Everything Is Not What It Seems

I have been urging my readers to leave Babylon the Great since the beginning of this blog. I have been pointing out that our culture, our economics, our politics, our religion, and really our whole society, is a scam. You are being played. It is like the lyrics to the theme song of my 9 year old daughter's favorite sitcom, "Everything is not what it seems." 

I do run a risk by saying things like that. The risk is that you will think that I think I am better than you. Remove this thought from your mind. I too am being played. I too am deceived by the system. 

We all, to borrow a phrase from the Apostle Paul about the next life, see through a glass dimly. We see the problem, the deceptions and half-truths. Maybe I see things more clearly, but maybe not. Each of us is blinded in our own ways. As that great philosopher Madonna once sang, “Your eyes only see what you want them to see.” I am just as susceptible to this as anyone. 

Ultimately all the corruption we see in “Babylon” has an origin. 

Here is how the apostle Paul said it in 2 Corinthian 11:14 referencing false religious leaders:

They’re a sorry bunch—pseudo-apostles, lying preachers, crooked workers—posing as Christ’s agents but sham to the core. And no wonder! Satan does it all the time, dressing up as a beautiful angel of light. So it shouldn’t surprise us when his servants masquerade as servants of God. But they’re not getting by with anything. They’ll pay for it in the end.

But I can say that if you do not think about these things you too will pay for it in the end. You will end up a part of the system that will collapse. 

Revelation 18 tell us: 

Get out, my people, as fast as you can,
    so you don’t get mixed up in her sins,
    so you don’t get caught in her doom.
Her sins stink to high Heaven;

God has remembered every evil she’s done. 

Metaphorically speaking, Is this the world you see? Yes, think about these things, and get out, metaphorically, as fast as you can before it is too late. 

If you don't see things quite the way I do, are you sure you are seeing correctly? I have already admitted I too am subject to bad vision. And there is no Lasik surgery for this malady! The only real solution for this kind of bad vision is the spirit of God. 

Look at this video. Your eyes can be deceived. Are you deceived right now? Or are you a part of the lifelong process of leaving Babylon? 

Are You A Slave?

When I post a video it does not mean I agree with it. In fact, I will sometimes post a video because I disagree with it. In this case, I hope that you will watch the video and think about the theory of history presented. The video, although the producers would strongly disagree with my characterization, is telling the same story as my blog. All though history God is calling his people to leave Babylon and become free. Big Brother was wrong. Freedom is not Slavery.

Repeat

The story is probably apocryphal, but it is one of my favorites.

A consultant asked Proctor and Gamble if they would pay $1 million dollars if he could double their shampoo sales. They agreed. His advice was to add one word to the instructions of “wet hair and apply shampoo.” That word was “repeat.” The story is that they gratefully paid the fee.

Do you actually need to repeat? I doubt it.

As we head toward the prime selling season, we need to ask ourselves a question. Should we participate?

I have not for many years, but it was mostly for religious reasons. Most Christmas customs have little to do with Christianity. While these reasons still exist for me, mainly today the emphasis for me is to avoid the whole mess that is Christmas. Even if the day after Thanksgiving has great sales, I will stay home. Do I really need that soda stream machine that makes your own soda? Trust me, I didn’t and you don’t. While I do use it on occasion, we all know that it belongs in the closet with the other products we buy but do not use.

So if you decide to celebrate Christmas, I have two practical suggestions.

I already have done all my Christmas shopping, this has been true for the last 30 years.The first is to take those things in the closet you do not need and give them away as Christmas presents. Try to remember who gave it to you and give it back! I heard about one fruitcake that has been given back and forth for 20 years!

Another suggestion is to do what my cousin’s family does. Each name is written on paper and each person draws one name. No other presents allowed. There is a limit on the amount to be spent. I think that parents also buy an extra toy for any young children in the family. While this may seem harsh, I bet the joy that will be in the house in January when the Capital One bill is opened will be great. 

The best way to starve Babylon is obvious, do not feed it.

This is one reason our family does not watch TV much anymore. That way we avoid the confusion between wants and needs that advertising brings.

No, do not repeat. Once in the shower is enough.

Vote For The Overlord Of Your Choice

This is a discussion of the 2004 election in Ohio, but the same factors could be in play in 2012. 

The Great Whore

The beloved editor of the prophecy podcast, Pam Dewey, pointed out as she edited Friday’s post that I had not mentioned an important aspect to Romney’s charitable giving. Romney gives most of his money to the LDS church, better known as Mormons.  I have never met a “bad” Mormon, they all seem quite nice. I even dated one. However, I have said in the past that to join the LDS church, one had to be on LSD. Here is Pam’s Wild World of Religion profile on Mormonism.  

As it usually does, this leads me to ask myself a question. “How does this relate to Babylon the Great?” As my friend Eric commented on Facebook, “Only Dennis could see Babylon the Great in a chicken sandwich.”

But the corporate church world is talked about, in type, in the section of Revelation on which I have been basing a lot of what I do here—chapters 17-18. 

John in Revelation 17 tells us of a woman he saw:

^3-6In the Spirit he carried me out in the desert. I saw a woman mounted on a Scarlet Beast. Stuffed with blasphemies, the Beast had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, festooned with gold and gems and pearls. She held a gold chalice in her hand, brimming with defiling obscenities, her foul fornications. A riddle-name was branded on her forehead: great babylon, mother of whores and abominations of the earth. I could see that the woman was drunk, drunk on the blood of God’s holy people, drunk on the blood of the martyrs of Jesus.

The primary reference here is the corrupt religious organization that Jesus talked about in Matthew 23, the leadership in Israel at that time. My approach to prophecy is to understand what it meant when it was given, and then think about how to apply it to our situation. Many churches throughout the ages fit this description well. This is still true today. 

A man I admire very much, Billy Graham, even got caught up in this. He was “court prophet” to many presidents. This was not good. I understand from what I read that he regretted it later, especially with regard to Nixon. When you as a religious leader “ride the beast,” no good can come of it. 

It is like the song my mother taught me. If you ride a beast, it will eat you. 

Sooner or later the religious leader/church will be eaten by the beast. 

Here is one additional piece of data that John gives us:

^9-11”But don’t drop your guard. Use your head. The seven heads are seven hills; they are where the woman sits. They are also seven kings: five dead, one living, the other not yet here—and when he does come his time will be brief. The Beast that once was and is no longer is both an eighth and one of the seven—and headed for Hell.

This tells us several things. First the beast is Rome, and the woman is associated with Rome. The Jewish leadership of the time had such a relationship with Rome. Nero even wanted to marry one of Herod’s daughters. 

But in history there are other cities that have seven hills. Jerusalem, Washington, and even Rome, Georgia! The pattern of false religion in cahoots with government has continued through the ages as sinning people repeat the same mistakes their fathers made. 

In any event, the point I am making is that any church as it grows in size will inevitably risk becoming a daughter of the Great Whore, the mother of all prostitutes. The Mormon Church is one of the largest in America. 

Is it corrupt? 

In a June 2011 cover story, Newsweek magazine stated that the LDS Church “resembles a sanctified multinational corporation-the General Electric of American religion, with global ambitions and an estimated net worth of $30 billion.” The PBS special, “The Mormons” estimated the LDS Church’s worth at over $80 billion. Other estimates have placed it in excess of $100 Billion, as it is the wealthiest per capita religion in the world with annual, mostly tax-free revenues estimated to be $6 billion per year (per Time Magazine in 1997).

Why do people build such buildings? Even in my tradition such monstrosities have been built. Wealth by itself is not proof of corruption, but as we have seen it is a good indication of it. While I am critiquing Romney for his choice of where he gives his money, most Christians who tithe do give it to their church. 

It seems to me that each of us would be better off in our charitable giving if we avoid giving to big churches. There is nothing wrong with a portion of our giving going to churches, but you need to look at the big picture. It would not surprise me at all if Obama giving a much smaller total to charity might be doing more good than Romney’s large contribution to a large church. 

Avoid Babylon the Great by avoiding the Great Whore and her daughters.