Take Flight from Falling Babylon (Rev 18:4-8)

Come Out of Modern Babylon My People (Rev 18:4-5)

No later than the gathering of saints at Adam-Ondi-Ahman, God the Father's voice will be heard from heaven‒perhaps through his modern prophet‒saying: "Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." (Rev 18:4) The Lord's people are his covenant people who are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This verse describes the Lord's final call for members of the church to flee Modern Babylon both spiritually and temporally for the safety and security of Zion in Missouri. Those who fail to heed this warning will partake of Modern Babylon's sins and will receive her plagues during the seventh vial plague of the Third Woe at the Second Coming.

The call for God's covenant people to come out of Babylon has its historical roots in ancient Babylon, where the Jews had been taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 BC. They remained in Babylon for 70 years, until King Cyrus of Persia released them to return back to Jerusalem to build the temple. Bruce R. McConkie has said: "As it was in the days of Cyrus, so shall it be in the day of Christ. The cry shall go forth: 'Go ye out from Babylon; flee ye from the Chaldeans; forsake the world; turn your face to Zion; come, worship the Lord in his holy mount. Believe the gospel and partake not of the promised plagues.'" (The Millennial Messiah, 443)

Many sections in the Doctrine and Covenants repeat the modern warning for church members to flee Modern Babylon. (See e.g., D&C 29:8-9; D&C 133:7, 14) John gives the precise timing for this flight to Zion in Revelation 18:4. The call will come when the saints gather to Adam-ondi-Ahman, just 3½ years before the Second Coming. (See Rev 10:1-7; Dan 7:9-11) That gathering will commence the call for the saints to physically gather, to redeem the land of Missouri, and to build Zion, including construction of the temple at Independence.

The Burning of Babylon (Rev 18:6-8)

Those who fail to come out of Modern Babylon when called to do so will be partakers of her sins and will be subject to the judgmental plagues that befall her. (Rev 18:4-5) John describes the severity of these judgments in Revelation 18:6-8, saying: "Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire." The sudden plagues of Modern Babylon will come in one day as a literal judgment, similar to the fall of ancient Babylon to the Persian armies of Cyrus in a single day. This one-day judgment shall bring about four conditions that include death and mourning, as well as famine that is both physical and spiritual. The fourth condition is fire that will burn Modern Babylon completely. D&C 64:24 states: "For after today cometh the burning … and I will not spare any that remain in Babylon."

The punishment of those who remain in Babylon will be both physical death and spiritual death. Lot's wife is an example of someone who died physically and spiritually because she failed to come out of Babylon both in body and in spirit. Through her lingering fondness for Sodom, Lot's wife shared in its destruction. Saints that longingly look back to Modern Babylon as they journey to Zion will suffer the same fate. For more on the future flight of saints to Zion and the burning of Modern Babylon, check out my podcasts from July 26 and 28, 2026.

July 26, 2026 — Podcast

July 28, 2026 — Podcast