God is always pulling us to himself, but Babylon tries to push us away. God taught us the four methods, each method building on the others. Each method pulling us closer to God. Pulling us closer to God and his Kingdom. Babylon, however, teaches us anti-methods, each one building on the others. Each one pushing us away from God. Pushing us away from God and his Kingdom.

The four methods are: togetherness, prayer, fasting, and giving. With these methods, we make peace with God, and make peace with God. The anti-methods stand against these. The anti-methods are: individualism, forgetfulness, consumerism, and greed. With these, we make war against God and make war against his creation. Each method has its anti-method. Individualism is against togetherness. Forgetfulness is against prayer. Consumerism is against fasting. Greed is against giving.

Bring to mind a world that’s been completely desolated. People couldn’t stop warring with each other. This destroyed the whole planet: all the water, all the trees, all the cities, and all the food. The world has become a desolate wasteland. All of it has become a desert. That is, except for one city. This city has water, trees, food, and thick concrete walls. A group of 1,000 survivors see some signs pointing them to the city, and choose to make the journey together. The journey is long and difficult, and they constantly have to remind themselves of the goal. They have to share resources, and use those resources wisely. Finally, they make it.

They’re at the wall of the city, but they don’t see a gate. They figure that they’ll have to break through the wall to get in. This is when some jealous people see the group. They’re jealous of the group’s togetherness. They say, “Let’s split them up. Together, they can get into the city, but as individuals, they won’t have the strength. They will die in the desert like us.” So the jealous people start making arguments between the people of the group. They start arguing about the best way to break into to city. The arguments get heated, and they all decide to go their own way. Each person goes off by himself, or with someone they really like. They all start working on their own section of the wall. Tired, alone, and thirsty, they make no progress on the wall. They can’t break in. Half of the group dies within a few weeks. The jealous people convinced them of individualism.

Then the jealous people say, “Their meditations and their prayers keep them focused. It makes them remember their goal: the city. Come, let’s make them stop meditating and praying. We’ll tell them that it’s useless. The signs were fake. It’s a waste of time to remember the city. This way they’ll become forgetful. They’ll forget the city, and stop working so hard for it. They’ll forget the city, and forget why they were together in the first place.” So they carried out their plan, and even more of the group died. The jealous people convinced them of forgetfullness.

The jealous people then say, “We know the city has tremendous wealth. Food and drink, and beautiful people, inside and out. This group has heard of it too. We have some snacks with us, and alcohol too. We also have handsome men, and beautiful women. Let’s give them our snacks and our alcohol. Let them sleep with us too. But just a small bit, to keep them coming back. This way, they’ll forget about working on the wall together. They won’t go back to their prayers or their meditations. They’ll be so focused on us, that they’ll completely forget about the city. Let them be consumerists in this desert so that they don’t feast in the city. Don’t let them fast from us. This way, we’ll all die in the desert.” They put their plan into action, and even more people died off. The jealous people convinced them of consumerism.

Finally, the jealous people say, “Some of the people in their group have tools that would help them break the wall. They can’t do all the work themselves. They might actually make progress if they let other people use their tools. Let’s make them greedy. Tell them that the others don’t deserve to use the tools. Tell them to keep all the tools for themselves. This way, they’ll get tired from working on the wall, and come to us for consumerism. Being consumerists, they’ll forget their prayers and their meditations, and they won’t work with others to break the wall.” They put their plan into action, and even more people died off. The jealous people convinced them of greed.

All 1,000 have died off except for a few. These are the ones who stayed together and prayed. They fasted and they gave. Those who did the four methods broke through the wall. Their life was much better there than anything they could have in that desert. Do the four methods, and not the anti-methods. God will give you joy and life, but Babylon will give you death and suffering.