Who is the Great Babylon (part 7)
Now we come to Revelation 18, an entire chapter describing the Great Babylon. I was raised on the teachings of J.N. Darby and Watchman Nee. They taught based on this chapter that the whore of Babylon was the Vatican. This is so easy to debunk today that we might be tempted to question if these brothers were truly scholars of the Bible. However, we need to remember they both taught this prior to World War 2. At their time the US was not any of the things described. They didn't have multinational corporations, they didn't have movies, or TV, they were not a superpower. As a result the only two plausible candidates that they could see were the Vatican and England.
18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was made bright with his glory. 2 And he called out with a mighty voice,
“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!
She has become a dwelling place for demons,
a haunt for every unclean spirit,
a haunt for every unclean bird,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable beast.
It was perfectly reasonable at the time of Darby or Watchman Nee to interpret this as either the Vatican or England. However, recently we have seen the most graphic demonic displays at award shows for TV, for Movies, and for the Music industry. We have seen them at the Superbowl and at rock concerts. We saw them in the Biden administration and even at the Whitehouse. Today there is absolutely no doubt this can refer to the US as well. Yes, the coronation of King Charles revealed they too were a dwelling place for demons and the Vatican can also be pointed to for a number of reasons to say they are a dwelling place for demons.
3 For all nations have drunk
the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality,
and the kings of the earth have committed immorality with her,
and the merchants of the earth have grown rich from the power of her luxurious living.”
This was true in the past of England, but no more. This also is not a reference to the Vatican. Say what you want about the Catholic church, it is not known for luxurious living. Yes, the Vatican might, but the merchants of the earth have not grown rich by selling things to the Vatican. The United States is the single biggest consumer nation in the world. The merchants of the earth have gotten rich from the luxurious living of the Americans. Also, the Americans have the highest standard of living on earth. True, there are billionaires and rich people in Europe, China and the Middle East. But the vast majority of people in those countries are not rich and do not have luxurious living. In the 1970s I went to England. Prior to that I never understood why they said American cars were big. Once I got to England I was like "oh! Now I get it". In 1987 I went to Taiwan. When I got there everyone in the country was riding bicycles. Within two or three years no one was, they were now all riding scooters and motorcycles. They got rich by selling to their number one customer, the US.
4 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
“Come out of her, my people,
lest you take part in her sins,
lest you share in her plagues;
5 for her sins are heaped high as heaven,
and God has remembered her iniquities.
This description describes a country where God's people are dwelling. I am a Gideon, we are present in 200 countries and we have brothers and sisters from those countries come and speak to us all the time. Last year a brother from Croatia, a country I would think of as Greek Orthodox in religion, revealed that less than 1% of the country is Evangelical Christian. I have travelled to a number of other countries outside of the US. Prior to my travels I couldn't understand why people call the US "a Christian nation" when I got to the other countries, then I understood. I have been to first world countries, not talking about third world or developing countries, first world countries where Bribery and Prostitution are both considered a normal part of the governments function. I'm not making this up, there are 1st world countries where the brothel's are government run, and bribery is called "a hidden tax" and justified because by not revealing how much businesses must pay to set up shop they encourage more foreigners to invest. What we consider corruption they consider normal. Not only so, but I could never understand why so many Chinese would want to send their kids to the US to school when international tests showed the US was far behind them. When I got there I learned. Comparing US schools to Taiwan schools is apples to oranges, we don't know that but they do.
6 Pay her back as she herself has paid back others,
and repay her double for her deeds;
mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed.
Can every nation on earth say that Taiwan has paid them back? No. How about Israel? No. England was an imperial power and so I suppose you could say this about England back in the day, but whatever England did, it pales compared to the US and the CIA. For example, Covid19 was made in a bioweapons lab that was funded by the Americans. It was released from that lab and has caused far more death in China than any other country, and now China is blamed for the pandemic. However, the only ones to profit from it were American pharmaceutical companies. I suspect that the pandemic was really a bioweapon, it was the start of WW3, and the blame for it will ultimately be on the US. The US has been a puppet master for years and the list of atrocities they have committed against other countries is so long it would be impossible to list.
7 As she glorified herself and lived in luxury,
so give her a like measure of torment and mourning,
since in her heart she says,
‘I sit as a queen,
I am no widow,
and mourning I shall never see.’
There is no way that is referring to either Russia or China. The horrors those two countries have experienced are so fresh that many people in those countries lived through them. Any prosperity they are experiencing now is very new to them. The US is the only country that could claim no attacks on their soil from foreign armies since 1812. Of course that was until 911. This cannot possibly refer to England which has been totally humbled since WW2. This cannot possibly refer to Israel. Can you imagine anyone in Israel being so arrogant as to say "mourning I shall never see"? That is absurd.
8 For this reason her plagues will come in a single day,
death and mourning and famine,
and she will be burned up with fire;
for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.”
Many of the Jews in Israel experienced the fires of the Holocaust and WW2. China experienced horrific famine, Russia has seen incredible mourning. There is no other superpower that can claim to be the glory of Earth's kingdoms other than the US that this word can apply to.
9 And the kings of the earth, who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her, will weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning. 10 They will stand far off, in fear of her torment, and say,
“Alas! Alas! You great city,
you mighty city, Babylon!
For in a single hour your judgment has come.”
This is not saying every king, only those that committed sexual immorality with the US. No one would say this about China or Russia or even England. They certainly would not say this about Israel. Look, the UN is virtually unanimous in condemning Israel for fighting back against Hamas who brutally murdered them, took hostages, did horrific acts and shoots mortars into Israel all the time.