“But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.” Rev. 9:20-21 (NKJV)
Beloved, please do not be turned off immediately because I am writing on a passage out of Revelation. This is something that changed my life, and hopefully will help shape yours. I pray you read this with an open mind and heart and listen to what the Word has to speak to you.
I could talk for days of what has gone on in the book of Revelation in the 9 chapters previous to the passage we are looking at. There are letters written 7 churches around the world teaching us valuable lessons on how to conduct ourselves even now. There are descriptions of the judgments that will happen in the end of the age. There is description of God’s desire for the salvation of the world. But these are not what I want to point out. I want to talk about what we will call the Babylon System.
Babylon is the name given to the kingdom of the Anti-Christ in Revelation and other apocalyptic books throughout Scripture. The Babylon System is the system of government- the laws- that the Anti-Christ will impose in the last days. Today, as Christians, we struggle against the “spirit of this age.” Our struggle, as Paul said in Eph. 6, “is not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.” It is not yet physically something we have to fight against.
In the Revelation passage we read that mankind is given to worshiping demons and idols, because they let the “Four Pillars of the Babylon System” into their lives:
1: Demon/idol worship
2: Murder
3: Sorcery
4: Theft
Each of those “pillars” (excepting idol worship) stem from something much simpler. Look at it this way:
1: Idol worship
2: Hate
3: False religion
4: Greed
Let us, now, turn this around on ourselves. How are we struggling against those spirits today? If you take a hard look at the Church in the West, or, more specifically, the Army, what do you see? The sad news, Beloved, is that I believe these Pillars of the Babylon System have already crept into our lives! The Enemy has his foot in the door of our lives, and in the door of our church. Beloved, when I was lead to these verses and took an honest look at my life, I knew exactly where I have been failing; exactly where I have been flirting with the “line” that exists between the world and the Kingdom.
I will leave you with the questions I have had to ask myself, and I pray that you will be able to look into your own life and, with the help of Him who makes us more than conquerors, go to war with these 4 pillars, from which the Anti-Christ builds his kingdom. Because, Beloved, Christ called us to perfection His perfection. If we are moving toward anything but that, we are moving in the wrong direction.
Questions:
1. Am I worried about what people think of me for the choices I make, or am I worried about how God thinks of me for the choices I make?
2. Is every choice I make glorifying to Him?
3. What is something in my life that is taking away from Christ?
4. What is something I can give up to make room for Christ in my life?
5. What is something I can put into my life that is glorifying to Christ alone?
Some ideas:
1. Give up listening to secular music for a month and, instead, fill the time you would be listening to that music with Christian music, Bible study, and/or prayer.
2. Give up going to the cinema for 3 months and, instead, spend the time you would be at the movies praying, reading the Bible, volunteering at your local Corps, etc. and give the money you would use for your tickets as an offering!
3. Start fasting food one meal a week. Fill the time you would spend eating with prayer, Bible study, worship, etc.
Youth Department