The Eagle and Babylon; politics and greed

by Endtime Survivors
(Africa)

I agree that the account of Babylon from Rev 17 and 18 is describing America. Concerning the destruction of America, there is an overlap between references to the various Beasts in Daniel/Revelation and Babylon.

There are 5 permanent members of the UN security counsel. Each of these countries also use an animal to represent themselves as a nation. They are the U.S. (eagle), U.K (lion), France (fowl), Russia (bear), and China (dragon). All these animals are found in the descriptions of the various end time beasts, though this does not account for the leopard (the body of the beast). However...

There are also 10 rotating members on the UN security counsel. These are usually 2nd and 3rd world countries which rotate in and out. I believe these countries represent the leopard, since a leopard isn't just one kind of animal; it's a classification which can refer to several different kinds of leopards like the spotted leopard, panther etc...

Assuming my theory about the leopard is accurate, all the animals mentioned in prophecy are currently in use by major world powers today.

If America is destroyed then the UK and France would be powerless to stop a Russia/China take-over of the UN, especially when they are aided by the 10 rotating members.

In Daniel 7:4, Daniel describes various beasts pertaining to the end time. He describes a lion with eagle's wings and says the wings were "plucked" and the lion was given the heart of a man (i.e. no longer a beast or world power).

In verse 5 he describes a bear with three ribs between its teeth. The bear is told to devour much flesh.

In verse 8 he describes a "little horn" who "plucks up" three other horns, thereby taking control. The fowl (France) appears to be little more than an appendage on the leopard's back.

All these verses are consistent with the eagle (America) being plucked up, and in so doing neutralizing both the UK and the fowl (i.e. three horns plucked up and three ribs between the bear's teeth).

This is further supported by the absence of the eagle's wings (while the other significant animals remain) in the description of the Beast from Revelation 13.

In Revelation 17, when Babylon is destroyed, the "10 kings" are instrumental in making that happen and they then give their power over to the Beast.

Revelation 13:2 and 4 describes the dragon giving its power to the Beast. I believe this has a dual meaning in that the dragon is Satan helping to empower the final world government/leader, but also that it refers to China lending it's support to this government/leader.

The UN will still be around as a governing body. It will almost certainly be the vehicle through which the Anti-Christ rules the world with massive changes to its structure to accommodate and exert its new-found power.

This theory is also bolstered by the 3.5 years of "plastic peace" before the great tribulation (1 Thessalonians 5:3). After such terrible destruction the world will have a strong desire to unite in peace, almost certainly leading to peace in the Middle East with a fresh push to rebuild the Jewish temple. Such a feat would certainly boost the AC's popularity and it is consistent with the "70 weeks" prophecy from Daniel 9 where a "prince" makes an agreement with "many" for "one week" (i.e. 7 years) and then in the middle of the week (3.5 years later) reneges on his part of the deal and profanes the temple in some shocking way (i.e. the great tribulation against the temple of God, which is now the people (Revelation 11:2)).

As for the connection between Babylon and America, the strongest support in my view is materialism. Greed and materialism was a strong theme in Jesus' teachings and as the angel said to John in chapter 19, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Like a prostitute, America talks of love, but all she really cares about is money. Greed is not limited to America but certainly America has been instrumental in elevating the depth, reach, quantity and saturation of greed to sickening proportions and that's exactly what I see in Revelation 18.

As for its destruction, the idea of terrorist cells operating from the inside is an interesting scenario, but I just can't see that it would work practically. With Russia, China, and 10 other as yet unknown countries (at least some of them are bound to have a nuclear arsenal) there would be thousands of missiles available for America, and many of those missiles will be equipped with multiple warheads.

Jeremiah describes "swarms" coming "from the north" (under the big dipper constellation which is also known as "ursa" or "bear").

Compared to thousands of "nuclear suit-case bombs", the missiles from an alliance of countries with legitimate military power acting in unison to overwhelm America is far more believable. It's still not clear to me how America will be destroyed before they can launch their own counter strike, but it's quite possible that if the attack is coming from several countries at once, they will not know who to attack and whoever is in command will panic.

Another possibility is that their ability to counter-strike will be disabled. Perhaps your theory about a terrorist attack will come into play, but on a much smaller scale in D.C. before the larger attack comes.

Reply from Watchman Bob

This is an interesting and somewhat plausible scenario. I would just add a couple of modifications:

1) According to Revelation 13 and 17, the ultimate kingdom of the anti-messiah will be global, indicating that the ten "kings" of Revelation 17 will be ten satanically-empowered spiritual beings like the Prince of Persia or the Prince of Greece (Daniel 10:20), or perhaps Nephilim, each of whom rule over an area of the world which has been divided into ten administrative sections.

2) The Bible seems to indicate that America-Babylon will be destroyed in three stages: a) from within and without by an invasion from the Middle East, albeit perhaps assisted by forces from other nations like Russia and/or China (Jeremiah 51:1-4, 14, 27-28), b) complete annihilation of all natural life in America-Babylon by fire from Heaven, just as happened to Sodom and Gomorrah (Isaiah 13:19; Jeremiah 50:40; Revelation 17:16; 18:9-10), c) total physical obliteration of Babylon the Great and probably most of North America, sinking her beneath the waves of the sea (Revelation 18:21).