Shopping for Jesus?
It’s a few days after “Black Friday” and some retailers aren’t happy about the lower than expected results. Even wake-up calls provided by retailers starting at 4:00 a.m. and store openings at 5:00 a.m. didn’t seem to help overall. Some of you may be asking what is “Black Friday?” Did the stock market take a plunge and I missed it? No, the stock market is OK for today, but it did feel the effect of the lukewarm results of Black Friday. In the retailing world “Black Friday” refers to the day after Thanksgiving when there are wide spread sales and extended shopping hours. The “Black” in Black Friday refers to “black ink” versus “red ink” or that many retailers hope that the Christmas buying season turns their yearlong deficits into a surplus of profits during that short four-week period.
Since I am into spiritual risk taking these days, let me risk being risk looking like a simpleton because I do not completely understand and hope never to understand the complicated workings of the U.S economy. With that said, let me say that I do not feel sorry for the corporate owners, stockholders and managers that rely on the Christmas buying season to carry their year financially. (I do, however, feel sorry for the retail clerks who are underpaid and overworked and for the workers in the Third World who toil in horrid conditions for pennies an hour to make our toys, sports equipment, clothing and electronics.) This four week buying frenzy between Thanksgiving and Christmas is an artificial phenomenon created by corporate greed to capitalize on religious feelings of good will and charity. Corporations have used to their advantage the need and satisfaction to have more and more “stuff” felt by Christians and non-Christians alike. The audacity of the phenomenon is that this four-week purchasing marathon is for the expressed purpose of celebrating and honoring the birth of our Lord and Savior who had few possessions and didn’t want anything this world could give him.
Notwithstanding that the celebration of Christmas is not Biblically based and has questionable occult underpinnings, what does this materialistic orgy have to do with the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? Absolutely nothing – it’s just another example of the melding of the Christian Right with the Business Right. This commercializing of the birth of Christ has been going on for a long time, but this year it seems to have reached a fevered pitch, but it’s not enough to satisfy the short term greed of the US economy.
Realizing that most of us have been involved with the gift buying and gift giving/receiving for many years it is difficult to break from “tradition.” Don’t despair if you are still caught up in the whole thing. I know I have been trying to extricate myself for several years, but it is slow going. Being aware of the greedy materialism that Christmas has evolved into is the first step and simplification of the preparations along with an emphasis on the birth and life of our Lord is the next step. What is beyond that for me I don’t know yet. Probably an effort to educate my family and friends on the origin of Christmas and the occult meanings for many of the symbols and practices involved. My attempts to educate and testify will most probably be met with shock in the “liberal” and nominally Christian sphere in which I reside. There will be lots of “bah-humbug” thrown my way and lots of eye rolling. But testify I must, because articulating my faith is the only gift I really have to give.
Cracks in the Foundation
Well, here we are – the Monday after Thanksgiving and just weeks after the American Presidential election. By slight of hand and a great deal of luck, the elites have maintained the appearance of prosperity across the land. You have to give them credit for holding it together as long as they have. After four years of massive federal debt ($2.5 trillion) with much more red ink in the future, and a balance of payments disaster that has grown to over half a trillion a year (called the current account deficit), along with record low interest rates which has led to various speculative bubbles, the whole house of cards is about to come falling down.
America’s spending binge has been supported by other countries who continually buy up its debt. Once these countries decide that the dollar and U.S. treasury bonds may not be a good investment, the dollar begins to fall bringing everything else with it. The United States has been absorbing 80 percent of the world’s savings. But there are cracks forming in that great foundation of prosperity, the greatest prosperity the world has ever experienced!
Now, one country after another is beginning to dump their dollars – Russia, India, China, Japan, etc.
This morning, the Bank of England's Chief Economist, Charlie Bean, said... "At some stage action will have to be taken to close the U.S. fiscal deficit and, when that happens, the real value of the dollar will to fall if a sharp slowdown is to be avoided." (from The Daily Pfennig 11/28/04)
“Last night, central bankers of Japan, China, and the rest of developing Asia, must have tossed and turned. Since 2000, world foreign exchange reserves - most of it in dollars and most of it in Asia - have increased from $2 trillion to $3.5 trillion. The increase in central bank foreign exchange reserves is about the same as America's trade deficits during the same period.
“Central bankers have trillions of dollars in their vaults. And their economies depend upon the U.S. consumer. In order to spend, the U.S. consumer must have access to EZ credit - for he has no savings and his income barely increases. In order to keep the U.S. consumer consuming, central bankers must lend him money. Indeed, a study by the New York Fed showed that it takes more than the entire world's savings to keep Americans living in the style to which they've become accustomed. Private investors have already withdrawn much of their support for the dollar and the U.S. consumer. If central bankers pull out too - the jig is up. The entire world economy will have to face the consequences of a collapse in consumer demand, a collapsing dollar...and the end of the Dollar System.” (from the Daily Reckoning 11/25/04)
“On Friday, Deputy Chairman Konstantin Koreschenko said the Russian Central Bank was moving away from the ‘dirty’ float of the ruble against the dollar. The newspapers also reported today that the bond market is down sharply on fears of a lack of foreign central bank demand (for U.S. assets) will cause rates to rise. And in case you haven’t been noticing since the election the dollar has fallen against the Euro from 120 to 133 and a total fall of 70 percent from 78 three years ago. At the same time, that old fake “gold” has gone from $252 to over $450 an ounce since February of 2001.
“But America's coming bust is likely to be in line with the primary trend...a bust, not on the way up, but on the way down. It is a slump leading towards a lower standard of living, not a higher one. Why a lower standard of living? Because Americans did not save money...they did not build factories...they did not invest in the skills and enterprises that will help them increase real earnings. Instead, they spent more than they could afford on trinkets, geegaws, and luxurious McMansions. Few people in the world can afford to live in the manner to which Americans have become accustomed. Sadly, not even Americans themselves”. (From the Daily Reckoning 11/3/04)
So what does this mean to you and me? You might say, so what? It means that once the currency fails, everything will begin to fail – it will bring down real estate, pension funds, stocks, bonds, savings, businesses, etc. It means that your dollar is losing value and things are going to cost more. If the dollar loses half its value, things will cost that much more, especially imports so WalMart may not be the best deal in the future. But, some will say, that will help U.S. manufacturing by making foreign products more expensive. True, if there is anything left to manufacture after shipping off all those jobs. The government is counting on the fact that this will curb imports and increase production at home and that is true as far as it goes.
The problem lies in stopping a precipitous slide that can’t be stopped. If foreign central banks and foreign investors (who have already mostly deserted the dollar) stop supporting the dollar, interest rates will go up and bond yields down. In plain English, that means that mortgages, credit will cost more, slowing the expansion of the economy, lowering the amount of taxes the local, state and federal government collects, further increasing the debt, causing more borrowing, more devaluing of the dollar and so forth. Interest will increase on credit cards, adjustable rate mortgages, business loans, etc. causing a spiral of personal and business bankruptcies by squeezing corporate profits and the family budget.
We don’t realize it, but the biggest tax we all pay is not the amount we shell out on April 15th, on our property or sales tax. The biggest tax is INFLATION! Doug just came back from Oregon and couldn’t believe that property prices have tripled in two years. In four years, the price of my rental here in California has tripled! Does that make any sense? Is there any added value? Just think about it. The average new car is $30,000! And they say the price of gasoline (inflation adjusted) is cheaper than in 1972! So what does that tell us about inflation? Our economy is a house of cards. Our paper money is being printed at record rates, further decreasing the value of the currency.
Dear reader, we know that prophecy tells us that we will have to take the “mark of the beast” to buy or sell. Before that happens, the world economy will so deteriorate that we will work all day long just for enough food to keep us alive. There will be a great divide between the elites and the rest of us. “A quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius and do not harm the oil or the wine.” (Rev 6:5) The first part of this verse deals with the basic food required to feed a family for a day, and the oil and wine – the luxury items the elite will still have.
What can we do? Don’t get caught in the credit trap. Tear up your credit cards. Pay off your debts. Owe no man anything! Endeavor to be as free and independent of the world economic system as possible. I know this is much easier said than done. But don’t buy things you don’t need. Don’t buy things you can’t afford, even if they are presents. Live on a budget. Get free of the power of the world system, constantly enticing you to buy more and more things! As the apostle Paul says, “don’t be entangled by the affairs of this life.” (II Tim 2:4) Or as John says, “Love not the world, neither the things of the world…” (I John 2:15) Those who are ensnared by the world will most likely be deceived and it is all about your heart and your money. “Where your treasure is, there your heart is also.” (Matt. 6:21)
An economic earthquake is about to happen. You can feel the tremors. Now is the time to get ready! We not only have prophecy we can see the foundations crumbling. Equilibrium is a law of economics. The huge debt and imbalances are causing the pendulum to swing. Don’t caught on the treadmill! Turn to the Lord for wisdom and guidance.
Testify or Flee?
Deception abounds in the
Christian world. Mixed messages make it totally confusing to the average
Christian. For example,
· Will we rapture at any moment? If so, let’s not fret it.
· Should we buy food, guns and a cabin in the woods somewhere and hunker down?
· Should we leave America/Babylon so we don’t burn up with her?
· Or should we stand as a strong testimony of the overcoming life of Jesus no matter what our fate?
We discuss the issue of the rapture in detail in other articles so we are going to deal with just one point here. Proponents of a pre-trib rapture argue that “we are not appointed to wrath.” (I Thess. 5:9) God isn’t going to pour out his wrath on his saints. And that is absolutely true as so eloquently presented by Marvin Rosenthal in his book “The Pre-Wrath Rapture”. Those who hold the pre-tribulation rapture position fail to understand the difference between tribulation, persecution and suffering at the hands of the enemy versus the “wrath of God poured out on the world.” The church has never been spared suffering at the hands of Satan and the world. In fact, the Lord says “that in the world ye will have tribulation but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.”(John 16:33)
Historically, the true church has been at odds with the world and persecuted by it. In fact, we are told that more Christians have suffered for their faith in the last 100 years than in the past 1900 years (notably in third world countries). Only in the safety of the western world do we somehow have the idea that we can’t be touched by persecution. The pre-tribbers are hard pressed to explain the fact that there are saints throughout the Book of Revelation other than to call them converted Jews or “tribulation saints” (those saved after the rapture). The thing they can’t explain is just what we have done to merit this removal and why the new “tribulation saints” deserve to receive the brunt of the tribulation and we don’t. We are certainly no better, or no different other than they are other than the fact that we were “saved” sooner than they were.
The problem is that they don’t understand that the church will feel the wrath of the enemy, but not the wrath of God. The church is taken out prior to the outpouring of the wrath of God. In Revelation 14, there is the picture of the church being harvested and the “great wine press of the wrath of God” is poured out in Revelation 15 and 16.
But even before that, where judgments are poured out on the earth the true saints receive a seal on their foreheads which protects them from judgments. ” Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 7:3) “And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.” (Rev. 9:4)
There is a new heresy that says that Christians in Babylon, which they define as America, must heed the call of Revelation 18:4 to “come out of her, my people that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues.” According to proponents, if they don’t physically leave they can lose everything including their salvation. What’s wrong with this picture? First, they don’t recognize that the influence of “prophetic Babylon” will extend throughout the entire Western World so there is no where to go to escape. Second, they don’t understand that this is another reference to the rapture where the church is called “up and out” prior to the wrath of God being poured out.
The idea that Christians have to change locations (e.g. move from the U.S. to Canada or Mexico) to escape God’s wrath has no Biblical basis. Daniel never left Babylon. He was “IN” it but not “OF” it. “But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king’s choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission of the officials that he might not defile himself.”(Daniel 1:8) It is a question of inward separation, not running away. Daniel was tried in the fire, thrown to the lions and protected all the way. We don’t need to fear the tribulation. God will be with us in the fire.
We are not called to flee but to testify. “And when they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them and overcome and kill them. And their dead bodies will like in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. And those from the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations will look at their dead bodies for three and a half days… and after the three and a half days,the breath of life from God came into them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell upon those who were beholding them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, “come up here.” And they went up into heaven in the cloud and their enemies beheld them.” (Revelation 11:7-9, 11-12)
There you have it. We testify for the last three and a half years in the great city. We don’t flee it. And even if we are killed, the breath of life from God comes back in us and there you have the glorious rapture! “COME UP HERE” shouts the Lord. Matthew 24:29-31 has the same chronology, “But immediately after the tribulation of those days…they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of the sky with power and great glory. And he will send forth His angels with a great trumpet and they will gather His elect from the four winds from one end of the sky to the other.” As we shared in an earlier blog, the words “testimony” and “witness” come from the root word “martyr”. The ultimate testimony of the saints of God has always been their declaration that their home is not in this world but in a heavenly city whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:16)
Revelation 12:11 summarizes it all for us. Memorize it. Hold it close to your heart. “And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives even unto death.” We have a glorious hope set before us and God is not asking any more of our generation than He has of true saints down through the ages. Don’t flee, but testify with your life and death.
3-D Deception
The truth that the U.S. Christian Church, especially the conservative, evangelical branch, has melded itself with political and commercial Babylon is discussed throughout this website. This melding is so evident as I read the continuous reports of the fighting and the dying in Iraq. The part of the Christian Church that supports the Bush Administration’s war of aggression in Iraq is practicing what could and should be considered the ultimate form of greed spawned from unfaithful fear. As these evangelicals continue to wed themselves ever more intimately with the political and commercial powers, they are readily sacrificing their sons and daughters and the children of others in return for what they believe to be support by the Bush regime for their current social and political agenda. These Christians are against abortion but support the killing of over 100,000 innocent Iraqi citizens, many whom are defenseless children, for totally unsubstantiated reasons. They are for stronger families, but willingly send the best of our families, our sons and daughters, to be slaughtered, maimed and poisoned in Iraq and Afghanistan. They want prayer in the schools and the Ten Commandments to hang in public buildings, but they have forgotten that we are to forgive our debtors (Matt. 6:12), to love our enemies (Matt. 5:44-45) and that the sixth commandment really does mean, “Thou shall not kill” (Exodus 20:13).
What I just described is a distinctively disjointed, bi-polar practice of Christianity. Are the conservative, evangelical Christians really pro-life and pro-death at the same time? Do they really believe that to realize their goal of a ban on abortion they must support the killing of innocent men, women and children? Do they really believe that sending their children to break God’s commandments and to die alone in foreign lands will strengthen traditional families? Will they make the connections and understand the deal they have made with the Devil? The answer at this time can only be a resounding NO!
Why don’t these politicized and commercialized Christians recognize the deadly deal they have made? Are they the elect that Jesus mentioned in Matthew 24:24? “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect¾if that where possible.” Are they dazzled by the deception of the numerical success of the mega-churches, by the wealth amassed by the likes of the Trinity Broadcast Network (TBN) and the ostentatious televangelists that appear on its programs? Are they dizzy with the deception of expecting “Jehovah Jira” (God who provides) to reward them with material wealth for the seeds they sow to the already obscenely rich televangelists? Are they drunk with the deception that they have real power in the voting booth, which resulted in the “election” and “reelection” of their anointed President and a Republican controlled Congress? Yes, they have been left dazzled, dizzy and drunk by their exposure to the deception of the false Christs and false prophets that currently parade across the television screen and fill the pulpits of countless churches.
Many evangelical Christians in the U.S. have made their choice albeit a deceived, ill-informed and spiritually bankrupt choice. They still have time to choose God instead of the dazzling, dizzy, drunken deception of material wealth and power. Will they be able to put aside their “felt-needs” for “stuff” and political power or will they be like the rich, young man in Matthew 19:16-26 who walked away from Jesus because he knew he was totally possessed by his wealth? Will the fear of being poor and politically powerless in this world win out over the promise of eternal life?
APOSTASY’S FINAL ENTICEMENTS
&
JUDGMENT
(Part V in a Five-Part Series on Apostasy)
THE ANOINTING OF PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
“The presidential campaign was Texas on a grander scale. As he prepared to run, in 1999, Bush assembled leading pastors at the governor's mansion for a ‘laying-on of hands,’ and told them he’d been ‘called’ to seek higher office. In the GOP primaries, he outmaneuvered the field by practicing what one rival, Gary Bauer, called ‘identity politics.’ Others tried to woo evangelicals by pledging strict allegiance on issues such as abortion and gay rights. ‘Bush talked about his faith,’ said Bauer, ‘and people just believed him—and believed in him.’” Author: Howard Fineman (Newsweek Magazine)
What world leader of an earthly kingdom or tribal chieftain of the smallest tribe, can announce his entry and quest for headship—even of the most powerful nation on the planet—under the ordination of the Almighty Himself; to wit, that a call went up to solicit a cast of the most powerful shepherds and evangelical lay leaders of the American Church to attend, at the Governor’s Mansion in Austin, Texas, a most incredible ceremony? Here, the announcement to run for the Presidency was made by Mr. Bush; here, the hands of this leadership were placed upon his head, which was anointed with oil—and prayers were made to solicit divine intervention into the affairs of men through this man for the 2000 election.
These “Evangelical stakeholders” experienced an unforgettable event—an event, which in today’s modern world, is unprecedented in the annals of modern governments—and if you think for one moment that these same leaders would not contend for the 2004 election of George W. Bush, then you are one of the most naïve of humankind!
EUROPEAN IGNORANCE OF THE AMERICAN “EXPERIMENT”
The secular states of Europe find this religious attachment to American government unfathomable at best, and her resurgent moral authority, as nothing more than self-righteous posturing and “cowboy” diplomacy gone amok. When they realize it is God-fearing Americans, who simply refuse to agree with the noble but mendacious concept of service to the State, they are flabbergasted, to say the lest; instead, they see Christians at the lead who fane honesty in the name of Christ’s Kingdom, while all the while deeply indebted to the mammon of unrighteousness and the political power that comes from the State. Unfortunately, their consternation is compromised by their own greed (Oil for Food?)—thence, they are hardly virulent in their hypocritical dissuasions.
But, Europe’s outrage centers on the moral intransigence of this Woman who rides the Beast! Akin to a group of white sharks, circling for the kill, they will lunge out at one another, if and when their instincts dictate to suffice their insatiable cravings.
Meanwhile, believers in America unwittingly buttress these righteous projections perceived by the world by waging their “cultural wars” upon our own shores—wars without, and wars within.
THE “ENEMY WITHIN” – THE TARGET OF RELIGIOUS OUTRAGE
There’s an “enemy within” who must be stopped—that “enemy” is another vast sea of humans who represent, according to people like Michael Savage and other conservative talk show hosts, the greatest threat to America’s liberty and security, since the founding of the experiment. The enemy resides in the Democrat Party, in the ACLU, most of Hollywood, Labor’s leadership, the “femi-Nazis,” the entire “Cabaret Society” and is filled with hundreds of thousands of “America haters, pinkos, socialists and commies” who need to shut up and get behind the President or suffer the ultimate consequences for their behavior and subversion—they should unite behind the War on Terrorism!
Unwittingly, the people of God have been distracted by neocons who permeate the airwaves with “social issues” – while giving superficial lip service, at best, to the monstrous disparity of wealth taking place in their own backyards. The downsizing, outsourcing, reallocation of resources and what has become known as the Wal-martization of the American workplace continues unabated to this day.
THE “AMERICAN NEW WORLD ORDER SYSTEM”
Although this sounds a bit scattered—I’d like to digress further on America’s New World Order System through reinforcement of this politically sensitive caricature of Americana, by quoting from financier George Soros’ recent article, entitled: The Bubble of American Supremacy—in spite of the fact he spent upwards of $100 Million to defeat Bush and we haven’t heard “hide nor hair” of him since:
“September 11 introduced a discontinuity into American foreign policy. Violations of American standards of behavior that would have been considered objectionable in ordinary times became accepted as appropriate to the circumstances. The abnormal, the radical, and the extreme have been redefined as normal. The advocates of continuity have been pursuing a rearguard action ever since.”
What Soros, and other political pundits on the Left fail to realize—though more are discerning the obvious—is, that although America’s projection of military might (under the Bush Doctrine) has radically changed the impression of most nations on earth toward her intentions, they either underemphasize, denigrate, or totally dismiss the religious component which has propelled this new image upon the world scene wherein “wars of selective national interest,” through the Bush doctrine of “preemptive unilateralism”—cloaked in the guise of democratic globalism—prevails.
PROSPERITY GOSPEL RUN AMOK!
Furthermore, the American Christianity which is obsessed in fighting the current War on Terrorism, is the same American Christianity that increasingly integrates its gospel with “prosperity and power”—twisting the Scriptures to justify their aggrandizements. Complicit in this spiritual charade is the laity, who, in the main, either through neglect or assent, celebrate this travesty; and, rather than aligning themselves with the poor carpenter from Nazareth (“Who for our sakes became poor, that we through His poverty might be made rich”), have sided with mammon and have sought the “riches of this world” and, like the Church of the Laodiceans finds itself “ . . . rich, having become wealthy, and have need of nothing . . . and do not know that (they) are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked” (Revelation 3:17).
At this juncture—let me ask some serious questions but obviously easily answered questions. Isn’t politics a whole lot about money? This 2004 election is so far off the charts when it comes to campaign finances—if we added it all up (and we’ve all heard outlandish figures)—we must be approaching $1B! Now, the “power of the purse” has altogether everything to do with the “power of politics.”
Money is power in the world of Mammon—you better believe it. So, do your addition: Religion that amasses fortune will eventually have influence upon politics—right? O.K., then take a gander at this little remark witnessed on Trinity Broadcasting Network this past week (mid-November, 2004) by Jesse Deplantis (a man who doesn’t hide his “spiritual pursuits” but a Charismatic Christian who is not unlike many of those caught within the Gospel of Prosperity here in America):?
“When are we going to yield to the anointing of wealth? I want my stuff” (meaning he wants the things he asks of God).
The height of spiritual hypocrisy is reported, virtually week after week, by the American national press, who has become the de facto “prophetic voice” of the Church in exile—for most prophetic voices, like Elijah, who should expose this filthy underwear, refuse, lest they be called up before the councils and disfellowshiped. Examples of commercial fascination abound, as the feeding frenzy of the market-driven Laodicea Church blindly stumbles along.
Of late, some $163 million was taken from evangelical ministries and churches and frittered away in one of the nation’s most notorious Ponzi scams. Ministries like Benny Hinn, Christ for the Nations (Reinhard Bonke), the Assemblies of God, Northern California District (Dr. Glenn Cole), Mariland Hickey, and scores of unsuspecting pastors and smaller denominations and churches, were swept up into the greed of “something for nothing” and promises of 50% return on their investments. Now, the IRS, the SEC, and the FBI are engaged in one of the worst commercial exploitations in the world of religion.
Apparently, one of the parishioners who lost $20,000 quoted the Bible, to wit: “The Bible teaches that God delights in the prosperity of his servants, but it also teaches us not to love wealth, and it certainly teaches against greed.”
Ponzis use money from later investors to pay artificially high returns to early investors, thus attracting even more investment (so-called “new blood” added atop the ascending “pyramid scheme”). This later investment pool, brewed by an ex-evangelist by the name of Gregory Earl Setser of San Bernardino County, CA (47), along with his wife, Cynthia, his sister, Deborah Setser, and his daughter-in-law Charnelle Setser, also promised in the EVANGELICAL AFFINITY PONZI huge profits (e.g. “returns of up to 50 percent within six months and were assured only one in 10,000 deals went bad”).
Scores of outraged parishioners called for the resignation of Cole (December, 2003) for abuse of church funds.
Not to be outdone, evangelicals were again taken to the cleaners in another Ponzi at the very same time the Stezers were bilking the brethren. This time a Mormon by the name of James Paul Lewis Jr. of Financial Advisory Consultants in Lake Forest, California bilked some 5,200 clients across America, pouring 813 million dollars into his Southern California investment fund. The Associated Press carried the story from Sacramento. 5 Adding insult to injury, Lewis has been using Patriot I as an excuse not to grant refund requests, saying that millions of dollars in investments had been frozen by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Again, this is what is called an “affinity fraud” in which—Lewis sent pictures of his family out to clients—smiling all the way to the bank with their money. Investors, according to AP “never provided clients with any details on how it invests their money” (the firm apparently was in operation longer than any other Ponzi scam in America—upwards of ten years). What I have written here is the tip of an iceberg and something read in local newspapers just in the past month! Can you imagine what a year brings forth?
Hearken to this word, Church, and hearken you must:
“For we are not, as so many, PEDDLING (or “adulterating for gain” or “hawking”) the word of God; but as of sincerity, but as from God, we speak in the sight of God in Christ” (II Corinthians 2:17).
And again:
“But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling (again: “adulterating for gain”) the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (II Corinthians 4:4).
Today’s evangelical Church, particularly in America, has so compromised herself, so “adulterated” herself—prostituted herself—and has become, as the “merchants of the earth” in order to maximize her worth and impact upon the world by such worldly means, that the words of our Lord find these HAWKERS OF THE WORD OF GOD reprehensible at best, and awaiting the harshest of judgments at worst, thinking that filthy lucre bespeaks blessing and, ipso facto, power:
“Because you (the Laodicean Church of America) say, ‘I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing’—and do not know that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked—I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent” (Revelation 3:17-18).
Now do you see this woman?
“‘This is Wickedness!’ And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth . . . ‘Where are they carrying the basket?’ And he said to me, ‘To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base’” (Zechariah 5:8, 10-11).
DISCERNMENT MINISTRIES & BABYLON’S JUDGMENT
‘Tis apostasy, they say, when occult and sorcery embeds itself within the Church and Israel of old. Those American Evangelicals rightly discern her sorceries as a plague upon the House of God. But, Alas! These same “Discernment Ministries” have grossly overlooked her most debilitating pathologies—her harlotries and fornications with the King of Babylon (the State) and the King of Tyre (the Merchants of the Earth). Their grievous oversight is either intentional or demonstrates a spiritual myopia of Biblical proportions.
To their credit have they discerned her flirtations with the gospel of greed—but their discernments are disconnected from her fornications, which are exacerbated when that quest for wealth is aligned with the State!
A State, which eventually turns on her—for only Christ has come that we might have “life and have it more abundantly”—but the Beast/Antichrist can only hate and kill and bring death: “These will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire” (Revelation 17:16).
Think it not difficult to understand why the angel said to John:
“Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery (i.e., “the hidden truth”) of the woman and of the beast that carries her” (Revelation 17:7).
Barnhouse, Ironside, McGee, Dallas Theological Seminary, Ladd, Gundry, and many expositors of the Scriptures, have clearly seen the “Unholy Trinity” of Babylon the Great: The Apostate Church (Religious Babylon—Mother of Harlots); Commercial Babylon (The King of Tyre); and Political/Civil Babylon (The Beast and False Prophet—the Leadership of Babylon the Great) and witness their demise in Revelation 17 (Religious Babylon); Revelation 18 (Commercial Babylon); and Revelation 19 (Civil/Political Babylon). But, Alas! Her Religious and Commercial identities are but ONE WOMAN—that “Woman of Wickedness.”
This Woman—yes, this end-times Apostate Harlot is easily identified both in Zechariah and in the Revelation. She, the SEDUCTRESS of saint and sinner, of men and merchants—awaits her executioner. She gilded herself with the saints of the Most High—but inwardly she was full of iniquities. She rides the Beast who will yet devour her and she fornicates with all the merchants of the earth—Who is like this Great City, Babylon? “Your merchants were the great men of the earth, for by your sorcery all the nations were deceived . . . and in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth” (Revelation 18:23b-24).
Her final catastrophe shall match her idolatries, wickednesses, iniquities, adulteries, fornications, lies, thievery, falsehoods, exploitations, harlotries—yea, all her whoredoms:
“Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, ‘Thus with violence, the Great City Babylon shall be thrown down, and shall not be found any more.’” (Revelation 18:21)
LOOK CLOSELY – PIETY, PROFITS AND POLITICS – JUDGMENT DAY IS COMING!
Dear friends, the Lord has declared that this final judgment awaits such an apostate, wholly compromised and defiled Church—though she be gilded with the saints of the Most High. They (i.e., the “Precious Stones of the Lord”) are enjoined with frightful clarity: “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. For her sins have reached to heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities” (Revelation 18:4-5).
Today, upon the Plain of Shinar, an imagery of prophetic magnitude descends upon the earth. That Climax of Civilization—the Epitome of Sodom and Egypt; through greed and avarice; through cunning and deceit; and through military might; this “lover of fortresses” has gone forth both conquering and to conquer—“Who shall make war against him?”
And, united in his endeavors, there is this Woman of Wickedness, the Mother of Harlots, who rides upon him in victory—who celebrates by her uplifted cup for all to see, that she fully exults in her deceitful posture; as she a strides this seven-headed, ten-horned Monster of Babylon. She is so closely identified with her King of Babylon, that she herself, along with all her apostasies and merchandising, is identified as that Great City, Babylon! She bears the legacy of Queen Jezebel, the commercial apostasy fomented by an alliance made in hell between the followers of Elohim (King Ahab) and the King of Tyre (Jezebel).
Look closely—she has “morphed” once again—this time, the Church’s rider bridles her Beast so closely. The two are a formidable match—both rider and beast—for they have conspired in the greatest deceit of the ages: Believers and Beast—and yet, ye know not what spirit ye are of!
Look, look closely—yes, there is Religious Babylon found in Revelation 17, who shall be devoured by the ten-horned, seven-headed Beast from the abyss (Revelation 17:16-17); but, her harlotries, as Mystery Babylon, Mother of Harlots, extend into the description of Commercial Babylon found in Revelation 18, for the closing verse of Revelation 17 (vs. 18) must be considered:
“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.”
Compounding her true identity in its fullness, we find that the SAME ONE, Mother of Harlots, who is “drunk with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus” in Revelation 17:6 is the SAME one spoken of in Revelation 18:24—for “in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, and of all who were slain on the earth.”
Fathom, for a moment, the depth of her apostasy—but do not escape the contemporary role she now plays; however, the distance of conquistador and crusader, whose commercial aspirations and religious motivations are legendary, seems a rather safe and secure observation, doesn’t it? Yet, are future Babylon’s harlotries, filled with inspiration and intoxication, not as rueful as her past? Indeed—for now with her inventions and technologies, she is all the more able to suppress her foes, and enslave her masses; and, YES, all in the name of God! Outrage of outrage—she continues unabated, undaunted in her universal quest for aggrandizements in the name of religion!
There is but one Woman of Wickedness found in the Bible—Zechariah 5:5-11, whose Babylonian destination reveals her true nature—for she is imprisoned in a commercial ephah headed for her base on the Plains of Shinar where she belongs! Ancient Babylon, cradle of theocratic civilizations, of the hydra-headed python of polytheism—where politics, commerce and religion consummate in unholy, Trinitarian evil! We shall elaborate more fully in other articles upon her multiple personalities and her irrepressible abilities to corrupt and to fornicate with the kings and merchants of the earth—for both the political and commercial is in view here in her loveless desires to enrich herself and to relish the support of her admirers.
But, lo, her doom is sure:
“For true and righteous are His judgments, because He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication; and He has avenged on her the blood of His servants shed by her” (Revelation 19:2).
Amazed and “flabbergasted” (Revelation 17:7) when you see her—marvel no further, for this same Mother of Harlots, could, in the name of God and of Christ, slay the followers of the Lamb and of them who keep the commandments of God! Inquisition, crusades, pogroms, witch-hunts, religious wars and conquests in the name of Christ—her legacy is fraught with the blood of His servants: MARVEL NOT! The convergence of piety, profits and politics collide as “The Woman rides the Beast” in Revelation 17.
This concludes our five-part series on Apostasy. We have attempted to distinguish and to make the contemporary nature of the subject matter relevant in today’s world—which it most certainly is. I fully realize that many who read this are unaware of the intense Biblical metaphors, symbols and other language of Scripture used to convey spiritual realities—notwithstanding, their imagery is potent and prophetically suitable in the discourse of this eschatological phenomenon now taking place upon the American and world landscape.
I/we commend you to the grace of God in your search for truth and refer you to the Lord Himself, Who in spite of the horrendous apostasy of these days, is still “the same, yesterday, today, and forevermore.” His love and gift of salvation, through humble confession of faith in His absolute and eternal sacrifice for you and all men, is extended to all who call out to Him for redemption’s gift. God bless and keep you in the midst of these most troubling and challenging times.
APOSTASY:
THE MARRIAGE OF THE STATE
&
THE CHRISTIAN RELIGION
THROUGH COMMERCIALISM
(Part IV of a Five-part Series on Apostasy)
“SO HAPPY TOGETHER” (tune)
Expositors
are loathe to correlate the Jezebel of King Ahab with the Jezebel of the
Church in Thyatira (I Kings 16-22; II Kings 9-10; Revelation 2:18-29)—that
great Church of apostasy that bespeaks, according to G. H.
Pember, of the State and Church merger under Rome
and survives to this day.
However, the allusions and comparisons are so striking, that one would have to be theologically moronic not to recognize the identity of the woman in Thyatira is the spiritual counterpart to that woman, Jezebel in the book of the Kings. Furthermore, as Jezebel clearly represents all that is apostate, that Mother of Harlots, that Woman of Wickedness—even so, the Jezebel of Thyatira is the epitome of the same and the tragic display of absolute apostasy within the Church!
And, what did the Lord have against the Church in Thyatira:
“Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that (lit., according to M., “your wife Jezebel”) woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach (or “teaches and seduces”) and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality (lit., “repent, and she does not want to repent of her sexual immorality”), and she did not repent. Indeed I will cast her into a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless they repent of their deeds. I will kill her children with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the minds and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to your works. Now to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden” (Revelation 2:20-24).
Commentary on this could be exhaustive. Suffice it to say, the “depths of Satan” are found within the Apostate Church. There are those who overcome therein, but the mixture she imbibes in the cup of her fornication is so potent—it is a miracle that they who abide therein can still “hold fast what you have till I come.”
Both Israel’s apostasies of antiquity, and the Church’s aggrandizements with the Merchants of the Earth—yes, her unmitigated interplay with today’s wealth and prosperity gospel, all the while fomenting rationalizations that these alleged “blessings” of materialism bespeak of successful Christian living in the modern era, able to ingratiate themselves before their fawning leadership through their abundant contributions—bear unbelievable resemblance to the tactical deceits of Jezebel.
Again, no amazement that the HARLOT of Babylon the Great sustains her identity through both Revelation Chapter 17 and Chapter 18! She is APOSTATE, not only because she relishes the support of this Beastly State, but she is APOSTATE in that she inculcates herself by her mercantile associations who bewail her rapacious inferno. Is there not a correlation between her Babylonian reliance upon the State and her fraternization with the wealth of the world and its merchants?
How is it that the leading lights of American Evangelicalism could be seen with Republican politicos and the business elites of the U.S.A.? The sight was despicable—how dare they flaunt their associations with the politically powerful and business magnates in galas and party boats during the 2000 Philadelphia Convention? They, the Church, providing her foot soldiers to battle at the polls, well deserved a table in the presence of the Kings and Merchants of the earth! Yet, their Jesus once said: “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have their nests, but the Son of Man has no where to lay His head.”
APOSTASY: MIXING THE GOSPEL WITH GENTILE WORLD POWER
Although much more can be said of the commercial entanglements of numerous “born-again” brethren throughout, in the main, the USA and how this despicable characteristic equates to the Father’s house becoming a latter-day “House of Merchandise”; however, we must excuse ourselves from this “alliance made in hell” between the Members of His Body and the Merchants of the Earth, and give further exploration to the deceit of mixing religion with politics—for it is here that the stark outrage of the divine is measured!
Notably, The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life conducted an extensive survey on the impact of religion in the American body politic (Religion and Politics: Contention and Consensus). Certainly, their findings demonstrate the emergence of the Church-going population with the Republican Party and of the non-church with the Democratic Party (with Black Evangelical the exception to the rule):
“Attention to Kerry's personal religious commitments comes at a time when experts are touting the "religion gap" as the most fundamental divide in the current political landscape. Pollsters have found that an individual's degree of religious commitment (measured by how often they attend worship services) is a more significant indicator of voting behavior than education, income level or gender. According to a November 2003 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, 63% of voters who attend religious services more than once a week say they will vote for President Bush in the upcoming election (2004), while 62% of voters who seldom or never attend services say they will vote for the Democratic nominee. However, such figures can oversimplify the often-complex relationship between personal religiosity and voting behavior. Black evangelical Protestants, for instance, tend both to attend church frequently and to vote Democratic. But commentators have used the figures to underscore the need for the Democratic Party to reach out to religious audiences.”
The establishment of the Evangelical-Republican alliance—virtually in ALL AREAS of the nation (not just the South)—bespeaks of the on-going strategies used by both politicos, as well as religious leaders within the evangelical community. The Pew Research figures indicate the on-going politicization of the believing Church is unprecedented in the annals of American religious history:
Let it be clear from the outset that when we speak of APOSTASY in its most “definitive form” we allude to the Bible’s clear and present prophetical declarations relating to religion’s contaminating engagement with politics; and, specifically, “power politics.”
The above statistics demonstrate a rather antiseptic predisposition for evangelicals to be so politicized—i.e., welcome the involvement of religion in political dialogue and discourse. Again, the initial appearance of this attachment may initially disguise itself as benign; however, the “temptation” to “take up the sword” (as Peter did in the Garden of Gethsemane—John 18:10)—as a “manifestation” to “seize the kingdom now” and to “defend kingdom rights” is what so deeply concerns.
THE OCCULT vs. RELIGIO-POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT
The initial two parts of this series alluded to the impact that the occult (i.e., what the Bible calls “sorcery” and today we label it “New Age”), has had upon the Church. These, what the Bible calls, “doctrines of demons,” compromise the purity of God’s witness through His people. Likewise, our stress was upon the “commercial hype” that has had a deleterious affect upon the Church. The alleged “success” created by excessive “materialism”—especially demonstrated within the Meta-Church Movement—has propelled its evangelical leadership into the realms of “power-politics.” Money talks—the subject quickly turns to politics and the influence it bears upon domestic and international policy.
However, Christendom’s greatest threat (and here I specifically designate the “believing Church”) comes not from the incursions of such compromise and “doctrines of demons” but from Apostasy’s purest from: The Marriage of the Church and the State—the linkage of “power politics” and “religious contrivance.”
THE AMERICAN LEFT REFUSES TO COME TO TERMS WITH RELIGIO-POLITICAL REALITIES -
Much to the chagrin of the Left, President Bush has NOT betrayed his alliance with the Religious Right in America—rumors of “their demise” and fragmentation has been greatly exaggerated and the Left has skewed this distortion for their own political/social agenda (and for this—Cutting Edge should hang their heads in SHAME!).
What the Left does NOT realize is the tantalizing mutuality that now exists between the two—nor does the Left perceive the MUTUALLY BENEFICIAL RELATIONSHIP that currently exists between the evangelical wing of the Church and the political power structures of this nation!
When evangelicals say that “they led the charge for the GOP” in Bush’s re-election, they mean it. When President Bush says he gained some “capitol” he wants to spend in the next four years—he knows precisely who was involved in giving him that capitol! For liberals and the likes of Barry Linn (through Barry Boston) to assume otherwise, is foolhardy and only demonstrates how alienated the Left is from this American strata of society.
Why is it that PRAVDA (Russia) is clear about this relationship? They do NOT underestimate the convergence of the Religious Right and the ascendancy of George Bush in this nation! But, again, why is it that the American Left is so blinded by the Evangelicals’ impact upon this election?
Fortunately, however, TheocracyWatch’s impassioned articles synthesizing the impact of the Religious Right in this nation gives some hope that someone “out there” has come to terms with what is happening and why. But, alas! TheocracyWatch makes this absurd remark:
“The kind of political momentum of the 2004 election needs to be sustained. Dominionists (sic., Dominionist) have historically targeted midterm elections because voter turnout is much smaller than in Presidential elections. Those who favor Democracy and a pluralistic society need to be passionate, and they need to be involved in politics. We can replace dominionist legislators in the 2006 elections, but it will take hard, sustained work, and lots of passion -- the same kind of hard work and passion that began with the 2004 elections.”
A sort of schizophrenic interpretation of the impact of the Religious Right upon the past election transpires amongst groups like Americans United for Separation of Church and State; Alliance for Justice; Political Research Associates; People for the American Way; Interfaith Alliance and the Institute for Democracy Studies. They anxiously announce there’s this deep dark boogieman called the Religious Right—while, at the same time, demeaning its influence upon the election or, for that matter, politics in general. “The truth is out there” – someone’s influencing someone but could Sara Diamond be right? Listen, maybe she’s found the truth:
"Christians are mandated to gradually occupy all secular institutions until Christ returns" Definition of Dominion Theology by sociologist Sara Diamond
Furthermore, the ludicrous and superfluous remarks made by Air America’s airheads regarding the Religious Right’s clout (i.e., “all bark and no bite”) continues to remind one of the West’s ignorance of Hitler’s intentions leading up to the stupid diplomatic efforts by Chamberlain and his absurd and worthless document entitled: “Peace in Our Time!”
Yet, Air America will somehow have the perspicacity to print this:
“It's payback time for the Religious Right and they mean to collect in full. Bob Jones III, of Bob Jones University, sent a congratulatory note to George W. with the following admonition: "Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ. Honor the Lord, and He will honor you. If you have weaklings around you who do not share your biblical values, shed yourself of them." Clear enough? Newsweek reports that the evangelicals "now hold daily conference calls and meetings to review a long legislative wish list: conservative judicial appointments, a federal amendment banning gay marriage, abortion restrictions, tougher obscenity laws, school vouchers, a ban on all human cloning."
Sure, it’s payback time—but “you don’t have to pay that much back because you don’t owe them that much” – how do you spell “dumb” backwards: MUD!
Finally, the so-called “Evangelical Left” of Sojourners—they are the last ones to look into the crystal ball and discern the impact of the Religious Right on the election of 2004—listen to their gibberish:
“The much-touted Religious Right is now a declining political factor in American life. The New York Times’ Bill Keller recently observed, ‘Bombastic evangelical power brokers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson have aged into irrelevance, and now exist mainly as ludicrous foils.’ The real theological problem in America today is no longer the Religious Right but the nationalist religion of the Bush administration—one that confuses the identity of the nation with the church, and God's purposes with the mission of American empire.” (Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief, Sojourner’s Magazine, Sept.-Oct., 2003)
Both Keller and Wallis should resign! Stoning of false prophets may not be such a bad idea after all (just kidding)—but, when are these guys going to get a brain?
PURE APOSTASY – JEZEBEL-STYLE
The truest meaning of “Apostasy” (i.e., “the falling away from the faith”) in its “Babylonian context” has far less to do with “sorcery” (Revelation 18:23) and the accouterments thereof (e.g., “the wise men, the astrologers, the magicians, and the soothsayers” (Daniel 2:27); or channelers, diviners, new age movements in general, self-actualization/realization, theosophy, transcendental meditation, ad nausea).
However, not to demean the significance of the threatening blast to True Christianity that these “winds of doctrine” pose to the Church, yet they are in no way equal to the image of the Woman who rides the Beast!
Pointedly: Apostasy, akin to what took place in ancient Israel—especially in the reign of King Ahab and his Gentile-born Queen Jezebel of Tyre and Sidon—is the absolute convergence of the religion of the One True God with that of the power of the State! Here we have a princess, Jezebel, whose father, Ethbaal, king of the Sidonians, was a zealous participant in the worship of Baal. Well did she know the mysteries of the Canaanite religion and its entanglements with the mystery religion of Babylon.
Her peculiar familiarity with religion and politics, as well as Tyre’s commercial intrigues and how their international trading empire incorporated temple “worship” to spread its economic hegemony throughout the Mediterranean, represents an ideal Trinitarian form of apostasy wherein religion, politics and commerce depict prophetic Babylon.
Her expertise in religious subterfuge and commercial exploitation, coupled with political power—and how to manipulate the three—was unexcelled. King Ethbaal was unsurpassed in his ruthlessness, having been High Priest of Baal; he now sought, through assassination, the kingship of the ancient Phoenicians. Indeed, he sought to bring the “counsel of peace” between them both: The State and Religion – the kingship and the priesthood, the Church and the State. So, it is within this context, did “that woman Jezebel” and Israel’s seventh and worst king (I Kings 16:33) ascend the throne of Israel and become her king and queen.
Their “commercial tryst” bore no semblance of commitment and matrimonial bliss. No, as Solomon (I Kings 11:1-5), King Ahab sought commercial alliances to enforce his political control over the masses and to suffice his sensual and greedy aspirations. The fact that Ahab had some seventy sons by “women of the court” demonstrates the degradation and charade of the marriage bed (II Kings 10:1).
Furthermore, the fertile soils of apostasy were found between Israel and Tyre through Dan’s unholy inheritance grab centuries earlier, wherein the tribe of Dan seized the northernmost territory of Israel—for its environs were predisposed to trade with Tyre and Sidon. Dan’s ancient apostasy is legendary—integrating the true religion of Jehovah with the Canaanite deities of Baal and Ashtaroth (vide. Judges 17 and 18).
We must consider the inspiration of the Scriptures in leaving out the Tribe of Dan in sealing the first mentioning of the 144,000 as a rebuke to this compromise (Revelation 7:5-8), but reconsider their possible repositioning within the Holy City (Revelation 21:21) as a triumph of grace and faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God.
Now, is that overt enough—or are you going to go Garrison Keillor on me and do a Lake Wobegon
“I’m trying to organize support for a constitutional amendment to deny voting rights to born-again Christians . . . I feel if your citizenship is in Heaven—like a born-again Christian’s is—you should give up your citizenship . . . sorry, but this is my new cause . . . if born again Christians are allowed to vote in this country, then why not Canadians?”
So—what doth it profit a man if he gains the whole NPR audience, but loses his own soul? Think of it—living among so many Lutherans for so many years has caused Garrison to go mad! Again, it’s this overweening sense of the Left’s propriety and their flippant attitude concerning the Religious Right’s impact that reminds me of the Cabaret comedians who joked about Hitler!
THE ENTANGLEMENT OF RELIGIOUS POLITICS - BABYLON
I’m going to go “Biblically heavy” on you—so, bear with me . . .
Having superficially explored the prototype of Biblical apostasy, may I concentrate your attention upon the earth’s most unique religious/secular mixture to date: The United States of America and its burgeoning relationship with conservative Christianity, again, in particular, evangelical Christianity—for it is here that apostasy’s most prophetically grotesque appearance is recognized.
I do this at the risk of accusations that such political analysis has little to do with spiritual matters; however, understanding the times in which we live is a Biblical injunction that bears credibility:
“ . . . of the sons of Issachar who had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do . . .” (I Chronicles 12:32).
At first glance, and since “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one” (I John 5:19), it appears that an argument can be made in support that little difference exists between nations insofar as evil is concerned; however, the Bible is altogether clear regarding such differentiation along many lines and levels (e.g., in the Image in Daniel there are “principalities” identified as “the prince of Persia” and the “prince of Greece” – let alone copious Biblical examples that delineate differences among nations, tribes, peoples; the “sheep and goat” nations (Matthew 25:32-33), etc.).
Even so, regarding the end-time’s Babylon, which shall arise at the “End of Days” (i.e., the last of the Last Days, for the “Last Days” or “Latter Days” surely commenced at the time of Jesus’ earthly ministry), we observe that its physicality bears remarkable resemblance to a multitude of Biblical descriptions, which resoundingly point to our shores! But, the chief evidence that convicts us of Babylon’s identity is this insidious characteristic of ancient apostasy.
Consider: the nations of Russia, Germany, Japan (of course), and even of Canada, etc., have little or no claim upon professing a Christian character—even the European Union’s Constitution (notwithstanding the Catholic heritage of many of its states, let along the long history of Christianity (Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox)), with secular revulsion refuses to acknowledge its Christian heritage within that document to the chagrin of its more Catholic constituents.
Yet, it is here that a glaring differentiation is noted: The United States of America—with multitudes of its leaders and people—feign to be “of Christ” – when, in point of fact, she (i.e., America) is part and parcel of the “prince of this world’s” empire. Her service to the prince of this world, notwithstanding the Christian protestations to the contrary, is fraught with abominable indignities—so much so, that to decry her ties with both Egypt and Sodom, and of her many curses written on both sides of the Flying Scroll, could literally cover the entire earth if pen could be found to write such a despicable diatribe.
The iniquity committed by the aforementioned nations (for there is sufficient wickedness to go around—especially now that we have absolute proof of the UN’s indiscretions in the “Food for Oil Program”) is done outside the pale of Christianity—i.e., they hold no claim to divine proclivity. They bear no mystique with the “Light and the Glory” ascribed by a vast list of Christian Americans who see our history as a “City set on a hill which cannot be hid.”
The concept of the “Christian nation” is highly esteemed by a growing number of American Christians and is cloaked in a variety of platitudes—everything from “God bless America” to “holding forth the traditions of our founding fathers.” Think it not peculiar the film “Of Gods and Generals” premiered to our troops prior to its official release and invasion of Iraq—virtually deifying the coming battle as if God fully blessed the coming onslaught!
Indeed, President Bush’s first term witnessed regular “prayer sessions” with Attorney General (John Ashcroft) and the head of its National Security Council (Condoleezza Rice), as well as a multitude of members from both Houses of Congress, including scores of military, business, and entertainment leaders—let alone tens of millions of its nearly 300 million population, claim the nation for Christ and the Church. It is no small phenomenon in modern times that America bears a unique distinction of holding forth the most vibrant “Patriotic Church” on the globe.
A CITY SET ON A HILL?
And for all her religiosity—what testimony is held forth to the nations who behold the “city set on a hill which cannot be hid?” How do the “have-nots,” and for that matter, “the haves” of the world view the Woman of Wickedness within her commercial ephah? (Zechariah 5:5-11). Where do the Two Women with Wings of a Stork place this woman in the basket whose name is WICKEDNESS? On the plains of Shinar in the center of Babylon (Dura)! Coincidental—hardly.
The world witnesses, regrettably, and increasingly, a nation permeated by violence, oppression, murder, war, thievery at the highest levels; while trafficking in the bodies and souls of men (cheap labor)—all from a nation, which allegedly bears witness to the claims of the Savior. Indeed, our prisons are stuffed full—America incarcerates over 2M (the