Revelation 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.
3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
"Horns, on the other hand, are the symbol of might, strength, and power. The beast carrying the harlot has seven heads of authority and ten horns of power! Seven and ten are both complete numbers. Seven is a sacred number in this respect, that it generally is used of the perfection of spiritual realities and the completeness of God’s purposes and kingdom. It denotes fullness in the things of God. In our text, however, it is used with a negative application, signifying the fullness of that authority which purports to be, claims to be, pretends to be the authority of Christ, but is in reality the fullness of the carnal mind usurping the place of Christ’s authority in the church!"
Much more in the link:
"The same crowd is all about us today. They look for an outward warfare between the kings and the Lamb, with an outward victory. They want deliverance from the government, from persecution, from socialism, from the antichrist, from terrorism, from the Jews, from the Moslems, from the Catholics, from the banking system, from the abortionists, from liberal politicians, and from all kinds of political conspiracies that are steadily pushing our nation and the world down into the dark abyss and nightmare of godlessness and tyranny. But I do not hesitate to tell you that none of these are the problem! The most powerful kings that rule in the world today are those that rule inwardly — and it is only as the kingdom of God takes its rightful place in our lives, that these kings are subdued and deposed. In the soul-realm we have the dominant king of self-will which has usurped control and ridden roughshod over the ways of God. There are religious kings of static creeds, false doctrines, traditions, commandments of men, carnal-minded methods, and sectarianism. There are kings of passion and desire, bringing the dominion of the flesh. There are kings of emotion which usurp unholy sway over people of God. There are religious kings of static creeds, false doctrines, traditions, commandments of men, carnal-minded methods, and sectarianism. There are kings of passion and desire, bringing the dominion of the flesh. There are kings of emotion which usurp unholy sway over people of God. There are kings of ruling thoughts and imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. There are kings of doubt and fear that destroy faith and rob men of victory. But, praise God! There is a Lamb upon the throne in the heavens of the Spirit of the Lord and He is mighty within — King of kings, Lord of lords — and He arises within us in the power of righteous conquest and dominion. This means victory! The old Roman conquerors, when celebrating a brilliant conquest, rode down the avenues of the Imperial City upon a snow-white steed, and received the plaudits of the people. And so Jesus Christ, in the spirit and by the spirit, astride a snow-white charger of righteousness and power rides in swiftness and strength into our earth, into our inner land. I have heard the hoofs of His horse thundering through the corridors of my soul as He has marched into my land conquering and to conquer, bringing all into submission to Him. The harlot’s beast with his ten horns of fleshly power, might, and strength are no match for the King of kings and the Lord of lords!"
There are religious kings of static creeds, false doctrines, traditions, commandments of men, carnal-minded methods, and sectarianism. There are kings of passion and desire, bringing the dominion of the flesh. There are kings of emotion which usurp unholy sway over people of God.
I would add "psychotic private interpretations" to that list.
"From the mists of the long ago Eden we read, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” (Gen. 3:1). The word “serpent” in our language comes from the Latin serpo meaning “to creep,” but the Hebrew term has no relation to the form or motion of any external attribute of a serpent. The word used here for serpent is the Hebrew word nachash which is a primitive root meaning “to hiss or whisper.” It, furthermore, means “to search or scrutinize closely, to find out by experiment, to practice divination, augury, incantation, or enchantment.” According to Webster incantation means “the chanting of special words or a formula in magic spells or rites.” Incantation may speak in addition to hypnotism. The serpent, then, is a HISSER, a WHISPERER, a DIVINER, an EXPERIMENTOR, an ENCHANTER, a MAGICIAN, and a HYPNOTIST! And all this activity takes place from within! Now we understand how it was so easy for mother Eve to be deceived! The “inner voice,” the “carnal reasonings,” the “soulical suggestions” of the natural mind, yea, the religious mind, sounded so plausible, so logical, so spiritual, so divine — it just had to be the word of God and the way of the Lord! It had to be the very highest truth! As she listened to this voice Eve was enchanted, hypnotized, mesmerized — by this high revelation!"
"Yet — purple is a mixed color — it is compounded of blue and red. And what a revelation that is! In its spiritual significance it represents the mixture or confusion of the heavenly blue with the earthly red of Edom. And at this time all the church systems of man unite the earthly and the heavenly, joining flesh with spirit, mingling the anointing with carnal efforts and methods, mixing truth with error. False doctrine is for the most part a corruption of divine truth — error overlaid with a thin layer of truth, like base metal gilded. That very mixture yields a royal purple which is so awe-inspiring, powerful, and captivating to the souls of men! Gold, precious stones, and pearls are emblematic of spiritual truths and of the wondrous revelations of the riches in Christ Jesus. And who can deny that all the believers in all the churches have truly received from the Lord gifts of grace, truth, and salvation! Oh, yes, God Himself has enriched them with multiplied blessings according to their faith. The problem is, however, that even these are now employed by this woman, along with her other attire of the harlot, to attract people to her lewdness, thus prostituting even those beautiful truths and graces she has received and proclaims!"