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The Revelation of Jesus Christ
standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city( for in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: the merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silks, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble, and cinnamon, and odours, and oint ments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine Hour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men." From these verses many Bible teachers have concluded that Babylon, the ancient city, will be rebuilt, and will become the commercial center during the tribulation period. They think they see, in chapters seventeen and eighteen, the picture of two Babylons, the first Babylon the great religious system; the second, the city of Babylon, rebuilt on the shore of the River Euphrates, the commercial center of the world. I can not accept this interpretation. To me, it is very clear that the ancient city of Babylon has fallen, never to rise again. This is very clear from the content of Jeremiah, chapters 50 and 51. The Babylon described in the passage we are now consid ering is ecclesiastical Babylon in her fullest character. We must ever bear in mind that the papacy is a commercial system as well as a religious system. All through the centuries, com merce has flourished under the patronage of the popes, and the papacy is more interested in merchandise and political power than she is in religion. To this history bears witness. And now please note in the quotation given the long list of things in which this system traffics. They are found in verses 12 and 13. This list ends with "... sheep, and horses, and chariots, and bodies, and souls of men." Here we used the Revised Version, which correctly translates the word "bodies"- not "slaves," as in the Authorized Version. Traf ficking in the bodies and souls of men! What a terrific indict ment! No wonder the wrath of heaven is to descend upon the system that practices such evil! I think we can see the mean ing of this reference in the practice of the priests who, under the guise of prayers for the dead and doctrines concerning purgatory, pour literally millions of dollars every year into
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