Page 30 - The Road from Babylon to Zion

expected a more moderate response from this brother as he had been a pastor for 13
years. My expectations were dashed, however, when this former pastor not only gave
his full support to his site moderator, but he began to chide and speak in a
demeaning and insulting fashion to me.

Satan’s ambushes often find an opening in our lives through some entrance in our
soul. In this case, these men had been mistreated by the churches they had been a
part of and they experienced rejection and wounding. The soul of man wants to
respond to this wounding with bitterness, and it wants to exact its own revenge. To
follow these urges is to fall away from the path to Zion. Bitterness will lead to a
defiling of our vessels, and it will eventually defile many others as well.

Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of
bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled...

I cannot stress enough the importance of avoiding the perils of this ambush of the
enemy. It matters not if we discern all of the evils of Babylon. It matters not if we
separate ourselves from all pagan practices and we conform perfectly to the pattern
the Lord has determined for His church. It matters not if we discern mysteries that
are hidden from the multitudes. If we fail in love then we have embraced the ultimate
failure.

I Corinthians 13:1-3
If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love,
I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of
prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all
faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.
And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my
body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

When the soul wants to embrace error it will ultimately find some justification for
doing so. In Proverbs we are told that all men are justified in their own sight. But
how grievous it will be for those saints who willingly deceive themselves in order to
justify a lack of love. The members of this group justified their lack of love by
pointing to John chapter 17 and declaring that this passage of scripture reveals that
unity among the saints will come as a result of our glorification, not because of love.
They therefore looked to the coming glorification of the saints and they despised
love, compassion, forgiveness, and a humble spirit.

This ambush is set before all of those who would journey from Babylon to Zion.
Many are failing to make progress toward Zion due to allowing themselves to be
overcome by the enemy at this point. Yes, I say that they ALLOW themselves to be