Come Out of Babylon

Men such as Noah, EliYah, Jeremiah and even our Savior Yahshua the Messiah were called upon to oppose the corrupt forces at work in the organized ministry and take a stand for what is true and right. As this degeneration has occurred repeatedly in the past, there should be no wonder that it occurs now in these end-times as well. As such, this is an important issue that needs to be addressed and understood by all True Worshipers.

Come Out of Babylon

Yahshua the Messiah has warned us to come out of the corruption of this world by coming out of Babylon. Realize that Babylon encompasses all of corrupt religion. It includes all religious groups that are not keeping the Truth in accordance with the Sacred Scriptures no matter how great or small their defection is from the Truth.

Consider this fact in light of the prophetic plea that Yahshua makes to his people in the Book of Revelation.

“After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.’ I heard another voice from heaven, saying, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and Yahweh has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her’” (Rev. 18:1-6).

Yahweh will severely judge Babylon and those associated with it. Babylon the Great represents grossly corrupted religion. But it applies also to groups like the Pharisees of Yahshua’s day. As the caretakers of the sacred Scriptures within the confines of synagogue worship, the Pharisees were part of the corruption of Babylon. Being a close counterfeit of the Truth made them the greatest threat to True Worship.

Yahshua chastised them for fol-lowing the traditions of men (which were derived from Babylon) rather than keeping the true commandments of Yahweh.

Notice what Yahshua says in Mark 7:5-10. “The Pharisees and the scribes asked Him, ‘Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat their bread with impure hands?’ And He said to them, ‘Rightly did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me. But in vain do they worship Me, teaching as doctrine the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of Yahweh, you hold to the tradition of men.’”

He was also saying to them, You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Yahweh in order to keep your tradition.

We must especially beware of those modern-day Pharisees who pay lip service to the Truth while they teach the doctrines of a man or men while they neglect the commandments of Yahweh. Any association with them will bring judgment from Yahweh. The time for separation is now!

Breaking from Corruption

Those of us who have been involved with Truth-oriented organizations need to thoroughly examine the workings of those groups to see if indeed they are “True Worship.” Just because they keep the Sabbath and feast days, just because they use the Sacred Names, just because they eat clean foods, and just because they even keep the sabbatical year, does not in and of itself mean that these groups are in fact True Worship. As the saying goes “The proof of the pudding is in the eating,” and the proof of doctrine is in the doing.

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Master, Master, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness,’” Matthew 7:22-23.

It is an incredible thought that Yahshua will reject many who practice lawlessness even though they use His Name. There are modern-day Pharisees who outwardly are totally circumspect with keeping the law. Inwardly, they lack the true love of Yahweh. They therefore are guilty of practicing lawlessness. “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all,” James 2:10.

The brethren involved with this ministry have made a break from the corruption of former religious affiliations. Some tried their best (without success) to remove what polluted those bodies. It therefore be-came necessary to follow the precept of Revelation 18:4 and come out of the corruption of Babylon.

This ministry is in fact not some-thing new. It is a continuation of Yahweh’s True Worship. Just as Yahshua separated himself from the Scribes, Pharisees, and Sadducees of his time so we have separated ourselves from their modern equivalents.

End-time Prophetic Fulfillment

We have seen the fulfillment of various prophetic passages of Scripture. This has caused us to join as a body of believers for the purpose of preserving Yahweh’s True Worship in these end-times. It is our intention to warn others of the corruption that they face in their religious affiliations and to offer those who heed that warning a place in which to go.

The Apostle Paul cautioned his disciple Timothy of this subversive corruption today. “But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron” (1Tim 4:1-2).

We are living in the latter days spoken of here. It is important to our salvation that we be aware of how this prophecy applies to us as Yahweh’s end-time believers. Yes, the fallen ones are at work as they follow deceitful spirits instead of the Holy Spirit. They teach their own ideas rather than sound Biblical doctrine.

A corrupt leadership makes void the Law of Yahweh with oppressive doctrines of demons. They forbid marriage of some and advocate abstaining from food which Torah legislates as being clean. Consequently, they are guilty of transgressing the covenant by adding to and diminishing from Yahweh’s Word, Deuteronomy 4:2.

What the Apostle Paul writes here ties in with what we have already learned. These hypocrites teach counterfeit and confusing doctrines that come from the paganism of ancient Babylon. The doctrines of demons are in effect the teachings or policies of any man that take precedence over the Word of Almighty Yahweh. Yahweh will always further His Truth by bringing forth His true people from the spiritual Babylon of the modern-day Pharisees.

In Spirit and Truth

During His ministry, Yahshua was continually being confronted by the religious establishment of his day. For the most part that was the Sadducees and the Pharisees. The Sadducees were of the priestly Aaronic aristocracy. They controlled Temple worship and were strongly associated with King Herod and his governmental control.

On the other hand, the Pharisees functioned on the local level, as they were the ones who controlled the synagogues. Yahshua’s ministry was totally separate from these groups. He recognized that it was impossible to reform them because of their corruption. He chose rather to bring forth a continuation of the Truth from the various followers of those groups who chose to join his ministry.

This is key. Yahshua did not start something new. He brought forth purity from that which was corrupt. “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment; otherwise the patch pulls away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear results. No one puts new wine into old wineskins; otherwise the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the skins as well; but one puts new wine into fresh wineskins” (Mark 2:21-22).

Yahshua is proposing here the continuation of the Truth by putting new wine in fresh skins. The religion of the Pharisees would have represented one aspect of the old wine skins that cannot hold the new wine. Mainstream Judaism for the most part had the Truth, but they obviously lacked important spiritual aspects.

Yahweh seeks out people who will worship him in a specific way. They must be new wine skins if they are to hold the new wine. They must worship Him in both spirit and truth. “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. “Yahweh is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). We see from this passage two main components of True Worship. They are the Holy Spirit of Yahweh and the Truth of the Word. There are many truth oriented religious groups. But, having the Truth alone is not enough. The true body of the Messiah must have the Holy Spirit along with that Truth. Bear in mind that it is possible to have the Truth and not have the Holy Spirit. The Apostle John has warned us that there is the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error. Once again, we must beware! “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from Yahweh, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of Yahweh: every spirit that confesses that Yahshua Messiah has come in the flesh is from Yahweh; and every spirit that does not confess Yahshua is not from Yahweh; this is the spirit of the anti-messiah, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world. You are from Yahweh, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them. We are from Yahweh; he who knows Yahweh listens to us; he who is not from Yahweh does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error” (1John 4:1-6).

The Word of Yahweh shows repeatedly that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. See John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13 and 1John 4:6. Each of these verses refers to the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of Truth! True Worshipers will always have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh along with the Truth.

The Fruit of the Spirit

Those who have the Holy Spirit of Yahweh are keeping Almighty Yahweh’s commandments, Acts 5:32. Along with that, they are bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Love is at the forefront of the fruit. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah Yahshua have impaled the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another” (Gal. 5:22-26).

It is our desire to possess the Spirit of Truth along with the fruit of the Spirit. For this reason we have separated ourselves from former religious affiliations. Ironically we have seen firsthand how the corruption of the Pharisees is still at work.

Outwardly, what many of these groups teach is very close to the Truth. Inwardly, these organizations are corrupt. We would not argue against teaching that the leaders of these groups are the ones who presently sit in Moses seat. We totally agree with Yahshua’s assessment of them, their position, and their corruptness due to hypocrisy. People in this category are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit.

“Then Yahshua spoke to the crowds and to His disciples, saying: The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the chair of Moses; therefore all that they tell you, do and observe, but do not do according to their deeds; for they say things and do not do them. They tie up heavy burdens and lay them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are unwilling to move them with so much as a finger. But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men. But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are all brothers. Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. Do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Messiah. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted” (Matt 23:1-12).

Sadly, we have had to face the fact that those like this and the organizations that they control are not reformable. They lack the humility to admit that they are making mistakes and to correct those mistakes. Outwardly, as they pay lip service to the Truth, they appear to be perfect. Inwardly they are something quite different, hypocrites who refuse correction.

Woe to Hypocrisy

Salvation is not to be found with these people. They obviously lack the Holy Spirit in their lives. Yahshua strongly denounces them for their hypocritical leadership.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from people; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows’ houses, and for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you will receive greater condemnation.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel around on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves.

“Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple, that is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple is obligated.’ You fools and blind men! Which is more important, the gold or the temple that sanctified the gold? And, Whoever swears by the altar, that is nothing, but whoever swears by the offering on it, he is obligated.’ You blind men, which is more important, the offering, or the altar that sanctifies the offering? Therefore, whoever swears by the altar, swears both by the altar and by everything on it. And whoever swears by the temple, swears both by the temple and by Him who dwells within it. And whoever swears by heaven, swears both by the throne of Yahweh and by Him who sits upon it.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cummin, and have neglected the weightier provisions of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness; but these are the things you should have done without neglecting the others. You blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and adorn the monuments of the righteous, and say, If we had been living in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partners with them in shedding the blood of the prophets. So you testify against yourselves, that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the guilt of your fathers. You serpents, you brood of vipers, how will you escape the sentence of hell?

Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and impale, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city, so that upon you may fall the guilt of all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. Truly I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation” (Matt 23:13-36).

Considering what Yahshua brings out against the Pharisees, it is no wonder that He choose not to reform them. Instead, he rose up a continuation of the Truth from the perverseness the Pharisees had created. By having the fruit of the Spirit and most importantly by having true love, Yahshua and his disciples were in opposition to the Pharisees and all that they stood for. He showed the distinction by His life.

Yahshua’s life was a living testimony to what the Apostle Paul wrote in 1Corinthians 13.

He teaches that regardless of the greatness of a person, if he doesn’t have love, he doesn’t have anything. Love is the great barrier between Truth and error. Obviously ancient and modern Pharisees still lack the important fruit of love.

by Bob Wirl