Human Trafficking in the Church — Part 7
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
After they settled in the land of Babylon, the people of Babel set their focus on building an organization for themselves.
“Then they said, ‘Come, let’s build a great city for ourselves’—Genesis 11:4 (NLT)
God didn’t tell them to build this city. This was a goal that they decided on among themselves. Then these Babylonians began to use people to build their great city, and human trafficking seems to have become an accepted part of the culture of Babel.
This is the trap that many, many Christian ministers fall into.
And this is the trap that ensnares countless people who innocently want to serve God, but instead find themselves victims of spiritual human traffickers who divert them from God’s purposes and use them instead to build their Christian organizations and benefit themselves.
There is nothing inherently wrong with building churches or Christian organizations, of course. Jesus Himself said, “upon this rock** I will build my church; **and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). But it must always be Jesus’ Church that we are building, and not our own empires.
The Ambition of Nimrod
Noah’s great grandson, Nimrod, was the first empire builder in Scripture. He was the first ruler of the kingdom of Babylon.
We are told that the kingdom of Nimrod began at Babel, “in the land of Shinar [in Babylonia]” (Genesis 10:10 AMP).
Nimrod himself seemed to be a natural born leader. He became “the first powerful ruler on earth” (Genesis 10:8 CJB). Nimrod was the world’s first great conquering hero. He was a mighty warrior. He was the first of his kind. The world had never seen anything like him.
We are told in Genesis 10:10-12 that his empire began in the land of Babylon, but it did not stop there. His empire eventually stretched into Assyria where he built Nineveh and other cities.
Nimrod was the first king mentioned in Scripture. And it seems that his kingdom was not one that was ordained by God. This was a kingdom of Nimrod’s own making. Nimrod seemed to be a man of great personal ambition.
He was described as, “Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord.” That word translated “before” actually means “against” and implies that Nimrod was in opposition or open rebellion to the Lord. What Nimrod was pursuing was not God’s will for his life, but the goals of his own personal ambitions.
Nimrod’s ambitions pitted him against God, making him anti-God. In the New Testament, John describes this spirit as Antichrist.
As the first ruler of Babylon, what Nimrod started in his rebellion against God grew and continued into the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, the greatest Babylonian ruler, and we can follow it all the way through the Bible. This long succession of kings culminates finally in the great scarlet-colored beast in Revelation 17 that is known as the Antichrist. The seed sown by the personal ambition of Nimrod finally reaches its mature state in the Antichrist of Revelation 17.
It is upon the back of this great beast that John sees the woman upon whose forehead is written, “Babylon the Great, the Mother of Prostitutes.”
When a Christian minister sets out to build a church or other Christian organization, not for the glory of God, but in pursuit of his own personal ambitions, he lays the foundation for spiritual human trafficking in order to achieve his ambitions. Just as we see the “Mother of Prostitutes” riding comfortably on the back of the Antichrist, empire building almost inevitably leads to human trafficking. The two go hand-in-hand.
Whose Kingdom Will You Serve?
Jesus could have continued after the example of Nimrod. He was offered a chance to do just that. Jesus could have been greater than Nimrod, greater than Nebuchadnezzar, and greater than every other earthly king that had followed in the Babylonian tradition of ruling over people to satisfy personal ambition.
Before Jesus’ ministry began, Satan “showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to Him, ‘All these things I will give You if You will fall down and worship me’” (Matthew 4:8-9 NKJV).
It was all there within his grasp! It was the chance of a lifetime! All Jesus had to do was choose personal ambition over God’s will and it would all be His! He would be the greatest king the world had ever known!
Jesus turned it all down.
Rather than pursue personal ambition and exalt Himself, Jesus chose instead to humble Himself and to take on the form of a servant, giving His life to serve the will of His Father God.
“Then I said, Behold, here I am, coming to do Your will, O God—[to fulfill] what is written of Me in the volume of the Book.”—Hebrews 10:7 (AMPC)
Later, the temptation resurfaced when Jesus perceived that the people were going to forcibly make Him their king (See John 6:15). Again, He overcame the temptation to pursue personal ambition over God’s will. Rather than allow the people to make Him their king, He slipped away into a solitary place.
But Jesus’ short-term sacrifice had a big payoff in the long term. In sacrificing His own personal ambition and choosing instead to take on the role of a servant, rather than a ruler, Jesus was rewarded later with the greatest of all thrones in the greatest of all kingdoms.
“He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”—Philippians 2:8-11 (NKJV)
Every Christian minister eventually faces the same test that Jesus faced. Every Christian minister will eventually have to choose between building his own empire to satisfy his personal ambition or taking on the form of a servant to pursue the will of his Father God.
Which will you choose?
Many, many Christian ministers do not pass this test.
Disqualified from Future Leadership
John Paul Jackson had a spiritual experience in which he saw prominent Christian leaders standing on tiered risers, like steps. Some of them he recognized. Some of them he did not.
These leaders were being evaluated by God for possible promotion to be God’s leaders in His next great move on Earth.
Some who had not been in prominent positions before would be promoted to prominence as leaders in the next move, but the majority of the current leaders that appeared to John Paul had already disqualified themselves and could not be promoted into positions of leadership for the next great move of God.
“And behold, some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last.”—Luke 13:30 (ESV)
John Paul Jackson shared that these leaders had disqualified themselves by violating these five principles found in Romans chapter 4 and demonstrated in the life of Abraham:
- Admit when you are wrong. Repent for creating an “Ishmael,” which represents a work of the flesh, rather than God’s work.
- Be able to embrace looking foolish in the eyes of men in order to accomplish the purposes of God. (See Hebrews 11:8.)
- You must not promote your own ministry, but wait for the fullness of God’s timing. (See Genesis 18:10.)
- Be willing to sacrifice that which you have worked your entire life to obtain. (See Genesis 22; Hebrews 11:17-19.)
- Embrace your “Sarah,” which represents what you are called to be and what you are called to do. It will be through her that the promise of God will be fulfilled. Looking for another partner, another calling, another purpose, is a symptom of not being satisfied with what God has called you to. (Jackson)
Jesus cautioned his followers against following in the footsteps of those who traffick people in order to satisfy personal ambitions.
“Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden.
‘Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra long tassels. And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’
‘Don’t let anyone call you ‘Rabbi,’ for you have only one teacher, and all of you are equal as brothers and sisters. And don’t address anyone here on earth as ‘Father,’ for only God in heaven is your Father. And don’t let anyone call you ‘Teacher,’ for you have only one teacher, the Messiah. The greatest among you must be a servant. But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’”—Matthew 23:1-12 (NLT)
Jesus encouraged His followers to realize that any short-term sacrifices that are made to serve the will of God will be well worth the price in the long term.
“Peter said to Jesus, ‘We left everything to follow you!’
“Jesus said, ‘I can promise that everyone who has left their home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children, or farm for me and for the Good News about me will get a hundred times more than they left. Here in this world they will get more homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and farms. And with these things they will have persecutions. But in the world that is coming they will also get the reward of eternal life. Many people who have the highest place now will have the lowest place in the future. And the people who have the lowest place now will have the highest place then.’”—Mark 10:28-31 (ERV)
**Reference: **
Jackson, John Paul. (2014). Understanding Dreams and Visions* *audio recording. Streams Ministries.
