If we keep the symbolism as the bible has it, a woman represents a church and more specifically a harlot represents an apostate church. A beast represents a world power. So the woman riding on the beast means that the apostate church would have control over the political powers that run the world which is similar to the dark ages.
In Christianity, the congregation (church) is called the "Ekklesia". We are the elect of God. In Islam, it is called the "Ummah", and it is the
Ummah that is standing against the
Ekklesia.
It has become apparent to me that although the enemy will try to destroy what God has created, he cannot. All he can do is create his own
corrupted version of the elect (Isaiah 14:12-15)
to wage war against God’s elect in an effort
to replace God’s elect:
* Yahweh has the Ekklesia.
* Satan has the Ummah.
* Yahweh’s Ekklesia is “as a bride adorned for her husband” and filled with “the glory of God”.
* Satan’s Ummah is a harlot “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls” filled with abominations.
* Yahweh has given the Ekklesia His Word, the Bible.
* Satan has given the Ummah its corruption, the Qur’an.
* Yahweh’s Ekklesia is the multitude of the Lamb, whom they follow.
* Satan’s Ummah is the multitude of a man (the “prophet Muhammed”
, whom they follow.
* Yahweh’s Ekklesia comes out of Great Tribulation.
* Satan’s Ummah is responsible for it.
* Yahweh’s Ekklesia receives the seal of God upon their foreheads and are redeemed.
* Satan’s Ummah receives the Mark of the Beast upon their foreheads and are condemned.
* Yahweh’s Ekklesia will be lead to springs of living waters.
* Satan’s Ummah will drink of the wine of the wrath of God.
Let's consider the logical implications of what it means if the "harlot" is anything other than the "Ummah" of Islam. When Satan is already setting up the Muslim world to accept the Antichrist with arms wide open, and judging from what we read in the prophetic texts and what we are now seeing take place on a daily basis, does it not stand to reason that the empire of the Beast is already here? We see it on the news every day, read it in the papers, hear about it on the radio, etc. If it is implausible that Islam is the system of Antichrist, then we will need to believe that:
* Yet a different nearly two billion (or more) people will also be specifically Antichrist of an as yet unknown non-Middle Eastern religion.
* Yet a different nearly two billion people will also follow a different, as yet unknown, non-Middle Eastern false prophet.
* Yet a different religion will also “wear out the saints” by murdering Jews and Christians (Dan 7:25) – and by beheading.
* Yet a different religion will also change the times – by creating its own calendar (Daniel 7:25) and/or trying to rewrite history.
* Yet a different religion will also attempt to change laws, ignoring the fact that Islamists are right now attempting to impose Sharia law anywhere and everywhere that Muslims live, in the place of legitimate laws of sovereign nations, throughout the world (Daniel 7:25).
* Yet a different religion will also build yet another abomination on the Temple Mount that is specifically Antichrist, which contain inscriptions inside and out that read “Far be it from God’s glory that he should have a Son”.
* Yet a different religion will establish in a few years what took Islam nearly 1400 years to establish.
Is it a plausible proposition to believe that a quarter of the earth's population -- Muslims who are enslaved in the Antichrist religion of Islam -- will all convert to a different as yet unknown non-Middle Eastern Antichrist religion, operated by some as yet unknown charismatic and well-loved "behead-all-Christians" non-Middle Eastern Antichrist leader, and this in a period that is, for all intents and purposes, virtually overnight?