Grace and peace to you.

Today I was studying the prophetic Word in the Book of Daniel and in the Book of the Revelation.  A couple of months ago I had purposed to study prophecy more to get a better grasp of End Times events, but I had gotten away from it.  But God, knowing my heart, found a way to get me back into it.

I recently completed a poetry class assignment which required me to do an anaysis/exposition of a poem by one of America’s most revered poets.  I was not very excited about this project.  It is a sad fact that many of America’s most admired and best-loved poets had actually no reverence for God whatsoever, and in many cases were some of the most debauched and profane people on the planet. 

For this reason, I often cringe when I read their works, and I feel a great sense of sorrow for the downward moral spiral wherein America finds itself.  I’ve come to realize that the so-called academics: the poets, the writers, the thinkers were and are on the vanguard of America’s rebellion against God.  One such person was W.B. Yeats.

Yeats, like many poets, often couches his anti-Christian rhetoric in twilight language, using a mixture of Christian and mystical terminology, which, to the undiscerning ear sounds spiritual and even beautiful.  That is because Yeats and others came from Christian backgrounds and thus, had some knowledge of Scripture, and often made use of biblical language and concepts in their poetry.  

Oftentimes, the poems sound Christian on the surface, but upon closer examination, one can discern subtle, yet unmistakable messages reflecting themes of doubt about the existence or benevolence of God, the nature of truth, the divine inspiration of Scripture, pantheism, Eastern Philosophy, and other ungodly beliefs.

I chose to analyze Yeats’ poem entitled The Second Coming. As I said, many of these writers were schooled in Christian doctrine at some point in their lives, and so they are familiar with concepts such as the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  When I read this poem for the first time over a year ago, I was offended because it seemed to me that the poet’s reference to a “rough beast” was a derogatory inference to the Lord Jesus Christ.  This time, however, the Spirit revealed to me that Yeats was referring to the Antichrist and that he was looking forward to his coming with great anticipation.

Because this poem makes extensive reference to the Book of Daniel and the Book of the Revelation, I had to refer a great deal to these books to analyze the poem.  This turned out to be a God send.  For in the course of unveiling the hidden meanings in Yeats’ poem, the Spirit revealed several things to me that I didn’t understand before.  The result of this inquiry was a rekindling of the fire within me to know and understand the prophetic books.  In light of recent events, this is more important now than ever.

Another one of these rebels was Ralph Waldo Emerson, whose poem, Nature is chocked full of ideas one finds in The New Age, Eastern Mysticism, Hinduism, and even Wicca.

What troubles me the most is that every day in universities all over America children are being fed a liberal dose of these ideas, totally oblivious of the effect these poisonous doctrines are having on them both morally and spiritually.  People are puzzled about why violent crime is on the rise all over the world, and do not realize that it is due to the philosophies they are learning from godless, pagan teachers and professors in godless schools and universities throughout the United States and the world. 

Our children trust these people implicitly and blindly follow them.  In many cases the children even regard them as wise surrogate parents.  These godless people are using their influence on these children to fill their heads with doubt and cause them to hate the very Lord Jesus who ransomed their souls with His own blood.

Not only are academia and the literati to blame for the undermining of America’s youth, but so too are all the media, the motion picture industry in particular, for peddling among other things witchcraft, prostitution, pornography, homosexuality, atheism, alcoholism, and drug use.  But it doesn’t stop there.  America is not only guilty of destroying its own youth, but it is guilty of exporting its sinful, moral-less lifestyle around the globe.  God must one day judge this sinful nation.  Which brings me to what I really wanted to talk about today.

Revelation 17 and 18 speak about spiritual and economic Babylon, which most agree is the Roman Catholic “church,” who Scripture identifies as a harlot “arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with precious stone and pearls, and having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication.”  It is also depicted as a beast with seven heads and ten crowns.  Scripture identifies the seven heads as seven hills and the woman sitting on the beast as “that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (17:18).

Rome sits on seven hills, and the Vatican is the headquarters of the Holy Roman Empire, what remains of the Roman Empire, which literally reigned over the entire world.  For this reason many feel that the Roman Catholic church is the spiritual Babylon of Revelation 17 and that the pope is the Antichrist.  But opinions are mixed as to the identity of the economic Babylon of Revelation 18.  Some say it is America, rather than Rome.  Until today, I didn’t agree with this.  But now I do.

First of all, the entire beast does not represent seven hills, only the seven heads do.  The beast represents first a king as 17:11 tells us, “the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth.”  The beast also represents a kingdom as we read in Daniel 7:23, “The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth.” Revelation 13:1 also describes this same beast as being, “like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion.”  This fourth kingdom is a composite of the previous three kingdoms, the three beasts described in Daniel 7:3-7.

So, if the beast of Revelation 17 also represents a kingdom, and this kingdom is worldwide, it is possible that it could have both an ecclesiastical and an economic headquarters, and that the two are not necessarily co-located.

A woman is often used in the Bible to represent a people or a church.  A woman is used to represent the Jewish people both in the Old and New Testaments.  The Church of Jesus Christ is spoken of as the bride of Christ.  A whorish woman represents idolatry and spiritual depravity.  I believe, therefore, that the economic Babylon mentioned in Chapter 18 is the United States of America.  Let me explain why.

First, lets look at verse 3.

“For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”

The sentence says that “all nations” and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her.  Is there any nation on earth that has the influence that the United States has?  Through its economic policies and military might, the U.S. has wielded incredible influence over the governments of the world.

Verse 5 says, “Her sins have reached unto heaven.”  Is there any country that has had more of a moral influence on the world than the U.S.?  America, through the Hollywood motion picture and music industries, is the biggest exporter of culture in the world.  Its films can be found in virtually every city in every country on every continent.  But what kind of culture is represented in Hollywood?  Violence, drugs, premarital sex and sexual promiscuity, pornography, witchcraft, homosexuality, witchcraft: the list goes on and on.   Hollywood is the biggest promoter of immorality in the world.  And it is an American institution.

Indeed, America’s sins have reached unto heaven.

Verse 7 almost represents what has become known the world over as the typical “ugly American” attitude.

“She has glorified herself, and lived deliciously…for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.”

Arguably, no nation in modern memory has enjoyed the economic success that the U.S. has.  There hasn’t been a war on American soil in over 125 years.  For many years, Americans enjoyed the highest standard of living of any people on the globe.  This has created a proud, haughty, and pampered people who feel they have it made and will never see hardship.  World opinion of America is at an all time low, and if one were to peruse internet blogs and forums, one would hear the world’s glee at America’s economic woes as they look forward to her eminent fall from prominence with great anticipation.

Verse 8 tells us that because of its iniquities, the Lord Jesus will destroy economic Babylon.  A closer look at the reactions of those who had gotten rich doing business with her will reveal some things.

“And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore.”

“Their” in this sentence refers to the merchants.  The passage implies that these merchants did more than just profit by doing business with this country.  They were literally sustained by doing business with this country; for the passage says that after this country is destroyed, “no man buyeth their merchandise anymore.”  It would take a huge economy to have such a tremendous effect.  The United States is the largest economy in the world, and the largest importer of goods in the world.

Think about it: there are entire economies that depend upon the United States for their livelihood.  The Arab oil emirates would be the very first to feel the loss of the United States.  Moreover, because most of the United States’ industrial base has relocated overseas, many third-world countries’ economies have benefited from the United States.

Many have predicted a global depression, but few, if any, have intimated that the cause of it could be the elimination of the United States economy from the global marketplace. The U.S. economy is so huge and vital, that to eliminate it would cause a global economic meltdown.  I believe for this reason, that the United States is the country spoken of in Revelation 18.

Look at what the merchants do:

“And they cast dust on their heads, and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, Alas, alas, that great city, wherein were made rich all that had ships in the sea by reason of her costliness: for in one hour is she made desolate” (v. 19).

That is some reaction.  Notice that “all that had ships in the sea” were made rich doing business with her “by reason of her costliness.”  This is another sign that this is a major economy that is being spoken of here.  

There are yet two proofs that the United States is economic Babylon.  Notice that chapter 17, verse 15 says, “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.”  It may seem that this verse merely means to say that the whore rules the whole world.  But, verse 18 tells us that the great city “reigneth over the kings of the earth.”

To rule over the kings of the earth is to rule over all the people of the earth; for the kings rule the people.  But verse 15 specifically mentions “multitudes, nations, and tongues.”

Consider that virtually every people, nation, and language in the world is represented in the United States.  Some nations have almost as many, if not more, of their citizens living in the U.S. than in their own countries.  Cape Verde, Africa, is an excellent example. I believe this passage could be speaking of the “melting pot” which is the United States,

There is yet one more piece of evidence to consider.  Chapter 17, verse 4, speaking of Babylon says,

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with precious stone and pearls…”

For years I have wondered what the colors of the U.S. flag stand for.  When I was in the military, we were told that red stands for blood, blue stands for water (for the Atlantic and Pacific oceans), and that white stands for bravery.

Understand that in the world of symbolism, symbols can also masquerade as other things to hide their meaning from the wary.  Likewise a color can masquerade as another color.  So symbolically, red could easily stand for scarlet, blue for purple, and white for pearls. 

Consider also that another well-known symbol for America is a woman.  Though more famously known as Liberty, America (as she is really called), the goddess of our country, is always clad in red, white, and blue, just like the whore of Babylon, and as the Whore of Babylon has a golden cup in her hand, so does America hold a golden torch in hers. Remember, in the world of symbolism one thing almost always means something else.

The very last proof that the United States is economic Babylon and is targeted for destruction by the Lord Jesus, is the fact that as prominently as the United States figures in world affairs, she is not mentioned anywhere else in the book of the Revelation.  Outside of Chapter 18, there is no mention of any country that bears any likeness to the United States.  That’s because after Chapter 18, the United States no longer exists.

With all the things that are going on in the world from Africa to Japan to Afghanistan and the Middle East, it behooves each person reading this to seriously consider where he stands with the Lord Jesus.  His return is sooner than any of us thinks.  The United States has been targeted for elimination by the Lord Jesus, and for good reason. She is responsible for much pain, misery, and suffering.  Listen to how complete her destruction will be:

“Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burnt with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her” (Revelation 18:8).

Want to know how complete is compete? Listen:

“Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all” (Revelation 18:21).

The U.S. will be wiped off the map.  Where will you be?

If you don’t know the Lord Jesus, and have decided after reading this that you want to get to know Him, click here.

Stay encouraged, and look up, your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man

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