The Whore and her Mother: 9/11, Babylon and the Return of the King

By Raymond McCullough

Could the writings of the ancient Hebrew prophets be relevant to events taking place in the world today?

These Hebrew prophets - Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habbakuk and the apostle John, in The Revelation - wrote extensively about a latter day city and empire which would dominate, exploit and corrupt all the nations of the world. They referred to it as Babylon the Great, or Mega-Babylon, and they foretold that its fall - 'in one day' - would devastate the economies of the whole world. Have these prophecies been fulfilled already?

Is Mega-Babylon:

the Roman Catholic Church?
A world super-church?
Rebuilt ancient Babylon?
Brussels?
Jerusalem?
or somewhere entirely different?

Should this city/nation have a large Jewish population?
Why all the talk about merchants, cargoes, commodities, trade?

Can we rely on the words of these ancient prophets?
If so, what else did they foretell that is still to be fulfilled?

Do they refer to other major nations:

USA,?
Russia?
China?
Europe?

What about militant Islam?

Author and radio presenter, Raymond McCullough, examines these questions of biblical prophecy, building his case in a step by step 'construction' approach. He identifies modern day Mega-Babylon, shows us why we can and should rely on the words of these prophets and gives us an overview of their other important prophecies soon to be fulfilled in these last days.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Precious Oil Publications
• Release date: Aug 29, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465935243

Raymond McCullough

Raymond McCullough, from Co. Down, near Belfast, Northern Ireland, has been a professional writer for over twenty years, originally writing a regular series – plus other articles, reviews and reports – for several UK technical magazines. From 1990-96 he edited and published the Irish magazine, 'Bread' – releasing his first book, ‘Ireland – now the good news!’ from this in 1995; co-edited by his wife, well-known fiction author Gerry McCullough. His articles have also been published in the Irish Times, Dublin, and the Presbyterian Herald, Belfast. In 1993 he hosted a radio show, 'In tha Name a' Gawd!' on 96.7 BCR, in Belfast, which later developed into his current satellite radio show of music, news and faith-based interviews – broadcasting around the world on several satellite networks. From 1996, for seven years, he and Gerry led a cell-based Christian fellowship in the Belfast area. Since then he’s been involved in media of all kinds – from web design to podcasting, satellite and internet radio, plus documentary TV production – producing an album of Celtic & Hebrew worship music, 'Into Jerusalem,' in 2005 and a Celtic pop-folk album, 'Different,' in 2008. Raymond has researched the subjects in 'The Whore and her Mother' for about forty years, off and on, but the events of 9/11 brought a new focus to his research and a real sense of increasing urgency encouraged him to complete the book in just four months! He felt the subject was too interesting and dramatic to simply be confined to the fairly narrow, evangelical Christian world. Since 2008, Raymond has produced and hosted ‘Celtic Roots Radio’ – an iTunes podcast and web station (on Live365) – with around 14,000 downloads per month in well over 100 countries. He also produces and hosts the ‘In tha Name a’ Gawd!’ series and Fresh Bread – broadcasting each week on several satellite radio networks heard in most countries of the world. His 'Kingdom Come Trust' website has hundreds of enthusiastic emails from satellite radio listeners in US, Canada, Australia and the Caribbean. Raymond is currently writing a follow-up to 'The Whore and her Mother' entitled, ‘What Kind of People’ – expanding the contents of his last chapter on how we should respond to these prophecies soon being fulfilled. He is recording a new Fresh Bread series based on the book is planning shortly to publish the 'craic' from his Celtic Roots Radio shows as, 'A Wee Bit a' Craic,' and is working on a TV documentary, filmed mainly in Canada, entitled, 'Broken Treaties.' More info at: http://raymondmccullough.com http://kingdomcome.org.uk

Book preview

By the same author, (co-edited with Gerry McCullough):

I

reland – now the good news!

The best of ‘Bread’ – personal testimonies and church/fellowship profiles from around Ireland

Edited by Raymond & Gerry McCullough

ISBN-10: 0952578506

ISBN-13: 978-0952578505

Cover design: Raymond McCullough

Cover photo: © Reuters – used by permission

The Whore

... and her Mother

Raymond McCullough

Recent comments from other authors:

"… AMAZED when I read this book ... in awe of your extensive knowledge on so many levels: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim culture; the Jewish diaspora ... Greek & Hebrew; and your panoramic view of history through a biblical world view … thought-provoking and troublesome ... many will be offended, but you consistently build your case instead of being sensationalistic."

James Revoir, author of Priceless Stones

"… thoughtful, insightful ... and you have a knack for putting complicated topics in an easily accessible way."

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.. has the makings of a best seller in its field ... you open up real ideas some of which are somewhat scary to say the least … difficult to leave down because you have created the ‘Must turn the page’ feeling threaded right through every line

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Love this kind of stuff ... grounded in research and common sense

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"It’s very thought-provoking and solidly presented."

Katherine Holmes, author of The Swan Bonnet

I did not feel you were preaching at all, more laying your cards on the table ... An evocative read, which left me ‘thoughtful’

Molly Hopkins, author of It Happened in Paris

I was so impressed with the level of detail you give and your breadth of knowledge … well-researched and thorough

Kevin Alex Baker, author of Head Games

The Whore

... and her Mother

9/11, Babylon and the Return of the King

Raymond McCullough

Published by

Precious Oil

P u b l i c a t i o n s

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Smashwords edition

(Also available in print at most online retailers)

Copyright © Raymond McCullough, 2011

The right of Raymond McCullough to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988

ISBN 13: 978-0 9525785 2 9

ISBN 10: 0 9525785 2 2

First published 2011

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Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

Precious Oil

P u b l i c a t i o n s

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10a Listooder Road, Crossgar,

Downpatrick, Northern Ireland BT30 9JE

Thanks to my wife, Gerry, for editing and general encouragement; to Pádraic Fitzpatrick (and one anonymous other) for proof-reading the manuscript; and to Alan & Jeanetta Harper for their encouragement to finish the book!

Contents

Preface

Introduction

1 Mega-Babylon – past or present?

2 A present day world system?

3 ID of Mega-Babylon revealed

4 Why trust these Hebrew prophets?

5 The 2nd Exodus

6 Why judge Mega-Babylon?

7 Get out! Flee! Run for your life!!

8 The 6-hour war

9 Riding a ten-horned beast

10 NEWSFLASH: America is gone!

11 The man is revealed

12 The mark of the beast

13 The Great Tribulation

14 The mother of all battles

15 The Return of the King

16 The ‘heart of stone’ removed

17 The 1,000 year reign of Messiah

18 Time for a timeline

19 The greatest prophet of all

20 The church must change!

21 What do we do now?

Bibliography

Appendix A

Appendix B

About the author:

Preface

I suppose, as with the assassination of John F. Kennedy, most people can remember exactly what they were doing when they heard the news of the 9/11 attacks. 

I certainly remember exactly what I was doing – I’d spent a couple of hours earlier, out in the bay with my little grandson, fishing from my dinghy, and we had just arrived at the nearby boatyard to continue work on rebuilding my wooden boat. 

I was working on the roof of the boat in the sunshine when another boat owner told me to turn on the news.  Thinking that it was something related to Northern Ireland politics, I turned on the radio – to discover the awful truth. 

Shortly after I began to follow the story came the news that the south tower of the World Trade Center had completely collapsed.  Later they reported that the north tower had also collapsed.

Back at home, and at the house of friends later that evening, we watched over and over the television footage of those terrible events.  I found it difficult to believe that what we were being shown was not a movie, but a real life happening.  Real people had died – in thousands! 

We watched real human beings who had been alive and well earlier that day, leaping from an impossible height to certain death.  One minute they were busy at their normal jobs at the World Trade Centre, the Pentagon, or beginning a plane journey; the next minute their lives were over!

How could this happen?  Why would God allow it to happen?  Yes, I believe in God.  I think many in New York and Washington that day also found a sudden renewal of their faith!  But what had just happened reminded me of a difficult time in my own life, and that of my family, just a few years before. 

During a particularly tense time in Northern Ireland there was a lot of suppressed anger ready to overflow, and my home came under attack several times.  Teenagers and young adults would gather at the side of our house and begin to shout abuse.  Suddenly there was the sound of bricks and stones crashing through our kitchen window.  It felt as if Satan himself had entered our house! 

My wife and I and our two young daughters knelt together and prayed in our living room.  We had to acknowledge that, even though we could not understand it, God had, for some inexplicable reason, allowed this to happen to us.  We did not complain to Him and ask why – we simply accepted that He had allowed this and asked for His protection in future and His guidance for us.

After the events of 9/11, I suppose I expected George W. Bush, the US president, and a self-confessed evangelical Christian, perhaps to call a national day of repentance, prayer and fasting, asking for future protection and guidance for America – for surely God had allowed this disaster to happen for some purpose?

In the end only one plane was thwarted, and the brave passengers sacrificed their own lives in order to prevent the attack on the White House and the President. However, I saw no sign of any national repentance.  I saw a President saddened, but determined to hold the moral high ground and – defiant towards the perpetrators – declaring war on the terrorists.

There is no doubt that what the 9/11 perpetrators did was an evil act, but that does not answer the question as to why the world’s most powerful nation was powerless to prevent such an attack?  Why did the security forces of the most powerful nation on earth not detect at least some of the teams about to wreak such havoc on American citizens? 

I can only repeat that, for His own reasons, God allowed this to happen. Why did God NOT bless America, (or at least avert the curse), when so many Americans have asked Him to do so?

If that is the case, then it would seem to me to be very important to find out why He did not prevent it.  Could it actually have been an act of mercy allowed as a warning of possible greater future judgement?

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to enquire of the old Hebrew prophets, who foretold many other events of worldwide importance and particularly in relation to what they referred to as the ‘End Times’.

Is there anything in their writings to refer to such events?

Can we trust what they have written? 

If so, what else do they foretell?

Should we pay any attention to their words?

Bear with me, then, for these questions are exactly what I hope to answer within these pages.

Back to Contents

Introduction

This book is aimed at Christians (nominal, traditional, Catholic, Orthodox, or Evangelical); Jews (religious and non-religious); Moslems (Sunni or Shia); anyone – from any religion, or none – who has a certain belief, (or even suspicion, perhaps), that there is a benign intelligence out there, Who rules over the affairs of this universe and Who ultimately cares about the future of the people who inhabit it.

I believe in such a God, the Creator of all that we can see, or know.  I believe He is a personal God and that He loves what He has created, especially man, whom He created in His own image. 

I believe, and hope to convince you also, that this God is all powerful, can see the end from the beginning, and has a purpose and a plan in all that we can see happening in the world around us.

Furthermore, I believe that He has used the Hebrew prophets to give us advance warning of all that He plans to bring about in this world. 

The prophecies found in the Hebrew Tanakh, (Old Testament, or Tawrat, in Arabic), and also in the New Testament, (Heb: Brit Chadash, Arabic: Injil), provide us with a lot of insight into the future of the nations.  They also explain the reasons for what is happening now, and what will come to be.

These prophecies refer to a mystery end-time empire that will dominate all the other nations on earth, both economically and militarily.  They describe this empire as opposed to the people of God, destroying the earth and guilty of much innocent bloodshed. 

These prophecies predict the sudden downfall and complete destruction of this empire and the escape of the survivors as refugees back to their own lands, including the land of Israel.

They predict the appearance of another military empire – which will replace the first – set up by the remaining most powerful nations and led by one man, often referred to as ‘The Beast’, who will rule the world with an iron fist and oppose the God of heaven.

He will lead the nations into a disastrous final battle against the city and people of Jerusalem – assembling their armies on a plain near the hill of Har Megiddo, (also known as, Armageddon), in northern Israel.

But can we put any trust in these old Hebrew prophets?  Can we examine some of their prophecies that may have been fulfilled already, that may possibly provide a firmer basis for us to trust their other predictions?  I believe that we can and, if you will bear with me for a while, I hope to show you that these men were indeed ‘inspired by God’ and that their words can be trusted to this day.

I happen to come from a Christian background, on the island of Ireland where, over the past thirty years or so, many have lost their lives in what has appeared to be a dispute between two different branches of the Christian faith.

At the age of eighteen I first had contact with those of the ‘other sort’, as we would say – in other words, Roman Catholics!  I found them to be different from what I had been led to expect, and it has taught me to question and re-evaluate what I have inherited, and what I have been taught to believe.

In the past, many evil things have been carried out upon other faiths in the name of one religion or another. Unfortunately, Christianity has not been an exception in this respect.  In fact, many of the worst atrocities carried out – the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, anti-Jewish pogroms, Native American and aboriginal Australian genocides, the Nazi Holocaust (Shoah) – unfortunately, were carried out in the name of Christianity, upon Jews, Moslems and many native tribes. 

To all of those people who have suffered in the past in the name of ‘Christianity’, I would humbly ask for your forgiveness.  The people who carried out these acts may possibly have been sincere – but they were sincerely WRONG!  There was no justification for these acts in the pages of the bible, or anywhere else.

Most of them were not living a true Christianity at all (i.e. based upon sound biblical teaching).  But even if their motivation was something else – self-righteousness, greed, racism, hatred, fear – what they did was still done in the name of Christianity and for that those who ARE true Christians today need to take some responsibility and be willing to repent and to ask forgiveness.  I certainly do, and I would encourage other believers also to do the same.

My own background is in writing and broadcasting, and before that, in construction and computing.  I tend to approach things from a construction perspective.  I like to know how things fit together, how they relate to one another – the origins of words, language, phrases, etc. 

I hope to apply this analytical approach in the following chapters.  The biblical phrase is, ‘rightly dividing the word of truth’.  I hope a certain logic comes across.  Whether you are convinced by it, or not, is up to you the individual. 

The Quran states that Christians and Jews are both ‘people of the book’.  We share a history of respect for the Tanakh, (Tawrat, Old Testament), and New Testament, (Brit Chadash, Injil), and therefore for the prophecies of the ancient Hebrew prophets.  But how many of us have actually read, or studied, their words?

I am not expecting that you will automatically ‘swallow’ everything stated in these pages.  All I ask is that you become a genuine ‘seeker after the truth’.  I would request you to seriously examine every component, check out every connection and every conclusion drawn here. 

By all means, get hold of the original text, (or computer/online version) – preferably in more than one translation, and look up each reference for yourself.  Follow up the references to news and research documents, using the bibliography at the end of the book.  If you will not check out the evidence, you will only have yourself to blame, if it turns out that what I am presenting to you is the truth.

The Tanakh contains blessings upon all of the children of Abraham – the sons of Ishmael, (Ismail), as well as the sons of Isaac, (Yitzhak), plus Abraham’s six other sons.  Both these sons are of great concern to the God of Abraham.  He wants to bless both Ishmael and Isaac.

The Hebrew bible has been preserved through the Masoretic method of copying text, which has proved to be extremely accurate.  When the Dead Sea Scrolls were unearthed by a Bedouin Arab boy in 1947, they were found to contain a complete copy of the Book of Isaiah, which is now on display in the Old City of Jerusalem. 

The Dead Sea Scrolls compare almost exactly with the present-day Tanakh – only a couple of Yods (commas) of difference – which has been handed down for two thousand years by the Masoretic method.  Therefore we can have confidence in this text.

Likewise, the New Testament, (Brit Chadash, Injil), is one of the most accurate documents we have in existence today.  The Alpha Course videos, (popular in many Christian denominations today), contain a lot of background on the New Testament documents.  There are over 5,000 individual parchments relating to these books.  This is far in excess of the evidence we have for Caesar’s wars in Gaul, or other events which we accept as ‘historical fact’.

In my ‘construction’ approach, I have tried to include verses from the bible in their original context as much as possible.  I am not fond of the idea of basing an argument on one or two verses – perhaps taken out of context. 

I trust this does not make the book more difficult to read through, but rather, more accurate.  I have usually highlighted the main sections within these passages, in order to make the meaning more obvious.

I have placed together the majority of the relevant biblical passages concerning Mega-Babylon in an online document (see Appendix A), and colour-coded them for your convenience.  Reading through these prophecies consecutively provides a clearer understanding of the cohesion between them. 

There is no substitute, though, for checking out the scriptures themselves – reading through the prophets in the Tanakh and the prophetic passages in the New Testament – gospels, The Revelation, etc. 

Although Jews and Moslems will obviously not view Yeshua (Jesus, Issa) in the same light as most Christians would, there is still, I hope, a regard for him as a Hebrew prophet and teacher, which should also apply to Rebbe Shaul (Paul) and to the apostle, John (Yochanan).

We live in a very complex world, whose future is now very uncertain.  We really need to have something foundational in which we can put our confidence, on which we can base our faith.  The problem might be that, like those who followed Joshua into the Promised Land all those centuries ago, we may then have to ‘choose Whom we will serve!’

But that will be up to you.  I can only hope to present you with enough reasons to put your confidence in these men, who themselves, I believe, were inspired by the Spirit of God.  If you find the evidence convincing, then what you do with that conviction will be on your own head – but at least I will have given you an opportunity to consider it.

Back to Contents

1 Mega-Babylon – past or present?

I have made it a point on a number of occasions in the past to study in depth the prophecies concerning the End Times.  These were written down by Hebrew prophets and, naturally, many of their prophecies relate to the people and nation of Israel.

But many also refer to events of international impact and importance – events that will affect many nations beyond Israel and some that will affect every human being on earth.

In the fellowship group my wife and I were leading at that time (Sept. 2001), the events of 9/11 brought a desire from many for information on the last days.  What did the bible say about these events and what else did it have to say that was relevant to us here and now? 

In response to this hunger for understanding  we had to turn once again to a study of these prophecies.  A few years later I was asked to consider producing a series of talks for a local radio station and returned to this subject again.

Now, in the book of The Revelation there are two whole chapters devoted to a description of a city and nation which the author, John, describes as Mega-Babylon, or Babylon, the Great, (also as the ‘great prostitute’). 

In the original Greek this phrase was written in capital letters.  Strangely enough, today we have adopted the Greek word, mega, into everyday English usage – we talk about mega-bucks, mega-cities, etc.  Interesting, because the city referred to in The Revelation is indeed a mega-city.  So, I have chosen to use the term, Mega-Babylon. 

Now the main target that stood out on 9/11 was obviously the World Trade Centre – a centre devoted to, and controlling, world trade.  This immediately got me thinking – trade?  Hmm? 

Coming from the Northern Ireland evangelical Christian community – a bit similar to