Daily Devotional, Year 2 – APRIL 17 . . . . Come Out of Her, My People! Part 7: “Tortoises & The Shell of Our Resistance!”
By admin On January 21st, 2021.
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Daily Devotional, Year 2 – APRIL 17
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Come Out of Her, My People! Part 7: “Tortoises & The Shell of Our Resistance!”
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“And he (an angel) cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…Â And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, Come out of her, My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.” Revelation 18:2, 4
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by G. Dore’_The Confusion Of Tongues in Babylon – from www.creationism.org-public domain
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Many Bible students read this above passage, and wonder what in the world it could possibly be talking about.
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“What and where on Earth could this modern-day Babylon be?”
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Perhaps it could be speaking of some city in Iraq, or maybe the city which has recently sprung up, called Dubai!
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Dubai Marina 2013 – Wikipedia – Creative Commons License
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“THE WORDS I SPEAK…ARE SPIRIT AND THEY ARE LIFE!”
John 6:63
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But for those who have discovered the Bible to be a totally spiritual revelation of the Gospel, they know that the City of Babylon actually represents the world and the worldly portion of the Church, the Mystery Harlot of Revelation 17.
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And the reader is encouraged to click on and begin reading this series of devotionals called “Come Out of Her, My People”, to gain a fuller understanding of just why God considers today’s churches to be spiritual Babylon.
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Whore – Babylon – Burgkmair – 1523 AD – Wikimedia – US Public Domain (This 500 year old engraving is just one of many which shows that Christians understood this concept back in the days when God’s people were being physically persecuted by Antichrist!)
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BABYLON IN THE HEART!
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“Before you can take a man out of the slums, you must first take the slum out of the man!”
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This above statement shows that the people of the world have a certain wisdom.
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And though God has been calling His people to come out of Babylon (the world & the worldly Church), this above principle must be firmly established, that Babylon has to be thoroughly purged from the sincere Believer’s heart!
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Otherwise, to merely remove ourselves from the apostate organizations of Babylon, will only be, “an exercise in futility”, as the saying goes!
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Family watching television, c. 1958 – Wikipedia – public domain
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OUR WORLDLY, WORLDLY WAYS!
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Because we are sinners, therefore we have inherent love for this Babylonish world!
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And just because we have gone down into the baptismal pool does not mean that our hearts have been purged from our past worldly ways!
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No, Babylon still exists in our heart! The ways of the world still remain firmly ensconced in our thinking!
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And so, God has given a great commission to each and every Believer…
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Listen… “And every man that hath this hope in Him purifies himself, even as He (Jesus) is pure.” 1st John 3:3
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As this above verse reveals, God expects us to purify ourselves, even as Jesus is pure!
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THE TORTOISE
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But let’s stop for a moment, and take a glance at a certain remarkable character from the animal kingdom: the Tortoise!
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Yes, the Tortoise is just another amazing creation of God. It is a delight for children and adults alike to behold this benign creature with its strong armor!
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But beyond the sheer delight which this little armor-bearer brings to all who encounter it, the tortoise can teach a number of lessons about both good and evil!
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Yes, we can look at this shell from at least two vantage-points. It might speak of the armor of God, and the faith we must have in God!
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But this shell might also remind us of how we humans can so easily build up a shell of resistance around us! Â
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And this wall of resistance is what today’s devotional is all about…
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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
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“KNOWLEDGE PUFFS UP”
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“Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth. And if any man think that he knoweth any
thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know.” 1st Corinthians 8:1, 2
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This above passage presents a concept so huge and profound, that it deserves to be placed on the top display-shelf of our hearts!
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This above concept should inspire the very first words out of our mouths in each new morning of our day… “O LORD my God…I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in.”  1st Kings 3:7
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These are the words of Solomon, the world’s wisest mortal man, and yet Solomon did not trust in his own wisdom.Â
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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
Dore – Solomon – Proverbs – Wikipedia – Public domainÂ
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“IMAGE OF THE BEAST”
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And he (the False Prophet) had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Revelation 13:15
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Yes, in this Babylon of a world, we have been thoroughly groomed in all aspects of our life, by the King of Babylon, “the god of this world”, who is Satan! (see 2nd Corinthians 4:4, and Isaiah 14)
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Satan has left nothing up to chance, in his attempt to conform the world into his evil and selfish likeness!
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And now that we are in the age of the False Prophet (Satan, as he works through the unsaved ones of the world), he has given us various high-tech devices, in which to deeply engrave his character upon the tables of our heart!
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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
ABOVE PICTURE: TV indoctrination – www.signsofheaven.org
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STIFF-NECKED & UNCIRCUMCISED!
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And one false idea that this False-Prophet-Anti
christ-Spirit has ingrained into our thinking, is that we’re, “pretty smart people after all!”
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And so, as a result, most of us have been thoroughly trained to trust in our own knowledge and wisdom, to a great extent.
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This is perhaps the biggest reason why it’s so hard to convince us of our great need of a Savior!
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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
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OUR SHELL OF RESISTANCE
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And isn’t it true that most of us have such a narrow mind, that we pretty much refuse to hear anything which challenges our own current understanding.
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We know what we know!
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We trust our own church or denomination!
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We place our confidence in our very own favorite Bible teachers!
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And the chances of anyone else coming to us with a seemingly new Bible concept, and breaking through this little shell of trust which we have built up, is not very likely!
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Eastern Snake Necked Turtle – by Damien Naidoo – For Wikimedia – Share-alike License
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GOOD NEWS! TIME TO CHANGE!
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We must forget our foolish understanding and turn to God’s Word, as little children!
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Jesus taught this same concept… “Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein.” Mark 10:15
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And God has allowed a little time, for us to repent and turn back to Him!
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Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
David’s sorrow – Wikigallery – Public Domain
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VERY VERY GOOD NEWS!
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But the very Good News is that the gates of Hell shall not prevail against the true Church (God’s Elect dispersed throughout the world!)
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No, God has determined that we are to finally come out of Babylon!
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Listen… “‘Come out of her (Babylon), My people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.'” Revelation 18:2, 4
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So here is the call to God’s people, to come out of Babylon.
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And by God’s great mercy & grace, we are assured the victory, if we “faint not”!
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ABOVE PICTURE – winter Constellations – Woman of Revelation 12 (Ursa Major) flees to the mountains – Mark 13:14 – Dragon comprised of Hyades, Pleiades, etc…Valley of Decision mountain comprised of Cassiopeia, etc… (This is not a star-chart, but merely a concept picture since this mountain is not in this position, but is actually in the fall months)
Tortoise – Giant Tortoise – by Childzy – for Wikipedia – Share-alike LicenseÂ
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TODAY’S PRAYER…
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“Dear Lord, Help me to become fully engaged in the purification of my heart! Oh God, transform my worldly life into the holy image of Heaven…
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THE END
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TODAY’S FEATURED HEAVENLY SIGN
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DOUBLE ENTENDREÂ OF REVELATION 12 WOMAN
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“For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church: and He is the Savior of the body.” Ephesians 5:23
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This page concerns the constellation which is commonly known as “The Big Dipper” and the “Great Bear”. It actually appears in the summer months as a woman travailing in child-birth. God has purposely given her no head. But God did this to present a very important concept.
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Yes, this woman represents the Church, the, “Jerusalem above, which is free, and is the mother of us all” (see Galatians 4:26).
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You see, the single star she is giving birth to typifies the Christ child. Reading in Ephesians that Christ is the “head” of the Church, this single star is logically going to become her head. But how will that be accomplished? .
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ABOVE STAR-CHART: Ursa Major – IAU.svg – Star-Chart – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License
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WOMAN FLIPS AROUND IN WINTER
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Now, if this Woman-in-Travail were all that the Lord created in the heavens, it would be nothing short of amazing! But God, in His infinite power and majesty, has made this a great sign in Heaven, just as Revelation 12 proclaims. Because as the summer passes, this constellation begins to slowly flip around, until the stars representing her arms now become her legs. And the stars that once represented her legs now become her arms.  And finally, it appears as the Fleeing Woman of Revelation 12. And at that point, this single little star in her womb-area, representing the Christ-child, now becomes her head! And of course, this reminds us of the passage… “And He (Christ) is the head of the body, the Church…” Colossians 1:18.
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ABOVE STAR-CHART: Ursa Major – IAU.svg – Star-Chart – Wikipedia – Share-Alike License