THE SPIRIT OF BABYLON

By Thomas E. Durst

"As he [Nebuchadnezzar] looked out across the city, he said, ‘Look at this great city of Babylon! By my own mighty power, I have built this beautiful city as my royal residence to display my majestic splendor.’" Daniel 4:30 (NLT)

We human beings want to put God in our little boxes that we can manipulate and control. Religion, as generally practiced, is very ego dominated. People want to control God as well as to control one another. THAT is the essence of the spirit of Babylon which we must be delivered from in order to be free to be who we are as children of the one true God (see Revelation 18:1-4). The word Babylon has its origin in the building of the tower of Babel. Confusion of languages was the result (see Genesis 11:1-9). Wherever ego based thinking and living are present there is always confusion and division with people avoiding real communion with the living God and constantly fighting with one another. Everything that is not solidly founded on God’s unconditional love will eventually fall by the weight of its own nothingness (see Psalm 127:1; Matthew 15:13; Revelation 14:8; 16:19). As we study the life of the meek and lowly Savior we see this kind of love fully revealed (see Acts 10:38). Indeed, we are to follow in His footsteps and shed forth that same love wherever we go (1 Peter 2:21).

[Note: I would greatly encourage you to regard this as a Bible lesson and to look up every Bible citation with earnest prayer for spiritual insight to see their deep spiritual import. TD]

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