I think, since the issues of Chuck Missler and other people who teach eschatology came up yesterday (Ravi Zacharias is another example) I should make my approach here explicit. I don’t know what these event refer to. I have read too many books. I am now confused: all of the books sound good, and all have difficulties with Revelations.

I do know that if you are going to read this you need to consider the prophecies of Daniel, where there is an idol that predicts the kingdom of gold, of Bronze and Iron, and the last is usually seen as the Roman Empire. Then there is a kingdom to come, which we are part of.

I also know that there is good teaching here. And today’s teaching is a correction: Do not worship your bank account. There are sites that concentrate almost exclusively on investing and shares and the economy — from the Motley Fool to Tyler Durden’s Zero Hedge and the Austrians over at the Daily Bell. There are the mainstream media outlets such as Bloomberg and the financial channels.

All tell you to save (good) and limit debt (good) and assume that if your bank accounts are full you will be happy. And it is good to have resources: better that than being poor. But the prophet in Revelation says they will all be taken away, and Christ says that our treasures should not be of this kingdom.

“Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give to the needy. Provide yourselves with moneybags that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

(Luke 12:32-34 ESV)

Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people, and by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast it deceives those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.

(Revelation 13:11-18 ESV)

We get hung up with the number. It need not be a number that is branded or tattooed on us as occurred during the Shoah. It is regulations, particularly green ones, that mean that the small, independent farmer and worker must submit to the corporations and become again a serf.

Yesterday the Federales lost a case against ranchers in Oregon. This comment describes the conflict that exists.

Their beef is with the other BLM, Bureau of Land Management, and the Forest Circus, the two largest landowners in the US. When they control the grass that feed your livestock, the timber that employs the loggers and sawmills, and the fuelwood that heats your home in the winter, there’s a little animosity towards them. Cattle numbers decline, sawmills close, and communities dry up, and it is because the primary landowners in DC have a visceral hatred for traditional Western culture, which is strongest in families that live off the land. They are trying to starve us out with spotted owls and prairie chickens. They are cutting off our means of survival, just like they did the Indians.

We need to pray for our American friends, for the US Federal state regulates more than Putin’s Russia and is overtly anti Christian, while Putin has rejected the death spiral that was the Soviet and embraced the Orthodox church.

We need to use cash or cash analogues when possible.

And we need to hold our resources lightly. I’m saying this as casa pukeko is going on the market because casa weka is bigger, more modern and already bought: the pro photographer and I were talking about the next four months and listing the tasks — from wedding to house shuffling after wiping ourselves out doing Grace and the Box. (Note: the video is of Dan Bailey, one of the best in the world: yes, I dropped the bar after 4 and did singles, scaled, but improved the time from six months ago)

The elite believe everything you have is theirs, and let you keep it by their sufferance. But they will die. And the next kingdom will be the kingdom of God. We may find ourselves living in a world where slavery again exists (I noted that phrase this time, because the Muslims are again taking slaves) and where we can only exist by trading illegally. So be it.

We will not converge. We will not submit. We will leave Babylon, for Babylon kills and destroys.