City Of Evil (2005) "Beast And The Harlot"

[reprinted as written by Avenged Sevenfold]
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This shining city built of gold, a far cry from innocence
There's more than meets the eye round here look to the waters of the deep.
A city of evil
There sat a seven-headed beast, ten horns raised from his head
Symbolic woman sits on his thrown but hatred strips her and leaves her naked.
The Beast and the Harlot.

She's a dwelling place for demons, she's a cage for every unclean spirit every filthy bird
and makes us drink the poisoned wine to fornicating with our kings.
Fallen now is Babylon the Great.

The city dressed in jewels and gold, fine linen, Myrrh and pearls
Her plagues will come all at once as her mourners watch her burn.
Destroyed in an hour
Merchants and captains of the world, sailors navigators too
Will weep and mourn this loss with her sins piled to the sky
The Beast and the Harlot.

The day has come for all us sinners, if your not a servant you'll be struck to the ground.
Flee the burning, greedy city looking back on her to see there's nothin' around.
I don't believe in fairytales and no one wants to go to Hell, but we made the wrong decision
and it's easy to see. Now if you wanna serve above or be a king below with us your
welcome to the city where your future is set forever

The poet turns once again to the Bible for his inspiration, this time to what's called the "new testament," the stories that arose around the Rescuer, Jesus.

Jesus' youngest disciple, John, son of Zebedee, outlived all the other disciples by a wide margin. Late in his life John ended up being exiled to the Island of Patmos. Sort of like an ancient Alcatraz, Patmos was a prison, and John was put into solitary confinement.

One Sunday morning (the earliest Christians called it "the Lord's Day," referring to the day when Jesus rose from the dead), John was caught up in a vision concerning what would happen in the last days of humankind's history. With trembling hands he did the best he could to record what he experienced those two thousand years ago, and ever since people have been trying to figure it all out. Chances are we won't totally understand John's vision, his "revelation," until it all falls out in real life.

This poem sings about what John described in Revelation 13 and Revelation 17, excerpts below,

And the Dragon stood on the shore of the sea. I saw a Beast rising from the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads—on each horn a crown, and each head inscribed with a blasphemous name. The Beast I saw looked like a leopard with bear paws and a lion's mouth. The Dragon turned over its power to it, its throne and great authority.

One of the Beast's heads looked as if it had been struck a deathblow, and then healed. The whole earth was agog, gaping at the Beast. They worshiped the Dragon who gave the Beast authority, and they worshiped the Beast, exclaiming, "There's never been anything like the Beast! No one would dare go to war with the Beast!"

The Beast had a loud mouth, boastful and blasphemous. It could do anything it wanted for forty-two months. It yelled blasphemies against God, blasphemed his Name, blasphemed his Church, especially those already dwelling with God in Heaven. It was permitted to make war on God's holy people and conquer them. It held absolute sway over all tribes and peoples, tongues and races. Everyone on earth whose name was not written from the world's foundation in the slaughtered Lamb's Book of Life will worship the Beast.

Are you listening to this? They've made their bed; now they must lie in it. Anyone marked for prison goes straight to prison; anyone pulling a sword goes down by the sword. Meanwhile, God's holy people passionately and faithfully stand their ground...

...One of the Seven Angels who carried the seven bowls came and invited me, "Come, I'll show you the judgment of the great Whore who sits enthroned over many waters, the Whore with whom the kings of the earth have gone whoring, show you the judgment on earth dwellers drunk on her whorish lust."

In the Spirit he carried me out in the desert. I saw a woman mounted on a Scarlet Beast. Stuffed with blasphemies, the Beast had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, festooned with gold and gems and pearls. She held a gold chalice in her hand, brimming with defiling obscenities, her foul fornications. A riddle-name was branded on her forehead: great babylon, mother of whores and abominations of the earth. I could see that the woman was drunk, drunk on the blood of God's holy people, drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

Astonished, I rubbed my eyes. I shook my head in wonder. The Angel said, "Does this surprise you? Let me tell you the riddle of the woman and the Beast she rides, the Beast with seven heads and ten horns. The Beast you saw once was, is no longer, and is about to ascend from the Abyss and head straight for Hell. Earth dwellers whose names weren't written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world will be dazzled when they see the Beast that once was, is no longer, and is to come.

"But don't drop your guard. Use your head. The seven heads are seven hills; they are where the woman sits. They are also seven kings: five dead, one living, the other not yet here—and when he does come his time will be brief. The Beast that once was and is no longer is both an eighth and one of the seven—and headed for Hell.

"The ten horns you saw are ten kings, but they're not yet in power. They will come to power with the Scarlet Beast, but won't last long—a very brief reign. These kings will agree to turn over their power and authority to the Beast. They will go to war against the Lamb but the Lamb will defeat them, proof that he is Lord over all lords, King over all kings, and those with him will be the called, chosen, and faithful."

The Angel continued, "The waters you saw on which the Whore was enthroned are peoples and crowds, nations and languages. And the ten horns you saw, together with the Beast, will turn on the Whore—they'll hate her, violate her, strip her naked, rip her apart with their teeth, then set fire to her. It was God who put the idea in their heads to turn over their rule to the Beast until the words of God are completed. The woman you saw is the great city, tyrannizing the kings of the earth."

It's quite a story. The poet, as he read through this material, rightly summed it up ~

I don't believe in fairytales and no one wants to go to Hell, but we made the wrong decision and it's easy to see. Now if you wanna serve above or be a king below with us your welcome to the city where your future is set forever

He recognizes the allegiances represented in this vision. Unless one allies with God, one is automatically allied with those in the "City of Evil," code name "Babylon."

It's easy enough today to laugh about it. In fact, in one Youtube vid of a live concert, Matt does laugh, affectionately calling Long Beach a little "city of evil" all it's own, something everyone present thought was hilarious good fun. Nevertheless, his conclusion hangs in the air: nobody wants to go to hell, and it seems laughable to believe in the bizarre tales John relates in his revelation....but what if it's true? Then all the kings, and their subjects, have made a fatal mistake allying with the Beast and his harlot, and their future is indeed set: the eternal burning fire that razes all in its path.

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