I have believed for a long time that Revelation 17 is describing the Church which has turned into the whore.
Some people really get upset about this as if it comes from some one who hate the Church but that is far from the truth.
This thread is not something new, we are reading this kind of stuff every day, can you imagine the uproar there would be if some one read even just 40 years that the church was accepting homosexuality as an acceptable life style?
In the past the Church was not satisfied with just preaching the gospel, they had to get every one and their dogs to become members, now look what it is leading to.
The early teachings taught that people who would become members of the Church was to give their all to The Church.
But remember Ananias, and his wife, Sapphira ? they were not believers they just wanted to be in on something, most likely anything, and consider what happened to them.
It is far worse today and has been for many years, the Church leaders, not knowing the scriptures wants to make every one members, as a result many people like Ananias became members and are now leaders.
I agree with your point. A friend went to a Lutheran Synod meeting over the past weekend, and was slapped in the face with a Marxist lecture on White Privilege.