Revelation Chapter 17
Babylon, the Prostitute on the Beast
17 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. 2 With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
3 Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery:
babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.
6 I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. The False Prophet opens up his wardrobe closet and shows off extremely opulent attire. He will be dressed to the ‘fives’ at the expense of the world’s poor. His opulent-drenched luggage is packed for his trip ‘South.’ The rise of the False Prophet, Part 7.
Pulpit & Pen, March 2, 2018
Vatican Joins Vogue and Versace in Papal Fashion Show.
John the Revelator received prophecies from Jesus about what has traditionally been interpreted as the Roman Catholic Church. Part of that prophecy, which speaks of the opulent, prosperity-dripping extravagance of a church that made its wealth by taking advantage of the poor and selling purported salvation for the trappings of modern fashion. How ironic, then, that the Vatican is teaming up with Vogue Magazine and the Versace fashion line to showcase the influence of the papacy on gaudy, riches-doused clothing lines for immodest men and women.
An exhibition on Vatican wealth and style will begin on May 10 and is called Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination. The website says: The Costume Institute’s spring 2018 exhibition—at The Met Fifth Avenue and The Met Cloisters—will feature a dialogue between fashion and medieval art from The Met collection to examine fashion’s ongoing engagement with the devotional practices and traditions of Catholicism. Serving as the cornerstone of the exhibition, papal robes and accessories from the Sistine Chapel sacristy, many of which have never been seen outside The Vatican, will be on view in the Anna Wintour Costume Center. Fashions from the early 20th century to the present will be shown in the Byzantine and medieval galleries, part of the Robert Lehman Wing, and at The Met Cloisters. The event is sponsored by Versace, Vogue, and Conde’ Naste (a syndicate that sells Glamour Magazine, GQ, Vanity Fair, Allure, and Epicurious Magazines). The Vatican is loaning some of their most extravagant clothing items to the fashion icons to display the church’s wealth and their influence on fashion.