No other city in the world has more than one stock exchange – so as a centre for trade, New York City is the world leader.
Again, as we have said earlier, this city and nation must also have a large Jewish population, because over and over the Jews are told to flee from her:
Jeremiah 50:4 "In those days, at that time," declares the LORD, "the people of Israel and the people of Judah together will go in tears to seek the LORD their God. 5 They will ask the way to Zion and turn their faces towards it. They will come and bind themselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will not be forgotten. 6 "My people have been lost sheep; their shepherds have led them astray and caused them to roam on the mountains. They wandered over mountain and hill and forgot their own resting place. 7 Whoever found them devoured them; their enemies said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD, their verdant pasture, the LORD, the hope of their ancestors.’ 8 "Flee out of Babylon; leave the land of the Babylonians, and be like the goats that lead the flock.
Where do the majority of Jews live today? In Israel? No! Around 5 million Jews live in Israel today, and the number is increasing, but over 6 million still live in the USA – more than 2 million* of those currently dwelling in New York City.
New York is a city of immigrants, nearly a quarter of which are Jewish. Indeed, it is the world’s second largest Jewish city (after greater Tel Aviv, with 3.3 million*), and has also been described as the ‘melting pot’ of nationalities.
By comparison, Jerusalem has a population of 705,000* Jews. Rome (15,000) and Brussels (15,000) have very insignificant Jewish populations. Ancient Babylon, of course, no longer has ANY permanent population!
(*Figures from 2010 World Jewish Population Survey)
The phrase, ‘in those days, at that time’ (v.4), is always regarded by biblical scholars as a reference to the end times. In these times the people of Israel and Judah are described as having ‘wandered over mountain and hill’(v.6) (i.e.. from nation to nation), and ‘forgot their own resting place’ – the land of Israel.
Their enemies have indeed said, ‘We are not guilty, for they sinned against the LORD.’ The Jews have been held responsible over and over through the centuries for the death of Christ, particularly by the major Christian churches – Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Protestant. The label ‘Christ-killers’ has been the rallying cry for many a pogrom in Europe and elsewhere.
Anti-Semitism has once again been greatly on the increase in North America in recent years. Right wing, white power organisations are again vociferously proclaiming that the Jews are responsible for most of the world’s problems – particularly those of America.
But if so, why would Jewish people need, in tears, to ‘ask the way to Zion?’ Why not just book a flight via the internet, or travel agent, and make their way to the nearest airport? Because, by this time, the destruction of Mega-Babylon will have already taken place and there will no longer be any airports, travel agents, or internet, available to them!
Perhaps these refugees will have to make a long and hazardous journey, through a destroyed land, to Canada, or Mexico, and then find a ship to take them to Europe, and on to Israel? The text certainly suggests this.
Verse 8 encourages the people of Israel to ‘flee out of Babylon’, and ‘be like the goats that lead the flock.’ This is very reminiscent of the need for Jews to flee Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Those who got out in time were safe but, as time went on, it became increasingly more difficult to leave Germany. One by one, to their shame, each country closed its doors to Jewish refugees.
‘Righteous Gentiles’ were used by God to hide Jewish families and to smuggle them out of occupied Europe. Are we soon to see a repeat of this scenario in our time? ‘The goats that lead the flock’ (v.8) will be those children of Israel who can see what is coming; who read their Tanakh and understand what is written there and make plans to flee Mega-Babylon in advance.
Already there are Jewish people in the USA making preparations to help fellow Jews escape from a United States coming under Martial Law and hostile to their leaving.
Does this seem too fantastic? How could a free and democratic country like the USA allow such a situation to come about? The answer, I think, is that Nazi Germany was also a free and democratic country in the 1930s, yet we now know that all these things were possible – because they happened back then!
Laws were brought in bit by bit; propaganda and manufactured riots built up an anti-Semitic atmosphere, until it was possible to enact the draconian measures that Hitler initiated.
But these laws have already been enacted in the United States. It is already ‘legal’ for the US President to set aside the Constitution, Senate, House of Representatives, etc. and for Martial Law to take over (with FEMA, ostensibly an organisation which deals with emergency situations – like they did with Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans! – poised to take command).
Mass detention centres have already been built and, for instance, in New York, have already been used to detain peaceful demonstrators. All it will take to trigger this change will be a suitable – whether real, or manipulated – ‘National Emergency’ situation.
Conclusions so far:
1 Ancient Babylon has no Jewish – or any other – population; is situated hundreds of miles from the sea; and has no involvement – or ever likely to have – with world trade!
2 Jerusalem has a significant Jewish population, but is situated on top of mountains, with no access to the sea; and has no significant connection with world trade.
3 Rome has very small Jewish population; is not a port, or on the coast; and is not a significant centre for trade or imports.
4 Brussels is a stock trading centre (though not one of the major ones); it has a very small Jewish population; and has no access to the sea or shipping/imports.
5 Among those considered, New York City is the only mega-city worthy of the name. It also has the world’s largest Jewish population (outside of Israel); contains not one, but – at one time – three, stock exchanges (trading in all of the commodities mentioned in connection with Mega-Babylon); and is one of the world’s major deep water ports, import and immigration centres.
Do we need more identifiers?
Mega-Babylon is also described as ‘the hammer of the whole earth’:
Jeremiah 50:22 The noise of battle is in the land, the noise of great destruction! 23 How broken and shattered is the hammer of the whole earth! How desolate is Babylon among the nations! 24 I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.
Jeremiah 51:25 "I am against you, O destroying mountain, you who destroy the whole earth," declares the LORD. "I will stretch out my hand against you, roll you off the cliffs, and make you a burned-out mountain. 26 No rock will be taken from you for a cornerstone, nor any stone for a foundation, for you will be desolate for ever," declares the LORD.
Is there any other nation that could be thus described? Only the United States of America has taken on the role of ‘the world’s policeman’, invading nation after nation on the assumption that US rule is the fairest and the best. At present there is only one nation capable of ‘destroying the whole earth.’ There is now only one remaining superpower – the United States of America.
Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa, after the USA had tried to stop him from visiting Libya in 1997 said (quoted in the Washington Post): "How can they have the arrogance to dictate to us where we should go or which countries should be our friends? Gaddafi is my friend. He supported us when we were alone and when those who tried to prevent my visit here today were our enemies. They have no morals. We cannot accept that a state assumes the role of the world's policeman."
Jer 51:44 I will punish Bel in Babylon and make him spew out what he has swallowed. The nations will no longer stream to him. And the wall of Babylon will fall. 45 "Come out of her, my people! Run for your lives! Run from the fierce anger of the LORD.
To what city – a city from which Jews will have to ‘run for [their] lives’ – do the nations currently stream? The United Nations (UN) headquarters building is situated on Long Island – in New York City! Each year the leaders of the nations of the world gather here to make decisions regarding their future. Representatives from each country in the world gather here every week to negotiate and plan.
Just a short distance away from the UN building – in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York – is the ‘Town of Babylon’ (population 212,000 people – plus North Babylon and West Babylon, also), founded in 1872.
As immigrants approach New York City by sea they come in from the south east towards the first onshore landmark – the Robert Moses water tower of the Town of Babylon. This ‘Town of Babylon’, incidentally – the only inhabited Babylon in the world today – was so-called because it was founded by Jewish immigrants.
Habakkuk 1:1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received. 2 How long, O LORD, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save? 3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds. 4 Therefore the law is paralysed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted. 5 "Look at the nations and watch—and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told. 6 I am raising up the Babylonians, that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwelling-places not their own. 7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor. 8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour; 9 they all come intent on violence. Their hordes advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand. 10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them. 11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—guilty people, whose own strength is their God." 12 LORD, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you will never die. You, LORD, have appointed them to execute judgment; You, my Rock, have ordained them to punish. 13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves? 14 You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler. 15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his drag-net; and so he rejoices and is glad. 16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his drag-net, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food. 17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
Here Babylon is described as a nation who exalt in their military strength – ‘[their] own strength is their God’ – for by this they ‘live in luxury and enjoy the choicest food’.
Habakkuk 2:4 "See, the enemy is puffed up; his desires are not upright—but the righteous person will live by his faithfulness” 5 indeed, wine betrays him; he is arrogant and never at rest. Because he is as greedy as the grave and like death is never satisfied, he gathers to himself all the nations and takes captive all the peoples. 6 "Will not all of them taunt him with ridicule and scorn, saying, "‘Woe to him who piles up stolen goods and makes himself wealthy by extortion! How long must this go on?’ 7 Will not your debtors suddenly arise? Will they not wake up and make you tremble? Then you will become their victim. 8 Because you have plundered many nations, the peoples who are left will plunder you. For you have shed man’s blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them. 9 "Woe to him who builds his realm by unjust gain to set his nest on high, to escape the clutches of ruin! 10 You have plotted the ruin of many peoples, shaming your own house and forfeiting your life. 11 The stones of the wall will cry out, and the beams of the woodwork will echo it. 12 "Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed and establishes a town by injustice!
15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbours, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies. 16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed! The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you, and disgrace will cover your glory. 17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
Mega-Babylon is arrogant, making herself wealthy by extorting from – plundering – all the nations. As a result, many of these nations will rebel and turn on Mega-Babylon, destroying her.
Isaiah 14:5 The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the sceptre of the rulers, 6 which in anger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentless aggression. 7 All the lands are at rest and at peace; they break into singing. 8 Even the junipers and the cedars of Lebanon gloat over you and say, "Now that you have been laid low, no one comes to cut us down."
The United States of America is the most aggressive nation in the world today. The US spends more on armed forces than all other nations on earth combined, with officially 737 military bases in more than 130 countries (the true figure is probably over 1,000), employing more than 1.8 million people!
The USA has invaded, or taken military action in, many countries since the 2nd World War, including:
China in 1945-46,
Korea in 1950,
Puerto Rico in 1950,
China in 1950-53,
Guatemala in 1954,
Indonesia in 1958,
Cuba in 1959-61,
Vietnam in 1962-75,
Belgian Congo in 1964,
Guatemala in 1964,
Dominican Republic in 1965-66,
Peru in 1965,
Laos in 1964-73,
Haiti in 1965,
Guatemala in 1967-69,
Cambodia in 1969, 1973,
Nicaragua in 1972,
Nicaragua in 1981-90,
El Salvador in 1981-92,
Lebanon in 1982-84,
Grenada in 1983-84,
Libya in 1986,
Iran in 1987-88,
Libya in 1989,
Panama in 1989-90,
Iraq in 1991, 96, 98, 99, 2001-,
Kuwait in 1991
Grenada in 1994,
Somalia in 1992-94,
Croatia in 1994,
Bosnia in 1995,
Iran in 1998 (airliner),
Sudan in 1998,
Afghanistan in 1998,
Yugoslavia in 1999,
Afghanistan in 2001-,
Iraq in 2003-,
Libya in 2011-.
Currently, the United States have military bases in many countries, including Korea, Japan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Colombia, (currently building and reinforcing new military bases there).
Der Spiegel, news magazine from Germany (1 September 1997): "Never before in modern history has a country dominated the earth so totally as the United States does today... America is now the Schwarzenegger of international politics: showing off muscles, obtrusive, intimidating... The Americans, in the absence of limits put to them by anybody or anything, act as if they own a kind of blank cheque in their 'McWorld'".
‘We’re six percent of the world’s population. We consume forty-three percent of the world’s resources and we give away less than two tenths of one percent of our national budget to help the poor of the world. That’s not justice! I believe in a loving God, but I believe in a God who can get very, very angry when justice does not flow down from the hills and over-power us like beautiful water. (‘The Victory of Justice’ – sociologist, Tony Campolo, October 30, 2005).
Finally, Mega-Babylon is described as a daughter nation:
Isaiah 47:1 “Go down, sit in
the dust, Virgin Daughter Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, queen city of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.
Jeremiah 50:11 “Because you rejoice and are glad, you who pillage my inheritance, because you frolic like a heifer threshing grain and neigh like stallions, 12 your mother will be greatly ashamed; she who gave you birth will be disgraced.
Jeremiah 50:42 They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses; they come like men in battle formation to attack you, Daughter Babylon.
Jeremiah 51:33 This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “Daughter Babylon is like a threshing floor at the time it is trampled; the time to harvest her will soon come.”
The Whore and her Mother: 9/11, Babylon and the Return of the King Page 4
