What is "Mystery Babylon" ?

Many people believe that Mystery Babylon is the false religion that will come during the tribulation that is based in the Revived Roman Empire.

America couldn't be Babylon. That'd make no sense at all, especially once you take all the prophecies about the world empires and put them together--the final world empire is like the one that came before it, which is Rome. And, as a previous poster said, the next chapter kinda clears things up a little. America doesn't fit the mold of the nature of the woman and the scarlet beast anyway.

An interesting thing that I've been looking into lately is the role of a literal Babylon in the end times. They've been gearing up to rebuild Babylon for a while now in Iraq. So, perhaps, Babylon could literally be Babylon and not symbolic of something. I guess only time will tell though.

reply to post by miriam0566


I don't think that the harlot could be all false religion. Rather, it will be the false religion--Antichrist worship. That one's REALLY going to tick God off.

in Rev 17, it states

5) This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.
6) I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

'Mystery' means hidden
'Babylon' was the old worlds 1st act of 'Globalization' & was destroyed @ Babel
'Mother of Prostitutes'...the prostitute sells favors to the willing/desirous

put it all together and one gets a different conclusion than what i've read in the thread so far.
verse 6) the meaning is not exclusive to Only the blood of saints, or the Christian believers/followers,(although one can interpet the verse that way)... verse 6) correctly means all mortals of whatever ideology or persuasion getting corrupted morally by the act of themselves 'selling' their character/soul... for profit/riches/pleasures/land/secret bank accounts/government bailouts at 10s of billion$..etc etc.

the 7 head beast represents the 7 fundamental government systems of humankind,
the latest one being the perversion of the western world democratic-capitalism which turned into corrupted Predatory-Capitalism
leaning toward a future of nationalism or fascism or socialism or even
a oligarchy of demigods...but definitely not a monarchy or a dictatorship

Originally posted by octotom
They've been gearing up to rebuild Babylon for a while now in Iraq. So, perhaps, Babylon could literally be Babylon and not symbolic of something. I guess only time will tell though.

they have been trying to do that for a very long time through several attempts and all have failed.

not surprising since the bible prophesied that it would never be rebuilt.

Originally posted by octotom
reply to post by miriam0566

 

I don't think that the harlot could be all false religion. Rather, it will be the false religion--Antichrist worship. That one's REALLY going to tick God off.

wouldnt work.

the harlot actions are described in past tense. she ¨committed¨ fornication with the kings of the world. she is drunk on the blood of the righteous. she has misled the world with her spiritism.

these are all things that happen over time. likely the harlot is false religion in general because those are the things that false worship has done fromt he start.

besides, false worship is antichrist worship.

1 john 2: [18] Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. [22] Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

Originally posted by Eleleth

There is is an early Christian (and not, strictly speaking, "Gnostic") text, Exegesis on the Soul, that portrays the soul as being a "prostitute" in the world--until "the womb of the soul, by the will of the father, turns itself inward, it is baptized and is immediately cleansed of the external pollution which was pressed upon it...."

[edit on 26-2-2009 by Eleleth]

Exactly... the "external pollution" being the body. It is my opinion that almost all esoteric literature – including the bible, especially the book of revelations – deals with the journey of the spirit or soul while present in the world of matter and attempts to outline the means and methods whereby this spirit or soul can be “awakened” or “freed”. I wish more people understood this esoterically, then perhaps we could dispense with all the apocalyptic doom and gloom of looking for real world enemies.

An esoteric take on the Mystery of Babylon the Great...

...Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:

Esoterically, water symbolizes matter, the great mother, or more specifically the soul entombed in matter.

“Water is the symbol of matter, as matter in the cosmos and water on the earth are the common universal mothers of life. And matter contains the latent atomic fire which creates all.” – AB Kuhn, The Esoteric Structure of the Alphabet

With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

The kings of the earth referenced are not literal kings. In esoteric symbolism, “kings” and “kingship” are used to represent higher spirit or divinity (god), and “of the earth” simply implies incarnated. So “kings of the earth”, rather than literal kings and earthly rulers, symbolizes divinity or higher spirit incarnate in the flesh. These kings committed fornication by becoming enamored of the phenomenal world and taking on flesh; that these “inhabitants of the earth” “have been made drunk” symbolizes that they (we) forgot the truest essence of themselves: they were divine in nature.

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.

John carried “into the wilderness” denotes, again, the journey of the spirit in the world of matter.

The woman sitting on a scarlet beast indicates the soul or divine spark. Her sitting upon a beast is indicative of the soul “riding” the animal nature (in the Vodou religion, spirit possession is called “riding the horse”) while housed within a mortal form as she strives to conquer and overcome it. The beast being scarlet in color reinforces that idea, as red symbolizes the blood of mortal life. The seven heads and ten horns of the beast link it to the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, with its seven levels of ten sephiroth.

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:

The woman was arrayed in purple and red, that is, the colors of royalty and life, symbolic of the crown and root chakras or the sephiroth of Kether (The Crown) and Malkuth (The Kingdom). She is decked in gold – symbolic of kingship and thus divinity or god – and precious stones, specifically pearls which are symbolic of wisdom. So she is decked in divine wisdom, while also carrying the “filth” of her “fornication”, that is, the corruption of spirit when it “fornicates” in matter.

And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

The forehead is well known as the symbolic location of the “third eye”. The name beginning MYSTERY symbolizes revealed wisdom, probably to initiates (I really, really think Revelations is an initiatic text), perhaps in the form of a visionary experience resulting from, er... stimulation of the pineal gland.

That she is "Mother of Harlots and Abominations..." links her to Sophia Achamoth, the fallen and corrupted aspect of Sophia who, after her fall, became a prostitute (mother of harlots) and, as a result of her fall, created the abominable demiurge (mother of abominations of the earth), who in gnostic theology is said to be the creator of the material world...

And yes, to quote Eleleth, Babylon is the Mystery. I would go so far as to say that we are Babylon, but I think some might get rankled by that idea. Whoever she is, I seriously doubt she is a Pope or a country or an empire or a church, or any other external entity. But, that's the easier, more exciting interpretation, I guess...

I believe Mystery,Babylon was started when Nimrod rebelled against God and brought all the people together to build the first city and the Tower of Babel. - Genesis 10:8-10

In other words Nimrod created the first One World Government. It is this system of government that I believe is Mystery, Babylon. ie; NWO

There is no way to be sure this is just my opinion.

All good points. I think you all should check out my old thread about "thief in the night and the woman riding the scarlet beast". Go to my profile to find it and revive the conversation.

It seems I am a few years late to this party . . .

The first page sums up much of what I have found Eleleth and miriam0566 know very well what they are talking about.

Well I really wish I had a time machine now.

-FBB

Check out this site, www.mystery-babylon.org, has alot of info on this subject
Too many if's and but's for my liking, but then again whose to say its wrong

Mystery Babylon is not an organizational entity like the Illuminati or NWO or the central banks or RCC or.or.or......The book of Revelation is written in symbols (metaphors)and signs(numbers) and none of it is predictive or prophetic of historical events.

Mystery Babylon is ALL religion..belief systems..and all is religion.The only thing that isn't is that which is known..such as empirical science(math being preeminent)..

The book of revelation can't be deciphered because there is nothing to decipher.It is a proclamation written in metaphors and signs of what the 1st verse of chapter 1says

The revelation(apocalypse which means unveiling or uncovering)
of Jesus(the modified Latin transliteration from The Greek translation of the Hebrew name Yahoshua..which means Yahweh is salvation)
Christ( Greek translation of hamashiach..which means anointing....which was symbolic to rub oil on a king or empowered one. ...it basically means the active power of God)

All together

The unveiling of the salvation of God the power of God.

It is the proclamation of the salvation(deliverance) of ALL mankind from the valley of the shadow of death...the physical realm we live in.It is not esoteric mysticism nor prophetic historical events.It is not a code book of prophecy of the end of the world to be deciphered...it is as it states.The testimony(witness) of Yahoshua(Gods salvation) IS the spirit of prophecy.It clearly says those that hear(discern..perceive) the words written in it will be blessed.It does not say those who try to decipher it.It also says it is ill advised to add or diminish from it.

At its core of what the OP is about is......Mankind is the beast.The Whore of Babylon(which is the confusion/corruption of words) is all religion belief systems.Religion is what corrupts man and leads to all other corruptions.At the core of this corruption is mankind believes(mostly blindly and unknowingly) they are God..the master of their own reality and destiny ..because they believe they have free will.That is the common core thread of all belief systems scared or secular.

The fact is man does not have a will that is free of causation.Man makes a multitude of choices yet none of them are free of causation.God is the original cause of all things.The whore of religion seduces mankind into believing their own lies.That they are free moral agents able to act as they will...that they can be one with the creator yet seperate.That is the great untruth.The war called Armageddon is not a war between good and evil, God and Satan...but a war between mans ears in their carnal religious mind.

It's a war that everyone must fight and lose.Only then can they enter the Kingdom God in their midst.The book of revelation is not a handbook on how to do that.There is nothing anyone can do... it is all being done through the process of salvation.The book of revelation is only proclaiming what was, is and will come.

The book of revelation is the bookend of the scriptures which is the most misinterpreted books ever written because of the wide influence it has had on all cultural directly or indirectly.Revelations aptly summarizes it's effect....Armageddon the war to end all wars that leads to the beginning of life.The book of Revelation is not gloom doom and destruction.It is the proclamation of mankind's liberty from the constraints of religion.

As St Udio mentioned above, the pertinent verse is Revelation 17:5.
David Aune in his commentary on Revelation translates it, rather than Mystery Babylon, as "a mysterious name was written".
The 2011 NIV has verse 5 as,

The name written on her forehead was a mystery: babylon the great the mother of prostitutes and of the abominations of the earth.

which seems to go along with Aune's translation.
He goes on to bring up certain things known about Rome, one that the city itself was a deity, or maybe that there was a particular God connected to the city which protected it, but it was not ever allowed for anyone to speak its name, so Rome the city was itself a mystery religion with a deity who's name was the mystery.
So, the writer, rather than naming the god, gives all the clues necessary for a knowledgeable reader to be able to figure out who he meant.
Another thing that I was reading earlier this morning ties into this idea a bit, meaning the idea that this city state religion claimed hegemony over the entire world. Where opposed to this is Jesus' sermon on the mount where "the meek" were to inherit the earth, with of course the meek being representative of the Christians. I was reading this in Jewett's commentary on chapter four of Romans, where Paul is talking about the announcement to Abraham of his descendants inheriting the earth.
Taking those into consideration, you can see these two opposing gods in competition to own the world, one being the god who wants it through a population of the righteous, and the other god being one who wishes to see the world owned by the depraved and sinful, who don't mind killing as many people as deemed necessary to wrest control from whoever had it before their arrival on the scene.

reply to post by Rex282

The war called Armageddon is not a war between good and evil, God and Satan...but a war between mans ears in their carnal religious mind.

There isn't an actual "Battle of Armageddon", like people say a lot, in the Book of Revelation.
I think personally that it represents the boundary of the Roman Empire, that it will not ever extend to the East like they kept trying to do, into the eastern empire that was the remnant from the old Persian Empire. That God would intervene to give whatever support to the eastern kings as was necessary to thwart the Roman's expansionist ambitions.

Mystery Babylon = name on the whores forehead

The whore / Babylon is Jerusalem. Its all there in the Bible but most Christians deny it.

I have written about this in detail in my thread The Bible identifies the whore of Babylon as Jerusalem

Originally posted by jmdewey60
reply to post by Rex282

 

The war called Armageddon is not a war between good and evil, God and Satan...but a war between mans ears in their carnal religious mind.

There isn't an actual "Battle of Armageddon", like people say a lot, in the Book of Revelation.
I think personally that it represents the boundary of the Roman Empire, that it will not ever extend to the East like they kept trying to do, into the eastern empire that was the remnant from the old Persian Empire. That God would intervene to give whatever support to the eastern kings as was necessary to thwart the Roman's expansionist ambitions.

I didn't say Armageddon was a "real" war between humans.Like all of the book of Revelation it is a metaphor for something else.Revelation is about one thing only.The salvation of all mankind by "renewing" of the born anew from above mind.The mind of the anointing in you being formed.The carnal mind is at enmity to God.The renewing is the battle from within that will be won because God will crush it to powder.It is a metaphor for what was,is and will be happening in all mankind however none of it is historical events.

reply to post by Rex282

I didn't say Armageddon was a "real" war between humans.

What I am saying is that there is no battle, whether metaphorical or literal.
There is a gathering for war mentioned, but it seems to be stopped before it happens, by God calling the opposing leaders to account for themselves.