Chapter 1: Introduction to Babylon

Amen, brother Samuel. Appreciate that prayer, guys. Welcome back to our Shabbat gathering, Babylon. Come out of

her, my people. And really, what in the world does that mean? Uh, I want you to take a good look at the screen there

because this is kind of a depiction of what Babylon actually is and what people

think Babylon is. It’s kind of a it’s kind of a combination of both. Why am I doing this lesson? Well, as you recall, last week we embarked on what I was

calling a three-part series to express some things that I felt like needed to be shared. Something that I’ve been

feeling in my heart, wrestling in my spirit over. And you know, as we talked last week about who told you that you were naked, we asked the hard question

about where are we learning the things that we’re learning, the things that we’re embracing, the things that we’re believing in the things that we’re

encouraging others to do. Obviously, they should be coming from nowhere else but scripture, but they don’t.

Unfortunately, this topic is among the topics where hedges are built around the law.

And I think you know what I mean by that. But, uh, open your hearts, open your minds to the things that I’m going

to share. I’ve been in the hot seat as of late for a lot of different reasons,

namely the the short form videos that I’ I’ve been teaching that everyone seems to have another opinion on, which is

fine. I’m by no means the standard of truth, but I’ve taken a lot of hits and I’ve got thick skin. I don’t mind when

people are nasty and mean. Even though they claim faith in Christ, they’re quick to tear you down. And I’m afraid

this might be another one of those lessons where there’s going to be some kickback. Again, I don’t care about kickback as long as we can do it in love

and patience for one another. So, having said that, let’s get into this. What is

Chapter 2: Defining Babylon historically

Babylon? It was one of the greatest cities in the ancient world. Babylon was located in what is now about 53 miles

south of Baghdad. Babylon was the capital of the neoabylonian Empire and reached its peak under Nebuchadnezzar

II in the 6th century B.C.E. was famous for its massive walls, the magnificent Ishtar gate and is traditionally

associated with the hanging gardens of Babylon. In the Bible, Babylon is an important city in both the Old and New

Testaments. It was the kingdom that conquered the kingdom of Judah, destroyed the first temple in Jerusalem, and took many Israelites into exile. In

the book of Revelation, Babylon is also used symbolically to represent corruption, oppression, and worldly

power opposed to Yah. Spiritually, Babylon is much more than an ancient city. Throughout scripture, it becomes a

symbol of an entire world system that stands in opposition to the kingdom of Yhovah.

And we all know that the pattern of Babylon began in Genesis. In Genesis 11, it records the building of the tower of

Babel. The Hebrew word Babel or Bavl, I think that’s right, David, is the same word later translated into Babylon.

There mankindi unit united in rebellion against Yhovah.

They sought to make a name for themselves, establish their own authority and prevent being scattered across the earth directly opposing

Yhovah’s command. From its very beginning, Babylon represents organized human rebellion. Babylon I I want us to

focus on that last sentence. Babylon represents organized human rebellion.

As the biblical narrative progresses, Babylon becomes the empire that destroys Jerusalem, tears down the temple,

carries Judah into exile. Historically, it was a nation. It was a real place.

But spiritually, it became the embodiment of the kingdoms of men that opposed the kingdoms of God. So,

Chapter 3: What does it mean to flee?

knowing that, how do we answer this question? What does it mean to come out of her my

people? Lest you share in her sins and lest you receive in her plagues.

Right off the bat, if you don’t mind, I would like to get some brief feedback from the brothers on what this means.

Because as you know, Bible does not give us a detailed list, items, things to do

so to speak of what it means to come out of Babylon. So, let’s just get your thoughts. Let’s get your opinions.

David, Samuel, what do you think?

Well, I just if I take it literally, I just see it as as separating yourself.

Do not be part of them. Be different than what they are as manifested in like you said in in the Tower of Babel,

organized rebellion. And that organized rebellion continues, you know, today. Uh and I think it also talks here about

what [clears throat] the consequences are if that doesn’t happen. You know that there will be consequences and you know retribution.

All right, Samuel.

I’m of the opinion that know we draw a a false dichotomy between the spiritual and the physical and I think that they’re intertwined. So for me, it’s a

combination of not partaking of the the systems of worship, the false systems that are created in order to subjugate

men and women that would have us chasing the dollar 24/7 without rest, always worrying. And I

also think that there may too be a natural component of drawing further and further away as far as we can in terms

of what we do for ourselves. If you look today at what’s happening with genetically modified foods, when you

look at what’s happening with respect to the implementation of various AI systems, those who are residents of the

city and those who rely on the supermarkets to provide their sustenance will continue to eat the foul bread

and they would be subject directly to a lot of the the subjugation, the surveillance

and oppression that happens within the boundaries of certain metropolitan areas. Um so it may

indeed be a warned to to the believers to create goans similar to what happened while our

people were in Misraim. But it’s something that will play out I think over time and it will become more and more apparent to us as as time progresses.

Okay. Amen. Thank you. Look at the sentence just barely under the box. From its very beginning, Babylon represents

organized human rebellion. Uh in one sense, we could sum up the entire lesson with that statement. If coming out of

Chapter 4: Babylon as a world system

her means something, then coming out of what? Coming out of this organized human

rebellion. Where do we see organized human rebellion? Organized religion, church,

organized religion, any business, any establishment, any process, any church

that is unified, organized in rebellion to the word could be considered Babylon.

Spiritually speaking, far too many people have defined for themselves what it means to come out of Babylon. They’ve

turned it into a man-made standard of holiness by condemning things like technology, rejecting modern conveniences,

abandoning ordinary life, and in some cases bordering on monasticism, a word that we looked at last week. None of that is the biblical definition. Once

again, men have drawn lines that Yhovah never drew and then judged everyone else who refused to stand behind those lines.

Scripture does not call us to flee society. It calls us to reject Babylon’s authority, its values, its idolatry, its

rebellion, while at the same time being wholly devoted to Yah and obedient to his word.

Coming out of Babylon is not about escaping the world.

It’s about refusing to think and believe and live according to the world’s system. What do I mean by system? Well,

when you consider the story of the tower, the the tower of Babel, what was one of the things that the Torah tells

us about the people at that time? It says they all spoke the same language and had the same speech, right?

Is that two ways of saying the same thing or was there something deeper being conveyed there? I think there’s something deeper.

Seems there’ll be always the case, right? There’s always something deeper in the word. What does it mean to speak the same language and have the same

speech? Well, not only did they have the same dialect, the same language, but they were organized in the things

that they were saying, unified in the way they said things, the things that came out of their mouth. And

when you think about how that looks in our world today, well, it’s obvious for those of us who are trying to set

ourselves apart, the system has become more clear than ever before, right? We become more sensitive to it. We can look

out, if you will, not judgmentally, but just look out at the world. And we can see a stark difference

between the language and speech of the world and the language and the speech of

those in Yah’s kingdom. There’s a stark difference and I think we understand that by and large. So what is Babylon?

Chapter 5: The origins of organized rebellion

Genesis chapter 10\:es 8-10 it says Kush begat Nimrod and he began to be a mighty one on the

earth and the beginning of his kingdom was Babel Eric I can’t read that because something’s in the way

and K in the land of Shinar thank you Genesis 11 and they said come

let us build ourselves a city the tower whose top is in the heavens

let us make a name for ourselves lest we be scattered abroad the face of the earth or over the face of the earth. And

that may have sounded like a really good plan if you were there, right? If you were there during that time and this was

the sentiment floating around, you may have thought, “Yes, this is really awesome. We’re going to build the place for ourselves.” But as we know, it was in direct rebellion against Yah. How?

Well, Genesis 9, mankind was commanded to fill the entire earth, right? That was the plan, not to stay in one place.

The command was them to fill the earth, but instead they wanted to remain together in one place, establish their own center of power and build a civil a

civilization independent of Yahw’s authority. This was the beginning of Babylon as we know it. Well, what did it

represent? Well, humanity’s collective rebellion against Yahw. As I’ve said, instead of submitting to his command, mankind united around its own vision.

Self-exaltation.

I’ll just make a name for ourselves became its divining characteristic.

Centralized human government apart from Yahw. The city was a kingdom built on human wisdom, power, and ambition rather

than divine rule. false religion tower quote reaching into the heavens is mankind’s attempt to establish its own

means of approaching heaven on its own terms rather than on yas and lastly it represented the unity that comes as a

result of being outside of truth we have said this many times on this channel and in many lessons that unity must be

grounded in absolute truth which we don’t have you don’t have it. I don’t have it. Only Yah has absolute truth.

And we have to be unified around that.

These people in ancient Babel, Babylon, were remarkably united, but their unity was directed towards rebellion instead of obedience.

And so, if we’re to come out of Babylon, that’s one of the first things that we should consider. What are we unifying ourselves around?

Are we unifying ourselves around absolute truth? And I want to stress the word absolute because as I’ve said many

times, you and I only have our opinions on truth. Only the father has, owns,

possesses is absolute truth. What he actually says. So it’s important

incumbent upon us as his followers to create our unity around absolute truth.

Not our opinions of absolute truth. Not our conclusions

on absolute truth but based on what is written and only on

what is written. So Babylon is never just a city. It’s the archetype of a civiliz civilization that seeks to build

Chapter 6: Living in the world today

life without Yahw. Establish its own authority to find good and evil on its own terms. Pursue wealth and power apart

from obedience and unite people around human ambition instead of the kingdom of Yhovah. What does this sound like? That

first paragraph, it sounds like the world, right? It sounds like the world around

1. It sounds just like what when we get up in the morning and if we turn on the news, if that’s the kind of person you are or Fox News or CNN or what MSN, it

doesn’t matter. When you turn on the television, this is what you see. That first statement there is basically in

our face 24/7. It’s the world that we live in. And that’s why when Revelation says, “Come out of her, my people,” the call is more than just leaving a

location. We’re going to see here in a moment that it was a location and they were called to leave it. But in our day, it’s more than just leaving a location.

It’s a call to renounce our allegiance to the entire Babylonian system that began at Babel.

A world that seeks independence from Yovah while creating its own religion, morality, and source of truth. So here are two interesting questions that I want to begin with.

question is, as I’ve said, what does renouncing Babylon actually mean for us in 2026? And what did it mean in 1926?

What did it mean in 1826? Is it different or is it the same? Do you know what I’m getting at in these two

questions, Samuel, David? I do. What you see is the persistence across generations

of the same systems. There are certain things that change of course, but fundamentally it’s the same.

Babel presents itself within the same patterns. So for me, when I hear you,

what I’m hearing is, are you going to go into the office on Shabbat because your

boss is threatening you if you don’t come in to work that extra shift that day because someone called in sick? So

that’s a response to fear of man as opposed to fear of Yah.

Or you take it upon yourself to take a wallet that you see on the ground

and because you don’t see a person around, you take the money and the cards out and instead of trying to do your

earnest best to return it to who dropped it, you keep it for yourself and you do a finder’s keepers. And that’s clearly

against what Torah teaches. So when you think about things like that in terms of of what’s common knowledge and commonly accepted as being right or wrong in

terms of morality, I think that’s what that addresses in terms of not aligning with with the world system, but aligning with what Yah has given us in writing.

Chapter 7: Separation from sin

Okay. Yeah, I would agree with with all of that. Well, I guess at the end of the day, what I’m saying is is what I’m asking is this.

When the first century brothers and sisters read John’s letter and they read Yeshua’s words to come out of her, my

people, what was going through their mind as opposed to what was going through

someone’s mind in 17 in the 1700s as opposed to what was going through someone’s mind in the 1800s

as opposed to what was going through someone’s mind in our day now. Is coming out of Babylon different for us today than it was for them then? No. No.

[clears throat] No. It’s is is not really is is not at all. But I guess there that that’s my point because when

you think about it, you know, the the believers of of who followed the way in the first century, they constructed

small communities to gather where they shared things. Now they were still involved in commerce and things you know

in the world and they obeyed to to the degree that it didn’t cross the line and and violate Torah. They they they obeyed

the dictates of of the governance or the governing structure that they were under. But there were certain things that they that they refused to do. And

that’s not just to Rome. That was also to the religious authorities at the time in Jerusalem while it still stood.

Okay. David, did you want to say something?

Yeah, I did. I think that in in in all of these periods, right, or when we say renounce Babylon,

come out of Babylon, the question is you’re coming out of it with the intent of going where, right?

And where you’re going is to separate yourself from Babylon, its uh its mentality, its rebellion towards Yhovah.

And that’s the constant peace that does not change. The word of God does not change. God does not change. And so

exiting from a particular type of organization, political division of the world, etc.

All those things could be different over time, technology, etc. But where we are called to go doesn’t change.

And that is okay following God and following Yabah according to his word. Okay. Thank you guys. Appreciate that.

Well, what does this mean when we read Revelation 18:4 my people lest you share in her sins and receive in her plagues? Well, let’s think about it.

Notice in that verse the two reasons given. Participating in her sin, sharing in her judgment. So when I look at that

verse, to me, it’s not as mysterious as some might think. To come out of her, my

people is to stop participating in her sins. So you don’t share in her judgment. The command is about separation from sin

before it’s about separation from a place or a thing. A place or a thing.

A place or a thing. We’re going to come back to that. What is sin? Sin is a violation of his ways, a violation of his law.

Chapter 8: Avoiding man-made requirements

So to come out of Babylon is to stop participating in the things that she

does that violate his ways, which we should already be doing, right?

as followers of the way so that we don’t share in her judgment. And we know that Israel was commanded to flee the city,

don’t we? Over and over and over again in scripture. Jeremiah 50:8, from the midst of Babylon, move from the midst of Babylon.

Do not be cut off in her iniquity. Flee from the midst of Babylon. Let everyone deliver himself from the fierce anger of

Yehovah. Speaking of Babylon, Isaiah, go forth from Babylon. flee from the Calaldanss.

52 go out from the midst of her. Escape in Zechariah.

So over and over again, even in the days of the Old Testament, the prophets, they were being commanded to really go

nowhere near it. And we should understand that this is typology. The command to flee a literal city points

forward or toward the greater reality of Yah’s people coming out of the spiritual

system that she represents. The physical exodus from Babylon foreshadows a spiritual separation from every

authority, value, belief, and practice that stands in opposition to the kingdom of Yah.

But many of us have invented our own definition of what fleeing Babylon looks

like by adding requirements that scripture never gives. They’ve confused separation from Babylon’s

spiritual system with separation from society itself, creating a standard of holiness based on human tradition rather than the word of Yhovah.

Last week we talked about the Essenes.

We talked about the Pharisees mostly and briefly about the Essenes who separated themselves

not just spiritually but physically and not even participating in temple events

and basically created a holiness un and of themselves in order to escape the world or Babylon as as it were.

And I’m seeing it again today. People are still doing this. They still have this tendency to do this. So I ask the question, what is the difference?

Chapter 9: Fear versus reverence

What’s the difference between what? And I’m going to ask you brothers to answer this question.

What is the difference between what we fear and call evil and what the word calls evil and

commands us to fear? What we fear and call evil when it’s divorced from the

word is anything that is necessarily bad to those things that we desire the

comforts that we may desire. Not having air conditioning may be something that we think is bad.

So we’re talking raw if we’re talking hetraically which doesn’t necessarily mean evil. It it can encompass that but

not necessarily you know fear. If we’re talking pad you know and we’re not talking about the reverential fear that we have for the father then we’re

talking about those things that grips us that gives us anxiety that that keeps us up at night where we don’t trust in what

the the father’s ability and power to preserve us and to keep us. Um what the word calls bad are those things which

are contrary to Torah. those things which keep us closer to to the father.

And what the Torah tells us to fear is is the most high.

Yeah. I I mean listen um I am I am no in no way shape or form impuging the motives behind some of the things that

people began to do whether it was the Sadducees, the Pharisees or the Essenes.

There’s no doubt that just like us they had they began with good motives. There’s no question.

But at the end of the day, what we see everybody ending up doing is leaving the ancient path.

And that’s where those are the crossroads that we’re at today ourselves.

We need to make sure that we are able to recognize when we are or when we have left the ancient path and correct ourselves.

But thank you Samuel David any thoughts from you? Yeah, I think the difference between that is the standard and and how

the definition is reached, right? One is by human means which is driven by human

limitations, characteristics, thoughts and other influences which then causes a definition to be in

some cases either unclear uh sometimes contradictory versus God’s

standard right which is very clear is like you said a universal truth and is

unencumbered by other influences uh that could impact uh man’s definition of these things.

Yeah. So what’s the difference? What is the difference between what we fear and call evil and what the word calls evil

and commands us to fear? The difference is authority. One is defined by human opinion, tradition, culture, or personal conviction.

The other is defined solely by the word of Yhovah.

If scripture does not call it evil, neither should we. And if scripture does call it evil, we have no authority to

redefine it. We always mess this up historically. Every single one of us do have messed this up one way or the other.

Chapter 10: Things to fear and avoid

So, I thought it’d be fun to briefly look at what we’re commanded to actually fear and what we’re commanded not to

fear. This is interesting. What are we commanded not to fear? Man, those who can kill the body,

evil tidings, or bad news, the future. How many of you fear the future?

I’m tempted to, if I’m honest, knowing what I know is coming.

I’m tempted to be fearful of being alive during that time. And if I’m not alive, I’m fearful for my children.

If I’m honest, I’m tempted to be.

But we’re commanded not to be fearful of future. Famine, war, pestilence. Do we

have those in our world today? Every single day, don’t we? Fearing the nations or their gods.

Fearing idols. Do not fear idols. Fearing because of persecution.

Fearing when outnumbered.

Fearing in general because the father is with us.

Fearing death. How many of us fear death? I would dare say we all do to some level. But we’re commanded not to fear death.

And not to fear sudden terror. Not to fear sudden terror. What would that look like?

Something happening. a bomb going off in your life that was unexpected, not to fear that, to be at peace with

1. We know this. Psalm 23, “Yay, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you

are with me. Your rod and your staff, comfort me.” Psalm 91. You shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of

the arrows that fly by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in darkness, nor the destruction that lays waste at noon

day. So, these are the things that we are commanded not to fear. There’s a lot

of things that aren’t in this list that we do fear today, and we’re going to look at those in a second.

What about the things that we are supposed to fear? Samuel just said it. Fear Yah.

Fear his name. Fear his judgments. Fear his commandments.

Fear departing from him. Fear unbelief. Fear becoming complacent.

Fear him who can destroy the soul. Fear offending him through our disobedience.

Fear lest you fall after standing. Fear false teachers and deception. Fear his word.

There’s also a lot of things in here or I should say a lot of things not in here that we do fear.

So the contrast to me is obvious.

Scripture repeatedly tells us not to fear. Not to fear circumstances, governments, persecution, death, or the opinions of men. We did a whole lesson on this some months ago on fear.

Instead, our fear is to be directed toward Yah alone.

Biblical fear is not terror of Yahw in the sense of panic. Anything that dismisses our reverence for Yhovah or causes us to fear something else more

than him has displaced the fear that belongs to him alone. And as I said, as a people

historically, we have done this over and over and over again. And here’s where I’m going to

Chapter 11: Technology and modern idols

show you how. I asked this question, should we fear technology and where the

world is headed? I would like a brief answer from David and Samuel on this.

Should we fear technology and where the world is headed?

The the answer is no. We should not have a fear of technology and where the world is headed. So, I’ll just say that point blank.

Okay, David.

Yeah, I think we need to not focus on external circumstances and trust in Yoba that his will be done.

Consider this. Consider the days when Noah built an ark using advanced ship building techniques for his day. Now, we never stop and think about this.

What Noah built in building that ark was not only nothing the world had seen up

until that point, the reason for having such a structure was ludicrous.

And the instructions that came from heaven itself as to how to build it was

by far beyond any technology that man had known up until that point. This was

Noah’s AI. [laughter] If you think about it, it wasn’t artificial intelligence. It was divine

intelligence. He was getting the instructions in building the ark.

Bezazel and Holab used sophisticated craftsmanship, metallurgy, engraving, weaving, engineering to build the tabernacle.

Solomon employed massive techniques, massive projects, construction projects, supportive materials, used highly skilled craftsman to build the temple.

Daniel Daniel was in Babylon educated in their literature, language, and administrative sciences without compromising his faith.

I think Daniel’s a great example of what it means to come out of Babylon because he was in it up to his neck employing

the practices, the things that they do, using the tools that they used while not compromising his faith. And of course,

Ezra used official Persian decrees, government funding, and the empire empire’s transportation network

to return to Jerusalem. And of course, Paul, you know, he took advantage of the Roman road system, everything that Rome

had to offer, commercial shipping routes, using the common Greek language to spread the gospel.

We don’t see our fathers escaping the world that they were living in. They understood that coming out of Babylon

wasn’t so much about leaving a place or a city that it was refusing to bow the knee to the things that they bowed the

knee to while still being able to use the technologies that they had. Look at this image. Back in the 70s, I remember this. I was a kid, but I remember it.

People were terrified of barcodes, mainframe computers, social security

numbers, and banking. I remember the discussion on this stuff, thinking that it was all part of the beast, all part

of the antichrist ways, certainly social security numbers, and there must have been some hidden beastly code into

barcodes, right? We all remember this if you’re old enough.

And in the 80s it went from that to credit cards. Debit cards. I remember the talk about debit cards.

Surely we have entered the beast season now with debit cards. Some people refuse to use them. Cash only computer databases.

In the 90s it went to the internet. Oh boy. And now we’re in it. Now we’re truly in to the last days, you know,

with the internet and everything that it could be used to do and continues to be used to do. for both good and evil. But

there was an uproar amongst spiritual people back then. Don’t use the internet. That’s that’s devil’s that’s a

devil’s tool. Email, smart cards, GPS technology, cell phones, Y2K. Remember

that? [laughter] Remember the terror, the fear that were in so many people’s hearts and minds over Y2K.

Certainly, that’s when Jesus was going to come back, they said. And we move beyond to the 2000s. RFID chips, implantable microchips, biometric

passports, national ID cards, again, banking, digital commerce, and cryptocurrency in the 2000210s.

These things are surely the tools of the beast. And we cannot be using these things. We can’t be playing with these

things. Smartphones, Apple Pay, Google Pay, you name it.

contactless payment, facial recognition, and then AI started to creep up slowly in our smart devices.

Here we are in the 2020s and there’s COVID. There’s vaccine passports, there’s scanners and digital IDs and

fullon, full-blown artificial intelligence and brain computer interfaces. All this to say that we have a long history of fearing things.

We feared all of these if you’re old enough to remember.

And unfortunately, there are some who still fear them. We were convinced that they were tools of Satan, harbingers of

the end, or even the mark of the beast itself. Yet, one by one, those fears faded and were replaced by the next new invention.

The object of fear kept changing. The object of fear kept changing. But the word of Yhovah never did.

And that should cause us to ask an important question. Up to this point, have we been allowing scripture to define what Babylon is?

Or have we allowed our own fears to do it? And I think the answer to that question is flatly obvious just based on this screen alone.

Because I think if I was to allow every single one of you to share, if even for a moment, and you can when we’re done, by the way, but if I was to ask you to

do it now, you would all agree that yeah, we had some fears about these things in the past, and some still do. But I’m going

to make an important point about all this stuff here in a moment.

Chapter 12: Characteristics of Babylon

What is Babylon? Well, it’s important for us to know what Babylon actually represents

so that we can know what and how to flee or how to come out of her. The prophets

historically describe Babylon as characterized by a few things and I want to take a look at them. Pride and I’ve

given you the scripture references for those of you who would like to go back later and look at these things. What characterizes Babylon? First and

foremost, pride, idolatry, nothing new. We know this.

Sorcery, occult practices, luxury and self-indulgence,

oppression of Yah’s people, trust in wealth, trust in military

power, trust in your fighting horses. If you recall the story with David

and human wisdom instead of actually trusting in the father, how many of us do that now? How many of

you feel better or worse based on the numbers that are in your checking account?

I mean, be honest with yourself.

If your joy increases or decreases based on the digits in your bank

account, then you’re trusting in Babylon. Let that sink in for a little bit.

And John sees Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth. And what does he see? He sees

Babylon pictured as a worldwide religious, political and economic system, which is a deceiver of the nations,

a persecutor of the saints, a promoter of spiritual adultery, a source of luxurious living.

All these things are characteristic of Babylon, a place filled with unclean spirits.

But I want you to understand as far as we are into this lesson, the lesson isn’t about Babylon.

The lesson is about who has the authority to find Babylon. Spiritually, Babylon represents every system that competes with the authority of Yahw. It

offers an alternative source of truth, morality, blessing, identity, and security. But in our fear, we’ve decided what Babylon is, as I’ve said many times

already, and turned all these things into the devil. And this is the list again. All these things we’ve turned into the devil one way or the other.

We’ve turned all these things into the devil in the name of coming out of Babylon. And I I want to ask honestly, is this what Yeshua meant when he prayed

Chapter 13: The trap of false humility

in John 17? I have given them your word and the world has hated them because they are not of the world just as I am

not of the world. I do not pray that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them safe from the

evil one. They are not of the world just as I am not of the world. When Yeshua prayed these prayers, do you think this is what he had in mind?

This list and this slide that we had a moment ago was that they pull away from all of these things.

No, because that would that would be taking us out of the world. And that’s the one thing he said. I don’t pray that you should take them out of the world.

So my honest question is, is this what Yeshua meant? A when he prayed this prayer and B when he said what he said

in Revelation about coming out of Babylon or is this what we’re doing and you know

this verse? Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why is though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to this

regulations? Don’t touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men.

These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body,

but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Do you think it’s likely that for us in our world today, for

those of us who are trying to walk the path that this trap is also available for us to fall into? These things that

we do that have an appearance of wisdom, that have an appearance of holiness

in our self-imposed religion, which Paul says is nothing more than false humility.

Yeah, I do. I do think we’re capable of this.

And I think we’re doing it to some degree. Not all of us, of course.

But I am seeing it. I am feeling it. I am hearing it in the body. And if I’m honest, it scares me a little bit. So

what is Paul’s question when he writes what he wrote to the church in Kasai? If not, who told you that these things are

inherently evil? Why would he ask that question? Of course, that’s just my my idea. I don’t think he actually asked that question verbatim. But when he says

do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, but really the question is, if we’re going to stay unified with last week’s lesson, is who told you not to

touch, not to taste, not to handle. Who told you that these things are inherently evil?

Scripture certainly didn’t, unless it’s talking about actual things in Leviticus, not to touch, eat, or handle.

But that’s not what Paul’s talking about here. Not at all.

So, Ed, sounds like to me that you use AI. It’s obvious you do in your slides.

Yes, I do. I use it to remind me of certain verse locations when I can’t remember. Turning 60 this year. I’m getting old.

I use it to correct my grammar and spelling.

I use it to help me compile useful lists for my lessons.

Acting as a Bible scholar, it has corrected me several times with biblical proof when I presume something to be true or accurate.

It’s actually said, “Sorry, Ed. What you just said is not in Bible or not quite right.” I use it to rewrite my quote

unquote run-on sentences because grammar was never my strong suit. Just ask David Baronson, who edited my book. We spent

so many nights correcting my grammar and I obviously use it to create visually appropriate backgrounds for my slides such as the one you’re looking at now.

Before AI came around, I used the internet to do the very same things.

Before the internet, I used books and papers. And before that, I used encyclopedias and dictionaries. If AI is

inherently evil, then so are all of these.

But Ed, the beast will control AI in the end.

That’s what I hear. And of this, I have no doubt. But what we failed to realize is that the beast will not only control

AI, he will control all of it. He’ll have political control.

Does that mean we shouldn’t vote? He exercises authority over the nations.

He will have military control. Well, does that mean we shouldn’t serve in the military?

He will have economic control, commerce, worship, legal authority, and he will demand global allegiances.

There is nothing that the beast will not control. And yet, we prop these things

up, namely AI, as a tool of Satan, just like we did with the debit card, just like we did with the barcode. And

really, as I’ve said a hundred times, and I’ll say it again for good measure, now if you’re that person that has these

fears and you just decide to avoid barcodes and debit cards and AI, fine.

I I truly and honestly do not judge you.

And and I won’t challenge you on it besides trying to show you a biblical perspective of what Babylon actually is.

But I’m not going to call you out. I’m not going to I’m not going to rebuke you, but you have to flip that coin over and you have to agree not to challenge

me because I don’t join you in taking that position if it’s not in scripture.

And I think that’s what’s happening in our day. As I said either last week or the week before in my interview with

Luke Abathy, one of the comments was, “Oh, I used to love Ed so much until I heard he used AI. and now I just can’t

wash his stuff. And that’s a great example of what I’m talking about. We draw lines where lines are not supposed to be drawn.

We forego relationships andor fellowships over our opinions.

We all love Romans 14 where Paul talks about not standing in judgment over one another for matters of opinion.

But when it comes to ourselves, it’s usually a different story.

Chapter 14: Avoiding the Pharisee trap

Coming in for a landing here in case you’re wondering. So Colossians 2 asked the same question that we asked last week. Who told you that not touching

this or not tasting that or not handling the other makes you more holy?

Who told you that this is what c coming out of Babylon looks like? Sorry for the typo. What was Paul’s answer in Colossians 2? The commandments and

doctrines of men. And ironically, this is exactly how Babylon works.

It replaces the authority of Yahw’s word with another authority. Sometimes that authority is government. Sometimes it’s culture. Sometimes it’s religion.

Sometimes it’s tradition. And sometimes it’s just the individual who’s drawing that imaginary line that he or she

shouldn’t be drawing. But the result is always the same.

People draw lines that he never drew. In other words, building hedges around the

law. Babylon does not only teach people to disobey Yahw’s commands. It teaches people to invent their commands that

Yahw never gave. Remember Hava? He told us not even to touch that tree. Did he?

No. But they she invented that command really fast. One ignores his word. The other adds to it. both replace the

authority of Yhovah with the authority of man. And as a people called by his

name in 2026, we are not exempt from falling into the same patterns that have plagued God’s people throughout history.

We are just as capable of replacing his word with human traditions, allowing fear to redefine truth, elevating

personal convictions to the level of divine command, and creating standards of holiness that Yhovah never required.

Chapter 15: Closing thoughts and history

So in my closing comments, history has a repeat a way of repeating itself. When Yeshua came the first time, his greatest

opposition did not come from pagans. It came from religious people who sincerely desired to be set apart for Yahw, yet

went beyond his word. They built hedges around the Torah, elevated human conclusions to the level of divine

command, and then expected everyone else to submit to those conclusions as though they had come from Yahw himself.

And I fear and the reason that we’re having these lessons, we are watching history repeat itself. The messianic

movement, if you want to call it that, has been given a tremendous opportunity to return to the scriptures and to rediscover the beauty of Yhovah’s commandments.

But that opportunity also carries a warning.

If we begin drawing lines where Yavaha never drew them, if we begin binding consciences where scripture leaves

liberty, if we begin measuring holiness by our traditions instead of his word, then we have become the very thing that Yeshua rebuked.

The question before every single one of us is not whether we desire to be holy again.

I know our intentions are pure.

The question is whose definition of holiness will we embrace? Will you follow the written word of Yahw or will you add to it? Will you be known as one

who teaches his commandments or one who teaches your conclusions about his commandments?

Will you become another Pharisee building hedges and demanding conformity to your ideology?

Or will you walk in the freedom of simple obedience to everything Yhovah has actually said and nothing more?

History is repeating itself.

And my question for you this morning is, who do you want to be when Yeshua comes back? Do you want to be like the Pharisee

or do you want to be like the children that knelt at his feet, hanging on every word that he spoke?

That’s what I want us to be.

But if we’re not careful, brothers and sisters, history will repeat itself just like it’s done since the beginning of

time. And we will embrace the mindset, the heart, the religiosity

of the Pharisees who also began with good intentions. All right, guys. Well, as you know, those are my thoughts.

Chapter 16: Q&A and group discussion

Thanks for hanging with us with us today. I know it’s a an American holiday, so many people probably may not

be here, but I want to hear your thoughts, your two cents, your rebuttals, your rebukes,

all of them. Samuel, your hand is up first. Go ahead, brother. Shabbat shalom. Well, I want to see your face

again, man. All right, here we go. Just so I can get recorded by this AI so they can create those false images and have

me saying all types of ungodly things. I know what the plan is, brother Ed. But but

All right. So, Brother Ed, I’m I’m going to disagree with you slightly here, and it’s it’s not it’s not going to be a rebuke. Um but I want to give an

alternative discernment. I think there’s a difference between fearing technology and fearing

being in the world as opposed to discernment and being and choosing to being of the world. We are supposed to

be in the world but not of it. So that necessarily is going to bring us into contact with certain things. But I think it’s a mistake to think that these

things are neutral in any way, shape or form. Just to give you an example, the cell phones that we use,

when you think about the the slave labor that is involved in mining for some of

the essential things which are critical to the creation of the cell phones, there’s misery involved in that. So when

we desire to have the latest phone, the latest iPhone, the the latest whatever whatever iteration that there is, we’re

feeding into that. And then you add on to that the trickery of Babylon, which is intention doing the um plan obsolescence.

You think about vehicles. When they used to create vehicles, they would be sturdy and they would last almost indefinitely.

But then they did a car a a a cash for clunkers where they intentionally put in place a process in order to take all of

these old cars that were reliable, bring them in and had mechanics actually pour a type of silicone in the engines to

destroy it so they could not be used again. Why? because they want to implement ultimately their plan of having nothing but autonomous vehicles

that are completely controlled by a grid by an AI so they can control and track every movement. So it’s it’s not that we

are to fear but I I’ll give you a Bible verse that sums it up perfectly and this comes from um the book of Proverbs. It said and

this is the the complete Jewish Bible um translation. the clever see trouble coming and hide. The thoughtless go on and pay penalty. So when I read that,

what that means is this. It means that no, I’m not supposed to denounce and rebuke a fan. It’s hot in Chicago right

now. So yes, I want this fan blowing on me. I I love having cool. I love having the electricity. But I’m not I’m not so

simple that I don’t understand what’s going on that undergurs the system and supports it. And I recognize it in the

end that all of the rebellion and sin that goes into building the current system that we’re in, there’s a price to

pay. And those who partake of it, those who become enamored by it are going to also partake of everything that comes

with the downfall and the judgment ultimately. As for other brothers and sisters who see I don’t see a AI

technology being simple. I remember when AI was first coming online and I remember having a discussion with with with a with a friend of mine because I I

worked in technology and I was a developer and a system analyst and a business system analyst. So, I know some

things about technology, but I remember when AI was becoming a real thing and and the the the curious I I want to say

slightly fearful sensation that this man has seeing what AI was capable of because it because what we have now

basically LLMs, we have inference engines. But most people will tell you that when it comes to to things like Claude,

it’s a black box. meaning they know what goes in but they don’t understand the decisions that that comes out.

So there’s something else that’s going on that is not stoast sarcastic. It is dynamic. And what I suspect is that

there’s more to it. And when I think about coding now, I think in terms of what they used to do in the past in

terms of scrying and various um suggest

script that would be used in order to summon certain spirits and to get things to move in a certain way. It’s a type of

devonation. Someone actually called it technommancy.

And I think there’s something technommancy. You said technommancy. So you’re using technology in order to discern the truth that

you’re not able to glean from the set aart spirit or get from direct study yourself. Now I’m not saying that there’s a problem with with having technological aids.

It’s always helpful, but it’s never a replacement for the ruach hakadesh.

If it’s not coming from if it’s not coming from the ruach, it’s a problem.

And when you rely on technology in order to guide your study and to feed you truth, that’s when you’re opening up yourself to the deception that is going

to come. So I don’t I don’t I don’t judge my brothers and sisters with respect to their decisions to use technologies to leverage them. My

question will always be this. What is your purpose?

So are you serving mammon or are you serving the most high? Are you taking the the whatever script that you have,

whether it’s cash, whether it’s, you know, some type of fiat currency, whether it’s a debit card, whether it’s

a credit card, are you using that to help maintain yourself, to take care of the orphans and the widows, and to do

kingdom business, or are you just concerned about your own well-being? Are you just concerned about your own comfort? There’s a difference because

you know in the end that when it comes time to make the choice, you’re gonna have to give up that access to AI

because you’re going to have to do certain things in order to get it. I know right now Tesla is working on um or

Elon Musk is compiling something called Neurolink where he’s placing computer chips inside people’s head. What what what setup

person is going to sign up for that,

[laughter]

right? Who who needs Google glasses so they can see and discern every aspect of of a person’s life when you just walk down the street and that information

being fed to people who are living in other nations in Kenya in India and all these other nations who don’t get to

choose when they take a break who don’t get to choose when they can go to the bathroom there is there the what is what

is the engine for this is a wicked engine and again it doesn’t mean that you ought to spurn it and despise it and

rebuke it and say that you know all of it is is is the but there is a undergurting evil that takes part in all

of this and is definitely wrapped inside of the health care system. There’s a difference between the rod of esclapius

and the rod of kaducus. If you don’t know what that is, take a time and look at it. A lot of people in the medical field are operating with the rod of

Kadus, the rod of Hermes with the two snakes intertwined over it with the wings on top. So, it’s about commerce.

It’s about trickery. It’s not about health and healing. The rod of Escapius is different and is reminiscent of the

of the of the rod that Moses put up, I believe, in the book of Numbers with the serpent where the children of Israel had

to look upon it for healing and then that was turned into an idol itself. So, all I’m saying is I I don’t judge my

brothers and sisters who leverage technology, but I’m saying, you know, Yeshua himself said um in the in the

testimony of Luke, when you see the soldiers surrounding the city of Jerusalem, flee. Mhm.

When when when the Messiah tells you run, when he tells you come out of her, my people, you better give that careful

consideration and don’t just spiritualize it and understand that if you have the opportunity to draw yourself out and to

be self- sustaining to the to the to to the to your to the to the greatest extent possible and in connection with other believers who can bring their

gifts to bear within a community where you can feed feed each other, where you can create your own clothing,

where you can, you know, engage in righteous commerce, where you don’t have to wait two weeks to get paid.

If you have the opportunity, take advantage of it. Not all of us will have that opportunity. Some of us will be stuck in these cities and you will have to deal with that. And when you have to

choose between losing your life or following Messiah, you’ll have to make that choice. That’s all I have to say, brother. Thank you for allowing me to share.

All right. Amen, brother. Thank you. I didn’t feel a kickback so much as you just articulated things a little bit better than I did. And uh for the record, I want to make one comment. Uh

you said something about neutral and that kind of goes along with something that Janine said in chat that I want to

kind of touch on. No, I don’t think these things are neutral. Janine said, what did she say? Uh AI was created by people with an agenda. Is that true?

Yes. Yes, it’s true.

Um but but everything in our world has been created by people with an agenda.

Everything in our world has been heading towards the beast’s arrival

and in one sense preparing the world for the beast’s arrival.

That’s unavoidable. We have zero control over that. Right? These things are prophesied.

So yes was AI created with an agenda. So was the internet. So was email. So were

iPhones. So was any technology created with an agenda.

And I think Samuel did a fantastic job of articulating this. These things aren’t necessarily neutral because of that reality.

But does that mean we shouldn’t be using them? We it. In my humble opinion, if a

person says, “I’m not going to use AI, but they’re going to use the internet or they’re going to pull up Google on their iPhone,” that’s a double standard,

right? The iPhone or the internet is just one lower level of AI, right? It’s just another version,

a less intelligent version of AI. So, the question is where do you draw the line? Well, I think it has to come down to personal conviction.

If a person says, “I don’t want to you use AI because of A, B, and C,” fine.

Amen. Again, this lesson wasn’t so much about Babylon as it was about the things

that we try to impose on each other, the personal convictions that we try to push on each other in in this regard. Uh, let’s see. Williams up next.

Shalom.

Shalom. Well, there was there was a lot here.

Um, I don’t agree with a lot of it because um I know for us, we’ve spent

years coming out of a lot of the things that people can still rely on, you know, being in the

big city, all the conveniences and all that stuff. And um AI

I do the least amount as possible. I’m very familiar with AI. I’ve been in was in the IT field for 35 years. So I know

in depth what their plan is and you know where it is now, where it’s going. And

um the goal they state on their website, you know, you can pick whichever brand

or version, their goal is to they cannot do anything but imitate human thought, emotion, and feeling.

So if we’re feeding AI and you know, I do Google searches or whatever, but I try to keep them as basic as possible

just to get the information that I need and then move on. Um, I’m not going to share my intimate like quiet times or

something like that because I feel like what the father is giving us, you know, the pearls, we’re not going to cast it to swine. And that’s this beast system

is that um because there is an agenda and you know the father is not going to

reveal his deep secrets to those who are not coming out

and um Hezekiah so because he opened up his armory and like here’s everything you

know and what what did the sovereign of Babel. He came and took everything. So, you know, there’s that. But

interestingly enough, you know, we all we all have, you know, our our place in this life to seek, you know, the father’s path, the father’s path.

And, you know, it all stems comes down to the heart. You know, in Hebraic thinking, the heart is not just like an

organ that pumps the blood. It’s not our feelings or our emotions. It’s who we are. What do we choose to do?

And this is important because if we’re faced with something, we can

choose to either participate or not and good or evil. And uh it’s an

interestingly we read the Torah portion every week because that’s what the father tells us to do is to live on his

word. And in Acts 15, you know, that was the expectation is that you know the people were going to hear the Torah every Shabbat.

So there’s two things and I’ll just keep it real short. Numbers 15, this was a couple of weeks ago, the Torah portion.

Basically, if someone sins by mistake, there’s mercy. There’s there’s an avenue

for mercy. 1522 through 29. And if someone is defiant, you know, that breaks the Torah

defiantly, then there’s no mercy. That’s numbers 15:30.

So, we always in everything have to go back to the word and what does the word say? not what I feel like it says, but

everything is confirmed by two or three witnesses.

And so with purpose, you know, I always go back to the word and look for the two or three witnesses,

not just take one thing here. One what we’ve experienced over time is that you see a lot of these teachers, they’ll

pick out the things that they want and that’s the things that they’re going to portray.

Well, what that does is that you’re twisting or adding or removing from

scripture. And you know, there’s a bunch of scriptures about that.

But the important thing is that at the end, I’m going to have to face Yahw.

And you know, I’ll be judged by the commands, the word. So for me

and I I’ve taken responsibility of my wife because I’m her head, Yeshua is my head and Yahw is his head. We have that

in scripture. So if my wife makes a decision that I don’t agree with, you know, I need to communicate that to her

and not agree with that if it’s not in correct standing because I have the responsibility and that’s going to fall on me. her blood is on my hands.

But if I give her my direction and she rebelss against that, then that’s on

her. It’s it’s like, you know, it’s like the one who it’s the watchman. The

watchman sees the the sword coming and he doesn’t warn the people, then the people’s blood is on his hands. But if

he sees the sword coming and he warns them and they don’t listen, then their blood is on their own hands. So

we all have choices to make and we have to do what the father’s calling us to do because

and we have to get confirmation in his word. And that’s why anytime I’m in a setting where I’m in a teaching setting

from someone else, you know, I always have to go back and confirm things in the word and I have to make a decision

and that’s going to fall on me. So anyway, Amen, brother. Thank you. I appreciate your insights as usual. Uh, okay. Jim

Jim is up. You got to change that name, Jim. I’m gonna start calling you Katherine.

Okay. Well, I’ve actually uh speaking to that um I’ve tried emailing

um finding the ancient path from my email uh like two or three times and

I’ve never gotten a reply. I was my hope was Are you doing it through the website? Yeah.

Yeah. So that’s right. Contact just so you know guys, not just for Jim, but um uh I was contacted just recently,

yesterday or the day before by one of the website guys who says who told me that there were a handful of emails that the system

put in a box and categorized it as possible spam and I I never got them. Uh so please be patient on that stuff. Um,

if you want, I can give you Jim my direct email. It’s it’s real simple.

I’ll just text it to you or or put it in the chat here. I’ll just do that real quick because the chat doesn’t go out to the internet.

U, but I’ll put it there so everyone can have it. And Jim, I think you’re also on the list. You’re on the list that goes out every week, right?

Well, my email directly. Yeah, you’re you’re um sending your messages to my

wife’s um email and um so I’m just linking to you from Katherine. Gotcha.

And um that’s you know I I was intending to get a link from you uh through my email address and I’ll come up as Jim

whenever that happens. But um in the meantime, I was just going to chime in

along with uh Samuel and uh speak to humanity’s ancient problem with

forbidden knowledge. Um you know, this has cropped up again and again. And I was going to mention an ancient midrash

that uh comes from southern house uh Judaism. I think more from their cobalistic tradition of, you know, book of Jasher, book of Enoch type stuff.

Um, speaking to the tower of of Babel that why would you build a tower reaching into heaven from the valley of

Shinar? And so the thought is there that they had actually um discovered pre flood

um a glyph a pyramid or not a pyramid but a pillar that was instructions uh

pre flood technology that would allow them to uh pierce the veil. And so uh

that seems to be why they or that’s anyhow that that’s that’s Jewish midrash or discussion on why would they select

this valley to build a tower when there were mountains available. If you wanted to pierce the heavens why would you start from such a low place. So, anyhow,

I was just going to um introduce that um to support uh the idea that we’ve always

had a problem with technology and the fallen watchers introduced to humanity the ideas that would make us more

destructive to ourselves um you know, warfare and makeup. You know, [laughter] it’s like that’s an interesting

juosition, but it was introduced to us um I believe through one of the uh the angels. I forget his name, but Aazil.

Aazil, that’s what I thought. Um, but it it corrupts masculine [clears throat] strength as well as feminine strength.

Um, you know, strength and beauty, the the two sides of the coin that are um depicted by humanity through masculinity and femininity.

Uh but I was just going to um say that this latest iteration of

forbidden technology uh is something that we need to be mindful of and um very cautious when we’re

getting into things like like AI. And as you said, Ed, um you know, go with the spirits leading. if you, you know, if

you’re feeling warned or, you know, hesitant, then, you know, follow that.

But, yeah, we’re we’re we’re getting into a a gray zone where, you know, the the the tower of Babel is being reversed

through AI. The the curse that Yah sent into humanity to break language is now being reversed through this later latest

latest iteration. We’re we’re able to talk to each other now through AI. It doesn’t matter what language you speak.

you’ve got apps on your phone that will interpret any of the spoken languages.

And so we can now breach um the the wall that God put in place to prevent us from

achieving just anything through our own creativity and our own power that’s apart from Yahw. So you know that this

is where I see us in in terms of humanity, [clears throat] you know, awakening a life force that we see in Revelation 13 that’s not biological.

It’s numa. It’s it’s thought. It has ambition. It has will, but it’s not connected to um

it’s not connected to what we would call biology. It’s connected to something else. So, I I think AI fits the role of

that awakening entity. And that’s my my speculation on it. And so, it’s something that we have to be very careful. And and I was just going to throw that into the discussion.

I love it. I love your perspective about Babylon being recreated in these later days. I think that’s absolutely true.

And for the record, will there be a time when I’ll stop using all forms of of AI, whether it be the internet or AI or

Yeah, I think that time is coming for a lot of us when we when when it’s completely obvious to all that this

stuff is no longer just a tool. Now it’s become a major part of of what the beast will do when he arrives. So yeah, I

think we’ve seen I I I don’t know if we’ve all seen, but I’ve seen on the internet uh somebody I can’t remember who it was uh explaining the three

levels that AI has. And the third one is the one that’s really going to be a a big issue, right? Where they try to

recreate the human um a human in kind of the AI’s image or the other way around. So yeah, that time

is is quickly coming for sure, but I appreciate your perspective. Christine, you’re up next.

Yeah, I just wanted to add in maybe it’s um repetitive since this is something that I talked about a couple weeks ago.

Um but like you said, Ed, and I agreed with everything that you shared that um Yahw didn’t leave us up to ourselves to

define what evil is. Uh but I would say that over time and through our evolution

and we continued to make choices that normalized evil. We started to embrace evil and now it’s become part of our

societies, our laws, our rules, all of these things. And the bigger question like you posed is how do we live in

these societies and still resist Babylon and still survive and function? And I

would suggest that it’s we take our thoughts captive and we demonstrate

discernment and we monitor our choices and we make sure that we don’t allow

these modern um things that we’ve come to become normal in our society to be

used in our hearts as modes of evil evil. So I suggest that it’s we

recognize where cultural norms and God’s definition of evil

come together and through our own thinking and our own ability to choose in

discernment is how we’re thinking in alignment with Yahw’s commandments um as

we use these modern as we live in Babylon essentially.

And so that’s what I wanted to add is that it really does come down to

our our minds, how we view it, how we think it, how we perceive it, and does

that perception align with God’s commands?

Amen. Thank you, Christine. Brother Maxwell, you’re up next.

Yeah, I think Christine, she almost stole my thunder on this because she she headed down a pathway that I I intend to

travel as well here. And it comes back to who is sitting on the throne of your heart?

What is your true desire? Is it for self gratification, glorification, and comfort? Or is it to serve the father?

Are you actually praying for and exercising discernment?

And I in in the chat I even brought up a rock by itself is not inherently evil.

Yet it was the object that was used to commit the first murder.

This meeting that we’re on right now has AI running in the background.

You cannot drive down the road without being captured by AI by these flock cameras that are not only reading your tags, but they’re they’re reading the electromagnetic spectrum around you.

They can tell if you have your phone, what kind of phone, whether you’re texting. Technology is out there. You cannot escape it. That’s the reality that we live in.

But are you praying to the father? Are you walking with the ruach? What is the

intent of your heart as far as how you’re using these tools, when you’re using them, and when you decide to pull

out? Because as Samuel brought up much earlier, that was the original intent behind the Essenes,

are you going to go just do a broad brushstroke and completely wipe out all of this? Because you have to walk away from everything and that puts you

squarely back in the wilderness by yourself. How do you find other like-minded believers? I know where I live, there’s a lot of them, but they’re still on the Jewish side of the fence.

They’re still on the Christian side of the fence. You know, there’s still a lot of errant doctrine that are still being brought into their daily walk. So, how

do you find true community with people that are like-minded? If you are foregoing everything that we’re using to connect to each other

when you’re by yourself, how do you stay on the path if you don’t have disciplehip?

I know for me, my disciplehip community is scattered all over the world.

I don’t have brothers locally that I can enter into true disciplehip with to help make sure that I am accountable to

somebody other than myself and my perceived perspective of what the ruach is telling me cuz I can go astray very quickly.

I’ve done it too many times in my life.

I think there’s a careful balance between using the tools as tools and depending on them as a lifestyle.

Amen. Now, that was fantastic, brother.

I appreciate you. David, you’re going to be up in the next in a second, but I want to just respond to uh to what

Richard said. Um, and ironically enough, something that Janine said again, Janine, you’re batting a thousand today

in the comments. Um, am I saying in this lesson that we should just all embrace AI?

Heck no. I’m not saying that at all. I’m not saying that we should just open ourselves up to all this stuff. No, I if

that’s what you heard, then I did a poor job of communicating.

That’s not what I’m trying to say. I’m trying to say basically what Richard just said. [laughter] He said it better

than I could. Janine in her comment talked about this uh language tool that’s used even today. You can download

an app on your phone called Babel. And it’s a it’s a language. It’s a tool, an app that teaches the language.

It’s obvious to all of us who are paying attention that the world is headed in one direction,

right? That’s obvious to us all. Um, is

a debit card by itself evil? No.

Can we use it for evil? Yes.

Is it’s it’s the it’s the firearm. And I know I’m going to I don’t want to start up a I don’t want to start a a fire here where it doesn’t belong.

Don’t go there. Don’t go there. The firearm, it’s Is it in and of itself, is it evil? No. Can it be used for evil?

Yes. My truck that I drive every day, is it evil? No. Can I use it for evil? Yes.

Is the internet evil? No. Can I use it for evil? Yes. These things, these

technologies aren’t inherently evil of themselves, but what Richard said, we

can make all of it evil. We can we can turn all of these things into an evil reality in our lives. And as I said, in the future, the beast will own it all.

He’ll control it all.

But my ultimate point this morning, just to make sure I’m very clear, isn’t that I’m telling you to embrace all these

things. That’s not the point at all. The point is we have to let scripture define evil. And we have to let scripture

define what coming out of Babylon looks like instead of enforcing what our personal beliefs are in this regard

being compelled on other people. That’s my ultimate point. And I hope I’m making that clear. David, you’re you wanted to share.

I did and you stole half of what I was going to share. Sorry about that.

No worries. No, it’s an important message and I think it, you know, I think we’re in the same mind when it comes to this specifically. Um I was

going to say share like Richard said earlier, you know, a stone in itself is not evil, but it yet it was used as the first weapon in the same way that stone could be used to build shelter, right?

In the same way that Ed was saying, the technology in itself, it’s not evil.

It’s what people choose to do with that technology which then leads to evil acts

and and impacting in a negative way people. And that’s that’s the crux of it, right? A lot of these technologies

that were developed were developed with good intentions.

uh however once they become available to people who don’t share those same good intentions that’s where things fall off

the rails right um so I just wanted to to keep that in mind I think that we’re all talking here we it’s been mentioned

several times we all have to exercise uh discernment uh in terms of what we’re doing I think

I want to cautious us it’s becoming even more important this day and age to be discerning, but it’s getting to the

point, and I’m not a bit I’m not I’m not big on conspiracy theories and things of that nature about, you know, there’s this evil agenda behind the scenes. Um

uh but as I said, you know, people will take advantage of technology for evil agendas, but it’s getting to the point, well, it’s actually at the point right

now that we uh that the technology is

at the level where it can cause us to get addicted to it, right?

It can influence behavior. And there’s even lawsuits going on right now about the responsibility of Google and

Facebook and Meta and all those things in terms of how they uh are built in a way that manipulates and causes people

especially young you know youth to do different actions including taking their own lives, right? And so my point is as

much as we have to be careful not to rely on our own strength and ability because it can be outside of our

ability. The fact that you feel like you have to pick up your phone every single minute is because of the way these things are designed to,

you know, to to get you to look at them all the time so you get more exposure, etc. All that to say is that all the

more reason why at this point in time we need to make a decision to set our eyes

on God, on Yeshua, and to focus on his word all the time. Test everything back

to the word. Let that be the key influence of everything that you do and everything that you think. uh because

it’s becoming harder and harder to exercise that level of discernment uh in technology today.

Amen.

Brother, may I just share one quick thing be before I leave. I I just I just want to say this.

If if you do careful reading, it is abundantly clear that that there is See, we call things a conspiracy. We say conspiracy theory. We don’t know the

history of these terms where they came from and what they were meant to do.

That term was coined by the Central Intelligence Agency in order to to be dismissive of those individuals who are suspicious or have leaked information

with respect to certain things that go on behind the scenes in order for there to be a conspiracy in order for there to be for people to conspire to breed

together to plot together. It doesn’t take a great number of people. It’s amazing how much damage you can do with a small number of people who are in very

influential and and powerful places. It don’t take a lot. and then everybody underneath are just following orders and doing their jobs, it doesn’t take much.

So what what I’m saying is this.

If you if you look deeply at the literature and you look at what’s happening with a lot of the think tanks and worldwide organizations, even when

you talk about the United Nations, there are luciferian aspects to the United Nations that a lot of people aren’t aware of.

You have to do the searching to find it.

When you think about the technology, a lot of the readings that the people who work in the technology field, the the so-called titans of technology like your

Jared, your Jared Lar lanyard and and others, they read occult books. They get

oult knowledge and they read books on psychology to incorporate within what they do is meant to be addictive. It’s meant to feed into

narcissism. is meant to put us within silos and separate from each other and create echo chambers for particular

purposes. The algorithm is never neutral. It’s not. So my thing is if you

dig enough and you’re actually looking, you will find some things that would truly disturb you.

It’s not the world that you think it is. The world is a show.

There are a lot of characters and what the father does is he brings us into the light and what he does is exposes us the truth.

So we come we come out of that darkness and the shadows and the games that are played and we are to see things plainly

and understand yes I know that the world is defiled. And when you talk about stones and rocks a stone and a rock is

one thing but a stone which is fashioned by human hands is something completely different. and it’s unfit to build an altar in order to to worship and to sacrifice to Yahovah.

So it’s not that rocks are just neutral. No.

So you know again if you do your history, you do your search, you’ll find some interesting things. It’s a fascinating world and it doesn’t mean

that you are to be um scared by it. is is not an invitation for you to be

overly anxious about. No, it’s for you to be informed.

Don’t be ignorant in things small or great.

So to the degree that you can arm yourself with information so you can make informed choices that align with Torah, that is what helps. But when you

walk around blindly, uninformed, and not able to discern properly, you create a problem for yourself that can

lead you into darkness. So don’t fear, but discernment has to be prayed for, and it has to be exercised.

Amen. Thank you, Samuel. Okay, we’re going to have Allan and Stacy share as the last folks because we’re running long, guys. And I knew these these three

weeks would probably run long, so it’s okay. But let’s have uh let’s hear from Alan and Stacy.

Hey guys, I’m Stacy. I’ve never popped in before. So, great to have you.

Thank you. Um I just I don’t have any deep knowledge. I just wanted to share my experience. Um just in my growth in

reading his word and I’ve used AI to help me to kind of point me in directions or I’ll think of a verse but I can’t think about exactly where it is.

So, I use it in that ways. But my my small encouragement would be that when I feel like AI has led it, it’s great and

I can go deeper in the word with it. But but what I’ve noticed is that when I truly just have his word and he leads

me, it’s so much it’s like it’s so special. It’s so so different. So, you know, I’m with the

AI use it, but there’s just no substitute for just you and him in the word. Amen. Which is what William was saying. Yes, I agree.

Did you want to add anything, Alan?

Um, no. I I agree. Um, I I I agree with both perspectives. I believe it’s just the heart posture that’s the the driving

factor. What What is your heart and and what you’re doing and why? Yes. Amen.

Well, amen, guys. Hey. Wow. Don’t you love having these spicy conversations, these crazy topics? Next week we’re

going to talk about Torah is liberty and that should be fun. But I so appreciate all of your thoughts and everything that

you shared. Uh all the agreements, all the disagreements, that’s what family is all about. And you know, for all of you

who disagree with me, I love you. I’m not going to judge you. I’m not going to be mad at you. I’m not going to not call on you anymore. No, I want to hear

everybody. It’s just awesome. But I hope you have a fantastic rest of your Shabbat. I don’t know if you celebrate

Fourth of July or not. If you do, have fun. Here in the city that I live in, uh the city puts on uh a show a week

before, I don’t know why, a week before the 4th of July. So for us, it’s kind of already come and gone even though it’s

it’s today. But have a fantastic weekend. We’ll come back together next week and talk about Torah being Liberty.

Shabbat shalom guys. I love you all. Shabbat shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Shalom. Shabbat shalom. Shalom.

Shalom. Shalom. Yeah. Stay safe. From the Czech Republic.

Shalom. Shalom.

Shabbat shalom from the great white north.

Shabbat shalom.

about shalom family from the east coast. [laughter] So get your face back in there, babe.

And all right, guys. Be good. Have a good day, everyone.