Ellen Gould White über: "The mingling of the church with the wine of the harlot"

In Adventist theology, the "wine of the harlot" refers to the false teachings and spiritual apostasy of Babylon (apostate religions) with which she intoxicates the nations. The "mingling of the church" with it occurs when churches that were once pure adopt worldly principles, replace the Word of God with human traditions (e.g., substituting the Sabbath with Sunday), and enter into an unlawful alliance with the world—spiritual adultery. The second angel's message (Rev 14:8) warns against this condition and calls God's people to come out of Babylon.

Babylon Falls Because of the Wine of Her Fornication

»In the Revelation the first angel is followed by a second proclaiming: "Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." The term Babylon is derived from Babel, and signifies confusion. It is employed in Scripture to designate the various forms of false or apostate religion. In Revelation 17 Babylon is represented as a woman—a figure which is used in the Bible as the symbol of a church, a virtuous woman representing a pure church, a vile woman an apostate church.«

1 - Ellen Gould White, The Great Controversy (1888 ed.) (GC88 380.3)

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The Wine of Fornication: Sabbath Change and Worldly Alliances

»God condemns Babylon, "because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication." [...] The man of sin, who exalts himself above God, sitting in the temple of God and showing himself that he is God, thought to change times and laws. This power, to prove that it was not only equal to God but above God, changed the rest day, placing the first day of the week where the seventh day should be. And the Protestant world has taken this child of the papacy, to cradle and nurse it as something holy. In the Word of God this is called her fornication.«

2 - Ellen Gould White, Last Day Events (LDE 123.1)

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The Church as Adulteress and Babylon's Daughters

»The unfaithfulness of the church to Christ in permitting her confidence and affection to be turned from Him, and allowing the love of worldly things to occupy the soul, is likened to the violation of the marriage vow. [...] The woman Babylon is described as "arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. [...] And upon her forehead was a name: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS." [...] By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world. The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon, must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt.«

3 - Ellen Gould White, The Great Controversy (1888 ed.) (GC88 382.2)

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