18:9"And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

"And the KINGS of the EARTH,

Here the expression, 'the KINGS of the EARTH', denotes leadership of religious organizations (see verse 3). It is broader than the seven kings noted in Revelation 17:9-10. In a way this is how riches/wealth are denoted (James 5:1-6).

The religious leadership by this time has become so entwined with economic needs to keep their churches, synagogues, and mosques going that they have ignored how God can supply every need. For protestant denominations, in particular, the leadership has become very good at "marketing" religious programs that are tailored to every age group. Sadly, the inner spiritual needs of the attendees often go unmet.

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will WEEP and LAMENT over her when they see the smoke of her burning,

This is the Revelation way of saying what Jesus said in Matthew 13:36-43, Matthew 24:45-51, Matthew 25:14-30, and Luke 13:22-30. A person can only wonder how much of this "darkness" has invaded the church? This is a FOREVER BURNING (Revelation 19:3); hence, this must be SPIRITUAL and not PHYSICAL in nature. This is consistent with the view that the bowl judgments are almost exclusively spiritual in form.