Author	Thread: Babylon As Israel in Apostasy Runs Twice
Admin	Babylon As Israel in Apostasy Runs Twice Posted : 5 May, 2013 12:08 PM Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. 19. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. 20.And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. 21.Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it." Zechariah 1: 18-21 A horn is usually a nation, government or a people. These four "carpenters" are the governments that have scattered the people of God, here called Judah, Israel and Jerusalem, or those claiming to be his people who are being scattered by these four horns as judgment. Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome are the four kingdoms in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream of Daniel 2 which Daniel interpreted to be the Babylonian, Persian, Greek and Roman empires (see Daniel 2: 32-45). Traditional church doctrine tends to say that the four governments or empires of Daniel 7 are exactly the same as the four in Daniel 2. Daniel 7: 1-8 says "In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon Daniel had a dream and visions of his head upon his bed: then he wrote the dream, and told the sum of the matters. 2. Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3. And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another. 4. The first was like a lion, and had eagle's wings: I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and made stand upon the feet as a man, and a man's heart was given to it. 5. And behold another beast, a second, like to a bear, and it raised up itself on one side, and it had three ribs in the mouth of it between the teeth of it: and they said thus unto it, Arise, devour much flesh. 6. After this I beheld, and lo another, like a leopard, which had upon the back of it four wings of a fowl; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. 7. After this I saw in the night visions, and behold a fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts that were before it; and it had ten horns. 8. I considered the horns, and, behold, there came up among them another little horn, before whom there were three of the first horns plucked up by the roots: and, behold, in this horn were eyes like the eyes of man, and a mouth speaking great things." The four governments of Daniel 7 are a quartet like the four in Daniel 2. But there is no reason in the text to see them as being the same empires. If they are another set of four governments in a later time line, they might have some similarity to the empires of Daniel 2, but would not be the identical empires. Remember that there were two major empires in the Mid-East before the Babylonian empire. These were the Egyptian and Assyrian empires, both of which interacted with the people of God. Likewise, we can find in history a total of six major world empires after the Cross, to parallel the six empires before the Cross, all of which interact with the people of God, either physical Israel or Israel reborn in Christ of the New Covenant. In our own timeline, there have been four major world governments, which interestingly match up with the descriptions in Daniel 7 of the four beasts, the lion with eagle's wings which were plucked (British), the bear (Soviet Union), which devours or destroys much flesh, the leopard (Nazi Germany), and the fourth beast (U.S. and U.N.), "...dreadful and terrible, and strong exceedingly; and it had great iron teeth: it devoured and brake in pieces, and stamped the residue with the feet of it: and it was diverse from all the beasts." "In history, since the important period of 1945-1948 these four "horses" and riders (Revelation 6: 2-8) have scattered God's people. During this period of time, the falling away of II Thessalonians 2: 3 and the leavening of Luke 13: 18-21 gained momentum. The Christian II Timothy Church, which is never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, and resists the truth (II Timothy 3: 7-8) become more evident in this period. The remnant, mentioned in Revelation 11: 13 and in Revelation 12: 17, having the testimony of Jesus Christ (Revelation 12: 17) are literally scattered over the world. And as in Daniel 12: 7 the spiritual and earthy power of the holy people are scattered, which means the spiritual power of the II Timothy church is diminished. The salt has lost its savour, as Matthew 5: 13 says, and the Greek word translated as savour is moraino. Strong's says moraino, number 3471, is from moros, number 3474, which means "dull or stupid,.i.e, heedless, absurd, foolish." Those in the II Timothy church do not come to the knowledge of the truth, and so they are spiritually dumbed down. This does not mean everyone who goes to the II Timothy church is lost, because those in church still alive are the flesh and still breathing. God's people have been scattered in the sense that their spiritual power has been diminished since 1945-1948 because the worldly culture under these world empires of Daniel 7 and Revelation 13: 1-2, as well as from the four horses and riders of Revelation 6 have become more hostile to the true Gospel. However, this speeding up of the falling away from the truth of II Thessalonians 2 2: 3-4 in 1945-48, began earlier in the 19th century. As a result of the influence of humanism - especially that of Hegel (1770-1831) and Marx (1818-1883) - on Christians and the cultural change as a paradigm shift in thinking away from a paradigm in which the Word of God is seen to be absolute truth, many Christians lost their love of the truth (II Thessalonians 2: 10-12) and zeal to protect the faith and Gospel of Christ. So, the false teachers of the 19th century and the cults began to gain more and more Christian followers. Mary Baker Eddy (1821-1910), Ellen G. White (1827-1915), Edward Irving (1792 �1834), John Darby (1800 -1882), Charles T. Russell (1852-1916), and and C.I. Scofield (1843 -1921) were some of the major false teachers of the 19th century who influenced Christians. John Darby and C.I. Scofield became the most popular of these 19th and early 20th century figures. A number of scriptures teach that there would be a departure from the truth of the New Testament. II Thessalonians 2: 3-4 is not the only one of these texts. And Matthew 24: 11 and I John 4: 1 are plain scriptures which say that many false prophets will arise. So, it was not only the four horns of Zechariah 1: 18-21, or the four horses and riders of Revelation 6: 2-8 and the first beast of Revelation 13: 2, the leopard, the bear and the lion kingdoms merged, which caused Israel reborn in Christ to fall into apostasy. It was also the army of false teachers which took over the organized Christian community. These false teachers got their start in the 19th century, but gained much momentum at the time of the end of World War II, the start of the national security state (1947) and the creation of the Little Horn nation in the Middle East. But there is also a confusion of the identity of the Christian community in this falling away from the truth, which goes back to the Roman Catholic capital C Church. When Jesus Christ fulfilled II Kings 21: 13, Isaiah 29: 16 and Jeremiah 18: 1-6 and turned Jerusalem upside down, he came to give new spiritual life to Israel. �I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel� (Matthew 15:24). Christ transformed Israel into a Spiritual house. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ... But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:" I Peter 2: 5, 9. In this transformation Christians become the chosen people. Galatians 3: 3-29 explains that those who are in Christ, of any race or ethnic group, are the spiritual seed of Abraham. Entry into the kingdom of God was by faith and no longer by race. Paul says in Romans 9: 6-8, "Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel: Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." Those of physical Israel had to become born again in Christ as he said to the Pharisee Nicodemus in John 3: 1-7. The certain implication of John 3: 1-7 is that everyone must be born again by the Spirit to be saved, to be a member of the elect, and the sure implication is that everyone who is elect is a member of Israel reborn in Jesus Christ. The certain implication of Ephesians 2: 11-19 is that Gentiles who were previously aliens and strangers to the commonwealth of Israel are brought into that commonwealth of Israel by the blood of Christ (Ephesians 2: 13). The ekklesia, translated as church, is only a meeting, assembly or congregation of Israel reborn in Christ. But the falling away from the truth runs twice, first in the Old Covenant time, and again in the time of the new Covenant. In both timelines the falling away results in the people claiming to be of God being brought into captivity. Jeremiah 23: 20-22 says "The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly. 21.I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied. 22.But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings." "Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD." Jeremiah 23: 32 Lightness is Strong's number 6350, which is said to mean "frivolity, lightness." The false teachers are not solid in their knowledge, they do not teach truth. but teach frivolous things. "And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables." II Timothy 4: 4 In the Old Covenant time, the consequence of coming under the influence of false teachers, and into apostasy, is stated in Jeremiah 25: 4, 7-11, "And the LORD hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets, rising early and sending them; but ye have not hearkened, nor inclined your ear to hear." "Yet ye have not hearkened unto me, saith the LORD; that ye might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt. 8. Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, 9. Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith the LORD, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. 10. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. 11. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith the LORD, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations." As judgment for falling into false doctrines and practices, physical Israel was sent into the Babylonian Captivity for seventy years. Then, Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51 is a metaphoric concept describing physical Israel in apostasy. yet many verses in Jeremiah 50 and 51 can be applied to the New Covenant church in apostasy. This is because the apostasy runs twice. "My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace." Jeremiah 50: 6 "We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed: forsake her, and let us go every one into his own country: for her judgment reacheth unto heaven, and is lifted up even to the skies." Jeremiah 51: 9 Babylon is physical Israel in false doctrines and false practices. "Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD's vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence." Jeremiah 51: 6 "My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the LORD." Jeremiah 51: 45 Jeremiah 51: 6 and 51: 45 are repeated in Revelation 18: 4, where the people of God are warned to depart from the church in apostasy in the New Covenant timeline, "And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues." "Babylon hath been a golden cup in the LORD's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad." Jeremiah 51: 7 Again, Babylon here is a metaphoric concept and not the historic city and nation called Babylon; it is physical Israel in apostasy which is the maddening wine of Babylon. And again, we find the wine of Babylon making the nations mad in the New Covenant timeline. "For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies." Revelation 18: 3 But in Revelation 18 the metaphoric concept called Babylon is not limited to the Christian church in apostasy. It includes the corrupt worldly culture surrounding the apostate church. Merchants, from the Greek word emporos, or world traders, are mentioned several times in Revelation 18. Revelation 18: 23 is a very interesting verse, which says "And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived." The voice of the bridegroom, which is Christ, is not heard in Babylon, the apostate church. But then it shifts to talking about the merchants of Babylon, and ends by saying that by the sorceries of Babylon were all peoples deceived. Sorceries is from the Greek word pharmakeia, which is interesting because it brings drugs, including prescription drugs and medical practices into this metaphoric concept called Babylon. Post Reply
View Profile History	Babylon As Israel in Apostasy Runs Twice Posted : 7 May, 2013 12:34 AM So Babylon, as a metaphor for those who claim to be the people of God following false teachers into apostasy, runs twice. Babylon in Jeremiah 50 and 51 refers to apostasy of physical Israel and Revelation 17 and 18 refer to the apostasy of the Christian community. In Daniel 8: 23 the "transgressors" who are said to come to the full, or the height of their influence, is from the Hebrew word pasha, 6586 in Strong's, which is said to mean "to break away, from just authority, i.e, trespass, apostatize, quarrel, offend, rebel, revolt, transgress." In the shift of the paradigm of thinking from the absolute authority of God, and from absolute truth and absolute morality to a shifting paradigm of the dialectic of Hegel and Marx (and Freud) there is in the Christian church as influenced by the surrounding worldly culture, a break away from just authority, a rebellion, and many quarrels in which the dialectic process is used to argue against the absolute authority of God in scripture. Christ in Matthew 24: 15 says the end is near when we see the abomination of desolation stand in the holy place. And it standing in the holy place corresponds to Paul's saying in II Thessalonians 2; 3-4 that this mysterious man of sin will sit in the temple of God, showing that he is God. But the temple of God in the New Covenant is no longer a literal building in Jerusalem, as Stephen said in Acts 7: 48 "the most High dwelleth not in temples made with human hands." And Paul says in I Corinthians 3: 16-17 that believers are the temple of God, and "...the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are." The metaphor called the man of sin is to sit in or occupy the minds and hearts of those claiming to be Christians in II Thessalonians 2: 3-4. This occupation of the minds and hearts of those who were believers by the metaphor called the man of sin would make them spiritually desolate. A clue is in Revelation 13: 12, where the second beast, which is the false prophet, representing many false prophets, is said to cause people to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. Revelation 13: 3 says "And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast." This is the Little Horn nation called Israel which shows up along with the lion, bear, leopard and diverse fourth beast empires in Daniel 7. The Little Horn is in Daniel 7: 8. Since the False Prophet causes Christians to worship the beast whose deadly wound was healed, this beast is Babylon in the Old Covenant timeline, and is the people who rejected Christ and were cut off because of that unbelief (Romans 11: 17, 20-21). These are the ones who reject the Gospel message that Christ came in the flesh (I John 4: 3), among other peoples. The Little Horn is of the spirit of anti-Christ. The spirit of anti-Christ being honored by the Christian church is what makes it desolate. This goes back to the period of 1945-1948, when the Little Horn was created as a nation. And - at this time in the New Covenant timeline, the church went into a re-run of the Babylonian captivity. This does not mean that absolutely every one who went to church from 1948 to now is in Babylonian captivity, or in the strong delusion of II Thessalonians 2: 11-12, but the church is in captivity. There is more to this story, such as this period being the time of the indignation of the Lord of Isaiah 26: 20 and the time of the famine for hearing the word of the Lord in Amos 8: 11. Post Reply
View Profile History	Babylon As Israel in Apostasy Runs Twice Posted : 9 May, 2013 05:43 PM Israel forever IDF forever Post Reply
View Profile History	Babylon As Israel in Apostasy Runs Twice Posted : 27 May, 2013 03:37 PM Pardon me... What did you say about the "little horn" in 1947? Post Reply