the Roman Empire as a severe threat to the early church—a historicist view. But such a look back into church history is woefully out of place by now in Revelation. These revelations come at the very end of the present order. It seems inappropriate for the great prostitute to be judged before her 2,000-year history of sins against the church! Thomas (II:283) says that this prostitute “represents all false religion of all time, including those who apostatize from the revealed religion of Christianity.”