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cybrjewls -> RE: America In Prophecy (5/10/2008 6:09:26 PM)
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It is written: (paraphrase) No prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophets own will or interpretation. The prophets prophesied as they were carried along by The Holy Spirit of God who stands outside of time and is timeless. Therefore, prophecy cannot be interpreted only within the prophets own time period that he was Sovereignly ordained, by God, to be in ahead of time. quote:
ORIGINAL: Cephyr13 quote:
ORIGINAL: Retrobyter Shabbat shalom, tracydolls. You folks ... ALL of you, not just tracydolls ... speak in far too many vague generalities and broad, sweeping universalisms! The Bible does NOT lend itself to such interpretation. Much that has been said to affect the WHOLE EARTH, for instance, is often just talking about the whole LAND, ha`Erets Yisra'el, the Land of Isra'el! Just as the English word "earth" can mean the dirt in a person's hand, the dirt of a person's field, the ground, so in Greek (gee) and in Hebrew (`erets) do not have to refer to the whole globe! You are correct that when a prophet says "world," usually, it means the world known to him. The prophets knew almost nothing of China, nothing of the Americas... much was not known about the world in those days, and so, "the world" is usually pertaining to the world known to the prophet, unless it is otherwise specified by context. Lots of people make this mistake. It goes back to the rule that prophecy is given TO the prophet and should be understood FROM the prophet's time period, and should not automatically be repositioned into OUR time period. I don't agree with your vague generalities statement. There are intricate things, and there are generalities. You're using a vague generality by accusing us of vague generalities without specifying what they are. lol :) If you'll reveal which vague generatlities you see us using, we'll explain them. Thanks. quote:
Another problem I can see from your discussions is that the person you call the "Antichrist" or "AC" for short, should really be called just the "beast" or the "animal." He is not called the "Antichrist" in Scripture. The SPIRIT or ATTITUDE of "antichrist" is that attitude that is "against the Messiah of Isra'el." Furthermore, that attitude has been around since the first century C.E. (or A.D.) and has been prevalent in the world for about 2000 years! I completely agree. AntiChrist isn't mentioned anywhere in prophecy. Only in 1st, 2nd & 3rd John, which are not prophetic in nature, and it is something that's been around since Christ, just like John said it was present in those times. The beast is usually nations controlled by Satan, and we know this from Rev 13 which talks about the dragon, who is called Satan, controlling the beast(s). quote:
America is not Babylon of prophecy; BABYLON is the Babylon of prophecy! Oh, and sorry Midwest, but this goes back to the broad generalization problem again: Babylon is NOT the whole sinful system! What you REALLY need in your biblical interpretation is to know that "ALL" in specific contexts may still refer to only SOME in a global perspective. I disagree Babylon is the real city of Babylon. Why would it be called "Mystery Babylon" if it were so obviously Babylon? LOL HOWEVER, I do think the seat of power of the beast, or Babylon, is the Middle East, which is where Babylon is. But, I think the entire world can be grouped into two categories in prophecy. Chapters 17 & 18 in Revelation are all about Mystery Babylon, and this is conveyed as the harlot riding on the beast. Let's see what it says about Mystery Babylon at the end of Chapter 18: Rev 18:23-24 23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth. So, this one verse shows that Mystery Babylon is something that spanned ALL generations, because ALL the slain on earth are included in her. We've established that this is not one nation or many nations, but all nations for all time, because it includes EVERYONE that has EVER died on earth. Now, let's look at what kind of people are being defined in these two verses to see if we can figure out who is being spoken of here. It says "the light of the candle" shall shine no more. John 1 says the light is the life of men and comes from Jesus. Paul says we are to be a light unto the world, like a candle in the dark. There's your candle, and it shines no more. John says the darkness does not understand the light (Genesis 1 says something about it too). So the life of men will no longer be found in Babylon (on the earth). This must be after the rapture, which in my opinion, is at the end, on the last day. It says the Bridegroom's and the bride's voice will not longer be heard in babylon anymore. In other words, Jesus and His people will NEVER again be a part of this earth and the people of this earthly kingdom of babylon. Or "worldly" I should say. It says that ALL nations were deceived. So this is speaking of the separating of sinful man who are spiritually in Satan's kingdom, from righteous men who are in Jesus' kingdom in heaven (the spiritual world, so again, this is spiritual). Then, you look at chapter 19 which continues and says that the beast (the one the harlot is riding) is judged. The whole chapter is about that. It ends with the beast and the people that worshipped his image and took his mark being thrown into the lake of fire with satan and the false prophet forever. So, we got a definition of who Mystery Babylon was, and that the bridegroom (Jesus) and His bride (the church) would come out of her in chapters 17-18. In 19 we saw the judgement of Mystery Babylon. In Chapter 20, we a broad overview of the sinful (babylon) and the holy (New Jerusalem, the Bride) and what happens to them. Then, in Chapter 21, we see the Bride is called New Jerusalem. Notice, Babylon is a city, and New Jerusalem is a city. Babylon (a city) is symbolic of the world of sinful man and Satan's kingdom which is of this world. Then, New Jerusalem (a city) is symbolic of Jesus' kingdom and the Church, saved by God. Makes quite a bit of sense, doesn't it? Chapters 17-22 are all about the spiritual side and what's happening in the spiritual world and the final judgements, stuff like that. Read through 17-22 with the things I just told you in mind and see if it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. Remove all of your prophetic views and just read with what I told you and assume there is no pretrib rapture, but rather, that it is on the last day. Don't bother figuring out the millennial kindgom when you read through them this time. Just set that aside simply so it doesn't complicate things. Let me know if what I told you doesn't make it all make much more sense. And remember... if God never changes, He's going to use the same symbols throughout prophecy and the Bible. Just like waters means peoples, and the candle means the light of Jesus and the light unto the world which we are... All of that stuff. If we properly identify all the symbols and pay close attention to what's being stated, we can figure out what everything is. Here's how we know New Jerusalem is the church: Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This is right after the rapture, on the last day, when God makes the new earth, or makes the earth NEW again, like in the beginning, when it was perfectly made. Is this picture of symbols making sense? Notice I didn't ask if it made sense with YOUR view of prophecy. Just, does it make sense in my view of prophecy so far, without inserting anything from other prophetic views in? quote:
Babylon can not be limited to a single city, continent, or religion, nor can it be can be constrained by time. America may be a part of Babylon but not Babylon in its entirety.JMHO, I believe that Babylon, then, represents the often murderous, material greed driven nature of mankind, personal and government etc., trapped by the things of this world, Satan's stuff, to the person's personal condemnation, throughout the entire history of mankind. (it has to be the entire history of mankind or you will only find part of the blood of all that were slain, not the blood of all) " you were being so deceived. CONTEXT!!!! Revelation 18:24 is one such case where "tees gees" may not be referring to the whole globe, but is talking about "the Land!" Don't be too quick to apply local truths to a global generality. Retrobyter As I showed up above, Retrobyter, we found that the city called "new Jerusalem" was the symbol of God's people for all time, the saved. And I showed how Babylon is the symbol for those not of God, the ones that rejected Him for all time. Have I not stayed right in context? Please let me know how I got out of context and I'll sure look into it. If I'm wrong, I want to know I'm wrong so I can fix my view. Where does what I talked about above not make sense in context?
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