This morning (9-10-17), the minister of the church we were in was preaching from Daniel, chapter one. To be honest, I’m not even sure what he said because it wasn’t what God wanted to reveal to me. As he was speaking, the Holy Spirit was sharing with me insights of truth from this same passage that need to be declared. They are words of warning for God’s people to wake up and come out of that which He is about to judge.
We, His people, must separate ourselves from Babylon, the religious harlot, so as to be prepared for the end of this age during her extreme judgments by the Lord (Revelation 18:1-8). In fact, the difficulties we are about to face will be used to pressure Christians in particular to separate from that which He will judge, and we are so very attached to. Thankfully, His mercy always precedes His judgments. He delays His wrath, as He has been doing in America, for our sake, in order not to cut us off (Isaiah 48:9).
Daniel was written during a time of exile when, as prophesied, Israel had been conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. He took some of the Israelites with him back to his country, forcing them to serve him and his kingdom. A young man named Daniel was one of them.
In Hebrew, Babylon is defined as “confusion,” or “confusion by mixing.” She represents all origins of false religion. When her half-truth teachings are accepted as full truth, confusion and delusion are the inevitable result. The proof of this is the numerous denominations within Christianity with their countless interpretations of the same Bible. Instead of God being glorified in their midst, her satanic deceptions lead to division and self-glorification among those who walk in agreement with her adulterous ways.
In Daniel, chapter one, verse two, we see the Lord giving Israel into King Nebuchadnezzar’s rule. Because of sin and rebellion against His leading, Israel, as had been prophesied by Jeremiah, was overcome and taken captive by her enemy. Because of their rejection of Him as their King, the Lord sent someone who would rule over them with an iron fist.
For those with ears to hear, the church in America has suffered the same fate. The deceitfulness of sin and rebellion has hardened many hearts and she has now been given over to her stiff-necked desires. Without repentance, she will die in her place of exile. Fortunately, the Lord has His modern-day Daniels in their midst that will soon, at the appointed time, be brought into prominence through divinely orchestrated events. While in religious Babylon, they will not compromise their commitment to the Lord nor bow the knee to her blasphemous images she has established within her midst (see the Bible study The Mark Of The Beast).
Babylon’s High Regard For The External
Once under his control, the king of Babylon gave the order to bring in some of the choice sons of Israel. They were to be reeducated in the language and literature of the Babylonians with the intent to serve him personally (see the article Noah Webster and Christian Education). We are told they were to be; young men without any physical defect, handsome, showing aptitude for every kind of learning, well informed, quick to understand, and qualified to serve in the king's palace. (Daniel 1:4) On the outside they would appear to be the best of the best.
This is the signature mark of religious Babylon in our day. The “kings” of these churches usually choose the most charismatic, eloquent, good-looking men with all the right degrees from their seminaries in order to serve themselves, with their authority rather than God’s. Due to Babylon’s high regard for the external, they look for those with no defects on the outside. God, on the other hand, chooses those without inner defects of the heart.
Isaiah’s prophecy describing Jesus as the future Messiah says the following;
“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” (Isaiah 53:2-3/NIV)
With this same mindset, modern Babylon also rejects those who are being transformed through obedience into Christ’ likeness.
After God’s rejection of Saul as Israel’s king, He sent Samuel the prophet to Bethlehem to anoint the next king of Israel from the sons of a man named Jesse. When Samuel saw one of the sons named Eliab he thought;
“‘Surely the Lord's anointed stands here before the Lord.’ But the Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’” (1 Samuel 16:6-7/NIV)
Eventually David, the youngest brother who was out tending sheep, and seemingly looked over by his own father, was revealed as God’s choice to become the next king.
Man, outside of the will of God, will always look at external appearance in order to make a good outward showing in front of others. God, though, looks at the heart. When Jesus chose the disciples that would become leaders of His church, He picked the “untrained and uneducated” men of His day who, after about a three year period of discipleship training, turned the world upside down (Acts 4:13). He didn’t go to the best religious schools of His day, looking for the best looking among the best students. He went instead to those who would listen to the truth, and who had not been corrupted by the leavened religious teaching of that day. He’s doing the same thing today, in the wilderness outside of our “best” schools of religion, teaching many currently unknown disciples His ways. From them will come the chosen leaders of His final harvest on earth.
Interestingly, we are told that, like Jesus with His disciples, Babylon’s king commanded that the Hebrew young men be trained for a period of three years. The Bible says;
“The king appointed for them a daily ration from the king's choice food and from the wine which he drank, and appointed that they should be educated three years, at the end of which they were to enter the king's personal service.” (Daniel 1:5/NAS)
They could not enter the king’s service until finishing a three year period of training that involved daily food and wine straight from his table. In truth, all disciples chosen by the Lord must also spend a similar time eating and drinking that which comes directly from our King’s table (see the Bible study The Daily Portion). It is our education period known as discipleship which prepares us for the time when we will be called to serve before the King of kings. (See chapter two, Early Interaction, in my book Walking In The Light for more biblical insights on the significance of discipleship in the first three years of every believer.)
Today’s “kings” in Babylon have also mandated the training period to be three-plus years in their Divinity schools and seminaries through which they will earn a degree that qualifies them to be their leaders. In this manner, and of like kind, they become the official task-Masters of Divinity in the houses of religious bondage.
Like King Nebuchadnezzar, they also feed their servant leaders from their tables a daily ration of their mind-altering food and drink. These modern day kings train their disciples to serve them and their kingdoms (i.e. denominations), requiring them to be trained under their confusing mix of truth and lies to ensure the continuation of their rule over those held captive under their spell. They will soon be removed by God from leading His sheep astray. In the difficult times that are quickly coming upon earth, all self-serving, hireling hearts will be exposed and judged.
Babylon’s Deadly Poison
(This and Strange And Perverse Things are from Chapter Seven, Deadly Poison, in my book Babylon’s Counterfeit Glory; The Seduction Of God’s People.)
One sign mentioned by Jesus that would accompany those who believed in His name was if they drank any deadly poison, it wouldn’t harm them (Mark 16:15-19). Was Jesus speaking of literal drink, or was He possibly speaking of something else? It could speak of ingesting a deadly liquid, but I believe it speaks more in a figurative manner in regards to Satan’s poisonous teachings taught through his deceived servants that are in church leadership within the majority of American churches. Do they do this knowingly? No, they are deceived, and deceiving.
In John 3, Jesus engaged in a conversation with a man named Nicodemus about being born again. He said in verses 14-15; “Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life”. He was referring to the time when the children of Israel became impatient during their journey in the wilderness (Numbers 21:4-9). In so doing, they complained against God and Moses. The Lord then sent fiery serpents among the people which bit them, causing many to die, or to fall.
In their judgment from God, the people came to Moses and confessed they had sinned, asking him to intercede for them. The Lord told Moses to make a fiery serpent and set it on a standard, or a pole. If the Israelites looked toward it after being bitten, they would live. It was a picture of looking to the Lord in order to be saved from the serpent’s venom that has entered within us.
The doorway opened to the serpent in the church in America through our rebellion toward God’s standard can quickly be shut if we repent. The enemy’s standard now rules, to one degree or another, within the majority of our congregations.
Asaph declares in Psalm 74:3-4;
“The enemy has damaged everything within the sanctuary. Your adversaries have roared in the midst of Your meeting place; they have set up their own standards for signs.” (NAS)
False signs and wonders have been deeply entrenched within many congregations who have been snake-bitten. They have become unable to distinguish between the Holy Spirit and the devil. Having once been given eyes to see and ears to hear they no longer possess the spiritual ability to discern truth from deception. As such they will be cast into a great and terrible time on earth where there will be unequaled weeping and gnashing of teeth.
According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary, the Hebrew word we interpret in English as “standards” represents something by which a person or group is characteristically marked.[1] It is also defined as a signal, a distinguishing mark, or evidence. All of these refer to the devil’s false signs and wonders that many Christians have accepted as coming from God. In so doing, they have received the devil’s mark upon themselves.
Satan’s counterfeit standards have become well entrenched within the churches of America. The evidence of his venomous lies is the deadness that rules in our congregations. His false signs are everywhere. If we do not repent and turn from our wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14), and walk in obedience to Christ and His ways, many of God’s children within our borders will continue to fall away, like the children of Israel, in the broad-way that leads to death (see the Bible study Narrow Way And Broad Way). The standard of Christ must be raised up in our midst so that His people might behold His truth, repent, and be healed.
Once the devil injects his poisonous venom of lies and deception into the Body of Christ, a deadly spiritual paralysis is sure to manifest. The encouraging word proclaimed in Mark 16:18 is that “deadly poison” will not harm the faithful believer in Jesus Christ. Like the camp of Israel, only those who act wickedly towards the Lord’s covenant will be affected by it (Daniel 11:32).
Strange And Perverse Things
In Proverbs 23:29-35, Solomon makes the following statement;
“Who has woe? Who has sorrow? Who has contentions? Who has complaining? Who has wounds without cause? Who has redness of eyes? Those who linger long over wine, those who go to taste mixed wine. Do not look on the wine when it is red, when it sparkles in the cup, when it goes down smoothly; at the last [or “in the end”] it bites like a serpent, and stings like a viper. Your eyes will see strange things, and your mind will utter perverse things. And you will be like one who lies down in the middle of the sea, or like one who lies down on the top of a mast. ‘They struck me, but I did not become ill; they beat me, but I did not know it. When shall I awake? I will seek another drink.’” (NAS)
These verses speak of the negative repercussions of being a drunkard. To linger long means “to delay, hesitate, tarry, wait, stay behind.” We all know what happens to those who hang out for long periods tasting wine. As stated earlier, spiritually speaking, mixed wine is a figure of speech referring to a mixture of truth and falsehood. As with someone who becomes inebriated, there are negative consequences for those who linger long over falsehood. It affects their perception of reality.
The Bible says this wine, which represents the doctrines of demons, bites like a serpent. Its poison causes you to speak perverse things which means “to overturn truth, to pervert it.” The perversion in the church today and the deceitful overturning of truth is an obvious indicator that we have been snake bit.
Also, like those in a drunken stupor, your eyes will behold strange things. Over the years, my wife and I have witnessed some very strange things in religious meetings said to be in God’s name. Now we know why.
The phrase strange things in Proverbs 23 is defined as “to turn aside, to commit adultery, a strange woman, a harlot.” The in-taking of Babylon’s mixed wine (i.e. truth and falsehood) is comparable to the man who turns aside to commit adultery. In the end, like an alcoholic or a drug addict, her venomous poison actually causes you to seek more of that which is killing you. The result of a regular intake of her mixed wine [of harlotry] is a life of great delusion, leading to destruction.
Regarding the mixed wine of Babylon, John says the following in his Revelation;
“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality [“fornication, harlotry”], and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’” (Revelation 18:1-3/NAS)
Her food and her drink are poisonous venom from the serpent. Within her clutches are those disciples who will be numbered in the great falling away from Christ that Paul describes for us in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 2. These churches are actually filled with demons. While speaking in one of these churches a few years ago, I remember having to literally stop and pray in order to push back the strong demonic presence that I felt pressing against me... (to be continued in part 2)
[1] Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Copyright © 1985, Thomas Nelson Publishers.
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