BABYLON IS FALLEN
The Church of God in its current, final era, has largely adopted the "futurist" interpretation of prophecy. Any prophecy not understood, of which there are many, is assigned a place in the future, the realm of the "yet to be fulfilled".
Scripture, however, says that the Laodicean era of the Church is "blind" (Rev 3:17), and of course God does not lie.
Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24 and 28 reveal four 2520 year periods of punishment that Israel would endure. The first two periods apply to the northern Kingdom of Israel, and the latter two periods apply to the southern Kingdom of Judah, the people who became known as the Jews. The time period referred to in Lev 26:24 starts from the first fall of Jerusalem when it was ruled by King Jehoiachin. As shown on my chart, from when Nebuchadnezzar first captured the city in 575BC, until the last year of the Second World War, 1945, there are exactly 2520 inclusive years.
After the Holocaust ended in 1945, the Jews experienced the most remarkable turnaround a people has ever known: just three and a half years later (Rev 11:11), in 1948, they were standing on their feet again, in their own country and capital city, as fully explained in the article "THE TWO WITNESSES".
To make this total reversal possible, the most destructive war of all time, World War II, was fought.
As a result of this war, the force known as "the Beast", the combine of empires that ruled over Jerusalem and the Jews, lay defeated.
In the prophecies of Daniel and Revelation, a succession of powers is described as having seven heads, ten horns and a little horn, or alternatively, an eighth head. For 2520 years the powers that together comprised the seven heads, the ten horns and the little horn/eighth head, had been allowed to rule over and tread down both Jerusalem and the Jews. That all came to an end in 1945.
That doesn't mean these powers no longer exist. Dan 7:11-12 says:
"I watched till the beast was slain, and its body destroyed and given to the burning flame. As for the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away, yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time"
The eighth head of the Beast, Roman Catholicism/Christianity, described in Revelation 17 and 18 as "Babylon", was the last to be destroyed. Although in the past the nations that comprised this head were strong of mind and purpose, in the years since WWII they have sunk into a moral abyss.
European weakness, like the weakness of all Western nations, stems from the abandonment of their original source of strength: Christianity.
Their form of Christianity of course was not the genuine article, but it still contained most of the elements of Christian living.
A religion that was once brimming with fervour, as witnessed in its countless churches and cathedrals, and depicted in all forms of art, has now sunk into a cesspool of evil. Where once there was Christian work ethic, decency and a focus on God and family, now a worldly spirit prevails. An addiction to entertainment, drugs, partying, deviant sexual behaviour, and every imaginable Godless pursuit, has taken hold of the people. Modern technology has greatly facilitated this debauchery. Gross immorality has now spread to all major formerly Christian countries.
The weakness of "Christian" countries has of late descended to an embarrassing level, where millions of so called "refugees" have made their way to these nations, demanding "asylum", housing, financial assistance etc. In Europe this process began in reality in the 1960's when so called "guest workers" were brought in, mainly from South and East Mediterranean countries. Their effect on society was immediate, and mostly not in a positive sense, bringing with them the social problems and crime levels that plague their countries of origin. The European Beast powers of old would not have stood for this for a moment. As an example, we today witness countries like Italy being flooded by Africans. These people would have been running the other way in the days of the old Roman Empire. However, they sense the weakness of the Christian countries and they are taking advantage of it. Even when these people have their asylum claims rejected, they are not forcibly removed, because the Beast's power is gone. Instead they are offered money as a reward for going back home. But if they don't want to go, they don't.
Another way in which the weakness of the "Christian" nations can be seen is the breakdown of the justice system. If a nation is overcome with transgression, the administration of law becomes very difficult. If those in authority are themselves involved with certain types of wrongdoing, they are not in a position to effectively police the transgressions of others. If for instance a judge uses drugs, how will he judge someone before his court on drug charges? If a judge is overcome by sexual perversion, how can he judge someone who is charged with sexual crimes? The result is that now the most lenient of sentences are given for the most serious of offences, to the utter dismay of upstanding citizens.
Of late we have witnessed widespread rioting and destruction of property in Western nations. Some favourite targets are statues and monuments commemorating founders of nations, and other high achievers. An entire generation of people has been raised to hate anything and everything that concerns our Christian heritage. As Christianity bites the dust, so does our traditional culture, because it was founded on Christian values. Rather than being defeated by a foreign conqueror, we are tearing ourselves apart at the seams. Astonishingly, many politicians and media outlets are actually encouraging this lawlessness and anarchy.
The abandonment of God and His standards by the traditionally Christian countries has had far reaching effects unforeseen by those who thought this would be "progress".
This enormous shift in attitude commonly sees the Western nations today described by commentators as "post-Christian".
The Scriptures, however, describe this phenomenon as "Babylon is fallen".
With this in mind, let's have a look at Revelation 17 and 18.
Revelation 17
1 Then one of the seven angels (most likely the seventh one; see "The Real Seven Plagues") who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot (the great false Roman church and by extension, its protestant daughters) who sits on many waters (many nations, Gentile as well as Israelite),
2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication (her false teachings).”
3 So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns (all the powers that ruled over Jerusalem and the Jews: Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Ptolemaic Kingdom, the Seleucid Empire, Rome and Mecca/Medina (the seven heads) and ten Islamic dynasties that emerged from the seventh head (the ten horns), which are listed on the page "The Two Witnesses").
4 The woman (her head being the eighth head of Revelation 17:11; she is also the "little horn" of Daniel 7:8 and 7:25 that ruled Jerusalem for three separate periods, displacing Islamic powers) was arrayed in purple (Catholic Bishops wear purple) and scarlet (Catholic Cardinals wear scarlet), and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls (all manner of exquisite riches, buildings, artwork etc. they possess), having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication (teachings misrepresenting God).
5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER (Rome, continuing in many ways the religion of original Babylon) OF HARLOTS (the Protestant daughter churches) AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH (abominable things done in the name of God and Christianity).
6 I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus (the Crusades, the Inquisitions and many other persecutions throughout the centuries). And when I saw her, I marvelled with great amazement.
7 But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.
8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition (it disappeared and reappeared continually throughout the 2520 years it was allowed to trample down God's city and persecute God's people, until its time was up). And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9 “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits.
10 There are (They are) also seven kings (kingdoms that rule over Jerusalem and the Jews). Five have fallen (Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, the Ptolemaic Kingdom and the Seleucid Empire), one is (Rome - at the time John wrote this), and the other has not yet come (Mecca/Medina, or Islam). And when he comes, he must continue a short time (to be precise, 24 inclusive years as a united force, from 638AD until 661AD, when the time of Islamic fragmentation, the ten horns, began - see page "The Two Witnesses").
11 The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition (the eighth head is that of the woman. The western portion of the Roman Empire (the original sixth head) over time morphed into the Roman Catholic Church - the eighth head. It is not counted among the seven heads, as it is a continuation of the sixth head, which itself continued all the way till 1453 with Constantinople as its capital. When the 2520 years were finished, it went into "perdition", or in other words it "is fallen").
12 “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings (ten Islamic dynasties ruling Jerusalem, depicted as ten toes in the statue of Dan 2) who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour (the ten horns ruled for 1177 non-consecutive years. See below for an explanation of "one hour". The page "The Two Witnesses" lists the ten horns by name, as well as the length of their reigns) as kings with the beast.
13 These are of one mind, and they will give their power and authority to the beast.
14 These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them (the final Islamic horn ruling Jerusalem was overcome in 1917), for He is Lord of lords and King of kings; and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.”
15 Then he said to me, “The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
16 And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot (Islam hates Christianity), make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire (Islamic forces have defeated Christian forces a number of times in Jerusalem. They also captured Constantinople and made periodic inroads into Europe, especially the Iberian Peninsula, Greece and the Balkans region).
17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfil His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast (in reality, Satan), until the words of God are fulfilled.
18 And the woman whom you saw is that great city (Rome) which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
I would just like to elaborate somewhat on verse 12 above. The reign over Jerusalem of two of the ten horns, namely the Mameluke dynasty and the Ottoman Empire, made up more than half of the 1177 years that the ten horns reigned collectively. Therefore the average number of years of each of the ten horns is much higher than the median number of years. The median number of years each Islamic horn ruled Jerusalem is 74. On the face of it that is not a meaningful number. Why would the text say "one hour" and mean 74 years? As noted on the page "THE HISTORICAL SEVENTH SEAL", Rev 8:1 mentions a period of "about half an hour", and it fits perfectly with the 36 to 37 years between Christ's death in 31AD, and the arrival of the Roman troops in the Holy Land in 66/67AD, that went on to defeat the First Jewish Revolt. Of course, 37 is half of 74.
I don't claim to have all the answers here, but I am noting the facts.
Christ said that Satan was "a murderer from the beginning". Murder involves the sixth commandment, and the number 666 can be seen to be associated with Satan, or those that do his bidding, in many different ways. Satan instigated the murder of Christ in the ninth hour of the day. We have just seen the hour associated with the number 74. If we multiply 9 x 74, we get 666.
The eighth commandment forbids stealing. The spiritual principle it teaches is the way of "give". Christ's ultimate gift to man is salvation, made possible by His resurrection. Christ was resurrected in the 12th hour of the day. Multiply 12 x 74 and you get 888. In the practice of Gematria, where letters are assigned numeric values, Jesus' name in the Greek language of the NT, Iesous, adds up to 888 as well.
Now I ask you, is all this a coincidence? Or is it more likely that a Master Mathematician is at work behind the scenes, the extent of whose work we can only begin to imagine?
Let's move on to Revelation 18.
Revelation 18
1 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, (Babylon's second fall after original Babylon's fall) and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! (The entire "Christian" world has fallen from its Christian foundation, turned its back on the true God and His law, and instead turned to the worst of transgressions and abominations. Seeing no difference between the holy and the profane, they have become "educated", "advanced" and "secular", which in practice means they have given themselves over to a strong demonic influence. As a result, they have abandoned the virtues of Christianity, which is clearly manifested by the normalisation of depravity now witnessed in all Western countries. In addition to this, seeing no difference between true and false religion, they have allowed themselves to be overrun by enormous numbers of foreigners with totally unsound belief systems. Witness the mass immigration of non-Christians into all the former Christian countries of Europe, the USA, Canada, Australia, etc.).
3 For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication; the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury” (there is a threefold application to the concept of "riches". The churches became physically very wealthy. They also became rich in the sense of their position in society; priests were revered men. But, in a broader application, the wealth of the Christian nations is directly related to their implementation of Judeo/Christian law and philosophy. Our business leaders, and by extension our entire societies, became rich through the stable foundation that biblical law provided to our nations).
4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues (a warning for true Christians of all eras).
5 For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Render to her just as she rendered to you, and repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her.
7 In the measure that she glorified herself and lived luxuriously, in the same measure give her torment and sorrow; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as queen (I am the bride of the King, Christ), and am no widow, and will not see sorrow.’
8 Therefore her plagues will come in one day (1945 marked her end, 2520 inclusive years since the first fall of Jerusalem) - death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her (Germany and Italy were bombed into submission and left in utter ruins. However, all of Christendom suffered enormously in the World Wars).
9 “The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,
10 standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ (the last of the Papal States were absorbed by the Kingdom of Italy in 1870, and one "hour" (74 inclusive years) later, in 1943, Italy surrendered to the Allied forces. Germany continued to rule until 1945).
11 “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her (Catholic leaders lamented the fall of the fascist states and provided much aid to allow war criminals to flee. Catholicism obviously felt an allegiance to Nazism; its power would have reminded them of the Roman Empire and they must have thought it could be a useful vehicle to spread and enforce their religion. In its own strange way, this was Catholicism's last stand as a world power), for no one buys their merchandise anymore (as the years since the war have rolled on, traditional Christianity has been abandoned and cast aside. Fewer and fewer people being interested in it, its churches are sparsely attended and many church buildings are being sold off for other uses):
12 merchandise of gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and purple, silk and scarlet, every kind of citron wood, every kind of object of ivory, every kind of object of most precious wood, bronze, iron, and marble;
13 and cinnamon and incense, fragrant oil and frankincense, wine and oil, fine flour and wheat cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.
14 The fruit that your soul longed for has gone from you, and all the things which are rich and splendid have gone from you, and you shall find them no more at all (all her many and varied doctrines, teachings and edicts are ignored and cast aside).
15 The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, will stand at a distance for fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, (the Catholic Church in particular became very rich, but is losing much of its riches in court cases and settlements with the victims of its crimes. Christianity in general was also rich in the sense of position, influence and access to leaders, but that influence amounts to very little now and can no longer stem the tide of secularism. By extension this also refers to the leaders of business and successful companies that flooded the Christian countries with an abundant variety of merchandise and luxuries. The dominant economic position that the Christian countries held for centuries has been lost)
16 and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! (the downfall of the Roman Church, Christianity in general, and together with them, the Western democracies, is undeniable. Many people are bewailing this.)
17 For in one hour such great riches came to nothing.’ Every shipmaster (religious leader, business leader), all who travel by ship, sailors (the ordinary people), and as many as trade on the sea (evangelise the world, do business with the nations), stood at a distance
18 and cried out when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, ‘What is like this great city?' (Rome and by extension all Christendom, especially the Western democracies)
19 “They threw dust on their heads and cried out, weeping and wailing, and saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, in which all who had ships on the sea became rich by her wealth! For in one hour she is made desolate.’ (we have passed this point in history)
20 “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her!”
21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “Thus with violence the great city Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore.
22 The sound of harpists, musicians, flutists, and trumpeters shall not be heard in you anymore (no one dances to their tune anymore). No craftsman of any craft shall be found in you anymore (their religious deceit is no longer believed), and the sound of a millstone shall not be heard in you anymore (their false evangelising has petered out).
23 The light of a lamp shall not shine in you anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in you anymore (they shall no longer misrepresent God and Christ to the world, because the world has mostly stopped believing their teachings). For your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery (false teachings and practices) all the nations were deceived.
24 And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”
Since the Second World War, the "Christian" Western democracies have morally collapsed. Perversion has become a lifestyle choice, depravity is now celebrated, dishonesty has become commonplace, greed is known as "investment", and money or "the economy" is god. The standards once laid down by our Creator have been replaced by a collective self-righteousness. Whether we call it "humanism" or "political correctness", it is all man-made self-righteousness.
We think we know better than God; as Isa 65:5 says, we tell God "don't come near us, for we are holier than thou".
Isa 3:8 says: "they declare their sin as Sodom, they hide it not". Yes, we're actually proud of our evil. Isa 5:20 says: "Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter"
That pretty much sums us up: we call evil good and good evil.
Isa 14:12 says that Satan weakens the nations. That's what sin does. It weakens: individuals, churches, nations.
Think of the greatness the Christian nations attained when they knew their Maker. In the 1500's, the printing press made the Bible widely available and many people, whole nations, began walking with God. Not perfectly, no one does, but the intent was there. Witness the high quality nations that were built on this foundation. Witness the achievements in design and invention, the standards in architecture, art, music composition, dress, manners etc etc. Look at the quality of workmanship. God's high standards were applied to all endeavours and the evidence can still be seen when visiting the old city centres and museums of Europe.
Fast forward to today and we see that our moral decay is mirrored by our physical decay. We are the plastic generation - a throw away society.
Consider the scandals involving sexual abuse in traditional Christianity.
The Anglican Church in Australia announced in June 2018 that it would be selling off more than a hundred of its churches to pay victims of child sexual abuse. In the USA, many Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy as they fight abuse charges. Staggering amounts of money have been handed over in compensation settlements.
When the church was powerful, these abominations were able to be hidden. The reason we are hearing these things now is because of the loss of power to control what is said and reported.
The fact that Christianity is in free fall has been made abundantly clear in recent years by the fact that all across the Christian world thousands of church buildings have been closed or remodeled into homes, bars, shops, libraries, theatres and even mosques.
For centuries people feared God, the leaders of Christianity and especially the Pope. Today that fear is gone.
The current Pope, Pope Francis, is commonly described as "leftist" and "green" in his politics and actually welcomes Islamists coming to Europe. He is the epitome of weakness and embodies the fact that "Babylon is fallen".
One of the most remarkable aspects of all this fulfilment of prophecy is that today's generation of the Church of God have seen all these things occur in their lifetime, and yet even with Bible in hand, have been almost totally ignorant of the scriptural application and significance.