On Mystery Babylon

[stephen]

--H. Grattan Guiness, The Approaching End of the Age: Viewed in the Light of History, Prophecy and Science, 1879

The last words of the angel to John, seem to leave no possibility of mistake as to the city. "The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sitteth . . . and the woman which thou sawest is that great city which reigneth over the kings of the earth." What city was that? There was but one great city, which in John's day reigned aver the kings of the earth. It was ROME; and Rome is the only city which was great then, has been great, in one way or other, ever since, and is so still. And Rome was seated on seven hills, "the seven mountains on which the woman sitteth." Her common name with the classic writers of St. John's age, is "the seven hilled city ;" an annual festival used to be held in honor of the "seven hilled city;" every Latin poet of note during a period of five hundred years, alludes to Rome's seven hills; their names were the Palatine, the Quirinal, the Aventine, the Caelian, the Viminal, the Esquiline, and the Janiculum hills.

The medals and coins of the day, represent Rome as a woman sitting on seven hills; and her titles show with sufficient clearness, how thoroughly she reigned. She was styled "the royal Rome " "the mistress of the world ;" "the queen of nations. Her sway was all but universal. She was the metropolis of that fourth great empire which Daniel had foretold would break in pieces and subdue all things, "dreadful and terrible and strong exceedingly;" and at the time of the Apocalyptic visions, her power was at its height. Rome, and no other city can be intended here; the woman is in some way identified with Rome. We previously saw that she must represent a church, now we know what church.

The harlot is the Church of Rome; for simple minds there seems no escape from this conclusion. And it is a singular and notable fact, that no other city but Rome, has ever given its name to a church, which has embraced many kindreds and nations. Many countries have done so, and even individuals; but as far as we are aware, no other city. We have the Greek Church, the Armenian and the Coptic Churches, the Lutheran Church, the Protestant Churches of various countries, the English Church, the Scotch Church, etc.; but the papal system is styled, not so much the Latin Church, as the CHURCH OF ROME. "The woman which thou sawest is that great city" (not empire or country) "which reigneth over the kings of the earth."

--H. Grattan Guiness, The Approaching End of the Age: Viewed in the Light of History, Prophecy and Science, 1879

 

[B-A-C]

Rome is still called the city of seven hills even today, although it has grown much larger than that over time. Since the city of Babylon didn't exist in New Testament times, it is suggested that it was a "code" word used in the New testament (1Pet 5:13 for example) to get past Roman censors.
It may be that the ancient Babylon will be rebuilt at some point, but according to scholars, it was never known as the city of seven hills.
The self proclaimed "queen" in Rev 18:7 is thought to be in reference to the verses in Jeremiah 44 (17, 18, 19, 25) and Jer 7:18. Both "queens of heaven" were evil many prayed and worshipped her instead of the true God. I would be wary of any church praying to someone called "the queen of heaven".

 

[Davy]

The understanding of who Babylon the great is can become much clearer, when you consider what God intends to do with her! Revelation 17:1-5 Describes Babylon the Great as a "great prostitute" one who has "committed adultery" with the kings of he Earth. So she clearly is not a king or government over the earth. Then she corrupts away from the true God "the inhabitants of the earth" who are "intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries." This is a religion that holds great influence over politics and many people throughout the entire earth. But does it refer to just one religion? Revelation 17:16, says: "The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire." So this religion is so contemptible to God, He is going to use human governments to destroy her, many governments as symbolized by the 10 horns, so this is not just in one government or county.

This poses the question, if Babylon the great is a bad false religion, why does God only destroy one religion. Do all religions lead to God, absolutely not, so why would He spare other religions that are false? It seams to me, Babylon the great represents all False Religion, or Bad Religion in many countries! Contrary to popular belief, not all religions lead to God, how can they when some worship Alla, some are strange Cults that follow men, and Mystic religions, that intoxicate mankind with teachings of Demon and Spiritualistic practices. Any religion that has practices or doctrines that are not in harmony with the bible, and rejects Jesus Christ as their King, and Saviour, cannot be acceptable to God, even if that does not sound politically correct.

You have to decide who to follow, the politically correct people or the Bible which states salvation is only through Jesus Christ. God is not going to destroy just one bad religion, and leave the rest. All those bad religions that do not accept Jesus Christ as their King, and Saviour, and practices doctrines that are in harmony with the bible will be rejected by God. Revelation 17:17, says: "For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose," that is the kings or leaders of this world, will destroy these religions under God's permission and approval.

 

[B-A-C]

This poses the question, if Babylon the great is a bad false religion, why does God only destroy one religion. Do all religions lead to God, absolutely not, so why would He spare other religions that are false? It seams to me, Babylon the great represents all False Religion, or Bad Religion in many countries! Contrary to popular belief, not all religions lead to God, how can they when some worship Alla, some are strange Cults that follow men, and Mystic religions, that intoxicate mankind with teachings of Demon and Spiritualistic practices. Any religion that has practices or doctrines that are not in harmony with the bible, and rejects Jesus Christ as their King, and Saviour, cannot be acceptable to God, even if that does not sound politically correct.

I would answer that question this way. Over 20 times in the new testament we are told to beware of false Christs, we are told when other say "he is here, or he is there" not to believe them. We are told, even if an angel of light teaches you a different doctrine, don't believe him. We are warned of wolves coming in amongst the sheep.

We don't need to be wary of Muslims, Hindu's, Buddhist's, or many many others. They are false teachings, and false religions to be sure. But they are not claiming to be Christians. Virtually all of these religions will tell you they aren't a Christian religion, they don't believe Jesus is the savior of the world, they don't believe he is the son of God, and he didn't rise from the dead, etc...

So if they aren't the one's claiming to be false Christs,.. then who are? Who claims to be Christians these days?

We have the Mormon's, the Jehovah's Witnesses, Roman Catholics, mainstream Protestants (I would probably put at least a dozen denominations here), the schism Protestants (who some would say aren't really very protestant at all), Orthodox, and several other "Christian" churches. Well the problem is, they all claim to be Christian churches, but they don't all believe the same things. Well that's true of just about about denomination. If everyone agreed on everything, we wouldn't need all these different denominations. So where do you draw the line?

Personally for me, it's mostly primary doctrines.
Christ alone. - We are saved by Jesus alone. Not Mary, not the pope, not Joseph Smith or Moroni, or some other "leader of the Church". Christ is the only universal head of the Church.
Scripture alone - The Bible alone is God's word. Not the book of mormon, of the watchtower, or the pearl of great price, or the catechisms, or any other writings that claim to equal the Bible, or "correct" the Bible where "it is wrong", or has "left things out" or just replace the Bible altogether.
Grace alone - We are saved by God's grace, nothing else. Not works, not money, not even being a "good person".

Just about all of these chuches will say we "believe in Jesus" or we follow Jesus, but in reality often pray to other "saints" or mary, or dead relatives, or anyone but Jesus.

They will say they believe in the Jesus "of the Bible", except where the Bible "is wrong" or has left things out.. for example Jesus had sex with Mary Magdalene, or was once just a man, but he became a God. Or he didn't come back from the dead in the flesh, but in Spirit only. These are just a few examples, but the Jesus they are talking about, isn't the Jesus of the Bible obviously. Some believe Jesus is a created being, some believe he is Satan's brother, yet others believe he was born from a sinless mother (who had already broken the curse of sin). Some believe Christ isn't the only mediator. Some believe Christ isn't our high priest and that we still need earthly priests. Again, it's impossible to reconcile these things with scripture.

Secondary doctrines don't matter so much. Do you believe in the gifts of the Spirit, speaking in tongues and healing? Water baptism? Once saved - always saved? The Pastor should run the church, no the elders should run the church, etc.... these are things that separate denominations, but I don't think your salvation depends on them.

So to answer the question of Revelation. Who is the biggest denomination claiming to be a Christian denomination? Why does it specifically say "false church" instead of "false religion", I believe it's because the other religions don't even consider themselves to be Christians.

I don't believe the other false religions will be spared of God's judgement, but I think a worse judgement may await those claiming to be Christians, who in reality are teachng and preaching something else.