| Come Out of Her My People |
| Revelation 18:1-13 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory. And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird. For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities. Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double. How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her. And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning, Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! For in one hour is thy judgment come. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: The merchandise of gold, and silver, and precious stones, and of pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and silk, 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. |
| Ah, the modern church........ A place that we can all go to receive the Lord, have our sins washed away, and feel good about ourselves and our lives. A place where we can feel that we are justified, through faith, without any further responsibility for our actions or our deeds, or how we live. A place where we can go and hear just what our itching ears want to hear....anything that will make us feel good about ourselves. Feel good about the way we live. Feel good about who we are. Feel good about what we are doing in our lives. A place where we can go and worship the Lord in any way we please..... Whatever is good, and pleasing to us, as long as we include a few pious words, or perhaps some tears. A place where all the people can see us worshiping, where everyone can see us at our best, praising, worshipping, praying. Running hand in hand with the most blessed nation in the world. A nation of abundance. A nation of beauty. A place where one can be free to worship the Lord without fear of persecution. A nation that was founded on principles of Christianity; one that has chosen to call itself a 'nation under God'. A nation that God has given to a people who have chosen to be called by His name. |
| Amos 5:21-24 (God, through the Prophet Amos) I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer me burnt offerings and your meat offerings, I will not accept them: neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beasts. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. 2timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. The Word of God, spoken through Ezekiel, the prophet, From Ezekiel chapter sixteen; Again the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, "My servant, go to Jerusalem, and tell her of all of her abominations, and say, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel says to Jerusalem: Your birthplace is the Land of Canaan, and your father was an Amorite, and your mother was a Hittite. As for your birthplace; in the day that you were born, your naval was not properly cut and you were not washed or anointed. No one checked on you and there was no one to swaddle you or feed you, or bring you up. No one looked upon you with compassion, or did anything for you; but you were thrown out into an open field, wallowing in your blood and afterbirth. As I passed by and looked, I saw you there wallowing in your blood, and I said to you, "Live", even while you were pitifully lying in your blood. Since then, I have made you multiply, as the flower of the field; and you have increased, and grown strong; you have come of age, adorned in beauty; your breasts are shaped, and erect. Your fine hair is grown full, though you were naked and exposed. Now, when I passed by and looked at you, and behold, you were mature, and ready for love, so I spread my skirt over you and covered your nakedness. Yes, I swore unto you, and I made a covenant with you, said the Lord God, and you were mine. Then I washed you with water; yes, I thoroughly washed away all the blood from you, and I anointed you with oil. I clothed you with ornamented robes, and made you shoes of fine leather; I dressed you with fine linen, and I covered you with silk. I decked you about with jewels, and I put I put bracelets on your wrists, and a chain about your neck. I put a jewel on your forehead, earrings in your ears, and a fine crown on the top of your head. You were decked with gold and with silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, and silk, and embroidered work. You ate fine flour, and honey, and oil; and you were very beautiful, and blossomed into a kingdom. Your honor went out among the heathen nations, because of your great beauty; for it was perfect through my magnificence, which I had adorned you with, says the Lord God. But, you trusted in your own beauty, and played the whore, because of your honorable standing, and poured out your fornications on everyone who passed by....it was his. And of your garments that you wore, you took them and decked the high places with the beautiful colors, and played the whore upon them. You have also taken the precious jewels that I gave you; my gold and my silver, and made images of men, and committed whoredoms with them; and you took the fine garments, and covered the images, and have set my oil and my incense before them. The abundance, also, which I gave you; the fine flour, the honey and the oil that I fed you with; you have even set that before them as a sweet savor: and thus it was, says the Lord. As well, you have taken your sons and your daughters which you have born to me, and offered them as sacrifices to be devoured. Do you believe that this is a small matter, that through your whoredoms you have slain my children, and delivered them to be sacrificed to them by fire? And in all of your abominations and your whoredoms, you have not remembered the days of your youth; when you were naked and bare, and were covered in blood. The Word of God continues......... Therefore, oh harlot, Hear what the Lord says, "Because your filthiness was poured out liberally, and your nakedness was uncovered through your whoredoms with your lovers, and with all of the idols of your abominations; and by the blood of your children, which you just handed over to them: Behold, I will gather all of your lovers, with whom you have taken pleasure, and all of them that you have loved, and even all of them that you have hated. I will gather them up against you, and will uncover your nakedness to them, so that they can see all of your nakedness. Then I will judge you as a woman who leaves her husband and sheds blood is judged; and I will pour blood upon you in my jealousy and in my rage. I will also give you into their hand, and they will tear down your archways; and shall break down your high places. They will strip you of your clothes, and will take your fine jewels, and will leave you naked and exposed. They will also bring up an army against you, and they will stone you with rocks, and they will impale you with their swords. They will burn your fine houses; and they will execute judgments upon you in the sight of many women; and I will make you to cease playing the harlot; and you will give no hire anymore. And only then will my anger towards you cease; and my jealousy will depart from you. Then I will be quiet, and will no longer be angry. Since you have forgotten the days of your youth; but have enraged me in all of these things, behold, I will also recompense your ways upon your own head, and you shall no longer commit your lewdness, on top of all of your other abominations. Behold, everyone that uses proverbs, will use this one against you, "As the mother is, so is her daughter". "You are your mother's daughter; she loathed her husband, and her children. You are the sister of your sisters, which loathed their husbands and their children. Your mother was a Hittite, and your father was an Amorite. Your elder sister is Samaria; she and her daughters are at your left hand. And your younger sister, at your right hand, is Sodom, and her daughters. You have not walked in their ways, or done their abominations, but, like as if that was a little thing; you were corrupted more than all of them in your abominations. "As I live," says the Lord,” Neither Sodom, your sister, nor her daughters, have done as you and your daughters have done." "See here, these were the sins of your sister Sodom and her daughters; Pride, abundance, much time spent in idleness; neither did she tend to the needs of the poor and needy. Also they were haughty and committed abominable acts before me; therefore, I took them away as I saw fit. Neither has Samaria committed half of your sins; but you have multiplied your abominations more than they all; and have justified your sisters through your wicked, immoral deeds. Then you have judged your sisters in their sins! Bear your own shame, for your sins are far more abominable than theirs; they are more righteous than you, so be confounded and bear your own shame; in that your sins have justified the deeds of your sisters. When I once again bring their former state, the former state of Sodom and her daughters, then I will bring the former state of your nakedness into the midst of them; so that you may bear your own shame, and may be ashamed in all that you have done, particularly in that your sins make them feel better about themselves. When your sister, Sodom and Samaria, and their daughters, return to their beginnings, then you and your daughters will return to your nakedness; for you never mentioned your sister, Sodom, in the day of your arrogance. Before your wickedness was exposed, as at the time of your disgrace in front of the daughters of Syria, and all of those who are around her; the daughters of the Philistines, which despise you. You will bear your disgusting actions and your abominations. |
| This shall never be allowed to stand, it will not be so. |