God, who judged her, is strong.”​—Rev. 18:7, 8.

She has been revered and worshiped and has received the abject servitude of her subjects as a queen or mistress, an empress over a religious empire. But her prostitution and filthiness have made her completely unfit for such a position. She will become a widow, a person bereaved of her millions of religious subjects, especially her priests, clergy and other religious leaders. For all these she will have reason to mourn. Besides death and mourning, she will at last know famine herself, being deprived of all her means by which she lived in shameless luxury. Finally, that nothing of her may remain, she will be completely burned with fire in all-consuming destruction, “for our God is also a consuming fire.”​—Heb. 12:29.

MOURNERS

In spite of the fact that great Babylon has been such a sinner against God, she will have her mourners at the time of her fall into destruction. Who? They are some of those with whom she committed prostitution and who were able to make great gain out of her. Who they are is pointed out by the angel. He tells us: “And the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and lived in shameless luxury will weep and beat themselves in grief over her, when they look at the smoke from the burning of her, while they stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and say, ‘Too bad, too bad, you great city, Babylon you strong city, because in one hour your judgment has arrived!’”​—Rev. 18:9, 10.

Since the “ten kings” represented by the ten horns on the scarlet-colored beast turn upon the harlot and strip her naked and eat her flesh and burn her with fire, the mourning kings could hardly be identical in personality with the “ten kings” (ten horns) of the scarlet-colored wild beast. No, these are kings or political rulers who fornicated and enjoyed shameless luxury with her during her popularity and who have been taken by surprise at the sudden turn of events, because as they themselves mournfully say: ‘Jehovah’s execution of judgment upon her arrived in one hour.’ What fun they used to have with her, but when judgment comes like a thief they cannot help or preserve her for their further unclean pleasure. Afraid to interfere, they stand off in fear of sharing the fiery torment with her. Therefore, their time of mourning for her will be very brief. They too share responsibility for her crimes; so, next in order, they will inescapably suffer pain when God executes judgment upon them.

The archangel Michael, the glorified Jesus Christ, is in charge of the announcement of warning and he is giving the greatest possible publicity to great Babylon’s coming destruction. By the mouth of more than a million earthly proclaimers, the announcement is being made. It has been declared in 199 countries and 164 languages. It is not through the channels of the world’s news agencies but by earnest Bible students, Jehovah’s witnesses, who themselves have taken advantage of the warning to flee from Babylon the Great. However, only a minority will hear, that is, hear with belief enough to act on the warning. There was a similar situation in the days of Jesus and the apostles. They gave warning of the complete destruction of Jerusalem and, though this work was opposed by the entire Jewish organization, the people got to hear and be forewarned if they desired to take advantage of it. The majority scoffed at and ridiculed the proclaimers of the warning; but even when Cestus Gallus and his Roman legions withdrew from a siege of the city in 66 C.E., only the Christians residing there took advantage of Jesus’ warning: “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then know that the desolating of her has drawn near. Then let those in Judea begin fleeing to the mountains, and let those in the midst of her withdraw, and let those in the country places not enter into her; because these are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled.” (Luke 21:20-22) Suddenly, shortly thereafter, the armies of General Titus, son of Emperor Vespasian, closed in on Jerusalem. During the siege those who had felt so safe in Jerusalem’s walls endured starvation and fear of destruction. Finally, the walls of Jerusalem were breached in the summer of 70 C.E. and the Roman armies poured in and slaughtered 1,100,000 and carried away 97,000 miserable captives to be sold in the slave markets throughout the Roman Empire.

Therefore, no matter what you may be doing, no matter how well you may like what you are doing or no matter how secure you may feel in your situation, do not fail to give attention to this worldwide warning from the Creator of the universe. Listen to it. Learn what steps to take to flee from Great Babylon and act at once, for her destruction is alarmingly imminent. It is not just a matter of escape, but release from religious bondage to a future of life in perfection in a new order under God’s kingdom. Jehovah’s witnesses will freely help you to get Bible understanding so that you can act quickly, with wisdom from God.

“A Theatrical Spectacle to the World, Both to Angels and to Men”

As told by Maxwell G. Friend

“COME, listen, all you who fear God, and I will relate what he has done for my soul.” (Ps. 66:16) This is what I want to do now.

My forefather was Abraham. Like him, my most ardent desire has been to have Jehovah as my eternal Friend and to remain forever close to him.

I was born in Austria in 1890 to devoted Jewish parents of nine children, was brought up in the Jewish orthodox religion and learned to read Hebrew before I became of school age. I was drawn to God by my devout parents at an early age, not by my strict religious teachers. All that those teachers taught me were formalistic and mechanical Hebrew prayers and nonsensical rituals.

In 1897 my family moved to Zurich, Switzerland. There, during my first school year, I heard for the first time the story of the birth of Jesus. I was fascinated by it. I had hardly learned to read German, when a mutilated religious book, written and illustrated for children, found its way