‘Day 305

“18 After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illuminated from his glory. ² And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. ³ For all the nations have fallen because of the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of sexual immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the excessive wealth of her luxury.”⁴ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive any of her plagues; ⁵ for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her offenses.” Revelation 18:1.5

It is easy to take a statement like this and project it into the past, the future, or some other part of the planet. Babylon is a dangerous outfit that is “over there” somewhere. We’re so glad that we are with the good guys! But at the risk of seeming unpatriotic, let me explore a few considerations that may bring this passage a little closer to home for Australians.

We are entwined with the United States today. The USA is not an evil empire in the sense of a totalitarian or repressive state like Assyria or Nazi Germany. Such nations automatically invite judgment unless they repent. But there are other ways in which this text seems to apply to us. We live in a world today where the dominant trading partner of most countries in the world is the United States of America. And while many of the goods traded are fairly neutral in a spiritual sense, much of American trade contributes greatly to the evil in the world.

America has become one of the primary exporters of immorality. Is it any wonder that some Muslim nations, who try to guard against public exposure of the human body, have regarded the United States as the “Great Satan?” After all, American priorities in the Middle East seem quite clear. When the Saudi government demanded that the US embassy close down both worship services and nightclubs for American citizens, the embassy compromised. If they could keep the nightclubs open, they would close down the worship services.

The export of American-style democracy seems like an improvement over oppression, but it is often accompanied by a dramatic rise in Mafia-style crime. Popular songs in newly-minted democracies glorify drugs and rape, courtesy of the American entertainment industry. Alarmed by a younger generation that is getting its values from Hollywood and television, Chinese officials have sought stricter controls on public morality. 
If John were alive today, would he apply the term Babylon to us?