Human Trafficking in the Church — Part 4
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.
2. Using Man-Made Materials
“And they said one to another, Come, let us make bricks and burn them thoroughly. So they had brick for stone, and slime (bitumen) for mortar.”—Genesis 11:3 (AMP)
This passage specifically points out substitutions that were made in the construction materials. Bricks were used in place of stone. What’s wrong with that?
The problem is that bricks are man-made. Stone is a part of God’s creation.
God made it very clear in Exodus 20:25 that “if you use stones to build my altar, use only natural, uncut stones. Do not shape the stones with a tool, for that would make the altar unfit for holy use.” (NLT).
When the people begin building their church with their own materials, rather than God’s materials, it is no longer pure, as far as God is concerned. It is polluted. God’s church cannot be pure if it is built using man’s ideas, man’s blueprints, man’s methods and man’s misguided efforts.
Additionally, slime was used instead of mortar to hold everything together. What’s wrong with using slime to create a house that’s dedicated to God? (I shouldn’t even have to ask that question!)
Let’s take a look at where slime comes from…
Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon describes the origin of “slime” (or bitumen), saying that it “boils up from subterranean fountains like oil or hot pitch, in the vicinity of Babylon, and also near the Dead Sea, and from its bottom…”
This definition seems to describe something dark that boils up from the depths of Hell itself. It is something that is associated with death. It is the substance of Babylon.
“There is a way which seems right to a man and appears straight before him, But its end is the way of death.”—Proverbs 14:12 (AMP)
This slime is the material that is used to hold churches and ministries together when they are involved in spiritual human trafficking.
“This [superficial] wisdom is not such as comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual (animal), even devilish (demoniacal).”—James 3:15 (AMP)
Spiritual human traffickers use the building blocks of man’s ideas, man’s methods, man’s philosophies, and man’s traditions to build Christian religious institutions that swallow up the lives and destinies of God’s people, leaving the Mother of Prostitutes reeling with drunkenness from all of the lives she’s swallowed.
And these Christian institutions are all held together with the hellish slime provided by the religious spirit of Babylon the Great.
In this way, men and devils work together to support the efforts of spiritual human traffickers.
Jesus didn’t seem to differentiate between the things of men and the things of devils. He seemed to sometimes speak of them interchangeably, as if they were essentially the same. And in fact, they are the same in that they are both antichrist.
“But Jesus turned and told Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are an offense to me, because you are not thinking God’s thoughts but human thoughts!”—Matthew 16:23 (ISV)
or as it appears in the Amplified Version:
“But turning around [with His back to Peter] and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan; for your mind is not set on God’s will or His values and purposes, but on what pleases man.”—Mark 8:33 (AMP)
And in fact, the ultimate potential of man is found in Antichrist, who will receive his power from Satan.
“Wisdom is needed here. Let the one with understanding solve the meaning of the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. His number is 666.”—Revelation 13:18 (NLT)
Ungodly Substitutes — Philosophies and Vain Deceits
It was his first visit to this home. Lester Sumrall stood and waited on the porch after knocking on the front door. He held his briefcase in one hand with an umbrella on his arm. Under his other arm he held the day’s newspaper.
When Smith Wigglesworth opened the door of his home, he glared at Lester Sumrall. After a moment, he asked “What’s under your arm?”
“The morning newspaper, sir,” Sumrall answered.
“Throw it away! Throw it away! You can’t come in here! You can’t come in here!” Wigglesworth insisted sternly.
“Yes, sir!” Sumrall responded as he shoved the newspaper in the bushes.
Then Wigglesworth cordially invited Sumrall into his home where they read the Bible and prayed together for well over an hour before Wigglesworth’s daughter announced that lunch was ready.
In speaking of the newspaper, Wigglesworth later explained to Sumrall that, “I don’t permit those lies into my house. In my house, there is only truth!” (Sumrall)
And yet, in many Christian churches today, entire sermons are preached in which not one single verse of Scripture is quoted. On what then are these sermons based?
The Apostle Paul warned us that human ideas, good-sounding stories, and religious traditions are major tools that church leaders use — knowingly or unknowingly — to deceive and enslave Christians and divert them from pursuing God’s callings for their lives to instead serve the interests and goals of the institutional church system.
“See to it that no one enslaves you through philosophy and empty deceit according to human tradition, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to the Messiah”—Colossians 2:8 (ISV)
The early apostles gave stern warnings about protecting the purity of the doctrine and teaching that was allowed in the churches and not allowing any mixture with earthly wisdom, philosophies, and man’s opinions or ideas.
“Preach the word of God.”—2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT)
Paul wanted to make it clear to people that his ministry was not the product of human ideas or human efforts, but he was called, prepared, and sent by God.
“From Paul, an apostle who is not sent from human authority or commissioned through human agency, but sent through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead”—Galatians 1:1 (NLT)
He was very careful to share only the pure truth of God, based in Scripture, without mixture. There was nothing of man’s wisdom or man’s ideas in the messages that Paul shared.
“Christ did not give me the work of baptizing people. He gave me the work of preaching the Good News, and he sent me to preach the Good News** without using words of worldly wisdom. If I used worldly wisdom to tell the Good News, the cross of Christ would lose its power.”**—1 Corinthians 1:17 (ICB)
“Therefore, we never stop thanking God that when you received his message from us, you didn’t think of our words as mere human ideas. You accepted what we said as the very word of God—which, of course, it is. And this word continues to work in you who believe.”—1 Thessalonians 2:13 (NLT)
“When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling. And my message and my preaching were very plain. Rather than using clever and persuasive speeches, I relied only on the power of the Holy Spirit. I did this so you would trust not in human wisdom but in the power of God.
“Yet when I am among mature believers, I do speak with words of wisdom, but not the kind of wisdom that belongs to this world or to the rulers of this world, who are soon forgotten. No, the wisdom we speak of is the mystery of God—his plan that was previously hidden, even though he made it for our ultimate glory before the world began.”—1 Corinthians 2:1-7 (NLT)
Beware of Leaven
Even before the apostles were warning the churches to guard against the ungodly philosophies and ideas of man, Jesus gave stern warnings to His disciples to guard against any ungodly mixture with the deceptive teachings and religious traditions of men.
“Jesus said to them, ‘Watch out and be on your guard against the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ … ‘How is it that you fail to understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.’ Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the [false] teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”—Matthew 16:6-12 (AMP)
The Apostle Paul reinforced this in Galatians 5:1-13:
“It was for this freedom that Christ set us free [completely liberating us]; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery [which you once removed].
**… **
“You were running [the race] well; who has interfered and prevented you from obeying the truth?** This [deceptive] persuasion is not from Him who called you [to freedom in Christ]. A little leaven [a slight inclination to error, or a few false teachers] leavens the whole batch [it perverts the concept of faith and misleads the church]. **I have confidence in you in the Lord that you will adopt no other view [contrary to mine on the matter]; but the one who is disturbing you, whoever he is, will have to bear the penalty.
…
“For you, my brothers, were called to freedom; only do not let your freedom become an opportunity for the sinful nature (worldliness, selfishness), but through love serve and seek the best for one another.” (AMP)
I have always disagreed with the prevailing interpretation of the parable in Matthew 13:33, in which Jesus says, “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in a bushel of wheat flour until the yeast had worked its way through all the dough.” (CEB)
Most Christian leaders seem to teach that the yeast (or leaven) in this parable is the good news of Jesus Christ or some other good thing. They usually don’t identify the woman at all, or they may say that the woman represents the Church.
From the wording of this verse, that would seem to make sense at first reading, but I see big problems with that interpretation.
My first red flag is the word “hid.” Is the Church supposed to hide the Gospel message covertly in society? Are we called to deceive people into believing the truth of Jesus? Jesus told us that we are the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:14) and that “No one lights a lamp and then hides it or puts it under a clay pot. A lamp is put on a lampstand, so that everyone who comes into the house can see the light” (Luke 11:33 CEV). Is He now telling us to hide the light and be careful not to let anyone see what we are doing?
I looked up this word “hid” in the original language. It means “to conceal in something” or “to mingle one thing with another.” That is completely inconsistent with what Jesus commanded us to do with Scriptural truth!
Also, if yeast (or leaven) is a good thing in this parable, it would be the *only *instance in the Old and New Testaments in which yeast represents something good.
I believe that this parable only makes sense when the yeast (leaven) is seen as a corrupting influence and this parable is taken as a warning to us. The woman in this parable could very well represent the religious spirit from Revelation 17 who is riding comfortably on the back of the Antichrist and who is called “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes.”
Often now, when I teach in churches, sadly, I find it necessary to point out the flaws in the strongholds of lies that people have been taught before I can present the truth from Scripture.
My basic outlines go something like this:
“I’m going to describe what you may have been taught before and explain why those beliefs are not true. Then I will explain to you the actual truth from Scripture.”
I’ve found that there is a need to expose and tear down strongholds of lies in the belief systems of many believers before truth can be established.
In The Matrix film, Neo is finally faced with the reality that everything that he has believed has been a lie. The rug is pulled out from under him. The foundation of everything that he has trusted in has been exposed as deception. He is so shaken by this revelation that his initial reaction is denial.
Neo: “No. I don’t believe it. It’s not possible.”
Morpheus: “I didn’t say it would be easy, Neo. I just said it would be the truth.”
Neo: “No. Stop. Let me out. Let me out. I want out.”
Trinity: “Easy, Neo. Easy.”
Morpheus: “Listen to me…”
Neo: “Don’t touch me. Stay away from me. I don’t want it. I don’t believe it. I don’t believe it.”
Eventually, he adjusts to this new reality and accepts the truth as his new foundation upon which to build his belief system.
Martin Luther may have had a similar experience when he finally realized that the religious system that he had dedicated his life to was deeply corrupt and not even based in biblical truth.
Is it any wonder that when it came time for Jesus to choose the twelve men who would be the apostles of His new Christian Church, He did not choose anyone who had ever been to a Bible school taught by men?
And then Paul was chosen. And though he had been taught in the best religious schools of his day, he had to *unlearn *so much that when he came back from his time of retreat in Arabia, he made it clear that what he was sharing did not come from man at all.
“I am astonished and extremely irritated that you are so quickly shifting your allegiance and deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different [even contrary] gospel; which is really not another [gospel]; but there are [obviously] some [people masquerading as teachers] who are disturbing and confusing you [with a misleading, counterfeit teaching] and want to distort the gospel of Christ [twisting it into something which it absolutely is not].** But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we [originally] preached to you, let him be condemned to destruction! **As we have said before, so I now say again, if anyone is preaching to you a gospel different from that which you received [from us], let him be condemned to destruction!
“Am I now trying to win the favor and approval of men, or of God? Or am I seeking to please someone? If I were still trying to be popular with men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.
“For I want you to know, believers, that the gospel which was preached by me is not man’s gospel [it is not a human invention, patterned after any human concept]. For indeed I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a [direct] revelation of Jesus Christ.”—Galatians 1:6-12 (AMP)
May God’s appointed leaders teach His people to recognize the subtle lies in the leaven of the religious spirit of Babylon and help them to guard against anything that would try to steal their freedom in Christ!
“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.** **This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
“Then we will no longer be immature like children. **We won’t be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We will not be influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth. **Instead, we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church.”— Ephesians 4:11-15 (NLT)
Reference:
Sumrall, Lester (2018, September 18). Smith Wigglesworth’s vision of an end time revival. YouTube. Retrieved March 12, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnXONyQI8wM
