Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Endurance for the Holy Ones

 Now the third angel speaks. Listen! And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: "If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehe3ad or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted in the cup of his wrath.' " - (Revelation 14:9, 10a) At Revelation 13:16, 17, It was revealed that during the Lord's day those who do not worship the image of the wild beast would suffer-even to be killed. Now we learn that Jehovah has determined to judgment those "having the mark of the name of the wild beast or the number of its name." They will be forced to drink a bitter 'cup of wrath' of Jehovah's anger. What will this mean for them? In 607 B.C.E., when Jehovah forced Jerusalem to drink his "cup of rage," the city experienced "despoiling and breakdown, and hunger and sword" at the hands of the Babylonians. (Isaiah 51:17, 19) Similarly, when idolizers of earth's political powers and their image, the United Nations got to drink the cup of Jehovah's wrath, the result will be calamity for them. (Jeremiah 25:17, 32, 33) They will be utterly destroyed.

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" -Endurance for the Holy Ones -Continue

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - The Wheat and the Weeds - Conclusion

 In our century the cry that Babylon the Great has fallen has also been heard! Babylonish Christendom's temporary success in 1918 was sharply reversed in 1919 when the remnant of anointed ones of the John class, was restored by a spiritual resurrection. Babylon the Great had fallen as far as having any captive hold on God's people was concerned. Like locusts, Christ's anointed brothers swarmed out of the abyss, ready for action. (Revelation9:1-3; 11:11, 12) They were the modern" faithful and discreet slave," and the Master appointed them over all his belongings on earth. (Matthew2:45-47) Their used in this way proved that Jehovah had utterly rejected Christendom despite her claim to be his representative on earth. Pure worship was reestablished, and the way was open complete the work of sealing the remnant of the 144,000-the remaining ones of the seed of the woman, the age-old enemy of Babylon the Great. All of this signaled a crushing defeat for that satanic religious organization. 

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Endurance for the Holy Ones

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - The Wheat and the Weeds - Continue

 In the 1870's anointed Christians began to make determined efforts to disassociate themselves from the whorish ways of Babylon the Great. They abandoned false doctrines that Christendom had brought in from paganism and boldly used the Bible in preaching that the times of the Gentiles would end in 1914. The chief instrument of Babylon the Great, the clergy of Christendom, opposed these stirrings of restoration of true worship. During the first world war, they took advantage of wartime hysteria to try to stamp out that small group of faithful Christians. In 1918, when their activities were almost completely suppressed, it appeared that Babylon the Great succeeded. She seemed to have triumphed over them. 

As we previously noted, the proud city of Babylon experienced a disastrous fall from power in 539 C.E. Then the cry was heard: "She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen!" The great seat of the world empire had fallen to the armies of Medo-Persia under Cyrus the Great. Although the city itself survived the conquest, her fall from power was real, and it resulted in the release of her Jewish captives. They returned to Jerusalem to reestablish pure worship there. - ISAIAH 2:19; 2 CORINTHIANS 36:22, 23; JEREMIAH 51:7, 8. 

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - The Wheat and the Weeds - Conclusion

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - The Wheat and the Weeds

 In his parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus spoke of a man who sowed fine seed in a field. But "while men were sleeping." an enemy came and oversowed weeds. Hence, the wheat came up top obscured by weeds. Jesus explained his parable in these words: "The sower  of the fine seed is the Son of man, the field is the world, as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil." He then showed that the wheat and the weeds would be allowed to grow together until "the conclusion of the system of things," when the angels would "collect out" the symbolic weeds. -MATTHEW 13:24-30, 36-43.

What Jesus and the apostle Paul and Peter warned about happened. "While men were sleeping," either after the apostle fell asleep in death or when Christian overseers became drowsy in guarding the flock of God. Babylonish apostasy sprouted right inside the congregation. (Acts 20:31) Soon the weeds greatly outnumbered the wheat and hid it from view. For a number of centuries, it might have appeared that the seed of the woman had been engulfed by the voluminous skits of Babylon the Great. 

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Babylon's Disgraceful Fall - Conclusion

 Since Babylon the Great is the religious part of Satan's Seed, she has always made Jehovah's woman," "Jerusalem above," her main target. In the first century the congregation of anointed Christians was clearly identified as the woman's seed. (Genesis 3:15; Galatians3:29; 4:26) Babylon the Great tried hard to conquer that chaste congregation by seducing it into committing religious fornication. The apostle Paul and Peter warned that many would succumb and a great apostasy would result. (Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Peter 2:1-3) Jesus' messages to the seven congregations indicated that toward the end of John's life, Babylon the Great was making some progress in her efforts to corrupt. (Revelation 2:6, 14, 15, 20-23) But Jesus had already show how far she would be permitted to go. 

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Babylon's Disgraceful Fall - Continue

 Babylon the Great has also made conquests, but for the most part, these have been more subtle. She has "made all the nations drink? by using the wiles of a prostitute, committing religious fornication with them. She has enticed political rulers into alliances and friendships with her. Through religious allurements, she has schemed political, commercial, and economic oppression. She fomented religious persecution and religious wars and crusades, as well as national wars, for purely political and commercial reasons. And she has sanctified these wars by saying they are God's will.

Religions involvement in the wars, and political politics of this 20th century is common knowledge-as in Shinto, Japan, Hindu, India, Buddhist, Vietnam, "Christian" Northern Ireland, and Latin America, as well as others-not to overlook the army chaplains' part on both sides of the two world wars in urging young men to slaughter on another. A classic example of the philandering of Babylon the Great is the share she had in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, in which at least 600,000 people were killed. This bloodspilling was provided by supporters of the Catholic clergy and their allies, in part because of the wealth and position of the church was threatened by Spain's legal government.

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" -Babylon's Disgraceful Fall - Conclusion

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Babylon's Disgraceful Fall

 Let us examine in more detail the circumstances surrounding the disgraceful fall of Babylon the Great . . . made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication." What does this mean? It relates to conquest. For example, Jehovah told Jeremiah: "Take this cup of the wine of rage out of my hand, and you must make all the nations to whom I am sending you to drink it. And they must drink and shake back and forth and act like crazed men because of the sword I am sending among them." (Jeremiah 25:15, 16) In the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.E., Jehovah used ancient Babylon to pour out a symbolic cup of tribulation for many nations to drink, including apostate Judah, so that even his own people were taken into exile. Then, in her turn, Babylon fell because her king exalted himself against Jehovah, "the Lord of the heavens. - DANIEL 5:23. 

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!!" -Babylon's Disgraceful Fall - Conclusion

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!"

 It was at Babylon, more than 4,000 years ago, that Jehovah confused the tongues of the would-be builders of the Tower of Babel. The different language groups were scattered to the ends of the earth, taking with them the apostate beliefs and practices that are the basis of most religions to this day. (Genesis 11:1-9) Babylon the Great is the religious part of Satan's organization. (Compare John 8:43-47.) Her most prominent segment today is apostate Christendom, which emerged as a powerful, lawless organization in the fourth century after Christ, with creeds and formalisms derived, not from the Bible, but largely from Babylonish religion. - 2 THESSALONIANS  2:3-12.

You may ask, 'Since religion still exercises great influence in the earth, why does the angel announce that Babylon the Great has fallen? Well, what resulted in 539 B.C.E. when ancient Babylon fell? Why, Isarael was freed to return to its homeland and restore true worship there! So the restoration of spiritual Israel in 1919 to a radiant spiritual prosperity, which continues and expands to this day, stands as evidence that Babylon the Great fell in that year. No longer does she have power of restraint over God's people. Moreover, she has come into deep trouble within her own ranks. Since 1919 her corruption, dishonesty, and immorality have been widely exposed. In most Europe, fee people go to church anymore, and in many socialistic countries, religion is regarded as "the opium of the people." Disgraced in the eyes of all lovers of God's Word of truth, Babylon the Great now waits on death row, as it were, for the execution of Jehovah's righteous judgment on her. 

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Babylon's Disgraceful Fall

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Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!"

 It is the hour of God's judgment! Listen! then, to this divine message: "And another, a second angel, followed, saying: 'She has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication!' " (Revelation 14:8) For the first time, but not the last, Revelation focuses attention on Babylon the Great. Later, chapter 17 will describe here as a voluptuous harlot. Who is she? As we shall see, she is a global empire, she is religious, and she is Satan's counterfeit system that he uses in fighting against the seed of God's woman. (Revelation 12:17) Babylon the Great is the entire world empire of false religion. She includes all religions that preserve the religious teachings and practices of ancient Babylon and that manifest her spirit.  

Next time: Chapter Thirty/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" - Continue

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Chapter Twenty-Nine/Singing the Triumphal New Song - Declaring Everlasting Good News - Conclusion

 Every is urged to fear, not the wild beast and its image, but Jehovah, who is incomparably more powerful than any symbolic beast controlled by Satan. Why, Jehovah created heaven and earth, and now the time has come for him to judge the earth! (Compare Genesis 1:1; Revelation 11:18) When on earth, Jesus prophesied concerning our day: "And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) The congregation of anointed Christians is fulfilling the commission. (1 Corinthians 9:16; Ephesians 6:15) Revelation here reveals that invisible angels are also involved in this preaching work. How often does angelic  guidance has been apparent in bringing one of Jehovah's Witnesses to a home where some distressed soul was yearning, even praying, for spiritual help!

As the angel flying in midheaven has declared, the hour of for judgment has arrived. What judgment will God now render? Ears will tingle at the announcements not to be made by a second, a third, and a fourth, and a fifth angel. - JEREMIAH 19:3. 

Next time: Chapter Thiry/"Babylon the Great Has Fallen!" 

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