A call in my Spirit to pray, that, and a word to the servants of the Lord.

Here it is, mid-July 2020, and if I were to try and analyze my emotions over the last few days, I would have to say, I am troubled by what I see coming.

Am I worried?

Not about my relationship with Abba, but I do have concerns about whether the violence we are experiencing will spill over into my home. You see, I have been dealing with rage issues for most of my adult life, and I do not believe that God is calling me to take a sword and cut these people in half. Thankfully I have a deeply inset relationship with Jesus Christ and a wee bit of maturity.

This morning, after hearing about more ugliness, such as New York now subpoenaing people who refuse to comply with the COVID tracers, I felt a tremendous call in my spirit to pray.

This is not just about me praying, but it is an attempt to get this dead entity we call Church to pray. Understand this, we, the church, dead as it is, are the very thing that is holding back this onslaught from going full frontal attack; now that will happen, but NOT on our watch. 

2 Thessalonians 2:6-8 NASB (6) And you know what restrains him now so that in his time he will be revealed. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the way. (8) Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming;

Do you understand what this is saying to you? 

There is a man of lawlessness coming; we like to call him the Antichrist. He has many names scattered throughout the Bible. But lawless is an excellent description; and, he is being restrained or held back, but only until the Church is taken out of the way. 

Does that mean that we, the Church, will not have to suffer in any manner? 

Pansies, Jesus told us that tribulations would be a way of life for Christ-followers. He also said that we would be hated because of our relationship with Jesus Christ. Count yourself fortunate that you have been able to live in the United States for the better part of your life, because our brothers and sisters in the Lord, in other parts of the world, get dragged from their churches and shot or get firebombed, among other things. So, no, there is no guarantee of safety and security, especially now that fools are defunding the police.

Consider something, if lawlessness is a demonically driven attribute, is it possible that others could be infested with this demon of lawlessness? 

Look around you; what do you see? 

Lawlessness permeates the very being of those we have entrusted with our money, lives, health, and safety. New York Mayor Bill De Blasio is an excellent example of this lawlessness as shootings have gone up 205% since he defunded the NYPD. The New York City Mayor, while helping to paint the words – black lives matter, on the street, in front of Trump Tower, has canceled all large gatherings in New York City, except for the Marxist BLM group. This is the same organization that wants to dismantle our society.

I might as well throw in my own Governor, Gavin Newsome, into the mix, who, while closing the parks and beaches, is annoying enough, but he crossed the line and the constitution when he closed our churches. Under threat from the President of the United States, he, and other Governors, allowed churches to reopen but then many of these same Governors decided that we can only hum while wearing our masks. This mandate occurred at the same time as bars and Wine tasting rooms were being re-closed. I did not know our self serving Governor owned a wine tasting room. Wouldn't you know it, the county in which his winery sits did not go back on restriction. Many noticed that he snickered when he pointed out in an interview that his winery was still open. I do not know if it was Christians standing against the tyrant, but a substantial crowd went to his winery and protested. Guess what; he shut the doors on his winery.

The morning that I heard this call to pray, the Holy Spirit said to me, amongst other things, tell them that you are to call confusion down upon them.

I run a lot of things through my wife, as I am trying to keep my gifting of rage out of the mix. She responded with, I never thought of that. I decided (as though I have original thoughts) that I would start looking at passages to find the word confusion and see if there was a precedent for its usage against an enemy. I also wanted to know what the effect would be when this was prayed over those who are choosing to riot, loot, and take six city blocks captive.

So I did a search for the word, and here is what I found. 

Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt. Psalms 35:4 KJV

Confusion is the Hebrew word châphêr, pronounced khaw-fare' – and means to be: ashamed, disappointed, confounded, brought to confusion.

Confounded is also a great word. It is the Hebrew word bûsh, and much like confusion means to be ashamed, disappointed or delayed.

King David held back very little and said what his heart felt. I suppose that is one of the reasons that God seemed to love this man so much.

So I want you to also note that David wanted this particular enemy also to be put to shame. Strangely, confounded and confused should have covered that, but look the word shame up, and you find this.

Shame is the Hebrew word kâlam and means to wound. It also conveys the idea of taunt or insult, along with meanings comparable to what we see with confusion and confounded.

David was asking God to wound them.

Let them be turned – is the word sûg = to flinch, go back, retreat, or apostatize, go back, turn away, and turn back.

Apostatize is a bit of a church word, but take the religious bent out of it, and it becomes a powerful weapon. APOS'TATIZE, v.i. To abandon one's profession, to forsake principles which one has professed, or the party to which one has been attached.

We see this enemy that David is facing, devising his hurt. 

Devise is H2803 châshab and means to plait or interpenetrate that is, (literally) to weave or (generally) to fabricate; figuratively to plot or contrive. To plait is to braid or weave, and we see these words conveyed in the phrase devise. 

Hurt is the Hebrew word ra. In its purest form, the word means bad, or evil: - The implications of this action against you can lead to your defamation or death. The overall hope of the enemy is that you are destroyed and left ineffective.

Doesn't this imply that this enemy is trying to work their way into your life to convert you or kill you, slowly and intricately?

Peter, on the Day of Pentecost, spoke these words over the crowd of 3000. 

Acts 2:16-18 KJV But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; (17) And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: (18) And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy:

Why would they need to prophesy? 

Prophesy – prophēteuō means to foretell events, to speak under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Why would there be a need to do this, especially since we have the scriptures to tell us, with almost exacting precision, what will happen next? 

The answer is because MOST of you have no clue what is in that stack of Bibles you own.

To make myself clear, my wife got invited to go to a friend's Bible study. The friend rented a room out to a lady that is a proficient bible teacher and a bit of a prophet. The friend, who calls herself a Christian, lives like the devil, has no clue what the bible says, and had the audacity of telling the group how her father came back to her after his death, made her feel all peaceful, and moved some stuff around the room to prove he was there. The Bible teacher told her what I would have; you just told us that demons visited you. She argued for her point of view, even after the Bible teacher left the room.

Let's push this just a little bit further. Remember when Saul ordered all the mediums out of the kingdom and went searching for one himself later. At this point, Samuel, the only man that seemed to hear from God, was dead. Saul convinced the medium to call up Samuel. This was not the typical demonic adventure for the dear lady, as Samuel did come up, and she freaked out. Samuel, on the other hand, angry that he had been awakened, verbally lashed Saul and told him that his kingdom was now permanently stripped from him. [Read the story for yourself in 1 Samuel 28.]

So, the prophet Joel, many years before Jesus' death, declares “on my servants and on my handmaidens, I will pour out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Well, guess what, you and I, those that follow after Jesus, are his servants and handmaidens. 

That morning that the Holy Spirit said to me, pray confusion over them, He was telling me to prophesy to His people a directive on how to pray. 

Why?

Because it is time to draw up the battle lines. We are not fighting a conventional battle, and we are not doing it with useless, conventional weapons we have had our weapons upgraded thanks to the Holy Spirit, to more powerful spiritual weapons, we call them the Sword of the Spirit. 

(Why would I say that we are not fooling with conventional, useless weapons? Maybe it's because I watched a man in Salt Lake City, get out of his car with a compound bow and a limited amount of arrows. This poor guy made angry motions toward what could be equated to the walking dead, they swarmed him, took his weapons, turned his car over, and burned it.)

2 Corinthians 10:3-6 MKJV  For though walking about in flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. (4) For the weapons of our warfare are not fleshly, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, (5) pulling down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought into the obedience of Christ; (6) and having the readiness to avenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled.

Tell me you caught all that! 

• Yep, we walk about in the flesh, and there should not be a single person denying that fact.
• But we should all understand something about our circumstances; THIS WORLD IS NOT OUR HOME.
• But we cheat because we do not war according to the flesh.

That means these unsuspecting fools will not know what hit them, and there is little to nothing that they can do about it, because Jesus, our intercessor, pleads with the Father on our behalf.

Think of this as though you are about to knock down a hornet's nest. If you have ever done that, then you know that the hornets are going to come after you. NO MATTER WHAT HAPPENS, WE WIN. 

Our weapons are not the kind you are used to; they are not fleshly weapons like knives and guns. They are, however, MIGHTY through God, for the purposes of pulling down strongholds.

Strongholds are the Greek word ochurōma and mean fortifications, a castle, a stronghold.

Since the Jewish council was the direct ruling authority over the Jews, they laid down the law to Peter and John; and in Acts 4:18, the disciples were threatened and commanded never again to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. Some would tell us that we are to obey the law of the land.

Look at what the disciples said. 

Acts 4:19-20 NASB But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; (20) for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard."

Once again, we have a precedent set in which we are to obey God rather than men. In my case, it's the Governor. 

Do you have the possibility of being put in jail? 

The short answer is yes.

When the disciples were released, they returned to their companions and told them what had happened. Their response – they worshiped God and prayed.

Acts 4:24 NASB And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, "O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM,

The disciples pointed out the situation.

Acts 4:25-28 NASB who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, 'WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? (26) 'THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.' (27) "For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, (28) to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.

And then said: 

Acts 4:29-31 NASB "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, (30) while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus." (31) And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

One of our weapons is the Angels. 

AND LIKE A MANTLE YOU WILL ROLL THEM UP; LIKE A GARMENT THEY WILL ALSO BE CHANGED. BUT YOU ARE THE SAME, AND YOUR YEARS WILL NOT COME TO AN END." But to which of the angels has He ever said, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET"? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:12-14 NASB)

So you have the right to dispatch angels against your enemies. Keep in mind, that God, through the action of an angel, killed the firstborn of Egypt in one night. 

Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, and he bowed all the way to the ground. The angel of the LORD said to him, "Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary because your way was contrary to me. "But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live." (Numbers 22:31-33 NASB)

In 2 Samuel 24, we see an angel stretch out his hand, and 70,000 people died. 

Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man." So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now relax your hand!" And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. (2 Samuel 24:14-16 NASB)

For David's sake, 185,000 were killed by an angel.

'Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the king of Assyria, "He will not come to this city or shoot an arrow there; and he will not come before it with a shield or throw up a siege ramp against it. "By the way that he came, by the same he will return, and he shall not come to this city,"' declares the LORD. 'For I will defend this city to save it for My own sake and for My servant David's sake.'" Then it happened that night that the angel of the LORD went out and struck 185,000 in the camp of the Assyrians; and when men rose early in the morning, behold, all of them were dead. (2 Kings 19:32-35 NASB)

Are you beginning to understand that we have a variety of weapons at our disposal; use them all. 

Prayer, which is you talking to Abba, is priority one.

Acts 12:5 So Peter was kept in the prison, but prayer for him was being made fervently by the church to God. 

Romans 12:12 rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, 

Ephesians 6:18 With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints, 

Philippians 4:6 NASB Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.

Colossians 4:2 Devote yourselves to prayer, keeping alert in it with an attitude of thanksgiving; 

1 Peter 3:12 NASB "For the eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous, and His ears attend to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil."

It is fascinating how Peter could write these words all those years ago with the same enthusiasm as I feel now. The difference is, the end of the church on the earth is here. 

1 Peter 4:7 NASB The end of all things is near; therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer.

Now, more than ever, it is time to stand in the face of the enemy. 

What you pray is not necessarily important; and, I am not trying to tell you how to pray.

If you feel the need to say poetry to God, then you go ahead and do that.

To me, prayer is more of a battle cry, something in which I restore my strength and faith. The idea behind all this is to fuel your fire.

We are not here to bow before an enemy.

In the days of the Philistines, if they took you captive, your male organs were removed, and they lopped off one ear.

This is a battle for our lives and the lives of others.

With that being said, say what you mean and mean what you say. Lives are on the line.

Consider these words: 

Father, the rulers of this world, and the people have gathered together against your people and Christ Jesus. Take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence. 

(More than anything else, at this time, we need strong words based in the Word of God. Contrary to what my mother believed, God is not asking us to just stand there and let the enemy slap our faces, or order us to bow. God never asked any of His people to do that, and I will never ask you to do that. I will tell you that if you choose to fight on their terms, you will die on their terms. Peter tried that trick, and Jesus told him to put his sword away. Those who live by physical weapons will die by physical weapons.)

Father, I ask that you bring confusion upon them and thwart every plan that they endeavor to do. 

Cause their plans to fail. 

Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after our souls: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise our hurt. 

Let our adversaries be clothed with shame, as with a mantle, and wound them.

Father, I ask that the ministering angels not only encamp about your people but go after those that would try to harm us.

Knock their teeth out. 

Bring upon them the plagues of Egypt, and Cause locusts to disrupt their actions by getting in their eyes and mouths. 

Put open sores and boils upon the flesh of those that mean us harm.

Cover them with a veil so that they cannot see and cause them to stumble as though they were in darkness. 

Open the windows of heaven and pour out torrents of rain upon them. Send hail and lightning. 

Cause the earth to open and swallow them. This action is not new to you, and you can do it again.

I pray these things in Jesus' name because you said I could, knowing that Jesus stands on my behalf before you Abba. You are the great God, and I know that you hear me when I call on you, Lord, because I belong to you, and I am calling on you now to save us. Do what you do best and save your people, the church. 

In Jesus precious name.

A short commentary on Revelation 6:4

And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him. (Revelation 6:4 NASB)

Compare the NASB with Complete Jewish Bible translation:

Revelation 6:4 CJB Another horse went out, a red one; and its rider was given the power to take peace away from the earth and make people slaughter each other. He was given a great sword.

One claims it was granted to this rider to take peace from the earth and that men would slay each other with the sword. The other, "its rider was given the power to take peace away from the earth and make people slaughter each other."

They are both correct. Being given the power to take away peace does not mean that you do. However, both translations convey violent and bloody imagery. One correctly describes making people slaughter each other with the sword. If, as I have stated on many occasions, this is Islam their primary weapons of death seem to be the sword and bombs. These weapons are not only directed at those they deem infidels but each other as well - this killing of each other is Biblical and can be found in reference to the descendants of Ishmael.

If, as I have stated on many occasions, this is Islam, their primary weapons of death seem to be the sword and bombs. These weapons are not only directed at those they deem infidels but each other as well - this killing of each other is Biblical and can be found in reference to the descendants of Ishmael.

Genesis 16:12 AMP And he [Ishmael] will be as a wild ass among men; his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him, and he will live to the east and on the borders of all his kinsmen.

Let's assume for a moment that you don't understand what this verse is telling you. I will attempt an explanation.
Any decent Middle Easterner will claim his heritage back to Abraham, and that would be correct. They mistakenly, however, claim Abraham's blessings as well, as that was promised to the child born from the pledge God made concerning Sarah. Since Ishmael was born out of something other than God's direction, there is no blessing given to Ishmael like the one granted to Issac, except for the quantity of descendants. As you can see above, God is not all that worried about your sensitivity to words and references, telling you like it is.

The other aspect of Genesis 16:12, is the fact that they will always scrap with each other.
This might surprise you, but this scenario about their inability to work with each other was also conveyed in Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's statue dream. When Daniel gets to the feet, he calls them mixed, a mixture of iron and clay.

Daniel 2:40-44 NASB "Then there will be a fourth kingdom as strong as iron; inasmuch as iron crushes and shatters all things, so, like iron that breaks in pieces, it will crush and break all these in pieces. (41) "In that, you saw the feet and toes, partly of potter's clay and partly of iron, it will be a divided kingdom; but it will have in it the toughness of iron, inasmuch as you saw the iron mixed with common clay. (42) "As the toes of the feet were partly of iron and partly of pottery, so some of the kingdom will be strong, and part of it will be brittle. (43) "And in that, you saw the iron mixed with common clay, they will combine with one another in the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, even as iron does not combine with pottery. (44) "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom which will never be destroyed, and that kingdom will not be left for another people; it will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, but it will itself endure forever.

The word mixed is: 'arab: An Aramaic verb meaning to mix, to mingle, to join together.
Do you seriously think this is a coincidence?

Sects within Islam

Within Islam there are many sects; the two major factions are, Sunni and Shia, and yet one, the Wahabis' of Saudi Arabia, hold most aggressively to the tenets of Islam. How do the various sects handle this internal struggle? They try to kill each other. So, what Daniel explained, "his hand will be against every man and every man's hand against him," is very true.

Take note of some other aspects of the verses from Daniel 2:40-44. The kingdom that is associated with the legs of the statue, and, then integrates into the toes, is made of iron; very strong, yet brittle. An obvious factor is that iron combined with clay is useless, and yet, that is the overall effectiveness of this undefined kingdom; but is it undefined?.

I can tell you that it feels like peace has been removed from the earth, and yet, this is nothing compared to what is coming. How fast all this will happen can only be experienced. I believe that much of this killing will be carried out by Islam, but considering the shift we have seen in the United States, it looks like the government will gladly be killing us off.

How fast will all this happen can only be experienced first hand. I believe that much of this killing will be carried out by representatives of Islam, but considering the shift we have seen in the United States, it looks like our government will gladly be killing us off.
If we were to be given a choice by God as to how we get to die, I believe I would choose a quick and relatively painless death. Seeing as that does not play into the equation of our lives, then we take what we get.

A short course in Isaiah. Chapter 13 - The message about Babylon.

Now this is where it gets interesting.

Isaiah 13:1 NET. This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah, son of Amoz:

My first question is, what do we know about Isaiah?

While this may not seem important to others, I believe that knowing something of Isaiah's background might answer important questions and possibly give me an understanding about this religious garbage that was thrown at me, in an attempt to convince me that Isaiah quoted from some Babylonian mythology. I suppose then that we should not take the things Isaiah said so seriously. As a side note: If I can discredit Isaiah in one area, then perhaps he should be disregarded in all other aspects as well, such as chapter 53 where he describes the horrendous price the Messiah would pay.

Pastor John MacArthur tells us that, “Isaiah is quoted directly in the NT over sixty-five times, more than any other OT prophet, and mentioned by name over twenty times.” That tells me that others thought highly of Isaiah's words.

• Isaiah, the son of Amoz, ministered in and around Jerusalem as a prophet to Judah during the reigns of four kings of Judah: Uzziah (called "Azariah" in 2 Kin.), Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah (Isa_1:1), from c. 739-686 B.C. Moment of clarity: Judah was the Southern Kingdom, and Israel was the Northern Kingdom.

• He evidently came from a family of some rank, because he had easy access to the king (Isaiah 7:3).
• He was married and had two sons who bore symbolic names: Shear-jashub ("a remnant shall return," Isaiah 7:3) and Maher-shalal-hash-baz ("hasting to the spoil, hurrying to the prey," Isaiah 8:3).
• When called by God to prophesy in the year of King Uzziah's death (c. 739 B.C.), he responded with a cheerful readiness, though he knew from the beginning that his ministry would be one of fruitless warning and exhortation (Isaiah 6:9-13).
• Isaiah prophesied at the same time as Hosea and Micah.

---

What is Babylon?

If you are so inclined, do a word search for Babylon, you will find that it shows up 297 times throughout scripture.

Its origins began before the flood in Noah's days. Apparently rebuilt by Noah's descendants, it appears in the book of Joshua where Achan, against orders, took some of the spoil (silver and gold) and hid them in his tent. 

Joshua 7:21 NASB when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them;..”

What other information, perhaps historically, do we have that associate and identifies the Shinar plane as being a part of Babylon.

Shinar - A region in Mesopotamia, the plain between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Here the rebels against God's will built the Babel tower (Gen_11:2-3). Derived from sheni "two" and 'ar or nahar "rivers."

What is surprising, perhaps even shocking about this scenario is what Achan said as he described what he did; I coveted them and took them!

As you read through the Bible, you find a deep hatred between the religious Jews (Pharisees) and the Samaritans. The Samaritans – as they came to be known, had originally been the Israelite kingdom. Since both the Southern and Northern Kingdoms eventually went into Assyrian captivity, it became evident to the Assyrians that they needed to repopulate the region of Samaria.

2 Kings 17:24 LITV And the king of Assyria brought men in from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Ava, and from Hamath, and Sepharvaim, and made them live in the cities of Samaria instead of the sons of Israel, and they possessed Samaria and lived in its cities.

An obvious factor to God and a few astute others was that these were all Gentiles (Goyim), and they did not fear Jehovah.

2 Kings 17:25-26 LITV And it happened at the beginning of their living there, they did not fear Jehovah, and Jehovah sent lions among them, and they were striking among them. 26) And they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, The nations that you have exiled and have made to live in the cities of Samaria do not know the custom of the God of the land, and He has sent the lions into their midst; and, behold, they are killing them, since they do not know the custom of the God of the land.

So the Assyrian king sees what he believes to be the solution and places a Jewish priest back in Samaria to reteach these people the Hebrew customs and laws. How did it all work out?

2 Kings 17:32-34 LITV So it was that they feared Jehovah, and made for themselves, of the lowest of them, priests of the high places and they sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places. 33) They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, according to the custom of the nations from where they exiled them. 34) To this day they do according to the former custom; they do not fear Jehovah, and do not do according to their statutes, and according to their ordinances, and according to the Law, and according to the commandment that Jehovah commanded the sons of Jacob, on whom He set His name, Israel.

• “they feared Jehovah.”
  The word fear can either mean to be afraid of, or to reverence. Since Israel seemed to do neither, I am not sure what this is trying to convey.
• “and made for themselves, of the lowest of them, priests of the high places and they sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.”
  There were no "high" places in the temple worship, so this had everything to do the creation of places where they could worship their own gods and offer sacrifices to them.
• “They feared Jehovah, and served their own gods, according to the custom of the nations from where they exiled them.”
  Oh sure, we know Him, but this is what we do. We brought it from our country and these priests we have here, they say it's okay.

I seem to have shot by this rather quickly, and I want you to see something here. One of the first things that Israel did after leaving Egypt was to coerce Aaron into making them a copy of the god Moloch. We love to call it merely, the golden calf. But all these years later, the most religious would not speak of the horror involved in this incident. Stephen, in the book of Acts, as a part of his defense before the council, pointed out that one of the gods Israel was worshiping was Moloch, a god that demanded child sacrifice by roasting them alive. No one challenged him. It does not take a genius to figure out that God values the lives of children, and yet, still today, in this modern world we live in, we are still sacrificing children to some god and calling it a different name.

2 Kings 17:30-31 NASB The men of Babylon made Succoth-benoth, the men of Cuth made Nergal, the men of Hamath made Ashima, 31) and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burned their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech the gods of Sepharvaim.

We are still trying to define Babylon, although somewhat loosely,

If I could think of Babylon as a physical location only, then this would explain its origins to some degree.

Genesis 10:8-11 NET. Cush was the father of Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth. 9) He was a mighty hunter before the LORD. (That is why it is said, "Like Nimrod, a mighty hunter before the LORD.") 10) The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar. 11) From that land he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh, Rehoboth-Ir, Calah,

We run into several problems as we read our sterilized translations of the Bible.

“Nimrod; he began to be a valiant warrior on the earth.”

• Nimrod was a gibbôr, and many times translated giant. However, 1 Samuel 17:51 (NASB) translated the word as champion.
  “Then David ran and stood over the Philistine and took his sword and drew it out of its sheath and killed him, and cut off his head with it. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.”
  If I take the liberty to reinsert the Hebrew, it reads like this: “When the Philistines saw that their gibbôr was dead, they fled.” You might even read it as: “When the Philistines saw that their giant was dead.” Ask yourself, what is the common understanding as to what Goliath was? A giant of a man, at least nine feet tall.
• “he began to be” comes from the Hebrew words chalal H2490c and hâyâh H1961.chalal; a primary root; to pollute, defile, profane.
  hayah (224a); a prim. root; to fall out, come to pass, become,
  It becomes evident that Nimrod changed. If he had a comprehension of who God was, he was swiftly defiling everything God stood for.
• “a valiant warrior.”This is where we come to understand that Nimrod was a giant. But, the Hebrew word gibbôr also carries a much more sinister definition: powerful; by implication a warrior, tyrant.
• “The primary regions of his kingdom were Babel, Erech, Akkad, and Calneh in the land of Shinar.”
  
  Where did I begin this explanation of Babylon? With an incident that originates in the plains of Shinar.
  Joshua 7:21 NASB when I saw among the spoil a beautiful mantle from Shinar and two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold fifty shekels in weight, then I coveted them and took them;..”
  • Note the other name that appears here, Babel. This is the early origins of the name Babylon.
    When we associate the name Babylon with its originator, then we find people whom, in general, are willing to pollute, defile, and profane God, while intentionally falling away from Him.
• “From that land, he went to Assyria, where he built Nineveh,”
  Now there is a familiar name to even the simplest of Bible students. Jonah, the prophet was told by God to go there and say, repent or destruction from God will come upon you. Jonah tried to commit suicide to prevent speaking to the Ninevites because he knew God would show them mercy. This becomes evident at the end of the story. What you have to ask is why Jonah felt this way. That is some fairly intense hatred he has.

In attempting to understand Babylon, what have we learned so far?

• Babel was founded by a savagely violent giant named Nimrod, a man who turned his back on God, by polluting, and defiling God's name. Those who followed Nimrod built the tower at Babel, and because of the things involved with that action God eventually destroys all mankind, except for Noah's little family, with a global flood.
• Babylon became symbolic, and Israel gains that reference on several occasions.
• A global governing body now represents the effective representation of Babylon. The people at the top of this pyramid, much like those that worship Moloch, care nothing about sacrificing children and the have-nots while setting themselves up as godlike entities.

And one last thing about Babylon.

Jeremiah 50:12-13 NASB Your mother will be greatly ashamed, She who gave you birth will be humiliated. Behold, she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert. 13) "Because of the indignation of the LORD she will not be inhabited, But she will be completely desolate; Everyone who passes by Babylon will be horrified And will hiss because of all her wounds.

“she will be the least of the nations, A wilderness, a parched land and a desert. 13) "Because of the indignation of the LORD she will not be inhabited, But she will be completely desolate;”

We know where Babylon is; Saddam Hussein was attempting to rebuild it before the war, but it is no less bleak, and only a small number of people live there. So, I think we can accurately say; we are no longer looking for the rebirth of a city.

If you are thinking, what about the empires Babylon represented, you might be closer to understanding; however, most people, regarding empires, seem to stop with the Babylonian. While it is true that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian King, took the Hebrews (both kingdoms – Israel in the north, and Judah in the South) captive, he was an Assyrian king. The kingdoms that followed, as spoken of in Daniel and demonstrated by the statue explained by Daniel, show that the Medes and Persians became the dominant force. How much evil can we assign to the Medes and Persians, at this time, when Daniel was still given positions of power and authority under Darius the Mede, and Cyrus the Persian. The empires we need to give consideration to initiate with the Grecian empire under Alexander, as he controlled significant land masses and those play a role in future events.

I get it! This is called a short course in Isaiah, and we just spent two and a half pages on Babylon. What's up with that. Look at verse one of the thirteenth chapter once again.

Isaiah 13:1 NET. This is a message about Babylon that God revealed to Isaiah, son of Amoz:

In this instance, it is a message about Babylon. Awe yes, but this story takes a serious 180 and quickly.

Isaiah 13:2-3 ESV On a bare hill raise a signal; cry aloud to them; wave the hand for them to enter the gates of the nobles. 3) I myself have commanded my consecrated ones, and have summoned my mighty men to execute my anger, my proudly exulting ones.

“I myself have commanded my consecrated ones”

So far it sounds okay. I am always rooting for the good guys, and I might be assuming this is directed at the bad guys. But what is this?

“to enter the gates of the nobles.”

Job 21:28 NASB "For you say, 'Where is the house of the nobleman, And where is the tent, the dwelling places of the wicked?'

The word nobleman is the Hebrew word nâdı̂yb / naw-deeb'; properly voluntary, generous; as noun, a grandee (sometimes a tyrant):

Since the Hebrew conveys the possibility of a tyrant, and it is easy to ascertain that Nimrod was a tyrant, we might be able to say that what we see in Isaiah 12:2,3 is God directing His own to enter the gates of the tyrant. The most convincing piece of evidence for this comes from Job 21:28 where he, by the influence of the Holy Spirit, calls this so-called house of the nobleman, the dwelling places of the wicked.

Surely, you can see from the terminology, dwelling places, that this is not speaking about a house necessarily. When you look the word house up, as used by Job, you will get over seventeen hundred applications directing you to the idea of a home, whatever that looks like,

house - bayith

BDB Definition:

1) house

1a) house, dwelling habitation

1b) shelter or abode of animals

1c) human bodies (figuratively)

1d) of Sheol

1e) of abode of light and darkness

1f) of land of Ephraim

2) place

3) receptacle

The definition is rarely a tight fit for a particular concept, and we find that bayith was also used to define a dungeon twice and a prison.

Job speaks of a tent, specifically saying, “where is the tent?” This too is revealing, but you would never know that unless you decided to probe deeper.

Tent is the Hebrew word 'ôhel / o'-hel, and means a tent (as clearly conspicuous from a distance). This is the same word that used to describe the tabernacle that Israel built in the desert. In a sense, it was an edifice, meant to be seen.

---

So, Babylon is a structure that is not so tightly defined, intended to be seen, and, most likely filled with tyrants/giants – but giants of what?

These influential people have turned their backs on God and the have-nots of the world and are intentionally destroying economies for their personal benefit.

Do not think for a second that governments are not part of this or, at the least in collusion, as we can see their irrational decisions and complacency, to the point that they play golf while the country under their watch is destroyed from within.

By the way. I do not think it is fair to the poor to address them as such. At the date of this writing, Louisiana has suffered what they are calling a 500-year flood. Almost in an instant many of the people, who do not live in a flood plain and therefore have no access to flood insurance, have lost everything and have no way of replacing what they lost. In October of 2012, Money magazine stated in an article that 30 million people were on the edge of poverty. Considering that many live on credit cards, merely opening another when one gets maxed out. The problem with that tactic is that the bills will catch up with you, and your entire paycheck is then committed to payments. What does poverty look like when you live in a state where the median income is fifty thousand dollars a year and the average price of a home, even in the worst of neighborhoods, is in the mid $300,000 range. You will not attain this median income unless you obtain a bachelor's degree at minimum, and even then that guarantees nothing. I spent some time working at Home Depot and worked with many who had such degrees. They worked at the hardware store, hoping to get into management because they could not find a job in their field of study. An example of this might be the aerospace industry, which pulled up stakes and moved to Arizona about fifteen years ago.

Well, I made it through three verses. Stay tuned and we will continue to pursue understanding.

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