Every apostle of the Lord who has a ministry from God, who has received the revelation of the Lord Jesus Christ and has received a commission from Him, probably will have in his life one, or perhaps many, Judases. In II Corinthians chapter 11, the apostle Paul tells us about his. There were many who opposed him; false apostles and prophets came through the churches which he had labored to establish with great suffering and sacrifice. These false apostles would even smite the people on the face and take advantage of them. They were also very commercial; they saw to it that they left with a great deal of money from the people.
In order to counteract this, Paul refused to take any money from these churches in Greece. After he had been with them, he wrote to the church at Corinth, I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you; and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so. As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia. Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do! But what I am doing, I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting. In other words, these were claiming to be apostles. Paul said, “I must stop this.”
For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.
For you, being so wise, bear with the foolish gladly. For you bear with anyone if he enslaves you, if he devours you, if he takes advantage of you, if he exalts himself, if he hits you in the face. To my shame I must say that we have been weak by comparison. (Paul is being somewhat sarcastic.) But in whatever respect anyone else is bold (I speak in foolishness), I am just as bold myself. II Corinthians 11:8–15, 19–21.
The Judases seem to be perennial; they spring up in every generation. There always seems to be someone who tries, by the inspiration of Satan, to discredit that which God is doing. A Judas can bear false witness against Christ by misconstruing the actions and teachings of Christ; but remember, it is always for a price. There must be an ulterior profit motivation in order for a Judas to exist.
In this day, many people will come forth and betray what God is doing in the earth. They will speak evil against the Kingdom of God and against the Living Word which is actually the truths of the Gospel of the Kingdom. How will they do this? They will say, “We have the right of free speech. We can say anything we want to against this teaching.” That is true, for how will we be able to go to a court of law and declare, “This is a revelation; this is a truth from God”? By innuendos, these individuals will use the right of free speech to distort and try to destroy the truth that God is bringing forth.
This is a time of which Christ prophesied, saying that false prophets would come (Matthew 24:11). It is time for the Judases to come forth again. Christ said that a time would come when the deception would be so great that people would kill you and think they had done God a favor (John 16:2). Imagine that! He said that if it were possible, false prophets would deceive the very elect (Matthew 24:24). One of the favorite tricks of the enemy’s workers is to attribute to God’s servants the same evil motivation that is in their own heart.
I have been doing a little study and research on what has taken place in the government, and the analysis of this corruption is very interesting. Billions of dollars are being misappropriated and spent. The government is reluctant to prosecute any member of its own bureaucracy, and very few of its agencies actually walk with integrity as servants of the people. All of these situations show evidence that there is a conspiracy of wicked people to attribute to God’s people the evil in their own heart. A man of lust will attribute to a man of God the lust in his own heart. A man of greed will attribute to a man of God the greed in his own heart. We tend to judge others on a basis of our own faults, rather than by a true analysis of what is in our brother and sister. Judases are the same way. The media too tends to do that. It would be good to abide by the following principle: Before anyone can ever make a criticism of another, he should have to show willingness to exhibit his own life.
Make it a rule never to speak evil of anyone until you have accomplished as much good as he has done. The ones who make many mistakes are often those who try the hardest to do the most good. A famous line from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar says, “The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.” Because of the wickedness of their own heart, people often have a morbid willingness to condemn others. Religious people, especially, tend to be critical. The sin which they bury in their own heart they are quick to condemn in another.
Paul had to stand against the false apostles who opposed him. They were out for the money, and they accused him of being desirous of money also. There was only one way to disprove that accusation. He preached the gospel without any cost or charge to the people (II Corinthians 11:7–9). When our critics accuse us of having a big religious empire and being worth a large amount of money, let them get a balance sheet and see what the worth really is. Then let us take a look at theirs. Let us see how much money they receive from the articles they write or the television broadcasts they bring which condemn what God is doing in the earth. Let us see where they stand. Let us have a look at their own private lives too. An old adage advises: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” That saying is not in the Bible, but the principle is expressed in other words: “Judge not, lest you be judged” (Matthew 7:1). Judgment, which begins at the house of the Lord (I Peter 4:17), will fall upon the man who has stood against the righteous, whom he has condemned for the things he is guilty of himself. He accuses the righteous of that which does not exist.
In the New Testament, Judas is called “the man of sin, the son of perdition” (II Thessalonians 2:3). The word for perdition in the Greek is apoleia. It is also translated “destruction, damnation, pernicious ways, damnable, perish, to die.” It is significant that Judas is called the son of perdition in John 17:12. II Thessalonians 2:3 speaks of what we call “the man of sin” coming forth in the end time, and again he is called the son of perdition or the son of destruction.
It is interesting that Judas himself used this same Greek word, apoleia (Mark 14:4). Mark 14:1–11 tells of Jesus’ visit to the home of Simon the leper in Bethany. While He was there, a woman anointed Him with some very expensive ointment. When Judas saw the precious ointment poured on Christ, he said, “Why was this waste of the ointment made?” The word for “waste” is apoleia, the same word which also means perdition, damnation, destruction. In effect, Judas was saying, “Why damn and destroy all of this valuable wealth on Jesus?”
Judas is a son of perdition. He wants to destroy anything he cannot convert into cash in his pocket. Judas always has a problem with true values. Whenever you find problems in a church between a pastor and the people, the problem usually is one of true values. Is the pastor looking after the sheep? Or is he calling in appraisers to evaluate the barn or sheepfold in which they are kept? Which is the most valuable in his sight—the barn or the sheep? Will he lock the sheep out so that he can try to keep the barn, or else convert the barn into cash in his bank account? Will he go to a court of law and defy every Christian principle in order to take every dime he can get from the house of God, claiming, “I was the shepherd; therefore, I am entitled to all of it.” The Judas spirit has a problem with real values. It prevails everywhere, but the Spirit of Christ will overcome it and prevail over it.
Was that ointment actually wasted or destructive? Was it a thing of perdition? I do not believe so, but let us read this account in the Scriptures and see exactly what was said. This event took place just before the Passover. It seems that the Passover always has the prelude of a Judas betrayal.
John 12:1–6: Jesus, therefore, six days before the Passover, came to Bethany where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they made Him a supper there; and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at the table with Him. Mary therefore took a pound of very costly, genuine spikenard ointment, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the ointment. But Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him … Note that. How long do people carry evil intentions in their heart, looking for a convenient time and occasion to betray a Word that God has given in the earth? Judas said, “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii, and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
Long before he betrays Jesus Christ with a kiss (Luke 22:47–48), and as the thirty pieces of silver are jangling in his pocket, the Judas spirit is working. He is reaching into the sack of money, the sacrifices people have given to see the Word of Christ go forth. Judas has everything available to him, and he takes whatever he wants. The Judas spirit says, “Look, I am not making any money. I do not have anything at all.” However, be aware that this is an illusion; how carefully he has diverted the sacrifices of the people for his own use. Jesus therefore said, “Let her alone, in order that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For the poor you always have with you; but you do not always have Me.” John 12:7–8.
Now let us look to John 13 and see how fast the action takes place from one chapter to the next. This passage tells what happened while Jesus was eating the Last Supper with His disciples. Jesus therefore answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And after the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Jesus therefore said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. And so after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. John 13:26–30.
Judas went out and it was night. He was carrying the money box with him. Have you ever wondered how much money he had in that box when he went out? And have you ever wondered how much thirty shekels of silver—the price paid for Christ’s betrayal—would be worth at the present time?
Judas had the money box. The complete control of finances is sometimes the prerogative of the pastors in local New Testament churches. But as we come to the days of the Kingdom, God is searching the motivation of the pastors’ hearts, and He is requiring that the many elder-shepherds be responsible for the finances. They may not have the knowledge and experience for it; they may not be the professionals that the pastors are. But the day is here in which the professionals and the feudal system are being done away with—that lord-and-mighty control that some pastors exercised over local churches, or the denominational-type domination over the lives and finances of people. That is gone. If it ever existed to that severe a degree, it certainly will not exist that way any longer.
Mark 14:4 tells us about the precious ointment which was used to anoint the Lord. Judas felt that the ointment had been wasted.… “For what purpose has this perfume been wasted?” The word “wasted” is apoleia in Greek, which means perdition. Judas is called the son of perdition or the son of destruction (John 17:12). Judas was saying, “Why this destruction, why this perdition?” as though it were a damnable, hellish thing to do. Judas did not realize that nothing is ever wasted on the Lord when it is given in absolute worship. Jesus said, “The poor you have with you always. You can always give to them” (Mark 14:7). But you do not always have that perfect opportunity to do something wonderful and reckless as a disciple in worshiping the Lord Jesus Christ.
Judas reenters the picture a little later in Mark 14. We read that after Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas led the soldiers to Him. And immediately while He (Jesus) was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. Now he who was betraying Him had given them a signal, saying, “Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him, and lead Him away under guard.” And after coming, he immediately went up to Him, saying, “Rabbi!” and kissed Him. Mark 14:43–45. Luke 22:48 records that after Judas kissed Jesus, the Lord asked him, … betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
The Judas spirit is greedy, but with this greed comes a slyness to always be treacherous, to walk in something dishonest; it is hypocrisy. It is treachery against the people of God—always maneuvering to bring something to pass, but never the way Christ would bring it forth, never with personal sacrifice. The Judas spirit always tries to find some other way for the whole operation of God’s Kingdom to come forth, apart from the submission to the Lordship of Christ on the part of the pastors, elders, shepherds, and overseers. However, without this submission, all of the leaders will become a hierarchy over the people of God, demanding sacrifice of the sheep but not protecting those sacrifices for the purpose for which God demanded them in the first place.
When God says, “Build Me a house of prayer,” then do not make it a den of thieves. Christ began and ended His ministry by taking a whip and driving the money changers out of the Temple (John 2:13–16; Luke 19:45–46). It was easy for the Jewish religion to turn into a commercial venture. It has been just as easy for the religious world in this day to turn into a commercial venture. And it has also been easy for critics to bring allegations against what we have called the walk into the Kingdom, saying that we are a great religious empire. There is no evidence to verify such allegations. Most of our pastors work to support themselves. Most of the people are a humble people. No one has asked them to sacrifice or forced them into it. They have chosen humility and sacrifice as a way of life.
There is usually no formal membership, nor is there any formal register anywhere listing all the people or churches in this end-time walk. If I were asked how many New Testament churches there are, I would have to reply, “I do not know.” We do know that groups of believers everywhere are listening to cassettes of the Living Word. God meets their hearts in this Word, and soon they are ordering more tapes. There is no taxation; there are no membership fees or assessments of any kind. We practice tithing, but that generally is tied into the local church instead of to the Kingdom as it really should be. As we see the hunger in people’s hearts for the pure Word, we say, “Blessed be the Lord, who has brought such a beautiful day to us. The false is exposed, and the Judas spirit is being revealed for what it really is.”
The Judas spirit is nothing more than the heart of Babylon. There is greed in it. It has always seemed significant to me that before Christ went to the cross and died for our sins, accomplishing the great work of our redemption, there had to be the input of a Judas Iscariot. In His prayer to the Father, Jesus said, “Of all those that Thou hast given Me, I have lost none, save the son of perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (John 17:12). It is very difficult for us to grasp the fact that Christ could know from the very beginning who would betray Him (John 6:70–71); yet, in the will of God, He had to allow it to come to pass.
Perhaps it is easier for me to understand this, because I have been able to discern many in whose heart was duplicity. How many “kisses” I have received, wondering, “Is this the kiss of another Judas who will betray the Word that God has given?” However, I do not give much thought to it, because for every one of the Judases, there are a thousand faithful hearts who are sending the Gospel of the Kingdom to the ends of the earth.
We are living in a beautiful day, and yet it is a day of ominous judgment upon those who hold the truth in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18), and upon those whose greed would make merchandise of the house of God (John 2:16). This is what Babylon does. The book of Revelation calls Babylon the great harlot. “Come here, I shall show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters” (many nations). Revelation 17:1b. Do not ever feel that the vast organization and commercializing of all kinds of religions is by accident. It is a work of Satan, not of God. It is the harlot. Religion fornicates with the world system in order to receive financial advantages. It was not so from the beginning, however, for Christ’s demand of discipleship was this: “Leave all to follow Me.” The disciples forsook all and followed Him (Matthew 4:19–22). The church world of today is far removed from pure Christianity. Now a man in the church can be very rich, very greedy, and very powerful.
Revelation 17:2–6a continues, describing the great harlot: “with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” And I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
The eighteenth chapter tells further of Babylon and her downfall. After these things I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was illumined with his glory. And he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.” Revelation 18:1–3.
What a picture of this present day! You do not have to be a prophet in order to interpret these verses. You can see the evidence in pornography and every other form of wickedness. Do you realize that there would be no pornography if there were not a lot of money to be gained by it? There would be no dope traffic if there were not a lot of money involved with it. Every other evil in the world is caused by the love of money. “The love of money is the root of all evil” (I Timothy 6:10).
And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, “Come out of her, my people, that you may not participate in her sins and that you may not receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.” Revelation 18:4–6. Notice that Babylon receives a double portion. Isaiah 61:7 tells us that the saints of God will receive a double portion of blessing, but Babylon will receive a double portion of judgment.
“To the degree that she glorified herself and lived sensuously, to the same degree give her torment and mourning; for she says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ For this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong. And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over her when they see the smoke of her burning, standing at a distance because of the fear of her torment, saying, ‘Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! For in one hour your judgment has come.’ ” Revelation 18:7–10. What an amazing picture! It continues in verse 20: “Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.” The next verses speak of the destruction of Babylon. Then verse 24 tells us, “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.”
In this day, there is apparently a justifiable reason to look upon every untraditional religious group as being a cult. Therefore, it is difficult for sectarian Christianity to honestly evaluate them. We all know of one specific group which had a demonic, satanic control over it, resulting in one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the world. But this does not mean that the Fundamentalists are justified in persecuting every group. We could say to these Fundamentalists, “Why don’t you use an accurate rule of measure, a scale that balances the true issues? On one side of the scale, place the truly Christian truths taught by those whom you are persecuting, along with every one of their teachings with which you disagree. On the other side of the balance, place your deadness.” Paul tells us, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive” (II Corinthians 3:6). I would rather be part of a movement that has a little of the life of the Spirit of God in it, that illuminates the Word in revelation, than to be part of a denomination that must submit to the theory, the interpretation, the pharisaic hypocrisy and deadness of today’s orthodoxy. The religion of the Pharisees is the same today as it was in the days of Christ.
What is the difference between Babylon’s motivation and that of the Bride of Christ? With Babylon, it is money and any compromise necessary to get it. The book of Revelation compares the harlot with the pure Bride of Christ. The harlot commits fornication with the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:2). But the true Bride of Christ keeps herself pure (Revelation 19:7–8). In this day there is a great desire in the church world to be a part of the system, to have a social gospel, to become involved with all the present-day issues. This may sound like an excellent idea. But when denominations reach the point where they need government lobbies to obtain milk and buses for their parochial schools—as well as government money, franchises, grants, and loans to build their churches and schools—then I think they are on the wrong track. Do you sometimes think that Christianity has become a whore? Babylon is the mother of harlots. But the Bride has a oneness with Christ, and she pays any price that total discipleship requires, asking for nothing in return. Babylon wants what it can get, whereas the Bride seeks only to give, by grace, totally and completely.
After Judas had betrayed Jesus, it was amazing how his deception lifted. Then he went out and destroyed himself (Matthew 27:3–5). He is called the son of perdition, the son of destruction (John 17:12). It is significant that he tried to destroy, and he ended up destroying himself. A “Haman” always hangs on his own gallows (Esther 7:10). Matthew 27 records what happened to Judas. This is found within the account of the end of Christ’s trial.
Now when morning had come, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away, and delivered Him up to Pilate the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” Matthew 27:1–4a. Judas had not felt that way before. His greed had deceived him. In following Christ, he was more concerned about the commercial aspects, the material properties and possessions, than he was with the purity of the will of God being done in the earth.
But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” And he threw the pieces of silver into the sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. And the chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” And they counseled together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. Verses 4b–7. The Potter’s Field was a place where old scraps of broken and defective pottery were disposed of. Naturally, the land’s fruitfulness was destroyed by this pottery, because it could not be plowed under. Nothing grew in that field.
For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. (It was the price of blood that bought it.) Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.” Matthew 27:8–10.
We learn something more concerning Judas’ death in the first chapter of Acts. There Peter tells that after Judas sensed what he had done, he went out and hung himself. The rope broke and he fell over a precipice and was disemboweled on the sharp rocks below (Acts 1:16–20). Judas went into eternal destruction. What a tragic end!
There are a few people who should be asked, “Are you betraying the Living Word with a kiss? Would you rather avoid the persecution, and instead grab to yourself all the financial assets you can?” If you look after yourself in your insecurity, be aware that all you will have is whatever material goods you have obtained. But the man who walks with God has everything! He has a promise of the life that now is and the life which is to come (Luke 18:29–30). The promises of God give him all things that pertain to life and godliness (II Peter 1:3).
Do not betray the Word and the servants of God, as occurred throughout the Scriptures. When the Israelites cursed Moses, they were actually cursing God (Numbers 16). When the people rejected Jeremiah’s Word from God, they threw him into a dungeon (Jeremiah 38). When they rejected Daniel, they connived to put him in a lions’ den (Daniel 6). When the three Hebrews were rejected, they were thrown into a fiery furnace (Daniel 3). If you reject God, you will also reject the oracle who speaks the Word of God. And you will usually find some logical reason to justify that rejection. The human, carnal mind of flesh is amazing. It can devise a thousand reasons—things that look like logical facts—to justify its betrayal of the Word. But discipleship says, “Though He slay me, yet will I serve Him” (Job 13:15).
The prophet Zechariah foretold how Judas would betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Zechariah 11:12–13. Isn’t it amazing how God tucks away prophecies within actual situations? Then those prophecies come to pass later on another plane. Judas probably was never aware of Zechariah’s prophecy. He had deceived, and he was deceived. He tried to destroy, and he was destroyed. He became the son of perdition, the son of destruction. He was the archetype of the son of perdition which will come again in the end time. Some Fundamental biblical interpreters believe that Judas Iscariot himself will come back as the antichrist.
Babylon’s motivation from the beginning has been greed. They will do anything to get money. The people do not count; all that counts is the material assets they can obtain. Judas will always say, “It was a wasted, destructive, perdition act. You took that precious ointment and wasted it, perditioned it, damned it upon the body of the Lord.” We will take a different viewpoint. We will lift up our hearts and proclaim, “It is time for the Lord to bring forth His will in the earth. His Kingdom is coming!” (Matthew 6:10.) This we know: Judgment begins at the house of God (I Peter 4:17). Ananias and Sapphira were taken with the greed of Judas. They held back money after they had made a commitment to God to give it all to Him (Acts 5:1–10). If the judgment upon them at the beginning of the Church Age was that severe, how much more—at the end of the Church Age—will God require that we give our all! Once again He is saying, “Follow Me.” And we are leaving all to follow Him (Matthew 4:19–22).
Many things are pending in this day, as we try to protect the people of God from being despoiled by those who would rob them of what their sacrifices and their giving have accomplished. It is also true that while we try to defend them, it may be necessary to meet in homes as the early Church did at the beginning. We can worship in homes or in a rented clubhouse. By the grace of God, we can do anything that is required. We have never been held together as a financial empire. The lies of Satan concerning this are being unearthed, because there is no empire. If there was ever any trace of one, it has disappeared. Instead, we see only one thing coming forth: The will of God is being done in the earth through a people who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth (Revelation 14:4).
Which will it be—thirty pieces of silver, or possessing the whole Kingdom of God? Will you betray the Son of Man with a kiss? Will your insecurity and greed cause you to run in the day of battle? Will you count your life dear unto yourself, or will you count it all joy to complete the ministry and the course He set before you? (James 1:2; Acts 20:24.)