The Lawless One and the Seven Mountains of Shinar 

Chapter 6 of Corrupting the Image 3: The Lawless One and the Seven Mountains of Shinar 

As the Beast rises to power and the world embraces the reality that we are not alone in the universe, it is likely we will see a return to the worship of the old Babylon gods, Enlil, Ninurta and Ishtar. They would of course be understood to be the same advanced beings who either seeded our planet, or have been watching over us in some way.  

The mystery of lawlessness of which Paul spoke can be found in Zechariah 5, where an angel spoke with the prophet in a vision about wickedness (the same Greek word: ανομία anomia / lawlessness) returning to the ancient land of Shinar / Sumer / Mesopotamia: “This is their iniquity¹¹² in all the earth” (Zech 5:6 LXX). “Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket” (Zech 5:7). The woman in the basket “is the Wickedness! [הָרִשְׁעָ֔ה harisha η ανομια e anomia] …” (Zech 5:8). She is being taken to Babel “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar” (Zech 5:11). We encounter this same woman in Revelation known as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS…” (Rev 17:5). 

In Corrupting the Image 2, we learned Nimrod’s kingdom began in Babylon—gate of the gods—and was the headquarters of Mystery Babylon that eventually spread throughout the world. We also learned that Inanna, “queen of heaven,” was the woman riding the Beast.¹¹³ Babylon had a physical locale, but the effects of its systematic wickedness are worldwide. Just like, there is a city of Hollywood, California, but the influence is global.  

According to Zechariah’s vision, Inanna will return to the land of Shinar (Mesopotamia), where she originated, where someone will “build a temple for her in the land of Babylonia” (Zech 5:11 NET). Who better to build it than the King of Babylon, Satan or his agent, the Beast? The angel continued explaining: “When it [the temple] is finished, she [Mystery Babylon] will be placed there in her own residence” (Zech 5:11 NET). The aliens who appear to be offering a needed solution to mankind may quite likely be seen as the gods of yesteryear. The Marvel movie, Eternals, posits that very idea—namely that the ancient gods of Babylon and Egypt were highly advanced alien beings. If such turns out to be the case, then there may also be a shrine or even a city built to them in the land of Babylon in Iraq. Exploring exactly how or when this could happen is beyond the scope of this book. Nevertheless, the names of Ishtar, Ninurta and Enlil may be on people’s lips again, despite God’s warnings:  

Pay attention to do everything I have told you, and do not even mention the names of other gods—do not let them be heard on your lips (Exod 23:13 NET). 

Statues of earth’s saviors abound. The world could openly worship the ones who free them from the tyranny of the Two Witnesses and the God of Israel.  

Babylon as a shrine or city would be the manifest headquarters of radical anti-Creator beliefs. Ishtar would be the guardian and promoter of: harlotry, pornography, fornication, homosexuality, transgenderism, transvestitism, baby-killing, pride, lust of power, atheism and humanism, rebellion, hatred and denial of God, consumerism, gluttony, covetousness, greed, military might, social influence, and so much more. She would embody the things the Two Witnesses opposed. Indeed, such a wanton display of “freedoms” might help crystalize the world’s decision to give their authority to Satan.  

Figure 10. Row of Sphinxs, Las Vegas, Nevada. 

Satan’s Seven Mountain-Kingdoms of Shinar 

Satan, king of death, which we learned in Corrupting the Image 2, was called the “great mountain” (KUR-GAL). This leads us towards solving the puzzle of the seven mountains. In Revelation, John is shown the woman who rides the beast, and he is amazed. The angels then said to him:  

“Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns” (Rev 17:7). “The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is” (Rev 17:8). “Here is the mind which has wisdom: The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits” (Rev 17:9). “There are also seven kings…“ (Rev 17:10). 

Recall geometry class: If A equals B, and B equals C, then A equals C. Therefore, seven heads equal seven mountains equal seven kings (7 heads = 7 mountains = 7 kings). Therefore, the seven heads, mountains, and kings are one and the same. These are the kings / kingdoms of Shinar that emerged from Enlil starting with Nimrod who is the Beast that was, is not, and ascends out of the abyss. The phrase, “The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits” (Rev 17:9) signifies that the woman (Ishtar) has (or will have) ridden on the backs of (been supported by) seven kingdoms which emerged from Babylon. This of course recalls the cylinder seal at which we looked that shows Ishtar riding on the beast, being driven by Satan. 

Figure 11. Rain Goddess. Cylinder seal. Mesopotamia. Akkad period, c. 2334-2154 B.C. Shell. 33.5 X 19.5 mm. New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, Corpus 220. 

John also said:  

“There are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time” (Rev 17:10).  

Five empires ruled Sumer / Shinar (the kingdoms “between the rivers”— Mesopotamia) in succession before John wrote Revelation. They were: 1) Sumer (Old Babylon), 2) Akkad / Assyria, 3) Neo Babylonian, 4) Medo-Persia and 5) the Greek empires. Nimrod, the Beast who was, founded the first kingdom, Old Babylon (gate of the gods) and was associated with the building of the Etemenanki (tower of Babel).¹¹⁴ Under the direction of Enlil, he established the false worship system where he was worshipped as Ninurta, Lord of the Earth. As time wore on, the politics changed, but the gods remained the same. Enlil’s name morphed to Illil; and Inanna (the queen of heaven) became Ishtar.  

Five Have Fallen 

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, his Hellenistic empire was split among his four generals, the four wings and heads that Daniel saw (Dan 8:22). According to A.H. Sayce,  

“A tablet dated 275 BC states that the inhabitants of Babylon were transported to Seleucia, where a palace and a temple (E-sagila) were built. With this deportation, Babylon became insignificant as a city, although more than a century later, sacrifices were still performed in its old sanctuary.”¹¹⁵ 

Though impoverished, politically inconsequential, and under Greek rule, sacrifices were still being conducted in Babylon one hundred years later—or about 175 BC. When the Romans conquered the Greeks, Babylon fell into their hands. However, it was the gods of Babylon who had already conquered the world. Their influence had been felt throughout the world for thousands of years. Over time and cultures, the syncretic god Enlil, for example, became Illil, Melqart, and Heracles, as well as Zeus and Jupiter in the Latin or Roman perspective. The cult of Inanna / Ishtar had spread from the land of Shinar / Sumer to the ends of the Earth: west to Greece and beyond, and eastward to India under names such as Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Astarte, Aphrodite, Qadesh, Diana, Urania,¹¹⁶ and Durga.¹¹⁷  

The angel told John regarding the seven kings that, “five have fallen, one is,” (Rev 17:10). We identify the “one” as the Roman Empire. It was the standing empire, (under Emperor Trajan, 53 AD – 117 AD, that ruled over Babylon in John’s days. According to Cassius Dio, Trajan traveled to Babylon “because of its fame—though he saw nothing but mounds and stones and ruins to justify this.”¹¹⁸ Thus, we have seen six nations that supported the woman: Sumer (and Old Babylon), Akkad, Neo-Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome.  

The Kings Without A Kingdom 

Then the angel said, “the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must continue a short time” (Rev 17:10). The answer to the last kingdom is in the text itself. We know that it will continue but a “short time.” The last will be the kingdom of the Ten Horns: “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority for one hour as kings with the beast” (Rev 17:12).  

The Ten do not yet possess a (seventh) kingdom but when they finally get it, it will last “one hour,” which certainly qualifies as a “short time” (and with the advent of Big Tech, one hour is possible). The angel told John, “The beast that was, and is not, is himself also the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to perdition” (Rev 17:11). The Beast is the first king, Ninurta / Nimrod, the beast who was—the one that the woman rode—that we saw in the iconography; and in John’s day, it was said that he “is not.” Hence, he belonged to the club of seven kings / kingdoms that have supported the woman. In the last days, he will “ascend out of the abyss,” which means he will be numerically both the first king and the eighth. Daniel provides us an important link:  

“The ten horns are ten kings who shall arise from this kingdom. And another shall rise after them; He shall be different from the first ones, and shall subdue three kings” (Dan 7:24).  

Figure 12. The Roman Empire at the height of its power. 

The ten horns are ten kings, who come from the Roman Empire, which we learned was extensive. This means that these kings do not need to come from Italy and its capital city of Rome. Rather, they can come from North Africa, Egypt, the Middle East, Asia Minor or Europe. Then a king will arise from the fourth and terrible kingdom who will be part of a group of ten kings but will be different from them and will eventually depose three of them. His kingdom will be the one mentioned as; “the other has not yet come.”