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Topic: Back to Babylon? Could it be?
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WildB
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posted
Carol Swenson
Member # 6929
posted July 13, 2008 04:15 PM
The woman is “the great harlot,” but she is also “the mother of harlots.” The Babylonian system has, in one way or another, given birth to all false religions. She has also seduced men into opposing God and persecuting His servants.
John’s readers would not be surprised when he used an evil harlot to symbolize a wicked city or political system. God even called Jerusalem a harlot (Isa. 1:21). Isaiah said that Tyre was a harlot (Isa. 23:16-17), and Nahum used this same designation for Nineveh (Nahum 3:4). (Read Jer. 50-51 for further historical parallels to John’s prophetic message.)
The “Babylonian system” of false religion has been a part of history since Nimrod founded his empire. Scholars have discovered it is amazingly like the true Christian faith! Alas, it is Satan’s counterfeit of God’s truth. Babylonians practiced the worship of mother and child, and even believed in the death and resurrection of the son.
Readers in John’s day would identify “the harlot” with the Roman Empire. Readers in the Middle Ages might identify it as the Roman ecclesiastical system. Today, some believers see “the harlot” and the Babylonian system in an apostate “world church” that minimizes doctrinal truth, rejects the authority of the Word, and tries to unite professed believers on some other basis than faith in Jesus Christ.
However, in the days when John’s prophecy will be fulfilled , an amazing thing will happen: “the harlot” will be made desolate by the very system that carried her! It is important to note that “the beast” carries “the harlot.” Satan (and Antichrist) will use the apostate religious system to accomplish his own ends (i.e., attain world power); but then he will do away with “the harlot” and establish his own religious system. And all of this will be the fulfillment of God’s Word (Rev. 17:17).
(Wiersbe)
Note:https://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/523/print
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That is all.....
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Hitch
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quote:
Originally posted by SoftTouch:
Thanks for adding that Sis!
I posted the other article over on the EWOP and there is one member there who seems to believe that Jerusalem is Babylon. That member comes up with a lot of Scripture showing how Jerusalem is called a harlot and the prophets have all been killed there, but I just can't get behind that 'interpretation,' but I'm not well versed enough to back up my 'gut feeling' with Scripture ![[Frown]](frown.gif)
Any thoughts?
Jerusalem WAS the harlot. This is the Jerusalem of Christ's generation. The city in which our Lord was crucified, the city Jesus himself laid on the guilt of the innocents. The crimes of ancient Jerusalem are two fold. She rejected her Lord to the point of regicide. And she played the ***** with the pagans. If you have time think, about this quote and the terrible consequences, it still makes me shudder;
But they cried out, Away with him, away with him, crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your King? The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar.
Something to consider here is that in all history only Jerusalem of the first century had the capability of these crimes. Jesus was there and they murdered him. Jesus was there and they made their fateful cry.
Soddom ,Egypt ,,,and Babylon are all metaphors for gross sin and all three are used in the Apocalypse,describing or aluding to Jerusalem, the once holy city.
Take care
Hitch
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Rogg
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You have to look at the literal attributes of Babylon to see who Babylon is.
Babylon reigns on the earth...
Revelation 17:18
18."And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth."
Babylon rules over the world.
But the Anti-christ must destroy modern day Babylon, in order to take over the world himself.
Revelation 17:16
16."And the ten horns which you saw on the beast, these will hate the harlot, make her desolate and naked, eat her flesh and burn her with fire.
Revelation 18:8-10
8."Therefore her plagues will come in one day-- death and mourning and famine. And she will be utterly burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her.
9."The kings of the earth who committed fornication and lived luxuriously with her will weep and lament for her, when they see the smoke of her burning,
10."standing at a distance for fear of her torment, saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour your judgment has come.'
I cannot ever see Iraq ruling over the world. And I doubt the US will rule the world from Iraq.
Prophetically Babylon must be conquered by the Modern day Babylon.
She contains a multitude of people from every nation and tongue.
Revelation 17:15
15.Then he said to me, "The waters which you saw, where the harlot sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues.
If you seek the Lord on this it will be apparent who Babylon is.
Rog
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SoftTouch
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It has been a long time! I think you may have left not too long after I came here (about 3 years ago)? But I remember you ![[Smile]](smile.gif) (Just don't ask me for specifics... cause that's about as good as my memory gets LOL)
I just caught the below from your signature...
quote:
Originally posted by Kindgo:
JESUS LOVES YOU...but I'm his favorite
![[pound]](graemlins/pound.gif) I Love It! ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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Psalm 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
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Kindgo
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Sister Linda, ![[hug]](graemlins/hug.gif)
The Lord bless you and keep you. You are a joy to everyone who knows you. Thank you so much for the kind words and the warm welcome.
Sister Deb,
You are precious and honored in His sight and He loves you. Thank you very much for your kind words, and warm welcome, it has been a lond time since I posted here. ![[type]](graemlins/type.gif)
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
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SoftTouch
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Hi Kindgo! It's Great to see you here again!
That's a Great article on Babylon! I'm so glad you posted it here. I think I'm gonna re-plant it over on the EWOP board (with due recognition of course ![[Wink]](wink.gif) ).
There is just No Way I can even begin to believe that Jerusalem is Mystery Babylon (regardless of Jewish Mysticism called Kaballah, which was one of the posters points on the other board... but this 'mysticism' - Kaballah or by any other name - is Everywhere!)
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Psalm 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Glory Be!!!!!! ![[clap2]](graemlins/clap2.gif) Your a sight for sore eyes in this place you ole lurker you! ![[dance]](graemlins/dance1.gif) I was hoping if I dropped your name in here, I might drag you in here for at least a hello!!! We sure do need a good watcher to keep us abreast of the news on Israel! Its been too long sister kathy... time to come home! ![[Prayer]](graemlins/prayer.gif)
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Kindgo
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http://www.gracethrufaith.com/ikvot/mystery-babylon-whats-the-mystery
Mystery Babylon ... What's The Mystery?
Ikvot ha'Mashiach
A Bible Study by Jack Kelley
Seems like it's popular to identify Mystery Babylon as New York City again, especially after 9/11. The facts that:
1) you can connect the Scriptural dots and come clearly and directly to Babylon in Iraq,
2) there's not a shred of Biblical evidence to support the New York City view, and
3) there's no compelling reason to spiritualize the Biblical passages on the subject,
seem not to bother this view's adherents.
The late Dr. David L. Cooper advised, "Where the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate text clearly indicate otherwise." It's come to be known as the Golden Rule of interpretation. We'll apply it to see what the Bible says about Mystery Babylon.
The first place to look is the only place it's mentioned, Revelation 17. There the words "Mystery Babylon the Great" appear, written on the forehead of a symbolic woman seated atop a symbolic beast with seven heads and ten horns in a vision John was given. We know they're symbolic because in the passage the angel describing them says so, and tells us what they symbolize. This fits with Dr. Cooper's rule.
The angel explained to John that the beast symbolized Satan, who would become the object of worship in the world and manifest himself in one we call the antichrist. The seven heads were seven hills and also seven kingdoms. Five of these had fallen when John was writing (Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece) one was currently in power (Rome) and one was still to come (hold that thought). The ten horns were ten kings who didn't yet have a kingdom but would each receive one for the purpose of serving the antichrist and making war against the Lord. And finally, the woman was the city that in John's time was ruling over the world.
When In Rome ...
So far we have three references to Rome. It sits on seven hills, it was the kingdom currently in power, and it was the city from which the world was ruled. Most scholars accept the fact that in John's time, when the Revelation was written, the vision of the woman on the beast represented Rome, and that's why she was called Mystery Babylon.
(In the Greek language, the word we translate mystery literally means a revealed secret. The pagan religious system first practiced in Babylon had been transplanted to Pergamus in Biblical times (see Rev. 2:12-17) but in the 4th century AD would be merged with Christianity in Rome. That's the secret John was revealing.)
Through out much of church history Mystery Babylon has been a euphemism for Rome. But what about today?
The Roman Empire was never really defeated in the sense that the other ancient kingdoms were. It was split up and parts of it were overcome, but in the 300's it was transformed into the Holy Roman Empire and for all practical purposes ruled over Europe until the 1500's. And even after that parts of the old Roman Empire were pre-imminent in the world for a time, specifically Spain and England.
Currently the USA is the undisputed super-power, but lately the European Union has begun challenging the USA for leadership in the world. This turn of events is particularly interesting to prophecy buffs because of Daniel 9:26. "After the sixty-two 'sevens, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing. The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood: War will continue until the end, and desolations have been decreed."
Those of us who believe that this portion of Daniel's 70 weeks prophecy is still in the future, knowing that the Romans destroyed the city (Jerusalem) and the sanctuary (The Temple) in 70 AD, believe that it predicts a ruler emerging from a revived Roman Empire at the end of the age. This ruler is called the antichrist by most, who also see the European Union as a revival of the Roman Empire. That being the case, the kingdom described to John in Rev. 17 as the one that was still to come would be the European Union, a modern version of the Roman Empire.
When the antichrist comes to power, we believe he'll divide the world into 10 regions and place a leader over each of them, hence the 10 kings loyal to him.
But Wait There's More
Seeing Rome as both the 4th and 5th kingdoms of John's vision fits with other prophecies as well. For instance, in Daniel 2&7 we're given two views of Gentile Dominion, the time in world history when gentile powers are superior to Israel. In both the dream Daniel interprets in chapter 2 and his parallel vision of monsters coming out of the sea in chapter 7, there were only four gentile kingdoms identified from Daniel's day to the Kingdom Age. By comparing the symbolism of the visions with what we know of history, we can identify the first one as Babylon, in power when Daniel was alive having conquered both Egypt and Assyria. Then came the Medo-Persian Empire, followed by Greece and finally Rome. The only kingdom after Rome is the Kingdom of our Lord, a Kingdom that will never be defeated or given to another. So Rome is the last gentile world power before the Lord's return.
In Nebuchadnezzar's dream (Daniel 2) of the huge poly-metallic statue that symbolized the four gentile powers, the two legs of iron represent Rome's Eastern and Western components that ultimately became the Holy Roman Empire's Catholic and Orthodox churches. The feet and toes of iron mixed with clay stand for the European Union and signify the problems that have plagued Europe's attempts to unite (iron and baked pottery neither mix nor adhere well) as well as the 10 regions (the toes) into which antichrist will divide the world. Interestingly, it was the Treaty of Rome that in 1957 gave the European Union its beginning. So the clear hints of the two incarnations of Rome have now been verified in history.
What's The Point?
So how does all that relate to literal Babylon? Rev. 18 claims that in the final days the City of Babylon will once again be a world center for government, commerce, and religion and describes the worldwide distress caused by its destruction just before the Lord's return. For years scholars, believing Babylon to have been destroyed long ago, searched for the modern city they believed the passage to be symbolizing, and many chose New York. But during the Gulf War they discovered that ancient Babylon had never been destroyed in the way the Bible describes. Further research showed that it's been continuously inhabited since the days of Nebuchadnezzar, and Saddam Hussein has expended much effort in restoring it. More on this below.
But before we go on, let's understand a little more about why some still believe Rev 18 describes New York City. Being home to the UN it could be considered the center of world government, the New York Stock Exchange has a tremendous influence over world commerce, and of course it's located in the USA, the most obviously Christian nation in the world today which connects it with a major religion. And then there's the indisputable fact that having been so richly blessed the US certainly deserves to be judged, and New York is arguably its most prominent city.
What Makes You So Great?
Biblical scholars from other countries complain that only the arrogance of Americans causes us to look for ourselves in the Bible. Sure we're on top now, but the US is such a newcomer on the world scene, barely over 200 years old in a history that at its most conservative estimate stretches back over 6000 years. And the battle between the city of Satan (Babylon) and the city of God (Jerusalem) had been raging for several thousand years before America was even discovered. In a nutshell, the long view of history argues persuasively for reading Rev. 18 literally. If so, how does Babylon get to be center stage again after so many centuries of obscurity?
He's Up In The Night
In the Book of Zechariah, a series of night visions concerning the end times occupies the first six chapters. The one recorded in chapter 5 gives us the answer. Zechariah describes being told in this vision to inspect a large basket with a lead cover. An angel tells him the basket contains the iniquity of the people through out the earth. When he looks inside, he sees a woman, who the angel identifies as the symbol of their wickedness. Then two other women, each with the wings of a stork, lift the basket and begin to fly away with it. (Storks, being unclean birds, would not defile themselves by carrying this load of wickedness. Lev. 11:19)
"Where are they taking it?" Zechariah asks. "To the country of Babylon," the angel replies, "To build a house for it." (Literally to the plains of Shinar, the location in ancient Mesopotamia of the City of Babylon). "When it's ready, the basket will be set there in its place." (Zech. 5:5-11). The fact that an actual physical location is given for the basket's final destination should discourage anyone from spiritualizing that part of the passage. Again we've applied Dr. Cooper's Golden Rule of interpretation.
Where Are They Coming From?
OK, so we know where the basket is going, but where will the stork-women be taking it from? According to many scholars the woman in Zechariah's basket is the woman from Rev. 17, Rome. At the end of the age, after all its true believers have been whisked away in the Rapture, the religious system currently headquartered in Rome will be returned to Babylon from whence it came, to be absorbed into antichrist's one world religion. (The European Union will also be absorbed, but into antichrist's one world government, bringing the world's political, commercial, and religious power together under one central authority.)
Zechariah's visions followed Babylon's defeat by the Persians. And almost from his day to ours, Babylon was a forgotten city. Although Alexander the Great later lived and died there, his plan to dredge a big harbor to lure Persian Gulf boat traffic to Babylon was never implemented. After his death a natural harbor was found on the Tigris River and soon became the regional center of commerce Alexander had envisioned. The city that grew up around this harbor was named Baghdad. Although only about 62 miles (100 km) away, Babylon slowly faded into obscurity dwindling to as few as 10,000 inhabitants. It was never again a center for government, commerce, and religion, but neither was it ever destroyed as Revelation 17-18, Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51 all prophesy. These events are still in our future.
Babylon Re-born
As I indicated earlier, Saddam Hussein has spent millions restoring ancient Babylon into a ceremonial city, perhaps unknowingly preparing it for its final role in world events. Since the Lord is committed to doing all that He's promised (Isaiah 46:8-11), when the time is right the basket symbolizing the world's wickedness will be set in the place prepared for it on the plains of Shinar. And then the ancient City of Babylon will once again become the world headquarters for the three great evils of mankind's design:
Government which enslaves men politically;
Commerce which enslaves us economically; and
Religion which enslaves us spiritually.
Does the City of New York deserve to be judged? Absolutely, along with the rest of America, and most of the world for that matter. But is New York the Mystery Babylon of Rev. 17-18? I hope this article has persuaded you otherwise. But to be sure, become a Berean and search the Scriptures daily to see whether these things be true. (Acts 17:11) 05-16-04
Related articles:
Seven Major Prophetic Signs of the Second Coming
The 70 Weeks of Daniel
Seven Churches of Rev 2 and 3: Part 1
The Daniel Story
The Convergence Of Prophecy And Current Events
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
Posts: 4320 | From: Sunny Florida | Registered: Jun 2002
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Kindgo
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Greetings Linda, Deb good to see you all again!
I'm not one to get overly excited about news articles because I think while prophecy is always moving forward, the pieces and players line up gradually. Also, there's a lot of sensationalism out there. But this is a potentially big news event.
This, the reformation of the Sanhedrin, the design of the temple robes to be used in a new Jewish temple and Iran seemingly hell-bent on starting the Magog war are all huge events.
Couple all that with the onslaught of false teaching, false gospels, the move torwards a one-world society and we seem to be right at the end of the age.
It's exciting and encouraging, but at the same time very sad because a great amount of blood is about to be shed. The Bible says another holocaust is coming. This one will kill two-thirds of all the Jews. That's about 9 million people and that only counting the Jews. I believe by the end of the Tribulation either 1/3 or 1/2 of all humanity will be wiped out (Depending on how you do the math). That's 2-3 billion people dead.
The modern rabbis like to say Jesus couldn't be the Messiah because instead of bringing peace the world has seen a great increase in violence since He came.
But if God says "Here is the Messiah. Accept Him and He will bring peace and safety and joy," and we reject Him what should we expect? The complete opposite -- war, danger and sorrow. The world rejected God's Messiah in favor of one of their own liking. The Tribulation will bring forth the fruits of their labor.
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God bless,
Kindgo
Inside the will of God there is no failure. Outside the will of God there is no success.
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Rogg
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Revelation 18:16
16."and saying, 'Alas, alas, that great city that was clothed in fine linen(White), purple(Blue), and scarlet(Red), and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls!
.
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SoftTouch
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Thanks for adding that Sis!
I posted the other article over on the EWOP and there is one member there who seems to believe that Jerusalem is Babylon. That member comes up with a lot of Scripture showing how Jerusalem is called a harlot and the prophets have all been killed there, but I just can't get behind that 'interpretation,' but I'm not well versed enough to back up my 'gut feeling' with Scripture
Any thoughts?
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Psalm 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
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helpforhomeschoolers
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Yesterday, I got an email from Kindgo and she said what an exciting time it is that we are living in.... the US is building an embassy in Babylon! I told her that Hal had just been reading me a news article about that. I was going to post it and today here you are with this one! So I am just going to ad mine to this thread if you dont mind. Check this out!
The billion dollar Baghdad embassy
By Leigh Saavedra
Online Journal Contributing Writer
Apr 20, 2006, 01:45
That's the estimate, though only half of it has been appropriated so far, a billion dollars to build a new embassy in Iraq. It will be the largest on the globe, the largest the world has ever seen, the size of Vatican City.
U.S. embassies typically cover 10 acres. This one, a 104-acre complex, will be comprised of 21 buildings, its own water wells, an electricity plant and wastewater treatment facility that makes the huge compound completely independent of Iraq, whose "interim government" sold the land to the U.S. in October 2004. Terms of the agreement do not appear to be readily accessible.
The massive compound will include two major diplomatic office buildings, homes for the ambassador and his deputy, apartment buildings for staff, and a recreational facility that will provide a swimming pool, gym, commissary, food court and American Club.
In this case, the devil is less in the details than in the monumental size and cost of the endeavor. The likeness to a small fortified city is frightening to those who object to a permanent presence of the U.S. in Iraq, already destroyed by American bombs and depleted uranium, and the core of such fear lies in the question of WHY the U.S., already dangerously in debt back home and dangerously despised in Iraq and most of the Middle East, is pounding its chest with such a noisy bravado. Is this the finale of "Shock and Awe"?
Those working in the embassy-city are protected by extraordinary security, overseen by U.S. Marines. Structures will be reinforced to 2.5 times the standard. There will be five high-security entrances as well as an emergency entrance/exit, according to a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee report.
Foreign relations? Presumably the hope was at some point to look for olive branches, the U.S. and Iraq shaking hands and agreeing to go back to "go" and start all over. So from whom is such vast and expensive protection necessary? Were we ever within even shouting distance of being "liberators"? What kind of thinking would pour so much into a country that the White House says we want to turn over to the Iraqis as soon as possible? After all, we're the folks who brought "freedom" to Iraq. So why this elaborate expenditure at the same time that the people of the U.S. have finally awakened and turned against the invasion and occupation of a country that we now know never posed a threat to the U.S. or anyone else?
It's a hair past income tax time. Shouldn't those of us who filed have a word to say about where our checks are going? We've said, "No more. We want out as soon as possible." And yet the building goes on, about a third completed as of this writing.
Shall we take comfort in Mr. Bush's reassurances and hope he has a secret plan? Shall we look at the bright side and wonder how this impressive compound of compounds would work as an orphanage for the children whose parents we've blown to bits?
This is a notable expenditure. It costs as much as it does to bomb mud huts in the desert each week. We, the dwindling middle class, are paying for it, and paying through the teeth. And we're not paying sums like this for something that's meant to be temporary.
Of our neocon acquaintances and non-political friends we might ask: Can you read about this construction, look at the numbers involved, think of the homeless, disease-ridden people of Iraq, suffering from the highest unemployment of their lives and often having difficulty finding clean water, and then truly believe that the U.S. went to the Garden of Eden to help the Iraqi people?
We are hearing from the war supporters that we don't hear the GOOD news, that the media presents only the BAD news. Thus, with this gargantuan but hush-hush project, we have to conclude that the construction of a permanent presence, an enormous watchtower over the entire Middle East (and its oil) is the good news.
But it's quiet out there, a thick buffer between the people who now want this insanity to end and the sound of hammers and saws building walls, and more walls, and more. Surely to a once proud Iraqi civilian, every wheelbarrow of mortar dragged across the new pavement that covers much of ancient Babylon is a symbol of unending loss.
(Thanks to AP correspondent Charles Hanley for providing the statistics and descriptions of the new embassy. See his full report.)
Leigh Saavedra, formerly writing as Lisa Walsh Thomas, has written all her life, having gone through years as an award-winning poet and writer of fiction before stopping all else to write about the crumbling of our nation in these past six years. She invites feedback at saavedra1979@yahoo.com.
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SoftTouch
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I found this posted over on RaptureNews:
Back to Babylon? Could it be?
by Michael G. Mickey
(4-22-06)
I remember vividly the time I read, in Tim Lahaye and Jerry Jenkins' 1999 book entitled "Are We Living in the End Times?", the following:
"As sure as there is a God in heaven who keeps His word, Babylon will live again as "the seat of Satan.""
And...
"Babylon will again become Satan's headquarters for a short time, serving as the governmental and commercial capital of the world during the first half of the Tribulation Period. Then, after the kings of the earth destroy religious Babylon near the middle of the Tribulation Period, Satan will move his religious headquarters from Rome to Babylon, setting the stage for the second three-and-one-half-year period, called "the Great Tribulation."
How could ancient Babylon, Iraq of all places, become a governmental and commercial capital of anyplace? I wondered. Truly, I did. As a fan of Dr. Lahaye's non-fictional writings on the end times, I have always held him in high esteem, but, on this one point, I struggled to see how it could ever come to pass.
Not only has Dr. Lahaye indicated he believes ancient Babylon is going to enter into the end times mix, respected eschatologist Chuck Missler does as well, as revealed in the following excerpt from an article on his site (which can be read in its entirety by clicking HERE):(http://www.khouse.org/articles/2004/523/print)
Clearly Babylon, as a literal city on banks of the Euphrates, has a climactic destiny yet ahead of it. The destruction described in both the Old and New Testaments has never happened , and if we take the Bible seriously then Babylon is destined to rise again to power to receive the judgment that Isaiah, Jeremiah, and the Apostle John have described.
We also need to recognize that during the successive empires, the "mystery religions" that began in Babylon were subsequently transported to the various world capitals: to Pergamos under the Persians and subsequently to Rome, where they became the foundation of all that was (and still is) pagan in that city.
And, of course, when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire under the second successor after Constantine, Theodosius II (A.D. 378-398), many of these idolatrous trappings were repackaged with "Christian" labels.
Many of these traditions are still very visible in the practices of the Roman Catholic Church, but are also visible, in more subtle forms, in many other denominations as well.
Like Dr. Lahaye, Chuck Missler is someone whose insights I find to be remarkable on any number of topics, but I have struggled in the past to see how the revived Roman empire, a new world order if you will, would ever be able to find any useful purpose for modern day Iraq, the absolute mess that it presently is. Even so, there is scriptural reason to suspect this may come to pass. Chuck Missler once used the following passage of scripture, in an article of his I read long ago, to demonstrate how scripture seems to point toward the end times world finding a use for Shinar, the location the tower of Babel was once built upon:
Zechariah 5:9-11:
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind [was] in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
So what does all this have to do with today? USATODAY.com is reporting that a giant US Embassy is rising in Baghdad, due to be completed and in operation by 2007. The USA TODAY article describes it as follows, in part:
The massive new embassy, being built on the banks of the Tigris River, is designed to be entirely self-sufficient and won't be dependent on Iraq's unreliable public utilities.
The 104-acre complex — the size of about 80 football fields will include two office buildings, one of them designed for future use as a school, six apartment buildings, a gym, a pool, a food court and its own power generation and water-treatment plants.
An MSNBC article only adds to the drama of what is taking place, entitled "New U.S. Embassy in Iraq cloaked in mystery." The opening lines of the article tie in so closely with all that has been written in this commentary to this point it is chilling:
The fortress-like compound rising beside the Tigris River here will be the largest of its kind in the world, the size of Vatican City, with the population of a small town, its own defense force, self-contained power and water, and a precarious perch at the heart of Iraq’s turbulent future.
The new U.S. Embassy also seems as cloaked in secrecy as the ministate in Rome.
“We can’t talk about it. Security reasons,” Roberta Rossi, a spokeswoman at the current embassy, said when asked for information about the project.
This embassy, according to the article, is going to dwarf other US embassies around the globe. Most US embassies, if the article is to be believed, are about 10 acres in size. This one? 104 acres. The article indicates this embassy is going to be six times larger than the United Nations compound in New York, and two-thirds the acreage of Washington’s National Mall.
Not only is the above true, the International Herald Tribune is reporting that the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) "intends to put the magic back in Babylon." The Tribune article states, in part:
..Iraqi leaders and UN officials are not giving up on it. They are working assiduously to restore Babylon, home to the Hanging Gardens, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. They want to turn it into a cultural center and possibly even an Iraqi theme park.
Could a world that has forgotten its God be on its way back to Babylon? I don't know, but current events dictate that we should maintain an awareness of all things related to the possibility it may be.
Keep looking up! Jesus Christ is Lord and He is coming soon!
http://www.rapturealert.com/2006/042206babylon.html
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Psalm 119:104Through thy precepts I get understanding: therefore I hate every false way. 105Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.
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