Hi saints,This is a full answer to the ‘Babylon’ question, on another thread, from Patrick/Christisking & Compton to me. I thought I'd start a separate thread on Babylon, particularly ... in answer to those questions, Brothers. I trust this long answer may flesh out what you were getting at, as far as my thoughts on it, on the other thread. It's not written to you two brothers, particularly .... so don't take it as such. If the shoe 'fits', you can wear it, though :)bro baruch ---Isaiah 14:5,6 “ The LORD has broken the rod of the wicked, the scepter of the rulers, which inanger struck down peoples with unceasing blows, and in fury subdued nations with relentlessaggression.”That’s a picture of final destruction of Babylon on earth.It’s within the segment in the O.T. that pertains to the Archangel’s fall.“The King of Babylon” here ( in verse 4, preceding .. ) is Satan. He is the one inciting the rulers, which in their anger strike down the weak.“The King of Tyre” is another allegorical address to Satan and his final end ( in Ezekiel 28, where it speaks of wealth, treasure, commerce, ‘theseas’ .. for carrying commerce - this fits in with the mercantile aspect of “Babylon theGreat” in Revelation 18 - the ‘scarlet, purple, fine linen and glittering gold, preciousstones, and pearls’ )I read the two aspects “Babylon” and “Tyre” to refer respectively to war/murder/warrior-ism{Gen. 10.9} & mercantilism { Tyre has always been about ‘commerce’}.The point is, it’s Satan “behind” the outward expressions ( on earth ). This is the aspect of the “rulers .. authorities .. powers of this dark world .. the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms” --- “our battle is not against flesh and blood” { Eph 6 }Nor should we make our ‘focus’ flesh and blood “outward Babylon” - as our Enemy. There’ssomething far greater we’re dealing with. We look at the root cause - not the “symptoms” ( ofBabylon )we should see this in the sense of “All the World’s a Stage”, with the earthly kingdoms [ which do include kingdoms of Ideology and “Culture”, as much as militarism and economics, as the Enemy’s inroads are first and foremost toward men’s minds. ]The “producers” and “directors” behind this Panoply are Satan and his demonic rulers inheavenly places - behind the scenes, as it were.Jessie Penn-Lewis is probably helpful in developing this perspective, I think.We can thus approach the question of “Who and What” is the earthly manifestation ofoutward “Babylon” - from the Source - outward - the “font” of All Corruption.He is the Author “of Confusion” ... as we know.He foolishly tried to sow confusion with the Son of Man, when he tempted Him in theWilderness: “ I will give you all their authority ( over the earth’s kingdoms ) .. if you will bow down and worship me.”Satan is the ‘king’ of this world-wide Realm of Confusion, which he has ‘authored’. [ 1 cor 14.33]“Is this the man ... who .... shook the earth ?” ( Isaiah 14:16 ff ) That could either be referring to Satan or the Man ( anti-Christ) whom Satan fills with himself .... Parts of Isaiah 14 could bealternatingly referring to either & some portions are clearer than others.But it fittingly describes the End of the Satanic Overthrow attempt of God’s designed Order.The 1000 year reign from A Renewed ‘promised land’ ( a new jerusalem) - will be the Father’sanswer to the 6000 years of Usurpation. The Mount of God will be raised over the earth. A newworld ‘topography’ will be effected, and I think we can expect the Himalayas to recede - thateverything be brought under the Righteous High Place - the New Jerusalem, the mountain &city of the Christ of God upon the earth He will renew.“They will neither harm nor destroy on all my Holy Mountain . . for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” ( what a picture !) [is. 11:9]“the infant will play near the hole of the cobra ........ and a little Child will lead them ... “ (are you tasting this ? this is the ‘powers of the Age to come’ ...... the power of the Child)The taste of “Confusion” will be wiped out, as the ‘knowledge of the LORD’ fills the earth ...progressively, like running waters ------ “ Let Justice roll on like a River [ rev 22.2 / psalm 46.4] ~~~~~ Righteousness like a never-failing Stream . . “ ( amos 5 )________Back to ‘babylon’, now - Luther and other ‘Reformers’ saw Rome, of course, as BABYLONCENTRAL ... & it’s easy to see why - Rome was the Power Whore -- sitting as “Queen” in thatage .. and had been, for centuries.It’s easy to see why, now, “America” is an obvious fit as an earthly manifestation of thisdrunken queen. America’s history is very ‘drunk with blood’, though we Americans like toconveniently pass that over as a necessary part of ole ‘Manifest Destiny’ and the sovereignty ofGod’s establishing this ‘kingdom’. After all, hey “ don’t tread on Me.” Let’s not discuss LadyLiberty’s warts ...Let us go beyond, though .... into the “Forces” behind worldly ‘empire’, beit, Alexander’s, Caesar’s, Lenin’s, or the American Founders’ ... let us have salve for our eyes to see the hierarchies of demons - authorities,principalities, powers - behind these . .These forces insinuate themselves into the locus of men’s minds & their thinking in theirheart-of-hearts : “ you will be as gods “ .... “ I will give all this to you “ .... “ Come, let usmake a name for yourselves “ ( Gen-11:4 )Genesis 11:4 is the motive behind all “kingdom building” on the earth ... be it ‘kingdoms of the mind’ .... ‘kingdoms of High Culture’ .... or kingdoms of economy or militaryCOME, LET US MAKE A NAME - for ourselves ...... Let us build , for we’ll have a great Name inthe annals of History.The Adversary knows -- that if he can enlarge the names of any “great man” in history (Attila the Hun, DaVinci, Genghis Khan, the Yellow Emperor, Hammurabi, the Pharaohs, CaesarAugustus, King Louix XIV, Bismarck, Teddy Roosevelt, Stalin, Hitler, Louis B. Mayer, the Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Krupps Armaments, Mary Kay, Rockefeller, Rothschild, Plato, Shakespeare,Whitman, Monet, Sartre, Chaplin, Marx, Lenin, Descartes, Einstein, Aquinas, Augustine,Arminius, Calvin , etc etc etc etc ...) .. all these names[size=x-small] then, contain the meaning of a ‘pettykingdom’ ( some more petty than others ) serving as [size=medium]distraction from the One Name of the One King whose Kingdom alone is worthy to venerate.Babylon is names ---- sowing confusion and leading us down ‘rabbit trails’ -- in pursuit of“Culture” .. “Learning” ... “Art” ... “Wisdom” ... and “Nationalist military Glory” -ALL taking us away from seeing the One Name ( even for born-againChristians, as we venerate these “things” .. these kingdoms - including America ... includingCalvin ... including Aquinas )_____________The Current Twin EnginesAmerica ( on the side of secular Democratic full-throttle capitalism ), and Rome ( as a key locus for the world’s Ecumenical Move - note all the world’s religious leaders paying homage at the vatican this last summer at the death of papa John Paul )- are the twin engines that are thrusting the currently still fragmented world systems { fragmented by “national-ism” and “religion” } ... down the Road to the Broad Path of One World Religion and Rule ~ via economic “Globalization” policies the Capitalist West is arm-twisting nations into buying into ... and via the Ecumenical MoveThis is going to continue to take longer than many seem to realize -- the “tempo” or‘heartbeat’ of this All.It’s popular to always suggest the Lord will return next week or next month or next year ...But this is not so.We humans have an innate capacity for buying ‘hype’. ( i.e. Y2K scares recently, which again .. there was an Author of Confusion behind )Time is left for many to repent.We must know the Lord is slow in His dealings with us, personally ... if we have indeed grown inChrist. He does not “wrought” within us changes into greater Christ-likeness overnight.And it is so, with the pace of what He’s working within the Earth, as He allows globalization &technological webs of inter-connectedness & webs of ‘Ecumenism’ to inter-weave ...This is a slow process, my friends.The world is still very divided, even in the midst of coalescence.Witness the divisions between radical militant Islam and the ‘peace-loving muslims’ ....Witness how the French just recently yelled “ No !” in the recent vote of theirs on buying intothe European Constitution, toward greater coalescence ( and the French have been a drivingforce behind the move toward One Europe ... now their masses say “no”). OtherEuropean countries are also wary of coming under a Single Rule.Picture the United States coming under a One World Government in the next handful of years--- it’s a ridiculous thought ..... so far.This will all come .... but the ‘tempo’ toward this will hasten only, after we see many moreglobal calamities in the coming years and decades.There will be radical Islamist terrorist strikes upon the West ... there will probably beconflagration between India and Pakistan .... there will be a lot of things that will have to make the various ‘nationalisms’ of the world to say “ enough” ... we need a Dictator to bring us all peace.Are we so naive, or ignorant enough to conceive of militant Islamic Pakistanis and militantHindu Indian nationalists locking arm-in-arm under Anti-Christ ... anytime very soon ... ?We need to be in this for the long haul ..... for the Father is patient ... He is still giving time for the many to repent.Those that daydream of Christ coming back to “get them” just around the corner must buckle down and go to the Cross and find succor for a longer haul ---- For the Church has work to do -to testify of His Power and Love and Grace and Judgement and Wrath in the midst of thecoming conflagrations ..She must “build herself up IN HIS LOVE and in the Most Holy Faith” - not toward convenientsoon-coming rapture ( confusion sown by an Adversary)But toward testifying .. lest we have no reward.If we think “readiness” ( The bride has made herself ready - Rev. 19:7) comes with asimple 3 or 5 year “revival” ... we’ve got another thing coming. Readiness will come in thequarrying places [ 1 king 6:7] ~ where His ‘quiet work’ is being done unseen before the hype ofChristian hoopla.The quarrying brings us to an acceptance of the values of His cross, worked in us - which are needed for us to have any POWER with which to testify of His Person, in the End of days The “call” now is to meet the bridegroom of our soul in the places of no “repute” ... thelocales apart from the Hulabaloo of the crowd ( A.W. Tozer - The Saint Must Walk Alone ).The Place where He will dwell .... is a ‘dry place’ .... until we break Ground and hit the “Solid Rock” ... deep within.This is Zion - the place of His rest, the place of Heart.David built up the fortress of Zion in earlier times .... seeking the will of His heart.We need cease running after the “King Sauls” of Christendom ..... and turn from That Confusion... unto our Greater David - in His Zion, the place of His Bride ( Heb 12:22ff ).Turn your hearts toward His kingdom above ~ letting go of the kingdoms of men .... men intownships, regions, nations, realms ....Turn toward the New Realm .... that is already Coming Down from heaven ( rev. 21.2 ) - in yourheart
