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Description: This essay The Roman Catholic Church & Protestant Interpretations of Bible Prophecy challenges the popular belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the “Babylon the Great” mentioned in the Book of Revelation. The author reasons that this idea started during the Protestant Reformation when the Catholic Church persecuted reformers, but that it misinterprets Revelation by ignoring its historical Jewish context in the 1st century AD.
The essay provides evidence that Revelation’s symbolism, like the woman fleeing to the wilderness and the sea beast, actually refers to events in the Jewish-Roman War of 66-73 AD, and does not refer to the Papacy and its bloody Counter-Reformation efforts. He says imposing an anti-Catholic meaning on Bible prophecy, though plausible, obscures Revelation’s original message to early Christians about Jesus’ imminent return to judge Jerusalem.
The essay concludes that while the Catholic Church has theological problems, it is not the focus of biblical “end times” prophecy at all and that the Book of Revelation is best understood in light of its 1st and 2nd century Jewish background, not as a condemnation of Catholicism or a prediction of still-future events. The essay aims to promote a more historically grounded and exegetically sound interpretation of Revelation and biblical prophecy in general.