THE BIBLICAL ROME IN THE POSTMODERN ERA – XXI CENTURY
FROM INTERNET TO ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND ROBOTS
THEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE CONTINUATION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
© Carlos Padilla – November 2024
This is the last delivery of the series about the Biblical Rome, that Roman Empire which once was and that will be the end of time according to the prophecy of the prophet Daniel, from the dream of Nebuchadnezzar about the statue of gold, silver, bronze and clay which symbolizes the 4 great empires which have a relationship with the people of God, whether Israel or the Church. Babylon, Media-Persia, Greece, and Rome.
The theological history of the continuation of the Roman Empire during the times between the fall of Rome in 476 A.D. until the end of time and how it gradually converts into the mystical Babylon of Revelation 17 and 18 has been a journey from its continuation as Byzantium, as the Christian kingdoms of the Middle Ages, the Renaissance until the Enlightenment, and later as influential part of the world and European institutions in the Industrial Reformation until Internet, of the Contemporary Era. Now we will finish with the relationship of the Biblical Rome and the era of Internet, the digital life, and the robotic, in the Postmodern Era, and the following transmodernism, the last frontier of the human decay before the second coming of Yahshua – Jesus Christ who will put an end to this world (2 Peter 3), and will begin a new one, a new creation, with new heavens and new earth, where who loves God in Christ will have access, through faith, to the Kingdom of God for eternity. ¿Will you be in the Kingdom of God? Keep reading…
THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE POSTMODERN EUROPE AND ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH ISRAEL
As we have been saying, Israel is a reality as an estate only since 1948, and it is because it is needed for the fulfilment of the eschatological prophecies, those of the end times, because it is a promise of God to Israel. Now, if in the times of modernism they received the surprise of their return to existence after almost 2000 years, and almost no body, except those believers in the Bible and not all, believed they could see Israel in their Promised Land, in the Holy Land again, neither in the postmodern era they would expect to see them in conflict with all the nations, and with many Jews believing in Jesus Christ as the Messiah, those called Messianic. This the panorama with which the Biblical Rome finds herself with respect to Israel.
The relationship between both is on the one side liked to the belonging of both to the UN, as we have been pointing out, Israel as a member nation, and the Biblical Rome through the Vatican, as an observer state. The Biblical Rome has a relationship today with the world government, and speculation has been done with several options like, that the Vatican would move to the much desired Jerusalem, with the construction of a Christian Temple on Temple Mount, next to the Third Temple and the Dome of the Rock, to keep peace between Israelis and Palestinians, and as the confirmation that Jerusalem is the capital of the three cultures, of the three religions, as excuse.
THE HISTORICAL INFLUENCE OF POSTMODERNISM AND THE DIGITAL LIFE IN THE BIBLICAL ROME AND VICE VERSE
Globalism, a unique government, the Antichrist, the agenda 2030, are several paradigms which make a current panorama for the time in which these lines are written, where every person who has access, lives in some way connected to the digital life, the majority from their mobile phone. In a world with a relativist and secularist mentality, online religion tries to compensate the diminishing of the physical congregation. In the same way relativism grows in the mind due to the excess of information, a priori contradictory about the truth of everything, but that once we investigate in the sources we can check that the truth is there, whether historical, scientific, political or religious. Even though the Biblical Rome continues trying to influence the world, from institutions such as the UN or the Vatican, the access to the truth is available, and it makes that “everyone who asks, receives” (Matthew 7:8). And this would be, from here, the message to the present generation, maybe the last, to not conform with the information that arrives from the mass media, but to maintain a critical thinking and seek the truth, because: “If you abide in My Word you are My disciples indeed; and you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32).
The digital experience has flooded the human mind in all who have access to it. It has affected and gained ground in an deafening way to the Biblical Rome, to the Church, to the religion, which ever of them, and of course to society in all fields of daily life. But we have also benefited, for it is not a bad influence when it is used adequately and with a good purpose, whether on studies, or at work, in relationships, in entertainment, and in life in general. The problem is when people confuse this digital experience with the essence of life; where are the limits of what is real? Is the digital unreal because it’s not physical? There are other fields where they are experimenting with the digital experience like the interaction of humanoid robots, which no doubt will be part of our daily coexistence, in the tasks at home, at the office, in the factory, in the industry, in the supermarket, in the restaurant, in security like policemen, soldiers, they will drive our autonomous cars, surely planes, trains, in surgery theatres. Humanoid robots are already a reality for many who coexist with them, and these people are pioneers for the rest of humanity. C-3PO or R2-D2 from Star Wars, the NS-5 from I Robot, and many others, are no longer science fiction, they are arrived.
Postmodern art, for example, abandons the established, it departs from modernism and it focuses in experimenting, the mix of the abstract and the so called conceptual art, for many the expression of an unstable mind of a world of nonsense, but much of this art is virtual, digital. We could say that this era calls art to any artistic proposal, a kind of idolatry of art, even though it does not offer a work with design and intrinsic beauty. Precursor, Walhol and the pop art. Today works of other artists exposed in the Guggenheim museum, are examples. Some comment that postmodernism at last has disappeared in art; and now what? Graffiti in the streets, and digital art, 3D and virtual. Digital works are sold already and expensive. Artificial Intelligence is already generating works of art. Digital art; we return to the digital experience.
Postmodern architecture mixes contemporary style with functionality and sustainability. Sustainable houses and buildings, as the environment is primary as well as energy efficiency, greatly influenced by the movement and business of climate change, even if it is a reality. The architectural design generated by a computer and AI also takes us at this point to digital world.
Postmodern philosophy in the XXI century it faces new movements of thinking which emanate from the digital world, from the online life, which could be called techno philosophy. Will we get to study the philosophy to which super computers with AI come up with? A new current of thought is the so called “new realism” and one of its philosophers is Markus Gabriel, who develops the idea that the world does not exist, but a reality that we can know exists and is independent. Philosophy, despite fashions and new movemente will continue to have Theology as its measuring rod in ethics, especially in a relativist and postmodern world.
The digital and virtual Church has changed the experience and the communities of faith. But not all is negative, for in times of Covid, many of us participated of the virtual congregation, the community via internet, of virtual preaching. Many believers don’t find a church where they live but they do through internet and they attend to religious services via internet. The digital and virtual religion have arrived to stay, as in many other fields, combining its advantages with the in person experience, sharing daily life, ministry, and the Lord in worship, as the Psalm 133 says: “Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity…”
This is the last Study of this series, and it has allowed us to know what is happening in the XXI century in the Church, how does postmodernism affect the faith, on the one side, and on the other to the Biblical, religious, mystical and symbolical Rome, which is exposed inside many branches of Christianity, including protestant denominations, but especially in Catholicism, which adapt and camouflage as chameleons, adopting currents of though and cultural movements, as long as they do not lose members, clients, partners, those who provide money for their maintenance, despite the deviation, abandonment a heresy of changing the Gospel, for another similar message, but that accepts society and its cultural currents on fashion.
We could conclude this chapter talking about depression, which now begins at young ages, 15 years, in large part of the teenage population, instead of 30 years, according to studies published in the National Institute of Health of the US, and it happens that the social world panorama in this globalized world to which all have access, is not very motivating. The hipersexualisation of the western society or the seeking of the healing of the soul and of the mind through yoga or the eastern practices, instead of in God, in Jesus Christ, in the Church, are part of the relativist and nihilist tendency of the postmodern era, that same one which produces depression in young ages, especially in the youth with access to social media, to a digital experience which separates them from a healthy life, sports, arts and from seeking the purpose of their lives.
Personal relationships, of with family, in business, and a long etc. exist in many cases thanks to the digital experience, that which enriches relationships in a virtual way, be because they are at distance, or for facility of communication, or for being able to share with a group, with family, at work, with the Church, at the same time, any day and at any hour. Definitely, the postmodern and digital culture affects life in all its facets, to faith, to the Church, including the Biblical, mystical and symbolical Rome, which is represented by the Roman Catholicism from the Vatican and the European Union together with the United Nations, and finally affects the traditional values that where once embraced. Digital money, digital bank, digital business, digital shopping. Few experiences remain that are not digital, like food and those experiences of the senses that are only possible between people, love.
Other Studies about postmodernism and Christianity:
POSTMODERNISM AND CHRISTIANISM
POSTMODERNISM IN SPAIN AND OUR CHURCH
PROPHECY OF THE CONTINUATION OF THE BIBLICAL ROME IN THE POSTMODERN ERA
Much has been speculated about a resurrection of the Roman Empire, meaning an empire that will again have authority over all nations of the Mediterranean, including Israel, and that will remain in the end times, after the fall of the European Union. A speculation which implies that fall of the European Union, or a change of it as we know it, and in fact now the European Union does not count with much approval. Or will it be possible that the capital of the EU would go from Brussels to Rome? And talking about Romans, the recent report from Mario Dragui on how to save the European Union, is based in economy and immigration, but it does not go deeper into the historical-cultural roots, nor in the spirit and the soul of Europe, and having left aside its essence, the forecast is not very motivating. But the truth is that the Biblical Rome has been present during about 2000 years as the Roman Empire first, then as the Byzantium Empire, then as the Sacred Roman Empire and the European kingdoms until the constitution of the United Nations, and of the European Union, and it will be in relationship with Israel and the Church until the coming of Christ, according to the prophecy of Daniel.
And the fact is that the European Union is not competitive, cannot compete with the US or with China, which is manufactures better, with more quality and design, cheaper, faster, even innovating, while the EU is blocked with bureaucracy, taxes, cannot cover what had promised workers, social security and pensions, and it is like a beast with many heads which do not come to agreement. The world has changed and Europe cannot sustain itself, the US only remains as an arms providing power, can neither compete if it does not change its politics, and is already weak as a moral reference it once was, Bible in hand, although it is still sending Christian missionaries and humanitarian aid to the world. Only the fulfilment of the times and of the Biblical prophecies will reveal to us how they will fulfil; but what it is true, is that they will, and we are living it, sometimes without being conscious.
On the other hand, we cannot ignore another of the warnings given to us by the Word of God about the end of time, and it is the character of man, and of society, of the world in the last days, and how the man of sin is shown, the son of perdition, which we can read of in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. In this chapter, the apostle Paul reveals to us that the coming of the Lord Yahshua – Jesus Christ and our gathering with Him, will be preceded by the apostasy, in which that man of sin and son of perdition will be manifested, he who opposes and raises against all that is called God or is worshiped; so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.
But it continues saying that the ministry of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming. The coming of the lawless one is according to the working of Stan with all power, signs and lying wonders.
Now, if we interpret that who at present restrains is the Roman Empire, some who see it this way believe that we are talking about the rapture of the Church, which only fits in the premilenil pre-tribulationist view. But if we see it from the Preterism, the papacy was about to be revealed with great power, signs and lying wonders, false miracles, which occurred, as history can witness, during about 1500 years, since the political Roman Empire of the Caesars fell, and was “taken away” and has been, and is the papacy which remains in its place.
Finally, if the Biblical Rome is represented today, in part, by the Vatican, it should be evident to all that the papacy has remained even more if it possible more deviated from the sane Doctrine, further from the Bible, which is difficult in fact. Well, but the last thing we have recently seen, has been the ecumenical encounter of religions, not of Christian Churches, an ecumenism which accepts everything, and which dedicates to promote the unity of religions as an NGO of world morality. It no longer preaches that the way of Salvation is Jesus Christ and that without Christ there is no salvation, instead on the contrary it respects all the other divinities, warships, idolatries, or philosophies that humanity produced in a way like the Tower of Babel.
Another one of the signs of the end times, is a church that calls itself Christian but which prostitutes itself with other religions and which is part of a world entity which rules over all nations called UN “United Nations Organization”, which many would want it to govern the world, and where the Vatican is as a supervisor state, and that for maintaining that religious ecumenism cannot represent Jesus Christ, for it is far from His Words: “I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6.
The Biblical Text of Revelation in the chapters 17 and 18 exposes a Mystical Babylon who makes commerce with all, with every one, and even with the souls of men. In fact, and touching on the matter of the digital era, the Mark of the Beast 666 could be digital, as many speculate. However it may be, it is an amalgam of powerful system of government which permeates everything but which will fall by God’s judgment which not only can be seen in the heretical doctrine and theology of Roman Catholicism, but also in many Protestant Churches, and in other denominations which could be included in that Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots, and if it is mother, is because it has daughters. Most of them, or at least in part, have prostituted themselves, and still do, with the political power, and change their doctrine as the law changes with the social fashions not to lose their clients financial donors, offering a false saintly coverage to those who want to pretend a certain moral and ethic under a recognized organism, but all of them will be destroyed in the coming of Jesus Christ and thrown in the lake of fire, with their loyal lovers believers of the lie.
“Come out of her, My people…” says the Lord in Revelation 18:4, and despite the very good social works that these churches do, like the Catholic Charities, the convents and elderly homes, and nuns hospices, the Salvation Army, and many works of missionaries with a big heart for God and for the neighbour, and in which we can all participate, and this way they can become part of the blessed of the Parable of the Judgment to the Nations, Matthew 25, but the false doctrines and deviations must be left apart, in indeed we do love God, even though it may mean to leave those churches, because many Catholics and Protestants who love God cannot leave the lie, but God has given us the Bible and the Holy Spirit who guides us to the truth. For all this, all of us Christians, whether or not part of a denomination, we must look at us in the mirror of the Word of God so that our hearts are for God and not be ourselves slaves of the mystical Babylon, but servants of Christ.
THE POSTMODERN RELATIVIST NIHILIST AND DIGITAL SPIRIT
The postmodern current of thought is first of all relativist, that which we have seen that does not seek truth because it has surrendered to the disinformation and does not make an effort to look for original and reliable sources, that which abandons itself to deceit, it ends up taking man to cover up his situation of desolation in a life without purpose and without faith in eternal life in the Kingdom of God, and it does to giving himself to pleasures, to nihilism, lying himself in the idea that there will be no consequences to his actions, nor here, nor in eternity. The spirit of the digital life which pushes to put it before real life, is the perfect ally of relativism and nihilism, because through digital media uses the disinformation and the “infoxication” to direct society to where it wants to go, because that society which no longer cares for seeking the truth, is easily manipulated and influenced. We see it in politics, how population is manipulated with populism. We see it in children’s education, how history and truth is being changed, according with the ideology on duty.
The result is that a vast part of society has lost the faith, the hope, and looks to the message of the Gospel with mistrust, which we must expose with creative ways, adapted to the present mental situation, but without altering the truth of the message, for is the only one which brings hope and salvation, for this life and for eternal life, through the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). The Way to God, to the salvation of our souls for eternity, to happiness, to hope, to true love. The absolute Truth prophetically fulfilled and demonstrated. Eternal life in God’s paradise, in a new creation, new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17-19 & 2 Peter 3:13-14), life in full here and now in faith and power in the Holy Spirit.
The conclusion to which we can arrive is that postmodernism tried to impose a relativism which once analyzed falls by its own wait. Christianity counts in its favour with the more solid fundaments of truth: the cosmological argument against the objection of naturalism; the argument of design against the objection of Darwinism and macro evolutionism; the ontological argument against the objection of atheism and agnosticism, and the moral and ethical argument, against relativism and nihilism.
Truth exists and is Jesus Christ, in Whom is redemption and salvation, and only in Him, not in any religious or moral practice which man can achieve, because he always fails and sins. The hope of eternal life after resurrection or the rapture are a real Biblical hope. The Gospel of Salvation, eternal life in the Kingdom of God is available for everyone who believes. Biblical Theology is Word of God inspired and prophetical, which implies that it has fulfilment and therefore, the possibility to know God exists, through Yahshua – Jesus Christ. DO YOU KNOW JESUS CHRIST? You can read about how to know Him in this link.
The digital world, artificial intelligence, Internet, robots, and technology are not evil for themselves, but we must know their limits and that they are tools for the blessing of human life, for the glory of God, not for a transmodern life in which man has a relationship with machines, like the idea of a digital pastor from artificial intelligence, it isolates and seeks to perpetuate in an artificial form. God has already offered to us eternal life, and His plan is better than ours, as it has already been demonstrated by the failure of society and the world, full of injustice, evil and suffering. The Holy Spirit in us gives us the capacity, the authority and the power to dominate the technology, to dominate the spirit of the digital world, to beat the relativism of the weak mind, and the nihilism of the weak flesh. The Holy Spirit teaches us all the truth and prophecies (John 16:13).
Many are impacted by spiritual revivals, because the Lord is not attached to eras, fashions or tendencies, but in His great love for us opens the hearts by the Spirit when the minds have been deceived and the consciences cauterized, so that the human soul thrills in the presence of God, something that does not depend on rationalism, nor on philosophy, nor on the digital experience, but on the Spirit of God in our spirit.
CONCLUSION
We live in a digital world, with digital art, architecture and digital design, study of university careers online, personal relationships online, online banks; the life of the digital experience. In that digital life we can find the Gospel of Salvation and a Church, but the real and physical experience is the purpose of the Creator when He made Adam and Eve to form a family, real children and relationships, that today can be benefited of the support of the digital era, but not replace them.
The Biblical Rome, in any of its versions, whether as the Roman Empire, or as the apostate Church, or as a political and ecumenical power, and its prophetically imposed relationship with Israel, which has come to exist again as a nation in the Promised Land, from the beginning of Rome in times of Jesus, until the coming of the Messiah Yahshuaa, Yeshua, Jesus Christ. That Rome, cannot offer man the hope or the salvation for eternal life, because it demands to submit to the lie and deceit, and imposes a false law which slaves its followers in rituals, practices and false lies. The Kingdom of God is among us because Christ lives and His Holy Spirit dwells in the believer. The Kingdom of God is also to come definitely in a cosmic way for eternity, putting an end to this world of suffering, injustice and evil.
The hope of the resurrection of those who believe, and in the second coming of Christ, provide a much greater sense of life than which is offered by postmodernism and its atheism, without knowing truth, nor anything solid, but a great uncertainty which drives many to lose hope in their life, to which that same system offers euthanasia and abortion, a total evil plan which disdains human life under relativism, to finish with man and his hope of eternal life. But when the Spirit of God touches our spirit, the spiritual experience is greater than the digital experience and the virtual world: “And this is the will of He who has sent Me: That everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him, may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day,” John 6:40. Amen.
Links to the previous Studies of this series, about the continuation of the Biblical Rome in the different historical eras, from the fall of Rome until the end:
ROME – BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE
BYZANTIUM – BIBLICAL AND THEOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE BYZANTINE EMPIRE OR ROMAN EMPIRE OF THE EAST
