Some scholars pointed out that the
prophecy of the “Babylon the Great” was fulfilled by Rome because Rome
has seven hills around it and the beast in the vision also has seven heads
which are "the seven hills on which the woman sits."
(Revelation 17:9) This interpretation is correct for the first century and
the Dark Age, but not for now because Babylon the Great had been moved
several times in the history.
In the Book of Zechariah, Zechariah
saw the vision of a woman sitting in a basket which represents "the
iniquity and wickedness of the people throughout the land."
(Zechariah 5:6-8) Zechariah asked the angels who carried the basket where
they were taking the basket to. The angel told Zechariah that they were
taking it to the country of Babylon. It confirmed the prophecy that
Babylon the Great is "the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of
the Earth" (Revelation 17:5) and it had been transported to
different destinations at different time in history.
1) "Babylon the Great" Started from
Ancient Babylon
The Empire of Babylon had a long
history in the Middle East. It was a major kingdom in ancient Mesopotamia
from 18th to 6th century BC. In the early age, Babylon was just a
part of loosely connected city-states. The city of Babylon was first
created into a major city by Amorite king Hammurabi of the First
Babylonian Dynasty in the 18th century BC, who is best known for having
issued the Code of Laws of Hammurabi. During the time around 2000 BC to
1800 BC, Babylon was the largest city in the world.
In the ancient Babylon period,
Ishtar was worshipped as the goddess of sex and fertility in the
Mesopotamia region. Therefore, people performed Sexual Rites or Temple
Prostitute in their worship to Goddess Ishtar. That’s the origin of
Babylon the Great as the “Mother of Harlots” prophesied in the Book of
Revelation.
After the death of Hammurabi, the
First Babylonian Dynasty fell apart under his son's reign, and Babylon had
spent a long period as part of other ancient empires like Assyria, Kassite
and Elamite until the rising of Neo-Babylon Empire in 626 BC.
2) "Babylon the Great" Moved to
Jerusalem
At around 1000 BC, King David united
the 12 tribes of Israelites and established the Kingdom of Israel, which
became the strongest kingdom in the region. After King David passed away
around 970 BC, his son King Solomon was blessed to the most intelligent
and wealthiest king on the earth.
After Jerusalem became the capital
of the richest kingdom in the world under the reign of King Solomon, the
spirit of Babylon the Great also came to Jerusalem and seduced King
Solomon with seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. (1 Kings
11:3-4) After King Solomon drank the “Maddening Wine of her
adulteries”, he was led astray from the faith of God and fell into
the sin of idol worshipping. Therefore, God took His blessing away from
Solomon’s Kingdom.
However, due to the great faith and
works of Solomon’s father, King David, God did not punish King Solomon
while he was led astray from the Word of God, only took ten out of twelve
tribes from Solomon’s son after King Solomon passed away. After
generations of wicked kings, God eventually gave up on Israelis and let
Babylonians invaded Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple of Solomon in 586
BC.
After the destruction of Jerusalem
and Israelites were captured as slaves by Babylonians, the Spirit of
Babylon the Great, the “woman sitting in the basket” who
represents "the iniquity and wickedness of the people
throughout the land," (Zechariah 5:6-8) was carried back to
Babylon (Shinar in Hebrew).
3) "Babylon the Great" Moved Back in
Babylon
After over a thousand years of being
occupied by other nations, King Nabopolassarre-established the new
Neo-Babylon Empire in 626 BC. Under his ruling and the succeeding
governing of his son King Nebuchadnezzar, the new Empire of Babylon
gradually became the strongest kingdom in the Middle East, and its
capital, the City of Babylon, became the biggest city in the world again.
In 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar led his Babylonian armies invaded Judah and
destroyed Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem and took all the treasure in the
Solomon’s Temple back to Babylon, which made Babylon the wealthiest city
in the world at that time.
In the next several hundred years,
although the Empire of Babylon was defeated and conquered by the Persian
King Cyrus the Great in 539 BC, and later the Persian Empire was defeated
and conquered by Alexander the Great in 330 BC, the City of Babylon still
remained the capital for both the Persian Empire and Alexander’s Greek
Empire until Alexander died suddenly in 323 BC. That’s why the spirit of
Babylon the Great moved back to Babylon in the 6th
century BC as the “woman carried in the basket” Zechariah saw in the
vision in Zechariah 5:5-11.
There have many speculations on the
cause of Alexander’s death, but there was an undeniable fact that after
Alexander conquered India and came back to the city of Babylon, he enjoyed
the unhealthy habit of heavy drinking, often drank all night with his
friends, guests, or generals, which weakened his body’s immune system.
After one night of heavy drinking, Alexander finally fell sick, either
caused by disease or poison, and twelve days later he passed away on June
11, 323 BC in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon.
Another cause of his death is that
Alexander began to require people to worship him as the “invincible God”
across his large empire in 324 BC. That’s the sin of blasphemy, which is
also one of the main characteristics of Babylon the Great. Shortly after
Alexander exalted himself as the “Invincible God”, he died suddenly at
age 32 in 323 BC. That’s another case of a mighty king falling into the
“Maddening Wine of Babylon the Great”.
After the death of Alexander the
Great, his generals split up the empire and the Roman Empire began to rise
to the power. The City of Babylon gradually lost its significance as the
capital of a great Empire. Therefore, after the rising of the Roman
Empire, the Spirit of Babylon the Great moved again to the capital of the
new empire, Rome.
4) "Babylon the Great" Moved to Rome
After Babylon the Great moved to
Rome, the Roman Empire began to drink the “maddening wine of her
adulteries” (Revelation 18:3) and also the “the blood of
prophets and of the saints” (Revelation 17:5 &18:24). The Roman
Empire fell into the sin of adulteries and promiscuity and also shed
"the blood of Saints" as the persecution of Christians
intensified in the first three centuries. This period of history fully
reflected the two major sins and characteristics of Babylon the
Great: Adultery and Blasphemy/Persecution of Saints.
After the three centuries of
persecution, Roman Emperor Constantine the Great finally liberated
Christians from persecution in 313 AD and formalized Christianity in the
First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. In 380 AD, Christianity was officially
established as the state religion of the Roman Empire by Emperor
Theodosius. Since then, Babylon the Great, the persecutor of Christians
and the "Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth", had
been locked up for a thousand years.
After a thousand years of lock-up
time expired, the Woman on the Beast, Babylon the Great, came out again in
the 14th century and seduced the Roman Catholic Church into the sins of
sexual immorality and persecution of Christians with different opinions
during the Dark Age. Many priests, bishops, and even some cardinals and
Popes committed the sin of adultery, and the Church also began to
persecute and kill those Christians who had different views with the
Church through the Inquisition. Even printing the Bible or acknowledging
the earth moving around the sun would be sentenced to death by burning at
the stake. Again, these sins of adultery and persecution of saints were
all the results of the spiritual influence of “Babylon the Great” and
the beast of Antichrist prophesied in the Book of Revelation.
After the Catholic Church fell into
the corruption during the Dark Age, God sent Martin Luther to start the
Protestant Reformation in 1517 AD and lead people of faith break away from
the corrupted Catholic Church. In the next hundred years, many nations
embraced the Reformation movement, like Germany and England, and cut their
ties with the Roman Catholic Church. Some faithful people of God even left
Europe and came to the New Continent of America to start a New Nation of
God with the new Reformed faith and religious freedom.
After the First Great Awakening in
the first half of the 18th century, the New Nation of God, the United
States of America, was born in 1776. On the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean, the Roman Catholic Church suffered a fatal blow during the French
Revolution as Church properties were confiscated by the Revolution
Government and Pope Pius VI was arrested till his death by Napoleon's
army.
After the French Revolution and
Napoleonic Wars in the early 19th century, the Roman Catholic Church lost
its control and influence over the majority of European nations. Babylon
the Great with the beast of Antichrist successfully turned the once 98%
Catholic France into a Godless nation. That's the time Babylon the Great
was ready to move again to the next target, the United States of America,
the future Superpower of the World for the next century.
5) "Babylon the Great" Moved to New
York
After the American Civil War from
1861 to 1865, Americans were ready to celebrate the first centennial birth
of the United States in 1876. Some French people wanted to give a colossal
statue to Americans as a gift of friendship. Their intention was good, but
because French people lost their faith in Christ after the French
Revolution, they were deceived and utilized by Babylon the Great as the
instrument to transport it to the United States of America.
First, the Spirit of Babylon the
Great inspired the statue designer, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, to choose
the Roman goddess Libertas as the model for the statue. The Roman goddess
Libertas is the female version of god of wine, fertility and freedom in
ancient Roman mythology. When people combined wine, freedom with
fertility, you can imagine where it would lead to - Freedom of Sex. It has
the same spiritual root of the Babylonian goddess Ishtar.
Then, the Spirit of Babylon the
Great inspired the designer of the pedestal to choose the Star of Ishtar
as the model for the pedestal. When the Statue of Liberty and its pedestal
were installed and dedicated on October 28, 1886, the Statue of Ishtar and
the Star of Ishtar came together and the "Woman on the Beast with
Seven Heads and Ten Horns" was completed. It became the perfect host
for the Spirit of Babylon the Great to transfer from Europe to America.
However, at that time, American
people still had a fresh memory of the huge casualties and damages from
the American Civil War. They often prayed to God to avoid another tragedy
like the Civil War happening on the American soil again. So, as prophesied
in Revelation 11, “they were terrified (by the damage of the Civil
War) and gave glory to the God of heaven” (Revelation 11:13) by
putting "
In
God We Trust" on the US currencies starting
in 1864 to remind people of the importance of the faith in God. These four
words "In God We Trust
"
have a very strong spiritual power to fend off the evil spirit. Therefore,
the Spirit of Babylon the Great had been suppressed and hadn't shown much
influence for the next one hundred years.
Then, in 1963, everything changed.
The US Supreme Court made the stupid decisions to prohibit the prayer to
God and Bible study in public schools. All the hells broke loose and
Babylon the Great was released. What would the "Mother of
Harlots" do after she was released? Sexual liberation first. That's
why the "Sexual Revolution" started in the late 1960s right from
New York where Babylon the Great was located. The consequence of people
drinking the "maddening wine of her adulteries" was
the dramatic increase in sexually transmitted diseases, teen
pregnancies and abortions.
At the same time, the beast with
"seven heads and ten horns" and “covered
withblasphemous names" was also released to attack the saints
"who bore testimony to Jesus." (Revelation 17:6) It
confirmed the prophecy in Revelation 13 that the beast of Antichrist
"was given power to make war against the saints and to conquer
them. And he was given authority over every tribe, people, language and
nation." (Revelation 13:7)
Since the second part of the last
century, there have been many attacks on Christian faith in the United
States under the influence of this Beast of Antichrist. There were many
lawsuits to remove anything related to Christianity from public places,
even including those historic monuments with cherished American heritage.
New York also became the headquarters of all those Anti-God
Anti-Christianity media and organizations in the name of
"liberty" and "Separate Church and State". Christian
faith has been overpowered and in retreat just as prophesied in Revelation
13:7.
These things happened because the
Beast of Antichrist used the "Separation of Church and State" as
the cover to deceive those unsuspected and foolish government officials,
legislators and judges to take down anything related to Christianity. It's
the same thing happened during the "French Revolution". In some
places, government officials don't even allow people to say "Merry
Christmas" during the Christmas season. They are deceived and under
the influence of this blasphemous Beast of Antichrist. These things
happened because they are just part of the prophecies that need to be
fulfilled before the "Second Coming" comes.
From the Spiritual Movement of
Babylon the Great in history, people can clearly see the Spiritual Path of
Babylon the Great moving from Babylon to Jerusalem to Babylon again and
then to Rome and to New York in the last four thousand years. In the past,
many scholars thought Babylon the Great was referred to Rome. In fact,
Rome did reflect the two major characters of Babylon the Great - Adultery
and Blasphemy/Persecution of the Saints - during the first three centuries
of the Persecution Period and in the late stage of the Dark
Age.
However, Rome is not a seaport, nor
a world trade center or a metropolitan center of fashion, art and music.
And Rome is not the capital of sexual immorality and blasphemy in the
world either. Only New York City fits all these characteristics of Babylon
the Great at this moment.
Thirty-eight hundred years ago,
Babylon was the largest city in the world during the First Babylonian
Dynasty in the 18th century BC. Then, eight hundred years later, Jerusalem
became the wealthiest city in the world during the reign of King Solomon
around 1000 BC. Four hundred years later, the City of Babylon rose to
power again as the capital of the Babylonian Empire and the subsequently
Persian Empire and Greek Empire. It was the largest and most powerful city
in the world at that time. But after the kings drank the “Maddening
Wine of Babylon the Great”, they all fell into destruction and/or
desolation eventually.
At the beginning of the first
century, Rome was the capital of one of the largest empires in the world
history, the Roman Empire, and later became the Holy See for the
Christendom in the world for over a thousand years until the Protestant
Reformation started five hundred years ago. Now, it also fell from the
past glory to the city of mediocre after the Vatican City-State was
established and separated from Rome, Italy in 1929.
The Spiritual Path of
"Babylon the
Great"
|
Time |
City |
Character |
|
18th Century BC |
The Ancient City of Babylon |
The largest city in the world |
|
10th to 6th Century BC |
The Great City of Jerusalem |
The wealthiest city in the world under King Solomon |
|
6th to 1st Century BC |
The Great City of Babylon |
The largest city in the world as the capital of Babylonian
Empire, Persian Empire and Greek Empire |
|
1st -19th Century AD |
The Great City of Rome |
The Capital of Roman Empire and the Holy See of the Catholic
Church |
|
19th Century – Now |
The Great City of New York |
The largest of the United States and the wealthiest city of the
world, as well as the world political center with the UN. |
From the historical and spiritual path of Babylon the
Great, people can easily find out that Babylon the Great, “the Mother
of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth”, always followed the money
and went to the largest and wealthiest city in the world at that time.
Then, after the kings or religious leaders drank the “Maddening Wine of
Babylon the Great”, they all fell into the destruction as the result of
their sins of adulteries and blasphemy.
Now, New York is the largest city of the United States and the wealthiest city in the world. It is also the world political center for the United Nations as well as the financial center
and trade center of the world. Therefore, the Spirit of Babylon the Great is in New York right now and the prophecy of the “Fall of Babylon” will be fulfilled in New York City if people don’t pay attention to the Word of God.
In fact, God always gives people a warning before the major disaster happens. The warning of the “Fall of Babylon” was also given as prophesied in Revelation 14:8. That’s the “Sept. 11” happened eighteen years ago in 2001.
Next:
The "Sept. 11" and the "Fall of Babylon"
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Revelation
Fulfilled
Unveiling the 2,000-year Mystery of
The Prophecies in the Book of Revelation
