The Whore of Babylon

 

Jeremiah 1: 16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.

Crush Limbraw September 10, 2021 at 1:03 PM

Another thought, bionic - last night I was reading Micah 7… 

Jesus constantly quoted the prophets - they lived from about 850BC to 400BC - Warning about the events to come. Of course, their reward was execution. 

I cannot think of anyone better than you, bionic - to put these into a narrative package.  How about it?

bionic mosquito September 10, 2021 at 2:14 PM

Crush, it's funny you say this. I have recently finished Isaiah and am now in the early chapters of Jeremiah. Every chapter could provide a narrative. Some of the verses are absolute gems.

Jeremiah prophesied at the end of the Kingdom of Judah and through the fall of Jerusalem and destruction of the Temple.  He foretold these events, God’s judgement for the worship of idols and the sacrificing of their children: (Jeremiah 7:31; Jeremiah 19: 4-6).

The list of the idols worshipped today would be never-ending. As to sacrificing children…it isn’t enough to sacrifice the unborn children, society is now willingly sacrificing live children for the sake of a non-threatening virus.

The book begins, as seen above in the first chapter, with God stating the purpose that will be fulfilled through Jeremiah: God will utter His judgements.  Big deal, one will say; sticks and stones can break my bones, but names can never hurt me…. Let God “utter” all He wants….

Yet we know, in the first chapter of Genesis, God created the heavens and the earth merely by His utterances: “And God said…”.  God’s words are action.  His words, create; His words destroy.  Jesus, by His words, calmed the storm and brought Lazarus out of the grave.  God’s words bring order out of chaos; this should cause fear in those who create chaos.

We are living in times of significant chaos…. At times like this, God brings some order.

In chapter 2, God, through Jeremiah, offers that those who have strayed have no one to blame but themselves:

Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit. …Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, when he led thee by the way?

Also in chapter 4:

Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

We have procured these by doing things our way.  Let’s call it reason without God – also known as the false god of the Enlightenment.  And such actions have consequences – one cannot stray from the truth for long without it being so:

Jeremiah 3: 5 (a) Will he reserve his anger for ever? will he keep it to the end?

What was the wickedness of the people?  Chapters 6 & 7 point to the issue: they did not hearken unto God’s words; they did not obey His voice; they did not receive correction.  They are cut off from truth.  They did not live according to God’s law, which God describes in a very specific way, in chapter 8:

Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the Lord.

Each created being is made with a purpose and is expected to live according to that purpose.  Storks, turtles or cranes live according to their purpose – so must man.  The non-human animals, however, are not blessed (and cursed) with reason.  Hence, they can only live according to their purpose. 

Man, however, has been given a gift that can be used to fulfill his purpose or to stray from it.  Apply reason toward the purpose for which man was created, and God’s order remains; apply reason divorced from God’s purpose, and chaos ensues.  When this happens, God (or natural law, if you prefer) will provide correction.

Reason is used to commit abomination.  Yet this does not bring shame:

Jeremiah 6: 15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.

We are living at the end of just such a time.  Some, myself included, who recognize this truth point to the fallacies in the Enlightenment, when reason and the individual were divorced from the God who created both.  I have been reviewing the work by John Strickland who argues that the cake was baked with the Great Schism, one-thousand years ago.

Wherever in this timeline one wishes to start, it is clear that World War One marked the inevitable culmination of this epoch.  At the same moment when man, through his reason, reached his pinnacle, he crushed it into the mud of Europe.

Since then we have come to the point described by CS Lewis in The Abolition of Man: when we say man is conquering nature, what we mean to say is that some men are using nature to conquer other men: “Each new power won by man is a power over man as well.”  The last thing in nature left to be conquered is man himself.  He will no longer be man, but something else entirely.

The mental and emotional part of this conquering happened decades ago – with the death of God, with the stripping of man’s dignity, with the debasement of his cultural tradition.  We now describe as “pretty” the waterfall that more properly should be described as “sublime.”  This can be most visibly seen manifest today thanks to the social justice curriculum developed by critical theory. 

It is the fruit of the work of Antonio Gramsci, and, following him, the Frankfurt School: the long march through the institutions has accomplished its task.  Yet, even in this, one has a means to provide defense: educating one’s self, educating one’s children.  Yes, a difficult task when the world’s ideology is set against you, but no doubt possible. 

Today, however, they are moving to conquer man’s physical body.  Get the jab to work; get the jab to eat; get the jab to travel; get the jab to shop; get the jab to see family; get the jab to leave your home.  Never mind the side effects, including an early death; just get the jab.  In the face of this evil, will and determination are necessary.

And it is for those demanding your compliance to this evil that Jeremiah speaks.  God’s judgement is not limited to the historical times recorded in Scripture.  It is consistent, eternal.

But be careful: those closest to you will also be your enemy.  In chapter 9, Jeremiah offers that you cannot trust your neighbor, your brother.  They will speak lies; they will commit iniquity.  We live in a habitation surrounded by deceit.

So, now we come to the Whore of Babylon. 

Jeremiah 9: 9 Shall I not visit them for these things? saith the Lord: shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

There are, and have been, “nations such as these” throughout history.  Jeremiah is speaking God’s words to each of these; each one, I believe, is this whore.  There is no doubt that the ways and the means of God’s judgements and punishments in the past will continue; God is unchanging, and abominations are abominations.  One cannot violate God’s laws (call it natural law or objective ethics, if you prefer) without consequence.

Revelation 17: 1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

I do not interpret this to mean that such events will happen (or have happened) once and only once.  Many empires over the last two thousand years have fit this description of the whore – and have come to judgement.  These two verses can describe many empires that have come and gone since the time the Apostle John wrote them.  These very much describe the United States today.

More specifically, one sees, through the United States, the exercise of empire by those who both are and are not citizens of the country.  The United States is a tool for those who wish to practice empire.  And this empire is the current manifestation of the empire against which Jeremiah (and John) speaks.

One need not go all Hal-Lindsey to see the description is one of an empire (sitting upon many waters) that has caused all kings of the earth to commit fornication with her (think of every meaningful Western institution, stretching from NATO to the Fed to the WHO), and that have gotten drunk from her wine (wealth earned by promoting evil).

The results are seen in chapter 18: “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.”

All nations have drunk her wine, the merchants of the earth have grown rich through her.  Her plagues will come, and with these death and famine.  Once again, as has happened through history, Babylon the great will fall.  It is most unfortunate because, when compared to all previous Babylons, no other had been so blessed from birth.

Conclusion

Neither wisdom, strength, or wealth will protect you; returning to Jeremiah:

Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:

Only one thing will, from Revelation 18:

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.

But we know that there is no place to flee – no physical place.  How do we “come out”?  what can God mean by this?  We only have one means to save ourselves, again from Jeremiah:

But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the Lord.

Just remember: Jesus also said we should buy a sword….