BABYLON NEVER DESTROYED
Before preceding with the study of Revelation Chapters 17 and 18 we need to answer two questions not answered in "MODERN BABYLON." Using your concordance, compile a list of prophecies which include descriptions of the destruction of Babylon. Which prophecies concerning Babylon have not been fulfilled? Are there any signs of The End of the world or the coming of the Lord in the prophecies of the destruction of Babylon?

THE QUESTION
If the Prophets told us God would destroy Babylon, did they tell us when this destruction would occur? Are there any clues in these prophecies which indicate the general time of this femme fatal's flaming finish?

THE ANSWER
Isaiah 13:1-19 contains the sign of the Sixth Seal, also given by the Lord as a sign of His coming. Mat. 24:29, Rev. 6:12-14. This is enough evidence to prove Modern Babylon will be destroyed in the last days of earth's existence. But we need not rest our case on one clue. Compare Jeremiah 50 and 51 with Revelation Chapters 17 and 18.

HER END IS SURE
It is undeniable; since the 10 Kings of Daniel 7:7 are the same Kings depicted by John in 13:1 and 17:12, and since these Kings all live at the Time of The End, and because it is these Kings which God has caused to give the golden cup of filth and wrath to the whore to drink -- at the time of the sixth Seal; that Babylon is one of the nations existing now.

Since Babylon is a metaphor for the richest and most powerful and corrupt nation of her time, there is only one nation which can be identified as Babylon: The United States of America.

SEE, AND COMPREHEND
Revelation 17:1. "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven Vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters."

WHEN
The Judgment of the Great Whore is part of the Seventh Vial, which occurs during the same time period as the Seventh Trumpet and Sixth Seal. The Seventh Trumpet and Vial depict the End of this world. John did not state that all of the listed events occur on the same earth day. It is absolutely clear they do occur in the same time period -- however long that is. There is a 45 day difference in the number of days given by Daniel which must be significant in End Time events. Dan 12:9-12. See p. 185.

John is being shown details of the Seventh Vial, when the angel gives the Great Whore the cup of God's wrath to drink. And drink she will; she will drink it all, even the bitter dregs.

HER OWN CUP
The vision of the Seven Vials is of the wrath of God being poured out upon the Beast's kingdom. This cup God gives to Babylon is in addition to the Seven Vials. It is her own intimate and personal cup of God's wrath.

SHE IS A WHORE
As we learned from Hosea, "Whore" is the term used by God to indicate a nation who was once faithful to Him, but has now gone after false gods. During the first 200 years of her life America was a Christian nation, but in the last 100 years she was seduced by deceivers who turned her heart to Satan.

RULES MANY PEOPLES
"Sitteth upon many waters..." By intimidation and Capitalism this Great Whore has ruled the western hemisphere, and sat on the Seven Hills of Rome for the last forty years.

TECHNOLOGY IS A FALSE GOD
Verse 2: "Kings of the earth have committed..." They have worshiped her false gods. Evolution is not a god capable of creation. "...Inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication." The product (wine) of her adultery is the alchemists PCB's, EDB, DDT, nuclear weapons, etc. ("Admiration" is worship, and she worshiped Technology.)

"Drunkenness" is loss of direction, or reason. She got rich from her act of adultery and lost her sense of direction. She shared the fruits of her whoredom with others and lead them to worship the false gods of Technology, Relativity and Evolution.

HER HABITATION
Verse 3: "...He carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness..." This angel took John to a place which he didn't recognize. Babylon is a nation far from Israel.

SHE IS SUPPORTED BY SATAN
"And I saw a woman sit on a scarlet..." This Beast is Satan. See 12:3 and 13:1-2. She sat on the Beast: that is, the beast carried her, or supported her. Satan gave her the ability to rule and prosper in opposition to God's laws, as did ancient Egypt, Sidon, Tyre and Assyria.

SHE IS RICH
Verse 4: "And the woman was arrayed in purple..." This is an icon describing the wealth of her ruling class. "Having a golden cup in her hand." The rich (compared to the nouveau riche) would not drink from a clay cup. In the gold cup is the fruit of her lust. See pp. 177, 181.

HER NAME IS OBVIOUS
Verse 5: "Upon her forehead..." The term "fore head" means front of the head, or face. Thus, her name is on her face, plain as day, for all to see. If we saw a beautiful woman walking the street with her name written on her face, wouldn't her name be obvious to us? See pp. 177, 181.

SHE KILLS THE SAINTS
Verse 6: "She is drunken with the blood of the Saints..." This nation had been (before Satan seduced her and taught her whorish ways) a place of refuge for people who fled religious persecution in other nations. For two hundred she was the Lion described by Daniel. Then, preferring adultery to chastity, she turned on them and began to seduce them into serving her favorite god -- Technology. See pp. 159, 178, 182.
She turned her own children into harlots, and taught them free love and abortion are good; and there is no absolute black and white, only shades of grey, it depends on how you look at things. In the lifetime of this generation she will murder the Saints who try to warn her of her coming destruction.

"We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country." No theologian in his right mind would claim the descendants of Judah attempted to save Babylon from the Medo-Persians. This prophecy refers to Christian's patriotic attempts to save their Republican Constitutional (as opposed to "Democratic Capitalism") Free Enterprise form of government. Jer. 51:9.

SATAN RISES UP
Verse 8: "The beast that thou sawest..." This is Satan. Rev. 20:7-8.

Verse 9: "Is the mind which hath wisdom..." Since the fall of Rome (from 476 until 1945) there has been no one nation who ruled Europe as Rome had. (That is, by military conquest.) For over a span of one generation this whore has had the power to completely destroy any nation. She took Europe from Germany by military force and has kept her troops on Europe's soil because they were not strong enough, she said, to defend themselves. The United States of America sat on Rome's Seven Hills for 40 years.

SATAN, THE LAST KING
Verse 10: "Seven Kings... the other is yet to come." The signs of the times reveal he will come in our lifetime. "And when he comes ...continue a short space." Dan. 11:20. This seventh King will not be in power long: about 295 days. "One of his heads received a wound... to death." And: "is the eighth, and is of the seven..." The seventh will loose his body to the eighth -- Satan. Zec. 11:17, Dan. 2:44, John 13:27.

Verse 11: "And the beast that was..." Satan is King of Rome reborn. Dan 2:42-44, 7:7-9, 20-21, 11:21.

A VERY SHORT REIGN
Verse 12: "And the ten horns..." These nations are visible now, and though we do not yet know exactly who all the "horns" are, it now seems that Gorbachev will be the "horn" of Gog and Ma-Gog, and Clinton may be the last president of America. "Kings one hour with the beast." Satan will rule for 42 months, and share his rule for a short time.

ALL NATIONS RULED BY SATAN
Verse 13: "They have one mind and will give their power to the Beast." They will submit to the Dragon in return for their lives, after he plucks three by their roots. Dan. 7:8, 12.

WAR AGAINST THE ELECT
Verse 14: "These shall... war with the Saints..." These are the Ten Kings, Babylon, the Bear, the Leopard and the kings of the South. This is the time the Lord warned about: the affliction of the Saints. Dan. 7:21, 8:24, Rev. 11:7, 13:7. Mat. 24:9.

Verse 15: "The waters are peoples..." Dan 7:1, Rev. 13:1.

SHE DRINKS HER CUP
Verse 16: "The ten horns shall hate the whore..." No one loves a Jezebel. "Shall make her desolate and shall eat her flesh... burn her with fire." See pp. 178, 183.

Verse 17: "For God hath put in their hearts..." As God used Israel to punish the Canaanites, and Babylon to punish Israel, He will use Gog and Ma-Gog and Rome to burn Babylon. Although these Kings may not know it to be true, they do the will of God: as do the jackal and vulture.

Time: the last 45 to 49 days of Daniel's seventieth week.

Verse 18: "...The woman is the great city which ruled over the earth..." She ruled by intimidation, and poisoned the world with the contaminated fruits of her whoredom.

LOOK UPON HER END
18:1-2. "And after these things..." After the first angel had explained just who the whore is, by describing her and her conduct, then: "And he cried mightily with a strong voice..." Like Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon is utterly destroyed by fire from the sky. See pp. 178, 183.

SEE, AND COMPREHEND
"The habitation of devils... the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Many of the words used by John to record these visions are descriptive. He used words like an artist uses pigments--to paint a picture. The visions are visual communications of something the reader may have never seen, so John uses familiar words to paint a word picture which shows an actual event, a literal thing. The words, while not being used literally, do convey a literal message.

What kind of a bird is a hateful bird? There is no such animal. So this is a metaphorical description of a thing which we have never seen: but John did. The words themselves are easy enough. Hateful means full of hate, expressing undeserved bitterness; or a consuming, unrelenting, anger. A bird is an animal, or a being, capable of flight. These words together paint a mental picture of a vulture, who, in no mood to eat, but not wanting to wait for its prey to die, would aggressively attack and cruelly rip the flesh off of its living victim.

The phrase "hateful bird" and "devils and foul spirits" depict those beings who will inhabit Babylon for the short time between her destruction by fire and the actual end of this world.

BURNED IN ONE HOUR
In verses 10 and 17 the angel said her destruction comes upon her in just one hour. The ten Kings will burn her with fire. 17:16-17. How will they destroy Babylon in just one hour?

It is written: "He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword." And: "Of the cup she has given to others, give her a double portion." Which "sword" has Babylon lived by? The atomic bomb. What is this cup she has given to others? One of the fruits of her adultery: the nuclear warhead. This Great Sword which she has given to others will murder uncountable millions of innocent men, women and children in the next few years. Then she will be given a double potion of her own cup of filth to drink.

How long, once the ten Kings turn her own sword upon her, will her complete annihilation require? Two thousand nuclear warheads will fall on her in one hour.

SURVIVORS?
What is a hateful bird? There will be some few citizens of Babylon who will survive those burning mushroom clouds. At first they will be in a state of shock, dumbfounded. Then, in the days after, they will begin to wander about in a dazed frenzy, possessed by evil spirits; and, as they begin to comprehend what has come upon them, a consuming anger because the power they trusted has destroyed them. Then, having no one to vent their insane anger upon, they will attack each other and rip the flesh off each other even as they die.

A CLEAR MESSAGE
There is no need, in this study guide, for a verse by verse study of Chapter 18. The language may be figurative, but the message is unmistakably clear. It is a description, in pictographic terms, of the destruction of the United States of America by nuclear weapons.

THE ELECT ARE SPARED
It is of no consequence to those who love the Truth that the United States will be destroyed by nuclear war, as any Saints who remain will have been murdered during the last three and a half years for a testimony of their faith. "Come out of her, my people ...that ye receive not of her plagues." Rev. 18:4, Jer. 51:6, 45.