Demystifying Mystery Babylon

[WayneB]

Mystery Babylon's Revelation 17:18 reference to the great city is therefore not to a single city (polis: the city in which one lives; an abode) that will one day appear. She isn't Rome or Brussels as many have claimed over the years. Neither is she New York, Amsterdam, Paris, a rebuilt Babylon, or any other known contemporary city. . . .

She lives today in New York, Amsterdam, Paris and everywhere the great population centers of the world are located, because she is the great city.

She is the a picture of every "dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird" on earth (18:2). . . .

She is the immoral spirit of the world (kosmos) in all its carnal trappings that sets itself up and over against the biblical truths of God John warns of in his first epistle. . . .

It was she who guided America's '60s wave of "free love" and Eastern mysticism. . . .

Today the Babylonian harlot lures the world and church from her great city of the media. You'll find her shouting her message of unbridled sex in film, on television, and over the Internet as she guides their sensual work. It's not hard to imagine a regional prophetic snapshot of her riding a multi-headed MGM lion with the names of the major studios written on its heads.

[John3;16]

I believe there are some clues, and take comfort in the fact that those who trust in christ before the tribulation will not take part in the tribulation period.

fact 1.

In rev 17:9 And here is the mind that hath wisdom. the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.

The Vatican city sits on seven hills.

fact 2.

Rev 18:20 Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her.

Rome killed many prophets and early christians (which the burned, and used them as sport in the arena's)

fact 3.

Rev 17:15 And he said unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations and tongues.

she rules over many people of diverse nationalities.

fact 4.

rev 17:10 And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.

there are a total of seven kings, at the time of the writting five kings have fallen, (that means in the 1st century) . One is, this would have to mean that the one that is, was the sitting king of Rome, in power at that time.

It speaks of a future king that will come and raign for a short period .

In rev 17:11 And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eigth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.

The beast that was, and is not: this is the without question, satin who decieves and subdues, he will become Ruler of the european Union. This is the false prophet who will declare himself God,

in rev 17:16 And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall mak her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.

The ten horns are europe which has become a nation, they have hardened there hearts and rejected God, So God, as he did with the Egyptions uses them to fulfill his purposes and come against Isreal along with all other nations and in rev 17:14 these shall make war with the lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of Lords, and Kings of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.

In zach 14:1;-14-5 gives details, if you notice though, he returns with those who are: called, and chosen, and faithful.

there are christians in that false church because they are warned to come out of her, lest you suffer the plagues that she will recieve.

The Church of Rome did not conquire an empire, but the Roman Empire is a suito of the true church (body of believers) Satan always decieves with something that appears to be good.

[yukon]

God is awesome! I am amazed in the scriptures and what it says. I read the article and believe everything that is occuring today and has ocurred is because it was God's plan. There are certain things that have to fall into place before we all get to go home.

Yukon

[other one]

Themessenger1,

I agree. The Hollywood humanism is one of the tools used to build her, and was and is controlled by a very fiew that are totally sold out to Lucifer.

Question now is, what to do about it? It is written, so it will be done. What should we as christians do? Will the rapture or calling up of Christ's come before she is destroyed, should we leave, should we expect God to protect us here, or should we just go out with her, and be with Him?

The more I think about it the more I am incline to decide that it really doesn't matter as long as we cling to Him, and put our trust in him.

I'd hate to miss some instruction from the lack of study though. Is there something I am missing?

[Guest heavenonearth]

Demystifying Mystery Babylon

What are your thoughts on this article?

Your brother in Messiah with much agape love,

George

George,

Thank you for your insightful explanation of Revelation's depiction of Babylon the Great. Interesting enough, I was one of Jehovah's Wittnesses for over 20 years, now I am a born again believer in Christ. During the time I studied with the Wittnesses, they taught that Babylon the Great represented Christendom and all other religions that they considered false. Incidentally, they taught that Wittnesses were the only true religion and everyone else would be destroyed at the battle of Armageddon.

[Guest bcorb103]

Greetings, All; Although I respect the writer before me, I cannot agree with his premise as to the description of babylon the Great. One place to begin this study is to read, "The Two Babylons", by Alexander Hislop. The paralells between ancient Babylon and modern day babylon are astounding.

As we turn to scripture, there is defined for us very clearly, just who Babylon the Great is. The very first description in Rev.12 of a woman in heaven, clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and crown of 12 stars on her head indicates to us that events in this and other chapters cannot be taken literally. I'm sure all would agree to that. Back in verse 1 of chapter 1, we are clearly told that the Revelation was "signified", which means it was given in signs or symbols. Therefore we should expect to find many symbols used throughout the Revelation.

Women in the Bible are sometimes used to represent religious systems (see 2 Cor.11:2; Eph. 5:23; Is.47:7-9; Ez.16) Therefore the woman in Rev.12:1 can be taken to symbolize the Christian religious system after the time of John. The "male child" of verse 5 then, would be a great Christian leader brought forth to rule the world. A great leader did arise who was Constantine, whose goal was to conquer the Roman Empire and make it Christian. And although the pagan romans resisted him for a time, eventually Constantine, in the name of Christ, defeated them. Rev. 13 goes on to describe a later development in the roman empire. A beast arises out of the sea, once again with 7 heads and 10 horns(v.1), which relates this beast to Daniels 4th beast and the dragon in Rev.12. In this description of the beast, we find the prediction of a power to arise that would rule the world and persecute the true believers for 42 months or 1260 days, which represents 1260 years. This power would speak haughty words against God and His dwelling, and carry out wars against God's saints and conquer them. Chapter 12:3 tells of a great "red dragon". The term "dragon" is used to describe the crocodile, the symbol of Egypt (Ez.28:3). Egypt stands in scripture as the sin power in political manifestation. At the very beginning it opposed God's people and with the political decline of Egypt, the role was assumed by Rome, which is likened to Egypt (Rev.11:8). At one time, the dragon was used as a standard for Rome, near the end of the 2nd century, but became common in the 3rd century. The seven heads describe both political power and offer us a topographical location. The seven mountains upon which Rome is built, and the 7 kings or forms of administration. The 7 systems of government were: Regal, Consular, Dictatorial, Decemviral, Tribunitial, Imperial and Gothic. This I believe refer, beyond a shadow of a doubt to Rome as the later day Babylon.

There is one more aspect to consider. That is found in 2 Thess.2, where the apostle Paul warn believers that Jesus would not return and the saints would not be gathered until an apostasy developed which would oppose God. Paul refers to this apostasy as, "the man of sin" and the "son of perdition". who would take God's position by sitting in the Temple of God and proclaiming himself to be God. This mystery of iniquity was already at work in Paul's day (v.7), but it would not be revealed until a later time. Notice how Paul's description of the "man of sin" related to certain characteristics of the beast in Dan. and Rev.. All 3 accounts speak of a power which would arise, related to the roman empire, that would oppose God and true believers; and this power would continue until Jesus returns to destroy it for ever.

The only actual occurences of the word "antichrist" in the Bible are in John's letters.

1 Jn.4:2-3; 2 Jn.7 According to John, everyone who does not acknowledge that Jesus Christ came "in the flesh" is a member of antichrist. jersus was born of a human mother, with God as his father (Lk.1:34,35; 2 Jn.3). Notice how the Bible uses "antichrist" to describe anyone who does not teach that Jesus Christ really came "in the flesh". So there is no such thing as a "future" antichrist., because antichrists existed in John's day. And they still exists today.

Now, what about the number 666? This number responds to the numerical value of the Greek word "lateinos" which means "the latin (man). This is the preferred word because it not only related to the roman empire but to the roman church of today. It was the official language of the church for hundreds of years.

[Catsmeow]

This is just my opinion but look closely at Revelation chapters 17 through 18, regarding Mystery Babylon. What exactly was Babylon? It was a place with high ideals of itself. It was a place full of people of diverse languages and of many nations. It was a place of people of diverse religions and beliefs. It was a place that had much luxury to offer to many other nations. It was a proud place full of blasphemies against the Lord. Now what does the word "mystery" mean? It means that it is a place which could not be named at the time that this vision was seen. That means it was a place not named as of yet. Now look at our world. Almost all of the nations on earth are of ancient origin, except one.......AMERICA! 

I don't buy it (respectfully)...because it doesn't fit. It sounds okay on the surface but taken in context ...look at this:

Revelation 17:1-6

1 Then  one of the  angels who had the seven  bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the  judgment of the great  harlot who sits  on many waters, 2 with whom the  kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those  who dwell on the earth were made  drunk with the wine of her immorality." 3 And he  carried me away in  the Spirit into  a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet  beast, full of blasphemous  names, having seven  heads and ten horns. 4 The woman was  clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned  with gold and precious stones  and pearls, having in her hand a  gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, 5 and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery,  "BABYLON  THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE  ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." 6 And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints,  and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus. When I saw her, I wondered greatly. 

and...

Revelation 18

23 the light of a lamp will never shine in you again; and the voice of a groom and bride will never be heard in you again. All this will happen because your merchants were the nobility of the earth, because all the nations were deceived by your sorcery, 24 and the blood of prophets and saints, and all those slaughtered on earth, was found in you.

We haven't been around long enough to have slaughtered the prophets and saints all over the earth. We're an infant country only 200 years old...We're just a daughter of the Harlot. We're not the "harlot" but we certainly bear our mother's characteristics, don't we?

[AllforJesustheLord]

Mystery Babylon is a world way, yet even more is the U.S. who helps all countries to sell, and trade, and yet all who are evil are I think also mystery babylon, in Rev. Jerusalem is called Sodom, and Egypt.

[Catsmeow]

Good point but let's face it...we've all got egg on our faces.

I listen to shortwave radio. In Europe the campaign for candidates by passing out condoms at conventions in the parties "colors"...

I listen to shortwave I get a much clearer view that America thinks they're the only ones with Jerry Springer mentalities.

Not so...the same mentality is rampant in Europe and unrestrained. We are by NO MEANS the sole Sodomite.

There a gillion of them out there...all colors and nations.

How sick at heart God must be.....he sees things happening all over again, as in the days of Noah.

[angels4u]

Cat,

I went to my daughter graduation a couple a weeks ago.

They gave out little presents for the people who brought their gowns back, included in the package they got there was a condom.

This world is so sex crazy...I blocked the 2 music channels we get on our TV and our foster daughter doesn't like that at all, after asking her what she thought of all the half dressed women on there she said, all they try to do is look like a women.

She's only 14 years old. That's what young people see...sad but true.

Angels