BABYLON

...And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise anymore:

The merchandise of gold, and silver, 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,

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.

And the fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

The merchants of these things which were made rich by her, shall stand a far off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing,

And saying, Alas, alas, that great city, that was clothed in fine linen, and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls!

For in one hour so great riches is come to nought. And every ship master, and all the company of ships and sailors, and as many as trade by sea, stood afar off.

Revelation 18:11-17
In One Hour.

Babylon the great whore, Jezebel is not an individual.
Babylon is called the mother of the abominations of the earth.

Remember we learned what was abominable to God yesterday in Revelation.
Babylon is not limited to the world system.
It is a doctrine of greed introduced by the spirit of darkness and it crept into God's church long before I was born in 1970.

So I am trying to be deep with what I write. I write what is already written and what Holy Spirit says to write.
It may be something that other's have overlooked or neglected on purpose but I am not claiming to be nor trying to be deep.

When the Word speaks to us of a great whore it is not speaking of an individual or a woman who literally walks the earth.
The whore is the false teaching that causes a marriage to be defiled, our relationship with Christ Jesus.

Who is our husband?
Our Maker is our husband.
Isaiah 54:5
We cannot serve both money and Christ because we will love one and hate the other.
This does not mean quit your job.
Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:13
We love God because He first loved us.

Babylon the whore and the adulteress is a doctrine that turns the hearts of men from serving Christ to serving money.

This is why the gospel is blasphemed and spoken evil of, and become the butt of jokes among the lost.
This is what makes a shipwreck of the faith of Christ Jesus.
2 Peter 2:2; Jude 1:4

There will always be those who will reject the Saviour and the truth, but we are not to take part in constructing their rejection.
When men will not believe you go on to those who will hear.

The Spirit of Babylon.
Don't eat her dainties.
You have to give up your birthright in order for the enemy to get it.

As the Lord by His Spirit instructed, we saw sin in all of it's forms as revealed to John in the book of Revelation.

The letter's where written to the churches.
Jude speaks of it, Revelation speaks of it, 2 Peter speaks of it, Paul speaks of it in 1Timothy , Enoch, Isaiah, Malachi, Daniel, Jeremiah, Ezekiel all prophesied and so on in the Scripture it is documented that this would happen.

For some reason folks are skimming over it.
The Bible does have a lot to say about wealth, Revelation 3:17-20 in particular.

Peter speaks of the spirit of Babylon as having eyes full of adultery that never cease from sin, enticing unstable souls, having a heart trained in greed, accursed children;

forsaking the right way, they have gone astray, having followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;

but he received a rebuke for his own transgression, for a mute donkey, speaking with a voice of a man, restrained the madness of the prophet.
2Peter 2:14-16

You may have heard about the donkey speaking but you should know why the donkey spoke.
The spirit of Babylon can overcome and conquer the layman but it cannot overcome a disciple.

Numbers chapter 22 explains that Balaam was asked to curse and hinder the people of God and he was going to do it for a price (this speaks of greed).

The enemy has a way of using words that produce fear.
The enemy tries to use fear so that you take your self out, because he can't do it.

The illusion exists as long as he can make you believe that he is more powerful than Christ.

If the enemy and those that he works through can get you to take your focus off of what God has provided through Christ by looking at anything else, you are now in the position that he needs you to be in, the one where you are punching yourself in the face.

Learn.

Balaam was a diviner for hire.

Balak was an idiot king of Moab who felt threatened by God's people the Israelite's because he knew that God had delivered all of their enemies into their hands.

Balak heard about Balaam and he was looking for an edge to crush God's chosen.
So he sent for Balaam whose reputation proceeded him as a diviner to come and curse the people that he felt would threaten his livelihood, manhood or just his hood.

Some folks prayer is the work of divination like Balaam, those that pray those prayers with them selves. (Luke 18:11 folks)
What we see here is that Balaam had a talent, he practiced sorcery and it gave him a reputation that evidently made him money.

Whatever the devil meant for evil God can take and use it to His advantage.

Initially Balaam refused to come because he said God won't allow that.
And God didn't, The Father specifically instructed Balaam " Do not get involved with these men in cursing what I have blessed."

The Word says that Balaam got up early in the morning and saddled his donkey to go with the princes of Moab those who had called him to curse the people who God had delivered.

Somebody is not doing what God told him to do.

No man can curse what God has blessed.
Remember?
If you believe in Christ you know that what God has declared righteous and clean no man can call common.

God was angry with Balaam for his stance and The Father set an angel of the LORD in the middle of the road with a drawn sword in his hand to put a halt to Balaam's journey.

When Balaam's donkey saw the angel, she turned off the road into a field.
Balaam beat her to try and get her back on the road.

Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path between two vineyards, with walls on both sides.

When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD she pressed close to the wall, crushing Balaam's foot against it. So he beat her again.

Then the angel of the LORD moved on ahead and stood in a narrow place where there was nowhere to turn, either to the right or to the left.
When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD she lay down under Balaam, and he was angry and beat her with his staff.

Now 3 times she is struck by a man for halting at the command of an angel of The LORD.
If you have ears to hear...
Persecution is a part of obeying what the LORD tells you to do, but God's grace is ever sufficient.
Amen.

Long suffering and merciful is our God.
Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and she said to Balaam,
" What have I done to make you beat me these three times?"

Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand I would kill you right now."
Not selfless and meek.

Will it take an angel standing between you and what God has told you not to do?
Because any man will fall down on his face when Gabriel shows up with a sword.

What man would not set up at attention when a beast such as a donkey speaks with the voice of a human?

God had already spoken to Balaam the day before, where had the selflessness and meek spirit gone when the LORD gave instruction?
It had taken a back seat to what Balaam lusted after, gain.

The donkey said to Balaam, " Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day, have I been in the habit of doing this to you?"
No, he said.

Then the Lord opened Balaam's eyes, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the road with his sword drawn. So he bowed low and fell face down.

The angel of the LORD asked him, " Why have you beaten your donkey these three times?"
The angel then said, "I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.
The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times.
If she had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared her."
Numbers 22:21-33

The Apostle Peter goes on to teach about this adulterous spirit Babylon and those who follow after it, saying,
They are springs without water and mists driven by a storm, for whom the black darkness has been reserved.

For speaking out arrogant words of vanity they entice by fleshly desires,(draw you in with your lust to be wealthy)by sensuality, those who barely escape from the ones who live in error.

promising them freedom while they themselves are slaves of corruption; for by what a man is overcome, by this he is enslaved.

Overcome by greed and the lust that is in the world.
It's not the fear of not having enough it's the lust of excess.

It's like asking someone, "Don't you know that the borrower is servant to the lender?"
God is asking you, "Don't you know it?"

Balak didn't let up and he continued to send messengers to hound Balaam, the indirect approach and then he went up to see him directly, saying that God was keeping him from being rewarded handsomely.

Balaam, now you won't be rewarded because you won't do what i want you to do.

Righteous prosperity comes when you turn to the LORD.

Balaam answered Balak saying, "Didn't I tell you and all of these indirect messages, even if you gave me your palace filled with silver and gold, I can't do anything of my own accord good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD, Now I am going back to my people but I will tell you what will happen if you keep up these schemes to try and block or buffet God's chosen.

Balaam the diviner said what God told him to say and he spoke of a ruler that would come out of Jacob.
He let Balak know that these are the blessed of God and it is not because of silver and gold.

I'm writing all of this to say how important it is in these last days and end times to really walk and talk with The Father by knowing His Word.

Because when you do come to Christ there are folks who for their own gain will desire that you go back to wallowing in the mire of ignorance.

2 Peter 2:1-3; 1Timothy 6:3-12
The book of Revelation reveals that not all will repent.
Revelation chapters 17,18

Jesus said, Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he will not go naked and be shamefully exposed.

Pray

LOVE Y'ALL