Time for a revolution?

Been doing a lot of reading and thinking recently and thought I'd share some of it with you over the next few weeks. I'm gonna start with looking at the topic of 'Babylon'.

In a lot of religions, Babylon is used in a symbolic way. What does it symbolise? Check out http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=revelation%2018;&version=51; and see what you think it symbolises. I would suggest that it's symbolic of western society/materialism/capitalism. Revelation makes for interesting reading in light of the current financial situation don't you think? Could it be that God's had enough of our greed and corruption and 'Babylon' is about to fall?

One line that stood out for me was...
"come away from her, my people. Do not take part in her sins..."

So, how do we do that? How can we seperate ourselves from this crazy money hungry, unjust, materialistic system that the western world seems to be caught up in?

Buy fair trade and local produce?
Grow our own food?
Refuse to be employed by large capitalist companies?

How do we avoid being brainwashed by media and advertising? How do we escape a financial system that seems set up to make the rich richer and the poor poorer? Is there a way we can avoid using money and go back to swapping goods and services?

I hate the money grabbing culture we have and the ethos of companies trying to make the highest profit instead of trying to do the best for their customers! I'm tired of seeing prices go up and quality go down. I love the idea of doing whatever I can to stick two fingers up at companies like Tesco! I'm tired of advertising trying to tell me that I can't live without a certain product or that I have to buy from a certain large store instead of going to local producers.

Ever seen 'A bugs life'? The grasshoppers bully the ants into getting food for them. But at the end the ants begin to realise they have more power than they thought. One of them turns around to the grasshoppers and says "we don't need you - it's you who needs us!!" If only we would realise that it's not us who needs big companies - they need us!!

We live in a culture that's motivated by greed, selfishness and materialism. But God tells us we should be motivated by love for our fellow man.

Romans 12:2 says "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."

AMEN!