Babylon Conclusion

April 20, 2000

You know that there must be a lot of you that can bear witness to my spirit when I say that I am glad this discussion is over. Babylon is a favorite subject of mine but this one was really hard to get out. It began when the spirit of love was come against in that we decided love was proof of the Holy Ghost and that love would hold us together even though we could not agree on the rapture issue. It made some people mad and then me mad enough that I would take Babylon confusion head on and discuss it knowing that it would be hard.

On the way, we were diverted, so got extreme fundamentalism out of the way and lumped it in with Babylon, other prophetic ministries were being attacked by a few in the group, so we understood the civil war in the church that will expose the spirit of Babylon and the delusion, we changed the subject but were able to discuss the idea of servanthood again, we were infiltrated and lost our direction in the forum group we had, we were insulted but praise God, we can still claim Jesus as in charge of this group and we can safely say that we have been obedient to His word. I have a great respect for those that were able to stay the course on the Babylon issue, this is a collective effort.

The textual problems of Babylon cannot be answered to the full satisfaction of anyone unless it is through bias and contention. I believe that we have identified the spirit of Babylon if not the actual place. This is enough to be able to get out of her, I mention that we can leave the details for history to come. Babylon really is a mystery and a subject that will not be closed just because we conclude the discussion. You may have your own views on Babylon but so does everyone else, it is something that is too premature for a consensus. Thanks for all those who contributed to the discussion.

By the way, I have put up an archives directory for all the discussion that we have had the last few months and I am also putting up prophetic articles that I get in the mail and calling it Five-Fold Today, and linked on my front page. Every two or three days, when I have something good to put in, I change it and it includes the discussions when they come up. For the archives, go to http://latter-rain.com/archive

In the next couple days, I will be sensitive to what I may hear for the next discussion.

Jay.

Those in the restoration movement are called to the task. What we have in this group is a Zerubbabel ministry of the two witnesses who are to measure the temple and hold the plumb line. The two witnesses have not yet appeared, they will be coming during the tribulation and there is much work to do in restoration before they will announce themselves. What will happen first is a ministry that will herald the coming and prepare the way. This is made up of many of us in the apostolic and prophetic that will act as a collective two witnesses and come together in unity before all these things in revelation happen. If we are truly restoring the purity of the church, which is the temple of God, then we are part of this Zerubbabel ministry that has been called out of Babylon. Remember that many are called but few are chosen, we must get holy to prepare ourselves for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Those of us that have truly been delivered out of Babylon make up a remnant that has truly been called out to do the work and do not include those that have not been called out. "Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord."

In the revelation to John it is written: "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her (Babylon) my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." Look what it says, Come out of her MY PEOPLE. We do not need to say that these things that we come up with as identifying Babylon have anything to do with rejecting the people, or their salvation and their part in the true church. THEY ARE GOD'S PEOPLE. But the Bride of Christ is holy and blameless and not so the majority of the church. Many of them are prideful, they follow after their own ways and they will not give up false doctrine because it threatens their self-righteous superiority over others. Pride is a real killer in the church. Remember as the Bride of Christ that we are not to be the whole body, we are to be among the anointed remnant. And we are to direct ourselves in following the anointing and build upon what Jesus has laid down for us.

Before God's people can get out of Babylon, we must first identify her. Interpretations of Babylon vary widely but she is called "Mystery Babylon" so our interpretation is especially spiritual. The Babylon of today is much more a state of mind than it is a place and includes the harlot in the economic, religious and political world. If we cannot yet recognize who or where she is, at least we can come to come understanding by knowing what she is. Spiritual Babylon is easy to identify unless it is through the eyes of Babylon herself and it takes courage to come out according to the true understanding. Babylon the Great is a present reality that will fall in the future and is tied up with the Beast of the Apocalypse, the Anti-Christ, the mark of the beast, Abaddon, the false prophet and much more that also includes spiritual deceptions. We need not decipher every jot and tittle of the four heads or the seven heads and the horns, the feet and each detail but rather identify the spirit of the harlot and the delusion. This is the way that we will receive the seal of God in our foreheads. Much has been discussed about the details but also much has not been agreed upon as to interpretation, so we must stay focused.

We are living in the last days and satan wants us to be completely ignorant of who Babylon is and will put up all kinds of roadblocks to distract us and get us to look into other directions. The most he can do is to get us to ignore the issue and go on with business as usual, then he has won. The most important thing for the church today in restoration is to be able to first get out of Mystery Babylon the Great, so what we are discussing is of immense importance to the end-time church. We cannot remain in Babylon just for the sake of loving those that will not come out. For those that who are not able to get out of her, there are maledictions promised that they will be a part of her sins. You have to know that this will ultimately happen and it will be sooner rather than later. God's people in general are destroyed for lack of knowledge but the Seal of God is for those that hear the Lord and see the truth as it is and accept the knowledge of Him. For those in the church that have not taken it seriously, God has already sent them a strong delusion that they will believe a lie. I pray that this will not happen to those reading these words. Please take this seriously.

The Bible gives us examples of where to look for Babylon in the historical sense and it is there that we may find clues to the identification of modern day Babylon the Great. Babylon rides upon the four heads of the beast so identifying the apocalyptic beast is also a clue to her identity. You need only to look as far as the image of the Beast to find Babylon today; the economic and religious power of the One World Order that has replaced Jesus with an apostate Christianity that made her great. It is in judgment of the sins of Babylon that will bring her down and those that are part of her sins. Judgment begins at the house of God and much of the sifting has already started.

Religious Babylon especially exposes herself if you look at the ones that oppose us in restoration and revival, they are the ones that stand in favor of the nature of the Beast and will be the ones that are in direct confusion of incompatible doctrine. They will also be the ones that oppose the five-fold the most and puts us on the defensive according to their own pride, exalted positions in the flesh, prejudicial doctrines and lack of love, acceptance and unity. And they will be the ones that support the right wing insanity that exploits, dominates and oppresses the meek, oppose the social gospel and think that peace and liberality is evil.

Babylon is scripturally described as the great eagle with a head of gold. Babylon is the great eagle that comes unto Lebanon, with another great eagle shooting forth her branches. The king of Babylon comes to Jerusalem and takes the king and the princes and leads them with him to Babylon. "Behold you among the heathen and regard and wonder marvelously: for I will work a work in your days, which you will not believe, though it will be told you. For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess... they are terrible and dreadful... horses swifter than leopards... fly as the eagle... come all for violence: their face shall sup up as the east wind... scoff at kings. Then shall his mind change, and he shall pass over, and offend, imputing this his power unto his god." "And here is the mind which has wisdom.

Babylon the Great is mystery Babylon, mother of harlots and abominations. The historical Babylon is the original building of the tower of Babel after the flood which represents confusion and the striving of man's efforts to reach heaven. The second is an historical view from the Babylonian captivity of the Jews. We may also identify the historical Mother of Babylon as being the Roman Empire and later the Roman church. Now we have the daughter of Babylon riding on the beast which is best represented by the materialism, greed, mammon worship, capitalism, avarice and the compromising spirit of contemporary Christianity. At any rate, we are certainly not ready to come out of her if we cannot identify who she is. The spirit of God is working in our hearts and minds and we have come up with the answers that are needed and it takes all of us working together to restore the temple. It is our responsibility to sound the alarm and to pray for more laborers to be delivered from the great harlot. Get out of spiritual Babylon first, make sure that you have been sealed by God and then get as many others out as you can. Once the temple is restored, you are either out of her or are part of her sins and judgment.

The name is said to be originally used by the Babylonians to mean the "gate of god" from the word babilu but the meaning was later changed to reflect the confusion. The Hebrew root from the word balal means, "to confound" and refers to the confusion at the Tower of Babel. The apocalyptic Babylon is the confusion that this last day church is under during the end of the times of the Gentiles and of the influence that is brought to the whole social order of the world.

Babylon had first risen to eminence under Hammurabi who instituted one of history's great legal codes. This original Babylon started with the city in the land of Shinar after the flood and built by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah through Cush, son of Ham. The name of Nimrod became to mean "let us revolt or rebel," he is called "a mighty one in the earth and a mighty hunter before the Lord," and the "beginning of his kingdom Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar," along the Euphrates river. The ideal king is one that shepherds God's people under the authority of God. Although the Babylonians thought that they were following God, they allowed Nimrod to lead the people, not God and established a man made unity and kingdom by force of rule with the laws of man.

Babylon was famed as the most important city in Mesopotamia and the capital of Chaldea. Babylon was called the land of the Chaldeans, Land of Shinar, desert of the sea, the golden city, beauty of Chaldees, city of merchants. The prophets called her great and the lady of the kingdoms, yet tender and delicate.

Babylon was the city of antiquity and believed that God had made her people great. We can really see the religious Babylon in the confusion that exists in the churches today with its so many incompatible doctrines. We have identified many of today's false doctrines already. The Oneness doctrine, the idea that tongues and not love is the evidence of the Holy Ghost, anything that comes against a Trinitarian doctrine, legalistic fundamentalism, denial of the power involved in the laying on of hands, despising prophecy or other spiritual gifts. The great sin of Babylon is pride, false doctrine cannot be put away because it would challenge their own authority as being right. If we are walking in the spirit, we can reject these false doctrines because of the faithlessness, hatred and exclusiveness that are generated from their people and renew our mind but we must be able to also draw the others out. We must be recognized by our love, not the dogmatic assertions of incompatible doctrine that keep us from being one in the spirit of Christ.

Through the pride of being God's people, the Babylonians said "let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth." This was man's first attempt to bring about the One World Order that Babylon today is putting together. At this time, all men spoke the same language. "And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built. And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another's speech. So the Lord scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off building the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." Their striving only helped to bring about the opposite of what they were striving for; the Lord confused their language and scattered them over the earth. The name was forever associated with confusion from this time and is a fitting representation of the scattered churches and incompatible doctrines of Christendom today.

We can also see the political Babylon in nationalism. More world conflict has started over nothing because their own people were thought of as being greater than other people. Other nations are made subject to them, exploited and plundered, the oppressors and the oppressed, the weak being taken advantage of by the strong, the rich over the poor. Their cruel and destructive nature was even used by God to execute His judgment and vengeance on other nations.

And we can readily see the economic Babylon. Ancient Babylon was a fortified city surrounded by a great wall. Her fame was as a city of manufacturing, merchants and Senators; by commerce or conquest the wealth of the known world passed through her. Because she was the greatest military power on sea and on land and wealthy beyond any other, Babylon was able to protect her economic interests by forcing her power and authority on other nations. As a consequence of this wealth and power, Babylon had become arrogant, opulent and licentious. Their people were corrupt, idolatrous and indulgent, devoted to magic and the occult. Their love for money drove them to self-love and they became avaricious, covetous and oppressive, given to leisure and pleasure.

As we read about the tower of Babylon, the top of the tower was dedicated to reaching into the heavenly realm like a gigantic steeple of a man made church. This is exactly what organized religion and man centered ministries are doing today. Inotherwords, it is man's approach to God and the spiritual realm by his own actions and authority. Much of the religious activity of present day Babylon looks good, but the truth is that it is in man's effort and not God's. They are all out there building their own little cities and coming in their own name. Babylon is the religion of man and will teach that salvation and the way to heaven comes through their own particular church. The approach of Jesus is God's approach to us, since God became flesh to reach us. Religious Babylon is really against the spirit of Jesus, because it is man's approach to God through the flesh rather than in the spirit.

We need not condemn the people, only the errors and their insistence to divide and cause the confusion. Many of them are heresies and many are schisms and plain false doctrine. The church is in a mess, we are not here to put up with false doctrine and pride and hatefulness for the sake of unity, but identify and separate from the confusion so that we can go on to put the church in order and sound the alarm. It is the nature of love to warn others of a fire in our midst.

Under the King Nebuchadnezzar, the city of Babylon was rebuilt with great splendor and became the height of her glory. Nebuchadnezzar took Judah captive from 606 to 586 B.C. This Babylonian captivity began the times of the Gentiles that Jesus spoke of in Luke 21. As a result of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, "they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." This period of gentile domination over Jerusalem and Israel shall continue until the return of the Lord.

Most Bible students read the passages in the Revelation of John and understand Babylon the Great in a prophetic light but there are many Old Testament prophecies as well. There are many passages in Jeremiah, Daniel, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, Zechariah and Isaiah around the time of the Babylonian captivity that parallel the prophecies in Revelation concerning modern day Babylon. Isaiah 13 and 14 for example contain prophecies concerning the punishment of Babylon that may have been fulfilled during the captivity but many also have references to the last days. To go over them all would be more than this essay is designed for, we will focus on that spiritual Babylon that we must get out of and leave the details to be brought to light in future events. When Jeremiah speaks about the false prophets, slumbering shepherds, good figs and bad figs, it is ultimatly directed to the sins and punishments of Babylon and of those of who He will deliver from the captivity. He may in fact be speaking in the context of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon but also given to us for the last days. Read of the destructions of Jeremiah 25 and know that this has not yet been fulfilled, and then read chapters 50-51 and Revelation 17 and 18 and note the similarities.

Remember the story of Daniel? It was during this captivity in Babylon that he had his visions and interpreted Nebuchadnezzar's dreams. The king became full of pride and boasted: "Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty? While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from you." The Lord made the king crazy for seven years for not giving the glory of Babylon to God.

The overwhelming fact is that the Christian church of today is in the Babylonian captivity of confusion, nationalism and materialism. There will not be the final revival that the church is praying for until the authority of the church is given over to Jesus. This takes committed people in love and humility that are completely sold out to Jesus and are not following the false shepherds. And it must be a spiritual Babylon that we must flee. The Lord speaks through Jeremiah: "Therefore hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, You shall not serve the king of Babylon: For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and you should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord; and they shall till it, and dwell therein." Inotherwords, we are not to physically get out of the land of Babylon, we are still to serve them, but we are not to bow down to their gods and we are not to give our spiritual authority to them. "Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of the Lord, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith the Lord; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.... Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the Lord for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace."

Well we know that God did visit the captives and brought the vessels of the Lord back along with the people but before it happened, the laborers were sent by the king to rebuild the temple. We are restoring a temple not made with human hands but the same temple of His body that Jesus spoke of, "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." It is only by the spirit of the Lord are we able to get out the Babylon that holds us captive but we must renew our minds. Zechariah had a vision of an ephah, or a measuring basket of iniquity representing the sinful church with a woman sitting in its midst. "Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." The Psalmist declares. "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."

True unity begins with truth. We cannot take anything away from those who are held captive in Babylon, no more that we can deny that the children of Israel were also held captive in the historical Babylon. But if we are to fulfill the role in these last days that the Lord has given us we must know that God is calling us out of Babylon and if we are to rebuild in the restorative sense with a plumb line, then these others have no part of it. It is how we must approach it because of the commission to Zerubbabel outlines it so and it makes good sense.

There is a civil war presently going on in the church. Those that have set up their own little kingdoms for the Lord will come against the one that Jesus sets up. They come with jealousy, rivalry, back-biting, insults, accusations, quenching of the spirit, legalism and all kinds of arrows are going to be drawn against us but don't worry about it and don't shoot back, we are hid in Christ so ignore them and reach out in love to the ones that need to be warned of the wrath to come. As the Bride of Christ, we are to be holy and blameless and we are to fulfill the prayer of Jesus that we are One. In order to be One, we must speak the same thing like Paul has told us to do. This means putting away the falseness and separating ourselves from those that have not come out of Babylon themselves. There can be no other way but the way that has been commissioned to us. "For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?"

We must look at the issue of Babylon through the eyes of one in the 21st century and onto the current political, economic and religious situations and only look to the past for guidance, clarifications and the significance of how we got here. And we must be able to fit these situations into the fulfillments of Bible prophecy through the spirit, not our preconceived notions. The early Christians in the first century were all united in thinking that the Lord would return in their lifetime and it was easy for them to see Babylon as being the Roman Empire. Again, during the Reformation period, the most logical culprit to the Protestants, who would have naturally thought of restoration, would of been ecclesiastical Rome. But we are not in the first or the sixteenth century and cannot look at what these people thought during these times as conclusive. They may however lead us to correct conclusions to the present.

The point here is that the early Christians were wrong in thinking that they were the last generation and so were the early Protestants. This does not rule out Rome but it does rule out thinking that Babylon is Rome just because others in the past said it was. Another thing is that when the vision was given to John, he was seeing future events, those things that looked like they were fulfilled in the past were actually yet to come for him but given in the context of John being transported into the future. So when five kings had fallen, it must be taken from the time that John was transported to. The Lord would not provide a revelation for something which had already happened in the past. The revelation of John must be taken in the context of "things which must be hereafter", starting with the beginning of the church at the time of John and ending with the Day of the Lord.

Babylon is upon many waters and rides upon the beast that came out of the sea which has four heads. Daniel in his vision, interpreted the Babylon of his day as the head of Gold, down to the present day as the final beast appearing which in those days will the eternal kingdom be set up. The fourth beast that Daniel saw is this last days beast with four heads. The beast/heads of Daniel 7 are easy to recognize just by looking at who they could be in the current world political situation:

The only interpretation of who the bear could be is Russia.

The only interpretation as far as who the lion standing like a man could be is England, this is a very easily recognizable symbol of England.

The only recognizable symbol of the eagle being plucked from the standing lion would be the United States of America.

The leopard is not as easy to recognize because it is not a national symbol like the rest of them, but could represent the many spots that a leopard has and would represent a coalition of nations. The only one I see that could fit in the current political situation would be the European Union, although China and Japan has been mentioned. The European Union with the other three beasts, comprise NATO and the bulk of the richest and most powerful parts of the World Trade Organization. Again, these are the interpretations that fit the current world situations and correspond to the clear understanding of scripture. Babylon rides on them.

Now in my mind, I see no other way around it in that America is one head of the beast and there are four. Not only that but the most notable head in prophecy represents the youngest of the nations and is a melting pot with all nations flowing into her. I have acknowledged that the eagle is a head of the beast but it also has been used to protect God's people and I no reason to believe that she will not continue to do so. America in her freedom has been and can still be the greatest force for Christian revival that will ever be. Human rights and justice excites great pride in America but for the poor people of the world, it is only an illusion. Trust her in the religious tradition of freedom and you touch greatness; trust her in the realm of world commerce and you touch the great whore of Babylon.

We may want to look at Rome in the context of the Mother of Babylon and the present situation as the daughter. We need to especially look at the evils of the Nicolaitan system of separation of clergy and laity that the Protestants have continued with to this present day as being part of Babylon. This is the correlation between the Roman idea of church hierarchy as being continued with the Protestants with fleshly Christian leadership instead of servants and ministers in the church. This make the church and the graces of the church the purveyors of salvation instead of Jesus. Present day Babylon cannot be Rome exclusively for the rest of the church must take part in the guilt of what Papal Rome has originally stood for and that is a system of exalting the church and their leaders over others and diluting the authority of Christ. There are false apostles today making inroads into the five-fold who are actually teaching a pecking order and getting others to follow them under voices from the Lord. Many of them are called but then pride takes over and they exalt themselves in the name of the Lord and become their own authority. Many Pastors do this in their churches and demand obedience to them, they come in the name of the Lord with the false doctrines and other gospels that prove themselves to be the false Christs that Jesus warned us against.

Rome is only part of the church and still one of the seven lights of Asia. If we look at the church of Pergamos we see that this is where satan's seat is and they are said to hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. The Papacy is satan's seat as long is it exalts itself above other bishops in the universal church. In Pergamos we see Antipas (those against the pope) among them which reveals the reformation period as a faithful martyr. But Pergamos is commended for not denying the name of Jesus and they have not denied the faith but they are told to repent of their immorality and are still here unto the coming of the Lord or Jesus would not have told them that He comes quickly. Also when Peter writes about those at Babylon, was he writing from Rome? Maybe, but coming out of the Roman church and becoming a Protestant can be worse if it is in the extreme fundamentalist form, with their legalism, materialism and puritan ignorance. It makes no sense to single out Rome, especially since they are not the political and economic power that would be seen riding on the beast. We must however see historical Rome as an empire that does fit and as a church resembling the Mother of the Harlot and the false doctrines that the church has inherited from her since, as a fact. The Roman Church is a mixture of Christianity and paganism, mixed miracles with magic and faith with superstition. It is true that Rome needs to repent but getting out of her is not a requirement but rather we should see ourselves strengthening what remains and purging her of the sins that separate her from the truth and what hinders the work of restoring the church to her original purity. The luke-warm church is in greater danger than she is, so is the church that has lost their first love.

Baylon is a great commercial, political and religious power. She is extremely wealthy, with abundant treasures, the praise of the entire earth. She is called a hammer and weapon of war and will break other nations to bits. When she falls, the merchants of the earth shall "weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men."

Modern Babylon as a place, has been identified as being Rome, Jerusalem or the United States. There are others but these are the most common. The great whore sits upon many waters and "all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." Babylon sits on seven mountains and Rome sits on seven hills but so does Jerusalem. We could apply mountains as being hills but then we are left with the problem of the whore sitting on many waters: "The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." This would force an international interpretation of which neither Rome or Jerusalem would apply unless it was solely in her sphere of influence. The United States could fit this description but if we are to see America as one of the beasts that Babylon rides upon, it would rule that out. If they are mountains and not hills, then the seven continents could apply and the many waters would again be in the influence. We may be able to stretch things to see the influence of Rome and Jerusalem in the world but do they reign over the kings of the earth? Not likely, for neither Rome nor Jerusalem cannot be taken as the great economic power that the merchants of the earth will lament over. Rome may be a religious power, but a military and economic one? Jerusalem could be fit here to include the great power that usury (interest) has held over the nations economically and politically, but other things have yet to fit, at least in my mind but time will make things fit as the Day of the Lord approaches. We must leave a location open for now and concentrate on her sins.

If Babylon would be a true city that we could identify, it would have to fit these descriptions of her. And we must look to the past to see where she has apostatized from for at one time "Babylon has been a golden cup in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad," now she has a "golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication." Abominations, what kind of abominations? She was "drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus;" "she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously," she dealt in "slaves, and souls of men."

What is that one power in this world that could delude men in thinking that they are doing God's work and then deal in the souls of men? What could religious people be so taken in by that God would have to send them a strong delusion for believing a lie? What is the great persecuting economic and political power that the churches could compromise so much in that they think it is anti-christian to oppose? What great ideology would make the military might of the great beasts of the world so insane that they think they are doing a God a favor by killing those that oppose it? If we cannot identify a city except maybe Rome as the past factor in being the Mother, maybe we should narrow our focus on what we can identify, like mammon and usury and the evils of unrestrained capitalism, exploitation and economic oppression and greed and materialism. We can identify the beast, let us identify the nature of the beast. Greed has been the major factor in the killing of the saints, we know how the early Jerusalem church operated and that is the greatest argument against selfish capitalism, because they gave us the example of having things in common. That was in a Christian environment for sure and not according to the totalitarian counterpart to capitalism but exactly what is Jesus coming to establish, certainly not the evils of capitalist imperialist anti-christian mammon worship. Free trade was once a good thing but has now become just a license to exploit. Let's take a good look at pointing the finger to a luke-warm fulfillment of a religious system which depicts the church in our generation as being materialistic, self satisfied and rich.

If Babylon rides upon four beasts and only one of the four is America, it would follow that Babylon is not America but rather rides upon her as one of the heads. Also the devil lives in a spiritual city, many parallels can be made in the "city of God" as a counterpart. Also mentioned are the two kingdoms that we are to choose from. This is remindful of the choice we make between Jesus and mammon. Jesus is very clear on the subject. "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.... No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon."

If Babylon the great is not a particular place today then it would be best represented by the system that it has manifested itself with, the materialism, greed, mammon worship, capitalism, avarice and the luke-warm church, the delusion that God has sent the church for believing a lie, the illiberality that is inherent in the right-wing extremism that has led the world to oppress and exploit the weak for profit and the economic One World Order that the four heads of the beast have put together. The watchword here is capitalism, the God of the world that has replaced the true Jesus with a false apostate Je$u$. This is the system that is funding the death squads in the third world to kill the saints that fight for the poor and arming the nations for the final conflict, the system that forbids to buy and sell on the world market unless the system is worshiped. It is also a view that will make enemies of those that disagree with their policies or threaten their global economic interests. That would mean that for those that worship capitalism as being the way of God is the delusion that God has sent the church for believing a lie. Of course it is not a popular position for us to take, since most Christians are part of the luke-warm materialism that supports the idea of capitalism.

One thing we need to do is stay focused. Babylon is not America but in part rides upon her and if there is a city of Babylon, we must at least recognize that it could be here somewhere in what could be considered as the capital of the world or the capital of world commerce. Babylon as a city - some have spoken of New York as the city with the stock market, the United Nations and the World Trade center. Corresponding to the final world power, America is the youngest of the nations and all nationalities have flowed into her. We take pride in America of the Statue of Liberty, "Give me your tired, your poor, ..." the history of America is saturated with the blood of our own martyrs, not the blood of others. But the One World Order is a fact today and we cannot deny that it is economic and political and having the aspect of a religion. Certainly there will be a revival and America will be a part of that but again, let us be focused, there will be judgment as well as blessings. America has drifted from her God-ordained course and we must recognize that the right-wing insanity that the United States is now guilty of has blinded Americans through pride to the fact of what is really happening in our present generation. America has funded death squads against people's movements, has protected it's economic interests through embargoes and forbidding to buy and sell in the open market, has armed any totalitarian regime where an economic advantage can be gained and is guilty of opposing anyone in the third world who stands for economic democracy, the social gospel, nationalization of natural resources, land reform or the poor in general if it threatens the freedom of multi-national exploitation.

Babylon is considered the greatest commercial profit center of our time. No other power can even be compared to its great wealth. All the nations of the world have become rich due to their trade with this entity and their merchants are known as the great men of the world. When it is destroyed world trade will be devastated and will be a great worldwide lose both financially and politically. Usury has been mentioned, it is a maxim of justice in the spiritual world that debts should be forgiven. What happens when the nations of the south, which are on the side of the Lord, defaults on the enormous debt against the north that has empowered and enslaved their nations? Think about it.

We have discussed whether Babylon is represented as the old Roman Empire and the Roman Church as Mother of modern day Babylon with the present situation as the daughter. Secondly, we have discussed whether Babylon is best represented in the materialism and world imperialistic nature that the New World Order has identified with in this generation as a revived Roman Empire. There is no question that Babylon rides upon the four heads of the beast and the America is one of the heads. We are to discuss in dialectic which would rule out America as Babylon if we understand that if Babylon rides upon the beast that has four heads, then that would mean that America is only a part of the sins of Babylon and not all of it, even if she is positioned as the notable horn.

As we stand up as the Bride of Christ we intercede for the whole world and must rise up to denounce the sins of Babylon. Even now, Babylon the Great does not look so great and those of us that bend the bow must aim these arrows of truth at the heart of her exploitation and avarice. The Queen of the South has been and will continue rising up against this generation. The wealth of Babylon has been stored up in the last days for the poor, so unite, lift up the standard upon her walls and denounce the oppression. Strengthen what remains and be ready, we no longer need to speak in terms of how soon, but act in terms of now. Not only in the economic realm but in the religious as well. "Cut off the sower from Babylon and he that handle the sickle in the time of harvest: for fear of the oppressing sword they shall turn every one to his people, and they shall flee every one to his own land." It is time to completely turn ourselves over to the true Jesus and come against the false je$u$ with its hireling preachers who make merchandise out of us. You know that there will be casualties but you also know the war has already been won. Have courage and endure to the end.

The field of battle is money and it is on the grounds of commerce that Babylon shall be judged, fall swiftly and rise again. The moneymakers of the world will bewail their losses when Babylon is spoiled, but it is not destruction. The Queen of the South will rise up to denounce this generation. When she flourishes again it will be a terrible time for the nations, including the people of God. "I sit a queen and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Babylon will cling to the spiritual connection of her heritage as the spouse of the Lord, but it is apostasy, the habitation of devils and the hold of every foul spirit. The daughter of Babylon shall be become utterly desolate. "Flee out of the midst of Babylon... Set up the standard." "It shall be wholly desolate... all you that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare no arrows... for it is the vengeance of the Lord." "As she has done, so do unto her."

Only at the Second Coming will the political domination of this world power finally be destroyed.

Look among your own churches and your own ideas that you have been taught and rely on the spirit to convict you of what you might think that is false. Go ahead and look around you but also look in yourself. Put away your pride, your denominational bias and subjectivity and look objectively. Question what you have been taught by others and especially question your own pre-conceptions. We do not have to have all the answers but we do need to question before we can find them. Trust in the Lord to teach you with His spirit to guide you into all truth. Have you been praying for this? I hope and pray that you will.

We need to pull out as many as we can out of Babylon. All over the world, people are now protesting against the exploitation and oppression of the third world countries by the economic powers of the north. Do not despise them, support them. They do not have to be hot in the spirit, maybe cold, but at least not smug and luke-warm. Jesus is again driving the moneychangers out of the court of the Gentiles. It the responsibility of the church to go and bring others into the Holy Place, even further into the Holy of Holies.

We need to have a burden for those in captivity. Many Christians are unwittingly in Babylon and have spiritually taken the mark of the beast already. The lukewarm church loves Babylon because she has made them rich; her prophets beg for money but they are being tested and tried. In order to receive the seal of God and be a part of the Bride of Christ, it is imperative in these last days to choose between the two masters quickly; it is still the Living God in His judgment of the sins of Babylon or the god of mammon. It is not too late, understand and get out of her. The time is short and the time is coming very soon that there will be no turning back. We are hated for this message and many of us will be killed but it won't be for a while. You will be called a traitor, a heretic and a false prophet for speaking the truth. You will be hated by those who have not come out of her. Have no fear, just believe and bring the Kingdom message to the poor.

Get out of her my people and do not be among those that bewail her losses but "Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets; for God has avenged you on her. And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft he be, shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in you; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in you: for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever."

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