Bible Scholar Matthew Bates has found that, pistis, the Greek word for faith, has a myriad of implications, “such as reliability, confidence, assurance, fidelity, faithfulness, commitment, and pledged loyalty.” With this in mind, the English word faith—which many hear as “belief”—simply doesn’t do a good job of encapsulating everything that pistis implies. Bates proposes that we translate it as a different word instead: allegiance. This translation is much better, for allegiance requires action, which matches the teachings of the New Testament. No longer can we simply claim that we’re on a certain side. We must prove it with our lives.
And it just so happens, that taking care of the poor is a great way of showing that you haven’t sided with Babel, for nothing could be more anti-Babel than that. Nothing could be more in line with the prophets. No actions are more required by Yahweh than that we do justice, love kindness, and walk kindly with him (Mic. 6:8). The religion of Yahweh is found in visiting orphans, caring for widows in their affliction, and staying unstained by the world (Jam. 1:27). When we don’t do such things for the poor, oppressed and marginalized, we are stained by Babel.
Babel is filled with demons and their ways. The kings have taken their power from her and the merchants have taken their riches from her (Rev. 18:3). Her economy is loaded and her shops are filled with all you can imagine, and the fuel that keeps her wealth flowing is the same fuel as Egypt: “slaves, that is, human souls” (Rev. 18:13). To Babel, people are commodities and workhorses that the rich profit off of.
And if any prophet tries to challenge this way of life, they are killed, filling Babel with the blood of the prophets (Rev. 18:24). The gods do not want holy attention drawn to their ways. They want to extend their nightmare, so they must ensure their dreamers do not wake up.
Allegiant Christians make life hard for the gods. The Holy Spirit not only empowers us with heavenly gifts, but he grows the fruits of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). When we live out these characteristics, the world sees the resurrection age to come blossoming inside of us. They’re not used to such qualities, because these kinds of characteristics do not typically help people move forward in Babel. We are prophetically showing them a different heavenly way that cares for people. By the power of the Spirit, we are no longer staying conformed to this world, but as we renew our minds we begin to metamorphose into a Christ-like version of ourselves (Ro. 12:2-3), causing Babel to crumble inside of us until it no longer has a grip.
The allegiant Christian is a citizen of the Kingdom of Heaven (Phil. 3:20) and an ambassador of Christ (2 Cor. 5:20) and the gods do not care for dual citizenship. Allegiant Christians are a threat to their kingdom, for they have the ability to dismantle Babel in every facet. Christians are a force to be reckoned with, because even killing them negatively affects Babel, which they learned firsthand when they killed Jesus (1 Cor. 2:6-8). The gods of Babel don’t know what to do about this conundrum, but they default to violence nonetheless, for it’s all they know.
Faith-filled Christians do not always offer the same threat to Babel that allegiant Christians do. Indeed, faith-filled Christians might even benefit Babel from time to time, since there are countless ways you can manipulate people for your own cause when they simply believe in something but don’t feel the need to live it out. A Christian who truly believes Jesus is real, but does not feel the need to flee from Babel or the ideologies of the gods becomes an asset to Babel; for in their unwillingness to prophetically provoke people toward justice, they convince other Christians to try bathing in the lukewarm waters of Babel—it’s really not that bad, is it? But Yahweh will spit them out (Rev. 3:15-16). They bear his name, and to live or act counter to his name is what it means to take his name in vain.
To try to marry Babel and Heaven together into mediocre living is blasphemy. Jesus and the beast do not walk hand in hand. His bride is the church, and she is a force to be reckoned with, for heaven and resurrection live inside her bones. She does not need to settle—she never has. And if all Christians imagined a world as bold as the prophets did, Heaven would be closer to our doorstep.
This is an excerpt from my shortest book, Supernatural Justice.
Jamin Bradley 
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