Babylon in the end times. Babylon in the end times and the two chapters that primarily deal with this subject would be Revelations 17 and 18 that deal pretty much exclusively with the subject of Babylon. Before we get into this, let's go ahead and back up to Daniel chapter number two just to get a little bit of a basis here and a foundational understanding of Babylon.
Now, first of all, let me say this the city of Babylon, meaning the literal city that we would read about in ancient history, that we would read about in the Bible, that city no longer exists today. It is completely gone. It was actually completely buried under the Earth until the 20th century when archaeologists came there in the 20th century and there was no sign that the city was even there, but they said this is where it should be. This is where it should be according to our information and then they started digging and then they found the ruins of Babylon. They excavated it. They began to restore it somewhat and so forth. Then Saddam Hussein actually attempted to rebuild the city and make it an actual inhabited city once again, but that was cut short because of the Gulf War invasion and so forth, the Iraq War.
The bottom line is Babylon the city no longer exists, and it has not existed for many hundreds of years. When we're reading about Babylon in Revelations 17 and 18, we're not talking about the literal city of Babylon just like we're not talking about a literal prostitute. When the Bible talks about the great whore and when it talks about Babylon, these are basically symbolic names to give unto a certain place that is not the literal Babylon that no longer exists but another place that's just being referred to as Babylon.
You see, when prophecies come thousands of years before the events at hand or hundreds of years in advance, they don't give the actual place names. They don't give that much detail because then you'd end up with a self-fulfilling prophecy. They actually would speak in cryptic language where they would just call this place Babylon. Now God does this throughout the Bible. For example, he often calls the city of Jerusalem, Sodom. When the children of Israel had gotten away from the Lord and gone into all kinds of wickedness and sin and perversion, he actually called them Sodom. In the book of Isaiah he said, "Hear ye this, ye rulers of Sodom", and he's talking to the rulers at Jerusalem. He keeps referring to Israel, Judah, Jerusalem as Sodom repeatedly in the Old Testament not that it was literally Sodom because Sodom had ceased to exist.
Sodom was destroyed with fire and brimstone as we wish God would destroy this filthy gay pride parade that's happening today in Phoenix. Anyway the point is it was gone, but God just used that name to refer to places that were like Sodom. It'd be like if you called San Francisco, Sodom, or if you refer to wicked cities after their counterparts in the Bible, that's something that God does frequently. Now if we go back to the book of Daniel, we will find Daniel receiving a vision about Babylon, the literal Babylon, which was not just a city but it was also a nation. It was also a great world empire.
Now, let's just look at the scripture, first of all, in Daniel chapter 2 beginning in verse 32. Because if we're going to find out what the end times Babylon is, we need to find out what the original Babylon was like. Why would God call Jerusalem, Sodom? Well, we go back and look at what Sodom was like, and then we realize that that's why he's calling them Sodom. If we want to know who he refers to as Babylon, we have to figure out what Babylon was like. Let's look at Daniel chapter 2 verse 32. This is the image that Nebuchadnezzar dreams about. Let's read. It'll make sense once we get into it.
Verse 32, "This image's head was of fine gold." This is a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had, "His breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay. Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. The stone that smote the image became a great mountain and filled the whole Earth. This is the dream, and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king. 'Thou, king.'" Now this is speaking to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, "Thou, king, art a king of kings. For the God of Heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory, and wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field, and the fouls of the Heaven hath he given into thine hand and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold."
This is a kingdom that has great scope. It's a world-wide kingdom. It's a kingdom that we would call today a superpower, a world power, dominating the world, dominating men and beast alike. He says, "You are the head of gold." Then he moves down the image because of course the image went from gold, to silver, to brass, to iron, to iron mixed with clay. Four segments is what the Bible refers to this as because the iron mixed with clay is just an extension of the iron segment. Let's keep reading. He says, "Thou art this head of gold", verse 39, "After thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee and another third kingdom of brass which shall bear rule offer all the Earth." Notice what's being emphasized, "bearing rule over all the Earth."
"The fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron, forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things and as iron that breaketh all these shall it break in pieces and bruise. Whereas thou sawest the feet and toes part of potter's clay and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided, but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay. As the toes of the feet were part of iron and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong and partly broken. Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men, but they shall not cleave one to another even as iron is not mixed with clay. In the days of these kings shall the God of Heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. The kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all kingdoms. It shall stand forever."
Of course we know that kingdom is the Lord Jesus Christ and his great kingdom that will destroy the works of the devil. He will have an everlasting kingdom. Now, when we look at these sections of this image, the gold, the silver, the brass, and the iron, it is not a mystery what these four kingdoms are because, first of all, God comes right out and tells us that Babylon is that head of gold. Then the next kingdom are the Medes and the Persians, which is why it has the two arms there, and it's the kingdom that God said was inferior to the Babylonian Empire. The Medes and the Persians, Darius the Medes, Cyrus the Persian, that's what we're talking about. Then after that we know that the third kingdom is the kingdom of Grecia. The Bible defines this for us.
If you would flip over to Daniel chapter ten, we get the names of the kingdoms of Persia and the kingdoms of Grecia. Then the fourth kingdom is not explicitly given by name in the book of Daniel simply because the fact that again it's further out. God doesn't name things that are that far out in the future. He only names that which is close to being at hand. The reason that we know that the fourth kingdom is the Roman Empire is that, number one, the book of Daniel talks about the prince that shall come of that kingdom destroying the city of Jerusalem and laying it waste after the Messiah comes and that's exactly what we know happened. In 70 A. D the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and then they further decimated it in a 135 A. D.
Not only that we also know that Rome is that fourth kingdom because there's been a passing of the torch here in this passage where the Persians took over exactly where the Babylonians left off. They defeated the Babylonians, and they picked up right where they left out. Then Alexander the Great with the Grecians he defeated the Persians and picked up right where the Persians left off. Well, the question is: Who picked up right where the Greeks left off with world empire, with global conquest? Obviously the Roman Empire that was that iron empire that broke in pieces and so forth.
Evidence of that is also found in Luke chapter 2 verse 1. You don't have to turn there because you probably know this by heart once I start to quote it, "It came to pass in those days that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed." That gives you an idea of the scope of the Roman Empire where Caesar Augustus is making a decree that says that all the world should be taxed in the time that Jesus Christ came to this Earth. There's really no meaningful controversy here about what the fourth kingdom is. It's clearly Rome that's what pretty much everybody who has studied the Bible throughout history has agreed to.
I know a lot of people now are coming up with a lot of weird, half-baked theories about how it's Islam or the Ottoman Empire hundreds and hundreds of years later. There are a few problems with that. First of all, the Islamic Empire did not rule over the whole Earth never has, never will so that doesn't fit the bill. We mean obviously the civilized world, the known world, the world that matters as far as geopolitics are concerned. Not only that but the Islamic Empire did not pick up where the Greeks left off. No, the Romans picked up where the Greeks left off, and there's a continuity in this image. It's one statue, it's one image, that just goes directly from Babylon, Medes and Persians, Greeks to the Romans. Some people have said, "Well, but the Romans never conquered Babylon." That's not relevant, number one, but number two, yes, they did.
I've seen people showing a map lately where they say here's the Roman Empire and it's just Europe. I could show you a hundred other maps showing it including the whole Mesopotamia and Babylon because the Roman Empire lasted for so many centuries that there were different parts of land that they occupied and then didn't occupy. Eventually they weren't reigning over Babylon because Babylon stopped being important. They did reign over Babylon for hundreds of years. There were times when they did dominate that region. That's a misguided map that people are showing because they just pick one moment in time when they didn't control that region. Even if they didn't control that region, not relevant. That region stopped being very relevant. What happened was Rome picked up right where Greece left off as being the world power.
Now let's look at Daniel chapter 10 where Persia and Greece are actually named. We don't have time to look at all the scriptures in Daniel about Persia and Greece and Rome and everything like that, but let's just look at this one here in Daniel 10 verse 12. It says, "Then said he to me, 'Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that thou hast set thine heart to understand and to chasten thyself before thy God thy words were heard, and I am come for thy words." Now who's speaking here? This is the angel Gabriel, and he's speaking to Daniel. He's giving him understanding. He says this, "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me one and twenty days, but lo Michael, one of the chief princes", this is Michael. We would know him as Michael the archangel.
"Michael one of the chief princes came to help me, and I remained there with the kings of Persia. Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days for yet the vision is for many days." What in world is that about? Let me just explain really quick. Daniel had been praying. The angel Gabriel is coming to Daniel to bring him the answer to his prayer, but the Bible says that the angel Gabriel was withstood by the prince of Persia whoever that is. He's fighting against the prince of Persia. Michael is helping him in the battle against the prince of Persia. Then after the prince of Persia, he says the prince of Grecia is coming and there's this battle going on.
Jump down if you would to verse 20 of the same chapter. "Then said he, 'Knowest thou wherefore I come unto thee? Now will I return to fight with the prince of Persia. When I am gone forth, lo the prince of Grecia shall come. I will show thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth, and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince." Now you say what is it? Michael your prince, the prince of Persia, the prince of Grecia who are these princes? Well, keep your finger there and flip over to Ephesians chapter 6. Ephesians chapter 6 a very famous scripture here that will shed some light on this strange battling and wrangling that we see going on in Daniel chapter 10 where Gabriel and Michael are fighting against the prince of Persia and the prince of Grecia.
Look at Ephesians chapter number 6 verse 12 the famous verse the Bible says, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood but against", what, "principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." God is telling us in the New Testament that there is a spiritual battle going on, a spiritual wrestling, and that wrestling is with principalities. It's with powers. Who are these principalities? They are the rulers of the darkness of this world. They are and represent spiritual wickedness in high places. Now, where are we going with this? What I want to show you here is that whether it's Babylon or Persia or Grecia or whether it's the Roman Empire, it is demonic.
There are demons that are behind these leaders. There are devils that are actually calling the shots and actually motivating this globalist conquest. It's not just something that came into a human being's mind like an Alexander the Great or a Julius Caesar. No, these men are motivated and pushed on by demons, by devils, literal minions of Satan himself. The Bible even says if you flip over to Ephesians chapter 2 he talks about those that are not saved in verse one, "You hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world according to the", what, "the prince." Satan is called the prince of the power of the air, "the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience."
There was a spirit at work in Babylon, a spirit at work with Persia and the Greeks and with the Romans. That same spirit and demonic influence was present in all of these empires. They were actually run by Satan. That's why Satan is called the god of this world. It talks about the god of this world blinding the minds of them that believe not. Of course little g, god of this world, this world's ruler who they look to not the God of the Bible. We see here that these empires, these world powers of Daniel's vision, were all demonic. They were all being ruled over by Satan. The prince of Persia, the prince of Grecia, the prince of the power of the air these are demons literally. Now with that in mind let's go to Revelation chapter number 17.
Revelations chapter number 17 so what I wanted to show you is that, first of all, Babylon was a literal place. It was a globalist world empire. It was a place that was basically replaced by Persia, which was replaced by Greece, which was replaced by Rome, but it's all the same continuous work of Satan. It's being represented by what a great image. Now what do we know an image as? A graven image what do we call that in the Bible? It's a great idol. One thing that you'll notice when you study Babylon in scripture is idolatry is a major feature of Babylon. When I say idolatry, I don't mean that in a figurative sense I mean literal graven images.
If you study Jeremiah 50 and 51, which are the two big Old Testament chapters on Babylon and the destruction of Babylon that are parallel with Revelation 18, the thing that keeps coming up in Jeremiah 50 and in Jeremiah 51 is graven images. It talks about they're just going crazy after their idols and their graven images. It keeps coming up. That's why God used a graven image to even represent this kingdom because it was characterized by idolatry in the literal sense. It was a world-wide conquesting type empire. That's what Babylon was. That's what Persia was, Greece, Rome.
The other thing I want to show you is that Babylon is not limited to a specific geography because we see the seat of power moving. First, the power was centralized in Babylon, but then it's moved to Shushan. If you were living in the days of Ester, if you're living in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, you would see the center of globalist power not as being Babylon but as being in Shushan or as modern scholars call it Susa, the Bible calls it Shushan, as being the next capital city. Obviously Rome is a completely different geographic location than Babylon, but it's part of the same system, the same spirit. The same idea of Babylon is continued on.
Now let's look at Revelation 17, and let's actually get a scriptural understanding of this by just going verse by verse through chapter 17 and 18. Before we do though, let's go to chapter 16 because chapter 16 sets the stage because we want to know when is the destruction of Babylon taking place? This chapter 17 and 18 burning with fire of Babylon when does it happen? Well, chapter 16 makes it clear that it happens after the pouring out of the 7th vial. This is at the very end of God's wrath, the last thing. The 7 trumpets have sounded. The 7 vials of God's wrath have been poured out. This is the final thing that happens before Christ comes on the white horse at Armageddon. This is the last thing. Look at that in chapter 16 verse 17.
"The 7th angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of Heaven from the throne saying, 'It is done.' There were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the Earth so mighty an earthquake and so great. The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine and the fierceness of his wrath." When does Babylon come in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine and the fierceness of his wrath? This is after the 7th vial. This is the last thing. He's poured out his wrath everywhere else, and then Babylon comes to remembrance.
Now here's the funny thing about this verse. There's this half-baked theory going around that Jerusalem is Babylon, and it's a foolish and ridiculous theory. I'd never even heard of it until the last few years. Honestly it defies so many scriptures. I would pretty much accept virtually any theory of who Babylon is before I would ever swallow this Jerusalem is Babylon thing. Here's part of the reason why. The big evidence that they have because... Of course Jerusalem in no way resembles Babylon, or Persia, or Greece, or Rome, or any of these empires. Their big evidence is they're both called great city. Here's the problem with that. That's called circumstantial evidence because there are hundreds and hundreds of great cities, thousands.
Even in the Bible there are a whole bunch of cities. There's the city called Resen. Who knows the biblical city of Resen? Yes, barely anybody, but that's called a great city. Also Nineveh is referred to as that great city. Gibeon is referred to as a great city. Great city just means it's a big city. Great is usually referring to size or importance in the Bible. It's just an important ... a big city. Here's what's so funny about that they base their argument primarily on great city, great city. Here's the problem with that. In the book of Revelation, Jerusalem is referred to as the great city. For example, in Revelation chapter 11 it's referred to as the great city, the holy city, the beloved city. There's no question about that, that Jerusalem in Revelation 11 is called the great city.
Here's what's funny about that. Look down at this verse in your Bible verse 19. It says, "the great city." What's the great city? Jerusalem. In the book of Revelation the great city is Jerusalem. "The great city was divided into three parts. The cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine and the fierceness of his wrath." Here's my question. How can Babylon and the great city be the same place when they're mentioned in the same verse as clearly being two totally separate places and totally separate events? Hello, is anybody home? "The great city is divided in three parts", that's Jerusalem. Then, "The cities of the nations fell", different event. Then, "Great Babylon comes in remembrance before God", what did he just forget about it one phrase ago? "Divides into three parts", and whoops forgot to judge ... Doesn't even make sense. This verse would be completely ridiculous if the great city Jerusalem is the same as the great Babylon. It's a totally separate place and event here. If you don't see it, I don't know what to tell you.
Anyway go to Revelation 17 verse number 1. Let's go through this verse by verse. "Babylon Of The End Times" is the title of the sermon this morning. It says in verse 1, "There came one of the 7 angels which had the 7 vials and talked with me saying unto me, 'Come hither. I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters with whom the kings of the Earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the Earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.'" This great whore the Bible tells a few verses later is named Babylon. It's named Mystery Babylon The Great.
The Bible says here in verse 3, "He carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy having 7 heads and 10 horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. Upon her forehead was a name written, 'Mystery Babylon The Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the Earth.'" The first thing that we see about this whore or Mystery Babylon is that she's basically decked in very costly, wealthy, decadent apparel, gold, silver, precious stones very flashy, which fits in with her picture as a whore because a godly woman is supposed to be in modest apparel not this flashy expensive clothing. The Bible says that a godly woman should not be clothed in costly array or expensive clothing.
This great whore is clothed in purple and scarlet. Purple and scarlet throughout the Bible have to do with wealth and riches. It's not that they're bad colors. Nothing wrong with purple and scarlet, but they have to do with wealth. If you go back to the story of the virtuous woman in Proverbs 31, it talks about the fact that her family she's making them garments that are silk, and purple, and scarlet. It mentions those things because those are nice things. She's providing nice things by working hard with her hands and making nice clothing. This is showing great riches, great wealth, but not only great riches and wealth great sin. In specific we're talking about sexual sin here. We're talking about fornication. We're talking about filthiness in that area.
The Bible says in addition in verse number 6, "I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus, and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration." Not only is Babylon one that is very rich and very decadent and very morally lose and filled with fornication, but it is also one that is drunken with the blood of the saints basically killing God's people. We're talking about killing the saved, killing those who are martyred in the name of Jesus.
Verse 7, "The angel said unto me, 'Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carrieth here which hath the 7 heads and 10 horns.'" God's not trying to leave us in the dark here where we have to wonder what this all means. He says, "Don't be amazed. Let me tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast which carrieth her." The Bible says in verse 8, "The beast that thou sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. They that dwell on the Earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is."
Now when it says "was and is not and yet is", "was" means it was alive. "Is not" means it's no longer alive. "Yet it is" means it's basically come back from the dead. It's still around even though it died. I don't have time to go into it, but this is of course referring to the anti-Christ where he receives a deadly wound. His deadly wound is healed, and all the world wonders after the beast same language in Revelation 13. Let's keep reading. "Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth, and there are 7 kings, 5 are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space. The beast that was and is not even he is the 8th and is of the 7 and goeth into perdition." Now, this may seem very complicated, but I'm going to break this down to you and make this very simple. I believe that if you'll just pay attention for the next few minutes, you're going to understand these verses because they're really not as complicated as they first appear.
Now, first of all, let me point out the scripture that says that the 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth. Now throughout history people have pointed to that. Pretty much every Baptist church I've ever gone to, any Baptist that I've ever heard about throughout history has usually identified the 7 mountains. They said, "Well, Rome is the city on 7 hills." Now I believe that is a valid interpretation. I believe that is a truth that's here on the surface in the sense that Rome is known as the city of 7 hills. Now if you go on Wikipedia, there's list of cities that claim to be built on 7 hills, and there are 88 of them I think or 92 of them or something. That's not unique to Rome. Except what is unique to Rome is that Rome has been known as the city of 7 hills. That's what it's actually been referred to as throughout history.
Now here's the thing about that we already know that Rome is associated with Babylon. There's no question about that because of the fact that that image had that fourth section of iron which was represented by the Roman Empire. At Christ's first coming who was the global power when Jesus was born in Bethlehem's manger? We know that it was Rome at that time. There's really no question about the connection between Rome and Babylon. Here's the thing that is not the only interpretation of this verse. In fact, I don't even think it's the primary interpretation, but it is there. I'm not saying that people who've preached that are wrong. I think they were right. I think that they're missing something even bigger and that is the fact that the Bible says the 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth.
Now if these were just literal mountains, how could one of these mountains be wounded or one of the heads of the beasts receive a deadly wound? If you think of a head, what does a head really refer to? Something that's in charge, the authority. If we talked about Christ being the head of the church, we mean that Christ has authority over the church. If we talked about heads of state, heads of the United States, heads of England, the head of Mexico, the head of this corporation, we're talking about the boss. We're talking about leadership here. When the Bible says the 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth, you can't ignore the next phrase, and there are 7 kings. Does everybody see that? There are 7 heads that are the 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth, and there are 7 kings.
Now keep your finger here, and go back to Daniel chapter 2 because I'm going to show you that the word "mountain" in the Bible is repeatedly used to refer to a kingdom or empire. We call it an empire. The Bible calls them a kingdom. Mountain is referring to a kingdom which makes sense to say there are 7 kingdoms and 7 kings. It makes perfect sense. Let me show you the evidence though. Don't take my word for it. Daniel chapter 2 verse 34 we already read this story but it says, "Though sawest till that a stone was cut out and without hands which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay and break them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold broken to pieces together and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors, and the wind carried them away that no place was found for them. The stone that smote the image became a great mountain and fill the whole Earth." What is that stone that smote the image? It's Jesus. Jesus the chief cornerstone.
The stone that the builders rejected the same has become the head of the corner. It talked about how Jesus would crush in pieces and destroy and break them like with a rod of iron. Jesus was that stone. When he crushes the devil's kingdom, when he crushes that image, it says that stone became a great mountain that filled the whole Earth. We said that's the millennial reign of Christ, Christ's kingdom over the whole Earth. Christ's global kingdom is that great mountain. It's represented by a mountain. Let's look at it specifically in regard to Babylon. Flip over to Jeremiah chapter number 51. Just a few pages to the left in your Bible. Jeremiah chapter 51 and verse 25 this is a prophecy that is spoken to Babylon. God calls Babylon a mountain.
Look at Jeremiah 51:25, "'Behold I am against thee, destroying mountain', saith the Lord, 'which destroyest all the Earth. I will stretch out mine hand upon thee and roll thee down from the rocks and will make thee a burnt mountain.'" He's talking to Babylon and saying, "You're a mountain. You're a destroying mountain. I'm going to make you a burnt mountain." We're going to talk about later in the sermon how he's going to destroy Babylon with fire. We can see multiple places in the Bible even in the context of Babylon, both of these chapters are in the context of Babylon, where a kingdom is referred to as a mountain. An empire is referred to as a mountain. With that in mind go back to Revelation 17 now. Revelation chapter number 17 we see this verse again. I think it's going to come clear now when you read it. Let me find my place here.
The Bible says in verse number 9, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom. The 7 heads are 7 mountains on which the woman sitteth. There are 7 kings, 5 are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he must continue a short space." Now what are these 7 kings? Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet come. Well, here's the thing when we read Daniel, we're getting it from Daniel's perspective. Daniel is living during the Babylonian Empire. He says to Nebuchadnezzar, "Thou art that head of gold." That's where the prophecy starts, but were there other world powers before Babylon? Were there other great kingdoms that the Bible emphasizes as being world powers before that? The answer is yes. There were two major world powers that the Bible emphasizes over and over again and that would be Egypt and Assyria because before Babylon it was Assyria.
Before the city of Babylon it was the city of Nineveh that was the great destroying mountain, that was the great empire that crushed in pieces, that was invading Egypt, invading all over and dominating that part of the world. If you take these kingdoms Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, now you have six, don't you? You have the 4 of Daniel and then the 2 that predated biblically Egypt and Assyria. Well, look at John's perspective here. He says that there are 7 kings, 5 are fallen. Now what are the 5 that are fallen? That would be Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. One is, that's the Roman Empire. He's living during the Roman Empire. The other is not yet come. There's a future 7th kingdom that is after the Roman Empire, a 7th kingdom that's coming, where the whore will operate.
Look what the Bible says about the 7th kingdom. It says, "There are 7 kings, 5 are fallen and one is and the other is not yet come. When he cometh, he must continue a short space." Is the 7th kingdom going to last as long as the first 6 did? It's only going to last a very short time. Look what the 8th is because the Bible says, "The beast that was and is not even he is the 8th", but watch this, "and is of the 7th." Get the picture, folks. We have kingdoms with 7 kings. Who is the king associated with Babylon, the literal Babylon? Nebuchadnezzar, right? The king associated with Greece would be Alexander the Great, etc. We have these great kings and great kingdoms. Six of them have already been in our past. In John's day one of them was present for him. For us we have these 6 past kingdoms, then we have a 7th kingdom that continues for a short time, and then the 8th king is one of the 7. He's of the 7.
What happens is the 7th kingdom is going to be an end times global world empire. The 7th king is going to be the man of sin, who is killed, and then when he is brought back, that's the 8th. That's the anti-Christ. He's not the anti-Christ until he comes from Hell. He who comes from Hell is the anti-Christ. First, there is going to be a normal man, a normal world leader, a man of sin, that man is the 7th king of the 7th kingdom. He will die and then the 8th will come who is of the 7 because it's basically that guy that's being ... whether it's just Satan possessing his body or we don't know exact details but we know he dies and comes back somehow whether he's alive or undead whatever you want to look at it with that. Do you see how this scripture comes clear once you see that?
"The 7 kingdoms upon which the whore sitteth", let me ask you this does the whore stay put? Does the whore stay in one place? No the whore sits upon 7 mountains. The whore even at the very beginning of chapter in verse 1 said, "Come hither", halfway through. "I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters." The great whore sits upon many waters and what are the many waters? Well look at verse 15, "He saith unto me, 'The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues." Is the whore restricted to one nation, one tongue, one group of people, one nationality? "It's just the Jews. It's just Jerusalem." No, many waters, many tongues, many nations, many peoples where the whore operates. The whore is one who moves.
Here's the thing the Bible says of the whorish woman in Proverbs, "Her feet abide not in her house. Now is she without she lieth and wait at every corner." What does the woman say about the whorish woman in Proverbs it said, "Lest thou shouldest ponder the path of life her ways are movable that thou canst not know them." This is why a whore is a perfect representation of this evil spirit, this Mystery Babylon woman. She is depicted as a whore. Look it's not a literal prostitute folks. You can't just go find some toothless crack whore. "I found the great whore. Here she is." It's symbolic. Babylon is like unto a whore.
What are some of the similarities between Babylon and a whore? Well, Babylon is like a whore because she's all decked with cheap ornaments. I don't mean cheap as in the cost. I mean cheap as in they don't have moral value. They don't have real ethical value. It's just glim and glam, and gold and silver, and precious stones of pearl. The Bible says that a meek and quiet spirit is of greater price than all that stuff. We see just flashy like a whore, movable like a whore. We'll get into more similarities why it's likened unto a whore. Of course just the morality of a whore, right? Let's continue in the passage here. We want to keep reading the scripture because we're going through Revelation chapter 17. The Bible says in verse 12 ... This is I believe where we left off. Yes, verse 12 it says, "The 10 horns which thou sawest are 10 kings which have received no kingdom as yet." Are these guys around? Do they have any kingdom in the days of John on Patmos?
"These guys have received no kingdom as yet, but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast." These are 10 kings or 10 great world leaders that are going to give all the power to the beast. They have one mind. They're in unity with the beast, with the anti-Christ. It says in verse number 13, "These have one mind and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. For he is Lord of lords and King of kings, and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful. He saith unto me, 'The waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues, and the 10 horns which thou sawest upon the beast these shall hate the whore.'" These are 10 literal men, 10 leaders, whoever the whore is, whoever Babylon is they hate the whore.
It says, "They shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked and shall eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill his will and to agree and give their kingdom unto the beast until the words of God shall be fulfilled." Now here's the thing in Revelation 18 we're about to read about Babylon being burned with fire. Revelation 17 is setting the stage for that explaining to us the background and who Babylon is. Now the Bible says here that the ten kings are the ones that are going to burn Babylon with fire. When we read in chapter 18 about Babylon being burned with fire and being made desolate, who's doing it according to the Bible? The 10 kings which have one mind with who? Who are they united with? Do they have different views from the anti-Christ? Are they doing their own thing and the anti-Christ is doing his thing? No, these have one mind. They give him his power and his strength. He rules by their permission. They hate the whore. Who is it that's going to destroy Babylon? According to the Bible here it's the 10 kings, the coalition of 10 kings will destroy Babylon.
Then the Bible tells us in the final verse of the chapter, "The woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the Earth." Now here's the thing about that that is not a specific city. Because this woman dwells on many waters, many tongues, many multitudes, she's movable. In fact, I'm not going to turn there for sake of time, but in Zechariah 5 this woman is represented as being carried by the angels from one location to another and being planted in Babylon and set upon a base in Babylon, meaning that she was somewhere else before she was in Babylon. Where was she? Nineveh, Assyria, before that she was in Egypt. This great city which reigneth over the kings of the Earth is not the same in 2016 as it was in John's day, and it's not the same in John's day as it was in Daniel's day.
In Daniel's day did Rome reign over the kings of the Earth? Was Rome that great city that reigned over the kings of the Earth? No, that was Babylon. What about in John's day? The woman is that great city that reigneth over the kings of the Earth. John's looking at that. It's Rome. That's the great city. Here's the thing how would you have looked at it in Ester's day? It's Shushan. It's the kingdom of Persia that rules over a 127 provinces from Ethiopia to India that's the globalist world power. This is not the same place in all generations. It is movable. That's very clear. Now did I skip a verse in Revelation 17? Did I skip anything? Nothing up the sleeve. We looked at every verse, and to me the picture comes clear when we study this scripture.
Let me just park it here for a minute before we get into Revelation 18 which is where the rubber really meets the road. Let's just talk about Revelation 17 for a minute and what we've looked at in Daniel and what we see from Jeremiah 50 and 51. Let's talk about idolatry for a minute. We're not just talking about some kind of a figurative ... Well, covetousness is idolatry. Yes, but the Bible is real clear about graven images. Babylon is represented by a graven image. All throughout Jeremiah 50 and 51 repeatedly graven images and idolatry are brought up. That is one of the major characteristics of Babylon, historical Babylon, biblical Babylon.
Now, let's talk about some of the other kingdoms. Egypt, Assyria, Greece, Rome, Persia guess what all these things have in common, all these kingdoms? The same religion, the same type of religion. That mystery religion, that mystery pagan religion, goes back to the Tower of Babel which is where Babylon gets it's name. That mystery religion of the Tower of Babel is carried through in these empires which is why if you look at gods and goddesses they are the same, same demons just given a new name, just repackaged. For example, if we look at Jupiter of the Romans, he's Zeus of the Greeks. If we look at Poseidon of the Greeks, he's Neptune of the Romans. When we see these goddesses and we see Athena and we see Venus and these other gods, they all have counterparts in ancient Egypt, in Persia, in Assyria, in Babylon, in Rome, Greece wherever, but you know where else they find a counterpart? They also find a counterpart in the Roman Catholic Church.
Because when you look at the saints of the Roman Catholic Church, the saints, the grave images of saints, are the identical images of the gods and goddesses of mystery Babylon. Why is that? Because it's called the Roman Catholic Church that's why. Look it has Rome at the front of it for a reason. It's Roman. You know what Catholic means. Look it up in the dictionary. Catholic means universal, globalist would be another way of saying it. This globalist Roman religion that is filled with the same idolatry, same gods and goddesses, same statues, same great mother Mary that they ... They didn't get that from the Bible. That is straight out of pagan religion. The proof that it goes all the way back to the Tower of Babel is that you can go to India to one of the most remote and oldest civilizations in the world and you got to southern India where the most indigenous people will tell you we've been worshiping this great goddess for thousands and thousands of years. We have the oldest religion. You know why? Because it goes back to the Tower of Babel that's why.
They're worshiping their great Shakti or whatever. Then over here they're worshiping mother Mary. Over here they're worshiping Athena or Venus or whoever. It's the same demons. The Bible tells us in First Corinthians chapter 10 that the things which the gentiles offer unto idols they offer not unto God but unto devils. He said when they offer a sacrifice to an idol, they're offering it unto a devil, a demon. They're literally worshiping a demon. The same demons of the Roman pagan religion are the same demons of the Roman Catholic Church. The same demons of Babylon and Egypt and all the rest of it the similarities are mind blowing when you look at these things.
Then if you think about this the great obelisks a lot of what we know as the Masonic, the Masonic free Masonry, the Masonic architecture, the Masonic imagery a lot of that stuff can easily be traced back to ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient Greece, the Roman empire, etc. That's where all that pagan garbage comes from. There are so many images. I don't have time to go into it for sake of time in this sermon because I need to get into the meat of the sermon here too in Revelation chapter 18. Let's get into the destruction of Babylon. We've already established that Babylon is movable. Really the relevant question right now, the pertinent question is who is being destroyed in Revelations 17 and 18? Who's being wiped out? Is it the literal Babylon? No, that's already happened a long time ago. It's gone. Is it Persia? Is it Rome, Italy? Is it Athens, Greece? Is it Macedonia? What is it that God is wiping out? Is he wiping out ancient Shushan? Who is being wiped out that's the question?
That's why I called the sermon this morning "Babylon Of The End Times". We know Babylon of Daniel's day was Babylon. Babylon of John's day was Rome. Who is the Babylon of the end times? Where does the whore now reside? Where is the whore based? Where has she been set upon her base as it says in Zechariah 5 today in 2016? Well, let's read Revelation chapter 18 about the destruction of Babylon because this event in Revelation 18 it happens one time. It's a real event that's going to happen in the future where it's going to be literally be destroyed that's the question.
Look down at your Bible verse one, "After these things I saw another angel come down from Heaven having great power, the Earth was lightened with his glory. He cried mightily with a strong voice saying, '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. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the Earth have committed fornication with her. The merchants of the Earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.'" Again Babylon is seen as being a very rich place, a wealthy place. Everybody see that, a wealthy place?
Look the merchants are making money because she's buying stuff. Whoever this Babylon is they're buying a lot of stuff, and the merchants are making a lot of money. They're getting rich because there's a lot of delicacies. There're a lot of delicacies that are being passed around in this Babylon. People are living a good life, a comfortable life. Wherever this is they're wealthy and comfortable. "I heard another voice from Heaven saying, 'Come out of her my people that ye be not partakers of her sins and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her as she rewarded you.'" Remember this is at the end of God pouring out his wrath that this is happening.
"Double unto her double according to her works. In the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously." Do you see how the emphasis is over and over again on the wealth, wealth, the comfort, the delicacies, the delicious riches and so forth? It says, "How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her. For she saith in her heart, 'I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow.' Therefore, shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be utterly burned with fire. For strong is the Lord God who judgeth her." Now God's judging her, but who is he using to actually carry this out? The 10 kings, the anti-Christ and his G-ten summit that put him in power.
Now here's another place where this half-baked Jerusalem theory falls apart. The reason I call it half-baked is because it hasn't been fully thought through. You get a couple verses, "Great city, great city killed the prophets, killed prophets", except that that's not enough evidence not even close. The reason I say it's half-baked is because when you start comparing it with scripture, it falls apart pretty fast. You see, when you do algebra and you're solving for X, you're looking for a variable, X equals Babylon. Well, when you're done with an algebra equation, you want to check your work, right? How do you know if you got it right? Here's what you do. You plug in. If you think X is 5, you plug 5 in, and then you work the math and see if it adds up. If it doesn't add up, you got the wrong answer.
Here's the thing when you plug in Jerusalem into Revelations 17 and 18, it's just constantly not computing. It's constantly giving you the wrong answer; therefore, it's ridiculous and false. It's not in one place that it falls apart. It falls apart in virtually every verse. Here's a perfect example. Look at verse number 7, "How much she hath glorified herself and lived deliciously so much torment and sorrow give her. For she saith in her heart, 'I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow." Question: When has Jerusalem ever said, "I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow"?
Why in the world would Jerusalem say nothing bad's ever going to happen to us? Is that what they're saying today? Did they say that 20 years ago, 30 years ago, 50 years ago, a 100 years ago? Do they ever say, "Man, nobody's going to mess with me." Goodnight. They're walking down the streets checking your ID's. They've got the machine guns and the barbed wire and the walls and the check points why? Because they're in constant fear. Hello, is anybody home? They're constantly in fear. They're not like, "Man, I'm just sitting a queen. I'm not going to see any sorrow. Nothing bad's going happen to me." "Well, Pastor Anderson, you don't understand, but this is at that end times." Well, what did the Bible tells us happens at the midpoint of Daniel's 70th week? Jerusalem is trodden under foot of the gentiles. It remains trodden under foot for 42 months.
You've just been trodden under foot for the last 42 months, and you're like, "I sit a queen. I shall see no sorrow. I'm no widow. Yes, I'm just living deliciously. Pass the Pina Coladas. Pass the margarita. The rest of the world's going to Hell in a hand basket but not us." Does that make any sense at all? "I'm not going to see any sorrow." They're not saying that now. They've never said that. They're dead sure not going to be saying that during the end times. After the 7th vials poured out and they've already been trodden under foot of the gentiles for 42 months, they're not going to be saying, "I sit a queen and am no widow." This is just one verse. It's like this with every verse. I mean keep reading. We're going to plug in the right answer in a moment don't worry. The Bible says right here in verse number eight ... Because it says she's sitting there thinking I'm not going to see any sorrow and then just in one day death comes, in one day utterly burned with fire out of nowhere, not expecting it.
Let's keep reading. Verse nine, "The kings of the Earth who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her shall bewail her and lament for her when they shall see the smoke of her burning. Standing afar off from the fear of her torment saying, 'Alas, alas that great city Babylon that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come.' The merchants of the Earth shall weep and mourn over her. For no man buyeth their merchandise anymore." Let me ask you this if Jerusalem were wiped out would they say, "Nobody's buying our merchandise anymore"? Because Jerusalem's not buying all their merchandise now. They wouldn't say that. It doesn't even make any sense. Here's the thing that's not a minor point here. In fact, if you look at it it's actually 9 verses long the part about the merchandise where he's just talking about nothing but the merchandise. The sailors, the ship masters, the merchants, the merchandise this is a major point here that it's a great consumer nation that's bringing this all in.
Let's keep reading. It says, "No man buyeth their merchandise anymore, 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 odors, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine." Do you notice these are luxuries? These aren't the necessities of life, oil, wine, frankincense, cinnamon all these vessels of ivory and wood and all this ornate decoration. "Ointments, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men", a few necessities mixed in, but the vast majority of it is a luxury product that's being brought in.
"The fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee. All the things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all." You say, "Okay. Pastor Anderson, it's not Jerusalem. It's Islam. It's Mecca." I've heard that theory going around. "It's Mecca." Here's the thing is Mecca living deliciously today and just buying all the world's merchandise? When Mecca's wiped out they say, "No man buyeth our merchandise anymore." Let me ask you this is Mecca characterized by idolatry? No because Muslims don't have any idols at all. Hello? They don't make graven images. When was the last time you saw a Muslim bow down to a statue? Never. When was the last time you saw Muslims making statues and praying in front of a statue? Never, because Muslims don't have any idolatry. Whereas, Babylon's characterized by great idolatry. Read Jeremiah 50 and 51.
You say it's Jerusalem. Hold on the Jews don't do idols. The Jews don't have any grave images. When was the last time you saw a Jew with a graven image or bowing down and praying to a graven image? You know who has graven images? Pagans and the pagan Catholic church but not Jews and Muslims they don't have those type of images. The Bible says here as we keep reading ... Where did we leave off? Somebody help me out. "The merchants of these things which were made rich by her." Let me ask you something is Jerusalem a rich country that was made rich by merchants? Jerusalem is not living deliciously. If Jerusalem's such a delicious place, then why don't all the Jews go there? They can go there whenever they want. You know why more than half the Jews are in the United States because it's better here. They're constantly trying to guilt their people, "You need to go back", because they'd rather be here.
In fact, they were trying to get them out of Europe all throughout the 20th century. It took World War II to get them out of Europe before that the Zionist couldn't get them to go because they're too comfortable. They're living deliciously in Germany and Poland. What do they want to go to Jerusalem for. Why do they want to go live with a bunch of barbed wire fences and check points and bombs going off and everything like that when they can live in the United States and kickback in Phoenix, Arizona. Of course the vast majority of them don't live in Phoenix, Arizona. We've met a few. You might have seen us talk to a few of them. About half of them are in New York and the other half in LA. They're pretty much in New York and Los Angeles. There're as many Jews in the United States as there are in Israel. They're predominantly in New York and LA. Yes, Jerusalem's not this dainty place never has been in recent history, and it never will be either because it's going to be trodden under foot for 42 months if anything.
Let's keep reading. The Bible says in verse number 16 and saying, "Alas, alas that great city that was clothed in fine linen, and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls for in one hour so great riches is come to naught, and every ship master." Is this saying some ship masters? "Every ship master and all the company in ships and sailors and as many as trade by sea." If that weren't important, then why did God repeat it three times in one verse? He's already said it in other verses. Let's just say it three more times in just this one verse. Look if the Muslims went down, would all the ships, all the traders, all the merchants would be like, "Wow. Our business is doomed. Nobody's buying our merchandise anymore"? There's no way or the Jerusalem or anything else, but keep reading.
It says, "Every ship master, all the company in ships, sailors, as many as trade by sea stood a far off and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning saying, 'What city is like unto this great city?' They cast dust on their heads and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, 'Alas, alas that great city wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea.'" There it is again. "By reason of her costliness for in one hour she made desolate." I mean you can't even count how many times he mentions the costliness, the gold, the riches, the wealth, the delicacy, the deliciousness. "Rejoice over her, thou Heaven and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath 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.' The voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall be heard no more at all." It's also a place that's known for music, a place of music.
I mean who's heard the latest CD's coming out of Jerusalem, the latest Mecca rock albums? How bigs that section down at Barnes and Noble? Where do you buy records now? It's all online now, iTunes. Where do you buy CD's now, Best Buy? How bigs the Jerusalem section at Best Buy? How bigs the Mecca section? How bigs the Rome section? How bigs the Italian section? I was trying to think of an Italian song to sing, but I'm drawing a loss. Yes, Good Olive Garden is that the popular music worldwide? Somebody help me out, "That's Amore." Something about the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie right? Yes, that song was popular a long time ago. All right. The point is it's a place of music. Let's keep going. "Shall be heard no more at all, and no craftsman of whatsoever craft he be shall be found anymore at all in thee. The sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride shall be hard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the Earth. For by thy sorceries were all nations deceived, and in her was found the blood of prophets."
Does it say the blood of the prophets? There's a big difference there. Because when the people says the prophets, he's specifically referring to Old Testament prophets where he says Moses and the prophets. Because people will say Jerusalem killed the prophets. Yes, from Abel to Zacharias, plus Jesus. Were there early Christian martyrs in Jerusalem? Yes, except for the fact that Jerusalem was wiped out real soon after. The persecution of Christians after biblical times was done by who? The Roman Empire. The Roman Empire killed the Christians, threw them into the colosseums. Plus we know that the apostles went all over the world, and they were killed all over the world in all different places by pagans. It says, "In her was found the blood of prophets", prophets are preachers, "and of saints and of all that were slain upon the Earth", meaning that just a lot of other people that weren't ... not even just saints and prophets but just all types of people that are being killed on the Earth, just murder, just a lot of murder was done by Babylon.
Now let's plug in what I believe is the modern day Babylon today in 2016. I'll tell you right now I believe it's the United States of America is the Babylon of Revelation 18 and of the end of Revelation 17 where the destruction occurs. Chapter 17 and 18 is setting the stage for the United States to be wiped out. To me, there's not even any other place that could hold a candle to the United States as being a modern Babylon. Now there are other places and other religions that could have certain elements of Babylon because this whole world in a sense has been influenced by Babylon except for Jerusalem, except for Mecca. Those theories are ridiculous. If you were to actually stop and think about it and actually plug this in here, the actual chapter here what's happening in the end times it's clearly the United States.
Why? Because, "No man buyeth our merchandise anymore", would all the ships say that if the U. S. were gone? We are the greatest consumer and not even just a little bit but by a mile. We are the only one who consumes in a great enough quantity where that could ever be said. Not only that but if we plug in, "I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow", does that fit the United States? Because think about it if all Hell is breaking lose over on the other side of the world where is it really hitting the fan in the end times? It's going to be over in the Middle East and Europe and that part of the world. We live on the other side of the world. Yes, bad things are happening over here, but not to the extent. We have this nice separator of the ocean. All the junk in Asia and Europe and Middle East and Africa we're separated from that, so you can totally see the United States saying, "I sit a queen and am no widow and shall see no sorrow", and then just in one hour in one day is the United States a wealthy country?
Are we living in decadence? Do we eat a lot of delicious food? Do we live in peace and safety and have all kinds of wealth? Do we not import boat loads and boat loads of everything that's on this list? Go to the port of Long Beach and just see train cars being loaded off of ships literally just thousands and thousands as far as the eye could see. It fits the bill perfectly. All the sea trade coming across the Atlantic Ocean, coming across the Pacific Ocean. All those imports coming in does it fit? Yes. How about this does the United States fit as a world empire? Hello, there's no one else that's even close to being a world empire right now. Show me the second place, the runner up of world empire. They're not even close. The United States is the only superpower in this world right now, the only one. We out spend the next two countries combined on our military spending. We have the greatest military. We have the greatest technology. We have the money. We have the resources.
Let me ask you this. Where is the current world government headquarters? It's in the United States. It's in New York. The United States is the host nation of the UN. The United Nations is the embryonic world government, and it's based right here in the United States of America. Let me ask you this by who's sorceries is the whole world deceived? The United States. What about the religion of the United States? Well, the United States is the king of ecumenical religion. Ecumenical religion is based here. Universal religion, let's all come together and be tolerant, let's all join hands and sing Kumbaya, that philosophy has a headquarters right here in the United States of America. We're the ones who are influencing the world with that ecumenical, universalist philosophy more than anyone else. How about the music of the United States? It's the more popular music in the world. I've traveled to many other countries and heard American rock and roll being played in every country I've ever been in. It's popular.
It's music that's patterned after our music. They listen to music in English in countries where they don't even speak English. They listen to music. They listen to music with English speaking lyrics. They sing along and sound weird, but that's what they do all over the world. Here's my question what doesn't fit in Revelation 18? You read through Revelation 18 it all fits, sitting a queen, thinking nothing bad's going to happen, prideful, tons of riches, tons of wealth, the great importer of the world, the world empire, the new Babylon if you had to say what's the Roman Empire today? We could go to worldly college professors and ask them who is the modern equivalent of the Roman Empire? That's easy the United States. In fact, we did for this movie that we're making on Babylon U. S. we went around and talked to college professors not even Bible believing Christians and they're just, "Yes, it's the United States obviously. No one else can even come close."
Do you think it's a coincidence that if we went to Washington DC we'll see all the same idols. The Washington monument that great obelisk did you know that it is patterned after an identical obelisk in ancient Egypt? Did you know that all of Washington DC is filled with graven images. If you've never been there, you don't know this because you only of a few of them. If you haven't been there, you'll think of the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, which are Roman temples. They even call it a temple. It says on the Lincoln Memorial, "This temple." It's a Roman styled temple with a grave image of Abraham Lincoln. You think of the big ones, Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, Thomas Jefferson Memorial but what you don't know is that there're all kinds of other monuments in DC that you've never before. If you walk around the city, you will see hundreds and hundreds of the most weird, satanic looking monuments, Greek gods, Greek goddesses, Roman gods, Roman goddesses. That place is filled with paganism and idolatry from one end to the other wall to wall.
Then go to the individual state capitals, and you'll find the same idolatry. I remember as a child touring the state capital in Sacramento, California and seeing the seal of the great state of California which is Athena. Here's a statue of Athena. Here's another statue of Athena. Look at the capitals of the states themselves, Roman architecture. Then pull money out of her wallet and what language is on the money? Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. Then of course what do we call our legislative body? The senate which is straight from the Roman Empire. What's the motto of our country? E Pluribus Unum, out of many one, in Latin the language of the Roman Empire. We are the modern Babylon. We are the modern Roman Empire. We are the modern Macedonian Greek empire. We are the only country in the world that has military based in over a 150 nations that's a world-wide military empire. I mean I can't see how there could even be any debate about it that in 2016 the U. S. is the new ...
If it went from Babylon, to Persia, to Greece, to Rome, look around you're sitting in it. We are the globalist power. We are the seat of the new world order. We are the seat of global power, global military strength, but it goes further than that. Babylon is pictured as being a great whore. What is a whore? A whore is not one that you love. If you loved her, you'd marry her. A whore is one that you use and abuse and discard when you're done. Well, does that fit the bill? Think about the United States do a lot of people benefit from the United States? Do they not benefit from the abundance of our delicacies? Aren't we sending money to people all over the world, foreign aid all over the world? Don't they use our military to fight their battles and to defend their country? We are used. The United States is being used by people all over the world.
Let me ask you this does the world love us? Travel around the world and ask these countries do you love America? "No." "Do you love America?" "No." They don't like us in a lot of these places, but they'll take the money. They don't like us. Pardon my french they don't like us, but they'll screw us and that's exactly what a whore is. I'm telling you it fits the bill perfectly with the United States. When the anti-Christ is done with the United States, you know what he's going to do? Discard it. What do they do? They hate the whore, but they'll use the whore to get in power. Why? Because how can the anti-Christ get in power without the military might of the United States? How can the anti-Christ get in power without our technology, without our infrastructure of world government that's already set up? Then once he's done with it then God wants to destroy and punish the United States, so he uses the 10 kings, he uses the anti-Christ to destroy the United States.
Again this is where the Jerusalem theory falls on it's face for the 20th time because of the fact that the anti-Christ is going to be the Jewish Messiah. He's going to be basically the culmination of all these religions. He's going to be in Jerusalem in the temple declaring himself to be God. That's going to be his capital city. Does everybody understand that, that the anti-Christ is ruling from Jerusalem? Well, let me ask you this why would he destroy his own city? Why would he burn down the house on himself? It makes no sense. See Jerusalem's not the whore. Jerusalem is the base of the anti-Christ and basically that's who annihilates the whore, which is somewhere else than where he's at. He's not a suicide bomber anti-Christ blowing up his own location. Doesn't even make sense.
I'm totally out of time, but I do just want to just touch on a few things from Jeremiah 50 and 51 if you'll flip back there. I'm just about out of time. This really calls a lot of things into question. I will give this one caveat. You say, "Well, Pastor Anderson, how do you know for sure it's the United States that's being destroyed?" I'll give this caveat. If this were to not happen for another one or two hundred years maybe and the whole layout of the whole world were to change, then yes it could be someone else if some other power would rise a 100 years from now or 200 years from now. Here's the thing most of would agree that it's probably not going to be that long before these things happen.
Now could it be a 100 years from now? Could it be 200 years from now? I think there's a very small chance that yes. Could be 500 years from now that is possible, but it's not likely. If this were to happen anytime in our lifetimes, then we're talking about the United States, but if it were to happen beyond our lifetimes, then of course all bets are off because we have no clue what's going to happen. One thing we know for sure is that it wouldn't be Jerusalem. That's one thing that we can know that if it were a million years from now it wouldn't be Jerusalem because Jerusalem is mentioned in the same verse as being a separate place from Babylon. It doesn't fit the bill of any of these things and never has and never will. It has a different part to play. It's desolate for 42 months from the midpoint to the end. "Whoops, we got to judge Babylon now." You've already been judging it for 42 months. There's so many levels that it doesn't make sense.
That's the only way that it would not be the United States. By the way I've been preaching about this for about let's see since I started the church, since I started preaching. I preached on this back no 2007 a whole sermon on this what I'm preaching about this morning. I have more details this morning. I preached the concept back then. Whenever I preach about this here's what people say, "You're wrong. It's the Catholic Church." "You're wrong. It's the Vatican." Here's the thing about that though the Vatican is also inhabited by the spirit of Babylon because we see the same idolatry, the same globalist ambitions, the same thing because why? Because Rome used to be the seat of the whore in the past. During the Roman Empire it was Rome, but not only that during the Middle Ages it was still Rome because it was the Roman Catholic Church. I'm sorry today in 2016 the Roman Catholic Church and the Vatican is not the seat of globalist power nor does it fit in with the description in Revelation 18 at all as being a great consumer of the world's merchandise where every ship master is effected, doesn't fit.
You say, "Well, yes, pastors have preached for years that it's the Roman Catholic Church." Here's the thing if I heard a pastor preach the Roman Catholic Church is Mystery Babylon, I'd say amen because they are Mystery Babylon. That's where they got their whole religion. That's where they got that woman that they worship. That's where they got all the idols and all the paganism. If somebody said, "Well, the Roman Catholic Church is being destroyed in Revelation 18", well that just doesn't make any sense. That's where they're wrong. There's a lot of truth in that, but to just get this narrow view of it's just the Catholic Church very little evidence for that. It's false.
Look at Jeremiah 50 and 51. I just want to show you a few things because one of things that people will often point out is they'll say it says city and the United States is a nation. They get hung up on that. They say how can the U. S. be Babylon if we're talking about a city? The U. S. isn't a city it's a nation. That's an objection that people will give. Here's the thing about that is that in the Old Testament these cities and nations were interchangeable because they're city states. Babylon is the name of a city and of a nation. If we go back to Jeremiah 50 and 51 when we read about the destruction of Babylon, which is a parallel passage with Revelation 18 ... I don't have time to show you all the 15 or 20 parallels. Notice what it says in the destruction of Babylon it says in verse 12, "Your mother shall be sore confounded. She that bare you shall be ashamed. Behold the hinder most of the nations shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert." When it talks about Babylon being wiped out, it calls it a nation. "Because of the wrath of the Lord, it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate. Everyone that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished." It's not just a city that's being destroyed. It's a nation.
Not only that look at verse 31 of chapter 50, "'Behold I'm against thee thou most proud', saith the Lord God of hosts. 'For thy day is come the time that I will visit thee, and the most proud shall stumble and fall. None shall raise him up, and I will kindle a fire in his cities'", plural, "'and it shall devour round about him.'" Verse 38 talks about the land of graven images. Look at verse 43 of chapter 51. Go to chapter 51. Verse 43 says the same thing. Starting at 42, "The sea is come up upon Babylon. She's covered with the multitude of the waves thereof. Her cities", plural, "are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, and a land wherein no man dwelleth neither doth any son of man pass thereby." Again how does Jerusalem fit the bill of Babylon when it says that Babylon's never going to be inhabited? It's going to be a wilderness. Then this half-baked theory comes out with Jerusalem's just going to be somewhere else. No, that's the place that God chose. That place has total significance from when Isaac was offered upon the altar all the way till when it became the city of David, to Jesus being crucified, the end times, the Mount of Olives that's where it's going to be.
"No, it's going to be somewhere else." No, wherever Babylon is it's never going to be inhabited. See, it makes sense. If eventually the U. S. would be nuked and no one would ever live there again. That makes sense because of the nuclear fall out. Man and beast would be destroyed become a wilderness and a desert and desolate. Jerusalem being inhabited, no man will dwell there, let's see Jesus Christ sets up his kingdom based in Jerusalem a few days after Babylon's destroyed so how does that work? "It's a new Jerusalem." No, wrong. New Jerusalem's after the millennium. You're a thousand years off with that new Jerusalem thing. New Jerusalem's after the millennium. We see here it's cities, nations.
You see when the Bible says that all the ship masters are going to say, "Babylon's fallen, that great city", are they really going to be saying, Babylon? Is that the word that's going to come out of their mouth, Babylon? No, that's what the Bible is telling us what they're going to be saying, but the Bible is giving it to us with the symbolism of the great city Babylon because he's not revealing to them back in the first century A.D. the identity of Babylon in the end times who's going to be wiped out. Yes, obviously they're referring to the city of Babylon. Just as it's not a literal whore, a toothless meth addict, it's also not a literal city. It's the United States as a nation. Why? Because the cities of the Old Testament represented nations. He calls the whole nation of Israel Samaria. He called the whole nation of Judah Jerusalem. He called the nation of Assyria Nineveh repeatedly the examples are replete.
Here's what I want to finish this sermon by saying today we have a lot of churches that are just overboard on patriotism. "Patriotism God bless America. We're the best. American exceptionalism and the U. S. and America and all that." Let me ask you this why are you so proud of being a whore? Why are you so proud of being a whore? Look our country whatever it was in the past our country's not a godly place right now. Our country's not a force for good and godliness anymore. We're deceiving the whole world with our sorcery through television and Hollywood and the music industry. We're spreading all kinds of filth and wickedness all over the world. We are a force for evil in this world as a nation. We're brainwashed. "I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America." We're brainwashed to have this allegiance to a whore.
You know what it's not that cool to be the new world order's whore. That's not cool. That's not something that we should be proud of at all. You know what I'm proud of? Jesus. Him that glory let him glory in the Lord. Don't glory in the whore. That's why we don't have a Babylonian flag flying in our church today. Now some people would say, "Well, if the Bible says come out of her my people, why don't you leave America?" Because we're not living in the days of Revelation 18. He says, "Come out of her that ye be not partakers of her plague", the people that are living there at that time are told get out of there before you get killed. We're not at that point. Just like the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet filled until Moses and Joshua came, the United States has not reached the pinnacle of wickedness. You say, "Well, when did the U. S. kill the saints and prophets?" Well, that's going to happen during the tribulation when the 5th seal is opened and the martyrs of Jesus are slaughtered worldwide.
We are used and abused of the new world order today, of the globalist power brokers who are none other than literal demons. We talked about the demon that ran Persia. There's a demon running the United States. The prince of the United States, the prince of Washington DC, the prince of the United States of America they have a big obelisk unto him. They have all their idolatry and temples to worship whoever this demon is and demons of this world that control this country. Listen to me that's where we see all this evil. It's time for us to transition as Baptist's churches away from this patriotism of our parents and grandparents. "Young guy, what do you know. My grandpa was in World War II. My dad." Shut up. I don't care. It's Babylon. It's wicked. We're promoting homosexuality throughout the world. Our military is filled with queers and sodomites now. They're being welcomed in. They're being actively recruited and a butch of bull dykes in the military.
Look I don't care what your dad and grandpa thought about it. We're living in a day where the United States is a wicked place and doing wickedness in this world. If you don't like that, then you're welcomed to go to the church down the street that'll have the Babylonian flag and bring in all these bunch of crocked politicians. "We're so excited to have the mayor, and the governor, and the president, and the candidates." Look I don't want those people anywhere near me. They're so filled with adultery and fornication and sodomy and wickedness. By the way these presidential candidates are some of the slimiest, dirtiest people ever. You know that's true. They're so dirty. They're so filthy. They're so filled with fornication and adultery. You're like, "Do you duty and vote." Shut up. I'll do my duty and go soul winning. While you're sitting on your but watching a bunch of political junk on TV and on the computer, I'll be reading my Bible figuring out that our country is a modern day Roman Empire and a modern day Babylon while you're sitting there and like, "I hope my guy wins." Your guys a fagot. Your guy is an adulterer. Your guy is whatever he is, Satan worshiping whatever.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for your word. I know that we went deep this morning in this sermon, but, Lord, I pray that people would get some smarts and get the strong meat of the word, Lord. We don't always need a liquid diet here in your house, Lord, of just the milk of the world, Lord. Thank you for the strong meat of Jeremiah, Revelation, the book of Daniel, Lord. My prayer to you, Lord, is that everything was understood this morning. I pray that the scriptures would be understood. I pray that your Holy Spirit would work in the hearts of every single person that I'm preaching to this morning that they would know the truth of what I'm saying and that they would go home and study their Bible and that the Holy Spirit would tell them, "Yes, that is what it says." Lord, help us not to get tangled with the affairs of this life and not to get all busy with politics and get all into patriotism and forget the spiritual battle which is what really matters. In Jesus' name we pray amen.
