Revelations 18

The verse I wrote about while flying home yesterday IS in the Bible: Revelations 18






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. 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, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
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 any more–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 bodies and souls of men. 14 “They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches 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, O 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.18 When 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, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!


I started reading the book of Revelations because someone had told me that it is the only book in the Bible that begins with blessing those who read the book of Revelations. That peaked my interest because honestly I have always avoided the book of Revelation because it is too scary. Here is the verse:


3 Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near. 


So, I get to the part where I read about the ships and it hits me like a ton of bricks . . . it is America he is talking about.  What else could it be? We are the country that buys the worlds things. 


I googled Revelations 18 and googled: is America Babylon. I came across this website and I've spent the last several hours reading and researching this website: http://www.theforbiddenknowledge.com/hardtruth/america_babylon.htm


I haven't been able to find out who is behind this website just yet but I have to tell you . . . from what I've read  it makes sense. 


Several things have always bothered me about my religion. 1. If God is the same today, tomorrow and always then why did he change from the old testament to the new?  2. The verse about it being easier for a rich man to go through the head of a needle than to enter heaven. 3. According to what I've been taught, all I need to do to enter heaven is to believe that Jesus Christ is the son of the living God. But . . . if you read the Bible there are quite a few verses that list a few other things that are important too.  4. Another thing we are lead to believe: we don't need to go to church, we don't need to worry about our actions, we don't need to do anything . . . another verse that comes to mind is to those who much is given much is expected. I don't think God placed us on earth to play video games and buy new cars. 5. Why are Christians supposed to be ashamed of being Christian? Why are Christians made fun of and portrayed as unintelligent?  


When I pose some of these questions to people I tend to get, "don't question God" (and other things are mentioned like quit asking such dumb questions) but I'm not questioning God - I'm questioning what I've been lead to believe.   


I want to be a child of God. I want to be a good and true child of God. Now I just need to figure out what that means. I don't want to be misled and I do want my children and grandchildren to walk with me into heaven. (Not at the same time of course.) I want them to be children of God too. I didn't raise them knowing God or believing God and now I don't know how to go about getting them to realize how knowing God IS the most important thing in their life here on earth. 

My main prayer to God is that he opens their hearts, their minds and their souls so they can receive faith. I want them to want to love, fear, respect and worship Him.