A  Normalcy Bias

For those of us living in prosperous and relatively stable societies, it’s easy to forget the words of  Yeshua’s apostle in 2 Peter 3:1–18,

1 Beloved, I now write to you this second epistle (in both of which I stir up your pure minds by way of reminder), 2 that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Master and Savior, 3 knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 4 and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation.”

5 For this they willfully forget: that by the word of Elohim the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water, 6 by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water.

7 But the heavens and the earth which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

8 But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with YHVH one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

9 The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

14 Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, without spot and blameless; 15 and consider that the longsuffering of our Master is salvation—as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.

17 You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; 18 but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Master and Savior Yeshua the Messiah. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amein.

It’s only natural for each of us to think that we’re pretty okay spiritually. This is our normal mental default mode. So did the Laodiceans in Rev 3. But what really matters is what YHVH thinks about us. He’s the Lawgiver and the Righteous Judge. That’s the  most important thing, since he’s the one to whom every knee will ultimately bow. He’s the only one who can grant eternal life.

The prophecies of the Bible will come to pass…sometime. There will be a generation that will see them fulfilled. This includes all the less popular prophecies! It’s safe to say that when these prophecies begin to come to pass, most people will be so caught up in the day to day affairs of life that they will be oblivious to them. This is the normal state of things. In the days of Noah, it was life as usual, until the flood came and washed them all away. The same thing will happen in the last days (Luke 17:26). Most people will be blind to what is really happening spiritually around them. This is because their time is consumed with raising their families, building their careers, preparing for retirement or their next vacation. The saints, on the other hand, are called to be children of the light, not darkness (1 Thess 5:1–9). Light is a biblical metaphor for YHVH’s divinely revealed truth including his Torah instructions in righteousness and following and obeying Yeshua who is the Living Torah Word of Elohim and the spiritual light of the world.

Because most people are living in spiritual darkness, the Mystery Babylon the Great world-ruling system is currently coming upon them unawares. This is why the Bible calls a mystery. It’s hidden, yet at the same time it’s in plain sight. Only those who eyes are spiritually open will see it. This global antichrist system will rise up slowly, imperceptibly and then will clamp down on people like a steel trap. By then it will be too late. Most people will be so  brainwashed that they will willingly embrace the chains with which Babylon the Great will enslave them. To the blind masses, these chains will be gift-wrapped under the label of fun, convenience, pleasure, entertainment, popularity, politically correctness, peace and security. All will have to do is  give up their freedom of action and independent thought! This will be Satan’s great coup to take over the world, and he will almost succeed! Thankfully, the biblically astute know how the story ends! This is our faith and our great hope. HalleluYah!

The precursor to the entrenchment of the Mystery Babylon the Great New World Order over this world will be the globalistic slide toward neo-Baalism. The worship of Baal will be the religion of that antichrist system. Baalism is simply any system—religious or philosophical that provides man the mental justification to do what he really wants to do—to follow his carnal, downward-inclined nature, which always leads away from Elohim and his righteous standards of right and wrong. Ultimately, such a path leads to spiritual death.

The Abominations of the Mystery Babylon/New World Order System

And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. (Eph 5:11)

…lest Satan should take advantage of us; for we are not ignorant of his devices. (2 Cor 2:11)

The Bible is the foundation of all truth and knowledge. In its pages are the keys to understanding the past, present and future and man’s purpose on this earth. This is because the mind behind the Bible isn’t the finite mind of man, but the infinite, all-knowing mind of the Creator of heaven and earth, YHVH Elohim, who is transcendently outside of time and space and who knows everything from its beginning to its end.

As such, the Bible reveals that what has been will be again, and that there is nothing new under the sun. This is because the basic laws of cause and effect never change, and because human nature remains perennially the same. Human actions, therefore, are predictable because man’s carnal nature remains the same and his behavior, therefore, is predicable. What has been before will be again. Like multiple remakes of an old theatrical production, only the actors, costumes and venues change. The story line remains eternally the same.

The same is true when it comes to the end times Mystery Babylon the Great New World Order. The key characters have remained the same. The plot along with the protagonists and antagonists are the same. Only the audience and the human actors change. The spirit-actors, however, remain eternally the same. It is like an old joke that has been passed on down from one generation to the next, where the joke is new only to the next generation who hasn’t yet heard it. And the joke is only on the children of darkness who’s eyes are blinded to the truth of Elohim as revealed in the Bible.

By studying what the Bible has to say about the end times Babylon the Great system and the antichrist spirit that has been running like a thread for thousands of years through human history, and which empowers this system, can we understand its end times ramifications.

The purpose of this brief study is to explore the past as presented in the pages of the Bible, so we can better understand the bizarre things happening on the stage of the world around us presently.

But first, we must face a reality. A normalcy bias clouds the thinking of most people. Most are unable to see beyond the comfort zones of the status quo around them. Sometimes, people even refuse to see what’s in front of them although it is in plain view. They are willingly ignorant. For them, sadly, ignorance is bliss. Why are they blind? Because the reality of things doesn’t fit with what they think, or what they want to believe, should be normal (i.e. a normalcy bias). There are people who if they can’t see something clearly in front of them, they don’t believe it exists. Some people, therefore, are doubly blind. They refuse to believe what they can’t see, and they sometimes refuse to see what they can see, but refuse to believe is there. Furthermore, many people tend to believe the apparent authority figures (e.g. their government, the media, their educators, scientists, religious leaders, famous entertainers, etc.) around them who are feeding them a steady stream of their spin on reality. Because the majority of people believe what they are told, and refuse to think critically and question perceived “reality” (or what passes for reality) as presented to them (to think outside the proverbial “box” or paradigm), and because such a mentality is comforting (i.e. it reinforces one’s perceived comfort zones and biases), few find it advantageous to question the status quo or what is considered to be normal by the authority figures over them and, hence, by the majority of people who are similarly programmed, if you will, to think along socially acceptable or politically correct lines.

Because of this normalcy bias, and because most people are “decent” human beings, most people have a hard time believing the depths of evil to which humans can sink. Yet, the Bible reveals that behind the scenes, abominable evil actions are perpetrated by evil men (e.g. Ps 2:1–9; Rev 13, 17, 18). Such abominations have occurred in the past, are occurring presently and will occur again.

The Bible records that YHVH Elohim brought judgment against such people and will do so again. Examples of this are:

• Adam and Eve at the tree of knowledge.
• Cain, the first murder.
• The pre-flood world.
• Sodom and Gomorrah.
• Egypt
• The Israelites who worshipped the golden calf.
• The Canaanites and other pagan nations who YHVH commanded the Israelites to destroy.
• The nations of Israel and Judah.
• The whole earth (i.e. in the book of Revelation the seven seals, trumpets, thunders and bowl judgments).
• Babylon the Great and its leaders and those who came under its power.
• The sin-corrupted earth (2 Pet 3:10).
• YHVH commanded the Israelites to destroy and avoid the wicked and demonic Canaanites who were illegally inhabiting the Promised Land and to shun their evil practices. These pagans worshipped the demon-gods of Baal and Asherah, Moloch and Ishtar.

For some reason, the Israelites kept being drawn into the worship of these false demon-gods. The heathen religious and lifestyle practices were too alluring for YHVH’s people to be able to resist.

What was so enticing about these gods?

These gods represent following the base, sinful and godless nature of man—the path of least resistance that perennially exerts its gravitational downward pull on man. This pull is alluring to man because it permits man to follow his base nature in satiating the hunger for religious and sensual expression at the same time, but without the need to engage in the near impossible task of reigning in one’s lower nature. Such a downward path appeals to man in that it promises power, money, satiating the sensual desires of man, fun, entertainment and hidden knowledge. Baal worship incorporated all of these elements into its debauched religious system. That’s why it was so alluring to the Israelites. Baal and Moloch were enticing gods to the ancient Israelites, since these ancient demon deities allowed men to do whatever they wanted. The popularity of these demon-deities in ancient times is confirmed by the countless clay idol figurines that archeologists have uncovered in the land of Canaan dedicated to these demon-gods.

For example, Moloch (the Ammonite god), Baal (the Canaanite god), and Apis (one of the chief Egyptian gods) are all related in that they represent the same sinful and depraved concepts that accommodate the inclinations of man’s carnal nature. In fact, the Scriptures make a spiritual connection between Moloch and Baal who represented concomitant religious systems. Moloch and Apis are related in that both had bull-like characteristics. Therefore, between the these three demon gods, it is like this: If A = B and B = C, then A = C.

To the children of Israel prior the golden calf event, YHVH Elohim was a foreign god. Having been enslaved in Egypt for several generations, they were more familiar with the Egyptian demon-god Apis, who was the resurrected demon-god Osiris. The Israelites could relate to him, for he promised freedom and prosperity without the moral or spiritual restraints of Elohim’s Torah-laws. To them, YHVH was a new deity with which they were not familiar. This is why they could so easily gravitate and worship Apis, the bull god. Moses was so angry at their defection from YHVH that he commanded the slaughter of 3000 of the worshippers of this demon-god. Furthermore, later in the Torah, YHVH forbad the worship of any and all pagan deities.

Make no mistake, these same demon-gods are alive and well on planet earth today! Satan, the archenemy of YHVH and his saints, has simply repackaged and rebranded his religious system and is marketing the same old thing as “new and improved.” A sucker is born every day. Don’t be one of them. Caveat emptor! Let the buyer beware!

Now let’s scroll forward to the Book of Revelation where we find prophesied the rise of an end times antichrist political, religious and economic system called Mystery Babylon the Great that will impose itself upon the whole world.  Chapters 13, 14, 17 and 18 of this book reveal that this system is Satanic and full of filthy abominations, and that most of the great political, religious, and business leaders will be part of this system. YHVH hates this evil system and Yeshua will destroy it at his second coming.

The point we want to make is that by having a basic understanding of the demon-gods that the ancient Israelites and the heathen nations around them worshipped and the idolatrous practices that accompanied this worship, our knowledge of past history will be a key to helping us to understand the present and the near future. Satan and his demons have not changed. Neither has the basic nature of man, which is sin-bent and rebellious against Elohim and his instructions in righteousness—his Torah-Word. Moreover, the rise of modern Babylon bears striking parallels to ancient Babylon thus reinforcing the dictum that understanding the past is they key to understanding the present and future. Therefore, when we study the end-times Babylon the Great world-ruling system in the book of Revelation with our spiritual eyes open, we will see multiple references to evil practices that are going on today, but that also occurred in the past as recorded biblically. By studying what the Bible has to say about them, it will give us an understanding of what is happening presently and what will happen in the near future.

This will help us to understand the bizarre and unbelievable events we hear, see and read about in our news headlines on a daily basis. Aspects of ancient Baal worship that are currently going on today in our world include:

• Spirit-cooking
• Worshipping Moloch at the Bohemian Grove
• The prevalence of the all-seeing eye of Lucifer in signs, symbols and logos—even on the back of the American dollar bill!
• The idea of the Illuminate—another name for a follower of Lucifer, the so-called Light Bringer.
• The rise in abortion, and groups like Planned Parenthood murdering babies and selling body parts for profit and “scientific research.”
• Human trafficking and sex slaves.
• The rising fashionability of cannibalism.
• The rise in horrific murders involving cannibalism, blood drinking and the mutilation of human and animal corpses.
• Genetic modification or genetic engineering of humans and animals along with the rise in transhumanism, and melding humans and machines into hybrid forms of life merged with artificial intelligence.
• Child pedophilia among national and international leaders.
• Human sacrifice.
• Pornography
• Celebrities’ obsession with the occult and the use of occult symbols, movies and lyrics of songs.
• The rise in and popularity of New Age religions along with mother earth worship, witchcraft, sorcery, Satanism, eastern religions and kabbalah.
• Enslavement to the nanny-state, government-mandated, socialized universal health care systems.
• Bizarre forms of mind control where the victims are programmed to follow the commands of their handlers.
• Social engineering through brainwashing the masses through government propaganda, the mainstream educational institutions, the entertainment and media complexes.
• The push to immunize all people on the planet with a toxic soup of drugs.
• Multiple personal disorders and satanic ritual abuse.
• The meteoric rise in and social acceptance of all manner of sexual perversions often referred to as LGBTQ, etc., etc.
• The rise of the antichrist and demonic religion of Islam in the West and its jihadist attacks primarily those societies that have been traditionally Jewish and Christian.
• Western governments pandering to Islam.
• Political correctness where truth (right and wrong) has been turned on its head—where good is now called evil, and black is the new white.
• The radical environmental-religious movement and earth worship. This includes the pushing by authority figures of the notions of man-made climate change. This is nothing more than another attempt to control men and to transfer wealth globally from the so-called have nations to the have-nots.
• Geo-engineering and aerosol spraying to supposedly mitigate global warming.
• The rise in popularity of “European socialism.”
• The rise of hatred and persecution against Christians and Jews.
• The war against the family, marriage and the sexes.
• Transgendered bathrooms
• CERN (the LHC or Large Hadron Collider)—the opening of spiritual portals into the demonic realm.
• The rise of the police state and government surveillance.
• The rise in statism (the government as god) and the increased dependency of citizens upon the government for everything from cradle to grave.

When the Bible is understood, many of the things in this list makes sense in light of the pagan and demonic roots from which they originate. With these things in mind, may the children of YHVH who are of the spiritual light awaken to the end times biblical prophecy that is being fulfilled around them as precursor events to the second coming of Yeshua the Messiah. Now is the time to get ready spiritually and look up, for our redemption draws near (Luke 21:28)!

The purpose of this brief study has not been to exhaustively cover the subjects of Baalism or Mystery Babylon and what the Bible has to say about them, but simply encourage you to continue to do what Yeshua instructed: to what and to pray (Mark 13:33), and to look up for the coming of Yeshua is closer than ever.

But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you. For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape. But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.  You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation. For Elohim did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Master Yeshua the Messiah, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. (1 Thess 5:1–10)