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Chapter 17: Interpreting Revelation Symbols

 

17.1Then a certain of the seven Angels bearing the seven pitchers came back and spoke with me, inviting:
Then Baha’u’llah, the first of the seven Middle East Messengers bearing sevenfold influence, appears and speaks with me, inviting:
Come! I shall show you the judgment of the huge whore who sits on many waters, 2with whom the rulers of the world have been fornicating, and with whom the people living on the earth have gotten drunk from the wine of her fornicating.
Come! I shall show you the justice being meted out to the monstrous seductive greed that drives many peoples, populations, nations, and language-groups, with which the leaders of humanity have been exploiting, and by which the citizens of the planet have been driven crazy from the grip of its exploitation.
3At this, he soared me in spirit into a desert. I saw a woman mounted on a scarlet beast blanketed by blasphemous titles, possessing seven heads and ten horns.
At this, he soars my soul over a spiritually barren civilization. I see greed borne by pompous Militarism sporting blasphemous titles, possessing seven domains and ten ruler-names.
4The woman was decked in purple and scarlet, gilded with gold, precious gemstone, and pearls, holding in her hand a gold cup full of vile things and from the foulness of her fornicating, 5with a title written on her forehead as a riddle:
Greed flashes religiosity and pomp, flaunts wealth, might, and cunning, claiming with its power a vainglorious fate full of vile deeds and with corruption from its exploitation, with a slogan endorsing it as flagrantly as a brothel light gleaming its meaning:
COLOSSAL CONFUSION: THE MOTHER OF THE WHORES AND THE VILE THINGS OF THE WORLD
MONSTROUS MALIGNANT MATERIALISM: THE BREEDER OF SEDUCTIVE GREED AND THE VILE ACTS OF HUMANITY
6Next, I saw the woman drunk from the blood of the faithful and from the blood of the Witnesses of Jesus.
Next, I hear greed crazed from the blood shed by the faithful and from the blood shed by the three Delegates of Jesus.
Seeing her, I grew bewildered beyond belief. 7At this, the Angel told me:
Hearing it, I grew bewildered beyond belief. At this, Baha’u’llah tells me:
Why be bewildered? I myself will explain to you the riddle of this woman and of the beast bearing her, possessing the seven heads and the ten horns.
Why be bewildered, John? I Baha’u’llah will tell you the meaning of this greed and of the Militarism bearing it, possessing the seven domains and the ten ruler-names.
8This beast that you have seen did exist. Yet it does not exist. But it is due to rise from the bottomless pit and heads for destruction.
Before AD 95, this brutal Militarism that you are seeing did exist in ancient Empires. Yet in AD 95 it did not exist. But in AD 666 it rose as the Umayyad Caliphate in its endless error and is doomed to destruction.
The people living on the earth whose names were not to be listedon the Book of Life from founding a world-order will become fervent at seeing this beast (for it did exist, yet does not exist, but shall be present)
Middle Easterners known for their lack of moral decency from founding Muslim Militarism’s world-order have gone mad from learning this brutal Militarism (for it had existed, yet did not exist, but came to be)
—9This indeed the mind with wisdom!—
—This indeed a wise mind!—
The seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sits over them. Over them are seven rulers. 10Five have fallen. One exists. The other has not yet come. And when it does come, it must stay small.
The seven domains were seven ancient Empires where greed was ruling over them. Over them were also seven regimes. Before AD 95, Egypt, Assyria, Media, Persia, and Greece had fallen. In AD 95, Rome was ruling. Byzantium had not yet appeared. And when in AD 330 it did appear, it had to shrink from the advance of Muslim Empires.
11As for this beast that did exist, yet does not exist, this same one is both an eighth and also one of the seven. It too heads for destruction.
As for this brutal Militarism that did exist as ancient Empires before AD 95, yet did not exist in AD 95, this same Militarism was both the eighth Ottoman Empire and also the seventh Byzantine Empire. It too is doomed to destruction.
12The ten horns that you have seen are ten rulers, those who have not yet attained royal power. Instead, they shall gain authority as rulers with the beast for a single hour.
The ten names that you hear are ten Qajar Shahs, those who had not gained sovereignty by AD 95. Instead, they have risen to power with Muslim Militarism in these 1800s.
13These rulers have a single purpose. They are submitting their power and authority to the beast.14These rulers shall fight the Ram. But the Ram shall defeat them, for he is a Lord of lords and a King of kings, while those with him are called, chosen, and trustworthy.
These Shahs have pursued a single goal. They have devoted their power and authority to brutality. These Shahs have been fighting the Bab. But the Bab has defeated them, for he is a Lord of lords and a Ruler of rulers, while the disciples with him are called, select, and true.
15Continuing, he tells me:
Continuing, he tells me:
The waters that you have seen where the whore sits are peoples, populations, nations, and language-groups.
The peoples, populations, nations, and language-groups that you see seductive greed ruling are the seven billion folk in your own world of the early 2000s.
16As for the ten horns that you have seen, and the beast, these same ones shall detest the whore. They shall ravage and strip her naked, consume her flesh, and burn her up in a blaze.
As for the ten terrorist organizations and rogue regimes that you see, with Muslim Militarism, these same forces detest seductive greed. They are desolating and stripping it bare, consuming its wealth, and destroying it ferociously.
17For God has put into their hearts to carry out this will of His, to carry out a single intent, and to submit their royal power to the beast until these Words of God shall be fulfilled.
For Allah has fueled their fanaticism to carry out this plan of His, to shoot for a single goal, and to devote their rule to brutality until we Speakers for God, the Bab and I, are heard.
18Moreover, this woman that you have seen is the colossal city that retains rule over the rulers of the earth.
Moreover, this greed that you see, John, is the monstrous economic system that lords it over the lords of the earth.
Comments:
17.1: Greed: Consider how the thin eyelid prevents the eye from seeing the world and what is contained Map of nine Militaristic Middle East Empires (seven ancient and two modern Muslim)therein. Then think of the result when the curtain of greed covers the sight of the heart.…The darkness of greed and envy obscures the light of the soul, as the cloud prevents the penetration of the sun’s rays.[1]
17.1 & 15: The internal interpretation peoples, populations, nations, and language-groups is imported from v. 17.15.
17.5: Openly, on the forehead, Faith is displaced by Malignant Materialism.
17.10: In AD 330 Constantine launched the Byzantine Empire, From its original greatest extent, it was militarily forced to shrink steadily from the advance of Islam, and finally to lose Constantinople to the Ottomans in 1453 and to become history by 1461.
17.9: Bishop Andreas (AD 563–614) was the first to interpret the seven heads and mountains as nefarious Empires notorious for their militarism and materialism. he identified them as Assyria, Media, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, and Byzantium, and the eighth Empire as the kingdom of the Antichrist.[2]
17.8: The beast that you have seen did exist, yet it does not exist, but is due to rise interprets per the following
17.12: The beast’s first set of ten horns depicts the dynasty of Persia’s ten brutal Qajar Shahs: Fath-Ali Khan, Aqa-Muhammad, Sadiq, Fath-Ali, Adil, Muhammad, Nisirid-Din, Muzaffarud-Din, Muhammad-Ali, and Ahmad.[3]
17.14, also 19.16: Lord of lords and King of kings is a title for the Bab here.
17.16: The beast’s second set of ten horns depicts modern Muslim Militarism’s top ten terrorist organizations and rogue regimes, which history will identify in due course
 
Timeline of Middle East Empires

[1] Baha’u’llah, Scriptures, 50.132
[2] Aune, 52A.lxiii
[3] Nabil, Dawnbreakers, The Qajar Dynasty lx