Isaiah prophesied concerning the fall of literal Babylon. Literal Babylon was destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire in 536 B.C.

Isaiah 47 (NIV) "Go down, sit in the dust, Virgin Daughter of Babylon; sit on the ground without a throne, Daughter of the Babylonians. No more will you be called tender or delicate.

2 Take millstones and grind flour; take off your veil. Lift up your skirts, bare your legs, and wade through the streams.

3 Your nakedness will be exposed and your shame uncovered. I will take vengeance; I will spare no one."

4 Our Redeemer--the LORD Almighty is his name-- is the Holy One of Israel.

5 "Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.

6 I was angry with my people and desecrated my inheritance; I gave them into your hand, and you showed them no mercy. Even on the aged you laid a very heavy yoke.

7 You said, 'I will continue forever-- the eternal queen!' But you did not consider these things or reflect on what might happen.

8 "Now then, listen, you wanton creature, lounging in your security and saying to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me. I will never be a widow or suffer the loss of children.'

9 Both of these will overtake you in a moment, on a single day: loss of children and widowhood. They will come upon you in full measure, in spite of your many sorceries and all your potent spells.

10 You have trusted in your wickedness and have said, 'No one sees me.' Your wisdom and knowledge mislead you when you say to yourself, 'I am, and there is none besides me.'

11 Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity will fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom; a catastrophe you cannot foresee will suddenly come upon you.

12 "Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror.

13 All the counsel you have received has only worn you out! Let your astrologers come forward, those stargazers who make predictions month by month, let them save you from what is coming upon you.

14 Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. Here are no coals to warm anyone; here is no fire to sit by.

15 That is all they can do for you-- these you have labored with and trafficked with since childhood. Each of them goes on in his error; there is not one that can save you.

Revelation chapter 17 is a spiritual Babylon. It is Christian Organized Religion.

Revelation chapter 18 begins "After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven." This is a different Babylon. This is a figurative Babylon because in approximately 70 A.D. when John wrote Revelation, literal Babylon had already been destroyed, never to be restored, fulfilling the prophesy of Jeremiah 51:64.

Jeremiah 51:64 (NIV) Then say, 'So will Babylon sink to rise no more because of the disaster I will bring upon her. And her people will fall.'" The words of Jeremiah end here.

Revelation chapter 18 is a commercial Babylon. - It is the United States of America!

We are given fore glimpses throughout the Word of God. Literal Babylon is a fore glimpse of figurative Babylon. Literal Babylon is a fore glimpse of the United States of America. There are many similarities in literal Babylon referenced in Isaiah 47 and figurative Babylon referenced in Revelation 18.

Revelation 18 (NIV) After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor.

2 With a mighty voice he shouted: "Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.

3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say: "Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;

5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.

6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup.

7 Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, 'I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.'

8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

9 "When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her.

10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!'

11 "The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more--

12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble;

13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.

14 "They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.'

15 The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn

16 and cry out: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!

17 In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!' "Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off.

18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?'

19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!

20 Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.'"

21 Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: "With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again.

22 The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again.

23 The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray.

24 In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth."

Verse 2 "She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird."

Every newspaper in America carries daily horoscopes. Magicians are invited into homes through television, the schools, and into churches. Astrologers have been reported in the White House. Palm readers, tarot card readers, enchanters, diviners, mediums, and sorcerers are common in most cities. Fortune cookies are the lark of chinese restaurants.

Deuteronomy 18:10-12 (NIV) Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you.

2 Chronicles 33:6 (NIV) He sacrificed his sons in the fire in the Valley of Ben Hinnom, practiced sorcery, divination and witchcraft, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the LORD, provoking him to anger.

Revelation 21:8 (NIV) But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

Revelation 22:15 (NIV) Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

Verse 3 "the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."

Was there ever a nation in which this was more true?

Verse 5 "for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes."

ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST HORRIBLE SINS IS ABORTION, bringing about the demise of LAW AND ORDER!

Ecclesiastes 8:11 (NIV) When the sentence for a crime is not quickly carried out, the hearts of the people are filled with schemes to do wrong.

Certainly, no one desires interference or intrusion into their private lives by any form of government. However, we must ask ourselves if we desire a society of law and order or a society of chaos. The Los Angeles riot answers this question clearly.

How far do we allow the government to go in establishing Law and Order - What must be included in the Cardinal Rules?

MURDER - THE STEALING OF SOMEONE'S LIFE MUST BE PRIMARY!

If I take the position that to murder my child is a personal matter, can I then take the position that to murder my brother is a family matter?

Psalms 139:13-16 (NIV) For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

In Genesis chapter 4 we are given the first historical example of murder. God Almighty - the Creator, Lawgiver, Judge, Advocate, and Wonderful Counselor of all the Universe established laws pertaining to murder thereafter.

Genesis 9:5-6 (NIV) And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.

Is it lawful for a woman to involve her body with someone else and then retain complete control - murder the child because of personal inconvenience? An equivalent horror would be murder by the father because he did not desire to pay child support. The only just position is that a woman retains complete control of her own body - until she involves other people. After involvement with other people - any action impacting those involved must be agreed upon by the affected parties;

All three of them!

Psalms 127:3 (NIV) Sons are a heritage from the LORD, children a reward from him.

It has been alleged that 31 million babies have been murdered in America since Roe v. Wade. These murders continue at the rate of 1.5 million children per year. Every four year presidential term that elapses, produces the equivalent deaths that Adolph Hitler produced with all of his demonic, hate filled, destructive machinery and system. Since Roe v. Wade, every single term United States President, Supreme Court, and the Congress they worked with have equaled the total murders committed by Adolph Hitler with his legal system, judges, and subordinates. Names of killing centers that have become synonymous with terroristic murder like Auschwitz/Birkenau, Treblinka, Belzec, Majdanek, Sobibor and Chelmno have been eclipsed in their horror by the killing centers of Washington D. C., New York City, Reno, Honolulu, Los Angeles, and San Francisco. There are now more abortions annually in our nations capital than there are babies born.

Hitler, heinous in his destruction of 6 million Jews, shrinks in comparison to America - swimming in the blood of 31,000,000 of her own babies!

Genesis 4:10 reflects our plight.

Genesis 4:10 (NIV) The LORD said, "What have you done? Listen! Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground.

Numbers 35:33 (NIV) "'Do not pollute the land where you are. Bloodshed pollutes the land, and atonement cannot be made for the land on which blood has been shed, except by the blood of the one who shed it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------

On only two occasions in Biblical history have babies been specifically targeted for mass-murder:

The devil does not have Holy Spirit lead insight into the Holy Word of God, as he did not anticipate that the death of Jesus Christ on the Cross was actually the great victory of Jesus Christ. He does however, have some knowledge of spiritual matters in that he knows what the Holy Scriptures state, and has seen God work across at least six thousand years.

At the birth of Moses the devil prompted Pharoah to kill all the boy babies in order to attempt to kill the deliverer that the devil anticipated God would be sending:

Exodus 1:22 (NIV) Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

At the birth of Jesus, the devil prompted Herod to kill all the boy babies in order to attempt to kill the Deliverer that the devil anticipated God would be sending:

Matthew 2:16-18 (NIV) When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: 18 "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

And again today, in the United States, the babies are being mass-murdered!

Today, who is the devil trying to kill? It is certainly not the Anti-Christ, or False Prophet, and he knows that Jesus will not come again as a baby. The abortion issue was prompted by the devil in an attempt to kill the Two Witnesses. He missed at the birth of Moses, he missed at the birth of Jesus Christ, and without a doubt, he has missed again.

Verse 18 "Was there ever a city like this great city?"

Has there ever been another country like the United States of America?

• America brought the world into the industrialized age.
• America brought the world flight.
• America brought the world space flight.
• America brought the world into the nuclear age.
• America placed men on the moon.

Verse 19 "all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth!"

Verse 23 "Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray."

How many conflicts and wars have been fought because of the personal interests, power, and control of the military-industrial complex based in the United States? -------------------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------

There is no mention of a "King of the West" in the battle of Armageddon, or in any prophecy. America is not there. When the antichrist confirms his covenant for one "seven," he will be forced to deal with Israel because of her military power. At the time of this writing, Israel has always run under the wing of the United States. The antichrist will deal directly with Israel, not the United States, because Israel will be truly independent. The United States will have ceased to be a power in the Middle East to be reckoned with. She will retain her nuclear power until her destruction, but America has lost her moral fiber, her will, and her character. America will have lost the respect of the world.

Literal Babylon was destroyed by a coalition of Medes and Persians from the north. Figurative Babylon will be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust by a coalition of nations that will comprise "the King of the North". The "King of the North" at the Battle of Armageddon is the battered and loose alliance of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. It is Russia.

Jeremiah 50:3a (NIV) A nation from the north will attack her and lay waste her land.

Jeremiah 50:9a (NIV) For I will stir up and bring against Babylon an alliance of great nations from the land of the north.

Jeremiah 50:24 (NIV) I set a trap for you, O Babylon, and you were caught before you knew it; you were found and captured because you opposed the LORD.

Matthew 26:52 (NIV) "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him, "for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

There has only been one country in history that used the sword of nuclear weaponry on another country. It is the United States of America. The United States will retain some semblance of a society until the time of the sixth bowl of wrath, and then will be destroyed in a nuclear holocaust.

Revelation 18:8-10 (NIV) Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her. 9 "When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!'

Revelation 18:17-19 (NIV) In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!' "Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. 18 When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?' 19 They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: "'Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin! ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-------------------------------

Isaiah 13:19 (NIV) Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.

God destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah because of homosexuality (Genesis 19:1-29).

Homosexuality is a particularly detestable sin, as it violates all the law and the prophets!

Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV) Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Homosexuality is expressed hatred against God whose crowning creation is mankind. God gave humanity its highest physical interrelationship within the confines of marriage when "two become one flesh." (Matthew 19:5) God gave humanity this interrelationship physically as a pattern of what God desires with humanity spiritually. Homosexuality violates God's ultimate creation while simultaneously perverting God's ultimate physical relationship. God loves humanity so much that He gave His very own Son as a sacrifice in order to bring God and humanity together. Homosexuality is a perversion that grieves God.

Leviticus 18:22 (NIV) "'Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable.

Leviticus 20:13 (NIV) "'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10 (NIV) Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

Jude 1:5-7 (NIV) Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home--these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. 7 In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.

Isaiah 3:9 (NIV) The look on their faces testifies against them; they parade their sin like Sodom; they do not hide it. Woe to them! They have brought disaster upon themselves.

Deuteronomy 22:5 (NIV) A woman must not wear men's clothing, nor a man wear women's clothing, for the LORD your God detests anyone who does this.

Jesus Christ created man and woman to be distinctly different. Satan has been very successful in minimizing the differences. In the early 20th century, short hair on a woman was considered a sign of rebellion. In the 1970's, long hair on a man was considered a sign of rebellion. Society has now accepted this blurring of the sexes, but the rebellious message is as clear as it was when the Holy Spirit through Paul discussed it 2,000 years ago.

1 Corinthians 11:3-16 (NIV) Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God.

4 Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head.

5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head--it is just as though her head were shaved.

6 If a woman does not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair cut or shaved off, she should cover her head.

7 A man ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man.

8 For man did not come from woman, but woman from man;

9 neither was man created for woman, but woman for man.

10 For this reason, and because of the angels, the woman ought to have a sign of authority on her head.

11 In the Lord, however, woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.

12 For as woman came from man, so also man is born of woman. But everything comes from God.

13 Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?

14 Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him,

15 but that if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For long hair is given to her as a covering.

16 If anyone wants to be contentious about this, we have no other practice--nor do the churches of God.

Every directive from God is important. Violation of this directive has aided in the confusion of society. The Word of God is very clear.

Homosexuality is expressed hatred of God by the commission of the act.

Homosexuality is a debasement or hatred of self by the person committing the act.

Homosexuality is a debasement or hatred of your neighbor on whom the act is being committed.

Through homosexuality, the devil manipulates a person to violate God, violate their neighbor, and violate themselves.

With the new permissive view of homosexuality, it is not surprising that Isaiah parallels the United States of America, and Sodom and Gomorrah.

Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians' pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. Isaiah 13:19 (NIV) -----------------------------------------------------------------
----------------------------------

In addition to God's directive on the length of hair for men and women, there are other spiritual forces pressuring the way people dress. It is amazing how mankind does things with Biblical roots and does not understand why. Natural man is motivated by spiritual forces of which he is unaware.

Ephesians 6:12 (NIV) For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Deuteronomy 15:17 reveals that a hole in the ear lobe denotes slavery for life. If you have a hole in your ear lobe, you are symbolically a slave. Most symbolic slaves garnish the holes in their ear lobes, knowing no shame.

Deuteronomy 15:12-18 (NIV) If a fellow Hebrew, a man or a woman, sells himself to you and serves you six years, in the seventh year you must let him go free.

13 And when you release him, do not send him away empty-handed.

14 Supply him liberally from your flock, your threshing floor and your winepress. Give to him as the LORD your God has blessed you.

15 Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you. That is why I give you this command today.

16 But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he loves you and your family and is well off with you,

17 then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life. Do the same for your maidservant.

18 Do not consider it a hardship to set your servant free, because his service to you these six years has been worth twice as much as that of a hi . And the LORD your God will bless you in everything you do.

The descendants of Ishmael, slave son of Abraham had a tradition of holes in their earlobes:

Judges 8:24b (NIV) (It was the custom of the Ishmaelites to wear gold earrings.)

The slavery issue is a physical view of a spiritual principle that Jesus desires to teach us.

John 8:34-36 (NIV) Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

John 8:32 (NIV) Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."

John 14:6 (NIV) Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Romans 6:16-22 (NIV) Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey--whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

17 But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.

18 You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to righteousness.

19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

20 When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness.

21 What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death!

22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.

1 Corinthians 9:19 (NIV) Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.

1 Corinthians 9:21 (NIV) To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.

Galatians 5:1 (NIV) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Galatians 5:13 (NIV) You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature ; rather, serve one another in love.

Hebrews 2:14-15 (NIV) Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.

Hebrews 9:15 (NIV) For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance--now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

1 Peter 2:16 (NIV) Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God.

Psalms 142:7 (NIV) Set me free from my prison, that I may praise your name. Then the righteous will gather about me because of your goodness to me.

Psalms 146:7 (NIV) He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives food to the hungry. The LORD sets prisoners free,

Proverbs 11:21 (NIV) Be sure of this: The wicked will not go unpunished, but those who are righteous will go free.

Isaiah 42:6-7 (NIV) "I, the LORD, have called you in righteousness; I will take hold of your hand. I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people and a light for the Gentiles, 7 to open eyes that are blind, to free captives from prison and to release from the dungeon those who sit in darkness.

Romans 8:1-2 (NIV) Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

1 Corinthians 7:22-23 (NIV) For he who was a slave when he was called by the Lord is the Lord's freedman; similarly, he who was a free man when he was called is Christ's slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of men.

06/23/99