While the two Babylons are traditionally thought to be the ancient Babylon and its occult religion and the Catholic church which absorbed the ancient Babylonian religion into it, it seems to me that there is a different sort of definition in Revelation 17 and 18. The first Babylon is a mystery religion -- it is not entirely definable. It is the essence of spiritual witchcraft, and is centered in Rome. The Babylon of Revelation 18 seems to be a tanglble, economic and political Babylon -- a place filled with people of many nations, on the water, with riches of every imaginable kind.
Just prior to 9/11 I was drawn in Bible reading to Rev. 18, and each day read it with concern. When 9/11 occurred, however, I felt that I understood what at least part of it meant. Everything in NYC happened in the space of one hour. Then the buildings fell, and there was dust everywhere. People walked around covered in dust. Soon the tv coverage panned from Manhattan, and all of us could see the smoke of its burning; the clouds and plumes ascended into the sky for days to come. We all stood and watched in horror at the sight of its burning.
Is NYC the Babylon of Rev. 18? It is the home of the UN, seat of the body that works to keep peace throughout the world.
If this is the case, then there is probably more to come...
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Hurricane Ike and Financial Hurricane Ike
When Ike hit Galveston it seemed a blessing that the wind speed had dropped enough to lessen the height of the surge that accompanied it. Despite its massive devastation and the crippling effect it had on the area, it could have been much worse.
But the following Monday, a disaster of another sort befell our country -- the financial crisis that started off with the failing and bailing of Bear-Stearns added to it the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not long after that Merrill Lynch was sold to keep it from bankruptcy, and AIG had to be shored up and then bought out by Barclays. A crisis of biblical proportions is upon us, so much so that the news that WaMu had been seized by the Feds in the largest bank failure of US history was just a footnote to the scenario.
And Washington hopes to shore up the economy with a monstrous bailout/buyout of the failed real estate paper. The institutions that initiated the crisis and contributed to it are being preserved, while the common citizens are being thrown to the wolves. To make matters much worse, all of this has been dumped on the public by the government and the press in such a way as to pressure us into believing that any 'solution' coming out of DC is going to be anything other than yet another band-aid to a global meltdown.
Who is looking out for us? Not the govt. Not the press. Not Wall Street. Had we been given all the information and told to look for a solution I can guarantee that the common people of this country would have come together and found a solution that would work. It is they who have the common sense, not the so-called 'economic experts' in DC and New York.
This is the truth of this country -- it is built on greed. The system preserves the greediest.
Our country is under indictment by the God it pretends to honor. Our hypocrisy is defined for everyone to see. Why should anyone have sympathy for us? Why should anyone care?
But the following Monday, a disaster of another sort befell our country -- the financial crisis that started off with the failing and bailing of Bear-Stearns added to it the failure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Not long after that Merrill Lynch was sold to keep it from bankruptcy, and AIG had to be shored up and then bought out by Barclays. A crisis of biblical proportions is upon us, so much so that the news that WaMu had been seized by the Feds in the largest bank failure of US history was just a footnote to the scenario.
And Washington hopes to shore up the economy with a monstrous bailout/buyout of the failed real estate paper. The institutions that initiated the crisis and contributed to it are being preserved, while the common citizens are being thrown to the wolves. To make matters much worse, all of this has been dumped on the public by the government and the press in such a way as to pressure us into believing that any 'solution' coming out of DC is going to be anything other than yet another band-aid to a global meltdown.
Who is looking out for us? Not the govt. Not the press. Not Wall Street. Had we been given all the information and told to look for a solution I can guarantee that the common people of this country would have come together and found a solution that would work. It is they who have the common sense, not the so-called 'economic experts' in DC and New York.
This is the truth of this country -- it is built on greed. The system preserves the greediest.
Our country is under indictment by the God it pretends to honor. Our hypocrisy is defined for everyone to see. Why should anyone have sympathy for us? Why should anyone care?
Sunday, August 31, 2008
We need to humble ourselves before God
As hurricane Gustav bears down on the Gulf Coast, in eery reminiscence of Katrina, just three years earlier, with another major storm Hannah following in its wake, we all need to take this time to humble ourselves before the God in which we used to say we, as a country, trusted, and pray for our country.
In utter irony, these events occur at the same time as the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the other end of the Mighty Mississippi River. It is the Republican administration of W who sat on their hands while New Orleans drowned in '05.
In further irony, the great Minnesota get-together, the State Fair, has, this year, hosted one of the most extraordinary exhibits ever -- a replica of the limo President Kennedy was riding in when he was shot in Dallas is on display, along with hundreds of other items of memorabilia, and video clips of JFK at the debate against Nixon, plus a video of his last 24 hours. This car is a symbol of an event that put our country out of the center of God's will, the execution-style murder of a head of state, then covered up by the government itself.
There seem to be two 'Americas' -- the phony one built on lies that were only true for white men, and the real America, built on the suffering and labor of its people of every color and background -- and the dichotomy between them seems to have created a vortex of negative energy. New Orleans was the place where the plot to kill JFK was hatched. New Orleans is the one place the government does not want us to look for answers.
We need to accept God's judgment and work together to put our country in the center of God's will. I hope it is not too late.
In utter irony, these events occur at the same time as the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Minnesota, at the other end of the Mighty Mississippi River. It is the Republican administration of W who sat on their hands while New Orleans drowned in '05.
In further irony, the great Minnesota get-together, the State Fair, has, this year, hosted one of the most extraordinary exhibits ever -- a replica of the limo President Kennedy was riding in when he was shot in Dallas is on display, along with hundreds of other items of memorabilia, and video clips of JFK at the debate against Nixon, plus a video of his last 24 hours. This car is a symbol of an event that put our country out of the center of God's will, the execution-style murder of a head of state, then covered up by the government itself.
There seem to be two 'Americas' -- the phony one built on lies that were only true for white men, and the real America, built on the suffering and labor of its people of every color and background -- and the dichotomy between them seems to have created a vortex of negative energy. New Orleans was the place where the plot to kill JFK was hatched. New Orleans is the one place the government does not want us to look for answers.
We need to accept God's judgment and work together to put our country in the center of God's will. I hope it is not too late.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
What is wrong with our churches?
We are living in a church age -- it is acceptable to talk about our faith anywhere in our country. We are flocking to churches as never before. We are honing in on the most significant aspects of faith -- of needing to be born again in order to be saved, of being aware of the awesome power of God through His Holy Spirit, of acknowledging the mandate to preach from the Bible, the Word of God, and not just from the thoughts of our own minds.
Yet there is something distressing going on in most of our churches. We hear sermons that are intended to keep us comfortable rather than challenge us to grow. We hear about naming and claiming tangible wealth rather than sacrificing for the good of others and God's kingdom. And in few, if any, churches, do we hear any discussion of one of the most serious subjects of our faith -- spiritual warfare.
Why is this?
Yet there is something distressing going on in most of our churches. We hear sermons that are intended to keep us comfortable rather than challenge us to grow. We hear about naming and claiming tangible wealth rather than sacrificing for the good of others and God's kingdom. And in few, if any, churches, do we hear any discussion of one of the most serious subjects of our faith -- spiritual warfare.
Why is this?
Isaiah 40, a lesson for us all
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness
Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins.
The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.-- Isaiah 40: 1-3 (KJV)
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