Human Trafficking in the Church — Part 16
Recognizing the Six Characteristics of the Religious Spirit of Babylon
The six characteristics of the religious spirit of Babylon are the same today as they were when they were first recorded in Scripture in Genesis 11.
3. Building an Empire (continued)
“Then they said, ‘Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves’—Genesis 11:4 (NLT)
“Have you ever stood and stared at it? Marveled at it beauty? Its genius? Billions of people just living out their lives … oblivious … the peak of your civilization! And I say *your *civilization because as soon as we started thinking *for *you it really became *our *civilization, which of course is what this is all about.”—Agent Smith to Morpheus as he looked out over the vast city that was built by those who served the Matrix
Abortion is a particularly cruel form of murder that is committed against those who are the most vulnerable and defenseless among us. Abortion must be opposed and eradicated from society. But the rules for doing this have not changed. No sin has ever been eradicated from a society by passing laws or rendering court judgments against it. 2 Chronicles 7:14 still applies to the sin of abortion, just as it applies to every other sin.
“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.”—2 Chronicles 7:14 (NKJV)
The eradication of systemic sins and criminal behavior in society is the responsibility of the Church, not the courts, and not the government.
In order to remove the plague of abortion from our land, God’s people must repent.
Protesters now are declaring that if abortion is made illegal, it won’t stop abortions from happening. Abortions will continue by any means necessary.
They are absolutely correct.
If there is no repentance from God’s people, this sin will continue to plague our land. Laws and court decisions alone cannot stop it. Laws and court decisions can only deal with symptoms. They are totally inadequate to cure the underlying disease.
Until the Christians in our land repent of their own *spiritual *abortions resulting from their lack of love for the youngest and most vulnerable among us, it will do no good to bring cases before the Supreme Court trying to overturn laws that support *physical *abortions. We can’t cure the disease by focusing only on the symptoms.
“Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.”— Galatians 3:24 (KJV)
If the laws are doing what they are supposed to be doing, they inform us of what is right and what is wrong.
“What shall we say, then? Is the law sinful? Certainly not! Nevertheless, I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law. For I would not have known what coveting really was if the law had not said, ‘You shall not covet.’”—Romans 7:7 (NIV)
But the laws cannot fix the problems. They can only tell us what the problems are. Then we must turn to Christ for the solutions.
Rick Joyner recently had a revelation that God is standing by ready to heal the problems of our nation, but we, as God’s people, have not done what we need to do to make that happen. Not enough believers are humbling ourselves. There is not sufficient prayer happening. Few believers are seeking God’s face, and perhaps most importantly, believers are not turning from their own wicked ways. Repentance is not happening as it should in the lives of God’s people in order for the condition of our nation to be turned around in a positive direction.
A Reflection of the Church
What is the Church guilty of, exactly?
I believe the Church in our land stands before God today guilty of (among other things) a lack of love for children that has resulted in the systemic practice of abortion—physically and spiritually.
We can be sure that systemic abortion is a problem in the Church because that is what is reflected in our society.
We must realize that the conditions of our society, its government, its policies and laws, are merely a reflection of the condition of the Church in our land.
If physical abortion is rampant in our land, and supported by our government, that is because spiritual abortion is rampant in our churches and supported by their leaders. Think about it. Does your church place a high emphasis on evangelism and discipleship of young believers, or have those activities been sacrificed in favor of other priorities? How many people have experienced the new birth in your church so far this year?
Jesus told us that the fields are white and ready for harvest (John 4:35). The seed has been planted. Conception has already taken place, and people are ready to be born again. Are we going into the fields to gather God’s harvest, or are focusing our time and energies on building our own empires?
“The harvest is past, the summer has ended and the gathering of fruit is over, yet we are not saved! [comes again the voice of the people.]”—Jeremiah 8:20 (AMPC)
“Am I to open the womb and not deliver?” asks the Lord. “And when I bring to delivery, am I to close the womb?” asks your God.—Isaiah 66:9 (ISV)
Are our church programs focused on discipling the youngest and most vulnerable believers, or have we turned our churches into Christian social clubs for the complacent?
We must remember that when great crimes and sins become rampant as an embedded part of the culture of a society, God lays the cause for that squarely at the feet of His own people in that society as we are told in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
Physical and Spiritual Abortion
Abortion in a broad sense is the same as infanticide. It is the killing of new human life. It is cutting off young lives before they have a chance to become the people that God had intended for them to be.
Whether these murders happen in the womb or shortly after birth, the effect is the same. Politicians debate arbitrary stages of growth, like trimesters or a certain number of weeks after conception, but at what stage these murders happen is irrelevant. Lives are cut off. Destinies are lost.
In a broad sense, we can say that Herod committed abortion when he ordered the killing of all of the male children two years old and under. (See Matthew 2:16.) Those children were outside of the womb, but the effect was essentially the same as if they had been murdered before they were born. Infants were killed. Individual destinies were lost.
The same thing could be said about Pharaoh’s order to murder the Hebrew boys in Exodus 1:16. In a broad sense, this could also be considered abortion. The order was to murder the boys immediately *after *birth, but the effect would have been the same. The children would have been killed. Lives would have been lost. If he could have killed the babies in the womb, he probably would have. Pharaoh was simply using the technology that he had available to him at the time.
Abortion is tool of Satan that he uses to try to cut off destinies that could be used by God to advance His purposes and bring great damage to the kingdom of darkness. We see that described vividly in Revelation 12:4 as the Dragon stands in front of the Sun-Clothed Woman (the Church), waiting to devour her child as soon as it is born.
Christians have—knowingly or unknowingly—come into agreement with the goals of the enemy to cut off the young lives of spiritual and physical children as they give a higher priority to building their personal empires.
God’s Purposes
In the beginning, God’s very first command was to have children. The purposes of God are revealed in His first command.
“And God blessed them [granting them certain authority] and said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, and subjugate it [putting it under your power]’”—Genesis 1:28 (AMP)
Another version states it this way:
“God gave them his blessing and said: **Have a lot of children! Fill the earth with people **and bring it under your control.”—Genesis 1:28 (CEV)
After the flood, when the world was basically starting over with another family, God’s command to them was the same because His purposes had not changed.
“And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth.’”—Genesis 9:1 (AMP)
In the New Testament, it is no different. God’s purposes have not changed. It’s all about the children! It always has been all about the children!
Look carefully at the Great Commission. Isn’t it really the same as God’s very first command in Genesis 1:28?
“And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.”—Matthew 28:18-20 (NKJV)
God’s command in Genesis focused on physical children. Jesus’ Great Commission focuses on spiritual children, but the commands are basically the same. God’s purposes have not changed. It is still all about the children!
Jesus performed many miracles and taught many people, but he focused most of his time and energies on raising twelve young disciples in the faith. He guided them from spiritual infancy to mature leaders in the faith, training them to keep His commands. They became His legacy. His discipleship efforts were so successful that eleven of these men became pillars of leadership in the Church.
Jesus’ discipleship methods were so successful that they are recorded in the four gospels as a model to guide us in fulfilling the most important priorities of our ministry.
Discipleship is not just “doing life together” in some kind of hit-or-miss casual half-hearted mentorship when it’s convenient. True discipleship is spiritual parenting. Jesus showed us that true discipleship is a commitment to lay down our own lives and our own plans in order to raise up the next generation to become mature leaders in the faith. Discipleship is intentional focus on training young believers to observe the commands of Jesus until those commands become a lifestyle of obedience to Christ.
We, God’s people, have neglected our responsibilities to give birth to many physical and spiritual children and to lead them to become true disciples of Jesus Christ. We have focused our priorities on building our own empires and on other things that are not God’s priorities.
There is evidence that, unless something changes, Islam will become the dominant religion in the world simply because Muslim families have more children, on average, than Christian families.
In order to eradicate the sin of abortion from our land, God’s people must repent of our lack of love for children and our disobedience to God’s command to raise up many godly disciples in our own families and in every nation.
