Mystery Babylon. What and where was it, or is it, or will it be?

In biblical times, of course, it was in what is now Iraq (south of Baghdad). As far as historicity, it's still there (albeit it as a pile of earth). In Genesis it may be what was called Babel (a neighbor of later Babylon). The city itself was founded about 2,300 years before Jesus.

But what, if any, current place fits the description of Mystery Babylon in Revelation -- the "mother of harlots," where was drunk the blood of the saints, the place where the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and lived sensuously with her, partook of the "wine" of her lasciviousness,  a "dwelling place for demons," the "mother of abominations of the earth"? Was that referring to the Roman Empire?

Or do we have a version of it in our own day -- one with potential prophetic importance, as a barometer of morality?

Our eyes turn immediately to New York City -- perhaps the most prominent city on earth, known as a locus for international materialism (banking, Wall Street, corporate offices, fashion), and media; advertising; headquarters for the United Nations; where even Hollywood is financed, a city that has an extraordinary underside (for example, in 2012, 37 percent of all pregnancies there ended with an abortion). In Revelation, Babylon is described as a "strong city" (New York is all steel and cement) sitting "on many waters," as one might describe New York with its location on the Hudson and East rivers, the Bay of New York, Little Neck Bay, Newark Bay, Gravesend Bay, Sandy Hook Bay, and Jamaica Bay, as well as the Atlantic Ocean.

We assume New York -- but aren't there other cities with the same or an even higher level of immorality. While larger, is New York any worse than elsewhere?

Many are the massive megalopolises in Asia, northern Africa, India, and the Middle East that are notorious for human trafficking and other "abominations."

And though no city has more international influence in so many areas -- commerce, culture -- when it comes to size, New York is not even in the top five any longer, far smaller, for example, than the equally or even more materialistic Tokyo, Japan (which has close to double the population). Here's one list of metropolitan areas (note how many likewise sit on waters):

1.Tokyo, Japan; (37,126,000) 2.Jakarta, Indonesia (26,063,000) 3.Seoul, South Korea (22,547,000) 4.Delhi, India (22,242,000) 5. Shanghai, China (20,860,000) 6. Manila, Philippines (20,767,000) 7. Karachi, 8. New York, USA (20,464,000) Pakistan (20,711,000) 9. Sao Paulo, Brazil (20,186,000) and10. Mexico City, Mexico (19,463,000).

Meanwhile, when it comes to undersides: Have you ever seen the images from the carnivals in cities like Rio?

"Spiritual Babylon rules the earth today," asserts one Christian writer. "Thousands of infants were killed to please the Babylonian goddess Ashtoreth. Child sacrifice is being done on an unprecedented scale today. Over one and a half million abortions are performed in America each year, and twenty-six million the world over."

In places like Russia and China, it's not uncommon for a woman to have had half a dozen or more. Ancient Babylonian religion worshipped the flesh, with nothing spared in the satisfying lusts of the body and near-total indulgence in the best of foods, clothing, shelter, and sex. Promiscuity was rampant. Sexual rites included homosexuality and the public display of sexual organs. There was avarice. There was widespread use of drugs (pharmakeia). Cocaine was invented in Egypt, and probably came to Babylon. There was astrology, sorcery, and witchcraft (which today we have repackaged). There was heterosexual perversion. There was murder and violence (mindful of what we can't help but see on TV). War was a staple. Children were disrespectful and aggressive, he argues. The religious rulers of Babylon were women. 

"The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues," to use a different translation (Revelation 17:15).

Does this imply a city of many nationalities, which could take us back to New York (and the U.N., which sits on the water)?

Or are we all now citizens of a global city that fits the bill as Babylon the Great?

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