Dubai, the new Babylon?

There are great plans in Falconcity, Dubai - "Falconcity of Wonders". They are planning to build the Dubai Hanging Gardens of Babylon, a Great Wall like in China, Dubai Tower of Pisa, Dubai Taj Mahal, Dubai Grand Pyramid, a neo-copy of the ancient Lighthouse of Faros, and even the Dubai Eiffel Tower. Makes me wonder, if there would be any better places to invest - like a place to live and infrastructure, in those vast, barren areas of the Middle-East, own by Arabs, for all those Palestinians, who now are funded by us poor "EUteers", too? Looking at Dubai today, some even wonder, is this the new Babylon?

However, I fully agree with those Bible scholars, who understand Revelation 17 to be a description of the destruction of Babylon the Spiritual, and Revelation 18 being the cameo of the fall of Babylon the Commercial.

But the ancient city of Babylon, that old town in the area now called Iraq, never completely ceased to exist - although just before Saddam Hussein's rule it had dwindled to a more or less village than a city. As we learn from the history, the city of Jerusalem was also destroyed in full so many times, and so soon it always arose. I firmly believe, that the Babylon of Revelation 18 will be in that same old ancient city of Babylon. Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51 are yet to be fulfilled - as happened with Tyre, Eze. 26. And that very end of Jeremiah 51 expressly speaks about the land of the Chaldeans, and how the book of prophecy, meant for Babylon, will then be cast into the midst of Euphrates; "Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her".

Thus, it is safe and sound to believe, that Babylon will raise again, rapidly - as will the Antichrist, too - and to a mighty splendour, and then it will be destroyed in full, as it has been prophecied, "for in one hour is she made desolate" (Rev. 18:19). The Bible more or less "demands it". And the Babylon the Last will be rebuilt on its ancient site on the Euphrates river. The fact, that the epicentre of the world finance of today, seems to transfer towards that part of the earth, in my opinion shows lucidly, that the world as we know it may not be too far from those events prophecied - and yet to come.

Ge. 11:6: "And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."

Once again, a new try is on-going. But another, great gathering is advancing, too: "For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation." (2 Cor. 6:2)

For which kingdom are you building?

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, Saad al-Hariri’s Mostaqbal party agreed to a constitutional amendment that would allow Lebanese Armed Forces Commander Michel Suleiman to be elected president. Up until now, Hariri and his March 14 allies (the date of the 2005 Cedar Revolution) had resisted Suleiman’s candidacy; Lebanese democrats are generally loath to have military men serve as President of the Republic, especially after the last nine years of former commander Emile Lahoud’s presidency. But more importantly, Suleiman is Damascus’s number one choice to fill the now vacant spot. 

“The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.”
—Isaiah 17:1

So called "doomsday vault" has been constructed deep inside Spitsbergen. Purpose: to hold and save vital crop seeds in case of future doomsday-like event, call it thermonuclear war, an asteroid collision or any other event that might destroy seeds on which our future is based.

The project is sponsored by the government of Norway which subsidises $9 million to create a vault 120m deep inside the rock-solid geological structure of Svalbard, part of which is the Spitsbergen.

The vault will be equipped with dual blast-proof doors, motion sensors, airlocks and walls of steel-reinforced one meter thick! This unquestionably shows that we have something serious here and not yet another survival or cult group play of "buy cans, a gun and hide in the mountains" sort. Apparently not only single units or groups of people believe that something catastrophic may well happen in the future. Even governments seem to take it on a level that by far crosses the typical country preparations for war like: creating fuel reserves, food supplies, shelters, emergency procedures etc. This vault is run by Norwegians but it's meant to be international as all countries willing to participate will be allowed to donate samples of crop seeds that they think are worth securing. And this thing is supposed to hold them safely in an unimagineable timeframe of up to one thousand years! Well, apparently mankind and thus their highly positioned representatives think we are still able and capable of hurting ourselves so much that a catastrophic scenario of extinction can not be ruled out.

Members of a Russian cult, calling itself the True Russian Orthodox Church, have sealed themselves inside a cave in the Penza region of Russia, 400 miles southeast of Moscow. They are awaiting the end of the world, which they believe will occur in May 2008. Cult leader Pyotr Kuznetsov has been arrested by police and is presently undergoing psychiatric examination. The rest of his followers remain inside the cave, along with large quantities of food, water and fuel, which they say will last them throughout the winter. The group have threatened to ignite the fuel if the Russian authorities attempt to vacate them from the cave. Russian Orthodox Monks are attempting to negotiate with the group.

Quote: "The sect's leader is Pyotr Kuznetsov - a divorced 43-year-old architect from Belarus. Kuznetsov travelled across Belarus and Russia, spreading his message of apocalyptic doom, before settling in the village 18 months ago, locals said. Several dozen believers followed him. They moved into abandoned houses, refusing to use electricity. "They are simple Christians," a local priest, Father Georgy, told NTV television. "They say: 'The church is doing a bad job, the end of the world is coming soon and we are all saving ourselves.'"

I find this news very disturbing. While the message this cult is proclaiming is true, in that the end of this world system is coming, it seems that Satan is doing his best to spread confusion and to discredit the Word of God. Last July we had a similar cult in Kenya which claimed that the battle of Armageddon was going to begin last September, and that the radiation from a nuclear war in the Middle East would kill off all the unbelievers. Deceit is a lie wrapped up in the truth, and Satan always uses a little bit of the truth to get people hooked. Then you have the Branch Davidian, the Heaven's Gate cult, Mormonism and many others, that supposedly base their beliefs on the Bible, but twist the prophecies to suit their own religion in order to keep people ensnared in their system. It's always the same. When May 2008 comes and goes, some other false prophet will stand up and proclaim a new date, or else they will manipulate things in such a way so as to retain their following. For example, the Jehovah's Witnesses have made many false prophecies over the last hundred years, predicting the return of Christ and the appearance of the apostles. Unfortunately its not only the cults that are making false predictions. Preterists claim that Jesus Christ returned spiritually in 70AD, while the Bible clearly states that He would come bodily to this earth. "This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven", Acts 1:11. Again many influential Christian leaders have made false predictions, such as Pat Robertson, who apparently claimed that the tribulation period would begin in 1982 or 1984, and predicted an Al Qaeda attack on the US in late 2007. Now I'm not trying to knock anyone, but what I am saying is that we need to be so careful when it comes to prophecy. A lot of people today are claiming to hear from God and are making all sorts of predictions which aren't based on the Word of God. When false prophets speak in the Lord's name and their predictions fail to come to pass, it discredits the Word of God in the eyes of unbelievers. As a result of these false prophets, people will be turned away from the truth. That's what the Scriptures say, by them "the way of truth shall be evil spoken of", 2nd Peter 2:2. Let us remain faithful to God's Word in these last days, and learn to avoid those who would teach us otherwise. "For many false prophets are gone out into the world", 1st John 4:1.

Jeremiah 23:28-32
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.

Source BBC, Guardian, Bible, Humanism By Joe, American Chronicle