"Our text reveals two significant truths. First, the battle of Armageddon is fought for the destruction of Babylon. Second, in this battle the Lord comes upon Babylon as a thief. He comes in a spiritual visitation of judgment to strip and purge from His people in Babylon the death of the carnal mind; those outer, earthly things they cherish above the spirit and truth and glory of Christ. That is what a thief does -- he plunders the house, carrying off those things treasured by the householder! He appears as a thief in the night, and there have often been times in the lives of all of God's called and chosen elect when He has stolen out of the dark hour of our ignorance some carnal concept, some religious tradition, some perverted doctrine, some Babylonish garment of exquisite design that we have hidden in our tent of experience. Ah, we must stay awake to joyfully receive Him in His coming to us, His appearing in us; if we fail to do so He will come like a thief, He will come into our world uninvited and unannounced, He will overtake us unexpectedly and break up our life style and smash our religious games, exposing our pretense. Those who are awake to reality do not have their houses plundered. These willingly yield up the things they once prized, which now are counted but dung that they might win Christ."
Much more in the text:
"Armageddon happens to every individual in a personal sense."
21 KJV And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.
Looks like the "great transformation" missed a couple of people.
It's symbolism Andy, the only man dying is the old Adamic nature, this should make you rejoice, our old man of sin is dying. You've been taught that people are getting killed here.
"It is the Truth that is to fall on men and cause them to blaspheme. The carnal mind and the old Adamic reasoning always resist the mind of the Lord, for they are enmity against God and cannot receive the things of the spirit of God, because they are spiritually discerned. The truth hurts carnal-minded men and causes them to resist it in resentful blasphemy. This is the natural man crying out because his death-knell has arrived, his day has ended, his time has come, and he will now sink into oblivion to be reckoned with no more! The Lord employs nothing with which to defeat error and correct men except the Truth. The adversary attempted in the beginning of human history to defeat the purposes of God and destroy the life of man by and through deception and falsehood, and not through the employment of physical or any form of super-human power. God will likewise send a hard word with such devastating power that it will prevail and sweep away the refuge of lies. Falsehood swept away, Babylon is disarmed and helpless, and her armies must perish by the sword of the Spirit!"
Adolf Hitler, heaven or hell?
I'm not sure you really understand heaven and hell the way I do. Can Jesus Christ conquer Hitler's Babylon?
Ted Bundy, heaven or hell?
Andy, I really don't care about people's hells. I can help you through yours, but I'm not concerned with your final destination, in the end God wins every soul.
So people can do anything they want in this life without consequence?
Man's judgment is for this life, you reap what you sow, I'd pull the handle at the gallows for the monsters in this world, maybe I'll change someday, I don't have all the answers about judgment, I'm confident God does.
Andy, the book of Revelation is not written to the world or about the world, it's written to the church, about Jesus Christ conquering spiritual Babylon. It's a glorious book when read as the kingdom of God conquering whatever is not of Jesus Christ in our lives.
Jeffrey Dahmer, heaven or hell?
You've been taught to fear a future hell, I've been taught that hell that religion teaches is not a real thing, for two theological reasons.
It's Babylon in you dying.
It's not men dying, something in you dying.
"When we consider this great battle, we are not, therefore, to expect any gathering of the nations literally to the hill of Megiddo. Rather we are to look for that which is symbolized by that mountain. Armageddon is to be viewed in a spiritual sense as is everything else in the book of Revelation. It is first and foremost a spiritual battle within the Lord's people, yet it also involves the great red dragon and the manchild -- the manifest sons of God. The battle actually begins in the heavenly realm and then spreads to the earth-dwellers and the sea-dwellers. "And there was war in heaven: Michael (Christ) and his angels (messengers) fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels" (Rev. 12:7). This is why, when the sons of God have prevailed and have cast the dragon out of the heavenlies, the cry goes out, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth he hath but a short time" (Rev. 12:12). The devil's passion and determination meets head-on with God's passion and determination -- and Armageddon begins! We shall, therefore, see this battle carried forth in both the heavenly and earthly realms -- both individually and collectively. "
"Among all the creatures which God made, Adam-man stands out unique…stark naked…which means devoid of true wisdom and knowledge, with his inner nature revealed, opened up, exhibited, and made bare."
"What is this "flesh" which can be "exposed," making a man "naked"? The word sarx is the Greek word translated "flesh" in the New Testament. Sarx means the meat of a physical body, whether it be man, or beast, or birds, or fishes of the sea; not the outer layer of skin immediately visible to the eye, but the raw meat under the skin. To physically have the flesh "exposed" in this sense would mean to have the outer skin removed, causing the raw meat underneath to be visible. Thus, the flesh speaks of more than just our physical body with its normal needs and desires for food, clothing, comfort, rest, exercise, etc. God made our body, He knoweth our frame, and remembereth that we are but dust, and there is no condemnation for being tabernacled in this body of clay. But "the flesh" literally speaks of that inward nature which is earth-minded, with its lusts and self-centeredness, its ego and I-will which are in rebellion against the spirit. Thus, the flesh is not the outward, visible man of meat, muscle, and bones, but the inward nature."
"And now the faithful dealings of God to bring this very thing to pass have come: the purgings, the strippings, the processings, the refining fires, together with the raising up of the faith, nature, character, revelation, wisdom, and power of Christ within us. Ah, it is truly a picture of darkness and gloominess on the one hand, but on the other hand it is "the morning spread upon the mountains!" It is indeed -- Armageddon! It is the battle which shall finally usher the Lord's people into the FULLNESS OF REDEMPTION, spirit, soul, and body, free from the curse, delivered out of Babylon, having passed through their Armageddon, to lay hold upon the fullness of Christ's victory and triumph! Yes, friends, we are still talking about Armageddon! The last battle! Armageddon is the end-game. That is what final judgment is all about! For you it will not be 2,000 years from now. Your Armageddon may be today, ten years from now, or in the next twenty-four hours. I dare say, it is going on right now! It is within you, it is within God's elect, it is coming within the whole church, and it is coming wherever the beastly carnal nature and the bestial world system seeks to place its mark of ownership on men. Whenever it comes, it will bring an end to your rebellion, to your struggles, to your captivity. It will bring glorious and eternal deliverance! And in this battle the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death! And sin is the enemy destroyed just before death! How much greater, grander, more glorious are the fruits of this victory than any that could be obtained by some carnal war over in the Middle East!"