A) BABYLON NUMBER ONE EQUALS ROME.

B) BABYLON NUMBER TWO EQUALS APOSTATE PROTESTANTISM.

C) BABYLON NUMBER THREE EQUALS PROTESTANTISM.

 

 

A) BABYLON NUMBER ONE EQUALS ROME

 

 

Babylon #1 = Rome.

Time Period = Dark Ages and Modern Day (because the “deadly wound was healed”).

Revelation Chapter = 17.

Where are the People of God = Outside.

 

“In Revelation 17, Babylon is represented as a woman, a figure which is used in the Scriptures as the symbol of a church.  A virtuous woman represents a pure Church, a vile woman an apostate church.  Babylon is said to be a harlot; and the prophet beheld her drunken with the blood of saints and martyrs.  The Babylon thus described represents Rome, that apostate church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ.  But Babylon the harlot is the mother of daughters [the daughters are described in Babylon #2] who follow her example of corruption.  Thus are represented those churches that cling to the doctrines and traditions of Rome and follow her worldly practices, and whose fall is announced in the second angel’s message.”  4SP:233.

 

“In the seventeenth of Revelation is foretold the destruction of all the churches who corrupt themselves by idolatrous devotion to the service of the papacy. . . {verses 1-4 quoted}.  Thus is represented the papal power. . . promising them, as did Satan our first parents, all good to those who receive its mark, and all harm to those who oppose its fallacies.”  7BC:983.

 

“The woman (Babylon) of Revelation 17, is described. . . The power that for so many centuries maintained despotic sway over the monarchs of Christendom, is Rome.  The purple and scarlet color, the gold and precious stones and pearls, vividly picture the magnificence and more than kingly pomp affected by the haughty see of Rome.  And no other power could be so truly declared ‘drunken with the blood of the saints’ as that church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ.”  GC:382.

 

From Testimony to Ministers, page 59:  “Those who assert that the Seventh-day Adventist Churches constitute Babylon, or any part of Babylon, might better stay at home.  Let them stop and consider what is the message to be proclaimed at this time {suggestive sense, future tense}.  Page 37:  “There is but one Church in the world who are at the present time {present tense? suggestive? future tense?} standing in the breach. . . denouncing her as Babylon, is to do a work in harmony with him who is the accuser of the brethren.”  Page 50:  “My brother, if you are teaching that the Seventh-day Adventist Church is Babylon, you are wrong. . . Satan will use every mind to which he can attain access. . . and thus divert souls from the true issue for this time {suggestive tense? future tense?}.”

 

“Those who assert that the Seventh-day Adventist Churches constitute Babylon, or any part of Babylon, might better stay at home.  Let them stop and consider what is the message to be proclaimed at this time {suggestive, future tense}.  In place of working with Divine agencies {And here is the message we should be giving, even now} to prepare a people to stand in the day of the Lord, they have taken their stand with him who is an accuser of the brethren, who accuses them before God day and night. . . The whole world is to be stirred with enmity against Seventh-day Adventists {TIME, PLACE, CIRCUMSTANCES}, because they will not yield homage to the papacy, by honoring Sunday, the institution of this anti-Christian power.  It is the purpose of Satan to cause them to be blotted from the earth, in order that his supremacy of the world may not be disputed.”  RH, Aug 22, 1893.

 

 

B) BABYLON NUMBER TWO EQUALS APOSTATE PROTESTANTISM

 

 

Babylon #2 = Apostate Protestantism

Time Period = 1840-1844

Revelation Chapter = 14

Where are the People of God = Inside moving Outside

 

“When the churches spurned the counsel of God by rejecting the Advent message, the Lord rejected them.  The first angel was followed by a second. . . This message was understood by Adventists to be an announcement of the moral fall of the churches in consequence of their rejection of the first message.  The proclamation, ‘Babylon is fallen,’ was given in the summer of 1844. . . The term Babylon, derived from Babel, and signifying confusion, is applied in Scripture to the various forms of false or apostate religion.  But the message announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to some religious body that was once pure, and has become corrupt.  It cannot be the Romish church which is here meant; for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries.  But how appropriate the figure as applied to the Protestant churches, all professing to derive their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects. . . But Babylon the harlot is the mother of daughters who follow her example of corruption.  Thus are represented those churches that cling to the doctrines and traditions of Rome and follow her worldly practices, and whose fall is announced in the second angel’s message.”  4SP:232-233.

 

“At the proclamation of the first angel’s message, the people of God were in Babylon;” 4SP:239.

 

“The Advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God,” 4SP:429.

 

“We are not to think that the chosen ones of God who are trying to walk in the light compose Babylon. The fallen denominational churches are Babylon.”  EV:365; RH, September 12, 1893; TM 61; AY:81.

 

“When the churches spurned the counsel of God by rejecting the Advent message, the Lord rejected them.  The first angel was followed by a second, proclaiming, ‘Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.’ [Revelation 14:8].  This message was understood by Adventists to be an announcement of the moral fall of the churches in consequence of their rejection of the first message.  The proclamation, ‘Babylon is fallen,’ was given in the summer of 1844, and as the result, about fifty thousand withdrew from these churches.”  4SP:232.

 

“The term Babylon, derived from Babel, and signifying confusion, is applied in Scripture to the various forms of false or apostate religion.  But the message announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to some religious body that was once pure, and has become corrupt.  It cannot be the Romish Church {SDA’s SEE BELOW] which is here meant; for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries.  But how appropriate [233] the figure as applied to the Protestant churches, all professing to derive their doctrines from the Bible, yet divided into almost innumerable sects.  The unity for which Christ prayed does not exist.  Instead of one Lord, one faith, one baptism, there are numberless conflicting creeds and theories. Religious faith appears so confused and discordant that the world know not what to believe as truth.  God is not in all this; it is the work of man, -- the work of Satan.

 

“In Revelation 17, Babylon is represented as a woman, a figure which is used in the Scriptures as the symbol of a church.  A virtuous woman represents a pure Church, a vile woman an apostate church.  Babylon is said to be a harlot; and the prophet beheld her drunken with the blood of saints and martyrs.  The Babylon thus described represents Rome, that apostate church which has so cruelly persecuted the followers of Christ.  But Babylon the harlot is the mother of daughters who follow her example of corruption.  Thus are represented those churches that cling to the doctrines and traditions of Rome and follow her worldly practices, and whose fall is announced in the second angel’s message.”  4SP:232-233.1.

 

{SDA’s} “Babylon is said to be ‘the mother of harlots.’  By her daughters must be symbolized churches that cling to her doctrines and traditions, and follow her example of sacrificing (383) the truth and the approval of God, in order to form an unlawful alliance with the world.  The message of Revelation 14, announcing the fall of Babylon must apply to religious bodies that were once pure and have become corrupt.  Since this message follows the warning of the judgment, it must be given in the last days; therefore it cannot refer to the Roman Church alone [“alone” added, not in the original], for that church has been in a fallen condition for many centuries.”  GC:382-383.

 

“When the professed people of God are uniting with the world, living as they live, and joining with them in forbidden pleasures; when the luxury of the world becomes the luxury of the Church; when the marriage bells are chiming, and all are looking forward to many years of worldly prosperity -- then, suddenly as the {339} lightning flashes from the heavens, will come the end of their bright visions and delusive hopes.  As God sent His servant to warn the world of the coming Flood, so He sent chosen messengers to make known the nearness of the final judgment.  And as Noah’s contemporaries laughed to scorn the predictions of the preacher of righteousness, so in Miller’s day many, even of the professed people of God, scoffed at the words of warning.”  GC:338-339.

 

 

C) BABYLON NUMBER THREE EQUALS PROTESTANTISM

 

 

Babylon #3 = Protestantism / Additional Corruption’s (See: GC:382-383)

Time Period = 1844 – End

Revelation Chapter = 18

Where are the People of God = Inside & Outside

 

“At the proclamation of the first angel’s message, the people of God were in Babylon; and many true Christians are still to be found in her communion. . . As the churches depart more and more widely from the truth, and ally themselves more closely with the world, the time will come when those who fear and honor God can no longer remain in connection with them. . . But the light of truth will shine upon all whose hearts are open to receive it, and all the children of the Lord still in Babylon, will heed the call, ‘Come out of her, My People.’“  4SP:239-240.

 

“In this scripture [speaking of Revelation 18:1-5] the announcement of the fall of Babylon, as made by the second angel, is repeated, with the additional mention of the corruption’s which have been entering the churches since 1844. . . But God still has a people in Babylon.”  4SP:421-422; GC:603.

 

“The Angel of Revelation Eighteen came down to do his work and was ridiculed, criticized, rejected, and laughed at.  It was called fanaticism.  When this message he brings again, swells into the loud cry, it will be condemned by the majority.  Had this message been received they could have been in paradise two years latter [speaking of 1888].”  GC Bulletin 1893.

 

“The existing confusion of conflicting creeds and sects is fitly represented by the term “Babylon,” which prophecy applies to the world-loving churches of the last days.”  PP:124.

 

“In amazement they hear the testimony that Babylon is the church {WHICH CHURCH?}, fallen because of her errors and sins, because of her rejection of the truth sent to her from Heaven {WHICH CHURCH WOULD THAT BE?}.”  4SP:424; GC:607.  “As the storm approaches {NOT HERE YET}, a large class {HOW MANY?} who have professed faith in the third message {NOW WHICH CHURCH HAS PROFESSED FAITH IN THE THIRD MESSAGE?}, but have not been sanctified through it {WHAT IS THE PROBLEM?}, abandon their position {WHAT DO THEY DO, GIVE UP THE SABBATH?}, and take refuge under the banner of the powers of darkness.”  4SP:426; GC:608.

 

“Of Babylon, at the time brought to view in this prophecy, it is declared:  ‘Her sins have reached unto Heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities.’  Revelation 18:5.  She has filled up the measure of her guilt, and destruction is about to fall upon her.  But God still has a people in Babylon; and before the visitation of His judgments these faithful ones must be called out, that they partake not of her sins and ‘receive not of her plagues.’  Hence the movement {WHAT MOVEMENT?} symbolized by the angel coming down from Heaven, lightening the earth with his glory and crying mightily with a strong voice, announcing the sins of Babylon.  In connection with his message the call is heard:  ‘Come out of her, My people.’  These announcements, uniting with the third angel’s message, constitute the final warning to be given to the inhabitants of the earth.”  GC:604.

 

“In the Book of Revelation the prophet describes the scenes of the Gospel age, and he sees in Heaven the Ark of the Testimony.  There the holy Law of God shines in holy dignity, just as when God wrote it with His own finger on tables of stone.  John describes the work that will be done in the last days, when the Protestant churches form a confederacy with the Catholic power, and work against the Law of God and against those who keep His commandments.  John says, ‘The dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.’  The Protestant world have cherished an institution of the Papacy, -- they have observed Sunday in preference to the Sabbath of the Lord their God, -- and in compelling men to keep Sunday, under penalty of law, they are exalting the first day of the week, a spurious sabbath, and casting dishonor upon the Sabbath of the fourth commandment.”  ST, March 12, 1896.

 

“We cannot now {SUGGESTIVE TENSE, FUTURE TENSE} step off the foundation that God has established.  We cannot now {SUGGESTIVE TENSE, FUTURE TENSE} enter into any new organization {at this time, or maybe never}, for this would mean apostasy from the truth.”  2SM:390.