Born again
We update studies as the Lord Jesus leads us. You can find the latest update of this study at ChurchAges.net
Get saved, live holy, and receive the Holy Ghost. Then find your individual position in Christ Who is the revealed Word.
First published on the 25th of March 2018 — Last updated on the 12th of August 2020Jesus healed a blind man by first granting him discernment which is spiritual insight.
Mark 8:24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
A tree is a symbol of the human spirit.
The longest living thing on planet earth is an American bristlecone pine dated to be 4 500 years old. This goes back to the time of Noah’s Flood. So the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden was the Spirit of Christ. The tree of knowledge of good and evil was the spirit of Satan. They have been locked in a 6 000 year battle for the control of the human mind. Today they are fighting for control of your mind.
Life depends on the soil. God placed Adam and his bride in the garden of Eden.
The Bible compares the human soul to a garden.
Jeremiah 31:12 … and their soul shall be as a watered garden;
We must never forget that it is lowly creatures and plants like fungus, slime moulds, worms, and bacteria that process the soil and enable life to exist in soil. These humble creatures are usually overlooked and ignored as we focus on the more obvious and nicer looking trees and flowers. But we forget that the nicer looking vegetation depends on these more lowly creatures to process and nourish the soil for them.
Jesus twice fed thousands of people with a few food items. We regard that as a great miracle, which it was. But Jesus placed the emphasis on the leftovers or scraps that the multitude rejected.
Feeding these Jewish people was symbolic of teaching them doctrine. But the Jews would reject Christ’s teachings and discard Him and His Gospel. The Gospel that the Jews discarded at Calvary would be picked up by two groups of people. First, the Gentile church during seven church ages. Then the Gospel would return to the Jews during the Tribulation to be received by the 144000 from the twelve tribes of Israel. That is why the Tabernacle of Moses had a seven-branched candlestick for light and then twelve loaves of shewbread.
Christ is the Head of the church (not the pastor) and the head is attached to the body by means of the backbone. The first seven vertebrae bones form the neck. The next twelve are attached to the ribs that protect the heart and lungs. So seven and twelve are the numbers that attach the Head to the Body of Christ.
This is why we need to be born again. The deeper truth of Scripture is not obvious and thus is rejected as irrelevant or not necessary or as a contradiction. Thus it is ignored and discarded, just like the scraps that the multitude threw away.
Matthew 16:9 Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Jesus expected the disciples to understand the meaning of the discarded food which represented the ignored doctrines of the Bible. Truth is concealed and has to be hunted for. At Kimberley they had to remove seven million tons of earth to get one ton of diamonds. It takes a lot of hard work to uncover the gems of truth.
Matthew 16:10 Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?
Jesus did this miracle twice to illustrate that only two groups would pick up the doctrine of salvation that the Jews were discarding or rejecting. Only the disciples were told to pick up the scraps. Only they would know what it was all about. We receive our food, the Gospel that the Jews rejected, from the disciples of Jesus who wrote the New Testament.
Matthew 16:11 How is it that ye do not understand that I spake it not to you concerning bread, that ye should beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees?
:12 Then understood they how that he bade them not beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and of the Sadducees.
Jesus expected the disciples to have a deeper understanding of what He was doing.
If truth has been revealed, then He expects us to know it.
What church people regard as a trivial detail (the ordinary, overlooked fact of how many baskets of discarded scraps there were) actually holds the key to a very deep revelation of the future progress of the Gospel.
An ordinary mind is easily excited by what is great. A great mind is excited by what is ordinary and overlooked.
John 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
When we “see” what Jesus is talking about, only then do we understand.
So if we are not truly born again the Bible will be a closed Book in many places and we will not know what the Bible is speaking about. Thus Christians foolishly claim that the Bible has mistakes and contradictions. They claim the Bible has many irrelevant or unnecessary verses and that the first few chapters of Genesis are just a mistaken myth. They claim that the Bible needs to be re-written and upgraded to remove all the awkward symbols and strict moral emphasis because gender equality and sexual permissiveness is the modern, temporary spiritual fad that they expect us to bow down to.
All of these wrong opinions are simply developed by people who are not born again and who are vainly trying to unravel the mysteries of Scripture with their human wisdom. (Actually their fallen human wisdom).
Why did God accept the shed blood of an animal as the atonement for sin? Most Christians cannot explain this.
How did serpent seed come through the Flood? There is no chronology in the Bible that lists the father of Cain. So according to the Bible lists or chronicles he has no human father. Rather surprising since he was the first person ever born. But everyone born after the Flood has a human father that is descended from Shem, Ham, or Japeth.
So we need to start with the basics if we are to understand the Bible.
What are the three steps to get born again?
And what is the purpose of God in our lives after we have been born again?
Where are we today in terms of God’s Big Picture of the seven church ages?
What is going on behind the scenes in our complex modern world and what does He expect of us?
If we never predicted that Trump would win the presidential election then we simply do not know what God is doing.
It takes nine months to produce a baby. There are two specific events, conception, and birth. Between those two events is a process of growth as the baby develops in the womb.
Conception, growth, and birth are the main three stages in the process of being born.
But once the baby is born, that is just the start of his or her life.
Then they have to grow up, learn, and find their place in our complex world.
Learn, unlearn, and re-learn is the key to success in our rapidly changing technological world.
Learning and adapting never stops. Life does not standstill.
Let us follow this pattern from natural life and apply it to our spiritual life.
1 Corinthians 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
We all start in a natural body that has been born. But there is an emptiness in a human mind that can only be filled by the Spirit of God.
If we were spiritual enough to see men as trees, this is what an unsaved person would look like.
The first step of the rebirth is a conviction about sin. A person becomes genuinely remorseful about their sinful life and repents and sincerely asks for forgiveness. The repentant sinner welcomes the Spirit of God into the human heart, if we symbolize the heart as the source of our deepest and most genuine emotions. When we really repent, God injects a portion of His Holy Spirit into our hearts, say as big as your thumbnail (in order to make an illustration).
This portion of the Spirit starts a new Life in you, rather like conception.
This person is saved. The green leaves represent the portion of the Holy Spirit that God placed within the repentant heart.
Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
:39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.
This promise applies across all the 2000 years of church history. It will never be replaced. Baptism is the only ceremony that enables us to take on the Name of Jesus Christ. A bride must take on the name of her husband.
Baptism in water follows repentance. It is a symbol of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
Our old nature dies and is buried underwater. The new nature of Christ now comes alive in our hearts.
Romans 6:3 Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
:4 Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
:5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:
:6 Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
:7 For he that is dead is freed from sin.
:8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:
The secret of success is that our old nature has to die and we have to allow the Spirit of Jesus to grow within our bodies so that He can dwell within us.
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Our faith is not our own. It is given to us by God.
God’s grace is undeserved mercy. We cannot earn it. We can only be humbly grateful that He chose us.
Getting saved means that we are like a vessel that has been picked up by God.
The second step of the rebirth is holiness. As the Spirit of Christ grows within us, He changes our lifestyle to get us to forsake sin and selfishness and embrace holiness.
God now proceeds to clean up the vessel that He has picked up.
This is what a holy, saved Christian looks like. More of Christ’s Spirit is evident in his or her life.
This is just like the baby growing in the womb. The baby develops body parts like hands and feet and eyes and ears that are not really useful while living in the womb. But they are needed and essential for living once the birth process is over.
So a Christian living through the process of holiness is actually developing a spiritual body in Heaven. As our faith in God’s Word grows, so the “muscles” of our spiritual body grow. Holiness gets rid of sin. As the faith and holiness of Jesus grow within us so a spirit body grows in Heaven which God intends to use to receive our souls when we die. Those who have no spiritual body forming in Heaven cannot go to Heaven when they die.
A cleaned-up vessel, free from sin, can be used by God if He fills it up.
Ephesians 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
The Holy Ghost baptism is to fill the vessel (our repentant human hearts) to a sufficient extent that He can control our lives and our beliefs. He only wants others to drink from the water of the Word that He has poured into our hearts.
God fills us with His Spirit so that we can love Him and serve Him and believe His Bible.
God now wants to control our thoughts and our actions.
The person looks like this. Lots of spiritual leaves. The fruits of the Spirit. Manifestations of the Spirit of God. But there are still some dead branches. Something is still missing. A proper knowledge of the truth.
John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
The Holy Ghost in us makes us obey the Bible commandments. But there is still a lot of the Bible that we do not understand.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth:
The purpose of the Holy Spirit baptism is to guide us into all truth. This is vital because we live in a dark and dangerous age.
Our biggest challenge is the comfortable and complacent safety zone that is offered to us in return for regular church attendance and believing everything that the pastor says.
1 Corinthians 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
The apostles wrote the New Testament to establish the early church. The prophets wrote the Old Testament. The complete Bible is thus the absolute Word of God. Teachers are supposed to run the truth of a doctrine through the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation. What they teach must also line up with what the early church believed.
Believing only what the Bible says is the most important aspect of the Spirit baptism in our deceptive age. If we are fooled by false teachings then manifesting the power of God will not save us from the Tribulation. If we know the power of God, why did we let the Devil fool our minds? Caiaphas, Judas, and Balaam all experienced the power of God supernaturally. And all three went to hell because they could not believe the Bible truth.
The seed that is harvested in the last church age will always be exactly the same as the seed that was planted in the first church age.
This is the most important goal that you can aim for in the last church age. This is the only direction that the Holy Ghost will guide you in. Believe the same as what the early church believed.
This is what a born again Christian looks like who allows the Holy Ghost to lead him or her into all truth so that the person can find their place in the mystical Body of Christ. This has got nothing to do with some position in a local church.
So the first priority is the establishment of truth.
Then people can focus on the supernatural: miracles and gifts of healing. Healing is the only gift that is mentioned in the plural. There are thus different ways of getting healed. Thus we respect surgery and medicine as well as natural remedies and healthy diets. Healing comes in many ways. Sometimes supernaturally, sometimes naturally. Even the eradication of disease by vaccination or pest control is a gift of healing. The elimination of cholera and typhus by the purification of water is a gift of healing too. Water born sanitation and regular washing with soap and water does wonders to keep dreaded diseases at bay. These are surprisingly modern ideas. In the Dark Ages when people seldom washed and soap was scarce, life expectancy was often limited to thirty or forty years. Today people can reasonably expect to live out their allotted time of seventy years. God has guided medical brainpower to develop chemicals that extend our lives. These insights are certainly a gift from above.
But obviously, someone with a gift of healing who can pray for a sick person and that person recovers is a tremendous gift of the Spirit.
1 Corinthians 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?
No one has all the gifts. A modern-day apostle cannot have any new doctrine that is different to what the original prophets taught in the Bible. A modern-day prophet can predict the future but he cannot change or disagree with anything from the Old Testament or from the New Testament. Those two Testaments remain God’s Absolute.
A teacher is a strict ministry. He must go from verse to verse through the Bible and end up with a doctrine that the early church believed. Teaching involves taking quotes and fitting them into the Bible until the idea runs through the Bible. Bible teaching does not involve fitting quotes together to make a doctrine.
There is no mention of the word “pastor” being in charge of a church. So a pastor was never meant to control a church.
Miracles, healings, tongues, and interpretation are gifts that God blesses certain people with. They are not for everyone. Thus they cannot be used as proof of the Holy Spirit baptism.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
The ability to learn all truth from the Bible is evidence of the indwelling Holy Spirit. We must not just learn the bits that suit us or appeal to us.
The Spirit-filled Christian is controlled by the Holy Spirit so that the person can be used by God. Spirit-filled Christians only speak from the Bible, not from some church tradition. They do not seek to agree with the local pastor. They do seek to agree with the Bible. They never contradict Scripture. They are keen to learn more about the Bible, especially the more difficult mysteries that the churches evade or ignore or classify as irrelevant in order to cover up the ignorance of the preachers.
The born again experience is now over once the person has been filled with the Spirit. The person, just like a newly born baby, has to grow to maturity and a position of trust. God wants to place that person in His Body, which is the spiritual church.
Body parts only obey the head.
No man is the head of the church. Only Christ can claim this position.
Ephesians 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church:
Satan now uses every trick of deception to stop a believer from just following the Bible.
When the disciples asked about the end time, Jesus warned them about deception.
Today there are 45000 different types of Christian denominational and non-denominational churches. All are different yet all claim to be the only one that is right. Thus the church obviously is riddled with error. 45000 different types of error. So our problem is that we are easily fooled by the person in the pulpit. It was preachers who invented all these different beliefs. We go to church in order to learn truth. That is the last place that we expect to be fooled. So we drop our guard and we are fooled. Satan is cleverer than we think.
What enables these spiritual trees to produce different amounts of spiritual leaves? The depth of the water in the river that they are standing next to.
Psalm 1:3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
Ezekiel had to wade through a river that was at different depths, his ankles, knees, waist, and then over his head so that he had to swim.
When we get saved we are in the river of God’s Word. The first stage is to splash around in the shallows up to our ankles. We can reasonably do as we like. Strong flowing water that is ankle-deep cannot sweep us along with it. We can easily walk back to the worldly bank that we have just left if we want to. We are very much in control of our lives.
EZEKIEL 47:3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles.
:4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins.
Now the Spirit in us has grown sufficiently to make us holy. This means we are up to our knees. If you go into a fast-flowing river that is knee-deep you can still, with difficulty, wade around in whatever direction you want to. A holy Christian can still do their own thing but their conscience is more active and their activities are thus more limited. It is a lot more difficult to do the wrong things. But we can still wade back to the worldly shore if we want to, but not very easily. The flowing water is exerting far more force on us in order to guide us.
Now the person is Spirit-filled or born again. The water is waist-deep, where life is. When fast flowing water is above your knees it is almost impossible for you not to be swept along with it. You can stand still in the water but you cannot really move in any direction other than with the flow of the water. So the Spirit-filled person can stand still or move with the water. So the person still has some control over his or her actions. They can still look around in terms of deciding what to believe.
:5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over: for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over.
This person has allowed the Holy Spirit to guide him or her into all truth. Now they are committed. The truth of the Scripture is much deeper than any human doctrine. Now they can only swim from Scripture to Scripture as the Bible unfolds more and more. Human thinking cannot get this deep.
“I could not pass over” any Scripture in the Bible. All Bible verses have to be taken into consideration. Nothing can be added to a Bible verse to distort it. Nothing can be removed from a Bible verse. Each verse has to stand just as it is written. Only now are we fully guided into all truth by the Holy Ghost. This is His main function.
REVELATION 22:18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:
:19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.
When the disciples asked Jesus about the end time He first told them to watch out for deception. The biggest risk we run is to be fooled or deceived by the Devil. Religious deception, the white horse rider, is the biggest enemy that we face.
MATTHEW 24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
:4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
:5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
At the time of His Second Coming, our biggest problem will be that we are deceived by anointed preachers who are inspired by wrong doctrines.
“Christ” means anointed. Anointed by the Spirit to perform supernatural miracles and healings does not mean that their doctrines are correct. Anointed to preach with golden-tongued oratory and captivating style does not mean that what they preach is right.
MATTHEW 24:24 For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.
Let us now consider what the Bible says about the end-time church. Then we will see where our problems lie.
MATTHEW 7:21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Iniquity is when you know it is wrong but you do it anyway. Preachers trust in themselves that they are right because God has blessed them with powerful ministries. Preachers stay with their own opinions, their church traditions, and human quotes. But they happily reject the written Scripture. The Bible is so badly ignored that modern-day Christians have become Bible-illiterate. So eventually, at His Coming, the Lord will reject these preachers and their easily-fooled followers.
Not many will find the truth.
MATTHEW 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.
A strait is a narrow channel of water. A doctrine must be traced through the Bible, verse by verse so that our thinking is confined to Scripture.
Let us consider the growth of the Spirit in a Christian that leads to the born again experience of the Holy Spirit baptism.
This is what a person looks like.
Your spirit is your life. Animals have life which is their spirit.
ECCLESIASTES 3:21 Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
The human spirit or human life has the soul wrapped up in it and the human spirit has to go up to God to answer for the sins of the soul. That is why we need a Saviour.
I SAMUEL 25:29 but the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life
JOB 14:22 But his flesh upon him shall have pain, and his soul within him shall mourn.
“Him” is the life or spirit. The soul is within the spirit, the flesh is upon the spirit on the outside.
This is the typical unsaved person. The green human spirit means they are happy with their lives. But there is a vacuum around the soul that makes life feel empty. This vacuum attracts smoking, drinking, drugs, sex outside of marriage, ambition, materialism, fame, wealth etc. But nothing really satisfies. Only the supernatural can fill this vacuum.
This person has just got saved from hell (but not from the Tribulation).
God has injected a portion of His Holy Spirit into that person. Immediately the human spirit appears dark. We cannot get saved without being convicted of our sinfulness. This conviction makes us realize that our fallen human nature is bad news and we must die to ourselves. From this moment there is an endless war between self and the Spirit. The one we feed the most will win.
When we repent we are saved from hell.
But then we are part of a battle between good and evil in which we seek to be saved from the coming Tribulation.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12….work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
We cannot be saved from hell by our own works. This is referring to how we serve God according to Scripture in order to be saved from the final destruction of the world when He catches up His true Bride to Heaven.
There is a pattern as to how God works in the saved Christian’s life so that he or she can be ready for the coming of the Lord.
The order of spirit, soul, and body is the order in which God works in our lives.
The spirit waters the soul which has a seed in it. The seed grows and produces a suitable body.
I THESSALONIANS 5:23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We have another analogy of the soul. It is like a garden in which seeds are planted.
JEREMIAH 31:12: and their soul shall be as a watered garden;
Once seeds are planted, then the garden must be watered, which is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.
JOHN 7:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit,...)
Water somehow brings life to parched ground.
LUKE 8:11 Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
I PETER 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
The Holy Ghost, acting like water, can only give life to the seed that is planted in the garden, which represents the soul.
So everything depends on the seed that is planted in our souls.
We choose between the faith seed of God’s Word or the seed of deception which is human wisdom.
But a seed has to die before it produces life.
So we have to die to self and our self-will before we can come alive in the Holy Spirit.
I CORINTHIANS 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
If we have a Word Seed in our souls, then the first step is to water the Word Seed with the faith of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit produces faith in the Word of God. This Word Seed then begins to grow and produces a Word body by bringing our bodies under subjection to the Word of God whereby we live a holy and decent life.
The roots grow down to symbolize growing deeper into the Word of God. This anchors the plant so that its leaves can grow upward into the “wind” of the Holy Spirit as He moves across the earth.
ROMANS 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made,
The rebirth follows the same pattern as a planted seed.
First the seed is watered. Then the seed begins to grow. When the seed grows it produces a body that is suitable for the life that is in the seed.
The main root symbolizes Christ. He alone can make us grow and anchor us in the Word of God.
The Spirit quickens or gives life to the Word Seed in the soul. So it is Spirit first, then the soul.
Then the growing Seed Word finally produces a suitable body that lives a holy life obedient to the Word of God. So the order of operation is spirit then soul and then finally body.
The Holy Spirit in the saved person can now germinate the seed Word in the soul. This seed word grows and brings our bodies under subjection so that our bodies can be a suitable vessel for the Lord’s Word.
Holiness means that self, the fallen human spirit, is decreasing while the Holy Spirit is increasing in the person.
The Holy Ghost baptism is when the person is so filled with the Holy Ghost that God can control their actions and their thinking. They have sufficiently died to themselves for God to take them over.
A bit of their fallen human nature always remains, but it is now a minority opinion.
God is now able to start guiding them through the Bible so that they can learn all the Bible truth for our day.
There is only one door to the soul which is self-will.
You decide whether you want to believe or not.
But when “self-will” rules your soul you cannot summon up enough faith to fully believe the Bible. We can believe parts of the Bible but are easily fooled into believing that there are mistakes and contradictions in the Bible. We easily believe that modern scholars have changed the meanings of many Bible words. We easily accept church traditions that replace Scripture. Self-will ends up making us believe some parts and allowing us to ignore or change other parts of the Bible. We easily accept that Science has disproved the creation in Genesis because of Darwin’s theory of evolution and the Big Bang theory (or guess). So our faith is patchy. This is not a happy state of affairs.
Relying on self-will, even if we try our best, we will end up doubting what certain Scriptures say and doubting that God is looking after us when all goes wrong. We will be persuaded by others that some Scriptures look illogical or contradictory or are simply mistakes.
So we have to be born again or filled with the Spirit if we are to be true believers in every Scripture.
The only way to give God full control of our lives is to willingly, of our own free will, offer up our free-will to Him and allow Him to replace our self-will with God’s Will. From then on we have no more self-will.
Whatever God does with our lives, so be it. It is His Will.
PHILIPPIANS 4:11 for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content.
We know we are Spirit-filled when we stop complaining of our circumstances.
ROMANS 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Whatever happens is for the good of “His purpose” even if it is contrary to my will. So I die to my will and accept His Will. Then whatever happens is good, because God’s Will is being achieved. He is important, not me. And if He has chosen me to be part of something that is unpleasant or unfair, then I am happy to serve Him. At the end of the day, only His Will is important.
Simon of Cyrene did not want to carry the cross. He was forced to do it against his own will. But that was the day that he served God best.
Complete faith in every Scripture is what God expects from us.
MATTHEW 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.
This was the greatest act of submission of the human self-will to God’s Will.
There is no other way to go.
Jude condemns people who murmur and complain because their own lusts dominate their thinking.
JUDE 1:16 These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.
What is backsliding?
That is when the self-will of the human spirit increases and the Holy Spirit then has to decrease in us.
Genuine repentance is the only cure for this sad condition.
We should always be zealous to repent.
Probably the most famous parable about the end-time church is the story of the ten virgins. A woman symbolizes a church because the church is the Bride of Christ. These are virgins, clean women. This symbolizes saved Christians.
MATTHEW 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
:2 And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.
:3 They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them:
:4 But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
:5 While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept.
This is the sad state of the church at the end. Everyone is asleep. The wise and the foolish. That means you and me and every other saved Christian. Being asleep means that we do not know what is going on. But sleeping people are very comfortable and do not want to be disturbed.
Everyone denies this fact and claims that they and their church are awake. But that statement contradicts the Scripture.
So if you want to be guided into truth you have to realize three very uncomfortable facts.
First, all saved Christians (which includes all saved preachers) are asleep and thus out of contact with reality. That is why preachers predicted that Hillary would win the 2016 American presidential election. They did not like Trump and his lifestyle. But they got it completely wrong and missed the whole issue.
God wanted a man who would declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. The whole world is against this.
The Bush presidents of father and son as well as Clinton never had the courage to oppose the Muslim world over Jerusalem. The nice Obama never had the courage to do that either. He was too busy pushing gay rights. Same with Hillary. So these presidents were of no real use in terms of fulfilling God’s plan of restoring Israel to their Promised Land. Obama even allowed a United Nations vote to condemn Israel just before he left office. A classic case of spiritual blindness as so many Gentiles do not realize that God is turning back to Israel.
So Trump, hardened by years of business confrontation, took on the world opinion and pushed through God’s agenda for Israel. You may not like Trump but he is tough and has got enormous courage. The saved Christians were too fast asleep in their complacent churches to see what the real issue was. God is turning back to Israel. That means He is turning away from the church. So what happens in America is secondary. Today, America’s main use to God is how effectively they help Israel. What happens in Israel is crucial to Bible prophecy. Jesus will return to meet the 144 000 Jews in Israel.
Only the Holy Ghost baptism can guide us through Scripture to reveal what God is doing today.
Fact 2: If the churches are asleep then it is the preachers who are keeping them asleep.
People love the church more than they love God. They have grown so comfortable that they no longer dare to question what is preached. They do not know enough about the Bible to ask questions anyway.
Regular church attendance and unquestioning obedience to the charming and eloquent pastors is now the safety zone in which Christians wait for the “Rapture”.
But things are not quite that easy. There is a rather awkward Scripture that seems to be ignored.
PHILIPPIANS 2:12 … work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
How can this Scripture apply to us when we live so comfortably in our specific social silo (called a church) which has high walls that isolates us from anyone who asks difficult questions or disagrees with us. Thus we are marooned in our complacency as we ignore any outside opinion or advice.
The American beast in Revelation Chapter 13 is the spearhead that brings in the mark of the beast which is an organized denominational religion.
REVELATION 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Smallpox came to America with the Spanish conquerors. It eliminated the majority of the American Indians. When the Pilgrim Fathers landed at Plymouth Rock in 1620, they began a movement that took over the “earth” or the vast open plains that had few occupants compared to the teeming masses of Europe that represented the “sea” in prophecy.
They started with freedom of religion after their escape from Catholic persecution in Europe. They started with freedom of speech and ended up with the best political testament in the world with their American Constitution. The two horns or powers of a lamb. Great leaders like Washington and Lincoln saw them finally rise to be a world power.
But power corrupts. And the dragon or Devil took over. American Indians were stripped of their land. Almost a million men had to die in a civil war before the southern states were forced to end slavery. Wars and violence built up the military-industrial complex.
REVELATION 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
America was used of God to lead the world in the Pentecostal revival last century. Oral Roberts was the best known of the Pentecostals. Billy Graham was the best known of the evangelists. America was also home to the end time Gentile prophet William Branham who revealed the six written Seals in the Book of Revelation that opened up the mystery of the Word of God so that we could get back to the faith of the early church.
Yet from this great start things have tumbled down. Pentecost has split and organized into various denominations. Disco music and showmanship have made the churches emphasize entertainment.
Competitive Christianity is lucrative as they fight for the dollars of the faithful. The churches bring all the regular shopping list demands of the people to God but mention few of the demands that God requires of the people. An easy Gospel that does not alarm or offend. Christianity has become another leisure pursuit. You don’t have to think too hard about the Bible because you can just ignore the difficult bits.
Thus you do not have to think. Your thinking is done for you. So you do not need to know the Bible. Bible illiteracy makes us open to brainwashing which is the mark of the beast. Everything we believe that is not written in the Bible, everything we believe that the early church did not believe, indicates how far we have progressed along the path towards the mark of the beast.
The quotes of William Branham were meant to reveal the mystery of the written Word. Now the quotes are used as the foundation of truth. But the interpretation of these quotes cannot be followed through the Bible and actually steers people away from the written Scripture. “You cannot correct the prophet”, claim his followers. Basically preachers want power over the people without the limits of having to be Scriptural. Thus they consider brother Branham to be infallible. He is their absolute. They have inadvertently made him into a second Pope. The very thing the Pilgrim Fathers came to America to escape.
Today, as we are nearing the end as we have moved into the 21st century. This prophecy of Revelation 13:16 says that at the end time the church world of America, be they denominational or non-denominational or message believers, they will be guiding the rest of the world down the wrong path. But they have the money and the showbiz. So the rest of the world will follow them into the Tribulation.
MATTHEW 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
Fact 3: Something is going to happen in the future that will wake everyone up. It will not happen in your church or in my church because the cry came from somewhere outside.
What on earth can wake up all the churches?
Your guess is as good as mine. Disasters have a habit of making people take their relationship with God more seriously. When we are in real trouble then we put God first.
Sometimes a small event like a loud noise can precipitate a massive event like an avalanche.
At that point in time, all the churches will realize that they have been asleep because a situation that they never expected has suddenly overtaken the world. Following the preacher will be no real option as he will be just as rattled as what the congregation is.
The lamps with their oil is to provide light. But we use light to see something. To see what the Word of God means. Then we will be able to follow the clues in Scripture, including all those verses that the preachers ignored as unnecessary because they could not understand them.
MATTHEW 25:8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out.
These saved Christians have no light so they cannot see what is written in the symbols and parables of Scripture. They have so many wrong beliefs that it stops them from seeing any further. Their ignorance of the Bible will finally doom them. You need light to read the Bible. They have no light, just the popular doctrines of the church like Christmas on 25 December. The Bible never asked us to celebrate the birth of the Lord. The Roman Catholic church made up that doctrine around the year 350 AD when they copied the birthday festival of the pagan sun god that had been established on 25 December by the Roman emperor Aurelian in 274 AD. Rome’s Protestant daughters have faithfully followed her example, not the Bible. At the end time their distortion of Scripture is going to cost them heavily as they go into the Tribulation. Every error we believe, stops us from seeing deeper truth.
So what event that we know of, lies in the future? One obvious answer is the resurrection from the dead. When the dead saints from the church appear and speak to people, then the modern-day Christians will be horrified to discover how far away from Scripture they have actually got. There will be a mad rush to try to straighten up their doctrines and get light on the Scripture verses.
But will they have time to do this? Not really. People cannot unlearn their traditions that quickly and then try to relearn truth. Why not? Because they have not learned to think for themselves. They just sit back in church and let the pastors do all the thinking.
MATTHEW 25:9 But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
We have to pay a price for the truth. You have to question your leaders and think for yourself from Scripture. The few people who do this are kicked out of the church. So we do not challenge the system and are simply brainwashed into one of the 45000 different church beliefs.
Another problem.
The mighty Angel of Revelation Chapter 10 comes down to raise the dead from land and sea where they have been buried during the seven church ages.
64-0119 SHALOM
But, remember, if it goes plumb into the shadows of death, "I am the resurrection and Life; I'll raise him up again." And when the great Director comes down and bears that stick down, then, "time shall be no more." When that Angel, of Revelation the 10th chapter, puts one foot on land and one on the sea, and a rainbow over His head, He swore, "time shall be no more." When that time comes, you'll rise up from among the dead. While the rest of them lay there, you'll go in.
When the voice of this Archangel has raised the dead then seven mysterious Thunders will utter their voices.
63-0320 THE THIRD SEAL
The Bride hasn't had a revival yet. See? There's been no revival there, no manifestation of God to stir the Bride yet. See? We're looking for it. It will take those seven unknown thunders back there to wake her up again. He will send it. He promised it. Now, now, watch. Now, she was dead.
“He will send it”. This is future tense. The seven Thunders are designed to wake up the Scriptural Bride who have enough oil to shine enough light on the Bible so that they can see what the difficult Bible verses mean.
That is ultimately why we need the Holy Spirit. We have to be able to find hidden clues in the Bible that are not obviously written.
President Trump has a name to give us a clue that we are approaching the time of the “trump of God” which means that we are close to the end. His presidency is a sign of the times. Especially as he declares Jerusalem to be the capital of Israel.
Three messengers came to Abraham before Sodom, the city of gay rights, was destroyed. Billy Graham to the non–Pentecostals, Oral Roberts to the Pentecostals, William Branham to the Bride. After they left, the fire fell. Billy Graham, the last of the three and the world’s best-known evangelist has finally left the scene. Another sign of the times.
What happens when the seven Thunders utter we do not know as they are not written in the Bible. But there will be scriptural clues that we will have to pick up for guidance as to what we must do to prepare for the Lord’s Coming. The wise virgins will be so preoccupied in trying to unravel those deep unwritten mysteries that are somehow hidden in the Bible without being written, that they will not have time to try to teach the foolish virgins all the basics of Scripture.
Now is the time to understand the Bible. Just as church preachers spoke against Trump during his election campaign and thus opposed the plan of God, so we need to be very Scriptural in order not to oppose the unusual events of the seven Thunders.
REVELATION 10:1 And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
:2 And he had in his hand a little book open: and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth,
:3 And cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roareth: and when he had cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.
:4 And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.
Both these expressions that refer to the cry of the Angel are used to describe a resurrection.
“He cried with a loud voice” is what Jesus did at the resurrection of Lazarus.
JOHN 11:43 And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.
“When he had cried” on the cross on Thursday is linked to the resurrection of the Old Testament saints soon after Jesus rose from the dead.
[Jesus died on a Thursday because He had to be three nights in the tomb. He resurrected on Sunday.
The Passover lamb in Exodus Chapter 12 was chosen on day 10 and killed on day 14. Jesus was publically chosen on Palm Sunday, which has to be day 10. Thus he died on day 14 which would be a Thursday.
Relax. The churches also got Christmas day wrong. There is no 25 December in the Bible.
Who said that the Pope cannot fool us?]
MATTHEW 27:50 Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.
:51 And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;
:52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
:53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
The voice of the archangel (which is Jesus in the form of an Angel) raises the dead and wakes up the church. But only those who know enough of the Bible will be able to follow the clues.
That is why Sherlock Holmes is the most popular detective story. He had the uncanny ability to pick up small clues that everyone else missed. This fascinates people.
MATTHEW 25:10 And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut.
The purpose of the Holy Ghost, the Oil in the lamps, is to give enough light so that the wise virgins can join the Scriptures together in such a way as to reveal the hidden mysteries of the seven Thunders which will then give the Bride “rapturing faith”. This is the final harvest rain or latter rain as these revelations will pull the believers off the earth to meet the Lord in the air. Harvest is when the seeds are pulled off the dead plant.
Before that is the former rain or teaching rain. We need to be learning the Bible truths now. Once the resurrection happens we will be in the harvest rain because they will be pulled out of their graves. Then you will need to know what you are talking about because time will be scarce. It will soon be over.
The foolish virgins are the dead stalks and chaff that stay behind to be eaten by the Beast and burnt up in the Tribulation. Because they are saved before the Tribulation starts they will end up in Heaven but can never be part of the Bride. They spend the 1000 years of peace amongst the dead in Christ and only surface on Judgement Day. Then they will be spared. That is the roundabout route to Heaven because they did not follow the strait way when they had the chance.
MATTHEW 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
:12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
By the time they had wised up it was too late. The Lord had come and gone.
The former rain was the teaching rain that should finish the mystery of God and enable us to read the written Word of God with understanding.
But churches today move away from the written Scripture. They listen to human voices, not the Bible.
JOHN 10:26 But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
:27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me:
Jesus only knows those who hear His voice, which is the Word of God.
Pastors claim to be shepherds. No Scripture says that a shepherd is the pastor.
A shepherd is a man and as such he is infinitely superior to a sheep. No pastor is superior to the people. That is Nicolaitanism, the elevation of a holy man above the people.
I PETER 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood.
All Christians are priests. All priests are equal. Only the High Priest, Jesus, is above the priests.
Thus all Christians are equal.
The only Man who is a Shepherd is Jesus.
PSALM 23:1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
The Holy Ghost will make us only listen to Scripture
MATTHEW 25:13 Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.
We need to watch Scripture to understand world events. We need to watch Scripture to identify the faults in the church.
The Holy Spirit has to guide us through all the lack of interest that end-time Christians show for God’s Word.
An interesting parable was preached about a man preparing a great supper. This symbolizes the wedding supper of the Lamb that happens just after the Second Coming of Jesus.
LUKE 14:16 Then said he unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many:
:17 And sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.
The saved Christians are first called to the wedding supper. God is unlikely to call the unsaved.
But God only calls by His Bible. He does not accept anything outside His Bible.
LUKE 14:18 And they all with one consent began to make excuse. The first said unto him, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: I pray thee have me excused.
But none of the saved Christians wants to respond to God’s call. God calls us through His Word. But we prefer to follow our church leader’s quotes and our church traditions.
The Bible never told us to celebrate the birth of Jesus but we prefer to make it the biggest Christian festival of the year. We do things our way. Who cares what the Bible says. We feel obliged to say, “Merry Christmas” which is a totally unscriptural expression.
LUKE 14:19 And another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused.
I am too preoccupied with my material interests. There is money to be made.
LUKE 14:20 And another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come.
A woman represents a church. I am married to the church. I do what my church says. I believe what my church says. I serve God the way my church says I must. That is more important than what the Bible says. I am safe as long as I stay in my church.
LUKE 14:21 So that servant came, and shewed his lord these things. Then the master of the house being angry said to his servant, Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city, and bring in hither the poor, and the maimed, and the halt, and the blind.
So the saved Christians in the church will not just stay with the Bible. Thus God calls all the rejects. Those who are seriously handicapped. Those who would be no asset to the church.
LUKE 14:22 And the servant said, Lord, it is done as thou hast commanded, and yet there is room.
LUKE 14:23 And the lord said unto the servant, Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.
Then God calls the ruffians, the outcasts, the misfits. These are the people who did not fit into the church system because their status was too low. These are the unwanted.
A sign of the times. Preachers said that Trump would never get elected because he was such a bad guy. They missed the signs of their day. God has moved away from the nice people in the churches. They are too bound by their Churchianity. He is now calling and using rough people like Trump because they are prepared to defy popular opinion. The Reformation started in western Europe under Martin Luther and spread to England under John Wesley. The December 2017 United Nations vote that went by a majority of 128 – 9 against Israel was supported by all these nice western European Christian nations, including Canada. What a slap in the face to God. They preferred the Koran to the Bible. It is a frightening sign of the times. But a rough guy who does not have a nice track record is the only man God could find with the backbone to fulfill God’s Will.
LUKE 14:24 For I say unto you, That none of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper.
This is the scary part. All the good saved Christians who refused to come the Bible way are now rejected by God. They will perish in their churches in the Tribulation. They will join the dead in Christ and will only come up 1000 years later.
Church traditions and the quotes of human leaders have filled the minds of saved Christians with unscriptural beliefs.
Christians believe that the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost is actually the name of God.
Thus they have no name for their Triune God.
They then say that Peter made a mistake when he told the Jews to get baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.
ACTS 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
Thus they effectively tear this verse out of their Bibles.
Then they fail to realize that Jesus Christ is the Name of God.
COLOSSIANS 2:9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.
All of God dwelt as a Spirit in Jesus. So Jesus is the human Name of God.
Only Jesus died, was buried, and resurrected.
The Father and the Holy Spirit, if they are separate Persons, never died and were buried. Thus baptism which symbolizes the death, burial, and resurrection never happened to the Father and the Spirit.
The churches have become systems that are "governed by men, not by Bible verses."
Many Bible verses are ignored, and many beliefs that are essential if we are to return to the early church pattern have not been enacted. Assertion of control over church assets led to a centralization of authority and wealth in the pastor of each church. Jesus threw the religious money makers out of the Temple.
So all these serious errors mean the modern-day church members cannot respond to being called by an end-time prophet messenger who told us that we have to be Scriptural in everything that we believe.
The seven-branched candlestick in the Bible is a symbol of the 2000 years of church history that has been divided up into seven church ages.
The return of the Jews to Israel fulfills prophecies that were made in the Old Testament. Thus they represent a sign of the end times which warns us Gentiles that we are in the last church age, the church of the Laodiceans. “Laodicea” has the meaning of “peoples’ rights”. This aspect of “rights” has been a major issue for our last church age.
“People’s rights” activists organized marches, campaigns, protests, and at times violence that have caught the news headlines ever since the seventh church age started in 1906 with the Pentecostal outpouring in Azusa Street in Los Angeles, America.
Worker’s rights. Women’s rights. Gay rights. Immigrant rights. Civil rights. Minorities rights. LGBT rights. Human rights. Citizenship rights. Cultural rights. Rights of undocumented workers. Voting rights. Education rights. Etc.
The last church age is technologically dazzling but also dark and dangerous.
The real purpose of the Holy Ghost baptism today is to anoint our eyes with eyesalve so that we can see all the errors in the church world, both our own and others. Then we need to find the original truth that the early church believed.
But these original Bible truths are so hotly denied by the modern churches that they hate and ignore the people who raise these issues. Following Bible truth from verse to verse is no longer practiced by the churches (because they can’t do it) and it is thus like moving through a spiritual minefield.
The church is the main defender of error and desperately and ruthlessly defends its traditions and crushes or ejects any opposition. Character assassination enables church leaders to neutralize any dissenters. This is a tactic used by politicians. So the red horse of politics and the white horse of religious deceit have merged in our churches. Thus modern Christians reject the Bible verses that contradict their unscriptural teachings.
MATTHEW 24:9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Try raising the issue of water baptism in the Name of Jesus Christ if you want to see fierce dislike if not hatred.
MATTHEW 24:10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another.
Christians are not keen to explore the Bible where it contradicts them or exposes their ignorance of Scripture. They shun, avoid, and criticize those who refer to Scripture on an issue. They cannot handle it if you find fault with their church. They also cannot defend their church from Scripture.
MATTHEW 24:11 And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many.
45000 different types of denominational or non-denominational churches. That leaves plenty of room for false preachers. How many pastors claimed that Hillary would win the last presidential election? That was a false prophecy.
MATTHEW 24:12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Iniquity. Knowing it is wrong but doing it anyway. Preaching from human quotes instead of the Bible.
MATTHEW 24:13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
It takes the Holy Spirit in a person to survive the flood tide of error and stay with being Scriptural on all issues. Opposition to the King James Version of the Bible is fierce.
Again, this verse has nothing to do with salvation from hell. That problem is resolved when we initially repent and accept Jesus as Saviour. But we have to be saved from the Tribulation by being ready for the Coming of the Lord. If He leaves us behind we are in trouble. So we need the Holy Spirit in order to endure until the end and keep following the Scripture despite all the opposition that is designed to make us quit being strictly Scriptural.
MATTHEW 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
With the internet, the Gospel now reaches worldwide. Thus we are at the end time.
But all this dedicated opposition to being Scriptural in every way which comes from saved Christians who are in the churches makes it very difficult to find the truth. With so many wrong beliefs in the church world, it takes a supernatural boost of the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to the Bible truths. Only the Holy Spirit can give you the strength to withstand the crushing weight of church beliefs that take you away from Scripture.
Let us look at the circumstances of our age and then you can see what the battle conditions are that the Holy Spirit has to fight before He can place you in your position in the Body of the Lord.
REVELATION 3:14 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God;
Notice that God does not write to His church in the city of Laodicea. The church has been hijacked by the Laodiceans. It is no longer God’s church, it is now the church of the Laodiceans. They worship and serve God their way. They think that God is impressed with their efforts and their ideas.
But there is a true witness. The Word of God. The Bible is true from the beginning to the Amen, which means, “So be it” at the end. The Bible never changes. God will reveal the mysteries of Scripture in the last church age during the ministry of the seventh church age messenger or angel. These revelations will contradict many of the basic errors that the churches have believed for centuries.
God’s biggest concern in our days is to make us realize that the King James Version of the Bible is the Absolute truth. We need an understanding of all the Bible mysteries that are needed to prepare the Bride for the return of Jesus.
REVELATION 10:7 But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.
But the Laodiceans will not be listening. They are too wrapped up in their own cleverness. Too obsessed with their own bright ideas. Too concerned with clever interpretations of human quotes and opinions and church traditions. The words of church leaders are placed above the Bible.
REVELATION 3:15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
We believe certain basic Scriptures about getting saved. So, mercifully, many Christians do get saved. But after that we are more interested in church attendance in a church that suits us. Then we believe what the church says instead of trying to run our beliefs through Scripture because that is too much like hard work. So we just believe whatever is preached. Each church is just 1 out of 45000 different varieties of Christian beliefs. So you have a 1 in 45000 chance of being right. Thus you are massively gambling with your chances of missing the Tribulation.
So we are not completely unscriptural. There are various Bible verses that we do believe.
But at the same time, we believe a lot of things even though we cannot find a Bible verse that uses those words. For example Pontiff or Pope, cardinal, rosary, archbishop, Lent, Easter eggs and Easter rabbits, drums, Christmas tree, 25 December, One God in three Persons, Second Person of the Godhead, Trinity, denomination, steeple, Ash Wednesday, moderator, etc.
So we are a pathetic mixture of partly believing the Bible and partly believing made up doctrines.
REVELATION 3:16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.
We are an age of spiritual cowards. We believe in the Bible in certain places and then believe church traditions in other places. We cannot oppose church traditions because then we will be unpopular. So we are partly Scriptural in order to get saved, which is essential. But after that, we drift off into endless varieties of human opinion with at least fourteen types of water baptism to choose from. That way we maintain the good opinion of others. We are more scared of disagreeing with the pastor than disagreeing with God. We are terrified of being kicked out of our church because we disagreed on issues.
So God is frankly sick of modern-day Christianity and regards us as vomit in His mouth. This is a serious condemnation of the modern church. But we are not listening and refuse to believe that He is talking to us. We desperately claim that He is talking to other churches, not my church. But He mentions no exceptions so He is describing all of us. God’s opinion of modern-day Christianity is that we make Him sick.
REVELATION 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
The first word that the Laodiceans say when they have a chance to speak is “I am”. This is how God introduced Himself to Moses. So humans and their wisdom have replaced God and His Bible.
EXODUS 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM:
Moses, in the presence of God, did not dare even to say “I am”. He reversed the order to say, “Here am I” rather than say, “Here I am”.
So for the Laodiceans to say “I am” simply means that they are not in the presence of God, which indicates that Jesus is not in the church.
Notice the modern-day trinity: I, me, and myself.
Smartphones are now used to take “selfies”. The chronic self-obsession of modern culture that has effectively killed Christianity in most of Europe. This started in the late 1950s with beat music dominated by drums whereby Elvis Presley opened the door to teenage rebellion. Then came the Sixties with the Beatles’ music that opened the door to drugs, as well as the Beatle’s leader John Lennon infamously saying that the Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Then one of his fans shot him. In 1963 came the mini skirt and then the contraceptive pill that opened the door to rampant sexual promiscuity. Marriage was swept aside. Women started wearing pants in 1963 as a sign of their domineering authority over their husbands. The Sixties produced the decade of the Hippy cult decadence as a counter-culture which lasted until drugs and raw sewage wrecked their movement at Woodstock in 1969 when half a million gathered for a three-day rock festival that was peaceful (which was good) but no one had bothered to organize toilet facilities (which was indescribably messy and disease-ridden, especially when it began to rain). This coincided with America’s attempted suicide in the jungles of Vietnam. What was Satan retaliating against?
In 1963 William Branham revealed the mysteries of the six Seals in the Book of Revelation which opened the door to a deeper understanding of the Bible as it is written. The Seventh Seal was revealed as a total mystery that we do not know as it is the Coming of the Lord which is the biggest secret in the Universe. Satan replied with his 1960’s trinity of beat music, sex, and drugs. All of which emphasizes self.
Revealing the seven Seals should have made us more Scriptural but message pastors became obsessed with their own cleverness and claimed to understand the Bible mysteries that are not written like the seven Thunders, the Seventh Seal, and the new Name of Jesus. Each message pastor is now so self-important that he is the head of his church. This is an exact imitation of the Roman Catholic church system. The daughters are learning from the Roman mother church. Jesus, the true head of the church, has been pushed outside. Thus quotes and interpretation of quotes rule within the message churches. If you want to run all your beliefs from Genesis to Revelation through the Bible verses then there is only room for you outside the church.
Self-importance also breeds a spirit of arrogance where each church believes that they alone are right and everyone who disagrees with them is automatically wrong. “My church is right. All the other 44 999 different types of churches are wrong”. That is the modern mantra. Competitive Christianity makes each church believe that they are better than everyone else.
“Rich”. This is the modern-day church symbol of success. Consumer Christianity makes endless demands on God to provide for people’s needs and competitive greed. It turns people into very superficial and indulged Christians. Our intense materialism has the dubious consequences of breeding depression and discontent. We are heavily pampered but endlessly complain and murmur. Christianity has become a leisure pursuit whereby regular Sunday church attendance, where you agree with everything that is preached by the elevated head of the church, ensures your place in the “Rapture”. Plus of course the regular paying of tithes that belong to the pastor. (Try finding the sentence, “The tithes belong to the pastor” in the New Testament).
The main demand that God makes on people is to be strictly Scriptural. This no longer has a place in the modern church because church leaders cannot explain many Scriptures themselves and thus just avoid these issues.
“ and have need of nothing; and knowest not”. Need of nothing. No need for any correction. My church is the closest to God and no-one from outside my church can correct us or tell us something that we do not understand. My church is an all-inclusive system. We have everything we need. You can only join us if you believe everything that we believe. If you want to disagree, if you want all your doctrines proven from the Bible then please stay outside. We do not want you.
“and knowest not”. The churches do not know that Someone else also stands outside the church door.
He knocks but is not allowed in. Quotes are welcome inside, not Scripture.
The ultimate irony of the church that belongs to the Laodiceans is that if a saved person wants to learn more about Jesus it is most likely to happen when that person is kicked out of the church.
“and knowest not” simply means that the churches do not understand God’s thinking. His main aim for our age is not our personal health and prosperity (which are important but are not the main issue). God wants us to be strictly Scriptural in terms of understanding what is written in the Bible, now that the Seals have been revealed. The churches do not realize this. They think money, bigger congregations, and clever human doctrines, as well as entertaining showbiz with disco church bands, is the road to success.
“And knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
Despite our wealth and material success, we are spiritually poor with our wrong beliefs built on quotes that we twist away from the written Word. Bible ignorance is the key to spiritual poverty.
Our modern world is so dependent on anti-depressants and opioid painkilling drugs that are used for their euphoric “happy” effects to counter depression. Even many famous people battle depression and endure miserable times. Suicide is a major national social issue in the United States which is the world’s richest country, as people feel overwhelmingly miserable and hopeless in their situations.
“naked” is a condemnation of women’s dress as they shamelessly expose their bodies.
“blind” means that people cannot see what Bible verses mean.
Why did Jesus write with His finger in the ground? The standard response of Christians is, Who cares? It is not important. It is irrelevant. It does not affect my salvation.
All these answers are saying is that the person does not know and does not want to know. If we look at Scripture and do not know what it means then we are blind. But we do not think we are blind despite our woeful ignorance of Scripture. Thus we live in a fool’s paradise amongst our pet delusions of self-importance that enables us to willfully ignore our ignorance of Scripture.
Matthew 15:14 Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.
When the blind preachers who do not know what the Scriptures mean, lead the blind people who trust them, then the ditch that lies ahead is the Tribulation.
Christians claim that Eve ate some natural fruit. Yet all fruit trees were declared good on the third Day. Jesus said that nothing we eat can defile us.
Matthew 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
So the churches dumb us down. They claim God made a petty rule about not eating a healthy fruit as a test of obedience. When this rather pointless test was failed God unleashed the full horror of death and sin in the world. God never even told them to repent. Surely such a minor lapse could be repented of if God had just told them to repent.
This whole scenario switches off the Bible skeptics as it implies that God is really looking for minor faults. After all, God had told them that every fruit tree was good for food.
So why all this suffering and death for eating an apple that could not do any harm?
Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.
The tree of life would give eternal life.
Genesis 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
But only Jesus gives eternal life.
John 3:14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
:15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
1 John 5:11 And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
So the Tree of Life was none other than the Spirit of Jesus. The tree of life was not a natural tree.
Eve was told to multiply and replenish the earth in Genesis Chapter 1. Yet in Chapter 3 God as a punishment said He would multiply her conception.
Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
:28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,
Yet in Chapter 3, God as a punishment said He would multiply her conception.
Genesis 3:16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
How does that fit? If she ate an apple then why is she punished in childbearing?
If God created her to multiply, why does multiplying her conception become a punishment?
So the churches dumb us down. They have no clue as to what original sin was. And they want to keep us at their level of blindness.
Why are they so scared of finding out what original sin actually was? By not seeing what original sin was, church leaders remain blind. And they are happy to stay that way. And people are happy for them to continue to lead.
That is why we need the Holy Ghost baptism. We need Someone Who can open our eyes to see the Word of God that is revealed for our day.
Revelation 3:18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.
Gold tried in the fire. The dross and error have to be burnt out of us by hardship and persecution. We have to be hammered by our circumstances and by the opposition to truth that exists within the church.
Revelation 3:18 that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear
Standards of dress have declined. Women reveal more and more of their body parts. Jesus met a naked man who was demon-possessed. When the demons were cast out he clothed himself.
Mark 5:15 And they come to Jesus, and see him that was possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and clothed, and in his right mind: and they were afraid.
So what spirits possess the Christian women who display their body parts publically?
Some of the strongest demons in the church are those that strip the clothes off women. Preachers are scared to oppose those spirits. So are their husbands and fathers.
Going to church and seeing Christian women revealing their cleavages and as well as slits in their arms and dresses shows how accurate this prophecy was of our church age.
The anointing of the Holy Ghost in our age is focused on the eyes so that we can see what is written in the Bible. Only the Bible will guide us to the second Coming so that we can miss the Tribulation.
Revelation 3:18 and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see
We have to be able to see that the King James Version is the Absolute and must be obeyed and reverenced in every respect. No man’s quotes can replace or contradict any Scripture.
Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
Our age is so far gone in error that even the genuine believers have to be hammered to get all the error out of them. It is not enough to just repent. We have to be zealous about repenting. That means we are making a lot of mistakes and believing much that is wrong.
The Holy Ghost will make us keen to learn about the Bible because we will realize that we have a lot of mistakes and errors in our beliefs. Only by running our beliefs through the Bible can we eliminate our mistakes. But Christians do not want to be taught how to do that because they have convinced themselves that all they have to do is just believe what their church teaches. It never strikes them that their church could be at fault.
Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
Jesus is outside the church. His Voice is His Word. No church wants to acknowledge this. The modern church has got saved people in it but has moved away from so many Scriptures that the saved Christians are heading for the Tribulation. No church wants to acknowledge that either.
The pastor is the head of the church. What body can have two heads? None. So the true Head, Jesus, stands rejected outside. Jesus is the Word, so no church proves their beliefs by running an idea through the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. They simply ignore the verses that contradict their beliefs. They happily state that there are mistakes and contradictions in the Bible. They believe that the New Testament church is outdated and that our modern age has new and better light.
But the crux of this verse is that Jesus is appealing to an individual in the church, not to the whole church. Thus whatever church you are in, God expects you to listen to what the Bible says and not what your church says. God expects you to believe the truth even if no-one else in your church does. God expects you to avoid the errors of your church even if no-one else in the church realizes that they are wrong.
Jesus wants a personal relationship with the individual. He is not calling out to a group. So only the Holy Ghost can make you stand alone for truth in the midst of all the popular church errors.
Revelation 3:21 To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.
The big thing that we have to overcome is the unscriptural errors and traditions of the churches. Then there is the hostility of church believers who cannot stand anyone disagreeing with them.
We need the Holy Ghost baptism to be able to see Bible truths and to have the courage to stand against the opposition of the churches. This is the most deceiving age because the deception is inside the church itself.
Matthew 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
When your belief is wrong, your worship is in vain.
Who teaches the commandments of men? The church leaders.
58-0326 United under One Head
Did you know Jesus is coming on a white horse? See how close it looked, how the church and all of its creeds and denominations, how close it can look, just like the real thing? The Bible said in the last days the two spirits would be so close it would deceive the very elect if possible.
It isn't communism. It's churchism. That's right. That's the deceiver.
58-1130 Watchman What of the Night
And as I watched them set their dramas, and I thought, "Oh, we are standing way yonder on the tower far above anything in this world. And we're watching two of the greatest things: the running out of time, and the coming of the Lord." Soon time shall be no more. There will be time no more, and the coming of the Lord.
And the antichrist, he has his subjects setting there. He has the communism; he has the different "isms." He has churchism; he has Catholicism; he has Protestantism. He has everything set to make a great show.
Notice how drums and beat music have entered the church to make a good show. Popular entertainment.
64-0119 Shalom
No wonder Jesus rebuked them for not believing John. He was the light, because the prophet said he would come. And there he was, the manifested light. They didn't see it. They didn't understand it; they thought he was the Messiah, and they thought something else, and this another. They failed to see It.
Jesus come on. Two lights can't shine at the same time.
There can't be a church light and God's Light shine at the same time. It's got to be God's Light putting out the church light. And that's exactly what's taking place today. God is separating churchism from His Light of the promised Word of this hour that we're living in. That's the Truth, friend. You might not want to believe that, but you just wait and find out if it's so or not. Don't wait, you better get in right now while there is a chance to get in.
John the Baptist’s light faded when Jesus came on the scene. God’s Light is the Bible. Churchism is built on quotes. The quotes came to reveal the mysteries of the Word. Now we believe a doctrine because we read it in the Bible. We do not believe a doctrine because a quote says so. We must find the Scripture that also says so. In the mouth of two witnesses.
65-0206 Doors in Door
There is something wrong somewhere. It's a twisting up of theology. The power of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, like He did to the man who called "Legion," we found him clothed and in his right mind. And I begin to believe that it's a spirit upon the people that drives them into that Americanism and Frenchism, and all kinds of worldlism and churchism. But let them once come to that Master, and they feel that knock at the door, they'll put clothes on and act like women and men, and they'll be born-again Christians. Amen. Yes.
65-1207 Leadership
Many of you think, "I got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, I'm going to Heaven." That don't mean one thing that you're going to Heaven. No, sir. You can have the baptism of the Holy Ghost every hour in your life, and still be lost and go to hell.
The Holy Spirit can only water the seed that is in the soul. If the wrong seed is in the soul, the Holy Ghost can only make that wrong seed grow. It cannot change the seed.
So we have to accept the seed Word of God in our soul as the Absolute. Then the Holy Ghost will make that Seed grow.
65-1128M God's Only Provided Place of Worship
Out there in Tucson, is listening in this morning, I once wondered... I've always constraining people, "Go to church, no matter where you go." And I seen the people kind of pulling back, and going this way. And I thought, "What's the matter?"
I went to some of them, "The first day you're there, they'll approach you, 'Join our church.' If you don't do it, you're not welcome." See? See? It's a forced thing, it's forced upon you, see, and that's Babylon. But in Christ, you come in by election; not by force, your heart pulls you in.
God did not put His name then in Babylon. Closely now. He cannot put His Name in Babylon, the churches. Oh, they, they put His Name in there, but He never. No.