Get thee out of Babylon!

And I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues. (Rev 18:4)

Therefore “Come out from among them And be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, And I will receive you.” (2 Cor 67:17)

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to Elohim and to the Lamb.

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of Elohim and the faith of Yeshua.…

Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of Elohim and the faith of Yeshua.

(Rev 14:4, 12)

Genesis 12:1, Get thee out of thy country. Did Abram immediately leave his father’s house and go directly to the country that YHVH would show him, or did he fulfill YHVH’s will for his life in incremental steps? (Compare Gen 11:31 with 12:1.) Did Abram leave his father’s house completely, or take part of his father’s house with him including his father and nephew? Haran is located in northern Mesopotamia and is nowhere near Canaan. When Abram finally made his way to Canaan minus his father, did he still have part of his kindred with him, something YHVH instructed him to leave behind (Gen 12:1)? Did his nephew Lot prove to be a help or a hindrance to Abram in fulfilling YHVH’s mission for his life in a new land?

What lessons can we learn from this account? First, YHVH is gracious to us even when we don’t obey him completely and immediately. Scripture still refers to Abraham as the father of the faithful or faithfulness (Rom 4:12, 16). Second, Abram was a man of prominence in Babylon (or Chaldea), was recognized as a mighty prince (Gen 23:6), and was 75 years old when YHVH asked him to leave the comforts of life in Babylon to trek across the desert to the backwoods region of Canaan. No doubt, this was not an easy move for Abram for the reasons stated above.

What did Yeshua tell his disciples about the sacrifices that would need to be made to be a follower of YHVH? (Matt 10:35–39). What did Yeshua say would be the eternal rewards of those, who like our father Abraham, set out in faith for a new spiritual destiny? (Matt 19:29) What physical obstacles stand in your way of fulfilling YHVH’s spiritual calling, mission and destiny for your life?

Presently, YHVH is calling his people out of the spiritual Babylon (Rev 18:4) of man-made religious systems that, to one degree or another, have supplanted the simple truths of YHVH’s word with doctrines and traditions of men. Anything that takes precedence in the hearts and minds of men that is contrary to the Bible is, by biblical definition, an idol. End times spiritual Babylon is full of idolatry. It is a confused mixture of truth and lies. YHVH called Abram out of Babylon, and he’s calling his people out of Babylon today to worship and obey him in Spirit and truth. His end time saints will be those who follow Yeshua the Messiah unconditionally wherever he goes (Rev 14:4–6). Their chief identification mark is that they follow the Torah-commandments of Elohim and have the faith of Yeshua—their lives have been transformed by the message of the gospel (Rev 14:17; 12:14).

Let us follow the example of our father Abraham and in faith follow YHVH Elohim as he leads us onward and upward. This is our righteousness!

And he believed in YHVH, and He accounted it to him for righteousness. (Gen 15:6)

 

Are you ready for the fourth industrial revolution?

Another Way to Come Out of the End Times Babylonian System

We are currently entering the fourth industrial revolution to occur since the 1700s. The first revolution occurred when humans entered the machine age in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The second one occurred  from 1870 to WW1 when huge industries like steel and petroleum took off. The third one was the digital or computer revolution beginning in the early 1980s. With regard to the fourth industrial revolution, Wikipedia says:

The Fourth Industrial Revolution builds on the Digital Revolution, representing new ways in which technology becomes embedded within societies and even the human body.[8] The Fourth Industrial Revolution is marked by emerging technology breakthroughs in a number of fields, including robotics, artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, quantum computing, biotechnology, The Internet of Things, 3D printing and autonomous vehicles.

In his book, The Fourth Industrial Revolution, Professor Klaus Schwab, Founder and Executive Chairman of the World Economic Forum, describes how this fourth revolution is fundamentally different from the previous three, which were characterized mainly by advances in technology. These technologies have great potential to continue to connect billions more people to the web, drastically improve the efficiency of business and organizations and help regenerate the natural environment through better asset management. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourth_Industrial_Revolution)

How will you, your children and grandchildren adapt to this fourth industrial revolution? There are many ramifications of this, which we can’t discuss here and now. However, many futurists are predicting that up to 50 percent of the jobs will be replaced by automation of one kind or another. True, jobs will be needed to produced, manage and maintain that automation, but the purpose of automation is to make production of goods and service more efficient and less expensive by reducing or eliminating human involvement. So where does that leave all the people who either don’t have high tech skills, or who aren’t interested in these jobs? The trades! The fourth industrial revolution will not be able to replace plumbers, carpenters, electricians, appliance repairers, painters, arborists, mechanics and the list goes on and on.

Think about it. Tradesmen are often self-employed and run their own businesses. They have a degree of freedom that those working for larger corporations or government entities don’t have. As such, they are freer and more independent. They can work long or short hours. They can take time off when they want. They can earn a lot of money or a little amount depending on their motivation and needs level. This also means that they are free to obey YHVH’s laws without someone telling them what to do. For example they can freely keep the Shabbat and biblical feasts when they want without permission.

Nearly 35 years ago as a college graduate, I made the decision not to use my college degree and a prostitute myself to the corporate system. Remaining faithful to YHVH Elohim and keeping his commandments like the Sabbath and biblical feasts was more important to me than climbing the corporate ladder and becoming rich or famous. Therefore, I chose the small business, tradesmen route. I haven’t gotten rich, but I’ve kept my freedom and independence, and I’ve stayed faithful to YHVH and been free to keep his commandments without anyone telling me what to do or where to go. My conscience is clear.

The choice I made to go into business for myself was prescient. At that time (in the early 1980s)

, we were barely entering the third industrial revolution. The fourth one was unthinkable. No computer or robot will every be able to do my trade. I have job security! Plus I’m free to come and go as I want. This is one aspect of coming out the Babylonian system. Think about it.

 

 

Woe to the Urbanization of Men and His Enslavement in Babylon!

Genesis 1:28, Dominion over the fish…birds…[the land animals]. Elohim gave man dominion over the animals. Elohim, however, never, however, gave man the authority to take dominion over other people, which is what Cain, Nimrod and their descendants did when they started cities, states and kingdoms.

YHVH’s government is patriarchal and tribal in nature and is built on the foundation of the family, which is something the devil and his servants have been attacking from time immemorial.

Yeshua echoes this same divine prohibition of man ruling other men in Matt 20:25–26 where he tells his disciples that the Gentiles rule each other through oppression, but that was not how the kingdom of Elohim was to operate. Government was to be based on servant-leadership.

Elohim created man to work the land and to live free, and he designed humans to be more or less self-sufficient and to help each other in loving service to one another when and where needed. The Scriptures decry and even pronounce woe upon those who form urban communities as they “join house to house,” so that people no longer “dwell alone in the midst of the land” on ten acre farms (Isa 5:8–10).

Men’s cities and the hierarchial Babylonian system of government they require to operate is opposed to Elohim’s system of family farms and patriarchal servant-leadership. This is because the urbanization of men results in the collectivization of humans by other humans ostensibly for the purpose of making life easier, but in reality, it enslave them to oppressive human-led governmental systems where humans are forced to look to human leaders for their sustenance and for handouts instead of relying on the Creator. This bondage is forcibly financed through legalized extortion called taxation, and enforced through draconian government regulations that control nearly every aspect of a person’s life.

This transferral from a rural to an urban-based society model not only reduces man’s freedom and self-sufficiency as he becomes increasingly dependent on government for his sustenance, but it also tends to facilitate spiritual apostasy, the breakdown of the family and the stratification or splitting apart of society. In other words, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, class distinctions occur, which further divide and separate people causing racism and prejudice as men slide downward morally and spiritually away from Elohim. The family on the micro and macro levels fall apart and disintegrate.

Moreover, such a system promotes institutionalized religious systems and personally enriches those who are at the pinnacle of those systems. Out of this false, non-biblical system, religious construction projects such as temples, cathedrals and educational institutions abound allegedly to enhance the worship of Elohim, but in reality, they’re usually monuments, not unlike the ziggurat Tower of Babel, of men’s achievements as men are attempting to reach Elohim through their own humanistic efforts and turn themselves into their own self-promoting and self-adulating demigods. Elohim doesn’t require the construction of such projects for men to have a personal, spiritual relationship with him, as Paul states in his epistle to the Romans, which is a rephrasing of a passage from Deut 30, “But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ‘Do not say in your heart, “Who will ascend into heaven?’’’ (that is, to bring Messiah down from above) or,”, “Who will descend into the abyss?”’ (that is, to bring Messiah up from the dead). But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’ (that is, the word of faith which we preach)” (Rom 30:6–8). The construction of denominations and buildings are primarily for the benefit of the ruling elite who have found a way to insert themselves as middlemen between man and his Creator largely for the purposes of money and power.

All of these things are a result of the man’s move from a rural to an urban living environment and taking dominion over one another instead of stewarding the earth and its animals and serving one another in love as Elohim originally instructed him to do.

 

The Spirit of Laban and Balaam Is Alive and Well on Planet Earth Today!

Flee from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!

Flee from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil!

Genesis 31:43, Laban and Balaam. It is quite possible that the false prophet Balaam, who heard from YHVH and had a sense of righteousness, though was still steeped in paganism, was a descendant of Laban.

Both Laban and Balaam were from Aram (part of greater Babylon) and only 280 years separated them. One of the Aramaic Targums (Targum Jonathan) equates Balaam with Laban, while other scholars view Balaam as Laban’s grandson.

Both were involved in a mixed-religious system—some truth and some error, some good and some evil. This is the nature of religious Babylon (meaning “mixture” or “confusion”). A mixture of what? Of good and evil.

Remember the tree by that name in the Garden of Eden? Who was the one who enticed man to indulge in that fruit in rebellion to YHVH’s commands?

Even today, Satan the serpent is at the helm of spiritual Babylon trying to lure people into his system of good and evil. Like the tree of knowledge, the religious Babylon of today, out of which YHVH is calling his people (Rev 18:4), is just that—a mixture of truth and pagan lies. How else, for example, do we account for the name of the Christian festival called Easter or Ishtar named after the Babylonian sex goddess of fertility? Or how else do we account for the Christmas tree phallus symbol that also originated from Babylonian sex worship? Or how about the Easter egg (an ancient Babylonian fertility or sex symbol) or the egg on the Jewish Passover Seder plate? All these are symbols of pagan sex worship.

As YHVH called Jacob away from Babylon back to Beth-el (the House of El), and as YHVH turned Jacob’s heart back to the ways of his fathers, is not the same YHVH likewise now calling his people to come out of religious Babylon (Rev 18:4), to separate themselves from that which is unclean or not kosher (2 Cor 6:17)?

Yes, YHVH is pleading for the modern descendants of Jacob (redeemed Israelites or the Israel of Elohim, Gal 6:16) to not succumb to the forked-tongued Labans and Balaams of today who would pull them back into their religious systems that are a mixture of truth and error. Rather, Elohim is urging his people to remember the good, ancient and blessed paths of the Torah of Moses his servant and to listen to the spirit of Elijah as the children’s hearts re turned back to the Hebraic fathers of their faith (Jer 6:16, 19; Mal 4:4–6).

 

Enslavement to Babylon and Its Idols

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Genesis 31:19, Household idols. Heb. teraphim, from rapha meaning “to heal, make healthful.” The ancient pagans viewed these idols superstitiously as good luck charm for good health and prosperity.

But there is more.

In ancient Babylon, each family had a shrine where it worshipped its household gods, which were in the shape of clay figurines. These family gods served as guardian angels of the home, and would be left to the eldest son, who, acting as the family high priest, would perpetuate the family’s idol worship after the father’s death. The theft of these household idols left Laban in a very agitated state in that he was willing to pursue Jacob to retrieve them, by force, if necessary.

The reason is that these gods conferred the right of primogeniture (to the firstborn son), and acted as a title deed to the father’s inheritance. Thus, Rachel must have stolen her brother’s inheritance thereby making Jacob the legal heir of Laban’s estate (Manners and Customs of Bible Lands, pp. 119–120, by Fred H. Wight; TWOT, p. 980). These idols were actually legal titles to the land of Laban’s household and thus were part of his will. Those who possessed these title deeds became the legal inheritor of Laban’s estate (Social World of Ancient Israel, p. 18, by Matthews and Benjamin)

Genesis 31:43, These daughters are my daughters. Laban claims that Jacob’s wives and children belonged to him. Laban was also steeped in the idolatry of Babylon having in his possession idols or images called teraphim (Gen 31:19, 34–35), which also represented his wealth and were good luck charms.

Is there a modern-day counterpart to this?

Yes. Doesn’t modern Babylon want to control and possess the wives and children of redeemed Israel, indoctrinate them in its pagan religious system and then keep Jacob’s modern descendants from returning to their spiritual and physical homeland and birthright inheritance, and from returning to the Torah-faith of their fathers?

Are governmental systems (e.g. public educational institutions and state and federal Child Protective Services, social welfare programs, various government regulations that have greatly diminished or eliminated many of our personal freedoms along with God-givern parental rights), socio-political organizations (e.g. ACLU, UN) and greedy corporate systems (banking systems that enslave people through debt, corrupters of our food supplies that destroy people’s health, pharmaceutical companies and the mainstream medical establishment that enslaves people’s minds and bodies through drugs) modern-day Labans who want to kill, steal and destroy for the benefit of money and power? Again, yes.

Revelation 18:13 says that end times Babylon the Great will traffic in the souls of men. This speaks at some level of the modern day enslavement of men—of their religious expression, freedom of thought and action.

In these end times, the saints of Elohim must  protect ourselves and their loved ones from idols and the evil machinations of idolators. Let us not forget John’s closing words in his first  epistle:

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)

An idol is anything that gets between us and Elohim.