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Babylon's Judgment: Materialism, Co-Responsibility and Y2K

Bishop Williamson interprets Apocalypse Chapter 18, identifying modern materialistic society, epitomized by New York, as ‚Babylon the Great’ which is destined to fall.

Bp. R. Williamson⁠ 02-03-1999

In this seminary talk, +Williamson explains that materialism fuels unsustainable expectations and discontent, contributing to a decline in living standards. The Bishop argues for the co-responsibility of both leaders and the populace in societal decay, citing the St. Nicolas du Chardonnet occupation as an example of popular virtuous reaction and using the horse-and-rider analogy to illustrate the dynamic.

He criticizes the passive consumption of corrupting media, such as television. Bishop Williamson discusses how liberal propaganda, particularly concerning racial equality, fosters dangerous resentments and predicts a societal ‚explosion.’ He expounds on the Apocalypse’s depiction of Babylon’s sins—concupiscence of the flesh, pride, and the avarice of merchants—and God’s call for His people to separate from it, referencing Archbishop Lefebvre’s advice to leave the cities.

Bishop Williamson dedicates significant attention to the Y2K crisis, presenting it as a serious, man-made catastrophe that could trigger societal collapse by disrupting essential services like banking and power. He posits this crisis as a potential divine judgment on a world overly reliant on technology and false security, warning that its consequences will be far graver than past economic downturns and will ultimately demonstrate God’s power over a prideful, materialistic civilization.

The Fall of Babylon and Materialism's Grip

Chapter 18, verse 2 of the Apocalypse: „The angel which is Christ proclaimed in all strength, in a way that couldn’t be silenced, ’Babylon the great has fallen, has fallen. Is become the dwelling of devils and the amusement park of every unclean spirit, and of every unclean bird.‚‟ Babylon, the empire of evil, welcomes all devils. Think of New York.

In New York, Jewish friends said that the Blacks are just waiting to let loose. They have been misled with materialism, which creates constantly rising expectations. The only thing that keeps people happy with materialism is that things will get materially still better and still better. That is something they have managed to pull off, but they cannot pull it off much longer. People still hope and expect things to get better, but actually, the standard of living has been falling in the United States in real terms for a little while now. Both parents, mother and father, have to go out. They can hardly keep up with two salaries the standard of living they used to be able to keep up with one salary. In reality, the standard of living has quite considerably fallen. The high point in that respect was probably some of the early ‚70s. Since then, it has been really going down.

People have not yet realized this; the stock exchange has kept on going up, though it has been stalled for a little while now, creating the illusion of things getting better. The only way you can keep materialistic people happy is by giving them more and more goodies. It is like a drug addict; you have to give them a heavier and heavier shot to keep them at the same level of fix. So, it cannot go on forever. And when the people hooked on material goodies no longer get them, they are going to be very angry because it is all that they have got, all they believe in, all that they have let themselves be persuaded to believe in.

Co-Responsibility of Leaders and People

There was a question about who is responsible: the leaders or the people? The answer is they are co-responsible, of course, each according to his station. They are co-responsible with varying degrees of responsibility. Dr. White was saying to the priests that in Shakespeare, all the characters were responsible, and it is true. He was talking about Romeo and Juliet; even the friar in Romeo and Juliet is responsible for the tragedy. Of course, everybody is responsible. The responsibility of the „maiores‟ (leaders) is considerably greater than that of the „menores‟ (followers) because the maiores lead the menores, but the menores are responsible for who they let themselves be led by.

The St. Nicolas du Chardonnet Example

Consider the situation in Paris with Saint Nicolas du Chardonnet in the late ‚70s: will it survive or not? Politicians are constantly calculating, sensing what they can get away with. They thought, „If we close down Saint Nicolas, the people will react, and we’ll lose all our votes.‟ This was because of the popular reaction. The policemen were for the priests occupying; they would not lay a finger on Monseigneur Ducaud-Bourget. That was virtuous on their part. The Paris population could easily have been so corrupt that the policemen would have been eager to arrest him, but that was not the case. If it had been, Saint Nicolas would have been shut down.

Saint Nicolas was a creation of the people in the sense that nobody was forced to get up early on Sunday morning and go to that church at the other end of Paris, as opposed to their local parish. It is an example of the people responding virtuously. It may be only a remnant or a minority, but it is that reaction on the part of the people which has enabled Saint Nicolas to stay open. No politician left it open for the love of Monseigneur Ducaud-Bourget, much though they may have liked the old man. It was votes that mattered, and what they sensed was the feeling of the people. Many Parisians who never set foot in Saint Nicolas would have disapproved of it being shut down. The support was not just from those who actually went there; it was a sensed popular reaction. Archbishop Lefebvre would sometimes recount how a customs officer on the French-Spanish border, noticing him, would say, „Continuez, continuez.‟ (Continue, continue.) Even a simple customs man showed support.

The people are responsible, make no mistake, for who they react to and who they follow. Leaders, politicians, are always sensing how far the people will go and what they will accept. The chief priests and ancients got in amongst the crowd and turned them against Jesus. The crowd that had been shouting, „Hosanna to the son of David,‟ was swayed. It was the hour of the power of darkness. But the people are responsible. They certainly did not have to shout, „His blood be upon us and upon our children.‟ In that diabolical moment, that is what they shouted. And then Pilate said, „I am innocent of this man’s blood.‟ They replied, „His blood be upon us.‟ They wanted to kill Jesus. The whole crowd wanted to kill him. Terrible. They are responsible. Numerically, the crowd is more responsible. Qualitatively, the leaders are more responsible. So, „distinguo‟ (I distinguish). The people are responsible.

The Horseman and the Horse Analogy

A politician, whether a king or a president, is always like a horseman with a horse. This image is in the Book of the Apocalypse for the relationship between leaders and led. The horseman obviously has a lot to do with where the horse goes and how fast. He digs in his spurs or holds back the bridle. But the horse sets limits to the horseman. A skillful horseman is always sensing the horse: can it take this jump or not? What is it capable of? The horseman has to deal with the horse he has. A skillful horseman will get much more out of a horse than an unskillful one. But if you have a no-good horse, even a skillful horseman will not get much out of it. So, what politicians get out of the crowd does not depend only on the politicians. Far from it. There is a definite response on the part of the crowd.

The People's Role in Consuming Corruption

Take these awful television programs. Nothing forces any household to turn on this channel or that channel, or even to buy a television set. They do not have to, but they do, because television is easy entertainment in boring big-city life. Modern industrialized suburban life is boring, and people feel they „need entertainment.‟ Television provides it. So they buy a television set and then say, „Oh, what trash. Let’s see what’s on. Oh, what trash.‟ Make up your mind. If it is trash, turn it off. If you turn it on, stop calling it trash. But of course, they know it is trash but they still watch. They are responsible. We are all responsible because we are all going to go in front of the judgment seat of God, and we are going to be judged on what use we have made of every single day of our lives. Every single day counts.

Societal Tensions and Liberal Propaganda

To this day, if you walk down the streets of New York in a cassock, you are liable to hear, „Hello, Father.‟ This is because there were many Italians and Irish there at one stage, and a good part of the police force was Irish. New York was, surprisingly, quite human, even 15 years ago, and probably still is to some extent. But the supply of Catholic immigrants, which made it human, is being cut off. Now you just have machines and money, which is making it inhuman. Therefore, New York is necessarily getting more inhuman.

And you have all these Blacks who are being misled. It is their fault, but there is a greater responsibility on the race that has misled them. It is not necessarily conscious on their part. The liberal propaganda is terrible, constantly telling them, „You’ve been unjustly treated. You’ve been exploited. You must claim…‟ There are white intellectuals who seriously believe the slave trade should be paid back and every Black person must be treated like a king. They are given voice in the media, which constantly pushes this idea.

Hollywood propaganda, like the film Amistad about a Black revolt on a slave ship, portrays oppressed Blacks as wonderful and excellent, just like Jews in films like Schindler’s List—or as some Germans call it, „Schindler’s Mist,‟ where „Mist‟ is a German four-letter word for rubbish. Films glorify Blacks, and they receive this propaganda. In one English Shakespeare film, Much Ado About Nothing, you had a brother and sister, one actor as black as the Ace of Spades and the other as white as ivory, meant to be siblings. Common sense is absent.

Blacks are always the heroes in this propaganda. Since they are often not gifted academically or at organizing and running things, and yet are told they are equal, a conflict arises between this Rousseauist idea of equality and the reality they observe. They are told, „You’re equal,‟ but they observe, „We’re not equal.‟ This builds resentment. The false Rousseau system is building up a head of steam inside them which is going to explode. It is liberalism that is driving them crazy, just as it drives whites crazy, albeit in different ways because they are different races. Liberalism drives everybody crazy because everybody comes from God, is meant by God to go to heaven, and at the moment, is turning away from God. It is going to explode. As they say in French, „Ils ne l’auront pas volé quand ça explose‟—‟They won’t have stolen it (they’ll have deserved it) when it explodes.‟ It will not be pretty. We do our duty day by day, thank God for the faith, trust in God, and we are in His hands. But everything points to an explosion of some kind. It cannot continue like this.

Apocalypse: The Sins of Babylon

„Babylon the Great has fallen… Is become the dwelling of devils and the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird.‟ Unclean spirits are foul thoughts. Unclean birds are sins of pride, flying high. Terrible pride. Malachi Martin recently said that if you go to a supper or dinner in New York today and breathe a word against homosexuality, abortion, contraception, or anything like that, you are not invited back. It is taboo. It is becoming completely unacceptable to suggest that sins practiced by large numbers of people today are sins. Imagine. It is terribly grave.

Verse 3: „Because all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are being made rich by the power of her delicacies.‟ The wine of the wrath of her fornication is concupiscence of the flesh. All nations, meaning all unregenerate gentiles, have drunk of it. The kings of the earth—the chief executive officers—have fornicated with her, with Babylon, with materialism, spiritually speaking. If you fly first class, you sit with businessmen interested only in business: figures, profits, nuts and bolts, engines, details. Materialism, materialism, materialism. Religion is nowhere in their thoughts. Some are decent men, with families they try to look after, but their minds are full of material concerns. I have given up holding conversations at 36,000 feet because up there, they will say anything, but then they land and get on with real life again.

And the merchants of the earth have become rich by the power of her delicacies. This is concupiscence of the eyes. The merchants are the avaricious, greedy materialists. They represent concupiscence of the eyes, having made money by selling the world’s pleasures. Day after day in the seminary, glossy, beautifully produced catalogs arrive, filled with pages of completely useless and expensive items. If these unsolicited catalogs keep coming, people must be buying these things, and someone is making a lot of money. „Radix malorum est cupiditas‟ (The root of all evil is covetousness). If you knew this book (the Apocalypse) front to back, you would know more about the modern world than people who have studied it extensively. Scripture is nailing it.

The Call to Leave Babylon

Verse 4: „And I heard another voice from heaven saying, ‚Go out from her my people, that you be not partakers of her sins and that you receive not of her plagues.’‟ This other voice is our Lord, this time of mercy, not of justice like the angel of verse 1. He says, „Go forth from it, my people. Go forth from Babylon. Leave Babylon. Get out of the big city.‟ Archbishop Lefebvre said this to a huge crowd of perhaps 20,000 people at Le Bourget, France, in 1989, on the 60th anniversary of his priestly ordination. He said, „Leave the cities, or go back to the country.‟ He did not lay great emphasis on it because for most people, it is not practical or easy. The big city is, physically speaking, the soft life, and the country is the hard life. It is easy to leave the country for the city, but not so easy to go from the city back to the country. But if reasonably possible, it is a wise thing to do, especially for children, as the country is healthier and more normal for them, though even the country is getting industrialized.

So our Lord of mercy is calling people to conversion and to quit Babylon. „Go out from Babylon, my people, and do not partake in its crimes, and do not receive of her plagues.‟

Verse 5: „Because her sins have reached up to heaven and the Lord has remembered her iniquities.‟ There comes a day of the Lord’s reckoning.

Y2K: A Man-Made Reckoning

Consider Y2K. Its seriousness is often underestimated. It is a significant problem. Eight big banks in the United States are spending $3.5 billion to tackle it. The banking industry as a whole is spending $10 billion. Big motor car companies are spending $1.5 billion each. It is not a non-problem. If you want to know what people really think, watch what they do with their pocketbook. What they are doing with their pocketbook about Y2K is getting more and more serious.

The Scale of the Problem

This is a disaster men will not be able to blame on God. You might blame earthquakes, drought, fire, and other natural disasters on God, but Y2K is an entirely artificial disaster. Men could have foreseen it 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30 years ago. They could easily have fixed it 30 years ago if they had tried, thought about it, and wanted to. It is entirely men’s fault that they neglected this problem until now. It is going to be a real problem. When students go home for Christmas vacations, how many will be able to get back? Some may choose to stay here to avoid moving.

If the power goes down, and it is very possible, the whole thing is built on sand, on silicon chips. The main component of sand is silicon. It is a world built on silicon chips, embedded deep in mainframe computers. You just do not know what is going to go wrong. Systems are designed to shut down to prevent damage if something serious fails. So many systems are simply going to shut down.

Systemic Vulnerabilities

The whole thing is so carefully interlocked. To cut costs, many producers operate on hairline margins. Stores have only two or three days’ supplies. Then another truck comes to fill the gaps. What is in the store and what is not is all done by computer. As you check out, the barcode is read, it goes into the computer, and the store’s main computer knows what has gone out, what needs replacing, and an automatic order goes to the depot. The whole thing is hairline adjusted to cut down on inventory. You do not keep a large store ready; trucks come at the last moment according to computer calculations.

The system is so tightly and tautly pulled together that if one part locks rigid, as can happen with these computers, the whole thing will stop. It is very grave. Do you think people will be able to go back to the country overnight? No way. The CIA is reportedly telling its employees to stock up on foodstuffs and materials. Imagine electricity just not being there. We are absolutely dependent on it. I have never had to shave with anything except an electric razor. If there is no current and batteries cannot be recharged, I will have to get a carving knife from the kitchen. It is terrible. Just wait.

People in authority must steer a very fine line. If they tell people too much, there will be a panic, precipitating the disaster. If they tell too little, nobody will be prepared, and there will be a disaster. How much do you tell the people?

The Banking Crisis and Fractional Reserves

The banking industry is very much afraid of bank runs because of the fractional reserve banking system. This means you lend out to, say, 1,000 people, relying on the fact that only 100 at any one time will want their money back. So you keep in reserve money for, say, 150. If 1,000 have deposited, and you have lent out to 10,000 (because of those 10,000, perhaps only 700 will ever demand money at one time). If everyone you lent to demanded their money simultaneously, the bank would face a run and have to shut down. Many depositors who thought they had money in the bank would find out they have not. The bank lent out real money to a few, and for the rest, it just lent out pieces of paper.

Understanding fractional reserve banking is important as it is a major part of the modern system. If people get scared today about whether electricity will be there for the electronic exchange of money—because money is now just electronic blips on a screen—they will go to the bank to get pieces of paper. If they all go at the same time, there will not be enough paper to go around. The banking system will crash. It is going to be fun.

Verse 5 again: „Because their sins have reached up to heaven, and the Lord has remembered their iniquities.‟ The Lord has said, „You believe in computers, well, see how computers look after you. You believe that you and your smartness and your computer are going to be able to run it all, try it and see.‟ Man with his smartness is running the computers into this Y2K crisis, and it looks serious. Big motor companies and banks do not spend billions on a non-problem. It is serious. There comes a day of the Lord’s reckoning.

God's Judgment on a Prideful World

Verse 6: „Render to her as she also has rendered to you and double unto her double according to her works, in the cup wherein she hath mingled, mingle ye double unto her.‟ To punish the world for persecuting the saints, God allows the saints to judge the world. God instructs the saints: „Render to her as she also has rendered to you,‟ so you saints, give Babylon back what Babylon gave to you, „and double onto Babylon, double according to her works.‟ Whatever nasty thing she did to you, you can do twice as nasty back. They harmed your body; you judge them body and soul. They hurt you outwardly; you condemn them also to despair inwardly.

Verse 7: „As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived in delicacies, so much torment and sorrow give ye to her. Because she said in her heart, ‚I sit a queen, and am no widow, and sorrow I shall not see.’‟ As much as Babylon (New York) hath glorified itself and exalted in its technology, comforts, and skillful way of life, so much give it torment and grief. Because in her heart, Babylon says, „I sit as a queen.‟ Babylon believed itself invulnerable, like all hardened sinners. „I sit like a queen. Nobody can touch me. Our materialistic way of life, our constitution, our liberalism, we are wonderful. We are untouchable. We’ve got the whole thing under control. We’ve beaten disease. We’ve beaten the Arabs. We’ve beaten everybody and everything. We are queen.‟

„And I am not a widow‟—meaning, I need no consolation like widows do. „And I wear smiley buttons all the time. With me, things are always on the up and up. Nothing can touch me. Nothing can touch us in our superb materialism.‟ Ha, Y2K. A lot of people will go into denial over Y2K. „We’ll solve it.‟

Verse 8: „Therefore, in one day, January the 1st, 2000, will come plagues. Therefore, shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine, and she shall be burnt with the fire, because God is strong, who shall judge her.‟ Therefore, on one day, suddenly, God will punish. She thought she was strong; she will meet with death. She thought everything was on the up and up; grief. She thought she had everything organized; hunger. Death, and grief, and hunger. „And she shall be burnt with the fire.‟ She will be cast into hellfire. „Because God is strong, who shall judge her.‟

Imagine the discouraging effect of the whole Clinton affair if you do not have a strong faith or strong convictions. „What’s the point? Why should I be good? Why should I tell the truth? What does perjury matter? What does justice matter? What does truth matter? Everybody’s doing it. Why shouldn’t I do it as well? Eat, drink, and be merry, tomorrow we die.‟ You have got to have strong convictions to stand up to an example like that. It is scandalous. The supposedly most serious citizens in the country, the 100 senators, trashing truth and justice. „But nobody’s gonna touch me. Our way of life is untouchable. We are superb. No grief or mourning or death around here.‟ Oh, yeah. You will see. „God is strong, who shall judge her.‟ Darn sight stronger than they are.

The World's Lament for Babylon

Verse 9: „And the kings of the earth who have committed fornication, and lived in delicacies with her shall weep and bewail themselves over her when they shall see the smoke of her burning.‟ The chief executive officers will see the pillar of smoke arising from New York City, all that is left of it. Those who were lucky, or unlucky, enough to get out may consider those who got frazzled and fried to a cinder in the city the lucky ones. The worldlings will be horrified at their imminent punishment.

Verse 10: „Standing afar off for fear of her torments, saying, ‚Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come.’‟ I bet the Arabs are dreaming of somehow dropping some mega weapon on New York City. Why? One guess. It is not because of the Americans. Now they stand far away from worldly delights. As they see New York destroyed, they no longer believe in their computers. Now they see the whole shebang was false. The worldlings lament, „Woe, woe that great city Babylon, that strong city! In one hour has come thy judgment.‟ The worldlings lament the total destruction of everything for them except Hell.

In 1929, when the stock exchange collapsed, stockbrokers jumped out of windows on Wall Street because all they believed in had collapsed. One last ride until they hit the pavement. Splat. Then the municipality had to clean up. The worldlings lament the total destruction of everything for them except Hell. And this time around is going to be much worse than 1929. Much worse. In 1929, people were not that far removed from the country, and many still had survival skills. The country was nothing like in the amount of debt it is in now, so bankruptcies were not nearly as great as they are going to be. And there was still some charity then, some unselfishness. 1929 was like a preview of what is going to happen. I do not know how or when, but Babylon of modern materialism stands condemned because God is strong, He is not deceived, and He is going to judge. Wait and see.

Verse 11: „And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, for no man shall buy their merchandise anymore.‟ No more glossy catalogs, nor will there be any pornography at that moment. The pornography will also get shut down, and that is one reason why God is going to punish: to shut down the pornography. It is going to take a mega disaster to shut it down, but He will do that. So verse 11 is a parallel lament for the devotees of concupiscence of the eyes. From verse 11 onwards, you have a literal sense and a spiritual sense. The literal sense is a lament for devotees of concupiscence of the eyes, the merchants. The merchants stand for concupiscence of the eyes: money and pleasure in a money sense.

All right, we will continue Thursday.