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GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE: BOOK ONE
Copyright ©2008 Trumpet Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Here are a few reflections after a long pilgrimage as a Christian. Hopefully they will help the young reader grow in wisdom and discernment. It is good to seek the wisdom and understanding that come from the Holy Spirit. God always is glad to reward us with wisdom and provides us generously with that which we ask for.
Foreword
Jewels of brilliant color and luster are formed by a process of time, pressure and heat. Precious metals such as gold and silver are made under similar circumstances.Symbolic of virtue and character, these natural elements reflect the manner in which believers are transformed into obedient disciples, and over time into witnesses of the resurrection life of Jesus Christ.The making of a saint is no small matter. As we respond correctly to the daily pressures of life, Christ is formed in us. If we choose to pick up our cross, lay down our life and follow the Master’s will, He transforms us into His image. When we resist, forcing our own will and way, misinterpreting things meant for our good, we corrupt God’s purposes.
Edward J. Reiter
November 2002
Escondido, California
GOLD TRIED IN THE FIRE: BOOK ONE
If the Christian salvation does not change our behavior it is worthless to
God and to man.
We don't develop skill or muscle when Christ is fighting all the battles and
doing all the work.
The salvation that cost God everything to fully achieve costs man everything
to fully receive.
It does no good to get people into church if we then don't get them into
Christ.
It may be the work of a moment to get a person out of the world; but it is
the work of a lifetime to get the world out of the person.
Christ came to change what we reap by changing what we sow.
The Christian salvation does not always change where we are but of necessity
always changes what we are.
Our goal is not Heaven but Christ—that we may know Him.
The promises of protection are to those who are abiding in Christ.
Our resurrection will make it possible for us once again to enjoy the earth.
Right now we are determining the kind of resurrection we will have.
We will not be resurrected to go to Heaven but to live once again on the
earth.
Safety is not in Heaven but in the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the
Bible.
Eternal life is not acquired in Heaven but in Christ.
Salvation is not a ticket to Heaven but a state in which the believer lives.
Salvation does not operate independently of our continual response.
The plan of redemption delivers us from sin and also from self-centeredness.
God never is to be made a means of achieving man’s ambitions.
The blood of Christ does not keep on covering the known sin we keep on
practicing.
Every aspect of our salvation from beginning to end is an opportunity. At no
point is the Christian salvation an unconditional amnesty operating
independently of our responses.
True Christians are not only forgiven, they are being made perfect.
Our own good works cannot produce salvation; but true salvation always
produces good works.
Faith unaccompanied by works is dead, being alone.—James
It does no good to restore a man to Paradise until Satan is removed from the
man.
When all else fails, try Jesus.
If you go through life and miss the plan of Christ for you, you have missed
everything of lasting value.
"If you can't get God to go your way, why don't you try going God's way?"—J.
O. Dowell.
Our sinning will never be permitted in the Kingdom of God. Either it leaves
or we leave.
When the bush burns by its own fire it quickly is consumed.
The purpose of the resurrection is not to bring us to Heaven but that we
once again may be able to enjoy the earth.
Jesus Christ is the Way to the Father. Our goal is fellowship with God.
Do not make decisions until your passions and enthusiasms cool off. God
speaks in the still, small voice.
Your pain will turn into gain when you take up your cross and follow Jesus.
Are you God's servant or are you trying to make God your servant?
Whatever Christ says to you, do it!—Mary.
Faith and fear cannot dwell in our heart at the same time. They are mutually
exclusive.
Salvation is deliverance from the compulsions of sin.
Without Jesus we are tossed about. We have no anchor.
We must keep clear in our mind the difference between the pursuit of human
happiness and the pursuit of God's righteousness; between the rectifying of
social problems and the rectifying of spiritual problems; between democracy
and the Kingdom of God.
The major types of the Old Testament reveal three works of grace: the
atonement, the indwelling of the Spirit, and the establishing of the Throne
of God in us.
The blood and the Spirit are the authority and the power for a work yet to
be accomplished in us. That work is to bring us into the rest of God.
Miracles are essential to the Gospel but they are signs, not the
destination.
The only certain proof of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the fruit of
the Spirit.
Christ, not Heaven, is the goal of our salvation.
The Kingdom of God is God in Christ in the saints governing the world.
The goal of salvation is to be changed into the image of Christ and brought
into untroubled rest in Christ in the Father.
We show Christ our love for Him by keeping His commandments.
We show Christ our love for Him by feeding His sheep.
Salvation does not bring us from Hell to Heaven but from Satan to Christ;
from death to life. It is the change in our personality that brings us from
Hell to Heaven. The wicked always are in Hell and the righteous always are
in Heaven.
Eternal life is more than endless existence. It is life lived in the
Presence of God through Christ.
The purpose of Christ's return is not to bring His Church to Heaven but to
bring justice and peace to the nations of the earth.
Where in the Bible does it state the Lord is coming to carry His Church to
Heaven? The saints meet the Lord in the air in order to change from
righteousness to wickedness the thrones that govern the earth.
The rewards to the overcomer are not gifts to be given to us as we stand in
line but authority and competence to perform the tasks of the Kingdom.
There is no such thing as a Gentile Church, only the one Body of Christ, the
one olive tree, comprising Jews and Gentiles.
Every believer can be an overcomer through Jesus Christ. To not be an
overcomer is to be a loser. No rewards are designated for the losers.
Do not waste your time fretting when the wicked prosper. Soon they will be
no more.
The secret of the fulfilled life is to live moment by moment in Jesus.
Christ helps you when you ask him to.
Do you have a Friend in high places?
There is no time for that which merely is good, only for the best. Press on!
Press on! Press on!
All that have gone before are as base camps. The summit is in site. Do you
care enough to struggle to the top?
There will be a company who will overcome the accuser. Satan will be cast to
the earth. Whether or not you are one of the conquerors is your choice.
You will get from Christ as much as you put into Christ.
Set aside your own life and meet the King’s needs. He will not forget you
when He comes into His glory.
Don’t clutch anything. Your desires will change.
Do not adore any person more than you do God, unless you desire to be in
bondage.
If Job’s comforters ever get a bad case of boils it will help their
ministry.
It is during those boring years between the vision and the fulfillment of
the vision that the saints are made.
Do to others what you would have them do to you—for they probably will.
When everyone is doing God’s will completely there no longer are problems
with relationships.
God forgets the bad and remembers the good when we turn to righteousness.
Make no mistake: doing what is right pays off in the end. So does doing what
is wrong.
Each day in Jesus is more wonderful than the previous, although we may not
realize it at the time.
When you follow Christ closely, He, if you ask Him to, will remove every
troubling concern that you might abide peacefully in the rest of God.
Pray, don't fret, when you are troubled or frustrated. God will help you.
Out from man’s heart come his desires. Out from his desires come man’s
choices. Out from man's choices comes man's destiny. Our will stands apart
from this cycle and determines its direction.
Each day we are choosing life or death. Each day we should ask God to guide
our choices.
When you come to the end of yourself, there is Jesus.
When you are living in the flesh your momentum causes you to run through the
checks of the Lord.
God sent Christ to enable man to expel Satan from the creation.
Whenever we gain prominence or wealth, other than with the help of the Lord,
we are in a fool’s paradise. This shall be revealed sooner or later.
Christ can turn our blunders into stepping stones, if we will humble
ourselves and ask for help.
To be saved as through fire can mean losing one’s inheritance in the Kingdom
of Christ.
The Bible does not speak of mansions in Heaven, only of abiding places in
Christ.
Living in the Kingdom of God will bring to us righteousness, peace, and joy
in the Holy Spirit.
Heaven will be heavenly, not because of things but because of enduring
relationships.
The main purpose of the Gospel is to have Christ formed in us.
There is a church within the churches.
The ability to repent is a gift. It may not be available when you are ready
for your “deathbed repentance.”
The external Kingdom of God is a result and demonstration of the internal
Kingdom of God.
Christ will change your life if you ask Him to.
It is easy and “natural” to walk in the flesh. Diligence in prayer, Bible
reading, and obedience to the Lord are necessary in order to walk in the
Spirit.
God wants all saved people to live in His Spirit—now and forever.
“The just shall live by faith” is speaking of the manner in which the
righteous live, not of their belief in doctrine. The opposite of living by
faith is living in fleshly pride.
The rod of iron is being created in us now as we overcome sin.
Paradise never again will be without a wall.
The victorious saints are pillars in the eternal Temple of God.
When you continue living in sin you are destroying your own resurrection.
The kind of resurrection from the dead we are going to have is being
directly affected by the kind of life we are living today.
Spiritual muscles are built by pushing against resistance. Are you floating
downstream or swimming upstream?
Grace is an alternative to the Law of Moses, not to righteous behavior.
The lesser prophet is reproved by the sterner prophet, and he by one yet
sterner. But the Lord rebukes them all.
Everyone will be raised from the dead at one time or another; but the
resurrection to eternal life must be attained to.
Until we begin to learn and practice the Lord's righteous ways we are of no
use for the Kingdom purposes of God.
Until Christ is formed in us we easily are led away into false paths.
Christ can do nothing of Himself apart from the Father. We can do nothing of
ourselves apart from Christ.
The army of the Lord is composed of dead-living people.
God is not saving your adamic nature, He is crucifying it. Why then are you
clinging to your life?
When we maintain our own way Christ cannot be formed in us. We may be in a
state of forgiveness and imputed righteousness but we are not pressing into
the Kingdom of God.
You have to be born again to enter the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom
of God is Christ born in you.
The Bible is a record of the war between God and Satan, between good and
evil. If you do not choose one side or the other your life will prove to be
meaningless and you will be trampled underfoot in the last days.
God carries babies on eagles' wings. Adults walk through the gates into the
city.
The path of the righteous is a shining light; but where there is no
righteous behavior God is not glorified.
God gives us things to overcome in order to form our character.
The whole purpose of our life on earth is to teach us to know and obey the
Lord.
In order to break out of God's prison you have to break God's laws. You will
be returned to prison and given a longer sentence.
By crucifying Christ, Satan provided us with the blood atonement. All the
efforts of the wicked work for our good when we love God and do His will.
The wicked will reason forever but the righteous person speaks truth in a
few words.
The promise of the future is not that the Church will be removed to Heaven
but that the Kingdom of God will be installed on the earth.
The righteous of past eras have borne witness to us. Now we are bearing
witness to them as they surround us in the spirit realm.
If sin began in Heaven around the throne of God, what scriptural passage do
we use when we teach that once we die and go to Heaven we cannot sin any
longer?
We are not going to a house in Heaven. The house from Heaven is coming to
us.
Many who are last in time will be of first rank in the Kingdom of God.
The outer Kingdom of God is always a result of and demonstration of the
inner kingdom that has been formed in the saints.
The Day of the Lord, the thousand-year Kingdom Age, the rule of the rod of
iron, is being formed in the saints in the present hour and will be revealed
through the saints when the Lord appears.
The filling of the earth with the knowledge of the Glory of the Lord that we
are looking for will not drop down from the clouds, it will flow from within
the saints when they appear with Christ.
God and Satan are terribly practical. They both deal with the <MI>now.
Entering the Kingdom of God consists largely of a struggle against sin.
If we are not doing what we have been commanded in the New Testament, Christ
will not be formed in us. We may be in a state of forgiveness and imputed
righteousness but we are not pressing into the Kingdom of God.
When we continue to sin we still are part of the problem, not part of the
solution.
The goal of the Lord is not to make all new things but to make all things
new. All to which we are accustomed, all that is worthy, is not destined to
be destroyed but to descend into death and then be raised in Christ.
There is a difference between love and lust. One is not a continuation of
the other.
Are you ready to appear with Christ as part of His coming? Are you dressed
for the occasion?
Hold fast to the vision but don't force your way there. Let God guide you to
the fulfillment in His time and way.
Dead works are those actions not wrought in the Spirit of God.
Are you going to return to the Lord a thousand percent on His investment in
you?
A prayer: “Help me, O Lord, to be strong so I may receive a part of the
earth and its peoples for an inheritance. Keep me from the way of death that
I may not be destroyed by material things, lust, or personal ambition. Help
me never to become a prisoner no matter how long I must remain in prison,
but to always keep in mind that one day the dungeon; the next day the
throne. Yours is the Kingdom, the power, and the glory. I am a coheir with
you, a member of the Body of Christ. Remove all idols from me. In Jesus'
name. Amen.”
True faith is to believe God exists; God knows the smallest detail of our
life; God desires our eternal joy; and God has the power to bring us to joy
and will do so if we are obedient to Him.
The self-righteous person seeks how he may perfect his thoughts and actions.
The truly righteous person seeks how he may better know the Lord.
Our land of promise is the earth and its peoples. To inherit one person is
better than to be given ten thousand heavens.
Our goal is to become the chariot of God.
We are authorized to approach God by the blood atonement. We receive life
and guidance through the Holy Spirit. But the goal is to become the eternal
dwelling place of God.
The Father's House is Christ. We are rooms in that house.
Christ prepared a place for us in Himself by going to the cross and then
ascending to the Father.
The saint is the flesh being made the Word, the covenant of God with man.
Where there is no righteous behavior there is no testimony of God; but the
righteous behavior of the Christ-filled saint causes people to glorify God.
The light that comes from the new Jerusalem is the righteous behavior of the
Christ-filled saints.
God is seeking a house in which He can find rest. God's eternal house is the
Christ-filled saint.
God opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing. Make sure
that what you desire is what you truly want.
The river of God always is full of water.
If you have no vision, no golden fleece, no treasure at the end of the
rainbow, ask God for one. We cannot endure the cross except as we have joy
set before us.
The life in the Spirit is a dance, a romance, a song that flows in the
Spirit of God.
A goal that comes from the depth of your personality will inspire you to
know that your end in God will be glorious, filled with joy you scarcely can
imagine in the present hour. Hold that joy before you. Ask God to remind you
of it from time to time.
Let your eyes see the land that is very far off. Behold the King in His
beauty.
Go window-shopping with God. Don't turn into a religious drudge.
Christ is in His royal palace with more treasures to hand out than mankind
could possibly be able to receive.
Can you hear the laughter of the little children playing around the trees in
the Paradise of God? This is your future, you know, if you please God.
The rewards to the overcomer are increments of attainment to the first
resurrection from among the dead. The rewards represent both authority and
competence.
The purpose of the first resurrection of the dead is to change the occupants
of the thrones in the air that influence the behavior of people on the
earth.
Only the victorious saints are qualified to participate in the first
resurrection from the dead. The remainder of the believers are not
authorized or competent to sit on the awesome thrones in the air that govern
the earth.
Small religious groups are sometimes necessary and can fulfill a valuable
role. Always be glad for growth. Small groups are psychologically
attractive, and one can confuse the pull of the soul with the pull of the
Spirit.
The spiritual “lone ranger” is always in danger of being deceived. There is
a reason for the biblical exhortation to not forsake the assembling of the
believers.
The greatest potential strength in our personality is the area most
vulnerable to the deceptions of the enemy.
Rain brings up weeds as well as flowers and vegetables. So it is when the
Holy Spirit falls: there are flowers and good fruit, and then all sorts of
other things that come up.
There is a part of every Christian that is not of God as yet. Be careful
when you are criticizing not to throw out the baby with the bath water.
Learn to regard the statements of the Bible as goals you are pressing
toward, not as experiences you already possess on the basis of belief.
Salvation is a dynamic program of redemption, not a static set of beliefs.
Whoever would come to know the Lord must be willing to suffer.
Today is the day of salvation. Tomorrow is the revelation of the choices you
make today.
There is more wickedness operating at this time in the American culture,
including the churches, than most of us realize. But Christ is greater than
all and ultimately will prevail. Stay close to Jesus.
The mainspring of our salvation is our death and resurrection in Christ.
Sixty-one years as a Christian and I am still confessing my sins to God as
the Spirit makes them known.
It is good to be deadly serious about our salvation; and to maintain our
sense of humor helps keep us from error.
We will not receive a body like that of the Lord Jesus until our inward
nature is like that of the Lord Jesus. The body we receive in the day of
resurrection will correspond to our inward nature.
The only aspect of salvation that is imputed (ascribed) to us is the
righteousness of Christ, and that only as we are following Christ in stern
discipleship. Every other element of redemption is wrought out in Christ.
It is only those who are abiding in Christ each day who are free from
condemnation. Those who are living according to their sinful nature, even
though they profess belief in Christ, are under Divine judgment and shall be
chastised severely.
The Christian who is living according to his sinful nature is keeping
himself out of the Kingdom of God. There is no sin in the Kingdom.
Why do you keep talking about going to Heaven when your goal is to attain
the resurrection from the dead? This was the goal of the Apostle Paul!
Sin originated in Heaven among the angels of God. Your goal, therefore, is
Christ, not Heaven. There is no sin in Christ.
Is your goal to be at rest in Christ in the bosom of the Father, or is your
goal to sit in a mansion in Heaven?
Are you seeking to win Christ? Paul was, even toward the end of his life.
Are you seeking to win Christ? If not, you are not attaining to the
resurrection from the dead.
Are you forgetting the things that are behind and seeking to grasp that for
which you have been grasped? If not, you are not attaining to the
resurrection from the dead.
Do you count all things you have gained apart from Christ as being garbage?
If not, you are not attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Are you working out your salvation with fear and trembling, or are you too
sure of yourself? Why not ask God for a report card? Maybe you are deceived!
No Christian who is in deception knows he is in deception.
When we do not carry our personal cross, when we are unwilling to deny
ourselves, we are open to deception no matter how much we pray and read the
Bible.
God sometimes uses harsh methods to drive the idols from us. Better that
than to have God answer us according to our idols.
The waters of God flow peacefully. Burning desires and passions are not of
God.
The spiritual person is not a babbler but speaks that which is necessary and
will build up the hearer. Much talking is often a sign of guilt,
foolishness, or guile.
The immoral person is of weak character and behaves foolishly. His face
reveals his weakness and guile.
The righteous person patiently endures suffering and remains vigilant during
seasons of blessing.
True Christian fellowship differs from a party in that it is always
appropriate to pray during fellowship. Parties are for children. When
conducted for adults parties are not lacking in opportunities for sin.
One person's stern obedience to God makes things possible that otherwise are
not possible.
Relax your guard for one hour and spend five years recovering lost ground.
It is impossible for a person without integrity to make a success of the
Christian life. The seed must fall into an honest and good heart.
Keep away from a person without integrity unless you enjoy frustration and
confusion.
Why are you hoping to lay around in your mansion when God has called you to
govern the nations with a rod of iron?
If riches pierce the owner with many sorrows, as the Apostle Paul claims,
why are you trying to be rich? Be content with the necessities of life.
If an individual is not walking in daily trust in the Lord and is not being
transformed into the moral image of Jesus, his church membership will avail
him nothing in the Day of the Lord.
The rest of God is nothing more nor nothing less than the perfect center of
God's will.
God is your Father and makes joyously possible your perfect obedience in
every situation. Anything less is rebellion.
The righteous belong in Heaven with God, and the wicked belong in the fire
with Satan. If you want to escape Hell, ask Christ to help you live
righteously.
Whether you belong in Hell or in Heaven is revealed by the way in which you
behave.
Christ did not come to bring the wicked into Paradise but to enable the
wicked to learn righteousness. To not understand this is to not understand
the Kingdom of God.
The wages of righteous behavior is eternal life. The wages of sinful
behavior is death. Christ did not come to change the Father's laws but to
enable us to behave righteously.
Christ did not come to sovereignly deliver man but to enable man to renounce
Satan and work out his own salvation. Christ will not do all the work for
you, and you can do nothing at all apart from Christ.
Jesus Christ is not a pass from Hell to Heaven but the Way of eternal life.
Those who sow disobedience to God will reap agony sooner or later.
Faith is not magic or presumption. True faith results in continual rest in
the center of God's will.
Christ dwells forever in the bosom of the Father. He desires that you be
with Him where He is.
There is no such thing as a state of grace that is not revealed in a
transformed personality. This is a historical error that always destroys the
testimony of the Christian churches.
People desire to escape Hell and go to Paradise. God desires that people
escape sin and behave in a righteous, holy manner.
Those who behave uprightly are known and loved of God. The wicked, although
they profess Christ, will never inherit the Kingdom of God.
The holy city, the new Jerusalem, is not holy because God sees the
inhabitants through Christ but because Christ has made them actually holy.
No person will rule with Christ until Christ rules the person.
If Christ were only to be <MI>with us we would have to behave righteously.
Because Christ's intention is to dwell <MI>in us we have to be transformed
completely.
The individual who desires to practice sin and go to Paradise by grace is
playing games with God. God outsmarts the devious and always wins the game.
To see the Lord is reserved for the angels of children and the pure of
heart. The wicked will never see the Lord though they cry Lord! Lord! all
the day long.
Do you want to go to Heaven? Then ask God to make you heavenly.
Heaven is coming to the earth. God's will shall be done in the earth. God
has heard the Lord's prayer.
Do you wish to remain in Heaven while God and Christ are ruling on the
earth?
The environment of Paradise can never by itself be what we mean by “heaven.”
The joy of Heaven depends on relationships.
If you love wickedness you would not be happy in Heaven were you admitted.
Would you like to live where people are praying all the time and serving the
Lord?
It is one matter to save a soul from Hell. It is another matter to get Hell
out of the soul. Hell will never be allowed into Paradise.
Why do you think there is a wall around the new Jerusalem? It is to keep sin
out of Paradise forever. If you want to enter Paradise ask Christ to help
you get the sin out of your personality.
What do you mean you are saved by grace? Do you mean you can dwell in the
Presence of God while there is rebellion in your heart? Awake to
righteousness while there is time.
You cannot sit on the throne of your own heart until first God and Christ
have been established there. He whom the Son sets free is free indeed.
It is given to man to govern all the works of God, but first God must govern
the man.
The nations of the world have not rejected Christ, they have rejected the
Christians.
After a generation or two, once-fiery groups become mausoleums filled with
relics. The Life and revelation of God then are found in other places.
The Christians guide the secular government by the testimony of their godly
behavior, not by attempting to use physical means to compel the government
to change.
To be fully redeemed is to be brought out from the presence and all the
works of Satan into total conformity to the image of Christ and untroubled
rest in the Father through Christ.
Give God your best and God will give you His best. “All Mine are Yours and
Yours are Mine.” Can you follow Christ in this?
Anyone with a heart for God, like Jesus or King David, can always read God's
intention. But the hard-hearted religious individual will succeed in
straining out gnats and swallowing camels.
Don't spend too much time on the “rapture.” The catching up of the saints is
of minor importance compared with attaining to the first resurrection from
the dead.
At Pentecost you choose whether to make God your servant or become the
servant of God. To go forward to the fullness of God you must be willing to
be God's servant.
The mature saint recognizes that every true Christian is on a continuum from
Satan to God. None of us is wholly of Satan and none of us is wholly of God.
When we understand this, we do not reject people because we discern evil in
them. Our task is to move every believer away from Satan and toward God.
The sinners in Zion are terrified; trembling grips the godless: “Who of us
can dwell with the consuming fire? Who of us can dwell with everlasting
burning?” He who walks righteously and speaks what is right, who rejects
gain from extortion and keeps his hand from accepting bribes, who stops his
ears against plots of murder and shuts his eyes against contemplating evil—
(Isaiah 33:14,15—NIV))
The passage above applies with full force today as it has from eternity past
and shall continue to eternity future. The historical error is that the new
covenant is a state of grace such that Isaiah 33:14,15 no longer applies.
Will we ever recover from such a misunderstanding of the new covenant?
The new covenant has nothing to do with going to Heaven. The new covenant is
our change, by the Spirit of the Lord, from glory to glory until we stand
complete in the stature of the fullness of Christ.
The Lake of Fire has authority over specific behaviors. Until through Christ
we overcome those behaviors, the Lake of Fire has authority over that part
of our personality. He who overcomes shall not be harmed by the second
death.
The dragon has seven heads; but Christ and those who have the mind of Christ
are wiser than he.
There is an element of stupidity in all wickedness. All the efforts of Satan
succeed only in perfecting God's elect.
Are you cowering in fear because of the enemy? Are you oppressed by the dark
forces surrounding you? Lift up your eyes to the mountains. They are filled
with chariots of fire guarding those who fear the Lord.
If you want to know how Christians should behave, do not ask a fellow
Christian. Ask someone who is unsaved. They will tell you clearly and
specifically. The Christian is liable to talk about grace.
The righteous laughs happily from his heart, being filled with the joy of
Christ. The wicked takes himself altogether too seriously and is easily
offended.
Getting the man out of the cesspool is repentance. Getting the cesspool out
of the man is salvation.
The Christian salvation includes forgiveness and deliverance from sin. When
deliverance does not follow forgiveness, the purpose of forgiveness is
aborted.
A “rapture” could never bring us closer to the Father. Only obedience and
holiness can do that.
Every person is born with a throne room in his or her personality. Who sits
on the throne of your life?
If you would have peace, be ruled by the Prince of peace.
God must always be the goal. God will never be used as the means for
reaching some goal of our own.
God brings us out of Egypt on eagles' wings. But we have to fight to enter
the land of promise.
God does not “see us through Jesus,” but He does hear us when we cry for
deliverance from sin.
The Church is not going to Heaven. Heaven is coming to the earth through the
Church. “Thy Kingdom come.”
When Jesus comes, He will not make a U-turn and go back to Heaven.
You will never find God until you are willing to suffer under His hand.
There are not three wills of God, the good, the acceptable, and the perfect.
There is but one will of God for you and it is good, acceptable, and
perfect.
Are you doing your Father's will? If not, why not? Are you content to rebel
against God and thus be destroyed?
Christ is not only the Answer, He is the Question. What will you do with
Jesus?
If you are serving the Lord your problems are coming from Jesus. Get your
eyes on the Lord!
Quit being afraid of the devil. Let your fear and worship be directed toward
God. Who is your god anyway?
Satan strives continually for honor and attention. Turn away from him and
give your honor and attention to Jesus Christ.
You are not a free person until your will and God's will are identical.
Practice righteousness and delight in it. This is very pleasing to the Lord.
The only trustworthy evidence of salvation is a godly life.
The Bible does not command us in vain to work out our salvation with fear
and trembling. Many mature Christians have been led astray!
The Christian life can be lived five minutes at a time, so quit worrying
about your ability to endure to the end.
None of us knows when he is deceived. The only shield against deception is
the personal cross of the believer.
If you are not willing to permit Jesus to defer your desires, you soon will
be deceived.
Trying to make a paradise of the present life will deceive you into breaking
God’s laws.
The husband rules his wife by giving himself for her.
When two people strive, the spiritually stronger must give way, but only in
the Lord.
The captain of the Lord's host is not for us or for our enemies. He has his
own goals, tactics, and strategies.
When the mouse and the elephant work together, it is the elephant who
accomplishes the task. So it is when Christ works with us, confirming the
Word with signs following.
To be truly free we must become the slave of Jesus Christ.
Who told you Jesus Christ cannot deliver you from the power of sin? He is
not speaking the Word of Christ to you.
God pronounced the physical realm very good as long as it was free of
sinning spirits. Then the spirit realm invaded the physical realm and the
physical realm was cursed.
The Kingdom of God is the entrance of righteous spirits into the physical
realm. The concept that the realm of spirits (the heavens) is better than
the physical realm is not of Christianity but of Gnosticism.
The cry of your heart is not to go to Heaven but to the Father. Do your
realize this? Where do you want to be when the Father comes to the earth in
Jesus Christ?
For the believer in Christ, every frustration contains an opportunity for
good. God has designed the universe this way. But to receive the good you
have to do God's will.
The tree of the knowledge of good and evil is the eternal moral law of God.
Like all the trees of Paradise, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil
is good for food. However, to eat of this tree before we have eaten of Jesus
Christ, the Tree of Life, is to incur death.
Growth in Christ is growth in the ability to distinguish between good and
evil, and growth in the desire and power to choose the good and reject the
evil.
The Law of Moses is an abridged, covenantal version of the eternal moral law
of God. True Christians have been freed from the Law of Moses.
The new covenant is the writing of the eternal moral law of God in the mind
and heart—not just in the mind but in the mind and heart.
The law of sin and death is the interaction of the Law of Moses with our
sinful nature. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets us free
from the law of sin and death by assigning the righteousness of Christ to
us; by delivering us from all idolatry; by forming Christ in us; and by
filling us with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If the new Jerusalem were full of sinning people whom God saw through
Christ, then the holy city would actually be the unholy city. It would be no
different from the churches of today. Is this what you truly desire? Do you
look forward to going to such a place?
We are not delivered from sin by dying and going to Heaven or by the coming
of the Lord. Deliverance from sin comes only as we keep on living by the
body and blood of Christ.
Sin will always be possible—even throughout eternity. Our only protection
from sin is to have Christ, the sinless One, formed in us.
Why do you wish to go to Heaven? Do you really want to stand on a sea of
glass laced with fire and sing praises to God? Are you burning with desire
to play a harp? You had better check your heart. What you really want is a
glorified earth.
We will not be raised from the dead so we can go to Heaven but so we can
stand once again on the earth. This is what we desire although we may not
realize it as yet.
The is only one legitimate Will in the universe. How long will you exercise
your own will and thus live in rebellion against God? There is not room in
the universe for two Gods.
Do you want to be part of Christ or a partner of Christ?
Live in the now with the Lord. You may have a heart attack worrying about
the future. All there is, is now.
It is entirely possible to finish the work that God has given you to do, if
you serve the Lord diligently.
If you obey Christ, not a hair of your head shall perish. The hairs of your
head are known to God and shall all be raised in the resurrection of the
righteous.
How can my body be raised from the dead if I am vaporized by an atomic
explosion? All the atoms of your body are tagged and shall be brought
together in the day of resurrection. God made you from dust!
The problem of life is not how we are to create our own heaven and earth but
how to discover God's plan for us, the plan written from the beginning of
the world.
A spirit of inevitability and fatalism is not of God. Don't let life beat
the joy and wonder out of you. There is a pot of gold at the end of the
rainbow.
Where did Jesus go to prepare a place for you? He went to the cross. There a
spear opened up His side so you might enter Him and so you might be created
from His body and blood. Remember how Eve came into being!
Do you wish to return to the garden? Then let Christ build in you a wall
against sin. Do you want to lose Paradise again?
There never again will be an unwalled Paradise. Christ Himself is the wall.
Let Him be formed in you if you wish to dwell in Paradise.
People desire Paradise but God desires obedient, righteous people.
Would you rather live in a hut with people you love or in a mansion with
strangers? Do you see? Heaven is not found in gold and diamonds but in
relationships.
God's love is exceedingly great. So is His wrath! Don't be deceived
concerning this.
I would rather have Jesus than silver or gold. There indeed is a Heaven but
the saint cares only for Jesus.
Ordinarily God does not remove us from the scene of trouble. He clothes us
with Christ and we pass through the fire without getting burned.
They used to say put feet on your prayers. A prayer with feet is odd
looking, like an eagle with shoes. A prayer with wings is a beautiful
creature. It mounts up to God.
Pray as though everything depends on you. Act as though everything depends
on God.
God won't do it alone and you can't do it alone. It is the sword of the Lord
and of Gideon.
Your home is with those you love. Mansions, gold, and pearls can never
satisfy you.
Why do you want to go to Heaven? What you truly desire is Jesus and your
loved ones on a glorified earth.
Would you rather soar around with the angels in the heavens or stand on a
glorified earth with Jesus and your loved ones?
Will you see your loved ones again? Yes, you will, in flesh and bone
reality. But all things will be brought to judgment.
Live today as though tomorrow you will be raised from the dead and receive
your reward. Make no mistake, tomorrow will finally come.
The Kingdom of God is coming to the earth. Here is where the heart of Jesus
is, and so is yours although you may not realize it.
God is moving His throne from the heavens and installing it in the hearts of
His obedient saints. This is God's way of showing disdain toward the lords
of the heavens who rebelled against Him.
All things will be shaken, even the heavens themselves. Only what is
established in Christ will remain. There is no safety in the heavens, only
in Jesus Christ.
Whoever would walk with God must be circumcised. True circumcision is of the
heart and is eternal. The circumcision of the Law of Moses was a temporary
provision and passes away with death.
Every true witness of God testifies forever.
Before Abraham was, God is. Your name was written in God's Book from the
beginning of the world.
God has never failed anyone who trusted Him. He will not make an exception
with you.
Absalom and all other mountains of Bashan end up hung between heaven and
earth. There they die. The high hills leap in vain. God has chosen Zion,
another name for Jesus Christ.
Have you counted the cost of being a disciple? Good! Now count the cost of
not being a disciple.
Do you think living as a Christian is hard? Not so! It is the way of the
transgressor that is hard.
We begin the program of salvation with de jure (legal) righteousness but the
Kingdom of God is in de facto (actual) righteousness.
In between the external bondage of a dictatorship and upright citizenship in
a democracy there is a gap of lawlessness caused by the fallen nature of
man. In between the external bondage of the Law of Moses and upright
citizenship in the Kingdom of God there is a gap of lawlessness caused by
the fallen nature of man. The people dwelling in these two gaps will join
together in the last days. Antichrist will be supported by the False
Prophet.
Don't be concerned about how much you seem to be accomplishing for God. Be
concerned with your utter faithfulness to God.
“Have I not done many wonderful works in Your name?” “Yes you did. But were
you known of Me?” How terrible to spend a lifetime in Christian service and
then be rejected by the Lord in the day of resurrection! Perhaps you should
turn to Christ to find out if He knows you before you continue with your
programs.
Do you want peace? Do you want health? Do you want wisdom? Embrace Jesus for
all these are in Him and only in Him. But He is God's Christ. Don't try to
make Him a means to your ends.
You cannot fight Satan's fire with fire of your own. Satan is the master of
fire. Dwell in righteousness and obedience to God. Forgive those who have
harmed you. Evil can be overcome only by Divine good.
You can accomplish nothing in the eternal Kingdom of God with your own
wisdom, talents, strength, or money. Only the blood of the Lamb, the word of
your testimony, and a willingness to lay down your life for the Gospel can
conquer the enemy.
No person can master sin. Whoever sins is the slave of that sin. Only the
Lord Jesus is able to set anyone free from the chains of slavery to sin.
The citizens of the affluent democracies regard themselves as free. They are
not free. They are bound by the hideous demons of lust, covetousness,
drunkenness, entertainment, witchcraft, and violence.
Does your life consist primarily of eating, sleeping, playing, working, and
reproducing? If so you might just as well be a horse.
I will lay down at night and sleep peacefully. God gives His beloved sleep
and He alone guards them against all evil. Ask the Lord to make this your
testimony.
We may be desiring an amnesty but God is desiring a change in our behavior.
Worldliness is trust in the world for survival, security, and significance.
The acts of our sinful nature are behaviors that violate the moral laws of
God. Self-will is our desire to accomplish our own goals independently of
God. All are idols and must be removed from us if we are to appear with
Christ.
The New Testament is not as much about passing from Hell to Heaven as it is
about passing from death to life. Hell and Heaven are places whereas death
and life have to do with our relationship to God. If we concentrate on
moving people from death to life, Hell and Heaven will take care of
themselves. However the reverse is not always true.
Receiving Christ is the God-given means of producing godly behavior in human
beings, not a substitute for godly behavior. Why, then, are we preaching
grace as an alternative to godly living?
The Christian salvation is not de jure (legal) deliverance from sin that
results in de jure eternal life and a de jure kingdom. The Christian
salvation is de facto (actual) deliverance that results in de facto eternal
life and a de facto Kingdom of God.
Eternal life is not the same as eternal existence. Eternal Life Is the Lord
Jesus Christ. He Is the Resurrection, the Life, and the Grace of God.
Eternal life is the Life of God. Without it we are little more than
intelligent dust.
Why are you saying there is a Gentile Church when the Bible states there is
only one olive tree? Is there a Gentile olive tree that the Bible does not
mention?
Why are you teaching there is a Gentile kingdom in Heaven and a Jewish
kingdom on earth when there is only one new Man? This is foolish,
unscriptural doctrine.
Why are you making a distinction between Jewish believers and Gentile
believers when Paul says we are all one in Christ? How many seeds of Abraham
have you counted?
Is a Jewish Christian a member of the Body of Christ? If so, is he part of
the Gentile Church in Heaven or the Jewish kingdom on the earth? Are Peter,
James, John, and Paul part of the Gentile Church in Heaven or the Jewish
kingdom on the earth? Do the Scriptures teach there are two kingdoms of God,
two bodies of Christ, two olive trees, two wives of the Lamb, or did we make
all this up?
Why don't we quit teaching absolute nonsense and return to the Bible and to
the one Kingdom of God, the kingdom which is from Heaven?
I can understand why so many Jewish Christians are returning to the Law of
Moses. The way we teach “grace” has removed the strength of righteousness
and the substance of living from the Christian Gospel. There is more
righteousness and substance to think about and live by in the teachings of
Orthodox Judaism then there is in Christianity.
Evidently many Christian teachers believe the new covenant to be a lesser
covenant than the old. The old at least required righteous conduct. The new
forgives us but is unable to make us righteous except by imputation, and
warns us against trying live righteously lest we be a “legalist”! So they
tell me.
To every day some problem has been added. To every day enough grace has been
added to overcome the problem of the day. You and I choose each day whether
to permit the grace to overcome the problem, or the problem to overcome the
grace. As we choose to overcome the problem we are given to eat and drink of
the body and blood of Christ. This is how the Wife of the Lamb is formed.
The Bride is not referred to as the Bride of Christ but the Bride of the
Lamb. This is because she is married to the Lamb by eating God’s Passover
Lamb.
I think one of the two witnesses must be the Apostle Paul who will come to
breathe fire on the Christian churches that have turned his doctrine of the
grace of God into an excuse for immorality.
After two thousand years the Church is still talking about Christ with us.
But the mystery of the Gospel is Christ in us. When the Lord appears He
shall be revealed in us as well as with us. There is a great difference
between Christ with us and Christ in us.
You were born into this world to learn the ways of the Lord. It doesn't
matter how old or young you are, if you will learn from your mistakes you
have all eternity to profit from your newly found wisdom.
Better to be judged now than later.
Why do you focus on the catching up when it is the resurrection that is of
supreme importance? Emphasize the resurrection and your responsibility to
attain to it and you will bring yourself and your hearers to eternal life.
Do you wish to be caught up to Christ in your sin and self-will? If not,
work with the Holy Spirit in the cleansing of your personality. Every man
that has the hope of being like Christ and seeing Him as He is, purifies
himself.
If you as a Christian confess your sin, God is faithful and righteous to
forgive your sin and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. But if you
continue in your sin, you will face judgment when you are raised from the
dead.
How Satan would rejoice if the entire Church were caught up to Heaven! His
interest is in the earth and its people, that is, in the inheritance of
Jesus Christ and His saints. Are you willing to so easily surrender your
inheritance?
The inevitable product of the “pre-tribulation rapture” teaching is people
unprepared to stand in the evil day. The same can be said of the “faith” and
“prosperity” errors.
Faith is action and interaction.—Audrey Thompson.
When you are full of passion, intense desires, you cannot hear the Lord's
voice. You can't cook potatoes over a bonfire. You have to pray and wait
until these desires burn down before you can expect to hear accurately from
the Lord.
Don't look back. Keep your eyes on Jesus. He has kept the good wine until
now.
Look at Jesus and walk on the water. Look at the waves and sink.
Don't step out in faith until God tells you to. Why should you end up in the
garbage with a banana peel on top of your head?
The older I get the less I know. God, help me to know Christ that I may gain
understanding.
Truth does not tell us where or when something is, what it weighs, how big
it is, or what it looks like. Truth informs us of the meaning of things.
Truth is a Person—Jesus Christ.
Society keeps on studying and learning but never comes to the knowledge of
the truth. The Truth is Jesus Christ.
Give everything to God and God will give everything to you. Such a deal!
If you are not walking with Jesus you truly are alone in a dark, cold,
hostile universe. This fact may still be hidden from you.
Man was created to be the chariot of God. Until God is in control of a
person he is a wandering star in a meaningless void.
Do not trust the heavens. They shall be shaken. Put your confidence in Jesus
alone. No man comes to the Father except through Him.
All the actions of the flesh are silly tunes. There is no order or meaning
in life outside of Jesus Christ. Have you learned this yet?
God is objective reality. His actions sometimes come hard and clear against
our subjective universe.
Salvation is always now. Things will not get better or easier unless we make
the right decisions today.
Nature is cyclical. We make a fine show for a brief season but end up as
helpless as when we were born. However life in Christ is a straight line
ascending upward to eternity.
The physical world shrivels, crumbles, and passes away. But the Life of God
grows fresher and brighter as we approach the dawn of eternity.
Quit deceiving yourself. There is no such thing as a Platonic relationship
with the opposite sex. All flirtations are deadly serious business. Be
warned!
When were Adam and Eve married? They were married as Eve was being formed
from Adam's substance. When are we married to the Lamb? We are married to
the Lamb as we learn to live by His body and blood. When are we given His
body and blood? We are given His body and blood every time we deny the
idolatry and passions of our wicked nature and choose to live by the life of
the Spirit of God.
Only the overcomers are given to eat of the tree of life. Only the
overcomers are given to eat of the hidden manna.
God commanded Abraham to be perfect. Christ commands us to be perfect. But
people say as long as we are in this world we have to sin and nobody is
perfect. Why do they rebel against God's Word? Either they don't believe
Christ can keep them or else they wish to sin. Can you think of any other
reason they would make such an unscriptural claim?
You don't know which voice is God's? In all your ways acknowledge Him and He
shall direct your paths.
To rush about in distraction is not the way of the Lord.
The wisdom that comes from above is pure and peaceable, not accompanied by
burning desires, haste, or forcing.
“The king's business requires haste” does not apply to you. The waters of
Shiloah go softly.
Do you want to find God's will for your life? Present your body a living
sacrifice. There is no other sure way.
Do you tell people they are saved by God's grace and do not have to keep the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles? I tell people if they wish to
inherit the Kingdom of God they must keep the commandments of Christ and His
Apostles, and the grace of God will make it possible for them to do so.
Which of us will hear “Well done, good and faithful servant”?
I have been termed a Pharisee for teaching that Christians must keep the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles. Yet I cannot find in the Bible that
Christ ever accused a Pharisee of keeping His commandments. Do you believe
Christ regards me as a Pharisee because I teach we must keep His
commandments?
Does being saved by grace mean God is not concerned about my behavior? When
did God change His mind about creating man in His image?
What a mess the new Jerusalem will be if it is filled with sinners covered
with imputed righteousness! I don't believe the nations of the world will
glorify God over this condition, because they cannot see imputed
righteousness.
I find it difficult if not impossible to believe that Christ would ever
marry a bride who was without blemish solely on the basis of imputed
righteousness. How would you like to marry someone who was violent, immoral
dishonest, self-seeking, and arrogant but was presented to you as
unblemished on the basis of the imputation of blameless character? Should
Christ remain a bachelor?
I have found it a waste of time to discuss Scriptures with someone living in
the bubble of abstract grace. It is a spiritual blindness and does not yield
to scriptural truth no matter how clearly presented. It would be easier to
teach a cat to play the piano than to explain to such a believer the true
purpose of Divine grace.
To keep throwing dust in the air and yelling does not make Diana of the
Ephesians great. To keep insisting that Divine grace is an alternative to
moral transformation does not shield the sinning Christian from judgment.
Hold your peace when confronted with someone who believes in the error of
lawless grace or the “pre-tribulation rapture.” You will only arouse
unreasoning anger.
There have been hundreds of thousands of sincere Christians in this century
who have been cruelly tortured and killed for the Gospel. Yet the
“rapturists” advise us that God does not want His people to suffer and will
lift them out of the earth before trouble begins. Am I missing something
here?
How can you teach that God does not want His people to suffer when
throughout the centuries the saints have been accounted as sheep for the
slaughter? The faith-prosperity teachers would tell us they all missed God
because they did not have faith. How far this doctrine is from the Kingdom
of God!
I have seen strong believers fall away. Their loss of Kingdom reward is
inconceivable. Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. I do!
How can you teach that a true Christian can never fall away? Are you blind
to what is taking place in America? Reread the parable of the sower.
You cannot look back and say you were saved at some point in the past. The
only day of salvation is today. Are you abiding in Christ today?
You are saved by finishing the course. He who endures to the end shall be
saved.
To a son: I have loved you and watched over you from a baby. Now you have
chosen to go on a dark journey. If you return in time I will be here.
To a daughter: I have loved you and watched over you from a baby. Now you
have chosen to go on a dark journey. If you return in time I will be here.
Do you think God's grace prevents His seeing your sinning? You have
misunderstood the new covenant. If you will judge yourself you will not be
judged.
Lay up gold for yourself in the Kingdom. Then you will have money to spend
in the ages to come.
To claim that Christ does it all for us is to depart from the explicit
statements of the New Testament. There are numerous commandments and
exhortations we are required to observe.
Your adamic nature has to pray and keep the commandments of Christ and His
Apostles, looking always to God for help. Christ in you is still unformed.
If your adamic nature does not have integrity you will never make a success
of the Kingdom of God.
Prophecy and the laying on of hands are very helpful. But if we would know
God's will, we must present our body a living sacrifice.
I have heard glorious prophecies go forth over the believers. In many
instances the prophecies were not fulfilled because the individual did not
present his body a living sacrifice.
Ministry comes and goes but the important thing is the witness of God's
Person, ways, will, and eternal purpose in Christ Jesus.
The United States has an abundance of Christian ministry but the testimony
of God's Person and way has been destroyed.
There will not be two ministries or two gifts in the last days but two
witnesses—Christ and those in whom He is dwelling.
He has kept the good wine until now. The double portion of God's Spirit has
been reserved for the closing days of the Church Age.
I have been through dark hours but the light at the end of the path is
beginning to shine brightly.
There is no such thing as a dispensation of grace in which believers are not
required to obey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. This concept
has destroyed the moral testimony of the Christian churches. There is a new
covenant. It is much more demanding than the old and is accompanied by much
more grace.
Divine grace is not an alternative to righteous behavior, it is the means of
producing righteous behavior. What tremendous misunderstanding and moral
confusion exist in the Christian churches!
Do you want more grace? Then use the grace you have to enable you to live
righteously.
Have you been saved by grace? Good. We would like to see some of it in
action.
Is Christ living in your heart? Then how about expressing His Life in your
personality!
You may shout the victory in church but how is it going when you are at home
with your family?
The cold gray light of morning tells us more about the condition of our soul
than do the times of high praise in the assembly of saints.
How long will you destroy the moral strength of the assembly with your
grace-rapture, grace-rapture emphasis? Pleasant news based on falsehood will
finally turn against him who brought it and the end will be bitter indeed!
There is a time to find release through rejoicing and laughter. There is a
time to find release through repentance and weeping.
There is Divine grace that brings forgiveness and there is Divine grace that
brings about the new creation of righteous behavior. Do you understand
clearly the difference? Which does the New Testament emphasize?
The Kingdom of God is not a forgiven creation but a new creation. “Behold, I
make all things new.”
Whose company would you prefer? The honest person whose integrity and
faithfulness you can count on or the individual who makes a profession of
faith in Christ but who continues in his dishonesty, treachery, and slander?
Perhaps God feels as you do.
If your salvation is not making you a new righteous creation it isn't
working.
Are you confessing your sins and turning away from them? The Bible says he
who hides his sin will not prosper but whoever confesses and forsake them
will be shown mercy.
Are you having problems? Christ has all power and wisdom. Why don’t you look
to Jesus?
In the Father’s house there are many rooms. What is the Father’s house? The
Church. What are the many rooms? The saints, the living stones.
It is important that Christ be with us. But the mystery of the Gospel is
Christ in us.
There is a vast difference between Christ being with us and Christ being in
us. Christ was with Israel of the Old Testament. Christ is in Israel of the
New Testament. This is why he who is least in the Kingdom is greater than
any of the Prophets.
Having Christ with us makes demand on us. Having Christ in us makes
infinitely greater demands on us.
You have been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit. It is time to move
forward to the fullness of God.
God has saved you and filled you with His Holy Spirit. Are you willing now
to allow God to make you His throne, His house, His chariot?
You have been saved and filled with the Holy Spirit? Why have you unpacked?
The cloud and the fire are moving on toward the land of promise.
If you are trusting in the Lord Jesus to make the Bride without spot or
wrinkle by imputation (ascribed righteousness) you are going to be
disappointed. The final act of redemption is now coming upon us, a Divine
intervention that will create a Bride that actually is without spot or
wrinkle.
If the inhabitants of the new Jerusalem are to be righteous only by imputed
righteousness, I would rather live in a jungle with my family.
Dying will not change what you are in personality. The coming of the Lord
will not change what you are in personality. Only Jesus Christ can change
what you are in personality and He is ready to change you right now.
Tomorrow may be too late if you are not faithful today.
In your heart, do you want to go to the spirit paradise to be with your
mansion and diamonds or do you want to go to the Father to live in His fiery
holiness?
Jesus is not the way to Heaven but the way to the Father! You are following
the wrong person if all you want is to get out of trouble!
Some are preaching faith and prosperity to the impoverished of Europe and
Asia. They are seeking to enslave them with material wealth just as
Americans are enslaved.
If you desire abundant life you will not find it in material wealth, only in
the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
Material wealth is killing the spiritual life of American Christians. Do you
wish to die along with them?
Better to have the bare necessities of life and live in the Presence of the
Lord Jesus than to own houses and lands and have little time for the Lord.
God loves the poor and gives them the Kingdom.
I know you want to preserve your wealth. So did the rich man. But the
beggar, Lazarus, whose name is found in the Bible, had a much better end
which he is enjoying to this very day.
I have been called a Pharisee and a legalist and have been accused of having
a religious spirit—all because I exhort the believers to keep the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles. What is our nation coming to?
Our great and terrible Lord is soon to come with a sword. The kings who
follow Him carry the rod of iron. The throne of God is in them. The Prophets
saw the vision and trembled. Woe to the hypocrites in the churches in that
Day!
If you would rule with Christ in His kingdom, prepare yourself today. In the
ages to come you will rule or be ruled. The Kingdom of God is not a
democracy!
When we first receive Christ, the grace of the blood atonement forgives our
sins of the past. After that the grace of the Spirit enables us, a step at a
time, to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
No person can be received of God apart from Christ—not by observing any
moral code of any kind whatever.
Every transgression of the commandments of Christ and His Apostles is sin,
whether committed by a Christian or non-Christian; and must be dealt with
appropriately if the individual is to live in God’s sight.
The non-Christian deals with sin appropriately by coming to Christ for
forgiveness. The Christian deals with sin appropriately by confessing his
sins and turning away from them, praying for grace to help him do so.
Most people can control their demons, but this isn’t deliverance. Eventually
their demons will become uncontrollable.
The individual who tries to go through life alone when the all-powerful
Christ has offered to help is without good sense.
Are you having problems? Christ has all power and wisdom. Why don’t you look
to Jesus?
If we turn away from our sin and ask forgiveness through Jesus, God will
hear us and save us. But all sin has consequences.
If you put your trust in the Lord as your Shepherd, He will not keep
emphasizing imputed righteousness to you. Rather, he will lead you in paths
of righteousness for His name’s sake. Christ does not want His name to be
associated with wicked behavior!.
Let righteousness be your watchword. Our righteous Lord loves the person who
rejoices when practicing righteousness.
If you bear Christ’s name, flee from wickedness. He will help you live
righteously.
Seek righteousness. Seek holiness. Seek God’s fiery Presence. They will
sustain you throughout the age of moral horrors that lies before us.
How can anyone accuse us of self-righteousness when it is Christ Himself who
is enabling us to live righteously?
Have you lost the fine edge of your experience with Jesus? Go back to your
first altar. Get a touch of fire before it is too late.
We do not work for our salvation, we work out our salvation.
Our physical body and our salvation are Divine gifts to us. We do not earn
either by taking care of it. But if we do not take care of either one we
lose it. We take care of our salvation by keeping the commandments of Christ
and His Apostles.
Paul says we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ. Paul also told Timothy that
he would save himself and his hearers by being diligent in the things of
Christ. If one statement is of God, then so is the other.
To pass from the Law of Moses to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles
is like passing from football to soccer. The rules have changed but there
still are rules.
To be married to Jesus Christ and to bring forth the fruit of righteousness
is to be free from the Law of Moses. Marriage to Christ is infinitely more
demanding than the Law of Moses and contains infinitely more grace.
We are free from the authority of the Law of Moses only as we are crucified
with Christ and risen with Christ to walk in the new life of righteousness,
holiness, and obedience to God.
The gift of eternal life is like the gift of a piano. You get out of it only
what you put into it.
Salvation includes forgiveness and deliverance. Forgiveness comes instantly
as we call on the name of the Lord Jesus. Deliverance is accomplished over a
period of time as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
We do not earn our salvation by works of righteousness. But we work out our
salvation by keeping the commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
Under the Law of Moses we gain righteousness by obeying the commandments of
the Law. Under the new covenant we gain, maintain, and develop righteousness
by looking in faith to Jesus and then keeping His commandments and those of
His Apostles as the Holy Spirit enables us.
If we do not keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles we have
received the grace of God in vain.
There is no such thing as an abstract faith. Faith lives only in our
behavior.
Faith is neither belief in theological principles nor is it magic. Faith is
being certain of things we hope for but do not see as yet. If we hope for a
new world of righteousness then we put away all filthiness of our flesh and
spirit. The only dependable evidence of a saving faith is a change in our
behavior.
The devout Jew seeks righteousness by keeping the commandments of Moses. The
devout Christian is given righteousness by turning from his wickedness and
receiving the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Then he maintains and develops
what he has been given by keeping the commandments of Christ and His
Apostles until Christ has been formed in Him and the fullness of God is
dwelling in Him.
Whoever departs from wickedness makes himself a prey, sometimes a prey of
God’s people. Israel always kills her prophets.
Preach righteousness and discipleship and many Christian churches will shun
you. But the true saints will love you and embrace the truth.
Jesus Christ lived a perfect life under the Law of Moses. He did not die for
His own sins but for ours. Therefore He is able to ascribe perfect
righteousness to whoever looks to Him in faith.
Divine grace frees us from the Law of Moses but does not free us from the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
Why are the commandments of Christ and His Apostles in the Bible if they are
not to be obeyed?
Has the veil of the temple been sewn back up? Is this why we cannot get the
help we need to keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles?
Are you carrying the load for some irresponsible person? Perhaps it would be
better for them and you if you let them experience the consequences of their
behavior. God will give you wisdom if you ask.
How long will Christ knock on the door of your personality before you open
it? Christian, let Jesus into your heart. He will dine with you on His own
body and blood. This food and drink will remove the bitterness and other
garbage that have accumulated through the years. His banqueting table is
within you and His banner over you will be love.
Lift up the everlasting doors of your personality. The King of Glory will
enter and wage war against the enemies that are ruling you from within.
If Christ were to be the only room in the Father’s house, He would have told
us so. In this case He would have set up His Kingdom at His first appearing.
What agony mankind would have been spared! But two thousand years have been
needed to prepare other living stones in the eternal temple of God.
When you operate on people you hurt them. Why don't you pray and let Dr.
Jesus operate? He will diagnose correctly and give an anesthetic. If you are
supposed to act as an assistant, the Lord will direct you.
When God created the physical universe He pronounced it very good. But the
snakes from the heavens have corrupted it.
God is disgusted with the heavens and will shake everything out of them.
Only those who are established in Christ cannot be removed.
God's intention is to replace, with the spirits of righteous people made
perfect, the fallen angels and demons that are controlling the physical
world.
If you abort your baby without good and sufficient reason, such as rape or
medical necessity, you will be charged with murder before the Judgment Seat
of Christ. If you have murdered a baby, throw yourself on the mercy of
Christ before it is too late.
He wants to have intercourse with you but will not accept the responsibility
of marriage and a family? He is a bum. Flee from him. Are you so without
intelligence that you welcome pain and confusion into your life?
Antichrist rises from the sea of mankind. He is man seeking to govern
himself, to be his own god. The False Prophet rises from the soul of man. He
is the Christian believer seeking the power of Christ apart from the prison
of deferred hope. In the last days the False Prophet will support
Antichrist.
There is no such thing as a Gentile Church. It doesn't exist. There is no
such thing as a dispensation of grace or a state of grace unaffected by our
behavior. It doesn't exist. Both of these man-made concepts are destructive
of the one Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, droughts, various medical and social
disorders, are the hand of God knocking on the door of sinful America. We
have international neighbors who are searching for ways to destroy us. Will
the American people open the door and invite the Lord Jesus in before the
country lies in ruins? And do not boast how wonderful the economy is. It
will be the next to fall unless adequate help is given to the
poverty-stricken and despairing of the urban ghettoes.
I wonder if the black people of America understand the potential power they
possess, not primarily the political power but the spiritual power—power in
prayer and righteous behavior. If the black preachers would rise up and
preach righteousness in Jesus' name instead of lawless grace and the
“pre-tribulation rapture,” revival and the renewing of our country would be
at hand. If they wait for the white brothers it may be too late. Remember
Sammy Morris!
One good thing about getting older is you have to make every move count. You
do not have the energy to take a lot of false steps.
What a clear light the Bible throws on the commentaries!
Christ died so you may live. Now you have to die so Christ may live—in you.
Greater love has no man.
Any spiritual formula that we attempt to apply apart from prayer and
dependence on the Lord Jesus Christ is of the False Prophet.
The way of deception is warm, inviting, beautiful, presenting all sorts of
fleeces to assure you that you are doing the Lord's will. But it leads to
the house of death. The way of the cross is bleak, forbidding, ugly,
sometimes tearing at the soul. But it leads through gates of splendor.
When you were a young Christian you were amazed to find so much sin in other
Christians. Now that you are mature you are amazed to find so much sin in
yourself.
If you wait to do God's will until your present troubles are over you will
never serve the Lord. Satan will see to it that after the present distress
there are more problems.
Your present trouble is designed to help you serve God more effectively.
Are you waiting to serve God until after your summer vacation, after the
kids go back to school, after Thanksgiving, after Christmas, after Easter,
after you grow up, after you graduate from school, after you retire? You
will never serve the Lord. The next step for you is the nursing home—and you
probably won't serve the Lord there!
There is a difference between tribulation and wrath. Tribulation serves to
bring the righteous into the Kingdom of God. The exercise of Divine wrath
punishes the wicked and is not redemptive. Be very clear on the distinction
for there is much confusion relating to this.
The wicked are known by their wickedness and the righteous by their
righteousness. A profession of faith in Christ does not change this.
Are you of the opinion that the wicked person can make a profession of
Christ and continue in his wickedness, and still be accepted by the Lord? If
your answer is yes, you do not understand the Christian salvation.
Instead of telling the wicked that by accepting Christ they can escape Hell,
we should ask them if they want to live forever with the saints in a
peaceful, loving, holy environment where there is no thievery, violence,
profanity, or any other of the behaviors they are accustomed to. We are
misleading them if we are leaving the impression they can remain unchanged
and enter the Kingdom of God.
The rewards to the righteous are wonderful beyond imagination. But between
here and there lies much chastisement.
Faith in faith is of the False Prophet. Faith in Jesus is of God.
Better to seek Christ's Presence than to lust for His power.
Some accomplish great things in the church world but God's heart is with the
faithful.
I am older than I used to be but I still am learning of God and His ways.
Are you?
Do not cling too hard to your friend. You and he may have different
destinies in God. Remember David and Jonathan.
Always post a guard, even at a party or on vacation. If you do not you may
say or do some foolish thing that will set you back for several years.
He who slanders and gossips is a coworker with Satan.
Your friend is upright and will point out the right way to you. Those who
speak soft words of flattery to you are seeking their own gain.
Look carefully into the face of the righteous and you will see integrity and
faithfulness cut in steel. Look carefully into the face of the wicked and
you will see his artful conniving.
Tribulation and wrath are different aspects of God's Personality and serve
different purposes. The great tribulation will cause many to wash their
robes in the blood of the Lamb, but God has not appointed the righteous to
wrath.
Christ has promised to keep us and shall keep us, but not if we do not do
what the New Testament commands. There is much we are to do!
Put feet on your prayer and it will shuffle about awkwardly. Wait on the
Lord and your prayer will soar into the heavens. There is a time to wait and
a time to act.
He who exhorts builds up his brother. He who gossips tears down the
assembly.
The end of our striving to serve Christ is the forming of Christ in us.
Christ in us is the mystery of the Gospel. The result of bringing forth
Christ within the human being is a new personality, a unique expression of
God. This new creation is the Kingdom of God.
Deal carefully and prayerfully with each challenge to your faith today.
There will be new grace for tomorrow's battle.
Are you trying to make God your copilot? I doubt He wants the job.
God is plowing up your life so you can receive the rain when it comes.
Do you know the God of the house of God or only the house of God. Maybe the
time has come to build a new altar. Jacob often did.
Why are you trying to kick down the door? It opens into an empty room. Look
around you. Is there another door open just a little?
If it is God's will, it is not contrary to the Scriptures; you have peace
and joy in your heart when you think about it; and you don't have to force
people and circumstances to do it. If one of these three is not in agreement
you better go back to God.
If you have put a fleece before the Lord, as did Eliezer, wait until all the
camels are watered. Nine may be watered immediately but there may be a
problem with the tenth. Don't force the issue. This is God's way of keeping
you from destruction.
Why do you run through the checks of the Spirit? Have you ever done so and
profited?
Commit your way to the Lord. When you start to get off the path you will
hear a voice behind you: “This is the way. Walk ye in it.”
Don't move when the wind blows, the ground shakes, and the rocks fly. Wait
for the still small voice.
Do you want to keep laughing? Let them have the well.
Do you want to keep the birds singing in your heart? Forgive those who have
offended you.
Do you find it impossible to forgive? There is enough virtue in the blood of
Christ to enable you to forgive. The blood will say, “Father, forgive them.
They don't know what they are doing.”
Christ spoke the truth when He said, “They don't know what they are doing.”
Neither do the people who hurt you know what they are doing. Forgive them in
Jesus' name.
The mountains of Bashan are always leaping but God has chosen Zion. Rest in
God's will even though the self-willed seem to be prospering.
There are many voices in the land. Wait until you hear the voice of God.
Why has your salvation become drudgery to you? Set aside time to look anew
to Jesus. Be refreshed in the Lord. Return to your first love.
How long will you stuff your problems into your subconscious? Confess your
anger and fears to someone you trust. Get them out where you can look at
them. Then ask God for wisdom and strength to deal with them. He cares and
He will help. God desires that you be joyful in Him. This is your strength.
Some trust in one thing or another but God alone can make you lie down in
safety.
You do not have grace for tomorrow, so worrying about the future is not
productive.
You can talk about your religion all day long, but when you begin to live a
godly life in Christ you will be persecuted. He who departs from wickedness
makes himself a prey.
When you begin to preach righteousness you will make your fellow Christians
upset and angry. Sinners want other people to sin so everyone will be happy.
People say we must not judge a sinner. There is a time not to judge but
there is a time to judge.
If you keep living according to your sinful desires, you finally will lose
control of your soul. Then what good will all your work do you? If you wish
to preserve your soul, press forward in Jesus.
Why are you so afraid of the devil? Is he your lord? Fear God and serve Him.
Then you will have no need to fear the devil.
Practice doing good and you will have no need to fear. Who can harm you if
you follow that which is good?
Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Keep fretting yourself about the wickedness in the land and you will fall
into sin.
Why are you raging against the wicked? Do you envy them? Remember, the way
of the transgressors is hard. Christ will save them if they look to Him.
Satan and the demons rejoice when you gossip and slander the saints. They
consider you a hypocrite. They are anticipating with glee your going home to
be with them.
Why are you destroying the assembly with your tongue? Don't you fear God who
delights in the well-being of His children?
Satan, the fallen angels, the demons, and you are all working toward the
same goal when you gossip and slander the saints.
O you wicked tongue, set on fire from the flames of Hell, how long will you
wound the believers, destroy reputations, and wreak havoc in the assembly?
The burnings you create cannot easily be extinguished.
True Bible faith comes from God into the spirit of the believer. Soulish
faith comes from the soul of the believer. Those who practice true Bible
faith are led by the Spirit of God. Those who practice soulish faith are led
by their mental knowledge of the Scriptures.
It is during the interval of time between our request and its fulfillment
that the character of the saint is formed. No godly character is formed in
the practitioner of the modern “faith teaching” because he has never learned
the patience that is such a necessary part of the Kingdom of God.
The prisoners of hope are waiting behind the damp granite walls. They are
hoping for the day of release. They are waiting for Jesus and you to appear.
The whole world is waiting for the rising of the Son. Are the massive gates
opening a crack? Is that a sliver of light crossing the straw and garbage?
Do you want to channel Einstein, Napoleon, or Chief Sitting Bull? Do you
seek help from the ascended masters? Great! Aren't they beautiful? They
accept your welcome but they hate to say goodbye. How about hair soup for
lunch? If you are involved, throw yourself on the mercy of Christ before you
begin to experience never-ending agony.
Satan is the lord of familiar spirits. He is behind all occult experiences.
If you have become involved with any form of the occult, including imaging,
speaking creative words, the faith and prosperity teaching, renounce it now
with all your might and call on Jesus for mercy. Why should you be led away
by the demons when you die?
People say there are wonders to be experienced in drugs, depths of mystical
joy to be found in the occult. All these are illusions designed to bring you
under the power of evil personalities in the spirit realm. The true depths
of spiritual delight are found only in Jesus and He adds no sorrow with
them. Be not deceived. Satan is a cruel, cruel master.
Some Christian teachers, recognizing that the rewards to the overcomer are
authority and power ordinarily associated with the Christian faith, are
stating that all who make a statement of belief in Jesus automatically are
classed as overcomers and therefore are eligible to be raised in glory at
the appearing of the Lord Jesus. If this were true the second and third
chapters of the Book of Revelation would be absolutely meaningless.
The true Christian life is a fight against forces that are striving to make
us worldly, sinful, and self-willed. An overcomer is a believer who through
Jesus is winning the battle.
If God is with you, He will bring the people He wants to be blessed by His
gift in you. The rest will not profit very much and finally will leave.
The devil can't force you to do anything. He can fill your mind with ideas,
even with voices. But he can't force you to do anything you choose not to
do.
Are you tired of living with fear and dread? Ask the Lord in Jesus' name to
remove them from you. Keep at it. They finally will go. It will get too hot
for them.
Life is hard enough without adding fear and dread to your problems. Ask
Jesus to remove the fear and dread. Then the actual situation, no matter how
dreadful, will be quite livable.
The true Christian, the disciple of the Lord Jesus, thinks, speaks, and acts
in an increasingly righteous and holy manner.
The true Christian, the disciple of the Lord Jesus, learns to depend on the
Lord Jesus for every aspect and detail of life. No action, word, or thought
escapes the prayer to gain the Lord's help in the matter.
The true Christian, the disciple of the Lord Jesus, does not neglect his
salvation. He always is busy serving the Lord with a pure heart.
The true Christian, the disciple of the Lord Jesus, does not envy and
supplant because of the lust to be preeminent. He rejoices when he is abased
and he rejoices when he abounds. He is the servant of all.
Coming to the cross of Christ for forgiveness is a come-as-you-are party.
But to enter the wedding feast for the marriage of God's Son you have to be
dressed for the occasion. Many are called but few are chosen.
There is a deliciousness in criticizing people and churches that God is
using, calling them cults and of the devil. But those sweets are coming from
Satan.
There's such a thing as being wrong in your doctrine and right in your
heart. There's such a thing as being right in your doctrine and wrong in
your heart. The second is far worse than the first and will murder Christ
and His saints.
We overcome the accuser by the word of our testimony when we are an amen to
all God has stated and is stating.
Are you gathering to Christ or scattering away from Christ? There is no
middle ground.
You cannot govern with Christ unless you are willing to suffer with Christ.
Death to the world, death to sin, death to self-will—this is the only path
to eternal fruitfulness and dominion.
Fruitfulness results in dominion. There is no eternal dominion apart from
fruitfulness.
Satan cares little for your religious works but he is terrified at the
thought you might lay down your life so Christ may live. He will aid your
“success” in religious enterprise or do anything else that will keep you
from ceasing from your own works.
There is a multitude of “believers” but few disciples. Many are called but
few are chosen.
Do you really love Christ or is it that you just enjoy the things of the
household of God?
A dead church is like a cemetery in that very little noise comes from
either.
The two-edged sword without the high praises makes a gloomy church. The high
praises without the two-edged sword may lead to immorality.
Music is of the soul as are all art forms. But worshipful music can lead us
into God’s Presence.
Too much emphasis on the artistic leads away from true worship. Many of the
great artists have not been noted for their holy lives.
There is sin that is refined, cultured, romantic and there is sin that is
depraved. Refined sin may not be as easily recognized as sin which is
obviously depraved but it is just as destructive of the spiritual life. Some
that cannot be lured by the one are trapped by the other. Satan studies your
personality profile.
You can't stand this for one more minute? Would believe forty years? Focus
on your prison and you will go down in defeat. Think about that which is
lovely and you will last—five minutes at a time. Do you think saints are
made in comfortable surroundings?
Put your hopes beyond the grave and you will endure your pilgrimage. Die in
faith and you will receive the promise. Demand satisfaction now and dine on
ashes.
Do you just forgive your children or do you correct their behavior so they
will become responsible people? So it is that forgiveness alone is not
salvation. Salvation includes correction until we are responsible children
of God.
If we are following Jesus, fiery trials will come upon us. This suffering is
Divine judgment on the sins of our personality—judgment that saves us by
removing worldliness, lust, and self-will from us.
When we do not examine ourselves and purge ourselves from sin with God's
help, God chastens us so we will not be condemned with the world. The
chastening is severe and can result in sickness or even death.
Suppose every time your child stole money you forgave him and did nothing
else. What would you be doing? You would be making him a thief. If God kept
on forgiving our sins and did nothing more, He would be contributing to our
sinful, rebellious nature. He loves us more than this!
The foundation of the Christian Church has been destroyed by the teaching of
lawless grace. If you would stand during the age of moral horrors at hand,
build your house on the rock by keeping Christ's commandments.
We have made a business of Christianity. In place of the enchanting wonders
of the spirit Paradise we have our building program. Instead of the rush of
angels' wings we have the unfolding of blueprints. When visitors come to see
the church we show them the new parking lot. Is this why the American people
are lusting after occult experiences?
If you use your crucifixion with Christ as a point of reference and fly your
course according to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles you can be
certain where you will end up. This is called “dead reckoning.”
There are those who point us to Christ by telling us about Christ, which is
good and helpful. There are those who point us to Christ by revealing Christ
in themselves. This is more powerful and effective.
The Lord is the fiercest of all lions but He loves the quiet, lovely,
childlike, gentle courtesy and dignity of the meek.
If you are a Christian you already have the firstfruits of resurrection life
in you. If you choose to live in the appetites of your body you will lose
that which would have made alive your body in the Day of the Lord.
I am not sure of the meaning of the modern expression “God's unconditional
love.” If this implies the warnings of Christ and His Apostles concerning
our behavior do not apply to Christians it is a destructive lie. It must
come from the same source as the notion that Satan eventually will be
forgiven. “You shall not surely die.”
God is not saving what we are, He is saving us from what we are.
After we get the person out of Egypt we have to get Egypt out of the person.
When the Lord assigns righteousness to an individual it is for the purpose
of bringing him or her into righteous behavior. If righteous behavior, the
fruit for which God is looking, does not begin to grow, then the believer
has received the grace of God in vain.
Salvation is not a change of location, it is a change of the individual. By
viewing the Christian salvation as a change of location from earth to Heaven
we are destroying the work of God in the earth. We are perverting the Divine
plan of redemption.
God placed man in the midst of Paradise on the earth. It is God’s intention
to redeem fallen man, to restore man, now transformed through Christ, to
Paradise on the earth.
By inventing a gospel of forgiveness that brings us to Heaven we have
managed to avoid a radical change in our personality—a radical change that
is necessary if we are to be able to hold Paradise once we gain it.
Most of the Apostle Paul’s writings have to do with actual righteousness,
while a lesser part of his writings explain imputed (ascribed)
righteousness. But we have seized on ascribed righteousness and have made it
the only righteousness of the Christian redemption.
Shaking, laughing in the Spirit, falling over, jerking, are like cake and
ice cream. What would the world be like without cake and ice cream? But at
this point in history God's people need healthy, nourishing food, like the
commandments given by Christ and His Apostles.
It may be good to fall over when you are prayed for but be careful you do
not hit your head on a chair. Oftentimes it is more profitable to stand and
walk according to the commandments of Christ and His Apostles. The angel
told Ezekiel to stand up on his feet.
I have seen all kinds of emotional acting out when the Spirit of God is
present with God's people. God is good! But it is the commandments of Christ
and His Apostles that need to be emphasized in the present hour.
Brother Dowell used to say, “I don't care how high you jump just as long as
you walk straight when you come down.”
There used to be great power in Kathryn Kuhlman's meetings and people would
be slain in the Spirit. Nowadays having people topple over when you pray has
become the “in thing.” Maybe it is time to stop imitating what used to be
and see what God has for us now.
Someone said that the churches have repented long enough and now it is time
to laugh. There certainly is a time to laugh. God laughs! But those who are
hearing the Lord are aware of the Divine call to repentance in the day in
which we are living.
The things of God are given freely to us at first, and then we smash them.
Now we must hew them out ourselves and carry them all the way to the top of
the mountain.
Righteousness is imputed only to those who are obeying the Lord.
It does a person no good to receive Jesus as his Savior if he then does not
make this same Jesus Lord of his behavior.
God will carry you through some experiences on eagles' wing, especially when
you are young in the Lord. But His goal for you is that one day you may be
able to walk on your feet through the gates of the new Jerusalem.
To relate to any person, thing, or circumstance other than through Jesus
Christ is to invite idolatry.
We die to the world and enter the Kingdom of God. We die to sin and enter
life in the freedom of the Spirit. We die to self and enter the fullness of
fruitfulness of dominion. Then we may choose to lose ourselves in the Person
of Christ and find waters to swim in. Thus we become a tree of life from
which mankind may eat and live and be healed.
Most believers enjoy the high praises of God. But if the high praises are
not accompanied by the two-edged sword of the Word there will be immorality
and every other evil work.
You can have iron formed in you by seeking Christ constantly, praying
without ceasing. Add some iron to your diet and you will be able to resist
sin!
If you want the iron to swim in your personality, throw the stick, your
cross, into the water of your life. Then you will have your own iron, not
that which is borrowed.
If a pastor is willing to follow the people as they lust after emotional
experiences, he may build a large congregation. But such an institution will
not stand in the day of fire.
The false often comes before the real. We know that revival is in the air.
Maybe we better make sure before we say “This is that!” It may be true that
this is not that!
Before you say or do anything that seems embarrassing or strange to you,
make sure you are hearing from the Lord. Watch the fruit, the consequences
of what you do. If in doubt it is best not to proceed no matter what the
leadership of the assembly says. A true elder of God will never force you to
do that with which you are uncomfortable.
Membership in the Lord's army is not for fools. Drink the water of life but
be circumspect. Do not stick your head in the pool.
No assembly built on the family urge of young people or other social
attractions will stand the fire.
The great thing about a small assembly is the relationships that are
established—perhaps for eternity! Maybe this is what it will mean to be
“gathered to our people.”
A huge congregation can turn out to be more like a business than a family,
and may not be as spiritually and emotionally fulfilling as one could wish.
Be content with what the Lord has given you and guard it patiently and
prayerfully. Then Jesus can kick off His shoes and relax and talk with you
for a spell.
Our sins separate us from God, so let us separate ourselves from our
sins.—Audrey Thompson.
Let us not fasten on the “precious promises” and ignore the “wrathful
warnings.”
Abraham did not send Eliezer to bring jewels to Rebecca or her family but to
get a bride for his son. God has not sent the Holy Spirit to the churches to
give them gifts but to get a bride for His Son. Are you in it for the jewels
or for Jesus?
When you put out a fleece make sure all ten camels get watered. Sometimes
the first nine are taken care of but the tenth remains thirsty. Watch your
heart! God is in that tenth camel!
You can be as fruitful in the Lord as you are willing to be pruned.
If an individual is in Christ he becomes a new creation. Old things pass
away. All things are of God. Hold God to that “all” and He will do it.
You win souls by what you are in Christ. The fruit of the righteous is a
tree of life.
Are you giving people Hell or Heaven? Let the resurrection Life of Jesus
increase in you and your speech and actions will bring Divine Life to people
who are trying to survive in today's valley of the shadow of death.
What will it be for you, a crown or a frown?
Holiness is closeness to God and we get it by election. But we have to do
our part.
In our day we have strange goings on. Christians are making animal sounds
supposedly under the influence of the Holy Spirit. When God is around it is
not the man that speaks like a donkey but the donkey that speaks like a
man.—Audrey Thompson.
Emotional experiences can be helpful but it is the Word of God that makes
disciples. The disciples learn and obey the commandments of Christ and His
Apostles.
The purpose of God's grace is to make a new creation. It is not to be used
as an excuse for ungodly behavior.
I have heard marvelous prophecies go forth over people. In many instances
the marvels prophesied did not come to pass because the individual did not
present his body a living sacrifice.
God's people are being deceived on the right hand and the left. This is
because they have refused to take up their cross and obey Christ's
commandments. God is sending a strong delusion upon them in the present
hour.
Never, never, never lay aside your ability to judge and test the spirits. If
the leader of the assembly asks you to uncritically accept a spirit present
in a Christian meeting, leave as quickly as you can. The Holy Spirit always
is more than willing to wait patiently until you are certain what spirit you
are inviting into your personality.
Whenever you feel disquieted about a church meeting you are in, look to the
Lord immediately. Never proceed with something about which you do not have
peace.
We Christians are becoming altogether too experience-oriented. We need to
get back to the Bible. The False Prophet is at hand with his signs and
wonders and we are accepting what he says uncritically.
The False Prophet comes out of the earth, out of the soul of man. He wants
the power of Christ but he speaks with the voice of the dragon. We are not
to seek power but the Presence of the Lord Jesus.
Why do you want spiritual power? To exalt yourself? Seek the Lord Jesus and
love Him. Leave the “big things” to others.
“Spirituality grows best in the shade,” someone wisely said.
The Lord is separating out His army today. The test is how you drink the
water. Do you stick your head in the pond or do you watch carefully what you
are doing while you are drinking?
The Lord's people are being separated into two groups in our day. There are
those who love their delicious religious experiences. There are those who
put on the Lord's yoke and follow patiently after the Master. They leave
bloody footprints in the snow as the true saints always have.
A religious experience is worse than worthless if it does not result in
righteous, holy, obedient behavior. People love the gifts of God. God loves
the fruit of the Spirit.
Never yield to "uncontrollable impulses" claiming to be of the Holy Spirit.
The spirit of the prophet always is subject to the prophet.
Why do you say the Spirit made me do this? The Spirit of God always is
gentle and courteous and never forces anyone.
There will be mighty signs and wonders performed in Jesus' name in the days
in which we are living. Are you mature enough to test the spirits no matter
how powerful the manifestations may be? The False Prophet will call fire
down from heaven in Jesus' name.
God's people do not understand how deception operates. They suppose the
deceiver will come with whiskey in one hand and his girlfriend in the other.
Rather the deceiver will come with the Bible in his hand and preach Christ.
He will perform miracles. Only those who are guarding the word of Christ's
patience will be kept from his deceptions. “These men are servants of God
who are showing you the way of salvation,” said the spirit of python.
We are ripe for deception today because we are looking for spiritual
experiences rather than keeping Christ's commandments and waiting patiently
upon Him.
If there is confusion and disorder in an assembling of Christians, then you
know the Holy Spirit is not in control.
It is the responsibility of the elders to control behavior in an assembling
of Christians. When they are afraid to do this, spirits that are not of God
will manifest themselves. The believers are helpless in this arena unless
there are godly, experienced elders who can discern between God and Satan
and who are willing to stop that which is disorderly and does not build up
the Body of Christ.
Do you desire peace? Cease from wickedness and follow the righteous ways of
the Lord. You will have righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Christ formed in us results in iron righteousness and integrity, fiery
holiness, and stern obedience to the Father.
The covering of the blood of Christ gives us the start we need. We are
discipled by the Word of God until we arrive at maturity as measured by the
stature of the fullness of Christ.
All of the ministries and gifts serve to bring us to the unity of the faith
and of the knowledge of the Son of God. The unity of the faith is not
speaking of our knowledge of doctrine but of our relationship to the living
Christ. The knowledge of the Son of God refers to our diligence in looking
to Christ for every decision we make, every detail of life; and also to our
transformation of character until we are brought to maturity in iron
righteousness and integrity, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the
Father.
The most important, most significant aspect of your life is who or what you
love.
Living in Paradise will not make you righteous, holy, or obedient to God.
But living righteously, holily, and obediently to God will eventually result
in your being in Paradise.
Imputation without transformation is like a cart without a horse. You aren't
going anywhere with it.
God is able to rest in us as we learn to rest in God’s will.
Being in God's army does not depend on whether you drink the water but how
you drink the water. Also, ask the Lord about the water before you drink it.
Maybe it's the wrong water!
Your goal is to be in the image of Christ in spirit, soul, and body and to
be abiding in God's perfect will in spirit, soul, and body. Do not stop
pressing forward in prayer, faith, and obedience until you arrive at your
goal.
Doing the Father's perfect will is the simplest thing in the world, once you
make up your mind this is what you truly want.
Lord, help us never to become “professional.” We desire always to walk in
total sincerity with the lowliest and the greatest.
Grace is to be preached to the unsaved. Keeping God's commandments is to be
preached to the Christians. To preach keeping God's commandments to the
unsaved will only frustrate them. To preach too much grace to Christians can
destroy their moral strength.
Heaven is more down to earth than we realize. We are looking for a land of
fantasy in the sky but God is looking for the growth of Christ in us.
The Christian salvation is not a ticket to Heaven. The new covenant is the
creation of Christ in the believer such that he keeps the eternal law of God
by nature. Forgiveness is a means of keeping the believer acceptable to God
while the transformation is occurring. The goal of the new covenant is
fellowship with God.
Jacob took his inheritance from the Amorites with his sword and bow. So must
we take our inheritance from Satan by fighting the good fight of faith.
Jesus Christ came to earth that people might have fellowship with the
Father. Christ reveals the Father to each one who faithfully keeps the Word
of Christ.
Eternal life is the knowledge of God and Christ. The end of the new covenant
is that all believers might know God for themselves.
When we walk in the light of God's will for our life we have fellowship with
the Father, and the blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin.
It is pure Glory to have Christ and God dwelling in us, even when we are in
difficult circumstances. But Paradise is another name for Hell when we do
not have Christ and God. Christ is our goal. Paradise will follow.
Are you continually rebuking Satan? He is laughing at you and playing games
with you. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.
The reason the righteous are saved with difficulty is that salvation is the
removal of sin from our personality and our transformation into the image of
Christ. The fiery trials we experience are removing sin from us and teaching
us total dependence on Christ for every detail of life.
The “lawless grace” that is preached today maintains the believer can
continue to steal, lie, evade responsibility, become drunken, waste his
resources on reveling, and fail in his responsibilities because of his
shiftlessness and laziness, and yet be a royal priest in the Kingdom of God.
He is “eternally secure” because of lawless grace.
We Christians are determining our eternal destiny today. Grace is not an
unconditional gift of membership in the royal priesthood. Grace is the
opportunity and the ability to become a member of the royal priesthood, to
become a son of God.
One of the purposes—if not the purpose—of the past two thousand years of the
Christian Era has been the creating of the Body of Christ.
Our role in life is not merely the informing of other people concerning the
Christ of history. Our role is to demonstrate, to reveal, His
indestructible, incorruptible resurrection Life that is dwelling in us. He
is glorified in us.
A church that is part of the world is of no use whatever to the world and of
no use whatever to Christ. It is fit only for the garbage.
The blessings the Holy Spirit is showering on the churches today are a means
to an end. The Spirit has not come to give but to take.
The members of the Bride must be found worthy by the Lord, and their
worthiness is demonstrated by their patience in affliction.
Nothing else is as important as the marriage of the Lamb.
God and the Lamb are called by one name—God. It is impossible to have the
Father apart from the Son or the Son apart from the Father. However, they
are two distinct Persons. When the marriage of the Lamb has been perfected
our individuality (not our uniqueness as a person) will be gone.
The Holy City, which is the Lamb’s Wife, the true Church, will be the center
of the universe and will govern the creation of God forever—ages without
end.
There will be three groups of people in the age to come: the Church, the
nations of the saved, and the lost.
Before Christ is finished He will have accomplished His goal of revealing
the Glory of God through His saints in the sight of the nations of saved
peoples of the earth.
To be saved means God is allowing you to participate in the process of
transformation. To be lost means God no longer will allow you to participate
in the process of transformation. He will not make you new.
The marriage of the Lamb will result in the fullness of the incarnation of
the God of Heaven.
The first half of the seventieth week will consist of the latter-rain,
double-portion revival that is prophesied in the Old Testament. The last
half of the week will include the reign of Antichrist and the great
tribulation, which also are prophesied in the Old Testament.
Christ cannot return until the Christian church has brought forth Christ in
the members of His Body.
The eleventh chapter of Revelation describes our role as witnesses. The
twelfth chapter of Revelation portrays the forming of Christ in us.
There must be a company of strong people in whom and with whom God in Christ
can drive all sin and lawlessness from the face of the earth.
One crippling, blinding concept that pervades the Christian churches is that
after the careless believer dies he will become a spiritual giant, a warrior
of Christ.
The warriors of the coming Kingdom have died already, so to speak, and are
living now by the strength and wisdom of the body and blood of Christ.
The only portion of our life’s work that will endure is that which has been
wrought in God.
Satan has no fear of the plans and programs of the Christian churches. But
Satan is in trouble when the churches abandon their own resources and turn
to Christ in trembling humility and repentance, seeking His will in every
detail.
It is God’s goodness that knocks down every stone of our life until there is
not one left on another. All we have built for our self-glory is demolished.
Then God in Christ comes to us and builds His own place of rest.
True revival brings repentance, worldwide evangelism, and an advance in the
understanding of the Scriptures. When one of these is absent we need to go
to the Lord to make certain the revival is from Him.
Concerning the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, is it a case of we
ought to do these things or we must do these things? What is the
contemporary answer? What is the New Testament answer?
It is not true or scriptural that imputed (ascribed) righteousness is the
only righteousness (or even the primary righteousness) provided by the new
covenant.
The reason the earth remains in darkness is that the members of the Body of
Christ are immature in the things of God. They have not had created in them
the conquering personality.
When God testifies we are a coheir of Christ He is not giving to us “by
grace” a uniform or a title. He is declaring that we shall be prepared by
Himself, through education, experience, and the transformation of what we
are, to rule the nations of the earth.
No human being can become a warrior, a saint, a “mighty man of valor,” by
imputation (ascribed mightiness).
Death will not deliver us from sin or make us righteous. Rather death will
reveal what we have done during our lifetime. It is appointed to men once to
die and after this the judgment. The purpose of Divine grace is not to
attempt to change this unchangeable fact but to change what we are doing
now.
It is not true that at Christ's appearing you suddenly will be transformed
in personality, changed from what essentially you are.
The same pain that causes the overcomer to grow in Christ results in
bitterness, resentment, and hardness of heart in the nonovercomer, the
defeated Christian.
The new covenant is a new program and includes unprecedented grace; but the
goal of righteous, holy, obedient behavior is the same from eternity to
eternity.
The Divine redemption is not a religion. On the one hand it is a personal
discipleship to the risen Jesus of Nazareth. On the other hand it is a
kingdom—a kingdom that will be brought into the earth suddenly and with
great violence.
The fullness of what today is in Heaven at the right hand of God is destined
to find material expression in the earth in the Day of Christ. The spiritual
will clothe itself with the physical. This is the Kingdom of God—the
clothing of righteous spirits with the physical creation.
God knows the details of your life; God cares about you; God is bringing you
to joy; God has the power to bring you from where you are into perfect joy.
God knows, God cares, God is bringing you to joy, God has the power to do
this. To believe these four aspects of God is faith.
The fruit of the Spirit cannot be imputed to you. It has to be grown in you
as you cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
There will be no kings, judges, or priests in the Kingdom of God by
imputation. They will be there because they are both authorized and
competent to be kings, judges, and priests.
If you do not bear the fruit of Christ's image in your life you will be
removed from the Vine. Does this mean you will be lost? Yes it does, if
being saved means you are part of Christ.
Christ is the Vine. You are the branch. The fruit of righteousness the
Father is looking for is grown on the branch.
God is looking for fruit, the moral image of His Son. When He does not find
it coming forth on that which He has planted there is trouble.
It is God's will that righteousness and praise fill the whole earth. They
indeed shall fill the earth because these are the fruit borne by the saints
when they are abiding in Christ.
Has God cut away much of what has been true of your Christian life? Rejoice
and expect abundant fruit to come of this. Branches that are not pruned are
soon full of growth that is not productive.
To enter the Kingdom of God means the inward, adamic nature is crucified and
the Divine Nature of Christ is so fused with the human soul and spirit as to
produce a new inward nature. This process does not happen instantaneously
but line upon line, rule upon rule, command upon command. Here a little and
there a little our adamic nature is crucified and Christ is formed in us.
The outward man of the glorified saint will be a perfect vehicle for the
inward man and will reveal the inward man; unlike today where we cannot
determine the nature of an individual by looking at his outward man.
Abiding in Christ is a matter of decision-making. Your daily life is filled
with decisions. Either you look to Christ for the right decision in each
instance, great and small, or you look to your own intelligence, experience,
and desires. Also, you must pray, read the Bible, and gather with the
saints. Remember, every decision you make without looking to Christ is loss
for Christ and loss for you.
Before a person can be healed morally, obtain full fellowship with God, and
enter his Divinely appointed inheritance in the Lord, his sins must be
forgiven and the presence of sin removed from him.
The victorious saint is living in the Presence of the Lord. His relationship
with the Lord will not change when he is separated from his body. He will
continue living in the Presence of the Lord, drawing eternal life from the
Head—Christ. He who lives and believes in Jesus shall never die. The
defeated believer is living in the pleasures of the world. He is spiritually
dead now and will not be more dead when he dies.
Every doctrine that comes from God leads to righteous behavior.
A human being is decaying protoplasm in the universe until he or she is
attached to spiritual power. Only Jesus is the Power, the Vine that bears
eternal righteousness, peace, and joy. All other vines lead ultimately to
corruption, death, and eternal remorse.
Paul teaches us in Second Thessalonians that the Day of Christ will not come
until after the worldwide revolt against authority and the revealing of the
man of sin. The Lord Jesus spoke clearly that He would not come in secret
but His appearing would shine as lightning “immediately after the
tribulation of those days.”
We are to flee to the mountain of prayer with God as we behold the rise of
lawlessness, and later may be required to flee literally from the cities and
towns where we live.
Here is the scenario for the end time:
Worldwide revival—the harvest (latter) rain will fall from heaven.
Righteousness and lawlessness will come to maturity.
The love of the majority will grow cold (the apostasy).
The man of sin (antichrist) will drive the saints into hiding.
The man of sin will take his seat in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The last trumpet will sound, and Christ will gather his saints to himself
and pour out destruction on the wicked.
Christ and his saints will descend to establish the Kingdom of God on the
earth.
Are you certain you understand what the scriptural goal of salvation is? If
you do not know what your objective is there is no way of judging how
effective a specific effort is. There is no way of measuring progress in
achieving your goal. What was Paul's “mark”?
Every Christian every day chooses death or life. The result of his or her
choice will appear in the day of resurrection.
It is time today for God’s ministers and people to place the kind of
experience they will have in the day of resurrection at the forefront of
their thinking.
It is attaining to the resurrection unto life, not the catching up, that is
the central message of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
There is no truth of the Scriptures more lacking than that concerning the
impact of our life today on the kind of resurrection we will experience in
the Day of the Lord. The trumpet needs to be blown in Zion!
The Law of Moses has authority over our adamic personality. If we continue
to live in our adamic personality we rebuild what had been destroyed and are
found guilty of transgressing the Law of Moses.
Paul had abandoned Moses in order that his righteousness might proceed from
faith in Christ alone—not the type of faith that is mere belief in doctrine
but the faith that is a life lived in the Presence of the Lord, life guided
and empowered by the righteous Nature of Christ. How can Paul be released
from Moses? By being crucified with Christ.
The enormous misunderstanding of the Christian Church is that all areas of
redemption are ascribed to us because of our belief in Jesus; are ours by
legal authority alone; and that this legal position of imputation is the
Christian redemption. This misunderstanding makes the Kingdom of God a house
of cards.
The new creation is not imputed, it grows from the Divine Seed against every
kind of obstacle.
There are relatively few verses in the New Testament that speak of imputed
righteousness. However there are numerous passages in the New Testament that
proclaim the necessity for the practice of righteous behavior on the part of
the believer.
The Lord Jesus has made one sacrifice for sins for all time. Now He is
sitting at the right hand of the Father. He is waiting for the Father to
bring down His enemies in you and make them a footstool for His feet.
The land of Canaan, the land of milk and honey, symbolizes our change into
the moral image of the Lord Jesus, perfect rest in Christ in the Father, the
attainment of eternal life in our body, and the possession of the nations
and the farthest reaches of the earth as well as all other things. No aspect
of this inheritance can be ours until we, through the Spirit of God, have
driven out the enemy.
If we do not repent of the ways of the world and of our lustful behavior we
cannot enter the Kingdom of God. God has given us water baptism as a way of
expressing our death to the world and our entrance into His Kingdom.
If we spend our energy and time in the occupations of the body and soul, the
Divine Life that has been given us upon our receiving Christ will be crowded
out of our personality. We will destroy our own resurrection.
There are two kinds of “Christian” believers in the world—the church-attender
and the disciple. Only the disciple is a true Christian.
How many “Christians” of our day have forsaken all in order to follow the
Lord? Not very many, it appears. How many are following the Master, bearing
their personal cross? Not very many!
Whoever would be a victorious saint must learn the balance of resting in
God, on the one hand, and pressing forward in the Lord, on the other hand.
There is a time to stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. There is a
time to march around the wall. There is a time to set an ambush. There is a
time to wait for the sound of the army of the Lord.
The Spirit is never to be preached, sung to, prayed to, or commandeered in
any manner whatever. The Holy Spirit always speaks of the Son and glorifies
the Son.
Our goal as a Christian is not Paradise, it is Christ. We do not gain Christ
in order to go to Paradise, to Heaven. We gain Christ in order to be part of
God, to have fellowship with God.
Much of the Old Testament and some of the New speaks of the sin in the
hearts of God's people. The Scripture does not state the sinners in the
churches will escape judgment because they believe in Christ.
Ours truly is a day for intense prayer and repentance, humility, sackcloth.
It is time for the High Priest to trim the wicks and put in fresh oil.
If you have to, go it alone. Be an Antipas—against all. You soon will find
others marching along.
Going to Heaven will be an indescribably marvelous experience. But there is
an experience infinitely more marvelous than going to Heaven. It is to be
filled with the Fullness of the Father and the Son.
The reason so many Christians are deceived today is that they do not watch
and pray. They have not been found worthy of escaping the seductions of the
last days and they will fall (and already have fallen) before the material
and spiritual seductions of the Antichrist spirit.
If we guard the Word of Christ’s patience, walking patiently after Him, not
seeking our own desires, our own life, but only the will of God, Christ will
guard us so we are not deceived during the testings that even now are at the
door.
Anti-Christianity is the employment of every means, of anything that appears
to succeed, including the power of God if available, to enable ourselves and
certain other people of our choice to enjoy a secure, happy, and successful
life. True Christianity is found in seeking God in order to work with Him to
accomplish His goals in our own life and in the lives of others.
It is the pursuit of happiness instead of righteousness that makes us
vulnerable to deception.
The increasing darkness of our age does not herald the end of all that is
good but rather the beginning of all that is good. The darkness is preparing
us for the morning of the age of righteousness.
Historic changes take place in the Kingdom of God from time to time. Such
changes are very unsettling for the people involved but also offer wonderful
opportunities for those who have the opportunity to participate.
God promised to give to the Israelites every place where they set their
feet, but only when they followed His specific directions. God has promised
to give us that which we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus but only as we
follow His specific leading.
Is your Father in Heaven becoming more real to you each day? Practice
thinking about God as your Father. Make Him proud of you, glad that you are
His son or daughter. He always is ready to help you as you grow up in His
Presence, hearing and obeying the words of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Let us walk hand in hand with Jesus as we make our pilgrimage toward
Jerusalem. Let us keep holy day with the joyful throng as we ascend the hill
of Zion. The saints of all ages are with us. We are going to see the King.
He is walking with us, and behold—He is the King on the throne toward whom
we are making our journey! Best of all, He and His Father are dwelling in
us. To have God and Christ in us is the most glorious aspect of all the
heavenly treasures.
The Glory of the Lord will fill the earth in the ages to come. What we think
of as Heaven will be found in Zion, in Jerusalem, in the holy mountain of
the Lord.
The greatest mistake in Christian thinking today is that we can enter the
holy city through forgiveness unaccompanied by a change in behavior.
Because the Kingdom of Heaven is God in Christ in the saints performing
God’s will, the “heaven” we desire is not primarily a place but a state of
being—a state of being based on a set of relationships with God and people.
Picture a humble dwelling in which lives a family filled with the love of
Christ and love for one another. There, we must agree, is the essence of
what we mean by “heaven.” It is not the external things that bring peace and
joy to our hearts, it is relationships.
God is our inheritance. We certainly will inherit many other relationships,
things, environments, opportunities for service, wealth of all kinds,
authority, and power. But all of these are as nothing compared with God
Himself. Until we realize this we are coming short of the Glory of God and
probably are guilty of idolatry.
We are God's inheritance. Never before has God had sons, brothers of Jesus
Christ, a royal priesthood, saints transformed into the image of Christ and
dwelling in untroubled union in Christ in Himself. For eternity we shall
lift up holy hands and bless the Lord. In God's eyes this is an inheritance
of indescribable value.
The guilt of sin was forgiven on the cross of Calvary for all who will
receive. The power of sin is dealt with as the disciple cooperates with the
Holy Spirit. In the last days the Lord will appear without sin unto
salvation, meaning He will remove the presence of sin from those who are
looking for Him.
We must be sowing to the Spirit now if we are to be eligible and competent
for the removal of the presence of sin when the Lord appears.
Do you know that when you use profanity an unclean spirit is in your tongue?
Your mouth is set on fire by Hell.
Worship God and look to Him alone for joy. In His Presence is fullness of
joy and pleasure for eternity. You do not have to worship Satan in order to
find joy.
Christians don't “get what they say,” they get what they sow.
All God asks is that we cease from our own works and receive the heaven and
earth, and the personality and role, He has chosen for us.
Each member of God’s elect has been called to serve God as a priest in the
new world of righteousness. Whether or not we as an individual manage to lay
hold on our own calling depends on the diligence with which we apply
ourselves to doing God’s will.
We sing our song, utter the parable that is our personality. There is some
laughter, many tears, and then the present life is finished. Now we have all
eternity to consider how we behaved while under the dark pressures of earth.
We understand that to have eternal life is to live, move, and have our being
in the Presence of God in spirit, in soul, and in body. We understand also
that Christ Himself is eternal life.
The message of Easter is not that Christ’s Spirit was raised from the dead.
The physical body of Jesus—His flesh and bones—walked out of the cave of
Joseph of Arimathea. Christ arose physically. Christ came in the flesh and
was raised from the dead in the flesh. This is the marvelous, incomparable
hope of the Christian faith.
All people, Christians and non-Christians alike, know that God is righteous
and whoever would walk with God must be righteous. Alas! The Christian
salvation has become a mental concept, the idea being that a Christian is
one who has knowledge of and has assented to the atonement made by the Lord
Jesus.
Numerous Christians of our day are expecting to hear “Well done, good and
faithful servant” when they die and face the Lord. But their goodness and
their faithfulness are all in the legal state of imputed (ascribed)
righteousness. They have not lived as the bondslaves of the Lord Jesus.
Two aspects change from covenant to covenant. The demands on the human
personality to behave righteously are increased and the availability of
God’s Glory and assistance are increased. The goal, however, never changes
for it is the moral image of the unchanging God.
We read in the thirteenth chapter of the Book of Revelation that the False
Prophet will support Antichrist. According to our understanding Antichrist
is the administration of man in the political realm and the False Prophet is
the administration of man in the spirit realm.
When we attempt to direct the Spirit of God we are taking away from the Lord
Jesus His God-given authority to administrate the resources of the Kingdom
of God. Man is in the driver's seat. This is the False Prophet.
The written Word of God tries the spirits. But the sons of God are not led
by the written Word but by the Spirit of God. To attempt to be led by the
written Word produces a religious, Christ-murdering spirit.
Always pray “Your will be done.” This is not a passive or fatalistic prayer,
it is the most powerful prayer possible. Always seek the will of God and
pray with all fervor and diligence in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Never take anything for granted. Persist in prayer until you know God has
heard you, until you have God’s mind.
The Book of Hebrews is a stern warning to experienced Christians against the
danger of falling back into sin. The goal of our salvation is that we may be
changed into the moral image of Jesus Christ and arrive at untroubled rest
in the Father through Christ.
Hebrews 6:4-6 has been difficult for Christians to accept at face value. I
have not seen a commentary that accepts the passage as it is written.
Today's teachers and scholars simply will not accept the severity of God but
rush to assure us that no matter how we behave there is nothing to fear. How
then can we claim to believe that the Bible is the inspired Word of God?
The spiritual fulfillment of the Old Testament feast of Tabernacles is the
coming of the Father and the Son through the Holy Spirit to make Their
eternal home in the personality of the saint. The spiritual fulfillment of
the feast of Tabernacles is the provision God has made for His saints so
they may be able to stand during the age of moral and physical horrors that
is on the horizon.
As we enter the “Tabernacles experience” we notice a change taking place in
our relationship with the Lord. He Himself is becoming our salvation. No
longer are we able even to think anything by our own wisdom or knowledge. He
Himself becomes our mind, our prayer, our salvation, our health, our wisdom,
our help, our strength, our song.
The three areas of redemption are as follows: (1) basic salvation; (2) the
entering of the Holy Spirit into us; and (3) the coming of the Father and
the Son to dwell in us for eternity.
The priests, prophets, and kings of the Lord live and rule by the eternal,
indestructible life and power of the Holy Spirit of God.
As we draw near the closing of this age we are beginning to understand that
the land of promise is the glory of Heaven brought down into the earth. It
is the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth that is the Gospel message.
The inheritance of Christ is in the earth and earth’s peoples.
The kind of change our physical body will experience when it is raised
depends directly on the faithfulness with which we have served the Lord
Jesus. It is not at all true that every believer on the basis of grace will
receive a body like that of the Lord Jesus.
Immortality in the body will be restored through the Lord Jesus. John 3:16
is referring to immortality in the body. The Scriptures, both Old Testament
and New Testament, point toward eternal life in the body. This is one of the
foremost hopes of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
Our body will not be raised from the dead so we can live in Heaven. The
spiritual nature of the righteous does go to the Paradise of God at the time
of death, as far as we know. But the purpose of the resurrection of the body
is that we may live once again upon the earth: first upon the present earth;
later upon the new earth.
There is a church within the Church. There is a bride within the Bride of
the Lamb. There is one who is the “only one of her mother.” There is one who
is terrible as an army with banners and eternally fruitful.
There are those today, as there have been throughout the centuries of the
Christian Era, who are making themselves ready. They are washing their robes
and making them white in the blood of the Lamb. Every time the Spirit of
judgment reveals a sin or rebellion in them they take that darkness to the
Lord. The blood of the Lamb forgives the sin and cleanses them from all
unrighteousness.
The Church is the Wife of the Lamb because she becomes one with Him through
the eating and drinking of Him. Christ is our Passover Lamb.
God’s grace given to us through the Lord Jesus Christ is a temporary
suspension of the Kingdom principle that sin results in death. Because of
our faith in the blood of Christ, God chooses not to see our rebellious
nature and sinful acts during the period of time in which Christ is changing
us.
The end of Satan’s kingdom comes, not when we are forgiven but when we are
delivered.
The concept that we never shall be anything but rebellious sinners who are
saved by God’s mercy, and that our eternal life, sonship, participation in
the New Jerusalem, and overcoming status are eternally imputed to us
independently of any change of what we are and do, comes from Satan not from
God.
The Christian redemption is not an escape from the battle but victory in the
battle.
God is not altering the Divine law of sin and death, of obedience and life.
Rather, God is altering us until what we are and do brings life instead of
death.
The believer will never make a success of the Christian discipleship until
he spends time each day in prayer, in waiting on the Lord, in meditating in
the Scriptures.
The adamic believer, even though an adult in age, is still a child in that
every once in a while he must have “fun.” He must let his spiritual guard
down, throw caution to the winds, and “enjoy himself.” This is an excellent
time for the enemy of his soul to cause him to say or do something harmful
to the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are one and the same. This is
seen in the fact that the same parables referred to by Matthew as parables
of the Kingdom of Heaven are spoken of by Mark and Luke as parables of the
Kingdom of God. There is only one kingdom.
The will of God is the only legitimate will in the universe. All other wills
must yield to the will of the Father. “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth as it is in heaven.”
The parables of the Lord Jesus describe the inner Kingdom (such as the
parable of the sower—Matthew 13:3), and also His return in the glory of the
outer Kingdom (such as the parable of the talents—Matthew 25:14).
All the rulers of the Kingdom of God must drink the cup of suffering; must
be imprisoned until all self-rule has been destroyed out of them; must be
baptized with the fires of Divine judgment.
There are four great types of the Divine plan of redemption. These four
types are found in the Old Testament. They are the Tabernacle of the
Congregation, the seven days of creation, the wilderness wandering of
Israel, and the feasts of the Lord. Each of these four is divided into seven
principal parts and each part gives us insight into the program of
salvation.
We partake of Christ only if we continue to press forward in faith until we
arrive at our destination.
It is extremely important that we learn to define salvation as a journey
from Satan to God rather than a one-time expression of faith. The world
contains millions of believers who have “made a decision for Christ.” But
among these millions there may not be five thousand true disciples.
According to Ephesians the ministries and gifts of the Spirit are to labor
until we all come to the unity of the faith. Does this mean we all will
believe the same doctrine? Probably not. There is another unity of the faith
that is not based in the human brain.
That the elect were predestined to be glorified with Christ does not mean
their glorification is an accomplished fact; that their destiny will be
fulfilled whether or not they respond to their calling. There is no place in
the redemptive processes for an attitude of inevitability on the part of
God’s elect. We must grasp that for which we have been grasped.
We always and continually must be laboring to insure that our election is
not rendered invalid by our behavior.
The spiritual fulfillments of the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement,
and the feast of Tabernacles are at hand, ready now for careful attention
and acceptance by the Church. This may be the first time in history when
such a large part of the Church is at the place where this kind of progress
in Christ can be made.
The Christian salvation is not a change in God’s requirements, it is a
change in man so he can meet God’s requirements.
Grace does not abolish the Law of God. Grace establishes the Law of God and
emphasizes its implications. Whoever looks with lust has committed adultery
in his heart. Through the Divine Virtue that is in the grace of Christ we
are enabled to overcome lust.
The holy city is not holy by imputation. It is not called “holy” because
Jesus is holy. The holy city is holy because the holiness of Jesus has been
wrought in the saints. The new Jerusalem is the law of God brought to its
fullest expression.
Eternal Life is a Person. This Person is Christ. As we abide in Christ and
He abides in us, Satan is cast out. The casting out of Satan is the coming
of the Kingdom of God, redemption, salvation, the rest of God.
We are not purified by ascribed righteousness (imputation), except as an
initial device to get us started in the program of redemption. We are
purified by the casting out of Satan, through the power of the Holy Spirit
on the authority of the blood of the Lamb.
If you are not making progress in purity you are not abiding in Christ. You
are not being redeemed. Go to the Lord and ask Him to continue the program
of redemption in your life.
To move unredeemed believers from the physical realm into the spirit realm
accomplishes nothing. Sin began in the spirit realm and is perfectly at home
in the spirit realm, in the heavens. Salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ,
not in the heavens.
God will not be the means to any man's ends. When God Himself is not our
goal our values have been perverted.
The Bible is known as the “good Book.” When it doesn't make people good it
is being misunderstood.
The first resurrection will take place when the Lord Jesus returns, at the
beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age. Its mission is to establish the
Kingdom of God on the earth. The judgment of most people and their entrance
into eternal life or eternal death will take place at the second
resurrection.
It appears the Apostle Paul toward the end of his life still was striving to
attain to the resurrection from among the dead. This resurrection is a mark,
a prize, and must be attained.
The thought of the believers of today governing the nations is ridiculous.
Talk about star wars! We would have galactic confrontations as self-seeking,
lukewarm believers exercised the unlimited cosmic authority and power of
Jesus Christ.
It is our understanding that the unity of the faith has to do with our
relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ, our grasp upon His Person, our
abiding in Him, not so much with our agreement on points of doctrine.
The thousand-year Kingdom Age is the fulfillment of the Day of Atonement and
includes the marriage of the Lamb. At the beginning of this period the Bride
of the Lamb, or at least a firstfruits of the Bride, will be given the fine
linen of righteous conduct to wear (Revelation 19:8).
It must become true that our whole personality is reconciled to God in
actuality, and it is not true that the personality of most Christians has
been reconciled to God. There is much darkness in every one of us that is at
war with God, with God’s will and purpose in us.
Christ is entering the members of His Body in the present hour, preparing
each of us for the fullness of God. He is casting out what does not belong
in the eternal Temple of God, in the Wife of the Lamb.
The Apostles of the Lamb pointed toward the fullness of our salvation as
coming in the future, maintaining that what we have now is a guarantee, a
deposit on what is to be presented in full at a later time. We have been
purchased by the blood of the Lamb and sealed by the Spirit of God. These
constitute a pledge, a guarantee concerning future acts of redemption.
Forgiveness makes it possible for us to come to God so we can be saved from
all that is of Satan and brought into all that is of God.
The reason two people do not get along is that one or the other or both is
not submitting his or her decisions to Christ.
It is the will of God that Jesus Christ become the Center and Circumference
of every thing, every creature, and every situation to be found in the
entire universe of God.
We are being made an eternal part of Jesus Christ. This is God's love in
action, not another way we cook up so we can have power in prayer. If we
Christians ever get rid of our self-centeredness it will be the miracle of
the twenty-first century.
God has given us a vision. He has shown us in the Scriptures what He had
completed in vision before the foundation of the world. The total
restoration has been completed in God’s mind all the way to the new heaven
and earth reign of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now God is resting. Our task is to
follow the Lord Jesus into that rest, into that finished work.
Many—perhaps most—of the believers in Christ are living in the gap of
lawlessness. They have been taught that the Law of Moses does not apply to
them but they do not understand how to enter the law of the Spirit of life.
God will not have fellowship with people who are not observing His laws of
righteous conduct. The servant of the Lord always is called in
righteousness.
If we are given a piano we are given the gift of the opportunity to become a
pianist. The gift of salvation, of eternal life, is the gift of an
opportunity. God gives to us the opportunity through the Lord Jesus Christ
to attain to eternal life.
Jesus does not say, Here is life, take it. Rather, Jesus says, “I am life,
follow me.” Jesus is the “way” to eternal life. He is the “door.” We enter
through Him and then walk in the pressured, narrow way that leads to life.
Great persecution and tribulation are about to come upon the churches. The
purpose of the suffering is to purify and unify the one Church, the Wife of
the Lamb, the Body of Christ, the new Jerusalem.
When the Lord appears from Heaven, His power and glory will be revealed in
His saints on the earth and in the clouds of the heaven at the same time.
This follows the type of the flood of Noah where the “fountains of the great
deep” were “broken up” at the time the “windows of heaven were opened.
Of the two problems of the last days, the great tribulation and the hour of
temptation, the most dangerous by far is the hour of temptation. It is the
abundance of sin and lawlessness of the hour of temptation that will cause
the love of the majority to become cold. The great tribulation will serve
rather to refine the saints.
God’s plan for man, including man’s obedience to the eternal moral law, his
acquiring righteousness by faith, the Divine insistence on purity of heart,
meekness, and a number of other conditions and relationships, has not
changed from the time of Adam and Eve and never shall change.
The saints of all ages have more in common than they have differences. This
is why the Spirit of God, in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, uses Old
Testament personalities, beginning with the second son of Adam, to teach
Christians the meaning of “the just shall live by faith.”
An age of moral horrors soon is to engulf the world. The assortment of myths
and errors we term the Christian religion will be weighed in the balances
and found wanting.
God is calling out of the churches (not out of the buildings but out of the
errors) a holy, warlike remnant of saints. They will proceed to establish
their lives according to the Scriptures. They will be more than conquerors
throughout the age of moral horrors and will encourage and assist many who
otherwise would be swept away into the darkness.
The blood of the Lord Jesus has redeemed mankind so that all who are found
worthy of the Kingdom of God may be brought forward to the new heaven and
earth reign of Christ, where God’s intention concerning man may be carried
forward.
To be “saved” in the narrow sense means not to be destroyed in the day of
God’s wrath, not to be assigned to the Lake of Fire. To be “saved” in the
fullest sense means to inherit all that the Lord God has spoken concerning
man.
We do not have to strive to bear fruit. We do have to strive to be found in
Christ. We must continue in prayer, in the Word, and in diligent devotion to
Jesus if we expect to have the strength to continue abiding in the Vine. The
rewards go to the victors.
Every member of the Seed of Abraham was known to God before the creation of
the world. We have been chosen to bear fruit. We have been ordained to bear
in ourselves the righteous, holy, obedient image of Christ.
Image makes union possible. Union makes fruitfulness possible. Fruitfulness
makes dominion possible. When we possess image, union, fruitfulness, and
dominion we are ready to inhabit and maintain Paradise and to bring Paradise
wherever we go.
To go through life without making progress in eternal image, eternal union,
eternal fruitfulness, and eternal dominion, is not to become “man.”
The Great Commission instructs the Lord’s apostles to make disciples of all
nations, teaching them to keep the Lord’s commandments. We have changed the
commission to mean every believer is to go into all the world and tell
people they do not have to keep the Lord’s commandments, just believe and
they will go to Heaven when they die.
The numerous passages of the Epistles that warn us concerning the
consequences of sin are often preached to the unsaved, but none of them was
written to unsaved people. Unsaved persons are already dead in their sins.
It is the Christians who will lose their eternal life, who will slay their
own resurrection, if they continue to live according to the lusts of their
flesh.
Why is Satan so anxious to persuade us Christians that it is not certain we
actually shall die when we disobey God? No doubt it is because he himself
has been sentenced to eternal death in the Lake of Fire. Since then he has
been attempting to rally the angels, and mankind as well, in an effort to
overturn the sentence of God against himself.
If next Sunday all the Christian preachers in America were to tell their
congregations that when they were baptized in water they were crucified with
Christ and raised with Him to the right hand of the Father, and now they are
to live by Christ’s Life and to share His sufferings if they are to
experience God’s salvation, it is possible over half the “believers” would
leave their churches. They have their ticket out of Hell (they think) and
that is all they want!
In Christian practice, the minute a baby is born he is commanded to go out
and get more babies. How about feeding the baby until he or she is old
enough to get married?
Every Divine covenant from the time of Adam has had precisely the same
goal—that people be in the image of God, that is, that they act justly, love
mercy, and walk humbly with God.
Two aspects change from covenant to covenant. The demands on the human
personality to behave righteously are increased and the availability of
God’s Glory and assistance are increased. The goal, however, never changes,
for it is the likeness of the unchanging God.
The Divine Law is always correctly expressed in behavior, not in knowledge.
The believers who have trusted in a sovereign, unconditional grace that
operates only in their mind (and supposedly in God’s mind) and is separate
from actual transformation of personality will come forth in the day of
resurrection to discover that no new creation has been formed in them. The
cold gray light of the resurrection morning will reveal their experience to
have been based on Christian traditions, not spiritual reality.
The only persons who will survive the dark days ahead are those who are
abiding in Christ. In order to abide in Christ, and Christ in us, we have to
keep His commandments.
We cannot look to both Moses and Christ at the same time. Moses formerly
produced righteous behavior by obedience to what God had commanded. Christ
now produces righteous behavior as we offer our body a living sacrifice to
God, counting ourselves crucified with Christ and living by His Life.
A small deviation from your course becomes greatly magnified when you are
journeying to the stars.
Antichrist is self-centeredness in the political realm. The False Prophet is
self-centeredness in the spiritual realm.
When Jesus spoke of the Father’s house He was referring to Himself. God the
Father dwells in His fullness in Christ. Christ is the only true and eternal
House of God.
Christ’s goal is not to bring us to beautiful homes in Heaven but to the
place of rest in the Father. It is the same rest Jesus enjoys—God resting in
Him and He in God.
The Kingdom of God always is an inner kingdom. The outer form of the Kingdom
is a manifestation and effect of the Person and rule of God in Christ
established in the personalities of the individuals making up the Kingdom.
The coming of the Lord Jesus in the clouds of glory will be a revelation, a
manifestation of a marvelous creation that already is in the earth but not
visible as yet. We are talking about the portion of Christ that is here now
in the personalities of the victorious saints.
The exercise of faith results in more faith. The exercise of righteousness
results in more righteousness. The exercise of eternal life results in more
eternal life. Each blessing brings another as we follow the Lord. He who is
faithful in the least will be entrusted with the greater.
It seems numerous believers are under the impression that the removal of sin
under the new covenant means the removal of the guilt of sin. While the new
covenant includes the removal of the guilt of our sin its main purpose is to
remove the compulsion and the presence of the sin itself.
The blood of bulls and goats offered under the Levitical law removed the
guilt of sin while the new covenant by several operations kills the
compulsive fires of sin and finally removes from us the very presence of
sin.
The original Body of Christ was Jewish. Not only was it Jewish, the Jews
were Orthodox as we would use the term today.
Anyone who views Israel and the Christian Church as separate religious
institutions needs to understand that the Church was born as a purely Jewish
work of God. Just because Gentiles have been added to the Olive Tree does
not mean the Church is now Gentile.
True Christianity is the giving of spiritual significance and incorruptible
life to the words and forms of Judaism. Christianity actually is the
spiritual form of Judaism. The two are one revelation from God.
Because Jacob would not let go of God, God met him and answered his prayer.
This is what we call “praying through.” We pray until we know God has heard
and answered our prayer.
If we go to God concerning someone who is causing trouble for us, and
achieve victory with God, we then will achieve victory over our human
circumstances.
When the full number of Gentiles has been grafted on Christ, on the one
Olive Tree of God, God will turn once more to physical Israel, pouring out
His Spirit on the Jews and bringing them into the one Body of Christ, the
one Olive Tree.
There is not one passage of Scripture that states the Body of Christ will be
divided into a Gentile branch and a Jewish branch, and the Gentile branch is
favored of God and will be carried off to Heaven while the Jewish branch is
left to suffer on the earth.
God never has forgotten His people, the Jews. They are beloved for the
patriarchs' sake. The gifts and callings of God are without repentance.
Christian preachers and teachers because of their overemphasis on grace are
destroying man’s normal association of righteous behavior with God’s favor.
Can we be surprised, therefore, when there is little strength of
righteousness in the Christian churches?
The program of redemption begins when we are in union with Satan and reveal
Satan’s image in our thoughts, our words, and our actions. The program of
redemption has been completed when we are in restful union with the Father
through Christ and are revealing in our thoughts, words, and actions the
image of Christ.
Our salvation has to do with our relationship with Christ rather than with
moving from earth to Heaven. We hope for the resurrection so we can resume
our life on the earth.
The purpose of the Christian Era is to construct the Body of Christ, to
bring it to the standard of unity and maturity required for the indwelling
of God and Christ.
God the Father dwells eternally in the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is the
“Zion” in which God finds perfect rest. Christ is the House of God. There is
no other house of God.
If God and Christ were to remain external to our personality the demands on
us would be a small fraction of what they are. Because God and Christ are
seeking total union with us, desiring to enter us and become one with us and
we with Them, our character transformation must be total.
Christianity actually is nothing more nor less than the unfolding of true
Judaism, that is, of the revelation given to Moses and the Prophets.
The purpose of the Judaic-Christian salvation is to solve the original
problem of disobedience to God.
God leads every saint through much tribulation and suffering. Such suffering
is a judgment on us, a separating of the good from the evil in our
personality.
The saints are to be baptized with the Holy Spirit and with the fire of
Divine judgment.
The second resurrection is the general resurrection of the dead. At that
time, all those whom God judges to be worthy of eternal life will be
released from sin and death and brought into the new world. This is what it
means to be “saved.” The lost are those whom their Creator does not judge
worthy of eternal life.
The first resurrection is the resurrection of God’s kings, priests, and
judges. It will take place when the Lord returns, at the beginning of the
thousand-year Kingdom Age.
In the days ahead the two aspects of Jerusalem, the spiritual and the
physical, will converge and the result will be the true Church on earth
without spot or wrinkle, a holy Jerusalem that will govern the nations of
the earth in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Israel has been scattered among the nations. Israel will be brought back to
the land in preparation for the accession of Christ, the Son of God, to the
Throne of David in Jerusalem.
Every person who practices perfect obedience to God is a blessing to those
around him. But he who insists on his own liberty and happiness harms and
deprives others.
The more Christ grows in us, the more we become aware that the goal of our
Christian discipleship is to become one in Christ in the Father.
The goal of salvation is not as much to get people into Heaven as it is to
get the Life and ways of God into people.
True faith is an active relationship with God that governs at all times what
we are and what we do. Faith is not merely a belief in theological facts.
“The just shall live by faith” is defined as follows: the individual whose
personality and behavior are acceptable to God thinks, speaks, and acts as
one who loves, seeks, relies on, hopes in, obeys, and trusts God.
The result of bringing forth Christ within the human being is a new
personality, a unique expression of God. This new creation is the Kingdom of
God.
The Kingdom of God is the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ is being formed in us
the Kingdom of God is being formed in us.
The Kingdom of God is the eternal union of the Life of God with all that is
found worthy in the material realm.
The Person and Life of God provide the government, the life, the
righteousness, the holiness, the love, the joy, the peace, the significance,
the wonder, the glory of the Kingdom. The people, creatures, and things of
earth provide the substance and visible form of the Kingdom.
Becoming a Christian is the Divine opportunity for repentance, not a means
of evading the laws of the Kingdom of God.
The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Heaven because Heaven is the throne of
God; although one day the throne of God will come to rest on the new earth
in the new Jerusalem.
We understand from the teachings of the Lord Jesus that the Kingdom of God
is within us and also is in Heaven, and one day will descend from Heaven and
govern the nations of the earth.
The Lord Jesus has been as Moses, and now is coming to His Church as Joshua.
God is preparing an army that will invade and conquer the earth. The
invasion will take place at the appearing of Christ from Heaven.
The crowds always will hail the Son of David when He enters through the
gates into the city of God. But when He goes into the Temple of God He casts
out the moneychangers.
Two witnesses appear whenever God is ready to introduce a new day. The
witnesses proclaim the new day at hand. The witnesses embody the new day and
are the matrix from which the new day comes into being.
The thousand-year Kingdom Age is now at the door. A new day is at hand, and
whenever a new day is at hand there is a season of unsettledness and
preparation, a heralding of the new day, a bringing to pass of what has been
proclaimed, and then the carrying out of the work of the new day throughout
the creation.
The redemption that is in Christ has a specific beginning, a specific
working out in our life, and a specific conclusion—a goal, a “mark” toward
which we are to press. All of the goal is summed up in Christ.
The knowledge and strength we gain in the wilderness will make it possible
for us to stand when God begins to bring us against the enemies who are in
possession of our inheritance, our rest, our land of promise.
If we hold steady, do not give up in unbelief and discouragement, keep our
faith securely and unshakably anchored in Christ, we will come to know that
God is transforming what is at first a legal, doctrinal, conceptual,
spiritual position into an actual, practical, observable, concrete
experience in us.
The supremely important issue of the Christian discipleship is our standing
in and with Christ, our perfect and complete union with Him at all times, in
all places, and in all circumstances. Such consistent, absolute union with
Christ is the only acceptable status of God’s saints.
The Servant of the Lord is not to lift up himself to perform the work of the
Kingdom of God. He is to wait patiently on the Lord and continually inquire
in His temple.
The Book of Isaiah furnishes the grand design for the Kingdom of God and
tells of the Servant of the Lord who will establish the Kingdom. The New
Testament tells us how to become part of the Servant of the Lord, how to
become the kind of person who can establish the Kingdom.
There is something terribly sincere about Calvary. Are we this sincere in
our walk with the Lord?
The love of money nullifies conscience.
The learned man in that day will say, “I have spent my life pursuing vanity.
All my knowledge is not helping me enter the Kingdom of God.” The little
children who love Jesus and sit at His feet are drinking of the fountain of
life while I am weak and sickly because of the emptiness and deadness of my
soul. I have played the fool. The poor and ignorant of the world are
rejoicing in the majesty of the Lord but I am rejected. Had I only known!
Perhaps I can find a child to help me.”
God does not lead those who see but those who are blind.
By grace we obtain forgiveness. By deliverance and the formation of Christ
in our inner nature we enter the Kingdom of God.
Who ever heard of a king being formed in the hearts of his subjects?
The brush of the most gifted artist, the pen of the most talented writer,
could never portray the glory that will be given to the believer who keeps
plodding ahead faithfully through the flames and floods that are sent to
purify the Wife of the Lamb.
Ask yourself, “Do I want to be delivered from Hell or delivered from sin?”
The Apostle Paul cried out to be delivered from sin. Our answer reveals how
much we love God.
Are we selling fire insurance or life insurance?
We asked the Lord about “positive preaching.” The Lord responded, “Whoever
preaches only the negative is emotionally ill. Whoever preaches only the
positive is seeking his own glory. The Word of God is both positive and
negative.”
Physical death presents a whole new set of problems to the believer who has
wasted his life on the things of the world.
The world is waiting to see godly behavior in the people of the churches.
Righteous behavior on the part of the believers is the most effective
witness of Christ. The world needs to read living epistles.
Don't waste your time and make everyone around you miserable by complaining
about matters you cannot change. Go to Jesus and find out what it is you can
do.
You'll get farther with God if you treat Him as a Person rather than some
kind of force you want to manipulate.
All kinds of religious talk goes on in the world but there are few people
who know the Lord Jesus.
Will the Church rule with Christ over the saved nations or the lost nations?
If over the saved nations, then there are two classes of saved people: the
Church and the saved nations. Think about it.
We find God through people and people through God.
People amass money so they do not have to depend on God.
Bringing a person from one place to another or from one time period to
another or from one environment to another does not change what he himself
is. How men deceive themselves by imagining what they will do in some other
place or at some other time!
The grand statements God has made concerning the position of the elect in
Christ are conditional, not unconditional. They are intended to serve as an
anchor for our faith, not as a substitute for taking up our cross and
following the Lord Jesus.
The whole creation is in the throes of birth. Eventually every person (who
is saved) and every thing will be born again in Christ. We are on the
threshold of life, of a new day, of a new world. Are you being made new in
Jesus Christ?
The Ten Commandments do not bring us to Christ to be forgiven only. The new
covenant in fact is the writing of the transcendent form of the Divine
commandments on our mind and in our heart until the fullest intention of the
law can be observed in our behavior. Through the Lord Jesus Christ we are
becoming the flesh made the Word—living epistles that can be read by
everyone.
The Judgment Seat of Christ will evaluate the choices we made during our
lifetime and reward us accordingly.
It is a good thing to hold the hand of God. But because of the pressures
coming upon us in these days we need to have God hold our hand.
“The just shall live by faith” is the battle cry of the Protestant
Reformation. This expression means those who are accepted of God live each
day in humble dependence on the Lord, looking to Him constantly for every
decision of life.
The toiling saints know the faith and obedience God requires of those whom
He has called to His side, and how shallow is the concept that grace is
God’s riches at Christ’s expense.
The Church Era is not distinguished by the fact that God for the first time
has shown mercy, forgiveness, and help to man. Rather, the Church age is
distinguished by the quality and quantity of the grace that is available
through Christ.
God has poured grace on us through Christ; not just forgiveness but every
Divine enablement we need in order to overcome all sin and to enter union
with God through Christ.
The only truly free, fulfilled, and happy person in the universe is the one
whose desires are one with God's desires.
Not only will the biblical promises of protection stand true, but a positive
good will result from the troubles of the great tribulation. The Church will
be purged of its blemishes and brought to the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ.
A true saint, a Christian, is a person who is living as a foreigner on the
earth. His life is a quest for the invisible God. His treasures are in
Heaven above. His heart is in Heaven above. He hungers and thirsts for God
as the dying man craves food and water. He is not at home here and he knows
it and shows it in all that he is and does.
Something is terribly amiss in Christendom, in those who are supposed to be
greater in authority, power, righteousness, and holiness than the Prophets!
Your adamic nature is not heading toward Paradise but toward the cross. It
is the new man who has been born in you who enters the Kingdom and who is
the Kingdom.
It is the common belief among Christians that Christ died so we may enter
Paradise apart from learning to perform the will of Christ.
In order to bring into view the righteous behavior He desires, God has given
us His only begotten Son so that through His blood we may be forgiven our
sins, and through His triumphant life we may be delivered from our sins and
commence practicing righteousness in the earth.
“Salvation is unconditional,” the leaders of the churches announce. They
advance their philosophical proofs to support their statements. But the
written Word of God authoritatively, steadfastly, and eternally denies their
claim.
We cannot state what the destiny of any particular nonovercomer will be. But
the Christian should be warned that the New Testament has much to say that
is cause for terror, with respect to the future state of the member of the
Lord’s elect who neglects the salvation that has been offered to him.
An overcomer is judged only by what God is requiring of him as an individual
at a given moment, not by his own or by anyone else’s model of a perfect
Christian.
To bring into Paradise an individual in whom the works of the second death
are dwelling would create chaos. Such a person would bring confusion into
Paradise and would himself be exceedingly miserable.
Repentance is more an act of will than of emotion. The reason we do not have
widespread, lasting repentance among the Christians of America is that the
teaching of lawless grace does away with the absolute need for the works of
repentance.
He who does not overcome the problems of the churches, as outlined in the
second and third chapters of the Book of Revelation, will not inherit all
things. God is not His God, as evidenced by the fact that he did not,
through Christ, cooperate with the removal of the gods of his personality.
He did not choose God as His Father; God does not choose to have him for a
son.
The Gentile holocaust is at the doors. The Spirit of the Lord is warning us
to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit. Those who
delay, playing silly church games, are facing affliction, torture, and death
on a scale without precedent in world history. The Gentile holocaust will be
more severe than that of the Jews.
We overcome each day and we receive the rewards to the overcomer each day.
When our overcoming attains its fullness our rewards will be revealed in
their fullness. Those who are not overcoming each day are not receiving the
rewards to the overcomer. For the conquerors it's onward and upward to the
Throne of Christ and the first resurrection from the dead.
Our union with Christ always will result in the fruit of righteous behavior.
If our receiving Christ does not result in a new creation, in a transformed
moral nature from which proceeds righteous behavior, then we are not abiding
in Christ. We are not working out our own salvation. We have changed the
grace of God into an excuse for immorality.
The reason people do not get delivered from their sinful ways is that they
do not repent forcefully enough. You have to repent with all your might. You
have to repent ferociously, letting the devil, God, and sometimes people
know that you have made up your mind to do God's will.
Righteous character and behavior require that evil be removed and good be
added. As we follow the Spirit of God, cooperating with Him in every detail,
He casts out the evil and fills us with the good. Love is infinitely more
than the absence of hate.
Apart from righteousness and holiness no person ever will see the Lord. It
is the pure in heart who see God.
Love, joy, and peace are the fruit of the Spirit, not the fruit of the
Christian. They are found in the Christian only when he or she is living in
the Spirit of God.
The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, not the sword of the Christian.
The Christian takes up this sword but the Spirit of God wields His own sword
through the obedient saint.
Where there is no growth in righteousness, no salvation is taking place.
The difference between the old covenant and the new covenant is not that
under the old covenant we pleased God by acting righteously while under the
new covenant we please God by believing in the facts concerning Jesus
Christ. Rather, the difference is that under the old covenant we lived
righteously by doing what was written in the Law while under the new
covenant we live righteously by interacting constantly with the living Lord
Jesus Christ, obeying Him in the smallest detail. Christ gave the old
covenant. Christ is the new covenant.
Redemption is release from Satan and union with God. To be saved is to be
saved from sin, from Satan, from spiritual and (when the Lord returns)
physical death.
Christ Himself is our righteousness, our eternal life, our grace, our faith,
our salvation. The more of Christ we possess the more righteousness we
possess; the more eternal life we possess; the more grace we possess; the
more faith we possess; the more salvation we possess; the more resurrection
we possess.
During our present life the greatest joy we can know is blemished by trouble
and problems and lasts but a short time. The servants of the Lord are
heading toward the fullness of joy—unblemished pleasures that will continue
throughout the eternity of eternities.
Our righteousness shall exceed by far the righteousness of the scribes and
Pharisees because our righteousness is Christ Himself: first, in removal of
condemnation; then, in an indwelling power to love righteousness and hate
wickedness. The Holy Spirit is bringing us to the condition of total
righteousness of personality and behavior.
We Christians have Heaven and Paradise confused. Paradise is the garden of
God. Heaven is the throne of God. Nebuchadnezzar found out the hard way that
Heaven rules. Let Heaven govern your life and you will be the Kingdom of
God.
When you are living in the Spirit, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound
in Heaven. This is the Throne of God and the gate to the Kingdom. No one is
permitted into the Kingdom except by permission of the Throne.
The love of money pollutes every worthy human sentiment and aspiration just
as garbage and dung pouring into a river pollute the crystal-clear water.
If someone gave us a valuable horse which, if properly trained, would be
worth many thousands of dollars, and we allowed the horse to starve to
death, we could not rightfully claim that someone took away our gift because
we allowed the horse to die. So it is in the Kingdom of God. If we slay our
own resurrection life by allowing the things of the world to choke out the
Divine Life that has been planted in us, we cannot then say Christ removed
the gift of eternal life from us.
When a judge of the criminal court is merciful and grants probation he
expects the prisoner to turn away from his crime. If the person breaks
probation he may be sentenced by the same judge to many years in prison. So
it is in the Kingdom of God. Christ is merciful to us. But if we break
probation we can expect to be dealt with harshly. Make no mistake about
this!
The creation is waiting eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. We
rejoice over this hope; but remember—the Day of the Lord will bring a
revealing of what we are in our inner nature. Our outer form will reflect
that which is true of our inner nature. All will be transparent in that Day!
It is obedience to the living God, a heart of trust and humility that
pursues God each day, that brings righteousness and fellowship with God.
One of the primary characteristics of the religious spirit, the spirit that
crucified Christ and to this day warps the desires of God, is an absence of
the sense of God's timing.
We don't have to explain or understand God, just acknowledge Him—A.
Thompson.
God has given Satan the dust of this world to eat, but our citizenship is in
Heaven.
The more an individual looks to the Lord for every decision he makes the
more authority and power Christ will entrust to him. When he looks totally
to the Lord, total authority and power will be entrusted to him. Only in the
throne will Christ be greater. But from the individual who goes his own way
shall all authority and power finally be removed.
Always make sure your habits are taking you where you want to go. If you do
not know where your actions are taking you, ask God for wisdom. He will give
to you liberally and not scold you.
If your works are gold, silver, precious stones, God's fire will purify
them. If your works are wood, hay, straw, God's fire will destroy them. It
is the same fire. It is the works that differ.
We never are to confuse Christ who is at the right hand of God in Heaven
with Christ who is dwelling in us or in our brother. To do so is to convert
the Body of Christ into the church of the Christians instead of the Church
of the Firstborn. The church of the Christians is an assembly of Christian
believers whose spiritual life consists of their soulish interactions.
Imputed righteousness cannot possibly provide fellowship with God or
entrance into the city of God. Its purpose is to permit access to the Mercy
Seat in prayer and protection from destruction in the Day of Wrath. We enter
fellowship and the new Jerusalem only as through the grace of Jesus Christ
we drive sin and rebellion from our personality.
Our goal is not only to survive the Day of Judgment, a wonder in itself, but
to enter through the gates into the new Jerusalem, the city of God.
He who overcomes is made a pillar in the Temple of God, which is the new
Jerusalem. There is no temple in the holy city. The entire city is the
tabernacle of God and God and the Lamb are the Temple of it.
God is both in and with those who compose the new Jerusalem, just as God is
both in and with Christ. The saints are the city. This is why the name of
the city is inscribed on them.
Experiencing the things that have to do with God is not nearly the same as
experiencing God Himself.
The new covenant is God’s plan for creating man in His image, for making man
truly righteous, truly holy, and truly obedient to God.
The only human being Satan fears is the one who has died the death of the
cross and now is living in the Life of Jesus.
Beyond doubt Christ is wondrously free and powerful. But what joy is it to
come “leaping on the mountains, skipping on the hills,” if there is no one
to come leaping and skipping to? Why bother to go up to the tops of Shenir
and Hermon, to the lions’ dens, to the mountains of the leopards, if there
is no one with whom to enjoy the view?
Divine fruitfulness and strength flow from the cross. It is as we bear in
our body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the Life of Jesus can be
communicated from our mortal flesh.
The victorious Christian life depends on God doing His part and us doing our
part. Leaning too much on God or too much on ourselves will cause us to lose
the good fight of faith.
The Kingdom of God is as a seed that is born in us and then grows in us. In
actuality, the Kingdom of God is Christ Himself who is born in us and then
formed in us.
It is the holy remnant who, as a fulfillment of the type of David's mighty
men, will return with the Lord in order to establish His Kingdom on the
earth.
It is the fullness of God dwelling in us that will be our survival and our
fruitfulness during the age of moral horrors that is on the horizon.
As far as our individual redemption is concerned, both the River Jordan and
the Veil of the Tabernacle symbolize the same thing—death to self. It is
impossible to enter the battles of the Lord when one is still being led
about by self-will and self-direction.
Many of the current heresies, such as “Jesus did it all,” or salvation is
unconditional, or the tremendous, unscriptural emphasis on the catching up
of the believers, have as their purpose to undermine and divert our
attention away from the necessity of keeping the commandments of Christ and
His Apostles.
When you move from one place to another the angels responsible for your
character transformation will pack their briefcases with curricula and move
with you. You will not escape your trials by moving. The grass in the next
field seems greener because you are looking at it sideways.
Zion signifies a warrior-firstfruits, a group of mighty men who will appear
with the Son of David and fight the Lord's battles until the whole earth
(which is the inheritance of Christ) has been brought under subjection to
Christ.
We have come now, in the course of the development of the Christian Church,
to the season of the spiritual fulfillment in the elect of the last three
feasts of the Lord: the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and
Tabernacles.
It appears that the Christian religion has degenerated into a profession of
certain points of theological truth, whereas the Divine salvation actually
is a living experience with One who was raised from the dead.
In our day the only broad road is the path leading to destruction. The way
to eternal life is narrow and difficult to find and walk in. It is the
business of the saints of the Church to construct a highway of holiness that
is wide, straight, and easy to find so all of God’s people can get to Him
without falling into destruction.
God is the Booth of Christ and Christ is the Booth of God. Christ is the
Booth of Israel; and Israel, the Bride of the Lamb, is being made the booth
of Christ. The Bride is to be made one whole with Christ in God.
God’s desire is to build for Himself a tabernacle, a royal city in which He
can find rest and through which He can govern His universe. That tabernacle,
that kingdom, is God in Christ in the saints. It is the city that has
foundations, for which Abraham looked.
To the extent we have gained Christ—to that extent alone!—we have attained
our purpose in life. All else, relatively speaking, is garbage.
God's provision for His saints during the age of moral horrors is to enter
them to a greater extent than has ever been known by His elect.
The requirements for basic salvation from wrath are minimal. The
requirements for being a member of the Body of Christ, the Bride of the
Lamb, are extraordinary requiring our total, complete consecration.
Why are most of the resources of the denominations poured into efforts to
"reach the lost" while so many members of the churches, (of whom there are
unnumbered millions) are still lost to the purposes of God and pose no
threat to Satan’s empire?
The term church does not imply that those who are part of the Church are
saved and the remainder of mankind is lost. Rather, the term church means
“called-out” from the world in order to serve the saved nations as a royal
priesthood.
While the new covenant includes the removal of the guilt of our sin, its
main purpose is to remove the compulsion and the presence of the sin itself.
It is because we saints have been called out from the world in order to
reveal God to the nations of the earth that it is so very necessary we be
separate from the world. We cannot deliver the world by being part of it.
God is ready to bring us through the third work of grace. The third work of
grace may be referred to as the rest of God.
Where man’s uncrucified will is active, there is Antichrist.
The Lord desires that we be crucified with Him so we may truly live.
The concept of the catching up taking place in order to remove people from
trouble has no basis whatever in the Scriptures.
The white stone appears to be a voting pebble, signifying the overcomer has
passed from the ranks of the called to the ranks of the chosen.
Man in the complete image of God and in untroubled union with God, brought
into this state by daily transformation, is the true goal of salvation—the
goal that accomplishes the Kingdom purposes.
During the new heaven and earth reign of Christ the nations of saved peoples
of the earth will be able to come and partake freely of the Life of God then
flowing from the city of God, that is, from within the saints.
The most marvelous aspect of the new heaven and earth reign of Christ is
that the Throne, the center of Government of God and the Lamb, will no
longer be in the heavens but will reside eternally on the physical earth,
the new earth.
True faith comes from God into the spirit of the believer. Soulish faith
proceeds from the soul of the believer. Those who practice true Bible faith
are led by the Spirit of God. Those who practice soulish faith are led by
their mental knowledge of the Scriptures.
The hope that Christ is here today to prepare us for the trouble that lies
ahead is a more scriptural, more practical, more historical and realistic
hope than is true of the “escape by rapture” myth.
The feet of the angel as pillars of fire is emphasizing that the last-day
revival will bring judgment on all the works of man, beginning with God’s
elect. Judgment has begun in the house of God!
When two people do not get along, it is that one or the other or both are
not submitting their decisions to Christ.
When you read the Word of God, don't draw back. Believe what it says and
stick with it. If you listen to other people and compare yourself with them
you probably will become confused. Base your faith on the Word, not on
tradition.
We are saved in the present by our remembrance of God's faithfulness in the
past, the times of protection and joy we have experienced.
No believer will participate in the first resurrection nor go to meet Christ
in the air to be with Him until he first has undergone the most exacting
judgment and cleansing of his personality. The first resurrection must be
attained.
When we pray in sincerity in Jesus’ name, things begin to happen we do not
always understand. Let us believe God hears and is answering, and hold
steady until we possess the desires of our heart.
He who desires to rule with the Lord when He appears, to rise to meet the
Commander in Chief in the air, must enter today into the process of death
with Christ and resurrection with Christ, as the Holy Spirit directs.
One of the major problems of today’s Christian thinking is the ignorance of
the nature of the resurrection—what is required if we are to be raised into
incorruptible life when the Lord appears. The emphasis and reemphasis on the
catching up has so confused the believers they have little or no
understanding of the resurrection, supposing that somehow the catching up
and the resurrection are the same thing.
The Prophets shouted with joy over the prospect of the coming of Christ in
His Kingdom. Then shall the righteous rejoice. Then shall the nations learn
righteousness and be delivered from oppression. Then shall the wicked be
plucked up and cast out of the earth.
When Jesus appears, we shall receive the consequences of our behavior on the
earth. If we have pursued life, life will be given to us. If we have pursued
death, death will be given to us.
The Altar symbolizes forgiveness through the blood of the cross. The
Lampstand symbolizes life lived through the Holy Spirit. The Booth
symbolizes the fulfillment of salvation, the fullness of God which is God in
Christ coming to dwell in us.
True scriptural faith always comes from God into the spirit of the believer;
it does not proceed from the mental and soulish efforts of the individual.
True faith is always employed to find the will of God and to do it, not to
direct God to do whatever the Christian desires.
Those who would (at the Lord’s return because it is not possible prior to
His return) ascend the thrones that govern the world must lose their own
head, their own thinking. In place of their own thinking must be established
the mind of Christ. Such substitution of Christ’s thinking and planning in
place of our thinking and planning cannot occur until we follow the Lord
into crucifixion.
As we understand the Scriptures, the two witnesses represent the saints who,
working with Christ in the last days, will bear testimony concerning the
soon coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth. These saints are an army of
witnesses who will testify in the fullness of the power of the harvest rain.
The communication media and educational systems of our day are devoted to
bearing Satan’s witness of the invisible God. The morning star has risen in
world civilization but it is the wrong morning star.
It may be true that the peoples of the world learn more of God from
conscience and nature than they do from those who bear the name of Christ.
He who is seeking to win people will speak what the people desire to hear.
He bears a false witness. He who is seeking to please God will speak by the
Spirit of God. He bears a true witness.
The witnesses are being prepared today and the means of preparation are
strenuous indeed. They stretch us to the breaking point. It is true also
that the reward is great. It is a great honor and privilege to bear the
fullness of the latter-rain witness. The Lord’s witnesses of the last days
will be issued power never before assigned to man.
The “ticket to Heaven” approach to the Divine redemption has been of benefit
until the present hour. However, the nearness of the Day of the Lord is
bringing with it a renewed understanding of the salvation that is in Christ,
a much broader perspective and one that embraces all that is presented in
both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
There is no such thing as being saved yesterday. We are being saved today or
not at all.
Salvation is instantaneous. It is also progressive—a pressing forward toward
the salvation of our soul. We are forgiven by the blood of the Lamb but we
establish this forgiveness by walking in the light of God's perfect will. To
not understand this is to not understand the very bedrock principle of what
is taking place in our salvation.
Antichrist will make war against the believers who have borne the testimony
and will overcome them. How will he do this? He will overcome the believers
as he does today by tempting and deceiving them. In some instances he will
torture and kill them, driving them out of the civilized areas by violence.
In so doing he will create for them a better resurrection.
The advance guard of the Christian Church is moving past the Pentecostal
experience. The next aspect of redemption to be brought to the attention of
God’s people is the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. We are moving
toward the coming of the Kingdom of God to the earth.
Several reasons are advanced to prove the unfruitful will not actually be
removed from the Vine; that the sinning Christian will not actually be
barred from entering the Kingdom of God. All such reasons sound a lot like
"You shall not surely die!"
If any human being is to rightly judge himself and the meaning of his life;
if he is to be able to establish any reasonable set of priorities; if he is
to escape the blind, hopeless cycle of nature; if he is to avoid living as
an animal in eating, sleeping, playing, working, and reproducing; then he
must understand this present life and age are temporary. They are a means to
an end. They can lead to unbelievable glory or to unbelievable suffering.
Apparent importance and success in Christian work is no indication of
closeness to Jesus, and closeness to Jesus is all that is truly important.
Anything except a fierce desire to do God's perfect will in every situation,
under every circumstance, is unthinkable. It is rebellion against the
Father.
The insane, howling wilderness called the world exists for the forming,
training, and testing of the conquerors, the brothers of Jesus Christ. All
things work together for their good.
The reason God has joined us to Christ is that we may bring forth the fruit
of righteousness in our lives. God has called us to be the moral light of
the world.
Will we try to use the Spirit of God to build the Kingdom, thus becoming the
administrators of God's resources; or will we take all of our gifts and lay
them at the feet of Christ and permit Him to be the Administrator?
We shall not understand the events of the future on the earth nor the plan
of redemption until we are able to view all that is occurring in the heavens
and on the earth as one arena of judgment, warfare, reconciliation, and
eternal punishment.
When Christ is dwelling in a righteous and holy Church the nations of the
earth will experience the Presence, Word, will, and eternal purpose of God.
The creation apart from its Creator is corrupt and corrupting, dead and
deadening.
Are we saved by works? Definitely no in the sense we can save ourselves
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Definitely yes in the sense that we must
do what He and His Apostles have commanded, as He helps and encourages us
through the Holy Spirit.
The total removal of the presence of sin and clothing us with a body that is
without sin will be one of the greatest of the rewards given to those who
have followed the Lord with their whole heart.
I can't imagine anyone insisting we are saved by our beliefs about Christ
apart from daily interaction with the living Savior who continually is
leading us in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. However, those who
keep pressing “salvation by faith alone” might be tempted to take such a
position.
It is only as we reckon ourselves dead to our first personality and alive in
Jesus that the work of salvation can proceed in our life.
We cannot go to Heaven until we are forced to do so by dying physically. We
cannot return to earth until we are resurrected physically.
You can tell when Christ is growing in you. You are becoming better able to
distinguish between good and evil and have more desire and power to reject
the evil and choose the good. This is the only reliable evidence that Christ
indeed is maturing in you.
The eternal law of God, of which the Ten Commandments are an abridged,
covenantal expression, is not temporary. The eternal moral law of God shall
never be changed in any manner.
Man apart from God is only dust and cannot cope with the titanic
personalities who will confront one another in the closing days of the
Church Age. Only the individual who is part of Christ's eternal resurrection
Life will be able to save himself and others as the Day of the Lord
approaches.
Very soon the Lord Jesus will come and bring with Him a vast multitude of
righteous people. Then injustice will come to an end and the Lord will
govern the nations of the earth.
Although we are heirs and rulers of all things we have been given a
temporary, imprisoning body through means of which we are being taught the
righteous ways of the Lord. It is a body of humbling.
The hoarding of money is man's way of refusing to acknowledge that he lives
by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
If we are seeking the things that are above, if our attention, our love, our
interests, our hopes continually are focused on the Throne of God, on Christ
who is at the right hand of God, then we are attaining to the spiritual
dimension of the first resurrection from the dead.
Are you working in your own strength and abilities or with the Holy Spirit?
If you are working with the Holy Spirit why don't you go about your business
cheerfully and peacefully? If you will do your part the Holy Spirit will do
His. You do not have to plow, sow, irrigate, cultivate, and reap by
yourself.
We are not to pray to the Holy Spirit or invoke the Holy Spirit in any
manner. The Holy Spirit is the Servant of God, not of the Church. If we
desire the Presence and operation of the Spirit, we are to obey the Father
sternly and preach Jesus Christ. God gives His Spirit to those who obey Him.
If you don't prepare yourself to stand in the evil day, the age of moral
horrors that is at hand, you may be deceived and fall away from Christ.
If you do not die in Christ you will not be raised in the Day of the Lord;
you will not be ever with the Lord. To be in Christ means you are living
each day in intense interaction with the living Lord. The expression in
Christ is not referring to a profession of faith you made in past time.
Salvation is always right now!
If you are not presenting your body a living sacrifice you will not be able
to prove the will of God for your life.
If you are not denying yourself, taking up your cross, and following the
Lord Jesus, you will lose your life. You will not participate in the
resurrection to eternal life.
If you are not laying up treasures in Heaven you will be naked in the Day of
the Lord, having no inheritance.
If you do not keep filled with the life of Christ the door to the Kingdom
will be shut in your face.
If you are not bringing forth the fruit of godliness in your life you will
be cut from the Vine, from Christ.
If you are neglecting your salvation you will not escape punishment.
If you are not obeying the commandments of Christ and His Apostles you will
be treated as a disobedient servant.
God never meant for His grace in Christ to be used as an alternative to
obeying His Word. There are penalties for not obeying God and we will pay
them. Grace will not run interference for us in that hour.
It is time for a new reformation in order to reform the excesses produced by
the first Reformation.
All the universe, usually without realizing it, is standing at attention
that the perfect Bride may be presented to the Lamb.
The quick, cheap gospel of deliverance from Hell by grace forms the great
bulk of the preaching of our day. “Count how many decisions for Christ you
can get!” The expressions and concepts are false. The result is a crowd of
people who do not know the Lord and are not coming to the Lord.
The false day star, Satan, is already rising in the hearts of those who
would imitate the Lord Jesus, who would seek His power (“two horns like a
lamb”) and attempt to imitate His love, joy, and peace, but who are not
willing to die to their self-love so they may come into restful union with
Him.
The carrying staves are still in the Ark. You settled down too quickly. Get
back up on your feet and press forward. You have not arrived just because
you have spoken in tongues!
The world clamors constantly for attention like a spoiled child. It requires
a heroic effort to throw off that which barrages us constantly that we might
keep ourselves instantly aware of Christ and the Father, looking for Their
will and pleasure in all we are doing.
The Godhead must be experienced if it is to be understood. It is as we abide
in Christ that He reveals the Father to us. Then we know we are in Christ
and in the Father, and the Father and Christ are in us.
The Bible was written as holy men of God were moved by the Spirit of God.
The Bible can be understood only as holy people of God are moved by the
Spirit of God.
What a joy it is to be relieved of the need to receive credit for anything
we have done. What an absolute blessing to be released from the need for
recognition that we may give all glory to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
part of eternal life.
Solomon told us the fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins
souls is wise. Solomon meant that the personality, words, and actions of the
righteous lead people out of the darkness of sin into the righteous ways of
the Lord. Souls are won to God's way of living as we radiate His Life in the
valley of the shadow of death in which we live. We are wise when we do this
for we shall shine like the brightness of the heavens throughout the ages to
come.
The difference between proselyting and ministering life lies in our knowing
the Lord's will and timing as we attempt to do His work.
As we press into the Life of Jesus Christ we gain the willingness and
strength to choose the good and reject the evil. Embracing the good and
renouncing the evil is an important aspect of the Life of God.
Paul tells us that our entire natural man, our adamic nature, is to be
crucified with Christ in order that the sin in us may be destroyed.
Jesus' love for us demands that we be with Him where He is, in the center of
the Consuming Fire. This is where the saint longs to dwell—in the midst of
the fiery Presence of the Holy One of Israel. Such a passion is an aspect of
eternal life.
When we are walking in close fellowship with Christ and the Father we begin
to utterly abhor all that is of Satan. We develop a passion for holiness and
a hatred of uncleanness, of all that comes from Satan and his demons. Such
love and such hatred are eternal life.
There is no greater blessing available to man than the removal of the desire
to sin. To those who persevere in seeking righteousness will be given
immortlity at the return of the Lord—immortality in a body that loves
righteousness and hates wickedness.
Before we can “make a decision for Christ,” Christ must make a decision for
us. “You have not chosen Me but I have chosen you.”
How wonderful to cast ourselves with abandonment on God, trusting Him to
take care of us. Can He be counted on or not? I am betting my life that He
can. How do you feel about this?
We must never let people hurt us twice. When they treat us unjustly we are
to press into Christ until we are back on our high places with the Lord. To
descend to their level and fight fire with fire is to be hurt twice: once by
their perversity and once more by our own reaction.
No matter what kind of work we do, no matter what kind of an environment we
are in, how our time is occupied, the Lord Jesus knows the best way in which
we are to think, speak, and act. We waste a great deal of time and effort
when we do not bring everything to God in prayer.
The philosophers and politicians have been attempting to bring peace
throughout the history of the world. But peace always eludes them even when
their intentions are pure and honorable. Peace always shall elude them
because of the sinful nature of fallen man.
Refuse to fret yourself about the wicked. God's way of dealing with people
who insist on going their own way is to give them plenty of rope. Jesus did
this with Judas. God knows that eventually they will hang themselves. Has He
ever done this with you?
Pray every day for your healing, always thanking God for your blessings. The
odds are pretty strong that you will be healed in this life. Remember, there
is no sickness, not even AIDS, that God cannot heal. Always look to Him and
never doubt for one moment that He loves you and will heal you at the best
time, provided you live for Him and keep His commandments.
The wicked are shortsighted. The righteous consider the resurrection and
eternal judgment before proceeding.
The Gnostic is intent on making the spirit realm his home. The Christian is
intent on gaining the resurrection from the dead and living in immortality
on the earth.
It is not that the Gospel is too hard, it is that American Christians are
too soft.
This world will never be a decent place for righteous people until the
spiritual adversary has been overcome.
The chains the Lord places on us bring us to perfect freedom.
We have made belief in doctrine the basis of redemption. Belief in doctrine
is not the basis of redemption. Daily interaction with the living Jesus is
the basis of redemption.
How often it is true when we are yelling and screaming, that if we would
just quiet down and listen to the voice of the Lord we might be surprised at
the opinions He is holding concerning our uproar.
Self-seeking, self-centered selfishness is the most hideous of all bondages.
Such an individual is completely without integrity and absolutely cannot be
trusted; for he will lie, steal, kill betray, and do anything and everything
to make sure he is exalted and benefitted.
Jesus Christ is filled with God and lives for the glory of God. He does only
those things that exalt and benefit God and the creatures of God. He does
nothing of Himself. His joy and food are to do God's will. This is the way
people are supposed to be and live.
Satan will do nothing except that which exalts or benefits him directly.
This is Antichrist.
Antichrist is the human expression of Satan just as Christ is the human
expression of the Father.
All creatures of God, including man, are formed so as to worship God. When
we have no principle, no ideal, no person that we love sacrificially, no one
or nothing for which we will exert ourselves except as it benefits us
directly, we are as Satan; we are as Antichrist.
God puts us in many different situations and shakes us repeatedly to make
sure He has uncovered every possible source of disobedience in us. God has
made certain we fear Him when we hold the knife over Isaac.
If we could be made perfect in a moment in the spirit realm, as is currently
taught, there would have been no need for Jesus Christ to suffer in the
crucible of the earth in order to learn obedience.
The love of money is the root of all evil because it reveals a love and
concern for one's self rather than for the needs of God and other people.
Satan always is trying to get Heaven to consent to marry Hell.
Jesus Christ did not come to prevent the selfish rich man from going to
Hell. Jesus Christ came to make the rich man unselfish so he is not sent to
Hell.
It began around the Throne of God as “I wonder how it would feel to be like
the most High” A thousand years later it was “I will be like the most High”
Mighty oaks from tiny acorns grow.
God does not divide the darkness from the light but the light from the
darkness. There never has been darkness in the light but light often is
imprisoned in the darkness.
A desire to worship ourselves prevents the expression of God in us and our
being a blessing to other people.
The love of money is the root of all evil because it continually seeks to
protect and aggrandize us without due concern for the welfare of God and
other people.
The Ten Commandments are a judgment on the self-love of Satan.
Sin is a bondage, a symptom of the worship of self.
The democratic stress on the rights and freedom of the individual, while it
appears at first as an expression of Christianity, or at least a friend of
Christianity, is by far the deadliest enemy of God and man. This is because
it nourishes the worship of self.
God has given us the cross to cure our worship of self. As we are willing to
suffer in order to do God's will, our worship of self is converted to the
worship of God.
Do not avenge yourself. Redemption does not come by adding sin to sin.
God is so incomprehensibly great that it is impossible to flatter Him.
Rejoice! Evil is a dark cloud that soon will pass. God and His sons then
will have all eternity to play. For this He created the worlds.
The sons of God, the angels, children, and animals were created to play. The
wicked, the self-centered, cannot play. They can be uninhibited, immoral,
drunken, destructive, covetous, vile in imagination, sordid, faithless, and
cruel. But they cannot play.
Until we overcome evil through Christ we cannot play. We can practice
unrestrained behavior but we cannot truly play. When play isn't holy it is
not true play, just heedless activity.
As in the beginning, holy language is poetry. Nature is a dance. All the
heavens are singing the eternal praise to God and the Lamb. The darkness is
passing. The future is bright indeed for those who can truly play!
True play is never selfish, heedless, or slothful. It is the highest
expression of faith. When Satan stopped playing and started to scheme,
destruction entered the creation.
We are a fallen race. We have to earn the right and develop the ability to
play. Where there is no sin, work is play—as in Eden.
To play is to do what we want to do. However, we cannot follow our desires
without destroying those around us and ourselves, until we have been
transformed morally and are at rest in Christ in the center of God's Person
and will.
Having to do that for which we have no heart is part of the curse. If we
avoid doing that which we are required to do because it is unpleasant, we
never will be permitted to play with the children of God.
There are those who teach that once we have taken the “four steps of
salvation” there are no further experiences in Christ. It is like the little
boy seated on the airplane before takeoff, asking his mother, “Are we there
yet?”
Faithfulness is the opposite of self-centeredness.
Satan is totally miserable and he wants you to be totally miserable along
with him. This is why he tempts you to sin against God. He succeeded with
Adam and Eve!
Personal freedom of action is not the splendid god we Americans think it is.
To worship our personal freedom is to adore our chains. The only truly free
individual is the slave of Jesus Christ.
Instead of a rapture there is going to be a rupture, a breaking open of the
prisons of unclean spirits that refer to themselves as the Christian
churches.
A lion does not mate with a rabbit. So the Lion of Judah does not mate with
a weak, fearful bride. “Lord, make us as terrible as an army with banners!”
The spirit of democracy is not the same as that of the Kingdom of God. The
highest good of democracy is the human being who is free to do as he
pleases. The highest good of the Kingdom of God is the human being who is
totally obedient to Jesus Christ. It will be seen eventually that democracy
is the mortal enemy of the Kingdom.
God gives the song. It is our part to sing it—A. Thompson.
The reward for obedience is to be delivered from sin and to enjoy the
consequences thereof. The penalty for disobedience is to be bound with sin
and to suffer the consequences thereof.
When God created Satan and the angels who later fell, He loved them.
Nevertheless they will be in the Lake of Fire for eternity. Take this into
consideration when you use the unscriptural phrase “God's unconditional
love.”
I think there are two reasons why many American people have chosen the
hypothesis of evolution over the biblical account of creation. The first
reason is they wish to believe they will not be held accountable for their
actions. The second is they are repulsed by the character and actions of
Christian people. Nevertheless every person shall reap what he or she sows.
God loves every person born into the world. Yet some shall spend eternity in
the Lake of Fire. What is this about unconditional love?
We have made a ticket out of the “four steps of salvation.” The truth is,
every person will suffer until he or she does God's will with a glad heart.
I am not saying every individual eventually will be received of God, for
repentance is a gift.
To be “saved as by fire” means the individual will suffer until all
worldliness, lust, and disobedience have been destroyed from his or her
personality.
If the “hound of Heaven” is following us it may be someone is praying for
us. The chase will continue and we will suffer until we are ready to do
God's will.
There are not “four steps of salvation” and we should not preach them as
such because they convey the idea that to be saved is to be given a ticket.
The truth is, to receive Christ is to actually receive Him and to keep His
commandments. We have to receive Christ every day of our life from now to
eternity.
There is a difference between belief and faith. The demons believe there is
a God but they do not trust His faithfulness. Belief that there is a God or
that Jesus is His Son saves neither us nor the demons. To not perish but
enter eternal life requires that we believe in Jesus at all times.
A gospel that does not require turning away from sin and obeying the
commandments of Christ is not the Gospel of the Kingdom of God.
The proof that we love Christ is that we keep His commandments. If we keep
Christ's commandments, God will love us. Love is not a sentiment, it has to
do with obedience to God. Love and obedience to Christ's teaching are
inseparable.
It is Satan who believes we can disobey Christ and still be delivered from
the Lake of Fire. He preaches in the Christian churches every Sunday
morning.
The greatest lie ever to be cast up from the realms of darkness is the idea
that a human being can be saved “by faith alone,” can have lasting
fellowship with God apart from a radical change in his or her behavior and
personality. It is the change that itself is salvation.
Many believers are willing to follow the Lord wherever they want to go.
There is a time to gently lead the Lord's sheep and lambs into green
pastures that they may feed. There is a time to throw meat to the Lord's
lions.
We worship God with our mouth, then with our hands, finally with our whole
personality. Worship is not sentiment, it is devotion.
We work to get the unsaved to become a Christian; then we have to work to
get the Christian saved.
Worship is devotion. Whatever we give our time and attention to is our God.
We Americans worship money and pleasure. For this reason God will send
calamities upon us—that the fear of God might return to the land.
Witnessing is not primarily telling others about Jesus. Witnessing is
showing others the Nature of Jesus in our conduct.
When we are seeking to be filled with Christ, to dwell in Christ at every
moment, it is not initially a case of man seeking to be part of God. Rather
it is God seeking to be part of man. Every aspect of salvation originates in
God. We cannot run after Him except as He draws us.
It is required of every person that he or she behave righteously. Holiness,
however, is a calling. God's elect are called to varying levels of holiness,
as we see in the Israelites, the Levites, the sons of Aaron, and then the
High Priest.
Too much grace dissolves our grit!
If you have itching ears there always is someone at hand to scratch them for
you.
If we cannot exercise patience and perseverance we cannot enter the Kingdom
of God.
The Lord will guide us safely through the minefield of life if we ask
directions for every step.
The person without integrity is a lost soul, chained in a dungeon by evil
spirits. If he follows Jesus carefully each day the Lord will break the
chains and restore his soul.
Tremendous fruitfulness requires tremendous pruning.
Our error as Gentiles has been to interpret Paul to mean we are saved by
faith in Christ apart from a change in our behavior. This error will go down
in history as one of the greatest misunderstandings of all time.
The blood of the Lamb is not our robe of righteousness. Our robe is cleansed
by the blood, just as clothes are cleansed by soap, but the soap is not our
clothing. It is the righteous nature of Jesus Christ expressed in our person
and behavior that is our white robe.
We are not without law, we have passed from the Law of Moses to the law of
the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is our law under the new covenant.
Christ takes the wood of our personality and transfigures it into the gold
of His Personality.
There never will be a Divine covenant given to man that is superior to that
of Christ formed in us.
When our desires run ahead of our strength to choose to do God's will, this
signals a breach in our wall against sin. Then it is time to ask God to help
us put in plenty of mortar and set our stone in the wall.
The angels have been removed from their places of authority. They now are
servants for those destined to govern the works of God's hands.
The wall that surrounds the new Jerusalem is the will to choose not to sin;
the will to choose to do God's will.
The height and thickness of the wall surrounding the new Jerusalem is
measured by man's unit of measurement, because the wall against sin is
produced by God and man working together.
Righteousness is obedience to God's will. Sin is disobedience to God's will,
the willingness to choose to disobey God's will.
God does not force His will on people. He could, but this would prevent His
relating to people in love. Any dictator can force people to do his will,
but he does not have their heart and so he has nothing of real value.
You have been forgiven your sins through the blood atonement. You have been
filled with God's Holy Spirit. But you still are a spiritual baby until you
choose to do God's will in every detail of your life. Until you do this you
have not solved God's problem of the rebellion of the angels and mankind.
If you don't make your body your slave your body will make you its slave.
Faith is unswerving confidence in God's faithfulness.
Soap does not cover the dirt on our skin, it cleanses our skin. So it is
with the blood of Christ. It does not cover our sins, it cleanses us. The
blood does keep on forgiving our sins provided we are following the Spirit;
but its purpose is not to conceal our sins but to enable us to overcome
them.
Christ did all the fighting for us when He died on the cross. But for us to
enter our land of promise we ourselves will have to fight, and God will help
us.
Every aspect of the adamic nature is not sinful, but every aspect must go to
the cross: some to be resurrected in Christ; some to be destroyed in the
fire.
It never is God's will for a Christian to walk in known sin.
Faith is a personal relationship between man and God.
Righteousness is not an arbitrary standard. It is the Divine decision to be
pleased with an individual’s attitude and behavior regardless of what
covenant he or she is under.
Faith has a lot to do with our opinion of God’s Character!
We must mine the gold of God’s will from the rock of circumstances with the
pick and shovel of persistent prayer, consistent Scripture meditation, and
diligent attention to successfully overcoming the testing and circumstances
set before us.
We are not marching from the earth to Heaven, we are marching from eternal
death to eternal life.
It is important we choose to delight ourselves in the Lord in every
circumstance, just as much as possible. Then God gives us the desires of our
heart.
All things were made for God’s pleasure. The only significant actions of our
life are those that bring pleasure to God, whether or not we enjoy the
results or profit from them.
Present-day Christian teaching often is too superficial and giddy to serve
as a sculptor of saints.
Few forces on earth are as effective in destroying integrity, conscience,
and common sense as is true of religion.
The victorious saints are too busy jumping the hurdles God is placing before
them to spend time imagining how great they are.
The question is not whether you and I are going to be a slave, the question
is whose slave we are going to be. The only way we can escape being the
slave of sin is to be the slave of Jesus Christ.
Until we are joyously willing to sweep up behind the horses in the royal
parade we have no business riding in the head chariot.
When belief in the things of Christ begins to seek Christ with all its heart
it changes into faith. Until this happens, belief remains mental assent.
Mental assent results neither in eternal life nor in salvation.
When the righteous are not righteous enough the wicked shall prevail.
God has not made provision for quitting. Press forward to total victory.
Salvation from worldliness, the lust and passions of the flesh and soul, and
self-will does not come through our many religious activities but by calling
continually on the Name of the Lord.
It is not believing that produces results, it is God who does the thing.
Every true Christian is a priest of God, ministering eternal life to those
of less spiritual attainment.
To be in the rest of God is to be free from the need to act outside of God’s
will; to be free to live in resurrection life; to be free to trust God for
our life, our destiny, our role in His Kingdom.
It is a testing of our faith, and a demonstration of God’s power, when a
table is set before us in the presence of our enemies.
“God used to require righteousness but now we are saved by grace,” we
exclaim. I do not think it possible a more successful method of destroying
the purpose of the new covenant could be devised.
Fundamentalism is strong when it reminds us that the Scriptures are holy and
eternally unchanging. Fundamentalism is weak when it teaches us to
substitute a profession of belief in the text for a living experience with
God.
The assertion that we possess something because the “Bible says so,” can
produce a “salvation” void of the Lord’s rich Presence. The Scriptures lead
us to the living Jesus. Eternal life is in Him, not in the text of the
Bible.
Nothing is truly desirable to you unless God makes it desirable to you. You
do not know your own heart. Ask God to deliver you from idolatry.
The most intense human love is but the faintest, flickering shadow of God’s
love.
Your personal cross is not an obstacle you are to try to go around; it is an
engine of destruction whose purpose is to destroy your self-will.
The unity of the faith is a unity of the heart in Christ, not mental
agreement about doctrine.
The Lord is not coming to take His Church to Heaven. The Lord is coming with
His Church to establish His Kingdom on the earth. We are going to appear
with Him.
We place much emphasis today on getting people into Heaven! According to the
New Testament, God places a greater emphasis on getting Heaven into people!
In Christ there is endless, incorruptible strength.
In Christ, nothing is too good to be true. A little patience is required.
God’s timing is always perfect.
No individual can rule with God when God is not ruling the individual.
What we do to others in this world may be done to us in the resurrection,
unless we have cleared it up with God beforehand.
The Lord Jesus Christ is not coming from Heaven to remove the Christians
from the earth but to remove sin from the earth. This is what the Bible
says.
If you wish to be part of the solution instead of part of the problem, let
Christ take the sin out of your life.
A leader with integrity is a rock. A leader without integrity is a snare to
all who trust him. Eventually he will be revealed for what he truly is.
A leader must pray about everything. He must take nothing for granted. As
far as possible, he must cover every possibility, every detail. Carelessness
has no place in a leader. Remember Joshua and the Gibeonites!
A leader must continually listen carefully to all advice and consider the
consequences of his actions. Then he must prayerfully do what he believes to
be right.
A leader must go before his troops into battle. He must not ask anyone to do
something he would not do himself
A leader must open up doors for people instead of trying to control them. He
must assess the strength of others and guide them into positions where they
are effective. Then he must get out of their way. He must not try to do
everything himself.
A leader should spend no time blaming others. Instead he should pray about
problems and failures.
A leader must never talk about others behind their back. This is a sign of
weakness of character. If he criticizes other people in order to promote
himself, his deviousness will be made public some day.
A leader must always be prepared to “go for broke,” to risk everything when
it becomes necessary. He should never gamble unnecessarily, for this is not
wise. But he should be willing to gamble when there is no other way to
proceed.
A leader must have patience. Sometimes the vision isn’t fulfilled for many
years.
A leader must not be afraid to change when the Lord so directs.
A leader must be forthright and truthful. He who spins lies and deceits will
one day be caught in his own web.
A leader must be careful with “girls, gold, and glory (monuments to
himself).” Lack of self-control in these three areas has brought many
leaders to defeat.
The reason the Lord advised us to do to others as we would have them do to
us, is that in the Day of Judgment it will be done to us as we have done to
others.
God’s problem is an angelic and human creation in which sin is rampant.
God’s problem is not solved when humans are forgiven, only when they have
been set free from the presence of sin. Only then can they judge angels and
govern the creation.
God sent Christ so that through His virtue, wisdom, and power, we can escape
from the person and works of Satan and become completely immersed in the
person and works of God. Christ will not save us apart from our active
response, and we cannot save ourselves apart from Christ.
God is not nearly as interested in religion as He is in people and their
behavior.
The persons, facts, and dynamics of the spirit realm are real and operate as
they will, whether our religion describes them correctly or not.
There is nothing “too good to be true” for God’s sons and heirs.
Never expect righteous, sensible reasoning or behavior from a wicked person.
If you do you will be fretful, disappointed, and frustrated because of his
perversity.
Imputed righteousness is righteousness apart from change into the image of
Christ. If we have been predestined to be changed into the image of Christ,
then we are not saying we have been predestined to be righteous by
imputation.
The adamic nature can do little more than gaze mournfully at the directive
to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. But the Spirit
of God can bring this to pass.
Imputation without deliverance fulfills the needs of man without fulfilling
the needs of God.
How wonderful it is to abide humbly with the Lord, out of the spotlight.
Satan is the wrong way, the lie, and the death. Jesus Christ is the true
way, the truth, and the life.
God’s army is made up of volunteers called from the beginning of the world.
God calls but we must volunteer.
To overcome Satan by the word of our testimony is to always proclaim, in
thought, in word, and in deed, what God is like; the will of God; the way of
God; and the eternal purpose of God in Christ. The eternal testimony always
is created in us by the Holy Spirit.
A sovereignly imposed salvation that operates independently of our behavior
is a convenient religion for the individual who desires to be saved without
having to change his way of living.
To maintain that we are saved even though we still are living in our sinful
nature is to insist that we have been healed even though we still are sick.
This attitude can rapidly pass from a healthy faith in God to an
unprofitable fantasy.
The grace of God did not appear to only forgive the drunkard, it appeared to
make him sober. It is the change from drunkenness to sobriety that is
salvation.
The Lamb of God takes away the sin of the world. His name is Jesus because
He saves His people from their sins, not in their sins.
When the Holy Spirit is dwelling in you He always is preparing the way so
the Father and the Son may settle down into Their rest.
The False Prophet is self-will in the spirit realm. Antichrist is self-will
in the political realm. Babylon is self-will in the
ecclesiastical-institutional realm. Laodicea is self-will in the
local-church realm.
There are only two kingdoms, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.
When we are not in the rest of God, giving every decision to Christ, in all
our ways acknowledging the Lord, we automatically are part of Satan's
kingdom—the kingdom of self-will.
Human attempts to produce oneness among the believers often create babylon
(man-controlled religion).
When two people attain the same level of union in Christ in God, each being
with Jesus where the Lord is, then they also are one with each other. This
is how we attain the unity of the faith.
Compromise your integrity; acquire wealth; live in opulence; die in
wretchedness; spend eternity in torment.
Raise your hopes to the stars. There absolutely is nothing in God’s great
Kingdom that is too good to be true!
You and I are only dust and have no eternal significance except as we are
part of Jesus Christ.
There are all the workings of the Christian religion, and then there is the
Kingdom of God. Persecution may prevent many of our religious efforts and
posturings but often makes the Kingdom shine ever brighter.
Self-will brings torturous complexity and a need for endless reasoning.
Walking in God’s light maintains simplicity and occasions few explanations.
Preparing the way of the Lord may mean that our way is denied.
“I go to prepare a place for you.” Jesus went to the cross, and then into
Heaven to sprinkle His atoning blood before the Father. In this manner the
way is prepared for us to be a part of the Father’s House, who is Jesus
Christ Himself.
Today people are praying to the Holy Spirit. This would be like Rebecca
being content to stay with Eliezer because of all the treasures he brought
on the camels.
The Omega of salvation has arrived when we are filled with the fullness of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, our flesh and bones have been
resurrected, and the whole have been clothed with a body like that of the
Lord Jesus. Such is our goal and requires faith and stern obedience to God
if it is to be attained by us.
All the physical creation is dust and ashes. Only what God wants you to
desire is truly desirable. To desire a relationship, thing, or circumstance
that God does not want you to desire is idolatry and will reveal itself to
be dust and ashes. Let God work in you both to will and to do His good
pleasure.”
When we have been filled with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, we
possess eternal obedience, righteousness, holiness, wisdom, peace, and every
other good and perfect characteristic. Meanwhile we must keep the
commandments of Christ by praying constantly if we hope to attain such
fullness.
Deliverance from worldliness and the lusts of the flesh is entirely possible
once you make up your mind this is what you truly desire. Deliverance from
self-will requires prolonged imprisonment and severe wrenchings as God frees
us from idolatry. But one cannot pass from the Pentecostal to the
Tabernacles experience apart from deliverance from self-will.
When we assent to deliverance from self-will the Father and the Son are then
able to take Their place on the throne of our personality.
Do not spend your time and strength chasing the devil. Fix your attention
eternally on Jesus Christ and He will deal with Satan.
If you do not know how a Christian should think, act, and look, ask an
unsaved person. A believer is liable to talk to you about how you should not
concern yourself because you are saved by grace. You do not need to hear
this!
As soon as Babylon is destroyed, the Bride of the Lamb is presented. As soon
as self-will is removed from our heart, the Bride of the Lamb appears.
Leave Judas alone, unless God directs you to do otherwise. He eventually
will hang himself. No one will harm you if you practice what is good.
Christ died that we may live. Now we must die that He may live—in us.
There are four sources of eternal life: the Word of Christ; the body and
blood of Christ; the Holy Spirit; the crucified personality of the disciple.
The age-old conflict is between comfort and honor.
To do God's will perfectly and completely at every moment is the greatest
possible joy. Any deviation brings misery and destruction.
To be saved means God has judged you worthy to be part of His Kingdom. If
you have been called to be of high rank in the Kingdom, a ruler of some
sort, you will be tested rigorously, particularly concerning obedience.
The purpose of the Church Age has been to create a ruling priesthood A
ruling priesthood is necessary because God intends to restore His Presence
to the earth as it was in the beginning. People living in Paradise on the
earth will need to be governed.
The Scripture is clear that the saints will govern the nations during the
thousand-year Kingdom age, and then the nations of saved people on the new
earth.
The first resurrection, that which will occur when the Lord Jesus returns,
is not the general resurrection from the dead. It is reserved for those who
lived victoriously in Christ and thus are qualified and competent to serve
as a governing priesthood over the nations of the earth during the thousand
year Kingdom Age.
It seems likely from the very few passages that treat of life after death
that it is a waiting period until Christ returns and raises the dead. What
we will do during that waiting period is not clear. Our existence at that
time, what we will be doing, where we will be placed, no doubt will be
governed by our obedience to the Gospel in the present hour.
If we are to rule with Christ we will have to learn obedience through
suffering, as just our Lord Jesus did.
We cannot choose our place in the Kingdom. Our place in the Kingdom is
according to the Father’s will, and has been determined from the beginning
of the world. Our task is to lay hold on that for which we have been laid
hold, whether of high rank or a more lowly role. In any case, if we do not
lay hold on that for which been laid hold, we will be treated as a lazy,
disobedient servant. The penalties are severe!
As far as the Kingdom of God is concerned, first came Christ. Christ will be
followed by the victorious saints. Then the balance of the Church. Finally
will come the nations of those whom God has found worthy for citizenship in
the new age.
If you permit someone take your crown you will be governed by others in the
Kingdom of God who have been more diligent.
If you would govern in the Kingdom of God you must remain in the prison
where you have been placed, being faithful to the point of death.
When we speak under the anointing of the Holy Spirit our word cleanses our
listeners.
Zebah and Zalmunna told Gideon that each of the Israelites who attacked them
had the bearing of a prince. So it is true that when the Lord returns to
install His Kingdom on the earth, each of the sons of God will have the
bearing of a prince in the sight of the nations remaining on the earth at
that time.
Jesus said many who are last shall be first, meaning, I believe, that many
people who come to Christ in the last days will be of highest rank in the
Kingdom (although there no doubt have been saints before us who have
attained the highest role). The present opportunities would exist because
today we have so much to build on that will enable us to advance to the
summit. In our day the knowledge we have, and the forces we must fight
against, combine to form kings
The victorious saints shall govern all the works of God’s hands, and the
meek shall inherit the earth.
Dread and fear are not gifts from the Father, so do not accept them.
As we ourselves gain higher ground in the Lord, it is well that we reach out
and pull others up with us, as God grants us the opportunity.
Who would want to live in Heaven forever when God has determined to fill the
whole earth with the Glory of His Presence?
You can remain in Heaven if you wish, but I want to be here on the earth
when the Lord Jesus is ruling from the city of Jerusalem.
Our inheritance is people. I will trade my mansion and diamonds for your
people.
We come to maturity in Christ as little by little our sinful nature is
destroyed and replaced with Christ. If God were suddenly to remove our
sinful nature instead of slowly removing it and replacing it with Christ, we
would become as a little child.
For some of us it takes a long time before we are able to slow down our
frantic pursuit of one thing or another and just be content to listen to
Jesus and do what He says.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the source of all health and life.
The wicked have no sense of humor. God has a sense of humor. So do the
righteous.
I would not be surprised if it is true that numerous people who attend
Christian churches were never brought to Jesus by the Father. They are
children of the churches but not children of God.
It appears that churches can gain members by minimizing the demands of
Christ. What will be the end of such members; and what will be the end of
those preachers who did not present clearly the actual demands of Christ
concerning discipleship?
When any part of our thoughts, words, of actions, are not pure, we are
defacing the image of God.
We are to be where Christ is at all times and in all places. Christ is in
the center of God’s Person and will. He dwells there in untroubled rest.
This is where we always are to be. “Grant it, O Lord!”
If we are to avoid being deceived, we must not rely entirely on our rational
thought or on our inner sense of God’s will. If we rely too much on rational
thought, we may miss God’s will for us. If we rely too much on our inner
sense of God’s will, we may be led astray. Both areas of guidance must be
respected while continual prayer is made for God’s wisdom as we make
decisions.
Allowing one’s self to become angry can lead to a departure from God’s will.
Iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father are
essential components of a godly character. A weakness in any of these areas
can cause a loss of inheritance for those who are seeking the crown of life.
It requires a great deal of bitterly contested experience before we are able
to be led by the Spirit of God in every aspect of life.
There is the victorious saint, and then there is the defeated believer who
is not living in victory in Christ. The glorious promises found in the New
Testament are reserved for the victorious Christian. The destiny of the
defeated believer is not clear, except that he or she will not receive the
rewards designated for the conqueror.
Some are teaching that believing in Jesus is all that is necessary if we are
to be counted as an overcomer. This is not scriptural. The truth is, an
intense, continual belief in Christ causes us to press forward until we have
overcome every enemy that would prevent our doing what Christ has commanded.
One of the greatest declarations we ever will make in all of eternity is: “I
have finished the work You gave me to do.”
It was not the Lord Jesus’ idea to come to the earth. The Father sent Him.
So it must be true of you and me that we do not follow our inclinations but
do what Christ commands.
The best protection against Satan is to be totally filled with the Father,
the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
If we consent to be wholly filled with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we
provide a place through which God can communicate with all the creatures He
has created.
There may be a multitude of believing Christians who desire to live their
own life and then go to Heaven to live in a mansion. As for me, I prefer to
be the dwelling place of God and Christ.
The Lord Jesus prayed that we might be one with Him and the Father, and with
one another, as He and the Father are one. There is no greater inheritance,
no more glorious destiny, than to be one with the almighty God and with
others who also are one with God.
We can see the Person of the Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is
God’s will that people see the Person of Christ, and consequently of God, in
us.
When a Christian refuses to die in the Lord, to permit God and Christ to
make him their eternal dwelling place, then that individual loses an
inheritance of incalculable worth. God and Christ also are the losers, as
are all of God’s creatures.
If we were caught up to Heaven to live forever, and our personalities
remained unchanged, it would not be pleasant, would it? The Lord said that
at the end of the age the messengers of God would remove all that offends
from His Kingdom. Perhaps that program has begun, and some are going in to
the marriage, so to speak.
We always are saved by works, that is, the works of obedience. When we first
come to Christ, the works are to turn away from the Law of Moses, to put our
faith in Christ, to turn from the spirit of the world, and to be baptized.
Then we must obey Christ every day of our life if we are to be saved.
There is no faith that saves that does not consist of moment by moment
obedience to Christ.
Identifying with Christ does not save us or give us victory over the world
and sin. It is continual interaction with Jesus Christ that saves us from
the world and sin.
When the Bible says Christ is our righteousness, it does not mean that if we
believe the facts about Christ we are righteous. This is the horrendous
error of current thinking. It means rather that we are righteous apart from
the Law of Moses and are being transformed in behavior as Christ, who is the
Righteousness of God, is formed in us.
The Apostle John wrote that if we keep on sinning we do not know Christ. How
is it, then, that we preach today that a Christian may keep on sinning and
yet be considered to be righteous if he “believes” in Christ?
Christ said that the work of God is to believe in Him whom God has sent.
Christ assuredly did not mean that our acceptance of theological facts is a
substitute for godly behavior.
The most reliable proof we are being saved is that our behavior is changing.
The man who says I am saved only by believing in Christ and is continuing in
known sin is deceived.
It is one matter to talk about how wonderful Christ is and what He has done;
and another matter to do what He has commanded. It is the latter that saves
us and keeps on saving us.
How can we say once we are saved we cannot be lost no matter what we do,
when the Bible commands us to work out our salvation with fear and
trembling?
Without delay, tell the Lord Jesus to do anything to you that is necessary
to keep you from sinning. Until you can pray this prayer with a glad,
confident heart, you are not truly sincere with God.
America is the head of the nations, not because of democracy but because of
the God-fearing strength of the early Christian settlers. But America soon
is to become the tail because of moral decay.
We must learn from Joshua and the Gibeonites never to take anything, good or
bad, for granted.
His name is Jesus because He will save His people from their sins. We have
interpreted that to mean Jesus will save them from the guilt of their sins.
But it seems to me that saving them from their sins would be like saving
them from a wild animal. You would be saved from being eaten by the animal,
not just forgiven.
“He will save His people from their sins.” “The Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world.” Do “save from” and “take away” mean only forgive? If
the Lamb takes away the sin of the world, does that mean He keeps on
forgiving us while we continue in murder, rape, lying, stealing,
unforgiveness, and envy? If this is what these two expressions mean, we have
a pretty weak redemption!
Adultery and murder are sins. What does it mean to be saved from adultery
and murder? Does it mean that if we continue to commit murder and adultery
God will keep forgiving us? Does the term “save” mean forgive or does it
mean forgive and deliver? If it means forgive and deliver, then God’s people
of today have not been saved. There is no Kingdom of God where there is
drunkenness, lying, stealing, murder, and adultery.
The Presence of the Lord is so close to us today that Christian workers may
spiritualize the nature of the Lord’s coming as though it is happening now
as we make good choices. However, the return of Christ with His victorious
saints will install with violence the Kingdom of God upon the earth.
The thought of being caught up to Paradise to avoid Antichrist and the great
tribulation, there to frolic about doing what we do not as yet know, is a
happy thought. But even more wonderful is the truth—that the tribulations we
are experiencing now, and shall experience in the future, are preparing us
to rule with Christ over the nations of the earth.
For two thousand years, it appears, Christian people for the most part have
regarded the salvation of Christ as primarily forgiveness of the guilt of
sin. The truth is, forgiveness is included in the Divine salvation; but the
central feature of the new covenant is the breaking of the chains of sin and
the formation of a new creation that behaves righteously.
When the Lord said, referring to slavery to sin, if the Son sets us free we
shall be free indeed, did He mean free from the guilt of sin, or free from
slavery to sin, or both? If Christ meant free from slavery to sin, as well
as free from the guilt of sin, then we are preaching only half a gospel
today.
Faith clings to the truth that God is good; that He knows the details of our
life; that He is bringing us to perfect joy; that He has the power to do
this; that He never abandons us to the enemy.
The present life is short at best—a few years, and then it is over. The
individual who does not prepare himself for the eternal world of
righteousness that is just over the horizon is foolish indeed.
The settlers of a new land must fight many battles, overcome many hurdles.
But they and their heirs have a rich inheritance indeed.
Those who were distressed, in debt, or discontented went out to David while
he was in the wilderness. When David returned from the wilderness he was
made king of Judah, and finally of all Israel. Those who had suffered with
him during his ordeal were in a very favorable position when David came into
his God-ordained destiny.
Today the Lord Jesus Christ, the rightful King of the universe, has needs.
Blessed are those who prepare His way in the present hour, for they will
govern with Him in authority and majesty that cannot be pictured in the
present hour.
We are pioneers now, hewing out homes in the Kingdom, felling great trees,
gathering out stones, creating a highway of holiness. Multitudes shall come
after us, and our reward in the Kingdom, when the King receives His
inheritance from the Father, will indeed be unimaginably great.
The Apostles left all to follow the carpenter’s Son, because they believed
in Him. Now their names are inscribed for eternity in the foundations of the
wall of the new Jerusalem. Their names will be new and fresh a billion years
from now. They shall shine as stars, serving as lights that will guide God’s
creatures of the future.
In all of eternity there never again may be the opportunity to establish our
position in the eternal Kingdom of God—and more importantly, to show our
love for God. Let us have the wisdom to live our life as servants of the
greatest of all Kings. God has given all power in Heaven and upon the earth
to the Lord Jesus Christ.
If only we had had the wisdom to buy real property in California fifty years
ago, we would be wealthy today. If only we have the wisdom to buy property
in the Kingdom of God today, we will be wealthy for eternity. But we have to
have faith if we are to grasp that which in the present hour is invisible to
us.
We do not realize how closely we are being watched by those who have died
and entered the spirit world. The two worlds actually are one. Those in the
spirit world are learning eternal lessons from our actions and their
consequences upon the earth. For nothing is hidden that shall not be
revealed.
If we not going to serve Christ with all our heart, we are wise when we make
friends with unsaved people so that when we die they will receive us into
the eternal homes.
The eternal spirit world cannot be seen by us in the present hour. But it
surrounds us at all times, and we are known to its inhabitants. Let us act,
therefore, with the awareness that we who are in the great amphitheater are
being watched carefully by both the wicked and the righteous.
We give the wicked in the spirit world opportunity to rejoice when we rebel
against God’s will. We give the righteous citizens of the spirit world
opportunity to rejoice when we choose to obey God and behave righteously.
This especially is true when we have to sacrifice our comfort and desires in
order to do so.
We must never boast of our place in the Kingdom, or of our salvation, or of
the fact that we behave more righteously than other people. Our desire to do
God’s will is a gift given to us by our Creator. There are others whose
hearts He hardens. The truth is not made known to them.
From our perception there is little that is fair about the fact that God has
opened our eyes so we might receive Christ and do His will, while others
remain in spiritual darkness and rebellion. God is the Potter and we are the
clay. He does with us as He will. No one can withstand His purposes. This
indeed is a great mystery.
Holiness proceeds from God’s Person in concentric circles, as it were. There
are people who are chosen to be very close to God and Christ. They enter
their inheritance through much tribulation. Do not envy them. Be content
with your place in life and in the Kingdom of God, and you will find favor
with the most High. “Godliness with contentment is great gain.”
May God in His great love for us give us the wisdom to see that the lust for
power or riches is foolish. The valuable treasures are love, joy, and peace.
God gives these heavenly gifts to those who of whom He approves.
A man can receive nothing unless it is given to him from Heaven. Let us
consider this and be humble, thankful, and content with our role in life.
To the members of the Body of Christ have been given all things in Heaven
and upon the earth. The great works of art, music, architecture, and so
forth that God has given to sinners to perform shall be inherited by the
righteous. God is making all things new in Christ.
If in the present hour our personality is not being formed in the image of
God, we are not becoming man. In this instance we will not be in God’s
likeness in the Day of Resurrection.
To be saved means infinitely more than being spared from destruction in the
Day of Wrath. Salvation includes our being made in the image of God now, and
in the outer likeness of God in the Day of Resurrection. Included also in
our salvation is the fullness of the inheritance God has assigned to man
from the beginning.
God has to remove everything from us in order that He may give it back to us
in an eternal form in Christ.
We have to be given everything twice. First, as an unappreciated gift. Then,
as a treasure we have lost and must regain through much hardship and pain.
It is the story of the prodigal son, of Samson, of the Christian Church, of
mankind, of each of us.
It often is true that political leaders use for their own ends those whom
they govern. They do not bring the people to love, joy, or peace but to
bondage and destruction.
The flesh profits nothing. Love, joy, peace, and life are found only in that
which is of the Spirit and of truth.
It seems to me that most religions have some good ideas. The difference
between other religions and the Divine salvation is that the true disciple
of Christ experiences not only words but also the presence of God in Jesus
Christ. He and those around him can feel this Presence. The Kingdom of God
is not in word but in power.
I don’t think God favors one religion over another. What God esteems is a
close, personal interaction with an individual through Christ.
I have read in books of Christian history that a good deal of the time over
the last two thousand years, one set of Christian believers was fighting
against another set of Christian believers. This suggests to me that being a
religious Christian is one matter; while knowing the Lord Jesus is another
matter. Perhaps the two experiences are hardly related. Jesus commanded us
to love one another.
Paul said that his goal was to know Christ. Even toward the end of his life
he was seeking to know Christ. Are you and I seeking to know Christ with
that same intensity and singleness of purpose?
Paul listed his supreme goal as being that of attaining to the
out-resurrection (eksanastisin). Why is it that the Christian preachers of
today speak of goals other than that of attaining to the out-resurrection?
The out-resurrection (eksanastisin) of which Paul spoke in the third chapter
of the Book of Philippians is termed, in the nineteenth chapter of the Book
of Revelation, the first resurrection. The first resurrection will take
place when Christ appears. Participation is limited to those who through
Christ have overcome the world.
Paul groaned for the redemption of his body, that is, that it might be made
immortal by being clothed upon with a spiritual body from Heaven. Why do we
Christians not experience the same groaning?
It appears to me that Paul did not seek a redeemed body so he would be
happier, but so he could experience release from the sinful nature and be
able to behave righteously.
We have made going to Heaven our goal because of the pain and dread we
experience in the world. Such a goal is understandable. But it is not the
goal expressed by the Apostle Paul. As a result we do not understand his
writings.
Salvation includes the total removal the sinful nature from us and rest in
the center of the Person and will of God.
Since our life throughout eternity is so much more certain than our present
life, and will last so much longer, the individual who does not prepare
himself or herself for the endless eons of eternity, the life which begins
at physical death, is the most careless and foolish of all human beings.
We are not seeking the righteousness that comes from seeking the Law of
Moses but the righteousness that results from pressing into the Person of
Jesus Christ each moment of each day and night.
Romans, Chapter Eight, Verse four, tells us that to receive the
righteousness of the Law of Moses, we must live in obedience to the Holy
Spirit. Why is this fact not emphasized in today’s preaching?
The preacher who emphasizes grace, Heaven, and the pre-tribulation “rapture”
may gain a large following. But his followers will remain spiritually dead.
Life and salvation come from hearing the Word of God as the man or woman of
God expounds the Scriptures.
We are not called to “save” people but to disciple them—to teach them to
obey the commands of Jesus Christ and His Apostles.
Christ’s task is to build His Church. Our task is to hold forth the Word of
Life.
The Great Commission is to go into all the world and make disciples from the
nations. Why, then, do we go forth to gain proselytes and build churches to
house them? Making disciples and “saving souls” may be somewhat different
efforts.
If we love Christ we will feed His sheep.
If we love Christ we will keep His commandments.
It appears that much Christian preaching tells us how great Christ is and
the wonderful things about His Person and deeds. But you don’t hear too much
about our obeying His commandments and those of His Apostles.
It is one matter to call Jesus “Lord, Lord” and speak of His greatness. It
is another matter to do what He commanded in Person and through His
Apostles.
Where did the doctrine originate that claims from the time Christ died and
rose again we now are saved by grace and no longer are required to obey His
commandments and those of His Apostles?
The kind of body we will receive in the Day of Resurrection depends upon how
we are behaving today. Our heavenly body is being fashioned as we follow the
Lord Jesus and obey Him moment by moment.
It is necessary that we worship God in spirit and in truth. If we worship
Him in spirit but not in truth, we will live in error. If we worship Him in
truth and not in spirit, we will be living in dead religion.
The man who permits his activities or possessions to become more important
than God or his family is not wise. One day bitter remorse will pierce his
soul.
To love something or someone more than one loves God is to be an idolater.
This is the most destructive bondage of all.
If God forgave us and then did not change us, nothing of lasting value would
have occurred, would it?
Those who esteem growth in the number of those who attend their programs,
rather than their growth in the personal knowledge of Christ, do not know
the Lord. Sometimes Christ gathers. Sometimes Christ scatters. Those who are
following Christ are not moved by either situation.
Both the Old Testament and the New Testament speak of the coming of the
Kingdom of God from Heaven, which, with tremendous force, will establish
righteousness on the earth. The parables of the Lord Jesus often set forth
the kingdom that is being formed in us rather than the coming Kingdom. The
announcement of the inner kingdom is in parables because it is a mystery.
When one considers the wickedness of the world spirit, the unrighteous
thinking, speaking, acting that take place, the perversity of it all, one
can become irritated. This is not a righteous response. The earth is the
Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and those who dwell in it.” We
always must give glory to God for His unfathomable love and wisdom.
No matter how dark the world appears, the truth is, all things are working
together to bring God’s elect into the fullness of the image of Christ—that
He might be the firstborn among many brothers.
The worst thing that could ever be true would be that God did not have
integrity. The second worst thing that could ever be true, especially for
the righteous, would be that there was no life after death.
The body ages, decays, finally ceases to support our spiritual nature. Have
we truly died with our physical death? No, consciousness continues in
another world.
Though we possessed all the world, and did not possess God, we would have
nothing at all of true worth. And since Christ is the only way to God, if we
do not possess Christ, nothing else is worth anything. I do not want
anything in my life that is not shared with Christ.
I asked the Lord this morning if it is possible that one of His elect could
be thrown into the Lake of Fire. The question arose in my mind, because
twice in thirty years the Lord spoke to me that He was disappointed in a
certain Christian believer. In the first instance, the person had just died.
The second instance occurred recently.
I could not understand this, because God knows everything and has all power.
Yet I felt I truly had heard from the Lord. Apparently live bullets are
being used during our struggle with sin. The sense of inevitability that
often pervades Christian thinking ignores the reality of the eternal
significance of our decisions.
The consideration of the fact that God could be disappointed in one of His
elect gave rise to the following dialogue.
God answered my question as follows: “The Lake of Fire has authority over
eight types of behavior. This is the Word of the Father and it never shall
be nullified.”
I said, “Don’t You have the power to change the heart of one of Your elect
so he or she would consent to be delivered from the forbidden behaviors?”
God answered: “I do not force anyone against his will. His response
determines his salvation. He has to make his calling and election sure by
doing what has been commanded by Christ and His Apostles.”
I have learned in life that God does not have pets, favorites. God chooses
people, but He deals with them severely as well as lovingly. We may think we
are especially favored; but if we do not do what has been commanded, we will
suffer great loss of inheritance.
There is a spirit of inevitability that pervades Christian thinking. We feel
that all will come out fine for us. But it may not! Every useless word that
a person, believer or not, shall speak, he shall account for in the Day of
Judgment. This sense of inevitability may arise from an unscriptural
application of the grace of forgiveness.
It seems to happen a great deal with people that during the closing moments
of their life they endure painful episodes of one sort or another. I believe
it is to prepare them for their new life in the spirit world.
We Christians often divide the world into two groups: those who are members
of our religious faith and those who are not. God also divides the world
into two groups: the wheat and the tares; the sheep and the goats; the
righteous and the wicked; not those who are Christians and those who are
not.
There may come a day when you lose everything you ever have possessed,
including your health. But if you have Christ you are fabulously wealthy.
No one ever will lay a hand on the land or people of Israel without Christ’s
express permission. The elect Jews still are the apple of His eye, along
with the elect Gentiles.
You and I know nothing at all. We are wise when we acknowledge this and lean
completely on the Lord Jesus for every decision and choice we make.
If our eyes were opened we would see that each one of us is on a stage for
all the creation to observe, and from us to learn God’s lessons.
The university professors who teach young minds the hypothesis of evolution
cannot comprehend what is in front of their face. God has removed wisdom
from them. The blind lead the blind. The individual who claims there is no
God lacks common sense.
Many are called but few are chosen. Called to what? Called to the marriage
of the Lamb. Chosen for what? Chosen to actually become the wife of the
Lamb, the body of the Anointed One.
There is a Jewish elect and there is a Gentile elect. But the Wife of the
Lamb always will have a Jewish nature. The Wife of the Lamb is destined for
eternity to be a new Jerusalem. This is the Kingdom of God.
There is a firstfruits to God and the Lamb, a first reaping from the earth.
They follow the Lamb wherever He goes. They stand with Him on Mount Zion.
They have His name and His Father’s name written on their forehead.
We can have the mark of the world spirit on our forehead, or the name of the
Lamb and His Father written on our forehead. The mark, or name, declares
whose will we have chosen to do.
Blessed indeed are those who have been beheaded for Christ. This means they
no longer are directed according to their own mind but have chosen to have
the mind of Christ.
There are few who attain to eternal life, as the Lord said: “Narrow is the
gate and compressed and difficult is the way that leads to eternal life. Few
find it.”
There are numerous people who are members of the Christian religion. But
there are not many who choose to lay hold on eternal life; to grow each day
in the Spirit of God.
To attain to the resurrection which is out from the dead we must do as Paul:
we must count everything as rubbish that we may gain Christ.
There is a wealth of eternal life that can be gained while we are living in
this present world. But it is as hidden manna, given only to those who care
enough to lay aside everything else in order to gain it.
It is generally accepted that at some point God will change us from what we
are. Otherwise our life in the new world would be as miserable as it is here
on earth on the present hour. Also we would not be a suitable wife for the
Lamb, with all our imperfections of personality. What is not clear is how,
when, and where such complete healing will take place, or how long it will
take to accomplish.
Salvation often is preached as a ticket which, when possessed, grants
admittance to Heaven when one dies. This concept is not Scriptural.
Salvation is a process of changing a personality corrupted by sin into a
spiritually pure and beautiful member of God’s Kingdom. Such salvation with
fear and trembling—fear that in our sinful, rebellious state we will turn
aside from the path that leads to eternal life.
All that can be of eternal worth, that we have denied ourselves for the
Lord’s sake, will be given to us one day in a pure and perfect form. He will
add no sorrow with it.
The believer who is not willing to deny himself what he desires intensely,
as the Lord directs, will never inherit the treasures of the Kingdom of God
that could have been his.
Sometimes God does not move on our behalf until we have done the very best
of which we are able.
To be saved we must: receive forgiveness by faith in the blood atonement;
accept the rulership of Christ over our life; be baptized in water, dying to
the world spirit and coming alive in the Kingdom of God; and then follow the
Holy Spirit carefully each day as He give us victory over sin and forms
Christ in us.
Where there is no demonstrable change into godly behavior, the Divine
salvation is not operating.
Worship is delicious to the soul. Dancing, pageantry, mime, tambourines,
sensual choruses, and other forms of worship, if not accompanied by the
two-edged sword of the word of righteousness, will lead into immorality and
other departures from cross-carrying obedience to God.
When the high praises of God and the two-edged sword of the Spirit are in
balance in our life, we then are able to carry out the Divine judgment
against the peoples of the world.
I notice as I grow older that I have a tendency to forgive and let things
go. But God never does this until an atonement has been made and sin has
been confessed and turned away from resolutely. God does not just overlook
sin. God wants us to forgive freely, because vengeance belongs to Him.
Since God wishes to give us the keys of the Kingdom, the authority to close
off or open the Kingdom of God to people, we must learn to never act
according our own sentiments toward individuals, either for good or evil. We
must judge only as we hear from the Lord Jesus.
We may not realize it but the ability to confess and turn away from sin is a
gift from God to us when we are living in obedience to Him. God will never
grant that gift to Satan. Satan never shall be forgiven.
God is the Potter and we are the clay. The full implications of this fact
scarcely are comprehensible to us in the present hour.
God remembers every wicked act that ever has taken place, until God has
permitted that sin to be acknowledged and turned away from. God remembers
every righteous act and every wicked act that ever has taken place
The reason God will not remember the wickedness of the wicked man who turns
from his wickedness, or the righteousness of the righteous man who turns
from his righteousness, is that God is the God of now.
God is not asking of us that we be ambitious or fanatically zealous, only
that we be diligent in performing His will. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. Contentment does not come from relationships or circumstances;
only from God above to those who are obedient to Him.
Until the Holy Spirit wields His sword, which is the Word of God, we cannot
distinguish between what is of the soul and what is of the Spirit. The sword
of the Spirit penetrates the very deepest parts of the human personality.
Peter said to the large gathering in the house of Cornelius, "I now realize
how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every
nation who fear Him and do what is right." Why then do we teach that God
does not accept people who do not know Christ but who fear God and "do what
is right." Have we misunderstood Paul?
Love is not so much we feel but how we behave.
Lust has to do with how we feel. Love has to do with how the other person
feels.
The world, not understanding the difference, refers to glandular excitement
as love.
Adamic love is faulty, temporary, and self-centered. God’s love is perfect,
eternal, and others-centered.
The factor that distinguishes man from animals is man’s ability to recognize
and serve God. The most primitive of people respond to spirits and often
worship them. This does not appear to be true of any animal.
The hope of the individual who rejects God is that he will find peace or
nothingness when he dies. The truth is, there are prisons and fires in the
spirit world just as there are on the earth.
It appears our nation is losing its sense of moral values. Numerous
businesses pad their bills. The Christians churches are of little help
because they believe Divine grace is God’s substitute for their lack of
integrity. Their light is not shining.
What does it mean to be saved? It means to be brought from the image and
will of Satan the image and will of God. Why must we be saved? So we can
have fellowship with God, and so we can inherit with Christ the nations and
the farthest reaches of the earth.
The sword of the Spirit has two edges. It cuts the person preaching the
Word, and also those who are hearing the Word.
The error of many religions is to make a belief system more important than
godly behavior.
Witnessing for Christ may include telling others the Gospel story. But the
witness consists mainly in living a godly life so people can learn about God
through our behavior.
The gathering together of believers is scriptural and important. The purpose
of the gathering is to build us up in Christ so we portray the Person of God
in our behavior.
The most important behavior in all the world is that of doing God’s will.
Apart from doing God’s will there is no salvation, no Kingdom of God.
God has implanted in us the reproductive urge, and expressed in a godly
manner it is holy. But the reproductive urge is a fraud. It conceals itself
in romantic, poetic thoughts and emotions, or descends into bestial,
perverted expression. It is not genuine, lasting love.
The problems that a Christian encounters are for the purpose of bringing him
ever closer to the Lord so that at all times he may be with the Lord where
the Lord is.
We are never to attempt to use faith to get what we want. Faith is given to
us by the Lord so we can obey Him.
The firstfruits to God and to the Lamb are not defiled by “women.” This
means they have wrestled with Christ until every bit of defilement of their
personality has been removed, and they are plunging ahead in the Lord to
keep free from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
There is a firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Let every believer to whom
this thought is attractive get ready to persevere with Christ until he is
without spot or wrinkle. No lie is to be found in his mouth.
Those who are teaching that we become spotless merely by making a statement
of belief in Jesus Christ know nothing about the operation of the work of
redemption, about deliverance from the chains of Satan.
There is no greater goal for man than that of being in God’s image. This
goal is realized only after a protracted, bitter pilgrimage through the
wilderness of pain, confusion, and frustration.
There are many who talk the talk of victory in Christ, but few who struggle
upward day after day, night after night of boredom and difficulties.
Do you have hope of ruling with Jesus Christ, then be prepared to endure the
rigorous training that all the heirs apparent are called upon to experience.
If we have been called to the Throne, God will permit Satan to probe for
every possible spiritual weakness in our personality.
Do not be surprised when fiery, painful testings come upon you, and God
seems far away. Your ordeal signifies that God is preparing you for
fellowship with Him. This is true unless you are being punished for
disobedience, or are reaping the consequences of sinful behavior.
Stand upright and walk joyfully before your King. Fear and dread are
evidences of a lack of faith and confidence in God. Ask Christ and He will
give you of His courage.
It is not pleasing to Jesus Christ when we live in fear and dread. We must
learn to overcome fear and dread in His name, at all times and in every
circumstance.
We are preaching the message of salvation incorrectly. We are stating that
if we believe in Christ we are saved regardless of our behavior. The Apostle
Paul declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in
repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus. Turning to God in repentance
means we change our behavior!
There is no sin in observing Christmas, Easter, or the Passover, or being
circumcised, or looking for Noah’s Ark or the Ark of the Covenant. The
problem occurs when such activities interfere with our following Christ and
interacting with Him.
According to the Book of Acts we are supposed to be baptized in water,
washing away our sins. Then we are to refrain from sinning and seek Christ
every day. The modern concept that we are to believe only and then live as
please is totally unscriptural and destructive of God’s intention under the
new covenant.
The only truly free person, the person who can enjoy the new heaven and
earth reign of Christ, is the one whose inner and outer nature, whose whole
personality, seeks to do the things that are pleasing to God.
Our fixed goal in life must be to overcome, through Christ’s grace, every
enemy that would prevent us from resting with God as He brings His vision
into existence in the physical realm.
We must cease from our own works and enter God’s completed work, resting
with Him as the authority and power of His Word bring all persons, things,
and events into total conformity to His will.
The world waits in vain to see the good works of Christians—works that would
portray God to them. The Christians have been taught that good works are not
a necessary part of the Gospel, and so they don’t do them.
Peter spoke of distorting the words of Paul to our own destruction. This
precisely is what has happened to Christians in America. We have turned the
grace of God into an excuse for immorality. How long will it be before the
Christian churches become aware that they have been deceived?
The False Prophet who will assist Antichrist consists of Christians working
miracles in Jesus’ name, but who never have learned to follow Jesus Christ
in cross-carrying obedience.
We may be expecting sin and self-seeking to be removed from us suddenly by
death or some action of God, apart from any effort on our part. But if this
were to happen, we would be without the conquering character that God wants
in every one of His sons.
We must serve the Lord with total consecration, diligence, and integrity.
Nothing else is acceptable.
To pursue the way of self-denial, of cross-carrying obedience to the Lord
Jesus Christ, may include years of boring, sometimes painful or frustrating
circumstances. However, it is the only path that leads home
It is amazing that the Gospel of the Kingdom, which is intended to make
better people who will reveal God’s personality in their conduct, has become
a means of gaining eternal life in Heaven with the least possible effort and
little change of behavior.
If we are faithful unto death we shall one day exchange our cross for a
crown.
The written Word of God is as a great mountain of iron. Throughout eternity
the smallest part cannot be altered.
It would be correct to say we are being redeemed; we are working out our
salvation. It is not accurate to say we were saved at some previous time,
because salvation, or redemption, is a process that leads to God’s image.
As the Lord Jesus prayed, the object is not to take us out of the world but
to protect us from the evil one.
Sometimes American Christians want their children to be successful in the
world, to be highly thought of, to pursue an important vocation. But this is
a false goal. It will not lead the child to the love, joy, and peace that
are found only in a close relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The spiritual fulfillment of the Day of Atonement shall continue until there
is no sin left in the Kingdom of God. All sin shall be confined in the Lake
of Fire.
Perhaps many doctors and surgeons do not realize they are seeking to heal
the temple of God. God will help them and give them wisdom if they will ask
Him to in the name of the Lord Jesus.
No one can come to the Father except through the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ. But all people are invited to come to the Father through Christ.
If we want God to answer our prayers we must do His will at all times.
Sometimes we may find it difficult or unpleasant to do God’s will. But God
always makes it possible for us to do His will if we ask for help in Jesus’
name. The end of doing God’s will is sweet indeed!
Life on earth is not easy for the saint or the sinner. However, life on
earth is manageable if we keep looking to Jesus for wisdom and strength.
There were three crosses on the hill. God was crucified. The saved man was
crucified. The sinner was crucified. All are crucified. But God and the
saved man are were raised and brought into Paradise.
When we become a Christian our troubles do not cease. Rather they become
pressures that, if responded to in prayer and obedience, press us ever
closer into Jesus Christ.
I have been young and now am old. I have experienced for myself the truth
that the Bible is God’s Word, and that Jesus Christ rose from the dead and
is alive today.
There is a mistaken idea arising from the overemphasis on Divine grace that
Heaven will be filled with people whose sins have been forgiven but not
removed from them. If this misunderstanding were accurate, The Kingdom of
God would be no different from the present world.
Always set joy before you, in your thinking and in your prayers. If you do
not, you may not be able to continue carrying your cross.
The Lord Jesus works with people on a “need to know” basis. He reveals to
each individual only that which the person needs to know in order to fulfill
God’s purpose in his or her life.
The end of all the working of God in us is that we may be in His image and
perform our assigned role in His Kingdom.
Satan has been condemned to eat dust. Therefore, as the restraints of
righteousness are removed from the peoples of the earth we can expect a rise
in cannibalism, as the demons crave the flesh, the dust of the earth.
Because of the preaching of grace-rapture-Heaven, in place of the Word of
God, the restraints of righteousness are being removed from mankind. The end
will be the outpouring of the seven bowls of the wrath of God upon the
undisciplined flesh of man.
It appears that sin and self-seeking could not become worse than they are in
the world of today. But sin and self-seeking will become increasingly foul
until the world is as Hell itself.
Blessed are those who die in the Lord from the present hour. They alone
shall be able to stand before Christ during the age of moral and physical
horrors that is on the horizon.
We are not to fret ourselves as evil increases. God has made the wicked for
the day of disaster. The righteous shall shine as the stars forever
To fret about the worsening wickedness in the world is to complain against
God. God is in control of all matters. He is bringing forth from the dung a
bride for the Lamb without spot or wrinkle.
Evil men and seducers shall grow increasingly wicked, deceiving and being
deceived, as Paul said. But God shall remove all guile from those He loves.
To attain to the resurrection from the dead, which is the goal of the
Apostle Paul, we must permit Christ to remove every aspect of our adamic
nature and replace it with Himself.
It will be wonderful to die and enter the spirit world, to be at home with
Jesus. It will be even more wonderful to be raised from the dead and to be
at home with Jesus when He enters and remains in the physical world.
Homosexual behavior is wickedness. Though it fills the whole world, it is
wickedness. God shall destroy the flesh of those who yield to the lusts of
Satan and his demons.
The wicked flourish for a season, but they shall come to an agonizing end.
The righteous shall inherit all the good things God has prepared for those
who love Him.
The wicked boast of the great things they are going to do. The righteous
shall trample upon them in the morning.
A soon as the obedience of the righteous has been made perfect, God will
avenge Himself of all injustice.
He who wins souls to the way of righteousness shall have a great harvest of
rejoicing in the Day of the Lord Indeed, he shall shine as a star, guiding
people in the right way for eternity.
In the early chapters of the Book of Romans, the Apostle Paul appears to be
saying that if we have faith in Christ we are not obligated to live
righteously. Paul actually is teaching that if we have faith in Christ we
are not obligated to keep the Law of Moses.
Where there is no revelation of God’s will there is no guilt of sin.
Nevertheless, all sin has consequences. The unlearned individual might not
realize smoking cigarettes defiles the temple of God. Nevertheless he may
die from lung cancer.
The third chapter of the Book of First John was written to combat the
doctrine—so prevalent today—that Divine grace is a substitute for obeying
the commandments of our Lord and of His Apostles.
The Book of First John informs us that through faith in Christ we can
overcome the sins that abound in the world.
The sixth chapter of the Book of Romans tells us that Christians have a
choice to make. They can choose righteous, holy behavior and gain eternal
life. Or they can choose to behave sinfully, and thus die spiritually.
No Christian can continue to walk according to his sinful nature and inherit
the Kingdom of God. This is because there is no sinful behavior in the
Kingdom of God.
The Christian who neglects to lay hold of Christ each day, who neglect his
or her salvation, will not escape the judgment of God. This is what the Book
of Hebrews teaches us.
The believer who ceases to press forward in Christ will not inherit Christ.
I have been told that Wesleyan preaching was the same as mine—that character
transformation and salvation are synonymous. It may be true that in our day
this understanding will become critical in Christian thinking; or it may be
true that only a warlike remnant will escape being part of Laodicea,
Babylon, and the False Prophet.
Computers have to be guarded constantly against viruses. So it is true that
we Christians have to be guarded constantly against the deceptions that
attack us day and night.
It is proper to make Heaven your goal, as long as you make Heaven and God
synonymous. Our heart’s cry is not to go to Heaven as a place, but to be in
the center of the Person, will, and righteousness of Christ, and of the
Father through Him.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. This is our final
attainment to God and eternal righteousness—the redemption of our body.
The Apostle Paul said we have been sealed to the Day of Redemption. We will
be saved, redeemed, if we endure to the end. It is up to us to lay hold on
Christ so we may inherit Him.
I think if Christian people understood they are not actually “saved” until
the they complete the course, their attitude would be one of working out
their salvation with fear and trembling.
By leaving people with the impression that making a profession of belief in
Christ is a ticket that admits them to everlasting bliss, we have not made
them aware that salvation is a process that requires continual interaction
with the Lord Jesus Christ every moment of our life.
We are preaching “another gospel” today, one that does away with the need to
be changed into the image of Christ.
In the last days, most professing Christians will be seduced into
participation in Babylon, or in the Laodicean church, or in the False
Prophet. Only a godly remnant will be ready to stand before the Lord Jesus
Christ when He returns.
Only God knows what will bring us to love, joy, and peace. We know nothing
at all. We are wise when we look to Christ for every detail of life.
Redemption has to do with possession; salvation, with preservation. We are
redeemed from the possession of Satan, which results in preservation in the
Presence of the Lord.
There is a righteousness that is ascribed to us when we choose to believe
that an “impossible promise” God has made to us shall be fulfilled
gloriously. This is related to, but perhaps a bit different from, our
customary understanding of imputed righteousness.
The wicked seek continually to make other people wicked like themselves.
Misery loves company.
Putting a wicked person among righteous people will not make the wicked
person righteous. But putting a righteous person among wicked people may
make the righteous person wicked.
In order for us to be in God’s image, the wickedness that is in us must be
judged and removed.
To not commit everything to God, leaving everything and everyone in God’s
hands, is to be in rebellion against God.
It is God’s plan to remove all sin from the creation, beginning with the
members of His churches.
In His Word God has promised us complete victory over every sinful behavior.
We have been taught for so many years that we must sin while we are in the
world, in our present body, that we have to summon faith to believe God’s
promise.
What you practice you will present on the stage in the Day of the Lord.
There is nothing hidden that shall not be disclosed.
You may stumble during your discipleship, but there is no need to fall. The
stumbling may make you wiser and more capable of resisting temptation and
deception. Confess your sin to God, make restitution if God directs you to,
and carry on.
Imputed righteousness is a necessary first step in the program of
redemption. But when there is no actual change in behavior in the
individual, after a period of time, there is no Kingdom of God.
Today Divine grace is perceived as a mystique. It is as though God cannot
see what we actually are, what we actually do. In truth, it is an illusion.
It is not Divine righteousness at all.
To be saved by grace does not mean we are forgiven and then carried to
Heaven. To be saved by grace means the power of God through Jesus Christ has
made us a new creation that shows in itself the Person and behavior of God.
It is necessary that the compulsions of sin be broken both in this world and
the next. Otherwise the Bride could not come to perfection. However, the
conquering personality is formed in the fires of earth’s trials.
If we are pure of heart, if we are like a child in heart, we shall see the
Father.
We must pray that we be like our Father in our thoughts, in our words, and
in our actions. We must pray in Jesus’ name that we be fully in the image of
God in all that we are and do.
Who wouldn’t want to be removed from this world? But godly character is not
formed in Paradise, and godly character is God’s goal for us.
American Christians in the main are altogether too frivolous, too
self-assured. Because of an overemphasis on mercy and grace, they are not
working out their salvation with fear and trembling. The Lord plans on
correcting this.
The Christian who understands God’s will and does not do it is in serious
spiritual trouble. If he refuses to obey God, there is no more sacrifice for
his sin. He has removed himself from God’s Presence. Rebellion is the
original sin.
There is a difference between sins of ignorance, and deliberate sin. Sins of
ignorance can be forgiven. Deliberate sin is rebellion and cuts off the
sinner from Divine mercy. However, all sin has consequences.
Sin is the breaking of God’s laws, whether the Ten Commandments, or the laws
set down by Christ and His Apostles, or the laws of conscience. Whatever is
not of faith is sin.
The only certain event of mortal life is that we die. The wise individual
always is preparing himself for what he will face when he dies. The fool
makes no provision for life in the spirit world, trusting to fate or luck to
provide for his welfare.
If you are not going to be faithful to Christ, it would be a good idea to
make friends with worldly people. It would not be pleasant to die and enter
the spirit world, and have no one who would receive you.
There are two facts that make life on earth so difficult and painful. One is
that the multitude of demons harass us continually. The other is that God is
striving to make us in His image.
In the next life we are going to meet people whom we have known on earth.
Will they cry out against us, if we have wronged them? Or will they bless us
if we have helped them on their way—especially if we have encouraged them to
behave righteously?
In order for resurrection life to come forth, someone has to be willing to
experience the sufferings of the cross.
There is no greater deception operating among fundamentalists than the
concept that because we have spoken our assent to the facts of the atonement
we shall be received joyfully into the Presence of the Lord Jesus, even
though we have not obeyed Christ's commandments.
God created Eve to help Adam, not to be an idol for Adam to worship.
Satan and the demons believe God exists, but they do not seek His approval.
Therefore belief that the facts of theology are accurate is not faith and
our “Statements of Faith” are not faith at all and do not bring salvation.
Love is sown as we behave so as to improve the welfare of other people. Love
grows over the years. It is based in the memory of shared, often painful,
experiences. There is no such thing as “love at first sight,” only
attraction.
There is a church within the churches. To this point in the progress of the
Divine redemption of mankind, this church is the only true Body of Christ,
the only true Bride of the Lamb.
God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, which means He prevented Pharaoh from being
compassionate, merciful, or even reasonable. This tells us the attitude of
the human heart can be directed by the Lord.
God makes one person for honor and glory and another person for shame and
disgrace. The choosing of people for one destiny or another is fair and
righteous because God is the potter and therefore has the right to make
people however He chooses.
There are people who have been appointed to high places in the Kingdom of
God. There are others who are as unreasoning animals, creatures of instinct,
born only to be caught and destroyed. But God welcomes the individual who
chooses to behave righteously.
It is not true that there never has been a righteous person on the earth.
The Bible speaks of several righteous people. However, the adamic nature of
man is inherently rebellious.
Why do some people of today imagine that man is inherently good? The truth
is, man is born with a rebellious nature that drinks sin like water.
The work of redemption can remove our inherently wicked nature and replace
it with the Nature of Christ.
God can do anything He chooses. He can give the wicked person a righteous
heart, if we pray to that end.
We need to remain sensitive to God’s will while we are praying, so we can
emphasize what God desires and is emphasizing.
Why do you keep on complaining? Speak words of faith and confidence in God.
In so doing you will overcome the accuser of the brothers.
Day after day pours forth speech. Night after night reveals knowledge. There
is much talk when things are going well, but it is during the dark times
that we learn of God.
The ruler’s heart is as a river that flows however God wishes. God controls
the desires and attitudes of man.
When God speaks to us concerning good or evil, pain or joy, it applies to us
personally and specifically. It also may apply to other people.
Jesus said if we hear His Word and believe God, we have eternal life. This
means we already are living in eternity.
God has given us a soul. It appears that angels are spirits without souls.
We are cautioned to not lose our soul, our ability to make moral judgments.
This may mean if we abuse the ability to make moral judgments, we will lose
our soul and become nothing more than a body.
To be in the rest of God is to be free from all strife and anxiety,
continually looking to Christ, the Author of Life.
There is a lot of selfishness and meanness in the world. All matters shall
be taken care of at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
There is no need for us to avenge injustice that is directed against us. The
Lord will avenge all unjust behavior in His time and in His way.
As long as we seek to avenge ourselves of an injustice done to us, God is
hindered from working. We harm ourselves when we act vengefully.
If you are a conscientious, duty bound person, you may find that it requires
much prayer before you are able to live without strife and anxiety. The same
is true if you are a perfectionist.
Behold the perfectionist! He gives the people around him no rest until
everything is set in order—as he, not the Lord necessarily, believes they
should be
If God is able to control the attitudes and desires of people, then He can
do as He pleases in the affairs of men. Since this is true, there is no need
for us to worry about anything.
We do God’s people a grave disservice when we do not warn them clearly of
God’s fiery nature, of the absolute need for repentance and godly behavior
if we are to survive in His Presence.
Grace never was intended to be a permanent manner in which God relates to
man. Grace is a temporary suspension of the authority of the Lake of Fire
until God through Christ has a chance to guide believers in replacing the
condemned behaviors with the moral virtue of Christ.
First Christ came physically to prepare a place for us in God. Now Christ
has come in the Spirit to prepare a place for God in us.
People who are moved by self-will and sin can usually find a way to make
simple problems complicated and difficult.
During a revival many souls come to Christ; many are filled with the Spirit
of God; many are healed physically and morally. But the revival of today
begins where the previous revival left off, and brings believers to the
stature of the fullness of Christ.
We may have received Christ as our Savior, and then been filled with the
Spirit of God. This is the required first step, but God’s purpose in
redemption is to create people who behave righteously as Christ does, and
who are at rest in God’s Person and will.
To be redeemed is to be changed from the possession and image of Satan to
the possession and image of God, in every aspect of our personality. To be
saved is to be preserved in love, joy, and peace in the Presence of God,
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is only one Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ. He has many folds. The
rest of us are helpers of His joy.
Christ places each of His sheep and lambs where it will grow and prosper
spiritually.
To attain something is to arrive at a level of accomplishment. To attain to
something is to reach that which is structured in advance. We are to attain
to the first resurrection from the dead. We attain a level of excellence in
a Beethoven sonata.
The teaching that the fleshly churches of today will be caught up to meet
the Commander in Chief when He comes is neither scriptural nor sensible. It
is the army that will be called up, and the army of Christ is made up of
disciplined warriors from every century.
We can deny the existence of God, but God exists nevertheless and affects
our life. We can have firm beliefs concerning theology, but now matter what
we believe or how fervently we believe it, we do not change God or spiritual
realities by our desires or understanding.
When the Bible says Christ is our righteousness, it does not mean merely
that God views us as righteous because we are identified with His Son. The
true righteousness of Christ occurs as Christ is dwelling in us and changing
the way we behave.
Christ is with me. Whom shall I fear? No one! What shall I dread? Nothing
whatever!
There is more to a gift than the package it comes in. There is more to life
than eating, sleeping, working, playing, and reproducing—except for animals.
Taking what does not belong to us does not truly benefit us and sometimes
results in anguish and tragedy.
God through Jesus Christ is well able to bring us to the place where Satan
has no part in us. This always is true of the Lord Jesus and is to be true
of us.
We do well when we teach our children never to avoid trouble by lying. We
must be an example to them of absolute truthfulness.
The lukewarm believers of today would be out of place in the Lord’s army.
They would be of no use in the Battle of Armageddon, having neither the
experience nor the faith nor the courage to stand in spiritual combat.
Christians who walk in the appetites of their flesh and soul in the present
hour will experience corruption in the day of resurrection. By living in the
flesh they are slaying their own resurrection unto eternal life.
The knowledgeable Christian is not looking toward a flight to Heaven but
toward assisting in the great travail that will result in bringing the
spiritual Life of God into the earth, beginning with the bodies of the
saints.
The Kingdom and salvation are associated with overcoming the accuser by the
"brothers." Our diligence in living a victorious life in Christ will result
finally in the casting down of Satan and his wicked lords from their thrones
in the heaven.
We have eternal life now, in our inner man. If we serve God faithfully we
will receive the crown of life when the Lord Jesus appears. The eternal life
in our spiritual nature today will extend into our physical body. Then our
redemption will be complete.
We have changed the original Gospel of the Kingdom to the notion that the
Lord is returning to carry us away to make our eternal home in Heaven. We
seem to be determined to be unscriptural, unreasonable, and self-centered.
God has never failed anyone to bring love, joy, and peace to those who trust
Him. He certainly is not going to fail to bring love, joy, and peace to you
if you continue to trust Him.
In order to have our sins forgiven we must receive by faith by the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross. Then, in order to have fellowship with God, we
must come out from the unclean practices of the world and cleanse ourselves
from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit.
The Apostle Paul is very clear in his epistles that a Christian will not
inherit the Kingdom of God if he continues in known sin. Yet, we seem to
have cast aside this part of New Testament teaching.
It seems as though God today is giving us the fruit of the Tree of the
Knowledge of Good and Evil to eat. We have been naked and did not realize
it. Now we are growing in the ability to distinguish between good and evil,
and in the strength to embrace the good and utterly renounce the evil.
A person can’t really be concerned about the needs of others until he is
mentally and emotionally healthy himself.
An individual must be mentally and emotionally whole before he is able to
deny himself, take up his cross, and follow the Lord Jesus.
There are some people who are moved emotionally rather easily, and this is
how the Lord guides them. There are other believers who are not nearly as
emotional, and the Lord works with them accordingly.
What will move one person to worship and obey God is not as effective with
another person.
The Divine fiat is that man be in the image of God, that he be male and
female, that he be fruitful, and have dominion (which results from
fruitfulness). The Divine fiat cannot be obeyed with the union of a man with
a man, no matter how honorable their intentions may be.
God uses the union of a man and a woman to bring forth children who have the
potential of becoming eternal servants of the Lord. This is not possible
with a homosexual union. Such is against the Divine plan.
Grace is not an alternative to righteous behavior. It is an enablement of
righteous behavior.
When you are rejected by men, consider it an invitation from the Lord to
come closer to Him—R. Kellum.
As I was meditating on Ephesians 4:17-5:21 it came to me forcefully that the
current overemphasis on grace (as unmerited forgiveness) has rendered Paul’s
several exhortations to righteous behavior irrelevant, incompetent, and
immaterial.
It seems that today in America people fear man more than they do God. This
is why they make unjust, unrighteous decisions.
The cross and the blood of the cross mean nothing to Satan. They cannot be
used as fetishes.
It is God who passed over Egypt, not Satan. Our dealings are with God, not
with Satan.
What does it mean to be saved “by faith”? Does it mean that even though we
do not obey Christ and His Apostles we still will go to Heaven when we die?
Or does it mean that we must press forward each day, looking in faith to
Christ to complete our deliverance from the person and behavior of Satan?
When Paul teaches that we are saved by grace through faith he means instead
of by obeying the commandments of the Law of Moses. This was the issue in
Paul’s day. Paul does not mean instead of by obeying the commandments of
Christ and His Apostles.
It is appointed to man once to die, and after this the judgment. When we die
we will be brought to further instruction in the Lord, or beaten with
lashes, or left to wander about as part of the great sea of people, or
thrown into Hell. Saying we believe in Christ does not change this, it is
what we have done in this life that determines our destiny.
Saints are made in difficult circumstances.
Any circumstance of your life, any problem, any difficulty, any decision,
you are not bringing to Christ is loss for him, loss for you, loss for the
world.
Never give up. Keep hope alive Your problems have not been solved . . . yet!
To not look to Jesus for all that we are, think, do, and say, is to deny the
Lordship of Christ.
To “fall in love” with someone means we feel good about him or her. Our
emotion could turn into actual love over a period of time if we are willing
to deny ourselves in order to advance the welfare of this person.
Christ is manifest in the world whenever someone denies himself in order
that Christ may live through him or her. There will come a day when the Lord
Jesus Himself descends through the sky the clouds of glory.
If Jesus Christ is not who He says He is, it would be best we never had been
born.
Our hope is that we may become an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God shall permit moral darkness to increase, so when He shines the light of
truth in our day the light will be noticeable.
There are vessels of wrath prepared for destruction so those whom God has
chosen to experience the riches of His glory and mercy can learn the nature
and consequences of disobedience to God.
God permits wickedness to exist in the world so His sons can learn to behave
righteously. It is necessary things come that cause people to sin; but woe
to the man through whom they come!
God makes man in His image, the image of God's Character. Then He makes man
after His likeness, after His outer form.
The first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel sets forth the outer likeness of
Christ. We shall be created after that likeness. Then the remainder of
Ezekiel describes the Character of Christ. We shall be created in that
image.
Those who rule with Christ over the nations of the earth shall do so in
Christ's love. However, the fierce determination to enforce God's will is as
a rod of iron being developed in them through the temptations of life, and
it shall brook no interference.
Merely identifying with Jesus Christ, taking His name, will not save
anybody. It is continual interaction with the living Jesus that works
redemption in us.
How many "Christians" call Jesus, Lord, but do not do what He says. They are
taking the Lord's name in vain.
The universe, physical as well as spiritual, is nothing more than
environment. What truly is important is God, those formed in His image, and
all other creatures, in that order.
We enter the Kingdom, the doing of God's will, through suffering. This is
because we learn obedience through suffering.
We must be willing to travail in pain if the Kingdom is to be born in us. It
is Jesus Christ Himself who is the Kingdom.
The forces of evil are going to increase in the earth, seeking to compel
people to destroy themselves with sin. If you do not have Christ to help
you, you are going to lose the battle.
Jesus Christ Himself is eternal Life. When we receive Him into our
personality, the Substance of God is introduced into the perishing animal of
the adamic creation. All else is temporary and leading toward corruption.
If you are an unfaithful minister of the Gospel you can make friends with
worldly people by diminishing the demands of discipleship, so that when you
die they may receive you into the eternal dwelling places.
We tend to assign people either to the deepest Hell or the highest Heaven.
But the Bible teaches that there are many and few stripes, and thirty,
sixty, and a hundredfold reaping of Christ.
God wounds before He heals. It is a necessary action on His part that we
will understand later.
Jesus is a Person, like you and me. We have made Him a religion like the
other religions of the world. We gain eternal life by receiving Him and
allowing Him to fill us with Himself.
The image of Christ is faithfulness and truth. It appears that in many
instances the Christian ministry is preaching grace, when it ought to be
preaching faithfulness and truth.
It sometimes is true that the Christian ministry is characterized by
political skill rather than by faithfulness and truth.
It is certain that no individual who is not faithful and true will ever eat
with Christ at His table.
To be faithful is to do what is right when it causes pain. To be true is to
be filled and motivated by Jesus Christ, who Himself is the Truth.
To lie is to say what is not factual with the intention of gaining an
advantage over another person.
It may be true that many people of Noah's day repented when they saw the
water began to rise. Christ brought the good news of forgiveness to them
after He made the atonement.
If you would be in the image of Christ, wait patiently in the prison in
which you have been placed, and pray continually.
I am older now and can see the benefit I have derived from the various
frustrations and pains I have experienced.
After sixty-one years of serving the Lord I can state that I have found the
Bible to be true in all that it declares.
Keep short accounts with God. Don't delay confessing and repenting of your
sins, making restitution when necessary, forgiving those who have sinned
you.
If you would be in the image of Christ, be gentle, slow to anger, quick to
forgive, filled with mercy and compassion.
God could have made the world so that it was difficult to sin. Instead the
world is a giant "sting" operation, designed to reveal the sin that is in
us.
The body of very individual who has lived on the earth will be raised from
the dead. What will happen to the body at that time depends on what we have
done with our body during our lifetime.
The Bible says that the wicked shall be wandering stars. Does that mean they
shall be bodiless spirits, forever, lost in the endless reaches of the
spirit universe?
The Bible says that if we defile our body we shall be destroyed. Does that
mean our body will be destroyed in the Day of Resurrection and we will be
left a bodiless spirit?
To be confined to Hell is a fearful prospect. To be confined in the Lake of
Fire with Satan and his angels is a destiny so frightful as to be
incomprehensible at this time.
The Lord Jesus Christ is compassionate, kind, courageous, merciful; but
perhaps His most important characteristics are faithfulness and truth. Apart
from these the other attributes are worthless. The same is true of us who
are being formed in His image.
We learn obedience one step at a time. As we are obedient in what God gives
us, He shows us a new step. At any point of disobedience the path ends.
We have to walk in the light given to us. Any time we turn away from the
light, our growth in Christ ceases.
When we reject truth, we run the scriptural danger that God will delude us
and we will live in deception.
Many "believers" live in deception. The only way we can protect ourselves
against deception is by carrying our personal cross; by remaining patiently
in the prison in which we have been placed.
Any time you begin to believe you are in deception, explain your doubts to a
strong Christian. Very often an objective disciple, it may be your wife or
husband, will be able to detect an area of deception in your life.
As we grow older in the Lord, Christ entrusts us with personal secrets. A
young Christian ordinarily is not given secrets and needs someone to whom he
can explain a doubtful area in his life.
Sometimes it is better to take one small step, meanwhile asking God for
guidance, than to wait for God to speak before doing anything.
Ordinarily God does not approve of being forced to speak. He prefers to
guide the individual who continually looks to the Lord continually for
direction.
It has been conjectured what when we die we just go to sleep, lose
consciousness, and that is the end. It isn't so. When we die we awaken to
reality and face the consequences of how we lived.
Jesus Christ is the Truth about God, man, and the universe. Satan is the lie
about God, man, and the universe.
The wicked shall receive the reward of the wicked. The righteous shall
receive the reward of the righteous. Using "accepting Christ" as a device to
alter the eternal law of sowing and reaping is the abomination of modern
evangelical teaching.
We put our faith for forgiveness in the atoning blood of Jesus Christ. Then
we receive Him as our personal Lord. From then, with His help, we are
supposed to live righteously, keeping the commandments found in the New
Testament.
The modern Christian makes a profession of belief in Christ. However, he
practices the works of Satan. Then he says, "I cannot be lost. I am saved by
grace." What a delusion!
God today through many painful, frustrating circumstances, is preparing
strong Christians who will be able to help themselves, their loved ones, and
other people, during the chaos that is coming to the United States and other
formerly Christian nations.
"Many who are last in time shall be first in the Kingdom of God," the Lord
said. Today some of the mightiest thrones are waiting for whoever will give
himself totally to Christ that he may be prepared for service as a governing
priest.
The fool says, "I am enjoying myself. This is pleasurable. Tomorrow will
take care of itself." The wise individual asks, "What are the consequences
of what I am doing? Where is this leading me?"
A prophet is not merely someone who can predict the future. There are demons
that can predict the future. A prophet is someone who represents God.
As people become increasingly concerned with their "rights," they shall
enter increasingly cruel bondage. The only truly free individual is the one
who has yielded his own life that Christ may live in him.
Making a profession of belief in Jesus Christ does not change the fact that
what we sow as a Christian we shall reap in the Day of Resurrection.
We Christians are under a false impression of the Gospel. We wish to behave
like Satan, and then use the name of Christ as an amnesty. God will not
accept this!
The expression soul-winner is taken from Proverbs 11:30. It has nothing to
do with "personal evangelism." It means that people who live righteously
influence other people to do the same, and find favor with God.
When the righteous are not thoroughly righteous, they are ineffective and
are scorned by the wicked. This is why the Lord Jesus prefers us to be
thoroughly wicked or thoroughly righteous.
It often is true, in the Christian churches, that the voice is that of
Jacob, but the hands are those of Esau.
We ought to ask God, from time to time, to judge us; to see if there is any
wicked way in us; to lead us in the way everlasting.
By confusing the languages, at the Tower of Babel, God created conflict. God
did this so people could not achieve peace and success apart from Him, and
thus defeat His plan to make Christ Lord of all.
It is Satan's desire that people be well-fed, contented, and at ease. Then
he can remove their need to call upon the Lord Jesus for help and eternal
life.
Wicked angels and wicked people share a stupidity of thought. God takes away
their wisdom, and they do not realize it.
Every plan that Satan and wicked people carry out works for God for those
who look to the Lord continually.
Satan actually believes that he can be like God and he should be worshiped.
This is stupidity and brings absolute disaster to everyone who accepts
Satan's way.
When someone says we should be tolerant of homosexual behavior, or that the
right of the mother so surpasses the right of the child that she should be
free to murder it, we know we are hearing from someone who has been deprived
of wisdom.
There are people who claim we should not go to war to defend our country.
Rather we should love everybody and be peaceful. They do not understand the
nature of the world Other people have to fight and die so those who believe
love is the solution may not be tortured or killed.
We hear people saying Israel is wrong in defending herself against attack.
When the rockets are raining on Israel, Israel is condemned for responding
appropriately. This is because Satan is determined to destroy everyone whom
God has chosen for Himself.
It seems to me that the people of Israel will suffer continually until God
raises up a prophet in their midst who calls them back to repentance; who
warns them to stop trusting other nations of the world and look only to
their God for wisdom and protection.
Have you ever thought about the contention between Leah and Rachel as the
twelve sons of Jacob were born? What an inauspicious beginning for the
tribes whose names are inscribed for eternity on the gates of the new
Jerusalem, the glorified Church!
Any desire I have which is not of the Lord Jesus is a huge waste of time,
and produces absolutely nothing that is worthwhile.
I do not want anything except what the Lord Jesus wants me to have. I have
enough problems and do not wish to increase them.
When you are living in Jesus, he who touches your loved ones touches you. He
who touches you touches Christ. He who touches Christ touches the Father.
"O Lord, Grant that when the prince of this world comes he can find nothing
in me. Grant that, as Jesus said concerning himself, I no longer am in this
world."
Every true witness of God. Abraham, Job, Daniel, are bearing witness in our
time and shall continue to bear witness for eternity.
Today we are guided by the testimonies of the heroes of faith of long ago.
Now they are being guided by what they see God doing in us.
We must be careful to redeem the time and waste nothing. Gather up the
fragments. Remember Joseph!
God's people, those who are called by His name, are one family in Heaven and
on the earth.
We must learn to judge only as we hear from Christ. Only then will our
judgment be righteous.
If we seek not our own will, but the will of Christ, our judgment will be
just.
There are people who aggravate us sorely. We are to pray until we have
perfect peace and are able to view them and judge them as God views and
judges them. Nothing less than this is acceptable.
The wise believer prays that he may go about his business with tranquillity,
being free from haste, anger, and dread.
As we grow in Christ the spirit of truth that is in us overcomes the lie
that fills the antichrist world spirit.
When we are doing the Lord's will constantly and carefully, God will honor
and bless those who honor and bless us.
God wants you and me to become His word, His image, the expression of His
Person. We must pray to this end always.
We always must be pressing forward into the place where we gain Him and know
Him, and consider all else as garbage.
We must press into resurrection life each day if we expect to experience
bodily resurrection when the Lord appears. Life inherits more life.
Corruption inherits more corruption.
If we choose to live in the prophetic realm, we shall experience rejection
by God's people. This always has been true, because we become a reproof to
the way they choose to live.
"Lord, help me to become irritated by nothing, but with Your help to turn
everything to good."
Christ did not come to proclaim an amnesty such that we can sin without fear
of punishment. Christ came so that people who want to escape from Satan can
do so.
What if we don't obey the commands of Christ? The answer today is, there is
no problem. We will be brought into glory by Divine grace. Could there be
any teaching more destructive of God's purpose in saving man?
The importance of the blood atonement cannot be overestimated. But if after
having been forgiven our sins through the blood, we then do not begin to
practice righteous behavior, the purpose of the atonement has been aborted.
We are wise when we cast all our burdens on the Lord. He solves them
immediately or later, but meanwhile gives us peace about the matter.
If there are things more important to us than truth, we are not wise.
The Lord Jesus Christ is infinitely more than the Divine amnesty. He is the
Way to eternal life for those who embrace Him and live in Him at all times.
Christ must be pursued diligently if we are to attain to the resurrection
that is from among the dead (Philippians 3:11).
If we wish to be different throughout eternity, from what we are now, we had
better get busy and seek Christ. Dying will not change us.
Whoever does not help My anointed servants in their hour of need will
themselves not be helped in their hour of need.
Whoever helps My anointed servants in their hour of need, will themselves be
helped in their hour of need.
When I first came to Christ I was taught that if any person is in Christ he
is a new creation. I thought this became true immediately. Now, after
sixty-one years of interacting with Christ, I am finding that becoming a new
creation is process.
We must not let ourselves be satisfied until our Father's integrity has
become an integral aspect of our personality.
When Christ looks at us He should see the image of Himself.
We will be being made in God's image for eternity. However, if we make
strides to this end in the present life, our reward will be great in the
Kingdom of Heaven.
What peace we have when we die to our ambitions, including our ministerial
ambitions!
We must be clear before God in our desire to live by the Life of Christ, as
part of Christ, if we expect God to make this a reality.
How terrible it would be to be alone in the universe without Christ! How
lonely! How dismal! We were created to live in close fellowship with God.
It would be terrible to die and then realize we had not fulfilled God's
desire for us during our sojourn in the world!
We need to be careful concerning what we desire intensely; for our intense
desires either will be changed or else given to us, for good or for bad.
The wise person puts his life in God's hands. The fool insists on his own
way, and then rushes forward to destruction.
Power, money, and sexual activity—such is the kingdom Satan offered Jesus.
Men kill for this!
How will God give the people of the world everlasting life? By preparing a
priesthood from whom the Life of God will flow.
The saints are being built up in Christ so they may return with Christ and
bring life and healing to dead mankind. Out from their inner being shall
flow rivers of living water.
The Gospel does more than forgive the elect. It prepares them to be trees of
healing and sources of eternal life for the nations of the earth.
The reason we talk about how wonderful Jesus is, but do not teach what He
taught, such as in the Sermon on the Mount, is that we believe grace is an
alternative to what Christ commanded.
The Apostle Paul presented grace as an alternative to the works of the Law
of Moses. We are presenting grace as an alternative to keeping the commands
of Christ and His Apostles.
Nothing whatever happens by chance to the believer who is looking to Jesus
for every aspect of life.
Anyone who does not fear God is foolish indeed. God has the power to throw
us into unbearable torment. To not fear Him is not wise.
It is God's will that every human be in His image, walk in His Spirit, and
have a portion of Christ in Him. To be saved, is to be permitted to enter
this program.
For every human being to be fashioned in God's image, to be able to live in
God's Spirit, and to have a portion of Christ in Him, will require thousands
of years, as we count time.
Those who love and follow Jesus are given all good things to enjoy; but they
are not in bondage to anything.
To be saved means to be permitted to enter and remain in the program of
redemption.
The program of redemption forgives our sins totally for all time, provided
that we obey Christ in all matters.
The program of redemption is designed to remove from us every trace of the
sinful nature.
The program of redemption forms our character in the image of Christ.
The program of redemption brings us into untroubled rest in the Center of
God's Person and will.
The program of Redemption teaches us how to live move, and have our being in
the Spirit of God.
The program of redemption fills us with the Fullness of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit.
The program of redemption gives us a desire in our body, soul, and spirit
for iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience to the Father.
The program of redemption clothes us with an immortal body from Heaven that
is free from all sinful motivations.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is a position in
Christ at the right hand of God for eternity.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is eternal
placement as a pillar in the Tabernacle of God
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is participation in
the first resurrection.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is the salvation of
our loved ones.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is people for our
inheritance.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is rulership over
the works of God's hands.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is the farthest
reaches of the earth for our inheritance.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is a role in the
Kingdom of God.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is the environment
of Paradise.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is invulnerability
to the Lake of Fire.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is eternal love,
joy, and peace.
Included in the rewards for allowing Christ to redeem us is the removal of
all painful memories.
Man was created to live, move, and have his being for eternity. With this in
mind we can understand that what we do, what happens to us, in this world is
important only as to how it affects our eternal existence.
In order to avoid the possibility that there is a God and a coming Day of
Judgment, people have conjectured that mankind evolved, or came from outer
space. Yet it remains obvious that the physical world began at some point.
When the Book of Genesis and the Gospel of John use the expression, "in the
beginning," it means in the beginning of the creation of the physical
universe.
Power, money, sexual activity—people give their souls to obtain these. Yet,
none of them brings love, joy, or peace, which are the true goals of the
human personality,
Numerous injustices have occurred in the earth throughout history, as people
seek power, money, and sexual adventures. We are not to fret ourselves. All
shall be brought to the light in due time.
We may think of being lost as affecting human beings primarily. I wonder if
it is not true that the One who loses most is God!
In the Kingdom of God there is no male or female distinction. But there is a
multitude of loving relationships of all kinds. All serve one another with
their gifts.
We never have owned ourselves. God owned us from the beginning, and He is
redeeming us from the bondage of the enemy that He through us might fulfill
His own needs and desires.
God has needs and desires. He owned us originally. Satan stole us by
trickery. God has redeemed us for His own use, to fulfill His own needs and
desires.
God did not redeem us so we could go to Heaven and do nothing forever. God
redeemed us so we might experience love, joy, and peace as we pursue His
interests on the earth in His Kingdom.
When injustice abounds we then there is opportunity to grow in the Lord.
We don't want only ascribed righteousness, peace, and joy, we desire actual
righteousness, peace, and joy. Isn't that so?
The unity that exists between the Father and the Son is a marvel beyond all
marvels. To think that we have been called into that same unity with God and
with each other!
God always answers the prayers of Christ because Christ always does what is
pleasing to the Father. In the same manner, Christ will hear and answer our
prayers if we always do what pleases Him.
I suppose most of us know intuitively that our brief episode in this present
world is but a fragment of our eternal existence. Many clutch their little
satisfactions without recognizing they are being watched by those in charge
of them.
The God of Heaven knows how difficult this present life is. Every little bit
of good we can do will be paid back many times over. The same is true of the
bad.
John the Baptist declared that a man can receive nothing except it be given
him from Heaven. Therefore we should give glory to God for human
accomplishments, rather than to the individual.
I suppose it would be acceptable to thank someone for being faithful in
using the gift God gave him. But even that diligence is a gift from God.
If our existence on the earth were to be the only existence we ever will
know, it would be best we never had been born.
Step along with your head held high. You have this one chance in all of
eternity to show God the faithfulness of your heart.
I enjoy practicing Chopin's Preludes on the piano. I believe I will be
practicing the piano in the next life.
Nature tends to move from the complex to the simple and clear. Our life is a
parable. As it plays out, that which is hidden is revealed for everyone to
read.
You may think what you are doing will never be known. The truth is, it shall
be brought up in the Day of Judgment for God and the world to see.
Perhaps we believe our actions will never be known. However, they may be
displayed like a moving picture in the time to come. This will be an
unparalleled blessing for some, a horrible nightmare for others.
Perhaps we would not fall in love so readily if we could see past the outer
form to the inner personality.
All forms of life on the earth are moving toward decay and corruption. Why
then do we imagine that this or that relationship is to be clutched so
fiercely?
Would you behave differently if you knew that your secret actions will be
made visible in time to come? If you would, then pray and be faithful to
those who trust you.
I rushed about, filled with burning desires, when I was younger. Now I am 81
years old. Why couldn't I have had a more tranquil spirit in time past?
For years I have been prophesying that war and trouble are coming to
America. Now they are here. What I see in the future is an age of moral and
physical horrors. Also, a nationwide revival of repentance among God's
people.
The face of some people tells us what they are like. In other instances, the
appearance of a person is misleading and we must pray for discernment.
The blindness of all religious organizations, it appears, is to not be able
to distinguish between their activities and the work of Christ as He builds
His eternal Kingdom.
Perhaps because of excesses of the past, we are not paying enough attention
to the Scriptures that emphasize God has an elect ("as many as the Lord our
God shall call"). Salvation is not a random operation depending on human
caprice.
The most important aspect of any person's life is his diligent cooperation
with the Holy Spirit as the Spirit changes him into the image of Christ and
brings him into untroubled rest in God's will for him.
If you are wise, you will not fall in love with someone's "tent." First you
will find out about the person living in the tent.
Homosexual behavior is not godly, wholesome, or constructive. It disobeys
the Divine fiat that we be fruitful and multiply. It simply is not an
acceptable way to conduct one's self!
When an individual begins to practice that which violates his sense of what
is morally right, he opens the door to a slippery downward slope to
character destruction. He quickly must regain his strength or he soon will
be unable to recover his moral poise.
Once you begin to violate your own moral standards, you will start downward
to destruction. Ever increasing guilt shall drive you to increased
violations until your life is in ruins.
We suffer for our sins of ignorance, but that suffering is redemptive. The
suffering that comes because of willful, knowing sin is not redemptive but
destructive.
The last negative act of redemption will take place at the coming of Christ
as the body of sin is destroyed. After that we have all eternity to grow in
Christ.
A culture which is so foolish as to ask children in their schools what their
sexual preference is, thus inviting Satan to enter them, shall receive the
destiny it deserves.
God redeemed our physical body for His purposes. We shall be rewarded or
punished in the Day of Resurrection in terms of how we took care of God's
purchased possession.
If we misuse our body, we will suffer for it in this world. In the Day of
Resurrection we will be placed in our body in an environment that causes
suffering.
In the Day of Judgment we will be punished in our body or rewarded in our
body according to what we have done in our body during our lifetime on the
earth.
God makes everything the wicked do turn out for good for the righteous. When
the wicked have enough rope, they hang themselves.
In spite of what one would conclude from today's Christian preaching,
unrighteous behavior is not an option. Righteous behavior is the only
behavior God will accept.
When our faith in Jesus Christ does not lead us to righteous behavior, it is
worthless. In fact, it is worse than worthless because it presents the
illusion that God is accepting sinful behavior.
I believe a prophet is someone who thinks as God is thinking; speaks as God
is speaking; acts as God is acting. This always is true of our Lord Jesus,
the greatest of all prophets.
What we think we want is not always what we really want. Therefore we are
wise when we let go and let God have His wonderful way.
The scientists are more accurate than they realize when they say man is part
of the animal kingdom. The best of us wither and die, like an animal. Only a
few, it seems, grasp this and press forward to the eternal life that is in
Jesus Christ.
How often human beings mistake glandular appetites for true love, and behave
foolishly as a result.
God has put the world in our heart so we do not really understand what is
taking place in the world. If we will walk in obedience to Jesus Christ, He
will begin to give us understanding and wisdom.
Today it is believed commonly that God loves every person regardless of his
or her behavior. While this may be true, the fact remains that disobedience
to God results in dreadful consequences.
How long will it be before people recognize that the behavior of Sodom
results in the destination of Sodom?
Christians are mistaken when they believe they will not be here when God
responds to the aborting of children and perverse sexual behavior.
It is the first duty of government to enforce God's laws of righteous
behavior on all its people. The government that does not do this shall be
replaced.
There are two stages in making man in the image of God. The first stage is
the change in his character. The second stage has to do with giving him a
body like that of Christ.
A human being is an intelligent animal. He shall wither and die unless he
partakes of the Divine Life Jesus Christ is.
Keep yourself free from soul ties with another person, whether male or
female. Such ties may seem desirable, but they always will prove to be
chains.
As well as you can, keep wholesome relationships with all people. Do not get
too involved with anyone, else He whose name is Jealous will have to
intervene to save you from idolatrous bondage.
"I can't stand this for one more minute," we cry. Yet forty years roll by,
and we are the better for having denied ourselves what we thought we wanted.
We have been set free from what we desired so intensely.
To die in the Lord is to abide faithfully and patiently in Christ while our
most fervent desires are withheld from us. This is the route to eternal
love, joy, and peace.
Have you accepted God's terms for your life. If not, why not? Do you just
enjoy being miserable?
Do you choose to be filled with yourself and your own will and ways, or with
Christ's will and ways. If you choose the former, you will regret it
fiercely some day.
Much patience and faith are required if the Christian finally is able to
press forward into the fullness of eternal life.
Oftentimes when religion plays the notes, there is no music. Then there are
people who do not know the notes but they have the music. God does not care
much about notes, but He is concerned about the music.
After you pray, accept God's will for your life. Go with the Divine flow.
Forget your "rights."
There are people who know a great deal about their religion but who do not
know the Lord.
This world is the valley of the shadow of death. God is preparing sons.
Through them the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the Glory of
God.
Satan is deathly afraid of righteous behavior. Insist on righteous behavior
and Satan will flee from you.
Resist the devil and he will flee from you. This means, refuse to yield to
his persuasions.
If Eve had resisted Satan, it is possible there never would have been a plan
of redemption. It is necessary that offenses come; but woe unto those
through whom they come.
We are not to blame people for abilities they do not have, nor are we to
praise people for the abilities they do have. It is God who works in us to
will and to do His good pleasure.
Our citizenship is in Heaven and our life comes from there. But the earth is
our home.
After living in the world for eighty-one years, I have noticed that where
Satan governs there is hatred, misery, and confusion.
God had put in Eve everything Adam needed fulfill God's will. But Eve was
not experienced in spiritual warfare.
There is nothing else in the universe as important as God's spoken Words. It
is God's will live that people live by them.
The New Testament promises rulership in the new world to those who overcome
sin in th present world system. God needs rulers, so attaining to the crown
of rulership benefits us and God as well.
Everyone wants to determine his own circumstances. We gain this ability only
by learning to look to Christ to determine our circumstances.
To be "saved" is to be forgiven, and then delivered from the character and
activities of Satan.
When God forgives us it is with the intention of delivering us from all the
influence of Satan.
We are to continue to cooperate with the working of the Holy Spirit in our
life until we can say truthfully, "The prince of this world comes and has no
hold on me."
We are qualified and able to rule in the Kingdom of God to the extent we
possess the Spirit of God; the Spirit of eternal life.
The writing of the New Testament is balanced between the supernatural
enablements of God through Christ, and our efforts. Both God's supernatural
grace and our efforts are needed to bring forth the new creation of
righteous behavior.
The basic premise of Christian teaching that God saves us by forgiveness
(grace) because we are unable keep His commandments, is false. It is true
rather that the Kingdom of God comes to us with Divine wisdom and power,
enabling us to behave righteously; to lead a holy life.
To maintain that the new covenant consists of God bringing us to Heaven in
an untransformed moral state, not writing His law in our mind and heart, may
be the most destructive lie ever to enter the thinking of man.
Christ is frustrated and disappointed when we keep remarking how marvelous
He is, and then do not keep His commandments.
The Holy Spirit is ready to lead us in confessing our sins specifically, and
to strengthen us so we can turn from them. He will help us put them to
death.
The expression "inherit the Kingdom of God" means that when the Lord comes
the righteousness, peace, and joy we have attained to now will be our
possession for eternity.
If in the present hour we do not cease our sinning, we shall be put out of
the Kingdom when the Lord appears. We shall not inherit the righteousness,
peace, and joy of the Kingdom of God.
The whole purpose of the new covenant is to enable people to behave
righteously. This is accomplished as the eternal moral law of God is written
in their heart and mind. But we have made the new covenant an excuse for
sinful behavior.
The poisonous premise at the heart of Christian theology is that God has
issued a covenant that waives the requirements of the eternal moral law for
those who make a profession of faith in Christ.
The Christian salvation is not a plan by which people can evade the moral
requirements of God, but a means of transforming a person so he can take
great delight in pleasing God in every aspect of his personality and
behavior.
God will honor anyone who obeys the laws of righteousness. But eternal life,
the Life of God, is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are faithful to God, you can be certain one day you will come forth
into the light. Then you will be satisfied when you see what God has done
through your faithful obedience.
We think of Sarah, of Hannah, of Elizabeth. When God is ready to do a great
work He first causes barrenness. He tears apart and then binds up.
If we would serve the Lord we must accept the fact that God often brings us
low before He raises us up. This is the way the Lord works.
The purpose of Divine grace is to make it possible for the Jew to be
righteous apart from observing the Law of Moses. It is not God's way of
excusing the behavior of Gentiles when they act like the Devil.
We Christians are as self-centered, spoiled children, seeking to use
Christ's love for us to get whatever we want. Oftentimes Christ's desires
are not even considered.
The Lord Jesus works with wildcats until they become tame cats. Pretty soon
He has some cats who truly want Him to rule over them.
No matter what happens to you in life, give thanks to God, and look to Him
for the next step.
If you would profit spiritually from pain, do not blame anyone for your
problems. Look always to Jesus for deliverance, not to people.
If we will pray diligently, God will deliver us from the evil one and guard
us against temptation.
When you find yourself in confusion, go back to your previous altar and wait
until you hear from God.
The memory of a righteous man echoes throughout eternity. But the wicked are
soon cut off.
The language of Heaven may have an infinite number of expressions, so that
each individual may have his own unique name.
I do not know how it can be possible, but I think new people will be coming
into existence forever.
After we die, it all will become clear. Every motive, every secret matter,
will be revealed for everyone to evaluate.
When we die and pass into the spirit world, we will look what we are in
character. The pure will appear to be pure. The filthy will appear filthy.
Making a profession of belief in the Lord Jesus Christ does not result in a
new creation, unless we follow Christ and obey Him at all times.
If only the eyes of our spirit were opened we would see that we are
surrounded by people who understand what kind of person we are. We are well
known to all.
There are several plans for spiritual success. Some may help for a while.
But the ultimate goal is the possession of Christ Himself.
In Gethsemane, Jesus trusted the Father's Word, and God raised Him from the
dead. In our troubles, we too can trust the Father's Word.
Any preaching that does not have righteous behavior as its goal is not of
the Lord.
We have made eternal residence in Paradise the goal of salvation. It is not.
The goal of salvation is the righteous conduct that is produced as Christ is
formed in us.
Righteousness has two dimensions. One dimension is obedience to the revealed
directions of the Lord to the individual. The other dimension of
righteousness is obedience to the eternal moral law of God, found in the
commandments we read in the New Testament..
To be righteous means merely to be pleasing to God.
It isn't the fact that we have professed belief in Christ that makes us
righteous. The righteousness results from our obeying God by believing in
Christ. Obedience, not belief, brings righteousness.
Jesus told us that the work of God is to believe in Him whom God has sent.
Belief thus is seen to be a "work." We always are saved by the work God is
requiring at any given moment.
Abraham believed God and it was counted to Him as righteousness. It was not
the belief itself that brought righteousness, it was obedience to what God
required at that instance. This is a most important distinction!
It is doing what God requires that constitutes righteousness.
We may suppose that by believing spiritual facts we please God and gain
entrance to Paradise. This is Gnosticism. It is not the way of the Christian
redemption. The way of the Christian redemption is stern obedience to God.
A Christian is a disciple. A disciple is a person who denies himself, takes
up his or her cross, and follows Jesus. Whoever does not do this is not a
genuine Christian.
Hebrews 12:22-24 describes the "Heaven" in which each of God's elect is to
live forever. We won't "go there" when we die. We already are here.
"Lord, burn me with fire until there is nothing left but eternal life."
Everything except eternal life in the Presence of God is relatively
worthless.
There is grace that forgives and there is grace that transforms. Forgiving
grace has been overemphasized at the expense of transforming grace; but it
is transforming grace that results in the Kingdom of God.
It seems to me that righteous behavior is the language that all races and
religions respect. Why, then, are we promoting democracy instead of
righteous behavior?
The "haves" of the world become undisciplined, and that leads to their
destruction.
An undisciplined human being is Satan's playground.
The baptism with fire is taking place now. The sons of Levi, so to speak,
the members of the royal priesthood, are being washed with fire.
It is difficult to overestimate the value of patience in attaining to the
Kingdom of God.
Less thinking, more praying, gets better results.
The conventional, traditional, universal overemphasis on forgiving grace to
the virtual exclusion of transforming grace, is in large part the reason
behind the moral destruction of the United States of America.
The reason for forgiving grace is that we may be able to pray and receive
help from God. The reason for transforming grace is that we may have eternal
fellowship with God.
By far, the New Testament emphasis is on transforming rather than forgiving
grace.
Both forgiveness and moral transformation result from our providing the
required response to Divine grace.
Both forgiveness and moral transformation come to us as gifts from God.
Neither can be earned by our efforts.
We are required to respond to forgiving grace by believing in the atonement;
by receiving forgiveness; by repenting of our life in the world; and by
being baptized in water as a sign of the first three.
We are required to respond to transforming grace by denying ourselves,
taking up our cross, and following Jesus at all times and in all
circumstances.
One arm of the personal cross is to be required in circumstances we do not
enjoy. The other arm of our personal cross is to have our most fervent
desires withheld from us.
No believer will grow spiritually in Christ until he is willing to deny
himself, take up his cross, and follow Jesus at all times.
The true Christian must deny himself. This means he must place Christ above
his own desires.
To be fully reconciled to God we must have our sins forgiven and our
character transformed such that our behavior resembles that of the Lord
Jesus.
To grow in Christ is to grow in the power of Divine Life and also in the
knowledge of good and evil. Both trees are Christ.
The crown of life, also called the crown of righteousness, is an unusual
amount of eternal life, by the power of which the saint can bring to himself
and others around him, righteousness, love, joy, and peace.
The most important behavior in our existence is to obey God accurately and
completely. Compared with this, all other behavior pales into
insignificance.
The Christian who acts from his beliefs and principles without taking the
time to hear from God may end up causing great harm.
The difference between religion and genuine salvation and eternal life is
that religion tends to act from its beliefs and principles without hearing
from God.
No religious person, including the Christian, is walking in truth and
eternal life, unless he is continually looking to God for guidance.
Statements of faith may have their place, but salvation and eternal life
enter as the believer is continually interacting with the Lord Jesus.
The purpose of the Bible is to keep us from error while we are learning to
be guided by the Spirit of God.
Any individual who would live in God's Presence must receive Jesus Christ as
his or her personal Lord and Master.
It is a terrible tragedy to know Christ and then to turn away.
Those who have shown no mercy shall be shown no mercy.
The power of eternal life empowers us to do God's will. Our intelligence
enables us to understand God's will, and also our environment. Christ formed
within us causes us to embrace what is righteous, holy, and obedient to God;
and to utterly renounce and reject that which is unrighteous, unclean
spiritually, and in rebellion against God's will. Our emotions enable us to
enjoy love, joy, and peace.
Our soul is our unique identity as an individual. Our spirit reflects our
soul. When our soul is transformed by Christ, our spirit becomes one with
the Holy Spirit.
God loves those who are meek, childlike, gentle. It is the Lamb who shall
prevail.
There is irresistible power in being meek and teachable. The meek shall
inherit the earth, not the violent.
In the Bible, the final revelation of Christ is the Lamb, because this is
the nature God loves and prefers throughout His creation.
Being born again by the Word of God is the only manner by which our
distorted soul can be transformed into a new creation in the image of God.
Being highly esteemed in this world is a matter of little or no importance.
Being highly esteemed by the Lord is a matter of supreme importance.
People who mourn for the "good old days" of past time must have little
concept of the glory of the spirit world and of the ages to come.
Nostalgia is a powerful enemy of rational thought. A period of grief is
normal and acceptable.
If your behavior causes someone to stumble, don't spend time justifying
yourself. Do what you can to assist the other person, and pray.
It is not always pleasant to be old and still attempt to serve God actively.
But it certainly is worth the effort.
If you turn off your cell phone, no one can send you a message. If you do
not look to the Lord continually, He can't get through to you.
As the Lord Jesus brings us through one challenge after another, we always
can say: "You have kept the best wine until now."
God has given some people limited abilities. To others he has given superior
abilities. They are to assist the weaker with their gifts.
What a wonderful thing to put our treasures, particularly our treasured
relationships, in Heaven where they cannot be harmed. Sometimes the Lord
helps us do that.
We should be looking to the Lord Jesus continually until He is involved in
every aspect of our life.
It is good to resist our sinful desires, but that is not deliverance. Only
Christ can deliver us from the powerful urges of sin.
"She shall be saved through childbearing" means she shall be brought into
God's Kingdom as she carefully brings up her children in the ways of the
Lord.
One of the differences between walking with Jesus and religion is that
religion often supposes that God will act in the same way on every occasion.
Did you ever know of God doing the same thing in the same way twice? It
doesn't happen often, does it?
What an adventure this is! We will have all of eternity to think about how
we behaved during the fiery trials we have experienced on the earth.
Some people teach that after we die we come back and live another life. This
tells me they never have denied themselves, taken up their cross, and
followed Jesus. If they had, they never again would want to go through such
a time of testing.
God is not a humanist. He puts His own interests above those of people.
God extends the hand of mercy and grace to the repenting sinner. The
believers in our day are seeking to use that same mercy and grace as an
excuse for not living a godly life.
We cannot really understand the feelings of someone who has experienced a
severe tragedy until we ourselves experience a severe tragedy.
The Lord Jesus will return to the earth that He may govern all mankind as
Lord. In the hour in which we are living, the Lord is coming in the Spirit
so that we Christians can make Him Lord now.
Man is made up of memory, desires, and moral conviction. Of these three,
moral conviction is the most important. The other two will follow.
It is no small undertaking to bring the entire human personality into the
place where every aspect of it lives by the Life of Jesus Christ.
The American believer wants a religious plan he can operate that will bring
Him what he desires. Jesus becomes a means to his ends.. God desires that we
wait on Him for all that we are, do, and desire.
When we seek to make the Lord Jesus the means to our ends we have not made
Jesus our Lord.
Until the Lord Jesus Christ has total control of our memories, our desires,
and our moral convictions, we are not living as we should in the rest of
God. Let each of us pray to this end.
The end of the striving of the Christian religionist is self-aggrandizement.
The end of the striving of the Christian saint is untroubled rest in the
Persons of Christ and the Father.
God opens His hand and satisfies the desires of every living thing.
Therefore it is of the greatest importance that our desires originate in
Christ.
The wise saints is occupied with the future, not the past. His treasures are
in Heaven.
The Lord does not want us to enter intense conflict with Satan. God's power
and wisdom are so much greater than those of Satan that we can rest in God
in every area of our life.
The humanist puts people first and God second. The saint puts God first and
people second.
The greatest treasure we will ever put in Heaven is enduring relationships.
Let us be kind to people. When someone has been dependent on us passes away,
what piercing remorse will be ours if we have been cruel and selfish.
People who do not serve the Lord Jesus Christ forsake their own mercy. It is
beyond me how they get through life at all!
Whether or not the murderer is found guilty and punished on earth, his
victim will accuse him before the Court of Heaven when he passes into the
spirit world.
Unless we make things right, as the Lord enables us, those whom we have
injured will bring us before the Court of Heaven when we enter the spirit
world.
Sin is a shortcut to the fulfillment of our desires.
All sons of God are tempted in the same way: with material survival, with
the temptation to worship Satan in order to gain our desires, and with
self-will and presumption.
The most terrifying of all sins is self-will, because it separates us from
the Presence of God.
The Lake of Fire was prepared for Satan and his angels. People who are
placed there have chosen to be like Satan, that is, to do their own will
instead of God's.
The truly horrible aspect of the Lake of Fire is that it separates us from
God and His program of redemption.
No person can serve God and his own will.
The problem with a religious code or program devised by humans, is that it
invites us to look to its requirements instead of to the Lord Jesus at each
moment.
A statement of faith is a theological position. True faith is a matter of
walking with God and trusting Him for all things in all areas of our life.
It appears to me that organized religion often is a cage of demons. True
salvation is found in individuals who walk humbly with the Lord Jesus.
It is easy to limit the Holy One of Israel. We have to keep stretching our
mind if we are to grasp that all things are possible with God.
Being a member or leader of a Christian institution is not always evidence
that the individual is known to Jesus.
Life really is so simple! Each person on earth has been redeemed by the
blood of Jesus. It remains only for the individual to let go and let God
have His wonderful way.
Why are people so afraid or unwilling to let God control their lives as He
will? Surely this fear and rebellion comes from Satan. Given the goodness of
God such resistance is unreasonable.
The baby gods are peeping and chirping today. But in the future they will be
placed on the highest thrones, but only if Jesus is totally Lord of their
lives.
Remorse can result in agony for the conscientious person. He is wise when he
guards his behavior so that some point in time he is not subjected to
intense remorse.
We have two purposes for being on the earth. One is to perform God's will,
to accomplish His goals. The other is to be changed in character into the
image of God. When neither of these is being accomplished, we might as well
die.
After thinking about the events of history, plus the condition of the world
today, if we cannot conclude that Satan's ways are totally destructive of
love, joy, and peace we certainly are lacking in intelligence.
Whoever looks about him and says, there is no God, is a fool—whatever else
may be said of him.
If every American Christian had conducted his or her life in the Presence of
Christ, numerous Arabs would be Christians and there would be no terrorism.
When Israel forsook the Lord, God raised up enemies against them. This is
what is happening in America today, and no amount of political maneuvering
will save us.
America, England, and other Western nations have forsaken the Lord.
Therefore, the power of the world will be transferred to the countries of
the East.
The United States, once the strongest nation on earth, will soon be brought
down to weakness because of the prevailing immorality.
We Americans have failed to bring the testimony of Christ-filled righteous
behavior to the Arab people. Having thus been deprived of eternal life, they
are rising up against us.
We American Christian have not borne the fruit of righteous behavior.
Therefore, men shall burn us as the dead branches we are.
Many of our governmental leaders of both parties are corrupt because we
Christians have not borne the fruit of righteous conduct.
We are looking for a "rapture" out of trouble when God is looking for
righteous behavior.
We may wish to escape trouble by fleeing in a "rapture," but it is God's
intention to set a table before us, and for us to govern, in the midst of
our enemies.
Many "love affairs" are little more than an attraction between physical
bodies. Genuine, lasting love for another person must come from God.
The marvelous aspect of eternal life is that it is "life"—the Life of Jesus!
Living forever in our adamic nature might not be desirable!
We Christians desire revival. God has no problem with granting revival. His
problem is that we don't listen to Christ. We are determined to build the
Kingdom of God but don't really know what Christ wants. We should be seeking
Christ rather than revival.
The righteous always are with God. The wicked always go to their own place.
This is true whether or not the individual has made a profession of Christ.
However, each person must accept the lordship of Christ when Christ is
presented to him.
The emphasis today is on Christ as Savior. There is not nearly enough
emphasis on Christ as Lord.
What shall we teach the people of the saved nations? That Christ redeemed
them with His blood; that they are to live righteously, be merciful, and
walk humbly with God; that they are invited to come up to Zion to receive
Divine Life as often as they wish.
Throughout eternity the Spirit of God and the members of the Church will cry
to the saved people of the nations: "Come and drink of the Life of God
without charge."
The members of the Church, the royal priesthood, will for eternity govern
and bring the blessings of God to the peoples of the earth whom God has
brought into His Kingdom.
The Kingdom of God includes the rulers, the members of the royal priesthood,
and also those whom God has given to them for their inheritance.
The Father has given Christ the nations and the farthest reaches of the
earth for His possession. We are coheirs with Him.
God can do something wonderful with a faithful person. But what can God or
anyone else do with someone who is not faithful?
I think God has given us the weaknesses and afflictions of old age in order
to wean us from the life of flesh and blood, so we are prepared to enter the
true life of the next world.
Even after we receive Christ we still are in the image of Satan, until we
walk with Jesus long enough for Him to begin to make us into the image of
God.
The image of God is love, joy, and peace. How wonderful it is as we through
Christ are made into a new creation in the image of God!
The fruit of abiding in Christ is a new creation, a personality formed in
the image of God and rest in the center of God's Person and will.
"Put me to sleep in your will. Then wake me at the place and time of Your
choosing to a day completely choreographed in detail according to Your will
and desires."
There can be attractions at first sight. However, love is formed as two
people together experience the various pains and joys of life.
Various roles in the Kingdom are being designated in the present hour; but
the primary emphasis is on the teaching and testing of those who are to be
the eternal rulers.
Two special events have been reserved for the end-time. One is the full
development of Christ in the saints. The other is bearing of the greatest
witness of the Kingdom of God ever given on the earth.
I have asked the Lord to take all lies out of my personality for eternity.
King David's life after the episode of Bathsheba shows how punishment
continues after the sin has been removed, and also how completely God
restores the testimony of His servants.
An example of the Lord leading a man into temptation may be found in Second
Samuel, 24:1. "The anger of the Lord burned against Israel and He incited
David against them."
One fully committed, experienced saint exercises more power in driving back
the enemy than ten thousand believers of less commitment. The reason is,
spiritual battles are fought by righteousness, holiness, and obedience to
God rather than by numbers of people.
To have the righteousness of God is first, to have Christ's own
righteousness assigned to us; second, to have Christ conceived and formed in
us until our behavior is righteous because the righteousness of His
personality has been created in us. It is the second aspect that is the
Kingdom of God.
Forgiveness make possible the work of redemption. Redemption is the program
of producing a new creation by forming Christ in the human personality.
The temptation to put bread before the Word of God is placed before every
child of God.
The temptation to revel in the excesses of the world, thus to worship Satan,
is placed before every child of God.
The temptation to presumption, to "step out in faith" in God's Word without
hearing from the Lord, is placed before every child of God.
Christ builds His Kingdom through wholly obedient believers. The efforts of
religious people to build for Christ result in disobedience and hostility
toward Christ.
Only one life. It will be soon be past. Only what is wrought by Christ
Himself working through us will last.
The self-willed believer will always seek to destroy the Christian who waits
on the Lord continually.
I think I am hearing from the Lord that the casual Christians in America are
facing a dreadful future.
God always answers prayer issued in Jesus' name. Sometimes the answer does
not come for a while, or ain a better form than we asked.
Two thousand years ago the Apostle Paul said the Gospel is a mystery, and
that it is in Christ in us. Yet we still are talking about Christ coming and
being with us.
There are two aspects of Christ being in us. One is the forming of Christ in
us. The other is the coming of Christ Himself to dwell in that which has
been formed in us.
There is a righteousness by identification with Christ, and righteous
behavior created in us as Christ is formed in our personality.
Self-willed believers will always attack those who are waiting on the Lord.
We now are in the days of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound. When
he does sound, Christ will return as King of all kings.
It is not God's will that an individual come to God for forgiveness, and
then not press forward into the lordship of Christ.
The real world is not the present life, the world into which we will pass
when we die. The significance of the present life is that our decisions and
conduct here affect the condition in which we will find ourselves in the
next world.
The strongest most heavily muscled man who ever walked the earth is as a
fragile butterfly, compared with the strength of creatures in the spirit
world.
God is not requiring of us that we save the world. He asks only that we live
righteously, be merciful, and walk humbly with Him. "Be still and know that
I am God!"
The people who have seen the spirit world say it is a marvelous environment,
beautiful beyond description. But if our conscience is not clear toward God,
and those we love are not with us, the splendor of the spirit world will not
satisfy.
Many times what we thought was God's will for us, actually was the product
of romanticism, eroticism, or other unclean desires or pressures that dwell
in our personality. It was not God at all!
We can observe the devoutness of the adherents of the Muslim, Buddhist,
Hindu and other religions. If these people die, never having "heard" the
Gospel, they will be given a chance in the spirit world to receive Christ as
their Lord, and thus be given to eat of Him, of the only Tree of Life. When
the arrogant, self-centered Christian dies, he will discover that the Lord
Jesus has no fellowship with his personality even though his doctrines may
be theologically sound.
In Evangelical thinking, a righteous, humble personality is of little
significance. What matters is theological correctness. This viewpoint is not
of God!
The screams of the fetuses being aborted are not heard by anyone except God.
If all the money spent for implements of warfare by the nations of the earth
was used to produce food and shelter, would there be any needy people in the
world?
It dishonors God when Christian ministers beg for money. There may be
occasions when the Lord Jesus directs a minister to make known the financial
needs of his work.
Words always are coming from God's mouth. Can you hear what He is saying to
you right now?
Nature does not seem to care whether or not we have a happy marriage. Nature
is desirous that children be born so the race may be perpetuated.
It is common in America today to refer to sexual activity as love. It is not
love. It is a response to glandular urges to proceed from nature's desire to
perpetuate the human race.
The true issue in the abortion debate is whether the developing fetus is or
is not a human being. If it is a human being, then it should be murdered
only in the most dire circumstance.
When we begin to trust money for our security and survival we no longer can
hear the words that are coming to us from God's mouth.
The more acquainted we become with the objective God, instead of the
subjective god of our desires, the better equipped we are to handle pain,
disappointment, and trouble.
One of the indications of the presence of Satan in American thinking is the
lessening of the severity of sentences handed down by the criminal justice
system.
I have learned during my lifetime on the earth to look to Christ for every
matter, great and small. I have made mistakes when I assumed something was
true and did not ask the Lord.
If you hope to be in the army that returns with Christ to install the
Kingdom on the earth, then learn to pray about every step you take.
The most important thing in the universe is to do God's will diligently and
promptly. No other aspect of our behavior is as important.
It may be noted that Adam and Eve, when they found out they were naked,
repented, and sought to cover themselves.
It appears that when we eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
which is Christ Himself, we receive the knowledge of what is right and
wrong, and also the desire and power to do what is right.
To inherit the Kingdom of God is to be given the desire and power to do
God's will; to be given eternal life; and to inherit all the things God is
making new in Christ.
We have to be born again if we are to inherit the Kingdom of God, because
the only way in which we can be given the righteousness and life of the
Kingdom of God is as Christ is formed in us.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the Kingdom of God. To inherit the Kingdom
is to have Christ formed in us.
We may think God is nice, and may want God to be nice. But God is not always
nice, as we view niceness.
It is likely that most American Christians do not have the faith that will
be required to be changed from mortality into immortality at the appearing
of Christ. This is why the admonition to "remember Lot's wife," and not look
back in fear.
Like Adam and Eve, each of us comes into the world in a shameful condition.
Like Adam and Eve, this was not our choice. God brings us to Christ,
forgives our sins, gives us eternal life, and shows us where we are naked
spiritually. He then provides the body and blood of Christ so we can develop
a righteous personality.
As we grow in Christ, we become very cautious about accepting any new
spiritual understanding or experience. However, we do not close our mind and
spirit to additional grace, we are just cautious. Otherwise we could not
reach a new level in the Lord.
Adam and Eve were in a shameful condition, but were without condemnation
because we do not become responsible for our sins until they are made known
to us.
The reason Christian people are led astray so easily is that they are lambs.
The mature sheep know the Shepherd's voice.
To preserve our adamic nature is to continue in the miseries of life on
earth. Far better to pay attention to the development of Christ in us, thus
to enter love, joy, and peace.
King Solomon received 666 talents of gold. The statue made by King
Nebuchadnezzar was fashioned from gold. The Antichrist spirit is that of the
world system and its money. The love of money can destroy your fellowship
with God!
God has a choice. He can lead us into temptation, or He can deliver us from
Satan. We always must pray for the latter, if this is what we truly desire.
Some believers are perfected as they continue preaching the Gospel. Other
believers are prepared for the Kingdom throughout their life, although they
have no public ministry.
God always remains in control of the world. He permits wickedness to run its
course because God is using it to accomplish His own purposes in His elect.
Accept Christ, be saved by grace, go to Heaven—it does not really matter how
you live. What a travesty of a covenant that was given to us so we might be
more righteous in behavior than were the Israelites!
I don't know what kind of trouble you have had in your life. But I do know
one thing: God is good. He is righteous, faithful, loving, and merciful.
Here is my testimony: Wherever I am, there Jesus is Lord and always is
welcome.
To not always be rejoicing and doing God's will diligently is unthinkable.
This life is given to us so we can make our mistakes and learn from them.
There is no problem with making a mistake, provided we make things right and
learn from it.
God makes one person unto honor and another unto dishonor. From the human
perspective, this is not fair. However, it is righteous because God is the
Potter. Can a potter do as he pleases with the clay?
The human emphasis on fairness does not take into account the fact that God,
who has created us, can do with us as He will. His ways are past finding
out, so we are unable to judge whether God is being fair.
God is not bound by our judgment of what is fair. God gives to those who
already have, and removes from those who have not even what they have. This
is God's doing, and it should be marvelous in our eyes.
When human beings attempt to judge whether or not God is acting fairly, they
are holding Him to a standard which they themselves have created. However,
God Himself is the only valid standard of fairness.
An action is not righteous because we judge it to be righteous but because
God judges it to be righteous. Our rebellious nature may have a difficult
time accepting this!
If you believe God has treated you unfairly, humble yourself. Ask God to
forgive your rebellion. Tell Him you choose to live cheerfully in His will.
"Fair" occurs when every human being is given the same opportunity and the
same gifts. The Kingdom of God is righteous, but it is not "fair" in the
human sense.
If we rebel against the truth that God is righteous no matter how we are
treated, we are rebellious in our heart.
If we insist on holding God to our standard of fairness, we are rebellious
in our heart. We need to get used to living in a kingdom governed by a
Monarch with absolute authority and power. The Kingdom of God is not a
democracy!
Whatever God does is righteous. It is righteous because God does it. He
alone determines what is righteous.
We cannot obtain spiritual rest until we cooperate with God in the
beginning, working out, and completing of our redemption. We have to pray to
Christ continually for such to occur.
If we keep looking to Christ, God not only begins our redemption, He
completes and perfects every aspect of it.
In order to properly obey the many commands given to us in the New Testament
writings, we have to pray that the Spirit of God will give us the necessary
wisdom and strength to do what is written.
Worldly, casual believers imagine they are going to be with Christ and His
saints, when they die, because they profess faith in Christ. I believe they
are mistaken.
The fate of those who profess faith in Jesus Christ but do not live a godly
life is horrible—terrifying beyond description!
Life on earth is mostly a time of sowing. Make sure you are sowing what you
want to reap in the ages to come.
The only manner by which a person can imitate the life of Jesus Christ is by
living as close to Christ as Christ always lives to the Father.
Get used to the crowd you enjoy being with now. You are going to be with
them for a long, long time, whether or not you profess faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ.
What is so difficult about doing God's perfect will? It is a lie that says
we cannot do God's will!
Why don't you stop planning your own life and ask Christ what He wants you
to do?
The only thing that matters in this world or in any other world is to obey
Christ in every detail of what we are and what we do.
Don't hold anything too tightly lest it be an idol and cause you to disobey
Christ.
We are drawn to Christ by the Father in order that we may learn to do the
will of Christ at every moment.
Until we learn total obedience to Christ, we are not fit to be part of the
Kingdom of God in this world, or in the spirit world, or on the new earth.
Many people are busy laboring to build the Kingdom of God. Christ desires
that we cease our own works and listen to Him.
We do not have to flirt with Christ in order to please Him. We need just to
do what He says.
The Christian churches are not social agencies. They are places where God is
to be worshiped; where the believers can grow to maturity, and where people
can find God.
I am looking forward to dying physically and awakening in Happyland, where
my treasures are. Are you?
The Christian plan of salvation is not designed to save our life. It is
designed to crucify our life so we may be born again in the Life of Jesus
Christ.
The Christian redemption is neither a philosophy nor a religion. It is the
supplanting of the first human personality with a second personality, which
is of Christ and from the God of Heaven.
Do you need wisdom for any decision? Why don't you ask God? He loves to give
us wisdom!
If you are not being forced to act, and you are not sure what to do, then do
not decide to gamble and then act blindly.
Do not gamble unless you have to. If you are forced to gamble, then pray
that God will guide you.
It appears we are at the beginning of a very lengthy process of creating man
in the image of Jesus Christ. The eternal rulers are the first to be thus
developed.
The terrific struggle to overcome sin and self-rule that exists in the
present hour is temporary. When the eternal rulers have been created, the
remainder of the creation. will be released into its normal state of play.
The current overemphasis on grace prevents the forming of overcomers, whose
destiny is to govern the works of God's hands for eternity.
The darker spiritually the world becomes, the more brightly will shine those
who are walking with Jesus.
Christian parents need to understand that cell phones and Internet sites are
being used by Satan to teach young people the ways of the world spirit.
Being totally involved in all the practices of one's religion is not the
same as walking humbly with Jesus.
For sixty-one years I have found the Bible to be true to life and the world
spirit to be one colossal lie.
In many instances high-school proms in America are sinful mating dances.
Christian young people should not be participants in these.
Holiness has to do with how we relate to God. Righteousness has to do with
how we relate to people.
Holiness is the absence of unclean spirits. God is holy because there is no
spiritual uncleanness in Him.
All Christians are termed "saints," that is, "holy ones." They are to follow
the Holy Spirit as the Spirit helps them purify themselves from that which
is unclean spiritually.
Without holiness no person shall see the Lord. It is only the pure in heart
who can see the Lord.
Every Christian is to follow Christ until his or her thoughts, words, and
actions are pure in God's sight.
Holiness is our attitude and actions toward God. Righteousness is our
attitude and actions toward people.
The difference between the saints of God and the world is not in the realm
of righteous behavior, because the world believes in righteousness. It is in
the realm of spiritual cleanliness.
Righteous behavior has to do with our character: honesty, truthfulness,
faithfulness. Holiness has to do with what kind of spirits drive us and that
we entertain.
Christian character is formed by the development of Christ in us.
Holiness results from the Holy Spirit removing unholy spirits from us.
God does not forgive unholy spirits. He forgives people, but wages war
against the unholy spirits.
Our righteous behavior is for the world to see. Our holy personality and
behavior are for God to see.
The relationship between righteousness and holiness is that uncleanness in
our personality can cause us to behave unrighteously.
God demands more of His saints in the way of righteousness, holiness, and
obedience to Himself, than He does of those who are not of His elect. God
will go so far as to take the life of one of His elect if He is not pleased
with the individual.
To be holy is to be set apart to God for fellowship with Him, and for His
purposes in our life.
Adam and Eve were holy in their conscience, but not in their circumstances,
for they were in a shameful condition of nakedness.
As long as we are receiving and obeying Christ, our conscience is pure and
holy. Meanwhile, our personality and behavior are being made holy by the
removal of spiritual darkness.
God wants us holy in our conscience, our circumstances, our personality, and
our moral behavior. Our personality is our will and attitudes and the
choices we make. Our conscience is our sense of innocence or guilt. Our
circumstances are the situation in which we find ourselves, including the
people we choose to be involved with. Our moral behavior has to do with the
spiritual cleanliness of our actions, including the care we take of our
body.
If we follow Christ diligently at all times He will keep on perfecting us in
our will and attitudes, conscience, circumstances and moral behavior.
God says, "Be holy for I am holy." God does not adhere to an external
standard of holiness. Holiness is what God Himself is.
The actions of Rahab and the Egyptian midwives were holy when they were
lying, because what they were doing was approved of God.
The fact that Jesus Christ is our holiness does not mean we are holy because
we profess belief in Him, but because He Himself is what holiness is. The
more we possess of Him, the more holiness we possess.
Holiness exists in degrees. There are that which is holy, more holy, and
most holy. Holiness may be thought of as concentric circles radiating from
God's Person.
When the believer who misapplies "grace" is convicted of sin, he says to
himself, "I am saved by grace and God does not see my sin." Therefore he
does not ask help from the Lord in gaining victory over sin.
The believer who misapplies "grace" does not grow in the ability to judge
between good and evil, because his belief is that Divine grace does not
require that he grow in this knowledge. He remain a spiritual infant.
The believer who misapplies "grace" does not obey the Scripture in putting
to death the sinful deeds of his body, because he believes that since he is
saved by grace, sin no longer is an issue in his life. Thus he is in
deception.
The believer who misapplies "grace" does not grow in the strength needed to
embrace what is good and reject what is evil. Yet it is growth in this
strength that is true growth in Christ.
The Kingdom of God is a state of being one inherits when he cooperates with
the Spirit of God as Christ is formed in him and sin is driven from his
personality.
There is no sin in the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom of God is the
rule of God.
Our goal as Christian believers is not to go to Heaven to live forever, but
to inherit the Kingdom of God, the rule of God over our total personality.
Who will be called great in the Kingdom of God? Whoever practices and
teaches the commands of Christ.
The Amalekites cut off the stragglers as Israel went through the wilderness.
So it is today that Satan cuts off those who are straggling behind
Christ—the casual believers.
When things or money become more important than people, to a country or to
an individual, the culture of that nation or person has been destroyed.
God made the human body with all of its parts, therefore it is holy. But
there are unholy spirits that live in our flesh.
God has left us in our flesh, having unholy bondages. It is God's hope that
through Christ we may be able to purify ourselves from these bondages.
When we receive Christ it is as though someone gave us a grand piano. There
are believers who immediately learn to play spiritual chopsticks, so to
speak, and at the end of their life are still playing chopsticks.
The righteousness Christ gained by keeping the Law He ascribes to us who
receive and obey Him continually. It is as though we have kept the Ten
Commandments perfectly.
We do not "accept" Christ. It is Christ who "accepts" us as we receive and
obey Him continually.
Understanding the truth about the Lordship of Jesus Christ will not save
you. It doesn't save the demons!
One time God told David to attack the Philistines frontally. On another
occasion, God told David to circle around them. It is the custom of
religious organizations to hear God once and then forever do the same thing.
It appears that forever religious organizations are attempting to bring the
Glory of God by some device, plan, or institution. However, the only manner
in which the Glory of God can be transported is on the shoulders of
prepared, holy people.
It seems that religious organizations always have their hands on the Glory
of God, attempting to steady and direct it. The result of not letting God do
His wonderful works in His own wonderful ways is spiritual death.
People believe they can enter and remain in the Kingdom of God by
"accepting" Christ, even they do not obey Him in every detail of life. They
are mistaken!
No individual, whether Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, atheist, can
remain in the Kingdom of God if he or she doe not obey Jesus Christ in every
detail of life.
The greatest gift God can give any person is a spirit of obedience to God.
It is worth asking for.
Throughout eternity we must think first of Christ's needs and desires. Only
then are we related correctly to our Creator.
Two aspects of the Kingdom of God have been lost to the Christian churches:
the doctrine of the bodily resurrection of the saints; and the Lordship of
Jesus Christ. Today we teach that the Lord Jesus saves us so we can go to
Heaven, not so we can obey Him on the earth.
To be in the image of God is to have the same moral character as God; but
also to reflect in our thinking, speaking, and doing, the present activities
of God.
The dead in Christ will rise at His coming. To be "in Christ" is infinitely
more than "accepting Christ. It is that level of consecration described by
the Apostle Paul in the third chapter of Philippians.
When a Christian sins knowingly, such as by lying or not forgiving someone,
he or she is not "in Christ" at that point.
If we will receive Christ, God will forgive our sins and enable us through
Christ to live a new life of victory over sin.
The soul that sins shall die. This is true even for a Christian, except as
he, through Jesus Christ, confesses his sin and turn away from it.
God desires that each one of us, after having been forgiven our sins and
filled with the Spirit, spend. the rest of our days pressing forward that we
might gain the Fullness of God in Christ.
When a Christian choose to continue to sin, not confessing and turning from
his sin, he is choosing to remove himself from the Vine. He no longer is "in
Christ."
We ought always to be thanking and praising the Lord in the worst as well as
in the best of circumstances. There always are so many things to be thankful
for!
Righteous behavior will be enforced in the new world, the eternal world that
is coming, by people who have been trained, trained, trained continually by
the Spirit of God.
Many a righteous person would be drawn to Christ if it were not for the
behavior of immature members of God's royal priesthood.
Each of us is walking in a minefield. We are well advised to look to the
Lord every time we put our foot down.
I don't know how the Lord Jesus got down from the pinnacle of the Temple of
Herod. But I do know He would be sitting there yet if God had not directed
Him to get down.
You might as well, when you have been brought to the pinnacle of the temple,
make yourself as comfortable as you can. It may be some while before Christ
opens the door of your prison.
God delights in righteous behavior. People delight in religion. Sometimes
righteous behavior and religion are not related.
There does come an end of suffering, turmoil, and hard service and bondage.
There does come a beginning of a wonderful new world of love, joy, and peace
governed with the scepter of righteousness.
Large numbers of believers may gather together in order to bring about
revival. But lasting revival comes when one person chooses to build up the
wall and stand before God in the gap on behalf of the land.
Do not wait until you are old before you consecrate your life to Christ. He
does not like to eat leftovers.
There are two phases of the image of God. One is God's Character, revealed
by His righteous decisions. The other is God's Presence, as the saint
reveals God's thoughts, words, and actions at the current moment.
God's goal for us as individuals is that we might become the ark of the
covenant, bearing upon ourselves the Glory of God.
Because we are being made the ark of the covenant, we must live in continual
dependence on God; we must occupy the place in the royal priesthood God has
chosen for us; and we must live in iron righteousness of character.
It is better to inherit one person than ten thousand heavens. This is the
love of Christ that passes understanding.
It is God's will that every saved person be, as the Lord Jesus is, the exact
representation of God's being, that God may be All and in all. This requires
that all spiritual darkness be driven from the creation.
Before God is finished working, all spiritual darkness will be removed from
the Presence of God and His people and confined for eternity. There is no
authority or power that can prevent the eternal confining of wickedness.
The song says, "It's a Wonderful World." It is not. It is a cesspool. But
there is a wonderful world coming for those who fear God and behave
righteously.
The time has arrived when all spiritual darkness is to be driven from the
creation. This removal is beginning with those who are living close to the
Lord.
The purpose of the wall of the new Jerusalem is to prevent spiritual
darkness from coming into the Presence of God and His saints.
Wherever a member of the royal priesthood goes in the creation, in the ages
to come, the wall of the new Jerusalem will surround him and prevent
spiritual darkness from harming him.
Accepting Christ should be the receiving of a Person with whom we should be
interacting continually; not the taking of a theological position.
The incident concerning Aaron's rod that budded teaches us that rank and
position in the royal priesthood is determined by the Lord and not our
ambition.
The memorial jar of manna placed in the Ark of the Covenant teaches us that
those in the image of Christ live by continual dependence on every word that
comes from the mouth of God.
The Ten Commandments placed in the Ark of the Covenant teach us that those
who are in the image of Christ have had formed in them the iron
righteousness of God's eternal moral law.
God looks for faithfulness, truth, and justice. What does religion offer Him
in their place? Religious activities and incantations, or doctrines that put
theological professions ahead of righteous behavior.
It is better to obey God than to be doctrinally correct
An honest and good heart is more acceptable to God than any religious
profession or activity.
God would prefer the company of an atheist with integrity than a Christian
who is deceitful and a conniver. God can reveal Himself to the atheist; but
what can He with the treacherous Christian, of whom there is a multitude?
There are many non-Christians who are honorable and have integrity. There
are many Christians who are treacherous connivers and liars. God prefers the
former. He has no fellowship with dishonest people.
We cannot enter the Kingdom of God by behaving righteously and resisting
Christ. We cannot enter the Kingdom of God by professing faith in Christ and
behaving wickedly.
God saves stupid people as well as the brilliant; poor people as well as the
rich; ugly people as well as the beautiful; ill-mannered people as well as
the gracious.
Try not to judge people before you know them well.
The Lord Jesus says, "Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me. I
will give you love, joy, and peace." The world says, "take whatever you
want, betray those who depend on you, and resist Christ. I will give you
hatred, misery, and confusion."
My discipline. Any form of government that has integrity, justice, and
mercy, is acceptable. Any form of government, including democracy, that
lacks integrity, justice, and compassion, is unacceptable.
"O God, grant that today I do Your perfect will, and that you remove the
blemishes in my personality. In Jesus name, amen."
The only certain proof that we are being saved is that our behavior is
changing wickedness to righteousness.
It must be true that the process of changing our behavior from wickedness to
righteousness continues after we die. Otherwise, who could the Bride of the
Lamb come to perfection?
If the Bride of the Lamb is to be spotless only by imputed righteousness,
the Lamb will have a bride who is not desirable to Him.
If Christians are to be changed in character by some sudden Divine act, what
does the expression mean, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling"?
We always must keep in mind that God continually is evaluating our
responses. What He finds in our heart will determine our place and role in
the world to come.
It is God's desire to make man in His image. It is man's desire to make God
in man's image.
From the little I know of the history of Christianity, it appears—and it is
true today—that. professing faith in Christ has not improved the character
of people. There are exceptions.
I have met Christian ministers who are treacherous, self-serving, having
little integrity. How can this be?
In the Kingdom of God that is coming to the earth, the rulers will not be
treacherous, self-serving, dishonest people. Rather, they will be those who
have been trained by the Lord Jesus to have a servant's heart.
Since no sinful behavior of any kind is permitted in the Kingdom of God, it
will be a long time before the Kingdom is established fully.
The current Evangelical doctrine that any effort we make to please God,
other than believing the facts about Jesus Christ, is legalism, an attempt
to earn salvation, is a destructive doctrine worthy of the cunning of Satan.
If the current Evangelical doctrine is correct in claiming that any effort
we make to please God is filthy rags, why, then, are the New Testament
writings filled with exhortations to godly living?
The good works Christians must do are not an attempt to earn salvation; they
are the necessary fruit of salvation.
The reason the various formulas for Christian success being advanced today
are not of eternal value in the Kingdom of God is that they do not depend on
the guidance of the Spirit of God for their implementation.
An assembly of Christian believers, in which there is a considerable amount
of bitterness and division, is lost to the Kingdom purposes of God. It
probably should be disbanded, unless God shows the prayer warriors
differently.
The purpose of putting to death the actions of our sinful nature is that we
may do God's will in every circumstance; that we may reveal God's image;
that we may have fellowship with God, and that we may enter eternal love,
joy, and peace.
A gentle and quiet spirit is of great value in the sight of the Lord. How
many of God's people are boisterous and self-driven?
The Jews were promised that in Canaan the rocks were iron and they could dig
copper from the hills. So it is true that in Christ we can gain all the
material we need to build the Kingdom of God.
It increasingly is clear to me that we are entering a new phase of
redemption, in which the promise of the image of God will be fulfilled in
us.
The outpourings of God's Spirit of the past have brought repentance,
salvation, healing, the gifts of the Spirit. The revival that has commenced
will eternally transform people into the image of Christ, and bring them
into untroubled rest in the center of God's Person and will.
Individuals in times past have entered the fullness of God. Now it appears
it is time for a large number of God's people to enter His image and His
perfect will.
In the early days of my ministry I emphasized reckoning oneself dead. It is
seems that today we are entering something larger and deeper, that includes
counting ourselves dead and alive in Christ, and also the attaining to the
fullness of God's image and will.
There are times when God moves in specific areas of redemption. There are
seasons of opportunity during which we can press into the fullness of God's
image and will. Today is one such period.
Money is the power of the Antichrist world system. People believe if they
have enough money they can control their circumstances. They are horribly
mistaken.
In the present world, money is worshiped as god in the belief that if one
has enough money he can buy health, security, and pleasure. The truth is,
only Christ can provide an individual with money, security, and pleasure.
God is making every member of His royal priesthood in His image, so they can
bring His Presence and His way to mankind. Thus they are a covenant between
God and people.
The Christian Church has the awesome role and responsibility of being the
firstfruits of mankind unto God, the place of His Presence with all people.
Whoever will receive and assist the servants of Christ will enter God's
Kingdom and receive eternal life. These helpers are the Lord's sheep.
The Lord's servants are His brothers. Whoever helps them as they pursue
their discipleship and ministry will be rewarded by the Lord and enter
eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
The Lord Jesus wants us always to be with Him where He is. This cannot be
the case as long as we persist in our own ways.
When God sees a man who has a good, honest heart, He keeps him from
temptation. He gives him peace. He delivers him from the enemy.
When God sees a man who chooses evil, who desires evil, He sends an
abundance of evil on him.
When God sees a person who enjoys evil, desires evil, God sends delusion
upon him and an abundance of evil. He refused to love the truth and thus be
saved.
"Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong. Let him who does right
continue to do right." Make straight the way of the Lord!
The shaking that has begun will continue until it spreads to the highest
heaven. God wants to know who has a righteous and obedient heart.
God does not harden an honest and good heart. Those who do not love
righteousness and hate wickedness, God sometimes hardens. He regards them
unworthy of His Kingdom and of truth.
The current teaching is that no one is worthy except Christ. But in many
passages in the New Testament we find that we must prove ourselves worthy of
the Kingdom of God.
Perhaps the greatest error made by religions, and it certainly is true of
the Christian religion, that God cares more for doctrinal correctness and
religious activities than He does for integrity.
Christ looks here and there for a believer who has a faithful heart; who
loves and practices sincerity and truth. When He finds one, He is
exceedingly joyous.
It is true that we do not earn salvation by behaving righteously. It is true
also that we save ourselves and our loved ones by our faithfulness and
obedience to God.
It is a horrible, destructive doctrine that teaches our behavior and the
decisions we make are not related to our redemption or our rewards. This
evil concept has perverted the Gospel of the Kingdom.
Satan says "Believe only and you will go to Heaven." Jesus Christ says "Deny
yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me." Are you able to perceive
clearly the lie the first statement is?
God sends strong delusion upon people who choose to believe that genuine
salvation does not require a change in our behavior.
Have you noticed the incongruity of Christian belief when we say that Christ
taught us if we keep His commandments we show our love for Him; and then we
say, if we believe in Jesus Christ we do not need to keep His commandments?
I think that after we die we will find that evil leaders as well as the
righteous leaders will have their followings. Physical death may not bring
truth. It may be a long time before matters are straightened out.
The world we enter when we die may not be much different from what is true
now. The righteous may continue in their righteousness and the wicked may
continue in their wickedness, until the Day of Resurrection.
If we follow Christ afar off now, we will continue to do so after we die
physically. Physical death will not change what we are, or our relationship
with Jesus or other people.
The casual, lukewarm believers in Christ abound. It appears that intensely
consecrated believers are few in number.
It may be true that after death we will be able to view the impact of our
life on other people. Herein may lie a great part of our joy or our torment.
After we die, life and relationships may continue much as they are now,
although many mysteries may be resolved. This is not to say that the
righteous will not be in a more pleasing environment and the wicked in a
painful, troublesome environment.
Christ may be close to most of us. But we may not aware of His Presence nor
be able to hear His voice because we are so filled with our own motives and
activities.
If you are not pleased with the relationships and the circumstances your
have chosen, you might give thought to changing them now. Otherwise after
you die they may be with you for a very long time.
Eventually God opens His hand and gives us what we desire fervently. Those
who are wise will recognize this and guard their desires carefully.
The pressures of life may increase but surveillance and grace will increase
proportionately. The Lord Jesus will go before us throughout every detail if
we are faithful to Him and sternly obedient to God.
It appears that the current overemphasis on grace has to a great extent
obliterated the truth that whether or not we are a Christian, we certainly
shall reap what we are sowing.
If we desire to be righteous, we should tell God so. If we desire to be
wicked, we should tell God so. It is time to make straight the way of the
Lord.
The robe with which we shall be clothed in the Day of Resurrection will
contain the increments of personality we have developed during the present
lifetime.
The great Day of Atonement, of Reconciliation, has commenced. When it is
over, all who love sin will be incarcerated. There will be a new heaven and
a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.
The sin of the world has been forgiven by the atonement made on the cross of
Calvary. Now it is time to begin the removal of all sources of sin from the
creation.
People go from being attractive looking and strong to being helpless,
feeble, wizened, sometimes, toothless, sometimes incontinent individuals.
Their inner nature may be like this, or be a shining, young son of God.
In the Day of Resurrection people will be clothed with a body that looks
like what they are in character. The Lord Jesus appeared in His new body to
John as the Divine Lord, not as the bruised Person that hung on the cross of
Calvary.
In the Day of Resurrection it will not be true that a beautiful or handsome
body will clothe a bitter, deceitful inner personality. The individual will
be clothed with a body that resembles what he or she is on the inside.
If we believe that in the Day of Resurrection we will appear on the outside
the way we appear on the inside, we ought to do all in our power each day to
grow in the image of God.
The first chapter of the Book of Ezekiel portrays a Man in the image of God.
If we hope to look like that we better start becoming the image of God in
our inward nature now; for it is certain in the Day of Resurrection our
outer form will reveal our inner character.
I expect that the purpose of the period of time between the return of Christ
in the near future and the coming down of the new Jerusalem to earth in the
distant future is for the purpose of transforming immature believers into
the image of Christ, as revealed in the new Jerusalem.
The pressure of sexual lust is becoming so great that ministers, teachers,
and politicians are throwing away their careers in order to satisfy it. Only
in Christ is there sufficient power to overcome this satanic delusion, to
resist this pressure.
So powerful are the spirits that lust for unrestrained sexual behavior that
people are willing to relinquish their health in order to satisfy these
spirits.
A believer who permits himself or herself to be occupied with unrestricted
sexual activity is unlikely to be able to experience the Presence or hear
the voice of Jesus Christ.
The motivation to sin comes from wicked spirits, also from the self-will of
man. Sinful behavior can occur in the physical or the spirit world.
Everyone who sins is a participant with Satan. "He who sins is of the
devil."
The physical creation is God's response to the rebellion of the angels. By
placing Christ in the dust of the earth, God is judging wickedness and
teaching righteousness to all of His creatures.
When a nation's ways displease the Lord, He places women and children in
charge over them. Is this happening in America.
The real world is waiting for us as we endure our probationary trials on the
earth.
People in the real world are watching us as we confront our trials in the
earth. Are we setting a good example for them?
"Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth."
The revelation of God's eternal plan in Christ comes forth in the earth and
is heard also in Heaven.
The work of redemption in an individual continues and does not cease with
his "accepting Christ." It is he who endures to the end who shall be saved.
Are you and I becoming the word of God? God is forming Christ in us so that
we, the dust of the ground, will become His Word.
If you are practicing known sin, you have bowed the knee to Baal; you are
participating with Satan in his rebellion against God.
"O Lord, help me this day. I cannot do anything right unless You direct me."
"O Lord, remove from me every trace of desire that is not coming from You."
We continually are under the surveillance of unclean spirits. We must have
the protection and guidance of Christ at all times.
We never are to drink alcohol, or abandon ourselves to revelry, or do
anything else that prevents our keeping up our guard against evil. Otherwise
we surely will be deceived.
It is likely that our nation, because of the prevalence of sin, soon will
fall to a more disciplined culture. The American who is wise will establish
himself and his loved ones in the center of Christ's Person and will.
If we do not give all that we are, have, and do, to Jesus Christ, we indeed
are very foolish and shortsighted.
It may be a time for the United States of America to be pruned down to the
ground and then start over. There simply is too much wickedness taking place
in our nation.
When our country has been brought low, will we be among those who are able
to stand in Christ and help our neighbors survive and then restore some of
what has been destroyed?
"In my heart there rings a melody love." What we have now in Christ is but
the merest taste of the banquet that is to come.
Adam and Eve were placed on an earth that was incredibly beautiful in every
way. It was all one could desire. They lost it through disobedience.
If we were placed in a perfect paradise, we likely would lose it through
disobedience.
It would not do God or us any good to bring us to Paradise until our sinful
nature and self-centeredness have been healed.
Though we were placed in Paradise, if we have not learned perfect obedience
to the Lord Jesus Christ, Paradise soon would be removed from us.
The source of our frustrations and pain is not our environment, it is our
sinful, self-willed nature.
The purpose of the program of redemption is not primarily to restore
Paradise to us, it is to reconcile us to God in our character and behavior.
We are reconciled to God legally through the blood of the cross. But to
reconcile us to God in actuality requires a long, arduous struggle in which
faith in God's Character plays a central role.
Christ is close to me now, but I want Him to be closer yet. Is this true of
you?
My greatest desire is that Christ be in every detail of my life. Is this
true of you?
As members of the royal priesthood, anything we can do apart from Christ is
loss for Christ, for us, and for mankind.
God was with Adam and Eve but He was not in them. God desires to be not only
with us but also in us.
If we serve the Lord faithfully we will live forever in Heaven; but it will
be on the earth!
My body is getting ready for the big sleep; but my inner nature is alive
with the glorious expectation of entering the real world.
It is faith in the Character of God, not belief in a theological position,
that is the true faith of the Bible.
Sooner or later we must learn to live by every word that comes from the
mouth of God to us.
When we have the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, on the throne of our life, we
have the best of Heaven in us. Heaven has come to earth, and God's will is
being done here.
To be a victorious saint is to have overcome, through Christ, all that would
threaten our abiding in the center of God's Person and will, and being in
His image in our character.
The government that does not enforce morality, but yields to the public
clamor for unrestricted sexual activity, will be brought low. The
handwriting is on the wall for America!
My understanding is that when God begins to avenge Himself concerning the
treatment of His people by the Germans, it is possible Germany no longer
will be counted among the nations.
According to my understanding, England is no more. She has despised her
Christian heritage.
Israel will continue to be harassed until God raises up a prophet and turns
the Israelis toward dependence on their Lord and away from dependence on the
Gentile nations.
It is hoped that God will pour out His Spirit on the Arab people and they
will recognize their true Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
When we obey God our actions bring us love, joy, and peace. When we disobey
God, our actions bring us hatred, misery, and unrest. God is seeking our
good!
There were many wicked people in Job’s day, but God picked the righteous Job
to afflict with boils, and make an example of coming to know God through
suffering.
If you embrace righteousness and renounce wickedness firmly, your reward
will be to be afflicted like Job. But if you persevere with God, your end
will be quite nice.
Religion is man’s attempt to please God, and sometimes to use God for man’s
purposes or to accomplish something man feels God should do.
Salvation is God reaching down to make man in His image, and to teach him
obedience to God.
Can we ever grasp the thought that God has a plan and knows what He is doing
with each individual?
Religion attempts to coerce God to do what man believes God ought to do.
It appears the historic problem of religious people throughout the Christian
Era is they do not believe God is able to speak to us and direct us.
It is better for a person to be right in his heart and wrong in his doctrine
than to be right in his doctrine and wrong in his heart. It is helpful if we
can be right in both areas.
We are entering the period spoken of by the Father when He said to Christ,
"I will make Your enemies Your footstool." At last!
Each saint is an enlargement of Christ. Christ fights against Satan with the
sword of the Word of His mouth through the saints.
The Lord Jesus is not impressed with how great, famous, rich, or talented we
are or what we have accomplished. God can accomplish everything without us.
Christ just wants to know what kind of person we are.
To be great in the sight of men is of little worth. To be great in the sight
of God is of supreme worth.
There has been in the past, and shall continue to be eternally, an
opportunity for God’s creatures to rebel. Therefore the Bride of the Lamb is
a walled city, and God’s tested saints will govern the world in
righteousness.
Those who say there is no God are destroying their own hope, like an animal
fouling its own nest.
If God acted in irritation every time we acted in unbelief, we would be in a
fine mess!
What is this self-righteousness that Evangelicals scorn? Does God despise a
person’s effort to be honest, truthful, and faithful? It is no wonder our
nation is in such a moral mess!
The current misapplication of the grace of forgiveness has confused, and
sometimes destroyed, the basic struggle of the Kingdom of God, which is that
of righteousness against wickedness.
In America, at least, it is unwise for one who would be a victorious saint
to drink alcohol. Keen judgment is required at all times because of the
enemy.
What is it about religion that Satan finds such fertile ground there?
One does not always find common sense and integrity in the ministry. Why is
this, when a Christian ought to have sterling character?
Striving to be important or preeminent brings trouble and vexation of sprit.
Why should one pursue this?
In humility there is peace and quietness of spirit. These are of great
value.
How can the proponents of evolution accuse religious teachers of dogma, when
they themselves seek to hinder the teaching of intelligent design in the
public schools?
Until God plucks from people self-seeking and the desire for preeminence,
there can be no acceptable, satisfying social order.
If you are wondering who to blame for your problems, the first place to look
is in the mirror.
The gap between those who waiting to hear from Jesus, and those who are
attempting to use their gifts "to save a lost and dying world," is that
between the new Jerusalem and Babylon.
Heaven is not the house of God. The House of God is the Lord Jesus Christ,
the eternal Temple of God, and those who are an integral part of Him.
If our body is the Temple of the Spirit of God, then our soul and spirit are
also being made the Temple of God. Thus we are living stones in the eternal
Tabernacle of God.
To behave righteously, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God, is our
supreme goal. But we cannot do any of those correctly except as Christ is
formed in us.
If God’s ministers had preached less about the rapture and how to get rich,
and more about integrity, the judgment that is about to fall on the United
States possibly could have been avoided.
Christian leaders may have great plans for revival. But the Lord Jesus
Christ is looking for one person who will listen to Him and do what He says.
I am betting my life that there is a God and the Bible is true. I think a
person is a fool to gamble that there is no God and the Bible is not true.
What if he is wrong?
Every day of my life I become more convinced that there is a God and that
the Bible is His Word to us.
There is grace that enables us to live righteously and to work in the Lord’s
vineyard. Why, then, do we hear only of the grace of forgiveness?
I want God’s Presence to be on me so heavy at all times that I cannot so
much as think apart from God.
If the Bible is God’s Word, homosexual behavior is sin. If the Bible is not
God’s Word, then whatever pleases people is acceptable.
Everything in your life and mine that is not of God causes pain and
confusion. Let us pray earnestly that all such be removed immediately.
The error with the religious concept of heaven, as I see it, is that the
emphasis is on a transformed environment rather than transformed people.
Heavenly surroundings are worse than useless if they are not inhabited by
heavenly people. This is why the Bible emphasizes righteous behavior rather
than going to Heaven.
Mankind always is striving to make a better environment. God always is
striving to make better people.
Mankind is only too willing and ready to raise its fist against God!
Wars are problems with relationships. When the Lord Jesus returns He will
straighten out the problems with relationships and there won’t be any more
wars.
Satan desires to be loved. Therefore love for God and for our neighbor will
not be possible worldwide until Satan has been chained.
Here I am, eighty-two years old, and I am just now learning that I have no
life except Christ. For me to live is Christ.
The highest good is to love God with all of our heart, soul, strength, and
mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. This is not possible to the adamic
nature, but shall be true of every individual in the world to come.
We have to be redeemed from the hand of the enemy before we can love God
with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind, and our neighbor as ourselves.
Man is bound by circumstances, and at any given time has but a few choices.
Yet those few choices determine his eternal destiny.
Three factors cause people to sin: outside influences, including Satan; the
sin that dwells in their flesh; and their desire to act independently of
God’s will.
There is only one thing more important than loving God, and that is obeying
God.
It is well if we feel affection toward God, but it is absolutely essential
that we obey Him.
God does more than save us. He Himself is our salvation.
The righteous are chastened and afflicted many times. This is not true of
the wicked. They are left to pursue their own destruction.
I am thankful that the Lord has afflicted me throughout my life. It has
resulted in a discipline that has produced love, joy, and peace.
Until we have set aside our own life that Christ might live in us, we have
not fulfilled God’s will concerning us. We are not a child of God.
The purpose of salvation is to change us so that it is not we who are living
according to our original personality, but it is Christ who is living in us.
Satan has little to fear from Christian leaders getting together and drawing
up their plans. But when a believer kneels down and asks Christ to use him
as He will, Hell trembles.
When you care for your child more than for yourself, you are growing up.
When you care for someone else’s child more than for yourself, you really
are growing up!
You are thankful that your sins have been forgiven. But have you accepted
the rulership of Christ over your life?
The rule of the rod of iron means God is going to make everyone, even
Christians, obey His laws.
The world is like a school. A few people make great strides toward God. Most
make a little progress and will have to be taught about God and His ways
after they die.
Our Christian leaders act as though Christ has no plans. It appears they are
scheming instead of listening and obeying.
I think most people, including Christians, would prefer that God remain in
Heaven so they can pursue their own life without any Divine meddling.
The “grace” message tells us that being saved by grace means we do not have
to obey our King, the Lord Jesus Christ. It may prove to be the most
sophisticated of all rebellions against God.
Does our Creator have the right to interfere personally in our life and tell
us what we must do and what we cannot do. If not, why not?
Through His death, the Lord Jesus Christ saved us from spiritual death. Does
He have the right to be our King and tell us what we must do and what we
cannot do. If not, why not?
We show our love for Christ by keeping His commandments.
The love God requires is for us to choose to keep His commandments and to
treat others as we would have them treat us.
The only thing that really matters in life is how we treat God and other
people.
We American Christians view God as a kindly grandfather, instead of as the
dread Spirit who requires the shedding of blood in order to be appeased.
If you blame yourself for your problems you will be right more than half the
time.
If we do not obey Christ and His Apostles, we do not actually believe in
Christ. Obedience and faith cannot be separated.
When you say you are saved “by faith” do you mean you can disobey Christ and
His Apostles and still have fellowship with God? If so, you have been
deceived!
To be saved is to be prepared for citizenship in the new world of
righteousness which is to come.
What good does it do for us to be forgiven through the blood, and then not
be changed so we don’t sin again?
Matthew tells us that the day will come when God removes sin and sinners
from His Kingdom. That day has begun!
We have focused too much on being forgiven by the Lord, and not nearly
enough on obeying the Lord as our rightful King.
If we receive Christ as our Savior, but then do not receive Him as our King,
we have not been saved.
Forgiveness alone does not save us. We have to learn to be sternly obedient
to the King, Jesus Christ.
There are three imperatives in the Kingdom of God: iron righteousness, fiery
holiness, stern obedience to God.
There are not several paths to God, only one: Jesus Christ.
There are not several paths to eternal life, only one: Jesus Christ.
You can call it works, or Pharasaism, or legalism; but if you do not do what
Christ and His Apostles commanded you don’t love Him and you don’t believe
in Him.
The question is never one of power. God has all power. The issue is that of
truth, of righteousness, of obedience.
In the new world of righteousness, the Spirit of God will compel righteous
behavior. If an individual resists, he or she will be removed from society.
If the resistance is permanent, the removal will be permanent.
Homosexual behavior is the ultimate form of selfishness. Instead of bringing
new people into the world the focus is on our glandular lusts.
Under the Old Covenant we keep the commandments of God without the help of
the Holy Spirit. Under the New Covenant we keep the commandments of Christ
with the help of the Holy Spirit.
If Paradise is to be regained and maintained there can be no compromise
whatever with sin and self-will.
The greatest blessing any human being can receive is to be formed in the
image of the behavior and appearance of God, and then filled with the
fullness of God’s Person.
The ultimate expression of the Law of God occurs when the Father and the Son
through the Holy Spirit rule in the heart of the saint.
The difference between religion and God is that between school and life.
Mankind tends to defend and preserve the school and not learn to live the
life.
The Greeks did not try to understand Philip’s religion. They wanted to see
Jesus.
Religion can be a seductive trap that leads us away from a life lived in
close fellowship with Jesus.
You could read a commentary in which you examined every word in the Bible,
but you still might not find Jesus. Jesus is a Man, not a doctrine.
Jesus is the Word of God. The Bible is the Word of God. Jesus does not lead
us to the Bible, the Bible leads us to Jesus.
Mary did not say, “Where have you laid my Bible?” Mary asked, “Where did you
lay my Lord?”
You could memorize every word in the Bible and still not have one drop of
eternal life. Eternal Life is the body and blood of Christ.
We are given to eat pf the body and blood of Christ every time we choose to
behave righteously and turn away from to sin.
Being raised from the dead is the overcoming of the last enemy. Being caught
up to meet Jesus in the air is not an act of redemption, only a
demonstration of Kingdom power.
Meditate in the Scriptures every day. Then look up from the printed page
until you see the Lord Jesus.
Parties are for children. Fellowship is for believers to enjoy the Presence
of Christ together.
It appears that many people regard the ways of their religion as being more
important than the ways of God.
We have to be in God’s moral image in personality and behavior before we can
be fashioned in His outer likeness.
We have made the blood atonement the focus of redemption. It is not. It is
our means of having fellowship with God and obeying Christ as our King.
Salvation does not come as we keep on believing in the blood atonement.
Salvation comes as we learn to walk with the Lord Jesus Christ and obey Him
in every aspect of life.
Belief in the blood atonement is a means to an end. The end is to be part of
the eternal Temple of God.
When we believe in the blood atonement we are freed from the Law of Moses ,
but only as we follow the Spirit of God at all times.
Our membership in a Christian denomination does not have Kingdom
significance. But stern obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ is totally
significant.
A person who kills another person in the name of religion will be judged as
a murderer in the Day of Judgment. God does not accept this form of worship
or service.
Homosexual behavior may be accepted in the Western democracies; but it
always will bring Divine judgment on the participants.
If when you die you find yourself in a mansion, with no responsibilities,
and all you have to do is to “sing and shout and dance about,” you have not
gone to Heaven.
Life begins when we die. The present world is nothing more than a place of
testing and training.
Given that our present life than nothing more than preparation for true
life, we can see how terribly important it is that we are rightly related to
God through Christ, if at all possible.
We either will choose to live victoriously in Christ, or, if we are admitted
to the new world of righteousness, we will be governed by those who did!
Each superior prophet rebukes the prophet inferior to him, and the Lord
rebukes them all.
“Watch in prayer. Watch in prayer.” Again I say to you, “Watch carefully in
prayer!”
America is sliding down into a dungeon of moral chains. We are going to have
to live very close to Jesus if we are to survive spiritually.
People “accept Christ” so they won’t go to Hell. This hardly is what the
Scripture means by “eternal life.
Give all of yourself to Christ, and Christ will give all of Himself to you.
If you would go to Heaven, ask Christ to make you heavenly.
The two biggest questions of life are: “Is there a God?”; and, “Will I have
to answer for my behavior?” The answers are: “Yes”; and “Yes.”
We Americans have made an idol of the right of people to do as they please.
This is why God is raising up enemies who are determined to destroy our way
of life.
Christ already had died to make an atonement for your sins. The issue is,
will you accept Him as your Lord?
Practical jokes and senseless vandalism are the domain of demons. You will
not find these in Heaven. There is an abundance of humor, but no joking or
foolish behavior.
Placing one’s treasures in Heaven puts the individual in a position of great
strength. He or she now is invulnerable.
God does not choose the best people, rather He chooses whom He wishes and
then makes them the best people, for His own glory.
Divine grace is preached today as institutionalized disobedience to the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
If you enjoy Satan’s ways, such as sexual perversions and unnecessary
abortions, you may find yourself in Satan’s embrace for eternity.
The best form of government is a just, wise, compassionate king. Democratic
government is deeply flawed.
The saint does not use the scientific method for guiding his steps. Rather
he looks to the Lord Jesus for every decision.
Why are so many American people in love with Sodom? Are we hoping that the
fate of Sodom will be our fate also?
The romantic spirit in people is that of idolatry, looking for someone to
worship. There is a Divine romance.
Our new spiritual nature has not just been adopted by Jesus. It actually has
been born of God.
If you behave like Satan, you are satanic. If you behave like the demons,
you are demonic. If you behave in a heavenly manner, you are heavenly. This
all is true whether or not you have “accepted Christ.”
It is not a religious profession that determines whether you are a child of
God. It is your behavior.
Those who are born of God behave as God does. Those who are born of Satan
behave as Satan does.
There is no way anyone can come to the Father except through the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the Door whom God has chosen.
He who is walking with Jesus is walking with the Father. He who is not
walking with Jesus is not walking with the Father, whether or not he refers
to himself as a Christian.
In America the interaction of amassing money, sexual enticement, and the
lust for power produce frenzied activity. Our government is unwilling and
unable to do anything about it.
There are three activities, yes four, that never can be mastered: pastoring
a church; the practice of medicine; playing the piano; teaching the fifth
grade.
The best of us come short of God’s Glory. We limit the Holy One of Israel!
From the first verse in Genesis to the last verse in Revelation, the Bible
is the inspired Word of God. It is the one institution we can trust
completely.
The only way we can be saved is by practicing righteousness, loving mercy,
and walking humbly with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The only way we can gain eternal life is to eat Christ. He shows us how to
do this when we ask Him.
People are confused, but they want to be like God and control their own
lives. The result is chaos.
God reveals Himself in the cherubim, in the angels, in all of nature; but
most completely in Jesus Christ and those who are part of Christ.
When we place material gain above loving relationships we are out of Divine
order.
When Christ is in town the righteous become more righteous and the wicked
become more wicked.
When we observe the reaction (sometimes violent) of public educational
institutions against the examination of intelligent design as a hypothesis
we can see how thin a veneer civilization is over the raging forces of the
spirit world.
People in the Western nations have become so accustomed to doing as they
please that they may have difficulty when the Kingdom of God comes to the
earth and everyone has to obey Christ.
If we have been living a wicked life, and then choose to turn and behave
righteously, the Bible says our previous wickedness will not be mentioned.
If we are behaving righteously, and then choose to turn and behave wickedly,
the Bible says our previous righteousness will not be mentioned.
It is a good idea to check yourself every once in a while and ask the Lord
Jesus to remove all false ideas from your mind.
The United States is a textbook example of what happens when a culture
places the acquisition of material wealth ahead of moral training.
Moral training apart from the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ as our Lord, is
always ineffective, because righteous behavior is possible only as we lay
hold on Divine wisdom and power.
It never is true that all is lost, when we turn to the Lord for help.
The goal of salvation is not to have our sins forgiven, it is to be a mature
son of God who can have fellowship with his Father.
When we look around us it is easy to believe there is a God. However, it is
really difficult to believe that human beings with all their characteristics
were formed from chance occurrences!
It is an eternal Gospel. It is not divided into dispensations. The song of
Moses and the Lamb is one song.
God is looking today for men and women who will preach the eternal Gospel
while living fully on the earth and fully in Heaven at the same time.
Faithfulness and truth are in short supply in America. The removal of these
characteristics shows us that the Lord Jesus Christ is not prominent in our
land.
For those who desire to enter God’s land of promise, His rest, please learn
from the incident concerning the Gibeonites not to take anything for
granted!
Why “dining with Him”? Because dining with Jesus includes friendship,
knowledge, nourishment, joy, strength, peace, wisdom, joy, fellowship.
Because the days ahead will be so chaotic, the Lord will do new and
surprising things for those who listen carefully to Him and obey Him in
every detail of their life.
The Lord wants to be our Global Positioning Navigator. He will guide us at
every point of decision if we will listen to Him carefully.
The power of wickedness will increase in the days ahead. But the power of
righteousness will overcome the power of wickedness if we continually will
look to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus will lead us in paths of righteousness if we keep looking to
Him.
The more immediate our contact is with Jesus, the more successful we will be
in surviving spiritually and helping others to survive spiritually in the
coming days.
If we will bring every decision to Jesus, we may hear a Voice saying: “This
is the way. Walk in it.”
God wants people to keep the rules. Don’t try to skirt the rules that are
laid down, without God’s advice. You will only harm yourself in some manner.
I do not want my own mind. I want the mind of Christ, and nothing less!
We have been imprisoned in a physical body Therefore we are tempted to do
all sorts of foolish, destructive things.
God has imprisoned us in a physical body in order to teach us many things.
Once we have been released from this body we will understand this clearly.
Once the Lord returns, if we have been established in His Kingdom, we will
understand clearly what an insane asylum the world has been throughout its
history.
“Eternal life” does not refer to duration of consciousness. Eternal life is
the Presence of God.
Whoever has the Presence of God with Him is spiritually alive. Whoever does
not have the Presence of God with Him is spiritually dead, even though he
professes belief in Christ.
Eternal life, the Presence of God, results from daily obedience to God, not
from our profession of belief in a Statement of Faith.
If you would have more of the Holy Spirit, more eternal life, obey Jesus
Christ diligently at every moment.
Specific, direct prayer will result in specific, direct answers. Haphazard
prayer will result in haphazard answers.
Neglected prayer results in neglected answers.
“Lord, help me to live in continual prayer that I may live in continual
answers.”
Because of Your faithfulness, I will lie down and sleep in peace and safety.
God is not vague. He is very specific, very “human” in what He does.
The way we treat God is often the way God treats us, although you would not
know this from the current preaching.
God will keep that individual in perfect peace whose mind remains fixed on
Him.
I choose to not worry. I choose to live in peace and safety in the Lord
Jesus. Dread and fear are not my inheritance. Therefore, “Leave me, in the
name of the Lord Jesus.”
If we don’t bury our past, our past will bury us.
If we are to press forward to the mark, we must forget the things that are
behind.
I absolutely refuse to take my pleasure at someone else’s expense.
Compared with the love, joy, and peace of Heaven, the present world is an
asylum conducted in a cesspool.
It is time to bring to bring Heaven and its ways into the dark scenes of
earth.
Because God does not reveal Himself to the wicked, they pursue their
destructive ways with abandon.
Do not be envious of wicked people when they vaunt themselves. Their end is
painful beyond imagination.
Gender is one of the fundamental characteristics of man. Satan is seeking to
destroy gender because of his spite toward God and envy toward man.
The religions of the world, including Christianity, do not appear to
profoundly change the majority their adherents.
Spiritual death, separation from the Presence of God, is infinitely more
tragic than physical death.
Spiritual death is more to be feared than physical death, because spiritual
death can continue into the next life.
The sting of death is sin. Where there is no sin, death has no sting. Christ
gives us victory over the bondages of sin.
If we are in Christ Jesus, we are following the Spirit of God in all aspects
of our behavior, and thus are not under condemnation.
If we profess Christ as our Savior, and then continue to live according to
the desires of our flesh and mind, we are under condemnation.
It is the responsibility of the Christian ministry to teach the believers
how to live in the Spirit of God so they do not remain under condemnation.
To try to heal someone by repeating how much we believe is an exercise in
metaphysics. It is not obedience to the living Christ.
Our physical body is not as important as our inner personality, because our
physical body does not go with us into the next world when we die.
Satan is a cherub who has rebelled against God. He is motivated by spite
toward God and envy toward man. Since Satan has no gender he is intent on
destroying the concept of male and female.
Although I am tired, I want live as long as possible so I can bring the Life
of Heaven into this world.
I used to be a speedboat. Now I am a barge, towed by the Lord Jesus.
God gives us strong desires in several areas of living. Then He tells us not
to gratify them. By examining our responses, God can tell who is worthy to
rule in His Kingdom.
You don’t have to be in perfect health to serve Christ effectively. The Lord
Jesus weakened the Apostle Paul so the power of Christ would rest on him.
We are not delivered from sin so we will be healthy. We are delivered from
sin so we can have fellowship with God.
The Lord Jesus, who is the only Truth, stated that some people are the sons
of the Kingdom and some are the sons of the evil one. Apparently we do not
fully understand the mysteries of righteousness and wickedness.
The greatest value in life is strict obedience to God, not tolerance.
Tolerance easily can lead to immorality.
The correct Christian response to our social immorality is not fretting; it
is to walk so closely to Jesus that the power and righteousness of Christ is
revealed in our personality.
Divine judgment always follows immorality. Any nation that condones immoral
behavior will soon be destroyed.
There is no solution to the current moral darkness other than to pray
continually and to obey Christ in every detail of life.
We always should be kind to the members of other religions. But the Lord
Jesus Christ is the only Way to the Father.
We limit the Holy One of Israel, and cannot understand the Scriptures, when
we apply human rules of fairness to God. He is the Potter! He always does as
He will!
If God has called you to Himself, through Jesus Christ, you are part of an
elect minority. But Be careful! Someone may take your crown! Your name may
be blotted from the Book of Life!
Whoever teaches that if we believe in Christ we do not have to keep His
commandments is a deceiver and destroyer. Keep away from him!
From the beginning of recorded history, the family unit, father, mother, and
children, has been the foundation of the social order. To change this
pattern is to invite moral chaos.
We are God’s servants. He is not our servant; nor is He a spiritual power we
can manipulate to our own advantage.
Today God is preparing the rulers of the world to come. The training program
is difficult and totally demanding!
All the unjust, hurtful things we have done during this present life we are
going to meet in the next world, unless we get them taken care of now by the
Lord.
When I first became a Christian I was told that no one can ever do God’s
will perfectly. This is not true. Anyone can do God’s will each day as we
pray to Christ for help.
We ought not to blame people for the harm they do. No one can do what is
right without God’s help.
Sometimes what we think is God’s will really isn’t. We just haven’t been
careful and patient enough to learn the truth.
This world is a minefield. We do well to pray about every step we take.
If we will ask Christ to help us, we won’t have to take drugs in order to
survive the pains of life.
Religions may give people some peace of mind and guidance. But only the Lord
Jesus Christ has the power to enable us to do lasting good.
We are obliged by God and conscience to behave righteously; but only Jesus
Christ can enable us to live righteously.
We ought not to blame people for their sins, because only Christ can enable
us to live righteously; and no man can come to Christ unless God draws him.
One of the worst punishments the wicked will endure in the world to come is
to be placed with people like themselves.
If you are living close to Jesus, no one can hurt you emotionally unless you
let them.
If you are living close to Jesus, you can be hurt emotionally only through
your idols.
The Male Son, of the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation, consists of
Christ brought forth in the saints. They shall govern the nations with a rod
of iron.
Since salvation is a process that makes us an entirely new creation, we
would be more accurate if we said “I am a believer,” rather than, “I am
saved.”
To be “born again” is to have been made a new creation, in which our old
nature has passed away and the Life of Christ has taken its place.
God’s desire is that each one of us become an entirely new creation in
Christ. There is a program of salvation that must be worked out.
“He who endures to the end shall be saved,” meaning that we must patiently
keep the commandments of Christ until we die, if we are to be saved.
It is the saints who will govern the nations of the earth with a rod of
iron. True, Christ is living in them and they are obeying Him. Nevertheless,
it is they who are ruling!
We receive Christ so we can begin the program of salvation.
As we obey the commandments of Christ and His Apostles, Christ is formed in
us.
The Father and the Son will come and dwell in us when Christ has been formed
in us. This is the rest of God.
If we will pray earnestly, Christ will help us obey what He and His Apostles
have commanded.
If we participate in the Divine salvation, and continue in it diligently, it
eventually will transform us from what are; and the new creation will be
given a new name.
The rise of moral evil in the world today cannot be overcome by physical or
political means. Only the wisdom and power of God can overcome Satan.
In the present hour, the dragon is not seeking to devour the woman, but her
Child. It is the birth of the Child, the Christ-filled saints, that
threatens Satan’s kingdom, not the activities of the churches.
We must give our whole attention to the bringing forth of Christ in us. Only
He can establish God’s Kingdom in Heaven and upon the earth.
The most significant event of the last days is the accomplishing of the
mystery, that is, the forming of Christ in the saints.
Deliverance from the power of sin is a reward for obeying Christ. Then we
are rewarded for the righteous behavior resulting from our deliverance.
To overcome is to persevere with Christ until you are caught up to God and
to His Throne, while Satan is attempting to devour the Child being formed in
you, the Ruler of the nations.
Someone said recently it was revealed to them that when we obey Christ, the
great cloud of witnesses is strengthened. They without us cannot be made
perfect. Could this be true!
One person who waits on Jesus and obeys Him carefully will accomplish more
good in this world and the next than a gathering of the fifty “greatest”
names in Christianity.
Men like to build the Kingdom using great numbers of people. God is content
to quietly work with one person. He gets more done this way.
The Bible is translated and edited by committees, but it was written by
individuals.
Our challenge is not to overcome “it” but to overcome “him”—the cherub who
is envious of us because we have the opportunity to gain the inheritance he
has been denied.
Christ who is being formed in us is struggling to attain to the Throne of
God. Satan seeks continually to devour the new Person.
There are three facts that interact: God is not fair, by our standards; God
is drawing a firstfruits from His Church; our response to God’s drawing
determines whether or not we receive our assigned inheritance.
We are rewarded by seeking the Lord, first by being delivered from sinful
compulsions; second, by our righteous behavior resulting from our being
delivered.
If we will continue to be obedient and trusting, Jesus will remove the last
bit of clutching that we may be released into the fullness of resurrection
life.
God can give us the desires of our heart in such a way that they do not
become our jailers.
If you would be free in Christ, put your desires in Heaven and keep them
there.
lf you do not do all Christ commands you to do, you are not righteous. You
are a rebel against the Kingdom of God.
There is only street in the city. It is the way of faith, of holiness, of
diligent obedience to Christ.
Put all of your treasures in Heaven. If do not you can’t possible keep them.
Getting old is tiresome. Thank God there is a better life just over the
mountain!
There is nothing—absolutely nothing!—in this world as important as serving
the Lord. So few people seem to understand this, and fritter away their time
and strength on that which has no lasting value.
There are so many things and activities that are not sinful as such; but
neither are they laying up treasures in Heaven for the believer.
It is a pity that more Christians do not do God’s will diligently, for it is
those who do God’s will who will endure forever.
Sitting in Egypt will never bring us into the land of promise no matter how
much “faith” in Christ we think we have.
The Spirit of God leads us as we obey the commandments of Christ and of His
Apostles.
The purpose of Divine grace is to forgive us and then enable us to obey
Christ and His Apostles.
Whoever teaches that Divine grace is a substitute for the need to obey
Christ and His Apostles is deceived. The truth is not in him.
Salvation conforms us to the moral image of Christ and brings us into union
with God through Christ.
The old hymns taught us to obey Christ. The new choruses talk about how
wonderful Jesus is, but not how to obey Him.
The old hymns speak of victory over sin through the power of the blood of
Christ. Whatever happened to that concept?
To dance with Christ does not come naturally. It requires dancing lessons.
If you will look to Christ continually, He will guide you in every detail of
life.
To become too involved with any thing or person is to add chains to
ourselves and to prevent the fullness of resurrection life Christ has for
us.
Belief in Christ saves us, only as our belief causes us to obey the
commandments of Christ and His Apostles.
Ask God to remove the power of the sin that binds you. Then He will reward
you for the righteous behavior that results from your release.
The power of eternal life enables us to behave righteously. Righteous
behavior results in more eternal life.
Seek the power and wisdom to behave righteously. Otherwise you will
experience corruption in the Day of Resurrection.
Eternal life produces and follows righteous behavior. Where there is no
righteous behavior, there is no eternal life.
Wherever did we get the idea that we can believe in Christ and yet not keep
His commandments? This idea certainly did not come down from Heaven!
If you are under the impression that you will escape Hell by believing in
Christ, even though you are behaving sinfully, you probably will yield to
temptations if they are severe enough.
The inheritance Christ has promised goes to those who overcome Satan. To
overcome Satan is to choose to do God’s will at each moment, in spite of
temptations.
Is it your desire to overcome Satan? Then ask Christ to help you.
Give all your burdens to Christ. He will help you carry them.
Give all of your treasures to Christ. Then you will enter rest, and good
works will follow you.
The present life is a trial run. Actual life begins at death, and is
governed by how we did during the trial run.
All Divine covenants require righteous behavior. There is no Divine covenant
that substitutes a belief system for righteous behavior.
The old covenant required obedience to the Law. The new covenant transforms
the believer. Both covenants insist on righteous behavior.
Those who choose to worship Satan, or any other God, in place of the Lord
Jesus Christ will experience agony of spirit, soul, and body, and horrors
beyond belief.
Denominations and their buildings grow stale because they ride on the wave
of the past. They do not always strive for the immediate Presence of God.
God always has solved our problems in the past. Why are we so worried He
will not solve our present problems? We shame God with our unbelief.
Many believers of the past served God halfheartedly, it is true. But that
need not be true of us!
The Christian experience is like manna. It must be kept fresh, or else it
will “breed worms and stink.”
If you regard your present life as anything other than preparation for your
true life, which will commence when you die, you will perceive incorrectly
everything that happens to you.
If we are to be a member of the Bride of the Lamb, our purpose in life must
be to be a helper for Christ; for, for this purpose “Eve” is created.
Since you do not really know what your desires are, how can God give you the
desires of your heart while you are clutching your idols?
Let our prayer be that through the Lord Jesus Christ we will become the
personification of iron righteousness, fiery holiness, and stern obedience
to the Father.
When we ask for truth, concerning a specific issue, the answer ordinarily
comes quite quickly; although sometimes we have to wait patiently several
years before the truth becomes clear to us.
If there are “kings” of wickedness in our personality we can be deceived,
even though we are praying and reading our Bible each day and are determined
to do God’s will.
Speaking in tongues is God’s wisdom. Its purpose is to lead us into the rest
of God, into life lived in the Spirit of God.
When one is accustomed to a church in which speaking in tongues is
practiced, and then goes to another church in which speaking in tongues is
not practiced, the difference is felt as a kind of emptiness.
The practice of speaking in tongues has been restored to the Christian
churches through much travail. It is not to be ignored as something trivial.
It is of the greatest importance.
Speaking in tongues gives a depth to worship that is not present when the
worshipers never have spoken in tongues.
Ask the Lord Jesus to enable you to leave the world a better place than you
found it.
The test of the validity of any Christian doctrine is, does this teaching
lead to righteous behavior, or does it content itself with theologic
knowledge or speculation?
The fundamental philosophy of the United States of America is that man is
free to choose his own way without seeking God’s will for his life. This is
the most destructive of all ideas.
To believe in the Lord Jesus is to obey Him in every aspect of life. There
is no eternal life apart from obedience.
How can a person believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and not obey Him? What is
belief anyway?
God chastens every son He receives. The chastenings can be arduous. Don’t be
amazed at them.
The taller the building, the deeper the foundation. If your destiny is to be
of high rank in the Kingdom, you will endure many “diggings.”
Christ is not concerned about whether or not we observe Christmas. But He is
vitally concerned that we learn to live by His Life and Presence.
God’s Word is living and powerful. I have lived my life by it, and hope to
die in it.
“O God, don’t let us fall into temptation. Deliver us from Satan,” we pray
in Jesus’ name.
We start as children, and end up as children, but now children in the image
of God’s Character.
Just because we desire something fervently does not mean this is God’s will;
although sometimes it is.
I have decided its is better that Christ live in me than to have my own
thoughts, words, and actions.
Nothing else in life is as important as being sternly obedient to Christ.
By substituting belief in Christ for being obedient to Christ we have
destroyed God’s intention under the Christian covenant.
Although we understand there is no eternal life except in the Lord Jesus,
the Muslim people do refer to God as “Father.” There is no reason to act
hatefully toward them..
Satan seeks continually to trip us up. This is why we always must remain in
a state of prayer.
If we do not show mercy to others, no mercy will be shown to us.
Christ’s goal is not to please us, necessarily. It is to make us part of
himself. Such union results in the highest state of love, joy, and peace.
The Lord Jesus is well able to remove the last vestige of evil from us. And
He will, if we will look to Him and cooperate with Him in every instance.
There are some pretty good people in jails and prisons. They are there
because they did not pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”
It is a good idea when getting ready to go to sleep, to ask God to remove
Satan from the buildings and the grounds.
I don’t particularly care what religion you belong to; I want to know what
kind of person you are.
The Christian religion always seems to present itself as more important than
the person’s character. It is more important to profess belief in Christ
than to have integrity.
Why is it that religious sects fight against each other? It is because
religion does not always affect the individual’s character.
Why did the Christians who settled America revealed that they were the sons
of the devil by cheating the Indians? It is because religion often does not
change character.
Why do so many Muslims regard American Christians as being the son of Satan?
It is because religion often does not change character.
Eternal life is found only in the Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ does not
know those who profess belief in Him and act like Satan.
The Lord works continually to remove from Himself the sin we brought into
Him. If the sin we brought will not submit to purging, then we ourselves
will be purged from Him.
When I maintain that Christians must live in a godly manner, I am not
preaching “works”; I am preaching fruit.
I would ask in advance for a grand work force of angels not weigh anything.
Sometimes bad things happen to good people. On some occasions it is because
God wants these good people to become better people in His sight, and not to
have wasted their time on the earth.
Those who wish may wander through the valley of nostalgia; but I choose to
press forward to a glorious future.
Become careless, make many assumptions, and learn from the pain.
The path to eternal life leads through crucifixion with Christ.
It is only as we are crucified with Christ that we live with Christ.
The purpose for the activities of the Christian religion is to bring us into
crucifixion with Christ in order that we may be resurrected with Christ.
The maturing of Christ within us is revealed as we reject that which is bad
and embrace that which is good.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of eternal Life. The body and blood of Christ
are the Substance of eternal Life.
The Holy Spirit is a Person. Jesus Christ is a Person. They both are eternal
life.
The Spirit of God leads us into death in Christ. He then leads us into Life
in Christ.
That I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings. The way up is down. The way up is down.
When we choose to go against our sinful nature, which is what it means to
die, we are fed with the resurrection Life of the body and blood of Christ.
The Holy Spirit is resurrection Life, eternal Life. So are the body and
blood of Christ.
When we die in the Lord, our good works follow us; which is to say,
resurrection follows crucifixion and we behave like the Lord Jesus.
If we allow the Lord to slay us, He will resurrect us into Life lived in the
image of Christ’s Life.
When we die in the Lord, we then will do the works of Christ because of His
resurrection Life in us.
We have been designed to live forever; and so we shall, if we live by the
Life of Christ as He lives by the Life of the Father.
The new Jerusalem is the Christian Church ruling in the midst of the nations
of saved people on the new earth.
The new covenant brings us into the eternal Sabbath. We cease from our own
works. Then the Lord can do His works through us every moment of every day
and every night.
The Lord has his firstfruits. Each one brings others with him who are not at
the same level in Christ.
God has taught me how to die in Christ. Living comes automatically.
Anything out of God’s timing is sinful.
Many of today’s preachers and teachers are attempting to show people how to
live in religion rather than how to die in Christ.
If you will show people how to live in religion rather than to how to die in
Christ, you will not lack for followers.
If the heavenly Father finally shuts the door against you, you will be in
the most distress and pain imaginable.
The sword the King is to use must be heated and cooled many times. Has this
happened to you?
It is more important to do what is right than to enjoy what we are doing.
The victorious saint never asks a question like, “Can I drink beer and still
be saved?” Rather, he asks, “How can I obey further and please the Lord?”
God has to fulfill His own commandments in us. He does this as we pray
diligently and obey Him faithfully.
To walk with God and be His friend—that is the greatest thing in life.
I am not seeking healing or power or anything else. I just want to walk with
God and have fellowship with Him, just as Enoch did.
I am thankful that I have lived long enough to know English and American
people before they threw away their Divine covering in favor of indulging in
sexual excesses.
Abortion and homosexual behavior prevent the birth of children. But God will
not be mocked.
Satan’s purpose in abortion and homosexual behavior is to prevent the birth
of children who one day might be servants of the Lord.
There is liberal thinking, and there is conservative thinking, and then
there is God’s thinking.
The sons of the Kingdom will not shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of
their Father until the messengers of God have removed all sin and sinners
from the Kingdom.
Suicide is an act of selfishness, except when someone is incurably ill and
in very great pain.
Obedience to God brings order, clarity, and simplicity. Disobedience to God
brings disorder, lack of clarity, and complexity.
Righteousness is obedience to God. Sin is disobedience to God.
When we are not walking in obedience to God we lose the ability to govern
our assigned inheritance.
Man cannot live in love, joy, and peace when governed by a tyrant, or
governed by himself; only when governed by a righteous king.
Our strength lies in quietness and confidence, based on God’s Word and
Presence.
Understanding come to those who obey God. The disobedient will dwell in a
dry land not inhabited.
Religious people like to make rules they are required to follow. But
Christ’s way is to personally lead us in every decision we make.
All of our things, circumstance, and relationships must be in Christ if they
are to be eternal.
If we do not plan for our life after death we are foolish. Our death is the
only event in our life of which we can be certain.
There are going to be so many difficult decisions to make in the future we
are going to have to keep asking the Lord for wisdom as to what we should
do.
I have noticed that just because a minister has a gift of the Spirit
operating does not mean he or she necessarily has integrity.
The Kingdom of God rules in Heaven today, and in the future will govern the
behavior of people on the earth.
No sinful behavior is permitted in the Kingdom of God.
There were many difficulties during my younger days. But I must say as I
grow older that goodness and mercy are following me.
As I grow older I see that people are a mixture of good and evil. We
patiently must encourage the good until Christ helps them to overcome the
evil.
The Holy Spirit is the Law of the new covenant, just as the statutes laid
down by Moses are the Law of the old covenant. We must be careful to obey
the Spirit if we hope to remain without condemnation.
I hope to leave the world a better place than I found it. I believe I can,
through the Lord Jesus Christ.
We must be patient with the weaknesses of people and pray that God will help
them overcome their shortcomings.
There is a time not to show mercy, but only as the Lord Jesus directs us.
We must keep coming boldly to the Throne of Grace in the days to come if we
are to obtain the wisdom and strength necessary to survive the coming Divine
judgments.
“One shall be taken and the other left” means that those who live by the
body and blood of the Lamb will be caught up to meet the Lamb in the air,
and then work with Him as He installs the Kingdom of God on the earth.
Everything we do we will meet up with in this life or the next. We can
obtain forgiveness by confessing our sin and turning from it; but there
still are consequences!
The reason people choose to believe in the doctrine of evolution, even
though it is not sensible, is that they do not like the idea of having to
account for their actions.
Nothing is free! Even the gift of eternal life requires that we put to death
the deeds of our sinful nature.
I do not know what the palace prophets of the Old Testament hoped to gain by
prophesying from their own spirit. There certainly are many such prophets
today!
Sometimes God wants to give us good things, but we just can’t believe enough
to receive the blessing. Like Peter kept waiting at the outer entrance
during prayer.
If a person has integrity, God can straighten out his religion in this world
or the next. But what do you do with a person without integrity?
God judges what we do, not what we think we are, or what we believe.
The Old Testament is much larger than the New, because it is in the Old
Testament that we learn about God and His ways.
The New Testament is not telling us about a new god. The God of the Old
Testament hasn’t changed. He is as loving and strict as ever.
If you want to learn about God, study the Old Testament and meditate
continually on what is written therein.
If the New Covenant forgave us without changing us there would be no
possibility of a Heaven.
I believe if we were to spend more time quietly listening we would become
more aware of Christ and His will for us.
If everyone loved God with all his heart and his neighbor as himself, there
would be no more sin.The account of Balaam teaches us that in order to
please God, it is not enough to have a true gift of prophecy.
You can be certain that if God has called you to a high place in His Kingdom
there shall be a period during which you will be denied the most intense
desires of you heart.
If we are to share in the joy of our Lord we first must share in the
sufferings of our Lord.
He who would seek power with God must be brought into paths of suffering and
denial until an unclean desire for power has been totally stripped from his
personality.
Before God can safely entrust us with the fullness of love, joy, and peace,
we must be brought through many fires, many prisons, many denials of what
God has put in our heart to desire.
The preaching of today emphasizes that Christ has done everything for us.
There is nothing we are to do. This teaching is contrary to the New
Testament. God is creating man in His image. and refining some who are to
govern and judge mankind and the angels. This transformation requires our
obedience.
Would you receive the crown of life? Then endure patiently the prisons in
which you shall be placed.
The desire to do God's perfect will and to dwell in His holy fire is
infectious and addictive. The more we live in such a state the more we want
to live in total obedience in that holy fire.
To be a coheir of the Lord Jesus Christ is to possess more authority and
glory than has been true of the grandest dreams of the kings of the earth.
All your cues and fleeces may point in a certain direction. There may be one
point that still does not conform. Wait until that last cue comes into line.
Out of this drunken, brawling dance we call life on the earth will emerge
the Bride of the Lamb, beautiful with the beauty of holiness; morally in the
image of Jesus Christ; as terrible as an army with banners.
The Book of James claims that we are justified by what we do and not by
faith alone. Modern teachers are stating we are justified by faith alone.
Who is declaring the Word of God?
Merely "accepting Christ" does not produce a new creation. Numerous people
who have "accepted Christ" behave worse than the unbelievers.
The highest goal that a man can set for himself, outside of fellowship with
God Himself, consists of eternal love, joy, and peace. The flesh cannot
produce these, they are the fruit of the Spirit of God.
We are eternal beings. We have been placed in this asylum, this stage with
many different props, to see what kind of person we are; what kind of
choices we are going to make in the next world.
We have been placed in this ridiculous body to examine, in a controlled
environment, how we will behave when entrusted with the true riches.
The body may seem to us like a marvelous mechanism. But it is only a
temporary vehicle for eternal spiritual personalities.
All the things we see around us, even our own body, are a fabrication. The
only factor of lasting importance is the choices we make. These shall affect
our condition when we die and enter the true, eternal world.
It is not belief in Christ that saves us, when such belief is used as a
talisman. The salvation is in that we have obeyed God by believing in Christ
and in all other matters. He who does the will of God abides forever.
Adam brought death upon himself and the rest of mankind by disobeying God.
So shall we bring death upon ourselves if we disobey God.
The one important issue in our existence is total obedience to God in all
circumstances. All else hangs on this. It is in our obedience or lack of it
that our destiny is decided.
When you have a need or desire, pray patiently and courteously until you
have the sense that God has heard you. Your prayer has been answered as
surely as if you were experiencing the answer right now.
One of the best aspects of serving the Lord is that we never have the sense
of being alone. There always is that Presence with us.
We don't bud, and bear blossoms and fruit until we are a dead stick laid up
in the Most Holy Place.
Do we really understand that with the advent of electronic communication,
geographic distance no longer is relevant? Now is the hour to preach the
Gospel of the Kingdom to every nation as a witness of the coming of the
Kingdom of God to the earth.
If you desire to be in the image of God, be kind to people.
Christ wants to be our Friend, more than most of us want to be His friend.
It is God's intention that Christ have friends and brothers among mankind.
By the doctrine of the Trinity, we have made Jesus Christ part of an
incomprehensible Godhead, thus destroying the normal relationship of Christ
to His friends and brothers.
The Lord Jesus Christ would like to be your Friend and Brother and walk in
close fellowship and rapport with you. Are you ready for this?
The wicked always overplay their hand. Look to Christ to save you and the
wicked will hang themselves.
Today we are preaching about how wonderful Jesus is. We need to start
preaching what Jesus taught!
Telling Christ how wonderful He is does not build our house on the rock. It
is doing what He has commanded that gets the job done.
What do we mean by "grace"? Do we mean God will bring us to Heaven even
though we do not keep the commandments of Christ and His Apostles? If so, we
have been deceived by the greatest of all deceptions.
There is no passage in the New Testament that informs us grace will set
aside, weaken, or modify in any manner the warnings issued by Christ and His
Apostles.
The first individual to preach grace, as grace is preached today, was Satan.
God said, "You shall die." Satan said, "you shall not surely die" (lit. not
to die you shall die).
The term "grace" is used in the New Testament to mean the Presence and power
of Christ to declare us righteous apart from our observance of the Law of
Moses, and then to remove us from the authority and power of Satan and bring
us into God'/s image and Kingdom purposes.
The modern teaching of grace either is correct and most of the admonitions
of Christ and His Apostles are not necessary for our salvation, or else the
modern teaching of grace is the most destructive error ever presented to
mankind.
The Bible tells the Christian he must turn away from sin. The teaching of
grace tells the Christian he should turn away from sin.
The way in which grace is preached today makes the preaching of Christ and
His Apostles of no effect.
Paul said to Christians, "What you sow you shall reap." Grace says to
Christians, "If you believe in Christ you shall not reap what you sow."
Paul said to Christians, "If you continue to live according to your bodily
desires you shall die spiritually." Grace says, "If you believe in Christ
you can live according to your bodily desires and not die spiritually."
Jesus told us if we will do what He commanded we will build our life on a
rock. Grace informs us that if we will call Jesus "Lord," we will build our
life on a rock even though we do not do what He commanded.
Jesus told us that if we love Him we will keep His commandments. Grace tells
us we can love Christ and believe in Him, and yet not keep His commandments.
The Apostle said if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.
Grace says God sees Christ and not our behavior.
Jesus told us if we endure to the end we shall be saved. Grace teaches us we
do not have to endure to the end to be saved.
Christ told us if we live a victorious life in Him we shall inherit all
things. Grace tells us we can live a defeated life and still inherit all
things.
Christ warned us that if through carelessness we run out of the Holy Spirit
we will not be admitted to the wedding. Grace tells us we can run out of the
Holy Spirit and still be received by the Bridegroom.
The Lord told us if we do not use our gifts to profit the Kingdom of God,
our gifts will be given to another and we will be placed in the outer
darkness. Grace tells us God loves us too much to let this happen.
The modern preaching of grace is the voice of the enemy telling us we can
disobey Christ and His Apostles and still inherit the Kingdom of God.
The enemy is preaching from the pulpits of America: "If you believe in
Christ and yet continue to sin, you shall not surely die." Consequently our
nation is facing destruction.
God's grace does not diminish God's wrath toward sinful behavior. Rather,
grace provides the wisdom, strength, and virtue so we can cease behaving in
a manner that makes us subject to Divine wrath.
God is not a merciless tyrant. Neither is He the soupy grace preached in
America. We are out of balance in the matter of God's Personality. This lack
of understanding is producing a breakdown of national morality.
The saints always suffer at the hands of God because God is at war with the
sin and rebellion in their personality.
Each relationship and desire we submit to crucifixion and resurrection in
Christ results in an enhancement of our uniqueness as an individual.
All areas of spiritual darkness in our character must be removed and
replaced with the Character and Virtue of Jesus Christ, if our unique
personality is to be in the image of God.
To lose our soul is to have our personality eternally removed from the
blessing of God. This is the most dreadful of all fates.
There is a new personality born in us when we receive Christ. In order for
our new personality to become our lasting personality, our first personality
must be willing to surrender and be replaced.
On the cross of Calvary, Christ made an atonement for the sins of the world.
The debt has been paid in full. The issue from now on is that of changing
the character of man until he is pleasing to God.
If God sees us through Christ, what need is there for us to repent?
No revival or renewing of God's Presence will have lasting results until we
cease using grace as an alternative to victorious Christian living.
Your character is transformed into the image of Christ. Your personality,
the essential you, is restructured by having the Life of God conceived and
developed in you. But you yourself remain eternally you.
Fear is one of the most powerful, crippling of the spirits of darkness. It
is a rebel against God. The saints who seek victory in Christ resist the
spirit of fear relentlessly, in Jesus' name.
Christ has the authority to nullify our harmful vows when we remain faithful
to Him.
Satan comes to us in many forms. Eternal vigilance in prayer is required if
we are to remain victorious in Christ.
There are those who teach that all persons, and Satan himself, ultimately
shall be saved. They base their belief on the sovereignty of God, not
realizing that every aspect of redemption depends on the choices made by the
individual.
The wicked always overplay their hand.
God wants those He loves to have the upward look. Sometimes the tools He
uses are very sharp!
Sometimes we are positive an idea is from the Lord. But as we wait and pray,
there may enter a little doubt. Then as we keep asking God to put His Fire
on it, it becomes apparent it never was the Lord but a sidetrack.
I would rather stand on the beach of this world and eat broiled fish with
Christ than live in an elaborate mansion in the spirit world.
We may think our hope is to go to a mansion in the spirit world, wear golden
slippers, and play a harp. The truth is, we would rather stand on the beach
with the Lord Jesus and eat the broiled fish.
"Do you love Me more than these?" referring to 153 large fish. Do we love
Christ more than we do our work in this world?
The idea of bringing back our physical body to stand on the earth is not
preached very much, but it is the central hope of the Gospel of the Kingdom.
We need to become more interested in, and say more about, the resurrection
of the physical body. It is a hope that sweeps away from us the fear of
death.
Why is it that we emphasize a trip to Heaven in a rapture when the central
message of the Gospel of the Kingdom is to make alive our physical body that
it may live once again on the earth?
Do not worry about your deceased love one. You will see him or her again in
flesh and bone on the Day of Resurrection.
We would not place such emphasis upon the desirability of dying and going to
Heaven were it not for the fact that we have been poisoned with the Gnostic
emphasis on the superiority of the spirit world to the physical.
This present earth and sky is a better environment than Heaven. God never
moves from that of greater worth to that of lesser worth.
It may be true that the most frustrating thing Christ experiences from the
people called by His name is that they exclaim how utterly marvelous He is,
and then do not do what He says, claiming that His commandments are so hard
they must be saved by grace.
We cannot judge righteous judgment while we are involved emotionally. We
must hear from the Lord what His judgment is.
He who shows mercy shall be shown mercy. He who does not show mercy shall be
shown no mercy, even though he names the name of Christ.
If you want Christ to move, remain in your place around the camp and wait
for Gideon to blow the trumpet.
Few there be who attain to the fullness of eternal life, because the seeker
must give up his own life until the will of God is performed in every
detail.
The only truly important consideration of life is how we are regarded by
Heaven.
Would we live differently if we knew we are being watched carefully by the
inhabitants of Heaven?
We bring a legacy with us into the spirit world when we die—a legacy of what
we have become in Christ. We leave a legacy behind of how we have treated
other people.
A righteous and good nature that loves Christ and obeys God is worth more
than all the gold on earth.
If you are willing to obtain joy when it means harming those who trust you,
you are not a person of integrity.
To be a friend of the Lord Jesus Christ you have to be a person of
integrity. Liars will not sit at His table.
When we die we will be placed in a school along with others of like
spiritual attainment, unless we are so wicked God views us as unredeemable.
The saints do the judging. The angels do the fighting. Whenever the saints
are overcome by sin, fear, or doubt, the angels cannot fight.
When we behave righteously we give God wherewith to answer His critics, and
hasten the return of the Lord Jesus.
To bring people into union with Christ is the goal of Christian religious
activity. All the rest is our human response to theology, and often is the
enemy of the Spirit of God.
Many Christians of our day believe that a person can behave like the devil,
but if he believes Jesus is God's Son, God counts him as righteous. This is
the kind of moral confusion that religion usually produces.
If you lose your soul through the wealth and cares of this world, you will
be left just a spirit—perhaps throughout eternity.
The Apostle Paul exclaimed that we have died and our life is hidden with
Christ in God. Have you ever thought much about what Paul meant? To be dead
is to be separated from our life.
Our life is our will, our relationships, our desires, our memory, our plans,
our hopes, our dreams, our treasures, our ambitions, our justice and
judgment, our pride, our values, our knowledge, our wisdom, our energy, our
awareness, our perception, our money, our power, our emotions, our trust in
the world, our pleasures, the drives of sin that dwell in us,
decision-making, growth, movement, and everything else that motivates us,
These constitute our life, but not our unique identify as a soul. We might
say our soul has or has not life, thus differentiating between our life and
our soul.
God has a soul. Our soul has been created in the image of God, in that it
can make moral judgments, and also enter union with another person.
Our life either is alive in our adamic nature, being part of our soul, or
else hidden with Christ in God such that Christ Himself is our Life.
When we die, our unique identity, our soul, the source of our power of
choice and our ability to enter union with another person, enters conscious
existence in the spirit world. We are placed where we belong, with others
like ourselves. Our will, our relationships, our desires, our memory, our
plans, our hopes, our dreams, our treasures, our ambitions, Our justice and
judgment, our pride, our values, our knowledge, our wisdom, our energy, our
awareness, our perception, our money, our power, our emotions, our trust in
the world, our pleasures, the drives of sin that dwell in us,
decision-making, growth, movement, and everything else that motivates us,
remain hidden in Christ in God.
If we have died without our life being hidden in Christ in God, when we
enter the spirit world our soul is filled with the life it had while on
earth.
When the Lord returns, our soul will descend to be placed again in our
resurrected flesh and bones. Our flesh and bones will be clothed with a body
that reflects the condition of our soul and spirit (our spirit now being one
with the Holy Spirit). Our life will remain hidden with Christ in God. This
is our eternal position, as a pillar in the Temple of God.
All other saved people will be governed by those whose life Christ is.
Religion is like a domineering, self-centered woman who never can be
pleased. Her name is Babylon the Great. Jesus is always dancing along,
skipping off to something wonderful.
"Come dance with Me," Jesus calls. Religion glares furiously at the happy
couple.
Anyone who believes God is not specific but a vague cloud floating in the
sky should read the Book of Numbers, particularly the third chapter.
Sometimes professing belief in the Lord Jesus Christ is used as a covering
for a mean, vindictive, unforgiving nature. God looks past the religion and
sees the character of the individual.
If we would overcome Satan we must love not our life to the death.
When a loved one is taken from us, it is then that we set our affection on
things above. Our dearest treasure is there now.
All attempts to establish religion by force, whether by the Crusades, or by
the Protestant-Catholic conflicts in Ireland, or by Muslim terrorists, is of
Satan, not of God.
Religion has its hand on the Ark. The result often is spiritual death.
How can a Christian leader remove his hand from the Ark? By letting go and
letting God have His wonderful way.
When you give Isaac to the Lord you can never know for sure whether or not
you are going to get him back. We are happier when we do not clutch
anything.
When we have died and our life is hidden with Christ in God, our life has
not been abolished, rather the many factors are being renewed and rebuilt
until they are eternal.
Sexual activity, although necessary for the reproduction of human beings, is
by no means true love. It proceeds from glandular appetite.
True love is more intent on the well-being of the other person than it is on
the possession of that individual.
True love comes from Christ. When it has been crucified and raised in Christ
it is eternal.
God-given love does not result in agony when there is separation. It rests
in joy in the will of God.
True love for Christ is to keep His commandments independently of pleasure
or pain.
The only true and lasting freedom there is occurs when our desires and God's
desires are identical.
When we are wiling and obedient we eat the fat of the land.
Only the most mature Christian is willing to allow God to change his
desires.
Satan is pleased when we preach grace, Heaven, and the rapture. His goal is
to possess the earth and its nations.
Satan is not concerned with what we believe but how we behave. This is why
he has perverted the meaning of "the righteous shall live by faith."
Just because a believer spoke in tongues yesterday does not mean he is
Spirit-filled today!
Do you want Heaven as your inheritance, or the earth and its nations? Due to
God's advice, Christ has chosen the latter.
Until we change our definition of grace, from that which excuses our lack of
faith and fervency to that which forgives us as it provides Divine Virtue so
we can be conformed to God's image, lasting revival is not possible.
We overcome the accuser by bearing a true witness of God's Person, will,
way, and eternal purpose in Christ.
When you recognize that God can change your desires, and you are in
agreement with this, you no longer are in bondage. You are a ruler of God's
creation, which is His plan for you.
Joy comes from fulfilled desire. Therefore, in God's Presence, every desire
has been realized.
The undisciplined human being will never be a person of worth.
The water of the Spirit, which flows from the Throne of God that has been
created in us, is for other people to drink. The Spirit and the Bride say,
"Come!"
Jesus has to get the junk out of our personality so there is room for the
people who are our inheritance.
Once we pray through to full victory in Christ, it is possible to maintain
that state. First we attain to it. Then we must maintain it with diligence.
I think we have made a religion out of what is intended to be a fountain of
eternal life.
The eleventh and twelfth chapters of the Book of Revelation speak of the
same set of saints over the same time period. In Chapter 11, they are
bearing witness. In Chapter 12, Christ is being formed in them
Satan is working today to develop a youth culture that is not under the
supervision of older people. But Malachi states that the hearts of the young
must be turned to the older, and the older to the younger.
Under the Law of Moses God requires a tenth of our money and a seventh of
our time. Under the new covenant God requires all of our money and all of
our time.
The new covenant equivalent of the Sabbath day of the Law of Moses is the
giving of one hundred percent of our personality, time, and strength to
doing God's will. This is the eternal Sabbath in which Christ lives.
Under the new covenant, every one of the Ten Commandments is observed in a
greatly enlarged manner.
No human being can fulfill God's requirement of righteous behavior. But
Christ can and does cause us to behave righteously as He is being brought to
maturity in us.
We endure by seeing what is invisible to us for a brief season.
When we refer to God we are speaking of unlimited power, wisdom, love, joy,
peace, and wrath.
Sometimes the price of truth is high; but we have been commanded to buy it
and not sell it.
Only the Lord Jesus Christ can navigate a person safely through the demons
of lust that pervade the American culture today.
There can be a great difference between a church member and a disciple. If
we are not making disciples, teaching them to keep Christ's commandments, we
are not fulfilling the Great Commission.
At the Judgment Seat of Christ we will receive what we have done in our
body. If we have done bad things, and not gotten rid of them through Christ,
we may find ourselves bound in our own behavior and no longer able to
change.
When the curtain that prevents us from seeing the spirit world is pulled
back, we will be so glad we have served the Lord with diligence and
integrity.
There is a grace for living, a grace for dying, and a grace for getting out
of bed in the morning.
I never heard of angels laughing or crying. Maybe some things are reserved
for God and His children.
Sometimes tragedy brings matters into perspective. Perhaps this is why God
permits tragedy to take place.
There will be no lasting righteousness on the earth until there no longer is
a sea of people who can be moved by self-serving politicians. Each saved
individual will have a portion of Christ.
There are people who are "in death" but not wicked enough to be in Hell.
They have killed their spiritual life by their involvement with the world.
Some of these may be spared when death and Hell are cast into the Lake of
Fire.
Christian organizations and the Kingdom of God are separate institutions
having different heads, different goals, and different methods.
The 144,000 saints of the Book of Revelation are the army of the Lord. They
are without guile, being faithful and true. These virtues are the primary
qualifications for membership in the army.
The Lord Jesus has become our song, our strength, and our righteousness. We
are the righteous nation who maintain faithfulness and shall enter through
the gates into the city.
It often is taught that there never has been a righteous person on the
earth. It is true that the righteousness that Christ is, is superior to all
human righteousness, but the Scriptures reveal that there have been and yet
are people who behave righteously.
It is true that we cannot save ourselves by our own righteousness. But
Christ will have nothing to do with a Christian who keeps on behaving
unrighteously.
The Lord is not our righteousness because we are identified with Him, the
Lord Jesus is our righteousness because He has been formed in us. We live by
His body and blood.
The greatest need in the world is for rulers who behave righteously as a
result of Christ being formed in them.
When members of a religion kill people for not joining their religion, the
deed is judged as murder and will be recognized as such in the Day of
Judgment. The punishment will be appropriately severe.
If God made some people homosexual, the Scriptures would not refer to such
behavior as sin worthy of death.
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, and unless the individual
repents of her sin, the mother who kills the developing fetus will be found
guilty of murder at the Judgment Seat of Christ.
Largely because of the practice of abortion, fierce judgments will fall on
the United States in the near future.
If we expect to be close to Christ, we must have all guile removed from us.
Guile is the opposite of integrity, which is faithfulness and truth.
Christ has the power to deliver from the bondage of homosexuality, and also
from AIDS. Ask Him, believe, and He will do it.
Our present world is as a bad dream, compared with the splendor of life in
the real eternal world to come. Yet, the decisions we make now may have
eternal consequences.
God has placed us in the present world so He will know how we will behave
when we are entrusted with the true riches.
The purpose for our present animal existence is to prepare us for life in
the eternal world of righteousness that is to come.
In the new world of righteousness that is to come, all whom we truly love
will be with us; all who will bring us love, joy, and peace will be with us
forever.
Eye has not yet seen what God has prepared for those who love Him. But even
now, God is revealing such wonders to us by His Spirit.
Today God is training us in righteousness so in the world to come we can
enforce righteous behavior upon the multitude of saved people who will need
the assistance of stronger believers.
Of all the saved people in the new world of righteousness, a minority will
govern the remainder. There will be no person who neither is a ruler nor
ruled by another.
When the Bible says a woman shall be saved in child-bearing, it is using the
term "saved" in the sense of being redeemed from sin and self-will. Raising
a child properly will result in such redemption.
To be "saved" means to escape from looking to the world system for survival,
security, and satisfaction; to escape from the bondages of the flesh and
spirit; and to escape from making our decisions without consulting the Lord.
*****
When you see the Glory returning to the Church, do not put your hand on it.
God is able to take care of His own covenant. If you put your hand on it,
because men are carrying it in an unscriptural manner, you may die.
If I am not mistaken, the Lord Jesus is looking for someone who will come to
Him and discover what He wants that individual to do.
Perhaps He wants you or me to remain hidden, as it were, and just worship
Him, or have faith for revival, or raise children faithfully, or bring one
person to the Lord in our lifetime. Perhaps He wants us to be a famous
worker of miracles with a worldwide ministry. It simply does not matter. We
will receive the same reward if we obey Him. All that matters is that He
knows us.
Who can envision what Jesus might do today if He can find someone who is not
seeking to be a great minister but who just wants to do His will? He
promised that we will do works greater than He performed. I think this is
the hour for the greater works. But they must be performed by Him through
us.
“We would see Jesus.” The whole world is waiting to see Jesus, not some
famous person no matter how gifted.
“Dear Lord, help us escape the babylonish influences of our day and simply
do Your will, whether it proves to be a great sensation or just our being a
good person.
“Amen.”
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