Mystery Babylon

The Bible tells us about the first empire on earth after Noah’s flood.  I propose the area dominated by this original Babylonian Empire (known to scholars as the Uruk Expansion) is vital to our understanding of “mystery Babylon” in Revelation.  Erech=Uruk

And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: why it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:8-10)

Shinar into Sumer

Mesopotamia litterally means “middle river” in Greek, but is extrapolated to mean the land (khora) between two rivers. This land was called Shinar in the Bible from Genesis to the time of the prophets (Isaiah 11:11, Daniel 1:2, Zechariah 5:11). Shinar is a composite word of the Hebrew words for “two” (shenayim) and “river” (nahar); and also implies the “land” (erets). Thus Mesopotamia and Shinar are geographically equivalent. Shinar was derived from the Akkadian (Ancient Hebrew) word Shumeru, but scholars have shortened it to Sumer; exchanging /sh/ for /s/ as in Shemite to Semite. Over time the upper portion became distinct and was called the land of Akkad, while just the southern part retained the title of Sumer.  But neither Uruk’s empire nor “mystery Babylon” are limited to southern Mesopotamia  

Cush of Ur as Gishur/Gasher in Sumerian King Lis

Cush built the city of Ur and was known as Cush of Ur, or Gishur in the Sumerian King List.  Cush also built his capital city of Kish (a derivative of his name) and the biblical city of Erech which is called ancient Uruk by scholars.  I propose Cush gave his son Nimrod a small city to govern (later called Babel) before Nimrod overthrew his father’s kingdom.

Then Kish was defeated and the kingship was taken to Eanna. In E-ana, Mesh-ki-ang-gasher, the son of Utu, became lord and king; he ruled for 5 ges, 2 u, 5 dis years.
Mec-ki-aj-gacer entered the sea and disappeared. Enmerkar, the son of Mec-ki-aj-gacer, the king of Unug, who built Unug, became king; he ruled for 7 ges years. . . . (Sumerian King List)

Mesh-ki-ang-gasher is the “prince of measured earth, Cush of Ur,” who built Ur and Unug (Uruk = Erech in the Bible).  E-Ana was the ziggurat in Uruk which was most likely built by Cush to worship Inanna. Cush of Ur was the first ruler of Kish and reigned there for 100 years. Utu was the sun god (Ra/Re) whom Ham worshipped in Egypt. Cush of Ur then entered the sea and disappeared, and I propose that he sailed back to his kin in Africa in the land of Cush, later called Ethiopia.

In Sumerian en-me-er-kar₂ mean the following: en is a lord (ensi is a city ruler), me is an office of responsibility or the phenomenal area of a diety's power; er is a lament, tears (woeful waters) or a complaint (whereas ur means warrior); and kar means embankment, harbor, or port authority. Most of these words seem appropriate titles for Nimrod. Together Enmerkar, “lord who storms fortresses,” was the epithet of Nimrod, who conquered all of Shinar and beyond.

Nimrod’s Religious Idolatry

Noah and his family worshipped Creator Elohim (Hebrew for God which is often shortened to El).  Nimrod’s first city was even called Bab-El, meaning ‘gate of God’.  But Ham later chose to worship the sun (Utu), and eventually Nimrod called himself Marutuk, derived from amar-Utu ("bull calf of the sun god Utu"),[i] later pronounced Marduk.  Marduk is often pictured with his snake-dragon.  Nimrod’s father, Cush, worshipped Inanna (in Sumerian, but Ishtar in Akkadian).  Marduk’s wife, Sarpanitu (‘shining one’) represented the moon; and together they usurped biblical Elohim as creator of the Earth.  Their new religion required extravagant offerings and sacred prostitution.  So, yes, the first religion of Babylon was a great whore and the mother of prostitution which spread to many nations and languages.

The waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (Rev. 17:15)

Uruk Expansion

During the Uruk Period, millions of bevel-rimmed bowls (BRB's) 

were mass produced likely to feed slave and corvee workers their daily rations of barley, and possibly to pay soldiers their ration of salt.  At Uruk strata IV-VI, BRB's are accompanied by an influx of cylinder seals; some of which depict scenes of the En (lord) presiding over torture, such as tying arms at the elbows behind the back, possibly inflicted on tax delinquents.[ii] These BRB's are found in abundance throughout Iraq (the Sunni “beast of the sea”) and Iran (the Shia “beast of the earth”).

         Uruk is #42, Judeida is #1, Hama(th) is #2

Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL)

. . . I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image . . . (Rev. 20:5)

These Muslims are following the Koran’s instructions.

“When your lord revealed to the angels: I am with you, therefore make firm those who believe. I will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve. Therefore strike off their heads and strike off every fingertip of them.” (Koran 8:12)

“Therefore, when ye meet the Unbelievers (in fight), strike off their heads; at length; then when you have made wide Slaughter among them, carefully tie up the remaining captives: thereafter (is the time for) either generosity or ransom: Until the war lays down its burdens.” (Koran 47:4)

                    Islamic State also controls portions of Yemen and Libya.

The empire of “Mystery Babylon” is the Islamic State.

And on her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus . . . (Revelation 17:5-6)

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[i] Helmer Ringgren, (1974) Religions of The Ancient Near East, Translated by John Sturdy, The Westminster Press, p. 66.

[ii] Mark A. Brandes, Siegelabrollungen aus den Archaischen Bauschichten in Uruk-Warka, Freiburger Altorientalische Studien 3; Wiesbaden, Frank Steiner, 1979, pp. 17-166.

Apostasy and Perdition

"Now we beseech you, brothers, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together to him, That you be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sits in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember you not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?"
(2 Thessalonians 2:1-5)

Christ's second coming and our gathering together to him will not occur until after a "falling away" and the revealing of the "son of perdition". This “man of sin” won't declare himself to be deity until after a "falling away" (646 apostasia); a defection from truth, an apostasy. The word is used one other time in Acts 21:21 to "forsake" Moses. It is akin to 647 apostasion, a separation or divorce. This refers to Christians abandoning their love and faith in Christ (1 Timothy 4:1). Though several denominations have ordained homosexual leaders in recent decades, I think churches who recently removed their crosses and embraced Chrislam have fulfilled “falling away”, since they have accepted a false god, Allah, as being equal to Yahweh who gave us His Son Yeshua. Allah has no son. Islam denies the Father and the Son, and is antichirst (I John 2:22-23). Paul is very clear that “the son of perdition” is revealed after the “falling away” and before “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
One of the reasons the pre-trib rapture theory came into being was because people kept calling the pope the son of perdition or the antichrist. The new doctrine placed the revealing of the son of perdition after Christians had been raptured away, and so the pope could be as corrupt as he desired without constant accusation. Though Catholics hold to some unbiblical doctrines, they have not denied the Father and His Son Jesus, so they are not antichrist.
Judas is the other person called a “son of perdition” (John 17:12), though he was one of the Twelve. So a “son of perdition” is a professed follower of Jesus who then denies Christ. To be an “antichrist” he will follow a religion that denies the Father and the Son, like Islam. He will exalt himself as God in a shrine/naos of God/theos (which could mean magistrate), not the Hebrew Temple (so it doesn't have to be rebuilt before Christ's return); possibly the White House. Yes, I'm alluding to President Obama.
I consider President Obama to be the “son of perdition” here and the “little horn” of Daniel 7.

Daniel 7:8 “. . . there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.” Beasts are empires, and horns are kings."

Daniel 7:24-26 “And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it to the end.”

President Obama applauded the Tunisian vendor who set himself on fire to contest his government. The Tunisian president was a peacemaker who protected Jews in his country and held talks with Israel. One horn down. Obama's administration worked behind the scenes and openly in Egypt to bring down its president who upheld his country's treaty with Israel. Two horns down. Obama used his power to start a war with Libya through the UN, and has continued to do so in violation of the U.S. Constitution. This third horn is not going down as easily.

II Thessalonians 2:8-12 “And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, And with all delusion of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.”

I think the “strong delusions” came in the 1800's with uniformitarianism denying Noah's flood (II Peter 3:2-7) and the age of humanity on earth, and evolution which denied Elohim created man in His image (Romans 1:18-32), and then the pre-tribulation rapture theory gained ground in America to lull Christ's church to sleep. Lastly, from the 1880 to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia.

Revelation 20:4 “And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark on their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.”

The Muslims have been beheading people and making the videos available. They have been slaughtering Christians, Jews, and 'unworthy' Muslims by the thousands throughout the Middle East the last two decades. Their soldiers wear berets and armbands with the blasphemous name of Allah.

Revelation 18:22-23 “. . . for your merchants were the great men of the earth; for by your sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain on the earth.” All the nations have been deceived that Islam was a 'religion of peace'.

Revelation 16:6 “For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.”

Revelation 17:6 “And on her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 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. And the angel said to me, Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and ten horns.”

Obama is not the 8th head of the beast, which will be the last caliphate of Islam. The beast is the empire of moon worship, which began in Babylon with Nimrod, and “is[was] not” while John wrote. The leader of the 8th head is the Mahdi, who is likely Muqtada al-Sadr, who will revive the Ottoman empire which was the 7th head which received a mortal would at the end of WWI. And the “son of perdition” and the beast of Islam will go into perdition.

Revelation 17:11 “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goes into perdition.”

Revelation 20:11 “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”