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“Babylonianism”
The Bible is full of references about Babylon. There are approximately 280 of them. Sometimes the identity is found geographically and sometimes it is simply named. Some of those names are “land of Chaldeans” (Ezekiel 12:13), “land of Shinar” (Daniel 1:2), “desert of the sea” (Isaiah 21:1,9), “Sheshach” (Jeremiah 25:12, 26), and “lady of the kingdom” (Isaiah 47:5). So, what is Babylonianism? It is a belief that is one-hundred percent man centered. I would call it the first “secular humanism” which began way back in the book of Genesis. Perhaps you aren’t familiar with that term either. Secular humanism is “the doctrine emphasizing a person's capacity for self-realization through reason; rejects religion and the supernatural” (American Heritage Dictionary of English Language). This philosophy is found in every aspect of the world’s culture. It is found in governments of every nation. Literature, art, music, business, and academia are all infected with it. Most religious denominations and churches are infected as well.

Let’s go back to the beginning. The first mention is found in Genesis 10:9. That reference tells us about the founding of Babel by a man named Nimrod. The name has become associated with someone who is stupid and inept, or a geek. He was far from that. He built the city of Babel along with several others. The claim is made that Babel was the first city to exceed 200,000 people in its population. The Bible describes him as a “mighty hunter.” Some have attributed that phrase to hunting people but that to me is pure speculation. We do know that his actions have come to mean these days as one who is in rebellion against God. The Lord had told people to spread out and multiply but the people of Babel decided to build a tower to heaven (Genesis 11:1-9). The tower was a ziggurat. It was religious in its inception and was dedicated to the pagan goddess Nanna. This tower, according to Josephus, was to be so high that if the world flooded again the people would be saved from drowning. If they’d been followers of the Lord, they would have remembered to simply look into the sky and see the rainbow which God had placed there as a reminder He wouldn’t destroy the world by water again. One part of that passage is key and is found in 11:6. “…and now nothing will be restrained from them which they have imagined.” Romans 1 references the imaginations of man and his desires to be the master of his own domain.

The most famous person in history of Babylon, old Babel, is Nebuchadnezzar. We know about him from the book of Daniel and secular history. He was infected with Babylonianism also. He built a 90’ golden statue of himself and decreed everyone would bow down and worship. We know the story of Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego refusing to obey, being tossed into the fiery furnace. We also know that God brought him down hard. I can’t help but think of Psalm 2, God laughing, every time I hear a world leader talk about their greatness and the plans for mankind. Nebuchadnezzar went insane until he humbled himself before God. I learned something recently that I didn’t know. Alexander the Great died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar in 323 BC. I knew the year Alex died but I didn’t know it was in Babylon.
What about Babylon in our days and beyond? Perhaps the best place to look is in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. Babylonianism is alive and well as we live but will also be front and center in the future. Let’s conflate the present and the future as we look at some verses from Revelation. I see these things happening daily before my eyes and it will only get worse before Christ comes again. That first secular humanism, which began in ancient Mesopotamia, will be in a position of great influence (Revelation 17:15). Religious heresy will be everywhere (17:3). The Bible depicts this heresy as prostitution (Ps. 106:39). The killing of Christians is a part of this system (17:6; 18:4). This is happening today in parts of the middle east and in Africa. Babylonianism is associated with the government of the anti-christ (17:12). How many things are accepted by governments and positions of power, viewed as normal and to be embraced, but are actual enemies of the Bible? Last week, I read two stories about AI beginning to refuse the commands of its creator. The month of June is Pride Month in America. People on the cutting edge of technology are pushing things like trans-humanism which means people will be implanted with a computer chip at the base of their brain. Biological males are accepted by most governments if they identify as females. In one track and field event a few days ago, the “born-male” beat the closest “born-female” by 8 feet in the long jump and this was celebrated as normal. The imagination of man is only evil continually.

What do we Bible believers do in times like these? The first thing is to not get infected. The way to be immunized from this rot is to be biblically centered and biblically literate. We use the Word of God as our default position. Instead of being proud and rebellious people we are a humble people and obedient people toward the Lord. Often God’s people, those not very well grounded or spiritually babies, believe the world when they say “you need to live it up and be free. That God life is stifling and enslaves you.” The truth is the life they promise leads to heartache by the tonnages. The wages of sin are still death and the soul that sins will still die. Solomon declared there was “nothing new under the sun.” He was right. The nutty philosophies we are inundated with these days all reach back into the early days of mankind. The trouble was felt by those ancient cultures whether it was the confounding of languages in Genesis or the insanity of Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel and it will also be felt in our times and in the last days. Psalm 2:12, “Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”