The Great Harlot – Part Six
All of humanity is governed today by an economic system that is based on money. All human enterprise is based on a system that is required to generate money in order to survive. Yet as we have discovered in the last few years, our economic system has become corrupted to the point where the lust for money on the part of the few, has placed the livelihood of millions of people around the world in jeopardy.
Not only is this desire for material wealth now the major economic motivator around the planet, but it has assumed the character of a religion. This world-wide religion of materialism has captured the minds and hearts of humanity just as much as if it were a traditional faith. Yet far from enhancing the planet and ennobling the minds of men and women everywhere, it has become an avaricious monster that has come instead to debase our hearts.
We are not just captives of this lust for money and the things that it can provide, but like Esau, we have sold our souls for a “mess of pottage”. (Genesis 25:29-34) We have allowed our immortal birthright to be tarnished by the lure of superficial trinkets, and our characters to have become corrupt, just as St. Paul predicted. In his second epistle to Timothy, the apostle wrote:
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, truce-breakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” (II Timothy 3:1-4)
Anyone following the contents of a daily newspaper, or the features of the evening news, can bear witness to the truth of these words. The “last days” that St. Paul was writing about do not refer to some future time. Those days are here now. And it is this world-wide corruption of the human heart that is the reason why our modern economic system must be completely destroyed, if humanity is to emerge from this “slough of despond”, and regain again its spiritual birthright.
And this is what St. John has described in Chapter 17 of his book of Revelation. As we have seen from earlier instalments, our economic system was likened by the angel who appeared before John in a vision, to a mysterious woman dressed in fine clothing and adorned with precious jewels, who bore the name “Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth“.
The angel revealed to John that in these last days, this mystery woman called Babylon would be utterly destroyed. It would be destroyed because it had perverted humanity and become the mother of all abominations. As St. John wrote, “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”.
There are many who scoff at the idea that our modern system of international finance, commerce and trade could be utterly destroyed. While they would no doubt agree that it is currently in a state of turmoil, and undergoing a crisis whose end is not yet in sight, they would be quick to ridicule the thought that the entire system could be brought to its knees. Too many countries, they would argue, and too many corporations, have an integral stake in its continuity to allow it to fail.
Besides, even though the world is afflicted today by numerous natural disasters that have had devastating economic consequences for all those who are involved, the economic system itself has remained untouched. It continues to reign supreme, unaffected by regional strife or sudden catastrophe. It is this very continuity in the face of disaster that would seem to render it immune from destruction.
Investors around the globe continue to have confidence in the power of the market to transcend human frailty, and in its ability to ride out the storms of life. Yet this confidence could well be misplaced. For if the revelation of St. John is correct, then the entire world-wide economic system will soon collapse, despite the scorn displayed by skeptics. And if the angel who appeared before St. John is to be believed, this collapse will occur in a single day.
“How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. 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 18:7-8)
The above words penned by St. John provide the clue to the nature of this catastrophe, for it will appear suddenly when humanity is not expecting it, and it will manifest in the form of fire and famine causing great loss of life and suffering. The angel goes on to reveal the exact agent of this destruction:
“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)
According to the revelation of St. John, our global system of international finance and trade will be destroyed by a giant asteroid which will strike the earth and plunge into the sea. And the name of this asteroid is “Wormwood”, because it will not only be the agent of world-wide destruction, but because it will also poison the waters of the earth.
“And the third angel sounded, and and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of the waters, because they were made bitter. And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many died of the waters, because they were made bitter”. (Revelation 8:10-11)
