At times in the history of Israel the work of Yahweh’s true ministry reached a point where course corrections were necessary for the preservation of truth and righteousness. Corrupt influences crept in and threatened to destroy Yahweh’s true work. Men such as Noah, EliYah, Jeremiah and even our Savior Yahshua stood in the gap to choke off the occasional evil threatenings.
Yahshua the Messiah has warned us to come out of the corruption of Truth represented by Babylon. Babylon encompasses all of corrupt religion, including 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 the following 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 is usually understood to represent grossly corrupted religion. It also applies to groups like the Pharisees of Yahshua’s day.
As caretakers of the sacred Scriptures within the confines of synagogue worship, the Pharisees were part of the iniquity of Babylon. Being a close counterfeit of the Truth made them the greatest threat to True Worship. Yahshua chastised them for following the traditions of men (which were derived from Babylon) rather than keeping the true commandments of Yahweh.
Notice what He 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 doctrines the precepts of men. Neglecting the commandment of Yahweh, you hold to the tradition of men.’”
He was saying to them, “You are experts at setting aside the commandment of Yahweh in order to follow your tradition.”
We must especially be aware of modern-day Pharisees who pay lip service to the Truth while they teach man-made traditions and neglect the commandments of Yahweh. Any association with them will bring judgment from Yahweh.
Breaking From Corruption
Those seeking truth must thoroughly examine the workings of 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 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’” (Matt 7:22-23).
It is an astounding thought that Yahshua will reject many who use his Name because they practice law-lessness. Again, be advised that there are also modern-day Pharisees who outwardly are circumspect about 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 who are involved with this ministry have made a break from the error they found in former religious affiliations. It became necessary to follow the precept of Revelation 18:4 and come out of the sins of Babylon.
This ministry is in fact not something new. It is a continuance 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 modern equivalents.
Prophecy Being Fulfilled
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 falsification that most face in their religious affiliations and to offer those who heed that warning a place in which to go.
The Apostle Paul warned his disciple Timothy of this subversive corruption. “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, men who forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which Yahweh has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth” (1 Tim 4:1-3).
We are living in the latter times 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. The fallen ones are busy following deceitful spirits instead of the Holy Spirit. They teach their own ideas rather than sound Biblical doctrine.
Corrupt leadership on a massive scale makes void the law of Yahweh with doctrines of demons. They are guilty of violating 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 charlatans are at work teaching 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 continue His Truth by bringing forth His true people from the spiritual Babylon of modern-day Pharisees.
New Wine, New Wineskins
During his ministry, Yahshua was continually being confronted by the religious establishment of his day, typically 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. The Pharisees functioned on the local level, being in control of 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 call out the various followers of those groups to join His ministry.
Yahshua did not start something brand 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 renewed teachings in a fresh structure. The religion of the Pharisee’s would have represented one aspect of the old wine skins that cannot hold the new wine of His teachings.
Mainstream Judaism for the most part had Truth, but they obviously lacked important spiritual aspects. Yahweh seeks out those 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 that there are two main components of True Worship, 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 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. Yahweh grants His Spirit to those who obey His Truth, Acts 5:32.
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 the 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 theses 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 Yahweh’s commandments, Acts 5:32. Along with that, they are bearing the fruit of the Spirit.
Love is at the forefront of that 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).
We want to possess the Spirit of Truth along with the fruit of the Spirit and thereby worship Yahweh in Spirit and in Truth. For this reason we have separated from former religious affiliations.
Considering what Yahshua brings out against the Pharisees, it is no wonder that He chose not to reform them. Instead, He rose up a continuation of the Truth out of 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. Yahshua’s life was a living testimony to what the Apostle Paul taught in 1Corinthians 13. He teaches that re-gardless of the greatness of a person, if they don’t have love, they don’t have anything. Love is the great barrier between truth and error. Obviously ancient and modern Pharisees lack that important fruit, love.
Persecution Energizes True Worship
The corruptness of these hypocrites, then and now, is such that they are the ones who do in fact persecute Yahweh’s true people. Literally and figuratively, the forefathers of these people persecuted the prophets of Yahweh in ancient times. They themselves persecuted Yahshua and the apostolic assembly. And, in these end-times, the modern-day Scribes and Pharisees persecute the saints.
“Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt 5:10-12).
Don’t be discouraged by oppression from false worshipers. Yahshua revealed them for what they are so that his true people could be encouraged and raised up from the depths of depression. Yahweh has made a way for his people to go whereby they can find safety in a spiritual body of believers, who are the continuance of Truth. Yahweh brings them out of the corruption of the modern-day Pharisees.
The emergence of the spiritual Body of the Messiah at the end of the age is the direct result of persecution.
Although it is difficult to deal with, persecution is the fire that purifies Yahweh’s true spiritual people. It is the force that brings forth the true end-time members of Yahweh’s ministry.
“Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (1Cor 3:12-15).
Those who keep His Word will be persecuted but Yahshua shall keep them safe during the tribulation that is to come on all the earth. “And to the angel of the [congregation] in Philadelphia write: He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, and who shuts and no one opens, says this: “I know your deeds. Behold, I have put before you an open door which no one can shut, because you have a little power, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
“Behold, I will cause those of the synagogue of Satan, who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie. I will make them come and bow down at your feet, and make them know that I have loved you. Because you have kept the word of My perseverance, I also will keep you from the hour of testing, that hour which is about to come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth. “I am coming quickly; hold fast what you have, so that no one will take your crown” (Rev 3:7-11).
The persecution of the saints at the end of the age will most certainly have the effect of separating the spiritual body of the Messiah from those of the synagogue of Satan (those who have defected from the truth). Remember that those whom He and his disciples separated themselves from were the ones who persecuted Yahshua to death. Yahshua, the Apostles and disciples remained separate from the religious corruption around them.
Devotion Causes Separation
Many times Almighty Yahweh has allowed divisions to occur within the physical body of believers to separate the good who possess a spiritual attitude from the evil who are motivated by the flesh. That was the case in the Corinthian congregation. “For there must also be factions among you, so that those who are approved may become evident among you” (1Cor. 11:19).
Spiritual hardships that some of Yahweh’s people face are difficult to bear. Yet, these things are happening for good reason, the revealing of the true Assembly of believers in these last days. They are known by their good fruits. They are contradicted and opposed by wicked counterfeits of whom they must beware.
Yahshua tells us to watch out for false prophets. “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits” (Matt 7:15).
The fruit that comes forth must determine our religious affiliation. Those who associate with corrupt people will ultimately be corrupted!
We must be willing to separate from evil and corruption. The Truth will continue and Yahshua will return regardless of the stand we take or our position on Truth. Yahweh does not need us, we need Yahweh. The choice is ours.
by Bob Wirl