-Trinitarianism: 42-48 million.
3. Anglicanism: 85 million.
4. Oriental Orthodoxy: 86 million.
5. Eastern Orthodoxy: 225-300 million.

Rev 17:4. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

What does the word “fornication” mean in the Bible?

A short word study on the word “fornication.”

In the Hebrew the word is taznuth. In the Greek the word is porneia and this is the Greek word were we get pornography from.

Ezek 16:15. (God to Jerusalem). But you trusted in your own beauty, played the harlot because of your fame, and poured out your fornication on everyone passing by who would have it. (Fornication in this text is referring to spiritual sexual intercourse with other gods but not with the God who is her spiritual husband).

Ezek 16:29. Moreover, you multiplied your acts of fornication as for as the land of the trader, Chaldea; and even then you were not satisfied.

2 Chron 21:11. (God to Libnah from Edom). Moreover, he made high places in the mountains of Judah, and caused the inhabitants of Jerusalem to commit fornication and led Judah astray.

Is 23:17. And it shall be, at the end of the 70 years, that the Lord will deal with Tyre. She will return to her hire, and commit fornication with all the kingdoms of the world on the face of the earth.

Ezek 16:26. You also committed fornication with the Egyptians, your own fleshly neighbors, and increased your acts of harlotry to provoke me to anger.

Math 5:32. But I say to you that whoever divorces his wife for any reason except sexual fornication, causes her to commit adultery – – -.

Math 15:19. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, and blasphemies. Verse 20. These things defile a man.

Math 19:9. And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife, except for sexual fornication and marries another commits adultery.

Joh 8:41 (Jesus to the Pharisees verse 13). You do the deeds of your father. Then they said to him (Jesus). “We were not born of fornication; we have one Father, God. (Fornication in this text is referring to a woman having sexual intercourse with a man who is not her husband).

Acts 15:20. (The Jerusalem council about Christian Gentiles and Jews). We write to them to abstain from things polluted with idols, from sexual fornication, from things strangled and from blood.

Rom 1:29. (Gods wrath on the unrighteous). Verse 28. God gave them over to a debased mind – – -. Verse.29. being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindness;

1 Cor 5:1. It is actually reported that there is sexual fornication among you, and such sexual fornication as is not even named among the Gentiles: that a man has his fathers wife!

1 Cor 6:13. Now the body is not for sexual immorality/fornication (porneia) but for the Lord – – -.

Verse 18. Flee sexual fornication. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual fornication sins against his own body. (Sexual intercourse with someone who is not you wife or husband).

1 Cor 7:2. Nevertheless, because of sexual fornication, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband.

2 Cor 12:21. I shall mourn for many who have sinned before and have not repented of the uncleanness, fornication and lewdness, which they have practiced.

Gal 5:19. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness.

Ephes 5:3. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not be named among you, as if fitting for saints.

Colos 3:5. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth, fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire and covetousness which is adultery.

1 Thess 4:3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from fornication.

Rev 2:20. (To the church Thyatira).Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce my servants to commit fornication and eat things sacrificed to idols. (Fornication is related to idol worship. Thyatira marks the period of church history during the Middle Ages when the papacy ruled the church which included idol worship of statues. Jezebel was a great worshipper of Baal and foreign gods). Verse 21. And I gave her time to repent of her fornication (worshipping other gods), but she did not repent.

Rev 2:14. (To the church in Pergamos). But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and commit sexual fornication. Num 25:1.2-8 (Fornication her is related to literal act of intercourse with Moabite women and the worship of idols).

Rev 9:21. (Sixth trumpet). They did not repent of their murders or their sorceries, or their sexual fornication, or their thefts.

Rev 14:8. And another angel followed saying, “Babylon is fallen, fallen, that great city, because she has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication. (Religious fornication e.g. worship of foreign gods and doctrines).

Rev 17:2. (Judgement of the harlot). With whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication. (Fornication is related to false teachings of the Bible).

Rev 17:4. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones, and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornications. (Fornications are related to false teachings from the Bible and false gods).

Rev 18:3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury. (Fornication is related to false Bible teachings and foreign gods).

Rev 19:2. For true and righteous are his judgments, because he has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and has avenged on her the blood of his servants shed by her. (Fornication is related to false Bible teachings and persecution of true believers in God).

1 Cor 5:9. I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexual fornicators. (Literal fornicators). Verse 10. Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexual fornicators of this world, or with covetousness of this world, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. Verse 11. But now, I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is a sexual fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner – not even to eat with such a person.

1 Cor 6:9. Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, no sodomites – – -, Verse 10, will inherit the kingdom of God.

Heb 12:16. lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

Conclusion

Fornication means every kind of unlawful sexual intercourse both literally or spiritually. Jerusalem with its neighbors (spiritually). Jerusalem with the nation Chaldea (spiritually). Jerusalem and Judah worshipping gods in high places and mountains (spiritually). Tyre with the kingdoms of the world (spiritually). Jerusalem with the Egyptians (spiritually). Divorce a wife except for fornication (literally). Fornication out of the heart (literally). Jesus born of fornication (literally). Sexual fornication discussed at the Jerusalem council (both literal and spiritual). God´s wrath on fornicators (literally). A man fornicating with his father´s wife (literally). The sin of fornication with someone outside the marriage bond (literally). Due to fornication let couples be married (literally). The sin of fornication (literally). Uncleanness fornication (literally). Fornication is adultery (literally). Abstain from fornication (spiritually). Fornication and idol worship (spiritually). Murders and sexual fornication (literal). Fallen is Babylon who made nations drink her fornication (spiritually). Kings of the earth committed fornication with the harlot (spiritually). Harlot with a golden cup of fornications (spiritually). Wine of her fornications (spiritual false teachings).

The fornication of worshipping foreign gods (spiritually). Do not eat with a brother who is a fornicator (literally). Fornicators will not inherit the kingdom of God (literally). Esau was a fornicator (spiritually).

Rev 17:4. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.

Explanation: The woman/harlot in Rev 17: is a symbol of all the fallen Christian churches in the world. Why have these churches fallen? Because she has arrayed herself with purple and scarlet, and adorned herself with gold. This means she has taken on the role of substituting the work of atonement in the heavenly sanctuary in their churches. For example, forgiving people of their sins is a prerogative that belongs to God and God alone. These churches substitute the teachings of Gods sanctuary in the Bible for their own man made teachings, giving the priests power to forgive sins and controlling the presence of God in the Eucharist or bread and wine in the communion. The Bible says only God can forgive sins. Mark 2:7.

The word abomination means idolatrous worship or any kind of worship that is opposite to worshipping God as outlined in the Bible. So the only priest we have to come to for the forgiveness of sins (1 John 1:9) is Christ in the heavenly sanctuary and not any institution on earth. That is Jesus Christ alone. The pope is not the supreme authority and High priest over all the church and churches in Christendom. Neither any archbishop nor priest has this authority.

Christ is our only High Priest and he has supreme authority in the heavenly sanctuary and over all men on earth. Heb 4:14 “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus Christ So the Son of God, let us hold fast to our confession.” Heb 8:1.2. Heb 9:11. Ephes 5:23.24.

[1] George La Piana and John Swomley, Catholic Power VS. American Freedom (New York: Prometheus Books, 2002), 211.

[2] Don F. Neufield and Julia Neuffer, Ed., Seventh-day Adventist Bible Students´Source Book, Vol. 9 (Washington D.C.: Review & Herald Pub., 1962), 886.