Ten Reasons Why America May Be the Daughter of Babylon (Part 2)

What a Difference a Day Makes

As I write this post, a continuation of my article begun on August 19, my mind can’t help but drift toward the events of eleven years ago on September 11, 2001.  The images of commercial aircraft plunging headlong into the sides of the World Trade Center are seared into my memory as I am sure they are yours.  While the trauma, sense of tragedy, and the pain are now somewhat abated, the video clips from those days are a stark reminder we live in a very different world.  The unthinkable can happen.  As Americans, before 9/11 we felt invincible and untouchable.  We know now that such a serene sense of security is forever lost.  We must always be on guard.

Yesterday’s events with four American’s killed in Libya reinforce yet again the reality of hatred that many Muslims in the Middle East feel toward our country.  A day that should have produced sympathy and respect for America, a day of memorializing those killed, was instead a day for more violence and killing by extremists of Islam.

In light of 9/11, this series of articles takes on supremely profound and poignant meaning.  To be clear, 9/11 was carried out by murderers and assassins driven by hate.  The blood of thousands remains on their hands.  And yet, as author Jonathan Cahn has written in The Harbinger, the deeper meaning of the attack is a solemn message to Americans that we must return to the principles of our nation’s founding.  We must return to the God of our fathers.  The attack was a warning.

In the first segment of this article, I spoke to three ‘macro’ reasons why America appears to fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah 50 and 51; Revelation 17 and 18; Zechariah 5; and Isaiah 47.  I refer the reader to that post to provide the first three of the ‘ten most significant reasons’ that the United States of America and its center of commerce, the city of New York, has now been identified by many students and scholars of Bible prophecy as ‘Mystery – Babylon’.  In the continuation of that article, I address the fourth reason to believe our nation, regrettably, fulfills these ominous prophecies that have such dire consequences for our citizens – not just in New York, but throughout our country.  It stands so significant that this post focuses only on this reason alone.

4.     America’s world dominance in finance isn’t likely to be transferred to another nation before the Lord returns

America is the most dominant financial powerhouse in the world.  There really is no contest here.  While true that the ‘City of London’ (the center of British financial influence) has been a major player throughout the past two centuries; it is England’s colonial offspring – sitting pretty on Wall Street in Manhattan – which calls the shots in the world.  As the saying goes, when Wall Street sneezes, the rest of the world catches a cold.  America’s economic power is awesome and unequaled.  To bring our economy to its knees requires more than financial crisis alone.

The Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 is many things.  But it is most essentially a dominating economic center with which all the “kings of the earth” cooperate.  “For all 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” (Revelation 18:3). When she is destroyed suddenly and absolutely it brings the economy of the world to a precipice it will never bridge:  “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more” (Revelation 18:11).   John, the author of Revelation describes the extent of Babylon’s financial hegemony with extensive colorful images that emphasize how complete its control is:

¹¹ The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

¹² And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.

¹³ And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

¹⁴ The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing (Revelation 18:11-14).

This city sits on many waters, controlling peoples, multitudes, nations and tongues.  “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth” (Revelation 17:18).  Author Patrick Heron comments, “So this great city is just that; a city.  It is not a country or a Muslim empire or a religious denomination.  Scripture repeatedly informs us that it is a great and powerful city.  This city does two things here.  It reigns over these kings or rulers… and the waters it sits amongst represent a multitude from every nation and tongue and people and language.  This clue means that the citizens of this city are multi-cultural and have arrived to live in this metropolis from the four corners of the globe.”^[i] As Heron infers, the city is unequaled in many categories.  But its reign over the kings of the earth begins with its financial clout.  Heron, like this author, believes the final Babylon of the Bible’s prophets is New York City while the land of Babylon (Chaldea) is the United States of America.  New York with her Statue of Liberty standing like a sentinel in its harbor fulfills the stark and ominous symbol of Babylon (and as Old Testament prophets refer to it – The Daughter of Babylon).

Likewise, John Price, author of a best-selling book, The End of America writes, “In this regard, the biggest shock to this writer, in beginning to re-study what the Bible calls the ‘mystery’ of the identity of the Daughter of Babylon, was that, contrary to the formerly prevailing general belief that America is not in Biblical prophecy, America, as it turns out, is a major player on the prophetic end times world stage.”[ii]

Price continues with this striking analysis:

As we enter further into the end times, we can rationally conclude, that America has a major, even a pre-imminent role in the events of the last days, before the return of Christ. Sadly, though, America’s role appears to come to an abrupt end before the final years of the end times. Surprising as it may seem to some, the Author of the Word has provided to us a great deal of detail about the United States of America in the end times. Frankly, that’s what we would expect from the Creator of the Universe. Daniel described God, as “the revealer of mysteries” and “a God in heaven who reveals mysteries” (Daniel 2: 28 and 29). The following prophetic verses all deal with a nation described directly and implicitly as the “Daughter of Babylon” or “Babylon the Great” … These are the prophetic verses describing the end of a rich and powerful end times nation: Psalm 137: 8; Isaiah 13; 21: 1-10; 47 and 48; Jeremiah 50 and 51; Zechariah 2:7; [and] Revelation 17 and 18.

These prophecies total 223 verses–223 amazing verses. Some who have seriously studied these prophetic verses have concluded they refer to events to take place on the site of ancient or historical Babylon, even concluding that the ruins of Babylon, which Saddam Hussein partially restored, will be the Daughter of Babylon.  Some, on the other hand, have interpreted these verses as referring to an end times Church or denomination. In the years since the 17th century authors interpreted the verses, primarily those from Revelation, as referring to the Roman Catholic Church. The clash of interpretations is quite stark:  do these end times verses, yet unfulfilled on their face, refer to modern day Iraq, do they describe modern day America, or is there another possible nation to which they could refer?

Price believes the answer to his hypothetical question isn’t Iraq and it isn’t another unnamed country yet to emerge from the ‘sea’ of nations thrashing to and fro (the analogy often used by Bible prophets to depict political tumult).  It is America.

Until exactly 11 years ago, few Bible scholars would have considered the possibility that the infamous ‘Mystery – Babylon’ could have been New York City.  The United States homeland seemed secure.  But everything changed in a matter of a few hours on that fateful, late summer morning.

With the lethal destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the murder of over 3,000 persons, most of them Americans, the unthinkable happened.  As a result of the attack, the world economy took a massive nose dive.  Unquestionably, the stock markets were already suffering before this event.  But as the Twin Towers collapsed in less than two hours after being struck, the ‘financial world’ fell almost as fast.  In March of 2000, the NASDAQ Exchange had hit 5048.  After 9/11, NASDAQ fell to under 1500, a drop of almost 70%.  After a slow recovery to over 2500, with the failure and debacle of newly engineered derivatives (assets based on leveraging high-risk mortgage loans and even the ‘insurance’ set up to protect such investments), eight years later the house of cards buckled yet again.  This second assault (likely also caused by Al-Qaida through massive short-selling of Lehman Brothers [iii]) plunged the world into an economic crisis from which it has still staggering.

Next up in the economic house of horrors:  the current-day degrading of sovereign debt – with a number of nations across southern Europe on the precipice of default.  Greece is in desperate straits and could soon sink.  But Spain, Portugal, Italy and even Ireland are also at risk.  However, compared with much of Europe, despite its $16 trillion in federal debt, the United States still appears to be a safe haven for very large-scale investors.

While many politicians in the heat of a Presidential election bemoan the rise of China as an economic powerhouse, it still represents only a fraction of the value of the United States’ economy.  It is important to note that China is investing in us.  China wouldn’t be investing in the United States if it believed America was bound to fail.  Consequently, any theory (even if based on biblical interpretation) that suggests America and Wall Street will soon be displaced by the power of Europe – which the ‘standard’ prophetic scenario does – only needs to study what has happened in the European ‘community’ over the past two years.  America’s credit may have dropped from a rating of ‘A+’ to ‘A’ and our debt may have soared to heights previously unimaginable, but the U.S. still towers above all other nations in our ability to produce and consume.   According to author John Price, the gross national product (GNP) of the world is $48.25 trillion.  The U.S. amounts to over 27.3% of this, or $13.19 trillion.  China is a distant second, coming in at $2.64 trillion.  In other words, the GNP of the U.S. is five times that of China.  Many would guess that Saudi Arabia with its vast oil revenues would be a major player in the GNP game.  Not so.  Its GNP amounts to only $.349 trillion.  The U.S. is fifty (50) times that of Saudi Arabia.

This financial engine, despite concerns expressed by partisan politicians, likely will only be tamed by destructive forces beyond economics – which is exactly what the Bible predicts.  “The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off… saying, ‘Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones and pearls.  For in one hour so great riches is come to naught.’  And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off… And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning… 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” (Revelation 18: 3, 11-13, 15-19).

There are many doomsday prophets who continue to predict that the rich and powerful ‘illuminati’ are ready to make a power play to intentionally destroy our economy to force the country into Martial Law and lead the world into global government.  However, to this author such a pathway to globalism seems unlikely – even if it has been envisioned by such a cabal.  Besides being summarily illogical, it is inconsistent with what the Bible predicts if this interpretation of the Daughter of Babylon is correct.  Instead of a self-imposed financial crisis by elites, it appears instead that some manner of cataclysmic destruction will be the cause of Babylon’s downfall.   The enemies of Babylon will be summoned by the God of the Bible:  “… a sword is upon her treasures…” (Jeremiah 50: 37b).  It will be a judgment – truly of biblical proportions – that will be the undoing of ‘Mystery – Babylon’.

If the Lord tarries for another 50 to 100 years, another nation, city, and economic center may arise and overcome New York City and Wall Street.  Likewise, many continue to believe that the historic Babylon will be rebuilt and become a literal fulfillment of the prophecies of Babylon. But if we live in the ‘last days of the last days’ as most prophecy scholars now affirm – and the Lord returns soon – there is only one city which bears any resemblance to Babylon as depicted in Jeremiah, Isaiah, and Revelation:  That city is named New York City.  And the ‘land of the Chaldeans’ is the United States of America.

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Next week’s blog will continue the exploration of the most significant reasons
why America may be the Babylon of Jeremiah, Isaiah, and John the Revelator.