M____ wrote:
Thanks for your detailed response… I learn best when I get challenged in certain ways with spiritual matters – I present the scenario (1st to myself – I study, meditate and pray)… Once I am “stuck” and I believe there are more in- depth answers that can really clarify the issues at hand I send you an email… if I didn’t search and study 1st I don’t think I would learn as much… you have always “delivered” and provide what I am looking for scripturally and then some (it’s the ‘then some’ that usually gets at the heart of what I need).  I would hope I would never be offended when I am searching for the truth and how to apply it – so your direct responses (which is what I ask for) is what I need and it encourages me greatly.  Your series of answers on this matter is more beneficial to me than I can tell you in an email. Regarding the documented cases by SW, I suppose I am passing on unverifiable information I read in an old book written about him (he died I think in the 40’s and was from England)… In my naivety and sometimes rose- colored outlook I have a hard time imagining things written like this that could not be verified, but I will take your sound advice to be more prudent with passing information like this along to people with no proof.  I can see where that will help me grow as well.   Be blessed and thanks again! M____

Hi again M____,
It was a load off my mind to read this letter. I do not count Babylon, or any of her ministers as enemies. I count them as brothers. But only in this context:

2Th 3:14  And if any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed.
2Th 3:15  Yet count him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.

It is “the sum of thy word that is truth” especially here in this situation. It is a constant battle to keep heresy out of our midst. So how long are we to simply “admonish him as a brother” before we are to put him out of our midst? Is this the proper place to apply the 70 times 7 principle? Assuredly not. Even that principle is contingent upon your brother asking for forgiveness. Do we forgive our brother if he does not ask for forgiveness? Yes, of course we do. Christ said:

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Forgiving the Corinthian fornicator and forgiving those who bring in another doctrine is not what is at stake. What is at stake is “leavening the whole lump.”

2Jn 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.
2Jn 1:9  Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son.
2Jn 1:10  If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed:
2Jn 1:11  For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Now notice where this is being said. It immediately follows our admonition to “try the spirits to see whether they are of God…”

1Jn 4:1  Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

What is at stake is the “loss of the things we have wrought and receiving a full reward.” What is at stake is the polluting of God’s holy place. When that happens, it brings death, both to God’s priests and to the unholy Levites.

Num 18:1  And the LORD said unto Aaron [ Christ], Thou and thy sons [ the Christ of Christ] and thy father’s house with thee shall bear the iniquity of the sanctuary: and thou and thy sons with thee shall bear the iniquity [ Be the first to be purged of your sins] of your priesthood.
Num 18:2  And thy brethren also of the tribe of Levi, the tribe of thy father, bring thou with thee, that they may be joined unto thee, and minister unto thee: but thou and thy sons with thee shall minister before the tabernacle of witness.
Num 18:3  And they shall keep thy charge, and the charge of all the tabernacle: only they shall not come nigh the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar, that neither they, nor ye also, die.

Keeping the Levites separated from “the vessels of the sanctuary and the altar” is just another way of saying “receive them not into your house, neither bid them godspeed” because they have come with “another doctrine… another spirit… another gospel… and another Christ.”

2Co 11:3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity [ Greek – ‘singleness’ of doctrine] that is in Christ.
2Co 11:4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.

Babylon has Jesus, the spirit and the gospel, but they are all another Jesus, another spirit and another gospel. They are all Korah who believed that God is no respecter of persons means that he does not have an elect called out from among the many called.

Num 16:1  Now Korah the son of Izhar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi, with Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took action,
Num 16:2  and they rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, two hundred and fifty leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown.
Num 16:3  They assembled together against Moses and Aaron, and said to them, “You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the LORD is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?”

These ministers all teach that there is no difference between the called and the elect, the priests and the Levites who serve the tabernacle but cannot even touch the holy things of God. To these men this is all an elitist attitude. To these ministers the “synagogue of Satan” is the uncalled world. It certainly is not their sincere orthodox Christian church which is performing so many good services for the community and the world. It is “strong delusion” which “if possible would deceive the very elect” that is deceiving the whole world including the prophets and shepherds of God:

Eze 34:7  Therefore, ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Eze 34:8  [ As] I live, saith the Lord GOD, surely because my flock became a prey, and my flock became meat to every beast of the field, because [ there was] no shepherd, neither did my shepherds search for my flock, but the shepherds fed themselves, and fed not my flock;
Eze 34:9  Therefore, O ye shepherds, hear the word of the LORD;
Eze 34:10  Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I [ am] against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.

  “My shepherds… fed themselves and not the flock” because they were not willing to speak anything that was not “smooth things.”

Isa 30:9  That this [ is] a rebellious people, lying children, children [ that] will not hear the law of the LORD:
Isa 30:10  Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Isa 30:11  Get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us.
Isa 30:12  Wherefore thus saith the Holy One of Israel, Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
Isa 30:13  Therefore this iniquity shall be to you as a breach ready to fall, swelling out in a high wall, whose breaking cometh suddenly at an instant.
Isa 30:14  And he shall break it as the breaking of the potters’ vessel that is broken in pieces; he shall not spare: so that there shall not be found in the bursting of it a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit.

The scriptures do not say that Babylon will fall, what they do say is “Babylon is fallen is fallen.” It is a mighty fall when we come to see that there is not “a sherd to take fire from the hearth, or to take water withal out of the pit” left of Babylon within us. “The whole stay of bread and water is taken away from Judah and Jerusalem” (Isa 3:1), yet only God’s elect can see that this is so, and the rest are “despisers of them that do good.” If you doubt any of this, just ask any of your Babylonian minister friends if they believe that “love thine enemies” means enemies that really mean you bodily harm, like Arab terrorists?
Love is God’s litmus test.

Joh 13:35  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

“Love one another” does not mean that “love thine enemies” is not included. It is the sum of thy word that comprises what is the Truth:’

Psa 119:160  The sum of Your word is truth, And every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.

It is not the subtraction of Thy Word.
Read Num 18 very carefully Michael. We are a nation of kings and priests to God. As such we are to recognize our calling for what it is. We should not fail to appreciate the fact that we have been given the best of the things of God’s people – the things  which are given to His priests.

Num 18:12  “All the best of the fresh oil and all the best of the fresh wine and of the grain, the first fruits of those which they give to the LORD, I give them to you.

There is no room for pride in a single word of this chapter. But there is a lot of room for the faith of Jesus Christ that these things are true and that they are of great value in the eyes of God.
The ‘oil, wine and grain’ are all types of the Word and spirit of God. If we fail to appreciate what we have been given then we are no better than Esau who sold his birthright for a bowl of red, earthy pottage. The Levites are given the Word and rain of God’s Word, but they do not appreciate the value of the promises given in God’s Word. Only God’s elect priests get the best of His Word. With the Levites God’s Word brings forth only briers and thorns, the types in scripture for deadly false doctrines.
Again, I am relieved that God has given you a heart and mind to receive “the best of the oil, wine and grain.” To most people it seems more of a burden than a blessing.
Mike