Chapter 13: Babylon is Fallen

This chapter uses "Babylon" symbolically. In Revelation, Babylon represents not the ancient city (which was destroyed in 539 BC) but a religious system that opposes God's truth. If this language is new to you, the explanation below will clarify.

What Babylon Is

Before understanding Babylon's fall, first understand what Babylon is.

Babylon is not just a city. It's a system.

A religious system that:

The name comes from ancient Babylon, the city where Nimrod built the Tower of Babel, rebelling against God by attempting to reach heaven through human achievement (Genesis 11:1-9).

God confused their language and scattered them. But the spirit of Babylon (human religion that exalts itself against God's revealed truth) has persisted through history.

Revelation identifies end-time Babylon with specific imagery:

"And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth."

Revelation 17:5

Mystery Babylon: Ancient Babylon was destroyed in 539 BC. Revelation's Babylon is a religious system in the last days.

Mother of Harlots: Scripture uses mother-daughter language: a mother church that spawned daughters. The Roman Catholic Church is the mother; Protestant churches that kept her errors are the daughters.

Abominations of the Earth: These are practices God calls abominable: Sunday worship instead of Sabbath, immortal soul instead of death-sleep, and corrupted Bibles instead of preserved Word.

For the church diagnostic checklist, see https://theremnantthread.com/studies/church-diagnostic

Babylon is any religious system (Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, or ecumenical) that teaches doctrines contrary to Scripture and partners with state power to enforce them.

The Two-Fold Fall

Revelation describes Babylon's fall twice with identical words in different contexts:

First announcement (Revelation 14:8):

"And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

Second announcement (Revelation 18:2):

"And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

Why announce the same fall twice?

Because Babylon falls in two stages:

Fall #1: Moral Collapse (Past - 1798)

The first fall occurred when Babylon lost moral authority and political power.

The 1,260-year reign (538-1798 AD):

The deadly wound (1798):

Babylon fell morally. Her doctrines were exposed. Her authority was rejected. Her persecuting power was removed.

But she didn't cease to exist.

Fall #2: Final Destruction (Future - Near)

The second fall is Babylon's complete and final destruction.

Revelation 18 describes it in vivid detail:

"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."

Revelation 18:8

This fall is:

It hasn't happened yet. But the prophetic pattern suggests it will.

Between the two falls is a period of recovery and final deception, which we're living through now.

The Healing of the Deadly Wound

Revelation 13:3 describes something crucial:

"And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast."

The deadly wound (1798) didn't destroy the beast. It healed.

How the wound is healing:

1. Political Power Restored

1929: Lateran Treaty signed between Vatican and Mussolini

Post-1929: Progressive restoration of influence

2. Moral Authority Regained (Though Not Medieval Power)

Despite scandals (sex abuse, financial corruption, historical atrocities), the papacy maintains significant global moral authority. This should be qualified: the Vatican no longer commands armies, cannot enforce doctrine through civil power, and does not control territory beyond 121 acres. The "wound healed" refers to influence and recognition, not restoration of medieval church-state dominance. The papacy's current power is soft power: the ability to shape opinion, convene leaders, and influence policy through moral suasion rather than legal compulsion.

Why?

The Catholic Church regained what she lost in 1798 (not through force, but through persuasion).

3. Unity Movement Advancing

The ecumenical push (Chapter 10) is healing the Protestant-Catholic split.

What the Reformation divided, ecumenism is reuniting. Not by Protestants convincing Catholics to reform, but by Protestants abandoning protest and rejoining the Catholic Church's orbit.

Developments:

The daughters are returning to the mother.

4. Persecution Power Rebuilding

The Catholic Church doesn't yet have power to enforce Sunday or persecute Sabbath-keepers.

But the infrastructure is being built:

When the final crisis hits, The Catholic Church (through her Protestant daughters and secular allies) will have the power to enforce the mark.

The wound is nearly healed.

And when it's fully healed, the second fall comes.

In simple terms: The Catholic Church lost political power in 1798 but has been regaining influence ever since through diplomacy, ecumenism, and moral authority. The "wound" is healing. The infrastructure for enforcement is being built. The second fall, the final destruction, comes after the healing is complete.

The Protestant Question

When I first encountered this, my reaction was to dismiss it. I had walked each path to its depths: Hinduism through the worship of Shiva, Vishnu, and Devi; Buddhism through all three vehicles; Islam through the Sunni-Shia divide; psychedelics through LSD, ayahuasca, and iboga. Christianity's internal disputes seemed irrelevant to my search. Catholic, Protestant, what difference did it make? I wasn't in any of them.

But there was a thread I had ignored. My grandfather on my mother's side was Seventh-day Adventist. He had stories: working on a roof, he fell, felt something catch him mid-air and set him gently on the ground. I dismissed these as family legend. The thread was always there. I had not followed it.

Then I examined what Scripture says.

Revelation 17:5 calls Babylon "the mother of harlots."

Mother implies daughters.

If Revelation 17:5 identifies Babylon as "mother of harlots," what constitutes a daughter church in this prophetic framework?

The pattern centers on doctrinal inheritance. Protestant churches that:

  1. Continued Rome's Sunday observance rather than returning to the biblical seventh-day Sabbath
  2. Retained Rome's teaching on the immortal soul rather than the biblical understanding of death as sleep until resurrection
  3. Participate with Rome in ecumenical initiatives that blur doctrinal distinctives

This describes institutional direction, not the fruits of devotion within those institutions. Francis of Assisi embraced radical poverty and preached to birds. Teresa of Avila mapped the interior castle of the soul. Monasteries preserved Scripture through centuries when literacy nearly vanished. Catholic hospitals, schools, and charitable works have served millions. The tradition has borne genuine fruit.

The prophetic identification concerns where an institution leads: what doctrines it teaches, what authority it claims, and what day it sanctifies. Individual devotion can run deep even when institutional direction is problematic. Scripture's call is to test the direction, not to dismiss the devotion.

The same principle applies to Protestant churches. Someone hears a sermon about leaving the ninety-nine for the one lost sheep, drives to a parking lot, and shares a meal with a homeless man who was minutes from ending his life. Churches function this way every week: marriages counseled back together, addicts walked through recovery, and grieving families surrounded with meals and presence. None of this is fake. Churches help people, and the devotion is genuine. Where institutional teaching leads is what Scripture asks us to examine.

Protestantism was supposed to protest the Catholic Church's errors and return to Scripture alone.

Instead, most Protestant churches:

The prophetic pattern identifies these churches as inheriting the mother's doctrinal errors.

They don't share the institutional structure of the mother church (no rosaries, Mass, confession booths, or papal authority), but they teach doctrines that originated with the Catholic Church and have not questioned their inheritance.

When Protestants rejected Rome's authority but kept Rome's day, they lost the objective standard for unity. The Fourth Commandment stands written in stone. Everything else becomes negotiable. Forty-five thousand denominations argue about baptism, eschatology, church governance, and worship style.The statistic of 45,000+ Christian denominations comes from the Center for the Study of Global Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, which tracks global Christian demographics. Their World Christian Database and periodic reports document Christian fragmentation. The exact count varies by methodology (some researchers count 33,000-47,000 depending on how "denomination" is defined), but all major studies confirm massive fragmentation. Yet nearly all of them agree on one thing: they ignore the Sabbath. The one command they reject is the one that would unite them. Denominations do not fragment around the Sabbath; they fragment around everything else because they have surrendered the objective standard that God's written law provides.

The Patterns to Examine

What institutional patterns does Scripture call Babylon? When I finally examined Christianity's institutions after my journey through Eastern traditions, I found these markers:

These patterns appear across institutional Christianity: Catholic, Orthodox, mainline Protestant, evangelical, charismatic, and megachurch alike. The Reformation recovered some truths but retained others from Rome--particularly Sunday. Churches that emphasize "Bible alone" observe a day the Bible never commanded.

This is not a judgment on individuals. Sincere believers fill every denomination. Genuine seekers pursue God in every tradition. The question is direction: where do these institutional teachings lead? The devotion is real; the doctrinal inheritance comes from Rome.

When I recognized these patterns in my own church, I had to ask myself the same question Scripture asks: where is this leading? The answer became the reason I eventually left.

Scripture describes this seduction precisely:

"For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil: But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword."

Proverbs 5:3-4

Sunday feels comfortable. "Grace alone" sounds liberating. Ecumenical unity seems loving. The honeycomb drips. But the end is bitter, for these doctrines lead away from the commandments of God, away from the faith once delivered to the saints.

And God's people are commanded: "Come out of her."

Why God's People Are Still in Babylon

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Revelation 18:4

"My people."

God has people in Babylon.

Not all in Babylon are God's enemies; many are His people, sincere believers who love Jesus but don't yet understand the truth about Sabbath, the Father's sole deity, Sunday's origin, or Babylon's deceptions.

Why they're still there:

1. They don't know

Most Christians have not heard:

They haven't heard because their pastors haven't heard. Their pastors haven't heard because seminaries don't teach these truths. Seminaries don't teach them because denominations have other priorities. The cycle perpetuates, not from malice, but from institutional inertia. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge" (Hosea 4:6).

2. They trust their church more than Scripture

When presented with evidence that Sunday is unbiblical, they respond:

"But my church has kept Sunday for generations. Are you saying my grandparents were deceived? Are you saying all these godly pastors are wrong?"

This objection deserves a careful answer.

First, Scripture addresses exactly this situation:

"And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent."

Acts 17:30

God distinguishes between ignorance and informed rejection. The times of ignorance (when people didn't have access to truth) God "winked at." This does not mean it was excused permanently, but it was handled differently than willful rebellion.

And James clarifies the principle:

"Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."

James 4:17

Sin isn't just doing wrong. It's knowing what's right and refusing to do it. As for your grandmother who loved Jesus and kept Sunday with all the light she had, God judges hearts, not just practices. She responded to what she knew.

The mark of the beast isn't about your grandmother's past. It's about informed choice when truth is available and consequences are attached. When Sunday observance becomes legally enforced and people knowingly choose tradition over commandment, that becomes the dividing line.

Your grandparents' relationship with God is between them and God. She responded faithfully to the light she had.

The principle from James remains: "To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." Response is measured against available light.

Her faithfulness was real. Yours is the next chapter of that same obedience.

3. They fear losing community

Leaving their church means:

Fear of isolation keeps them in Babylon even after they see the truth.

But there is a place to go. Sabbath-keeping Christians exist worldwide. Seventh-day Adventist churches meet in most cities. Independent Sabbath-keeping fellowships gather in homes and rented spaces. Online communities connect Sabbath-keepers across continents. The remnant isn't isolated; it's scattered but connected. Finding fellowship takes effort, but it's available. Chapter 9 addresses practical steps for beginning Sabbath observance, including finding community.

4. They've been warned against "legalism"

Any mention of commandment-keeping triggers "legalism" accusations.

"You're trying to earn salvation by keeping Sabbath!"

"We're under grace, not law!"

"Colossians 2:16 says don't let anyone judge you about sabbaths!"

They've been immunized against obedience by misapplied "grace" teaching.

5. They're waiting for their church to reform

"I'll bring this up with the elders. Maybe we can study it together. Maybe we can shift to Sabbath as a congregation."

The question is whether institutions that have held Sunday for centuries have shown capacity to question that foundation. Scripture's call isn't "reform Babylon." It's "Come out of her."

The Call: Come Out

"And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Revelation 18:4

This is God's voice calling His people out, not with a suggestion but a command, not for later but for now, not for mental assent while staying physically but for actual departure.

Two reasons given:

Reason 1: Avoiding Participation in Her Sins

By remaining in Babylon, you participate in her sins, even if you personally disagree. Scripture is explicit about separation:

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? ... Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord."

2 Corinthians 6:14, 17

"And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them."

Ephesians 5:11

How does participation happen?

"But I'm just attending. I'm not making the doctrinal decisions."

I can't judge your specific situation since "every one of us shall give account of himself to God" (Romans 14:12). But Scripture's call is clear: "come out from among them." Not "stay and reform from within." Not "attend while disagreeing privately." Come out.

The separation principle isn't arbitrary. It's protective. "A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump" (Galatians 5:9). Remaining in false systems exposes you to their errors and normalizes those errors for your children.

Come out means stop participating.

Reason 2: Escaping Her Plagues

Revelation 18 describes Babylon's plagues in graphic detail:

"Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her."

Revelation 18:8

"And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, 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."

Revelation 18:9-10

Her judgment is coming:

Revelation 18:4 calls God's people to come out "that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Why "her plagues"? Because Babylon's judgment is specific and complete. The ten plagues described earlier (Chapter 15) are preliminary symptoms of systemic failure. The seven last plagues of Revelation 16 are Babylon's final destruction. Those still connected to her system when these plagues fall will experience:

Scripture's call to "come out of her" precedes these judgments. The sequence is not accidental: warning, then plague. Those who heed the warning escape; those who remain in Babylon share her fate.

How Merchants and Kings React

Revelation 18 describes three groups mourning Babylon's fall:

1. Kings of the earth (verses 9-10): These are the political leaders who partnered with Babylon for power.

They mourn because they lose their source of religious authority, the church that legitimized their rule, blessed their wars, and controlled their populations through doctrine.

2. Merchants of the earth (verses 11-17): These are the economic leaders who profited from Babylon's wealth.

They mourn because they lose their customer, the church that bought gold, silver, precious stones, fine linen, purple, silk, scarves, vessels, ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron, marble, cinnamon, incense, ointment, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, beasts, sheep, horses, chariots, and slaves (souls of men - verse 13).

Babylon is a massive economic system. When she falls, global commerce collapses.

3. Shipmasters and sailors (verses 17-19): These are the transportation industry workers who moved Babylon's goods.

They mourn because they lose their livelihood, the trade routes, the shipping lanes, the economic network that depended on Babylon's consumption.

It is significant that none of them mourn for religious reasons.

They don't grieve that the church is destroyed.

They grieve that their power/profit source is destroyed.

Babylon's fall reveals what she was: not a spiritual entity pursuing truth, but a political-economic empire using religion as control mechanism.

How Heaven Reacts

While earth mourns, heaven celebrates:

"Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her."

Revelation 18:20

"And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand."

Revelation 19:1-2

Heaven rejoices because:

  1. Justice is served - Babylon killed millions of Sabbath-keepers, burned reformers, tortured "heretics." God avenges their blood.
  2. Truth is vindicated - For centuries Babylon claimed she was the true church, that her traditions superseded Scripture, that commandment-keepers were legalists. God proves she was the deceiver.
  3. The faithful are rescued - Those who came out of Babylon, who refused the mark, and who kept the commandments despite persecution are vindicated and rewarded.

The same event that earth mourns, heaven celebrates.

Your response to Babylon's fall reveals whose side you're on.

The Finality of Babylon's Fall

"And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all."

Revelation 18:21

No more means no more.

Babylon will not be wounded and healed again, reformed and improved, or replaced by "Babylon 2.0."

She will be gone forever.

The next verses (22-23) drive this home:

No more musicians (verse 22), no more craftsmen (verse 22), no more millstone sound (verse 22), no more candle light (verse 23), and no more bridegroom/bride voices (verse 23).

The result is complete desolation.

Why such finality?

"For thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived."

Revelation 18:23

Babylon deceived all nations.

All countries, cultures, and religions have been influenced by her doctrines, from Sunday worship to immortal soul belief to corrupted Bibles to ecumenical unity.

Most professing Christians currently participate in Babylon's system, most without realizing it.

When God judges her, the judgment is thorough because the deception was global.

Where Do You Stand?

Babylon is falling.

The first fall happened (1798). The wound is healing. The second fall is coming.

Between now and the final fall, God's people must choose:

Staying in Babylon means:

Result: Those who stay will partake in her sins, receive her plagues, and fall with her in final destruction.

Coming out of Babylon means:

Result: Those who leave will escape her sins, avoid her plagues, and stand with Christ when she falls. They become what Babylon could never make them: sons of God (Romans 8:14), joint-heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), and ambassadors of the kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20).

You don't leave Babylon to become isolated. You leave Babylon to become family.

A Priest Who Left

Dr. Robert Knoor was a Roman Catholic priest, trained in the Catholic Church's seminaries, ordained in the Catholic Church's orders, and serving in the Catholic Church's parishes. He knew the system from inside.

Then someone asked him a simple question about the Ten Commandments: "Do not commit adultery. Is that wise?" Yes. "Do not steal. Is that wise?" Yes. "How about the Sabbath? It's in the same list."Dr. Robert Knoor's testimony as a former Roman Catholic priest who became Seventh-day Adventist is documented in video testimony uploaded to Gospel Med channel (December 24, 2022). He described finding biblical logic for the Sabbath he had never examined before and being impressed by the Sabbath-keeping community's dedication, with members giving over 10% of income, spending an entire day in worship each week. Video testimony searchable as "Roman Catholic Priest Become Seventh-day Adventist- Powerful Testimony."

The question haunted him: Why did God command nine laws that remain valid, but supposedly replaced the fourth? Where was the biblical authority?

He searched. He couldn't find it. What he found instead: the Catholic Church's own admission that they changed the day without biblical command.

A Catholic priest, discovering his own church's confession.

He left not because he hated Catholicism or experienced scandal, but because he couldn't unsee what Scripture says and what the Catholic Church admits.

If a priest trained in the Catholic Church's own system can leave, so can you.

Scripture presents the choice as fundamental. Revelation 18:4 doesn't offer a third category between "in" and "out." The call is binary; the journey to responding may not be.

The call is clear:

"Come out of her, my people."

Revelation 18:4

The text does not qualify with "someday" or "when convenient" or "if you feel led."

The call stands as given. The timing belongs to the reader and the Father.

The call is to come out before the final destruction.

Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.

The first fall proved God's judgment is certain. The second fall will prove God's justice is complete.