God’s Divine Order For His NT Church

God’s Mystery Church In Creation

Rapidly fulfilling Bible prophecies proclaim the near advent of Christ our Lord. He who is the master Architect, and Builder, is building His glorious Church according to His plan and purpose. He ordered the life for all His creations, and also the Church within His spiritual kingdom. This newest began at our Lord’s death, burial, and resurrection at Calvary. It was fully formed and set in His Divine Order at Pentecost. (Acts 2:4) And it will be perfected at His coming, as promised in Ephesians 5:27. He promised and prophesied in Matthew 16:18, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." We see God’s divine purpose of man’s creation, stated in the covenant of Genesis 1:26-28: "Let us make man in our image and after our likeness...and let them have dominion over all the earth." All of God’s creations are within the three dimensions of time, space and matter. We know the workman by his workmanship. His primal ministries are those of creation, redemption, and restoration. God did not make us to be defeated and driven by the storms of life, but that through faith in Him, we should be more than conquerors and have dominion over all things that now hold dominion over us. So let us lift our faith to the heavens, for practice never goes beyond our revelation.

As we look up into His vast universe, His workmanship proves Him omnipotent in foreknowledge, wisdom, and power. Man’s largest telescope will not reveal the outer boundaries, within which whirl countless millions of celestial bodies, all created and set in perpetual motion by His Word. He as the dive Architect, had to foreknow the size, weight, and magnetic attraction of every single star world. He had to figure accurately, its rotating speed in its prescribed orbit in age long cycles. The giant Milky Way, the circle or equator of all this universe, is a wheel of giant suns perfectly balanced. One giant sun out of its ordered place would have started a chain reaction and destroyed all of creation. But God never fails or makes a mistake. He placed our moon at the proper distance from our earth so that its gravitational pull would lift the seas and form our tides, yet not close enough to lift the crust of our earth and destroy it. One is amazed as he studies God’s balance in all nature. In their proper order, He brought forth light, air, water, and food. Then properly mixed came the gases of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, and carbon. Then came life into the earth, in its balanced order of vegetation, sea, and animal life. and into this paradise came man, created out of the dust of the earth. "The Lord has prepared His throne in the heavens: and His kingdom ruleth over all." (Ps. 103:19). Here we see that God set up His throne room to reign from within His vast universe or kingdom in the heavens. In like manner He set up His lesser spiritual kingdoms in the earth. One was the nation Israel, and the other is the Kingdom of Heaven, known as the Church. This latter is His newest creation. The new creation kingdom is a phase of God’s heavenly kingdom our Lord set up in earth by his death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus our Lord tells us in John 3:7, the requirement for entrance is the new spiritual birth. "Marvel not that I say unto thee, you must be born again." This is a kingdom of created spirits as seen in 1 John 3:9, and comes not by observation, but our Lord Jesus declared to be within us. The Church is the material and visible aspect of this spiritual kingdom from which our Lord reigns in His Body of born-again believer.

This new creation can not lift itself up into a higher one, but the higher one can reach down and lift the lower life up. As an illustration, the vegetation creation reaches down with its roots and takes up the lower life of mineral creation and assimilates it. The animal feeds upon the lower vegetable creation and lifts it up assimilated into a higher creation life. Man feeds upon the lower life of the animal and assimilates it. Thus Christ had to reach down and enter our spirit to lift us up into His eternal standing as a child of God.

Jesus our Lord gave seven messages to the seven churches in Revelation, chapters two and three. We are now in the last, the Laodicean, a time of spiritual declension before the Lord returns. The dryrot of modernism is bringing forth a clergy begotten of an apostate church where many have commercialized their calling and changed it into a profession.

The Bible speaks of them in Matthew 15:9, saying, "But in vain do they worship me. Teaching for doctrine the commandments of men." Christ Jesus’ body was broken on the cross before His resurrection and today His Church Body is broken and divided; and now it is time for full restoration of the prophet Joel’s revival remnant. As we approach the last frontier God is moving by His Spirit. And a great host of small independent assemblies are rising all over the earth. These are obeying our Lord’s last command in Acts 1:4 to "wait for the Promise of the Father" the Holy Spirit, who would clothe Himself with the blood-washed believers and restore His dynamic miracle-working ministries and restore God’s Due Order according to the pattern given on the Mount of Calvary. True Body Ministry is seen in the earth again and all the promised signs are following those who obey and believe.

Every believer in Christ has his or her own standard of righteousness which is usually based on the standard of righteousness of his particular church. Older Christians see the rapid declension in denominational church standards. As a small boy the writer attended Methodist camp meetings, and there saw many healed by the fervent prayers of righteous people. He saw fall from their benches and lay in the sawdust numbers of deeply consecrated men and women under the power of God, often seeing the family later place them in wagons and take them home when the service was over. In all of the churches of that day there was a high standard of righteousness and often the willful transgressor, unwilling to repent, was disciplined and the church withdrew fellowship from him. In those days the consecrated people lived separate lives, but today there is a lowering of the standards in the same church groups. A spiritual standard has been replaced by a moral standard and a moral gospel prevails. But God’s high standard of Christian conduct, that gives the believer the right standing, or the right to stand, or the righteous stand before God, is just the same today. When Israel’s holy ark was captured, God’s glory was lifted. Truly today under lower standards of discipline, God’s holy ark is in enemy hands and God’s glory has departed and Ichabod is written over many church doors.

Out of this gloomy picture the Lord has painted in Rev. 3:14-21 there is coming a day of restoration in the approaching pretribulation days. Today the visible Church stands in the same place as ancient Israel as they stood before the Red Sea surrounded by their enemies. Today the Church, surrounded by her enemies of righteousness, stands before the great tribulation and God is moving to prepare us for the crossing over. We are now witnessing the third worldwide revival for Christ and His New Covenant Church. The first worldwide revival came through the apostle Paul, and his revelation to the Church in the first century Apostolic Church. The second worldwide revival came out of the Dark Ages when Martin Luther rediscovered the truth, "The just (justified) shall live by faith." (Gal. 3:11) The world Reformation spread rapidly over the earth. Now again at the turning of this century there came the third worldwide revival and fulfillment of Joel 2:28-29 and Acts 2:16 as the mighty Holy Spirit was poured out as at Pentecost. Israel, set in Due Order at their first Pentecost, continued to celebrate the event each year, waiting for the day of Pentecost, which came to the disciples waiting in the upper room, bringing the three Jewish signs of: the voice of God heard at Sinai, the mighty wind of Sinai and the leaping fire seen at Sinai. Many millions of Christians have been brought under the power of this worldwide revival at Pentecost.

God’s Order for a Christ Centered Church

The Bible is filled with records showing that God does judge His people who choose their own religious worship and church government. He began at mount Sinai and had those naked dancers slain around the golden calf as a warning to the congregation of Israel. Aaron’s two sons, the chief priests, died under judgment when they placed strange fire on the holy Altar. There are many other examples, but probably an outstanding one is when King David decided to bring God’s holy ark of the covenant up to Jerusalem. He disregarded God’s Due Order of carrying it on the shoulders of consecrated priests. He had a beautiful cart made after the pattern of an idol cart and carried it on it. When a priest fell dead, David stopped the procession and had it brought up later in God’s Due Order, and wrote in 1 Chronicles 15:13, "For because you did it not at the first, the Lord Our God made a breqach upon us for that we sought Him not after the Due Order." In Numbers the 16th chapter we read of one of the leading priests named Korah rebelling against God’s Due Order and endeavoring to lead rebellion against God’s ordered plan. God opened up the earth and it swallowed him. Today if we would hold to God’s Bible doctrines they would reveal His order of worship and unite His Body, the Church. But ambitious church leaders, having passed these sacred words of the Bible doctrine through carnal minds, have brought forth a Babylon of church traditions that have divided the Body of Christ.

"God is a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth". (John 4:24) Restoring God’s truth and consecration, or true worship, to every individual Christian is the place of beginning in God’s restoration of New Testament Church. He will not accept a blemished offering. Living sacrifices were examined at the Temple gates and rejected if blemished. This is the main reason the average Christian is cursed with unanswered prayers. One could not think of the Lord praying unanswered prayers, or the apostle Paul either; so why should we have unanswered prayers return to mock us? Great church systems of today are only building on scafoldings which are not in God’s blueprint of the Church. They are building great houses of wood, hay, and stubble and are likened by our Lord in Matthew 7:26 to the house built on the sand. In the chapters of 8-11 in Ezekiel God reveals why their holy Temple was destroyed and the nation carried captive to Babylon. It was because they profaned the four holy things of GOD that Divine Order is centered in. Israel had profaned the holy House of God, as the Laodicean Church is today, then their priesthood became profaned (worldly), then God’s Word was profaned, and lastly, the laity of worhsipers were profaned. At each profanation GOD lifted His glory.

God still has the same Divine Order of Church government and discipline for Church today as He had in the first century apostolic Church. Let us now examine some of the patterns He has set in the Bible to guide us to the truth. The first national pattern is found prefigured in Israel’s Tabernacle worship while they were in the wilderness. In Exodus the 25th chapter one begins to study of this planned pattern "According to all that I show thee after the pattern of the Tabernacle and the patterns of all the instruments (furniture) even so shall you make it". Later Israel’s Temple worship presented the same prefigured pattern for the New Covenant Church to follow.

The perfect pattern is found in the life of our Lord Jesus who lived the very life He expectyed to live again in His Body, the Church. As one studies throught the four Gospels, it is evident that He divided His life into five ministries. They were lived separately ad on different days He ministered as the chief apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor (or shepherd) and teacher. He did nothing outside of these five ministry offices and always exercised one or more of the nine spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. Then another pattern is set in the apostle Paul’s revelations in Scripture and also in his practicing of them in his evangelistic journeys. At our Lord’s ascension He gave His five ministries to the New Testament Church (Eph. 4:11), for the perfecting of the Body (Eph. 12-13).

The local church was the center of all worship and activities for Christ’s planned life in it. And the book of the Acts of the Apostles shows evangelistic ministry went out from it. Let us examine the contrasts between the early apostolic New Covenant Church of apostle Paul’s day and the same Church as seen in its streamlined modern ministry of today. In this simple comparison one can see a great contrast between God’s order and man’s order. In the first century the Church was born at Calvary and set in God’s planned order at Pentecost where the Holy Spirit clothed Himself with Christ’s church and began to manifest His spiritual gifts and ministries in it. In those days all were Spirit-filled men and women who depended solely on God’s Spirit leadership. While today our great Church leaders rely more upon human wisdom and trained intellects. In those days the evangelists went forth empowered with God’s tools for building new assemblies while today we send forth men and women trained and schooled in denominational church discipline. In the first century they had so special educational training of great organizations to support and guide them. They had very little finance, communication or transportation systems to depend upon, while today our young people go forth with all these material things, but mostly without the spiritual gifts and ministries. They almost conquered the Roman Empire while today we make little headway against oriental philosophies and heathendom.

Seeing then the need for us to return to God’s Due Order, to see again a strong, militant Church going forth and burning down the gates of hell, let us examine further the Church of the first century. In those days each local church was sovereign, yet an intergral part in the great one Body or organism of God. In those days anointed witnesses went forth with an anointed Word and in an anointed ministry and the promised confirming signs, miracles and wonders followed. In the apostle Paul’s day the local church was God’s training school as seen in Acts 13:1, where some are named teachers and prophets. These New Testament assemblies are today as they were then, schoold of practical experience. It was there the ones being trained witnessed as mighty miracles took place and as demons were cast out in the mighty name of Jesus Christ. In the Divinely Ordered assemblies one sees the Body Ministry in operation as the Holy Spirit sends in from time to time the apostle with his anointing of faith and wisdom to set great Bible foundation truths in the congregation. Then at God’s appointed time the Spirit sends in a prophet with his stirring inspirational and prophetic ministry. Then at time the teacher comes to minster and teach the truth and principles for practicing God’s Holy Word. From these traning centers there goes forth the anointed Spirit-filled evangelist to establish new assemblies. The pastor minsters in grace and divine wisdom as a balancing factor in the assembly worship and activities.

The great Roman Government with its power through military violence had conquered the world in the first century. But our Lord came forth with a new power of nonviolent love that has conquered more people and set up a greater kingdom in the earth than any military power of violence. In His resurrection our Lord became the Head and First Fruits of this great spiritual Kingdom in the earth. In His planned blueprint for this growing Temple or Church, which is His Body, He gave an imporetant place to His chosen eldership as a training school in these New Testament assemblies. there are ranks of spiritual development in this great and important calling. In Exodus 18:25 we read of Moses appointing "elders" to rule over the great congregation of Israel. The seventy ruling elders had already been chosen as the legislative body to council together with God over His Law and Commandments. "And Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens." These were ranks of elders where some who were qualified were set over a thousand, while those less qualified were set over the number they could minister to. Churches today are overlooking this great ministry of the elders to the Body of Christ who are watchmen over men’s souls and the spiritual life of the local churches.

IS GOD’S PLAN PRACTICAL TODAY ?

This is a challenging question and after all, revelation is only a theory until proven by experience. All Bible truth is set on exhibition in practice in the Old and New Testaments. So our independent assembly would like to testify for the Lord in this matter as to practice. After these 18 years we are still in swaddling clothes, yet we have seen enough to know God’s plan works. Is we June of 1946 when our independent assembly, with a presbyterian background, began to seek and enter into God’s Due Order for His apostolic Church. Without having seen or heard anyone receive the Pentecostal experience of Acts 2:4, I was slain by the power of God. Becoming conscious again I found my voice speaking in a new and a strange language. It was the Spirit giving divine utterance. One by one our people bagan to recieve the same experience and then the nine spiritual gifts of 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 began to appear in our midst. We have never been identified with any group, so it was the Lord that was leading us by his Spirit. We were very cautious in the exercising of these precious spiritual gifts, knowing they only operate by faith and only under the anointing of the Holy Spirit. We tested them for confirmation and kept out all fanaticism. Everything genuine has its counterfeit, but after these years we can testify these spiritual gifts are genuine and real enablements for Christian service.

In the beginning as we waited before the Lord we bagan to empty our hearts and begin all over again with nothing but the Word of God. God gave us a new hunger for His Word and for prayer. His fear (respect of Him) filled our services with a new appreciation and love. We have had no written literature in the form of Bible helps or Sunday School literature but used only the Bible. At first, prophecy was but little edifying messages to the Church. But never gave new doctrine, as Paul’s doctrine is complete for the Church. So through prophecy we were instructed to divide the city into seven parts and our people volunteered and evangelized from house to house. Later we began weekly prayer meetings in different sections of our city in some of our saint’s homes, inviting their neighbors in. Then through prophecy the entire church went 120 miles south and held a three-day revival in a large house where some had been previously invited. There we witnessed God casting out a demon from a demented woman, and the promised signs of miracles and wonders were beginning to follow. After our return home the Lord spoke in prophecy, setting in some of our Spirit-filled men as evangelists, pastors and teachers and they began their training. For we remembered how David, after he was anointed as king of Israel, entered his severe training begore he sat on the throne.

About that time we built a small wooden building in a poor section of the city for a traning place in evangelism for our young people and for soul winning. Later we bought a gospel tent and sent it out with some to evangelize out from Waco. During those days the Lord spoke in prophecy, calling our oldest elder to be an evangelist. And to sell his business and go out through towns in house to house visitation in personal evangelism. We called the church to three days of fasting and prayer to confirm that prophecy. It was fully confirmed, so he sold his business and with his wife went forth in a camper. During the next three years they visited 77 towns, canvassing the homes in each, testifying, praying with many people, and distributing thousands of our Texas Grace Counselors and giving out many thousands of tracts. On trade days in town he placed a table on the sidewalk before some store and witnessed there.

We found that God has a Divine Order for finances also and during these years we have never passed a collection plate or collected money in any manner. We have a minature wooden church that sits ona small table at the church entrance, marked, "Lord’s offering." We still worship in an old frame building, for the money, with which we could have built a fine brick church building, went into the souls of men instead. During these 17 years, we have had prayer every morning at ten except when we have regular services. Then we have Bible teaching an hour after that.

Numbers of young men have come here and obtained jobs and rented rooms in the vicinity of the church and trained here and they are out in many fields of the Lord’s vineyard today. They trained in jails, on street corners, house to house visitation, giving out tracts and going out to minister on the streets of small towns near here. During these years thousands of ministers and families passing through, going into or out of the Latin American countries were given free meals and beds for the night’s rest. Endeavoring to find other means of getting this wonderful gospel forth, the church began to edit a small paper known as "The Texas Grace Counselor." Nearly a third of a million copies were printed during ten years and they were sent to all foreign lands and every state. Twenty gospel tracts have been printed here and distributed. Last year the assembly printed a small booklet called The Simplicity of the Gospel, with Bible pictures, printing some 90,000 in eight different languages. This year (1964) we are printing this booklet. We have never sold any literature but freely give out all we can. From time to time, to let the local people hear this gospe, we print sixteen sermonettes in a weekly series in the daily papers that reach over a quarter of a million people. Recently, companies of our young men went twice to the east Atlantic coast and on up to Canada and to the west Pacific coast from California to Washington. Others went up through the middle states and twice some went down to be in conventions with our missionaries in Mexico.

There is no limit to what one Church can do when led and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Think of the one church of Antioch from which the apostle Paul went out, and think of the many New Testament Churches that sprang up, and how much of Asia and the then known Europe were evangelized, largely from that one church. The Lord can do the same through yours if you will burn the last bridge behind you and wholly follow your Lord. With new people coming in regularly and older ones going out on the fields, we find that the size of the local church remains the same, like the sea of Galilee with water flowing in and flowing out continually. At least a third of our people are out in foreign and home lands witnessing at all times. One of our ways of witnessing is in the Semi-annual Homecomings each Spring and Fall when all who can, return here for a season of fellowship. Free rooms and meals have been provided in these Homecomings and although our expenses run from a thousand to fifteen hundred dollars, money has never been mentioned in any of the, and ll bills are paid. There are veveral large groups in the New Testament Divine Order that have been in operation over thirty years. They are in India, Sweden, China, Brazil,Chile, South Africa and America

Apostolic Church Government

From the beginning God set divinely ordained offices into the human race through which to govern His people. The offices of the priest, prophet, and elder are seen among the patriarchs. As the old patriarch held his new born son in his arms the spirit of prophecy came and he prophesied the life of his own son, then named him according as his life should be. One or more letters denoting the Lord were always incorporated in the son’s name. In the New Testament Church the Lord set His five ministry gifts as anointed offices (Eph. 4:11). These were to minister to His Body. Then He ordained Spirit-filled men to anoint those He chose for the four lesser offices. The confirmation of their office would not be in their title, but in the anointing of the Holy Spirit on the offices. God’s promised signs, miracles and wonders should confirm His presence working with them in His order. The proof of God’s Due Order is peace and rest. We see this even in all nature, living and abiding in their ordered life and nature. For instance, the sparrow lives daily in the presence of death, but never fears nor worries but rests in the peace of God.

Now let us examine the simple cross chart together and remember all of these offices are within the framework of Calvary’s cross, and in a balanced Body Ministry by the Holy Spirit. The first as we look at the chart is the Head, even Christ Jesus our Lord. Then in the cross arm of the chart we see the three places He meets His people in worship and government. The second place is that of the local church, already discussed as to its importance in God’s order. The third place in the chart is that of the Congregation. At times for important local church decisions a congregational call brings all the local church together to consider and pray and make decisions. Then the fourth place on the cross chart is that of the general assembly, as seen in Acts 15-1-30, where the apostles and elders came together to represent all the local churches and for the clarification of Church doctrine. They did not assemble to formulate new doctrine. Now let us look at the 3 sets of nine ministries which are the supports by the Spirit for all church government. They are the nine spiritual offices, the nine ministry offices and the nine anointing graces of the Spirit’s ministry in the Church.

The first ministry office is that of the apostle to the Church. The twelve apostles of the Lord, or the Lamb, were promised rulership over the twelve tribes of Israel in Matthew 19:28. But those mentioned in the Bible as New Testament Church apostles are the apostles Paul, Barnabas, Andronicus and Junia. (Romans 16:7) The Apostolic ministry is best understood by seeing it in full practice in the apostle Paul’s ministry in the laying of foundational truths, establishing new assemblies and having a wide range of ministry in the power of the spiritual gifts. They came not in the wisdom of men, but in the power of the Holy Spirit. The second ministry office in the Church was the prophet’s office. Spirit-inspired and anointed prophetic ministry, stirred with dynamic power the hearts of the people and proved Christ by the fulfillment’s of their prophetic word. The miracles and wonders confirmed their ministry as the Holy Spirit exercised spiritual gifts in their lives. We find Silas and Agabas named among the New Testament prophets. The third ministry office is that of the evangelist, as seen in Philip’s ministry in Samaria where he went to start a new assembly. It is well to note the Body Ministry pattern followed here. (Acts 8:1-7).

The next ministry office in the chart is that of the pastor or shepherd. He is the under-shepherd who cares for the local flock. the elders are his counselors and together they oversee the spiritual life of the local church. Many are called and make good pastors that have no real teaching ministry. While in the fifth office that of the teacher one sees many who have a specially gifted teaching ministry who would not make good pastors. Back in Israel’s worship, God used only men who were born Levites, and then used only anointed priests in service at His holy altar. So we must be born-again believers in God’s spiritual family, the Church, and be anointed by the Holy Spirit to properly serve these holy ministries of God. Without this Spirit anointing the promised confirming signs of the miraculous will not follow in our ministry. The sixth ministry office is that of the elder. The elders or bishops of these above mentioned ministry offices were to the Body as a whole, leaving the local flock to the home elders at times and going forth to minister to small assemblies. The eldership was the backbone of the early Church. "When they had ordained them elders in every church." (Acts 14:23). Those chosen out of Paul’s new converts were those that fit the pattern of Titus 1:5-9 and 1 Timothy 3:1-10. Out of the maturing eldership God chose the ones for the higher offices.

The institution of the office of the deacon is recorded in Acts 6:1-6. Spirit-led men chose and set in other Spirit-filled people in this office which was primarily to minister to the material needs of the local church. Philip was chosen as a deacon, then later God mentions a woman Phebe as a deaconess (Romans 16:1). The next two ministry offices are called the helps and the governments (1 Cor. 12:28), where it states, "And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, then gifts of healings, helps and governments (1 Cor. 12:28), where it states, "And God has set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, then gifts of healings, helps and governments." These last two ministries are occupied often by the faithful women of the church and of course some men. The helps consist of faithful and regular assisting service, such as bringing the aged to church, visitation, and a ministry of prayer. The governments deal with phases of the governing of the church life, such as teaching Sunday school classes, being church secretaries, church treasurers, Sunday School superintendents, etc. Out of the helps that prove faithful, Spirit-filled leaders choose those for the vacancies of the governments. All of these above nine ministry offices in which all born-again believers in Christ minister, have a wider range of ministry than many attain to.

Let every Christian locate himself in one of these offices, then seek the Lord for a deeper consecration and better understanding of God’s truth. Out of the lower offices come those later seen in the higher offices, each being a training school for expanding service for their Lord. Most ministers of today began early life as a helps then as a government until the Lord could use them in some higher office and ministry. One of the challenging questions is what is the woman’s place in the church. Everyone agrees that without them man would have no Church. Their important position in the Church of the living God seems to have the same relationship to man as it has in the home life. All Christian men and women are witnesses for Christ and as such should win souls and encourage weak believers at every opportunity. More women go forth into foreign mission fields than men and many bring groups together in homes for prayer and study and some have converts in all places. It would seem that after their converts were established in fellowship that it would be well to pray the Lord send in a man pastor or teacher. He is able to raise one up out of their own converts. The Tabernacle and Temple worship prefiguring the Church to follow, had no women ministers of the holy things of God. And our Lord chose men apostles. As our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is able to mature His nine spiritual fruits or graces in our life, all of these other things fall into God’s ordained place.

God’s Nine Spiritual Gifts

As we continue to study the cross chart let us now examine the second nine of the 3 nines in the lower supporting body of the cross chart. These nine spiritual gifts or enablements are recorded in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. They are named as the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, the gifts of divine faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and the interpretation of tongues. With these spiritual tools in the hands of the Holy Spirit, the Lord is building Himself a house, the Church, to dwell in. Where Spirit-filled men and women go these spiritual gifts follow to confirm God’s Holy word and presence. They are exercised only to the extent of faith the believer has and should never be operated except under the mighty anointing of the Holy Spirit. "For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance." (Romans 11:29). Like the talents, they may be buried in worldly activities. God foreknew but gave the one-talent believer his or her talent anyway. So there is much need for sound teaching on this subject as to how to best try and prove these gifts when in operation. We know this can be done and a balanced operation and beautiful order maintained, for the Lord has done this in our assembly these past eighteen years. Satan strives to pervert God’s truth and blessing. In these spoken gifts the gift bearer can operate it at any time. When operated without God’s anointing it is the fleshly mind and confusion follows.

These nine spiritual gifts can be divided into six for revelation and three for ministry. Some also divide these nine into three groups, with the three revelation gifts of God’s omnipotent wisdom, knowledge and discernment being exercised by God the father as the Church’s judicial Head. Then the three spoken revelation gifts of prophecy, tongues and interpretation exercised by God the Messianic Son as the Church’s Legislative Head. And the other three power gifts of faith, healings and miracles being exercised by God the Holy Spirit as Administrator of the Church. Wherever the Spirit-filled believer goes, these spiritual gifts follow to prove and confirm both from God’s Word and His presence.

The first gift is divine measure of God’s unlimited wisdom which is essential with the second gift of knowledge. For God’s wisdom reveals how to exercise His knowledge to glorify His name.

The second gift which is a measure of God’s measureless knowledge is very important and has a wide range of expression in the Church. This so called sixth sense of knowing through the mind without seeing was lost to Adam’s race through sin in Eden, but retained to some extent in animals, the horse, cat and dog being able to find their way home from great distances when apparently lost. This gift operates in the mind of the gift bearer, often as a flash, the revelation comes without thinking. Sometimes it is spoken forth under the anointing of the Spirit (1 Cor. 14:26), and is usually mistaken for prophecy. One should test the revelation when it appears in his mind. Ask yourself these questions before acting. Is this scriptural? Is it a secret of the Lord to pray over? Will it edify the Church if spoken now, or later?

The third spiritual gift is that of a super anointing of God-faith. Through the wide range of this gift, miracles, healings, and even finances move in miracle working faith. Any Christian can be an overcomer, and then have a strong faith and can speak the Word (of God) with faith and see miracles. As an illustration, Paul and Peter both spake the Word in faith and the cripples who had never walked leaped to their feet and walked. At times one sees all these nine spiritual gifts apparently manifested through deeply consecrated Christians.

The fourth mentioned are gifts of healing, the only one mentioned in the plural. Jesus our Lord is the Great Physician and desires a well Body so He has set various healing ministries in the Church. First is the gift to the individual and then as a gift to His Body the Church. "And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall the cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; (commands) ...they shall lay hands on the sick and they shall recover." (Mark 16:17-18) This gives authority through covenant rights to every believer who believes to exercise this ministry. Then the elders have a covenant of healing for their ministry in James 5:14. Luke 10:19 unveils the authority of Christ’s life within us, "Behold I give you authority over all the power of the enemy and nothing shall by any means hurt you." Do not let the devil fool you any longer, you do not have to be sick or afflicted for "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sickness." (Matthew 8:17).

The fifth spiritual gift of the nine is that of the working of miracles. At time through inspirational faith and a deep consecration every Christian sees marvelous answers to prayers, problems solved and miracles of grace in their life. This gift is a special anointing for this kind of ministry in the Church. All of these spiritual gifts are seen in active operation in our Lord’s life through the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the early apostolic Church. As the Lord exercised this ministry gift the five thousand were fed, the lepers cleansed, water turned into wine, the storms stilled, etc.

The sixth spiritual gift is that of divine prophecy, either forthtold or foretold. As foretold it is prewritten history that proves God’s Word as divine and proves Him Deity. Our Lord used it to prove His Messiahship in John 13:19, "Now I tell you before it come that when it comes to pass you may believe that I am He." Prophecy forewarns and forearms God’s people for impending judgments. It is directive and edifying to the Body of Christ. It not only has the purpose of proving Christ and His Word but it also has creative power. Before the tornado struck our city some twelve years ago the Lord gave three prophecies in our church to warn us, then gave the fourth to call us to fasting and prayer. We fasted Thursday, Friday and Saturday and the tornado came Monday, killing 114 people and destroying fifty million dollars worth of property. None of our people were hurt or their property damaged.

The seventh spiritual gift is that of discerning of evil spirits. The exercise of this gift has saved our church several times as church people came with religious demons. Demons have been cast out of here after being discerned.

The eighth and ninth gifts are tongues and interpretation. The heathen called this the glossolalia and it was the marvel of heathendom, but despised and rejected today by all man-ruled systems. All of these spiritual gifts mentioned have been exercised in the lives of the Old and New Testament prophets. Yet in the Old Testament prophets these last two, namely, that of the tongues or languages, and their interpretations were not needed. But today the Church is composed of people who speak probably three thousand tongues and dialects. We have the pattern of it in Acts 2:4. This gift spoken in prayer, song or praise, edifies the Spirit-filled believer. But when spoke in a definite language, to be interpreted in the church, is directive or edifying to the congregation. We have seen it is as a sign to the unbeliever. An Indian brother visited in the church some seven years ago and doubted the exercising of spiritual gifts. The Lord gave a message in the Indian’s native tongue through our son Robert, and then gave the correct interpretation in English through another of our brethren. The Indian understood both tongues and knew it was God speaking.

This brings us to the last of the three nines. The nine anointed graces found in Galatians 5:22-23 are the base to all these other anointings. The fruit of the Spirit comes from Christ’s Spirit Who dwells in our heart. "Being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Christ Jesus, unto the glory and praise of God." (Phil. 1:11) The basis for judging prophets is to examine the fruit of the prophet, not their accuracy in the prophecy. "You shall know them by their fruits." (Matt. 7:16)

God’s Order of Dividing Our Spirit and Soul

The Apostle Paul reveals a difference in man’s human spirit from the soul in Heb. 4:12 and in 1 Thess. 5:23. This is the key that unlocks many of the mysteries in the Bible. It has been lost in the lifeless creeds of man and in Babylonian sectarianism. Before Christ’s earthly ministry, oriental philosophers, in their writings, taught that man was a dual creature. In the end of the second century this pagan philosophy found its way back to the Christian Church. But the Bible declares man is made in the image of God and God is a Trinity, so man must be also. As one examines the words for the spirit and soul in both languages of the Old and New Testaments one finds each has a different meaning and also a different ministry. In the New Testament the word for spirit is "pneuma", from which our English word "pneumatic" (as in pneumatic tool ) is derived. Until one recognizes this difference of meaning no line of demarcation can be clearly drawn between the body of scriptures concerning justification and sanctification. And in a number of places scriptures appear to contradict one another, yet when rightly placed really substantiate each other.

The entire Body of Christ has been divided into two great schools of thought and are set against each other through this sin and error of not separating the spirit from the soul. Only truth can heal the Body and make us all one again. The Baptist/Calvinists see the justification of the believer and the security in the new birth and blood of Christ as Christ indwells the believer until the day of translation (Eph. 4:30). While the Methodist/Arminianists look at the need of daily sanctification of the believer’s soul life. And each battles the other with the scriptures dealing with each point. Let us look at scriptures that appear to contradict each other. In Col. 2:10 we read of justification, "And we are complete (or perfect) in Him..." While in Matthew 5:48 one reads of our imperfect sanctification, "Be you therefore perfect (complete)." In the following scriptures we find another apparent contradiction of scriptures, one dealing with our justification and the other dealing with our sanctification. In 1 John 3:9 and 5:18 we read of our eternal standing in justification, "Whosoever is born of God (our spirit) doth not commit (practice) sin for His Seed remains in him; and he cannot sin because he is begotten of God." Yet we see the opposite, dealing with our daily need of sanctification (made holy) in 1 John 3:8, "He that commits sin is of the devil." In these two scriptures adjoining each other and written to Christians, it reveals that the Christ-sealed recreated spirit does not sin but the soul or mind of the believer does. The soul sins through the loaning of the mind to the devil.

The word "yeshua," or "salvation," means to make safe, and in the Bible is used to apply to the believer’s spirit, soul and body. The name of our Lord Jesus is taken from the word "as one who makes safe." As the meaning of salvation is applied to man’s spirit, soul and body it deals with his justification, sanctification and glorification. It is a perfect work of Calvary for the believer. This gives to the believer a three-fold salvation, with scriptures dealing with each. Let us illustrate this with a simple illustration. Let us place three books on a table before us and let book number one represent our recreated spirit. Then book number two can represent our soul or mind, while book number three can represent our physical body. Book number one represents the believer’s justification and scriptures are usually in the past tense, being unconditional. This delivers us or makes us safe from the guilt of sin through the shed blood and the eternal standing through the indwelling Christ. Book number two represents our sanctification or daily work of God’s grace in our heart through God’s Word by the Holy Spirit. This is a daily need of making safe our imperfect state of spiritual growth as we obey or disobey God’s Word. It saves us daily from the power of sinful habits and the word "salvation" is usually conditional and used in the present tense. This is an act of Christ always striving to perfect our soul life. The third book speaks of our physical body to be perfected in glorification at the coming of the Lord. The scriptures of salvation here used are in the future tense when we will be made safe from the presence of sin.

The greatest turnover in backsliding is among our dear holiness brethren who do not see this difference between the spirit and the soul. In other words they don’t discern between their standing and their state. Let us examine our family life. As you look at your several children around your family, and you love on as much as the other. But their growth makes the difference in their state. Likewise with us, as Christians we all have an eternal standing with one birth, but our spiritual growth from babyhood in Christ to maturity in Him, varies and upon this spiritual state you will receive your rewards. The legalist taking the backslider to the altar never asks him to accept Christ into his life if he knows the backslider has ever been born again, but only asks him to repent. Repentance is the way to restore the joy of salvation and is essential, but repentance alone never saved anyone. It is Christ indwelling our spirit that makes us a new creation. Until the believer finds rest in his justification he will never find rest in his sanctification. Even the apostle Paul sought to perfect his soul sanctification daily, knowing he we eternally made safe in his justification; and in Phil. 3:12 he was striving to apprehend that for which he has already been apprehended. There are thirty unconditional promises in the New Testament concerning eternal life for the believer in Christ. In John 10:28 we read, "And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish." Even in John 3:16 one reads the same promise of unconditional safety.

We know of a Christian planter during slavery days that paid $1,500 for a young African slave girl and her baby on the slave block at New Orleans. His heart was touched when she prayed to God for help as the wicked plantation owners began to bid for her. After bidding her in, all legal papers were prepared and filed for record and she was given her freedom. She had been redeemed and the record stands today that she could never be placed back in slavery again. We Christians have been redeemed from Satan’s slave block by the redemption price of our Lord and Savior’s own blood and the record stands today in the courts of heaven and we can never be placed back in slavery.

The Seven Covenants of Calvary

The seven covenants of Calvary wrought out in the sufferings of the Man Christ Jesus in seven sorrows at Calvary are prefigured in Israel’s national worship. God, having led primitive Israel out of Egypt, brought them to rest before Him at Mt. Sinai. They had lived many years under the idolatrous worship of the Egyptians who had ten primary deities and scores of lesser gods, one for each need. At Sinai God began to teach them that He, their one God, was sufficient for all their needs. They knew about Him through the God-ordained star constellations which were figures of the truth. They knew that the seven head sins of Satan, with their many lesser sins and hurts, were to be overcome in God’s Lamb Sacrifice. Abraham had prophesied in Genesis 22:18, "My son, God will provide Himself a Lamb for a burnt offering." etc. All Israel had waited through the long sojourn in Egypt for that One to come in whom would be bound up all their hope of a perfect and sevenfold redemption. At Sinai their almighty Jehovah began to make covenant promises that would deliver them from the hurts of sin. He called Moses into the Mount and ordered their form of theocratic worship in which He was to be their Head, to govern their state affairs through the Wilderness. In their order of worship He set memorials of Calvary’s seven-fold redemption to keep them constantly reminded of covenant promises.

These seven national memorials which were to be annually before them, were each composed of seven individual acts of worship, thus forming forty-nine forms of worship. In Lev. 25:8 God covenanted with His people that on the forty-ninth or seven sevens of Sabbaths, He would usher in the fiftieth or "Pentecost" of blessings. This fifty year Pentecost was a time of rejoicing, for all they had lost would then be fully restored.

Now let us examine these seven national memorials mentioned above. The first was in Jehovah’s seven compound names, each denoting one of the coming seven covenants of Calvary. The second was in their seven annual feasts. The third was seen in their seven pieces of holy furniture of the Tabernacle. The fourth was in their seven sprinklings of sacrificial blood. The fifth was seen in the individual seven acts of sacrifice, and the sixth was the seven ministrations of the priesthood. Then the seventh of the seven national memorials of Israel’s worship was the seven sufferings mentioned in Isa. 53:4-7. Space forbids naming each of the seven individual acts of worship incorporated in these seven national memorials, but we desire to mention the seven individual memorials of the compound names of Jehovah. They are Jehovah Jireh (Supplies), Jehovah Rapha (Heals), Jehovah Nissi (Banner of Victory), Jehovah Shalom (Peace), Jehovah Raah (Shepherd), Jehovah Tsidkenu (Righteousness), and Jehovah Shammah (Helper).

God’s ordained plan of sevenfold redemption, which was to be set in seven covenants with the believer, was first prefigured in Eden. There He slew the first sacrifice and the lamb slain at the beginning or foundation of the world or human race and its shed life blood became an atonement or covering for man’s sin and the skins or covering from the hurts of sin. The life blood of the animal substitutionary sacrifice could not redeem the sinner from his judgment but was only an atonement or covering. And his sin must be moved forward to Calvary where God’s Lamb, even Jesus Christ our Lord, must die to provide redemption grace for all sins and believing sinners. For if animal blood could have redeemed the sinner, there would have been no need of God’s Lamb being offered. But the sinners knew that the life blood of the innocent animal sacrifice was but a substitution for the life blood of the coming Messiah whose life blood was a substitution for their own life condemned by their sin. Thus, they looked forward by faith and received the seven benefits of the sevenfold covenants of Calvary, even as we now look back by faith and believe and receive these same benefits. The Psalmist David wrote to remind us in Ps. 103:2, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and forget not al His benefits."

The individual sinner must show forth the earnest of his faith in God’s coming sevenfold redemption through the Messianic sacrifice and identify himself with it by his acts of memorials at the brazen alter. There, as he entered the court of the tabernacle, leading his lamb sacrifice, he must walk through the blood of former sacrifices sprinkled on the ground. It was a blood walk to remind him of the penalty for sin. At the altar, in the presence of the priests, he obeyed God’s commandments and laid his hands upon the head of the sacrifice. This not only identified him with his sacrifice, but was to him a figure of laying or committing his sin upon the life of the innocent sacrifice. Then he confessed faith in the promises and faithfulness of his almighty God. Then he must slay his own sacrifice, and the priests, catching the warm life blood, sprinkled it over the four brass horns of the brazen altar. If one of the leaders of Israel sinned they must bring a larger sacrifice, a bullock, and go through the same acts of confession. Then as he slashed the throat of the sacrifice the priests quickly lifted the animal and laid it back down into the burning flame of the altar and tied the four legs to the four horns of the altar.

This last act was what the heavenly Father had to do, as Jesus Christ our sacrifice, with His bleeding, suffering back laid in the seven sufferings of the cross, has His hands and feet fastened to the four nails or horns of the brazen altar of the cross. The Psalmist saw this scene and wrote in the Psalms 118:27, "Bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar." The priests of Israel laid the slain lamb each morning and evening in the burning flame of the altar as their daily sacrifice. It was a memorial for their faith to reach forward to Calvary and claim their deliverance from the hurts of sin. "The chastisement of their peace was upon Him." (Is. 53:5). Today we look back to Calvary and see the chastisements of our peace upon Him, for they are upon Him or upon us, depending on where our faith reckons them to be. Can you, suffering one, see your daily chastisements being suffered by your Lord at Calvary? If you can, you go free; if not you bear them for your sin of unbelief. Can you, sick or afflicted Christian, see your individual sickness suffered by Him back at Calvary? Can you believe, "Himself took your infirmities and bare your sickness"? (Matt. 8:11). It is impossible for two bodies many mile apart with centuries between to bear the same sickness or affliction. When you can see your individual suffering in Him at Calvary your lying symptoms will pass away.

Now let us examine these seven covenants of Calvary that our Lord completed in His seven sufferings of the cross, where He fused life and death together to produce a new power: resurrection life. There are many scriptures for these seven covenants: Justification, Sanctification, Divine Healing for soul and body, Divine Health for soul and body, Divine Peace - Rest, Resurrection Life and the Glory of God. Until one finds rest in the first he never finds rest in the others. You must believe the work of redemption was finished at Calvary. Justification is for the believer’s spirit, which was recreated in regeneration at our confession of faith in Christ’s work at Calvary. His Spirit entered to seal us until the day of our translation (Eph. 4:30). It is eternal and secures by His covenant Word and work, an eternal salvation and standing as God’s child. The last six covenants are for the believers soul life and are daily benefits.

God’s Order of High Priesthood

Our Lord Jesus Christ, God’s High Priest, is continuing His career of High Priesthood in establishing His sevenfold redemption covenant in the Church. To establish His covenants in the Church He must first establish them in the individuals that compose His Body, the Church. To better understand how the Father established these Calvary covenants in Him, let us examine more closely our Lord’s ministry of Priesthood.

In Matt. 5:17 Jesus declared, "Think not that am come to destroy the (Mosaic) Law or the (word of the) Prophets: I am come not to destroy but to fulfill." This challenging prophecy was to be the sign of our Lord’s High Priesthood. For no man could possibly fulfill these prophecies, commandments and ceremonial laws of the Old Covenant except Christ. To fulfill these one must fulfill three sets of prophetic scriptures that deal with man’s spirit, soul, and body and must fulfill all religious enactment’s of the same. One of the principle annual enactment’s was that of the Day of Atonement recorded in the 16th chapter of Leviticus. On that holy day each year the ministry of the earthly High Priest as he prefigured the ministry of the heavenly High Priest was to choose two goats for two sacrifices and two deaths. Thus our Lord in fulfillment of this holy day must fulfill the ministries of the High Priest and also of each of the two sacrifices.

This would have been impossible for any one man to do except as the Lord did perform it in dividing His triune life into His Spirit, soul and body. This would fulfill the prophecies concerning man’s justification, sanctification, and glorification. He must and did fulfill His own prophecy that involved both a time and place element. He had prophesied in Matt. 12:40. "For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Today all man-ruled churches refuse to believe their Lord’s prophecy and celebrate the Lord’s death as from Friday afternoon the resurrection Sunday morning. This would leave body in the tomb only two night and one day. It could not be part of the night or days, but must be three days or three nights. Thus our Lord prophesied that the time element would be of that length, and the place - "in the heart of the earth."

Let us seek the answer to these questions in the Scriptures by asking ourselves four questions. The first question being, Did our Lord’s Spirit die on the cross? The second question is, Where was the Lord’s soul during those three days and nights ? The third question is, Where was our Lord’s Spirit during those three days and nights? The fourth question that challenges us is: Was His spirit, soul and body in the heart of the earth? To fulfill His prophecies our Lord had to divide Himself into His three being of body, soul and spirit.

God’s inspired Word begins to answer the first question in Luke 23:46. There it declares "Father, into Thy hands I commend my Spirit." His Spirit must have been holy and sinless or the Father would not have received Him for the Father had just looked away, not being able to look upon all of the sin of the human race placed upon our Lord’s natural life, His soul and body. Then again God’s Word proves that Jesus’ Spirit did not die on the cross, in Luke 23:43, where he declares to the dying thief on the cross, "Verily, verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."

The second question is, Where was our Lord’s soul during those three days and nights that His body was in the heart of the earth in the tomb? We read of His soul-body in Is. 52:14 where it declares His form was marred more than any man. We know that millions of human bodies have been ground to pieces and marred more than His human body was, so this refers to His soul-being-form. The Lord in fulfillment of the Day of Atonement had to be the High Priest and also the two goats and die the two deaths as they did. One of these goat sacrifices was chosen to die as the Sin Offering and its blood carried into the Holy of Holies on this day. The other goat was called the Scapegoat and after the death of the first goat the High Priest lay hands upon the Scapegoat, committing in a figure all the sins atoned for in the death of the first goat sacrifice.

This second goat, the Scapegoat, was then driven out into the wilderness between the Mount of Olives and the Dead Sea, wandering in the land of no return, bearing the atoned sins away, which speaks of purification and separation from our sins and sinful habits. As the Scapegoat wandered in its loneliness, starving for food, water and friendship, the circling vultures waited for it to stumble, then descend to tear its flesh from its dying body. It was our Lord’s soul that had to fulfill this ministry of the Scapegoat, prophesied by David in Ps. 103:12 where God promised to remove our sings away as far as the east is from the west.

Now let us turn to the holy Scriptures to find the answer to our question: Where was our Lord’s soul during the three days and nights His holy body was in the tomb? In Ps. 16:10 and repeated again in Acts 2:27, "Because Thou will not leave My soul in hell neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One (body) to see corruption (decay)". This shows clearly that our Lord’s soul, fulfilling the Scapegoat figure, became the Scapegoat for us and that His souls did enter the heart of the earth in hell.

Then again the Bible speaks to answer this second question. In Isa. 53:10-12 we read," ... when Thou shalt make His soul an offering for sin!" Than again, "because He has poured out His soul unto death" and again we read, "He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied." Then in the 88th Psalm one sees the picture of our Lord’s soul being tormented to death. For if His soul had not tasted death for every man, the our soul would have to die. In this Psalm we read, "Thou has laid me in the lowest pit, in darkness, in the deeps, Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all they waves... Lord, why casteth thou off my soul?" (Ps. 88:6, 14) Sin was conceived in highest heaven in the heart of Lucifer. Isa. 14:12-14. And God’s holy Church was conceived in the suffering of Christ’s soul in lowest hell. We read of it in Ps. 139:15-16, "My substance (the Church) was not hid from Thee when I was mad in secret and curiously wrought out in the lowest parts of the earth..." Thus far we see by the Scriptures that the Lord’s body and soul were both in the heart of the earth. Now let us follow the ministry of His sinless and righteous Spirit and see that He also ministered in the heart of the earth.

As our Lord’s body died on the cross to furnish the Lamb of God’s redemption blood, His Spirit was committed into the hands and presence of the Father. In Heb. 9:12-14 we read of Christ’s Spirit fulfilling the ministry of the earthly High Priest in carrying the freshly shed life blood of the sacrifice into the Holy of Holies. "Neither by the blood of goats and calves but by His own blood He entered in once into the Holy Place (God’s throne room), having obtained eternal redemption for us. How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works (church traditions) to serve the living God." As heaven’s High Priest our Lord’s Spirit must also fulfill the prophecy of the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 3:18-19, "...but quickened by the Spirit; by which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison..." to understand this scripture we must realize that both Paradise and Hades were in the heart of the earth before Calvary. Our Lord reveals this in Luke 16:19-31 when Lazarus and the rich man died and there is stated a great gulf was between so one could not go from one to the other. Samuel was seen coming up out of the Paradise in the earth in 1 Sam. 28:13-14. Paradise was as a city of refuge for the righteous whose sins were atoned for but could not be redeemed until out Lord Jesus died as God’s Lamb upon the cross.

Israel has six cities of refuge where the man under judgment found refuge from the avenger until the High Priest died, and then all could go home and be free (Numbers 35:28). As Jesus Christ’s Spirit entered Paradise, the great city of refuge in the heart of the earth and proclaimed the death of heaven’s High Priest, they could then go to heaven. Then came the great Exodus and Passover as He, the Spirit High Priest, led all of those righteous ones up to heaven for the place God had prepared for them. The Psalmist David saw that and wrote in Ps. 66:18, which was rewritten in Eph. 4:8-10, "when He ascended up on high He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth." Then our Lord’s Spirit High Priest must have returned to Hades and found His souls lying still in death. At that instant the great Father moved in Ps. 18:1-9, to shake heaven and earth as He came down to impart His endless and resurrection life to the still soul of His only begotten Son. As Christ’s soul arose and entered His righteous Spirit, He placed His heel upon the neck of Satan and took the keys of death and hell away from him. In Rev. 1:18 our Lord still holds those keys. Then quickly arising and entering His glorified body He stepped forth as the Head in a new creation of priests.

God’s Miracle Working Faith

God is moving by His Spirit to awaken a sleeping Church and restore through a restored Body Ministry His true faith. Men have written many books on this subject but most of these have left the seekers trying instead of trusting. Much confusion prevails concerning this simple truth. The word confidence is translated in the Old Testament largely as "trust" and in the New Testament as "faith". God’s faith is really true worship, which is a balance between consecration and truth. We read in John 4:24, "God is a Spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit (consecration) and in Truth." A Christian living a daily Spirit-filled life can alone maintain this balance, where God sees His promise in your heart and performs it with His Spirit. God’s eternal immutable promises are our inheritances and are available to every believer. As a triune being we live on three planes of life and there is a practice of faith for each plane, namely, that natural faith for natural life, mental faith for mental or soulish life, and spirit faith for our spirit’s life. Do not substitute one for the other. Many exercise mental faith for pressing needs, but under adverse conditions it freezes over with fear. Only God can fully practice His spiritual faith.

Abraham is given as an example of one who maintained this balance between spiritual consecration and trust in God’s Word without doubting. This alone gives us the right standing, or the right to stand, or the righteous stand before God. Paul calls this the "by faith" righteousness, or the righteousness of true faith which gives the believer the dominion over all things. Jesus gave us a creative word of faith in Mark 9:23 when He said, "All things are possible to him that believeth." In Matt. 9:29 our Lord said to the blind man, "According to thy faith be it done unto you." So we see that the word "faith" is both our revelation and practice of it. It is both an abstract noun and a practice of it.

There is only one gospel of true Bible doctrine, but every church under human headship has its own version of it. In most cases some church tradition replaces some truth. This may be the main reason your prayers are not getting into the orbit of God’s faith-practice. So it is important to know whose "faith" or doctrine you have subscribed to. For all the unbelief we Christians have was taught us in the teachings of man’s church systems teaching us that the days of miracles are over, etc. For this reason we laid all church teachings aside and returned to the pure Word of God. God does not promise to watch over man’s word and perform it when it is out of harmony with His, but He has promised to perform His own Word Truth (Rom. 4:21). Our responsibility is to know the truth so well that Satan cannot make us doubt, then it is God’s responsibility to perform it. Leave the miracle to Him and rest in your confidence in His faithfulness.

In Ephesians 2:8 the apostle Paul reveals to us that our greatest need is not an active faith, but grace for God’s faith to operate through. "For by grace are you saved (delivered) through faith," etc. God’s truth or His righteous Word in our heart gives us His grace. So instead of praying for faith let us pray more for grace to believe God’s promises so He can work them for us. To do this one must have a purpose for faith in each test and trial. Our overall purpose is to live a Christ-centered life and each daily purpose should be toward that end. This adds to our consecration. When God gives us a vision of His righteousness and purpose for us, this vision becomes a picture of the purpose to encourage us on. This will help to establish the confession of our truth as our faith, for in Matt. 12:37 we read, "For by thy words (confession of truth or tradition) thou shalt be justified and by they words thou shalt be condemned." In the ninth chapter of Mark the Lord returns with Peter, James and John from the scene on the Mount of Transfiguration and find His nine other disciples unable to cast an epileptic demon out of a child. these had previously cast out demons when the Lord sent them forth, but now the balance is broken, their consecration is lacking. The boy’s father cried in Mark 9:24, "Lord I believe: help Thou mine unbelief."

He is here in the same position as most Christians who all have a knowledge of God’s almighty power, yet fail to have God’s grace to believe His performing of His promise. Sometimes, between the revelation and the practice, Satan attacks the believer’s confidence in the Lord’s Word or ability. An illustration of this is seen when the apostle Peter walked on the water at the Word of the Lord, "come", then a doubt came in his heart and he began to sink. God’s Word challenges every trial of our faith to see if we believe the truth of His promise, as in Phil. 4:19, "But my God shall supply all your need (no condition) according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus." Years ago when our children were small our sons would climb up on the garage and call for me to get them down. I went out and held up my hands and promised to catch them when they jumped. My word as their father challenged them and they looked to the ground and hesitated, but the moment they jumped it was not their problem any more. God does the same for us and when we act on His Word of promise the responsibility is His. Our undisciplined carnal mind breaks the balance and the sin of pride, or human reason defeats God’s Word in us. Would we act, as Peter, and take an empty hook and cast into the sea expecting to catch a fish and get the tax money out of the fish’s mouth?

Years ago we knew of an old man who, when he was saved and baptized in the Holy Spirit, went into the country town bank and wrote out a check for $500 and signed Jesus Christ’s name to it making it payable to himself. He wanted that amount to buy an old empty dance hall and begin a church in that town. The banker knew him to be honest but knew he had no funds in the bank and looked at the check and said that Jesus Christ had no funds in that bank. A large landowner who was a Christian, standing near and overhearing the conversation, took the check and wrote his own name across the back and cashed it and the building was bought and the church started. These things do not test our faith as much as they test our grace to act on what we know. Some Christians live good consecrated lives and really believe the promises of God but fail to make contact. They need to stake their faith down a certain day and meet God there in the promise. After all, our confession even to ourselves reveals the sin of doubt, fear and unbelief. In John 14:12-14 the Lord promises that we can do all that He did in miracle power and greater things, for He was to send back the Holy Spirit, which He did. "If you ask anything in my name, I will do it." (John 14:14)

Let us show reverence to our Lord’s name. The word reverend is used only one time in all the Bible and it denotes deity yet men like to apply that title to themselves. Maybe this breaks the balance and keeps them from getting their prayers into God’s faith orbit. I am sure our Lord Jesus never prayed an unanswered prayer, and I doubt if the apostles Paul and Peter did either, so why should we? Let us test our confidence, trust or faith in revelation and in God’s grace to act on God’s Word of many promises. Where does our practice cease in our revelation? Ask yourself now the question, Can I feed 5,000 men besides women and children with a few loaves of bread and fishes? Can I walk on water? The Lord said we can do all that He did. Can I cleanse the lepers? Can I even raise the dead? Can I speak peace to the storm? Can I turn water into wine? You have probably answered no to each of these challenging questions. The apostle Paul confessed that he could do all things through Christ Jesus which strengthened him. The apostle John confessed in 1 John 4:17, "because as He is, so are we in this present world." Then continues in 1 John 3:21, "Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. And whatsoever we ask we receive of Him because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight."

The seven hundred commandments of the New Testament are summed up in the last one, in Jude 21 "Keep yourselves in the love of God." God desires you to have dominion over all things that now have dominion over you. It really isn’t so much a matter of having faith but to remove those negative confessions that you say to yourself, "I cannot do that." Ask God for more grace to believe and meet Him in His own promises. You have creative power in your own word, for in Mark 11:23 God gives you the authority to create through your own word when spoken in faith. "That whosoever shall say unto you this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he hath said shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he said." You have a bank account in heaven, start writing checks, let’s do business with God.

The Bible Doctrine of the Soul

All Bible doctrines are completed in the apostle Paul’s epistles. Men have diluted and devitalized them by mingling in their church traditions. However, this one Bible doctrine of the mind or soul, seems to have escaped and with their churches filled with mentally soul-sick people, pastors seek information in the psychology books of men. Many of these books have been written by unregenerated men using only human wisdom. Why not use God’s study on this vital and important subject? The Bible has four methods of revealing truth. The apostle Paul uses all four of these in his study of this subject, and they are set forth in word, practice, comparison and contrast. All life operates through given laws of God. There are natural laws, mental laws and spiritual laws. In the early chapters of the book of Romans, the apostle began his study concerning the law of sin, showing how it affects man’s mind or soul life. He reveals man’s two natures operating within these mental laws, and being the battleground between God and Satan, as they struggle for possession of man’s election and human will. In the 7th chapter of Romans one sees a nominal, carnally minded Christian, in his spiritual ignorance, caught in this intense struggle and he is doing the things he doesn’t want to do and also failing to do the things he knows he should.

God is striving to make man "like Him", and Satan is striving to make a man or a machine like himself. Science has brought forth a machine that apparently thinks and makes quick, accurate decisions and acts in seconds of time. But this is nothing to the delicately balanced and operated mind or soul of man. The word "mind" in the Greek is psuche, which also has the same meaning for soul, intellect, will and heart. thus we see that our mind or soul is identical and has three primal mental organs of the intellect, will and heart. These all operate in balanced precision through a set of mental laws, all recorded in the Word of God. Seven of these mental laws, all being set in Scripture, are namely: the laws of attention, attraction, decision, action, possession, habitual nature and set direction. God ministers His life through these laws. Satan, using deception, must use these also. God, foreknowing man’s test and fall in Eden, created us with three rings of defense against sin. Man’s outer ring is the natural senses or faculties of sight, hearing, smelling, tasting or feeling That examine and probe into all circumstances and environments of life. The second ring of our defense is our ring of mental and soulish faculties or mental members, namely imagination, affection, conscience, memory and reason. The third ring of inner defense is that of the believer’s spirit senses of faith, hope, love, fear or respect of God (true worship) and intuitive knowledge. Sin never enters the last ring, for Christ indwells there. Each of the above has numerous scriptures in the Bible.

Our will-worship of either God or Satan, as these great forces strive to influence our life through these above members, determines our eternal destiny and rewards. We all know through experience and practice how these mental members operate. For instance, a person comes to your door and you go to meet him. Your intellect is alerted and you are conscious of his presence, and instantly your memory is alerted to determine if you know that person. then your reason is alerted to know what action to take. With this information in a split second your human will decides and acts. Thus our human will is the directive part of our mind or soul system. What we consider important our human will places down in our heart, the storehouse and seedbed of our life.

The heart makes all the final and important decisions of the will. Our mental senses, faculties or mental members give the information for all our will’s decisions and act. In Hebrews 5:14 we read a command, "But strong meat (deep truths) belongs to them that are (matured) of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised (trained) to discern both good and evil." We desire to examine these mental senses which we are commanded to exercise, or use under discipline of God’s Word and Spirit. Let us not confuse the mental sins of worry, fear, hate, greed, envy, jealousy, unbelief, etc., with these senses of the mind or soul.

The Bible is filled with warnings of Satan’s soul hazards and show us how to put up road blocks against them by using the name of our Lord in faith and pleading His shed Blood in faith against them. We see Satan using these soul senses in church service as some dear one suddenly looks vacantly at the floor. Their mind has wandered off into yesterday or tomorrow and maybe a thousand miles away. These are wandering souls that miss the message God had for them. Satan brings many under mental pressures and they have something on their mind. If undisciplined this condition often opens the doors for demons to enter and make one allergic to certain things. Also, this is the primal cause for mental breakdowns. When you rest your mind and fail to use it in waking hours Satan will make his workshop out of it by injecting thoughts into it. Learn to discipline your mind, for it is your soul. A deep daily consecration is your best protection. Study God’s Word and strengthen you will to abide by its decisions. Through the modern television millions are filling their minds with carnal, worldly things of life. when your human will gets so weakened and bent out of God’s Divine Order watch for Him to put you in the fire test and soften your will so He can bend it back again. Let the mind of Christ dwell in you richly for we Christians know His will for us.

Now let us look at the operation of our mental faculties, senses or members, and remember the picture of the frustrated defeated Christian in Rom. 7:23 where there is warfare in his members. Also in James 4:1 we see this warfare in the mental members of faculties," ...even of your lusts that war in your members." When you loan one or more of these senses or faculties to Satan and God holds the others, the warfare rages. Let us look now at the mental senses or member of our imagination, affection, conscience, memory and reason. There are numbers of scriptures concerning each of these showing us how to exercise them for Christ.

Take for instance our imagination. When we pray we should immediately imagine that God heard that prayer and the answer is on the way. These senses are the nerve centers of our soul or mind system and should be the roots of our faith. But if you do not control your own imagination when you pray, Satan will use it to make you imagine that God didn’t hear your prayer, etc. Through these senses then God plants His faith-seeds or Satan plants his sin of unbelief that robs you of the promises and blessings of God. The Bible commands, "casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." ) 2 Cor. 10:5). The next sense or faculty to examine is that of our affection. All of these mental senses have scriptures to show that they work in your heart. The things that gain your attention (law) fascinate you and control your affections. Paul warns us in Col. 3:12, "Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth." The third sense or mental member is that of conscience. In both Old and New Testament languages, this word means to "suffer". It is a mental member of our mind that has the sense of suffering when we do anything that we think is wrong. Paul warns the legalist who thinks it is wrong if one does not keep much of the law of Moses, "Purge your conscience from dead works (error) to serve the living God" (Heb. 9:14). The next mental sense to train for Christ is our memory that has the ability of storing revelation for later use. An illustration of this is seen in our memorial of Calvary in the Lord’s supper. The last of these mentioned mental faculties is that called reason. We have over trained our reason to accept only what our natural senses testify to.

All of these above mentioned senses should be disciplined by the Word and Spirit of God to be used consistently in the application of God’s Word and covenant blessing through His promises. We are only touching on the primal teaching of the Bible on this subject. but through these your present life has been formed and can be changed through the proper exercise of them. The attitude of your mind toward all circumstances creates an atmosphere in your heart of either faith or fear and God only ministers grace through a believing mind. Your thoughts are weaving your destiny. You have the power of creation in your mind to create the rest of faith and a life of dominion power or to drive your life by fear and torments. Our relationship to God depends on our attitude to His Word. God is able to break stubborn wills and crucify pride in the purifying flames of sufferings. You as a Christian have bound your souls with an oath to fully serve the Lord.

The Spirit of the Heart

In the Bible the same word is used for man’s spirit being and also for the "spirit" or characteristics of his or her mind. The heart of the fleshly body and the heart of the soul or mind is also of like meaning. Man’s natural life is known to others by his name (identification), by his personality and by his influence. Some people have a selfish "spirit", some a proud "spirit", and some a generous "spirit". Thus we see we are all different, even as Christians, in this soulish nature, character or personality. Regardless of what your "spirit" or attitude or your heart may be it can be changed, which in turn changes your personality. For instance an habitual drunkard, liar, or theif with his adamic nature and its passions ruling his life and despoiling his character, when wonderfully saved and born again suddenly becomes a sober, truthful and honest person. Only God can change our character with its "spirit" or unrighteousness into a character and personality with God’s nature and "spirit" of peace, joy and righteousness. So let us watch our spirit or the mental temper of our soul and see which way the twig is being bent. The believer with two natures, that of Christ and that of sinful Adam, is God’s only creature that can be double minded and change back and forth, even as two people living in one house.

Only a deeply spiritual soul life will anchor your heart and "spirit" to a Christ-centered life of joy, peace and worship. Many man-ruled church systems of Babylon are used as Satan’s workshop to remold your thinking, revealed by your "spirit" or acts of your will. The organized churches teach the hungry born-again child of God in their own church doctrines and traditions the unbelief that the day of God’s miracles are over.

Often a man is saved out of the pitfalls of sin by the new birth and then has the church put him back into a religious sin of sectarianism and lifeless creeds and church practices. All of these things affect the new believer’s heart or center of his or her soul life, which in turn is later manifested in their life "spirit" or attitude of mind. There are "spirits" of national customs that also influence the "spirits" of individuals. As at Christmas time the "spirit" of Christmas affects and influences millions of people. Today undisciplined guidance of many young lives shows the "spirit" of this age as nearly all of the smallest children ride their tricycles down the sidewalk with cap pistols banging away at all moving objects. As a very small child our old-fashioned Presbyterian mother created a "spirit" in her small children each Sunday afternoon by reading the Bible stories and telling us of His wonderful "spirit" of grace.

The importance of this subject is reflected in literally hundreds of Bible scriptures in both Testaments. In Proverbs 4:23, "Keep they heart with all diligence for out of it are the issues of life." Then again we read in Proverbs 16:2, "...but the Lord weighs the "spirit" of the heart." then also in Proverbs 23:7, "For as a man thinketh in his heart so is he." It is very important to watch the "spirit" or attitude of the five mental senses toward all circumstances and environments of life that Satan cannot be allowed to pressure your thinking and the acts of your will the wrong way. Do you have a "spirit" of love and forgiveness towards others at all times regardless of how they may treat you? Remember, you can love the devilish "spirit" out of people but you cannot argue it out. The average person when wronged has a "spirit" or desire to get even by doing something to hurt them. So watch your daily "spirit" and remember you are a Christian and must maintain in all deeds and actions the same true "spirit" of Christ. If you have a stubborn "spirit" then make yourself do things you do not care to do and you can break it. If you have a "spirit" or habit unlike that of Christ, then ask Him to take it away and cooperate with Him as He does. Man cannot change the leopard’s spots but he can change his own disposition as revealed in the "spirit" he shows under test.

The Lord called us to yield our minds to a God-consciousness that will develop in us a righteous and Christlike "spirit" under all conditions. Guard against the "spirit" of worldliness infiltrating our minds and bringing us into captivity of the world, flesh and the devil that God wants us to overcome. Your "spirit" or attitude unconsciously manifested at times can destroy your Christian testimony. Mental habits unchecked often change a person’s personality. The "spirit" of criticism undisciplined soon robs you of the gentleness and patience you once had. At one place we read our Lord healed all that were vexed with the devil. Today there are demon spirits that strive to vex weak-willed Christians, often pressuring their way into the person’s mind. This is soon revealed in their "spirit" which acts as the thermometer of their feelings in their mind. We have seen saints who were allergic to certain things actually tormented, delivered from these oppressing little demons. The sure way to develop the "spirit" of Christ is to develop His nine spiritual gifts or graces of Gal. 5:22-23. Every Christian shall stand in their place at the Bema of Judgment seat of Christ. Rom. 14:10 and 2 Cor. 5:10 state this fact. There we will have our works judged and rewarded if they stand the testing fire. In 1 Cor. 3:13 we read, "Every man’s work shall be made manifest for the day (of trials) shall declare it because it shall be revealed by fire.

Some months back the Lord gave the writer a vivid vision of a former, Waco, Texas, wealthy business man who had died. He had been a nominal Christian for forty years. He stood trembling before the Judge and His Judgment Seat to have his life work judged for eternal rewards. The Lord asked, "What did you bring me out of your long Christian life in Waco, Texas?" The man stood paralyzed with shame, for he could think of nothing acceptable to God as a present. Then pointing to nine large objects the voice said: "Those are the things you stole from God during your Christian life." The first object with his name on it was all the Lord’s money in tithes and offerings he has used for himself. The second object was God’s time he had stolen. The third object was broken vows, the fourth was buried talents, the fifth was lost opportunities, the sixth was dead testimonies, the seventh was all his idle words, the eighth was a group of lost souls from hell who pointed their fingers at him and screamed that his life had stumbled them and sent them to hell. The ninth was the glory of God he sold for the praises of men. The "spirit" of your "heart" is the sounding board of your soul and denotes the way your life is going. The forty years as a leader in a fraternal society the Waco man thought to offer as a gift was rejected and burned as wood, hay and stubble.

God’s Divine Revelation Through Prophecy

"Watchman, what of the night?" (Isa. 2:11). In the prophet’s day many were asking him, had the shadow of the king’s moon dial, revealed the prophetic time for them? Rapidly fulfilling Bible prophecies proclaim the nearing advent of our Lord Jesus. God in foreknowledge and mercy has actually revealed in prewritten history, called prophecy, all major events of the earth before they came to pass. Before He created man He wrote the story of man’s coming test, fall and redemption. Man’s first Bible was the sixty constellations of the stars, called the Zodiac. In 12 of these prophetic and symbolic pictures or true imagery of truth, God wrote in the lunar (moon) Zodiac the completion of His plan. This is a universal language and our New Testament and ends with sign pictures set in parables and in picture stories. God has other methods also of revealing His divine revelation of truth. He gave the spiritual people dreams, visions, and divine utterance, called prophecy. Our entire Bible is set in divine utterance, both as it forth-tells and also as it foretells God’s truths. Fulfilled prophecies prove God’s Word to be divinely inspired and also prove God infallible and all wise.

The Bible is filled with prophetic predictions of events to come, even describing each in detail. No other book in the world does this. In Isa. 41:21-26 God actually challenges all heathen religions to a prophecy contest. Our Lord Christ Jesus proved His Messiahship also in this manner. For in John 13:19 He said, "Now I tell you before it come to pass so that when it comes to pass you will believe that I am He." The Old Testament prophets of different places and time prophesied thirty prophecies that the Messiah must fulfill within three days and night of His death, burial and resurrection. All of these were literally fulfilled at Calvary. Nearly all of the Old Testament prophets through the years had prophetic vision that leaped over the silent centuries and gave spotlight pictures of this, our end-time day. All agreed it is to be a time of unparalleled suffering as God purifies the earth with mighty judgments. But in Matthew, the 24th chapter our Lord Himself gave to the Church a composite picture composed of twenty-one prophetic pictures of this last day period we are now in. These were to be the signs of His coming. Thus the Old Testament and the New Testament Prophets actually wrote the headlines for our newspapers of today and we see these things coming to pass. The final closing of the Canon of Holy Scripture is the book of Revelation, composed of 12,000 words. The holy city described in it measures 12,000 furlongs. It pictures the last seven years of this world age and coincides with Daniel’s prophecy of Daniel 9:24. In Daniel’s prophecy of seven sevens of day-years, the last week, or seven years are the last and lost week of Daniel’s prophecy.

Let our vision leap forward with these end time Bible prophecies. We can now see the consummation of the ages in the conjunction of the prewritten outlines of the cycles of the Gentile nations, of Israel and of the Church. The Lord prophesied in Matt. 24:37, "But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be." Noah’s day was filled with violence and men’s heart were evil and great building activity was in progress. Then in Matt. 24:21 our Lord again forewarns us, "For then shall be great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world, no, nor ever shall be." As we locate ourselves in this pretribulation period we realize that the Church is in the same position as Israel was at the Red Sea, surrounded by enemies and with no escape except by God’s miraculous power. Today the Church stands before Great Tribulation, surrounded by her enemies, with no escape until the Lord comes to deliver us. Truly it is flood time in the earth again, but this time the earth will be purified by fiery judgments. Let us view with the prophetic vision of the apostle John, the unfulfilled Bible prophecies immediately ahead. He sets forth in symbolic and prophetic pictures the beast or federation of all world nations, rising out of the Gentile nations. The Bible speaks of a beast as a man or a group, who have no consciousness of God, even as an animal.

In the 13th chapter of Revelation one sees tow beasts rising for their last act in the earth as Satan strives to usher in a utopia without Christ. The first beast prefigures a federation of nations into a one world federated State. The second beast prefigures the forming of a likeness or image of it by unifying all major religions into one state Church. The rising beast or federated state will have seven head nations and ten lesser or horn nations that control her military power. We shall probably view a worldwide disarmament as seen by the prophet Isaiah in Isa. 2:4 "...and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks." In the picture of Revelation, 13th chapter the civil or state beast has no rider, but in the 17th chapter a "Scarlet Woman" the ecclesiastical formed state church is riding and guiding the beast into view. This "Woman," rich in the wealth of this world, is covered with the blood of the saints, as also is the beast she rides upon. The state-church endeavors to unify all religions. It makes a patriotic appeal, and seeing many refusing to enter, uses her influence to have the federated state formulate laws to force all into this one ecclesiastical system.

In Rev. 13:7 we read, "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them." So there will be saints in the earth then. As laws are made to force all into this one state church, all other religious order, denominations and Christian churches that have not affiliated with them shall be closed. this will be the end of all Protestantism. Probably the last test of these pretribulation days before the Church is raptured to meet their Lord at His return, may be an effort to force all into this state-church by making all people take the mark of the beast. Rev. 13:16, "And he caused all both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads: And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark or the name of the beast or the number of his name." Then it continues in Rev. 14:9. "If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark in their forehead or in their hands the same shall drink of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation." As the vision moves forward, Armageddon comes into view and the curtain falls on man’s embryo civilization. In removing sin from the earth by removing the sinner, God send his seven last plagues of war, famine, pestilence and mighty earthquakes. Then the Revelation carries us forward to the scene of Rev. 19:19 where our Lord returns with his Church and armies of heaven to possess the earth for the millennium of peace. this scene shows all of the armies of the federated state present to withstand his coming and one wonders how can these things be. The vision opened with a scene of the general assembly of the federated nations of the earth in session.

As they were discussing legal matters suddenly a bright and mighty angel stood in their midst with a shining sword in his hand. He began to address the startled assembly, speaking in one language, yet understood by all in their own native tongue. He gave to them God’s last call to repentance, then seeing them reject Christ, he stated that Christ would return in the future and stand upon the Mount of Olives and with His armies of heaven would possess the earth. As the angel vanished consternation followed as the thought him to be a messenger from another planet. Orders immediately went forth for all armies to assemble and surround the Mount of Olives to meet the attack. Then came the scene of Rev. 19:19 and also pictured by the prophet Zechariah, in Zech. 14:4. this scene is set for the consummation of the ages, for as our Lord the Christ descends with His armies of heaven and His Church, all of the Gentile nations’ armies are assembled at Armageddon to meet Him, and the last battle of this world age begins. As His feet touch the Mount of Olives it divides and rolled back as the Red Sea, in the time of the Passover. At that time the nation of Israel will march forth from their hiding places, the valley of Achor, accepting Him as their Messiah, and a nation is there born in a day. As they march singing through the divided Mount, and the heavenly host are singing a song of victory to the Lamb, all of the assembled Christ rejecters are slain by the brightness of His coming. Then the curtain falls on man’s civilization. Millions now living will not prepare to meet their God and they will have to meet Him unprepared. Why not confess your sins and call upon Him now, tomorrow may be too late. Luke 21:36, Phil. 3:11, Rev. 3:10.

God’s True Worship Restored

The full and true genealogy of all earth life is recorded in Genesis. The Almighty Creator "has established His throne in the heavens and His kingdom ruleth over all." (Psalms 103:19) The eternal God with no beginning nor ending, through His unlimited foreknowledge, has chose His creations for each millennium. It was probably millions of billions of ages ago, that in the council of His own Will, He the great Elohim, composed of the Father, Messianic Son, and the Holy Spirit, chose this seven thousand years we live in. He chose this tiny earth for His new creation "man." The importance of this decision is seen when we realize that God would surely never set up the cross and offer up His only begotten Son as a Sacrifice again. He chose to have Spirit-filled children, "Let us make man in our Image and after our Likeness." (Gen. 1:26). In Eph. 3:10, all of the hosts of heaven watched with breathless interest this, once for all eternity, spectacle in the earth, as God would restore His rule to a rebellious earth.

Since the great God of love had no enemies, Lucifer, His covering Cherub, was allowed to rebel against Him and to become Satan, the Tester. (Ezek. 28:1-19). Satan, the Devil, cast out of highest heaven, came to earth to overthrow the human race. Triune man with his spirit, soul, and body, became the battle ground of good and evil. Man was created with two relationships with his Creator, through his human spirit and his human soul or mind. The key to understanding these two relationships is in the dividing of our spirit and our soul (Heb. 4:12 and 1 Thess. 5:23). God is a Spirit (John 4:24). All life comes from God, and He chose to minister to man through man’s spirit or life within. In the paradise of Eden before sin came, God ministered His divine wisdom and knowledge directly to Adam who named all fowl. God also ministered His knowledge to all life creations. The animals retain this sixth sense, and return to their homes after being seemingly lost. We call this instinct, and even the blind earthworm lives by it, but man lost this in the fall from his sinless estate. Satan reversed God’s order, by placing man’s mental life above his spiritual life.

In Gen. 2:17 and 3:1-3 Adam and Eve stood before the tree of knowledge on which were the fruits of good and evil. This great family tree of the human race was to have the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23), and the fruits of the flesh or carnal mind (Gal. 5:19-21). Every human being must choose between the good fruits of the Spirit life and the evil fruits of the self life of the mind. God ordered the life habits of all creation, and His Word became the Law for their operation. In the human being He set three sets of laws, one each for spirit, soul and body. The laws of our inner man or spirit life are divine Faith, Hope, Love, Reverential Fear (True Worship, and Intuitive Knowledge. These are known as senses, faculties, or spiritual members. Our five mental or soulish laws are our senses, faculties or mental members of imagination, affection, conscience, memory and reason. Then our five natural or physical laws, are sight, hearing, smelling, tasting, and feeling. All human beings have these three sets of five laws and we live within their boundaries.

God as a Spirit has chosen our spirit and spirit sense-laws through which to minister to and through our mental or soulish senses or laws, and through these to our natural physical life. But Adam and Eve reversed God’s order, and our life as an overcome Christian is governed by our election or will, using the mental laws or senses in decisions rather than by walking in the Spirit. We see this sad but now universal cause and effect first in Gen. 11:1-6. There Nimrod and his organized church built the largest altar in the earth and after their order of worship, decided by their mental senses. From that broken order of worshipping sprang the oriental philosophies and from them our Babel of man-ruled church systems and orders today. Each holds to their mental interpretation of their Christian philosophy and their lifeless programs, still building God’s Son a House in His Kingdom, after their own plans and orders. It is this broken order of worship that brings the curse of God and Satan’s sin life of doubts, fears, envyings, jealousies, greed, malice and unbelief.

God’s "coming" Kingdom in the earth, with the growing human race, entered its second aspect at Mt. Sinai, and its third aspect at the cross of Calvary. Little was known of the inner man or human spirit during this period before Calvary. Only a minority of the prophets and priests of God became full overcomers by restoring this order of God’s true worship. These Old Testament prophets who restored God’s order and lived and worshipped in His Spirit reigning through their spirit, lived an abandoned miracle life unto God. These were the overcomers who obtained a better resurrection (Matt. 27:52). Then came Calvary and God was able to restore true worship through their spirit over their soul reasoning and interpretations. But one sees Christian groups again back in soul or sense knowledge worship under human headships and programs of man. These mental Christian philosophies and orders hold their people under the bondage of mental fear of their church-laws and under condemnation. But the spirit frees us from condemnation. "He that believeth in Him (Christ) is not condemned." (John 3:18)

The first Man to fully fulfill the pattern of Gen. 1:26 "man" and to fully obey God’s first commandment with promises (Gen. 1:28), to subdue (self life) and have dominion was our Lord Jesus Christ. He did it by fully restoring God’s Divine Order of our spirit senses ruling our mental senses. His life in the Spirit found no limitations, and the miraculous became commonplace. What He did we are commanded to do (John 14:12-14). And "If you shall ask anything in My Name, I will do it." (John 14:14). Here He gives us a creative power through the "power of attorney" to use His name. All of men’s defeats and sorrows are centered, or stem from, the soul or mental senses. There is no limitation or defeat ever, in the regenerated spirit of any Christian. Christ is now the believer’s High Priest who daily ministers of His seven covenants of Calvary to our needs. These seven covenants of Calvary are our justification, sanctification, healing, health, peace, abundant life, and God’s glory. The first is eternal for our recreated spirit at the new birth. The last six are daily benefits for our soul. All gifts and benefits of God must be claimed by faith to receive them.

Then suddenly came Calvary, and our Lord at the height of His earthly ministry was crucified, even as His forerunner John the Baptist, at the height of his ministry was beheaded. The early Church later, at the end of seven years at the height of miracle power, was scattered abroad. "The Kingdom of heaven suffereth violence," etc. (Matt. 11:12). The impact of sin in Eden on the human race was nothing compared with the impact of Christ’s righteousness in His seven sufferings of Calvary. In them He fulfilled the seven compound names of Jehovah, the seven annual Feasts of Israel, the seven sprinklings of blood, and the seven sufferings unto death of Isa. 53:4-8. The greatest of God’s mysteries, hid in His Mind, was the New Testament Church in God’s Divine Order of government, truth, and discipline. This mystery Church-Body was conceived in the lowest hell, in the soul sufferings of our Lord as the Scapegoat (Lev. 16:5-10 and Ps. 139:15-16). It was born in the seven sufferings of the cross, and was set in God’s Divine Order at Pentecost. (Acts 2:4)

With the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus, thousands of believing Jews were swept into the third phase of the heavenly Kingdom set up in the earth. It was to be probably 15 or 20 years before the Lord gave the full revelation for the New Testament Church. In the early years, these Jewish converts thought the new move of God was the perfecting of Israel, according to their Jewish prophets. In this transition message, some endeavored to Judaize Christianity, by inserting some of Moses’ gospel. In Acts 21:20 we read that they were, "...all zealous of the (Mosaic) law." Some teaching in Acts 15:1, "Except you be circumcised after the manner of Moses, you can not be saved." Then when the apostle Paul came, with the full revelation of God’s grace and salvation by grace through faith, he encountered much trouble from their legalistic (making their gospel lawful), negative, conditional gospel. In Gal. 1:8-9 Paul warned of "other" gospels, that held believers in the soulish interpretations and soul worship. Today probably half of the blood-washed Christians are worshipping under these negative, conditional, and soul-sense gospels, of man’s intellectual interpretations of spirit truth.

This life in the Spirit or with the Spirit-filled life reigning over the mental and physical life, is all about us today. The Bible pictures this great truth, of life beyond the veil of sense knowledge and above the realm of human reason, in the realm of faith. In Matt. 17:1-8 we see our Lord dividing His disciples, the overcomers from the overcome, at that time. He took Peter, James, and John up the Mount of Transfiguration, leaving the others behind, as their consecration at that time would not have stood the glory. There on the Mount, the three New Testament apostles saw Moses and Elijah. They also saw their Lord’s Spirit so fully clothing His human body, it almost blinded them. Today thousands of precious Christians are being baptized in the Holy Spirit, speaking in tongues as the Spirit give them utterance (Acts 2:4). Many millions have received this visitation since the turning of the century. Through this baptism our innerman spirit is fully restored to preeminence over all soul or mental life, as the Holy Spirit clothes our mind, bringing it into captivity to our Christ-centered spirit of the new creation.

The Seven Covenants of Calvary form the gospel of Christ, and are set forth in two phases. We believers all have a provisional "faith" or revelation in our soul senses of the New Covenant truth and promises. We also can have an experimental "faith" by the spirit being in control. Many thousands of ministers have lived and died in the former, but never entered into the latter. We all have some revelation or massage but too few ever enter into their full ministry, which is only by the Spirit. Many fail to understand the meaning of the word "spirit." This word is used in Scripture probably a thousand times. It is applied to deity, to angelic spirits, to satanic spirits, and to human spirits. But in most scriptures it refers to our mental attitude or "spirit" of our soul life. As an illustration we have all said, "He has a wonderful ‘spirit’." Or we may say, "She has an humble, teachable, or gentle ‘spirit’." Today in church worship one sees much of the "showmanship spirit", or religious entertainment "spirit." Many ministers even preach the truth, but destroy its power, with a jesting "spirit."

The apostle Paul in his epistles teaches by precept, practice comparison, and contrast. This makes all Scripture fool-proof. In Romans the eighth chapter the ministry of the Holy Spirit is called by the apostle, "Spirit." The soul senses with their sense knowledge, are called the "flesh." He uses the word "flesh" thirteen time in thirteen verses in Rom. 8:1-13 and in the same chapter uses the word "spirit" nineteen times. This chapter, following the preceding ones in Romans, sets forth a strong contrast between righteousness of the Spirit-led life and the unrighteousness of our selfish self-centered mental life. "So then they that are in the ‘flesh’ cannot please God." (Rom. 8:8). Every human being lives within the boundaries of the three sets of life faculties, senses, or laws, mentioned previously. But our election decides in our human will, whether God or Satan is allowed to exercise them. Often Satan borrows our imagination or reason, while God controls the others, and there is warfare in the "members" (Rom. 7:23). With our natural human wisdom and knowledge directing our life, when rather God’s Spirit within our Christian spirit should be in control, we are out of His order.

As in the life of Jesus our Lord, the will to do the Father’s will kept His Spirit, with its miracle power, completely in control of His mental senses. Mentally counterfeiting these five spirit senses, is a common practice and sin. Let us illustrate. The spirit senses are divine faith, hope, love, reverential fear/worship, and intuitive knowledge. When we attempt these mentally, they become mental faith (intellectual assent), mental hope (unbelief), mental love (inordinate affection), mental fear/mental worship (torment), or mental knowledge. With our spirit, soul and body we have need for a threefold salvation. This is seen in Scripture as justification by the blood and new birth, sanctification by the Spirit washing our minds daily with God’s Word, and glorification of our body at the return of our Lord. The first is usually in Scripture in past tense and saves us from the guilt of sin. The second is present tense, saving us daily from the power of sin habits. The third is future tense, saving us from the presence of sin, at our Lord’s return. "Who (Christ) delivered us, from so great a death, and doth deliver us; in whom we trust will yet deliver us." (2 Cor. 1:10)

God is the Creator of order. His vast sidereal universe set in perpetual motion in perfect gravitational balance reveals His perfect workmanship. We also see this balance in nature. Through His law of propagation, all of the millions of species of earth life are living today. These creations all remain in God’s created Divine Order, for there was no sin to break the harmony. Christ set His New Testament Church in His Divine Order for perfect spiritual propagation but through man’s election, Satan has broken His order. In Eden by reversing His order of man’s spirit, soul and body Satan has man living and worshipping with the soul over the spirit and the body. This gives our natural life rule over our spiritual life. In God’s Due Order for the New Testament Church’s Government the apostle Paul set forth nine spiritual anointed ministries, nine spiritual anointing gifts and nine anointing spiritual graces or fruits of the Spirit. Every born believer is in Christ’s Body and in one of these ministries of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor (shepherd), teacher, elder, deacon, helps, and lesser governments.

We should seek and receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit as in Acts 2:4, then receive one or more of the spiritual gifts of divine wisdom, knowledge, faith, healing, miracles, prophecy, discernment, tongues, and interpretation (1 Cor. 12:8-10). The nine graces or fruits of the Spirit life are listed in Gal. 5:22-23. Christ is the Head of His Body, an organism and not a human organization. All activity was centered in the local churches and elders were ordained in every church." (Acts 14:23) Today highly organized church groups under centralized human headships have swallowed up the local churches and rejected the Holy Spirit gifts and ministry and replaced God’s order by their own programized, powerless, elderless orders. Spiritual ignorance is the curse and mildew of death in the man-ruled streamlined church striving in greater annual budgets to build towers of Babel. Liberalism or modernism has infiltrated their foundations, and all major organized churches are breaking up from within. But God is raising up true New Testament Churches all over the earth. In our local church during the past 16 years, we have fully tested God’s Divine Order for New Covenant Church and know, by restoring the spiritual over the mental, God will restore the true Church.

The scarlet thread that runs through the Bible is the story of redemption. Redemption is two-fold. It is by the shed blood of our Lord Jesus on the cross and it is also by the Spirit, as He redeems according to God’s covenant Word. We see this prefigured in the nation Israel’s Passover. There they sprinkled the Passover’s lambs’ blood on their door posts, to redeem them from the death angel when the Lord’s Passover came. But they were led and delivered out of Egypt by the Spirit of God, in the overshadowing Cloud, which was Israel’s Passover. They were 3 days passing out of Egypt, and then for forty years the Spirit redeemed their lives daily by raining bread from heaven in the manna. He also sheltered them, as under the wings of the Almighty, from their desert enemies. Today all Christian groups believe the blood redemption, but few teach concerning the Spirit daily redeeming God’s Word of promise, for divine healing, etc. The shed blood speaks of our eternal justification while the Spirit redemption is daily sanctification. Our local assembly with its Presbyterian background, discovered this some years ago when the Holy Spirit was poured out in our midst.

Adam knew the origin of life. King Solomon sought for the profit of natural life. But the apostle Paul discovered the prize of life. In Phil. 3:14 he declared, "I press towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." then in 3:11, "If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." The word used here for resurrection means an "out-resurrection," out from among the sleeping ones. this is the "better resurrection" (Heb. 11:35 and Matt. 27:52). This was the prize for the overcomers, and they are pictured in Ezekiel, the first and tenth chapters, as living creatures in the form of the Cherubims. This word cherub and cherubim is used ninety times in the Scripture, they were figures in the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle. The apostle John in Rev. 4:6 sees these same four living creatures as forms of Cherubims, composing probably countless millions of Christian overcoming saints out of all the Church age. They are upon the throne reigning, as our Lord promised in Rev. 3:21. They are the raptured inner-body of the Church. The outer Body of the Church, the overcome of the Church age, appear in the general resurrection of Rev. 7:14 and are before the throne or outer court. The qualifications for the prize are in Eph. 5:27 "...a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but holy and without blemish." Which group are you in?

Our Christian failures in life can easily be traced to the fact that we make decisions based on our mental reasonings, rather than allowing the indwelling Spirit to lead us. Our natural wisdom, based on sense knowledge taught in the books of men, lacks God’s grace to believe God’s miracle Word. We give mental assent to the promises of God, our inheritance, but are unable with our mental faculties, to get our prayers into orbit. Our self life rushes ahead to meet the issues of life that test our testimony, and fails to fully reckon, recognize, or even realize the reality of the new creation life within. It is surprising to find so many Christians who will not believe the plain word of the Bible, but believe some church law and tradition instead. For instance they read Jesus’ own Words in John 10:18, "And I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish." Then again in John 3:16 "...That whosoever believeth should not perish, but have everlasting life." Then again in Matt. 8:17, "Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses." However, man’s unwritten church tradition is believed by millions, that the days of miracles are over.

Jesus came preaching the laws or principles of the Kingdom. Paul came preaching the laws or principles of righteousness for the Church. After our Lord had fully set forth the revelation, He entered into the ministry of it. We must be like Him, filled with the Holy Spirit for power to enter into the second phase of the gospel. In Mark 4:34 our Lord begins the ministry of His miracle Word, which was to confirm and prove it. "Let us go over to the other side." We have to cross over also from revelation to experience. Other small ships followed His gospel ship. A sudden storm frightened the other ships back, but His kept on through the storm. His frightened disciples called on Him and He rebuked the destroying wind, and it instantly ceased. "Why are you so fearful? How is it you have no faith?" This enacted parable depicts for us the picture of the storms of life, we must face in crossing over to the other side. As they approached the other side, a demon-crazed wild man met them. Jesus met him with a rest of faith in His Spirit and cast the demons out. Every Christian has this power of authority, "Behold I give you power (authority) over all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you" (Luke 10:19). With the baptism of the Holy Spirit as in Acts 2:4 you will be crossing over to the other side, from the lower moral self life to higher spiritual warfare. God has restored His Divine Order of worship in you, and do not allow the devil to drive you back to the lower soul sense worship again.

Let us not spend our entire lives with only a revelation about our Lord and His miracle ministry, but let us be filled with the Spirit and enter into the miracle ministry that awaits every Christian. In Mark 9:24 a man challenged by the afflictions of his son, cried, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." He believed in his mind but his inner spirit could not break through the crystallized unbelief in his heart, to allow God’s Word to work. Another enacted prophetic prophecy illustrating this challenge of the "other side" is found in the last chapter of the gospel of John. There the disciples, becoming discouraged with their gospel not expressed in miracle power of the Spirit, had returned to their old order of fishing. They had labored hard in self effort all night, and as the new day broke, they were returning with empty nets. What a picture of much of the modern ministry.

But the Lord in His resurrection Body, stood on the shore waiting for their return. He called and challenged them to step over into the Spirit, and cast their nets down on the right or righteous side, and ye shall find. They obeyed His Word and came in with their nets filled with fish. God’s miracle Word of covenant promise must be believed. We must reckon with God by fully recognizing that "God watches over His Word and performs it. On the shore in a new day, they feasted with the Lord, for by His miracle Spirit-empowered Word, the affinity of the atoms were changed from sand to fire, fish, and bread. Come, let us go over to the other side. You as a blood-washed Christian have the full authority of God to speak with miracle power, and when you are living in the spirit over the soulish reasoning senses, you also can speak the Word in faith. The apostle Paul living in the spirit over the weak natural soul senses spoke the Word with authority, and the cripple leaped for joy. We are truly living in Bible days again and we are seeing God’s Word working in miracle power. "These signs shall follow them that believe: In My Name shall the cast out demons: 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. And they went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirming the Word with signs following" (Mark 16:17-20).

"Whatsoever things you desire, when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you shall have them." (Mark 11:24)