ESCAPE FROM BABYLON

By: Bruce DeLay

I was introduced to the phrase "full time Christian service" at a youth camp the same summer I made Christ my Lord. I had no idea that the phrase was not biblical. I was just a kid. I did know one thing for sure: What Christ did on the cross was powerful to me and I wanted to serve God more than anything. Full time service was offered as my best option in the religious system I was involved with, so I took it. Now I know that every believer is called to full time service. The "full time" part has nothing to do with your physical vocation. The phrase was introduced by Satan to help establish a clergy / laity system in a religious realm which he controls. It is just one part of a world system which he rules at this time. But I simply stepped forward to give my life to "full time Christian service". I was then herded through an educational process which was supposed to prepare me for ministry. Well- meaning people taught me Bible facts from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good, but there were few encounters with the Tree of Life in bible college. Something inside of me said not to swallow everything I was told about God and the bible. But there was always a mysterious undertow pulling on me. It was like a magnetic force causing me to conform to a certain image, and it was not Christ's. I did not understand it, but I hated it and rebelled against it. I even used carnality and sin in an effort to avoid the steady draw to be like 'them'. I figured it was better to live a carnal life than to be a hypocrite. Finally I succumbed to it's constant influence. I became a "preacher", a "professional minister" if you will. It had become my identity rather than Christ. Of course I didn't know it. I would proudly tell you that I was different than the rest. In my head I saw myself as being unique and un-compromised, but I had sold out to a religious kingdom which I began to serve instead of Christ. In my heart of hearts I wanted a big church and a big name for myself. I would tell myself that I was doing what God called me to do. Here and there I would see a ray of light, but over all I knew I was trapped. I slowly became aware that Christ was not in control of my life, a religious system was. Christ and the system were so entwined in my thinking that I could not distinguish between them. I could not be lead of the Spirit because I had given the reins of my life to a church board. I had sold out for a salary, a convention allowance, and a title which wasn't even in the bible. But I just could not see Paul being concerned about getting hired or fired! In frustration, I began to recognize some truth but I had no idea how to go about dealing with it. I didn't know there was another way. I had no practical job skills or training in anything. Financially speaking, I was stuck. I was chained in a religious dungeon with seemingly no way out. The enemy had me where he wanted me. I could do very little damage to his kingdom.

I once heard a story of a small boy who lived in a walled city. He always wondered what was beyond the walls, but the city officials had warned the people of the evil which lurked outside the city. It was bleak and cold out there, and the only way to survive was to remain in the safety of the city walls. This was accepted by the boy until one day his ball bounced over the wall. He climbed a tall tree and followed a long branch which hung dangerously over the wall. As he sat on top of the wall, he stared in amazement. It was beautiful! It was nothing like what he had been lead to believe. In his wonder, he lost his balance and fell outside the wall. He found his ball and enjoyed the vast new land so much that he never went back inside that walled city! This essentially became my testimony. I simply cried out to the Lord. He heard my cry and began to set me free. I had to overcome the fear of the unknown and trust the Lord. The apostle Paul said "I know in whom I have believed..." I had been trusting 'what' instead of 'whom'. The more I had trusted a religious system, the less I had trusted Christ. I had to repent of that. As He set me free, he delivered me from idolatry and dependence on anything but Him. All I had to do was ask for His help. Twelve years later I can see how He has done it. He is truly the Faithful God.

The origin of the Babylonian empire is recorded in Genesis chapter eleven. The people determined to build a city and a tower. The city involved civil authority and the tower was under religious authority. Most men never realize that these two systems go together and work hand in hand. God had to intervene because both the city and the tower were under the control of fallen man, therefore under the control of the enemy. The bible says they built with bricks instead of stones and used slime instead of mortar. Bricks are man- made; stones are God-made. Peter says that we are living stones that God uses to build with. Modern religious man has built a kingdom which he calls the church. It is usually built with bricks made by the slave labor of God's people, as in Egypt. It is based on the wrong tree. This kingdom is in cahoots with the world because it is a part of the very same system. I was building a church, but it was not entirely the same one Jesus was building. In reality, anything built with materials other than God's cannot be the true church. The word "Babylon" means "confusion" and "mixture". There is so much mixture in most churches, that they are ultimately spiritually compromised. I can remember the frustration I had in Babylon. It was so confusing to me. Confusion is the actual nature of Babylon. Not so much a confusion in the head as it is in the heart. All the head knowledge is there. This is true because most of its principles are from the Tree of Knowledge. But even as I was going through the right motions, I was dissatisfied in heart. I was working my tail off, staying busy achieving religious goals, but never felt as if I was doing what God had called me to do. It was hard to cut through the system and really do things God's way. I had more relationship with my Christian job than I did the Lord Himself. I thank God that He had planted a small seed in me at a young age. I knew there was more to God than I was experiencing in the "ministry". Father's Day 1986 was the last Sunday I preached under the yoke of Babylonian captivity. It was prophetically ironic that my Father broke me out of prison on Father's day. I have been exploring the beautiful kingdom of God for the last twelve years now. But I had to get outside the walls of religion first. I had to stop the voice of fear in my mind. I had to escape the Babylonian system John wrote about in Revelation 17 and 18. After getting me out of it, The Lord has spent more than a decade getting it out of me! By the grace of God, we've made some progress.

In 1995 a man of God whom I did not know personally prophesied some things to me. He began with these words which I quote from the tape: "I called you long before you ever knew it. My hand was upon you from a very young age. The Lord would say that even at the age of three, and then four, and then five, I began to sovereignly move in your life. And ever since that day, my hand has been upon you....." He went on to speak concerning my future. I believe the Lord slipped the part in about my past in order to help me believe what He was about to say about my future. The Holy Spirit is gracious that way. He helps our unbelief if we want to believe Him. My encounters with the Living God have been many now. I have found that there is so much more in Christ than what I had thought. I found that there is a way to minister Jesus Christ without coming under a religious spirit. We must make disciples unto the Lord, not unto ourselves or unto a particular denominational group. For a while I had a bad attitude about the four years I spent in college and the subsequent ten years I ministered in a religious system. Then one day God reminded me about Psalm 37:23 which says: "The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord..." I then knew that those years were ordered, not wasted. As a matter of fact, God had given me some special relationships during those years which have been very important to me over the years. God works through divinely ordained relationships.

One day I should write a whole book which tells the story of my "Escape from Babylon". There are just too many supernatural stories to tell. Until then I will just continue to testify of God's power to my friends over a cup of coffee. The day after Father's Day 1986 was a Monday. I had been given the 'left foot of Christian fellowship' the day before. In previous months I had been working with a team of local pastors to host a city wide crusade in Oklahoma City with James Robison as the speaker. We were scheduled to have a luncheon that day for which I had already pre-paid. Out of a job and discouraged, I decided to attend the luncheon, even though I no longer had a leadership position. As God would have it, brother James sat right next to me at the table and asked me how things were going for me. I hung my head and related my sad story, explaining that I would be of no more use to the pastoral team. To my surprise, James Robison leaned back and let out a belly laugh. He slapped me hard on the back and said "Son, you are in for the greatest time of your life!". I had to laugh with him. I just knew he was right, and boy was he ever! The last twelve years have been the best I've ever known with God. The chains are gone. The pressure is gone. I can serve the Lord without reserve or second thought. I can speak boldly for Christ without fear of religious leaders. He alone is now my Master. Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty I'm free at last!

If you find yourself trapped in a Babylonian ministry machine, you may be intimidated by the fear of losing finances or even your reputation. I want to encourage you to ask God to break you out of the religious system. It must begin in your heart. Get out of fear and get into faith. Don't worry about your reputation. Jesus made Himself of "no reputation" for you and me. If you ask the Lord for help, He will answer. He is real. He is the Head of the Church. He is a Father who loves you and will speak to your need. He has done it for others and He will do it for you, too. It is the hour for God's men to escape from Babylon. His mighty arm is not too short to deliver you and I.