Larry Barkdull

Babylon is the inverse of Zion. If we desire to become Zionlike, we must not partake of or participate in anything that Babylon does, believes in or promotes; otherwise, we will suffer her fate. To the degree that we embrace Babylon, we reject Zion. Only when we make a clean break from Babylon and never turn back will we finally qualify as Zion people. Therefore, there are only two choices: Babylon of Zion.

The process of leaving Babylon and coming to Zion begins with the discovery that we are not home. We have fallen into a lone and dreary world that is as foreign as hell is to heaven. From the moment of that discovery and for the rest of our lives, if we want to be Zion, we must point our direction away and up.

The Originator and Promoters of Babylon

This earth began as Zion but soon was infiltrated by a being, who determined to wrest ownership from the Creator and reign as the god of this world. That being, of course, was Satan. From the outset, he systematically reversed every Zion doctrine with his anti-Christ philosophy, which he designed to appear so reasonable and close to the truth that he could even deceive the very elect. Imitating God the Father, Satan searched for a son to champion his anti-Christ gospel. He found a willing candidate in Cain, who advanced a doctrine so damaging that the entire antediluvian world became irretrievably corrupt and eventually warranted annihilation in the days of Noah.

After the Flood, Cain’s descendant, Nimrod, became heir to the diabolical throne, and a new anti-Christ dispensation began. Nimrod perfected what Cain had started by conquering much of the world and building a capital with a tower or temple to ascend illegitimately into heaven. Nimrod’s temple city was called Babel or Babylon. Forevermore, Babylon would be the code name by which prophets of God would identify and describe the Satanic culture, which always led its people to individual damnation and collective destruction. Sodom and Gomorrah are examples. Today, the anti-Christ philosophy dominates the earth. Both figuratively and literally, it “slayeth the saints of God, yea, and tortureth them and bindeth them down, and yoketh them with a yoke of iron, and bringeth them down into captivity.”

Escaping Babylon

In one way or another we have all been infected by Babylon, and when we become sufficiently sick, we seek heavenly help to get out and go home. To escape Babylon completely requires information, courage and covenants. In the process of leaving, we might react like Laman and Lemuel for a season, constantly looking back and longing for life in Babylon. But at some point we will come to realize that Zion and Babylon do not mix and we have to make a choice. We can only straddle the gulf between Zion and Babylon for so long; because the two go in opposite directions, we will eventually be forced to jump to one side or another. The only safety, according to Nephi, is summed up in his statement: “We heeded them not.”

Descriptions of Babylon

Babylon is so diverse, pervasive and disgusting that the prophets seem to struggle to find adequate language to describe her. Babylon is often called “the world,” but that term usually gives way to more graphic descriptors that focus on Babylon’s central elements: “whore” to portray her many sexual perversions; “The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth” to illustrate her continually spawning myriad seductive evils; “carnal, sensual devilish” to depict her strategy to exploit our human nature, tempting us to gratify our senses, which will cause us to become like the devil; “Great and Abominable Church” to illustrate that she is full of idolatry, envy and covetousness, and that her vile desires and philosophies are worshipped by her adherents as if they were doctrines of a perverse religion; and “Great and Spacious Building” to express her pride and scope of influence.

By whatever name, Babylon’s aim is to trap and destroy us. Nephi reveals Babylon’s four-fold strategy:

1. The pursuit of wealth 
2. Fashion and materialism 
3. Sexual sins 
4. Peer acceptance and popularity

This strategy is so successful that even Satan is taken aback by Babylon’s “dark and blackening deeds [which] are enough to make hell itself shudder, and to stand aghast and pale, and the hands of the very devil to tremble and palsy.” Without question, Babylon has made us to “bow down with grief, sorrow, and care, under the most damning hand of murder, tyranny, and oppression.”

Nephi describes Babylon in terms of the extent of her detestable deeds and the depth her corruption. His list includes:

• • contention 
• • man’s wisdom replacing God’s wisdom 
• • denying the power of God 
• • “eat, drink and be merry,” as a way of life 
• • pride 
• secret sinning 
• reviling against that which is good 
• placing trust in carnal security 
• flattery 
• taking and giving offense.

These items and more define Babylon as a physical location, and a spiritual condition: i.e. false philosophies and doctrines, and a corrupt condition of the heart.

Competition

In Babylon competition rather than cooperation is the name of the game. In Babylon, competitive enterprise is the primary engine that drives progress. Competition, however, spawns more losers than winners, and therefore is the cause of widespread misery. Competition accounts for social classes, educational disparity, poverty, oppression, dishonesty, murder and war. Like it or not, Zion is devoid of competition. If we love to compete, we are living in the right place.

Hypocrites

Babylon is filled with hypocrites, whom Jesus labeled the worst sinners-those people who pretend to be what they are not, to be better than they really are, or to appear pious and virtuous when they are not. Hypocrites have no place in Zion.

Man’s Philosophies and Pseudo Religions

Babylon bounces her adherents from one false philosophy to another, always keeping them off balance so that they will never find the truth. These man-made philosophies are like flavors of the month; when one fades in popularity, another takes its place. These philosophies are embraced by the people of
Babylon as pseudo religions; humanism, intellectualism, atheism, fundamentalism, modernism are a few. All these are designed to limit or remove God from our consciousness and to enthrone man and his genius.

Babylon Today

Prophets have compared Babylon today to the days of Noah and Lot, whose antediluvian world and later the societies of Sodom and Gomorrah were completely obliterated, as punishment for their sins. To negotiate through Babylon’s filthiness in the last days, the Lord has given us the Book of Mormon. This book of scripture contains two accounts of once-mighty nations that imploded by their embracing Babylon ideals.

Do we really believe we are immune?

President Kimball stated that latter-day Babylon would deceive even the very elect-as many as half the saints, according to the parable of the Ten Virgins, would not be ready for the Savior’s coming. President Kimball had three primary concerns: 1) The abuse of the environment: the pollutions of mind, body and our surroundings; 2) The pursuit of personal affluence: man’s transferring his trust in God to trust in material things, in an effort to assure security and happiness for the remainder of his life; 3) Trust in military security. The folly in pursuing these elements of Babylon can only result as it did for the Jaredites and Nephites.

Babylon’s Pervasiveness

Jesus, John, Paul, and Moroni join Nephi and other prophets, who foresaw Babylon’s latter-day dominance. Their descriptions are chilling, and yet many of us still make no attempt to flee. Jesus portrayed our day as a time when “darkness covereth the earth, and gross darkness the minds of the people, and all flesh has become corrupt before my face.”

We live in physical Babylon and partake of spiritual Babylon as though we have no option. At times, we seem powerless to cease participating in her lifestyle and believing her philosophies. We assume that this is just the way life is and that we are helpless to change things. The people in the days of Noah and Lot held similar views and were caught up in the destructions: “And as it was in the days of [Noah], so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that [Noah] entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.”

Babylon’s Future

Babylon will fall. Can there be any doubt? From the days of Enoch to the present, Babylon’s latter-day demise has been prophesied repeatedly. There have been countless prophetic descriptions of Babylon and myriad authoritative declarations concerning why she must be destroyed once and for all. When we consider Babylon’s characteristics, we are astonished that anyone would want to stay.

Zion is Our Only Safety

The prophets have indicated that Zion will rise in proportion to Babylon’s collapse. So we have a choice. If Babylon and Zion were two elevators, one crashing and the other ascending, which would we choose to ride? We cannot choose both. The one and only solution for safety and security in a world gone mad is to flee to Zion and hold fast to the true doctrines, covenants and ordinances. Without sounding alarmist, the days of indecision and straddling are past. We must make a choice. Hugh Nibley said, “Babylon’s time is all but used up, and the only thing for the Saints to do is to get out of her.”