Who has been the real persecutor of true believers according to this passage?
According to this passage, the real persecutor of true believers has been religion of one sort or another. The woman, representing the religious system, is drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, showing that religious systems have persecuted and killed genuine believers.
Les explains that the woman in this passage represents the religious system, just as the beast represents the political system. She is drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When asked who has been the persecutor of true believers, Les answers, “Religion of one sort or another.” He also notes that pagan worship, especially in Paul’s New Testament time, included gross immorality; temples like the one to Diana were glorified houses of prostitution, and pagan priests conscripted young women into prostitution in the name of religion. John marveled at the system’s wealth, pomp, circumstance, and power, and the angel offered to tell him the mystery of the woman and the beast that carries her.
And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.