The Crescent moon and star
The key to understanding the mystery that is Babylon the Great is the crescent moon and the star of Islam. These symbols represent two gods going all the way back to Nimrod and Semiramis the two rulers of Ancient Babylon and Assyria who had themselves virtually deified and worshipped as gods. The Tower of Babel was man’s first attempt to build a one world empire to oppose God. The city of Nineveh (the Assyrians) and Babylon (The Babylonians) were the two most prominent enemies of God’s people Israel. In 722 BC it was the King of Assyria that sacked Samaria the Capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and exiled the people from the city. Then in 586 BC it was the King of Babylon that sacked Jerusalem and exiled the people from the city. The Jewish Temple was also destroyed at that time. In the Bible both the King of Assyria and the King of Babylon are metaphors for the Antichrist and Satan. They also indicate who the Antichrist will be and where he will come from. He will definitely not be a Pope or a European Potentate!
A Middle-Eastern Empire
The Bible clearly tells us that the Antichrist’s empire will be a Middle-eastern one and not a western one at all. In fact the Apostle John was quite specific concerning the city of Pergamum (Istanbul) in Turkey when he recorded what the Lord Jesus said to the Church there. “These are the words of Him who has the Sharp, double-edged sword. I know where you live-where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to My name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, My faithful witness, who was put to death in your city where Satan lives.” (Revelation 2:12-13) Pergamum was the city where Emperor Worship started with Caesar Augustus. He was also the one who numbered the people through a census to gain economic control over the Empire. This numbering of people will also be a mark of the Antichrist’s rule. Turkey of course was the source of the Caliphate of the Ottoman Empire which lasted several hundred years. It was the Turkish Ottoman Empire that conquered Rome. The Ottoman Turkish Empire was the empire of the seventh King mentioned in Revelation. (Revelation 17:9-11)
The Mahdi of Islam
Today the whole Muslim world is looking for the coming of the Mahdi who will call for the homage of all Muslims everywhere in all the nations of the world. Recep Tayyip Erdogan the current president of Turkey will resurrect and re-establish the Caliphate of the Turkish Ottoman Empire if he gets the chance to do it with himself as the supreme Caliph of the whole of the Islamic world. This is his driving ambition! The Caliph of Islam will be to the Muslims what the Pope is to the Roman Catholics. It is highly possible that his man will also prove to be the King of the North. In fact it was Erdogan who said; “Mosques are our barracks, minarets our bayonets, domes our helmets, the believers our soldiers.” (End of quote)
Within certain parameters
Also it is important to know that the empire of the Antichrist will not completely control the whole world. In Daniel chapter eleven he fights against “the mightiest fortresses.” There will be nations that will fight him. God will never let a man rule the whole Globe as God is still “calling the shots” and in control of the destiny of man and reserves the right to turn the heart of a king as He turns the course of a river. Daniel the prophet, after receiving the interpretation to Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, proclaimed; “Praise be to the name of God for ever and ever; wisdom and power are His. He changes times and seasons; He sets up kings and deposes them.” (Daniel 2:19a-21a) God has never allowed any man to dominate the whole world and although the Antichrist’s kingdom will be the largest that has ever existed he will not control the whole world. There will be some nations that oppose him. (Micah 5:5-6) (Daniel 11:38-45)
God uses nations according to His sovereign will.
Notice that the prophet Daniel says that God sets up kings and deposes them. Once God’s purposes had been completed with the Assyrians He got rid of them. Likewise when God had fulfilled His purposes through the Babylonians He then got rid of them. It was the same with the Persian, Greek and the Roman Empire. Once God had accomplished His will he got rid of them. It will be the same with Islam. Once this beast kingdom has fulfilled God’s purpose He will get rid of it as well. The day is coming when Islam will no longer exist. In contrast God has never forsaken His plan for Israel and by extension the Church. Israel remains to this day! It will be Israel that God will raise up to be chief among all of the nations in the Millennium with Jerusalem being the capital of the whole world. In that day the Messiah our Lord Jesus Christ will reign from Jerusalem with His saints. The prophet Isaiah said: “This is what Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. In the last days the mountain (nation) of the LORD’S Temple will be established as chief among the mountains; (nations) it will be raised above the hills (smaller nations), and all nations will stream to it.” (Isaiah 2:1-2)
Has anyone in history ever controlled the whole world?
Now when we read in Revelation chapter thirteen that the beast empire; “was given authority over every tribe, people, language and nation. All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast,” we see this same feature in King Nebuchadnezzar’s kingdom where he commanded everyone in his kingdom to worship his image portrayed in the statue he had built. He had the herald loudly proclaim; “This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language. As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that king Nebuchadnezzar has set up. Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace. Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshipped the image of gold that king Nebuchadnezzar had set up.” (Daniel 3:4-7). Nebuchadnezzars Empire did not expand the whole globe. What about China, Japan and Korea and India? Did Nebuchadnezzar have control over these empires? Likewise, the beast empire of the Antichrist will extend only to the limits and boundaries of his empire.
Worshipping the image
In his kingdom everyone will be forced to worship the image of his beast empire just like the people in Nebuchadnezzars time were forced to worship the image of the empire. Nebuchadnezzar ordered people to be thrown into the furnace who would not bow down to the image of metal. The Antichrist will order people to have their heads chopped off who will not bow down to the image of Islam whatever that final image will be. The word used for ‘image” in Revelation chapter thirteen is the Greek word “Icon” or “picture.” Possibly the Islamic beats empire will control the media especially the Television stations within its kingdom forcing everyone to bow down and pray when the call to pray comes on the TV a the times set for the paryers of Muslims everywhere. When you look at Saudi Arabia today, the heart of the Muslim world, Christians are beheaded regularly because they refuse to bow down to the image set up at the Ka’ba in Mecca. Indeed; “Babylon the Great” is “drunk with the blood of the saints.”
“Drunk with the Blood of the Saints.”
Over the last two years or more even to this present time the Muslim Jihadists, backed by America and other western forces, are literally draining the blood of Christians and selling it to the Saudis for $100,000 a bottle, because the Muslims in Saudi Arabia believe that by bathing their hands in Christian blood they obtain salvation. Saudi Arabia has the highest demand for the blood of the saints. No wonder we are told in the Bible that the desert of Arabia will erupt with “burning pitch.” Pitch of course is oil. Babylon the Great will be judged for her spiritual whoredom and because it has the blood of the saints on its hands. The beast we are told in revelation will burn the woman with fire. It is highly likely that there will be a nuclear detonation that will literally set the desert of Saudi Arabia on fire because of the oil reserves under the ground. We will deal with this in a further study.
The “Image” that fell from heaven.
Today Muslims around the world kneel down to worship towards the Ka’ba in Mecca. They worship “the image of the god that fell from heaven” the black stone which is a meteor. Muslims worshipping in the Haj in Mecca can be seen kissing and caressing the black stone as they would a woman. In fact the black stone resembles a woman’s vagina. This “image” was the same female god whose image fell from heaven mentioned in the book of Acts. (Acts 19:35) It too was a meteorite. In Paul’s time after he had been preaching the gospel the people rioted and cried out “Great is Artemis of the Ephesians.” Today the worshippers of the black stone still cry out; “allahu akbar” which literally means, “Allah is greater.” It can also be translated; “God is (the) Greatest, or “God is Great.” It is a common Islamic Arabic expression. You may ask greater than whom? The obvious answer is greater than the God of the Jews and the Christians. Allah is not the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at all but the Arabian moon-god of war. Islam’s other symbol is the crossed swords. The Muslim brotherhood has this as the insignia of their movement today. The first Babylon the Great was a literal city ruled over by Nimrod and so is the last Babylon the Great a literal city ruled over by the Antichrist of whom Nimrod is a major type in the Bible. All previous empires were a part of Mystery Babylon
“The Mystery that is Babylon the Great.”
All of the Ancient empires mentioned in the Bible down through history have all been part of the mystery that is Babylon the Great. Each successive empire inherited much of the culture, sports, pleasures and religions. In each successive empire there were common features which connected them. In the book of Daniel we find Nebuchadnezzars statue which depicts the main empires mentioned throughout the Bible. Each successive empire absorbed much of the religious and political features of preceding empires including their two main gods, a male and female deity. In the book of Daniel you also have four beast empires mentioned. Three of them absorbed the gods and much of the culture. However, the fourth beast empire could not assimilate or absorb the culture of the other three empires that preceded it. The only thing that the fourth beast empire absorbed was the worship of the male and female gods that had their source in Nimrod’s Babylon.
The Fourth Beast
In fact we are told in the Bible that this fourth beast; “was different from all of the others and most terrifying, with its iron teeth and bronze claws-the beast (or empire) that crushed and devoured its victims and trampled underfoot whatever was left.” (Daniel 7:19) We are also told that the “horn” (the Antichrist) of this beast empire spoke boastfully and persecuted the saints, “the horn that looked more imposing than the others (horns) and that had eyes and a mouth that spoke boastfully. As I watched this horn was waging war against the saints and defeating them until the Ancient of Days came and pronounced judgement in favour of the saints of the Most High, and the time came when they (the saints) possessed the kingdom.’ (Daniel 7:20b) When you look at Islam today it cannot assimilate with any other culture.
No compromise
In the countries that are under Sharia law and the Koran there is no compromise or blending in to another culture. Islam will always be Islam. There are no moderate Muslims today. While many migrate to non-Muslim western countries and go along with the system of government they would soon change their tune if a supreme Caliph came to power and called on Muslims everywhere to obey the Koran. If the Caliph (Mahdi) called for Jihad there would be riots in the streets as we have already seen in Europe. Overnight multitudes of moderate Muslims would become militant perpetrators of Islamic Law. Even now in Europe, the USA, and Australia and in other western democracies they are already trying to introduce Sharia Law.
Martyrs for Jesus
In every Muslim country today the beast empire is persecuting the saints. In the kingdom of the Antichrist wherever the borders of his empire extends everyone who will not worship the image will be killed. Beheading is the mark of Islam today. The martyrs in Revelation chapter twenty were beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. At the resurrection they will be raised up to reign with Christ in the Millennial Kingdom. Tragically there will be many more martyrs for Jesus at the hands of the Islamic beast empire. Already multitudes are being beheaded for their faith. However, when the Ancient of Days, sends His Son the Lord Jesus Christ back to earth with the armies of heaven and the resurrected saints the tables will be turned. The two beast empires and their leaders will be thrown alive into the lake of fire.
The Warrior Messiah!
In Isaiah chapter 63 we see the Lord Jesus riding forth with his garments be-spatted and stained with the blood of His enemies. Where do you find Him fighting? In Edom and Bozrah which today would be Southern Jordan and Saudi Arabia. The Ancient of Days, the Lord Jesus Christ, will come to destroy Islam forever. This same battle is depicted in Revelation chapter 19 where the Lord Jesus Christ comes to earth riding on a white horse with the armies of heaven and the saints also on white horses to fight the armies of the Antichrist. In Revelation chapter fourteen we are also told that outside of the city of Jerusalem the armies of the Antichrist will be crushed like grapes in the winepress of God’s wrath and that their blood will flow out of the winepress rising as high as the horse’s bridles for a distance of 180 miles. (Revelation 14:20)
In the Valley of Decision!
This battle will culminate in the valley of Jehoshaphat where God will enter in judgement against all the nations that have persecuted his people Israel. For these Islamic armies and their supporters it will be for them “the Valley of Decision.” (Joel 3:14) Whatever you do you must not be found siding with those who are seeking to divide up the Land of Israel today because if you do you will be fighting against the Lord Himself. This is also a warning to the Anti-Semites within the professing Christian Church who reject Israel, who advocate replacement theology and join with those pushing for a “two-state” solution or even for a so called “Palestinian State.” Last year we saw the Pope in Jerusalem advocating and supporting a “Palestinian” State. So then, Babylon the Great is with us today. Saudi Arabia itself, along with its image of worship, is the very heart of the Muslim world.
The Crescent Moon
Now before Islam was born the Arabs of Arabia worshipped the moon-god Allah and his wife. In fact they also believed that there were offspring from the union of the two gods. All Mohammad did was to make Allah the moon-god into a monotheistic god. He did away with the other 359 Arabian gods in Mecca when he took the city. Today the crescent moon and the star are the symbols of Islam. The crescent moon sits on the top of Minarets everywhere. The clock Tower, the modern Tower of Babel, in Mecca that overlooks the Ka’ba is no exception!
Each successive Empires
We will briefly look at each successive ancient empire mentioned in the Bible and see that they all had the same components as well as the same two gods but changed their names. The mystery that is Babylon the Great has culminated in a specific city today that sits in a desert, is surrounded by seven literal mountains and whose destruction we are told is heard at the Red Sea. Of course the only city that fits this description today would be the city of Mecca in the heart of Saudi Arabia, the source of Islam and the Harlot mentioned in the Bible. In the next study we will look at this city and its destruction. In fact there have always been “harlots” within each successive empire mentioned in the Bible. Wherever you have false religions you have “harlots” as it were that have made gods in their own likeness and rejected the only true God. But the harlot in the book of Revelation has its roots in the book of Genesis beginning with Nimrod and Semiramis his wife who was also his mother! Now we will now look at the main empires to see how the mystery, that is Babylon the Great was perpetuated in these empires down through history to the present day. Religion was a component within these empires. Like Islam is today they were political, socio-economic, militaristic and religious. Each Empire in itself was a “many headed Hydra.”
1. The Empire of Egypt
Egypt was the first major empire in the Bible. The cult of Nimrod and Semiramis spread to all the nations on the earth and also into Egypt. The crescent moon and star that originally depicted the male and female god of Nimrod’s Babylon became Osiris and Isis in Egypt. Now Egypt in the Bible has always been a symbol of the world and Pharaoh a symbol of Satan and by association the Antichrist. The Pharaoh’s were deified and worshipped as a god. This is what the Antichrist will demand for himself. It was Pharaoh who tried to kill all of the Hebrew children, a foreshadowing of what the Antichrist will seek to do to Israel, and by extension to the Church. The destruction of Pharaoh and his armies at the Red sea was also a foreshadowing of the destruction of the Antichrist and his forces at the end of this age. Egypt was also very religious and cosmopolitan. Many religions flourished, Cult prostitution was common place. Luxury, business and opulence were the trade-mark of Ancient Egypt. Their food was tantalising to the point where the Israelites, after they had left Egypt, wanted to return there just to fill their bellies with Egyptian cuisine. Egypt was a religious, political, socio-economic and military power. Many nations traded with Egypt. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today!
2. The Empire of Assyria
Assyria was the Empire that toppled Egypt. Yet the cult of Nimrod and Semiramis still flourished. Much of the culture of Egypt was absorbed into the Assyrian empire even though the Assyrians were very cruel. The two main deities of Egypt namely Osiris and Isis now became Assur and Ishtar. The Assyrian king is a major type of the Antichrist. Like the Assyrian king of old the Antichrist will also invade Israel. Scripture itself speaks prophetically of “the Assyrian” as the Antichrist who will also invade Israel but be defeated by seven shepherds and eight leaders of men that God will raise up against him. Isaiah tells us this. “When the Assyrian invades our land, When he tramples on our citadels, Then we will raise against him Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men. They will shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, The land of Nimrod at its entrances; And He will deliver us from the Assyrian When he attacks our land And when he tramples our territory.” (Micah 5:5-6)
God has nations that He will use to oppose the armies of the Antichrist that have attacked Israel. Through these armies that oppose the Antichrist’s forces God, in His sovereign purposes, will preserve Israel until the Messiah comes back. Shortly after this the Messiah will return in person with the armies of heaven and Islam will cease to exist. Instead of broken crosses there will be broken crescent symbols! What Gideon did to the Midiantes the Messiah will do to the armies of Islam! Also notice the phrase “The land of Nimrod” connecting the Antichrist with Nimrod who himself was the first type of the Antichrist in the Bible. (See our studies on “The Coming of the Antichrist.”)
In 722 BC the Assyrians also sacked the city of Samaria in the Northern kingdom of Israel and exiled most of the people to Assyria. This same scenario would occur again in 586 BC in Jerusalem in the southern kingdom of Judah at the hands of the Babylonians. Both of these events foreshadowed the fall of Jerusalem to the Romans in 70 AD where once again the people were taken into exile. Ultimately all of these three historical events collectively foreshadow the armies of the nations surrounding Israel at the end of this age that will once again attack Jerusalem and take half of the city into exile.
This time the Lord Jesus will return personally to fight these nations. His feet will literally stand on the Mount of Olives. In that day “the horse and the rider will be thrown into the sea!” This is why the victory song of Moses in the book of Exodus is repeated in the book of Revelation. Daniel mentions that God will send nations against the Antichrist’s military forces. Assyria then, like Egypt, was a religious, political, socio-economic and military power. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today!
3. The Empire of Babylon
The Bible has much to say about Babylon and its destruction. The King of Babylon is a major type of the Antichrist in the Bible. Ancient Babylon goes all the way back to Nimrod and the Tower of Babel. The prophets give us descriptions of the fall of Babylon and this theme resurrects itself in the book of Revelation. Now Nebuchadnezzars Babylon was also a combination of religious, socio-economic, political, religious and militaristic power like the nations that had preceded it. The two main deities were the same ones Egypt and Assyria had but they had their names changed. The Assyrian male god Assur became Bel and the female Assyrian goddess named Ishtar became Belit. Babylon also persecuted the Jewish people and Nebuchadnezzar had himself deified. However, as we know from the book of Daniel God humbled him for his pride. Babylon was known for its luxury, its opulence, its trade, its many religions and its military prowess and might. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today!
4. The Empire of Persia
Today Persia is Iran. The Persians also had two main deities they worshipped. These deities were the same ones that Egypt, Assyria and Babylon had worshipped. Their names were changed to Mithra and Anahita. Like the nations before it Persia had a ruler who was worshipped as a god. Over this empire was a powerful Satanic principality behind the throne even as there is today over Iran. This principality that hates Jews was seen in the conduct of Haman who tried to get King Xerxes to exterminate all of the Jews in Persia. Of course God did not allow this to happen. Through Mordecai and Esther God rescued the Jewish population and had Haman destroyed. According to the Bible in Ezekiel 39 the Iranian regime’s armies will be destroyed along with all of the other Muslim armies that make their final assault on Jerusalem. So then Persia, like the other nations that had preceded it, was also a combination of religious, socio-economic, political, religious and militaristic power. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today!
5. The Empire of Greece
Like its predecessor Greece also had a strong satanic principality behind the throne of Alexander the Great. The Greeks also worshipped the two main deities that the empires before them had worshipped. The god’s names were changed again. The Persian male god Mithra became Helios and the female Persian goddess Anahita became Artemis. After Alexander died his kingdom was divided up between his four Generals. The General that the Bible focuses on was the Seleucid Greek Antiochus Epiphanies (His name means “god manifest”) whose territory included Turkey. Antiochus was a major type of the Antichrist; He indeed was a king of the North that attacked the South during one of the Ptolemy and Seleucid wars. (Daniel 11) After he had taken Egypt he then turned and attacked Israel. Prophetically what Antiochus did the Antichrist will also do.
Antiochus was a king of the North who attacked Egypt and then attacked Israel. He tried to change the law and the times for Israel. He tried to impose Greek customs on the Jewish people. He encouraged cult prostitution. He forbade the reading of the Torah upon pain of death. He was a master of intrigue and at first feigned peace with the Jewish leaders. Many in apostasy compromised with him. Suddenly Antiochus turned vicious, sacrificed a pig on the altar in the temple and systematically began to kill the Jews.
Ultimately God raised up a priestly family the Maccabees who, after a series of wars, defeated Antiochus and drove him out of Israel. Many faithful Jews perished under Antiochus and many were betrayed by their backslidden brethren. In the end the Maccabees won the day and reconsecrated the Temple! Just as the forces of the Maccabees defeated the forces of Antiochus so the forces of the Messiah our Lord Jesus Christ will defeat the armies of the Antichrist and re-establish the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem. This is what Daniel is telling us in his book. Overall, like its predecessors, the Greek empire under Alexander was also a combination of religious, socio-economic, political, religious and militaristic power. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today!
6. The Empire of Rome
Imperial Rome also absorbed much of the Greek culture. Rome’s politics socio-economic structure religions and military strategy came from the Greeks. The two main deities of the Greeks became the two min deities of Rome. Once again the gods were the same but with a name change. The Greek male god Helios became Apollo and the female Greek goddess Artemis became known as Diana. This beast empire persecuted both the Christians and the Jews. This will happen again in the last days. The beast empire of the Antichrist will persecute the Christians and then go after the Jews. In every Middle-eastern Muslim country today to a greater or lesser degree Islam murders and tortures Christians and continues to hate and despise the Jewish people. Ultimately the Muslim nations surrounding Israel will attack Jerusalem itself. At that point when it looks like Israel is finished the Messiah will return with the resurrected saints and with the armies of heaven and “clean house!” Islam will be finally and forever destroyed. Millions of Islamic so called “warriors” will be destroyed by fire on the mountains of Israel!
Historically there were 10 major Imperial persecutions of Christians by the Roman Emperors. In 70 AD Rome turned on the Jews, sacked Jerusalem, killed thousands of Jews and took many of the survivors into exile. The last and final rebellion was that under Bar- Kokhba which culminated in a blood bath for the Jewish nation. The revolt is considered to be the climax of the Jewish–Roman wars, after which the Jews had become a devastated people – their cities were laid waste, over half a million killed and the survivors dispersed through the slave markets of the known world in a clear case of Genocide. Like the nations preceding it Rome was also a combination of religious, socio-economic, political, religious and militaristic power. Religion was only a part of the whole. Just like Islam is today! The Roman Emperors persecuted Christians until Constantine came to power.
7. The Empire of Islam
The Roman Empire fell to Islam! The Fall of Constantinople the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire, occurred after a siege by the invading Turkish Ottoman Empire, under the command of 21-year-old Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, against the defending army commanded by Byzantine Emperor Constantine XI Palaiologos. The siege lasted from Friday, 6 April 1453 until Tuesday, 29 May 1453 (according to the Julian calendar), when the city fell and was finally conquered by the Ottomans. The capture of Constantinople (and two other Byzantine splinter territories soon thereafter) marked the end of the Roman Empire, an imperial state which had lasted for nearly 1,500 years. The Ottoman conquest of Constantinople also dealt a massive blow to Christendom, as the Ottoman armies thereafter were free to advance into Europe without an adversary to their rear. After the conquest, Sultan Mehmed transferred the capital of the Ottoman Empire from Adrianople to Constantinople.
In Revelation chapter seventeen we read; “The seven heads are seven mountains (kingdoms) on which the woman sits, and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. The beast which was and is not, is himself also an eighth and is one of the seven, and he goes to destruction.” (Revelation 17:9-11) The first five mountains or kingdoms that had already fallen were 1.Egypt, 2.Assyria, 3.babylon, 4. Medo-Persia, and 5. Greece. The sixth empire was Imperial Rome. This was the kingdom in John’s time. Historically, there was the seventh Kingdom which conquered Rome and as I have mentioned this was the Turkish Ottoman Empire. The eighth king was one of the seven and historically this was Islam. This was “the beast wounded by the sword and yet lived.” The Ottoman Turks ruled in the Middle-east from the city of Istanbul Turkey where they had established the Caliphate and did so until WW1 when their empire fell to the allies and Islam was thrown back but not destroyed! In 1921 Turkey became a secular republic with a president instead of a Caliph.
Turkey, a “key player”
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was a Turkish army officer, reformist statesman, and the first President of Turkey. In 1921, Atatürk established a provisional government in Ankara. The following year the Ottoman Sultanate was formally abolished and, in 1923, Turkey became a secular republic with Atatürk as its president. He established a single party regime that lasted almost without interruption until 1945. He launched a programme of revolutionary social and political reform to modernise Turkey. These reforms included the emancipation of women, the abolition of all Islamic institutions and the introduction of Western legal codes, dress, calendar and alphabet, replacing the Arabic script with a Latin one. Abroad he pursued a policy of neutrality, establishing friendly relations with Turkey’s neighbours. In 1935, when surnames were introduced in Turkey, he was given the name Atatürk, meaning ‘Father of the Turks’. He died on 10 November 1938.
In August 2014 Recep Tayyip Erdoğan was re-elected as the President of Turkey and since that time has intensified his despotic rule over that nation even quelling a supposed coup. He is a man committed to the re-establishment of the Turkish Ottoman Caliphate. He may well be the next supreme Caliph or Sultan of the whole Islamic world, the expected Mahdi of Islam and the Biblical King of the North, “the king that will do as he pleases, who will magnify himself above every god and will say unheard of things against the God of gods.” (Daniel 11:36)…“the one that opposes and exults himself over everything that is called God or is worshipped and even sets himself up in God’s temple (in Jerusalem) proclaiming himself to be God.” (2 Thessalonians 2:4)
Islam deify a man
Islam teaches that the Caliph or Mahdi will have the spirit of Mohammed. Mohammad himself is known by many titles to Muslims. He is called “The Glorious One” “The First of Creation” “The Praised One” “the Perfect man” “Mercy to All mankind” “The Greatest of All sent by God” “Healer” “Saviour” “The Guided One/The Deliverer” “The Chosen One” “The Prince” “The Seal of Prophets” “The Guide” “First” “Last” “The Leader of the Sons of Adam” “the Luminous One or the Glowing Lamp.” These titles could only be attributed to a god or to a deity. Muslims will deny that they worship a man yet the titles they give to Mohammad clearly elevate him to the status of deity. The awaited Mahdi of Islam will come in the spirit of Mohammad. In fact it is believed that the spirit of Mohammad himself will dwell in the Mahdi or supreme Caliph of Islam. This man will be in fact Satan Incarnate and will ultimately sit in God’s Temple to proclaim Himself God and demand worship. The Antichrist will take these titles and claim to be God and demand the worship of the Muslim world and anyone else for that matter that he can get to worship him. His authority will be supreme, his law absolute, his cruelty boundless and his military expansionism conspicuous.
The “image” that fell from heaven
During the several hundred years of Turkish Ottoman Rule the Caliph of Islam was the supreme ruler over all of the Muslim empire. His law was absolute and he demanded total allegiance of everyone in his empire. He demanded that everyone in his kingdom bow to the image of his empire, namely, the Black stone at the Ka’ba in the city of Mecca. The Black Stone being a meteorite and the “image of the female goddess who fell from heaven.” (Acts 19:35) In Paul’s time the Ephesians worshipped a meteorite whom they said was an image of the female god who fell from heaven. This meteorite was an iconic black stone venerated at the Temple of Diana.
The crescent moon and the star of Islam
So then all of these Ancient empires mentioned in the Bible all had their source in the original Babylon and Assyria ruled over by the gods Nimrod and Semiramis. The two symbols that connect all of these empires are the Crescent Moon and the Star, the symbols of Islam today. The mystery that is Babylon the Great is no more a mystery it would seem! The first Babylon was a literal city in a desert and so the last Babylon will be a literal city in the desert. The only city that fits the bill today is the city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia, the heart of the Muslim world. In our next study we will look at Babylon the Great that city and its destruction which Isaiah, Jeremiah and the apostle John prophesied; “Fallen, Fallen is Babylon the Great!”
