President Antivon has a grudge to settle. He has become very angry and frustrated over failures to properly promote him as a god, and has also grown weary of his own religious hierarchy taking advantage of his power and using it for their own benefit, and without the reciprocity he believes he deserves. After all, a god must be worshiped properly. But instead, the religious organization he installed at the former Vatican City, which he renamed "Babylon," has failed him. Babylon did not seem to appreciate him, or recognize what they had in him. Now they must pay. He is in a state of extreme rage, and his fits of madness have become legendary with his staff. The price will be very steep for Babylon, and the city of Rome will simply be collateral damage.
Antivon tells his Aide "Get my Ambassador for Religion at Babylon on the line. He has failed me." The Aide recognized that another fit of madness was underway, so he moved quickly. The last Aide was replaced for being "slow to respond" and no one ever saw him again. The Aide returned having the Ambassador, the head of the religious propaganda machine for Antivon, on the phone. Ambassador: "Yes Mr. President, what can I.....?" Antivon cuts him off and simply says: "You have failed me! It is over!" and ends the call. Antivon tells the Aide, get my military staff in here, NOW!" The staff arrives within minutes. Antivon orders them to destroy Rome. "Put a nuke on them. They are worthless to me!" One of his Generals protested and Antivon ordered him arrested on the spot. "Anyone else want to disobey orders? Fine, make it happen. Today! Before sundown!" The Generals grimly go out to perform their assigned task, which they see as madness, but are powerless to stop. Antivon turns to his Aide: "I warned the Ambassador for Religion not to fail me. This is on his head."
In LA Jill Steiner is home reading about the city the Bible calls "Babylon." She reads from her book:
Revelation 18:21 “Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: “With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again...24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”
"The hurling of the boulder into the sea makes a splash much like a missile with a nuclear warhead makes a mushroom cloud...The end will be violent and total destruction. As the center of power for the Antichrist and the Western Alliance, the city called "Babylon" in the Bible was the envy of all unbelievers everywhere. It has power, wealth, luxury, extreme debauchery, and every form of excess imaginable. It was the very symbol of what most people aspired to achieve, the pinnacle of what the world had to offer. It showed that there was meaning in life, if only to acquire what Babylon had to offer. But as the source of religious power for the Antichrist, Babylon was rotten and morally bankrupt. It was a shadow built on the sands of evil."
Jill decides to call in an expert on such subjects. In the news studio of LANX News, Jill Steiner once again interviews her favorite Professor:
Jill: "We have Professor Heathrow with us again today. Professor Heathrow, you are the Professor of Biblical Ancient Civilization Studies at the University of Southern California. Tell us about ancient Babylon and its relationship to the Biblical Babylon."
Professor Heathrow: "The city called “Babylon” in the Bible is not the literal Babylon of ancient times. The literal ancient Babylon was completely destroyed several hundred years before the Apostle John wrote Revelation, so it no longer existed except in ruins, but its memory was the stuff of legends. The name for the Tribulation city discussed in Revelation was chosen for specific reasons to describe how it would be like ancient Babylon in many ways. Ancient Babylon was the most powerful and richest city of its day, as the Tribulation Babylon would become. Ancient Babylon was the center of a degenerate religious system for a large part of the people on earth during that time, as the Tribulation Babylon has become. And ancient Babylon was renowned for its total debauchery and every form of carnal excess, as with the Tribulation Babylon. These factors make the name “Babylon” the perfect choice for the name of the analogous city during the Tribulation.
Early Christians called Rome Babylon, and Peter referred to Rome as Babylon in 1 Peter 5:13 “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings.” This ties Rome and Babylon together as he sends greetings from Rome. Rome was the capital of the Roman Empire, which is tied to the Western Alliance which the Bible describes as a sort of "Revived Roman Empire" with many of the same countries which were once part of ancient Rome. The Babylon of the Tribulation describes Rome as the headquarters of the worldwide religious system of the Antichrist, which Antivon set up in the former Vatican City inside Rome after throwing out the Christian church there. The Antichrist has used the Christian world-wide infrastructure in Vatican City, now Babylon, to set up a world-wide worship of himself as a god. So Rome became the center of worship of a false god because there was already an infrastructure in place there, so the former Vatican City and Rome and the new false religious system are now thoroughly interrelated, and that is what the Bible collectively calls Babylon, the combined religious and financial capital of the Western Alliance. Rome has therefore become the Babylon of the Tribulation, an analogy to the ancient debauched city of Babylon which was destroyed long before the Book of Revelation was written."
Jill: "So you say that Rome is the Babylon of the current day? That would mean Rome will be the target of nuclear destruction, according to the Bible."
Professor Heathrow: "Revelation 17 - 18 uses the analogy of a prostitute riding on a beast to discuss both the city and the religion as if they are one entity when referring to it as either “Babylon” or the “great prostitute” which is Babylon. Rome has become a center of international trade and wealth, and the seat of religious power for the Antichrist, even though Washington DC is the political center of power. So it is a place of great importance – political and economic power along with false religion, all combined into a single evil power sphere. All the nations of the western world look to this city as a source for their own power, and also their wealth. The religion taxes everyone who buys through the Mark of the Beast program. That results in a huge amount of wealth stolen from the people who are forced to buy through the Mark program. The Antichrist's religious system, with himself as the deity, is a major key to his power over his Western Alliance. We will see how the city will be “destroyed in one hour” by “burning”, a clear reference that a nuclear explosion will destroy this great city and all in it. It is significant that it takes three chapters of Revelation to discuss this powerful city which will be the center of such evil and degeneracy as the source of Satan's worldwide religious system."
Jill Steiner: "Professor, how did Rome become Babylon?"
Professor Heathrow continues:
"It became Babylon by presenting the Antichrist as a god, and then making money on that proposition. You see, the Antichrist really sees himself as a god, but the religious support system built around that views it as a money-making opportunity. And the city has grown rich as it has exploited the "god-like" issue. The Antichrist believes he is a god, not that he is god-like. That is a big difference."
"So the Bible portrays Babylon as a prostitute of false religion riding on its State sponsor, the political power of the Antichrist, and further invoking the image of the power behind both of them, who is Satan. Stated another way, the satanic religious system sits on a “scarlet beast” which is the Revived Roman Empire composed of 10 nations (“horns”) which in ancient times were part of the Roman Empire, and has added the 11th nation led by the Antichrist. During the early part of the Tribulation the Antichrist used false religion as a tool to gain power, and to control people on a worldwide scale. The false religion and political State will find each other useful, and their combined exploitative powers will be enhanced by their unholy union. The “blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns” shows....."
Jill interjects: "Professor, no disrespect intended, but you are way past our audience's caring about such details..."
Professor Heathrow: "Quite right, so sorry. But I am a geek about this stuff. Let me be more clear. As the Tribulation proceeds, religion will end up thinking it is the important part while the Antichrist believes he is the important part. The Antichrist will grow to despise and resent the upstart religious system which he himself invented. So Satan's own political forces will eventually destroy his religious forces as evil fights evil due to internal struggles, jealousy, and arrogance of power."
"This is the important point for your audience to understand. That the Antichrist will end up destroying “Babylon” by launching a nuclear strike on it. Satan cannot control his own forces of evil or keep them from fighting each other since his plan depends on using the basest instincts of mankind, which can easily get out of control, and are not controllable even by Satan. The Tribulation shows that Satan is not nearly as smart or powerful as he believes he is. Hence, the Tribulation proves that Satan is a bumbling fool."
Jill: "A bumbling fool. All this time most of the world has thought of Satan as a super-powerful super-genius who controlled his empire with precision. But the Tribulation shows him to be incompetent and a failure, right?"
Professor Heathrow: "Exactly. Satan will be revealed as the biggest loser of all time. That is the overall reason for the Tribulation. It will be the ultimate defeat of Satan by God, as he will end up bound in chains and imprisoned in the Abyss."
Jill: "But what about Babylon...why will it be destroyed?"
Professor Heathrow: "Babylon is very much at the center of this union of the prostitute religion and the Antichrist's Revived Roman Empire. The great city Babylon/Rome is the center of trade and also the center of false religion of the Revived Roman Empire for the Antichrist who is King of the West..."
Jill: "Professor, remember that our audience wants to get the short version of why Babylon is destroyed. They do not want to wait for the movie version."
Professor Heathrow: "Of course. We see how the Antichrist eventually turns against the satanic religious system and the city Rome where it will be based. The Antichrist grows to hate the religion even though it gave him great power, because he will grow weary of the demands placed on him by this religion, and also its failure to meet his enormous expectations as a god. Two sides of Satan's evil will fight each other. Satan is not as smart as he believes he is, nor as powerful as he pretends to be. His satanic religious system will be destroyed by his own evil dictator."
Jill adds: "And so, Satan ends up the bumbling fool as his own man the Antichrist destroys Satan's religious system, am I right?"
Professor Heathrow: "That's right. Babylon will be completely destroyed by a combination earthquake and nuclear attack from the Antichrist who was formerly its benefactor."
Jill: "Thank you Professor Heathrow. Your analysis was very informative. Lengthy, but informative"
Professor Heathrow: "I am glad you still have your sense of humor, Jill. Very refreshing, and I appreciate it."
Jill: "So it seems a nuclear explosion will destroy Rome as part of the 7th Bowl Judgment and the city will become uninhabitable due to the nuclear destruction. This is nuclear since it discusses sudden and complete destruction, consumption by fire, can be seen from far off and will occur in “one hour” as discussed in the coming verses. As always, we will bring you the video when it happens."
Jill ends her broadcast day and prepares to depart for home.
Producer Jack Ford: "So Jill, you are a comedian now?"
Jill: "In the Millennium I will be a stand-up comic. Want to be my Producer?"
Jack: "I will always be by your side."