THE COMING SIGNS OF OUR TIMES: WHO OR WHAT IS MYSTERY BABYLON?

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“I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth.” – Revelation 17:3-5

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In this 12th installment of my 14-week series on the Book of Revelation, I will delve into some of the most mysterious chapters of the entire Holy Bible. I’m going to give another preview from my book, THE COMING SIGNS OF OUR TIMES, explaining who and/or what I believe Babylon the Great to be. Is she really a physical woman? Is she symbolic of a religion, city, or country? After scouring through commentaries and books by some of the most respected theologians and Bible scholars, I wrote twenty pages detailing my conclusions in the book.

The “Babylon the Great is Fallen” chapter is the longest in my book, because I believe it needed a great deal of attention. The reason I say that is because there are many believers today who love to dub any city, state, or entity, that they dislike on the world stage as Babylon the Great. While there certainly are connections to the woman that can be found in America, Islam, and elsewhere, if you look hard enough, I wanted to make sure that I wasn’t inserting my own personal biases into God’s text when penning my book.

I read the text for what it says and then applied it to all of the most likely suspects of the past, present, and even future. I discovered that one entity on the world stage fits the description of Mystery Babylon to a tee. I bet you would like to know who or what that is, wouldn’t you? Well, I’ll give you a taste of my findings today, as you read 1/4 of the chapter, “Babylon the Great is Fallen,” from the book…

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I have spoken a great deal about Babylon all throughout this book. That’s because it is an essential piece of the Tribulation. It is the only city, besides Jerusalem, mentioned numerous times in Revelation. Babylon receiving long overdue judgment from God is so important that the LORD did not confine it to one sentence, one verse, one paragraph, or even one Chapter; but He took two Chapters and over 40 verses to detail the fall of Babylon. This is because from the earliest times of humanity on the earth it’s been both the geographical and spiritual home of everything that stands in opposition to the true God of Heaven and Earth.

Mystery, Babylon the Great and the great city of Babylon, in Chapters 17-18 of Revelation, represent spiritual and literal cities. The first Babylon is a false religious system, and the second is the city in which that religion will be headquartered. I believe literal Babylon, in the Middle East, will serve as the headquarters of the Antichrist. Before I go into detail about these latter-day Babylons, I want to present a brief history of the city that has given birth to all that has ever been anti-God in this world. It explains why God uses the name Babylon to describe the religion that’ll eventually become the One-World-Religion of Antichrist, and why He uses the name to describe the city where that religion calls home.

There are about 300 references to Babylon all throughout the Holy Bible, and none of them are good. Babylon has always been representative of sin and rebellion against the God of gods. It was the Capital of the first Godless world dictator, Nimrod; and, as I have already said, I suspect it will also be the Capital of the final world dictator, the Antichrist. Nimrod’s name means “rebel”; and the correct translation for Genesis 10:9 should read, “Nimrod the mighty hunter in defiance of the Lord.” Babylon is where Nimrod gathered all people of Earth together to build the Tower of Babel.

All of the world’s false religions have stemmed forth from the city, along with all pagan occult practices that’ve been ignorantly or willfully inserted into most world religions. Sexual immorality was widespread there. Babylon means “Gate of the gods.” I think this title implies that it is the supernatural hot spot for the coming and going of demonic spirits (who are the false gods of the world – Allah/Baal, Bel, Molech, etc.). Scripture backs up my theory, as Revelation 9 says that demons were loosed from “the great river Euphrates.” Babylon was built as a port town on the Euphrates. This could be where Satan’s seat (worldly throne) is located, and where he sets up a literal throne when Antichrist rebuilds the city for his Capital.

For all of the above reasons, it makes sense that all religions worshipping deities other than YHWH would have originated in Babylon. The One-World-Religion, brought into existence by the False Prophet, is likely birthed through Mystery Babylon. Believe it or not, this spiritual Babylon will be rooted in Christianity. But it will turn its back on the true God. It then unites all religions of the world together to worship Antichrist as God. That is why we are going to find that this mysterious “woman” is referred to as a whore and harlot, as both titles symbolize spiritual infidelity. Just who is this woman? Will she always remain a mystery? Is there any way we can know her identity today? I believe that we can.

After examining all that John reveals about her in Chapter 17, which I will break down verse-by-verse, it is hard to deny that she sounds a lot like the most powerful global denomination in all of Christianity – the Roman Catholic Church. Now, before I go any further, I want to be clear about a few things. #1: We won’t know for certain exactly who she is until the rise of Antichrist and his False Prophet during the Great Tribulation. Until then, any theory that I or other Prophecy teachers present is mere speculation. #2: I’m not anti-Catholic, and this isn’t an attack on those practicing Catholicism. There are many in my family who are Catholics, and I was a practicing Catholic for the first two decades of my life.

Whenever I say that the Catholic Church is Mystery Babylon, understand that I’m referring to the power structure of the Church (Holy See, the Vatican, and corrupt top brass). I am not referring to local churches, priests, or parishioners. I’ve had friends that are Catholic priests and deacons, and I do not believe that they have the slightest idea about the kinds of shameful things the leaders of their Church have done, are doing, or will do, which I’m going to lay out in great detail in this chapter.

I think most practicing Catholics, and small-town priests, are Christ-loving Christians like myself. They are simply ignorant to what the Holy See and Vatican are really all about. They’ve been deceived to take part in practices that are pagan in nature, and are associated with Babylonian gods of old. These fellow Christians don’t know any better. They were just raised that way. Hopefully, after reading this compelling chapter, they will know better.

Starting with the first two verses, we find this woman called “great whore that sitteth upon many waters.” The word “whore,” more often than not in the Bible, alludes to spiritual fornication. There are a few verses that speak of literal whores or harlots, but it most always describes the people of God committing adultery against their Creator. All throughout God’s Word, whenever Jews or Israel were unfaithful to YHWH, He’d say that they committed “whoredom” and they were called “harlots.” The Church (global body of Christians) is described as the Bride of Christ. Therefore, when believers or entire denominations turn their backs on Jesus, entertaining false gods or pagan practices, they are unfaithful and committing spiritual whoredom.

The word “waters” in the Bible is often used symbolically to describe nations. The words “sitteth upon” imply that she is like a ruler sitting upon a throne ruling over many nations, but she will not be a political leader. She will be a religious ruler, though the power she wields is more similar to political rule than religious. The Catholic Church has long been the most dominant religious group in the world. It has a presence in virtually every nation on the planet. It is the largest denomination in Christianity, claiming about 1.3-billion members.

She also commits fornication with “the kings of the earth.” Again, this is not describing physical relations but rather spiritual adultery. The woman will be in bed with the secular rulers of this world, and will sin against our God through her relationships with them. She will compromise on Biblical laws, morals, values, and doctrines of the Faith, in exchange for power, riches, and political influence. Throughout history, Popes have crowned or dethroned kings and the leaders of nations. The Church of Rome is the only Christian denomination that receives visits from ambassadors of nations and even Presidents. The Pope is viewed by many as the most powerful man and ruler on the earth.

In verse 3, John says that she’ll sit upon the beast (the global kingdom of Antichrist). In previous chapters, I have written about the False Prophet possibly being the Pope. I said he could bring all religions of the world together into one global body to worship the Antichrist as god. So, it makes sense that the Church of Rome would be closely allied with the Beast, and also be the dominant religion of his world system.

Next, we read the beast will be “full of names of blasphemy.” I believe this alludes not only to Antichrist being called by names and titles that are exclusive to God and Jesus, but also to names of false gods that will be incorporated into the One-World-Religion. For instance, Allah (Baal), Buddha, Shiva, and many other pagan gods of the world. We are then told that the beast will have “seven heads and ten horns.” The angel reveals later in the Chapter that seven heads are “seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.” We also learn the ten horns will be “ten kings” who receive power during the Antichrist’s global reign.

The ten kings, quite possibly Islamic (Daniel 11:39), hate and destroy the Roman Church – specifically Vatican City. They will topple and burn all its ancient structures and statues that bear any semblance to the Christian Faith. During the second half of the Tribulation, Christianity and Judaism will both be public enemy number one in the Antichrist’s world order. I suspect the absolute desolation of Vatican City, which could serve as headquarters for the One-World-Religion, will be what causes the False Prophet’s religion to be transferred from the Mystery Babylon in Rome unto the literal Babylon in the Mideast. I suggest you read Zechariah 5:7-11, which says that the woman is carried to Shinar (Babylon).

In verse 4 of Revelation 17, John describes the woman being “arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.” The Catholic Encyclopedia says that the color of a “Cappa Magna” cloak, worn by bishops, is made of purple wool. When worn by cardinals, it is scarlet watered silk. The “Cassock” or “Soutane” robe (the official garb of the Roman Catholic clergy) is purple in color for bishops and other prelates and scarlet for cardinals. This is a very convincing reason for the Church of Rome being Mystery Babylon. While there are some Prophecy teachers who say she is Islam, USA, or even Jerusalem, none of these have specific connections to the colors worn by the woman. Only Catholicism does.

As for her being “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls,” look at the garb worn by the Pope and instruments used in church services. They are decorated with gold, jewels, precious stones, and pearls. The Roman Church is by far one of the richest institutions in the entire world – and it’s “a church,” mind you, so that raises a red flag for me.

John goes on to say she has a “golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.” Could this refer to the golden chalice held up during every Communion ceremony of Catholic Mass? Possibly. But I’m not too dogmatic about it. What we need to pay attention to is not so much the cup itself, but what John says is inside it – “ABOMINATIONS and filthiness.” These two things go hand in hand with the title of the woman that is given in the next verse:

Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth

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That’s only about a quarter of my book’s chapter on Mystery Babylon. If you want to read the other fifteen pages about her, and her many other connections to the Roman Catholic Church, then go grab the book today on Amazon by clicking on the image below. If you’re not a fan of shopping on Amazon, you can also grab my books on Barnes and Noble, Booksamillion, Walmart, or at many other online book retailers globally.

Next week, I’ll be teaching on the Battle of Armageddon and Christ’s return; so, don’t miss it! Until He comes to rapture us out of this mess of a world, may God bless and keep all of you who trust and hope in Him always. Keep looking up!

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“Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.” – Revelation 18:2

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