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the "harlot of babylon" is false religion
While the WTBTS DOES teach that, dear P (peace, luv!)... that it false (and certainly not what I have come to know is true). In order for a religion to be a harlot in the eyes of the MOST HOLY One of Israel, it had to belong to/be wed/betrothed/promised in wedlock to some "husband" at some point (remember, harlots are "adulteresses" and thus MARRIED women... not concubines or unwed prostitutes). For a religion to be part of the Harlot, Babylon the Great, then, it MUST have some "marital" relationship with Him. Many false religions, however, don't.
It is ONLY those religions that profess to be IN UNION WITH (and thus promised to be wed TO) Him... or His Son. Hence, Israel was styled a harlot. Two, actually: Oholah (as to the 10-tribe kingdom of Israel) and Oholibah (as to the 2-tribe kingdom of Judah/Benjamin).
THIS Harlot, however, Babylon the Great... is one that considers herself a "queen." Hence, HER husband would have to be a "king." That king, dear one, is Christ, the HOLY ONE of Israel, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischaJah). And this "harlot" would be those who CLAIM to be promised to him, in union with him... so as to be (part of) his BRIDE... but who have committed fornication and adultery AGAINST that union.
The ONLY people who make up this, then, are those who WERE in union with him by means of holy spirit... but have profaned that union by fornicating "with the kings of the earth." Who, rather than remaining TRUE to their "husbandly-owner," Christ... took up illicit relations with other "men."
And from these illicit unions... come "daughters"... who themselves turn out to be harlots... like their "mother"... those who gave "birth" to them. And so who are these?
They are those "anointed" individuals who turn AWAY from Christ... and TO other "men"... including governments... so as to be filthily JOINED to these latter... commit fornication/adultery with them... and thus produce offspring: the "women" with whom they "defile" themselves.
They are the Great Harlot, Babylon the Great... she who is the "Mother of the Harlots"... and her "daughters"... and constitute the FIRST anointed "christians"... who turned AWAY from Christ, and TOWARD "wicked men"... her daughters notice, plural) being the all of the RELIGIONS... that have come OUT of her as a RESULT of her fornication/adultery.
She is likened to a woman (as are her daughters)... as was and is ALL in a (marital/promissory) connection with God/Christ: the spirit realm (Sarah/Jerusalem Above/the Woman of Genesis 3 and Revelation 12)... the physical realm (Hagar/Earth/the mother of Adham/Eve)... Israel, the City of Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, and the NEW Jerusalem. They are ALL "women"... because of the "relationship" they have with JAH... directly and/or through Christ.
SO... Babylon the Great consists ONLY of Israel prior to the first century, then those that professed a union with Christ and received an anointing as a result... and her daughters, those faiths/beliefs/false teachings/religions... that have sprang forth from these.
TODAY, then, she repesents Judaism (Oholah) and "christianity" (Oholibah)... and ALL of the religions ("daughters") that have come forth from these two harlots, combined. Every sect, every cult, every wave of teaching.
The TRUE Body of Christ, however, does not engage in such fornication and adultery. They have been WASHED in the blood of the Lamb and, now CLEAN... do NOT "defile" themselves with (such) "women." They have been RETURNED... to their VIRGIN state... so that when their "husband" (Christ, the Bridegroom) finally arrives, they are found clean... and without blemish.
Babylon the Great does not represent ALL false religions, dear one. "She" only represents those who CLAIM to belong to the MOST HOLY One of Israel (JaHVeH)... and/or to His Son, the HOLY One of Israel and Holy Spirit, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One OF JAH(veh).
I hope this helps and, again, peace to you!
YSSFS of Christ,
Shellama