Banksters

It is amazing how much this is like my interpretation of Revelation 17-18:

Revelation 18

Lament Over Fallen Babylon

 ¹ After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. ² With a mighty voice he shouted:

   “‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!’
   She has become a dwelling for demons 
and a haunt for every impure spirit, 
   a haunt for every unclean bird, 
   a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. 
³ For all the nations have drunk 
   the maddening wine of her adulteries. 
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, 
   and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

Warning to Escape Babylon’s Judgment

 ⁴ Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

   “‘Come out of her, my people,’
   so that you will not share in her sins, 
   so that you will not receive any of her plagues; 
⁵ for her sins are piled up to heaven, 
   and God has remembered her crimes. 
⁶ Give back to her as she has given; 
   pay her back double for what she has done. 
   Pour her a double portion from her own cup. 
⁷ Give her as much torment and grief 
   as the glory and luxury she gave herself. 
In her heart she boasts, 
   ‘I sit enthroned as queen. 
I am not a widow;
   I will never mourn.’ 
⁸ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: 
   death, mourning and famine. 
She will be consumed by fire, 
   for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Threefold Woe Over Babylon’s Fall

 ⁹ “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. ¹⁰ Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:

   “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, 
   you mighty city of Babylon! 
In one hour your doom has come!’

 ¹¹ “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— ¹² cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; ¹³ cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.

 ¹⁴ “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your luxury and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ ¹⁵ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn ¹⁶ and cry out:

   “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, 
   dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, 
   and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! 
¹⁷ In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

   “Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. ¹⁸When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ ¹⁹ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:

   “‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, 
   where all who had ships on the sea 
   became rich through her wealth! 
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’

 ²⁰ “Rejoice over her, you heavens! 
   Rejoice, you people of God! 
   Rejoice, apostles and prophets! 
For God has judged her 
   with the judgment she imposed on you.”

The Finality of Babylon’s Doom

 ²¹ Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:

   “With such violence 
   the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, 
   never to be found again. 
²² The music of harpists and musicians, pipers and trumpeters, 
   will never be heard in you again. 
No worker of any trade 
   will ever be found in you again. 
The sound of a millstone 
   will never be heard in you again. 
²³ The light of a lamp 
   will never shine in you again. 
The voice of bridegroom and bride 
   will never be heard in you again. 
Your merchants were the world’s important people. 
   By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. 
²⁴ In her was found the blood of prophets and of God’s holy people, 
   of all who have been slaughtered on the earth.”

Update on Thursday, October 6, 2011 at 7:35AM by [Positive Dennis]

I just wanted to add that these protesters see the problem clearly, but thier solutions are nonsense. 

The Scum Also Rises

I was looking at the blobs of cream in my non-homogenized Russian milk in my coffee and I got to thinking about society. Naturally we want our leaders to be the cream of our societal milk. The best and brightest bravely leading us into the new millennium. But looking at business, government, and our churches I would be blind if I did not notice the crap floating in our societal milk. 

When I think of this in the business world I think of Dilbert.

 

I think all of us identify with Dilbert. His boss is clueless and not too bright. His coworkers lazy and disingenuous. I chose this cartoon because it identifies a problem we all have. Doesn't anyone see the problems? Is anyone listening? It does not matter. We need to do what Dilbert does, do our work in our cubicle and hope for the best. To be gainfully employed we may need to be in the system, but we can avoid being of the system. 

Our government is the same—people being a part of the system and enforcing its edicts even if they make no sense. Banning lemonade stands, forbidding soldiers from farting, not allowing children to ride their bikes to school, yet having no seat belts in the commanded buses, or illegally arresting a mom for REFUSING to give her daughter drugs, all these kind of stories lead the rational to consider that government has become irrational. I am concerned that voting is to be a part of the system that is corrupt, and it will corrupt us as well. If I am given the cream to vote for, I will vote; but voting for floating crap? I will pass.  

Surely our churches are not corrupt and not a part of the system? I suppose it depends on the church. Ever notice the flag pole outside the church with the "Christian" flag and the American flag proudly waving? (BTW where did the "Christian" flag come from?) Which is on top? If your church has the American flag on top I suggest you run, not walk, to the exit. 

Here is how one blogger put it:

When the American flag is brought in leading that procession, with the Christian flag behind it, there is a problem. At a church I recently spoke at, the flagpole in front of the church had both flags flying, with the American flag on top. Problem, at least in terms of what the symbols are saying. 

Flag etiquette is clear that this is proper, but for Christians, it is symbolically blasphemous. In fact, when the flag is used in any way other than as a passive part of sanctuary decoration, symbolic contradictions almost always emerge. Pledges, salutes, and so forth are close to acts of “veneration.” (Those who criticize Catholics for bowing, etc. to statues might want to take pause and thing about the parallels.)

It is bad enough that in many churches the American flag is placed in a position of honor and worship in the sanctuary, even if that place is not in a symbolically superior position.  What message are we saying? Do we intend to say it?

I remember the two-week training session that I received when I was a member of a denomination. It was important that we "lay" speakers learn to conform to speak properly. The message that Saturday was given by Ron Dart, whom I have mentioned before and is in my links. He has probably influenced me more than any other teacher. 

There was a man there that we had all noticed, it was hard not to notice someone in stereotypical prophet garb—a staff, a robe and an impressive beard. He jumped up, pointed at the flag in the sanctuary and said "Ron, why does the Church worship the Eagle?" All of us trainees were shocked and stunned with inaction. But the founder of our denomination, well known for his patriotism, leaped up and escorted the gentleman out. None of us considered the "prophet's" question. It was a legitimate question. Why does the church worship the eagle? 

I have felt for years that I could filter out the scum from my milk and everything would be fine. Lately I have come to understand that while I can get most of the scum from the milk, to continue with my analogy I began with, the milk is still poisoned. Do you really want your milk to have unseen, but still present, scum? This is what will inevitably happen if you become a part of the system that God has set us here on the earth to fight. 

It would be nice if it was the cream that always rose to the top, but alas, the scum also rises. 

Changing Education?

This video states some of the reasons why we will probably home school next year. There is more and more dissatisfaction with our education system. Enrollment is down, even at Colleges. In fact one college is closing a number of its dorms due to low enrollment. This video explains what is wrong with our factory based school philosophy. 

The Game

I remember a game we played in High School history class. Colored chips were distributed randomly through the class. After the distribution the value of the chips was announced. We were then divided into three groups based on the value of the chips we held. I was one of the wealthy ones. 

We were allowed to tax ourselves and do whatever we wanted with the proceeds. We gave the chips to the most popular boy in class. This allowed him to go to our higher group. (He ended up in Hollywood I think) Alas, this meant one poor girl was demoted to the middle group. I was sorry for her, but not sorry enough to do anything about it. We had our charismatic leader now, we would rock that class. 

The rules allowed so to do whatever we wanted so we redefined what each chip was worth, but did not tell anyone outside our group. We then tried to trade chips. The rest of the class did not know what we had done, but it was obvious we had done something and no trades took place. I tried to con my friend Mario, but he was not fooled. Our lying caused the marketplace to crash. 

The analogy was that this was how society worked. I was not convinced at the time that this was how society works, and am still not convinced. However, looking at the world of today I am not so sure. The elites run the country and if they win in their speculations they keep the money, if they lose they are bailed out by us. Heads they win; tails they do not lose. 

Is our whole society structured like the game I played in High School? If so the only way to win is not to play. In one school that is exactly what they did. They divided all the chips equally and ended the game. 

The game is rigged to make you distrust the elites. But the main flaw is that the distribution of "chips" in society is not random. It is to a large degree based on talent. Still, there are those who game the system like our fearless leader in our group. The more rigged the system, the less each of us will play. 

Sometimes you just got to leave the system, and leave Babylon behind. 

“You Can’t Fight the Evil of the World from the Belly of the Beast”

The quote in the title above tells us why we need to distance ourselves from the beast, from Babylon. It is very easy to be co-opted. And from the beast's perspective the cost is rather cheap, most of us will settle for our MTV.

One step that needs to be considered is to "cut the cable." I just received my monthly call from Time Warner, confused and hurt as to why I do not have cable—it is only $50 a month more! All those channels. I said that I was happy with my lack of cable, and no, I did not want a telephone. I wonder how they train their operators to get that perfect combination of enthusiasm and disappointment. I get everything I want from Netflix, and it is cheaper too.

We just watched That Darn Cat. Watching it reminded me that there is so much fun entertainment in older movies and shows. One additional factor is that my Russian wife has never seen any of these movies because she was raised on Russian movies. She summarized the plot the next day for some friends. They had not seen it for years. I think we will watch the Parent Trap next, the original one, of course—then some Perry Mason, the old black and white one. Maybe we will watch some more old Disney. I do not need Charlie Sheen. No one needs Charlie Sheen.

One reason I started this blog was my meditation on the need to leave the system as much as possible, to do as Jesus suggested, to be in the world but not of the world. But alas, I fear that my recent emphasis on politics is a symptom of being too much in the system. The crisis in the debt ceiling is an important topic, but so are the other issues I want to talk about. But on the other hand, understanding the wacky world we live in and its politics is a part of the process to leave the system.

I am not saying that we cannot have some "guilty TV pleasures." The title of this post was actually said by a popular TV vampire. Even a fictional vampire understands the "violence inherent in the system."

The poor Time Warner lady is going to be so disappointed in me. I plan to switch to DSL.