June 7, 2013

Once again, Good Morning! Without any further adieu, let's get this discussion off and running for the day. Our daughter, Shelley, is in the process of making a couple of pots of some pretty stout French Roasted coffee this morning, and it will be ready momentarily. That said, pull up a chair and let's continue where we left off last week.

 

Once in captivity, Israel was subjected to the system of Babylon. It became ingrained in the lives of the people. While they were in captivity in Babylon, several significant events occurred. The two major sects of rabbinical priests sprang up: the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. The Sadducees derived their hierarchical structure from the spirit of the Amorites. The Pharisees became the "voice of the people," pursuing the same concept, and being driven by the same spirit, "Democracy," that motivated the nation of Perizzites whom God had commanded Moses and Joshua to destroy.

Throughout four or five centuries, these two sects continually sought to become the power behind the throne, vying against one another, periodically taking opposing sides and supporting first various Babylonian leaders and kings, and finally, Roman emperors. The concept of the synagogue was birthed as a substitute for temple worship during this period of time.

 

The stage was set, therefore, for the infiltration, some four hundred years in the future, of those very same spirits -- the spirits of the Amorites and Perizzites -- into the first-century Ekklesias as they were being birthed. Both the Amorite and Perizzite nations were long since gone, but the master spirits of darkness, who had controlled both nations, were very much alive, camouflaged now in the guise of respectability with the rabbis and priests.

 

Would the spirit of Jezebel be able to continue in this new form? You bet! Like clockwork!

 

When John, therefore, was given the Revelation of "Mystery Babylon" as a woman labeled, "The Mother of Harlots and Abominations of the Earth," nothing could have been more clear. She sat upon the beast to whom she was subservient. She displayed the onoma of the Beast. He had seven heads and ten horns. She had seven heads and ten horns. They two were one -- and yet to be divided by the word of the Lord.

 

Throughout time and all of recorded history, whenever a prophet -- or a nobody -- arose to identify Jezebel or contest her claim upon the people of God, she has immediately raised up accusers to challenge that individual.

 

The spirit of Jezebel has consistently seen to it that anything which would bring the people of God into a true relationship of intimacy and dependency on Him was discredited, defamed and labeled in such a way as to put fear into those whom she has held in bondage. At the same time, this "bride" has portrayed herself as the true Bride of Christ, functioning within the body of Christ, albeit with substitute doctrines and a substitute "Christ" palmed off as the Gospel of Christ.

 

There is a fundamentally different character to this "substitute bride," however which allows us to clearly identify her and differentiate her from the true Bride of Christ. The number of the Bride of Christ in Scripture is the number 17. The deceptiveness of the substitute bride is that her number is also 17. The difference comes in how the real Bride gets her identifying number, versus how the substitute bride gets her number.

 

The true Bride of Christ receives her character and makeup as the counterpart of the Lord Jesus Christ by virtue of the fact that she is the product of the redemptive blood and number of Jesus - 8 - and the work of Holy Spirit in her in the midst of the crucible -- 9! Put the two together and you have the number 17.

 

The substitute and counterfeit bride gets her number from the same seven driving and dominant rebellious spirits that ruled the seven condemned nations God commanded Israel to overcome and drive out of Canaan -- and the same seven spirits identified in the character of the seven letters in Revelation -- all of which conclude with, "to him that overcometh." There's your 7. The number 10, which adds to that 7 to become 17, is identified in the 10 horns John speaks of. Those ten horns are the means by which this substitute bride -- Jezebel, if you will -- "forces" herself off on the body of Christ, applying pressure, deception, manipulation, trickery, "democracy" in the place of theocracy, and hierarchy in the place of an intimate love relationship with Jesus Christ.

 

A quick digression if you don't mind. Ever notice that Jesus made the statement that "this gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come." One thing you DON'T get with a substitute gospel and a substitute Christ is "the gospel of the Kingdom." I don't mean to be splitting hairs, but the focus on "salvation" and "getting folks saved" while leaving out all the other facets of the "gospel of the Kingdom" creates a standalone "substitute Christ" and a "substitute gospel."

 

By 150 A.D., when the first church appeared on the scene as a substitute for Ekklesia, Jezebel had successfully infiltrated the Body of Christ. By the time the Roman emperor, Theodosius, declared Christianity to be "the religion of the empire," and himself "The Bishop of Rome" in 378 A.D., Jezebel had successfully made the system, the lifestyle, and the spirit of Babylon to be one with the Church.

 

In FOXE’S BOOK OF MARYRS, Foxe details the events of centuries of persecution, blasphemy against, and the death of all those who rose up against Babylon, and against the spirit of Jezebel. He describes the death of thousands who challenged the legitimacy of the hierarchical system and its representatives.

 

This spirit, however, has been very much alive and well on planet Earth in the 20th century, functioning within churches of every style, denomination and label. Because there have been those who have arisen -- particularly in the last few years -- to identify Babylon as the entire "Church system," they have been attacked, defamed, discredited, and in some cases killed. Why? Because Babylon is falling and has fallen!

 

Babylon "is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird."

I know this is strange phraseology, but when you understand the significance of “every unclean and hateful bird” as a metaphor for the filthiness and corruption caused by the infiltration of demons, it all begins to fall into place.

 

The Church system has become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every foul spirit because it is subservient to the Beast. It is the personification of the ancient city of Babylon. The Church system is ruled by a demonic principality, a kosmokrator whom we know historically as the King of the Amorites. It is a system which glibly exhibits itself in the world as Christ’s order, all the while deceiving men and women into accepting substitutes for a real relationship with Jesus Christ. It pawns itself off on the ignorant as a place of the presence of the Lord.

And the Lord has had enough!

 

Babylon has fallen! Babylon is falling! Babylon will fall!

 

Does that make sense? No?

 

It is happening first in the realm of the spirit, where time is completely irrelevant. For those who are living in the place of love and intimacy with their Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, He is now -- today -- this very moment -- showing His chosen and called-out Bride the smoke of the city as it arises. I will come back to this, shortly.

 

It is absolutely critical to all who read this open letter that they understand that we are not attacking Christians who are in churches. This is not about the Catholics or the Episcopalians or the Lutherans. This is not about Methodists, Presbyterians or Baptists. This is not about the Pentecostals, the Charismatics, or the many nameless home-fellowships. This is not about Messianic Jews who still function in modern-day synagogues. It is not about individuals who have a love for the Lord, and a desire to serve Him.

 

It is about the system which has held the people of God in captivity. Everything about the modern-day church system -- and I emphasize that word, "SYSTEM" -- is a product of Babylon. This system was brought into the Body of Christ by the Nicolaitan doctrines as a specific endeavor of the spirits of the Amorites and Perizzites. Although Babylon as a city was destroyed, the spirits of Babylon have effectively concealed themselves, operating throughout history unhindered and unimpeded.

 

Although many have broken away from the contemporary churches or synagogues and have formed "home fellowships," they are still, unfortunately, contaminated by the doctrines of the Nicolaitans, believing that there must still be "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers" in order to have "New Testament Order." In so saying, let me be very clear! The five-fold ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers ARE most definitely facets of the character and nature -- the very makeup, if you will -- of the Lord Jesus Christ. These ministries are critical to the life of the body of Christ.

 

The issue I'm driving at here is something that has crept into the Charismatic churches, namely the demand that, in order to have proper "church order," fellowships need to have each of these ministries functioning in their midst. It becomes a legislated and legalistic requirement that is about as far distant from the life and love and liberty in Christ Jesus as anything can be.

 

Some of these Charismatic leaders are still caught in the trap of believing that they must cling to some "system" of order in which authority is humanly delegated to certain leaders. They have not come out of Babylon, even though they have left the structured churches. They are still bound by legalism, desperately clinging to man-made doctrines and traditions from which we were delivered when Jesus died on the Cross.

 

Some twenty years ago I wrote an Open Letter to the Ekklesia titled, "The Strait Gate." The article addressed the need for believers who are hearing the call of the Bridegroom to simply respond to the place of intimacy with the Lord Jesus Christ -- without clinging to their foundational doctrines as a prerequisite for "going on to maturity (perfection, KJV) or completion."We also talked about the fact that we were not called to “positions” to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, etc. We are called to Jesus Christ and an intimate relationship with Him.

 

That article proved to be a trigger mechanism for many people. Some folks heard the word of the Lord and began to respond with their whole heart and soul. Others who were infected by the spirit of Jezebel, became extremely angry and have throughout the years engaged in defamation (blasphemy), attempts to discredit that which Holy Spirit is doing, in the process utilizing witchcraft and manipulation.

 

The objective of the witchcraft and manipulation is to get some who have responded to the Lord to yield to the will of that angry spirit of Jezebel, which is being exposed. Part of its primary motivation is to keep Babylon intact and its existence operational.

 

Babylon is falling! Babylon has been exposed, is being exposed, and will be exposed. Babylon's purpose is to keep God's people sidetracked with the doom and gloom this spirit is suffering in these closing days. (These, by the way, are not "end times," if we are a part of the Bride of the Lord Jesus Christ, or if we have a genuine relationship with Him. These are only "transitional times" to bring us to the "New Beginning:" the era of the rulership of Christ and His Bride.)

 

Babylon's secondary purpose is to cause people to believe that they must make preparations to run and hide from the day at hand because they will otherwise also suffer this doom and gloom. This is another lie driven and motivated by those spirits which are subservient to Babylon. If people insist on being a part of the System, they will not escape the wrath of God on Babylon.

 

Jezebel's purpose (and Babylon's) is to remain in control of the people of God. So long as they submit to that spirit, they are surrendering the real rulership which lies in store in the realm of a joined and merged relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who remain submitted to the spirit of Jezebel, to the king of Babylon, will suffer the fate which John saw. (see Revelation 17:16-17)

 

"And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfill His will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled."

 

The great whore that John is shown is none other than the Church System. The ten horns of the Beast represent the "kings," the means of power and force by which the Beast operates in the world today.

 

(I will not take the time in this Coffee Break to describe those ten “kings,” but will hopefully deal with them in depth at a later time.)

 

Before the Lord destroys the Beast, he has put it into the heart, will, and purpose of the Beast to destroy the entire church system. Why? Because it is an abomination.

 

Yes, many people have been saved in the midst of it. Yes, God has done many mighty works in the system. Yes, miracles have been wrought. Sick have been healed. Dead have been raised. The lame have been made to walk. The blind have been made to see. Great and wonderful things have happened, and many of us are -- or have been -- the recipients of those things while we were in the church.

 

Is it because of the system that these things have happened? NO! Is it because the system has been approved and ordered by the Lord? NO! Is it because this was the way things began with Peter, James and John, or Paul? NO!

 

It is because, and only because, of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ for those people who have responded to Him. It is because the Lord has determined to have a Bride for Himself who is His co-equal partner, His other self -- a Bride who has also overcome the Beast, even as He also overcame. The Lord has delivered, is delivering, and will deliver a people from that system which was ordained in Babylon. He has called out a people who love Him more than they love the admiration and respect of their fellow-Christians who are still caught in the system. He has called a people who have responded to Him.

 

That's where I'll quit today. Next week, the Lord helping me, I'd like to talk to you about an illusion of a re-created city of Babylon, some things that are happening politically and economically in the world, how those things seem to be related to a re-created Babylon, and how God is using these events to pour out riches to His Bride, and in the process bring about the final decimation of Babylon's power of deception over so many of God's people in the earth.

 

Blessings on you!