In the fierce, fast pace rat race that so often governs the lifestyle of this generation, the time we would do well to take and assimilate spiritually inspired words is like a fistful of sand that quickly slips through our hands. The vision that has lit up the screen of an open heaven, with the accompanied exhortation to "come up hither," far too often seems to go unnoticed to the multitudes that make up Christianity. Is it possible to be so well informed and so engrossed with subjects pertaining to the Gospel of the Kingdom and yet be entirely ignorant of understanding its purpose and goal? Was the Gospel given so that we could scoff down as many nuggets and tidbits of parroted revelations that never quite seem to impact the heart, while the ultimate intention of our Sonship is lost in the shuffle of conversation pieces that may dazzle many of us, but fail to edify, challenge, and convict any of us?
We can look through the pages of the New Testament and find ourselves amazed by a man that exhausted himself for the sake of sharing the Gospel. We read of some of the most life threatening circumstances endured for the sake of the Gospel in the life of Paul. We can read of peril after peril, trouble and tribulation going hand in hand with Paul's experience as he was used and inspired by God (2 Cor. 11:24-28).
What was the end result to which all the divine instruction pointed? Why was the long trumpet blast of glad tidings given to a people set apart from those still enslaved by the spirit of the age? Was the purpose of heralding the glad tidings of the Kingdom of God and ministering to the churches nothing more than a foundational campaign to get people saved so that they will be ready to fly when the rest of the planet fries? Was the Gospel trumpeted through inspired souls led by the Holy Spirit so that we could get excited about what we heard, brag about what we know, yet never change or grow? Was the end result of the Gospel for us to be found naked and without a vision as we dance intoxicated with other doctrines around our little golden calf of knowledge? Was the Gospel given as mere ammunition to fire away at those who fail to join us in idolizing a piece of the truth, while the personification of the truth in fullness grows more and more distant from our hearts? Was the Gospel given to institute a government filled with agendas that are so foreign from a theocracy (a government governed by God) that they cannot help but highlight the appetites for the temporal sphere that is destined to be swallowed up in eternity?
What was the purpose of the preaching, warning and teaching every man in all wisdom that we read in Colossians 1:28? "(To) present every man perfect in Christ Jesus." Beloved, that was the purpose of the labor, the striving, and the great conflict that Paul endured.
It is safe to say that it is not the heart of God for His apprehended ones to be epitomized as ones who simply store information and knowledge about His plan. Yet, this seems to be one thing that has characterized this generation. It may not be a bad idea to take a closer look at what we feast on when we take in the inspirational food of the day and consider the destination to which it is pointing. It seems that there are three common stopping places that we can come to in this "generation of information."
We described the first place as a habitation of content sleepy souls. Those who have fallen into religious slumber may have a history behind them that was never intended to be a bed time story. We cannot help but wonder how many of God's apprehended ones once got a glimpse of something that was being done by the Holy Spirit and they began to minister out of such rays of light, but just before they passed from the scene, while the torch was stretched out and extended to a flock of enlightened souls, no one took hold of the flame? Unlike many spectators who may enjoy mighty ministries, the men and women of God that have stirred and enlightened the body of Christ did not have a hold of the flame of revelation, but the flame had a hold on them. When the people look to such a bearer of light rather than the Light, then we must conclude that when the bearer passes from the scene he may as well take the torch with him. The great vessels of honor that have been used in the household of faith down through the ages have often left this side of the grave with some sort of shrine that has been built by those who have rejoiced in the light once given. They can only rejoice in the past after the messenger has departed. Rather than growing in the revelation the vessel was moving with, they grow dim.
I must confess that in times past I have felt an eerie feeling sweep over me when I heard others say, "I remember when I was like you, I remember when I was on fire, I remember when..." Oh, Lord I do not want to one day find myself saying the same thing to some freshly apprehended, but growing soul, unless I have brought such things up as a remembrance that would stir up the gift of God in them! (2 Tim. 1:6).
"Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy; When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also. Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee" (2 Tim. 1:4-6)
It is a sad situation when a person who has had a knowledge of the Lord for a great number of years, who may be well informed with the scriptures, perhaps even considered an elder, can only pour cold water on a new born believer's zealous testimony, rather than encourage and kindle the fire that God has placed within them. Those who have driven their stakes down with a belief system that has no capacity to embrace anything of a further revelation of Jesus Christ will never be thrilled with those who are moving on with the Spirit. We cannot expect others to rejoice with us if they cannot see what we see. New life in these kind of camps is nothing more than a rude disturbance to those who have set ecclesiastical authority over the leadership of the Holy Spirit. They cannot produce life so they recruit others into their belief system.
They have come so far in the Spirit and settled on a past move or have mistaken a piece of the truth for all that God has to uncover; therefore, they feel no need to move with the progressive revelation of our Lord in His fullness. Unlike those who must go outside their camp to move with the Spirit or experience a further revelation, they have a continuing city.
"Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come" (Heb. 13:13 and 14). The word for continuing is rendered as permanent in the Concordant Literal New Testament.
It is an historical fact and a fulfilled prophecy that the once continuing city of Jerusalem that boasted of their religious order being the way to God was demolished in a very extreme manner. We shared this in greater detail in a previous edition of The Abiding Logos ("Receiving A Kingdom Which Cannot be Moved"). We do not want to belabor the historical side, but it does serve as a very sobering reminder for those who harden their hearts toward the Gospel. After all, the Apostles used the history of the Church in the wilderness as a reminder, too.
"For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it" (Heb. 4:2). We can look back and read what happened to those who heard the good news of their inheritance and never quite reached their destination. "Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice; Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it" (Num. 14:22 and 23).
If we read on in Numbers, we find an exception to the majority in the camp of Israel. "But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it" (Num. 14:24). Notice the verse mentioned Caleb followed the Lord. He was moving with the Lord. He followed the Lord fully, not just to a certain point. The words in the Hebrew for followed and fully mean just what they mean in the English. One obvious difference between Caleb and the others was the fact that Caleb was moving with God. The Spirit is a moving thing and those who follow the Spirit of God will never find rest or a continuing city within the camp of those who are content to see God's glory and miracles or hear information about God through their favorite preacher while turning a deaf ear to God's voice. Once God has spoken to the hungry apprehended soul, and their spirit bears witness to the Spirit, they will likely find themselves feeling rather odd around those who would settle for the predictable religious forms of the day rather than an open heaven.
While others have dictated what God can and cannot do through their cut and dried creeds and have no desire to look any further than the surface of what they see, you may be naturally compelled to peer into the deep. Indeed, my dear brothers and sisters, after our hearts have been pierced with divine destiny and we know that God is well able to have us excel into what He has purposed for us, we then know that deep calls unto deep and oh how beautiful is the sound of His Spirit courting our soul. Even a rebuke or a word of correction from our Heavenly Father is treasured and embraced as a serenade to our hearts. We cannot follow after the voice of our Beloved just for the sake of loaves and fishes anymore. We follow Him fully even if it may mean bearing His reproach!
The desire to follow the Lord as Caleb did testifies of Sonship. "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (Rom. 8:14). As we said, Caleb was following the Lord and embracing the vision of inheriting the land. He and Joshua had the good report, and they were the ones that the rest of the congregation wanted to stone. "And Joshua the son of Nun, and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, which were of them that searched the land, rent their clothes: And they spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying, The land, which we passed through to search it, is an exceeding good land. If the Lord delight in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it us; a land which floweth with milk and honey. Only rebel not ye against the Lord, neither fear ye the people of the land; for they are bread for us: their defence is departed from them, and the Lord is with us: fear them not. But all the congregation bade stone them with stones" (Num. 14:6-10). Oh, I wonder how many souls have gotten a glimpse of their inheritance in the Lord, and when they shared it with others in their own camp, the response of unbelief was so awful that is was enough to rend their hearts?
The spies that we read about returning from the land in Numbers chapter 13 all went to the same place. They all saw the same thing. Nevertheless, due to their reports conflicting, it is safe to say that they were not viewing things through the same eyes. Joshua and Caleb foreshadow those who have a vision of the new creation man, a corporate body, headed up and led by Jesus Christ, each member walking in their inheritance and operating God's Kingdom in the earth as Christ operates His will through them!
They see all the evil and corruption in Adam's rotting kingdom, but they fear not, for they know that their God did not give them a spirit of fear (2 Tim. 1:7). They know that God is far too big to lose anything and their hearts echo the same inspired thought of the psalmist: "The earth is the Lord's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein" (Ps. 24:1). They know that God is preparing a people who have had everything within them contrary to Christ conquered and their sights are not set on a quick flight out of the earth and into heaven so they can dance and shout for all eternity to the glory of God. They have another idea concerning the location of the glory of God! Even after all the unbelief was voiced in the camp of Israel, they can say "amen" to the bold declaration spoken by the Lord to Moses in Numbers 14:21: "But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord."
Perhaps the reason why so many people in Christendom have driven their stakes down at some point and have grown comfortable in their stagnation, is because they have confined the glory of God to a nice cathedral, a local assembly, a few conventions held every year, or some futuristic dream land surrounded by puffy white clouds and angels. They have no capacity to embrace the mandate for dominion that God gave man in Genesis 1:28: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth."
If we could just get our minds off the idea of the natural concept normally viewed in the above verse, it just might click in our hearts and minds that replenishing the earth through sexual procreation is not going to bring the dominion that God ultimately intends for this earth. We are not dismissing the fact that God intended natural people to procreate, but we are looking into the super natural concept gleaned from Genesis 1:28, which speaks of a fruitful people multiplying Christ in the earth as the glory of God is made manifest through changed lives that no longer live under the dictates of the lower animal impulses, the unclean spirits, and vain imaginations that swim through the sea of humanity, fly through our heavens, and creep across the terrain of our minds leaving it dust coated with carnality.
The Lord must reign and subdue all things. This is a fact that is solid and concrete in the heavens. It makes absolutely no difference what others say about the fate of this planet, the fate of those who were not smart enough to join their religious clique, nor the outcome of God's plan. It comes down to God being true to what He has purposed rather than speculations or theologies birthed out of the natural mind trying to make sense out of spiritual things.
"For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For He must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet (1 Cor. 15:22-25). This reigning and ruling speaks of the loss of dominion over creation that for so long has been held by the hopeless vanity of Adam's fallen nature which enslaves all humanity to the shackles of the death realm. As the Lord moves further and further forward through the ages culling out a people to partake of His divine government, which only exists to bring creation into harmony with it's Creator, He sovereignly interrupts many rituals, ceremonies, and comfortable routines with a sobering call to walk out a life by His grace that is rarely seen in what is now considered the Church. Many of these souls have stepped out not knowing exactly where they were going, but they knew they could not go back to what they were in if it meant giving their consent to a form of man posing as the order of God. What may have once been a place of life can become a mausoleum. They have no desire to relive the good old days. As long as the good old days come short of their inheritance in Christ Jesus, they know that they have no business trying to relive the past. This may not be speaking of changing geographical locations. Lets face it, you can move all over the globe and never come to full maturity! It is very crucial that we seek the Lord and hearken to His will rather than take our cues to come and go from another source.
It would not be unlike God to place a prepared vessel in a stagnate setting as His representative to declare and/or confirm the vision of a mature corporate son in the earth replenishing creation with the expression of our Lord Jesus Christ. We too easily forget to consider the fact that God has placed a desire to know Him as intimately as possible in people that are not in these little kingdom cliques! We talk about all people coming into the revelation of the Kingdom, but we never stop and realize that we, too, without any buildings, boards, or big wheels can have the same attitude of that proud elitist spirit whenever we talk about how the people in denominations, non-denominational denominations, and so on, will never come into the revelation until they come into our little inner circle.
I doubt not that as I type these words that there are those hungry hearts in Christianity who know that they know that there is more to God than what is found in the man made system with which they are involved. I can easily see different ones spending time in prayer as they commune with the Father for whatever He desires for them. Why? Because they will never have the fulfillment of their hearts where they are. I have seen many with this cry in their heart, and I submit to you, dear reader, "They that sow in tears shall reap in joy" (Ps. 126:5).
Even in the captivity of a harlot system, God has His precious ones that glorify Him through obedience by the gift of faith that He has placed in them. We can see it in the life of Daniel and others in the Old Testament, but if you bring that up to our day and apply it, many self-proclaimed sons of God will shun you, and at best misunderstand you, to be in support of man made systems. As far as we are concerned, the best thing about any man made system that flows through the Euphrates of modern day Babylon is that their sources will one day be dried up and the gloating harlot shall take her fall! Nevertheless, lives that have been in captivity shall be freed. We should take note that God is putting an end to man made systems, rather than the people captive in the systems. God is not in the business of restoring man made systems, but He is in the business of restoring those who were once bound by, and even in favor of, the system.
"O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee shall all flesh come... The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations; and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God... And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day... That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father... All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord; and shall glorify thy name." (Ps. 65:2, Isa. 52:10, John 6:39, Phil. 2:10 and 11, and Ps. 86:9)
In the above verses, which we believe to be inspired by God, we include the deceived souls, the evil men, and every faithful merchant that was in favor of Babylon, to be brought to the place where their hearts are turned toward the truth. In their lot, they too shall come forth to give the sacrifice of praise and worship to the Lord Jesus Christ. Many of them have passed this side of the grave in a very violent and bitter way, and we do hold to the fact that every man shall be judged according to His deeds. But God is a just judge, and the duration of time spoken of in the original language only testifies of correctional measures being taken rather than perpetual torture, which is just as perverted as the idea of no correction at all!
We have not yet come to that place in time where the spirit of Babylon has been dealt its final blow, and the vain systems of men are no more. We know that there was a time when Israel, which is called the Church in the wilderness (see Acts 7:38), went into captivity to a physical, geographically located city called Babylon. "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations..." (Matt. 1:17). We know that when the fullness of time came, that city called Babylon, which God used to judge Israel, was judged (Isa. 13:16 and Jer. 50:1-46).
We know that Israel became a harlot just as Babylon was. "How is the faithful city become an harlot! It was full of judgment; righteousness lodged in it; but now murderers" (Isa. 1:21). We also find that Jerusalem is described in Jeremiah 5:27: "As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich." This brings to mind part of verse 18:2 in Revelation which describes Babylon as "a cage of every unclean and hateful bird." Zion and Jerusalem are called "a wilderness" and "a desolation" in Isaiah 64:10. John was carried away in the spirit into the wilderness to see a city described as a great whore in Revelation 17:1-6. Her judgment is described in the same manner as the judgment that was to come upon Jerusalem in Isaiah 64:11. "Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned up with fire: and all our pleasant things are laid waste."
If we read on in chapter 65 of Isaiah, we read of both judgment and restoration for Jerusalem. There is a new heavens and a new earth described in 65:17. Peter also wrote of this new heavens and new earth in his second epistle. The Spirit inspired both Isaiah and Peter to speak of the passing of one age and the arrival of another in the symbolic language that is so often found in the prophets. Jerusalem indeed became the Babylon of the Apostle's day. We find it to be no accident or coincidence that the temple in Jerusalem was utterly destroyed with fire, there where three major Jewish sects that where killing each other off within the city, and the city was eventually sacked by the Roman army. "And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath" (Rev. 16:19). For your own personal comparison, we recommend a book entitled Thrones of Blood. This book is taken from the writings of Josephus. There are other books with his writings available in most Christian book stores.
We pray not to bombard you with lifeless historical accounts, but we hope to point out something very sobering when considering how our hearts may rest and settle for something less than what we have been called into. In the following paragraphs we hope to point out that the city of Jerusalem was judged for refusing to move with the Spirit of God. Their attitude was summed up by the words of Stephen: "Ye stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, ye do always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 8:51).
We wish to point out the following facts to show that the stagnant camp in old Jerusalem has been judged in hopes of bringing a sense of sobriety to those who are called to be a part of the New Jerusalem. We also hope that some of the scriptures that have been so popularly applied to the future would be considered as an application to the historical accounts so that our focus may be on the present, for the first and foremost aspect of the Revelation of Jesus Christ is He which is!(Rev.1:4). "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh" (Lk. 21:20). History has now confirmed the desolation of which the Lord spoke. We are well aware of various interpretations of the scriptures that we have just mentioned, as well as hopes for the literal city of Babylon to be rebuilt to help God fulfill prophecy, but rather than get sidetracked by those matters, we hope to present something more relevant and leave those who would scoff at us to themselves. For any further consideration, we urge you to search it out and compare the scriptures with what history says about the matter. The Apostles, as well as Jesus, spoke of the coming destruction and the passing of the system in Jerusalem. In 70 A. D., it came to pass. The continuing city of that system was discontinued. The followers of Jesus took his advice and fled into the mountains and away from Jerusalem, but those who felt compelled to remain in that stagnant, dead, passing system either perished or they were taken captive by the Romans (Matt. 24:16, Mk. 13:14, and Lk. 21:21).
"For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. For wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered together" (Matt. 24:27 and 28). These two verses may speak of something yet to come and I do not wish to spend a lot of time refuting other views, but there is something that is rarely even considered by most who read this passage of scripture. With much consideration to whom these scriptures were first spoken and with due respect to the context, we see the very route in which the Lord had judgment to march into Jerusalem. "It is worthy of remark that our Lord, in the most particular manner, points out the very march of the Roman army: they entered into Judea on the EAST, and carried on their conquest WESTWARD, as if not only the extensiveness of the ruin, but the very route which the army would take, were intended in the comparison of the lightning issuing from the east, and shining to the west" (Clarke's Commentary, vol. 5, p.231).
Furthermore, the word used in the Greek for east throughout the New Testament literally means the sunrising. It is no accident that this is the direction the Roman army took. Verse 28 speaks of a gathering around something dead! Once more, without debating the other interpretations of Matthew 24:28 that view this as eagle saints gathering to feed on Christ, I rest in the confidence that the passage is more fitting to the application of the dead Jewish system being surrounded and devoured by the Roman army. As far as the eagles go, the verse should read vulture. According to Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament, the griffon vulture is meant. It is noteworthy and fitting for this passage of scripture since this bird is known for how it "scents its prey from afar, and congregates in the wake of an army" (see vol. I, p. 130).
"Wheresoever the corpse may be, there will the vultures be gathered." (CLNT) The once faithful city became very unfaithful by stopping short of what God had in mind. In their minds they came to a rest, but it was not the rest that the book of Hebrews speaks of entering into. "Arise ye, and depart; for this is not your rest: because it is polluted, it shall destroy you, even with a sore destruction" (Mic. 2:10). This scripture from Micah had a very literal application to Jerusalem after the Lord Jesus Christ left their house desolate. The temple in Jerusalem was destroyed about forty years after rejecting the revelation that God brought to them through Jesus Christ. The stagnant camps of our day that were once moving forward in the faith, before they became systematized, have yet to be judged in a final sense.
We in no way wish to leave the impression that we conclude all fellowships to be nothing more than a part of Babylon. At this point we hope that a contrast has been seen between the hungry soul that has been spiritually led captive by the vision of coming into the full stature of the New Man and those who have fallen into the slumber of familiarity that so easily makes it's home in the confines of man made forms.
It would be very helpful if we would take into consideration that before there is a huge edifice lifted toward the clouds in the land of Shinar, there was first a motive, a thought, a desire, an agenda, a scheme working in the mind, which speaks of the soul. In James 1:6 we find a reference made to a double minded man. A more literal reading in the Greek would describe this man as being double souled (See Concordant Literal New Testament). It may be also worthy of our consideration that in the Hebrew, Shinar means Double city according to the marginal notes in the Concordant Version.
In our thinking we find the origin of what we manifest outwardly at some point. As far as our thinking goes we agree with the fact inspired by the Holy Spirit that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (Rom. 3:23). We can look back at Jerusalem as she unashamedly rejected the Lord and came short of the promise. Today, can we not hear the sleepy eyed religious drunkard with a bottle of yesterday's wine in his hand saying, "Play it again preacher!"?
I dare say the downfall of a generation can be the practice of preaching to the choir. After people have gotten excited about the same thing for the one thousandth time and they have experienced it, clearly understood it, and know it well enough to share it as light to others outside of their camp, then it might just be time to move onward toward their destination in God, rather than keep such light confined to their camp. However, if there is a dullness of hearing and the Lord has deeply impressed a message to be declared until it becomes a part of our being, then that is a different story. There are places in our walk where we might get excited about the thunder and fail to understand the voice! Selah!
You see, my dear brothers and sisters, John the Baptist did not come preaching to the choir. Jesus of Nazareth did not come preaching to the choir. Peter did not stand up on the day of Pentecost and preach what the religious leaders wanted to hear. Stephen was not preaching what the choir of his day were so used to hearing. The apprehended man who was captivated by the heavenly vision was in no way even hinting to preach the same old song and dance to the stagnant camps of his day. As a matter of fact, he had his mind made up that he was willing to die for what he was preaching. The Lord in His earthly ministry was advancing in His plan and leading His sheep forward, which meant a true change was in order for everyone. Paul was preaching this word that required a change of mind. It meant being bent in our thinking toward something. Adam's thinking is without a doubt bent alright, but it is bent in the wrong direction, toward the wrong thing. That is why we find Peter saying "repent" on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:38). He was not asking them to say, "I'm sorry." That is not the meaning of repent.
Man's thinking comes short of the glory of God. It is quite clear that coming short of His Glory is what concludes all of mankind as sinners. They have came short and missed the mark. There is only one cure for this and that is THE MIND OF CHRIST (1 Cor.2:16)! Sadly enough, even those who would claim the name of Christ have tried other ways to try to bring their mind to a glorious place in God, such as positive thinking and even embracing unscriptural means to be Christlike, which is described by the people who teach such methods as psychotherapy.
"And the Lord said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do" (Gen. 11:6). Let us please take note of the fact that what they have imagined to do is of a concern. Once again, this speaks of the thinking and the result of their thinking. Needless to say the men who sat out to build the tower of Babel did not have the mind of Christ. However, what they did was the offspring of their thinking. I think we can all agree that their methods of unity were not what God had in mind, otherwise God messed up when He confounded their language and scattered them (Gen. 11:7 and 8).
"Therefore the showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; and thou hadst a whore's forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed ... And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH" (Jer. 3:3 and Rev. 17:5). In consideration of the symbolic language found so often in scriptures, both Jeremiah and John are speaking of the mind, thoughts and thinking when they use the word forehead. We may look to some organization, be it religious or secular, and call it Babylon or a harlot, but at best we have only mistaken one of its many branches that have grown out from its central source. You can even cut off one of these undesirable and threatening tentacles, but while a small victory is celebrated the head still remains fertile and capable to sport its amoral and abominable influence in other avenues.
I find it very interesting that the proud giant that defied the God of the armies of Israel became a slain victim of a smooth stone, whose carcass was left to the fowls of the air and the wild beast of the earth, was struck in the forehead (1 Sam. 17:44-51). David knew how to put the great giant to rest in one shot. He hit a target that is so easily missed and rarely considered by those today that are taking mad swings at the draping tentacles of Babylon. David aimed for the forehead, then he cut Goliath's head off.
I am not refuting visible manifestations of Babylon. As a matter of fact, the visible manifestations only serve to prove the invisible, internal, unseen, and hidden things that are working in the birthplace of Mystery Babylon. This monstrosity will have to be struck in the head before it all comes tumbling down. Babylon is described and referred to as a woman, just as New Jerusalem is. Now leaving the historical record of old Jerusalem behind and every secular system of Adam we dread, let me ask you, "How has the faithful city become a harlot?"
I realize that as long as we can keep things out there in the visible, natural realm we will never touch those things that come too close to home. Allowances have been made to serve personal agendas. We can keep the name of Christ and teach our own doctrines and use our own methods in order to do whatever it is we feel like we need to do. Just let us use the name of Christ. We must simply Christianize these extra-biblical things that find a comfortable place in our midst. So often sermon material is governed by unscriptural traditions that find their roots in pagan religions. That is the attitude found in Isaiah 4:1. The actions of God's people of old so often reflect the actions of God's people today. "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach."
I do not think it is a wise practice to refer to every gathering that we may not be a part of as Babylon. It is also inconsistent with scripture to conclude that all present gatherings ought to stop. You see outside of our own little world there are those who are still drawn by the Spirit to gather in the Lord's name. Nevertheless, we still cannot hide our heads in the sand to the fact that we can easily find ourselves caught up in gathering in the name of something else and drawn by other things.
Do we gather to see a miracle? Do we gather to get people to think the way we do? Do we gather to see a personality? Do we gather to be entertained? Do we gather just for the sake gathering? This happens quite a lot whether we want to be honest with ourselves and admit it or not. I have people on my heart that need a miracle, but the center of our gathering is not to be spectators of the supernatural. When we are truly gathered in His name and we really want His will done there may be some miracles, but The Lord Himself will be the central focus! He is the One to be glorified! But these other things that take away from our centering on Christ can so easily hinder His appearing in our midst.
The reason why this happens is because something is wrong in the forehead, the mind set, in the very realm of our soul, which speaks of the will, the desires, the heart, and emotions. Our soul either gives place to the Holy Spirit or the spirit of the age. There is no neutral ground. There is no grey area that exempts us of the consequences of what we give our soul to. The children of disobedience are not quickened to the fact that they walk in the tyrannical dictates of sin, but we being quickened by the Holy Spirit should not kid ourselves into believing the false pretense of there being a neutral ground (Eph. 2:1 and 2).
We can argue that the seven women spoken of in Isaiah 4:1 could never speak of those in the body of Christ, and if they do, it is surely not us. However, as long as there is something within us and within our midst that is unsubdued and out of alignment with the will of God, we are only fooling ourselves. You can tell me you have come out of this and come out of that and I can join the bandwagon too, but brother, our actions and what we manifest speak for themselves and, likewise, it is so with every stagnant camp that waves the banner of Christ with no heart to follow Him. God however has been raising up a people that have no capacity to sit back on these bandwagons to speak great swelling words, as the Spirit has long left such camps! That's right, there is a habitation of willing souls out of whom the Holy Spirit speaks. There is a city of living stones that are free from the filthy finger prints of Adam, and they will not have the same things written in their forehead that we find in the mind of Mystery Babylon!
We would like to look deeper into the mind of Mystery Babylon where the cogs continue to turn in the darkened, but busy factory of sinful thoughts. Looking back at history we find a man that gives us some insight concerning the present truth of Mystery Babylon and what makes the old gal tick. We have established that the ticking takes places in her thinking. Let us now consider how her thinking got her into the condition that qualifies her as Mystery Babylon. "And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar" (Gen. 10:8-10).
It is significant that we find in Gen.10:10 that the beginning of Nimrod's kingdom was Babel. Perhaps, even more significant we find that Nimrod's name means rebel, his father's Cush name, means full of darkness, and the father of Cush was Ham, which means "heat and black." Ham's name speaks of being seared when it comes to the application of our soul. The reason why this is applicable to the believer is due to the fact that along with the other seven souls, Ham also came through the flood, which was a type of our regeneration and a figure of baptism (1 Pet. 3:20).
Those who conclude that they got it all when they got saved, therefore they need not concern themselves with growth in the Spirit because they believe they are full grown in one quick confession, have blindly come into a place that is only destined to stagnate. This stagnation also comes about when the light of one revelation comes and the Spirit begins to speak more and more, but the initial light that came is enough for them. In the stagnant camps, many can indeed boast of the revelation of "Christ in you the hope of glory," but if the purpose of Christ being within is not apprehended and understood, then we will find perpetual cycles and predictable patterns of boasting and basking in a truth, without the very substance of the truth. We indeed got it all in seed form, when the logos was sown and the Spirit quickened us, but the manchild, beloved, has yet to be birthed! We can talk about Christ in you, but if we do not focus on the reality and purpose of the final result of Christ in us then we are sowing to the wind only to reap the whirlwind (Hos. 8:7).
This thinking found in the harlot's forehead is very much applicable to the believer whose soul knows the light of revelation, but fails to move with it. IF THE LIGHT IN YOU BECOMES DARKNESS, HOW GREAT IS THAT DARKNESS? (Matt. 6:23 and Luke 11:35). The soul coming through the regeneration can still be courted by the spirit of the age and give place to all those creatures that swim through the double minded condition of uncommitted Christendom and other spiritual Shinars. It is a most glorious thing when the soul willingly comes to that place of making the Spirit her head. It is in that place where the cogs within Mystery Babylon begins to cease. That does not mean that all the man made systems in the world may fall all at once, but that will be one less soul riding the beast nature into confusion. Furthermore, the world's thinking, which is expressed in their lifestyle, will not be affected by the those called out of such lifestyles until they have an absolute change in their soul realm, in which they come into a place in God and go no more out! As we have said, when the head is struck the body will come tumbling down. This downfall may not come in the blink of an eye, yet we know it shall come. There is also a corporate expression that the world waits for, and in that corporate expression all the man made systems will have to give way to the next phase in God's mighty plan of the ages. But as long as those who are to make up the expression stop short of the mature expression of Christ, those in the systems of this world, as well as those in the household of faith, are left with no substance and no expectation of anything more than present darkness.
The seared indifferent condition of the soul gives birth to a place full of darkness, which goes on to bring forth an offspring of rebellion to the Holy Spirit because there is no longing in the heart for a further revelation of the Lord. It is that sort of progression, or should we say digression, that we find a sobering reminder in the meaning of the names of Ham, Cush, and Nimrod, as well as their order. The ongoing uncovering of Christ that the Spirit leads and guides us into is an enemy to those who have assumed a soon to be discontinued city to be their permanent continuing city.
The reproach that many have beared up under while leaving such places is but a very light affliction compared to the glory that shall be revealed in them as they move in faith and go to Him who also suffered outside the camp (Rom. 8:18 and Heb. 13:12-14). Is He not worthy of such devotion? Has His voice gone out in vain? Does the wind not move upon the waters calling unto the very depths of our soul? For those who have stood in the darkness and caught a glow upon the horizon, behold, a most glorious light has come! We have an expectation that is alien to the mind that savors darkness, yet even such minds, bewitched in unbelief, will know the liberating Spirit that breaks the bands of vanity and quickens that which was once dead!
In the fierce, fast pace rat race that so often governs the lifestyle of this generation, the time we would do well to take and assimilate spiritually inspired words is found when we grow aware of His abiding Spirit. Each time He speaks and we listen, we "come up hither." As we take heed to His voice and ascend in the Spirit, let us walk out the vision we see on the screen of the open heaven, and let us humbly acknowledge the awesome riches of the glory, which is Christ in you, who has been preached and taught by inspired captives of the high calling down through the ages, who operated in all wisdom, so that we may be presented perfectly mature in Christ Jesus (Col. 1:27 and 28).