In biblical times we read of the rise of Babylon and the 70-year captivity of Jerusalem. Babylon established itself as an empire in 607 B.C. and took Jerusalem three years later in 604.

These were the main 70-year starting points. Babylon’s 70-year empire ended with the fall of Babylon in 537 B.C., while Jerusalem’s captivity ended three years later in 534.

Daniel had prophesied of a succession of empires after the fall of Babylon. Persia, allied with Media, was divinely called to overthrow Babylon, and Isaiah even named the king who would do this (Isaiah 44:28 and 45:1). His name was Cyrus. In fact, because this prophecy is so specific, the modern Bible critics assume that this must have been added after the fact. Isaiah 45:1 says,

¹ Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed [messiah], whom I have taken by his right hand to subdue nations before him…

Cyrus is called God’s “messiah,” making him a type of Christ in the overthrow of Babylon. Verse 4 continues,

⁴ For the sake of Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen one, I have also called you by your name [Cyrus]; I have given you a title of honor, though you have not known Me.

Cyrus (koresh) means “furnace” and is a reference to the Sun. According to Gesenius’ Lexicon, “The Greeks have remarked how the Persians called the Sun by this name.” In more recent times, Vernon Howell changed his name to David Koresh in Waco, Texas in order to identify himself as the modern Cyrus. His claim proved to be incorrect, as he was killed before the fall of Babylon.

When the Medes and Persians took Babylon, history tells us that they diverted the Euphrates River so that they could march into Babylon on the dry river bed. God Himself takes credit for this idea in Isaiah 44:27, saying,

²⁷ It is I who says to the depth of the sea, “Be dried up!” And I will make your rivers dry.

Darius the Mede took Babylon at the age of 62 and then organized the empire into 120 provinces (Dan. 5:31-6:1). This too is a type of the Kingdom of God, because the number 120 is always associated with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Thus, the Kingdom of Persia is prophetically associated with the Kingdom of God. Even though Cyrus did not know God, nonetheless he did everything that God told him to do. Isaiah 45: 13 says, “He will build My city, and will let My exiles go free without any payment or reward” (i.e., without any bribes).

Mystery Babylon and the Kings of the East

The book of Revelation speaks of Mystery Babylon, showing us that its fall in the latter days is according to the same pattern seen in the fall of old Babylon. The fall of Babylon comes after the seventh bowl of wine is poured out in Revelation 16. The sixth bowl sets the stage:

¹² And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the east.

In biblical days, the “kings from the east” were Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede, whose kingdoms were located east of Babylon. Persia, of course, is now Iran, and Babylon is now Iraq.

I have long believed that Iran would play a vital role in the overthrow of Mystery Babylon today, simply because it is the modern version of Persia. But in more recent times I have seen that the picture is much bigger than Iran. Mystery Babylon is likewise much bigger than just Iraq. Babylon today is a world financial system with its head located in the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington D.C. There are other “kings from the east” that are playing a large role in the overthrow of Mystery Babylon, the most important one being China.

The link between these is seen in the fact that the Federal Reserve Bank foreclosed on America in 1933 after President Roosevelt put us into bankruptcy proceedings. Americans had been the collateral on the debt to the Fed, so all Americans became slaves of the Fed in 1933.

Seventy years later, President Bush invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. This established a prophetic type of the overthrow of Babylon. Bush did not realize that he was setting the pattern and foundational events that would overthrow Mystery Babylon itself.

Yet this shows how interconnected Iraq is with the Fed and the world-wide financial system of Mystery Babylon.

Rev. 16:12 (quoted earlier) does not specifically mention Persia. It uses a more general term “the kings from the east,” because God intended to use other nations in overthrowing modern Babylon. When we look at the modern picture, we see first Japan and later China rising to prominent places among the nations.

In recent years, with the Babylonian financial system of the West encountering huge debt problems, these kings of the east are setting forth an alternative monetary system. They want to return to a gold-backed money system, whereas Europe and America has moved to a system where its money is backed by nothing (called “fiat”).

These are two different theories of money. As I see it, these are today’s main financial features that distinguish modern Babylon from the kings of the east.

Setting God’s People Free

Many people have published revelations, visions, and dreams about the rise of China and its “invasion” of America. They have sounded the alarm, as if this is an event to be feared. But if these nations represent modern Persia, then we should see that God has raised up China to set us free from Mystery Babylon. If China is used of God to overthrow the Federal Reserve Bank, I fail to see how this is a bad thing. In fact, it is God’s answer to prayer.

“But they are godless Communists,” people protest. Well, Cyrus did not know God either, but this did not stop God from using him to accomplish His purposes, nor was God ashamed to call him a Messiah.

Is it not the same with the modern kings of the east? Did Daniel fear King Cyrus? Was he alarmed that Belshazzar was going to be overthrown that night when the handwriting appeared on the wall (Dan. 5)? The king of Babylon was killed that night, to be sure, but Daniel was taken out of retirement and elevated as a chief ruler in the new Persian Empire.

It is doubtful if many Judahites in the Babylonian captivity had foreseen the hand of God in this overthrow. Most of them were quite fearful, no doubt. But their fears proved to be unfounded, because God had it all under His control anyway.

The problem is that most Christians are still looking for a FUTURE Babylonian captivity under the Antichrist. They are yet looking for “The Great Tribulation” in the future. The fact is, we have already experienced our modern captivity, and we are now at the end of it.

The beginning points of our captivity were many, and those same ending points are also many.

The Fed was established in 1913-14. They foreclosed on America (the Federal Government) in 1933. They foreclosed upon the STATES in 1936.

At the other end of this 70 years later, we come to 1983-84, 2003, and finally 2006.

In 2006 we came to the end of our Jubilee Prayer Campaign with the pouring out of the seventh bowl of wine and water on October 7, 2006.

Now if we compare this with the events in Daniel’s day, where Babylon fell in 537 and the people were set free three years later in 534, it may be that we are now in this comparable time. Three years after October 2006 brings us to the end of 2009, which, by Hebrew time, is the start of the year 2010.

On September 28, 2009 (the Day of Atonement) we were led to Declare the Jubilee Year. At the time, we did not know why this would be a Year of Jubilee. We simply acted by faith. We are now seeing the details emerge. This year, 2010, appears to be comparable to the Decree of Cyrus in our day.

The news is good when we look at it through God’s eyes. I do not deny that it will involve some trouble and even hardship for some people. But most of this trouble will hit those whose fortunes are intertwined with that of Babylon itself. Keep in mind that the coming of Cyrus is a disaster for Babylonian officials, but it is an answer to prayer for those who seek first the Kingdom of God.

The Thirteen-Year Cycles

In 2006, just before the end of the Jubilee Prayer Campaign, we noticed that we seemed to be seeing some endpoints of a 13-year cycle. This really started with our trip that led us through Waterloo, Iowa on June 18, 2006. We were led to conduct a prayer campaign called “God is Able.”

This was the 191^st anniversary of Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo on June 18, 1815.

We learned later that the official insignia for Waterloo, Iowa was a Red Dragon. It appears on the doors of all the city patrol cars.

A week later, the United Nations admitted their 191^st member to the U.N. It was Montenegro.

The next day, June 19 we immediately began driving to California for meetings. After meetings in Sacramento, we were led to drive to Eureka, CA for what we thought was to be a short “vacation.” But God had other plans. We discovered that this was the location of the Bohemian Grove, where wealthy and powerful Babylonian world rulers go to discuss and coordinate plans on how to manage “that great city, Babylon.”

Their 2006 meeting was being held at the very time we arrived in Eureka. Part of their ceremony is to make a mock sacrifice of a child known as “Care.” It is called “The Cremation of Care.” So on June 28, 2006 we were led into spiritual warfare against this worship of Molech and called it “He Cares Prayer Campaign.”

Only then did we realize that this 13-year cycle had begun in 1993 at Eureka, Montana with another incident that had started this long cycle of warfare.

The point is that since 2006 we have come to the end of many 13-year cycles. (1993-2006, 1994-2007, 1995-2008, etc.) We are now coming out of the cycle that began in 1997 and is ending in 2010.

The Dragon Wars (1997-1999)

From 1997-1999 we saw three rounds of spiritual warfare, one each year, against the Red Dragon. We took note that this involved China on one level, but keep in mind that this was not directed against China, but was designed to set China free into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

This began in June 1997. A group of intercessors made a “tourist” trip to China, where they were led to sing songs of intercession at many locations. Their tour culminated with the formal transfer of Hong Kong back to China on July 1, 1997. The story is told in chapter 18 of my book, The Wars of the Lord.

In August of 1997 we were led to drive to Corpus Christi, Texas to establish a boundary along the Gulf Coast from there to Key West, Florida. This was to forbid any hurricanes from hitting the Gulf Coast, and this boundary lasted a full year.

I find it interesting that this was nearly 13 years ago now, and the Gulf Coast is again threatened. In 1997 we were fighting the Red Dragon; in 2010 we are now up against Apollyon, or Abaddon (Rev. 9:11) with the BP oil disaster in the Gulf. So far, we have had no leading to make a similar trip as in 1997. This may change, of course, because we can never be sure what God intends to do in all of this. All we know is that if a hurricane hits the Gulf this summer, it will bring the Gulf disaster to shore and will contaminate much of the southern part of the country.

These three years of spiritual warfare ended in September of 1999 with “Dragon’s End prayer campaign.” During these three rounds (years) of warfare, we did some special intercession for China itself. We saw important signs that our prayers were answered, but these involve sensitive situations and cannot be revealed in public yet.

I can say with confidence, however, that in 1998 we knew that China had been redeemed for the Kingdom of God, and that they would play an important role in the days to come. The 13-year time frame involving this time of intercession runs from 1997-1999 to the endpoints of 2010-2012. We are just now entering this time frame, and so we are now getting reports of China’s role in the great change coming in world financial markets. Yet keep in mind that they are not alone in this. Other eastern nations are also allied with them in this overthrow of our western Babylonian rulers.

The main point to remember is that we have nothing to fear in this. God is sovereign. God’s call upon the life of King Cyrus in Isaiah 45 proves the sovereignty of God in that chapter. As God overthrows Mystery Babylon today, we would do well to study and believe Isaiah 45.

This does not mean that we should stop preparing for the fall of Babylon. In fact, it is in knowing the divine plan that we are able to prepare. NOT knowing the plan means that people will panic and have to scramble at the last minute to salvage what they can. Knowing the plan gives us ample time to prepare by faith, rather than in fear.

Jeremiah’s Bottled Up Prophecy

Jeremiah 50:1 to 51:58 is a book (scroll) in itself. This is a writing which Jeremiah prophesied for the time of the fall of Babylon. The prophet lived and prophesied at the start of the 70-year captivity when Babylon first came and took Jerusalem captive. But he wrote this special prophecy about the overthrow of Babylon, and it is attached to the end of the book of Jeremiah.

When he finished writing about the fall of Babylon, the prophet sealed it up in a water-tight jar and told Seraiah, the quartermaster to take it to Babylon. He was to read the prophecy aloud there (Jer. 51:61) and then throw the jar into the Euphrates River. Verses 63 and 64 say,

⁶³ And it will come about as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you will tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates, ⁶⁴ and say, “Just so shall Babylon sink down and not rise again, because of the calamity that I am going to bring upon her. . .”

So in essence, the prophecy was “sealed up” until the time of the end of Babylon’s divine mandate to rule. Then the armies of Media-Persia dried up the river by diverting the water into a reservoir (marsh) just north of the city. The army then marched into Babylon on dry ground.

My view is that the soldiers found the jar and opened it up, thinking they might find some lost treasure. They read the note and realized that it prophesied of their victory over Babylon and were encouraged by this. I have no doubt that they took the scroll to the king, who was so impressed that he made inquiries as to who had written this. Daniel had the answer, of course, having known Jeremiah in his early life before being taken captive to Babylon.

This may explain how Darius gained such respect for the prophet that he made him the first governor (Dan. 6:1). Is it not just as feasible, then, that the modern kings of the east would see that the overcomers possessed the Spirit of God and that they too were a valuable asset in establishing the government of the Age to come?

The main difference is that we have come to the end of the four beast empires that were prophesied in this long succession of “beasts.” This monumental change is no longer just a transition from the head of gold to the arms of silver. We have come to the end of all these beast systems, and the Stone is now hitting the image on its feet. The entire image will soon be ground to powder and will blow away as chaff on the summer threshing floor (Dan. 2:35).

This overthrow of Babylon is the final act before the Kingdom of God is established. It will grow into a great mountain range until it fills the whole earth.

Until recently, it was not possible (apart from direct revelation) to know how this would play out in history. Until a few decades ago it was not apparent how China, Japan, and other eastern nations would play a role in the overthrow of Babylon—much less how God would use them to establish the Stone Kingdom.

Yes, I understand that China today still persecutes Christians who remain outside of the officially recognized Christian religion known as the Three Self Patriotic Church. But this persecution has only served to purify the Church and to keep people out of their midst who are not serious about Christ.

The Chinese leadership apparently does not understand that persecution only increases the number of Christians. As Tertullian said in the early third century, “our blood is seed.” The more Christians are persecuted, the more they are purified and the more they rejoice to be found worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus.

The more they rejoice in their sufferings, the more the non-believers admire them and want to know their secret. Peter tells us in 1 Pet. 4:12-14,

¹² Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; ¹³ but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory, you may rejoice with exultation. ¹⁴ If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.

There are now well over 100 million Christians in the Home Church movement in China. They pray daily for their leaders and their nation. With 100 million Christians praying for China, I find little to worry about from China. China will turn and become the most populous Christian Nation in history. God has used persecution to raise up a generation that prays effectively for the nation.

Their prayers have been combined with ours in recent years, and we know that our prayers have been heard. God is answering even now, for the time has come for the glory of God to be seen throughout the whole earth.