Leave While You Can

I have been contemplating the mess the US is in--culturally, religiously, economically. "Leaving" the mess behind is certainly good advice from the prophet John in Revelation 18, here from The Message version of the Bible:

Get out, my people, as fast as you can,
    so you don’t get mixed up in her sins,
    so you don’t get caught in her doom.
Her sins stink to high Heaven;
    God has remembered every evil she’s done.
Give her back what she’s given,
    double what she’s doubled in her works,
    double the recipe in the cup she mixed;
Bring her flaunting and wild ways
    to torment and tears.
Because she gloated, “I’m queen over all,
    and no widow, never a tear on my face,”
In one day, disasters will crush her—
    death, heartbreak, and famine—
Then she’ll be burned by fire, because God,
    the Strong God who judges her,
    has had enough.

Maybe at the Olympics the crowd of Americans will chant, "USA ...USA." Such arrogance certainly fits the profile that prophet John gives us. For me even to write about such things risks the loss of valued friendships. But as Jesus said to the seven churches in Revelation 2 & 3:

29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”

Are you awake? The most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves. 

Although there may come a time where leaving your own country is a good move, the leaving I am talking about is different. Can you "leave" Babylon if you eat its Twinkies, watch its football games, vote for its leaders, or live the life it has set up for you? I think not. 

I am not saying you should never watch a football game. You can occasionally eat a Twinkie. Sorry, bad example. Do not eat Twinkies! But you get what I mean, I hope. As Jesus advised his Apostles, "Be in the world, not of the world." 

29 “Are your ears awake? Listen. Listen to the Wind Words, the Spirit blowing through the churches.”