Transcription
Let's get down to now, what? What do the things in this particular verse mean and why is it written like it is? This is an afterthought. Here we go. Here we go.
This is from Swedenborg's Apocalypse Explained. It's got to be something because right now, if this is the word of God for all time, right now I'm not too worried about Babylon. I'm not worried about Babylon. Like it's, it's a, it's a city of ruins. For me, like I don't lose sleep. I've got my, my like public speaking spiders drowning. Babylon is way, way down on the list. Yeah. So why is God still telling me to be worried about Babylon? Right.
Okay. From Swedenborg's Apocalypse Explained, 1029. Babylon, or Babel, means a church consisting of those who by means of the holy things of the church strive to gain dominion over the whole world. And this by dominion over human soul, over the human souls, claiming to themselves authority to save whomsoever they will. And these finally seeking dominion over heaven and hell and make it their own.
Okay. Just that. Okay. It's not that bad, so, no. So again, you said earlier that it's like using religion because there's something deep in the human spirit. There's long people have a sort of hole in their soul or they're they're looking for something. Yes. They're seeking for something. Yes. And then using that vulnerability in people to gain domination for various. Reasons. Yes. For ego. Mm hmm. For money. I mean, these are types of things that Swedenborg talks about. Subscribers. Right? Like being subscribers. That's right. Whatever you have to do to get subscribers. That's right. Okay.
Yes, because, so, you might, he just, the reason why we had such a long preamble to getting to that explanation of what Babylon is, is if you hear that, you're gonna think, that's just you making up that that's what Babylon means. Yeah. And what we're saying is, Everywhere that Babylon occurs in the Bible, it is talking about this particular. Remember, not a person, and it's also not a particular civilization, and not a particular city. It is talking about an attribute, and in this case, it's the attribute, like you just described, of using the power and potency of religion to dominate the world. people and bend them to your will. And that is a threat. That is why it features so prominently in the Bible.
Right now, if you go to people and say, what do you think about Christians? A lot of them are going to say, Oh, look at all the terrible things they did in history. Yeah, they they try to tell me how to do all this stuff, whatever and yeah, because what people are talking about is Babylon. Yes, that's right. People trying to exercise sort of thought control or get everybody into lockstep or whatever and then funneling huge money up to. What about those um, the leaders and every single time somebody starts a cult It's like you just go go watch any documentary about it. It's like well, we've got this religious Passion people are looking for something in their life. This person fills it and then they Eventually, they abuse that power to steal everyone's money have sex with everyone and get and everyone kills themselves that happens over and over and over again It's boringly nobody seems to have figured out an alternative on that like it Always ends up in the same place. They do and they're able to cast this spell over people because of the power of religion. That's Babylon. And it can happen on very large scales when, for example, the stuff in history that people hate, like we say, we're going to go to war over religion, that is people using religion to dominate.
And so it's striking to me that you don't need, like, for a revelation, Do you need a revelation to tell you, look out for Babylon, look out for that city. That city's trouble. You know, no, that, that's a temporal situation. Babylon was problematic at certain times in history. You know, the Babylonian empire, whatever, you know, yes, right. Things got out of hand, but is that a perennial problem? No. Because of the nature of religion is really striking me right now that because people are vulnerable to religions. You need a revelation to say, Hey, there's such a thing as religion gone wrong. I'm going to articulate that in terms of Babylon, but that's what I'm talking about is that when people, it can happen on a small scale, as you say, in one little group, it can happen in massive religious movements over time, but it's like, Hey, this is a way to really control people. This is awesome. This is better than anything, you know, like better than the government. Get the religion thing. Now it's really got them. And that is not what most people are using religion for. No. The actual use of religion, the function that it's supposed to have, is to be a means by which you live a good life. Yeah, they're, they're, they're seeking God and they want help with their problems and, and things like that. Yeah, that's what they're doing. But then people can pray on them and you need a revelation, something higher than that to say, hey, look out for this. Because the people are going to prey on you in this way. You know what that does? It destroys religion. The use of religion for control destroys religion because it makes good people not like religion. Right. It leads people who would use it for the right reasons to start using it for the wrong reasons. There's all these cascading effects that are detrimental to religion, which is it, which is the following of the word, which is part of this whole thing we're talking about the importance of connecting heaven to earth. So this ruins a vital system that has to be going, you know? Yes.
And, uh, it strikes me that the, uh, Psalm that we're talking about is about what do you do when Babylon already succeeded? Like a lot of the old Testament is about. If you don't handle this, well, Babylon might take over at some point. Eat your vegetables. Be careful. That's right. Yep. Right. Get to bed on time or else Babylon will get you, you know? That's right. But then I was up all night scared. And then they stay up late and, and, and then Babylon comes. And so this is about what do you do when Babylon already, cause it's not over. Yeah. At that point, it's given you a little recipe and I think you could argue that there are some situations we can see in our world that kind of match that situation where Babylon, you know, even then it's not too late. There's things you can do because the Bible talks a lot about how there will be a remnant that will come back to the land and things will get, get good again. So it's not all over at that point, but there's a certain strategy you need to take when Babylon is taken over. So, yeah.