God Says, "Come Out of Her, My People!!!"

by Ken Browder, Editor

It isn't very long before Americans will be going to the polls to select another man (or woman!) to be President of the United States! Election rhetoric is being thrown about with reckless abandon!

Some in each party seem to be filled with hate toward those of the other party! America IS divided about who should be leading the country and what they should be doing about all the problems America faces today.

What should be the attitude and approach of TRUE Christians?

Today I would like to approach that subject because I fear it has confused many in God's Church and I think many are being deceived by Satan into believing things that just aren't true, and I would ask you to prayerfully consider what I have written.

I will be using some typology in this study and with that typology can go a lot of misunderstanding.

Sometimes typology uses symbols to relate to, and teach, us about actual events or things. As used in God's Word, typology doesn't relate to just one thing, but in His wisdom God has used typology to build many layers of understanding into the Bible.

This is something of which we should be aware since it can cause disagreements as to meanings of scripture when perhaps two minds are thinking about separate things but the same typology. So those in God's Church should not get confused or distracted in this through disagreement as to what something means when it could have many or even infinite meanings (depending upon the context of the word or words)!

We true Christians today have been delivered from SIN, of which Egypt was a type, and we are now wandering in the "wilderness of sin". We came through the "Red Sea" of baptism and all of us at one time or another have murmured about things when they didn't go our way as we thought they should, or when we thought God should have answered our prayers in a certain way.

Satan is the great deceiver (Rev. 12:9) and he was right there with the Children of Israel in the wilderness, just as he is right here in this wilderness we call the world, right now.

Not only has Satan deceived this whole society, he has been very busily deceiving God's children also. Everyone in the Body of Christ has been deceived, and perhaps is still being deceived, in one way or another!

Some have understood about this deception of the church and realize it takes many forms, depending upon our spiritual makeup and past lives. Like God, Satan tries to use our previous lives, and what we have learned in it, but Satan uses it against us!

Much as the disciples at Jerusalem were scattered, we have also been scattered to the four winds from our former church affiliation. As the disciples from Jerusalem did, we are to go everywhere preaching the Word, making disciples, and baptizing them into the Body of Christ.

We have been called to be teachers of righteousness, and to preach the coming Kingdom of God to all the world. However, in our past church background we were incorrectly taught that we were not "preachers" but that the church Hierarchy were the preachers and we were to be simply 'students'. We were to just sit and listen, and of course, tithe.

We were incorrectly taught that only that particular "church" (organization) was the TRUE church of God and that everyone else was not in God's church. We later found out that there were other people in the world who had never known our previous church but were keeping the Sabbath and Holy Days too. They had gotten all that straight out of God's Word and they were being obedient to God Himself.

God is not restricted to only using human beings in the teaching of the Word, you know!

Politics!

In churches, we have sometimes gotten into some fairly heated arguments about world government and politics through certain misunderstandings about who we are and how we are supposed to conduct our lives.

I hope I can put some of that to rest today with this study.

(John 13:1) "Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end."

Here we see that the resurrected Jesus was going to leave this world. However, there was something His disciples didn't really think about.

(John 16:33) "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

Yes, His disciples were to have tribulation (tests, trials, suffering) in this world.

(John 17:11-12) "And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.
"While I was with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gavest me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled."

Yes, His disciples were to remain in the world and suffer through tribulation until they reached the point of becoming one with God at that first resurrection from the dead!

We are all suffering today! We ALL have trials and tribulations! Maybe not as much physically as some, but certainly spiritually as we see God's Church scattered over the earth with some perhaps being lost. Most of the members of the church just don't realize the scattering was for a great Godly purpose!

(Dan. 12:7) " And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished."

Please note that the phrase "shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people" is referring back to the phrase "and sware by him that liveth for ever"!

Yes, the scattering of the power of God's holy people (by God Himself) was for a great purpose! We don't fully realize what that was now, but God says we will understand later.

(Dan. 12:10) "Many shall be purified, and made white, and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand."

I believe we are close to that time now!

But what IS this understanding we are supposed to reach?

I have been pondering this question for some time now and I think God has allowed me to understand a part of it.

(Rev. 17:18) "And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth."
(Rev. 18:1-5) "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."

Here is that great city Babylon, and God is calling for HIS people to "come out of her" so they won't be partakers of her sins, and receive of her plagues. (Many times in scripture when the word "woman" is used in references such as this, it is talking about a church!)

If God is calling for His people to "come out of her" then they must have been "IN HER"! They are taking part in her sins, being a part of Babylon (physically AND spiritually)!!

A City, of course, is a governmental organization on a wide scale. The people of this world look to the government to give them every good thing to enjoy. They look to the government to protect them and feed them so they can have a happy, carefree life with all the "good things" they desire.

God tells us in scripture about this Great City/church called Babylon in the previous verses I quoted.

World Conspiracies?

Many church leaders have come out publicly and said they don't believe there is any conspiracy, or conspiracies, on the earth. However, it is very plain to anyone who watches world events that there are groups of men who are behind the scenes manipulating the happenings in this world.

To not realize there is a terrible conspiracy going on and that conspiracy being inspired by Satan the Devil, is deception of the highest order, in my opinion!

Why do our church leaders tell us there is "nothing like that going on"?

We have already seen in Rev. 12:9 that Satan is deceiving the whole world and that God's church has been left IN this world. It naturally follows then that some of God's people are DECEIVED into believing a lot of the things Satan wants them to believe.

How are they deceived?

We can find that scripture in the Book of Revelation also.

(Rev. 2:18-23) "And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like unto a flame of fire, and his feet are like fine brass;"
"I know thy works, and charity, and service, and faith, and thy patience, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first."
"Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."
"And I gave her space to repent of her fornication; and she repented not."
"Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great tribulation, except they repent of their deeds."
"And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works."

Here we see that "Jezebel" calls herself a "prophetess" and is teaching God's people, seducing them to commit spiritual fornication (spiritual intercourse outside of spiritual marriage) and to eat "things" sacrificed to idols.

The spiritual food they are eating is the direct result of the teachings this "prophetess" is doing in God's Church! Most of that teaching is because of DECEPTION!

This must be referring to a partly deceived ministry in God's Church preaching things they don't know are not true, for members of the Body of Christ would not listen to preaching from other churches.

It is easy for me to see that God's children are in the world and are participating in the ways of the world, as well as believing SPIRITUAL ERROR!!

We are told in 1 John 2:15 "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

We are told in Romans 1:32 "... knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them."

(Rom. 2:1-2) "Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things."
"But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things."

Those who think others should be allowed to live an alternative life style, or commit sins, without considering the Laws of God, are subject to the judgment of God according to TRUTH. And of course, that judgment says those who go along with sinners ARE sinners themselves.

Can you see how agreeing with this world and its governments makes a person part and parcel of the results of that agreement?
Can you see how voting to put someone in office in an ungodly government makes that person A PART of whatever that government does?

We can know whether or not they are ungodly because of their "FRUITS!" (Mat. 7:16,20)

I have shown in articles on our web site, The SevenTimes Journal, how America is founded upon Judeo-Christianity and how corrupt and pagan that religion is. I have shown how the religions of this society are part and parcel of that Judeo-Christianity and THEY ARE NOT OF GOD!!

What we think, and what we do, MARKS us with an indelible mark that is seen by those in the spirit world, and sometimes in this physical world as well.

There is a MARK talked about in Revelation.

(Rev. 16:2) "And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image."
(Re 19:20) "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone."

A worshipper is one who looks to some god to protect, help, save, and feed them. Those who look to the government for everything ARE worshipping that government whether or not they believe they are.

(Rev. 13:15-18) "And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed."
"And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:"
"And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name."
"Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six."

For instance, when a person votes to put certain men into office, they are making gods to serve, protect and save them from all harm and to give (sell) them all good things!!

To vote is to participate in the sins of this society and this world because we know the governments of this world are NOT NOW the government of God, don't we? We know that those who are elected into office WILL sin because they want money, power and sex!!

Those who vote are approving in one way or another of what goes on in government, whether or not they agree exactly.

It is bigger than individuals because mankind has created a god (government) for himself, just as those during Samuel's time did.

Let's look at that.

(1 Sam. 8:4-7) "Then all the elders of Israel gathered themselves together, and came to Samuel unto Ramah,"
"And said unto him, Behold, thou art old, and thy sons walk not in thy ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations."
"But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, Give us a king to judge us. And Samuel prayed unto the LORD."
"And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them."

The elders and the people did not want God to rule over them!! They wanted to make themselves a King (a god) to rule over them!!

The people had "VOTED" (the elders came to Samuel telling him they wanted) to get themselves a king (a government) IN PLACE OF GOD!! They made their selection and God then let them live with it!! He backed off from direct involvement in the governments of men (except when He needed to cause them to conform to His Plan).

(read rest of the chapter, verses 8-22)

As we sit in church and recount the things governments do, and we make statements as to what they should do about certain instances, we are NOT stating that it would be the godly thing to do, although it might!

We ARE saying that, considering this government is not God's government, they should do such and such when they actually recognize evil in this world, such as Sadam Hussein and his government.

Had God been OUR LEADER, He would probably have taken care of Sadam Himself IF HE NEEDED TO DO SO! Or He might have had the U.S. Government go over and obliterate Iraq from the face of the earth! The only way we have of knowing is from past history where God did just that to nations who were totally and irrevocably corrupt!

What about us?

Should we participate in elections or become members of some political party to try to "make things better for us"? Should we get wrapped up in political activities in the world OR in the church?

God gives us some instructions throughout scripture but especially in the book of Hebrews.

(Heb. 11:8-10) "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."
"By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:"
"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

and:

(Heb. 11:13-16) "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth."
"For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country."
"And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned."
"But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."

Strangers and pilgrims on the earth! They were persuaded and embraced the promises that GOD made to them, not some earthly government!! They were seeking A COUNTRY! They were STRANGERS and PILGRIMS in the country where they lived but they were seeking that "New Jerusalem" which God has prepared for them (and us!)

Our lives RIGHT NOW (if we have repented, been baptized and received God's Holy Spirit) should be lived as strangers and pilgrims on this earth. Nothing in scripture tells us we should be participating in either the governments of this earth OR the religions of this earth!! We are to "earnestly contend for the faith that was once delivered unto the Saints" (Jude 1:3) by Jesus the Christ, OUR LORD!!

God PLAINLY tells us through His Holy Spirit BEFORE the end of this age:

"... Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues."

Are we going to participate in all the worldly activities of these societies, or will we LISTEN to God?

May God bless you as you seek to serve and obey Him!

Your friend,

Ken Browder, Editor