The News Beats

In establishing a new precursor to partnerships with the Antichrist, his workers of iniquity continue to pave that way for his arrival and worship. 

By an executive order, President Obama has surpassed the existing faith-based intrusions into religious freedom, which were baited by access to federal funds, and inaugurated an office to be empowered to make incursions into every neighborhood household in the land.  As of February 5, 2009, the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (FBNP) began efforts at taking control of all religious organizations, and dictating what religious tenets are legal, and which are to be outlawed.  The goal is for all churches to eventually be nationalized, and placed under the provisional license of the federal government.  This sweeping federal oversight is being ushered in under pretense averting an economic catastrophe.

(part 3) - see parts: (1) (2) (4) (5)

Partnerships: In Community 

These new faith-based and neighborhood partnerships are only a precursor to the formation of a new state religion, with world power, that Satan will use to his advantage for first half the tribulation period.  He desires to be worshiped, and even said to Jesus: “If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine” (Luk 4:7).  Eventually he will, as Antichrist, have his hour; “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Rev 13:8).  The religious leaders who are working to forge these partnerships are preparing the way.  They represent a select group within the world’s population who are left behind when God turns his attention on refining Israel, and judging ungodliness.  They will be dealt with separately and more severely during that period, and upon the Lord’s return to earth:

And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. (Jud 1:14-15; emphasis added)

These ungodly are destined to congregate in a coming world church that is described in the book of Revelation, chapter seventeen, as Mystery Babylon.  While the true Church will not see its final formation, this foreshadowing will continue in its increase as an enveloping darkness until the end of the age.  Consequently, the Church will see escalating persecution as it is marginalized out of the congealing state religion.  Under the original faith-based program the capture was congregation by congregation, wherein many dissenters could go unmolested.  By adding neighborhoods to the church-government partnerships accountability reaches down to the household level.  The implications for families and individuals are hard to over emphasize.

When the newly fashioned church bells toll in neighborhoods everywhere it will mean “we need all hands on deck, ” as Obama puts it,^10[3] so that they may bow before the new potentate, and swear their allegiance to the new green religion of “saving our planet”.^11[3]   Those not willing to renounce Christ, not willing to have their faith based in everyone else’s faith in order to do the real work of this new ministry, are going to be labeled heretics.  Anyone not standing at the curb saluting the passing PBS van and listening to their instructions for community service over the loudspeaker will be dealt with swiftly.  In the not too distant future, the van will be followed by trailer on which will be mounted a guillotine.^12[6]

While no one knows the day or the hour when the White House Office of FBNP will be absorbed by the United Nations, or other world governing body, to act as enforcer of the coming world religion for Antichrist, fangs are showing over at the Justice Department.

In a speech to Justice Department employees decrying unresolved racial issues, new Attorney General Eric Holder lambasted Americans as a “nation of cowards,”^13[7] and demeaned them for having private lives and personal pursuits outside the work place.  Reportedly, “Holder said the workplace is largely integrated but Americans still self-segregate on the weekends and in their private lives.”^14[7]  These are not careless remarks, but evidence of carefully designed strategy.

Of course, Americans are not cowards, and any Attorney General holding that view disqualifies himself for service.  Holder is willing to bet that he won’t get ousted from his office by the outcry over his remarks of disdain for his countrymen on the hopes that Americans will be cowering on at least two fronts.  As the first black Attorney General, Holder is gambling on the fear people will have of being called a racist for criticizing him for calling Americans cowards and racists.  He is also riding in on the wave of the new collaborative.

After years of groundwork laid by communitarians in the work place, and apostates in the worship place, Americans by and large are ‘in community’ under some Soviet hierarchy somewhere.  They are increasingly being attached in their private lives during evenings and on weekends by employers who are both secular and faith-based.  A charge that can now strike terror in many a small group gathering, who are in community, is not being in authentic community. This state is reached only by members continually divulging secretes about themselves in the form of confessions on the pretense of identifying and dealing with their inadequacies as a process of perfecting themselves in the incubus of the group; and which then allows the group to attain the coveted seal transparency.  Implicit in the word “authentic” is not only that it be genuine, but also that it be authorized.  The Attorney General has his sights set on the private lives of Americans to assess them, and to grant or withhold the federal seal of authenticity based on their activity in federally approved associations and pursuits.

[ Next: “Partnerships: Transparency”]

Notes:

^3. Karen Travers, “Obama Names 26-Year-Old Director of Faith-Based Office: White House to Broaden Religious and Community Outreach,”ABC News, February 5, 2009. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/President44/story?id=6806913&page=1

^7. Devlin Barrett, “Holder: US is nation of cowards on racial matters,” Breitbart.com, February 18, 2009. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96E53483&show_article=1

In establishing a new precursor to partnerships with the Antichrist, his workers of iniquity continue to pave that way for his arrival and worship. 

By an executive order, President Obama has surpassed the existing faith-based intrusions into religious freedom, which were baited by access to federal funds, and inaugurated an office to be empowered to make incursions into every neighborhood household in the land.  As of February 5, 2009, the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (FBNP) began efforts at taking control of all religious organizations, and dictating what religious tenets are legal, and which are to be outlawed.  The goal is for all churches to eventually be nationalized, and placed under the provisional license of the federal government.  This sweeping federal oversight is being ushered in under pretense averting an economic catastrophe.

(part 2) - see parts: (1) (3) (4) (5)

Partnerships: Being Conscripted

It will be a priority of the new White House Office of FBNP to ensure that newly created laws, which will supersede any religious and constitutional laws, be dictated to the partnerships so they can “learn their obligations under the law… and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.”^7[1]  Now we need to understand that any groups of religious people who dissent from these partnerships out of allegiance to God and his word will not make the list of Obama’s ‘great religions’ (q.v.).  They will eventually be outlawed by the Attorney General, White House Counsel, and the Executive Director of the White House Office of FBNP as they work through those difficult constitutional safeguards that are in the way of the new state religious partnerships.  In this effort, UN and international law, which most often represses religious freedom, will be consulted and touted as superior to our outdated colonial ideas of freedom.  The Supreme Court is already on record for consulting foreign law to decide matters brought before it, and Justices have gushed with pride over their dereliction of duty, and treason.^8[5]  It has never been more important to keep separate that which is to be rendered unto Caesar and that which is to be rendered unto God.

It is critical to understand that these new partnerships are not being recruited, but drafted.  Any house in the neighborhood or church  that dose not evidence total compliance by being conscripted will be subject to penalty.  Things that the federal government has to offer will be taken away.  For the family, that could mean forfeiture of the right to purchase state regulated utilities because they refuse to sign stewardship pledges that cite responsibilities to mother earth as superseding those due to God alone. For churches, the first to go will be tax exempt status.  This will be used as leverage to bring churches into line, and to compromise preaching from the pulpit to sell the Obama partnerships to congregations.

The process of eviscerating churches will be easier than ever before now due to Rick Warren’s success at decimating, first the Baptist’s memberships, and now, nearly all protestant denominations with soviet-style small control groups of micromanaged social workers (earning their salvation one neighborhood at a time).  It has also never been easier to see that Warren is Satan’s plant in the Church; as it is clearly revealed that the two trees, Warren’s and Obama’s, bear the same thorns.  Warren also works to deny Christ, and equated him to nothing more than a dead Islamic prophet, by the name of Isa, in his inaugural prayer on Obama’s behalf.^9[4]

While having the endorsement of apostate Rick Warren will bring many unsuspecting souls into national servitude, Obama must consolidate all the visible church into a kingdom building army before taking the next important step.  A very successful tactic used to bring opponents into fellowship is to invite prominent members from their respective camps to set on a committee established to address some social cause that can unite them.  If the personality be reluctant to compromise, the asp of flattery still proves fatal to all but the most steadfast in the faith.  Former Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page is one of the most recent and unwitting persons to prove this truth.  Joshua DuBois, executive director of the FBNP, prevailed upon Page to sign on to the FBNP panel by persuading him the President of the United States wanted to hear his views.  Very haughty stuff, being summoned as a presidential adviser.  Even though Page knew the FBNP was overwhelmingly made up of compromised liberals, the flattery made him think that he could nonetheless bring to the table a biblical viewpoint; something they long ago abandoned as too grievous to bear.

As a lame cover for unequally yoking himself together with unbelievers, Page requested that Baptists pray for him as he set down with the rapacious and the covetous despite clear biblical injunctions not to do so (1 Cor 5:11; 2Jo 1:10-11; Rom 16:17). No doubt in some quarters prayers ascended that the chair brake in two. This may seem un-Christian like to some, but the supplicants of those prayers know the purpose behind the FBNP panel, and what persecutions will be unleashed upon the real church when those who are called brothers are compromised. Common ground will be sought for the sake of the good cause so that the extreme position of biblical Christianity can be eliminated, and this sanctioned by its supposed spokesmen and leaders. After enough of these accomplishments at the executive level, it is not long before biblical views become illegal, and the holders of those views become outlaws.

[Next: “Partnerships: In Community”]

Notes:

^1. Sarah Pulliam, “Obama Signs Executive Order on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,” (press release) Christianity Today, February 5. 2009. (citation 6; emphasis added) http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2009/02/obama_signs_exe.html

^4. “Warren Ends Inaugural Prayer with ‘Jesus’,” CBNnews.com, January 20, 2009.http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/524368.aspx 

^5. David Dansker, “U.S. Supreme Court Out of Order: ‘Will Almost Certainly Cause More Americans to be Killed’,” News Snippets From All Beats, June 13, 2008. http://www.thenewsbeats.com/news/?p=118

In establishing a new precursor to partnerships with the Antichrist, his workers of iniquity continue to pave that way for his arrival and worship. 

By an executive order, President Obama has surpassed the existing faith-based intrusions into religious freedom, which were baited by access to federal funds, and inaugurated an office to be empowered to make incursions into every neighborhood household in the land.  As of February 5, 2009, the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (FBNP) began efforts at taking control of all religious organizations, and dictating what religious tenets are legal, and which are to be outlawed.  The goal is for all churches to eventually be nationalized, and placed under the provisional license of the federal government.  This sweeping federal oversight is being ushered in under pretense averting an economic catastrophe.

(part 1) - see parts: (2) (3) (4) (5)

Partnerships: The New Gloden Rule

In the previous faith-based federal program, churches could obtain federal money by moving away from Christ, and towards employment as a federal agency.  Now they have been redefined as one in several categories of community secular organizations, including “senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides.^1[1]  The discretionary purview of the average American, however, will be very narrow in scope, and must comply with the “common goals” as defined for the White House Office of FBNP by Obama and Joshua DuBois, a former associate Pentecostal pastor, who will head the office.^2[1]   All organizational efforts must give priority to being a part of the solution for the current economic situation because the “Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.”^3[1]  When the White House Office of FBNP will allow churches to return to their own priorities, such as ministering to and caring for their own congregations and preaching gospel, will be far off to never.

Terms used by the White House Office of FBNP to define success are vague and subjective; financial recovery won’t be complete until ‘fewer’ bear the ‘burden’ of poverty, but how much is fewer, and what constitutes a burden? Politically, this ambiguity always serves two designs; failure cannot be identified, and success can be claimed at any time.  Occasionally, political leaders strive to have it serve a much larger and more sinister purpose.  They will marshal general and all encompassing rhetoric to bolster their own preeminence in their quest for power over the masses.

This is the sort of rhetoric Obama is using to deny Christ and demote Christianity to nothing more that a faith-based organization to be amalgamated with all other faith-based religions that will in turn be answerable to the state above all else.  In preparing to announce the formation the White House Office of FBNP, Obama prefaced its disclosure at the National Prayer Breakfast.  There, Obama’s decree had the sweet ring of humility at its edges to disguise the clang of servitude at its center.  “There is one law that binds all great religions together,” Obama said.  “It is, of course, the Golden Rule; the call to love one another, to understand one another, to treat with dignity and respect those with whom we share a brief moment on this Earth.”^4[2]  There are a few important points which disqualify this ‘call’ from being a Christian clarion.

Firstly, Christianity is exclusive of all other religions, not bound together with any of them, in that Christ claimed to be the only way (Joh 14:6), and warned that other great religions would come along centered on “false Christs” and “false prophets” (Mat 24:24).  By this decree of one superseding and binding law the secular messiah places himself above all other religious authority, including the God of the Bible, and identifies himself as the arbiter of supreme laws all must acquiesce to, and be bound together under.  In order to sweep the nuisances of “red tape” that might get in his way,^5[1] Obama’s new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will begin legal maneuvers to chip away constitutional protections that safeguard religious freedom, and freedom of association.

The deceptive language that he chose is under the cover of federal assistance, and states that the newly established office has also been given “a new mechanism for the Executive Director of the Office to work through the White House Counsel to seek the advice of the Attorney General on difficult legal and constitutional issues.”^6[1]  The implication being proffered here is that these are difficulties impeding the dispensation of free federal money, but what the new law giver also means by that is enforcement.

[Next: “Partnerships: Being Conscripted”]

Notes:

^1. Sarah Pulliam, “Obama Signs Executive Order on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships,” (press release) Christianity Today, February 5. 2009. (citation 6; emphasis added) http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2009/02/obama_signs_exe.html

^2.  Jennifer Riley, “Obama Emphasizes ‘One Law’ that Binds All Religions,” Christian Post, February 6, 2009. http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctpolitics/2009/02/obama_signs_exe.html

A debate is a conflict which clarifies a position. A dialogue is a conversation which compromises a position.

- John E. Ashbrook

Explaining his acceptance of an invitation to serve on the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships panel (FBNP), former Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page admitted to having concerns.  He noted that there are “very few conservatives on the council,” but he is requesting prayer: “I do ask Baptists to pray for me as I try to bring to the table what I believe is a conservative, biblical viewpoint.”¹

Reportedly, Page took assurances from former associate Pentecostal pastor Joshua DuBois, executive director of the White House Office of FBNP, that President Obama really wants to hear his views.  Where do these guys hide when the expos’es are coming out?

Obama and company want to vent Page like an air bag in a small group, pretend to incorporate his suggestions into policy by using facilitators expert at recasting his words to match predetermined outcomes, and obtain his support, for things he might ordinarily object to, by arriving at consensus.  He is being used, and many will likely suffer because of his succumbing to flattery.

Bible believing Christians will be the losers, and the White House Office of FBNP will gain either way Page falls.  If he remains, they will be able to claim conservative religious support for their agenda.  If he jumps ship, they can renounce all conservatives (Bible believing Christians) as obstructionists, and they will certainly hold that over his head as leverage to keep him onboard.

The White House Office of FBNP is another effort at conscripting churches into an army of federally mandated social workers for community service (something that used to be reserved for convicted felons), under federal laws that do away with free exercise of religion.  Financially struggling churches began falling into this trap by first accepting faith-based funding, and in tying on the federal feed-bag they tied on a muzzle.  Some thought that they could use government money to finance God’s work.  They might have been innocent enough, or coned by a wolf, but certainly naive and foolish.  In this age of deception, it has never been more important to keep separate the things that are Caesar’s from the things that are God’s

Notes:

^1. Baptist Press, “Page hopeful, cautious about faith council,” February 17, 2009. 

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=29824

[More Articles on FBNP: for series click here]

There are too many big problems with no quick solutions for the new president to appear competent as he begins his first term.  Global warming is a perfect distraction.  Firstly, success on this non-existent crisis is guaranteed because results are measured solely by obedience.  If increasing numbers of people are towing the Green party line, then progress is being made in the war on global warming.  Actual figures can follow easily because climate models are notoriously flawed, and the numbers can be tweaked to produce any graph desired (e.g. the hockey stick graph).Secondly, as the cash strapped Federal government continues to nationalize businesses, the population will need to begin feeding on itself as it goes socialist prior to collapsing.  Here, global warming is set to become the largest tax ever levied on merely the condition of being alive (evidenced by producing carbon dioxide and methane gas).  It has already begun over at the Environmental Protection Agency.  The EPA is proposing to further the fight on greenhouse gasses by levying a tax on livestock.  For example, a dairy cow would be taxed $175, and beef cattle would be taxed $87.50 per head.¹

Of course, animals don’t pay taxes so we would suffer the new taxes in the increased cost of food.  In the beginning, the only thing the tax would do is act as propaganda for public consumption; another blow against global warming.  On the back end, the government raises revenue by the existence alone of bovine.

Here we see the make believe crisis is bad for industry and the consumer, but there is always much more danger in absurd theories when people in power act on them.  Ludicrous is not a strong enough word to describe the theory of man made global warming: tyranny is closer.  This is because the theories can never be separated from their zealots, and these same zealots (useful idiots) are relied upon to provide the arguments to serve as facts for the government to justify taking action.  The zealots must be hired as advisors, and even promoted to positions of power in order for the government to reap greater rewards.  Like the dawning of a socialist economy, however, dangerous theories embraced as opportunities by government implode with catastrophic consequences.  The zealots will have their rewards too, and the government will be unable to stop them after authenticating their views and codifying them into laws.

The politicians may only have wanted the revenue and the opportunity to claim a success.  The zealots want the results their theory calls for.  The only tangible ones they can obtain, next to models obtained from dial-a-climate, is the actual reduction of the threat.  Today, the United States Department of Agriculture is trying to put the voice of reason against the zealots at the EPA.  The USDA reports that the new all-encompassing livestock regulations would effectively shut down 1.9 million smaller farms.  “These operations,” the USDA explained to the EPA in a written report, “simply could not bear the regulatory compliance costs that would be involved.”²  The danger isn’t that the EPA is reckless; it’s that the EPA could figure that out with their own computers.

As the global warming charade continues, taxes will be increased with the goal of phasing out bovine completely, and the boot will be laced to stamp out the larger contributor of greenhouse gases, hominids.  By then, what’s left of rational government will be along for the ride, having no power to intervene.  The phase out of select humans could begin the same as the cattle tax.  It could start as a per person tax on greenhouse gasses; with more for athletes and meat eaters, and less for sedentary and compliant vegetarians.  It will increase until one could no longer afford to exhale, and the right to exist will be foreclosed upon.  The zealots and global warming faithful will at first be relatively safe from the green crusade as they will all be employed by then by the government (even if their employment is only informing on their neighbors).  Will it go that far?

It has gone that far.  Nazism and social Darwinism came together under Hitler, and in order to have a more perfect union of citizen and the world millions had to be murdered.  First to go were the ones deemed unable, and those unwilling to contribute to the grand design.  Finally the sub-human, the people who had not evolved enough, had to be removed from the earth.  The similarities between problems that existed then and ones that exist now are remarkable, but what’s more astonishing is that the same level of gullibility exists in people to put their hope in a human leader to solve their problems for them.  It is the same which precedes fanatism. In the years surrounding the rise of Hitler, this level of fanatism was largely confined to Europe.  With America under the same sort of spell as the rest of the world there will be no forces to muster against a coming world leader who will be much more evil than Hitler was.  Whether this new administration is the one that presides over America’s demise is a small detail.  America’s disintegration is well under way, and explains why prophecy buffs cannot find her in end-time Bible prophecy, and also why the Antichrist’s rise to power is unopposed by something resembling a strong America.

Notes:

^1-2.  Jeff Poor, “EPA ‘Cow Tax’ Could Charge $175 per Dairy Cow to Curb Greenhouse Gases,” Business & Media Institute. December 30, 2008.   http://www.businessandmedia.org/articles/2008/20081230165231.aspx

A long and protracted debate over a city of ancient antiquity exists among students of the Bible. It wasn’t until the last few years of the twentieth century, however, that significant events transpired which would seem to forever settle the argument. These developments, in conjunction with other pertinent points already established, overwhelmingly favor the group that, for lack of a better term, might best be referred to as the reconstructionists. It is the little Arab Emirate Dubia, one of seven in the Untied Arab Emirates (UAE), that reopens the examination with a fresh perspective. The UAE were united in 1972 and are located along the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. The climate of the area is desert, and the terrain is flat with sand dunes bordering a vast desert wasteland. While there is international attention on the area due to its strategic location along the Strait of Hormuz, there is another development taking place in the desert that attracts world interest. The small emirate of Dubai is rivaling New York and other Western cities when it comes to building new, innovative skyscrapers, and it’s not by their might alone.

With only four percent of its wealth coming from oil business, dry by petroleum standards, Dubai has become a real estate development giant in its own right “attacking billions in investment money that in the past would have gone to New York.”¹ While Western nations are scaling down their large architectural projects due to skittish investors, Dubai is swimming in real estate investment capital form surrounding oil-rich nations, and attracting talented architects form the economically depressed West. They are building entire cities comprised of sports complexes, stadiums, and indoor ski resorts. There is luxury on a grand scale, and an avenue for every pleasure pursuit. A Media City will include virtual reality technology, surface projections, and holographic imaging, and Dubai will also soon own the honor of building the world’s tallest building which is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.² There is no use in building the world’s newest and tallest empire, though, if no one can get there, so Dubai is acting to ensure travel to their booming empire from all around the world.

European aircraft manufacturer Airbus rivals aerospace giant Boeing for passenger jetliners. The new Airbus A380, with its 550 passenger seats spread over two decks, is 30 percent larger than Boeing’s 747. Dubai is currently Airbus’ largest customer for the new luxury superjumbo jet, and is adding Los Angeles and San Francisco to its nonstop service that already includes New York and Houston Texas.³ Etihad Airways, the national airline of the UAE, reported a 40 percent growth in July, 2008,⁴ and this at a time when US cities are fighting to keep airline service as carriers continue to downsize in response to rising fuel costs.⁵ The anecdotal aspect to Dubai’s mega growth that makes it practically interesting is that, other than the proximity to oil rich investors and a waterfront, it appears to be building for the sake of building. Motive, however, even ulterior ones, can always be found behind any course, and here even speculation is par for it.

There is a sort of Islamic nationalism coupled with secular Humanism operating almost as a combined effort to overtake Western Civilization and leave it behind in history. This does not mean a rejection of its technologies, but there is a palpable desire, evident even in some of the architecture, to expunge the residue of Christianity’s success that is seemingly emblematic in the once dominate skylines of the West. In a more general diagnosis of the human condition, there is an alluring power in the teaming construction of monumental edifices, with their polished surfaces and majestic cantilevers reaching towards the heavens, that naturally inspires the imagination, and attracts investors and tenants. Whatever the proportions are for the respective causes of this development, the phenomenon that is Dubai has implications in greater Arabia concerning Bible prophecy.

According to end time events foretold in the Bible, another emirate in the general area will also experience an explosion in unparalleled growth; surpassing even that of Dubai’s. On a plain in the land of Shinar, where the Tower of Babel was also constructed by a unified world populating seeking renown and divinity on their own terms, and then destroyed by God (Gen 10:10; 11:2-9); the great city of Babylon is prophesied to be rebuilt and become the world center for commerce and recreation. The Bible foretells that it will be a city trading in sensuality to the extent that “the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies” (Rev 18:3c). It will also become one of the capitals for the Antichrist, and it is to be destroyed by God during the time of Jacob’s trouble (Jer 30:7), or the seven year tribulation period that is yet future.

The destruction of Babylon will be on the order as when God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah by raining fire and brimstone upon them (Isa 13:19; Jer 50:34-40), and the kings of the earth who were made rich by her will wail and morn over her demise:

For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every shipmaster, and all the company in ships, and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off, And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city! (Rev 18:17-18)

Skeptics have doubted in the past that such large scale construction could take place in such a short amount of time, holding to a traditional, though not necessarily scriptural, view of a seven year limit,⁶ and in so unlikely a place as ancient Babylon which is located in present day Iraq. Since that objection was raised, modern construction methods and materials have revolutionized the size of buildings and the time necessary to complete them,⁷ and until recently Dubai was just as unlikely to become a competing world class metropolis.

Some also doubt that the travel alluded to in Revelation could be accurate for a land-bound city. There are, however, both the Euphrates and Tigris rivers flowing nearby to Babylon, and as for the shipmasters in Revelation; airship captains are considered ship captains too. Further, all of ancient Babylonia extends to the Persian Gulf, a major shipping lane, and the city may be thus developed as the sea might also figure in its future destruction (Jer 51:13, 42). Indeed, an effort was made by Iraq in the last decade to expand their sea cost area on the Persian Gulf by forcefully annexing Kuwait. When Babylon does become the prestige of the modern world, force will not be necessary to subjugate admirers as surrounding countries vie for the honor of becoming a vassal of the world’s new affluent capital; probably comprised of several cities (Jer 50:32).

Another objection posed is that the prophecies concerning the destruction of Babylon (Jer 51:37; Rev 18: 21) have already been fulfilled by the Medo Persian empire conquering it during the Jewish captivity in 536 BC, and that it was then completed by the mechanism of gradually sliding into obscurity. This contention does not fit with the text on important points.

Firstly, Babylon is to be destroyed by an earthquake and then consumed in a blazing inferno (Rev 16:18-19; 18:8). Secondly, the destruction is to take place in one day; by a catastrophe witnessed by all the nations of the world (Rev 18:8), and thirdly it cannot be said thus far of Babylon that “Her cities are a desolation, a dry land, and a wilderness, a land wherein no man dwelleth, neither doth any son of man pass thereby” (Jer 51:43). Babylon has been inhabited by various populations until this day.

The Apostle Peter wrote his Epistle from Babylon in AD 60 while he was working amongst the Jews left there from the captivity (1Pet 5:13). At the end of the fifth century, the culminating work of several Jewish Babylonian Academies brought forth the Babylonian Talmud, and those flourished there until about AD 1040. Many populations have alternately ebbed and flowed through the city since, and more recently it was occupied by the United States military. This brings Babylon into contemporary focus with international attention on Iraq with a multi-national force working to establish a long term peaceful nation there. There is another point. Unlike Dubai, Iraq is “a nation with some of the world’s largest petroleum reserves,” and on June 30, 2008, they opened international bidding for development on several of their oil felids.⁸ These can be tapped for cultural development on a grand scale.

There is also a specific time determined for Babylon’s total destruction. It will be at the beginning of the day of the Lord (Isa 13:9), known as the Messianic Kingdom of one thousand years duration, or the millennial reign of Christ, or Millennium (Rev 20:4), and will be unmistakable by its attendance of natural phenomenon such as has never before been seen on earth. “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine” (Isa 13:10). It will be a time of the outpouring of God’s wrath upon the earth to punish the world for their evil (Isa 13:11), and to bring about a national repentance of Israel (Isa 66:5-12; Zec 13); and so extreme will be His judgment that the earth may even be moved from its current axis, and perhaps its solar orbit (Jer 50:46). Then shall it come to pass what was prophesied; that, “Because of the wrath of the LORD it shall not be inhabited, but it shall be wholly desolate: every one that goeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and hiss at all her plagues” (Jer 50:13).

Babylon is destined to become the financial and pleasure capital of the world. It will be the city of Antichrist who will control all commerce down to every purchase made by every individual (Rev 13:16-18). Just as Dubai is today building a residential city to house the thirty-two thousand full time construction workers it requires to serve the rich,⁹ so too Babylon will trade in the souls of men (Rev 18:13), and be the “hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird” (Rev 18:2d). Many of the Jewish remnant (Rom 11) who will reject claim of Antichrist as their Messiah will go once more into Babylonian captivity as servants and slaves (Zec 14: 1,2; Lk 21:24; Rev 18:13). It will be horrible as Jacob is forced to pass under the rod (Eze 20:33-44), but they will be miraculously delivered before God destroys the city (Jer 51:44-45).

At the darkest hour, with their fellow brethren (Rev 6:9-11), made up also of believing Gentiles (Rev 7:9-17), being martyred in Jerusalem and all over the world (Rev 20:4); a command will be issued from heaven: “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev 18:4b). As Sodom could not be destroyed before righteous Lot was delivered out of it, so the remnant must be removed from Babylon in order for its destruction to take place (Jer 51:41-45). All of the world’s investors, the financiers, and the wealthy and the federation of rulers who have prostrated themselves before her will be devastated:

And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come. (Rev 18:9-10)

Its end will be like the sinking of a millstone in a lake of burning asphalt (Jer 51:62-64; Rev 18: 21, 8), it will be no more forever, and God will have rendered His vengeance on her (Jer 51:1-8). At that time God will also cleanse His holy city Jerusalem, and regather His redeemed there (Isa 11:11-12). “As Babylon hath caused the slain of Israel to fall, so at Babylon shall fall the slain of all the earth. Ye that have escaped the sword, go away, stand not still: remember the LORD afar off, and let Jerusalem come into your mind” (Jer 51:49-50).

It will be a complete regathering comprised of all the twelve tribes in Israel, as expressed by the mention of the land the ten tribes were originally taken captive when the kingdom was rent under Solomon’s son Rehoboam:

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem. (Isa 27:12-13)

This trumpet call assembling the tribes is not to be confused with the trump of God that calls the Church out to meet Christ in the air prior to these things unfolding (1Thess 4:16-17; 1Cor 15:51-58). It is the second of two trumpets foreshadowed in the book of Numbers 10: the first for the calling out of the assembly, the rapture; and the second for the journeying of the camps, the twelve tribes of Israel returning to worship Christ in Jerusalem (Mat 24:30-31). It will be no more trodden down by the Gentiles, by any such profane capital or edifice as the Dome of the Rock, as the times of the Gentiles will have been fulfilled (Luk 21:24). The Lord Jesus Christ, the son of David, will rule in Jerusalem (Isa 12; Zec 8:2-6; Zec 14:1-4).

The dry run for Babylon is almost over. Babylon is soon to follow. The Church of Jesus Christ, saved Jews and Gentiles who are the saints (Rom 8:27), will be gone, in a twinkling of an eye, probably before it is built or completed (1Cor 15:52; Rev 4:1-2). Then the elect of God (Rom 8:33; Mat 24:22), those of Israel who will have their blindness, that was in part,¹⁰ removed (Rom 11:25), will either be martyred for their faith in Messiah, or be preserved to the Revelation of Jesus Christ when they will look upon Him whom they have pierced (Rev 6:9-11; 7:3-8; 14:1-4; Jer 50:20; Zec 12:10). The Church is to be mindful of these events so that we can be ever conscious to redeem the time and to walk circumspectly, and that is why understanding Bible prophecy is so important. It is the light that shines forth into the dark place of future (2Pet 1:19). In the last book of prophecy the things that will take place just prior to, and which will accompany, the Lord’s return to earth are revealed. We are admonished by Him twice in its concluding chapter that His return is soon, and that “blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book” (Rev 22:7).¹¹ The tone of the passage implies that by taking account of the coming events surrounding the revelation of Jesus Christ one guards against loss and injury (1Cor 3:8-15; 2Cor 5:10), and can act on the opportunities remaining to serve Him in faith. For unlike Dubai, ours is not a dry run (1Cor 9:24).

Notes:

^1. Ulrike Knöfel, Frank Hornig and Bernhard Zand, “The Battle for the World’s Skyline,” Spiegel Online International, June 6, 2008. http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,558217,00.html

^2. Breitbart.com, “‘Finishing touches’ delay world’s tallest building,” June 10, 2008.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080610094436.jmv7az8n&show_article=1

^3. Breitbart.com, “Emirates airline to launch first service to US with A380,” June9, 2008. http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=080609180003.ab3nayad&show_article=1

^4. Gulfnews.com, “Etihad Airways records 40 per cent growth in passengers,” July 1, 2008. http://www.gulfnews.com/BUSINESS/Aviation/10225200.html

^5. Micheline Maynar, “Deeper cuts to come in U.S. airline service,” Interational Herald Tribune, June 27, 2008. http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/27/business/shrink.php

^6. Some prophecy students suppose that the tribulation period will begin immediately after the rapture of the Church, but there is no requirement in the related prophecy to preclude an intervening time period of several months or even years, and it seems more likely that an interlude takes place when we consider that the Antichrist is introduced in the Revelation in his rise to power (Rev 6:2) , conquering by diplomacy; and that the seven year clock dose not start until he makes a treaty with Israel, which he breaks in the middle of the term (Dan 9:27). This then removes the reconstruction of Babylon as an impediment to the rapture of the church which must be unhindered by any such development to meet its qualification of imminency (Mat 24:42-44), and as the next event the Church is to look for (Lk 21:34-36).

^7. The awesome speed and scale of the building in Dubai almost has to be seen to be comprehended. These video reports by Bruce Fenton, Entrepreneur, available on YouTube give the viewer an idea of the swiftness and grandeur of the construction: (1) “The Tallest Building in the World - Burj Dubai! Middle East,” YouTube Broadcast, directed by Bruce Fenton (June 8, 2007); ( 2) “Fenton Report Dubai: Fastest Growing City in the World! Middle East 2.0 - Dubai,” YouTube Broadcast, directed by Bruce Fenton (February 18, 2007). A stunning picture gallery of the growing pleasure metropolis as viewed from the air is available at: Gallery, Chopper Shoot Aerial Photography.

^9. AME, “Al Rayan Investments showcases innovative projects at Cityscape Abu Dhabi 2008,” May 8,m 2008.
http://www.ameinfo.com/156300.html

^10. This “blindness in part” (Rom 11:25) has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in, or until all the Gentiles who are going to be saved are saved; and it also means that a part of Israel that the Lord reserves unto Himself as a remnant is kept by Him (1K 19:18; Acts 18:9-10), and that another part, as is probably expressed by the equations of sliver and dross in Zec 13: 8,9 covering the seven years preceding Christ’s return, are completely blind.

^11. The Thayer definition for the Greek word translated “keepeth” (G5083) here is: 1) to attend to carefully, take care of; 1a) to guard, b) metaphorically to keep, one in the state in which he is, 1c) to observe. The Strong’s definition is: to guard (from loss or injury, properly by keeping the eye upon. The parenthetical scripture reference supplied here is of the judgment of reward which will take place for every Christian at the Bema seat of Christ (1Cor 3:8-15; 2Cor 5:10). Those works of ours that are built on the foundation of Christ, sharing the gospel and edifying the body, etc., will endure as silver, gold, and precious stones. But those works such as social projects and programs conducted for cultural enrichment or the betterment of society will be revealed as only worthless wood, hey, and stubble, and the Christian who amasses these works will suffer loss, “but he himself shall be saved” (1Cor 3:15b). As for injury, is it not true that when we take our eyes off the Lord and change our expectation from His return to instead expectations for our provisions in this life that we open ourselves to occasions of experiencing harm? We need only look back to the church in Corinth for, admittedly server, examples of this (e.g. 1Cor 5).

For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.

(Matthew 24:24)

These events spoken of by Jesus Christ will take place during Daniel’s seventieth week, or what is referred to as the tribulation period, but the footprint of foreshadowing is already overlapping this age of grace.

Take for example rock star U2’s Bono. Bono is not a self-professing Christian, but he doesn’t consider himself outside the Church either. Actually, he has taken on the role of advisor to the Church; preaching to churches throughout the world on their duty to feed, cloth, and house the poor (and of course, they should fight AIDS with the weapons approved for purchase by secular governments spending tax revenues). Â

For several years now, Bono’s messages have been featured in churches, and at Christian music concerts. His sermons start when the huge video screen unrolls from somewhere up in the rafters, or is lowered over the stage, or the giant screen monitors are tuned on, and the lights are dimmed; and there he appears looming over the heads of the faithful and reprobate alike. Bono’s goal has been to unite them in a common cause of working the world’s social gospel. His message of justification and acceptance plays well to denominations who have a form of godliness, but who have long since denied the power thereof.

These congregations accept the world on their terms, and want to be accepted in return. For this reason, apostates everywhere have conferred sainthood upon this unregenerate celebrity, but he was destined for even more infamy. In what surpasses his prior apotheosis, Bono is now being worshiped with his very own sacrament; and for which he himself has composed the hymns. According to reports, 150 churches in America are planning to have “U2 Eucharists” where his communion is served to the beat of the rock star’s lyrics.[i] The Bonomania is also catching on across the pond in the Church of England, but its inception is reportedly the brainchild of Episcopal Rev. Paige Blair; which project she initiated in 2005 by placing lyrics from Bono’s band U2 next to the alter in an Episcopal church in Maine.[ii]

Fortunately, there are also famous professing Christians who share the world stage with Bono, and who can call the error of the apostates to the attention of wayward Christians, Bono, and the world. Unfortunately, these include Bill Hybels and Rick Warren.

Notes:

[i] Lillian Kwon, “Bono’s Songs Replacing Hymnals in Churches,” The Christian Post Reporter, January 30, 2007.

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20070130/

25500_Bono%27s_Songs_Replacing_Hymnals_in_Churches.htm

[ii] Ibid.

And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

(The Revelation, 19:17-18)

Anyone familiar with the Bible knows that wild beasts, along with arrows, horses, and swords, are employed to describe events both past, and those coming in the future. Because of their static existence and universal recognition, prophets used various animals to denote succeeding world kingdoms, and older weapons, still in use, to describe warfare and wars. As technology has made possible what could not even be imagined 100 years ago, new speculations about the primitive symbols used in the futuristic Book of prophecy The Revelation have arisen. Â

With machines becoming more and more interdependent for data transfers and information sharing to operate, any significant breakdown in the global network could render many of them obsolete. Take for example military hardware that now depends on global positioning satellites (GPS) to deliver their munitions. The American military and intelligence services operate over 125 satellites upon which many of our modern weapons systems are now completely reliant,[1] and the number is growing to eventually replace all older systems. Even the transportation and delivery of fuel to run the weapons depends on GPS.

This is why China’s successful military operation this week of destroying an orbiting satellite with a ballistic missile has got military strategists all over the world burning the midnight oil: this changes everything.[2] If these satellites can be taken out, soldiers could be plunged back into having to use what today seem like primitive weapons. Could this be another reason for the resurgence of the guillotine to behead (Rev.20:4) those who will refuse to take the mark of the beast during the last half of the time of Jacob’s trouble? (Jer. 30: 4-7). Perhaps it’s not so much symbolism as it seems to measure the blood spelled by the armies of the world, who will break off their final attack on Jerusalem to fight against the returning King of Kings, in the depth of horses’ bridles and in the length of 1600 horses’ furlongs (Rev 14:20).

Notes:

[1] “Why did China Smack the Sat,” DefenseTech.org, Jan 20, 2007. http://www.defensetech.org/archives/003193.html

[2] Richard Spencer, “Chinese missile destroys satellite in space,” Telegraph.co.uk, January 19, 2007. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/01/19/wchina19.xml