Posted by Elana Janson on September 05, 2007 at 07:39:42:
Revelation and Synthetic Biology
At the present time all that has been revealed in Revelation is being brought together.
A turning point
As I mentioned in my previous post it seems that we may have reached a turning point in the conflict situation in the area of the Euphrates River. Because all that has been revealed in Revelation is coming together, Revelation I believe gives an explanation why the situation at the Euphrates has reached an impasse at this point in time that might prolong or intensify the conflict situation in that area.
Power to give life
With all that is taking place in modern times we would not think that what is taking place at the Euphrates River may in the eyes of God not only be related to all that has been revealed in Revelation but specifically at this point in time to man’s ability to “give life” (Rev 13:15) at the present time that is a step even beyond cloning. It is the creation of man made life: that is the synthetic biology. In 2007, this new science to a greater degree than ever before spells out that man has the “power to give life” (Rev 1:15).
The casting of the sixth vial
Now in September 2007, with the further development of synthetic biology, we should once again take note of the way Revelation connects the Euphrates River, the development of man’s knowledge of the biological sciences and Armageddon in the casting of the sixth vial.
Synthetic biology
What is synthetic biology? Evolution has put the genomes of living organisms together in a unique way. Some parts overlap, meaning that they cannot change jobs independently of one another. Others have lost their function but have not been removed, so they simply clutter things up. And there is no sense of organisation or hierarchy. That is because, unlike an engineer, evolution cannot go back to the drawing board; it can merely play with what already exists. Biologists, who seek merely to understand how life works, accept this. There are now however biological engineers who wish to change the way life works. They want to start again.
Building new life like building with toy blocks that have a specific connecting form.
What makes building blocks successful is that any part can attach to any other via a specific connector. So now the bio-engineers have a specific connector, a ‘bio brick’ that is a strand of DNA that has universal connectors at each end. Bio bricks can thus be linked together to form higher-level components and also joined into the DNA of a cell so that they can control its activity.
A bio-engineer likes bio bricks because they promise the synthetic biologist a standardised set of parts that has been one of the advantages enjoyed by the electronic engineers. If an engineer wants a particular component for a job, he can go to a catalogue, find a widget with the right parameters and order it from a supplier. He does not have to design it himself. He does not even have to know how it works.
The DNA of a bio brick contains a combination of genes that acts as a standardised component. When translated into protein in a cell, it makes that cell do something—and that something is often more than just “make more of protein X”. In particular, the bio-engineer is interested in switches and control systems that regulate other genes. Such switches are the basis of electronics and he hopes they may one day become the basis of an industrialised synthetic biology.
At the moment, bio bricks are in the experimental stages. They have been used for proof-of-principle studies such as taking photographs with films made of modified bacteria, but not yet for serious applications. But there are a lot of them around—many in the public domain, such as in a leading American University’s Registry of Standard Biological Parts.
Therefore synthetic biology which has long been used to describe an approach to biology that attempts to integrate different areas of research in order to create a more holistic understanding of life is now used in a different way, a new area of research that combines science and engineering in order to design and build novel biological functions and systems.
In addition to numerous bio scientific challenges, the vast potential of synthetic biology to play a formative role in contemporary human life raises new questions for bioethics and bio security. To date considerable focus has been given to the so-called dual-use challenge. While the study of synthetic biology can lead to more efficient ways to produce cures (e.g. against malaria), it may also lead to synthesis or redesign of harmful pathogens (e.g., smallpox). Scientists, funders of synthetic biological research, policymakers, ethicists and others have recognized challenges presented by a post 9/11 political milieu. A new range of potentially malicious actors and actions (i.e., terrorists/terrorism) must now be taken into account by those seeking to govern scientific domains. The internet and other new media provide global access to technological know-how and scientific knowledge. Regulation of discovery in this field would require global legislation.
In short synthetic biology means assembling genes from different organisms to create new metabolic pathways or even new organisms. In the future it may mean involving rewriting the genetic code altogether, to create things that are beyond the range of existing biology.
It is estimated that a working, synthetic bacterial genome from scratch, is achievable within two years. More complex genomes, of the sort that make plants, animals and fungi will take longer – possibly a decade. This is of course an erasure of the distinction between living and non-living worlds, but this is not the most radical idea in synthetic biology. Some people want to go beyond that which is provided through evolution and want to create biological systems that work with a chemistry that is not found in natural living things.
The “beast out of the earth”
As has been shown in my analysis of “the beast out of the earth”, man’s power to give life is one of the aspects of the gestalt of the beast out of the earth that Revelation indicates as bringing about a ruling of the beast in the final time that has ultimately to be curbed by God.
To show that at the present time God is linking the situation at the Euphrates River to advancement in bio-science we have to once again analyse the casting of the sixth vial in Rev 16:12-16. Readers might well say that this section of Revelation has been analysed in the time that we could measure, that is up to the time 22 Feb 2005. Why is it brought to bear in 2007? The reason for this is (as I have mentioned on this website) that in the time that we cannot measure the aspects of Revelation revealed to us continue. All that we can do in 2007 and the time to come is to observe how these aspects of Revelation develop further and how God in his own time is bringing all these aspects to their final close. Revelation has given us the guidelines, the situation at the Euphrates, great storms, man’s ability to give life etc.
Rev 16:12 “And the sixth angel poured out his vial on the great river Euphrates and the waters thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”
“The water thereof was dried up”.
The Euphrates flows from its origins in Turkey through Syria and into Iraq. While the Euphrates River flows through the three countries, most of the water, about 88 percent, originates in Turkey. There was an area in the flow of the waters of the Euphrates that dried up altogether, namely, the marshlands in Southern Iraq. The marshlands region lies between the lower reaches of the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. After the Gulf War ended in 1991, the Iraqi regime, began an ambitious civil engineering project aimed at draining the marshes. Through a series of dams and irrigation works the flow of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were diverted. The waters of the Euphrates were almost totally diverted to the so-called Third River Canal, bypassing most of the marshes. The Tigris was channelled into tributary rivers, their artificially high banks prohibiting water seeping to the marshlands.
The drying up of these marshlands is historically important because we know that the inhabitants of this area have for the last 5000 years subsisted through farming, fishing and hunting, from the water supply of the natural flow of the Euphrates River. Ironically this now dry area is the region of the ancient Sumerians. They were one of the earliest recorded peoples to divert water through a system of irrigation canals to their lands in order to provide food for their cities.
With our knowledge of the time measurements of Revelation we must take particular note of the time of the drying up. It was the time 1991 to about 2003. This time span confirms the time of “Euphrates”, for by April 2005 large areas of the marshes were once again flooded with water.
Symbolism
The words “the water thereof was dried up” also have a symbolic meaning. They mean that in the time of the “short season” and thereafter it is a secular ideology that is propagated to the area of the Middle East and the ‘living waters’ would further dry up.
“That the way of the kings of the east might be prepared”.
These words relate to the kings of the east who saw the star of Bethlehem and followed to see and worship the King of the Jews. The Euphrates River was the eastern boundary of the land that God gave to Abram. It must be remembered that it was the happenings of 11 September 2001 that led to the war in Iraq. The happenings since 2003 in the area of the Euphrates River, has been war, a ballot for the rule of men and much violence. From the symbolism and the time measures of Revelation it seems that it will be in the time of what is happening in the area of the Euphrates River that the prophecy of Revelation will be revealed. It will in some way be a preparation (“prepared”) to believers in the east that the return is at hand.
Rev 16:13 “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”
(Without the knowledge of time measure in history, the analysis of the “beast out of the earth” and the words “power to give life” we could not have known that “frogs” relate to the time of the cloning of frogs in 1952-53. It was revealed in the analysis of the “beast out of the earth” that certain discoveries were made my men in specific years that would contribute to man developing great knowledge to do great ‘miracles’ - such as “make fire come down from heaven” (Rev 13:13) and “power to give life” (Rev 13:15). Knowledge that would in the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries overtake man’s thinking, undermine his purpose to live a life with a prize of everlasting life, and contribute to man’s total deception by the forces of evil.)
“Three unclean spirits like frogs”
The word “unclean” in Revelation relates to living outside the Christian moral code.
The meaning of “frogs” is derived from the analysis of Rev 13:15 “And he had the power to give life”. These words in total analysis of the “beast out of the earth” relates to the time 1952 –1953, which was the time that a species, that is, frogs, could be cloned for the first time. I believe that the above verse (Rev 16:13) wishes to reveal that the influence of the “dragon” (out of the mouth of the dragon), the influence of the beasts of Revelation (out of the mouth of the beast), had succeeded in influencing man to place the will of humanity before the laws of God (out of the mouth of the false prophet). This meaning of the false prophet is derived from Rev 13:18 “count the number of the beast”. These words mean that the knowledge of the time measures of Revelation reveal the meaning of the beast out of the earth. The ‘false prophet’ is a concept that developed through centuries. It is discovered through the word “wisdom” in Rev 13:18; “Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred threescore and six.” “False prophet” is linked to the year 1266 that is the first year of the time measurement of 666 years in Revelation. That is the time 1266 to 1932. “Wisdom” relates to man’s thinking and philosophy throughout that time. It is linked to the year 1266, the time that Thomas Aquinas was writing the Summa Theologica. It was at that time that man’s outlook had begun to focus more on humanity than on spiritual matters.
Therefore man’s focus on humanity, together with all the achievements of man from the time 1266 brought about a turning away from the spiritual. It not only brought about a separation of the Christian Church and state it brought to some people a rebelling against all that is linked to Christian Church. This attitude was accompanied with a rebellion against all authority. It is a tendency that we also see today. This attitude has its roots in the spirit of the French Revolution. Revelation brings this “rebellion” in relation to the discovery of the human genome and the cloning of frogs in the time 1952. By 1952 the nations were “worshipping” the rule of “man”; anything was acceptable in the name of science and together with this man was becoming ever more promiscuous. The advancement of biological science in the latter half of the twentieth, brought advancements such as contraceptives that further influenced the nations into thinking that man no longer had to heed to the basic laws of Scripture. The advancement of all the sciences and all the blessing that has come with that unfortunately made man believe that he determine his destiny without a higher Being. This outlook would culminate in 2004 in the acceptance of a law to allow cloning.
Today in 2007 it is accepted that man can even engineer new structures of life through synthetic biology
Rev 16:14 “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Now we must bring all this knowledge together (“the whole world”) to see what is being revealed. In 2004 the United Kingdom passed a law to allow human embryos for cloning for therapeutic purposes. (Remember that the time of the last three trumpets is also the time of the “woe, woe woe” that relates to the words of Jesus Christ: Mat 23:13 “woe unto you scribes and Pharisees”.) Why do I believe that Revelation is indicating that this is against the law of God? It is because I believe that Scripture regards an embryo as the start of a life. A life may not be used as a tool. Revelation wishes to reveal that this law is the result of an accumulation of wrongdoing through the ages - in the politics of the nations, in the exploration of the seas and the elements of the earth, as well as philosophies of men that would ultimately exclude the truths of Scripture (“out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet”). Particularly the promiscuousness of the latter half of the twentieth century, which made man blind to the sanctity of marriage and the gift of life.
Revelation seems to reveal through the understanding that Revelation is time bound; that the miracles of man’s scientific discovery are actually “devils” for man is blind, he can no longer see that interfering in creation is against the will of God.
The words “false prophet” are used in Rev 16:13, for it is the time of a turning away from the faith (This meaning comes from Acts 13:8 where the ‘false prophet’ turned the deputy away from the faith. The deputy wished to hear the word of God from Saul and Barnabas). In 2004 the turning away from the faith has reached proportions that that will lead the nations to a final battle. Rev 16:14 “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Out of
Note the use of the words “out of” in the words “out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet”. The sixth bowl of wrath extends beyond the time February 2005 (the final time that we can measure), into the time of the “outer court”.
Rev 16:15 “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
This verse relates to the time of extreme weather conditions where people are caught unawares. It is also a warning that as sudden extreme weather conditions can catch you unawares, so shall be the signs of the end and the Return. It is also the time that the nations are gathering to a final battle that involves or takes place in the area of Armageddon in the Middle East. The gathering to war is revealed in the words “gathered together” which is repeated in Rev 19:19 “gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse”. These words “against him that sat on the horse” reveals that Armageddon will be about the bringing about of the unity of Church and State in the first millennium and the subsequent rule of men that has become the accepted rule of the nations.
Euphrates River is part of the ‘big picture’
Revelation reveals that the Euphrates is only part of the ‘big picture’. It seems that it is revealed that God will only allow bio-engineering up to a certain point in time. It will also be the time of the gathering of the nations that involves the Euphrates River, to Armageddon.
The opening of the fifth, sixth and seventh seals, the sounding of the fifth sixth and seventh trumpets, and the casting of the fifth, sixth and seventh vials all contribute to the ultimate coming together of the aspects revealed in Revelation. The first four seals, trumpets and vials essentially relate to man the fifth, sixth, and seventh of these are finally brought together by God in the time that we cannot measure.
Human –animal embryos
Another field of biological science that is soon to take a further step is the scientists who wish to create human-animal embryos for research purposes. The hybrid embryos will be produced by mixing human cells with animal eggs. Controversially, the embryos will only be 99.9% human. Around 0.1% of the DNA will be from the animal. On 5 September 2007 it was reported in the UK that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is likely to approve the work after a public consultation found the majority of people were at ease with the research. Opposition from religious groups is expected, but it is only on this website that man’s ability to “give life” is cautioned on the grounds that I believe that Revelation reveals that biological engineering as being both to man’s benefit as his detriment (Rev 17:17 “For God hath put in their hearts, to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.”) Revelation seems to warn: Do not take the step of bio-engineering the step too far.
As explained above, it seems that God is going to allow the ‘engineering’ of life to continue for only a certain length of time. It is, I believe, according to analysis of Revelation and particularly the casting of the sixth bowl of wrath, the reason why the nations are assembling to Armageddon at the present time.