According to Albert Pike in Morals and Dogma , masonry stemmed from the mysteries of ancient Egypt, and was instrumental in the French Revolution. This pushing of the king of the south against the papacy at the time of the end, refers to the capture of the pope and the removal of the temporal power of the papal office by French military action in February of 1798. See documentation . But in the time of the end, the symbol applies to spiritual Babylon. Spiritual Babylon is the false religious confederacy of the last days.
Revelation presents two great religious systems at the end of time.
Both are symbolized as women and as cities. In the last days the false religious system is not just a single denomination, but a union of religious groups. In order to properly understand this prophecy, we must trace the development of the king of the south in the time of the end. The brief experimentation with atheism in France was continued in the longer enduring atheistic philosophy of modern communism. Communism also has links with ancient Egypt.