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            One part of the dark history of the children of Israel was when they were taken into Babylonian captivity for period of seventy years. In about 597 B.C., the Babylonian captivity of the Jews as Daniel and other were carried away (Daniel 1:1-9), but it was in about 586 B.C., that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, the building, Temple, and city wall, and carried many more people away into captivity (2 Kings 24:13-4).  Why did God allow them to be in this situation? The prophet Jeremiah prophesied, “And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear. They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings…do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them…Yet you have not listened to Me…And this whole land will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon for seventy years” (Jeremiah 25:4-7,11). Their refusal to listen to the Word of the Lord and obey it brought about their captivity in Babylon for seventy years. After the seventy years, the lifetime of one generation, the children of Israel returned to Jerusalem, and the prophet Isaiah reminded them, “You have sold yourselves for nothing, and you shall be redeemed without money” (Isaiah 52:3). They had sold themselves into Babylonian slavery for literally nothing, although they thought that what they had gained in the world was valuable. They thought that serving false gods, immorality, not loving their neighbor, having a king, putting way their wives, cursing and swearing, and outright rejecting the Word of God was great gain for them, but it was not. They had sold themselves for nothing.
            Coming to the New Testament and the time of the Lord’s church there were those that sold themselves for nothing. They thought that there was great gain in what they were doing, but in the spiritual sense, it was for nothing. Ananias and Sapphira lied regarding what they were giving in a benevolent way, and ask Peter asked, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit…while it remained, wat it not your own” (Acts 5:1-4). For them lying was a great gain, but it was not spiritually. A Christian named Simon “who previously practiced sorcery in the city” (Acts 8:9) thought that having the power of the Holy Spirit and receiving it by the laying on of the Apostles’ hands, he thought that it was a means of great gain for him personally and maybe even financially, and Simon “offered them money” (Acts 8:18), but it was not spiritually. Paul would later write, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith…” (1 Timothy 6:10).
            There were some in the Lord’s church that sold themselves for nothing by turning away from the truth and following false doctrines. Paul wrote to the Galatians, “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you the grace of Christ to a different gospel, which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Galatians 1:6-7). The false teaching offered it seemed a great gain to those that followed, but it did not because as Paul continued to write, “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth…” (Galatians 3:1). What happened to the brethren in Galatia has continued throughout the centuries. There are those that find great gain in initiating a false teaching and also for those that follow.
            Whether it is false teaching, immorality, popularity with the world, a heart, absent of the fruit of the Spirit, or anything else that causes one to be separated from God, Jesus asked a question regarding each of these things. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul” (Matthew 16:26)?  In doing so it is as Isaiah wrote, “You have sold yourselves for nothing…” (Isaiah 52:3).