WHAT IS INTENDED BY “THE GREAT CITY”
The Harlot is described as a great city that rules over the kings of the earth. From this, we know that she is a politically and geographically definable entity that exerts a significant measure of influence throughout the world. The primary purpose however is not so much to restrict the Harlot as being a mere literal city, but rather to contrast her to the other prominent city of Revelation—the “Holy City” of New Jerusalem. One city is described as “Great” and is pictured as a foul prostitute, while the other city is “Holy” and is pictured as a pure bride, adorned for her wedding day. The intended contrast is clear: “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (Revelation 21:10). “Come I will show you…the Great Prostitute.Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast…The woman you saw is the Great City that rules over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:1, 3, 18).
As discussed, Galatians 4 addresses both cities—Jerusalem from above (Revelation 21:10), and the bondage from a literal Arabia, which we see symbolically in Revelation 17:1, 3, 18. Mystery Babylon is both the antithesis and the premiere antagonist of all that Jerusalem is called to be—and will become.
What city in the earth could be viewed as the most significant religious and ideological antagonist to an idealized Jerusalem? What desert city has attempted to usurp the position of Jerusalem as the spiritual capitol of the world? While exiled in Babylon, the prophet Daniel bowed in prayer several times a day toward Jerusalem. Toward what other city do a large proportion of the people of the earth bow each day? The Qur’an literally switched the direction from Jerusalem to Mecca, and abrogated Jerusalem as a direction of worship.
“COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE!”
Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave her’” (Revelation 18:4-7).
God warns his people who are living in Babylon to “come out of her”—toflee, for she is about to be judged severely. Here, we find a direct allusion to another Old Testament prophecy concerning Babylon. Jeremiah 50 and 51 repeatedly reference the need to flee Babylon with the same rendering as in Revelation. “My people, go out of the midst of her” (Jeremiah 51:45). “Flee out of Babylon and leave the land of the Babylonians. Be like the goats that lead the flock” (Jeremiah 50:8). “Flee from Babylon! Run for your lives! Do not be destroyed because of her sins. It is time for Jehovah’s vengeance; he will pay her what she deserves” (Jeremiah 51:6). “We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reached unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies” (Jeremiah 51:9).
Notice that those who are warned are told to flee, “every one into his own country.” This is important. Like the ancient Babylon, so also is the Last-Days Babylon filled with foreigners and expatriates. What Arab, Islamic, desert nation is filled with a massive foreign labor-force that is only used for labor and never offered citizenship?
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The Harlot’s Connection To Slavery, Lavish Imports And Secret Sin
“Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with V W gold, precious stones, and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!” (Revelation 18:16) God speaks to the heathen: “To whom will you liken Me, that we should be alike? They lavish gold out of the bag, and weigh silver on the scales; they hire a goldsmith, and he makes it a god; they prostrate themselves, yes, they worship” (Isaiah 46:5-6).
Muslims decked the black stone idol that they likened to God with gold and silver and prostrated themselves to it as Isaiah predicted. Mecca and Medina are decked with much gold, gems and pearls. Arabia is also famous for its gold markets or souqs. The Mall of Arabia is the home of the Gold Souq, which has over 450 jewelry & gold shops in one location. Mystery Babylon prides itself on such imports: “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more—cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men” (Revelation 18:11-13).
Remarkably, these are the very imports of Saudi Arabia today. The items may be divided into three categories—but they all things that she cannot produce herself. The three categories are luxury items, food items—both livestock and produce—and human slaves. Saudi Arabia imports humans for various reasons; some may be legitimate, but others clearly are not. Above, we saw that there will be many foreign workers living in Mystery Babylon who will have the freedom to flee. However, we are also told that there are many slaves in Mystery Babylon. Obviously, they will not have the freedom to flee. While most would like to imagine that slavery is a thing of the past, slavery thrives in various forms in many parts of the world today. Mystery Babylon imports men, women, and children, no doubt to maintain and bolster her excessively luxurious and sinful lifestyle. Saudi Arabia has been repeatedly condemned by numerous human-rights watch groups for its horrific treatment of its vast foreign labor-force. They have been repeatedly reported to have a serious problem with importing young women and children as sex-slaves. How in the world could this description be made to conform to the city of Rome?
SECRET SIN AND THE ARROGANT QUEEN
In Isaiah’s prophecy, and confirming Revelation 18 regarding the Harlot of Babylon, we see that in the midst of all of the Harlot’s sin and wickedness, she believes that no one sees her: “You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, ‘No one sees me’” (Isaiah 47:10). Revelation 18 also describes the Harlot as being utterly arrogant. In her heart she boasts, “I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn” (Revelation 18:7). This is also confirmed in Isaiah 47: “I will continue forever—the eternal queen!.I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.” Its destruction, “will overtake you in a moment, on a single day.” This never happened to the ancient Babylon. Its decay and eventual destruction was very slow and gradual over hundreds of years.
The Last-Day Babylon’s excessive luxury and debauchery which the Harlot expresses that no one is aware of, is typical of the Saudi Monarchy that is known for its hypocritical outward life of public piousness and secret debauchery.
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Objection, Your Honor
I always get an array of objections from authors who don’t want to recant their previous teachings. Some of them have written several books claiming that Rome or Europe is the focus of End-Time Bible prophecy. In their view, Rome is most fitting fulfillment of the Mystery Babylon prophecies because it sits on seven hills. But the truth is, even if we take the seven hills in Revelation 17 to be literal hills, modern Rome actually encompasses more than seven hills. And Vatican Hill was not counted as one of the original seven. But why restrict this definition to Rome? Ancient Babylon did have seven artificial hills within its walls? Constantinople is often called the “Second Rome,” and also has seven hills within its boundaries.
But these hills are not to be taken literally. The context of the passage clearly shows that these “hills” (a better translation is “mounts” or “mountains) are kingdoms. “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings” (Revelation 17:9). Kings rule kingdoms and not mountains. A mountain is a kingdom and
not a hill.
Another objection I often hear is that the Greek word used for the place that John was taken is Eremon, and does not mean a literal desert. John was taken in the spirit to this place simply to see a vision; it was simply the theatre for this vision. But “Eremon”, according to Strong’s, does mean: “desert, wilderness, deserted places, lonely regions, an uncultivated region fit for pasturage.” Those who try to claim that the desert was simply the theatre for John to see the vision have rendered this portion of God’s Word completely irrelevant. According to this interpretation, John could have been taken to Mars or the Moon to see the vision and it wouldn’t have made any difference in terms of the meaning of the passage. This is just plain silly. The desert location that John was taken is not irrelevant. In fact, it is a crucial aspect of the vision. The desert is an important description of where the Women—Mystery Babylon can be found.
Mecca sits on a barren valley surrounded by mountains.13 Eremon is the best fitting term to describe Mecca and is used throughout Scripture to describe deserts: “Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; (eremon) go not forth behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not” (Matthew 24:26). This, by itself, hints that trouble and false messiahs will come from a desert. Also, John wasn’t taken to the desert to see a movie (vision), but to see a woman/city. He would not have been taken to a place unassociated with the event.
This is true in other similar usages in Scripture: “The hand of the LORD was upon me, and carried me out in the Spirit of the LORD, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones” (Ezekiel 37:1). The valley was not the theatre, but where the actual event took place—in a large pit valley filled with dead dry bones of Jews. The vision of the future Temple also has the scene associated with the event: “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:10). The mountain was not the theatre, but where the new city was located, on a mountain. The same is true in Ezekiel 40: “In the visions of God, He brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south” (Ezekiel 40:2). The Lord took Ezekiel to Israel’s most important mountain, the Temple Mount. He didn’t take him to a place unassociated with the event.
Finally, perhaps the best argument against Rome being this harlot city, is the fact that certain European countries (Rome, Spain) are specifically mentioned in the Bible, yet none with a single reference to destruction. Why?
Spain is mentioned in Romans 15:24, 28 and Rome in Acts 2:10, 18:2, 19:21, 23:11, 28:14, 28:16; Romans 1:7, 1:15; Galatians 6:18; Ephesians 6:24; Philippians 4:23; Colossians 4:18; 2 Timothy 1:17, 4:22; and Philippians 1:25. The prophets never mentioned the destruction of Rome by name. Has the Almighty forgotten to literally mention it? Yet, He never forgot Arabia by name, she is mentioned in numerous passages. Are we to simply forget all of these because we don’t want to contradict the teachings in so many prophecy books?
Arabia does have great influence over the kings of the earth, and offers an addictive intoxicating commodity—oil. Rome has no such addictive substance, which the Harlot city needs in order to burn forever.
The other argument that some make for Rome is that the products mentioned in Revelation are what Rome exports. Rome produces marble, gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen etc. Many think that the list of goods is what the harlot city produces: marble gemstones, fine clothes. Yet a closer look at the text reveals that the Harlot city does not produce any of these items. In fact, she is an importer of these goods and not a producer: “And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, for no one buys their merchandise anymore…” (Revelation 18:11). These are the products that the Harlot city buys from the merchants of the sea who watch her destruction from the Red Sea.
This is crucial for it nullifies the Rome argument. Why would Rome import the very items that she already manufactures? In fact, all Saudi goods are imported via the Red Sea, and the list of goods match Saudi imports perfectly—gold, silver, precious stones, pearls, fine linen, vessels of ivory, fine wood and copper ware, iron, marble, spices, perfumes, liquor, sheep, horses, slaves and the souls of men. The Harlot city also imports slaves, horses and even ivory. Arabia imports all of these, yet Rome doesn’t. By the way, if you think that Saudi Arabia does not import wine because of the Islamic prohibition, guess again. Just because its done in secret doesn’t mean that it doesn’t take place.
So what will the supporters of the Rome theory do once they examine Revelation 18:11? Will they recant their theory? I sure hope so.
ARABIA DOES WHILE ROME DOESN’T
A rabia has a tremendous foreign work force Rome doesn’t.
Arabia does not allow citizenship for immigrants, Rome does. Arabia persecutes the saints, Rome doesn’t. Arabia promotes beheading, Rome doesn’t: “and I saw the souls of the martyrs who were beheaded.” Historically, Rome mainly practiced burning, drowning, or crucifixion while Arabia has always beheaded believers. There are many parallels in Scripture: John the Baptist, crying out in the wilderness was beheaded for exposing the truth. So it will be before Christ comes again. The John the Baptists of this world (Christians) will be sacrificed, and very few will mourn them. Who desires to behead us today? Who are these Last-Days Edomite Herods? Where are they doing their killings? Who represents Salome that Harlot, the daughter of the Edomite? Where is biblical Edom? Mecca exerts more spiritual influence of false theology on more people than any other city on earth. Today major Universities such as Harvard, Cambridge, Georgetown and many others have been bought by the Saudis to create Islamist friendly indoctrination programs. Saudi Arabia exports radical Islam to every nation in the world. Why are we having so much trouble today with radical Islam? It’s because Saudi Arabia has exported Wahabbism throughout the world. Today, we have over a billion people who bow down daily towards an image in Arabia while no one bows down towards Rome or even Jerusalem. Arabia is on a desert, Rome isn’t. Arabia has oil, Rome doesn’t. Arabia imports slaves, Rome doesn’t. Arabia imports all of the specific merchandise in Revelation 18, Rome doesn’t.
And so we have come full circle. On all counts, our search until this point has led us in one direction. The only nation on earth that precisely matches all of the descriptions necessary to qualify as Mystery Babylon is most clearly the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Section VIII
The Reality Turkey Summary and Current Evidence
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Turkey As The Antichrist Nation Seven Scriptural Proofs
1. EZEKIEL 38 CONFIRMS TURKEY’S LEADERSHIP ROLE
From the prophecies examined in the Book of Ezekiel, we saw that Turkey was significantly emphasized. Of the eight locations that were specified in the Gog Prophecy of Ezekiel 38, five were located firmly within Turkey. Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Togarmah, and Gomer are all areas that were within the boundaries of modern Turkey. The fact that Turkey was so heavily emphasized is not something to be ignored. God highlighted Turkey for a reason. However, it is important that this theory be confirmed by other passages, as well.
Map 1: Magog, Meshech, Tubal, Gomer and Togarmah all within the boundaries of modern Turkey
2. REVELATION 17 CONFIRMS TURKEY’S LEADERSHIP ROLE
From Revelation 17, we concluded that the Islamic Empire, culminating in the Turkish Ottoman Empire, was the seventh Biblical Beast Empire. The capital of the Ottoman Empire was Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, the capital of the Eastern Roman Byzantine Empire. Today, Istanbul sits on the northwestern corner of Turkey. The reason that the location of the capitals of the last beast empire may be important is because as the head of the last beast empire, it is possible that it will receive the “fatal head wound” that will come back and awe the world: “One of the heads of the beast seemed to have had a fatal wound, but the fatal wound had been healed. The whole world was astonished and followed the beast” (Revelat
ion 13:3).
Map 2: Constantinople and Istanbul: The Capital of both the Byzantine and the Ottoman Empires
3. DANIEL 9 CONFIRMS TURKEY’S LEADERSHIP ROLE
We also examined Daniel 9, where the Bible says that it would be the “people of the prince to come” that would destroy the Jewish Temple. In other words, the ethnic peoples of whom the future Antichrist would be the leader would destroy the Jewish Temple. We saw that the primary group that carried out this destruction was the tenth legion of the Roman army (Legion X Fretensis), which was stationed in Antioch. Antioch was also the area from which the tenth legion drew most of its recruits. These soldiers were primarily Syrians and Arabs. Today, Antioch is located within the borders of Turkey, on the southeastern corner of Turkey near Syria. As such, this is yet another witness to the notion that the Antichrist would come from the region of modern Turkey.
Map 3: Antioch, where the Tenth Roman Legion was garrisoned for much of the first century.
4. DANIEL 11 CONFIRMS TURKEY’S LEADERSHIP ROLE
Our fourth confirmation was found in Daniel 11, where we saw that the Antichrist was prefigured by Antiochus IV Epiphanies, the “King of the North” or the ruler of the Seleucid Division of the Greek Empire. We may expect to see the Antichrist emerge somewhere from within the region of the former Seleucid Empire. The Seleucid Empire covered a large portion of modern Turkey.
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