The word used here for “city” is polis, which is where we get the words “politician, politics, and metropolitan”. The meaning of polis is “population center.” Harper’s Bible Dictionary defines cities as “large areas of high population density . . . In the Old Testament, cities were walled.”28 Today, we do not have cities protected by walls, but we have large population centers protected by Air Defence Identification Zones. If you don’t believe me, try penetrating the US ADIZ by aircraft and see how long it takes for an F35 fighter jet to pull up beside you. In summary, Babylon is not a city as we know it, but is a “population center” protected by electronic walls. It is a nation. 

Furthermore, the woman Babylon sits on seven mountains (Rev 17:9). Traditional theology interprets the seven mountains (oros in Greek) as hills, justifying that Rome, the city of seven hills29, is this great city. Unfortunately, this city (“polis” in Greek) meaning population center, does not sit on hills. To emphasize that point, both Luke 3:5 and Luke 23:30 talk about hills (buonos) and mountains (oros), clearly differentiating the two words. The mountains (oros) that the woman sits upon rise from waters of “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” (Rev. 17:15). Mountains in Scripture “are a high land mass projecting above the surrounding area.”30 

We have made this comparison to clarify that Rome, the city on seven hills, does not sit on seven mountains. The mountains, or land masses of which there are seven in total, correspond with the seven continents (land masses) which we define within current geography. At the time of John’s writing, people did not even know of the seven continents. 

Modern day interpretation of Scripture gives us over fifty descriptions of Babylon the great which totally disqualifies Rome. Rome, located seventy miles inland, does not have deep ports (Rev 18:17,19), she does not trade over twenty-seven products with the merchants of the earth (Rev 18:12). These products  include “slavery and human trafficking”.  She does not rule over the financial kingdoms of the earth (Rev 17:3, 4,18,19) as the world currency is in US dollars.

The USA meets every Biblical description of Babylon the great and, according to Rev 17:9-12, she must appear before the ten-nation “New World Order” comes into power. In her description, “the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet” (Rev 17:12).  Babylon precedes the rise of the New World Order; she does not exist during the beasts’ reign (NWO).