Genesis 11:4 - And they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth."
Hang on for a ride!
In the Old Testament there is a story about the Tower of Babel. Like everything in the Bible, it is there for an example. Just a brief explanation: There was a man named Nimrod whose name meant "the valiant" or "opposition." He was a hunter. He hunted down people to help him create the Tower of Babel. Why? He wanted to create a city that rose to the heavens...one that was made by human hands, apart from God, that he could make a name for himself. I very clearly remember someone saying a very similar thing when the Twin Towers fell on 9/11; to build bigger and better. Sort of like sticking a finger in the eye of the enemy.
So if you know the story you realize that God objected to this tower being built and "scattered them abroad." God said "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language..." (vs 6). There was only one language at the time. The Tower of Babel story symbolically, or more likely literally, represents what we need to look for today to prevent the same thing happening. A way to look out for today's Nimrod, one person, a tyrant, who wants to take away our individuality as a people.
The EU parliamentary building looks a bit like the Tower of Babel. (Oh, Lord, help me put these thoughts together concisely....) I heard a rabbi (Daniel Lapin) explain the Hebrew meaning of the building of this tower and its components. Tower of Babel...EU parliamentary building? What could they possibly have in common? Seats of a one world government, perhaps? I've heard we're headed in that direction for the sake of peace and safety and there is a scripture that states For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape. (Thessalonians 5:3)
Nimrod had the capability of seducing the people into building this tower...made of bricks. You have to understand this: bricks are manmade, each looking the same as the others. The tower was made by human hands. God did not have a hand in this or He would have used stones...natural, not manmade elements. So where am I going with this?
Bricks and stones and God's plans. When God creates us we are individuals; we each have our own individual personalities. When you look at stones, not one is exactly like another. Not so with bricks. Nimrod molded and shaped his people like these bricks so they would do just as he wanted them to. He would order their lives. Then when he had them molded he had them build this tower to make a name for himself. (One world government would be like this.) God was not involved in this process nor was it for His glory. God wants us to be individuals, as He created. We are told "you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." (1Peter 2:5) This tower was the first attempt at creating what we would today know as a new world order or a one world government. It was not God's plan, but man's. It's like our age-old idea of making something of ourselves on our own terms...a self-made man...to achieve our own goals, apart from God. Like the manmade bricks...with mortar, this rabbi suggested that the mortar today would be materialism. Mortar is the material that holds the bricks together. If the mortar in my life is not God, it's about me, my stuff, the ladder I want to climb. But God wants me to be a stone...a living stone.
Today's government appears to be suggesting we do it one way by going green or doing everything for a "higher purpose" like the tower, or the greater good. Do you see this? According to the Bible we are headed for a one world government. There will be a one world ruler who will look like a Nimrod, who will want everyone to become a brick rather than a stone. A brick he can manipulate and take away individual rights to achieve the plans, whose decision is to build his own tower...apart from God.
If we allow one man who has decided he's as good as, if not better than, God, to take over the world, if we become part of a one world government, one world order, common currency because he thinks it's for the greater good, we are in trouble. And God will intervene. I remember a story similar to this early on in history. There was this angel of God. His name was Lucifer. He was the heavenly worship leader. He held a prominent role in God's plan. But he became arrogant enough to think he was better than God...for which reason God threw him out of heaven. This is why today he's so bound and determined to infiltrate lives of unsuspecting people through making us believe something is good and to someday find just the one man he can fashion to become the ruler of the world, or the antichrist. All these things are in the Word of God.
Haven't we seen government wanting everyone's freedom taken away...stripped little by little...beat down some and raise up others....make everything equal...one level playing field? We could all be slaves without any freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to choose. We could well become as bricks to bring about the desires of one man.
It's why it's so important we understand the Bible. All throughout history God has shown us what it is like if we turn away from Him. We fail, we collapse, we are destroyed. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). It's not a bad thing having God on our side, having a relationship with Christ.
If we have all our materialistic things removed from us what holds us together? If we do not have God in our lives we have absolutely nothing. The rabbi said this: any tyrant knows that he cannot enslave a people who believe in the Boss, as he pointed upward. And to that I say Amen! He continued to say (paraphrasing) we will begin to develop a hostility toward traditional biblical faith (and our God) and any commitment there might be toward Him....secularism becomes the religion of the day. We cannot afford to take God out of the picture. Sadly, this is becoming commonplace in some of our churches.
If we are slaves to the world view, if we allow culture to dictate what's right and wrong, we will follow the others like sheep. If we know the God of the Bible and follow Him, listen for His voice, understand what He wants for us, we know the truth and we have liberty. For who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36)... It is our relationship with Jesus, not our just knowing who He is, that will set us free from the things of the world (materialism). It is He who tells us to treasure the things of heaven that cannot be destroyed or taken away rather the things of the world which do not last (Matthew 6:20). He must be our priority.
If we allow one man who has decided he's as good as, if not better than, God, to take over the world, if we become part of a one world government, one world order, common currency because he thinks it's for the greater good, we are in trouble. And God will intervene. I remember a story similar to this early on in history. There was this angel of God. His name was Lucifer. He was the heavenly worship leader. He held a prominent role in God's plan. But he became arrogant enough to think he was better than God...for which reason God threw him out of heaven. This is why today he's so bound and determined to infiltrate lives of unsuspecting people through making us believe something is good and to someday find just the one man he can fashion to become the ruler of the world, or the antichrist. All these things are in the Word of God.
Haven't we seen government wanting everyone's freedom taken away...stripped little by little...beat down some and raise up others....make everything equal...one level playing field? We could all be slaves without any freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to choose. We could well become as bricks to bring about the desires of one man.
It's why it's so important we understand the Bible. All throughout history God has shown us what it is like if we turn away from Him. We fail, we collapse, we are destroyed. In Him we live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). It's not a bad thing having God on our side, having a relationship with Christ.
If we have all our materialistic things removed from us what holds us together? If we do not have God in our lives we have absolutely nothing. The rabbi said this: any tyrant knows that he cannot enslave a people who believe in the Boss, as he pointed upward. And to that I say Amen! He continued to say (paraphrasing) we will begin to develop a hostility toward traditional biblical faith (and our God) and any commitment there might be toward Him....secularism becomes the religion of the day. We cannot afford to take God out of the picture. Sadly, this is becoming commonplace in some of our churches.
If we are slaves to the world view, if we allow culture to dictate what's right and wrong, we will follow the others like sheep. If we know the God of the Bible and follow Him, listen for His voice, understand what He wants for us, we know the truth and we have liberty. For who the Son sets free is free indeed (John 8:36)... It is our relationship with Jesus, not our just knowing who He is, that will set us free from the things of the world (materialism). It is He who tells us to treasure the things of heaven that cannot be destroyed or taken away rather the things of the world which do not last (Matthew 6:20). He must be our priority.
Though God became angry with these people, instead of destroying them, He dispersed them. They were no longer one people but many individuals, again stones not bricks. This dispersing brought us our individuality in the world...the different cultures. But since history tends to repeat itself, we may be headed back into the same scenario. We may be headed toward socialism or globalism and losing our individuality. But I don't believe there will be a happy ending this time, except for believers. Why did God write these things if they weren't so? Why did He provide examples for us all throughout the Bible of monumental things down to small personal things? Those who see and understand have a better chance of survival. It will happen, but those in Christ realize this and know their outcome, no matter what happens in the world.
Do you want to be a living stone of God or a manmade brick? It's your choice. This Book is our handbook for life. But we have no life if we wander among the sheep of the world...keeping up with the Jones' and determining to be our best in ourselves. What's wrong with being the best God has chosen for us, that living stone?
It is our responsibility to first get into that relationship with God...that personal relationship...between you and Him. You don't get to Him through living in the same house with one who has a relationship, nor do you get one just by corporately attending a church or just believing there is a God. It is you who must make a decision for yourself. When we come into relationship with Christ and have that common bond with others of like mind it is the wisdom and strength of God that causes our strength rather than the single, worldly individuals wanting to do on their own.
God is our Master, not any man. Without Him we are nothing. When we begin to realize this we can succeed. If all the world succumbs to the idea, or even the demands, of one man, one government, one way of living for all mankind, we are lost. If that happens, and it looks pretty much like it could, if we have God as the center of our lives, we have nothing to fear. Whatever the outcome, we are secure in Christ. No man, no government, no world, can take that away from us. This is an amazing promise.
John 15:5 - "I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing."
Thank you Laurie - reposted on my FB page.
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