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GREAT BABYLON:
THE HARLOT OF THE NATIONS
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TABLE OF CONTENTS TO THIS WEB
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(Click on the respective items to find text.)
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THE HARLOT OF THE NATIONS
THE MEANING OF THE NAME
THE GREAT HARLOT
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THE JEREMIAH PROPHECIES
Many Waters
The Hammer of the Earth
Praise of the Whole Earth
A Golden Cup
The Proud One
Mounting Up to Heaven
Mother Ashamed
Nations No Longer Flow To Her
The Flight of God's People
God's Vengeance
Desolations Are Decreed
Destroyers Out of the North
Destruction By Fire
The Sea Over Babylon
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THE GREAT PLANETARY TRANSITION
DECISIONS
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THE HARLOT OF THE NATIONS
One of the most puzzling subjects of biblical prophecy is that on
Babylon. Major differences in symbolic assignment have been made by numerous
interpreters over the centuries. Many believe the prophecies in the Old
Testament are not symbolic, that they refer to ancient Babylon. The prophecies
in Jeremiah fall deep within a context of other pronouncements against that
ancient land. It is natural to assume that Jeremiah had a consistent object in
mind when he wrote his work. This view is contradicted by prophecies in Isaiah
13 and 14 which, many believe, were written a century or more before the
Babylonian conquest and disaster. In order to reconcile these Isaiah Babylon
prophecies to this view some godless scholars assume those portions of Isaiah
were written at the time of the Babylonian conquest.
Further controversy arises from the Babylonian prophecies in the
Book of Revelation. The apostle John could not possibly have intended ancient
Babylon for his descriptions; therefore his use of the word must carry a
symbolic, not literal, meaning. Again some godless scholars propose that John
merely copied pieces out of the Old Testament and reworked them according to his
notions of their symbolic content. In proposing this explanation they reject
John's deep love for Jesus, and his personal integrity. Other persons believe
the symbolic meaning is intended to convey revelation about the Roman Catholic
Church. Countless books and papers have been written from this view.
I shall not review these various interpretations of the Babylon
prophecies. I shall go directly to their symbolic content describing a nation
which has now appeared at the end of the planetary age.
Such ascription is consistent, from Isaiah to Revelation. There
is no need to excuse contradictions from one Babylon prophecy to another; those
contradictions evaporate when viewed from proper perspective. This nation
carries a critical role in unfolding planetary destiny; Melchizedek gave it much
attention in his work with the prophets and seers of Israel.
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THE MEANING OF THE NAME
The word "Babylon" is Greek. It is used in the New Testament. It
is the Greek form of the Hebrew word "Babel" used in the Old Testament.
English dictionary definitions of these two words are
instructive.
Other than reference to the ancient city --
Babel: A confused mixture of sounds or voices. A scene of
noise and confusion.
Babylon: Any rich and magnificent place believed to be
excessive in luxury and wickedness.
The symbolism of these two words is highly appropriate to the
subject of the prophecies, which is the same nation in both the Old and New
Testaments.
Melchizedek chose the name "Babel" (or "Babylon") for the
following reasons:
1. He could not use the actual name of the future land; people of
ancient times would not have known what he was talking about. It would have been
a nonsense word; it would have been regarded with extreme skepticism and doubt.
2. He also could not use the actual name because this would have
forewarned men. A condition on prophecy is that the subject not be recognized
until the time of fruition. Otherwise mankind would attempt to divert the
predictions.
3. The combination of these two elements made it necessary that
the word "Babel" imply the ancient city, thus to rivet the attention of men.
They would speculate over application of the prophecies to that ancient city,
while puzzling over the discrepancies.
4. Recognizing that the prophecies were holy, and that the
conditions of the prophecy had not been truly fulfilled, men would preserve them
against future expectation.
5. At the time of fruition, when the ripeness of the age had come
to pass, the true significance of the prophecies would be made known. This would
place on mankind a test of their devotion to God. Could they see through the
symbolism to the meaning of the revelation? Would they make decisions based on
such faith exercise? The symbolism thus became a critical element in the
screening of mankind to find those with a more devout faith in God.
In this paper I shall consider the prophecies contained in
Isaiah 13 and 14,
Isaiah 47 and 48,
Jeremiah 25, and especially
Jeremiah 50 and 51, as well as those found in
Revelation 17 and 18.
Where necessary I shall refer to a few other verses not included
in those chapters.
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THE GREAT HARLOT
Rev 17:1-6 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven
bowls came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great
harlot who is seated upon many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have
committed fornication, and with the wine of whose fornication the dwellers on
earth have become drunk." And he carried me away in the Spirit into a
wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of
blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed
in purple and scarlet, and bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in
her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her
fornication; and on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the
great, mother of harlots and of earth's abominations." And I saw the woman,
drunk with the blood of the consecrated ones and the blood of the witnesses of
Jesus. When I saw her I marveled greatly.
The apostle John could not have expected this revelation to mean
ancient Babylon. He would not provide revelation for a nation which had since
passed out of existence. Nor could he have expected it to mean a Church, or
other social institution. He would have been acutely aware of its future
application. He would have known that the setting was geographical, not
institutional. He would design his symbolism in order that his audience sense
the geographical application. Every person giving serious attention to the
revelation has recognized that the tone is cosmic; the depiction vast.
The location is marked by intense persecution of God's people.
John saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the consecrated ones and the
blood of the witnesses of Jesus. These are individuals who are
truly dedicated to God. They have given themselves to new revelations.
They who are willing to engage in reaffirmation of the old covenant. In
this land arises a bloodlust for the slaughter of countless people devoted to
God. This is a prophecy for the end of the age.
Refer to other of my papers, A Warning From Jesus About the
End of the Age, The Release of the Prince, and Spirit Entry Into
Human Mind.
John was carried away in the spirit to a wilderness where he saw
this Great Harlot. She was not located in the Near East, nor in some neighboring
land, nor distributed around the world through some institutional organization.
John's use of the word "wilderness" denotes a place then unrecognized to the
Roman world.
Her name is one of mystery; the name is not openly evident that
all may see. The symbolism of Great Babylon, a great nation, portrays her
nature.
She was bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, arrayed in the
royal colors of purple and scarlet, all symbols of great wealth.
I shall, for the moment, pass over the scarlet beast with seven
heads and ten horns. The statement is an intrusion into the text which diverts
attention from more rigorous examination of the essential kernel of the
revelation. This includes the entire portion of text from Rev 17:7-18.
The textual difficulties may be discerned by noting that in 17:7
the beast with seven heads and ten horns carry the Great Harlot. In 17:12
the ten horns are ten kings whose relationship to the Harlot are not identified.
In 17:16 the ten horns hate the Harlot and will destroy her. These
statements are not mutually compatible.
In 17:1 the Great Harlot is seated on many waters. This passage
has no condition that would prevent us from assuming that the waters are
literal, composed of oceans, lakes, and rivers.
Verse 17:15 then offers an interpretation of the many waters of
17:1. This is part of the textual difficulty.
The symbolism of 17:15 is based on the notion that the sea
represents humanity, and that peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues rise up
out of this symbolic sea. This view then forces an interpretation of many
different nations and languages scattered across the planet. As a logical
consequence many interpreters have not considered the possibility that this
means the Harlot is composed of many differing peoples, nationalities and
tongues gathered in one nation.
The sense of specific geographical location, rather than a
general symbolism for mankind, is denoted by other phrases in both Chapters 17
and 18.
"All the nations have drunk the wine of her impure passion . .
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"The kings of the earth have committed fornication with her . . ."
"The merchants of the earth have grown rich with the wealth of her
wantonness."
"Her destruction comes in a single day."
"She shall be burned with fire."
"In one hour her judgment has come."
These statements do not imply the general body of mankind; they
imply a specific national identity.
The list of merchandise in 18:11-13 shows a great commercial
enterprise; one would expect this for a specific nation who leads the world in
mercantile exchange.
Rather than attempting to further define the character of the
Great Harlot from the confusing material of Revelation it is more helpful to
turn to the Old Testament prophecies.
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THE JEREMIAH PROPHECIES
(And Parallels)
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In my paper on World Judgment, I reviewed statements from
Jeremiah 25 which showed that the modern state of Israel would serve modern
Babylon seventy years. Modern Babylon would then bring destruction to Jerusalem
and Judea, and all the lands round about. In turn, modern Babylon would be
destroyed and utterly laid waste.
Jer 25:9-12 Behold, I will send for all the tribes of the
north, says Yahweh, and for Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and
I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants, and against all these
nations round about. I will utterly destroy them, and make them a horror, a
hissing, and an everlasting reproach. . . . This whole land shall become a ruin
and a waste, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
Then after seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and
that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, says Yahweh, making
the land an everlasting waste.
If Jeremiah 25 provides instruction on the sequence of events
about to unfold now, at the end of the age, and if Rev 17 deals with the same
sequence of events, then we should expect to find parallels and compatibility of
Jeremiah 25 with Rev 17. If the two passage are incompatible we either do
not understand, or the passages have suffered distortion or corruption. In
order to clarify and further define the meaning of these revelations I shall now
proceed into the relevant chapters of Jeremiah 50 and 51.
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Many Waters
51:13 O you who dwell by many waters, rich in treasures, your
end has come, the thread of your life is cut.
This compares directly with Rev 17:1; the phrase "many waters" is
used in both. Here this Babylon "dwells by many waters"; in Revelation she "sits
on many waters." This does not compare with the interpretation of Rev 17:15.
In order to explain this difficulty I shall now go directly to
the nation which is the subject of the "Babylon" symbolism.
Geographically the United States sits among many waters. These
are the Atlantic Ocean, Pacific Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and the Great Lakes, as
well as many rivers, including the Hudson, Delaware, Susquehanna, Potomac,
James, Savannah, Alabama, the Great Mississippi with its many branches draining
major portions of her land through the Red, Ohio, and the Missouri, as well as
rivers draining her western lands, the Colorado, Sacramento, and the Columbia.
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The Hammer of the Earth
50:23 How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and
broken! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
51:20 "You are my hammer and weapon of war: with you I break
nations in pieces; with you I destroy kingdoms.
The United States held a prime position in world affairs since
World War I and the early years of the twentieth century. Without her
contribution to European and Asiatic warfare the shape of world destiny would
have taken an altogether different turn. After World War II she took a more
forceful hand in the management of those affairs.
1. Immediately after World War II she initiated and financed the
Marshall plan for the economic rehabilitation of Europe and Japan.
2. She was a major driving force behind the creation of the
United Nations, in the original organizing activities, continuing financial
support, and in hosting the world headquarters.
3. She became the major world element in opposing the communist
philosophy of human society, through economic policies and in armed forces.
4. Through the vehicle of the United Nations she attempted to
stop the communist takeover of Korea. This resulted in a stalemate that divided
the land between the two opposing economic and political philosophies.
5. She attempted to stop the communist takeover of Viet Nam. This
ended in failure, and set the tone for a disapproving world attitude about her
heavy handedness in world affairs.
6. She continued to intervene militarily in the affairs of
various countries in attempt to protect a capitalistic form of society, or to
protect her sources of energy and trade. The list is long but more recently
include Panama, Somalia, Haiti, Kuwait, and Bosnia.
7. She also continued to provide economic support for various
countries who were based on the capitalistic form of government, to ensure
against their loss to other political or economic philosophies.
Her location in the New World, relatively isolated from the rest
of the world, gave her a unique position to determine policy devoid of
intimidating influence from those other countries. She also enjoyed great
material resources and wealth to make her the most powerful nation ever to exist
on the face of the globe. She had the option to determine the form of her
influence upon the world as no other nation ever enjoyed. She chose a militant
and forceful economic course. She became the hammer of the earth, wielding her
will upon other nations. She will become the hammer for warfare the like of
which has never been. She will break in pieces many nations.
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Praise of the Whole Earth
51:41 How Babylon is taken, the praise of the whole earth
seized! How Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
Great Babylon was the praise of the entire earth. Never, in all
of human history, did a nation enjoy such fortune. Her bountiful land provided
the natural resources for great wealth and luxury. She was the land of golden
opportunity, the shining beacon of economic freedom. Unfortunately, she
permitted that freedom to be exploited through the greed of those who selfishly
perverted her natural profusion and abundance.
A Golden Cup
51:7 Babylon was a golden cup in Yahweh's hand, making all the
earth drunken; the nations drank of her wine, therefore the nations went mad.
Rev 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and
bedecked with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full
of abominations and the impurities of her fornication.
What was the wine by which the nations went mad? What were the
abominations and impurities of her fornications?
They were her scientific discoveries and technological
inventions. They were also her social techniques for economic power.
Never, in the history of mankind, has one nation contributed so
exclusively to scientific and technological developments, and to new social
methods.
The history of mechanical inventions is complex and blends into
the mists of the past. The United States cannot claim originality to many
important technological discoveries. This complex history was illustrated in a
fascinating book by the Frenchman, Gerald Messadie, Great Inventions Through
History, published in English by W. & R. Chambers, Edinburgh, 1991. On the
other hand the United States was unique in its development of mechanical
inventions, shaped by the lack of social inhibitions in the new society, and the
spirit of discovery kindled by the vast wilderness of the new continent. This
spirit is captured in descriptive phrases like, "Frontier self-reliance,
foundation for an inventive future." The blending of more adventurous European
genetic elements also contributed to this amazing phenomenon. The unique
contribution of the United States to the new technological world order has been
described in many books and reviews. One example is Those Inventive Americans,
published by the National Geographic Society, Washington, 1971.
The list of inventions created and developed in the United States
is long. I shall illustrate only a few.
1. The development of steam power goes back to the beginning of
the eighteenth century and Thomas Newcome in England. Although the first steam
engines were crude and cumbersome in comparison to later developments they
greatly enhanced the employment of mechanical power over those of water wheels
and wind mills. A few of these engines were introduced into the Americas before
the War for Independence, but that war shut off communication from the
developments then taking place with James Watt in England. As a consequence
parallel developments were undertaken in the New World by such men as John
Fitch, James Rumsey, John Fulton and Oliver Evans.
2. The cotton gin was improved by Eli Whitney in 1792. This
permitted high volumes of cotton processing. In 1795 southern planters grew
eight million pounds; by 1807 they were growing eighty million pounds per year.
3. The reaper by Cyrus McCormick and Obed Hussey revolutionized
grain harvesting. With the first model introduced for sale in 1840, by 1851
McCormick
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received world publicity through the London
Crystal Palace Exhibition. By 1861 the reaper had spread into eastern Europe,
Russia, the grain lands of Siberia, and throughout the world.
4. The telegraph came into existence through much labor and
exploration, in Europe and the United States. But it was the work of Samuel
Morse who brought it into practical reality with first transmissions from
Washington, DC to Baltimore in 1844. His encoding technique was used around the
world for a hundred years until advances in radio made it obsolete in the
mid-twentieth century.
5. The work of Benjamin Franklin, Michael Faraday, Joseph Henry
and others led to developments in the control and transmission of electric
energy. These techniques were then used by Alexander Bell, and others of his
day. The telephone, patented in 1876, became a miracle of communication which
eventually entered well-nigh every home in the civilized countries of the world.
It was long considered the single most important invention of modern
civilization.
6. Thomas Alva Edison was the most famous and most productive of
all inventors, with nearly a eleven hundred patents to his name. His gift of
insight into mechanical processes and relationships, despite a lack of formal
education, was the genius behind his amazing abilities. The list of his
inventions is nearly a recount of modern western civilization, with the light
bulb, phonograph, motion picture techniques, power generators, transmission of
electricity, and a host of other famous inventions.
The list could go on and on, from the development of mass
production techniques, air flight, vacuum tubes, radio, television, transistors,
integrated circuits, satellite communication, computers, and, regrettably,
nuclear weapons.
Why is this such a bitter wine?
The answer is materialism. It carried the seeds of ultimate
destruction. Technology emphasized material developments over spiritual growth.
The drive for physical survival in the new world, and the natural bounty of the
land, led to concentration on material gratifications over spiritual
relationships.
Technology also opened the doors for social perversions. As
mechanical advantage increased, manpower could be directed to other avenues. If
the grain reaper could replace twenty men those men could engage in other
activities. They could be placed into factories. Industrialization then had a
base for expansion.
As a result human beings more and more lost contact with the
natural world. In increasing numbers they entered the artificial world of city
environments.
Industrial complexes, with their abuse of child and female labor,
were used for the concentration of wealth into the hands of a few.
Stock markets, mercantile exchanges, and other financial systems
were used to manipulate investment methods and then perverted into avenues for
personal wealth accumulation.
The economic philosophy of free enterprise was used as a
psychological weapon to justify personal greed and abuse of social equity.
Political philosophies could be prosecuted with intense technical
power. Warfare became more deadly. Human value declined, until, by the
mid-twentieth century, millions upon millions of human beings were slaughtered
in gas chambers and by firing squads.
Increasing industrialization and abuse of natural resources
created mass pollutions of the world.
Concentration of production, of energy, and of communication
pushed the social order to ever more precarious positions. A small trigger event
could cause disruption and breakdown of the entire system.
The ultimate of this deadly wine was nuclear weaponry. Now the
will of any nation or any distorted personality could be imposed upon the world.
What began as bright promise and sublime hope ended in terror and
horror.
The nations drank of this wine, and the nations went mad.
The United States was a golden cup in the hand of God. She had
the greatest opportunity for righteousness of any nation in historic times. She
was isolated from the Old World. She defined her own way. She had a gift of
highly intelligent and perceptive men who founded her social order, with
Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, and many others in a rare assembly of social
insight. But she filled that cup with the impurities of her fornications. She
traded indiscriminately with all the merchants of the world. What industrial
baron did not want his name emblazoned on the pages of history? What
Rockefeller, or Carnegie, or Morgan did not view his financial and commercial
power with pride? The commercial kings of the United States went to bed with
anyone, for greed, personal gain, and self-aggrandizement.
Thomas Lawson, a Rockefeller lieutenant who organized a major
commercial operation for those men, published his personal experiences under a
title, Frenzied Finance, The Crime of Amalgamated. It was an informative
series of articles published in 1904 that later became a book. He recounted his
experiences with men who used the trappings of civilized manners, calm speech,
and manipulation of the financial system to rob other human beings. The
spiritual concerns of mankind were far from the minds and hearts of men who went
to church on Sunday morning and spent the rest of their days devising means to
satisfy their greed and power hunger through the physical labors of other human
beings. The philanthropy of those men were afterthoughts, means of assuaging
their feelings of guilt.
And then, in concern for preservation of such an adulterous
system, that social order devised methods for ultimate human destruction.
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The Proud One
50:31 Behold, I am against you, O proud one, says the Lord GOD
of hosts; for your day has come, the time when I will punish you.
Never, for any nation on earth, was one so proud as the United
States. But now the true harvest has come.
Isa 47:10-11 You felt secure in your wickedness, you said, "No
one sees me." Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray. You said in your
heart, "I am, and there is no one besides me." But evil shall come upon you, for
which you cannot atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able
to expiate; ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
She truly became a Great Babylon, a harlot to the nations. She
was a rich and magnificent land, excessive in luxury and wickedness. Her great
wisdom led her astray. She was truly proud. She said there never was a nation
like her. Gross deterioration of her morals and her human relationships were
the result of her great sins. But now disaster shall fall upon her. Ruin shall
come upon her of which she had not the slightest inkling.
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Mounting Up To Heaven
51:53 Though Babylon should mount up to heaven, and though she
should fortify her strong height, yet destroyers would come from me upon her,
says Yahweh.
Russia may have mounted into space with her orbiting vehicles,
but it was the United States who went to the moon, and who entertains the notion
of exploration of the solar system, and perhaps even of the stars.
Mother Ashamed
50:12 Your mother shall be utterly shamed, and she who bore
you shall be disgraced. Lo, she shall be the last of the nations, a wilderness
dry and desert.
The United States was, indeed, the last of the nations, being
founded in a land that saw no civilization until the seventeenth century. The
hammering of her will upon the world, and her crude frontier styles, left a
distaste around the planet. Her mother, England, and Europe, is truly ashamed of
her.
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Nations No Longer Flow To Her
51:44 And I will punish Bel in Babylon, and take out of his
mouth what he has swallowed. The nations shall no longer flow to him; the wall
of Babylon has fallen.
No land on this earth ever experienced the flow of the nations as
did the United States. From the early 1800's through the twentieth century
people from all over the world came to her. They came in droves from Europe,
from Asia, and from Africa. The greatest influx was in the last years of the
nineteenth century and the early decades of the twentieth. This was the time
when she was looking for manpower for her mills and industrial plants. In the
decade between 1900 and 1910 nine million people immigrated into this country.
This was then about ten percent of her total population.
The following chart shows this great flow of the nations into
Babylon.
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THE JEREMIAH PROPHECIES (And Parallels)
CONTINUED
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I recently found a description of the impact of immigration into
the United States through New York City. This articles well summarizes the
nature of the international flow of the nations.
See Manhattan
Migrations. (Note made Sept. 30, 2004.)
This mass influx of people from all over the world created a
great babel of tongues. A confused mixture of sounds and voices, a scene
of noise and confusion, was a byword for this great nation.
But now God is about to take out of her that which she swallowed,
not in mass emigration, but in the salvage of those people who have great faith
in him.
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The Flight Of God's People
50:8 Flee from the midst of Babylon, and go out of the land of
the Chaldeans, and be as he-goats before the flock.
50:16 Cut off from Babylon the sower, and the one who handles
the sickle in time of harvest; because of the sword of the oppressor. Every one
shall turn to his own people, and every one shall flee to his own land.
51:6 Flee from the midst of Babylon, let every man save his
life! Be not cut off in her punishment, for this is the time of Yahweh's
vengeance, the requital he is rendering her.
51:9 We would have healed Babylon, but she was not healed.
Forsake her, and let us go each to his own country; for her judgment has reached
up to heaven and has been lifted up even to the skies.
51:45 Go out of the midst of her, my people! Let every man
save his life from the fierce anger of Yahweh!
Isa 48:20 Go forth from Babylon, flee from Chaldea. Declare
this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth;
say, "Yahweh has redeemed his servant Jacob!"
Rev 18:4-5 Then I heard another voice from heaven saying,
"Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in
her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her
iniquities."
This is the heart of the revelation. This is the call to God's
people. If you stay in the United States or on the North American continent you
will be destroyed in the coming nuclear devastations.
God wants you to save yourself. Many of you are of blended
European stocks. You carry good genetic potentials. Within your veins you carry
biological and spiritual value for the future development of our world.
Give heed to God's call. Dedicate yourself to him, in real
service, and not some imaginary religious theology.
When the revelation says that everyone will turn to his own
people and everyone flee to his own land it does not mean a national identity
from some ancestry. It means that each will make his own choice according to the
dictates of his heart and the sense of survival for the new world.
Many interpreters of these passages believe that God's people
will be rescued in a great escape they call the Rapture. Therefore they do not
apply these appeals to themselves. They do not believe they carry a
responsibility for the future of the world. In order to rescue these statements
within the framework of their scheme they believe these appeals are directed to
Jews who will remain on the planet and who must be saved from the coming
destructions.
Such theories are an illusion. They are attempts to avoid the
awesome burden of choice which face all of God's people today. Do not heed them.
God would have healed Babylon. He would have turned her to
righteousness and have made her a shining light to the world. He sent his Billy
Sundays and Billy Grahams. He brought great religious revivals. But she rejected
that healing.
Isa 48:17-19 Thus says Yahweh, your Redeemer, the Holy One of
Israel: "I am Yahweh your God, who teaches you to profit, who leads you in the
way you should go. O that you had hearkened to my commandments! Then your peace
would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;
your offspring would have been like the sand, and your descendants like its
grains; their name would never be cut off or destroyed from before me."
This is the price Great Babylon paid for her unrighteousness. Now
she will be remembered no more forever.
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God's Vengeance
Repeatedly, in many verses, God left no doubt about Babylon's
great sin.
50:15 Raise a shout against her round about, she has
surrendered; her bulwarks have fallen, her walls are thrown down. For this is
the vengeance of Yahweh: take vengeance on her, do to her as she has done.
50:24 I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon, and
you did not know it; you were found and caught, because you strove against
Yahweh.
50:28-29 Hark! they flee and escape from the land of Babylon,
to declare in Zion the vengeance of Yahweh our God, vengeance for his temple.
Summon archers against Babylon, all those who bend the bow. Encamp round about
her; let no one escape. Requite her according to her deeds, do to her according
to all that she has done; for she has proudly defied Yahweh, the Holy One of
Israel.
51:24-25 I will requite Babylon and all the inhabitants of
Chaldea before your very eyes for all the evil that they have done in Zion, says
Yahweh. "Behold, I am against you, O destroying mountain," says Yahweh, "which
destroys the whole earth. I will stretch out my hand against you, and roll you
down from the crags, and make you a burnt mountain."
51:34-35 Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon has devoured me,
he has crushed me; he has made me an empty vessel, he has swallowed me like a
monster; he has filled his belly with my delicacies, he has rinsed me out. The
violence done to me and to my kinsmen be upon Babylon. Let the inhabitant of
Zion say. "My blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea."
51:49 Babylon must fall for the slain of Israel, as for
Babylon have fallen the slain of all the earth.
Why is God bringing retribution?
We should not be repelled by the words of vengeance. These are
human words, in order for human mortals to understand. God does not carry
vengeance in his heart. But he does hold justice and righteousness within
himself, and justice is the meaning of the action he brings against Great
Babylon.
Why is it retribution? Because Great Babylon will bring the
destruction of modern Israel, and all the nations round about. The United States
will bring nuclear destruction to Jerusalem, Judea, and the surrounding
countries, an action which, in her eyes, will end that continual strife once and
forever more.
The Most Highs rule in the kingdoms of men. Little did Great
Babylon pay heed to such revelations. God set a snare for her. If she had turned
her heart to righteousness and justice she would not have fallen into that trap.
But because she went her own wanton and willful way she was found and caught.
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Desolations Are Decreed
50:13 Because of the wrath of Yahweh she shall not be
inhabited, but shall be an utter desolation; every one who passes by Babylon
shall be appalled, and hiss because of all her wounds.
50:22-23 The noise of battle is in the land, and great
destruction! How the hammer of the whole earth is cut down and broken! How
Babylon has become a horror among the nations!
50:30 Therefore her young men shall fall in her squares, and
all her soldiers shall be destroyed on that day, says Yahweh.
51:29 The land trembles and writhes in pain, for Yahweh's
purposes against Babylon stand, to make the land of Babylon a desolation,
without inhabitant.
51:37 Babylon shall become a heap of ruins, the haunt of
jackals, a horror and a hissing, without inhabitant.
51:47 Therefore, behold, the days are coming when I will
punish the images of Babylon; her whole land shall be put to shame, and all her
slain shall fall in the midst of her.
51:54-56 Hark! a cry from Babylon! The noise of great
destruction from the land of the Chaldeans! For Yahweh is laying Babylon waste,
and stilling her mighty voice. Their waves roar like many waters, the noise of
their voice is raised; for a destroyer has come upon her, upon Babylon; her
warriors are taken, their bows are broken in pieces; for Yahweh is a God of
recompense, he will surely requite.
Isa 47:11 But evil shall come upon you, for which you cannot
atone; disaster shall fall upon you, which you will not be able to expiate; and
ruin shall come on you suddenly, of which you know nothing.
Isa 47:14 Behold, they are like stubble, the fire consumes
them; they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. No coal for
warming oneself is this, no fire to sit before!
Rev 18:2-3 And he called out with a mighty voice, "Fallen,
fallen is Babylon the great! It has become a dwelling place of demons, a haunt
of every foul spirit, a haunt of every foul and hateful bird, for all the
nations have drunk the wine of her impure passion, and the kings of the earth
have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have grown
rich with the wealth of her wantonness."
Rev 18:6-8 Render to her as she herself has rendered, and
repay her double for her deeds; mix a double draught for her in the cup she
mixed. As she glorified herself and played the wanton, so give her a like
measure of torment and mourning. Since in her heart she says, "A queen I sit, I
am no widow, mourning I shall never see," so shall her plagues come in a single
day, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she shall be burned with fire; for
mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
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Destroyers Out Of The North
Those who destroy Great Babylon will come out of the north. These
will not be lands north of ancient Israel or ancient Babylon, but north of North
America. They will come with their weapons of war, their great ballistic
missiles, over the north pole, and perhaps from their submarines.
50:3 For out of the north a nation has come up against her,
which shall make her land a desolation, and none shall dwell in it; both man and
beast shall flee away.
50:9 For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon
a company of great nations, from the north country; and they shall array
themselves against her; from there she shall be taken. Their arrows are like a
skilled warrior who does not return empty-handed.
50:26 Come against her from every quarter; open her granaries;
pile her up like heaps of grain, and destroy her utterly; let nothing be left of
her.
50:41 Behold, a people comes from the north; a mighty nation
and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth.
51:11 Sharpen the arrows! Take up the shields! Yahweh has
stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, because his purpose concerning
Babylon is to destroy it, for that is the vengeance of Yahweh, the vengeance for
his temple.
Who are the Medes? In ancient times they included those lands
surrounding and north of Lake Van and Lake Urmia to the Caucasus Mountains and
which are now the southernmost provinces of Russia, Georgia and Azerbaidzhan.
51:27-28 Set up a standard on the earth, blow the trumpet
among the nations; prepare the nations for war against her. Summon against her
the kingdoms, Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her, bring
up horses like bristling locusts. Prepare the nations for war against her, the
kings of the Medes, with their governors and deputies, and every land under
their dominion.
Ararat and Minni were adjacent to Lake Van and Lake Urmia.
Ashkenaz was an ancient kingdom in eastern Armenia, again the same general
location. Their "deputies and governors and every land under their dominion"
denotes an association of ethnic tribes or provinces, certainly the nature of
the modern state of Russia and its provinces.
51:48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out
of the north, says Yahweh.
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Destruction By Fire
The destructions will be by fire, the awesome fire of nuclear
weapons.
51:48 Then the heavens and the earth, and all that is in them,
shall sing for joy over Babylon; for the destroyers shall come against them out
of the north, says Yahweh.
51:30 The warriors of Babylon have ceased fighting, they
remain in their strongholds; their strength has failed, they have become women;
her dwellings are on fire, her bars are broken.
The strongholds are all those caves and holes they created for
their retreat. Little good they will do for a land that is destroyed.
51:32 The fords have been seized, the bulwarks are burned with
fire, and the soldiers are in panic.
51:58 Thus says Yahweh of hosts: "The broad wall of Babylon
shall be leveled to the ground and her high gates shall be burned with fire. The
peoples labor for naught, and the nations weary themselves only for fire."
50:39-40 Therefore wild beasts shall dwell with hyenas in
Babylon, and ostriches shall dwell in her; she shall be peopled no more for
ever, nor inhabited for all generations. As when God overthrew Sodom and
Gomorrah and their neighbor cities, says Yahweh, so no man shall dwell there,
and no son of man shall sojourn in her.
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The Sea Over Babylon
Then, in that final act of the age, when the planet twists in the
final throes of the birth of a new age, Great Babylon shall sink beneath the
waters of the ocean.
Jer 51:42 The sea has come up on Babylon; she is covered with
its tumultuous waves.
Jer 51:64 Thus shall Babylon sink, to rise no more, because of
the evil that I am bringing upon her.
Rev 18:21 Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great
millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "So shall Babylon the great city be
thrown down with violence, and shall be found no more."
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THE GREAT
PLANETARY TRANSITION
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Throughout prophecy we were told of the great earth changes which
will now take place at the end of the age. These are totally catastrophic in
magnitude. A great shifting of the planet will occur.
Numerous speculations surround this event. Some believe the earth
will be struck by a large meteor to create havoc and to alter its rotation with
respect to the sun. Others believe a comet will pass in close proximity to flip
it around in its orbit. Still others have proposed that the coming nuclear
explosions will alter the energy content of the globe to trigger stupendous
vibrations in the crust of the earth.
No one knows how God will accomplish this change. It is not
revealed in prophecy. Therefore these various proposals are simply speculations.
But the fact of such dramatic change is indicated time and again.
Isa 24:1 Behold, Yahweh will lay waste the earth and make it
desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
A twisting of the surface would come with great crustal movements
over the liquid core. While the total mass of the earth rotates with tremendous
kinetic energy, if the entire body of the planet were somehow to twist in its
rotation a displacement of crustal orientation with respect to the core might
easily take place. This would cause great upheavals and undulatory movements on
the surface.
Isa 24:18-20 He who flees at the sound of the terror shall
fall into the pit; and he who climbs out of the pit shall be caught in the
snare. For the windows of heaven are opened, and the foundations of the earth
tremble. The earth is utterly broken, the earth is rent asunder, the earth is
violently shaken. The earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways like a hut;
its transgression lies heavy upon it, and it falls, and will not rise again.
If an observer were to view this process from space he would note
the staggering of the planet, the twisting and swaying in motion as the globe
seeks new equilibrium rotation.
Matt 24:29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days the
sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will
fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Luke 21:25-26 And there will be signs in sun and moon and
stars, and upon the earth distress of nations in perplexity at the roaring of
the sea and the waves, men fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is
coming on the world; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
Such giant movements in the crust of the earth certainly will
cause men to faint with fear. If they are in the wrong locations they will be
literally swallowed in the upheavals. Huge tidal waves will sweep across the
planet, bringing tremendous destruction to all low-lying areas that survive the
crustal upheavals.
Rev 16:18-21 And there were flashes of lightning, voices,
peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as had never been since men were
on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three
parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Great Babylon, to
make her drain the cup of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and
no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, heavy as a hundred-weight,
dropped on men from heaven, till men cursed God for the plague of the hail, so
fearful was that plague.
Within such context the land of Great Babylon will sink beneath
the sea. Major portions of the eastern North American continent will fall. To
maintain isostatic equilibrium, that is, earth balance of the average level of
the continents and oceans, other lands will rise. Scientists call this tectonic
deleveling. The renovated earth will be dramatically different from that which
we now know.
Zech 14:4-8 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of
Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be
split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the
Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. And the valley of
my mountains shall be stopped up, for the valley of the mountains shall touch
the side of it; and you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days
of Uzziah king of Judah. Then Yahweh your God will come, and all the holy ones
with him. On that day there shall be neither cold nor frost. And there shall be
continuous day (it is known to Yahweh), not day and not night, for at evening
time there shall be light. On that day living waters shall flow out from
Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea;
it shall continue in summer as in winter.
Here the great changes in surface structure are forecast. The
tectonic plates will slide against one another, with massive movements from one
location to the other.
This prophecy is particularly curious because of its exact
geological description, a technical detail which would not have been known to
any human mortal at the time of its writing. We can safely infer that a divine
being had a hand in its formulation.
The descriptions of changes in earth light pertain to the future,
when this planet will undergo yet other geophysical alterations. The phrases
"neither cold nor frost," and continuing "in summer as in winter" mean dramatic
changes in earth's climate, brought about by the new rotational orientation with
respect to the sun. The planet will return to a bounteous beauty it knew before
the fall of Adam and Eve.
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Isa 30:18-26 Therefore Yahweh waits to be gracious to you;
therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For Yahweh is a God of
justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. Yea, O people in Zion who dwell
at Jerusalem; you shall weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the
sound of your cry; when he hears it, he will answer you. And though Yahweh give
you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will
not hide himself any more, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears
shall hear a word behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it," when you
turn to the right or when you turn to the left. Then you will defile your
silver-covered graven images and your gold-plated molten images. You will
scatter them as unclean things; you will say to them, "Begone!" And he will give
rain for the seed with which you sow the ground, and grain, the produce of the
ground, which will be rich and plenteous. In that day your cattle will graze in
large pastures; and the oxen and the asses that till the ground will eat salted
provender, which has been winnowed with shovel and fork. And upon every lofty
mountain and every high hill there will be brooks running with water, in the day
of the great slaughter, when the towers fall. Moreover the light of the moon
will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as
the light of seven days, in the day when Yahweh binds up the hurt of his people,
and heals the wounds inflicted by his blow.
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Ezek 34:5-16 So they were scattered, because there
was no shepherd; and they became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were
scattered, they wandered over all the mountains and on every high hill; my sheep
were scattered over all the face of the earth, with none to search or seek for
them. Therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: As I live, says Yahweh
GOD, because my sheep have become a prey, and my sheep have become food for all
the wild beasts, since there was no shepherd; and because my shepherds have not
searched for my sheep, but the shepherds have fed themselves, and have not fed
my sheep; therefore, you shepherds, hear the word of Yahweh: Thus says Yahweh
GOD, Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my sheep at their
hand, and put a stop to their feeding the sheep; no longer shall the shepherds
feed themselves. I will rescue my sheep from their mouths, that they may not be
food for them. For thus says Yahweh GOD: Behold, I, I myself will search for my
sheep, and will seek them out. As a shepherd seeks out his flock when some of
his sheep have been scattered abroad, so will I seek out my sheep; and I will
rescue them from all places where they have been scattered on a day of clouds
and thick darkness. And I will bring them out from the peoples, and gather them
from the countries, and will bring them into their own land; and I will feed
them on the mountains of Israel, by the fountains, and in all the inhabited
places of the country. I will feed them with good pasture, and upon the mountain
heights of Israel shall be their pasture; there they shall lie down in good
grazing land, and on fat pasture they shall feed on the mountains of Israel. I
myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I will make them lie down, says
Yahweh GOD. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will
bind up the crippled, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong
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Isa 49:7-23 Thus says Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel
and his Holy One, to one deeply despised, abhorred by the nations, the servant
of rulers: "Kings shall see and arise; princes, and they shall prostrate
themselves; because of Yahweh, who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who has
chosen you." Thus says Yahweh: "In a time of favor I have answered you, in a day
of salvation I have helped you; I have kept you and given you as a covenant to
the people, to establish the land, to apportion the desolate heritages; saying
to the prisoners, 'Come forth,' to those who are in darkness, 'Appear.' They
shall feed along the ways, on all bare heights shall be their pasture; they
shall not hunger or thirst, neither scorching wind nor sun shall smite them, for
he who has pity on them will lead them, and by springs of water will guide them.
And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be raised up. Lo,
these shall come from afar, and lo, these from the north and from the west, and
these from the land of Syene." Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth;
break forth, O mountains, into singing! For Yahweh has comforted his people, and
will have compassion on his afflicted. But Zion said, "Yahweh has forsaken me,
my Lord has forgotten me." Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should
have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not
forget you. Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are
continually before me. Your builders outstrip your destroyers, and those who
laid you waste go forth from you. Lift up your eyes round about and see; they
all gather, they come to you. As I live, says Yahweh, you shall put them all on
as an ornament, you shall bind them on as a bride does. Surely your waste and
your desolate places and your devastated land surely now you will be too narrow
for your inhabitants, and those who swallowed you up will be far away. The
children born in the time of your bereavement will yet say in your ears: "The
place is too narrow for me; make room for me to dwell in." Then you will say in
your heart: "Who has borne me these? I was bereaved and barren, exiled and put
away, but who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; whence then have
these come?" Thus says Yahweh GOD: "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the
nations, and raise my signal to the peoples; and they shall bring your sons in
their bosom, and your daughters shall be carried on their shoulders. Kings shall
be your foster fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers. With their faces
to the ground they shall bow down to you, and lick the dust of your feet. Then
you will know that I am Yahweh; those who wait for me shall not be put to
shame. |
These are the promises. Would any true child of God
refuse to be a partner in that stupendous rescue of the planet? Can you see the
beauty, bounty, righteousness and holiness which awaits your children? God calls
to you. Will you answer?
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DECISIONS
Wise choices are necessary. None of these are outside the purview
of intelligent men and women
1. According to the sequence of events described in prophecy the
nuclear events will be limited to the northern hemisphere. Nuclear debris and
radiation will be most intense in that hemisphere. How much will drift over to
the southern hemisphere is unknown. The safest refuge is at or below the
equator.
2. Lower elevations should be avoided for two reasons. First,
nuclear debris will settle toward the lower elevations. Second, the great tidal
surges will sweep over many of the lower elevations.
3. Geologically stable areas should be sought. The great crustal
fracturing will make unstable areas hazardous. Many geologists today can suggest
those areas, but accept their advice with care.
4. The new earth rotational orientation with respect to the sun
will cause great changes in evaporation of water into the atmosphere. This
process will continue for some time, to alter meteorological and rainfall
patterns. It is impossible to describe the magnitude of a lack of accessible
water. Will springs continue to produce? This problem may make choices
uncertain. However, keep in mind that God said:
Isa 41:18 I will open rivers on the bare heights, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of
water, and the dry land springs of water.
5. If rainfall is limited the growth of plants may be adversely
affected. This may make cultivated food scarce.
But God will take care of his people. As he did with Moses
and the people of Israel in the wilderness many millennia ago, he will now do
again.
May God truly be with all of you in these momentous destiny
decisions.
Ernest P. Moyer
PO Box 1206
Hanover, Pennsylvania 17331
December, 1995
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