CHAPTER XIII
THE GREAT RED DRAGON
The Book of Revelation has never been understood by the Christian Church. Protestants understand very well that the reference to the Last Judgment upon the Great Harlot means a judgment upon the Roman Catholic hierarchy. But they do not know that their generally accepted belief of Faith Alone, which has been described in these pages as to its evils, is the Great Dragon. It is not to be wondered at that the Book of Revelation has been to them largely a sealed book, except as to the fate of the Roman Church in its final end. Of course, it is a sealed book to the Roman Church whose adherents are not encouraged to read it.
The most fantastic interpretations have been made of the book by Protestants whose eyes are closed as to its spiritual content. It never occurs to them that the Protestant Church so far as this central belief of Faith Alone is concerned should also be condemned as completely as the Roman Church. The book pictures the end of the First Christian Age brought to its end by the evils and falsities of the two leading branches of the nominal Christian Church.
It must he understood that both the Roman and Protestant churches are condemned in the Last Judgment described in Revelation because of their evil teacings and the conduct of their leaders in confirming those evil teachings. This does nor mean that there are not vast multitudes of sincere people in both churches who have realized the Christian life. The judgment is upon religious systems which have falsified the Christian religion and destroyed its effectiveness. Whatever may be said of the Roman Church as to its falsities and evils, what could be worse than the teaching that religion is not a matter of life, but of belief without the need, and even without the possibility, of co-operating with the Lord in living well? This is the doctrine of Faith Alone.
In this New Age the nature of the Last Judgment has been re-
