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Like in many cases in the Bible, there is more than one application for this prophecy (although I had never even thought of Jerusalem as Babylon). I think there have been a number of lesser Babylons, but none of them (the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzar, Jerusalem, Rome, NYC) are the main Babylon that Revelation talks about. The reason I say that is that the main Babylon will fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 13 that says:

And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms,
The beauty of the Chaldeans’ pride,
Will be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah.
It will never be inhabited,
Nor will it be settled from generation to generation;
Nor will the Arabian pitch tents there,
Nor will the shepherds make their sheepfolds there.

Note that Babylon will never be inhabited again. You cannot say that about Jerusalem and hopefully it won't apply to Rome or NYC, if they happen to be types of Babylon. Even the ancient Babylon was being rebuilt by Saddam Hussein! And, prior to that, goats and sheep were roaming the ruins. No, I think these are all lesser types of Babylon, the real thing is still to come. When the real Babylon is destroyed, it will be just like Isaiah prophesied.

Rome is of no consequence today. We have these pre-conceived ideas about who Babylon is in the end, but like the author states, it is a system, which can apply to almost any political entity or nation today. It is worldliness as opposed to godly living. So, yes, it can be America, Italy, Germany, Israel, Malaysia, etc. Every denomination has their own theory as to who Babylon is, as well, with some blaming other denominations!

We are discipling a couple friends using the book, MULTIPLY. Very good book for this. We talked about Christian love and how it is displayed through love for other believers and unity. It will take severe persecution for unity and love to come to America, where we have to rely on the goodness of other believers not to betray us. ONLY when we are in the “same boat” will these attributes reveal themselves. The profane (tares) will be weeded out to evade persecution and the real Christians will remain. At that time we will realize that the gate IS narrow and few there be that find it. There are MANY professors of faith, but when the time of testing that is coming arrives, it will necessarily actualize the real number of true believers.

Yes, pray for repentance. Pray for our country to wake up to its spiritual calamity. And we need to start the repentance ourselves, like Daniel did when he was in Babylon. He repented of personal sins and national sins.