What is "Withdrawing from the Disorderly"? "Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us..."

Paul gave the believers in Thessolonica a COMMANDMENT... and that commandment was to "withdraw" from every "brother" that did not walk according to the teachings that Paul, as a "wise master builder" gave the body of Christ. Paul did not want born again [Spirit- baptized] "brethren" who believed different doctrines to "get together". He knew that there was no such possibility in Christ Jesus. If a person was not walking in obedience to what the Spirit was saying through Paul, and keeping his "traditions" entirely (the traditions that the Spirit of God taught Paul), the saints were admonished to "withdraw" from such disobedient brethren. Please note that Paul was talking about disorderly "Spirit-baptized" brethren!

We are telling God's obedient Spirit-baptized people today to do the same thing. It is your only hope! You must forsake EVERY denomination and group which partakes of, or belongs to "Christianity" in all of it's forms. You must withdraw from EVERY creed, tradition, and unclean ceremony found there. God does not want you "yoked together" with the disobedient "brethren" who are walking "disorderly". When we say "disorderly" we do not only mean in a condition of open moral sin (such as adultery, fornication, drunkenness and the like); we mean in ways which are not led by the Spirit of God. NONE of Christianity's ways are of God. NONE of it's pastors are following the Spirit, else they would be outside of that place of "spiritual wickedness". Those who are being led by the Spirit of God have either already come outside of "Christianity", or are to the point of doing so due to the frustration and disgust they feel by what goes on there. Those who are Spirit-led have had enough of the "spiritual wickedness" they see and feel week after week, though they may be at a loss to explain why they feel it, or what to do about it!

This highly honored place of spiritual wickedness is religion which is of man, not God. It is religion in the flesh, and not in the Spirit. It is religion which has an "appearance" of God, but lacks the substance and anointing of the Spirit which baptized you into the body of Christ upon your conversion (1Cor.12:13).

Jesus said, "that which is highly esteemed among men is abomination in the sight of God" (Lk.16:15). And what is it that man holds most dear, but his lofty religious creeds and ceremonies, which omit or relegate to a secondary position the power of the Spirit of God? Men learned long ago that to proclaim a gospel with no real power and truth is the most lucrative business on earth. People will pay enormous sums for a gospel which offers them an appearance of holiness, and which allows for an incomplete submission to the real Spirit of God. A gospel which merely claims to bestow righteousness, rather than actually providing it by the power of the Spirit, is the single most valuable product in the marketplace of human hearts. And the more eloquently a man is able to expound upon and justify such a gospel, the more praise and money will be extended to him by a very grateful congregation.

"Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits." This is "Christianity". An attractive place filled with unclean spirits and with ungodly, deeply religious men. The Bible refers to it as spiritual "Babylon" - the proud, beautiful city of lies. Babylon, the pretended friend of righteousness and truth. Babylon, the great hiding place of sin, which offers a haven to souls who desire the benefits of Christ, but disdain the reproach of his holiness. This is Babylon, where God is worshipped, but not in spirit and truth, where men sing praises to a God they hate, where ministers are hired to proclaim "doctrines of devils" concerning a Lord they do not know, and where those who come seeking God are slowly poisoned into confused submission to spiritual death. All who practice, or financially support, Babylon's self-willed worship also must partake of her reward from God.

"My people, go ye out of the midst of her, and deliver ye every man his soul from the fierce anger of the Lord." "Come out of her, my people", wrote John in Revelation 18. He was talking to HIS people. He was not calling them out of the world, because they had already come out of the world... that is how they became "his people". God spoke to those who had already come out of the world, which were those in whom His Spirit already dwelt! They were the ones He was calling out! And they [the Spirit-baptized children of God] are the only ones WE are calling out of Christianity!

Babylon is where God's Spirit-baptized saints worship together with those who cannot worship in the Spirit because they don't have it, or don't want it, or in some cases, don't even believe in it. Babylon, then, is where the perfect lusts of the devil are performed, where men worship God in style, rather than in spirit and in truth.

When Jesus said, "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do", he was speaking to respected "pillars of the community" who despised the adulterers and murderers of their society. What then were the "lusts of the devil" which they would do? Jesus explained: "For a pretense make long prayers", "rob widows' houses [for their ministry]", "compass land and sea to make one convert", "love the chief seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets, and to be [given weighty titles] by men." Understand this! Obvious sins such as theft and whoredom are not Satan's "lusts" for men, for they are unworthy of his cunning. Even the ones committing those sins know they are wrong. Satan despises those who do obviously evil deeds, and his ministers rail against them.

Satan's successes are those who have acquired his appearance of righteousness, and serve God as Satan does - in their own way - and who are so deceived that they "preach" that deception to others (cp. 2Cor.11:13-15; 2Tim. 3:13). They promise liberty in Christ to others while "they themselves are the servants of corruption." These are Satan's successes: highly-regarded ministers who eloquently persuade people to believe that their sins are washed away by the blood of Christ before, or even without ever, receiving the baptism of the Holy Ghost! Satan's successes are Christianity's ministers. Jesus warned us of these men, because they are not walking in the "order" of God.

"Many shall come IN MY NAME and shall deceive many." These are the "disorderly brethren" of Babylon. Men who build stained-glassed snares for men's souls, where death is loved. For those who yearn deeply for spiritual life, Christianity will never suffice.

"The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall abide in the congregation of the dead" (Proverbs 21:16). Child of God, please obey God and come out from among the spiritually "disorderly". It is your calling. Do not be afraid to leave Babylon. Let God be your fear. Let God be your dread. Jesus waits for you, outside the gate of that "disorderly" and cursed city. "Let us, therefore, go out to him, outside the camp, sharing the contempt that he endured." If we obey his pleading voice now, we will be cleansed and received by the Father. But if we resist the gentle, earnest call of the Spirit to "come out from among them", we will not escape the terrible wrath which God has determined for Babylon the Great and for all her members.

Long ago, souls who truly hungered and thirsted for righteousness separated themselves from Christianity's sects to meet in homes to pray in earnest for spiritual power and knowledge. Now, as those humble little groups have themselves grown into large Pentecostal denominations, the distinction between them and the sects their fathers forsook is negligible. The very things that separated those old saints, the baptism of the Holy Ghost, the power of God, the liberty and joy of the Spirit, and the boldness and gentleness of Christ, are things which hungry souls must now go outside Pentecostal denominations to find. And the Father is pleading more earnestly than ever for all "in whom is My Spirit" to have faith and to come out, where "you will find rest unto your souls."

"Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? Wherefore, come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor.6:14, 17-18).

My brothers, this definition of false religion applies to every situation in every place, all the time: False religion is religion without the Holy Ghost. It matters not at all what men call their religion, whether Bhuddism, Shintoism, Islam, or even Christianity. If the Holy Ghost is left out, it is false. It is completely out of God's order and approval. What difference does it make as to which label men give to their errors? If worship is not sanctified and led by the Spirit of God, it is in vain. If doctrine is not revealed from heaven, it is heresy. If sins are not washed away by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, they are not gone.

Those who, fearing persecution, huddle for safety in the shadows of Christianity's famed steeples will be turned over to that strong delusion which the Apostle Paul prophesied would come upon the rebellious (2Thess.2:11-12). Those who humble themselves to the call of God and come out will find peace and light such as they have only imagined. The love of God, my precious friend, is not a partaker of other men's sins. If we truly love people, we will by example show them the way out of sin. If you are "unequally yoked" in worship with those who deny in any way the Holy Ghost, you are missing God's greatest blessings and disobeying His most clearly revealed will. He is jealous over you. He wants you to come out of congregations invented by men. He wants you to "withdraw from the disorderly brethren". He wants you home.

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