The American Empire

In Search of Babylon!
What Does the Bible Say?

"Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet ..." (Daniel 7:19)

"God grant us the ability to see ourselves the way others see us."

- Robert Burns

INTRODUCTION
It is not without reason that we have spent a good deal of time in recent weeks painting for you a picture of the United States which, no doubt, differs greatly from the picture most Americans are familiar with. It is one which has been carefully kept from the American public, but it is one which most people who live outside our borders would probably agree is much more accurate. [Please see Vol. 5, No. 1 ("Revolution in Military Affairs"), Vol. 5, No. 2 ("The American Empire"), Vol. 5, No. 3 ("The American Empire and the U.S. System of Client States").] And the lengths to which our government and the elites who control it have gone to hide (perhaps the better word here is "bury") what America is really all about is truly breathtaking. [Please see our article on the American elite (Vol. 6, No. 1 ("The Elite, Money, and the End of Days), and Vol. 3, No. 1 ("The Elites and Conspiracism").]

John Loftus and Mark Aaron describe in their book, Secret War Against the Jews, a mysterious complex which lies just outside Washington D.C. in Suitland, Maryland - a complex in which are located most of the documents which tell the extremely unpleasant and covert efforts of the American elite to achieve U.S. world-hegemony. The complex is located just across from the Naval Intelligence facility in a one-story brick warehouse built as a storage annex for the National Archives. This is where the government's secrets are buried - literally. Only the top floor shows aboveground. It is a long, low building, about the length of a football field, surrounded by wide, well-mowed grassy fields that yield no clue of what lies beneath. Anyone can visit the top floor of the facility. It is open to the public. There is even a shuttle out to the Suitland annex from downtown Washington. The gray government van stops halfway between the White House and the capitol on the corner of the imposing main Archives building on Pennsylvania Avenue, in front of the motto carved in stone:

"What is past is prologue."

Loftus and Aarons say that it is a chilling reminder that history does indeed repeat itself. This is what the Bible indicates too. Ecclesiastics says:

"The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

"Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? ..." (Eccl. 1:9-10)

But the motto on the Archives building does not go far enough. It fails to say what comes after:

"Those that forget the past are doomed to repeat it."

And if that is so, then we are all in trouble, because the Bible says that it is in the nature of man to forget it:

"There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after." (Eccl. 1:11)

AN UNDERGROUND WORLD
Beneath the public reading rooms on the first floor is another world. It is entered from a locked elevator that can be opened only with a coded security card. In the underworld below where no "average" American citizen is permitted to go are the records of America's post-World War II effort to seize control of the world using the "War Against Communism" as a pretext. It is, as we have already indicated, the kind of history that American school children are not allowed to read. Within these vaults are levels upon levels upon other levels of secrets never meant to see the light of day. After the journey down, the elevator doors open onto a long, wide underground "street" which stretches off into the distance and is dimly lit by ceiling lights fifty feet overhead.

On either side of the cement "street" are tall, thick, blast-proof doors, the kind you see in old-fashioned banks. Some of the heavy steel doors are open. Small squares of bright light spill out onto the "street" from the entrances to the vaults. There are about twenty of these enormous storage caverns, each approximately an acre in size. Loftus and Aaron say that it is like the last scene from the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark. or maybe a scene straight out of the X-Files.

The aisles in the vaults stretch off into the darkness. From the aisles, rows and rows of shelves stacked with classified files reach two stories up to the ceiling. The workers scurry about pushing giant stepladders on wheels as they retrieve the old documents from their slumber.

THE NUMBER SIX VAULT
Loftus and Aaron report that as you come out of the elevator, the number-six vault on the left contains the most secret of all the documents at Suitland. Just inside the door to this top-secret chamber are several plain wooden tables, a small office, and several rows of filing cabinets. Only a few people from the National Archives staff are permitted to work here. For the most part, those who work in vault 6 belong to teams of "retired spies" or reserve "MI" officers from one of the military intelligence agencies on their annual tour of duty. They are reviewing the old classified files, page by page, to see what can be handed over to the Archives staff and passed upstairs into the "public domain." It is a slow process, and the reviewers are a little behind in their work - about a half century.

What makes matters worse is that even after the intelligence files are declassified, there are few archivists to index them. After Ronald Reagan became president in 1981, the budget of the U.S. National Archives was cut to the bone, allegedly in the interests of economy - but more likely in the interests of "government security." Without an index, locating a declassified file is like searching for a needle in a haystack. The Archives are the perfect place to bury the elite's secrets. Many embarrassing records have been intentionally misfiled or filed without an index. Hiding documents is the intelligence equivalent of putting a "soul in limbo." Files can be lost in this underground graveyard until Judgment Day, or so it is hoped.

One, of course, might ask, Why aren't the records just destroyed? Shredding is not always an option. Each copy of a top-secret document is accounted for on a security log. Shredding would require filling out a "document destruction form" and fielding a lot of questions from the Archives staff. Even if an agency obtained permission to shred one of its own files, it could not hope to retrieve all the copies that previously had been distributed to other agencies. Asking another agency to return a file is a guarantee that someone will read it and make a copy first. Losing records in the vaults with a little judicious misfiling is much simpler - and it happens all the time. [A fact to which I can easily attest (please see author's background).]

A record may disappear from the official files but still be known to the "institutional memory." The retired intelligence officers remember where a lot of the bodies are buried, and some of them - often for the sake of their own consciences - can be quite helpful. For example, a few years ago there was a public scandal when French intelligence accused the U.S. State Department of protecting Klaus Barbie, the notorious Nazi war criminal. The State Department issued the usual denials, but then the French released a memo quoting State Department file numbers on the Barbie case. The State Department said that it could not find the files and knew nothing about Barbie.

But Loftus and Aaron had talked to a source who recalled that the State Department had hidden a lot of its secret correspondence over in the army vault, with the records for the Military Government of Germany. He found the "missing" Barbie files and passed the work to Loftus, who promptly telephoned his former colleagues in the Justice Department. The State Department was not amused and retaliated by blaming Army intelligence for protecting Barbie. But those "in the know" knew that it had been the State Department (and later the CIA) which was at fault for hiring Nazis like Klaus Barbie. The "old spy" and his friends told Loftus and Aaron precisely which State Department files to request from the vaults for declassification under the Freedom of Information Act. The result of all this was a book by Loftus and Aaron entitled Unholy Trinity. A history of Nazi smuggling by the Vatican, the State Department, and the British secret service.

RECAPTURING A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
While much of the actual history of America's covert effort to create a world empire - a new "Roman Empire" - remain buried at Suitland, enough of it has surfaced to make plain what the U.S. have been up to over the years. It all revolves around a euphemism known as "Free Trade."

Historically, the U.S. economy has been sufficient unto itself, despite the rhetoric of the "investing class" [i.e., those who derive their incomes from investments as opposed to the those who derive their livelihoods from wages (specifically, the elites)]. While it's true that in recent years this reality has been eroded due primarily to the artifices of the new "global economy" [please see our articles on the economy] and the interest that certain circles in the United States (i.e., the investing class) have for "globalization," it's also true that this new "necessity" for imports is largely an artificial one which has been imposed on the United States largely as a result of the obscene search by American multinational corporations for "cheap labor," (cheap labor maximizes returns on investment) and the globalist dreams of America's new "international yuppie elite" and America's foreign policy establishment than it is the result of real necessity. [Again, please see our article on "The American Empire and the U.S. System of Client States."]

Indeed, in his classic (and iconoclastic) book on free trade, The Myth of Free Trade, Ravi Batra writes:

"... Britain, Germany, Japan, Canada, and Australia, among many others, are clearly open economies (i.e., trade dependent economies) because a large proportion of their economic activity depends on foreign trade ...

"What about the United States? Throughout its history ... America was practically a closed economy (i.e., a self-sufficient economy) ... Postwar data reveal that the United States became a free trade country (only) after 1973 ..."

The fact is, the U.S. reached its highest point insofar as real individual wages are concerned (measured in constant dollars) in 1973 when the U.S. was still a closed, self-sufficient economy.

THE REAL IMPETUS BEHIND FREE TRADE
Why, then, did the United States choose to open its economy? That's another story, a story which - as Dr. Alfred Eckes, Professor Emeritus of Economics at the University of Ohio, points out - had little to do with improving the overall standard of living of its average citizens than it had to do with the geopoitical considerations of its elite foreign policy and economic establishment, specifically, its desire to create a system of economically dependent (i.e., pliant) "satellite nations" to aid it in its war against "World Communism" (i.e., the Soviet Union) and its drive to achieve "world order" - as well as the desire of the industrial elites in this country to find reliable, cheap labor (and in the process, break the back of the American labor movement). Christopher Layne, a senior fellow in foreign policy studies at the Cato Institute, and Benjamin Schwartz, an analyst in the International Policy Department at the Rand Corporation, explain in an article which appeared in Foreign Policy entitled, "American Hegemony - Without an Enemy:"

"It is commonly held that the Cold War's end allows the United States to conduct a searching reexamination of its role in world politics. In fact, however, that has not happened and there is no reason to believe it will ... The driving force behind America's foreign policy has shown itself to be more basic than the containment of its (old) Cold War adversary (i.e., the Soviet Union) ... At the end of World War II, Washington was committed to an active internationalist agenda and would have pursued it even if the Soviet Union had not emerged as a geopolitical and ideological rival. That essential point was acknowledged in NSC 68, the 1950 National Security Council document that articulated America's Cold War strategy

"... as one designed to foster a world environment in which the American system can survive and flourish.

"The belief that American security is endangered by events in places that most agree have no intrinsic strategic value is a long-standing tenet of U.S. foreign policy ... To those outside the foreign policy elite, the tenor of discussion of the Balkan crisis must seem stilted. After all, visions of falling dominoes, the perception that world politics is a bipolar ideological confrontation between democracy and dictatorship, an obsession with reaffirming U.S. leadership and resolve, and concern for the vitality of alliances such as NATO all seem to belong to another era. To the uninitiated, the Cold War's end renders implausible the entire rationale for continuing American security obligations to Europe and East Asia (principally Japan and Korea).

"To understand why the U.S. foreign policy elite still regards American commitments in Europe and East Asia as vital, one must look beyond the (old) Soviet Union. After World War II Washington sought an international order based upon - to quote NSC 68's primary author, Paul Nitze - "preponderant (American) power." That objective had very little to do with any existing or projected Soviet actions; in fact, American statesmen knew that their wide-ranging objectives would increase Soviet insecurity and thereby the risk of war.

"If fear of Soviet expansion had been the only, or even the most important, reason to bring Western Europe and East Asia under the America security umbrella, why did the United States persist in its strategy long after it was apparent that Western Europe, Japan, and South Korea could provide their own security? And now that the USSR itself has disappeared, why does Washington continue to insist that an American-led NATO and the U.S. defense commitments to East Asia are still indispensable to America's security? The answer is that the basic aspiration of U.S. security policy since the Second World War has not been to contain the Soviets.

"The Cold War provided the impetus (i.e., the excuse) for the strategy of (American) preponderance, which was directed against both the Soviet Union and the Western sphere. By integrating Germany and Japan into a network of U.S.-dominated security and economic arrangements (principally through the device of free trade), Washington achieved two important objectives: Germany and Japan were co-opted into the anti-Soviet coalition, and, just as important, these erstwhile enemies were, themselves, contained. Through this policy of "double containment," the United States assumed responsibility for maintaining peace among the states in those areas ... For Washington, the pacification of Europe and East Asia was the key to creating and sustaining an open global economic system, which was seen as vital to American prosperity - especially elite prosperity, i.e., the prosperity of the so-called "investing class."

"Since the aims of the preponderance strategy transcended the U.S.-Soviet rivalry, it is not surprising that the foreign policy community now seeks to employ the same approach after the Cold War. Indeed, the Soviet Union's disappearance has seemingly removed the last barrier between Washington and the complete attainment of its world order aspirations.

"... As long as the United States can use its superpower capabilities to manipulate, regulate, and calibrate regional politics in Europe and East Asia, it can continue to prevent international politics from relapsing into normal patterns (i.e., national rivalries). Thus, Washington must retain its preeminent role in world politics, as the Pentagon's now infamous draft of the Defense Planning Guidance for the Fiscal Years 1994-1999 argued. That document asserted that to ensure a favorable international environment, America must prevent other states "from challenging our leadership or seeking to overturn the established political and economic order" [and that we must maintain the mechanisms for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role (parenthesis in original document - editor)] "Potential competitors" were, of course, widely known to mean Germany and Japan. Those goals mirror the imperatives formulated for America's Cold War national security policy in the late 1940s. As historian Melvyn Leffler has written, those imperatives dictated that "neither an integrated Europe nor a united Germany nor an independent Japan must be permitted to emerge as a third force."

"... the American foreign policy elite's vision of world order springs from the ... outlook ... that America's economic links with Western Europe and East Asia are crucial to ... (world order). (America's) ... empire of free trade ... is imperial in the strategic sense of that term. (It is) a world order policy based on pacification, reassurance, stability, and economic interdependence ... It is not an exaggeration to suggest that the quest for world order will ... inexorably result in a globe-girdling empire."

Thus, the globalization of the world's economy had its genesis not primarily in abstract economic and technological forces, but in distinct policy decisions the United States made as a result of its struggle to establish "world order."

FREE TRADE - A DEVICE DESIGNED TO
UNDERGIRD AMERICAN WORLD-HEGEMONY
While today it is fashionable to hold to the idea that the present global economy emerged in the 1970s and '80s as the result of irresistible technological change and overwhelming economic forces, the fact is the globalization of the world's economy began long before these forces were ever in place; long before the widespread use of the computer, and the possibility of instantaneous electronic fund transfers. To say today, as some do, that the United States needs trade with the rest of the world per se to sustain its level of economic well being simply does not comport with the facts. The fact of the matter is the United States enjoyed its highest standard of living - during the 1950s and early 1960s - at a time when it carried on very little foreign trade vis a vis its overall Gross National Product. Why? - because it possessed in itself all the attributes of great wealth:

An abundance of natural resources.
Powerful and dynamic business combinations.
A well educated and motivated work force.
A well developed physical infrastructure.
A powerful internal market.
No other nation on earth possesses all these advantages in such abundance and balance. Professors George Friedman and Merrideth LeBard write:

"The U.S. ... (is) generally self-contained and able to generate growth without extraordinary dependence on either exports ... or imports ... As (a) continent rather than (a) mere nation, (the United States) ... is not defined (by its) ... basic needs in terms of foreign economic policy (as are countries like Japan and Germany)."

Layne and Schwartz agree:

"It must be remembered that not only does the United States depend far less on foreign trade than its major economic partners, but to a large degree the interconnection (between it and its partners) is volitional (i.e., voluntary)."

For example, the U.S. requirement for imported raw materials is almost negligible: U.S. import requirements for coal/lignite (0.4%), nonmetallic ores (4.5%), iron concentrates (3.4%), farm products (1.3%), chemicals (5.5%), food (2.8%), lumber (1.0%), primary metals (4.2%), scrap metal (0.1%), all others (12.9%) are very limited, especially in comparison to the needs of countries like Japan and Germany. Only in oil, where the United States imports almost 44.6% of its requirements, is the United States truly dependent on the outside world; and even here, it has the military muscle to keep it flowing and/or adequate substitutes - i.e., coal and shale from which to manufacture man-made (ersatz) petroleum products.

FREE TRADE AND "WORLD ORDER"
Free trade, then, has very little to do with raising American living standards - at least the living standards of average, every-day working Americans - and everything to do with the pursuit of American world-hegemony. This is critical in understanding the concept behind free trade: free trade as an idea was birthed in the State Department, not in the Department of Commerce. From the beginning free trade was, and is today, a creature of politics and diplomacy, not commerce and economics. Political and diplomatic forces, not economic and commercial ones, shaped U.S. interests in free trade.

Friedman and LeBard write:

"The free trade regime was not ... primarily (an) economic event, but a political one. It was a means toward a political end: internal harmony in the alliance and the creation of healthy economies and societies within the alliance."

The emphasis on opening up the huge American market to aid foreign allies first surfaced at Bretton Woods and the 1947 Geneva trade negotiations which produced the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). The thought behind free trade was simple: even if the United States poured massive amounts of money into Europe and Japan to rebuild plants and equipment, as it was beginning to do with the Marshall Plan, the goods produced by these plants could not be sold. There was no market for them; no one in Europe and Japan had the money to buy what was produced. A market, therefore, for the goods and services produced had to be found: and that market was the United States.

The idea of opening up the U.S. market for European and Japanese goods and services was initially pushed by a relatively small State Department group led by Undersecretary of State, Joseph Grew. By the beginning of the Korean War, Dean Acheson and George Kennan had also joined Grew in pushing free trade as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy. By the end of the Korean conflict, free trade had emerged as the principle instrument of U.S. foreign policy.

FREE TRADE AS AN INSTRUMENT
OF AMERICAN WORLD-HEGEMONY
Friedman and LeBard continue:

"GATT was the foundation on which the Western political system rested: without GATT the American alliance system would crumble."

Alfred E. Eckes, "Ohio Eminent Research Professor" at the University of Ohio and chairman [1982-1984] of the U.S. International Trade Commission during the first Reagan Administration, agrees. He writes:

"To strengthen free world economies and help contain Soviet expansionism the executive branch (beginning with Harry Truman and extending even to the current administration - both Republicans and Democrats) ... rolled back tariffs and removed trade restrictions ... opening up the giant American market to the world's manufacturers ... (Indeed) the record suggests that for diplomatic and national security reasons the U.S. government sacrificed thousands of domestic jobs to create employment and prosperity elsewhere in the noncommunist world."

Lester Thurrow, Professor of Economics, Dean of MIT's Sloan School of Management and a member of the editorial board of the New York Times, elaborates:

"...the GATT-Bretton Woods system ... was designed to help ... the industrial world rebuild from the destruction of World War II ... If countries could be made rich, they would be democratic. If their richness depended upon selling in the American market, they would be forced to be allies of the United States." [And this last point is critical insofar as biblical prophecy is concerned, for more than anything else it clearly establishes America as "Prophetic Babylon" - Revelation 18: "... the merchants of these things (Japan, the nations of the E.C., Korea, Mexico, etc.), which were made rich by her (i.e., Babylon), shall stand afar off for fear of her torment (verse 15) ... SHE WAS THEIR BIGGEST CUSTOMER (verse 12). SHE MADE THEM ALL RICH FROM (her trade) (verse 19).]

Friedman and LeBard continue:

"... After World War II, the United States set about establishing a system of alliances, binding together a vast coalition on three principles: hostility to the Soviet Union, collective security, and ... trade. Behind this strategy was a deeper one: using American economic strength to entice nations close (geographically) to the Soviet Union to risk war with the Soviets in return for the substantial economic benefits of membership in the American bloc... (the) free trade regime ... was created by the United States for several purposes, not the least of which was political. The postwar free trade regime, which continues to reign today, had the effect of opening (U.S.) markets to the exports of recovering economies ... (These nations) took full advantage of the opportunities available (in the U.S. market) ... and grew prosperous (thereby)."

"The willingness to endure economic discomfort for political ends was the hallmark of American foreign policy from 1945 onward. The American obsession with the Soviet military and political threat was the safety net for Japan as well as other countries ... . The U.S. rationally calculated that it would be better to endure ... economic pain than the political disaster of a European or Japanese realignment with the Soviet Union."

AMERICAN JOBS IN EXCHANGE
FOR AMERICAN WORLD-HEGEMONY
In essence, Eckes says -

"... the United States ... trad(ed) access to the American market for foreign policy favors"

- that is to say, the American government undertook a deliberate course of action designed to trade American jobs away in exchange for allied support in the struggle against socialism (which, in the final analysis strikes much more severely at the fortunes of America's elite than it does at anyone else). The coin which made this policy work was jobs - selling American jobs in order to create jobs in other countries - all this in exchange for allied loyalty and compliance with America's "world order" aspirations.

And lest anyone think that America's foreign policy elite has abandoned the trade-off inherent in this globalist dream - i.e., American jobs for American world-hegemony - one has only to consider what's happening with regard to NAFTA. It's Germany and Japan all over again - only this time America is buying hegemony (and security) on its southern border (as opposed to East Asia and Europe) and paying for it - as it did with Japan and Europe - with American jobs. And it's going to be an expensive bargain indeed! The hemorrhage of jobs to Mexico is only just beginning - in the end, it's going to be enormous, despite the effort of America's free trade elite to camouflage what's really going on. [Please see addendum at the end of this article.]

IN SEARCH OF BABYLON:
WHAT THE BIBLE SAYS
And what does the Bible have to say about all this? - much in every way! It's plain enough to see! All that is required is for us to understand that there is a great gulf that separates what we have been told about America and what it really is, and to view that reality from an objective standpoint. In addition, we need the Prophetic Scriptures. Taken together, they yield a disquieting view of America in these "Last Days" - a view which can render only one result: America as "Prophetic Babylon." Let's now turn to the Scriptures. We ask you to consider carefully what we have to say. Study the Scriptures for yourself and see "if these things be true."

THE ANCIENT CITY
The ancient city of Babylon grew in size and importance from the days of Nimrod (Gen. 10:10) until it reached its greatest glory in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar [B.C. 604-562]. As described by Horodotus, it was an exact square of some 15 miles on a side, or 60 miles around, and was surrounded by a brick wall 87 feet thick and 350 feet high, though probably that is a mistake, 100 feet being nearer the height. On the wall were 250 towers, and the top of the wall was wide enough to allow six chariots to drive abreast. Outside the wall was a vast moat surrounding the city, kept filled with water from the river Euphrates; and inside the wall, and not far form it, was another wall extending around the city.

Twenty-five magnificent avenues, 150 feet wide, ran across the city from north to south, and the same number crossed them at right angles from east to west, making 676 great squares, each nearly 3/5 of a mile on a side. The city was divided into two equal parts by the river Euphrates, that flowed diagonally through it, and whose banks within the city were walled up and pierced with brazen gates with steps leading down to the river. At the ends of the main avenues, on each side of the city, were gates, whose leaves of brass shone as they opened or closed in the rising or setting sun like "leaves of flame."

The Euphrates within the city was spanned by a bridge, at each side of which was a palace, and these palaces were connected by a subterranean passageway underneath the bed of the river, in which at different points were located sumptuous banqueting rooms constructed entirely of brass.

Near one of these palaces stood the "Tower of Bel" or Babel, consisting of eight towers, each 75 feet high, rising one upon the other, with an outside winding stairway to its summit, which towers with the chapel on the top, made a height of 660 feet. The chapel itself, which was lavishly furnished, could be reckoned in today's dollars as approaching $1,000,000,000.00.

The "Hanging Gardens" of Babylon were renowned as one of the wonders of the Ancient World. These gardens were 400 feet square and were raised in terraces one above the other to a height of 350 feet. The topmost terrace was reached by staircases 19 feet wide. The top of each terrace was covered with large stones, on which was laid a bed of rushes, then a thick layer of asphalt, next, two courses of bricks cemented together, and finally, plates of lead to prevent leakage; it was then covered with earth and planted with shrubbery and large trees. The whole had the appearance from a distance of a forest covered mountain which was a very remarkable sight in the level plain of the Euphrates.

Babylon was probably the most magnificent city the world has ever seen; "poor" Jerusalem was but a small, provincial and tacky village in comparison! Babylon the Great - that "Great City" (Rev. 18:2); Jerusalem, the "Holy City," (Rev. 21:10) - "small and compact" (Psalm 122:3).

BABYLON: A MYSTERY
WRAPPED IN AN ENIGMA
And what about "Prophetic Babylon?" It is, of course, every bit as magnificent!

Before we set out on our hunt for this great city, however, let's deal with one of the biggest stumbling blocks to any search: the thought that "Prophetic Babylon" has anything at all to do with the ancient city or that the verses which deal with this prophecy (i.e., Revelation 17 and 18; Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, and Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51) were fulfilled when Cyrus took Babylon in B.C. 541.

As strange as it might seem, there are some who insist that the prophecies concerning "Babylon" (again - Revelation 17 and 18, Isaiah chapters 13 and 14, and Jeremiah chapters 50 and 51) were fulfilled when the Medo-Persians captured Babylon in 541 B.C. - and that these verses have, therefore, nothing to do with events yet future. But there is too much in these chapters which were not accomplished when Cyrus took the ancient city of Babylon. For example, both the prophecies of Jeremiah and Isaiah, like those of the Revelation, indicate that Babylon [Prophetic Babylon] is to be destroyed suddenly and catastrophically - "in one short hour," NEVER TO BE INHABITED AGAIN!! But when Cyrus took the city in B.C. 541, he took it so quietly and with such little commotion that some of the inhabitants did not know until the third day that Belshazzar had been slain and the city taken.

Some years later, it revolted against Darius Hystaspis, and in B.C. 478 Xerxes took the city and plundered it. But he did not destroy it. In B.C. 331, Alexander the Great prepared to lay siege to the once again thriving and powerful city, but the citizens threw open the gates and received him with acclamation. During the subsequent wars of his generals, Babylon suffered much and was finally brought under the power of Seleucis. In B.C. 293 Seleucis founded Seleucia in the neighborhood of Babylon, and the rival city gradually drew off a large portion of Babylon's inhabitants so that by A.D. 15, Strabo spoke of the city as being largely deserted.

Nevertheless, there still existed within the city a large Jewish population left over from the "Captivity." Indeed, we find that the Apostle Peter wrote his First Epistle from Babylon in A.D. 60 (I Peter 5:13). About the middle of the Fifth Century A.D., Theodoret spoke of Babylon as being inhabited only by Jews who still had three Jewish schools or "Yeshivas" there. In the last year of the same century, the Talmud was issued from Babylon and accepted as authoritative by Jews throughout the world.

In A.D. 917 Ibu Hankel mentioned Babylon as still being in existence, and by A.D. 1100 it had again grown into a city of some importance. Shortly afterwards, it was enlarged, fortified and renamed "Hillah." In 1898, Hillah contained about 10,000 inhabitants and was surrounded by fertile lands and beautiful groves which stretched along the Euphrates River.

During this entire period (B.C. 541 - to the present) it could never be said that "neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there, neither shall shepherds make their fold there" (Isa. 13:20). Nor could it be said of Babylon - "Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land WHEREIN NO MAN DWELLETH, neither doeth any son of man pass thereby." (Jer. 51:43). Nor could it be said, "... and they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations, but thou shalt be desolate forever, saith the Lord" (Jer. 51:26), for many towns and cities have been built from the ruins of Babylon - Seleucia by the Greeks, Ctesiphone by the Parthians, Al Maiden by the Persians, and Kufa by the Caliphs. Indeed, in Baghdad today (the capital of modern Iraq) Babylonian stamped bricks may be frequently noticed.

But Isaiah is still more specific, for he locates the time when his prophecy will be fulfilled. He calls it the "DAY OF THE LORD" (Isa. 13:9) - that is to say, at the end of the "Great Tribulation." Moreover, he says that when Babylon is destroyed, "The stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine" (Isa. 13:19; see also Luke 21:25-27). Surely nothing like this happened when Cyrus took Babylon in B.C. 541.

In the description of the destruction of the city of Babylon given in Revelation 18, we are told that Babylon's destruction will be accomplished in "ONE HOUR" (verse 19). Again - this is certainly not the description of events which surrounded Cyrus's taking of the city. In addition, we are told in the same chapter that she is to be destroyed by fire (Rev. 18:8-9, 18) and this is in exact harmony with the words of Isaiah 13:19 and Jeremiah 50:40. Moreover, in Revelation 16:17-19, we are told that an earthquake will shake the city at the time of its destruction. No such earthquake ever shook the city when Cyrus took it in B.C. 541.

Obviously, then, the Babylon that is described in Isaiah 13 and 14, Jeremiah 50 and 51 and in the Revelation is not the ancient city of Babylon, but some great "latter-day" nation which by means of its enormous military and economic might will establish its ascendancy over the world. Lastly, there are those who insist that the prophecies which deal with Babylon refer to modern-day Iraq. Indeed, prior to the Gulf War, countless numbers of fundamentalist Christians could be found who were predicting doom for America in its confrontation with Iraq over Kuwait. Such thinking, of course, was MORONIC - U.S. forces sliced through Iraq like a knife through butter, revealing in the process more about the real identity of Prophetic Babylon than most American Christians were (are) prepared to admit. [Please see our article on RMA technology and the American military.]

BABYLON THE GREAT
In Scripture, Babylon represents the kingdom and glory of Satan (Rev. 17:1-8); Jerusalem is the city of the Living God (Rev. 12:22). Satan is called the "Prince of this World" (John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11) over which sits Babylon, the city of Satan. What is meant by the term "world?" The word "world" is the translation of the Greek word "kosmos," which means an harmonious order or arrangement, and it is used in three ways in the New Testament:

First, it means the MATERIAL UNIVERSE (Acts 17:14; Matt. 13:35; John 1:10; Mark 16:15).
Second, it means -
THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD as whole (John 1:10; 3:16; 12:19; 17:21);
THE WHOLE RACE OF MAN ALIENATED FROM GOD AND HOSTILE TO THE CAUSE OF CHRIST (Heb. 11:38; John 14:17; 14:27; 15:18); this is but an extension of (a) above and is the meaning we are most concerned with here.
Third, it means the whole circle of WORLDLY goods, endowments, riches, advantages, pleasures, which though hollow and fleeting, stir our desires and seduce us from God, so that they are obstacles to the cause of Christ (I John 3:17; Matt. 16:26; I Cor 2:12; 3:19, 7:31; Titus 2:12; II Peter 1:4; 2:20; I John 2:15-17; James 1:27). It is the world of our split level homes, two cars, good careers, good educations, bank accounts, vacations, etc. It is when these pleasures and even so-called necessities of life "possess our hearts" and crowd out our commitment to the Lord and to His people that they have in reality become part of the kosmos.
Moreover, the word kosmos, taken in conjunction with the three meanings described above, implies that behind all this there is a mind - the Prince of this World - which gives order and arrangement to it all. John says:

"The whole KOSMOS [as described above] lieth in the evil one." (John 5:19)

He is the KOSMOKRATER or world-ruler - a word which, however, appears only once, and is used in the plural of his lieutenants: "the WORLD RULERS OF THIS DARKNESS" (Eph. 6:12).

Politics, education, literature, science, art, law, commerce, music, our homes, careers, etc. - together they constitute the "kosmos." Subtract them, and the world as a coherent system ceases to exist. It is the development of these things that constitutes history. The question is, which direction is history tending? What is its ultimate goal? - BABYLON THE GREAT, the masterpiece of Satan!! That is the direction of the world's advance - the kingdom of Antichrist, and we are only seconds away as God's prophetic clock winds down.

The world [kosmos] is Satan's grand creation and he has directed all his strength and ingenuity into causing it to flourish. To what end? To capture man's allegiance and draw him to himself. He has one object - to establish his own dominion in human hearts worldwide! Babylon is the centerpiece, the pinnacle of his great design.

COMMERCE
Commerce is at the heart of Babylon! It is at the heart of Satan:

"The word of the Lord came again unto me, saying...

"Now, thou son of man, take up a lamentation for Tyrus [Satan],

"And say unto Tyrus, O thou that are situate (situated) at the entry ["midst" - is the more accurate translation] of the sea, which are a MERCHANT of the people ... [the traders of the earth] have made thy beauty perfect. "Tarshish [the trading nations] ... traded in thy fairs.

"Son of man, say unto the Prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord God, because thine heart is lifted up and thou hast said, I am a god, I sit in the seat of God IN THE MIDST OF THE SEAS ...

"By thy great wisdom and by thy traffic [commerce] thou hast increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches:

"By the multitudes of thy merchandise they have filled ... thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: ...

"Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by ... the iniquity of thy traffic [commerce] ..." (Ezek. 27:1-3, 12; 28:2, 5,16, 18).

[Concerning the identity of this personage (i.e., the "King of Tyrus"), almost all evangelical scholars are in agreement that what the Scriptures have in mind here is Satan. Pember writes: "... the lamentation upon the King of Tyrus ... cannot be applied to any mortal ... To adopt the too common plan of explaining these (verses) away as mere figures of speech, is to trifle with the Word of God. We have no right to use so dishonest a method of extricating ourselves from difficulties, a method which enables men to deduce almost any desired meaning from a passage, and makes the whole Bible an enigma instead of a disclosure ... (Please see Pember, Earth's Earliest Ages {pgs. 45-49} for a detailed treatment as to the identification of Tyrus as Satan {antichrist}.]

At the heart of commerce is money. Money is addictive and all too often leads the possessor of it into unrighteousness. The Word of God speaks of "the mammon of unrighteousness" (Luke 16:9). The corruption which results from the "love of money" and the things which it can buy, invariably leads away from God. [Again, please see our articles on the elites: Vol. 6, No. 1 and Vol. 3, No. 1]

Paul writes:

"They that desire to be rich fall into a temptation and snare and many foolish and hurtful lusts, such as drown men in destruction and perdition.

"For the love of money is the root of all evil: which some reaching after, have been led astray ... and have pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (I Tim. 6:9-10)

THE TIMES OF THE GENTILES
With all this in mind, let's now begin our quest for Babylon in earnest. We will use as our principle guide the best evangelical review on the subject - Things To Come, by J. Dwight Pentecost of Dallas Theological Seminary. In doing so, we will gradually paint a picture of "Prophetic Babylon" and let the reader draw his own conclusions. We will also carefully note all of our sources. [Please see "sources and footnotes" in the Antipas Papers (order your copy by pressing here).] We will begin with a discussion and explanation of the "Times of the Gentiles." Why? Because Prophetic Babylon is to be the culmination of the full development of Gentile world power - its final and complete fulfillment. In Luke 21:24, Jesus said:

"Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled." (Luke 21:24)

This time period - the "Times of the Gentiles" - is one of the most important time periods in the prophetic Scriptures. It is to be a period of time in which Jerusalem is to be under the dominion of Gentile world power. This period began with the Babylonian captivity when Jerusalem fell into the hands of the Gentiles, and as J. Dwight Pentecost writes:

"... it has continued unto the present time and well continue through the Tribulation period, in which era the Gentile powers will be judged. The dominion of the Gentiles [will] end at the second advent of Messiah to the earth."

In other words, the "Times of the Gentiles" will end at the second coming of the Lord in glory. While there are some who contend that the "Times of the Gentiles" ended in 1967 when Israel retook the City of Jerusalem, most evangelicals reject this thesis because the present Israeli occupation of Jerusalem is destined to be cut short when the Gentiles will once again wrest the city from the Jews for 1,260 days (three and a half years) shortly after the Abomination of Desolation during the Tribulation. (Rev. 11:2)

Scofield defines the time limits thus:

"The times of the Gentiles is that long period beginning with Babylonian captivity of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar, and [which is] to be brought to an end by the destruction of Gentile world power ... [at] the coming of the Lord in glory." (Dan. 2:34, 35, 44 and Rev. 19:11, 21)

Scofield, then agrees with Pentecost - the "Times of the Gentiles" will end at the second coming. The fullest description of the period is given to us in Daniel. Edward Dennett writes:

"What we have in Daniel is ... the course and character of Gentile power, from the destruction of Jerusalem [under Nebuchadnezzar] on to the appearing of Christ, together with the position of the remnant and the sufferings of the Jewish people, while the Gentiles possess the dominion, until at last God, in His faithfulness in pursuance of His purposes, interposes, and for His own glory, works for the rescue of His elect EARTHLY people (i.e., the Jews)."

THE GREAT IMAGE
The first prophetic outline of the course of this period - the "Times of the Gentiles" - is given in Daniel 2, where, through the medium of the "great image," the successive empires that would exercise Gentile dominion over Jerusalem are outlined. [The term "empire" as used here is better understood as "civilization;" the English word "empire" implies mere political or military unity, while Daniel has in mind a unity of far greater dimensions than what the word "empire" denotes - a unity which embraces a common culture, law, science, social structure, religion, etc., and is best expressed in the English language by the word "civilization."]

The book of Daniel reads:

The Vision of the Great Image
"And in the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar dreamed dreams, wherewith his spirit was troubled, and his sleep brake from him.

"Then the king commanded to call the magicians, and the astrologers, and the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans, for to show the king his dreams. So they came and stood before the king.

"And the king said unto them, I have dreamed a dream, and my spirit was troubled to know the dream.

"The king answered and said to the Chaldeans, The thing is gone from me: if ye will not make known unto me the dream, with the interpretation thereof, ye shall be cut in pieces, and your houses shall be made a dunghill.

"The Chaldeans answered before the king, and said, There is not a man upon the earth that can show the king's matter: therefore there is no king, lord, nor ruler, that asked such things of any magician, or astrologer, or Chaldean.

"Then Daniel answered with counsel and wisdom to Arioch the captain of the king's guard, which was gone forth to slay the wise men of Babylon:

"Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God of heaven.

"Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his:

"And he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: he giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

"He revealeth the deep and secret things: he knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with him.

"The king answered and said to Daniel, whose name was Belteshazzar, Art thou able to make known unto me the dream which I have seen, and the interpretation thereof?

"Daniel answered in the presence of the king, and said, The secret which the king hath demanded cannot the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, the soothsayers, show unto the king;

"But there is a God in heaven that revealeth secrets, and maketh known to the king Nebuchadnezzar what shall be in the latter days. Thy dream, and the visions of thy head upon thy bed, are these;

"Thou, O king, sawest, and behold a great image. This great image, whose brightness was excellent, stood before thee; and the form thereof was terrible.

"This image's head was of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass,

"His legs of iron, his feet part of iron and part of clay.

"Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces.

"Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

"This is the dream; and we will tell the interpretation thereof before the king.

"Thou, O king, art a king of kings: for the God of heaven hath given thee a kingdom, power, and strength, and glory.

"And wheresoever the children of men dwell, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the heaven hath he given into thine hand, and hath made thee ruler over them all. Thou art this head of gold.

"And after thee shall arise another kingdom inferior to thee, and another third kingdom of brass, which shall bear rule over all the earth.

"And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.

"And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters' clay, and part of iron, the kingdom (i.e., the fourth kingdom, the kingdom of iron) shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.

"And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.

"And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.

"And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

"Forasmuch as thou sawest that the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands, and that it brake in pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold; the great God hath made known to the king what shall come to pass hereafter: and the dream is certain, and the interpretation thereof sure." (Dan. 2:1-3, 5, 10, 14, 19-22, 26-28, 31-45)

Lewis Sperry Chaffer, founder and first President of Dallas Theological Seminary, elaborates on these verses:

"Five world dominions in their succession are foreseen ... FOUR of these are represented by the portions of the image and the fifth as that which will arise upon the wreckage of the four ... [after] the judgments of God fall ... . The first, [Ancient] Babylon as the head of gold, was already at the zenith of its powers when Daniel gave his interpretation. The second was Media-Persia in which kingdom also Daniel lived to share. The third dominion was Greece under Alexander, and the fourth was Rome, which was in its fullest development in the day that Christ was here on earth. It is this iron kingdom which merges in its final form [still as the fourth great Gentile world kingdom] into feet of iron and clay. It is in this time of the feet of iron and clay [of the fourth world kingdom] that the "Smiting Stone" [as the Fifth Kingdom - the Kingdom of Christ] strikes [and shatters the image - that is to say, Gentile world power]."

THE FOUR WILD BEASTS
The second prophetic outline of the course of this period is given in Daniel 7. Whereas in Daniel 2, the course of world empire is viewed from man's perspective, in Daniel 7, the same course of world empire is viewed from the Divine viewpoint, where the Gentile empires are seen not as an attractive image, but as four wild, voracious beasts, which devour and destroy all before them and, consequently, are worthy of judgment.

The Book of Daniel reads:

The Vision of the Four Wild Beasts
"In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters.

"Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea.

"And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

"The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it.

"And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh.

"After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it.

"After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns.

"I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things.

"I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like the pure wool: his throne was like the fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire.

"A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him: thousand thousands ministered unto him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before him: the judgment was set, and the books were opened.

"I beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the burning flame.

"As concerning the rest of the beasts, they had their dominion taken away: yet their lives were prolonged for a season and time.

"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.

"And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed.

"I Daniel was grieved in my spirit in the midst of my body, and the visions of my head troubled me.

"I came near unto one of them that stood by, and asked him the truth of all this. So he told me, and made me know the interpretation of the things.

"These great beasts, which are four, are four kings, which shall arise out of the earth.

"But the saints of the most High shall take the kingdom, and possess the kingdom for ever, even for ever and ever.

"Then I would know the truth of the fourth beast, which was diverse from all the others, exceeding dreadful, whose teeth were of iron, and his nails of brass; which devoured, brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with his feet;

"And of the ten horns that were in his head, and of the other which came up, and before whom three fell; even of that horn that had eyes, and a mouth that spake very great things, whose look was more stout than his fellows.

"I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints, and prevailed against them;

"Until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the most High; and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom.

"Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.

"And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.

"And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.

"But the judgment shall sit, and they shall take away his dominion, to consume and to destroy it unto the end.

"And the kingdom and dominion, and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven, shall be given to the people of the saints of the most High, whose kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.

"Hitherto is the end of the matter. As for me Daniel, my cogitations much troubled me, and my countenance changed in me: but I kept the matter in my heart. (Daniel 7:1-28)

Arno C. Gaebelein explains this passage as follows:

"The gold in the dream image, and the first beast represent the [ancient] Babylonian empire. In the beginning it was a lion with wings, but they were plucked out; it lost its strength and though it had a man's heart it was a beast still ... The bear stands for the Medo-Persian empire, the empire seen as of silver, the chest and arms. One paw is lifted up, because the Persian element was stronger than that of the Medes. The bear had three ribs in its mouth because Susiana, Lydia, and Asia Minor had been conquered by this power. The leopard, with four wings and four heads, is the picture of the Graeco-Macedonian empire, corresponding to the thighs of brass in the image of Nebuchadnezzar. The four wings denote swiftness, the four heads the partition of this empire into the kingdom of Syria, Egypt, Macedonia, and Asia Minor ... we call attention to the fact that in the selection of beasts to represent these world powers who domineer the "Times of the Gentile," God tells us that their moral character is BEASTLY. The lion devours, the bear crushes, the leopard springs upon its prey ... then we have the fourth world empire, the iron one, ROME. It is described in a way as none of the others are. It is dreadful, terrible, exceeding strong; it has great iron teeth. It devours, breaks in pieces and stamps down. It has ten horns [which correspond to the ten - toes of the image] AND IN THEIR MIDST RISES UP A LITTLE ["YOUNGER" OR "HINDERMOST"] HORN ..."

Thus, the Scriptures reveal that from the time of Daniel until the time when Jerusalem shall be given freedom [ON A PERMANENT BASIS] from Gentile dominion at the second advent of Christ, there will be four great empires which shall rise and fall. The period of Tribulation [the last seven years of the Times of the Gentiles] ... [will] be the final epoch in the development (of this period).

THE FINAL FORM OF GENTILE WORLD POWER: WESTERN CIVILIZATION
There are several important passages of Scripture which have an important bearing on the question of the final form of Gentile world power. In the descriptions of the "Times of the Gentiles" given in Daniel 2, the prophet deals in a general way with the four successive empires which will in their turn possess world power. But he becomes quite specific with the end of that power. In Daniel 2:40-44, the final form of Gentile power is described.

Pentecost writes:

"... the final form of Gentile power [is described as follows]:

"The ... form of ... [this power] is an outgrowth from and final development of the fourth great empire, the ROMAN. This final form is represented by the ten toes [and the ten horns], (Dan. 2:41-42, see also Dan. 7.)
"The final form of this power is marked by division ...
"The final form of Gentile power is marked by a federation [of that power], since the mixture of the iron and clay [in the feet of the image] is an unnatural one, it would seem to suggest that the federation is not brought about by force, else this condition would not continue. But it is brought about by mutual consent, so that each member in the alliance retains its own identity. This is in harmony with Revelation 17:13."
Now we come to a very important point. Four great world empires [civilizations] of Gentile origin are spoken of by the Prophet Daniel - four and only four! - the ten toes of the image being only the final form of the last great empire - ROME. There is no interruption here in the continuity of the fourth great empire and the imagery used does not picture the death of the fourth empire and its later resurrection - but it speaks of one continuous empire up through time from Christ to the present.

Yet, it is commonly assumed by the layman that Rome collapsed in 476 A.D. - never to rise again. But Roman civilization itself never collapsed and has continued to this day. It is what we today call "Western Civilization" - a term familiar to any college student - and a term which denotes European Civilization, that is to say, that civilization which derives it force and origin from Ancient Rome. Thus, while it is true that the POLITICAL unity of "the one-world that was Rome's" - of Roman Civilization - was lost in 476 A.D., the civilization of Rome itself has survived to become the dominant civilization of this planet - directly holding sway over Western Europe and North America and holding limited sway over Central and South America, Africa, and to a lesser extent, even Asia.

In this connection, it is important to note that Western Civilization is to be differentiated from the native civilization of China, Japan, India, Africa, and Central and South America. These are civilizations of totally different origins and it is these very civilizations that Western Civilization has come to dominate to a greater or lesser degree, directly or indirectly. The science, technology, literature, law, culture, religion, and languages [espe