In recent years there have been many people declare that America is mystery Babylon found in the 17^th chapter of Revelation. I suppose it would be easy to believe that we are mystery Babylon because of the disappointment with our government, the courts and the terrible immoral acts that are being committed in America. I would like to say that I am disappointed with America myself when it comes to these things. But, contrary to those who believe that America is mystery Babylon; I would like to share with you a few of the many reasons why that this is not the case. America is not what it should be from a Christian standpoint, but it is far from being the bloodthirsty Babylon of Revelation 17 and will never be.

Revelation 17: 18: And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
No matter how hard we try to stretch our minds and imaginations to believe that this woman is someone in the future, God said, "is." "The woman which thou sawest is that great city," Jesus told John in Revelation 1: 19: Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

God was speaking about things in the past, present and future. Had this city been a city in the future he would have said so. In verse 10 of this same chapter John was told: "And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come." He was explaining that there were seven kings: five are in the past, one of them was in existence at the time John was being told this, and another would be in the future. He did this in verse 12 of this chapter as well concerning the ten kings that did not exist at the time of John. He told them that they were in the future. Had this city been a future city somewhere else in the world, he would have told him. It would be totally out of character in the way the Lord was revealing this for the word "is" not to mean just exactly that.

The city in this verse was the city that ruled over the kings of the earth at the time that God was showing these things to John, it was Rome. The reason this woman is a mystery is because at the time of John the Roman authorities were not Christians although some of its citizens were. The Roman leaders would become Christians at a later time and then they would lead the Church into Apostasy. God was showing John that the Rome that was killing Christians at that time would be the harlot riding on the back of the Beast or anti-Christ nations at the time of the end. Another thing to consider is that John had been told in verse seven that God was going to reveal the mystery of the harlot to him. That is exactly what he did.

In the vision that God gave John on the Island of Patmos, God showed John a harlot riding the back of a scarlet colored beast. She is an abomination unto God; She is an allegory or type and shadow of a group of people that God is going to pour out his indignation and wrath upon in the end times. As we get into the scriptures about this mystery many things will come to light.

Before Revelation 17^th chapter is over we will know whom mystery Babylon is.

Revelation 17:
3: So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
4: And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication:
5: And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6: And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.
7: And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.

Notice in the above scripture in verse 5 that there is a comma between the words MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

This divides the title of this woman into four parts.

1. She is a Mystery.
2. She is Babylon the Great.
3. She the mother of harlots.
4. She the mother of abominations of the earth.

18: And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

In the 17^th chapter there are a number of things that God tells us about this woman, but the things that stand out to me are these.

She is a mystery, she is considered to be great, she is the mother of harlots, she is the mother of abominations, and she is that great city that rules over the kings of the earth.

One thing to consider is that although we call her mystery Babylon, God himself never did. He said that she would be a mystery and called her Babylon the great but never called her mystery Babylon. We call her that but he didn’t, which is something to consider.

God gave us the first glimpse of her in Revelation 14:8:
Revelation 14:
8: And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

Many people believe that Babylon of Revelation 14:8 and Babylon the great in Revelation 17:5 are two separate Babylon’s. But when you look real close you will see that this is not the case but will find rather convincing similarities that they are one and the same.

The reasoning that some have is that the woman in Rev. 17 is called mystery Babylon and the city in Revelation 14: 8 is only called Babylon. Believing that one is a mystery and the other is the actual city of Babylon in modern day Iraq. If a person believes that the city that Saddam Hussein is trying to rebuild is going to make all nations drink of the wrath of her fornication and that she will be a great city before the time of the end then they are stretching their imaginations to the limit. This rebuilt Babylon is nothing more than a museum or tourist attraction, something that Saddam Hussein did to amuse himself?

God promised in Jeremiah 51:37 saying that Babylon would never amount to anything again after the invasion of the Medes and Persians. This has come to pass. There have only been two cities that stand out as ruling nations and people these cities were Babylon and Rome. Babylon went under and will never rise to become anything that will be called great again. Since this is the case, and I believe it to be, then the Babylon of Rev. 14:8 has to be as much a mystery as the woman in Rev. 17:5, unless of course someone can tell us who it is.

So we have these similarities between the Babylon in Rev. 17^th chapter and the Babylon in Rev. 14:8.

1. They both are mysteries.
2. They are both called that great city. Rev. 14:8, Rev. 17:18.
3. Both are fornicators. Rev 17:4, Rev.14: 8.
4. They both cause others to sin. Rev. 17:2, Rev. 14:8.

Babylon the great in Revelation the 18^th chapter is the same as the woman in Revelation the 17^th chapter and Revelation 14:8. The 14^th chapter tells us that Babylon will be destroyed. The 17^th chapter identifies her and tells us more about who is going to destroy her. The 18^th chapter tells how the other nations feel when they see this great city going up in flames and destruction.

Who is this city? Think on this, The Bible says, that she is a city. God told John that it was that great city that ruled over the kings of the earth. When we try to place America into this scenario we fail to think about the fact that we are a nation not a city. In every place it is spoken of it is a city, not a nation. We do not rule over the kings of the earth, we have a lot of influence but we do not force nations to obey us.

Some have argued that Rome was a city-nation because it ruled as a nation. Babylon was the same way. So, why couldn't the U.S.A. be a city-nation? The answer is simply this. A city-nation is named after the city that rules it. For example the Roman Empire was called Rome the same way with Babylon whose empire was called Babylon. The city that rules us is called Washington D.C. Is our Nation called Washington D.C.? No it isn't. The Grecian Empire for example was called Greece but was not called by the name of a particular city; therefore it was not a city-nation. It was eventually ruled from Alexandria, but was not called Alexandria. The Grecian Empire or the Medo-Persian Empire neither one was city-nations. Mystery Babylon was and is a city.

When God spoke to John he was revealing who this city was. It was the city that was ruling the kings of the earth in John’s day. It was the city of Rome itself. We don’t think of the city of Rome having any power today and it is true, but in John’s day it ruled the known world. It was a cruel vicious city that ruled men with a cruel hand. God has not punished Rome for her sins. She has killed more saints than any city in the world. With all her sins against God and humanity she still reigned over many nations for a thousand years. God has saved his wrath for her for the last days.
The city of Rome today has no military might to boast of but she has a great authority over the Catholic faith that is in every nation of the world. She is the iron in the legs of the man in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, which comes down into the feet and toes of this image of world powers. She has in her the strength of iron and has prevailed for centuries.

Try and compare the inhumanities when it comes to the city of Rome and the United States of America. Many feel that because the government allows abortion and homosexuals to go unpunished that America is mystery Babylon. There is a great difference in a government allowing people to make sinful choices and a government that commits the act itself. America can’t even compare to the wickedness of Germany in the forties let alone compare to the city Rome.

In America ignorant sinners have abortions because they feel that an unborn child is not a person yet. I do not agree with this but they do it in ignorance. The Romans killed Christian families by the millions, men, women and children, making no distinction knowing that they were doing this as an intentional act against Christ and his church.

They were able to see with their eyes little children being fed to lions; Christian families were hacked up with the sword, burned at the stake for the sake of entertainment. All of this was done as an intentional act to destroy the church from the face of the earth. They also killed the Jewish people, over one million were killed by Titus when he destroyed Jerusalem in 70 AD which was just the start of the murders that would take place over the next 15 hundred years coming from the authority of the city of Rome.

We have homosexuals in America trying to obtain their rights. The Romans were led by homosexuals and engaged in this horrible sin without any thought. It was a common practice without condemnation.

After the Romans became so called Christians they carried out their acts of murders against Christians who tried to be obedient to the Lord. They did all of this in the name of God calling the true believer heretics. The Roman leadership has murdered literal millions. These violent acts have created the mind set for things like the Spanish inquisitions that murdered Jews and new Christian converts through suspicion. The same reasoning that caused men like the Spanish conquistadors to kill the Indians in Central and North America because they did not believe in Jesus. This kind of leadership brought all this about from Rome. There have been millions of Christians martyred for the name of Jesus. None of this has been done or accepted by the American government. Remember in Revelation the 17^th chapter she is drunk on the blood of the Saints (Christians).

God has been saving his wrath for the city of Rome. He still remembers every Christian that was killed for his name’s sake by these people. He warns the people of that city in Revelation the 18^th chapter to get out of there before His wrath hits. It is up to them. God is slow to wrath but he never forgets. The only thing that will cause him to forget is repentance.

Rome is the center or hub for world trades in that part of the world. She is rich in merchandise. Everything you can imagine is bought sold or traded for in the city of Rome. She is the hub for all the railroads joining Europe, Asia and the Middle East. She is also one of the worlds leading tourist attractions. People visit there from all over the world. She is the religious center when coming to Christianity in that part of the world. Most of the people in that part of the world are not Protestant, but are Catholic by faith.

She will ride the back of the nations of the Antichrist trying to assure her position in world power. The leadership will come out of the religion that comes out of her. The pope will declare the Antichrist to be God. He will be the false prophet at that time. There are only two basic religions in that part of the world. They are the Muslim and Christian beliefs. The Christian belief in that part of the world is a majority of Catholics.

This is the Iron and the Clay in the man’s feet from the book of Daniel. The Iron is the religion that came out of the two legs of the Roman Empire; the clay is the Muslim religion. This is the main reason the two do not mix well. They will work together for a period of time under the leadership of the Antichrist.

The Muslim religion will destroy the city of Rome at the end and kill the Catholics who are living in that part of the world. God has put it in their hearts to fulfill his will. I am glad that the Catholics in America are independent in their thinking. They will never submit to this kind of atrocity.

Please don't misunderstand, I am not putting down the Catholics. I know many Catholics who are good Christian people. But during that time many will be deceived into following a Pope that will lead them into following the anti-Christ. This again is why God gives this warning in Revelation the 18^th Chapter. I am sure that there will be a great deal of God loving Catholics who will recognize the situation and give their lives for Jesus keeping the faith.

One of the things to consider is the beast the Harlot is riding. Think with me on this for just a moment. The beast that she is riding would positively have to be the same beast that comes out of the sea in Revelations the 13^th chapter. The only difference is the appearance, in Revelation the 17^th chapter she has a blood red body and that is because by that time they have killed and will kill thousands of innocent people. Revelation the 13^th chapter reveals seven of the nations that she will be riding for sure. All seven were identified in the book of Daniel the 7^th chapter. The lion with the two wings was Babylon, or modern day Iraq. This identifying mark was on the beast in Revelation 13^th chapter as the mouth on the beast. The feet of the beast were that of a bear. Daniel identified the Bear in Daniel as the Medes and Persians, which is modern day Iran. The body of the beast was described as a leopard. Daniel identified this leopard as being the four nations under Alexander the Great that we call the Grecian Empire, which consisted of Syria, Egypt, Macedonia and Thrace. In Rev.13: 1 we see them having ten horns because these countries were to eventually become ten nations with ten leaders. God told us who they were in Daniel so that we would recognize them when they were to come into power. The only other player that we do not see in Rev. 13 by description on the beast is Rome. But, Daniel described this beast has having ten horns and also having teeth of Iron.

God gave us a description of this before in the body of the man that Nebuchadnezzar saw in Daniel. The man with the head of gold, the arms and chest of silver, the stomach was made of brass and the legs were made of iron. The legs then went down and became ten toes made of iron and clay. All of these nations were the same nations that we see in Daniel the seventh chapter. God simply retold in a vision to give us a new insight into the matter, much in the same way that Revelation is written including the four Gospels that were written telling the same story, with four different views in mind. The ten toes are the same as the ten horns in Daniel the 7^th chapter. At the conclusion of these nations we see a rock cut from a mountain that rolls down the side of the mountain and completely destroys the whole image, not just the feet with the ten toes, but the whole image. The reason being is that the body of the man is the whole embodiment of the anti-Christ nations the same as the body of the beast in Revelation the 13^th chapter. These countries today are all Muslim countries. They all hate Israel and they hate the United States in one accord. They have vowed to destroy Israel and the United States as well.

It would be very hard for me to believe that these Muslim countries and the United States would ever be allied together to team up together to destroy all Christians and Jews. We might be stupid enough to join them, but they would never agree with us to serve together with them on the same team.

Think with me again:
The Antichrist will cut off heads. Do the Muslims use this as a method to kill their enemies?
We are both looking for a messiah to come. In America we are looking for Jesus, the Muslims are looking for the Madhi to come out of the desert and lead them in a Jihad against Israel, America and the Western world. Almost all of Europe is living under the fear of a Muslim take over. Their nations are full of Muslim people, even in England there is this same fear.

There are so many people so quick to condemn and make a monster of our nation. Our sins are many for sure, but we have and still have many Christians in this country that love God. Even with all the rich Christian background America has never truly been the Christian nation people would like to think. Our Christian ancestry was so bigoted and racially prejudiced it is unbelievable. God has been very merciful to us. Praise his Holy name. By the time of the return of Christ America will be a true Christian nation in every sense of the word. God is going to cause this nation to repent before the return of Jesus.

For a study in detail on the truth that is happening right now in our world concerning the anti-Christ nations read at the following link: "http://www.americaisraelprophecy.com/comparingislam-beast.html"

Your brother in Christ
Tommie Spurgeon