Looking Further East

Last week I mentioned that our imaginations have been hijacked when dealing with some bible prophesy due to the anti-christian sentiments of Edward Gibbon and his 1,000 year premature pronouncement of  the death of the Roman Empire. Because Gibbon put the death of Rome in Rome and not in Constantinople I believe we're looking too far west when we try to imagine the outcome of end times prophesy.

Currently I'm reading the two books that raise a LOT of questions. These books being the Bible (as always) and A Woman Rides The Beast by Dave Hunt. If you read the bible in a spiritual manner your view of God and the way he wants to be worshiped evolves always for the better, and if you read A Woman Rides The Beast in a Berean manner (looking up references and making decisions for yourself) your view of how the Catholic church wishes to be worshiped evolves too. A Woman Rides The Beast is an excellent historical exploration of the multitude of sins of the Roman Catholic Church, however if you are prone to anger I suggest you do not read it. Dave Hunt postulates that Mystery Babylon of Revelation 17 & 18 is the Vatican, and he makes a very good case, and he may be 100% correct. But then again he may not be correct. I personally think that as westerners our eyes were drawn to the west of the true Mystery Babylon due to Edward Gibbon's ham fisted treatment of the true history of the Roman empire and his hatred of Christianity and his love of Islam. 

For us here on earth Bible prophesy is not set in stone, God gave it to us to ponder and wonder over and when it comes to pass we can look back and say "How wonderful is our God! (and how did I miss that, it was so obvious!)" It's meant to be interesting, and maybe even fun to consider and I'm sorry but for my militant Pre-VS-Post trib friends, how we interpret Bible prophesy has nothing to do with our salvation, it is the redeeming blood of our savior Jesus Christ that is our salvation. So with that in mind let's look at a few things regarding Mystery Babylon and see if there's anything interesting to see if we look further east. 

Was Bible Prophesy Usurped By An Atheist?

Not too long ago I was involved in a discussion of bible prophesy, mostly involving Daniel's prophesies, I don't remember the entire conversation but I do remember clearly one phrase that came up, and that same phrase has come up several other times in similar conversations, and for some reason I agreed with it every time: "Rome was never conquered by another power."

Why I agreed with that I will never know, because I know better. 

Stick with me for a few minutes and let me put this into perspective. To start with, I am a history nut, all kinds of history. I love little more than heading up into the mountains and poking around the remains of mines, ghost towns, and abandoned railroads. While I was serving in the USAF I had the opportunity to visit some incredible historical locations which is what probably spurred my delight in history: Trier Germany, Zaragoza Spain, Venice, Rome, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Bahraine, Korea... Oddly it was Incirlik Turkey that gave me more of a sense of the depth of human history than any other place I've been. As a grouchy old NCO once told me "Throughout all of history anyone that could gather 4 buddies with swords and clubs eventually came to Turkey and conquered something." 

The Religion of Peace Abducts 234 Christian Girls, Slaughters 71 Innocent Civilians

On April 14th Boko Haram Islamic terrorist network captured 234 Christian school girls from a northeast Nigerian school. The Nigerian government originally stated that there were 85 girls abducted but when the list of names of the kidnapped girls was tallied up the list came to 234.

The girls were forced at gunpoint onto an open truck, and several escaped by grabbing low hanging branches or jumping off the back of the truck when it slowed down and walked home. 

The Boko Haram (whose name means "Western Education is Sinful") terrorist network has killed more than 1500 people in the past few months and have plunged Nigeria into a quagmire of misery and poverty. 

HE IS RISEN! That's My King!

The Good Friday Good Theology Joyful Noise Challenge!

When I finally relented and begged Jesus Christ to lead me and guide me, my wonderful Lord gifted me with a love for country gospel music. That gift came out of the blue, I had never even cared about Country Gospel music before, and suddenly I'm craving it day and night. Now years later I believe I understand why He did that for me. You know how the lord of this world can get between you and God? I know you know how this world tries to beat you down, tangle you up in its secular web and drive a wedge between you and Jesus, and sometimes it takes a bit of an effort to regain the joy we felt when we realized we were saved.