Babylon
What we have started here is great.
There were only two responses so far to the question of Babylon but they
give us a foundation to work from.
The first is an historical view of Babylon after the flood. The second
is an historical view from the Babylonian captivity. Both are historical
views that we need to know but now we must go on to present truth.
Babylon the Great is a present reality that will fall in the future. It
is all tied up with the Beast of the Apocalypse, the Anti-Christ, the
mark of the beast, Abaddon, the false prophet and more. We can really
see the religious Babylon in the confusion that exists in the churches
with its so many incompatible doctrines. Whether you realize it or not,
we have identified many of them already. The Oneness doctrine, the idea
that tongues and not love is the evidence of the Holy Ghost, anything
that comes against a Trinitarian doctrine (actually that is being
discussed on the egroup forum). Mainly those things are rejected because
of the hatred and exclusiveness that they generate. And we have
discussed other things like the idea of the Nicolaitans with their
fleshly leadership and taking the authority of Christ and giving it to
men. We can include the Calvinist errors if they still persist to deny
free-will, the evangelical luke-warmness if they still deny all the
spiritual gifts in operation and the fundamentals like the power
involved in the laying of on of hands, we can identify the legalists who
want us to follow the law of Moses and the extreme fundamentalists who
hold to the letter and not the spirit including any group that will
blaspheme against the Holy Ghost in the present revival movement or the
five-fold ministry, especially in their insistence to despise the
prophetic. There is much, much more, we could discuss them one by one
but first we need to identify them. We need not condemn the people, only
the errors and their insistence to divide and cause the schisms. Many of
them are heresies and many are schisms and plain false doctrine. The
church is in a mess, we are not here to put up with false doctrine and
pride and hatefulness for the sake of unity, but identify and separate
from the confusion so that we can go on to put the church in order and
sound the alarm. It is the nature of love to warn others of a fire in
our midst. True unity begins with truth.
Remember we are not condemning these people, only the errors that make
up the confusion. We cannot take anything away from those who are held
captive in Babylon, no more that we can deny that the children of Israel
were also held captive in the historical Babylon. But if we are to
fulfill the role in these last days that the Lord has given us we must
know that God is calling us out of Babylon and if we are to rebuild in
the restorative sense with a plumb line, then these others have no part
of it. It is how I see it because of the commission to Zerubbabel
outlines it so and it makes good sense. As the Bride of Christ, we are
to be holy and blameless and we are to fulfill the prayer of Jesus that
we are One. In order to be One, we must speak the same thing like Paul
has told us to do. This means putting away the confusion and separating
ourselves from those that have not come out of Babylon themselves. There
can be no other way but the way that has been commissioned to us.
In the revelation to John it is written: And I heard another voice from
heaven, saying, Come out of her (Babylon) my people, that you be not
partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues." Look
what it says, Come out of her MY PEOPLE. We do not need to say that
these things that we come up with as identifying Babylon have anything
to do with rejecting the people, or their salvation and their part in
the true church. THEY ARE GOD'S PEOPLE. But the Bride of Christ is holy
and blameless and not so the majority of the church. Many of them are
prideful, they follow after their own ways and they will not give up
false doctrine because it threatens their self-righteous superiority
over others. We are not to be the whole body, we are to be among the
anointed remnant. And we are to direct ourselves in following the
anointing and build upon what Jesus has laid down for us.
Look among your own churches and your own ideas that you have been
taught and rely on the spirit to convict you of what you might think
that is false. Put away your pride, your denominational bias and look
objectively. Go ahead and look around you but also look in yourself.
Question what we have been taught by others and our own pre-conceptions.
We are only discussing things here for now, we are not making any
conclusions as yet and we will not be condemning anyone. We do not have
to have all the answers but we do need to question. Bring things up
whether you are sure of them or not. Trust in the Lord to be among us
and His spirit to guide us into all truth. Have you been praying for
this? I hope and pray that you are.
Jay
Just a short comment on Religious Babylon:
As at the tower of Babel, when they tried to build a tower to reach up
to
heaven, so is Religious Babylon. It is the attempt of man, by his own
initiative to attain to godhood, or god consciousness. This will
manifest in
many religious ways and humanistic ways, but it is all mans' attempt to
be
God.
Jesus is Gods' answer to this sinful delusion, since God became flesh,
the
Eternal Word became man, to reach us. The simple gospel is that we need
a
Savior from sin and our SELF nature, which is always in competition and
rebellion against our Creator, because of the sin we inherited from
Adam.
Therefore, to come out of Babylon, is to receive the freely given gift,
provided by Jesus Christ, by shedding His own blood to redeem us from
destruction. This will set us free from our rebellion and pride and
allow us
to enter into Christ, to be as Jesus, not because we attained it, but
because
we received the free gift of His Holy Spirit.
It is the Spirit of Christ Jesus enlivening our spirit which enables us
to
love God and obey His Commandments, and they are not grievous, but full
of
love.
We can be free to know God as He is, and be known of Him through Jesus
Christ
and the Holy Spirit, without our own works to earn salvation.
Hannah
Babylon the Great,makes me think upon the book of Daniel,when after
king Nebuchadnezzar's dream was revealed to him,probably after hearing
some of the things that Daniel had said,he swelled up with pride.But
Daniel,says something which none would dare do in that day,fearing that
anything said, that would offend the king, surely would have brought on
being beheaded.In Daniel chap.4:27,Daniel says
Wherefore O king,let my counsel be acceptable unto thee,and break off
thy sins by righteousness,and thine iniquities by shewing mercy to the
poor,if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquility.Verse 29,tells that
after a twelve month period,as the king was strolling,through and
probably admiring,the palace,and it's grandeur,among other things,that
he spoke in verse 30,The king spake,and said,Is not this great
Babylon,that i have built for the house of my kingdom by the might of my
power,and for the honour of my majesty?The rest of this chapter shows
that God,is over all,regardless of position,stature,or wealth,and
power.A relative of his,in the next chapter also has a thing revealed to
him,concernig the handwriting on the wall,being weighed in the
balances,and found wanting.The three Hebrew children not bowing to the
golden image that king Nebucadnezzar set up in the province of
Babylon,shows in Daniel 3:5,6,that Revelation 13:14,15,is soon to be
fulfilled,followed by Revelation 14:9-11,an even worse fate.Ancient
Babylon,had the same seductive power,over people that the modern day
one has.Luxuries,pleasures,
carelesness,self-exaltation,instant gratification,
indulgences of sexual immorality,a great military
power,magicians,soothsayers,possibly anything that
one could desire,it was there for the asking.The
prophets spoke of modern day Babylon the Great,
her rise and fall,which was great,who will hear the message,in our time
to come out of her,before the
plagues of God Almighty,begin to fall upon her,for
her sins have reached unto heaven.Modern day Babylon,now has caused all
to drink of the cup,that
she holds,causing even the religious establishment,
to stagger as a drunken one,seeking after the merchandise,that she so
freely traffics,a covenant,of the world has she made wth many a apostate
church.John 8:31,32,Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on
him,(if ye continue in my word,then are ye my disciples indeed.
And ye shall know the truth,and the truth shall make
you free).Free from the bondage of religious,political,
and commercial,Babylon,which deceitfully enslaves
many to their own destruction.But thank God through Jesus Christ,that
there is a way out of Babylon the Great,Amen.
Jim
February 25, 2000
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