Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - An Appalling Bloodguilt - Conclusion

 What is the second way? From Jehovah's viewpoint the world's religions are bloodguilty because they have not convincingly taught their followers the truth of Jehovah's requirements for his servants. They have not convincingly taught people that God's true worshipers must imitate Jesus Christ and show love toward others regardless of their national origin. (Micah 4:3, 5; John 13:34, 35; Acts 10:34, 35; 1 John 3:10-12) Because the religions making up Babylon the Great have not taught these things, their adherents have drawn into the vortex of international warfare. How evident this was in the two world wars of the first half of this century, both of which started in Christendom and resulted in fellow religionists' slaughtering one another! if all who claimed to be Christians had adhered to Bible principles, those wars could never have taken place. 

Jehovah lays blame for all this bloodshed at the feet of Babylon the Great. Had the religious leaders, and particularly those in Christendom, taught their people Bible truth, such massive bloodshed would not have occurred. Truly, then, directly or indirectly, Babylon the Great-the great harlot and world empire of false religion -must answer to Jehovah not only for "the blood of prophets and of holy ones" whom she has persecuted and killed but for the blood "of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth." Babylon the Great does indeed carry an appalling bloodguilt. Good riddance when her final destruction takes place!

Next time: Chapter Thirty-Eight/Praise Jah For His Judgments!

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - An Appalling Bloodguilt - Continue

 However, the prophecy says that the blood of "all those who have been slaughtered on the earth" must be charged to Babylon the Great. That has certainly been true in modern times. For example, since Catholic intrigue helped to bring Hitler to power in Germany, the Vatican shares in a terrible bloodguilt with regard to the six million Jews that died in Nazi pogroms. Further, in this 20th century alone, well over a hundred million people have been killed in hundreds of wars. Is false religion to blame in this connection? Yes, in two ways.

One way is that many wars are related to religious differences. For example, the violence in India between Muslims and Hindus in 1946-48 was religiously motivated. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost. The conflict between Iraq and Iran in the 1980s is related to sectarian differences, with hundreds of thousands being killed. Violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland has taken thousands of lives. The continuing violence in Lebanon is religiously based. Surveying this field, columnist C.L. Sulzberger said in 1976: "It is a dismal truth that probably half or more of the wars now being fought around the world are either openly religious conflicts or involved with religious disputes." Indeed, it has been so throughout the turbulent history of Babylon the Great.

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - An Appalling Bloodguilt

 In conclusion, the strong angel tells why Jehovah judges Babylon the Great so severely. "Yes, says the angel, "in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth." (Revelation 18:24) When on earth, Jesus told the religious leaders in Jerusalem that they were accountable for "all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel" onward. Accordingly, that crooked generation was destroyed in 70 C.E. (Matthew 23:35-38) Today, another generation of religionists bears bloodguilt for its persecution of God's servants.

In his book The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, Guenter Lewy writes: "When Jehovah's Witnesses were suppressed in Bavaria on April 13 [1933] the Church even accepted the assignment given it by the Ministry of Education and Religion of reporting on any member of the sect still practicing the forbidden."  The Catholic Church thus shares a responsibility for consigning thousands of Witnesses to concentration camps; its hands are stained by the lifeblood of hundreds of Witnesses who were executed. When young Witnesses, such a Wilhelm Kusserow, showed that they could die courageously by a firing squad. Hitler decided that the firing squad was too good for conscientious objectors; so Wilhelm's brother Wolfgang, at 20 years of age, died by a guillotine. At the same time, the Catholic Church as encouraging young Catholics to die in the army of the fatherland. The bloodguilt of the church is plain to see!

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End -Hurling a Great Millstone - Conclusion

 In comparable terms, Jeremiah prophesied concerning apostate Jerusalem: "I will destroy out of them the sound exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of the lamp. And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment." (Jeremiah 25:10, 11) As the principal part of Babylon the Great, Christendom will become a lifeless ruin, as so vividly depicted by Jerusalem's desolate condition after 607 B.C.E. The Christendom that once rejoiced lightheartedly and bustle with everyday noise will fin herself conquered and abandoned. 

Indeed, as the angel here tells John, all of Babylon the Great will change from a powerful, international empire to an arid desertlike wasteland. Her "traveling merchants," including top-ranking millionaires, have used her religion for personal advantage or as cover-up, and a clergy have found it profitable to share the limelight with them. But those merchants will no longer have Babylon the Great as their accomplice. No more will she be hoodwinking the nations of the earth with mystic religious practices. 

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Hurling a Great Millstone - Continue

 The throwing of the book with the attached stone into the river was a guarantee that Babylon would plunge into oblivion, never to recover. The apostle John's seeing a strong angel perform a similar act is likewise a powerful guarantee that Jehovah's purpose toward Babylon the Great will be fulfilled. The completely ruined condition of ancient Babylon today testifies powerfully to what will befall false religion in the near future.  

The strong angel now addresses Babylon the Great saying: "And the sound of singers who accompany themselves on the harp and of musicians and of flutists and of trumpeters will never be found in you again, and no sound of a millstone will ever be heard in you again, and no light of lamp will ever shine in you again; because your traveling merchants were the top-ranking men of the earth, for your spiritistic practice all the nations were misled." - REVELATION 18:22, 23. 

Next time: Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End -Hurling a Great Millstone - Conclusion

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Hurling a Great Millstone

 What John next sees confirms that Jehovah's judgment of Babylon the Great is final: "And a strong angel lifted up a stone like a great millstone and hurled it into the sea, saying: 'Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the Gret city be hurled down, and she will never be found again.' " (Revelation 18:21) In Jeremiah's time, a similar act with powerful prophetic meaning was performed. Jeremiah was inspired to write in a book "all the calamity that would come upon Babylon. "He gave the book to Seraiah and told him to travel to Babylon.  There, following Jeremiah's instructions, Seraiah read a declaration against the city: "O Jehovah, you yourself have spoken against this place, in order to cut it off so that there may come to be in it no inhabitant, either man or even domestic animal, but that she may become mere desolate waste to time indefinite." Seraiah then tied a stone to the book and threw it in the rive Euphrates, saying: "This is how Babylon will sink down and never rise up because of the calamity that I am bringing in upon her." - JEREMIAH 51:59-64.

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Rejoicing Over Her Annihilation

 When ancient Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and the Persians, Jeremiah prophetically said: ""And over Babylon the heavens and the earth cry out joyfully." (Jeremiah 51:48) When Babylon the Great is destroyed, the voice out of heaven climaxes its message, saying of Babylon the Great: "Be glad over her, O heaven, also you holy ones and you apostles and you prophets, because God has judicially exacted punishment for You from her!" (Revelation18:20) Jehovah and the angels will be delighted to see the annihilation of God's ancient enemy, as well as the apostles and early Christian prophets, who by now are resurrected and have taken their position in the 24-elders arrangement. - Compare PSALM 97:8-12.

Indeed, all the "holy ones"-whether resurrected to heaven or still surviving on earth-will cry out for joy, as will the associated big crowd of other sheep. In time, all the faithful men of old will be resurrected into the new system of things, and they too will join in the rejoicing. God's people have not tried to avenge themselves on their religious persecutors. They have remembered Jehovah's words: "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah." (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35, 41-43) Well, Jehovah has now repaid. All the blood spilled by Babylon the Great will have been avenged. 

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End -Merchants Weep and Mourn - Conclusion

 The account goes on: "And every ship captain and every man that voyages anywhere, and sailors and all those making a living by the sea, stood at a distance and cried out as they looked at the smoke from the burning of her and said, 'What city is like the great city?' And they threw dust upon their heads and cried out weeping and mourning, and said, 'Too bad, too bad-the great city, in which all those having boats at sea became rich by reason of her costliness, because in one hour she has been devastated!'" -  REVELATION 18:17b-19) Ancient Babylon was a commercial city and had a great fleet of ships. Similarly, Babylon the Great does much business by the "many waters" of her people. This provides employment for many of her religious subjects. What an economic blow the destruction of Babylon the Great will be for these! There will never be another source of livelihood like her. 

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Merchants Weep and Mourn -Continue

 The voice out of heaven says further: "The traveling merchants of these things, who became rich from her, and will stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and will weep and mourn, saying, 'Too bad, too bad-the great city, clothed with fine linen and purple and scarlet, and richly adorned with gold ornament and precious stone and pearl, because in one hour such great riches have been devastated!' " (Revelation 18:15-17) With the destruction of Babylon the Great the "merchants" mourn at the loss of that commercial partner. Truly. it is "too bad, too bad for them. Notice, though, that their reasons for morning are entirely selfish and that they-like the kings-"stand at a distance." They do not get close enough to be of any help to Babylon the Great. 

Next time:  Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Merchants Weep and Mourn - Conclusion 

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Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End -Merchants Weep and Mourn - Continue

 Yes, Babylon the Great was a close friend and a good customer of wealthy merchants. For example, the monasteries, nunneries, and churches in Christendom have over the centuries acquired huge amounts of gold, silver precious stones, valuable woods and other forms of material wealth. Further, religion's blessing has been bestowed on the lavish buying sprees and drunken orgies that accompany the celebration of Christ-dishonoring Christmas and other so-called holy days. Christendom missionaries have penetrated distant lands opening up new markets for the "traveling merchants" of this world. In the 17th century Japan, Catholicism, which had come with the traders, even became involved in feudal warfare. Reporting on a decisive battle under the wall of Osaka castle, The Encyclopedia Britannica states: "The Tokugawa troops found themselves fight against foe whose banners were emblazoned with the cross and with images of the Saviour and St. James the patron saint of Spain." The victorious fiction persecuted and practically wiped-out Catholicism in that land. The churches participation in worldly affairs today will likewise bring her no blessing.  

Next time: Chapter Thirty-Seven/Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon's End - Merchants Weep and Mourn - Continue

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