Bodies and souls of men

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Mystery Babylon has many descriptions, but this one I do not see addressed too much, in identifying it.

How does your version fit?

Rev 18:10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.

Rev 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buys their merchandise any more:

Rev 18:12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

Rev 18:13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and bodies and souls of men.

Babylon is a great city, with exotic merchandise, including ivory, wood, brass, frankincense, and purple dye.

What seems to really stand out for the last days is the “bodies and souls of men.” A body for sale is a slave.

The Greek word used is soma, which means:

1) the body both of men or animals

a) a dead body or corpse

b) the living body

1) of animals

2) the bodies of planets and of stars (heavenly bodies)

3) is used of a (large or small) number of men closely united into one society, or family as it were; a social, ethical, mystical body

a) so in the NT of the church

4) that which casts a shadow as distinguished from the shadow itself

The Greek word for soul is psyche, which means:

1) breath

a) the breath of life

1) the vital force which animates the body and shows itself in breathing

a) of animals

b) of men

b) life

c) that in which there is life

1) a living being, a living soul

2) the soul

a) the seat of the feelings, desires, affections,

aversions

(our heart, soul etc.)

b) the (human) soul in so far as it is constituted that by the right use of the aids offered it by God it can attain its highest end and secure eternal blessedness, the soul regarded as a moral being designed for everlasting life

c) the soul as an essence which differs from the body and is not dissolved by death (distinguished from other parts of the body)

Psyche is also translated as life, mind and heart.

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The bodies of men

There have been many countries in history who had slaves, but the time of slavery either came to an end with the end of their empires, or it was ended politically.

Since this Babylon is still around in the end times, and deals with slaves, who is still doing this?

This will help identify who Babylon is.

Currently, the slave trade in Sudan still goes on, under Islamic rule.

Sadly, the Africans have been victims of this slave trade the longest of any people.

https://apworldhistorysuhi.wikispaces.com/Period+2-+Topic+1+Sudan+and+Swahili+Coast+in+Africa

· Sudan is a city located in the Swahili States which is located on the east coast of Africa.

· They speak a Bantu language with word and ideas from Arabic.

· It was a good location for trade because it was next to the Indian Ocean.

· Chiefs gained power by taxing trade on ports.

· The ports grew and turned in to city-states which were governed by kings.

· Trade with India brought political changes.

· The Swahili elite converted to Islam which laid a solid foundation for Swahili and Muslim merchants which was majorly important.

For a good history of the Islamic slave trade, initiated in 7 AD:

http://galliawatch.blogspot.com/2008/06/arab-muslim-slave-trade.html

excerpt:

The famous Arab historian of the 14th century, Ibn-Khaldum, wrote: “The only people who accept slavery are the Negroes, because of an inferior degree of humanity, their place being closer to the level of animals.”

The question then was: how to see to it that these “animals” did not reproduce in Arab-Muslim lands.

Arabs sent most black women to harems, they mutilated [castrated] the men.

There is a sort of “Stockholm syndrome African-style,” where all of these fine people agree to place everything on the shoulders of the West.

There is a virtual pact signed and sealed between the descendants of the victims and those of the executioners, that leads to this denial.

The victims identify and cooperate with their original Muslim slave masters to blame others.

Before the terrible castrations there were first sudden raids and massacres.

For example, in the Holy War led by that Sudanese Arab chieftain, a mystic, enlightened, who considered himself a Mahdi (descendant of the Prophet), the whole of Sudan from the ocean to Egypt, taking in all the plateaux of Africa - from the Nile to the Zambezi – was subject to manhunts and the sale of captives.

This space was twice the size of Europe, and certain explorers estimated its population to be around 100 million in the the 19th century.

To have an idea of the evil, you must realize that these same observers stated that to hunt down and carry off 500,000 individuals, it was necessary to kill almost two million others (who resisted or tried to flee).

The selective silence surrounding the Arab-Muslim crimes against black peoples and this effort to minimize it, so as to better point the projectors solely at the transatlantic trade, is a cement being used to bring about a fusion of Arabs and Negro-African peoples.

http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/Classroom/9912/easterntrade.html

Excerpt:

The Arab Slave Trade is the longest yet least discussed of the two major trades.

It begins in the 7th century AD as Arabs and other Asians poured into Northern and Eastern Africa under the banner of Islam, either converting or subjugating the African societies they came upon.

14 to 20 MILLION African men, women and children have died throughout this trade.

The Muslim slave trade continues in Sudan, and elsewhere

Why does the Muslim dominated United Nations refuse to act?

http://users.hubwest.com/prophet/islam/sudan2.htm

The slave raids take place mainly in northern Bahr El Ghazal from where the PDF can quickly retreat northwards out of reach of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) which controls most of Southern Sudan.

Torture is commonplace.

Most of the slaves are forced by their master to change their cultural identity and become Muslims. (The world’s “fastest growing religion!”)

This involves being given a Muslim name and having to perform Islamic rituals.

Many boy slaves are castrated when they come of age.

Some girls are subjected to ritual female genital mutilation.

Severe beatings are the norm when a slave displeases his or her master. If a slave resists his master he can be burnt alive.

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More Modern Locations

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4042207.stm Pakistan

http://www.unesco.org/courier/2001_09/uk/doss22.htm India

http://www.counterpunch.org/reed02022006.html Japan

http://gvnet.com/humantrafficking/SaudiArabia.htm Saudi Arabia

According to Human Rights Watch, there are currently more than 4100 bonded laborers in India, who work as slaves to pay off debts; a majority of them are Dalits.

There are also an estimated 5 million bonded workers in Pakistan.

As many as 200,000 Nepali girls, many under 14, have been sold into the sex slavery in India. Nepalese women and girls, especially virgins, are favored in India because of their fair skin and young looks.-

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The souls of men

While the trafficking of human bodies is an abomination in itself, the owning of the “souls of men” sounds even more horrible.

Masters own the souls of people. How does this happen?

There are several world systems of thought that capture men’s souls. Anything that is Antichrist in nature can do this:

Communism

Humanism

Atheism

Pagan religions

Satanism

Luciferanism

New Age

Witchcraft and Voodoo

Any religion that denies that Jesus is the Son of God, who died for our sins, rose from the dead, giving us the kingdom of God, when we accept forgiveness of sins, though the atonement of the death of Christ.

I am also going to include False Christianity as well. Unless the pure gospel of Christ is preached, it is vain heresy.

So, the Babylon of Revelation captures both the bodies and the souls of men.

I think it is Islam, because of the modern slave trade they have, but I can see the case for other interpretations.

The future is still in the future, and more changes can occur from what I see now.

Remember, the modern Babylon has to be current in the slave trade, and own people’s souls.

So, in modern times, not the past, who do you think own and sells both the bodies and souls of men?