The church is not only the people of God, but also the wife of Christ. Christ is both our God and our husband. With respect to Christ as our God, we must worship Him and Him alone. Anything we have besides Him is an idol. But with respect to the Lord as our husband, the church must not be involved with any other man. If a woman is involved with many men, she commits fornication. In the Bible idolatry and fornication are linked together. According to Numbers 25, when the Moabites induced the children of Israel to commit fornication, the Israelites fell into idolatry also. When Solomon committed fornication by taking hundreds of wives and concubines, “his wives turned away his heart after other gods” (1 Kings 11:4). Furthermore, the church in Thyatira, a prefigure of the Roman Catholic Church, was involved with both fornication and idolatry (Rev. 2:20). Every idol is an illegal husband. The Lord is our unique God and our only husband. Apart from Him, we must not have any other. Rather, we should be a chaste virgin espoused to our one husband (2 Cor. 11:2). To love something in place of the Lord is to practice idolatry.
In the eyes of God denominational names, such as Lutheran and Episcopalian, are deplorable. My wife is rightly called Mrs. Lee. However, suppose she bears a name tag that says, “Mrs. Smith.” Although she tells people that she is Mrs. Lee, she continues to wear this name tag wherever she goes. This surely would cause confusion. And to me, her husband, it would be a great insult. I would say to her, “What are you doing? Are you not my wife? Since you are my wife, why do you wear the name tag saying that you are Mrs. Smith?” Suppose she answered, “Certainly I am your wife, and my name is Mrs. Lee. Don’t pay any attention to this name tag. It doesn’t mean anything. I wear it simply for the sake of convenience.” Although we may consider denominational names a convenience, they are actually marks of fornication. Why do you bear the name of Luther? Do you belong to him? Is Luther your husband? Why do you bear the name Episcopalian or Methodist? Are these the names of your husband? A name means a great deal. Do not try to excuse yourself by saying that denominational names are some kind of convenience. This is subtle. In the eyes of the Lord every denomination commits fornication because it takes a name other than the name of Jesus Christ. In Revelation 3:8 the Lord Jesus commended the church in Philadelphia for not denying His name. But all denominations deny the Lord’s name. At least they take another name along with His name. This is a very serious matter.
Look at today’s situation in Christianity. There is division, confusion, fornication, and idolatry. The daughters of the great prostitute are those involved with these things. Those who are still in division and confusion and who commit fornication are part of the daughters of the prostitute. Our age is very dark. Under the light we see things clearly, but in the darkness nothing at all can be seen. Most Christians today are in darkness. Because they are in darkness, they can be involved with division, confusion, and fornication without having any consciousness of it. Their senses have been drugged. They commit fornication without any awareness of what they are actually doing. How desperately they need to be enlightened. Today the Lord is speaking. Through His speaking, He shines upon us. In these days we all are under His enlightening. After reading this message, you will not be able to say that you are not clear about division, confusion, fornication, and idolatry.
In the previous message I pointed out that to ask a person what church he belongs to is to ask a divisive question. As long as you are in a division, you are in Babylon. But we in the Lord’s recovery hate division and confusion. Whenever I meet a brother, I am satisfied to discover that he is a genuine believer. Once I know that he is truly a brother in the Lord, I would never question him further to find out whether he is a Baptist, a Presbyterian, or a Methodist. To ask such a question is to be divisive. We are not divisive. We love all Christian brothers no matter whether they are Presbyterian, Baptist, Lutheran, Methodist, or Episcopalian. I am not a Methodist. If I were a Methodist, I would ask a brother whether or not he is a Methodist. If he were a Methodist, then I would love him. But we are neither Methodists, nor members of any other denomination. Rather, we are simply Christians. Instead of being divisive, we love all our brothers, including those in the Catholic Church who are truly saved.
We are all-inclusive, and we love all our brothers. If I were to ask a brother whether or not he speaks in tongues, it would indicate that I either oppose tongue-speaking or favor it. If I oppose speaking in tongues, I would desire to find out if others speak in tongues. If they do, I would condemn them. This is divisive. But if I favor speaking in tongues, I would also want to find out if others speak in tongues. If they do, I would love them because I am in favor of speaking in tongues. This also is divisive. We do not care whether or not a brother speaks in tongues. We care for him simply because he is a Christian brother. We are not divisive, but all-inclusive. Whenever you ask questions to find out where a brother is, you are being divisive. In the local churches we do not search out people to find out where they are. Rather, we embrace all Christians. We embrace those who speak in tongues and those who do not, those who wear long hair and those who have short hair. We embrace Presbyterians, Lutherans, and even Catholics. We receive every genuine believer. How wrong it is for any to condemn us for being narrow-minded! On the contrary, we are broad-minded.
After reading these messages concerning Babylon, you may be tempted to condemn others for being in Babylon. I encourage you never to do this. Do not go to your relatives and friends in the denominations and tell them that they are in Babylon. Be careful not to do this.