Road to zion

[Authur Jason]

The Road from Babylon to Zion
By Joseph Herrin
Introduction
Babylon and Zion - These names represent two groups of people that the scriptures have
much to speak about. One group of people has the appearance of being very impressive.
Their industriousness is legend. Their constant and unceasing labor seeks to plan and to
build and to enlarge themselves until their works reach the very habitation of Yahweh
God. Yet with this Babylonian people, God is not pleased. He has rejected their
righteousness as filthy rags. He has rejected their labor as being works of lawlessness. He
has despised the offerings they have brought before Him.
This people is impressive and glorious in the eyes of man in the same way that the
massive buildings of Herod’s temple awed the disciples of Yahshua the Messiah.
Yahshua tried to temper His disciples’ misplaced enthusiasm by telling them that not one
stone would remain upon another of all that appeared so magnificent to their eyes. Even
so, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, who has glorified herself and exalted herself
in the eyes of all men, will be suddenly destroyed, and that with great finality.
There is another people whose outward appearance is not impressive. They are a people
that follow the pattern of the One who was despised and rejected of men. They have no
comely appearance that men should desire them, nor stately form that the flesh of man
should be attracted to them. These people are not known for their industry, rather they are
marked by their oddness. They do not fit into the systems of the world. They are outcasts
and misfits and they dwell in wilderness places. Consequently many consider them to
have been smitten and stricken by God, yet these Overcomers are the apple of Yahweh’s
eye.
These people are not renowned for their building in wood and stone. Instead, they stand
out because they have undergone a spiritual transformation. The things of the world have
lost their luster in their sight. They do not work and plan and strive to accumulate the
goods of a passing age. They walk as aliens and strangers in the land, seeking a city
whose builder is God. A world that judges by external appearance sees nothing of value,
nothing that impresses, nothing that demands a second look, in this people. Yet Yahweh
God, who judges the heart, is captivated by these Overcomers, these citizens of Zion, for
in them He sees the image of His only begotten Son taking shape.
For a time it has been the will of God that the people of Zion dwell in Babylon. In this
land of captivity He commanded Zion to be faithful and to seek righteousness. As Zion
dwelt in Babylon Yahweh tested Zion’s heart. Would Zion be tempted by Babylon’s
delicate meats and awed by Babylon’s external majesty? Would Zion become entangled
by the affairs of this life, striving for that which perishes, or would she remain faithful to
the One who chose her? Would Zion walk in the midst of a wicked and unbelieving
people and remain true to her God?

The citizens of Babylon have hardly suspected that there was another people dwelling in
their midst. Babylon has been focused on her own pursuits and endeavors and she has
considered herself to be the chosen one of God. Babylon has continued to build and to
enlarge her borders. She has continued to strive to attain to greater heights, and she has
considered herself to be successful.
On occasion Babylon would note some member of Zion that was not involved in the
same pursuits and she would think it odd. At times she might even get annoyed that there
were some who did not share the same values and goals as she. At times her annoyance
would turn to rage when she came to understand that the citizens of Zion were not
impressed by all that Babylon had built, but that they were rather appalled by it all.
At the end of this age, now six days since Adam (six thousand years), and two days (two
thousand years) since Yahshua the Messiah was crucified and rose again, Yahweh is
doing a work of separation. Even as Judah and Jerusalem were released from Babylon
after seventy years of captivity and were invited to return to Zion, so the people of God,
the Overcomers, are being called out of spiritual Babylon.
Revelation 18:4: 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...”
Though those who are heeding the call may be a mere remnant of all that dwell in
Babylon, yet they are a considerable people. Many are coming out. But this separation is
not devoid of difficulties. For many, Babylon has been the only home they have known.
Certainly this was true of those freed from Babylon so many years ago. In seventy years a
whole generation had died and another had been raised entirely in a land of captivity.
Although Babylon was a land of great idolatry and spiritual harlotry, it was also a land of
great material wealth and prosperity. Many who had been born in this land, even the
majority, chose not to leave when they were free to return to Zion. Their hearts had
grown attached to the things of the world. To travel the road to Zion meant hardship, and
physical difficulty, and many dangers along the way. It was much easier to remain in the
artificial security of a prosperous land, sleeping in a soft bed inside a house of luxury.
Yet many struggled with leaving simply because Babylon was all they knew. Babylon
had truly been a mother to them. They had been raised in her, and Yahweh had told them
to not seek to leave until the appointed time, but rather to dwell and prosper in the land
and seek the welfare of their captors. Transitions are always difficult. It is hard to hear the
Spirit tell us to leave a familiar place where we have once seen Him work, and to go to
another place of which we know little. In this hour it is also greatly difficult for many to
leave the sheltering arms of Babylon when they have known nothing else. Many are torn
about leaving, especially when they see so many of those they have known saying that
things are still fine in Babylon and that they have no intention of packing up and heeding
the call to come out.

Yahweh has foreshadowed many things in the pages of scripture. Those who are being
called out of Babylon now can learn much from those who made the journey many years
ago. Once one heeds the call and determines to come out, the first perils and difficulties
have been passed, but more remain. When Ezra the priest made the journey from Babylon
to Zion with those who went with him, we are told that the journey took four months and
many perils lay along the way.
Ezra 8:21-23, 31:
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might
humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us,
our little ones, and all our possessions.
22 For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to
protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king,
"The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him,
but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him."
23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He
listened to our entreaty...
31 Then we journeyed from the river Ahava on the twelfth of the first
month to go to Jerusalem; and the hand of our God was over us, and He
delivered us from the hand of the enemy and the ambushes by the way.
In the time I have been on this journey from Babylon to Zion I have encountered many
ambushes along the way. The enemy seeks to defeat those who would set their face
toward Zion. If he cannot frighten them from taking this road, he will seek to waylay
them and in some means keep them from their destination. He would also seek to get
these pilgrims to become wearied of the way and confused about their actual destination,
to blur their vision of where they are going, that he might turn them back to what is
familiar.
Leaving Babylon requires much more than simply changing forms and practices that are
outwardly observable. Undoubtedly, the people of Zion will stand out from the citizens of
Babylon in numerous external ways, but the real difference is inward. To leave Babylon
one must be circumcised in the heart. Babylon must be removed from one’s desires and
passions before one can journey out from Babylon.
Babylon and Zion have actually existed side by side throughout the entire history of the
Scriptures. We see Babylon and Zion in the two brothers Cain and Abel. Both men
brought an offering to Yahweh. Cain brought of the fruit of the earth, while Abel brought
forth of the firstlings of his flock with their fat portions. We are told that God had regard
for Abel’s offering, but not for Cain’s.
What was the difference between Cain’s offering and Abel’s that God would regard one
and not the other? I have heard many vain things preached regarding this story, many
saying that Cain did not bring the best of the fruit of the ground while Abel brought the
best of the flock. But the scriptures do not say that Cain brought less than the best of what he had grown I believe that he did indeed bring the very best of his produce from the
ground. Why then did God despise Cain’s offering?
The reason has to do with what the offerings represent. We can easily see that Abel’s
offering of the firstlings of his flock was in keeping with the offerings that Yahweh
ordained should be brought before Him. The firstlings of the flock represent the Lamb
who would be slain for the sins of the world, and we are told that “without the shedding
of blood there is no remission of sin” (Hebrews 9:22). Abel’s offering found acceptance
with God because it looked forward in faith to that spotless Lamb that would one day
cleanse the world from all guilt and condemnation. The scriptures reveal that it was
because of this faith that Abel’s offering was acceptable in God’s sight.
Hebrews 11:4:
By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain, through which
he obtained the testimony that he was righteous..

Cain, however, made an offering based upon his own works that did not look to the future
atonement of Yahshua. After Adam sinned, the ground was cursed and produce came
forth by the sweat of man’s brow. It was the fruit of his own sweat and labor that Cain
presented to God as an offering and God was not impressed. Babylon always seeks to
ascend to God through its own works and to thereby find acceptance and approval. Cain
made an offering of the best that he had, and I am certain he was proud of the quality and
quantity of the fruit. He thought, “Certainly God will have regard for my offering”, but
God did not. By works of the flesh no man will be justified before God. Justification is
only by faith in Yahshua and HIS FINISHED WORK.
This is actually the key distinction between Babylon and Zion. Babylon initiates great
works and then asks God to bless them. Babylon has the appearance of great
industriousness and her progress seems evident to all. But Babylon’s works are the works
of man. Babylon may be doing the same kind of works that Yahshua performed, but she
is doing them as she sees fit, not by command of God. Babylon is not Spirit directed, she
is soul directed

[john hopkins]

How beautiful it is to read what the Spirit is telling us in these times and I would welcome to share with you what the Spirit has given me, this is taken from a book I have written that no one wants to print for it is telling the reader that now is the time of the Holy Spirit, now is the time to move out of Babylon. The website is http://elumnae.ning.com

There are two schools of thought, the one is the Spiritual and the other is the theology.



Contemporary spirituality deals with the flesh seeking spiritual recognition which is aimed against God’s redemptive gift to mankind. True Christian faith based on the Word of God seeks the spirituality of the indwelling spirit.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know [them], because they are spiritually discerned.
1Co 2:15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man.
The Spirit Man, the spirit inside of man. This is not just an emotional satisfying feeling but is given to us and stands apart from our flesh as a tower, a fortress of strength to overcome the desires of our human nature.

This brings us through regeneration into the kingdom of God where we can cast out demons ad heal the sick. It is not automatic. This is done through the Holy Spirit, once we are born again, this then creates a path for the power of God to enter into us. The Spirit of God, is not just an outcropping of power on all, God chooses, and calls and they who are called and chosen receive to fulfill the purpose of the Father. This internal spirituality is supernatural, and unique to each one who received, for a specific purpose. This is known as the gifts of the spirit and this brings forth the Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers, Pastors.

The ordination does not come from man but from God, who through the Holy Spirit will confirm the gift. It will not confirm beforehand. I am a spiritual shepherd at a ministry and I do not carry the title, but God has confirmed it on me and as I look at my purpose in the ministry of counseling young men I can see for I live amongst these boys and I have far more contact with then than the ordained pastors. Therefore, the spirituality and gifts of the Spirit comes from God, and that is how the spiritual life works, it comes from God, through His Word, and if we believe and confess and abide in his word then we qualify to receive the reward of the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Paul in Romans 1:11 in his letter to the Romans wrote, For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual gift, to the end ye may be established; which in the Greek stērizō indicates. to set fast, that is, (literally) to turn resolutely in a certain direction, or (figuratively) to confirm: - fix, (e-) stablish, stedfastly set, strengthen. The Greek word for spiritual is pneumatikos which is non-carnal, that is, (humanly) ethereal (as opposed to gross), or daemoniacally) a spirit (concretely), or (divinely) supernatural, regenerate, religious: - spiritual. By contrast the spiritual man in the Old Testament, because there was no regeneration the spiritual man was according to the Hebrew word, rûach which menas, wind; by resemblance breath, that is, a sensible (or even violent) exhalation; figuratively life, anger, nsubstantiality; by extension a region of the sky; by resemblance spirit, but only of a rational being (including its expression and functions): - air, anger, blast, breath, X cool, courage, mind, X quarter, X side, spirit ([-ual]), tempest, X vain, ([whirl-]) wind (-y).
In the uniqueness the spiritual man is set apart, and it is through that special Grace that he will stand apart in the teaching of the anointing where others are being deceived in this time of theological confusion and supernatural manifestations. It is in these times that the spiritual man needs to stand up and be counted, even if the whole world disagrees, it is God’s disagreement that must be discerned, the world is in its own realm, even the theologians who claim to be spiritual have fallen for the yeast of the Pharisees.
It is by the Word of God, given to man, revealed through the Holy Spirit, that man must seek the Lord to do the will of the Father. The revelation is knowing through the Holy Spirit . It is the truth revealed to our spirit by God’s Spirit, and through this Spirit we are able to pierce the veil that separates us from the unseen. Everyone who believes in God must have the revelation of God in his spirit otherwise he is using human wisdom. This is the problem of the Holy Trinity, they do not have the revelation of the cross, and they bridge the gap by using theology and Church doctrine, and are not filled with the Holy Spirit, the moment they are filled they will pull down the cross. So the spirituality of those who worship at the crucifix are dead. The love they have does not come down from God but it goes up, and unfortunately it does not go up to God alone but to many who have departed this world and are regarded as saints, without knowing that the cross made us like Jesus, without sin. Our sin was taken and dealt with on the cross so there is nothing that we can do. Grace did it all. Consequently in those who do not know the truth about the cross there is no excitement, no joy of the Spirit. It is so sad they lack the Agape love, and in its place they have Eros, the worldly love which comes to us and gives us our humanity. We do not need humanity we need spirituality. The Spirit of God dwelling inside of us, is sufficient, and makes us like Jesus, the First Fruit. “I want you to show love not sacrifices,” Hosea 6:6 tells.

1John 2:27 As for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you don't need for anyone to teach you. But as his anointing teaches you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, you will remain in him.

When God created man he set before him two fruit from which he could eat, this was not an apple tree but spiritual fruit. Man had the choice between the tree of knowledge of good and evil or the tree of life. So man had a choice between the spirit and the flesh, the knowledge or the Holy Spirit, and man to his detriment chose knowledge. In a book titled, “The Holy Spirit” Billy Graham wrote on the Gifts of the Spirit, “Yet we all know believers with striking information about God and doctrine, but who do not know how to apply the practical situations.” He continues to write about a friend whose head was crammed full of biblical knowledge, yet the tragic mistakes he made in judgment almost destroyed his ministry. He states further, “The capacity to apply what we learn to actual situations goes beyond study and comes directly from the Holy Spirit. Wisdom is the gift from the Spirit who shows us how to use knowledge.”
Without this spiritual wisdom man becomes carnal. 1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
According to Professor McGinn, writing about Joachim said that he interpreted the miracle in which Jesus changes water into wine as an analogy of the manner in which the gospel as interpreted by the spiritual intelligence sent by the Holy Spirit would be changed into the intoxicating wine of spiritual understanding and Divine contemplation in the Third Status. Joachim openly criticized those who were guilty of what McGinn describes as "the intellectual error of the persistence of the literal interpretations of the Scriptures." In his writings Joachim says, "And if the preachers of the Gospel according to the letter were preferred to the Jewish doctors who preached Moses' law, they are still far below those who have spiritual knowledge of that Gospel and who preached Moses' law, they are still far below those who have spiritual knowledge of that Gospel and who walk in no way according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit." The Abbot prophesied that as the Third Status approached, the conflict between spirit-directed and literalist Christian theologians and churches would become more intense and, that ultimately, the "pagans and heretics will outlaw the dissemination of the spiritual understanding."
It was this leading from the Spirit that I stepped outside of Christianity. Christianity is the tradition based on Christ which we have received for 2000 years which I had to discern. . The Christian teaching is confined to selected chapters and verses to please the flesh; the living encompasses the whole of the New Testament. It is a Covenant that we are bound to and not just a religious belief The Old Testament is finished, Jesus died to give us a new way of life, he lived that life according to the teaching given to us by God, and so stuck in theology the church today is still waiting for the tribulation which came in 1631 and from the chronology below we can gauge that Christianity was not a smooth and easy journey. They were given the Great Commission. God had a beautiful plan, they had it in the Book of Acts, and the Essenes took hold of it according to Josephus who wrote:
"Riches they despised, and their community of goods is truly admirable; you will not find one among them distinguished by greater opulence than another. They have a law that new members on admission to the sect shall confiscate their property to the order, with the result that you will nowhere see either object poverty or inordinate wealth; the individual's possessions join the common stock and all, like brothers, enjoy a single patrimony."
(Page 55)Understanding the dead sea schools. Hershel Shanks.

James 1:26 If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion [is] vain.

The Greek word iss: thrēskeia which means: ceremonial observance: - religion, worshipping.

Without any doubt the Christian religion has failed. It failed from the time the church decorated their church buildings with silver and gold and beautiful frescoes of religious scenes, and brought in doctrine. And because of this oversight they missed out on the blessings of this life, and there is no resurrection for them. I am going according to a book written by Bishop David Pytches of the Anglican Church who writes in his book, “Come Holy Spirit.” Which is a teaching on how to minister in power. He writes that “healers” were exceptional people.” I have become convinced that signs and wonders are a proper element in the ministry of Christian people out in the world, complementing the proclamation of the kingdom of God.” What they fail to understand is that the true life is lived by the Spirit through the Will of the Holy Spirit. It is not what man decides but what God has done. What they refer to as the proclamation of the kingdom tells me that they are completely intellectually bound. To them Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, the Kingdom of God are things that are completely distanced from us. However, in Chapter 2 on page 18 he says, “The kingdom of Christ speaks about: had already come.
Then he quotes: From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it. (Mathew 11:12 ) But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come to you.
(Mathew 12:28)
And then he completely contradicts himself and writes: BUT Jesus also taught that the kingdom was still to come.
Jesus was speaking 2000 years ago and not to the readers of his book. They need a message from Jesus for today, to understand God’s purpose. We cannot literally take today what was spoken and done 2000 years ago. We have to move on but apply the biblical principles which Jesus taught us 2000 years ago, we cannot say that sex restricted to marriage only is old fashioned.
UNDER SUMMARY, David writes:
The kingdom of God has already come as a reign on earth, but the kingdom will come ultimately when Christ returns and the whole earth will then be his realm. Then his very last comment is: The kingdom of God is, ‘here now’ ‘not yet’ This they say when Hebrews 9:28 tells us, So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and to them that look for him he will appear the second time without sin to salvation.
The Anglican Church like the Catholic Christians were filled with church doctrine and ordinances and believe that confirmation is for the receiving of the Holy Spirit as the Bishop confirms that the kingdom of God has come as a reign on earth, but will come when Jesus returns. The Lord’s Prayer tells us, “Thy kingdom come, they will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” Earth is a mirror of heaven, and what is in heaven must be what is on earth. Heaven has the temple which comprise, the outer court, the inner court and the Holy of Holies, and the earth have the same, we are the temple, with the flesh, soul and Spirit, and within the Spirit is the Holy of Holies, God with us. The Bible brought salvation which is to be saved and regenerated and this give us a connection to God who is in the Holy of Holies, within the Spirit, but you have to look for Him. So this is what the church doctrine and church ordinances miss, and confirmation is only a church ordinance, and has no aspect of divinity in it whatsoever. We are told in the Word that God had to shorten the period of Tribulation if he did not the whole world would have been consumed by the darkness of that age.
So those theologians like David Pytches do no know about the filling of the Holy Spirit, as the do not look for Him and instead they have dead ceremonial services where the priest holds the service together with their ordinances and ceremonial sacrifices, and they get as much out of that as Cain got out of his. Colossians 1:27 To whom God would make known what [is] the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: