Great Babylon

Dan Greenup

Description

Babylon the Great is one of the greatest mysteries of the Bible. While there are many popular suggestions, most of them don't meet all of the biblical criteria. No, Babylon the Great isn't an allegory or a system. It's a rich, morally bankrupt city. That's just the tip of the iceberg. In Great Babylon: The Case for London as Babylon the Great, the mystery city's characteristics are examined in detail. As you might have guessed from the title, one candidate stands out: London.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Christian theology

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506905709
• Langue: English

Extrait

Great Babylon
The Case for London asBabylon the Great

DAN GREENUP
GreatBabylon
Copyright©2018 Dan Greenup

ISBN978-1506-905-70-9 EBOOK

February2018

Publishedand Distributed by
FirstEdition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O.Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALLRIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book publication may be reproduced, stored ina retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means ─ electronic,mechanical, photo-copy, recording, or any other ─ except brief quotation inreviews, without the prior permission of the author or publisher.


Scripture quotationsmarked MEV are taken from the Holy Bible, the Modern English Version. Copyright© 2014 by Military Bible Association. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture marked NASB istaken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, Copyright ©1960,1962,1963,1968,1971,1972,1973,1975,1977,1995 by The Lockman Foundation.Used by permission.
All quotations from theKoran are taken from Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation of the Koran intoEnglish.
Ali, Abdullah Yusuf(1938). The Holy Qur-an: Text, Translation & Commentary (3rd ed.). KashmiriBazar, Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf.
:
NoteTO THE READER

Dearreader,

Thanksfor taking the time to read this book! For those of you who have already readThe King Is Coming, which I’m contractually obligated to promote because Iwrote it, the first three chapters of this book will seem redundant. Feel freeto skip ahead to chapter four. God bless you!

DanGreenup
Table of Contents

What is Babylon the great?
The Usual Suspects
NYC = BTG?
Is Donald Trump Anointed?
The Case for London
Conclusion
References
What is Babylon the great?

In a very famous vision, known as the Revelation of Jesus Christor Revelation for short, John saw lots of wild things associated with Christ’sreturn. Although it hasn’t received as much hype as some of what he saw, Johnwitnessed “the judgment of the great prostitute.” 1 He saw this greatprostitute riding a scarlet beast with seven heads and ten horns, full ofblasphemous names. 2 It’s the stuff nightmares are made of. On top ofthat, John noticed something written on her forehead: “MYSTERY, BABYLON THEGREAT, THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” 3 Who is this mystery prostitute?
Without a doubt, the Antichrist is going to be a really bad guy.He will violently persecute Christians and Jews, conquer many nations andeventually, Jesus will personally destroy him. Having said that, Babylon theGreat’s resume isn’t exactly pretty. The city will be held responsible for theblood of all the saints, 4 it will rule over the nations of the worldbefore the Antichrist rises, 5 and it will be destroyed by the Lordfor its wickedness. 6
Given its rivalry with the Antichrist and its epic judgment at thehands of God, there have been plenty of theories about the identity of Babylonthe Great over the years. In some circles, it’s believed that Babylon the Greatis an allegory or a system of some kind. With all due respect, that doesn’t addup. Revelation 17:18 says Babylon the Great will be a powerful city that rulesover the nations of the earth before the rise of the Antichrist. 7 Unsurprisingly, it will be eventually attacked by the Antichrist. 8 Beforethat happens, it will be the most powerful city in the country with the mostinfluence at the time of the end. In other words, it’s the world’s economic,political and military superpower at the beginning of the end times. How do wedetermine the identity of this city? Fortunately, Revelation lists severalspecific characteristics of the city.

Economic and spiritual prostitution
For starters, as we’ve already seen, Babylon the Great is called aprostitute. Indeed, it’s called a prostitute, harlot, whore, or some other variationof a loose woman depending on the translation, several times. 9
Biblically speaking, there are two common forms of spiritualprostitution. The ancient port city Tyre, for example, was a wealthy tradingcenter that exploited nations through its unrighteous trade. 10 Tyrereceived “harlot’s wages” for playing “the harlot with all the kingdoms on theface of the earth.” 11 Clearly, the first kind of spiritualprostitution is economic exploitation of other countries. Needless to say,Babylon the Great will engage in similar naughty behavior. 12 Prettymuch the entirety of Revelation 18 is dedicated to its economic exploitation ofother nations and the consequences.
In addition to economic exploitation, apostasy is another form ofspiritual harlotry. Apostasy is a fancy word which, more or less, meansabandoning a previously held belief. In the biblical sense, it means turningone’s back on God, falling away from faith in Him. On a national level, Israeldid this all the time and was truly a demonstration of the love and patience ofGod. 13 The Book of Hosea examines this in detail. Israel had turnedtheir backs on the Lord and were pimping themselves to false gods, but God didn’trenounce them. He gave them an opportunity to repent and return to Him. It’s avery reassuring read.
That said, the Israelites weren’t the only ones. Nineveh was alsocalled a prostitute for turning away from God. 14 Nineveh receivedthe Lord under Jonah’s preaching, 15 but like Israel, they laterabandoned their commitment. Despite having been faithful to the Lord at onetime, Babylon the Great will lead the world to live sinfully. 16 Therulers of the earth are going to commit adultery with her. The use of the wordadultery is significant. It means Babylon the Great once had a healthyrelationship with the Lord and it also means that the corrupt city still claimsto be in a relationship with Him. Put differently, Babylon the Great will claimto be Christian while leading people away from Jesus. This is particularlytroublesome because it will be the most influential city in the world.

Superpower
Calling Babylon the Great a superpower doesn’t necessarily mean itwill be the wealthiest city or even the most powerful city. Rather, it meansthat Babylon the Great will be the most influential city. It will use the powerit has to intervene in the affairs of other nations economically, politicallyand culturally. It is going to be the city with the greatest impact on othercountries.
Indeed, Babylon the Great will have power over a ten kingdomcoalition that comes out of the Roman Empire and even the Antichrist for ashort time. Recall that in his vision, John saw a woman riding a scarlet beast. 17 This beast was full of blasphemous names and it had seven heads and ten horns. 18 This beast is the Antichrist. In Revelation 17:8, an angel explained to Johnthat “The beast that you saw was, and is not.” 19 This seems cryptic,but put together with other passages, it paints a clear picture of theAntichrist dying and rising from the dead. For instance, earlier in his vision,John saw the same beast with seven heads and ten horns. 20 He noticedthat one of the heads was “as if it was mortally wounded, but his deadly woundwas healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.” 21
This ‘as if’ phrase is used in Revelation to describe Jesus. Johnsaw a Lamb “standing as though it had been slain.” 22 The Lamb is oneof Christ’s many titles 23 and He didn’t just appear to be dead. Hereally died and He rose again in power. 24 Since the same ‘as if’phrase is used of the Antichrist, it’s clear that he’s going to die and riseagain. He is going to “come up out of the abyss” and the world will “wonderwhen they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come.” 25 Hewill counterfeit Christ’s Resurrection and most people will follow him becauseof it.
Certainly, this is disturbing. As a result, many people don’t wantto believe it. They’ve argued that the healing of the deadly head wound refersto the resurrection of an empire from the past, like the Roman Empire. Again,John saw a beast with seven heads and ten horns. Later, John found out theseven heads are seven kings. 26 Put differently, the seven headsactually represent seven rulers of seven empires. This is important, becausethe Antichrist is described as “the beast who was, and is not, he is theeighth, and is of the seven, and is going to destruction.” 27 Thismeans the Antichrist is a coming head of state who will live, die, andmiraculously come back to life. Honestly, this makes a lot of sense.
I mean, the revival of a former empire is easy to explain naturally.Empires come and go, and lots of people don’t even notice. To this day, manypeople are still trying to keep track of the frequent name changes of nationsin Eastern Europe and Africa. On the other hand, people don’t rise from thedead very often. What’s more likely to inspire worship, the regathering of agroup of nations or a legitimate resurrection?
Make no mistake, when the Antichrist’s deadly wound is healed, theworld will be in awe of him. Most people will worship him. 28 Theyare also going to worship the power behind the throne, Satan. 29 Thisis fitting because the Antichrist’s arrival will be based on a sharp increasein satanic activity, including false miracles, signs and wonders. 30 The most significant of these false miracles will be the resurrection of theAntichrist.
On a side note, why would God allow this to happen? It’sunpleasant, but because most of the world won’t have a love for the truth, Godwill send them a strong delusion. 31 While prophecies are beingfulfilled right in front of their eyes, confirming God’s Word and the soonreturn of King Jesus, they will instead decide to follow a ruler empowered bySatan. 32 They will freely choose to ignore God and believe a lie. 33 They will believe that the risen Antichrist is God. 34
So, the great prostitute, Babylon the Great, rides the scarletbeast with seven heads and ten horns, the Antichrist. What do the seven headsand ten horns represent? As mentioned previously, an angel told John that theseven he