Zion and Babylon

By Charles Elliott Newbold, Jr.
Scripturally, Zion represents the kingdom of God, the presence and authority of God. Babylon represents the kingdom of Satan. Babylon encompasses all of Satan's deception to deceive mankind into following him. Satan's plan has not changed since he deceived a third of the angles to be separated from their creator.

Both cities originally had there historical settings and have latter become symbolic representations of these two kingdoms in conflict to this day. Zion and Babylon.

1 Peter 2:6, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious; and he who believes on Him shall not be confounded." This corner stone in Zion, the body of Christ, is clearly Jesus. (Rom 9:33 also)

Eph 2:20, "having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, 22 in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit." NKJV

Revelation 14:8 is a good example of how Babylon has been used in this figurative sense: "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.'"

Rev 17:3-6, "So he carried me away in the Spirit into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I marveled with great amazement. NKJV

Rev 18:2-4, "And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, "Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird! For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich through the abundance of her luxury." 4 And I heard another voice from heaven saying, "Come out of her, my people, lest you share in her sins, and lest you receive of her plagues." NKJV

It must be understood that Babylon represents all that encompasses the kingdom of Satan, both religious and secular. There is religious Babylon, of which God calls His saints to come out of her and there is secular Babylon out of which the world conduct there business.
Our focus is going to be on religious Babylon and how it has infiltrated the church and has affected its doctrine and life. Babylon represents the work of Satan to institutionalized the body of Christ and compromise the church with the world standards and methods.

Though the word "Church" is the wrong word representing the Greek word ecclesia, for the time being we will use it and then deal with the word.
However, the kind of flesh written about in this book is in reference to that fallen nature of sin within all mankind that came about when Adam rebelled in the garden. Paul wrote regarding this, "Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery [which is witchcraft], hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. 5:19-21. Flesh is capable of committing the most vile evils without conscience even while having an awareness of what is good and evil. Such occurred in the days of Noah. Gen. 6:5-7. These practices are not the deeds of the physical body, but of that fallen sin nature that resides in us.

Paul had already established in Galatians 5:17 that "the flesh lusts [sets its desire] against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish." Romans 8:7 attests that "the carnal mind is at enmity [hostile] against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be."
The carnal mind and the Spirit of God speak languages that are foreign and unknown to each other. The carnal (fleshly) mind cannot speak Spirit and the Spirit of God cannot speak flesh. The carnal mind has no ability whatsoever to understand the things of God which are Spirit. 1 Cor. 2:12-14. When inspired things of God are reduced to rigid doctrines, systems of theology, reasoning and logic, they are no longer Spirit but have become flesh. And if flesh, then deception. The carnal mind is at total odds with the Spirit of God; it is hostile to God.

THE DEATH SENTENCE
The sentence of death has been pronounced over the flesh. The flesh nature of man is separated from God who is life; therefore, the flesh is dead and all that comes from the carnal mind is death.
Nevertheless, flesh has a life of its own. It is earthly, sensual, self-centered, and at war with God. Its life is born out of the seed of death. It has an inherent drive to preserve itself at all cost. It fears annihilation. Yet, it cannot save itself because it is destined to self-destruction. The flesh nature rules a person until the life of God in Christ is planted within his spirit, at which time the old seed of flesh and sin is understood to be what it already is--dead. Unfortunately, even after we are redeemed by the blood of the Lamb and while we remain in this life, we carry about both seeds: the seed of flesh and death, and the seed of Spirit and life.

THE HARLOT OF SELF
The flesh loves Self. Self with the capital "S" is the term I use throughout this book to refer to that the self-centered, self-indulging, self-absorbed, self-willed, self-serving nature of fallen flesh. The flesh nature of Self turns in on itself. It is selfish, prideful, arrogant, haughty, vain, narcissistic, manipulative, controlling, dominating, impatient, stubborn, insensitive, resentful, angry, unteachable, rebellious, fearful, anxious, complaining, disagreeable, judgmental, negative, critical, cynical, indifferent, greedy, lustful, sensual, envious, covetous, jealous, fault-finding, dishonest, and deceitful. It is deceived and suffers from delusions of grandeur. It always asks, "What's in it for me?"

The harlot, broadly defined, is anything for Self. I refer to these Things we call church as the harlot church system because they have been created out of our fleshly minds and desires for Self. Churches as we experience them today have no basis in scripture. They are icons of self-worship. Moreover, they are idolatrous, deceptive, and dangerous.

A TROUBLING MESSAGE
I will hit hard on the idolatry of the church system as we know it and experience it today. If you are not prepared to hear this message by the Spirit, you will no doubt take serious offense to it. The message of this book will be troubling to many of you who are victims of the church system, but will be most troubling to those of you who depend upon the church system for your livelihood and who find your significance, identity, validation, recognition, power, and security in it.

If you choose to continue reading this book, it will take you where you may think you do not want to go. You will journey beyond the facade of that Thing we call church and see how it is an invention of flesh. You will discover the demons that empower it. If you go the distance, you will hopefully find, with Abraham, that "city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is the Lord." Heb. 11:10. You will "come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels; to the general assembly and assembly of the firstborn, who are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirit of just men made perfect." Heb. 12:22-23.

ZION AND BABYLON
Before I plunge forward into exposing the idolatry of this harlot system, I want to abbreviate some comparisons between spiritual Zion, where Jesus is the only thing there is, and spiritual Babylon (the harlot), where the carnal mind of Self exalts itself, in order to provide a better point of reference for what follows. Many of the thoughts below are developed further throughout this book.

Zion refers to the true body of Christ, the bride, the ekklesia; Babylon refers to the false church system of men's traditions and religions. (Ekklesia is the Greek word in the New Testament which has been mis-translated "church" in most English versions, but it literally means "called-out-ones".)

* Zion is a people--the people of God; Babylon is a Thing--church institutions and systems.
* Zion is a living organism; Babylon is characterized by organizations, institutions, and systems.
* Zion consists of people who have been born into it; Babylon consists of people who have joined it or been voted into it.
* Zion is a people who are called by the name of Jesus; Babylon is a people who are called by many different names that represent divisions within this Babylonian church system: Baptist, Catholic, Charismatic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, and all the rest.
* Zion is Jesus-centered; Babylon is self-centered.
* Zion is living by the Spirit; Babylon is living after the flesh.
* Zion is heavenly; Babylon is earthly.
* Zion is grace; Babylon is law.
* Zion is life; Babylon is death.
* Zion is being; Babylon is doing.
* Zion is rest; Babylon is works.
* Zion is light; Babylon is darkness.
* Zion is humility; Babylon is full of pride, arrogance, and haughtiness.
* Zion is liberty in Christ; Babylon is bondage to the flesh.
* Zion is the Kingdom of God; Babylon is the kingdoms of men.
* Zion has Jesus Christ as her head; Babylon has elected or appointed men as their heads.
* Zion is a Spirit-led people; Babylon is led by rules and regulations of man's own making.
* Zion is Spirit-sensitive; Babylon is man-pleasing.
* Zion is obedience to the Holy Spirit; Babylon is busy church work.
* Zion accomplishes things in Holy Spirit power (Zech. 4:6); Babylon tries to accomplish things in self-strength.
* Zion has its authority in the Word of God; Babylon places its authority in man-made doctrines.
* Zion is one body in Christ Jesus as Lord; Babylon is sectarian and divisive, consisting of many divisions of people.
* Zion worships in spirit and in truth; Babylon programs praise.
* Zion preaches Christ and Him crucified; Babylon proclaims denominations, doctrines, heritage, traditions, creeds, personal views and opinions.
* Zion is the priesthood of all believers; Babylon is the clergy system. The clergy are those who want to make a difference between themselves and others.
* Zion answers to God as the highest authority; Babylon answers to men and their institutions as the authority.
* Zion calls forth revelation; Babylon depends upon imagination.
* Zion conforms people into the image of Jesus; Babylon conforms people into its own image.
* Zion decreases that Christ may increase; Babylon increases itself in power, position, riches, and domination.
* Zion counts the cost; Babylon counts the money.
* Zion lays down its life; Babylon preserves and protects itself.
* Zion waits upon God to raise up what God wants in His timing; Babylon schemes, organizes, and promotes to execute its own plan in its own way and time.
* Zion seeks the Lord with a whole heart to be possessed by Him; Babylon goes after things and people to possess them.
* Zion is the city of God; Babylon seeks to build a city, a tower, and a name for itself. Gen. 11:4.
* Zion longs to be gathered into Jesus; Babylon passionately seeks to gather people unto itself.


DENY SELF
To be a disciple of Jesus Christ one must be willing to deny Self, take up his cross, and follow Jesus. Luke 9:23. Self-denial is the cross we bear. The old man of flesh and sin has to be rendered dead. The laid-down life defines the New Testament concept of agape (love).

When we live according to the flesh, we are living for Self. Conversely, when we are living for Self, we are living according to the flesh. When we live according the Spirit, we will bear the fruit of agape. We have not been called to live unto ourselves. We have been called to surrender our lives to Christ that He might live His life of agape through us. We cannot be the bride of Christ and at the same time live selfishly in this world. We are either the bride or we are living the life of the harlot.

Self-centered living is making ourselves out to be god; therefore, it is idolatry. I will show in a subsequent chapter that idolatry is spiritual harlotry. I will also show how this Thing we call church is an idolatrous extension of ourselves--thus, spiritual harlotry.

We become spiritual prostitutes when we create something and give our hearts to it rather than to the Lord Jesus Christ. That is what men have done with this Thing we call church. They have made church a substitute for Jesus. Many within these harlot church systems are true believers who love the Lord, but are uninformed and deceived. They have unintentionally given their hearts to these Things we call church. God loves us all but hates our idolatries.

Judge the words in this book for yourself and judge yourself by these words. Open your heart to the Holy Spirit that He might instruct you and point you to Jesus. I hope to reveal Father-God's heart to you that your heart may be revealed to you; that you may dare face your idolatries, cleanse His temple of whom you and I are, and return to the God of your salvation. The idolatry revealed in this book is not about "them" but about each of us.

Act 20:19 Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears.


Many of us are still in babylon:Come out of her.That is the only way to avoid partaking of her sin and escape Partaking of Her Plagues.(Rev 18:4)
It is impossible for a Fish to live in water and not become wet.In the same way,A Christian cannot live in Babylon and not be contaminated by it.