FATHER ABRAHAM LEFT BABYLON. HAVE YOU ?

5/13/2019

THERE ARE SO MANY STORIES IN THE BIBLE THAT I FIND AMAZING, BECAUSE THEY ALL FIND THEIR ESSENCE IN THE CHARACTER OF THE PEOPLE THAT ARE ON THE JOURNEY OF LIFE. GOD HAD SO MUCH INTERACTION WITH MANKIND IN THOSE PAGES, AND WE CAN LEARN SO MUCH ABOUT OURSELVES IF WE LOOK INTO THE CHARACTER OF THE MEN AND WOMEN THAT LIVED, STRUGGLED, AND THRIVED IN THOSE VARIOUS TIMEFRAMES. FOR THE JEWISH, CHRISTIAN, AND MUSLIM FAITHS, ABRAHAM WAS A CENTRAL FIGURE IN THEIR HISTORIES, AND BELIEF SYSTEMS. AS A FOLLOWER OF JESUS, MY ROOTS GO BACK TO MY GOD. MY GOD IS THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISSAC, AND JACOB. WE DO KNOW THAT ABRAHAM HAD TWO SONS, AND IN THAT CONTEXT, SO SEPARATED THE PATH OF JUDAISM AND CHRISTIANITY, BORN OF ISSAC, AND THE ISLAMIC FAITH, BORN OF ISHMAEL. THE SONS WERE VERY DIFFERENT, AND YET, BORN FROM THE SAME FATHER. IT IS ABRAHAM THAT I WANT TO FOCUS ON, AND GIVE A BIGGER PICTURE OF WHO HE WAS, AND WHAT HE TEACHES US AS CHRISTIANS TODAY. THE LESSON IS OH SO VERY IMPORTANT ! AND SO WE START AT THE BEGINNING…..

ABRAM WAS A PAGAN, AND A GENTILE. HE LIVED WITH HIS FATHER TERAH IN BABYLON. THE SAME BABYLON BUILT AND RULED BY NIMROD. TERAH TOOK ABRAM HIS SON ALONG WITH HIS WIFE SARAI, AND HIS GRANDSON LOT TOWARD A NEW LIFE, MOVING FROM UR OF THE CHALDEANS TOWARD THE LAND OF CANAAN, FINALLY SETTLING IN HARAN, THESE LANDS WERE PART OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. ABRAM’S FATHER TERAH DIED AT 205 YEARS OLD IN HARAN. THEN, ACCORDING TO GENESIS 12, GOD MADE HIS PRESENCE KNOWN TO ABRAM, AND THUS BEGAN HIS JOURNEY INTO AN AMAZING PROMISE. THE LORD SAID TO ABRAM, GO OUT FROM YOUR LAND, YOUR RELATIVES, AND YOUR FATHER’S HOUSE TO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU. I WILL MAKE YOU INTO A GREAT NATION, I WILL BLESS YOU. I WILL MAKE YOUR NAME GREAT, AND YOU WILL BE A BLESSING….SO ABRAM WENT, AS THE LORD HAD TOLD HIM. ABRAM JOURNEYED THROUGH MANY LANDS, INCLUDING EGYPT. ABRAM’S JOURNEY IS WELL DOCUMENTED, AS ARE HIS NUMEROUS ENCOUNTERS WITH GOD. THE ENCOUNTER THAT I WANT TO FOCUS ON IS WHEN GOD BEGAN TO REVEAL THE PROMISE OF HIS FATHER-SHIP TO THE GENERATIONS. TO YOU AND ME. GOD WAS PROMISING ABRAM SONS, EVEN THOUGH HIS WIFE WAS BARREN. GOD WAS PROMISING ABRAM OFFSPRING THAT WOULD BE AS NUMEROUS AS THE STARS IN THE SKY. THEN GOD MADE A COVENANT WITH ABRAM, GIVING HIM THE PROMISE OF MANY LANDS, AND THE FATHER OF MANY NATIONS. HE MADE COVENANT TO BE HIS GOD, AND THE GOD OF HIS MANY OFFSPRING WHO WOULD FOLLOW HIM. THE COVENANT CHANGED HIS NAME FROM ABRAM TO ABRAHAM, AND HIS MALE PROGENY WOULD NEED TO BE CIRCUMCISED. THIS COVENANT WAS TO BE OBSERVED BY HIS ENTIRE HOUSE, AND ALL THE GENERATIONS AFTER. THUS HAD GOD ESTABLISHED THE ABRAHAMIC COVENANT.

WHAT MAKES ABRAHAM SO IMPORTANT TO US IS THE FACT THAT HE LIVED IN BABYLON. IT WAS A PLACE THAT EMBRACED POLYTHEISM, A BELIEF IN MANY GODS THAT RULED MANY PARTS OF THE UNIVERSE. THE KING GOD WAS MARDUK, PATRON OF BABYLON. THEY ALSO BELIEVED THAT FOLLOWING DEATH, EVERY SOUL WENT TO THE UNDERWORLD, …A DARK AND DISMAL PLACE. BABYLONIAN CULTURE WAS RESPLENDENT IN EXCESS AND DEPRAVITY. ADULTERY, PROSTITUTION, ORGIES, MARRIAGE MARKETS, WHERE WOMEN WERE SOLD, HOMOSEXUALITY. SIN WAS COMMON, AND EYE FOR AN EYE VENGEANCE WAS ENCOURAGED. THE BABYLONIAN RULERSHIP WERE TYRANNICAL, NOT VALUING THE INDIVIDUAL OR HIS OR HER RIGHTS. AND IN THE MIDST OF IT, SAT ABRAM….BUT GOD SPOKE TO HIM AND CALLED HIM OUT OF BABYLON, TO BE SET APART. TO KNOW GOD, AND TO WORSHIP HIM. TO HAVE COVENANT WITH HIM, AND FOLLOW HIS COMMANDMENTS. TO ESTABLISH GENERATION UPON GENERATION OF PEOPLE IN COVENANT WITH GOD. TO HAVE A SON NAMED ISSAC THAT WOULD GIVE US THE LINE OF PROGRESSION THAT WOULD PROVIDE OUR SAVIOR, OUR MESSIAH. THE LAMB THAT THE STORY OF ISSAC FORESHADOWED. JESUS.

GOD SO DESIRED FOR ABRAHAM TO WALK WITH HIM. GOD WANTED HIM TO BE IN RELATIONSHIP WITH HIM, AND ESTABLISH A PEOPLE WHO WOULD COME BACK INTO WHAT ADAM AND EVE WERE BEFORE THEY FELL AWAY. HIS PEOPLE. SO ABRAHAM HAD A LOT OF WALKING AND TALKING WITH GOD TO DO, AND ALONG THE WAY HE DISTANCED HIMSELF FROM BABYLON. HE SHED THE NASTINESS OF BEING IN IT’S CULTURE. HE FOCUSED ON FOLLOWING THE PATH THAT GOD HAD SET BEFORE HIM. IT TOOK TIME, AND COMMITMENT, AND GROWTH. AND MOST OF ALL, FAITH AND TRUST !

THERE ARE TIMES THAT I LOOK AT OUR CULTURE IN AMERICA, ALONG WITH THE CULTURE OF THE WORLD IN OTHER PLACES, AND I FEEL LIKE I AM LOOKING AT AND LIVING IN BABYLON. FOCUS ON SELF, GOVERNMENTS THAT RULE IN A TYRANNICAL FASHION, SEXUAL DEPRAVITY, AND MORAL DECAY. MANKIND TRYING TO CREATE LIFE WHILE KILLING INNOCENTS IN THE WOMB, EMBRACING TRANS-HUMANISM, REINVENTING GENETIC CODES, PURSUING THE ILLUMINATION OF SATANISM WHILE TRYING TO SNUFF OUT GOD. CAN YOU FEEL IT AND SEE IT TOO ? FORTUNATELY, THE GOD OF ABRAHAM IS OURS AS WELL. HE HAS PUT ME ON A PATH TOWARD HIM. HE HAS SPOKEN TO ME ABOUT HIS KINGDOM, AND ALL IT HOLDS FOR ME. I DESIRE HIM AND HIS LOVE. I DESIRE A PATH TOWARD RIGHTEOUSNESS AND SALVATION IN HIS SON. AHH,….JESUS. MY SAVIOR, MY LORD, MY KING. I WALK EVERY DAY WITH HIM, SHEDDING MYSELF AND MY SINFULNESS TO BE WITH HIM IN FREEDOM, TRUTH, AND FULLNESS.

HOW ABOUT YOU ? ISN’T IT TIME WE ALL BEGIN THE JOURNEY OUT OF OUR OWN BABYLON AND SEEK COVENANT AND RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD ? THE EXIT SIGNS TO YOUR OLD LIFE ARE SURELY SIGNALING IT IS TIME. MY PRAYER IS FOR OUR WORLD TO WAKE UP. STOP THINKING YOU CAN AVOID THE STENCH AND NASTINESS OF BABYLON BY STAYING IN IT’S PRESENCE. TIME TO LISTEN FOR GOD’S VOICE AND GO ON A JOURNEY, JUST LIKE ABRAHAM. MOVE FORWRD IN YOUR LIFE WITH HIM AT YOUR CENTER. BE ALL YOU CAN BE IN HIM ! MOVE FORWARD OH SOJOURNER AND SEE THE HEART OF GOD. JA

YOU CAN BE SURE OF THIS: THE LORD SET APART THE GODLY FOR HIMSELF. THE LORD WILL ANSWER WHEN I CALL TO HIM. Psalm 4:3

BUT YOU BELONG TO GOD MY DEAR CHILDREN. YOU HAVE ALREADY WON A VICTORY OVER THOSE PEOPLE, BECAUSE THE SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN YOU IS GREATER THAN THE SPIRIT WHO LIVES IN THE WORLD. John 4:4

DO NOT CONFORM TO THE PATTERNS OF THIS WORLD, BUT BE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND. THEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO TEST AND APPROVE WHAT GOD’S WILL IS. HIS GOOD, PLEASING, AND PERFECT WILL. Romans 12:2