This book is a history of the Whore of Babylon image found in the book of Revelation, with an emphasis upon the use and influence of the text on the Brethren of the nineteenth century. The Brethren developed a multi-layered exegesis of the text, using Babylon as a form of vituperative rhetoric through which to vilify all other Christians in order to define their own religious identity. Those with divergent doctrinal beliefs belonged to an epistemological Babylon; those polluted by the world belonged to secular Babylon. Babylon was contagious! It is from the pens of these writers that the Secret Rapture of the Church doctrine developed as a biological "fight or flight" response, and a psychological "fear and fantasy" response. Whilst the Brethren of the nineteenth century are the central focus, the book will have a wider appeal to those interested in the history of exegesis, hermeneutics, and Apocalypse studies, for it also offers an overview of hermeneutical approaches to the reading of Revelation, a survey of Babylon's "afterlife" throughout the history of the church, and new insights into the ways in which readers, texts, and contexts interact in the broader context of sectarian biblical exegesis.

The Bible says that Babylon will be rebuilt and become the economic center of the world. Even now the ruins of the ancient city - just sixty miles south of Baghdad, Iraq - are quietly stirring. What does it mean for America? For Israel? For every person alive today? Are we living in the last days of earth as we know it? Find out, from Bible prophecy expert Mark Hitchcock. . . 1. How the focus of the world will shift back to Babylon 2. How Antichrist will make Babylon his capital 3. How the kingdoms of earth will fade as Babylon rises 4. How the false powers of Antichrist will grow 5. How prophecy will be fulfilled - and Babylon finally destroyed!

The evidence presented in this book leads to the ineluctable conclusion that the Roman Catholic Church was established by crypto-Jews as a false "Christian" front for a Judaic/Babylonian religion and is the core of a world conspiracy against man and God.

Babylon will once again become a thriving city. In ancient times it was known for idolatrous worship, immoral living and ruthless giants. In the future this city will have these same dark features. Bible prophecies indicate future giants will get their start in Babylon. Some of these giants will play major roles in these last days. An end time leader called the "Mouth" will be a non-human ruler who will rule from Babylon. He will eventually become a world-wide ruler and cause great devastation. Another non-human ruler called the "Harlot" will also be associated with Babylon. She will corrupt the earth with her immoral activity. Often this "Harlot" is mistaken for the actual city of Babylon or a religious system but when digging deeper into God's Word, Scripture reveals differently. It's important that we know who these end time leaders are as the Bible depicts them so that we will know what to watch for in terms of their future appearance. In her book Babylon: The Fallen Reona Martin has stayed close to the Scriptures to present to you a Biblical sound study of future Babylon.

Explores the Old Testament's prophetic cry against materialism, consumerism, violence, and oppression

First published as Word Biblical Themes: 1 Peter (Word Publishing, 1989), this volume explores Peter’s effort to build a sense of identity and responsibility among the Christians to whom he wrote, scattered through several Roman provinces in Asia Minor. Their past is a biblical past, he tells them, rooted in the history of the Jews as the people of God. Consequently, they are called to live as strangers in a strange land, never fully at home in Roman society. Their present journey is a journey in the footsteps of Jesus, in paths of servanthood, and undeserved suffering. Their future is the completion of this journey to heaven, wrapped in a hope of victory over death and the devil and issuing at last in “joy unspeakable and full of glory” when their Lord Jesus Christ is revealed. Because these distant Gentile Christians are not personally known to Peter in Rome (which he calls “Babylon,” reminding them that he is as much a stranger as they are), he deals in the great universals of Christian experience: faith, baptism, and doing good; love, suffering and the hope of salvation. These universals make 1 Peter a letter for twentieth (or twenty-first) century American Christians no less than for his first century readers. The concluding chapter, “The Message of 1 Peter Today,” begins to explore certain parallels between Peter’s readers in the Roman Empire and Christians in America, where we, no less than they in the provinces and Peter himself in “Babylon” are not fully at home either. This is even more the case now than it was in 1989 when the book first appeared, so that we need to listen ever more closely to “The News from Babylon” that 1 Peter sent so long ago. To this end a postscript has been added, addressing candidly the difficulties of being Christian in America in a new millennium.