Mary Fairchild
The following is based on the phonetic writing of the expository teaching tapes of Pastor Jim Mooberry.
The Bible tells us that Babylon was the womb of unparalleled evil. It was Satan’s headquarters of rebellion against God. It was also the site of the first false religious system that was a substitute for the worship of the true God.
THIS MYSTERY RELIGION, CALLED BABYLON THE GREAT, CONTINUES TO OUR VERY DAY. IT ENSLAVES PEOPLE TO SUPERSTITION AND DARKNESS.
AS IN THE BEGINNING, SO IN THE END, THE SPIRIT OF BABYLON IS GOING TO UNITE THE WORLD IN REBELLION AGAINST GOD AND HIS CHRIST. The apostle John is given a vision in Revelation 17 and 18 of the final destruction of this religious system. His vision describes a time just prior the second-coming of Jesus Christ after His church has been removed from the earth by the rapture. The world will be united economically, politically (new world order by the antichrist), and religiously (one world religion unified together in a worship system against God).
WOMEN ARE MENTIONED SYMBOLICALLY FOUR TIMES IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION. IN EACH CASE THEY SYMBOLIZE A RELGIOUS SYSTEM.
1. Rev. 2:20; Jezebel. The church of Thyatira was in a battle against the teachings of Jezebel. It signified a religious system.
2. Rev. 12:1; Woman clothed with the sun, moon, and stars = Israel. Israel was the worship of God through the Old Testament people.
3. Rev. 19:7; The Bride = The true church of Jesus Christ.
4. Rev. 17:1; A Harlot or Prostitute = The false church of the tribulation period to come. A harlot in the Scriptures represents spiritual adultery; unfaithfulness to God in truth through idolatry. Jeremiah 3 describes this bowing down to idols and they are called harlots. James 4:4 warns Christians as well as he describes friendship with the world as hostility towards God. Friendship with the world system that is controlled by Satan makes you hostile toward God. Don’t allow the world to push you into their mold because that would cause you to be spiritual adulterers.
SIX CHARACTERISTICS ARE MENTIONED OF THIS HARLOT(great false religion of the last days).
1. Her universal reign (17:1). The waters, which you saw where the harlot sits (vs. 15), are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
2. Her wonton immorality (17:2). She is so seductive that kings and kingdoms fall under her spell. This has been occurring ever since the beginning with Babylon. This adulterous system has reigned through the millennium. False religion is in high places; kingships, presidential palaces, it is in the leadership of the world.
3. Her political power. The beast, which has been represented in chapters 12 and 13, represents this great kingdom which is going to arise on the earth, a worldwide kingdom. She is sitting on this worldwide kingdom of the beast. Her seat is at the throne of the beast. In verse 18, the woman is the great city which reigns over the kings of the earth. What city ruled over the kings of the earth in John’s day? Rome. This harlot’s headquarters is in Rome. She sits upon the nations and rules through the kingdom that is coming. The mystery religion of Babylon will be the guiding force behind the beast and his kingdom: the union of religion and state. The church of Jesus Christ has never sought political office or political power.
Jesus said his kingdom was not of this world. The only way you come into Jesus’ kingdom is by a new birth through faith in Him. He will come the second time to establish His earthly kingdom. Individual Christians are still to be good citizens and are to participate in offices of government but not to usurp the authority of kings of the earth. Such has not been the practice of the Babylonian idolatrous religion. Lenin was quoted as having said if you want to neutralize the influence of the church politicize it. The power of the church does not come from any sort of political activity, it comes from a message: the message of the gospel.
4. Her worldly glory vs. 4. Purple was the color of Roman imperialism. The dress robes of the emperor were entirely of purple. Stripes of purple representing Roman imperialism ran down the robes of senators and the counsels. Scarlet is also the color of Roman Catholicism. As opposed to Jesus’ church that offers the waters of life, she gives the nations an intoxicating drink.
5. Her ancient origin vs. 5. A mystery in the Bible is not a puzzle. A mystery is something that is not knowable by men unless it is revealed to them by God. The church is called a mystery in the Bible because in the Old Testament it was never foreseen. It was revealed to us in the New Testament that this was God’s plan to unify all of the family of God in the church. The rapture is also called a mystery because it was not revealed in the Old Testament. Although it has been operating since the time of the dawn of civilization, after the flood, it has never been fully understood until this point; John sees the name of the harlot on her forehead and it reveals to us the character of this false religion. She is called “the mother of harlots” because she has spawned so many other false religions.
In Genesis 10 we find the Babylonian cult religion “Babylon the Great.” The historical drama of Babylon began on the plains of Shinar, the ancient site between the Tigris and the Euphrates River. It was there that the first world dictator established the first world religion system as a counterfeit religion in defiance of the true worship of the true God. The name of the place was originally Babel and the name of the man was Nimrod. Nimrod was a “mighty hunter” (a great tyrant; a hunter of men) before the Lord. He was a city builder and the arch apostate of that generation.
THE NAME “NIMROD” MEANS “WE WILL REVOLT” Babel established three goals:
1. Build a city (political union). It was rejecting God’s command that they should spread throughout the earth and fill it.
2. Build a tower (represents their religious union). Babel means gateway to god: gateway to “their god.” The tower was a stepped ziggurat (symbol that their religion reached up to god). They were the bridge builder between god and man.
3. Build a name for themselves (they sought a glory that belonged to God alone). Their defiance is seen in verse 4 “lest we be spread abroad…” That was exactly what God had told them to do. God judges them in verses 5-9. The Lord confused their speech and scattered them abroad. Babel was an ancient word that meant confusion. From the gateway of god it became confusion because of the judgment of God. The seed of this ancient religious system was carried throughout the earth. It has impacted the earth ever since.
Extra-biblical literature is available from those days. Extra-biblical ancient documents that tell us that Nimrod had a wife who was appointed as a head of these Babylonian mysteries. She was the high priestess of this idolatrous system. The true meanings and rights of the symbols were secret. They were only given to the initiates; the ones who were enlightened. It was all a counterfeit wisdom. They believed in astrology, sorcery, spiritism, and many of the other occultic things we see even today. In their right they involved themselves with baptisms, confession to their priests, incense burning, celibate
priesthood, holy water, holy women orders that were vestal virgins, women committed to prostitution in the temples, etc. The foremost mystery was the goddess mother and child. Sumeramus gave birth to son and she claimed that there was a miraculous conception. This son was proclaimed to be the savior. She said that this was the fulfillment of the promised Eve that there would be one coming that was the seed of the woman who would crush the serpent. Satan was anticipating the true coming of the seed of Jesus Christ and was beginning to inject the counterfeit mindset into the world. This is the oldest form of idolatry; the goddess mother and child cult. She was called the queen of heaven and her son was the son of god. He reputably was killed by a wild bore but then was raised again from the dead. This mystery religion spread out in various
forms throughout the whole earth.
The custodian and the high priest of the Babylonian mysteries was called the Pontifix Maximus. He was the “supreme bridge-keeper.” This spread from Egypt to Persia and eventually to Rome. Wherever the world kingdom was of the day the Babylonian mysticism was there. All of the outstanding festivals of the Roman Catholic Church are really of Babylonian origin. The Roman Catholic Church today is a form of Babylonian mysticism. We desire the “people” to be saved but we are to be against false religion. We must be. The doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, not the people, but the official dogma of this church derives much of itself from the Babylonian mysticism. Some of things they teach are true, like the deity of Christ and the trinity yet there is this merging that has occurred. Roman Catholic doctrine is just enough to lull people into a false sense of security. But they never teach of the finished work of God and His grace. We cannot abide by any false
teaching, we must bring the truth to people to people so that they can be saved.
THE MAJOR RELIGIONS OF THE WORLD ARE ALSO BASED ON THIS BABYLON MYSTICISM. The mother harlot has many children. Rome is simply the chief of these because there it infiltrated Christianity. It became the masterpiece of
Satan’s counterfeits. THE FINAL MANIFESTATION IN THE LAST DAYS WILL BE WHEN ALL THE CHILDREN ARE MERGED TOGETHER INTO THIS GREAT WORLD RELIGION. Although it will be different than what we see today, Rome will be the headquarters.
6. HER MURDEROUS WAYS VS. 6. John is absolutely astonished by what he sees. He thought he was looking at something that looked like the church yet when he saw what it was it appalled him. The Babylonian cult has always
persecuted and martyred the true children of God through history. Roman Catholicism has been a part of that. When Rome has been in control completely, she has never hesitated to put to death those who oppose her. The Inquisition lasted for 500 years! It was instituted to detect and punish heretics. History tells us that it martyred at least four million people in 500 years. Most of them were Christians. The false church that John sees in his vision will make the inquisition pale next to the slaughter that is going to take place in those days after we are gone. There is a worldwide delusion coming. A merger of all the religions into one, a repeat of the ancient Babel.
THE SIGNS OF OUR DAY INDICATE THAT THE FORMATION OF THAT FALSE RELIGION IS VERY NEAR. There are three factors working toward that goal.
1. ECUMENISM. The Roman Catholic church is at the forefront of this movement to unite religions, specifically Pope John Paul. The World Council of Churches promotes church unity and the unity of the human family. Ecumenism in the Middle East is in the process of making churches more open it is also an attempt to bring the church, the synagogue, and the mosque closer to one another. It is a vision of one god for all the faiths.
In the fall of 1985 a meeting was held between parliamentarians from five continents and spiritual leaders from Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. The meeting was to initiate a dialogue on issues of global survival. The new coalition named itself “The Global Forum of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival.” The global forum participant US congressman contended more directly that we need to merge the ethical and the practical, the political and the priest, the sacred and the secular.
The 1988 gathering was hosted by the arch bishop of Canterbury who is the head of the church of England. It was attended by Mother Teresa, Dalai Lama, UN secretary general, and many others. It was stated that we are learning that we are all
interdependent in spiritual matters, that there is a certain incompleteness in each of our traditions, and that some claims about the exclusiveness of the church have to be renounced in the name of a new and larger vision of unity. All religions were believed to have only a portion of the truth, but none of them have the complete truth. The exclusiveness of the church that has been proclaimed for two thousand years as having the only gospel that saves people must be renounced for the sake of a larger vision of unity. The only group that was singled out as a problem in this conference, which included shamans, medicine men, and rainforest rituals, was against those fundamentalist, narrow-minded Christians who believe that the current global situation is a fulfillment of Bible prophecy. They don’t want to hear anymore about the coming
of the end of the world and that it has no place in “authentic” religious awareness. Christians are outcasts.
2. THE NEW AGE MOVEMENT. This will be the glue that will cause these religions to adhere to one another. It is an ingenious application of the ancient Babylonian mysticism: the rebirth of pagan mystery religion. The three characteristics of the New Age Movement are:
1. Monism. Everything is one. The universe, this world, man, plants, we are all just waves in the cosmic ocean.
2. Pantheism. All is god and god is all. That is different from what the Bible teaches about omnipresence. The Bible teaches that God is omnipresent, He is everywhere at once at the same time. The Bible does not say that God is everything, He is separate from that which He has created. Pantheism says He is everything and everything is god.
3. Deity of man. If everything is one, and everything is god, then you and I are god too.
The heart of the New Age Movement is that man needs to rediscover his divinity; to be enlightened (Babylonian mysticism). The cosmic process that’s going on, the New Age Movement will tell you, is as a result of two great eternal principles; the principles of rebirth and the cause and effect. The principle of rebirth is reincarnation. The principle of cause and effect is called karma. How ever you live now sets up opportunities or possibilities in the next life. If you live a life that is bad you will suffer in you next life because of it. The goal is to live a life that is so virtuous and to finally realize your own deity so that you will not be reincarnated again but you will join a hierarchy called the ascended masters. This is where the great delusion comes in. The New Age Movement will reinterpret all of the doctrines of the major world religions. They will start first of all with the ascended masters, the ones who have gone on and have become part of the cosmic consciousness, they are in fact from the spiritual realm guiding humanity right now. They are benevolent and trying to help us to understand our deity. It is a case of spiritual evolution and we are heading toward that day when the whole
planet is going to realize this and a new age is coming. When they appear at times to people, or talk to people through channeling, they call themselves divas—the Scriptures call them demons. They claim that there is a person called “the christ.” Not Jesus Christ. That person is the head of the ascended masters.
He is the great one. He has entered history at different times. He indwelled Nimrod, Krishna, Jesus, and Mohammed. Jesus was one who was simply very near to becoming part of the ascended masters and “the christ” came upon him and indwelled him. This is blasphemous. They say Jesus was only trying to teach us to understand our own deity. They believe all religions contain some insights into this ageless wisdom. But only a portion, no religion has all of it and christ (Satan) has promised one day to usher in that new age. They believe that when he comes he will fulfill the predictions of all of the religions. We only have a limited understanding of this they say.
THE LAST THING THAT WILL TRIGGER ALLOF THIS IS THE RAPTURE; THE REMOVAL OF THE CHURCH. All that will be left will be Babylonian mysticism.
“Don’t let anyone deceive you in any way, for that day will not come, until the rebellion occurs and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the man doomed to destruction. He will oppose and exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God. Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so until he is taken out of the way.”
The “He” that is the restrainer is the Holy Spirit through the church. He is the only one that has been around for two thousand years (not just a person). He will continue to restrain the final formation of the apostasy and the revelation of
the man of sin until He is taken out of the way (the rapture). When the spirit is taken out of the way, and we who are joined to Him permanently, we are going to have to go too.
“…And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness”. 2 Thessalonians 2: 3-12
We live in a day of great deception. We need to stay close to the Lord and stay close to His Word. If you do this you
will never go wrong. If we leave His Word, our relationship with Him will weaken and we will be susceptible to the great deceptions of our day.
WORKS CITED
- Revelation and Church History
- Church Age
- “MYSTERY BABYLON: THE GREAT HARLOT,” Revelation 17:1-6, #JMREV31;
The Faithful Word. Pastor Jim Mooberry