I'm still caretaking my mom, going on over 4 years now. But a few weeks ago my brother, Doug, transferred his job to Grand Junction so he could live with us and help care-take our mother.
Meanwhile, I mull over things like this. So I'll share it with you:
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or he calls down the wrath of Heaven (Acts 5).
"Your money perish (apoleia) with you!", cries the apostle (Acts 8:20).
So, yeah. When money and religion combine religion becomes poison. Funny I'd even have to say this, right?
In the Old Testament, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel show how Lucifer and the serpent of Eden are the master of wealth, excess, national pride, and world commerce (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28). And isn't this the whole theme of the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, which states the Antichrist and his commercial empire will go into apoleia (perdition) (Revelation 17)?
This is the one principle in Christian scriptures that isn't ambiguous. It couldn't be more unmistakably clear.
You would think a Christian would make every effort to avoid Antichrist, Apollyon, root of all evil, right?
Meanwhile, I mull over things like this. So I'll share it with you:
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| Illustration from John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress by H. C. Selous and M. Paolo Priolo |
Antichrist is a popular subject in the USA.
So let's go with it. Yeah, I find it fascinating.
(You probably know by now I like studying world mythology, not just the Bible, but all world mythology. Contrary to popular thinking, "myth" does not mean "lie" but means "parable/allegory.")
In the Bible, Apollyon is the Angel of the Abyss, the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:11). Apollyon's Hebrew name is Abaddon, the Destroyer--also the name for Sheol, or Hell, in the Old Testament. Scholars call him Antichrist.
The Greek root of "Apollyon", Apoleia [ἀπώλεια], means excess, waste, loss, perdition, destruction.
Apoleia is almost always, if not always, associated with wealth and money in the Bible. For example, the Bible states how wealth is always lost [apoleia] and those who trust in wealth will be lost [apoleia] with it (Acts 8:20, 1 Timothy 6:9, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Revelation 17:8-11).
The Antichrist is called the Son of Apoleia (Son of Perdition) (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Jesus even calls his betrayer, who sold him for money, the Son of Apoleia (John 17:12).
Bible readers will notice the Christian scriptures show no greater anger than when wealth and religion are mixed.
This is when the normally pacifist Sage gets so pissin' mad he even picks up a whip to overturn money tables and drive out the greed heads (Matthew 21, Mark 11, Luke 19, John 2),
So let's go with it. Yeah, I find it fascinating.
(You probably know by now I like studying world mythology, not just the Bible, but all world mythology. Contrary to popular thinking, "myth" does not mean "lie" but means "parable/allegory.")
In the Bible, Apollyon is the Angel of the Abyss, the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:11). Apollyon's Hebrew name is Abaddon, the Destroyer--also the name for Sheol, or Hell, in the Old Testament. Scholars call him Antichrist.
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| The Son of Perdition |
The Greek root of "Apollyon", Apoleia [ἀπώλεια], means excess, waste, loss, perdition, destruction.
Apoleia is almost always, if not always, associated with wealth and money in the Bible. For example, the Bible states how wealth is always lost [apoleia] and those who trust in wealth will be lost [apoleia] with it (Acts 8:20, 1 Timothy 6:9, 2 Peter 2:1-3, Revelation 17:8-11).
The Antichrist is called the Son of Apoleia (Son of Perdition) (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Jesus even calls his betrayer, who sold him for money, the Son of Apoleia (John 17:12).
Bible readers will notice the Christian scriptures show no greater anger than when wealth and religion are mixed.
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| "Your money perish (apoleia) with you!" The Fall of Simon Magus at Cathédrale Saint Lazare, Autun (Saône-et-Loire) |
or he calls down the wrath of Heaven (Acts 5).
"Your money perish (apoleia) with you!", cries the apostle (Acts 8:20).
So, yeah. When money and religion combine religion becomes poison. Funny I'd even have to say this, right?
In the Old Testament, the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel show how Lucifer and the serpent of Eden are the master of wealth, excess, national pride, and world commerce (Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 28). And isn't this the whole theme of the last book of the New Testament, Revelation, which states the Antichrist and his commercial empire will go into apoleia (perdition) (Revelation 17)?
This is the one principle in Christian scriptures that isn't ambiguous. It couldn't be more unmistakably clear.
 |
| The Ruins of Babylon in Present-Day Iraq "Babylon is Fallen, is Fallen!" (Isaiah 21:9 & Revelation 14:8) |
