The Whore Of Bavel

Revelation 17:18 AMP,  And the woman that you saw is herself the great city which dominates and controls the rulers and the leaders of the earth.  I want you to notice something. G-d never said the woman WILL be, but IS. "The woman which thou sawest IS that great city," Yeshua told Yochanan in Revelation 1:19, Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

G-d was speaking about things in the past, present and future. Had this city been a city in the future he would have said so. In verse 10 of this same chapter Yochanan was told: "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come."

The city in this verse was the city that ruled over the kings of the earth at the time G-d was showing these things to Yochanan. It was Rome. So what is the mystery? During Yochanan's day, the Roman authorities were not Christians although some of its citizens were. G-d was showing Yochanan that the Rome that was killing Christians would later become the apostate Church, the harlot at the time of the end.

Revelation 17:3-7 (AMP) says, "And [the angel] bore me away [rapt] in the Spirit into a desert (wilderness), and I saw a woman seated on a scarlet beast that was all covered with blasphemous titles (names), and he had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was robed in purple and scarlet and bedecked with gold, precious stones, and pearls, [and she was] holding in her hand a golden cup full of the accursed offenses and the filth of her lewdness and vice. And on her forehead there was inscribed a name of mystery [with a secret symbolic meaning]: Babylon the great, the mother of prostitutes (idolatresses) and of the filth and atrocities and abominations of the earth. I also saw that the woman was drunk, [drunk] with the blood of the saints (God's people) and the blood of the martyrs [who witnessed] for Jesus. And when I saw her, I was utterly amazed and wondered greatly. But the angel said to me, Why do you wonder? I will explain to you the [secret symbolic meaning of the] mystery of the woman, as well as of the beast having the seven heads and ten horns that carries her.."

Revelation 17 AMP continues in verse 18 "And the woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth." Even at that very day, the woman was a great city. (New York didn't exist then and neither did Washington, D. C.)

We are the ones who call this whore a mystery by-the-way. It's not written that she's some mystery. In fact, Revelation 17 is not the first time G-d gives us a look at this city. Our first look at her comes in Revelation 14:8, "Another angel, a second one, followed, saying, 'She has fallen! She has fallen! Bavel the Great!" She made all the nations drink the wine of God's fury caused by her whoring!"

In Yirmi'yah/Jeremiah 51:37 , G-d promised that the original physical Babylon would never amount to anything ever again after the Medes and Persians. This prophecy has been fulfilled. The only other city that has stood out as ruling nations and peoples is Rome. This is the great mystery. Rome and Babylon had great similarities but Babylon would be nothing while Rome, as mystery Babylon, would rise to become great

Babylon the great in Revelation the 18th chapter is the same as the woman in Revelation the 17th chapter and Revelation 14:8. The 14th chapter tells us that Babylon will be destroyed. The 17th chapter identifies her and tells us more about who is going to destroy her. The 18th chapter tells how the other nations react when they see this great city going up in flames and destruction.

Who is this city? Some argue that it is the United States of America. Is the USA a city or is it a nation? I know people would like to think that the USA rules over the kings of the earth, but is that the truth? The USA might have great influence but not rule. If you look at the rule of the USA, you might be surprised to see how small it is. USA rule extends to a few territories outside the 50 states.

When G-d spoke to Yochanan, He revealed that the whore of Babylon was a city that existed in that day. It was the city of Rome. We don't see Rome having great might today except through the Vatican. However, Rome still reigned over many nations for a thousand years. In Yochanan's day she ruled the known world.

Just for some deeper insight, let's compare the city of Rome to the United States of America. I know that many feel that because the United States government has laws that allow people to make sinful choices such as abortion and homosexuality that it's wicked. But there is a great difference in a government allowing people to make sinful choices and being a government that commits sin itself. The United States of America can't even begin to compare to the sinful nature of even Nazi Germany, much less the city of Rome.

In the United States of America, people commit murder and killing out of ignorance or personal vindetta. It's not a governmental act but an individual act. The Romans killed Christians and Jews by the millions. Go back and study it. Over one million Jews were murdered by Titus when he destroyed Yerushalayim/Jerusalem. After that the Romans used Christians for entertainment in gladiator settings, fed them to lions, burned them at the stake, hacked them up with swords. It wasn't just men they murdered either. They murdered women and little children too. Rome even burned Jews as torch lights on Nero's patio.

It was out of Rome that came the Spanish inquisitions that murdered Jews and Christians. It was this same reasoning sin coming from Rome that caused Spanish conquistadors to kill Indians in Central and North America because they did not believe in Yeshua/Jesus. They took this madness around the world. Literally they spilled the blood of millions in the Name of Yeshua/Jesus. When did the United States of America do such a thing? According to Revelation 17, the city is drunk on the blood of Believers. USA doesn't murder people for believing and has no record of doing so.

G-d hasn't forgotten. He still remembers every person who was killed in His Name. Think about it from G-d's point-of-view for a moment. They used the NAME of Yeshua/Jesus to murder people. They used HIS NAME to murder people. United States of America didn't do it, Rome did. Germany did. But Germany wasn't a city. Rome was and still is.

Rome has always been a huge trade center and still is in Europe. People from all over the world go to Rome to see the cultural aspects, the historical aspects. On top of that, Rome is the world's largest religious center.

Rome will ride the back of the nations of Anti-Moshiach. The leadership will come out of the religion that comes out of Rome. Mystery Babylon isn't so much of a mystery anymore if you stop and think about it. G-d was so precise in His prophetic words to Yochanan/John that He even gave the colors of their clothing.

You might say, "PJ, are you accusing the Catholic Church?" My answer to you is: No, I am just quoting what the Father says. G-d's Word is perfect. It doesn't matter what I hear, see or feel, the Word is absolute Truth! How this prophetic Word of the L-rd comes to pass is not my concern....it's to lead people into the Truth of the Word that is my concern. There are Catholics armed with Truth and they are a force in themselves with which to be reckoned.

At the same time, I wish to dispel a lie that is deceiving people. Deluded and deceived people wind up on the road to eternal destruction and G-d's desire is that no man go down that road. The only thing so far that has been accomplished with all this anti-USA rhetoric using the Word of G-d is a lot of deception. In fact, it's committing the same lawlessness G-d calls whoring. It's the same murdering spirit that kills innocent victims, whether it's slaying them by word or deed and using HIS NAME to do it.

Think about it; if we know the Truth, we are set free from the enslaving power of deception. Truth can give those in Rome knowledge and skill to fight evil and to stand up for right. We do no one any courtesy or good in hiding Truth.

This is a great month to pray for the United States of America, Germany and Rome! Shalom!