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This Present Darkness

| Larry Spargimino

In his book, New Babylon Rising: The Emerging End Times World Order, Dr. Ron Rhodes cites several significant facts about Babylon. While Jerusalem is the most-often-mentioned city in the Bible, Babylon is mentioned second most. Moreover, the book of Revelation contains 404 verses, 44 of which specifically deal with Babylon (p. 9).

Rhodes cites Dr. David Jeremiah: “The Bible could be termed a tale of two cities: Jerusalem and Babylon. Jerusalem, of course, is the capital city of God’s chosen nation… Babylon, on the other hand, is the city the Bible uses as a recurring symbol for the world’s evils—decadence, cruelty, abuse of power, and especially rebellion against God.” 

Christians who do a little thinking—yes, there are Christians who think!—look at our nation and see the present darkness, and often wonder, “Is this the end? Where can we go from here? Can we descend any lower into pits of depravity and moral madness?” 

Of course, thinking Christians go to the Bible in general, and the book of Revelation in particular. There we meet dragons, seven-headed monsters and warring angels. What does it all mean? 

Rome or Babylon

While many prophetic researchers read the book of Revelation and see Rome as the enemy of God’s people, Tyler Gilreath, in Gate of the Gods: Revelation, the Messiah, and the Second Coming of Babylon, sees Rome to be in a long line of puppets manipulated by puppeteering angels from the Tower of Babel. Gilreath believes Babylon the Great cannot be limited to Rome. Old Testament Babylon is what’s primarily in view. John adopts a Babylonian framework in the book of Revelation.

The impact of this insight is important. Revelation 17:5 describes Babylon as “Mother of Harlots,” meaning Babylon is the “source of” harlotry. This prohibits limiting the identity of this “Mother” to any one religion that is in common devotion to people today. All false religions stem from Babylon, which is exactly what Gilreath is claiming. There is no indication in Scripture that their “Mother” is Rome.

In Genesis 11:1-9, we are told that Babylon was where man first began to honor himself over God. It was the capital city of the first world ruler, Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-10), a name that expresses defiance and rebellion. It was the capital of Nebuchadnezzar, the king who destroyed the Jewish Temple in 586 B.C., and it was the capital city of the first of four Gentile world powers to rule over Jerusalem (Dan. 2).

In Genesis 10:10, we read, “And the beginning of his [Nimrod’s] kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.” This was Satan’s initial attempt to unite man against God through religion and human government. It had the three characteristics of a kingdom: (1) an authorized ruler, Nimrod; (2) a specific realm, the Earth; (3) a strategic plan, the concentration of humanity in a specific location, in opposition to God’s desire that humanity would scatter. 

Gilreath writes, “Babylon was the capital city of Babylonia and in the same neighborhood as the infamous and much older Tower of Babel. Babylon’s writing, religion, and deities are therefore inseparable from the Babel event. That John sees Old Testament Babylon as the harbinger of cosmic evil in Revelation is not figurative” (p. 91).

The Hebrew Prophets and Babylon

The prophets of Israel were not strangers to Babylon and Babylonian lore. As quoted from Gilreath on page 150, Isaiah 27:1 reads, “On that day Yahweh will punish with his cruel, great and strong sword Leviathan the fleeing serpent, and Leviathan, the twisting serpent, and he will kill the sea monster that is in the sea.”

Gilreath also cites an ancient Ugaritic text: “Though you smote Litan [Leviathan] the fleeing serpent, finished off the twisting serpent, the encircler with seven heads, you burned him up, and thus you brightened the heavens.” 

The KJV for Isaiah 27:1 reads, “In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.” 

I should also point out that Jeremiah 50:1-2 and 51:44 make reference to Marduk, or Bel, Babylonian deities. 

Clearly, the Old Testament was not written in a cultural vacuum. Old Testament covenants and ancient Near Eastern treaties have certain literary parallels, just as today the form of a letter is similar in many different places. 

The Abrahamic Covenant ratification ceremony involving the cutting in half of animals was common in ancient Hittite treaties (Gen. 15). In the above scripture, Isaiah was not “getting his ideas from pagan sources” but simply using forms of communication common at that time. Similarities do not require us to reject the historical authenticity of the biblical accounts.

Idols, Demonic Entities & Satan’s Localized Throne

When we read a biblical passage that speaks of idols, we think of idols of wood and stone—inert, cold and dead. We might even want to purchase a carving of an idol and put it on the fireplace mantel. However, Psalm 106:36-39 tells us that idol worshippers were actually sacrificing to demons. The Apostle Paul tells us that worshipping in the presence of idols actually brings the worshipper into fellowship with demon spirits (1 Cor. 10:20). Idols can be localized dwellings for malevolent spirits. Pagans thought of idols as access points to a world of dark forces (“portals” to a parallel plane of reality).

In Revelation 2:13, the Lord Jesus revealed that the Christians in Pergamum lived where Satan’s “seat”/“throne” is. What is the particular reference? Perhaps the altar of Zeus, or maybe the temple of Asklepios. It was also a location known for Christian persecution. Antipas—meaning “against all”—was martyred here. Whatever the precise reference, Satan’s work and authority become especially manifest in certain areas. When we understand the book of Revelation’s Babylonian backstory, Revelation sheds light on spiritual warfare. It’s a book that opens our eyes to the real source of our national confusion.

In his latest book, The Dragon’s Prophecy (p. 38) Jonathan Cahn writes, “The joining of the Enemy of God to the enemies of Israel goes back to ancient times.” He cites Jeremiah 51:34, “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon…hath swallowed me up like a dragon…” The same word in the original used of Nebuchadnezzar appears in another prophecy directed against another of Israel’s ancient enemies, Pharaoh: “…I am against thee, Pharaoh… the great dragon that lieth in the midst of his rivers…” (Ezek. 29:3). 

Similar language is used of the persecution of the woman with child, “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan…” (Rev. 12:9).

The Babylonian Astrologers

The ancient Babylonians believed that the gods communicated with the Earth from the sky. The task of the astrologers was to learn the language of the heavens and translate it for the people. 

In Revelation 6:1-8 we read of the opening of the four seals and the four horses, each with a different color (white, red, black and pale). 

It is amazing that this corresponds with the colors associated with the Babylonian deities and in the same order: White (Marduk), Red (Nabu), Black (Ninurta), Pale (Nergal). Gilreath writes, “The colors of Revelation’s horses and the action taken by their riders [destruction] do, in fact, correlate to four corresponding planets, four demonic Babylonian gods, four cardinal directions, and four constellations” as described in the ancient Babylonian document Tablet Stars of Heaven (p. 106).

Tyler Gilreath, an avid Bible researcher, has accomplished a much-needed work in helping us understand “this present darkness.” It is dark and it manifests a degree of rebellion against God we have never seen before. The smell of the netherworld accompanies its unveiling.

Download August 2024 Prophetic Observer