The Babylon in Us



Revelation 14:8  And another angel followed, saying, "Babylon is
fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she has made all
nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication."

We continue with the messages of the three angels of Revelation
14.  We have looked at worship and the judgment.  But the theme
of worship is not finished. Here we have a statement that
Babylon has fallen, and why.

We must look at some familiar symbolism before we dig in. 
Babylon was one of the first large cities to be constructed
after the flood.  It was there that the tower of Babel was
constructed.  The tower  was an echo of Lucifer's words in
Isaiah 14:13  For you have said in your heart: 'I will ascend
into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I
will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest
sides of the north; 14  I will ascend above the heights of the
clouds, I will be like the Most High.'

God's response to the tower of Babel was similar to the one he
had for Lucifer: 15  Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To
the lowest depths of the Pit.

Ancient Babylon fell into nothingness after the tower was
destroyed.  But from this ancient city came much of the heresy
that pervades the world today.  Sun worship, worship of the
madonna, the pagan holidays encorporated into Easter and
Christmas, the belief that when you died your life went on, and
others.

Many centuries later, Babylon was once again to become a power. 
Not just a city, but a nation under the rule of a powerful king.
 

God granted mercy to Nebuchadnezzar, and step by step led him to
be a follower of the true God.  But not before Babylon
manifested one of the predominant traits of the Enemy:  the
effort to force people to accept particular religious beliefs.

Nebuchadnezzar learned, but the following kings did not, and
while in the midst of a blasphemous drunken orgy, Belshazzar met
his end and the nation of Babylon ceased to exist.  

From that time on Babylon in Scripture has stood for any power
which would support heresy and persecute God's people.  

Going on in our text, fallen means sinful.  Or sinning. 
Operating in a fashion that is opposite of the way that God
would operate.  Isaiah helps us understand this in 

Isaiah 8:13  The LORD of hosts, Him you shall hallow; Let Him be
your fear, And let Him be your dread.

14  He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a
rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a
snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

15  And many among them shall stumble; They shall fall and be
broken, Be snared and taken."

In this passage, God is both the sanctuary and the stumbling
rock.  Those who do not accept God as sanctuary will find him to
be a stumbling block. 

The mention of city is significant:  Someone described the Bible
as THE tale of two cities.  Jerusalem and Babylon.  Jerusalem,
city of peace as opposed to Babylon, the city of force and
destruction.  

The use of "she" is significant.  In symbolic prophecy, a woman
stands for a church.  Babylon here is obviously a negative.  So
this would be an apostate religious power.

The word "made" is perhaps the most telling of the whole verse. 
She is not fallen primarily because of her heresy, though that
is a huge issue.  But the idea that this power used force to
accomplish something that should only done by free will is
emphasized here.  

Quickly now, wine represents doctrine, in this context
definately negative, when you put it together with the concept
of fornecation -- an illicit relationship.

Now most of you have probably been this far before.  And most of
you would not accept the pagan doctrines advocated by this
Babylon power.

The heresies that came into being in Babylon came through
individuals.  This was possible because the people had let go of
their individual relationships with God, and had begun to listen
to self proclaimed religious leaders.  Nimrod was a protector of
the people, was able to build cities and so the people looked up
to them.  When he died, his wife declared him to be a god, and
evidently the people followed willingly.  After the first big
lie, it became easier and easier to accept whatever was told
(sold) them.  And the first lie had to be the same one that the
Enemy told in the Garden of Eden, "You shall not surely die."  

Nimrod is not dead, he is alive in the heavens.

And it is not long until those who would not accept the lie were
persecuted. 		Herodotus wrote: 

Now it was Nimrod who excited them to such an affront and
contempt of God. He was the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, a
bold man, and of great strength of hand. He persuaded them not
to ascribe it to God,  as if it was through his means they were
happy, but to believe that it was their own courage which
procured, that happiness. He also gradually changed the
government into tyranny, seeing no other way of turning men from
the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence on
his power. He also said he would be revenged on God, if he
should have a mind to drown the world again; for that he would
build a tower too high for the waters to be able to reach! and
that he would avenge himself on God for destroying their
forefathers !

I want to move from the larger concept of how this power will
work to persecute anyone who follows God, to examine how the
Enemy might use some of the same deceptions in us.  There is
little that we can do to change the whole world scene.  We can
deal with how our own lives and our own church are affected by
these situations. I see them in four basic areas.

1.	Make our own gods.

2.	Elevate leaders/ourselves above God.

3.	Attempt to force worship.

4.	Use good things that God created for evil purposes.

How do we make our own gods?  There are as many ways to do this
as there are people.  But I can offer some examples.  You will
have to ask the Holy Spirit to direct you to your gods.  

Obviously money is one of the first that we may think of.  When
the Bible says that the love of money is the root of all evil,
that does not rule out anyone.  A poor person can even love
money more than a rich one.  And in opposition to Biblical
principles, we do honor people more with money than those
without.

We can make the church our god.  That may make some of you
uncomfortable.  There is a difference between the church
organization and God.  The church structure is filled with human
beings who make mistakes under the best of circumstances.  We
thank God for the church that he has given us to assist us on
our quest to spread the gospel and become better people.  But we
must always serve God before the church.

Then some make some doctrine their god.   Diet, sanctuary,
dress, 2300 days, the Sabbath, health, and any other belief can
become a god taking the place of God.  We as Christians are
called to be balanced whole people.  My God does it all.  He
created the Sabbath, is healthy, lives in the sanctuary, dresses
in light, and is 1000% correct on all doctrine.  And he is
balanced.  He is not a god who would have us keep Sabbath and
commit adultry.  Or be vegitarians and devour our brothers and
sisters. Maybe that is enough on that point.

Next we need to watch that we do not elevate our leaders or
ourselves above God.  The main problem with that, is that when
we elevate someone we will always begin to see that they have
human feet.  A very common symptom of this is: "My preacher
says....."  That is not the question.  What does God say?  Do
you know for yourself.  

I am going to do a little meddling here.  I believe that this
applies to Ellen White, too.  I have had people tell me that
they did not read the Bible because it was too hard, but they
could read Ellen White's writings.  God gave the church a gift
in her insight.  But it does not take the place of God.  I will
say no more except that you might find out what she, herself,
said about her writings.

Next, I want to look at the area of forcing worship.  Oh, we
would never do that, would we?  What about your husband or wife?
 Or children?  Does the way that we relate to them draw them to
the Lord, or try to force them to him?  Do we attempt to drive
someone into believing, or do we do our best to entice them with
the Love of God.  

The love of God never forces a person.  In fact, the whole great
controversy is about the fact that you cannot force worship.  To
be sincere, it must be voluntary.  Even when God must destroy
evil in Hell fire, the victims of that destruction are there
because they have chosen not to be with God.  And even when that
does happen, it is described as God's strange act.

The fourth of our list is the problem of using good things for
evil purposes.  Perhaps it would help if we define evil as the
opposite of the way God operates.  God gave us good food to eat.
 But overeating is a sin.  He gave us the ablilty to preserve
and store food. But hoarding food while the innocent starve is a
sin.  

In the seige of the city of Jerusalem in A.D. 70, I read that
there was enough food to feed the city for some time. Yet some
were killing and eating their children because of hunger.  

Why? Those who had the food were saving it for themselves.  And
it ended up doing no one any good.  

He gave us the power of influence, to use to further h is
kingdom.  Do we use it to get our way in a meeting, or church
situation?  He gave us money.  Now I am going to catch it. 
Wealth is a gift from God.  How do we use it?  What does God's
money buy in your family?

We could go on, but I am sure that you're beginning to get the
picture.   

In each of these instances, and we could bring up more, people
are tempted to misuse other people.  

As we wrap this up, I would like for us to look at this from the
positive side.  What actions or attitudes counteract the spirit
of Babylon in our families and churches.  

The foundation stone is this:  Jesus said, "If I be lifted up, I
will draw all men unto me."  That is the way that he operates.  
"Draw-ing" is the opposit of "cause-ing." 

First and foremost, we have touched on this already, are Jesus'
words, "If I be lifted up I will draw all men unto me."   Each
one of us should make Christ first in our lives, and we as a
church should make Christ the object that we persue.  

Beyond that, the Word gives us a lot of practical advice.

Philippians 2:1  Therefore if there is any consolation in
Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit,
if any affection and mercy,

2  fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind.

3  Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but
in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.

4  Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but
also for the interests of others.

The spirit of Babylon is that each person looks out for himself.
 Survival of the fittest. (Evolution reflects the Enemy's
thought processes.)  Get what you can.  Live for today, and for
yourself.  

God says just the opposite.  And he says it will bring joy.  

Next, 

Romans 14:1  Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to
disputes over doubtful things.

2  For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak
eats only vegetables.

3  Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat, and let
not him who does not eat judge him who eats; for God has
received him.

The enemy says everyone has to worship him.  God says, don't
bother your brother over matters that do not lead to salvation.  



Philippians 4:5  Let your gentleness be known to all men. The
Lord is at hand.

The Babylon in us wants to use force.  Maybe not physical force,
but intimidation, coersion, withholding love, or other
pressures.  God deals gently with his own.



1 Corinthians 9:19  For though I am free from all men, I have
made myself a servant to all, that I might win the more;

20  and to the Jews I became as a Jew, that I might win Jews; to
those who are under the law, as under the law, that I might win
those who are under the law;

21  to those who are without law, as without law (not being
without law toward God, but under law toward Christ), that I
might win those who are without law;

22  to the weak I became as weak, that I might win the weak. I
have become all things to all men, that I might by all means
save some.

23  Now this I do for the gospel's sake, that I may be partaker
of it with you.

God's way is to look out for the good of others before you look
after yourself.  The Babylon in us wants to mold people after
our likeness.  

Brothers and sisters, Babylon has to come out of the people
before the people can come out of Babylon. God calls us not just
to keep certain commandments.  God calls us to cleanliness,
Christlikeness.  Openness.  To live as he would live, because he
is living in us.  

As we close I would like for you to consider several questions.

Do I try to force people to be Christians, or do I demonstrate
the attractiveness of Christianity in my life?

Do I put any person or organization before a close relationship
with God?

Have I made a god out of any possession, idea, or position?

If any of these questions convicts your heart, are you willing
to let the Lord make things straight in your life?  

Let's pray.

Father, there is some of Babylon in each of us.  Father, we give
it to you today.  Take it out of us, so that we may reflect only
the face of our Father in heaven.

Amen