Pompeii and God's Judgement

History & Archaeology
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It may be worthwhile to watch a documentary on Pompeii. What I find most interesting about Pompeii was the graffiti and idols. People seemed to be lewd, and thinking about carnality a lot. In 70 AD, the Emperor Titus destroyed the Temple of God, and put down a Jewish revolt. In Pompeii, there were Jewish slaves, and people who may have laid eyes on Jesus. Again, there was interesting graffiti from such people. Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD.

I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

Rome, around 200 BC, it may have been “More Righteous.” Man’s righteousness is like a dirty rag to God. God as King of Kings and Lord of Lords judges cities and nations on a scale of righteousness and wickedness. Rome may have been more righteous around 200 BC, when they were winning wars against Carthage and expanding. The people of Nineveh were objectively wicked. (Ezekiel 16:48-52) Nineveh was a city in Assyria whom God sent Prophet Jonah to.

Was the city of Pompeii objectively wicked, with slaves taken from Judea, potentially Christians whom saw Jesus?

About 150 years or so prior to Pompeii, there was a major gladiator uprising around Mount Vesuvius. That would be the uprising of Spartacus. Were the well-to-do people around the region, objectively wicked, and Spartacus was like a plague to them?

Given there was a hurricane that cleaned up New Orleans, was there objectively wicked people, particularly well-to-do people who became lawyers, politicians, businessmen, and so on, were they objectively wicked?

There has been a fire burning Los Angeles. Were the people of Los Angeles, particularly the people who tend to be in charge, people of authority, were they objectively wicked?

God creates the good and the evil. He creates the calamity. Given men would like Good things of God, they follow the words of Jesus Christ. Given they would like bad things and misery, they reject righteousness and reject God.

He who sows of the flesh sows destruction. What were the people of Pompeii doing? Their graffiti paints a picture.

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I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things. (Isaiah 45:7)

Man is the head, woman the neck turning the head. Man is a decision maker, woman an influencer. She helps man make decisions.

Previously: Allegories Between Faith and Marriage on Crosswalk Forums.

The Song of Songs is in the Bible as a representation of God’s love for Israel or the Church. How were the Churches or The Greater Church, how was it influencing God? Was the Church doing right, and building the Kingdom of God? Did the Church reject righteousness which is a rejection of God.

Husband and wife are discussing where to go out to eat. They are planning to go to a restaurant for dinner. Husband asks his wife “Where would you like to eat?” She says “I don’t know.” She says “I don’t know” a lot when asked such things. She may have been testing her husband. She wanted him to make the right decision.

But I want you to know that the head of every man is Christ, the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. (1 Corinthians 11:3)

In areas of wisdom and understanding, it may have been wise for a man to say “I don’t know,” like Socrates. A man who thought he knew, he may have been suffering from Hubris.

Man is the head, woman the neck turning the head. Does someone disagree? That someone may have been more of one mind with Marxist Betty Friedan, and her “Feminist Mystique” published in 1963, than God fearing Christians. Someone in disagreement, they may have been blind and deaf to God, leading mankind into Intelligent Design traps. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, there was a sexual revolution where Universities became more known for debauchery than higher learning. He who sows of the flesh sows destruction.

Who were you “More of One mind” with? (Philippians 2:2) People who hate God and hate righteousness or God fearing Christians?

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Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. (Galatians 6:8)

There may be a few different facets of Galatians 6:8, where someone is not wrong. Let us explore a facet of.

Conceptual Bible Study - Heart of Stone vs Circumcision of the Heart

There are a lot of interesting concepts that run through the Bible, through multiple authors. These concepts are succinct. This could be a long post. I am going to show you some verses, and gives some context.

  • I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26)
  • For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them. 16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.

God is love. (1 John 4:8) God’s love is forever. Young people, they tend to think about marriage a lot, or things associated with marriage…like sex. How do they think about it? It is healthy to appreciate beauty. It is may be healthy to think about marriage and be curious. Given someone was thinking about using people outside of marriage, in sin, that separates someone from God. Someone with a Heart of Stone may have loved and lost…a lot…like someone in hook up culture at college, or someone who had a lot of wicked friends in high school. In the Bible, pagans near Israel were prostituting young girls in Baal Worship. These things may have developed a Heart of Stone…like the Rolling Stones song by Kabbalist Mick Jagger.

Having Eyes to See and Ears to Hear is a major theme in the Bible. (Ezekiel 12:2)(Proverbs 20:12)(Isaiah 42:7) Have you ever heard that masturbation makes you go blind? For a young man, learning about how to look at girls, given he was lusting after girls, that separates him from God’s fatherly love. He may have become blind and deaf in sin.

  • Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you people of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, or my wrath will flare up and burn like fire because of the evil you have done— burn with no one to quench it. (Jeremiah 4:4)
  • But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God. (Romans 2:29)

A man was around 30 years old. He had loved and lost. He had been in hook up culture. Life had been rough in his 20’s. He became callused. Said man, he starts seeking God with all his heart and soul and strength and mind. He had been baptized. He loves The Lord Jesus Christ. One day, said man feels suddenly like a New Born child. Stimuli, like tv and movies or music, he had been hardened against, they suddenly affect him like he was a child. He felt like he was experiencing everything for the very first time. He had a circumcision of the heart.

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Luke 21:11
And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

“Firestorms?” Yes, we are receiving warnings too, and here is mine.

WARNING: TURN OR BURN
Everything you do, everywhere you go, the doors are opening to a place you do not know. The gates of hell open wide before you and devils call your name, turn left or right, try to go backwards, but no, there in their hell you shall remain. The snares that you laid will lay hold on you, as fears untold become real before you. The voices of your fears that you can not keep quiet will ring in your ears as you swim in your vomit, unforgiven, one with the evil and darkness within, you once called right, but you knew was sin, all hope slips away, regret and anguish take hold and stay, forever. In pain, no one will hear you crying, for a drop of rain to ease your thirst undying. There you will lie in the depths of the slaughter, gnaw your tongue in the sides of the pit without water, as you breathe in the rottenness and stench of sulfur, and demons have all their way with you forever. The worms that consume you without end will be your only death-long friends. You will try to remember your time of pleasure, but find only remorse in place of memories that you treasure.

THE REALITY OF HELL IS MUCH WORSE THAN THIS, AND IT SIMPLY SHOULD NOT BE DISMISSED. SCREAMS OF HORROR DESCRIBE IT SO MUCH BETTER. STILL DON’T BELIEVE? ALRIGHT, GO, AND DROP ME A LETTER, LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU RECEIVE, WAIT NO, YOU CAN’T YOU’RE IN FETTERS, AND YOU’VE BEEN DECEIVED! MAYBE YOU SHOULD START PRACTICING YOUR SCREAMS RIGHT NOW? OR YOU COULD JUST REPENT, I’LL SHOW YOU HOW, ON YOUR FACE, IN THE DUST YOU MUST BOW NOW! DUST FROM WHICH YOU CAME AND SHALL SOON RETURN. TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION, CRY FOR MERCY, TURN OR BURN. LET YOUR TEARS FLOW LIKE RIVERS, AND CONFESS ALL YOUR SINS. IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE YOU’LL ABIDE IN HIM, AND BE ETERNALLY FOREVER HIS CHILD. TURN TO GOD LITTLE ONE AND YOU’LL SEE HIS FACE SMILE.

CRY OUT ALOUD TO THE LORD JESUS CHRIST RIGHT NOW! HE’LL SAVE YOU FROM YOUR SINS, EVEN THOUGH YOU DON’T KNOW HOW.

The judgment of the Lord has already begun, and it goes something like this. Hear his voice little one and do not resist. Now he knocks on the door and he brings you a letter, open up invite him in and you’ll feel so much better. If you leave him outside in the cold this time, he’ll be back before you know it and not with a rhyme. The angels will come in great streams of fire pouring down from above and your situation will be dire. Washed away in the flood of his rain you will be forever lost eternally. A rain that will bless his people for sure, open up take the cup and drink deeply my word. The blessing and the curse I set before you this day, choose now little one whom you shall obey. TIME IS NOT ON YOUR SIDE, CONSIDER YOURSELF WARNED, WHO SHALL YOU SERVE THIS DAY?

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I would be in agreement. God’s Judgement has started.

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Hi,
I would disagree. Natural phenomenon happens throughout history. Earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions occur all over the world. When they happen in a crowded space, some people tend to believe the destruction is somehow the wrath of God.

In the last major event that happened because of God, all but eight people died.

In Revelation 6, there are the four horsemen of the apocalypse. The pale horse of death is task with killing 1/4 of the world’s population. At today’s population, that would be some 2,000,000,000 people. If you removed every man, woman, and child from Europe, North America, South America, and Oceana (people living on island countries), you would be around 2,000,000,000, That is the destruction that occurs when God allows catastrophy.

Blessings

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God controls everything.

War Famine and Plague are something that has happened throughout history. (Ezekiel 5:12)

Someone like Cyrus the Great of Persia, he was God’s first Horseman, a conqueror. He was prophesied in Isaiah 45. He came with three stressors of War, Famine, and Plague.

Similarly, The Aztecs were a wicked people who practiced human sacrifice, and other abominations similar to, but different than, the people of Canaan, as Israel entered the promised land. Hernan Cortez, he was a conqueror. He came with three stressors of war, famine, and plague. Reading the story of Hernan Cortez, the character of the conflict with the Aztecs looks a lot like warfare in the Bible. Reading a US Middle School History book, a few years ago, depending on the state, the history book may actually say something like “Hernan Cortez conquered the Aztecs in the name of Jesus Christ.” This often has a Marxist revision to it, where “Hernan Cortez slaughter indigenous people in the name of The Lord Jesus Christ.” Hernan Cortez would be God’s First Horsemen.

God controls everything. What happens behind closed doors? Sometimes, the wickedness of people, it may have been hidden. It may have been hidden in lies of that time sort of like how people lied about COVID and Biden’s mental acuity. It may have been hidden in historical revisionism. The real history may have been lost. God is constant. Flowers wither and grass grows, the Word of our Lord lasts forever.

Those with ears to hear, listen to what spirit is saying to the Churches. Can you read the signs of the times? Nothing new happens under the sun.

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Psalms 17:12-15
12 Like as a lion that is greedy of his prey, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places.
13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:
14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy hid treasure: they are full of children, and leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
15 As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

Here David recognizes that the wicked, and men of the world are the sword, and the hand of the Lord. Just as Christ told them they couldn’t have any power over him unless it was given by the Father.
John 19:11
Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

The idea that the “natural disasters” are not connected with God’s judgment is a new one. Nevertheless it is clear in the scriptures that people don’t accidentally die.

Matthew 10:28-31
28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
29 Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
30 But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
31 Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

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With David, it is important to remember how he is special and anointed. David is “He whom God disciplines with the rods of men.” (2 Samuel 7:14) David took the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sinned. Later, due to David sin, there was disorder in his household, and civil war. That would be God disciplining David with the rods of men.

David is special.

In a different way, God as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, judging The Nations, he has used pagans and non-believers to bring his judgement.

  • God used Assyria to bring his judgement on Israel.
  • God used Babylon to bring his judgement on Judah.
  • God used Cyrus the Great of Persia to bring his Judgement on Babylon. (Isaiah 45)

God has used pagans and non-believers to bring his judgement.

Muhammad is a false prophet, and Islam is a cult. God may have used Islam to bring his judgement on Eastern Rome, and others, from time to time.

In the 19th Century, there was a lot of Occultism going on in Europe’s Nobility. Vladmir Rasputin would be an example of an Orthodox Heretic who was given a lot of authority in the Russian Empire. Did God use Communism to bring his Judgement? There may have been an institutionalization of corruption within the Monarchy and Nobility of the Russian Empire. God used Communism to bring his judgement.

David is different, and special in prophecy, potentially relating to Jeremiah 30, and other prophecy.

Could God bring his Judgement on The Wicked through Christians, believers in God, like in Jude?

Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about them: “See, the Lord is coming with thousands upon thousands of his holy ones 15 to judge everyone, and to convict all of them of all the ungodly acts they have committed in their ungodliness, and of all the defiant words ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These people are grumblers and faultfinders; they follow their own evil desires; they boast about themselves and flatter others for their own advantage. (Jude 1:14-16)

Yes. This could happen as well. Israel bringing God’s Judgement on a wicked Canaanite people, the character of that is different from God using Babylon to bring his Judgement on Judah.

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In September of 2024 tropical storm Yagi hit the Philippines killing 20-30 people mostly in landslides. It went on to become super Typhoon Yagi killing 600+ people in its tour of Asia through China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar. Most of these people seem to have been buried alive in landslides as the storm made a strange loop through Asia. Let’s look at the major religions of that area.
Philippines are about 85% Catholic.
China 75% folk religion.
Thailand 95% Buddhist.
Myanmar about 90% Buddhist is interesting in that it is one of the countries where “blasphemy” is illegal. You are actually required to carry a government issued card declaring your religion. It is illegal to speak against anyone’s god. They were among the hardest hit.
Let’s not forget that we just passed the Dec. 26th Boxing Day tsunami anniversary that killed 230,000 people 20 years ago, in mostly Islamic countries.
To brush these things off as accidental is difficult at best, we should be praying for them to repent and find Christ.

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The Question: How does God control his Judgement or control everything?

God controls everything, to include Earthquakes and Volcanoes and Hurricanes and so forth. Given we are talking about God’s Judgment of War, Famine and Plague…

Common sense comes from God. Given men were rejecting righteousness, and rejecting God, their thoughts became foolish. Foolishness is a particular thing in the Bible. I used to be on Reddit. I would talk to people about God there. Talking about God authoritatively, I would find people who were The Form of a Fool. Given we internet search “Fool and Bible Concordance” we may be able to find a lot of Bible verses describing foolishness. Sometimes, talking about God, I would find someone in The Form of a Fool, like they were displaying a character that fit into all the Bible verses about foolishness without even trying.

Given men rejected God, their thoughts became foolish. They were darkness, on a slippery slope into God’s Judgement. God is slow to anger. God would like repentance. God takes no pleasure in his judgement. In a rejection of righteousness, and a rejection of God, it may have been like dominoes falling towards God’s Judgement.

  • God hardened pharaoh’s heart. (Exodus 7:13)
  • A spirit volunteered to deceive. (1 Kings 22:22)
  • God took the King of Babylon’s sanity. (Daniel 4:31-33)
  • Part of Spiritual Warfare has been a war of words, a war of thoughts. (2 Corinthians 10:5)

Thought has a lot to do with spirits. A thought may have been like a seed. Someone who thought about something too much may have given root.

Given people were rejecting God, there was an absence of God, where God allowed certain spirits.

God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Seventeen year old young man, he would like his dad’s car keys for the weekend. God could harden a heart where dad says “No.” Dad could be in a joyful mood, like Scrooge at the end of a “A Christmas Carol,” and say “Yes.”

Spirits have a lot to do with thought.

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Given someone can hear the voice of God, they may be able to hear “Things Not God” as well. Like demons.

He may have to pray unceasingly, or sing songs in his head.

I am aware of Spiritual things being a Spiritual Man. Prior to working for God, I was on autopilot. With God, I am coming closer to 100% of Intelligent Design, or, at least as close as God will allow in God’s plan for me until Kingdom comes to completion.

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How can someone learn to talk to God as I do?

There is “The More Right Way” and “The Hard Knocks of Life Way.”

There are various traditions of Christian Asceticism where someone may have gone through periods of fasting and isolation and prayer, seeking God. It is hard to find, at this time, a place that teaches Christian Asceticism, that has the correct chain of command, where someone is mentored into talking to God. Monasteries like Mount Athos may be getting someone closer to it. Being under Orthodoxy, there are issues with authority.

Still, someone who was dedicated, they could manage on their own, seeking God, finding God, and listening to God’s Holy Spirit. God is love. God’s love is fatherly. God has good plans.

I did the Hard Knocks of Life Way, where I was a prodigal son, hating my life in my late 20’s. I was a US Army Veteran, and I drank a lot, alone. God is long suffering. Through our trials, we may be coming closer to God. (James 1:2-4) I had trials that helped bring me closer…when I found God, I was on the fast track. I was fortunate, and was called by God.

It takes mental toughness and discipline. It is not a game. Transformational. Someone is all in. There is no luke-warmness. Doing something like that alone, it may be hard to stay consistent, and not give up. Given it was easy, anyone could do it.

Given God talks to someone, follow directions. I don’t know. I don’t care. Be teachable.

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Try as I might-- I’m unable to follow your ‘logic.’

You post this in the History and Archeology section of the Forum and while you begin with a flair at the gladiator rebellion and subsequent Battle of Vesuvius led by Spartacus at 70BC, I’m not seeing how this relates to the volcanic eruption in 79AD, nevermind how it relates to the hurricane in New Orleans or the fires burning this week in Los Angeles.

You think that graffiti is the connection?

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I didn’t link a documentary. It is not hard to find one on YouTube. You didn’t do your homework? It isn’t hard.

Given I was to walk into an Elementary School, go to the 5th Grade bathroom in Los Angeles, would a man find graffiti, and what exactly would a man find?

I am certified teacher. I am pretty sure of exactly what type of graffiti I would find regardless of what major city in the US I was in. I am going to find similar lewdness to graffiti at Pompeii?

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I just went Google searching for the lewd graffiti of Chicago in 1871 when 17,000 buildings burned and 300 people lost their lives.

Do you have a link?

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That logic doesn’t follow. What kind of pictures were you hoping to find exactly from 1871?

Lets stick with Pompeii and things happening now. Pompeii is “Frozen in Time” by volcanic ash.

I am aware of a lot of Prostitution and Wickedness that had been going on in Chicago around 1870.

Link: The Digital Research Library of Illinois History Journal™ : The History of Chicago's "Red-Light" Vice Districts. [PG-13]

Were girls being enslaved, and “broken” to become prostitutes there? That kind of stuff didn’t stop…Hugh Hefner learned some of his trade from living in Chicago.

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lol… okay. Have a good day Manonfire63.

Maybe you are aware of a big graffiti problem in the 3 MILLION acres of Montana, Idaho and Washington that burned back in 1910… previously undocumented, but maybe “you are aware.”

When the ridiculous becomes the sublime-- I’m happy to exit the conversation.

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Don’t project your ridiculousness on me.

Pompeii was frozen in time. The idols and the graffiti paint a picture of what was going on there. Again, you obviously didn’t do your homework. You are trying to leverage by being ridiculous.

You inserted your ego into the conversation. Get your ego out.

Bye.

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And… let’s get it back to Pompeii please.

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