Human Trafficking in the Church — Part 29
Reform is Not Possible
Martin Luther reluctantly realized, after years of trying, that the Roman Catholic Church would not be reformed. Protestants would have to come out of the Catholic Church in order to free themselves of a religious system that enslaved people to false traditions of men.
Luther would have preferred for the Church to be purged of the leaven of the religious system of Babylon, but the strongholds of the religious spirit were too deeply embedded in the beliefs and practices of the Roman Catholic Church at that time. There was no other choice.
In similar ways, God has been calling His people for centuries to come out of the oppressive religious system ruled by the spirit of Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes. Sometimes, people may be called to leave churches in order to do this. Often that is not necessary. Simply being aware of the signs of the working of the religious spirit of Babylon and avoiding participation with it may be sufficient. After all, many heroes of the faith were called to serve God in the midst of very ungodly empires, like Daniel, Joseph, and Esther!
God may call you to stay in a church that is deeply committed to spiritual human trafficking. If He does, it is because *that *is where you can accomplish His purposes best. You can be *in *a corrupt spiritual environment without being a part *of *it. Jesus modeled that for us in His ministry.
But you must not participate in the goals and the practices of spiritual human trafficking.
“Flee out of Babylon, Let every one of you save his life! Do not be destroyed in her punishment, For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance; He is going to pay her what she has earned.”—Jeremiah 51:6 (AMP)
“Come out of her midst, My people, And each of you [escape and] save yourself From the fierce anger of the Lord.”—Jeremiah 51:45 (AMP)
“Leave Babylon! Don’t stay!”—Jeremiah 51:50 (CEV)
“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not be a partner in her sins and receive her plagues; for her sins (crimes, transgressions) have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her wickedness and crimes [for judgment].”—Revelation 18:4-5 (AMP)
Instead of reform, it will be necessary for the religious system of Babylon—the religious system that has enslaved so many people to the traditions of men and robbed so many of their destinies and callings in God—to be completely destroyed.
“We would have healed Babylon, but she was not to be healed. Abandon her and let each [captive] return to his own country, For her guilt and judgment have reached to heaven And are lifted up to the very skies.”—Jeremiah 51:9 (AMP)
This is *not *about the destruction of individual churches. Not at all! God’s judgment is directed at a religious *system *inspired by the religious spirit of Babylon to enslave people and to pull them away from their individual callings and destinies in God.
The Punishment Fits the Crime
“Though Babylon should ascend to the heavens, And though she should fortify her lofty stronghold, Yet destroyers will come on her from Me,” says the Lord.”—Jeremiah 51:53 (AMP)
One of the goals of the people of Babel was to build “a tower whose top will reach into heaven” (Genesis 11:4 NASB). Since that time, the religious spirit of Babylon has inspired the building of many spiritual towers of human efforts in vain attempts to reach heaven, but these spiritual towers have only succeeded in piling up towers of sins, And these sins have reached heaven. These towers of sins are now calling for God’s judgment.
“For her guilt and judgment have reached to heaven And are lifted up to the very skies.”—Jeremiah 51:9 (AMP)
“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not be a partner in her sins and receive her plagues; **for her sins (crimes, transgressions) have piled up as high as heaven, **and God has remembered her wickedness and crimes [for judgment].”—Revelation 18:4-5 (AMP)
The religious system of Babylon is so corrupt that judgment is inevitable.
“And he shouted with a mighty voice, She is fallen! Mighty Babylon is fallen! She has become a resort and dwelling place for demons, a dungeon haunted by every loathsome spirit, an abode for every filthy and detestable bird.”—Revelation 18:2 (AMPC)
This corrupt religious system has made slaves of countless people of God.
“Then the angel said to me, ‘The waters where the prostitute is ruling represent masses of people of every nation and language.’”—Revelation 17:15 (NLT)
For this false religious system, the punishment fits the crime.
**“Repay to her even as she has repaid others, and pay back [to her] double [her torment] in accordance with what she has done; in the cup [of sin and suffering] which she mixed, mix a double portion [of perfect justice] for her. To the degree that she glorified herself and reveled and gloated in her sensuality [living deliciously and luxuriously], to that same degree impose on her torment and anguish, and mourning and grief; for in her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as a queen [on a throne] and I am not a widow, and will never, ever see mourning or experience grief.’ **For this reason in a single day her plagues (afflictions, calamities) will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire and completely consumed; for strong and powerful is the Lord God who judges her.”—Revelation 18:6-8 (AMP)
She will be destroyed—not by God directly, but the governments that were used by her will turn against her and destroy her utterly. Ironically, she will be destroyed by the government of the Antichrist. In God’s perfect justice, the false religious system will be destroyed by the false governmental system just before the return of the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked [stripped of her power and influence], and will eat her flesh and completely consume her with fire. For God has put it in their hearts to carry out His purpose by agreeing together to surrender their kingdom to the beast, until the [prophetic] words of God will be fulfilled. The woman whom you saw is the great city, which reigns over and dominates and controls the kings and the political leaders of the earth.”—Revelation 17:16-18 (AMP)
The end-time judgment of the Mother of Prostitutes was foreshadowed in the judgment of Babylon in Daniel’s time.
“Sharpen the arrows, take up the shields [and cover yourselves]! ** The Lord has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes, Because His purpose concerning Babylon is to destroy it;** For that is the vengeance of the Lord, vengeance [on Babylon] **for [plundering and destroying] His temple.”—**Jeremiah 51:11 (AMP)
“Lift up a signal in the land [to spread the news]! Blow the trumpet among the nations! Dedicate the nations [for war] against her; Call against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni, and Ashkenaz. Appoint a marshal against her; Cause the horses to come up like bristly locusts [with their wings not yet released from their cases].
“Prepare and dedicate the nations for war against her— The kings of Media, With their governors and commanders, And every land of their dominion.”—Jeremiah 51:27-28 (AMP)
Destruction Will Be Total
“May the violence done to me and to my flesh and blood be upon Babylon,” The inhabitant of Zion will say; And, “May my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea,” Jerusalem will say.
Therefore thus says the Lord,
“Behold, I will plead your case And take full vengeance for you;”—Jeremiah 51:35-36 (AMP)
“And I will [completely] repay Babylon and all the people of Chaldea for all the evil that they have done in Zion—before your very eyes [I will do it],” says the Lord.”—Jeremiah 51:24 (AMP)
“The land trembles and writhes [in pain and sorrow], For the purposes of the Lord against Babylon stand, To make the land of Babylon A desolation without inhabitants.”—Jeremiah 51:29 (AMP)
“So Jeremiah wrote in a single scroll all the disaster which would come on Babylon, [that is] all these words which have been written concerning Babylon. Then Jeremiah said to Seraiah, “When you come to Babylon, see to it that you read all these words aloud,** **and say, ‘You, O Lord, have promised concerning this place to cut it off and destroy it, so that there shall be nothing living in it, neither man nor animal, but it will be perpetually desolate.’ And as soon as you finish reading this scroll, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into the middle of the Euphrates. Then say, ‘In the same way Babylon will sink down and not rise because of the disaster that I will bring on her; and the Babylonians will become [hopelessly] exhausted.’” Thus the words of Jeremiah are completed.”—Jeremiah 51:60-64 (AMP)
This prophetic act of throwing a stone into the watery depths to declare the judgment of Babylon was repeated and confirmed by a powerful angel in the book of Revelation.
“Then a single powerful angel picked up a boulder like a great millstone and flung it into the sea, saying, “With such violence will Babylon the great city be hurled down [by the sudden, spectacular judgment of God], and will never again be found.** **
“And the sound of harpists and musicians and flutists and trumpeters will never again be heard in you, and no skilled artisan of any craft will ever again be found in you, and the sound of the millstone [grinding grain] will never again be heard in you [for commerce will no longer flourish, and normal life will cease].** **
“And never again will the light of a lamp shine in you, and never again will the voice of the bridegroom and bride be heard in you; for your merchants were the great and prominent men of the earth, because all the nations were deceived and misled by your sorcery [your magic spells and poisonous charm].** **
“And in Babylon was found the blood of prophets and of saints (God’s people) and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.”— Revelation 18:21-24 (AMP)
The destruction of this Babylonish religious system will be total. Nothing will be left except the smoke rising from the ashes.
“How Sheshak (Babylon) has been captured, And the praise of the whole earth been seized! How Babylon has become an astonishing desolation and an object of horror among the nations!”—Jeremiah 51:40 (AMP)
“The sound of an outcry [comes] from Babylon, And [the sound] of great destruction from the land of the Chaldeans!
For the Lord is going to destroy Babylon and make her a ruin, And He will still her great voice [that hums with city life]. And the waves [of her conquerors] roar like great waters, The noise of their voices is raised up [like the marching of an army].
For the destroyer is coming against her, against Babylon; And her mighty warriors will be captured, Their bows are shattered; For the Lord is a God of [just] restitution; **He will fully repay.”—**Jeremiah 51:54-56 (AMP)
“And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the prostitute and will make her desolate and naked [stripped of her power and influence], and will eat her flesh and completely consume her with fire.”—Revelation 17:16 (AMP)
Destruction will be so complete and so devastating that “The smoke of her [burning] shall continue to ascend forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities)” (Revelation 19:3 AMPC).
God’s people, who have been victimized by this false religious system for ages will finally see justice fully accomplished on their behalf.
“Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints (God’s people) and apostles and prophets [who were martyred], because God has executed vengeance for you [through righteous judgment] upon her.”—Revelation 18:20 (AMP)
“After this I heard what sounded like a mighty shout of a great crowd in heaven, exclaiming, Hallelujah (praise the Lord)! Salvation and glory (splendor and majesty) and power (dominion and authority) [belong] to our God!
“Because His judgments (His condemnation and punishment, His sentences of doom) are true and sound and just and upright. He has judged (convicted, pronounced sentence, and doomed) the great and notorious harlot (idolatress) who corrupted and demoralized and poisoned the earth with her lewdness and adultery (idolatry). And He has avenged (visited on her the penalty for) the blood of His servants at her hand.
“And again they shouted, Hallelujah (praise the Lord)! The smoke of her [burning] shall continue to ascend forever and ever (through the eternities of the eternities).”— Revelation 19:1-3 (AMPC)