The Better Part, week #28

 

This week's FB posts:

The Better Part, Day #152:

 

Rev 17:5 And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: "Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations."

Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly.

Rev 17:9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;

Rev 17:10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.

Rev 17:11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction. 

 

Last night, I heard a guest on a Christian prophesy show disclaim something I believe- that Revelation 17-18 shows that the United States may well be Revelation's Babylon, "the mother of all the harlots and abominations of the earth". First, let me say, I am in no way claiming I am right- and it is not a salvational matter. But I had heard others like this man claim that "Revelation shows it must be an ACTUAL, not figurative, Babylon. So I wanted to listen to his reasoning.

 

His thought was that the word "mother" meant it had to be THE source, and claimed the actual Babylon- through a connection to the Tower of Babel that I'm still not convinced exists- thus had to be it. 

 

However, first of all, the word used in the New Testament by definition can be literal or figurative. Plus, Babylon was 'drunk with the Martyrs of Jesus' which would also eliminate a city fallen from prominence long before Jesus was born into this world. And it requires an interpretation of 'kings' that old Babylon doesn't afford.

That said, the eighth king might be a stretch to the USA as well. But read Revelation 18 -and Ezekiel 27- and see if you don't see my point.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #153:

 

1Pe 1:12 It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 

 

Do you get this? Angels, in heaven, before God always, would love to understand the opportunity of salvation WE have been given- and ignore, abuse, or dismiss.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #154:

 

Heb 6:4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit,

Heb 6:5 and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come,

Heb 6:6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. 

 

Jack Hibbs had a great way of explaining this, here paraphrased:

"This is not talking about being able to lose your salvation... this is about people who had belief but never let it become FAITH. Belief is the car, it's the mode of getting there, but FAITH is where everything happens!"

 

 

The Better Part, Day #155:

 

 

The next stage of my growth was reading, not a 'religious' book, but Susan Southard's "Nagasaki: Life After Nuclear War". Two lessons that were really intensified for me were politics and forgiveness.

 

Politics: It shocked and saddened me that on the 50th anniversary of the bombing, American groups such as the American Legion fought so hard to keep any sympathy for the Japanese people out of the conversation. They wanted a view where the United States was unquestionably pure and just of motive. At the same time, those Japanese who were just becoming aware of the extent of their Army's atrocities to civilians in Korea, China, and the Philippines were being silenced by those in high office who would rather walk the road of complete victimhood. Neither side wanted the WHOLE truth, though both KNEW it.

 

Forgiveness: While I still believe what was done had to be done, and any other way of doing it would have resulted either in an undefeated foe (a la 1919 Germany) or another Soviet satellite, I have had to realize something about my go-to reasoning for my stand ("Terrible bomb? How about the Rape of Nanking"). Sometimes in the process of 'being forgiving' in such a situation, we allow ourselves to read stories like this book and feel sympathy for the individual, but bear the grudge against the nation forever. We don't see that the attitude towards the nation is still unforgiveness against the individual. In the end, it is useless to bear a grudge against a nation, because a nation is just a blanket statement for a whole lot of individuals, and they're the ones you have to forgive.

 

 

The Better Part, Day #156:

 

Jas 4:13 Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit"--

Jas 4:14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.

Jas 4:15 Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." 

And more than that, let's thank God for every day that he keeps us alive and safe. Breaking news from last night:

 

 

"PM Breaking News

@PMBreakingNews

·

8h

Breaking: Police discovered 16 long guns, body armor and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition in a hotel room near Coors Field, which hosts the MLB all-star game on Tuesday. Four people were arrested, including one who wrote on Facebook that he will “go out in a big way.”(Via Denver7) "

 

 

Only God leading a maid at the hotel prevented what police called a possible "Las Vegas-type" incident. How many dooms have we escaped by God's grace? Have we thanked Him for them?