I HAVE BEEN VERY CONCERNED LATELY; AND THE REASON FOR THAT CONCERN IS ALL THE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS ARTICLES THAT COME IN THE MAIL. THE WORLD IS FULL OF “SO-CALLED” CHRISTIANITY TODAY, AND EVERY GROUP SEEMS TO HAVE THEIR CERTAIN SCRIPTURES THAT THEY GO TO SEE ON, AND TREAT THE REST OF THE BIBLE AS THOUGH IT IS NOT EVEN GOD’S WORD. YOU WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT EVERYONE WHO NAMES THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST IS ON THEIR WAY TO GLORY, BUT IF I READ MY BIBLE RIGHT, SOMEONE IS GOING TO MISS GOD. IN FACT THE LARGER PERCENTAGE OF WHAT IS CALLED CHRISTIANITY IS GOING TO MISS GOD. FOR THEY HAVE REFUSED TO FOLLOW THE REVEALED WORD OF GOD FOR THIS HOUR. YOU HEAR PEOPLE, “THERE WAS NEVER A MORE SAINTLY PERSON ON THE FACE OF THIS EARTH THAN MY LITTLE GRANDMOTHER, AND I ALWAYS SAY WHAT WAS GOOD ENOUGH FOR HER, IS GOOD ENOUGH FOR ME.”BUT THOSE WHO TALK LIKE THAT, DO NOT HAVE WHAT GRANDMOTHER HAD, FOR IF THEY HAD WITHIN THEM, THE SAME SPIRIT THAT MADE GRANDMOTHER HOLY, THAT VERY SPIRIT IN THEM WOULD CAUSE THEM TO LOVE TRUTH. THEY WOULD NEVER FIND THEMSELVES FIGHTING AGAINST TRUTH THAT GOD REVEALS FROM HIS WORD. THEREFORE WE HAVE TO REALIZE THAT WITHIN THE RANKS OF THOSE THAT CALL, THEMSELVES CHRISTIANS, YOU WILL FIND TWO SPIRITS AT WORK. THE SPIRIT OF GOD IS AT WORK CONVICTING OF SIN AND CALLING TO TRUE REPENTANCE THOSE THAT WERE FOREKNOWN OF GOD FROM BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, AND THE SPIRIT OF TRADITION (WHICH IS ANTICHRIST) IS AT WORK CALLING PEOPLE TO BE RELIGIOUS, BUT THEIR RELIGION MAY BE COMPARED TO THE RELIGION OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES IN THE DAYS OF THE FIRST ADVENT OF CHRIST, AND YOU KNOW WHAT JESUS CALLED THEM, HYPOCRITES AND CHILDREN OF THE DEVIL.
NO, I AM NOT CALLING ANYONE A HYPOCRITE, NOR A CHILD OF THE DEVIL, BUT KNOWING THAT THE SAME SPIRIT THAT CAUSED JESUS TO CALL THEM THAT, IS PREDOMINANT IN RELIGION TODAY, CAUSES ME TO FEEL THE URGENCY TO TAKE UP MY BIBLE AND POINT OUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRUE CHILDREN OF GOD, AND THOSE WHO PROFESS TO BE CHILDREN, BUT LIVE ONLY OFF OF TRADITION PASSED DOWN FROM GENERATION TO GENERATION, WHICH THEY HOLD TO BE SACRED. IN OTHER WORDS, GENTILES HAVE DONE TO THE NEW TESTAMENT WHAT THE JEWS HAD DONE TO THE WRITINGS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT BY THE TIME JESUS CAME UPON THE SCENE.
Open your Bibles to the 16th chapter of Matthew, and let us read one of the most controversial questions that has ever been asked of those professing to be believers, a question Jesus put to His disciples one day, and a question that can only be answered properly by a person who has a genuine revelation in their spirit. Others can utter the same words, but without a revelation, words is all they have. Words can be spoken from the mouth very easily, but a revealed truth can only be spoken from the heart, or from the spirit within a person.
WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM? We will begin in verse 13 now, and please notice the two questions asked by Jesus, and take note of the difference. When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked His disciples, saying, “Whom do men say that I THE SON OF MAN am?” And they said, “Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; (Elijah) and others, Jeremias, (Jeremiah) or one of the prophets.” Up to this point, they have only been required to tell Jesus what others are saying about Him, but his next question will require them to speak what is in their own hearts concerning this man they have been following. Notice, “He (Jesus) saith unto them, BUT WHOM SAY YE THAT I AM? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, (meaning the anointed one) the Son of the Living God.” Simon Peter had the revelation, and spoke the truth, but what Jesus spoke back to him has been misunderstood ever since those original disciples passed off the scene. “And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood (no human teacher) hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; (What rock? This rock of spiritual revelation of course, but the Catholic church thinks He was speaking of Peter’s name, because the name Peter, means little stone.) and the gates of hell would not come against the church, He only said that they would not prevail against it.” If the church had been built upon Peter’s name, then tell me, What was there about that name that could keep the gates of hell from prevailing against the church after Peter died? Peter preached the truth, and was instrumental in establishing church doctrine, but there was nothing about the man, nor his name, that would protect the church from being overcome by the forces of hell once Peter has left the scene in death. Saints I hope you are following me in this thought, for it was the revelation Peter had in his spirit, that would be the rock on which Jesus would build His church, and the reason the gates of hell cannot prevail, is because there is no power on earth nor in hell, that can strip your soul of a true revelation. Regardless of what the forces of evil may do to you, it is that revelation in your soul, that stands like a rock, unmovable, waiting for the salvation of the Lord. They can kill your flesh, but they can never prevail against that true revelation placed in your soul by the Spirit of God. Peter’s name bore witness of the revelation he had, but when you take it beyond that you have left your Bible authority, and taken it from the continuity of all other New Testament teachings. The Catholic Church has always capitalized on carnal things to build their carnal institutions. That is why they are the largest institution of superstition and witchcraft upon the face of this earth today. But like I have said many times, If they were going to build upon the name of Peter, why, in the name of common sense, did they not stick with Peter? They do not baptize like Peter did. They do not believe in the same experience with God, that Peter believed in. They do not have the same teaching on the Godhead that Peter had, and certainly they could never get their teaching on celibacy of the priesthood from Peter, for he himself was a married man. Now I ask you plainly, Where is Peter in all of their great organization? It just simply lets us know that they missed it both ways, whether on Peter’s name, or on Peter’s revelation, for Peter is not even in the picture, except in name, when it is convenient for them to refer to the Pope sitting in the office of St. Peter. The sad truth of it all, is, This is what represents Christianity in much of the world today. That is why we are titling this message, “Bible Christianity v/s Traditional Christianity,” we hope by the help of almighty God, to be able to show you the difference between the two.
WHAT TRUTH BRINGS WITH IT
I could not help but think, as I turned on the TV and watched a little of the 700 Club program, how some of the old saints who have died as martyrs because of the faith they held precious in their bosom, would feel about such programs, if they could witness them today. No doubt they would say, Lord, if this Christian life is so easy, and people can glide through life like this and make it to glory, why did we have to suffer so much for the truth, and be killed as we were? Saints, this is just to provoke your thinking, for not one of those martyrs for the true faith would ever ask such a question, even if they could. They knew they could not deny what was inside them, no matter what the cost, and true Bible Christianity is still like that. It will not compromise with the world, and neither will it put on a show to entertain a certain element of excitement seeking people of the world. It will take a stand for truth, and be ready at all times to suffer the consequences. I have said many times, when God reached down into my stubborn life and saved my soul, He put something inside of me that caused me to want to please the God that saved me. When He took away my stubborn attitude and fear of the Bible, and put within me a joy and peace that I never even knew existed. He also put within me a genuine hunger and thirst for His precious word, and let me know that we cannot interpret the scriptures to fit our experiences. We have to strive to make our experiences fit into scriptures instead.
STANDING AT THE CROSSROADS
I hear different preachers making statements like, America is at the crossroads, or America must make a choice. But I say to you, Every individual one of you is facing the same thing. Time for playing around with the word of God is running out, and those who still insist on trying to force God to sanctify their experience, or fit Him into their institution, are going to be left behind, to face the tribulation. Only those who are willing to walk with God in a pure revelation are going to sit with Jesus Christ at the marriage supper, and these are they that know in their hearts, that the God they serve is the God of His word. They know that no promise of God will ever fail, no matter how dark the circumstances may seem. Naturally we all enjoy nice things, and we like to be liked by others, but when it comes to compromising a true revelation in order to enjoy these temporal benefits, a true child of God realizes that he is standing at a crossroads, and his flesh will have to pay a price for every compromise. He does not even entertain any thoughts of possibly getting by with something, for he knows God’s word says, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.” (Gal. 6:7-8) To many people, religion is something they shop for from place to place, just like shopping for groceries in the large supermarkets. If they shop long enough, they can always find just exactly what they are looking for, but these traditional brands do not carry any guarantees with them as to the eternal destiny of those who trust in their brand. Oh! Yes! They come with a lot of promises, but they have nothing to back up their promises. It is just like driving down a winding mountainous road in a shiny new Cadillac without any brakes; destruction lies ahead, unless God in His mercy intervenes before it is too late. So let us take a good look at what Christianity was, when it started out, and then let us ask ourselves, Has God just scooted back in His easy chair, in heaven, (just a figure of speech) and left men to run His redemption program according to their own ideas and opinions? A lot of people live as though they believe like that. But God has not changed the least bit; His standards and requirements are the same today that they were in the first church age.
WHAT THE NEW BIRTH EXPERIENCE IS
When Jesus spoke of His church here in Matthew 16:18, that was the first mention of the church, in the New Testament. At that time the New Testament church was still in the mind of God, for it was not even in the picture until the outpouring of the Holy Ghost on those disciples of Jesus that were waiting in an upper room for that promise to be fulfilled. The word CHURCH, pertains to the called, or called out, in the sense of usage here, but we all understand, I am sure, that the word itself has many applications in our day; therefore without trying to go into a lot of theological terms used by the church world today, let us just try to concentrate on the usage of the word CHURCH by the apostles of Christ. Let us understand also that when the apostles spoke of the Church, they were speaking only of those who had been called out of sin, baptized according to Acts 2:38, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, filled with the Holy Ghost, and living a holy life. The first Christians were called out of Judaism, which at that time was controlled by an unbelieving spirit, and was more like paganism with all its vain rituals than it was anything that God would honor with His presence. The Church, in the New Testament, was a separate element of society, chosen by God and set apart for service to Him. Never was anyone who had not received the Holy Ghost referred to as a part of the church of the living God in that first age. It is only Gentiles, who without revelation, look at the baptism of the Holy Ghost as something in addition to the new birth experience, when in truth, the baptism of the Holy Ghost IS the new birth experience. Everything up to that point is merely believing unto salvation. It was the apostle Paul who wrote in his first Corinthian epistle (12:13) “For by ONE SPIRIT are we all BAPTIZED into ONE BODY, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.” By the time Paul finished that epistle, it was obvious that he believed the body of Christ and the Church were one and the same. Those early Christians did not go out into the streets of Jerusalem and wrestle with lost sinners, just trying to build a larger congregation; they just preached the gospel every chance they got, and the Spirit of God convicted of sin, and added to the church daily those that were called of God to salvation. They did not have to be concerned about hypocrites joining the church, for unless a person had a genuine experience of the new birth, they would not dare to identify themselves with the Christians, for there was much reproach and persecution involved in following Christ in those days. You would never find gamblers organizing churches to cover their sin and enable them to avoid paying taxes in the early Christian era. But all of the things that are being propagated in the name of Christianity in our day just serve to let us know that we are close to the end of the age, for the Spirit of God is pulling back His restraining presence, and demons are being turned loose on humanity, to lead by the nose, those who have rejected truth. Religious cults are springing up everywhere, and your law officials are so void of the revelation of God’s word, they cannot distinguish between a cult and a true body of word believers. Traditional christianity is all that most of them have ever known anything about, so naturally they are ready to brand people like us as a cult, simply because we are different than the usual run of “professing believers.”
INCARNATION OF JESUS THE CHRIST
Alright now, a lot of people seem to have the idea that whiskey, dope, prostitution, and murder are the biggest sins God has to deal with, so they pick one or more of these things to protest and campaign against. But the truth of the matter is that unbelief is the greatest sin God has to deal with. If He gets the unbelief out of us, all these other things just fade right out of the picture, for when we start believing the word of God, these attributes of unbelief will flee from us. Not because we go to church every Sunday. Not because we pay our tithes and participate in the whole program of the church, but because our nature is changed, and we now desire those things that would be pleasing to God in our lives. In other words, a person can do a lot of religious things, and still be just as rotten and low down as a skunk. So that is not the kind of people the writers of the New Testament were referring to, when they spoke of the church, or the body of Christ, or the redeemed, or the saved. They were referring to people whose lives had been changed as a result of hearing and believing the word of God, people who had a true revelation of the Godhead, and knew that God is a Spirit, and that Jesus the Christ is the only person of the Godhead. In other words, The Bible says that God is one, and tradition says that He is three persons, all three equal in authority, but in perfect unity. Now I ask you, Does that make any sense at all? No, it doesn’t, but a lot of us did believe like that, before God gave us a revelation of His oneness. It is only after we learn the truth, that the false sounds so ridiculous to us. The one we used to call the second person of the trinity, and think of as co-equal with the Father in creation, had no existence at all, except in the mind of the Father, until He was born of a virgin almost two thousand years ago. He was conceived by a holy conception, that is, by the Spirit of God, in the womb of a young virgin that had found favor with God. He was born into this world like any other little baby, but He was the Son of God for God had created the little embryo in the womb of Mary. Therefore even though He grew up as any other boy would, and did many of the things that young boys do, you can be sure of this one thing, He never did anything that He later was ashamed of, for He had no perverted sinful nature in Him. He was always the perfect Son of God, and the Bible says He found favor with God and man. But for the first thirty years of His life He was not God, He did no miracles, and He preached no sermons. But the day He walked into the river of Jordan, and met John the Baptist face to face, all of that changed. After some hesitation, John baptized Him, fulfilling the requirements of the law of Moses, that required a priest and a sacrifice to be washed first, and when John did that, the great incarnation took place. The very God of all creation came down and made His permanent abode in this vessel of clay. That is what made Him a God-man; the very God of heaven which is Spirit, came into Him in the fullness of Himself, and from that moment on, the great eternal God had a human body to dwell in. No He did not cease to be omnipresent. He did not empty the universe of His presence, but He did place a full measure of His very being in His only begotten Son, and for 3 ½ years mankind only saw the power of God demonstrated through that perfect Son. Brothers and Sisters, we do not have to be afraid to speak of the Son of God. That does not diminish from the fact that God is one, and not three persons. It is only those oneness Pentecostal people that have only half a revelation of the oneness of God, that are afraid to speak of the Son of God for fear of distorting their oneness teaching. The Father is a Spirit, and not a person, just like John 4:24 declares Him to be. The Son IS a person, incarnated by that Spirit which is the Father, and the Holy Ghost is the combined Spirit substance of both the Father and the Son, for when the incarnation took place, the Spirit WHICH IS the Father, blended with the perfect human spirit of His Son Jesus, and from that moment on they were one Spirit, for they were blended together like smoke from two separate fires burning side by side.
HOW MANY SPIRITS DO WE RECEIVE?
When you read Romans 8:9, surely you do not think you received two separate Spirits when you were born of the Spirit, or when you were born again. Do you? Notice the terminology used by the apostle Paul in just one little verse of scripture. “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the SPIRIT OF GOD dwell in you. Now if any man have not the SPIRIT OF CHRIST, he is none of His.” Just go ahead and read a few more verses there, and then turn over to 1 Corinthians 3:16, which says, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the SPIRIT OF GOD dwelleth in you?” That was also written by the apostle Paul, a man who had a perfect revelation of the Godhead. Now notice what he wrote to the Galatians (4:6). “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the SPIRIT OF HIS SON into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Brother! Listen to me! The Bible teaches us that God is one, and that this ONE GOD (sovereign Spirit) incarnated His only begotten Son Jesus, known to be the Christ by those that followed Him to the end, and because of this incarnation, we can say that God walked among men in human flesh. But tradition says that God is three persons, a holy trinity, and that Jesus Christ was the second person of that trinity, and that He dwelt with the Father as a person in creation, and that the Holy Ghost is the third person of that trinity. No wonder they call it a great mystery! No wonder they do not know which one to pray to! How could they? Yet that is what the great multitudes of professing Christians believe. They profess to be born again and filled with the Holy Ghost, (They look at these as two separate experiences. ) yet Jesus Himself said that, when the Holy Ghost comes, it would lead those that receive it, into all truth, (You can find that in John 14:26 & 16:13) so why do they not have the truth? Why do they take some of the most precious truths that are taught in the Bible, and say that they are of the devil? You know, and I know, that the reason they fight against revealed truth, is because they do not have the Spirit of truth (the Holy Ghost) abiding in them. I have said it many times before, and I will say it again, When people get a true revelation of the Godhead, everything else will start falling into place. They will no longer be present. Oh! Brother! How blessed it is, when you begin to see the reality of these precious truths in the Bible. That old traditional garbage will never satisfy your hungry soul again. You could never have the mind of Christ in you, as long as you were believing that God is three persons, yet Paul wrote to the Christians at Philippi, saying, (2:5) “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Notice this next verse now) who being in the form of God, (We know that form could not pertain to the flesh of Jesus, for God had no fleshly form.) thought it not robbery to be equal with God: (Here is where they see more than one person, but Paul knew he was not talking about two persons, and speaking of the Son, said) But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Notice now) Wherefore God (The great eternal Spirit) also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus EVERY knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” I have heard Trinitarians speak of how God the Father sent His Son to die on the cross for all lost mankind, and I wonder how they can reconcile such a statement with what they believe about God being three persons, all three equal in authority? How could the Father have any authority to send His Son, if they were equal in authority? Brother, the truth of the matter is, The Father went with Him to the cross, for He was in Him, and He was still in Him when they nailed Him to that old cross.
DID THE FATHER LEAVE THE SON?
One man wrote to me saying, Bro. Jackson: You say that the Father never did leave the Son, after the incarnation there at Jordan, but Bro. William Branham said that He left Him, there in the garden of Gethsemane where He went to pray. I wrote back and said to him, Dear Brother: Do not forget the scriptures, for no matter what terminology of speech any man may use, it should never be allowed to tear down a scriptural revelation. The Bible should always have the final word. Just before Jesus went into the garden to pray, He was speaking with His disciples and said, (Luke 16:32) “Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.” Let me take time to read a few verses of scripture that come to mind, showing that by His own confession, the Son did not do any mighty works without the Father. The first is John 5:19. “Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He seeth the Father do: for what things soever He doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.” Now notice John 8:28 and 29. “Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I DO NOTHING OF MYSELF: (The Son, without the Father in Him, could not perform supernatural feats, no more than you and I.) But as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. And He that sent me is with me: the Father hath not left me alone; for I do always those things that please Him.” Now turn to John 14:10, for two more verses. “Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very work’s sake.” We could go on, but I believe this is enough to establish the fact that the Son did not perform miracles without the indwelling presence of the Father. So with that in mind, let us go back to the garden where Jesus is agonizing in prayer, just prior to His arrest. We are in Luke 22, and we will begin with verse 42, where Jesus is fervently praying that this cup of death might pass from Him. He was praying to be spared from that moment, just like any human might do. Notice what He is saying, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Now this next verse says, “And there appeared an angel unto Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in an agony He prayed more earnestly: (That was the human part of Him that was in such agony.) And His sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Here was a man kneeling, and praying so fervently, that His very drops of sweat were as drops of blood dropping to the ground. That ought to be enough to cause every true believer to realize just how human this Son of God was. That part of Him was just like any other spiritual person that has a warfare going on in their mind. It is through the mind, that the Holy Ghost communicates with the mind of your soul. Every great revelation or decision passes through your mind before it settles in your spirit, and Jesus was no exception to that. He did not have heart trouble that put His life in danger, and nether did He have tuberculosis, nor any other kind of disease to worry about. But He did have a mind, a nervous system, an emotional structure, and in every aspect of the natural makeup, he was just like the rest of us, only without fallen attributes. Something was going on inside His soul, He had a decision to make, and it was made through much agonizing in prayer. It had to be like that in order to show His very humanity, or else it could not have been written that He was tempted in all points just like the rest of us, In other words, If He had been complete deity (as some believe) without any human side, He could not have been tempted. He could not have shed a tear, nor prayed as He did. But let us get back to the reason why we are saying all of these things. The issue in question, is whether the Father left the Son while He was there in the garden praying, and I believe we are now ready to prove by the very scriptures themselves, that He did not.
WHO DOES THE SUPERNATURAL WORKS?
In this same chapter of Luke’s gospel, we find that when the multitude came with Judas and the soldiers to arrest Jesus, His disciples asked, Lord, shall we smite them with the sword? Verse 50, “And one of them (Peter) smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And He touched his ear, and healed him.” Remember what He said, I can do nothing of myself, it is the Father that dwelleth in me that doeth the works. That was not the Son that put that man’s ear back on the side of his head and healed him, it was the supernatural power of the Father that was still right there in Him, that did that. Let me just use a natural illustration that we all may easily identify with, to further establish this point. Let us just say that a dear saint is lying in a hospital bed dying of pneumonia, or something like that. They may pray as earnestly as Jesus did, there in the garden, but it is their time to go. Their time to cross over to the other side has arrived, but does God forsake that dear soul while he, or she is agonizing in prayer? We everyone know that He does not. That is why the apostle Paul wrote what he did, in Romans 8:11, saying, “But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken (make alive) your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in you.” That is our assurance that we will come up out of the ground, if it falls our lot to go by the way of the grave before Jesus comes for His church, for He said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Praise God! What a beautiful promise! There was nothing in Jesus to cause death, but He had to accept death in the flesh, for the redemption of all lost mankind that would ever live in this world. Furthermore let me say this, When the spirit of life went out of that body of clay, it got cold and stiff just like any other person’s body would, but the Father did not separate Himself from the spirit of His son; He went right down into the corridors of hell with Him, to preach the gospel to all those imprisoned spirits, and lead those righteous ones who had died in faith out of there, to a heavenly paradise. That is why Matthew 27:52-53 says, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, and came out of the graves after His resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” Do not think He left them here when He ascended to glory. I ask you, Saints: Do you know your Bible? Why will you let one statement from some man tear down everything you already have from the scriptures. Well, Brother Jackson: Surely you will have to admit that Jesus did cry, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? Of course, and I know the Trinitarians love that verse. They are always quick to say, See there, He was the Son of God. Well, I say He was too. But I also say that the Father was still in Him, when He cried out like that. The only thing is, that anointing was not working to keep Him from feeling the pain. It could have; for I have read how the Holy Ghost would come upon some of those old martyrs in that first age, and they would not even feel the pain of the death they were subjected. But there, on that old cross, hung the perfect Son of God, who had never done anything in His whole life to cause Him to deserve to suffer such cruelty, and the Father did not intervene to prevent the pain and agony, because everything we deserved to suffer was laid upon Him, and even though He prayed, If it be possible, let this cup pass from me, He still went to that cross willingly. In the 26th chapter of Matthew, where it gives the account of His arrest, and tells how one of His disciples drew his sword, and cut off the ear of one of them, we find Jesus saying, Put up thy sword, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Verse 53,”Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? BUT HOW THEN SHALL THE SCRIPTURES BE FULFILLED, THT THUS IT MUST BE?” This just proves He went willingly, knowing what was to happen to Him, for He had already settle in there in prayer, while His disciples slept, saying, Father, not my will, but thine, be done. This was the climax of all that the Father had been projecting through types and shadows through ages past. The crowd stood there ridiculing and making fun of Him, saying. “Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Others said, He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He will have Him. Every age has had a crowd just like that crowd there. You preach something contrary to their traditions, and they react exactly the same way. They will take certain scriptures that are familiar to them, and say, Well if this is right, why don’t you do so and so, or this, or that? Those who make such demands are just as blind as those Scribes and Pharisees that crucified Jesus and reviled Him like that. The only difference is, they are crucifying Christ the truth, not Christ the flesh. Tradition always does that. Tradition leaves no room whatsoever for God to ever update a revelation. Whatever our forefathers believed and taught is all that is allowed. To those who hold to tradition, God may just as well be dead. They will not let Him talk to them out of His book; (the Bible) to give them any further revelation than what their particular denomination was founded upon, and most of them do not even have that any more. They have wallowed it around so much, they lost much of what they had, yet they act as though it is their responsibility to keep everyone else straightened out in the scriptures.
JESUS, INCARNATE GOD-OUR ELDER BROTHER
I received a letter from one man who wrote, Bro. Jackson: You say that Jesus was not the incarnate God from birth, but how can you say such a thing, in the light of Isaiah 9:6? I am sure most of you are familiar with that verse, but let us read it. “For unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His should: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” I wrote back and said, Dear Brother: Each prophecy was always written to encompass the fullest end. In other words, To cover the whole scope from beginning to end. Every prophecy concerning Jesus was spoken concerning the end result, but it is our responsibility to study the rest of God’s word, that enables us to see Him as a perfect Son of God, but absolutely without the supernatural before His baptism by John. We must be able to see His humanity, and the process whereby He is brought into relationship with the finished end of those prophecies. Isaiah 9:6, does not even mention that He was a prophet, but we know He was. Do you believe that? Of course you do. But He will never be a prophet again. We know also, that for almost two thousand years He has been high priest, but the day is close at hand that He will cease to be high priest, and He will never be that gain. Then we know from the word of God, that He is going to be the King of kings on earth, and we know also, from the word of God, how long He will reign on earth as King. It will be for a thousand years, and then He will be our elder brother, never to be King again. You say, How do you get that? Right from the word of God. The apostle Paul had the revelation of Psalms 22:22 when he wrote 1 Corinthians 15:24-28, and Hebrews 2:12. Let us read Psalms 22:22 first, where David prophesied concerning Christ. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.” Now let us go to Hebrews 2:9-12, where it is much easier to associate with its application. “But we see JESUS, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor; that He by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many songs unto glory, to make the captain (Jesus) of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause He (Jesus) is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.” Now let us look at 1 Corinthians 15:24-28. Paul has been dealing with the reality of the resurrection, and the order of it, and then He says this, “Then cometh the end, when He (Jesus Christ) shall have delivered up the kingdom of God, even the Father; when He shall have put down ALL RULE and ALL AUTHORITY and POWER. For He must reign, (as King) till He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For He hath put all things under His feet. But when He saith all things are put under Him, it is manifest that He (the Father) is excepted, which did put all things under Him (the Son.) And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things under Him, that God may be all in all.” That is when Jesus will be looked upon as our elder brother, after all things are restored back like they were before the fall of Adam. Sin and death will be completely eliminated from the earth, and the earth will be filled with the redeemed sons and daughters of God, and Jesus Himself will stand at the head of that family. All things pertaining to redemption are under His power and authority now, but when redemption is a completed reality, there will be no more need for Jesus to exercise any more authority than any other son or daughter of the Father. But at the same time, none of us will ever forget what He did for us, when we were lost, and without God, and had no power to help ourselves. Even though He prayed there in the garden as any saint facing death might, He still went to that old cross willingly, because He knew that was what it would take to pay the sin debt for all of lost mankind, and furthermore. Even though He made the statement, “All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth”, that did not mean that the Father would no longer have any power and authority. You just have to realize that His statement pertained to whatever it would take to redeem lost mankind back to the Father.
WHAT IS THE GREAT COMMISSION?
Jesus made that statement concerning all power and authority being given unto Him in connection with the great commission He was giving to His disciples at that time, and the words Matthew recorded in connection with that great commission, is what the Trinitarians like to harp on, when they are trying to persuade someone to believe that God is three persons. Notice the working in verses 19 & 20, of chapter 28. “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the (singular) name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” They do not even bother to question, What is the name of the God who fills all three of these officeworks? They just see three persons there, and close their mind to everything else. Do they not even realize that Mark, Luke and John also wrote of this great commission that was given that day? Do they think Jesus gave a separate commandment for each gospel writer to use? No, Brother and Sisters: Jesus gave the commandment, and each gospel writer, wrote the portion that stood out to him. Mark was not even a disciple, at the time the great commission was given, but he wrote of it in the 16th chapter of the gospel by his name. Notice, beginning with verse 15, what he wrote. “And He (Jesus) said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (That is what Matthew wrote also, but let us read on.) He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. (even if he is baptized) And these signs shall follow them that believe; In MY NAME shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them: they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. (Now notice this next verse; if lets you know when Jesus spoke these words.) So then after the Lord had spoke unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God.” It was not the right hand of another person, but the right hand of authority and power. But my main point in reading these scriptures is to show that Matthew 28:19 does not stand alone, for all of these scriptures were recorded from what Jesus spoke at one particular time, just before He ascended into heaven. So now let us read Luke 24:46-51, and see if Matthew 28:19 should carry any more weight than Luke 24:47. Jesus opened the understanding of His disciples, and “And said unto them, (verse 46) Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: (notice now) And that REPENTANCE AND REMISSION OF SINS (How are sins remitted? See Acts 2:38) SHOULD BE PREACHED IN HIS NAME among all nations, beginning in Jerusalem.” You can read the rest of those verses, and pay attention to verse 51, for it tells you also, that these words were spoken by Jesus just before He was parted from them, and received up into heaven. Luke says here, that the command Jesus gave His disciples, was that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. So my question to you is this, Why did Matthew use the terminology he did, if the name of the Father, and the name of the Holy Ghost is not the same name the Son is called by? Surely you do not think Matthew and Luke were in disagreement on what Jesus commanded His disciples to do. Besides that, Luke tells us, in the first three verses of his gospel, that he has perfect understanding of all things from the very beginning, and he is the one that said Jesus commanded these things to be done in His name. Let me ask you another question. Do you think the apostle was confused and mixed up, when he wrote the Colossian epistle? In chapter 3, verse 17, he said, “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do ALL in the NAME OF THE LORD JESUS, giving thanks to God and thy Father by Him.” Their words would include their preaching, and their deeds would include baptizing, and Paul said all of this should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, so how did tradition get so set on three persons in the Godhead? It just goes to show how strong that old spirit of perversion really is. Church goers today, seem to have the idea that the Holy Ghost was given to the church must for power, and that they should be allowed to do as they please with it, but my Bible tells me that the Holy Ghost, the Comforter which was to come, would lead them, or guide them into all truth, and you believe me, Saints: the Holy Ghost has never guided anyone into believing that God is a trinity. That is Catholic doctrine, carried right on through the Reformation, and out on this side, and God is allowing it, but His true servants are not teaching any such lie. This is the very reason the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the Sons of God.” There are a lot of people doing and teaching things that they say are of God, but a true son or daughter of God will always be able to tell sooner or later, whether these are truly of God of not. You just pay attention, and if they are not led by the Spirit of God, they will eventually make a tell-tale slip that will let you know it. Those early disciples did not have any trouble telling the difference. I guess we could safely say, that for the first fifty years, the church had no tares in it. That is why every scripture was written from the standpoint that all who read it would be true seed of God, for these epistles were letters written to various bodies of believers for the most part, and the exception is that some of them were written to individuals. But my point is, not one scripture was written TO a tare, and the scriptures do not contradict each other. Those apostles knew what they were writing, and they knew who they were writing to, and not one of them ever believed that God was three persons. You just simply cannot interpret the scriptures to fit your own experience, or your own particular doctrinal ideas. Of course some will say, Now Bro. Jackson: I know what God has done for me. But that does not change the word of God one bit. You are living in an hour of time that God’s word has already foretold, would be like this, and He has showed His mercy and grace to you, but if you expect to walk on with Him, in a scriptural relationship, then be thankful for the experience He gave you, and get on your knees and say, God: I do not want to limit my spiritual life with only that which grandma had, I want all you have for me today. Saints: We must have a desire burning within our hearts to be like the Bible believing church Jesus Christ is coming back for. What grandma had fifty years ago was not all that will be required of those who expect to meet Jesus in the air some day.
THE BEGINNING POINT
A lot of people say, All you need is to be saved and filled with the Holy Ghost, and you are ready. Brother! Listen to me! You are only starting when you are at that point, you have not grown one bit whatsoever. The devil is going to kick you around a lot, before you get out of here. That is his business, to do that. The Holy Ghost is not an automatic immunity to sin; it is the power to overcome when Satan places sin before you, and do not ever think he will not do that. Another traditional idea a lot of people are always expressing is this, Praise God! The Bible says, He that endureth to the end shall be saved, and I am doing my best to endure. Well, I am not enduring my salvation; I am enjoying it. The devil doesn’t like it, and he does his level best to keep us from enjoying our salvation, but if you have the genuine product, you cannot help but enjoy it, no matter how much you get kicked around. You will be called crazy, unorthodox, unethical, a heretic, and a lot more, but so was Jesus, and He endured all of that for our sakes, not His own. I will say this though, If you do not have the genuine product to enjoy, you will not endure very of the other. The first time someone says something bad about you, you will either blow your top, or go off somewhere and hide, an begin saying, I just simply cannot stand this, I want to be loved. Then pretty soon, you will start edging your way back in with your old crowd. Now it is a natural thing for us to want to be loved, but without the Spirit of God in us, there is not much about this old flesh for anyone to love. It certainly was not our flesh alone, that Jesus Christ went to the cross and died for, even though our flesh did reap much benefit from it. No, it was that inner man, that which God foreknew before the foundation of the world. It is not our flesh that is made in the image and likeness of God; that is only a shell.
THE CHURCH-FROM SUCH A SMALL BEGINNING
Let me get on with my subject now, for when we are dealing with Bible Christianity, we are dealing with something that is of utmost importance, for that is the only kind God will accept. Everything else is headed for the lake of fire. Christianity started out small in number, and even though it grew rapidly, it has always been small in number compared to Satan’s crowd, and today, much of what is called Christianity, is still Satan’s crowd, but God knows the difference. Its’ small beginning though, is the fulfillment of the third parable of Jesus, in Matthew 13:31-32. “Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a an took and sowed in his field: which indeed is the least of all sees: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.” One hundred and twenty souls was a very small number, to step out into the streets of Jerusalem among the great throngs of people who were just waiting to make fun of them. They came out of that upper room speaking in tongues and glorifying God, and the local Jews around about began mocking the, and saying, These men are full of new wine. No, They were not all mocking, some of them were questioning, What is the meaning of this? But some did mock, and Peter’s ear was keen to pick up on what they were saying, and just like in the garden, he went right for his sword. It was a different kind of sword he drew this time though. The last time he drew his sword, he cut off a man’s ear, but this sword is merely opening up some ears, for it was the sword of the Spirit. This is when he started using the keys that the Catholic church claims they have today. He started opening up the kingdom of heaven to a great number of those spiritual minded Jews that were in Jerusalem from other parts of the world for the Passover feast. He was speaking to those that were mocking, but it was the others, that received his message and were born into the kingdom of God that day. He just stood right up, the other eleven with him, and said, “Ye men of Judaea, and ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. (We might say, Wait a minute! Now you listen to me!) For these are not drunken, AS YE SUPPOSE, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. (He did not say they were not drunk; he only stipulated that they were not drunk in the way they were accused of being.) But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams,” and so on. You can read Acts chapter 2, if you are not familiar with it. Peter was speaking by divine revelation, just like the day he spoke out, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It was after this great declaration, that Jesus committed to him the keys to the kingdom of heaven, and here he stands on this occasion, with his first opportunity to use those keys. By divine revelation, he begins to speak concerning these prophetic scriptures, setting them in motion. We do not know how long he preached, but the Holy Ghost anointed that crowd to hear what he was saying, and before long, three thousand devout Jews believed the gospel of Jesus Christ that they were hearing. The Bible says they were gathered there out of every nation under heaven, (and they had come to Jerusalem to worship God.) And they heard something they did not expect to hear, and they were pricked in their hearts, (convicted by the Spirit of God) and asked those disciples, Men and brethren, what shall we do? (They wanted to know.) Acts 2:38, “Then Peter said unto them, REPENT, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” What do you think Jimmy Swaggart or Billy Graham would have told them? They claim to be preaching the word of God so why do they preach contrary to the apostle that had the keys to the kingdom of God committed to his trust? A lot of you do not like to hear this, but truth is truth just the same, so you just have to realize that a lot of these big name preachers are out there bundling tares, getting them ready to be burned. If Peter was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are preaching something different than what he preached, it has to be Antichrist doctrine they are preaching. There is nothing in between right and wrong. I trust you know what I mean by that. I have actually heard trinity minded people criticize Peter, because he commanded those Jews to be BAPTIZED IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST. They go back to Matthew 28:19 and say, I would rather trust the words of Jesus than an apostle that denied even knowing Him. How carnal. I guarantee you one thing, After old Peter received the Holy Ghost, you will not find where he ever denied knowing Jesus ever again. Besides, Peter had the revelation of the name Jesus was talking about, when He said, Baptize them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Furthermore, the other eleven, were standing right there with Peter: So how could anyone actually believe that Peter could have been allowed to give out wrong answers without someone else setting the thing straight? No, what Peter told them they must do, was the only scriptural answer anyone could have given them. I guarantee you this much also, They did not have taxi cabs running up and down the streets of Jerusalem, with big signs on top. Go to the church of your choice, like we see around here. Oh, listen, Saints: The Spirit of God was on the scene convicting those three thousand souls, and when they found out what they must do, that was it. Three thousand souls were added to THE CHURCH, the only Church. There was only one Church then, and there is only ONE true Church today, and there is still only ONE way to get into that Church, Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. You say, Why did those devout Jews need to repent? What were they to repent of? They had to repent of all that tradition they had been raised up to believe was the word of God. In other words, They had to repent for their unbelief of the true word of God. Let me say also, You who prefer to take the words of Jesus, rather than Peter, do not forget what Jesus said in Luke 24:46-47. Dear Brother, dear Sister: My point is this, You have to take all the scriptures together, if you expect to get a true revelation from them, for those writers, each, wrote what stood out to them, of what Jesus said, and keep in mind also, those Gospel writers were not writing instructions to the church, they were simply recording those things that stood out to them, of what they had seen and heard. But when you come to Peter, on the day of Pentecost, there stood an apostle of Jesus Christ, fulfilling the commission Jesus had given to them, by setting in order, and in motion, these things that they received by revelation. There was no doubt in their minds, that the redemption name of Jehovah was Jesus. They did not have any arguments about whether to sprinkle or immerse those who repented either, for they every one knew that immersion was the only mode of baptism that portrayed death, burial and resurrection. (You will find Paul dealing with that in the 6th chapter of Romans.) Therefore they took three thousand souls to the river and buried every last one of them in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of all their sins. Now do not get disturbed because I said river; that was just a figure of speech, but this much I am sure of, they took them to a pool of water that was deep enough to bury them, for that is what it was all about. Unbelief, superstition, and traditional ignorance was all dealt with in every one of those three thousand souls. Did they all receive the Holy Ghost, some will say? Yes, they did. There were no make believers fellowshipping with the Church in those days. You can read the 5th chapter of Acts, and see what happened to a man and his wife just simply for pretending to give more to the common cause than they actually did give. Brother! They were struck dead on the spot, and the Bible says great fear came upon the people, and no one dared join himself to them, (except those that were set in by the Holy Ghost) and the Lord added to them daily, both men and women.
THE BORN AGAIN BELIEVER
When we say that there is only one way into the kingdom of God, and we show from the Bible what that one way is, a lot of people accuse us of saying that they are not even saved. Of course there is a technical point involved here, but that is not what we are saying at all. We are only saying, Every person must bring their salvation experience up to fit the Bible, instead of trying to drag the Bible down to fit their experience. Be thankful for what you received from the Lord while in a denominational system, but do not ever think you can limit your experience with the Lord to what that denominational system teaches, or you yourself will prove by your own actions that you are not saved, for those that are genuine will love truth when they hear it. You may turn on your television, and hear a dozen preachers say, You are born again when you believe, and the Holy Ghost is an extra bonus just for power. But that is not so, Let me say it one more time, and you be sure you listen to what I am saying. You are born again when you receive the true baptism of the Holy Ghost, and if you have not received the Holy Ghost there is no way that you could already be born again. You are just in the process of being born of the Spirit. There is always a time of conception that proceeds every birth; therefore many who are looked upon as born again believers, really should be compared to an unborn baby, still in its mother’s womb. Accepting Jesus Christ as your Saviour, and being baptized in His name, actually just places a person in a conceived state; birth is yet to follow, and sometimes there are spiritual miscarriages and abortions. That is why it looks to some, as though a person can be saved one day, lost the next, and then get saved again in the next revival; there has never been a birth take place. The Holy Ghost which consummates the new birth experience is the essence of life that is our seal, and our guarantee that we can never be lost again. It is the Holy Ghost in us, that give us eternal security. We do not get that just by believing someones’s church doctrine. There are a lot of people believing in eternal security that do not have the reality of it in their lives. That is why you have heard me say, A person can go to church for years, say all the right things, take part in all the activity of the church, and still miss God by a million miles. There are many categories in the ranks of religion these days, but there is only one group that is going to leave the ground in the rapture when Jesus returns for His bride. That will be those blood washed saints who have made sure their salvation experience is in line with the apostolic teachings of the Bible.
REALITY OF PREDESTINATION
Jimmy Swaggart has taken television time, to preach against predestination, saying that it is of the devil, and I am sure he got a lot of Amens. But do those poor souls not realize that predestination had to be a doctrine of the early church, or it would not even be mentioned in the Bible? The apostle Paul is the one that really makes predestination stand out in the Bible, and did he not write (I believe it is) fourteen of the New Testament epistles? He is the one that wrote, (Romans 8:28-30) “For whom He (God) did foreknow, He also did PREDESTINATE to be conformed to the image of His Son, (Jesus the Christ) that He (Jesus) might be the firstborn among many brethren. (There is our elder brother.) Moreover whom He (God) did PREDESTINATE, them He also called; and whom He called, them He also justified; and whom He justified, them He also glorified.” That should be enough to satisfy any believer, but there is much, much more. Besides Ephesians 1:5,11 where this same terminology is used, you also have all those scriptures that deal with the elect, and foreknew, and foreknown, all of which add up to predestination, and prove deception, or just plain ignorance on the part of anyone who speaks against it. Now I will not point to any certain person, but if all the gospel truth that some of these big name preachers have, was made into cloth, and that was all they had to wear, they would have on little more than a bikini. Brother, the bride of Christ is going to be dressed in fine linen, clean and white. Because the fine linen is the righteousness of saints, put on by a pure revelation of the word of God. The formula for salvation is the same today that it was almost two thousand years ago when those apostles of Christ first began preaching it. It came to the Gentiles in the same revelatory and doctrinal structure as the Jews received it. But you know, that Antichrist spirit was trying to get into the church way back then. That is why they had some trouble with certain ones who were trying to get the Gentiles to be circumcised according to the law of Moses; it was that spirit of Antichrist trying to get in, trying to add something to the gospel, that did not belong there. Of course we all know that spirit finally did get into the church in the second age, or there would be no need for the message we are dealing with. You would not have Bible Christianity versus traditional Christianity, if that spirit of Antichrist had never gotten into the church. But does that change God’s true formula? Absolutely not! The devil and all his little children gather every week and play church, while the true church of the living God is gathering together for worship and praise. Bro. Jackson: How can we know who the tares are ? Do not worry about who the tares are; just be sure you do not allow their antiword teaching to influence your life. Every true born again child of God has the Spirit of truth in them, to say Amen to revealed truth, and leave it alone, to everything else. You do not have to worry about being deceived, if your attitude and motives are right, and you are doing what you already know to do. It is just like the apostle Paul said to old Felix that day, “After the way which they call heresy, so worship I the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the law and in the prophets.” We are living in a day, when people as a rule, want to be religious, but they do not want to follow Bible doctrine. They want a religion that will be compatible with whatever they choose to do, and they can find it, if they look long enough, but that is not what Jesus Christ is coming for. He is coming back after a product that has been produced by His word. He will have some from every race, color, and language of this old world, but I guarantee you this much, they will not be fighting each other over Bible doctrines when that time comes; for they will all be believing the same thing. Jesus will take His church from this old world, and leave all those denominational tares right where they are, still playing church. Some people get so wrapped up with the scripture that says, The Lord was not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance, they over look a hundred other scriptures that could tell them who is going to perish. They want to believe everyone is going to make it, but that is not what the Bible teaches. You can be sure that not one predestinated seed of God will perish, but you can also be sure that not one tare will escape the lake of fire, and God know who is who. The Bible says, Many are called, but few are chosen, and also, Whosoever will let him come, but no tare is going to come all the way. The gospel has to be preached to everyone, everywhere, but we have to leave it up to God to do the saving. That is what Jesus meant to John 6:44, when He said, “No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.” Only those who were foreknown of the Father from before the foundation of the earth will be drawn of Him to a genuine salvation experience. All the rest, even those that go to church every Sunday, will perish. Verse 45 lets us know who will come to Jesus. Notice how He stated this, “It is written in the prophets, An they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, (The great eternal Spirit) cometh unto me.” Not maybe they will come. There is no guess work about it, because every predestined seed will hear the voice of the Spirit of God as He woos him or her to repentance.
SONS OF GOD–TARES–BOTH A REALITY
I have said many times, The marriage supper is in heaven, not down here, and there will not be one soul there that does not have a place, and neither will there be any empty places at the table. Bro. Jackson; Are you saying God made some to be saved, and some to be lost? No, that is not what I am saying at all, but I am saying, that by His great foreknowledge God knew from the beginning, all that would pay the price to be there. God just simply does not let men run His program. You just have to reconcile yourself to the fact, that when you are called into the ministry, you are going to be working with tares as well as true children of God, and you are not going to know which is which. Now Bro. Jackson: I don’t believe that; I believe the tares are out in the world, not in the church. You just simply have not read your Bible right. In Matthew 13:30, Jesus told His servants, “Let them both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together FIRST THE TARES, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.” Do you really think He meant that? I do not believe He said anything He did not mean, and neither did the apostle Paul. It thrills my soul just to read Ephesians, chapter 1, where Paul got all wound up in describing the things we are dealing with here. In verse 3, he said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as He hath CHOSEN US in Him BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love: Having PREDESTINATED US unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself, ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL.” Hallelujah! To me, that says it all. That is election, predestination, foreknowledge, eternal security, and a lot more, all in one package. That is why, “Once saved, always saved, ” is a reality, when it is applied in the right place. Tradition says, You are saved until you get drunk or smoke a cigarette, or lose your temper, and so forth. But the Bible says that when we receive the Holy Ghost we are sealed. Now you all know what sealed means, do you not? It means you have been inspected and sealed into the family of God, never to be lost again. But what about Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, in the Bible? They were killed just for lying. That is right. The Bible says God killed them for lying to the Holy Ghost, but it does NOT say He sent them to hell for it. That is how God kept the first church clean, and I hear people say, It ought to be like it was in Bible days, concerning wrong deeds on the part of Christians. But I say, There are many Christians today, that ought to be thankful to God that it is not like that. There would sure be a noticeable increase in funerals, for there are a lot worse things than that going on every day. God is just letting everything run its course, and every true Christians is being tested and tried with all of this, but in the end, God is going to have a church that has been washed by the water of His word, and that stands clean and pure, ready for the wedding supper. We just have to remember, What the early church was, is what we have to come to, to be acceptable unto Him. It is a time of washing and restoring to the original, and therefore God is not killing the vessels He is working on. He is furnishing the bath water, and all the nice smelling additives, but He is allowing us to take our own bath. That is why Revelation 19:7 pictures the bride of Christ as having made herself ready. She makes herself ready by her own choice, not by force. She reads in the Bible and finds what the Bridegroom requires of His bride, and she sets her goal in life to work toward that end. Working out your own salvation is not working to get it. You work toward getting your life in line with the word of God, because you already have salvation for your soul, and you know it.
DOCTRINE IN THE CHURCH
What about doctrine in the church? Why is it important enough to cause hard feelings preaching about it? Brother! Without proper Bible doctrine, you do not even have a New Testament Church. It was their doctrine that held them on course; in that early church. Your charismatic preachers do not agree with that. They claim that a vision for lost souls is all you really need, and some even accuse me of not having any vision for the lost, because I insist on Bible doctrine being presented to every repentant sinner. You will not get anyone into the kingdom of God with a handshake, a pat on the back, and a lecture on tithing. God Himself is the only one that can put a soul into His kingdom, and He has certain specific standards that every soul must meet, or they do not get into His kingdom. Why do you suppose Jesus called those Scribes and Pharisees, serpents, or children of the devil, or like whitewashed tombs, and all such as that? It was because they had departed from the true precepts of His law, and made up a long list of do’s and do nots, that was supposed to get the job done, but God is not looking for a church that just merely says and does the right things without their hearts being changed first, to do what they do because of a revelation of His word. Modern Christianity says, All we need is a revelation of God’s love. But the Bible says that we are to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and have the mind of Christ in all matters. That is why I say, The Bible was not written just to give us another book to play around with; it was written in order that we might know exactly what God is looking for, in His children, and know how to order our own footsteps along this pathway of life. In his first epistle, Peter wrote, verse 3, “According as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, (How?) Through the knowledge of Him that called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.” Now notice here what he instructs believers to do. Verse 5, “And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity; (love). For if these things be in you, and abound they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the KNOWLEDGE of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These are attributes of God, that must be cultivated in our lives after we are born again by His Spirit. He does not save us because we already possess these desired qualities: He saves us because we were foreknown of Him, and He has purposed that we should attain unto these things as His children. In other words, That we should be like our Father. The Bible says, Known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world. He did not have to wait until we were born, to see what we would do. Therefore knowing that the Bible clearly teaches this, Why will some of you yet put your approval on the ministry of these compromising preachers who preach salvation like children playing on a seesaw, up and down, on and off, according to the momentary impulse of the participants. Oh, Praise God! I am so thankful He knew how stubborn I would be, and He worked circumstances to break down my stubborn will, and make me willing to gladly follow His word. Is God fair about it all, some will say? Sure He is. Noah worked on that old ark for over a hundred years, and the Bible says he was a preacher of righteousness, so how could anyone say God never gave that wicked generation a chance to repent? I do not believe he hacked and chopped for a hundred years building that old boat, without verbally witnessing to that generation that there was going to be a flood, and that destruction was coming. But remember this, God had already told Noah exactly how big to build the ark, so do not try to tell me God did not already know how many souls would be in it, even before it was ever started. If Jimmy Swaggart, or Billy Graham had been building that boat, they would still be working on it, trying to build it large enough to get the whole world’s population in it. They do not follow God’s instructions like Noah did. God gave Noah the exact length, breadth, and height of it, with specific instructions for one window, a door in the side, and lower, second, and third stories, and what food supplies to lay in, and everything he was to do, and Noah did accordingly. How do I know? Genesis 6:22 says, “Thus did Noah according to all that God commanded him.” Brother, he did not change one thing. Yet thousands in our day, who claim to be ministers of the word of God, refuse to do what God instructed His servants to do, and they criticize all who do follow His instructions.
WHAT TRADITION SAYS
We are commanded to preach the gospel to every creature, of all nations, and to baptize repentant sinners in the redemption name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, and there is only one name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved, and most of these men would rather fight than to immerse (baptize) in the name of Jesus Christ. They talk about Jesus being God in the flesh, but they have no concept of the reality of it, or they would not rebel so against that holy name, and the commandments given by the one whose name it is. They treat Acts 2:38, as though it does not even belong in the Bible, and a lot of them preach as though the whole program of God depends upon what they do and say. If a few of them would go back to Genesis and see who shut the door to that ark, it might help them to better understand that God knows what He is doing. He did not make a mistake. He did not shut the door in the face of some soul that would have entered in. No. The truth is, Every creature that was supposed to be in that ark, went in exactly when they were supposed to go in, and the beautiful thing is, No one had to go out and round up those animals, and drive them into the ark. They every one heard the voice of God, and obeyed His command. Now you tell me why, it is not so in the world of religion today. No, I will tell you. Satan has perverted the gospel message, fed it to the church little by little every since the second century of the Christian Era, and that perverted gospel has been established through time, and become the traditions of the fathers. But the sad truth is, It is not the traditions of the apostolic fathers. Those apostles of Christ held a line on the word of God, as long as they remained alive, but when they passed on, Satan managed to get his foot in the door, and sow his tare seed among the church. Little by little they multiplied, And it was just like Satan’s crowd today, they far outnumbered the children of God by the time the church was plunged into the Dark Ages. Every major doctrine of the Christian church was perverted, and fed to the people as the pure word of God. The one God revelation was changed to a trinity of Gods, three persons all equal in power and authority. Water baptism by immersion, in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, was changed to sprinkling a few drops on the repentant sinner, (if such was the case) and that was done using the office titles instead of the name Jesus, and they say that water baptism is for a testimony to the world, of what has happened in your life, instead of saying what the Bible says, that it is for the remission of sins. They changed the baptism of the Holy Ghost to a mass that is ministered by a man, rather than by the Spirit of God, and they wrote up church covenants and creeds to replace the unadulterated word of God. That is how tradition got such a strangle hold on the church of the living God in the first place.
RESTORATION OF TRUTH
Then when God did begin to move upon certain men to restore truth back to the church, no on man ever received it all. Luther received, “The just shall live by faith,” but he still remained a Trinitarian, for God did not reveal His oneness to him. It was the same with Calvin, Knox, Wesley, and all those men who were used in the Reformation. They received a certain amount of truth, and they stood faithful to that truth, but none of them ever received the revelation of God’s oneness. It was over two hundred years into the Reformation before holiness was ever taught. Before that, there was little reason for anyone to clean up their habits. If they drank, chewed tobacco, smoked, and what have you; they just kept right on doing that. It was after 1700 A.D. when John Wesley came on the Reformation scene with another restored truth that Satan had robbed the church of. He did not deny Luther’s revelation that came from Galatians 3:11. Romans 1:17, and Hebrews 10:38, “The just shall live by faith,” for he was a man that believed the scriptures. Therefore he embraced already revealed truth as far as he could see it, and added Hebrews 12:14 to the list, which says, “Follow peace with all men, and HOLINESS, without which no man shall see the Lord.” Is that not a truth from the word of God? Alright then; now that we know it is Bible truth, for the true church, do we have any excuse for neglecting holiness in our Christian life? I am here to tell you, we do not. God requires a holy life from all who would be partakers of His grace bestowed upon His true church. Well, what about the name of Jesus Christ in water baptism? There will not be one soul in the rapture of the church that has refused to take the name of Jesus Christ in the baptismal waters. Furthermore, there will not be one soul go in the rapture, that still believes in a trinity, no matter what some may say. In other words, those who go in the rapture will be embracing every precept, every doctrine, every revelation and holy standard, that the church in the book of Acts believed and taught, and lived. Psychological converts will never get off the ground. The early church had it by revelation, therefore the restored, end time church will have to have it the same way. Besides that, the revealed word is to the true child of God, what good nourishing food is to our natural bodies. It adds nutrients, energy and vitality that it takes to grow on. On the other hand, a tare cares little about what is preached, just as long as the speaker has a pleasant voice, and does not get too serious about Bible doctrines. What fools so many people though, is that tares enjoy Holy Ghost sensations as much as the children of God do. The difference is, they are willing to live off of the sensations, and the born again child of God has to be fed some meat now and then.
OVERCOMING AND CHASTENING
Now let us look at some scriptures over in the little epistles; scriptures that many people do not want to hear, but they are there for our benefit, so let us not overlook them. In 1 John 5:4, we read these words, “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” What is he talking about overcoming? Is it smoking? Is it drinking, cussing, lying, or any of those things? Listen to me Saints: All of those unchristlike deeds of the flesh, are the result of unbelief in our lives, so when the unbelief is purged out, those things will have nothing to feed upon, so they will have to go. Though trials and tests will always be present, the born again child of God will always press on. When you hear people say, I think I will just stop going to church, just because the going gets a little rough, just know this, The truly born again believers do not talk like that and really mean it. God’s children do not rebel against Him, when things go wrong in life. Furthermore there are times when God has to chasten us, and His true children know that, and they expect it, because the Bible says so. You will find it in Hebrews 12, verses 5B-8. “My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of Him: For whom the Lord loveth HE chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.” I say, Woe unto the man or woman who is never chastened of the Lord. They have something to be concerned about.
WHOSOEVER IS BORN OF GOD SINNETH NOT
Now let us go back to 1 John 5:18, and read another scripture that gives some people a lot of trouble. “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” We will stop right there, for that is the part that causes concern. What does that mean? If a child of God does no wrong, why do they need to be chastened? A lot of people think they see a contradiction there, but I assure you, there is no contradiction between these scriptures. First let us be sure we realize, that even though our wrong deeds of the flesh are called sins, and are sometimes referred to in the singular, the word SIN, singular, as used in the scriptures, usually pertains to unbelief, and a person who is born of God is a believer or he would not be born of God in the first place. Therefore in the strictest sense we would have to say, A true son or daughter of God cannot disbelieve the word of God. They will just simply not have unbelief concerning the word of God. But we also must apply that scripture to practical every day life, and say, No true son or daughter of God will premeditate to practice SINS, plural, for their true desire is to please the Father. But we have to realize that if it were impossible for God’s children to do anything wrong, those scripture writers sure did waste a lot of time instructing, admonishing, and warning believers concerning their conduct and daily walk with our heavenly Father. The scriptures were not written to the man and woman of the world. No. They were written to believers. Now some will say, Well if water baptism in the name of Jesus is for the remission of sins, would we not have to keep going back to be rebaptized? NO, the Bible does not teach that. If we have truly repented when we go to the water hole and obey the scriptures in baptism, that covers all the fleshly sins of all times, past and future. From then on, when we do something wrong, and the Spirit of God convicts us of it, we need only to ask His forgiveness, and if there is true repentance, then there is sure forgiveness. Now Bro. Jackson: If that is true, why does it not always work? Because we are living in a time when the children of God, and the tares are all growing together, and since we do not know the true seed from the tare seed, we have to go through the same process for the tares that we do for the predestined seed of God. They go into the same water hole, have the same words repeated over them, and get just as wet; but if it is the Spirit of God that knows which is which, and He only places His presence in those true seed. The rest are still tares, no matter how many times they are baptized, and like I have already said, Not one of them is going with Jesus Christ in the rapture.
TRUTH LEADS TO PERSECUTION
This kind of preaching will never win me any popularity contests, not get me any free time on TV, but it is the truth, and every true child of God that hears it, knows it is the truth. The early church preached it like this, and they were hated because of it, so why should it be any different now? The same devil that caused them to be hated, is still in the world today, and he is just as desperate, for he know his days are numbered. Therefore my dear brothers and sisters: I want you to know, that just up ahead is going to be very, very hard for the Holy Ghost children of God, for the world does not want Biblical Christianity. They want the lukewarm Laodicean kind, that will dress like them, look like them, go to the same places, and sing the same songs, and they are going to persecute those who live above all of that. But remember what was said to the church of Smyrna, in the 2nd chapter of Revelation. This was a church that had no material wealth nor resources; therefore they had no great program. They were utterly dependent on the grace and mercy of God, so what was the Lord’s message to them? “I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, (trying to get an edge on them) and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, (Saints, it can happen in our day.) That ye may be tried; (To them he also said) and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto dearth, and I will give thee a crown of life.” Regardless of their circumstances, those saints of Smyrna still had the same revelation that was laid out to them by the apostle Paul. That could not be said about the church at Pergamos though, for even though it was in the same age, they were a little more wealthy than the assembly at Smyrna, so the dirty devil took advantage of the fact that they had a little bit larger program, and he got right in there to help them run it. He created a condition among them, that required someone to act, so they cooked up a doctrine that the Lord referred to as the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, and said, I hate it. They also had some there that held the doctrine of Balaam, so the admonition to them was, Repent, or else. Then we see that Thyatira had a self professed prophetess in the assembly, that seduced God’s servants, and taught them that it was alright to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed to idols. That woman was the very type of the Catholic Church, which has always harbored and encouraged such as that. Those young men that enter the priesthood, go in there believing that they are to be instruments of God, and all they are ever taught is the traditions of that system. They just become little puppets in the hands of their superiors that are anointed by Satan to lead millions to destruction. But what I want you to see is this. Satan tried to destroy the church by killing those saints in the second age, but when he discovered that he could not do that, he decided to get inside the church and pervert its teachings, all in an effort to rid the world of any holy influence, by dragging the church down to the level of carnal mankind. It did not happen all at once though; it was a gradual process that took many centuries, and it has taken many centuries to restore the church back to apostolic doctrine since the Reformation started, and the majority of what professes to be the church will never preach apostolic doctrine, because they are tares, and they are the ones that will persecute the true church, for they have representation in places of authority and influence, and they have no use for people like us. Does that mean that we should worry? No. Just remember that, Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world. We have the overcomer in us, so there is nothing to worry about. That does not mean that no Christian will have to die for his faith, but those that do, will receive a martyrs reward just like all those who have died for their faith in the past. Any way you look at it Saints: The true children of God are going to come out on tope, and tradition is going to lead all the rest to the lake of fire.
BEWARE OF UNGODLINESS
If it had been the purpose of God, to let carnal men live any way they choose to live, and teach others to do likewise, and then in the end save them all, and allow them to live in immorality, we would have to say, Jesus Christ died in vain. In that first age, the apostle John could write, “Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God:” and that was true then, because no one would dare profess to believe that, unless they truly did, because they knew they would be marked by the society at large, and be hated, and disinherited. But you could not even think of judging a person’s profession on the basis of that scripture in this hour of time, for every tare will readily profess, Sure I believe that Jesus is the Christ, and that He is the Son of God, but they will never be born of the Spirit of God; it is a scriptural impossibility. You say, Why? Because they are already born of another spirit. They are the children of that Wicked one, just like Jesus said in John 8:44, “Ye are of your Father the devil.” God shows no mercy upon those that reject His word. It may look like it at times, but I assure you from the word of God, Their payday is coming. For you who think I am being too hard on some of these systems, I will just have to remind you that I am not accusing anyone of anything Jesus did not accuse them of first. The difference of course, is that He could see within the heart of every individual, and I just have to look at the system they are sold out to, but I assure you, the judgement is the same. No, I am not judging the eternal destiny of any individual soul. I would never do that, as long as Jesus is still on the mercy seat. But I can tell you this much for sure, God will never revive Lutheranism, Methodism, nor any other denominational religious system. They no longer reflect anything that even resembles the image of Jesus Christ, and that is what redemption is all about. He is our pattern. In his second epistle, Peter went into much detail describing ungodliness in the world, and ended the epistle by saying, “Ye therefore, beloved, seeing, ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and for ever.” That same Spirit that was in Him in the fullness, portraying God’s will and purpose upon earth, is in every born again child of God, leading them to do exactly the same thing. He is seeking to mold each of us into that very same image that Jesus reflected to the world. In every aspect of life, that should be our most cherished goal. If you are satisfied with the way you are, there is something wrong with you, for none of us are perfected yet. That is why I say, If time stands another fifty years, (and I do not see any way that it can) God will still be revealing jewels from His written word, that the church has carried all these centuries now. Just seek to walk humbly with God, examine your motives for what you do and say, and do not allow yourself to get carried away with what you may see taking place out here in the Charismatic circles of modern religion. No one would deny that God heals many of them, and neither would we deny that He is doing other things in their midst, but let us not get sidetracked by it, for God is blinding the eyes of many souls that have preferred signs and sensations above His word. Do not be fooled by all of these Catholic priests and nuns that seem to be embracing Pentecost, and the Charismatics either, for if you will do a little checking, you will find that very few of them ever break completely away from their old mother system. It is all a plot on the part of the Roman Church, to recapture poor unsuspecting protestant souls, that really are no longer Protestants anyhow. That terminology used to pertain to those who protested Catholic doctrines and dogma, but I ask you. How many of them are protesting the teachings of that old Antichrist system today? Instead of protesting, they are running over each other, trying to see who can win the most favor with the Pope. It seems like any more, all the politicians that have half a chance, work their way to the Vatican, to get an audience with the Pope, and then they will talk about what a nice fellow he is, and what a man of peace he is. Do they not read their Bible? Do they yet not understand that a sweet talking Pope from that office will one day soon be an uncontrollable tyrant? I just asked those questions to get your attention. Of course they do not understand any of this, and there is no way that you could persuade most of them to believe it, for the word of God must be fulfilled. He must deceive many nations into signing a world peace agreement, and making him the overseer of it, to fulfill Daniel and Revelation. He will attain his hold on them through flatteries, just like Daniel wrote in chapter 11.
PROTESTANTS NO LONGER PROTESTANTS
I could hardly believe my ears, when I first heard that this country had appointed an ambassador to the Vatican, but then I realized that this was all just a part of what must transpire to get the Roman Pope in the spotlight of world politics. Realizing that Protestants are no longer Protestants, and even though they are called Christians by this modern society, very few of them would be called Christians by the apostles of that first age; if they could behold their carnal maneuvers. Oh, sure, they go to church regularly, but they are not Christians. Go back to your Bible, and see who was first called Christians. It was only those who followed Christ with their whole heart and soul. They are called Christians today just because they embrace the traditions of what the world calls “The Church.” But their religion is in their head, and not in their heart. They have a form of religion, just like the Scribes and Pharisees that came to Jesus one day, complaining because His disciples did not wash their hands before eating. Let us read Matthew 15:2 & 3, and see how Jesus answered them. “Why do thy disciples transgress the TRADITION OF THE ELDERS? For they wash not their hands when they eat bread.” But He answered them saying, Why do ye also transgress the COMMANDMENT OF GOD BY YOUR TRADITIONS? Did you ever stop to think about all the people who work on jobs where they have to carry their lunch with them, and do not have a place to wash their hands when they get ready to eat? If they are down in a ditch with a pick and shovel when lunch time comes, they just climb up out of that ditch, brush the dirt off their hands, open their lunch box, and start poking it in. To a Jew, that would be awful. Now according to the Levitical law, there were certain things that had to be washed, but they had added their own interpretations to that law of washing, until it was just plain ridiculous. Every time they came in the door, they had to go wash. They made it a religious ceremony, and forced it upon everyone, and figured that anyone who did not do as they did, were on their way to hell for sure. But Saints: When Jesus got ready to feed the five thousand souls that followed Him and His disciples, what did He tell His disciples to have the people do? Did He tell them to have the people run down to the river and wash their hands, and He would feed them when they got back? No. He merely told them to have the people to sit down.
ADDING TRADITIONS TO THE SCRIPTURES
Remember brothers and sisters, we are talking about traditions that people hold above the word of God; we are not just finding fault with people. But this does remind me of the time we were on our way to Israel, in 1968. It was my first trip to Israel, and we were on an El AL flight, (which is the Israeli airline) on Saturday, which is the Jew’s Sabbath day. Breakfast time came, and as usual, I got coffee, but they gave me no cream for it. I asked the stewardess, Could I have some cream for my coffee, please? No, Not on the Sabbath day, she replied. I thought to myself, What has the Sabbath day got to do with putting cream in my coffee? But I found out later, they had taken the scripture in Deuteronomy 22:10, which says, “Thou shalt not plow with an ox and an ass together,” and by the time they got their traditions hooked on to it, they said, Cream is an animal product, and coffee is a plant product; therefore we are not permitted to mix the two. When I found that out, I said, What in the world has that got to do with flavoring coffee? Naturally they were not going to allow anyone to change their traditions. But I just used that to show you how far people go with their traditions. If I had pulled some coffee creamer out of my luggage, and used it, I believe they would have thought I was blaspheming God. Do you think their interpretation of that scripture might have been carried a bit too far? I say yes, too, but what about some of the traditions Gentiles hold to be just as sacred as those Jews hold theirs to be? These same Gentiles are always saying, We have got to change the world for Jesus , but will you tell me where they find a thing like that in the Bible? If there was any chance of a great world shaking revival, why would it be written in the Bible, that God is going to pour out His wrath upon this old world? There would be no need for it, if these people turn the world upside down for Jesus. God is not going to destroy Christian people; they are going to be taken to glory, before His wrath strikes. That is the hope of every true child of God.
GOD DEMANDS OBEDIENCE
I hear all the time, people who profess to be Christians, say, I do not believe God expects this, or that, or something else, when the Bible clearly teaches that He does. It just goes to prove, they do not believe the Bible; they are designing their own religion to suit their own way of life. The Bible says, (Rev. 21:8) “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,” but this modern generation of “Christians” say, Oh, I just simply cannot believe that a loving God would be so unreasonable and cruel. Surely He would not send a person who believes in Jesus to hell. Yes He will! That faith in Jesus has to be backed up with a life that is lived for Jesus. That is why James said, Faith without works is dead, because it stands alone. He also said, Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. What did he mean by such a statement? Simply this, a person that truly has faith in God will live a life that displays that faith, and it will not be just for a show either. James went a little further with it. He said, “Thou believest that there is ONE GOD: thou doest well: The devils (demons) also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” Notice the illustration he used in connection with faith and works. “Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” He is simply showing that genuine faith will cause a person to do what God’s word tells believers to do. Therefore when the word of God says, Repent and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, how can a person be justified by just simply cleaning up their life a little, or by going to Sunday School every Sunday for twenty years without missing? You hear answers like that, when they are asked if they are Christians. Did you ever hear anyone say, I live as good a life as anyone down there at your church? Or, have you heard this, I will have you know, I have not missed going to Sunday School for over twenty years? Some of them will say, I don’t see why it should make that much difference whether we all believe alike or not, just as long as we believe in Jesus, and love one another. After all, we are all going to the same place, you know. No, we are not! Do not ever think God has two sets of standards for His children to measure up to. He has one way, and that one way is offered to every soul through the preaching of the gospel by God’s true ministry, (I have to say it like that, because there are a lot of preachers in the world today, that are not preaching the gospel of true salvation.) And those that believe the gospel and obey it are accepted of Him, and all the rest are rejected. Do not forget the parable of Jesus, about the man who was without a wedding garment. The servants were instructed to bind h9im hand and foot, and cast him into outer darkness. Now you say, But that is only a parable. Yes, it is (as some would say) only a parable, but it lets us know what is going to happen to all who try to make it to the marriage supper without a wedding garment on. They are going to be cast into the great tribulation, where there will certainly be weeping and gnashing of teeth. What is the wedding garment? It is a pure revelation of the word of God. The Lord will not accept any person that is dressed only in denominational traditions, no matter how rigid and strict they are. We have already read the scripture in Revelation 19, which portrays the bride of Christ arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints. What can you substitute for that? Nothing that God will accept. I have heard people say, I have been a Baptist all my life, and I will die a Baptist, or Methodist, or whatever. Be careful! That sounds just like a Pharisee to me. Your forefathers which were called Baptists might be in heaven, but that spirit in you, that makes you talk like that, is not the same spirit they had. I think you get the picture, do you not? I have said it before, and I will say it again. Those denominational systems are dead! They can never revived again. Jesus and His apostles did not try to revive Judaism. They just called those predestinated seed out of the system, and let the rest go on to their reward for rejecting their only chance for salvation. Jesus reminded those Scribes and Pharisees, that by their traditions, they had made the commandment of God of none effect, and He then said to them, “Ye hypocrites, well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying, This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth me with their lips; (Brother, you cannot turn on your TV on Sunday morning, without hearing, Oh Jesus; we love you! Oh Father: We adore you, Holy Spirit of God: We need you in our midst this morning, and all such as that.) But their heart is far from me. But in VAIN they do worship me, TEACHING FOR DOCTRINES THE COMMANDMENTS OF MEN.”
DO NOT BE DECEIVED
Brothers and Sisters: I know this kind of preaching sounds hard, and I know that most of you, just like me, have relatives whose lives are wrapped up in those systems of religion, but will it help them, to allow our minds to compromise with their religious ways? Will that cause God to accept what He has already rejected? Let me remind you of something. There will not be one new name added to the Lambs book of life in the year 1984, nor any other year that may follow. Either their names were written there before the foundation of the world, or they never will be there. Revelation 13:8 and 17:8 let us know that all whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will wonder after and worship the beast. Therefore if you are allowing yourself to play with the idea that maybe everything will turn out alright, maybe God will accept them because they are such good people, you may as well just face it: that is not what God is looking for, and that is not what Jesus Christ is coming back for. He is coming for a select people that believes His word and follows it the best they know how. God does not hold us responsible for a revelation we do not have, if we die walking in all the revealed truth we do have. He would be unjust, to do that, for we came into this world with nothing, and the only thing that any of us have to give an account for, is just what God has actually committed to us, and that applies to every saint of all times. But we are living in a day and hour when God has been revealing His name, His oneness, His attributes, His plan and purpose for all mankind, and sealing with His Spirit all who believe and receive what He reveals, therefore we are without excuse, if we do not have what it takes to enter in, and I am afraid many of our friends and loved ones are going to be caught like that. Then, the only Gentiles who will have a chance to escape the lake of fire, will be the foolish virgins of Matthew 25:1-13, people who really are believers but they are fooling around with sensations, rather than getting themselves dressed up in a revelation of the word of God. They will have to give their lives in martyrdom, but at least they are not locked into a system that is headed for the lake of fire, so completely that there is no hope for them. I have actually heard people say, Well if I do not make it in the bride, at least I can be a foolish virgin. I doubt that. The foolish virgins are not planning it like that; they think they are going to be raptured with the bride. But even though they miss the rapture, they still have enough of God in them, that they will refuse to bow to the Antichrist and accept the mark of the beast. That is why they will be killed for their faith. You can see in the 7th chapter of Revelation, verses 9-14, that there will be a great multitude made up of both Jews and Gentile foolish virgins, that will be martyred during the last half of that week of Daniel, which is more commonly identified as “The great tribulation.”
GREAT TRIBULATION MARTYRS
The apostle John was shown this great multitude while he was caught up in the Spirit, and was asked the question, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? And I said unto him, (Rev. 7:13-14) Sir, thou knowest. (In other words, You know, but I don’t) And he said unto me, (the elder talking to John) These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, (You see, they had salvation robes, but they had played around out in the charismatic circles so long, they had no time to get themselves dressed up in a revelation of God’s word, before the rapture, so they had to go into the great tribulation and be killed for their faith, to clean up their salvation robes.) And made them white in the blood of the lamb.” This is in the past tense, because John was projected by the Spirit of God into the future, to actually see what was taking place as it happened. Now let me say this, I know a lot of people will say, How do you know that this is who you say it is? Well, you just go right over to Revelation 20, where the devil is bound at the return of Jesus with His bride to earth, and in verse 4, you will see thrones set, and judgement given to some. That part is referring to the bride, that will judge the nations. But notice the last half of that same verse. John saw another group also, and notice how he identifies them. “And I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, (Gentile foolish virgins) and for the word of God, (That is the Jewish element of the great tribulation martyrs) and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” That tells us two very important things about these people First it tells us when they were martyred, or will be martyred, because the beast has never had an image of any other time in recorded history until now. That of course is your ecumenical council of churches, and they have not yet reached the hour described in Revelation 13. It will climax in that seventieth week of Daniel, in the last half. Then the second revelatory key of that part, is the fact that they were, or will be resurrected to reign with Christ and His bride in the Millennium. Then verse 5 says, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” This is the first resurrection. That lets us know that the first resurrection has three phases. The first phase was when the Old Testament saints came up, at the time Jesus was raised. Then of course, the second phase is when the bride saints are resurrected at the time of the rapture, and phase three is at the end of the week of Daniel, or those tribulation martyrs could not live and reign with Christ for a thousand years. Brothers and Sisters: It all fits together, if a person does not already have their revelatory capacity set in traditional concrete. Furthermore you do not need to be afraid to be taught from the Bible, for the very apostle to the Gentiles, (which was the apostle Paul) said that God has placed in the church certain gifted ministries “for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: (For how long?) Till we all (God’s true children) come in the UNITY OF THE FAITH, and of the KNOWLEDGE OF THE SON OF GOD, (unto what?) Unto a perfect man, (or woman) unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.” Naturally we are reading from Ephesians, chapter 4, and I will not keep reading, but if you are not familiar with the rest of that chapter, you ought to read a few more verses. We are to grow up into the stature of Jesus Christ in all things. Hallelujah! We are to be like Him. But think for a moment, about the unity of the faith. How can there be unity of THE FAITH until all the children of God start believing the same thing? I am not talking about tares now; they will change their revelation every week if it will help their worldly image by giving them a little more recognition. But a true child of God, once they receive a revelation, will never change it.
YOU CANNOT PLEASE EVERYONE
I just have to go ahead and read verse 14, for it says, “That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and CUNNING CRAFTINESS, whereby they lie in wait to deceive.” Did you catch what Paul was saying there? True children of God are supposed to grow up, so they cannot be tossed up into the air by every different idea that is presented to them. Paul talks about cunning craftiness on the part of those who are forever trying to deceive the people of God. Brother, it is a fact, Every major denomination today has their own ecclesiastical headquarters set up somewhere, and their schools, where they grill their little puppets, and mold them into an image that fits their particular system, and when they get finished with them, they can see nothing else. They can get them into the unity of their system, but never in the unity of “THE FAITH.” But by their cunning craftiness, they are able to put up a good front of deception. They act like they have the inside track with God, and everything believed and taught by people like us is out of the pit of hell. But the true child of God knows where he stands, because he has a revelation in his bosom. You just as well make up your mind though; you are not going to please everyone, no matter what you do. Jesus spoke to the multitude one day saying, “John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, He hath a devil. The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a wine bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.” In other words He was saying to them, You would not listen to John because he refused to eat and drink with you at your gatherings, and the Son of man comes upon the scene eating and drinking and fellowshipping with the people He was sent to, and you immediately call Him a glutton, and refuse to listen to Him. That is why I said, You cannot please everyone. But Praise God! We can please Him, if we are willing to forsake all our traditions and walk with Him in truth! That is my desire. What about you? Do you love him? It may cost you your reputation in the world, it may get your name on a lot of black lists, and people may think you are crazy, if you follow after truth, but I would not trade what I feel in my soul, for all that the world, or Methodism, has to offer. Hallelujah!
Let me read one more verse that describes a lot of your denominational theologians today, and we will close. It is Matthew 23:13, where Jesus said, “But woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.” They will divert you from the truth, and deceive you into joining their system, if you will listen to them, and when they do that, they have just made another one like themselves, and there is no life in them. Jesus told them they would compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made that, he becomes twofold more the child of hell than they are. That is pretty strong, but it just proves that without the Spirit of God in you, your religions is vain, and if you have the Spirit of God in you, He will guide you into all truth, not error. He will not guide you into a traditional system of religion; He will lead you out of it if you are already in there. I just have to thank God every time I think of how He got my attention, and led me out of Methodism. My soul has been hungry every since. He has fed me well, but I always know there is still more where that came from, so I do not to get settled down and satisfied to the point where He cannot move me anther notch whenever He sees fit to do so. Praise His great name! May we ever walk in truth. Amen.