Now that has led some people to mistakenly apply the Roman Catholic Church definition
to Chapter 18, and that is simply not correct, because you have to understand, and I'm going
to try to make this as clear as I can tonight, you have to understand that the Babylonian
Empire was a worldwide empire, but then the Roman Empire was a worldwide empire.
Then there was the period where the Roman Catholic Church dominated Europe and much
of the civilized world, and then in the end times there will be another one-world government
with the Antichrist at its head.
Now in 1 Peter chapter 5 when he talks about Babylon, he's talking about Rome, the Roman
Empire.
Now in chapter 18 he's talking about the final empire being destroyed, because in chapter
17 he's not really talking about the destruction of Babylon.
Chapter 18 is where he talks about the destruction, and so we have to fast-forward ourselves to
the end times, and chapter 18 is chronologically taking place at the end of the seven years
after the tribulation, and after God has poured out all of His wrath, the last thing He does
is destroys Babylon.
All of this goes back even further than that to a place called Babel, and at the Tower
of Babel, do you remember?
They all united together, all the people of the world were united together, and they were
going to build a tower that would reach unto heaven, and God did not want that, so He scattered
them and separated them into various nations.
So the point is this, Babylon represents world empire.
Babylon represents mankind united.
Babylon, yes, in chapter 17, represents the universal church.
You know, the church they called, and that's what Catholic means, universal.
But in chapter 18, we're dealing with another place altogether, and the city that is destroyed,
or the place that is destroyed, called Babylon, I believe is the United States, and I'm going
to show you many things in the chapter that lead me to believe that, as well as in Jeremiah
50 and 51.
First of all, let me show you the most compelling piece of evidence that Revelation 18 is dealing
with the United States of America.
Go down, if you would, to verse number 11.
This is talking about the destruction of Babylon, and it says, "And the merchants of the earth,"
merchants are people who sell things, "the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn
over her, for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore."
Now, what place could be destroyed in 2013 where it would be said, "Well, because this
place was destroyed, no man buyeth our merchandise anymore."
I mean, think about it.
The United States is the one who consumes the vast majority of the goods that are produced
by the world.
And if the United States were destroyed, people would literally say, "Who are we going to
sell all this junk to, you know, this Walmart-bound, made-in-China junk?"
I mean, every single day there are gigantic ships coming from China, just bringing just
masses of merchandise.
Who's ever been to the Long Beach Harbor or the LA Harbor and seen those ships coming
in from the Pacific?
Isn't it an amazing sight?
I mean, it's unbelievable.
I took a wrong turn.
I didn't even mean to go there, I accidentally took a wrong turn.
And I was just blown away by the sight of these gigantic ships just stacked.
And look, they look like little Legos, but each one of those little blocks is a train
car full of merchandise.
I mean, just stacked up so high.
I mean, it's an unbelievable amount of merchandise that's just constantly coming in.
And that's probably the most compelling piece of evidence.
But if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.
Because where is the world government right now, the embryonic world government that will
eventually become, you know, the kingdom of the Antichrist and so forth?
Where is the world government, the United Nations, based?
In the United States.
I mean, it is based in the United States.
And really, if anybody has a world empire right now, it's the United States of America.
Because the definition of empire throughout history is when we have our military bases
in every country in the world, that's our empire, okay?
And we have the world government located within our borders and we run it, we finance it,
we call the shots.
I mean, we are the lone superpower.
I mean, it used to be what was called, you know, the two superpower model of the USSR
and the United States, but then after that became a new world order where there was one
superpower, the United States of America, and that's where we're at.
I mean, that's what we live in.