beloved57 said:
Who is Mystery Babylon ?
The figurative harlot Babylon (Revelation chapters 17-18) represents all of mankind's corrupt political (Revelation 17:18), economic (Revelation 18:11) and religious (Revelation 18:24) systems throughout the earth (Revelation 18:3) and throughout history (Revelation 17:9-10).
The Antichrist's (the beast's) ten kings will destroy with fire all that the figurative harlot Babylon represents (Revelation 17:16-17a) when they destroy all the cities of the earth, possibly with nukes (and possibly with Fission-Fusion-Fission nukes: "FFF", or "666", nukes, "F" representing the number 6 in English gematria), at the time of the seventh vial (Revelation 16:17,19), which will be the final event (Revelation 16:17b) of the coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18, right before Jesus Christ's second coming (Revelation 19:2-20:3, Matthew 24:29-31). They could do this under the direction of Satan/Lucifer (Isaiah 14:12,17), who could want to leave only a literal "scorched earth" for Jesus to return to.
But how could Lucifer possibly convince the ten kings to burn up their own world? How could he convince them to "hate the harlot" (Revelation 17:16) when she represents their very own world-system? What Lucifer could do is revert to the ancient lies of Gnosticism, which says that everything material is basically evil, while only that which is pure spirit is good. Gnosticism teaches the lie that all humans used to be pure spirit and dwelling in bliss from all eternity in a purely-spiritual heaven, the "Pleroma", until by some mishap humanity fell into the material universe and became trapped in physical bodies. Gnosticism reviles YHWH, the creator of the material universe, as an evil, subordinate deity, a "Demiurge", who is keeping mankind imprisoned in the material universe. The Antichrist will be a Gnostic. He will teach the Gnostic lie that Christ isn't in the flesh (1 John 4:3, 2 John 1:7). And the Antichrist, like the Gnostics, will utterly revile YHWH (Revelation 13:6, Daniel 11:36).
So near the end of the coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18, right before the second coming of Jesus Christ in Revelation 19:7-21, what Lucifer could do is tell the Antichrist and his ten kings:
"The great battle of humanity against YHWH is about to begin [Revelation 16:14, Revelation 19:19], a battle which we will win, and so humanity will finally be able to escape YHWH's prisonhouse, this vile material universe, and return to the Pleroma. So let us completely destroy this awful prison cell, this awful planet, and let us, as it were, completely burn up all the gewgaws which we have hung upon our cell walls. Let us burn up everything, all our great cities, all our magnificent systems. Let us break every chain of attachment to this awful material realm, that we might more freely ascend back into our rightful place in the Pleroma".
Of course this will be a total lie. For at his second coming, Jesus Christ (who is YHWH: John 10:30, Zechariah 14:3-4) will completely defeat all the armies of unsaved humanity, arrayed against him (Revelation 19:19-21). And Jesus will have Lucifer bound in the bottomless pit during the subsequent millennium (Revelation 20:1-6). And Jesus will restore ruined parts of the earth and make them like the Garden of Eden (Ezekiel 36:35, Isaiah 51:3). And after the millennium and subsequent events are over (Revelation 20:7-15), God will create a new heaven (a new first heaven: a new sky/atmosphere for the earth) and a new earth (a new surface for the earth) (Revelation 21:1).
And then God himself will come down out of the third heaven in the literal city of New Jerusalem to live with saved humanity on the new earth (Revelation 21:1-4). For there's nothing evil in itself about God's material creation. What he's created was created very good (cf. Genesis 1:31). And Jesus, God himself, became flesh (John 1:1,14), and remains flesh even after his resurrection into immortality as a man (Luke 24:39). And Jesus remaining wholly without sin even in the flesh (Hebrews 4:15) proves that there's nothing evil in itself about matter.
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Some people feel that the U.S. must be the figurative harlot Babylon. While the corrupt aspects of the U.S. are certainly included in what she represents, she represents much more than just the U.S. For the U.S. just by itself (just as, for example, Jerusalem just by itself) doesn't reign over all the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18). Nor is the U.S. the only place on the earth where people buy merchandise (Revelation 18:11). Nor is the U.S. the place where all martyrs have been killed (Revelation 18:24). Nor has the U.S. just by itself corrupted the entire world (Revelation 18:3). Nor has the U.S. been continuously supported by all the empires of fallen man throughout history (Revelation 17:7,9-10).
Nonetheless, the corrupt world-system represented by the figurative harlot Babylon (Revelation chapters 17-18) may currently be headquartered in Washington DC and New York City, insofar as Washington DC may currently be "the crowning city" (cf. Isaiah 23:8) of mankind's corrupt politics, the first leg of the corrupt world-system represented by the figurative harlot Babylon (Revelation 17:18). And New York City may currently be "the crowning city" of mankind's corrupt economics, the second leg of the corrupt world-system represented by the figurative harlot Babylon (Revelation 18:11). "The crowning city" of mankind's corrupt religions, the third leg of the corrupt world-system represented by the figurative harlot Babylon (Revelation 18:24), may currently be Jerusalem, just as it was back in the first century (Matthew 23:35-38).
Ultimately, all three legs of the corrupt world-system represented by the figurative harlot Babylon could become headquartered in the literal rebuilt city of Babylon (in Iraq), which the Antichrist could make the capital of the whole world during his 42-month worldwide reign (Revelation 13:5,7). He could build a central temple to himself (and Lucifer/Satan) there, for a temple will be built to wickedness in Shinar (Zechariah 5:8,11), and the Antichrist is called "that Wicked" (2 Thessalonians 2:8).
Ancient Tyre was "the crowning city" of mankind's corrupt economics in ancient times (Isaiah 23:8). God allowed the destruction of ancient Tyre as a lesson, an example, "to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth" (Isaiah 23:9). In the same way, in the future, God could allow the destruction of New York City and Washington DC by terrorist nuclear bombs, as a lesson, an example, "to stain the pride of all glory, and to bring into contempt all the honourable of the earth" (Isaiah 23:9).
Also, the Bible teaches that, without repentance, what's sown is reaped (Galatians 6:7), and two nuclear bombs were sown by the U.S. against two major cities in Japan (Hiroshima and Nagasaki) in order to terrorize Japan into surrender during World War II. So could the U.S. at some point in the future reap two terrorist nuclear bombs against two of its own major cities? Could the U.S. avoid this fate by publicly repenting before God and asking God and Japan for forgiveness for the U.S. intentionally targeting and murdering 150,000 innocent civilian men, women and children living in Hiroshima and Nagasaki?
Could the 9/11 terrorists being allowed by God to intentionally target and murder 3,000 innocent civilian men, women and children in New York's Twin Towers and elsewhere in the U.S. have been just a warning to the U.S., a mere shot across its bow, to try to get the U.S. to repent for what it did to the two cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? But could the U.S. continue to refuse to repent for its nuclear terrorism against Japan, leaving the way open for nuclear terrorism against the U.S.?
New York City and Washington DC could be destroyed by terrorist nuclear bombs before the Antichrist even arises on the world scene. For there's someone currently keeping the Antichrist from taking over the world; it's only when this "restrainer" is taken out of the way that the Antichrist will be able to take over the world (2 Thessalonians 2:6-8a, Revelation 13:7). This restrainer could be a powerful angel like the one who will restrain Satan himself at the second coming of Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:1-3). The powerful angel restraining the Antichrist could be Michael the archangel, the angelic "prince" over Israel (Daniel 12:1, Daniel 10:21,13). At the same time, Michael could also currently be the angelic "prince" over the U.S., making sure that the U.S. remains a close protector of Israel.
Part of Michael's being taken out of the way just enough so as to allow the Antichrist to take over the world could be God removing Michael's protective covering over the U.S. just enough to allow both New York City and Washington DC to be nuked by terrorists. This could happen shortly before or after the war of Revelation 6:4-8, and could weaken the U.S. not only by the destruction of its financial and political capitals, but also by the subsequent run on the U.S. dollar which could occur, rendering the U.S. dollar close to worthless in world markets. The U.S. government could then finally go bankrupt, unable to any longer finance its huge debt, economy and military. Its days as a superpower will be over, opening the way for the Antichrist to arise on the world scene and begin his takeover of the world (Revelation 13:7).
If New York City and Washington DC are attacked with nukes, will this really be the work of "terrorists", such as Islamic jihadists? Or could the nuke-attack on the U.S. be merely a "false flag" operation, one falsely presented to the world as an Islamic-jihadist attack, when in fact it will have been carefully stage-managed from behind the scenes by a powerful cabal, a worldwide secret society of Luciferian Gnostics, as part of their careful, step-by-step plan to prepare the way for the Antichrist (who is himself a Luciferian Gnostic: 1 John 4:3, Revelation 13:4) to arise and take over the world?
Could the Luciferian Gnostic cabal secretly train and equip some sock-puppet Islamic-jihadist group with two nukes and the means to get them into the U.S. and detonate them in New York City and Washington DC? For example, could the two nukes be secretly built in North Korea, secretly sold by North Korea to Iran, secretly delivered to Iran via a plane crossing China, secretly handed off by Iran to some Islamic-jihadist group in Pakistan, secretly boated over to Thailand, and then secretly brought into the U.S. via two shipping containers from Thailand into the Port Newark, New Jersey Container Terminal?
Could the two shipping containers have been lined with enough lead so as to thwart any radiation-detectors at the Terminal? And could these shipping containers have been filled mostly with tile, kitty litter or bananas, which give off a natural radiation, so that if the containers are actually opened up and checked by hand for radiation it will be thought that the radiation is just from the tile, kitty litter or bananas, and not from nuclear bombs packed into lead sarchophagi hidden in the center of the containers?
Could both containers in this way get past U.S. inspection? (And could the cabal also be careful to have its own hand-picked and extremely-well bribed and blackmailed inspectors on duty when the containers are passing through U.S. inspection?) Could one of the containers then be trucked to a New Jersey warehouse, where the nuke will be extracted and placed into a smaller, lead-lined, tile-filled delivery truck, which will then be driven into the very heart of Manhattan, where the nuke will be detonated? And could the other container be trucked to an Alexandria, Virginia warehouse, where the nuke will be extracted and placed into a large SUV? Could the SUV then drive to a small, local airport in northern Virginia, where the nuke will be loaded in the dead of night onto a small, private jet? Could the jet then fly in the dead of night over the very heart of Washington DC, where the nuke will be detonated?
And even besides this, could a third nuke-containing shipping container from Thailand end up in a vast shipping-container lot in the Port of Long Beach, California, right next to Los Angeles? And could the cabal not even bother to have the nuke extracted and driven into or flown over downtown L.A., but simply have the nuke detonated right there in Long Beach harbor, so that it completely destroys the major West Coast port of the U.S., and wipes out a lot of hugely-populated Los Angeles and Orange Counties? And could the "Islamic terrorists" claim that they nuked L.A. because L.A. is where Hollywood is, and where the San Fernando Valley is, a capital of inappropriate contentograpic video production, so that L.A. is a main source of the corrupt entertainment culture that has taken over the world, even in Islamic countries behind closed doors?
