About identity of cities in Revelation 18

[RabbiKnife]

Who cares about a nuclear attack

“Today is the day of salvation.”   Your children are much more likely to die of a heart attack or car wreck or random act of violence or a slip and fall in the bath than from nuclear explosion.

No one is promised tomorrow

Worrying about or trying to identify the place of a future supposed nuclear event is, in my view, foolish speculations on a grand scale. A subject of which the Paul explicitly warns against.

[Tomi Laakso]

    God would use someone else if I refused, and maybe He is already using others to bring these same observations forwards. But if I don't do my part, something is lost. Someone is lost.
    Recently I came to conclusion that there is enough reason to warn, enough reason to proceed to other people.

Why is the self-appointed prophet a thing?

    It is true that the texts of Ezekiel that I referred to for this issue raise the question, who appointed me and how? Who sent me and how? But I also referred to Proverbs 24:11-12:
"11Rescue those who are being taken away to death;
hold back those who are stumbling to the slaughter.
12If you say, “Behold, we did not know this,”
does not he who weighs the heart perceive it?
Does not he who keeps watch over your soul know it,
and will he not repay man according to his work?"

   There the question is, do I know the danger? If I really have sufficient reason to believe that the issue is real, then I am obliged to do something. In this way the Bible itself sends me. And if the Bible sends me, one can also consider Ezekiel 3 and Ezekiel 33 in this context.
    Jesus says:
"12“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

    If I were living in those cities that will get sudden nuclear explosions according to my work, and somebody knew what I know, I would like to hear it.

[RabbiKnife]

The horns of the dilemma …

If you are correct then millions die in nuclear holocaust

If you are wrong we have to stone you.

[Tomi Laakso]

Who cares about a nuclear attack

   Why did US and Israel then attack Iran?

    Unfortunately there are in the world a lot of antisemites or borderline antisemites that look for excuses for their views. The cited sentence of yours serves as one.
    For this reason, please, I appeal you, please consider removing or altering this cited sentence. Of course, we don't know if you are a Jew, or just appear to be one by the name you use here. But they would not care.
    For those, who read these posts before the sentence is (hopefully) removed, I say that it seems that RabbiKnife has got an "infection" of a problem that is widespread in western Christianity nowadays. It is not a Jewish thing. In western Christianity these days there is often a lot of talk about love, but then when actual love would be needed, there is "who cares" in the heart (if not in the lips). People do not want to face difficult or terrifying things or hear about them, they just want to think about their salvation and peace of mind and hear nice words about love.
   It could very well be, that Messianic Jew have less of this problem than western heathen Christians.

[ProDeo]

When you are a hammer, all the world looks like a watermelon. ~~ Gallagher

And I expected to see Trini Lopez.

[RabbiKnife]

Who cares about a nuclear attack

   Why did US and Israel then attack Iran?

    Unfortunately there are in the world a lot of antisemites or borderline antisemites that look for excuses for their views. The cited sentence of yours serves as one.
    For this reason, please, I appeal you, please consider removing or altering this cited sentence. Of course, we don't know if you are a Jew, or just appear to be one by the name you use here. But they would not care.
    For those, who read these posts before the sentence is (hopefully) removed, I say that it seems that RabbiKnife has got an "infection" of a problem that is widespread in western Christianity nowadays. It is not a Jewish thing. In western Christianity these days there is often a lot of talk about love, but then when actual love would be needed, there is "who cares" in the heart (if not in the lips). People do not want to face difficult or terrifying things or hear about them, they just want to think about their salvation and peace of mind and hear nice words about love.
   It could very well be, that Messianic Jew have less of this problem than western heathen Christians.

I have absolutely no idea what you are going on about.  Why would I remove a truthful comment?  I could absolutely not care less about the US/Israel actions against Iran from a biblical standpoint.  Interesting politically and certainly in terms of regional security, but no grand biblical implications.  And the next time you want to call me an anti-semite, just say it and demonstrate the absurdity of your words.  Ask my dear Jewish friend on this thread, Fenris.

Again, you are working on the false assumption that the potential for dying in a nuclear holocaust at some undisclosed date in the future is in some way more destructive than dying of a car wreck or heart attack today is ludicrous.  We are all going to die.  Maybe today.  When compared with dying today and going to hell, why would the thought of the potential of possibly maybe dying in a nuclear holocaust sometime in the future in some city you think you can identify with numerology  be worth a farthing?

The scariest thing I can imagine is facing an eternity out of relationship with God.  Nuclear holocaust pales in comparison.

Let me make that clearer.  I would rather gladly die in a nuclear explosion knowing that my eternal destiny with God was settled and assured than live another hundred years without my eternal destiny settled even knowing that my city was not going to be blown up.

You are promoting a solution desperately in search of a problem of any eternal significance.

[Fenris]

Dear Fenris

I got called dear! <3

    I did not mean that things I discovered are more important or equally important than the basic gospel message. When I talked about the importance of the issue for salvation of [some] souls, I ment that if an unsaved person dies suddenly in the nuclear explosions, he loses the chance to salvation, because he has no more time on Earth to repent and believe the gospel.

If someone doesn't already believe the gospel, they're not going to believe your gematria about it either.

    Think about the following situation. Suppose you were a head of a family, a Christian or a Jewish believer, and that your teenage children were at the moment in the state of apostasy. If it were true, that a nuclear terrorist attack was coming to your city, surely you would like to know it forehand if possible, so that you could bring your family to safety and get more time for your children to repent.

Judaism doesn't work that way, although I understand your point.

[Fenris]

The horns of the dilemma …

If you are correct then millions die in nuclear holocaust

If you are wrong we have to stone you.

I was going to say...

[Fenris]

I say that it seems that RabbiKnife has got an "infection" of a problem that is widespread in western Christianity nowadays.

I have to disagree with you. RK has the clearest understanding of Christian doctrine of anyone I know. It is from him that I understand what being Christian means.

Mind you, I am not a Christian.

[Tomi Laakso]

Who cares about a nuclear attack

   Why did US and Israel then attack Iran?

    Unfortunately there are in the world a lot of antisemites or borderline antisemites that look for excuses for their views. The cited sentence of yours serves as one.
    For this reason, please, I appeal you, please consider removing or altering this cited sentence. Of course, we don't know if you are a Jew, or just appear to be one by the name you use here. But they would not care.
    For those, who read these posts before the sentence is (hopefully) removed, I say that it seems that RabbiKnife has got an "infection" of a problem that is widespread in western Christianity nowadays. It is not a Jewish thing. In western Christianity these days there is often a lot of talk about love, but then when actual love would be needed, there is "who cares" in the heart (if not in the lips). People do not want to face difficult or terrifying things or hear about them, they just want to think about their salvation and peace of mind and hear nice words about love.
   It could very well be, that Messianic Jew have less of this problem than western heathen Christians.

I have absolutely no idea what you are going on about.  Why would I remove a truthful comment?  I could absolutely not care less about the US/Israel actions against Iran from a biblical standpoint.  Interesting politically and certainly in terms of regional security, but no grand biblical implications.  And the next time you want to call me an anti-semite, just say it and demonstrate the absurdity of your words.  Ask my dear Jewish friend on this thread, Fenris.

   I am sorry if my message left open the possibility of interpretation that you yourself would be an antisemite in disguise. I ment that if other persons, even some who are inclined towards antisemitism, read "Who cares about a nuclear attack", they might think that "How cruel a statement! So much without love. And it is a rabbi that made it...". So that you unintendedly give them an excuse, one of the many bad excuses they might pick.
   By the way, I could name a late Christian preacher who was an expert of Judaism and did not mind being called a rabbi, even though he was not a Jew. When I said that you might not be a Jew, there were other possibilities involved than you having chosen username RabbiKnife for some evil motifs. (In my country there are even people who want to think they are Jews (in the ethnic sense) even though they are not, but this is probably very rare internationally.) Of course, I personally do not know you, so that left several possibilities open for me, but luckily there are here persons like Fenris, who know you well, so that there is no need to leave open such possibilities. I did not want to jump to conclusions about you being Jew, nor did I want others to do that, so I mentioned that I do not know that. When I appealed you, I was thinking or focusing on the possibility that you have no evil motif for using the username. Otherwise it would not have made sense. I am sorry if I offended.

    What comes to the idea that in modern western Christianity many do not want to look at difficult truths and only want to think and hear about pleasant issues, it is visible in my country. For United States David Wilkerson has talked about it, at least. See, for example the sermon "Call to anguish" in Youtube. Leonard Ravenhill also considers the same or a related point.

[Tomi Laakso]

The horns of the dilemma …

If you are correct then millions die in nuclear holocaust

If you are wrong we have to stone you.

    Well said. Of course, we know that you do not mean to stone literally in the New Covenant time. We know that you do not support such in this era. But the point is valid. But other Americans might not be as merciful as you...
   (If others would misunderstand you as much as people here misunderstand me, then the clarification might be needed. But you are a known figure here, so that helps.)

Have a refreshing and holy pesach!

[RabbiKnife]

The church has plenty of false prophets today

Folks that start their own blather with the words “God has given me a prophesy “ or “Thus sayeth the Lord”… without any accountability.

[Athanasius]

(If others would misunderstand you as much as people here misunderstand me, then the clarification might be needed. But you are a known figure here, so that helps.)

We don't misunderstand you, but if you think so, feel free to (re)explain your approach in Finnish so that you aren't doing the ESL thing and I'll give it a read to see how it compares with your English.

[Fenris]

I would counter the op that hidden, secret or mathmatically interpreted passages of scripture are contrary to the thrust of the revelation which is bold and concise when recieved and understood contextually.

I agree 100%. The bible says so many things in a clear and explicit way. Why does anyone have to find esoteric and hidden meanings? Why would a kind and benevolent God make things that difficult?

[Tomi Laakso]

(If others would misunderstand you as much as people here misunderstand me, then the clarification might be needed. But you are a known figure here, so that helps.)

We don't misunderstand you, but if you think so, feel free to (re)explain your approach in Finnish so that you aren't doing the ESL thing and I'll give it a read to see how it compares with your English.

    As an administrator who also partakes discussions you might participate in so many threads that you can easily forget minor points. I did not immediately remember myself either that it was exactly you, who admitted misunderstanding me earlier in the thread. It was not the only misunderstanding in the thread, it seems to me.
    Often misunderstandings are nobody’s fault. They just happen. They happen to every one of us. Especially with difficult issues. Sometimes misunderstandings are due to the one who explains. There the language is not the only issue.

    It is not impossible, though, that I over-emphasized the misunderstandings in the above quote.