Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom, part 76—You are a sacred vessel !
Greetings! This chapter was originally presented as a lecture at our SKM Fourth Annual Spring Bible Conference at Manassas, Virginia, March 28-April 1, 2012. Of course, I am revising it as appropriate for the current publication here as a series of blogs.
I begin by taking a moment to review the bottom line from the previous lecture because it serves as the segue into what I will be teaching in this lecture. For the sake of any readers or listeners who may be tuning in for the first time, you should understand that what you are hearing today is lecture number 27 in series of Bible studies.
I stated previously that this is like a college course. The name of the course is Mystery Babylon and the Stone Kingdom. You are jumping in near the end of the spring semester. That means that if you find some of my statements difficult to understand or perhaps difficult to believe, then I would recommend you get the prior lectures from us. They are available in CD albums of four or five lectures each.
I liken this to a college course because what we teach is probably never taught in tens of thousands of churches in this nation, or even in seminaries and Bible colleges—and certainly not to the extent that you hear it here.
I do not mean that my characterization of this material as college level means that it is only for smart people, or that you yourself must have gone to college in order to understand this. Not at all. In fact, I am quite serious when I assert that the more you are “educated” in today’s academic world, the more difficult it might be for you to comprehend this! That is primarily because the academic world is nothing if not a vast system of indoctrination.
We have two national deficits. The one is the US government’s annual budget deficit. That is bad enough, but the other great national deficit is in critical thinking! So if you can read, and you can think critically, then you have all the pre-requisites for understanding this course. Oh no, wait a minute, there is one more pre-requisite and that is the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
If you do not have that, then nothing can substitute for that lack—not ten PhD’s from Harvard, Yale and MIT; not a membership in MENSA, nothing. The Holy Spirit is the sine qua non for biblical understanding. (Sine qua non is a Latin phrase which means literally “without-not-which.”) But, not to worry, if you are concerned that you may not have the guidance of the Holy Spirit, all you need to do is ask your heavenly Father for this free gift. It really is that simple!
The lesson which I wanted to convey strongly during the previous lecture was that some of us—including yours truly—had been wrong—sincere, but nevertheless, incorrect in our understanding of what is meant by the command in Revelation 18, verse 4, for us to come out of Babylon.
And so I shared some of my own personal history as a warning—especially to those who are just now in the process of being awakened politically and religiously to the existence of Mystery Babylon the Great. My desire is to prevent the newly-awakened ones from making the same mistake that I had made and which can be very serious in terms of taking your life journey (and probably that of your loved ones also) down a path which you would later regret deeply.
That wrong path was due to a sincere but mistaken understanding of the Bible passage which instructs God’s people to come out of Babylon. And so I taught last time from the standpoint of what that instruction does not mean.
To repeat briefly: it does not mean that we must rescind or get rid of our social security number, our marriage license, our driver’s license, that we should not get a bank loan for a house or car, or a loan for anything else; that in fact, we must not own credit cards, that we must close our bank accounts, that we must quit paying federal income taxes because that is supporting Mystery Babylon; and besides that, the 16th Amendment is unconstitutional, and the list goes on and on of what some well-meaning souls have taught—and some still do—that such activities are what God wants us to do. But I came to believe nearly 20 years ago, that such a view is incorrect.
So that is what Revelation 18, verse 4, does not mean. In this lecture I will tell you what it does mean, at least in part. Along the way, perhaps give you more biblical support for my contention of what it does not mean. For example, we saw that Daniel lived most of his life in Babylon, under Babylonian rule, and that Daniel was in fact a chief administrator in the Babylonian system.
Do you think that his situation could have any relationship to the idea that Christians live in the world but we should not be of the world? You can look up that idea in the gospel of John, chapter 17, at some other time, if you wish.
But what does that mean? ...in the world, but not of the world? Does it not refer to our soul and spirit? That is to say, to our mind and heart? As Daniel demonstrated, we can live under a Babylonian system, but following the example of Daniel, we should not adopt a Babylonian mindset, nor the spirit of evil which permeates the world under Babylon’s rule.
Turn to Revelation 18 again. Let’s look at how the Bible describes the Babylonian mindset at least insofar as its economic value system is concerned. What is valuable in Babylon and what is not? As John is given to describe the fall of Mystery Babylon and its aftermath, he describes the merchandise of Babylon in these terms.
Revelation 18:11 And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more:
12 The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and all manner vessels of ivory, and all manner vessels of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,
13 And cinnamon, and odours, and ointments, and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and beasts, and sheep, and horses, and chariots, and slaves, and souls of men.
By the way, let me clarify a couple of words there. Cinnamon was not only the common spice we use today in pumpkin pie but it was also a very valuable essential oil. Thyine was a type of citrus tree valued for the incense made from it as well as for its beauty for ornamental purposes. Odours refers to aromatic incenses, and the word ointments is actually a reference to what we call essential oils, which would include the salves and ointments made from them.
A few commentators have suggested that this passage represents the system of values from highest to lowest in Babylon. I am not so certain that it follows that everything is in descending order of value, but I agree generally that it does reveal the top and bottom values.
In other words, at the top of the list of what is most valuable in Babylon are gold and silver and at the very bottom of the list are slaves and the souls of men. The word soul there is the Greek word psuche {psoo-khay'} which has a multitude of nuanced meanings, but I believe that in this case it simply means the lives of men.
And notice that the entire list is prefaced and characterized as being merchandise! In the view of the rulers of Mystery Babylon, human beings are looked upon as cattle, as merchandise to be bought and sold. And if I were to take the time, I could show you how this goes far deeper today than you ever imagined.
For example, the federal prison system is one gigantic money machine for Babylon. Human trafficking is another, and that nefarious activity is finally beginning to be exposed, even by the corporate mainstream media. Another example is how under the Uniform Commercial Code, our social security numbers have also made us very valuable commodities in Financial Mystery Babylon.
Very valuable commodities as pieces of meat, as the masses, not as individual persons. On that level, we are useless. Hence, the Babylonian mindset towards the killing of babies in the womb. Some of us are old enough to remember the days of President Richard Nixon and his handler, Henry Kissinger, who seems to have been given that same longevity as his mentor and boss, David Rockefeller.
Anyhow, I have had a number of books about Kissinger in my library for decades and I thought I knew a lot about him, but someone told me a couple weeks ago of a quotation which is attributed to Doctor Kissinger. It seems that he has referred to those of us who are not among the elites as being “useless dung machines.” Except he didn’t use the word “dung.” His attitude is the epitome of a Babylonian mindset.
In God’s system, the lives of men are at the top of what is most valuable. And so shall it be after Mystery Babylon has fallen and exists no more. So shall it be in the perfected Stone Kingdom on this earth.
It is clear by the context that when I say the Stone Kingdom on this earth that I am referring to the visible government of God, headed by King Jesus and administered by Christ, which includes His anointed body of overcomers, a government, a kingdom, which is to be ultimately administered on every continent and in every nation on this planet.
But let us segue now to another level of understanding this word earth. Since our bodies are made of the dust of the earth, and for other reasons, it can be understood that our bodies are the Promised Land. We can understand that an immortal and incorruptible body which manifests the divine Christ to everyone—that such is our real inheritance, our real and ultimate Promised Land.
Therefore, so what if Henry Kissinger and David Rockefeller live to be 999 years old? What is that compared with endless life, with no pain, with no suffering nor sorrow anymore? But to arrive at that state of existence when we receive our Promised Land in this body—or rather our new body—we must first undergo a refining process.
As everyone acquainted with Revelation 18:4 has always been concerning with “coming out of Babylon,” I would suggest that we consider how we can get Babylon out of us! This again has to do with our mindset and our spirit.
In short, getting Babylon out of us is all about learning to hear God’s voice, which implies being obedient. If we want to find out what God has to say, obviously the first place to look is in His written Word.
There He has given us His law in the form of commandments, statutes and judgments—which comprises the instruction manual for a godly society. It was given to govern not only individual behavior but it also defines righteousness in government, from local government right on up to the top offices in the nation.
Of course, in the church world in general, this has been very much misunderstood because so many Christians have been taught that God’s law has been put away and nailed to the cross. That is simply false and I have a lecture devoted to dispelling that false doctrine. You can write and ask for my CD lecture called Are We Under the Law? $5 + $6 shipping & handling.
Just a few lectures back, I suggested that in the political realm that we focus our efforts on the local level. That if good, godly people do nothing but sit in their spiritual foxholes inside the four walls of their churches, then they should not complain as the world is going to hell.
Because if Christians will not get involved in their government, then certainly the antichrists will have it all to themselves. So I was encouraging believers to get involved and make a difference at the local level. Support good candidates, or run for local office yourself.
I gave several examples of friends of mine who have done that in various locales around the country. Therefore, just as I have encouraged more focus on the local level in the political realm, so also here I am suggesting that we need to focus at least as much on our own personal spiritual growth as we do on understanding what is transpiring in the global arena and being active in local government.
Both are important, of course, but for many awakened individuals, I believe too much emphasis has been given in the past to figuring out all about how to supposedly come out of Babylon—and then we find out that we should be submitting to Mystery Babylon. ...Submitting, and working on our own personal spiritual preparation for coming out of Babylon after it has fallen, by first getting the Babylon out of us, out of our minds and hearts.
After all, in the historical example in the Scriptures, were the Judahites that were in captivity in Babylon going to be allowed to come out of Babylon and go back to Jerusalem before Babylon fell and before Cyrus was on the throne? No!
They had to await the proper time to come out of Babylon. And when they did come out, it was by way of a duly authorized edict of the king. Let’s look at that. Turn to Ezra, chapter 1. And as we are reading the account of our ancient people, let us ponder how this might be applicable as we are in the latter stages of our Mystery Babylonian captivity.
Remember first that God had decreed through Jeremiah that they would serve a sentence of 70 years in captivity to Babylon. Babylon fell to the Medes and Persians in 537 B.C. However, it was not until 534 B.C., three years later, that the decree was made. (Incidentally, I am taking my dates from Dr. Stephen Jones’ most excellent book called Secrets of Time, which has a chronology in the back of the book dating from Adam to the present era. Available on Dr. Jones website, godskingdom.org)
Ezra 1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD [Yahweh] by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.
Alright, so essentially, the Persian king decrees that anyone of the former captives who has the desire to do so, may leave the environs of Babylon and return to build a temple to Yahweh at Jerusalem. But let us now notice what else is part of this decree:
4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
In other words, Cyrus strongly suggested, if not commanded, that those of the Judahites who chose to stay in Babylon, should help finance the operation. And I believe it was a command, not an option, because it mentions that this giving was over and above the freewill offerings.
5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.
6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
Once again, we see the idea that those who remained behind were commanded to give in addition to what they willingly offered. Hmmm…interesting, is it not? Whether that was some sort of special tax or however that was assessed, we are not told.
When Jerusalem had been destroyed and sacked under King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, he had also taken the sacred vessels back to Babylon. But at the end of the captivity we discover that they had not been destroyed.
If we understand the temple from the New Testament perspective then we understand that we, individually and collectively, as believers in Jesus Christ, that we are the temple, are we not? You are a sacred vessel and you cannot be destroyed, as long as you remain in the faith. For even those who are martyred by Babylon, there remains the glorious resurrection when the vessel has become wholly purified for its ultimate use.
(To be continued.)
