(AN: Name of the chapter, of course, comes from the song by Avenged Sevenfold, which I was listening to while writing up this chapter. I don't own that either, but its still good. Now enjoy!)

The Beast and the Harlot

"Come with me," Sherael spoke now to John directly. He opened his eyes and saw Sherael, his guide, standing next to him once again, beckoning him to follow her.

"I'm an old man," he said.

"You needn't worry about your body," she replied. "The Spirit shall carry you, even as it carried Philip. Take my hand and I will show you what shall befall the Mother of Harlots."

In an instant, he found himself in a great wilderness. As his vision adjusted, what he saw astonished and disgusted him. There sat a seven-headed beast within a great sea, with ten horns upon its heads, and blasphemous, filthy names written across its scaly body. Upon the back of the beast, whose scales were red as blood, there sat a woman. By her gaudy, golden jewelry and her scant clothing of bedazzling colors, John took her for a whore. She swayed upon her saddle on the Beast's back, studded with so many stones it made the Emperor's throne seem like a simple carpenter's stool, and drank periodically from a golden cup in her hand (though it was amazing how she could hold it up, her arm covered with so many bands and her fingers with so many jewels).

Even as John was readying to look away, the whore took a drink from her cup, then leered at the old man with a mocking grin. He almost wept as he saw what was stained upon her teeth and dripping from her lips after she took away the cup: blood.

"What is this?" he asked in fear.

"Why are you so surprised?" Sherael queried. "Look on her forehead."

Looking once more, as the bedecked whore took another drink, John saw mysterious writing etched into her forehead which he had not seen before.

Babylon the Great, Mother of Harlots and the Abominations of the Earth.

"What does this mean?" John asked again.

"This is Babylon the Great," Sherael began. "The great city which rules over the kings of the earth. The sea of waters are all kingdoms and tongues and nations of the earth. The beast was, but is no more, but shall arise again to go to its destruction: and all they whose names are not written in the Book of Life shall wonder after the beast, when it is risen again. The seven heads are the seven mountains upon which the great city sits. They also are seven kings: five are fallen, one rules, one must rule for a space, and the last is the beast that shall go to its destruction. The ten horns are ten kings: they have no power yet, but shall be given power with the Beast for one hour. They are of the mind to give the power granted to them by the Beast in aid to the Beast and shall make war on the people of God.

"Fear not, John, for the Lamb is LORD of lords, and the King of kings shall overcome them at the last: He and all those who are called by Him. But, at the last, the ten horns shall turn against the whore and shall devour her in the self-same hour. For even they fulfill the will of God."

Suddenly, John heard the voice of the Second Angel: "Babylon the Great is fallen!" But then, another voice spoke, still and small.

"Come out of Babylon, My people," the loving warning of the King said. "That you will not partake of her evil or be harmed by her plagues."

Then John saw the ten horns rise up and destroy the whore. But the oceans, merchants and kings of the earth, mourned her lost. All mourned for Babylon the Great save for those who heeded the call to leave Babylon.

"Behold, John," Sherael said. "Babylon is fallen, and great and terrible was her fall. No more shall the voice of the Bride-groom or the Bride be heard in her streets, for in them was found the blood of the prophets and the saints, even those on which the whore drank till she was drunk." To John's amazement, he saw now upon the angel's face a smile.

"Why do you smile?"

"Come with me," she said. "The best is yet to come. You shall see the triumph of the Lamb, the coming of the King of Heaven, even as He promised you."

(AN: Short, but to the point. Pretty self-explanatory, this one. I kept that last bit from the length eulogy for Babylon because it made sense with the belief that the Three Angels' Message closes the time of Probation and signals the End. After all, if the Bride-Groom is Christ, and His voice is no longer heard in Babylon's streets after the "Come out!" is given, then there is nothing else to stop the Seven Last Plagues from falling.)

(Yes, I have been well-trained in this and the Prophecies of Daniel. I try not to boast, but if I could, it would be of that.)