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The
Language of Zion versus the Language of Babel by J. Parnell
McCarter
Date: 11/17/16
A careful reading of Revelation chapters 14 to 19 makes it
clear that Babel (aka Babylon) comes in two guises in two distinct
entities in the modern era. The first
is one the Protestant Reformers were very familiar with: the Papal kingdom (aka
the Romish Beast of 7 Hills). The second is one they could not know because
it did not exist during the Protestant Reformation or before, but was raised up
in the modern era with the pivotal assistance of the Papal kingdom. It is this latter Babel which has sucked in much of the
nominally Protestant world. Notice
Revelation 17:3-5: "I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of
blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns... the woman was arrayed in purple
and scarlet colour... And upon her forehead was
a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER
OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH."
Mystery Babylon, which I believe is the modern
USA
(having abandoned its Protestant Christian colonial order), sits atop the Romish Beast of 7 Hills.
They are two distinct entities in two distinct guises, but both a
manifestation of Babel opposed to Christ’s Zion. One important tool of this modern
manifestation of Babel
to propagate its spiritual poison is a language which supports its humanistic
worldview. Those who profess to be
spiritual citizens of Zion should not employ the
language of Babel
to evaluate the world around us. These
two languages are contrary, reflecting diametrically opposed worldviews. The language of Zion includes such evaluative
terms and concepts as “Thy law”, “Thy precepts”, “the ten words”,
“righteousness”, “holiness”, “abomination”, “sin”, “mercy”, “just”, “love”,
“wicked”, “Adam”, “man”, “woman”, “nation”, “transgression”, etc. The language of Babel includes such
evaluative terms and concepts as “homophobic”, “Islamophobic”,
“racist”, “hate speech”, “sexist”, “gay”, “sexual orientation”, “bigotry”,
etc. Elijah’s words to Israel are apropos to us today:
“How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then
follow him.” (I Kings 18:21) We cannot
be spiritual citizens of both Zion and Babel, and the language we employ to
evaluate the world around us should be consistent with that spiritual kingdom
we profess to be a part.
Babel’s
terminology has been coined by people who have been opposed to Biblical Christianity,
quite often as a way to smear it and those who adhere to it. For example, psychologist George Weinberg
coined the term “homophobia” to deride the Biblical view regarding sodomy and
those who adhere to it. For a Christian
to employ the term in ethical evaluation is implicitly a betrayal of Biblical
Christianity and a siding with Satan’s Babylonian kingdom, even if that is not
always the conscious intent. The same
thing can be said regarding Babel’s other terms which incorporate notions consistent
with Babel but not fully consistent with spiritual Zion. Those terms are even the most dangerous which
contain elements of truth, but in totality are not Biblical. For example, the term “racist” as commonly
used in Western society would suggest and imply that it is wrong to express
contempt or condemnation for a certain people group (at least if that people
group is not historically white and Protestant). But this Babel-speak view is not consistent
with the doctrine of scripture. Consider
these verses, for instance:
- “And
I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the
dragons of the wilderness.“ (Malachi 1:3)
- “O
daughter of Babylon,
who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy
little ones against the stones.” (Psalm 137:8-9)
- "One
of themselves, even a prophet of their own, said,
The Cretians are alway
liars, evil beasts, slow bellies. This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke
them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith..." (Titus 1:12-13)
It is never right to express contempt or condemnation for a
person or people group without good cause, but it is right and proper to
express such contempt or condemnation when there is good cause (Matthew
5:22). The term “racism” generally does
not allow for such, and in the process reflects an ideology at odds with
Biblical Christianity. To use this
Babel-speak term is sinful, because it evaluates the world in a morally wrong
way. As Christians, we must not allow Babel
to set the evaluative terms for us.
This is analogous to the way Christians must never accept
the uniformitarian assumption that God never extraordinarily intervenes in the
universe. Accepting a
uniformitarian assumption as a condition for investigating the universe’s
origins will inevitably lead to conclusions contrary to scriptural doctrine,
since scripture teaches that God has extraordinarily intervened at certain
times, notably including in the Creation of the universe. If Christians accept Babel’s
language as the evaluative terminology of discourse and debate, then Christians
should expect Babel to be the victor at the
expense of Zion
every time. Satan has raised
up one Babylonian empire after another in human history, and each one has
represented rebellion against God. By
God’s grace we need to depart from spiritual Babel, fleeing to Christ and His spiritual
kingdom. Part of this fleeing entails
abandoning the language of Babel and using the
language of Zion.
We Christians need one term that references all of the
jargon used by the modern Babel. I propose it be the term “Babel-speak”. In addition, we need terms to counter Babel's vocabulary. Based upon current usage, here is some I have
seen:
Babel-Speak
|
Zion-Speak
|
|
|
homophobic,
homophobia
|
Christian
view of sodomy
|
gay
|
sodomite
|
racist
|
racially
realistic, racial realist, Biblical view of race
|
sexist
|
gender
realistic, gender realist
|
sexual
orientation
|
proclivity
to sodomy, abandonment to sodomy
|
Islamophobic, Islamophobia
|
Christian
view of Islam
|
hate
speech, bigotry
|
Biblical
Christian perspective
|
So the next time you hear people employ Babel's jargon to
critique others, point out how they are using Babel-speak and you do not
approve of it. Biblical Christianity has
its own vocabulary consistent with God’s word.
Part of dismantling Babel
is replacing Babel-speak with Zion-speak.