THE GOSPEL BITE

I was recently following a thread on a social media platform and was amazed how people could misquote the prophet, William Marrion Branham. It is very sad. Hearing they hear but cannot understand.

We can listen to the prophet’s tapes. We can read “THE SPOKEN WORD” books. But we must tune our spiritual ears to hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying (that is, to hear the Logos or expressed thought) behind those Spoken or Written words (Rhema). Therefore, unless you have got the Logos of what the prophet was saying you cannot possibly “say what he said”. Truly, “he that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches”.( Rev 2:29)

It is not wrong to quote the words of William Branham. However, to try and prove a doctrine or a teaching based on his statements alone shows that one is ignorant or has no understanding of the truth of God’s Word.

Let’s take a closer look at the Scriptures which the Prophet brought out to show the “two covenants “about Marriage and Divorce.

The FIRST COVENANT is (Genesis 2:24) “Therefore shall a man leave his father and mother and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.”

Jesus added, “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined, let not man put asunder” (Mathew 19:6). One man and his wife joined in one flesh was God’s original covenant, In the beginning.

The SECOND COVENANT is found in (Genesis 3:16) “Thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee. This was after the fall when they sinned. ”There was  nothing mentioned about God making a “Polygamy” Covenant .

If a man in the Old Testament lived under the Jewish Law, he could have many wives. But then he had to live sinless under the Law, a School Master. No man succeeded in doing that. Under grace it is one man and one wife, Grace is a better covenant as Grace provides us with a Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Many also point to the fact that  say King David in the Old Testament married many wives, a man after God’s own heart. David, the King  represented Christ sitting of his father’s  throne He married five hundred wives. David with his five hundred wives. Solomon is the son of David in the natural, which represents Jesus Christ, the Son of David in the spiritual.

The fact the Law allowed men to marry many wives, women could not even have one more husband. He’s the original creation, not her. Not one of those women could have one more husband, but that one husband could have a thousand wives. Types and shadows of Christ as the husband married to many members of his body, Bride

Contrary to popular opinion, the truth on Marriage and Divorce is quite straight forward in the Bible. The will of God is for one man to marry one woman and be faithful to one another until death (Mathew 19:6, Rom. 7:2). Jesus and St. Paul taught that remarriage is only allowed in two cases.

1. That a widow or widower may remarry another believer who does not have a living spouse (Rom. 7:1-3). This is because a widower is no longer bound to their previous spouse because that spouse has died, and they are free to marry again, only in the Lord.

2. A man may put away his wife and marry another if she did not confess any fornications she committed before they were married (Matt. 5:32, Matt. 1:18-21), because their vow would then be void due to dishonesty.

There are no New Testament Bible examples of any believer being remarried while having a different living spouse, since that would be adultery. There are no New Testament Bible examples of any believer being allowed to remarry because their spouse committed adultery on them. Adultery does not loose someone from the law of their marriage vow. If adultery takes place in a marriage, the couple must seek forgiveness and remain together, for if they separate and marry other believers, they have committed adultery.

A couple can separate or divorce for sound reasons other than fornication, but their only options are to remain separated or reunite (1Cor. 7:11). A couple who separates and remarries for any other reason than the two reasons listed above are living in adultery and must repent or they cannot inherit the kingdom of God (1Cor. 6:9-11, Gal. 5:19-21).

At select times in Bible history, God has given grace and forgiveness to His own people who have not followed His Marriage and Divorce requirements, either due to their ignorance or willful sin. In Moses day, God suffered His people to give a writing of divorcement (Mathew. 19:7-8) and God still accepted them (Deut. 24:1-4). In the days of St. Paul, God allowed Paul to give his judgments about Marriage and Divorce due to the present distress of those times (1 Cor. 7:6,12,25-26). We believe the same grace and forgiveness extends to believers today who were either ignorant or disobedient to the marriage requirements of God. If they confess their marriage-related sins, God is faithful and just to forgive them (1 John 1:8-10) and then they are instructed to “walk” the rest of their days in the marriage relationship wherein they were “called” and enlightened to the truth of God’s Word regarding Marriage and Divorce (1 Cor.7:17-24).

Shalom!

Isn’t it amazing that we come into this world by default as sinners?

( Romans 3:23) For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; In another place it says in (Psalm 51:5) Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Job also declared in (Job 14:1) Man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.  He cometh forth like a flower, and is cut down: he fleeth also as a shadow, and continueth not.

Our Lord Jesus Christ came into this world preaching that man needeth to be born again! (John 3:3) Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

So the question that we ask ourselves is; Why are we sinners even though we did commit any sin? And why there are deaths in the world? Methuselah could only live up to 969 years. And why do we need to be born again?

We can only answer these mind boggling questions by the Word of God which liveth and abides forever. (1 Peter 1: 25) But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Now for the answers, we have go back to the beginning. For there is a genesis of everything in this world.

The Lord God Created Man in his own image. (Genesis 1:27- 28) “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

How were they to be fruitful and multiply?

So in Chapter 2, Man was formed out of the dust of the earth and man become a living soul. We further read, God planted a garden eastward of Eden and placed man in it. (Genesis 2:7- 9) “And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.”

Now mention is made of Two important trees. The Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge good and Evil. Are these Trees literal trees? For scripture must always interpret scripture!

For as much as man became a living soul, The Lord God commanded man to dress the Land, subdue and replenish it.

So God put man in a deep sleep and took the feminism part from him which is a rib and made a woman for the man.

Adam was created a son of God, because he was in the original creation He was created in the image and likeness of God. Created out of Nothing. However Eve was not because she was a by-product of the man. She was formed by a rib from Adam.

The Serpent was the most subtil of all the creatures that God had created. He was the only species who could talk. He was very much like Adam, although he was not created in the image of God as a son of God. He was Adam’s servant. Somehow he yielded himself to Satan as an instrument to seduce the Woman. (Satan knew that he could not deceive Adam who was an original creation of God, but he could get to him by working on his by-product, the Woman, who was a part of Adam.) And before Adam could get to know his Woman, Satan had beaten him to it by playing on the words of God’s commandment concerning the “trees”.

From the dialogue in Genesis 3, we can see that both the Woman and the Serpent actually knew that the fruits of every literal fruit-bearing tree in the Garden of Eden was good for food and could be eaten. They also knew that the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” which was “in the midst of the garden” (of the physical body, and not the literal Garden of Eden), was forbidden. The eating of this “tree” would bear the fruit of death, as God had warned.

Hence, the Fall in the Garden of Eden caused God to conceal or hide the “Tree of Life”, the Divine Law of INTIMATE relationship which would conceive and produce Spiritual Life from Mankind (Gen.3: 24), “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.” and since then all men have been born after the flesh by CARNAL (sexual) desire. And (Romans 3:23) “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” Yes, all of us fall short of that Shekinah glory of the Word of Life. We are all not born according to that “Tree of Life”. For this cause, the ORIGINAL SEED WORD of God in the Person of Jesus Christ was sent to mankind that they might believe Him and be born again of the Spirit and the Water of His Word. He was the Word of God God’s Divine Way, Divine Truth and Divine Life that was prefigured by the “Tree of Life”. To possess true life, we must be born according to the Word of the “Tree of Life”.(Peter 1:23) “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever”

Every person who is born into this world is born of the “corruptible seed” which Eve, being deceived by Satan, received out of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. But a true child of God is born again of a seed that is incorruptible, the Word of God (that is, the Logos) , The Original Seed, The Spoken Word, that cannot be destroyed for It lives forever as the Tree of Life.

There is no life outside of the WORD of God. (John.3:7) “Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.” and be in Spiritual relationship with that Man called Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He is the Divine Word, the Divine Person whom God has provided to restore mankind back to Life again. Spiritual union with Him, the “Tree of Life” will give you Eternal Life.

God bless you for reading,

Shalom!

The Holy Scriptures admonishes us to study very well and know what we believe so as to give an account to anyone who asks us of our faith and not just follow what the popular opinion says. (2 Timothy 2:15) Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needed not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth.

Followers of the Lord Jesus Christ first of all need to study and also be able to rightly divide the Word of truth. We can only do this when the Spirit of truth is in us and guiding us into all truth thereby not leaning on our own understanding.

(John 16:13) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. All things that the Father hath are mine: therefore said I that he shall take have mine, and shall shew it unto you. A little while, and ye shall not see me: and again, a little while, and ye shall see me, because I go to the Father.

The secular world is overwhelmed with information overload in the print media, radio and television and also those trending on social media and even on the world wide web, Internet. If our faith is not grounded in the Word of God, then our faith is built on sinking sand which is subject to shaking when the trying moments come.

Now what is a Beast? In the bible, it denotes Power. It represents the restoration of the imperial power of the Roman Empire. This ten kingdoms empires covers the spheres of the territory of Western Europe. And its religious power is the Papacy of the Roman Catholic Church. This is also shown in the dream Nebuchadnezzar had where the fourth Empire was divided into legs of iron (western and eastern divisions and further divided into feet and toes of part iron and part clay (Dan 2)

The 10 toes represents the 10 horns of the beast. It is this last empire of the Babylonian system that will utterly be destroyed by a “stone cut without hands”; the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ on Earth when he will come to rule the nations with a rod of iron in righteousness.

(Rev 13:6) And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads.

The expression” in their forehead” What does this mean? A tattoo or a microchip? Today many believe it is a microchip or a vaccination against a disease. A lot also believe Bill Gates who is a philanthropist and Multimillionaire, Co- founder of Microsoft is the Beast.

But is this so? That cannot be. In the natural realm there could be parallels. For some time now American government had been pushing to vaccinate, especially children for flu for decades. Many citizens have been against it.

It is solely a mindset, controlled way of thinking. In other words being controlled by someone else. If you cannot think for yourself you become a second hand person and have to agree with the religious system.

(Rev 22:4 ) and they (God’s servants) shall see his (God’s) face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

God’s name is not written on peoples foreheads. God’s name is in their minds ( revelation).

The mark of the beast is to oppose God’s revelation and get God’s name out of peoples minds and thinking

Thus, in the forehead is the mind. Marked in their forehead would mean dominating their thinking. Also the hand is marked as their thought control their actions. In other words the mark of the beast is thus mind control or brainwashing.

The anti- Christ who is one person will control human minds in the same way that God who is one person controls the mind of his servants.

The mark of the beast opposes God’s thinking and will thus seek to remove God’s name from people’s mind’s.There, God’s name would no longer be in their minds.

(1 john 2:19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.”

These wrong spirits were unable to remain scriptural. Their beliefs are not written in scripture

(Rev 13:17) And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

So we find here that, the beast is the dominating power of Centralized and Organized Religion. A toxic mixture of religious deception,political and mass of wealth.

The Vatican has risen in its spiritual and religious power and controls about 1.4 billion Catholics. Since becoming the smallest independent state in 1929, the Vatican city has become the world’s wealthiest global organization.The Popes recovered the power that the pagan Roman empire lost when the barbarians conquered them.

(Rev 13:3) And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.

(Rev 13:8) Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.”

A score is 20. therefore this number is 666. This is the number of a man. The beast system of man made denominational religion that is ruled by one man head, the pope. The mark of the beast in our forehead’s is when we absorb unscriptural beliefs of the denominational church systems that follow the example of the mother catholic church. The number of the beast is a secret code that hides the identity of one man who falsely claimed to stand in place of Christ. At all cost Christ must be removed as the head of the Church. ( Rev 17:5) And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

Pope Gelasius 1 who ruled from (AD 492- 496) began to be called VICARIOUS CHRISTI OR VICAR OF CHRIST, simply meant he stood “in place of Christ”. What blasphemy! And this has become the official title of the pope.

When Jesus was asked about future events he first said that our biggest problem would be deception. The most subtle deception would come from church leaders. (Math 24:4-5) And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”

For over a period of 1500 years, The pope had claimed to be “in the place of Christ”. Thus great masses of people had fallen into this religious deception after the last Apostle died.

History has proven that in 1871 the ladies of the royal Court of Belgium made a triple crown for Pope Pius IX who had declared the Pope to be infallible in 1870. On this crown is CHRISTI VICARIUS – INTERRA – REGVM, “This means He rules on earth in the place of Christ”. The number of the beast is the number of one man.

So Whenever a new Pope is crowned he is conferred with the title “VICARIVS FILII DEI” (meaning the “Vicar of Christ”) which when translated into the Roman numerals, their value adds up to 666.

V     I    C    A    R     I    V    S         F    I    L     I    I        D     E    I
5    1    100  –     –     1    5    –          –    1   50    1   1      500    –    1   = 666

The Mark of the beast is the number of a man. Watch Roman-ism, mystery Babylon.

God richly bless you for reading!

Shalom!

We have been looking at restoration of the Faith of the Apostolic fathers. We looked at the fact that the 7th angel’s every word isn’t the restored word as many tend to believe especially majority of end time message believers. These they have done and have idolized or formed personality cults around the 7th messenger, William Branham. We also looked at what it means to TURN our HEART back to our fathers. In this final episode we would look at;

What the Faith of the fathers were which the children are to turn to ?

The one thing that all the fathers and their children have in common that influences their entire being and which spans through more than one age is what they believe. This is the only thing that they can share, therefore their faith.

In (Mal 4:6) He shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children and the heart of the children to their fathers.

Carefully looking at the above scripture verse we see there is no relationship between the fathers and the children; the religious fathers. These religious fathers in the days of John the baptist had a faith that was not related to those children of Israel who were affected by the gospel they received from John the baptist. These fathers lived by the strict rules of the Law of Moses. However there was a relationship between the children and fathers because both are related by the gospel of Christ; the heart of the children of God.

(Gal 3:16) Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

(Gal 3:26) For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

We are to turn away from religious traditions and to turn back to the faith which was founded by the Apostolic Fathers after the Holy ghost was given. The children of God are to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. (Jude 1:3)

Nevertheles when the son of God cometh shall he find faith on the earth?(Luke 18:8)

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. ( Math 7:21)

For believers today ( Christians) it is not a question of just believing or rather professing to believe, but it is what we believe. And if we truly believe and have the faith of the Apostolic fathers then our way of life will reflect it. (James 2:18) Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.

We must have faith, but do we have the same faith that our Apostolic fathers had? If we cannot not proof our doctrines from the scriptures then our faith is vain. Because that is the only Faith God will honor as acceptable of his bride. And if we have the correct Faith we will do the same works as our Apostolic fathers who applied what they believe to every situation of life in their worship of God.

Unfortunately by restoring us to the faith of our Apostolic fathers which got lost when Roman Catholicism took over in the dark ages, where traditions and dogma replaced the pure word of God many tend to believe the 7th angel’s every word as equivalent to the Absolute Word of God.

Elijah the prophet was ordained to carry the message of restoration to God’s chosen people.The ministry of Elijah was to VAV ( “hook”) the elect of God to the WORD of God and restore them back to him

We see this ministry of Elijah typically of restoration, five times in the bible

1. Elijah the Tishbite
2. Elisha – son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah, anointed with double portion of the spirit of Elijah
3. John the Baptist- forerunner of the first advent of Christ. His message affected the hearts of the traditional religious fathers whose heart was to be turn to the children, disciples of John.
4. William Marrion Branham – The 7th angel, the forerunner of the second coming of Christ, whose message changed the hearts of believers that it might turn their hearts to that of the Apostolic fathers
5. Elijah whom the jews are greatly expecting and whose message will bring a re- building of the kingdom of Israel.

Thus, restoration always brings to the Absolute, the WORD, Jesus in Print form.

God bless you for reading!

I will restore saith the Lord. (Joel 2:25)

In (Mal 4: 5-6) it says “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD:  And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.”

We would endeavour to look at the above scripture, and identify and look at

1. Turn

2. Heart

Scripturally analysing the above verse in terms of TURN; Ezekiel states: Therefore, say unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Repent, and turn yourselves from your idols; and turn away your faces from all your abominations.( Ezekiel 14:6)

Also, St Luke states: And if he trespasses against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him (Luke 17:4)

But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance. (Acts 26:30)

 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore, and repent. (Rev 3:19)

Turn literally means to change direction. The Bible associates “to turn” with “repentance”, meaning a turning away from your current state of belief and way of living to what the Word (Bible) commands.

The word “turn” is also associated with “to turn back”, “restore” or “to return” to an original state. The Hebrew word is “shuwb” meaning “to turn back” or “to return”.

John the Baptist who came in the the Spirit and Power of Elijah, preaching in the wilderness of Judea. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; t o make ready a people prepared for the Lord. ( Luke 1:17) The New Covenant that was to be brought by Christ would deal with the Heart of all individuals for the Word of God to be etched on it. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, Yahweh will VAV( hook) His Word on to the Hearts of those whom he loved to reconcile them back to himself. The Heart of each of his saints is where Yahweh will reside because He is the Word. So John the Baptist came fulling part of what (Mathew 17:10 – 13)

The scriptures also state what the Heart is ;

 We must love God with all our heart so that the word of God dwells in our heart. Without the heart pumping blood, no organ of the body can receive oxygen to continue its function. If the Word of God is in our heart it can be distributed to any part of the body to glorify His name. Moses first and foremost commandments to the children of Israel states:

And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart (Deuteronomy 6:5-6)

And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh ( Ezekiel 36:26 )

The heart describes spiritually the inward belief (faith), conviction, desires and determination of the inner man.

Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught?  But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:( Mathew 15:17-19)

Therefore, if you only follow Christ as a rule and there is no inward conviction and desire to serve him with every fibre of your being, it is all in vain. Servants be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ. Not with eyeservice, as men pleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart. (Ephesians 6:6)

If we note; in this verse word is singular “heart” and not “hearts” showing that this is something the fathers were sharing.  There are many fathers but one HEART.

And I will give them one HEART and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony HEART out of their flesh, and will give them an HEART of flesh (Ezekiel 11:19)

We will continue from here in our next series . God bless you for reading

Shalom!

Many people believe that there is a prophetic message to the bride of Jesus Christ in this last church age. And this is true no doubt about it. God promised it.
“And I will send you Elijah the prophet. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse” (Mal 4:5-6)
They claim that the 7th angel is to restore the Word of God, and that the 7th angel’s every word is equivalent to the Word of God (Bible). In other words, the 7th angel’s every word is the “restored Word of God”.
However, if we critically analyze the ministry of William Marrion Branham, it might be easy to say that this 7th angel’s purpose is to restore the Word of God. But when we compare his ministry to the Bible, we see it is not the restoration of the Word, but the restoration of the Faith in the Word. The Faith of the apostolic fathers, the revelation of who the Lord Jesus Christ is; upon who the Lord built his church,( Eph 2:20-22) And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. The faith of the apostolic fathers was lost during the dark ages when Roman Catholicism took over until dogmas and traditions of men crept into the church as men slept.

But why can’t the Word of God be restored?

“The Words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.
Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever”. (Psalm 12: 6-7)
“Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Mathew 24:35).
God’s Word can never get lost or change, we can only loose our faith in God’s word due to the clever schemes of Satan.
If you believe that the 7th angel’s purpose is to restore the Word of God then you will believe the 7th angel’s every word is equal to the Word of God which is a fallacy.
The question then becomes: What is your Absolute foundation? How are you going to test if your belief is correct? Are you going to rely your belief on a mere mortal man that is subject to human error, or on Almighty God’s Word?
Remember when Jesus Christ returns he will be concerned about what you believe, what is the root of your faith?
“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” (Luke 18:8)
The lesson we need to learn is that everything the 7th angel says must be taken back to the Bible. If it matches then we believe it, if it doesn’t, we leave it alone. Build your beliefs on Scripture, the Bible, and not on quotations from William Branham.
William Branham cannot teach anything that Paul didn’t teach, and his biggest purpose is to restore the disciples of today back to the foundational teaching of Paul. Brother Branham cannot say anything different to what Paul said otherwise we are not restored. We do not want anything new, we want to be build upon what the early church had.
“According to the grace of God, which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ”.(1 Corinthians 3:10)

Watch out as I bring part two of these series.

Shalom!

We are not as many, who corrupt the word of God: But as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ. (2 Cor. 2:17)

If, then, we have spoken the word of God, the genuine unmixed word of God, and that only; if we have put no unnatural interpretation upon it, but [have] taken the known phrases in their common, obvious sense, … and when they were less known, explained scripture by scripture; if we have spoken the whole word, as occasion offered, though rather the parts which seemed most proper to give a check to some fashionable vice, or to encourage the practice of some unfashionable virtue; and if we have done this plainly and boldly, though with all the mildness and gentleness that the nature of the subject will bear; …. then, believe ye our works, if not our words; or rather, believe them both together. Here is all a Preacher can do; all the evidence that he either can or need give of his good intentions. There is no way but this to show he speaks as of sincerity, as commissioned by the Lord, and as in his sight. If there be any who, after all this, will not believe that it is his concern, not our own, we labour for; that our first intention in speaking, is to point him the way to happiness, and to disengage him from the great road that leads to misery; we are clear of the blood of that man; … it rests on his own head. For thus saith the Lord, who hath set us as watchmen over the souls of our countrymen and brethren: “If thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it;” … much more if we use all methods possible to convince him that the warning is of God; …. “If he does not turn from his way,” …. which certainly he will not, if he does not believe that we are in earnest, “he shall die in his iniquity, but thou hast delivered thine own soul.”

(JOHN WESLEY)

(JOB 13:15) Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him:

It is the inner motive of wanting to follow Him that counts, even if we have not been too successful in doing that so far. Even if we lose, even if we fail, we must still always desire to follow Him.

The main way to do that is two-fold:

• die to ourselves so that we do not project our own emotions and opinions and ignorance on a topic. We must do our best to become a zero. We must realize that we do not count.

• our mission is just to reflect the Word of God.

Jesus, the Word, is the only One that matters.

So, walking in the Spirit we must take Jesus at his word. For the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwelleth in him.

We must regard ourselves as nothing. I am not interested in what suits me. I must want to do His will. So, all a person can do is surrender their self-will to Jesus, of their own free-will, because they want to do that. A person who has died to themselves and regards themselves as nothing, becomes a perfect reflector of the Word of God.

All we quote is what the Bible says. We do not point people to any person, just to Jesus the Word.

Each person must focus on their personal experience with Jesus, as He is revealed in the Bible.

(JOHN 7:38) He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

(JOHN 7:39) (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Water gives life in the natural. The Holy Spirit gives supernatural life.

“Believeth on Me”, refers to the thoughts in the mind or spirit that are produced by the faith in the human soul. These thoughts must be based on Scripture. Scriptural faith then motivates our actions or works.

The soul is a garden that is watered by the Holy Spirit. The Seed Word of God is planted in the garden of the soul. The Seed Word germinates the faith needed to control the spirit or mind. The thoughts of the mind bring the body under control.

(JEREMIAH 31:12) and their soul shall be as a watered garden;

(LUKE 8:11) Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.

Mind and spirit are used interchangeably in Scripture. Thus, they mean the same thing.

(ROMANS 8:27) And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,

(EPHESIANS 4:23) And be renewed in the spirit of your mind;

(I CORINTHIANS 15:38) But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.

Once the Holy Spirit comes into our lives, then He begins to bring the body under subjection. Then we do not rely on our self discipline, which may fail. We rely on the fact that the Holy Spirit changes our way of thinking and makes us want to obey His will.

(ROMANS 8:10) but the Spirit is life

(I SAMUEL 25:29) but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the LORD thy God

The human soul is bundled up inside the spirit.

The soul is where the Word of God grows like a Seed. The soul is where our faith is anchored to the Word.

(I THESSALONIANS 5:23) And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

This is the order that it works. The spirit is the water that is poured onto the garden of the soul where the Seed of God’s Word is planted. The Seed Word germinates and illuminates our mind or spirit which is then able to bring the body under subjection to the Word of God.

When we are born, we have a soul, but no supernatural in our human spirit. There is a vacuum there that readily attracts sinful activities, but these things fail to bring any lasting satisfaction.

This endless dissatisfaction makes people become atheists or want to pursue or worldly pleasures.

But for some, this worldly emptiness drives them to repent of their sins and accept the Lord Jesus as their personal Saviour.

When this happens, God injects a small portion of His Holy Spirit into that vacuum that is around the soul.

We walk in the Spirit as It guides us through what is written in the Word.

As we learn more of Scripture and walk more closely in God’s ways, so His Spirit guides us and grows within us to reveal more of Scripture that we had not previously seen.

This growth of the Spirit within us is called “growing in grace”.

(II PETER 3:18) But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

(I PETER 2:2) As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby:

SHALOM!

Since I surrendered my heart unto the Lord, I have encountered people who seemed to be more Spiritual than others. Some even boast of the number of days they fasted. Others also live sanctimonious life who would not even step on an ant. They all claimed to be Walking in the Spirit. But is this really true?

However to walk in the Spirit, we ought to know the mind of Christ.

(I CORINTHIANS 2:16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

We cannot tell God what to do. We cannot even understand what God is doing unless we have the mind of Christ to explain it all to us. God will do nothing that contradicts the LOGOS, the revealed WORD.

(ISAIAH 53:1) Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

The Bible tells us what God does ….. but only the Spirit of Christ can reveal this to us.

So, the more we learn about the Bible, the better we understand the mind of God. God’s plan at the end time is to reveal the mysteries of Scripture so that we can follow what He is doing.

(JOHN 16:13- 14) Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me:

The purpose of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Jesus, not some man.

We only walk in the Spirit if the Spirit is able to guide us on how to understand the truth of Scripture.

We only walk in the Spirit when we understand for ourselves what the Bible is talking about.

(JOHN 6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him:

Jesus is the Word. The Spirit of God draws us towards the Word.

(ISAIAH 53:1) Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Who is prepared to believe only what is written in Scripture? We are drawn towards the Word when the Spirit of God reveals what the Scripture means.

(DEUTERONOMY 29:29) The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law.

(GENESIS 25:21) And Isaac entreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was entreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

God is outside of time and sees the past and the future as one picture. So, He knows all the decisions that humans will make. Because He can see over the curtain of time and know the end, He can tell us what the end result is going to be.

(GENESIS 25:22-23) And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD. And the LORD said unto her, two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

(ROMANS 9:13) As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

This sounds unfair. Esau was a good man, but Esau of his own free-will despised his birthright. God knew he would do that. Thus, God hated him for despising something of great value.

Jacob was a crook but he desperately wanted that birthright.

God was not that concerned over whether their lives were good or bad. That was secondary. God was more concerned over their attitude towards His Word.

The birthright was important. What they thought about God’s Word was more important than the quality of their lives.

You can only walk in the Spirit as far as you can follow and understand the Scripture.

Predestination simply means that God already knows the end product.

If we plant a bean seed, we know what the end product will look like, as the beans will hang on the plant.

Christianity involves uniting two opposites, free-will and predestination. These two seem to contradict each other. But not really. Free-will describes our human point of view because we are free to make choices. But we do not know the future and thus do not know the consequences of our choices.

Predestination is God’s point of view. He already knows the end, as He is outside of time, and thus He knows the consequences of our free-will choices.

Free-will is concerned with the small puddle of our own lives, and the decisions we make for our own benefit, as we are unable to see the future.

This includes our desire to get saved and live a holy life, because that is obviously for our own benefit. We can be sure of being saved from hell while we swim around in our little self-obsessed puddle, but we can never be sure that we will escape the tribulation by being ready to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. This is often called the Rapture. We can never be sure that we are good enough to go as long as we remain in the puddle of our self-will.

Predestination is concerned with God’s big Picture.

God has prepared a plan long ago in the past which is the only way to cope with the future that He can already see in advance. This is the mighty river of Life that flows from His throne in Heaven. Our problem, after getting saved, which allows us to call Jesus our Savior, is to get into this River where we are controlled by God’s Will. Because only then can we call Him Lord. Lord means Supreme Boss. We are then totally under His control.

(I CORINTHIANS 12:3) and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

The biggest positive that we have is to focus on God’s promises. That He will guide us into all truth if we are prepared to believe that the Bible is the Absolute Truth. So, to Walk in the Spirit we ought to take the totality of the written Scriptures.

Shalom!