Post by Kephrem on Nov 9, 2004 8:39:39 GMT -5
(I don't necessarily agree with everything that is stated in the following article, but it's interesting none the less.)
America IS A Religion!!!!!!
R.A. Coombes, the author of "America, The Babylon" has been saying all along that Revelation 17 refers to America´s national symbol, a woman called the "Mother of Harlots" in Revel- ation 17:5. The chapter conveys the notion in a subtle manner that this national symbol becomes its own religion in its own right.
In reality, the nation worships itself in a concept called "Freedom" or "Liberty" ... which was a key tenet or doctrine of the Chief Babylonian Goddess, Ishtar -- who held the sacred and holy title (in Babylon) of "Mother of Harlots." In reality, the nation worships this Ishtar character and her ideals, which are purely Babylonian and Satanic but seemingly are innocuous at worst and seemingly noble at best. The reality is that Ishtarism is the most cunningly deceptive idea that Satan has ever launched at a nation.
R.A. Coombes´ did carefully document the facts, which point to the "Statue of Liberty" as being the sculptor´s vision of Ishtar of Babylon. She is referred to by Bartholdi, the sculptor as the Goddess Libertas, which was an early Roman divine name (of Venus). The Romans adopted her from the Greeks who had adopted Ishtar´s religious doctrines from the Assyrians and Egyptians who´d adopted it directly from Babylon. Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty created a firestorm of protest in the Roman Catholic Church of the USA who viewed the Statue as an abomination and an image of Ishtar. Oddly enough there apparently was not much of a protest from Protestant sources.
Nevertheless, the Revelation 17 passage deals with the idea of a woman as a symbol of a nation (city- state- nation) that would worship itself. We also see this self-worship in Revelation 18: However, the Apostle John was not the only prophet to note this issue of a nation worshipping a woman and itself. Isaiah 47: 1-15, and especially in verses 7 & 8 … "I am … and there is none beside me!" which cross-references to Revelation 18:7.
So, you may ask:
Why is this such news?
Well, so many so-called Christians with a prophecy background simply refuse to recognize that Revelation 17 is a symbol of a nation, that it is a symbol with a religious nature or agenda to it. They only think of an organized type of religion, such as the Roman Catholic Church or Islam or some other organized religion. American so-called Christians today certainly don´t think that good, old, Yankee patriotism might just be perceived by the Creator as being its own religion. Of course, most Christians are not really able to understand what the word "Worship" actually means and or how it is to be expressed towards God.
The word "worship" actually means -- to mentally give worth to something or to mentally assign or give value to someone. So that:
Worship = Worthship
When you speak the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the Star-Spangled Banner and stand at attention with your hand over your heart you are giving worth to something. Namely you are giving worth to a nation, or in this case, giving worship to the United States of America. In essence if you are an American so-called Christian and you have ever pledged allegiance or sung the national anthem or stood at attention with your hand over your heart or in salute, (in uniform) then you have given "worth" to the nation of America. In other words if you have done any of this then you have "worshipped" the United States of America!
Yes, such activity constitutes worship. Also this very idea of promoting democracy and freedom and liberty to other nations along with capitalism is exactly what Revelation 17 talks about when it refers to the notion of getting drunk. The very nature of spreading the gospel of Ishtarism/Liberty/Freedom/Democracy is actually like an alcoholic beverage, according to the text of chapter 17 in which the "kings" or leaders of the earth get drunk.
Now what is interesting is that American Bible Prophecy so-called "experts" do manage to "tut-tut" against such notions that America could possibly be Mystery Babylon but they fail to speak out against the idolatry of patriotism in America as being the worship of the nation and a sin in and of itself.
It is because a British newspaper columnist, George Monbiot, is now broaching the notion that America as a nation has in itself become a religion as well as a nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Even a secular journalist is recog- nizing this concept! We marvel that in today´s secular society that someone in the secular establishment would make such an observation. Of course, it is coming from someone with an outsider´s perspective. Here is just a brief sampling of his comments:
"US leaders now see themselves as priests of a divine mission to rid the world of its demons..."
"The United States is no longer just a nation. It is now a religion. Its soldiers have entered Iraq to liberate its people not only from their dictator, their oil and their sovereignty, but also from their darkness. As George Bush told his troops on the day he announced victory: "Wherever you go, you carry a message of hope - a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, ´To the captives, "come out," and to those in darkness, "be free".´" <br>
"So American soldiers are no longer merely terrestrial combatants; they have become missionaries."
"Like all those who send missionaries abroad, the high priests of America cannot conceive that the infidels might resist through their own free will; if they refuse to convert, it is the work of the devil, ..."
"George Bush recalled a remark of Woodrow Wilson´s. "America," he quoted, "has a spiritual energy in her which no other nation can contribute to the liberation of mankind."
"Since the attacks on New York, this notion of America the divine has been extended and refined. In Decem- ber 2001, Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of that city, delivered his last mayoral speech in St Paul´s Chapel, close to the site of the shattered twin towers. "All that matters," he claimed, "is that you embrace America and under- stand its ideals and what it´s all about. Abraham Lincoln used to say that the test of your Americanism was ... how much you believed in America. Because we´re like a religion really. A secular religion."
"It was, he said, now "sacred ground to people who feel what America is all about". The United States of America no longer needs to call upon God; it is God, and those who go abroad to spread the light do so in the name of a celestial domain. The flag has become as sacred as the Bible; the name of the nation as holy as the name of God. The presidency is turning into a priesthood."
Another Journalist´s Similar Observations:
Another journalist and commentator, Clifford Longley in Britain has written a book entitled: "Chosen People" which also touches on the idea that America worships herself. Longley notes:
"President Ronald Reagan regularly spoke of America as a "city on a hill", (Matthew 5:14) and at his inauguration last year President Bush remarked of America´s history "We are not this story´s author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose... An angel still rides in this whirlwind and directs this storm." (Psalm 35:5)."
Longley is a Catholic layman and it shows in another of his quotes:
"the doctrine of Exceptionalism links the interests of America to God´s purposes in the world. The national ideology of "Americanism" can almost be described as a variety of Christian heresy, in that it gives that country a salvific role which, to a more Catholic or Orthodox way of thinking, only the visible church can fulfill."
Clifford Longley shows in his fascinating book Chosen People, the founding fathers of the USA, though they sometimes professed otherwise, sensed that they were guided by a divine purpose. Thomas Jefferson arg- ued that the Great Seal of the United States should depict the Israelites, "led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night". George Washington claimed, in his inaugural address, that every step towards independence was "distinguished by some token of providential agency". Longley argues that the formation of the American identity was part of a process of "supersession". The Roman Catholic church claimed that it had supplanted the Jews as the elect, as the Jews had been repudiated by God. The English Protestants accused the Cath- olics of breaking faith, and claimed that they had become the beloved of God. The American revolution- aries believed that the English, in turn, had broken their covenant: the Americans had now become the chosen people, with a divine duty to deliver the world to God´s dominion.
Gradually this notion of election has been conflated with another, still more dangerous idea. It is not just that the Americans are God´s chosen people; America itself is now perceived as a divine project. In his farewell presidential address, Ronald Reagan spoke of his country as a "shining city on a hill", a reference to the Sermon on the Mount. But what Jesus was describing was not a temporal Jerusalem, but the kingdom of heaven. Not only, in Reagan´s account, was God´s kingdom to be found in the United States of America, but the kingdom of hell could also now be located on earth: the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union, against which His holy warriors were pitched.
America IS A Religion!!!!!!
R.A. Coombes, the author of "America, The Babylon" has been saying all along that Revelation 17 refers to America´s national symbol, a woman called the "Mother of Harlots" in Revel- ation 17:5. The chapter conveys the notion in a subtle manner that this national symbol becomes its own religion in its own right.
In reality, the nation worships itself in a concept called "Freedom" or "Liberty" ... which was a key tenet or doctrine of the Chief Babylonian Goddess, Ishtar -- who held the sacred and holy title (in Babylon) of "Mother of Harlots." In reality, the nation worships this Ishtar character and her ideals, which are purely Babylonian and Satanic but seemingly are innocuous at worst and seemingly noble at best. The reality is that Ishtarism is the most cunningly deceptive idea that Satan has ever launched at a nation.
R.A. Coombes´ did carefully document the facts, which point to the "Statue of Liberty" as being the sculptor´s vision of Ishtar of Babylon. She is referred to by Bartholdi, the sculptor as the Goddess Libertas, which was an early Roman divine name (of Venus). The Romans adopted her from the Greeks who had adopted Ishtar´s religious doctrines from the Assyrians and Egyptians who´d adopted it directly from Babylon. Bartholdi, the sculptor of the Statue of Liberty created a firestorm of protest in the Roman Catholic Church of the USA who viewed the Statue as an abomination and an image of Ishtar. Oddly enough there apparently was not much of a protest from Protestant sources.
Nevertheless, the Revelation 17 passage deals with the idea of a woman as a symbol of a nation (city- state- nation) that would worship itself. We also see this self-worship in Revelation 18: However, the Apostle John was not the only prophet to note this issue of a nation worshipping a woman and itself. Isaiah 47: 1-15, and especially in verses 7 & 8 … "I am … and there is none beside me!" which cross-references to Revelation 18:7.
So, you may ask:
Why is this such news?
Well, so many so-called Christians with a prophecy background simply refuse to recognize that Revelation 17 is a symbol of a nation, that it is a symbol with a religious nature or agenda to it. They only think of an organized type of religion, such as the Roman Catholic Church or Islam or some other organized religion. American so-called Christians today certainly don´t think that good, old, Yankee patriotism might just be perceived by the Creator as being its own religion. Of course, most Christians are not really able to understand what the word "Worship" actually means and or how it is to be expressed towards God.
The word "worship" actually means -- to mentally give worth to something or to mentally assign or give value to someone. So that:
Worship = Worthship
When you speak the Pledge of Allegiance or sing the Star-Spangled Banner and stand at attention with your hand over your heart you are giving worth to something. Namely you are giving worth to a nation, or in this case, giving worship to the United States of America. In essence if you are an American so-called Christian and you have ever pledged allegiance or sung the national anthem or stood at attention with your hand over your heart or in salute, (in uniform) then you have given "worth" to the nation of America. In other words if you have done any of this then you have "worshipped" the United States of America!
Yes, such activity constitutes worship. Also this very idea of promoting democracy and freedom and liberty to other nations along with capitalism is exactly what Revelation 17 talks about when it refers to the notion of getting drunk. The very nature of spreading the gospel of Ishtarism/Liberty/Freedom/Democracy is actually like an alcoholic beverage, according to the text of chapter 17 in which the "kings" or leaders of the earth get drunk.
Now what is interesting is that American Bible Prophecy so-called "experts" do manage to "tut-tut" against such notions that America could possibly be Mystery Babylon but they fail to speak out against the idolatry of patriotism in America as being the worship of the nation and a sin in and of itself.
It is because a British newspaper columnist, George Monbiot, is now broaching the notion that America as a nation has in itself become a religion as well as a nation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wow! Even a secular journalist is recog- nizing this concept! We marvel that in today´s secular society that someone in the secular establishment would make such an observation. Of course, it is coming from someone with an outsider´s perspective. Here is just a brief sampling of his comments:
"US leaders now see themselves as priests of a divine mission to rid the world of its demons..."
"The United States is no longer just a nation. It is now a religion. Its soldiers have entered Iraq to liberate its people not only from their dictator, their oil and their sovereignty, but also from their darkness. As George Bush told his troops on the day he announced victory: "Wherever you go, you carry a message of hope - a message that is ancient and ever new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, ´To the captives, "come out," and to those in darkness, "be free".´" <br>
"So American soldiers are no longer merely terrestrial combatants; they have become missionaries."
"Like all those who send missionaries abroad, the high priests of America cannot conceive that the infidels might resist through their own free will; if they refuse to convert, it is the work of the devil, ..."
"George Bush recalled a remark of Woodrow Wilson´s. "America," he quoted, "has a spiritual energy in her which no other nation can contribute to the liberation of mankind."
"Since the attacks on New York, this notion of America the divine has been extended and refined. In Decem- ber 2001, Rudy Giuliani, the mayor of that city, delivered his last mayoral speech in St Paul´s Chapel, close to the site of the shattered twin towers. "All that matters," he claimed, "is that you embrace America and under- stand its ideals and what it´s all about. Abraham Lincoln used to say that the test of your Americanism was ... how much you believed in America. Because we´re like a religion really. A secular religion."
"It was, he said, now "sacred ground to people who feel what America is all about". The United States of America no longer needs to call upon God; it is God, and those who go abroad to spread the light do so in the name of a celestial domain. The flag has become as sacred as the Bible; the name of the nation as holy as the name of God. The presidency is turning into a priesthood."
Another Journalist´s Similar Observations:
Another journalist and commentator, Clifford Longley in Britain has written a book entitled: "Chosen People" which also touches on the idea that America worships herself. Longley notes:
"President Ronald Reagan regularly spoke of America as a "city on a hill", (Matthew 5:14) and at his inauguration last year President Bush remarked of America´s history "We are not this story´s author, who fills time and eternity with his purpose... An angel still rides in this whirlwind and directs this storm." (Psalm 35:5)."
Longley is a Catholic layman and it shows in another of his quotes:
"the doctrine of Exceptionalism links the interests of America to God´s purposes in the world. The national ideology of "Americanism" can almost be described as a variety of Christian heresy, in that it gives that country a salvific role which, to a more Catholic or Orthodox way of thinking, only the visible church can fulfill."
Clifford Longley shows in his fascinating book Chosen People, the founding fathers of the USA, though they sometimes professed otherwise, sensed that they were guided by a divine purpose. Thomas Jefferson arg- ued that the Great Seal of the United States should depict the Israelites, "led by a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night". George Washington claimed, in his inaugural address, that every step towards independence was "distinguished by some token of providential agency". Longley argues that the formation of the American identity was part of a process of "supersession". The Roman Catholic church claimed that it had supplanted the Jews as the elect, as the Jews had been repudiated by God. The English Protestants accused the Cath- olics of breaking faith, and claimed that they had become the beloved of God. The American revolution- aries believed that the English, in turn, had broken their covenant: the Americans had now become the chosen people, with a divine duty to deliver the world to God´s dominion.
Gradually this notion of election has been conflated with another, still more dangerous idea. It is not just that the Americans are God´s chosen people; America itself is now perceived as a divine project. In his farewell presidential address, Ronald Reagan spoke of his country as a "shining city on a hill", a reference to the Sermon on the Mount. But what Jesus was describing was not a temporal Jerusalem, but the kingdom of heaven. Not only, in Reagan´s account, was God´s kingdom to be found in the United States of America, but the kingdom of hell could also now be located on earth: the "evil empire" of the Soviet Union, against which His holy warriors were pitched.
