By John Thiel, Second Angel’s Message, study 5, mp3

In our last study ‘Papal Infiltration and Domination’ what took place was not merely on a political or on a church organisational level but also on a personal level. There was a new modelling of the cause. That’s how it happened in the early Christian church. It was again repeated in the Protestant churches:

To secure converts, the exalted standard of the Christian faith was lowered, and as the result a pagan flood, flowing into the church, carried with it its customs, practices, and idols. As the founders, those who possessed the true spirit of reform, pass away, their descendants come forward and new-model the cause. While blindly clinging to the creed of their fathers and refusing to accept any truth in advance of what they saw, the children of the reformers depart widely from their example of humility, self-denial, and renunciation of the world. Thus the first simplicity disappears. A worldly flood, flowing into the church, carries with it its customs, practices, and idols. GC 384

It’s what you call creeping compromise which is the exact behaviour of papal infiltration in the Protestant churches but more startling on a personal level.  The individual is in just as much in danger.

Those who are uniting with the world are receiving the worldly mold and preparing for the mark of the beast. 5T 216

Every individual who does not remain diligently faithful to the original beliefs is infiltrated just like the other churches have been. There is a moulding and modelling effect. As papal infiltration enters into our individual life we are being moulded by the world into the same papal declension that took place in the past.

Ancient Babylon

This happened in the apostolic church, the reformation and in our time. Where did all this begin?  In the period of the apostolic church.  How far down the line has this been happening again and again. Israel was a harlot.  The same principle of molding and infiltrating applies until finally the world has affected every person. The very beginning of that can be traced back to Cain but we will go only as far as ancient Babylon;

Revelation 14:8 And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.

In our effort to find out this infiltration we look at Babylon that great city. In our studies so far we have identified the USA and before that Rome, but how far back do we go? Babylon affected all nations ever afterward.

Genesis

We go back to the very beginning in Genesis. What was God’s way for earth’s inhabitants at the very beginning when He first created them?

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his [own] image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. 8 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

When God created Adam and Eve, He said go and replenish the earth, spread across the planet and subdue it. Have government over the entire fauna and flora of this planet.

Genesis 2:7 And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. 8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

When God created, His original plan was that man should cover and govern the earth.  He started him off on the right platform. He Himself provided him a garden and as he worked in his garden, when there was a multiplication of humanity they would extend that garden right across the planet. That was God’s intention. After they sinned His intention hadn’t changed.

Genesis 3:17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; 18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; 19 In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return. 

Genesis 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.

This was God’s intention before sin that they should live in a garden and after sin they should work hard tilling the soil. God was working on a principle of farm life.  However when man was set out of the garden, what happened?  Cain is a perfect example and afterwards others.

Genesis 4:16 And Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden. 17 And Cain knew his wife; and she conceived, and bare Enoch: and he builded a city, and called the name of the city, after the name of his son, Enoch.

What did Cain do when he resisted God’s will? Cain builded a city and called it after the name of his son Enoch. Who was the first city builder? The one contrary to God, he was a city builder.

Genesis 4:20 And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and [of such as have] cattle. 21 And his brother’s name [was] Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. 22 And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain [was] Naamah. 

Here was the launching out of the arts. It was launched from Cain’s line. The arts and city building concepts came from those who went out from the presence of the Lord. These wicked people were ultimately slain by the flood so that wiped out the whole thing.

Noah

Genesis 9:20 And Noah began [to be] an husbandman, and he planted a vineyard: 21 And he drank of the wine, and was drunken; and he was uncovered within his tent. 22 And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brethren without. 23 And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid [it] upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces [were] backward, and they saw not their father’s nakedness. 24 And Noah awoke from his wine, and knew what his younger son had done unto him. 25 And he said, Cursed [be] Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren. 26 And he said, Blessed [be] the LORD God of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant. 27 God shall enlarge Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem; and Canaan shall be his servant.

Noah and his three sons with their families were the only inhabitants on the planet. Something came into existence again. Noah did exactly what God intended, but there was a problem. Here was the beginning of another sad event that would colour the history of the world. Ham ridiculed and made fun of seeing his father’s nakedness, and it launched out a similar class of people who had been before the flood, Cain’s line. This was now Ham’s line.

Genesis 10:6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan. 7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan. 8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD. 10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 And Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same [is] a great city.

The same repetition of those who become decoyed from God’s order of things. Cush was one of the sons of Ham. What was the line of Ham doing? Building cities.  The first city built under Nimrod’s care was Babel. These city builders came from the cursed line. The faithful people like Noah, Shem, and Japheth followed God’s order and spread across the planet. The cursed settled on the plain of Shinah. The city of Egypt was the next city down the line from where they were going and Egypt became a great city- building nation.

The Tower of Babel

Genesis 11:1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. 2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. 3 And they said one to another, Go to, let us make brick, and burn them thoroughly. And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for mortar. 4 And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top [may reach] unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth. 5 And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. 6 And the LORD said, Behold, the people [is] one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. 7 Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech. 8 So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. 9 Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.

Nimrod

No doubt some of them scattered after God tore down the tower, but some remained in that city. That first city that was built, from that city the people were scattered abroad and carried with them the same influence that they had developed in the city of Babel.

For a time the descendants of Noah continued to dwell among the mountains where the ark had rested. As their numbers increased, apostasy soon led to division. Those who desired to forget their Creator and to cast off the restraint of His law felt a constant annoyance from the teaching and example of their God-fearing associates, and after a time they decided to separate from the worshipers of God. Accordingly they journeyed to the plain of Shinar, on the banks of the river Euphrates. They were attracted by the beauty of the situation and the fertility of the soil, and upon this plain they determined to make their home. PP 118

They developed a city to prevent themselves from being scattered across the whole planet. They were just going to concentrate on that beautiful lush plain but God scattered them.  The observation that we make here is that they desired to forget their Creator and as the restraint of God’s Word conveyed at the hand of those who were true to God. It was a constant annoyance and they decided to separate from the worshippers of God. These are the important genetic makeup principles of how the development of papal infiltration comes about. There is a mentality of not loving the restraint of God’s perfect order so they bring in paganism.

Nimrod launched out true paganism with the sun god. All those things he introduced because they were not willing to submit to God’s way. There was the beginning of this terrible condition of the city builders and the great city of Babylon was the launching pad.  What was the motive in building that city?

The dwellers on the plain of Shinar disbelieved God’s covenant that He would not again bring a flood upon the earth. Many of them denied the existence of God and attributed the Flood to the operation of natural causes. Others believed in a Supreme Being, and that it was He who had destroyed the antediluvian world; and their hearts, like that of Cain, rose up in rebellion against Him. One object before them in the erection of the tower was to secure their own safety in case of another deluge. By carrying the structure to a much greater height than was reached by the waters of the Flood, they thought to place themselves beyond all possibility of danger. And as they would be able to ascend to the region of the clouds, they hoped to ascertain the cause of the Flood. The whole undertaking was designed to exalt still further the pride of its projectors and to turn the minds of future generations away from God and lead them into idolatry. PP 119

What was ancient Babylon built for? To turn the minds of future generations away from God.  Our study is ancient Babylon and its influence on the whole planet. She is the great city that has made all nations do that which is the very make up of the subject which is inculcated in the second angel’s message.

A One World Order

In other words a one world order – that’s Babylon’s mentality. That’s the same mentality of the city of Rome. That Rome would be the great metropolis of the centre of the world and that kind of mentality of infiltration even affected the church. They made their headquarters in Rome and would have an influence over the entire world. This kind of mentality is what we are picking up here under the second angel’s message.  The wording is so important she has made all nations, that great city.

We can trace that all great nations have been affected by this ancient city. Nimrod and his ways molded the whole world. All the details of Baal worship and all pagan worship commenced under Nimrod and even the behaviour pattern of the free-masons and their chequered floors come from that. It will mold us if we permit our minds to be affected by the world.

When the tower had been partially completed, a portion of it was occupied as a dwelling place for the builders; other apartments, splendidly furnished and adorned, were devoted to their idols. The people rejoiced in their success, and praised the gods of silver and gold, and set themselves against the Ruler of heaven and earth. PP 119.2

Look at the huge buildings they build now. They actually create an entire social function within the building with a sports ground in the building itself. This is defying God’s principle of going out to replenish the earth. They want to do their own thing.

The Babel builders had indulged the spirit of murmuring against God. Instead of gratefully remembering His mercy to Adam and His gracious covenant with Noah, they had complained of His severity in expelling the first pair from Eden and destroying the world by a flood. But while they murmured against God as arbitrary and severe, they were accepting the rule of the cruellest of tyrants. Satan was seeking to bring contempt upon the sacrificial offerings that prefigured the death of Christ; and as the minds of the people were darkened by idolatry, he led them to counterfeit these offerings and sacrifice their own children upon the altars of their gods. As men turned away from God, the divine attributes–justice, purity, and love–were supplanted by oppression, violence, and brutality. The men of Babel had determined to establish a government that should be independent of God. PP 120-123

We see that right through that ancient city finally became the city of Nebuchadnezzar.  It continued in its corruption until Belshazzar came and the prophetic details of Babylon was the destruction of Babylon. When God first confused the languages of the city of Babylon, it meant confusion. The other name which they had intended giving it was gate to heaven. This is another meaning of the word. These two meanings are very significant;

After the dispersion from Babel idolatry again became well-nigh universal, and the Lord finally left the hardened transgressors to follow their evil ways, while He chose Abraham, of the line of Shem, and made him the keeper of His law for future generations. Abraham had grown up in the midst of superstition and heathenism. Even his father’s household, by whom the knowledge of God had been preserved, were yielding to the seductive influences surrounding them, and they served other gods. than Jehovah. But the true faith was not to become extinct. God has ever preserved a remnant to serve Him. Adam, Seth, Enoch, Methuselah, Noah, Shem, in unbroken line, had preserved from age to age the precious revealings of His will. The son of Terah became the inheritor of this holy trust. Idolatry invited him on every side, but in vain. Faithful among the faithless, uncorrupted by the prevailing apostasy, he steadfastly adhered to the worship of the one true God. PP 125

While Babylon affected the whole world and all the nations, Abraham continued that unbroken line of unmoveable people who would not participate in this molding and declining. He left behind him a line. Abraham was the father of the faithful.

Hebrews 11:8 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. 9 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: 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.

Here we see a different kind of people. They didn’t settle down on this planet, they spread out and willingly as the Lord called them to come out from among their relatives. Abraham sojourned in the land of promise and he looked for a city, a different city, a city whose builder and maker is God. All of Abraham’s children follow that principle. Like Babylon follows all the way through, the faithful ones follow along in the opposite direction.

Galatians 3:29 And if ye [be] Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

We are either of the seed of Babylon or of Abraham’s seed. Those who are Christ’s are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise of a different city all together. Abraham stands with all these children.

Hebrews 13:12 Wherefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate. 13 Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach. 14 For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.

For all of those who are of the seed of Abraham, we have no continuing city here. Let us go outside the camp and bear His reproach because we seek for a city to come. This is the stamp of Abraham’s seed like him who was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. We are to go out of the influence of the Babylonish control and under Abraham’s behaviour.

Hebrews 11:14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that [country] from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16 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.

God’s people seek a heavenly country. They will not return to where their ancestors have been, they have come out.  Just like Abraham has come out from among his ancestors and they are pilgrims and strangers on the earth. This is the characteristic of those who are not going to be part of Babylon. What city are we coming to?

Mount Zion – A Heavenly City

Hebrews 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angel’s,

That is the Abraham line. Therefore Babylon that great city continues throughout all time just as Abraham and his seed continues all through history.  As we go through the history of Babylon which was one of the seven wonders of the world, recall the pride of Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar.

Daniel 4:29 But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find [him], if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, [even] in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; 31 (For the LORD thy God [is] a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.

Notice the description of this pride is perfectly echoed by Nebuchadnezzar. As God spread the pride of Babylon in the time of Nimrod, he did the same thing in Nebuchadnezzar’s experience and Nebuchadnezzar lost his sanity for a period of seve years.  This city of Babylon that was the pride of Nimrod and Nebuchadnezzar is identified;

Daniel 1:1 In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.  2 And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god. 

Israel became captive to Babylon. That historic event has been used all through Scripture to God’s people ending up in Babylon by the same method. Jerusalem on earth is affected by Babylon. By this city the Israel of God became captive in Babylon and then to Rome and finally the Israel of God have become captive to the USA in that subtle infiltrative way.  We follow the curse of God upon Babylon:

Isaiah 13:19 And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldee’s excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. 20 It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. 21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. 22 And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in [their] pleasant palaces: and her time [is] near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

That’s what happened to the ancient city of Babylon. Do you know that Sadam Hussein defied that? He began for the sake of tourism to rebuild certain parts of Babylon. Where is he now? The very one who defied the God of heaven had to hide himself in a tunnel under the ground until the American soldiers found and finally executed him.  This is what happens when people do the opposite to what God says.

The Lake of Fire

What God said what was going to happen to Babylon is going to happen to all the Babylonish cities – Rome and USA. When you study the prophecies, the city of Rome, the Vatican will be in a lake of fire and brimstone and so also will be the false prophet (apostate Protestantism). The history of infiltration will end up in destruction and the faithful people will come through who have been affected by Babylon to come out of there just as Abraham was called to come out.

The ancient city of Babylon is the precursor to all the other things. Babylon (confusion) is also the gate to heaven because its behaviour and pride will be the gate to heaven in the history of the final destruction of the earth because God’s people will then find their way to leave this world. It’s not until Babylon has been thoroughly dealt with that it will become waste.  The whole planet will become waste just like Babylon of old was made waste and God will bring it down into this waste. Then God’s people will be taken out of the waste and taken into heaven.

Revelation 18:8 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. 9 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, 10 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. 

Revelation 18:20 Rejoice over her, [thou] heaven, and [ye] holy apostles and prophets; for God hath avenged you on her. 21 And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast [it] into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. 22 And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and of pipers, and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee; and no craftsman, of whatsoever craft [he be], shall be found any more in thee; and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee; 23 And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 24 And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.

This is a profound declaration of the Bible to encompass all these things in one statement. Rejoice over her thou heaven and you holy apostles and prophets.  Rejoice in her destruction as the destruction of Babylon will be the gate way to heaven. This is why God’s people must not become engulfed in her subtle ways. The subtle infiltration that took place in the fall of Ham and his offspring Nimrod, we must be careful of as it’s going to be destroyed and is a source for us to enter into eternity.

Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, [it was] without form, and void; and the heavens, and they [had] no light. 24 I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. 25 I beheld, and, lo, [there was] no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled. 26 I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place [was] a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, [and] by his fierce anger. 27 For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. 28 For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken [it], I have purposed [it], and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. 29 The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city [shall be] forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. 30 And [when] thou [art] spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; [thy] lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. 31 For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, [and] the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, [that] bewaileth herself, [that] spreadeth her hands, [saying], Woe [is] me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

All the cities will be broken down by his fierce anger.  The description is just what ancient Babylon was described as and now it has covered the whole earth and the cities will be broken down. Just as ancient Babylon was dealt with, now all the cities of earth will be dealt with in the same way. All those who are city builders and city dwellers who do not come out of that molding influence of city life will be among those who will be desolated. Those who are like Abraham who differ to Lot, Lot went to the city, Abraham stayed away will be protected.

Amen.