1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,800 Hello everyone and we want to welcome you once again to the podcast we are calling the 2 00:00:04,800 --> 00:00:07,340 Bible Prophecy Masterclass. 3 00:00:07,340 --> 00:00:12,340 In this third episode we are continuing our deep dive into all of the Bible's prophecies 4 00:00:12,340 --> 00:00:18,280 as they relate to the end times, beginning with a verse by verse dissection of the 18th 5 00:00:18,280 --> 00:00:20,520 of the Book of the Revelation. 6 00:00:20,520 --> 00:00:26,680 Again this is and will always be a study rooted in a prophecy series written by Mr. Alvin 7 00:00:26,680 --> 00:00:34,240 Mitchell and I, Michael, along with Aria and or others of my colleagues on occasion, will 8 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:36,920 be your affable host. 9 00:00:36,920 --> 00:00:41,880 By way of reiteration I'd like to remind you that our conviction here in the Bible 10 00:00:41,880 --> 00:00:47,880 Prophecy Masterclass is such that the road to Armageddon can be subdivided into at least 11 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:50,900 three main broad categories. 12 00:00:50,900 --> 00:00:56,720 For one the fall of Babylon the Great, which must and will occur first, per Revelation 13 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:03,860 18, the Kabir-Miriam 2, the rise and the global dominance of the Jews in Israel, which could 14 00:01:03,860 --> 00:01:12,200 occur concurrent with the collapse of Babylon or very quickly thereafter, per Ezekiel 38-39, 15 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:17,460 and the Thurber 3, God's systemic destruction of the earth, which will without question 16 00:01:17,460 --> 00:01:23,560 and without fail begin sometime after the collapse of Babylon, the rise of the Jews, 17 00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:29,680 in accord with God's plan to rub His presence in the face of a world in rebellion by elevating 18 00:01:29,680 --> 00:01:35,720 them to the level of global prominence and dominance over an unspecified period leading 19 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:42,160 into the period of John's Apocalypse, per Revelation 6-19. 20 00:01:42,160 --> 00:01:47,140 Thus you might say that the thrust of our study will proceed according to three primary 21 00:01:47,140 --> 00:01:54,280 subcategories of this class titled as follows, all detailed in three books written by Mr. 22 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:57,480 Mitchell available soon on Amazon. 23 00:01:57,480 --> 00:02:04,560 Number 1 Judgment Day, Volume 1, Prelude to Armageddon, Part 1, The United States of America 24 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:06,320 and Bible Prophecy. 25 00:02:06,320 --> 00:02:11,560 This volume will be the basis for the next 20 plus episodes of this podcast. 26 00:02:11,560 --> 00:02:19,200 Number 2 Judgment Day, Volume 2, Prelude to Armageddon, Part 2, Israel catapulted to global 27 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:26,280 superpower and Thurber 3 Judgment Day, Volume 3, God vs. Gods of Earth. 28 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:31,900 As we said earlier, in this episode number 3 we will go directly into the 18th chapter 29 00:02:31,900 --> 00:02:38,960 of the book of the Revelation covering verses 1-4 which is a detailing of God's sore displeasure 30 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:43,160 with and His holy animus toward Babylon the Great. 31 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:48,480 Also in this discussion we will quite establish the fact that Babylon the Great here in chapter 32 00:02:48,480 --> 00:02:54,560 18 has nothing to do with Babylon the Great in chapter 17 and we will settle the fact 33 00:02:54,560 --> 00:02:59,560 that there is only one foot that can fill the bill here as well as give the reason why 34 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:01,600 this is so. 35 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:06,820 With that bit of introduction behind us, let us pray that God's will will be done and that 36 00:03:06,820 --> 00:03:11,560 He will bless this study in Jesus name, Amen. 37 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:13,760 Babylon the Great is fallen! 38 00:03:13,760 --> 00:03:17,080 Babylon the Great is destroyed! 39 00:03:17,080 --> 00:03:22,960 Here in chapter 18 we are greeted by a strong angel issuing a bold proclamation. 40 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:29,560 That declaration is augmented by an invitation to jubilate in verse 20. 41 00:03:29,560 --> 00:03:36,360 Rejoice you heaven and you holy apostles and prophets, for God has avenged you on her account. 42 00:03:36,360 --> 00:03:42,320 Not surprisingly, that jubilation centers in heaven's ecstasy and joy over the desecrated 43 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:44,800 sight of Babylon the Great. 44 00:03:44,800 --> 00:03:51,240 But at the ends of chapters 16 and 17, the slate has been wiped clean of two spiritually 45 00:03:51,240 --> 00:03:59,640 odious entities in a world already reduced to shambles, well on its way to total uninhabitability. 46 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:06,320 The great whore and the woman, with the inscription Babylon the Great on her forehead, that is, 47 00:04:06,320 --> 00:04:11,800 both Vatican City and her sole tenant, the great whore, I.E.E.I. 48 00:04:11,800 --> 00:04:17,720 The Roman Catholic Church, destroyed by the beast and company, and Rome, destroyed by 49 00:04:17,720 --> 00:04:20,580 the finger of God, are gone. 50 00:04:20,580 --> 00:04:26,560 This begs the question, to whom then does this Babylon the Great refer, and why such 51 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:32,840 jubilation and the ensuing expressions of vitriol lace throughout with supreme disgust 52 00:04:32,840 --> 00:04:34,580 and disdain? 53 00:04:34,580 --> 00:04:41,040 As with the whore and the woman, the chief instigator in her collapse is God, but clearly, 54 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:46,180 the mode and the impact felt by the world at large is totally different. 55 00:04:46,180 --> 00:04:51,980 This calamity absolutely must, and therefore it will actually transpire long before that 56 00:04:51,980 --> 00:04:57,800 of the destruction of either the whore or the woman who is the place of her abode. 57 00:04:57,800 --> 00:04:59,120 Why? 58 00:04:59,120 --> 00:05:04,880 For starters, one might do well to note that notwithstanding the name chosen to represent 59 00:05:04,880 --> 00:05:10,360 her and in spite of the reference by the end times merchants and politicians of the nations 60 00:05:10,360 --> 00:05:18,140 to her as that great city, the fact is that Babylon the Great here is not a city at all. 61 00:05:18,140 --> 00:05:21,020 She is not ancient Babylon rebuilt. 62 00:05:21,020 --> 00:05:23,600 There is no reason why she should be. 63 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:29,280 Furthermore, thinking and teaching to the contrary is patently antithetical to the clear 64 00:05:29,280 --> 00:05:33,760 teaching of scripture, per Isaiah 14. 65 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:41,320 Like Jericho, Babylon, once destroyed is never to be rebuilt or inhabited again. 66 00:05:41,320 --> 00:05:46,560 See the sidebar, page 33 and the conclusion, page 36. 67 00:05:46,560 --> 00:05:53,760 Interestingly, she displays none of the psychosis common to the entity found in chapter 17 under 68 00:05:53,760 --> 00:06:00,440 the divinely inspired caption Babylon the Great, thoroughly anti-God and hated of God 69 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:01,860 though she is. 70 00:06:01,860 --> 00:06:05,600 There is no evident personality disorder or conflict. 71 00:06:05,600 --> 00:06:11,080 Her profile and her apparent standing and reception amongst the nations is markedly, 72 00:06:11,080 --> 00:06:16,760 if not remarkably different than the known historical relationship managed and maintained 73 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:23,320 by the woman in either her ancient, purely secular role or in her religious role as it 74 00:06:23,320 --> 00:06:28,980 spans the gap between those ancient years of her beginning and the present. 75 00:06:28,980 --> 00:06:33,280 Although the prophecy was written in the days when many lands and their peoples were known 76 00:06:33,280 --> 00:06:39,280 primarily by their chief city and thus the people tended to think in those terms, Babylon 77 00:06:39,280 --> 00:06:45,720 the Great here is a strictly end times entity, having no roots in antiquity, quite unlike 78 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:51,160 her name Sache and the end times woman, so named on account of the great whore, whose 79 00:06:51,160 --> 00:06:57,380 roots stretch from the ancient days of the Roman Empire to the final days of history. 80 00:06:57,380 --> 00:07:03,520 This city, like the concepts of the book itself throughout, in the mind of its creator, was 81 00:07:03,520 --> 00:07:09,260 something totally foreign to the minds of the likes of John in that day. 82 00:07:09,260 --> 00:07:12,120 They did not know her kind in their times. 83 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,880 There had never been anything like her. 84 00:07:14,880 --> 00:07:19,740 There have not been for centuries, there are not now and there will be no such city-states 85 00:07:19,740 --> 00:07:25,080 when she is finally knocked down in these last days, leveled to the ground, never to 86 00:07:25,080 --> 00:07:27,140 rise again. 87 00:07:27,140 --> 00:07:35,160 So knowing then that she is not Babylon, Iraq rebuilt, as will be discussed briefly shortly, 88 00:07:35,160 --> 00:07:41,000 and if she is not the obvious in terms of the only known shoe that either can or could 89 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:47,480 ever have fit the imprint perfectly to a tee, who then is she? 90 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:51,800 The description of Babylon the Great is quite graphic and revealing. 91 00:07:51,800 --> 00:07:56,980 What do the particulars and themes surrounding that description reveal for us about her, 92 00:07:56,980 --> 00:08:01,760 and how do they square with the particulars and themes surrounding the two Babylon's 93 00:08:01,760 --> 00:08:02,980 discussed previously? 94 00:08:02,980 --> 00:08:08,680 A specific set of qualifiers are given, which set this Babylon the Great apart from the 95 00:08:08,680 --> 00:08:12,240 great whore and the woman on the scarlet beast. 96 00:08:12,240 --> 00:08:13,240 Profile 97 00:08:13,240 --> 00:08:14,240 1. 98 00:08:14,240 --> 00:08:16,000 She is cosmopolitan. 99 00:08:16,000 --> 00:08:21,320 She figures prominently in the global political arena and in international affairs for the 100 00:08:21,320 --> 00:08:28,240 most part without the usual pressure of military occupation and domination in the strict sense 101 00:08:28,240 --> 00:08:29,760 of that phrase. 102 00:08:29,760 --> 00:08:30,760 2. 103 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:37,720 She has and she maintains a godless charisma that is manifestly Babylonian in nature and 104 00:08:37,720 --> 00:08:39,240 in spirit. 105 00:08:39,240 --> 00:08:40,460 3. 106 00:08:40,460 --> 00:08:46,920 She has a peaceful impact, relatively speaking, on global economics and being a pillar is 107 00:08:46,920 --> 00:08:50,280 heavily involved in international trade. 108 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:51,280 4. 109 00:08:51,280 --> 00:08:57,520 Being highly religious, she leads the world into fornication, service to false gods in 110 00:08:57,520 --> 00:09:04,520 the name of the Living God, AEE, she spreads a false Christianity. 111 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:11,000 She deceives the nations with sorcery, heavy drug or narcotics trafficking, 23. 112 00:09:11,000 --> 00:09:12,040 5. 113 00:09:12,040 --> 00:09:18,300 She is enormously wealthy through free trade with the nations, as opposed to forceful occupation 114 00:09:18,300 --> 00:09:24,960 and exploitation of multiples of other nations, the kind known to and dreaded throughout the 115 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:31,960 ancient world, in contrast to ancient Rome, the British Empire, Napoleon's objective, 116 00:09:31,960 --> 00:09:34,560 or that of Hitler and the Japanese. 117 00:09:34,560 --> 00:09:35,560 6. 118 00:09:35,560 --> 00:09:39,640 The nations are enormously wealthy by trading freely with her. 119 00:09:39,640 --> 00:09:41,960 She is the envy of other nations. 120 00:09:41,960 --> 00:09:42,960 7. 121 00:09:42,960 --> 00:09:48,760 She is haughty, extremely arrogant, cocky and self-reliant, overly self-satisfied. 122 00:09:48,760 --> 00:09:50,560 8. 123 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:56,620 Being a pillar in the equation of international economics, her swift, thorough and complete 124 00:09:56,620 --> 00:10:03,480 destruction from which she will never recover will spark an irreversible, crushing, world-spanning 125 00:10:03,480 --> 00:10:10,000 recession, a fiscal death toll which will plunge all the nations into an economic spiral 126 00:10:10,000 --> 00:10:12,400 of unparalleled proportions. 127 00:10:12,400 --> 00:10:13,560 9. 128 00:10:13,560 --> 00:10:20,480 Her existence is primarily eschatological, that is, she exists only in the last days, 129 00:10:20,480 --> 00:10:23,680 with no other manifest ties to antiquity. 130 00:10:23,680 --> 00:10:31,600 Up to this point, life on earth will have gone on, business as usual, per Luke 17. 131 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:37,960 Men will eat and drink like always, they will be marrying and giving in marriage, as usual, 132 00:10:37,960 --> 00:10:44,560 while at the same time being arrogant, anti-God, unconcerned about the well-being of others, 133 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:45,560 etc. 134 00:10:45,560 --> 00:10:49,320 2 Timothy 3.1.6 135 00:10:49,320 --> 00:10:52,800 Then Paul says, All hell will break loose. 136 00:10:52,800 --> 00:10:55,800 1 Thessalonians 5.1.5 137 00:10:55,800 --> 00:11:02,000 The moment the nations shall say peace and safety, or think that they have at long last 138 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:07,960 eliminated any possibility of further conflict amongst the nations, at that moment sudden 139 00:11:07,960 --> 00:11:14,320 destruction will overtake them, like a woman overcome of her labor pains. 140 00:11:14,320 --> 00:11:19,100 Knowing what we know today in terms of how life progresses and proceeds from one trying 141 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:25,320 time to the next, interspersed with bouts or spans of peace as it were, only to be replaced 142 00:11:25,320 --> 00:11:32,040 eventually by yet another, be it political, social, economic or military, followed by 143 00:11:32,040 --> 00:11:39,520 a few more valleys and smooth rides up to the moment of the assertion, peace and safety. 144 00:11:39,520 --> 00:11:42,280 Mankind will honestly think that they have arrived. 145 00:11:42,280 --> 00:11:48,340 They have achieved a genuine lasting solution to all of the troubles that plague mankind. 146 00:11:48,340 --> 00:11:51,480 God would have us know, however, that they will be wrong. 147 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:57,640 At some point in the near future, all of humanity's hopes and dreams will be traumatically upended 148 00:11:57,640 --> 00:12:03,800 and shattered, as the world around them is ripped apart by a new outbreak of strife, 149 00:12:03,800 --> 00:12:10,200 followed by global wars, accompanied by a high death toll well in excess of one billion, 150 00:12:10,200 --> 00:12:13,920 whatever the physical roles played by groups like the Taliban. 151 00:12:13,920 --> 00:12:19,720 God wants all men to understand that His will be the hand that drives them on. 152 00:12:19,720 --> 00:12:25,560 As with Humpty Dumpty, having had a great fall after he sat on that wall, all the king's 153 00:12:25,560 --> 00:12:30,760 men and all the king's horses couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again. 154 00:12:30,760 --> 00:12:33,680 So likewise, they will not recover. 155 00:12:33,680 --> 00:12:35,640 See the sidebar below. 156 00:12:35,640 --> 00:12:36,840 Vulnerability. 157 00:12:36,840 --> 00:12:39,020 P 31. 158 00:12:39,020 --> 00:12:41,600 This is the beginning of the Day of the Lord. 159 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,820 It is, albeit, not the second coming of Jesus Christ at Armageddon. 160 00:12:46,820 --> 00:12:52,960 This day will come unannounced, without warning or fanfare like a thief who comes in the night. 161 00:12:52,960 --> 00:12:58,120 His appearance at Armageddon will be a spectacular, highly visible affair. 162 00:12:58,120 --> 00:13:02,080 Matthew 24, 27, 35. 163 00:13:02,080 --> 00:13:03,500 International Ties. 164 00:13:03,500 --> 00:13:04,840 Strong and lucrative. 165 00:13:04,840 --> 00:13:05,840 Uncoerced. 166 00:13:05,840 --> 00:13:06,840 Oh my God! 167 00:13:06,840 --> 00:13:07,840 Oh my God! 168 00:13:07,840 --> 00:13:08,840 Oh my God! 169 00:13:08,840 --> 00:13:09,840 What's happening? 170 00:13:09,840 --> 00:13:16,040 The woman cried in horror and disbelief as she witnessed the collapse of the first of 171 00:13:16,040 --> 00:13:20,360 two of the towers hit on 9-11-2001. 172 00:13:20,360 --> 00:13:23,480 She had been videoing for roughly 12 minutes. 173 00:13:23,480 --> 00:13:28,760 As she continued to record, she caught the horror of people desperate to escape the suffering 174 00:13:28,760 --> 00:13:34,480 they must have known was sure to come, jumping to their deaths only moments before the second 175 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:38,080 tower collapsed about 19 minutes into her video. 176 00:13:38,080 --> 00:13:40,040 Oh my God! 177 00:13:40,040 --> 00:13:41,480 All these people! 178 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:47,080 She exclaimed again, terrified by the sight of the second tower speeding downward. 179 00:13:47,080 --> 00:13:49,680 Oh, the people are running away! 180 00:13:49,680 --> 00:13:50,680 They're running away! 181 00:13:50,680 --> 00:13:52,360 What are they going to do? 182 00:13:52,360 --> 00:13:53,680 Oh my God! 183 00:13:53,680 --> 00:13:55,980 There's no more World Trade Center! 184 00:13:55,980 --> 00:14:02,720 Was her bewildered outcry, looking across, safe and secure, this time from her apartment 185 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:08,080 high above the ground, on a level comparable to about where the two planes struck the two 186 00:14:08,080 --> 00:14:09,680 towers. 187 00:14:09,680 --> 00:14:15,040 The terrified reaction of these witnesses and others to the tragedy of 9-11 prefigures 188 00:14:15,040 --> 00:14:21,120 the cries of agony and disbelief God has in store for men and women the world over as 189 00:14:21,120 --> 00:14:27,840 He pulls Babylon the Great down from her lofty perch to her deathbed, leveling her to the 190 00:14:27,840 --> 00:14:29,100 ground. 191 00:14:29,100 --> 00:14:32,740 There will be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. 192 00:14:32,740 --> 00:14:36,920 Chapter 18 verse 1 And after these things I saw another angel 193 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:43,600 come down from heaven, having great power, and the earth was lightened with his glory. 194 00:14:43,600 --> 00:14:47,880 Having witnessed God's unraveling of the riddle of the mystery concerning the great 195 00:14:47,880 --> 00:14:53,440 whore and the woman, the mother of harlots, the identity of the beast relative to his 196 00:14:53,440 --> 00:14:59,560 nationality and origin, and the demise of the harlot, John's attention is here drawn 197 00:14:59,560 --> 00:15:06,500 to the person of another high-ranking powerful angel as he comes down out of heaven. 198 00:15:06,500 --> 00:15:12,620 This angel shone with such brightness that the whole earth was illuminated by his presence. 199 00:15:12,620 --> 00:15:15,620 His mission is to deliver a proclamation. 200 00:15:15,620 --> 00:15:22,720 Verse 2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the Great is fallen, 201 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:29,380 is fallen, and has become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, 202 00:15:29,380 --> 00:15:33,440 and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. 203 00:15:33,440 --> 00:15:39,760 Babylon the Great has fallen, has fallen, the angel spoke loudly with great strength, 204 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:46,220 and has become a place inhabitable only by demons, a prison to house unclean spirits, 205 00:15:46,220 --> 00:15:50,900 and a cage for all unclean and despised birds. 206 00:15:50,900 --> 00:15:56,520 Verse 3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and 207 00:15:56,520 --> 00:16:01,280 the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are 208 00:16:01,280 --> 00:16:05,680 waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 209 00:16:05,680 --> 00:16:11,100 Having been an entity which herself has been unfaithful, she has been instrumental in leading 210 00:16:11,100 --> 00:16:17,360 other nations and their leadership down that same path, away from God, down a road that 211 00:16:17,360 --> 00:16:21,420 can only lead to confrontation with the Almighty. 212 00:16:21,420 --> 00:16:26,480 In fact, the kings of the earth have preferred and sought an illicit relationship with her 213 00:16:26,480 --> 00:16:28,120 over God. 214 00:16:28,120 --> 00:16:33,460 On account of her great wealth and exceptional, exceeding abundance, the merchants of the 215 00:16:33,460 --> 00:16:36,980 earth have been made wealthy and rich. 216 00:16:36,980 --> 00:16:40,640 As she prospered, so the world around her prospered. 217 00:16:40,640 --> 00:16:46,060 See Sidebar, Fault Line of Collapse, p. 32. 218 00:16:46,060 --> 00:16:52,540 In today's terms and lingo, the angelic summons to rejoice might be rendered to read like 219 00:16:52,540 --> 00:16:59,120 an invitation to witness the aftermath of an illustrious, elaborate, three-ringed circus 220 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:05,200 gone sour, or a freak show in God's eyes finally destroyed. 221 00:17:05,200 --> 00:17:09,420 Hurry, hurry, step right up, folks. 222 00:17:09,420 --> 00:17:12,160 You'll never see another show quite like this. 223 00:17:12,160 --> 00:17:20,000 A self-proclaimed godly circus of folk, self-righteous in their own eyes, wealthy, arrogant, lost 224 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:25,440 and damned, to be banished to the eternal flames of the lake, without mercy. 225 00:17:25,440 --> 00:17:32,120 No sir, re- There has never been, nor will there ever be, another like her. 226 00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:37,160 No matter what the endeavor, no matter the level of success and achievement, all good 227 00:17:37,160 --> 00:17:40,600 things have this unique way of ending. 228 00:17:40,600 --> 00:17:47,520 Winning streaks grind to a halt, leaving in their wake consequences marked by devastation. 229 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:51,760 Wreaths of victory having faded to crowns of catastrophe. 230 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:58,040 Pinnacles and pedestals trade like dirt mounds comprised of only the dust of jaded glory. 231 00:17:58,040 --> 00:18:05,640 GM and other such investment portfolios, once worth as much as $70,000 or maybe hundreds 232 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:11,400 of thousands of dollars in other cases, now worth only a mere $100. 233 00:18:11,400 --> 00:18:13,360 Or so in the early days of the U. 234 00:18:13,360 --> 00:18:20,640 S. Housing and banking collapses. Worthy of note, GM and other large institutions that 235 00:18:20,640 --> 00:18:27,640 were fortunate enough to cash in on President Barack Obama's taxpayer-funded welfare bailout 236 00:18:27,640 --> 00:18:35,200 are now said to have returned to profitability as of this day, 8-6-2013. 237 00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:42,800 Remember and witness the O. J. Simpson's, the James Watsons, Enron, MCI WorldCom or 238 00:18:42,800 --> 00:18:48,360 the Big Three automakers, Lehman Brothers and the recent banking Jew. 239 00:18:48,360 --> 00:18:55,800 S. Housing bubble burst and its far-reaching, globe-spanning messes of financial ramifications, 240 00:18:55,800 --> 00:19:02,880 etc. etc. The brightest, most distinguished and celebrated of men flash winsome and winning 241 00:19:02,880 --> 00:19:09,040 smiles of victory one day that fizzle so as to leave behind skeletons of only the damnedest 242 00:19:09,040 --> 00:19:10,860 of fools. 243 00:19:10,860 --> 00:19:18,120 No great nation has ever maintained its spotlight on power forever, so likewise, similarly, 244 00:19:18,120 --> 00:19:23,280 Babylon the Great is guaranteed its place amid the ruins of dust and ashes. 245 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:29,160 The foundational groundwork for this monumental event has been and is being laid even as we 246 00:19:29,160 --> 00:19:30,160 speak. 247 00:19:30,160 --> 00:19:34,960 All of heaven and the Almighty will be thrilled at the annihilation and fall of this Babylon 248 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:40,960 the Great. Her fall, like that of ancient Babylon, will be final. She will never rise 249 00:19:40,960 --> 00:19:47,200 from the ashes of her calamity, nor will she ever be inhabited again before the millennial 250 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:48,960 reign. 251 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:55,480 On this basis then, if on no other, we may safely conclude that, to the degree that ancient 252 00:19:55,480 --> 00:20:01,640 Babylon is located within the confines of a region controlled by modern-day troubled 253 00:20:01,640 --> 00:20:09,000 and war-torn Islamic Shia-dominated Iraq, to the same degree it is highly unlikely that 254 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:12,200 Babylon the Great could ever be linked thereto. 255 00:20:12,200 --> 00:20:17,880 No coalition of cash-strapped European nations could ever unite to pull off reconstruction 256 00:20:17,880 --> 00:20:24,420 of an entity more powerful than they, having an independence, a stability and prosperity 257 00:20:24,420 --> 00:20:29,800 far greater than any they have ever known individually. Their adherence to the Kissinger 258 00:20:29,800 --> 00:20:35,320 doctrine will likely preclude any possibility that they will ever coalesce to form another 259 00:20:35,320 --> 00:20:38,780 like the one they will destroy. 260 00:20:38,780 --> 00:20:45,320 Their existence, even now under the EU banner, is burdened and strained by near-constant, 261 00:20:45,320 --> 00:20:50,960 virtually insurmountable differences. A young German visitor to the US in the summer of 262 00:20:50,960 --> 00:20:58,480 2012 affirms the prevailing, worrisome discord that exists amongst EU nations, even as Brexit 263 00:20:58,480 --> 00:21:04,600 several years later, affirms the readiness of certain to break off relations altogether, 264 00:21:04,600 --> 00:21:08,580 where their demands are not agreed upon by the majority. 265 00:21:08,580 --> 00:21:13,640 One could argue that it is questionable whether the Muslims of Iraq and Persia combined have 266 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:20,960 the incentive, ingenuity or the initiative to do so, left to their own devices. Moreover, 267 00:21:20,960 --> 00:21:26,520 as we view the imminent return of Jesus Christ for His Church against the backdrop of the 268 00:21:26,520 --> 00:21:32,000 Bible's fulfilled prophecy, one might well argue that there is simply not enough time 269 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:38,480 for such a risky venture to blossom to the level of stability, prosperity and influence, 270 00:21:38,480 --> 00:21:43,040 needful to fill the extra oversized shoes of Babylon the Great. 271 00:21:43,040 --> 00:21:48,760 Remember, this Babylon is justifiably proud and haughty to the bone due to her ability 272 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:56,260 to subsist, ostensibly, completely independent of anyone else, on a par unmatched by any 273 00:21:56,260 --> 00:22:04,880 other economic power past or present. See sidebar below Great Babylon PR 33. 274 00:22:04,880 --> 00:22:10,880 She is a pillar of stability for the nations out of whom she was bred, and who are purposed 275 00:22:10,880 --> 00:22:18,200 and prepped by God to deliver her imminent, inevitable plunge into everlasting oblivion. 276 00:22:18,200 --> 00:22:22,720 Verse 3a The chief offensive preoccupation of Babylon 277 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:30,680 the Great lies in how she relates to the nations. She has fornicated with them in what by implication 278 00:22:30,680 --> 00:22:37,720 should have been a self-assigned right relationship with God, insofar as the term fornication 279 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:44,040 in this type of a biblical context always implies or signifies spiritual infidelity 280 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:48,960 to God. It is this Babylon whose downfall is celebrated 281 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:54,980 in Chapter 148. The descriptive terminology is the same for each. 282 00:22:54,980 --> 00:23:01,040 By all outward appearances, by most accounts and measures, from the point of view of the 283 00:23:01,040 --> 00:23:07,600 nations, particularly those who do a brisk business with her, she is an infallible winner, 284 00:23:07,600 --> 00:23:14,040 blessed and having favor with God. In fact, as viewed by the nations, she herself 285 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:20,600 virtually sits in the place of God. Thus, she represents a people of great influence, 286 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:27,120 able to affect, impact and shape the thoughts, attitudes and opinions of all with whom she 287 00:23:27,120 --> 00:23:35,200 has or will have contact in general without the sword, or seeking resolution in direct 288 00:23:35,200 --> 00:23:39,800 military force. As such she, by her great influence and the 289 00:23:39,800 --> 00:23:45,600 sway she holds over the hearts and minds of the political, industrial and business leaders 290 00:23:45,600 --> 00:23:52,600 of the nations, leads them away from the true and living God rather than to Him. She practically 291 00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:58,880 sits in the place of God with the world virtually worshipping at her feet. To a degree they 292 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:05,160 harbor a trust and confidence in her that only He is worthy of, worthy of note. At one 293 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:11,800 point it has been said she was able to convince the world to base its currency on the US dollar 294 00:24:11,800 --> 00:24:19,880 as opposed to the usual standard of gold and silver. The dealer, opiate of the masses. 295 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:26,880 Verses 3 and 4. Verse 3. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, 296 00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:31,040 and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of 297 00:24:31,040 --> 00:24:37,200 the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. A key ingredient in the 298 00:24:37,200 --> 00:24:42,800 grip, by means of which Babylon the Great exerts herself and her influence holding the 299 00:24:42,800 --> 00:24:49,400 nations spellbound, is her sorceries, from the Greek word pharmakeia, which means drug 300 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:58,040 or medicine. It is used in contradistinction to the Greek words magou, magou and magos, 301 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:05,160 verb and noun forms signifying respectively to practice magic and the practitioner of 302 00:25:05,160 --> 00:25:12,680 magic or a magician, sorcerer, wizard, professor of the arts of witchcraft, one who pretends 303 00:25:12,680 --> 00:25:19,520 to have magic powers. In their professions dealing with divination, necromancy, casting 304 00:25:19,520 --> 00:25:27,360 of spells, etc. the magicians, sorcerers and wizards might make use of drugs and poisons, 305 00:25:27,360 --> 00:25:34,680 compounded by the pharmacous. However, theirs is not the idea that is envisioned here. Rather, 306 00:25:34,680 --> 00:25:41,240 the focus here is on application of drugs in the end times, for reasons other than forecasting 307 00:25:41,240 --> 00:25:46,780 the future or communication with the dead, although in fact there could conceivably be 308 00:25:46,780 --> 00:25:52,200 a great deal of this going on as well. Men during these horrible last days will have 309 00:25:52,200 --> 00:25:59,800 done anything but become more righteous. See sidebar below. Drug capital of the world, 310 00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:06,200 432. This term pharmakeia is a derivative of the Greek word pharmacous, which was a 311 00:26:06,200 --> 00:26:12,400 general reference to that person who actually made drugs and or poisons. From this Greek 312 00:26:12,400 --> 00:26:19,200 term is derived the English word pharmacy. Thus, Babylon the Great, at the government 313 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:26,200 level will be actively, heavily involved in the international growth, manufacture, trafficking 314 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:33,760 and widespread distribution and sale of hallucinogenic drugs and narcotics. A number of nations are 315 00:26:33,760 --> 00:26:40,260 known at this hour to so engage, however, some to a much, much greater degree and level 316 00:26:40,260 --> 00:26:46,680 of profitability than others, as we shall see. A known leader and key player is, no 317 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:53,600 less, the most powerful nation of all time, although she is not a grower, as will be shown. 318 00:26:53,600 --> 00:27:00,400 The drug of choice is, has been, and no doubt will be opium and its derivatives, as well 319 00:27:00,400 --> 00:27:07,200 as marijuana. Other key players like the Golden Triangle, the Colombians, the Mexican mud 320 00:27:07,200 --> 00:27:14,420 dealers etc. having apparently been supplanted if not shut down altogether, most of the world's 321 00:27:14,420 --> 00:27:21,440 illegally traded opium is said to now come out of Afghanistan. Opium is used in the manufacture 322 00:27:21,440 --> 00:27:28,880 of the highly addictive painkiller morphine and of heroin. Afghan farmers in Helmand province 323 00:27:28,880 --> 00:27:34,960 are said to be the world's largest growers of the poppy plants from which opium comes. 324 00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:40,480 India was once the world leader and key supplier to the British, who tried with measurable 325 00:27:40,480 --> 00:27:46,560 success to force it down the throats of the Chinese. This illegal smuggling was the basis 326 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:53,760 for the so-called Opium Wars. India has in recent times been converted to a clean supplier 327 00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:59,080 to the world's pharmaceutical industry. Opium production and trading today is hailed 328 00:27:59,080 --> 00:28:06,120 as the largest, most lucrative industry on earth, an integral part of a criminally run, 329 00:28:06,120 --> 00:28:12,960 growing drug smuggling industry worth in excess of $1 trillion globally. The biggest profiteers 330 00:28:12,960 --> 00:28:19,080 are said to be those who convert opium to morphine and heroin. That trillion dollars 331 00:28:19,080 --> 00:28:27,160 is half the value of all criminal smuggling activity worldwide, valued at $2.1 trillion, 332 00:28:27,160 --> 00:28:36,040 which is 3.5% of world GDP in 2009 and 7% of global merchandise exports according to 333 00:28:36,040 --> 00:28:44,920 MSN Money, 10 Nasher 25, 2013. To deaden their sensitivity to the pain and suffering, God 334 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:50,120 will force upon unregenerate men in those days. This is the stuff to which men will 335 00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:56,940 resort for relief, rather than yield in repentance. This relationship between this Babylon the 336 00:28:56,940 --> 00:29:02,680 Great and the nations of the earth, while religious in its fervor, perhaps, and in its 337 00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:09,060 execution will, on the other hand, not be one of religion, as rather it is largely commercial 338 00:29:09,060 --> 00:29:15,920 and political. In addition, one might say that this relationship is largely cordial, 339 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:22,200 more or less based upon consensual free trade and economics. This was a relationship totally 340 00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:29,260 unheard of 2,000 years ago under Roman rule. There, domination, subjugation, and heavy 341 00:29:29,260 --> 00:29:36,280 taxation through brute force was the name of the game. It was preferable to free trade. 342 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:42,680 Even the recent UK, Napoleon, Hitler, and the imperialist Japanese of World War II knew 343 00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:48,800 nothing of, nor could they have cared less for trade on other than these terms, the costliness 344 00:29:48,800 --> 00:29:55,040 and bloodshed of war being much more desirable. The world then was accustomed to this kind 345 00:29:55,040 --> 00:30:02,560 of international thuggery. Until the inevitable crash of Babylon the Great, industrialists, 346 00:30:02,560 --> 00:30:08,480 manufacturers, growers, and producers all around the world, as well as government leaders 347 00:30:08,480 --> 00:30:14,360 and politicians, will all be made rich by this free exchange in goods and services with 348 00:30:14,360 --> 00:30:21,560 her, including drugs and narcotics. And yet, with Hellman province and its farmers prospering 349 00:30:21,560 --> 00:30:28,680 under the watchful eyes of Hamid Karzai and the Yu, military, where it would not, had 350 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:34,560 the Taliban been left in power, one cannot but wonder how much different America is than 351 00:30:34,560 --> 00:30:42,320 imperialist, warmongering kingdoms and powers of the past. War is good for the economy, 352 00:30:42,320 --> 00:30:49,600 a certain of her political pundits intoned enthusiastically in the summer of 2006. The 353 00:30:49,600 --> 00:30:55,200 foolishness of Islamic Jihad is like slitting its own throat easy to be exploited, is it 354 00:30:55,200 --> 00:31:02,760 not? It is an open invitation to this current kind of military engagement as of war to one, 355 00:31:02,760 --> 00:31:11,120 one, Ewa one, 2010. As such, does it not make a fine cover for intervention or beneficent 356 00:31:11,120 --> 00:31:18,160 intrusion by a power harboring ulterior motive? It provides a splendid pretext for war, where 357 00:31:18,160 --> 00:31:24,000 otherwise there may have been no justification for one, work behind the scenes under wraps 358 00:31:24,000 --> 00:31:30,340 and out of sight, to promote a state of ongoing instability and political upheaval, keeping 359 00:31:30,340 --> 00:31:36,360 them in a perpetual religious funk, and you justify your reason for occupation and you 360 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:41,460 potentially lower the costs. You don't have to bear the burden of actually starting the 361 00:31:41,460 --> 00:31:48,160 war yourself, encouraging perhaps far greater opposition, as well as the risk of justifying 362 00:31:48,160 --> 00:31:54,760 that opposition. You just go in and you set up camp in the middle of the unrest, wherever 363 00:31:54,760 --> 00:32:01,440 it was instigated by you, suffer the loss of some equipment, lose a little blood, bury 364 00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:08,600 a few sons, some daughters, shed a few tears and otherwise reap the benefits, because now 365 00:32:08,600 --> 00:32:14,800 you are in business. The question is then, what percentage of the highly profitable Afghan 366 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:20,720 drug pie winds up in Babylon's coffers? To what extent do she and her leadership profit 367 00:32:20,720 --> 00:32:27,620 behind the scenes? Does anybody smell any form of Kissinger's creative diplomacy here? 368 00:32:27,620 --> 00:32:34,960 See Sidebar, The New World Order under Phase 1, P or 30. While indeed there was a church 369 00:32:34,960 --> 00:32:40,520 founded in Rome during the Bible days of the formation of the New Testament, and whereas 370 00:32:40,520 --> 00:32:46,660 the modern Roman Catholic Church has roots deep in the apostate, spiritual perversion 371 00:32:46,660 --> 00:32:53,460 of that institution, secular Rome itself, unlike Jerusalem, has never had, nor has it 372 00:32:53,460 --> 00:32:59,000 ever been expected to have maintained any kind of a meaningful dialogue with God. In 373 00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:06,520 some cases, the Caesars were the self-proclaimed, self-appointed gods over their Roman subjects. 374 00:33:06,520 --> 00:33:13,960 Moreover, the RC Church, the Vatican, is not known for maintainance of any sort of meaningful 375 00:33:13,960 --> 00:33:19,520 free trade ties with other nations, as it is generally a producer of nothing of any 376 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:25,600 value or significance, certainly nothing on any scale equivalent to that alluded to here 377 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:32,080 in this chapter of the Revelation. Although, in truth, she does fare luxuriantly to the 378 00:33:32,080 --> 00:33:38,360 disgust of the Almighty, she does so not through trade, as rather she prospers only at the 379 00:33:38,360 --> 00:33:44,840 expense of those under her religious sway, routed and governed by her spiritless religious 380 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:51,440 tentacles, as well as by corruption, including money laundering for fees of 5% via the Vatican 381 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:58,240 bank. Her philosophy of life and the acquisition of wealth from her inception was, Always get 382 00:33:58,240 --> 00:34:05,120 everything you can, whatever way you can, by force, if need be, at the expense of whomever 383 00:34:05,120 --> 00:34:10,300 you can dominate through subjection to your will, while making certain that no one else 384 00:34:10,300 --> 00:34:16,080 has this freedom except as you say so. Tolerate no competition. 385 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:21,640 Although Jerusalem is spoken of here in the Apocalypse as being, metaphorically, a spiritual 386 00:34:21,640 --> 00:34:28,000 representation of Sodom and Egypt, in which case Babylon could also be a type of her condition 387 00:34:28,000 --> 00:34:35,040 as well, the fact is, this is not Jerusalem, if for no other reason than that Jerusalem 388 00:34:35,040 --> 00:34:40,440 is not on God's radar screen for this type of destruction. Jerusalem does not in any 389 00:34:40,440 --> 00:34:47,100 way fit the mold here. The fact is, if all of Israel fell at this moment, the impact 390 00:34:47,100 --> 00:34:53,480 on global economics and international politics would be absolutely minimal at best, but for 391 00:34:53,480 --> 00:35:00,880 rejoicing, especially among the world's 1.2 billion or so Muslims, her loss would hardly 392 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:07,240 be noticed. Who cried or cared when she was sacked by the Romans in AD 70 and finally 393 00:35:07,240 --> 00:35:15,120 felled irretrievably in AD 135? Who would bat an eye today and why? That said then, 394 00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:20,280 in the graphic absence of any other city on this planet which could ever fit the description 395 00:35:20,280 --> 00:35:28,320 set forth here in chapter 18, on whom, once again, are we to pin this most unfortunate, 396 00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:34,900 most undesirable tale? Who is Babylon the Great? So, with that, ladies and gentlemen, 397 00:35:34,900 --> 00:35:40,720 we conclude another edition of the Bible Prophecy Masterclass. We sincerely hope that you have 398 00:35:40,720 --> 00:35:46,500 been blessed by this study and that you will encourage others to join us for future podcasts. 399 00:35:46,500 --> 00:35:52,500 As we depart, please smash that like button and make plans to join us next time for episode 400 00:35:52,500 --> 00:36:00,600 number 4 of Judgment Day, volume 1, Prelude to Armageddon, Part 1, The United States of 401 00:36:00,600 --> 00:36:04,100 America in Bible Prophecy. 402 00:36:04,100 --> 00:36:05,800 Until next time, may God bless you.