When I see a picture like this of a big city, I can't help thinking about the story of the Tower of Babel in the Bible where the people said let us come together and build a city, and a tower that may reach up into the heavens, and make a name for ourselves. This reveals to me their pride, self-righteousness, insecurity, and a desire for power.
I've known for a long time that there is a difference between country people and city people. The bigger the city, the bigger the difference. Now, I don't believe that has anything to do with my opinion, taste or preference. It is not a matter of growing up in the country so I am biased against cities. No, it's not a matter of tastes or preference, but to me, it's a matter of the character of the person. But, the main question is, how does God see cities? Does He picture them as being good for us or bad for us, or it doesn't really matter?
Well, it's interesting to me that the first mention of cities in the Bible are not good. With the very first mention of the word "city" (singular) in the Bible, it describes how the first city was founded by Cain (Gen 4:17). So, the builder of the first city on earth was a murderer.
Furthermore, when we do a search on the word "cities", plural, the first mention is where Lot chose to leave the country life and to dwell in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent toward Sodom (Gen 13:12). Now, we all know how that turned out. Lot doesn't seem to have great character to begin with, but the apostle Peter says that Lot was a righteous man, but he was vexed by the filthy behavior of the wicked (2Pet 2:7). Vexing means to bring trouble to or distress. His soul was vexed. Peter also said, "I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul" (1Pet 2:11).
But, cities throughout the Bible don't get much better. For example, besides Sodom, you have Gomorrah, Nineveh and Babylon in the Old Testament, and Athens and Rome in the NT, all spoken of as evil, godless cities. Yea, but what about Jerusalem, God's city? Isn't is a good city? Well, not exactly. It may have started out that way in the beginning, especially during times of revival, but like all cities, their futures are all doomed for apostacy. Remember, that Jerusalem was the city full of evil officials and religious leaders that were so corrupt that they put the Son of God to death.
Today, Jerusalem is against Christ just like she was when Jesus was there. Matter of a fact, Jerusalem was against the Messiah even before He was born. Remember how the wise men asked King Herod, "where is he that is born King of the Jews?" Then the Bible says that when Herod heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him (Mat 2:2). Wow! It says that "ALL Jerusalem was troubled with Herod" by this news of the coming Christ. Why? Because they are evil people living in an evil city. They like it that way and don't want it to change. Later, in order to kill the infant Jesus, Herod destroyed all the children under two years of age in Bethlehem. What an evil city!
So, what does God think about Jerusalem today? Well, in the book of Revelations, even though God calls Jerusalem His holy city, which only means that Jerusalem had been chosen and separated unto God. Yes, she started out holy and she will end up holy as Christ reigns there during His thousand year kingdom on earth. But, in between her beginning and her ending, Jerusalem has not been faithful to God, except for a few times of revival. In Revelations 11, God says that when the Beast kills God's two Witnesses, their bodies will lie in the street for three days in that great city, which spiritually is call Sodom and Egypt "where also our Lord was Crucified." Well, where was Jesus crucified? At Jerusalem, and God says that Jerusalem is spiritually like Sodom and Egypt. Now that's a pretty rotten comparison.
But, the Lord did not only speak of Jerusalem as an evil city in Israel. Jesus rebuked the three Jewish cities of Bethsaida, Korazim, and Capernaum located on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee for their rejection of Him and His works. For example, Jesus said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell: for if the mighty works, which have been done in thee, had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day." Wow! Here again we see the Lord comparing a Jewish city to wicked Sodom. Jesus rebukes their religious pride. The self-righteous religious sins of these three Jewish cities are worse than the physical sins of Sodom, for if Sodom had seen the works of Christ, she would have repented, Jesus said (Mat 11:20-25).
Jerusalem and the other cities in Israel today are still evil cities. We just don't think of it that way. Jerusalem may offer Christian tours of the Holy Land that will give you goose bumps, but she still rejects Jesus as the Messiah. "Oh, I've been to the Holy Land." It is still an evil, godless city, and all major cities today are no different. They are also evil and reject Christ. If God feels that Jerusalem is like Sodom and Egypt, how do you think He feels about New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and so on? Even the city of Las Vegas boasts of being "Sin City."
Well, how about the cities of the Bible Belt? Aren't they better? Not really. Look at Atlanta, the biggest city of the Bible Belt. There is no doubt that the rural areas in Georgia are very conservative and the majority of the people lean toward Bible principles. However, like Lot's righteous soul being vexed by the filthy behavior of Sodom, the people of Georgia are being vexed by the city of Atlanta. Now, most people don't know this, but Atlanta according to a 2006 survey by the Williams Institute, was ranked third among major American cities, behind San Francisco and slightly behind Seattle, with 12.8% of the city's total population identifying as LGBT. So, does this means that Atlanta is the Sodom and Gomorrah of the South?
So, what is the problem? Why does it seem that God is against the idea of cities? Well, not that a city has to be bad or that all cities are bad. It's just that because of the sin nature of mankind, that's how it turns out. Some cities are worse that others, but they are all evil. Sin breeds sin. Evil will produce more evil and it's worse according to population density. A city can be righteous only if they have righteous people living in them and have righteous rulers. Jerusalem, for example will only be a righteous city again when Christ rules there in His future Kingdom. Until then, Jerusalem is just another Sodom, maybe not physically, but spiritually. God says so.
But, everyone has a sin nature even people that live in the rural areas. So why is it so easy for big cities to be so evil today? I think I can answer this question with one word. Consolidation. The word consolidate means "to unite into one system or whole, to combine, to make stronger." Well, what is wrong with that? Well, let me give you a personal example where I believe "consolidation" was something bad, not good. It was designed for making things better, but instead, it made things worse.
In 1977 when I got out of college, my wife and I were offered teaching jobs at the Mays Lick Elementary School which is in Mays Lick, Kentucky, a small one blinking-light town, about 8 miles south of Maysville. It was a small school of about 200 students with grades 1-6. It was a little two story building and even had a small gym. I taught 5th grade there for three years. Toward the end of my third year teaching, it was announced that all of the county elementary schools would soon be closed and the students would be bussed into Maysville to a large, state of the arts new school. I remember hearing the word "consolidate" often at that time. That all the elementary schools in Mason county would be consolidated into one large school. This would save a lot of money, because it would save on administrative cost, facility costs, staff, and so forth. So, we would indeed fit the definition of consolidation, "to unite into one system or whole, to combine, to make stronger (and especially save money).
This consolidation really bothered me at the time, so much so, that I left that summer and moved away. Why did it bother me? Even though they said it would be better, I felt like it would be worse. Worse for the students and worse for the parents. How? Because of what we would lose. By having several elementary schools scattered around Mason County, each school was small and very much influenced by the local parents of each community. The parents felt like, "This is our school." I felt that would change by closing the county schools and moving them all into the city. This way, the superintendent and school board would have much more power and influence, and the parents would have less. So, there would not only be a consolidation of schools, but a consolidation of power.
By the way, this trend of consolidating schools was not unique to Mason County. No, this was a state wide policy, consolidating little country schools into mega city schools, thus the Kentucky state board of education becomes much more powerful. For the most part, parental checks and balances greatly diminished. As I watched through the 80's and 90's, I could see great problems in the educational system as a result.
Ten years later, I moved near Bardstown, Kentucky and taught for 5 years in a large middle school in Nelson County from 1989-1994. It was so different. I could really see a great decline as I had predicted. I taught mostly 6th and 7th grades during those years but finally left due to state policies that made discipline in the classroom almost impossible. I have no doubt that things are much worse today.
In my view, little small country schools were great. Great for the students, great for the parents, and great for those local communities. But, today, all you have to do is drive around Kentucky in small towns and see the remains of these little school buildings being used for something else. Many are just empty and falling apart. The Mays Lick school was sold and turned into apartments. Furthermore, in most of these little towns throughout Kentucky, even the store buildings on their main streets are mostly closed. People no longer shop in their own communities, but drive into the city to a Super Walmart. Consolidation. While the cities grow more "super," the little towns become like ghost towns.
So, that is some of my personal experience with consolidation. But, is consolidation wrong? Does the Bible say anything about consolidation? Matter of fact, yes! The Bible says that right after the Flood the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. The people said, "lets build us a CITY and a tower whose top may reach unto heaven, and make us a name so that we be not scattered abroad upon the face of the earth" (Gen 11:1-4). Here is another example where God does not see a city as being a good thing and gives His reason why. That "nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do."
So, we see that they wanted to consolidate, to unite themselves so they could become more powerful, and well known throughout the land (build a name for ourselves). They also wanted to build a tower reaching unto heaven, maybe an indication of having their own religion which would aid in their consolidation of resources and power. (By the way, why do you think New York City built the Twin Towers? And why did the terrorists want desperately to destroy those towers? Because, both sides viewed those towers as a symbol of pride and accomplishment).
Nevertheless, the Lord was not pleased with these ambitions to build the city of Babel. The Lord said, "Behold, the people are one, and they have all one language; .....and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Gen 11:5,6).
Now, let me ask you, why did this bother the Lord? Well, a big concern here for the Lord was that they all spoke the same language which was a benefit in their consolidating their efforts, that there would not be anything to restrain them in what they wanted to do. That they could do whatever their evil hearts imagined to do. The Lord's remedy was to confound their language so that they would not be able to understand each other. And, what was the result of this? They scattered (Gen 11:7-9). So, we clearly see that it's in the hearts of man to unite, come together, consolidate resources to become more powerful. However, it's clear the Lord does not want this. He prefers scattering, not consolidating.
Paul said, that God had made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;" (Acts 17:26). This means God in the beginning set boundaries for their habitation for the different nations to live in. He is not for consolidation or what we today call globalism.
Why is the Lord against men consolidating, such as coming together and building bigger cities? Two reasons, I believe. Number one, is because of man's sin nature. Putting more sinful people living close together invites more sin. They influence and feed off of each other. "They will do whatever they imagine to do." Number two and this is a big one, is because of Satan's desire to rule over the world and the lives of men.
You see, I believe that the greatest danger in this consolidating and becoming more and more united is that it makes it easier for Satan to rule over men and turning mankind against God. Remember the definition of consolidation, to unite into one system or whole, to combine, to make stronger. That is what Satan desires to do, to unite, bring everyone under his control. Consolidation make it easier for Satan to have this control over men.
At the city of Babel, Satan was consolidating and gathering men unto himself. But, he is not just content with Babel, that was just the starting point. He wants world dominion. But, when God confounded the languages at Babel, and scattered men over the face of the earth, then that made it much more difficult for Satan to ever have dominion over the world. Thus, down through the ages, Satan has continued his attempts at bringing the world under one united system, combining governmental, economical, and religious systems. For example, The Babylonian Empire, the Greek Empire, the Roman Empire, and the British Empire. I don't feel that America fits in here even though we are accused of also being an empire, and I will explain later. But, you know, Satan doesn't really care who he uses, or what system he uses, as long as it will help bring everyone together again like he did before the tower of Babel. The spirit of consolidating. Today, we call it globalism.
So, after centuries of failures, Satan is now close to consolidating the world in all aspects such as a world government body, and a world economic system. We see this happening around the world already in the examples of the United Nations, the European Union, the World Health Organization, and the Dollar being a world currency standard, even though the Bitcoin is emerging. But, what does Satan do about the language barrier? Since Babel, that has always been the biggest hinderance to his consolidation plan for the world. But, look at what has happened in the past with world superpowers and you can see that that will not be a death blow to his plans. He can work around it. How? Well, look at America for example being the only superpower today. We speak English and so most non-English countries around the world speak English as a second language, and it's taught in their schools. Whoever is in power, their language becomes the "world language." English is the world language today. So, it's still a problem concerning globalism, but it can be worked around. During the Greek Empire, most of the people of the known world at that time spoke Greek as a second language, it being the world language for a such a long time and even continued on during the Roman Empire. For example, when the New Testament was written during the Roman Empire, it was written in Greek.
Today, we see how strong the spirit of globalism is in the world. Even though America is a lone superpower, most in this country are against globalism, but that is quickly changing. There is still a majority in the US that wants to be a nationalistic country. Nationalism is America first, the world second. And, this is a good thing. But, I'm afraid it is quickly changing due to all the immigrants coming into this country and the recent change of political power which will only bring in more people by the masses. In just a short period of time, things will change and the demands for globalism in the US will be too great. The president, the governors, the big city mayors will all gain power and will consolidate, centralize power and resources. Again, this will make it easy for Satan to control the lives of men.
In past history, after so many attempts of Satan to gain control of mankind through empires and world conquerors like Hitler and others, God has not allowed Satan to be successful. It was never according to God's timing in the past for Satan to have world dominion, but God's time table is bringing us closer to the time of world consolidation, the beginning of the End Times. In Revelations, we can see how the world unites in a global economy with the mark of the Beast and a world religion under the False Prophet.
You see, it's always been a war with Satan. It's never been a war against Hitler, Napoleon, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and others who wanted to conquer the world. No, Satan was behind each man, and each came close to their endeavors, but God always stopped them from totally taking over the world. But, it was really God stopping Satan.
For example, Isaiah speaks about the Babylonian king as if he were Lucifer. Why? Because Isaiah knew that Satan was behind the king having great influence over the ruler, sharing the same thoughts and ambitions. Isaiah said, "How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High" (Isa 14:4-14). So, we clearly see what's in the heart of Satan, and the Babylonian king, a heart filled with pride, a lust for power, and to be Godlike.
Paul says the same thing, that Satan is behind these evil men, "For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places" (Eph 6:12).
So, you hate globalism? Well, it's not just the Democrat's fault. Put the blame where it really belongs. With Satan. He is behind all of it. All that is evil is in his attempt to influence and to control the world. In the past he has done so behind the scenes, but the day will come when he will do it openly through the Anti-Christ, the Beast and though his False Prophet.
The world is quickly becoming globalized. Look how things have changed in just the past 100 years or so, such a short period of time compared to the world's time clock. Man rode a horse for thousands of years and then in just the past 100 years we are flying around the world and even to the moon. The world has become so much smaller than it once was due to the vast advancements in technology, such as in travel and communications which brings us all so much closer together. Again, all these advancements and technology is just making Satan's job easier.
Remember the two witnesses that the Beast shall kill and their bodies shall lie in the streets of Jerusalem? The Bible says that the people of the nations of different languages, shall see their dead bodies for 3 and 1/2 days and they shall rejoice over them and make merry. But, that's not the end of the news broadcasts they are watching. No, they will also see the two witnesses come to life again and to ascend up to heaven in a cloud, and a great fear shall come upon them watching (Rev 11:9-12).
Now, how is that possible before modern times? Only in the past few decades with satellite communications and Wi-Fi can people watch these events live on their TV's, laptops, and cell phones. The world has quickly become a globalistic environment where people can instantly see anything happening anywhere in the world. Wow! It will be so much easier for the Beast to carry out Satan's plans in this new electronic age with the world becoming so much smaller.
So, back to cities being evil and not a good thing for mankind. I used to hear that the way California goes, the rest of the country will later go. I believe that is only partly true, because there are many conservatives in California, but the difference is that they're mostly in rural areas of the state. The majority of the state's population lives in the big cities and they are heavily liberal. So, specifically speaking, the rest of the country is not being influenced by the state of California as we are by the big cities of California. This is true in New York state and all other states as well. If any state has a large metropolitan city, then it will dominate the state's politics.
In the recent presidential election, Biden won with the most votes in history though with a record low number of counties. Biden won with about half the counties (477) that Obama won (873) in 2008. And, it's even more drastic when comparing Biden to Trump, where all across the nation, Biden won only 509 counties, while Trump won 2,547 counties. That means that Trump won 80% of all the counties in the entire country but still lost the election. So, how did that happen? Well, yes no doubt there was cheating going on, but it was also due to Biden's 509 counties being large urban counties. These counties had all the large cities with large populations of people piled up on top of each other. Not trying to be funny here, but that's what these large apartment buildings are, people piled up on top of each other.
Population density is not a good thing. How can a hand full of cities dictate what the other 80% of the country is going live like? And, again, God hates this. Why? Because. it fosters ungodliness and dictates it to all the rest of us living in the country. It can vex our souls. But, we must not allow it to. We must keep our eyes on the Lord, that He is allowing this to happen according to His plan.
"Behavioral sink" is a term invented by ethologist John B. Calhoun to describe a collapse in behavior which can result from overcrowding. The term and concept derive from a series of over-population experiments Calhoun conducted on Norway rats between 1958 and 1962. In the experiments, Calhoun and his researchers created a series of "rat utopias" – enclosed spaces in which rats were given unlimited access to food and water, enabling unfettered population growth. Calhoun coined the term "behavioral sink" in his February 1, 1962 report in an article titled "Population Density and Social Pathology" in Scientific American on the rat experiment. The article came at a time at which overpopulation had become a subject of great public interest, and had a considerable cultural influence. Calhoun's work became used as an animal model of societal collapse, and his study has become a touchstone of urban sociology and psychology in general.
In the 1962 study, Calhoun described the behavior as follows: "Many [female rats] were unable to carry pregnancy to full term or to survive delivery of their litters if they did. An even greater number, after successfully giving birth, fell short in their maternal functions. Among the males the behavior disturbances ranged from sexual deviation to cannibalism and from frenetic overactivity to a pathological withdrawal from which individuals would emerge to eat, drink and move about only when other members of the community were asleep. The social organization of the animals showed equal disruption."
"The common source of these disturbances became most dramatically apparent in the populations of our first series of three experiments, in which we observed the development of what we called a behavioral sink. The animals would crowd together in greatest number in one of the four interconnecting pens in which the colony was maintained. As many as 60 of the 80 rats in each experimental population would assemble in one pen during periods of feeding. Individual rats would rarely eat except in the company of other rats. As a result extreme population densities developed in the pen adopted for eating, leaving the others with sparse populations......... In the experiments in which the behavioral sink developed, infant mortality ran as high as 96 percent among the most disoriented groups in the population."
Lewis Mumford referenced Calhoun's work in his The City in History, stating: "No small part of this ugly barbarization has been due to sheer physical congestion: a diagnosis now partly confirmed with scientific experiments with rats – for when they are placed in equally congested quarters, they exhibit the same symptoms of stress, alienation, hostility, sexual perversion, parental incompetence, and rabid violence that we now find in the Megalopolis."
Now, I got this information off of the internet. I've heard of it before while taking classes in college, and there is no question concerning the validity of the research concerning rats. The only arguments against it is does it necessarily indicate that humans would acquire the same consequences that the rats had from living in overcrowded conditions. And, in my opinion, I believe most definitely yes! Why? Because humans have a sin nature. Rats don't. Come on! Do you believe rats can act that way without a sin nature, and humans won't? In my opinion, when humans are put into that position of living in crowded cities, then that sin nature will be put into hyper drive. How fast the hyper-sin will be will depend on the density of the population. The more they crowded the rats, the worse the outcome, and so humans will be much worse than that since we have a sin nature. Yes, I realize we have problems with sin in the rural areas, but not like what is going on in the big cities. Maybe that's why they use the term, "the rat race," an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. Well, in my opinion, the humans are winning that race with the rats.
Furthermore, as I have tried to stress, it's just so much easier for Satan to have his way with humans when they are all consolidated together, united in power and resources. During 2020, I have seen how cities like New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Portland, and Seattle are so corrupt. They are run be corrupt mayors and corrupt liberal governors. Yes, some conservative states like Texas and Florida also have corrupt cities too. It's just that in conservative states, the populations in the rural areas are greater than those in their liberal cities, but that is quickly changing. It won't be long before they too will become like New York and California. Georgia is proof of that.
So, in my view, metropolitan cities are causing most of our problems today, or at least where the problems originate. They are not good for the states they are in. Not good for the country.
I view that America was stronger before WW2 when America was much more rural (45% rural) compared to today (20% rural). We proved this by defeating two superpowers in Germany and Japan. Not bad for half of our army being country boys. Before WWII, just 13% of Americans lived in suburbs, but according to the 2010 census, one half of the American population now lives in suburbia. If you add that suburban population to urban populations it totals 80% of our total population.
My point here is that with the growth of migration from rural areas to cities since the 50's it doesn't seem like we as a country have become better off, but worse off. The country is more divided today than I ever remember it. I believe we are on the brink of falling apart with our current national problems.
Let me say that I am first a Christian, but I am also an American. I love this country and pray God will still bless it as much as He still can. As a Christian, my heart and prayers go out to all the Christians that live in large cities. As an American, I still feel a patriotic bond for all Americans living in big cities, but that is increasingly becoming more difficult because in these cities, people are turning against traditional America, wanting to see it destroyed. Most immigrants flooding into American cities don't share our best interest in the America that we love.
Those of us that live out in rural areas, we must not become too self complacent, because we can still be influenced by the ideology and promiscuous ways of the big cities. Remember, their outreach is much greater now because of TV and the internet. So, we must be watchful and steadfast in the faith and keep our eyes upon Christ.
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world" (1Pet 5:6-9).
In Jesus Name,
James B. Sparks
jb5sparks@aol.com
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