New York City Is "Babylon The Great"

Left: Athanasius Kircher illustration (1679). Right: Pinterest webpage

Peter Goodgame makes the case for New York City being Mystery Babylon, I concur.

Simmel–Meservey produced the documentary shown below entitled "The Story of a City: New York." Its year of release was 1947 and the narrator was Ted Myers. The documentary serves to illustrate how New York City owns key features of "Mystery Babylon."

The narrator introduces New York as a "miracle city...fascinating city...incredible city" (min. 0:23-38). Later he dubs it a "fabulous city, a fascinating city" (min. 16:14-19). At the close he tabs it a "great" city for the fifth time. These accolades match Rev. 17:7, "When I saw her, I was greatly astonished," and Rev. 18:18, "they [the seafarers] will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?'"

The red beast of seven heads and ten horns is a country and New York City is synonymous with the United States. "To many of the world's peoples," asserts the narrator, "New York City and the United States are one and the same" (min. 0:45-50) and "to millions of Americans it has become the symbol of our country" (min. 1:10-15).

The documentary stresses the vital importance of the harbour to the city and to the whole American economy (min. 4:22-46, cf. Rev. 18:18-19). "The port of New York is the biggest and busiest in the world" (min. 4:47-5:00). "Over 5,000 foreign ships dock here each year, about one every half hour of each day, carrying almost half the entire foreign trade of the United States" (min. 5:15-25). "Here they load and unload every conceivable kind of freight" (min. 5:31-36, cf. Rev. 18:11-14).

New York is the leading commercial city and the financial center of the United States (min. 5:55-6:46, cf. Rev. 18:23, "Your merchants were the world's great men").

It is also "the leading wholesale and retail trade and export center in the nation" (min. 6:48-7:00). Raw materials are drawn from the far reaches of the world; the city's wholesale trade calls upon all parts of America and the world for supplies (min. 16:47-17:25, cf. Rev. 18:15, "The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off").

The spurious verse

The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits: This verse is spurious for at least four reasons,

1. The seven hills pointed to Ancient Rome, nullifying the title "Mystery Babylon" written on the woman's forehead (Rev. 17:5)


2. The verse contradicts Rev. 17:15, "The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages." New York City sits on many waters (watch min. 1:29-3:45 of the video above)


3. The Old Testament nowhere uses a symbol for hills or mountains


4. The concomitant picture is deliciously burlesque: a woman rides a beast by sitting on its seven heads

Note: Rev. 17:9 is not the sole instance of falsity in the Book of Revelation. For example Rev. 7 and Rev. 14:1-5 are also spurious because the ideal of virginity runs contrary to the letter and spirit of the Old Testament: girls were expected to be virgins before marriage but men were unabashedly polygamous (Genesis 30:25-26, 2 Samuel 5:13, 1 Kings 11:3, 2 Kings 24:15). The idealization of virginity has a pagan origin (Greece, Rome). Fortunately the writer of Rev. 7 and Rev. 14:1-5 made a mistake enumerating the tribes of Israel, which gives the lie to his insertion.