SPIRITUAL POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING GOD IS FAITHFUL OUR PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE I pledge Allegiance to the one true God, and to His Son Jesus Christ for which we stand, one family and household under God, indivisible, with liberty and freedom from fear from the god of this world for all. Amen. ///////////////////////////////////////// God bless you more than abundantly in the precious and powerful name of our dear lord Jesus Christ. God has called us out from before the foundations of the world and has created each of us as masterpieces and members in particular in the body of Christ. Love in Christ, Taken from an ezboard perpetually under construction :-) The faithful transcriber of that site's feeling is that this document caused "electrons to sail in cyberspace and forever altered the fabric of the universe." "Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground." -- Unknown-- //////////// A Fellow-labourer wrote: We are not "of Paul" or "of Murray" or "of Wierwille" or "of Calvin" or "of Bullinger." Let's get this straight: 1 John 4:4 Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. 5 They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6 We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error. 7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1 Corinthians 1:30 But of him {God} are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption But let us not look "to the left hand, NOR to the right." Over the years, men like Paul have "bled their hearts out" for the gospel of Christ. Men like Martin Luther; men like EW Bullinger, like Dr. Wierwille, like Wesley and Whitehead. Some became famous, and some worked with little recognition by the world. That doesn't matter. God knows. ///////////////////////// INDEX: INTRODUCTION: "The Joy of Serving" > Session 1 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 1 - 5 SEGMENT 1:THE GREATEST SECRET IN THE WORLD_WHAT IS AVAILABLE SEGMENT 2: KEYS TO RECEIVING ANYTHING FROM GOD SEGMENT 3: MARK 3:1-5: THE LAW OF BELIEVING SEGMENT 4: THE LAW OF BELIEVING--NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE SEGMENT 5: TWO KINDS OF UNBELIEF > Session 2 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 6 - 10 SEGMENT 6: THE GOD-BREATHED WORD SEGMENT 7: FIGURES OF SPEECH SEGMENT 8: PROFITABLE FOR: DOCTRINE, REPROOF, CORRECTION SEGMENT 9: PURPOSE OF THE WORD; BEGIN HOW WE GOT THE WORD SEGMENT 10: HOW WE GOT THE WORD > Session 3 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 11 - 16 SEGMENT 11: THE INTEGRITY OF THE WORD SEGMENT 12: LOGOS, THE LIVING WORD SEGMENT 13: THE PREVAILING WORD SEGMENT 14: THE WORD AND THE WORKMAN--II TIMOTHY 2:15 SEGMENT 15: RECEIVE, RETAIN, RELEASE SEGMENT 16: BEGIN KEYS TO THE WORD'S INTERPRETATION > Session 4 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 17 - 23 SEGMENT 17: COMMAS DEVOID OF AUTHORITY SEGMENT 18: NO PRIVATE INTERPRETATION SEGMENT 19: THE CRY OF TRIUMPH (MATTHEW 27:46) SEGMENT 20: SCRIPTURE BUILDUP--FOUR CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS SEGMENT 21: CONCLUSION OF FOUR CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS SEGMENT 22: THE DAY JESUS CHRIST DIED SEGMENT 23: IN THE CONTEXT; ARE THE DEAD ALIVE NOW? > Session 5 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 24 - 29 SEGMENT 24: IN THE CONTEXT; PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH SEGMENT 25: PREVIOUS USAGE--PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH SEGMENT 26: BIBLICAL TRUTHS... ADHERE TO: TO WHOM ADDRESSED SEGMENT 27: THE CHURCH: BRIDE--BODY SEGMENT 28: THE GREAT MYSTERY: CHRIST IN YOU.. HOPE OF GLORY SEGMENT 29: BIBLICAL TRUTHS... ADHERE TO: ADMINISTRATIONS > Session 6 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 30 - 35 SEGMENT 30: BIBLICAL TRUTHS...: ADMINISTRATIONS DEFINED SEGMENT 31: BATTLE OF THE SENSES; BEGIN BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT SEGMENT 32: SOUL--NEPHESH CHAI SEGMENT 33: CREATED: THREE CREATIONS AND FALL OF SATAN SEGMENT 34: AFTER ITS KIND; SEED IS IN ITSELF; MENDEL'S LAW SEGMENT 35: FIVE STEPS TO THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE > Session 7 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 36 - 41 SEGMENT 36: ORIGINAL SIN: HIGH TREASON; ...GOD OF THE WORLD SEGMENT 37: FREE WILL: FIVE SENSES VERSUS SPIRITUAL SEGMENT 38: FAITH: BRIDGE THAT SPANS THE CHASM; FAITH TYPES SEGMENT 39: TYPES OF FAITH CONTINUED; FAITH VERSUS BELIEVING SEGMENT 40: HEBREWS 2:14; INCORRUPTIBLE SEED SEGMENT 41: HOW TO GET BORN AGAIN > Session 8 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 42 - 48 SEGMENT 42: ETERNAL LIFE--THE GREATEST GIFT SEGMENT 43 CONFESS THE SAVIOR FROM SIN; STANDING & STATE SEGMENT 44: SONSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP SEGMENT 45: THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN SEGMENT 46: RENEWED MIND: THE KEY TO POWER SEGMENT 47: THE HOW OF THE RENEWED MIND SEGMENT 48: OUR SONSHIP RIGHTS > Session 9 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 49 - 54 SEGMENT 49: SONSHIP RIGHTS; THE FIVE CHURCH MINISTRIES SEGMENT 50: THE GIVER AND THE GIFT SEGMENT 51: THE NINE MANIFESTATIONS; ACTS 1:1 SEGMENT 52: PENTECOST: THE DAY OF THE ASCENSION (ACTS 1:2-8) SEGMENT 53: PENTECOST: EVENTS SURROUNDING (ACTS 1:9-2:15) SEGMENT 54: PENTECOST: RECEIVIN THE GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT > Session 10 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 55 - 60 SEGMENT 55: THE ORIGINAL OUTPOURING SEGMENT 56: 3,000 SOULS ADDED SEGMENT 57: THE SAMARITANS RECEIVE SEGMENT 58: PAUL RECEIVES; PETER SENT TO GENTILES SEGMENT 59: THE GENTILES RECEIVE SEGMENT 60: BELIEVERS AT EPHESUS MANIFEST HOLY SPIRIT > Session 11 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 61 - 64a SEGMENT 61: GIFT OR MANIFESTATION SEGMENT 62: PROFIT AND CHARITY SEGMENT 63: OPERATING MANIFESTATIONS IN THE CHURCH SEGMENT 64: TONGUES; INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES; PROPHECY Session 12 Foundational Power for Abundant Living = Segments 64b - 68 SEGMENT 64B: SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS NOT SEGMENT 65: SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS SEGMENT 66: YE SHALL SEGMENT 67A: INTERPRETATION & PROPHECY: WHAT IT IS NOT SEGMENT 67B: INTERPRETATION & PROPHECY; HOW TO MANIFEST SEGMENT 67C: INTERPRETATION AND PROPHECY SEGMENT 68: BENEDICTION SOME COLLATERAL MATERIAL //////////// INTRODUCTION GOD IS FAITHFUL Dedicated to those who have longed... yet doubted have hoped... yet feared have hungered... yet remained unsatisfied who desire to receive today the gift from the Holy Spirit in all its fullness. "The Joy of Serving" (Transcript) Dr. V.P. Wierwille May 12, 1985 [This was VPW last teaching of God's Word for the last time publicly at their Sunday Teaching Service] [song ends "I Am Resolved"] ". . . will come to thee." Thank-ya very much. Please be seated. Well it's wonderful seeing you all again on a Sunday night. Really I appreciate your coming in from all over the area -- and I'm sure that Reverend Chris Geer and everybody else does. Most of you know, at least the Corps knows, that Chris and Barbara were my aids for about five years. So, through the years we have been very closely knit together. And, real thankful for their ministry and their dedication. Phyllis [(Warren) Murdock] good to see you. (laughter). You got married on me, 's nice. (laughter). Got anything to show for it? (heavy laughter) [pause] Mrs. Wierwille and I will be returning to the s-- United States tomorrow. And so I just wanna, again, thank Chris and Barbara and all the -- st- Corps here and staff and everybody, for -- the exquisite way they took care of us. And how blessed I been just ta be in their presence. [Article from The Way Magazine begins near here.] Since this is the meeting here at this time of country coordinators -- and of course, what I'm going to say should be applicable to every born again believer, but especially to -- our coordinators. I wanted to just share a little bit tonight on the joy of serving. The joy of serving. Number one, you can't serve unless you've got something to serve. So if you are going to serve a dinner, you have to have a dinner to serve, right? Good. If you master the foundational class on Power for Abundant Living, and the intermediate class plus the collateral readings that accompany them, you have really something wonderful to serve people -- with. That twig and twig area leader, and the country coordinators, leadership of the Corps, of the WOWs [Word Over the World Ambassadors], have to all have this joy of serving. If you haven't got the joy of serving you missed something in the Word of God you oughta ah-put on. Heh, heh. So, number one, you gotta have something to serve. Number two is love. In Ephesians, chapter five -- verse one: Be ye therefore followers [imitators] of God, as [beloved, or] dear children; Number two: And walk in love, as Christ also [loved you, is the text], and [gave up] himself for [you] an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savour. I'll bet most of ya thought I was going ta read ya first Corinthians thirteen. (laughter) Wouldn't hurt ya to read it sometime again -- and believe what it says. Ha-ha-ha. Then I want you to look at first John, the epistle of first John. Chapter three -- verse sixteen: Hereby perceive we the love of God [and this word "love" is always agapao, or agape], because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Verse seventeen: But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? Go back to Peter. Flip back a book, first Peter. Chapter two - no, chapter one. Verse twenty two. Seeing ye have purified your souls . . . That's renewed mind, 'cause your soul is not purified when you're born again. It becomes purified as you renew your mind -- according to the Word. purified your souls in obeying the truth [there it is,] through the Spirit unto unfeigned ["unfeigned" is genuine] love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently: So first, in the joy of serving, you've gotta have something that's joyfully to be served, heh heh, secondly love, and then thirdly service. That's the joy and the order of it. I'll give you the four basic scriptural things relative to service as I know it from the greatness of the Word. Not gonna read these, just going give 'em to ya. I'm gonna read one of 'em with ya. Luke twenty, twenty-two and following; Luke twenty-three, sixteen and following; John thirteen, one and following (Luke 20:22ff, Luke 23:16ff, John 13:1ff) [This has been edited in "The Way Magazine" (Sept/Oct 1986 pp. 4-5) as: "Matthew 20:27 and following, Luke 22:24 and following, John 13:1 and following"; and by CCG as: "Matthew 20:20ff, Luke 22:24ff, and John 13:1ff." ("Our Times", 1990, pp. 93-98)] But the one I want to read with you is from the Gospel of Mark. Mark, chapter ten. Verse thirty-five: And James and John [two of the apostles], Sons of Zebedee, [came] unto him [unto Jesus], saying, Master, we would that thou shouldest do for us whatsoever we shall desire. (heh, heh, heh) Sounds sort of selfish, doesn't it? (heh, heh) And [Jesus] said unto them, What would ye that I should do for you? They said unto him, Grant us that we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. [And] Jesus said unto them, Ye know not what ye ask: can you drink of the cup that I drink of ? baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? It's referring to his death. Thirty-nine: And they said unto him, We can. And Jesus said, Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized with shall ye be baptized: But to sit on my right hand and on my left hand is not mine to give; but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared. Verse forty-one: And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John. [And] Jesus called them to him [all twelve], and saith unto them, Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. See the world is just opposite of the teaching of the Scriptures. They exercise lordship over them; and then the great -eh - when he gets higher up on the ladder, then he exercises authority over the top of them too. That's why, so many times, we have heard that money is power. Because money buys people, and then people become the slaves of those who have the money. That's the world. Verse forty-three: But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, [shall be minister -- be your minister -- means minister to you]. See, every twig coordinator ought to know what's happening in his twig, among his people. He ought to know his people very well so he can minister to them. You can't help somebody if you don't know there's a need there. So a twig coordinator really has to get close to his people -- to know. And people are usually hesitant to really tell ya what they need until -- you have earned their respect [Both: "The Way Magazine" (Sept/Oct 1986 pp. 4-5) and CCG ("Our Times", 1990, pp. 93-98) have omitted this first part of paragraph]. And you earn people's respect by serving them the Word of God and loving them -- and then learning to keep your mouth shut. You just -- you just never tell anything; you just help people. Forgot which verse I was -- forty-three: But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: Verse forty-four: And whosoever of you will be the chiefest [the greatest, the toppest], shall be [doulos of all] servant of all. Not just minister but a servant of all, a doulos, -- marked out for just serving people. For even [verse forty-five] the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many And after all of my years, and our years of working with people, I think the joy of service is exactly, in a synopsis form, what I've given you tonight. Number one, you have to take PFAL and master it -- Intermediate, you gotta master it; the collateral's that go with it, you gotta master. Then you've got something to serve people. And then you have to do it with the love of God in the renewed mind, -- agapao. Then your service is just not a ministering service, it is a doulos service, where you are a marked-out slave for serving. And I think this is what has made The Way Ministry so wonderful all over the world, generally speaking, is that we have a lot of the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation among our people and that we are serving our people. So every Twig coordinator, Twig Area, Country, anybody that blesses people, like anybody, even if you are not a Twig coordinator, you ought to master this so you can help somebody in the shop or factory; or wherever you are, so that you got answers for them. Outside of this ministry, people, I've seen very few answers. If we knew where there were more, we'd go get 'em! (laughter) That's right. Heh, heh. I think later on tonight you're gonna hear this old church hymn: O Master, let me walk with Thee In lowly paths of service free; Teach me the wayward feet to stay, And guide them in the homeward way. Teach me Thy patience! still with Thee In closer, dearer company, In work that keeps faith sweet and strong, In trust that triumphs over wrong; In hope that sends a shining ray, Far down the future's broad'ning way, In peace that only Thou canst give, With Thee, O Master, let me live. [The Way Magazine Article ends here.] That was my confirmation verse. Heh, heh -- hymn rather, not verse, hymn. Revelation three-twenty was the verse. Well, way back in March 17th this year we officially opened and dedicated the Word Over The World Auditorium at International Headquarters, that I'm sure a lot of your love and blessing's involved in. And since the opening, we have been making available the Sunday Night teaching fellowships -- Teaching Service, on video tape, as well as audio. But because of the differences in formats used in the United States and used here, most of you have not yet had the opportunity to see a video version of the Sunday Night Services. So Reverend Geer and I discussed this yesterday and felt that you'd be blessed tonight to see the Word Over The World Auditorium and a Sunday Night Service. So, Reverend Geer, you do what you have to do. [Tape ends here] [Some of the events surrounding Dr. VPW last teaching can be seen in the book "Passing of a Patriarch", by Christopher C. Geer (15 Feb. 1986. Gartmore, Scotland): On Thursday night (May 7, 1985), after all was over and he had gone to bed a good while before, I [CCG] got a call [from VPW] to bring up the video of the Sunday Night Service that had just come in, "Sons of God". Doctor was working on his teaching for the Sunday night service and the service as a whole. He had told me the day he arrived that if he felt well enough to teach sometime in the visit he would teach on "The Joy of Service". That is what he did. He had talked about teaching for about twenty minutes and was concerned what to do for the rest of the meeting. Because of the difference of the video systems from the U.S.A. to Europe we had decided to play a video of a Sunday Night Service from International which most people would not otherwise be able to see. This would give everyone an opportunity to see the Auditorium and would augment Doctor's brief teaching. In terms of evaluating which tape to utilize we had already watched Doctor's teaching on "The Hope" so we now watched the next one, "Sons of God". We decided, because Craig made reference to Dr. and Mrs. Wierwille's being in Scotland, that it would be timely to play it, and that is what we ended up doing... Doctor slept most of the day (Sunday, May 12, 1985) getting up finally in the afternoon to get ready. At 4:15 he dedicated our [CCG's daughter] Abigail Nicole... Barbara's mother [mother-in-law of CCG] arrived from Canada for a preplanned visit to see her new granddaughter just a short while before the dedication was to take place and we were blessed to all be together for the event. We did a small service with our family, Dr. and Mrs. Wierwille, and the two N's, Nicola (Nikki) Quinn and Nicole Könz who were in our hearts when we chose the "Nicole" of Abigail Nicole. Shortly after the dedication everyone else left, and Doctor and I got ready to head over to the service. After checking his notes he handed me his Bible as he had many times through the years, and with tears in his eyes said: "Well, son, this may be the last time. Tomorrow we go home and see if there have been any changes or not. If not then I guess this will be the last... You and Craig are the only ones left that know of. If what I saw the other night in the video is right, he is fading fast. The only hope that is left as far as I can see it is for you to get to Craig somehow and talk to him. I have not been able to." He stopped in the hall of the Suite and looked at me with his intense manner: "I have not been able to stop this Athlete of the Spirit thing. Let me tell you, it may well end up costing us the Ministry. When you forsake God's Word for the imagery of that Word, you lose the power of God. The same is true of research. You never research for research's sake. Anything ahead of God is sin. So many other men and ministries have gone under on this very point through the years. It took me years to convince our people that Christianity was something to be taken seriously. Effectively, we have lost all that. It is just a game again, and that is not at all what I had in my heart when I taught it originally. I don't know how you will ever get through to Craig and the rest on that one, I really don't. It's like we talked about the other night, whatever a man willingly disciplines himself to is what he loves. Once, this Ministry was a Ministry of the accuracy of God's Word and deliverance for His people; that is why He blessed it and protected it." This was the fifth time since the Fortieth Anniversary celebration that he had expressed his deep concern to me about this topic. The first was during the Anniversary week immediately following a short presentation by John Lynn. The second was on 25 February, 1983, at 4:30 a.m. in MacClesfield, England. The third was during our talk in Caen, France, on the evening of 26 March, 1984 (which I had thought rather incongruous at the time). The fourth was as we watched the videotape, "Sons of God", the night of 9-10 May, 1985. The fifth was the night of his last teaching of God's Word as we stood in the hall of the ELO Suite just prior to going over to the teaching. He had expressed concerns of where he saw things going if the situation could not be rectified the night that we had watched the video. "If Craig does not come back to the integrity of the Word then before too long he will begin to blame others around him for lacking spiritual perception and will begin to blame the loss of power in the Ministry on others. I've seen it before and I see it in the Word. He will start to lash out wrongly. It will hurt so many. It will sound genuine, but it will not bring deliverance to those who follow what he says. Spiritually they will be empty words. Once God's Word is compromised in any way it no longer is God's true Word. You have error, and error is error. I have tought this thing all my life. I know what I am talking about. I have seen it in the Church, the mission fields and in other ministries. Paul faced the exact same thing. Outwardly they salsam you and slobber all over you, but without a solid Biblical footing you flounder. He'll be grabbing at straws. I sure wish I could do something for those who will be around him when it happens, if he doesn't get back to the truth of the Word. The further you drift the worse it gets. Look how far Saul went when he stopped lovingly listening to Samuel. Sure Craig was up against a lot. Right before the inauguration Donnie really pulled in all the strings. Craig was up against a stacked deck; I know that. But, he chose to discipline himself for the Athlete of the Spirit thing and not for the Presidency. Today, the seat of the President is basically vacant. Craig took a portion, the authority, without the responsibility. I sure don't know why Donnie isn't blessed and thankful; we bought him his doctorate. If Craig had wanted to be a good President he could have; he chose to discipline himself to other things. I know that if he had applied himself honestly he could have gotten to the bottom of things. You did, and you were not in the middle and didn't have the responsibility. I did, and I was forced out. I just know that he could have, too. Why he didn't -- I just don't know why. Son, he basically didn't stick to what I taught. He gave. I sure don't know why." He continued as we walked down the hall: "Chris, if things ever do get back on the Word I don't know if any of those men will be big enough to straighten things back out again. I just don't know. I wish I did. All the work of a lifetime.... To be lost so soon.... At least I wrote a lot or it down so maybe others will rise up in the future. "I want you to remember, I may have made mistakes, but to the best of my ability I never have handled the Word dishonestly or deceitfully. You know that; you lived with me. It just hurts my heart. Paul had the same problem in his day too. Being here with you has been a blessing. I think you are the first man that I have really been able to talk with like this in a long time, maybe since Uncle Harry died. Last time we were with you was a wonderful vacation for me, this time we haven't had much time for that, have we?" As we left the Suite we curtailed discussions of the Ministry and we chatted, making small talk. We got into the car and drove over so that he could teach God's Word for the last time in his life. His remark before going out to teach was so typical, "Well, this is the finals this time, isn't it?" That night after the fellowship Doctor had all the Country coordinators over to watch a movie in the Suite. He sat in his pajamas and robe and visited and then showed them the movie "True Grit" with John Wayne. He was so blessed to get to sit with all of them and just relax after it was all over. After the film had been on for a while he went in the office to pack his briefcases. He had done most of the work already, but needed to do the last little bits. After he had done that he said good-night to everyone and went off to bed. When he was settled I told him that I had made all the necessary arrangements and would be going all the way to International Headquarters with him and that the decision was made and that was final. We both laughed and cried and I went away to go pack and get ready to go." (note, after that, back in the USA, Dr. VPW talked privately with DFW, LCM and HRA). ---------------------------- Some of Victor Paul Wierwille's quotes, taken from: http://home.flash.net/~jwr2/vpwquote.htm "If you are a spiritual person, you don't push down and stomp on a person overtaken in a fault. If you are a spiritual person, you correct the person in the spirit of meekness." "Religion has always enslaved people and pushed them down. It has made them feel incompetent. It has degraded them and told them how sinful they were and how worthless. But the ministry of the Word has brought us up to tell us who we are in Christ Jesus." "The truth which is the true Word of God, today is unsettling to men's minds because it is truth and it contradicts tradition." "Whenever somebody says that I have to do something I have a problem. The only thing biblically that I have to do is love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength, and love my neighbor as myself." "Christianity is not what man does; Christianity is what God has done through Christ. The object of religion will always be to direct the flesh, and by rules and regulations try to make the flesh bring forth spiritual fruit." "The simplicity of the Word of God, the Bible, is astounding. Most of us have too much complicated theology and not enough simple believing." "Not only do we need the accuracy of God's Word, but we must also get the zeal, the enthusiastic believing, the concern that other men and women might know that the Word of God is the Will of God." "A believer's peace is lost when he allows sincere, religious people to put him under the covenant of works of the old testament. And when a believer loses sight of the truth of his standing in Christ then he loses sight of grace, mercy, love and the power of God. Then he gets into confusion as to the truth, and his peace evaporates, and it is gone." "Christianity is not a religion. There is a lot of religion in so-called 'Christianity' today, but that is not God's fault. Religion is what man does; Christianity is what God wrought in Christ. Christianity is not a religion--it is The Way, The Truth, and The Life--it is what God wrought in Christ. It is a father and His family; God is our Father, and we are His children. That puts us in the household of God." "If someone comes into the ministry, we don't drop them, we stick with them. We never kick anyone out. They kick themselves out, if they want to go. But they're always welcome back." Victor Paul Wierwille "The greater the leader, the greater the servant" "You can be dead right but dead wrong because you have no love." "When you forget God's grace, you will be the one to cast the first stone." "Things in this world are made to be used; people are made to be loved. You never use another individual. You can use things but not people; people are to be loved. Christianity is love; religion is selfishness." "Religion has made the Word of God of non-effect by its tradition. That is why today men and women are living in deserts of spiritual despair and they drink from the stagnant pool of tradition instead of the fountain-head of God's revealed and written Word." Some of them also present in: http://www.cffm.org/teachings/Legalism.shtml ////////////////////// Victor Paul Wierwille POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING - THE FOUNDATIONAL CLASS: Foundational PFAL - Introductory Notes This series called "Power For Abundant Living" is the textual transcription of a filmed class in the fundamentals of biblical research and doctrine. The class was researched and taught by Dr. Victor Paul Weirwille who founded "The Way International" a biblical teaching, research and fellowship ministry. These text files are from the original class filmed in 1967 and contain the complete set of 68 segments which were about 27 minutes running time each. The transcribers have quoted Dr. Weirwille word for word and the King James Version (KJV) is utilized throughout for all scripture references. The transcribers have used the following notation within the scriptures: 1) words contained within [this style] brackets are words Dr. Wierwille used which were different from the published KJV text and 2) words contained within {this style} brackets are words that Dr. Wierwille ommitted as he quoted the KJV text. The class was taught in 12 sessions with each session lasting approximately 3 hours and containing an average of 6 segments per session. The sessions had titles but the segments themselves originally had no title and were given titles by the transcribers which in their opinion express the topic of the teaching for that segment. The final organization of the class was as shown here: THE FOUNDATIONAL CLASS ON POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING: SESSION-1 "The Greatest Secret In The World" = Segments 1 - 5. SESSION-2 "The God Breathed Word" = Segments 6 - 10 SESSION-3 "The Integrity Of The Word" = Segments 11 - 16 SESSION-4 "How The Word Interprets Itself" = Segments 17 - 23 SESSION-5 "The Church: Bride - Body" = Segments 24 - 29 SESSION-6 "The Battle Of The Senses" = Segments 30 - 35 SESSION-7 "Body - Soul - Spirit" = Segments 36 - 41 SESSION-8 "Renewed Mind - Sonship Rights" = Segments 42 - 48 SESSION-9 "The Giver And The Gift" = Segments 49 - 54 SESSION-10 "The Score - Five To Nothing" = Segments 55 - 60 SESSION-11 "The Profit And Usage Of The Manifestations" = Segments 61 - 64a SESSION-12 "Ye Shall" = Segments 64b - 68 NOTE: Segments 22, 45, and 67(a,b,c), were dropped from the class in the later years (1980s) as the material was covered in greater detail in the Intermediate and Advanced classes. SEGMENT 1: THE GREATEST SECRET IN THE WORLD; WHAT IS AVAILABLE In this first session of this Biblical research class on Power For Abundant Living I'd like for you to take your Bible and I'd like for you to turn to the Gospel of John, the tenth chapter. And here in this tenth verse of this tenth chapter we have one of the foundational scriptures for this class. As a matter of fact it is this scripture that literally turned my life upside down many years ago. It was this scripture that brought me to the place of starting into Biblical research. In John 10:10 we read, Jesus said: John 10:10: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Jesus said he came that men and women might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. You know, this verse of scripture changed my life. We were in the ministry and we were moving ahead with the things as we thought they were the things of God, but some how or other we lacked an abundant life in almost every category. And here I was reading from the Word of God one day Jesus said he came that we might have life and have it more than abundant. And it sort of shook me because as I looked round about on the different people in the churches and in the communities where I served, and among the ministers with whom I worked; I failed to see an abundant life many times. I look in the secular world and there I'd see people who were not even Christians who were manifesting more of an abundant life than many times the people in the church. So I began to ask myself the question, "Why is it, if Jesus Christ came that men and women might have life more abundant, why is it that the Christian believers do not manifest an abundant life?" Then I noticed furthermore that that verse said he didn't just come to give an abundant life. He came that we might have life and have it more than abundant! You know I believe most people would be thankful wouldn't they, most Christian believers, if they even manifested an abundant life. But that's not what the Word says. The Word says that Jesus Christ came that we might have life not abundantly, but have a life which is more than abundant. More than abundant! Well, ladies and gentlemen, if Jesus Christ came that we might life and have it more abundantly; he either told the truth or he lied. If he lied to us here in the Word of God when he declared that he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, if he lied to us, then the best thing you and I could to do is just chuck the whole thing. Throw it all away. But if he told the truth, if he meant what he said and said what he meant when he declared that he came that we might have life and have it more than abundantly, ladies and gentlemen, somewhere, someplace, somehow, surely there must be keys, there must be signposts that will guide us into the understanding and the receiving of this life which is more than abundant. And I believe that this class on Power For Abundant Living, that this class is one of the stepping stones to make available this to people. And this which Jesus Christ did and came to do, this is the greatest secret in the world today; the greatest secret in the world today. And this great secret is what we want to declare and make known. A secret is like a mystery--sometimes like a woman's purse, what she has in it--it's a mystery. Once you open it, once you see what's in it, then it's no longer a mystery. The greatest secret in the world today is that Jesus Christ did come to make life more than abundantly available to believers. And this is the purpose of this Biblical research class: to enable our people, our children, our young people and our adults to tap into these resources that they can manifest this more abundant life. This is a class on keys. I am not going to teach you the scriptures, every verse from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21. This is not the purpose of the class. But, by God's mercy and by God's grace I expect to set before you all the basic keys in the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation which will unfold for you this life that Jesus Christ came to make available which is a life which is more that abundant. This is why these keys in this class should bring us to the place that we will be certain in the midst of the uncertainty of our time. This Word of God and the greatness of God's revelation should be unto us a firm rock in the sea of speculation with which we're surrounded on every hand. And I want this class on Power For Abundant Living to be for you a safe anchorage in the ocean of doubt with which we are surrounded. And today certainly there is so much doubt and so much unsafeness, unconcern, that if we can come back to the keys of the Word of God and set these keys that you can utilize them with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision, then once again you can begin walking and you can begin to manifest that more abundant life. This first lesson, the first lesson in this first session of this class on Power For Abundant Living deals with the greatest secret in the world today. And do you know that this greatest secret in the world today literally is: that the Bible is the revealed Word and Will of God. The greatest secret in the world today, anyplace, anywhere, is that the Bible is the revealed Word and Will of God because people for the most part just do not believe it. Even those who are deeply spiritual, they'll take one segment out of the Word of God and drop another. Ladies and gentlemen either the Bible's the Word of God from Genesis to Revelation all the way through or it's not the Word of God anywhere. And the greatest secret in the world today is that the Bible, the Bible is the revealed Word and Will of God. That's the great secret. You know, I'd like to state it another way: that the Word of God is the Will of God. This is our power for abundant living. It's like it's up here above this chart board and you'll see it hundreds of times through the teaching of this class. The Word of God is the Will of God- -the Word of God being the Will of God--that's the greatest secret in the world today! Now to get to the depth of this and to start into it's depth I'd like for you to take your Bibles and turn to the Book of Jeremiah. The book of Jeremiah. In the Old Testament: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. And there in chapter 2 in verse 13 of this chapter listen to what this Word of God says: Jeremiah 2:13: For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. Who is God talking to? He says, "My people." He's talking to His people. He's not talking to people who are on the outside of the pale. He's talking to those who are within the fold so to speak. And He says my people have committed two evils. Number one, He says, "they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters." God is a fountain. A fountain has an unlimited supply; that's what makes it a fountain. And God said His people had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters. And ladies and gentlemen when we forsake God who is a fountain we do exactly what this Word of God says; we hew out for ourselves cisterns. And you know what a cistern is? It's something that man has hewed out. We have hewed out religions of our own choosing and of our own making, we have hewed them out. But a cistern does not hold an unlimited amount of water like a spring or a fountain. A cistern is limited to the size of the whole. In other words if it's a fifty-barrel cistern that's all you can put in it. But a fountain is unlimited, the supply, God is a fountain. And God said that His people, His people had forsaken Him, the fountain of living waters, and they hewed out for themselves cisterns--not fountains--but cisterns. Furthermore, He said those cisterns were broken cisterns. You know what a broken cistern is? It's one that's got a crack in it. You put it in at the top, runs out at the bottom or on the side. It never has the supply just when you need it. Ladies and gentlemen, I was like this once in my life. I too thought that I had hewed out for myself a tremendous theological system. I had read this, I had read that, I'd concluded this and I'd concluded that but just when I needed the power it wasn't there. Just when I needed it most, some how or other it seemed like it was an empty hole. And perhaps this is what took me into these years of Biblical research, at least it enabled me and helped me to get started in this field. So you see, God says, His people forsaking Him the fountain of living waters can only do one thing: they'll hew out for themselves their own cisterns and they'll be broken cisterns that can hold no water. Have you ever asked yourself or have you ever thought of what is the greatest sin a man can commit? You walk down the streets of your city or of your community tomorrow and you ask people, "Well what's the greatest sin you can commit?" Do you know what they'll say? Well, one person will say it's murder, someone else will say it's adultery, someone else will say something else. You'll come up with a multiplicity of suggestions as to the greatest sin. You know what the Word of God says is the greatest sin a man can commit? Well, in Matthew 22:36 and following tell you and I'm sure it's familiar to about all of you. It's the first great commandment. Matthew 22:37, 38: Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. Ladies and gentlemen, if that is the first and great commandment-- to love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength--let me ask you something: then what is the first and great sin? The first and great sin by sheer logic is to break the first and great commandment of not loving God, loving something else more than what we love God; putting something ahead of God; hewing out our own religious systems and our own ideologies and our own thinking patterns rather than the divine revelation of God's wonderful matchless Word. Putting anything ahead of God is the first and great sin--just not to love Him with all our heart, our soul, our mind and our strength. And the second is like unto it--"thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." I'd like you also to take a look at Hosea 4. I'd like for you to take a look at that. You see in Hosea chapter 4 in verse 6 I'd like to share this verse with you because here again we have the greatness of God's wonderful matchless Word. And He says here in Hosea chapter 4: Hosea 4:6a: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:... Listen again. Hosea 4:6a: My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge:... Again, God is talking to whom? God is talking to His people. And He says, "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge." Ladies and gentlemen it cannot be a lack of knowledge of science or philosophy or history or mathematics that is destroying us. If God's people are being destroyed today, it is not because they lack a knowledge of social justice or anything else. There's only one reason that God's people could possibly be destroyed today. And you know what that reason can be? The only reason it can be is it is a lack of the Word of God. God's people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge of the Word, not of our current periodicals or our newspapers. Not of the current shows or anything else, but it is a lack of knowledge of the integrity and the greatness of God's Word: that the revealed Word of God is the Will of God. This is why people are being destroyed, and God said His people were being destroyed because they lacked knowledge. You know, sometimes people have a great zeal for their religion. They get all hepped so to speak and all shook. And they are standing out here, there and running here, there and yonder and always talking to everybody about their salvation or something else. They have a tremendous zeal but they lack the knowledge of the accuracy of God's Word. On the other hand there are some people who have a tremendous knowledge of God's Word perhaps but they lack the enthusiasm and the zeal. I want this class on Power For Abundant Living to get us back to the accurate knowledge of God's Word; to bring us back to the integrity and the accuracy of this Word. But not only that, I want this to make us so alive and vital that once again, that once again we will have the zeal, the enthusiasm to set it forth before people with all boldness. People say to me many times in these classes on Power For Abundant Living, "Well Dr. Wierwille you sure get all hepped on this thing." That's right, why shouldn't I? Why shouldn't I get concerned about the greatness of God's Word? Because ladies and gentlemen this Word of God fits with a mathematical exactness and a scientific precision. It fits like a hand fits in a glove. And it works this way over and over again. Why should I not be concerned and enthused about this? You know when I was in athletics and playing some college basketball and a little bit of professional basketball I got all enthused, all concerned. I had tremendous zeal for this sports. Why not have tremendous zeal for the greatness of God's Word? A man can sit in a great stadium some place and they say well he is a football or a basketball fan or some other fan. But when somebody dares to get excited about the greatness of God's Word they think there's something wrong with him. Must be something wrong with our scale of values. Nothing wrong with us except that the Word of God is so tremendous, it's so wonderful, it's so rich that when Jesus Christ came, and he said he came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, ladies and gentlemen, he said what he meant and he meant what he said. This is why the Bible is that wonderful revealed Word and the wonderful Will of God. And so not only do we need to get the knowledge in this class on Power For Abundant Living, the knowledge of the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word but we must also get the zeal, the enthusiastic believing, the concern that other men and women might know. Now in order to tap these wonderful resources of the power of God; in order to make your life jell and for the greatness of that wonderful power of God to live within you: To receive anything from God, to receive anything and you'll notice I've underscored the word "anything." To receive anything from God we must know first of all what is available. You cannot receive something from God until you first know it is available. You must absolutely find out what is available. Because there are some things that are not available today. And if they are not available you can pray until your blue in the face you still cannot receive because it's not available. The first thing, if you want to tap the resources for the more abundant life, the first thing you and I must do is to find out what is available. Now in the secular realm we've applied these principles all our life. Take for instance here--this pen on this desk. Could I have received it if it was not available? Certainly not. The first thing I find out is what is available? Here it is, available. Well, I find out it's available. That's the first thing that I have to discover--what is available? Now spiritually the same thing is true. We have to find out from God's Word what is available. You cannot find out from people's conversation what's available. We will have to go entirely to the Word of God to find out what is available. I'd like for you to take a look at the Epistle of John. The third Epistle: first, second, third John. Then comes Jude and Revelation. In III John and in verse 2 listen to this: III John 2: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Well what is the Will of God? "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper..." Do you know what prosper means? Just that--prosper. Anybody in business knows what it is to prosper. God's Will is for the believer; above all that he may prosper. He never meant for the Christian to be poverty stricken and down trodden in every segment of his life. He meant for the Christian believer to prosper. "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper," number one, and number two, "and be in good health even as your soul prospers." God never meant for the Christian believer to be sick all the days of his life. He never meant for the Christian believer to be full of frustrations and fears, anxieties and everything else. God meant that we were to prosper and be in good health. Well, if this is the Word of God and this is what God's Word says, now then it must be available. How in the world can I prosper if it's not available? How in the world can I be in good health if it's not available? So, the first thing we have to find out in our quest for tapping the resources for the more abundant life: to receive anything from God we must find out what is available. I'd like to show you a few more scriptures. In Philippians, chapter 4, verse 19 a very familiar passage of scripture to many people. Philippians 4:19: But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Well now if He is going to supply all of our need, it doesn't say greed, He is going to supply all of our need according to His riches in glory. If He's going to do this, then it must be available, right? If it was not available He could not supply it. So, we'll find out, what is available. Look at II Corinthians. Acts, Romans, II Corinthians. In chapter 9 of II Corinthians and in verse 8 listen to this: II Corinthians 9:8: And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: Now how are we going to have an all sufficiency in all things if it's not available? Do you see why if we're going to tap the resources for the more abundant life we must find out what is available first and foremost? Look at Romans. Go back a book. Romans, Romans chapter 8. Verse 37 of this 8th chapter of Romans. Another wonderful record in God's Word telling us some of the things that must be available. Romans 8:37: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Well, now if we're going to be more than conquerors in every situation it must be available. How could I be more than a conqueror if it was not available? So you see why it's so important that we find out what's available? Because things that men and women talk about being available many times are not. Other things they talk about as not being available are. You and I must go back to the Word of God to find out what is available. Now, I want to show you one more in Ephesians. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians. Ephesians chapter 3, a wonderful record in God's Word. Listen to this, beginning with verse 16 of this particular chapter 3: Ephesians 3:16: That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with by his Spirit in the inner man; Now how am I going to be strengthened with might by His spirit in the inner man if it isn't available? Ephesians 3:17-19: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Listen to that, "that you might be filled with all the fulness of God." Now how in the world am I going to be filled with all the fulness of God if it's not available? So you see why we must go to the Word of God to find out that which is available? How am I going to be able to apply the principles of the Word of God and find out what God wants me to do if I do not know something is available? So the first thing I find out in my quest to tap the resources for the more abundant life, I find out what is available. You know, there are over 900-and-some different promises in the Word of God that will enable us to profit and to be in good health. You cannot utilize, you cannot operate any more than those that you know. How many do you know? You see, if we're going to find out what God has made available there's only one place we can possibly go. We must go back to the Word of God to find out exactly what He made available. And this becomes a very interesting quest, because so many, many times the things that people have said God does; God in His Word says just the opposite, He says He doesn't. Things that they say He does not do, He declares in His Word that He does. So you see this class on Power For Abundant Living, as we begin to do our research and start in it, we discover for ourselves that to receive anything from God, the first thing we have to find out is what is available. I could not have this pen if it were not available. So it is with the Word of God ladies and gentlemen. You and I must find out to the minutest detail what is available. If this is available for us then there are other steps which I will be sharing with you. But let's be sure that in our quest for the more abundant life and in our Biblical research that the first thing we find out is what is available. So that we as God's people will not need to be destroyed because we lack knowledge. Let's go to that Word of God find out what is available. Because once we know something is available then we can learn the other principles that are involved to make this a life that is more than abundant so that we can manifest forth the greatness of the power of God--to manifest it so that others can walk also in its abundance. This is why we need to find out what is available. SEGMENT 2: KEYS TO RECEIVING ANYTHING FROM GOD To receive anything from God there are a number of things that we definitely have to know. We'll never tap the resources for the more abundant life until we learn that not only must we know what is available; point number one, which we have discussed in a rather detailed form and fashion. But to receive anything from God we must not only know what is available but we must know how to receive. Now this is tremendous because this is a class on how. We teach our people how to receive the things which God has spiritually made available. Time and time again you hear people say "well you ought to do this or you should do this or you should do that or you should do something else." This is not a class where I am going to tell you what you ought to do. This is a class where I teach our people how to receive. First of all we find out what's available from God's Word. And after we have found out what's available from God's Word then I teach our people how to receive. Because you can receive spiritual things with the same mathematical exactness and scientific precision with which you can receive anything in the senses realm. You know, when I was a young lad my mother used to say to me on Saturday night when I went to town, she'd say "now be a good boy." I don't know if you've ever told your children this or if you've ever been told this. Perhaps you have. But you know something when she said to me "be a good boy" that never helped me. You know why? Because, you never make a boy good by telling him to be good. You never get people to read the Word of God by saying they ought to read. You never get them to tap the resources by telling them they ought to pray. This is why we teach our people how to receive. We do not teach them and say you ought to read the Bible; we teach them how to read it. We do not tell them they ought to pray, we teach them how to pray. We do not tell them they should believe; we teach how to believe. This is a class on how. Bless your heart. You know why it's so important that we learn how? Because in the material realm we know how to receive. For instance, in the material realm we know this pen is available. Now, from the time I've been born I've been taught how to receive material things. If I had not been taught how to receive material things this pen could be available but I could not receive it, I don't know how. So it is with the Word of God. We must be taught how. In the natural physical realm we have been taught how to receive material things from the time we've been born. The reason I can take this pen is because I know how. If I did not know how I couldn't take it. Now spiritual things can be received with the same exactness that I can receive this pen in the natural or the material realm. So, this is a class. Not only are we going to find our what's available but we find out how to receive that which is available. You know, for many years I moved in circles and among groups where so many, many times I heard people that were preaching on sin and condemnation and hell fire and all the rest of those things. You know, if you preach sin the only thing that can happen is people have to go out and commit it so that we can have something to preach about. They weren't telling people how to get rid of sin. They were just telling them it was wrong. To tell someone something is wrong does not help them to overcome it. You know how I learned this lesson? We had a man in the area of the first church, or the second church that I pastored in Van Wert, Ohio for so many, many years. This man was an alcoholic. He lived in that community. And for about two years many of us prayed that some day this man would come to church. And I had been so schooled against alcohol and drinking and the rest of these things because I'd had sin preached at me 'till I had it running out of both ears. So I had prepared a sermon on the abuses of alcohol and so forth. And I just waited for this man to come to church, after all we'd prayed for two years. Finally, one Sunday morning, lo and behold, he came to church when I least expected him. And he sat in the back pew, way back in the corner, I can see him yet as he came in. And as I walked on the pulpit and turned around I saw him there and I said, "Well good Lord here he is this morning." And you know something I just discontinued the sermon that I had prepared for that morning and I went back into the files of my mind and brought out that sermon that I had developed on the misuse and the sin of drinking and all these other things. And that morning I preached that sermon with all my heart, soul and strength I had. And when I had finished that sermon I sort of patted myself on the back for having preached such a tremendous sermon against drinking and so forth for God that I thought God better move over and give me a special place in heaven some day. And I said to people later on when I patted myself on the back that morning for preaching that tremendous sermon, it's really a surprise I didn't break my hand when I patted myself on the back. Then I walked out from the pulpit back to the vestibule of the church where you shake hands with people as they leave the sanctuary and I was shaking hands with our people as they were going out. And this man came along and as he came along he had tears in his eyes, they were running down his face and he shook my hand. And he said to me "I came to church this morning to find out HOW to get out of what I was in." And he said, "all you did was to put me deeper in what I'm already in." I can't tell you what this did to me but it changed my life that morning. You know why? It just cut me to the bone. Here I thought, boy I'd really preached a tremendous sermon. I'd really laid it on the line, spelled it all out. But this man walked out and he said "look I came in here hoping, praying that maybe you would tell me HOW to get out of what I was in but instead you told me how to stay in." He said, "if you want to know anything about alcohol I can tell you more than you'll ever know." You know what I did? I quit shaking hands with my people right after that and I went around the corner into my office. And I knelt next to my office chair and I hardly ever kneel when I pray but that morning some how or other I dropped next to that chair and I prayed. And I asked God to forgive me. That's right. And I promised the Father that if He would forgive me and allow me to live and allow me to preach that as long as I lived I would never preach a negative sermon. I would never condemn anybody, I would never do any of those things again. And from that day on to this time I have never condemned anyone. I never preach a negative. Why? I teach my people how to tap the resources for the more abundant life. You know something, I can't help you with what you've been in the past all I can do is teach you how. And what you were in the past can then be forgotten and you can move on with the greatness of the power of God. This is why not only must we know what's available if we are going to tap the resources for the more abundant life, but if you and I are going to tap these resources and get these things from God, we have to find out how to receive it. How to get the things of God. And the how is what we teach in this class on Power For Abundant Living. Not only must we know what is available to receive anything from God and how to receive it, but, in the third place, if we're going to tap the resources for the more abundant life, we will have to find out what to do with it after we've got it. First you find our what's available. Secondly, you find out how to receive it. But then, you must know what to do with it after you've got it. For instance, here is this pen, it's available. I know how to receive it. But unless I know what to do with it after I've got it I still can not utilize it to its maximum capacity of that for which it was designed. Right? Right. So I know it's available. I know how to receive it. Now I use it as a toothpick. It wouldn't serve very well as a toothpick, would it? It's not designed for that. Every thing has to stay in its own category. Not only must we know what's available, how to receive it, but we must know what to do with it after we've got it. This pen is designed for writing, for writing. So, in the spiritual realm or in the realm of tapping the resources for the more abundant life, not only must we know what's available and how to receive it but we must know what to do with it after we've got it. And this becomes so dynamically important in the spiritual realm. Because there are people who know what's available, they know how to receive something but when it comes to what to do with it after they've got it they are entirely at a loss. And especially so in the Holy Spirit field when we begin dealing with this. They are all out of order when it comes to usage. They are using the things of the spirit of God wrongly; entirely opposite to that for which it was designed and the purpose for which God gave it. And so if we're going to receive anything from God there are three basic truths that you must absolutely recognize: Number one you must know what is available; number two you have to find out how to receive it; and in the third place, what to do with it after you've got it. If you will master those three--go to the Word, find out what's available, find out how to receive it, find out what to do with it after you've got it--you can begin manifesting the more abundant life in a remarkable and wonderful way. This is why I believe that the Word of God is the Will of God. And if we're going to know the Will of God we're going to have to go back to the Word of God. That's right. If you want to know God's Will you've got to go back to the Word. You can't listen to the man on the street or at any other place. He says, "well this is God's Will." He may be right, he may be wrong. You and I can only be accurate and sure if we go back to God's Word. For no one can know the Will of God without knowing the Word of God. The Word of God must be known in order to know the Will of God. This is why the greatest secret in the world is that the Bible is the revealed Word of God--that this Word of God means what it says and says what it means--and that God has a purpose for everything He says: where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. Now, I want to take you a step further. Not only must you know what's available, how to receive and what to do with it; but if you're going to tap into the resources for the more abundant life you must get your need and your want parallel. The need and want must be parallel. Many times there are people who have tremendous needs but they only want their need filled thus far. They'll never get this prayer answered. Because if you're going to manifest the more abundant life there's one basic requirement: and that is that the need and the want must be parallel. Absolutely! At times there are people that have tremendous wants over here but very little need. And they will not get theirs met either. You see, in the need and want, and to get this need and want parallel; these are tremendous truths. And I'm going to take you into the Word of God in a moment to show it to you. But I want to take you over here to the chart board and let you see something here that I have put up for you. This is what I want you to recognize: that need and want must be parallel. This later on, God's ability equals God's willingness, I'll handle a little later, but right now stay your mind here. Get the idea in your mind if you're going to tap the resources for the more abundant life and get the power of God in your life you've got to get your need and want parallel. If your needs are up here and your wants here it will never be parallel. You'll never get it met. If your wants are up here and your needs are down here you'll never get an answer. We get answers to prayer when we believe if we get our need and our want parallel. Now this is foundational and very, very important. Because there are many people who never get an answer to prayer until in this class on Power For Abundant Living because they've never known the keys on what's available, how to receive, what to do with it, and got their need and want parallel. Look at Matthew, chapter 18. Take your Bibles and go to Matthew chapter 18. And in this eighteenth chapter of Matthew, in the nineteenth verse listen to this: Matthew 18:19: ...if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. If two agree, the word "agree" is symphonize. If two agree, like this--touching anything. You see the two agree, they have their need and their want parallel, they are in agreement. In the Gospel of John, the Gospel of John, in the fourteenth chapter of the Gospel of John; here is another tremendous truth that I want to share with you. And I'm sure that it will just bless your heart. Listen to this: John 14:13: And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Whatsoever we shall ask in his name, getting our need and our want parallel, then whatsoever you ask he is going to do. That's right! In the fifteenth chapter of the Gospel of John is another one of these wonderful promises familiar to many people. Listen to this: John 15:16: Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever [whatsoever] ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. Whatsoever ye ask, if your need and want are parallel, then whatsoever you ask--if you know what's available, how to receive it, what to do with it, get your need and want parallel--whatsoever ye ask, it shall be what? Done unto you. Another promise in the Epistle of I John. Way in the back of your Bible. I John, the Epistle of I John, first-second--third John. I John 5:14: And this is the confidence [this is the confidence] that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, [if we ask any thing according to his will] he heareth us: Isn't that wonderful? If we have our need and our want parallel we ask anything according to His will; how can it be His Will if we don't know His Word? His Word is His Will that gets our need and our want parallel. If we know His Word we can parallel it off. And once we get our need and want parallel, whatsoever we ask, we get. Many years ago when I was first questing in the integrity and accuracy of God's Word and doing Biblical research, just starting in the field, there were some things in the Word of God that we believed and that we understood and were practicing in our prayer life. And we were really concerned about learning more about God's Word. We had a letter from one of our radio audience from Cincinnati. And this good lady stipulated in that letter stating the following: she said, "now on Thursday night when you have your prayer group meeting and you meet with your people; I'd like for you to pray for an apartment for me. Because I have to find this apartment and I would like for this apartment to be within walking distance, two or three blocks from where I am employed." And she said, "it has to be a furnished apartment because I do not have my own furniture," and she said, "while your praying for this apartment within this area of where I am gainfully employed will you please ask God that in this furnished apartment there will be red drapes on the living room windows." My, oh my. That shook me. I thought to myself well good lord, if I'm going to pray for her for an apartment and she gets that apartment she ought to be thankful. What difference does if make if its got pink drapes or yellow drapes or orange drapes on the living room window? But she had stipulated in her letter please pray that there be red drapes on the window. Well I don't know who did the believing, I helped in the praying but I want to tell you something that night spiritually I hadn't gone this far; I believed for the apartment this I could believe for, it was a need I understood this. So I believed that she'd have an apartment but I can't imagine and I know that I did not believe anything about drapes at all. But we prayed that evening and within fifteen minutes of the time when we had prayed for this situation this lady in Cincinnati many, many, many miles away had a telephone call from an entire stranger who said to her "a friend of yours told me that you have need of an apartment, is this right?" And she said, "yes." And she said, "well where's it located?" He said, "well such and such a place." Within two blocks of where she was employed. So she said to him, "may I come and see it in the morning?" He said, "you certainly may." They made an appointment, she went next morning and looked at this apartment. And when she walked into the living room what do you think the color of those drapes were on those living room windows? Green, oh no they weren't. They were fire engine red. That's right. People, she must have had her need and her want parallel. Look at this. Alright, she rented a furnished apartment and it had to have drapes on the window, right? Does it make God any difference whether the drapes are green or red or pink? No, but she had a need, that need was that they might as well have red drapes on, that's what she wanted. She got her need and her want parallel. She not only got that apartment but she got the red drapes on the windows. You talk about the accuracy of God's Word when He said He'll supply all of our need according to His riches in glory. Doesn't say He'll supply our greed but He'll supply our need according to His riches in glory. That's true. It's wonderful. So not only must you know what's available, and how to receive it and what to do with it after you've got it but you've got to get your need and want parallel if you want to tap into the resources for the more abundant life. But there's one more great truth. And that is that God's ability always equals God's willingness. God's ability equals God's willingness. Many people say well God is willing but He's not able. Others say He's able but not willing. This is true of men. You know a man may have the ability and lack the willingness. Or he may be willing and lack the ability. For instance: let's say that I'm stranded along the highway. I have a flat tire. And you come along that highway and I need a jack. You come along you stop and you say, "well hello Dr. Wierwille what can I do for you?" And I say, "well I need a jack, I have a flat tire and I haven't got a jack." And you say to me, "well sorry, but I do not have a jack either." You see, you're willing to help me but you lack what? The ability. On the other hand let's say you would come along the highway and I'd have this flat tire and you'd say, "well what do you need?" And I'd say, "well I have to have a jack." And you'd say, "well I have a jack but I'm not going to help you." You see you would have the ability but you'd lack what? The willingness. Now this is never true with God. God's ability always equals His willingness. They are always parallel. What God is able to do He's willing to do and what He's willing to do He is able to do. God's willingness is always equal to His ability. Now, look at Romans. The Book of Romans, let's go to the Word of God and see some of these truths. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans chapter 4, tremendous truth in here class, tremendous. Romans chapter 4 and here in the twenty first verse of Romans 4 we are going to read this, listen: Romans 4:20a, 21: He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief;... And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. Isn't that wonderful! What God had promised He was able to perform. In other words; God's ability equaled God's willingness. In the Old Testament, in the Book of Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. In the Book of Numbers in the Old Testament in the twenty-third chapter of Numbers and in the nineteenth verse of this chapter is a phrase that I want to pick out and share with you. Listen to this: Numbers 23:19a: God is not a man, that he should lie;... God is not a man that He should lie. Why? Because God's ability equals His willingness. What He has promised He is also able and willing to perform. You know in the Book of Romans; in the New Testament in the Book of Romans in chapter 11 of this Book of Romans and in this twenty-ninth verse of this chapter we read the following: Romans 11:29: For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. The gifts and the calling of God are without repentance. You see when God gives something; these gifts and these callings of God are always without repentance--means that God does not get rid of it, He doesn't say He doesn't want it any longer, He doesn't throw it out. Whatever God has promised He will perform, He will keep whenever men and women believe God's wonderful, matchless Word. I want to give you one more along this line that God's ability equals His willingness. From the Book of Hebrews. Hebrews in the Old Testament, in the New Testament rather. That would be a new one to find out it was in the Old Testament, no it's in the New Testament. Hebrews, the eleventh chapter, this great chapter of the Book of Hebrews. In the eleventh chapter of Hebrews in the eleventh verse listen to this: Hebrews 11:11: Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful [she judged him faithful] who had promised. Isn't that wonderful! Sara brought forth this child because of the promises that God had made many years before. And she judged Him faithful who had promised. Who had made the promise? God had made the promise. You see, what God promises in His Word He will keep when men and women believe. Once we find out what is available and you'll never know what's available until you go to the Word of God and look at it. You know, only as we go to this Word of God can we find out what is available to us today. If we are going to tap the resources for the more abundant life; in this class on Power For Abundant Living we are going to go to the Word. We're going to find out what is available, we're going to find out how to receive these things and we're going to find out what to do with it after we've got it. And we're going to keep our need and our want parallel recognizing that God is not only able but God is willing to perform every promise that He has set in His Word. You see, this wonderful power for abundant living becomes ours when we tap into these resources with the greatness of the power of God: knowing what's available, knowing how to receive, knowing what to do with it after we've got it, and knowing that God's ability equals His willingness, and that He is always able to perform everything for us. SEGMENT 3: MARK 3:1-5: THE LAW OF BELIEVING To tap the resources for the more abundant life you know that there are three basic things we must know. Number one: what's available. Number two: how to receive it. And number three: what to do with it after we've got it. And then I've taught you that we must get our need and our want parallel. Furthermore we must always remember that God's ability equals His willingness. Now all the great keys to the unfolding of the Word of God and tapping the resources are wound up, are enclosed within these truths that I have set before you. Every scripture in the Word of God where there is a wonderful miracle or where God did some mighty things for men and women who believed; all of these principles are set forth in every record in the Word of God. Once you understand this you can read any place in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and all those records in the Bible will fit within this pattern. I'm going to take you into one of these records and show you all of these principles. How the man found out what was available, he knew how to receive it, he knew what to do with it after he got it, he knew that his need and his want were to be parallel, he knew that God's ability equaled His willingness to give. This is all recorded in Mark chapter 3 and I'd like for you to take your Bible and turn to Mark chapter 3. And here in five verses or six verses the whole record of all of these truths that I have set before you are given. Mark 3:1: And he [Jesus] entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. The man had a withered hand, like this. His hand was withered. The man had a need. Do you see that? Jesus entered into the synagogue. The synagogue was the place where they worshipped, where they were taught, where people of God were to meet. Jesus entered into the synagogue and there he found this man who had a withered hand. Verse 2 says: Mark 3:2: And they watched him, [they watched Jesus], whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. Now isn't that a wonderful record. They watched Jesus, they watched him. Here was a man who had a need. His hand was withered. He could in no wise take this hand and lift it up or lift it forward. The man's hand was withered. And they watched Jesus whether he would heal him. And you know why they watched him? Because it was the sabbath day, that they might accuse him. They wanted to accuse Jesus if he did any healing because it was the wrong day. Now isn't this tremendous. Those people sure were interested in that man who had the withered hand weren't they. Ah, they were no more interested in him than in a barrel of monkeys. You know why? They were only interested in whether Jesus did this on the right day, in the right place at the right time with their blessing. People, this man was at the place where he should have expected help, right? He'd gone to the synagogue, the man's hand was withered. He went to the synagogue, that's the place he should have expected help but what he'd get over there? Nothing. All they were concerned about is whether Jesus would heal him on the right day if he healed him at all. They were not interested in the man. Today where should we find help? But in the church! We go to the church and in the church men and women ought to be receiving help. But are they? Or are we being criticized again? Look at the third verse. Mark 3:3: And he [Jesus] saith unto the man [the man with the withered hand] which had the withered hand, Stand forth. Stand forth. Man that made a tremendous impression didn't it. Singled him out, the man had a need. And he said, "stand forth." The moment that man stood forth or if he's going to stand forth he has to really take a step forward so to speak. Because this is going to separate him out and he's going to have the same criticism that they were settling on Jesus. Look at verse 4. Mark 3:4: And he [Jesus] saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they [the leaders, the Pharisees in the synagogues, the head people] held their peace. You know why? Because they wanted to accuse Jesus. They were not interested in whether the man got delivered or not. They were only interested in one thing--catching Jesus. Mark 3:5a: And when he had looked round about on them [with compassion, ah no, no, no. It says when he had looked round about on them] with anger,... Jesus looked round about on them, the people there in the synagogue. He looked round about on them with what? Anger. That's a tremendous lesson? You know we've always been taught that if a person is a real Christian the only thing he ever does is love. Well don't you think Jesus Christ loved? Wasn't he all love? Yet, here it says he looked round about on those synagogue leaders, the leaders, he looked round about on them with anger. He got real teed off. This idea that just because you're a Christian believer and a man of God you go around patting everybody on the back all the time. Somebody once said they need to pat down a foot lower. You see Jesus looked round about on them with anger. He got real teed off. And sometimes men of God have to take a stand. You don't allow people to push you around all over and every other place. Jesus loved this man. He loved all the people, but yet these who were obstructing the power of God, he looked round about on them with anger. Mark 3:5: ...being grieved for the hardness of their hearts,... That's why he was angry, for the hardness of their hearts; that they were not able to accept the greatness of God's Word and refused to accept it. And it says in verse 5: Mark 3:5: ...he saith unto the man, (he said to the man with the withered hand, who had the need), Stretch forth thine hand. Stretch forth thy hand. Ladies and gentlemen there is the promise of God. You cannot, you cannot receive anything from God until you know it is available, it is available. This is why over here in the analysis of this section from Mark 3:1-5 the first thing that you have to find if you're going to tap the resources of the Word of God, you must find out what's available. And the promise is that in the Word of God which is available. The promise to this man who had the need of the withered hand was stretch forth thy hand. That's number one, that's the promise and this is what he said to that man, "Stretch forth thine hand." And that's an impossibility. Why is it impossible? Because the man's hand was withered. It was withered. He could no more stretch it forth than do anything else. He just couldn't do it. Yet here you have the record: he said to the man with the withered hand, he said, "stretch forth thy hand." And, what else does it say in verse 5. Mark 3:5: ...And he [he, the man] stretched it out:... He, the man stretched it out. The man with the withered hand who had this tremendous need; the first thing, the first thing he received was the promise of God. The promise of God was stretch forth thy hand. Then it says, he, the man stretched it forth. The man stretched it forth. He did the impossible. He did the impossible. It's impossible for a man with a withered hand to stretch it forth. Then how in the world did he do it? He did it by one thing--he believed. To believe is a verb. A verb connotes action. The man believed the promise of God. The promise of God was to the man with the withered hand--stretch forth thy hand. The man believed that what the Word of God said through Jesus was God's Will. Therefore he stretched it what? Forth. That's the record. So you see, first you find out what's available. Secondly, you find out how to receive it. The how of receiving is to believe. Once you have that promise of God then the how of receiving is to believe literally what that promise said. The man with the withered hand--He said stretch it forth. It is impossible to do this. And yet this man by believing what the Word said or what God said through Jesus Christ who is the Word. The man stretched it forth. And then it says in verse five, in the latter part of this verse five. Listen again: Mark 3:5: ...and his hand [his hand] was restored whole as the other. [His hand was restored whole as the other]. These are the keys: you find yourself that promise in the Word of God that meets your need. You believe that promise, acting on it. And you receive. He was made whole. He believed! And what he believed he received according to the promise of God. He believed God's promise of stretching forth his hand. He believed that, he stretched it forth and his hand was restored whole. There you have all those truths on tapping the resources for the more abundant life; set forth in this wonderful section of the Word of God. He stretched it forth. And as he stretched it forth it was made whole. This is tremendous! He did not receive his wholeness first and then stretch forth. His hand was withered and he stretched it forth. And as he stretched it forth he was made whole. These are the great keys of receiving things from God and in tapping into the resources for the more abundant life. You see before you receive something you act like you've already got it. Act like you have it and then it comes into concretion or into manifestation and you receive it. Whenever I read this record in the Word of God it reminds me of the times when we were practicing the principles of the greatness of God's Word in other sections of the world. We were travelling and trying out some of these great truths that we had learned and putting them into operation. And I was teaching in India. We were in a city of Jubbulpore and a lady who had worked in the mission service for some thirty years was delivered of a number of sicknesses that everybody knew she could never be delivered of, but God did deliver her. And this caused such a stir in the city of Jubbulpore that the following morning when we were ready to board the train and leave Jubbulpore, just thousands of people had gathered at the railroad depot. And all they wanted me to do was to lay my hands on them because some how or other they thought I must have something special in my hands. And they felt that if I just laid my hands on them they would be delivered. Some came to be prayed for, just to have my blessing because of this one miracle that God had wrought on the woman who had served in the mission field there so many, many years. And I'll never forget this incident because many of the people or most of the people that were gathered there that morning were of the Hindu faith. They were not Christian but they had been so impressed with the greatness of the power of God that they had come to see for themselves. And here were these people, many of them just crowding at our door, just asking me to bless them, put my hand on them. And just before our train moved out of that depot a man came up and his arm was paralyzed, it was hanging to his side like this. Simply hanging there. And he said to me, "will you pray for my arm, but I do not believe in your Jesus." Well what would you have done? He asked me to pray for his arm but he told me, "I do not believe in your Jesus." He was a high caste Hindu. Well I said to him, "do you believe that God will deliver you if I minister to you?" He said, "I believe God will heal me if you pray for me but I do not believe in your Jesus." And I said to him again, "do you believe God will set you..." He said, "I believe God will heal me but I do not believe in Jesus." Well I laid my hands on him and I prayed for him that God would set him free in the name of Jesus Christ. And when I finished I looked at him and I said, "now lift your arm, lift your arm." And he began putting it up and he got it about this high and when he got this arm about this high he lifted both of them just like this and he was jumping and shouting and tears were streaming down his face, because once he got it this high he realized he could move his arm. And when this realization came he just got so blessed, so filled with joy that he just shot them up and he was totally set free. And just about then the train started moving out of the depot and I said well praise God, thank God you were healed in the name of Jesus Christ. And there he stood, the train rolled out and we were on our way. At the next stop a man came to our compartment in the train and he said that he was representing his master and he wondered if the master could come and meet the man of God. And I asked, "well who is the master? Who is your master who wants to come and meet me in my train?" And he said, "well my master is so-and-so a member of parliament in Delhi." The man came to meet us in the train and he said to Mrs. Wierwille and myself that what he had seen in Jubbulpore was the most tremendous Christian thing he had ever seen in all of his life. How a man of God would bless all of God's people irrespective of whether they were Christian or Hindu. And of course he also said that day that he'd give to us the keys of the city that he represented and that any time we wanted to minster in India the doors of India and the Far East would be open to us; to minister the accuracy of the greatness of God's Word. You see, the man's hand was withered. He could in no wise stretch it forth. And yet, Jesus said unto him, "stretch forth thine hand." He had the promise of God, the man believed. And when he believed he acted and when he acted his hand was restored whole. This is why all of these wonderful great truths are set forth in this record of this Word of God. Because all believing equals receiving. If you're ever going to receive anything from God you must believe. You receive nothing without believing. All believing equals receiving. And here it is; the promise--stretch forth thy hand is what is available. What is available, right over here. This is the promise-- stretch forth thy hand. It must be available else he could not have stretched it forth. God's ability equals God's willingness. You see, what He has promised He is willing to do. So, the man believed and as he believed he stretched it forth. This is how to receive. The how of receiving is believing. And he received, was made whole. This is what to do with it after you've got it. He was made whole. He had his need and his want parallel. When this man had his need and want parallel he received. The reason I know he received is because he was made whole. This is what to do with it after you've got it. This is why all believing equals receiving. Nobody ever receives anything from God until first of all he finds out what's available. And he believes. And in the third place acts upon his believing in a positive way. All believing equals receiving and I want you to remember that. Look at Ephesians--Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians 1:19: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to usward who [do one thing] believe,... The exceeding greatness of His power to usward who do one thing-- believe. And in the third chapter of Ephesians is another one of these great truths. Listen to this: Ephesians 3:20: Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly [He's not able to do abundantly He's able to that which exceeds abundantly] above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, You see, all believing equals receiving. Find that promise of God. Believe and you receive. The law of believing ladies and gentlemen, the law of believing is the greatest law in the Word of God. As a matter of fact, it's not only the greatest in the Word, it's the greatest in the whole world. Because the law of believing is what makes possible the manifestation of the more abundant life if you know what's available and you know how to receive it. The record of this that I'd like to share with you is in the Gospel of Mark chapter 11. Here in two verses of scripture the whole record of this great law of believing is set forth. Mark chapter 11, I want to begin reading in verse 12 of this eleventh chapter with you. Mark 11:12, 13: And on the morrow [this is in the last week of Jesus life here upon earth], when they [Jesus and his twelve apostles] were come from Bethany, he was hungry: And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet. Well bless your heart, here's a verse of scripture that years ago people taught me showed the inaccuracy in the Word of God and that you couldn't trust the Bible, so long with all the rest of them I threw this verse out and most of the scripture. Because of what men taught me not because of the accuracy of God's Word. You know what that verse says--Jesus went to that fig tree hoping to find something thereon and then when he couldn't find anything thereon--it says the time of figs was not yet. Do you mean to tell me that you think Jesus was more ignorant than I am. Would I go to an apple tree if it wasn't time for apples? I should say not. Do you think Jesus would go to a fig tree if he knew it wasn't time? I don't think so. There must be a deeper truth. There is. There are two trees in the Bible that are the peoples tree. One is the coconut palm the other is the fig. It's never stealing to take fruit off of either one of those two trees no matter where you're traveling. If I have a fig tree in my front yard you can walk right over and help yourself anytime. Because the fig tree is the peoples tree, like the coconut palm. Those two trees in the Bible were always the peoples. Here was a fig tree. Jesus was coming from Bethany to Jerusalem. It says he was hungry, that doesn't mean he was starved to death. He was hungry like you are for an ice cream cone or a piece of candy or for a pack of gum, maybe. He just wanted a little bit to nibble on. So there he saw that fig tree out there and he walked over to it hoping to find something on it. For the time of figs was not yet, he knew that. But what did he expect to find? This is remarkable. In this species of figs; as the leaves come out there are little buds under here and they are just as sweet as candy. And people traveling along who have a little hunger seeing a fig tree will walk over to the fig tree and pick off that little bud and pop it in their mouth. This is what he was looking for. But the time of figs was not yet. But if it didn't have those little buds Jesus knew it wouldn't have any figs latter. Now watch the story develop. It's a tremendous thing. Mark 11:14a: And Jesus answered and said unto it,... He spoke to the fig tree, can you imagine the neighbors looking at Jesus? Can you imagine the apostles scratching their heads wondering what Jesus was doing talking to that old fig tree? Imagine Jesus talking to a fig tree. Imagine what your neighbors say about you tomorrow morning see you standing outside talking to your tree. Heh, you know what they'll think. Well what do you think they thought of Jesus? Well look at the record. Mark 11:14a: ...Jesus answered and said unto it,... If you ever want to receive the greatness of the power of God you've got to be specific. He said to it, he didn't beat around the bush, he spoke to the tree, he said to it. Mark 11:14b: ...No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it. I wish you could read it in the original. It's real, so-so. His disciples heard it. You know they scratched their head and wondered if he was off a little bit in the upper story. Heh, heh. Well, that's all there is. They went back to Bethany that day, the following morning verse 20: Mark 11:20: And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree [the fig tree] dried up from the roots. Next morning--trees don't die this way, this tree died backwards. Died from the roots up. Trees die from the top down, you notice the death of a tree in the top leaves, the upper leaves first then down. This one died backwards. Trees don't die like this ordinarily, this one died backwards, over night. Mark 11:21: ...Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master [Master], behold [behold], the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away. Old Peter was really shook wasn't he. Mark 11:22: And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. The original text reads have the faith of God. Now listen to verse 23. Mark 11:23: For verily I [Jesus] say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto 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 saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. There's the greatest law in the Word of God ladies and gentlemen. Listen again: Mark 11:23: ...whosoever [it doesn't say Christian, non-Christian; whosoever means whosoever. It doesn't say people who are followers of The Way Ministry, it says whosoever.] whosoever shall say unto this mountain, [and he was speaking at a literal mountain, showing it over there in Jerusalem. He said whosoever shall say to that mountain over there], 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 saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. In other words, you say it, you believe it, God will bring it to pass. Isn't that tremendous! Then, he reiterates this great truth for the second time in verse 24. Mark 11:24: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray believe, [when ye pray believe], that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. When you pray, BELIEVE! That you shall receive them. The original text says "when you pray believe you have received and you shall absolutely have it." This is the greatest law in the Word Of God, this law of believing. Because whosoever says it, whosoever believes it, when he believes he acts on it and he receives. These great laws in God's wonderful matchless Word make life to cohere, make life jell. And it makes it possible for us to live the more abundant life. Because we know what's available, we know how to receive it, we know what to do with it after we've got it. SEGMENT 4: THE LAW OF BELIEVING--NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE We are today what we are because of our believing. We will be tomorrow what we believe also. We are today where we are because of our believing. We will be tomorrow what we believe and we will be tomorrow where our believing takes us. No one ever rises beyond what he is able to believe. And no one can believe more than what he's taught. And no one can teach anymore than what he knows. In I Corinthians chapter 12, verse 2 this tremendous truth is set forward for us to understand. Listen to this: I Corinthians 12:2: Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, even as ye were led. The reason these people were serving dumb idols, they were idols of wood or stone, the reason they were serving these idols was because someone had led them to serve idols. "Even as ye were led," no one rises beyond where he's led. No one can believe anymore than what he's taught. The reason you believe what you believe is because of what you've been taught. The reason you think the way you think was because of the way you were led. You know, once you have the greatness of the promises of God and believe those--God's ability equals His willingness and it will always come into concretion. There is only one thing that ever defeats the believer. Only one, in the least common denominator, that is when you take all the shrouds off and all the paraphernalia off and get down to the least common denominator; there's only one thing that ever defeats any person from manifesting the more abundant life, and that's fear. Fear is the believer's only enemy in its least common denominator. This is why I speak of fear as being man's greatest enemy. Fear is sand in the machinery of life. When we have fear and where we have fear we cannot, you just cannot believe God and have faith. Fear my friend has ruined more ministries and more Christian lives than any other thing in the world. Men have wonderful ministries, they come out and they want to do wonderful things for God and set forth the greatness of the power of God. And, lo and behold, many of them get inside of the church and before they know it the machinery of the organized system gets to them. And the man is held in. He is restrained, he is bound like. He'd really like to do something but he can't move forth in his ministry because he is afraid. I have counseled with many, many ministers through these years. And if there is ever any one thing that has defeated them it's fear. They're afraid to walk into something because of what somebody may say. Or somebody may hand them their hat and say unless you do so and so just take a walk. You see, people cause fear. And this fear binds men. Have real ministries but the ministries within these men becomes bound because of fear. This is why class, fear has ruined more men's ministries than any other thing I know. Afraid of what the head deacon or the head elder may say. I don't know why because the deacons don't deac and the elders don't eld anyway. So why should we be afraid? But this is what binds them this is what ties them up. This is why fear has ruined more ministers than any other thing in the whole world. And it has ruined more individual Christian lives than anything else I know. You see, when we talked about the law of believing, the greatest law in the world. To believe is a verb. A verb connotes action. And we are always going to be believing either positively or negatively. Because everything in life is contingent upon believing. And when people believe negatively, and negative believing is just as much believing as positive believing. This is why we have to recognize this law of believing both from the negative side and the positive side. On the negative side this law of believing works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. You see, fear is believing. Fear is believing, it's a law. Believing is a law. As you believe you receive. For all believing equals receiving. All receiving equals believing. On the negative side to believe; fear is believing. But it is believing in reverse. It's believing in reverse. And so it produces wrong results. Because it's wrong believing. It produces negative results, wrong results. But the point I want you to see very clearly; that FEAR IS BELIEVING. It works with that same law of mathematical exactness and scientific precision with which the positive side works. But I first want to handle the negative side in this class to make this thing living and real for you, to see that fear is a law. For instance, if you fear your job. You're afraid of your job or afraid of holding your job. You know what's going to happen to you? You're going to lose your job. If you are afraid of a disease, and boy today we sure are aren't we? We're always being told day after day be careful or this is going to get you. Do this and this will catch up with you. If you're afraid of catching a disease, I'll bet on you you're going to catch it. Because the law is that what you fear you're going to receive. Because it's believing, it's believing. People have a fear of the future. They have a fear of death. Fear always encases, fear always enslaves. Fear always binds you. This is why it's a law. This occurs to us because it is a law. And this law works for saint and sinner alike; has nothing to do with whether you're a Christian or a non-Christian. Whether you're a believer or an unbeliever in Christ. Nothing to do with it. Because the law of believing: whosoever shall say to that mountain, go jump in the lake. And believe what he says and not doubt, he's going to get what he believes. So when you believe in fear you're going to receive the results, or the consequences of your believing. I take you into the Word of God to show this great truth again. From John chapter 9, the Gospel of John chapter 9, in verse 1: John 9:1: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. Here in the Gospel of John you have the record of the healing of a man who was born blind. Isaiah had prophesied many hundreds of years before that when the true Messiah would come there would be one miracle he would do which had never been done before. And this one miracle would be the proof that he was the promised Messiah of God. And this miracle was that he would open the eyes of a man born blind. And this is the record in the Gospel of John in the ninth chapter. The record of the healing of this man born blind. I'm not going to read the whole chapter with you at this time. I do that in the advanced class. But in the foundational classes on Power For Abundant Living we want to cover this great law of believing on the negative side and see it. Well here was this man born blind, Jesus ministered to him and he was healed. And this healing really shook the community. The first thing they did in verse eight it says, after this man was healed they called in the neighbors. You see, the neighbors got to get involved sooner or later, don't they? Even in your life sometimes the neighbors get involved, how about it? John 9:8: The neighbors therefore, [they called them in] and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? So the neighbors got involved. The neighbors weren't to sure about what was going on so in verse thirteen it says they brought him to the Pharisees. Now the Pharisees, the heads of the temple, the synagogues, they get involved. Then in verse eighteen of this ninth chapter: John 9:18: ...the Jews [the Pharisees] did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. Now they get the parents involved. First the neighbors, then the heads of the temples, the synagogues, the religious leaders, you know, the top spiritual echelon; call them in. Now they call the parents in. Quite a doo isn't it? Hah-ha you said it. They call in the parents of him that had received his sight. John 9:19: And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then doth he now see? You tell us how he sees! John 9:20, 21: His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind: But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. Verse twenty-two and listen carefully. John 9:22, 23: These words spake his parents, because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess they he was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, He is of age; ask him. My-oh-my. Isn't that tremendous! Put yourself in this situation. If you had a son that was born blind and let's say he was about forty years of age and God set him free and healed him of his blindness. It seems to me that as a parent the least you could do is to say, "yes sir, Jesus Christ healed him." But these parents didn't say this. Why were they not able to be the kind of parent you would have expected? One thing stopped them from manifesting forth the kind of parenthood you would have anticipated. And that was they were full of fear--for fear of the Jews. Fear enslaved them. Fear encased them. Fear stopped these parents from being the kind of parents they really should have been. Therefore, they said, "he is of age you ask him." You see, fear always encases, fear always enslaves. Fear always makes us less than what we really ought to be. Of course, today it doesn't make much difference whether you agree with the top echelon in the spiritual field or not. If you don't agree with them somebody else will have you. But these Jews had already agreed that if anybody said Jesus was the Christ they would be put out of the synagogue. Now this doesn't mean much to us today because if they throw you out of one church the church on the other street corner is glad to have you. They put you out here and somebody else will pick you up there. But it wasn't that way in the Bible. When a man was ostracized, excommunicated from the synagogue he could buy no bread, he could buy nothing at all. He couldn't go downtown and people walk with him. When you'd walk down the street everybody else would walk on the other side. You couldn't go to the synagogue, you couldn't go to the places you ordinarily went. You see why the parents were encased, they were enslaved for fear of what might happen to them. You know, in John chapter 20 we have the record of the apostles. And I want to just read this record with you. Turn to the Gospel of John, chapter 20 in the Gospel of John. In verse 19 it says: John 20:19: Then the same day at evening, [this is the day of the so called resurrection appearance of Jesus] being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the midst, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. The doors were shut! The apostles were behind closed doors, it says for fear of the what? Jews. You see fear always puts us behind closed doors. It always encases us, it always enslaves us. Fear brings results. But they are negative results. They are results in reverse, just out of the opposite order of the positive results. Years ago I knew a minister whose wife had passed away and he had seven or eight children. I just do not recall how many children. About a year later he married another woman who had four or five of her own. And I suppose this gave it to them cheaper by the dozen, but I'm not sure. But they lived happily together. And about a block and a half away lived a woman who had just one boy. And this woman who had just this one son was always frustrated, always nervous, always afraid. While this minister and his wife who had this whole bunch of children it just seemed like some how or another nothing ever happened to them. Oh they get a black eye once in awhile, somebody come home with a bloody nose but they just lived. But this one woman with her one son, boy she was a nervous frustrated woman if you ever saw one. And week after week and month after month it got worse. When her little boy started to kindergarten she used to walk him across the street and put him in the next block where the kindergarten was for fear he might get run over. Afraid he might get hit by an automobile. When he was in the first grade she did the same thing--in the second grade--third grade. And she called on this minister and she said, "I don't understand why I'm so nervous and so upset all the time. I have just one boy, that's all I have to care. You have got all of these children, some how or other it just seems like nothing ever happens to them and you just live abundantly." You know what he said to her? He said, "ma'am this is how we operate. We get them around the breakfast table, it's the only time we can get our whole family together. We get them all around the breakfast table and when we have them seated around the breakfast table I do the praying. Everybody's quiet, I pray. And I pray like this: `Lord here we are all together at breakfast; now Lord,' he said, `they're all going out to school and other places today. So what I'm going to do with this family Lord; I give them all to you right now. Amen.' Boy right after you give them to the Lord you say `amen' real quickly because you don't want to take them back." He relinquished them to the Lord. Literally, he just let go and let God and those children just did amiably. About a year and a half or two later this son of this woman was coming home from school early once. Mother hadn't met him at the street across the block. He came home from school and they were living on a road where not more than three houses were located at the time. And when they came back from school that day the boy walked out in that street and got hit by an automobile and killed outright. I went to the service of that boy and you know what the minister preached on? That God now had another rose petal in heaven. My God people! To think of it, that God Almighty, who created the heavens and the earth, that he should want to kill a little boy like that because God needed another rose petal in heaven. Oh my God when are we going to learn something? That's blasphemy! Do you know what killed that little boy? You just quit yakking about anything else. You know what killed him. God didn't kill that boy. You know what killed that boy? The fear in the heart in the life of that mother--because that mother was just desperately afraid something was going to happen to her little Johnny. And she kept that fear and kept it, till one day it happened. Why? Because it's a law. It's a law. That which you are afraid of is what you are going to receive. She was afraid of her boy, she was afraid he was going to get killed. She was afraid she was going to lose him and she did just that. God didn't do it! She did it with her own negative believing. Her own fears were the contributing factors that ultimately made possible the death of that little boy. You see, what you fear will get you. It's a law. Have you ever heard about people who have set the time of their death? Somebody will say well next year at this time I won't be here. Well if you're a betting man, bet your money you're going to win it. Because if you make up your mind that next year at this time you're going to be dead; God would have to change the whole laws of the universe to not accommodate you. You're going to be dead. A number of years ago a man came to see me about his fear. He was telling me how according to the records I guess in the United States in the insurance companies or some place; a traveling salesman is suppose to crack up his automobile in so many thousands or thousands of miles. So they've evaluated this and decided that so many miles you crack up. Alright, here he had already driven 5,000 or 10,000 more than the average and the fear was getting to him. "Well it's got to get to me sooner or later it gets to everybody else you crack up sooner or later, it's got to get to me." And this fear was just driving him till he was almost afraid to get into his automobile and drive. He was losing business day-after-day and week-after-week because of this fear. He came to me. I ministered to him and explained the law of believing to him. He believed God's Word and hasn't cracked up to this day as far as I know in the automobile. The whole world round about us builds fear within people. The psychology prevalent in our society today is fear. For instance, if you do not use this kind of toothpaste you are going to increase your cavities so much more. So you're afraid of increasing your cavities so you buy this kind of toothpaste. It's like this all through society. If you don't smoke this you're going to get this. If you don't do this you're going to get that. And it's all fear. The psychology of moving people today is to get them full of fear. Talking about not smoking this you're going to get that. Reminds me of a time when I was driving toward Indianapolis, Indiana a number of years ago. And I was coming up the road and over there was a big old sign board, one of these eight by twenty signs and across from this sign board up on the hill on the other side of the road was a cemetery. And coming up this hill that day all I could read at the top of this sign was, (and the cemetery on the other side), the reading on the sign was "millions now smoking." Well, glad I don't get paid for my stories. But have you ever picked up a newspaper? You have. Have you ever noticed how positive the newspapers are? Yeah, positive. Ninety percent of everything you've ever read in a newspaper is negative. The top line, the headlines--negatives. The articles--negatives. Automobile accidents, murders, suicides, everything negative. Why? Because this is what people have been living on. We've lived on negatives so long that when somebody else comes along with a positive diet we think he must be way off in left field because we certainly must be right. That's right. That's why we are getting all the anxieties, frustrations and everything else because we are living off of fear and fear is a law. You pick up that daily newspaper look at it--negatives upon negatives. The newscasts, television, radio--one negative after another. Because it's fear, fear, fear. You see, this law of fear works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. I'd like for you to turn to the book of Proverbs. I want to read you a few of these tremendous things from the Word of God. Psalms, Proverbs, the Book of Proverbs--Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes--Proverbs chapter 29. This India paper gets to be awful thin in here sometimes. Proverbs 29, verse 25, Listen to this: Proverbs 29:25a: The fear of man bringeth a snare:... Every time a man has a fear he is ensnared, he is encased. In Isaiah; Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah. Chapter 8 of Isaiah and in verse 12 of this eighth chapter we read the following, listen to this: Isaiah 8:12: Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. "Neither fear ye their fear." These people were being enslaved as a nation because they were afraid of these other people, the other nation. "Neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." Isn't that a tremendous thing? Look at Jeremiah--Isaiah, Jeremiah. There are many like this in the Word I'm just picking out a few of these to share with you. Isaiah, Jeremiah chapter 49, of Jeremiah, listen to this: Jeremiah 49:24: Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: [fear hath seized on her]... The reason she had waxed feeble and turned to flee was because she was afraid. In the Book of Job, the Book of Job. Job, Psalms just right before the book of Psalms. Job chapter 3, one of the first chapters. Chapter three verse 25, Listen to this: Job 3:25a: For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me,... That which he was afraid of he received. Over in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 34, verse 4: Psalm 34:4: I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. As long as he was in fear he was encased. In II Timothy chapter 1, Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews, James--II Timothy, chapter 1. Listen to this in verse 7: II Timothy 1:7: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. God hath not given us the spirit of fear. So wherever we have fear, wherever we have fear it is not God who gave it to us. Then it must be from some other source. And if it's from some other source then it has to be negative. This is why fear is always negative. Fear is always wrong. Fear is that which always encases us and always enslaves us but remember that FEAR IS BELIEVING and works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. SEGMENT 5: TWO KINDS OF UNBELIEF Fear is the believers only enemy and fear is believing, it is a law. Now this law of believing on the negative side, which fear is, fear is on the negative side, it's believing. It's believing in reverse. It's wrong believing producing negative results. On the positive side however, to believe on the positive side, the opposite of fear is faith. Faith on the positive side is believing. It is believing in the revealed Word. Like when Jesus said to the man "stretch forth thy hand." You will remember this was the promise and this was the Word of God. This man believed, he believed in the Word that Jesus spoke. This is right believing. And this on the positive side produces the positive or the good results. So on the negative side you have fear on the positive side you have faith. Both fear and faith are believing. And both of them produce results with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. Now, in the Gospel of John, you will remember that in this Gospel of John in the twentieth chapter in the nineteenth verse we read about the disciples and the apostles who on the day of the resurrection appearance were behind closed doors, where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews. In other words these men were behind closed doors afraid. On the negative side for fear of the Jews. I want to show you these same men some fifty days later after the day of the ascension, and the day of Pentecost. You see, forty days after the resurrection is the ascension. Ten days after the ascension is the day of Pentecost. Fifty days after this record here in the Gospel of John. I want to take you into the record and show you what happened to these men. But before I read it with you from Acts chapter two and you can turn to Acts chapter two already. Before I read you some of these things from Acts chapter two I'd like to just remind you that you know no man changes in forty or fifty days. Some of you woman have been married to some of us men a long time and you know that we don't change in forty or fifty days, right? I want to show you some men, just good common human beings who within fifty days changed from being full of fear behind closed doors into being men of great boldness and great conviction. And what I'm concerned about is the law of believing, both negative and positive and what caused the change. John twenty was written regarding the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ on the day of his resurrection manifestation, remember that. Fifty days later, fifty days after this we have the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter two tells about when the day of Pentecost was fully come. It says, "they were all filled with the holy spirit or the holy ghost" in verse four. Then in verse fourteen it says, "Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:" Where was this man, where was this man fifty days before? Well, according to the Gospel of John we know he was behind closed doors. Right? For fear of the Jews. He was encased, enslaved, one thing enslaved him--fear. Now fifty days later, fifty days later, listen to this record: Peter stood up with the eleven, those eleven had been behind those same closed doors. He lifted up his voice and said unto them ye men of Judea and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem be this known unto you and you hearken to my words! Where did he get that boldness from? Fifty days before this he was scared to death, afraid of his shadow, behind closed doors, locked in, emaciated spiritually speaking. Fifty days later there he is standing up and he says to those men, ye men listen to me. You same men; fifty days before he was scared to death of them. What changed that man, from being a man full of fear into being a great man of believing? What changed him? Well, let's read some more here in Acts chapter two. Look at verse twenty-two of this same chapter. Acts 2:22: Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: Look at the boldness of that man! Look at verse twenty-three. Acts 2:23: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Fifty days before Peter wouldn't have said this. Why is he saying it now? Something must have happened to him to change that man from being a man full of fear to being a man full of believing faith. What changed him? You know when I was attending seminaries and being instructed in homiletics and some of the other arts of the ministry; I was told that when you preach a sermon you never say "you" you always say "we"-- include yourself. Well, Peter must have been in the wrong seminary because when he was preaching here he said, "you have taken and you have deliberately done so-and-so, and you have crucified him and you have slain him." Well, let's look at another verse, thirty-six: Acts 2:36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And in chapter three, this is all after the day of Pentecost. Pentecost fifty days after the resurrection appearance, fifty days after this these men were bold. What made them bold? Look at chapter three, verse twelve: Acts 3:12, 14: And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? But ye denied the Holy One and the Just, and desired a murderer to be granted unto you; Man that's what you call boldness. The man is no longer full of fear, something must have changed this man Peter. Look at verse seventeen: Acts 3:17: And now, brethren, I wot [know] that through ignorance ye did it, as did also your rulers. Then in chapter four, Peter and John were taken into custody because they were to bold I guess. And being let go after this miracle had been performed they brought them into custody and beat them up and a few other things you can read about in the fourth chapter, but verse 23: Acts 4:23-29: And being let go, they went to their own company, and reported all that the chief priests and elders had said unto them. And when they heard that, they lifted up their voice to God with one accord, and said, Lord, thou art God, which hath made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all that in them is: Who by the mouth of thy servant David hast said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord, and against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed, both Herod, and Pontius Pilate, with the Gentiles, and the people of Israel, were gathered together, For to do whatsoever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to be done. And now, Lord, behold their threatenings: and grant unto thy servants,... A holiday, a vacation, no, no, no that's not what it says. Well you think it should say this after all if you've been out there working for the Lord, carrying out the ministry and being in prison, and whipped, and persecuted certainly when you've done such a wonderful work and you've come back to the fold now they ought to give you a vacation with pay. No, when they came back and they got in this prayer group, you know what they said, "Lord behold their threatenings". They reminded God of what these people were doing to them. And they prayed this: Acts 4:29: ...and grant unto thy servants, You see they were sons of God in a perpendicular relationship but they were servants of God to their fellow men. Acts 4:29: ...and grant unto thy servants, that with all boldness [not with hesitancy, not with reluctancy, not with fear but that with all boldness], they may speak [what the people want us to speak. No, no, no, we may speak] thy word, We may speak thy Word. They prayed for more boldness. Well boldness is exactly what got them into trouble in the first place. Right? Boldness on the Word of God. As long as they were full of fear behind closed doors they had nothing to fear but fear itself. But once they got into that boldness they preached the Word of God, they got things accomplished. Men were healed, set free, saved, everything else. Lo and behold, they got thrown in prison. When they got out of prison they went back to the group and they had a little prayer meeting. That's right, good prayer meeting too. And you know what they prayed for? Lord give us more boldness. Give us more of the same thing that we've had to begin with now, give us more of that boldness Lord. And when we have that boldness one thing we want to do and that is to preach the Word. That we may speak thy Word, thy Word. Because you see the Word of God is the Will of God. It means what it says and says what it means. And if you've got the Word of God you know God's Will. And without knowing that Word you never know God's Will. So they prayed, "give us more boldness so that we may speak thy Word." Ha-ha, listen to verse thirty. Acts 4;30, 31: By stretching forth thy hand to heal; and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child Jesus. And when they had prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness. With hesitancy? No, they spoke the Word of God with boldness. What made them speak the Word of God with boldness? Verse thirty-one says, "they were all filled with the holy spirit." In Acts chapter two on the day of Pentecost "the twelve apostles received the fulness of the holy spirit" as it says in verse four. Here in verse thirty-one of Acts four it says, "they were all filled with the holy spirit, holy ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness." Ladies and gentlemen, what changed those men? What changed them? I think you know what changed them. Look, between the record in John twenty and in Acts chapter two; the resurrection in John twenty, the day of Pentecost in Acts two; there is nothing that stands between John twenty and Acts two that could have changed the men except the new birth and the power of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost! That's all. For they were men filled with the holy spirit. Class, I've seen men and women change too. Boys and girls and young people, but I've never seen one person get rid of his fear until he got born again of God's spirit, filled with the power of the holy spirit. And when men get filled with the power of that holy spirit-- fear goes. If you want to get rid of your fear, your frustrations, your anxieties, you've got to get born again of God's spirit, filled with the power of the holy spirit. That's the only thing that changed Peter, and the rest of the apostles, that's all. That's right. That's the only thing that ever changes the life of a man or a woman. To get filled with the power of the holy spirit. So if you want to tap the resources of the power of God, you want to manifest forth the greatness of the power, you want to get rid of your fears, your worries, your anxieties, your frustrations--you come to the greatness of God's Word, get born again of God's spirit, filled with the power of the holy spirit and you can have that same boldness. They prayed, and when they prayed it says the place was shaken where they prayed, where they were assembled. They were all filled with the holy spirit and they spoke the Word of God with boldness. Always get amused spiritually when I read that. With people in that prayer meeting, the place was shaken. I often thought that if the power of God moved like that today in most of our churches we'd have nothing but funerals. People would just get scared to death if God ever went to move. The place was shaken where they prayed, because what they prayed for was boldness that they might speak one thing--not what they thought, not what they believed, but that they might speak one thing and that was The Word. For it's nothing but the Word, the power of the holy spirit in that Word living in an individual that takes the fear out of him. And ladies and gentlemen that's the only thing that ever took the fear out of my life. I used to be afraid of my own shadow almost. I was afraid of meeting people, especially people in academic circles, in high political circles, in high religious circles. I used to just shake, afraid when I was suppose to meet them. Until I really got born again and filled with the power of the holy spirit and that took the fear out of me. And today by God's mercy and by God's grace as far as I know I have no fear within me. I'm not afraid of anything, anywhere. Why? Because I believe in the power of the holy spirit within me and this has given me the boldness, the enthusiasm, the dynamics if you please of standing up for the integrity and the greatness of God's Word when all through the world today in almost every society, nobody, believes that the Word of God is that Will of God--that it means what it says and says what it means--and that God has a purpose for everything that He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. That's why ladies and gentlemen this class on Power For Abundant Living has a word to speak to our day and to our time. Well, ha-ha, what caused the change? From men being full of fear to being men of believing faith. One thing--PENTECOST! That's all! You see, fear and faith both operate by believing. And both work with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. Because fear works according to the law of believing on the negative side. Faith works according to the law of believing on the positive side. Both work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. Fear builds unbelief. This is why fear always defeats the promises of God. Jesus Christ did many mighty signs, miracles and wonders many places like at Nazareth, at Galilee, at Capernaum; I'm thinking of. But when he got to Nazareth to his own home town he could not do very much. Have you ever noticed why? Look at Matthew, chapter thirteen of Matthew. A tremendous record here. Matthew 13:58: And he [Jesus] did not [what] many mighty [signs, miracles and wonders; he did not many mighty] works there because of [his unbelief-- No. because of what?] their unbelief. Jesus could do mighty signs, miracles and wonders in Capernaum and many other places but when he got back home to Nazareth he could not do many mighty works there because he changed? No. Because they changed, the people changed. They were full of fear and fear issues in unbelief. Unbelief is believing but it is negative believing. This is why on the negative side believing is this law and it works with this mathematical exactness and scientific precision for saint and sinner alike, for every individual. On the negative side this is the downward grade. It starts with doubt. For instance you doubt whether you can do the job. Then you start worrying about not being able to do it. Then you get full of fear that you can't do it which always issues in unbelief, unbelief. Unbelief is believing but it's "un", negative believing. It's un- belief. Don't you see, it is believing on the negative side. This is why all of these things work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. Because on the negative side this is always true that you start with doubt. When you are through with doubt you get to worrying about it. For instance, you doubt something, you worry about it. Then you get full of fear and it issues in this negative side of believing which is unbelief. That is why we need to tap these wonderful resources. And I want to show you something here on the board in just a moment to show you the positive side of this thing. Because on the negative side we know it works and it will work with the same efficacy on the positive side. So on the positive side you will see in a moment that we have believing with confidence. Over here. On the negative side you have doubt. On the positive side you have confidence. Confidence is just the opposite of doubt. Trust is on the positive side just the opposite of worry. Faith is on the positive side just the opposite of fear. These confidence, trust and faith issue in believing on the positive side. So there you have the positive, over here you have the negative. And I have said to you time and time again that all of these laws work with this mathematical exactness and with this kind of precision in the Word of God and in your own life. We'll see many of them in the Word. I'd like for you to take your Bible and turn to Romans. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans. Romans chapter ten and in this tenth chapter of Romans I'm going to be reading some verses with you after a bit but I want you to turn here now and then I want to explain something to you and share something with you. And then we'll be reading this Romans ten in a moment. But, when it comes to believing on the negative side there are two kinds of unbelief in the Bible; two kinds of them. And I want you to note this; of these two kinds of unbelief in the Bible, in the Word of God, every time the word unbelief is used or in the context you see the unbelief. Every time one of the words is the word apistia: those who have never heard or heard enough to believe. In other words this word is always used in the critical Greek texts when it refers to those who have never heard or who have never heard enough to believe. For instance if I have not heard enough of the Word of God to be saved I have this apistia kind of unbelief. Because I have not heard enough or heard at all so that I could believe. I want you to note for instance in Romans ten, in verse thirteen of Romans ten: Romans 10:13-15: For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! How shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? These people were not believing, they were unbelievers. They had unbelief because they had never heard. They were the apistia kind of unbelievers. Now, the other type of the two kinds of unbelief in the Word, the other word in the critical Greek text is the word apeitheia. This word refers always to those who have heard but refuse to believe what they have heard. These are the two words that are used in the Word of God and these are always used without any variation. Wherever this word apistia appears it always refers to those who have never heard or who have never heard enough to believe. And this other Greek word apeitheia always refers to those who have heard but refuse to believe what they've heard. For instance if I've heard the Word of God that I could be saved but I refuse to believe that Word of God I belong in this second category of unbelief. Now, in the Gospel of Matthew in the thirteenth chapter, in the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, and I'd like for you to turn to this Matthew thirteen please. I want to show you some of these things from this thirteenth chapter, in verse fifty-three, tremendous record: Matthew 13:53-55a: And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these parables, he departed thence. And when he was come into his own country, he taught them in their synagogue, insomuch that they were astonished, and said, Whence hath this man this wisdom, and these mighty works? Is not this the carpenter's son?... Whoa! Wait a minute, wait a minute. That's what they said. They said is not this the carpenter's son? Matthew 13:55-58: Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief. What a wonderful record. "Is not this the carpenter's son?" Was he the carpenter's son? You tell me what you think of Jesus, who he is and I'll tell you how far you're going to go spiritually. You know what they said of him? "This is the carpenter's son." Well, if he was the carpenter's son then he must have been illegitimate because the Word of God says that Mary was pregnant before Joseph and she came together in marriage. Well that's exactly what they thought in Nazareth his home town. They thought Jesus was illegitimate this is why they said he is the carpenter's son. He was not the carpenter's son! He was the Son of God by divine conception, born of Mary, but conceived by the Holy Ghost the Word of God says. Well, we'll see some more. Matthew 13:55, 56: Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they...Whence then hath this man... I wish you could read it in the original text. Ha-ha, here's how it really has the emphasis: Is not this the carpenter's son? And his mother called Mary, you remember her. And his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and whew that Judas, man was he wild. And his sisters, whew, boy were they something. Are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things? You see they said he couldn't have it. They couldn't believe it because they looked at the family and said "well nothing good can come out of this man. We know the family." And they were offended in the Lord Jesus Christ, they were offended in him. They were offended. And Jesus said, "a prophet is not without honour, save in his own country and in his own house." And he did not many mighty works there because of their what? Unbelief. You see he couldn't do much there because they were not believing. They were unbelievers, this is what defeated them. With the greatness of the power of God that was available unto them because they were full of fear and unbelief. SEGMENT 6: THE GOD-BREATHED WORD In Nazareth of Galilee they were offended at him and he could do no mighty works there because of their unbelief. They believed that he was the son of the carpenter, but you and I know that he was the Son of God by divine conception and that he was born of Mary. If you'll turn to the Gospel of Luke I want to show you a verse of scripture that just caused me no end of difficulty in our Biblical research. The Gospel of Luke chapter two. Here in the record of the Word of God is one verse of scripture that I just was not able to handle for years and years in our research and I looked high and low. In the second chapter and in the forty-second verse of the Gospel of Luke we have this record: Luke 2:42: And when he [Jesus] was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. This bothered me because I knew that according to Jewish law today that a boy became a man, he took the Barmitzvah when he was thirteen. Yet here Jesus was taken to the temple and went through this barmitzvah program when he was twelve years old and I couldn't understand why. And I thought there must be a mistake in the text. Surely it must be thirteen instead of twelve. So I looked high and low, every critical Greek text I could find, checked with every source that I could think of. Because I figured there must be an error in the Word of God, but I never found one. Because all the critical Greek texts, all the Aramaic texts give the word for twelve in here instead of thirteen. When Jesus was twelve years old his parents took him to Jerusalem and did according to the feast, the Barmitzvah program he went through. Why twelve? And then one day I ran across a piece of literature that I have since lost I cannot find it but it was in an old text where I learned this that in ancient Jewish law when a boy was conceived illegitimately, this boy, this illegitimate child was brought to the temple when he was twelve years old instead of thirteen. So everybody would know that he was illegitimate. This is why they brought Jesus when he was twelve years old to the temple instead of when he was thirteen. The reason I know that they thought he was illegitimate because this what they thought in Nazareth. They thought that Mary was pregnant with Jesus before Joseph was married to her. He was an illegitimate child, this is what they thought of Jesus. Furthermore I know this is true from the Gospel of John. I'll just give you these scriptures and you can check them out for yourself in detail sometime. But it's a tremendous truth in the Word of God. And this explains why he could not do many mighty works in his own home town, because of their unbelief. They thought he was illegitimate and they thought a child born this way certainly can't have all this knowledge and all these wonderful works; so they were offended at him. But in the Gospel of John in the eighth chapter Jesus is having a discussion with the scribes and the Pharisees and in verse forty-one where the argument really gets hot they say to him: John 8:41b: ...We be not born of fornication;... How do you like that? "We be not born of fornication," this is what they said to Jesus. The word "fornication" is not used in the original text; it's "adultery." The word "fornication" is used today because when we use the word "fornication" we mean illegitimate sexual relationship before marriage. When we use the word "adultery" we mean an illegitimate sexual relationship after marriage. But in the Bible there is only one word, it's the word for "adultery." And these Jews accused Jesus. They said, "we be not born of fornication," saying, "but you are." This is why they brought Jesus to the temple when he was twelve. This is why Jesus could not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief. They believed he was an illegitimate child, they believed that he was nothing. He came out of Nazareth illegitimately how could he have this. This is why he could not do many mighty works there. You tell me what you believe about Jesus and I'm going to be able to tell you how far you are going to be able to go. If you think he's a bastard child, if you think that he was a counterfeit you're never going to tap the resources for the more abundant life, you see, because you'll be full of unbelief. And unbelief is always on the negative side. Fear which issues in unbelief is due to either wrong teaching or ignorance. All fear which issues in unbelief is due to either wrong teaching or it's due to ignorance. All the fear that you and I ever have in our life is due to one or the other of those two, either wrong teaching or ignorance. That's right. Wrong teaching may be corrected by right teaching. If I have been taught wrongly and I'm full of fear I can overcome my fear if somebody will just teach me rightly. Wrong teaching may be corrected or overcome by right teaching. While ignorance may be corrected or overcome by instruction. If a person is full of fear because he is ignorant regarding some subject or something in life he may overcome this ignorance by right teaching or right instruction. For instance, a child is full of fear, wakes up in the middle of the night screaming its head off because it's afraid to sleep in the dark. And so you put the light on in the bedroom all night or in the hallway. You know why that child is full of fear? Because its been wrongly taught, wrongly instructed. For instance, maybe you frightened the child by telling the child if it wasn't a good boy or a good girl you would put it in the closet and the boogie man would get it. That's right. So that child is full of fear because of wrong teaching. But suppose you're afraid of the boogie man in the closet, you're an adult. And you're afraid of the boogie man in the closet--that's ignorance. You know why? Because you've been in that closet and nobody's ever gotten you before. Right? Nobody's ever tackled you out of that closet. So, for an adult that's ignorance but for a child that's wrong teaching. Wrong teaching may be overcome by right teaching. Fears are always encasing and always enslaving and they always defeat us because when and where we have fear in our lives we cannot act positively on the believing promises of God's wonderful matchless Word. When and where we have faith we will not have fear. And where we have fear we will not have believing faith. This class on Biblical research on tapping the resources for the more abundant life in power for abundant living; this class on the Word of God is the Will of God should enable us as we are being filled with the power of the holy spirit and producing the manifestations of the spirit to bring us to the place as a group that we will have the position of believing faith manifested in our day by day living according to the Word of God and the promises of God. The believing of the Word of God will make us certain in the midst of the uncertainty of our times. The Word of God will give us a firm rock in the sea of speculation of our day and of our time. And the Word of God will give us a safe anchorage in the vast ocean of doubt with which we're surrounded. It is this Word of God rightly divided, rightly understood where we get the promises of God; knowing what's available, knowing how to receive, knowing what to do with it after we've got it that takes the fear out of a man's life because he's filled with the power of God. You see, God desires for His children and His church to be wise. If you'll look at Matthew chapter ten. Matthew chapter ten in verse sixteen is this wonderful record. You see God never meant for His children or His church to be stupid. He never meant for His believers to be full of fear. He meant for them to be bold and full of faith, full of power, full of the positive side. Matthew 10:16: Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. Wise as serpents but harmless as doves. Isn't that wonderful! You see Romans tells us that we are to be wise unto that which is good. In the Book of James God's Word declares that God gives us wisdom. If any man lack wisdom let him ask of God who gives wisdom. God never meant for His church or His children to be stupid. He meant for His church to be wise. He wanted us to know the score in other words. And you know how this wisdom comes? It comes from the Word of God. In the one-hundred-and-nineteenth Psalm, in the one-hundred-and- fifth verse of that Psalm it says that the Word of God imparts wisdom. The Word of God imparts wisdom. If you want to know God's Will you've got to go to God's Word. It is God's Word that imparts wisdom. In the Book of Isaiah it tells us that the Word of God imparts wisdom regarding salvation, that not even a fool need to err therein. The way is made so simple and so plain. It says in I John 3:2: I John 3:2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God,... It's the Word of God that imparts wisdom regarding our sonship relationship with Him. In II Corinthians chapter two it tells about the devices of Satan where it says: II Corinthians 2:11: ...we are not ignorant of his devices. Well if we're not ignorant of the devices of Satan then we know the score. And if we know the score then we are no longer stupid. Over in the Gospel of John it says that the Word of God imparts wisdom regarding the future life. The return of Christ, heaven, all of these, this is what the Word of God tells us about. Well if the Word of God tells us then we are no longer stupid if we believe God's Word. And this is why I believe the Word of God gives us the wisdom, ladies and gentlemen, regarding every subject necessary for man's complete knowledge of his redemption and of his salvation. Now, I'd like to take you a step further in this class and I'd like to get into the God-breathed Word. Since this Word of God gives us this wisdom and all of these other wonderful truths I now want to take you into God's Word and I want you to turn to II Timothy. I want you to go to one of the great scriptures in the Word of God again. II Timothy 3:16 and here is a verse of scripture you ought to mark in your Bible and with all capital letters if you like to, but put a circle around it because here is a scripture we are going to work with a mathematical exactness and a scientific precision in every detail; so that you can gather the greatness of it and the wonderfulness of it and understand it. II Timothy 3:16 I had placed on this chart completely because of it's great significance in this class on Power for Abundant Living. This is exactly what you will read in your King James version which you have in your hands. II Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: This is one of the great scriptures in God's Word and this deals with the God breathed Word. This Word that gives us wisdom and certainty and a positiveness and an assurance that we can utilize and that we can work. This "all scripture given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:" all of this scripture is so tremendous. And I want you to look in your Bible at the first word. What is the first word in that scripture? The first word is one of three letters only, and that is the word "all," a-l-l. All scripture, all of it, all of it, all scripture. Every time you read this word "all" in the Bible you stop and you take a breath, you breathe, and you ask yourself a question. What does the word "all" mean? Because in the Bible the word "all" is always used in one of two ways. It's either all without exception or all without distinction. Never varies. Every time the word "all" is used you must find out whether it's all without exception or whether it's all without distinction. You wrongly divide the word "all" and you will constantly be in the soup. You'll never be able to rightly understand the Word of God or get the full impact of it. It's always all without exception or always all without distinction, one or the other. And you must rightly divide it. Now, look at John, the Gospel of John. Better keep your finger in II Timothy because we'll be back but look at the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John chapter twelve of the Gospel of John verse thirty-two. Now we are studying the word "all," remember that now. John 12:32: And I [Jesus says], if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. If I be lifted up, Jesus said, I will draw all men unto me. Is that all without exception or is it all without distinction? That's the question you have to ask. Well it's very simple to answer. Since Jesus Christ was crucified have all the men, all the women, everybody in your community been drawn unto him? The answer I think is very simple isn't it? You know good and well not everybody in your community is a Christian, right? Therefore not all have been drawn to him without exception but all who have believed without any distinction were the ones who have been drawn to him. That's why the usage of the word "all" in John is not all without exception but all without distinction. Look at Hebrews. Hebrews, I want to show you another one, chapter two, because you must rightly divide the word "all" or you'll be in trouble all your lifetime on the accuracy of God's Word. Hebrews 2:9: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every [all] man. Is the word "every" there or the word "all" without exception or without distinction? Well, when Christ died upon the cross, and God raised him from the dead, can anybody be saved? Did Christ taste death for all men without exception or without distinction? There it's all without exception; for Christ died for all without exception that whosoever will may come. Anyone can get saved, born again of God's spirit today because Christ died for every man without exception. This is why back to II Timothy chapter three; all scripture, all of it without any exception, from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, all scripture, all of it without any exception. Now what's the next word? "Is." Look here, "all scripture is," and I had a line put under the word "is" to call your attention to it. Look in your Bible, just look at it right now. The word "is" in your Bible has a peculiar shading. It is what we call italicized. Now if you find in your Bible that your word "is" is not italicized it's either a proof readers oversight or it's a deliberate thing that the printers did to just by-pass. But it's very important in the understanding of God's Word and tapping the resources for the more abundant life. Because it's an italicized word and all the words in the King James version that are in italics are words which have been added to the text. They have been added by the translators. This is one of the major reasons why I have my students to use the King James version in this class on Power for Abundant Living. Because this is the only translation, the only version that I know of where you are given the information that when the translators added a word they italicized it, told you they added it. You see, all the rest of them that I read and study you never know whether they added, multiplied or subtracted. Whether they stuck true to the text or whether they didn't because they put in words, they leave out words they do all of these things without telling you. But in the King James the words that they added which were not in the Stephens text from which the New Testament was translated, when they were not in the text then they italicized these words. That tells us that they were added. So in II Timothy "all scripture is," this has been italicized, the word "is", to tell us that it was not in the text. Now, before we go any further then let's have one thing understood here. If I would drop a word which is italicized I am not touching the Word of God am I? They added it. Telling us they added it by putting it in italics. So if I delete the italicized word I am not touching the Word I still have the Word left as it was given. Now this becomes very important as we get deeper into the accuracy of this class. "All scripture is," this italicized word is added. Now, I'd just like to take you a step further to tell you that there is no verb "to be" of which "is" is a form in the Aramaic or in the Hebrew. You see there is a verb "to become" but there is no verb "to be." In other words the word "is" or the word "was" literally is not in the Hebrew or in the Aramaic. This becomes very interesting in Genesis chapter one. Take a look at Genesis chapter one. I sometimes think they put this in the first chapter in the second verse of Genesis so that I could teach this class on Power for Abundant Living. Put it right at the beginning. Genesis 1:2: And the earth was... Do you see that? In your Bible, "the earth was," and there the word "was" is not in italics it's in regular print. Genesis 1:2: ...the earth was without form and void; and darkness [next word] was upon the face of the deep. And the second usage of the word "was" is italicized. You know what this tells you? This tells you that the first word which is translated "was" here is in the text but it is not the word "was" it's the word "became" or "to become" is the verb. But the second "was" is added, never was there. So, verse two literally reads: "And the earth became [became] without form and void; and darkness upon the faces of the deep." You see it became without form and void. God didn't create it this way it wasn't this way, if you leave the word "was" there, "the earth was without form" seems to say that God created it this way. No, no, no, God didn't create it this way. It became this way. You know why I know this? Well, Isaiah says so. Look at Isaiah, Isaiah chapter forty- five, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Isaiah 45:18: For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain,... "Without form and void" in Genesis 1:2 are the same words that are used here in Isaiah 45:18 "not in vain." The Hebrew word is tohu bohu. He did not create it tohu bohu, without form and void. It became that way. You see, the word "is", "to be", "to be formed" is not in any Aramaic or Hebrew. Now, go back to II Timothy. II Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God,... Look here, "all scripture is given by inspiration of God." These five words "given by inspiration of God" one, two, three, four, five; these five words have only one word in the critical Greek text. And in the critical Greek text it is the word theopneustos. It is one word tied together. Theopneustos, this one word, this one word is translated by five words in the English King James; "given by inspiration of God." But in the originals again there is just one word--theopneustos. And broken down this word theo is "God," pneustos is "breathed." By the way this pneustos is the same general word that we have later on that we'll see when we study the Holy Spirit field. The word for spirit is the word pneuma. This word pneustos, theopneustos means literally "God-breathed-- God-breathed." All scripture is given by inspiration of God, all scripture is theopneustos. All scripture is God-breathed. God-breathed. You see when you study this Word of God and you get to the great truth of it, it begins to jell and deepen itself. Here we are studying one of the fundamental scriptures in the Word of God where it says all scripture, all of it from Genesis to Revelation, without any exception, all of it "God-breathed." Now let me ask you; does God breathe? You do, I do, but does God? No He doesn't! You know why? Because God is a Spirit. A spirit has no form or comeliness. Look at the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John 4:24: God is a spirit:... The old text delete the word "a" and it simply says "God is Spirit." God is not listed as one of the many spirits among all the rest of them. God is Spirit, God is Spirit! Furthermore, the Word of God says "that a spirit has no form" it doesn't look like someone with ten little tentacles sticking out and a dish pan over the top of their head, or a frying pan with radiations, no, no, no. God has no form. God is Spirit. God is Spirit and yet it says "God-breathed." And now we are going to have to search out exactly what does it mean when God who is Spirit, that it is said of Him that "God-breathed." What does it mean? SEGMENT 7: FIGURES OF SPEECH We are dealing with the minute accuracy of II Timothy 3:16. You will recall that the first two words of this scripture are "All scripture." "Is" is the third word which I told you was in italics, it's italicized, it's not in the original text. And it's all God- breathed, theopneustos. Now, as we are dealing with the minute accuracy of II Timothy 3:16 we must remember that all scripture, the word "all" without any exception. All scripture from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, all scripture without any exception is God-breathed. But, according to John 4:24 God is Spirit. And God being Spirit does not breathe. For a spirit does not breathe. A spirit has no form or comeliness either. So, if God does not breathe, we know you and I breathe, then what does it mean when it says, "all scripture [without any exception from Genesis to Revelation] is God-breathed?" What does it mean to be God-breathed? Well, have you ever asked yourself what is important in the Word of God? I'm sure that you have. And if you have asked yourself that question you have really been stumped, you know it. Because as you have conferred with other people you have found out that what you thought was important in the Word of God was not important to the other person. And so if you have ferreted this out far enough you know what you have come up with? The same conclusion that I ran into many years ago--one person said, "well this here is important in the Word of God." Somebody else said, "this is important." Someone else said, "this is important." And they were all different or divergences in ideas and opinions as to that which was important in the Word of God. In other words what one person thought was important another person did not think was important at all. Now can you imagine IF the Bible is God-breathed, theopneustos, if it is God-breathed and if the Bible is the Word of God, IF it is--now just put this forward --IF it is. Certainly, can you imagine for one minute that God would allow me the privilege of deciding as to what was important in the Word of God. Do you think that if the Bible is the Word of God, God would allow any person to make the decision as to what He thought was important? But that's exactly what we've done. What has been important for one group has been relatively insignificant and unimportant for another group. What one person has said is THE Word of God somebody else says is an hypothesis or an interpolation or it's been put in and it's relatively unimportant. Well, right here in these words "God-breathed" the Greek word theopneustos, we have one of the greatest truths in God's Word that just has taken us years and years to ferret out and to work with this minute exactness and scientific precision which is required in Biblical research. You see, God is Spirit. God does not breathe but we do. Whenever and wherever the Bible attributes to God human characteristics; God who is the creator of the heavens and the earth, whenever it attributes to God human characteristics--like men breathe, men get angry, men lie, men repent--whenever and wherever in the Word of God the Word attributes to God human characteristics like in this particular scripture here in Timothy "God-breathed", we have the Holy Spirit's marking of that which is important in the Word. And it is called figures of speech. The figures of speech in the Bible from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21, the figures of speech are the Holy Spirit's markings, they are God's markings in the Word as to that which is important. Whenever God wanted to mark something in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation He marked it by a figure of speech. Now a figure of speech is not something you can guess at. Figures of speech are legitimate grammatical usages which differ from the ordinary run to call attention to. Figures of speech have a mathematical design and you can't pull anybody's leg, you can't be wrong once these figures are set because these figures are real mathematically accurate. They are scientifically precise in their usage because figures of speech is in the category of a science. You know, in the late fall for instance; if we haven't had any rain for a long time and if I would say to you "the ground is dry" we'd have a plain statement of fact. The dust is blowing around, everything else. The ground is dry. We'd have a plain statement of fact. But if I said to you "the ground is thirsty." Now, what have we? We've got a figure of speech. The figure of speech is always literally more accurate. It's truer to true than the literal fact itself. When you say "the ground is dry" you have very little picture in your mind but the moment you say "it's thirsty" then you have a wonderful picture. It's so dry that it has big cracks in it, it's got it's mouth wide open just ready to receive the rain. You see, a figure of speech always augments, always puts the oomph to it. That is why God never left His Word to mere chance. He marked His Word from Genesis to Revelation as to that which is important. Whenever He wanted to emphasis something God puts it in a figure and there's no guesswork to it. Now, these figures of speech which are the Holy Spirit's markings in the Bible, these are just tremendous in this class on Biblical research in Power for Abundant Living. There are in the Bible 212 different figures of speech that are used in the Bible. Altogether as far as I can ascertain throughout all history there must have been in the neighborhood of 220 or 225 different figures of speech for all time. 212 of these are used in the Bible. And sometimes you have as high as forty varieties under one figure. You see what a monumental opportunity for research just this field alone is. And hardly anybody has ever done anything in it. 212 different figures of speech in the Bible and as high as forty varieties under one figure. This figure of speech that we are now going to be dealing with in this matter of "God-breathed;" this figure is so tremendous that I'm taking this time to set the greatness of this because once you understand this figure hundreds of scriptures will be plain as day, they'll fit like a hand in a glove. And this is why we must understand the great accuracy of this. God is Spirit, remember? But it says all scripture is God- breathed. This figure is called in the Hebrew, these are the Hebrew words, derech benai adam which translated means "ways of the sons of men." You see bringing God down to the level of man, "ways of the sons of men"; this is why it's called derech benai adam. Now, the Greeks took this figure of speech, derech benai adam, and they translated it over into the Greek language and the figure in the Greek is called anthropopatheia; meaning pathos of man. The word "anthropo" is the same word in the Greek as "anthropos" which we get translated over into the word man. "Patheia" is translated over into the word "pathos." We get our English words like "pathetic" or "sympathetic" all come from this word "pathos." The sympathy of man, in other words man's sympathy, man's pathos, man's feelings, man's desires. Whenever God, who is God Almighty, who is Spirit; whenever the Word of God attributes human characteristics to Him that figure by the Greeks is called anthropopatheia. Now, the Romans took this figure, translated it from the Greek into the Latin and in the Latin it is called condescensio, transliterated over into our English word of "condescension". Whenever God is made to condescend to the level of man the figure is this word "condescensio." This is the Holy Spirit's markings in the Word of God and in II Timothy 3:16 the emphasis is not on the word "all" or on the word "scripture." The emphasis is "all scripture GOD-BREATHED." God put the emphasis where He wanted it, He marked it by this wonderful figure of speech and so the whole Bible is marked by these figures of speech. And this my friends is one of the greatest opportunities in the Word of God to work on. I think a person could get three or four Phd's in research alone in this field on figures of speech in the Bible; these 212 different ones. My how we need to work them. Now I know what you're thinking "where did you get this knowledge, how did you work this out when we don't know anything about it." Well, I'll give you the background of this; there's only ever been as far as I know one person who has sort of collated a lot of the figures of speech but he never had the time or the opportunity to carry it out to it's ultimate and this was E.W. Bullinger in England. But these figures of speech were well known by the Greeks and by the Romans. During the Roman history if you will remember, we went into a period called the dark ages in history. During the dark ages all these figures of speech were sort of lost except in the archives where you have to go to Milan and Rome and to London in the British Museum and a number of other places that I know where some of these figures are still written and a person could find them. Now during the dark ages all of these figures basically were lost. After the dark ages historically we came into what is called the renaissance period. In the renaissance period we had a relearning, a revitalization--not in the field of figures of speech but in art for instance, in paintings, in sculpture, in music but never to this day have we had a renaissance in the field of figures of speech in English. I have asked outstanding English students, professors, teachers how many figures of speech do you teach your Phd. students in English? How many do you know? And it is surprising when you learn that perhaps 36 different figures of speech is the total number of about what anybody knows today and yet in the Bible there are over 212 different figures of speech used and sometimes as high as 40 varieties under one figure. What a tremendous truth this is. And you see why we have never really understood the Bible because we don't understand the figures we have lost the figures. We've got to go back and recapture the figures because the figures of speech are a scientific approach, a mathematical exactness to the Word so there is no guesswork left. You can not guess once you work the figures because the figures will always be the same. The word condescensio--attributing to God human characteristics, making Him to condescend to the level of man. Whenever this is done to God in the Word of God it's always the same figure, you can't guess, it's impossible to guess. For instance, it says, "and the anger of the Lord was kindled." God is Spirit, He has no anger. Then when it says "the anger of the Lord" what figure is it? Condescensio. Another place I'm thinking of it says, "the Lord bared His arm." Does the Lord have an arm? No He doesn't but I do, you do. And to bear the arm is the figure condescensio. Remember the Bible says, "heaven is His throne the earth His footstool." The little boy said, "God must certainly have awful long legs." It is the figure. "God sitting on His throne the earth His footstool," you and I have footstools and it's the figure condescensio. It used to disturb me when I was a little boy because I always thought God was watching over me every step of the way and when I'd do something wrong God would be there to correct me. And do you know the scripture they used to put this wonderful fear of God's Word in me? The scripture that says, "the eyes of the Lord run to and fro all over the earth." I used to think God certainly must have big eye balls. But "the eyes running to and fro," God has no eyes, God is Spirit. But "the eyes running to and fro" is the figure condescensio--attributing to God human characteristics. Isn't this a tremendous figure! It's almost unbelievable when you get into the depth of this class on Power for Abundant Living. And this great verse in II Timothy where it says "All scripture is God-breathed." "God-breathed" is the figure condescensio. I've done something for you in this class. I've taken this one figure--condescensio, I've taken and put down all the categories under this one figure that are used in the Bible. I've not given you all the verses that are in the Bible dealing with condescensio relative to God but I'm giving to you every break down and to anyone of you in this class if you simply desire to have a copy I'll be glad to give it to you. This will help you to begin to understand figures of speech. During the course of this class while I'm teaching as I see these figures in the Word I'll start to bring them to your attention so that you become versatile in the understanding of figures of speech. You may not be able to note them all and say well this is this figure, this is that figure but you will begin to see them. I'll do this for you as we go through the Word. I want to go back here and pick up something out of our file back here. This is a copy of The Way Magazine, our monthly publication for those who have a desire to do research and to understand research and get into the depth of the greater truths of God's Word. In one of the issues here I wrote an article on figures in the Word and I wrote this specifically regarding parables and similes and metaphors and the figure hypocatastasis. These four are so closely aligned in the Word. I have a paragraph in here which sort of epitomizes and summarizes figures of speech and sets them out. I'd like to share this with you from this issue of The Way Magazine, the monthly publication of our research ministry. "The Word of God is to be accepted literally whenever and wherever possible. [Like the word "all" is literal, the word "scripture" is literal and we accept the Word literally wherever and whenever possible.] But when a word or words fail to be true to fact they are always figures of speech." There's the key. When a word or words in the Bible fail to be true to fact they are always figures of speech. Like the ground is dry-- that's true to fact. But the ground is thirsty--that's the figure. In the Bible when the words fail to be true to fact they are always figures of speech. "Figures of speech have a Godly designed emphasis which must be grasped and understood in order to fully obtain the impact of the Word. A figure of speech is always truer to true than the exact or actual word or words would be." "So, there are over 212 different figures of speech used in the Bible and as high as 40 variations. Men they say are prone to use figures of speech haphazardly but in the Word of God they are used with divine design. Each and everyone of them may be accurately catalogued and itemized as to its exactness. There is absolutely no guess work for these figures of speech in the Bible are the Holy Spirit's markings of that which God would have emphasized `for holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit'." Isn't that something! Figures of speech, class, must be understood if we are ever going to rightly-divide the Word of God. For without the understanding of the figures of speech nobody can rightly-divide and it's a tremendous truth because it takes all the guess work out of it. I just can't go to the Bible and say, "this is important or that is important." Neither can you. You can't go to the Word of God and say, "this is important or that is important." You and I both go to the Word of God and let the Word speak for itself as to that which is important because God marked it from Genesis to Revelation, took all the guess work out of it. All we need to do is work the Word of God, find those figures, every time God wanted something emphasized He put it in a figure, otherwise the Word of God is literal. If you understand the figures of speech used in the Bible, the orientalisms, customs and mannerisms that are used in the Word the rest is all literal, it'll all fit like a hand in a glove. And it will work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. These are the figures that are in the Word. This is just one of them, this is why II Timothy where it says "all scripture God-breathed" the emphasis is on "God-breathed." Now, let's look at that scripture further. All scripture God- breathed. All of it. All of it's God-breathed. All scripture God- breathed, the next word "and is profitable, profitable." I want to talk to you about that word "profitable." You see, every business man knows what it is to have profit. It puts him on the red side of the ledger, no it doesn't, keeps him in the black. You see, all scripture which is God-breathed is profitable, all of it. Profitable. It doesn't put you in the red, it keeps you in the black. And this scripture which is so wonderfully God-breathed being all profitable, all of it. All scripture from Genesis to Revelation is God-breathed and all is profitable. Now remember that; II Timothy 3:16, it's all profitable. Now look what it is profitable for. It is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. That is exactly what you read, listen: II Timothy 3:16: All scripture is given by inspiration of God [all scripture God- breathed], and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: This is why all of it from Genesis to Revelation is profitable along one or the other of three major lines: doctrine, reproof, correction or instruction in righteousness. You see, doctrine, reproof and correction make which is instruction in righteousness. This is how the translation should have been given according to the text. Now, all scripture then is profitable along three lines: doctrine which means how to believe rightly and reproof means to reprove us at the places where we are not believing rightly and to correct us, to put us back to right believing. All the Word of God will do just that. It will teach us how to believe rightly. It will reprove us at the places where we are believing wrongly. And it will correct us so that we can again believe rightly. That's why all scripture is profitable along these three lines because all three of these are instruction in righteousness. So if you and I want to tap the resources for the more abundant life we must understand the greatness of God's Word and not come to God's Word with our skepticism and our doubt. But we must let the Word speak from its inherent accuracy within. The Word speaking from the inside out to us, we listen to what the Word has to say and then we work in the light of that which is said so that we can come to a knowledge of what God wanted us to know not what we want to attribute to the Word but what the Word can contribute and attributes to our day-by-day living. This is why all scripture God-breathed and all of it is profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction which is instruction in righteousness so that we can live the more abundant life and make manifest the greatness of the power of God in our day-by-day living. SEGMENT 8: PROFITABLE FOR: DOCTRINE, REPROOF, CORRECTION All scripture according to II Timothy 3:16 is God-breathed and all of scripture is profitable along three lines: It is profitable for doctrine--doctrine means how to believe rightly; reproof, correction, which is instruction in righteousness. Now, I want to talk to you about doctrine--how to believe rightly. You will remember that we discussed in detail the law of believing. The law of believing is either negative or positive. The Word of God is given to teach men doctrine--how to believe rightly, positively. You see, many times the critics of the Bible or of the Word of God, they come along and they say, "well, the Bible isn't true; I do not believe the Bible. I feel that there are too many errors in the Bible, too much contradiction and that the Bible really is just another book among the rest of them." For most people I believe they many times have a higher value on Shakespeare or perhaps Chaucer even then they do upon the Word of God. But this is not the testimony of the Word of God. The testimony of the Word of God is that it says that all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine which is right believing, to teach us how to believe rightly. If we are going to tap the resources for the more abundant life we must know how to believe rightly. People come to me at times, they have in the past and some still do, they say, "Oh, the Bible has a lot of error in it." I'd like to see them! I'd like to see them, because I believe that the Word of God is accurate from Genesis to Revelation. The errors have come in by mans propounding of the errors. They have brought back their opinions, their desires back to the Word. And so men will come and say, "I don't believe the Bible." I say, "wonderful." They say, "Well, I think there are a lot of errors." I say, "Well wonderful. That's what you think, that's you're privilege to think." Cause if a man wants to go to hell let him go. It's his privilege. Likewise with the Word. I believe the Word of God is accurate. It's like people say they are atheists. You know it's impossible to be an atheist technically and logically speaking. Because an atheist is one who says he does not believe. Well the fact that he does not believe indicates he already believes he doesn't believe, that's why to be an atheist is an impossibility. And so when the critics come to the Word of God I simply let them talk, let them say what they want to say because the Bible never was written for the unbeliever. That's right. The Bible was not written for the agnostic, the infidel. The Bible was not written for the God rejecters and the God deniers and the unbeliever. The Bible was written for men and women who want to know the answers! That's right. The Word of God is given to men and women who want to know, that they know, that they know, that they know. Men and women who want to tap the resources for the more abundant life. Men who want to manifest the life that is more than abundant, to be more than conquerors--for those men and women the Word of God was written. The Word of God technically is written for men and women who desire to believe, who want to know, who want to live a life that is positive and more abundant. That's right. This is why when the critic comes from the outside to the Word of God he has no footing to stand on, to judge the Word; because the Word has already judged him. For the Word is given--all scripture God-breathed, all of it. This is the testimony of the Word. All God-breathed and all of it is profitable for doctrine--how to believe rightly. And if we believe rightly we are going to get right results. If we believe wrongly we are going to get wrong results because all believing equals receiving. To the end we rightly divide the Word and believe rightly we get right results. I said the Bible was never written for the unbeliever and this is a tremendous truth. It is written for men and women who want to believe, for men and women who want to know the answers, for men and women who want to tap into the resources for the more abundant life. It's written for men and women like you in this class on Power for Abundant Living who want to get to the place that you know, that you know, that you know, that you know. And that you are not blown about with every wind of doctrine or theory or ideology somebody else may have. You stand here today and gone...ah no, no, no, no. This Word of God is written for those of us who want to know. And the Word of God does not change, men change. Ideologies change, ideas change, opinions change but this Word of God liveth and abideth forever, it stays put! It stands! Let me show you something from the Gospel of John. The fifth chapter of the Gospel of John. John chapter 5, listen to this, this is the testimony of the Word: John 5:39: Search the scriptures;... "Search the scriptures." It doesn't say search Shakespeare or Kant or Plato or Aristotle or V.P. Wierwille's writings or the writings of my denomination, no. It's says, "search the scriptures!" Why search the scriptures? Because all scripture is God-breathed. But not all that V.P. Wierwille would write would of necessity be God-breathed, nor what Shakespeare said nor Kant nor Plato not Aristotle or Freud. But the scriptures; they are God-breathed. All scripture, all of it. John 5:39: Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. Isn't that something! The scriptures tell us the truth about the Lord Jesus Christ, about God; for this is right believing, how to believe rightly. Look at chapter seventeen of the Gospel of John. John 17:8: [Jesus says] For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. He gave them the words which God gave to him; the scriptures, the Word of God. John 17:14: I have given them thy word;... "I have given them thy Word," you see the Word of God is always profitable for doctrine, for it teaches us how to believe rightly. Without that right believing you could never walk in the greatness of the power of God. John 17:17: Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth. Boy! The Word is truth! This is the testimony of the Word, this is its inherent accuracy! This is the testimony that the Word gives of itself! This is what it says, this is what it means! Men say the Word is not true. The Bible says it is true. And if you are going to be logical you are going to have to come to the testimony of the Word itself and let it speak and you work it from the inside out. You never bring God's Word down to your level, you always bring yourself up to the level of God's Word. You dare never come to the Word of God with your skepticism, your doubt, your opinion; you come to the Word of God and let it speak for itself and then you reevaluate and readapt your living to the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. This is why all scripture is profitable for doctrine; for right believing. That's right. Look at Matthew, the Gospel of Matthew. The Word was never written for the unbeliever, the Word was written for men and women who want to know the score, the answers. Matthew 15:1, 2: Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. Well, isn't that awful, terrible? That's why they came to Jesus, they said to Jesus, "look, why do your disciples transgress the traditions of the elders? Why do you break all these traditions Jesus, your disciples and you? They don't wash their hands when they eat bread" Well now isn't that awful? A man of God filled with the power of the holy spirit just forgot to use his Ivory or something before meals. This is what they said. But verse three says: Matthew 15:3: But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? They accused Jesus of breaking tradition. Jesus said you transgress the commandments of God by your tradition. Your tradition breaks the truth of God's Word! And in verse seven you know what he called them? Matthew 15:7: Ye hypocrites [ye hypocrites], well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, Matthew 15:8: This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. People draw nigh unto me with their mouth; they said just the right thing. Maybe they talked out of both sides of their mouth half the time but they were saying it anyway. They honor me with their lips; you know they went through all the rigmarole, said their prayers at the right time, would kneel down at the right time, pay their salaams at the right time, put in their cash at the right time. They did everything...oh, they even had the candles on the altar proper, everything proper. "They honor me with their lips but in their heart, in their heart they are far from me." You see, you can go through all the paraphernalia, all the ritual, you can go through all those extraneous things and it'll look real wonderful, but inside, no deal. That's why in verse nine he says: Matthew 15:9: But in vain they do worship me [why? Listen], teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. Teaching for doctrines, for right believing they were teaching the commandments of men. The commandments of men are never doctrine for right believing. The Word of God, all scripture is profitable for doctrine, which is right believing! That's the testimony of the Word! That's the testimony of the declared savior, Jesus Christ speaking to those people that day. This is why all scripture God-breathed, profitable for right believing, to teach us how to believe rightly. But suppose that I have not been fully instructed or let's say I have been instructed and refuse to believe--what else does the scripture do, what else is it profitable for? It is profitable for reproof. It reproves us at the place where we are not believing rightly. So when we do not believe rightly the Word of God reproves us. It tells us where we are off. It reproves us for our wrong believing. You see, no man has a right to reprove any other man. The Word of God has to do the reproving because what I might allow in my life somebody else might not allow in theirs. That's right! I went through all this baloney. Sure, people didn't like the ties I wore. You know I was moving among the circles, you know, where I was even taught that if you offend somebody by what you do, you quit doing it. Here you were wearing a shirt and tie and it might offend someone so you take off that tie and get rid of it. Well then you find out you put on another tie and you offend someone else so you get rid of it. Well did you ever follow this thing through logically? If you are always going to give up something someone else doesn't like and they're always telling you you are going to be offending them; you're going to end up really offending them because you might not like my suit, you might not like my tie, you might not like my shirt--and if I have to take all of this off we are going to get down to bare facts pretty soon. Maybe we will be like the prodigal son. It says in the Word of God he did all these things you know and finally it says he came to himself. Well, you take all this off to please people you're really going to embarrass people. I went through all of this, I tried every which way because they were reproving me for wearing this or wearing that. You know something, I came to the place in my life I don't give a hoot what you think or what anybody else thinks. That's right. I'm concerned about what God thinks. And I take my reproof not from what people say but from what the Word says. That's right. The scriptures are God-breathed and these scriptures are the ones that are profitable for right believing but where we are believing wrongly it reproves us. The scriptures reprove us when we are believing wrongly. Then, in the third place what else does it do? Look here, not only does it teach us how to believe rightly and reprove us when we are not believing rightly but it corrects us. The Word of God is profitable to correct us, to bring us back to believing rightly, back to believing rightly! You know, if parents utilized us this in the training of their children it would be wonderful wouldn't it? Most of us as parents, we have a child, we teach them what we want them to do but when they do not do that like we want then we reprove them. We say, "don't do that! Johnny quit it!" Seldom do we come with the correction and say, "You ought to do so-and-so." But that's exactly how the Word works. It tells us how to believe rightly. It reproves us where we are believing wrongly. But then it comes with the correction and tells us how to get back to right believing. That's right. You know, reminds me of a story. Of a young golfer going out to practice and he got his golf ball set up on that tee and he got ready to tee off and when he teed off he missed the ball entirely and all he did was dug a big hole in the ground next to the golf ball. And it happened to be an ant hill and the moment he dug the hole the ants started scurrying all over the place. So he gets ready and he starts again and he swings and misses the ball again and digs a deeper hole and the ants just keep scurrying all over the place. Finally, one ant looks at the other one and he says, "I think the safest place for us is on the ball." The Word of God gives us correction to get us back on the ball if we've been off the ball. When we've been off the Word of God the correction in the Word of God gets us to the place where it puts us back on the ball that we are believing rightly. There is a lot of this in the Bible. Take David for instance; oh I know what people say, I don't care what people say, what does the Word say? Old David was off the ball. He was way out in left field, sure. Got himself that beautiful little gal called Bathsheba, had her husband Uriah shot down in the front lines so that he could have her to wife, you know. Took her, nobody knew about it. Oh, people knew, a few of them but nobody had a right to say anything. You know why? Because David was king and every woman in the kingdom belonged to the king. But there happened to be a little prophet if I remember correctly, his name was Nathan, remember? And one time old Nathan was perhaps brewing up a pot of tea and having a cookie or something and all at once God said to him like this, "Hey Nathan you go over and tell that David he sinned." And Nathan said, "Oh Lord not me, good Lord I don't want to go to old David." You know why? Because old David was used to chopping heads off, and it wouldn't hurt him any to chop off an extra one; and he'd just love to get the prophet's head you know. Nathan said, "not me." The Lord said, "you go over and tell David because David is off the ball, he's got to get back on. You tell him he sinned." "But Lord what am I gonna..." God said, "you go over and tell him you know about a man he had just oodles and oodles of sheep in his flock. Then his neighbor had just one little lamb, one little sheep. And that lamb was just so precious to him, he took it to the table with him, took it to bed with him. He sort of mothered it in his bosom." That's right. "You tell him that story and that how this rich man got a visitor, yeah, came over to see him, one of his aristocratic friends came down to visit him and instead of taking one of his sheep, one of his lambs to feed his visitor he goes over to the neighbor and picks up his lamb and butchers it." So Nathan goes over to see David and Nathan says, "Hey David, something terrible happening in this kingdom you know it? He said this rich man had company come and this fellow, you know what he did? He goes over to his neighbor and he gets that one sheep, that one little lamb that's so precious, the only thing this man has. He brings and he slaughters it." Tells him the whole story. And David gets real upset about it, real irritated and he says to Nathan, "You tell me who the man is. You just tell me, give me his name and I'll go down there and I'll have his head. I'll chop it off." And you know something old Nathan looked straight in David's eyeballs and he said to him, "You are the man." Whew, what do you think of that? How would you like to have been old Nathan. Old Nathan gone down there with any other story you know what would have happened to old Nathan? He'd have got his head chopped off. But God told him what to tell him and old David got his whole foot right in it. Because the moment he said, "Let me know who it is, I'll get him." Nathan said, "You're the man." And at that moment David recognized the truth of what Nathan was bringing from God and David said, "Well I'm sorry." He turned to God and he asked God to forgive him. And then it says in the Word of God that David was a man after God's own heart. He wasn't a man after God's own heart when he was out there messing around with old Bathsheba, having Uriah killed. No! But when he was back on the ball he was a man after God's own heart just like when we believe the Word. When we rightly divide that Word, when we walk in the power of it, then we are men and women after God's own heart. So, all scripture is God-breathed, profitable; for doctrine--right believing, for reproof--to reprove us at the places where we are believing wrongly and for correcting us--to put us back on the ball for God. That's right. This is why these three foundational truths: Doctrine--right believing, Reproof--where we are believing wrongly, Correction--helping us to believe right again. This is instruction in righteousness, in right living. All of this, in right living, right believing, in righteousness, in manifesting the more abundant life. You see, all scripture God-breathed, all of it is profitable along either doctrine--right believing, or reproof--reproving us where we are believing wrongly or correcting us to get us back to right believing which is the instruction in righteousness so we can believe rightly and walk rightly; to be taught rightly so we can tap the resources for the more abundant life. Isn't that a tremendous verse of scripture when you take it apart word-by-word and see the greatness of God's Word in it? You see, when a person knows the Word of God, the Word of God being the Will of God, a person knowing the Word of God does not mean automatically that he will do it, that he will do the Will of God. For instance, a will is read in court that does not mean that the parties involved automatically carry out that will. So it is with the Word of God. The Word of God here is truth, all scripture is God- breathed, but people don't always carry out what God says. There's a wonderful little statement that I share with our people in the classes and I have shared all over the country and foreign countries regarding people like this, and it is; "they hold the truth but the truth does not hold them." This scripture here in II Timothy 3:16, one of the foundational scriptures in this class on Power for Abundant Living is so tremendous and so wonderful that you must just get its greatness. You see, in II Timothy, if you compare II Timothy 3:16 with II Timothy 4:1-3 there is a tremendous truth hidden here. It's just like a diamond and if you work it it just becomes remarkable. You see, it's profitable for doctrine then in II Timothy 4:1 it says "therefore" and the word "therefore" appears all the way through. Therefore in II Timothy 4:1-3 it says preach the Word! Why? Because this is right believing and if you are going to believe rightly there is only one way you can believe rightly and that is to preach the Word, to preach the Word. Because it's the Word that tells us the Will of God. For the Word of God is the Will of God. You can't know the Will of God without knowing the Word of God. Therefore, if you are going to believe rightly--Preach the Word! Now, it says in II Timothy 4 if you reprove, therefore reprove. You do not reprove personally but you reprove by preaching the Word, teaching the Word, sharing the Word. It's the Word that does the reproving. And under correction--therefore, it says rebuke. To rebuke does not mean in the sense that we ordinarily think of rebuking. It means rebuke with the Word, let the Word do the correcting like the story Nathan told to David and others that are in the Word of God. "Which is instruction in righteousness", therefore in II Timothy 4:1-3 it says "exhort." Exhort, exhort means to encourage toward a more worthy endeavor. To exhort means to build up, to carry forth, to bring forth the greatness of this wonderful power of God. So, here in II Timothy 3:16 again, once more set the greatness of this thing in your heart, II Timothy 3:16: All scripture [all of it without any exception, from Genesis to Revelation], every verse of it will be profitable along one of three lines: either right believing--doctrine, or reproving us where we are believing wrongly, and correcting us so we can get back to right believing which is instruction in righteousness, in right living, so that we can tap these resources for the more abundant life and make them fruitful in our day-by-day living. SEGMENT 9: PURPOSE OF THE WORD; BEGIN HOW WE GOT THE WORD II Timothy 3:16, that one verse of scripture gave us tremendous truth when it informed us that all scripture is God-breathed and profitable along three lines; doctrine, reproof, correction, which is instruction in righteousness. One verse of scripture which we took apart word-by-word and line-by-line and made it just dynamically real to all of you. Now, in one verse of scripture again the Word of God sets forth the purpose. What is the purpose of this God-breathed Word which is profitable for right believing, for reproving us at the places where we are believing wrongly and correcting us, which is instruction in righteousness? What is the purpose of this wonderful God-breathed Word? One verse of scripture again gives you all the truth you can ever know. You need not read any commentary, you need not go to any profane source on the outside. All you need to do is to come to the Word of God and one verse of scripture again gives you this great truth. And that one verse we are going to take apart again word-by-word to see its complete greatness. This verse is II Timothy 3:17. II Timothy 3:17: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. I had our art department to put this entire verse, because of its importance, on one of our charts so that you could just embed this deeply within your mind. The purpose of the Word of God, the whole purpose--everything that can be known about the wonderful God-breathed Word--its purpose is stipulated in II Timothy 3:17 and that is "that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works." That is the purpose of the Word of God given in this one wonderful verse of scripture. Now, the purpose as it says is that the man of God, the man of God- -now let's track that down and trace it down to see who or what is a man of God. A man of God is one who speaks for God. The word "man" is used of course in the Word of God many times as an inclusive noun, which includes woman as well as men. But here in this usage on the purpose that the man of God, the man of God is one who is a spokesman for God. One who speaks for God. Look at Deuteronomy, chapter thirty-three of Deuteronomy. We will trace it from the Word to find out what the Word says a man of God is. Deuteronomy 33:1: And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. Moses, the man of God, now that's the first thing I want you to remember. Now, in the eighteenth chapter of Deuteronomy, turn to Deuteronomy eighteen and in verse fifteen, now listen: Deuteronomy 18:15: The Lord thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken; Moses was this man of God. He was a prophet. A prophet is one who speaks for God. A man of God is a spokesman, one who speaks for God, he is a prophet. In the Book of Exodus and I'd like for you to turn to Exodus. In chapter four of Exodus, verse sixteen speaking now about Aaron, Moses brother. Exodus 4:16: And he [Aaron] shall be thy spokesman unto the people: and he shall be, even he [Aaron] shall be to thee [Moses] instead of a mouth, and thou [Moses] shalt be to him instead of God. See that! Moses was like God to Aaron. Moses spoke to Aaron, Aaron was the mouthpiece, one who spoke for Moses. Now, in the seventh chapter of Exodus, in the first verse of this seventh chapter it says: Exodus 7:1: And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. You see how the Word of God tells you what a man of God is. A man of God is a prophet and a prophet is one who speaks for God. So, the purpose in II Timothy 3:17, "that the man of God," one who speaks for God; look at the greatness of this now--that every time I speak the accuracy of God's Word I am a man of God. When you speak the accuracy of God's Word you are a man of God. You are speaking for God because His Word is His Will and we know His Will because we know His Word. So when we speak His Word we are speaking just like as if God is speaking. This is why a man of God is one who speaks for God. This God-breathed Word profitable for doctrine, reproof, correction which is instruction in righteousness; its purpose is that the man of God, the one who speaks for God may be...What's the next word? "Perfect, perfect." Boy what a tremendous truth that the one who speaks for God may be perfect. I didn't write the book that's what it says that's what it means. Somebody will come along and say, "that you can't be perfect"...the Word of God says we're to be. That the one who speaks for God, the purpose of this wonderful Word of God is that the one who speaks for God may be perfect, perfect. And this word "perfect," this is the only place in the Bible that this word is used. This makes it real interesting in a quest for Biblical research, in Biblical accuracy. Do you know why? Because when words are used many times in the Bible you have a source of reference, you go back, you look these up and see how they are used in the verses, in the context. And from there multiple amount of usages you discover their minute accuracy. But when it's used only once you're in real difficulty because you can not refer into the Word to find out what it could have meant. The only thing you can do then is you must go to what we call in academic circles, profane circles. You look in profane literature to see how these words are used there. And this was a remarkable study in our Biblical research sessions to discover the exact meaning of this word "perfect." The purpose is that the man of God may be perfect. The word "perfect," the word "perfect" is the Greek word artios and there in its usage it is an adjective. This word artios is used in profane literature in one of two ways. It's either used of a ship, referring to a ship when it's outfitted or equipped for its voyage having on it everything that is ever needed to make the voyage successful. Whenever that ship is so perfectly equipped that it lacks nothing then the word that is used in Greek literature is the word artios. Artios because it is perfect with everything aboard that it could possibly need. Its other usage is regarding joints and sockets where as the hip fits into the socket, where this ball and joint socket, where this fits like this, where those joints fit that place is called artios. This is tremendous. At this time if you would have the smallest particle of foreign matter in that socket, the hip joint, your pain would be so excruciating you could not appreciate the teaching of this class or even sit through it or listen to it. The smallest foreign particle in there would be so out of place that your pain would just be excruciating. But God's Word declares that the Word of God, the purpose of it is that the man of God may be so perfect, not one foreign body there to obstruct it. The Word of God is tremendous isn't it. You bet your life it is. The purpose is that the man of God may be so perfect that he has everything that is ever needed in every situation not lacking one thing. What a tremendous revelation from that word artios. That's its usage that this man of God may be artios, perfect, with everything, not lacking one thing. Then in II Timothy comes this word, listen: "that the man of God may be perfect," then look at your Bible and notice the next word. It says "thoroughly" doesn't it? No it doesn't, no it doesn't. Thoroughly is spelled t-h-o-r-o-u-g-h-l-y, right? Sure it's right. How is your word spelled? Well, it should be spelled t-h-r-o-u-g-h-l-y. I've asked hundreds of people in classes to read this verse of scripture and ninety-nine out of a hundred when they read it, they read "that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished..." I've had ministers in the classes read it this way. I have had Phd.'s in the classes read it this way. And this is remarkable because it doesn't say "thoroughly" but you see we do not read what is written. And this is one of the reasons why the Word of God has seldom been understood because people are constantly reading into it. Our minds project into what is written rather than to read what is written. And in this class on Power For Abundant Living the first thing you do is you read what is written. Read exactly what is written. If it's wrong I'll tell you. Just read what is written. It does not say "thoroughly." It says "throughly." Now I know what you are going to say "there's no difference." Well that's what you say that's not what I'm going to say. It's a tremendous difference. You see I can wash my hands "thoroughly" but I can not wash my hands "throughly." "Throughly" implies an inside job. "Thoroughly" is extraneous or external it's on the outside. Now, the purpose of the Word of God is that the man of God may be perfect not on the outside but on the inside. Through and through and through and through and throughly. That's why it is used that way. I better just say to you, if you have in your Bible the word "thoroughly" t-h-o-r-o- instead of t-h-r-o-u it's a proofreaders oversight. They missed it at the printers. That's why the error would be in your particular version, if it's done accurately it will always be translated throughly, t-h-r-o-u-g-h-l-y, throughly! That the man of God may be perfect, through and through and throughly. You see it's an inside job, not only perfection on the outside because you can not have perfection on the outside unless you first have perfection on the inside. And the purpose of the wonderful Word of God is that the man of God, that this wonderful man of God may be perfect, through and throughly. Then the King James says "furnished," "throughly furnished." And right here is where we miss the greatness of this particular translation, the version misses it. Because the word "furnished" is the same word as the word "perfect" in the verse. The word "perfect" is the word artios. The word "furnished" in this same verse of II Timothy 3:17, the word "furnished" is the word exartizo. This word exartizo is a verb while artios is the adjective. It's just a different form that's all, one's the adjective the other is the verb. And from just reading the King James you don't get the greatness of this word because it says that the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished. But that's not what it really says. It says that the man of God may be perfect, through and through and throughly perfected! Isn't that wonderful! Look at the wonderful usage of words semantically. "That the man of God may be perfect artios, throughly exartizo perfected." Not just perfect but through and through and throughly perfected! If they wanted to use the word "furnished" it should have been that the man of God may be furnished, throughly furnished. Or if they wanted to use the word "complete" they should have said that the man of God may be complete, throughly completed. Then you would have had the proper usage. But I like to go back to the original and get its great impact because of the usage of the word artios. Like when a ship is completely equipped, perfect for its voyage. Or as the hip fits into the socket so perfect. That the man of God may be perfect, through and through and throughly perfected unto every good work. You know a number of years ago in one of the classes on Power For Abundant Living we had an outstanding surgeon and he travelled almost fifty miles every night just to be in this class on Power For Abundant Living and he had a wonderful habit, should we call it that, he always went to sleep when he came into class. Its your privilege. But he had been in the operating room all day and after driving the fifty miles to get to the class he was tired and he apparently endeavored to rest a little while. And I was teaching the Word exactly where I am teaching you and I was talking about artios and exartizo and so forth. And I was saying some of the things that I am going to share with you and he woke up. He opened his eyes and he looked at me and sat there with rapt attention, for awhile I thought he was going to fall off the front of the chair. At intermission he came up, just bounced up toward the front of the auditorium and he said, "where'd you get that information, where'd you get that information?" And I said, "well all I know is what I've worked up out of the Word of God in research and how I've checked texts and gone back into the critical Greek texts and so forth." "Why," he says, "that's tremendous isn't it?" I said, "it certainly is." Then he told me that he was a surgeon in the hospital and did nothing but operate on hip joints. And he was the one who told me in the medical field that to this day they still use these words. Because here in the medical profession for these students studying medicine they have a course today in arthrology, to this day, and that course in arthrology is the study of the joints. They also have a course of enarthrosis, which is a study of the type of joints. Look at it; arthrology comes exactly from the word artios and enarthrosis comes exactly from the root word artios. To this day they use these words in the medical profession. They know what they are talking about because as the hip fits into the socket that's the word "perfect." That's why it's arthrology; the study of these joints, ball and socket joints. That's the course that our students that are studying medicine especially those that are specializing in the field have to really become versatile in. The purpose of the Word of God is given in this one verse of scripture in II Timothy 3:17: that the man of God may be perfect, perfect, perfect, perfect, through and throughly perfected unto all good works. I want to tell you isn't that tremendous! One verse of scripture gives us all that terrific truth. There is no guess work about it then. It is God's Word, God's Word is God's Will. If we want to tap the resources for the more abundant life we have to believe positively and rightly. So all scripture is God-breathed and all scripture God-breathed is profitable for doctrine--right believing, for reproof--where we are believing wrongly, for correction--getting us back to believing rightly; which is, instruction in righteousness for one reason only, that the man of God, the one who speaks for God, and every time you say something spiritual you are either speaking for God or you are not. And when we speak for God the purpose is that we speak rightly, that the man of God may be perfect, through and throughly perfected unto all good works. Isn't that wonderful! Well people, one verse of scripture gives us the greatness of the purpose of God. Now, I'm after another great truth. How, H-O-W, how did we get this wonderful Word of God? II Timothy 3:16 gives us the profit of this Word of God. II Timothy 3:17 gives us the purpose of the Word of God. Now, the Bible again in one verse of scripture, in just one verse gives us how we got this wonderful Word of God. And I'd like for you to turn to II Peter chapter one and here again I have our art department put this on a chart for me because it's another one of these tremendous verses of scripture which we must look at in minute detail. How we got the Word of God is given in this one verse of scripture. Here it is: II Peter 1:21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. There it is in one verse of scripture. For the prophecy came not in olden time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Now, let's talk about the word "prophecy." The word "prophecy" must be understood. The uniqueness of it, the depth of it must be known. For the word "prophecy" is uniquely used in this verse of scripture and very seldom understood. You know why? Because the average person, the average person when he thinks of the word "prophecy," or he thinks of prophecy you know what he thinks of? Someone that is going to foretell the future. Like they speak of people being prophetesses or prophets. They are suppose to foretell the future. Whenever somebody thinks of the word "prophecy" this is what I believe they think of. Don't you? They think of somebody who is foretelling something, f-o-r-e-telling something. Well now that is one of the uses of the word "prophecy" but that isn't the only one. The word "prophecy" has a two-fold meaning in the Word of God, always, a two-fold meaning. Prophecy is foretelling; like Isaiah foretold the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, like the Word of God foretold the return of Christ which is still future. A lot of the Word of God, much of the Word of God is foretelling, f-o-r-e. But, the word "prophecy" also means forthtelling, forthtelling--to declare, to declare, to set forth, to make known. The word "prophecy" then literally means that which is foretold and that which is forthtold. So then the whole Bible, the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation is either f-o-r-e-telling or f-o-r-t-h-telling. That's right. For the prophecy, all that which is foretold or forthtold, everything from Genesis to Revelation. II Peter 1:21: For the prophecy [like the Word of God] came not in old time by the will of man:... That's a tremendous truth. Didn't come by the will of man. You'll notice that here on the board. It did not come by the will of man. The Word of God, that which is foretold and forthtold, didn't come by the will of man. And yet that's the only way that information generally comes to us isn't it? By the will of man. You willed to be in this class. You will to study the Word of God. You will to carry out the opportunities with which you are confronted. You would think that we got the Bible by the will of man. This is exactly what many theologians and religious leaders have taught but the Word of God does not say this. It says it didn't come by the will of man! Didn't come by the will of man! Well if it didn't come by the will of man, it didn't come by the will of man. Then there must be another way whereby information can be brought to us. Didn't come by the will of man. Moses never sat himself down in the desert and said, "well now I think I'm going to write the Word of God." And got himself out his shorthand pad and his pencil and he sat down and said, "huh, how am I going to write it? 'In the beginning, in the beginning, in the beginning God created the heavens...' I like that." No, no, no he didn't do it that way! It didn't come by the will of man! That's the first thing you must remember, that the Bible says the prophecy, that which is forthtold or foretold did not come by the will of man. In other words, man never willed to write the Word of God, he never sat himself down and said, "now I will to write Genesis or I will to write Exodus or I will to write Matthew, Mark, Luke or John." Didn't come by the will of man! This is foundational and this you must remember if we're going to understand the greatness of this wonderful verse of scripture. SEGMENT 10: HOW WE GOT THE WORD In dealing with this great verse of scripture from II Peter 1:21, dealing with how we got the Word of God we discussed the word "prophecy" as indicating both foretelling and forthtelling. And I neglected to give you two verses of scripture on this forthtelling which are very important especially to shut the mouths of the critics who always say that the word prophecy means "f-o-r-e." I'll say to you this, that there is more forthtelling f-o-r-t-h-telling in the Word of God than there is f-o-r-e-telling and the whole Bible is either f-o-r-e-telling or f-o-r-t-htelling. You see they think that prophecy is given by a prophet and therefore it is f-o-r-e-telling. I want to show you two verses of scripture in the Word of God in Genesis chapter 20 on this forthtelling that will really help you. Genesis 20:2: And Abraham said of Sarah his wife, She is my sister: and Abimelech king of Gerar sent, and took Sarah. You know the story and if you don't know it you can read it in Genesis 20. Old Abimelech took Sarah who was the wife of Abraham, he took her home, he was going to take her to wife. But something happened before he got around to it because in verse seven God told Abimelech: Genesis 20:7: Now therefore restore the man [Abraham] his wife; for he [Abraham] is a prophet,... If you can show me one thing in the Bible that Abraham f-o-r-e told I'll eat the book, literally. On the other hand if you can't find it you eat it. It would be a fair exchange wouldn't it? Look Abraham is a prophet. He did a lot of f-o-r-t-h-telling, a great deal of f-o-r-t-h-telling but he did no f-o-r-e-telling. This is why the word "prophecy" means both f-o-r-t-h and f-o-r-e. All the Word of God is f-o-r-e or f-o-r-t-h. Most of it is declaring the Word of God; f-o-r-t-h, just declaring it. By the way the critic said Abraham lied because he palmed off his wife as his sister. No he didn't lie because if you study the Word of God and research it accurately you'll find out that Abraham's wife Sarah was his sister. Same father, Sarah was of the same father as Abraham but Sarah had a different mother than what Abraham had that's why he spoke of her as being his sister; she was also his wife. You see, the Word of God doesn't lie, only people lie and they try to make the Word of God look foolish. They think it looks foolish when they can come to it with their skepticism and doubt and throw things out. No, no, no the Word of God stands. It makes people look foolish because they don't work this Word of God minutely and accurately. Well anyway, in II Peter that we are dealing with, this verse 21: II Peter 1:21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man:... It didn't come by the will of man. Man never willed to write the Word of God, never. It didn't come by the will of man but it says, "holy men of God spake," holy men of God. Holy men of God spoke. This is how we got the Word. Didn't come by the will of man. Man never willed to write it, he never sat down and said, "well now I'm going to write the Word of God." Now this may have been what we've been taught but that's not what the Word says. The Word says it didn't come by the will of man. In other words Matthew never sat down said, "well now I'm going to write the Gospel of the generations of Jesus Christ," no, no, no. It didn't come by the will of man. Paul never sat down and said, "well now I'm going to write myself an Epistle to the Thessalonians and this is going to be the Word of God," no. Didn't come by the will of man, that's right. But, it says, "holy men, holy men of God." Well who are holy men? Holy men are men whom God makes holy. The reason men are holy is because they believe God. The Bible was not written by God rejecters, unbelievers, by skeptics and nincompoops. The Bible was written by men, holy men, holy men, holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit. Holy men of God, men whom God made holy because the men believed what God said. Now, I have said to many, many, many people who did the speaking? And you know what they say? The Holy Spirit, the Holy Ghost. That's not what the verse says. That's not what the Word says. It says holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit. That's what it says, that's what it means. It doesn't say God spoke it says holy men of God spoke. Holy men of God! Who did the speaking? The men of God did the speaking. That's what the Word says, that's what it means. Sure, look! Holy men of God spoke. The holy men did the speaking. God did not do the speaking. The holy men of God did the speaking. Boy, this is a tremendous truth and this will answer many, many questions regarding the Word of God. You know people have said that for instance John had a greater revelation than Mark did. Or Isaiah had a greater revelation than Amos. No, no, no, no. You know why there is such a difference between Amos and Isaiah, between Mark and the Gospel of John? Very simple, because holy men of God spoke. Amos was a holy man, that's right, so was Isaiah, so was Mark, so was Paul, so was John. These men, everybody who wrote in the Word of God or made this Word of God available to us, all of these were holy men of God. They spoke, they spoke, holy men of God spoke, they did the speaking; that's what you have to remember. Let me ask you something, can you speak any other vocabulary than the one you have? Impossible, that's right. For instance, if you do not have the word "nincompoop" in your vocabulary could you use it? No you couldn't. If you didn't have the word "baloney" in your vocabulary you couldn't use it. I can only speak the words that I know. I use the vocabulary I possess, I have. That's right, nothing else. That's exactly what the Word declares in Peter, that "holy men of God spoke," they used their vocabulary. Holy men of God spoke, they used their vocabulary. Well, it's the only vocabulary they had, their own. Well, that's what they used and this accounts for the difference for instance between the Gospel of Mark; and when you read the Gospel of Mark it's short it's choppy: "and immediately, and straightway and forth with." These are the words that are used because the writer of the Book of Mark, the Gospel of Mark, was not a highly educated man who had all these tremendous words in his vocabulary but when you get to for instance the Gospel of John: "In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God the same was in the beginning with God. By Him were all things made and without Him was not anything made that was made." Isn't that something, how beautiful. Why? Because of his vocabulary. Same with Amos. Amos is sharp, Amos was a herdsman. And it's sharp, it's pointed because this was his vocabulary. While Isaiah has that beautiful Phd. language. You see this accounts for the differences of vocabularies that are used in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. Because these holy men of God they did the speaking they used their vocabularies. Holy men of God, that's what it means, they spoke, they spoke. Holy men of God spoke, using their vocabularies as they were moved by the holy spirit. They spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit. Now, I'm going to explain this "moved by the holy spirit" to you but I want to show you something on the chart that is real interesting. You see in II Timothy 3:16 we learned that all scripture is God- breathed, all of it. All scripture is God-breathed. Now here in II Peter 1:21 the Word declares that it is "moved by the holy spirit:" II Peter 1:21: For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. So, whatever it is to be God-breathed is whatever it is to be moved by the holy spirit. That's what it is. You know some people teach that God took the arm of Moses and shoved it around like this and just made Moses write what God wanted written. No, no, no, no, that's not what it says. It doesn't say pushed around by the holy spirit, it says moved by the holy spirit. But you see when we don't know the answers then we are always guessing and we are always bringing our opinions into it rather than the declared accuracy of God's Word. Now, what is it to be God-breathed and to be moved by the holy spirit? The record in Galatians, and I want you to turn to Galatians chapter one. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians chapter one. We will let the Word again explain it, like we always do because then we are sure we are right. Galatians 1:11, now listen carefully here: Galatians 1:11: But I certify you, brethren,... This is Galatians 1:11, "...I certify you, brethren,..." Do you know what the word "certify" means? Guarantee. When you women make jelly what do you use to make that stuff jell? You use certo they tell me. Well that's the word certify. I certify, I make it jell, I guarantee it. Galatians 1:11: But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. Now look at that, if it had been after man, he, Paul would have received it by the will of what? Man. And that would have been a contradiction of the rest to the Word because II Peter 1:21 says the first thing regarding how we got the Word of God didn't come by the two bit brain of man. Didn't come by the will of man. That's exactly what Galatians says. Galatians 1:11, 12a: But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it [neither was I taught it],... Well, then there must be another way of getting information because all of our learning in our academic fields; in math, in science and history and philosophy and all the related subjects; metalurgics, physics, chemistry and so forth. All of our information comes by the will of man. You're learning in this class by the will of man. I am teaching you the best I know from the accuracy of God's Word and you are learning this. But when it comes to the Word of God, the gospel, the good news, the record in the Word; the Word declares that Paul said, "I neither received it of man neither was I taught it, but..." But by what? "Revelation of Jesus Christ." But by revelation from Jesus Christ. That's what it says, that's what it means. So, look at this. Putting this all together: II Timothy 3:16 is the God-breathed Word which is to be moved by the holy spirit of II Peter 1:21 which is revelation of Galatians 1:11 and 12. God-breathed, the figure of speech condescensio, bringing God down to the level of man; the word "all scripture God-breathed" is the prophecy, the Word, which was received as "they were moved by the holy spirit." And to be "moved by the holy spirit" is to receive revelation, "but by revelation from Jesus Christ" as Galatians 1:11, 12. He received it by revelation from Jesus Christ. Now, there is a law involved here, it's a mathematical law, it's wonderful; things equal to the same thing are equal to each other. Look at it, there it is. You talk about the accuracy of God's Word, how do you like that! God-breathed equals to be moved by the holy spirit which is revelation, which is revelation. Now, before I go deeper into this particular verse I want to take you into the Old Testament and show you something about these holy men of God who spoke, who got this by revelation. I want you to turn to Numbers. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Numbers 11 and I want to read a verse here with you in a moment. Now, before I do, Numbers 11, you just hold it in abeyance for a moment we are going to read the seventeenth verse of Numbers eleven in a moment. We saw from John chapter four verse twenty-four that God is what? Spirit. God is Spirit. God being Spirit can only speak to what He is. God cannot speak to the natural human mind. This is why the Word could not come by the will of man, because the will of man is in the category of the natural realm. God being Spirit can only speak to what He is, spirit. Like things in the natural realm can be known via the five senses, the natural senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Things in the natural world can be known by the five senses, but God is Spirit. God being Spirit can only speak to what He is, which is Spirit. God cannot speak to your brain cells. God cannot speak to your mind. God can only speak to what He is. You see this is a law. God never oversteps His laws, God never breaks any laws. God being Spirit can only speak to what He is, Spirit. This is why the spirit of God had to be on all the holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit. The spirit of God had to be upon these men otherwise they could never have received revelation as Paul declared in Galatians that he received it by revelation. They could not have received it by revelation if they had not had the spirit of God on them. Numbers 11:17: And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee [Moses], and will put it upon them;... You see the spirit of God was upon Moses. This is why Moses could receive the Word of God by revelation; for God is spirit, He could reveal it to the spirit of God which was upon Moses. Then Moses having a mind used his mind, his vocabulary and wrote the Word of God. That's how we got it! Isn't that something! Boy we talk about the accuracy of God's Word, I just stand back in awe every time I read some of these wonderful great truths from God's Word. Look at Joshua. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua. Show you one more. But it is all like this. Every man of God in the Bible who wrote part of the Word of God was a man on whom the spirit of God was. Not one person who made any contribution to the Word of God was a man outside of that pail. They all had the spirit of God on them. I said Joshua. I get to thinking so rapidly along some of these lines I forget sometimes the verses I declare. Joshua, Joshua right before Judges. Joshua chapter thirty-four or is it twenty-four? Well bless my heart. Thought it was in Joshua. I think it's in the last chapter of Joshua, we'll have to find it sometime and look it up. First mistake I ever made in my life on here. It's in the Word here where it says that Moses laid his hands on Joshua and the spirit came on him. I thought it was in Joshua thirty- four but then you see they'd have to add ten more chapters to the book of Joshua and that would be out wouldn't it? Well, bless your heart. We can find it alright, it's in there. You see, the spirit of God was on Moses. Moses laid his hands on Joshua and the spirit came upon Joshua. Every man in the Bible who wrote the Word of God had the spirit of God on him. There is only one author to the Bible and that's God. God is the author. There are many writers in the Bible but only one author. God is the author. Moses wrote, Joshua wrote, Paul wrote, David wrote, many wrote, but there is only one author that's why there is no error. Because it wasn't given to man's brain. It's not that there was an evolution of revelation as they teach, no, no, no, no. They don't understand at all that what we are talking about that God is Spirit and that he can only speak to what He is, Spirit. And that these men had spirit. And God being Spirit spoke to His spirit upon them, told them what to write, told them what to write, told them what He wanted said and the men of God used their vocabularies and they said it. That's right. This is why the God-breathed Word is to be moved by the holy spirit which is revelation. Now, what is revelation? There are only three revelation manifestations given in the Bible, only three. One is the word of knowledge, one is the word of wisdom, the other is the discerning of spirits. Those are the only three revelation manifestations mentioned. Later on as we get into the depth of this class and the Holy Spirit field I'll be dealing with some of these truths and showing them to you again. But right now to see how we got the Word of God: For the prophecy, all that which is foretold or forthtold did not come by the will of man but holy men of God, holy men of God spake they were moved by the holy spirit, moved by the holy spirit. You see, they received revelation. They received revelation. And there are only three revelation manifestations: word of knowledge, word of wisdom and discerning of spirits. Word of knowledge; what is it? Word of knowledge is almost in the same category as human knowledge. Human knowledge is information. Word of knowledge is information from God this way down. God told them what He wanted written. Word of wisdom is knowledge applied. Knowledge applied like in the senses realm a man has a great deal of knowledge but if he lacks wisdom he can't apply that knowledge. Why you've heard it said, "that man has read all the books, he knows everything written in the books but he can't carry it out." Why can't he carry it out? Because he lacks wisdom in the natural realm. Well now in the spiritual realm the same thing is true. Word of knowledge is the information. Word of wisdom is what to do with the information. Paul declared that he did not receive it by man's will, he wasn't taught it; but that he got it by revelation. By word of knowledge then or by word of wisdom or by discerning of spirits. There are only three. Well logically how did he get it? Word of knowledge. God told him what He wanted written. Did God tell his mind? No, no, no, no God told that spirit of God which was in Paul. That's right. God's Spirit told that spirit of God which was in Paul, that spirit of God being in Paul was also a part of Paul and Paul had a mind so the spirit teaches the mind; then Paul used his vocabulary and wrote. That's how we got the wonderful Word of God form Genesis to Revelation. Every man had the spirit of God on him, every one of them. And God by His spirit by word of knowledge told them what to write, by word of wisdom told them how to write it and they used their vocabularies and wrote it. That's how we got this wonderful, wonderful Word of God and isn't that tremendous! Look over here again. The God-breathed Word is to be moved by the holy spirit which is revelation. Things equal to the same things are equal to each other. And revelation, there are only three manifestations of the spirit of revelation: word of knowledge, word of wisdom and discerning of spirits. So if he got it by revelation he got it by one or the other or a combination of those. And I know and so do you that he got it by word of knowledge--told him what to write, word of wisdom--told him how to write it; then they used their vocabulary to write it. That's how we got this wonderful Word of God, that's how we got it. Isn't that tremendous! Almost unbelievable, so simple, so beautiful and it explains almost everything, of course it contradicts basically much of what we were taught sense knowledge wise of how you know these people just wrote haphazardly and this is why you must expect as many errors in the Bible as you find in Shakespeare or somebody elses life. No, no, no, no. You see, I do not believe that in the original God given Word there is an error. Why? Because God is the author of it! If He's the author of it He couldn't contradict Himself a thousand and one times, not even once. If there is a contradiction in the Word of God it can't be God's Word for God's Word cannot contradict itself. That's right. Bless your little old heart. You know, the Word of God is so tremendous that all scripture, all of it, all of it, all of it is God-breathed. He's the author. And it's profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction which is instruction in righteousness. The purpose being that the man of God, the man of God, the one who speaks for God; that this man of God may be perfect, through and through and throughly perfected unto all good works. Then, how did we get it? How did we get it? The prophecy didn't come in olden time by the will of man but holy men of God, holy men of God spoke; holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit! Isn't that wonderful! They weren't shoved around, God didn't overstep any of His laws. He didn't take free will away from them. He didn't possess them, no. He had His spirit on them and God's Spirit spoke to His spirit upon these men, these men had their minds. They used their vocabulary, then they wrote this wonderful Word of God. That's how we got this Word of God. Holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit as it was revealed unto them by God, they wrote it down. And that's how we got the greatest thing in the whole world, the wonderful, wonderful Word of God! SEGMENT 11: THE INTEGRITY OF THE WORD When you allow the Word to speak from its inherent accuracy and do not bring the Word of God down to your level but bring yourself up to the level of the Word and work it from its inherent accuracy of that which it declares within itself like we have from II Timothy 3:16. Where we learned that this God-breathed Word that all scripture is God- breathed, and that it is profitable for, doctrine, for reproof, for correction which is instruction in righteousness. And then in II Timothy 3:17 the purpose of the Word of God being that the man of God may be perfect through and throughly perfected unto all good works. And then from II Peter 1:21 you will recall we learned from one verse exactly what the Bible says on how we got this Word of God. When it declared that the prophecy came not in olden time by the will of man but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit. You see, when you work this Word of God from its inherent accuracy then you get a knowledge of God's Word. Once you understand this knowledge and have this knowledge you come to the realization that man's basic spiritual problem is the integrity of the Word of God. This is man's basic spiritual problem. Very, very few people believe that the Word of God is accurate, that it means what it says and says what it means. This is why man has a constant problem in his quest for truth, because he has no least common denominator to turn to for truth. Because he will not go back to the accuracy of the Word, its integrity, and work the Word from the inside out rather than from the outside in. Man's basic spiritual problem is the integrity of the Word of God. Does the Word mean what it says and does it say what it means? Does God have a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it? You see, this is why man's basic spiritual problem is the integrity, the accuracy, the integrity of God's wonderful matchless Word. You see this Word of God is the greatest revelation which man needs to fulfill man, to really complete man. Without the knowledge that's in this Word of God accurately, without an accurate knowledge of it, man will never be complete. Man will never have the fulfillment that he ought to have. In the Gospel of Matthew in the fourth chapter and in the fourth verse of this chapter the Word of God declares, listen: Matthew 4:4: ...It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Notice those words "out of the mouth of God." Again, reading those words which are not true to fact it must be a what? A figure of speech. And it's that figure condescensio. "Out of the mouth of God," God doesn't have a mouth. But I do, you do and so bringing God down to the level of man making God to condescend to the level of man's frailties and human side. You see the Word how accurate it is. "Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." Every word that comes from God not words that come from men, not words that come from different writers, different theologians or different church groups but words that come from God. Now that verse says that man shall not live by bread alone. That does tell us that man needs a little bit of bread. That's right. Bread is food, physical food. Now man needs food. He needs bread, physical food for the physical body. Perhaps, many of us would not need as much bread as we've been getting physically because we are getting a little too wide someplaces. And yet man does need physical food. If he is going to live physically he has to have physical food. But what about if he's going to live spiritually? If man is going to have spiritual life he's going to have to have food. You can't feed the spiritual man on mashed potatoes and gravy and steak, that's right. The spiritual man has to be fed spiritual food. The physical man is fed physical food. Now the Word here declares in Matthew 4:4 "that man shall not live by bread alone." Indicating he does need some bread. "But by every word," not just a word here there and yonder. Not one verse and another verse there "but by every word which proceedeth [from or] out of the mouth of God." You see, as the physical body is fed on physical food so the soul of man must be fed on soul food. The Word of God which is composed of the Words of God is that food required by man so that man may be able to renew his mind so as to manifest the more abundant life. You know spiritual weakness and spiritual inability can be due only to improper food or the neglect of the Word of God, that's all. The neglect of the Word of God today may be attributed for the most part to the fact that when they read the Bible they do not understand it. They neglect the Word of God because the Bible is not understood when it is read. The reason it is not understood is because we've never been taught. Who has taught us figures of speech? Who has taught us what the revelation manifestations are like word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits and how they operate? You see this is why people neglect the Bible. They just talk about the Bible but they really neglect it. That's why we have stories about the dust covered Bible. The reason it's dust covered is it's neglected. You can't really blame people for this, you have to blame those of us who have been preachers and teachers because we have not made the Word to live. The neglect of the Word of God may for the most part be accounted for by the fact that it's not understood when it is read. The improper usage of the Word of God on the other hand is attributed to the wrong dividing of God's wonderful matchless Word. And so when we fail to understand the Word of God, when we do not know that Word of God and we fail to read it because we do not understand it and not understanding we do not read it; oh, I know some of you were taught you ought to read the Bible once and awhile, so you read it. But when you get through reading what do you know? Nothing. You haven't learned anything because you haven't understood it. And so when people fail to understand the Word you know what happens? Well, we succumb to all the doctrines and the theories of men. And then we get blown about with every wind of doctrine and by every sect. One person comes along and says this and for awhile we follow that person. Then somebody else comes along he says something else then we follow that person. So we're just blown around from pillar to post, from hither to yonder, and back and forth. I've also learned in my years of Biblical research that most men, and women as well, usually are held spellbound by the fleeting shadows of a few great names rather than by what the Word says. If Dr. so-and- so said it then it's true. Or if the right Reverend so-and-so said it it has to be right. Or if Professor so-and-so said it, after all he's the greatest theologian in the world, then they believe. No, we're not to be held spellbound by the names of men. We are to go back to the Word of God and let this Word speak for itself. Too many people, far to many, believe what they have received from some man, that's right. And then they endeavor to have their beliefs cooberated by going to the Bible and finding those scriptures which will cooberate what they already believe. That's right. A woman wrote to me once regarding one of our broadcasts that she had appreciated it so much because it agreed with what she thought. Hah, bless her heart. Suppose it had been the Word and it disagreed with what she thought; perhaps wouldn't have written that lovely letter would she? No difference! You see class it makes no difference whether I believe the Word or do not believe it, it's still God's Word. That's it. It doesn't make any difference what so- and-so says about it, it's still God's Word. That's why the integrity of the Word is always at stake, it's the integrity of the Word. This is why the Word, the integrity of that Word is man's basic spiritual problem. If a man thinks he knows the Bible or he knows the Word of God but he doesn't know it, just the mere fact that he thinks he knows it makes it impossible for him to learn because he has closed the doors on learning. Somebody once said it's what we learn after we think we know it that really counts. A number of years ago I was teaching a class in one of our southern states and after the second or the third session a man came to me and he said, "I think this is the greatest thing I've ever heard, the great accuracy with which you are setting it." But he said, "it's confusing me, it's all upsetting me because I've always held these opinions and I do not want to change and you're just confusing me with the truth." Ha, well what you going to do with a fellow like that? Well, it's his life, you're not going to do anything with him. He did it himself, he just didn't come to the class because he already had his mind made up. Even though the accuracy of the Word of God stood there and it contradicted what he believed he wanted to hold on to his error. Well it's his privilege. Like I said before if a man wants to go to hell it's his privilege. If a man wants to disbelieve God's Word it's his privilege. I may think he's stupid but it's still his privilege, that's right. You see, if you've got a five gallon bucket and you've got that bucket plumb full of water you can't put anymore water into that bucket until you empty it or bring another bucket. So it is if a man thinks he knows it but he doesn't know it, he cannot learn. You can't teach him the greatness of God's Word, it's impossible. You see this is why you and I who really hunger and thirst for the accuracy of God's Word, who want to tap into the resources for the more abundant life, who want to get to the place that we know, that we know, that this thing fits like a hand in a glove and that it works with a mathematical exactness over and over again. Just like when you put two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen together you're going to get water. And I don't care whether you pray or whether you don't pray, whether you're a Christian or non-Christian, whether you believe or whether you do not believe, doesn't make any difference because the law is involved. Two parts of hydrogen, one part of oxygen--water, water, water. And you know something it will produce water tomorrow, it will produce water today, it will produce water the day after tomorrow. Why? Because it's a law. Alright God's Word is as accurate as that! Just as accurate. If we only let this Word of God live. This is why we must honestly come to the place that we allow the Word of God to have its way in our lives. No matter what ideas I may of had, no matter what theories, no matter what hypotheses, no matter what opinions I have held; I come to the Word, let the Word speak and then I adjust my thinking according to the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word, that's all! Then we must conform our living and our action and our beliefs accordingly as the Word of God has set it forth. You remember the record from Matthew fifteen where Jesus called the Pharisees hypocrites because they carried out all the rituals they did everything else but in their heart they were far removed. You see they were religious but being religious doesn't indicate that you are accurate on God's Word; doesn't indicate this at all. I'd like to take into II Peter for instance, let me show you II Peter. Some of these things that the Word says about itself. II Peter in chapter one of II Peter here and in verse three listen: II Peter 1:3: According as [God by] his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: This is the testimony of the Word. This is what He has given us. God by His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, so if you want the things that pertain to life and godliness you've got to come to God's Word. And He did this through the knowledge of Him, through the knowledge of God, now how are you going to get the knowledge of God but from the Word of God, that's right. If you play football and you want to know the rules you go to the rules of the football game. You play basketball you want to know the rules to the basketball game you go to the basketball rule book, right? If you want to know God's Will where do you go? The local newspaper? The national periodicals? No, you go back to the Word of God. You don't even go to a theologian to find out, you go back to the Word, that's all. It's the integrity of the Word that's at stake. You see very few of us have gone back to the Word, we have gone back to men. And we have said well what did Kant say, what did Plato say, what did Aristotle say, what did this theologian say, what did this man say, what did this other person say? Class, back to the Word! The Word and nothing but the Word! For it's this Word which is the Will of God! That's right, bless your heart. Look at I Thessalonians, I Thessalonians chapter two; Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, I Thessalonians; the same trouble tonight I had before, this India paper is just a little to thin to find all these scriptures so quickly; but they're in here. I Thessalonians 2:13 listen to this: I Thessalonians 2:13: For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us,... You see they received the Word of God which they heard of Paul it was Paul's vocabulary but what he was speaking was God's Word. But to the senses ears the people could have said, "well that's Paul talking, that's just Paul, yeah that's just Paul." Like they say, "oh, that's just Dr. Wierwille, yeah..." I've heard that, no, no, no. I Thessalonians 2:13: ...thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually [which effectually] worketh also in you that [do one thing--go to church every Sunday morning, sit in the front pew and shout glory hallelujah, believe in all the social action programs; no a thousand times no. Works effectually in those who do one thing. What?] believe [believe]. Believe, believe! Didn't I tell you all believing equals receiving. And believing is either positive or negative and when we are on the accuracy of God's Word it's on that positive side that produces positive results. That's right. Look at the Book of Psalms. The Book of Psalms is always in the middle of your Bible, a quick way to find it usually unless you got too much concordance in the back and too much other stuff in the front, otherwise it's in the middle of the Bible. The Book of Psalms, Psalm twelve. Look at what the Word declares here of itself. Psalm 12:6: The words of the Lord are pure words:... The words of the Lord are pure words, then if the Bible has the words of the Lord then these words have to be what? Pure words. It means undefiled, pure, absolutely pure. Pure words, "they are as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times." Which means completely, completely, completely, completely pure. While I'm in the Book of Psalms let's take that real long one Psalm one-hundred-nineteen. Do you know that the Word of God is mentioned in every verse in Psalm one-hundred-nineteen. Every verse mentions the Word of God in it. I want to just pick out one, think it's very familiar to you. It's one of those acrostic Psalms. Every section begins with a different letter of the alphabet and all those verses start with that particular letter of the alphabet. Of course you do not see that in the King James or in any English, but in the original like the alpha, the beta, the gamma, the delta, each one of those sections. Psalm 119:162: I rejoice at thy word, as one that findeth great spoil. He rejoiced at the Word. Isn't that something? Do you rejoice at the Word as one who finds great spoil? Would you rejoice at the Word as much as you would if you found a thousand dollars someplace? Why, it's something isn't it? Look at I Corinthians, I Corinthians chapter two. Acts, Romans, Corinthians. I Corinthians chapter two verse thirteen, another wonderful testimony from the Word of God regarding the integrity of God's Word. I Corinthians 2:13: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. In other words the Bible says that these are words which the Holy Ghost, the Holy Spirit teaches. Well bless your heart if these are words which the Holy Spirit, God, teaches then we ought to wash out our ears and get the cobwebs out of our minds and begin to work that Word from its inherent accuracy in its minutest detail to gather the greatness of it and the effectiveness of it. That's right. Look at Jeremiah in the Old Testament. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah, Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter fifteen, another wonderful testimony from the Word as to its integrity, verse sixteen: Jeremiah 15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them;... This does not mean that they found the Bible or the Word and they chewed on it and ate it physically, no, no, no. The Word was found, they ate it, they digested it, they lived on it. It was their soul beat, their heart beat spiritually. Jeremiah 15:16: Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: The Word, not what people said about it, not what some theologian wrote about it, no sir. Thy Word, the Word was unto me "the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." The Word was the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. Isn't that wonderful! I gotta take you back to the Book of Psalms, show you a verse of scripture it's almost unbelievable. The Book of Psalms, a lot of the Word is almost unbelievable because it's so true. It's so terrific and nobody has ever dared to really sit down and open it unto us. Because everybody likes to talk round about the Word. Like many times we take a text you know, one verse of scripture, we read that verse that's our text for the day. Then we preach all around it go all around the world and do wonderful illustrations from Shakespeare and all the rest of the writers and when we get through we come back quote the verse of scripture, say "Amen", pronounce the benediction and go home. How much of the Word have you learned? Nothing! You've had a lot of man's opinion but no Word! They ate the Word, the Word was pure to them. You see why the integrity of the Word is at stake and for the most part all that ever happens we just use the Bible today as a springboard. And it looks religious, looks wonderful, you lay the Bible and say, "ugh, read a verse." Oh, nuts to that! Class, the Word and nothing but the Word! I used to say this in classes, I'd forgotten where I got the information until Mrs. Wierwille pinned me down once and said, "honey you gotta get it. You always say it but you don't document it." You know what I was saying? That of all of God's works; the heavens, the stars, all of God's creation--tremendous. God's works are terrific. But of all God's works I said the greatest of His works is His Word. And so I finally had to document it. It's in the Book of Psalms in one- hundred-and thirty-eight verse two. Listen to this: Psalm 138:2: I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name. Well praise the Lord! If I was a shouting Methodist I'd say, "Hallelujah!" Sure, look at it. He magnified His Word above His name! Well then God puts a pretty good value on that Word doesn't He. That Word says in Psalm 138:2 "that He magnified, He magnified His Word above His name." He set His Word above His name. Ladies and gentlemen, God has a pretty high opinion of His Word, that's why I teach my people that of all of God's works the greatest of His works is His Word. Because the Word of God is the works of God for Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit. And this works of God, the Word--God set above His name! It doesn't say that about the stars or the planets it says it about God's wonderful matchless Word! He set His Word above His name, this right here is what He set above His name! You know He underscored it, He underwrote it! He put His name underneath it! He guaranteed it! It's just like a check, you write a check for a thousand dollars, you put your name underneath it. It's as good as the name. How good is the Word? How good is The Word? The Word of God declares that it's as good as God! For the Word is as much God as God is the Word! What God has said is, is. What God says will be, will be. What God said was, was. It is God's wonderful matchless Word and He set the greatness of this Word above His name! You see why we can trust the Word! Why we must come back to the Word, to the integrity and accuracy of God's wonderful Word because you cannot trust man's word. Because man blows hot and cold. He's here today and gone tomorrow. But boy that Word of God liveth and abideth forever. That Word stands! That Word works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. That's why He set His Word above His name! That's what God thinks of His wonderful matchless Word! SEGMENT 12: LOGOS, THE LIVING WORD According to John 4:24 God is Spirit. Now, if God is Spirit and God is going to reveal Himself or manifest Himself in the senses realm He will have to come into concretion in some form or other. Because you can't see spirit, you can't smell it, you can't taste it, you can't touch it. Spirit is in the spiritual realm. God is Spirit. Now, God if He is to reveal Himself and if this revelation of God is to be made manifest in writing so as to be able to be understood by men, God has to do this in words, w-o-r-d-s. This is why Jesus Christ is called in the Bible the Word. He is called the logos. Because Jesus Christ is God's communication to man on the level of the senses so that sense knowledge men can be redeemed and understand and know who God is. This is why Jesus said, "he who has seen me has seen the Father." Because Jesus did the will of the Father. Jesus was in concretion. You can't see God for God is Spirit but you could see Jesus Christ who was the revelation from God in concretion. This is why God is the Word, Jesus Christ is also referred to in the Bible as the Word and why the written Word is called the Word of God. In the Gospel of John, in this tremendous Gospel and in these first few verses of this first chapter you have some tremendous truths. Now remember the integrity of the Word of God is at stake. Not men's opinions but the Word. It says, "in the beginning was the Word." You know what people say who this was? They say, "it was Jesus Christ." Can't be. Can't be. Because in the Bible it says, "In the beginning God" in Genesis 1:1. That's what it says, that's what it means. Genesis 1:1 says, "In the beginning God." That's right. In John 1:1 he is talking about in the beginning, in the beginning who? God. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word [was God], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Notice there are two other usages of the word "Word" here. Verse two says: John 1:2: The same was in the beginning with God. [The same was in the beginning with God.] Look at this on this chart. This is an analysis of John 1:1. God is the logos, the Word. Genesis 1:1 "in the beginning God." You see the word logos means "to be declared, to be made known." It's a word just like I speak the word then you know me you know my will because I've spoken the word. This is why God is spoken of as the logos because He is the Word. Christ is the logos, the Word of God, God's Word in person. While the Bible is the logos in writing. There you have it. Christ is the Word in person. The Bible is the Word in writing. The Bible is as much the Word of God as God is the Word. For the Word of God, the Bible, declares God, makes known God, as Jesus Christ was the Word. This is why Jesus Christ is called the Word, the logos. Because he was God's declaration to men on the level of the senses. You could see Jesus Christ. Jesus was born. God cannot be born, God is Spirit. Jesus Christ was born. He was born in Bethlehem, right, in a stable laid in a manger. God was from the beginning but God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. This is why in John chapter one verse one: John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word [God], and the Word [What Word?]... The written Word which we today speak of as the Bible, this revealed written Word. The written Word was WITH God and this written Word was God just like God. "The same," the same written Word and "the same" Jesus Christ as the Word verse two: "was in the beginning with God." Those two words "with" in verse one and two are just tremendous, almost unbelievable. If any other word was used for the word "with" except this word pros your whole Bible would fall to pieces. Because this usage with, the word "with" using this particular preposition pros means "together with yet distinctly independent of." You talk about semantic accuracy; how do you like that? Jesus Christ in the beginning was together WITH God yet he was distinctly independent of God. The written Word as we refer to it today, The Word was originally WITH God yet distinctly independent of God. That's its usage and this is remarkable because the teaching that Jesus Christ was God in the beginning and that he was there to start everything off is not what the Word says. It says he was with Him but the written Word was also with Him. How? In what you and I would refer to today using a language of the streets or of our society you would say, "in the mind of God because of God's foreknowledge." He knew of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. He knew of the prophets to whom He could give the Word and they would faithfully write it down as well as speak it. This is why this is all with God because of His foreknowledge. It was WITH God yet they were distinctly independent. Boy what a tremendous truth! Look at Ephesians. Do you know that you were with God at the beginning if you are a born-again believer? Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Ephesians chapter one, verse four listen to this: Ephesians 1:4: According as he [God] hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,... Well, if you were chosen before the foundation of the world where were you? Only one place you could have been, WITH Him. And don't tell me that you already lived up there with Him and flew around in the eternity with Him. No, no, no. But in the foreknowledge of God, God knew that someday you would believe. You would be born again of God's spirit, He knew this before you were ever born. This is why the Word says, "He chose you in Him and that you were in Him before the foundation of the world." That's a tremendous truth! Look, turn to II Thessalonians show you another one of these wonderful scriptures. II Thessalonians chapter two verse thirteen of this particular chapter: II Thessalonians 2:13: ...God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: God from the beginning chose you. Well if we were with Him from the beginning and He chose us in the beginning, we were WITH Him from the beginning like Jesus Christ was with Him, like the written Word was with Him; yet it was distinctly independent of Him. That's why that word pros is so important! If any other preposition were used for "with" and there are other prepositions for "with." But if any other one was used than this word pros your whole Bible would fall to pieces. So you see God is perfect, God is perfect. That's right. By the way while I'm thinking of this; the record in the Gospel of John and so forth. Here is one of our Studies in Abundant Living, it's entitled: "One God." This has everything in it that our student and our research staff of Biblical men and women have been able to work out on the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word from the first fourteen verses of the first chapter of the Gospel of John. This Biblical research is titled "One God." And you may have a copy of this if you like after the session it will give you some information that I'm sure will be a real blessing to your heart and help you to understand this great Gospel of John. Now over here on the chart board. God was in the beginning. Genesis 1:1 says "In the beginning God." God is perfect. Well if God is perfect then the Word, the logos, Jesus Christ the Word in declaration upon the earth here in person; Christ has to be perfect because God sent Jesus Christ. Well, what about the Word of God? If God is perfect and Christ is perfect and the Word is given as holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit then God's Word must be what? Perfect. You cannot have the greater perfect if the lesser is imperfect. If the lesser is imperfect the greater has to be imperfect. The words in the Word must be perfect if the words, w-o-r-d-s, in the Word--if the Words in the Word are imperfect you would have what kind of a Word? An imperfect Word, naturally, that's right. Well, what about the order? Have you ever asked yourself the question why is John 3:16 exactly where it is? Why is Galatians 5:4 exactly where it is? Why is I Corinthians 13 where it is? Why is I Corinthians 12 where it is, 14? You know why? Because if they were at any other place than where they are your Bible would fall to pieces. Because the order of the words must be perfect in the Word if you are going to have a perfect Word. That's right. You cannot have the greater perfect if the lesser is imperfect. God is perfect. So Jesus Christ is perfect. So the Word, the revealed Word of God is perfect, the Bible. The Words which make up the Word must be perfect. This is why had they used any other word than the preposition pros in John 1:1,2 the whole Bible would fall to pieces because it would be imperfect usage of words. That's tremendous isn't it? You see, to have a perfect Word the Words must be perfect, the order of the Words must be perfect. Everything must be perfect to have a perfect Word. If it's out of place one place the whole Word is broken. It's like a chain. You talk about a chain not being any stronger than its weakest link. This is true of the Word. If you can break the Word at any one place you've broken all the Word from Genesis to Revelation. Either the whole Bible is God's Word from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 or none of it's God's Word. Somebody says they believe John 3:16 but they do not believe I Corinthians 14 where Paul in the Word of God as the Word declares said, "I would ye all spake in tongues." If you can believe John 3:16 and throw out I Corinthians 14 you know something? Then I can believe I Corinthians 14 and throw out John 3:16. What have we got? Nothing. Man's opinion. The whole thing is God's Word ladies and gentlemen, either or. Not both and it's either or. It's either all God's Word or none of it! That's right. All of it or none. This is why God is perfect, Christ is perfect, the Word is perfect. This is why the Word means what it says and says what it means. Why God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. And the Word of God fits all the way through like a hand in a glove. And I have said time and time again that the Word works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. That's right. The Word is not made up of legends like a lot of people think. That's a bunch of baloney, that's right. The Word is not made up of forgeries and lies. You know something if you received a check and it's no good, you know what you do with it? You either get the money from the fellow if you can or you just throw it away. It's like the Word of God, if I believe that this Word of God was a myth and I was taught many years ago that it was. And at one time I believed all that baloney, sure. And I had tremendous arguments for it, I could quote you this theologian and that theologian but you know something I couldn't quote the accuracy of God's Word on it. That's right. There was a time in my life, you wouldn't believe it hearing me teach now, I didn't even believe the words "Holy Bible" on the outside of the book. That's right. I didn't believe in the miracles. I didn't believe in the virgin conception. I didn't believe in the new birth. I didn't believe in the second coming. I was just a rank unbeliever. You know where I learned it? In the schools I attended. Sure, that's what I was taught. You can't go beyond what you are taught and if they teach you that it's full errors, that the Word of God is full of myths, that it has a lot of forgeries in it, a lot of interpolations-- what are you going to believe? Same as I believed, that's right. For many years I believed it but thank God when I finally got into things like where Jesus Christ came that we might have life and that we might have it more abundantly. This started me on a quest where I have given over twenty-five years of my life doing basically nothing but researching the integrity and accuracy of God's Word. You see, if a man does not believe the Bible is right, if he thinks it is full of myths and forgeries, if that man's actions would agree with what his mouth says you know what he would do? He'd quit the ministry. He'd get out of the pulpit. He'd quit preaching the Word of God, that's right. Well, he never did preach it but he'd quit saying he was. See then his actions would correspond to what his mouth says. If I believed that the Bible had forgeries in it that it had contradictions in it, if I believed that it had error in it, if I believed that it was full of myths--you know what I'd do? I'd quit. Why sure, then I'd be honest with myself because I do not believe. And if you do not believe that the Bible is the Word of God then the only honest thing you can do is quit. Then I'd have a little respect for them but boy I have very little respect for them when they stand in the pulpits and sit in teaching chairs and declare this verse is alright but that one is interpolation, that one's a myth. Then they want to teach us that the Book of Genesis for instance; the first few chapters had four, five different writers. Nice teaching, when the Word of God declares that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit and they got it by revelation. Now who you going to believe? God's Word or what men say. It's not difficult for me anymore. Maybe for a lot of people but not for us in this class. You know why? Because we are sick and tired of getting pushed around and being wrong every other day. I want to get to the place and I want my people in these classes to get to the place that you know, that you know, that you know, that you know! And that we can prove what we know with the same exactness that you can prove that H2O produces water. Now you may say that H2O does not produce water. And for you it may not produce water because you said it doesn't so you never try it out. But if you put two parts of hydrogen and one part of oxygen you know what you're going to get? Not pea soup! Not apple butter! You're going to get water. Alright what about the Word of God! You see, we're concerned about the integrity of God's Word. It means what it says and it says what it means. This is why it's the Word of God. The Word of God which interprets the Father and His Will to us and for us. In the Gospel of John in this first chapter again of the Gospel of John in 1:18 we have a chart here on the board I'm going to in a moment. But I want to read to you this verse from King James it's tremendous. Listen to John 1:18: John 1:18: No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. Jesus Christ declared Him. You see, the Word interprets the Father and His Will to us. The Word logos is God manifested as the created Word in Christ Jesus and also as the created Word in the written Word. He hath declared Him. The word "declared" is a unique word-- exegeomai; from the word ek meaning "out" and hegeomai from "to lead." The word "declare" is this word, this word exegeomai; which is composed of the word ek meaning "out" and hegeomai meaning "to lead out." Jesus Christ declares the Father, declares, to make known. This same word is used in English, transliterated over into English in our theological circles in a word we refer to as "exegesis." It means to make known, that's why in the theological circles and exege is one who makes known. He's suppose to make known the Word of God. He's suppose to exegize, to declare, to make known God's Word. Now, you see Christ, Jesus Christ is the subject of the written Word. He's the subject of this written Word from Genesis 3:15 all the way through the Book of Revelation. Jesus Christ is the living Word. He is also the written Word and whenever the Word of God is preached it is the preached Word which makes know Christ. It is our attitude to the Word of God, it's our attitude to the Word which determines our spirituality. That's right. You see the Bible is the living Word in action. To me the Bible is more than a common book, that's right. This Bible is more to me than Shakespeare or Plato or Aristotle or the writings of any other philosopher or psychologist or any one else! The Bible is more than a common book. It is God's Word. It is God's Word. They are pure Words. They are Words which God has set above His name. You know why many people do not trust the Word of God? Because they don't trust their own words, that's right. Man knows he can't trust his own words, doesn't trust his own words so he reads the distrust of his own words into the Word of God. And he says, "well, that can't be true either." Ha, ha. Can't trust his own words, that's right. How many men can you trust on their word today? If you could trust a man on his word you wouldn't always have to write it down, get it notarized and all the rest. Can't trust him so now we write down and you still can't trust him. An old Indian custom, I'm speaking of the country of India; if you could trust a fellow it was just taken word for word but when you couldn't trust him then you had to have it notarized and written down. But you see, you talk to a man and say "well, I'll be there at 7:30." Lo, and behold, 7:30 comes, he isn't there. He just forgot to say which day of the week he was coming at 7:30 maybe, I don't know. But you can't trust his word and so man's word today doesn't mean anything. You can't trust it. And he reads all that distrust into God's Word and says, "well, you can't trust God's Word either." You know, we have failed to walk into deliverance in this our day and our time because the Word is not real. The Word is not alive it's not dynamic unto us. And so you know what most people are, even the best? There are nothing but spiritual cripples and hitchhikers, that's all. They ride along on somebody elses believing. What somebody else has done they want to ride along. They are just like spiritual cripples and spiritual hitchhikers. And you know some people stay in this condition so long that they think God's wrong and God's Word is wrong and they are right. And many people today would much rather read and study the literature of the hour than the literature of eternity--the Word of God. Why? Because the word of man has for the most part preeminence over this wonderful Word of God. If man said it and what man says, if it contradicts what the Word says, they stick to what man says rather than the Word. This is why we are not walking into deliverance because the word of man has preeminence over the Word of God for most people. And so we'd rather read and study the literature of the hour than the literature of eternity--the Word of God. But if you want to tap the resources for the more abundant life the integrity of God's Word demands that you study and that you show yourself approved unto God by this wonderful, matchless Word of God. SEGMENT 13: THE PREVAILING WORD To continue our in-depth study of the integrity of God's Word I want to take you into the depth of what we call in our syllabus the Word of God as it prevails or the prevailing Word. You and I have life in the measure and to the degree that the Word of God prevails in us. His Word, this Word of God as the spoken Word on the lips of believers today produces the same results with the same mathematical exactness and scientific precision with which the results were produced the first time those words were spoken. In other words, when I speak His Word, this is the same Word that was spoken the first time, if I speak it again and if I believe that when I speak that Word; this spoken Word on the lips of believers produces the same results today that it did at the first time it was spoken or any subsequent time since. Why? Because God's Word is the very life of God. When this Word of God prevails we have a tremendous power of God in manifestation in the world. And I want to take you into the depth of God's Word today to show you from Acts chapter nineteen how this Word of God prevailed and what it did in a community, in an area of our world in such a short period of time. I'd like for you to turn to Acts chapter nineteen. But while you are turning to Acts 19 I want to go over here to the chart to reiterate something that I discussed with you earlier. The word "declare," the word "to declare" or "to make known" is this Greek word exegeomai from the word ek meaning "out" and from hegeomai meaning "to lead out." It is to lead us out of darkness into a knowledge of God's Word, to make known, to declare. Now, from which we get our English word "exegesis"--to make known. This Word of God makes known God's Will for us and so I'm taking you today into Acts nineteen, there are many records in the Word but here is a record that will just set your soul on fire because of its greatness. In Acts chapter nineteen in the opening part of this chapter you will note that it was Paul who came to Ephesus and he found certain disciples there and he ministered the power of the holy spirit into manifestation and all together in verse seven of chapter nineteen it says, "and all the men were about twelve", that's all. Then in verse eight begins the record that I want to share with you in this particular session on the integrity of the prevailing Word of God. Acts 19:8: And he [Paul] went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. Three months he went into the synagogue and he showed them the Word of God, he spoke the Word of God to them. But three months was all they could take because in verse nine it says: Acts 19:9: But when divers [many, the word "divers" is many] were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude,... You see they spoke evil of the way. The beleivers were called followers of the Way long before they were called Christians in Antioch of Syria first. Because Jesus Christ had said of himself "I am the way" and so the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ were first called followers of the way. Later on in Antioch of Syria the unbelievers named them Christians because they said they are always talking about Christ being in them, Christ being in them. So they called them Christians, Christ-in. That's how we got the word "Christian." But they were called followers of the way. Acts 19:9: But when divers [many] were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he [Paul] departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one [called] Tyrannus. Well now isn't that a dandy! Paul split the church, that's right. He went in the synagogue for three months he preached and taught them the Word of God and they refused to believe the Word of God so you know what he did? He separated the disciples, he separated the believers. He said, "well you people who want to believe, come on let's go with me. We're going over to the school of Tyranus over here. The rest of you people who do not want to believe the accuracy of God's Word you just stay there--you keep the mortgage, you pay the bills, you pay for the electricity and heat, and you pay off on all that whole bunch of brick and stone and the rest of it. We're going over to the school of Tyranus." You see it wasn't Paul who broke this synagogue up. It was the unbelief of the people in the synagogue that drove Paul out so to speak and they are the ones with their unbelief that is responsible for the breakup of this particular synagogue or church. He separated the disciples and he went to the school of Tyranus. Verse ten says: Acts 19:10: And this continued by the space of two years; [now listen, in the school of Tyranus this continued now by the space of two years] so that all they [now listen I'm reading the Word of God, not V.P. Wierwille, not what somebody else wrote but the Word of God] which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks. Two years and three months all Asia heard the Word of the Lord Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen this has never been repeated, duplicated in our day and in our time. Not even in one generation with our multi- millions that we have for foreign missions, with our periodicals, our publications, our newspapers, our radios, our televisions, everything-- we have never reached all Asia minor with the Word of God in one generation. Here the Apostle Paul did it in two years and three months "all Asia heard the Word of God." Now class, either God changed or Paul and these men had tapped into something which they utilized to its greatest efficacy or something needs to be understood differently than I understand it. But you know something, these men were filled with the power of holy spirit, they believed the Word and each one won one. The Apostle Paul taught the Word to twelve men that's where it started. As these men knew they taught it to someone else. This one taught it to someone else and so all Asia minor heard the Word of the Lord in two years and three months under the ministry of one man. A feat which has not been duplicated in our day and in our times. Well, let's see what happened. It says in verse eleven: Acts 19:11: And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul because Paul believed the Word, he preached the Word, he taught the Word and because he did this the special miracles came to pass. Now this situation here in Ephesus of the Word of God beginning to prevail had a tremendous effect upon the whole community, listen: Acts 19:13: Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists... You know what an exorcist is? An exorcist is one who exercises evil or devil spirits. He exercises them. They are at his beck and call. He calls in old Mr. Fletcher and says, "come on in Mr. Fletcher." And Mr. Fletcher the spirit comes in and he exercises him. An exorcist is one who exercises at his own beck and call, he invites them, evil spirits--devil spirits. But of course most people today don't know the difference between a good spirit and a bad one and they are about all conviced that they are all good spirits. That's right. Listen, this is the Word. Acts 19:13: Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying,... Now wait a minute, isn't that something! People with evil spirits themselves tried to call over the others who they said had evil spirits trying to cast out those evil spirits by the evil spirit that was in them. About everybody has a lot of trouble with this verse. We don't have any trouble with it at all because we understand. If you've got a bigger devil spirit than that person has that devil spirit can chase that little devil spirit out. Just like an army, sure. The captain says to private "jump." The private doesn't ask how high he just jumps. That's what we are talking about. These exorcists by devil spirits were endeavouring to cast out other evil spirits in the name of Lord Jesus saying, Acts 19:13b: ...We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth [come on out!] And you know who these fellows were that were operating these devil spirits? Verse fourteen says: Acts 19:14: And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. They were the sons of the head of the synagogue, the chief of the priests. They were his own sons. Boy, that gets it up in the top echelon of the religious society doesn't it. You bet your life. Verse fifteen says: Acts 19:15: And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? Isn't that something. Here they were casting out devil spirits by other devil spirits and this devil spirit that came out talked back to them and he said, "Jesus we know and Paul we know but who in the world are you?" Quite a story. I don't see why they don't put some of these stories on television. Why someone with a great ability to televise doesn't take the greatness of the Word of God and just let it live. These are alive, these are great, these are terrific. Now listen to this: Acts 19:16: And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. Can't you just see those seven fellows running like crazy. All they got left on is their underwear maybe. It said they left naked. Boy, once this man in whom the devil spirits was the devil spirits came out and the man in whom the devil spirit was got on these other fellows and just racked and ruined them. Jerked all the clothes off of them that finally they ran out of the house naked and wounded. Quite a sight huh. Acts 19:17: And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. Not degraded, the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. You talk about extra-sensory perception, you're in it. We talk about parapsychology, we talk about ghosts, the difference between ghosts and spirits. I'm going to cover all that in this class on Power for Abundant Living because it all comes up in the Word of God. That's right. Acts 19:18: And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Those who were born-again of God's spirit, those who believed--you know what happened to those? They came and confessed and they showed their deeds. Acts 19:19a: Many of them also which used curious arts... You know what curious arts are? Ouiga boards, which today we are selling every place for kids to play with because we want children to get started in the devil spirit world right you know. So we start them with a simple little ouiga board and we tell them "it's just a nice little game, you just play with." Ah-huh, nice little game to get you started so that you open your mind to devil spirit possession that will then later on control you and use you at their own will. These people when the Word prevailed and the power of God was made known, they brought their curious arts, that's right. They brought their black arts books, their white arts, they brought the book dealing with the seven different books of Moses and they brought all of this stuff. Their pendants, yea, ask the pendant the question. Yes, no, yes, no, all operated by devil spirits, evil spirits. But today very few people know the difference between an evil spirit and a good spirit or bad spirit. So we just go along and say "well God gives it all." They just make one great mistake--which God? The Bible says there are two gods. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the other god is the god of this world, he's called Satan. Later on I'm going to read you this from the Word of God just line-by-line and word-by-word, in another session. But here in Ephesus all Asia heard the Word of God out from Ephesus in two years and three months under the ministry of this one man filled with the power of the holy spirit. Listen: Acts 19:19b: ...brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. I'd call that a good book burning ceremony, wouldn't you? That was a sort of an expensive burning ceremony--fifty thousand pieces of silver. Think how much that would be in dollars of our day and of our time. Then veres twenty is the verse that really sets the greatness of it. Acts 19:20: So [so] mightily [mightily] grew the Word of God and prevailed. What grew? Not man's opinion but the Word of God grew, the Word of God grew and the Word of God prevailed! When that Word of God prevails things begin to happen in our lives. Things begin to happen in our community, in our society but as long as there is a failure of this Word of God growing; as long as people do not understand the greatness of God's Word it never will prevail. But God gave us His Word that we could lead people out of the darkness into the glorious light of the gospel of redemption and salvation to make known, to make known His Will. Because His Word is His Will. You see, we talk about revival. Do you know when revival really comes? Revival is dependent upon the written Word becoming real. When the written Word becomes real in the life of a man then revival breaks. Most of our revivals today are nothing but psuedo revivals you know. Sure, we got to go into a community two years ahead of time and we got to get all the cooperation of all the churches, the major ones anyways because they got a lot of influence. Then we got to get the cooperation of the newspapers, the radio, the television. Can you imagine Paul getting the cooperation of the synagogue to get the revival rolling? Can you imagine the Apostle Paul going all through the city of Ephesus to every Christian church getting all their cooperation? You know why couldn't? There weren't any, just weren't any. He couldn't get any cooperation at all but he must have had something because all Asia heard the Word of God in two years and three months. Ladies and gentlemen I didn't write the book. But that's what it says and it's God's Word! Revivals depend upon the Word of God becoming real. When this Word again becomes real--revival breaks here, there and yonder! People get saved without newspapers, without radio, without television, without the cooperation of all the churches of a community, at least the major ones who agree with your theology. You see, Hebrews 13:8 says Jesus Christ is the same what? Yesterday, today and forever. And if he's the same yesterday, today and forever when this Jesus Christ who is the Word becomes living and real-- REVIVAL! A man's life is changed, a woman's life is changed. They quit reading all of that junk they been reading. They put aside all of those things and they come back to reading the Word and start living that Word and that Word starts to permeate their day-by-day life. That's right. You see, it's the Word of God that gives birth to faith for rebirth. For Romans chapter ten, look at Romans ten verse seventeen. Romans 10:17: So then faith cometh by hearing [hearing what?], and hearing by the word of God [hearing the Word of God]. Faith doesn't come by hearing what Readers Digest, Life, Look or Time or Saturday Evening Post has to say or the local newspaper or the international periodicals, no, no, no. Faith cometh by hearing one thing--hearing the Word of God, the Word of God. That's right. If we would look at the Word of God more, give more time to the Word of God we would have more life. For it is the Word of God that gives faith so that a man can be born-again of God's spirit filled with the power of the holy spirit. The Word of God becomes living and it becomes real in our lives as we act on it. The Word of God is God speaking now! It is not only God has spoken but it is God speaking NOW with a capital N-O-W! Why? Because God and His Word are one. You cannot separate God from His Word anymore than you can separate me from my words. Why? Because the Word of God is His Will! He means what He says and He says what He means. He has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. What God said was, was. What God says is, is. What God says will be, will be. Why? Because His Word is faithful! His Word is faithful. What He has promised He is able to perform. His Word is the same yesterday, today and forever because Christ is that Word and this written Word is Christ. Let me show you something from I Thessalonians two thirteen, listen to this: I Thessalonians 2:13: For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. You know, you may have the Word of God, you may know the Word of God but it does not work effectually in people. It does not work effectively with power until we do one thing. Believe. You believe that Word and lo and behold you speak that Word and it produces the same results today that it has produced at any time in the history of civilization since that Word has been given. You know, the Bible says that we are to abide in the Word. We are to abide in the Word and we're to let this Word abide in you. To the end that we abide in the Word this Word takes the Master's place in our lives through our renewed mind and then it becomes our vocabulary but it is God's Word. We speak, this is our vocabulary, we speak the Word but as we speak the Word it is God's Word. "I thank my God that when ye received the Word which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of man," sounds like it, "but as the Word of God which worketh effectually in those that believe." This Word of God cannot be broken, that's right. Just cannot be broken, not one iota of it can be broken, for what God promised He is not only able but willing to perform and that whole Word fits like a hand in a glove. You see it is this Word of God that really thrills a man. In Luke chapter twenty-four. Matthew, Mark, Luke, let me just check this with you. Luke twenty-four listen to verse thirty-two: Luke 24:32: And they said one to another, Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures? This was speaking about Jesus on the road to Emmaus after the ressurection as he spoke to these men. He opened unto them the scriptures. You see how their hearts thrilled, how their hearts burned within them because he opened to them the scritpures. I've never seen a man or a woman or a boy or a girl in these classes on Power for Abundant Living whose soul just has not thrilled with an effervesence and with an abundance and with a glow when this Word of God started to unfold, started to fit like a hand in a glove. It made sense and how their hearts burned within them. How they thrilled at the greatness of God's Word! Why? Because the Word of God reveals mysteries as it says in the book of Romans. As it says in II Timothy it is the Word of God that makes us wise unto salvation. If you want to be saved if you want to know what it is to be saved if you want to be sure that your sure that your sure and that you know that you know there's only one place you can go is the Word of God. It is the Word that makes us wise. You do not get wise by listening to people on the street corners you get wise by listening to God and His Word. This is the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. This Word of God was written, some of it to us but all of it is for our learning also. And according to Acts chapter seventeen, we've had this verse before, verse eleven: Acts 17:11: These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. It says we are to search the Word of God for truth. We do not search any profane sources any secular sources for truth. We search the Word of God. Why? Because the Word of God is the Will of God. The Word means what it says and it says what it means. And this Word declares, it makes known God's Will to us. And so we study this Word that we may be able to rightly-divide it to properly understand it so that we can share it with people that the abundance of the greatness of God's wonderful matchless Word will once again live and peoples hearts and their lives will be changed with that power of God in manifestation in our day in our time. SEGMENT 14: THE WORD AND THE WORKMAN--II TIMOTHY 2:15 In dealing with man's basic spiritual problem--the integrity of the Word and as the prevailing Word--we must logically and of necessity consider next in sequence the workman in his relationship to the Word. I have written a study in abundant living. This study is entitled: "Why Division?" Time and time again in our ministry I have heard this statement that the greatness of God's Word always is divisive. It always causes trouble in a community or in a church or in our society. After hearing that so many, many times I wrote this little study in abundant living searching the Word as to why there are divisions. The divisions never come from the accuracy of God's Word. Divisions come because men and women who say they believe refuse to believe the accuracy of God's Word. So the divisiveness is not from the accuracay of God's Word it's from the unbelief of those who refuse to believe the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. In dealing now with the workman and the Word. This is the subject that we want to again work with a minute accuracy because the integrity of God's Word there is just no question about it and about the truth that it is to be the prevailing Word. But what about the workman who handles this Word? So we are going to be dealing with the Word and the workman but specifically how the workman is to work this Word. And we are going to turn to II Timothy chapter two verse fifteen. A verse of scripture that everybody uses, just everybody. Of course we are included in the everybody. So we want to see really again from our Biblical research point of view exactly what does this verse really say. Because once we know what it says we know exactly what it means. II Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The one great requirement of every Biblical student is to rightly divide the Word of Truth. The Bible, the Word of God, the Bible is the Word of Truth. But if it's hashed to pieces or if it's wrongly divided we will not have the true Word. It will still be the Word of Truth but if it is wrongly divided you and I will not be given the true Word. We have the Word of Truth only to the extent and in the proportion that the Word of God is rightly divided. Now everybody divides the Word and anybody may divide it but everybody does at one time or other. Everybody divides the Word. The question is not do we divide the Word the question is do we rightly divide it. In Acts chapter seventeen, I'd like for you to turn to Acts seventeen and in the second verse of this Acts seventeen we have a verse of scripture that a minister handed back to me once because he said, "Dr. Wierwille you're always talking about using the Word of God and setting the Word of God forth and just preaching nothing but the Word and not going to these profane secular sources like Shakespeare and all these other writers and so forth to bring in illustrations and so on." He said, "do you know that the Apostle Paul did not always use the Word of God; that he reasoned with people logically from outside of the Word of God?" And I said, to him "is that right?" He said, "it sure is." I said, "well where'd you get that opinion?" He said, "well the Bible says so." I said, "is that right? You'd better show it to me." And he qouted me or showed me this scripture that I'm now going to read with you. Acts seventeen verse two, this is the scripture he gave me to prove to me that the Apostle Paul went outside of the Bible to reason with people about spirituality. Acts 17:2: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Well, what you going to do about it? Did he reason with them from outside of the scriptures? This is what that minister said this said. That's not what it says. It says he reasoned with them out of the scriptures not outside. One would think after a man went through four years of college and three years of seminary he ought to be able to read and understand a little better, huh. But this is what he said. You see everybody divides the Word. The question is not do they divide it, the question is do they rightly divide it? And we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God as workman who need not to be ashamed by rightly dividing the Word. There's another one in here that I want to share with you that was called to my attention. It's in the book of Jude just before Revelation. Jude, in the twentieth verse of this book of Jude we have a verse of scripture that came up again in our ministry. And I'm simply trying to show you how people divide the Word. This man had been in his prayer meeting with a group of other people and after the prayer meeting that evening he came to the home of one of our grads of our classes on Power for Abundant Living. And he said, "you know we just had the most tremendous meeting we've ever had at our prayer meeting." He said, "why the spirit of God you could just feel it there." And he said, "it came to pass because everybody was so sincere and we prayed until we had prayed in the holy spirit into the meeting." And my grad said, "you mean you prayed so fervently that you prayed in the holy spirit? I thought that God is the Holy Spirit and He's every where present. How could you pray Him in?" "Oh," but he said, "we did." And in those days we had quite a little system going among the group. Whenever somebody said, "this is what the Bible says." We'd take a Bible out or a Testament out of our hip pocket or the ladies would take a Bible out of their purse and give it to them and say, "chapter and verse please." So she said to him, "give me your chapter and verse." And he turned to Jude and gave her this verse to prove that they had prayed in the Holy Spirit into that meeting. Listen to this: Jude 20: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, "Praying in the Holy Ghost." Did he divide the Word? Sure he divided the Word! The question is not whether he divided the Word the question is did he rightly divide it. "Praying in the Holy Ghost," is that what it means that they prayed so fervently they prayed in the Holy Ghost? Listen again: Jude 20: ...building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, Well, you see anybody and everybody divides the Word. The question is not do we divide it. The question is is it rightly divided? That's always the question. You see, you can take this Word of God and you can make it mean exactly what you want to make it mean by taking it out of its context or by adding to it, by deleting certain words. You can prove anything you want to prove from the Bible by getting yourself a verse or a text, sure. It's like in Psalm fourteen verse one, the man said he could prove from the Bible there is no God. Psalm fourteen verse one says just that. Let me read it to you. Psalm 14:1a: ...The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God... Does it say "there is no God?" Yes it does. It says, "there is no God." So you can go to the Bible, you can prove like that man said that the Bible says "there is no God." That's what it says but he just forgot to include part of the verse that says "the fool hath said in his heart there is no God." You see, just anything you want to prove you can prove from the Bible all you have to do is to isolate a text or change it around or leave out some verses. You can substantiate any theological viewpoint by finding those scriptures in the Word that agree with what you already think and then you bring them up and set them forth. So you can just prove anything you want to. You know, this scripture from II Timothy that I read with you: II Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. This scripture is the only place in the Bible where the words "rightly dividing" occur. It's the only place. And so when you again come to a usage in the Word where it is only used once it becomes uniquely and dynamically significant and its meaning is almost unbelievable. These words "rightly dividing" in II Timothy 2:15 are the Greek word from the critical Greek text orthotomounta. This word orthotomounta is made up of the word orthos meaning "right or straight." It means "to have it perfectly right or perfectly straight," understand. The word temno means to cut. Putting these two words together in the word orthotomounta transalated rightly dividing in the King James Version it means literally a right cutting, a right cutting. And this word orthotomounta referring to a right cutting in its basic root meaning means that there is only one way to rightly cut it; all other ways are wrong cutting. That's its meaning. In other words the teaching that so many people give that as long as you are sincere, as long you are headed this way it's wonderful is not the teaching of the Word. It says we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God by rightly dividing and the rightly dividing means there is only one way to rightly cut it, one straight way to cut it. All other ways are wrong cutting. That's the meaning of that Word orthotomounta. That makes it singularly important doesn't it? Now, I often say to my classes that Mrs. Wierwille is a genius in cutting pie. We have our family gathered around the dinner table on Sunday and we have this pie and there are five of us. So Mrs. Wierwille has one pie and she has to divide it into five pieces, so she takes it and divides it into five and of course my being the head of the house which is the best kept secret in the world; I get the opportunity to get the first piece. So you know what I do? I take this pie and I scrutinize it looking for the biggest piece. Because after all the head of the house ought to have the biggest piece shouldn't he? So when I scrutninize this pie there she has cut that thing so perfectly that one piece is the same size as the others. She knows how to rightly cut pie I guarantee you. Now the Word of God is like this. We are to rightly divide it. Straight, right so that it's always perfect. This right dividing of the Word is singularly and uniquely significant because there is only one way to rightly divide it which separates it off from all other ways which are wrong dividing. Do you know why we have all the splits? All the denominations? All the different sects and so forth in so called Christianity? Every one of them stems from the wrong dividing of the Word. Every one of them. Now the first Word in II Timothy 2:15 says "study, study, study." Do you get that first word "study." Every person who is going to rightly divide the Word the first thing he has to do is to study. Now he cannot study commentaries. He cannot study secular writings. He's got to study the Word. So we study the Word. If we are ever going to rightly divide the Word then we've got to study the Word not what people say about it. For years I did nothing but read around the Word of God, for years I did this. I used to read two to three theological works week after week, month after month, year after year. I just read prolifically and I knew a lot around the Word. I knew what Professor so-and-so said Dr. so-and-so and the right Rev. so-and-so and philosopher so-and-so cause I'd read around the Word. I could qoute you what they said but I could not qoute you the Word for I had not read the Word! I'd read around the Word, read around it. Till one day I got so sick and tired of reading around the Word that I hauled over three thousand volumes of theological works to the gehenna. That's the city dump where the fire never ceases. Burned them up. Sometimes today I wish we had them back at our Biblical Research, they would certainly impress people to have them in our library. They could say well this was once upon a time Dr. Wierwille's library before they decided to burn them all. It would impress them. They would say, "oh my goodness, look at all those books that man has read. Look at all the studying he has done." But you know what those books did as wonderful as they were? They took me around the Word. They told me what this man thought and that man but I never read the Word. And one of the things that got me into the depth of this Biblical research is because equally intelligent men talking about the same verse of scripture would be miles apart on their conclusion. So I decided to quit reading around the Word and I decided to read the Word. And so I spent years upon years upon years doing nothing but studying the Word; its integrity, its meaning, its words, the usage of words and all of these things so that I might be able by God's mercy and by God's grace to once again rightly divide the Word. Not because of who I am but because of what the Word is! That's right. So you study, study. Why do you study? Because we must be workman, workman. And a workman has to study. You see God expects us to know the score. Look at I Corinthians chapter twelve, listen to verse one: I Corinthians 12:1: Now concerning spiritual gifts [the word "gifts" is in italics], brethren, I would not have you ignorant. "I would have you ignorant." No! It doesn't say that. It says concerning spiritual matters or spiritual things brethren I'd have you not ignorant! I would not have you ignorant. Well, if He would not have us ignorant then there is only one thing He would expect us to be and that's smart. Right. He expects us to know the score, sure. Look at I Thessalonians chapter four in verse thirteen. I Thessalonians 4:13: But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep,... In other words He would not have us ignorant concerning those which are asleep. Meaning that He wants us to know the score. We're not to be stupid. He wants us to know exactly what's going on, that's right. You see, we are to study to show ourselves approved unto who? God. We're to study to show ourselves approved unto God. Not to man. We do not study the Word of God to show ourselves approved unto the head elder or the head deacon. You do not study to show yourself approved unto the leading financier in your community nor to the heads of your denomination. I do not study the Word to show myself approved to my denomination or to any man. You study the Word as it says in II Timothy to show yourself approved to who? To God! That's the requirement, you study so that you show yourself approved to God not to men. Whether men ever approve you or not is not of primary importance only secondary. The primary thing is do you stand approved before God? And the only way you are going to stand approved before God is to study, study. Study to show thyself approved unto God. Look at Romans chapter sixteen here in verse ten is a verse of scripture you should note in your Bible. Romans 16:10a: Salute Apelles approved in Christ.... Doesn't say that he was approved in the community or in the society or in the denomination. But he was approved in or of Christ. He studied to show himself approved of God. In Acts chapter two is a wonderful record also. Acts chapter two and in verse twenty-two something written that you should really remember. Acts 2:22: Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved [in his community. No, a man approved] of God... So we study to show ourselves approved of God. Why do we study to show ourselves approved unto God? Because we are to be workmen. Study to show thyself approved unto God as a workman, a workman. A workman who does not need to be ashamed of his workmanship. For instance, if I am a carpenter, which I'm not but if I were, if I were a carpenter to build a house and I got those joints up there and the mortices of them were that far apart. You see then when you would come to look at this house I would be approved or stand disapproved of my workmanship. I would not be approved because they didn't fit. So a carpenter works, he works, he's a workman that he may stand approved to the people by whom he is employed. So we study the Word. We study the Word that we may be approved, stand approved before God as workman who need not to be ashamed, who need not to be ashamed of their workamanship. Because you and I are held accountable for our workmanship. Look at the gospel of Matthew, chapter twelve of the gospel of Matthew and in this verse thirty-six of this chapter: Matthew 12:36: But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. Every idle word men speak they will give account thereof in the day of judgment. And in verse thirty-seven: Matthew 12:37: For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Look at Romans chapter fourteen. Romans fourteen I think it's verse twelve in here. I know it from memory but I better read it to you from the Word. Romans 14:12: So then every one of us [every one of us] shall give account of himself to God. To his neighbor? No. To the head elder? No. Oh it has to be. You've got to give an account to the heads of the denomination. No, sorry. He will give an account of himself to one only! God. That's what the Word says that's what it means. Every one shall give an account of himself to God. So we study to show ourselves approved unto God as workman who need not to be ashamed. You see to have God's approval, if I am to have God's approval and not to be ashamed we must study the Word and study it in the right way. The right way to study the Word is the right cutting of the Word of Truth or the true Word. You see, when we rightyly divide that Word then we have the truth of the Word. And then the greatness of God's Word begins to live. So if we are going to have God's approval and if we are not going to be ashamed before God we are going to have to study the Word and divide it in the right way. Do you think that Jesus Christ rightly divided the Word, God's only begotten Son? I do. I believe he did. Jesus Christ according to Luke twenty-four, forty-four divided the Old Testament into the law, the prophets and the psalms. The Word for psalms is very interesting because it is the Hebrew word kethubin, k-e-t-h-u-b-i-n. Kethubin literally means "writings." Jesus Christ divided the Old Testament in Luke twenty-four, forty- four into the law, the prophets and the rest of the writings. Do you know how I divided the Old Testament when I was first in the ministry? You can't go beyond what you are taught, right? So I divided the Old Testament into what I was taught: the books of the law, the books of history, the books of poetry, the major prophets and the minor prophets. I put them into five categories. Jesus Christ put them into three. Now who do you think was right Jesus Christ or V.P. Wierwille? Well, no question about that is there? I would say Jesus Christ rightly divided the Word. He said the Old Testament is divided into law, the prophets and the rest of the writings. I said it was divided into law, history, poetry, major prophets, minor prophets. Somebody's got to be wrong either Jesus Christ's dividing of the Word or V.P. Wierwille's. Well there is no question about that in my mind. No question whatsoever. Jesus Christ rightly divided the Word. You see, God also classifies all people into three categories. This is God's classification according to I Corinthians ten, thirty-two. He says they are all Jews or Gentiles and if they are born again of God's spirit He says they belong to the church of God. So there are two categories in the Word of God of the classification, God's classification of all people--Jews or Gentiles according to I Corinthians ten, thirty-two. So, they are either Jews or Gentiles or if they are born again of God's spirit they belong to the church of God where they are neither Jew nor Gentile, but they belong to the church. So, the Word of God is the Word of Truth but we must rightly divide it if we are to have the true Word. We have the true Word in the proportion and to the extent that we rightly divide this Word of Truth. This is why the workman must be so concerned about the accuracy the right dividing of this wonderful Word of God because to the end he rightly divides it he will have the true Word. To the end that the workman wrongly divides it we will have error. And sincerity is no guarantee for truth. SEGMENT 15: RECEIVE, RETAIN, RELEASE We are still dealing with the workman and the Word from II Timothy chapter two verse fifteen. II Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You see, the Word of God is truth. This Word of God is truth. But only if it's rightly divided do we have the true Word. We have the Word of Truth to the extent and in the proportion of the rightly dividing thereof. So if we rightly divide the Word of Truth we will have the true Word. If we wrongly divide it we will have error. For instance, if I rightly divide the Word of Truth on salvation we will have the true Word on salvation. Right? But if I wrongly divide the Word of Truth in the Holy Spirit field in the matters of speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues or prophecy then at that particular place we will not have the true Word. This is why in any one person the possibility for truth and error is always there. You see if I rightly divide the Word of Truth on salvation we have the true Word. But if I wrongly divide it in the Holy Spirit field we have error. Now naturally I'll be sincere in both fields this is why I said to you that sincerity is no guarantee for truth, absolutely not. Because sincerity is wonderful but you know it is just no guarantee for truth. Sincerity is a tremendous thing and you like to see people when they are sincere. And of course everytime you look at a minister or someone like this you say we'll he's certainly a wonderful sincere person isn't he? That really doesn't cut any ice with me it's wonderful to be sincere but sincerity is no guarantee for truth. You know, the man who sold you a tooth brush for instance with only one bristle in it--he was sincere alright wasn't he? He couldn't have sold you that toothbrush, you wouldn't have bought it had he not been sincere. Or the fellow that sold you a lot ten feet under ground and you're suppose to build a house on--he was sincere. You see sincerity is wonderful but sincerity is no guarantee for truth. Now I like sincere people and I thank God for them. But when somebody comes along and especially in the religious field and they come to me and they are so sincere so holier than thou. You know what I do? I stand up and I take another look at this thing. You know why? Because I've been hoodwinked so often by sincere people. The insincere have never taken me but the sincere people have. Because they are always so sincere always so goody-goody you know, so holier than thou. It's like a fellow said to me once that he was so holy he never committed sin. So I spent a week with him just to find out. My goodness he had more than I could catalogue. Because sincerity is no guarantee for truth. The Word of God is truth. When we rightly divide it we have the true Word when we wrongly divide it we have error. Now sincerity is wonderful. No question about it. But you see if the Word is rightly divided we'll have the true Word--sincerity or no sincerity. It's the Word that must be rightly divided. This is why when it comes to this matter of standing approved before God, my-oh-my how I've been through this school too--maybe you have too, I don't know. But you know people say you stand approved before God if you pray a certain way. That's not what my Bible says, my Bible says you stand approved before God if you rightly divide the Word. We've tried everything else to stand approved before God except the Word's way. That's right. For instance, are the flowers on the altar at the right place? If not you may have a big argument over it. Doesn't make God a bit of difference where the flowers are on the altar. It may make you some difference and the head elder and the head deacon. But it doesn't make God any difference at all. That's right. The Word of God says, "we study to show ourselves approved unto God as a workman who needeth not to be ashamed rightly dividing the Word." To the end we rightly divide the Word we stand approved. To the end we wrongly divide it we do not stand approved. And this is the only thing in the Bible, this is the only place in the Bible that it talks about standing approved before God. You can try everything else it doesn't stand you approved before God at all. It may stand you approved before the doctrines and the commandments of men. It may stand you approved in your community in your society in your church but it does not stand you approved before God. For the Word says, "that we stand approved before God as we rightly divide the Word." And that's all. That's right. Somebody comes along they do not like the ring you wear. They say you can't stand approved before God if you wear a ring. Somebody else says you can't stand approved before God if you wear a suit like this you have to wear it hooks and eyes or something else. Somebody else says you have to wear a hat to stand approved before God because you got to be covered. Good Lord, the Lord covered me in Christ Jesus. That's better than a hat! Nothing against hats except when people say these are things you must do to stand approved before God. Those are doctrines and commmandments of men, they must be wrong! Because the Word declares distinctly that we are to stand approved before God by doing one thing and that is rightly dividing the Word of Truth! To the end we rightly divide the Word of Truth we stand approved before God. To the end we wrongly divide it we do not stand approved. Ladies and gentlemen that's what the Word says that's what the Word means. You see why we've got to come to the position of the Word because you can never bring Christendom you can never bring the Christian believers together, that's right, on these other extraneous things. Had a man in the local area in the community where I pastored a church, in his particular denomination he said, "you went to hell when you smoked." Furthermore he said, "if God expected you to smoke He'd have turned your nose upside down, made a chimney out of it." That was wonderful. Then I got down south, I was teaching down south in the state of Kentucky moving among the same brethren who belonged to this man's denomination up north. And I had a revolting thing happen, it was really "shocking" as the English would say or the Australians. It was really shocking because down there they belonged to the same denomination that my friend did up north and up north he said, "you go to hell because you smoke." But down there his brethren were smoking like fiends, almost. They were smoking like a house-a-fire. And my little two bit brain just couldn't quite figure this out how you could go to hell up north and not go to hell down south--same brand. Something wrong. You just don't stand approved to God by this. That's right. Try every which way and nothing, nothing has ensued in this except to break up the body of believers. That's right. I was doing research work in the archives at the University of Chicago Divinity School many years ago. And I ran into a clipping from a newspaper, remarkably significant, on the split of a church. You know what they split over? Whether God originally created Adam and Eve with a navel or without. Now isn't that wonderful! This is what they split over. So the group over here said, "well when God created them God put a navel in both Adam and Eve." The other group that disbelieved that moved right across the block, you know kitty-cornered across and built a new church over there. And you know what they called their church? The First Church of the Navelites. That's right, that's what I discovered in research. You see, everybody trying to stand approved before God by doing something or not doing something. It doesn't make God any difference whether you wear a long dress or a short one, talking about women I suppose. Nor does it make God any difference whether I wear a tie or whether I don't. I could teach the accuracy of God's Word just as efficaciously in this class without a tie or with one. The only reason I do this is because I thought maybe you'd like it a little better and I like it so I do it. Has no effect on God's Word because I could hash the Word of God to pieces with a tie or without. Don't you see it! The greatness is not in what we wear or what we adorn ourselves with but do we rightly divide the Word! Is that Word of God rightly divided? To the end we rightly divide the Word we have the true Word. To the end we wrongly divide it we have error. That's right. This Word of God class is the greatest thing in the whole world and rightly divided it gives us the true Word and gives us that efficacousy that power that exuberance that more abundant life that Jesus Christ talked about. Let me take you to the book of James. In the book of James in chapter one of James listen to this verse twenty-one: James 1:21: Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. Receive with meekness the engrafted Word! You see, on this the Word of Truth I want to discuss three basic things with you which will just put an exuberance in your soul. I want to talk to you about the receiving of this Word, the retaining of it and the releasing of it. The three R's of power in manifestation. The receiving, the retaining and the release of this Word of Truth. Here in James 1:21 which I just read with you it says we are to receive the engrafted Word. The word "engrafted" is ingrafted, implanted would be a good synonym for it. The implanted Word. Now, before you can ever give out anything you've got to get it right? Now this Word of Truth I must have it. Alright how do I get it as a believer? I receive it, this engrafted Word, I receive it with meekness, with meekness, with humility. No person ever receives anything from God in any amount or in any abundance until he becomes meek, humble. Receive this implanted Word, you receive this implanted Word with meekness, with humility. If anybody's ever going to have an abundance of God's Word he must be humble. God does not give His Word to people who are cocky or who act stupid or who act like they are somebody when they are nobody. God's Word is given to men and women who are humble, meek. And we receive this Word, we receive it if we are meek. That's what it says that's what it means. Look at something else. In Titus, Titus chapter one of Titus. Timothy, Titus chapter one in verse nine: Titus 1:9: Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. Holding fast the faithful Word. As the implanted Word I receive it how? With meekness number one. Because it's a faithful Word, it's a faithful Word I retain it, I keep it as a faithful Word that it is. Titus 1:9 says you retain with conviction; you hold it fast, hold it fast, hold it fast! Once you've got the Word of God you just do not allow anybody to talk you out of it, just nobody and I mean nobody, just nobody. Not your wife, not your husband, not your preacher, not your theological friends--just nobody. Once you have received, once you have received the Word of God with meekness and you have the Word you hold it fast, you hold it fast. Why? Because it is what kind of a Word? It's a faithful Word, it's a faithful Word. As the faithful Word I retain it, I hold it fast, I just allow nobobdy to touch the Word! Ladies and gentlemen, you can touch a lot of other things in my life you can argue you can fight but once you get on the Word and you say this is what the Word says and you contradict what the Word says that just cuts me to the bone. Why? Because I receive this Word because God gave it to me. And it's a faithful Word and on that Word I just don't allow anybody to touch the Word. Just nobody! I have no friends when it comes to the Word because the Word sets up here and that stands if nobody believes it. That's right. I believe the Bible is God's Word, if I died tonight I still would say it is God's Word. The Word stands and therefore the first thing I have to do is recieve it. And I receive this Word when I am meek. You'll receive the Word when you're humble, then you get the Word. But once you have the Word the Bible says you hold it fast because it is the faithful Word. Because what God has promised He is not only able but He is willing to perform. And then there is another wonderful truth in the Word of God and this is written in Philippians. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Philippians chapter two, chapter two of Philippians listen to this verse sixteen: Philippians 2:16a: Holding forth [holding forth] the word of life;... As the implanted Word I receive it with meekness. Understand? As the faithful Word I do what? I hold it fast. Now, as the Word of life which it is I do one thing--I hold it forth, I share it, I give it out. Why? Because there is a law involved. As you give you receive. The reason the Dead Sea is so dead is because it has only an inlet no outlet. The reason some people are so dead spiritually is because they have only inlet no outlet. They do not give. As you give you recieve. As you receive you must give for it just works like this. As I receive God's Word I give it out, as I give it out I receive. Many years ago God said to me once, "He'd teach me the Word like it had not been known for centuries if I would teach it." I thought that was a pretty good idea. Until I really got into the depth of the Word then I found out that as I taught it nobody believed it anyway cause they already had preconceived ideas on the accuracy of God's Word. But I learned this that as long as I kept God's Word He kept filling me. He kept giving me more. He had said, "if I'd teach it." And my friend Dr. Higgins used to call from Chicago from one of the great hotels there where she had her office. She was an osteopathic physician and surgeon one of the greatest. She used to call everynight between 2:30 or 3:00 in the morning to my office. And she knew that if I was still working the Word of God I'd be in my office at that time and she only asked me one question, "What did God teach you today?" And I'd tell her, sometimes I'd talk to her for an hour an hour and a half on the phone. I'm glad I didn't have to pay her phone bills. But I didn't know this at the time but I was carrying out what God had said, "if I would teach it He'd teach it to me." I was holding it forth. I was giving it out and as I was giving it out God was pouring it in. This is a law. The reason the Dead Sea is so dead it has only inlets no outlets. The reason you are dead if you dead at all along this line is because you have received God's Word and you are not giving it. As you give you receive, as you give recieve. Because all believing equals receiving but believing is action, carrying it out then you receive. Look here, this Word of Truth wwe receive as the implanted Word with meekness. We retain it as the faithful Word with conviction. But we release it, as it says in Philippians 2:16 because it is the Word of life, we release it with hesitancy. NO, we release it with what? Boldness! That's right. Boldness, we hold it forth we carry it out. We release it with boldness and with conviction. You see, this is how God's planned it. You receive the implanted Word as you're humble and you're meek. You hold it fast because it's God's wonderful faithful Word. And then you hold it forth, you share it with people because it's the Word of life. This is the testimony of the Word itself as to God's wonderful word and what it's all about, you see. This is why as the Word of Truth or the true Word this Bible has clearly marked signposts just like along a highway that tell you exactly how you are to rightly divide this Word so that you just cannot miss it- -if you follow the signposts. And of course this is where we are going to be heading very quickly in this class. You know God watches over His Word. Because it is God's Word. In the book of Psalms, there is a verse of scripture in Psalm 116 in verse 15 that I would just like to share with you before we get on to something else. A verse of scripture that you many times hear in a funeral sermon where there is a good saint of God who has died. And here we are having the memorial service and here this man is being buried and we say, "what a wonderful saint of God he was." And we say, "how God loved him, now he's gone home to the Lord. And God has him now up in heaven." And then we use this scripture from Psalm 116. Psalm 116:15: Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Here he is right in front of us and we say, "well it's a good deal..." Well you don't say it's good he died. We use the scripture and say, "well precious it's good in the sight of the Lord he's dead." My-oh-my-oh-my, talk about rightly dividing the Word, holding it forth. It's not precious in the sight of the Lord that Herman died or John died or Mary died. You know why? Because they can't help God any after they are dead. The only time they can help God is while they are down here. The word "precious" in the text is the word "costly." You know why it's precious in this particular text? Because in times of those writings we spoke of anything that was costly as precious. Like we speak of a diamond as being a precious stone because it is costly. The more costly it is the more precious it is. Thus in the sight of the Lord costly, costly in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints. It would cost God something in this particular session if I died. Because now I am teaching the Word, I'm a value to Him. I'm speaking the Word I'm helping you to understand the greatness of God's Word. If I died right now--it'd cost God something. It doesn't cost God a thing when that old unbeliever and that old nincompoop and that God rejector out here in the world dies. It doesn't God a thing because he hasn't done anything for God anyways. But if you died in this session or if I died who believe God, it'd cost God something. That's why the Psalmist said, "costly, costly in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints." That's right. You see God watches over His Word. Not even one jot or tittle of it is going to be removed from the law until the whole thing is fulfilled. That's right. This is why it's costly. Look at Matthew, the gospel of Matthew chapter 5. People say I get all excited about this class, you bet your life that's no secret. Why shouldn't I get excited about the greatest thing in the whole world--His Word. His Word which He set above His name. Why shouldn't we get excited? Because God gives us that Word if we are humble and we receive it with meekness. That's right. Because it's a faithful Word and we hold it forth and because it's the enthusiasm the dynamite of our souls. And because it effervesces within us and we want everybody else to have it so we hold it forth, we share it, we speak it, we preach it. Did I say Matthew 5? Sure did. Listen to this: Matthew 5:18: For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. The critics may laugh. The unbeliever may ridicule but that's God's Word and it will stand. Men may say Jesus Christ is never coming back but they're going to have a rude awakening some morning cause he's coming and they're still going to be here and the rest of us going to be in the gathering together, sure. A rude awakening.... For what He has promised He's not only able but willing to perform and God's Word has stood the test through the years. Critics have died. Unbelievers have gone by the board but that Word of God liveth and abideth forever. That's the greatness of it! And we receive it with meekness. We hold it fast and then we hold it forth. What a wonderful truth in God's Word isn't it! You see, look here. Christ is the Word in the flesh. This Word is made known by the written Word. Jesus Christ in other words is made known by the written Word. This written Word makes known Christ. This written Word makes known Christ. That's exactly what we have here. Now, when I teach the Word or when I preach this Word when I set this Word forth I make known the written Word. Understand? The written Word makes known Jesus Christ who is the Word of God incarnate. This is why Christ is the Word in the flesh who is made known by the written Word and the written Word is made known by the preached Word. I preach this Word, when I preach the Word the written Word becomes known. And when the written Word becomes known Christ becomes known. This is how Jesus Christ is made known unto us. You see, Jesus Christ said while here upon earth that he did give the Word. I want you to turn to Acts 17. Mattherw, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 17 and verse 2, listen. We hit this verse earlier in one of the earlier sessions but we are back to it again and then I want to go on. Acts 17:2: And Paul, as his manner was, went in unto them, and three sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, Reasoned with them from the scritpures, why? Because when he reasoned with them from the scriptures, the scriptures as he preached it made known the written Word. The written Word made know Christ. Verse 3 and 4: Acts 17:3, 4: Opening and alleging, that Christ must needs have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach unto you, is Christ. And some of them believed [some believed, a lot of them didn't], and consorted with Paul and Silas; and of the devout Greeks [Gentiles] a great multitude [believed], and of the chief women not a few [in other words many of those believed]. Why? Because he held forth the Word. You see, this Word is not an aid to devotion. It is not where you set up a verse of scripture and then man's comment and then have one little prayer and say "amen" and then you run off to work. It's not that. No, no, no. This Word is not an aid to devotion this is the Word of life. Receive it with meekness. Hold it fast because it is a faithful Word. And hold it forth because it is the Word of life. This is not an aid to devotion. This is life! SEGMENT 16: BEGIN KEYS TO THE WORD'S INTERPRETATION (CHAPTERS, VERSES) As researchers of the Word of God we must study to show ourselves approved unto God as workmen who need not to be ashamed by rightly dividing the Word of Truth. And so we go now as workmen to study and to consider in detail the keys to the interpretation of the Word of God. No translation, no translation, and I want you to listen very carefully; for no translation and by the way that's all we have today at best are translations. No translation may properly be called THE WORD OF GOD, with a capital T-W-O-G. No translation. This here which I have been showing to you sesion after sesion, this Bible is not a translation. This is called the King James Version if you'll look in the beginning of your Bible in the opening pages it will tell you this. It's the King James Version it's not the King James translation. If we had the King James translation in my hands here tonight I'd have a much more valuable Bible in my hands I assure you dollar-and-cents-wise. This is not the King James translation this is the King James Version. And you know what a version is? Once a translation has been made from the original; in other words you take like the Stevens Text from which the King James was translated, that first copy that they translated from that text is called a translation. The moment they begin to rework it in any way, shape or form it becomes a version. This is the King James Version. Now I said that no translation, no translation let--alone a version--no translation may properly be called THE WORD OF GOD with a capital T-W-O-G. It's like I said to you before, we had a lady who became very irritated because I made this statement that I just shared with you: that the King James Version is not THE WORD OF GOD. Because she thought that it was good enough for the Apostle Paul it should be good enough for us. Well, the Apostle Paul lived long before 1611 when the first translation of the King James was made available. You see, we have no originals. Each translation, each translation is no better and at best it is no better than the interpretation given to the translation by the translator. We have no originals in extant today as far as anybody knows. The oldest manuscripts that are available (and these are not originals), these date perhaps to 400 to 430 A.D. And perhaps some of the old Aramaic materials in possession of our friend Dr. George M. Lamsa may be a little older than this. But the oldest in extant for the most part that students or scholars refer to as originals are really not originals. They date to 400, 430 or 500, 600, 700 A.D. But these oldest manuscripts, and this by the way here is the abbreviation for the plural manuscripts--mss. Whenever you see this (mss) in a Bible or in writings it refers to the different manuscripts if it's in the singular the last "s" is deleted then it refers to manuscript. Now of all the manuscripts and fragments of manuscripts that we have available, many of them we as Biblical research men and women at The Way Biblical Research Center have had an opportunity to study in microfilm form and other forms. These manuscripts which the scholars refer to as the originals which are not original because the original is entirely different. Because the original is that which God gave when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit. But of the oldest that we have in extant, the oldest are called uncils, the word u-n-c-i-l-s, referred to as uncil manuscripts. The word "uncil" means simply all caps. They are beautifully done. They are delicately, wonderfully presented. It's just a marvel to see some of these old uncils, how much patience and time men spent with them. The uncils are written in all caps like if it were in English which they are not, but if they were in English it would be all caps. And the words are all put together one right after the other. There are no periods, no semicolons, no paragraphs, no verses, nothing. FORGODSOLOVED, just all tied together. The next oldest in manuscript form are referred to as cursive, c-u- r-s-i-v-e. The word "cursive" means nothing but running hand, that's what the word "cursive" means--running hand. And here it is running hand (write: forgodsolovedtheworld) just one after the other, forgodsolovedtheworld. These are the manuscripts. Now, the scholars know that the uncils are older than the cursive. But we have discovered in our Biblical research work that at times the records in the cursives are more accurate than those we have found in the uncils. You know what this tells us? This tells us that that particular cursive was taken from a uncil which is older and predates the oldest uncil manuscripts which are now in extant. So, you see we have no originals. At best we have copies, that's all. And it was of the originals that we learn from II Timothy 3:16 that "all scripture was God-breathed." And all scripture which is God- breathed is "profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for [which is] instruction in righteousness:" "That the man of God" in verse 17, "may be perfect, throughly furnished [through and throughly perfected] unto all good works." And you'll remember from II Peter 1:21 we learn that "the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." Now it is of those originals which were given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit that is THE WORD OF GOD. And in this class on Power For Abundant Living when I refer to THE WORD OF GOD I may hold the King James Version or I may hold some other version and point to it; I do not that mean that version I mean that Word of God which was originally given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now, you will say since we have no original and that the oldest originals so-called we have date back to the 4th century A.D.--how in the world can you get back to that original which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit? Well that's the greatness of the research of The Way Biblical Ministry of being able to get back to that original. Now there are many little keys involved which we will be unfolding in this class and these will help you. You see, to get the Word of God, to get the Word of God out of any translation or out of any version you will have to study one word against another word. You will have to study one verse against another verse. You will to have to study the context of all the verses, the subject matter. Because, listen to this now, if it's THE WORD OF GOD, if it's THE WORD OF GOD then it cannot have a contradiction. For God cannot contradict Himself. If there is an apparent contradiction there is something wrong. It has to either be in the translation or it has to be at some other place. Because if it's God's Word it cannot contradict itself. Right? Sure it's right! So, if we are going to get the Word of God out of any translation we're are going to have to compare scripture with scritpure we are going to have to compare words with words we are going to have to compare one word with another word. For, if there is a discrepancy there are only two places it could be: either in my understanding that I do not understand what is written or it has to be in translation. For if it's God's Word there cannot be any error. And when I speak in this class of THE WORD OF GOD I am always thinking in terms of that original Word which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, remember that. And that all scripture is God-breathed, it is that scripture which is God-breathed that we are after in this class on Power For Abundant Living. This is now why we set up all these great truths to the keys to the Word's interpretation because in the original God-breathed Word there could be no contradictions and there could be no error. Now if we can get back to that original God-breathed Word--which I am confident we can--then once again we will be able to say with all the authority of the prophets of old "thus saith the Lord!" And that settles it! For God's Word will fit like a hand in a glove from Genesis to Revelation and it will work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision everywhere along the line. That's right. Now, to get to the basic keys to the Word's interpretation there are a number of things you must understand. And maybe some of these things you sort of have to get rid of in your thinking and pattern. For instance, there are no chapters in the original text. Even in these originals that we refer to as uncils and cursive manuscripts there are no chapters. Chapters were first put in the Bible in 1250 A.D. Furthermore, there are no verses in these originals that we refer to here, no verses. The verses were first put into any Bible in the year 1550 A.D. As a matter of fact they appeared first in the Geneva Bible of 1560 and from there into the 1611 translation known as the King James. That's right. Remember when the Bible was first printed by Gutenberg in Germany in 1450 A.D. 1250 the chapters were first put in; 1550 the verses; 1450 printing. So you've got 1250, 1450 and then you have 1550. They are easy to remember. Now, so you can't blame God for the error in verses or in chapters right? We are not after verses or chapters we are after that original Word which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Thus, chapters and verses are good for reference and I thank God they are in there cause we might have a little difficult time finding John 3:16 if there wasn't a chapter and a verse marking. And the way I see some people sometimes in the early stages of my classes when they haven't even learned the books of the Bible I talk about the book of John or Acts and they look back here in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus or Numbers or I talk about the book of Deuteronomy and they are back in the book of Revelation. Very fortunate that we have chapters and verses today, thank God for them. But they are all man- made and they are devoid of authority when it comes to rightly dividing the Word. And remember we stand approved before God only if we rightly divide the Word. So the chapters and the verses entirely devoid of authority, good for reference, class, good for reference but never, never with a capital N-E-V-E-R, NEVER interpretation, just never. Remember that. Now, Genesis chapter one, I've often said when they put this into chapters, took the old manuscripts and put them into chapters and verses they made a mistake in the first chapter of Genesis so I could teach this class on Power For Abundant Living. Whether they did or not you decide. But Genesis chapter one, the latter part of that chapter it says in verse 31, last verse: Genesis 1:31: And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Then comes chapter two, and chapter two begins with the word "thus" a conjunction, "thus." That first word immediately tells me that something's wrong because it is a continuation of what they said. They close chapter one "and the evening and the morning were the sixth day." Now they come with chapter two. Genesis 2:1-3: Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. Now comes verse four: Genesis 2:4: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, Entirely new thought, see it? The first three verses of chapter 2 finish out the first chapter. For it would read: "And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. ...And God blessed the seventh day,...rested from all His work which God created and made." Now put chapter two. Genesis 2:4: These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth... You see where that chapter division should go logically and accurately? It ought to go after the third verse of the second chapter of the book of Genesis. Well I'll show you a few more. There are many like this. You see they put the chapters in wherever they liked to. They put one chapter here put another one there. I said to you they are good for reference but devoid of authority when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of Truth. Absolutely no authority whatsoever for interpretation. Look at the gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John chapter two, here's another interesting one. One of the reasons they've never understood this story of the third chapter of Nicodemus is because they never read the verses ahead of it. John 2:23 should be really chapter three, verse one. Listen to it: John 2:23-25: Now when he [Jesus] was in Jerusalem at the passover, in the feast day, many believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man. Now chapter three verse one. John 3:1: There was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: You see reading those three verse with the third chapter explains Nicodemus. He had no need of any man telling him for he knew what was in man. Jesus knew by revelation what was in Nicodemus, then you can understand the Nicodemus story. You see chapters are devoid of authority when it comes to rightly dividing the Word. I'll show you a chapter that's divided right in the middle of a verse. John chapter eight. Listen to the last verse of the seventh chapter: John 7:53: And every man went unto his own house. [Period.] John 8:1: Jesus went unto the mount of Olives. Isn't that something? Took a verse and right in the middle of the verse they put a chapter. It reads as follows logically: "...every man went unto his own house, Jesus went unto the mount of olives." Then you can put a chapter if you like. "Early the next morning he came again unto the temple..." That's wonderful. Now let's talk a minute about chapter headings. Chapter headings have all been added by people, they've been added by men. It is not that original Word which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. All of these chapter headings and sometimes you have them at the top of the Bible like here. Other times you have them right below the chapter markings and they are in italics. All of these things have been put in by what men think. Pay no attention to them they are all man added. You and I are not interested in this class in what man has added. You and I are interested in getting back to that original Word which holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. For it's that Word once we have received it that we can again say, "thus saith the Lord!" So, chapter headings entirely misleading and devoid of authority. Pay no attention to them. Just never even look at them, that's right. For instance, I'll show you one here from my Bible in Isaiah, Isaiah in chapter 29 it says the heavy judgment of God upon Jerusalem. Then over chapter 30 it says God's mercy towards His church. This is what the italics says, this is what they added: chapter headings. Let me read what the text says in Isaiah chapter one verse one, listen to this: Isaiah 1:1: The vision of Isaiah the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem in the days of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, kings of Judah. Well, it says it's concerning or it's to Judah and Jerusalem. So the man who put at the top of chapter thirty it's to the church--either he is wrong or the text is wrong. Either that man is wrong or this Word of God is wrong. The Word of God is not wrong; man added. You see that's why chapters and verses are devoid of authority. Good for reference but never interpretation. Paragraphs. That's something else. Paragraphs. Paragraphs and center references are all man-made. They are added. Paragraphs are the translator's interpretation of what he thinks a paragraph should say and what it should mean. Paragraphs are these little flags. You see them many times in your Bible like a little flag, it calls your attention, it's what they call a paragraph. Pay no attention to them, devoid of authority, mean nothing at all. We don't read for what they think is a paragraph. We read for thought content. We have to get the whole impact of that which the Word is endeavoring to say so we can find out what the Word really is. Paragraphs, center references, all of these devoid of authority. Center references for instance, some Bibles have them others do not. The reference is right down the center of your Bible, right here. These are what they refer to as center references and it will start here at the top and there will be a little number or a note or a verse that will be given in here and that will compare and tell you what they think has something to do with that verse. Sometimes they are right, usually they are wrong. Pay no attention to them. All of these have been added. And this what confuses the average new student in the Bible because he does not know that all of these things have been added by men. He thinks that they were added by God Himself or were given that way. No, no. God gave the original Word. He's not responsible for the errors that men have introduced by their translations or by their chapter headings or by their center references or by their paragraph markings at all. God had nothing to do with it! Man made all those mistakes. We talk about paragraphs. My assistant Peter Wade made this casual remark to me which I thought was tremendous that every Bible that has paragraph markings quits with the paragraph markings in Acts chapter twenty verse thirty-six. And I am sure had God done the paragraph markings He would have carried it through the book of Revelation. I thought that's pretty good also, to know that. Punctuation! That's another dandy, boy. Punctuation! If you want the Bible to say something that you want it to mean to substantiate your theology all you do is punctuate properly. And those little commas, my what you can do with a little comma in the Word of God. You can make that Word of God say something that it doesn't say at all by just putting a comma at the right place or at the wrong place; depends which ever way you like. But, the punctuation are the translator's interpretation. Technically the punctuation are the translator's theology in the translation. What he wants that translation to say he does by punctuation. And each translator did nothing but follow his own plan or his own pattern to the best of his own judgment. And thus all punctuation is destitute of divine authority for understanding the Word. Let me show you one from Luke twenty-three--Matthew, Mark, Luke-- just the punctuation; real interesting. Luke 23:43: And Jesus said unto him [this is the malefactor], Verily I say unto thee [comma], To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. Jesus said unto him "verily I say unto thee [comma], today shalt thou be with me in paradise." Some of the older translations and in other denominations than Protestant have the comma (,) after today. And it reads as follows: "Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee today [comma],..." The King James puts the comma (,) before today. These others put the comma (,) behind today. Why? Because one group teaches that the moment you die you go to heaven. The other groups teach that the moment you die you do not particularly go to heaven you have a period of purgatory perhaps and then you go to heaven. So he couldn't say to that malefactor "today you're going to be with me in heaven." But the Protestants say "you're going to go to heaven immediately afterwards." So they put the comma (,) before today, other groups put it behind. All because we're teaching theology, that's all. Now if a man is going to go to heaven today it must be available. So they teach that heaven is available. Heaven is not available. It's talking about paradise. Paradise is not heaven. Heaven is heaven. Paradise is paradise. Soup is soup. Apple butter is apple butter. That's right. Potatoes are potatoes. When the Word of God says paradise it means paradise. And paradise is only used in Genesis chapters one and two then it's no longer mentioned until we get to the book of Revelation where we have a new heaven and a new earth wherein there dwelleth righteousness; then it's mentioned once again. So, paradise is always a place upon earth. And if we are going to have paradise it has to be available. So Jesus was saying to that malefactor that day "verily I say unto thee today,.." Or is it "verily I say unto thee [comma], today..." Which way are we going to do it? Well we are going to have to study the integrity of that verse to really find out exactly what does it say? What does it mean? Because that one little comma (,) if you put it before today will say one thing, if you put it behind today it will say something else. And we need to take the time in this class to ferret out the great depth of the accuracy of just that one little comma (,) on this one little verse in the Word of God. Which we are going to take our time to do. SEGMENT 17: COMMAS DEVOID OF AUTHORITY (LUKE 23:43; ACTS 21:14) Dealing with Luke 23:43 and the punctuation--in other words the usage of the comma (,) in Luke 23:43--I'd like for you to note this over here on the chart. In the King James Version the comma (,) is here while in some of the other versions and translations the comma (,) is after the word "today." In the King James it reads "I say unto thee [comma], today shalt thou." Or as some of the rest of them have this particular translation "I say unto thee today [comma], thou shalt." There is a lot of difference whether you put the comma (,) here before today or whether you put the comma (,) after today. Right? Sure it's right. Because if you say to a person "I say to you [comma], today we are going to go to town." That's one thing. Or you could say to him "I say to you today [comma], we're going to go to town." That may be some time next week or the week after that, not today! So you see the usage of punctuation in the Word of God is remarkably interesting because the punctuation are nothing more than the translators interpretation of what he wants that Word to really say. You see when Jesus said to the malefactor "Verily I say unto thee today..." The Protestants putting the comma (,) in front of "today" always teach that he went to heaven. He died that day and went to heaven. While other groups teach he didn't quite make it to heaven that day, some later time he got to heaven. But this is all wrong usage. Do you know why? Because when the Word says here in Luke 23 "Verily I say unto thee today thou shalt be with me in paradise." They use the word "paradise" not "heaven". Heaven is a very good word, it's used many other places in the Word of God. You see when God meant heaven He said heaven. For holy men of God spoke as they were moved by God, they were moved by the Holy Spirit, by revelation. When the Word says "heaven" it means "heaven." When it says "paradise" it means "paradise." Now it's up to us to work the Word, to study the Word to show ourselves approved by rightly dividing that Word to find out exactly what did he mean when he said "paradise." Well I'll let you in on a secret; it's no secret. When he said "paradise" he mean't "paradise." When he says "heaven" he means "heaven." Sure. Paradise is the word paradisos in the Greek. And this word means what it says. It is translated in the Septuagint "Eden" or the "garden of Eden" or the "garden of God." Paradisos is transliterated to the word "paradise." So, in the first two chapters of Genesis it's translated either "garden" or "Eden." Then, you never read about paradise again. Because paradise is always a place on earth in the Bible, never a place out in the ethereal wide-blue yonder. No, no, it's always on earth. Paradise is on earth. People use the vernacular language saying "heaven on earth." That is literally what paradise is--a heaven upon earth. In Genisis chapters 1 and 2 you had just that, you have paradise No sin, no death, none of the negatives. But you never read about paradise again until you get to the last, second last chapter of the book of Revelation. And it talks about a new heaven and a new earth wherein there dwelleth righteousness. And then it uses the word "paradise" again because there is a new heaven and a new earth and God is there and this makes it perfect here upon earth. And that perfectness upon earth is called paradise in the last chapters in the book of Revelation. Paradise. Jesus said to that malefactor that day, he said to him that day that sometime in the future he would be with him--not in heaven--but in paradise. You see, this teaching that immediately after you die you go to heaven is nothing but spiritualism. It's nothing but that which they are trying to shove down our throats in all these extrasensory, parapsychology types of field. Like as if our ancestors have died and they've all gone to heaven, living up there, glory hallelujiah. The Word doesn't teach that! We'll see that later on when we get into the depth of it. The Word means what it says and it says what it means. When God said "paradise" He meant paradise. You know, in Volume 1 of Studies In Abundant Living and you might find this volume real intriguing because it has in it thirteen great pieces of Biblical research on the accuracy and the integrity of God's Word. For instance I'll give you the titles of some of these chapters. The first section deals with our walk with Christ and the first chapter deals with "The Magic {Power} of Believing." And this wonderful chapter "Are You Limiting God?" The third chapter deals with "Your Power of Attorney." And under "The Walk With Christ" or with "The Mind of Christ" there is "The Key to Power." I'll be handling some of these things later in the class. "The Renewed Mind," "Fellowship Is the Secret," "The Grace Wherein We Stand" and "Paul's Thorn In The Flesh" which will be coming up. "What Passover Did Jesus Keep?" Another one of these tremendous truths from God's Word. We teach he kept the Passover then he died. Well how could he have died if the Passover had never come yet? You see, well what Passover did he keep? "Simon of Cyrene and The Cross Christ Bore." When you work the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word you will see that Jesus Christ never touched the cross on which he was crucified until they nailed him to it. He never carried his own cross on the road to Golgatha or to Calvary. Not if the Word of God is right. But if theology and if men's talk is right then the Word's wrong. And "When Did Judas Hang Himself?" Another tremendous study in the research of the accuracy of God's Word. And "The Four Crucified With Christ" which we will be handling later in this class also. And then the last chapter, section four; "The Future Walk" deals with the third heaven. And in this chapter I have taken all of these wonderful truths that I am endeavoring to set before you on punctuation and I have carried it all the way through because people are always talking about third heavens this or the seventh heaven. Huh. Maybe if you're with the right person at the right time she may send you to the seventh heaven, I'm not sure. But there are no seven heavens like this in the Word of God. There are not even three heavens in the Word of God like this. There are three heavens in the Bible but they are set like this {1- 2-3}. The first heaven and earth Genesis 1:1. The second heaven and earth in which we are now. And the third heaven and earth which is still future which is the one talked about in the book of Revelation. And when Paul was caught up the word "up" is the word "away" in the original text. When he was caught away he was caught to the third heaven. Not this way! But this way (>->->->). Heaven and earth one, two, three. He was caught to the third heaven. The one that is given in the book of Revelation, that's what he saw. Now, you see these punctuations, we'll move on in this field, but I want you to see when the Word says "paradise" it means paradise. And you've got to stay with that Word. So if you like the comma (,) before today that's your privilege. If you like it after today it's your privilege. I like to take the comma (,) out and just read it in context with the greatness of God's Word at stake. And it reads as follows: Luke 23:43: And Jesus said unto him, Verily [verily, amen and amen] I say unto thee To day shalt thou be with me in paradise. [This very day while I'm dying and everything else seems to be lost, the day is coming in the future, you're going to be with me in paradise]. That's the revelation. And you see what one little comma will do? I'll show you another one. This one will really shake you. Acts 21, when I first saw this in the Word of God I refused to believe it. Does that surprise you? The reason I refused to believe it is because I had been taught like everybody else basically that these men of God in the Bible like Abraham; they never made a mistake. Like Paul; like John; these were great spiritual men. They were on a plateau way up here you know, way up here! And us poor little Christains were down in the measly flats here below. And they were such wonderfully spiritual men but we were not. This is what I was taught; this is what I believed. And so you see what happened in this situation that when you believe this very thing. You can't believe beyond what you're taught. So you get the idea that all these men never made a mistake and this is what I thought. So when I got to reading the book of Acts regarding the Apostle Paul I just couldn't believe it. And I was teaching a class on Power For Abundant Living and the night I saw that, I saw it during the day, I taught it that night. I said to that whole bunch of students out there, "now if this is true what I have seen we've really hit on something, but I cannot vouch for it yet. I want you to take it home I want you to study it yourself. Tomorrow night we'll get into the depth of this thing. And if it is we've tapped on to somethng." And everybody came back the next night and they were just effervescing and bubbling because they too had seen that one little comma (,) made all the difference between truth and error in the greatness of God's Word. And this record is in Acts 21. Let me just read it to you: Acts 21:14: And when he [Paul] would not be persuaded [comma], we ceased [comma], saying [comma], The will of the Lord be done. What does that verse say? That verse the way it's punctuated says that they endeavored to persuade the Apostle Paul--tried their best to get him to change his mind--but when he would not change his mind they finally said to him "alright, Paul, go out and do the Will of the Lord. Go on, just do the Will of the Lord then." Well now let's see if that's exactly what that Word says with that punctuation. To get to the depth of this we go back to Acts 20, Acts chapter 20 in verse 22 this is the record. Listen: Acts 20:22: And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there: He was bound in the spirit. Do you know what it means to be "bound in the spirit?" It means that you are not free to go. You want to go but some how or other something is saying to you "don't go." That's to be bound. Some of you have had the same experience. You wanted to do something, boy you just want to do it like that but some how or other something within in said, "I wouldn't do that if I were you." Paul says, "I'm going to go to Jerusalem" but when he made this statement he was bound in the spirit he wasn't free. Listen what else it says in verse 23: Acts 20:23: Save that the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me. Abide me when? If I go to Jerusalem. Listen to verse 24: Acts 20:24: But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God. Doesn't that sound wonderful? Sound sincere, real religious. Right. But the spirit already told him not to go where? Jerusalem. But who wants to go to Jerusalem? Paul. That's right. He's bound in the spirit and then he says, "but none of these things move me. Don't you people know that I don't even count my life dear to myself?" Sincere. Let me ask you something. Is sincerity any guarantee for truth? None whatsoever. Let's go on further. Let's go on to the twenty-first chapter and verse three: Acts 21:3, 4: Now when we had discovered Cyprus, we left it on the left hand, and sailed into Syria, and landed at Tyre: for there the ship was to unlade her burden. And finding disciples, we tarried there seven days: who said to Paul through the Spirit, that he should not go up to Jerusalem. Well how do you like that? Paul is headed toward Jerusalem, you know he's going to Jerusalem. And on the way he stops at Tyre and there they have a little Christian get--together and while they are there these people are filled with the holy spirit are operating manifestations and these disciples said to Paul through or by way of the spirit that he should not go to Jerusalem. Let me ask you, "what's the Will of the God then?" Not to go to Jeruasalem. That's right. But who wants to go to Jerusalem? The Apostle Paul wants to go to Jerusalem. But he wasn't free to go. He was bound in the spirit, remember? Share something else with you. You know God never tells anybody else anything about you until He first tells you. This idea where people sometimes come along and say, "Oh, I heard from the Lord, oh yes. I have a message for you from the Lord. The Lord says by way of His holy spirit that you are to sell your property and give me all the money." Ah, listen. God first talked to Paul. God said, "Paul don't go to Jerusalem!" He was bound in the spirit. God always talks to you first if you are operating manifestations, if you are filled with the spirit. He'll speak to you first and tell you what He wants you to do. But if you got your ears plugged and if you are all closed off and not listening someone else filled with the spirit may come along. But that which they bring will simply corroborate what God tells you first. I learned my lesson on this. People used to come to me when they heard that I believed in ministering to people and praying for the sick. They would come to me and they'd say, "well God told me you were to go visit so-and-so and pray for them." So I'd run over and visit so-and- so; never got any results. That's right. I finally got down to the place once where I knew the answer and somebody came and said, "God told me to tell you to go pray for so-and-so." So I looked them straight in the eyeball and I said, "You go pray for them yourself. God didn't tell you to tell me; He told you to go." Ha-ha, that's right. I tell you our God's big enough to talk to you first. If He wants you to do something He will tell you first but if you keep your ears closed and there are men and women of God around you'll be hearing from heaven in another way! That's right. So this is Paul headed toward Jerusalem you know. Still on the way going right down the line. But he gets into a little old believer's meeting and they tarried there and they said to him through the spirit "do not go to Jerusalem." Now look at verse 8 same chapter. I'm in 21, Acts 21 we are talking about the same thing. Paul wants to go to Jerusalem and the Word of God is telling us what the Will of the Lord is. Paul's still going. Acts 21:8a: And the next day we that were of Paul's company departed, and came unto Caesarea: Now if you all know anything about your map you know that Tyre is up north, Tyre and Sidon are up north and as you keep coming down the coast line you get to Caesarea. He's getting closer toward Jerusalem all the time, you know. He started out towards Cyprus came in around that way, over to Tyre and Sidon and now he's headed down the seacoast toward Caesarea. Still headed toward Jerusalem. Acts 21:8b, 9: ...[we] came unto Caesarea: and we entered into the house of Philip the evangelist, which was one of the seven; and abode with him. And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy. Now it doesn't say what they prophesied about. But I will bet you that they didn't prophesy about the price of coffee or about the price of beef or about the cost of milk. They didn't prophesy about who was going to win the next ball game. In context what are we talking about? We are talking about a man who wants to go to Jerusalem. But the Will of the Lord is don't go but he wants to go anyways. So he gets into that home and Philip the evangelist one of the seven in Acts 2, you know, that record. And he had four virgin daughters, simply means they were unmarried daughters. And they prophesied, doesn't say what they prophesied about but I know what they prophesied about and if you got any logic in your mind you'll know what they prophesied about. Well we will leave it set. We don't need it, it's just there. Now verse ten after a period of time listen to this: Acts 21:10: And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. My goodness, look what God's doing to keep that Apostle Paul out of the soup. First of all He tells him not to go. Then he gets into a group who tell him by the spirit, "don't go." He gets down to Caeserea and four Christian believers say, prophesied. And finally God sends a prophet down all the way from Jerusalem all the way up to Caeserea to intercede in this journey and say, "Paul don't go to Jerusalem!" Listen to it: Acts 21:10, 11: ...there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle,... That isn't Myrtle's that's Paul's. It isn't one of those seven way stretch deals you know. No, no, no. Paul's girdle, a strip of cloth four or five inches wide which they wound or tied around their loosely flowing garments to keep them in at the midriff or something. That's maybe why it's called girdle. And tied this around. Acts 21:11: And when he was come unto us, he took Paul's girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, Thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. You see, this is a prophet. A prophet may speak revelation knowledge which will cooberate what God has already first told you. But being a prophet he can f-o-r-e-tell something and the foretelling of this prophet Agabus is "when you get to Jerusalem the Jews are going to get you, they are going to deliver you to the hands of the Gentiles." And verse twelve says: Acts 21:12: And when we heard these things, both we, and they of that place, besought him not to go up to Jerusalem. Isn't that something! We besought him not to go to Jerusalem. What is the Will of God? It's as simple as a-b-c, don't go to Jerusalem. But who wants to go to Jerusalem? Paul wants to go to Jerusalem and he's on the way going! God does everything to keep man out of the soup, everything. But Paul wants to get in it. God can't do a thing if man wants to get in the soup. He can try to tell you but if you won't listen. Look at it, verse thirteen: Acts 21:13: Then Paul answered, What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart? for I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus. Man, isn't that wonderful! Doesn't that sound terrific! Sincere? Yes. Right? No. Dead wrong, dead wrong. For the Will of the Lord is do not go where? Jerusalem. Now that's remarkable. King James version right down the line but now after these wonderful translators gave it so accurately they get to the next verse which is fourteen. And they've forgotten all of these things they've translated and now they've got to get Paul out of the soup because he's going to go to Jerusalem and do you know how we are going to get Paul out of that? Simply by putting commas (,) there. Acts 21:14: And when he would not be persuaded [comma], we ceased [comma], saying [comma], [well then go do the Will of the Lord] The will of the Lord be done. Well, you read those commas (,) in there and what do you have? Error upon error. Because as plain as day four times the Word of the Lord says "don't go to Jerusalem." Well if that's the Word of God then it has to fit. So what did they do? They put commas (,) in it to get their theology in it. Because they could not believe that the Apostle Paul ever made a mistake. He always did the Will of the Lord. Ha-ha. Let me ask you something. Did he go? Did he go to Jerusalem? You bet your life he went to Jerusalem. Did he get into trouble? He surely did. He almost lost his life, they had to sneak him out at night under the cover of the army, fully protected. And this mighty man of God under whose ministry all Asia heard the Word of God in two years and three months. If you'll read the record in the book of Acts now two years go by and not one soul is won for the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. The closest that you get to it is a record in the book of Acts. I forget now whether it was Felix or Festus but one of those kings had him brought in and the verse says, "almost though persuadest me to be a Christain." They use it as an evangelistic text, if they only knew it they'd never use it as an evangelistic text again because in the context it's set in the ministry of a man who was outside of the Will of God. For he disobeyed and the closest he got to winning anybody for the Lord in all of those years was "almost though persuadest me to be a Christian." You take the commas (,) out of that verse in Acts 21:14: Acts 21:14: And when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying The will of the Lord be done. Then you have the accuracy. And we've done this exactly on this chart board. Here is Acts 21:14 right here. And we've written it out. This is exactly as King James has it. "And when he [Paul] would not be persuaded [comma], we ceased [comma], saying [comma], The will of the Lord be done." Take the commas (,) out. Scratch them out in your Bible like we've done here on this chart board and read it: "And when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying the will of the Lord be done." Ladies and gentlemen, what were they saying to Paul? "Do the Will of the Lord, Paul! Oh Paul, do the Will of the Lord! You know what the Will of the Lord is! Paul, do the Will of the Lord!" They tried their best to persuade him. But "when he would not be persuaded we ceased saying `do the Will of the Lord'." Then your Bible fits like a hand in a glove. Then you've got THE Word of God and if you leave those commas (,) in Acts 21:14 like they are in the King James and the rest of the translations you have nothing but error, nothing but error. Take the commas (,) out which have all been added by men anyways because in the original there are no periods, no commas, no semicolons, no chapters, no verses. Then you've got the Word. Isn't that wonderful? That's why punctuation are nothing more but the translators interpretation; his theology in the translation. And each followed his own plan according to his best judgment and what he wanted to propound. They do the same today. They put a translation and they put in the commas (,) where they want because they want to propound certain theologies. You and I are not interested in theology. You and I are interested in the accuracy of the Word. For if it's God's Word it will have to fit like a hand in a glove all the way from Genesis to Revelation. And it will have to work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision because God can't say one thing one place and deny Himself at another. This is why the Authorized Version of 1611 was completely revised in 1616 and it was revised again in 1638 and 1639. The marginal notes in many of the Bibles were first added in 1616. And the marginal dates by Usher were first introduced in 1701. These are all extraneous to the Word of God. By the way the italics were first put in a Bible in 1762. And perhaps the most accurate work that has ever been done in translation has been the English Revised Version of 1881-85 which of course was taken over and adapted to the American situation in what we call the 1901 Version, translation. All the rest of these things have gone through periods of change. And in this class on Power for Abundant Living we are interested in the accuracy and integrity of God's Word for we have to get back to that original Word which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. SEGMENT 18: NO PRIVATE INTERPRETATION: HOW SCRIPTURE INTERPRETS ITSELF Dealing with the keys to the Word's interpretation I have covered those things that every student of the Word must know. You have to understand all these things about chapters, verses, paragraph markings, punctuation, about originals; then you can finally come to some of the great truths and the depth of the keys to the interpretation of the Word of God. I'd like for you to take your Bible and to turn to II Peter 1:20 and here in verse 20 is a verse of scripture that ordinarily I would start with. But in a class on Power For Abundant Living I have to go back further to set the accuracy of the Word before you could get to this great verse. But here in II Peter 1:20 we read the following: II Peter 1:20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. Knowing this first; knowing it when? Last, in between, no. Knowing it first. This is the first thing you must know. II Peter 1:20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy.... None of that which is foretold or forthtold in the Word of God. Not one verse from Genesis to Revelation. Knowing this first. II Peter 1:20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. That's the verse. Knowing this when? First. Knowing it first, this is the first thing you have to know if you are going to understand the greatness of God's revelation in His Word. That no prophecy, none of that which is foretold or forthtold in the Word of God, not one verse of scripture is of any private interpretation. That's right. It's of no private interpretation. If I interpret it and I say, "this is what I think it means," then what am I doing? I'm giving my private interpretation. And the first thing you must know is that not one scripture from Genesis to Revelation is of any private interpretation. Have you ever attended Sunday school class? And you've got your Quarterly you know, because it's not good to bring a Bible. After all you just bring the Quarterly because most people are ashamed to even carry a Bible, you know. They think you've got a religious bug or something. But you go to Sunday school, you sit in the class. And you're in the class and I'm the teacher. Now we all read a verse. This is the lesson today, we've got our Quarterly. Each one read the verse all the way around. Now we are through reading. And I say to you, "sir, what do you think that verse means?" And you say, "well I think it means so- and-so." Then I go over here to Maggie Muggins and I say, "Maggie what do you think it means?" And Maggie says, "well I think it means so-and-so. I think George is pretty good but I don't quite agree with him. I think it means something else." What have you got? Private what? Interpretation, private interpretation. You've already got two denominations. Now somebody else comes along and says, "well I don't quite agree with George, I don't agree with Maggie Muggins." Now you've got how many? Now you've got three. Each private interpretation. So you go around the class and you have a great wonderful morning everbody expressing their opinions on what they think. Bless your old heart, it isn't what you think! It's what the Word says that you have to think! Sure! It's of no what? Private interpretation. That's the first thing you must learn, that not one scripture is of any private interpretation. If I say "this is what I think it means," it's private interpretation. That's right. But hold it a minute, what about you? If you say "this is what I think," then it's what? Private interpretation. That's right. What about my denomination? When my denomination writes this and says, "well this is what our denomination says it means." It's what? Private interpretation. Take the same verse of scripture and let a Baptist write on it or a Methodist if it talks about baptism; they take the same verse of scripture and they come up with divergent view points. Why? Private interpretation. For they will not believe that it means what it says and that it says what it means. So we argue about it. It's all private interpretation. That's why we get all our different denominations--private interpretation! Not studying the Word from its inherent accuracy and rightly dividing the Word but somebody coming from the outside with an extraneous thought, contributing this to the scriptures and saying, "well this is what I think." Let me tell you something, I don't care what you think. I want to know what does the Word say. For you and I have to get to the place that we think what the Word says and quit thinking that we think, we think to know the accuracy of the Word. The Word is accurate so we get our thinking according to the accuracy of the Word. Knowing this what? First! That's right. Knowing this first that no prophecy, not one word from Genesis to Revelation is of any private interpretation. So if I interpret it it's private. If you interpret it it's private. If my denomination interprets it it's private. If your denomination interprets it it's private. That's right. Hold it a minute, what about the Pope in Rome? When he speaks ex cathedra--it still is what? Private interpretation. I didn't write the book. Like I say to my people if you don't like it complain to the management. I had nothing to do with the writing of it. But it still says "knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." And boy you got to get it. The Word, the Word of God is of no, N- O, private interpretation. That's exactly what II Peter 1:20 says, "Of no private interpretation." And do you know what the word "private" is? The word "private" is the word idios. The word "private" is that word. You talk about man using words that God's Word uses, whenever man uses words that God's Word uses he always degrades it. From the word idios what word would you say in English we have today? Idiot. The word "idiot" is a degradation of the great Biblical usage of the word idios. The word idios is used 144 times in the Word of God. It's used 144 times in the Bible. This is the only place here in II Peter 1:20 that it is translated "private." All the other places it's translated either "one's own" or "his own." For instance, if it's one's own it's private. If it's his own it's private. I can see how they got the word "private" out of here. Knowing this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of one's own; his private interpretation or his private letting loose. Look at Matthew chapter 9, the 9th chapter of Matthew. I'll give you a few of these places where this word idios is used. Matthew 9:1: And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city. The words "his own" those two words are this one Greek word idios. His private or his own city. Also in the 25th chapter of Matthew another one. Listen to this: Matthew 25:14: For the kingdom of heaven is as a man travelling into a far country, who called his own servants, and delivered unto them his goods. "Called his own servants", those two words "his own" are this word idios translated "private" in II Peter 1:20. I'll give you one more. There are may of them. I told you it was used 144 times. Luke chapter 2 and in verse 3: Luke 2:3: And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city. Again, "his own" is the word idios. Knowing this first then that no prophecy of the scripture is of one's private, one's own interpretation. The word "interpretation" is the Greek word epilusis. And it occurs no where else in the Bible. The Greek word, the verb form of epilusis is the word epiluo. The verb form always means "to let loose upon." Like you let a dog loose upon the game, if you have a hunting dog you let him loose upon the game. That letting loose is that word epilusis. Of no private interpretation, of no private letting loose. You just don't let your mind run rampant like you turn the dog loose upon the game. You do not allow your mind to run rampant and give all kinds of interpretation. So the first thing we must know is that no scripture is of one's own unfoldment or of one's own interpretation. You did not bring it, I did not bring it. I did not unfold it, you did not unfold it. And no one else can unfold it. You see it is God's divinely given Word when holy men of God spoke as the were moved by the Holy Spirit. And the first thing you have to know is that no scripture is of any private interpretation. If it is of no private interpretation then I dare not interpret it, nor you, nor anybody else. Then you have only two answers left right now. Number one; either there is no interpretation possible. If I dare not interpret it, nor you, nor anybody else; either there is no interpretation possible OR it must interpret itself. If there is no interpretation possible and I dare not interpret it, nor you, nor anybody else--no interpretation possible--then we might as well chuck it all down the drain. But there is another answer. And that is that it must then--if I dare not interpret it or anybody else, then it must--interpret itself. And that's exactly what the Word of God does! It interprets itself. And it does this in a three fold way. And this is tremendous. All scripture interprets itself right in the verse where it is written, right where it is written, right in that verse. That's right, number one. Or, if it does not interpret itself in the verse right where it is written, it will interpret itself in the second place in the context; in the context. By context we mean the whole story, that whole thing what it's all made up of. So, if it does not interpret itself in the verse you look in the context. Because now remember not one verse of scripture is of any private interpretation. Then I dare not interpret it nor you. I can't come along and say "well, now I think that's what the Word means." Uh- uh, then it's private. I just dare not get to the place to say that I think so-and-so. I have to say what the Word says. And interprets itself either in the verse or in the context or if it doesn't do either one of those two it will have been used before. If I told you today that this is a pointer for my use in this class on Power For Abundant Living to point things out to you on these charts which have been so beautifully done by our art department; what's this going to be tomorrow? A bicycle? An automobile? No. If it's a pointer today what will it be tomorrow? A pointer, same thing. That's why like the Word of God if it doesn't interpret itself in the verse, in the context; it will have been used before. And if it told you before it was a pointer then it is still a pointer without telling you again. Sure. It's like this pen on this desk. If I tell you today this is a pen do I have to tell you tomorrow it's a pen? No, because it's still a pen. This is how the whole Word of God, class, interprets itself without any private interpretation; either in the verse right where it is written or in the context or its been used before. Now, I'm going to deal with the first one. The scripture interprets itself in the verse, in the verse, right here. All scripture interprets itself in the verse right where it is written. Right in that verse where it is written. And it was a remarkable revelation to me as well as to the rest of us who do Biblical research to discover that the vast majority of the Word of God does just this. Interprets itself right where it is written. Then why haven't people understood it? Number one they haven't read it. Number two they haven't remembered when they read it, what they read. Sure. So they read thoroughly instead of throughly or something else. All scripture interprets itself in the verse right where it's written, the vast majority. I've not had time to check every verse out in detail along this line but from my knowledge of the Word from Genesis to Revelation I would say 80% to 90 % of the Word of God generally interprets itself right where it is written. Alright, let's go to a few, Genesis 1:1: Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. Where does it interpret itself? You do not need a commentary. You do not need someone to write a big long article on it. It interprets itself right in the verse right where it is written. "In the beginning" well you understand the word "in" right? You understand that, "in the beginning." You understand the word "beginning", "God", "created the heavens and the earth." There isn't a word in there you need a dictionary for, right? Alright where does it interpret itself? Right where it is written, sure. You take the matter of another one I'm just thinking of. John 3:16, everybody knows this one. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Where does it interpret itself? Right where it is written. "For God so loved" do you need a dictionary? No. Do you need a commentary? No. It interprets itself right where it is written, "...that whosoever believeth..." gets saved. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Just verse after verse after verse after verse after verse is just like that. It interprets itself right in the verse where it has been written. Sure. "Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest." Where does it interpret itself? Right where it is written. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee." Where does it interpret itself? Right where it's written. "Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the earth [the world]." Where does it interpret itself? Right where it is written. The vast majority of the Word of God interprets itself in that verse right where it is written. You need no commentary, seldom even a dictionary. Because it just makes sense. This is the first thing you must recognize that it interprets itself right where it is written in the verse. Now we are still dealing with in the verse right where it is written. But I want to take it a step further now. A word in the verse right where it is written, a word or the words that are used in that verse right where it is written must be interpreted according to their Biblical usage. This is very important because semantically the usage of words change. For instance, people say they cannot understand the King James. Well they can't understand anything anyway; the King James or anything else, because they don't read it. They say it is difficult reading. It is no more difficult than any other one. But you see you must understand it in the light of its Biblical usage not current. Semantically words may change but suppose you come out with a new translation tomorrow. Three weeks from now we are going to add another few words to our vocabulary and semantically other words will have changed. You are never quite current on any translation. So, those of us who are concerned about research using the King James version specifically for reasons which some of I have already indicated others which will be coming up later. We discover that we have to understand the word or the words that are used in the verse in the light of its Biblical usage. Now, for instance we go to Isaiah. Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon, Isaiah. Let me show you one from Isaiah 1 and here you are just going to have to have a little patience as we just take the time to look up some of these. That's how you learn to understand the Word of God by working it. Listen to this: Isaiah 1:13: Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with; it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. "I cannot away with" are the difficult words in that verse. We must understand them in the light of their Biblical usage. "I cannot away with" means "tolerate." He could not tolerate all this baloney of the incense, the new moon, the sabbaths that everybody was going through and the holy days. He couldn't stand it. He "could not away with" means He couldn't swallow it, He couldn't tolerate it, He couldn't digest it. That's what it means. Look at the gospel of Mark 7 and verse 9 is a real interesting one: Mark 7:9: And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. "Full well" means semantically with full knowledge, with complete knowledge. "Full well" are the difficult words and you must understand those words in the light of their Biblical usage, not current. "Full well" means Biblically "with complete knowledge." James chapter 5 and verse 1. I'm in Hebrews got to go along a little further. James chapter 5, here we are: James 5:1: Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you. "Go to now" when you tell somebody to "go to" what's its meaning? When the Bible tells somebody to "go to" do you know what it means? Come now. "Go to now" in its Biblical usage in King James means "come now, come on now." Look at Luke 17. Matthew, Mark, Luke. I keep telling my people this is the first mention of a ballgame in the Bible. Sometimes to keep my young people alive in the classes I ask them "do you know why they never played cards on Noah's ark?" Because Noah sat on the deck. Well, verse 9 bless your hearts: Luke 17:9: Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. "I trow not" t-r-o-w, "I trow not." It sounds like he was a pitcher and he couldn't pronounce his words properly. The word "trow" t-r-o-w means "I imagine not" that's its meaning. "I imagine not," that's its Biblical usage. Luke 21 and verse 9 listen to this. It's wonderful. Luke 21:9: But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. "...the end is not by and by." The words "by and by" in the King James you can read "immediately." When you and I think of "by and by" we think of "in the sweet by and by." Remember the old song? In the "by and by" means "and immediately." That's its usage. Let's look at I Thessalonians. You just love these things I'm sure. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, I Thessalonians chapter 4 and in verse 15: I Thessalonians 4:15: For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. The word "prevent" in its Biblical usage means "precede." Today when you prevent someone you hinder them. Sure. In Matthew chapter 25, Matthew 25 verse 35: Matthew 25:35: For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: When you take someone in you take them to the cleaners, right, or do something. To "take someone in" Biblically means "to give hospitality," sure. Look at II Timothy, II Timothy, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians, I and II Timothy, Titus, Philemon, Hebrews. II Timothy chapter 3. In many of the classes that I teach I usually pray or hope or do something that some wonderful lady reads this verse. II Timothy chapter 3 and verse 6: II Timothy 3:6: For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, "Silly women," you know I heard a minister preach on this verse once and he said the reason that women were not allowed to preach and teach was because the Bible said they were silly. You know, if I'd of been a woman in his congregation I think I'd have gotten me a ball bat or something. Wouldn't you? Imagine a minister saying to the lovely ladies that they are silly women. But he didn't take the time to work the integrity of the Word. The word "silly" means "harmless." that's what it means. Today when you talk about silly people we think of crazy people. But the Word of God when the King James uses the word "silly" it means "harmless, harmless women." This is why we must understand that all scripture interprets itself right where it is written but the word or the words must be interpreted according to their Biblical usage not current. You must always interpret it in light of its Biblical usage. One of the best ways to do this is to just look up the synonym in a dictionary if you don't understand it. Just go to your dictionary and look it up and you will see that they are always interpreted in the light of their Biblical usage. SEGMENT 19: THE CRY OF TRIUMPH (MATTHEW 27:46) In covering those keys that deal with the interpretation of the Word of God let us always remember the record in II Peter 1:20. II Peter 1:20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. And you will remember that all scripture interprets itself: number one in the verse or number two in the context or number three it's been used before. And we are dealing and still dealing and will be dealing entirely with this first point. Because as I told you before as far as I understand the Word 85% to 90% of the Word of God interprets itself exactly where it's written in the verse. Now, we've been dealing with this; that the Word interprets itself right where it's written or you must also remember that you must have the Biblical usage, not the current. Now we are going to go a step further today and I am going to take you into one of the most difficult verses of scripture in the Word of God and show you how simple this Word really is when you apply the principles that the Word sets forth on the keys to the interpretation. Now rememeber all scripture interprets itself in the verse right where it is written and the word or the words that are used in the verse must be interpreted according to their Biblical usage. Now this third point: the words used must be in harmony with the verse as well as all the scripture relating to the subject. Now this becomes dynamically important. The words that are used in a verse of scripture must not only fit that particular verse but they must fit every segment of the subject that it's dealing with. We turn to Matthew 27, Matthew 27 here is a verse of scripture that just sticks out like a sore thumb in the Word of God. This verse is very familiar, every Easter time when we preach about the seven last words on the cross this is one of the words they preach on. For years I did not know the answer to this verse. You know like it is in a community where you serve you have a ministerial association and so during holy week we pass out these different seven words from the cross and the ministers preach on these through the three hours Good Friday services. And it was always my fortune every time it was handed out some how or other it seemd to be my fortune that this Matthew 27:46 was the verse that was given to me. Almost every time. And I didn't know the answer for some twelve or fifteen years and so you know what I did? Every time when I'd get back home after the ministerial meeting back into my office I would call up some other minister. And I had remembered what verse they had given to him and I'd say to him, "Rev. I hear you got such and such a verse. I'd like to trade with you because this Matthew 27:46 I just don't understand it fully enough to really explain it and I'm sure you know more about it than I do so would you mind trading with me?" I did this for years and years. They always traded. Then lo and behold one year when I did know the answer to it they never asked me to preach on it and they've never asked me since in the ministerial association to teach or preach on this forty-sixth verse. But this is what it says in the King James. Listen to this: Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying [now there are some peculiar words here], Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There it is. There's a verse of scripture that should have arrested our attention from the beginning. Because there are some peculiar looking words in it. Now if you say they are Greek words, well why did they leave those Greek words in that verse? If we are going to speak English let's speak English. If we are going to speak Greek let's speak Greek. Why are those words like "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani" why are they left in here? This should have arrested our attention and should have caused us to make an inquiry into why it is there. You see this verse of scripture interprets itself right in the verse where it is written. Word by word I understand with the exception of those four foreign words that are in there. But some how or other it contradicts oodles of other verses in the Word of God. It just cuts to pieces the whole Word. So this one sits here like a sore thumb. But every Easter time, come Easter time we got to preach on it. We've got to teach our people that God forsook Jesus because Jesus became sin. God couldn't stand sin so He left him to hang on the cross to die by himself. Well let's go to the Word and see exactly how this Word fits and what it really says. Look at the gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. John 16 I want to turn to first of all, chapter 16 and in verse 32: John 16:32: Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered [he's talking to his apostles], every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. Talking about the time of his crucifixtion and of his death, the coming time he says "the Father is with me." Yet in Matthew 27:46 it said "My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me?" Look at John 10 and verse 30: John 10:30: I and my Father are one. How are you going to separate one? "I and my Father are one" John 10:30. Look at Colossians. Acts, Romans, Corinthians. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians chapter two. Listen to this, verse 9: Colossians 2:9: For in him [in Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. How are you going to separate this? How are you going to be able to say "My God why hast thou forsaken me?" II Corinthians chapter 5. Listen to this record. There are many in the Word. I am just picking out some of them for you to show you how one verse of scripture sits like a sore thumb and it contradicts everthing else in the Word of God. Can't do this. For if it's the Word of God it will all have to fit like a hand in a glove. II Corinthians 5:19: To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself,... God was in Christ. How are you going to separate? Now go back to Matthew 26, the chapter we were working in. Matthew 26, right before the chapter, and verse 53. Listen to this. Just before he was taken captive or at the time he was taken captive look what Jesus said: Matthew 26:53: Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? You've got to be on talking terms with God to get that kind of results. That's 72,000 and here were just a little handful of men. Jesus could have walked right out if he'd have wanted to. Why? Because I and the Father are one. The Father is with me. I always do the Father's Will. When he was dying upon the cross whose will was he doing? If he's always doing the Father's Will he must have been doing His Will when he was dying upon the cross. And he said I could call to my Heavenly Father, I could pray to Him and presently, right now, He'd give me twelve legions, 72,000 angels. I want to tell you you've got to be on talking terms with God to get those results. Right? Well, and yet in Matthew 27 in verse 46 in the King James it says: Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You see that verse just contradicts all the rest of them. What is the problem? Well first of all; those words that are in that forty- sixth verse are not Greek words. They are Aramaic words. Jesus spoke Aramaic. Aramaic was the language, the lingua franca, of the entire East in those days. Greek was introduced much later. Jesus Christ did not speak Greek. He spoke Aramaic. And these words are left in this particular scripture because when the translators got to them in those early days they really did not know what to do with them. So they let the verse set and added the English. We have a few others like Talitha cumi and a few others in the New Testament to this day where they have allowed the Aramaic words to continue. You see Aramaic is called Hebrew in the King James version, in the translation of it. Now, this word Eli means "My God." The word lama, there is no word like the word lama. There is a word lmna and this is what that word is. This is never a question. It is always a cry of victory, a declaration of "for this purpose" or "for this reason." This is the meaning of this word lmna; "for this purpose." Now this word sabachthani in the King James. You see, all words in languages are made of roots. They call them roots or stems and then you change them by prefixes or suffixes. You add to them either in front of the word, in front of the stem, or behind it. The root of sabachthani is the word shbk. This is the root word, shbk. Now this word shbk is used at other places in the Word of God. And it is there that I want to take you to show you other places where this word shbk, the root of sabachthani is used. And you can see for yourself that even in the King James there is an answer to this tremendous difficulty in this very difficult verse. You know nobody in the world would handle this difficult verse unless he knew exactly what to do with it. Because noboby touches any of these difficult things. They touch the easy things but in these classes on Power For Abundant Living if you have the right keys to the interpretation of the Word of God every verse will fit and all you need to do is work it. That's why we handle in this class some of the most difficult verses of scripture because anybody can handle the simple ones and easy ones. Look at the Old Testament. I Kings, I Kings chapter 19, here we have in I Kings 19 this word shbk. Now listen to it in verse 18. Everybody looking at the Word, I Kings 19:18: I Kings 19:18: Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. "I have left me," the words "left me" are the word shbk. Shbk is the Aramaic word from which they translated "left me, I have left me." Now when you say to someone "I have left me" what do you mean? The immediate thing is "I have left me," "I have forsaken." But that's not it, that's not it. Suppose you have ten dollars left in your pocket; it hasn't left you yet, you still have it remaining. You still have it. It is still yours. "I have left me seven thousand who haven't bowed the knees to Baal" does not mean that they forsook. It means that "He has these remaining, they are left yet." That's its meaning. That's the word shbk in I Kings. Look at the book of Romans. Here again in the New Testament this same word shbk in the Aramaic is used. In Romans chapter 11, Romans 11 verse 4: Romans 11:4: But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. "I have reserved to myself seven thousand who haven't bowed the knee." It's the same reference as the one in Kings. In Kings they translated the word shbk "I have left me seven thousand." While over here in Romans they translated "I have reserved." Same word. This is why the root word shbk, the root word shbk means "to spare or to keep." "I have spared seven thousand." I have kept back seven thousand." "I have reserved seven thousand." That's what it means. That is its root meaning. Now, when you go back to Matthew 27 and in verse 46. Go back again. Matthew 27:46: And about the ninth hour... Which is 3:00 in the afternoon our time. They crucified him at the third hour which is 9:00 our time in the morning. And from the sixth hour which would be 12:00 noon till about 3:00 in the afternoon there was darkness upon the face of the earth that day. And then about the ninth hour Jesus spoke some words from the cross and one of those words are these words that we are dealing with. "Eli, Eli, shbk." "My God, My God, lmna for this purpose." It's a cry. He was hanging on the cross that day for your sin and mine. Jesus Christ was not hanging upon the cross because of his sin. He was hanging upon that cross for you and for me. And so while he was hanging on that cross whose will was he doing? Why he was doing the Father's Will. Because the Word says "I always do my Father's Will," " I and my Father are one." And dying upon that cross that day whose will was he doing? The Father's. And he was dying upon that cross that day for you and for me. So that you and I could be redeemed, could be saved from sin. And the Word of God says he had no sin. Jesus Christ had no sin. But he took sin upon him. He became sin so that you and I could become the righteousness of God in him. So when he was hanging upon that cross that day he was hanging there for you and he was hanging there for me. And he spoke these words from the cross and he cried, "Eli, Eli, my God, my God, lmna, for this purpose, shbk was I spared." Hanging on that cross at that crucial hour he gave forth with that great and tremendous utterance from the depth of his soul. "My God, My God, this is our hour. This is for what I was spared, this is what I was spared for. This is what I was kept for, this is why I came in the world. My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared, for this purpose was I kept." And the next words that he uttered from the cross were the words "It is finished." What was finished? Your redemption and mine. That's what was finished. For God had so loved in Christ Jesus that Christ Jesus had given his own life. He had laid it down. He who knew no sin had become sin so that you and I might become the righteousness of God in him. And so he cried "It is finished!" What is finished? Your redemption and mine and the next verse of scripture says "And he gave up the ghost." Which simply means he laid down his life. They didn't take his life. Not the nails that were driven through his hands that held him to the cross. Not the rope tied around his midriff or the nails driven through his feet. You know why he kept hanging on that cross? Because he loved. Jesus Christ loved us! He could have walked off of that cross! He could have had twelve legions of angels at his command. But you know why he kept hanging on the cross? Not because of the nails driven through his hands but because he so loved us that he gave his own life for us! So when he was dying upon the cross he cried those tremendous words! Not "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But "My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared, for this purpose was I kept!" Let me ask you a question. Suppose you had a son and right now, this is your only son, and right now your son is dying. Would you be sitting in this class listening to me teach the accuracy of God's Word or would you be with your son? Well I know where you'd be and where you ought to be--with your son. And yet your son has reacted negatively to your instructions at times. He has not always done the Father's Will. Your son has sinned. He has done things contrary to what you'd like for him to do. And yet you'd want to be with him. But God Almighty is not as good as you are. Boy isn't that devilish, that's real devilish. Jesus Christ was God's only begotten Son. Jesus always did the Father's Will. When he was dying upon the cross he was doing the Father's Will! Where do you think the Father was? With him. I and my Father are one. I am never alone. The fulness of the Godhead bodily. When he was dying upon that cross God was there with him! And yet he cried "My God, My God this is the purpose that I came for! For this purpose was I spared, for this purpose was I kept! This is our great hour of triumph!" Then he said "It is finished." He laid down his life for you and for me. That's the accurate translation of Matthew 27:46. One of the most difficult verses if scripture in the King James and in the whole world. But this is a remarkable truth. Listen, my good friend Dr. George M. Lamsa whom we consider to be the most outstanding Aramaic scholar in the world today. Dr. George M. Lamsa by the way finished the proofreading of this The Lamsa Bible in our home a number of years ago. And this is his translation from the Aramaic into English. Listen to this: Matthew 27:46 [The Lamasa Bible]: And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice and said Eli, Eli, lmna shabachthani, My God, My God, for this I was spared. Another remarkable truth that I think you ought to know as students; you know all the Eastern translations all the Eastern versions that go into the Far East, all of those translations read of Matthew 27:46 "My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared." All those that come into the Occident or the Western World all of these versions or translations read "My God, My God, Why hast thou forsaken me?" And these translations and versions come out of the same Bible houses. Why then do they send them out to the East reading "My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared." And send them out to the West "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" I said this to a number of scholars some time ago. And you know what they said to me, "we know that you're right in what you teach. We know that Dr. Lamsa is right in the translation of that Aramaic. We know all of that." But he said, "if we translated it 'My God, My God, for this I was spared' or 'for this I was kept, this is what you permitted me to do, this was my destiny.' Then we could not sell any Bibles in the Western world." And I said, "my God!" "Man, when you going to get some courage?" But you know this is why we translate it this way. Because we've got to sell Bibles. Nobody concerned about the integrity and accuracy of God's Word, whether the Word fits! Only concerned about whether we can sell a few more translations, a few more Bibles. Ladies and gentlemen that's devilish as far as I'm concerned. And they know, everybody, basically every scholar in America, Europe and every other place knows that these words "Eli, Eli, lmna sabachthani" mean and say "My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared, for this purpose was I kept." And yet every translation coming into the Western world has to be translated "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me." I suppose we'd have to give up all of our old sermons and couldn't dig down in the barrel on Good Friday to preach on it anymore. You know why we've taught that God forsook him? Because God couldn't stand sin. And therefore Jesus was sin and God can't stand sin. So that when Jesus was hanging on the cross there dying God just took a walk. He walked off and left him hang back there. Ddin't give a hoot about him. Boy that's real devilish. God did love Jesus, His only begotton Son. And so when he died upon that cross it wasn't sin that turned Him away. You ought to be thankful it wasn't sin because you've got a few of them, I have a few of them. And if sin kept God away from us you and I would never get saved. It isn't sin that keeps a man from going to heaven. It's the rejection of the saviour the Lord Jesus Christ that keeps a man from going. But this is why Matthew 27:46 is one of these great verses of scripture. And you see taking this verse of scripture: "My God, My God, for this purpose was I spared or for this purpose was I kept." It takes that one verse and gets all the other verses dealing with the identical situation and time element regarding the death of Christ and they fit like a hand in a glove. You leave it set like it is in the King James or in these other Western translations and you'll find out that it doesn't fit. Now there are good words in the Word that are translated "to forsake" or "to get rid of." One is the word tatani the other is the word nashatani and this means to forsake. These are used for instance in Psalm 22:1 and in other sections of the Word of God. So it fits like a hand in a glove. SEGMENT 20: SCRIPTURE BUILDUP--FOUR CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS We are still dealing with scripture as it interprets itself in the verse right where it is written or a word or words must be interpreted according to their Biblical usage. And the words used must be in harmony with the verse as well as all the scripture relating to the subject. Now I want to take you a step further and we are going to be dealing with the scripture build-up. Still remember that we are dealing with the major subject of how the scripture interprets itself right in the verse where it is written. You see, one place in scripture may not tell all regarding an incident or a subject. But all that it says must agree with all that every other scripture says regarding an identical scripture or identical time. For instance when it comes to harmony of the gospels; there isn't a harmony in print that I know of that's worth buying. Because they take identical situations and say they are similiar or they take similiar and say that they are identical. For instance you have at one place you have two men coming out of a certain city and in another gospel you have one man coming out of the city. And the harmonies of the gospels say that those two scriptures are identical. How in the world can they be identical if at one scripture you have one man coming out of the city and the other scripture you have two of them coming out? This is why there isn't a harmony that's worth buying. Because that which is similiar they say is identical and that which is identical they say is similiar. Did you have supper today or yesterday? Did you have something to eat? Well did you have something to eat the day before? Was that which you ate today identical to that which you ate yesterday? Suppose you had baloney sandwiches and tea yesterday. And today you had baloney sandwiches and tea. Is that identical? No it's not identical because you didn't eat the same sandwiches today or drink the same tea today that you drank yesterday. They are only similiar. If it's identical it's identical. If it's similiar it's similiar. Now when it comes to the build-up of scripture regarding an identical situation it becomes dynamically important to observe this point with great alacrity of mind, with renewed mind so that you understand the depth of it. For instance, Matthew may say something regarding a situation. Mark, on the other hand, talking about the identical situation might not say that which Matthew said but he could add something to it. Couldn't he? But that which Mark would add to it would not dare to contradict what Matthew had said. Likewise with Luke, with John, with any other section of the Word of God. One section of the Word may something another section may say something else. If it's dealing with the identical situation that which is stipulated over here cannot contradict that which is stipulated over there. This is the foundation upon which we are going to build this great teaching session to enable you to see how the scripture interprets itself in the verse but with scripture build-up. A number of years ago I was teaching a class in Florida and it was the year when we were taking our national census for the United States. And there appeared an article in one of the leading periodicals of our nation in which the man who was head of our census bureau indicated and talked about the census that was being taken in the United States. And he stipulated that there would be a discrepancy of so many percent perhaps in the census but that we Americans should not be alarmed at this discrepancy because he said, "even in the Bible there was a discrepancy at the time of David when a census was taken." Well now as long as he stayed in his field and said that there might be and would be a discrepancy in the American census that was one thing. But when he said that there was a discrepancy in the Bible he stepped into my field. Literally he stepped out of his own and he stepped into a field that I've dedicated my life to. Because when he said that the Bible had a discrepancy, that it did not tell the truth, that it had an error in it then he got over into the field of the integrity of the accuracy of God's Word and the interpretation of the Word of God. The Word of God is of no private interpretation. To prove his point he qouted the scriptures from II Samuel chapter 24 and verse 9. He used this scripture and another one that I want to give you and I want to read it to you. Listen: II Samuel 24:9: And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. Eight hundred thousand men? No, valiant men, valiant men. And in I Chronicles chapter 21 is another verse and this is the verse he also gave. And he said you see there was a discrepancy between the two of three hundred thousand. Here's the verse talking about the same census, same time. I Chronicles 21:5: And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. Now a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand is one million one hundred thousand. This is three hundred thousand more than what we just read in Samuel. So he said you see there is a discrepancy in the census. There wasn't a discrepancy in the census at all. Because in Samuel it says that there were eight hundred thousand valiant men while here is lists all the men of Israel as one million one hundred thousand that drew the sword. In other words there were one million one hundred thousand men in all Israel who were of draft age, who could be called up and had to appear for the draft. They were of draft age. But there were only eight hundred thousand valiant. He missed one word in the Word of God and that was the word "valiant." There were eight hundred valiant, able bodied men who had passed the physical, who could go to war out of the one million one hundred thousand. So you see, this kind of build-up in the Word of God you must watch very carefully. There is no error in the Word of God it was only in the man's misunderstanding of the Word. Sure there may be an error in the census we the people of the United States take. But there is no error in the Word of God when we have THE Word for holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. Now to take you into the depth of this, even deeper on this scripture build-up. I want to take you to the gospel of Matthew and we are going to be dealing with the others who were crucified with Jesus. We turn to Matthew chapter 27, Matthew chapter 27 verse 35: Matthew 27:35: And they crucified him [crucified Jesus], and parted his garments, casting lots: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, They parted my garments among them, and upon my vesture did they cast lots. Matthew 27:36, 37: And sitting down they watched him there; And set up over his head his accusation written, THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Verse 38, first word watch it carefully. Matthew 27:38: Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and the another on the left. Then, then, then, then. Then is not place, then is time. You watch your time in the Word of God in the build up of scripture. Watch your time. Then, then, then when? After all of this, after all of this. Well after all of what? Of what we've just read. Look over here on this chart board. They crucified Jesus. They parted his garments. They set up over his head an accusation. Then, then, then; all of this takes time. They crucified Jesus. They parted his garments. The parting of the garments takes time. They put up his accusation. Before they parted the garments it says they sat down a while. They sat down. Do you think they sat down like this--and got right up? No. Why even you don't sit down that way. And in the East when they sit down, they sit! They stay awhile. They crucified Jesus. Then the soldiers came, they sat down, they watched him awhile, they parted his garments. Then they put up over his head his accusation. To get this accusation they had to go back to Jerusalem to get permission. And they had to get the choreographers together to get the sign done. I'm thinking of this because of the tremedous chart boards that are involved in this teaching session alone. They got the sign made and the sign was his accusation. They put it up over the top of the cross. All of that takes time and that's exactly what Matthew is saying. Sitting down they watched him. They set up over his head his accusation written, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews." Then, then, then, after all of that, then were there verse 38. Matthew 27:38: Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left. One on the right and the other on the left hand. Two thieves King James says. But the word is duo lestai, duo lestai. Duo is two. Lestai is robbers. There is an entirely different word used for thieves in the critical Greek text. Because a thief is one who stealthily comes in. While a robber is one who deliberately plans, comes out in the open like you rob with a gun or something. Robbing is a much worse crime legally than just thieving. Two lestai, two robbers were crucified with Jesus. Well, what does Matthew tell us? Just exactly what I've read. Matthew tells us that they took Jesus and they crucified Jesus. They sat down, they watched him. They set up over his head his accusation. And then they crucified two robbers, one on the right hand and the other on the where? The left. Two robbers, one on the right the other on the left. So here regarding these others crucified with Jesus: on the center cross you have Jesus now according to Matthew. And you have two robbers, one on the left and the other on the right. One on the right, the other on the left: two robbers crucified with Jesus. And while I'm thinking of the cross, the crucifixion of Jesus, Jesus was never crucified on a cross that looks like this [+]. Remember, like we see them today, the cross [+]. No, no, no, no. The Bible says the cross was a tree, a tree. It was just chopped out in the bottom a little and then it was set down like this, just dropped into a hole like that. And they would nail the hands up here. I'll show you how they did it. They put their hands together like this and nailed one nail through the hands. They tied him around the midriff with some rope or twine to hold him on because no man could hang on that cross with that excruciating pain. He would tear out those nails. And that they would drive two nails though their feet. They were just set in to a little thing that was cut out of the tree. Jesus never--like tradition says--made his own cross in the carpenters shop at Nazareth and drug it all the way up to Calvary by himself. No. They took this tree and they nailed him on it. That's why the scripture says he died upon a tree. The tree is the cross; the cross is the tree. But Matthew again tells us that they crucified Jesus. They parted his garments. They cast lots. They sat down. Then, then, then, THEN after that they crucified two robbers, one on the right and the other on the left. Now there is something else remarkable about this gospel of Matthew in verse 44, in verse 44 listen to this: Matthew 27:44: The thieves [the robbers, the duo lestai] also [both of them, two of them, both of them, both of the thieves], which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth. The people were saying as the verses before indicate "He trusted in God let him save himself." And so the two robbers got involved and both of the robbers, not one but both of them cast the same into Jesus' teeth. They said to Jesus "well if you're really the Son of God why don't you just come on down off of that cross." Both of the robbers reviled him, both of them. You see, this is the record in the book of Matthew. This is what Matthew tells us. Because this is the story that he sets forth because God revealed it to him to give it in this fashion. Now, the next gospel is the gospel of Mark. The same record in Mark is in chapter 15, verses 26, 27 and 32. But Mark has no basic contributing information which we will not pick up in the rest of the gospels. So to conserve time and teaching we will just go to the gospel of Luke. And we go to Luke chapter 23, chapter 23 and verse 32: Luke 23:32: And there were also two other, malefactors [not robbers], led with him to be put to death. When Jesus Christ was led out of Jerusalem toward Calvary they led with him, Luke tells us, two malefactors, two malefactors who were led WITH him. Now this is the gospel of Luke. You see a malefactor is an evil--doer. That's right. A robber for instance would be a malefactor. But not every malefactor would be a robber. A thief for instance is an evil--doer, but not every evil--doer is a thief. A malefactor for instance could be a murderer right? Sure it's right. A malefactor is an evil--doer. Now, when they led Jesus out according to the gospel of Luke, when they led him out they led WITH him two malefactors, two of them, two malefactors led with him to be put to death. Luke 23:33: And when they were come to the place, which is called Calvary, there they crucified him, and the malefactors, one on the right hand, and the other on the left. That's right. Two malefactors, one on the right hand and on the other. So what does Luke tell us? Luke tells us that when Jesus Christ was led out of Jerusalem toward Calvary they led with him two malefactors. And the word for malefactors is the word kakourgoi. The word for thieves or for robbers is the word duo lestai. Duo--two, lestai--robbers. Luke uses an entirely different word becasue there are entirely different people involved. They were not two robbers they were two kakourgoi, malefactors, evil-- doers. And they were led with Jesus to be crucified. While over here in Matthew we learned they crucified Jesus, they parted his garments, they put up his accusation, they sat down awhile. They did all those things then, then, then, THEN after that period of time finally they brought two robbers, duo lestai. But Luke tells us that when they led Jesus out they led with him two malefactors, duo kakourgoi, were led with him. And when they crucified Jesus they crucified those malefactors. One on the right hand and the other on the left. Now that 's in verse 33 of Luke. Look at verse 39: Luke 23:39, 40: And one of the malefactors [one of the malefactors] which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him [the other malefactor], saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation? In other words "shut up" one malefactor said to the other one. Both of the thieves according to Matthew did what? Cast the same into his teeth. But in the gospel of Luke what about both of the malefactors? No, only one of the malefactors spoke revilingly to Jesus. The other said to the malefactor, "you better be quiet because you are in the same condemnation he is." That's right. Now how in the world can anybody logically say that the two robbers from Matthew are the same as the two malefactors from Luke. You've got to be a genius to do that one. You've got to have even better math than modern math to accomplish that one. Because in Matthew they crucified Jesus, parted his garments, sat down, set up his accusation THEN they brought the two robbers. While according Luke they led the two malefactors WITH him to be put to death. Now how in the world can you put two fellows to death, then go back and get them who have never been there. And bring two other fellows over...Oh, my goodness. You see the people who have created the problem, or developed the problem are the ones who ought to get us out of it. But they never do. They just talk, that's all. Look here, putting this together from Matthew and from Luke is very simple. When Jesus was led out to be crucified they led two malefactors. Two malefactors with him and they crucified Jesus and the malefactors, one on the right hand and the other where? On the left, that's right. Then they did all those things that Matthew talks about. Then they brought two robbers and they crucified one on the right, the other on the left. Both of the robbers reviled Jesus but only one of the what? Malefactors. The other malefactor, remember he, said to Jesus "Lord remember me when thou comest into thine kingdom." And Jesus said unto him, "verily, verily I say unto thee today thou shalt [future tense, sometime] be with me in paradise." Now people, from the Word of God and its accuracy how many would you say were crucified with Jesus? You can certainly add, two plus two make four. And all of this teaching that we have had through the years where we have seen Jesus on the center cross and one to the right and the other to the left does not add up to four; that adds up to two. The reason we all have believed this is we haven't gone by the Word; we've gone by the picture we have in our mind. And all the pictures you've ever seen in the Western hemisphere have been pictures of one cross and one person on each side being crucified. So we have taught consistently that when Jesus Christ was crucified there were only two others crucified with him. And yet when you go to the Word of God and see the scripture build-up--identical time, identical situations, the incidents are the same, right there at the crucifixion of Jesus--you see very plainly from God's Word that from the gospel of Luke the two malefactors were led WITH him to be put to death. One of the malefactors reviled him. That's all. While from the gospel of Matthew you find out that after they have crucified Jesus, parted his garments, sat down awhile, put up his accusation, THEN they brought two robbers and they crucified them. And two plus two makes four. And you know it, bless your heart, that's right. So you see when you put these all together, how in the world can you teach that there were only two crucified with Jesus? You know why? Because they confuse the duo lestai with the duo kakourgoi. They confuse the malefactors with the robbers. They confuse these. They say that the malefactors are the robbers and the robbers are the malefactors. Well that's not what the Word says. You know why? Had the Word meant robbers in Luke it would have said duo lestai instead of duo kakourgoi. But it did not say duo lestai in the gospel of Luke. It says duo kakourgoi. Two entirely different people involved in both places. According to Matthew they brought the two robbers. According to Luke, the two malefactors. According to Luke one of the malefactors reviled Jesus. According to Matthew both of the robbers "cast the same into his teeth." Now, why not just let the Word set? You see then you do not develop the difficulty. But if you say that there were only two crucified with Jesus you have said it. Now you have got to go to the Word and prove it. And you can't do it. Because you cannot make those two malefactors identical with the two robbers. The two malefactors are the two malefactors, duo kakourgoi. The two robbers are the duo lestai. And when you put these all together you have what the Word says and it fits like a hand in a glove. And you need not deny anything nor throw anything out, nor change any of God's wonderful matchless Word. All you need to do is change your theology, your thinking. And, ladies and gentlemen, the integrity of the Word of God is at stake. This is how the scripture interprets itself in scripture build-up. You watch your time; you watch your place. And the identical situations--one scripture may tell one thing another may tell another. But that which this scripture says over here dare not contradict what this scripture says over there. And so from Matthew, Mark and Luke you have learned very quickly that there were four crucified with Jesus when the whole thing was finished. SEGMENT 21: CONCLUSION OF FOUR CRUCIFIED WITH JESUS Regarding the others who were crucified with Jesus we have only one gospel record left to consider, and that's the gospel of John. I'd like for you to turn to the nineteenth chapter of this gospel and in the eighteenth verse of this chapter. Now, you'll remember that scripture builds up; like from Matthew, Mark, Luke. Now here in Matthew, Mark and Luke, as we were dealing with the others crucified with Jesus, we noticed that this was always time; then, then, then. Well now look at the first word of the nineteenth chapter of the gospel of John: John 19:18: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Where, w-h-e-r-e: Is "where" time or place? It's place; it is not time. You see, Matthew, Mark and Luke were concerned about the time-- element specifically. While John is dynamically concerned about the place; where, where they crucified him. John 19:18: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. Whoa, whoa, whoa back up a minute. In Matthew it informed us that there were two robbers crucified; in Luke it informed us there were two malefactors: two plus two make four. But when you get to the gospel of John, lo and behold, here you're reading; it says where they crucified him "and two other with him, on either side one." If there is only one on either side one plus one makes two. Now you have a discrepancy. And remember what I taught you: if you have an apparent discrepancy the first place you look is in your mind. Do you understand what is written? If you understand what is written, like you do here--"where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one,..." you understand every word then the discrepancy, the error can only be at one other place: and that is in translation. For if it's the Word of God it cannot contradict itself. That's right. And John tells us here according to King James, "where they crucified him and two others with him, one on either side, and Jesus in the midst." Now, it has to be in translation; and that's exactly where it is. But before I show you the greatness of this in translation, I should have seen this long before I ever saw it. I should have seen it from one little word in this eighteenth verse of this nineteenth chapter of John. It is the word "midst" m-i-d-s-t, means middle. "Where they crucified Jesus and then one on either side and Jesus in the midst." The word "midst" should have told me there was something wrong. But you know you just go along with the crowd and so you see the picture and this is what you think about it. But the word "midst" is a tremedous key because you cannot crucify one individual in the midst of two--gramatically or any other way. That one in the midst would have to have four, six or eight because when you go to speaking English gramatically and utilizing the English language. Here you have two. Now this person in here is not in the midst. The word that is used is "between." This person is between two but if you have four, if you have four you can put one in the midst. That's John. John 19:18: Where they crucified him, and two other with him, on either side one, and Jesus in the midst. I have here a copy, a Greek text, it's the Greek New Testament, it's the Stevens Text, the Stevens Critical Greek Text from which the King James version was translated. This is what we call an interlinear. It not only has the Greek words but it has the corresponding English words in it also. And in John 19 and verse 18 here in this Critical Greek Text is says, "And with him others two on this side and on that side..." And then there is the word "one" in English but there is no corresponding Greek word above it at all. And to tell you that they added this word "one" they put it in a bracket [ ]. There is no Greek word above the word "one." That tells you that there is no Greek word "one" in the Critical Greek Text; and they added the word "one." And that's exactly what the King James did: added the word "one." They just added it because the text here reads, "duo [two] enteuthen kai enteuthen, two on this side and on that side." The word "one" is not in any Critical Greek text. Then why is it in the King James? Because by 1611 the Western world had been so infiltrated with the picture showing Jesus on the center cross and one "thief," as they call it, on each side of him; when the translators got to translating this particular verse 18 of John chapter 19, they inserted, they added the word "one." There is no word "one" in any Critical Greek text. This is the Stevens text from which the King James men translated. There is no word "one" in here. Delete the word "one." By the way there is no word "one" in any Critical Greek text, all the major Critical Greek texts, not the word "one" at all. Delete the word "one" from King James, take the commas out and it fits like a hand in a glove. Listen: John 19:18: Where they crucified him and two other with him on either side and Jesus in the midst! Isn't that something! That's exactly what John says. "Where they crucified him, Jesus, and two others with him on either side; Jesus in the midst." Then it fits like a hand in a glove and works with a mathematical exactness and a scientific precision. Look here, in the gospel of John he's not interested in time but he's interested in place. All of these gospels were interested in time: Matthew, Mark and Luke; but he's interested in place, and he's not interested in time. So where they crucified him and two others with him on either side and Jesus in the midst. These words duo, the word duo is two, enteuthen kai entuethen,these same words are used in the book of Revelation. I'll turn to it in chapter 22 of the book of Revelation and in verse 2, listen to this: Revelation 22:2: In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river,... "On either side of the river" enteuthen kai enteuthen, same words with this one exception: that in John the Critical Greek text has the word duo meaning two. Duo enteuthen kai enteuthen, two on this side and two on that side and Jesus in the midst. Isn't that wonderful! Now it fits like a hand in a glove with what Matthew said, Mark and Luke. It all fits together on where they crucified him. What a wonderful truth. What a great accuracy this is from God's Word. Now, there is also something else here in the gospel of John that we must consider. In the gospel John now in the nineteenth chapter and in verse 32. John says the same thing in essence that Matthew and Luke indicated earlier. John 19:32: Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. Now, this is a tremedous truth. "Then came the soldiers and brake the legs of the first and of the other which was crucified with him." They break the legs of the first. Now if there were only two crucified with Jesus like they've wanted us to think all of these years, and like most of us have thought--and I did too for many, many years until I researched the accuracy of the Word--this is exactly what happened. Let's say this Bible represents the center cross, Jesus' cross. This one over here represents one of the thieves and this represents the other thief. Then reading here from John the soldiers came and brake the legs of the first. If they broke this fellow's legs and the other, they are going to have to walk by the center cross. That's right. So they must have done it this way, it's the only way I could possibly figure it out. They brake the legs of the first, then they must have closed their eyes run around the center cross and got over to this cross and they brake the legs of the other. And then they came back and said "my goodness, he's dead already." Boy, that's great logic isn't it? That's about as senseless as you can get. But when you read the accuracy of the Word "the soldiers came and they brake the legs of the first and of the other" and Jesus coming in third place. Then you have exactly what we have here on the chart. Look here. When Jesus was crucified the two malefactors here and the two robbers here. So the soldiers came. They brake the legs of the first, the robber. And of the other, the malefactor. Well who is next in line? Jesus. And coming to Jesus they found that he was dead already. Then it fits like a hand in a glove and you don't have to close your eyes and run around; make a fool out of yourself. Listen again to John 19:32: John 19:32: Then came the soldiers, and brake the legs of the first, and of the other which was crucified with him. Who was the other who was crucified with him? Luke said that when they led Jesus out they led the malefactors with him. That's the accuracy of verse 32 of John 19. Isn't that tremedous? The soldiers came and brake the legs of the first and of the other who was the one who was crucified with him when he was crucified, who is the malefactor. That's right. Then verse 33: John 19:33: But when they came ["but having come" is the original text] to Jesus, and saw that he was dead already, they brake not his legs: Well if you have the four crucified, you have one here, one here, Jesus in the center. They brake the legs of the first and of the other but having come to Jesus. The other who was crucified is the malefactor, the one who was led with Jesus. So John 19 is so tremendously accurate it just shocks you when you see the great truth that it presents. They break the legs of the first and of the other, and of the other who was crucified with him. When they came to Jesus they found that he was dead already. Now, I'd like to go back to that other chart to show you some words. That word "other" in verse 32 is a tremendous key because there are two words that are translated "other" in the Bible. One word is this word heteros. The other Greek word is the word allos. These two words make all the difference between truth and error. They are both translated "other." Now here in the gospel of John in the nineteenth chapter and verse 32 the soldiers came and brake the legs of the first and of the other. The word "other" is the word allos. The word allos is used when there are more than two, more than two of a different kind. Two malefactors, two thieves make more that two. So they brake the legs of the first and of the other who was the malefactor of a different kind. That's why they use the word allos for other. While in the gospel of Luke, I'm going to go back to the gospel of Luke to chapter 23. And listen to this in verse 32 which we've already read but I'm covering the word "other." Luke 23:32: And there were also two other, malefactors, led with him to be put to death. The word for "other" here is not the word allos but it is heteros. Because they were two of the same kind. Two other, but they were both malefactors. Isn't that wonderful! You talk about the accuracy and the integrity of God's Word. What a tremedous truth you find in this revelation from God's wonderful matchless Word regarding the others crucified with him. So here you have it all wrapped up in a nutshell when it comes to the others crucified with Jesus. When Jesus was led forth they led two malefactors with him. Later, after they had crucified Jesus they parted his garments, they cast lots, they sat down, they put up an accusation, THEN finally they brought two robbers and they crucified them. Two plus two make four. Jesus in the midst. And when the soldiers came they brake the legs of the first and of the other, the allos, of a different kind but having come to Jesus they found that he was dead already. Why? Becasue the Word of God said that no one would ever break his legs. They didn't take his life upon Calvary's cross. He laid it down. He gave up his life. He didn't die because they crucified him he died because he gave himself for you and for me. This is the accuracy with which the Word of God fits. And this is the remarkable usage of the Word as it builds up the scriptures, interpreting itself right in the verse where it is written. But you must remember that one place may say one thing and another place may say something else. But if it is dealing with the identical situation in time that which is stipulated over here dare not contradict that which is stipulated over there. How many would you say were crucified with Jesus according to the Word of God? All together, four: Two malefactors and two thieves. And then your Bbile fits like a hand in a glove. And you don't have to run around trying to tell people that you can't add to five. That's right. It is a disgrace that educated people like we the people of the United States claim to be--graduates of colleges, universities, theological seminaries and so forth--and we can't even get out figures accurately to account for five. Something wrong someplace. And it is that we have not followed the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word to see the others crucified with Jesus. Simply when you add up line-by-line and word-by-word all of this wonderful Word of God it just fits like a hand in a glove. SEGMENT 22: THE DAY JESUS CHRIST DIED A number of years ago I was teaching in India when one of the heads of state said to me, "Dr. Wierwille, on what day did Jesus Christ die?" And I said to him, "Well, why do you ask this question?" "Well," he said, "there must be a discrepancy some place, because your Bible seems to say one thing and your missionaries and you Christians say something else." He was a high caste Hindu who had been educated in our mission school there. So as we kept discussing the thing he queried me again, he said, "when did Jesus Christ die? And when did he really arise?" And I said to him, "well, as far as the Word of God is concerned he died on Wednesday and got up on Saturday." And he just stared at me with eyes like golf balls inside. He said, "you are something." And I said, "what do you mean." He said, "I have asked minister after minister, missionary after missionary, to explain to me how they could get three days and three nights out of Good Friday to Easter Sunday morning. Because," he said, "I asked them a question. The record in your Bible..." "And of course having been trained in a mission school he knew the Word but he was still a high caste Hindu they never got him converted. Well, how can you get a man converted if you can't even add to three? But this is our opportunity. Listen, Matthew 12 and verse 40 is the one he brought up. He said, "your Bible says:" Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's [or fish's] belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. "Now," he said, "if he's going to be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth, then how can you explain from Good Friday to Easter Sunday morning?" "Furthermore, he said, "what about the record in I Corinthians 15 and in verse 4 where the Word of God declares in your Bible that Jesus Christ was buried and that he arose again the third day according to the scriptures." He said, "how in the world can he be dead three days and three nights--Good Friday to Easter Sunday morning--and still rise the third day?" So, he and I had quite a discussion and we had a wonderful time opening and unfolding the Word along the same principles that not one scripture tells it all. But that which that scripture tells cannot be contradicted by any other scripture that talks about the identical time or situation. Talking about the resurrection, here it is: Good Friday, Jesus Christ died at 3 p.m. our time, but the record in Matthew said he would be "three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." It didn't say from the time he died. But from the time he was buried. But we will even give people the benefit of the doubt and give them from the time he died--from Good Friday 3 p.m. to Good Saturday 3 p.m.--if I can add time is 24 hours which is a day and a night. And if he got up early on Easter Sunday morning--from 3:00 Friday to 3:00 Saturday to early Sunday morning--you couldn't get very much more time out of it, right? So, what happens? Well they say it doesn't mean three days and three nights literally. It means segments, any portion of a day may be counted as a day. That's right, when it just mentions day or night. But whenever the Word of God mentions day and night it is no longer a portion of time it is a literal period of 24 hours: day and night or night and day. The reason night comes before day in the Word of God is because of the reckoning of time. The Jewish reckoning of time started with sunset so the night preceded the daylight hours of the day. Always start ours at midnight, that's an awful time to start a day isn't it? By the way, the book of Esther is written in Egyptian time and they begin there day with the sunrise, approximately 6 o'clock in the morning. So when it says, "day and night" it means a literal period. Matthew 12:40: "three days and three nights" would mean three periods of 24 hours each. How in the world can you get from Good Friday 3 p.m. (even if you squeezed it the other way as they do) saying that a part of a day equals a whole day. Look what you would have: on Good Friday from 3 o'clock till sunset you would have Fri-day. Then you would have Fri-day night. Now on Satur-day you'd have your second day and on Satur-day night you would have your second night. But the Bible declares that he got up early, early on Easter Sunday morning which would only give you the third day. And where is your night? So you have three days and three nights? Not by a long shot. The most when you squeeze it beyond what you are really allowed to squeeze it, the most you can get out of it would be three days and two nights. Then the Word doesn't fit because the Word says that he would be buried and be in the grave three days and three nights. Now, how are we going to work this? Well we are going to work it in the same way in which we worked the others crucified with Jesus because when the Word of God fits it's the Will of God and there are no contradictions, no errors. So we are just going to have to go to the Word of God to find out the day, the hour, the time, everything involved as to when Jesus Christ was crucified, when he was buried and when he arose again. In our Biblical research of the day Jesus Christ died and arose again it is of paramount importance that you remember that according to the Word of God the first day of the Passover was always a Holy Convocation or it was referred to as a High Day. It was a Sabbath Day. For instance, if the first day of the Passover came on a Tuesday that Tuesday was a Sabbath Day. If the first day of the Passover would come on the weekly Sabbath, on a Saturday, then it still was a High Day and it would take precedence over the weekly Sabbath. Just like our holiday Christmas. If Christmas happens to come on a Tuesday it is a holiday but if Christmas comes on a Sunday the special day of Christmas takes precedence over the weekly Sunday. This we must remember regarding our subject when we deal with the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The first day of the Passover was always on the fifteenth of Nisan. In the book of Leviticus and the twenty-third chapter of the book of Leviticus in the fifth verse we read: Leviticus 23:5: In the fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's passover. The fourteenth day at even is the fifteenth because the fifteenth of Nisan begins at sunset, at even. Look at verse 6: Leviticus 23:6: And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread [the Passover] unto the Lord: seven days ye must eat unleavened bread. Now listen to verse 7: Leviticus 23:7: In the first day ye shall have an holy convocation:... The first day of the Passover, the fifteenth, would always be a holy convocation--a Sabbath day, a high day. Now, verse 8: Leviticus 23:8: But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days: in the seventh day is an holy convocation:... In other words the first day of the Passover and the seventh day of the Passover were Sabbath days, holy days, holy convocation days. Now, putting this all together we will get a few more verses of scripture and then I'll tie it all together so everybody will understand it. We turn to Exodus chapter 12 and in verse 2: Exodus 12:2: This month [Nisan] shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. Now in the thirteenth chapter of Exodus and in verse four: Exodus 13:4: This day came ye out in the month Abib. Now, this month Abib was later after the Babylonian captivity changed to the month Nisan. The month Abib, the first month, is the only month that is named in the Bible. It is given a name--Abib. All the rest of the months are referred to as the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, the sixth, the seventh,... Only the first one is mentioned. And in the book of Esther written after the Babylonian captivity and in the third chapter in the seventh verse it says: Esther 3:7: In the first month, that is, the month Nisan... So the month Nisan after the Babylonian captivity is the same month as the month Abib before. And this is the first month of the year and on the fifteenth day of that month was the Passover. So the day before the Passover would logically be the fourteenth of Nisan or Abib. This is why when you turn to the Gospel of John, to that tremendous verse in chapter 19 and verse 31. Here is a tremendous truth. John 19:31: The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation [the day before the fifteenth of Nisan which would be the fourteenth], that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. There is one of the basic keys to the understanding of the day Jesus Christ died. It says very plainly that because it was the preparation day (which would be the day before the Passover which would be the fourteenth of Nisan because the Passover is on the fifteenth) that the bodies should not remain on the cross on that day or the Sabbath day. Now they have confused this Sabbath day, this first day of the feast of the Passover with the weekly Sabbath. This is why they've always said that the day before the weekly Sabbath was Friday therefore the teaching has been he died on Friday, the day before the weekly Sabbath. But this was not the weekly Sabbath. This as John says and it is here in parenthesis in the King James--"(for that sabbath day was an high day)"--it was a special holy convocation, the high day which was the first day of the feast of unleavened bread, which was the Passover. So they besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. They've asked me, many people have, "why did they break the legs of those malefactors and robbers that were crucified with Jesus?" And you ask them, "well why did they?" And they say, "well to kill them." Well, breaking a fellow's legs does not kill them. You've known many people who have had their legs broken who didn't die because of their broken legs. They broke their legs because it was so close to the feast of the Passover. The Passover would start at sunset that evening and here they'd been crucified and they were not dead yet. They broke their legs before the feast of the Passover so they wouldn't run away while the Passover was on. That is why they broke their legs. Well, this is that special holy day or convocation and this I want to show you here on a chart. This fifteenth of Nisan or Abib, this fifteenth of Nisan is the Passover. So the day before the Passover is the fourteenth. The day after the Passover would be the sixteenth. Of course you can count: fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty. You can go back: thirteen, twelve, eleven. You see that is how the Bible sets up the days. Now, when it comes to this matter of the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, all four gospels concur as to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want to give you these records. Look at Matthew chapter 28: Matthew 28:1: In the end of the sabbath [this is the weekly sabbath], as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week [which you and I know as Sunday], came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. So this is early Sunday morning. Now listen to verse 6, the report was: Matthew 28:6: He is not here: for he is risen,... It doesn't say in verse six that he arose on what we call Easter Sunday morning. It says that by the time the women got there the report of the angel to the women was "He is already risen." That's the record in the gospel of Matthew. In the gospel of Mark chapter 16, verse 1: Mark 16:1: And when the sabbath was past.. And in verse 6: Mark 16:6: And he [the angel] saith unto him, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which [who] was crucified [past tense]: he is risen,... He's already up. It doesn't say he just got up but the declaration of the angel again is "he's already up." That's the record in Mark. Now Luke chapter 24 and in this chapter again the sixth verse the angel declares to those at the sepulchre on this Sunday morning: Mark 24:6: He is not here, but is risen:... So again the Word simply declares he is already up. But it doesn't tell us in Matthew, Mark or Luke when, w-h-e-n he got up. But it does tell us that by the time the women came there, and they came there early, very early. Because in the gospel of John chapter 20 listen to this first verse: John 20:1: The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early [early], when it was yet dark, unto the sepulchre,... So by the time they got there early on what we refer to as Easter Sunday morning, where was Jesus? He had already risen the Bible says. He had already risen. It doesn't say in any one of the Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke or John that he got up on Easter Sunday morning. This is theological talk. This is tradition. That's not the Word. The Word said that by the time those women arrived there he had already risen. When he arose the Word in the Gospels does not say. So, to put this all together we are going to have to go to other places in the Word to find out exactly when Jesus Christ died and when he arose again. So we turn to Matthew chapter twelve once more because two verses of scripture pinpoint with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision that nobody can get out of, the accuracy of God's Word as to the time of his death and the time of his resurrection. Matthew 12:40: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's [fish's] belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now you have to remember three days and three nights in the heart of the earth; not from the time of his crucifixion but from the time of his burial. Not when he died at three o'clock in the afternoon our time but in the earth three days and three nights. You see three days may be an idiom and it is, you can use it as portions if it just says "days" in the Bible. But whenever the Bible says "day and night" it becomes a literal truth. There is something else involved here that I will have to share with you. The legal requirements were that no one can be pronounced officially dead until after they have been dead for seventy-two hours, three days and three nights, a period of seventy-two hours declares an individual officially dead. Jesus Christ fulfilled the law the Bible says. How in the world could he have been just three days and one part of a night or something or two parts of a night in the earth? He fulfilled the law the scripture says. And if he fulfilled the law he had to be there technically three days and three nights. Otherwise, you know something, if he was dead he was dead, right? Sure it's right! Two minutes after Jesus Christ was dead they could have buried him. One second after that God could have resurrected him because He resurrected him later so why didn't He resurrect him immediately afterwards? Did you ever ask yourself that question? It's a good question. It deserves a good answer, an accurate answer. The reason God did not raise the Lord Jesus Christ immediately after he was buried was because Jesus Christ had to fulfill the law. This is why he had to be in the grave three days and three nights--not parts of--but complete! Three complete days of twenty-four hours each. Sure. Now, our failure to recognize the truth of the first day of the Passover being a high sabbath day, a holy day, a special convocation and our failure of understanding when the Jewish day started, what comprises the Jewish day, has caused most of the difficulty. And that verse in John nineteen, verse thirty-one that I read about the special sabbath that they have confused that with the day before, with Good Friday, and the weekly sabbath. Now here in this chart which we have prepared for you the Jewish day began with sunset. That's when the Jewish day started. Each one of these white lines on this chart board indicate a day of sunset. You see our day begins with midnight. That's an awful time to start a day right in the middle of the night. They started their day at sunset. So from sunset on this day to sunset over here was for the Jews the fourteenth of Nisan. And the Bible says in John 19:31 that on this day of the preparation, the fourteenth of Nisan, Jesus Christ was crucified and that he was buried. Now he died at 3:00 p.m. our time which is the ninth hour, Jewish reckoning. About this time he died. But he had to be buried before sunset. The reason he had to be buried before sunset on this day because sunset started the next day and the next day would be the fifteenth of Nisan which would be the Passover and being the Passover they had to bury him before this period of time. This is why I told you they broke the legs of those malefactors and thieves because they didn't want them to run away. But this started the next day. So, he died at 3 p.m.; he was buried before sunset. Sometime before sunset he was buried on the fourteenth of Nisan. Now going from the fourteenth of Nisan to the fifteenth of Nisan at this point would give you a night and a day. A period of twenty-four hours, one day and one night which is the first day. So from what you would call our Wednesday before sunset to our Thursday before sunset is the first day and night of his being buried. Then from this point here over to here is the second night and day. And from this point on the sixteenth to over here is the third day and night or night and day. Now this verse in I Corinthians chapter fifteen and verse four is the one that really caused me a lot of difficulty. It says: I Corinthians 15:4: And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day... That's what bothered me. How in the world could a man be dead and buried three days and three nights and still get up the third day? This was my problem. For many, many years I did not know the answer. So I never guessed I just waited. I knew someday sometime in God's providence and my believing and God's help all the way through this would come where we would be able to understand how in the world could he be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth and still get up the third day! This really bothered me and I never understood it until I understood Jewish reckoning. When I understood and clarified in my mind on the Jewish day beginning with sunset and ending with sunset that is what helped me to understand. Look here, Jesus Christ on the fourteenth of Nisan was buried sometime before sunset because the fifteenth would start at sunset. So lets say they buried him here. The Bible does not say what time they buried him. It says before sunset. But it had to be after three o'clock because he didn't die before three o'clock our time. But it had to be before sunset because sunset would start the Passover. So they buried him here at this point. From here over to here was one day. From there over to there is the second day. From there over to there is the three days and the three nights of Matthew 12:40. And it said he would rise the third day. Well look at the point, he has this much time between here and there because this starts the next day. So he rose the third day before sunset and this is the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Then the next day was Sunday the eighteenth of Nisan and the women came early, very early while it was yet dark they came to the sepulchre and they found that Jesus Christ had already been raised. He had already been resurrected. When was he resurrected? He was resurrected on Saturday, on Saturday before sunset because sunset started the next day. So you see, when you work the accuracy of God's Word where you allow one scripture to build-up another regarding the same incident or the same periods of time that are involved, you see that Jesus Christ was buried on our Wednesday before sunset and arose on our Saturday before sunset which makes the three days and the three nights and it makes the Word of God fit like a hand in a glove with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. The only thing we need to change is our wrong teaching. Now there is no person in the world that can get three days and three nights out of Good Friday to Easter Sunday morning. And this is why young people and other people across the world just don't believe ministers and the Word of God. This man in India that I told you about he said, "well, if you ministers can't count to three why should we trust you in the handling of the Word of God?" He said, "at least we Hindus can count to three." That's right. Well, we can count to three alright if we just take the accuracy of God's Word and let the greatness of that Word live abundantly within our lives. So, Jesus Christ literally fulfilled the law. He carried out the Word of God. The only thing we have to change is our wrong teaching. Now I am not going to advocate that we change to Good Wednesday instead of Good Friday because the Book of Colossians says we are not to be observers of days or times or special hours. But I am going to stick to the accuracy of God's Word. And this Word of God just fits like a hand in a glove because it puts all the days of the month together logically. Puts the hours of the days in, puts the special days where they belong and it ties the whole thing together. Now, in one of the "Studies in Abundant Living" we have published this research entitled "The Day Jesus Christ Died" there is this whole work that I have shared with you. But on the last page of this research presentation it says, that I'd like to clarify the record in Luke 24:21 where we read of two disciples on the way to Emmaus on the first day of the week saying to their risen Lord: Luke 24:21: But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel: and beside all this, to day is the third day since these things were done. This one they will throw at you after you teach them the great accuracy of this Word that I've set before you. And I say in this little booklet that perhaps even old English usage would cause us to understand the word "since" to mean that this is technically and officially the fourth day because on this the fourth day three days have gone by. Moffet's translation has it very clearly and accurately presented. He translates it as follows: "And it is three days ago since." The Aramaic has it as follows: "And low three days have passed since all these things have come to pass." See how accurate the Word really becomes. A copy of this "The Day Jesus Christ Died" would be very wonderful for you to have. It is free to you. Just study the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word and make this Word living and real for yourself. You see, as far as I can understand the greatness of God's Word and its wonderful accuracy only one whose personal knowledge would be more certain than the revealed knowledge of the Word of God would deny the accuracy of the death, the time of the death and the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ that is set forth in the Word. I know what people say, they've said it to me hundreds of times. "So, so yes that's wonderful, four others crucified with Jesus, so what! After all wasn't it the center cross that was most important?" Yes it was right. The center cross was the most important. So what! And they say, "well suppose he died on Wednesday instead of Good Friday, so what!" You know what I tell them, "if that's the way you feel I'd like to go to the bank with you the next time you cash a check for a hundred dollars and while your cashing it I'll just say to the teller `just give me fifty,' so what!" When you go to that bank and you get that check cashed for a hundred dollars do you know how much you want? You want a hundred dollars. Why? Because that's what the check says. Well when it comes to the Word of God it doesn't make any difference after all it is only important the center... That's not what the Word says. The Word says four besides Jesus. It said he died on Wednesday, rose on Saturday instead of dying on Good Friday and getting up on Sunday. So what! That's the difference between truth and error, between right and wrong! That's right! You talk about so what! So what! I'd like to be with you sometime if you're in a capsule ready to be shot into outer space and I'd like to be sitting in the block house on the count down and we are down to count number six, five, four...and I'd like to hear you say, "so what, press any button you like." In everything else we are accurate except the greatness of God's Word. This is why we in this class on Biblical research turn to the greatness of God's Word and let this Word live abundantly because it is accurate. It works with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. So when people say to you "so what!" You go to the bank with them or you sit in the block house when they are ready to be fired out into outer space in one of the great capsules. They won't say, "so what!" because the scientists know you can't say "so what!" You have to work it mathematically, accurately right down the line. Well what about the wonderful greatness of God's Word? Certainly we ought to work it with the same exactness, with same scientific precision. This is why Jesus Christ lived and died and rose again so wonderfully according to His matchless Word. SEGMENT 23: IN THE CONTEXT; ARE THE DEAD ALIVE NOW? We must, with alacrity of mind and continued vigilance, remind ourselves that II Peter 1:20 declares: II Peter 1:20: Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. No prophecy, none of that which is foretold or forthtold in the Word of God is of any private interpretation. Since I dare not interpret it nor you nor any other person in the world, we discovered that all scripture interprets itself either in the verse, or in the context, or its been used before. These are the three ways in which all scripture interprets itself because it is of no private interpretation. And we have been dealing exclusively with this first point that it interprets itself in the verse right where it is written. So, as we continue to work this wonderful Word of God and note the greatness with which it is set in God's wonderful matchless Word--how it interprets itself in the verse--we have covered so thoroughly that we have just to reiterate and review before we go on. All scripture as it interprets itself in the verse right where it is written and the word or the words that are used in a verse must be interpreted according to thier Biblical usage, not current. And the words used in any one verse must always be in harmony with the verse as well as all the scripure relating to the identical subject. And in the fourth place we've noted the scripture build-up: how one scripture may not tell it all but another scripture adds to it; but that other dare not contradict what he has said before. So we now have to go to the second great point as to how the scripture interprets itself: it interprets itself in the context. If it does not interpret itself in the verse right where it is written then you read the context. The context is that which makes up the whole story. What is it talking about? What's the whole idea behind it? So you must check the indivdiual word in the verse and then the verse in the context. We go to the book of Psalms, the second Pslam and in verse 8. Here we have a verse of scripture which is frequently qouted at missionary meetings where they are concerned about, talking about winning the heathen for the Lord Jesus Christ. And they qoute this verse as their text and then they preach from it and talk about it. Of course then we take the collection for the foreign mission. But look at the verse: Psalm 2:8: Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Now isn't that tremendous, it's wonderful! It's a tremendous missionary sermon. Is it? Not if they read the next verse. Why don't they ever read the next verse? Listen to this, verse 9: Psalm 2:9: Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Boy now isn't that a great missionary sermon, real loving isn't it? Sure. Give me the heathen for my inheritance, break them to pieces, smash them. Great missionary sermon. No, never. This is not the way the scripture interprets itself. You have to always relate the individual word to the verse and the verse has to always stay within the context. Never use that as a missionary sermon, that's for sure. You see, we have to understand what is it all about, what is the scripture trying to really say. Let's go to the gospel of Matthew, the twenty second chapter in the gospel of Matthew. Here we have another verse of scripture in Matthew 22 that is frequently used at a memorial service for some great saint of God who has really worked hard for the local church and for the national, and maybe the international denomination. And this person has been such a wonderful influence in the community and he's passed away. And now we have the funeral or the memorial service for him. And they pick this particular verse or section of it and we use it as a text for the service. It's in Matthew chapter 22, verse 32: Matthew 22:32: ...God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. "God's not the God of the dead, but of the living." And then we begin to preach how here is this good old wonderful saint of God. You can see he's dead. We've seen him in the casket: he's dead! But some how or other we say he is not dead he is living. And we take off on this and have a tremendous memorial service. Well, why not go back and check the context? What's the story all talking about when it says "God is not the God of the dead, but of the living?" If you go back to Matthew 22 and verse 23: Matthew 22:23: ...which say that there is no resurrection,... And verse 28: Matthew 22:28: ...Therefore in the resurrection... And in verse 30 and 31: Matthew 22:30, 31: ...For in the resurrection... ...But as touching the resurrection... What is the context? What's the story all about? It's not that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive now; but it is talking about the resurrection. Lets' read the story, the whole thing starting with verse 23: Matthew 22:23: The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, People have said the reason they were so "sad-you-see" was because they did not believe in the resurrection. Matthew 22:24, 25: Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Matthew 22:26, 27: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. She was quite a man-killer wasn't she? She had all these seven husbands. I always like this twenty seventh verse because it says "and last of all the woman died also." Well, wonderful. This reminds me of a story I heard once of a lady who was married to a banker. And this banker passed away. And some brief time after this she was married to a theatrical agent. And of course everybody talked in town because she had gotten married to this theatrical agent so quickly. Well after about two or three years her second husband died. And then, lo and behold, within about a year's time she got married to a clergyman. And within a few years he also passed away. And then she married a mortician. And one of her friends remarked to her one day and said, "Now this is really something: you've been married to a banker, you've been married to a theatrical agent, you've been married to a clergyman and now you pick a mortician." He said, "Why do you fall in love with men like this? And she said "well it's very simple: one's for the money, two for the show, three to get ready and four to go." Well, bless your heart, that's...We better go back to the Word I guess. Well she had all seven of them. Finally the woman died. Well praise the Lord, verse 28. Matthew 22:28: Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her. Subject? In the resurrection whose wife is she going to be? This was the question. "For they all had her." Look at verse 29: Matthew 22:29: Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. And ladies and gentlemen, that's exactly where our error still is today. Jesus said to those Sadducees who did not believe in the resurrection, he said to them, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures or the power of God." And this is exactly why we are in all the confusion today regarding the coming of the Lord, the resurrection, the gathering together, all of the teaching that when you die you're really not dead you are alive someplace else--all because we err not knowing the scriputres nor do we know the power of God. Matthew 22:30-32: For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. God is not the God of the dead, but of the living. When? What's the subject talking about? What's the context? Not now but at the time of the resurrection. Where is Abraham now according to the Word of God? The Bible says he died. That's right. Abraham died. Where's Isaac? He's dead. Where's Jacob? He's dead. How long are they dead? Until the resurrection. And the resurrection has not yet come so where is Isaac? Well Isaac is dead. Abraham is dead. Jacob is dead. BUT Jesus said He is not the God of the dead, He is the God of the living. When? At the time of the resurrection. Who is going to get up? Old Abraham is going to get up. Old Isaac is going to get up. Old Jacob is going to get up. At the time of the resurrection, that's right. What a tremendous truth in God's wonderful matchless Word. You know, we talk about people dying and then being alive. And I've been through this whole school of research and learning in extra- sensory perception, in parapsychology, in subjects dealing with survival after death, that's right. I have studied seances. I have seen levitations. I have seen aports. I've been through this whole field which multitudes of people believe in today. And which is becoming so popular increasingly because not a day goes by but that some national periodical does not portray this side of the story in a very favorable light. That's right. Not a day goes by that someplace somewhere in some national prominence, all of these extra-sensory perception--parasychological-- types of things are not presented in one form or another. On radio, televsion, newspapers carry big long articles. And so we've been promoting the so called gift of prophecy; how somebody has the gift of prophecy. How somebody knew ahead of time that President Kennedy was going to be killed. Well what in the world good is it to know it ahead of time if he still gets killed! When you read the accuracy of God's Word, when God talked to the prophet and told the prophet that the army from the north was going to come in to Israel at a certain place; He didn't say this and then they all got killed. The Word of God says that when the prophet saw this he told the King of Israel "you set your old machine guns up over there. They're coming through there tomorrow morning." And the King of Israel set his old machine guns up and boom, boom, boom next morning: cleaned house. Day after day he did this. You see there is always a profit in it. There is always a profit in it if it's from the right source. But the reason that Satan is having such a time and few people believe in Satan. They do not believe in devil spirits or evil spirits. They all say there is only one God. The Bible says there are two gods. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The other is the god of this world who is Satan. Later on in this class I'll show you were devil spirits come from. How they occupy, how they possess the mind, how they control, how they give information. And that information many times has to be accurate because if it was always inaccurate nobody would believe them. This is like evil, evil is a parasite. Evil could not exist without truth. Devil spirits, evil spirits, wrong sources of information that people tap into which possess them could not exist if it were not for the true God and the power of His Holy Spirit accurately. That's right. Just becasue somebody takes a Bible and holds it up and says "well I read the Bible," that doesn't mean that they are not counterfeit. That's right, because Satan knows the Word of God and he can even qoute the Word and all the little devil spirits that operate. People can qoute the Word, they even pray. Oh, they look so sincere. They go to church. They say their prayers, they go through all the motions. This is all a cover so they can fool us. And we are playing, the Christian church has played right into the hands of the spiritualists and the spiritists and all those people who are talking about survival after death, all of them. The Bible says that when a man dies he's dead! And he stays dead until the return of Christ and the resurrection! If the church would believe the Word of God and teach it, all of this teaching about spirits, about ghosts, and about people getting information like many of them are declaring; they get the little crystal ball, you know. "Crystal ball upon the wall or in my hand what do you want to say today crystal ball. Whoaaa, yeaaa." All that would be gone. If the Bible's right, and if it isn't we haven't got a thing left. The Word declares that when a man dies he's dead, he stays dead until Christ comes and gets him up. That's why there is nobody living, just nobody. Nobody that has ever died is living with the exception of the Lord Jesus Christ whom the Bible declares God raised him from the dead! All the rest of the people who have ever lived are awaiting the return of Christ. If the church would teach this, do you see what the spiritualist would have to do? They would have to back up. If the dead are all alive up there now, those who have died, if they are all up there and having such a great, glorious time; then the spiritualists are not producing counterfeits when they bring back the so-called dead into manifestation, in concretion, in ectoplasm form or some other. That's right. I have seen this ectoplasm form also. But these are deceiving spirits. They are counterfeit. But they have lived in the world so long they knew your uncle, they knew your grandma. They knew what they had for breakfast. So they can not only come back in form where you may see them at times like in ectoplasm form; but you may even hear what you would say was their voice. Becasue that devil spirit takes over the vocal chords of another individual and speaks through them and it sounds just like your grandma or like your brother or sister. And the reason they can propound this and keep propounding it is becasue the accuracy of the Word of God has never stood in our day in our time in the Protestant or in the Roman Catholic Church, no place! Becasue every group has taught that when you die you are not dead, some how or other you go up to heaven or "paradise" as they call it. No. The Bible says when you die you are dead and you stay dead until the resurrection. Let me ask you a question: Why should there have to be a resurrection if you are already alive? The reason we have to have a resurrection is because people are dead. Well I know what some person said to me "well God's got to bring your spirit back and reunite it with your body." Huh, I thought how silly. If you get along for one hundred years real happily up there without a body what do you want to take the time for to come back and pick one up. You see, we have gotten into all of this becasue of the error of rightly dividing the Word regarding the dead. Where are the dead? They are dead! How long are they going to stay dead? They are going to stay dead until Christ returns! This is why every time someone says "they've heard from someone that's up in heaven," it's a lie from hell. Because you can't hear from somebody because that somebody is not up there: but devil spirits are; evil spirits are; wrong spirits are. And many times these devil spirits have possessed the most sincere, the most religious people you've ever known. But remember that sincerety is no guarantee for truth, none what so ever, that's right. The Word of God is truth! They tell about Moses and Elijiah for instance; that they appeared unto Jesus on the mount of transfiguration and talked with him. Have you ever read the Word of God? The Word of God says that Jesus saw Moses and Elijah in a vision. That's right. We talk about Enoch, you know, that he was translated, which reminds me that's in Hebrews, I'm going to look it up and read with you here in a moment. Hebrews chapter 11, they say that Enoch was such a wonderful man he never saw death because God translated him. So they give this story from Hebrews 11 and that's what it says in the King James, listen: Hebrews 11:5: By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. "By faith Enoch was translated..." The word "translated" is the word "transported," taken from here over to there. He wasn't taken from here up to there. He was taken from here over to there "that he should not see death." The word "see" is the word anablepto which means visibly with his eyeballs see someone to die. If you'll check the Old Testament you'll see that Enoch had never seen anybody pass away. He had never literally seen anyone to die, that's right. Never had he seen anyone to die and that's what the Word says. He pleased God all the time and God so loved him that when he passed away God took him from here and put him over there that he should not see death. He didn't see it literally but he himself died. How do I know it? Because the Bible says so, listen: Hebrews 11:5, 7, 8, 11: By faith Enoch... By faith Noah,... By faith Abraham,... Through faith also Sarah... And in verse 13 having listed Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Abel in verse 4. Having listed all of these now verse 13 says. Hebrews 11:13: These all died... A-l-l, all without exception. "These all died." Well if they all died then Enoch did what? Died. That's what the Word says that's what it means. That's right. Then they get to chapter 12 and the the first verse and these sensitives or mediums or spiritualists want us to believe that we are surrounded with a great living cloud of witnesses and they qoute this verse: Hebrews 12:1: Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight,... We are compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses, they say these are the believers who died and are living up there. That's not it at all. These are the people that are listed in chapter 11 who believed God and of which the Word of God says these all died. But we are surrounded with their believing. We have the testimony of their believing. This is what we have and having the testimony of their believing this becomes tremendous for us to see it. They also come all the time with that story about Paul, where Paul says "for me to live is Christ, to die is gain." Like as if the moment I die it's gain because I go to heaven and live up in glory and smoke fifty-cent cigars, floating around on a cloud or something, walk on streets of gold. Oh, my, oh, my. There is a third alternative: for me to live is Christ, to die is gain at the time of the resurrection but there is a third one and Paul says that's the return of Christ which is better than living or dying. For when he returns at the gathering together we will be changed. The mortal shall put on immortality, that's right. Then they talk about the rich man and Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. They talk about Saul and the witch of Endor. Not a one person in the Bible when you work the Word is living except the Lord Jesus Christ, God raised him. All the rest are dead. I have written all of this in the book entitled Are The Dead Alive Now?--handled every scripture in the Bible that deals with any segment of the Lord's return or the resurrection: any segment of it. That's right, handled them all. And they all fit like a hand in a glove and work with a great accuracy of God's Word that the dead are dead and stay dead until Christ comes. Therefore all this which we see in extra-sensory perception and we say "Oh, it's scientific." Nothing scientific about it because a fellow sits on this side of the board and one on that side. And they say "well you can't see through it. There are no charlatans in here, no way to deceive." Oh, devil spirits look over the top. They don't have to have a board between them or on top, you can make it twelve-feet thick. It wouldn't stop them. Here's a book entitled The Challenging Counterfeit available to you. This man was in spiritualism. This man was a medium. This man was a sensitive and in this book he tells exactly basically the same things that I've set before you in this Word of God here in this particular session. It's counterfeit, it is using the devil spirit world which people do not understand nor beleive in but they are being used thereof. Nations are run by it, government men are influenced by it. People go to these sensitives and they try to get the information, you'll get it, it will be right at some places but just at the place where you need it--it'll break you down and you will miss it. It will take a whole nation and put it underground. It will kill it off if we keep going that way because the true God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ will not stand for it. For in the resurrection we have life and without that resurrection and the coming of the Lord there is no life. This is why you must always go to the scripture in its context to find out exactly what is it talking about before you make any other statement. SEGMENT 24: IN THE CONTEXT (MAT. 13:24; REV. 1:12); PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH Take your Bible now and turn to the gospel of Matthew chapter 13 where we are going to be dealing with some scripture in a few moments. We are still in this class on Power For Abundant Living dealing with how the scripture interprets itself in the verse; Which we have covered and gone on to the second point: in the context. So even though the scripture interprets itself in the verse you must always take that individual word which is used in a verse and that individual word has to fit all the rest of the words that are used in that particular verse. And even though the Word interprets itself right where it is written in the verse you must remember that the verse has to still be related to the context. Never take it independent of the context. Now here in Matthew chapter thirteen we have a very wonderful story, illustrating these great truths of how the scripture interprets itself in the context. Beginning with the twenty fourth verse of this thirteenth chapter of Matthew, everybody have it? Matthew 13 and verse 24. Matthew 13:24: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: Then I say to my people in the class "What's the good seed?" And for instance I say, "Johnny Jumpup, what do you think the good seed is?" And old Johnny he jumps up and he says "I think the good seed is the Word of God." And I say, "wonderful, wonderful." Then I say, "Maggie," this is Maggie Muggins, I say, "Maggie, what do you think the good seed is?" And Maggie says, "well, I think that's wonderful that Johnny thinks it's the Word of God, but I think it's Christ." And I say, "great." The I say, "Henry", this is Henry Boloko. I say, "Henry, what do you think it is?" And he says, "well, I think that the good seed represents the good works of man." And I say, "wonderful." Then I jump up and down and shout and yell. Do you know why? "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." Johnny Johnny said he thought it was the Word of God. Maggie said she thought it was Christ. And Henry over here said he thought it was the good works of man. Now you've got three different denominations just like that. Why? Because they all guessed. They all said, "this is what I think." And I just taught you that no scripture is of any private interpretation. Quit thinking and guessing. Think what the Word says and do not speak until you know what the Word says. That verse does not tell you what the good seed is. It simply says "the kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field." Well what's the good seed? That verse does not tell you and if the verse doesn't tell you you do not know it. So quit guessing. That's been the curse, everybody guessing all the time. "I think it means this, I think it means that, I think..." Never, never, for the Word means what it says and it says what it means! And it interprets itself in the verse or in the context. Listen again: Matthew 13:24: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: Then I say, "Johnny, what's the field stand for?" And he says, "I don't know." That's right, well praise the Lord he learned something. Quit guessing. I say Maggie, "what's the field?" She said, "I don't know." I said Henry, "what's the field?" He said, "I don't know." Well now stay put, that's it! Quit guessing. If the Bible doesn't tell you just say "I do not know." It is no disgrace to not know. It's a disgrace to indicate you know when you do not know, when you're guessing, that's a disgrace. Like I tell our people it's no disgrace to be stupid, but it is a disgrace to stay stupid when the class on Power For Abundant Living is available to teach you the accuracy of God's Word. Well, let's read the rest: Matthew 13:25: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. What are the tares? You don't know. The verse hasn't told you neither has this verse told you what the good seed is or the field. So what do you do? You just keep on reading, reading, reading; because someplace, somewhere, sometime he's going to have to explain it. If he does not explain it we will never know. That's right. So you just keep reading. Sometimes in the Word of God you have to read almost a chapter, sometimes a chapter and a half and one place that just comes to my mind now, two chapters in the King James before you get back to the context of what it is talking about. Here we have this particular illustration. Matthew 13:26: But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. Has that verse explained it? No, not a thing it just keeps going on: Matthew 13:27-30: So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn. Has the Word explained what the good seed is? What the field is? What the tares are? No, not a thing. Then do I know? No, I don't know. But that's where the parable stops: that's where it terminates. Because then he begins with another parable, the parable of the mustard seed. Matthew 13:31: Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like... Then after he finishes that it says in verse 33, Matthew 13:33: Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven,... Then he discusses the usage of parables. Hasn't explained it at all. So you know what the average minister will do? He will read these verses from Matthew 13:24-30 for a scripture lesson and then he will begin preaching. And he will talk about the good seed being the Word of God as Johnny Jumpup did or the good seed being Christ as Maggie Muggins wanted to advocate. Or he will say that the good seed represents the good works of man which we do in our world as we socially take care of everybody else. And my, we have a tremendous sermon and he's just what some people call a regular old tear-jerker. But when he gets all through what have we learned about the accuracy of God's Word? Nothing! All guess work, all guess work. If the Bible does not tell you, you do not know. So what do you do? You keep on reading. He's got to tell you sooner or later, so you keep on reading. You go into Matthew and the thirteenth chapter and you go all the way down to the thirty-sixth verse. Listen to this: Matthew 13:36: Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. Look how wise they were. They didn't guess. They didn't say "I think it's this or I think it's that." They went to the master and they said, "Master you declare unto us, tell us what is the meaning of that parable? We do not understand it." Now listen: Matthew 13:37: He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; So the sower is the Son of man. No guess work. Matthew 13:38: The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; Matthew 13:39: The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. There it is. Class, could you get it any simpler, any plainer? It interprets itself right where it is written; not in the verse but in the what? Context. So you must relate every word to the verse and the verse must always be related to the context: takes all the guess work out. You can no longer guess. You can't go along and say, "well I think it's the Word of God, I think it's Christ, I think it's good works." It says the field is the world, the good seed are the children of the kingdom. That settles it. All the way down the line, that's right. That's how the Word interprets itself in the context. I'll give you one more from the Book of Revelation. Funny everybody thinks the Book of Revelation is so difficult. I think the reason they think it's so difficult is because we never read it in the light of allowing it to interpret itself in the verse or in the context. And the things in here which are symbolic they make literal and things that are literal we make symbolic. This is why we've never understood it. Because we haven't accepted the Word to means what it says and to say what it means. And that God has a purpose for everything He says: where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. So when we get to the book of Revelation we just follow the teaching of someone else instead of reading the Word. Sure, some great Dr. so-and-so set forth the whole work on the Book of Revelation and everybody's been echoing what he set forth for the last hundred years instead of reading what the Word says. Look at chapter 1 of the book of Revelation. Revelation 1:12: And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; Now does that verse tell you what the candlesticks are? No. It just said, "I saw seven golden candlesticks." So now you can begin guessing. Seven golden candlesticks, what are they? Well what do you want to make them? If you make them one thing then someone else legally has a right to make them something else and a third person. See, this is why you end up with all these divergent opinions regarding the Bible. Because everybody says what he thinks rather than to let the Word declare what it says and what it means. Before we get the interpretation of this look at verse 16 and I'll pick up another one: all here in the first chapter of the book of Revelation. Revelation 1:16: And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. "...had in his right hand seven stars." In verse 11 it talked about the seven golden candlesticks. Here are the seven stars. Well what are the seven stars? That verse does not tell you, it does not tell you. Well then, what do you do? You keep on reading for the context--what's the whole story--because he must explain it sooner or later and he always does. Listen to verse 20: Revelation 1:20: The mystery [the mystery, the secret--here it is] of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches." There it is. This is a poor translation, "angels" it is the Greek word angelos and the word angelos is translated angel or messenger. And here it should have been translated messenger and it is translated messenger in many other versions. "The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches." There it is. Is that difficult? I should say not. It is just so simple. It is as simple as falling off a log backwards because it just tells you literally what it is. That takes all the guesswork out of it: takes all the private interpretation out of it. For it means what it says and it says what it means. Now, this is really tremendous and this is how the scripture always interprets itself in the verse, but the verse must always be related to the context. Then it interprets itself not only in the verse but also in the context. Now if it does not interpret itself in the verse or in the context then the scripture will interpret itself where it has been used before; used before. If I tell you today that this is a pointer to be used to point out things on these charts for this class on Power For Abundant Living, what will this be tomorrow? An automobile? No. A toothpick? No. It will still be a pointer. Why? Because it's a pointer today and if I tell you it's a pointer today I do not need to reiterate tomorrow, it will still be a pointer. Now the Word of God is just like that. If it does not interpret itself in the verse or in the context the thing to do is to always go back in the Bible to its first usage. And there in its first usage it is usually completely explained. And that will carry through then all the way from its usage all the way through the Bible and never change. If He ever changes it He'll explain. This is how accurately the Word of God interprets itself; not only in the verse or in the context but how its been used before. Now to teach you this great truth and to show you how the Word interprets itself where its been used before we go to II Corinthians. Acts, Romans, Corinthians, II Corinthians chapter 12; and here in II Corinthians chapter 12 we are going to be dealing with Paul's thorn in the flesh. You know Paul's thorn in the flesh has been a thorn to more people than you can shake a stick at. I have a collection in my library of different things that ministers and clergymen and theologians have written through the years saying what this thorn in the flesh was. And I have come to the conclusion that the men who have written these different opinions, I would say there must be 14 maybe 17 all together different opinions, different things Paul's thorn in the flesh was. And I've come to the conclusion that for those men Paul's thorn in the flesh usually was the sickness that they had. In other words if the minister who talked about it had ulcers then Paul's thorn in the flesh was ulcers to him. That's right. If he happened to have ear trouble then Paul's thorn in the flesh was ear trouble. If he had foot trouble then Paul's thorn in the flesh was bad feet. If he had eye trouble then Paul's thorn in the flesh was eye trouble and of course they go to the Bible and find themselves a scripture where the Bible says that the people loved the Apostle Paul so much they said, "why sir, if you don't mind we'd gladly pick out our eyeballs and give them to you." But the classic one that I have was one that I experienced at a meeting where many of us as ministers were gathered together and we had a prominent leader from one of the great denominations, heads of one of them, to be speaking. He is also the editor of a wonderful periodical. And he spoke on Paul's thorn in the flesh. And you know what he said Paul's thorn in the flesh was? He said Paul had a physical weakness for women. And he said literally that Paul was a sex pervert. This was Paul's thorn in the flesh. And about that time I tore my hair out and I thought "my God, a man of such prominence standing before a whole group of ministers and to say that Paul had a sex problem. That he was a sex pervert." I want to tell you something, I'd never lay that at the feet of the Apostle Paul unless I could read it line by line and word by word. You know why? Because the Word of God declares that of all the men who have ever received revelation from God no one has had the abundance or the greatness of the revelation that the Apostle Paul had. And before I would think of calling the Apostle Paul a sex pervert I'd want to be able to read it line by line and word by word I want to tell you that. But you see it makes apparently people think that you are great because you tear Paul down or tear the Word down. And people will believe what a man of great renown will say even if it contradicts everything in the Bible. You know what I did? I got up in that meeting and I just said "shut up!" And I turned around and I walked out. And I have never been back again. Why? Because we are still living in a free country praise God and I still think and I have the right to think. And I do not need to sit and listen to any man hash the Word of God to pieces and disgrace the God whom I love with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. I just won't do it! That's right. I get up and I go out. I don't have to sit there and take that stuff. My family and I were sitting in a church in Canada one Sunday morning and the minister got up and he talked about how the children of Israel never crossed the Red Sea and that it parted, the Jordan and all these others. He said these are just myths. And he went on to say how healing in the Word of God was perhaps alright for that little bit of time but that today all healing that men of God said they were doing were nothing but show and counterfeit and men were doing this to get the money. You know what I did? Well I didn't do it first, my oldest son got up. HE said, "dad I can't stand it." He headed for the door and our oldest daughter went along while mother and I and our other daughter sat there and finally I came to my senses and I thought my children have a great deal more sense than I have. They didn't even want to stay and hear it. So finally Mrs. Wierwille and I got up and we walked out. And as we walked out the head elder or the deacon came along and he was dressed in full dress, he had tails on, tie. Then he said, "sir, I'm sorry you have to leave so early this morning. I'm sorry you have to go today. We have a tremendous service here and I'm sure you would have enjoyed the message of our minister." I looked him straight in the eyeball and I said, "sir, it's a disgrace for me to have been in this fellowship this morning! Because everything that man has said contradicts what the Word of God says and I have dedicated my life to the accuracy and the integrity of God's Word." So I gave him a pamphlet on the class on Power For Abundant Living and one other thing which I can't recall right now and I said, "please give this to your minister if you have an opportunity." We left. You see Paul's thorn in the flesh handled the same way. But I want to tell you when we go to the Word, the Word tells us what it is. That takes all the guesswork out of it. In chapter 12 of II Corinthians and verse 7: II Corinthians 12:7: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Does that verse tell us what the thorn in the flesh was? No. But it tells us who sent it. God. No, no it doesn't. It says it was "the messenger of Satan." Then it tells me who sent it. And the people who teach that Paul's thorn in the flesh was sickness which was sent by God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, must have lied. Because this verse says that it was sent by Satan. The messenger of Satan or from Satan. So we do not know what the thorn in the flesh is from that verse but we know who sent it. The Bible says Satan sent it. "A messenger of Satan," Satan sent it. And why did he send it? It says, "to buffet me." Do you know what the word "buffet" means? "To hinder, to obstruct," we have a buffing wheel to polish things off. Because of the abundance of the revelation this thorn in the flesh which was the messenger of Satan was sent to polish Paul off, to get rid of him. That's what it says. Now in verse 8 it says: II Corinthians 12:8: For this thing [the thorn in the flesh] I besought the Lord thrice [three times], that it might depart from me. He went to the Father and said, "Lord, get rid of that thorn in the flesh. Get rid of it that it might depart from me." Verse 9: II Corinthians 12:9: And he [God] said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For my strength is made perfect in sickness. No it doesn't say sickness. It says humility or weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my sicknesses. It doesn't say sickness. Well I'm trying my best to get it in here for you--because basically everybody has taught that Paul's thorn in the flesh was sickness--and I'm working hard to help you but I can't get it in. The thorn in the flesh still has not been explained. II Corinthians 12:10: Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities [doesn't say sicknesses], in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong. It still has not explained the thorn in the flesh, has it? It hasn't explained the thorn in the flesh then we do not know but it has told us alot. And now I'll tell you something; you can read all the way through the Bible from verse 10 on the way through Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians and all the rest of the Word of God and it's never explained. It is never, never explained, never explained. So what do you do? You go back in your Bible to where it is used for the first time. So we turn to Numbers chapter 33, Numbers 33. God had told the children of Israel that they were not to get themselves hitched up, that is married, to the unbelievers: to the nations outside. He said to them when your boys want to get married let them marry believers; your girls want to get married let them marry believers. Don't get hitched up to the unbeliever. That's the story in chapter 33. You read it for yourself sometime. And they were not to have anything to do with them. They were supposed to drive out these unbelievers. In verse 55 we read: Numbers 33:55: But if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell. The inhabitants, the people shall be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your sides. Do you mean to tell me it was a parasite hanging in this eye and a Canaanite hanging out of this eye or one in each hip. What is it? "Pricks in your eyes, thorns in your side?" It is a figure of speech, a figure of speech. We use it many times when we say, "such- and-such a half back or this forward will be a thorn in the side to such-and-such a team." It doesn't mean literally; it's a figure of speech. Like you've heard the phrase, "the man would give the shirt off of his back." Have you ever seen a man do it? It is a figure of speech indicating he's good hearted. Now, if you do not drive out these unbelievers, you get married to them, then the unbelievers, the inhabitants, the people, will be pricks in your eyes and thorns in your side. So from that one verse alone-- this is its first usage in the Bible--from this one verse alone what would you say a prick in the flesh is? A thorn in the side? It will have to be people; inhabitants. And that's exactly what the thorn in the flesh is. SEGMENT 25: PREVIOUS USAGE--PAUL'S THORN IN THE FLESH One verse from the Word of God when it's used before is enough because this will always give us the accuracy with which it is used thereafter. In dealing with Paul's thorn in the flesh, however, we will throw in a couple more for good measure. I'd like for you to turn to Joshua chapter 23 and verse 13 and here we read the following: Joshua 23:13: Know for a certainty that the LORD your God will no more drive out any of these nations from before you; but they [the nations. Nations are people] shall be snares and traps unto you, and scourges in your sides, and thorns in your eyes, until ye perish from off this good land which the LORD your God hath given you. See again this is the same context, same working of the Word because as we learned in Numbers the inhabitants, the people, if they wouldn't drive out the people the people would be thorns in their flesh and pricks in their sides. Here again the same truth because then they are going to "be snares and traps unto you and scourges in your sides and thorns in your eyes." Can you imagine a nation of people like the Amorites being in one fellow's eyeball. That's not what it's talking about. It's a figure of speech. This is its usage. A thorn in the flesh always represents people as a figure of speech. Who are always pricking you and trying to buffet you and discourage you. Go on a chapter or two further on toward the back of the Bible in the Book of Judges. In Judges chapter 2 in verse 3 same truth. Judges 2:3: Wherefore I also said, I will not drive them out [the people] from before you; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. The people were to be thorns in their sides. Now go back to II Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 7. II Corinthians 12:7: And lest I should be exalted above measure through [or because of] the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. This thorn in the flesh, what was it? Who was it? They were people. If you will remember from the Word of God every place where Paul went and preached the Word of God as soon as he had preached to them the greatness of God's Word do you know what happened? A little group of circumcision boys would come up from Jerusalem, every time. And they'd say, "yes, Paul's gospel is wonderful, you're saved by grace BUT we ought to do a little cutting yet. We ought to have a little circumcision ceremony." And so this is what happened. Every place where Paul went to preach the Word, if you know anything about the Epistles, every place he went these people followed him. And these people were nothing but thorns in his side, pricks in his eyes, thorns in the flesh. It had nothing to do with sickness, it had everything to do with people whom Satan, the messengers of Satan, they were sent by Satan to buffet Paul; to obstruct his ministry; to make his work look like it didn't amount to anything. Every place where Paul went this happened. Remember one record in the book of Acts indicates how Paul preached and how after he finished preaching they took him out and stoned him, left him outside of the city as dead. Next morning Paul was back in town preaching. These were people; people stone people. You know if you go back to the eleventh chapter of II Corinthians and verse 24 listen to this record. II Corinthians 11:24: Of the Jews five times received I forty stripes save one. Do you know what that means? Five times they whipped him with something like we refer to as a black snake. They whipped him five times, forty stripes save one. Forty stripes less one which would mean thirty-nine lashes five times. Do you think the Apostle Paul was human? Did he have feelings? Did he love to have people love him like you do? Like I do? Surely he did. What do you think his back looked like after they beat him five different times 39 lashes each time? It says forty save one. Do you know why? Because the law was that forty was the maximum number that you could beat a man. If you were going to give him a beating forty stripes was the limit. So if you miscounted and you gave them forty-one then you had to succumb to a beating and therefore those Jews were smart then already. They allowed themselves one for error so they gave him only thirty-nine lashes with a whip. That's why it says forty save one. Five times they beat him. Who beats people? People, people. Five times they whipped him. Thirty-nine lashes each time. I imagine about that time you would have been praying too, wouldn't you? "Lord take this thorn out of my flesh. Remove these thorns." Paul was doing nothing but good preaching the Word and helping people getting them delivered. But it was these other people that were obstructing him so he prayed three times. He said to the Father, "Father get rid of these thorns in my flesh." What do you think his back looked like? Listen to the next verse, verse 25 of chapter 11: II Corinthians 11:25: Thrice was I beaten with rods,... Do you know the difference between the beatings of verse 24 and the three times when he was beaten with rods? In verse 24 it was like a black snake. Five times they gave him thirty-nine lashes with a whip. Three times they beat him with rods. Black snakes that had pieces of metal or bone at the end of the thongs about this long. Pieces of metal or bone. Three times they whipped him thirty-nine lashes each time. Pull her through. What do you think his back looked like? Boy oh boy can you imagine. I read this in the Word of God and I get chills going up and down my spine. The spirit of God just whelps up within me because I hear people say, "oh, we sacrifice for the Lord. We put our dollar in" or "we laid everything on the altar for the Lord." Ah shoot. What has the gospel cost you? What have you paid for the accurate knowledge of God's Word? Very, very little. Look at that Apostle Paul, five times they whipped him, three times they beat him with metal in the end of the thongs. I'll bet you his back couldn't have won a beauty contest. Who beats people? People. And yet he kept right on going on declaring the greatness of God's Word. Listen. II Corinthians 11:25: ...once was I stoned [who stones people? People.], thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; A whole night and day he swam around in the Mediterranean. He must have been a good swimmer. II Corinthians 11:26-28: In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren; In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. Isn't that something. Who was behind all this? Satan, the devil, inspires people, possesses people and says, "you ought to obstruct Paul, you ought to buffet him off, you ought to polish him off, get rid of him," because he's doing too much for the true God. So Satan inspires good sincere religious people to do nothing but act as messengers of Satan to obstruct Paul. No wonder II Corinthians 12 says in verse 8: II Corinthians 12:8: For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. He asked God to get rid of it. He said, "Lord if you'll just get rid of those thorns in the flesh I can do a better job. I'll be out there pitching just as hard." Three times he said... Do you know what the Lord said. The Lord said, "you take care of the job I've given you I'll take care of the people." Right. Remember the statement one great historian made, "the wheels of God grind slowly but they grind finely." That's right. The justice of God is not always just like this on men. If it were we'd see a lot of things differently than we see them today in our society in our times and life. But he prayed and you know the answer of the Lord was "he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in your humility. As long as you keep your eyes upon me, Paul, I'll take care of the rest. For my strength is made perfect in you in your inability to handle the situation." Do you know what makes a man's life great? The ability to overcome. Every stone that we have to tread on and become overcomers on gives us a stepping stone. My old friend Rufus Mosley, bless his soul, used to say, "never be disturbed if people kick you." He said, "you just determine the direction you want to go." That's right. Because all they can do is push you along the way. The poets always write about the brooks that sing. Do you know what makes a brook sing? The stones in it. The rocks in the brook is what makes it to sing. And water has a tremendous lesson. Here's this obstacle of a rock within its way. You know what it does? It pays no attention to it, it just goes right around it. And if the rock is too big like a dam you know what the water does? Just keeps building up in front of it until all at once over the top it goes. No strain, no stress just rolls out to freedom that's all. It just lets go and lets God. That's the way it operates. Years ago I learned a great lesson from my friend Glenn Clark. He was a football coach and English teacher. Many people, perhaps you know him or know of him, or have read a lot of his work. But Glenn Clark taught me a wonderful lesson one day when we talked about a football game. He said, "football is really the most unusual game in the world." He said, "it's senseless, really senseless because here you are with the football and you want to go to the goal line over there. And what do you do? You try to take that football right through the opposition." "Now," he says, "if that opposition is too strong, you know what you do? The next foolish thing. And that is you let go of this ball that you want to get to that goal line, you let it go by throwing a pass." Then he said, "if you are down there on fourth down and still six, seven yards to go you know what you do?" He said, "you do the silliest thing and the most foolish thing in the whole world because you want to get the football to that goal line. Instead of you taking it you punt it. You get rid of it. You take it and you punt it." He said, "you release it entirely and give it to the opposition. Now sense--knowledgewise that's senseless. Yet some how or other that's football." But it's really a tremendous lesson. You know why? You take the football and you first of all try to go through the line. If that doesn't work you get it back here and you pass. If the pass doesn't work to get to the goal line you take it and you kick it, you kick it. You let go and you let God! I learned this in the ministry too in the greatness of the accuracy of God's Word. You try with all your heart to go through the line, if it doesn't work you pass, if that doesn't work you just let go and let God. Release it! I many times say to my people just put yourself in neutral and wait until you get guidance to either move forward or in reverse. Let go and let God. Here is this great thorn in the flesh that we read about in II Corinthians, nothing but people. But people are not the ones who defeat us, we defeat ourselves because we do not utilize the opportunities to keep looking to the Lord and the greatness of His Word. God said, "My grace is sufficient: for my strength is made perfect in your humility." And when Paul heard this he said, "well alright then I'll gladly suffer persecution, I gladly suffer anything as long as the greatness of your Word can live." This is Paul's thorn in the flesh, not any sickness, nothing at all but people. Maybe the people made him sick because they were obstructing him but that's all it was, just people. This is how the Word interprets itself where it's been used before. It tells us exactly what it is and this then takes all the way through from one end to the other. This is a tremendous thing. In our Studies in Abundant Living in Volume one, I think it's chapter seven in here, yes it is. Chapter seven "Paul's Thorn In The Flesh", in this research book, Studies in Abundant Living, volume one, I've handled every segment of Paul's thorn in the flesh in detail even as I have in this particular session of this class, enabling you to see the entire Word of how the Word not only interprets itself in the verse right where it is written but that the Word of God will do as it says here on the chart: interpret itself in the context or it has been used before. All scripture interprets itself in one of these three categories, always. And this is how simple the Word of God is without any private interpretation. I want you to look at Genesis chapter 20. I'll show you one more here. I've already given you this in essence once before but now to show you the point of how it interprets itself where it's been used before. We're talking about a man of God, you are reading men of God in the New Testament for instance. In Genesis chapter 20 in verse 7 it says: Genesis 20:7: Now therefore restore the man his wife; for he is a prophet,... Well now what's a prophet? A prophet is one who speaks for God. This is why when you talk about the man of God in the New Testament and the word "prophet" is used like in Ephesians 4 and so forth, you go back to its first usage to find out what is a prophet. A prophet is one who speaks for God. Look at Exodus chapter 7 and in verse 1. Exodus 7:1: And the LORD said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. "Aaron shall speak for you Moses. You will be to Aaron like God." That's why a prophet is one who speaks for God. In the fourth chapter of Exodus and in verse 16, speaking of Aaron here, He says: Exodus 4:16: And he [Aaron] shall be thy [Moses] spokesman unto the people: and he [Aaron] shall be, even he [Aaron] shall be to thee [Moses] instead of a mouth, and thou [Moses] shalt be to him [Aaron] instead of God. This is how the Word interprets itself where it's been used before. It tells you what a prophet is, one who speaks for God. He's the mouthpiece for God. He's a spokesman for God. This takes out all the guesswork and all the private interpretation. We constantly remember that the scripture declares "Knowing this first, that no prophecy [not one word of that which is foretold or forthtold in the Word of God]...is of any private interpretation." And so it will interpret itself right in the verse where it is written or in the context, what's the whole story made up out of or it will have been used before. Those are the three major divisions, the three major ways in which the Word of God interprets itself from Genesis to Revelation. Now, understanding this there are still a few Biblical truths we must adhere to. A number of Biblical truths which we must get rightly established even though the Word interprets itself in the verse, in the context or it's been used before. There are some further Biblical truths which we must adhere to if we are going to rightly divide the Word of Truth. And that is we have to get "to whom" correct. We have to get to whom the Bible is written correct. Most people believe that the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation, the whole Bible, (that is Bible--believing people: evangelicals, fundamentalists, conservatives, so on and so forth)--many of them believe that the whole Bible; I'd say most of them believe that the whole Bible--is written to them from Genesis to Revelation. This is not true. This is why they haven't been able to explain it because there are some sections in the Word of God that just do not fit with other sections unless you understand "to whom" it is written. And the whole Bible is addressed to one or the other of three groups; Jew, Gentile or Church of God. Look at it this way. Suppose I received a letter today, I received it and it's addressed to Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, New Knoxville, Ohio. To whom is this letter? It is to me. It is addressed to me. Is it addressed to Mrs. Wierwille? No. That's right it is addressed to me. Has my name on it. Now suppose a total stranger intercepts my letter, he opens it. The United States government doesn't like this. I think it's ten thousand dollars' fine or ten years in jail for sticking your nose into my letter which does not belong you. It is not addressed to you, therefore it is robbery and everything else if you take it. Suppose you get a letter addressed to you. To whom is that letter? It's to you. I dare not open it. Well would it be possible if you received a letter addressed to you, has your name on it, that information in that letter could be f-o-r, for my learning; I could learn something. A lot of letters people get I could learn something from still they wouldn't be addressed to me. That's right. Now, when it comes to the Word of God it is surprising how people have missed those two prepositions--the word "to" and the word "for"-- how they have confused them. That Word of God which is addressed to you must be specifically interpreted of you. All the rest of the scripture which does not have your name on it which is not addressed to you is f- o-r, for our learning. In I Corinthians and chapter 10, I think I'll use this one, in verse 32 listen to this: I Corinthians 10:32: Give none offence, neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the church of God: Three categories. We've had this verse before in one of the sessions. Give none offence, neither to the Jew, or the Gentile or the Church of God. You see, He lists these: Jew, Gentile, Church of God, these three categories. The whole Bible is addressed to one or the other of these three. It will have their name on it just like if you received a letter with your name on it. So the Word of God names "to whom" it is written. I want you to look at Galatians. Corinthians, Galatians chapter 3 and in verse 28: Galatians 3:28: There is neither Jew nor Greek [Gentile], there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. In other words we are either Jew or Gentile but when we are born again of God's Spirit we belong to the Church of God. And in that Church of God there is neither Jew nor Gentile; there is neither bond nor free; there is neither male nor female because when you are born again of God's Spirit you are no longer Jew or Gentile you belong to the Church of God. Now the whole Bible is addressed to one or the other of those three groups. It is either addressed to the Jew, to the Gentile or to the Church of God. And unless you rightly divide to whom it is written you will never be able to tap these resources. This is a Biblical truth which we must adhere to even though we understand that the scripture interprets itself in the verse, in the context or it's been used before. But you must rightly divide to whom it is written. And if you confuse that you'll be in the soup a lifetime and never be able to handle a great majority of the Word of God. In Romans chapter 15 listen to this, verse 4. Romans was written after the day of Pentecost. The church to which you and I belong started on the day of Pentecost. Romans 15:4: For whatsoever things were written aforetime [before the time of the day of Pentecost] were written [next word, f-o-r] for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope. There it is. What things soever were written aforetime, written before the day of Pentecost, are written to us? No. They are written it says f-o-r, for our learning. Well if it's written for our learning then it's for our learning, then it's not written to me. It is for our learning. In I Corinthians chapter 10 the same truth is told. Here we've had this Bible for thousands of years and we've missed it all the time. I Corinthians 10:11: Now all these things happened unto them [talking about Israel] for ensamples [that's old english it means examples]: and they are written [next word, f-o-r] for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come. You see all scripture before the day of Pentecost is not addressed to us. The Word says it is f-o-r, for our learning. It is for our learning because the Church started on the day of Pentecost and no one was ever born again 'till the day of Pentecost, therefore they could not have belonged to the Church of God or the Church of grace until it was available on the day of Pentecost. This is why all scripture, the Word says in Romans 15:4 and in I Corinthians 10:11, all scripture before this time is f-o-r, for our learning, or our admonition. SEGMENT 26: BIBLICAL TRUTHS WE MUST ADHERE TO: TO WHOM ADDRESSED The Old Testament was written before the day of Pentecost, right? In other words the books from Genesis on to Malachi were before the day of Pentecost. And if we get "to whom" correct and remembering that Romans 15:4 declared that all scripture, all scripture before the day of Pentecost is f-o-r, for our learning then if we get this accurate then we realize that that which is before the day of Pentecost, the Old Testament is f-o-r, for our learning. Well what about then the things in the law of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and some of those places? All of those things in the Old Testament are they addressed to us? No. To whom are they addressed? They are addressed to the Jews, to the Jews or to the Gentiles because the Church of God had not yet come into being. The Church of God came into being on the day of Pentecost. So all scripture aforetime, before the day of Pentecost in the Old Testament must be for our learning. It isn't addressed to us, it does not have our name on it but it is for us to learn. Can we learn something from the Old Testament even though it's not addressed to us? Oh, we can learn many, many things from the Old Testament. But the thing we must remember is that it is not addressed to us, it is for us to learn. It is for our learning. For instance, where are the ten commandments? Are they after the day of Pentecost or are they in the Old Testament? They are in the Old Testament. Alright are the ten commandments addressed to us? No. All scripture aforetime as it says in Romans 15:4 and in I Corinthians 10:11, all the scriptures aforetime are f-o-r for our learning. So the Old Testament is not to us it is for our learning. What about the ten commandments are they to us? No, they are in the Old Testament. They are for our learning. Can I learn something from the ten commandments? Many things, but they still are not addressed to me. They are for our learning. Then why in the world do we in the Protestant churches for instance, take our Sunday School Quarterlies like a year or so ago we taught to our children all the ten commandments. In every Sunday School Quarterly every teacher taught it to the children as if it was addressed to them. Something wrong, either the Word of God is wrong or what we are saying about the ten commandments. The ten commandments are not addressed to us. All scripture aforetime, before the day of Pentecost is FOR our learning, it is FOR our learning. So the ten commandments are for our learning. We can learn a lot from the ten commandments but let's remember the Word says they are not addressed to us nor any of the other commandments in the Old Testament. All of those are simply f-o-r, for our learning. Isn't that wonderful! Well that's what the Word says. Now, most of our people are real understanding of this point but what about the gospels? When were the gospels addressed? Regarding what period, after the day of Pentecost or before? The Bible indicates that the four Gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, all of these, start basically with the birth of Christ and terminate with the Ascension before the day of Pentecost. So when it comes to the gospels now, the four gospels, are they addressed to us? Not if the Word of God is right. For Romans said that all scripture before the day of Pentecost is for our learning. If all of it before the day of Pentecost is for our learning, the gospels are before the day of Pentecost. Therefore, the records in the gospels are not addressed to us they are addressed to Israel or to the Gentiles, never to the Church of God. So the Gospels are not to us but FOR our learning. Had the church understood this, if the church understood it today we'd be out of many errors. Much wrong teaching would go by the board and we'd teach our children and our young people the greatness of God's power and of His Word. But we get all confused because we teach the Gospels like as if they stand up here, the church epistles here, and the Old Testament some place along in here. It is either all God's Word or none of it. So we must remember that the Word divides itself properly if we recognize "to whom" it is written. One of the greatest errors in people's thinking as far as I am concerned from my research in the accuracy of God's Word is the fact that the four gospels were placed in the New Testament. The four Gospels belong in the Old Testament. The four Gospels complete the Old Testament. The Old Testament is not completed with the record in the Book of Malachi. Malachi was the last prophet. After Malachi, some four hundred years after Malachi came the Lord Jesus Christ. He came to Israel, he came unto his own people, Israel. And he was the prophet that fulfilled the Old Testament, he fulfilled all the law. He kept the law. He fulfilled all the law. He is the fulfillment of that law of the Old Testament. So the Gospels complete the Old Testament. Had the Gospels been placed where God places them--as the people got to translating and putting them into book form, had they taken the four Gospels in the book form of the Bible and put them in the Old Testament rather than to start the New Testament with them--we wouldn't have all this confusion. The New Testament basically begins with the Book of Romans, while Acts is the book of transition between the old covenant and the new. The Book of Acts gives the story of the rise and the expansion of the Christian church; on the day of Pentecost how they were born again of God's Spirit, filled with the power of the holy spirit and then how the Church continued to move ahead. The Book of Romans then becomes specifically addressed to the Church after the day of Pentecost. All scripture aforetime is for our learning. Look at Romans 15:8. Listen to this: Romans 15:8: Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of [or "to" is the preposition] the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: Jesus Christ was a minister to, t-o the circumcision. Well, I do not belong to the circumcision. Neither do you if you are born again of God's spirit. For if we are born again of God's spirit we belong to the Church of God in which there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bond nor free as we saw from Galatians earlier in the scriptures. So, Jesus Christ did not come to start the Church on the day of Pentecost. Jesus Christ came as a minister to the circumcision. He was the completion, the fulfillment of the old covenant, the Old Testament. He was the fulfillment of that law literally. So, you see, we have to get "to whom" correct in the Word of God. The whole Bible is addressed either to Jew or Gentile or Church of God. And we have to find that Word of God which is written for our learning and separate it from that Word of God which is written to us. These two prepositions "for" and "to" make all the difference between truth and error when it comes to rightly dividing the Word of God, even though you understand that it interprets itself in the verse, in the context or its been used before. Look at I Corinthians chapter 1, I Corinthians chapter 1 in verse 2. Listen to what it says. I Corinthians 1:2: Unto the church of God... Well, it's got the name right on it. Same as if you received a letter addressed TO you or if I received a letter addressed TO Victor Paul Wierwille, it would be to me. And the information in that letter would be specifically to me. There might be something in it for your learning but it wouldn't be to you it would be for your learning only. Look at what it says in Corinthians; plain as the nose on my face. It says, "unto the church of God." Then Corinthians is addressed to whom? The Church of God. That's what it says that's what it means. Look at Ephesians. Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians 1:1: Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus: Who are the saints? The saints are the born-again believers. If you are born again of God's Spirit you are a saint. "The saints in Christ Jesus which are at Ephesus and to the faithful in Christ Jesus." To whom is Ephesians addressed? It's addressed to the Church. It's addressed to the Church. And this is so simple, all the Old Testament plus the four gospels are addressed to either Jew or Gentile. From the day of Pentecost on, the Church epistles like Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians are addressed specifically to the Church. Then there are personal epistles in the Church like Timothy, Titus and Philemon. But then you get to the books like Hebrews. Hebrews is not addressed to the Church in the sense that you and I know the Church was established on the day of Pentecost. It is addressed to believers who are born again of God's Spirit but who never quite walk in the freedom or the greatness of that new birth. They are still zealous for the law. The book of James is the same way. Let me show you something. Hebrews, James chapter 1 and listen to this. James 1:1: James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to [t-o, to] the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greeting. "To the twelve tribes..." Could you get any plainer? Could God write it any more perfectly? It is addressed to the twelve tribes who are scattered, the dispersed Jews. Here we go to the book of James and they take out scriptures like the one of "anointing with oil" and the rest. It was never addressed to the Church to which you and I belong. It was addressed to the born-again believers who were still zealous for the law. They were born again of God's Spirit but who wanted to keep all the Old Testament law yet. Much of the Old Testament, the reason its so applicable to most believers today is because believers who are born again of God's Spirit still do not want to believe that scripture addressed to them so they always want to put themselves under the law some place along the line. They had the same problem in the early church. That's right. You see in Acts chapter 21 is a record that I think I ought to share with you at this time. Acts 21 and verse 20 listen to this: Acts 21:20: And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law: They were born again of God's Spirit, they believed. They were saved after the day of Pentecost. BUT "they are all zealous for the law, they are all zealous for the law." You see they were born again of God's Spirit but they wanted to keep up the law also. Sounds like the modern orthodox, fundamental, conservative church, born again of God's Spirit but want to carry on every legalistic thing they think of. Why? Because they have never walked in the greatness of the revelation that came on the day of Pentecost which the Apostle Paul set forth and declared so boldly in Galatians chapter 5, listen to this, verse 1. Galatians 5:1: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free. Stand fast therefore in the liberty, boldly with a fearless mind. Stand fast boldly in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage. What's the yoke of bondage? The law. You see, this is why those epistles that are addressed to us must be specifically interpreted of us. All other scripture is for our learning. And this accounts for the differences in the epistles; like the Hebrews epistle and like the epistle to James. They were born again of God's Spirit but they did not stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ Jesus had set them free so they were entangled again with the yoke of bondage. And thou seest how many thousand of Jews there are that believe but they all were entangled because they would not walk in the greatness of that freedom wherewith Christ Jesus had set them free. So when we come to the understanding of the greatness of the Word. For instance, that the Old Testament is for our learning. The Gospels are for our learning. You see the gospels, this is quite a shocker, most of the people when I teach this in these classes they'll go along and say "it's for our learning alright in the Old Testament." But when you come to the gospels they have been so inundated with the great authority of the gospels that they put the Gospels up here and the Church epistles which are addressed to us down here. Can't do that because that which addressed to you is specifically for you and must be interpreted of you. All other scripture is for our learning. Can we learn something from the Gospels? Oh, my goodness yes. Thousands of things but they are still not addressed to us. I know what you are saying, you're saying to me, "well then, if the Old Testament is for our learning, the Gospels are for our learning, then I don't have to keep the ten commandments." That's right, it's not addressed to you. It's for your learning but let me tell you something there is a greater law to the Church which is the law of love. The law of the love of God in Christ Jesus which is to the Church and if you live love with the power of God in you in the renewed mind would you keep the ten commandments? Oh, definetly. You don't go around breaking the ten commandments because you live on a higher plane, you live a greater law. But still the Old Testament law, the ten commandments, are not written to us they are for our learning. That's right. What about the Lord's prayer? Where is the Lord's prayer? Is it after the day of Pentecost or did Jesus teach it to his disciples? The Word of God declares in Matthew that he taught it to his disciples, right? He taught it to HIS disciples, Israel. The Lord's prayer to his disciples and yet we have almost every Sunday in all the major Protestant denominations we stand up and we tell our people as ministers, we say to them "now let us pray the prayer that the Lord gave us." And so we pray, "Our Father which art in heaven hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread." Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa back up. Why can I not pray that? You know why? Because in the epistles that are addressed to me in the Church He said He has supplied all of our need according to His riches in glory. Well now think, if God supplies all of our need as He declared in the Church epistles in Philippians according to His riches in glory, one of our needs is daily bread, right? This is one of my needs. This is in the all inclusive noun "need." Needs you would say, one of the needs I must have supplied is my daily bread. Alright, He said He'd supplied all of my need. Well then He must have supplied and will supply my what? Daily bread. So in the Lord's prayer we pray "give us this day our daily bread." We are asking Him to give us something which in the epistles which are addressed to us He says He already has given to us. You see why the error, the contradiction? There is no contradiction because the Word says everything before the day of Pentecost was written FOR our learning. So the Lord's prayer is f-o-r, FOR our learning and it isn't to us. If it was addressed to us then we would have a contradiction because Philippians says He supplied all of our need. The Lord's prayer says, "give it to us." Well if He has to still give it to us then He has not supplied it. Bless your heart, I love you. Look, "forgive us our debts" in the Lord's prayer "as we forgive." There is another one. Why can I not pray that? Because my forgiveness is not dependent upon my forgiving others. This record "that if you'll confess me before men I will confess you before my Father which is in heaven" is addressed in the gospels. In the Lord's prayer it says "forgive us our trespasses or our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." In other words it is conditional. If I do not forgive Johnny Jumpup his sins God will not forgive me mine. But in the Church epistles the opposite is indicated. It doesn't say anything about forgiving anybody else. It says something about confessing with your mouth the Lord Jesus. It doesn't say confess your sin. It says, "confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart God has raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Do you see the difference? And it's very simple all we have to do is watch to whom it is written. Look at the Book of Romans chapter 8, Romans chapter 8, tremendous record in here. The commentaries have a terrible time with it. They just have an awful time with this section in Romans 8 but I'm sure you'll understand it because it fits like a hand in a glove. Romans 8 one morning I'm reading along for my devotional and I'm reading the last part of this great chapter of Romans addressed to the church and it says, Romans 8:37-39: Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us [and who gave himself for us]. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Well, bless the Lord! Nothing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord! Man, that day I go to the shop and am I a good worker. I go out on the farm and am I a terrific worker on the farm. I go about my business and I am tremendous. Why? Because I just learned this morning from the Word of God that in every situation I am more than a conqueror and that nothing can separate me from the love of God. And if nothing can separate me then nothing can separate me. And boy that day I go out there and I'm just the best. I have a great big wonderful day. I just live it up and everything just jells perfectly. Tremendous. About a day or two later in the morning before I go out I'm reading the Word of God again and lo and behold I get down to the eleventh chapter of this same Book of Romans and in the twenty-first verse of that chapter I read. Romans 11:21, 22: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if [if, if, if] thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. Well there you are. Now I go out and I have a miserable day. You know why? Because I've just learned from the Word of God that if I'm not careful I'm going to get cut off. While in the Book of Romans chapter 8 that morning it said, "nothing can separate me from the love of God." And yet two chapters later it says, "if I don't continue I'm going to be cut off." Well now what's the answer? The commentaries seldom know what to do with it. Very few men know what to do with it but it is very simple. Just watch to whom it is written. "To whom" is the whole key. Listen. In the ninth chapter of the Book of Romans and in verse 2. Romans 9:2, 3: That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh: Who were his kinsmen according to the flesh? In verse 4 it says, Romans 9:4: Who are Israelites;... Now to whom is it addressed? Israelites, Jews, it says so. And he goes right on talking to Israel. He gets down to chapter 10, look at chapter 10 and in verse 1. Romans 10:1: Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. Still addressed to Israel. Now, in chapter 11 and verse 1. Romans 11:1: I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am [was] an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. He's still writing to Israel. Now look at verse 13 of chapter 11. Romans 11:13: For I speak to [t-o, to] you Gentiles,... The Word tells you it's changed to Gentiles. So he comes down to verse 21. Romans 11:21: For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee. Who are the natural branches? The natural branch is Israel. "If God spared not the natural branches take heed lest He also spare not thee." Thee who? Gentiles, Gentiles, that's who He is talking to. Because if you are born again of God's Spirit and when you are born again of God's Spirit you are neither Jew nor Gentile but you belong to the Church of God and nothing can separate you from the love of God which is Christ Jesus. But if you are still a Jew or Gentile not born- again, "if God spared not the natural branches take heed lest also spare not thee." Romans 11:22: Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them [Israel] which fell, severity; but toward thee [thee who? Gentiles], goodness, if thou [if thou who? Gentiles] continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. What is it for a Gentile to continue in the goodness? It is to get saved, born again of God's Spirit. "If thou continue in His goodness, otherwise thou also, Gentiles, shall be cut off." If they don't get saved they are going to get cut off. You see how wonderfully simple this becomes. If you just watch "to whom" it is written. You get "to whom" correct and that which is written for our learning and that which is written to us and you rightly-divide the Word understanding how it interprets itself in the verse, in the context or it's been used before and the WHOLE Word of God will fit like a hand in a glove from Genesis to Revelation. All you need to do is to observe the great principle as "to whom" it is written and it will work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision all the way through the Word of God without one hitch in it. SEGMENT 27: THE CHURCH: BRIDE--BODY With vigilant observation, having the understanding as "to whom" the Word of God is addressed (Jew, Gentile or the Church of God) another great Biblical truth we must adhere to in rightly-dividing the Word of Truth--knowing that the Word interprets itself in the verse, in the context or its been used before--is this: the usage of the word "church." The usage of the word "church." This will become very easy and simple for us to understand if we just continue to remember that all scripture before the day of Pentecost is for our learning but from the day of Pentecost it is addressed to us. If we observe the principle "to whom" it's written the usage of the word "church" becomes singularly significant in the greatness of God's Word. In the Gospels the Church is referred to as the Bride. In the church epistles the church is referred to as the Body of Christ. In the commentaries and among the writers it is always referred to as the Bride of Christ. They do not distinguish it and thus they have never been able to rightly-divide the Gospels or the Epistles or the Book of Revelation. In the usage of the word "church" for instance; when you use the word "church" just what do you mean? We have different usages of the word "church." Certainly if we use the word "church" differently God in His Word if He told us how He used it could use it differently, right? When you speak of a church what do you mean? You are driving along a street or along the highway and you point to a building up there. Perhaps the building is made out of wood or stone or brick, it has a little steeple on top of it or something. And you point to it and say, "there, that is a church." That's one usage of the word "church" that we have today. Right? Or you are driving along and you see the people going in and you say, "there go the church people." These are the people of the church, talking about all the people going into a certain building. Or you speak of that individual smaller group, let's say, inside of the larger body who are really born again of God's spirit. You speak of them as the Church, the real born-again believers separated out from the rest of the body who have not yet accepted the Lord Jesus Christ. There's another usage of the word "church." Or, sometimes we speak of it as the Methodist church. Meaning not the local congregation or the local building but the whole denomination. Like we speak of the church of Rome or the Roman Catholic church. We mean the whole denomination. Or the Baptist church. We mean the whole denomination. So the usage of the word "church" varies. It depends on how you use it and what you mean. The word "church" which we have in English is in the Greek the word ekklesia. This word ekklesia always is used meaning "called out." That's all it means, no more no less. It simply means a group of people who are called out. This is its Biblical usage every place in the Bible. For instance, if you and I and a whole group of other people decided tonight that we were going to go bowling, all of us gathered together at the bowling alley having been called out to bowl would be an ekklesia. We'd be an ekklesia because we were called out to bowl. Let's say we all go to a football game or a basketball game or a baseball game. If a group of us go and we all do the same thing--we have been called out to that, and being called out and invited to go there, and we go as a group--that is the word ekklesia. Its usage in the Bible is just like this. It simply means "called out." That's all it means and that's its usage. Now, in the Book of Acts in the nineteenth chapter a mob is called a church. Why? Because a mob is composed of a group of people who have been called out for one thing--they are a mob. And being called out to be a mob they are called a church in the Bible. I'm going to read you this section because most of us have had an erroneous understanding and opinion of the word "church." So we first of all have to set up how the Bible uses the word "church"--just exactly what does the word "church" mean--before we can get into the depth of studying the usage of the word "church" in the Gospels and in the Epistles regarding the Bride of Christ and the Body of Christ; the difference between the two. Acts 19:23: And the same time there arose no small stir about that way. You see the way caused no small stir at that time already. Still causing no small stir in our United States and in foreign lands where we teach the accuracy of God's wonderful Word. The Way Ministry representing the greatness of the research, teaching and accuracy of God's Word is still causing no small stir in many places. Acts 19:24, 25: For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen [hear that]; Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth. What do you have but a union meeting, that's all. We think unions are so modern today. Well there's a dandy here in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Acts dating back thousands of years. This Demetrius was a silversmith, he made the shrines, the little amulets and so forth for the great goddess Diana, the temple. And he called together the craftsmen, workmen of like occupation and he said, "sirs, you know that by this craft we have our income, our wealth." And verse 26: Acts 19:26: Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands: Hey, he's quite a union leader isn't he? He's really hepped. He's real sharp. He's got the enthusiasm of his conviction. Verse 27: Acts 19:27: So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth. Isn't that tremendous. He was quite an orator. Acts 19:28: And when they heard these sayings [of Demetrius], they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians [Great is Diana of the Ephesians, great is Diana of the Ephesians, great is Diana of the Ephesians]. Acts 19:29-32: And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions [in trouble] in travel [in trouble too, maybe], they rushed with one accord into the theatre. And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre. Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly [the ekklesia, the church] was confused;... How do you like that? I told you the word ekklesia, the word "church" meant nothing more and nothing less than to be called out. Here is a group under Demetrius who made silver shrines of Diana for the great goddess of Diana the temple in Ephesus. A great ESP outfit, operating devil spirits. And they were making tremendous wealth off of selling these little, we would call them today ouija boards, amulets, the rest of them. Really had a great income. And Paul came in there preaching the greatness of God's Word and that they were not gods at all that they were talking about, they got it from the devil. That's what Paul was saying. And of course so Demetrius calls all the silversmiths of like occupation together and he gives them the old one-two pep talk. Sure. And he gets into the spiritual vein because if there's anything you can whip people up with is if you can get to their spiritual depth you know. And he said, "they have almost despised the great goddess Diana, her magnificence is going to be destroyed because all Asia and the world worships her and this fellow Paul is coming in here and making trouble." And so they all got together and had that whole mob going. And it said "some therefore cried one thing and some another because the church was confused." The ekklesia, the assembly, this was a mob, they were out there getting Gaius and Aristarchus and had old Paul come they'd have gotten him too, strung him up on a pole or something, right. This is why it says, "and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together." Sounds just like a mob doesn't it. They just followed the crowd. The vast majority of them did not know why they were there but they were going right along with it. And it said, "the whole assembly, the whole church, the ekklesia was confused." Why? Because they had been called out for this union meeting, and they got them all stirred up that they got to be a real mob and it was mob rule here. Acts 19:32: Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly [the church] was confused;... That's the meaning of the word "church"; that's all it means. It means called out, the word ekklesia always means called out. Now, you can be called out for different things then, and being called out for these different things this is called the church. Now, in the Gospels, in the Gospels this ekklesia, in the Gospels the ekklesia is the called out of Israel. Jesus Christ came unto his own. Well what were his own? Israel, to whom he came. And having come to Israel he called out his own and this is called in the Gospels the Bride of Christ, the Bride of Christ. And this period is also called, the Gospel period is called the Kingdom of Heaven. Now I want to explain the Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God to you. Because few people realize how simple it is and they get it all confused. The Kingdom of God is overall. It has no beginning and no ending, it is the Kingdom of God which is overall. Underneath the Kingdom of God come all these different areas and divisions from the beginning of time even unto now. One of the divisions under the Kingdom of God is the called--out of Israel, the Church of Israel which is the Bride of Christ. And this is called the Kingdom of Heaven period. The Kingdom of Heaven is always used in the Word of God regarding the personal presence of the King upon earth. The preposition "of" could be translated "from." The Kingdom from Heaven, the Kingdom from Heaven on earth which came from the Kingdom of God came upon earth and it's always referring to the presence, the personal presence of the King upon earth. Everytime the Kingdom of Heaven is referred to it is always used in that sense of the personal presence of the King himself upon earth. Now look at it, the word "kingdom" is made up of two words: "king" and "dom." The word "d-o-m" means the reign r-e-i-g-n or the supremacy, the rulership of the king. You cannot have a kingdom without a king. That's right. You cannot have a kingdom without a king. Like Great Britain can speak of itself as a kingdom because they have the reign of a king or the reign of a queen, kingdom. But we here in the United States of America cannot speak of our government as a kingdom because we have no king, no reign of a king. To have a king-dom you must have the reign of a king. Now Jesus Christ came to earth, he came to Israel. He was born under the Jewish law. He was a Jew by religion and he came to Israel and he was the King and while he was here the "dom", the reign of that King was here upon earth. He was born in a stable, laid in a manger but he was the King. They brought unto him gold, frankincense and myrrh. They recognized him as the King of Israel. Now he called out from Israel during his ministry those people of Israel who wanted to and who would believe in him as the Messiah. This is why when Jesus sent out the twelve, "to whom" did he send them? The Word of God says that he sent them to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. When he sent out the seventy, "to whom" did he send the seventy? He sent the seventy to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. He told them not to go into the ways of the Gentiles. Why? Because he had come unto his own, Israel. And he called out from Israel and those who were called out from Israel made up the Bride. Why? Because Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom. You can't have a bride without having a bridegroom. Jesus Christ is the Bridegroom. The Church, the called out of Israel while the Bridegroom was here is called in the Gospels the Bride. You know good and well you can't have a bride without a bridegroom. Not very well anyways. So, while the King was here who is the Bridegroom; what did they do to the King? Just what did they do to him? Well, they crucified the King and if the King is dead and the King is crucified you no longer have the reign of the what? The King. This period of time under here is the period of the law that Jesus Christ gave where he wound up or included all those nine hundred and some odd laws of the Old Testament in two laws when he said, "thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind and strength and thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." This is the Gospel period. The Gospels close up the Old Testament because he came to Israel and called out of Israel and as he called out of Israel these people who heard his word and believed in him as the Messiah, as he called them out these people made up the Bride. Because he was the Bridegroom. But what did they do to the Bridegroom? They killed him. They nailed him to a cross. They nailed him to the cross. They crucified the King of the Kingdom and when the King of the Kingdom was crucified that terminated the Bride as the Church because the Bridegroom was not there. This is singularly important and dynamically interesting. You see God had made a promise. Do you know what He promised? That when this Messiah would come it would be his Kingdom and of his Kingdom there would be no end. But there certainly must have been an end and there was. They crucified the King. When they crucified him that was the end of the Kingdom. Look at what he said in Matthew 16 while Jesus was here upon earth. Matthew chapter 16 regarding this church in verse 18. Mattheew 16:18: And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;... Who is going to build the Church in the Gospels? Jesus said I am going to build it, I'm going to build it. He does the building. Why? Because he is personally present here upon earth. Later on when we get to the Epistles we will see that it says you do the building because in II Corinthians in chapter 5 it says that you have been given the ministry of reconciliation and that God has committed to you the Word of reconciliation. But in the Gospels this building of the Church was not committed to men. Jesus said, "I will build my Church." He was there to build it because the King himself was present upon earth. Listen to what he said. He said to Peter, "thou art Peter and upon this rock I will build my church." He didn't say, "you're Peter and upon you Peter I am going to build to my Church." That's all petered out, that's nothing to that. You know why? Because of the accuracy of the Word. Two entirely different word used. And the teaching that the Church is built upon Peter is absolutely erroneous. How in the world could you ever build a Church upon a man except that man be the Son of God from heaven the Lord Jesus Christ. That first word "Peter" in verse 18 is the word petros, p-e-t-r-o- s. The word petros means "a rock, a small tiny grain of rock, like a grain of sand," that's what the word petros means. Every time the wind blows, >>>>, there it goes, >>>>>, there is goes, >>>>, there it goes. With every gush of wind it blows here and it blows there. That's exactly what Peter was. He was a vacillating disciple and apostle. One day he blew hot for the Lord and the next day he was cold. One day he said, "Lord I'll stand with you no matter what happens." The next day you couldn't see him for dust. He blew about with every wind of doctrine. Always blowing here, there and yonder. That's the meaning of the word petros of verse 18. "Thou art petors a little grain of sand, that's all." BUT "upon this rock" and the word "rock" is the word petra not petros. Petra, petra, you're petros, you're petros, you blow around, can't build upon you. But Jesus pointed to himself and he said "you are petros but upon this rock, the rock Christ Jesus, I am the rock," Jesus said. "Upon this rock, upon this petra, upon this petra, I Jesus Christ will build my church." Why? Because he was the King of the Kingdom. He was the Bridegroom who was here to call out Israel who was his Bride. Now that's a tremendous truth. As I said the Word of God, God had promised that of his Kingdom there would be no end. But they killed the King here, they crucified him. What about God's Word is it ever going to be fulfilled? Has to be, has to be, He made the promise that if the King would come of his Kingdom there would be no end. He would build the Church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. It means it wouldn't overcome it. But right over here it looks like it overcame it, didn't it, when they crucified him. But it didn't because that Church is still to be fulfilled in the future. And that is why when you get to the Book of Revelation the word "Church" is used again. And the whole Book of Revelation deals with the Church as the Bride of Christ, the Bride of the Bridegroom. The Church in the Book of Revelation has nothing to do with you or with me, the Body, has nothing to do with it. Nothing whatsoever. Has everything to do with the Church as the Bride. Every illustration in the Book of Revelation, every reference to the word "Church" in the Book of Revelation is all Israel, all Jewish, everyone of them. All the terms that are used, everything else in the Book of Revelation. You see, the Book of Revelation is the fulfillment of that which terminated at this point when they crucified the King of the Kingdom. God raised him up and the Word of God says he's coming back. The next time he comes he is not coming to be born in a stable and laid in a manger. He is not coming that they are going to nail him on the cross and crucify him, that they are going to spit in his face, that they are going to put a crown of thorns on his head, they are going to slap him. No, no. When he comes back the Word of God says he is coming back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! He's going to knock some earballs together and shake some heads! For the next time he comes back he's back as Lord God Almighty! And that story, that record is given in the Book of Revelation. So the kingdom, the kingdom over here is today held in abeyance, it is held in abeyance until the ekklesia, the Church of Israel in the Book of Revelation comes to pass when again the Bride and the Bridegroom are together. The Bridegroom is personally present here upon earth. Jesus Christ has returned. He is the Bridegroom and he calls his Bride Israel. This again is called the Kingdom of Heaven in the Book of Revelation. Because the King is personally present which gives him the reign of a King and again here in the Book of Revelation you have the same effect of law as you do over here in the Gospels. And this is why the Book of Revelation is the complement of the record in the Gospels. And everything that God promised to the prophets of old in the Old Testament which was not fully completed at the termination of the Gospel period when Jesus Christ was crucified is fully completed in the Book of Revelation when Jesus Christ returns as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! This is the Bride of Christ! The Church in the Gospels and in the Book of Revelation has nothing to do with the Body of Christ as we shall see later but this is the Church of the Bride. And what a tremendous Church it is because it is what Jesus Christ builds himself. "I will build my church." He is personally present and if you know anything about the record in the Book of Revelation when it talks about the churches and the response to it, he is personally present and he will take over. And as the Bride to the Bridegroom he will call them out and he will say to the Bride, "come and be joined with your Bridegroom." Because he is here upon earth then as King of Kings and Lord of Lords with the power of God in manifestation! SEGMENT 28: THE GREAT MYSTERY: CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY! Now what about this period in here, this whole section in here? The King of the Kingdom has been killed; the Bridegroom is dead. The Kingdom is held in abeyance until the time of the book of Revelation which is still future. Well what about this period in here? It's under the Kingdom of God. Well what is this period? This period in here is the Church of the Body. And the Church of the Body is the greatest secret in the whole world. It is such a tremendous secret, such a tremendous mystery had Satan known what I'm going to teach you now he never would have crucified the Lord Jesus Christ. He would have allowed him to live had he known the mystery or the secret of the Church, the Body of Christ. I want you to listen to Ephesians where the Church is called the Body before we get into the depth of this thing. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 22 talking about Jesus Christ: Ephesians 1:22: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, "Head over all things to the church." He's the head of the Church. He's not the Bridegroom he's the head of the Church. Verse 23: Ephesians 1:23: Which is his body [the Church which is his body], the fulness of him that filleth all in all. That's Ephesians 1:22 and 23. That's the Church of the Body of which Christ is the head and the members are members in that Body of which he is the head. In this Church, the Church of the Body there is no head president. There is no head bishop. There is only one head and that head is the Lord Jesus Christ. All things are put under his feet and God gave him to be head, not V.P. Wierwille. I'm not the head neither are you or any other person. God gave him to be head of the Body, the Body which is his Church. That Church which is the fulness of him who filleth all in all. Now in the Gospel period you will remember that the ministry of reconciling men to God was the ministry that Jesus Christ carried out. He said, "I will build my church." But in the church epistles we have an entirely different thing. I want you to look at II Corinthians. Acts, Romans, II Corinthians chapter 5. Listen to this, verse 18. II Corinthians 5:18: And all things are of God, who hath [past tense] reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us [He's given to us] the ministry of reconciliation; In the Gospels who had the ministry of reconciling men and women? Jesus Christ did. He said, "I will build my church." But in the Church Epistles in Corinthians here it says that He has given the ministry of reconciliation to the born-again believers, the saints, the ones who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that God raised him from the dead. II Corinthians 5:19: To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. He has given to us the ministry. He has given to us, the members of the Body of Christ, the Church, He has given to us the ministry of reconciliation. But the ministry would be worthless unless He had given us the Word. And it says He has committed to us the Word. He has committed it to us. So if you and I do not operate, if you and I do not carry out the Word, if we do not bring forth the Word which He has committed unto us we will never be able to carry out the ministry. In the Gospels Jesus Christ had the Word, he carried out the Word, he carried out the ministry. In the Church Epistles which is the Body of Christ we the born-again believers have the ministry of reconciliation and we have had committed to us, committed to us the Word of reconciliation. God committed this to us. God in other words said, "My born-again believers, my sons are the ones who will have to carry out the Word." He committed it to us and if anybody is going to get reconciled today to God, even though Jesus Christ accomplished it, we have to tell them. We have to carry out the work. We have to do the ministry by taking forth the Word of reconciliation. You see, this Church of the Body is called in the Word of God the Church of Grace. This Church of Grace began on the day of Pentecost when people were first born again. You could not be born again until it was available. It was not available until the day of Pentecost. Jesus Christ came to make it available but it was not available until the day of Pentecost. On the day of Pentecost they were born again of God's Spirit. That was the Church of Grace where they were called out from both Jew and Gentile believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, it made up the Body of Christ which is the Church of God. Now, on the day of Pentecost they were born again for the first time and after that, but they did not know what they had, they could not explain it. Years later this which had occurred on the day of Pentecost was given by revelation to the Apostle Paul and he made known what this Church of the Body, this Church of Grace really was. Now this is difficult for some people to understand but it's real simple. For instance, we have electricity in here. I can utilize it, I enjoy the benefits of it but I cannot explain electricity to you. Well so on the day of Pentecost, they enjoyed the greatness of the new birth, the power of the holy spirit, the operation of the nine manifestations when they spoke in tongues and interpreted, prophesied, operated the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healings. They operated all of that but they could not explain what they had. They enjoyed it like I enjoy electricity but I cannot explain it. So, they enjoyed the greatness of the new birth but years later what it was they had received, the revelation of that was given to the Apostle Paul and that revelation is the revelation of the greatest mystery the world has ever seen or ever known and that's the mystery of the Body of Christ which is his Church. To set the greatness of this we again go to the Word of God and I want to read you one verse out of the Old Testament before I get into the Epistles. Listen to Deuteronomy chapter twenty-nine verse twenty- nine. Deuteronomy 29:29: The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. The secret things belong unto the Lord our God but the things that are revealed belong unto us and our children forever. As long as it is a secret nobody knows but once its been revealed everybody can know. For instance, as long as I do not show you what I have in my pocket it is a mystery. But the moment I would take it out of my pocket and show it to you it would no longer be a mystery. So it is about the Church, as long as God didn't tell it,nobody knew. But once God told it, once God made it known then it belonged to everybody. Now this mystery is the best kept secret that has ever been held from the beginning and the foundation of the world until it was revealed to the Apostle Paul. We turn for this great revelation to the book of Romans. Romans chapter 16, this is the unfolding of it. Romans 16:25: Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery [the revealing of the mystery], which was kept secret since the world began, Well bless your heart, logically, if it was kept secret since the world began and is not made known till now when it is made known to the Apostle Paul, if it's kept secret from the time of the beginning of the world until now, could anybody know it? No. Could the prophets know it? Now had they known it it would not have been what? A secret, a mystery. But the Word said it was a mystery kept secret from before the foundation of the world and was not made known until it was made known to the Apostle Paul. Listen to the next verse. Romans 16:26: But now is made manifest [is made manifest], and by the scriptures of the prophets [not the Old Testament prophets but after the day of Pentecost prophets because there are prophets, apostles, pastors, evangelists, teachers in the Church, the Body], according to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith: Now, turn to Ephesians chapter 3, Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians chapter 3, verse 2. Ephaesians 3:2-5: If ye have heard of the dispensation [or the administration] of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation [word of knowledge, word of wisdom] he [God] made known unto me [Paul] the mystery [God told him the mystery]; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand [why I have this tremendous knowledge regarding the mystery of Christ] my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages [other ages, plural] was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now [or lately] revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; Was not made known in other ages but now it is. Then the other ages did not know it. The prophets in the Old Testament did not know it. Those people living at the time of the Gospels did not know it. It is now made known by His holy apostles and prophets by the spirit. Here it is verse 6: Ephesians 3:6: That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same [bride, NO it doesn't say bride. Of the same body] body [that's the mystery], and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: "That the gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body." It was no mystery that the Gentiles would be blessed under Abraham or David's ministry or under Israel's reign, that was no secret. That was no mystery, that's revealed all through the Old Testament. But there is not one iota of an inkling in the Old Testament that the Gentiles would ever be fellowheirs, joint heirs, fellowheirs, of the same body and partakers of His promise in Christ by the gospel. Ephesians 3:7, 8: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable [untrackable] riches of Christ; There are some things that can be traced and tracked in the Word of God. There are other things that cannot be tracked. This word "unsearchable" is the word "untrackable." You just cannot track through the Word of God the riches of God's grace because the riches of God's grace that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body was a hidden mystery, a secret from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 3:9: And to make all men see what is the [administration, the word "fellowship" is the word oikonomia meaning administration] fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things [then King James says] by Jesus Christ: The words "by Jesus Christ" are not in any Eastern text. It was not created by Jesus Christ it was created, all things by God in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created." "To make all men what is this administration of the mystery, this administration of the mystery which has been hid from the beginning of the world but has now been made known to the Apostle Paul." Well if it's hid from the beginning of the world did anybody know it until it was revealed? No, because the secret things belong unto the Lord our God. Once they've been revealed they belong unto God's children ever after that. Look at Colossians chapter 1 and verse 25. Colossians 1:25: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation [again the word is oikonomia, administration] of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Colossians 1:26: Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: This mystery again which has been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to His saints, verse 27. Colossians 1:27: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory 1. of this mystery among the Gentiles [here it is]; which is Christ in you [Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ IN you], the hope of glory: Well praise the Lord, hallelujah! What a tremendous revelation. That mystery was hidden from before the foundation of the world. What mystery? That it would be Christ in you. Imagine, when Jesus Christ was here upon earth how many places could he be at one time? One place that's all. Well when a person is born again of God's spirit it is Christ in you, Christ in you! Here's a man born again of God's spirit it's Christ in him. Here's another one it's Christ in him. Here's another one it's Christ in him. How many places can Christ be since the day of Pentecost? How many can he be at this very time, at this very time? As many places as there are born-again believers who know the Word and speak it forth. Isn't that something! That's the mystery! Christ in you, Christ in you! Imagine that with Christ in you! Does that make you a person? I should say so. You can throw your shoulders back and for once in your life you can breathe and you can walk. You know you're a son of God! Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ in you! When you walk down the streets of your community in your city it's Christ in you, Christ in you! Ladies and gentlemen what a power the Church has if they only knew it. It's Christ in you the hope of glory! That was the mystery! Hey, while Jesus Christ was here upon earth he was the Bridegroom. The Bridegroom and the Bride are separated. They are two individuals, right? But in the Body of the Church there is no separation. It is one. Christ in you, Christ in you, Christ in you! What a tremendous truth! Man that puts an effervescence in the soul of a man or a woman. That just gets the thrill of the power of God in the life of a man! Because that's how God planned it, that's why He kept it as a mystery until the day of Pentecost when they were born again. He never told then yet until some years later when He revealed it to the Apostle Paul. The mystery, that the Gentiles should be fellowheirs and of the same body and that it would be Christ in you, Christ in you, the hope of glory! So when I walk down the street it's Christ in me the hope of glory. That gives me some strength. That gives me some power. Ladies and gentlemen, what power we've got if we only knew it! Because we belong to him, he belongs to us! He's in us! Born again of God's spirit! Look at I Corinthians, hardly believe it, it's so big, it's so wonderful, it's so tremendous that when you teach it to people many times they just sit there enraptured, awed, because they have never seen it in the Word and for once in their life it fits. The Word fits like a hand in a glove. They understand the Bride of the Gospels, the Church, the Bride of Christ of the Book of Revelation and they understand the Church the Body of Christ which is Christ in you, the hope of glory!I Corinthians 2:1, 2: And I, brethren, when I came to you [says Paul], came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. The reason he could only talk to them about Jesus Christ and him crucified was because the vast majority of them could not receive the greatness of the revelation that I'm sharing with you. All the further he could go with them was Jesus Christ and him crucified and that's about as far as you can go today in any Protestant church--Jesus Christ and him crucified. What's on the center of the altar? Always the cross. They don't go any further today--Jesus Christ and him crucified. On top of the church we see the steeple but on top of the steeple we see the cross. What's central? Always the cross. You can't go far with them because they will not receive the greatness of the revelation. Paul came to the people in Corinth and they couldn't receive the greatness of the revelation, the vast majority of them. Because all he could speak unto them was about Jesus Christ and him crucified. You do not have salvation in the crucifixion you have salvation in the resurrection and the ascension and the giving of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. I Corinthians 2:3, 4: And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: "In demonstration of the spirit" well how do you demonstrate spirit? There are only nine manifestations, the only demonstration there is--speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing--there are only nine. So he said, "I demonstrated the spirit unto you." I Corinthians 2:5, 6a: That your faith [your believing] should not stand in the wisdom of men, but [that your believing should stand] in the power of God. Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect:... The word "perfect" here in chapter 2 and verse 6 of I Corinthians is the word that is used when people have been initiated into the highest degree of the secrets of Greek religion. When they had reached the highest echelon of the highest degree that they could earn in the Greek religions that's the word "perfect" that is used here. It means the completely initiated one. So he said, "among the few of you who have grown up and been initiated into the deeper things of the walk with Christ I can speak wisdom..."I Corinthians 2:6: ...yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:I Corinthians 2:7,: But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery [regarding the mystery], even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:Now listen, verse 8:I Corinthians 2:8: Which none of the princes of this world knew:... Who is the great prince of this world? The Bible says Satan. The princes of this world include Satan and all of his hosts all the way down. This hidden wisdom, the mystery, none of the princes of this world knew. Why? Because the mystery was hidden in God from before the foundation of the world and wasn't made known until it was made known to the Apostle Paul. None of the princes of this world knew.I Corinthians 2:8: ...for had they [the princes of this world] known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Why? Ha! Because when Jesus Christ was here upon earth he could only be at one place at one time. But after he ascended up into heaven and on the day of Pentecost gave the power of the holy spirit where it is Christ in you, the hope of glory; every place where there is a believer Christ is present. And old Satan would much rather have had the Lord Jesus Christ here personally present than to have believers who know the Word of God and go out. Because if you've got a thousand people who believe God's Word they can chop old Satan's ears off a thousand times. Boy! None of the princes of this world knew for had they known this mystery, had they known what was coming they never would have crucified the Lord of Glory! That's what the Word says, that's what it means! You talk about a mystery, a secret, this is a tremendous thing. That's right, that's right. I Peter chapter 1. Hebrews, James, I Peter I want to read you verse 10 of chapter 1.I Peter 1:10, 11: Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you: Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow. What a tremendous section! Do you know what these prophet of the Old Testament searched for? They saw a period between here and here. They saw the sufferings of Christ and the glory. Whenever the Bible mentions the word "sufferings" regarding Christ it always mentions the word "glory" with it. But many times it talks about the glory of Christ but never mentions the sufferings. Now these prophets searched diligently. Well what did they search? Not Life, Look or Time, Saturday Evening Post or Readers Digest. They searched the Word of God. They searched the Word. What were they looking for? That period of grace. They saw a period of grace in here. They searched, well what did they search? The Old Testament. They looked for it. They couldn't find it. Why? Because it was hidden. They searched diligently, searched diligently as it says, "for the grace that should come unto you, because it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory." Here you have the sufferings of Christ. Here is where they crucified him. Here is where they nailed him to a cross. Here is where they laughed him to scorn. But these are the sufferings of Christ. Back here is his glory. Here he comes in all of his glory as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Here he comes with the great power of God! And these prophets looked for the period in here. How long is it in here? They saw a period of grace, they saw this wonderful period of grace. They couldn't find out how long it was between the sufferings and the glory because this period was hidden in God until it was revealed. And this is the ekklesia where the Jews and the Gentiles are called out and they make the Body of Christ which is the great mystery, which is the Church of Grace which is the Church of the Epistles to which you and I belong. This is the greatest secret in the whole world--the Church of the Body of Christ to which you and I belong. Had Satan known this he never would have crucified the Lord of Glory. But he didn't know it so he crucified him and God sent the power of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. And when God sent this power men and women were born again for the first time and they had Christ in them the hope of glory! And he was the head of that wonderful Body, called out from both Jew and Gentile making a new body, a new creation, the Body of Christ which is the Church of God. And this was the great secret which was hidden. And to this Body you and I belong today which is the greatest revelation in the world today giving us the power of God for it is Christ in you the Hope of glory! SEGMENT 29: BIBLICAL TRUTHS WE MUST ADHERE TO: ADMINISTRATIONS A number of years ago my family and I were in the Holy Land and we traveled all over the Holy Land both on the Jordan side and the Syrian side as well as the Israeli side. And we spent much time there with our Bibles and studying the Word in the areas. We didn't have a guided tour because I had studied Thompson's Land and Book completely and Smith's Historical Geography of the Holy Land and I'd logged in the background of my mind many of these great incidents and truths from God's Word and I was interested in walking the places that I was convinced my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ had walked. And one of those places of course is in the Nazareth area where he lived and where his father, Joseph had the carpenter shop. But there is a record in the gospel of Luke chapter 4 that I'd like to share with you which is real meaningful not only to me because I've been there and I've seen all of these things firsthand but because of the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word and the greatness with which the Lord Jesus Christ rightly-divided the Word. I'm going to read you a section from God's Word; had Jesus read one more phrase out of the scroll from which he read the whole Bible would fall to pieces. We're talking about rightly-dividing the Word. Understanding the Church of the Bride and the Church of the Body, the difference between the two. Let me show you this record and read it to you from the fourth chapter of the gospel of Luke beginning with the sixteenth verse. Luke 4:16: And he [Jesus] came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. Here is an interesting sidelight; whenever a man read the Word of God, the scrolls, in the synagogue he always stood up to read because this was the respect they had for the Word of God. Whenever he finished reading the Word of God and he started teaching the people he sat down. This is why I tell my people many times I stand to read the Word and when I want to teach I sit down because you never know quite for sure when a man is sitting down if he's going to tell you the Word or not. But if he stands up and reads it to you then it's absolutely the Word. Well this is why Jesus stood up for to read. Verse 17 says: Luke 4:17: And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias [the word "book" is the word "scroll" they brought to him the scroll of the prophet Isaiah]. And when he had opened the book [unrolled the scroll], he found the place where it was written, Whenever I read this I think of how he must have worked the Word of God. How Jesus Christ must have studied the prophets of old and the scriptures. Because he didn't have the divisions into chapters and verses like you and I have in here. He didn't have that, he had no center reference, he had no italics at the top, that's right. So all he had was word after word in the manuscript, in the scroll. And they brought to him the scroll of Isaiah. I wonder why. And it says, "he opened the book and found the place where it is written." He must have known the Word of God to be able to find what he was looking for. This becomes dynamically important also in our living with the power of God to manifest the more abundant life. You know they tell the story of a man who said he didn't have to read the Bible all he had to do to find God's guidance every morning would be just to flip through the Bible. Find a verse for instance, put his finger on it then he would read that verse, that would be his guidance for the day. Well, a little different for the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ FOUND the place where it was written. But the interesting thing is about the man who located his guidance; he flipped to one of the pages in the New Testament one morning and he put his finger down and he read "and Judas went and hanged himself." That was his guidance for the day. He didn't like that to well. So he took his Bible and he flipped it over a page or so and put his finger down again and he read "go and do thou likewise." Isn't that something. Well he still didn't like that guidance so he flipped it over another page and put his finger down and he read "that which thou doest do quickly." Well... Jesus found the place where it was written. He deliberately hunted out the scripture that he needed and wanted at that particular time. And this is what he read from the scroll of Isaiah, verse 18: Luke 4:18-20: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord [period]. And he closed the book [he closed the scroll], and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. He closed the book, he close the scroll and he gave it to the minister and he sat down. He closed the scroll, rolled it up, handed it back to the minister and he sat down. And he said, listen to this, verse 20: Luke 4:20, 21: ...And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day [this day] is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. Isn't that something. He said "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." That was the last line he read, the last phrase he read from Isaiah, the scroll of Isaiah. He stopped with that phrase. "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord," he stopped. He closed the book, the scroll, he closed it up. He handed it back to the minister who had served him with that scroll and Jesus sat down and said "this day, this day, is this scripture fulfilled in your ear." Have you ever read Isaiah chapter 61? Isaiah chapter 61 has the wording from the scroll from which the Lord Jesus Christ read. Listen to this verse: Isaiah 61:2: To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD [comma], and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; Isn't that something? In the scroll of Isaiah from which Jesus was reading it said "to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God." They were all there together. The acceptable year of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God but Jesus Christ never read those words. Do you know what it said, he read, "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." He stopped, he closed the book, he never read on "and the day of vengeance of our God." Why? Why? Why did he not read on? Why did he stop right in the middle of a phrase? Because had he gone on the whole Bible would fall to pieces, the whole life of the Lord Jesus Christ would have fallen to pieces. He didn't go on because what he said was absolutely true when he closed with "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." He put a period (.) there and said, "this day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." For had he read the words "and the day of vengeance of our God." And said, "this day is this scripture fulfilled." Nothing would fit. But why did he read this far? Because he was living at this period and in this period over here he said, "this day to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. This day is this fulfilled in your ears." The day of vengeance of our God has not yet come. That little comma (,), that little comma (,) in the King James here in verse 19 of the fourth chapter of Luke, that little period (.), "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." That little period (.) there which is a comma (,) in Isaiah chapter 61 verse 2; that little period (.) and that little (,), represent all of these years in here from the day of Pentecost even to this time when the Lord Jesus Christ has not yet returned. That whole period is represented by that one little comma (,). It was that little comma (,) that was the mystery, the secret, that was hidden from before the foundations of the world which nobody knew in the Old Testament. The prophets did not know it. Had the prophet known it it would not have been a mystery. But it was a mystery because nobody knew it. That little comma (,) or that little period (.) represents all of this period of time in here. "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord," he couldn't say "the day of vengeance of our God." Why? Because it has not yet come. If you read the Book of Revelation then you read about the day of vengeance of our God. When he comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. When he comes to set things right, he comes with all that power of God. This is the day of vengeance of our God. This is why he divided that Word of God from Isaiah so accurately it's just almost unbelievable but I believe it because it sets there just like a diamond in the greatness of God's wonderful matchless Word. You see, this day in which you and I live is not the Lord's Day. This is the day of man's judgment. This is the age of Grace. If this wasn't grace don't you believe that for one minute a man could walk down the street and curse God and say, "you God so-and-so-and-so," or "you Jesus so-and-so" like you hear in your shops and factories and out on your streets where men curse God. Use His name in vain, live like the devil. Oh no, no. This is the age of Grace, the Church of Grace period, we live in the age of Grace. Today you can curse God, you can spit in face and nothing happens to you. Why? Because it's an age of Grace. But I want to tell you something there's a time coming, there is a day coming when he is coming back! And when Jesus Christ comes back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords nobody's going to spit in his face, nobody is going to nail him to a cross, nobody is going to call him a "God damn so-and-so" or a "Jesus Christ so-and-so." Nobody! Because it's the day of vengeance of our God when he comes as King of Kings and Lord of Lords! Oh what a great day! You talk about rightly-dividing the Word, how do you like that? You talk about sharply dividing the Word! I call that real tremendous! Yet the average person "oh what difference does it make?" "If two died with Jesus or four." "If he was crucified on Wednesday or Saturday morning before Sunday am." "What difference..." Must have made Jesus Christ a tremendous difference. He just went along to the place where he said, "to preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And he stopped! You talk about rightly-dividing the Word that whole period, that whole period of the Church of Grace the Body of Christ to which you and I belong sets in that little period (.) or that little comma (,). I want to show you something from I Corinthians. Acts, Romans, I Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 3: I Corinthians 4:3: But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment:... The word "judgment" of man's judgment is the word "day." "It's a very small thing that I should be judged of you in man's day." Who does the judging today? It's man's day. Man does the judging. In your community, in our society who does the judging? Man does. Man does all the judging today because this is in Corinthians in the Church Epistle addressed to us. And today because it's the age of Grace, the period of the Church of the Body in this day and age it is man's judgment. Man does the judging. But there is a day coming when man does not do the judging. Compare this with Revelation, the Book of Revelation chapter 1 listen to this. Revelation 1:10: I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day,... Well what's the Lord's Day? You know what I was taught was the Lord's Day? Sunday. Then I was taught by another group of people that the Lord's Day was the Sabbath. Then I was taught by a third group of people that Sunday was the Sabbath day. And I tell you I got so confused I didn't know whether I was coming or going, multiplying or dividing, subtracting or adding. Ha, ha. Do you know what the Lord's Day is? Has nothing to do with the day of the week. He was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. Today is man's day. Today man does the judging. But there is a day coming when the Lord is going to do the judging. This is the Lord's Day, the Lord's Day, the day when he does the judging. That's the Book of Revelation, the day of vengeance of our God. It's the Lord's Day! He was in the spirit by revelation. He saw the Lord's Day, the day when he was to do the judging. Today man does it but in the Lord's Day he does it, the Lord does it. Has nothing to do with the day of the week Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or any other day. Has everything to do with judgment. And the Lord's Day in the Book of Revelation is the day when the Lord does the judging. When he as King of Kings and Lord of Lords sets the judgment in the world. Today man sits at the top echelon and he does the judging. Because this in our time in our day is man's day. This is why the greatest secret in the world that's ever been revealed is the mystery of the Church; that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same Body and that it would be Christ in you the hope of glory! And that we could walk forth with the greatness of the power of God for this is man's day. Man can either be right or wrong but in our judgment if we judge according to the Word in man's day and rightly divide that Word we tap the resources for the more abundant life with the power of God effervescing in our souls. And ladies and gentlemen I want to say to you it's the greatest thrill in a lifetime to be able to live in this day and this time and this hour in which you and I are living. To know what we are in Christ Jesus, to know what we have, to know what he is in us, Christ in us! And then our judgment in man's day can be right for we can walk with the greatness of the power of God. You see, this is why when we talk about Biblical truths we must adhere to, these Biblical truths that we must adhere to; knowing that the Word interprets itself in the verse, in the context or its been used before, we not only must recognize with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision the scriptures addressed to us and those that are for our learning but we must rightly understand the Church as the Bride and the Church as the Body. That's right. Remember the old hymn? You've all sung it many, many times I'm sure, "The Church is one foundation. It is Jesus Christ her Lord." We sing it like as if it is addressed to us. "The Church is one foundation, is Jesus Christ her Lord. She is his new creation by water and the Word. From heaven he came and sought her to be his holy Bride. With his own blood he bought her and for her life he died." Ladies and gentlemen that's not true! That's a lie! The Church is not a her. The Church of the Gospels is a her because it was a Bride, but the Church to which you and I belong is the Body of which Christ is the Head and we are members in particular of that Body. This is why we must rightly divide the Word as to the Church of the Bride and the Church of the Body as well as to divide the Word of God as to whom is it addressed. Now one more great Biblical truth that we must adhere to and that is the understanding of the different administrations that are in the Word of God. For instance, today our government is under the leadership of a man of a certain administration. If you said to him today that his administration is the one two administrations before this he would laugh at you. As a matter of fact he might be insulted. Every administration stands on its own feet. And this man's administration at the head of our government now is his administration. There may be other things that carry over from some of the other administrations but his administration stands on its own feet. And because we have failed to adhere to the way the Word of God sets up the different administrations leaving each in its own category where God put it, we have introduced many errors into our thinking and into our pattern of life. This word "administration" is real interesting, very interesting. I want you to take your Bible and I want you to look at Luke chapter 16; Matthew, Mark, Luke, Luke chapter 16. The word "administration" is not once, if I remember, translated "administration" used as this English word "administration" in our King James. They use the word "dispensation", they use the word "fellowship", they use different words but not once did they translate it accurately and minutely. And I'm concerned about the minute translation of these words so that we can set up God's Administrations as He has them set up in His Word without any private interpretation. In Luke 16 verse 2 we have this record, talking about the steward. Luke 16:2-4: And he called him, and said unto him, How is it that I hear this of thee? give an account of thy stewardship; for thou mayest be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, What shall I do? for my lord taketh away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. These three words in verse two, three and four; the word "stewardship" in all three of those verses is this word oikonomia. It comes from the word oikos meaning "house" and nomia meaning "administration." A steward is the administrator of a household. This is the literal meaning of the word oikonomia. The word "stewardship" in those three verses is this word oikonomia. It means the administration of the household. You see I can understand stewardship and how they got it. Because he was a steward. A steward was usually one of the same family, of the same bloodline. Maybe an uncle or someone. And he was very trustworthy and so they gave to him the administration of the whole house. Only one person above him and that was the head of the house, the father. Everybody else was under him. This steward had the absolute right as the administrator to administer all the affairs of the household. He could buy and sell; he could do anything he wanted to because he had the signet ring like Joseph when he was given the signet ring by Pharaoh. He had the right to stamp every document. He had what you today would call "power of attorney" right down the line. This is what the word "stewardship" or oikonomia means. It means the administration of a steward. The administration of one who administers a household. This is its first usage. Now watch this thing develop. In I Corinthians, Acts, Romans, Corinthians and in chapter 9 verse 17 we have this record listen: I Corinthians 9:17: For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a dispensation [the word "dispensation is the word oikonomia] of the gospel is committed unto me. That an administration of the gospel was committed unto Paul. An oikonomia, they translated it dispensation. I do not like the word "dispensation" at all. It is just entirely erroneous. It's the administration of an entire era, like in our government circles this is his administration. The previous term was somebody else's administration. Now the Word of God has administrations in it just like this. Now listen to Ephesians. Galatians, Ephesians and chapter 1 verse 10. Ephesians 1:10: That in the dispensation there again it's the word oikonomia, administration of the fulness of times [that's future it has not yet come. There is an administration of the fullness of times still future] he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: I'm giving you every place in the Bible where this word oikonomia is used. In chapter 3 of Ephesians and verse 2: Ephesians 3:2: If ye have heard of the dispensation [the word is oikonomia, the administration] of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward [for you says Paul]: Look at verse 9 of this same chapter. Ephesians 3:9: And to make all men see what is the fellowship [the word "fellowship" is the word oikonomia, administration] of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things... In Colossians chapter 1 is the last one in the Word of God. Colossians chapter 1 and in verse 25 of this particular chapter, listen to this: Colossians 1:25: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation [the word "dispensation" again is the word oikonomia, administration] of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; These are different administrations. The administration of the fullness of times, the administration of the grace of God. All of these words and I've given you every place in the Word of God where this word oikonomia is used. It's always the same, oikonomia, and it comes from the word oikos meaning house, nomia is administration: the administration of a house or the administration of a whole family affair. Today this is God's family. God is our Father. We are His children. Jesus Christ is Head of the Body. We belong to the family. Now this is the administration of the household of God. This is the administration of the family of God. There is an administration coming in the fullness in time we read about. Now there are different administrations in the Bible. And it is to those different administrations that I must call your attention and let you see these so that when you read the Word of God you will spot these different administrations and see the great accuracy of God's Word in those administrations so that you can rightly divide the Word as to the administrations that are set in the Word of God. SEGMENT 30: ADMINISTRATIONS DEFINED; FINISH BIBLICAL TRUTHS WE MUST ADHERE TO In rightly-dividing the Word of Truth we must also understand that these administrations that are in the Word of God have to stay placed within the confines in which God placed them within His Word. And of course as you so well know this word "administration" is the word oikonomia. And I do not like the word "dispensation." It is entirely erroneous when it comes to the accuracy of dividing the Word of God. So we have to come back to the original usage of the word oikonomia, meaning administration of a house or of a period. And as far as I have been able to work the integrity of the Word of God there are these major divisions of the Administrations in the Word: the Original, the Patriarchal, the Law, Christ Administration, the Church, the Appearing and the Final Paradise or Glory Administration. These are the different administrations that are set in the Word. Some of these administrations break very abruptly, break very abruptly and terminate just like this. For instance, this first Original Paradise Administration is covered in the first two chapters of the book of Genesis and in chapter 3 verse 24 it stops just like this where it says,... Genesis 3:24: So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life. When He drove man out of the Garden of Eden and by the way the word "Eden" is this word which in the Septuagint (which is the Greek translation) is the word paradosios, paradise. This is why this word paradosios is translated "Eden" and it's translated "garden." This is its meaning. Paradise is always a place on earth. A literal place on earth like you read about in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 which terminated. And this way in which God dealt with man in that administration just quits when He drove them out of the Garden. And then comes this second one, this Patriarchal. After the termination of the first we start with the Patriarchal Administration. And this administration of the Patriarchs of Abraham, Isaac and it carries on down the line. This ends with the coming of the law to Moses. Things before the law, before the law that was given to Moses are unwritten laws. Those things were sins but they became transgressions after the law was given. For instance, in Romans chapter 2 listen to this in verse 12. Romans 2:12: For as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law: and as many as have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law; Those who have sinned without law does not mean there was not a law. It means it was unwritten. During the Patriarchal period that unwritten law is what it's talking about. There is another reference in Acts chapter 17 that I want to share with you. Acts 17 and in verse 30: Acts 17:30a: And the times of this ignorance God winked at;... Isn't that wonderful. "God winked at" what would that be? Does God wink? It is the figure condescensio. At the times of this ignorance referring to the Patriarchal period when the law was an unwritten law, at the time of this ignorance God winked at. He just winked at it. Do you know what that means? He just closed His eyes to it. He just winked at it. He went over that period. It's a wonderful statement here. Acts 17:30b: ...but now commandeth all men every where to repent: After this Patriarchal Administration comes the Law Administration. And the Law Administration is the one under Moses. The laws were eradicated when Jesus Christ died. When Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all the law, died that was the termination, the end of that Law period. There is a record in Colossians. Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians and this record is uniquely significant. And I want to share this with you so that you can see the greatness of it. Colossians 2:13, 14: And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; Isn't that something. Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances. Well what does that mean? What did Jesus Christ do when he closed up the law? What was all involved? Well it says, "blotting out the handwriting of ordinances which were contrary to us or which were against us." These words have seldom been understood. You can read commentary upon commentary and you find that there is great confusion. They don't quite understand it. But this verse here relates itself to a verse in the Old Testament equally difficult for most people to understand but I think it is very simple if we will just look at it and understand what Jesus Christ did when he closed this Administration. In the fortieth chapter of Isaiah and verse 2 it says: Isaiah 40:2: Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. One commentary I read many, many years ago said "that the Lord doubled the portion on them." Well, because it said "Israel hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." They got double for everything. The reason they do not understand the meaning and they cannot give it is because they do not understand that when Jesus Christ died upon the cross and he closed out this Law that he blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that were contrary to us. You see it said in the opening part of Isaiah "that her iniquity is pardoned." Well if God pardoned her iniquity then He couldn't double the portion on her could He? It says, "that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins." What does it mean? It's a tremendous truth. Look, let me get a piece of paper here and I'll show you something. In the Old Testament times, Old Testament days, this is all written in the Old Testament. You've heard of the elders of the gate. Well, in the old times in the Bible if a man declared bankruptcy he had to appear before the elders of the gate of the city who were the ones who sat in judgment. And he had to give to them a listing of all the indebtedness he had: to whom he owed it and how much he owed. For instance, you put your name down up here. We put down Victor Paul Wierwille, I'm going to declare bankruptcy here to show you what this verse really means. So I list number one: I owe Johnny Jumpup five thousand dollars; I owe Henry Boloko seven hundred and fifty dollars. We have to get Maggie Muggins in here. I owe Maggie Muggins sixty dollars. I don't know what it is for but I still owe it to her. So just one after the other they write down every thing like this, all of my shortcomings, all of my indebtedness. It is all written down. And then they take this and they put this on the gate of the city, the main gate where the people come in. The elders of the gate take it and they put it up there. There it is. Now everybody can see it. Everybody that comes to town to buy and to sell walks in and says, "oh, my goodness look at that, Victor Paul Wierwille bankrupt? Why we would have never thought it. Why we thought he would just never go bankrupt." There it is. The elders of the gate, the judges, the ones who are in charge put it up there. And here I am being humiliated. My family is humiliated, my wife, my children, my brothers and sisters all are deeply hurt because I have had to declare bankruptcy and on the gate of the city they put it and everybody can see it. And so there it hangs day after day. And one day a man comes to town. A man who many years ago perhaps, I befriended or he loved my family and he comes to town. He may even be a total stranger to me. I do not even know him. I've never met him but we've befriended him through the family let's say. He comes to town and he walks into the gate of the city and he looks at that and he says, "Victor Paul Wierwille bankrupt! Look at that, that's a disgrace. His family befriended our family." So he sees the elders at the gate and he says, "I want to be the benefactor for Victor Paul Wierwille. I want to be his benefactor. Therefore, all of these things that he owes I will pay." And he's not allowed to take off any. Like we do in bankruptcy today. You settle for the dollar you can get--maybe 20 cents on a dollar or 10 cents--but not in the Word of God. The benefactor pays fully the complete amount of what I owe, five thousand, seven fifty. He pays it completely to the elders of the gate. Then the elders do something. They take this down after it is all paid for and they do like this, they double it; fold it over. This is what Isaiah was talking about. "They have received of the Lord's hand double for all their sins." Now, they write my name on here: Victor Paul Wierwille. And they put it back up on the board on the gate of the city and my sins are all gone. They are all doubled in; they are all closed off; nobody can see them; they are fully paid for. And this is what it means which we read in Colossians, "blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that were contrary to us." Jesus Christ took it to the cross with him. He nailed it to the cross. He doubled it for us so that we pin it back up on the wall at the gates of the city. Everybody comes in and I am white as snow-- nothing against me, nothing deterring me because of what the Lord Jesus Christ did. Isn't that a tremendous truth from Colossians and from Isaiah. How he took the handwriting that was contrary to us and took it out of the way everything that was against us and he doubled it. He doubled it so that we are just white as snow. This is this particular law period which terminates with what Jesus Christ accomplished. He terminated it. Now then, this is why in Galatians chapter 3 listen to this in verse 13: Galatians 3:13: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law. Well if he redeemed us from the curse of the law then we are what? We are redeemed. This is Galatians 3:13 and in Romans 10:4, the following: Romans 10:4: For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. Well if Christ is the end of the law he's what? The end of it. Then why do people still want to go on and allow themselves to be put under it? Because they don't know any better, that's why. But this is what he did when Christ was here upon earth. In Matthew 27:51 listen to this: Matthew 27:51: And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom [from the top to the bottom]; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; The vail that separated the holy of holies from the holy place was torn from the top to the bottom. Ordinarily you do not tear something from the top to the bottom. You tear it from the bottom to the top. You start at the bottom and you rip it up. This one ripped down from the top to the bottom. It separated out the people from the priest and made the whole territory open so that whosoever will may come. This is that great period of law which terminated with Christ. So, when Jesus Christ was here upon earth he terminated this Administration and with all those over 900 laws that are in the Old Testament Jesus Christ reduced them in practice to two and they are set forth in Matthew 22. You've heard me quote it a number of times but here today I want to read it to you again. Matthew 22:36-40: Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. On those two commandments Jesus Christ put all the Old Testament, all the law and the prophets. Someone was speaking at a meeting of the barristers, lawyers, and he just casually remarked that the Word of God said, "all the lawyers should be hanged." They said to him, "well now where did you get that idea." And he said, "well from Matthew 22 because it says 'hang the law'." Well, I don't know about that. But the Word says that Jesus Christ put all the Old Testament laws under two: love God and love your neighbor. And as I say many times "do as you fool please." Because if you love God with all of your heart, soul and strength and love your neighbor what you do will not be foolish but it will please you and it will please God because you will be doing what God wants you to do. This is why you must get these administrations in line. The fourth administration, after Jesus Christ closed the third, this fourth administration is that Administration of the Bride of Christ, the church. It is the Christ Administration. And that Christ Administration ends officially with the giving of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost but in practice it never ended until the latter part of Acts because the revelation of what the Church was had not yet been given and so many believers were still zealous for the law as it says in Acts 21:20. Then the fifth administration is this one to which you and I belong, the Church Administration. The Church of the Grace Administration began at Pentecost. But the mystery as you will recall was first made known when it was revealed to the Apostle Paul. Then you have what is called the Appearing Administration. This Appearing Administration starts with the gathering together of the Church born-again believers. Those in the age from the day of Pentecost until the return of Christ. With that gathering together of the believers the records are given in I Thessalonians 4:17 and II Thessalonians 2:1ff. This appearing is also called the Revelation Administration. The period of the book of Revelation. The Greek word is apokalupsis from which we get the word "apocalypse". And many times they refer to the Book of Revelation as the Apocalyptic literature. This is the period of time when he will appear, gather the Church then come back to earth with his saints and that period of time, the Appearing Administration, terminates when Satan is destroyed and we have the great white throne judgment as it is recorded in the Word of God. The final administration is the Paradise or the Glory Administration. This is the final one. This final Paradise or Glory Administration complements this Original Administration because here this final administration starts in Revelation 21, the record of it. This here complements that which was started over here. This which was started in Genesis 1 and 2 and terminated as I read to you from Genesis 3:24 again begins here in Revelation 21. And again it is a place here upon earth. We have a new heaven and a new earth wherein there dwelleth righteousness. Where there is no more sickness, no more sorrow, no more death, all of these things. Now this is just a quick rundown of all of these on here just to show you the administrations and the way in which they work and why they work this way. Now, just to bring you up on one or two more things that need to be said in relationship to getting some of these truths beyond where the scripture interprets itself in the verse, in the context or it's been used before. Just to take you a step or two further on a few little things then we will be all wrapped up regarding these Biblical truths we must adhere to. You remember we get "to whom" correct, get our administrations correct. Then the difficult verse, you have a difficult verse, that difficult verse must be understood in the light of the clear verse. You have one verse that stands out very difficult but there are a hundred clear verses on the same subject. You know what we've done? We've magnified the one and forgotten the hundred. That's not honest. That's not interpretation. That's not rightly dividing the Word. You must see that one fits into the hundred, not by squeezing it but by working it. Because if you have a hundred clear verses and one that's not so clear this one will have to fit into the hundred. Sometimes I have waited ten years, sometimes fifteen years to be able to fit one verse which stood out, and it stuck out like a sore thumb. I was able finally to fit that verse. But time is not important. The keys are important that it must fit. It absolutely has to fit. So, this point you must always remember that you must get the seemingly more difficult verse to fit with the rest of this wonderful Word of God. Now then, furthermore, not only must we do these two points but number three: the interpretation and the application of a word from the Word must always be in respect "to whom" is it addressed. This is very important. You cannot have the proper interpretation if you do not recognize "to whom" it's addressed. Nor can you have the proper application until you recognize "to whom" it is addressed. You see, the interpretation must first and always be in respect "to whom" is it written. So if it is written to Israel then the interpretation of that section of the Word of God must be first and foremost always to Israel. Then you may apply, you may apply scriptures not addressed to you, you may apply these to the end that they agree with the Word of God which is addressed to you. So, always remember to keep these points in mind because unless we get "to whom" correct and the administrations; get our difficult verse lined up with the clear and simple ones; get our interpretation and application principle set forth then we'll always be in the soup on rightly dividing the Word. So, you see in Deuteronomy. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and chapter 6 in verse 25 we have this record that I want to share with you. Listen to this: Deuteronomy 6:25: And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us. It'll be our righteousness if we observe to do all the commandments. In other words if I keep all the commandments Deuteronomy 6 says then I will be made righteous. Well, to whom is Deuteronomy addressed? To the Jews, to Israel. So if they kept the law they would be made righteous. You see this in Deuteronomy can be set under law. It cannot be set under the administration of the Church of Grace. For instance, look at Romans chapter 3 and in verse 20 of this chapter. Romans 3:20a: Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight:... In Romans it says "by the deeds of the law no flesh shall be justified." While in Deuteronomy it said "that if you kept the law you would be made righteous." Now when you look at them on the surface it looks like a contradiction. But it is no contradiction as long as we recognize "to whom" it is written. Deuteronomy written under law to the Jew. Romans here written to the Church. Just recognizing "to whom" it is written takes all the confusion out of it. Look at Galatians chapter 2, Corinthians, Galatians chapter 2 verse 16. Listen to this: Galatians 2:16a: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,... This is in the Church Epistles. And in chapter 3 and verse 11: Galatians 3:11a: But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident:... So you see when you rightly divide the Word as "to whom" it's written understanding that the one seemingly more difficult verse must always fit in the light of the other, then you begin to see that the Word of God fits like a hand in a glove. Because the Word will interpret itself in the verse right where it is written or in the context or it will have been used before. And this you must put in your mind with the few variations that I've given you on these great wonderful Biblical truths. So in wrapping all of this up on how the Word is of no private interpretation always remember this first: "that no prophecy, not one thing of that which is foretold or forthtold, is of any private interpretation." Wrapping it all up now so that you can get into the depth of God's Word with me and understand its intricate greatness remember that all scripture interprets itself either in the verse, in the context or it has been used before. And in the light of this we will be able to work the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word faithfully as sons of God. SEGMENT 31: BATTLE OF THE SENSES; BEGIN BODY, SOUL, SPIRIT Having laid all of our foundational truths now from the accuracy of God's Word in rather detailed form regarding how the scripture interprets itself, how we got this wonderful Word of God and how we can trust this Word of God when we have it and we rightly divide it. We are now ready to get into the depth of some of the great accuracy and the working of the Word to bring it into fruition into our life and into our understanding. The subject we are going to be moving into now is one of the great subjects in the Word of God which I'm going to endeavor to unfold and make living and real for you. It is the section that deals with the battle of the senses versus revelation faith in the light of the new birth. In other words we are going to be dealing with the battle that rages between the senses and revelation faith and in its relationship to the new birth. You see, the study that we are now getting into on the new birth and the battle of the senses versus revelation faith is the whole crux of Christianity. If you get this clear and if you understand what this is all about then everything else will fall into proper order and sequence. But if you do not understand the battle of the senses versus revelation faith or the new birth then nothing will jell, nothing will fit consistently. It will not cohere and work with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. There are very few people in the Church who have ever understood or been able to explain the new birth and to make it fit with both life and with the Word of God, very few. Now I cannot explain the new birth to you. The new birth is the miracle of all miracles. I cannot explain it, that's right. But I believe that by God's mercy and grace I can take you into the Word and that this Word of God with the power of God in it and your understanding of it that it will explain itself to you so that you will understand it. You see if you are going to explain something you have to be bigger than that which you can explain or that which you do explain. This is why when I hear the arguments that people give for the existence of God- -all of us have been educated along these lines where they've given us these arguments for the existence of God like the cosmological and the teological, all of those--they prove absolutely nothing. Because if I'm going to prove God Almighty I've got to be bigger than that which I can prove. I'd have to be bigger than God. Like I tell my people, "old Henry could explain the Ford. The Ford never explained Henry." So, now we'll get into the depth of this thing because to get to the greatness of God's Word we will have to realize some of these fundamental and foundational truths regarding this new birth and the battle that rages between the senses and faith. Now, this natural man, and when I speak of the natural man I speak of the man of body and soul. The man who is not born again of God's spirit. He is a wonderful man. He's maybe a good hearted man. He may be a wonderful benefactor, loving and everything else. I'm talking about the natural man and I'm speaking accurately Biblically. And I'm using my words semantically in the right way according to the Word of God. The natural man, this man of body and soul is limited to the information gathered via the five senses. The five senses are the only media, the only avenues, the only channels of learning that the natural man has. Everything that ever comes to the human mind of the natural man has to come over one or the other of these five senses. He either sees it, he hears it, he smells it, he tastes it or he touches it. These are the five senses. Everything that this man ever learns he learns by a combination of one or the other of those five senses. You see, to learn anything, (now this is a foundational truth and listen carefully) to learn anything we must have a center for learning which is outside of the individual seeking. Man needs a point of contact which is outside of the man for learning. Truth needs a center of reference which is not the man seeking. You see, if we are going to learn anything we can only learn from an outside source. We either have to see it, hear it, smell it, taste it or touch it. So to learn anything and this law of learning is dynamically important that you realize that every person who learns, learns practically the same way through one or the other or a combination of those five senses. Take for instance the learning process of a baby. If a baby could be born and live without any of the five senses, now this I know is scientifically and medically impossible. There is no record of any child ever having been born alive without one or the other of those senses. But just to teach, listen. If it could be born without one of the five senses, without any of those five senses that child could never learn. It couldn't learn a thing. The reason a child can learn is because a child has the five senses and it has a center of reference outside of the child. The baby is born for instance and lo and behold right after it is born they give it to its mother. The mother immediately begins talking to the baby and says, "my, aren't you just the cutest thing." And it's redder than a beet. And she'll talk to that little baby just like as if that baby is already graduating from high school or from college. Well, what is the mother to that baby? That mother is a point of reference. A center of reference for learning outside of the baby. Pretty soon father comes in and when father comes in they allow him to hold the baby. He's scarred to death because it's so tiny he's afraid he'll break it in two. But he looks at it and he says, "my goodness, looks just like me or like your mother." The father becomes a center of reference. It has sisters and brothers, all of these are centers of reference for learning which are outside of the baby. The child grows up a few years old gets out to play in the streets and alleys and everyplace else with the rest of the children. Lo and behold all of those children are centers of reference for learning for that baby, that child. It comes home one night and at the supper table or just before supper he uses a word which ordinarily is not used in your home and you scratch your head wondering where did he pick that up. Well he learned it from someone. He learned it from someone. Now this child goes to school, to kindergarten for instance. Every teacher is a center of reference for learning. All the children are. All the books that this child has read to it or that it will begin to read as it gets older. It goes through grade school. It goes through high school. And then let's say this young man starts out for college. In college all the professors, all the students, all the reading, all of this is a center of reference for learning. You see how the learning process operates. Put it in the field of philosophy. This is a field of course many people know I am dynamically interested in and whether I'm qualified or not in the field someone else could judge. But I do have a major in both philosophy and history and I've been deeply concerned about the philosophical field. But why is it that one person follows Plato and another person follows Aristotle someone else follows Socrates, somebody else will follow Freud or Hazel or Nietzsche, why? Very simple. Let's say that I am a student of philosophy and I study all these different men. They are all lodged up here what they have said. Now I have a hodge-podge of different opinions, viewpoints up here. All of these men are centers of reference for learning but in areas they vary and differ. So here I am with confusion. Now in my mind I begin to catalogue. I separate out that which appeals to me or that which I feel is right or truth philosophically. And let's say after a period of time by the process of elimination I come to the place that I believe that Aristotle had the greatest amount of philosophical accuracy. And I say "well as for me from now on I am going to follow Aristotle." Then what do I become philosophically? An Aristotelian. Or if I should decide that Plato is the most accurate of them all then I become what they call in philosophical circles a Platonist. Or a Freudian. Do you see how this all came about? All because the natural man has to have a center of reference for learning which is outside of the individual seeking. He has to have a point of contact. But we not only need a point most of us have had multiple points, thousands upon thousands. What about the religious field? Alright, here's a young child. Dad and mother belong to a certain denomination so this child is brought up in that denomination. And when the child let's say is nine or ten or eleven years old it visits with another boyfriend or girlfriend and goes to their Sunday school and church. And there that morning it's a different denomination. He hears it from a different viewpoint and it contradicts what he's been taught in his own church. Now he has two opinions in his mind. Two things lodged up there. Then let's say later on he goes to another church of another denomination. And speaking about the same passage of scripture he now hears a third viewpoint. These are all centers of reference outside of the individual seeking. Then let's say he goes to college. And let's say in his particular church he was taught that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth and that this theory of evolution is only a theory. It has never been a proven fact. As a matter of fact it's is totally unproven and unscientific. Today we've proven this. But, he goes to college and his professor in biology or some other course teaches him that man evolved by the process of evolution, the Darwin theory. Which contradicts what the accuracy of the Word says. Now the boy has it up here now he has to make a decision. And you know what decision he will end up making most of the time? He will agree with that decision which most of the students propound. Why do the students propound this theory? Because of what the professor taught. The professor taught him, he believed what he taught. Now he teaches his students. That's how we get all the theories like the theory of evolution from the college professor into the high school professor into the grade school teacher. Because they were all educated by this man carried on down the line. So here I am in the religious field. And I go on to college then I go on to seminary let's say. And I study under all these men every one of the men I study under, every theologian I read is a center of reference for learning outside of the individual seeking. They are all lodged up here in my mind. And I have up here a tremendous amount of confusion. Oh, I won't admit this to anybody. But everybody that's ever passed through it knows it. Because he's never quite sure of any one thing. Because here's a great professor who said one thing and an equally great professor on the other hand said something which absolutely contradicted what this professor said. So I have this in my mind. I'm confused but I won't admit this because I want everybody to think that I'm not confused that I'm the man that has all the answers you know. But I'm really confused. So through the process of elimination again in my mind and in cataloging these things. Let's say that I come to the conclusion that in my way of thinking in my pattern of life and in what I believe is true; Martin Luther had the greatest curb on truth and the accuracy and I then in turn become what we call a Lutheran. That's right. On the other hand let's say that I would conclude that John Calvin had the greatest accuracy then I turn out to be a Calvinist. Or I turn out to be a Barthian or a Bullinger or something else because I have by the process of elimination in cataloging things in my mind I have come to the conclusion that these men had the greatest truth. This is how we got men and denominations where we speak of them as Lutheran or as Baptists or as Methodists or as Calvinists. All through the understanding of how the senses operate in the natural man. And how the five senses seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching that all of those five senses account for the information that comes to the human mind. And this is why we believe what we believe. Now knowing logically that we have to have a center of reference, every person, and I put it in the singular because this is truth. We have to have at least one center for learning which is outside of the individual. But most of us have had multiple centers; we are confused in a multiple way. This knowing how the law of learning operates and how this thing works I came to the conclusion many years ago that for me this Word of God, this Bible--not the King James version, but THE Word of God which was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy spirit--that this Word of God is my only source for truth outside of the individual seeking. This is my primary and sole rule for faith and practice. This is why the law of learning operating the way it does and our knowledge of this I have to have some center of reference. For years I read around the Word of God; two, three theological works a week, every week. Because I just love to read and so I read and read and read. Well, these men were all centers of reference for learning and all I got was a hodge-podge of personal conviction but it was basically confusion. Because equally great men regarding the same verse of scripture would contradict each other. So, when I began to understand the operation of the senses in relationship to learning I finally came to the conclusion that instead of staying in confusion with all of men's opinions a lifetime I was willing to come to one point, one center of reference for truth which was outside of the individual seeking and that was THE Word of God. And I've staked my life on the accuracy and the integrity of God's Word. If this Word is wrong then I'm going to be wrong in what I teach. But I'm willing to take that "chance" as you would call it. As John Paul Jones or someone said "he's willing to go down with the ship." I'm willing to go down with the ship. If the Word of God is wrong I'm going to be wrong in everything that I've taught you in this foundational class on Power for Abundant Living. And everything we are dealing with now I could be wrong on but if the Word of God is right then the law of learning substantiates the truth that we're presenting and that is that this becomes our sole reference, our primary, our only rule of faith and practice outside of the individual seeking. We have to have something to turn to because you must learn, you must learn from something which is outside of you. Man needs a point of contact which is outside of him. This is why I believe that the Word takes the place of the absent Christ. The holy spirit takes the place of Christ in us through His Word. I believe that the Bible gives the truth regarding man's origin, regarding man's fall, regarding the destiny of man. I believe that the Bible gives the truth regarding man's redemption, his dominion, authority and power over all of God's creation. I think the Bible gives the truth regarding the future destiny of man. I think it gives the truth regarding the origin and purpose of the Israelite nation. I think the Bible gives the truth regarding God and His family. I think the Bible gives the truth regarding Jesus Christ, his coming, his death, his resurrection, his ascension, his giving of the holy spirit, his return. I believe that the Bible gives the truth regarding the new heaven and the new earth that God is going to come to establish. I think it gives the truth regarding the new creation, the resurrection, and many other unknown matters. I believe that the Bible gives the truth, not facts. Facts come from the Latin word in part from factum which means to do or to make. Anything man does anything man makes is a fact but I believe that the Word of God is truth. Truth is that which eternally is the same yesterday, today and forever. And I believe that the Word of God is truth. And I believe that this revelation, this revelation in the Word of God is an absolute necessity for this senses man if this senses man is going to be an educated, if he is going to be a complete man. Without the accurate knowledge of that which is written in God's Word the best of natural men will never be complete. They will never arrive at the place that they know that they know that they know that they know and that they are completely satisfied. Because this revelation, this revelation in the Word of God must be known by the natural man if he is going to be a complete man. Now, I'd like for you to turn to Isaiah chapter 43. I want to read you a verse of scripture or read it with you that is singularly and dynamically important and few people really stay put on it. Listen, verse 7 of Isaiah 43: Isaiah 43:7: Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him. So I say to my class are those three words "I created him, I formed him, I made him", are those three words--"created, formed and made" synonymous? And you know what most of the people say in my class? Yes. And you know what I say? NO! Why? Well, I've just taught you that the Word means what it says and it says what it means. It is of no private interpretation. When God said "formed" what does He mean? Formed. When He says "made" what does He mean? Made. When He says "created" what does He mean? Created. Had He meant formed all the way through you know what the Word would say? Formed at all three places. Why does it say "I created man, I formed man, I made man?" Because that's what He means. Now it's up to us then to find out what does it mean when He created, made and formed man. Take another verse of scripture in Thessalonians. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23: I Thessalonians 5:23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God [now listen] your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Are those three words "your whole spirit, soul and body" synonymous? I know what you'll say, "no they are not." Well you are surely right. No more so than formed, made or created are synonymous. Body, soul and spirit are not synonymous. Body means body. Soul means soul. Spirit means spirit. Now it is up to us to go to the Word and let the Word speak as to what it is that is formed, made or created. What is body, soul and spirit? In the beginning, in the beginning. When was this? In the beginning. How many years ago? I do not know nor anybody else. Later on when I read Genesis with you I'll be back to this but as you know it says in Genesis 1:1 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." It's in the beginning. Somebody once said "this was a place where the first ball game was mentioned--in the big-inning." So we are back here in the beginning. In the beginning, whenever that was, man was formed, made and created. He was a three-fold being. The body of man was formed. The soul of man was made. And the spirit within man was created. This is "in the beginning." This is why Isaiah speaks of it as formed, made and created. This is why Thessalonians speaks of it as body, soul and spirit. The body of man was formed. The soul of man was made. And the spirit within man was created. This is "in the beginning." Now we turn to Genesis to chapter 2 and verse 7. We will be going into Genesis time and time again now to see the great accuracy of God's Word and how it answers every question. Genesis 2:7a: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground,... There is the word "formed." "Formed" man of the dust of the ground and this word "formed" means "to fashion." He formed mans body. He formed it of the dust of the ground and the Hebrew word for formed is the word yatsar. It is this word in the Hebrew. The word for formed is the word yatsar. It means "to fashion out of something, to fashion out of something that is already in existence." This is the meaning of the word "formed." Formed is to fashion, to mold, to give it a form. And it says this is what He formed of the dust of the ground. SEGMENT 32: SOUL--NEPHESH CHAI According to Genesis 2:7 the Lord God in the beginning formed man of the dust of the ground. He formed his body. Had God wanted man to look differently than he looks He could have formed him in some other way. Because other animals were formed differently. And therefore the Lord God gave man a form. And I tell you to this day any place you go in the world you have very little difficulty in distinguishing between a man and a monkey. Have you? I'm sure you don't even though a man may act like a monkey half of the time, it doesn't make him a monkey or maybe a man acts like a jackass that doesn't make him a jackass. You have no difficulty distinguishing between the form of a jackass and the form of a man. Why? Because in the beginning the Lord God formed the body of man. The word "man" is the word adam. The word adam means red. And because He formed it of the dust of the ground; the same basic chemical elements that are in the dust of the ground are in that part of man which God formed when He formed the body. It's the body that is made up of dust. He formed man of the dust of the ground. The word yatsar is this word "formed." Which means to fashion out of something which is already created. Had it not been in existence God could not have used this to form or to fashion. This is why in Genesis chapter 3 in verse 19 it says: Genesis 3:19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. What is this verse talking about? It's talking about the body. The body was taken out of the dust, made of the dust. The same elements that make up the dust of the earth, the ground of the earth, are the same elements chemically that make up the physical human body. The flesh part that which you see here, this part is made up, formed like this. You can go, for instance, in the most interior part of Africa and you can look at a pygmy and you can tell that that pygmy has a form--a form that puts the pygmy in the category of mankind. Have no difficulty with this. The Lord formed the body. And He said, "dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return." What's He talking about? He's talking about the body. He's talking about the body because of the law that's involved. Everything must ultimately go back to its original state. Here's a desk. This desk looks solid but it really is not solid it is just a compaction of molecules more or less, everything else that's involved. You cannot destroy this desk. You may burn it. You can do other things to it but you can't destroy it. You can only change its form because nothing is ever lost. Nothing is ever destroyed. It all has to go back to its original from whence it came. So here you have for instance where it said, "the Lord God formed the body of man." He formed the body. He made it look like this, gave it curves as I tell my class many times. Had God wanted you to look like this He'd have had you looking like that, but He gave it those pretty little curves. He formed the body. Now this body is formed of the same elements that are in the ground; the dust, the dirt, the ground. Every man's body to this day is made up of the same stuff and ultimately, finally, that which is of the dust must return to dust again. That's what He's talking about. It reminds me of a story of a boy who had been to Sunday school. And coming home at noon he was eating dinner with his mother and father and he propounded a question which was quite interesting. He said, "mother in Sunday school this morning they were teaching about Genesis and how we are all made of dust. And is this true?" And mother said, "why sure Johnny it's true." And he said, "well, you know there is something going on in this house and I can't quite figure it out." And she said, "what do you mean Johnny?" "Well", he said, "I looked up under the bed this morning and there is dust under there so somebody is either coming or going. For dust thou art and dust thou shalt return." Let's look in Ecclesiastes chapter 3 and verse 20 where it says: Ecclesiastes 3:20: All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. What is it speaking of? The body. Now, this body of man as it was formed-- the word "formed" is the word yatsar: fashioned of the dust of the ground. Now, the next thing is the word "soul." Man is body and soul and spirit. Now the second great truth from God's Word that we must rightly divide and understand is the word "soul." The word "soul" in the Hebrew is the word nephesh. It was made and the word "made" is the word asah. It was made. In order to understand this word "made" you must realize a great truth. And that is that their is a substance required of which the thing made consists. Now the soul in man is that which makes you you; that which makes the man the man. That which make you the individual, the person; that which makes you you is your soul. Now, the soul is the spirit of man. It is also called the life of man which is common to all mankind. In Genesis chapter 2 again back to verse 7. The first part of the verse we've covered. Now we will go on. Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [that's his body], and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul [a living soul]. That's it. The body was formed but God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. "Breathed into his nostrils" is again the figure condescensio. He put life into it. He breathed into his nostrils the "breath of life." Those words "breath of life" are dynamically important because God imparted life. He made man a living soul which is the spirit of man. The reason the soul is sometimes referred to as spirit in the Bible is because the soul is life and all life is spirit. This is why it's referred to as the spirit of man; the life of man. The soul is nothing more and nothing less than that which gives you life. Has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or not a Christian. As long as you have breath life, as long as you have breath life you have a soul. Breath life is >>>>>, >>>>>. As long as you can do that you have a soul. Now the confusion between the soul and the spirit has caused no end of difficulty for people. They say the soul is immortal for instance or they talk about transmigration of the soul, the immortality of the soul. Why, these are all erroneous usages semantically of words that are used with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision in the Word of God. The soul has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or not. That's right. With the exception that if you did not have a soul you wouldn't have any life left. You would have no breath life. The soul is that which makes you you. The man who is not a Christian, if he is alive he has a soul. Nephesh is the Hebrew word for "soul." Chai is the Hebrew word for a soul that is alive. Because a man could be a dead soul, a dead body as it is called, a dead person in the Bible. But if he is a living person he is a nephesh chai; a living soul who has breath life. Understand? He has breath life. Now, to get to the truth of this we look at Luke chapter 12, the depth of it in Luke chapter 12 and in verse 19. Listen to this: Luke 12:19: And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. Here's a man who has such good crops he had to build bigger and better barns. And then this verse 19 he says "I will say to my soul,..." Well, who is he talking to? To himself, to himself. "I will say to my soul--Soul, you've got a lot of goods laid up; take it easy, eat, drink and be merry. Sure live it up!" Who is he talking to? He is talking to himself, to his soul. You see the soul is that which makes you you. Have you ever talked things over with yourself? Sure you have. The reason you can talk things over with yourself is because you have a soul. You are alive. You have breath life. If you did not have an alive soul, if you were not an alive soul you couldn't talk things over with yourself. After all it's the most intelligent conversation you ever hold isn't it with yourself. You never have any arguments or anything else. It is the soul that makes you alive. Look at I Peter, Hebrews, James, I Peter listen to this in chapter 3 and in verse 20. I Peter 3:20: Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water. It is talking about the flood and eight souls were saved by water. Were they Christian? No, a thousand times no. Christ had not yet come. It was Noah, his wife, their three sons and the three wives. That meant all eight people, eight souls, eight alive people were saved by water. That is what the word "soul" means. Has nothing to do with whether you are a Christian or not. Look at Acts chapter 27. Sometimes these pages are hard to find in these india paper businesses in the Bible. Acts 27, the harder you work to find them the law of reverse effort sets in; the more difficult it is. Acts 27, what did I say, verse 37, we're getting closer here. Listen to this: Acts 27:37: And we were in all in the ship two hundred threescore and sixteen souls. "Two hundred threescore and sixteen souls" they were on board ship. The record in Acts is talking about when Paul and Luke who was with him were aboard ship being sent toward Rome. All the rest on board ship were what we would call pagan Romans or Romans who were not believers, not Christians. But they were alive people and on board ship the only two who were Christian that we know of were Paul and Luke, the only two. We were all aboard ship two hundred threescore. Threescore is how much? Sixty and sixteen, two hundred and seventy six souls, souls meaning alive people. That's all it means. It has nothing to do with the fact that you are Christian or not Christian but that you are alive. The soul is that which makes you you. It is your life. It is the life of man. That's right. Look at Acts 7 and verse 14: Acts 7:14: Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred, threescore and fifteen souls. Three score is sixty and fifteen, seventy-five. Joseph calling Jacob. Jacob was in Israel and he called him to Egypt. Why? Because of the famine and Jacob came down; brought his whole family, everybody all together there were seventy-five souls. Were they Christian? No, long before the time of the coming of Christ or the day of Pentecost. But they were alive people! Seventy-five alive people went to Egypt. That's what it's talking about. Now it says in Ezekiel chapter 18 and in verse 4: Ezekiel 18:4: Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die. What's it talking about? The alive person who sins is going to die. That's all it is talking about. Also, all souls are mine, all alive people are mine. This soul life is the life that man possesses. It is conscious life. It is breath life. It is soul life. Look at Genesis chapter 1 and I want to read verse 30 with you but let me ask you a question. Does old Betsy the cow have a soul? What about Rover the dog? Well? If old Betsy didn't have a soul old Betsy couldn't go which ever way she goes moo-moo or something (that's something you wear I believe). But, how about Rover? If old Rover didn't have a soul he couldn't bite you if you were a mailman. That's right. The soul of the cow is that which makes the cow the cow. The soul of old Rover the dog is that which makes the dog the dog. Animals have a soul. This is why if you are going to be logical; all Eastern religions teach that the soul is spirit and that the spirit is soul. That's right. And they teach that there is a special heaven. They teach that there is a heaven for all animals and this is logical. Because if the soul is spirit and this is what is going back to God then old Betsy the cow has a soul; where does this soul have to go? Back to God. Old Rover the dog; where's he have to go? He's got to go back to God. He has a soul. That's why they have a dog heaven, a cow heaven, a mule heaven, a heaven for all the animals. And that's logical, that's right. The Protestant people who talk about the soul when it dies going back to God they just don't know what they are talking about. The Eastern religions are logical if they are right. If the soul is that spirit of God that goes back to God then the Eastern religions are right that they have a heaven for everything that is alive. The Protestant church has been way off in left field in this particular thing. The Protestants teach that the soul is spirit and it goes back to God but they deny that a cow having soul has to go back up to God. But by the same logic if the soul came from God it must ultimately go back to God just like the spirit and just like the body of man. The body of man must ultimately go back to what it is "dust thou art unto dust shalt thou what?" Return. So if the soul came from God the soul must go back to God. And old Betsy the cow has to go back to God. And old Rover the dog, and old Baa-Baa Black Sheep, all of these have to go back to God IF what they teach is true. But it isn't true because the soul is that which makes you you. It is that which gives the breath life, breath life. Listen again at this in verse 30: Genesis 1:30: And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life,... The word "life" in Genesis 1:30, that word "life" is the word asah--soul. It is this word "soul." Nephesh chai everything that's in life, well that verse says exactly that. The beast has a living, a living soul. Look at chapter 1 of Genesis and I'll give you a few more. Genesis 1:20a: And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life,... The word "life" is the word "soul" in verse 20. Moving creatures that have life, soul. You see if they have a soul they have movement, they have breath life, all of these things are involved. In verse 21: Genesis 1:21a: And God created great whales, and every living creature... The word "creature" is the word "soul." In verse 24 of chapter 1: Genesis 1:24a: And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature... The word "creature" is again the word "soul." Verse 30 I already gave you. So these are some of the places in Genesis chapter one where the word "soul" is used regarding creatures as well as man. You see, the soul then is that which gives it life, life. This is why the Bible refers to a living man, a man that is moving as nephesh chai. In other words the word nephesh in the Hebrew is the word "soul." Chai means "moving life, moving soul." Nephesh chai is always used as living life in the Word of God in opposition to dead nephesh, dead soul or a soul that perishes. An alive soul is always chai nephesh while a dead person is always just referred to in the Bible as nephesh. Now, God made the beasts, every beast wherein there is a soul, a life. The question I want to now propound and answer is where W-H-E-R-E with all capital letters, WHERE is the soul life within man? Where is this life? Leviticus, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus chapter 17, and you ought to mark this not only in your Bible but in your mind. Leviticus 17:11a: For the life of the flesh [for the life of the flesh] is in the blood:... The life of the flesh is in the blood. How is life passed on? It is passed on from the blood from one generation to another. The life of the flesh is in the blood. This soul life is in the blood and it's passed on through the sperm as it impregnates the egg. That's how this soul life is passed on. Later on I'm going to show you from God's Word that the word "created" is only used three times in the book of Genesis. And that God did not have to create soul life for man because what soul life is God had already created before He got to man. So when He got to man all He had to do was put this breath life, this soul life, in him. Now what happens to the soul? Well very simple, as the body goes back to dust so the soul is passed on from me to my progeny and if I have no off-spring, if I have no children then when I die my soul is gone. There is a phrase that man uses which is just so accurate it just shocks you. It says, "he took his last breath." Have you ever heard that? Ever heard that phrase? "He took his last breath," that's literally accurate from God's Word. When man takes his last breath that's the last of it. >>>>>, >>>>> that's it. When I take that last breath that's the end of it. Right. Now, when I take that last breath I'm dead. Sure I know the chemical death, the biological death. I know of cellular death. I know all of this that's involved because it's all written in Genesis in the Old Testament all of these accurate things are in there. But in essence in the least common denominator when man takes his last breath that's the last of it that's why it's called the last breath. It's his soul life. His soul life is gone then he is a dead person. And the Bible speaks of him as a dead soul. This is why in Genesis chapter 2 to verse 7: Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground [He formed the body of man], and breathed into his nostrils [the figure of speech] the breath of life; and man became a living soul. It doesn't mean God stretched Himself out on top of man and went and blew a little bit in his nostrils. No, no, no it's a figure condescensio. He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, the breath of life and when man takes his last breath that's the end of the breath of life. And the soul means nothing more and nothing less. Nothing immortal about the soul, that's right, no more so than there is anything immortal about dust. Dust is dust. Man's body is made of dust and it goes back to dust. When man takes his last breath that's it. This is why we must understand that the body was formed, the soul was made in man. And then we have one more great truth to consider and that is the spirit of man. How then did man have body, soul and spirit? And it is that spirit part of man that we are so deeply concerned about and that we are going to be studying with a minute accuracy. SEGMENT 33: CREATED: THREE CREATIONS AND FALL OF SATAN We now want to deal with the created part of man in the beginning. You'll remember in the beginning man's body was formed. The soul was made within man. Now the spirit in man in the beginning was created. The Hebrew word is the word bara and this created part in man in the beginning is the spirit of God. We turn to Genesis chapter 1 and in verse 27, now listen carefully. 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. The word "created" is used three times in this verse but it refers to one thing only. So technically you could say it's used once. Listen again: Genesis 1:27: So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him [mankind]; male [Adam] and female [Eve] created he them. Now what did God create in both Adam and Eve? What did He create? Well the Word says He created man in His own image. Now God doesn't look like this. God does not have a form or comeliness and then I said subsequently He has no homeliness either. God has no form. If we go to John chapter 4 and in verse 24 we will notice something here. Listen to this once more, we've had it but we need to keep driving this back into our minds. John 4:24a: God is a Spirit:... God is Spirit. A spirit has no form or comeliness. Now in Genesis chapter 1 in verse 27 we read that God created man, God created man in His own image. And John 4:24 tells us that God is Spirit. So what did He create within man? Well God must have created within man what God is. God is Spirit and He created His own image within man. When He created His own image within man that made man body, soul and spirit. Now God being Spirit can only speak to what He is. And He created within man His own image this put man into God's category. Not in the body and soul department of man, not in his body and soul but in his spirit. Look at this chart. God is spirit. Now man's body was formed. The soul was made but the spirit in man was created. God's own image, God's own spirit within man. Thus, this puts man in God's category, not in the body and soul part but in the spirit. God is Spirit thus God can speak to spirit. God is Spirit and He can only speak to what He is, that's all. In the beginning man then was body, soul and spirit. It is this part of man (the spirit) in the beginning, that made it possible for God to talk to him and for him to communicate with God. This gave him the fellowship with God; and in the vernacular language you could say "he could walk with Him and talk with Him." This is the created part of man in the beginning and this man of body, soul and spirit is this three- fold man in Genesis that we read about in Isaiah, that we read about in Thessalonians when it said that he was formed, he was made, he was created and he was body and soul and spirit. Now, we go to Genesis chapter 1 and we will see some tremendous truths. The word "created" as I told you was technically only used three times in the whole book of Genesis in the opening chapters that we are dealing with. In Genesis chapter 1 and verse 1 it says: Genesis 1:1: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. The text has heaven in the plural. In the beginning God created. The word "created" is used in the Bible whenever God for the first time brings anything into existence or in extant. Once it has been created God never needs to create it again. The word "create" semantically is used in the Word of God referring to the first time when something is brought into existence or into manifestation or into being. Once God has created something He never has to create it again. "In the beginning God" is what the King James says. The oldest texts read the first word in the Bible is the word "God" not the words "in the beginning." First in the Bible is the word "God." Even to this day if someone from an Eastern country, the head of a state, would write to me, which has occurred, the first thing that he puts at the top of his letter; he takes his letter and what he puts here at the top of this letter before he ever addresses it to me he writes the word "God." He writes the word "God" up here. He puts God first to this day. Then he might address it Victor Paul Wierwille such-and-such a location and so forth. But he puts God at the top because in the east and among the eastern people, like the Hindus, they still think of God as being first. That's why the first thing in the Bible is the word "God." And the text should read as follows: "God created [bara] the heavens and the earth in the beginning." So, everything that's ever needed, everything that's ever been needed to this day was created at the time of the beginning in Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, with the exception of two things--soul and spirit. Everything else was created back in Genesis 1:1 when it says "God created in the beginning." Now when was the beginning? The beginning. That's when it was. When was it? In the beginning. That's all I know about it. That's plenty! Do you know why? Because the leading scientists, many of them, who deal with trying to figure out how old the earth is and all the rest of the things, they can't get beyond the Word of God. The Word of God is going to be accurate no matter what they find. But it's an astounding thing when you find paleontologists and other equally great scientists disagreeing thousands upon thousands of years, some millions of years, as to the time of the original creation. Equally great scientists disagreeing thousands and thousands of years. Now I'll tell you something if I missed a lady's age in this class by ten years you ladies would all be angry. But science today can miss it a million years and nobody cares. Why? Because we have become so captivated by the word "science" that if somebody says "well it's scientific." We immediately say "that's wonderful." Bah! When was it? In the beginning. No scientist is ever going to beat that one. Suppose it was three trillion years ago it still would be when? In the beginning. That's right. That's what it says that's what it means. Isn't that wonderful! You talk about the accuracy of the Word, nobody can touch it. No scientist will have an argument with it. That's right because it still was in the beginning. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth--everything with the exception of two things: soul and spirit. That's why when He got to animals, He had formed the body of animals but there was no soul, no soul life. This is why the next usage of the word "created" is in verse 21: Genesis 1:21a: And God created great whales, and every living creature [soul].... The text reads "and God created living souls or great whales and every living moving thing." That's the text. God created what? Soul life and we found out that the life of the flesh is in the blood which is the soul life. This is what He created for animals. So when He gets to man does He have to in man now create soul? When He gets to man does He have to create soul? No. Why not? Because whatever soul is which is breath life and that life is in the blood; that soul life He has already created before. That's why when He got to man, as we read, He formed the body and when He got to man He made the soul. This is the second usage of the word "create" in the book of Genesis. Then the third time the word "create" is used in Genesis is in verse 27. I'd just like to say to you that I hear people and scientists talk about creating life today, that's the wrong misnomer. Or somebody talked about creating a new production or something else they've done. They say they've created it. That is semantically a misusage of the word "create." They may rediscover; they may revamp; they may readapt; they may recompound but they cannot create. To create is to bring into existence that which has never been before. I hear the biochemists and other people at times that I've been with, I've heard them talking about creating life in a test tube. For instance, creating human beings without having the ordinary processes that are normally involved in reproduction. That's a misnomer they cannot create because if they were to create they would have to start out with nothing. They are not starting out with nothing. They are starting with something that already has life in it like either the sperm or the egg, that's right. So let's just keep the record straight. When a man says "create" he must mean to bring into existence that which has never been before. In the beginning God created everything with the exception of two things that's ever been needed--soul and spirit. When He got to animals He created soul life. When He got to man He did not have to create soul life because He had already created it before when animals were formed. But in man He did something else; He created in man as it says in verse 27: Genesis 1:27a: So God created man in his own image,... That's the third usage of the word "create". That's all it is ever used. I have heard Sunday school teachers, preachers everybody else talk about God creating on the first day, so have you. Second day He created so-and-so, third day He created so-and-so. He didn't do anything like it; didn't do anything like it. Doesn't say so in the Word. Look at Genesis chapter 1. All He had to do in verse 3 was: Genesis 1:3: And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. Why didn't He have to create it? Because whatever light is had already been created in the beginning in Genesis 1:1 when God created everything in the beginning. All He had to do was speak it into being, that's a figure but it's prefect. Look, I say to you turn to Genesis chapter 1, verse 1, what do you do? You turn to Genesis chapter 1 verse 1. Why? Because I said so. I spoke it into being. I literally spoke it into being that you turned to Genesis 1:1. Well bless your little old souls, if I can do this can you not conceive of God Almighty who created the heavens and earth having a little ability. No problem with me. The problem is in the stupidity of the human mind, that's all. Look it says verse 3 "And God said." Verse 6 "And God said." Verse 9 "And God said." Verse 11 "And God said." Verse 14 "And God said." Then where does this crazy idea come in that God created? Oh, from the teachers that's all, people do not know any better; who think they are right but they are wrong. And so when we teach our Sunday school classes that on the first day God created life, second day He created this either we are wrong or the Word of God. I want to tell you something nothing wrong with the Word of God; it's us. The fellow says "it's me oh Lord." Nothing wrong with the Word for the Word is accurate. It is accurate in minute detail and the Word is so accurate here in Genesis that it fits the fields of chemistry, the fields of biology, it fits all the fields of geology, every field of science. There is no field of science which is true science which contradicts any facet of the truth of the accuracy of God's Word in Genesis 1:1. That's right! Genesis 1:1, 2: In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was [the text is became] without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. How long ago is Genesis 1:1? I do not know but I know it was in the beginning. And sometime between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 there is a long period. How long I do not know but I know this that when verse 2 came into being it says, "and the earth became without form and void." It was not created this way, it became this way. Now the question is what caused this original creation in Genesis 1:1 which was perfectly perfect to get to the place that it became without form and void? Or as the Hebrew puts it, tohu va bohu. Well, here you need some tremendous accuracy on the Word. You've got to go to sections like in Isaiah chapter 14 verse 12 and in Ezekiel 28:15-19. You've got to look at Romans 8:26 and a section in I Timothy 3:16 and in Revelation 12:4. There you will find that in the beginning God created angels. He put all of the angels under three categories--Gabriel, Michael, Lucifer. These three angels were the top brass. They sat at the top echelon. God was above them. These three archangels were responsible for all the other angels. Angels are created spirit beings, that's what they are. They date from the beginning. One of those created angels, (Michael, Gabriel and Lucifer--these three angels were the great ones). Lucifer, who was an angel of light, very prominent; he wanted to usurp the throne of God. You could speak of it as mutiny in heaven if you like. This is what Isaiah and those chapters are talking about. And this archangel, Lucifer, got the boot. He got kicked out and with him, according to Revelation, one third of the angels of heaven because they wanted to usurp the throne of God. This Lucifer then is called in the Bible, Satan; he is called the serpent; he is called the Devil after he got the boot, after he got kicked out. Satan and one third of the angels of heaven make up the evil spirit or the devil spirit world about which few people know very little or believe less. That's right. All of the information that people get by possession by allowing their bodies to be controlled by allowing devil spirits which they call good spirits but they are still devil spirits. Because look if you got a can that has pickles in it and you label it apples on the outside that doesn't change the pickle on the inside. So, these people who say these are good spirits label the can good spirits on the outside but it's devil spirit on the inside; doesn't change the spirit on the inside. They allow themselves to be possessed; their vocal chords to be taken over. Their bodies to be taken over, they give their minds to them and so they become possessed. All devil spirits that's where all that information comes from, all of it, that's right. Now, all the devil spirits that are in the world, one third of those angels originally created in Genesis 1:1 make up the evil spirit or the devil spirit world. And they've got power, a lot of power, tremendous power no question about that. Tremendous information, they're flying around all over the place looking over the whole joint. They are in certain areas thicker than others. In my Advanced Class I take this whole section on the discerning of spirits and how these devil spirits operate apart line-by-line, word-by-word from the Word of God. There are many, many scriptures that have to be considered and they again work with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. These devil spirits are the ones that are just racking and ruining people to this day. They are all here with the exception of those that were originally responsible for causing the degradation that occurred before the flood. Those are held in chains which is a figure indicating they are no more free to roam, and there of course is another side of the story that Jesus witnessed to in his resurrected body with the greatness of the power of God in his life. But, this thing was so cataclysmic which occurred that when this thing occurred the whole thing was in a mess that God had originally created in Genesis 1:1. That's why verse 2 says "and the earth became without form and void." That's how it became that way. Then verse 3 simply starts telling you what God does to put this earth back in shape so that mankind as we know mankind can live in it. That's right. And mankind as we know it from the beginning was a man of body, soul and what? Spirit. Now, were there men before? To the scientists yes but not men as we know mankind from Genesis chapter 1. Why? Because when a scientist looks at a form or a skeleton or he puts it together and it looks like this or has any form like man or anything like this at all he puts it in the category of homo sapien. I don't care how you want to pronounce it but I know they get the word "sap" from the word, that's why we speak of people as being saps once in and a while I guess. But, this is the category. But you see what they do not know and what they cannot see is what was the life of that being? What was the life? They do not know what the life was because you cannot see soul, nor can you see spirit. You can only see the manifestation. Alright, so suppose there were men back there. Could've been. How much time do you want between Genesis chapter 1, verse 1 and verse 2? I don't know. Have all the time you want because in that section between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 and between Genesis 2:2 and 2:3 there could be eons of time. That's right. So, in that section you can have the fossils. You can have everything that you want with no contradiction in the Word. That's right. And the reason I am really concerned about the accuracy of this is because in verse 28 of the first chapter after God created man as we know him with body, soul and spirit. What the life of those so-called by scientists, mankind, was before Adam and Eve, I do not know. The Bible doesn't tell me so I don't know. The scientists do not know because they can't get that life back because it's not there. All they got is bones to deal with. But I know this: whatever that life was then is not the life that God created when He created soul life for animals. It is a different life. But they could have had it, for in verse 28 it says: Genesis 1:28: And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth,... Why fill it up again? Why make it full if it had never had anybody? I think Genesis 1:28 will co-oberate and substantiate fossils or whatever else is involved because of that tremendous statement "let them replenish or fulfill again." So between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 you can have all the fossils. You can have everything else and you see how accurate the Word of God is. It doesn't contradict a thing. It doesn't undercut anything but it's accurate! Scientifically it is accurate! Biologically it's accurate! It's accurate in every field of chemistry, every field of science! The Word of God is the truth! So in the beginning God created everything He ever needed. And between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2 you have this period of time. Then occurred what it said in Genesis 1:2. Then in Genesis chapter 1 and verse 3 we begin with what God did to get this old earth ready for mankind who would have body, soul and spirit to live on. The earth on which you and I live today. This is where we have to go in our continued exposition and study of the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word regarding this subject of man being formed, made and created. SEGMENT 34: AFTER ITS KIND; SEED IS IN ITSELF; MENDEL'S LAW We're dealing with the great truths from the book of Genesis and while I'm thinking along a lot of these lines the first two or three or four chapters of Genesis are just loaded with many spiritual goodies, truths, that if you ferret them out and you work them with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision, give the answers, the truth, to men and women who really want to know the score. Scientists and everyone else, they've got to come back to the integrity and the accuracy of these first few chapters in Genesis if they ever want to really get to the truth of life and the background of life. While I'm thinking along this line before I get into some more of these verses in these chapters, all of this confusion about the authorship of Genesis, especially the first two or three chapters--you know that teaching, j-e-p-d documents and all the rest of that--that's all just a bunch of baloney, it's guesswork, it's man's guesswork because the Word of God says "that the Word was given when holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." So they are trying to explain the difference. The difference is not in the j-e-p-d document, the differences is in the revelation that God gave and there are no contradictions. It is like if I wrote you a letter today and then I write you a letter tomorrow. I just repeat some of the things tomorrow that I said today or I may add to it, all of these things. I'm just thinking of that scripture that they use to prove that Jesus Christ was with God at the beginning and the two of them had a good talk before they got around to making man. It's Genesis 1:26. Genesis 1:26: And God said, Let us make man in our image,... So they use the word "us" saying that Jesus was back there with Him and they talked things over and he and God decided they were going to have a little "doo" and make man and do this kind of thing, create him. No, no, no, no. If you understand anything about English, this is old English. It's like when the Queen of England says "we the Queen of England." Why does she say "we?" She's not a we. May be w-e-e but she isn't w-e. Yes she is because when she speaks she speaks for the immensity the greatness of the whole kingdom and so she says "we the Queen." Well the King James old English "let us make man" is this old English. This thing which God did when God created man was so tremendous that it puts it in the "let us" category. Also, something else I'd like to say regarding the meaning of the word "Genesis." "Genesis" means generation or beginning or creation like we use it, it's transliterated the word "Genesis" in the Greek to the English in "genealogy" and "genetics" and "gynecology." All of those come from the root word of the word "genesis." In the first nine verses of the first chapter of the Book of Genesis the word "earth" always refers to the planet after that the word "earth" refers to the dry land. Also there is another truth you ought to know that is stipulated and stated so accurately here in Genesis and that is matter is antecedent to physical life and not life to matter. There is evidence to show that there was one continent at one time and that something happened, something of a cataclysmic nature happened that divided this one continent because today if all the continents were put together today allowing for the erosion and all these other matters they still today would fit like a jigsaw puzzle, fit in perfectly. Now these are some of the things that you ought to know from the great accuracy of God's Word in Genesis. I perhaps will not be able to recall and remember every detail that is set here in Genesis chapters one, two, three and four, but I'm doing my best to share with you the greatness of these tremendous truths because in Genesis we have the whole foundation of the accuracy of God's wonderful matchless Word, that Word which He set above His name. I want to get into Genesis chapter one and get down to verse eleven. You see I showed you that God did not create on the first day this; second day that and so forth. In verse eleven it says: Genesis 1:11: And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind [it's "his kind" in Genesis the original text is "after its kind" and the word "kind" is the word genos], whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. Look at verse 12: Genesis 1:12: And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after [its] his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after [its] his kind: and God saw that it was good. You talk about accuracy and truth there it is. "After its kind," everything after its kind. You plant potatoes, what do you get? Potatoes. You plant onions you get onions. Sow your wild oats and you get the wild oats. Everything after its kind. The word "kind" is the word genos which is transliterated over into "genus." Everything after its kind. If you breed a cow you are going to get a calf. If you breed a dog you are going to get a puppy. If you are going to breed a cat you're going to get a kitten. You cannot cross a dog and a cat and get a catty-dog. You cannot cross a cow and a horse and get a horsey-cow or a cowy-horse. Why? Because of the law and thank God for the greatness of His laws which work with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision-- everything after its kind, every thing after its kind. That is why you can have variety in species but not in genus, not in kind, in genus. You can in the bovine family for instance a little cow, a big cow. Like you can have a jersey or you can have a holstein. There is a tremendous difference in weight and size between a guernsey and a jersey and a holstein and a brown swiss for instance. But they all belong to the kind, the genus of the bovine family of cows, cattle. That's right. Now, there is no overlapping of genus. There is no overlapping. You cannot take a cow and breed a cow to a horse because the genus is not there. Everything after its kind! But you can have variety within species. There is no evolution in genus. The evolution is in species because you could have a little cow you can have a big cow. You can have a black cow you could have a red one. You can have a black-and- white one you can have an orange one I suppose. You see in the holstein family is black and white yet occasionally you get a red holstein. Why? Because of the throwback not in genus but in the species. You can have variety in species but never genus. That's why everything is after its kind, everything. So you can have evolution in species but you cannot have evolution in genus. That's why all theories of evolution die before they ever start unless you deal in evolution in the category of species and not genus. Now this becomes singularly important because the Word of God said "the life, the tree yielding fruit whose seed was in itself." The seed is always in itself and it's the seed that has the life. The seed is that which has the life. The seed is in itself. You take a seed any seed--wheat, corn, oat, barley, mustard seed any seed, apple seed--you take the outer shell off you take the next shell off you keep looking and you put the most high powered microscopes on it in the whole world. You get down to the core of it, you can't see anything, no life. You put it back together under the most ideal climate in every situation; moisture wise, heat wise, put it back together and put it into the ground in a laboratory and it will not grow. Why? Because the life is in the seed and the seed is in itself. We have messed, destroyed, annihilated that life but you turn right around and take the same apple seed and put it in the ground. Have the moisture, have the sunshine without man messing with that seed and lo and behold it comes up. Why? Because the seed has life in itself. Remember the old nursery rhyme about Humpty Dumpty? Humpty Dumpty was just an egg some little old hen laid without any strain or stress. And after she laid it she cackled a few times, had no problem with it. Humpty Dumpty was an egg that's all. Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall. And it says Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. I remember the picture from the books that we had in school when I was a young lad. And I can still see that egg smashed to smithereens with yolk all over the place and it just in a great big wonderful mess. Humpty Dumpty was an egg. He sat on a wall. Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. All the kings horses; do you know what that means? All the strength that the king has. Well how much strength does a king have? All the strength of the kingdom belongs to the king, every man belongs to him, everybody. All the kings horses all the strength of all the king. And all the kings men; do you know what that means? All the brains of all the scientists of all the research men, everything else. All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put little old simple Humpty Dumpty together again and all he was was just an egg. Could not get back once they had disturbed the life. Once that Humpty Dumpty had fallen apart and gone to smithereens all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put little old simple Humpty Dumpty together again. Why? Because the life is in the seed it's in itself in that seed. Everything after its kind and the life is in the seed. When it comes to man who has the seed? The seed does not come from the woman. The seed comes from the male side. The life which is in the flesh which is soul life. All soul life, all soul life is in the blood of the sperm of man. And as the blood in the sperm of man carrying that one thing as soul life it carries other things to. I know this about the chromosomes the genes and so forth but one of the things that the sperm carries when it impregnates the egg is that the sperm carries soul life. For the life of the flesh is in the blood and the soul life is in the seed. Everything after its kind whose life is in the seed! This becomes singularly important in man when we come to the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's right. Because up to this day woman is still made the same way that she was made in the beginning when God formed and made mankind. He made woman and He made her the same way, she's still made the same way. Man is still made the same way. No woman in a normal pregnancy will ever contribute any soul life to her offspring. The soul life comes from the sperm as it impregnates the egg in the fallopian tubes and then it moves down into the womb and fastens itself, and through the process of osmosis as it is attached by the placenta the mother continues to feed the nutrients to this embryo and fetus as it develops within her womb. I will take you into the depth of this as we get into the study of the new birth and the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ, some of these great truths. But right now again let us note very clearly that this record here in Genesis is so accurate because it indicates that everything must come after its kind, after its kind. You know, we talk about the laws that are involved, well this law of everything after its kind is tremendous. For instance, when Adam and Eve had intercourse they had a baby. That baby grew up, that baby got married and that man and woman then had intercourse and they had babies one upon another, this way. Now, because of the way in which life is arranged that the soul life comes from the sperm and the way that the genes are arranged on the chromosomes both from within the egg as well as within the sperm where the mother brings to this new offspring certain characteristics as does the father. And if you understand what we refer to in biology as dominant and recessive characteristics you have a wonderful, wonderful truth. How many times did God create soul? The Bible said in Genesis He created it just once and that was when animals were first formed. Then He created soul life for animals and this life is in the blood, this soul life. Now not all the blood is soul life. Not everything in the blood is soul life but one phase in the blood is soul life which comes from the male side. Now He has never created soul since. He created it just once then He took that soul life which is breath life and He put it in man, in Adam, when He formed and made Adam. Now, Adam had progeny, he had sons and daughters all the way down the line. And this soul life that was in Adam lived in his children, that's right. When Adam took his last breath his soul was gone that's what the Word says. But his soul life lived on in Abel, in Cain, in Seth and the rest of the sons and daughters. And to this day it is still the same soul life living in mankind that God originally put in Adam when He formed and when He made him. This is the only great and logical truth from God's Word that accounts for the variations in color for instance among mankind. Why are some people white, some people yellow, some people black, some people red? How do you account for all this? Well certainly not the way some people have tried to account for it, that's for sure. We account for it from the integrity and accuracy of God's Word that the Word said He created soul life once and that's all and that He put this in man and it is still going on to this day. But understanding procreation, how genes, chromosomes and all the rest of these involved and the contribution from the sperm as well as from the egg point of view what happens explains it. There is a verse in Acts chapter 17 I want to share with you and then I'm going to show you something. Acts chapter 17. Not that I haven't been showing you a lot of things but this Bible is just loaded with great wonderful truths and it gives the answer. And every answer that's truth always makes sense all the rest of the stuff just doesn't make sense. It's just guesswork. Look at Acts 17 and verse 26 talking about God. Acts 17:26a: And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth,... He made of one blood. How could God have made of one blood? Very simple because He made the soul life in blood once in Adam and he passed this on through the progeny down to this day. Well then where did you get your color from? From the combinations of genes through the years and that's no problem. You can explain it even by Mendel's Law. I've just set this up here on the chart not in detail but enough that you people who know anything about biology and these other related subjects are able to carry this through minutely. But the law is such that in the third or fourth generation as you start breeding animals for instance too, you have the same truth in animals. This is why when it comes to breeding in animals there is very selective breeding because they know what they can produce in color and in every other way genetically. But here you have it. It ends up where one would be the same. One would tend to be lighter and the other one would be even lighter. On the other side because of the combination of the genes on the chromosomes and how they are intertwined, interwoven as the egg and the sperm get together and how this develops within the mother, one will tend to be dark, the other will be even darker. Now, let's say you take two of these and put them together you will repeat this group but you are going to end up having darker dark. While over here you are going to end up because of the dominant characteristics you are going to end up having lighter light. Remember the old cliche or statement "birds of a feather flock together." Still true, because over a long period of time people with light characteristics like to marry people with light characteristics and then their progeny produce lighter light and darker light. So on the darker side so we produce darker dark. The great variation between this extreme over here and over here. And by the process of intercourse and children being born over many, many years we've produced what we today have in our society the lighter light people and the darker dark people. That's the explanation from the accuracy of God's Word like everything after its kind. That's the explanation of how we got the different colors, the different races of men that dwell upon the face of the earth. And it does not contradict any of God's Word and it does not contradict the scientific accuracy with which we know things are true in the field of genealogy, genetics and other biology and chemistry fields and so forth. Now there is a question that always comes up I better answer for you again. It's sort of a crazy question but you see a question is really never a silly question if a man really has it and he doesn't know the answer if he isn't trying to be facetious about it. They say well how in the world if Adam and Eve were the first couple--the first man and wife in this particular world of which we are dealing here in Genesis starting with verse three not with verse one or two as I've explained but verse three--then if there were no other people like them in the category of homo sapiens then who in the world could Cain marry. Who did Cain marry for instance? Well, it's no problem. He married his sister. That's right. Well, who else should he marry there wasn't anybody else around. Well after all maybe his sister was sort of sweet. Did you ever think of that? Hum, I like my sisters, sometimes I think maybe my sisters were much more tremendous than some of the girls I dated. I couldn't say much more because my wife is here. But, you see this is no problem because in Genesis chapter five in verse four it says: Genesis 5:4: And the days of Adam after he had begotten Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters [sons and daughters]: There is the answer. So the children of Adam they just married their own sisters. Why to this day, to this day we in our state allow, I believe, marriage to second cousins. Why do we not allow marriage further back? Because of the possibility of the recessive characteristics creeping out in a family. So you develop weak children. After all these thousands of years we still allow to marry second cousins. You see if you had a perfectly pure blood stream with no poisons in it you could marry your sister and your progeny would be perfect. The reason we are not allowed to marry sisters is because of the impurities in our blood stream, this is why. Now Adam and Eve in the beginning had pure blood streams this is why so many people lived so long at the beginning. They say well those years weren't as long as ours. Yes they were just as long as our years but the reason the longevity was what it was was because of the purity of the blood stream. As the years rolled by and they intermarried to the end where they brought up many of the recessive characteristics into the form where they became manifested as dominant in their lives that's when you began to produce weaker people and they started dying off earlier otherwise they live to the ripe old age that's mentioned here in the accuracy of God's Word. All because of the greatness of this law: everything after its kind. And the seed is in itself. What a wonderful truth this is from God's wonderful matchless Word and how accurate this becomes when we understand the greatness of it with the power of God which is written here in these first few chapters of the book of Genesis. SEGMENT 35: FIVE STEPS TO THE FALL OF ADAM AND EVE The greatness of the truths which are set forth in the first few chapters of the Book of Genesis are almost unbelievable. And perhaps a man could spend well over fifteen to twenty hours in just the first three or four chapters of the book of Genesis if he was going to cover every facet and every detail of the truths as they emerge from the inherent context of the Word itself. But, to reiterate briefly let me again call to your attention that in the beginning when man was put upon this earth by God man's body was formed, his soul was made and the spirit within man was created. This made man a three-fold being--body, soul and spirit. Now it is interesting to note that you have this body in plant life; that plants have growth life. Plants do not have a soul but animals have both growth life and they have a soul, breath life. So as you keep going up man has growth life, man has breath life and man had originally spiritual life, spiritual life, putting him into God's category. Isn't that interesting to see this that plants have a body, animals have a body and a soul and man had body, soul and spirit. This becomes so wonderfully interesting and accurate because of the truths that are set forth in God's Word. I want you to turn to Genesis chapter 2 and in verse 16 and 17 we have a tremendous truth stated which we now have to uncover and begin to see the depth of. Genesis 2:16, 17: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day [the day, to yom, not a day, not maybe some day but in the day, that very day] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. You see, when God in the beginning created His spirit in man He created this spirit within man upon a condition. The condition was "thou mayest do everything..." There was only one who was above man and that was God. Man was God's under ruler upon the earth. Man had absolute control over all of God's creation and everything else. There was no one above man in the earth or upon the earth. The only one above man was God Almighty who had created His spirit within man. But He created this spirit within man upon a condition. The condition was "thou mayest do all this but this one thing you shall not do for the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." You see, this part of man in the beginning made it possible for God to talk to him and he in turn to talk to God because everything has to stay in its category. God being Spirit can only speak to that which He is which is spirit. This part of man, this part of man is the natural man. This part of man is the man of the five senses. Adam, could Adam see? Sure he could see. Could he hear? Sure. Could he smell? Sure. Could he taste? Sure. Could he touch? Definitely. He had the five senses but he also had spirit. This part of man is called the natural man. Up in this part of man you have freedom of will. Did Adam have freedom of will? He definitely did because freedom of will is in the mind. The mind is in this part of man. The mind is not here the mind is in this part of man, the body and soul part of man. So, this Adam had freedom of will, freedom of choice. One of the greatest things God ever gave to man is the freedom of choice, free will. He had the five senses. He could see, hear, smell, taste and touch. He could get his information then by two different media or avenues or ways. He could get his information via the five senses by things that he could see, hear, smell, taste or touch OR he could get his information via the spirit. He had two ways whereby he could learn things whereby he could know things and he had freedom of will. Adam had freedom of will to choose whether he was going to know it by his five senses which is in this category or whether he was going to know it by the spirit; asking God and God speaking to him. So, I better tell you something else. When God formed, made and created man I said He created the spirit within him upon a condition. You have got to remember that this spirit within him was not seed, was not seed in him because if it had been seed then everything would have to go after its kind. And seed is unconditional. Had this been seed in him God could never have said "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Because it could not have disappeared if it had been seed it would have had to continue. Seed is always unconditional. Well when God formed, made and created man and created that spirit within man this gave man perfect fellowship and it gave him perfect communion with the Creator at all times anytime he wanted to. And I told you that man had dominion over all the world, over all the earth, over everything. Look at Genesis chapter 1 and verse 26: Genesis 1:26b: ...and let them [mankind] have dominion [dominion means rulership, authority, power, nobody was over man, that's right. Man was at the top of the echelon with the exception of God] over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. Look at chapter 2 and verse 19. Genesis 2:19: And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name [the genus] thereof. And you know something what they've wanted me to believe many years ago and still try to propound to our children today? That we have had evolution you know where man came from nothing to something and through the process he learned and got smarter, more wise, more intelligent. That's not the truth. Old Adam wasn't a stupid old bird. Old Adam was a smart cookie. Do you know why? The Word of God says that when these animals appeared before Adam, old Adam named them. He gave them the genus, the name, and to this day you can trace these genus' back through the Old Testament and they still stand with the accuracy. You couldn't name them any better if you tried. That's right. Adam wasn't stupid! Old Adam had a connection. That's right. Do you know what connection he had? Look over here. He didn't name those animals from his senses but he had spirit. And as I say so many times he just reached up to his Heavenly Father and said "Father what do you think the best name would be?" And Father would say, "well I'd name that thing a bovine." That's how he did it. Whatever Adam called it that was the name thereof. That's a tremendous truth. Old Adam had dominion over all of God's creation, every part of it because God had given him this dominion. And as long as Adam walked by the spirit, as long as he walked by the spirit he had perfect fellowship with God. He was in what you would call alignment and harmony, always. But he also had senses in the body and soul part, he would have his senses. The moment, the moment, the senses were permitted to rule over the mind and body of Adam and Eve instead of walking by the spirit, calamity resulted. Why? Because then they were no longer God-ruled they were sense-ruled. That's when the calamity resulted. God had said, "Adam you can do anything you want to do; you are the greatest. You are my under-ruler and anything, Adam, you want to do is perfectly wonderful you know just so long as you walk by the spirit." Anything Adam wanted to do he could do because there was only one above Adam and that was God. That's right. There was no one else above Adam. When Adam wanted to do something he had the whole rulership, the dominion, the authority, the power over all the earth belonged to him. God had given this to him. And as long as he walked by the spirit, you see Adam had two ways that he could walk. He could either walk by his senses or he could walk by the spirit. This he determined by the free will. Adam had freedom of will. He could choose. He could make up his mind whether he wanted to walk by that which he could see, hear, smell, taste or touch or whether he wanted to walk by what God's Word said. He knew God's Word. God's Word said, "Adam, you can do this but the day, to yom, you do so- and-so something's going to happen." So Adam having freedom of will had the right to make the choice and as long as Adam walked by the spirit, as long as he walked by the revelation which God had given him he had perfect fellowship, perfect alignment and harmony. The moment, the moment, the senses were allowed to take precedence over the revealed Word of God, the Will of God, calamity resulted. We will go to the Word and see it because in Genesis chapter 3 the record says: Genesis 3:1: Now the serpent was more subtle [the word "subtle" means "sly" it means "wise" or "prudent"] than any beast [the word "beast" is "living being" this was Lucifer who had fallen, who was Satan, the Devil, he's called here the serpent] of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa back up a minute. Did the old serpent know what God had said? You bet your life he knew it! He knew that God had said so-and-so-and-so. So he comes to Eve and he says to her, "has God really said this?" Did God say, "ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" Now I want to show you the downfall of man and how it happened and how it occurred and how logically it fits with the rest of the Word of God. You see, the first thing that Satan gets you to do is to doubt the integrity and accuracy of God's Word. You bet your life. We just doubt the integrity and accuracy of God's Word. He said to her, "did God really say? Did God really say ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" He knew what God had said! God had said, "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die!" Satan knew that but you see he lodged a doubt within her mind. That's how it always starts. Satan gets to people by getting them to doubt the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. He doesn't come right out, remember he disguises himself as an angel of light because once when he was Lucifer he was the angel of light and he knows what it is to present lies as light and evil as light. He couldn't come in all of his viciousness right away. So he comes and says, "hey, did God really say? Did He really say you shouldn't eat of every tree of the garden?" See, that put a doubt up there, put a doubt there. Then comes this next verse: Genesis 3:2a: And the woman said unto the serpent,... That's the next step on the road down. You can't stop Satanic influences from coming to you, that's right. You can't stop the evil spirits from attacking you at times and through people and other sources whereby they possess. You cannot stop them but I'll tell you something you can stop. You can stop them from lodging in your hair so to speak and staying there, that's right. It's like a bad thought. You can't always help it if a bad thought comes but boy you can quit harboring that thing and incubating it, that's right. The trouble with the situation was not that the devil had said to her, "hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?" That wasn't it but that she should start holding a conversation retaining this thing, this is the problem. Genesis 3:2: And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa back up a minute. Is that what God had said? Not at all. God had said, "ye may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden freely." Do you know what she did? She omitted a word. Let me ask you a question. If you omit one word from the Word of God do you have the Word left? No, you have private what? Interpretation and the scripture says, "know this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." The first thing she does is omits a word. She no longer has the Word left. Look what else she does. Genesis 3:3: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it,... Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa back up! Is that what God had said! No, He didn't say anything about touching it. So what does she do here? She adds to the Word of God. Well, when you add to the Word of God do you have the Word left? No, you again have what? Private interpretation. Boy I told you that it's the integrity of the Word of God that's always at stake. Does it mean what it says? Does it say what it means? Does God have a purpose for everything He says where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it? Definitely. The moment you omit a word, delete a word, you no longer have the Word left. If you add to it as she did when she said, "He said we shouldn't touch it." God never said anything like it. She said it. No longer have the Word left. Was she sincere? You bet your life but sincerity is no guarantee for truth. She was sincere but she was dead wrong. That's right. It's wonderful. Not that she did it but the accuracy of the Word is wonderful. Watch it. Genesis 3:3b: ...Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die [lest ye die]. Whoa, whoa, whoa back up again. God said, "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." There were no ifs, ands or buts about it in Genesis 2:16 and 17. But here she changed the truth of God's Word where He said, "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." She changed it to a "maybe, perhaps, lest ye die." You no longer have the Word left, no longer have it left. Here it is on the chart board, tremendous truth. Genesis 2:16 and 17 God had said, "all of this you may do but the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." And in Genesis 3:1-6 which I'm now reading with you, you notice she questions the integrity of God's Word. That is the first thing old Satan induces within her. "Did God really say? Did God really say it?" And her response was she considered it. She responded by considering the question that Satan had propounded. And then, number three, she omits a word. Number four she added a word and number five she changed the Word of God. She changed the absolute to the perhaps. My, oh my, here's the road down. Even to this day whenever Satan wants to attack men and women of God he always gets them to question the integrity of the Word. You talk about the timeliness of this third chapter of Genesis; it's as alive tonight, as alive today as alive tomorrow as it was the day it was first spoken and experienced many thousands of years ago when Adam and Eve went through it. This is the exact place where men and women operate today by the power of Satan that's in them. They get you to question the integrity of God's Word. They come along and say, "oh it isn't God's Word anyway. Oh it has a lot of myths in it and a lot of interpolations; a lot of error. After all you can't believe in all of that stuff. It was just written by human beings like we are." So you begin to question the integrity of the Word. You begin to doubt it, that's right. So, that's exactly where we go. And then you know what we do when these people speak to us? Then we start considering it. We think about it, "well now maybe they could be right. Maybe man did come from nothing." Huh! So we start thinking about it. Before you know it we think it's maybe a good idea that he came from nothing. So we start changing the Bible around. We omit a word, we add a word wherever we like it and I've watched people read the Word of God through the years. I've watched them read and I tell you hardly anybody reads what's written. They always read into it or they delete a word or they do something else. Why is this so manifest in our life? Because we do not believe it's God's Word. So we just change it around to suit ourselves. Hey, in chapter 3, back to chapter 3 of Genesis verse 4 after the woman responds like this now the serpent verse 4: Genesis 3:4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die [ye shall not surely die]: He starts her out easily; gets her to question the Word then he gets her response by changing a word, by adding a word, by omitting a word and when he finally gets her hooked he comes out and shows his true colors and there it is in this sixth verse of the third chapter of Genesis; sets like a diamond. Satan says, "ye shall not surely die!" And that contradicts what God had said in Genesis 2:17, "ye shall surely die!" There you have them. One is the true God saying, "ye shall surely die." Here is the other, Satan, saying, "ye shall not surely die." There they set. Same devilish thing happening today. Here is a man dead. We can see he's dead! We go to the funeral home! We look at him! He's dead! But you know what some sweet little soul comes along and says, "oh he's not dead, he's flying up there in the sky because I heard from him last night in a seance." My God, same lie, same lie Satan propounded back in Genesis 3:16 propounded by the church today! The church says, "you're not dead you just crossed the bar." Well I forgot which bar. Tennyson crossed that one I believe. Look, Satan said, "ye shall not surely die." He said, "you're really not dead, you just moved out of this little sphere into something bigger." Exactly what Satan said to Eve. Same devilish thing today. And then you get into some groups you know and Satan doesn't argue about the Word anymore because there is no Word left. Well where there are people who sincerely believe in God's Word, it's there that Satan chops the Word. He's got to get rid of the Word for the Word of God is the Will of God. You can't know the Will of God until you know the Word of God. So if he can get rid of the Word you have nothing left. You see when there is no Word left in the church we just preach a nice social gospel or something else and people get to arguing whether they ought wear rings or a tie or a coat or a shirt or what color shoes they ought to wear. Satan's always after getting people split but the greatest thing he's after is to get rid of the Word of God. And I'd like to say to you in this session that he has pretty well succeeded. He has almost totally succeeded in getting rid of the Word of God! People today just talk about it but they do not believe it! Further more they can't put it together so that it fits like a hand in a glove and that it works with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. So Satan has pretty well succeeded. Why you could go to almost any Bible college in the world, almost through any theological seminary in the world and come out and still not know the Word of God. You've read around it and you know what this man said and that man said but still not know the Word. Ha, ha look here. God said, "ye shall surely die." Old Satan said, "ye shall not surely die." Now somebody's got to be a liar! Somebody's got to be a liar! Either God is a liar or Satan is a liar. Well, I'll bet on Satan being the liar, that's right. Listen to this. You talk about the greatness of God's Word, I don't know how to teach it any greater. I don't know how it could be any greater, how it could be more accurate than what God has set it in His Word. How true it is and how it fits, how perfect it is. Genesis 3:4, 5: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And that's exactly what we are still trying to do today. Man's trying to play God. Same devilish thing, "ye shall not surely die. You're not going to surely die, no, you're going to be like God. You're going to be smart like God is. You're going to know everything. You're going to be just like God." And man's been playing God ever since. So they say to us "we are going to build a world safe for all mankind without any war." Who ever heard of such a thing? The only time this is ever coming is when the Lord comes back that I told you about in the Book of Revelation. When he comes back as King of Kings and Lord of Lords and God establishes a new heaven and a new earth then this will be true! SEGMENT 36: ORIGINAL SIN: HIGH TREASON; HOW SATAN IS GOD OF THE WORLD In Genesis chapter 3 and verse 4: Genesis 3:4: And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: And this which he said to her contradicts what God said in chapter 2, verses 16 and 17. Genesis 2:16, 17: And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day [to yom, the day, not some day, not maybe a hundred years later but that very day] that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. This record in Genesis 2:16 and 17 was absolutely contradicted by what Satan told the woman in chapter 3 and verse 4. For he said, "ye shall not surely die." But God said, "the day you eat thereof ye shall surely die." So there you have the two pitted together. One is the true God and the true God made this statement: "ye shall surely die." And Satan said, "ye shall not surely die." This sets the true God and Satan at loggerheads. It indicates exactly what Satan is after. But today you see hardly anybody believes in satan. They say there is no Satan. Oh sure, a few say there are evil spirits, but there are evil spirits so that if they are properly educated you can make good spirits out of them. This is not the accuracy of God's Word and therefore you must see the sharpness with which the Word of God sets these two. Now, in the next verse, the sixth verse of this third chapter of Genesis let's see exactly what happens. Genesis 3:6a: And when the woman saw... Saw, s-a-w, saw is in what category? Is it in the category of the spirit or of the senses? It's in the category of the senses. And I told you that as long as they lived, as long as man lived by God's revelation of what He had said over here he had perfect alignment and harmony and was always in contact with God all the time. The moment, the moment, the senses were allowed to take precedence over the spirit is when calamity resulted. Look at that verse again. Genesis 3:6a: And when the woman saw... S-a-w, is this in the category of the senses or of the spirit? It's in the category of the senses. Adam and Eve had the freedom of will, they could have walked by the revelation that God gave them. And as long as they walked by that revelation which God had given them they were in perfectly alignment and harmony like this with God. The moment they allowed their senses--what they could see, hear, smell, taste or touch, take precedence over the revealed Word of God which God had given to them calamity resulted. Genesis 3:6: And when the woman saw [s-a-w] that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant [pleasant is again in the category of the senses] to the eyes [eyes again are in the category of the senses], and a tree to be desired [desired again is in the category of the senses] to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. So man tumbled. Man fell because man was disobedient to God's Word. God's Word said, "you can do this but do not do this." Satan said, "well you just go ahead and do it because you'll just be as smart as God if you just do it." And Adam and Eve walked by their senses. Eve, as the record says, walked definitely by her senses. Then Adam, because he loved the little woman so much, followed her right in the soup. It says in the Bible that Eve was deceived by Satan but it doesn't say Adam was. Adam never was deceived he just followed right along. He just loved her so much that he just followed her, that's right. Us men are still in the same soup aren't we. The little gal does something we just love them so much we just follow right along. That's exactly what Adam did here. You see Eve saw it was good, pleasant and a thing to be desired. She walked by her senses rather than by the revealed Word of God and that was the fall, that was the fall. And that fall was tremendous for God said, "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Not someday. Now look at this, the day they ate thereof what died? The only connection that could die was this, the spirit. This is exactly what happened. This then was gone; here we go, it was blotted out. This (the spirit) was no longer there. This (the spirit) is what died that day. Were they still living? Sure. Were they still breathing? Certainly. Was Adam just as sweet on Eve as he'd ever been before? Sure, she hadn't changed a bit she still had those beautiful brown or blue eyes or whatever she did have and everything else was just as wonderful about her. But they lost one great thing. They lost their connection with God. They lost their connection with God. This is why God had said, "the day thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." You see, many times clergymen and theologians and commentaries have said, "well, they didn't really die it was just the seeds of death that were planted in them because the Word of God says that Adam lived some eight hundred years after this." Therefore they say, "he didn't really die he just got the seeds of death planted in him. He died some eight hundred years later." That's not what the Word says. The Word says, "the day, to yom, that very day you eat thereof you shall surely, absolutely die." But not understanding body, soul and spirit is why they have come into all the confusion and said, "well he didn't really die that day just the seeds of death." This [the spirit] is what disappeared and the reason it is called "dead" is because it is gone it is no longer there. They lost their connection with God. They lost their entire connection and from that day on they just had body and soul, body and soul, that was all that was left. And from that day on whenever God wanted to talk to them He couldn't talk to them because they had no what? They had no connection with God. They had no spirit. God could not talk to them. So man being body and soul, in this category man has the five senses. From that day on whenever God wanted to talk to man all through the Bible from Genesis chapter three on, whenever God wanted to talk to man He had to come into concretion. He had to come into some form because man could only believe that which he could see or hear or smell or taste or touch. He had only the media of the five senses left and in the category of the five senses God had to appear to talk to man. It's a tremendous truth. Man had no spiritual connection from that day on that we read about in Genesis chapter three and all the way through the Bible from here on all the way to the day of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts whenever God wanted to talk to man He came into concretion. Moses travelling along in the wilderness, the desert, and all at once there was a burning bush and out of the midst of the burning bush the voice. He could see God in concretion. Moses going up on the mount bringing down ten commandments, that they could see. They could see the ten commandments. This was God coming into concretion, telling them what to do. Take for instance the day of atonement; the record in the Old Testament. Once a year on the day of atonement the high priest entered into the holy of holies to make sacrifice and he would come out and he would lay his hands upon the goat and the goat would be sent out into the wilderness to die. And God had said "that just as surely as you see that goat go out there, your sins go out there, and I just covered them." You see, they could see the goat. They could see the lambs. They could see the bullocks. All of this they could see in the Old Testament. All through that Old Testament, class, from this time in Genesis three every time God wanted to talk to man He had to come into some form of concretion because man could not understand spiritual things because man had no spirit, no connection with God. But man was body and soul. He did have the five senses. He could see. This is why he could believe. He could see it then he could believe it. Now you begin to understand why Jesus Christ was born. Jesus Christ was born so that people could see him. And Jesus said, "he who has seen me has seen the Father." Because God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. So as they had seen Jesus they had seen the Father. Jesus was in concretion. "I always do my Father's Will." Always pleasing unto Him. You see this is why once you understand the original fall and what happened that man lost his connection with God, he lost his spirit, yet he was living. He was body and soul man. That's right. Look at Genesis chapter 3 verse 17. This is after the fall now. Genesis 3:17: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow [the word "sorrow" is the word "labor"] shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Because man sinned he lost his spirit, he lost his connection with God and having lost his connection with God something of a cataclysmic nature really happened. And this record here tells you exactly what it was. He said, "cursed is the ground for thy sake." The ground was not cursed before. It had not been cursed before. Now it was cursed. In Genesis chapter 1 and 2 there was no curse. Before sin came, before Adam and Eve sinned, did that which is contrary to the Will of God, before that there is no cursing of the ground. Adam was in absolute control of the ground and of everything else. He sat at the top echelon but now immediately after the fall the record in the Word says the ground is cursed. Something has happened. Something has occurred which is tremendous. He said, "cursed is the ground for thy sake in sorrow, labor, shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life." Look at verse 18: Genesis 3:18a: Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee;... There were no thorns and thistles in paradise. There was no sin and where there is no sin there can be no disruption like this. There was no sickness. There was no disease, no death. You never read about sickness, disease or death in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. Why? Because where there is no sin there can be no sickness, there can be no death. Sin produces sickness it produces disease it produces death it produces everything that you read about after the third chapter of the book of Genesis. Genesis 3:19: In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return. Because he had sinned something had happened that now he had the seed of death physically planted within him because he had broken the spiritual law of God. Whenever we break that spiritual law of God we bring to ourselves physical calamities. That's exactly what happened here. Genesis 3:22, 23: 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: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. And that's a good thing. You see, there are only two powers, one is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the other power is Satan. There are only two great spiritual powers. Both of them are Gods. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the other god is the god of this world, his name is Satan. These two are at loggerheads. They are always vying for man's worship. They are always crying for man to come to Him, one or the other. Now, this true God and His archenemy, Satan, now are really at a battle. He almost defeated God. Had Adam and Eve stayed in the garden of paradise after the fall and had eaten of that tree of life after they had sinned Satan would have beaten God to the draw and Satan would have had man so that man could never have been redeemed. He would have had to stay in that unredeemable state of sin forever had he eaten of the tree of life after he sinned because that tree of life would have kept him always in sin and never been able to overcome it. This is why it said, "God drove them out of the garden." So they wouldn't eat of the tree of life that's why that verse is in there. Look at the Gospel of John. Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and chapter 14 and in verse 30: John 14:30: Hereafter I will not talk much with you [talking to the apostles]: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. In Genesis chapters 1 and 2 who was the prince of this world? Adam. Over here in John 14 Jesus Christ himself declares that the prince of this world has nothing in him. Who is the prince of this world? It's Satan, sure is. Look at Luke chapter 4 and in verse 5: Luke 4:5, 6: And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him [Jesus], All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me [it is delivered unto me]; and to whomsoever I will I give it. I'd like for you to put the chart up I need at this point please. You see, this verse says, "the glory of them." The devil said to Jesus, "all this power, all this power will I give thee." He said this to Jesus, sure. He said, "all this power I will give you, all of it and I'll give you all the glory," talking about the kingdom. Let me ask you something. Can you give something away if you do not have it? If you do not have the glory can you give it away? Yet here it says, "that he was offering all of the kingdoms, all the glory, all the power thereof to Jesus Christ," Satan was. Well, bless your heart, in Genesis chapters one and two who had all the power, all the dominion, all the authority? Adam had it. Now here the devil has it according to the Word. How did he get it? If Adam had it how did Satan get it? Listen to what it says in verse 6: Luke 4:6: ...for that is delivered unto me:... That is delivered unto me. Who had it? Adam had it. Who delivered it? Adam did it that is how Satan got it. That's how Satan got the kingdoms, the power, the glory of this world, everything in it he controls, he can operate because originally Adam had it. Adam transferred that which God had conferred upon him to God's archenemy who is Satan. This is why the original sin speaking legally is nothing but high treason. Because he said, "it is delivered unto me." In the beginning in Genesis chapter 1 and 2 Adam had the dominion over all of God's creation. We read it. Now, God had given to man, Adam, this dominion. God had conferred the right of rulership, dominion, authority and power over all of God's creation to Adam. Every part of it had been given to Adam. All the kingdoms, all the power, all the glory was given to Adam in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 when he had dominion over all of God's creation. God conferred this upon Adam. And Adam had freedom of will. He was a man of body and soul. He had freedom of will. He was a man of body, soul and spirit before he sinned. And in the body and soul category having freedom of will he could choose whether to utilize this which God had conferred upon him or what to do with it, he had the right. He was legally within bounds, he was perhaps, I know, morally wrong, but he was legally right. Because here if I gave this to you, this pointer, then you would have a legal right to hit somebody over the head with it if you wanted to or you could use it to point out things on a chart board for which it is primarily designed. Well now this is exactly how Satan got it "for it is delivered unto me." Well who had it? Adam did. Well how in the world is he going to get it? Only one way he could get it and the Word says, "delivered." That word "delivered" is semantically accurate and fits like a hand in a glove. That which God had conferred upon Adam, man, Adam took and he transferred over to Satan and Satan is God's archenemy that's why it is high treason. Take like our nation. Let's say that I was given the deepest secrets of something of our nation. Now if I would take those great secrets of our nation and transfer them to the archenemy of the United States of America what would it be called in legal terms? It would be high treason, nothing but high treason. That's right. And when man, when Adam, transferred to satan that which God had conferred upon him that was the original sin in manifestation. Because that gives Satan, who is the god of this world. He is this god of this world and I want you to turn to II Corinthians. Acts, Romans, Corinthians and II Corinthians chapter 4 listen to this in verse 4: II Corinthians 4:4: In whom the god of this world [the god of this world]... Well, bless your heart, who is the god of this world? I thought in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 that the prince or the god of this world was Adam. That's what it said. He had dominion, authority and power over everything. Yet here in II Corinthians it talks about the god of this world being Satan. Well he is! He is the god of this world, listen: II Corinthians 4:4: In whom the god of this world hath blinded [has blinded] the minds of them which believe not [who do not believe], lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them [and they'd get born-again of God's spirit]. Who is the god of this world? The Bible says it is Satan. So there are two Gods, right. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; the other god is the god of this world, Satan. So you have two Gods. A man comes to me and he says, "well I believe in God." That doesn't shake me any. I say to him, "which one?" And he says to me, "well there is only one." I say, "that's not what the Word says." The Word says, "there are two Gods. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ the other god is the god of this world who is Satan." Two Gods. And Satan has a lot of power. He has the rulership, the dominion, the authority, the power over all of God's creation that originally Adam had because Adam transferred that which God had conferred upon him. This is why whenever old Satan wants to burn out a territory he burns it out. When he wants to kill off people he kills them off. He has all the power, the dominion, the authority, he has all the kingdoms of this world it says. And, ladies and gentlemen, I didn't write the book but that's what I believe, that's what the Word says and that is the truth. And this cooberates experiences that men and women have had through the centuries and even have today. You see this explains how Satan got all this power. This explains how he is able to do all of this and how he is able to kill off everybody. Listen to Ephesians chapter 6 listen to this in verse 12: Ephesians 6:12: For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world [the rulers of the darkness of this world], against spiritual wickedness in high places [the text reads "from on high"]. You see our battle is not with flesh and blood it just looks like it. It looks like V.P. is fighting so-and-so and so on. That man fighting that man. It isn't true. It is always a spiritual fight, it is devil spirits causing people to do just that. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood but against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world." Well who are the rulers of the darkness of this world? Top man, top spirit is Satan and underneath him is like a kingdom all the way down the line. They are the ones in control of this world. SEGMENT 37: FREE WILL: FIVE SENSES VERSUS SPIRITUAL Satan, God's archenemy got dominion and authority over all that Adam had dominion and authority by Adam transferring the conferred rights that God had given to him. In the Book of Job in chapter 2 in verse 7 we read: Job 2:7: So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. You see, all the evil; all the disease; everything in its least common denominator stems from Satan. Satan has never done a good thing in the long run. It at first looks a little bit like light but as it develops, as it keeps going it finally ends up where that which Satan does is just the opposite of what the true God would do. Satan is the one who put the boils on Job. If you read the Book of Job sometime you'll find out it is Satan who killed Job's children. It is Satan who turned Job's wife against him. It is Satan who sent the storms. Why? Because who is the power of this earth? Who has the rulership, the dominion, the authority? I always get surprised when people thank God for a good day but then when the storm comes they don't know who to thank. Well, when it's good, bad or indifferent doesn't make any difference the true God originally gave all the rulership over all of God's creation to Adam. Adam took this and transferred it to Satan. Satan has the dominion, the authority and power and when Satan does not interfere with the natural law that God originally established we have wonderful days, we have wonderful sunshine, we have wonderful clouds, we have just a wonderful time. But whenever Satan sticks his hands in it so to speak, he cuts it off. He sends the hurricanes; he sends the storms. It is all in the backlog in the least common denominator it's all spirit power. Now this is what we do not realize because we will not accept God's Word. And when we do not accept God's Word we just do not have an answer; we just guess. That's all we ever get done, guess, guess, guess. That's right. Satan is the one who did all this. We have a study in Abundant Living titled "Studies in Human Suffering" on the Book of Job. I have written the research from the Book of Job in this little booklet to help people who want to know the answers to understand the depth of the Book of Job. The Book of Job is the only book in the Bible that deals with healing. It is the only book in the Bible that shows the goodness of God on one hand and the badness of the devil on the other. It just sets them like this and it's the only book in the Bible that does this. These copies are available to you "Studies in Human Suffering." So as you saw in this verse it was Satan who smote Job. Well in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 old Satan couldn't smite old Adam. But Adam conferred all that authority he had to Satan. That's why Satan had that power for as it said in Luke when Jesus talked to Satan and Satan talked to Jesus at the temptation in Luke chapter 4 which we've read, Satan said, that all the kingdoms, all the glory, all the power thereof he had, and he could give it to whomsoever he wanted. You can't give something away if you haven't got it. You can't even communicate the measles unless you have a good case of them. Satan could not give away that which he did not have. I want to tell you something, had Satan not had the dominion, the kingdoms, the authority, and the power, you know something, Jesus would have called his bluff. But Jesus knew he had it. And Jesus came to redeem us from the power of the devil as we shall see later on. But right now I want you to fully understand that it is Satan who has the dominion, the rulership, the authority that originally Adam had. In I Peter chapter 5 in verse 8 of this particular chapter it says: I Peter 5:8: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: You see, the devil is the adversary. The devil is a spirit. He is top spirit just like the true God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is a Spirit. Now a spirit comes into concretion only as it lives within an individual. And so the devil possesses; the devil controls. People become channels, mediums, sensitives to the devil and he it says, the devil who is called in Genesis 3 the serpent. He is called Satan. He is called Lucifer, all of these things. He walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may destroy and devour. This is what he does. You see, when man sinned, when man sinned he lost his connection with God. In Ephesians chapter 2 in verse 11 and 12 the Word of God regarding this connection says the following, listen: Ephesians 2:11, 12: Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands; That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God [without God] in the world [without God in this world]: Do you understand why without God? Because when man sinned he lost his spirit. All he had left was body and soul. He lost his spirit and then he was without God. That's what that verse means "without God and without hope in this world." Not only did he lose his connection with God but he became spiritually dead for he was without God. Look at chapter 2 in Ephesians and verse 1: Ephesians 2:1: And you hath he quickened, who were dead [dead] in trespasses and sins; What does it mean dead, dead? Nothing here, nothing there, just dead, gone. Man was still alive. He had body and soul but he's dead, dead in trespasses and sins without God and without hope in this world because all he has is body and soul that's all. This sin, this putting Satan ahead of the true God by Adam and Eve was so great that even the bloodstream was poisoned. And it was then with this infiltration into the bloodstream and into the body and soul of man when he lost his spirit that you first have a record in the Bible of the sickness, the disease and of death. And you see the Word of God says in John 3 and verse 18: John 3:18: He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Why do all men come under the condemnation? Because life is in the blood. The man of body and soul, this life is in the blood and it is passed on through the blood from the sperm to the egg. This is why it is passed on from father to son. It just keeps on going like this from one to another. And when a man is born today by conception that boy or that girl has just body and soul. Because if he is going to have to have spirit this has to come from God and God is not in here [body and soul] God is here [in the spirit]. And all men are dead that's why it says "all men come under the condemnation." For when we are born we are only body and soul. We are the offspring of our mother and of our father. This is why it said then "all men are spiritually dead" in Ephesians. This is why the Book of Psalms said, all men were conceived and born in sin. That doesn't mean that the parents were sinful in the way in which they had intercourse or anything like that. It has nothing to do with that. But they were born and conceived in sin because they had no spirit life, no spirit life whatsoever. So when you see the greatness of this you see that when man lost his connection with God all he had left was body and soul. The spirit is gone. He is now just a man of body and soul. And this man that's remaining, the man of body and soul is called the natural man. Why is he called the natural man? Because he has no spirit left within him. He has no connection with God but he still has a body and a soul. He looks just like he looked before. He walks like he walked before. He talks like he talked before, all of that. But this man of body and soul this is all he has left and he is called the natural man in the Bible. He is called the man of the flesh in the Bible. He is called the carnal man in the Bible. And he is called the man of the five senses because the man of body and soul the only avenues of learning remaining to him, because he has lost spirit, the only avenues remaining for this man's learning is the category of the five senses. But I want to show you something tremendous regarding this man of body and soul. Even though he is a natural man, a man of the flesh, a carnal man, a man who gets his information by the five senses this man still has freedom of will, because free will is always in the category of the body and soul man, never spirit, never spirit. This man who had body, soul and spirit he had freedom of will. And by freedom of will Adam and Eve chose to walk by their senses rather than by the revealed Word of God; and the fall occurred. So they still have freedom of will. When a man is born today he is born body and soul. That child is body and soul and that child as it grows has freedom of will. It can choose right; it can choose wrong. There is something else that I'd like to set before you that it is in this category that man has a mind. The mind is in the body and soul man. The mind is not in spirit. Now this man had a mind then before he sinned. Sure, or else he couldn't have sinned because to have freedom of will you have to have a mind that is in operation to say "yes" or to say "no". Something else about this body and soul man. It can believe. Believing is in the category of the body and soul. Believing is in the mind. I believe with my thinking faculties with my mind. My mind coordinates these various elements and then I believe. That's why you must remember that believing is in the body and soul man. It is in the mind. Even though this is the natural man, the man of the flesh, the carnal man and he gets all of his information via the five senses. When man fell, when he tumbled the only avenues or channels or media of learning that he had left were the channels or the media of the five senses. And this media of the five senses now made it necessary for man to live by his wits. We call it today "experience is the best teacher." That's all he had left. He had to experience everything to learn something. And this is what we technically call "the scientific man." The scientific man and the scientific approach to life, is the approach of trial and error, that's all man had left after he sinned. As body and soul all he had left was trial and error. He was a true scientific man. He had to go by information gathered via his five senses. He had to coordinate it, try it out and after a period of time if it was successful he accepted it and if it wasn't successful he rejected it. Take for instance the simplest illustration that comes to my mind right now is the incandescent lamp. Thomas Edison tried out something. It did not work. It went to file thirteen. He tried it the second time and it did not work. It went to file thirteen. Trial and error, this is the method of science. Science is always built on the natural man's reasoning ability which is simply the man of body and soul, the natural man, the carnal man, the man of the flesh. So Edison tried them out one after the other finally after about three thousand experiments, if I remember correctly--after he had found out that three thousand of them did not work--one of them worked. That's how we got the incandescent lamp, the light bulb; trial and error; trial and error. You see when man lost his connection with God he had only these five senses remaining of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting and touching. Those five senses; that's all he had. There was no communication possible between God and the five senses. God is Spirit and He can only communicate with what He is. So, we have had real great learning, great learning under the category of the five senses. We have had wonderful learning under them. All the learning that we have, for instance, in the various fields of science, metallurgics, and all the related fields of the academic realm; all this learning we have has come via the five senses. All the learning basically in our universities, our colleges, our theological schools all of this that has come to us has come via the five senses. We have had great learning via the five senses but the information via the five senses is not always accurate. It is not always reliable and furthermore the five senses may become impaired. So our trial and error has to go on and on and on. Take, for instance, you are sitting here and you are looking down a railroad track. Maybe you are standing looking down a railroad track; but let's say I'm sitting here looking down a railroad track. I can see that railroad track by my five senses. I see that down there in the distance these tracks converge and they come closer together. That's the information I gather by my five senses. Now, how do I find out that they do not converge? Well I tried this out when I was a little boy this is perhaps why this illustration lingers so forcefully in my being. I walked down to that place where those tracks converge. There happened to be a tree next to it I could mark it in my mind. I walked to where that tree was and I got the surprise of my life when I got there. You know what happened? The tracks were as far apart at that tree as they were where I had been standing on the railroad track before. This is trial and error. Now we've had great learning in this field, that's true. Almost all the learning in extant today has come to us via one or the other or a combination of those five senses of seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching. Now the five senses, when it comes to the spiritual realm, the five senses can see the results and the manifestations of God but the five senses cannot see God. Why? Because God is Spirit. That which I can see has to be in the senses realm, in the category of the natural realm. That's right. You can't see God because God is Spirit but I can see His manifestation of Himself here in the world as the designer of it, sure. This natural-knowledge man, this man of body and soul, the natural man, this man by his trial and error as a natural man cannot, he just cannot believe in God. Why? Because God is what? Spirit and to believe in Him you must have spirit that is the only way. Natural man does not have spirit so the natural man who is called the scientific man that natural man cannot, cannot know God, cannot believe in God. That's why when you find a good scientist, a real man who says he's real scientist-- and if he's a real scientist he cannot believe in God who is Spirit. He can only believe in what he can see, taste, hear or touch. This is why the great scientists of all the past have always been agnostic. They have always been agnostic, that's right. But you see this natural knowledge gets to the place perhaps of, wasn't it Kant who talked about pure reason? Read it once and studied it, pure reason which is via the five senses logic leads to the highest science of all of the five senses which in academic circles is called philosophy. This is why the highest degree that any of us men earn is called a Doctors' degree, a Doctors' of Philosophy or a Phd. degree. This is the highest on the academic totem pole so to speak. You see, the word "philosophy" in German is the word veltvisinshat literally translated "world-wisdom." It is velt, "world," visinshat, "wisdom." This is the height of which the senses can go. It is world wisdom, that's right. That's a tremendous German translation of the word "philosophy". You see, man goes as high as he can go but he knows there is something beyond. Just like my watch, look, I can see the results of the designer. I can see the results. I know that this thing just didn't happen--you know that one piece fell out of there another piece fell from here, and so forth. It has an intelligence behind it. Someplace some intelligence is behind this. Now I know this but I cannot see the intelligence. All that I can see here is the manifestation of that intelligence but the manifestation indicates there must be intelligence behind it. So by pure reason we think out well there must be a power someplace. There must be a power someplace and this power must be someplace up there. So we get by pure reason up to this point. Then we want to reach over into the category of the spirit but we cannot go over into the category of the spirit. Why? Because the spirit can only be known via the spirit. Things in the natural realm may be known by the five senses. So when we've come to this point. That's where the speculation, the theories, the doctrines, the hypotheses, all of these enter at this point. Do you see it? See how logical it is and how it fits like a hand in a glove. The natural man is completely limited to information gathered by the five senses. That's all he can know. This is why the natural man cannot receive or know God and when a natural man says to me "I don't believe in your Bible; I don't believe in your God." I say, "that's wonderful, praise the Lord. I know it!" And they get shocked to death because he expected a fight out of me. He gets no fight because I know the accuracy of the Word. He can't believe, it's impossible! Look at I Corinthians chapter 2 verse 14. Listen to this and it's written as plain as day. I Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them [he cannot know them, he cannot know them, Why?], because they are spiritually discerned. There you have it in one verse of scripture. Could God have written it any plainer? Listen to this: I Corinthians 2:14a: But the natural man [the man of body and soul] receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:... Now without going any further let me ask you why? Because things of the Spirit of God are spiritual. They must be known via the spirit. Things in the natural realm may be known by the five senses. And the natural man has only the five senses and by the five senses he cannot know God. That's what the Word says. It says "they are foolishness unto him." So a man says to me, "well you believe in Satan? That's foolish." Well the moment he says that I know what kind of man he is: he's a natural man. He's going by his reason--by what he can see, hear, smell, taste and touch--and not by the revealed Word of God. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them. He cannot know them! He cannot know them! Why? Because they are spiritually discerned. Things of the spirit must be known via the spirit even as things in the natural realm may be known by the five senses. Look at chapter 1 of this same book. I Corinthians 1 and verse 21 listen to this: I Corinthians 1:21: For after that in the wisdom of God [the wisdom of God would be what kind of wisdom? spiritual wisdom] the world by wisdom [what kind of wisdom would that be? worldly wisdom, natural knowledge, sense knowledge wisdom] knew not God,... That's it! Look at Romans chapter 8. You see after you once understand spirit, body and soul and so forth then whole sections of the Word of God open up. For instance in Romans 8 and verse 1: Romans 8:1: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. To walk after the flesh is to walk by your five senses. To walk after the spirit is to walk by revelation, by God's Word or by divine direct revelation. Two ways. Look at verse 3: Romans 8:3-5: For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh [by way of the senses], God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh [five sense category], and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh [in the five senses]: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh [according to the five senses], but after the Spirit. For they that are after the flesh [go by information by the five senses] do mind [they are obedient to] the things of the flesh [five senses]; but they that are after the Spirit [they are obedient to] the things of the Spirit. See the two categories, verse 6: Romans 8:6: For to be carnally [sense knowledge] minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Two categories. Why? Verse 7: Romans 8:7, 8: Because the carnal mind is enmity against God [the brain man will always be at enmity with God]: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh [who live by their five senses] cannot please God [because God is Spirit!]. SEGMENT 38: FAITH: THE BRIDGE THAT SPANS THE CHASM; TYPES OF FAITH In dealing with the battle of the senses versus revelation faith in the light of the new birth we have been discussing in rather detailed fashion the natural man who is limited to the information gathered via his five senses. He is limited to that which he can see, hear, smell, taste or touch. Now, I want to go to Galatians chapter 1 and in verse 11 of this chapter listen to this. We've had these verses before but now they will be more living and real than they've ever been. Galatians 1:11: But I certify you, brethren [I guarantee you, brethren], that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. If it'd been after man he would have had to have received it by way of his five senses right? Listen: Galatians 1:12a: For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it... Well if he didn't receive it of man he did not receive it by way of the five senses. "Neither was I taught it." They didn't teach it to him so he didn't get it by way of the five senses. Yet that is the way basically all the sense knowledge information comes, by teaching. Like now I am teaching you. You're getting the truth of God's Word from my lips because of the five senses. But he said... Galatians 1:12: For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of [from] Jesus Christ. Revelation from the Spirit. Spirit to spirit, revelation from Jesus Christ. Isn't that a tremendous truth. I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 17 and listen to verse 5 here. We are dealing with how the natural man by way of his five senses cannot know anything from God. And here in Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 5 listen: Jeremiah 17:5, 6: Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh [the five senses] his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited. See that? The man who walks by his five senses rather than by the revelation of God or revelation from God he's going to inhabit parched places in the wilderness. But verse 7 says, listen to this: Jeremiah 17:7, 8: Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. See the two comparisons? The one who trusts in the arm of the flesh and the other who trusts God. We will go to another scripture. Psalms, Proverbs, the Book of Proverbs. I want to go to chapter 3 of the Book of Proverbs I believe it is. Proverbs chapter 3 and verse 5 listen to this: Proverbs 3:5, 6: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; [and lean to thine own understanding? No.] and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. You see the two categories? One is leaning to your own understanding which is to go by your five senses; the other is to go by the revelation from God's Word. So you have these two media of information. You can either walk by your five senses or you can walk by the revealed Word of God and let your five senses track with what God's Word says. You see the natural man, the natural man, cannot get to the spiritual realm because spiritual things can only be known by the spirit. Even as things in the natural realm may only be known by the five senses. Now, what is the bridge, what is the bridge that spans the chasm between the natural man and God? Since the natural man cannot know God what is the bridge that spans the chasm between this natural man and God? The bridge is faith. And as somebody said "faith is an inside job." It was my friend Starr Daily who made that statement that faith was an inside job. He should know he was one time prisoner in Sing- Sing, public enemy number one at one time but then later on he got out born again of God's spirit and a great man of God for many years. He said, "faith is an inside job." That's what it is. It is faith that spans the chasm because the natural man cannot communicate with God, and God cannot communicate with the natural man. God cannot communicate with your mind, with your senses or with your reason. Here's the natural man. God is Spirit, the natural man cannot know God because spirit can only be known via spirit. The natural man does not have spirit. The natural man has only body and soul so he cannot know God. But he knows that there is something behind this universe that makes it tick. Something going on so he guesses. One guess after another. He might as well quit guessing because he can't know God. God is Spirit. The natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. Things of the spirit must be spiritually discerned even as things in the natural realm must be known by the five senses. Now this natural man cannot know God. So what is the bridge? The bridge that spans the chasm between the natural man and God is faith. And it cannot be my faith because the natural man does not have any faith. He does not have any faith, therefore it couldn't be my faith. It has to be something else. You see, faith is the only bridge that can span the chasm between the senses man and God. The five senses are merely indicators of effect. The five senses are the registering apparatus. But the five senses cannot grasp the reality behind it. For instance, the five senses can see the effects of love, they can register the effects of love, but by way of the five senses you cannot know this love and analyze it. You can't take a test tube of love into a laboratory and put a Bunsen burner on it and get hot love. You can maybe get hot love but you can't put love in a test tube because it is one of the eternal realities, one of the eternal verities. The greatest things in life like love, like God, like life; all of these great things, the greatest of the great, man can know nothing about in a laboratory. He can only register the effects thereof, that's all. So, now since it's faith that spans the chasm between the natural man and God how does the natural man who has no faith, how does he get faith so he can span that chasm? Well, we look at Romans chapter 10 verse 17: Romans 10:17: So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Faith, faith comes to the natural man by hearing. Now look at this: the man of body and soul. Can this man hear? Sure he can hear; he's got ears. This natural man of the flesh, the carnal man, he has five senses. One of those five senses is hearing. He can hear. Does a man have freedom of will? He surely does. Does he have a mind? He has. Can he believe? Yes he can if he wants to. Alright. Now how does this man of body and soul get faith? Well, Romans 10:17 tells you as plain as the nose on my face. It says, "faith cometh by hearing, hearing, hearing." And that word "hearing" used in Romans 10:17 does not mean that you hear it here and it goes out here. Like some people said, "that one person must have washed in the right soap because everything he said to him after he washed it just went clean, clear through." That word "hearing" doesn't mean it goes clean, clear through. There are two words used for "hearing" in the Bible. One means you hear it and it goes clean, clear through. The other one means that you hear to the end that you believe. You hear it up here. You work it in your mind and you believe what you hear. That is the word in Romans 10:17. So then faith cometh to the natural man by hearing. Hearing what? What Johnny Jumpup says or Henry Boloko or Maggie Muggins. No. What Reader's Digest, Life, Look, Time, Saturday Evening Post, Playboy, the rest of them say. No. Faith doesn't come that way. It says faith cometh by hearing one thing, what? THE WORD OF GOD. If it isn't the Word of God you may act like you've got faith but you haven't got it because the Word says faith cometh to the natural man of body and soul by hearing one thing--the Word of God. By hearing it. Alright, so he hears the Word. Does he have the ability to believe? He sure does. He's got the ability to believe what he hears when he hears the Word and that's how the man of body and soul gets faith! That faith is the bridge that spans the chasm between the natural man and God. Now, how does this man get faith? By believing. This word "faith" and "believing" has sure been ruined, not only in the King James translation but every other translation that I've ever read and it is real simple, real easy to understand. The word for "faith" is the Greek word pistis. This is the word for faith but there is only one word used in the Bible which is the word pistis which is translated either "faith" or "believing." This one word is either "faith" or "believing" and this has been really confusing. Because faith is an inside job while believing is not an inside job. Believing is a job of the human mind. Believing is a job the natural man of body and soul can do. But the natural man of body and soul has no faith. So they have confused the whole Bible on this one word pistis. At times they translate it "faith" when it should be "believing" and at other times they translate it "believing" when it should be "faith." I'm going to show you what the Word says about it, how simple it is, how accurate it is, and then you can read it for yourself and you decide when you read it whether it is "faith," a spiritual thing, because faith is an inside job. It is always a spiritual thing. Or whether it is believing. You make up your mind. In Galatians; Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians chapter 3 listen to this in verse 22: Galatians 3:22: But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Now let's read that verse again and lets get it. Galatians 3:22a: But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ... Who's faith? The faith of Jesus Christ. For the natural man of body and soul, the unsaved man does not have faith. I know what people say, "everybody has faith." That's a bunch of baloney they don't either. Faith is a spiritual inside job. And the natural man does not have faith. Listen: Galatians 3:22b: ...by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe. Can the man of body and soul believe? Very definitely, very definitely, but listen to verse 23: Galatians 3:23a: But before faith came,... "Before faith came, before faith came," well then there must have been a time that there wasn't any. That's right. It says, "but before faith came we were kept under the law." Well, that tells you just word- by-word. Galatians 3:23, 24: But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up [or closed off] unto the faith which should afterwards [after what? after the law] be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto [until] Christ, that we might be justified by faith. "To bring us" is in italics in the King James. Scratch it out it throws the whole Word in smithereens. Nothing "to bring us" to nothing whatsoever. The law was our schoolmaster and the word "unto" is the same Greek word that is translated "until" other places. That's what it should be translated here. "The law was our schoolmaster until Christ, that we might be justified by faith." Whose faith? Well, it can't be the natural man of body and soul he doesn't have any. But by what we read in verse 22 "the faith of Jesus Christ!" That we might be justified by faith. Verse 25: Galatians 3:25: But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. After faith is come we are still under the schoolmaster? No it doesn't say that but people act like it. The law, they are still under the law. People come all the time, have through all these years, they want to put me under some law. They tell me I ought to eat frog legs on Thursday or I ought to have pancakes every morning for breakfast or that I ought to kneel when I pray. Or that I ought to do this or that I ought to do that. Look I'll read it to you again. I didn't write the book and I didn't accomplish the redemption for you. I did not bring faith so that you could have it. But by the grace of God it is available to you today but according to God's rule book! Not according to what men and women may say but according to what the Word says. Listen: Galatians 3:25: But after that faith is come, we are no longer [no longer] under a schoolmaster. Well, praise the Lord and Hallelujah! I believe that verse. You bet your life after faith is come I'm no longer under the law. Well then why do I want to act like it? I don't because the Word says I'm no longer under the law. If I'm no longer under the law I'm no longer under the law. Why? Because Christ was the end of the law and Jesus Christ brought faith. Faith came with Jesus Christ. Well let me ask you a question. If faith came with Jesus Christ was there any faith in the Old Testament then? No, none whatsoever. None whatsoever, it came with Jesus Christ. Was there any faith then in the Gospels? No, cannot have been because Jesus Christ came to make faith available and it could not be available until he made it available and it was not available until the day of Pentecost. If any one person could have had faith, spiritual faith, before it was made available then everybody could have had spiritual faith before its availability and that's an impossibility. That's right it is impossible. Absolutely, nobody, just nobody could have faith before it was available and the Word of God said it was not available until Jesus brought it. And Jesus didn't bring it when he was born in Bethlehem. He didn't bring it when he died upon the cross. He brought it when it was all fulfilled,on the day of Pentecost it came for the first time. So, there is no faith in the Gospels. There is no faith in the Old Testament. Oh I know what you're going to say, "well I've read it all the time." I don't give a care if you read it or not. It doesn't change the Word of God any; just error in translation that's all. How many times do you think the word faith appears in the Old Testament? Well just exactly how many times do you think it's there? I'll bet you think it's there hundreds of times, don't you. Well I'll tell you how many times it's there even in your King James version. It only appears twice in the Old Testament in the King James version. Once if I remember correctly in Habakkuk and the other one in Deuteronomy. You can check it in a concordance, any good concordance--matter of fact it doesn't even have to be a good one because it only appears twice so it will surely be in there. Only twice in the Old Testament and if you'll read it in context you'll see that it doesn't mean faith at all it means faithfulness, steadfastness. There's a lot of difference between being faithful or steadfast and having faith. Do you know why the average person thinks there is so much faith in the Old Testament? Because of one chapter in the Bible and that's that one in Hebrews 11 remember? By faith Noah, by faith Abraham, by faith Isaac, by faith Jacob, by faith Sarah. All of those words "are by faith." Yet if you read them back in the Old Testament it doesn't say Abraham had faith. Do you know what it says? Abraham BELIEVED God, Abraham BELIEVED God, Isaac BELIEVED God, Jacob BELIEVED God that's what it says every place in the Old Testament. That's right. Why? Because there was no faith. These men had body and soul. They could believe. They had a mind. They could hear the Word. They could see the ten commandments and believe what they saw. Then God could reckon righteousness unto them and that's exactly what He did. That's why all through the Old Testament it says "they believed God, they BELIEVED God and it was accounted unto them for righteousness." It's something isn't it. Boy-oh-boy now you can begin to see some things that were just not clouded they were dark as blazes here before but now they've got light when you realize faith came with Jesus Christ. Now there are in the Bible a number of different kinds of faith or believing. And I want to take you into the Word and show you some of these. In Matthew chapter 8 verse 10, you see every place the Word faith appears in the King James version or in any other version or translation in the Old Testament or in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John it must always be translated "believing" or "to believe" unless it refers to that which came after the day of Pentecost. Matthew 8:10: When Jesus heard it, he marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. The word "faith" is before the day of Pentecost. It is the word pistis. That word pistis that I showed you up here that's the word and there it could either be translated faith or believing but why does it have to be believing here? Because faith has not yet come and if faith has not yet come then it has to be what? Believing. So that's exactly what it is. Now in Mark I'll show you another one from the Gospels. Mark 2:5a: When Jesus saw their faith,... He didn't see their faith. Faith had not yet come. Then what did he see? The word is pistis in the Greek text and it should have been translated "when Jesus saw their believing." Not just the believing of the man with the palsy but the four who carried him plus the man when he saw their, t-h-e-i-r, and that involves five people. He said to the sick of the palsy "pick your bed up and get out of here. Thy sins be forgiven thee take up thy bed and go for a walk," because of their believing. This is believing or it's action and this all through the Old Testament and through the Gospels. They heard the Word or they had the Word. They had a mind; they could believe. They had no faith because faith is a spiritual thing that's why in the Old Testament it says, "God reckoned righteousness unto them." It doesn't say that in the Church Epistles that God reckoned righteousness unto us. He imputes righteousness to us. It says in the Church Epistles that He cleanses us of all sin but He didn't cleanse them in the Old Testament. Why? He just reckoned righteousness unto them. It's just like a garbage can, the garbage can is all full of garbage and God just puts the lid on and closed His eyes and said, "I don't see anything." That's the Old Testament. He covered their sins the Word says. But in the New Testament epistles it doesn't say, "God covers our sins" praise the Lord. It says, "He cleanses us of all sin!" It's an inside job. Why? Because of one thing that came and that's faith, faith! That's why in the Old Testament and the Gospels every time you read the Word "faith" it must be believing. Always because it is that word pistis which means just that. Now in Romans chapter 3 listen to this in verse 22: Romans 3:22a: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ... The righteousness of God is by faith of Jesus Christ. This righteousness which I have is by the faith of Jesus Christ. Why? Because over here the first type of believing or the word pistis in action is in the Old Testament and the Gospels. Now I'm dealing in Romans with the faith of Jesus Christ. This is the second kind of translation of the word pistis which is faith. Look at verse 22: Romans 3:22: Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Well praise the Lord! The faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all that believe. Now can the man of body and soul believe? Sure. He hears the Word of God. Faith comes by hearing, hearing by the Word. He hears the Word. He believes what he hears and when he believes what does he get? It says, "the faith of Jesus Christ." Boy that's something isn't it! The faith of Jesus Christ. How much is that? Ha-ha it's all you're ever going to get. And yet I hear preachers talking all the time to Christians and say, "oh if you had more faith God would heal you" or "if you had more faith you'd get this or you'd get that." How in the world are you going to get more faith when the Word says, "the faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all that believe!" Isn't that something. Now look at Romans 12 and verse 3 listen to this, boy this is tremendous. Romans 12:3: For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think [that's means think big, it means just the opposite it is a figure of speech to extend just the opposite]; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Who did the dealing? God did the dealing. This is His game. He dealt it. God did the dealing. Well what is that measure of faith which He deals to every man when they believe? The Word says, "it's the faith of Jesus Christ." This is the faith of Jesus Christ which is dealt to every man when they believe. This is why every born-again Christian has the faith of Jesus Christ which is the power of God! What a tremendous truth this is! SEGMENT 39: TYPES OF FAITH CONTINUED; FAITH VERSUS BELIEVING In dealing with Bible kinds of faith the word pistis which is either translated "faith" or "believing." Before the day of Pentecost every time the word pistis is used it ought to be translated "believing." Now we have dealt with believing in the Old Testament, in the Gospels and we are dealing with "the faith of Jesus Christ which is unto all and upon all when they believe." Now in Galatians chapter 2 in verse 16: Galatians 2:16a: Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ,... We are justified not by the works of the law but by the faith of Jesus Christ. So justification is by faith but not by my faith because the man of body and soul has no faith. The justification is by the faith of Jesus Christ. In chapter 2 and in verse 20 of Galatians it says: Galatians 2:20: I am [the original text is "I was"] crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh [my body and soul life after I'm born again, after I'm saved, now listen] I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. Isn't that a tremendous truth. When Christ was crucified I was crucified with him. Nevertheless I'm still living body and soul and I have spirit when I am born again. And now I live, body and soul and spirit; I live not by my senses but by the faith of Jesus Christ which is given to me spiritually and I utilize my senses to keep that faith in operation. Look at Ephesians chapter 2 verse 8: Ephesians 2:8a: For by grace [grace is divine favor] are ye saved through faith;... Through faith, whose faith? Not my own but the faith of Jesus Christ which is the bridge that spans the chasm between the natural man of body and soul and God who is Spirit. Ephesians 2:8: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of [or from] God: It is the gift from God. This faith of Jesus Christ is God's gift to every man when he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Ephesians 2:9: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Not of works, not of works. Well if it is of grace it cannot be of works. It is not of works lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship [we are God's workmanship], created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before [from the foundations of the world] ordained that we should walk in them. Are those not tremendously enlightening verses! And all of this fits like a hand in a glove because when this man who has body and soul believes--believes what he hears, faith comes by hearing--he gets the faith of Jesus Christ. He gets the faith of Jesus Christ. You see why this is all he can ever get? He can never get more faith because he has the faith of Jesus Christ. Now when you get this family faith, when you get this faith you join a family. You join a family. God is my Father. I am His son. So when you receive the faith of Jesus Christ then you join the family. Let's look at Galatians chapter 6 and verse 10, listen to this: Galatians 6:10: As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith. The household of faith. Now what makes up a household? Well, you've got to have more than a daddy and a mommy to have a household. You have to have more than a father and mother you have to have a child. Then you have a household. Now this makes up the household of faith. Here is a man of body and soul. The man of body and soul accepts the Lord Jesus Christ. When he accepts the Lord Jesus Christ he gets the faith, the faith of Jesus Christ which is given to every man. Remember we read in Romans where it said that "God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith." The measure that God dealt to every man when he believes is the faith of Jesus Christ. So here is a man of body and soul. He can believe. I hear the Word. I believe what I hear and when I believe God does the dealing. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. He puts in me the faith of Jesus Christ which is unto all and upon all that believe. Now, since He has put this in me I am now of the household of faith. God is my Father. I am His son. Isn't that wonderful! He is my Father. I'm born of His seed, of His spirit. God is my Father. I am His child. I have the faith of Jesus Christ which puts me into the household of faith. And it says, that we are to be especially good, especially good unto the household of faith. Bless God if we could only hear that today. Sometimes we are especially good to everybody else outside of the household. In other words Christians can't get along with each other. They are always fighting over whether Adam had a navel or didn't have one; or whether six angels could dance on the head of a pin or whether they couldn't; or whether we ought to march on Washington or whether we ought to march away from Washington. You see Christians are not good to each other at all. And it says, we are to be especially good to the household of faith. Why? Because God is our Father. We are His children when we are born again of seed. Then we are His children and we in the household are to be especially good to each other. Because it is God's household. Sure, bless your heart. Look at Titus. Timothy, Titus chapter 1 and verse 4: Titus 1:4a: To Titus, mine own son after the common faith:... What is the common faith? Well, that faith which is common to every born-again believer. It is the faith of Jesus Christ. That's why it is called the household of faith, it's called common faith. It is also called something else in the Bible in verse thirteen it has it here in Titus that you ought to remember. Titus 1:13: This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith [in the faith]; Whenever it talks in the Bible about "the faith" in the Church Epistles it is talking about the "household" the "family". You see God is our Father. We are His children; and being His children we belong to the household of faith which is the common faith which is THE faith. That's what we're to stand for and that's what we are to walk in. Now, there is another kind of faith in the Bible besides this particular family faith. But here these three are tremendous because they just fit everything from the natural man to when he's born again to when he's walking with the power of God. Now after a man is born again of God's spirit and has this--he has believed so he has received the faith of Jesus Christ--he belongs to the family of God. Now there is in the Bible the manifestation of faith. The manifestation of faith is really the believing which I have because I've renewed my mind on the Word of God, put the Word of God up here. Now then I live it. I bring it forth in manifestation, in evidence. This is one of the miscalled, so called, miscalled "gifts of the spirit." They are not gifts of the spirit at all. In I Corinthians chapter 12 they are called manifestations of the spirit. We'll be dealing with this chapter 12 in detail later on in the class on Power for Abundant Living; but right now I Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9 and listen to this: I Corinthians 12:9a: To another faith by the same Spirit;... And in verse 7 it says, this is a "manifestation of the spirit." I Corinthians 12:7: But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. The manifestation of faith is the manifestation of believing. It is the manifestation of it. It is one of the nine manifestations of the spirit. And in Galatians we have this faith fruit. I'll be tying these two together in a moment but let me show you faith fruit. You see fruit is the production of a cultivated tree or a garden. You cultivate the garden. You put in good fertilizer or natural plant food which ever you like to use and you water it and the sun shines on it. You cultivate it. You get good fruit by cultivation. In Galatians chapter 5 listen to this in verse 22: Galatians 5:22, 23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. Here we have listed nine fruit of the spirit but the word is "fruit" in the singular. Why in the singular when there are nine fruit? Because it's like a clump. It is all in one clump: the fruit of the spirit. This doesn't say in Galatians 5:22 like the commentary say that it is the "fruit of good works." That love among Christians is a fruit of good works. It doesn't say that. It says fruit of the spirit. When it says fruit of the spirit do you know what it means? Fruit of the spirit. If it was fruit of good works do you know what it would say? Fruit of good works. But it doesn't say fruit of good works. It says fruit of the spirit. You get the fruit of the spirit by operating the manifestations of the spirit. This person who has believed God, who has the faith of Jesus Christ, who belongs to the family of God, he has the ability to operate nine manifestations. He can speak in tongues. He can interpret. He can prophecy. He can operate the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing. So by the operation of the manifestation, among which one of them is the manifestation of faith, he produces the fruit of the spirit. That's what Galatians 5:22 is talking about. The fruit of the spirit, one of them it lists among the nine is faith. In the manifestations, one of the manifestations is called the manifestation of faith. The manifestation of faith produces the fruit of the spirit. That's how you get it. You cannot produce fruit without cultivation. And as you cultivate the manifestations you produce the fruit of the spirit. So we have these different kinds of faith or believing in the Bible. And this becomes singly and uniquely important because of the greatness of God's Word in it. Alright, another remarkable thing is that as I worked the integrity of the Word and understood the difference between the word "believing" and the word "faith" and its proper usage I learned that the church; now when I say "church" you know what I mean don't you? I do not mean your denomination or mine. I do not mean any denomination nor do I have anything against any denomination. I'm talking about the church as the Bible talks about it. The body of Christ of which Christ is the head. They must be born again of His spirit to belong to the church; not just signed your name on a register, now you're a church member; or go in and get confirmed and now you are a church member; or walk up to an altar someplace and say "I accept the Lord Jesus Christ" and they hand you a Gospel of John. I'm not talking about all that baloney. I'm talking about being born again of God's Spirit where you've received the faith of Jesus Christ and belong to the family of God, that's the church. It says, it is His workmanship--not the bishop's workmanship, not the head preacher or the head deacon's workmanship. We read a little while ago in the Word of God that it was His workmanship, God's workmanship, that's what I'm talking about. The Church, the born again believers, this was a revelation to my soul when I learned this, that not once in the whole Bible (that is in the Church Epistles from the day of Pentecost on) is the Church told to have faith. Not once! And yet I used to go to meetings here, there and yonder and all I ever heard with these ears was some preacher get up and say, "brethren and sistren" or something, "you've got to have more faith. If you had more faith man you'd get healed. If you had more faith God would fill you with the spirit." I tried that one too. That's right. I was so hungry to receive the power of the holy spirit, the fullness of it, that I tried to get more faith. Matter of fact I fasted for a long time, as a matter of fact one night I prayed all night on my knees and that's awful hard on skinny little knees like mine but I did it anyway. Because somebody had said that I ought to do this. And you can't go beyond what you're taught. And let me tell you something if you get hungry enough you know what you're going to do? Everything everybody says you are going to try out. And that was just the trouble I tried out everything everybody said except the Word of God and that I didn't know because nobody had taught me this. That's right. I'm trying to teach you the Word so that you do not go by a man's opinion, but that you can go by the Word of God. And it was a great revelation to my soul when I found out that the Church not once, not once in the Word of God is the Church ever told to have faith. Why? Because to be born again of God's Spirit you've got to have it. For when you are a man of body and soul and you accept the Lord Jesus Christ you get whose faith? You get the faith of Jesus Christ, right? Now, I'm born again of God's Spirit. I'm His workmanship. I have his faith! Well how in the world can I get anymore? You can't! You can't get anymore than the faith of Jesus Christ! Look at it! That's how God starts everybody out evenly. If God had given you more faith when you got saved than I got then God is a respecter of persons. And the Word of God says God is no respecter of persons. That's right! If He had given old Maggie Muggins more faith than I've got then God is a respecter of persons. If I had more faith than what Johnny Jumpup has God is still a respecter of persons. God is a God of justice and of love and of mercy and of grace and when a person is born again of God's spirit he's got the same faith, same faith everybody else has. The youngest child in the family of God has the same amount of faith as the oldest saint of God in the family. It is the faith of Jesus Christ! Isn't that wonderful! That ought to just thrill your soul! Sure, I know it does! To learn for once in your life that you've got it, you've got it. You know you can have something, like you can have something in your pocket but if you do not know you've got it in your pocket can you spend it? You can have a thousand dollars in this pocket. If I did not know it I couldn't utilize it. I could not spend it, right? You can have the faith of Jesus Christ, be born again of God's spirit, have the faith of Jesus Christ but you don't know it. Why don't you know it? Nobody told you the accuracy of God's Word. So can you utilize it? Can you operate it? No. That's exactly what's happened. Many people born again of God's spirit have the faith of Jesus Christ but they don't know it so they can't use it. The Church is never told to have faith, not once, because when you are born again of God's spirit you have got faith. Look here; it's the unsaved who must receive faith to be saved. The unsaved, the man of body and soul, has to get faith if he is going to get saved and this faith that he has to receive is the faith of Jesus Christ. Now those of us who are saved, who belong to the Church, we must operate believing. We must operate believing. We must operate what the Word says we have. It says we have the faith of Jesus Christ. Now once I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ I start operating the faith of Jesus Christ. This explains the difference in Christian people: why one believer goes this BIG with God and the other believer goes this big. They both have the same amount of faith. They have the faith of Jesus Christ. Then why does one go to this level and the other one to this level? What's the answer? Very simple. This one believes more than this one. Can't believe beyond what you know. This one knows more, believes more, operates more. This one doesn't know as much, he believes less, operates less. That's why all believing equals receiving. All believing equals receiving. As we believe we receive. As we receive we must believe. Because nobody ever gets anything from God, nobody ever receives anything until he first believes. You see, faith was not available `till the day of Pentecost. And since faith was not available `till the day of Pentecost all the Gospels were written for natural men like the Old Testament. They were written for natural men of body and soul, that's all. Look at John chapter 6 and I'll show you a verse. This will just explain it to you. John 6:30a: They said therefore unto him [Jesus], What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee?... What sign do you show that we can see and believe? You see they couldn't believe first because faith was not yet available. They had to see first then they would believe. Today after the day of Pentecost you believe first then you see. And yet thousands upon thousands of people many of them have come to me through the years, not thousands, but hundreds of them have through the years and they said, "well Dr. Wierwille if I could just once see a miracle I'd believe." And I look them straight in the eyeball and I say to them "honey, you'll never see it." Why? Because of God's law. God's law says you believe first then you see. But in the Gospels faith had not yet come, they had to see first then they believed because they couldn't understand anything but that which was in the senses realm. That which they could see, hear, smell, taste or touch because they were natural men of body and soul. See how perfectly the Word of God fits. Tremendous isn't it? You bet your life it's tremendous. Look at the twentieth chapter of the Gospel of John: John 20:8: Then went in also that other disciple [this is the day of the resurrection appearance of Jesus on what we refer to as Easter Sunday], which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw, and believed. See it? He was still a sense knowledge man. He had to see first then he believed. He saw the empty tomb. He saw the napkin neatly wrapped up and laid in a corner of the sepulchre. Then he saw, then he believed. Another interesting verse in here in verse 25, listen to this: John 20:24, 25: But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe. That was Thomas on Easter Sunday morning. You see faith had not yet come, not Pentecost and he said, "unless I can see, I will not believe." Now watch what Jesus says. John 20:26-28: And after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them: then came Jesus, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless [unbelieving], but believing. And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God. He saw then he what? Believed. You don't get it that way. You haven't seen the Lord. You haven't seen the nail prints in his hands, the wound in his side yet you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Not because of what you've seen but you believe first then you see the greatness of the power of God. So, Jesus said to him in verse 29: John 20:29: Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. Speaking about the future "blessed are those who have not seen the nail prints in the hands and yet they are going to believe." Isn't that tremendous. You see in the Gospels they saw and believed until the day of Pentecost. Today you believe first and then you see. This is why Romans chapter 10 which is in the church epistles after the day of Pentecost and in verse 9: Romans 10:9, 10: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth [it doesn't say see and believe it says confess with thy mouth] the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. Look at that! For with the heart man believeth. The heart is the seat of the personal life. He believes up here and he gets righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. He believes first then he gets it. You don't get the Lord Jesus Christ first. You don't get the faith of Jesus Christ first. You don't do signs, miracles and wonders first and then get the Lord. You get the power of the holy spirit, the power of God first! Then come the signs, the miracles and the wonders. I want to just quickly turn to II Corinthians chapter 4 and I want you to note verse 18: II Corinthians 4:18: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal. Anything that you can see is in the category of the senses. And all the things of the senses are always temporal but that which you cannot see--the spirit of God, the faith of Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God, the justification, the sanctification--all these are the things which are eternal. This is why all believing equals receiving and the Church has this ability to believe God and to manifest forth the greatness of the power of God in their life! SEGMENT 40: HEBREWS 2:14; INCORRUPTIBLE SEED The new birth is the greatest thing God has ever done. Remember the mystery that I taught to you, how this mystery was kept secret from before the foundation of the world and first made known or revealed to the Apostle Paul. But they experienced it on the day of Pentecost when they were born again. This miracle is the greatest miracle in the whole world of how a man of body and soul can be born again so that he has body, soul and spirit. How the man of body and soul who is a natural man, dead in trespasses and sins without God and without hope in this world; how in a moment of time, in the twinkling of an eye this man can get born again of God's spirit so he has body, soul and spirit and is heaven bound and all hell can't stop him from going. I tell you my friend that's the greatest miracle of all miracles. It is the greatest truth of all of God's Word. Now what we are after in this class and the understanding of it, the greatness of it, is how can a man of body and soul get the faith of Jesus Christ? How can he get the justification of God? The redemption? The sanctification? The birth? How can he get it? I know what you are going to say, "well you have taught us believing." That's right, that's right we must believe. But WHAT must we believe? What are we to believe? Look here, we are going to be dealing now then with God's works and the administration of Christ. What God wrought in Christ which in turn He works within us as men of body and soul when we believe. We are going to go to the Word to find out what we have to believe. Jesus Christ was God's plan from the beginning for the divine to be made manifest on the level of the senses that sense knowledge man might be redeemed. Jesus Christ was God's plan. You see, God is Spirit. You can't see Spirit but you could see Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ was God's plan way from the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned. It was God's plan even from the beginning because He knew Adam and Eve would sin because of His foreknowledge. It was His plan for the coming of Jesus Christ because Jesus Christ could be seen and heard. It was God's plan for Jesus Christ to be made manifest on the level of the senses. And Jesus Christ endured all things that any man has ever endured. The scripture says, "he was in all things tempted like as we are yet without sin." There is not one thing that Jesus Christ did not do on the level of the senses for us, not one. You see, this is why Jesus Christ was God's plan on the level of the senses so that sense knowledge men could be redeemed. Jesus Christ was manifest. He manifested God. Jesus Christ not only was God's plan for the divine but he was the manifestation. He was the embodiment. "He who has seen me has seen the Father," he said. Jesus Christ manifested God on the plane of humanity, right down where you and I live. I want to show you a verse of scripture that is almost unbelievable regarding this. In Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14. We talk about the "virgin birth." Well there is nothing like the "virgin birth" because she wasn't a virgin when Jesus Christ was born but she was a virgin when she conceived. And pulpits after pulpits deny the truth of this and all because they do not understand the Word nor do they understand God and how He operates. They do not know the words "formed, made and created," for instance, "body, soul and spirit." They do not rightly divide those and not understanding that it is impossible for them to understand HOW the virgin Mary could conceive by the power of God and bring forth the Lord Jesus Christ. But the greatest verse on the conception and the bringing forth of the Lord Jesus Christ that I know of in the Bible is this one in Hebrews chapter 2 verse 14. Hebrews 2:14: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; Isn't that a tremendous verse! The children are partakers of flesh and blood. Every child who is born, every child who is born in this world, every child born in this world is a partaker of the flesh and the blood of his daddy and of his mommy. I, Victor Paul Wierwille, am a child, I am a partaker of the flesh and the blood of my mother and of my father. Every child, this is why it says, "the children are partakers of the flesh and the blood" of their daddy and of their mommy. "Likewise," Hebrews 2:14 says, "he took part." And I say to my class, "well what part did he take?" And they say., "flesh and blood." And I say, "whoa, back up." It doesn't say, "he partook." It says Hebrews 2:14, "the children are partakers of flesh and blood but he, Jesus Christ, himself likewise took part." It doesn't say, "he partook." He took part of the same. Well what part did he take? The part that he took of man was flesh, according to the flesh he was born of Mary. Jesus had eyes and ears and nose. He had a body. This body he got from man, from Mary. Sure, that's what it says, that's what it means. He took part of the same. Children partake of both flesh and blood but Jesus Christ did not partake of flesh and blood. He only took part, he only took part! What part did he take? He took the flesh; according to the flesh he was born of Mary. But according to the blood that was in him, the soul life that was in him in the blood, this was by divine conception. It says he was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of Mary. That's right. He was conceived by God. Now that doesn't mean God had intercourse with Mary. That's impossible! A spirit cannot have intercourse with a natural person. Spirit to spirit, natural realm to natural realm. Now you're not that stupid, this we can understand. I don't know. I read a commentary some time ago where it talked about angels cohabiting with man. And I thought to myself "well that's just about the height of stupidity of how a spirit being could have intercourse with a human being." That's just a bunch of baloney, that's right. Laws are laws and they do not overlap. Spirit can communicate with spirit. Things in the natural realm can be known by the five senses. When it says in the Word of God that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Ghost it means by God. God created, created, God created within that egg within Mary soul life, which is in the blood. That's right. That is why God uses the word "create." Every woman is made the same as Mary was made. God could create soul life in any woman He wanted to all from the beginning of Genesis chapter 3 all the way through. Then why was it thousands of years after the fall that a woman came along who did bring forth Jesus Christ? That's a good question because right after the fall Eve thought she had gotten a man from the Lord also. Let me read it to you in Genesis. I think it is in Genesis chapter 3 or 4 right after the fall. Sure here it is in chapter 4 right after the fall where God had promised in 3:15 that He would put enmity between the serpent and the woman "between thy seed, [the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman], it shall bruise thy head thou shalt bruise his heal." After that it says in chapter 4 and verse 1: Genesis 4:1: And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I [I, I], have gotten a man from the LORD. What did she think she had? Oh, she thought she had brought forth the promised Messiah, the Redeemer. But this man happened to be Cain and he was the first murderer. Quite a change wasn't it. You know in this same chapter later on when Seth is born she's changed her attitude. Listen to what it says in verse 25: Genesis 4:25: And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she [a little different tone isn't it], hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew. Ha, ha how do you like that? Sure. She thought she had the Messiah but he turned out to be Cain. Why didn't some woman bring it along sooner? Every woman is made the same way. She does not introduce soul life into that baby of hers. The life is in the seed remember. And the seed comes from the sperm. The soul life in that sperm is part of that which penetrates the egg in the fallopian tube and then as it passes down into the womb it seats itself there and through the placenta and all these other things which you know about. Now, God could create this in any woman because He made woman the same way. All the woman to this day are made just like Eve was. Then why, then why did He only have one? Because God had said He would have only one begotten Son. God's only begotten Son, one, only begotten Son, one. And the reason Mary was the one who brought him forth after thousands of years was because she was the first woman who ever got to the place that she literally believed what God said in and out. For it was she who said, "be it unto me according to thy Word." That's why God created soul life in that sperm which He created which permeated the egg and this is how she conceived and brought forth the Lord Jesus Christ who took part, took part. He did not partake. He only took part. Of the flesh he was born of Mary. But the seed in him was created by God this is why he was God's only begotten Son because God created. This word in Hebrews 2:14 where it says, "children are partakers." This word "partakers" is the word koinoneo which means "to share fully." Children share fully in the flesh and blood of their father and of their mother. But when it said, "likewise, he, himself, took part of the same." The word "took part" is an entirely different word. It is the word metecho which means to take a part only. That's its great significance and its great meaning. Children are partakers but Jesus Christ himself took part only. The part that he took was of the flesh but the soul life in him was of God. God created! This is why when Judas said, "I have betrayed innocent blood." It's a tremendous truth and that my friends is some of the work that Christ accomplished for us. Because he had to be perfect man if he was going to redeem mankind. So in this administration of Christ, Jesus Christ manifested God on the plane of humanity. And the meaning of his death and of his resurrection in singularly important also as to what he did. By his stripes we were healed. By his shed blood we have the forgiveness of sins. You see, according to the Word of God when Jesus Christ was here upon earth it says, when he was circumcised we were circumcised with him. That's right. When he was baptized we were baptized with him. When he died on Calvary's cross the Word of God says, we died with him. When he was buried it says, we were buried with him. When he arose the Word of God says, we arose with him! And when he ascended up into heaven we ascended up with him. And this is why the Word of God in Colossians says, we are seated in the heavenly places with him while we are still here upon earth. As someone once said, "we are not looking up we are looking down." Why? Because of the meaning of his death and resurrection and the meaning of his ascension. You see in Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8 look what we got when he ascended: Ephesians 4:8: Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. He led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now, no one--and I mean that--just no one was born again until the day of Pentecost. Why? Because it was not available. You cannot receive anything until it is available. Jesus Christ came to make the new birth available. I better stop right there. Because somebody's saying, they do not like the word "new birth". Well, bless your little old wonderful heart, I suppose you don't like the first word of birth either. Well let me tell you something, that's how you got here. Had you not been born you couldn't be in this class on Power for Abundant Living. And I'm pretty sure that you are not objecting too much to the first birth are you? Well what are you getting your dandruff up for and want to object to the new birth? Or when I say to be born again. It's a good word. It's a good English word. It's a good word all the way through and once I teach you the great accuracy you'll love that word. As a matter of fact you'll love it even more than you do the first birth. And I'm pretty well satisfied with the first one, aren't you? Alright, but I'm better satisfied with the second one. Well, let's go back. You can't get anything before it's available. Now this is a law. And don't go pulling my leg or anybody else. You know why? You know what I was taught? That the apostles, this is what I was taught, that the apostles were born again while Jesus was here. Now just a minute, that's an impossibility! If they could be born again while Jesus was here then everybody could have been born again while Jesus was here then Jesus Christ would not needed to have died upon Calvary's cross! He would not needed to have been resurrected! He would not needed to have ascended! He would not needed to have given the holy spirit! That's right! Why sure, bless your hearts. You can't get something till it is available. And it was not available till the day of Pentecost. That's right! So no one, just no one was born again until the day of Pentecost. Everybody up until that time is just body and soul, that's all. Now, to be born again, to be born again means to have the seed of Christ in you. That's what it means. To have the seed born in you, that's what it means to be born again. Well what does it mean to be born the first time? What does it mean to be born the first time? Well the first time you were born you weren't hatched, bless your heart, you weren't just thought about. Most of you got born without ever getting thought about. Look! The seed from your father impregnated the egg which your mother contributed in the fallopian tube. That's how you got started. You are on the first birth a child because of seed, that's right. To be born the first time you have to have seed. I am the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Wierwille because of the seed of my father, Mr. Ernst Wierwille, and the egg of my mother, Mrs. Wierwille. To be born again now, you can't have a birth without seed. To be born again is to have the seed of Christ to be born within you. And this seed is spirit life. Why? Because the basic nature of God is life. God is life. You see, well let's look at Genesis 3. I read it a little while ago but I got to go back again because now there is a different thought here I have to share with you. God said this right after the fall: Genesis 3:15: And I [God] will put enmity [separation] between thee [the seed of the serpent] and the woman, and between thy seed [the seed of the serpent] and her seed [the seed of the woman];... Whoa, whoa back up a minute, back up a minute! Woman has no seed. Seed is from the male side, always. Then why does it say here in Genesis "her seed?" Because God knew even before that that this seed which would be born of her would have to be by divine conception. He'd be conceived by the Holy Ghost. God would create within her soul life. This is exactly what it says in Galatians. We'll go to Galatians and see it. Galatians 3:16: Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed [thy seed], which [who] is Christ [that's it]. Who is the seed of the woman? She has no seed. It's a tremendous verse showing that God would have to do it by creation. The seed of the woman is Christ. Now to be born again is to have that seed of Christ born in you. That's what it is. Look at I Peter, Hebrews, James, I Peter chapter 1 and verse 23: 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. Being born again not of corruptible seed. The first time you are born you are born of what kind of seed? Corruptible seed. I am the son of Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Wierwille, it's corruptible seed. If it was not corruptible old Victor Paul Wierwille would just live on forever, that's right, just live on forever. But the first seed is corruptible. Now listen to what it says again: I Peter 1:23a: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of [what?] incorruptible,... The reason the word "seed" is not repeated is a figure of speech to not put the emphasis on the seed itself but upon the incorruptibility of the seed! That's right. So when we are born again we are born of seed. The first seed I'm born of is corruptible. But when I am born again it says it's what kind of seed? Incorruptible. Well bless your heart if it's incorruptible it's what? Incorruptible. If it could get the measles it wouldn't be incorruptible. If it could get the chicken pox and the whooping cough and the sore throat it wouldn't be incorruptible. When I'm born again I'm born of seed which is incorruptible. And class when it says "incorruptible" do you know what it means? Incorruptible. Now I don't care what you say that's what the Word says. You say, "it's not incor..." The Word says, "it's incorruptible." Ha, ha, I know what you're thinking. You're going to say to me, "oh that Dr. Wierwille believes in eternal security." Well that statement makes me grow seven feet tall or something. I do not believe in "eternal security." I believe in eternal life. Eternal securities you can buy down at the corner bank! But eternal life is a gift of God! "Believe in eternal securities," just never use that word around me. That's a disgrace to God. Had God meant eternal security you know what He'd have said, "eternal security." He doesn't mean eternal security. He means life, life, eternal life! Because it is incorruptible, it's incorruptible! And ladies and gentlemen if it's incorruptible, it's incorruptible. So when we are born again we have seed in us. First time I've got seed, second time I've got seed. But the difference is the second time that seed is incorruptible. Hey, what else does it say: I Peter 1:23b: ...by the word of God,... How do I know it? Because Romans 10:17, remember, says, "faith cometh by hearing and hearing comes by the Reader's Digest, Life, Look, Time, Saturday Evening Post, No!" It comes by the Word. "Faith comes by hearing, hearing THE WORD!" I'll show this to you in depth a little later on. It comes by hearing, but by hearing the Word. Listen to this verse again: 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. Liveth and abideth till tomorrow noon. That's not what it says. It doesn't say that at all. By that Word of God which liveth and abideth how long? For ever, for ever, for ever. Well, if it is incorruptible seed it's got to abide how long? For ever. Remember in the beginning when Adam and Eve had this seed, this spirit within them, I told you that it was not seed because if it is seed it is unconditional. You plant potatoes you get potatoes. You plant onions you get onions. Why? Because of the seed. Now when you are born again it's not a "and, if or but" it is seed born within you and that seed is eternal life and it is incorruptible. It's incorruptible which comes to you by the Word of God! SEGMENT 41: HOW TO GET BORN AGAIN I want you to take your Bible and turn to the Epistle of I John chapter 3 and verse 9. For while we are dealing with the new birth; exactly what it is, how you get it. In other words how does a man of body and soul again become a man of body, soul and spirit. This first occurred on the day of Pentecost. And since we are still living in that same administration, the age of grace, the church of grace period, we better find out and be sure about the greatness and the accuracy and the exactness of God's Word regarding this great truth. Because it would be terrible to believe that you were saved and heaven bound and then found out you ended up in hell. That's right. So we've got to get to the place that we know that we know that we know that we know without a shadow of a doubt. We've been dealing with some of these great truths from the accuracy of God's Word. Not from what V.P Wierwille thinks or Johnny Jumpup or Herman Boloko or Snowball Pete, none of those. We are dealing with what the Word says. And remember the integrity of the accuracy of God's Word is always at stake. Does it means what it says, does it say what it means? You and I have learned from our research in the integrity and accuracy of God's Word that this Word does mean what it says and say what it means. And that God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, when He says it. Now let's read this tremendous verse I John chapter 3 and verse 9: I John 3:9a: Whosoever [whosoever means what? Whosoever. That's what it says, that's what it means. The man of body and soul, whosoever] is born of God... If you are born of someone you've got seed in you. I am born of Mr. and Mrs. Ernst Wierwille. I have seed in me. I'm born of them. Now whosoever is born of God must have seed in him because he's born of God. Listen to this: I John 3:9a: Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin [doth not commit sin];... I better stop right there because I'm sure that you really got thoughts flipping through your mind about now. Do you know why? You say, "who ever heard of that crazy stuff?" It isn't crazy, it's the Word of God. People may be crazy, men may be liars but God doesn't lie and His Word doesn't lie. But its been our misunderstanding of it. I've been with those people too. They call themselves sanctified holy people. They get so sanctified and so holy that they say that they never commit sin because they been down to the altar for the second work of grace. I went down to the altar for the second one to. I went down for the third and I went down for the fourth. That's right, so if you've been to the altar a few times I've been there a few times more than anybody else that got sanctified. I tried it too. And lo and behold these people who say they were "sanctified holy," "second or third work of grace" and all this stuff. I lived with them. I spent time with them. And I found out even though they said with their mouth they were "sanctified holy" I found out they could lose their tempers. I found out they could really get angry. I found out they could even tell what you call little white lies. Of course in God's opinion and in God's viewpoint a lie is a lie whether it's white, green, yellow or black. Ha-ha, a lie is a lie, little or big it's a lie. So I found out that they weren't quite as holy as they thought they were but you see they build this on this verse of scripture. That's not what it is talking about. It is talking about born of God. Well what is born of God? Not the body and soul man. This body and soul man was born of my daddy and mommy. Sure bless your hearts. But when I am born of God. When the body and soul man is born again he is born of God and he does not commit sin. Where? In his body and soul? No. But in that of which he is born, he is born of God. In that seed he does not commit sin, that's what the Word says that's what it means. Why? Is says so in the next phrase. I John 3:9: ...for his seed [God's seed] remaineth in him:... If he could sin in that seed that seed would not remain. It would be corruptible seed. But we read from I John that that seed is incorruptible. That's right, it is incorruptible. "For his seed remaineth in him," class if the seed remaineth it does what? It remaineth. If you could lose it it couldn't remain. If you could sin it away it could not remain. If it could get the measles it couldn't remain. But the Word says this seed of God that's born within you "it remaineth in him." Why does it remain? Because it is what kind of seed? It is incorruptible seed that's why it remains. "It remaineth in him" and it says: I John 3:9: ...and he cannot sin [he cannot sin],... Where? In the body and soul man? No, no, no body and soul man many times sins like a trooper. Shouldn't but he does. Not in the body and soul man but in that spirit which is born within, that seed born within, he cannot sin. That's what it says. Listen: I John 3:9: ...for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin,... Now for the second time in the same verse it tells you why. I John 3:9: ...because [because] he is born of God. The first time I'm born I'm born of my earthly father and mother. Right! But when I'm born again I am born of my Heavenly Father, of God and His seed remaineth in me and it cannot sin. Why? Because in that seed I am born OF God! That's what it says, that's what it means. You see, this is why it is eternal life. It's why it is eternal life because it is God in Christ and His seed in you. That's the eternal life because God is eternal and God is life. I know what somebody's saying. Your saying to me "so you believe once saved always saved." I didn't say that! You said it, I didn't. That's right. But I believe in eternal life. I don't know if this is once saved and always saved or not. I haven't read that "once saved, always saved" in the Word of God. No more so than I've read "eternal security" in the Word. All I've read in the Word is "eternal life" and that I believe. So, if eternal life is eternal security then you should go up to God and tell God He ought to send a prophet down and rewrite a little section of it for your benefit. Sure and if you think it ought to say "once saved always saved" you just send a delegation to heaven and bring God down in a prophet someplace and have it rewritten. Ha, ha. Rufus Mosley used to say, "we never sent a delegation up to heaven to tell God to send the Lord Jesus Christ." He said, "we were in such poor shape down here we couldn't even get a delegation together." That's right. You know why? Because everyone wants to scoot out from under the Word. Why not believe God's Word and have the greatness of the power of God in your life for once! Why always want to belittle God's Word? Why not let God's Word set and let God speak. For I tell you God Almighty who created the heavens and the earth knows what He's doing. That's right. He's not stupid. He does not lie like man lies. You see, this is eternal life. And this life becomes yours as a body and soul man when you get born again of God's spirit. How do you get born again of God's spirit? Is it by your works? No it isn't. It says in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse 5 let's go to it. Ephesians 2:5: Even when we were dead in sins [just body and soul man is dead in sins], hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace ye are saved; And verse 6 and 7: Ephesians 2:6-8: And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace [by grace, not works] are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: That's right. That's what it says that's what it means. Grace is divine favor. "By grace are you saved through faith." Whose faith? The faith of Jesus Christ. "And that not of yourselves it is the gift, it is the gift, it is the gift from God."41-5 Isn't that wonderful! Well praise the Lord! Verse 9 says: Ephesians 2:9: Not of works, lest any man should boast. If it is of grace it cannot be of works. You know if it was of works you might be able to boast more than I or I might be able to boast more than you because I prayed longer, I begged God longer and I confessed more sins than you can shake a stick at. Therefore I got a better salvation than you have because I worked better at it. I had more works to do. More things to get rid of. It's not of works it's by grace. Not of works lest any man should blow his lid. That's right! Lest any man should boast. Listen verse 10: Ephesians 2:10a: For we [we] are his workmanship,... Isn't that something! The first time I'm born I'm whose workmanship? I'm the workmanship of my daddy and of my mommy, of my father and of my mother. I Victor Paul Wierwille, the first birth, I am the workmanship of my father, Ernst Wierwille and my mother, Emma. That's right. But when I got born again praise the Lord. When I got born again I got born of God a gift of God and I am His workmanship. Well do you think God is satisfied with His workmanship? I think my daddy and mommy were pretty well satisfied of their workmanship. At least once and awhile when I was a good boy. What about my Heavenly Father, do you think He's satisfied with His workmanship? I want to tell you something to me it's the height of blasphemy almost when somebody wants to tell me that my earthly father can do a better job than my Heavenly Father. That's right. I know what my Heavenly Father is able to do. And I'm sure that my Heavenly Father who created the heavens and earth can do as good a job, I would like to say which is the truth, a far better job than my earthly father ever did. We are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus. That's what the Word says that's what it means. That's what this new birth is all about. That's right. After Pentecost, right now, this time, the natural man is still just body and soul that's all. That natural man has no spirit life. He is just body and soul. So he is spiritually dead. He is spiritually dead. Legally, legally to whom does the man of body and soul belong? Legally he belongs to Satan, legally. Now, when I get born again of God's spirit and God becomes my Father to whom do I legally, upon all legal basis, belong? I belong to my Father which is God. Then Satan, the god of this world, legally has no rights over me when I am born again. But before I'm born again I'm just a man of body and soul and legally I belong to Satan. Old Satan can do anything he wants to. He has all legal rights. When I got born again of God's spirit old satan lost his rights because now God is my Father. God is my Father. And so legally when you are born again of God's spirit you belong to your Heavenly Father. Now how in the world does God accomplish this? A man of body and soul to get him born again? God recreates a dead man spiritually. He's dead in trespasses and sins, he has no spirit. No spirit in here at all. By creating a new spirit in him and this spirit that He creates within him is again God's own life. It is eternal life and this happens to a person, happens to a man or a woman or a boy or girl when they get obedient and literally obey the Word of God as it is given forth in Romans chapter 10 verses 9 and 10. You see, not understanding body, soul and spirit. Not knowing exactly what is going on they have never quite been able to understand this. This is why the teaching is that everybody has a spark of the divine in him. Ever heard that? Sure you have. All the eastern religions teach this and basically all Protestantism teaches it to today, sure. This was a part of the Arian doctrine too I believe if I remember a little about theology or something. At least somebody had the idea that everybody has a little spark of the divine within him. A little bit of God in him. All you have to do is fan it. Feed it properly, nurture it properly and this part of God starts developing within him. The Bible says that man is dead. If you are dead you are dead. If there is a little bit of life in there you are not dead, you are not dead. The Word says in Ephesians, we read it, this man is dead as far as spirit of God is concerned. He is "dead in trespasses and sins without God and without hope in this world." He's dead! But you see they've never understood body and soul man being alive and spirit being something else that's why they have taught there is always a spark of the divine in him. Some people even teach that this spark is not even a spark, it is full grown all there. All you have to do is feed it the right mashed potatoes and gravy spiritually speaking and whomff, there it is. No, dead, nothing in there. Man is just body and soul. Now God has to recreate that's why the word "create" is used. It's never been there. He has to create it or it won't be there. And He does this by man's obedience to the Word of God which I am going to share with you in a few minutes. But I want to show you this seed of God which is the new birth. It is the seed "from" or "of" God. The word "of" is the same preposition as the word "from." I suppose if I had this chart to do over again to show it to you I would have said "seed from God" here. But same difference. Seed from God which is God in Christ then it is Christ in you the hope of glory! Remember. Now this is what is eternal life. This seed is eternal and this seed is life. And this comes by divine favor to man. Not of works lest any man should boast and by man's obedience to God's Word. Not from the Old Testament but from the Book of Romans addressed to the Church. So we got to go here to see exactly how it is possible for a man who is dead in trespasses and sins and without God and without hope to be made alive. And this is by His Word, by God's Word. So we turn to Romans chapter 10 listen to this now in verse 17. We had it before but we've got to keep going back to it so that you never forget it. Romans 10:17a: So then faith cometh by hearing [faith cometh by hearing],... What faith? The faith of Jesus Christ. Comes by what? Hearing. That's right. The man of body and soul can he hear the Word of God? Sure he can hear the Word of God if he goes to the right place. When he hears that Word can he believe? Sure, he's got a mind. He hears it in his ears. He believes what he hears. And when he believes God starts something on the inside, starts putting His seed in there. That's tremendous! Faith cometh by hearing, by hearing one thing: the Word of God, the Word of God, the Word of God. And it's been that Word of God that I've been giving you and it's that Word of God that I'm going to give you now exactly HOW to be born again. Romans 10 again and verse 9: Romans 10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Listen to that again. The greatest Word in The Word to you if you want to be born again of God's spirit. Listen: Romans 10:9a: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,... Well what is it to confess it with your mouth? It is to say it. Do you have to say it down at an altar? It doesn't say that. But could you say it at an altar? Sure. It doesn't say where it just says do it! Confess with your mouth is to say it. Do you have to say it out loud? It doesn't say so. Because you can confess the Lord Jesus Christ silently without anybody hearing even an audible word from your mouth. You see this is why you can find God anywhere but you will be found of Him when you carry out the Word. And you can miss Him everywhere until you start obeying God's Word. Confess with your mouth. Doesn't say confess your sins. Oh no, then it would be of works and we are not saved of works but of grace. You don't confess your sin you confess the savior from sin the Lord Jesus Christ. My how many thousands of people believe that they are born again of God's spirit but they are headed straight from hell. Sure they've had a feeling on the inside but you are not saved by feelings. You are saved by getting born again of God's spirit. Feelings may come and go but the Word of God liveth and abideth forever my friend. And it is according to the Word of God. So I go down to the altar let's say and I cry out all my sins. I get a good feeling. Well you can get that on the psychiatrist's couch. We are not saved by feeling we are saved by doing the Word. It says, "confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus." It doesn't say, "confess your sins." You confess the savior from sin the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it says! Listen, "confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus." What does it mean? Say it, say it! Jesus you are Lord in my life! Well whose been lord? You are a man of body and soul, whose been lord? You have! You've been party of the first part, second part, third part and all the rest of the parts. So now you are going to change lordships. You are going to confess with your mouth a new Lord. Who? Jesus Christ the Lord that's who you are going to confess. Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord. Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord! Now listen that's not all, that's not all. Romans 10:9: ...and shalt believe in thine heart... The heart is the seat of the personal life. Which you today would say, "believe with all your mind, all your strength, every ounce of your being." Romans 10:9a: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart... Believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is the best teacher that ever lived? Nope. That my denomination has the way to heaven? Nope. That Jesus Christ is the greatest prophet of all times? Nope. Believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead! Romans 10:9: That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead,... That's it! Confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord! And believe in the innermost part of your being that God raised him from the dead thou shalt, and thou shalt means absolute. You shall, not you will, it says "you shall" and semantically and grammatically that means you will be absolutely saved! When? You die? No. When you say it. Not when you die but right then and there. When you "confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and you believe God raised him from the dead thou shalt be saved." Jesus Christ you know never said a new thing. That's right. It isn't in that he said anything it's that God did something. He's the only one that God ever raised from the dead. Of all the great religions like Buddha, he never arose. Mohammed never rose. Only one who has been raised from the dead that's the Lord Jesus Christ! And the proof, the proof that he's God's only begotten Son is because God raised him. And ladies and gentlemen if you want to get saved, if you want to be born again of God's spirit you've got to confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord in your life. Confess him as Lord in your life. Say it! And believe, believe that God hath raised him from the dead. Do you believe God raised him from the dead? Do you believe God raised him from the dead? Do you believe Jesus Christ got up from the dead? Do you believe that he is your Lord? Have you confessed it with your mouth? Then it says you are what? Saved! Romans 10:10: For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. That's it. So I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus. I confess him with my mouth and I believe God raised him from the dead and at that moment when I confessed that, I am saved. I am saved, I am born again of God's spirit. I am again body, soul and spirit. I'm born again of God's spirit! This is a tremendous truth! It's unbelievable but I believe it because God wrought it within my soul and because God's Word abideth forever. This is what makes us body, soul and spirit. This is eternal life. Now I am His son for I have confessed with my mouth the Lord Jesus and I believe God raised him from the dead. Have you done this? That is what it is to have eternal life. At that moment it is Christ in you, born in you. You are converted, you are saved, you are born again. I don't care what you call it all I want to do is see the baby. That's all. Sure. When I go to the hospital to visit a mother with a new baby I don't go in and say "well now please tell me how did the baby get here? How much time did it take?" No. All I do is I want to see the baby. Ladies and gentlemen I don't care how you got born again all I'm concerned about are you born again? I don't care how the delivery was made but have you confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus? Do you believe God raised him from the dead? Then you are born again! Call it what you will; converted, saved, born again. All I want to be sure of is that you got the baby, that you're God's child born again of His spirit. For at that moment it is Christ in you and at that moment you are in Christ a new creature with the power of God in your soul. Oh my friend what a tremendous truth this is! How great and wonderful it is how a man can be body and soul one minute, he hears the Word of God, God starts the seed within and all at once when man by his believing rises to the place that he can really say "I confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, I believe God raised him from the dead!" At that moment he is born again of God's spirit. That man is now headed to heaven and all hell can't stop him from going because he is a son of God! SEGMENT 42: ETERNAL LIFE--THE GREATEST GIFT When the man of body and soul confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus, believing God raised him from the dead then that man again becomes body, soul and spirit. For he is reborn. Man who is born again, when he is born again he is body, soul and spirit. Now, he again has a point of connection with God because God is Spirit. Now God can again talk to him. God cannot talk to the natural man, the man of body and soul. He can only talk to what He is which is Spirit. So when this man is born again of God's spirit he has body, soul and spirit. Now again he has a connection with God. And this spirit that's born within him is seed. You will remember that in Genesis when we talked about the spirit being in Adam we noted from the Word of God that it was in Adam upon a condition. But when a man is born again of God's spirit then he is born of seed. It is Christ in him, the hope of glory. And this seed is unconditional. This is why the new birth is the greatest thing God has ever done. You see, when you have the seed in you, you get the baby. Everything is wrapped up in that new birth. You never get anymore than what is wrapped up in that new birth. Just like a child, if a child is born it is all there in that package, in that little child. Now you nurture, you feed that child and that child develops into an adolescent, into a youth, into an adult. It is all there in that little package when that child is born. Now the new birth is just like that. When you are born again of God's spirit you have Christ in you, that seed born in there. And everything that God is in Christ is in you! This is a tremendous truth from the accuracy of God's Word. This is why you have when this seed is born within you, you see you have the love of God. Love is really an inside job. We'll get to this later on perhaps in the class but love is a spiritual thing. Phileo love is a mental thing. But agapao love is a spiritual thing. You have the love of Christ. You have the justification of God, the sanctification, the redemption, the righteousness, everything that God is in Christ is in you when you are born again of God's spirit! For it is Christ in you, remember. Christ in you, the hope of glory! Isn't that wonderful! That's why you have the faith of Jesus Christ. This is what you receive when you accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior. Now when it comes to faith. I want to speak a little bit to you about faith. Because the Church, and when I'm speaking of the Church I'm speaking of those who have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and Savior. Those people, the Church, is never told to have faith. Why? Because when they receive the seed of Christ, born again of His seed, they have the faith of Jesus Christ. They have the love of God, the righteousness, the redemption, the sanctification, the justification. All of that which is available in Christ is in us when Christ comes in. So, the unsaved person must receive faith to get saved. He has to get the faith of Jesus Christ to be saved. But the saved person must operate what he believes according to the revealed Word of God. Now, this so called faith that we hear so much about today in our denominations and among so called church people. Many of them are even born again but they have not renewed their mind on the accuracy of the Word. This church has so called majored on what they call senses faith. This is faith which they say is faith. It is the greatest spiritual counterfeit being palmed off today. It is not faith at all. It is what they call faith. They work by their senses something and they say, "well now this is faith." For instance, a board gets together and the board wants to open a new mission field someplace because they got some missionaries coming up on their hands and they have to dispose of someplace around the world. Now we've got to get a new mission field. They don't go back in the Book of Acts like where the spirit said "separate me Barnabas and Saul to the work..." But we get together as a board and now we think the thing through. And we say, "now look, we can't go into Honduras because such and such a denomination is over there. And over in southern India we've got such and such a denomination. And down there in Africa is that denomination and over there is... Oh, there's a spot, nobody in that area. I think that would be a good place." So now we've figured it all out and we've got it all decided so now we send our missionaries there and we say this is by the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. And now we pray, "oh, lord we thank you for blessing the efforts that we are putting forth. Oh, lord we thank you for putting your blessing upon everything we've already decided you ought to do." Boy isn't that the greatest counterfeit you can think of. We make up our minds, we've got it all decided then we say, "well we had faith to open that particular mission field or open that work or build this church." Did you ever see if God was ever in it, really by faith? No. Do you know what happened? The board gets together and we say, "well now look we are growing here and we have a lot of people, a lot of children coming on we have to expand and we've got to build an educational building and we ought to build a new church because you see these fellows over here built one and we don't want them to get ahead of us you know. Lord we ought to build a new church." So we figure it all out, get all the designs and we get all through with it then we have a dedication and we say, "oh Lord please bless the labors of our hands." God, maybe didn't have a blessed thing to do with it. This is the greatest spiritual counterfeit that's being palmed off today. It looks so religious and it is religious. But remember religion doesn't mean that it is genuine. That's right. Remember in Diana of the Ephesians they were religious, sure. All the oracles, all the places, they've always been religious. It is not a question of whether a man is a religious person. It is a question of whether he is a Christian born again of God's spirit because sincerity is no guarantee for truth. Jesus Christ is truth, that's right. This senses faith which is this great counterfeit says, "I believe part of the Word but sections of it are interpolations or myths or hypotheses. I can't believe it all." Or another person comes along and says, "well I believe the Bible is the Word of God but sections of it are not for me because it passed away with the apostles." All this kind of stuff. Every time you hear that you know that it is faith that is built upon the senses. It isn't the spiritual faith that we are talking about which came with Jesus Christ. You see, senses faith mentally assents. That's what it does. It does everything except one thing--ACT upon God's Word literally. Believing faith says, "I believe God's Word. I will act on it. I'll act on it because I believe it's the revealed Word of God." You know my friend, man is basically God hungry. Every man is, every man is basically God hungry. So what does he do? Well, man by his reason, by what he calls faith, by his senses reason he builds for himself massive structures of religion. That's right. And they look beautiful, they look tremendous but it's because he is basically hungry; he has to have something to latch on to. And not knowing the accuracy of God's Word he builds that of his own making and he worships that of his own hands. The senses, the five senses, the mind, reason, all of these should be and are servants of the real man. The real man is spirit. I better share something else with you. I do not believe that Christianity is a religion, that's right. Does that shock you? Well you're not the first one to get shocked I assure you in these classes when I make these statements. I do not believe that Christianity is a religion. Although I personally went through all the academic realms where we study comparative religions. I have read all the major books on comparative religions where they compare Christianity with Shintoism, with Taoism, with Buddhism, with Mohammedism, with Judaism. And they say, "well, Christianity is just one of the major religions of the world." I do not believe that. I believe there is a lot of religion is so called Christianity today but that Christianity is not religion. Religion is what man does, what man makes. Christianity is not a religion. Christianity is what God wrought in Christ! And in the believer when he is born again! It is the work of God, it is what God does not what man does. Now man may put a lot of things in what we call Christianity. But that's not Christianity, man added that, he just baptized it and called it Christianity, that's right. This is why I do not believe that Christianity is a religion. I believe that Christianity is the way of a Father with His family. God is our Father, we are His children because He Fathered us. We are born again of His seed. It's a tremendous truth when you realize this because every theological school, every school of higher learning has in it these courses; we call them apologetics. Do you know what apologetics is in the theological field? It's a course where you apologize for being a Christian. That's what the word "apologetics" means. You apologize, apologetics is the course where you try you build Christianity against the rest of the religions. You apologize for it. Ladies and gentlemen you never need to apologize for Christianity if it is truth. If it is truth, if it is truth you never need to apologize for it. The only thing you need to apologize for is error. That's right. And Christianity is not error it is truth, it is truth. Because of all the religions of the world there is no religion wherein the person who represented that particular religion ever arose again from the dead. The proof that Jesus Christ is the only begotten Son of God is that God raised him from the dead. This is not only from saying it point of view but from the historical evidence of Josephus and others. And when I get into the depth of this class later on in the power of the Holy Spirit I will show you that I have proof beyond a shadow of a doubt that nobody can deny, it's indisputable the proof of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. I am going to document it for you and give it to you later in the class. Now, Christianity is not a religion, absolutely not. Religions are made up of what men say and what they do, what they accomplish. All religions, all of them, end in speculation of one kind or another. The end is metaphysics or in science of the mind or in some other fanciful name, that's right. Or in what the refer to in academic circles as theosophy. Or in superstition or spiritualism or what we today are being palmed off to us in the extrasensory perception world. All of this, all these things end in speculation of one kind or another. A group will say, "well we are the great I am." I had a professor in philosophy once in my post-grad work who refereed to God as the creative universalism. Now isn't that just touching, it is so pathetically sympathetic or something. Can't you just imagine spending a night "oh though creative universalism I love you." Man doesn't that have the warmth, the soul? You see, all of those things have been added by men. They given the name many times of Christianity but it isn't Christianity it is just religion, that's right. That's why the true Church, the born again believer is never told to have faith, not once. Why? Because as he believes God, as he believes on the Lord Jesus Christ he receives Christ within for all believing equals receiving. Now, I want you to take your Bible and turn to the Gospel of John. John chapter 3, in a few moments I want to read some of these verses with you. But let's go back here to the chart board I want to show you something that is tremendous. When a man is born again of God's spirit, this man of body and soul then has spirit. God up here is his Father, to the spirit. God can now speak to that spirit and this man of body, soul and spirit has eternal life. This man now has a power within him that he never had before. But I want you to notice he still has a mind. The mind is in the category of the body and soul man. This man can still believe. This part of man is still the natural man, it is the man of the flesh, the carnal man. He has the five senses as his media or avenues or channels of learning but this man also has free will. All of these things are up in this category. But this man has one great thing- -he is born again of God's seed and he now has spirit. So he can have God to talk to him. He can get revelation from God or he can go by his senses and get information out of the senses world. Now, in John chapter 3 in verse 15: John 3:15: That whosoever [whosoever, whosoever] believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. Should not perish but have eternal life. If it was anything less than eternal you still could perish maybe, right? Sure you could. But the reason he cannot perish is because he has eternal life. Does he have this eternal life in the body and soul area? No. Because this seed in here is what kind of seed? Corruptible seed. But this seed over here is what kind of seed? Incorruptible. This part of man will perish. This part of man will go down the drain so to speak but this one here cannot perish. It is impossible for this spirit part of man to perish. Let me show you something else. Here is a man of body, soul and spirit, born again. Now suppose this man died tonight. Now we can talk. You see if this man died tonight what would happen? Well the body and soul--in the soul he'd take his last breath and the body would go back to dust from whence it came. But what the spirit? Where would the spirit go? The spirit would go back to God who gave it. For everything must go back to its original state or its original form. That spirit within man goes back to God. That is what is eternal life. That spirit which is within man is that which is eternal life. Listen to something else here in the tenth chapter. Did I read verse 16, doubt it. Listen to this you all know this and maybe that's why I didn't. John 3:16: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever [whosoever, whosoever] believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You see if you could perish it couldn't be everlasting and couldn't be eternal. Let's go to chapter 10 of John and listen to this in verse 28, well let's start with verse 27: John 10:27, 28: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life;... Give unto them, I give it, I give it. You don't earn it. You don't work for it. It is a gift of God. "I give unto them eternal life. My sheep hear my voice." Every time I read this and I think of teaching it to our people, I always think of how much time I used to spend trying to get the goats converted. How much time I spent with the goats. The goats will never hear, the sheep will. This is why some place in the Word of God, I think it's in Titus or one of those books, that you witness to a man twice. You only have to witness to him twice if he doesn't accept it, the essence of the revelation in the Word is "just shake the dust off of your feet and go some place else and try someone else." Because if he will not hear after the second time he's just not going to listen. And so many times people we spend so much time trying to nurture up the goats into being sheep but you never arrive at this. Because everything after its kind, genus, remember? Jesus said, "my sheep hear my voice." They don't argue about it. They hear it. I've taught hundreds and thousands of people the accuracy of God's Word, its minuteness, how it fits with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. And never have I seen a person who is a sheep of God, so to speak, that when he hears this Word and sees this Word work with such mathematical exactness he simply sits back and he says, "well praise the Lord." Maybe he doesn't say it out loud because he'd be a little out of form in most churches you know, if he ever said anything like this. But at least you can see it bubbling on the inside. For once in his life it makes sense and it fits just like a hand fits into a glove. Look at Romans chapter 6. The whole Bible is loaded with this now, I'm just going to pick up a few to show you the greatness of this eternal life. Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death [the wages of sin is death]; but the gift [the gift] of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Well if it is eternal, it's eternal and if it's life, it's life ladies and gentlemen. That's right. Look at I John, the Epistle of I John and chapter 1, verse 1 and 2. I John 1:1, 2: That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) Show you that eternal life. In chapter 2 and verse 25, listen to this: I John 2:25: And this is the promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. Every place you look in the Word of God. That's right, "even eternal life." Chapter 5 of I John, I'm in the eleventh verse: I John 5:11, 12: And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. I didn't write the book and I didn't send the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. But let me remind you this is what the Word says: "He that hath the Son has life." Do you know why? He is just body and soul but when he's born again he has the Son. Now he's got life. What kind of life? Eternal life! The spirit in him is eternal life. But he that hath not the Son still has life. No he does not. He has natural life. He has no eternal life abiding within him. On this verse and a number of others like this I've had great difficulty. Do you know why? Because the teaching today is everybody's heaven bound anyway. It doesn't make any difference who you worship, where you go, what you do; we are all headed for the same place. And they use, I call them imbecilic illustrations, like for instance they say if you want to go to Chicago; you could go by way of Texas and come up this way or you could go by way of Canada and come down this way or you can just go up Route 30 and go this way or come up Route 40. There are many different ways to go to Chicago. The important thing is you all want to go to Chicago you know. That's the argument they use. Not one scripture that talks about going to Chicago, you know it. But it talks about going to heaven with the power of God in you. And the Word still says: "if you've got Christ you've got life and if you do not have Christ you do not have life." Now if you want to argue with it go ahead and argue with it. Do you know why? You've got the right to go to hell if you want to. Sure. You've got the right to go to heaven to. And I'm not going to send you either one way or the other. I'm going to teach you the Word and you make up your own mind whether you are going to believe God's Word or whether you're going to go by what men say. I want to challenge you on something. This Book and the Words in here have stood for centuries, right? But men whom I have known and men whom you have known have never stood for centuries. They come and they go. Men blow hot, they blow cold. I'd rather stake my eternal salvation on the accuracy of God's Word than to listen to men and especially men who have a derogatory attitude toward the Word. I'd rather stake my life upon the integrity and accuracy of God's Word and find out that I'm wrong than to stake it upon what some man says and then latter on find out he's wrong too. I'd be sure on this which God has given, that's right. Because if you believe God's Word you've got everything to win and nothing to lose. Like Rufus Mosley used to say, bless his heart, he'd say, "we're having such a good time going to heaven that if we got to heaven and heaven wasn't there we had the best time going." That's right. When you really believe God's Word and you walk in the greatness of it you're the best man to your fellow men. You don't cheat him. You don't even steal from him. You don't push them down. You don't try to climb up over the top of them. You're just having the greatest time going. If there wasn't any heaven hereafter you had the glorious time going there. Why you can't beat it! But let's turn it around the other way. Suppose the Bible is right. Suppose the accuracy of God's Word is true. That's right. And suppose that we do not believe it, we reject it. And there is a heaven we never quite make it. We've got everything to win believing the Word of God, that's right. And nothing to lose. And we've got everything to lose and nothing to win by believing what men say. That's right. Listen to this: I John 5:13-15: These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know [that ye may know, not question, not doubt but that ye may know that ye know that ye know, that ye may know] that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God. And this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him. Now, listen to verse 20: I John 5:20: And we know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding [he didn't mean for us to be stupid, he came and he gave us an understanding], that we may know Him [not question, not doubt but that we may know Him] That is true, and we are in Him That is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and [this is] eternal life. Isn't that tremendous! Simple as A-B-C. Plain as day. You've got to be stupider than stupid to miss it. That's right. Because God has set it out and it's just so easy and so perfect. Why is it so easy? Because it cost God everything. God had to give His only begotten Son. It cost God everything this is why it doesn't cost you a thing except to believe. And the man of body and soul can believe. This is that eternal life which is the greatest gift that God has ever given to any man any place at any time. Segment 43 CONFESS THE SAVIOR FROM SIN; STANDING & STATE FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment-43 CONFESSING THE SAVIOR FROM SIN; STANDING AND STATE I told you that the battle of the senses versus revelation faith in the light of the new birth is the crux of Christianity. If you understand this that I'm teaching now and you get the depth of this and you understand the new birth and really what happens, then everything else in the Word of God will fit like a hand in a glove and it will work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. In this section of the Word of God that I'm now dealing, I could, perhaps, teach very efficaciously for some 15 or 20 hours. But I'm endeavoring to set before you the great truths. As I told you at the opening of the class, I'm not going to teach you the whole Word of God, from Genesis to Revelation. I'm just going to teach you the keys that will unlock every verse from Genesis to Revelation and make that Word of God living and real, so that once again you can understand it and you can read it and you can apply it and make it applicable in your own life. Now, I like for you to take your Bible and turn to Ephesians, chapter 2, again. Some how or other you just can't get away from the great revelation in Ephesians, because Ephesians is the greatest revelation to the church that has ever been given. And in chapter 2, verse 6 we read: Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Verse 8: (Now listen: For by grace are ye saved through faith [that's the faith of Jesus Christ]; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift [not a gift but it is the one and only gift] of God. Verse 9: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Verse 10: For we are His workmanship [we are His workmanship], created in Christ Jesus ... The first time I am born, I am the workmanship of my earthly father and mother. And when I am born again of God's Spirit, I am the workmanship of God, what God wrought in Christ in the believer, this is His workmanship, and we are saved -- we are saved by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. Now, I want to show you something: When you're born again of God's Spirit, it is Christ in you -- Christ in you, and at that moment, you are in Christ, it is a perpendicular relationship. At that moment it's Christ in you, this way down and you in Christ, this way (horizontally aligned). But now, before you get saved -- before you get saved -- these little "X's" in here, what do you think they represent? Sort of amusing to me because the Art Department that developed this wondered how many "X's" I wanted in here, and I've forgotten now, how many they put in. But they put these X's in here to represent sin, so, these are all sins in here. Now, let's say that a man's 25 years of age when he accepts the Lord Jesus Christ. If salvation is dependent upon the confession of sin as most of us have been taught at one time or another, we're going to have a real challenge here in a minute, you watch it. You see, what we have been teaching people, especially in evangelistic circles, they come along and they say: "Well, we're going to have an evangelistic service," and they do wonderful preaching, these are great, sincere men. That's right. I'm not questioning a man's sincerity, I'm questioning only are they accurate on God's Word. They come and at the close of the service, they invite the people to come forward to get saved, and most of the times, this is the scripture you hear, the minister or the evangelist will say to the group gathered for salvation, they'll say, "You pray with me the prayer of the penitent sinner," and they pray, "God, be merciful to me, a sinner, and save me for Jesus sake." And they say, "Well, now come up and confess your sin." So they come up and they confess them. Do you get saved by confessing your sin? That's what we're taught but that's not what the Word says. You do not get saved by confessing your sin, you get saved by confessing the savior from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. Where is this found, in what section of the Word is it found, where the record is written "God be merciful to me a sinner and save me?" Well, first of all, it doesn't say "save me," it just says "God be merciful to me a sinner." It's written in the gospels. You and I do not live in the gospel period, we live after the day of Pentecost, the church of grace, the church of God. That's right, it's entirely different. This is why, in my teaching and research ministry, for over 25 years, I have discovered that people have said, "Well, I confessed my sin, I got a different feeling, I feel differently inside." I said to them, "Well, honey, look, I deal with Psychiatrists and men and women who go to Psychiatrists many times, and they tell me they got a different feeling. So, you can get a feeling laying on a Psychiatrist's couch. I'm not talking to you about feelings, I'm talking to you about getting born again of God's Spirit, having Christ in you and you being in Christ. Because feelings will come and go, but the Word of God liveth and abideth forever, and eternal life is Eternal life. That's right. Well, look at it, if salvation is dependent upon the confession of sins: Here's a man, 25 years old, he comes down to the alter tonight to get saved, let's say. Alright, he confesses this sin, this sin, that sin, he confesses this sin and that sin -- I see we got smaller sins in here (on the chart) -- bigger and smaller ones. It doesn't work like this with God, you know it? Because, in God's sight, sin is sin, there are no grades of sin. Grades of sin are in society. In God's sight, murder is as bad as lying, there are no grades, there are no little white sins, little gray sins and then little grayer gray sins, until you finally get to "black sins." But, I guess, to illustrate this and keep the variety in here and keep my audience awake, they put this in here. But anyway, let's say he confesses all these sins, but here, while he's at the alter, he forgets -- he forgets this one sin -- if salvation is dependent upon the confession of sin, and this man forgets to confess this one sin, what happens to him? Well, he'll forever remain what? Unsaved. That's right. We just read in Ephesians that we're saved by grace, not of works, confession of sin is works -- confession of sin is works, I want to tell you something, it's hard work too! I went through all of this stuff, I know how hard it is, you bet your life! I had a person come across my path who said that the reason I didn't have enough power in my ministry is because I really wasn't born again, so I said, well how do I get born again? And she said, "Well, you start in confessing your sin." And I said, "Well, now where do we want to start?" And she said, "Well, I'll tell you what you do, get yourself a piece of paper, and then, on this piece of paper, you write down all the sins that you've committed, and then, on the other side, on another sheet of paper, you write down all your good points." So I started, I got started making these sheets, and you know what I ended up with? I had about 7 or 8 sheets of all the sins I could remember, and I had about a half a page of all the good things that I could remember. And then, what got me so, after I had all those sheets, I lay awake at night and all at once I'd have another thought of one I'd committed 25 years before. So, I'd get up and write that one down. Look at it, just for once in your life, sit there and think logically. Let's say this man, here, is 25 years old. Just how many sins do you think he's committed in 25 years? Well, do you want to allow him two a year? Some of us commit those before breakfast. Two a year, 25 years is 50 of them. I want to challenge you tonight, there isn't a person in my audience that can sit down and write down 50 of their sins tonight. I challenge any one of you, from the PHD's on down the line, you can't remember 50 of your sins -- go on, write them down. Alright, what about trying to remember everything you've committed the last 25 years? It really becomes facetious doesn't it, when you sit down and think this thing trough. That's right. That's why you could never get saved by confessing your sin, because, if you neglected to confess one, and there isn't a man living who has lived for 10 or 15 years or even 5 years, who can remember all the sins he's committed. That's right. So we do not confess our sin, we confess the savior from sin, the lord Jesus Christ. And when we confess with our mouth, as Romans says, it doesn't say confess your sin, it says: Confess with your mouth, the lord Jesus -- Jesus as lord in your life, and believe that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be what? Saved. That's right. Now, when I confess with my mouth the lord Jesus and I'm saved, well, what happens to this? You see, to repent -- to repent is not to confess your sin, to repent is to confess the savior from sin, the lord Jesus Christ. That's what it is. That's repentance. Now, when I repent -- when I repent, I don't confess my sin, I confess the savior, and he covers -- he covers all of these sins up until the moment I'm born again, up until this moment, he covers them all. I wish I had a white sheet I could just now put over this and just blot out all these sins because that's exactly what he does. You know what The Word of God says? It says, He casts our sin from us as far as the East is from the West and He casts them as deep as the deepest sea, and He remembers them no more. He remembers them no more. Then let me ask you a question: What do you want to remember them for? What do you want to remember them for? If God does not remember them -- if God does not remember them, what do you want to remember them for? And many of the people that I deal with in these classes, they are still sin conscious of something God forgave them and forgot about 25 years ago, they're still bringing up. This is a good course in Psychiatry, right here, that's right. Because, once God has forgiven, God has forgotten. That's right. Man may forgive -- I may forgive you, you may forgive me, but it's a little difficult for us to forget sometimes, right? But not God, when God forgives, He forgets, and He never brings it back -- He Never brings it back. So, if it keeps coming back, it has to come from another source which is not the true God. And people today are living on sleeping pills and sedatives and everything else because they can't stand themselves. Boy, if they only know what they had in Christ Jesus when they got to be Christian. If they only knew it, that God cast the sin from them, as far as the East is from the West, and as deep as the deepest sea, and He does not remember them any longer. Ladies and gentlemen, if God doesn't remember it, what do you want to remember it for? Why do you want somebody else to bring it back to your attention again, to your conscious mind? If God's forgotten it, you forget about it, and you start walking, for once in your life, with your shoulders back, your head held high and you walk down that street knowing that it's Christ in you, the hope of glory! Isn't that tremendous? You see what happens to all of these? All gone! And at that moment -- at that moment when it's gone, it's Christ in you and, just at that moment when you're born again, it's you in Christ -- perfect, absolutely perfect, all the way down the line. Now, I want you to turn to the book of Acts, chapter 3. I just must read this verse with you. Acts, chapter 3, verse 19, listen to this: Acts 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, ... Blotted out, from the Greek, literally means: Washed away, totally, without any stain. That's the Greek word that's used here. Repent -- when you repent, you do not confess your sin, you confess the savior from sin, and what happens to you? It says your sins, that whole bunch that you committed before you got saved, now he blots those all out. He blots those all out and he starts us out with a tremendous thing that we must begin to understand and that is the believer's standing and state. What's the difference between the believer's standing and his state? Well, in my earthly family -- in my earthly family, I am a son of Mr. & Mrs. Ernst Wierwille. What's my standing in that family? I'm one of a son, that's right, I'm one of a son. How long am I going to be a son in that family? As long as I live. Well, now what about my heavenly family? When I'm born again of God's spirit, I've joined His family, do you want to tell me that my earthly daddy can do a better job than my heavenly Father? That once my father, my earthly father, brought me into this world, as long as I live, I'm his son, but that my heavenly Father can't do as good a job as my earthly father? That, I believe, is almost blasphemy -- that's right! That's why we've got to understand, now, that Christ in you and you in Christ material that I'm dealing with which deals with our standing and our state. My standing is one of a son in the family of God as my standing in my earthly family is one of a son. Now, my state -- my state is in the Wierwille family sometimes fluctuated, that's right, because sometimes I wasn't too good a boy, that's right. When I was not too good a boy, was I still my earthly father's boy? I was, he maybe didn't like to claim me, but I was. I was still his son. Why? Because he had his seed in me -- he couldn't do anything about it. I was still his son because he had his seed in me, that's right. You see, my stand in the Wierwille family was one of a son, but when I broke the window, or when I did something else wrong, my state fluctuated. Sometimes he had to take me in the wood shed because it had fluctuated that far. But even when he took me in the wood shed, he was still my father, I was his son. You see, he was hooked with me, couldn't get away, because of seed -- because of seed, that's it. Now, listen to this, I John, the epistle of I John, chapter 3, verse 2: I John 3:2 Beloved, [beloved, now -- now -- N.O.W. spells now] now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Beloved, now are we the sons of God. Well, I'm a son of my earthly father from a body and soul angle, right? This makes me a son of my earthly father. But, I am also a child of God for I'm born again of God's Spirit, I have His seed in me -- I have His spirit, His seed in me. So, this gives me a standing -- a standing of a son in my heavenly Father's family. Now my state -- my state in that family is dependent upon my walk, how I walk on the Word of God after I'm His son. Just like for my earthly father, my standing in my earthly father's family was always one of a son. Now, when Dad told me to do something, if I carried it out, my state was always in line with my standing, that's right. But, if I did not carry it out, if I didn't carry out what the body and soul man was to carry out, you know, I was still my father's son, but my state had fluctuated -- my state had fluctuated. So, how in the world could I get back into the alignment and harmony that's needed in the family? Well, I went to my father and I'd say, "Well, father, I'm sorry." And you know something, he always accepted it, isn't that wonderful? And even to this day, I'm still his son, so, my sonship has no bearing what-so- ever upon what I do, but my state has every bearing upon what I do. Alright, now what about a son of God? "Beloved" it says, "now are we the sons of God" -- now are we the sons of God, alright, here it is: at the moment you're born again, it's Christ in you, and at that moment, you are in Christ -- you are in Christ, because you have confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus, you've believed God raised him from the dead, you're born again of God's Spirit, it's Christ in you the hope of glory, and at that moment, you're in him. This is that perfect alignment and harmony. Alright, let's say this occurred to me, now, I walk along, I have not been taught a lot about the Word of God, so tomorrow I sin. Here it is -- this is a sin. I commit that one tomorrow, and I commit another one tomorrow, that one. Now, after I'm saved, all of this before has been wiped out, now these are new ones. These new ones -- those new ones I can remember, right? Now, I'm out here in left field -- that's what I call "left field". You see why they never allowed me to do the artwork on the charts? Because they didn't want me to write, because nobody could read it, so we have all these great artists doing all this, but this is the way I think, anyway. So, here it is, here I am out in left field. Why? Because I've sinned -- I've sinned. Now those I can remember because I just committed them, that's right. Like when I broke the window, in my earthly family, that one I can remember, I just committed it. Now how do I get back into alignment and harmony? How do I get back here in perpendicular relationship with my heavenly Father? Hey, when I'm out here in left field, am I still His son? You bet your life I'm His son, but I'm out in left field, I have broken fellowship -- I have broken fellowship. Now, how -- how do you get back from here over to there? How do you get back into that perfect alignment and harmony? Because, if you want prayers answered, you must be in alignment and harmony. Just like, if you want the automobile, you've got to be in alignment and harmony with your earthly father, or he'll tell you to stay home. If you're going to get things from God, you'll have to be in a perpendicular relationship with Him, you must be in alignment and harmony. It's just not enough for God to be in you, but you must be in Him. Christ in you is sonship, you in Christ is your walk, it's fellowship. And as somebody once said: "In a ship, you can't have a fellow in it unless you've got the ship." You see, we talk about the Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man. Who ever heard such baloney! All of us have in the church -- straight baloney, that's all! You know why? They want to tell us that God's everybody's Father and, therefore, it's the brotherhood of man, everybody's my brother -- that's a lie from hell! That's right! You know who God's the Father of? Those He's fathered. My earthly father is only the father of the children he's fathered. I'm only the father of the children I've fathered -- praise the Lord! Now -- because, maybe you're the father of the children you've fathered, and praise the Lord for that, because you're tickled to death they're not mine! Alright, look, God is only the Father of the children He's fathered. Those who are His children are my brothers, spiritually speaking. So, when you talk to me about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of man, you've got to talk about those whom God fathered. Because God's not the father of those "nincompoops" running around down there who don't believe a thing, who reject the Bible, deny the Word of God. I don't care if they stand in every pulpit on every street corner in the world, that doesn't cut any ice with God. God's only the Father of those He's fathered -- sure. Now, how do I get rid of this -- this broken fellowship, this walk? How do I get rid of my being out of alignment and harmony? Well, listen to I John, chapter 1, verse 9: I John 1:9 If we confess our sins, ... If we confess them. Now it's talking about confession of sin. This is the verse they use at an evangelistic service and preach on it and say, "Come on down and confess your sin." This has nothing to do what-so-ever with getting saved, this has everything to do with getting back in alignment and harmony after you're saved, that's right -- after you're saved. Because, once you're saved and you sin, you're out of alignment and harmony, so you've got to get back in. This is talking about confession of sin. Well, if we're going to confess our sin, that's not salvation, that's confession of sin. Now, if we confess our sin -- if we confess our sin, ... he is faithful and just to forgive us [of] our sins, and to cleanse us [of] {from} all unrighteousness. I'd like to go back to that chart with all of those sins on, because it says here, if we confess them, if we confess our sins -- if we confess our sins. Well which ones? Those that I've committed after I'm saved, I can remember those, that's right. Now if I go back over here, if I confess this -- confess it -- well, what is it to confess it? To tell the Father. It doesn't say you have to run around town and tell Maggie Muggins and everybody else -- no, no, no! You confess it. Well, what is it to confess it? Just tell Him, like my earthly father, I'd just say to him, "Well, Dad, I'm sorry." To my heavenly Father I say, "Well, Father, I'm sorry." That's what it is to confess it. So I confess this sin -- I confess these. That's confession of sin, those I can remember, I've just committed them. If I confess my sin -- listen to it, He, God, is faithful and just to forgive us of our sin and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. So, when I've confessed them, again, all of these are what? He's cleansed us of all unrighteousness. You see, sin is unrighteousness after you're saved too. So, how do you get rid of this? By confession -- confession, confessing your sin, you go to Him and you say, "Well, Father, I'm sorry," and when you confess -- it says, "if you confess" -- if you do it, it says, "He is faithful." How many times? Well, how many times do you need to confess? He's always faithful -- God is faithful and just to forgive us of all of our sin, our broken fellowship, and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness. And then we're back in perfect alignment and harmony, then you can pray and get your prayers answered and all heaven won't be like brass. Then you can walk before God and the petitions that you ask of Him you're going to get. Why? Because you're in alignment and harmony. The reason so many people are not getting prayers answered, they're out in left field. If they only knew that if they confessed their broken fellowship, they'd be back in alignment and harmony, in fellowship with God -- it's Christ in you and you in Christ, and that's the greatness of the walk, because there is the power to answered prayer. Segment 44: SONSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 44 SONSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP No one can have fellowship with God until he first has sonship. This is axiomatic, just like a baby in your family, a child in your family cannot have fellowship in the family until it's born. You must get born again first to be a son of God, then you can have fellowship with God. Like in the earthly family, after that child is born, then it can have fellowship with the family. This verse in I John 3:9, I want to share with you again because I want to go into a little more detail here: I John 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. Now, the first time I am born, am born of my earthly father and mother -- I'm a body and soul man. But when I'm born again, I'm body, soul and spirit, now this is of God, that's what that verse 9 said, "whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin." He does not commit sin in the spirit for the spirit is God in Christ in you which is eternal life. Here he cannot sin. But now here's a man, born of God's Spirit, he's body, soul and spirit, can this man still sin? Sure he can sin and he does sin, all men sin and fall short of the glory of God. A man does not go to hell because of sin, a man goes to hell because of the rejection of the Savior from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, here I am, born again of God's Spirit, I'm body, soul and spirit. Now, I can sin, but when I sin, I do not sin in the spirit for this cannot sin, because this is born of God, it cannot sin, I John 3:9 says. But here, in my body and soul, in my mind, with my believing, by way of my five senses, I have freedom of will. If I know the Word of God, I could do the will of God, but a man could know the Word of God and have freedom of will and choose not to do it, it still would be what? Sin -- and all sin is unrighteousness. All sin is unrighteousness, and this is what breaks the fellowship, not the sonship. I am still His son when I am born of His Spirit, even as I am the son of my earthly father in this category. So, after I'm saved, when I sin, when I break fellowship, it's in this category -- in this category. So, I confess this broken fellowship and I get back in alignment and harmony. But even if a man would never confess it, would he still be God's son? Sure he would be, the same as I'd be the son of my earthly father if I did something very wrong and I never went back to my earthly father and said "Well, I'm sorry I did it." Now, my people, if our earthly father can do these wonderful things with us and for us, how much more our heavenly Father. Isn't that a tremendous truth? And how simple this now all becomes once you get it all worked through the accuracy of the Word; you understand body, soul and spirit; and you understand that this is eternal life -- eternal life; God can speak to spirit, spirit to God; and this is the body and soul man where a man can still sin, and if he sins here, he confesses his sin and he gets back in alignment and harmony, which we showed you, which is Christ in you and you in Christ. So, these things you must understand and this you must know in order to get to the greatness of God's wonderful, matchless Word. You know, while I'm thinking about this, remember the word "backsliding?" People are always talking about "be careful, bother or sister, that you don't backslide." How in the world can you backslide far enough to not be your earthly father's son or daughter? You can't! I am Victor Paul Wierwille, no matter what I do, I could never slide back far enough to not be Victor Paul Wierwille. Why? Because of the seed that's in me. This is why the word "backsliding" is never used in the New Testament. It's only used by uninstructed teachers, and preachers, and ministers, and theologians who do not read the New Testament in the light of which it's written. The word "backsliding" does not appear in the New Testament. Why? Because I'm a son of God, after the day of Pentecost, and a son cannot backslide. A son can get out of fellowship with God, a son can walk in darkness, but a son cannot backslide so far that he's no longer a son. That's why, in the Old Testament, Abraham was a servant of God, the Bible does not say that Abraham was a son of God, because to have a son you must have seed, and the seed was not available until Christ came. This is why, in the Old Testament they were sons of God. Abraham was a son of God, Isaac was a son of God, Jacob was a son of God, Moses was a son of God, that's right. -- NO they were not! -- Not at all, not at all, not at all, should say not! They were servants of God, that's right. The Bible says Abraham was a servant, Isaac was a servant, Jacob was a servant. Why? Because sonship was not yet available. And a servant can backslide. You bet your life! In your household, you hire a servant, he can slide so far back you fire him! He's no longer your servant. But your son, you can't fire him, he's still your son. Now I know that, in the old testament, Israel is referred to as a son from time to time. But if you'll read it, it isn't because of birth because God adopted him -- God's adoption. And if you adopt someone, he hasn't got your blood in him anyways -- no seed in him. I adopt another son out of another family, he doesn't have my seed, it's only by adoption I've taken him in, that's all. Now, you see the sins and the sin that's forgiven never comes up. Never, because God's forgotten it. If it comes up it's because somebody else brings it up, or you bring it back out of the retention of your mind, the past recesses of your mind, you bring it back up. I have even been into services where people I know have been born again and God's forgotten all about the past. And yet, some how or other, they say they have a connection and all at once they say "Well, Maggie Muggins, I see that 20 years ago you committed such and such a sin". You know where they got it from? The devil! Devil spirits operate into people's minds who bring to them sins that God has covered. It's real devilish, because if God's forgotten it, how in the world could God ever tell it to a man? He can't and He doesn't. So, if it ever comes back up it's because of a devil spirit. And those devil spirits know exactly what you did. They know what sins you committed, when you went down the wrong road with the wrong girl friend and all that other stuff. And they can bring that all back. And that's real devilish! That's right. You see, repentance -- repentance is for the unsaved sinner. He does not repent of his sins, he repents by confessing with his mouth the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior from sin. I want to take you into Hebrews, chapter 6 and show you a difficult section of the Word of God that really is not difficult at all, if you can read English. Chapter 6, in verse 4: Hebrews 6:4 - 6 For it is impossible [impossible] for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, Verse 6: If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. These verses are used to teach just the opposite of what they say. Because they say, "Well, it's impossible, if you've once been made partaker of the holy ghost, if you fall away to renew them once again unto repentance." If that were true, what they teach, that it's impossible, you know, then nobody, if he ever sinned after he got saved, could ever get saved again. But, it doesn't say that. It says it's impossible - it's impossible - then come all of those parenthetical phrases, and by the time they get to verse 6, they've forgotten that it said it's impossible. It's impossible what? To renew them again unto repentance. If you could repent a second time, it would have to be a renewal, that's right. If you could repent a second time, it would have to be a renewal. And it says very plainly, it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. How many times can a man get saved? How many times can he repent? Once. Well, how many times can you get born the first time? Can you enter a second time into your mother's womb and get born again? Nicodemus asked that question, remember? It's impossible! It's impossible once you're born again of God's spirit, it says, to renew them again unto repentance -- if they fall away. That's right. Can't get them unsaved again, it's impossible, it says, even if they fall away. Do you know what happens? They crucify to themselves afresh Jesus Christ which is broken fellowship. That's what it is, broken fellowship. It's impossible -- it's impossible to renew them again unto repentance. There's another truth in here in II Corinthians. II Corinthians, chapter 7, I believe it is, verse 10 -- listen to this: Second Corinthians, I'm in first Corinthians -- II Corinthians chapter 7, verse 10: II Corinthians 7:10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: . . . Not to be repented of -- if you could get saved a second time, you'd have to be able to repent of having repented the first time. But you see this is the kind of stuff we've had shoved at us -- silly it becomes. Used to demonstrate this to people in my classes many times. I'd get a glass of water -- a glass represents the body, the water inside represents the soul. And then I put a little white button on a string, a real thin string so you can barely see the string, and I'd tell my people: "This is now the seed of Christ, which the Bible says is eternal life, but I'll show you how eternal it is for most people. So, today, I confess with my mouth all my sins -- boomps, in goes the button. Now I'm saved, Glory Hallelujah! I'm saved, wonderfully saved, yeah! Ha, ha! But, tomorrow morning I have a bad thought, boomph! God takes it out, real quick. There I am, just body and soul, unsaved again. Now I feel bad and I wait for the next revival to come. So, the next revival comes and I go down to the alter again and I confess my sin and everything I can think of -- boomp, in comes the spirit again. I go along for about two or three weeks, one night I go out with the boys, and lo and behold, there I am. Do something wrong -- boomp, out it comes again. Hah! My daddy did better than that, my earthly daddy! You know why? He put his seed in here once and I am still Victor Paul Wierwille. People, what about God almighty? Boy, that's devilish teaching to teach that a person's born again of God's Spirit and God takes 'er out every other Monday morning or on Tuesday morning after eight o'clock. Huh! NO, a thousand times no! I tell you, my heavenly Father did the job so good that I'm Victor Paul Wierwille as long as I live. My heavenly Father did the job so good that I'm His son as long as I live. Now, being Victor Paul Wierwille, I'm not going to live forever. But being God's son in the spirit, I have eternal life and that is forever! Isn't that wonderful? Why it's a tremendous thing to know these wonderful truths. We have a chart, over here, that is one of the finest charts in this class on Power For Abundant Living as far as I am concerned, because it sets before our people the great summation and accuracy of all these wonderful truths that I have set before you. And I just am very anxious for you to understand the great depth of this wonderful Word of God so that you'll never question again but that you arrive at the place that you know that you know that you know that you know. This word "confession": "If thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus", remember Romans 10:9 & 10? "If thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus," that is one confession. There are two types of confessions, and I'll show them both to you here from the chart. But I want to take you on the upward path, first of all. This section in here, "If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus," this is repentance unto salvation. Acts 2:38 -- Right after the church was started, on the day of Pentecost, and Peter preached that tremendous sermon, he closes in Acts 2:38 with this statement: Acts 2:38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, . . . He didn't say "repent of your sins." He had preached the resurrection to them in Acts chapter 2. To repent was simply to confess with their mouth the lord Jesus, to believe God raised him from the dead. Verse 38 (continued) . . . and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, . . . "For the remission of sins," so when you repent, you get what? Remember? Remission of sins. You get remission of sins, that's what you get. And when you get remission of sins you become a son of God, because this is your sonship, God then is your Father. God is your Father because you're His son because He's given you remission of sins because you, by your free will, confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believed God raised him from the dead. This is confession unto salvation. I want to show you in I John, that epistle there that's written, these verses again. Listen to verse 1: "Behold" -- Chapter 3, verse 1: I John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: [not servants of God, but sons of God] therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Verse 2: Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: . . . But right now we're sons of God. Why? Because of birth. There's a record in Galatians that I'd like to just call to your attention too. Galatians, chapter 4, just listen to this; Galatians chapter 4, verse 6: Galatians 4:6 And because ye are sons, [because you're a son] God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Verse 7: Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; . . . You're no more a servant, you're a son, you're much better than a - - look what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob did being servants. What about you and I being sons -- do we not have more ability, more rights in the household than a servant? Man, the church is living so far below par it's pitiful. We're sons of God. Look at what the servants in the old testament did according to Hebrews 11. How much more a son ought to be able to do! What a tremendous thing! Verse 7: Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God {through Christ}. An heir of God! A son is heir of everything his father has. God is our Father, we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus, the Word of God says in Romans. Well, isn't that wonderful? You confess with your mouth the lord Jesus. He gives you remission of sins and you have your sonship. Now, when you break fellowship, here's what happens: this is confession unto broken fellowship, this is in I John 1:9, this is broken fellowship, because I have sinned, I've fallen away. All sin is falling away. We crucify the Lord Jesus Christ afresh every time we sin because he did for our sins, we shouldn't sin, but the good Lord knows, every man of body and soul is going to be tricked by the devil and he is going to sin, so God made a way out of it for His sons, and this is the greatest thing in the whole world. He made it so that, when we break fellowship, and we confess I John 1:9 -- we confess our broken fellowship, we confess our sin -- we confess our sin, then He gives us forgiveness of sins. See, forgiveness of sins is the opposite of remission of sins. Remission of sins is what the saved sinner gets when he confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, believing God raised him from the dead. Forgiveness of sins is what the saved sinner gets when he confesses his broken fellowship. Then God cleanses him of all broken fellowship and He forgives him his sins and puts him back into fellowship, in alignment and harmony with the Father. The Father and His son in fellowship; there's your perpendicular relationship. Isn't that a tremendous reality, a tremendous truth? It sure is! Turn to the epistle of first John, please. I John, chapter 1. Now you can start reading I John, the epistle, and it'll just bless your soul. Because, I John does not deal with becoming a son, it deals with the walk after you're a son. It talks about fellowship. Listen to this; I John 1:3 That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship {with us}: . . . Fellowship - you see the subject? Fellowship, that's what he's talking about, that you may have fellowship. You cannot have fellowship until you first have sonship, right? So the epistle of I John, here, is not talking about sonship, it's talking about fellowship. Listen to this, it's so simple, so lovely, so beautiful, -- listen; I John 1:3 - 4: That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ. [Our fellowship!] And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full. Not half full, not two thirds full, but full -- that your joy may be full! This message, the Word of God says, ought to just -- gel within you, ought to effervesce, it ought to glow within you, that your joy may be full. Verse 5: This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, [God is light] and in him is no darkness at all. God is light, in Him is no darkness. If God went around killing people off, there'd be darkness in Him. If God sent sickness and disease, there'd be what in God? Darkness. If God was responsible for sin, there'd be darkness. You know when I taught you Hebrews 2:14, you may recall that the last part of that verse says that Jesus Christ likewise took part of the same, that he might destroy him who had the power of death, who is the devil. That's what it says in Hebrews 2:14, that makes it very clear. Who has the power of death? Well, who is the ruler of this earth? The devil. So, who kills people? The devil, not the true God. My goodness, if my God and Father went around killing people, I'd quit worshipping Him right away quick, I'll tell you that! The true God, there's no darkness in Him. Death is of the devil. Now that doesn't mean when people die, they're of the devil, that's not at all what it says. But death is still of the devil, he always kills, everybody that's killed is killed by the devil. Death is of the devil, not from the true God. The true God has never killed any of His people. Look, here's my earthly father, he loves me so much he kills me. Well, it kills me to think about it. No, my earthly father wouldn't do it, how about my heavenly Father? He certainly loves me as much as my earthly father. Well, listen to the rest, talking about fellowship, isn't it wonderful? Listen to this: Verse 6: If we say that we have fellowship with him [with God], and [we] walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: Well, could a man say he's in fellowship with God and still be out in left field? Sure, he could say so, a man could say a lot of things. Well, that's what it's talking about. The man says he's in fellowship, but he really isn't, he's out in left field, he says he's lying. Verse 7: But if we walk in the light [if we walk in the light], as he [God] is in the light, we [we who? He and I -- we, He and I] have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. What sin? All sin is the amount, what kind of sin? Broken fellowship. Broken fellowship, that's what he cleanses, now watch it: Verse 8: If we say that we have no sin, . . . What kind of sin? Broken fellowship, that's the context, the subject. Verse 8: If we say that we have no sin [no broken fellowship], we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. [Right.] Verses 9 - 10: [But] If we confess our sins, [What kind of sins? Broken fellowship] he [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, [What kind of sins? Broken fellowship.] and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, [that we have not broken fellowship] we make him [we make Him, God] a liar, . . . Why? Because God has just said, everybody sins. Do we sin in the spirit? NO! But in the body and soul man, that's where we fall far short. And he says, if any man says he has not sinned, he's a big old liar, because he makes God a liar. Verse 9 (continued): . . . and his word is not in us. We haven't rightly divided the Word. I John 2:1 My little children, [You see, it's written to children. That's why it's fellowship.] these things write I unto you, that ye sin not [that you do not break fellowship]. [But] {And} if any man sin [if any man break fellowship], we have an advocate [a defense attorney, a barrister] with the Father, . . . My grand mother. NO! My earthly father? NO! Something a lot better than the people who have died, because they're not up there. But there is one who is up there, the Lord Jesus Christ. We have an advocate with the Father, . . . Jesus Christ the righteous [one]: Well, bless God, that's wonderful, isn't it? You know, I've written this little booklet, "The Answer." This is all on I John, the epistle of I John, it deals with it line by line and word by word, all the way through. This is available to you, you may have a copy of this if you like it. This will give you the great understanding of this wonderful epistle which is set so beautifully in the greatness of God's Word, teaching our fellowship with Him. In the fellowship we have power. Fellowship is in the category of the renewed mind, sonship is in birth. By grace I am saved, through faith, and that not of myself, it is a gift of God. Segment 45: THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 45 THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN I. TWO GODS: I want to set before you, today, in this particular session, the great truth from God's Word regarding the two gods. The one who is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the other who is the god of this world who is Satan. And to do this, we must go back and we must continue to understand, with great alacrity of mind, exactly what occurs when a person of body and soul is born. This person of body and soul, legally, belongs to Satan because, this man of body and soul is of the flesh. And this man of the spirit, legally belongs to God, when he is born. This is why in John, chapter 3, in verse 6, the Word of God says, listen: John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. These two never overlap. They never overlap. That which is born of the flesh, this is flesh, body and soul -- that which is born of the flesh is flesh and it will always remain flesh. That which is born of the spirit, of God, is spirit and will always remain spirit. The two never overlap -- the two never overlap. That's right, they never meet, see. They're further apart than the East is from the West, and the two never, never meet. So, this man of body and soul, this flesh man, this part of man cannot be converted. This part of man cannot be saved -- it isn't this [body and soul], it's this [spirit] that saves us. That which is born of the flesh is flesh and will always stay flesh. You can't get this part up into heaven because this is born of the flesh, it's flesh, it'll always stay flesh. While this is spirit, born of the Spirit, it's spirit and it will always stay spirit. This misunderstanding of these great truths from the accuracy of God's Word is what just has caused so much confusion and so many people to be all upset about it. You see, in John 6 -- John 6, in verse 63, listen to this record: John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: . . . And when the Word of God says nothing, you know what it means? Nothing. It is the spirit that quickeneth -- the word "quickeneth" means make alive. It's the spirit that makes alive. The flesh, the body and soul man, profits what? Nothing -- nothing. And yet people work on the body and soul man all the time to make themselves pleasing so they can get this body and soul pleasing before God. They even talk about lifting up "holy hands". No holy hands in this category, the holiness is in the soul, in the heart of a man, in the spirit of man, where he lifts up himself before God. So, this particular section of the Word of God must be understood if we're ever going to understand the two gods. Because, the man of body and soul, that man legally belongs to Satan. The reason he legally belongs to Satan is because Satan has this world. He's the ruler of this world, the prince of this world. And when we are born, we're dead in trespasses and sins, without God and without hope. We're just body and soul people. In Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 3, listen to this: Ephesians 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature [were by nature] the children of wrath, {even as others}. Now do you know how we got to be by nature the children of wrath? Because, man born -- a child born is just body and soul, and by nature, naturally -- naturally he belongs to this kingdom of which Satan is the absolute ruler. This is why we are by nature children of wrath. And verse 2 of this same chapter -- I just read 3, in verse 2 it says; Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, [the prince of the power of the air, it's referring to Satan] the spirit [who] {that} now worketh [who is at work] in the children of disobedience: As children of body and soul, we legally belong to Satan, and so we are children of disobedience. This is what that section means. In the fifth chapter of Ephesians -- chapter 5 of Ephesians, in verse 6, listen to this: Ephesians 5:6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience. The wrath of God cometh upon the children of disobedience. You see, the children of disobedience are these children who, by nature, because they're just body and soul, and by nature, they belong to this kingdom here upon earth because they're just natural beings. Now to get to this matter of the two gods, exactly what are we talking about? Well, we'll go to II Corinthians -- Acts, Romans, II Corinthians, chapter 1. Chapter 1 of II Corinthians, and I want you to listen to these words very carefully, because this is where we get the great accuracy of the two gods which you must understand. II Corinthians, chapter 1, verse 2: II Corinthians 1:2 - 3: Grace be [unto] {to} you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ [God our Father, the Lord Jesus Christ]. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; There you have one God set forth in two verses, very accurately. Now, in II Corinthians, chapter 4 and in verse 4 we read this: II Corinthians 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. The god of this world. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the other is the god of this world. And therefore you have two gods, one the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the other is the god of this world. Now, according to Genesis, chapter 1, verse 26: Genesis 1:26 - 28: And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them [let mankind] have dominion [rulership, authority] over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth [that's verse 28]. You see, man had dominion and authority, man was God's under-ruler. Man ruled the whole earth at one time. He had absolute power over all God's creation. Verses 29 & 30: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given [you] every green herb for meat: and it was so. You see, man in the beginning had it. Then how do you get a god of this world when Adam was the god of this world to begin with? Well, in Luke, chapter 4 -- the gospel of Luke, chapter 4. At the time when Satan took Jesus up into the mount and -- of temptation -- and we have this whole record in the 4th chapter, but I'm interested in only two verses, listen to this: Luke 4:5 & 6: And the devil, taking him [Jesus] up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: . . . Now, you cannot give anything away if you haven't got it. If Satan, the devil had not had it, Jesus would never have tolerated this statement or this action at all, that's right. But, you see, God has to be just to both the devil as well as to man. God has to always be just, and God is always just, and here He's just again, in Jesus Christ, to the devil; Verse 6: . . . the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; . . . Who delivered the authority, the dominion and the power? Adam gave it to God's arch-enemy, the devil. That's how the devil got to be the prince of the air, the prince of the world. That's how he got to be the god of this world. The devil and one third of his angels who are the evil or devil spirits. And he says: Verse 6 (continued): . . . and to whomsoever I will I give it. You can't give anything away if you haven't got it. And certainly he had it because the Word of God says that he had it. And this gives us now the reason why. One is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The other god is the god with the dominion, the authority, the power over all of God's creation here upon earth that was originally formed and made. II. THE UNFORGIVABLE SIN: Now, in this matter of understanding the two gods, you get into the category of what is called "The Unforgivable Sin" -- the unforgivable sin. Now, this unforgivable sin is not too difficult to understand if you put the Word of God together accurately, and that's exactly what I intend to do. In the gospel of Matthew, in chapter 12 of Matthew, we'll find out who this unforgivable sin -- the discussion in the Word, to whom is it addressed? That's what I want to find out first of all. You see, the unforgivable sin is also called, in the Word of God, the sin against the Holy Ghost, it's also called blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 12, and when it comes to this matter of the unforgivable sin, it's like in most of these other fields, we have just been taught a bunch of baloney, just here, there and yonder. People have taught; If you continue to reject the Lord Jesus Christ, finally God gives up on you, that then you've committed the unforgivable sin. Has nothing to do with it as you shall see from the accuracy of God's Word. In chapter 12 of Matthew, in verse 31, listen to this: Matthew 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, . . . Now, we'll want to find out who the "you" are. Well, if you go back to verse 24, it says "the Pharisees" -- the Pharisees, so the "you" is the Pharisees, the heads of the Temple. The scribes and the Pharisees and the Saducees, they ruled the Temple. They were at the top echelon of the religion of their time. Matthew 12:31 & 32: Wherefore I say unto you, [Jesus speaking to them, the heads of the Temple,] All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come. In the gospel of Mark, you have another reference. In chapter 3 of Mark and in verse 28: Mark 3:28 Verily I say unto you, . . . To you -- now, to whom is he talking? You go back to verse 22 and it says "to the Scribes" -- to the scribes. Some of the Pharisees were scribes, some of the Saducees were. He's speaking to those Pharisees and Saducees. Mark 3:28 & 29: Verily I say unto you, All sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation. In the gospel of Luke, in Luke chapter 12 -- Luke, chapter 12 is another reference, listen to this, all talking about blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, sin against the Holy Ghost, Luke chapter 12, verse 10: Luke 12:10 And whosoever . . . Whosoever -- and if you go back to chapter 11, verse 53, it says; "the Scribes and the Pharisees". So he's talking again to the same group. Whenever he's talking about blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, the sin against the Holy Ghost, he's talking to the Pharisees, the heads of the Temple, those men sitting in the top echelon. . . . whosoever shall speak a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but unto him that blasphemeth against the Holy Ghost it shall not be forgiven. It shall not be forgiven. Alright, so we know that it was addressed to those who were the heads of the Temple. And he said that they had blasphemed against the Holy Ghost. They had committed the unforgivable sin. They had committed the sin against the Holy Ghost which is a sin against God. Now, in the unforgivable sin, we have to note that there are two seeds. In Genesis, chapter 3 -- Genesis chapter 3, we've read it before but now it'll become even clearer to you. Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; . . . And I discussed with you her seed was the Christ. That's what The Word said -- between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman (who was Christ). So you have how many seeds in that verse? Two! Two seeds; the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman. And when you plant seed, you get the result of the seed. You plant potatoes, you get potatoes, that's right. So, here you have these two seeds. Now, here's a man of body and soul, he's just a natural man. He has no seed in him, spiritually, he has no seed in him. But now this man of body and soul confesses with his mouth the Lord Jesus, Romans 10:9 & 10, and believes God raised him from the dead, then this man is born again. And when he is born again, he has the seed of Christ in him. And having this seed in him, he has body, soul and spirit. This man now has the love of God and this man has eternal life. But, take it on the other hand. A man of body and soul over here too, he's just a natural man, going through life. He's not born of any seed, spiritually. Some people go through life a lifetime without ever accepting the Lord Jesus Christ or accepting Satan as their father, that's right. So they go on through life as a natural man. But legally, those who go all the way through life that way still belong to Satan. Because, legally, the man of body and soul until he's born again, belongs to Satan. Take it on the other side. The second seed, the seed of the serpent; this man of body and soul believes that Satan is the true god. He worships the "true god," he gives credit to Satan and he puts Satan, confesses Satan with his mouth, and he believes that Satan is the "true god." Then that man of body and soul is born again. And if you're born again of seed, you can't get rid of the seed. You can't get rid of the seed, and that's why it's unforgivable. It's unforgivable, you can't get rid of it on this side nor can you get rid of it on this side. And the two of them just parallel off. He's born again of the seed of the serpent or the seed of Satan, and he has the hate of Satan because hate is of the spirit even as love is of the spirit on this side. And this man has eternal death while this man, born of God's seed, has eternal life. There you have the two seeds and their effectiveness upon life. Now, the man of body and soul, when he makes a choice, he doesn't always make this choice, but if he makes a choice, he'll either accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his personal Lord and Savior, or he will accept Satan. If he accepts Satan, he gets born of the seed of the serpent. And if he's born of the seed of the serpent, that's what's unforgivable. You cannot get rid of it, even if you try, because it's seed. You can't get rid of seed. That's right. Look at John, chapter 8, -- Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, chapter 8, listen to this: John 8:13 The Pharisees therefore said unto him, . . . Now we're talking about the group I read from Matthew, Mark and Luke, and showed you that the whole context dealt with blaspheming against the Holy Ghost, sin against the Holy Ghost. John 8:13 The Pharisees [same gang] therefore said unto him, Thou bearest record of thyself; thy record is not true. That's what they said of Jesus. John 8:14 - 15: Jesus answered and said unto them, Though I bear record of myself, yet my record is true: for I know whence I came, and whither I go; but ye cannot tell whence I come, and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh; . . . You see, they judged according to the senses flesh. Verse 19: Then said they unto him [the Pharisees said to Jesus], Where is thy Father? Jesus answered [them, the Pharisees], Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. Verse 21: Then said Jesus again unto them [the Pharisees], I go my way, and ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins: whither I go, ye cannot come. Why could they not be saved? Because they were sons of Satan, they had been born of the wrong seed. They couldn't go to heaven if they tried. Verse 22: Then said the Jews, Will he kill himself? because he saith, Whither I go, ye cannot come. 1. Verse 23:And [Jesus] {he} said unto them [the Pharisees], Ye are from [or of] beneath; I am from [or of] above: ye are of [of-of-of] this world; . . . Who is the god of this world? Satan (II Corinthians 4:4). And it says very plainly, they were of him. Well, if you're of someone, you've got seed in you. Listen to verse 33 of the same chapter 8, of John:John 8:33They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Verses 37 & 38:I know that ye are Abraham's seed [Jesus said]; but ye seek to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. Verse 38, listen now:I speak that which I have seen with my Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. How many fathers in that verse? Two. And if you've got a father, you've got children. That's what makes a father. A husband is not a father until he has a child. Two fathers -- boy!Verses 39 - 41:They answered and said unto him, Abraham is our father [Abraham's our father]. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham. Ye do the deeds of your father. 1. Then said they to him, We be not born of fornication [or adultery]; we have one Father, even God. Even God -- we have one father, even God! That's right. They just forgot to say which god! Verses 42 & 43:Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot [you cannot, you cannot] hear my word. Why? They couldn't hear his word because they were born of the wrong seed. Listen to the next verse:Verse 44:Ye are of your father the devil, . . . Boy, oh boy! Ye are of your father the devil. They were born of the wrong seed -- they were born of the wrong seed. And they turned right around and they answered, in verse 48, they said to him "You're a Samaritan, you have a devil!" You see, they're born of the wrong seed and they think they're right. Boy, they think they're right, they'll argue, they'll fight, they'll do everything else, but they're born of the wrong seed. They were of the devil, that's the seed of the serpent and that's the unforgivable sin. The unforgivable sin, the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost is to get born of the wrong seed. They have no eternal life abiding within them, they have only eternal death. This is why, when you're born again of God's spirit, you have the seed of Christ, you can't repent of it, and you have the love of God, you have eternal life. But, if a person, on the other hand, would choose to be born of the seed of the serpent, to confess Satan as his god, he is born of the seed of the serpent, he has the hate of Satan and that man has eternal death written within himself. He can never -- never undo that seed which is within. In the first epistle of John, in chapter 3, listen to this: I John 3:9 - 11:Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: [two children] whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Verse 12:Not as Cain, who was of [Cain who was of-of-of] that wicked one, . . . Then the Bible says Cain was born again of the seed of the serpent and this is why God could not accept his offering back in Genesis. Not because he was a farmer who tilled the ground as people say, but because he was born of the wrong seed. He had the seed of the serpent in him, therefore God could not accept his offering even though he worshipped according to Hoyle, he still was of the wrong seed. And it says in verse 15:I John 3:15Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: . . . You see, hate's an inside job. You cannot really hate unless you're born again of the seed of the serpent. You can have what we call anger and we call it hate, but it's not really hate because hate is something of the spirit. While on the other hand, love -- love is something of the spirit too. Here is another little booklet entitled: "The Unforgivable Sin". This is another study in abundant living which takes and gives in detail, every facet of these truths which I have set before you in this session. So that you can check it out for yourself, because hardly anybody has ever understood, in our day and in our time, what the unforgivable sin really is. But it simply is to be born of the wrong seed. If you're born of the wrong seed, you can't repent of that seed for, if it's seed, it produces the results thereof. If you have Christ in you, you have eternal life. But, if a person's born again of the seed of the serpent, he has eternal death written within him. These are the two seeds and the two gods that are brought forth in the accuracy of the greatness of God's wonderful matchless Word. END OF SEGMENT - 45 Segment 46: RENEWED MIND: THE KEY TO POWER FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 46 RENEWED MIND: THE KEY TO POWER The natural man of body and soul, after Pentecost, still, legally, belongs to Satan, remember that. Unless, now listen carefully, unless the child which is born when one or the other of them is Christian. The immensity of the new birth is so far past finding out that, sense knowledge wise, it's almost unbelievable. The child born of a Christian parent, even though he is only body and soul when he is born, belongs to God until this child reaches an age of accountability when he can accept the Lord Jesus Christ for himself and become body, soul and spirit. Let me read you this from the Word of God, from I Corinthians, chapter 7, verse 14: I Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, . . . That simply means that the unbelieving husband is set aside by the believing wife. . . . and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: . . . If the husband believes, it just sets the unbelieving wife aside. . . . else 1. were your children unclean; but now are they holy. This is the immensity of the new birth. Hardly anybody believes it, very few understand it, but this is the greatness of Gods Word and that's how wonderful, how tremendous it really is. And there's something else that I ought to share with you. And I think you ought to understand this with a real sensitive and keen mind. Because, in the new birth, as men of body, soul and spirit, we have more than what Adam had. Because, in Adam, the spirit was in him upon a condition. In us, when we are born again of Gods' Spirit, we have body, soul and spirit, and that spirit within us is unconditional. The difference lays, of course, in that Adam started out with a perfectly renewed mind. You and I do not start out with a perfectly renewed mind. But we start out with the spirit as seed in us, unconditionally. So we can't lose it, Adam could. This is why, in Christ Jesus, we have more than what Adam and Eve ever had at the beginning. Now, to have this spirit within us is to have eternal life. To have eternal life is not to manifest the holy spirit. To manifest this holy spirit, Christ in you, this is something else. You see, when Christ comes in, we have everything that we're ever going to receive, spiritually. This power within, spiritually, comes into evidence after one has believed and received spiritually first. The life and nature of God in you at the time of your new birth is only the potential to power. It is the potential to power, it's the door to it. Listen to Acts, chapter 10, in verse 38:Acts 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: . . . This verse, here, sort of just a thought comes to me that I ought to share with you. You see, John the Baptist was born filled with the holy spirit. Jesus was not born filled with the holy spirit. And yet Jesus Christ is head and shoulders above John the Baptist. Why was he not filled from his birth like John the Baptist? Now there's a good question, deserves a good answer, very simply. Had Jesus Christ been filled with the holy spirit from his birth, as John the Baptist, Jesus Christ could never have redeemed mankind. Because he never could have been on the level of the senses where man is. Because all other men are basically born without any spirit on them. And Jesus Christ had to redeem us all the way, not just part of the way. This is why John the Baptist was filled with the spirit from his mothers' womb but Jesus Christ never received the spirit from God until he was taken into the Jordan to be baptized. This is what verse 38 is talking about.Acts 10:38 [Of] How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: . . . Ah, the word "power" is related to "the Holy Ghost." Two nouns used, one thing meant, that's the figure [of speech]. And it means: the Holy Ghost, which is power -- the holy spirit, which is power. . . . [Jesus Christ] who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. Healing all that were oppressed of the devil. You see, all oppression, all of these things come from the god of this world. And all of this, Jesus Christ, with the power of God, came to get rid of. And now Christ is living within you. And, having that authority of having Christ within you spiritually, now how do you get it out into the open? How do you get it into concretion? How do you get it into manifestation, so you utilize this power and make it operative in your life? Well, the power -- the power of the new birth is in the renewed mind. That's where the power is. Getting to know, in your mind, what you have received spiritually. The renewed mind is the key to power. Christ within you is the power. He is the dunamis, the potential. It becomes kinetic, actively into manifestation, when we renew our mind which is the key to power. Now, this is what we want to tap into and the greatness of this is what we want to see. Remember Jesus Christ was Gods' plan for the bridging of the gap between the natural man and the spirit world. And you and I know by believing, we know by believing that which is spiritual. We read the Word, we believe what we hear and we know by believing that which is spiritual. But it's demonstrated in the natural world, in the senses realm, when we act upon our faith, which is the faith of Jesus Christ, which was given to us when we believed. Now listen very carefully, reason holds the same relation to the spirit that the body does to reason. We know that God is spirit and that He reveals and impregnates our spirit which is His gift -- His gift of His spirit to us, it becomes our spirit because it's a gift. Here, I give you this pen. Once I give it to you, it's no longer mine, it's yours. That's what it means when he says our spirit. He impregnates our spirit, His gift to us, with truth. I better state this again. God is spirit. God impregnates, God impregnates our spirit with truth even as the natural world can impregnate the mind with facts. Because what comes to the mind, comes over one or the other of those five categories of the five senses; seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting or touching. So God being spirit can reveal and impregnate our spirits with truth even as the mind can be impregnated with sense knowledge facts. You know, spiritual knowledge may be ascertained. Natural knowledge or sense knowledge may be analyzed. There's the difference. Spiritual knowledge may be ascertained. That's all. You can never analyze spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge may be ascertained. For instance, a person needs to be ministered to. When you minister to that person, physically, God reveals to His spirit in you, which is now your spirit. This is how He impregnates your spirit with truth. He tells you what's wrong with that person. You know, from a spiritual point of view, He shows you what's wrong with that person, physically. So you never analyze, never. Spiritual knowledge or revelation knowledge may never be analyzed, never. It may be ascertained, this way down, this way down. Sense knowledge, or natural knowledge, may be analyzed. For instance, you can take this person and you can go in to see a doctor, an M.D., or a physician, and he can take tests and he can tell you that, for instance, your blood count is up, the appendix are inflamed, for instance. He can analyze, he can analyze. You can take water into a laboratory, and you can analyze water to see the hydrogen, the oxygen, so on and so forth. Natural knowledge can be analyzed but spiritual knowledge may only be ascertained. As I say, many times, you have to reach up into "Daddy's' cookie jar" for God to give it to you. It's never analyzed, just never. This is why, we in The Way Ministry and in our research and teaching accuracy of Gods' Word, never have a quarrel with the scientific field or the medical field. Because I'm not a medical man, I do not analyze any situation. If I ever know anything, it's because God has revealed it to me. And I do not analyze. Doctors, scientists analyze, but men of God receive by revelation, they must ascertain. This is a great and wonderful truth. This is why spiritual realities may be ascertained even as sense knowledge facts may be analyzed. And people, this is one world in which we live, but the spiritual is superior to the natural or the material. This is why Hebrews 11:1, in one of the most wonderful translations -- I don't know if this came out of some of our workers -- I believe it did, some of our research people who literally translated that: "Believing is the title deed to things prayed for . . ." Hebrews 11:1 "Believing is the title deed to things prayed for, the evidence they are yours before they are seen." You believe first, then you see. That's why believing is the greatest key to receiving. You know, this natural knowledge, which comes by way of the five senses, comes to the body and soul man, while spiritual knowledge, which comes by the Word of God, comes to the spirit of man. So, this two kinds of knowledge, this natural knowledge over here, which we gather by the five senses, and spiritual knowledge, which we gather by the revealed Word of God, must be clearly understood. This natural knowledge, which comes by the five senses deals always with information gathered via the five senses. And this other knowledge, called spiritual knowledge, comes to us by the Word of God. Remember in Matthew 4:4, it said: "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God"? It's difficult, very difficult, for most men to learn to live this way, the spiritual way. Why? Because man has so long learned to live by his senses, that it's difficult for him to learn to live by the spirit. That's like our friend in California. He always rode his bicycle to work. And he always rode it to work with crooked handlebars. It got along toward Halloween time. And some of the boys went into his garage and they straightened out the handlebars on the bicycle, like it should be. Now that's a wonderful thing for boys to do. You would ordinarily think that they would turn them around much more off center. But they didn't, they just lined them up like they should be. The next morning, our friend started to work. And He got on his bicycle, had his dinner pail in one hand, he jumped on the bicycle and he started out. And he hadn't gone thirty feet 'til he ran right smack into a telephone pole. The bicycle went one way, he went the second way and the dinner pail the third way. Why? Because he was so acclimatized to riding the bicycle with the crooked handlebars, that this was the way for him to ride it, this was the normal way. That when they straightened it up, like it was supposed to be, it was abnormal for him. Now you know we've been so acclimatized to walking by the five senses, by natural knowledge, that when somebody comes along and shows us that there is spiritual knowledge available from Gods' Word, that we can walk by the spirit, we think this man's wrong and that fellow's right. Because we've been so acclimatized to riding our spiritual bicycle so long with the crooked handlebars, that when somebody straightens them out, it's abnormal and un-natural for us. You see, all natural knowledge comes by the works of man, all of it. And the nature of man always repudiates grace. Why? Because man wants to show that he can save himself, because this inflates his ego or whatever man has. All faith, plus spirit knowledge, comes by grace, divine favor from God to man, this way down. And the senses, the five senses, know very few of the greater realities of life. The senses can register the effects, but not the realities behind it, for instance, of love, of light, of life, of faith. And I have discovered, in our research ministry, that all natural knowledge religions, they're all up here in the five senses category, all these natural knowledge religions, all of them, begin in idolatry and, after they have gone through the intellectual purification thereof, they end in what we call philosophy, or in metaphysics. And all of them, like the philosopher Hagel, plus all the others, deny the person of God of our Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They call it divine mind, they call it creative universalism, they call it "the I am". You see, the senses, the five senses, cannot see, cannot hear, cannot smell, cannot taste, cannot touch God, for God is spirit. And so, the man, by his natural knowledge, must logically deny the person of God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when he denies this, you know what he does? He gets rid of sin. There is no sin. This is what they teach. They get rid of temptation, they get rid of evil, they get rid of the devil. They say "There's no devil." They get rid of hell, they get rid of sickness. They say "You're really not sick. You just think you're sick." That's right. You see, natural knowledge never gives God the credit, it always just takes it for itself, that's all. While this revelation, this spiritual knowledge, that spiritual knowledge, there, it just has to believe in the Word of God, in that wonderful Word of God which liveth and which abideth forever. You know, when you were born again, you had a new spirit created within you. But the mind -- the mind was not affected because when you were born, body and soul man, you had a mind. You had this from the time you were born. This spirit was created in you when you were born again, but the mind was not affected. You have the same mind the moment after you're born again as you had before. But, let's say, you were taught that when you got saved, or before you got saved, you had to give up something. Then, having been taught this, this is what you believe. Having been taught this, you believe this in your mind. Therefore, before you got saved, you gave it up. This is why people come along and say, later on, "Well, God took away the desire for smoking from me." God didn't do anything of the kind. If God ever did that, He'd have to rewrite all the laws of the universe and re-shape the whole thing. Never did anything like it, because the smoking was in this category. But the man was taught someplace along the line, somebody taught him, that when he got saved, God would take it away. He got it in his mind, he believed this in his mind. And when he got the spirit, even though the spirit had nothing to do with it, his mind did, therefore, next morning he gave it up and he blames God for taking it away from him. Ah -- you see, everything that ever comes to the natural mind of man, comes by way of the five senses. The spirit is created within you -- the spirit is created within you, that's right. The spirit is created within you but, this part of man must be renewed. The reason you can renew the mind after you're born again, is because you had this to begin with, that's why it must be renewed. The key to power -- the key to power, after you've got the power in here, the key to it is the renewing of the mind. That's the key to it. You renew the mind by changing what you're feeding on. You see, the five senses are the only external avenues whereby anything ever gets to the mind. And then you, by your free will, you have freedom of will, by your free will, you send, via the five senses, to your mind that which God's Word states. And that's how you get the renewed mind which is the key to power. A man may quote you the whole Bible (and he does sometimes, a lot of it) but he does not believe one word of it. You see, which simply means, he holds the Word in his mind, but the Word does not hold him. He has no renewed mind -- he has no renewed mind. The Greek word for the renewed mind is the word "transfigured", the same word that's used when Jesus was transfigured before them. It's the word "transfigured" which means transformed, get a new form, a new figure, in your mind. Look at Romans, chapter 12, verse 2 -- Romans chapter 12, and verse 2 -- verse 1, I'll read:Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. The word "reasonable" is the word religious.Verse 2:And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. How are we going to prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God unless we renew our mind? You couldn't renew your mind if you did not have it to begin with. You didn't have spirit to begin with, you were just body and soul. You can't renew the spirit, but you did have a mind, therefore you can renew the mind. Be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Look at chapter 13, verse 14Romans 13:14 But put ye on [put ye on] the Lord Jesus Christ [put ye on], . . . Well now, wait a minute. I thought it was by grace. It is. Anything that you can put on is works. Like, for instance, I put this coat on, that's works. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, is works. Now it can't be that I can put him on in here, because this is by grace, not of works, lest any man should boast. Where can I put him on? Up here -- up here [in the mind], that's what it's talking about. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ up here [the mind], he's born in here [spirit], now you put him on up here [mind]. That's why the renewed mind is the key to power. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ up here, and make all kinds of provision for the flesh - No; . . . and make not provision for the flesh, . . . Don't go by your sense knowledge. By your senses, put on the Lord Jesus Christ here [in your mind], make your senses track with what the Word says. Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ here [the mind], make no provision for the flesh. Look at Ephesians, chapter 4 -- Ephesians, chapter 4 -- Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, chapter 4, listen to this, verse 22:Ephesians 4:22 [And] That ye put off . . . That ye put off -- you put off -- anything I can put off is works, or if I can put it on, now it tells me what to put off. . . . [Put off] concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; Verse 23: And be renewed in the spirit [that is to say] of your mind; Be renewed in the spirit, or in the life, of your mind. Look at that: Put off -- put off the old man, and be renewed up here -- be renewed up here. That's what it says. Put off the old man. Alright, where is the old man? The old man is right here in body and soul. He is as old as you are. But this is the new man. This is not as old as you are. This is just there since you were born again. Understand? Verse 24:And that ye put on the new man, . . . Put off the old man up here and put on the new man. The new man is the spirit. You put it on up here [in the mind] now. Listen to this, you put on the new man, . . . which after God [next word] is created in righteousness and true holiness. Which after God is [next word] created -- you renew your mind by putting on up here that which God created in here in righteousness and true holiness. And that is what makes it possible for you to walk with the power of God. For now you put on up here [in the mind] what God created in here [spirit]. That gets your back feet to track with your front ones. As the Psalmist said: "He maketh my feet like hinds feet and setteth me upon my high places." You get your back feet to track with your front ones. You see, you put on up here what God created in here. You renew the mind according to the image of God that created this spirit within you, in righteousness and in true holiness. END OF SEGMENT - 46 Segment 47: THE HOW OF THE RENEWED MIND FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 47 THE HOW OF THE RENEWED MIND A man may be loaded with all the power of God, but only to the extent that he renews his mind will the power of God come into manifestation. The renewed mind, getting a new figure, being transformed in your mind after you're born again, is the key to power. But the renewed mind is not only the key to power but it's the key to life itself, that makes possible the manifestation of the more abundant life. In Ephesians, chapter 4, in verse 24, it says: Ephesians 4:24 {And} that ye put on the new man, . . . You put off the old man up here [in the mind], and you put on the new man up here, . . . which after God is created [in here - *in spirit*] in righteousness and true holiness. You see how you would get your back feet in line with your front, how your actions would indicate exactly what the Word says? Verse 25, some of you people may not like this verse, listen to it: Verse 25: Wherefore putting away lying, . . . Put away lying. Don't want to. You know what most people want to do? After they're born again, they want to pray about it. "Oh Lord, I've been such a liar here before now, Lord, please take lying away from me. Oh, Lord, I plead with you. Instead of the fish being so long (--- ------), Lord, it was this long (------). No-no-no-no-no, quit praying about it! Everybody wants to pray all the time. The Word of God says quit praying. If you've been a liar, quit lying! That's what it says. . . . speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Verse 27: Neither give place to the devil. Don't give him any place. Right. If you give him a place, he'll occupy the renewed mind for you and it will not be renewed. Here's another verse: Verse 28: Let him that stole [pray that he may] steal no more: No, it doesn't say that. It says let him that stole quit stealing. Don't pray about it, just quit! . . . but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. This contradicts, of course, what we believe in our society today, because we believe today, no need in laboring, everybody else can just give it to you! The Word of God says, let that fellow work for a living. If he doesn't work for a living, the Bible says, he's not supposed to eat. That's right. Verse 29: Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. Verse 30: And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Do you know what it is to grieve the holy Spirit of God? It's the rejection of the Word - No! Context -- context, we're talking about the renewed mind. To grieve the Holy Spirit of God is just not to renew your mind after you're born again of God's Spirit. To still keep that same old mind you had before, the same stealing, the same lying, the same cheating, the same lousy communication out of your mouth. That's what it is to grieve the Holy Spirit of God. And the phrase says, "whereby you're sealed" -- the word sealed means canned up. The Japanese translation is exactly that, it reads: "Whereby you're canned up, sealed". Well if you could lose it, it couldn't be eternal life, it couldn't be sealed. You're sealed unto the day of redemption. And the day of the redemption is the redemption of the body, which is the return of Christ, the gathering together. Verses 31 & 32: Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, ... Oh, but Lord, I don't want to forgive him, old Johnny Jumpup's been too bad to me, I don't want to forgive him. Lord says, forgive him. Why? You know why you have a problem to forgive that man? Because you just don't realize what God forgave you for! That's right. The fellow who said, "You point one finger at a man and you accuse him, remember, you're pointing three back at yourself." I have no trouble forgiving anybody, you know why? Because I know what God forgave me for. That's right. I know what kind of a sinner I was, what kind of a sinner I am at times. And God has no trouble forgiving me, so when God forgives me, I am able to forgive others. That's what it's talking about, that's the renewed mind. Forgiving one another, . . . even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. That's the renewed mind. Look at Philippians, go another book, Philippians. The whole church epistles are just loaded with the renewed mind. Philippians, chapter 2, verse 5: Philippians 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: That's the renewed mind, isn't it? The mind in here which was in Christ Jesus. Christ always did the will of the Father, he never disobeyed Him, he always carried out the Word perfectly. Now when we renew our minds and let this mind be in you which was in Christ Jesus, that's the perfect renewed mind. In Colossians -- next book, chapter 3 of Colossians, in verse 5, listen to this: "Mortify," you know what the word mortify means? Blow to smithereens, because we get our word mortar -- mortar shell, from this word "mortify". Colossians 3:5 - 7: Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence [concupiscence is lust], and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them. But now, but now, but now, verse 8:, But now - We're not children of disobedience because we've been born again of God's spirit, we're now sons of God. But now: Verses 8 & 9: But now, you also put off all these [if you're born again]; anger [you put them off, don't pray about it, put them off -- quit being angry], wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; The old man is in the mind, you put him off. Verse 10: And have put on the new man [now listen carefully], which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Boy, oh boy, oh boy, you talk about accuracy, the minute accuracy and usage of words, how do you like that one? Listen again: "Put off the old man and put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after (or according to) the image of him that created him" in here. Isn't that tremendous? The image of him is spirit. Now you put on up here according to the image that's created in here. Well, when Christ came in, how much did you get? Everything he is. Why sure. Like this beautiful vase, if I gave you these beautiful American Roses and that vase, everything that's there is yours. It comes all wrapped, it's all there. You can't add to it at all. So, it is when Christ comes in. When Christ comes in, spiritually, it's all wrapped, as I say, in spiritual cellophane. It's all in there. You're never going to get any more, spiritually. Now the key is to find out what you've got in here, be transformed up here, by the renewing of your mind. Renewed up here according to the image of him that created him right in here. Look at the words: renewed, image, created, the mathematical exactness and the scientific precision with which they're used in the Word of God. The image of him that created him. Verse 11: [In here] Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all. In here, he's all in here, that doesn't mean Christ is all in -- he's all in the believer. Everything that God is in Christ is in you. Boy, that gives you some power, doesn't it. Now, if you put that on up here, then it comes into manifestation. This [holy spirit], in here, is potential. It is potential power, it become kinetic when you renew your mind and walk on it. When you act on it, then it becomes manifested in the senses realm. Listen to verse 12: Verses 12 & 13: Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. Verse 14: And above all these things put on [put on] charity, . . . Charity, every place in the new testament epistles, is the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. That's what it is. The love of God in here is by grace, not of works lest any man should boast. Now I put it on up here "but above all, put on charity, which is the love of God in the renewed mind according to the image that's created in here. Every time you read that word charity, in the church epistles, it's always putting it on up here [in the mind]. It's not that God put it in here, because this is by grace, he did that by grace. But you have to put it on up here before it comes into manifestation, into evidence. "Above all these things, put on the love of God in the renewed mind," . . . which is the bond of perfectness. Verse 15: And let the peace of God [the peace of God] rule in your hearts, . . . You've got it here, it came in here. The peace of God is in here, spiritually. We're not at logger-heads with God, We're not at odds with Him. We are at peace with Him, for we have the peace of God. And yet, people go around all shook. They're Christian and all nervous and frustrated and fretting about this and worrying about that. Taking another Aspirin or two or Bufferin or something that'll give them a quick relief. They've already got it in here, but they have not what? Renewed their minds, sure. As someone said, "They're counting sheep at night instead of talking to the shepherd." That's right. Yeah, let the peace of God, let the peace of God, rule in your hearts, . . . to the which also ye are called in one body [not bride - in one body]; and be ye thankful. How many times have people the renewed mind on being thankful, just how many times? Very seldom, they're always complaining, right. Husband and wife both working, have more income than they've ever had in their life. Yet they have more debts, have less money to spend and they're always complaining. Be ye what? Thankful. Bless God, I want to tell you something, and you know it, if you've got food to eat, if you've got a place to sleep, if you've got clothing to wear, and if you've got good health, you ought to be so thankful that your old heart just bubbles. That's right. Listen to verse 16: Verse 16: Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly . . . The word of Christ dwell in you richly. Not sparingly, not hesitantly, but let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Where? In your mind. It's already, Christ is already all in all in here, but now, I've got to get him up here. That's why I told you, if people would quit reading so many of their newspapers and periodicals and so forth, and give more time to the Word of God, and look at the Word of God more, and they would have, in manifestation, more of the life of God. That's right. Because, the more you look at the Word, the more time you give to the Word, the more life you have. You do not get "Life" by "Looking" at "Time", you get life by looking at the Word. "The word of Christ dwell in you richly", in your mind, sure. . . . {in all wisdom}; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Verse 17: And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. That is the renewed mind, and the renewed mind is the key to power. Now how is this renewing accomplished? How is this done? The HOW of the renewed mind: That's what I'm now after. How do you renew your mind? Sure, you put it on up here and this you have to do by believing. A man, the man of body and soul, can believe. So you read it in the Word, you hear what the Word says, you read what the Word says, which is addressed to you, and you put it on up here and you believe it. It will contradict everything the world says, for the most part. You don't go by your five senses, you go by the revealed Word of God, renewing your mind according to the image of God that's created in here, in righteousness and in true holiness. So, you believe -- believe what? To renew your mind, you've got to start right at the beginning. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, that God raised him from the dead, in other words, get saved, born again of God's Spirit. That's the first key to the renewed mind, get that Word up here. 1. Believe God's Word, get saved. That's number one. And then, you get the thoughts of God in your mind, see. You renew your mind by getting God's thoughts, by thinking God's thoughts, which you get from His Word, and by practicing the presence of God. It's no disgrace to stumble, it's a disgrace just not to walk. Everybody that walks is going to stumble, and do you know something? Walking -- walking is nothing but stumbling and catching yourself before your nose hits. It's like this, watch me. Here I go, forward, I'm on my feet now, but I'm falling, I'm falling, I'm falling -- now why don't I fall? Because I catch myself just before. All walking is falling -- walking is nothing but falling but catching yourself before your nose hits. This is the Word of God too. How are you going to learn to walk on the Word of God unless you start walking? I'm not afraid of you making a mistake, won't be the first one you've ever made. That's right. But you're never going to learn to walk until you start walking. And as you start walking, if you fall, you get up again. That's what a baby does. How does a baby learn to walk? How are you going to learn to walk with the greatness of the power of God unless you start walking? Don't go by what people say, go by what the Word says. You say it's too big? Sure, it's too big. You haven't tried it, not too big, because you and God make a majority in every situation. It's not too big, you've just got to start that's all. So, you practice the presence of God, that's what you do, you just practice it. 2. And secondly, you study the Word. You don't study what people say around the Word or about the Word. You study the Word, what does God say? That's what you have to study. Not what they say about it, but what does it say. That's right. That's why you give much time to the study of the Word, much of it. And, as I tell many of my people in these classes, get rid of your other reading material, clean house. You've got so many magazines laying around on -- oh, all over your house, you never get time to read them anyways. You just buy them year after year because somebody wants to sell them to you, they dog you for them. Why don't you just save all that money and give it to somebody that's doing research work in the accuracy of God's Word or give it to some good worthy cause. Just get rid of your other reading material for a while, and read the Word of God. I have proven this, consistently, in these classes through the years. That if, for the next three months, you just give yourself and your life, primarily, to reading those epistles that are addressed to you, and you apply the principles by renewing you mind, three months from now, you won't know yourself. And I don't care how far you've gone with God, or how little you've gone with Him. You'll be such a tremendous person, not even the neighbors will recognize you. Because you're going to have power, you're going to manifest the renewed mind, and you're going to get some prayers answered, you're going to see some signs, miracles and wonders. Why? Because you're studying the Word. 3. And in the third place, you're living it, living it. Just putting it in your mind is not enough, you have to act on it, you have to work it. That's right. This is why you have to live the Word and in living the Word, you must love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself, and you have to love His Word and you have to love your fellow believers. The fellow believers of God's Word, you have to love those too. You see, you've got to get to the place, in your mind, that your mind is renewed to recognize its position in Christ as to what it has according to the Word. And this is accomplished by believing what the Word says, that's all. I John 3:2, you should know from memory by now: I John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, . . . Oh, but Lord, I don't feel like it. "NOW are we the sons . . ." Lord, I don't -- NOW are we the sons. Do you see? That's how you renew your mind. Even when you do not feel like it, the Word says you're a son of God, if you're born again of God's Spirit, remember that. "Beloved, NOW!" So, you have to get to the place that you recognize your position in Christ, you just have to. So, this process, this process of building Christ in your mind is a deliberate process that you must do by your five senses. By your freedom of will, you determine that, via the five senses, you're going to send the information from God's Word to your mind, and then you're going to walk on it. Most Christians have not yet learned to live by believing. Because to live by believing faith means to walk, day by day, and moment by moment, by the revealed Word of God. To walk by the senses is to walk by reason or someone else's' reason. Now the Word of God, this wonderful Word which we study and we live, this Word of God, that wonderful Word of God, demands that we believe first and then see. That's right, that's what it demands. The senses, the five senses, always demand that you see first, then you believe. This is why, if we renew our minds, we will have to believe God's Word and then we will see it. The senses will always demand that you walk by sight. And this is always the great battle: are you going to walk by the senses, or by the revealed Word of God? If you walk by the revealed Word of God, putting it on up here, you'll manifest forth the greatness of the power of God. And this is why we have to get our back feet tracking with our front ones. And when we have this, we have, what I have called, the synchronized confession. The synchronized confession simply means that you get your mouth to say what your mind believes and what's in the depth of your heart by the Spirit of God. This synchronized confession is available to you to study out the details of the greatness of this wonderful renewing of the mind and walking with the great, wonderful power of God. Now, no person, no person is able to walk this way until he recognizes his legal position -- legally, his legal position in Christ. And this is why you will have to know your sonship rights. I am a son of God by birth, born again of God's Spirit. That's right. But, how do I know what I have? By going to the Word. This tells me my legal sonship rights. In my earthly family, I have legal sonship rights, because I have an earthly father, right? Well, in the heavenly family, I have legal sonship rights. I have legal sonship rights, because I have a Father and, being His son, I have these legal rights. This is why you'll have to recognize and learn what the Word of God says you have a right to as a son, legally. And to understand this, you have to understand: what you got when you got redeemed; what you got when God justified you; what righteousness is all about; what it is to be sanctified; and what this ministry of reconciliation that you have is all about. These are things we're going to have to really understand and know if we're going to walk with the greatness of the power of God. You see, our believing, and what we believe, is conditioned by what we think of God. Now what we think of God, we ought to get from the Word and put this in our minds. This is why you must know your sonship rights as a born again believer. If you do not claim or know your sonship rights, the old devil is going to talk you out of everything. That's right. You're going to be a Christian, born again of God's Spirit, having spirit within you, but not having the renewed mind, you'll never know your legal rights. So, old Satan will come and he'll just keep on chopping you down, that's all. That's right. You learn your sonship rights, you learn legally what you have, and then you walk up to the bar of God, so to speak, and you claim them. And you tell old Satan get off your back. You tell him to get the "H" out. Because you do not belong to him, you belong to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Tell him to lay-off. Tell him you're not his property. That's right. Because you've been redeemed with somebody else's blood, not his, and that you belong to God Almighty, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and that he has no right to attack you, he has no right to defeat you. Why? Because you stand on legal grounds. Ladies and gentlemen, the redemption you and I have in Christ Jesus, is the most legal, legalistic, legalism that I've ever seen, anyplace, in the whole world. It's so legal, our redemption is so legal, that it stands, not only in any court of law, but it stands above the legality of any court of law that I've ever seen or heard of. This is why righteousness, you've got to recognize your righteousness. What is righteousness? You're a son of God. You're a son of God. You know what righteousness is? Righteousness is your God-given justification. When God justified you, He made you righteous, whereby, right now, you appear to stand before God, right now, in the righteousness with which Christ Jesus clothed you at the time of your new birth. That's righteousness. That's pretty righteous. You see, it's the high and holy privilege of appearing before God, right now, without any sense of guilt, condemnation, frustration, fear, or any of these other negative things. You know why most believers are still held sin conscious and sin bound? Right. Because of Matthew, the record says in Matthew 6:33, it says: "seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be added unto you". Matthew 6:33 {But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.} Well, let me say to you, seek anything else but the kingdom of God and these things will be subtracted from you. The reason they're still held sin conscious after they're born again of God's Spirit is because they do not know their legal rights. They do not know that they've been redeemed and they do not seek God's kingdom first, they seek something else first. That's why they're held this way. And you and I need to walk into the great knowledge of our legal rights, as sons of God. So that we can manifest forth the greatness of this power of God, which is a living reality in life today. So that we can manifest the more abundant life. So that we can show, before the world, that God is still alive and that He lives within us. END OF SEGMENT - 47 Segment 48: OUR SONSHIP RIGHTS FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 48 OUR SONSHIP RIGHTS In the understanding of our legal sonship rights as sons of God, I want you to turn to Romans, chapter 5, verse 19: Romans 5:19 For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners [This is talking about Adam. Many, there, is without exception.], so by the obedience of one shall many [without any distinction, when they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ] be made righteous. Well, if God makes you righteous, then you're what? You're righteous. That's right. Look at I Corinthians, chapter 1 -- I Corinthians, chapter 1, in verse 30: I Corinthians 1:30 But of him [of Him, of God] are ye in Christ Jesus [just imagine that, of Him, of God are ye in Christ Jesus], who of God [Christ Jesus, who of God] is made unto us [he's made unto us. It's not something you work for. Now listen to it: He is made unto us] wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: He is made this unto us. Well, if he is made this unto us, then when Christ comes in, I have his wisdom, his righteousness, his sanctification, and his redemption. Isn't that wonderful? I told you about the time I went to the alter four times to get sanctified. Went down the second time, it was so good -- I thought it was so good, I'd go down again. So, went down the third time, finally I went down the forth time. I didn't know, then, that I'd already received it, spiritually. But you can't go beyond what you're taught. And if people tell you, you ought to go down and get sanctified, and if you're real hungry, you can do what they say. But the Word of God says that God -- that Christ Jesus is made unto us sanctification. Well, then who sanctified me? I did. No, I didn't. Christ sanctified me. He did it by what he wrought for me upon Calvary's cross when God raised him from the dead also. And he ascended up into heaven and he sat down at the right hand of the Father. And he sent forth that which you now see and here that came to pass on the day of Pentecost. That's right. He's made unto me sanctification. It's not something I work for. It's not something I do. I don't sanctify myself because I brushed my teeth three times a day. No, he sanctified me. Boy, and you've got to get that. These are your sonship rights. These are your LEGAL sonship rights. He HAS sanctified you. GOD sanctified you in Christ Jesus, imagine that! You know what the word "sanctified" means? It means to be set apart. Before you're born again of God's Spirit, you're a man of body and soul, that's all, right? And you're set apart, not for the true God, but for the kingdom of this world, Satan's kingdom, right? You're set apart for it by birth. Now when you're born again, you're set apart by birth. You're set apart by God for heaven, and all hell can't stop you from going. Isn't that tremendous? Sure. Alright, look at Philippians. Talk a little about and get into the Word on our justification and righteousness and some of these things. Philippians, chapter 3, look at verse 9: Philippians 3:9 And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law [you know, you keep the commandments and all that. You're not found in him, having your own righteousness which is of the law], but that [righteousness] which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God {by faith}: The righteousness which comes from God. Well, how righteous is God? He's righteous. Then, spiritually, how righteous am I? As righteous as God, that's what the Word says, that's what it means. Look at Romans, chapter 4 -- Romans, chapter 4, listen to verse 25 in this forth chapter, talking about Jesus Christ: Romans 4:25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. The original text reads: "Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again when we were justified." When we were justified, God raised him, because we were justified in what God wrought in Christ Jesus. And Christ being within us, when we're born again, you see, we not only have righteousness, but we have the justification that God wrought in Christ when He raised him from the dead. Look at chapter 3, verse 20, listen to this: Romans 3:20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: . . . No Flesh is going to be justified in God's sight by keeping the law. So, no matter how you work at the law, no matter how many times you get down on your knees and pray till sunrise, nothing to do with it, you're not justified by the deeds of the law. Listen: . . . [but] {for} by the law is the knowledge of sin. Verses 21 - 22: But now the righteousness of God [the righteousness of God] without the law is [made] manifest{ed}, being witnessed [to] by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by [the] faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: Isn't that something? My sonship rights. My LEGAL rights because I'm His. Listen to it: "Even the righteousness of God . . ." Well, how righteous is God? ". . . is mine by the faith of Jesus Christ is unto all and upon all them that believe." When I believed, when you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ, you got the righteousness of God. In your flesh? No! That's body and soul man, but you got it in the spirit which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Verses 23 - 24: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; Being justified [reluctantly? hesitantly? No! being justified] freely [freely, freely -- being justified freely] by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: Isn't that wonderful? Verse 25: Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; Wonderful, isn't it? My, oh my, look at chapter 5 -- the whole -- it's just loaded, just loaded with the greatness of God's wonderful Word. Look at chapter 5, verse 1: Romans 5:1 Therefore being justified by [good works -- No! Being justified by what?] faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: Being justified by the faith of Jesus Christ we have peace. We've got it, don't you see it? It's not something you work for, you've got it. You've got it, you have received it by what He has given you. Now you renew your mind. Put it on up here. These are your sonship rights, you've GOT peace. My goodness, yes, you've got it. You're not at loggerheads with God, you don't have to argue with God. He's not arguing with you. He's not looking around the corner over there watching to see if you're going to do something bad, and hit you over the head. No, you're at peace with Him. You're at peace with Him. Well, boy, that's someone to be at peace with. It's wonderful. We HAVE that peace of God. Well, this is our legal sonship right, so we act peacefully and peaceably because we HAVE the peace of God. Look at verse 6: Verses 6 - 9: For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some [men] would {even} dare to die. But [but, but] God [in contrast, God] commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood [justified by his blood], we shall be saved from wrath through him. Ha, hah -- and the people teach we've got to go through the tribulation. Good gravy. They talk about, in the book of Revelation, all that -- stuff, Christians go through -- it says, it says, plain as the nose on my face, "We have been saved from the wrath to come." Well, if Jesus Christ saved us from the wrath to come, then how in the world are we ever going to be able to go through it? He saved us from it. Well, bless your heart, if we had to go through it, then we did have much of a savior, did we? He didn't save us from much if we have to go through it. That's right. Romans 5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God . . . We were reconciled. Do you know what the word "reconcile" means? It means "bring back together that which has been separated". We were reconciled unto God. Verse 10 (continued): . . . by the death of his Son, much more [much MORE], being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life. Isn't that just tremendous? Look at II Corinthians -- II Corinthians, Acts, Romans, Corinthians -- II Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 17: II Corinthians 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: . . . Did you see those words? "If any man be IN Christ," it doesn't say "Christ in you." Christ in you is salvation, you in Christ is the new creation in the renewed mind, that which was created in here, out on up here. And that verse is talking about the renewed mind, "Therefore if any man be IN Christ." Christ in you is salvation, you in Christ is your walk, your fellowship with him. "If any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creature: . . . old things [old things up here] are passed away; behold, all things {are} become new. [up here to the end that you are where? In Christ]. Verse 18: And all things are of God [all things are of God], who hath [past tense] reconciled us to himself [he has, past tense, reconciled us to himself] {by Jesus Christ}, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; Now isn't that something? In the Gospels, who had the ministry of reconciling men to God? Jesus said: "I will build my church." In the church epistles, who's got the ministry of reconciliation? The born again believers, the saved, you and I, sure. He hath given to us, He has GIVEN to us; well, if He gave it to us, who is responsible for the utilization of the gift, whatever He's given us? I am. Look, if I give you this pen, who's responsible for it? You're responsible for its utilization, its operation, its working. Well, He's given to us the ministry -- He's given us the ministry. If we've got the ministry of reconciliation, we can sit down and do nothing, right? Sure, you can take the pen and throw it out the window too. But I'm not going to give you too many more pens if you do that. But, God's given us the gift of the power of the holy spirit within us and He has GIVEN to us the ministry. We've got the ministry, the ministry of reconciliation, reconciling men to God. Jesus Christ did it, but unless they know it, unless they're told how to get saved, how to get filled with the holy spirit, how to operate the manifestations. Unless they're told what their believer's and sonship rights are, they'll never know . Now you and I have that ministry. Now watch: II Corinthians 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us [He's committed to US] the word of reconciliation. That's right. He's committed to us the word of reconciliation. What good is it to have the ministry if we didn't have the Word to go along with it? What good would it be for me to have the ministry of reconciling you to Christ, unless I had the Word to tell you how to get reconciled, how to get saved, how to get filled with the holy spirit, how to operate the manifestations, how to believe to get your prayers answered, how to walk. What good would it be? He has given to us the Word -- the Word. He has not only given it, He's committed it to us. Boy, if He's committed it to us, that's the only way people are going to hear it then. God has limited Himself in this age and generation, this administration to which you and I belong, He has limited Himself to you and to me. That's right. That people can hear the Word -- the Word of reconciliation so that we will be ministering to them the greatness of God's wonderful Word. Verse 20: "Now then" -- Now then -- not when we die, right now because we've got the Word, we've got the ministry. Right now, right now then, right now, we are what? No good -- we don't amount to anything. Oh, that's not what the Word says. "Now then", verse 20 of II Corinthians, 5: Verses 20 & 21: Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we [that we, you and I] might be made the righteousness of God in him. Well, glory hallelujah! LOOK, that's what it says, that's what it means. Isn't that something? Listen: God made Jesus to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that you and I might be made the righteousness of God. How righteous is God? As righteous as righteousness. That we might be made the RIGHTEOUSNESS of God in him. Now, then, we're ambassadors. Well, why don't you act like it for once in your life? You're an ambassador. You know what an ambassador is? Huh-ha! He's some poor old fellow, you know. Let's say I'm the ambassador. I've just been appointed by the president to be the ambassador to Timbuktu out in Short Alley. You know what I'd do? Why, I'd blow all the buttons off of my shirt if he'd just called me up and said: "Will you be my ambassador?" But the Word of God says you're an ambassador and you know what happens? Ahh, so what. Awful eh? What an ambassador. Hey, if the president called you and asked you to be ambassador, you know what you'd do? You'd go home, you'd go up into the attic, you'd get out that old suitcase that's all ragged and worn, you know, and busted in on the side. Oh yes, and being ambassador, you have to have your tux and tails and your full dress, your black tie, you know, and the "stiff-kitty". So, you go upstairs and there's that one hanging up there, all full of dust and it's sort of caved in at the top a little bit because the kids sat on it a few times. And you bring it down and, of course, that old suit, you look at those tails and they're all moth eaten, all full of holes, yeah, all of that. And if you go to the right territory, you'll remember you've got to take your umbrella, if you go in one direction because it always rains there. So you go up and you bring your umbrella down and you lift that thing up, you know, and it's all full of holes. Now you get all packed up and you're headed that way. No-no-no-no-no you don't! Boy, if they call you to be an ambassador, you go out and you buy your new tux and tails and your black tie. That's right. You get yourself a new umbrella and a new top hat, new luggage, everything else. Why? Because they've called you to be an ambassador to some nation. Boy, nobody gets excited about being called an ambassador of God for the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't that something? The nation would call you, everbody would come over, they'd visit, we'd have a big do, a big party, big celebration. But when you're born again of God's Spirit the Word says you're an ambassador for Christ, nobody gets excited about it, nobody even gets "hepped" on it you know. Nothing at all. And do you know how the average ambassador looks? The average Christian ambassador, he sure looks the part, doesn't he, yeah that's right. Born again of God's Spirit, now I've got to carry all the sins, you know. And I've got to pray for hours, you know, and I pray and I pray. Why? Because I've got the burden of the world on me. Oh, I so want to see Maggie Muggins get saved. And old Herman Baloko, he's going to that tavern every night, I've got to get him out of that tavern. I've got to get that old boy saved, so I've got his burden on my shoulder. And there's old Johnny Jump-up, hasn't been jumping too well lately, and I've got the burden on this shoulder. So here I am, weighted down with all the sins of the world, and I'm a Christian, oh Lord, oh Lord. What a Wonderful Christian I am, these sins all on my shoulder. After all, you've got to bear the cross, you know. If you don't take up your cross, there's no way up there for you. So, I bear the cross on all these shoulders. My, it's such a glory to walk for the Lord. My, how I praise Him for being so wonderful to me. Oh, yes. Huh - Boy what a great ambassador, huh? Isn't that something? Huh-heh, so I invite him to go to church on Sunday morning, and I say: "Wouldn't you like to go to church with me?" No, thanks, boy, no thanks, no church with you. Why? I'm all burdened down. I am the absolute epitomization of the reconciliation, the justification -- no! Look at me, I'm all emaciated, it's such a hard job to be a Christian, you've got to watch how you walk, see. Now we're ambassadors, it says. What kind of ambassador is that? Nobody would want to go to church with you. Nobody wants that kind of religion! Even if it's the truth of God's Word they wouldn't want it. I wouldn't want it either. I wouldn't go to church with you either. That's right. Did you ever see a fellow come out of the corner saloon? Had a little different kind of spirit in him, maybe, ha-hah! That's right. But he comes out of that old corner saloon and he hasn't got a nickel left in his pocket, that's right. But, boy, he comes out of that old saloon, you know, and he throws his old shoulders back, puts his old hand in his pocket and he walks around the old street and he says "Man, I can lick any man in town tonight!" You know. Ha-hah! That's right. But the poor old Christian, whoow, got to bear the burden, got to watch that I never have any fun in life because, after all, God might not like it, you know. Now then we're ambassadors. BOY [Doctor strikes his hand in his fist] when are we going to believe our sonship rights? When are we going to throw our shoulders back, and stand erect for once in our lives, take a breath and say: "Get out of the way, here comes a man of God!" That's right. Why not walk down the streets in your community and your area and your city, in your town, in your section of the country. Walk down those streets, with your shoulders back and your head held high and say; "I'm a son of God, I'm an ambassador for the Lord Jesus Christ. How are you this morning? Well, I'm wonderful! Well, praise the Lord, I am too! Isn't this a wonderful day? Our God's a good one. They'll wonder what happened to you. You know why? Because we've become so acclimatized to see the average Christian emaciated and defeated, that nobody has walked out with their head held high and their shoulders erect to say what the Word. Ladies and gentlemen, you and I are what the Word of God says we are; we have what the Word of God says we have; we'll be what the Word of God says we'll be, and it says we're ambassadors, now -- right now, beloved, we're the sons of God as ambassadors, I John 3:2 {Beloved, now are we the sons of God}, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but {we know that,} when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Well, glory hallelujah, I almost feel like shouting. We've GOT something to shout about. That's right. We've got something to shout about; we've got the Word of reconciliation; we've got the ministry; we are ambassadors for him. These are our legal sonship rights. When are you going to claim them? When are you going to walk in and declare in the renewed mind that you are what the Word says. I know what you're going to feel like, you know. You'll say: "Oh, what will the neighbors think?" I don't care what the neighbors think, this is what the Word of God says. That's what the Word says. This is what Christ died for. This is what God gave His only begotten son for. And you and I ought to have the courage, the intestinal fortitude, to declare what the Word of God says, if nobody believes it. Because, class, if nobody believes it, it's still God's Word. It is still God's wonderful, matchless Word, if nobody, and that means just nobody believed it. It's still His Word, and God's Word is God's will, and God's Word means what it says and it says what it means. And God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it, that's right. You know, you've got to get your eyes open to what you are in Christ Jesus. Look at Colossians, chapter 2. You've got to renew your mind to the accuracy of the Word. Verse 6: Colossians 2:6 - 7: As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. That's right. Look at verse 15 of chapter 2 of Colossians: Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled [This is what Jesus Christ did for you, spoiled] principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it. If he triumphed over them in it, then he is in me, I have the ability to triumph over those spiritual powers too. That's right. Look at Ephesians, chapter 1, verse 17, listen to this: Ephesians 1:17 - 18: That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened [being enlightened]; that ye may know [that you may know] what is the hope of his calling, and [that you may know] what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints [is], That you may know, not question, not doubt, but that you may know. Listen to this: Verses 19 - 23: And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, [the exceeding greatness -- exceeding greatness, which is in excess of greatness of His power to us-ward who believe,] according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. What a tremendous revelation. Isn't that something? Look at Ephesians, chapter 6, verse 11 -- it says in verse 10: Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, [be strong in your works, no,] be strong in the Lord [in what He wrought for you], and in the power of his might. That's where we ought to be strong. Verses 11 - 18: Put on the whole armour of God [put it on, YOU put it on], that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness [from on high] {in high places}. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, [STAND!] {to stand}. Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; Yes, finally, having done all, put on the whole armor of God. Everything that God made available in Christ Jesus, put it on, put it on. YOU put it on in the renewed mind, claim your sonship rights, and having done all, do the one thing: STAND! END OF SEGMENT - 48 Segment 49: SONSHIP RIGHTS; THE FIVE CHURCH MINISTRIES PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 49 SONSHIP RIGHTS (CONCLUSION); THE FIVE CHURCH MINISTRIES God gave to the church five ministries, that these five ministries might enable the church believers to walk with the power of God in the renewed mind, knowing their legal sonship rights. These five ministries are set forth in Ephesians, chapter 4. We begin reading with verse 8: Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and [he] gave gifts unto men. Now you'll notice 9 and 10 are a parentheses. A parentheses is a figure of speech inserted by way of explanation. But you can read on from the last words of verse 8 to the first words of verse 11 and get the impact of the verses. Listen to this, verse 8, later part of the verse: "and He gave gifts unto men." Verse 11: And he [God] gave some, apostles; {and} some, prophets; {and} some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; Now, they teach, or people say, when the apostles died, there are no more apostles; when the prophets died, there are no more prophets. But it can't be because he said when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and he gave gifts to the church unto men who believe, to the church. So, it said he gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. So, if there are any pastors left, there must be some apostles. If there are any teachers left, there must be some prophets. If there are any evangelists left, there must be some apostles, prophets, pastors and teachers. Well there are. You see, there are five ministries in the church, and these are given to the body of believers that they can tap the resources and learn how to walk to manifest their legal sonship rights and to develop the renewed mind in manifestation. These five ministries, in the church, the body, are the ministries of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers. Now, an Apostle is one who brings new light to his generation. It may be old, but it's new to the generation to whom he speaks. A Prophet is one who speaks for God to God's people. A prophet is not an evangelist, a prophet not one who goes outside of "the pale" [pale = boundary] of the organized church, that is the born-again believers. He speaks to the believers, like the prophets of old, Jeremiah, for instance, spoke to Israel; Isaiah spoke to Israel; Amos spoke to Israel. These were prophets, they always spoke to God's people. So, a prophet today is a man who speaks to God's people. He says to the church, the body of believers: "Come back to the Word! Come on back. It's the Word of God that's the will of God. Come back to the Word." They're always calling God's people back to God's Word. That's a prophet. An Evangelist is one who evangelizes, who wins the lost, the unsaved to God, to Christ, by teaching them the new birth accurately and getting them born-again. You know what an evangelist is. A Pastor is one who pastors the flock. One who binds up the wounds, who takes care of the sheep, who just sort of pastors them. That's right. And a Teacher is one who teaches the great accuracy of God's wonderful, matchless Word. Now listen, verse 11 says: Ephesians 4:11 {And} he gave [He gave these] {some}, apostles; {and some,} prophets; {and some,} evangelists; {and some,} pastors and teachers; Verse 12 says why and for what purpose He gave them: Verse 12: For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: He gave these for the perfecting. Now it can't be for the perfecting of the saints, spiritually. Because, spiritually, the saint is perfect, has Christ within, the righteousness of God, and all these things that I've taught you. But it's for the perfecting of the saint in his believing, in his walk, in the renewed mind. That's what it is. "For the work of the ministry, for the edifying . . ." The word "edifying" means to build-up. We speak of a big house as being a big edifice. ". . . for the edifying [the building-up] of the body of Christ:" That's what these ministries -- this is the purpose of these ministries that God has set in the church, that the body of Christ will be edified, will be built up. Now verse 13 tells you how long these ministries will be here. "Until", the King James says "Till" but the text is "Until". "For the building up of the body:" Verse 13: {Till} [Until] we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: And when will this be? I Corinthians, 13 tells us that this will only be when he returns, then we shall see him as he is. We shall see him face to face and then we shall be like him for we have seen him and he has brought us and called us, gathered us. {I Corinthians 13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. Verse 10: But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. Verse 12: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.} So, until that time, until that, we have apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers in the church for the building-up of the body, for the perfecting of the saints, for the edifying of all the believers. Now verse 14 says: Ephesians 4:14 That we henceforth be no more children, . . . You see, we ought to grow up, not be babies that have to be nurtured on the bottle a lifetime. These ministries are put in the church that the church can grow up, that they henceforth be no more children or babies, . . . tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Verses 15 & 16: But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, [who] {which} is the head, {even} Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. These are the reasons why these ministries have been given to the church. That the church may be built up and that the church will not be tossed about with every wind of doctrine and the slight and cunning craftiness, whereby men lie in wait to deceive. So, God has given to the church apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the building up of the body, for the edifying thereof. That you and I, as sons of God, may know what we have in Christ Jesus and that we may be able to walk with the efficacy and the power of God in our life. That's right. This is why we, as sons of God instructed under these ministries, we are to come boldly before God. Look at Hebrews, chapter 4 -- Hebrews, chapter 4, listen to this, verse 16: Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, . . . Come boldly, not hesitantly, not like, "Oh Lord, will you please, maybe if it suits you alright, Lord, will you please, maybe . . ." No, no, no, we come boldly, BOLDLY, let us come boldly. How do we learn what we have in Christ Jesus? By men of God as apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers or pastors who open the accuracy of God's Word to us and teach us its immeasurable greatness. So that we can walk with that greatness, so we learn to come boldly, BOLDLY, before the throne of grace. Not reluctantly or hesitantly, but come BOLDLY, . . . that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in [the] time of need. We come boldly, we have a need, we have a need, we go to our Father boldly and we say, "Father, you know my need, and I thank-you for its fulfillment, even at this present moment." And you must, absolutely, learn to stand on your legal rights as a son of God. Look at Ephesians, Ephesians, listen to this, chapter 1, verse 6 I want to start with: Ephesians 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us [He, God, hath made us] accepted in the beloved. Well, if God made us accepted, then we are acceptable with Him. He made us this way. Verse 7: In whom we have redemption through his blood, . . . "The forgiveness of sins" is the King James, the original text is "remission". "In whom we have the remission of sins." We have redemption -- we've got it; we have remission -- we've got it. . . . {the forgiveness of sins,} according to the riches [not the poverty] of his grace; Verse 8: Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; And the word "prudence" means "good sense". Verse 9: Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, . . . Well, bless your heart. If He made known to us the mystery of His will, then we know it. Well, how do we know it? From God's accurate Word, that's how we know it. . . . according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: Verses 10 - 13: That in the [administration] {dispensation} of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have [We've got it. Listen, we have] obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom [also, in whom] ye also trusted, after that ye [believed, or] heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Sealed, canned up, with that holy spirit of promise. Verse 14: Which is the earnest . . . And the word "earnest" means "token". Ah, it's a token, it's a little bit of the real thing, it's a surety, it's an earnest. The holy spirit is the earnest, it's the proof, . . . of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. Isn't that a tremendous truth? My goodness, look at chapter 2, verse 6: Ephesians 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: So we're already seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. And it's like I said to you before; we are not people that are looking up, we are people that are looking down, for we're already seated in the heavenly places with Christ Jesus. Look at Philippians, chapter 2, verse 13: Philippians 2:13 For it is God [it is God] which worketh [or who is at work within you] . It is God at work within you. Think of the abilities you have with God working in you. . . . [God working] in you both to will and to do {of} his good pleasure. GOD at work within you, sure. Look at I John, the epistle, I John, chapter 4, in verse 4: I John 4:4 Ye are of God [ye are OF God], little children, and have overcome them: Talking about the negatives on the outside. Listen: . . . because greater is he that is in you [God in Christ in you, greater is He], than he [Satan and his devil spirits] that [are] {is} in the world. That's what that verse says, that's what it means. We are of God, and greater is He that's in us, than he that's in the world. These are our sonship rights. We have to claim these, we have to believe them in the renewed mind in order to make them living and real in our day by day walk. Look at Romans, chapter 8, verse 14: Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Verse 15: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage [or a bondage spirit] ... A bondage spirit is one of the devil spirits that binds people, ties them up, bondage spirit. "Ye have not received a spirit of bondage" . . . again to fear; but ye have received {the Spirit of adoption}, . . "A spirit of adoption" is the King James, but the text says: "sonship spirit". "But ye have received a sonship spirit," . . . whereby [you] {we} cry, Abba, Father. Verse 16: The Spirit itself [God's Spirit itself] beareth witness with our spirit [which is His Spirit in us, by the operation of the manifestations of the spirit], that we are the children of God: That's the proof. Children OF God, God is our Father, we are His children. We make up the Family of God. "That we are the children of God:" Verse 17: And if [we're] children, then heirs; heirs of God [heirs of God, and listen:], {and} joint-heirs with Christ; . . . Well, what's a joint heir? A joint heir is one who shares fully in everything the Father has. It says we're joint heirs with Christ to share fully in everything that God has. We are children of God, and we're heirs of God, joint heirs with God in Christ Jesus. Look at Colossians, chapter 2, verse 9: Colossians 2:9 For in him [in God and in Christ] dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Verse 10: And ye are complete [ye are complete] in him, . . . I wish you could read it in the original text. It's the extensive, intensive form of the verb, I believe. At least it's literally translated: "And ye are completely, completely, complete in Him." Well, praise the Lord, that's pretty complete, isn't it? To be completely complete in Him. Well, if you and I are complete in Him, are we lacking anything? How can we be lacking something when the Word says, "we're complete in Him"? If we're complete in Him, then we're complete. And if we're not complete, we're not complete. Now it says here that "ye are complete in Him" . . . [who] {which} is the head of all principality and power: [We're complete.] Verse 11: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, . . . Verses 12 - 14: [You were] Buried with him [when he was baptised] {in baptism}, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses [ALL trespasses]; Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, [he] {and} took it out of the way, [and nailed] {nailing} it to his cross; Verses 16 & 17: [Therefore] Let no man {therefore} judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: [All of these] {Which} are a shadow of [the] things to come; but the body [the BODY] is of Christ. And ye are complete in him because of your sonship rights, where God redeemed you, He justified you, He made you righteous, He sanctified you. He gave you everything. God gave you everything in Christ that Christ is, and Christ is God's so you belong to God. Oh, what a tremendous message to the soul of a man or a woman who wants to know, that they know, that they know, that they know, that they not only have the ministry of reconciliation but that they've got the Word of reconciliation to do the job with. So that men and women, again, can know the greatness of the power of God in this, our day and in our time! END OF SEGMENT - 49 Segment 50: THE GIVER AND THE GIFT PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 50 THE GIVER AND THE GIFT We are now ready to consider the greatest field in the Bible, the holy spirit field. We're going to consider this holy spirit field in relationship to; first of all, what's available; secondly, how to receive it; and thirdly, what to do with it after we've got it. The manifestation of the gift from The Holy Spirit which is power from on high, these manifestations, are nine in number. There are no more and no less. And these nine manifestations of the spirit are not set in order in I Corinthians, chapter 12, verse 8 to 10, they are simply listed. And I'd like for you to take your Bible and turn to I Corinthians, chapter 12, and I want to begin reading with verse 7: I Corinthians 12:7 But the manifestation of the Spirit . . . Not gifts, these are manifestations. I know they're commonly referred to as gifts, but you'll see later on they're never referred to as gifts in the Bible. "The manifestation of the spirit" . . . is given to every man to profit withal. Verses 8 - 10: For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another [different or] divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: There you have all nine of them. They're not set in order, they're just simply listed, and there are no more and no less than nine manifestations of the spirit. For instance; to be a piano artist, is not a gift of the spirit. To be a piano artist is simply a natural ability. You have the natural ability to play the piano, you have highly developed this. This is not a manifestation of the spirit, it's not a gift. Now, when it comes to the manifestation of the spirit, as listed in I Corinthians chapter 12, verses 8 to 10, I want to set before you the great accuracy and the difference between the word "gift"; between the word "manifestation"; and the word "fruit". I hear people talking all the time and saying, "Well, love is the greatest gift of all." It doesn't say that in the Word of God, people talk about this, but that's not what the Word says. Love is not a gift, love, as we shall see, is a fruit. And there's a great deal of difference between a gift and a fruit. A gift is a gift, a fruit is a fruit, a manifestation is a manifestation, because the Word means what it says and it what? Says what it means. That's right. So, when it comes to the gift, the gift is that which you receive when you're born again of God's spirit. It is God-in-Christ-in-you, the power of the holy spirit. It's all wrapped up. A gift is what it is, no more and no less: you can't add to it; you can't subtract from it; you can't multiply it; you can't divide it. It comes wrapped, as I call it, in God's spiritual cellophane, and it's a gift to you. That's a gift, a gift, and that gift, you cannot see it, you cannot hear it. you cannot smell it, you cannot taste it, nor can you touch it, because that gift is spirit. Now, once you have received this gift, and you know what you have received and how to operate, what to do with it after you've got it, you bring it into manifestation. The manifestation is the evidence in the senses realm of the internal reality and presence of the gift. That's what the word "manifestation" means. To "manifest" means "to see", you could also use the word "evidence", it's in evidence, see. It's manifested forth, you can see it, in the senses realm. You cannot see the gift, the gift is always spirit, but the manifestation is the evidence, the proof in the senses world, that you've got the gift on the inside. Now the fruit, you see, fruit always indicates quality of life. That's what it indicates. Fruit is not a manifestation. Fruit is the result of the operation of the manifestation of the spirit. Fruit always, as I told you, indicates quality of life. A gift, a gift is for service. God gives you the gift of the new birth which is Christ-in- you, the power of the holy spirit. He gives you this gift which is for service, it is to be utilized, it is to be operated. Now, in Galatians, chapter 5, in verse 22, it tells us exactly what I'm saying to you. Listen to this: Galatians 5:22 & 23: But the fruit [the fruit] of the Spirit . . . You get that? It says it's the fruit of the spirit, it's not the fruit of good works, it's the fruit of the spirit. "The fruit of the spirit" . . . is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, [and] temperance: . . . There are 9 fruit of the spirit. They're all listed here. These are fruit of the spirit, and I told you, these fruit indicate the quality of your life. And the quality of your life is determined by your operation of the manifestations -- by YOUR operation of the manifestations. You see, you have the gift, and having this gift, you operate the manifestations. The manifestations are the evidences in the senses world of the power of God, His holy spirit, His gift, Christ-in-you in here. And, as you operate the manifestations of the spirit, you produce the fruit of the spirit. So, you see how beautiful and how simple, and how wonderful, these great truths are here from I Corinthians, chapter 12, and from Galatians 5, verses 22 and following. When we consider this great holy spirit field, some of these things you must now know and understand before we can get into the great depth of it. Now I want to take you a step further, and that is, in no -- in no critical Greek text, or in no Aramaic text, are the words for "holy" or the words for "spirit", ever capitalized -- ever. There are two Greek words which you should become well acquainted with, words that you should know and really understand. One is the word "pneuma". This is the word translated in English "spirit", or, sometimes, many times, it's translated -- or sometimes, at least, it's translated "ghost". But, people refer to it as the "Holy Ghost", they put, when the word "pneuma" appeared by itself, it's usually spirit, but when they put it (as you shall see in a few moments, when I get down on this chart) they put it with the word "Holy", they render it Holy Ghost. The word "pneuma" is always "spirit". The word "hagion" is the word "holy". These two words: "pneuma" and the word "hagion" are NEVER, NEVER capitalized in ANY critical Greek text. That's right. Now this is remarkable, you know why? Because, then, any capitalization in any translation in private what? Interpretation. And the first thing you have to know is that no prophecy, from Genesis to Revelations is of any what? Private interpretation. So, every capitalization of the word "pneuma", as well as of the word "hagion" is always private interpretation. But there is another thing to consider here, and that is that you and I speak English and, in English, we have a rule, in grammar and so forth, that, if a noun is a proper noun, it must be capitalized. And, therefore, when it comes to the noun "pneuma" and the noun "hagion", if it's a proper noun, then we, in English, would have to capitalize it. This is where the problem really comes in. So you know what the translators have done? Every one of them, including the King James and all the rest of the translations, they have capitalized the word "holy" and the word "spirit", they have capitalized these whenever they thought they wanted to capitalize them. That's why it's a remarkable thing when you learn that these words are NEVER capitalized in any critical Greek text. And it does not effect the sense of a noun, usually, if it's capitalized or left in lower case. You take, for instance, the noun "cat". You capitalize the word "cat", that doesn't make the cat any cattier, does it? It doesn't effect the word. You take the noun "dog". You capitalize this noun "dog", and that does not make the dog any doggier. So, you see, ordinarily, a noun is not effected when you capitalize it. But, boy, when you capitalize the word "pneuma" and the word "hagion", you have all the difference between God, who is HOLY Spirit and that which He gave on the day of Pentecost, which is also called His gift, holy spirit. And this misunderstanding has caused oodles of errors throughout the entire Christian world. But, I want to show you what the King James men did, in the King James version. How many times these things vary of these two usages in the Bible: It is used 385 times in the New Testament. 133 times they translated, in the King James, with a capital "s"; 153 times they translated it with a lower case "s", a small "s"; once they translated "spiritual"; twice, they translate the word "pneuma" "ghost"; once they translate the word "pneuma" "life"; once they translate the word "pneuma" "wind"; and once they translate the word "pneuma" "spiritually". That's how many different ways, in just the King James version, this one usage of the word "pneuma is used by the translators. Now you can begin to see why nobody can find through it -- nobody, and just nobody. This is true of the entire field. The reason we have never been able to get to the holy spirit field and rightly divide it, for the most part, is because we have not begun at the foundation of the understanding of the words "pneuma" and words "hagion", their usage, that they're never capitalized in any critical Greek text, and then to see how they work out. 133 times with a capital "S"; 153 times with a lower case; once spiritual; twice ghost; once life; once wind; and once, adverbably, as spiritually. And with the word "hagion" (holy, this is what the word hagion means, holy) -- and with the word "holy", they translated these words "pneuma hagion", "holy spirit", 4 times and "holy ghost", 89 times, in the King James. It should always be translated "holy spirit", because, today, when you talk about a ghost, you're thinking about something in a closet, or a skeleton, or of course, if you're working with the E.S.P. boys, you're thinking about something that moves some things around in some houses in the East and the West and in the Midwest. Nope! This is the great usage of it. And this becomes real interesting. Better tell you one more thing about this tremendous -- The article "the" -- take the article "the": in the King James, when the article "the" does not appear in any critical Greek texts, and they wanted to add it, they added it. Remember the story from Genesis, chapter 3, about Eve? When you add to the Word of God, you no longer have what? The Word of God left. That's right. You no longer have it left. And at other places where there was no article "the" -- or where there WAS an article "the", they deleted it. That's right. So, they added when they wanted to, they deleted it when they wanted to, this is why it's a tremendous opportunity to work the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. In the back of this book, (this is our research book on "Receiving the holy spirit"), I have covered all 385 verses of scripture that are in the New Testament. From page 239 on, in the back of the book, in the appendix, from page 239, I have given you every reference in the Bible, to the words "pneuma" and the words "hagion", both from every critical Greek text, as well as from the Aramaic texts (if there were any variations). And I have shown you when the article "the" was used in the critical Greek text and where it was not used, on every verse of scripture, of all 385 of them. So you'll have to take your Bible, sometime, and go through it and mark every one to see if the article "the" was there or whether it wasn't there. There's a lot of difference between saying THE Holy Spirit and saying holy spirit. They added the article "the" when they wanted to, they deleted it when they wanted to, they just satisfied themselves. This is why, when it comes to this particular section of where we study the great accuracy of God's Word regarding the holy spirit field, you've got to get out of the guessing field. You can't afford to guess. You've got to know that you know that you know and it has to fit all the way through. Now, another great error has crept into the field of the holy spirit, because of the failure of observing the difference between the Giver and His gift. For instance, if I gave you this copy, my copy, of the "holy spirit book", if I gave you this copy, would you get my gift or would you get the giver? Why, naturally, you'd get my gift. You wouldn't get the giver. How lucky can you be? Well, alright, there's a tremendous difference between God who is the Giver and His gift. And the confusion regarding the holy spirit field is the teaching that THE Holy Spirit, with a capital "H" and a capital "S", first came on the day of Pentecost, and that's not true. Because THE Holy Spirit is God and God was in the beginning, long before. In the beginning, God was before that, because Genesis 1:1 says that in the beginning GOD created the heavens and the earth. So, God didn't come on the day of Pentecost, He's been here forever. What came on the day of Pentecost was His gift. Now, look at this tremendous chart that our art department developed for this particular section of the class. This is one of the most intriguing and one of the most beautiful charts, explaining this whole field, that I've ever seen. Here, at the top, we have God. God is The Giver -- God is The Giver, and God is Holy, and God is Spirit. That's what the Word says in John and in one of the church epistles it says God is Holiness -- He is so Holy that He's Holy-HOLY-HOLY! And in John 4 it said God is Spirit. So, the two greatest things God is: God is Holy; and God is Spirit. That's why the Giver, (God is The Giver) and The Giver is Holy Spirit, that's The Giver. Now there's a law involved, God cannot give mashed potatoes and gravy or soup or apple butter or peanuts. God is Spirit, and God can only give what He is. That's why, God can only give what He is, which is His GIFT -- which is His Gift! Now, on the day of Pentecost, He gave the greatest thing God is. On the day of Pentecost, He gave holy spirit. The same words "pneuma hagion", (this is "hagion", this is "pneuma", down here this is "hagion", this is "pneuma"), the same words are used in the critical Greek texts, in the Aramaic. And, not differentiating between the Giver and His gift, they have capitalized His gift. And when you capitalize the gift, you do not have the gift left, you have the Giver. That's where all the confusion has come in. God is Holy Spirit, with a capital "H" and a capital "S". His gift, on the day of Pentecost, was pneuma hagion, which is holy spirit and should always be translated with a lower case "h" and a lower case "s" for it is His gift. But, you see, God gave the greatest thing He is, holy and spirit. He gave it on the day of Pentecost but it was His gift. Which is God-in-Christ-in-you, which is the power from on high. This is the power from on high, from God. God gave it this way down. The Giver gave His gift on the day of Pentecost. Now, this gift is spirit. This is what's in you. This is spirit. This is His gift, this is what's in you. You can't see spirit, you can't hear it, you can't smell it, you can't taste it or touch it. Now then, how do I know what I have? From God's Word, God's Word tells me what I have received, right. And, as He tells me this (as to what I have received) now I know what I have in here, I put it up in my mind. I have freedom of will, I put it up in my mind, and then, I begin to operate. And, as I operate, that produces the manifestation in the senses world. As I operate this gift, look, once God's given it to me, here it is, He's given to me, now who's responsible for it? I am. Now, I operate, (if this were spirit), like I'd give you this gift, YOU read it, YOU study it, YOU work it out. So, I receive His gift, which is spirit. I begin to operate. And, as I operate, I manifest in the senses world, the only nine manifestations of the spirit. These nine manifestations are not gifts, they're manifestations OF the gift. The GIFT is spirit. These nine manifestations are evidences in the senses world of the internal reality and presence of His gift which is holy spirit. Which was given from God, who is The Giver, Holy Spirit, with a capital "H" and a capital "S". Isn't that tremendous? Boy, oh boy, how simple, how beautiful. God hasn't overstepped one law. Because God is Spirit, He can only give to what He is, spirit, right? But the spirit in me is also part of me, and I am body and soul. And so, God's Spirit teaches His creation in me which is spirit, the spirit teaches my mind, and I give it forth in the senses world. God never has broken a law, He hasn't overstepped any law, and He's worked this thing with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific proof, and here I've got it. One of the manifestations is speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is to bring forth a message from God or for God which will edify the body of believers if it's given in interpretation. But the primary reason for speaking in tongues is not to speak in a believers meeting, it's for your own private prayer life, as we'll see later on. This place, right in here, is where you really get answers to prayer because it is utilized, primarily, in your private prayer life. Another manifestation is the interpretation of tongues; another one is prophecy; another one is word of knowledge; another is the word of wisdom; then we have discerning of spirits. Everybody I hear talking about this all the time changes God's Word. And do you know what they say? They say it's the gift of discernment. Oh no, first of all, there is no gift like it, secondly, it couldn't be discernment, because discernment, semantically, means acuteness in judgment. There are many men in business and other related fields, and women, who have very keen judgment, who are sharp in judgment, in discernment. But they do not have the manifestation of the discerning of spirits, because they're not either born again of God's spirit, or filled with His spirit and operating it. But this is not the gift of discernment, nor is this the discerning of men's faults. You do not need a gift to discern men's faults, that's for sure. This is the manifestation of the discernings of SPIRITS-ah! Right. Whether it's God's Spirit, or whether it's the spirit of the devil, and what kind of spirits they are. It's in this discerning of SPIRITS, that you discover that. Then, there's the manifestation of faith, the manifestation of miracles, and the manifestation of the gifts of healing. This is the only one in the Bible, in the manifestations, that's referred to as a gift. And you'll see, later on, the reason healing is referred to as a gift because healing is a gift, EVERY time. No matter whether the doctor does it or God does it, or anybody else, because the nature of the human body is to heal itself, and it's GOT to do this. And every time a person IS healed, it's ALWAYS a gift to him. So, here you have the great chart before you that sets forth the great accuracy of God's Word. All the way through the holy spirit field, there's not one verse of the 385 in the New Testament that will not fit into the accuracy with which this chart has been set before you with the same mathematical exactness and scientific precision that all the rest of the Word of God fits. So, just remember, that here you have the Giver, who is Holy Spirit; here you have His gift, holy spirit; and here you have the manifestations, which are the results, the indications, that you have believed God and you have manifested, in the senses world, the power of God in concretion. This is the greatness of God's wonderful revelation to us from His Word. And it sets it forth so beautifully in God's Word which we're going to work with a mathematical exactness and with a scientific precision. END OF SEGMENT - 50 Segment 51: THE NINE MANIFESTATIONS; ACTS 1:1 PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 51 THE NINE MANIFESTATIONS; ACTS 1:1 While we have this tremendous illustration chart of the Giver and His gift up here, I want to call another great truth to your attention, and that is that God, the Giver, who is THE Holy Spirit, that the true God never possesses. I hear people talking about -- I hear them talking all the time about being "God possessed", or being "channels for God". You're not God possessed by the true God, you're never a channel for the true God, you're never a medium for Him, you're never a sensitive for Him, God never uses you. That's right. Possession is always of the devil. Possession is always of evil spirits. And they control the mind, they possess the mind. The true God never possesses the mind. You know how you got this gift? You believed. What did you believe? You believed the Word of God and you confessed with your mouth the Lord Jesus and you believed that God raised him from the dead, then you were saved. You received His gift, you got this gift, not by possession, but by believing. And then, God gave you this gift, and this gift is spirit -- this gift is spirit. I can give you an illustration that I think will just make this ring in your heart. Take an automobile, it has a battery. Now, that battery is the potential to all the power in that automobile. This gift is the potential to all the power in manifestation, but it's only the potential. The battery in your automobile is only the potential. Why, when you sit down in your automobile, doesn't the horn honk? Why don't the lights go on? Why doesn't the radio start playing. Why doesn't the cigar lighter plug in? Why? All of those are operated from that one battery, but it takes someone to push it; someone has to operate. The potential's in that battery. But in a good automobile, it just doesn't operate until somebody turns on the radio; plugs in the cigar lighter; turns on the lights; switches the ignition -- you see? Now, this is the battery, this is the spiritual battery. This spiritual battery does not operate you. I hear people say, "Well, God operated me." God didn't do anything like it. That god that operated you, if he ever did, was Satan, not this God. For this God never operates, He gives the gift--He gives the GIFT. Then YOU plug in the radio; YOU turn the ignition; YOU honk the horn, so to speak; YOU speak in tongues; YOU interpret; YOU prophesy; YOU operate the word of knowledge, the word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles, healing. YOU do this by the power of God which is in you. That's the greatness of it. Now, both the Giver and His gift; the difference between the two is set forth so beautifully in Acts, chapter 2. And I'd like for you to turn to Acts, chapter 2. And in one verse in Acts, chapter 2, we have both the Giver and the gift listed. Acts, chapter 2, is the historical record of the outpouring of this gift, for the first time in all of its fullness, on the day of Pentecost. And verse 4 says: Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, [is King James] ... Now, there you have one of the things I taught you. They capitalized the word "Holy" and they capitalized the word "Ghost." First of all, the word "Ghost" should be "spirit"--the word "Ghost" should be "spirit;" and they capitalized it, which makes it God. Then they did something else, they added the article "the" in verse 4. There is no article "the" in any critical Greek text. Adding the article "the," and capitalizing the word "Holy" and capitalizing the word pneuma, "Ghost;" they've made it God, and that just throws it all to smithereens. But, if you read what's written, "And they were all filled WITH pneuma hagion--pneuma hagion, the gift," . . . and began to speak with other tongues, as [THE pneuma--THE pneuma] . . . There you have it, THE article is accurate; pneuma--spirit. They were filled with the gift; and then they began to speak with other tongues as THE Spirit-- . . . the Spirit, [with a capital "S", God] gave them utterance. Now, when it comes to these nine manifestations of the spirit, which, as I showed you from I Corinthians, chapter 12, that they're not set in order there at all; they're simply listed. I have arranged them here for you on the chart, to put them in the order in which they operate as a unit. These manifestations of the spirit; the characteristics of just the names, the characteristics of the manifestations simply suggest the name. There is the utterance, speaking manifestations, or worship manifestations, or inspirational. See, you utter them, and there are three, which, by their very nature, fall into this category: speaking in tongues; interpretation of tongues; and prophecy. These three, by their very nature, fall into this category, under group one. You utter them-- YOU utter them, YOU speak in tongues. That's why it's a speaking manifestation; YOU speak. The reason I call them "worship manifestations," because, we'll see later on in Corinthians, that these are used in a worship service of a believers meeting. And they're inspirational manifestations; they operate by inspiration. The word "inbreathing" is the same word as the word "inspiration" in the critical Greek text. By inspiration; it's in here, you just give it out; you're inspired as here, you give it out-- you just give it out. That's inspiration. Under this group--under this group; by their very nature, they fall into these three categories: speaking in tongues; interpretation of tongues; and prophecy. They fall into that group, by their very nature, because that's the only way that they fit; because they do not fit in any other way. Therefore, tongues, interpretation and prophecy fit into this category. And YOU utter them, YOU speak them, YOU utilize them in worship and YOU are the one who is in charge of these manifestations, under complete control. The second group of those nine manifestations that you saw emanating from the gift in one of the previous charts; this second group, I frequently refer to them as the eyes and ears of the church, because, without these manifestations, we forever walk in darkness in the church. But, with these manifestations in operation in a believer, these are the eyes and the ears of the church. These are revelation manifestations; you do not receive these by inspiration. This is: the word of knowledge; the word of wisdom; the discerning of spirits. These are revelation manifestations; they're given this way down. If God doesn't give you the information, you just do not HAVE the info. That's right. I say, many times, you reach up in Daddy's cookie jar; if He has a cookie up there, wonderful; if He doesn't, you come back empty handed. You operate these manifestations; but it's God's prerogative whether He's going to give you anything or not. So, that's why it's by revelation. They are for your information; so that you can carry out the job for the Lord, on an horizontal level, most effectively and dynamically. They are instructional manifestations; they are to instruct you, so that you know the score, that you're not stupid, that you know what's going on. They are your knowing manifestations, so that you know what's going on. This group is what kept the early church on the straight and narrow. Because, remember old Ananias and Sapphira had cheated the Lord; big congregation of over ten thousand members. How would you like to have guessed that just Ananias and Sapphira had cheated the Lord? How did Peter know that old Ananias and Sapphira had taken up a board in the house and shoved some extra cash under that board; and yet they came over to the service and said, "oh, Peter, we brought all the money for the Lord's work." Ha-hah, Peter looked them straight in the eyeballs and he said, "Look, you lie to God and the Holy Ghost; you got it hidden at home!" How did he know? HOW did he know? Did he guess? Well, if he guessed, he was a mighty good guesser; he could have made a million at a horse- track. Right. The stock market, he could have cleaned up; if he can guess that good. No-no-no, how did he KNOW? By revelation, God told him, He informed him, God instructed him; it was for Peter's knowing that the church could stay on the ball for God. This is the word of knowledge; the word of wisdom; and the discerning of spirits. That's how those three wonderful manifestations, by their very nature, have these characteristics; and they fall into that category, naturally. And this is how they fit, all through the Word. Remember, from Galatians 1:11 and :12, (we read that three or four times already in this class) on how, by revelation, he received this wonderful Word of God, Paul says. Nobody taught it to him, he got it by revelation. He got it by word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits. Now, the group three: since the revelation group is the word of knowledge, word of wisdom and discerning of spirits; group three is the believing, or the action, or the power, or the impartation manifestations. Here again, you have three, by their very nature, they fall into this category. You have faith, the manifestation of faith, which is believing; or you have the manifestation of healing; or you have the manifestation of miracles, here you have these three. These are the believing. You see, by operating the inspirational manifestations; I'm built up spiritually and mentally. Then, by operating the revelation manifestations; I get what information I need to know regarding any situation about which it's humanly impossible, by my five senses, to know anything about. Now then, how about carrying out the job? How am I going to get the job done? I must have these manifestations to carry out, in the senses world, the information God has given me. That's why they're action manifestations; or they're power; or they're impartation. You impart what, God has told you, you can do and should do. Remember the man at the temple gate "Beautiful"? Peter and John go in there, Peter said, "such as I have, I impart, I give unto you." These are the impartation manifestations. So, that's how the whole group of those nine manifestations of the spirit; that's how they work so perfectly and fit so uniquely and are set right, accurately, by their very characteristics, into these three groups. Now these nine manifestations of the gift; they're all nine manifestations of the gift from the Holy Spirit. These are the manifestations of the power or the ability. The gift is the power, the gift is the ability. The gift is like that battery; that's the energy, that's the power there. All nine manifestations of the spirit, all nine of them, flow in line with the Bible; NEVER--Never at cross purposes with it, NEVER--never. All nine manifestations of the spirit, always flow with every record in the Word of God; and NEVER against it. Now, this gift--this gift, which is God-in-Christ-in-you--this gift; the gift is your God-given ability; never forget that. The gift is spirit, and it's your God-given ability; God gave it to you. That's the gift. The gift is always the God-given ability. How many gifts are there? One. The gift is one. You saw it in that circle a little while ago; that's the gift. It is holy spirit; small "h," small "s," that's His gift. That gift is YOUR God-given ability. Why? Because, look, He GAVE it to you--He gave it to you. Now, since He gave it to you, who's responsible for it? You are. God gave me His gift, who's responsible for it? I am. Now, the thing is that, you can take a gift and you can utilize it wrongly. For instance, if someone gave you this gift of this book on receiving the holy spirit; you know what you could do with it? You could take it down to the fire place and throw it in. Why? Because it's a gift. The utilization, the operation of a gift is up to the free will and the believing of the recipient. He can use it rightly, or he can use it wrongly--that's right--or he can not use it at all. I give you this gift; you know what you can do with it? Put it up on the shelf and forget about it. The gift in the spirit's just like that, people; only it's spiritual. God gives you a gift; you can sit on it a lifetime, not do a thing, because you do not know what to do with it after you've got it. So, when it comes to this gift, which God has given us, always remember this is your God-given ability--it's God-given, right. Now, the manifestations, like: those speaking in tongues; interpretation of tongues; prophecy; word of knowledge; word of wisdom; discerning of spirits; faith; miracles and healing; that's the act--the act. The act is what you do. This is what God has given you. This is what you do. The manifestation is the result of YOUR operation of the gift--your operation of the gift. God gives you the gift; now you operate it. You're not possessed; you operate it by the freedom of your what? Will. You're always in absolute control. You are always in ABSOLUTE control of EVERYTHING God has ever made available--the true God. So, the gift is your God-given ability. The act is the result, the evidence, the indication of YOUR operation of the gift. Now, there are only nine powers--only nine of them, potentially, within that gift: speaking in tongues; interpretation of tongues; prophecy -- word of knowledge; word of wisdom; discerning of spirits; faith; miracles and healing--only nine, that's all. The gift is the ability to manifest all nine. But, how many do I manifest? As many as I know how. If I do not know how to speak in tongues, I will not speak in tongues. If I do not know how to interpret; I cannot interpret even though the "battery" is in here. If I do not know how to honk the horn, to blow the horn; I couldn't blow the horn in any automobile. Remember when I taught you, you find out what's available, how to receive it and what to with it after you've got it? There it is. You see, when we walk in the greatness of this Word, and we find out that the gift is the God-given ability--the gift is our God-given ability; the act is the result of our operation of the gift. Then, in the matter of speaking in tongues, what's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to speak in tongues at will. What's the act? The act is speaking--that's what the act is. Speaking in tongues is the act. Alright, take interpretation of tongues. What's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to interpret that which you have just spoken in a tongue. What's the act? The act is interpreting. Prophecy, what's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to prophesy. What's the act? Prophesying. In word of knowledge, what's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to receive from God word of knowledge. What's the act? Receiving it. Word of wisdom--word of wisdom, what's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to receive the word of wisdom. What's the act? Receiving it. Discerning of spirits, what's the gift? The gift is the God-given ability to discern spirits. What's the act? Doing it. Faith, what's the gift? The God-given ability to believe God to bring forth the impossible at YOUR command, according to the revelation you've received. What's the act? Believing. That's it. Isn't that something? Sure. Miracles, what's the gift? The God-given ability to perform miracles. What's the act? Doing it, sure. Healing, what's the gift? The God-given ability to minister healing. What's the act? Ministering it. That's it. It's as simple as all that. You see, people have, for years, erroneously waited for God to push them off the ledge; that's right. Just like you'd set the Bible here; this would be a person, and they've been praying, "Oh Lord, if You want me to speak in tongues; push me off the ledge. Oh, Lord, if you want me to interpret; push me, Lord." God never pushes anybody. If you ever get pushed around, it's the wrong god. Ha-hah! That's right. The true God never pushes anybody. That's right. But people have waited and waited. I have had people, in my classes like this, who have waited for twenty-five to thirty years to speak in tongues. They've belonged to even denominations that believe in speaking in tongues. They wanted to speak in tongues. They begged, they pleaded, they prayed, they did everything but speak in tongues. I have them in this class, show them the great accuracy of God's Word, and everybody receives. Nobody ever misses, never had anybody ever fail in this class, just nobody. Why? Because, God's Word is faithful; what He has promised, He's not only willing but able to perform. And He always does it when people believe, knowing what's available; how to receive it and what to do with it after they've got it. God NEVER pushes anybody, just never. You have the gift, you've got the God-given ability. It has been given to you by God. Now, what you do with it is YOUR responsibility as well as your opportunity and your joy. For instance: you speak, you give the interpretation. You never lean unto your own understanding, as the Bible says, but you always lean to the direction of the Word of God. And, ladies and gentlemen, there is nothing as great as the power of the holy spirit in your life and in mine and the operation of these manifestations, according to the Word, in all of their beauty and all of their glory and, I'd like to say, in all their "dynamic-ness". Because, boy, here lays the power of the Christian believer. This is what the early church, in Acts, had and this is what they operated. And, as they operated it, they turned the world up-side-down (which simply means they turned it right-side-up, because it was already "kittywompus" just like it is today). They just turned it up-side-down, which made it right-side-up, with the greatness of God's Word. And you and I can do it again if we can get the Word to live. But the Word can't live until it lives within you, and then you have to apply it, you have to believe it, you have to act on it, you have to walk on it. I want you to take your Bibles now, and go to that great book of Acts. The great book of Acts, where all of these truths are set forth in the greatness of the power of His Holy Spirit. And I'm going to cover five or six sections of the book of Acts with you in a minute accuracy. So that you'll understand every word, every usage and that this field of the holy spirit field will be so alive, so plain and so simple to you. That you will be able to walk in all the greatness of the power of God. Which He called you to, long before the foundations of the world, when He called you and chose you to be His son or His daughter. I'd like for you to turn to Acts, chapter 1, we begin with the first verse of Acts, chapter 1, and here we read: Acts 1:1 The former treatise ... The word "treatise" is simply like an explanation or an epistle. A treatise is an enlargement. "The former treatise;" and he's talking about the gospel of Luke. Acts 1:1 The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, ... Now, the commentaries say that this is addressed to a man by the name of Theophilus. I do not believe this. The word "theophilus" means "beloved of God," that's its meaning. And therefore, this book is addressed, the former treatise as well as this one--the former treatise, the gospel of Luke, was addressed to "Oh, theophilus" -- Oh, beloved of God. ... of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Verse 2: Until the day in which he was taken up, ... What day is that? The day of the ascension. Have you ever read the Gospel of Luke? How far does the gospel of Luke go? It cannot go beyond this because this is what Acts says. It only goes to the day in which Jesus Christ was taken up, the day of the ascension. The day of the ascension is forty days after the resurrection. ... after that he through [or by way of] ... And then the King James has the article "the." There is no article "the" in the text. But I ought to say this about the article "the," that I neglected to tell you earlier. That, in the Aramaic, there is no article "the," anyway, in any Aramaic text--old Hebrew either. The article "the" was added later. So the article "the" is entirely irrelevant. You must always--from the context, remember, from the individual word, it's usage in the verse and from the context, determined exactly what it means. Over here it means The Holy Spirit, even thought the article "the" is not there, it simply means holy spirit. "...after that he through [or by way of pneuma hagion] holy spirit" ... {the Holy Ghost} had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: What day is this? It says, the day of the ascension. And it says, "he gave commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen." How many apostles did he choose? He chose twelve. What day is it? The day of the ascension. Well, if it's the day of the ascension and the apostles whom he had chosen are there, then Judas Iscariot still has to be here on the day of the ascension. And that's exactly where he is. He is right with the lord and with the rest of the apostles on the day of the ascension, according to Acts, chapter 1, verse 2. END OF SEGMENT - 51 Segment 52: PENTECOST: THE DAY OF THE ASCENSION (ACTS 1:2-8) PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 52 PENTECOST: THE DAY OF THE ASCENSION (ACTS 1:2- The words, pneuma hagion, translated "holy spirit," must always be interpreted in the light of their usage in the verse and in the context. In Acts, chapter 1, verse 2: Acts 1:2 Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost} had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen: Now remember, the word "through" is the word dia which means "by" or "proceeding from." Here, in verse 2, it must be proceeding from the Giver who gave it to Jesus Christ by revelation. Now, "after that he through pneuma hagion had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen:" This is the day of the ascension and he was giving commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. In the gospel of Luke, and I'll just call this to your attention, in the gospel of Luke, in chapter 6, and in verse 13 it says: Luke 6:13 {And when it was day,} he called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles; And, among those twelve is Judas Iscariot. So, on the day of the ascension, Judas Iscariot must have been present here. Now I know this is contrary to people's teaching and their thinking. You know, from the gospel of John, and they say that immediately after he did so-in-so to the Lord, he went out and hanged himself. It doesn't say immediately. If you want to study this out for yourself, I'm just going to be showing it to you in part, but, in this volume one of "Studies In Abundant Living," chapter 10 deals with "When Did Judas Hang Himself?" And this is something you ought to work out because, again, of the accuracy and the greatness of God's Word. But, I'm going to show you some things here, in this particular chapter, that'll just thrill your heart. Because here, it says in verse 2, "... the apostles whom he had chosen." Acts 1:3 To whom [verse 3, to whom -- see, you must watch your pronouns, now, the apostles whom he had chosen -- to whom] {also} he shewed himself alive after his passion [meaning death] by many infallible proofs, being seen of them [them who? The apostles whom he had chosen, twelve] forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God: Why didn't Jesus Christ talk to them, the apostles whom he had chosen, about the church? Why? Because Jesus Christ did not know the church. The church was kept secret from before the foundation of the world and was not made known until it was made know to the apostle Paul, remember--the mystery? So, Jesus Christ could not talk to them about the mystery for it had not yet been made known. And Jesus Christ only knew what the Word of God spoke or what it declared and what God showed him by revelation. And the Word tells us that, by revelation, the mystery was first made known, not to Jesus, but to the apostle Paul. So, after his passion, after his death, and resurrection, he showed himself to his twelve apostles, verse 3, for forty days, and he spoke to them pertaining to the kingdom of God. Verse 4 says: Acts 1:4 And, being assembled together with them [them who? The twelve apostles], commanded them [the twelve apostles] that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. This is what he said to these twelve apostles who were gathered with him that day, on the day of the ascension. He said to them that they were to go back to Jerusalem and wait--wait--wait (the King James says "for," the Greek word should be translated "until." Waiting for, does not bring it.) They were not instructed to go back to Jerusalem and "wait FOR" the receiving of the holy spirit; they were to wait UNTIL, see. People have been waiting FOR the receiving of the holy spirit and never get it. You don't bring anything by waiting FOR, but they were instructed to wait UNTIL. Now, you and I, looking back, we know that ten days after the ascension is the day of Pentecost. But those apostles, that day, looking forward, the occasion not yet having come, they did not know how long they were to wait until this would occur. And he told them to go back to Jerusalem and wait--wait. The word "wait" is the same word as the word "tarry." Why did they have to tarry? Why were they told to wait? Because it had not yet come. It was the day of the ascension. The day of Pentecost had not yet come. So the reason they're told to wait is because it has not yet come. For instance, if your birthday came tomorrow, then today, I would have to wait until tomorrow. Right? This is why you could say to me, "Well, wait--wait until tomorrow, because it's not yet available, my birthday has not yet come." The reason these twelve apostles were instructed to go back to Jerusalem and to wait for THE promise of THE Father was because THE promise of THE Father had not yet come. We shall see, from the Word of God, with a minute accuracy, that once it came--once it came, there's not one record, in the Word of God, that anybody is ever told to wait again. They're never told to tarry. And ALL this teaching, you've got to tarry to receive the holy spirit, you got to wait it out, brother; man, you can wait till doomsday and never get it. Because, not once in the Word of God is anybody after the day of Pentecost told to wait or tarry. The reason they're told to wait or tarry now, is because it's the day of the Ascension. And you and I know that from the day of the ascension to the day of Pentecost is ten days, so they had to wait until it came. Now what were they to wait until? They were to wait until THE promise of THE Father came--THE promise of THE Father. Verse 5, look at it now, carefully: Verse 5: For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall ... Ye shall puts it in the absolute, not ye will, ye shall; puts it in the absolute, no ifs ands or buts about it. "John baptized with water; but ye SHALL" ... be baptized with [pneuma hagion, holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost} In the King James they have an article "the," in the critical Greek text, there is no article "the." "But ye shall be baptized with," the word "with" in the Greek is the word, en, meaning "in." You shall be baptized IN--baptized IN or WITHIN." What are you going to be baptized within, in? Ha-hah, you're going to be baptized with pneuma hagion, His gift, . . . not many days hence. You and I, looking back, know it was ten days hence, but they, that day, looking forward, did not know how long it would be. So, they had to go back to Jerusalem and wait or tarry UNTIL it came. Now, in verse 4, it said they were to wait until the promise of the Father came. In verse 5, THE promise of the Father is to be baptized in or with pneuma hagion. That's what THE promise of the Father is. Now verse 5 tells us something else; it says, "for John truly baptized with water but ye shall be baptized with water and the holy--NO! Don't you get water in that verse! If the Lord had wanted water in there, you know what He'd put in it? Water by the barrel full! He didn't put it in because He didn't want it in. For holy men of God spake...and if you put water in there, you know more than God. That's right. An attorney called me one evening, and he said, "We're having a meeting in our home and we're studying the Bible." And he said, "What does verse 5 mean?" He said, "Does verse 5 mean that water went out when the holy spirit was given?" That's what I asked him--er, he asked me this, "did water go out with the coming of the holy spirit?" And I said to him, "You are the attorney; you tell me what that verse means." And do you know what he said to me? He said, "Well, Dr. Wierwille, if I had this in a court of law, I would know what to do with it, but inside of the church, you never know." Heh-heh, I said, "You're sure right about that." But I said, "What does it say?" And he said, "Well, legally, it says this: 'With the coming of the greater, the lesser disappears.'" I said, "That's exactly what that verse says." It says, "John baptized with water, but, when the bigger comes--the bigger baptism, which is the baptism in--it is the baptism WITH-IN, OF pneuma hagion, holy spirit, the lesser is over with. And he said, "Well, that's exactly what I thought. Well, then" he said to me, "how come they were so water crazy all through the years?" I said, "For the same reason they're still watering today. Because, as it says in Acts, they're still zealous for the law. But the Word of God teaches here that with the coming of the greater, the lesser terminated." People, that's the accuracy of God's Word and I didn't write the book. You can argue with it if you want to, but arguing with God just puts you on the wrong side of the fence, I'll tell you that. But I know, we've got our doctrines to maintain. I'm not interested in maintaining doctrines of men and commandments of men; I'm interested in the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. That verse says, that the water baptism terminated when the greater baptism of the holy spirit came. And this, to be baptized with pneuma hagion, the gift, is what THE promise of THE Father was in verse 4. You know, in the first verse we were told about the former treatise that had been written. Turn to Luke, the twenty-forth chapter, show you something in Luke 24. Three verses of scripture define, beyond a shadow of a doubt, what it was that came on the day of Pentecost and takes all the private interpretation, all the guess work out of it. Verse 4 said, in Acts 1, "THE promise of THE Father;" verse 5 in Acts 1 said,"it was to be baptized in or with pneuma hagion. Now in Luke 24, in the last chapter of Luke, and in verse 49, just before he ascended, listen to what he said, he said: Luke 24:49 And, behold, I send the promise of my Father upon you: . . . Now, we're talking about THE promise of the Father, in Luke 24:49, the same as THE promise of the Father in Acts 1:4. ... but tarry ye ... Here it's the word "tarry," in Acts 1, it was wait. "but tarry ye" ... in the city of Jerusalem, until [until] ye be endued with power from on high. There it is, there it is, three verses of scripture, what a tremendous truth. In Acts 1:4, it's THE promise of THE Father, which equals, to be baptized with pneuma hagion. Pneuma, spirit; hagion, holy, holy spirit. In Luke 24, what was that verse--the last verse of Luke? Forty-nine, wasn't it? In Luke it said, THE promise of the Father was to be endued with power from on high. Three verses of scripture take all the guess work out of it; tell you, with a mathematical exactness and a scientific precision, exactly what the gift of pneuma hagion is, that came on the day of Pentecost-- tells you exactly. It is THE promise of THE Father, which equals to be baptized with pneuma hagion which equals "endued with power from on high." There it is, a mathematical axiom: "Things that are equal to the same thing are equal to each other." How do you like that? That's what I call mathematical exactness. That's the greatness and the truth of God's wonderful, matchless Word. This is exactly what it was that came on the day of Pentecost: they were to wait for THE promise of the Father, which is to be baptized. (The reason the word "baptized" is used is because it's a gift. And it's a one time deal, Christ comes in once, you can't repent twice. You can't get born again twice.) So, you get born again so that you are, once and for all, baptized with the holy spirit, with His pneuma hagion, Christ in you, the hope of glory, His gift on the day of Pentecost, which is to be endued with power from on high. So, the word "endued," from Luke, the word endued means to be clothed with--clothed with. They were to be endued with power, clothed with--clothed with power. Now, God cannot give physical power, God's power has to be spirit power, and it is. They were clothed with that gift; and if you're clothed, you're not naked. The man of body and soul is naked, spiritually, until he's born again of God's Spirit, and then he is clothed with, he is endued with power. And the word "power" there is the word dunamis, from which we get our English word "dynamite." If this whole room were filled with dynamite, it wouldn't hurt a one of us as long as nobody ignited it. That's right. Dunamis is always potential, it's always inherent. This is always inherent, it is spiritual power. That's the usage of the word dunamis every place in 8the Bible. It's inherent, it's potential power. There is another Greek word translated "power" and that's the word energemata. The word energemata is kinetic power, it's active power, it's power in action. Here, I receive this dunamis, it's potential, it becomes kinetic--it becomes kinetic as I energize it. The word energemata, the Greek word here, is transliterated over into our English word "energy"--energy. It's like the water in the river of Niagara, the Niagara river. The water is potential to power as it rolls over the dynamos. But the dynamos convert this potential power into kinetic energy; same thing. Then there's another word, the Greek word exousia. This word is transliterated into the English in our word "exercise," exercised power. Whenever I exercise this power, this dunamis, when I exercise this dunamis, it brings forth the energy--the kinetic energy, into manifestation. So he said they were to be clothed with, endued with power, inherent power, power from on high, from whom? From God--God the Giver, The Holy Spirit gave His dunamis, endued with power, dunamis, inherent power, His gift, from on high, from God. That one verse tells you exactly what it was, where it came from, and what you got. That's right. A tremendous truth. That takes all the guess work out of it, isn't that terrible? Now you can't go around and pop off all kinds of ideas and theories and ideologies that you have. Three verses of scripture that take all the guess work out it completely. Well, verse 6: Acts 1:6 When they [we're still talking about the apostles] therefore were come together [on this day of the ascension], they asked of him [Jesus], saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? Isn't that just so human? Here Jesus Christ is just about ready to ascend. They'll never see him again until he returns from heaven to gather the church. And he's trying to tell them about the greatest thing God's given him a little revelation on, and that is the power of the holy spirit. That this power is going to come. They can be endued and clothed with this power; and they can't understand. You know what they're interested in? Who's going to be head of the army; who's going to be chief of state; who's going to be minister of health, education and welfare; who's going to be the vice president? They say unto him, "Lord, are you going to restore the kingdom to Israel?" And it's just so wonderful, because the Lord, instead of getting angry about it, he simply said: Verse 7: {And he said unto them,} It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. And then he turns right around, in verse 8, and he says "But," and whenever you read that word "but" in the Bible, it always sets in contrast that which precedes with that which follows. The word "and" sets it in correspondence with, but the word "but" always sets that which precedes in contrast with that which follows. Verse 8: But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [pneuma hagion] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. What a tremendous verse! "But ye shall ...", "ye shall" makes it in the absolute. I think I ought to give you this, I have this written in the back of my Bible and I teach it to my classes all the time, and I write it back in here so that I'm always sure I'm accurate. Someplace back here it gives me my "shalls" and "wills." Thought I could find it right off the bat; can't lay my hands on it right now. But in the first and second and third person, singular and plural, it gives us these "shalls" and these "wills." But, here it says, "ye shall," which, again, puts it in the absolute. If it said, "ye will," it would mean maybe. But when it said, "ye shall," it makes it absolute. Verse 8: But ye shall [absolutely, once you've been endued, clothed with power from on high, ye shall] receive power [receive power], ... The word "power" is the word dunamis, but the word "receive" is the great key. The word "receive" is so uniquely interesting here that I must stop and teach it to you. That word "receive" has two (there are other Greek words, but only two that relate themselves to the study of the holy spirit field) but, these two have been so misunderstood that we've wrongly divided the Word and never been able to handle it, and they're real simple. The word "receive," one of the words is the word dechomai. The word dechomai means to receive subjectively. When I receive the Lord Jesus Christ as my personal lord and savior, I received it subjectively. The subject, I am the subject, I received it. Then, there is another word, and the word is lambano. Lambano is translated "receive" also, but it does not mean to receive subjectively, but it means to receive objectively into manifestation. You know, a person can receive something, spiritually, subjectively, and never receive it into manifestation objectively because he does not know what his job is to manifest it forth. These two words are used with a mathematical exactness all through the Bible. And I'll be showing them to you. As-a-matter-of-fact, I think the best time you could ever spend along this line, would be if you'd take this edition--this book on "Receiving the holy spirit Today" and you turn to the appendix on page 219 and following. I've given you every place in the Bible where the word dechomai or where the word lambano appears. Then you can go through your Bible, and wherever the word "receive" appears and it's the word dechomai, I just put a "D" on it. Or if it's the word "receive" and it's the word lambano, I put an "L" on it. Then, when I'm reading through my Bible, (that's exactly what I have in my Bible, here), when I'm reading through my Bible here, I know immediately that this verse 8, the word "receive"--the word "receive" is not dechomai, the word "receive" is lambano, and that sets the difference between truth and error in that verse. For he has just told us--he has just told us that they would receive (this way down), they would dechomai, they received subjectively, to be endued with power from on high, they would be baptized WITH pneuma hagion. They were just told this. That's right. Now you've got it, now you've got it, so you do not get any more, now you've got to receive it into manifestation; you've got to lambano it. You know the word "ball" comes from the word ballo, lam-ban-no -- la-bal-lo, ballo, throw, ball, throw. Lambano is to throw it out in manifestation, in evidence. Listen to this verse 8: Verse 8: But ye shall receive [you shall lambano dunamis, you shall manifest this inherent] power [dunamis, this potential that you have received], ... You shall manifest--well there are only nine manifestations, so they're going to have to speak in tongues; interpret; prophesy; operate the word of knowledge; word of wisdom; discerning of spirits; faith; miracles and healing, that's the only lambanoing there is. Verse 8 says: Verse 8: But ye shall [lambano] {receive} power [this dunamis], after [or when] that [pneuma hagion] (the Holy Ghost) is come upon you: and ye shall be [defense attorneys, NO ye shall be] witnesses unto me ... You see, you and I do not need to defend truth. Truth is its own defense, you've got to defend error, not truth. All you have to do to truth is witness to it--witness to it. And the only witnessing, after they were filled, was the manifestations. "Ye shall be witnesses unto me" ... both in Jerusalem, {and in all} Judaea, {and in Samaria,} and unto the uttermost part of the earth. Well, do you think, perhaps, the uttermost part of the earth includes this section of the world in which you and I live? Certainly! And they were to be witnesses, not defense attorneys, they were to be witnesses to the truth by the operation of the manifestations, the lambanoing of the power, the lambanoing of the spirit in manifestation. They were to be witnesses unto him. END OF SEGMENT - 52 Segment 53: PENTECOST: EVENTS SURROUNDING (ACTS 1:9-2:15) PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 53 PENTECOST: EVENTS SURROUNDING (ACTS 1:9-2:15) On the day of the ascension of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ, according to Acts, chapter 1, some very significant and wonderful things occurred. And we're reading, line-by-line and verse-by-verse, this chapter, and I'm in verse 9 of chapter 1 of the book of Acts. Acts 1:9 8And when he [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they [they who? The apostles whom he had chosen. It's still the same pronoun. they] beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight. This is the ascension, forty days after the resurrection of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Verse 10: And while they [the twelve apostles] looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; These were two good angels coming into concretion in manifested form. "While they, (the twelve apostles, Judas was there) looked stedfastly toward heaven, Jesus went up, two men stood by them." Now, watch verse 11 carefully: Verse 11: Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, ... Whoa-whoa-whoa, back up, right there! Up until this time it was always the pronoun they (referring to the twelve apostles), and now--and now, in verse 11, it changes. When these angels speak to these men, it's no longer all the men, but it says, "Ye men of Galilee." Why does it say Galilee? The twelve apostles, eleven of them were from Galilee, one, Judas Iscariot, was the only one who was not a Galilean. Judas Iscariot came from the city of Iscar in southern Judea, he was the only Judean of all the twelve apostles, all the rest of them were Galileans. And so, right after the Lord Jesus Christ had ascended, right after that, when the men spoke, Judas was not there. Then it was that Judas went out and hanged himself as the record, in Matthew, indicates. Now you've got to watch your pronouns and your nouns carefully: Verse 11: Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? [Why do you keep looking up into heaven?] this same Jesus [this same Jesus, listen], which is taken up from you into heaven, shall [absolutely] so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven. Well, is he coming back? You bet your life he's coming back. The world may say, "God's dead;" nothing wrong with God except the people who say He's dead. They're the ones that are dead, not God. They may say, "Jesus Christ is never coming back." But I want to tell you something. They didn't stop him from coming the first time, with all their unbelief and they're not going to stop him from coming again. The Word of GOD says, "This SAME Jesus--this SAME Jesus that you saw going up, IS coming back. "He SHALL come back ..." And remember that word "shall?" That's a tremendous thing, just going to give it to you here. It's in my writing in the back, I just couldn't find it, moved up on the page for me or something. In the singular and plural, first and second person: "I will" denotes absolute; "I shall" denotes simple future. Now, "you or they will," in the plural, is simple future; while "you or they shall," is the absolute. Verse 11: (continued) ... this same Jesus [this same Jesus], which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go ... He SHALL come, absolutely. When the fullness of time came, the first time, God sent forth His only begotten son, born of a woman. And I want to say to you, with all the authority and accuracy of God's Word, which has stood the test of all time and all critics. That, when the fullness of time comes again, Jesus Christ is coming back. That's what the Word says, that what it means. Then verse 12: "Then"--then--then, time again, then: Verse 12: Then returned they ... They who? The twelve? No, the eleven, the men of Galilee. Galilee is the noun, they is the pronoun related to that noun. "Then returned they, the twelve (eleven) ... unto Jerusalem ... Why did they go back to Jerusalem? Why didn't those poor fellows go to Galilee? After all, Jesus had said, "Go back to Jerusalem," you know what they could have said? "Yes, that's what Jesus said, but he didn't really mean Jerusalem, he meant just go to Bethlehem or to Galilee, go any other place." Look, for those apostles, the Word of God was the Will of God, it meant what it said and said what it meant. When he said, "Go back to Jerusalem," what did he mean? He meant, go back to Jerusalem. So that exactly what they did. I told you, you never get anything from God unless you literally carry out His Word--literally. Verses 12 & 13: Then returned they [the eleven apostles] unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a sabbath day's journey. And when they [the eleven] were come in, they went up into an upper room, ... Is it the day of Pentecost? No, it's the day of what? The ascension. And when they came back to Jerusalem, it says they went into an upper room. That's when they went to the upper room, on the day of the ascension. Now listen: ... where abode [the upper room, where abode] both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. Eleven apostles, all Galileans, on the day of the ascension, they returned to Jerusalem and they went into an upper room. Is it the day of Pentecost? NO, it says it's the day of the ascension. And you know what else it says about the upper room? It was a place where the apostles ABODE. You know what the word "abode" means? Sure, that's where they slept; that's where they stayed; that's where they brushed their teeth with "Pepsident" or "Ipanna" or "Crest" for less cavities, or something else, I don't know. But that's where they put on their P.J.s; that's where they abode; that's where they slept, that's right. The upper room was the place where the apostles went after the ascension, that's where they abode; and it's NOT the day of Pentecost. You know something else, listen to the next verse, 14. Oh, I ought to tell you that this word "Matthew," the word "matthew" in verse 13--an interesting light was given in the Harper magazine of August, I think it was, '66. Where John Marco Allegro, who is the lecturer of Old Testament and Inter-testamental studies from Manchester, England; who is a member of the international scrolls editing team in Jerusalem, Jordan made the statement that the usage of the word, "Matthew," always meant, in the scrolls, "chosen one of God." That's the way it was translated. I know we refer to it as a tax collector, (but this is just an added light for you, thrown in extra, it doesn't cost you any more. Whether it's right or wrong, you decide, I don't know.) But I know this that the upper room was a place where they abode. That's where they changed clothes and polished their shoes, that's where they lived. And it's not the day of Pentecost. And the upper room was a place where no women were allowed. Let's read the next verse: Verse 14: These all [all who? All of these eleven] continued with one accord ... One accord means unit of purpose, that's all it means. They were in one accord, unity of purpose, that's all it means. ... in prayer and supplication, ... The word prayer is with thanksgiving and supplication of thanks to God -- with praise and thanks to God. Now listen: Verse 14: These all [eleven] continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren [in the upper room -- No-no-no, it doesn't say upper room]. I couldn't have been the upper room, why? Because verse 13 says the upper room was where the men abode, and no women were allowed in the sleeping quarters of men. That's right, no women. There's a story in the Old Testament [see Judges 4:17-22] about a woman, "Jael" was her name, she was a queen. She invited the head of the--chief of the army, a fellow by the name of "Sisera" to come in to the tent. And she covered him with a mantle, she gave him the covenant of salt, she did four or five things that should have guaranteed to him that she'd never betray him. But, he did something that was unforgivable, he got in her side of the tent, which means the bedroom where only she and her husband were allowed. And so, the Word of God said, she went out and got herself a stake of the tent and she pounded this through his head so that he died. Well, I guess driving a stake through the head of a fellow would pretty well kill him. And everybody says she was a murderer. She was not a murderer, she'd given him all the covenants of salt, the mantle, the protection, everything, but there is one thing a man was not allowed to do and that was to get in the sleeping quarters of the woman. And he had done just that for the next verse says that he was in HER side of the tent. That's why she went out and drove that stake through his head, because he had committed the unforgivable in eastern custom. No women are ever allowed in the sleeping quarters of men. This upper room was the place where the eleven apostles abode. They had a male servant who would clean that place. If this had been a place where women were, no man would have been allowed in there, even as a servant. A woman would have to clean it. That's the accuracy with which the Word of God speaks, sure. Now verse 15: Verse 15: And in those days [what days? The days between the ascension and the day of Pentecost. Jesus had said wait until the promise of the Father to be baptized, endued with power from on high, in those days,] Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, [the parenthesis, now, here it is,] (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty,) Is is the day of Pentecost? No. Were there 120? No, it says the names together were ABOUT 120. I tell you the teaching that we've had on the holy spirit and the day of Pentecost has been so erroneous, and yet there it's written. We must never read the Bible, we must just follow tradition and custom. We teach that, on the day of Pentecost--or we are taught that on the day of Pentecost, they received the holy spirit in the upper room, and that there were 120 present. We're wrong on every count. That's right. The Bible said here, in the upper room was the place where the apostles abode. And in those days, before the day of Pentecost, Peter got together and the number of names, verse 15, together were ABOUT a hundred and twenty. It doesn't say 120, had God meant 120, you know what it would say? A hundred and twenty, it says ABOUT a hundred and twenty. What does God mean? About a hundred and twenty, that's why He said it. Ha-hah! Look, if you had to have $120 right now or you'd lose your life, and you had ABOUT 120, you know what would happen to you? We'd call "Digger O'Dell" and have it over with. That's right. You'd lose your life. The Word of God said, "In those days" between the day of the ascension and the day of Pentecost, "Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples" not in the upper room, but someplace where the disciples and the women could all meet. And there's only one place in the Bible that this could happen, that had to be in the Temple area, we'll see it later on. Listen, Peter said: Verse 16: Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David [spoke] {spake} before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. Verse 17: {For} he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Verses 18 - 20: Now this man [talking about Judas] purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be desolate, and let no man dwell therein: and his bishoprick [his eldership, his rulership] let another take. You see, if Judas had hanged himself, long forty days before this, why in the world should they, just now, decide to put someone in Judas's place? But it's just perfect--just perfect. The day of the ascension, Judas left, he went out and hanged himself. And in those days between the day of the ascension and the day of Pentecost, which you and I know is a period of ten days, sometime during those days, Peter stood up among the ABOUT a hundred and twenty disciples and he said: "Men and brethren, ladies and gentlemen, you know the Word of God says, so and so and so, now, let's select someone to take Judas's place." Very logical, fits like a hand in a glove. Verses 21 & 22: Wherefore of these men which have companied with us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us, Beginning from the baptism of John, unto that same day that he was taken up [the ascension] {from us}, must one be ordained to be a witness with us of [the] {his} resurrection. Look at that. Not a witness of his apostleship or his work while he was here upon earth, his mission as a prophet, no-no, but of his resurrection. The great key is the resurrection. If God raised Jesus Christ from the dead, if Jesus Christ is resurrected, then we have what the Word of God says we have. And if there is no resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, you have nothing--absolutely. But Peter said, that fellow has to have been with us all the way through, even seen the resurrection. And verse 23 says: Verses 23 & 24: And they appointed [the word "appointed" in the text is "made to stand," They made to stand] two, Joseph called Barsabas, who was surnamed Justus, and Matthias. And they prayed, and said, Thou, Lord, which knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether [is the King James, "if either" is the original text. Show if either] of these two thou hast chosen, Thou hast chosen, you see, an apostle is one chosen of God. Every apostle is a disciple, a follower of the Lord Jesus Christ. But not every disciple is an apostle. An apostle is one who has a special ministry of bringing new light to his age or his generation, maybe old light but it's new to the generation to whom he speaks. Verse 25: That he may take part of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place. Verse 26: And they gave forth their lots; [Their lots, the original text reads "ballots," they gave forth the ballots, and the ballot was for Matthias] {and the lot fell upon Matthias} [Matthias, the ballot was for Matthias]; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Matthias was numbered with the eleven apostles, the eleven apostles. Look over here: who received the original gift on the day of Pentecost? Now, from what I have just read for you, look what it says; They gave forth their lot, (verse 26) their ballot, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. Eleven apostles and Matthias make how many? Twelve, twelve apostles; that's what the Word says. And the first word of [chapter 2] verse [1] 2 is "and." "And" puts that which goes before and that which follows in correspondence. It should never have been a chapter; it should simply go on. And he was numbered with the eleven apostles; eleven apostles plus one make twelve. Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost [verse 1 of chapter 2] was fully come, they [they who? The twelve apostles] were all with one accord in one place. Verse 2: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they [they who? The twelve apostles] were sitting. Verse 3: And there appeared unto them [them who? The twelve apostles, watch the pronouns.] cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them [them who? The twelve apostles]. Verse 4: And they were all [they who? The twelve apostles, were all] filled with [pneuma hagion, holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. There's the end of the Pentecostal experience, there's the end, in four verses of everything that God ever gave to mankind on the day of Pentecost. All the fullness of the power of God. And every pronoun relates it back to that verse 26 when Matthias was numbered with the eleven apostles. Ladies and gentlemen, eleven plus one equals a hundred and twenty? I would say that those people were operating a real "modern math." Boy, to teach you got a hundred and twenty on the day of Pentecost; you've got to add eleven plus one and come up with a hundred and twenty. But I know you can add better than that. We'll take the "modern math" out of it. It must have been "modern-modern," we'll take the zero out, eleven plus one equals twelve. And that's exactly what the Word of God says was the number of those present on the day of Pentecost when the power of the holy spirit was poured out. You see, you have to watch your pronouns, like we did on Judas, every time, watch your time, watch your place, and this same truth; eleven plus one, that there were only twelve, is again reiterated in Acts, chapter 2, in verse 7, listen to this: Verse 7: [The Jews] {And they} were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galilaeans? Not all the disciples were Galilaeans, but the eleven apostles plus Matthias, Matthias also was a Galilaean, and eleven plus one makes twelve. And these Jews said, "are not all these which speak Galilaeans?" That's right. And one more great verse in Acts 2:14, sets the number who originally received the original gift on the day of Pentecost. In chapter 2, in verse 14, immediately or shortly after this experience of the new birth and the power of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. Peter--Peter stood up to preach, and look what it says in verse 14: Acts 2:14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, ... Eleven plus one make how many? Twelve. How many would you say were present on the original outpouring, when they were born again of God's Spirit and received the power of the holy spirit from the Word of God? I would say twelve. What does tradition say? Tradition says a hundred and twenty. Now you just make up your own mind whether the Word of God is accurate or whether tradition is accurate. MY Bible says that the upper room was a place where they abode, and that, sometime between the time of the ascension and the day of Pentecost, Peter got together with ABOUT a hundred and twenty, that's right. Not even a hundred and twenty then, but about. And they selected someone to take Judas Iscariot's place, and his name was Matthias who was selected. And Matthias was numbered with the eleven, and eleven plus one makes twelve, and the word "apostles" is the noun, and the pronoun--the pronoun is always controlled by its closest associated noun, and the noun is the word "apostles." And then comes Acts, chapter 2, and it talks about they-they-they, the twelve apostles. That's why the Word of God teaches that, on the day of Pentecost, this "to be baptized with the holy ghost;" "the promise of the Father;" "to be endued with power from on high" was received, initially, only by the twelve apostles. Now, where were they? Where were they? The teaching is, they were in the upper room. No-no-no, look what Acts, chapter 2 says, it says: Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they [the twelve] were all with one accord in one place. It just says, "one place." We've got to find out what that place was. It doesn't say upper room, it says "one place." Verse 2: And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house [it doesn't say upper room, it says all the house] where they were sitting. That's right. Now we get from the word "house," we have said it said upper room. It doesn't say upper room, it says house--THE house. Well, what did Jesus Christ call the temple? He said, "the temple is the house of prayer." Whenever they talk about the temple in the Bible, it's THE house. Whenever they talk about somebody else's' house, it's a house, but it's always THE house when it's the temple. God had originally met His people there at the temple. Now, for the last time, He's going to pour out the greatest thing God's ever given, and He's going to do this at the one place that's open to the public, everybody can be there, everybody can see. Because God never has to move under a little old "blue light," oh, no. God never has to do things secret and out where there's nobody else around. He does the greatness of His power where everybody can see, where everybody's open. That's right. It says, "the house--the house--the house." Well, let me show you something. In the gospel of Luke, in Luke, chapter 24, we better just look this up in verse 53. It's a tremendous truth here, it says, verse 50: Luke 24:50-53: And he led them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: And were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. {Amen.} They were continually where? In the temple. Yet, in Acts, chapter 1, it said they were in the upper room. Now how can you be continually in the temple and in the upper room? Well, there's no contradiction, the error is in our understanding. It does not say they were CONTINU-OUSLY, I've over emphasized it, they were not Continuously in the temple, it doesn't say that, it says "continually." They were continually in the temple, which means they were there when they were supposed to be. While in Acts, chapter 1, it said they were also in the upper room. They were only in the temple when they were supposed to be. Well, when were they SUPPOSED to be in the temple? Well, they were supposed to be at the hours of prayer. And what were the hours of prayer? Corresponding to our 6AM, 9AM, 12 Noon, 3PM, and 6PM. That's when they were continually in the temple. And we're going to see, in the next session, exactly WHERE the outpouring of the holy spirit occurred on this wonderful day of Pentecost. END OF SEGMENT - 53 Segment 54: PENTECOST: RECEIVIN THE GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment - 54 PENTECOST: THE RECEIVING OF THE GIFT OF HOLY SPIRIT The great accuracy of the Word of God regarding WHERE the outpouring of the holy spirit occurred on the day of Pentecost is so wonderfully accurate that it's almost impossible to believe that all of us, basically, could have missed it so many, many years. In the second chapter, for instance, in verse 15 of this second chapter, it sets the time which places it in a vise. Because in Luke we're informed that they were continually in the temple, while here in Acts chapter 2:15, we're told a specific time. Listen to it, it'll be just like a vise: Acts 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. The third hour of the day. This was spoken by Peter, after the receiving of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, when the people had already gathered together. So, sometime between the first hour of prayer and this third hour of the day, which corresponds to our 9 o'clock in the morning, sometime between 6 and between 9, the outpouring of the holy spirit occurred. And this puts it in a vise, there's just no guess work about it, tells you exactly where it occurred. There is another singly great and wonderful truth in the sixth verse of this second chapter, where it says: Acts 2:6 Now when this was noised abroad [the receiving of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, by the twelve apostles], the multitude came together, Now, can you imagine a multitude coming together in an upper room? Where in the world would there be people like you even, real wealthy people, who would have an upper room that would be big enough to seat even about 120? How about seating a multitude? Now this multitude was not just a little bunch of people, this was a whole big bunch, because, in verse 41 of this second chapter, it tells us that, at the close of Peter's sermon, that day of Pentecost, there were about 3,000 souls added to the church. {Acts 2:41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.} If the proportion of salvation that day, corresponds with the proportion of what we must have in crowds today, to get 3,000 people really born again of God's Spirit in one meeting, I tell you, that multitude was a MULTITUDE, right? How in the world could you get the multitude together in the upper room? So, you see, when you go to the greatness of God's Word, there's only one place that the outpouring of the holy spirit could have occurred and that was in the great public place the temple, because, as it says in verse 2 of chapter 2, that when this experience came, it filled all the house, the temple. It didn't fill the upper room. So, putting this together, was it the temple or the upper room, there's no question about it. The upper room was the place where the apostles abode. The temple was the place where they went at the hours of prayer, as it says in Luke 24:53, they were continually in the temple. They were continually there when they were supposed to be. And that the third hour, which we just read from Acts, chapter 2, verse 15; the third hour corresponds to our 9 o'clock, this is their time; the first hour, the third hour, the sixth hour of prayer, the ninth hour and the twelfth hour. By the way, they still have five hours of prayer in Orthodox Judaism, and even among the Mohammedists, the Muslims today. All these hours are still the same. The first, the third, the sixth, the ninth and the twelfth, their time, this corresponds to 6 o'clock in the morning, our time; 9 A.M.; 12 Noon; 3 P.M. and 6 P.M. And by the third hour, when Peter got up to preach and he said, "This is the third hour," it was an hour when they were in the temple, which corresponds to our time. So, this outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, because they were in one place, the temple, all the house of verse 2 of Acts 2, the temple. The multitude came together, from verse 6, it had to be a big place and it was a big place for it was the hour of prayer, the third hour of the day, as the fifteenth verse of the second chapter indicated. So, when you put all these truths of God's Word together, the Bible fits like a hand in a glove. And God did NOT pour out His holy spirit in some back alley, up some back steps, in some little old room where only twelve apostles could live. He brought it out in the open where all the people could hear. And you must remember, it was the feast of Pentecost. In the Old Testament, I believe it's called the feast of weeks. There were thousands upon thousands of people in Jerusalem of Jewish background, religious wise, who were there for the observation. And when God moved so mightily and poured out His gift on the day of Pentecost, He did it out in public where everybody could see what was going on. So, when you put all these truths together, you discover, from the accuracy of God's Word, three great, wonderful truths. First of all, what it was that came on the day of Pentecost; it was the gift, the gift of pneuma hagion, holy spirit, which was to be baptized with the holy ghost, which is the promise of the Father to be endued, clothed with power from on high. Number two, who were present at the original outpouring, or who received in the original outpouring? The twelve apostles; eleven apostles plus Matthias who made the twelfth one, and now all of those twelve apostles were Galileans. And in the third place, where did it occur? The Word of God says that it occurred in the temple. Now, we're about ready, with these great truths, to read the great record of the outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. And the greatest thing that God has ever done -- the greatest thing God has ever done, is recorded in the Word of God in four verses--in four verses. The outpouring of the holy spirit; the gift; the pneuma hagion; Christ-in-you, the hope of glory; the new birth, all of that is recorded in four verses of scripture in Acts, chapter 2, it says: Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, ... When the day of Pentecost was fully come; Pentecost was in the process of coming ever since the third chapter of Genesis, in the fifteenth verse, where God had promised the coming of the seed. All through the years, from that time on till this historic day that we're reading about in Acts, chapter 2, there are times and time again, when there was an indication of the outpouring. And all the manifestations of the spirit, with the exception of two, can be traced on men of God, at various times, throughout the Old Testament. All except speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. But here is says: Acts 2:1 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they [they who? The twelve apostles] were all with one accord ... One accord means unity of purpose, unity of mind, unity of spirit, they were at the same place, doing the same thing. That's what one accord means. And it says they were ... in one place. And the place was the temple. Verse 2: And suddenly [suddenly] there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, ... A sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. Now, according to the Word of God, heaven is any place above earth. Any place above earth is heaven. And there was a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind. In John, chapter 20, just before the ascension, Jesus Christ had told the apostles this, he said: John 20:21-22: {Then said Jesus to them again,} Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you. And when he had said this, he breathed on them, ... The word "them" is in italics, it must be deleted, and the word "on" is the preposition "in" from the text. He breathed in -- he breathed in, he did like this (Dr. makes breathing sounds) he breathed in ... and saith unto them, Receive ye [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}: Could they have received at the time Jesus was speaking these words before the ascension? No. Why not? It was not available. Then what was Jesus doing? He was simply instructing them, he was simply teaching them HOW to receive on the day of Pentecost. And it is remarkable that in Acts, chapter 2, these words, "as of a rushing mighty wind" are given in another translation from the Greek word pneos, as of a heavy breathing. The same as in John 20, verse 22, "he breathed on them" or he breathed in. So, in Acts, chapter 2, verse 2, the rushing mighty wind, as of a heavy breathing. "Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a heavy breathing." Who was doing the breathing? A sound from heaven, any place above earth. The twelve apostles were in the temple, God had shown them something, indicating to them that He was going to pour out the spirit upon them. And what did the twelve apostles do? They did exactly what the Lord had instructed them to do before he ascended, he breathed in -- he breathed in and said "receive ye pneuma hagion, holy spirit." He breathed in, the apostles obeyed orders, literally, and they did exactly what Jesus Christ had told them. Listen, this is what happened: All twelve of these apostles, when they got the "go sign," (Later on I'll read you what the go sign was, it's in the verses following.) all twelve of them went like this, they breathed in (Dr. makes breathing sounds) hope you can hear that -- all twelve of them. And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, out among all the people gathered in the temple, twelve men breathing like this, listen: (the heavy breathing sounds). That's what Acts 2:2 says. A sound from heaven as of a heavy breathing. Now I know what somebody's going to say, "Oh, you couldn't hear that all over the temple." Oh, who's kidding who? Look, have any of you ever stood in the great Mormon Temple, in Salt Lake City? Have you been able to see how, in that temple, you drop a pin on the platform at the front, you can hear it at the back? I feel pretty confident that the temple in Jerusalem had very good acoustics. Because God was pouring it out. And on that day, when He poured it out, these men received and suddenly-suddenly-suddenly, they started breathing in (Dr. makes the heavy breathing sounds), there it was. That's Acts 2:2. That's what the Word says, that's what it means. Acts 2:2 (continued) ... and it [it what? The breathing in] filled all the house [the temple -- the house] where they were ... - hanging from the chandeliers, NO. Where somebody was shouting "Glory Hallelujah, praise the Lord. Let's stand up and hold up holy hands. Let's have a handkerchief waving ceremony." OH, NO! A thousand times NO! They weren't even singing "Standing On The Promises" sitting down; no sir. You know what they were doing? It was an hour of what? Prayer. They were in the temple, and they weren't making loud noises, they weren't singing and they weren't shouting. Oh, what a bunch of baloney has been taught in the holy spirit field. That's right. Everything except the accuracy of God's Word. Ladies and gentlemen, I didn't write the book, but there it is, as plain as day, and anybody can see it: Verse 2: (continued) ... and it [the breathing in] filled all the house [the temple] where they were sitting. It was an hour of prayer, they were in the posture of prayer. When you and I sit down to pray, we perhaps sit down like this, on a chair and we pray. But that's not the way they sat. The custom in the East is, they would cross their legs, one under the other, and they'd sit on a little mat, a prayer mat or a prayer rug. They were in the posture of prayer, they were sitting. They weren't even singing. How many-many times haven't I been to services and I hear people say, "Well, now we've got to get the spirit of the meeting up, so you've got to sing." And so you sing for a half an hour, trying to get the spirit of the meeting up. The reason they have to sing so long is because they haven't got the spirit to begin with, otherwise you've got the spirit, it's up before you ever start singing. Well, look at it. It filled all the house where they were sitting. I can't drive this home hard enough because, whenever the true God does something, ladies and gentlemen, it's always decent and it's always in order. It's never out of order and the reason thousands upon thousands of good, sincere, honest Christian believers have never manifested the power of the holy spirit in concretion is because so many people who say they believe in the holy spirit, have added so many extraneous things, sense knowledge wise, feeling wise, that it has queered the experience of Pentecost for sincere, God loving and believing Christians. People, the Word says, "there came a sound from heaven as of a heavy breathing and it filled all the temple where they were sitting." They were decent and they were in order, it was an hour of prayer. Verse 3: And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. There appeared unto them -- them who? The twelve apostles. There appeared unto them cloven tongues, LIKE AS of fire, it doesn't say it was fire, it was LIKE AS of fire. And these cloven tongues sat upon each one of them. This is the phenomenon of Pentecost, and what a tremendous truth. You see, what God has promised in His Word, He HAS to fulfill. God cannot do less than His Word when we believe His Word. But, God being God Almighty, can He do more? Can He do more than His Word if He wants to? You bet your life. But His "more"--the more that He does, cannot contradict what His Word says. In the Bible, or at any time today, when God goes beyond that which is written or that which is guaranteed to everybody, it is ALWAYS in the category of the phenomena. It's always a phenomenon, ALWAYS. Now, this is God's prerogative. There are many times that God gives me certain phenomena in my life and in my ministry. But I do not teach these phenomena because, if I taught the phenomena, then all the people would go around looking for feelings. "Well, did you feel that? Did you feel that? Did you ..." And if they didn't get the feeling, they would deny the reality of it. I cannot guarantee phenomena, but, ladies and gentlemen, I can guarantee the accuracy of God's Word, that what God has promised, He's not only able, but He's willing and WILL perform when any believer knows what the Word says and acts on it. That's why nobody ever fails but to receive the power of the holy spirit in manifestation in this class. Because God has promised it, I teach the accuracy of God's Word, they believe it, they walk in on it. But phenomena is God's prerogative and the phenomena on the day of Pentecost was the cloven tongues like as of fire. It's not promised that when you receive the holy spirit into manifestation there are going to be cloven tongues of fire, could be. If it was, it would be in the category of phenomenon. Now, the phenomenon on the day of Pentecost, according to Acts 2, were the cloven tongues like as of fire. And this is the great truth that you must recognize, because, every time that God does a phenomenon, does not mean you are special, it only means that this is God doing it for some reason for you or for the body. For instance, in the Old Testament, was a fellow by the name of Belshazzar, the king, remember? He had all those wonderful golden goblets and everything else that they brought back from Jerusalem, and he had them up north there and he had a big party going, a big drinking party. They brought out all their wine and their whiskey and their women and their song and they were really living it up. And old Belshazzar was just having a great time. And all at once, there on the wall, were written words that everybody could see and read. Do you think they were written ON the wall? Do you think they were painted on there, you could go back and see them the next morning. I should say not, but there they were as plain as day, everybody could read them. And it said, regarding Belshazzar, "Thou art weighed in the balances; and thou art found wanting." Perhaps you've noticed in this teaching set, from time to time, that we have the balances in here. The reason I have the balances in this teaching set is because, not of what I'm just teaching you now, but our lives, the greatness of the Word is always hanging in balance. In other words, it's a decision of the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word, and a man's life is always hanging in balance. If he believes God's Word and walks on it, it'll be in balance; but if he rejects God's Word, he'll always go down to the bottom. And the Word of God told Belshazzar, written out on that wall as plain as day was: "You have been weighed in the balances, and you're found wanting." That means "you're going down the drain." And old Belshazzar's knees struck together and he shook and everybody got frightened. That was the end of it. The end of the man too. Look, is it guaranteed that every time some prominent man or some government leader has a big celebration, big old drinking party, that God's going to come along and write on the wall? No, but He did for Belshazzar. That's phenomenon--that's phenomenon. The phenomenon on the day of Pentecost was the cloven tongues like as of fire. That's the phenomenon, that was their "cue," their clue, when these twelve apostles, that morning in the temple, saw those things--saw those cloven tongues, boy, that was it. And what did they do? They breathed in (heavy breathing sounds) they believed, they received. The verse says also--in verse 3, "and it sat--it sat upon each of them." Whenever you read the word "sat" in the Bible, it means that something is completely-completely-complete. Remember, after the six days of creation, it says in Genesis, "and God rested the seventh day." Did God rest because He was worn out? No, the word "rested" is the word "sat." In the Hebrew, it's the three hardest radicals in the language are used in the word "rested." It means God sat. He didn't sit because He was tired; He sat because His creativity had been completely- complete. It was all done, that's why it says, "and God sat." Remember, in another record in the Word of God; when Jesus Christ ascended up into heaven, it says that "he sat down at the right hand of the Father." Why? Because everything Jesus Christ came to do was completely-complete. Now, here on the day of Pentecost, cloven tongues like as of fire and it SAT. That's why verse 1 says, "and when the day of Pentecost was FULLY come"--FULLY come, it sat upon, it was complete. And up until this time, ladies and gentlemen, God has never given one more thing. Everything that God has ever made available, in Christ Jesus, came on the day of Pentecost. He can give no more. He gave it as His gift on that wonderful day, and it sat--it SAT, it's completely-completely- complete. Verse 4 says: Verse 4: And they were all filled ... They who? The twelve apostles were all filled--were all filled, not a one got missed. You know why all twelve got filled? Because all twelve were at the place where they were supposed to be, where God told them they should be, though Jesus Christ. They were there, they believed and when they believed they received. Boy, you can't miss it. If you take God's Word literally, and you're there where you're supposed to be, and you know the Word of God, and you believe God's Word, you never miss it--you never miss it. They were ALL filled--they were ALL filled with pneuma hagion--pneuma hagion, they were filled with the gift. The King James added the article "the," there's no article "the" in the critical Greek text, and they capitalized the word "Holy" and the capitalized the word "Ghost." These two words, pneuma hagion, are NEVER capitalized in any critical Greek text. And therefore, it should be "and they were all filled with pneuma hagion, holy spirit, small "h" small "s," because this is the wonderful gift from the Giver. Because, the verse says, Verse 4 (continued) ... {with the Holy Ghost,} and [they] began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit [THE Spirit, who is God, as God] gave them utterance. And in the second usage, the word "Spirit" must be capitalized, the word pneuma, must be capitalized because it's talking about God. They were all filled with pneuma hagion, with the gift. Look here, the gift is pneuma hagion. Sometimes I pronounce it "pah-new-mah," sometimes I pronounce it "new-mah," you know why? Because I've got a group of Greek students who say it's "pah-new-mah" and somebody else taught me once it was "new-mah." Just so you understand what I mean. You know I was Boston, once, and then I was down in Kentucky, they both spoke English, but somehow or other, the way they pronounced it up in "Bahstun" and down there in "Kain-tuck" made a lot of difference. And then I was in England once. And it took me a whole hour to figure out that, when they said I was to line up for the "cue," I couldn't understand whether I was to go to the pool room or what I was supposed to do. And then, when I finally did learn that "the cue" meant the line, I got in line. I got off the bus and I couldn't understand the English of the Englishmen, and I ended up four bus stops beyond where I was supposed to get off. So, I haven't quite figured all these pronunciations out. But I know this; that the gift was what they received on the day of Pentecost, and it was holy spirit--holy spirit. That's what it was that they received on the day of Pentecost. They did not receive the Giver, they received the gift from the Giver. The Giver is God who is Holy Spirit, with a capital "H" and a capital "S," that's God. And on the day of Pentecost, He poured it out His great gift, and the greatest thing God is is Holy and God is Spirit. So, on the day of Pentecost, in Acts :4, they were all filled with the greatest thing God is, God is Holy and God is Spirit. God gave them His gift on the day of Pentecost. That's why it says "they were all filled with the pneuma hagion, the holy spirit, His gift. END OF SEGMENT - 54 SEGMENT 55: THE ORIGINAL OUTPOURING PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 55 THE ORIGINAL OUTPOURING I am dealing with the four greatest verses in the Word of God, from the second chapter of Acts, the first four verses, that give us the historic record of the outpouring of the gift of the new birth and the power of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost. Now, it says in verse 4, that all the apostles were filled with the gift. When these twelve apostles were all filled with the gift, how did they know they were filled? You cannot see spirit, they couldn't see spirit. They saw the cloven tongues, yes, but the cloven tongues were not spirit. How did they know they were filled? That's the question. What was their evidence, their visible proof in the senses world, that they had received what Jesus Christ had spoken about before he ascended and what God had now set forth? What was their visible proof? Verse 4, it says: Acts 2:4 {And} they were all filled with [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}, and began to speak with other tongues, ... They began to speak with other tongues. You'll note the word "they," T-H-E-Y is deleted. It's deleted because it's a figure of speech. It's deliberately deleted to put the emphasis upon that it was the apostles who began. Listen to this; this is the reading with emphasis of this verse: "And they were all filled with holy spirit, and BEGAN--BEGAN--THEY began. Who began? Not the spirit, they did. The spirit never speaks, THEY did the speaking. They began to speak with other tongues. They did the speaking in other tongues. Speaking in tongues is the external manifestation in the senses world of the internal reality and presence of the holy spirit. You cannot see spirit, you can't smell it, taste it or touch it. Then how did those apostles know, that day, that they were filled? They acted upon what God-in-Christ had told them. They acted. They saw the cloven tongues, that was their clue. They breathed in, and they had carried out what God had said they were to carry out. The next thing they did, they spoke in tongues. Their speaking in tongues was the manifestation in the senses world, that you could see, that you could hear, that was the evidence in the senses world of the internal reality and presence of His holy spirit. This is where the church started. This is the first of the church of grace to which you and I belong. And look what the Word says, "they were filled" and when they were filled, there is one evidence, and only one in the whole Bible, that proves that they were filled. And there's only one evidence that ever proves you or I are filled, and that is they spoke in tongues. They spoke in tongues. Who did the speaking? They did. Were they possessed? No, they were in absolute control of all their faculties, they did the speaking. Speaking in tongues is the greatest reality in the world for the believer because it's his guarantee, it is his proof in the senses world, that he's got Jesus Christ, the power of the holy spirit, within. Ladies and gentlemen, what a tremendous revelation from God's Word, almost unbelievable, but there it sets like a diamond. You know something? No person possessed of devil spirits, speaks in tongues. Because, to speak in tongues you must have the spirit of God. You can't be born of both spirits, both the seed of the serpent and the seed of God, of Christ. So, if you're born of the seed of Christ, you have Christ within. And you, by your free will, by the operation of your free will, you speak in tongues--you speak in tongues. That's a tremendous thing. Look at me, here I am speaking English. Now, by the power of God within me, I can speak in tongues. And when I speak in a tongue, that's the external manifestation, in the senses world, that I've got the power within. Listen: "Lo-shantah malakah-santye oh-shantah malakah-seetoe ka-shantah." There I was, just speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is the proof in the senses world; first of all, to me, that I'm a child of God, filled with His holy spirit; and secondly, to you, the believer, the son of God also, that you know I'm born again of God's Spirit. That's right. In the satanic world and among the people who operate or are operated by devil spirits, I have heard them talk and I've seen them say, "This is speaking in tongues" among them, among the spiritualists, a bunch of baloney! You know what happens? Some devil spirit possesses their vocal cords and makes them talk, makes them say words, whether they want to say them or whether they do not want to say them. The devil spirit just uses their mouth, their throat, their lips, and makes them spit forth the words. That's right. That's not speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues is, as it says here, they were filled and THEY did it--THEY did it, by the freedom of their will. You see, they had received the gift. They had received the gift of holy spirit. They had received all of this in here. Now, what's the proof in the manifestation? You can't see spirit. The proof is that they spoke with tongues. Then, verse 4 says: Verse 4 (Continued) ... [they spoke] with other tongues, as the Spirit [THE Spirit, who is God--as God] gave them [the] utterance. They did the speaking. The apostles used their lips; their throat; their tongue, they did the speaking. They did it by the freedom of their will, but WHAT they spoke--WHAT they spoke was as the Spirit, God gave them utterance. You see, God cannot speak to your mind, God can only speak to what He is, He is Spirit. Now God's Spirit taught His spirit that was in them, and they simply move their lips; their throat; their tongue. They, by their will, spoke forth the words that God wanted spoken. It was tongues to the apostles because they didn't understand it. That's right. This is why, here's the gift, the gift is pneuma hagion, holy spirit. They had the gift, the gift is the God-given ability to perform the act. Well, what was the act? The act was, they began to speak. That's the act. They did it, they began to speak. But they spoke as THE Spirit--THE Spirit, as God gave them utterance. You see, God could not give it to their body and soul man, He didn't give it to their mind. God is Spirit, He could only give it to what He is, spirit. This is why, no person can speak in tongues until he is born again of God's spirit. And the proof, in the senses world, that you're born again of God's spirit; and that you're His son; that you have eternal life; and shall never more come into condemnation, is that you can speak in tongues, at will. That's the proof. So, they began to speak as The Spirit gave them utterance, as The Spirit gave it to their spirit. They simply moved their lips; their throat; their tongue; they made the words; they made the sounds, and what they spoke forth was speaking in tongues. That's what verse 4 says. Four verses of scripture, ladies and gentlemen, just four in King James, that's all, tells the whole story of the original outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost, to the twelve apostle who were in the temple. And they received power from on high, which is to be endued with, clothed with God's power, dunamis, inherent power, from God. That's the record of it. Now, this is all God has ever given, this is all He's ever given. You can receive the same, you can walk in the same abundance. You cannot get more because He's never given any more. I always marvel when I teach these four verses. What a tremendous truth there is in these four verses. I think, in my holy spirit book, I must have written a hundred and some pages, perhaps, on just an explanation of these four verses. God put the whole experience in four verses. I've never even taken the time to count how many words there are in the critical Greek text in these four verses, or in the Aramaic, but I assure you, there are not over a hundred in here, or a hundred and fifty at the most. Now, this experience was so tremendous, first time, and naturally, it was out there in the open, in the temple, where everybody could see what was going on. And verse 5, of the second chapter, begins to tell us something: Verse 5: And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. On the original day of the outpouring of the holy spirit, on the day of Pentecost, only Jews, by religion, received. Later on, we will see when others get in. But on this first day, only Jews, by religion, received. You see, God had said to Israel, they were to be His people and He would lead them and He would teach them. But the children of Israel, Jews by religion--Jews by religion; you know what they did to the Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son? They crucified him. Now, once more, and this is the last time, once more, God comes to Israel, Jews by religion, and He pours out His gift of the holy spirit on them, and them alone, on the day of Pentecost--nobody else, but this is the last time. Now, if they do not receive, and they do not as a nation, you will see, later on, where others come in. But on this day, this is all that received. Verses 5&6: {And} there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, ... Noised abroad--what was noised abroad? That these twelve Galileans had received something most unusual--MOST unusual. When this was noised abroad, how could it have gotten noised abroad, class, had it been up in an upper room, behind closed doors, with a little blue light burning in the corner? Oh no, it was out in the temple, everybody saw it and it got noised abroad. It spread through Jerusalem like wildfire because there were thousands of visitors in Jerusalem for the special "Feast of Weeks" and of "Pentecost." They were there, it was an hour of prayer, many of them were already in the temple at six o'clock in the morning, our time, for the first hour of prayer. Then at the ninth hour there were more there. And so, all of this got noised abroad. What was noised abroad? Listen, it says, when this got noised abroad, in verse 6: Verse 6 (Continued) ... the multitude came together [just thousands flocked in], and [they] were confounded ... Confounded--the word "confounded" is "flabbergasted," they were shook. These Jews by religion were shook. What confounded them? Here's what confounded them: ... because that every man heard them speak in his own language. That's what confounded them. They heard them speak, they heard these twelve apostles speak in their OWN languages. That's what confounded them. You see, they were twelve Galileans, these twelve Galileans could not speak these other languages and dialects. The Galileans spoke Northern Aramaic, that's all the language they knew. You remember, at the time of the crucifixion, I believe it was, yes, at the time of the crucifixion, a little maid said to Peter, "I can tell, by your language, that you're on of the master's disciples." And remember, Peter sort of denied it and had a little cussin' good time or something. She could tell that they were Galileans by their Northern Aramaic that they spoke. Now, what confounded these Jews on that day of Pentecost was that, here were these twelve men, they were speaking in languages. It was tongues to the speakers, Peter didn't know what he was speaking. But out there sat a group of people from another country; they understood every word Peter said. It was tongues to Peter, but it was a known language to that group. Here was Matthew, speaking in tongues, it was tongues to old Matthew, but, out there sat a group of people, they understood every word Matthew said. Here was John, John was speaking in tongues, he didn't understand what he was saying, but out there sat a group of people that understood every word he said. That was what confounded them. The word "confounded" is, it just "flabbergasted" them, it shook them--it shook them. Well, what's the explanation? Very simple, they spoke in tongues as the spirit gave utterance. You see, the miracle of Pentecost, I taught you the phenomenon of Pentecost, now here, in this verse, you have the miracle of Pentecost, where every man heard them speak in his own language. That's the miracle. Why is it the miracle? Because God never promised, in His Word, that when you were filled with the holy spirit and you spoke in tongues, that you would speak in a language which a group of people in the audience would understand. But, who is responsible for what you speak? God is. Verse 4 said in Acts 2, that the twelve apostles spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave the utterance, as God gave them the utterance. It's God's business WHAT you speak, it is your business THAT you speak. On the day of Pentecost THEY spoke, but WHAT they spoke was GOD'S business. GOD gave it to them, and what did God give to them? God gave to old Matthew one thing, he spoke and it was tongues to Matthew. He didn't know what the words meant or anything, but out there sat a group of people, they understood everything. That's why it was the miracle, the miracle of Pentecost. On a few occasions, in my over 25 years of Biblical research in the accuracy of God's Word, I have seen this likewise. We were ministering the holy spirit in a class in California, for instance, Mrs. Wierwille was there, my sister-in-law also, and I; and the lady, who we lead into the receiving of the holy spirit into manifestation, had been seeking for 25 years. She had belonged to a group of people who believed in speaking in tongues. For twenty-five years, she had wanted to speak in tongues. She never spoke in tongues until the night when I had finished teaching the accuracy of God's Word and then she did. And do you know something? She spoke in High German. I understand High German, High German is a known language to me. But it was entirely unknown to her, she didn't know ANY High German at all. And when she started speaking in tongues, there it was; the most perfect High German, perfect pronunciation, perfect enunciation, perfect wording, everything was just perfect. It was plain tongues to her, but it sure was a known language to Mrs. Wierwille and myself. This has happened on a number of occasions in our life and in our ministry. I understand the greatness of this second chapter, here, because of the integrity and the accuracy of God's Word. It's simple. Look at here, verse 7, it says: Verse 7: And they were all amazed ... They were amazed, they were flabbergasted, they were confounded, they were amazed. Why were they amazed--why were they amazed? Listen: ... and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all [those] {these} which speak Galilaeans? That's what they said, they can't speak those languages, and yet they are, here they are speaking them. No wonder they were shook, no wonder they were amazed. That's right. They said, "These fellows are all Galileans!" A tremendous truth, "Are not all these that speak Galileans?" Then, what's the explanation for them speaking these other languages and dialects? Boy, for the Jews to declare this is a tremendous thing. We'll see this develop later on. Let's go on, Then how hear we, Verse 8: Verses 8-11: {And} how hear we every man in our own tongue [in our own language], wherein we were born? [And the he names them:] Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia, Phrygia, and Pamphylia, in Egypt, and in the parts of Libya about Cyrene, and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, we do hear them speak [in our languages,] in our tongues the wonderful works of God. Ladies and gentlemen, these Jews HATED the Galileans! The Galileans were a despised group. They were allowed to come to worship in Jerusalem, but when they would come to worship, they were not allowed to live inside of the city of Jerusalem. Outside of the city of Jerusalem, on the mount of Olives, an area was set aside for them called the Galilean hill. When the Galileans came down, they had to go on the Galilean hill. That's where they had to stay at night. During the day, they could come to the temple, but, at night, they had to live out there, because the Judeans just hated them. You'll remember, in the Old Testament, while the temple was being built, at one time, the Galileans sent down word and said, "We worship the same God you do, can't we come down and help you?" And the Judeans sent word back to the Galileans and said, "Boys, you just stay up there, we don't want you down here." These were the Galileans who were speaking in tongues and these Jews who hated those Galileans--these Jews who hated those Galileans, you know what they said about speaking in tongues? And they were not born again, these Jews were not yet born again, and those twelve apostles had been born again and filled with the holy spirit. Those others, who hated the Galileans, you know what they said about speaking in tongues? They said these men are speaking the wonderful works of God [see Verse 11]. Ladies and gentlemen, when you speak in tongues, what are you speaking? The wonderful works of God. Wouldn't you like to speak the wonderful works of God? I would. This was the declaration of JEWS who were NOT born again who were speaking regarding HATED Galileans who WERE born again; and they said of them, they are speaking the wonderful works of God. Then I hear people say, in my ministry I've heard it throughout the years, somebody say, well, they had been at a meeting someplace and they had heard someone speak in tongues and the man had cursed God. That's a lie from Hell! The Word of God says that, when they spoke in tongues, they spoke the wonderful works of God. Wouldn't you like to speak the wonderful works of God? I would, you bet your life, I would. Verse 12 says: Verse 12: And they were all amazed [they were all amazed--all amazed], and [they] were in doubt, ... I can understand the word doubt. If you do not understand what speaking in tongues is all about. If you do not understand how it's done. If you do not understand the truth of God's Word, you cannot help but to doubt. Doubt is no disgrace, but to stay doubting when the answers are available is a disgrace. Doubting Thomas was not a disgrace, he came through. That's right. It's when you doubt and do not come through, that's a disgrace. They were all amazed, and they were in doubt, ... saying one to another, [What's the meaning of this? What does this mean?] {What meaneth this?} Then that same bunch had to be around; there always has to be somebody around when the greatness of God's power is in manifestation. Verse 13 said: Verse 13: Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. They're loaded, they're tipsy in the upper story. My, oh my; it said in Acts, a little while ago, that when they received the holy spirit, they were in the posture of prayer. They were sitting, they were decent, they were in order. And, when a man gets filled with the spirit, he doesn't go tipsy-turvey like this. But what a wonderful degradation we have had to God's Word today. You know what we call alcoholic beverages, what a common name for alcoholic beverages is? When a man drinks too much alcohol, he gets wobbly and dizzy, we call those alcoholic beverages spirits. How devilish can a world get. On the day of Pentecost they were filled with the spirit. They didn't wobble around, they didn't shake, they didn't lay on the floor, they didn't whoop and holler. They just spoke simply and beautifully, like I spoke to you a little while ago, when I said to you, in tongues-- I spoke in tongues, just like I will right now again. And you can see for yourself, how beautiful it is and how simple. "La-shantye ou-santah malaka-sheetah ka-santah. Oh-shantah malaka-saytee ko-shantye." They just beautifully spoke in tongues. And those unbelieving Jews couldn't deny the reality of it, for they could understand it. It was tongues to Peter, who spoke, just like this moment before, when I spoke; it's tongues to me, I didn't understand it. But had this been on the day of Pentecost, there would have been a group out there would have understood every word I said. And those unbelieving, UNCONVERTED Jews, who HATED those Galileans said, "These men are speaking the wonderful works of God." That's right. But those who were mocking said, "These fellows are drunk--filled with new wine." And then Peter gets up: Verse 14: But Peter [Peter], standing up [standing up] with the eleven, ... Eleven and one make twelve, there you are, with the apostles--all twelve stood up, but Peter was the spokesman. And now, he's not going to speak in tongues, now Peter's going to teach and he's going to preach the first message in the Christian church. And what a tremendous message this is. I'm going to be analyzing this message in part for you. But, right now, I want you to see that Peter stood up with the eleven, ... [he] lifted up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judaea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and [you] hearken to my words: Fifty days before, according to John, 20, where was Peter? Behind closed doors for fear of what? The Jews. Where were the rest of the apostles? Same place. Now, on the day of Pentecost, right after this outpouring, by nine o'clock in the morning, our time, something had happened to that Peter fellow and all the rest of them. When Peter got up, the first thing he said, "Ye men of Judea, and all ye of Jerusalem, listen to me, hearken to my words!" What changed this man from being full of fear, to being a man of great believing and great courage? What changed him? Ladies and gentlemen, it's right there. That experience of Pentecost, when he was filled with the power of the holy spirit, and he was able to speak in tongues, which was his proof in the senses world. END OF SEGMENT - 55 SEGMENT 56: 3,000 SOULS ADDED PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 56 3,000 SOULS ADDED We are dealing with the great second chapter of the book of Acts. And, of course, here we're now at the place where Peter is going to deliver the first sermon in the Christian Church. It's after the day of Pentecost -- I mean ON the day of Pentecost, after the experience of the outpouring of the holy spirit. He now is going to preach the first sermon in the Christian church. And this sermon is really remarkable because, I often wonder where in the world Peter got time to prepare this sermon. I bothers me, sometimes; you know why? Because, somehow or other, I can't figure out where he had the time to go back to his office and get out his commentaries and work over his commentaries and get his notes ready for the sermon. It's a real problem for a man of my background because I'm supposed to be a homiletician, which is simply the art of preaching. I have my masters' and my doctors' degree in this field. And, you know, I was taught that a good preacher has to work on his sermons a year ahead. So, a year ahead of time, you plan out your general program, and then, for a month before you start preaching, you work specifically on the sermons, oh, day-in and day-out. And so, you're just always working way ahead. Poor old Peter, I've always felt sorry for him, because, somehow or other, he got through that experience on the day of Pentecost and, lo- and-behold, right after that, by nine o'clock in the morning, he had to preach a sermon. And this sermon that Peter preached, the first sermon in the Christian Church, is the greatest teaching of the Word of God that you've ever seen. Where did he get all this information? Did he have time to study his commentaries? No, he did not. I often think of this, Peter just simply got up and he said, "I want to tell you (in verse 15): ACTS 2:15 {For} these [fellows] are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day. But, in verse 16, he said: Verse 16: But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; Where did he get all this information? This is the concern, it bothered me. You see, Peter must have had a tremendous connection, or something. I'm sure he didn't have time to go back to his office, you know, and get his pen out, get his papers out, and start looking through his commentaries and checking his everything on what is this and what is that and make his notes. I'm sure he didn't have that time, see. Reminds me of a story that I heard of a clergyman who seemed to be oppressed on every hand on his teaching sermons on Sunday. And he was complaining to his fellow minister, one of his buddies; he said, "I can't understand it." He said, "Here, I work hard on my sermons, but when my people come to church, it seems like they're all fortified against it." And his friend said to him, "Well, how do you do this?" He said, "Well, on Monday," he said, "I take the day off, but on Tuesday," he said, "I go into my office, in the morning," he said, "and I take out my notes for next Sunday's sermon. I take them out of my desk, and," he said, "I keep working on these notes. I jot down, I work an hour and a half, every morning." He said, "Then, when I'm through working, on Tuesday, I put it back in my desk. And Wednesday morning, I come back, I take it out." He said, "I work on my sermon every morning for an hour and a half." And he said, "Then on Saturday night, I review all of the things that I have worked, and," he said, "before I go to bed, I know exactly what I'm going to do." And his friend said to him, "That's just the trouble." He said, "You know," he said, "when you work that, on Tuesday, you put it in your desk, like this," he says. "Tuesday night, the devil comes, he takes it out, he reads it all over. 'Huh, that's what he's gonna preach on next Sunday, hmm.' And he does that, night after night." And then he said, "Saturday night you've got it all done," he says, "he has all night to visit your congregation--to visit your congregation and to forewarn them about what you're going to preach so they're all against it before he ever gets there." He said, "I want to tell you how I operate." He said, "You know," he said, "I just walk up on the pulpit, on Sunday morning," he said,"that way even the devil doesn't know what I'm going to preach about." Well, Peter must have had a connection or something. In a certain university chapel, in the United States, a clergyman must submit his particular sermon for the following Sunday, in manuscript form, completely, so that a board has the privilege of going over it, line by line, and word by word, during the week, to check it out--to see if there's anything in there that should not be in there. Then, the Sunday morning, when he preaches as guest minister from that pulpit, he has to READ his sermon, line by line and word by word. Because, as one man said, "We do not want anybody to stand up in front of our people who would use an incorrect English word. Oh, never, because we have a high class people in our chapel, in our church." I think, maybe Peter would have been totally disqualified, don't you? Sure. And then we go through, where we're taught you've got to write your sermon out. That's right. Poor old Peter, can you imagine him writing this all out, longhand, during the week. And then having your secretary, on Saturday, put it in his little book, you know. And then on Sunday morning, you bring your book along in the pulpit, and you lay it down and now it's time for the service. And you say--you open your book, you have the Bible here, you maybe read a verse of it. But now, here is your manuscript, and you have it before you, of course, this happens to be brown, ordinarily they're a little black book, and they're much smaller than this, because you sort of want to hide it a little, you know. But, there you are and you start reading, "Dearly beloved brethren in the Lord; today I want to speak to you on the subject of the -- environment of the unfruitful -- oh, sorry, the unfruitful life surrounded by the environment..." (At this point, Dr. throws down his book on the desk.) Oh, Lord, why do we have to read our sermons? Something's wrong someplace along the line. If you've got a big enough connection, you get fired up on the inside, you don't need that manuscript. The reason you need the manuscript is because you haven't tapped into the power. Can you imagine old Peter going over, picking out all the commentaries out of his office, and then writing them all down, and then getting up in front of all of those thousands of people, the multitude, and saying, "Dearly beloved brethren in the Lord, today I would like to speak to you on the holy spirit..." (Dr. slams his fist down.) What's the matter? My goodness, if you're going to know God's Word and God's Word lives abundantly within you, man, you don't need all of that, you've got the power of God in your soul. If Peter studied the Word before the day of Pentecost so when the day came, he HAD the Word, the power of the holy spirit. And remember what God had promised the spirit would do? He'd even give you the WORDS to say, he'd tell you HOW to say them, put them in your mouth. That's right. Holy smoke! When I think of the poverty, spiritual poverty, of those of us, many times, who stand in pulpits, who are supposed to be leading God's people, something's wrong someplace. You know what's wrong? We haven't been filled with the power of the holy spirit in manifestation, we just talk about it, that's all. Old Peter was filled! That's right. Huh, my goodness, then you have to read your sermons, and you're supposed to be an authority on God's Word? And to help God's people, you've got to go to the book and you've got to read it line by line? Huh! My, oh my, oh my! How would you like to have an emergency appendectomy, and they rush you to the hospital. And when they bring you into the Emergency Room, all the nurses get excited, everybody gets excited, because it's an emergency, it's an appendectomy. And lo-and-behold, the doctors rush around, the nurses rush around, they get you ready for it. But the head surgeon, who's going to perform the appendectomy, has to go in the library and get out the books on "How To Perform An Appendectomy." So he brings in the book, lays it down, gets his patient all set. He's all ready to operate, looks at his patient, gets set, holds his hand out and says to the nurse, "Scalpel!" -Cut- "Sponge, -- Sponge, -- Sponge." (Dr. turns the pages of a book.) "Hemostat. -- Hemostat." (More page turning.) "Nurse, something's wrong! -- Hmm, book on Obstetrics." Hah, instead of appendectomy. You'd be in the soup, wouldn't you -- if you had been that man going in for an appendectomy. Boy, when you go for an emergency to the hospital, there's one thing that you want, you want that surgeon to have studied his books before it's time to do the surgery, right? You bet your life! Those surgeons spend hours, they spend months, they spend years just to be versatile in their profession. I have a friend who is a surgeon, who spent just hours just tying a knot in the smallest little string, just with his two fingers, just working it -- hours upon hours, just so that he could tie a knot. Boy, when you go in for an emergency, you want to know that that doctor knows what he's doing. He doesn't have to run back in the library and pick out his commentaries and write out his method of surgery; what time he's going to use his scalpel, when he's going to have to have the sponges, when he's going to have to have the hemostats--NO! He has to know. You wouldn't trust your physical life to a man who didn't know what he was doing, what about your spiritual life? What about your life for all eternity? Boy, we've got to get to be specialists in the field. That when we men stand up, we can again say, "Thus saith the Lord!" With the power of God, and this is our privilege, if we get filled with the spirit. And old Peter, bless his old soul, he had been a vacillating disciple, he had been full of fear, he'd been everything else, but he got filled with the spirit and that changed him. And that set him forth that day and he said, "I want to say to you, this is that ..." the text, the original text reads, "this is like that, which was spoken by the prophet Joel." And then, old Peter, without consulting a commentary, without opening his little black book and reading it, line-for-line, he looked at them--he looked straight at them, and he said to them, "Thus saith the Lord!" And he preached this tremendous sermon, without any notes, without any commentary or anything else. And what a sermon it is, he said in verse 22, among others: ACTS 2:22 Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man ... A man, that's what the Word says, it doesn't say Jesus was God, it says Jesus of Nazareth, a man ... approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know: And he tells about the crucifixion, then he tells, in verse 24, Verse 24: Whom God {hath} raised up, ... You see, if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe God raised him from the dead, you can get saved. And, in this first sermon, after the experience on the day of Pentecost, old Peter preached, not only the death but the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That's right. Therefore, it says in verse 32: Verse 32: This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses. What was the witness that God had raised him? Not only had they seen him, physically, but they were born again, they were filled with the holy spirit, they were speaking in tongues. The speaking in tongues is the PROOF that God has raised him. If God had not raised him, then Christ could not come and live within you and you could NOT be born again, then you could NOT have the gift. And if you DID NOT have the gift, you couldn't speak in tongues. THAT'S why you could not be a witness -- but it's a witness, every time someone speaks in a tongue, it's a witness of the resurrection and the ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's the proof that God raised him. That's right. Verse 33 says: Verse 33: Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of [THE pneuma THE hagion] {the Holy Ghost} [The articles "the" are added here for emphasis, THE pneuma THE hagion], he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear. They couldn't see spirit, they couldn't hear spirit, but what was Peter saying? That these men could all see speaking in tongues and they could hear speaking in tongues. He said, "This is the proof." That's right. Then he gets down to verse 36, "Therefore:" Verse 36: Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made [that] {the} same Jesus, whom ye [whom YE] have crucified, both Lord and Christ. [And verse 37 says:] Verse 37: Now when they [the multitudes] heard this [this sermon of Peter's, this declaration of Peter's, when they heard this], they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? What shall we do?--What shall we do? And you know what Peter said? "I'm gonna pronounce the benediction now, we're all gonna go home." Huh! You bring people up to a climax, where they have to make a decision, that's no time to pronounce the benediction, that's the time to tell them what they have to do. That's right. And you know what Peter said? Verse 38: Verse 38: Then Peter said unto them, Repent [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. There it is! At the conclusion, that's the conclusion of that tremendous message on Pentecost. Just out of the inspiration of his heart. It's almost--the Pentecostal message of Peter is straight prophecy. It's not F-O-R-E telling, but F-O-R-T-H telling, a declaring of the greatness of God and His power. And when those people cried, "Men and brethren, what shall we do about it?" Peter said, "Repent-- repent--repent!" Well, what is it to repent? To repent is not to confess your sin, it's to confess the savior from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ, and believe God raised him from the dead. That's what Peter had preached to them. That's right. Then he said, "Not only do you repent," but he said, "be baptized every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ." Class, it doesn't say water, it says, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Had God wanted water in here, you know what it would have in it? Water, he had the word in his vocabulary, because it appears many times when God inspired others. It's in here, many times. Why didn't God put water in here? He didn't want it in there. Had He wanted it in, He'd put it in. That's right. You see, when you repent, you ARE baptized at the time you repent, you're baptized in the NAME--in the NAME of Jesus Christ. And this phrase, "in the name of Jesus Christ," is a great orientalism. In every thing that that name represents, you're baptized in here with. God-in- Christ, remember? Christ-in-you, the hope of glory; that's the name. Everything that name represents is what you're baptized with, in here, spiritually. Nothing to do with water what-so-ever. That's right. And what happens? He said repent, baptized in the name of Jesus FOR the remission of sins--not forgiveness of sins, but for the REMISSION of sins--remission. When you repent--when you repent, you get remission of sins. That's right. This is why, in Acts 2:38, to repent is to BE baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ FOR or unto remission of sins. This is what it is. When you repent, to repent is to confess the Lord Jesus Christ, and what happens? He comes in, you are baptized with his presence, his name, everything that name represents, for the Word says, "it is Christ IN you, the HOPE of glory." So, then you GET remission of sins-- remission, all wiped out, for now, Christ is in you, and at that moment, you are in Christ, you're born again of God's Spirit. That's what he says. Then comes this tremendous last phrase of [verse] :38; thirty- eight, it's been written in here for thousands of years, and just last week, I heard someone contradict exactly what it says here. Listen: Verse 38b: ... for the remission of sins, and ye shall [be baptized with the gift of the holy ghost--it does not say that, it says: and ye shall] receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. It doesn't say, "baptized with the holy ghost," no. Then, all this teaching--all this teaching that goes on today, must be something wrong with it, or there's something wrong with Peter's declaration, here in Acts 2:38. It's either God's Word that's wrong, ladies and gentlemen, or men; one of the two. MY Word says, "when you repent, you get remission of sins--and ye SHALL" not ye will, you SHALL, absolutely, "receive" and the word "receive" is the word lambano, not receive subjectively, because when you repented--when you repented, you subjectively received the Lord Jesus Christ, you as the subject, received him spiritually. Now, since you have the GIFT in here--now since you have the GIFT of Christ in here; now, what do you do? Ye SHALL--ye SHALL, not be baptized with the holy ghost, brother, Ye SHALL LAMBANO--LAMBANO-- LAMBANO, manifest--receive into manifestation, the GIFT--the GIFT. It says, the GIFT, you shall receive into manifestation the GIFT. See, the GIFT is Christ-in-you, pneuma hagion, the holy spirit; that's the gift. Now, you're going to receive it in manifestation. Peter and the other apostles had received it into manifestation. What did they do when they received it into manifestation? Acts 2:4 said, "they spoke with tongues," and the Jews who heard it declared that they were speaking "the wonderful works of God." That's right. Once you have received the gift; now, it says, "you SHALL," no "ifs," "ands," or "buts" about it, DO IT! Ye shall lambano the gift-- the gift of pneuma hagion--the gift of holy spirit. You now lambano it, you manifest it, you show it forth. And the only thing Peter knew about manifesting was speaking in tongues, that's the only one he had operated, or any of the other apostles. That's right, that's all he knew. Then comes verse 39: Verse 39: For the promise is unto you, [Does that include me? Nope, not yet, it was addressed Israel, Jews only, that day. For the promise is unto you,] and to your children [Does THAT include me? No, talking to Israel, Jews by religion], and to all [who] {that} are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call. Did I get in? Sure did, "and to ALL who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Well, let me ask you something. Has God called you? If you're born again of God's Spirit, God's called you. If you've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're saved, God called you. And it says, "the promise--the promise"--the promise of what? That you shall lambano, that you shall manifest holy spirit by speaking in tongues. The promise is to YOU who are called, even as many as are called, even those that are afar off. Do you think this includes you and your community? Does it include me? Does it include every born again believer in any community? That's what the Word says: "and to all who are afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call." Isn't that something? Look here, that's why, when they repented, they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus unto remission of sins, and they received, they lambano'd, they lambano'd the gift. When they repented, they got the gift, which is Christ-in-you, the hope of glory. That's the gift. Then, they lambano'd it, they manifested it forth by speaking in tongues. That's exactly what Acts 2:38 says, and :39. So, what's all this teaching about today; if you're born again of God's Spirit, you're supposed to get some more. So, they come along and say, "Brother, are you baptized in the Holy Ghost? Have you been baptized?" He didn't say, "Have you been baptized," he said, "Now, you're going to lambano, you're going to receive into manifestation, for if you have Christ-in-you, the power of the holy ghost within you, you're born again of God's Spirit, now you lambano it." Sure. Look at what verse 41 says: Verse 41: Then they that gladly received his word [and the word received, there, is dechomai, then those who subjectively received the Word of God] were baptized: ... And it doesn't say, "water." Had God wanted water said, you know what it would say in the Word? Water. Any time you try to squeeze that, you're going to get all wet on it, because it hasn't got it in it. That's right. Verse 41 (continued) ... and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. Say, that was quite a sermon, wasn't it? That was quite a sermon that day, because about three thousand souls, alive people got saved, born again of God's Spirit. And, in the early church, every time somebody got born again of God's Spirit, the first thing they did, after they got born again, they spoke in tongues. Everybody--everybody, when they were born again, they spoke in tongues, in the early church, just everybody. I'll show you this, later on, in the Word, but it's here. For when they gladly received the Word, they all spoke in tongues. Because the speaking in tongues was the external manifestation, in the senses world, that they had the internal reality and presence of His holy spirit. That's right. That's why there were added, that day, about three-thousand, and this thing was so tremendous, it says: Verse 46: And they, [continued] {continuing} daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their [bread] {meat} with gladness and singleness of heart, ["With undivided loyalty," is the text.] This is the outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost in Acts, chapter 2. And what a tremendous revelation it is. Four verses tell you exactly what happened. And then, the sermon, that Peter preached; in the first sermon in the Christian church that he preached, this first sermon, what a sermon. He spoke it from the depth of the inspiration within his heart. And, as he spoke forth the greatness of God's Word, people's hearts melted, because they saw the greatness of it. They did not love those Galileans, but they couldn't withstand the greatness of God's Word for they saw them and heard them speak in tongues, the wonderful works of God. And this great sermon of Peter's, brought to the Lord that day, the first day of the Christian church, about three-thousand souls. What a message! What a revelation! What a TRUTH from God's wonderful Word! Remember, that, when the apostles received the holy spirit, the first thing they did, afterwards, was; they spoke with tongues. END OF SEGMENT - 56 SEGMENT 57: THE SAMARITANS RECEIVE PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 57 THE SAMARITANS RECEIVE There are only five records in the Word of God that tell about anyone or any group of people receiving the holy spirit. All that can be learned, all that can be known is in the Word of God and in those five records. The second record dealing with anyone or any group receiving the holy spirit is in Acts, chapter 8. And I'd like for you to take your Bible and turn to Acts, chapter 8. But while you're turning to Acts, chapter 8, let me remind you, once again, of the original outpouring, on the day of Pentecost, only Jews, by religion, received. And, when they received, there was one thing they did; they spoke in tongues. Now this you must remember; Acts, chapter 8, is the second record in the Bible talking about anyone or any group receiving the holy spirit. This record in Acts, chapter 8, occurred a number of years after the original outpouring, in Jerusalem, on the day of Pentecost. And here in Acts, chapter 8, verse 1, we read: Acts 8:1 And Saul [Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul was his Greek name. Saul] was consenting unto his death [that is, Steven's death]. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; You see, a persecution does not begin the first day after a new thought comes into being. In-other-words, after they received the holy spirit, the persecution didn't start the day after. To initiate a persecution takes time. People get upset over a period of time and then they start persecuting. So, this eighth chapter of Acts was some time after the original outpouring in Acts, chapter 2. Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul was his Greek name. "And, at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem;" Verse 1 (Continued) ... and they were {all} scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. All the rest of the leaders were scattered abroad with the exception of the apostles. Verses 2 & 3: And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison. Was Paul sincere? Definitely, but sincerity is no guarantee for truth. Here's verse 4, of Acts 8: Verse 4: Therefore they that were scattered abroad [because of this persecution. They that were scattered abroad] went every where preaching [their new doctrine--NO, preaching what?] the word. You see it? Faith cometh how? By hearing, and hearing cometh by the Word of God. They went everywhere, preaching the Word. Verse 5: Then Philip went down to the city of Samaria, and [he] preached Christ unto them. Christ is the Word. Philip was one of the seven who was called upon to serve tables but God called him to serve the "bread of life." And this Philip, the evangelist, went to Samaria. The Samaritans were not very much loved by the Jews, you know. Remember the story of the good Samaritan? Samaritans were looked upon as "half-Jews" and, therefore, the Jews never had much to do with them. They sort of despised them. But that's where Philip went with the Word of God, and he preached Christ unto them. And verse six says: Verse 6: And the people [the people of Samaria] with one accord ["one accord," again is unity of purpose,] gave heed unto those things which Philip spake [they listened to what Philip said, they paid attention, they gave heed to what Philip spake], hearing and seeing the miracles which [God did, NO-no-no, it doesn't say that. Hearing and seeing the miracles which he--which] he [he who? Philip] did. That's right. And yet, I hear people saying, all the time, "Well, I don't do the healing, it's God who does the healing." That's not what the Word says. The Word says it was Philip who did it. They gave heed to Philip's preaching because they heard and saw the miracles he, Philip, did. That's right. Anybody can talk, anybody can build a great sermon and have wonderful vocabulary and everything else. But the criteria is not that, the criteria was, they believed his words because he was able to produce signs, miracles and wonders. If this was the criteria on which men would be allowed to stand in pulpits and in teaching platforms and professors in professor's chairs, I tell you, we'd be cleaning house today. But that was the criteria in the early church; can you produce anything? Anybody can talk. They believed what Philip said concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, because they heard and saw the miracles which HE-HE-HE, Philip, did. That's right. How did Philip do them? He did them by the power of God that was in him, because Philip spoke in tongues; interpreted; prophesied; he operated the word of knowledge; the word of wisdom; discerning of spirits; faith; miracles and healing. He operated the manifestations. That's why he was able to do these things. What happened when he was doing [these]? Look at verse 7: Verse 7: For unclean spirits [devil spirits, pneumata is the Greek word, plural], crying with loud voice, came out of many that were [next word:] possessed ... There it is. You see, whenever devil spirits, evil spirits come in, they always possess. The true God never possesses. And, here in Samaria, in the great capital city, there they were, thousands of people, and Philip preaching the Word. And, as he was preaching the Word, he was casting out evil spirits. Now, you can't cast out devil spirits if there aren't any around. That's like you can't throw a dog out of the house if you haven't got a dog in the house. There must have been some unclean spirits around, or he couldn't have cast them out. That's right. And these unclean spirits had possessed, controlled, they had taken these people and used them as mediums and as sensitives, sure. Verse 7 (Continued) ... {with them:} and many taken with palsies, and that were lame, were healed. Verse 8: And there was great joy in that city. Bless God, what a tremendous record! Today, when the power of God begins to move and people start believing, everybody comes in, they want to call in the sheriff, they want to call in this, because they want to stop the great power of God. Because, after all, it isn't done under the right label, you know. But in that city, there was great joy. Verse 9: But there was a certain man, called Simon, which beforetime [before the time of the coming of Philip] in the same city used sorcery, ... Sorcery--this is "hooky-pookism," witchcraft, black arts, the E.S.P. operation, that's what he operated. This Simon used devil spirits, sure.--sorcery, ... and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was [the great one] some great one: Verse 10: To whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God. "This man is the great power of God.--This man is the great power of God" They just forgot to say which god, that's all. That's right. But old Simon the sorcerer was producing a lot of signs, yes sir. Yes sir. Verse 11 says: Verse 11: And to him [that is, to Simon] they had regard, because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. [With hooky-pookism, sure.] Verse 12: But when they believed [get that? When they believed] Philip preaching the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women. Not in water, but baptized with the presence of Christ within. There's no water in that verse either. When they believed--well, what do you get when you believe? You get saved, born again of God's spirit. Here they were, had been bewitched a long time, Philip comes down, he preaches the Word of God. Faith cometh how? By hearing--hearing one thing, what? The Word. That's right. They believed what Philip preached and they got saved. Then comes this great thirteenth verse: Verse 13: Then Simon himself believed also: ... Isn't that something? How do you like that? Old Simon, the hooky- pook artist, the black arts boy, the crystal ball fellow, sure--the sensitive, the medium. Old Simon, himself, believed. What happened to Simon? I'll tell you what happened, he got saved. Well, praise the Lord! Do you know what a man who operates and is operated by devil spirits, can get saved? Because the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is greater that Satan--"for He that's in you, the Lord Jesus Christ, is greater than he that's in the world, old Satan." That's how Simon got saved, sure. Poor old Simon, bless his soul--got himself saved. Isn't that something? That's right. Verse 13: {Then} Simon himself believed also: and when he was baptized [that means with the presence of Christ], he continued with Philip [he went along with Philip], and wondered, beholding the miracles and [the] signs which were done. You know what old Simon was doing? He was following old Philip around. He said, "Hum, I wonder how old Philip does that? I used to do big ones too, but that Philip, he's got some ..." And old Simon was scratching his head wondering: "Hum .." Hey, I thought that when you got saved, you automatically got all cleaned up in your mind. Something happened here, didn't it. I've shown you, from the Word, when you get saved you get spirit within, your mind is not effected--you have to renew your mind. And old Simon had been operating devil spirits, at his beck and call, for a long time, and hood-winked the people. He had done some mighty things, but here was Philip doing some tremendous things. And after old Simon got saved, he didn't have his life cleaned up yet, because he hadn't renewed his mind. So he followed old Philip around, you know, and he wondered to see, "Huh, how does he do that?" Ha-hah, sure, that's what it says, that's what it means. Verse 14: Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: Now we've got something developing, here, for the first time in the history of the Christian church, since the day of Pentecost, when people got born again of God's Spirit, something happened. They received. This word "received," in verse 14, is the word dechomai. You see, we were told that they had already believed, back in verses 12 and in verse 13. Now, verse 14, news gets back to the apostles at Jerusalem that, in Samaria, they have dechomai'd. The word received in verse 14 is the word dechomai; they have subjectively received the Lord Jesus Christ. So they sent Peter and John down. Why? Verse 15 says: Verse 15: Who, when they were come down [Peter and John], prayed for them, that they might receive [lambano, pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}: What had happened? Here's the first time, in the history of the Christian church, that, when somebody's born again, he does not immediately lambano, he does NOT speak in tongues. Word gets back to Jerusalem, something's happening. They send down the two top men in the church, Peter and John. The top men, they send them to Samaria to find out what's going on. What's going on? Why haven't they manifested? That's right. Remember, I taught you, the word "receive"--two words. And, here in Acts 8, they've had great problems in the holy spirit field because they have not separated these two words: the word dechomai, meaning to receive subjectively. They had been born again of God's Spirit, but they hadn't lambano'd anything. They had not received it into manifestation. That's right. That's why Peter and John were sent down; to find out why-why-why--had never happened before. That's right. Verse 15 says: Verse 15: Who, when they were come {down}, prayed for them, that they might [lambano], ... That's what they came down for, to find out, so they prayed for them, that they might lambano that they might speak in tongues that they might manifest. Then verse 16 is a parenthesis: Verse 16: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) For, as yet, the holy spirit was fallen upon none of them, in manifestation: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Not baptized in water, but baptized in everything that name represented. Like in Acts 2:38, they were born again. That's what had happened. They were born again, but they hadn't manifested anything--hadn't fallen on them in manifestation, with the power of it. And you know, we always talk about the holy spirit--they talk about, being a "he." Huh-huh, have you ever thought of that? The holy spirit, the gift, what is it? Is it a "he" or is it an "it"? Is it a "he" or an "it"? Here, in verse 16, it says, "For as yet he was fallen upon none of them:" But look at Romans 8--Romans, chapter 8, verse 16,--same Bible, same word, listen to this: Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself ... ITSELF, the gift, the GIFT, the gift from God is always this spirit of God within us. It's like an all inclusive word, "it"--the spirit, it; the spirit, he. You see, it has nothing to do with whether it's a man or not--a person. This is the gift, it is IT, Christ-in-you-- Christ, the person, in you with all of IT, the spirit, ALL of IT. That's what it says, that's what it means. Verse 17: Acts 8:17 Then laid they their hands on them, and they received [they lambano'd-- they lambano'd holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}. They laid their hands on them, Peter and John laid hands on them, and then they lambano'd, they manifested. They'd already received, spiritually, but when they laid hands on them, they lambano'd. Now I know what people teach that; today, you give people the holy spirit by the laying on of hands, no you don't! There are records we're going to read, in the book of Acts, where people received the holy spirit without anybody laying hands on them. Then, what's the meaning of the laying on of hands? Every time, in the Bible--every time, when the laying on of hands is used, it is either: 1. At the time of ordination, when men are set apart, by revelation, to do a job God set forth that He wants done. 2. And it's always, also then, in relationship to revelation. There are three revelation manifestations: word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits. These people, in Samaria, had been hood-winked, they had devil spirits. They got save, born again of God's Spirit in the spirit, but, in their minds, they still had devil spirits possessing them. And they were not speaking in tongues, because to speak in tongues, you have to operate your mind, you have to believe, you have to know a lot of these things--how to do it, and these devil spirits were blocking them. So, Peter and John come down and they laid hands on them. What for? For revelation: word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of what? Spirits. Which one, do you think, really had to be in operation, here in Samaria? Discerning of what? Spirits, that's right. And God, by revelation, told them what was wrong, they took them out. "In the name of Jesus Christ," they took them out, AND they lambano'd, it says. They manifested, they lambano'd. The laying on of hands simply identifies you with the person to whom you're ministering. If I laid my hands upon a person standing here with me, you would know that the revelation I received was not for you, but for that person on whom I laid my hand. That's the laying on of hands. These are the only two usages in the whole Bible with the laying on of hands. But they are singly significant, they're tremendous. That's right. Now, verse 17, again, says: Verse 17: Then laid they their hands on them, and they [lambano'd pneuma hagion, holy spirit] {received the Holy Ghost}. Verse 18: And when Simon saw ... S.A.W.--when Simon saw--S.A.W.--What did Simon see? You cannot see spirit--you cannot see spirit, he must have seen something in concretion, something that's visible. Spirit's not visible, but the manifestations are. Speaking in tongues is visible, right? Well, look: Verse 18: And when Simon saw that through laying on of the apostles' hands [THE pneuma--THE hagion, THE holy the spirit] {the Holy Ghost} was given, he offered them [C.I.F.--Cash-In-Fist] money, He offered them what? Money, he wanted to buy it. I thought a man automatically got cleaned up when he got saved. Well, old Simon didn't get cleaned up when he got saved, did he--in his mind. When Simon saw that, through the laying on of hands, the pneuma was given, he offered them money. He wanted to buy it. He'd made enough money in spiritualism, reading the crystal ball and writing books on prophesy and the rest of it. He'd made enough money, he could offer a lot for it. That's right. Nobody receives the holy spirit with the laying on of hands. You can lay your hands on people, they don't receive anything. That's right. You can't communicate anything--people say they get healing in their hands. If they ever had something in their hands, it would have to be a phenomenon, right? That's right. We talk about having healing in the hands, what in the world would you do if you ever got it in your nose? Or, worse yet, suppose you got it in your big toe? And then, every time somebody would want to get healed, you got to get your big toe on them, because that's where the healing is. Ahhh, all that baloney's been taught. And people believe it. That's right. Nobody has healing in their hands, healing's in the power of the Lord. Hands may be points of contact; hands may be, with the laying on, for revelation to go into manifestation, but no other way. That's right. You can't communicate anything to anybody because, if you could, with the laying on of hands, then you could give somebody the wrong thing too. If I could give you the right thing, with the laying on of hands, somebody else could come along and give you the wrong thing. The only way you ever get anything from God is by believing. That's right. The laying on of hands was for revelation. They took out the cause. Once the cause is removed, the symptom disappears, and, lo and behold, they spoke in tongues. Old Simon says, "I want this power." That's right. Verse 19: {Saying,} Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay [my] hands, [he may lambano] he may receive [he may lambano holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}. And you know, verse 20: Verse 20: {But} Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. "Thy money parish with thee." Now, wait a minute--wait a minute, if it's eternal life, it's what? Eternal life. How can it parish?--How can it parish? We just learned, in verse 13, of the same chapter, that Simon himself believed also, right? Sure. Then, how in the world can he parish? Peter said unto him, "Thy money parish with thee." The word "parish" is the word "rot," R.O.T. Well, what part of man is going to parish, if he's born again? The body and soul, that's all. The body goes back to dust. That's why Peter said to him, "Your money rot with you." Because the C.I.F., Cash-In-Fist, money, green backs, they all disappear, they disintegrate. So he said, Verse 20 (continued) ... [Your] {thy} money parish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God [--the gift of God] may be purchased with money. This was a wrong motive on the part of Simon. Sure Simon was born again, but he had a wrong motive. He thought he could buy the gift of God, a ministry--a ministry, so that if he would lay hands on people, they'd receive the power of the holy spirit. He wanted to buy a ministry as an apostle, that's what he wanted. Sure. It's a tremendous thing in verse 20, because look at this, the word "parish" is the word "rot." Now, in verse 21: Verse 21: Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter: ... The word "matter" in verse 21, is the word "ministry" in the text. Peter said, "Your old money parish with you, it rot with you. You neither part in this matter--you have nothing in this ministry--you have no ministry." That's right. "nor lot in this ministry: for thy HEART" Verse 21 (continued) ... thy heart is not right in the sight of God. His SPIRITUAL heart was right, he was a son of God, had eternal life. In the SPIRIT, he was all right. But WHERE was he not right with God? In the renewed mind, he was trying to BUY his way into the ministry. That's why the word "heart"--whenever you read this word "heart" in the Bible, you must note from the usage of the word in the verse and the verse in the context, does it refer to the seat of the personal life, or does it refer to the seat of spiritual life. The word "heart" will ALWAYS refer to one or the other. Now, here, it had to refer to the seat of the personal life, from which you operate from, which is your mind. That's the seat of your personal life, that's where you make your decisions. So, literally, you could translate this, "Thou hast neither part nor lot in this ministry: for your personal life is not right in the sight of God." Verse 22: Repent ... Wait a minute, how many times can you repent? Just once. When you repent, you get saved. Verse 13 said Simon was saved. Then, what about the word "repent"? Well, the word "repent," again in the text, is the word "forsake." Since you're born again of God's Spirit, now renew your mind--forsake evil, quit lying, quit stealing. Remember all those verses? Verse 22 (continued) ... [Forsake] therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps ... "If perhaps," again, is a tremendously wrong translation in King James. God said, if we'd confess our sins, He's faithful and just to forgive us; no ifs, ands, or buts about it. Here it says, in King James, "if perhaps." The original just reads "that"--T.H.A.T. Pray God, that the thought of thine heart--the thought of your personal life. Where are your thoughts? In your mind. That's why it should read, "Pray God that the thoughts of your mind, of your life, may be forgiven thee"--may be forgiven thee. You see, this "if perhaps"--"if perhaps" is the word "that" in the text. Then this whole section fits together. Verse 23, by revelation, Peter knew, Verses 23 & 24: For I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity. Then answered Simon, and said, Pray ye to the Lord for me, that none of these things which ye have spoken come [unto] {upon} me. And that's the end of the record in Acts, chapter 8. Did they pray for him? I imagine, if you asked me, I'd do it. You'd do it for me. There you have the second great record. Samaria, half Jews, Philip ministers the new birth, but nobody speaks in tongues. Peter and John come down, lay hands on them and something happened because it said, "Simon saw." It doesn't say, in Acts 8, they spoke in tongues. But, let me ask you something, what did Simon see? Simon could not see spirit, he must have seen what? Manifestations--that's right. Well, what are the manifestations of the spirit? That's the second record in the book of Acts. And there are only five in the book. First, in Acts 2, the original. And this second, in Acts 8, in Samaria. END OF SEGMENT - 57 SEGMENT 58: PAUL RECEIVES; PETER SENT TO GENTILES PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 58 PAUL RECEIVES; PETER SENT TO GENTILES THE CONVERSION OF PAUL: Take your Bibles, today, and turn to Acts, chapter 9. There are five records in the Word of God which tell us all that can be known about the holy spirit, the receiving of it, and so forth. The first record is in Acts, chapter 2, which we dealt with in detail, because it's the original outpouring on the day of Pentecost, when the church of grace, to which you and I belong, began. The second record was in Acts 8, some years after the original outpouring on the day of Pentecost. Persecution arose in Jerusalem and all the people were scattered abroad, with the exception of the twelve apostles who stayed in Jerusalem. Philip went down to the city of Samaria. And there a man by the name of Simon, who had been operating black arts, white arts, and all the rest of them, had bewitched the people so many years. But the preaching of the Word of God won them to the Lord Jesus Christ. But, they didn't manifest anything, they didn't speak in tongues, they had no evidence. So, Peter and John, the heads of the church in Jerusalem, came down, laid their hands on them, got revelation, took out the cause. When the cause was removed, the symptom disappeared and they spoke in tongues. So, now we're in the ninth chapter, the third record in the book of Acts. And in this third record of the book of Acts, it's the record of Saul who really caused a lot of havoc to the church. Saul had been a member of the Sanhedrin, I believe, because it said he cast his vote against Stephen. To be a member of the Sanhedrin, you had to be over 30 years of age, and you must be a father. So, if he cast his vote against Stephen, he must have been a member of the Sanhedrin. Anyway, Saul was his Hebrew name, Paul was his Greek name. He never got his name changed, it just happens one is Hebrew and the other is Greek. And so, he really caused havoc in the church. And he goes to the High Priest to get himself letters that are necessary. He's on his way to Damascus, and he wants to get the Christians from Damascus, to bind them, bring them back to Jerusalem to have them imprisoned and executed, if possible. Now, while this vicious man is on the way to Damascus, lo-and- behold, all at once, there it is. God meets him on the way, he gets converted, born again of God's Spirit. But he's lost his sight and they lead him by the hand into Damascus. And in verse 10, it says, of chapter 9: Acts 9:10 And there was a certain disciple at Damascus, ... A certain disciple at Damascus--just a certain disciple. You know what we're going to be doing now? I'm going to show you, from the accuracy of God's Word, that all of this teaching that people have propounded on us through the years, that only the "Bishops" can lay hands on people and minister the holy spirit, is entirely erroneous. Because here is just a certain disciple, he doesn't even have a ministry in the body, he's just a disciple. He's not a bishop, he's not an elder, he's not a Peter or a John. But they used the record from Acts, chapter 8, and said, "You see, Philip could lead them to the Lord Jesus Christ. Philip could get them converted, but Philip had to call the bishops from Jerusalem, Peter and John, to lay hands on them to receive the holy spirit. Now, that cannot be true, because, here in this record, we're going to see a fellow by the name of Ananias, just a simple disciple, that's all, and he's going to minister the power of the holy spirit in manifestation and healing to Saul or Paul. That's right. So, the difference--the difference between a disciple and an apostle is something that you ought to understand. An apostle means "one sent by God." To be an apostle is a ministry. Every person who is called of God as an apostle has a ministry. There are five ministries, according to Ephesians, chapter 4: apostles; prophets; evangelists; pastors and teachers. Now this man, Ananias, was not an apostle, he was just a disciple. A disciple is a follower, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, every Apostle will be a disciple, but not every disciple will be an apostle. Here, back to the record in Acts, chapter 9, Acts 9:10 {And} there was a certain disciple [a certain disciple] at Damascus, named Ananias; and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias. And he said, Behold, I am here, {Lord}. "The Lord said to him, in a vision" -- a vision is a picture, revelation--by revelation, God gives you a picture. That's the "vision" here. He said to him, "Ananias," and do you know what Ananias said? "Behold, I am here, Lord." Remarkable, I sometimes tell my classes that, if God ever spoke to believers today like this, we'd have funeral upon funeral upon funeral, because it'd just scare the "H" out of them, they'd just die. But old Ananias was expecting to hear from God. He was a wonderful, wonderful man of God, and he expected to hear. Look at verse 11: Verse 11: And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and enquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth, Well, now, that's quit a record, isn't it? The Lord said to him, "Well, get up, Ananias, and go into the street called Straight." This is the only way you can get into it. The street called "Straight" goes east and west, all the way through the city of Damascus. And if Ananias's house is in the area where they say it is, there was only one way he could possibly go and that would be to head north and run directly into the street called Straight. The Lord said to him, "Go into the street called Straight, and you go to the house of Judas, and you ask for one called Saul, of Tarsus. And when you get there, let Me say to you, he'll be praying." I'll bet you he wasn't singing "Glory Hallelujah," and I'll venture to say, if there were fifty people in that house, at that time, there was not one there who was praying besides this man Saul. That's how accurate revelation is--that's how accurate it is. I have walked this distance from where they say, Ananias's house was, into the street called Straight, to the house of Judas. I had asked the guides where this house of Judas was, nobody knew. They finally got around, they found one guide and he said I had only been the second person in all of his years that he had served as guide in the city of Damascus, to ever ask to see the location of the house of Judas. Everybody wants to go to where Ananias was; I wanted to go where Judas was. And, at the time I was there, it had a Greek Orthodox church built on it, but it was closed up, it was boarded up, the windows were boarded up. I'd say it must have been three quarters of a mile. Well, anyway, the Lord said, told Ananias, "You go into the street called Straight, and you go the house of Judas, and when you get there, you'll find this Saul fellow praying. Listen, and verse 12 says: Verse 12: And [he] hath seen in a vision a man named Ananias coming in, and putting his hand on him, that he might receive his sight. The word "receive" there is the word anablepto. Verses 13 & 14: Then Ananias answered [and said], Lord, I have heard by many of this man, how much evil he hath done to thy saints at Jerusalem: And here he hath authority from the chief priests to bind all that call on thy name. You see, Ananias didn't like what the Lord wanted him to do. So, you know what Ananias did? He ran all over town and complained to everybody. No, he complained to the management. Ha-hah, he didn't like what the Lord wanted him to do so he said, "O.K., Lord, I don't like this job. You know this old Saul fellow is a real--bird, boy. That Saul is real devilish." That's right. He said, "I didn't like it." And you know what verse 15 says? Verse 15: But the Lord said unto him, [GO!--GO--GO] {Go thy way:} for he is a chosen vessel unto me, ... Boy, who'd have believed that? You and I would not have allowed Saul inside of our church. We'd have not even opened the door for him. Boy, if he'd have ever wanted to come to our church, we'd have been scared to death. Who'd have ever thought that he would ever get saved? Who'd have ever thought he ever get to be the greatest apostle the world has ever seen, who would have the greatest revelation God had ever -- [given]? I wouldn't. I'm sure you wouldn't. We just wouldn't. It took the Lord to tell old Ananias, "Ananias, you get on the ball over there. I got a job for you, this man's a chosen vessel." That's right. ... to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, {and the children of Israel:} [Verse 17 says:] Verse 17: And Ananias went his way, ... Ananias went according to the Word of God, the Word of God was the will of God for Ananias. He didn't go out to Timbuktu, he went into the street called Straight, turned right, went to the house of Judas. You see, the Word of God's the will of God, means what it says, says what it means. Verse 17 (Continued) ... and [he] entered into the house; and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, ... There's the key, brother Saul. In the East, nobody calls anybody a brother unless you mean it. That's right. Two things that make things safe for you in the East, the Bible Lands: 1. One is the "Covenant of Salt," if somebody will eat with you, the Covenant of Salt, and so forth; he'll never steal from you, he'll never hurt you, not at all. 2. On the other hand, if he'd call you brother. If he says to you, brother, sure, salaam alechem, if he adds the word bhai, meaning brother, we're in business. Because, when he says brother, you can lay your suitcases out, you can put your wallet out here, nobody will ever touch it, he'll guard it with his life, he'll die before he'll -- [let anything happen to you]. When Ananias said, "brother Saul," you know what that means? That Saul had already been converted on the road to Damascus and was saved. That's right. That's why he said to him, "brother Saul," Verse 17 (continued) ... the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive thy sight, and be filled with [pneuma hagion, holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}. He'd already been filled on the way to Damascus when he was born again. But what does it mean here? Filled in manifestation. There's a difference between just speaking in tongues and having the FULLNESS of it; the enthusiasm, the bubbling, the effervescence. That, boy, you've got the BOLDNESS of the Lord and you just give it like that. That's what he went to minister to him, the BOLDNESS that he be FILLED in manifestation. (He's filled in here alright.) But I've known people, born again of God's Spirit, filled with the spirit, and they do speak in tongues, but they've got an awful time. It just sort of trickles out, you know -- a drop here and a drop there, and once every six months in a believer's meeting they may get fifteen or twenty words out, reluctantly. They're not doing here what the Word says. Old Ananias, the Lord said to him, "You get down there and you minister to Saul and get the FULLNESS of the spirit rolling." Ha-hah, verse 18 says: Verse 18: And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scales: [wasn't scales, but as if it had been, looked like scales] and he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized. It doesn't say water, you know, it's just a record to tell us that that great Saul WAS BORN AGAIN of God's Spirit, BAPTIZED with the power of Christ and baptized in evidence with the fullness of the holy spirit. It doesn't say he spoke in tongues, it doesn't say it at all. That's right. But, you just wait, I Corinthians, chapter 14, I Corinthians, chapter 14, listen to this, I Corinthians 14, verse 18: I Corinthians 14:18 I thank my God [--I thank my God], I speak [says Paul] with tongues more than ye all: Hey! He must have spoken in tongues, right? As a matter of fact, to the Corinthian church he said, "I speak in tongues more than your denomination put together, the whole church." He spoke in tongues. I want to talk to you ministers a little bit. Brethren, you and I know that, if we're ever going to manifest the greatness of the power of God, we've got to come to the Word. That's right. And, surely, not a one of us, neither you nor I nor any other minister, has ever risen up to receive the revelations like the apostle Paul. And if the apostle Paul spoke in tongues, the great apostle Paul, the greatest man that ever had the greatest revelation from God, surely it behooves you and me, as a minister, to speak in tongues. The Word says, "I thank my God, I speak in tongues more than ye all." Did he speak in tongues? You bet your life he spoke in tongues-- like a house afire. Because, when you speak in tongues, it builds you up, spiritually, on the inside. It edifies that new creature in Christ Jesus, makes you big and fat spiritually, so that you can receive revelation, that God can talk to you. That's right. Well, there's the third record. That's all there is. But it's great, isn't it? Just a simple disciple, not a bishop, not an elder. That knocks that into a cocked hat. That's right. But, you see, we still teach, today, from Acts 8, that the reason the bishop has to come down and confirm you, is because Peter and John had to come down to Samaria to confirm them, to lay hands on them. And so, the bishop comes down, he does the confirming. Because, in the confirmation, they use the words, "receive ye the holy spirit." Of course, nobody gets it, but they talk about it. Very seldom do they get it anyway, because, if they did, they'd manifest, they'd speak in tongues. That's right. Old Ananias was just a disciple, but that's enough, boy. He heard from heaven, God talked to him because he had the spirit. God talked to him. That's right. And, he didn't like what God said, so he said, "Look, Lord, no deal!" The Lord said: "Get to crackin' for me! Go on!" And old Ananias didn't argue again. He hot footed it down to Judas's house, did the job God wanted him to do. And the apostle Paul got his sight back--got his sight back and was FILLED, just effervescing, filled with the fullness of the power of God in manifestation, and he said, "I spoke in tongues more than you all." That's the third record--the forth on is in Acts, chapter 10. THE GENTILES RECEIVE HOLY SPIRIT: Acts, chapter 10, is a real long chapter, and it expounds the greatness of God's Word. Because, now, for the first time, we're going to see how the Gentiles come into the body of Christ, the church, without becoming proselytes, without becoming Jews, by religion. Now we're going to see, the first time in the history of the Christian church, we're going to see exactly HOW the Gentiles, now, without anything else, just receive the power of the new birth and the fullness of the holy spirit. And what a revelation it is. It says in verse 1: ACTS 10:1 There was [just] a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of the band called the Italian band, He was head of a hundred soldiers, he was a centurion. Verse 2: A devout man, and one [who reverenced] {that feared} God with all his house, [he] {which} gave much alms to the people, and prayed to God always. You see, what did he have to get converted for, he was a good man. That's right. But you can be a good man. You can be a philanthropist. You can give all your money to the poor. You can be a wonderful, tender- hearted fellow, but unless you're born again of God's Spirit; you're just body and soul, you have no spirit, you have no eternal life abiding within you. Oh, Cornelius was a wonderful man, but he was not born again. And verse 3 says: Verses 3-6: [And] He saw in a vision evidently [the word "evidently" is clearly or openly] about the ninth hour {of the day} [and this was phenomenon, here, to him] an angel of God coming in {to him}, and saying unto him, Cornelius. And when he looked on {him}, he was afraid, and said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are come up for a memorial before God. And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side: ... What a tremendous truth that is, "whose house is by the sea side." Simon, the Tanner--they had zoning in those days. We think we're so modern. They were modern. A tanner's house had to be outside of the city limits, and it had to be away from the prevailing winds. For instance, if the prevailing winds are from the west, the tanner had to be on the east side of the city, outside of the city limits. That's why it says, in here, "He lodges with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the seas side: and" ... he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to do. Verses 7 & 8: And when the angel which spake unto Cornelius was departed, he [Cornelius] called two of his household servants, and a devout soldier of them that waited on him continually; And when he had declared all these things unto them, he sent them to [Europe--Oh, no-no-no, he would send them where?] Joppa. That's what God told him to do, "Send to Joppa for one Simon (Peter), who lodges with Simon the tanner." Now, if the Word does not mean what it says and it doesn't say what it means, why didn't Cornelius send his two household servants and his soldiers to Europe? You know good and well why he didn't, because the Word of God is the will of God; it means what it says and it says what it means. And God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it; why He says it; how He says it; to whom He says it; when He says it. And He said to Cornelius, "You send to Joppa," and that's exactly what he did. He called these two household servants, and his head soldier, and he said, "Go to Joppa and look for one Simon, a tanner." And, it says in verse 9, Verse 9: On the morrow, as they went on their journey, {and} [they] drew nigh unto the city, [and about that time,] Peter [was up on] {went up upon} the housetop [praying] {to pray} [it was] about the sixth hour [which corresponds to our 12 noon]: Verse 10: And he became very hungry, [just like some of the people I know on the staff of The Way Ministry] and would have eaten: but while they made ready [--while they made ready], he fell into a trance, Oh, the spiritualists like that one! Oooo, do they like that one. Yes, sir! They say, "See, Peter went into a trance, yeah." No, he didn't go into the trance like they talk about a trance. That's right. You know why? The word "trance" here is just a bad translation, the word is "vision." In verse 19 of the same chapter, now, I'll read it: Verse 19: While Peter thought on the vision, ... The vision--the trance was not a possession, he didn't lose his mental faculties and get taken over by "Mr. Fletcher" or "Mr. Balerker" or "Ms. Jonasis," no-no-no! No, not at all. He got revelation from God, look at what it was. A picture, Verses 11-16: [he] {And} saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending upon him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth: Wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air. And there came a voice [and said] to him, [Peter! You rise up] Rise [up], Peter; kill, and eat. [Oh,] But Peter said, [No, sir, Lord] Not so, Lord [not me]; [do you know, Lord,] {for} I have never eaten any thing that is common [defiled] or unclean [you know I wouldn't, Lord, because I was a Jew in background. You know good and well I wouldn't, Lord]. {And} the voice [spoke] {spake} unto him {again} the second time, [and it said, "Listen, Peter,"] What God hath cleansed, that call not thou common [or defiled]. This was done [three times] {thrice}: and the vessel was received up again into heaven. Verse 17: Now while Peter doubted ... The word "doubted" is the word "considered deeply," in a meditative type of fashion. "While he THOUGHT on these things," ... {in himself} what this vision which he had seen should mean, behold [right at that time], the men which were sent from Cornelius had made enquiry for Simon's house, and stood [without] {before} the gate, Isn't this something? Wonder how they got their "watches" synchronized? I wonder how they got their "watches" synchronized? Boy, God must have worked THAT out. Household of Cornelius, while Peter was up there praying. Right at that time, while Peter was praying, just seen the vision of the sheet let down, lo and behold, right then and there--right then and there--what happened? Boy, the men were there. The men from Joppa were there, they stood before the gate, and they called--they called. You see, in the East, you do not knock on the door, you stand outside the gate. And, as you stand outside of the gate--as you stand out there, then you call the man's name. You have to know his name. And that's why it says, "They stood outside and called his name." Verse 18: {And called,} and [they] asked whether Simon, which was surnamed Peter, were lodged there. Verses 19-20: While Peter thought on the vision, the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise therefore, and get thee down, ... First he sees a vision, now look at verse 19, it says "the Spirit said unto him." First God gave him a picture, now God speaks to him by the spirit. And He said unto him, "Peter! Three men out there, you arise, you get thee down," ... [you] {and} go with them, [and doubt] {doubting} nothing: for I [God] have sent them. Do you think Peter would have ever gone had God not shown him the vision, had the spirit not said to him, "get going?" Peter had been a Jew in background. Sure, he was born again of God's Spirit, but he was still zealous for the law. That's right. Because the revelation of what the church really was, had not yet been given to Paul. So, they didn't know all the liberty and the freedom they had in Christ Jesus. But the sheets, down from heaven, saying to Peter, "kill and eat." And then the spirit said, "three men out there, Peter. You go with them, doubt nothing." Verse 21: Then Peter went down to the men which were sent unto him from Cornelius; and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? And they told him what it was all about. Why they had come. They reiterated exactly what I read from the first few verses of the tenth chapter. And, in verse 23, it says: Verse 23: ... {And on the morrow} Peter went away with them, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. You see, the Lord said to Peter, "You go on down and you go with them,"--you go with them. It says "on the morrow"--on the morrow, now, the day after this they're now going to leave. He brings them in the house, but before he leaves, Peter has more revelation and more information. You know what? Boy, Peter is going to get six born again believers who have also been Jews, and he's going to take these along as his proof because, Peter knows that they're going to call him on the carpet in Jerusalem, when he gets back there. And he's got to have his testimony, his witness with him. And this witness will be these six that accompany him to Caesarea. END OF SEGMENT - 58 SEGMENT 59: THE GENTILES RECEIVE PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 59 THE GENTILES RECEIVE Before Peter went to Caesarea with those men who had come down to get him, old Peter, he knew that, somehow or other, they'd call him on the carpet in Jerusalem. And so, it says in verse 23: Acts 10:23 ... [He] {Peter} went away {with them}, and certain brethren from Joppa accompanied him. The reason I know there were six is because in the next chapter, the eleventh chapter of Acts, he IS called on the carpet in Jerusalem and he says the following, in verse 12: Acts 11:12 And the Spirit bade me go with them, nothing doubting. Moreover these six brethren accompanied me, and we entered into the man's house: You see, he took his witnesses with him. Verse 24: Acts 10:24 And the morrow after they entered into Caesarea. And Cornelius waited for them, and {he} had called together his kinsmen and near friends. Old Cornelius was waiting for Peter to get there, and do you know something? He had called together his kinsmen, all of his relatives and all the friends he had. He had called them all together and there he had them, all seated in the auditorium, waiting for Peter. You know, it's a tremendous difference, isn't it? Today we got to put on an advertising campaign for a year, sometimes we work two years ahead of time on a revival or an evangelistic program. We go in the community, we set up letter writers, telephone callers, we set up house-to-house visitation, everything, all of this. But in this early church, you know, old Cornelius had gotten his family together, all of his close kinsmen, all of his friends, and here they were. Old Peter didn't have to come to town and go to the head newspaper man and beg him for a little bit of space in his newspaper, or buy a paid ad in the newspaper, or go to the television station and arrange something with them and get the cooperation of all of the radio stations and all the denominations in town. Oh, no-no-no-no, when Peter got to Caesarea, Cornelius had the whole gang together. Look what it says: "... he called together his kinsmen and near friends." Verse 25: And as Peter was coming in, Cornelius met him, and fell down at his feet, and worshipped him. Well now, isn't that wonderful? You know what some people teach on that verse? They teach that Cornelius was "slain in the spirit" because it says, "he fell down at his feet". He was slain in the spirit. I've gone through that one too. I hear people talking about being slain in the spirit. How, when they were slain in the spirit, they spoke in tongues and all of that. That's right. I'd heard this so I decided in a research school, you have to do research, you have got to figure out what's going on. And in this little "two bit" mind of mine (or how big it is, I'm not sure), you know, I had concluded that if ANYBODY ever got slain by the spirit, if the true God ever SLEW anybody, anything that I would do wouldn't get them up. Now, isn't that good logic? That's right. And here I went to a service where I'd heard they were being slain in the spirit, and I'd figured out something. I'd figured out, as I told you, if God slew them, anything I would do wouldn't get them up. And here they were at the close of the service and -- it's really sort of a bad thing I did, but I did it anyway. That's right. Here they were at the close of the service and I was way up in the second row from the front so that I could turn around and I could see everything that was going on. And here I was seeing these people jumpin' and a- hollerin' and, all at once, whooow--right on the old floor, laying in the aisle. So I decided that, if God slew them, anything I would do wouldn't get them up. So you know what I did? It-it's awful, terrible, but I did it. I walked down the aisle, I turned and I got in that old aisle and I started down the aisle and there laid one and as I went by I--give him a kick. I gave him a good old kick--you know where. And just the moment I gave him a kick, you know what he did? He opened his eyes and he sat up. It bothered me. You know why? Because my foot had more power than God who'd slain him! Something wrong someplace, I thought. So I kept heading right down that old row, of course I couldn't afford to stop because I figured, about that time, they might be after me. Headed down, I got to the next one, gave him a good one, he sat up and looked at me. Went all the way the way down, hit the last one in the row, every one of them sat up and looked at me. That's right. Hah! Slain in the spirit? Good gravy! If God had laid them in the aisle, you know something? That little foot of mine never would have got them up! Because God's bigger than that toe of mine. That's right. You know why they got--laying in the aisle? This is what they were taught. Boy, this is devilish! You know, if you're taught that, at a certain time, at a certain place, you're going to fall over, you're going to get slain in the spirit, that's exactly what's going to happen to you. [It's] what you're believing for--what you're believing for, that's what's going to happen to you. That's what you're believing for. Because believing equals receiving, remember? That's right. The other thing is, if you're taught this, you see, and I've been at these places -- I heard a man, one night, followed him down the aisle, because he was one of the big leaders in a--what they call a "Receiving the Holy Spirit" campaign. Saw him go down the aisle, he'd go along and he'd say--he'd push the fellow on the shoulder and he'd say, "c'mon, fall over--fall over--fall over." HA-HAH! Slain in the spirit? If the true God ever slew you, I want to tell you, you'd never get up, that's number one. And, secondly, if the true God ever slew you, He'd have to break His whole Word, because the Word says that, in the true God, there is no darkness, neither shadow of turning. God, the true God, doesn't go around knocking people over the head and laying them out in the aisles. That's right. But, this is what we're taught happens. And so, instead of standing on the greatness and the accuracy of God's Word, they say that when Paul was on the road to Damascus, he got slain in the spirit. Old Cornelius got--that's not what it says! [It] doesn't say anything about getting slain in the spirit. That's right. You see, the true God could never slay anybody in the spirit because the spirit is eternal life. That spirit that was in you, with this slain in the spirit by these sincere Christian believers, is by possession. A devil spirit comes, possesses their mind and knocks them down. The spirit on the inside hasn't been touched because it's eternal life. This is what they don't understand and so they blame the true God. But here it is: they're taught they're going to get slain in the spirit, they believe it, and then they open their mind and when you believe and open your mind, a devil spirit comes in and he knocks this body and soul fellow just BOOF right down on the old floor. [It] hasn't touched the spirit at all. Boy, to learn all of this in our research years was a tremendous thing. And how God taught me to separate body and soul as the flesh from the spirit. That which is flesh is flesh, that which is spirit is spirit. That's right. I studied a group of what they call the "Snake Handlers" too, where they put poisonous snakes around their neck and they play with them. And while they're playing with them, they're speaking in tongues. The speaking in tongues is genuine, but handling the snakes is devilish-- possession. Because, in the Old Testament, it says, that no one can charm a snake unless he has a devil spirit. The same thing is true there. The devil spirit occupies the man's mind. But, you see, speaking in tongues is not from a man's mind, speaking in tongues is from the spirit. God gives it to your spirit as the spirit gives utterance. God gives it to your spirit and you just speak it forth, that's all, nothing to do with your mind. So, the man can be possessed up here, and still be speaking the greatness of the power of God. Boy, if you can learn that lesson, you've come a long way. I learned it the hard way, you can learn it the easy way. Because you don't have to go through all this baloney and all these shenanigans and all this other junk I had to go through to try to separate out, for years upon years, the difference between flesh and spirit. That's right. If you want to know what's all about "slain in the spirit" from the accuracy of God's Word, here's a "Study in Abundant Living" written by my assistant, Reverend Peter J. Wade. And he knows the background, even as I know it, and it's a tremendous record. This is available to you, if you'd like to have it--the whole truth of what I have just shared with you, in detail here in this particular section of God's Word. Let's go back to verse 26, it said in verse 25, Verse 25 (continued) ... Cornelius {met him, and} fell down {at his feet,} and [he] worshipped him. That was very simple because I've seen this too. When I was teaching in India, the Ashadi-Ashri-Tolsi, who heads up the greatest Jain movement in the entire world, I was the guest speaker. And, by the way, I was the first foreigner that was ever invited, of the hundred and fifty or seventy five years that the foreign missions have been in India, I was the first Christian foreigner who was ever invited to participate in a Jain convention. And I saw this Ashadi-Ashri-Tolsi, the leader of this group, when he would get up to walk out, everybody along the path would just fall flat on their face because they loved him, set forth their respect. The word "worship" here is "respect," not worship in the sense where you worship God, because you can only worship God in spirit and in truth, that's all. This "worship" doesn't mean they worshipped him as God, but for respect. So they all fell down flat on their face, just like they did in India, when the Ashadia got up and walked out. Thousands of people, just enough room he could barely get through. Oh, this is what Cornelius did, fell down at his feet and worshipped him. Verses 26-27: But Peter took him up [--Peter took him up and said], {saying,} Stand up [--stand up, Cornelius]; I myself also am a man. And as he [was talking] {talked} with him, he went in, and found many that were [gathered] {come} together. Many that were gathered together--many of them. You see, he didn't have to put on the campaign, they were all there. He found many that were gathered together. Verses 28-29: And he said unto them, Ye know how that it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to keep company, or come unto one of another nation; but God hath shewed me [Isn't that wonderful? He said, "God has showed me"] that I should not call any man common [defiled] or unclean. Therefore came I unto you without gainsaying [therefore I came, right away quick--right away boomps--I just came immediately], as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent ye have sent for me? Isn't that something? These men that went down told him some of the things that their master had said. But they didn't know it all. So when he comes in--when he comes in, he says, "Well, what's the intent, what's the purpose? Why did you send all these men down here?" And, verse 30, Cornelius reiterates--reiterates what he said, or what I've already read to you from the first four verses of the chapter. And so, in verse 33 we read: Verse 33: Immediately therefore I sent to thee; and thou hast well done that thou art come. Now therefore [we] are {we} all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of ... Your senses mind--No--no. Cornelius wasn't interested in the brain cells of Peter. He wasn't interested in his academic degrees. He wasn't concerned whether he graduated from the right college, university, or theological cemetery--seminary. He was only concerned about one thing: what's God got to say? What does GOD have to say? That's what the verse says, "We're gathered together, here," Verse 33 (continued) ... to hear {all} [the] things that are commanded thee of God. Of GOD! They wanted to know what GOD had to say. Ladies and gentlemen, if you and I sat in the pews of our church demanding of our men who stand in the pulpits, if you want to know what GOD's got to say, it would be a new day in the United States and across the world. Verse 34: Then Peter opened his mouth, and [he] said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: And that's something for old Peter to say. Peter was a Jew, he had seen the vision, the spirit had told him. The thing was so synchronized that the three men were there simultaneously with the termination of the vision--all of that together. Then the spirit said "Go," man, I tell you, Peter went. And the first thing he said, when he started preaching, was, "By God's grace, I realize now, that GOD is no respecter of persons." That's right. God's no respecter of persons. God IS a respecter of conditions, but not of persons. When the conditions are met, irrespective of who the person is, he receives. That's right. Listen, and now he starts this tremendous sermon: Verse 35 But in every nation he that [reverences God] {feareth him}, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. As he gets born again. Then, in verse 38, comes this tremendous truth: Verse 38: How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost} [no article in the text] and with power: [Jesus] who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; {for God was with him.} So, when people are sick, they need healing, and Jesus healed them because he said, "All sickness was oppression"--from the devil. Verse 39: And we are witnesses of all things which he did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; 1. whom they slew and hanged on a tree: Verse 40:Him God raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; You see, if you're going to repent, if you're going to get saved, somebody's got to preach the resurrection. Again, did Peter preach the resurrection? Right down the line. That's right.Verse 43:To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in [the Lord Jesus Christ] {him} shall receive remission of sins. Not forgiveness, but remission. That's it. Now verse 44:Verse 44:While Peter yet spake ... While Peter yet spake--while Peter was preaching, while he was speaking, while he was talking, ... {these words}, [the pneuma the hagion--the holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost} fell on {all} them which heard the word. Did anybody lay hands on them? No, they didn't. Anybody pray for them? No. While Peter was preaching the Word--while he was preaching, Cornelius and all those people in there believed. And as they believed, they received.Verse 44 (continued)While Peter yet spake {these words,} [the holy spirit--pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost} fell on {all} them ... Both articles "THE pneuma, THE hagion," are in the critical Greek text. And the reason they're there is to emphasize that this is the same gift that was given on the day of Pentecost many years before.Verse 44:While Peter yet spake {these words,} [THE pneuma, THE hagion] {the Holy Ghost} fell on {all} them which heard the word. Heard the Word, that's the key. The word "hearing" is that word--not where you hear here and it goes clean clear through, but hear to the end of believing. They heard, and what they heard, they believed. Romans 10:17, rememberRomans 10:17{So then} faith cometh by hearing, and hearing [cometh by what?] {by} the word of God. AndRomans 10:9{That} if thou [wilt] {shalt} confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and {shalt} believe {in thine heart that} God {hath} raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. Right? Sure. "While Peter yet spake..." tremendous truth. That does away with the laying on of hands doesn't it? Unless God gives you 8revelation--if God tells you to put your hands on Johnny Jump-up, you do it. If He doesn't tell you, you keep your hands off of him. Even the laying on of hands, in the Word of God, was always operated by revelation. When God said, "Lay hands on him," you lay hands on him. When God doesn't say anything, you keep your "dukes" off of him. That's right. You don't lay hands on them. What's the matter with people? But, you see, you get in the habit. You see people lay hands on, you want to lay hands on--big-big-big--everybody wants to lay hands on. That's right. I remember one of the situations where I was helping someone to walk by revelation and understand how the revelation manifestations operated. And we were to minister to a person, and I was going to lead him in, help him. But you know something? That person never even got started ministering because, the moment we walked up, he thought, well, I'll put my hands on. He put his hands on and he turned white as a sheet. I took him by the shoulder and I set him down. And I said, "You'd better sit down and rest a while." You see, he hadn't gone up to the Father and said, "Father, do I lay my hands on or don't I?" He just put his hands on, and that person whom he laid his hands on had a devil spirit and that old devil spirit socked him right between the eyeballs! So, I set him down, white as a sheet. Nobody laid hands on anybody at the household of Cornelius. That's right. Look at it:Verse 44:While Peter yet spake ... [they] which heard the Word [something happened]Verse 45:And they of the circumcision which believed ... Those six brethren from chapter 11, verse 12, that I read about a little while ago, who accompanied Peter. Verse 45:And they of the circumcision which believed were astonished [they were flabbergasted], as many as came with Peter [the six of them], ... Why were they flabbergasted? Why were they astonished? Why were they shook? Listen: ... because that on the Gentiles also [on the Gentiles ALSO--the key word is the word "ALSO." That on the Gentiles ALSO] was poured out the gift [the gift] of [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}. That's what astonished them. Why? Because Gentiles were worse than dogs. Right. And here was the Gentiles, Cornelius and his household and his friends, all speaking in tongues or doing something. And it just shook them. You know, you could have taken Cornelius out--you could have taken him out, you could have washed him in sand. You could have immersed them backwards and forwards in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. You could have immersed them so that who ever went down the oftenest got the most. You could have done all of this; that never would have convinced Peter or those six brethren who came with him. Ladies and gentlemen, there has to be something here in this household of the Gentiles which is indisputable and undeniable, something that nobody can touch, or you never would have astonished Peter and those six brethren--never! That's right. What is that thing that convinced them that on the Gentiles ALSO--ALSO, like on them, many years before in Jerusalem, was poured out the gift? The GIFT, it says. It doesn't say they were baptized with, it says the GIFT was poured out. What was it? The next verse says it:Verse 46:For they [Peter and the six brethren] heard them [Cornelius, his household, the believers] speak with tongues, and magnify God. ... Isn't that wonderful? They heard THEM speak with tongues. You see, speaking in tongues is the external manifestation, in the senses world, that you have the spirit within. They heard them speak in tongues, that's what convinced Peter, that's what convinced the other brethren. That's right. I tell you, once more, even though God said to Peter by vision, "Anything that I have cleansed is not common, defiled or unclean." Even though He said to him by the spirit, "Go to the household of Cornelius." Even though those two servants and the soldier from the household of Cornelius came all the way up to Joppa. Even though the six brethren went with him. This would never have convinced Peter that the Gentiles ALSO had received the same gift, unless there is a proof which is indisputable and undeniable, and there is only one. This is the only thing that cannot be counterfeited. You can take a man out and you can water baptize him. That's right. In the Far East, they baptize them three times in water: 1. Once when they reach manhood, about thirteen years of age. That takes care of all the sins then.2. Then, when they get married, they immerse them again. That takes care of the sins from the time you get through the adolescence, through the youth.3. And then, just right after you die, they immerse them again for the third time. Now, that's good and logical, if you want water. That's right. Covers it all, all of life. Hey, water never would have convinced Peter. No-no, it had to be indisputable and undeniable and it says, "for they heard THEM speak in tongues." And when they spoke in tongues, what did they do? Magnify God! In Acts, chapter 2, the unbelieving Jews said of the twelve apostles, that they were speaking the wonderful works of God. Here it says that when they were speaking in tongues, they were magnifying God. Wouldn't you like to magnify God? Wouldn't you like to speak the wonderful works of God? Then you're going to have to speak in tongues. That's right. This thing was so tremendous to Peter, even though God had talked to him and everything else, it just shook Peter. And Peter got some of this old Jewish background crawling up in his life immediately, because, in verse 47, he said:Verse 47:Can any man forbid water, ... Now you've got water, for the first time you've got it here. Verse 47:Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received [which have lambano'd -- the word "received" is the word lambano] the Holy Ghost as well as we? ACT 10:48 And he [Peter] commanded them to be baptized . . . In water. Did they ever get baptized in water? No they didn't. In the eleventh chapter, when Peter appears before those people in Jerusalem, and he's put on the carpet, he says in verse 15 of the eleventh chapter:Acts 11:15And as I began to speak, the [holy spirit] Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Verse 16:Then remembered I [then remembered I] the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye [but ye--YE] shall be baptized with [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}. Then he remembered it. Peter wanted to water baptize them, but he never got around to it because he remembered, God showed him, that John baptized with water, but that they were to be baptized with pneuma hagion.Verse 17:Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus {Christ}; [who] {what} was I, that I could withstand God? "I wanted to water baptize them," Peter said, "but God showed me not to. Then who was I to withstand God?" THAT's what the Word says, THAT's what it means. That's why Peter never water baptized them, he wanted to he never got around to it because God said, "No deal!" Verse 18 of that eleventh chapter also,Verse 18:When they [in Jerusalem] heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life. And this is the record of the Gentiles coming in under repentance without becoming proselytes. And when these Gentiles came in, got born again of God's Spirit and nobody "laid hands" on them. They had been well instructed by Peter, the power of God was there, they were born again. And when they were born again, the thing they did, they spoke in tongues. And as they spoke in tongues, they magnified God. So, we've had four records so far: 1. Acts, chapter 2: Jews only; and when they received on the day of Pentecost, they spoke in tongues. 2. Acts 8: Samaritans; it doesn't say they spoke in tongues, but Simon saw something--what did he see? 3. In Acts 9: Paul or Saul; and it says, in I Corinthians 14, that he spoke in tongues. 4. Now, here in Acts 10: the household of Cornelius; the Gentiles walk in, get born again of God's Spirit and when they're born again of God's Spirit, it says they spoke in tongues and magnified God.END OF SEGMENT - 59 SEGMENT 60: BELIEVERS AT EPHESUS MANIFEST HOLY SPIRIT PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 60 BELIEVERS AT EPHESUS MANIFEST HOLY SPIRIT We have considered four of the five references, in the book of Acts, dealing with the holy spirit. We have considered these in detailed fashion because, everything that can be known on the receiving of the holy spirit in the early church, and how it operated then and how it operates now, is from God's Word. You cannot go by what people write or people say, you've got to read it from God's Word and understand it in the light of which it's written. We have one more record, the fifth record, to consider, and this is in Acts chapter 19. In order to understand Acts, chapter 19, you've got to go back to the eighteenth chapter, beginning with the twenty-forth verse. Acts 18:24 And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This certain Jew, named Apollos was born at Alexandria. There were two, in the early church--first century, there were two great centers of learning: Alexandria, in Egypt and Antioch, in Syria. The messages that they understood and the Word that they understood in Antioch of Syria, was not as fully understood in Alexandria, in Egypt, because of the Greek centered information that they had in Antioch, in Syria, for instance. They did not have some of that information in Alexandria, the Greek center of learning in Egypt. Now, it told us that Apollos was born at Alexandria, and that's a great key to the understanding of what happens here. Verse 25: This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit [spiritually alive, spiritually vital], he [spoke] {spake} and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. All Apollos knew was water baptism. Why did he not know any more? Because he was from Alexandria, the Greek speaking center. And the greatness of the revelation of what had occurred at Antioch, in Syria, for instance, had not yet gotten to him. So, it says, he knew only the baptism of John. So, all you can do is what you know, and he knew the baptism of John. Therefore what did he teach? Water baptism. That's about as far as most people go today, the baptism of John. Verse 26: And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. Isn't that sweet? All Apollos knew was water baptism. Aquila and Priscilla, who had been excommunicated out of Rome, had come into the Ephesus area and they heard this great Apollos, the golden tongues orator, teach the Word. But they knew he didn't know it fully, so you know what they did? They got right up in the believers meeting and they said, "Now Apollos, we want to tell you something, this water baptism sort of went out with the baptism of the holy [spirit]"--nooo, they didn't. They never disgraced Apollos, they never ridiculed him. They took him home when nobody else was around. And, it said, "they expounded" -- the word "expounded" is the word exegeomai meaning "declared, opened up," we get the English word "exegesis" from it. They expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. I love Apollos. Two simple little Christian believers, Aquila and Priscilla, that's all, took this great "golden tongued orator," Apollos, and said, "Apollos, we'd like to have you for chicken dinner, this noon. Won't you please come home with us? And, we'll serve you a good chicken dinner." (Put some more chicken in the ministry, you know.) "And we'll have a wonderful salad with "Thousand Island" [dressing] and all these other things, and great wonderful blueberry pie, I know you like. Won't you please come home?" And Apollos went home with Aquila and Priscilla and they expounded unto him the Word of God more perfectly. That Apollos must have been a great man. That's right. Where today can you get a preacher, a golden tongued orator like Apollos, a great big wonderful man, to go home with a layman and the layman teach HIM the Word of God? Nah, they say, "Oh, I'm a graduate of this theological seminary, or this divinity school, I got the ANSWERS! No laymen gonna teach me"--ha-hah! Old Apollos went home with Aquila and Priscilla and they taught him the Word of God more perfectly. Isn't that sweet, loving, wonderful? Verse 27: And when he was disposed to [go to] {pass into} Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace: Verse 28: For he [Apollos] mightily convinced the Jews, and that publickly, shewing by the scriptures that Jesus was Christ. After Aquila and Priscilla expounded the Word of God more perfectly to him, do you know what the will of the Lord was? For Apollos to go right back into Ephesus and stand up before the congregation and say, "Now brethren and sisters, I want to apologize to you. I guess I didn't know the Word of God like I should have known it." And all these other- -no-no-no-no-no, he was never disgraced--never disgraced. The Word of the Lord was, "Don't put Apollos back in Ephesus, take Apollos and send him out to Corinth. Send him on down there. Let him get a new work going, because, now he knows the Word of God more perfectly, let him get in there." That's right. He had done a good job in Ephesus with what he knew. You can't go beyond what you know, and he had taught the greatness of God's Word there, they were born again. But, you know, you can get born again of God's Spirit and then you can be water baptized, you can be "dry cleaned," you can be sprinkled, you can go through all of that -- if you don't know any better. And Apollos had not been instructed any better before he came to Ephesus because he had come from Alexandria in Egypt. That's right. But, once he knew better, once he was instructed more perfectly, they didn't send him back into Ephesus. The Word of the Lord was send him over to Corinth. That's right. And verse 1 of chapter 19 begins with the word "and." That's why you must go way back to verse 24 of [chapter] 18 to get it in the context. Remember, the Word interprets itself in the verse, in the context or it's been used before. So, verse 1 of 19 says: "And"--"and" is a conjunction [it] ties that which goes before in correspondence with that which follows. Acts 19:1 And it came to pass, {that}, while Apollos [while Apollos] was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, Well, who had discipled them? Well, who had been there preaching? Apollos. Who had won them for the Lord? Who had gotten them born again of God's Spirit? Apollos had. That's right. But Apollos knew only water baptism. That's right. Now, Apollos goes on to Corinth, Paul comes over and he come to Ephesus. And, verse 2: Verse 2: [Paul] {He} said unto them [unto these disciples, the born again believers], Have ye received [pneuma hagion, no article] {the Holy Ghost} [have ye received holy spirit] since ye believed? ... Boy, here is a verse--you see, this is the verse they've used that you receive the holy spirit as an added blessing, as a second work of grace, because the first verse says that they were already disciples, they were born again. So, when Paul gets there, he asks them, "Well, have you received the holy ghost?--have you received the second work of grace?" No-no-no! The word "received" is the key to it, ladies and gentlemen, like I've taught you. The word "receive" is the key. They had already "dechomai'd" under Apollos. Because they had received subjectively, within. Spiritually, they had received the Lord Jesus Christ. But they'd never "lambano'd" anything. They had never received into manifestation any evidence. That's why, in verse 2--in verse 2, the record there, the word in that verse, is the word "lambano - lambano." When Paul gets to Ephesus, he asks them only one question: "Brother are you born again? Are you sanctified?" No-no-no-no, he says to them: "Have you lambano'd, have you manifested pneuma hagion, have you manifested since--and the word "since" is the same word as the word "when." Have you manifested when you believed? I told you that, in the early church, every time they were born again of God's Spirit, the first thing they did afterwards was manifest- -they spoke in tongues. When this did not occur in Samaria, Peter and John came down from Jerusalem to find out what's going on. That's right. When Paul was born again of God's Spirit, Ananias went in and saw to it that he spoke in tongues. At the household of Cornelius, while Peter yet spake, they spoke in tongues. This is the early church, and we all teach that the church started on the day of Pentecost. Ladies and gentlemen, why are we not doing what the church did? Must be a reason. Hey, he found certain disciples; and he said, "Have you lambano'd? Have you lambano'd? Did you lambano when you believed? Did you manifest when you believed?" And do you know what they said in verse 2? Verse 2 (continued) ... {And they said unto him,} We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. Any lambanoing. Why had they not heard? Why not? Because Apollos did not what? Know. That's right. And you cannot teach beyond what you know. And people cannot believe bigger than what you teach. That's right. So, in verse 3: Verse 3: And he said unto them, [Well, then what] {Unto what then} were ye baptized [unto]? And they said, Unto John's baptism. John's [John the Baptist] baptism is a what? A water baptism. Any time there's water baptism today, it's still the old John baptism. That's right. He said, "You were baptized under John's baptism." Verse 4: Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, [That's what the water baptism of John the Baptist was.] saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. See, this was John's baptism. And Paul is simply reporting what Apollos did, in verses 3, 4 and 5. For, it says: Verse 5: When they heard [when they heard] this, ... "This" is in italics -- delete it. "When they heard"... Who did they hear from? From Apollos. When they heard what Apollos taught; ... they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. With the presence of Christ within. They were born again, BUT they were also water baptized with John's baptism, because that's all Apollos knew -- until Aquila and Priscilla took him home and instructed him more perfectly in the Word of God. That's right. Well, verse 6 -- now we begin to see what Paul did in Ephesus: Verse 6: And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, ... The laying on of hands was because; first of all, God gave him revelation to lay hands on them; and, when you lay hands on this person, this identifies you with the person to whom you're ministering, or whom you are serving. And it's always for revelation: word of knowledge; word of wisdom and discerning of spirits, to go into effect. that's right. So, Paul laid his hands on them: Verse 6: And when Paul had laid his hands [on] {upon} them, the Holy {Ghost} [the pneuma hagion] came on them; ... Not came in them, but came ON to the end of manifestation. It was already in; now it came on, out here, came on them; ... and they spake with tongues, ... And they, not God, not the spirit, but the people who had the gift. They had had the gift all along, it was lying dormant in there, just like church members today, many of them, born again of God's Spirit -- born again of God's Spirit. That's right. Wonderful Christian believers, but it lies dormant within, because you can't feel spirit, you can't smell spirit, you can't taste spirit. And, if the minister or the teachers or those who are in charge of the church body, do not teach us the accuracy of God's Word and what we have in Christ, we cannot manifest. That's right. So, thousands upon thousands of Christian believers today, absolutely born again of God's Spirit, but never manifest anything. They've got it, they could speak in tongues any time they want to. They could interpret, they could prophesy, they could operate word of knowledge, wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing. Then why do they not do it? Because the horn does not blow when you sit in the automobile, you have to blow the horn, you have to turn on the ignition -- YOU have to know HOW to speak in tongues; HOW to interpret. And this takes somebody that's instructed to teach you how to do it. That's right. So, when Paul laid his hands on them, the holy spirit came on them and they spake with tongues and they did something else. It says: ... and [they] prophesied. Now, this is the first time in the record of the book of Acts, in the history of the Christian church, that this manifestation is mentioned. They spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And it says in verse 7: Verse 7: [that] {And} all the men were about twelve. That's all. Started out very small, didn't it? But, boy, it doesn't make any difference how small the group. If you get filled with the power and you know God's Word and you believe God's Word, and you've got the holy boldness to live it, men can turn the world up side down, (Which means simply to turn it right side up.), when they get filled with the power of the holy spirit. Now this is the fifth record and that's all that's to this record. With the exception of the response to it of how all Asia heard the Word of God in two years and three months (that's Asia Minor -- it says Asia in King James, but it corresponds to our Asia Minor, today). How ALL Asia heard the Word of God in two years and three months under the ministry of the apostle Paul while he was there. It's a tremendous truth. Five records in the Bible -- five records in the Bible, and that's all there is, in the book of Acts -- no more, no less. And those five are uniquely wonderful. You know, you can't go by what people say. Say, what this individual says or that individual says. You have to go by the revealed Word of God. For the Word speaks and the Word means what it says and the Word says what it means. 1. We learned from Acts, chapter 2, in the original outpouring, in verses 1 to 4, that; on the day of Pentecost, these twelve apostles were filled with the power from on high, clothed with this power from on high, which is the new birth, the holy spirit, Christ in you. And when they were filled, it says, "and they spoke in tongues." That's what it said in Acts 2. And then, you'll remember, there were only Jews on the day of Pentecost that received. 2. A number of years later, because of the persecution that had ensued within the city of Jerusalem, because of the increase of Christian believers, Philip went down to Samaria. This is an enlargement. The Samaritans were disliked by the Jews. Philip goes down to Samaria and he preaches Christ unto them. And those who have been influenced by spiritualism, and lived under devil spirits, and been under the control of a man operated by devil spirits, they get born again. And Simon, the sorcerer himself, gets born again of God's Spirit. And when these people in Samaria were born again, it says, "and Simon saw." Simon saw--you cannot see spirit, what did Simon see? Well, I'm sure he didn't see the New York Yankees, or the Cincinnati Reds. I am sure he didn't see some Australian foot ball team, or some English hockey team, or something. What did Simon see? Well the Word of God doesn't say. You figure it out. I know what it was and I think you know it too, if you're honest. But we'll leave it set 3. We'll go to the next record, in Acts, chapter 9, the third great record in God's wonderful, matchless word. In this chapter, it's the apostle Paul. Paul who, when he was on the road to Damascus, got born again. And Ananias, just a simple disciple -- just a simple disciple, not a head of the church from Jerusalem, no Peter, no John, no bishop, no top echelon brass, nope -- just a simple disciple. Laid his hands on the apostle, Paul, he got healed, physically, and, according to I Corinthians chapter 14, verse 18, the apostle Paul says, "I speak in tongues more than ye all." 4. The forth record that we have considered in detail is the record of the Gentiles in Acts, chapter 10, some 15 - 18 - 20 years after the original outpouring in Acts, chapter 2, this chapter occurred. Where Cornelius had sent to Joppa to get Simon Peter down. And Simon Peter, when he comes, finds Cornelius and the whole household gathered together, waiting to hear the Word of God. Not waiting for private opinion, not waiting to hear the latest news report as to what's going on on the frontiers out yonder. He said, "We want to hear one thing, what God has commanded you to speak." That's right. And so Peter starts preaching, and, boy, while Peter's preaching, giving them the Word of God, there's old Cornelius, believes what he hears, he starts speaking in tongues. There's his lovely little old wife, and, boy, she believes, she speaks in tongues. There's his son, Herman, and Herman speaks in tongues. And there's his daughter, Francis, and she speaks in tongues. And there's his other daughter, Maggie, she speaks in tongues. And there's old Henry -- (Dr. excitedly snaps his fingers.) All over the whole household; all spoke in tongues. And Peter stands back. He's astonished, and the six brethren behind him just shook. Why? Ha-hah, because they heard them speak in what? Tongues, magnifying God. That's right. That's what convinced Peter and the six brethren, and that's what convinced the Jerusalem council when Peter and the rest of those six brethren appeared before them. That's right. That's what convinced them, was the speaking in tongues, not the water baptism, not the hours in prayer, not lying on the floor and making hideous noises, or jumping up over the pews. Not throwing hymnals -- ah, nah-nah-no-no a thousand times. You know what convinced them? For they heard THEM speak in tongues and magnify God. 5. And that wonderful fifth record in Acts 19. You see how it grows? First Jews; then Samaritans; then one individual, and he's a mean one. Paul, you know, he's a murderer. That's right. Then the household of Gentiles. Look how this thing grows. And finally, a group of Christians who are born again of God's Spirit in Ephesus, really walking but not knowing anything but water baptism. Paul comes in, lays his hands on them, ministers to them so they get rid of the cause -- the symptom's removed, the cause disappears, they move right ahead. And so, they spoke in tongues and magnified God. Five records in the Word of God, class, that's all, just five. Just five records in the Word of God, no more, no less. Four of those five state, without any hesitation, that, when they were born again and received the gift, pneuma hagion, the one thing they did was they spoke in tongues. They, themselves, spoke in tongues, but what they spoke was as the Spirit gave it to them, to their spirit. One place says, just one of the five, says that Simon saw something. Well, what did he see? You know good and well what he saw. He saw the manifestation. The manifestation of what? Speaking in tongues. You know something? If you've got a baseball game, and at the end of the ninth inning, your team has five runs, and the other team has no runs, YOU'VE won the ball game! RIGHT? You BET your LIFE it's right! What about God's Word? Five records, all five, either specifically state it, or it's so plainly implied that you have to be stupider than STUPID to miss it. I want to ask YOU a question. FIVE records, all five, none on the other side, WHO do you think wins THAT ball game? Is there any question about it? God's Word to the church is: "I would ye all spake in tongues." We'll see this as we work the great chapters in Corinthians, later. That it says, in Corinthians, it's the will of God for YOU to speak in tongues. And it says, furthermore, that this is a COMMANDMENT of the LORD! So what do we have today? Commandments of church officials, commandments of deacons. You and I are not to go by the doctrines and commandments of men, but by the Word God. It's the WORD that SPEAKS! That's right. The WORD that speaks. "I would ye all speak in tongues, this is a COMMANDMENT of the Lord," I Corinthians 14 says. Five records in the Word of God. You talk about questing, researching? I ran all over the country. I must have spent, five thousand, six thousand dollars in train fare, bus fare, air fare, motel rooms, everything else, trying to receive the power of the holy spirit into manifestation. Every place I ran, they told me -- some of them told me it wasn't for me, others said it died with the apostles. Some of them said, "Well, we can help you." But I never received, until, one day, a man taught me the accuracy of God's Word and told me that it was something that God had already put within me. All I had to do was know what to do with it, how to bring it out. And then I too spoke in tongues, the wonderful works of God. And, when I spoke in tongues, I magnified God. That's what they did in Acts 2:4. This is what they did in Acts, at the household of Cornelius, they magnified God. Don't you let anybody tell you that, when you speak in tongues, you can curse God. That's impossible. There's only one thing you can do, when you can speak in tongues, you can speak the wonderful works of God, and you can magnify God. Ladies and gentlemen, I want my life to be pleasing to God. I'm more concerned about what GOD thinks about me than what YOU think. I'd like for you to love me, because I love you. You bet your life. I'd like for you to love me. But, if it's a question of denial of the Word, and your love, I'll stand on the Word. I cannot deny that Word. For, of all the records in the Word, all five of them, clearly state or they imply, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that, when a man is born again of God's Spirit, the ONLY proof he's got in the senses world, that he's a born again believer, is not water, it's not prayer, it's NONE of the rest of it. Only ONE thing the Word says is the PROOF in the senses world that you've got the REAL McCOY on the inside, that you're BORN AGAIN of God's Spirit, FILLED with the POWER of the holy spirit. And that ONE thing is CLEARLY in evidence, all the way through the book of Acts. For, it says, "THEY spoke in tongues, the WONDERFUL WORKS of God. And they MAGNIFIED God, GLORIFYING God by their WALK and by their TESTIMONY for they were WITNESSES UNTO Him, in Judea and Jerusalem and unto UTTERMOST part of the earth." END OF SEGMENT - 60 SEGMENT 61: GIFT OR MANIFESTATION PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 61 GIFT OR MANIFESTATION When it comes to the field of the holy spirit and the manifestations of the holy spirit, there are only three chapters in the Bible that give the complete details regarding the usage and the operations of the manifestations. Those three chapters, basically, only deal, significantly and dynamically, with three of the manifestations: speaking in tongues; interpretation of tongues and prophecy. But, these three chapters set like a diamond in the book of Corinthians. But, most people have always arrested chapter 13 out from among 12 and 14. But chapters 12, 13 and 14 of I Corinthians, make one complete whole. They make a unit. And if we take out the thirteenth chapter from between the twelfth and the fourteenth, we lose the great emphasis and impact, of the dynamics of God's wonderful, matchless Word. This chapter 13 fits like a hand in a glove provided you leave it between chapter 12 and chapter 14. But, if you take out chapter 13 and laud it to the skies, as most men and women have done, then you lose the great efficacy of the relationship of chapter 12 AND 14 TO chapter 13. Now, before we get to these tremendous chapters, I want you to turn to the first chapter of first Corinthians and verse 2, to discover from the accuracy of God's Word, exactly where and to whom this epistle is addressed. I Corinthians 1:2 Unto the church of God ... To whom is Corinthians addressed? To the church of God. ... which is at Corinth, [that's right] to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, [Now:] called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours: To whom IS the book of Corinthians addressed? It's addressed TO the saints. The saints are the born again believers, the sons of God. And it's addressed to all in every place who are born again, so THIS book is addressed to you and to me. That's the first thing you must understand, that it's addressed TO the church. Now I'd like for you to turn to the twelfth chapter of first Corinthians. The twelfth chapter, first verse: I Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual gifts, ... You notice the word "gifts?" It is in italics. Italics tells you that it was added. It's the usage of this word, "gifts," in chapter 12, verse 1, that has caused no small amount of confusion in the Christian church and among Christian believers for centuries. You leave that word, "gifts," in there and you can not make the Word of God fit, it will not fit. Take the word "gifts" out and it will fit like a hand in a glove. He says, "Concerning spiritual gifts," the word "spiritual" is this word in the Greek: pneumatikos, that's the Greek word for "spiritual." [It] means, always, "spiritual matters" or "spiritual things." All gifts--all GIFTS from God, all GIFTS, are naturally spiritual matters or spiritual things. That's right. But, in contrast, or by way of contrast, all spiritual matters are NOT gifts. A manifestation of the spirit is a spiritual matter. It's a pneumatikos, but it is not a gift--it is not a GIFT, it is a manifestation. That's why this word pneumatikos, sits in that first verse, of first Corinthians, chapter 12, just like a diamond. And it tells the truth immediately--takes all the guess work out of it. So you delete the word "gifts," scratch it out -- scratch it out. "Now concerning spiritual matters," verse 1, or spiritual things--things of the spirit could also be its literal translation, Verse 1 (continued) ... brethren [He's talking to his brethren, born again believers. It's addressed to the church.], I would not have you ignorant. Yet, ladies and gentlemen, how IGNORANT we HAVE been, through the centuries and through the years, on spiritual matters, spiritual things. We know a lot about chemistry, philosophy, history, mathematics, medicine and all the interrelated subjects. But how LITTLE we know about spiritual matters or spiritual things. Even the BEST of them who THINK they know something about spiritual matters usually know it ONLY in the light of their PRIVATE interpretations. Now, the Word of God declares, that, concerning spiritual matters, things of the spirit, God does not want us stupid. He does not want us ignorant. Well, if God doesn't want us ignorant, then He has to tell us. That's right, [that's] the only way we know. He has to tell us so we smarten up, so we get wisdom, right? Sure, it's right. Verse 2: Ye know that ye were Gentiles, carried away unto these dumb idols, ... What's a dumb idol? An idol is an idol of wood or stone or metal that people wear around their necks or put in their automobiles or go out to worship on. "You know that you were Gentiles, you were carried away unto these dumb idols," ... even as ye were led. Why did they serve those dumb idols? Because that's the way they were lead. You cannot go beyond where you're lead. That's right. You cannot go beyond where you're taught. That's right. I cannot teach more than I know. I cannot TEACH more than I know. You cannot go beyond what you're taught. These people had been serving dumb idols because someone had lead them to serve dumb idols. That's what it says, that's what it means. Verse 3: Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and {that} no man can say that Jesus is {the} Lord, but by [pneuma hagion, holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}. Boy, what a tremendous verse of scripture! Almost unbelievable, it sets there in that third verse of the twelfth chapter, with just GOLD in every word, almost. He says, "I give you to understand," I want you to KNOW this now, he says, "that no man speaking by the Spirit of God can call Jesus accursed:" That's right. To speak by the Spirit of God is to speak in tongues. What was the problem? Well, they had been Gentiles and they had been serving these idols, pagan gods, as we'd read in verse 2, right? Sure. Now, here were these Christians, and they were speaking in tongues. And the Gentiles who heard them speak in tongues said, "Huh! Can't understand that, they must be cursing their God -- they must be CURSING their God, because we can't understand it." Paul says, by divine revelation, it's God's Word: Verse 3: {Wherefore} I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God [which is speaking in tongues, can call] {calleth} Jesus [Christ] accursed: and {that} no man can say that Jesus is {the} Lord, but by [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}. No man can say that Jesus is LORD in his life. One of the translations puts it as follows: "No man can REALLY say -- No man can REALLY say, that Jesus is Lord in his life, except by speaking in tongues." That's what that verse says, that's what it means, when you rightly divide it and work it with a mathematical exactness and scientific precision. You know why it says that no man can say he's made him Lord? Because, when you walk out to speak in tongues, you walk on absolute believing. You must absolutely believe that Jesus Christ is Lord or you'll never speak in tongues, because you do not feel spirit -- you don't feel it, that you've got it, then, how in the world am I going to know that I've got it? Well, he said I had it. So, he either lied or he told the truth. Now the proof, in the senses world, I make him Lord, I just walk out on it. I walk out on it, I speak in tongues. When I speak in tongues, then it's proof that I have made him Lord in my life. When I move my lips, my throat, my tongue, and I bring forth the words which he gives to my spirit, not to my mind, it's the proof in the senses world that I've made him Lord. That fits with Romans 10:9 and :10, "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as (what?) LORD! -- And believe God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." In the day of Pentecost, born again of God's Spirit, what did they do? They spoke in tongues. They made him LORD! Sure, heh-heh. Isn't that something? I'll tell you it's something. Verse 3: {Wherefore} I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God [can call] {calleth} Jesus Christ accursed: and no man can say that Jesus is [really] the Lord [in his life], [except] {but} by [speaking in tongues, pneuma hagion, by the manifestation] {the Holy Ghost}. That's the proof, that's what you've got. That's why, speaking by the Spirit of God IS speaking in tongues. Thus, saying, "Jesus is Lord" by the holy ghost, IS speaking in tongues. That's the law. You know, anybody could say "Jesus is Lord," if that was all. Sure, go get a fellow down here in the street, you say to him, "Say: Jesus is Lord." Can he say "Jesus is Lord?" Sure he can! Can you say "peanuts?" Ha! Sure you can say peanuts. Can you say "apple butter? -- ice cream?" Alright, if you can say "peanuts--apple butter--ice cream," you can say anything, you could say "Jesus is Lord." Right? You can say it. That can't be what we're talking about, it isn't what we're talking about. The Word of God's talking about: No man, saying that Jesus is Lord in his life but by the holy ghost [pneuma hagion] by the manifestation of the spirit. That's what verse 3 has been saying to the church from the beginning. How few of us understand it and how ignorant we are. And yet, the first verse of chapter 12 said, God would not have us ignorant. Verse 4: Now there are diversities of gifts [--diversities of gifts], but the same Spirit. That is right -- that is right. The word "gifts" is the word charismata. Charismata are always gifts of God's grace. They're by divine grace, they're by God's mercy. They're unmerited, they're not worked for. Now, here, concerning -- "Now there are diversities of gifts," concerning spiritual matters, or spiritual things, let's talk about it, he says, "there are diversities of gifts." Is a charismata a gift? Sure. Is it a spiritual matter? Yes, it's a pneumatikos. A gift is a pneumatikos, it is a charismata, it is a gift of God's grace, it is God to man -- God to man. That's its usage, God to man. It is the God given ability. That's what it is. Every time this word charismata is used in the Word, this is its meaning and this is its significant usage. And we'll be seeing this as we go along. Verse 4: Now there are diversities of gifts [--DIVERSITIES of gifts], but the same spirit. Verse 5: {And} there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord. Verse 6: And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God [who] {which} worketh all in all. Now, let's go through this rather minutely. The charismata of verse four, "diversities of charismata," the charismata is God-to-man. But there is another word used here in verse five, "there are differences of administrations," verse five, do you see that? The word, "administrations," is this word, diakonion and it is the word also translated at another place in the Word of God, in Ephesians, it's dorea. The Latin translation of it is "beneficium - beneficium." These are gifts of God in action. I have received the gifts in a perpendicular way. Now, when I put them in action on an horizontal level, they become dorea, or beneficium (from which we get the word "benefit"). These are man-to-man, this way, on an horizontal level. The charismata are perpendicular, God-to-man. The dorea, the beneficium, the diakonion are services that we render to our fellow men on an horizontal level because we have been filled with His gift. That's why they are benefits, horizontally, they are ways of serving. Ministers--ministers are ministering servants to their fellow men. We are sons of God, this way, but we are servants to our fellow men on an horizontal plane. That's what that verse means. So, now, let's read it again: Verse 5: {And} there are differences of administrations, ... See, verse 5, there are differences of ways of serving, after you have the charismata of verse 4, but it's the same God { ... but the same Lord.} who gave them to begin with -- the gifts. Now, verse 6: Verse 6: {And} there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God [who] {which} worketh all in all. Now, before we get into the depth of this, perhaps I ought to go here to the chart board and show you that, when it comes to the charismata, the gifts of God's grace, this way down, they really formulate themselves, logically, in three orders. These gifts of God's grace to the unsaved is eternal life. To the believers, those who ARE born again, it's the ability to operate the nine manifestations. And to the church, for the edifying, the building up of the church, it's the five ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and Pastors. So, now, this word "diversities -- diversities" of verse 4, of chapter 12 -- this word "diversities" and the word "diversities" of verse 6, is this greek word: "diairesis". This is the word diversities, it's diairesis, which is the act of dividing -- the ACT of dividing. And here, it's used in the genitive case. The diversities of gifts in verse 4, and the diversities of operations in verse 6, in the genitive case, where it differentiates both the gift and the diversities, both of them, are the effects of God's gracious workings. That's why it's in the genitive case. That's why it's written so accurately here. There are diversities of operations. The word "differences" -- the word differences in verse 5, is this word diairesis also, the act of dividing. You see, the act of dividing of the charismata is God's prerogative. If God wants to make you an Apostle, that's His "blooming business," right. If He wants to make you a Prophet, that's His business. But, if you're born again of God's spirit, having received the holy spirit, then the operation of the manifestations of the spirit, that's not God's business, that's your business. We got ALL confused on what's God's business and what's yours and mine. The word "administrations" is, as I said, the word diakonia, ways of serving. This word "worketh" -- this word "operations" in verse 6, "there are diversities of operations ...", operations is the word energema. Also, in the same verse, in verse 6, it's the same word: "but it's the same God which worketh ..." The word "worketh" and the word "operations" of verse 6, are this one word "energema" and "energeo," see? Just the same root, which simply means, to be energized -- energized -- energized. So, the effects produced by these charismata are different. God divides and God energizes, right. He's talking about the gifts, the charismata, of verses 4, 5 and 6. This word "operations" as energema, and worketh as energeo, you see, these words, later on, in verse 11 of the same chapter 12, are used again when it said worketh, same word -- same word. Now, let's read verse 4, 5 and 6 again: Verse 4: {Now} there are diversities of [charismata] gifts [of God's grace, this way down], ... Gifts of God's grace are pneumatikos, things of the spirit. Right? Sure. So, in verse 1 he said: I Corinthians 12:1 Now concerning spiritual [matters or spiritual things or things of the spirit] {gifts, brethren}, I would not have you ignorant. Now he goes, in verse 4, telling us about gifts -- charismata. Verse 4: {Now} there are diversities of gifts, [Right.] but [it's] the same Spirit. Verse 5: {And} there are differences of administrations, [they serve people differently] but [it's] the same Lord [who gave them]. Verse 6: {And} there are diversities of operations, [they are distributed, energized by God] but it is the same God [who energizes--who] {which} worketh all [the gifts] in [everybody in which they are now at work] {all}. That's right. The new birth is a gift -- it's a gift of God's grace. Who energizes it? God does, or else you couldn't speak in tongues, you couldn't interpret, you couldn't prophesy. You couldn't operate the manifestations of the spirit. So, he's talking about gifts, and he says, of all the gifts -- all of them, and there are very few in the Word of God; salvation's a gift, that's right; the new birth is a gift; the power of the holy spirit, in the new birth, is the gift. Then there are five ministries -- five ministries: Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and Pastors. Those are the gifts. That's all, no more. But, God said, they have different ways of operation, they have accomplished different things. Like an apostle, will serve God's people differently than an evangelist. A pastor will serve God's people differently than a prophet. That's right. That's why there are different ways of serving as benefits to God's people after they have received the charismata. Now, verse 7: "But ..." but - but - but; and when you read the word "but," it sets in contrast that which goes before and that which follows. We have just talked about gifts, now verse 7: Verse 7: But the manifestation ... The manifestation - he's not talking about gifts. He's talked about gifts in verse four, five and six. In seven, he says, as plain as the nose on my face, "But the MANIFESTATION of the spirit ..." ... the manifestation {of the Spirit} is given to every man to profit withal. Given to every man to profit -- the manifestation - the manifestation. Boy, that's tremendous! It doesn't say "gifts." Oh, but I was always taught by everybody else that these are gifts. He's going to list, you know, the gift of the word of knowledge, the gift of the word of wisdom, the gift of faith, the gift of speaking in tongues, the gift of interpretation--Oh no-no-no! Had God meant gifts, do you know what it would say? Gifts. It doesn't say gifts, it says MANIFESTATIONS -- a lot of difference. The gift is spirit, you can't see spirit, right? That's right. You can't see spirit, but you can see manifestations. The charismata you cannot see, but the dorea, the benefits issuing there from among God's people, you can see. The gift of the holy spirit, Christ in you, you cannot see. But the manifestation, the evidences you can see. I was in Europe with my family, and we were with one of the greatest theologians on the continent, and we were discussing this matter of this seventh verse. And I said to him, "It says MANIFESTATION of the spirit." And he said, "But it's a gift, isn't it?" I said, "No, it says 'manifestation.'" That's right. So, he said, "Well, what difference is it?" I said, "Well, doctor, you're the great theologian, you're the one that taught me, once in your writing, that the Word of God stood par excellence and that it meant what it said and said what it meant. Now, it says here, 'Manifestation' and you say to me, 'What's the difference?'" He was so disturbed by this saying manifestation, because he believed exactly what he had been taught, what ALL of us had been taught. We had never checked it against the great accuracy of God's Word. He thought these were all gifts. He sent his secretary upstairs to his private office to get down his Greek book. He looked in his Greek, and he reads Greek more fluently than I speak English, I believe, anyway he read it in his Greek book. He looked at it -- he looked at it again, and he looked at it again; and he just sat there and he shook his head. He said, "Can't be -- it can-not be!", he said. I said, "Well, it is that." "Well," he said, "I know that, but" he said, "you know, it must be a gift." And I said, "Doctor, it cannot be a gift, because every critical Greek text says 'manifestation,' it doesn't say gift. It says gift in verse four, but in verse seven it changes from gift to manifestation." And I said, "There's as much difference between a gift and a manifestation as there is between day and night." And he looked at me and he said, "Doctor Wierwille, if this is true, what you have seen, it will remake the whole theological world on the operation of the manifestations of the spirit and the holy spirit field, in our generation and our time." Then he made another remarkable statement. He said, "If you and I are going to talk about the holy spirit field or go any further," he said, "We're going to have to have at least three months, you and I, to sit down and to, day-after-day and hour-after-hour, work the greatness of this field." I loved him for that statement, and especially so, because, less than 36 hours later, than this, we were across the English channel and I was teaching in Manchester, England. And that evening in our hotel room, when we returned from the teaching session, someone had slipped a little envelope underneath my door. And when I entered, I opened that envelope and it was a letter from a clergyman. And he had said, "I hear that you're in town. I hear that you're supposed to be the specialist in the holy spirit field and the accuracy of God's Word." He said, "If you'll give me one half hour of your time," he said, "I'll prove to you, that you don't know anything you're talking about in the holy spirit field and the manifestations." That's right. Less than 36 hours before that, I was with the greatest theologian in all Europe, and he said we'd have to have at least three months. But, down across the English channel, in that little old city, they had one preacher who could do the whole job in one half hour. Isn't this something? But that's people for you. You see, if you're ever going to tap into the greatness of God's Word, it doesn't help you any to belittle anybody and to yell at them. I doesn't help you any to try to cut people down, because the Word of God will still stand. That's right. Why, that little fella across the English channel, there, I wouldn't waste my time on him. I couldn't afford even to sit with him, because I have already FORGOTTEN more about the holy spirit than that boy will ever know, from the accuracy of God's Word. So, why argue with the fella? If a fella's stupid, you can't argue with him; if he wants to stay stupid. That's right. The Word still says, "the manifestation -- the manifestation," so we have shifted -- we have shifted entirely from gift to manifestation. And it says, "The manifestation of the spirit is given to every man," given to EVERY man, that's what it says, "for profit." This is a literal translation: "But to every man," -- of 12:7 that I'm reading: I Corinthians 12:7 (literal) But to every man is given the manifestation of the spirit, truly, for profit to him. That's its use. You see, when I got the gift, I have the potential, the ability, the charismata is the God given ability. Now, we're no longer talking about charismata in Corinthians, we're talking about bringing it out into manifestation, we're talking about lambanoing it, manifesting it. And he says, ... the manifestation {of the Spirit} is given to every man ... The manifestation is given to every man -- every man who's born again, without any distinction, who has Christ within, the holy spirit, has the ability to manifest nine evidences of the spirit. That's right. It's given to every man. Well, if He gave the manifestation to every man, then every man's got it. Then why doesn't it automatically come into being? Because the manifestation is not spirit. The manifestation is ENERGIZED by the spirit, by the same God, but it doesn't come into operation until you operate -- until you work it -- until you sit down in the automobile and honk the horn, turn on the radio, turn the switch. Up until that time, even though it has that battery in it, nothing happens. You've got the battery, the power of Christ within you, and nothing happens until YOU operate -- until YOU operate. This is why it says, "the manifestation," it's singular -- it's singular. The reason it's singular is because the manifestation -- the manifestation is just like a clump -- or like a--is that a good word, a clump of grapes? I don't know. But it's like the fruit of the spirit in Galatians five. In Galatians 5, it talks about the fruit of the spirit. Fruit is in the singular, because it's one fruit. It has nine little "grapes" on it, so to speak. Here the manifestation is singular in verse 7, because it's one and that one gift has those nine evidences or manifestations. One gift, nine manifestations, acts or evidences of it. This is why it's in the singular. And it says, "The manifestation is given to every man. So, every man who has the gift -- the gift of the new birth within him, can operate nine manifestations. Then why doesn't he? Because he does not know how, that's why. He hasn't been taught. You see, the manifestations of the spirit -- the word "for" always set in correspondence with, but, in verse 7, it says, "BUT the manifestation is given to every man ..." "But" sets in contrast with 8that which goes before. That which went before is the charismata -- BUT we're no longer on the charismata, we're now on the evidences, the manifestations OF that charismata. And the manifestation is of the spirit -- not the gifts of the spirit, the manifestation of the spirit is given to EVERY man -- EVERY man. Then every man, without any distinction, who is born again of God's Spirit, he's got the manifestations available if he wants to use them. That's right. If he doesn't want to use them, he doesn't have to, because he is in absolute control. He'll be the loser -- he'll be the one that'll never be blessed, but, he has this freedom, he has this choice, he has this right. You see, the manifestation is given to every man to profit withal -- the MANIFESTATION to profit withal. Now, I perhaps ought to just say some more about this verse. When I think of it being to profit, you know what the word "profit" means? Keeps you on the red side of the ledger -- NO! It keeps you in the BLACK. The manifestations are given for profit -- for profit. What's the meaning of profit? END OF SEGMENT - 61 SEGMENT 62: PROFIT AND CHARITY PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 62 PROFIT AND CHARITY The profit in every manifestation of the spirit, the true God makes available to every believer, is always singly important to every believer, and to the rest of the people of God. For instance, what is the profit in my knowing that John F. Kennedy's going to get killed? I don't see any profit in it, neither do you, if you've got any sense. No profit in it. The only thing you could do is to glorify my name after he gets killed and then people come and write me letters and want to know what else I know about people dying. What's the profit in knowing, today, how many people will die tomorrow in a certain calamity someplace? What's the profit in it? That's right. What profit is it for me to know that my wife is not to go on this plane today because the plane's going to crash? There's no profit, unless, not only my wife refrain from going but all the rest of those people. What's the profit in it? You see, right there is the crux between truth and error. You've always got to look for the profit. What's the profit? The true manifestations of the operation of the spirit in evidence, always have a uniquely singular profit in every one of the manifestations -- every one of them -- every one of them. The manifestation is given to every man to profit -- to profit. In a foot note in my book on "Receiving The holy spirit Today," regarding these words "to profit," I have written here in the foot note the following. "It is used as an infinitive, and is a very cogent expression. As an infinitive, it is used as a noun, and yet, it has the action of a verb overtone. So that a more vital translation would be: "Is given by the same spirit as to profit" instead of "as a profit," since "to profit" connotes active ingredients. Every time a manifestation of the true Spirit of God is in operation, it is always to profit, it's actively profiting the person. That's right. Now, in verse 8 of chapter 12, in verse 8: "For" -- for, for now sets it in correspondence with and helps us to understand what the profit it. Verses 8 -- 9 & 10 tell us what the profit is in each one of the manifestations. It says in verse 8: I Corinthians 12:8 For to one [to one] is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; They have said these are gifts, doesn't say gifts, they are talking about manifestations. Verses 9 & 10: To another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; To another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues: There you have all nine of them, and only once is it referred to as a gift and that's regarding healing. All the rest of them, it doesn't say anything about a gift, they're still talking about manifestations. So, the healing must be a manifestation, which I'm going to explain to you a little later. But they use these verses to teach something very erroneous. They say, "For to one," in verse 8, "to one," like meaning to you, for instance, "is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom;" to another person over here, the word of knowledge; to another one over here, faith or believing; to another one, he has the God given gifts of healing; to another, he can work miracles. That's a contradiction of verse 7, because He just told us in verse 7, the manifestations, all of them, are given to every man. Then why can it say "to one?" Well, when these "to one" boys get around me, I let them read "to one," but I make them turn right around and read verse 11, because, in verse 11 it says: Verse 11: But all [of] these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally {as he will}. Ah-hah! Then I say, "Alright! You said "one," verse 11 says "severally," now you explain it. And they don't, they just get angry at me. I didn't write the book. They get angry at me, why get angry? Because you're cutting across their theology. A man can stand almost anything, except to change from error to truth. That's right. That's the last thing he wants to do, is to change from error to truth. Because he wants to stay in his error and get it corroborated so he can continue because he's afraid of losing face. Well, there's another thing they tell me, you know what they say, these "faith blasters" and unbelievers -- many of them born again Christians, you know what they say? "Tongues is the least important, God put it last." Boy, do I like that one. You know why? I make them read it -- I make them read it, because it isn't last. It says, "divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues." Then I say, "Is it last? -- Is it last?" They say, "No." Well, I say, "You said it was last. They say, "Well it-it's ALMOST last." Ah, no-no-no, you said it was last. Huh-hah! And I always love that argument, because it isn't last, it's second last. That's right, second last. And I always pray that, whenever somebody comes with one of those arguments, that they are members of a family, at least five or six children in their family, and that they're the youngest in the family. Because, they have just said, God put it last because it was least important. Of course, we saw He didn't put it last, He put it second last. Then I just hope they're the youngest in the family, because they have just said he's least important. So I say, "O.K., you're the fifth member of your family, you're the youngest in the family. Then you amount to the least, is that right?" Whoow! Yeah, hah-hah! I didn't say it, they're the one that said it. That's right. They said it. Hey, I want to tell you something else, something has to be last. If you've got two or three things something has to be last, and just because it's last does not make it least. Many times you write a letter you'll even say, "Well, this is the last point that I'd like to share with you today. But, I'd like to inform you it's not least important." But you see, anything to hash the Word to pieces, anything to discredit the Word and to elevate man's ego, that's all. Look, this "for to one"--that "to one," in verse 8, is a tremendous word. I'd like again to take a paragraph out of this book on "Receiving the holy spirit Today:" The Greek word is ho -- H. O., which is the dative case of the relative pronoun hos -- H. O. S. Being in the dative case, the word ho can be translated either "to one" or "for one," and from the context, it should be translated "for one." "One" is a relative pronoun and means--and is used interchangeably with the word "that." A relative pronoun refers to the nearest noun as its antecedent. "To profit" is an infinitive and an infinitive is a verbal used as a noun. Therefore, using the noun in the place of the pronoun, the verse would read "for that profit." That's a tremendous thing. "For a word of wisdom is given by the Spirit FOR that profit"-- that profit that the word of wisdom brings. You talk about usage of a word semantically, how do you like THAT one? Nobody can touch the accuracy of God's Word, it sets there like a diamond--a great bulwark. Verse 8: For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; ... And so on, down the line. Finally, after verse 10--eh, at the end of verse 10, it says, "all of these" -- eh, tongues; interpretation of tongues - all of these nine now have been given. Why does it say "for to one"? In the church, as I read to you from I Corinthians, chapter 1, - in the operation of the church, I operate all nine - so do you. But now, when you and I are ministering in a specific situation; I'm believing God for the word of knowledge and I get it; you're believing God for the word of wisdom, what to do with it. That's what it means, "for to one" - "for to one is given" - so on and so forth. "For to one is given," that's its meaning all through verse 8, 9 and 10. Every person born again of God's Spirit has the privilege of operating all nine manifestations of the spirit, but he will operate at least one most effectively, not because he couldn't operate all the rest as effectively, but because of his believing. For the believing determines how effectively you operate the manifestation. You're not operated BY the manifestation, you OPERATE the manifestation. That's right. So, also in this particular section, the words "another" - A.N.O.T.H.E.R., are very interesting. Verse 8: For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge ... Verse 9: To another faith ... That word "another" is always the word allos meaning "another, when there are, of the same kind, more involved." But, there are two manifestations of the spirit in these verses 8, 9 and 10 that do not use the word allos, it uses the word heteros, meaning that God the Giver and the recipient are the only ones that benefit, and one of those is faith or believing. You see, once God gives me revelation, then the manifestation of believing is of such a nature that I, personally, have to believe to bring it to pass according to the revelation I've received. It doesn't benefit you at all, it's just for MY believing, I must believe. That's why the word heteros is used with the manifestation of faith in this section. And the other usage is in kinds of tongues--divers kinds of tongues--kinds of tongues. Speaking in tongues is the ONLY other manifestation using heteros and it singly blesses me because, when I speak in tongues, I edify the spirit of God which is in me. I feed and nurture it, it benefits me, it doesn't benefit you, just me. That's why the word heteros is used with those two manifestations and every other place the word allos is used with the manifestation. And when you go through verses 8, 9 and 10, they're all manifestations with the exception of one. It says "to another," in verse 9, "the GIFTS of healing." Why does it say "gifts" with healing when it's a manifestation? Very simple, because it's the ONLY manifestation that's a gift. Every time you're healed it's a gift to you. A doctor can set my arm if it were broken--he could set it, he could not heal it. It has to be a gift according to the laws of nature that God instituted in the beginning. Every time a person is healed of a cold, a simple little old headache, anything else, it's always a gift--always a gift. Now, here in the critical Greek text, it's in the plural--the Aramaic has it in the singular. As I understand the great accuracy of God's Word here, and I've spoken to many medical men about it, they understand it in this light: for instance, let's say that I'm healed of a headache tonight, and next week I'm healed of a headache. That's gifts (plural) of healing--same disease but healed twice or more times of the same thing. That's gifts. Also, here in Corinthians in the 30th verse, it talks of gifts of HEALINGS--healings--or something. You see, healings is in the plural because, if I'm healed of a headache tonight and if I'm healed of arthritis, two entirely different diseases, that's HEALINGS. Now, every doctor knows this, every man in every medical profession knows it. Why doesn't the church know it? Because the church doesn't come to the Word. That's what the Word says, that's what it means. That's why the manifestation--the manifestation is always a gift when it comes to healing - none of the rest of them. Speaking in tongues is not a gift. No, it's a manifestation. It doesn't do anything but edify the spirit in me as I operate it. But the healing of the human body - it's a gift to you, the recipient, and it's a gift that God must, by revelation, make available. As Peter said, "Such as I have, I give; in the name of Jesus Christ, rise up an walk." Putting all these nine manifestations of 8, 9 and 10 together, you come, by their very nature in these manifestations, in the groups where they divide. They're not given in this order in I Corinthians, they're simply listed there, they're not set in order. But, by their very nature, they divide as follows: speaking in tongues and the associated manifestation is interpretation of tongues and prophecy. These are worship manifestations - utterance. Then the revelation manifestations: a word of knowledge, a word of wisdom, discerning of spirits. And, under group three, the power or the action manifestations: faith, healing and miracles. That's how they, by their very nature, fall into those categories. Now we go to verse 11, verse 11 of this twelfth chapter. Now it says in verse 11: Verse 11: {But} all [of] these [all of these -- all nine of these manifestations] worketh [The word "worketh" is the word energemata -- energize by] that one and {the} selfsame Spirit, [one and selfsame spirit] ... That's a tremendous thing, isn't it? You see, verses 8 to 10 really are a subordinate clause referring to the profit in the manifestations of verse 7. Now these three verses; 8, 9 and 10, technically and grammatically speaking, should be a parentheses in correspondence with verse 7, elaborating on the profit. Then, in verse 11, the Word of God again takes up where verse 7 terminates with the conjunction "but." "But," of verse 11, sets it in contrast with. "But," understand? Now, here, "one and the selfsame Spirit," you see these words? This is a unique triple reflective: the word "one," the word "self" and the word "same," with the emphasis on ONE, SELF and SAME. Isn't that wonderful? "Dividing" is distributing -- distributing. Verse 11: But all these [are energized by] {worketh} that one and {the} selfsame [that triple reflective] Spirit ... That's right. All are energized by the one Spirit. Who is the one Spirit? GOD! God, when He gave me the gift. The gift is the God-given ability. Who energizes it? He does! He energizes the gift. But who operates the manifestations? You do! Verse 11, watch it carefully: Verse 11: {But} all these worketh that one and {the} selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally [dividing to every man severally] as he [God wills]. That's what they teach, and most of the translations -- most of the translations that come out today have he, the pronoun "He" in a capital "H," upper case "H." Well, people, He has just told us, back in verse 7, that the manifestation's given to every man. If it's given to every man, then how can He turn right around and, in verse 11, say: "dividing to every man severally as God wills?" God doesn't like you very well, so He won't let you speak in tongues. No, you can pray 'til you're blue in the face -- maybe you haven't fasted enough; maybe you haven't lifted "holy hands" enough; maybe you haven't sat on the front pew often enough and said "Glory Hallelujah," or put enough in the collection plate. He doesn't love you. God's no respecter of what? Persons! But, you see, instead of working the accuracy of the Word, we just hash it to pieces, ordinarily. Look, just upon the surface you can see that there must be something wrong. "All of these manifestations are energized by that one and selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man severally." The word "severally" is this wonderful word which we have had before in this class. It is the word idios -- it is the word idios, translated "private." "Know this first that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation." The word "private" is the word idios, and I told you it was used, I believe, 144 times. That was the only place it was translated "private." This is the ONLY place it's translated "severally," and it's ALWAYS one's own or his own. See, "dividing to every man his own" -- HIS own, as HE -- HE who? God? NO! As the man wills. "He" is a pronoun. Class, "he" is a pronoun. A pronoun is controlled and governed by its closest associated noun. Right? Sure, that's right. What is the closest noun to the pronoun "he" that controls it? "Dividing to every man SEVERALLY." MAN is the noun, he is the pronoun, as he -- HE, not God, as the man wills. Suppose the man does not will to speak in tongues. Even if he knows how, he won't do it. Suppose the man does not will to interpret. Will he? No. Divides into manifestation -- into evidence, always as the man wills -- as HE wills. This is why "as he wills" is NOT as God wills (because God has already set His will in verse 7 and every other place) but in contrast as man wills to believe, and of course man cannot believe beyond what he knows. So, if we're not taught accurately the Word, he can't believe for it. But, once you're taught accurately the Word, you know what's available, know how to receive it, know what to do with it after you've got it, you can manifest it. So, we go back to I Corinthians, chapter 12. Having finished those tremendous verses, we go back to verse 12 of this particular chapter. Now, here in the twelfth verse of chapter 12, we begin with an illustration setting forth now what He has just taught us in all the rest of the verses, and we got it from the human body -- from the human body. Now the manifestations, I want to clarify this, are not the members, but what the believers believed to receive. That's what they are. Now the first word is the word "For" -- "For" in verse 12 of I Corinthians 12 sets in correspondence this verse with verse 11 AND with verse 7. Regarding "the profit as every man wills," now it sets it in correspondence. I Corinthians 12:12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is [what?] Christ. That's right, "so also is Christ." Verse 13: For by one Spirit [were] {are} we all baptized into one body, ... The body of Jesus Christ, his spirit. You see, one Father, we're His children. Verse 13 (continued): ... whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond {or free}; and have been all made to drink [in] {into} one Spirit. Verses 14 - 18: *For the body is not [many members] {one member}, [but one] {but many}. [That's right.] If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? [Sure.] {And} if the ear [should] {shall} say, {Because} [I'm] {I am} not the eye, [I'm] {I am} not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body were an eye, where [would be] {were} the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it [has] {hath} pleased him. So, my finger is there, physically speaking, because this is what pleased Him, right? Sure. My hand pleased Him. Now, if the finger says, "I'm not of the hand," we've got a little problem. Verses 19-22: And if they were all one member, where were the body? But now are they many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much more those members of the body, which seem to be more feeble, are necessary: And the feeblest thing I know is speaking in tongues to the average person, and it says it's the more necessary. That's right. Verses 23-26: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness. For our comely parts have no need: but God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked. That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; or one member be honoured, all the members rejoice with it. Verse 27: Now ye are the body of Christ, [but you're a member in particular in that body] {and members in particular}. And then come verses 28 and 29 and 30 -- real difficult verses: Verses 28-30: 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. Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? Then they stop and they say "No, they don't. See, not everybody can interpret, not everybody can speak in tongues." Just told us, earlier, now, everybody had the manifestation. You can't get out of it that easy! Well, it's really something, it's REALLY something when you work the integrity and the accuracy of this Word in this section. You see, God has set some in the church, and then He talks about the ministries; apostles, prophets, teachers -- those are ministries. Then he gets into manifestations: miracles, gifts of healing -- helps, governments. "Diversities" in verse 28 is the word genos -- genus, those who have a genus of tongues. You see, some people speak in tongues and interpret in a believers meeting. But, boy, some people, when THEY speak in tongues and interpret, you've had it! That's it! They have a genus of speaking in tongues -- a genos. Then, in verse 29: "Are all apostles? Are all teachers? Are all prophets? Are all workers of miracles?" And the words "are" are in italics. If you'd like to REALLY get them upset sometimes, leave the italics out and read it without the question marks: "All apostles, all teachers, all prophets, all workers of miracles, all have the gifts of healing, all do speak in tongues, all do INTERPRET!" There were no question marks in the originals, no periods, no semicolons. But I do not believe that's the way it can be handled because of the double negative that's used there in the critical Greek text -- although the Aramaic would not substantiate that either. I have a literal translation of verses 28, 29 and 30, I'd like to share with you, literally from the original Greek and comparing it with the Aramaic. Listen to this: Verse 28: (LITERAL) So God has placed some in the church having the ministry of apostles, prophets and teachers. There are some who minister most effectively as miracle workers. Some who are VERY effective in ministering the blessings of healings. Some who are very adept in ministering as helps and governments. And some whose ministry is diversity of tongues. That's right. So you see, God's order -- God's order is that the greatness of this Word should live. Then: Verse 29: (LITERAL) Are all apostles? No, in the church, no. Are all prophets in the church? No. Do all speak in tongues in the church? No, if they did, you'd never get home if you had a congregation of a hundred. How'd you ever get chicken on Sunday noon if everybody spoke in tongues? But, inside the church, it doesn't say in this verse they couldn't do this. That's right. Verse 30: (LITERAL) Are all the gifts of healing in operation in the church? (No, but it doesn't say that everybody could not minister healing.) Do all speak with tongues? No! (But inside of the church, all these are in operation. That's what it says. Then comes this great thirty-first verse: Verse 31: But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. Well, what's the best gifts? Of all the five gift ministries, there's apostles, prophets, evangelists, teachers -- what's the best gifts? Depends on what's needed -- depends on what's needed. In an area where they're mostly non-Christian, the best gift for THAT area would be the ministry of an evangelist. If everybody's converted -- born again of God's Spirit, the best thing for THAT group would be the pastor -- the best gift. That's right. So it says, "covet earnestly the best gift, but" He said, "I'll show you a more excellent way" (than coveting). And the more excellent way than coveting anything is chapter 13, which is the love of God in the renewed mind. And, if you walk with that love of God in the renewed mind, you need not covet anything because; when you need the ministry of an apostle, it'll be there; when you need the ministry of a prophet, it'll be there; when you need the ministry of an evangelist, it'll be there. That's right -- that's right. Why? Because of chapter 13, and there it says, "follow after charity!" Charity is the word agapeo. Agapeo means divine or God love. Follow after divine or God love. Well, He gave this to me in the spirit, so I put it on in the renewed mind. Every time you read the word "charity," it means the love of God in the renewed mind -- living it. Like the word phileo is natural or human love. "Philadelphia" comes from this word. See, it's the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. That's it! I Corinthians 14:1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. Follow after the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, but rather -- and desire spiritual things or spiritual matters. Here -- I've got to go back to chapter 13 and pick this up because I flipped over to 14 on these things. But, in 13: I Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, [which is the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] I {am} become as [a] sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. You see, we are to follow, as chapter 14, verse 1 says, we're to follow after the love of God. But, before we can get to that depth, we've got to, in detail, see what this more excellent way of walking with the greatness of the power of God is. And that is, even "though I speak with the tongues of men or the tongues of angels," (And every time you speak in tongues, you're either speaking the tongues of men or the tongues of angels. If it's the tongues of men, somebody here upon earth could understand it. If it's the tongues of angels, you have to go a little differently.) "but if I have not the love of God in the renewed mind," speaking in tongues is devilish -- no! I am -- "I am become a sounding sounding brass," nothing wrong with speaking in tongues. Verse 2: And though I have [Oh, it says:] the gift of prophecy, ... Isn't that sweet? But the words "the gift" and "of" are in italics -- scratch them out. It's the manifestation, nobody has the gift of prophecy in this verse. It isn't talking about that, it's talking about: Verse 2: {And} though I have the [manifestation] {gift} of prophecy, and understand all mysteries [because of word of wisdom], and all knowledge [because of word of knowledge]; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not [the love of God in the renewed mind] {charity}, I am nothing. Verses 3-5: And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked [gets upset sometimes, but not easily], thinketh no evil; Boy, isn't that something? Doesn't even THINK evil. See that fella doing that? Immediately you think evil. If you've got the love of God in the renewed mind, you don't even think that. Verses 6-8: Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. [The love of God in the renewed mind] {Charity} never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. Ha, ha! How they love this. They said, "Tongues ceased with the apostles." Then I say to them, "If it did, you wouldn't know it, because this verse says that knowledge shall vanish away. If knowledge vanished away, how would you know tongues ceased?" That's right. Verses 9-11: For we know in part [With all these manifestations, we know in part], and [when] we prophesy [we only prophesy] in part. But when that which is perfect is come [and that's the return of Christ -- when that which is perfect is come], then [until then, everything else is here] that which [was] {is} in part shall be done away. [For] When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Verse 13: [For] {And} now abideth faith, hope, [love] {charity}, these three; [and inside of the church] {but} the greatest {of these} is [the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] {charity} [until Christ's return]. END OF SEGMENT - 62 SEGMENT 63: OPERATING MANIFESTATIONS IN THE CHURCH PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 63 OPERATING MANIFESTATIONS IN THE CHURCH We are now ready to go into the great 14th chapter of I Corinthians. This chapter is the only place in the Bible where the Word of God sets in proper order and usage the three manifestations of the spirit that are used in worship, namely: speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy. The church in Corinth had been off the ball in the operation of the manifestations. And so, God, by Paul, has set this 14th chapter in here to straighten out the error, to straighten out the confusion. And it does just that. You know, in chapter 12, God told us about things of the spirit, or spiritual matters, how some of them were charismata, gifts of God's grace, vertically. Others were manifestations as they ministered to God's people. Then, in chapter 13, we were informed that all of these manifestations operate effectively, as well as the ministries, if we have the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. Then it will bless, not only the one ministering, but the one receiving, and the one receiving as well as the one ministering. What good is it if my ministry blessed you and it didn't bless me? Then I'd be the loser. And God never set up His program for the church for anybody who ministered to be a loser. I expect, when I minister to you the greatness of God's Word, that God multiplies His divine benediction and blessing to me because I have to profit. If I do not profit, you profit, then I would be the loser. So, the great 13th chapter set up the method, inside of the church, as to how these manifestations and gifts were to be utilized and operated. And, you will recall, that, even though people say that tongues ceased, I said to you, they wouldn't know it because the same verse says knowledge vanished away. Now, the manifestations, with all the manifestations in operation, and the love of God in the renewed mind, you still only know in part and you prophesy in part. You never know it all, never. God gives you that little segment which you need in the here and now to make you more than a conqueror. But, verse 10 says: I Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. And you know how they've used this verse? They have said that, with the coming of the Bible, the written Word, that's perfect. And, therefore, when the written Word was finally given, even though speaking in tongues and all these were in the early church, but when the written Word was finally given, and the written Word was canonized, after that, they no longer had speaking in tongues. Well, if you no longer had speaking in tongues, you no longer had prophecy, you no longer have knowledge. How in the world would you know anything? But, you see, they don't want to believe God's Word, they want to find arguments to get out of it. This is why, through the years, we at The Way Biblical Research Center, have worked from the integrity, the inherent accuracy of the Word and allowed this Word to speak to us. That's right. So that we could condition our lives to the WORD and not make the Word conditioned to OUR believing. But we do NOT bring the Word down to our level, we bring ourselves up to the level of God's Word. This is why we've got to go deeper than this, listen: I Corinthians 13:10 But when that which is perfect is come, then [then-then-then, and not until then, shall] that which is in part {shall} be done away. The manifestations are only in part, like the word of knowledge is not all of God's knowledge, it's a word, a little bit of what you need at that particular moment. The word of wisdom's like this too. That's right. And then He uses that tremendous illustration which all of us should have understood. Verse 11: When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, {I thought as a child}: but when I [got to be] {became} a man, I put away childish things. Well, we're children of God, we haven't grown up to that manly stage yet. Therefore, while we're still here as children of God, we've got to have these "spiritual toys," as I many times call them; speaking in tongues, interpretation of tongues, prophecy, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing. We need these to live the more abundant life in the here and now. But, when he comes, it'll be better. Listen to verse 12: Verse 12: For now we see [as in] {through} a glass, darkly; ... With all these manifestations, we STILL see as in a glass darkly. ... but then [then-then-then-then -- then when? When he comes back because it says] face to face: ... That's right. "But then, face to face." ... now I know in part; but then [then, when? When he comes back, then I] shall I know even as also I am known. And the Word of God teaches that, when Christ comes back, we're going to have a NEW body, fashioned like unto HIS body. We won't need to speak in tongues, interpret and prophesy and operate the word of knowledge, wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing THEN. Why? Because we will HAVE him and we will BE like him. That's what the Word says. Until that time, these manifestations are in the church. Sure. To bless God's people as benefits to the church. That's why he said, in chapter 14: I Corinthians 14:1 Follow after [the love of God] charity [follow after the love of God in the renewed mind, sure], {and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy}. I Corinthians 13:13 {And} now abideth faith, hope, ... That's the last verse of 13 ... now abideth faith, hope, [love, in the church] {charity}, ... Faith is believing. You see, whenever the Word of God uses hope, it's always regarding something you cannot have now. You have the HOPE for the return of Christ, you can't have FAITH for the return of Christ, it never says this once in the Word of God. Whenever the word "hope" is used in the Word of God, it refers to that which is some time in the future, you can't have now. But, whenever "faith" is used, it refers to that which you can believe for now. Inside of the church we have both faith to believe now, and hope for the return of Christ. But the greatest thing inside of the church which operates -- which operates both our faith, or believing, and our hope for the future is the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. Therefore we follow AFTER the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation in the church. I Corinthians 14:1 {Follow after charity}, and desire spiritual gifts, ... There's that word "gifts" in italics again. That's right. Throw it out! Get rid of it! Because it's the word pneumatikos, meaning "things of the spirit," not "spiritual gifts" but "things of the spirit" which includes, not only gifts, but manifestations. By putting the word "gifts" in here, you throw out the manifestations. Can't put the word "gifts" in, God never put it in in the beginning. Verse 1 (continued) Follow after [the love of God] and desire [desire things of the spirit] but rather that ye may prophesy. Prophesy where? In the church. Why? Because, in the church, where everybody is really instructed -- has been taught the greatness of God's Word, the manifestation of prophecy is what should be utilized, more and more and more. Because prophecy is -- not the gift of prophecy, no-no- no, it's the manifestation. Whereby you bring a message from God or FOR God in the language of the body of the people present. For instance, where I am teaching right now, that word of prophecy would be in English. If I were a German, ministering in a German congregation, that word of prophecy would be in German. If I was in France, ministering in a French congregation, that word of prophecy would be in French. That's right. That's why it says we're to follow after the love of God in the renewed mind but desire -- desire. The word "desire" is the Greek word zeloo from which we get the English word zealous. We have a person, whom I know, his name is Zelotus, of course there was one of the apostles that was named that too. It means "with yearning zeal" -- "with enthusiastic believing." Verse 1 (LITERAL) "Follow after the love of God in the renewed mind and desire with yearning, with absolute yearning zeal and enthusiasm you desire spiritual things, but rather that you may prophesy." Verse 2: For he that speaketh in an unknown tongue ... The word "unknown" is in italics, right? Scratch it out for, if you're speaking in a tongue, it's always unknown to you, the speaker. Verse 2 (continued) {For} he that speaketh in an unknown tongue speaketh not [to] {unto} men, [speaketh not to men] but [he speaks to] {unto} God: ... Why? Because, when I prophesy, I speak to men in the language of the body of the people present. But, when I speak in tongues, I don't speak to men, I speak to God. That's what the Word says. Sure, listen to this: Verse 2 (continued) ... speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth him; And you notice that word "him" is in italics again? My, oh, my! How many errors can you have? Scratch it out! Because, this contradicts Acts, chapter 2, for on the day of Pentecost, when they received the holy spirit, the Word says they spoke in tongues. It was tongues to those who spoke but, out there, somebody understood him. That's right. And if you take the word "him" out, then it fits like a hand in a glove. Leave it in there and your whole Bible falls to pieces. Verse 2 (continued) "He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not to men but to God: for no man understandeth; ..." The man speaking does not understand what he was speaking. If he understood what he was speaking, it wouldn't be a tongue to him, it would be a known language. That's right. It would be a known language. Verse 2 (continued) ... [understandeth --] no man understandeth [the man speaking doesn't understand it]; howbeit [for] in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. The word "mysteries" is "divine secrets" -- he speaks mysteries to God. It is God in connection with him and he in connection with God. That's mysteries -- divine secrets, talking things over. That's what speaking in tongues is -- divined! Verse 3: But he that prophesieth [speaks] {speaketh} unto men to edification, {and} exhortation, and comfort. You see, when I bring a word of prophecy, by inspiration, in a believers meeting (in this particular group it would be in English) and that would edify. (Edify means to build-up.) This would edify the body of believers by exhorting and comforting them. That's what it would do. That's why, in verse 2, when we were there; "He that speaketh ..." (I want to show you this on the board, I missed that back there, but you ought to have it.) The word "speaketh" -- "He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men but unto God," -- the word "speaketh" is the word laleo (This word will be coming up again. There's why I had to take time to go back to the chart here to show it to you.); which means "using your voice without any reference to the words spoken." You see, when I speak in tongues, it's tongues to me, so I don't pay any attention to the words I use. (That's why the word laleo is used.) I don't pay any attention to the words I use, because the words I speak are His responsibility, but THAT I speak they're my responsibility. This is why, when you get to verse 3 on prophecy, it's different, because, when you prophesy, you speak unto men edification, exhortation and comfort. The word "edification" is the word oikodome. Remember the session on oikos -- house, administration? Administration, this is the same basic root word, means to build-up. We speak of a big house as a big edifice, it's a big building -- it's this word. And, the person who prophesies; edifies -- he builds up the body of believers by way of exhortation. The word "exhortation" is paraklesis, which means "to entreat" -- "to encourage" -- "to exhort toward a more worthy endeavor." That's right. Many times it's in the essence of the vernacular "let's get on the ball," -- "let's move forward," -- "let's get the job done." It's exhortation OR it's comfort. The word for "comfort" is paramuthia which means "to speak tenderly." Isn't that wonderful? A word of prophecy -- a word of prophecy always has to fit that category. If it neglects to fit that category, it's from the other source; and devils can prophesy, the Word says. But the true prophecy, the profit in it is that it will edify the body of believers. It will build up the church. It will edify them by exhorting them; encouraging them, entreating them toward a more worthy endeavor, or by giving them comfort; quiet acquiescence, peace. My friend, is this not what the church needs today? My, oh, my! We don't need "hell fire and brim-stone," we get that all week long. When we go to church, you know what we need, we need to be with a body of believers, where we are encouraged, where we're entreated, where we're given comfort; quiet peaceful acquiescence to the greatness of God's power. What a tremendous verse, isn't it? Well, that's the difference, now. Now, verse 4: Verse 4: He that speaketh in an unknown tongue ... Now the word "unknown" is, again, out -- it's in italics. Verse 4 (continued) He that speaketh in {an unknown} [a] tongue edifieth himself; [you see?] but he that prophesieth edifies the church. See the difference? When I speak in tongues, I don't understand it, but, I have spirit of God in me, and that spirit is built up, that's edified. That new creature in Christ Jesus is built up. I say, in the vernacular, it gets big and fat -- it matures, just like you feed a child, a baby, you feed it and it grows up. So, this new creature in Christ Jesus, when I speak in tongues, this is edified -- this within me is built up. But when I speak in prophecy, when I bring a word of prophecy, it edifies the body of believers. It exhorts and it comforts the body of believers. But when I just speak in tongues in my private life, it doesn't help me one bit in my mind. Why? Because "No man understandeth what he speaks." It doesn't help your brain cells. If you want to help your brain cells, you have to renew your mind on the Word of God. That'll help the brain cells. But this will help the SPIRIT, it'll build it up. And we NEED to build up that spirit. We spend so much time, today, building up the mind of man, trying to build up his physical body, but who's doing anything to build him up spiritually? Hardly anybody, because they do not know the Word -- [they] just talk about it. Verse 5 says: -- Maybe we ought to cut this one out of the book, huh? Verse 5: I would that ye all spake with tongues ... Hmm, that's what it says, that's what it means. Oh, you don't like this. Well, if you don't like this, I don't like John 3:16. Hah! And over there, my friend Peter, reverend Wade, he doesn't like first Corinthians seven, so we throw it out. [It's] not a question of whether you and I like it or not, it's a question of God's Word. That's right. Because, if you can throw it out, then anybody else could throw any other verse out and you end up having no Word of God left. Right? You bet your life it's right. Listen to this: Verse 5: I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: [Why? Listen:] for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, ... Because, if I prophesy in a church meeting it will be in the language of the body of the people present, that'll bless them. They can hear it. They can get enthused on it. But if I just stand there and speak in tongues, I get edified, but it doesn't bless you any. And that's not right. That's why he said, "I would ye all spake in tongues but rather that ye prophesied." Now, Verse 5 (continued) ... except he interpret, [Except he interpret. There it is.] that the church may receive edifying. When I speak in tongues AND I interpret, I give the interpretation, when I give that interpretation, it will edify the body of believers by exhorting them and giving them comfort. That's right. This is why he said, "I would ye all spake in tongues but rather that ye prophesied." Really the "rather" is the -- grammatically, "more and more prophesy" is the literal translation of it. That's right. "For greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh in tongues," because tongues isn't understood UNLESS it is what? Interpreted. And when it's interpreted, the body, the church is edified. This word "interpret" is a very wonderful word. The word "interpret" is this word, diermeneuo, meaning "to make plain." That's what it means. You see, when I just speak in tongues, it wouldn't be plain to you, necessarily. That's right. For you couldn't understand it, I don't understand it, maybe you don't understand it. If God wrought the miracle, He can make it possible for anybody to understand it, like He did on the day of Pentecost. But that's God's prerogative. The fact that I speak in tongues is my business, but what I speak is His business. So, let's say I'm speaking in tongues, I don't understand it and you don't understand it. What good does it do you? None what-so-ever. It does me good because it edifies the spirit within me -- not my mind. But what good does it do you? None. And inside of the CHURCH, YOU'VE got to get blessed. That's right. Therefore he says, "interpret -- interpret," make it plain, so that ANYBODY can understand and be blessed. Now, verse 6: Verse 6: Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, ... That's right. Because, if I just speak in tongues; I can't understand it, let's say you don't understand it. What's the profit? None! And, inside of the church, you've got to profit. Verse 6 (continued) ... except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? Right believing. You see, that would bless you, that would be a profit to you. Then he uses an illustration in verse 7: Verse 7: And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or [what's] harped? That's right. How are you going to know what's piped or what's harped unless there's a distinction in the sound. Sure, take an organist or a pianist, there has to be a distinction in the sound or else how would you know they were playing "The Old Rugged Cross," for instance, or one of the great numbers of Beethoven or Bach? How would you know? Verse 8 says: Verse 8: For if the trumpet give an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself [for] {to the} battle? That's right. If the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who would know to prepare himself for the battle? Just no one. That's right. Verse 9: So likewise ye, except ye utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? [You're just going to be speaking up into the air, that's all.] {for ye shall speak into the air.} That's right. If you can't understand what I speak, it's just like speaking in the air. See? The Word of God says, in verse 10: Verse 10: There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification. That's right. There are so many different kinds of languages and tongues in the world, and not one of them is without signification. Verse 11: Therefore [and the word "therefore" is the word "but" -- BUT] if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian unto me. That's right. For instance, if this is an English group of people, and I sat up here and talked German to you all night, you didn't understand one word, then, I'd be a foreigner (that's the word "barbarian"). Right. On the other hand, let's say, I was there with you and you spoke English and I didn't understand English, then you'd be like a foreigner to me. That's the same way as speaking in tongues. If I speak in tongues, you don't understand it, it doesn't do you any good. It's like being a foreigner. That's what it's talking about. Verse 12: Even so ye, forasmuch as ye are zealous [Back to that same word. zealous] of spiritual gifts, There is the word "gifts" again. The Greek word is pneumatikos. He said, "You Corinthians are zealous of spiritual matters, or of spiritual things," ... seek that ye may excel to the edifying of the church. Everything has to edify the church, the body of believers. "You're real zealous, he said, you're all enthused about your product." That's right. But he said, "you've got to do that which edifies the church." See? Edifies! "Seek that ye may excel TO" -- "TO." The word "to" is the great key, it's the Greek word pros. This preposition "to," is used in three different cases in the Bible, in the Genitive, Dative and Accusative. Here it's in the accusative, and it means "with a view to the end." See? "With a view to the end." "Seek that ye may excel with a view to the end -- the purpose, the end, of edifying the church, building up the church." That's what it's for. Verse 13 says: Verse 13: Wherefore [you've got to edify the church] let him that speaketh in an {unknown} tongue pray that he may interpret. The word "pray" is the word "believe." "Let him that speaketh in a tongue BELIEVE -- BELIEVE to interpret." Well, listen, let me ask you something. Why should God ask you to interpret if you're not able to do it? It says here, that person "let him speak," and who ever is speaking "let him pray," -- let him PRAY. To pray is not to get your hands together, to pray is to believe, "let him believe to interpret in the church." Why? Because the church has to be edified -- built up. Listen to verse 14: Verse 14: For if I pray ... If I pray -- He is now speaking about praying. He is now speaking about prayer. Speaking in tongues in your private prayer life is speaking divine mysteries to God, it's prayer. But in a believers meeting, it is not prayer. In a believer's meeting, when you speak in tongues, it's a message from God or for God to the people and must be interpreted. Now, God knows ahead of time, whether you're going to interpret or not. That's right. And, if you're not going to interpret -- if you're not going to interpret, even though you stood up in church, it still would not be a message from God or for God, He knew ahead of time, it would just be prayer and praise. You'd get edified but you wouldn't interpret so nobody else would get blessed. That's right. Now, verse 14: Verse 14: For if I pray [I pray, not the spirit, not my grandma, but if I pray] in an {unknown} tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful. Why? Because, when I pray in the spirit (Speaking in tongues in my private life is a prayer.), my spirit gets edified, this new creature in Christ Jesus gets edified. But what about my understanding? "No man understandeth" my understanding is not -- my understanding is unfruitful, it's not built up. This is why the word "understanding" in this verse 14, is the word nous, "mind" -- MIND. See? "My MIND is unfruitful." My mind does not gain any information but my spirit does. Verse 15 says: Verse 15: What is it then? [What about it then?] I will pray with the spirit, ... I WILL, he says, "I will, by my will, I will." I not going to be possessed, I'm not going to be pushed around, I've got it in me. Now, I, by my will, am going to pray with the spirit. (To pray with the spirit is to pray in tongues.) There are two ways to pray, then; one is to pray in the spirit, the other is to pray with the understanding. When you pray with the understanding, it's always like in English, here, I would say, "Father, I thank-you for this wonderful class. I thank-you for the BELIEVERS in this class." There is a prayer with my what? Understanding. But, if I prayed in the spirit -- if I prayed in the spirit, then, it wouldn't benefit my understanding. But, he said, "I'll pray both ways. I'm going to pray in the spirit, in my private life, and, when I get out among the believers, I'm going to pray with my understanding." That's what he says. ... I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also. Right, if you can speak in tongues, if you can pray in the spirit, you can sing in the spirit. Sure, can you sing in English? If you can sing in English, you can sing in tongues. See? That's right. That's why that great 15th verse, again, can we read it? Verse 15: What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, ... To pray with the spirit is to pray in tongues. Now, if he's going to pray in the spirit, he can't do this in the church, because, inside the church it has to be interpreted. Right? That's right. Then it wouldn't be a prayer, it would be a message from God or for God to the people which will edify the body of believers by exhorting and comforting them. So, if he's going to do any praying, this can't be inside of the church, if he's going to pray in the spirit. That's right. But if he's going to pray, he's got to interpret because, it said a little while ago, "Let him that speaketh in a tongue believe or pray that he may interpret." Verse 16: Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, ... And there we have some tremendous words. The word "else" is the word epi meaning "otherwise" -- otherwise. The word "when" is the word eon, meaning "if." "when thou shalt bless" -- "Otherwise if you bless," the word "bless" is the word eulogeo meaning "praise God" from which we get the English word "eulogize," for instance. Look at that tremendous verse: "Otherwise if thou shalt praise God in your prayer life with the spirit," Verse 16 (continued) ... how shall he [who] {that} occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he [doesn't understand what you say] {understandeth not what thou sayest}? See? How is this unlearned fella -- if you're praying in the spirit, he comes in, he hears you pray in the spirit in tongues, how is he going to be saying "Amen?" He can't, he doesn't understand it. That's right. The unlearned, the word that's used here for "unlearned" -- the unlearned are the born again believers but they're uninstructed. They have not been taught the Word of God sufficiently to be instructed. That's the word "unlearned" here. How shall that fellow who's just a newcomer in the church, let's say, born again of God's Spirit, say Amen at thy giving of thanks? See, when I pray in the spirit in my private life, I am giving God thanks. But, how does that fella that walks in and hears me do this, how's he going to say Amen? He can't understand, it doesn't bless him any. "...seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?" Verse 17 says: Verse 17: For thou verily givest thanks well, but the other is not edified. That's the key. Sure, speaking in tongues, even if it's out of order, is still giving thanks well. But it's not blessing the other. The other is not being built up, and inside of the church, class, every time something is done it has to bless the entire body of believers. It just cannot bless me, if it blessed me, it would be selfish. That's right. It has to bless EVERYBODY there -- EVERYBODY! Verse 18: I thank my God, I speak [in] {with} tongues more than ye all: Ever heard that before? Isn't that something? That's right. Verse 19: Yet [in verse 19 he says] in the church ... I speak in tongues in my prayer life very much, more than ye all. But, in the church -- in the church: ... I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that {by my voice} I might teach others {also}, than ten thousand words in an {unknown} tongue. Why -- why? Very simple, because five words with my understanding will edify you five words worth. Right. But if I speak ten thousand words in a tongue, it will edify me, but it will not edify you. And inside of the CHURCH! -- five words with my understanding are better than ten thousand words in a tongue UNLESS it is interpreted. That's what he says, that's what he means. That's why, in verse 20, he says: Verse 20: Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be ye children, but in understanding be men. Why in the world don't we grow up? That's right. He said "Don't be children in understanding: but in your malice be children, but in your understanding grow up! LEARN the Word of God, KNOW it, RIGHTLY divide it. That's right. (There's) nothing wrong with speaking in tongues, Paul says by revelation, unless it's out of order. And, even if it's out of order, the speaking in tongues would still bless the speaker, but it would be wrong because it wouldn't edify the church, it wouldn't build up the body of believers. Therefore, inside of the church, every time you speak in tongues, YOU must interpret, that the body is edified. But, in your private prayer life, you never interpret -- NEVER. Because, there it's praise and glory to God, this way (vertical direction). And God's speaking with you, divine secrets, mysteries, building you up. But, in a believers meeting, when ever you speak in tongues, it must ALWAYS be interpreted. This is the will of the Lord, that's why we're not to be children in understanding, we're to grow up and be MEN with the power of God in our life. END OF SEGMENT - 63 SEGMENT 64: TONGUES; INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES; PROPHECY PFAL FOUNDATIONAL TRANSCRIPTIONS SEGMENT - 64 TONGUES; INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES; PROPHECY In I Corinthians 14:21 we read: I Corinthians 14:21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, saith the Lord. As you know, this is taken from Isaiah 28, and what is God trying to say? He is saying to His people that, even though He spoke to them with other tongues, like speaking in tongues, and other lips, yet for all that, that's not going to convince the unbeliever on the outside. Remember the scripture, it said if one rose again from the dead, that wouldn't change them. So, this speaking in tongues is not primarily designed for the unbeliever on the outside at all. It's designed for the blessing of God upon the individual believer and then upon the body, the church, when it is interpreted. This is why verse 22 says: Verse 22: Wherefore tongues are for a sign, ... Tongues are for a sign, the word "sign" is this word semion, it means "indicating the significance of the work wrought." Tongues are for a sign, indicating the significance of the work that's wrought, with Christ in you, the power of the holy spirit within you. Now, when I speak in tongues, it indicates the significance of the work that Christ has wrought within me. Tongues are for a sign. Now, watch it, verse 22: Verse 22 (continued) ... not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: ... The unbeliever, those who believe not, it's a sign to them. It was a great revelation to my life when I learned that these people who believe not, the unbelievers mentioned here in Corinthians, were not the unsaved. They were apistos, believers who were instructed, but not fully enough instructed to operate the manifestations of the spirit effectively. So, "not to them that believe not," Verse 22 (continued) ... but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe. The reason is; prophecy is in the language of the body of the people. In here it would be, let's say English, and therefore it would just -- everybody there would be fully instructed, everybody would understand what it's all about, then you do not need speaking in tongues and interpretation, prophecy is preferred. This is what it said in 14:1, remember? Verse 23, now: Verse 23: If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, ... "Those that are" is in italics, you may leave it in, it fits perfectly, but you may delete it if you like. It would then read: "and there come in unlearned," ... or unbelievers, will they not say that [you're off your rocker -- will they not say you're] {ye are} mad? Look here, the unbelievers in this section of the Word of God are the instructed, but not fully enough to operate all of the manifestations of the spirit effectively. The unlearned are the idiotes, is the Greek word, the uninstructed believers. They have just been born again, let's say, they've just been born again, but they have NOT been instructed. They are uninstructed. The usage of those two is singly significant in this section. Look at verse 23, now again: Verse 23: If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak [in] {with} tongues, ... That's right. Let's say you have a group of two hundred people here. And all of them stand up and they all speak in tongues at the same time. What a mess! Suppose you've got a group of two hundred and twenty of them stand up and they all speak at one time. Still, what a mess! That's exactly what he's saying. "If the whole church be come together at one place and ALL speak with tongues," Verse 23 (continued) ... and there come in those that are [instructed, but not fully] {unlearned}, [and the uninstructed believers] {or unbelievers}, will they not say [you're off your rocker -- you're out in left field -- will they not say you're mad?] {that ye are mad?} Sure, they'll say you're mad. Why? Because everybody's standing there speaking in tongues. They can't understand it. It doesn't help them any. And they'll say, "Huh, shoot, they're off their rockers." Verse 24: But if all prophesy, ... And prophecy is in the language of the body of the people, therefore if somebody stood up and prophesied (it would be in English here), Verse 24 (continued) ... and there come in one that believeth not, or one [that's] unlearned ... One of these two, the uninstructed or the instructed one who is not fully instructed yet, will they not just be blessed? Because it says: ... he is convinced of all, [and] he is judged of all: This is the greatness of it: "he is convinced of all, and he is judged of all." You see, prophecy among the body of believers -- "he is convinced" comes from the word elencho meaning "convinced by loving reproof." And the word "judged" is anakrino, "examine or inquiry," not judgment to condemnation. Not that at all, but you see, if they all prophecy, you get the body of believers built up and you have a lot of enthusiastic believing. And there are those who are NOT fully instructed, or those who are just babes in Christ. You, then, help those people to get convinced and you judge them in their places, you examine or put inquiry as to "Well, why ARE you not growing here or growing there?" That's the meaning of it. Verses 25-26: And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth. How is it then, brethren? when ye come together, every one of you hath a psalm, [every one of you] hath a doctrine, [every one of you] hath a tongue, [every one of you] hath a revelation, [every one] hath an interpretation. ... He said, "What's the matter with you fellas? What's the matter with you believers inside of the church?" That's right. Here you all come together and every one of you wants to have a psalm, everybody wants to have a teaching, everybody wants to stand up and speak in tongues, somebody says, "Well I got a revelation," somebody else says "I got a revelation." Verse 26 (continued) ... Let all things be done unto edifying. You see, inside of the church, everything has to be done that will build up the church. And this is why they were all out of order. Verse 27: If any man speak in an unknown tongue, ... The word "unknown" again is in italics, scratch it out. Verse 27 (continued) If any man speak in [a tongue] {unknown tongue}, let it be ... "Let it be" again is in italics, properly supplied, of course, here. Verse 27 (continued) ... by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; Do you know what that means? If there's going to be any speaking in tongues in a believers meeting, let that speaking be by two or at the most by three individuals, people, believers, and that in course. "Course" is order: One-Two-Three. That's right. Not all three at the same time -- NEVER! That's exactly what he'd been talking about in verse 26! He says, "Every one of you hath a tongue, hath a revelation, hath a doctrine. Let all things be done decently and in order. For the edifying of the church." So, if a man's going to speak in tongues in a believers meeting, it has to be in course, it has to be order. "Let it be by one, or two, or three, in course, in order." One, two, three. Verse 27 (continued) ... and let one interpret. Let one interpret, and that really is a dandy because, here you have the teaching which has been propounded throughout the years, that, if you speak in tongues, someone else has to do the interpreting. That's an impossibility. But, you see, when I speak in tongues and I interpret, the interpretation will be in what language? English, that's right. It'll be in English. Now, if you gave a word of prophecy or I gave a word of prophecy, what would it be in? In English. So this is what has occurred: A man has spoken in tongues over there and someone else over here gave the so called interpretation. This wasn't interpretation at all. This was prophecy. But, because it was in the same language as the interpretation, they have never been able to separate prophecy from interpretation. This verse says: "If there's any speaking in tongues in the church, let it be in order; one, two, three; and at the most three, in a believers meeting, and let one -- let one -- let one. The "let one" is the word heis meaning "that same one." That's what the word means. Let THAT one, the one who is speaking, the one who has just brought a message in tongues, in a believers meeting, let that one, that SAME one, interpret -- let that same one interpret. He has just told us this in chapter 14, verse 5; listen again: I Corinthians 14:5 I would that ye all spake [in] {with} tongues ... and the later part of the verse: ... except he interpret, ... Talking (about) in the church. In verse 13 of the 14th chapter Verse 13: {Wherefore} let him that speaketh in [a] {an unknown} tongue pray that he may interpret. Every time a person speaks in tongues in a believers meeting, HE must give the interpretation. Nobody else can give the interpretation, NOBODY. Because it would not be an interpretation if somebody else gave it. It would be a word of prophecy from the mouth of that other person which they have misconstrued as interpretation because it's in English in our particular fellowships. That's why verse 27 is just tremendous, listen again: Verse 27: If any man speak in [a] {an unknown} tongue, let it be [at the most] by two, or {at the most by} three, and that by course [one, two, three]; and let [each] one [who speaks] interpret. Now, verse 28: But if there be no interpreter, ... Man, how they like that. You see, they build up their case that you can't interpret -- you may speak in tongues, but, I'm the preacher, I've got to do the interpreting -- or Maggie Muggins out here, she's the interpreter. Oh, how stupid, people, listen to me. Good gravy! You think God would put His church out of commission that easily. Let's say I'm the speaker in tongues man and you're the interpreter. And, lo and behold, you went out last night on Saturday night and stayed out too late for dinner and you didn't get home. And this morning, on Sunday morning, you slept in. I'm in the church, I have a message, I speak in tongues, but my interpreter's home in bed. Huh, put God out of commission. How silly! "Let the man who speaks in tongues interpret." That's right! "But if there be no interpreter," is what King James says. But, this word "be" -- this word "be" is the third person singular, it's a present subjunctive mood, and when it's used with "if," it makes a conditional clause, and it would be translated "if he lacks the will to interpret -- if he lacks the WILL to interpret." "But if there be no interpreter" -- doesn't mean that, it means "But if he lacks the will to interpret." He LACKS the will, he could interpret, but if he lacks the will to interpret," Verse 28 (continued) ... let him [let HIM, the one who has just spoken in a tongue] keep silence [shut up] in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. Because, speaking in tongues WITHOUT interpretation is always prayer or praise to God. And this he can do in the church, silently. Just like now, I can sit here and I could silently speak in English without moving my lips, talk things over with myself. See it? So, you can sit inside of the church, if you lack the will to interpret; then, what you can do is, you can just sit there in the church, and silently, you can just speak to yourself and to God by speaking in tongues. That's right. So, this is a tremendous thing because, while you're in the church, if you lack the will to interpret, at least you could sit there and QUIETLY speak in tongues to yourself and to God. Verse 29: Let the prophets ... Now we've changed from manifestations to ministries. "Let the prophets," -- the prophet is one of the ministries, remember? There are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers. Verse 29 (continued) Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other [the other of the prophets] judge. In other words, if there are prophets in a meeting -- in a believers meeting, then let them operate as follows: Verse 30: If any thing be revealed to another [one of the prophets] that [sits] {sitteth} by, let the first [prophet, the one who is speaking] hold his peace. Be quiet. Why? Verse 31: For ye [the prophets] may all prophesy [all the prophets can give a word of prophesy] one by one [however], that all may learn, and all may be comforted. Verse 32: And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. Boy, what a tremendous truth, and this is true of everything else; the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. The prophets are in absolute control of the spirits -- of the spirit within them. That's right. You're in absolute control, YOU do it, YOU do it. The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. In-other-words, I could stand on this beautiful, Love-nest, I guess, (It's a love-nest if there are two here, I don't know what it is when there's just one) but, I could stand on this beautiful thing, I could put my feet on here, if I had a chair here I could stand on, I could jump up and down. But if I did it, who is it doing it? I am, it's me, oh Lord -- not the spirit, because I'm in control of the spirit. That's the difference between the genuine and the counterfeit. In the genuine, you're always in absolute control of the spirit, ALWAYS! But, in the counterfeit, it controls you. That's right. But in the so-called Christian church, many times, we have seen people do foolish and they blame the spirit. Somebody said, "Well, the spirit caused me to do it." Spirit didn't do anything like it. They did it themselves. If the spirit would cause them to do it, it would have to be possession, have to be devil spirits. Isn't that a wonderful verse? "The spirits of the prophets are SUBJECT to the prophets." You are ALWAYS in ABSOLUTE control -- ALWAYS! And what a wonderful truth that is! Listen, verse 33: "For God is the author of confusion." NO! God is NOT! Verse 33: For God is not the author of confusion [He is NOT the author of confusion], but of peace, as in all churches of the saints. So, wherever there is confusion, it cannot be the right God. If everybody speaks in tongues at the same time, it has to be an influence from Satan. That's right. (He) Just CANNOT -- God just CANNOT be "the author of confusion, but of peace , as in all the churches of the saints." Now we get to verse 34, and you women will enjoy this, because this is the verse -- or these are the verses, now, that they've taken to prove something else: Verse 34: Let your women keep silence in the churches: ... They have said now, "No woman has the right to preach" and this kind of thing. They use this verse among the others: Verses 34 & 35: (continued) Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame [for it is a shame] for women to speak in the church. Huh-huh, isn't that dandy? Wonderful, isn't it? My, oh, my! How in the world can a woman who hasn't got a husband ask her husband at home? Now, that's impossible. But they didn't think of that one, did they? Ah, you know what this is talking about? Context -- context. We're talking about prophets. Now, here we're talking, in verse 34, about the prophets wives. Verse 34: "Let your women, [the wives of the prophets -- let your women, let the women of the prophets] keep silent in the church: [That's right.] for it's not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience [to their husbands] as also saith the law." Verse 35: "And if they'd learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home: ... That's right. They've got husbands. Their husbands are the ones that have brought the word of God out. They have preached it, they have taught it. They live with them, they sleep with them, if they want to know anything, they can ask them at home. That's right. ... for it is a shame for women ... Which women? The women of the prophets. ... to speak in the church. You know what happened in the church in Corinth? Here was the Prophet, the man of God, and he was really speaking forth the Word of God. And, as he was speaking forth, there sat his little old woman back there, and she'd get up and say, "Oh, but Honey, Honey, I want to say something this morning. Honey, I want to say something. You know I'm your wife. Honey, I want to (say something.)" God say "Shut-up! If you want to know anything, ask your husband at home." The word "shame" -- the word "shame" -- "it's a shame for women, (the women of the prophets,) to speak in the church." The word "shame" is this word iscros, it's "offensive to modesty" -- it's "indecorous." Do you know what this word means in literal language -- vernacular? "Running off of the mouth." That's what it means. These women of the prophets had the running off of the mouth. It's a shame, it's indecorous, it's offensive to modesty, here your man, your husband is the man of God who's speaking the Word. You women of the prophets, keep silent in the churches. Verse 36 says: Verse 36: What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? That's right. Did the Word of God come from the prophets wives or did the Word of God come from the prophets? It came from the prophet. That's right. Didn't come from his wife. And therefore that wife ought to be thankful she's married to the prophet, and she ought to respect that man of God. And if she wants to know anything let her ask him at home. But NEVER -- NEVER make him look foolish in the public's eye -- NEVER! God doesn't stand for that. He'll NEVER stand for it, because the man of God is the God chosen man! And that's why he said, "Did the Word of God come out from you, the wives of the prophets?" The answer is no. Verse 37: If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord. Well, bless God! What he has written are the commandments of the Lord. "I would that ye all spake in tongues," then, is what? A commandment of the Lord. "Let him that speaketh pray that he may interpret," is a commandment of what? The Lord! "When you come together, let all things be done unto edifying in the church," is a commandment of what? The Lord! That's right. And "if any man speak in tongues in the church, let it be in course, in order, one, two, three; and let each one INTERPRET" is a commandment of what? The Lord! that's right. Verse 38 says: Verse 38: But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant. You know what that says? If any man's stupid, let him be stupid. After all of this from God's Word, if they still do not want to believe, if they want to stay stupid, if they want to argue, he said, let them argue, let them stay stupid. But I want to remind you, he said, that this is a commandment of the Lord. Verses 39 & 40: Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues. Let all things be done decently and in order. For the third time in that chapter, "all things done decently and in order," the essence of it. "God's not the God of confusion. Let everything be done unto edifying." Why? Because, in the Corinthian church, it had just become the opposite. Everybody wanted to speak at the same time; everybody wanted to yak this or yak that. That's right. But, inside of the church, everything must be done decently and in order, there can be no confusion. The Bible says, "Where there is confusion, there's every evil work." So, inside of the church, you operate nine manifestations of the spirit. These three: tongues, interpretation and prophecy, are used specifically in the worship services inside of the church, and they must be used with a mathematical accuracy, right down the line. Otherwise, you'll have confusion. This is what he's saying, this is what he's doing. So, when you come to these three great chapters from Corinthians, chapter 12, chapter 13 and chapter 14, you have all the truth that can be learned regarding the usage of the manifestations in the church. That's all -- and the gift, that's all. There are no more places written telling about the operation of the manifestations than what you have in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14. Everything else, men add. But you cannot go by what men say, you and I have to go by the great accuracy of God's Word. And so, when you understand that I Corinthians 12 deals with gifts AND manifestations; and I Corinthians 13 deals with the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation as you operate these evidences or manifestations of the spirit; and in I Corinthians 14 how He sets in order tongues, interpretation of tongues and their usage in the church and it's relation to the prophets, the men of God. And then he says, "These things are ALL the commandment of the Lord." Then certainly it behooves us to find out exactly what to do and how to do it. And this is why we give our lives. This is why we dedicate ourselves to living the abundance and the greatness of God's wonderful matchless Word. And now we're just about ready to go into a consideration of the manifestation of speaking in tongues and then help you to receive the power of the holy spirit into manifestation in your own life. END OF SEGMENT - 64 Segment 64b: SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS NOT THE PFAL FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 64b SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS NOT When it comes to the manifestation of speaking in tongues, the first thing I like to set before my classes always is what it is not. Speaking in tongues is never gibberish or foolishness. That's right. No language is foolishness, no language is gibberish, although to the mind of the senses, the language of one people may sound oddly strange in the ears of the people of a different language. So, no - speaking in tongues is never, is just never, gibberish or foolishness. And, I learned this lesson rather sharply in the early days of my research ministry when we were leading - starting to lead people in and help them to manifest the power of the holy spirit. This man had been on the mission field for the Sudan Interior Mission in Africa, and when he received into manifestation, I just couldn't believe it, because, all he was doing was speaking words which sounded so unusual to me, just gutturals like "Guh Gee Gah Muh Ouh Ouh Lee Loh Lah". And I thought to myself, have we got something wrong here - a counterfeit or something? And as he kept speaking, about ten or fifteen - thirty seconds maybe, the tears just started running down his cheek. And I kept encouraging him just to keep on speaking in tongues. And about two or three minutes later, when I asked him to stop, I said to him, Well, what are you so blessed about? Oh, he said, Isn't God good? Isn't God good? He said, You know, I've been working in Africa. And I've been in among those people in the interior of Africa, and there they speak a language just as guttural as the one I spoke. I don't understand the language but, the moment I heard myself speak in tongues, I recognized it as a language that I'd heard many times down in Africa. You know, to my ears, it sounded like gibberish, it sounded very unusual. But I learned then, that no language is gibberish or foolishness. And that, undeveloped languages usually are much more simple than developed languages. So, in first Corinthians, chapter thirteen, verse one, it says: I Cor. 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels . . . Whenever you speak in tongues, you'll always be speaking a tongue of men or a tongue of angels. If it's a tongue of men, then it can be understood someplace here upon earth. If it's a tongue of angels, it cannot. That's the simplicity of it. And this is why, the manifestation of tongues is never gibberish, it's never foolishness, right. Secondly, it is not a sign of weakness, nervousness, or un-intelligence. I used to get this thrown at me, where people would say, "Well, only the extremely sensitive and nervous people speak in tongues." Then I got to thinking, well, the apostle Paul and Peter and John, they must have been awful fellows, right? No. It's not a sign of nervousness. Look what it is, - Jude, let me read it to you - Jude, just before Revelation, - let me read you verse twenty, listen to this: Jude 20 But ye beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the holy ghost. It's not a sign of weakness or nervousness, it's building yourself up on your most holy faith while you're praying in the spirit. Praying in the spirit, edifies the spirit of God in you, it builds you up. That's right. Speaking in tongues is not linguistic ability. Many sinners have linguistic ability. I had a professor once, in Greek, we were working the Septugent, if I remember correctly, I think he could speak twenty two languages. Had a little difficulty understanding his English, but - - you see, it's not linguistic ability to be able to speak in tongues. It's not the idea that, today, you're going to go to Africa and you want to speak in Afrikaans -- or you're going to go to India and you want to speak Hindi. That speaking in tongues is where you could go to these different places and speak this language. Someone said to me once, he didn't care to speak in tongues because he never anticipated being a missionary. See, he didn't understand, he was one of those "idiots" -- unlearned, uninstructed. So, it's not linguistic ability. And this is why we must, first of all, understand, when it comes to the manifestation of speaking in tongues, what it is not. It is not gibberish or foolishness; it's not a sign of weakness or nervousness; it's not linguistic ability. And it's not the gift of languages, that you could speak in a desired language at a desired time, because, what you speak is as the spirit gives the utterance. And it is not an unusual ability to understand languages either. Segment 65: SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 65 SPEAKING IN TONGUES, WHAT IT IS In dealing with the manifestation of the spirit, everything that I'm teaching you now, and will be teaching you, before I lead you into the manifestation of speaking in tongues, I have already read with you from the Word of God in either those five records in Acts or in I Corinthians 12, 13 and 14. So, basically, all that I'm doing now, is simply reiterating and sort of summarizing the whole manifestation of speaking in tongues. And, first of all, I told you what it is not. You must always understand, when it comes to the operation of the manifestations of the spirit, what they are not. Now, when it comes to the manifestation of speaking in tongues, what is it? We know what it is not: it's not gibberish; foolishness, nor any of those other things. Then what is this manifestation of speaking in tongues? And here we have it on the chart board; it is the external manifestation in the senses world, of the internal reality and presence of the power of the holy spirit -- that's what it is. Speaking in tongues, is always, the manifestation in the senses world of the internal reality and presence of His holy spirit -- that's what it is. Now, for instance, if English is your only known language, then, every other language -- or any other language, that you would speak in, would be unknown to you. This does not mean, however, that nobody upon the face of the earth could not understand it. Because, if you will remember from Acts, they spoke in tongues, but there were people out yonder, sitting in the audience or standing there, who did understand it. And when it comes to Acts, chapter 2, we must always remember this great truth that: What you speak -- what you speak, is Gods' business, but that you speak -- you see, speaking in tongues is the external manifestation in the senses world, of the reality and presence of the holy spirit within. What you speak is God's business, so you never pay any attention to what it sounds like. You only pay attention to the reality that it does sound -- you make the sounds -- you do the speaking -- you speak forth the words. That's exactly what it says in Acts, chapter 2, and in verse 4, it says: Acts 2:4: ... They were all filled with [pneuma hagion,] the holy spirit, and began with other tongues [they did the speaking -- with other tongues], as the Spirit gave them the utterance. So now, this matter of speaking in tongues, there are two facets to it: in the church -- let's take in the church, by a believer. If a believer in the church speaks in tongues, that must be interpreted. And that message is always a message from God or for God, to the people, and it will edify the body of believers by exhorting them or by comforting them. Now, inside of the church also, if someone should ever speak in a tongue but not have the believing -- faith, to interpret, it's an entirely different set-up. This is what I refer to in my syllabus by the words "an unbelieving believer" -- one who is born again, but who does not believe sufficiently -- who does not believe sufficiently to interpret. Now remember, God, in His fore-knowledge, knows ahead of time that, when you speak in tongues in a believer's meeting, whether you're going to interpret or not interpret -- He knows this ahead of time. If He knows that you're not going to interpret, it'll never be a message from God or for God to the people, it will only be a prayer or praise -- speaking divine secrets -- then it will edify your spirit only. So, this you must remember. Now, in private life -- in your private life, speaking in tongues is never interpreted -- never interpreted. Speaking in tongues in your private life is always a prayer or praise to God, that's all. Now, I have set here on the chart-board, some very significant things regarding this matter of the manifestation of speaking in tongues and exactly what it does - what it does. I have eleven things listed on this chart-board. I have talked to hundreds and hundreds of people through the years, and when I first started the conversation with them I'd say, "Alright, tell me, what good is speaking in tongues?" And I haven't found a church member who could even give me one of these. And yet, the Word of God lists eleven -- at least eleven, some of them have two or three sections to it, but, eleven major things -- positive, wonderful things that speaking in tongues does for you and for the body of believers. And I'm going to take these through, right down the line, and show you the scriptures again, so that this thing will seal itself in your soul, just as long as you live, that you'll never forget it. 1. The main thing - the main thing that it does is that it edifies you, number one. The main thing it does, it edifies you, and as it edifies you, it builds you up, not in you mind, but in your spirit -- it builds you spiritually. This which is born within you, is Christ in you. Now what are you going to feed this Christ within you, this new creature? You can't feed that new creature mashed potatoes and gravy. That new creature is spirit, you've got to feed that new creature spirit. This is why, when you speak in tongues in your private life, it edifies this, it builds up this new creature. Look at I Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 4: I Corinthians 14:4 He that speaketh in a tongue edifieth himself; ... Does he edify his mind? No, he edifies the spirit, for in verse 2 it says: I Corinthians 14:2 ... He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God: for no man understandeth; ... The man speaking does not understand what he's speaking. If he understood it, it would be a known language. He doesn't understand what he's speaking in tongues. Therefore, even though he doesn't understand it, it edifies him -- spiritually. It builds him up, spiritually. This is the most important thing regarding speaking in tongues. Speaking in tongues, primarily, was never designed for the Church. It was designed for the private walk of a Christian believer. But, it's utilized in the Church, and God gives us a right to use it in the Church. But when it's in Church, it has an entirely different function. Then, it must be interpreted, so that the body of people, the believers, get built-up. In their spirit? No, in their minds, because the interpretation is in English in our group, for instance, and that builds-up your mind, not your spirit -- gives you the renewed mind; gives you that enthusiastic believing. That's why, in Jude -- in the book of Jude -- chapter 1 -- only one chapter in it, bless your heart -- verse 20. We've read it before but let's read it once again: Jude 20: But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith [building up yourselves in your most holy faith by], praying in [pneuma hagion, by praying in the spirit] {the Holy Ghost}. As you speak in tongues, you pray in the spirit. You see, speaking in tongues is either praying in the spirit or it is bringing a message from God or for God, to the people. It has those two different facets. And this is what speaking in tongues does, it builds you up. The more you will speak in tongues in your private prayer life -- in your day by day walk with God -- the more dynamic your life here on earth will be, that's right. So, these are some of the great truths regarding this. 2. Number two, what it does, when you speak in tongues, it is to speak to God, divine secrets. In I Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 2, we've read it a little while ago, we read it again: I Corinthians 14:2: ... He that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not to men, but unto God: for no man understandeth; howbeit in the spirit he speaketh mysteries [divine secrets]. Now, when it says, a man speaks to God, that doesn't make it a one way affair. That's right, just like if I say: Well, I called you -- I called Johnny Jump-up on the phone, that does not mean that it was just a one way conversation -- that I did all the talking. No, when it says, speak to God, it means a two way deal. I pray in the spirit, God gives the answer -- I pray, God gives it -- I pray, God gives. That's the greatness of why, you speak to God, you divine secrets. Isn't that wonderful? Tremendous! 3. In the third place, the manifestation of speaking in tongues: when you speak in tongues, you'll be speaking the wonderful works of God. In Acts, chapter 2 -- Acts, chapter 2, in verse 11, listen to this -- Acts chapter 2, verse 11. This is what those people, that day, in Jerusalem, declared -- who were not even born again, who were Jews who hated the Galileans -- they said of those men who were speaking in tongues, they were speaking the wonderful works of God. So, every time you speak in a tongue, what are you speaking? -- the wonderful works of God. 4. In the fourth place, it says it's to magnify God. And this, again, we read from Acts, chapter 10. When we covered this section, we covered these words, but we go back -- Acts, chapter 10, verse 46 -- Peter, and those six brethren who came with him to the household of Cornelius, when they heard those people speak in tongues, it says they magnified God. Wouldn't you like to magnify God? Wouldn't you like to speak the wonderful works of God? Wouldn't you like to have the mysteries between you and God to be made known to you? I know you would. 5. And then, another wonderful truth is this point number five: That the manifestation of speaking in tongues, whenever you pray in the spirit, it's the only perfect prayer and it's the only prayer that makes intercession for the saints, according to the will of God. We look at Romans, chapter 8 -- I've not had this section in here before, I do not believe, to share with you, but here it is, -- Romans, chapter 8, listen to verse 26: Romans 8:26: Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: ... The word "infirmities" here, is in the singular in all the critical Greek texts. And, being in the singular, it deals with our prayer life. You see, it's not infirm that you have a broken wrist or anything like that, but it's an infirmity -- the spirit helps our infirmity regarding our prayer life. Listen to it: ... the spirit also helpeth our infirmity: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: ... Sense knowledge wise, you never know what you should pray for as you ought. That's right. Let's say, I want to pray for you. I do not know all the need in your life -- I do not know all the ramifications -- I do not know all the opportunities -- I do not know what goes through that mind of yours, but God does. So, I'm always infirm when it comes to praying, sense knowledge wise. So now the spirit's going to help us. How? The spirit itself -- the spirit itself -- the spirit of God within me ... itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. You see, the spirit knows, and one of the greatest levers of prayer is right here. I hardly ever pray for people who have a need with my senses prayer life. I do not pray for people with my senses understanding, I pray for people in the spirit. I stay my mind, for instance, on you. I see you, and I have that picture in my mind. Now I start praying in the spirit, and, as I pray in the spirit, God knows your need, and the spirit makes intercession for us -- he makes intercession for us -- he knows all of our need. The greatest lever of prayer I know is praying in the spirit. He makes this intercession with groanings which cannot be uttered. Verse 27: And He that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And class, this is the only intercession for the saints in the Bible. It's not an intercession where I, sense knowledge wise, pray for Maggie Muggins, and I lift Maggie Muggins and say: "Lord, here's Maggie Muggins: Maggie Muggins needs this, Lord, Maggie needs that" -- No, no. There is no intercession for the saints, outside of speaking in tongues. When you speak in tongues -- when you speak in tongues, praying in the spirit, then, the spirit makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God. Verse 28: And we [we know] know that all things ... Then, by the operation of the manifestation of speaking in tongues, this is what makes all things: ... work together for good to them that love God, to [those] {them} who are the called according to His purpose. That's right. So, this praying perfectly -- making intercession. 6. And number six: When you pray in the spirit, it is to give thanks well. I Corinthians, chapter 14, again -- I Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 17: I Corinthians 14:17: ... thou verily givest thanks well, ... It is the giving of thanks well, inside a Church meeting, even if it wasn't interpreted. It would be out of order, and should be, but, you see, when I'm speaking in the spirit, it's giving of thanks well. It's just like, when I studied those snake handlers in one of our southern states. Here they were, handling snakes and speaking in tongues. The speaking in tongues was genuine, they were giving thanks well, because speaking in tongues didn't come from their mind, it came from their spirit, and that spirit is eternal, that spirit perfect. They were speaking in tongues perfectly. That was giving thanks well. That's right. But the handling of the snakes, that was the counterfeit part, that was the devilish part. So you must be able to separate -- every time you speak in tongues, you're giving thanks well. 7. And, number seven, it is the spirit bearing witness with our spirit. Go back to Romans, chapter 8, -- aren't these just tremendous truths? And hardly anybody knows two things that speaking in tongues is good for. Most of the people know that it's not good for anything. Hah, something wrong with them. Listen to Romans, chapter 8, verse 16: Romans 8:16: The Spirit itself beareth witness [this is God's spirit bearing witness with our spirit - bearing witness] with our spirit, that we are the children of God: Isn't that something? Look at here: It is the spirit bearing witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. Whenever you speak in a tongue, you've got Gods' spirit bearing witness with His spirit in you, which is now your spirit, that you are a child of God. It's your proof in the senses world, that you're born again of Gods' spirit; that you have eternal life; that you will nevermore come into condemnation. My-oh-my-oh-my, how every Christian born again son of God should want to speak in tongues, because it's the only proof they've got that they're Christian. And I tell you it's something -- it's something. I've walked many places, been many places in the world -- places where, sometimes, you wonder if God could be there. That's right. And you know, when I walked into those places, many times I'd just start speaking in tongues, and lo and behold, I knew God was there because I was there, and wherever I was, God was in me and I could still speak in tongues, I knew He had to be there. You talk about a comfort -- when you hear your children speak in tongues, you'll know that they have eternal life, that they're heaven bound and all hell can't stop them from going. If you're a parent, you will learn, from the greatness of Gods' Word, there is nothing that brings such comfort to a parent than to know that his child, or their child -- their boy or their girl, has eternal life and shall nevermore come into condemnation. Because it's Gods' spirit bearing witness with our spirit, when we speak in tongues, that we're children of God. 8. Boy, listen to verse 17, it does something else too -- it does this number eight, listen: Romans 8:17: And if children, then [we're] heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that [you] {we} suffer with him, [you'll] {that we may} be also glorified together [with him]. Every time you speak, you know that you're a joint heir with Christ. It's your proof, in the senses world, that Christ is within. What a tremendous revelation to the soul of any believing man or woman who wants to tap the resources for the more abundant life. 9. Now, in the ninth place, and the ninth is almost like number one. As a matter of fact, you could put number nine and number one together, because it strengthens you with might in the inner man, which is the first one where it says it edifies you. But this record is in Ephesians, and we turn to Ephesians -- Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians -- Ephesians, chapter 3, and what a wonderful record and listen to this -- verse 16 of Ephesians 3: Ephesians 3:16: That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; Isn't that wonderful? Strengthened with might -- power -- by His Spirit in the inner man. Where's the inner man? This is the outer man, you see the outer man sitting here. You don't see the inner man, the inner man is Christ in you, the hope of glory. Sure. How are you going to strengthen that inner man? How are you going to get that inner man to be strong and powerful? By speaking in tongues. So when you speak in tongues, you strengthen the inner man, which is to edify that inner man. 10. Now, speaking in tongues is also a sign to unbelievers -- it's a sign to unbelievers. And, we read that in I Corinthians 14, but I'd like to pick up the record in Mark -- Mark, chapter 16, and listen to this -- verse 17: Mark 16:17: And these signs shall follow them that believe; ... "Shall follow them that believe" -- signs follow believers, class, signs do not follow people who have, necessarily, ministries, or anything else -- signs follow believers. Now, a man who has a ministry has to believe so that ministry comes into manifestation. "These signs shall follow believers;" ... In my name [in my name] shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; You know what that means? They're going to speak in tongues, it doesn't mean they're going to speak in new tongues -- does not mean that after they're saved, now they're going to quit cussing and swearing and raising hell. No, that's what a group of fundamentalists teach, that's not what it means. It means they're going to speak in tongues -- that's going to be the new tongues, they're going to speak in. Verse 18: They shall take up serpents; ... Now that's where they get this in the South that I visited, this verse of scripture. They said: "Well, it says ya take up serpents." That's not it's meaning! They just forgot a word here. It's in the essence of IF! -- IF you should take up a serpent, accidentally -- if you should take one up, like in Acts, where Paul was gathering wood for the fire and he accidentally picked up a viper, he shook it off, remember? If this should happen to you, or ... {and} if [you] {they} drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. They shall speak with new tongues. It's a sign to unbelievers. 11. And, finally, it is rest to the soul. People, at night, once you get filled with the spirit in manifestation and you start speaking in tongues, you won't have to count sheep to go to sleep, because you've got a contact whereby you can talk to the shepherd. Once you are filled with the power of the holy spirit, at night, you need not take sedatives to go to sleep. All you need to do is start speaking in tongues when you lie down on your pillow -- your bed. Just start quietly speaking in tongues, and before you know it, boy, just before you know it, off to sleep you go. It's rest to your soul. Speaking in tongues is like a healing balm. It just settles itself within the depth of your being and it just quiets you down -- it just quiets you down. And is this not something almost everybody needs today? Look at Isaiah -- Isaiah, chapter 28, and in verse 11, the following record in Gods' Word: Isaiah 28:11: For with stammering lips ... Stammering lips -- you know why they call it stammering lips? It's not stammering in the sense we think of it, it's because you can't understand it -- the man speaking can't understand it. God says: "With stammering lips ... and another tongue will He speak to [His] {this} people. Verse 12: To whom he said, This is the rest [ -- this is the rest] wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: ... This is the refreshing -- this is the rest that causes the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing. There is nothing so invigorating, so building up to the individual believer, than to just get quiet and speak in tongues. Sometimes, five minutes of speaking in tongues during the day does more for me than two or three hours of sleep. And many times, we go day after day working 14 - 16 - 18 hours a day. I've done this now, year in and year out, for there were almost 12 years in my life when I did nothing but work the Word of God from 8:30 in the morning until 2:30 - 3 - 4 o'clock the next morning -- week after week; month after month; year after year. Then where does a man's' strength come from? It comes from the spirit of God that's within. And I speak in tongues much -- much, because I can speak in tongues while I'm riding along and somebody's talking to me, for if I'm speaking in tongues, it's my spirit speaking -- my mind is unfruitful. So, you can be talking to me in English, I can understand everything you're saying, at the same time, I'm still silently speaking in tongues, edifying myself. I do this by the hour -- day upon day, and it's rest to my soul. It causes the weary to get some vitality. If you want to tap the resources for the more abundant life, there's only one way that you're going to be able to tap it, and that is to come God's way, get filled with the power of the holy spirit in manifestation, like the rest of us have. And then, it'll be rest to your soul. It'll just encourage you, it'll just give you the greatness of God's wonderful power -- God's wonderful power. And as it does this, it'll just make your life living and real. Now, regarding this manifestation of speaking in tongues; when will it cease -- when will it cease? And remember, I showed you that -- and now, all the manifestations are like this, they'll all cease at the same time, they'll all be used most beneficially in the same way. I perhaps, ought to just show it to you, before I lead you into the manifestation of the greatest thing in the whole world, the power of the holy spirit. In I Corinthians, chapter 13 -- I Corinthians, 13, listen to this, -- in verse 8 of I Corinthians, 13 -- or 9: I Corinthians 13:9: For we know in part, and {we} prophesy in part. Verse 10: But when that which is perfect is come, ... When that which is perfect is come, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, when that which is perfect is come, ... then that which is in part shall be done away. When will it cease? When that which is perfect is come -- then, but not until then. And that has not yet occurred for Jesus Christ has not returned yet to gather his children, therefore, this manifestation of speaking in tongues, like all the other 8, is here and it will not cease until Christ returns. When he who is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away, for then we shall see him face to face and be like he is. Now, speaking in tongues, how is it used most beneficially? I Corinthians, 13 -- like all the other manifestations: I Corinthians 13:1 -- 3: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not [the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation] {charity}, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. [That's right.] And though I have {the gift of} prophecy, {and} understand {all mysteries, and} all knowledge [all wisdom, even]... ... give my body to be burned, [if I] {and} have not [the love of God in manifestation] {charity}, it profiteth me nothing. Nothing wrong with the manifestations, but it's me oh, Lord, because I'm outside of the renewed mind -- manifestation of love. And inside of the church, and inside of your individual life and walk, the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, is the greatness with which these manifestations can be used most beneficially. It's a tremendous truth. We have two booklets that are available to you. One is entitled: "Why I Speak In Tongues" done by our own Reverend Peter J. Wade, and this, of course, is a real blessing to people because of his denominational and religious background. The other one is my little booklet on "Speaking In Tongues." This, of course, is entirely enlarged in the big volume on "Receiving The Holy Spirit Today." But, these two booklets, "Speaking In Tongues" and "Why I Speak In Tongues," are available to you. And it will help you to understand the greatness of God's wonderful, matchless Word. Nothing -- nothing in your life, is so satisfying as to be able to do God's will. And knowing God's Word, regarding speaking in tongues, you, certainly now, want to manifest forth the power of God. Surely you want to speak the wonderful works of God. Surely you want to magnify God. Surely you want your life to be pleasing to God. END OF SEGMENT 65 Segment 66: YE SHALL FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 66 YE SHALL I know that you would like to receive into manifestation the power of the fullness of the holy spirit. I know that you would like to speak the wonderful works of God and magnify God. And so, now, I'm going to help you to manifest the power of the holy spirit, just like I've helped hundreds and hundreds of other people across the nations of the world. And there's one thing I want to tell you, and that is that, if you can believe God's Word, and surely you can believe God's Word, for of all the times that we've been in the depth of the greatness of God's Word, you have seen the mathematical exactness, the scientific precision with which it works. And that God's Word is faithfull, what He has promised, He is not only willing to perform, but He's able to perform, not only able but willing. And therefore, I can assure you upon the integrity of God's Word, that you will be speaking in tongues the wonderful works of God and magnifying God. I'd like for you just to take your Bible, and what other materials you have, and just lay them to the side. And you just forget about them for the time being, and you just listen to me. Just let me unfold the keys to you, and within the next few minutes, you too will be speaking the wonderful works of God. You know, in Acts, chapter 2, in verse 4, it says: Acts 2:4: And they were all filled with the holy spirit ... They were all filled -- nobody got missed, just nobody. And, in my classes on Power For Abundant Living, nobody ever gets missed, because, if you're in this class, you've heard the Word, you've believed God's Word, God is always faithful. And nobody ever misses, if you'll do exactly what I tell you to do, right down to the minute detail. It's like, in I Thessalonians, chapter 2, verse 13. Remember where the Apostle Paul said: "I thank my God, that, when you received the Word of God which you heard of us, you received it not as the word of man, but as it is in truth, the Word of God." I Thessalonians 2:13: For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Now, if you'll be as honest with God as that Word of God says, you too can walk into the greatness of the manifestation of the power of God. But, if you think this is just V.P. Wierwille talking, you'll never get it. But if you know that what I am saying -- it's V.P. Wierwille saying it, but these are words which the Holy Ghost has spoken and is utilizing and speaking to you through my ministry and my life, then you too will manifest forth the greatness of the power of God. If you will, literally, do what I tell you and ask you to do, and show you why, then you can walk into the greatness of this power, like all the rest of us have, and manifest forth the greatness of this abundance of God, the wonderful power of God. You know, before you can tap any of God's resources, you must know, number 1: what's available, remember? Well, you know the holy spirit's available as a gift to you, you received it when you were born again of God's spirit, right? You must know how to receive it, and what to do with it, after you've got it. Now, you have received it when you were born again of God's spirit. Now, what to do with it -- how to receive it into manifestation is what I'm concerned about now. How to bring this, which you have received in here, out there, so that you can speak the wonderful works of God. Remember Acts 2, verse 4 said: Acts 2:4: And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [they were all filled with the holy spirit], and [they] began to speak ... They did the speaking -- they did the speaking. Have you ever thought through the mechanics of speech? That's the key. You have to do the speaking. The same mechanics that are involved in speaking English, or any other language, are involved in speaking in tongues. That's right. For instance, if I would say: I love the Lord Jesus Christ, the mechanics involved in speech, what do I have to do to say; I love the Lord Jesus Christ? I move my lips, I move my tongue, I move my throat, I make the sounds, I have to think, all of this is involved in the mechanics of speech. You have to move your lips, your throat, your tongue, you have to formulate the words, just to say: I love the Lord Jesus Christ. You say it. You say: I love the Lord Jesus Christ. O.K., what did you do? You said you moved your lips -- oh, you did more than that, look at this. (Dr. moves his lips silently) I'm moving my lips, but that didn't say it. Somebody else says, Well, I moved my tongue. (Dr. moves his tongue, silently) That doesn't do it. You see, the whole mechanics of speech is involved. You must move your lips, your throat, your tongue, everything. You have to formulate the words, you push them out. The only difference in speaking in tongues and speaking in English to you, now, when I say I love the Lord Jesus Christ -- I have to think. But when I speak in tongues, I do not think, because -- the words, for He gives the words to my spirit, which is His spirit in me, they are formulated there, I bring them up on my mouth, and I formulate them on my lips as He gives them to my spirit. I don't feel them, but I know that they're there, because I move my lips, my throat, my tongue. Now look what else I do, when I speak English, I lick my lips, and I'm real natural -- I'm real at ease. You can see that. Alright, when I speak in tongues, I speak just like this, I'm always at ease. Watch me, here I am. Look how simple and how beautifully I do this, and how at ease, and it's the same mechanics involved in speaking in tongues as speaking in English. Listen: "E-sahntah-low-shantah-mahlahkahseetow-kahshantah" See it? I lick my lips, I swallow, I move my throat, I formulate the words -- I do this. It says, they spoke in tongues, they did the speaking. You've got to move your lips, your throat, your tongue, you have to make the sound, you have to formulate the words. But what you speak, Acts 2:4, was as the spirit gave utterance: ... with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. What you speak is God's business, but that you speak is your business, understand? So, I move my lips, "Ahshatah-loshatah- malakatiki-sheentah," you see? I'm real natural, I move my lips, my throat, my tongue, I formulate the words, I make the sounds, but the words that I speak are given to my spirit as He gives the utterance. And they are words that magnify His name, and they're the wonderful words of God. This is the greatness of it. And if you understand the mechanics of speaking in English, or in any other language that you know, then, you can also speak in tongues if you're born again of God's Spirit, for the power is in you. Now, you have to do the speaking, not God, you do it. That's right. This is why, when it comes to this manifestation of tongues, speaking in tongues in the senses realm, here is how you speak. This is how you do it, this is your job, not God's. It's God's job to give it to your spirit. And I'll tell you something, God's never been late, you'll have no difficulty with God, the only difficulty we have is in our own mind and understanding what we have to do. How you speak: you move your lips, you move them, not the spirit, you do it. You move your tongue, you move your throat, you formulate the words, you do that. With the power of God that's in you, you then bring forth the wonderful, wonderful works of God. Isn't that a tremendous truth? My, and how simple and how beautiful it really is. You see, Acts, chapter 2, verse 38, is the order for the Church Age. Once more, let's read it: 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 [lambano -- ye shall manifest -- lambano -- ye shall] receive the gift of [pneuma hagion] {the Holy Ghost}. This is for the Church Age and you and I live in the Church Age. When you confess with your mouth, the Lord Jesus, believe God raised him from the dead, you got remission of sins, right? Sure. Now, it says "ye shall lambano," now you manifest, into the senses world, what you have received, spiritually, and, as you manifest, you speak the wonderful works of God -- you magnify God. That's right. Look at John, the gospel of John -- John, chapter 7 -- John 7, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John -- chapter 7, verse 37 -- a tremendous truth in here. I want to read it to you, line by line and word by word, because it deals with the great truth that you and I need to understand when you manifest forth the power of the holy spirit. John chapter 7, verse 37 John 7:37: ... Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst [if any man thirst], let him come unto me, and drink. Verse 38: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly [out of his belly] shall flow rivers of living water. Out of his belly, and the word "belly" stands for the depth of the soul of that man. Out of the innermost being of that man shall flow rivers, not little streams, but rivers of living water. You see, when you receive into manifestation the power of the holy spirit, you do not receive more spiritually, you just receive into evidence -- into manifestation in the senses world, what you already spiritually have with. That's why he said, out of their bellies. It's not that you get something new, it's that you get something manifested out which will be new to you, perhaps for the first time, when you speak in tongues. But it's already in here -- the gift is here, so the God given ability is here. Now, the act of speaking in tongues, that's your responsibility. Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water -- just up and out. Now watch it, verse 39, and it's a parentheses: Verse 39: ({But} this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should [lambano -- should] receive: for the [pneuma hagion] Holy [Spirit] {Ghost} was not yet given; because {that} Jesus was not yet glorified.) This is what he spoke and what he wrote and what he told them, before he ascended up, that out of their bellies -- out of the innermost part of their being should flow rivers of living water. So, you see, when you begin to speak in tongues -- when you start speaking in tongues, you formulate the words, you speak forth the words, and just let it bubble -- let it effervesce, not trinkle, but let it effervesce. Out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water. So, when you start speaking in tongues, let it flow, just one word after the other. You formulate the words, make the words, you pronounce them, you change them, that's right. Look at me: "E-shantah-lakasantie- losannamah. Showntah-malakaseentow-kashantah." You see how I let this flow out of me? That's what the Word says, that's what it means. And every time I do that, I'm speaking the wonderful works of God and I'm magnifying God. That's right. Look at the gospel of Luke. Luke, chapter 11, listen to this -- Luke, chapter 11, verse 11: Luke 11:11: If a son shall ask bread of any of you [who] {that} is a father, [would you] {will he} give him a stone? or if he ask a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent? Well, would you? If you had a son who was hungry, and you had bread in your house, and he asked you for bread, would you give him a stone? Would you? I'm sure you wouldn't. If that son of yours was hungry, and you had it to give, you'd give it to him. Wouldn't you? That's right. Listen: Verse 12: Or if he shall ask an egg, [would you give] {will he offer} him a scorpion? Verse 13: If ye then [as fathers], being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall [the] {your} heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to [those] {them} that ask him? And the word "ask" is the same word as the word "demand". The word that is used when you walk up to the cashier's window at a bank and you demand payment on the check. You know why you can demand payment on that check? Because the money's already in the bank for it. All you do is walk up to the cashier's window and you ask for the money for that check. How much more shall our heavenly Father give the holy spirit to them that ask Him -- in manifestation? Alright, that's what the Word says, that's what it means. I want to call one more verse to your attention. And this is in Galatians -- Acts, Romans, Corinthians, Galatians, chapter 3, -- Isn't our God wonderful? How simple He makes it. You see, the greatest cargos of life come in over quiet seas. Like the greatest ships that carry the greatest cargos come into the great harbors over quiet seas. When the oceans are rough, they lay out in the deep, but when they quiet down, that's when the great cargo ships move in. The greatest cargos of life, spiritually speaking, come in over quiet seas. And one of the things the Word of God has done to me, it has gotten quiet on the inside, so that I can receive the abundance of the power of the wonderfulness of God. Galatians, chapter 3, listen to this, verse 5: Galatians 3:5: He therefore [who] {that} ministereth to you the Spirit [who ministereth to you the spirit], and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Well, how does he do it? How do I minister the holy spirit to people? Do I do this by the hearing of faith? Yes, I do -- not by the works of the law. He who ministereth to you, and I'm going to minister to you, in manifestation, and that's exactly what I'm doing -- teaching you -- teaching you, exactly what to do. Now, what I want you to do, I want all of you to stand -- just get up, right now, and you stand. And as you're standing now, just close your eyes -- just close your eyes and just stand there, quietly. Now, remember, that when I have ministered to you the holy spirit, that the one thing I want you to do, when I say; "Speak in tongues," I want you to move your lips, your throat, your tongue, you make the sounds, you make the words -- you make them. That's right -- you make them, you do this. Now, just stand there quietly, and in a moment, I want you to do exactly what I'm going to tell you. Remember the Word of God said they opened their mouth wide as for the lighter rain? They drank in the spirit? To drink, you have to open your mouth. This is why, in John 20, when Jesus instructed the Apostles before the ascension, he breathed on them -- he opened his mouth wide and he breathed on them. You see, in a moment, I want you to open your mouth wide, and I want you to breath in. That's what I want you to do. So, while you're standing there, quietly now, you follow this instruction. Just stand there. Now, open your mouth wide. Go on, open it wide, and breath in -- wonderful. Remember, the greatest things in life come over quiet seas. It isn't that you're going to receive any more, spiritually within, you're going to manifest something out. You've already got it within because you're born again of God's spirit -- that's right. So you just breath in. Open your mouth wide. Breath in -- that's wonderful. And while you're breathing in, just thank God -- just thank God, for having filled you with the fullness of the power of His holy spirit. That's it. Don't beg Him, just thank Him for it -- just thank Him, that's all. Thank Him for filling you with the power of His holy spirit. That's it. Right now, keep breathing in and thank Him -- quietly. Just keep breathing in and thank Him quietly -- that's it -- for filling you. Wonderful. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, and by the power of God that's within me, I now minister the power of your holy spirit -- in the name of Jesus Christ. Wonderful, just keep on breathing in -- thanking the Father for filling you. Wonderful. Now, Speak In Tongues! Move your lips, your throat, your tongue -- go ahead speak it. "Eeshanta-molaka-santai" Move it, go on, speak the words, go ahead, that's wonderful, go on - that's ... speak another word, go on, don't pay any attention to what you're thinking -- no attention to what you're thinking at all. It isn't what you think. You formulate the words -- you formulate them. You spit them out -- you move your lips, your throat, your tongue -- you say it, go on! You say it, you say the words, you formulate them. You spit them out, go on. Speak the wonderful words of God, remember that. You're magnifying God, no matter what they sound like to your ears -- it's your job to speak in tongues, its God's job to give the utterance. They spoke in tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. You keep on speaking -- go on! "Eeshanta-molaka-seeto-cashantai" Wonderful, just keep on -- moving your lips, throat and tongue -- go on! That's wonderful. Formulate another word. You've got to move your lips differently -- you've got to formulate the words differently on your lips -- just formulate them differently. Make different words on your lips. Not from your mind, God's giving them to your spirit. They're in your spirit coming up on your tongue -- you have to spit them out. Get them out of the bottom of your throat, bring them up on your tongue, formulate the words on your lips. Like: "La-shantai-oo-santa- malakaseta-kasheeta-kasantai. Oo-santa" Remember, just keep on speaking, don't hesitate, don't stop. Keep right on going -- you're speaking the wonderful works of God. You're magnifying God. You are speaking in tongues the external manifestation is yours -- in the senses world, you have Christ within. So, get a little bold on it, come on, let it flow out, let it effervesce. For out of their belly -- out of their belly, shall flow rivers of living water. Out of their belly -- just let it flow! Wonderful! Glory be -- Hallelujah -- that's it! That's speaking the wonderful works of God. That's magnifying God. That is what it is to speak in tongues. Just keep it rolling -- just keep right on speaking. You see how you can speak in tongues? I'm speaking English to you. You're understanding English in your mind, but you're speaking tongues at the same time because the speaking in tongues doesn't come from your mind. For no man understandeth -- it bypasses the understanding's unfruitful, but God's giving it to your spirit. And your spirit's bring it up through your throat, you're putting out -- you're speaking forth the wonderful works of God and you're hearing me talk to you at the same time. Isn't God wonderful? Look, you're magnifying God, you're speaking the wonderful works of God. Just keep right on speaking. O.K. -- wonderful, great, glory hallelujah! Now, stop -- hold it! Stop. Now look at me. Well, now isn't God wonderful? Alright -- you see, if you can speak one word -- if you can speak one word, you can speak ten thousand words. Because, if you can speak one word, you have to have the power. You have the God given ability or else you couldn't speak one. If you can speak one, you can speak two -- if you can speak two, you can speak three. You can just keep on speaking now, and every time you're speaking remember you're edifying yourself within, spiritually -- building yourself up. You're speaking the wonderful works of God -- you're magnifying God. You have the proof, now, in the senses world that you have Christ within. That's right. That you're a joint heir with him. Isn't that wonderful? Now, I want you to do something. In a moment, I want you to speak again, just speak once more, so that you get real fluent at this real quickly. Because, you see, to learn another language, sense knowledge wise, takes months and weeks. But to speak in unknown tongues -- you learn it like that (a snap of the fingers). Because it's God who knows them, and He puts them on your spirit, you just speak it forth. The enunciation is perfect, the pronunciation is perfect, the emphasis on every word is perfect, and you're speaking the wonderful works of God. Just listen to the enunciation and the pronunciation of the words that I'll speak in tongues here. Just listen to it, listen: "Ahy-shata- lakasantai-oh-shanta-malakaseeta-kashanta. Lo-santa-malakasheeta- kasantai. Oo-santa-malakasheeta-lo-santa." Anybody who knows anything about language knows that that is a language. It is not like -- somebody would say: "Beep-beep-beep-beep boop-boop-boop-boop" That wouldn't be speaking in tongues, no that's -- no deal. But speaking in tongues is to speak a wonderful language. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, remember? Right. Now, once more, I want you all to speak in tongues, in a minute. Now, again, just get quiet. That's it. Close your eyes -- close your eyes, just get quiet. Wonderful. Father, I surely thank-you for your greatness to all of these people. Right now, move your lips, throat and tongue, right now, and start speaking again. Go on - that's it. "Ee-shana-malakaseetee-kashanta" Go on, let it roll. Just let it bubble, go on, speak some more. Just keep on speaking -- speak -- that's it, wonderful! Well, praise the Lord. Isn't God wonderful? You just keep right on speaking. That's it, that is speaking the wonderful works of God -- magnifying God. This is the greatness of God's wonderful power to you as a believer. END OF SEGMENT 66 Segment 67a: INTERPRETATION & PROPHECY: WHAT IT IS NOT & FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 67a INTERPRETATION AND PROPHECY WHAT IT IS NOT AND WHAT IT IS Now, I want to lead you into an understanding of another manifestation of the spirit, namely the Interpretation of Tongues -- not only in the understanding of it, but in the manifestation of it. This manifestation of the spirit, the interpretation of tongues, is the companion manifestation to speaking in tongues. Without interpretation of tongues, speaking in tongues is limited. It is limited to your private prayer life, and of course, this is it's greatest opportunity anyway. This is where it is to be used most of the time, in your private life. But, it is limited to your private life unless you have the companion manifestation of interpretation of tongues. Then it can be utilized in a "Believer's Meeting," in a worship service. Without this added manifestation of interpretation of tongues, speaking in tongues is limited entirely to your private prayer life. Now, when it comes to interpretation of tongues, what it is not: 1) It is not received by revelation. Interpretation of tongues is received by inspiration. You speak, and as you speak, you're inspired. You give one word and God has a second there, then He has the third there. You do not receive it by revelation, you receive it by inspiration. 2) It is not an understanding of that which has been spoken in a tongue by you. That's right. 3) And it's not a translation. A translation would be a word by word exposition of that which had been spoken in a tongue. But it's not a translation, it is an interpretation. That's right. 4) Now, furthermore, the manifestation of interpretation of tongues is not a knowing of what has been said in tongues. If you knew it, that would be sense knowledge. That's right, it's not a knowing. You see, no one can interpret what you speak in tongues. What you or what I speak in tongues -- let's say I speak in tongues. I must interpret, if I do not interpret it, no one else could know it because, what they would give would not be interpretation, it would be their own word of prophecy. Because, when we speak in tongues, the Word of God declares, we must interpret. 5) Now, it is not premeditation, remember that, it is interpretation, it's not premeditated. You don't say: "Well, tonight, I'm going to go to the believer's meeting, I'm going to speak in tongues and this is going to be the interpretation thereof - no, no, no, no! It's by inspiration, that's right, not premeditation. Now, what is the manifestation of speaking in tongues with interpretation? What is this manifestation of interpretation of tongues? And here it is: It is giving forth in your language, (which would be the language of the body of people present), the essence of that which has been spoken by you in tongues. That's right. That's the definition. Interpretation of tongues, is giving forth -- you giving forth, immediately after you have finished speaking in tongues in a believer's meeting, -- immediately -- immediately -- you do not hesitate, you do not wait, immediately, right afterwards -- you give one word, when you give one word, the second will be there, the third will be there, and finally, when you finish it out, it'll just be like a complete whole -- always. It'll be in English, for instance, in our group, here -- it'll be in English. I speak in tongues, I do not understand tongues in a believer's meeting, that's right, but the moment I finish -- the moment I finish, I give forth the interpretation. And the interpretation is giving forth in the language of the body of people present, which here would be English. If this was a German congregation, it would be in German , if it was French it would be in French. You give forth the essence -- the essence, of that which has been spoken in a tongue by you. That's what it is. You see, it is to speak forth the interpretation of that which has just been given in a tongue -- unknown tongue, by you. It is the giving forth in your language, which is the language of the body of people present, the interpretation -- the sum and substance, the essence, the gist of that which has been spoken in tongues. You see, it's not a translation. If it were a translation, it would be a word-by-word, sure. It's simply giving forth the essence, the gist, the sum and substance. For instance, if you said in the interpretation, "I the Lord will be with you always," or if you said, "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee". What's the difference? The essence, the gist, the sum and substance is the same, right? Sure. "I will never leave thee nor forsake thee," "I will be with thee even unto the very end." What's the difference? The gist, the sum and substance is the same, and the gist and sum and substance that you will give will be dependent upon your vocabulary, your education, your schooling, that's right. Because, if you do not have, for instance, the word "cantankerous" in your vocabulary, you could never use it, right. I learned this lesson when I was in the south. I heard someone give an interpretation of a message that just thrilled me. She had just spoken a beautiful message in tongues and then she stood there and gave the interpretation, and she started out as follows -- in essence this was it: "I hollered and I hollered and I hollered but ye would not harken unto me saith the Lord." Now I know the word "hollered" this will pretty well document for you what section of the country I was in at the time, because, in my vocabulary, ordinarily, I do not use the word "hollered." If I gave the essence of that, the gist, the sum and the substance, I would have said: "And I called you and I called you and I called you and you didn't harken unto me." Now that would be, most likely, the way I would have said it. But in her vocabulary, as she gave forth the gist, the sum and the substance, she said: "And I hollered and I hollered, and I hollered, but you wouldn't listen to me." Well, the essence would have been the same, right? That's what interpretation is. Immediately -- immediately when you're through speaking in tongues there will be one word in English there -- one word in English. You give that English word, you give it, just keep on giving it, one after the other, and as you give forth those English words, you'll give the gist, the sum, the substance of that which you've just spoken in tongues and that will be the interpretation. And that interpretation will edify the whole body of believers because it's going to exhort them -- that's right. 1) Number 1: it will exhort them, and 2) Number 2: it will give them comfort, quiet acquiescence END OF SEGMENT 67a Segment 67b: INTERPRETATION & PROPHECY; HOW TO MANIFEST FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 67b INTERPRETATION AND PROPHECY HOW TO MANIFEST INTERPRETATION OF TONGUES AND PROPHECY In dealing with the manifestation of the interpretation of tongues, which is a companion manifestation to speaking in tongues, I want to continue to remind you that speaking in tongues is the greatest manifestation of all for the individual believer. Because there's only one manifestation of the spirit that edifies this new creature of Christ in you and builds you up. If you will speak much in tongues in your private prayer life -- if you will speak much in tongues in your private life, then, all the rest of the manifestations will begin to work very effectively in your life, if you know how to work them -- if you know your job, what you have to do. This is why I'm teaching you the interpretation of tongues, so that, in a believer's meeting where 2 or 3 believers are gathered together, and if you speak in a tongue, you know how to interpret. Now, interpretation of tongues is inspired utterance -- it's not received by revelation, it's inspired utterance. It is what I call, many times, enthusiastic believing. You're born again of God's spirit, you have this spirit within, Christ within you, you speak in tongues and you're inspired -- you're inspired, because Christ is in here. You see, I do not need to have to go around and sing a song or six or seven songs until I get inspired, I have Christ me, he is the inspiration -- he is that inspiration, Christ in me. Now I have the spirit of God within me, so I am inspired, I speak in tongues and then I give the interpretation, immediately -- immediately after I'm through speaking in tongues. I give the first word, and as I speak, as I give the word, then the next word is given to me by the spirit, and I just keep speaking and speaking and speaking, and this is the interpretation -- this is giving the interpretation. This is how the manifestation of the interpretation of tongues operates. This is how you interpret. How do you interpret? God doesn't interpret, God gives it to your spirit, you have to do the interpreting. Now, all the manifestations of the spirit, with the exception of speaking in tongues, operate exactly as this one -- always the same. And here's the greatest key on this: God's Spirit teaches your spirit. Your spirit, you will remember, is God in Christ in you -- holy spirit (pneuma hagion). But it's yours because He's given to you as a gift, right? So, now God's Spirit -- I have just spoken in tongues -- I have just brought a message in tongues, now, God's Spirit, then, teaches your spirit and your spirit teaches your mind. You see, this spirit of God in me is one thing, but I also am body and soul man. This spirit in me is part of me now, it's my gift, God's gift to me. Now, I have a mind and the mind is part of the body and soul man. So God's Spirit teaches His spirit in me, and this spirit within me, sends it up to my mind and I know it, just like that I give forth the word, that's right. You see, you speak forth the interpretation -- you speak it forth. God gives it to your spirit, your spirit gives it to your mind and you give it out. That's how you do it. Now, you always give the first word, give that first word, right after you're through speaking in tongues, give the first word. Always give that one word. Don't worry about whether you have 2, 3 or 4 words, there will be one word there. You know why? I Corinthians 14:13 said: I Corinthians 14:13 Wherefore let him who speaketh in an {unknown} tongue [believe] {pray} [to] {that he may} interpret. If you're going to interpret, God has to have at least one word there. That's right. Do you know where most of the error comes from in interpretation of tongues? They're waiting to have 6 - 7 words. It never operates this way. There will be at least one, there may be two or three words there, but I'll guarantee, upon God's Word, that there will be at least one word. There has to be, because, when you speak in tongues, how are you going to interpret if there isn't one word? There will be, I guarantee you, at least one word. So, the moment you finish speaking in tongues, give that one word - - or if there are two there, give the two. Never wait to have it all, you know why? It's just like taking water out of a faucet, you can't get the second drop of water out of a faucet until you accept the first one. Right? Sure it's right. The third drop of water cannot be received out of a faucet until you've accepted the first and the second. The 4th drop cannot be received until you've accepted the 1st, 2nd and 3rd. In interpretation, it's just like that. Give that first word -- give that first word, it's inspired utterance, and as you give that first word, the second will be there, then the 3rd then the 4th, then the 5th, and it will always round itself out, for it will be a message from God or for God, specifically to the people -- to the body of believers, and it will edify, exhort and comfort that body of believers. It will always do that, and it will always be in the essence of "Thus saith the Lord," it's a message from God -- it's not a prayer, it's a message from God, or it's a message for God, directly to God's people. That's exactly it. Because, this is exactly how you have to do it, see. It is God's will for everyone to interpret, as we've just seen here again from I Corinthians 14:13. It is giving the gist, remember that, of that which has been spoken in a tongue by you in a believer's meeting. You never interpret in your private prayer life. Boy, if you do, you're going to get in the soup because you will be out of line and old Satan will trick you. You see, Satan cannot speak in tongues, that's one thing he cannot do. But Satan can interpret -- he acts like he gives interpretation, Satan can prophesy, Satan can give what is the counterfeit of word of knowledge, word of wisdom, discerning of spirits, faith, miracles and healing -- he counterfeits the whole shooting match, but Satan cannot speak in tongues, that's right. That's why I teach you so accurately on interpretation. Never interpret in your private prayer life -- never! Because, speaking in tongues in your private prayer life is prayer and praise to God, speaking devine mysteries and secrets which edifies and builds up the inner man which is Christ in you the hope of glory. But, in a believer's meeting, when you get together in a believer's meeting and you speak in tongues, then you have to -- you must interpret. And to interpret is to give the gist, the sum and substance of that which has just been spoken in tongues by you. It is also for the edification of the body of Christ, the church, even as prophecy. Look at 14, verse 3: I Corinthians 14:3 {But} he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. I Corinthians 14:5 [Now], I would that ye all spake with tongues, but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret ... You see, when you interpret, the interpretation will edify by exorting and comforting God's people, it'll always have those characteristics and those qualities. This is why tongues with interpretation equals prophesy, with the exception of the prophecy of a Prophet. The prophecy of a Prophet can have some F.O.R.E. in it, fore-telling -- fore-telling. But the prophecy of a believer, not a Prophet, will always simply have forth-telling, declaring it. You never get guidance -- you never get guidance from tongues with interpretation or prophecy -- never -- never get guidance. Guidance comes from revelation, Word of Knowledge; Word of Wisdom; and Discerning of Spirits. Those revelation manifestations are the ones that give the guidance. You do not get guidance from tongues with interpretation. You get edification of the body of believers which will exhort and comfort them, not guidance. Understand that? Please remember it. Because, many times Satan -- Satan uses interpretation and prophecy to give guidance. And this is never genuine, it's counterfeit, because interpretation of tongues as well as prophecy never gives guidance. It always gives edification which will exhort and comfort the body of believers. And therefore when you speak in tongues and interpret, you must give forth the greatness of the power of God. Now, if you want to speak in tongues in a believer's meeting, but you do not know how to interpret, or you do not have the will to interpret, the Word of God says, "Let him that speaketh in a tongue, then be silent." You can speak silently. Can you speak silently in English? All right, go ahead and do it. Just silently, now, without moving your lips throat or tongue, say: "I love the Lord Jesus Christ." You can do it, right? So you can speak silently in tongues too. Right now, speak silently in tongues. See? So, you could sit in a church service or any other place and you could speak silently in tongues and if you speak silently in tongues, you're still speaking the wonderful works of God, you're magnifying God, you're being edified in the spirit. But inside of the believer's meeting, where you speak in tongues out loud, it must be interpreted by you the speaker, nobody else. Because, if that other person would give what they call the interpretation, it's not interpretation, it's prophecy of that other person. Because, I, when I speak in tongues, must give the interpretation. But the confusion has come in that the interpretation like in our group here would be in English, prophecy would be in English, so one person has spoken in tongues somebody else said, "Well they gave the interpretation." They didn't give the interpretation, they gave their own Word of Prophecy. But not being able to distinguish between the two because they were both in English and tongues with interpretation is just like prophecy. Do you see where the confusion has crept in? Now, the Word of God says, if you have the evidence of speaking in tongues, then, in a believer's meeting, you're obligated, you are absolutely obligated to interpret. Now, that interpretation is giving the gist, the sum and substance, the essence of that which you have just spoken in tongues and it will always edify. Now remember that, it will always edify, always -- always edify the body of believers -- always edify them every time. It will edify the body of believers by exorting and comforting them. There will always be exhortation and comfort in every message of interpretation of tongues -- every one. I'm going to speak in tongues for you, and then I'm going to interpret and I want you to listen -- I want you to listen. Now I may close my eyes, but I don't want you to close yours, I want you to watch me. I want you to see for yourself, with all the faculties you have, how I speak in tongues and then interpret. And I want you to see that interpretation will edify, it will build up. It will build you up, if you're born again of God's Spirit, it will build you up by exhorting you and by comforting you. To exhort means to encourage toward a more worthy endeavor, to comfort is to give quiet acquiescence, quiet peace, quiet serenity to you. That's what I want you to see. * Now I'm going to speak in tongues and then I'm going to interpret, you watch very carefully: "Ah-shanta-laka-santai-oo-shanta-malaka- seeto-kala. Oh-santa-malaka-shayno-kalala-maka-seeta. Sona-malaka- shantai-oo-santa-laka-lama-shaddai-oh-santa." -- "Yea, verily, it is I, the Lord thy God who have succored thee and strengthened thee. I will uphold thee and I will keep thee. Yea, verily, I have walked by thy side and I will continue to guide thee, for it is I, the Lord thy God who have called thee unto this hour, and I will hold thee forever more in the hollow of my hand." There it is. You see how I spoke in tongues and immediately -- immediately afterwards I gave the first word. As I gave the first word, I was inspired, God's Spirit taught His spirit in me which gave it to my mind and I just kept on giving , giving, giving until it was all rounded out. Now there's one thing could happen, if you went beyond what the inspiration gave in interpretation, you'd go into straight prophecy. And that prophecy would simply reiterate what you've just given in interpretation. That's right. Wouldn't be the best, but you can't hurt it any, it just isn't the right way. And so, I instruct my people minutely, because, when it comes to walking on the greatness of the power of God and the Spirit of God, I want you to walk just line-by-line and word-by-word from the greatness of God's magnificent Word. So, you see, that interpretation edified you by building you up, that's right, it encouraged you, it gave you exhortation. It's always that way, every time. For instance, if you were in a meeting and somebody got up and gave a message in tongues and then they turned around and in interpretation and they said: "Yea, verily, I say unto you, you are no good, you have walked disgracefully, you have not been obedient to God's Word" -- immediately I would know what? I would know that that person had to get that interpretation from Satan, it's possession and not interpretation at all. Because it does not edify, exhort and comfort the body of believers. That's right. So we talk about a word of prophecy, like prophesying Mr. Kennedy -- President Kennedy's going to die. What's the comfort in it? What's the exortation, what's the comfort? None what- so-ever. You see how closly aligned the genuine and the counterfeit are? You have to be a specialist in the field to separate them, that's right. Just like in money, you gave me a dollar bill, you know something? I couldn't tell the difference of whether it was genuine or counterfeit, all I ever do with money is spend it. I can't tell the difference, but I suppose you, perhaps, or someone else I know could, they look at them, they're students of it, they're specialists so they can tell whether it's genuine or counterfeit. You've got to be a specialist in God's Word or you will not separate the genuine from the counterfeit. Because the two are so closely aligned that you have to be a specialist in the Word of God to be able to separate truth from error. That's right. Now, this interpretation of tongues, just exactly what it does, again I want to reiterate, and I want you to see it over here as I go to the chart. It edifies, it builds up the body, it just doesn't build up Maggie Muggins or Herman Soloco or Johnny Jumpup, no, it builds up the entire body. Every time somebody speaks in tongues and interprets, the entire body will get something, there will be something in that interpretation for you that will just meet your need at that time. By the way, I'd better tell you that interpretation is always for that body of believers there, not for the body that's meeting next Sunday morning or the following Tuesday, nor for the neighbor across the street. That interpretation's for that group of believers right then and there at that time. That's what the interpretation's for -- always at that moment. And it edifies the body, everybody in that body is edified -- of the believers and it edifies them in the spirit? No, in the renewed mind. Speaking in tongues in my private prayer life edifies me in the spirit. But, when I speak in tongues and interpret in a believer's meeting, it's a message from God or for God to the people, and therefore it edifies the believers in the renewed mind by exhorting and by comforting them. It gives them exhortation and it gives them comfort. Now, when it comes to this matter of when will interpretation of tongues cease? It's the same as speaking in tongues was. According to I Corinthians chapter 13, it will cease when the Lord returns but not before then. And how is this manifestation of interpretation of tongues used most beneficially? With the love of God in the renewed mind, I Corinthians 13 and inside of the church -- inside of the church. Every time -- every time you speak in tongues in a believer's meeting, you must interpret, not somebody else, you must give the interpretation. And the interpretation will be the gist, the sum and the substance of that which you have just spoken in a tongue. And that will always edify the body of believers by exhorting them and encouraging them. And it's always a message from God or for God to the people in the essence of "Thus saith the Lord," in the essence of "Yea, verily, I the Lord thy God will uphold thee and keep thee," this kind of thing, it's always a message from God to God's people. PROPHECY: Now, let's go to the manifestation of Prophecy. This is the other -- third manifestation of the spirit which is delt with so much in detail in the 14th chapter of I Corinthians. These three manifestations: tongues; interpretation of tongues; and prophecy, are the three basic manifestations that are in use in a worship service. So, we want to get to the category now, understanding speaking in tongues and you are speaking in tongues, you understand how to interpret now, in a believer's meeting, the biggest thing is: do it! Get to crackin' with it -- do it, work it! Now, what about the manifestation of prophecy? Well, I told you that tongues with interpretation equals prophecy. 1 Corinthians 14:3, remember this? Here it says: I Corinthians 14:3 {But} he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort. Verse 5: I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. You see, when I prophesy, I edify the church by exortation and comfort. Prophecy is giving forth a message of God just in the language of the body of people present for instance, if I were to give a word of prophecy here in this class right now, it would be in English -- I would give it in English because, all the manifestations of the spirit are primarily for the church and its' benefit, with the exception of speaking in tongues. All manifestations operate by believing faith and if I were speaking a word of prophecy here now, it would be in the language of the body of the people present and it would edify -- edify everybody here by giving them exhortation and comfort. Now, when it comes to this manifestation of prophecy, what it is not: 1) It is not the office of a Prophet. That's right. The office of a Prophet is one of the five ministries, the charismata, the five ministries of grace. There are five ministries in the church as we have seen from Ephesians. This manifestation of prophecy is not the office of a prophet. Every born again believer who has the gift within him has the God given ability to bring forth a message in prophecy. But the prophet who has a ministry in the body as a prophet can also prophesy. That's right. The ministry of a prophet that prophesies might have some F.O.R.E. in it. This F.O.R.E.-telling would be under the ministry of a prophet. It would sound just like prophecy here, let's say it would be in English, but it would have some F.O.R.E. -- some foretelling in it. That foretelling does not come by inspiration, the foretelling comes by revelation, (Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom, Discerning of Spirits). Therefore, the ministry of a prophet -- the ministry of a prophet is of such a nature that, when he prophesies in a believer's meeting, it could be possible to have some F.O.R.E.-telling. But that F.O.R.E.-telling would not be in the category of what we call prophecy, the manifestation of prophecy of every believer, it would be by revelation, even though it sounds like the same as regular prophecy. Do you understand that difference? It's minute but it's accurate. Once more let me give it to you: If I or any other believer would speak forth a word of prophecy, it would be in the language of the body of the people present; it would only edify the body by exhorting and comforting them; it would declare forth, from God, a message from God or for God to the people, declaring it, that it would exhort and comfort them. But, let's say I was a prophet, and I would bring forth a prophecy: it could just edify, exhort and comfort the body of believers. This would just be forth-telling. If it had some F.O.R.E.-telling in it, then that F.O.R.E. would have come to me by revelation, (not by inspiration), by Word of Knowledge, by Word of Wisdom or Discerning of Spirits. But giving it forth in the language of you people (English) it would sound just like prophecy. That's why the F.O.R.E.-telling of a prophet is referred to in the Word of God as prophecy. Now, there are five ministries in the church. The manifestation of prophecy is not limited to those five, although all five of those can prophesy. But every born again believer -- every born again believer can prophesy. As he can speak in tongues, he can interpret; as he can interpret, he can prophesy; as he can prophesy, he could receive Word of Knowledge; Word of Wisdom; Discerning of Spirits; Faith; Miracles; and Healing. He operates or has the ability, the potential, to operate all nine as he will -- according to what the man wills. But, you see, before you can operate, you have to know how, that's why I'm teaching you how the manifestation of prophecy operates. So that, once I have taught you how, then, if you will to, you can do it, see. 2) Prophecy, the manifestation of prophecy, is not foretelling (F.O.R.E.). I'm thinking in terms that it's not foretelling of the future. This is what the other side of this spiritual world is constantly trying to say, that prophecy is foretelling of the future, this kind of thing - - no, no! 3) It's not preaching. I heard a conservative Biblical man say, some time ago, that the "gift" of prophecy -- well he was wrong on the first count, it wasn't a gift to begin with. And the word "prophecy" he said was preaching, that some men had more ability in preaching, they had the real gift of prophecy. Had God meant preaching, you know what He would have said? Preaching. He's got it in His vocabulary, or his men did, because He used it in the Word. The manifestation of prophecy is not preaching. You see, preaching is the art of publicly expounding the scriptures. Is supposed to be, today it's degraded to where preaching is almost anything else but the art of publicly expounding the scriptures. But be that as it may, the manifestation of prophecy is not the foretelling of the future, it's not preaching. 4) And it's not fortune telling, that's for sure! 5) And it's not training, natural ability. 6) And prophecy is not knowing a message ahead of time. It's not premeditated, no more so than interpretation of tongues. Remember I told you, you just don't make up your mind, "Well, I'm going to the believer's meeting tonight, and I'm going to speak in tongues and this is going to be the interpretation." Nope! Likewise in prophecy. Prophecy is not premeditation. You don't premeditate and say, "Well, I'm going to the believer's meeting tonight and this is the message I'm going to have from God: I'm ..." Nope! It's by inspiration, it comes from the inside out. This is why -- what is it -- what is it? Look here, the manifestation of prophecy, what it is: It is giving forth in your language, which is the language of the body of the people present -- it is giving forth in your language a message directly from God to the body of believers. This is why the word of prophecy in this group would immediately be in English. That's right. For instance, it would be like this, it is bringing forth -- it is the bringing forth in the language of the body of the people present a message directly from God which will edify, exhort and comfort the body of believers. It's always supernatural, it works by the spirit, again The Spirit teaches your spirit; your spirit teaches your mind. For instance, if I would give a word of prophecy, it would be in the essence of what I'm going to do now. I'm going to give you a word of prophecy, just demonstrate to you how The Spirit of God operates within the soul of a man, within the person of a man, and then you bring it forth. Now watch: "Yea, verily, it is I The Lord thy God, who has succored thee and strengthened thee. I will uphold thee, I will keep thee. Yea, verily, I walk by thy side to undergird thee and sustain thee, for I am The Lord thy God and I will continue to be with thee forever." Now, isn't that wonderful? You see, it edified the body by exhorting and comforting -- by exhorting and by comforting. So, God's Spirit gives it to your spirit, your spirit gives it to your mind. And this is why it does just the very thing that is here on the chartboard. What it does, it edifies the body of believers in the renewed mind by exhorting and by giving them comfort. This is what it does. It edifies the body of believers. Now, it is always be inspiration -- always by inspiration, never by revelation -- always by inspiration, and it is always forth-telling -- forth-telling, declaring. It's speaking a message from God or for God to the people in the language of the body of the people present. It is for the edification of the church of Jesus Christ, the body. That's right. Now, in I Corinthians, chapter 14, look what it says in verse 39: I Corinthians 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, ... Covet to prophesy -- this is the one manifestation, if the body of believers is fully instructed and taught, this is what ought to be happening in every believer's meeting. There should be a word of prophecy or two words of prophecy or three people prophecying, every time in a body of believers, because the prophecy is always a message from God or for God. It's just like God being right there at that time, speaking to that particular group at that particular hour, and it's always that direct and it's always that personal. And we ought to covet, means to earnestly desire to prophecy, see. And then it says also in that verse, we should not forbid speaking in tongues: ... {and forbid not to speak with tongues}. But when we speak in tongues in a believer's meeting, it must be interpreted, that the body may receive edifying. So, in I Corinthians 14:31, it tells us that: I Corinthians 14:31 For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. It is for the learning and the comfort of all of God's people. And according to I Corinthians 14:1, it is to be preferred above all other manifestations in the worship service because "I would rather that ye prophesy" it says. Because -- you understand why now? If you're well instructed, well schooled, and everybody knows, you're a believer and you've been fully instructed, you know the score, then you come to the believer's meeting, you give a word of prophecy. And that prophecy is in English, and it will edify: exhort and comfort, the body of believers. While, if there are unlearned people present, born again but unlearned or uninstructed, then the thing they need is speaking in tongues with interpretation, because that is a sign to those "unbelievers." So, it is to be preferred above all and this makes this manifestation so truly wonderful because it edifies you: it exhorts you, it gives you comfort. This is the greatness of God's wonderful power. And then, of course, you ask: When will it cease? It will cease just like the other manifestations of the spirit, with the return of Christ written in I Corinthians 13. When he comes back and we see him face to face, then -- until then, however, we have this manifestation. And how is it used most beneficially? Again, like all the other manifestations, with love, the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, inside of the church. Why? Because The Word of God is The Will of God, it means what it says and says what it means, and it will edify -- edify, that it will, the manifestation of prophecy will edify the entire body of believers by exhorting them and by comforting the entire body. END OF SEGMENT 67b Segment 67c: INTERPRETATION AND PROPHECY FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 67c "INTERPRETATION AND PROPHECY" We are now in our final session of this tremendous Biblical research class on Power For Abundant Living. And in this final section, I want to go back to the Word of God and read a number of sections of The Word of God with you that deal with this tremendous subject of the manifestation of Prophecy. In Luke, chapter 1, in verse 67, it gives us the record of Zacharias who was the father of John the Baptist and it says: Luke 1:67 {And} his father [talking about John the Baptist's father] Zacharias was filled with [pneuma hagion, the holy spirit] {the Holy Ghost}, and prophesied, saying, Now I want you to listen to this prophecy because it will have to edify: exhort and comfort. Verses 68 -- 79: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel; for he hath visited and redeemed his people, 69 And hath raised [us] up an horn of salvation for us in the house of his servant David; 70 As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began: 71 That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; 72 To perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant; 73 The oath which he sware to our father Abraham, 74 That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear, 75 In holiness and righteousness before him, all the days of our life. 76 And thou, child, ... Now listen carefully, Verse 76: And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; 77 To give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, 78 Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, 79 To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. There is the end of the prophecy of Zacharias. Look how it edifies (exhorts and comforts), how it builds up. And it says in that 76th verse that this child was to be the prophet, the forerunning prophet of the Highest, that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at the comfort -- look at the comfort in that prophecy. When John the Baptist was born and this prophecy was given, what a tremendous blessing this was to the people, especially how it exhorted and comforted the father and mother. He's going to be a forerunner, he's going to go ahead of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he's going to call people back to remission of sins and so forth. How in the world is he going to do this if he's going to die with mumps when he's six years old? How in the world is he going to do this if he ends up being an alcoholic? He's not. Look at the comfort in it for the mother and father, he's going to grow up. It said that he would never drink strong wine or drinks. They never had to worry about this boy being found in a saloon or tavern, drunk -- being an alcoholic. They knew that no automobile could kill him -- they knew there was no knife could cut his throat. For how could he be the forerunner of the lord Jesus Christ and get his throat cut when he was 16? How could he be in an automobile accident and get killed at 18, and be the forerunner of the Lord Jesus Christ -- if they'd had automobiles? You see the comfort, the exhortation in a word of prophesy? In Luke, chapter 2, in verse 25 of Luke, chapter 2, listen to this record: Luke 2:25 -- 35: {And}, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon; and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the [holy spirit] {Holy Ghost} was upon him. The holy spirit was upon him: Verse 26: And it was revealed [revealed -- revelation: Word of Knowledge, Word of Wisdom -- it was revealed] unto him by the [holy spirit] {Holy Ghost}, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Again, there was no bullet made, no knife made, nothing made that could kill this man of God until after he had seen the Lord's Christ. Because it had been revealed to him that he would live until he had seen the Lord's Christ. Verse 27: And he [Simeon] came by the Spirit into the temple: ... He didn't come just accidentally, he was in the temple at the right time because he came by the spirit. God revealed to him -- told him, by Word of Knowledge and Word of Wisdom, when to go to the temple -- when to be there. And he came by the spirit into the temple: ... and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, 28 Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Listen to this: 29 Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, ... Look at the comfort in it: ... and the glory of thy people Israel. Isn't that a tremendous record? 33 And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. 34 And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, ... Now listen to this prophecy: ... Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; 35 (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Look at the exhortation, the comfort -- the edification that came from the message of this man, Simeon, as he gave it forth that day when Joseph and Mary came in with Jesus, into the temple. So, you see, the manifestation of prophecy will always edify (exhort and comfort) the body of believers. So we have these three foundational worship manifestations: we have Speaking In Tongues (which must be interpreted in a believer's meeting) or we have Prophecy. If everybody is fully instructed, the greatest thing in the church is prophecy. Speaking forth in the language of the body of the people present a message directly from God or for God unto edification (exhortation and comfort). But if there are, among the believers there, those who are uninstructed or unlearned, speaking in tongues is a sign to them. A sign that there are greater things that they must get. And this sign will build them up so it will be a blessing to their soul also. So, inside of the church, we have these tremendous privileges of operating these manifestations of the spirit so they're blessings to everyone in the fellowship. You see, the charismata -- gifts of grace, God to man, this way down, become doria -- beneficium on an horizontal plane, bringing God's blessings to God's people. And today, this is what we need in the church. We need men, born again of God's Spirit, with the ministries of Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors and Teachers, walking boldly before God, bringing God's Word to God's people. So that God's people, once again, can be set free. That's right. I want to take you back to what I consider to be one of the finest charts in this entire class, that has almost the whole class wrapped up in one chart. And that, again, is: at the top is God -- God who is The Giver, and God is HOLY and God is SPIRIT, with a capital H and a capital S. And when we know what to believe and how to believe, we can receive God's gift. And without receiving God's gift, a man may be a good man, he may be a great Philanthropist, he may be a loving soul, but he is still dead in trespasses and sins without God and without hope in this world. He has no eternal life abiding with him, if he dies tonight, he is not heaven bound. That man must get born again of God's Spirit, to become body, soul and spirit, and when he is born again of God's Spirit, he receives God's gift because God can only give what He is and that is His gift which is holy spirit with a small "h" and a small "s". It is His gift which is Christ in you the hope of glory. And this is the power, this "Christ in you," that's the power -- that's the power -- that's the power which is from God. This is what you have when you're born again and filled with the holy spirit. You cannot see this gift for it's spirit, you can't smell it, you can't taste it, you can't touch it. There are only nine ways in which this spiritual gift can be evidenced or manifested in the senses world. And the manifestations in the senses world are: Speaking In Tongues; Interpretation of Tongues and Prophecy. These are the three that I've taken you through, thoroughly, in this Foundational Class on Power For Abundant Living. There are six others: Word of Knowledge; Word of Wisdom; Discerning of Spirits; Faith; Miracles; and Healing. These other six, I handle in a very special class called the Advanced Class on Power For Abundant Living. But, these six do not operate automatically any more than these three operate automatically, until people are taught. You must be taught the accuracy of God's Word on these manifestations the same as I have taught you on the first three. The reason you can speak in tongues is because I taught you how, we went through the Word of God and read it. The reason you can interpret is because you've been taught how, the reason you can give a word of prophecy is because you know how. You can have this here within you, you can be born of God's Spirit, but if you do not know how, with a capital H., a capital O. and a capital W. If you do not know how to Speak In Tongues, you will never in your lifetime, Speak In Tongues. There are thousands upon thousands of born again believers through the centuries who have been born again of God's Spirit who have never spoken in tongues. They went to heaven, sure, but they could have had such a richer life here upon earth. They could have manifested the more abundant life so many, many more times, had they just known what was available in the senses world, had someone just taught them. And our ministry in the world, today, is to unfold the ineffable greatness of God's Word, the inherant accuracy of that Word, and make it so simple and so plain, that not even a child needs to misunderstand. That they can get born again of God's Spirit and manifest the only nine manifestations that are in the senses world, for any born again believer and that is that they can Speak In Tongues; Interpret; Prophesy; operate Word of Knowledge; Word of Wisdom; Discerning of Spirits; and Faith; Miracles; and Healing. This is The Word of God and, ladies and gentlemen, The Word of God is The Will of God. END OF SEGMENT 67c Segment 68: BENEDICTION FOUNDATIONAL CLASS TRANSCRIPTIONS Segment 68 BENEDICTION Now in the closing moments or in the closing section of this particular class -- Foundational Class on Power For Abundant Living, you wonder what you should say to your people. And you see, sense knowledge wise, I could say a lot of things. But I believe that no one can say it as perfectly and as wonderfully as God says it in His Word. And therefore I'd like to take you into the greatness of God's Word, again. To show you in these final sessions, some of that abundance of God's wonderful power that's available to men and women in this, our particular day, our time and our age. I'd like to turn to Ephesians. Ephesians is the greatest revelation that has ever been given to the church. Nothing is any greater than the revelation in the book of Ephesians. And you see, constantly you'll remind yourself that the greatest secret in the world today -- the greatest secret in the world today is that the Bible is, not maybe, but that it is the revealed Word and Will of God. That's the greatest secret in the world today, that the Bible is the revealed Word and Will of God. And that the Bible -- the Bible, God's Word, means what it says and says what it means, and that God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it; why He says it; how He says it; to whom He says it; when He says it. You see, the first great revelation in the church is in the book of Romans; the next record is in Corinthians. Corinthians was written to correct the practical error that crept into the church because of the failure of the adherence to the revelation in the book of Romans. Galatians was written to correct the doctrinal error that crept into the church because of the failure of adhering to the revelation given in the book of Romans. You see, once you move away from a truth of a revelation, you begin practicing error. After you've practiced error for a while, you make a doctrine out of it -- you make a doctrine out of it. This is why the book of Galatians corrects the doctrinal error that had crept into the church because they had practiced wrong things according to Corinthians, of the revelation which was given in the book of Romans. So you have Romans, Corinthians, Galatians. Then comes Ephesians, Ephesians is the greatest revelation that has ever been given to the church. Philippians corrects the practical error that crept into the church due to the failure of the adherence to the revelation given in the book of Ephesians. Then Colossians -- Colossians corrects the doctrinal error which has crept into the church due to the wrong practice and the failure of adherence of the revelation given in the book of Ephesians. Then the next church epistle is the one of Thessalonians, and of course, Thessalonians stands by itself because it speaks about the return of Christ, the gathering together, when God shall come for His own, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive shall be changed, and so shall we be joined with the Lord forever. So, if you'll read the church epistles in the light with which I have just shared them they'll open up whole new vistas of understanding for you. The book of Ephesians, as I said, the greatest revelation, and in the first chapter of this wonderful book of Ephesians, it says in verse 11: Ephesians 1:11 In whom [in God in Christ] also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of Him who worketh all things after the counsel of His {own} will: 12 [to the end] That we should be to the praise of His glory, [You and I should be to the praise of His glory] who first trusted in Christ. 13 In whom {ye} also {trusted}, after that ye heard The Word of Truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest [the guarantee] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. Isn't that a tremendous truth? 15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, 16 Cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; If you will accept this Word as coming to you directly from God and from the bottom of my heart also, that's exactly what I'm trying to say to you in this closing session. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers. 17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: 18 [That] The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know [that you may know that you know that you know] what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the glory of His inheritance [is] in the saints, 19 And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, 20 Which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, 21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, 23 Which is his body, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all. What a tremendous record! Listen to chapter 4, verse 8: Ephesians 4:8 Wherefore {he saith}, When he [Jesus Christ] ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, ... Everything that's ever enslaved you and me, every devil spirit that's ever troubled us, as far as God in Christ is concerned, for the believer, when Christ ascended up on high, he led captivity, that which captivates people, the believers -- he led captivity captive, ... and gave gifts unto men. And this is what He gave, Verse 11: And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; And He gave these five ministries 12 For the perfecting of the saints, [with a view of] {for} the work of the ministry, [with a further view of] {for the} edifying [building up] {of} the body of Christ: 13 [until -- they're here until] {Till} we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: What for? 14 That we henceforth [from now on] be no more children, tossed to and fro, {and carried about} with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight {of men}, and cunning craftiness [of men], whereby they lie in wait to deceive; Isn't that something? That we be no more children tossed to and fro, that's right! I want you to get to the place and be at the place in your life now, that you know, that you know, that you know, that you know and that you're not thrown about with every wind of doctrine. That you just know God's Word and you believe God's Word -- God's Word is God's Will, it means what it says and it says what it means. This is what I want you to do. That's right. This is why, if at any time -- if at any time I can be of help to you, if I can help you or any of our people can help you, if this is true, and we can be of service to you, I'd like for you to write to me, just write: THE TEACHER, New Knoxville, Ohio, 45871. Just write to me. Anytime it's addressed to "The Teacher," it always comes to me, personally. You just write to me if we can be any help to you in understanding it and helping you with the greatness of God's Word or in any other way, whereby we can help you. Now look at Ephesians, chapter 6. After all this wonderful teaching on God's Word -- after the greatness, the wonderfulness, and the tremendousness of His Word, look what it says in verse 10: Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, [Finally my brethren, I want you to] be strong in the Lord, ... Strong in the Lord, not strong in what a theologian may say, not strong in what a Bible teacher may say. But if that theologian says what the Word says, if that Bible teacher says what the Word says, then you've got to be strong in what they say, because we're to be strong in the Lord, but you've got to be sure that it's the right Lord Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and [be strong] in the power of His might [in the power of His might]. 11 Put on the whole armour of God [you'll need it], ... Put on the whole armor of God, never be satisfied with just being a bare Christian -- be a clothed one -- a clothed one with the whole armor of God -- the whole armor! And if you're going to put on the whole armor, you're going to have to speak in tongues much in your private life, that's right. You're going to have to interpret in a believer's meeting. You're going to have to bring words of prophecy in a believer's meeting. You're going to have to learn how to receive Word of Knowledge; Word of Wisdom; Discerning of Spirits so that you can carry out Faith; Miracles and Healing in your day by day living, if you're going to manifest the more abundant life. Therefore He said, put on the whole armor. This is my believing for you, that you will be able to put on the whole armor of God, ... that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness [from on high] {in high places}. Our fight, our battle, is not in the senses realm with Johnny Jumpup, or Snowball Pete, or Henry Boloko, or Maggie Muggins. Our fight is always a spiritual one, it's fighting spiritual powers, wickedness, devil spirits, evil spirits, who say they're the right spirits. That's why we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual powers. 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, ... Don't settle for anything less, don't let anybody talk you out of it. You take unto yourself the whole armor of God, ... that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, {to} stand! That's it! Just never budge on God's Word -- just never budge on God's Word, for God's Word is God's Will, it means what it says and it says what it means. And the greatest secret in the world today is that The Word of God is The Will of God, that it means what it says and it says what it means. And that God has a purpose for everything He says, where He says it, why He says it, how He says it, to whom He says it. I like for you to turn to Ephesians, chapter 3 -- Ephesians, chapter 3, verse 16. This is a prayer in here, and this is my prayer and my benediction for you, verse 16: Ephesians 3:16 That he [God] would [give you or] grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; Speak much in tongues, that you will be strengthened with might in the inner man. Verse 17: That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted [rooted] and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend [not apprehend, but that you may be able to comprehend] with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Oh, isn't that wonderful? Filled with all the fullness of God is my prayer for you. Verse 20: Now unto Him who {that} is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, 21 Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. I'd like to pray for you: Our loving Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ and by the power of God, I bring to you every person who has heard this class on Power For Abundant Living. And Father, in the name of Jesus Christ I pray, that the greatness of this Word will continue to live and magnify itself in every believer's life. That every person who has sat under this teaching ministry will so be filled with the power of God, that the greatness of your love and mercy will just abound in their life. Father, I give to you every person, every child, and every young person and every adult, and in the name of Jesus Christ, Father, bless them abundantly according to your Word, and keep them in the hollow of your Holy Hand. The Lord bless you, my people, and the Lord continue to make Himself magnified among you, and continue to be gracious unto you, through the power of His Holy Spirit, until eternity. In Jesus Christ's precious name, Amen and AMEN. THE END (of the Foundational Class) ----------------------------------- ----------------------------------- SOME COLLATERAL MATERIAL Fragments of Collaterals and from Websites with studies by V. P. Wierwille: We have an awesome responsibility to make known the mystery. Although revealed almost 2000 years ago, it has remained secret for much of that time. In fact, the Apostle Paul wrote in Timothy that before the end of his life most of the believers had turned away from this truth. Many in our day and time were taught the mystery in a class called Power for Abundant Living taught by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille. As part of that class, I received a small booklet titled: "The Church (the Great Mystery Revealed)." In the introduction Dr. Wierwille wrote the following: "When the first century believers failed to continue to act in light of the great mystery as unfolded so magnanimously in the epistle to the Ephesians, they lost the true teaching concerning the mystery which is the center of all true Christian faith, the one body of Christ. The immediate consequence of the loss of this truth of the great mystery produced glowing errors. It initiated the different so-called "bodies" with all the subsequent division and schism in the church body. Instead of rightly dividing the word of truth and recognizing the "one body" which God made (Ephesians 4:4), men set about making their own ecclesiastical bodies and sects. The truth as to the believer's perfect standing before God in Christ was the next major loss. The truth as to what God made every believer to be in Christ, how every believer is justified by the faith of Jesus Christ and saved by God's grace was all basically lost. Failing to adhere to the truth the teachers began to propagate error regarding the Lord's promised return from heaven, the gathering together and the resurrection. Preparation for death and judgment replaced the great hope of the blessed return of Christ. Spiritual darkness engulfed the Christian world, and religion (man-made forms of worship) became the norm of Christianity. This all-pervading spiritual sterility is yet around us, upon us and in us. We have not recaptured the truths of the revelation of the great mystery. The first truth to be lost is always the last to be recovered." Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille Dr. Wierwille points to a number of errors in teaching and practice that result from turning away from the revelation of the great mystery. First, those who lose sight of this truth begin to form divisions and ecclesiastical bodies. Second they lose sight of their perfect standing in Christ, their justification and salvation by grace. Finally, they begin teaching about death and judgment rather that the great hope of the return of Christ and the gathering of the Church. Let us continue in the truth we have been taught and live the abundance that God has provided for us as members of the ONE BODY. http://www.redbay.com/ekklesia/mustern.htm ----------------------------------- 16 Keys to Walking in the spirit One: To receive revelation you must first become meek. Two: Stand fast on what you have received. God will not tell you a second time until you obey what he has already told you. Three: Speaking in Tongues daily (it alerts you to receive Revelation). Four: Study the Word much. What you can know by the five senses God expects you to know. Five: Travel Light. Six: Action precedes results. Believing without works is not believing. Seven: Wait until "Green Light" Revelation. Eight: Do not tell all you know. Recieve the Word of Wisdom. Nine: It may be essential to put unbelievers (or unbelief) out of the room. Ten: Inspired action and inspired utterance may be essential. Eleven: Do not be deceived by the five senses. Twelve: Do not argue with God. Thirteen: Revelation once given may change. (God may change the revelation after the circumstances change.) Fourteen: Revelation given twice is established. Fifteen: Watch and be ready. Revelation may come at the most likely or unlikely places and times. Sixteen: When you stumble, pick yourself up. Walking involves a learning process. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE ADVANCED CLASS ON POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING Segment 1 "THE LIFE STYLE OF GOD'S WORD" I'd like to open this Advanced Class with prayer. Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we Your people come humbly before You, and yet with great boldness, great thanksgiving, Father thanking You for the living reality of Your Word and the power of Your holy spirit. Thank You Father for allowing us to be a part of this Advanced Class and thank You for the ineffable greatness of Your Word and the wonderful power of Your holy spirit. May this Word be a living reality in our hearts and lives to the end that we may walk on it and manifest forth the greatness of Your love and power. Thank You Father for every person in the Advanced Class and all the grads. And truly, we love You and we do everything with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength to walk upon Your Word to bless Your people so make this a tremendous Advanced Class in the heart and life of every person here. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. I'd like for you to take your Bibles and go to first Thessalonians, chapter two. This is the scripture that I would like to open this Advanced Class with. Because, first of all, it's written in the "Church Epistles" which are addressed to us. Secondly it's in the book of Thessalonians which was the first epistle written but it stands last because it's the last thing that will occur and that's the gathering together. But in this wonderful epistle in chapter two, in verse thirteen we read: "For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when you received the word of God which ye [or you] heard of us, you received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of [what?] God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe." Jesus Christ, class, did a perfect work FOR us and then he did a perfect work IN us. Those two prepositions are real significant. He did a perfect work for us and then he did a perfect work in us. It is through believing His Word that we get to know the true God, class. God is spirit. We must know His Word in order to know God. You can't feel spirit, you can't smell it, you can't taste it or touch it. So you have to go to the Word in order to learn about the true God. All that they had at the time of that period of Thessalonians, was the spoken Word. They did not have the written Word yet, it became the written Word -- they spoke it then they wrote it. Today you and I, we have Thessalonians. But they didn't have it in a Bible like this; they didn't have it in a scroll, they had only the spoken Word. That's why he says "For this cause also thank we God, because, when you received the Word of God which you heard of us, . . ." It was Paul speaking, it was Paul's vocabulary. They could have said, "Oh, that's just Paul, you know." But he said, we thank God that you didn't receive it like that, but that you received it not as the word of what? Men -- not as the word of Paul, "but as it is in truth the Word of God." Paul's words were The Word of God. You and I, today, have the written Word. Our contact, class, with the Master, is through believing His Word. The Word produces results, everything else in life simply produces consequences. It's the ignorance of the basic truths, the fundamentals of the Word, that keeps people living below par. This is a class on Power For Abundant Living. Seeking wisdom, people, apart from God's Word is absolute stupidity. The greatest secret in the world today, is still up here on the chart board, hah! Says over the top, "The Word of God's The Will of God" but it's still true. And the greatest secret in the world, like I taught you in the Foundational Class, is also true in the Advanced Class. The greatest secret in the world is that the Bible is the revealed Word and Will of God. You've got to come to the Word, people, you cannot know the will of God without knowing the Word of God. No more so than you could know my will without hearing my word. If you want to know God and the things of God, class, you've got to come to the Word. Life is too short to guess. It's the Word that changes peoples' lives. It's the Word that has brought all of us here, on this occasion for this Advanced Class, in this time of history, at this moment. You and I, class, become Christ-like to the degree the Word lives within us. In the gospel of John, chapter fourteen, and in verse twenty-two -- I mean verse twelve, we have this great record: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do [what?] also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to [what?] my Father." This is the Advanced Class! First Thessalonians, two, thirteen, Advanced Class, yes. They didn't receive the Word as the word of men. You and I do not believe that this is just the word of a man, we believe that this is The Word of God. And we also believe that Jesus Christ, God's only begotten son, is our savior. When he makes a declaration, like he did here, that he told the truth. And he said "the works that I do, shall" absolute case, doesn't say will, it says shall, puts it in the absolute tense -- ye shall do "and greater works than I've done ye shall do" and he said it will happen "after I go to the Father." We are not what we are, where we are, who we are, because of people's believing. I guarantee ya. But it's our believing in what the Word of God says and what God wrought, class, in Christ Jesus within our souls that has brought us to this day and time and hour. Greater works, he said. Now the greater works could not be in the category of physical deliverance. It had to be in something that Jesus Christ could not do. Boy, if Jesus Christ was God, then we're called upon to do greater works than God? Class, that has to be almost blasphemy, right? Listen, you either have to believe that Word in John fourteen, twelve, or you cut it out of the book. You either believe it or you throw it away. Well, bless God, in The Way Ministry, where we do Biblical research, we don't have to throw it away, we just work the integrity and accuracy of the Word. The greater works of John is that you can do something Jesus Christ could not do. And if Jesus Christ had been God, we'd sure be in the soup, 'cause with God nothing's impossible, and He's a lot bigger than, you know, all this stuff. Hey, but it's still the Word. Greater works than I have done, Jesus said, you shall -- absolutely, do. You know the greater works are, or the greater work is that you and I can lead someone into the new birth. That they can get "born again," that's the greater works. Something Jesus Christ could not do, class, because it was not available. He came to make it available, but before it became available, nobody could have it. And it first became available on the day of Pentecost. Well, that's the Advanced Class! You have nothing to lose, people, by believing God's Word, except your wrong teaching and your fear. Just recently, in a note from one of our Corps people, I received this great line that just blessed my soul. That individual wrote saying: "I do not desire to be successful, so I can say "I made it!" But successful so as to be able to give." And that electrified me. That's why we're here, to become successful for God to the end that we can give what we have in our heart and life, share it with somebody else. In the Advanced Class, two major divisions: number one, to show you how men of God, how Jesus Christ, how the prophets did it; number two, doing it today. For us to become so Christ-like to the degree that the Word lives dynamically within us. Jesus Christ dared that Word, class, he spoke that Word. In second Corinthians, chapter three -- second Corinthians, chapter three, verse eighteen: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." We all with open face, changed into the same image -- the glass is a mirror -- changed into the same image. What you look at, class, you become. If you look at the negatives in life, you manifest the negatives. If you look at God and His Word, class, you become the embodiment of that Word, you begin to manifest the Word, the open face is nothing hidden. We all with an open face, like looking in a mirror, are changed into the same image. A literal translation is "Changed into the same image, one glory reflecting another glory coming from the Lord who is spirit." It's reflected in our lives because it came to us via Jesus Christ who is spirit in us. Take a look at Job, chapter twenty-three -- Job, Psalms, Proverbs -- Job, twenty-three, verse twelve: "Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his [what?] lips; [Watch it:] I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food." More than necessary physical food. You see Job never denied God's Word. I believe if Job would have died, he still would have confessed that God is his deliverer, his healer. And Job certainly had everything stacked against him, including his lovely wife. His whole family was dead, financially he was broke, he had some beautiful friends who were called "miserable comforters," yet Job never denied God's Word. Look what he said, "I have esteemed the words of his mouth [God's mouth] more than my necessary food [physical food]." Look at the Gospel of Mark, class, chapter sixteen -- Mark sixteen, verse twenty: "And they went forth, and preached [where?] every where, . . ." They went forth and preached everywhere. In that day it was a little more difficult to do it than even today. It is getting more difficult in our country, in the United States. Some of you countries represented here as brother and sister countries -- it's much more difficult than here. But look what they did, and they went and they preached the Word where? Everywhere. " . . . the Lord working with them, and confirming the word [the Word which they spoke, the Lord confirmed] with signs [what?] (following) . . ." That's why the Word that they spoke had to be God's Word or He could not have confirmed their word. You understand? The Lord -- God had believers, people, just like you. They went forth. They had freedom of will, like you do, but they made a decision. They had a desire in their hearts. They made an out-and-out commitment, to do what? To go forth and to preach, the Lord working with them. It all starts with the individual. By the freedom of your will, you make a commitment. You, by the freedom of your will, came to this Advanced Class. It was a desire on your part, it's a commitment on your part. So we have to commit ourselves to God and His Word. We have freedom of will, but we have to make the decision. They went forth everywhere, not just to places people told them they were allowed to go. They went everywhere and they spoke God's Word and it says -- look very carefully, it says "the Lord working with them." Who? The Lord working what? With them. The LORD working with them. Today in religious circles we hear such damnable teaching as the Lord working through someone, or "Give yourself over to the spirit, brother." Good lord! If I'm gonna give myself over to somebody, I'll give myself to Mrs. Wierwille! (Laughter) No! You see, but that's religion, many times called Christianity -- bunch a junk! Hey! The true God never works through anybody, He never possesses anybody, He never uses anybody. Look at your Word, I didn't write the book! The Lord working what? With them. They had freedom of will, they made the decision, and then the Lord worked what? (With them.) As they preached the Word. And what did the Lord do as He worked with them? He confirmed the Word -- He confirmed the Word that they spoke with the signs following. Signs never precede the Word, class, they follow. Signs do not follow ministries, signs follow believers. These signs follow believers -- these signs follow them that do what? Believe. Signs, miracles and wonders belong to believers -- that's when they follow, because the Lord backs up His Word. But it takes someone to believe God's Word and to speak that Word. And you're in the Advanced Class to not only learn that Word but to commit yourself, by the freedom of your will, to the great integrity and accuracy of that Word and then you speak it -- everywhere. You, people, have to become that Word. You have to become this Word of God -- YOU have to become that Word. We, the people of God today, are in the middle of the only fight that counts on this earth, and that's the moving of God's Word. It's not true because you experienced it, like we have here on the chart board. Something is not true just because you experience it, it's true because God's Word says it is. The counterfeit is so much like the genuine, if you go by what you may experience, or people may experience, you will never rightly divide God's Word in your understanding. True signs and wonders follow those that believe and rightly divide the Word of truth. Lying signs and wonders -- we have a lot of those, we'll be talking about them, I'll be reading sections of the Word of God with you, to show you the lying signs and wonders. But the first great truth you will have to set in your hearts is that it's not true because someone experienced it, it's true when the Word of God says it's true. Now, I would like to believe that, in this Advanced Class, you will become and be a maximum believer. For so long, people have listened to what men say, rather than what the Word says. The reason, class, we have such a dearth of spiritual truth made manifest today, is because man's words have gained ascendancy over God's Word. People today are living in the spiritual winter of death. In the dark night of the soul, class, mankind is in captivity, in enslavement, in defeat with frustration and fears. Class, the only way out is the Word. (Song: "I bring toil and dispair, my illusions fill the air, in my twilight you see fine, but when it's gone you must decline. In my emptiness you long to fill the hole, the pain because of ill. I entangle, I ensnare, for to you, I'm not even there. I'm not seen and you don't care, I'm not tangible, but I can tear the soul who longs to be set free from me. I'll keep him attached to the tee, for I am the dark night of the soul." "I'm a song in the night for those who long to see. When Christ is your delight, I'll bring a song -- a song in the night. I sleep from peak to peak setting free all those who seek. With my light, those who sleep are awakened. With my life, those who eat are satisfied. With my love, those who lack are full of joy. With a song in the night, you'll be strengthened for the fight. With a song in the night, you'll have might. So rest your mind; [you'll have no rest] guard your heart; awake from sleep, [you're so tired] believe the truth; [there is no truth] God's true freedom; [there is no freedom], I am the Word, you may have me, cling to me -- many more will hear my voice, [I'll cup their ears so they can't hear] I am the Lord. [I am the Lord!] A song in the night [I'll send a storm], Oh world, oh world, which way will you go? Which way will you go?" ) We have to decide which way are we going to go, the dark night of the soul, or are we going to get a song in the night? In the Gospel of Luke, in chapter four, we have one of the records that will take a man from the dark night of the soul, to giving him a song in the night. With the opening of the ministry of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, some tremendous things are stated here in Luke chapter four. "There was delivered unto him [in verse seventeen] the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book [that means scroll, you know that, you're all Foundational Class grads], he [Jesus Christ deliberately] found the place where it is written, [and then verse eighteen] The Spirit of the Lord is [what?] upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the [what?] captives, recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are [what?] bruised," Remember John fourteen, twelve? "The works that I do, ..." What? (ye shall do also) Now I'm reading you some of the things he did. {END OF SIDE ONE OF THE TAPE} Then he says in verse nineteen: "To preach the acceptable year of the Lord." And he stopped right in the middle of the quotation and he put a period, because the rest of that verse is still future. "And he closed the book [in verse twenty], and gave it again to [the attendant,] the minister, and he sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." People, it's up to us to continue to preach the Gospel. It is up to God's people today, to heal the broken hearted, deliver the captives, recover sight to the blind, set the bruised at liberty - and ladies and gentlemen, this is still the acceptable year of the Lord. What a privilege we have to share this greatness with people who are living in captivity. This is the only thing I know, class, which will give a man a song in the night. This is the only thing I know, God's Word, rightly divided, that ever meets the innermost desire of the heart of a man or a woman. It's the Word that settles things, it's the Word that answers your questions to your satisfaction. It's the Word, people, that takes a man or a woman out of the dark night of the soul, and gives him a song in the night. All of us have had dark nights of the soul, and perhaps I'm as grateful, or perhaps more grateful than any man or woman here, but I know many of you are too. How God has lead you out of the dark night of the soul and has given you a real song in the night. No matter what the surroundings are, no matter who the people are, you still have the joy of the Lord inside and you're spiritually all lit up on the inside. Job, in the midst of all the hell he went through, class, according to the record in Job thirty-five, ten, he had a song in the night. David, with all the stuff he had to go through, according to Psalm seventy-seven, six, had a song in the night. Isaiah had a song in the night, the record is in Isaiah thirty, twenty-nine -- I'd like for you to turn to it -- Isaiah thirty, twenty-nine: "Ye shall have a song [ye shall have a song], as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept . . ." The holy solemnity is like a "night-owl" -- you're gonna have a song in the night when the night-owls are on. " . . . and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel." Have a song in the night -- they all were in captivity, in the captivity of the Assyrian Empire. Class, there was absolutely, humanly speaking, no way out, except God. He, God, is The Way, class, and He makes a way when there is no way. He did for the children of Israel, and they were servants -- you are sons and daughters of God, would He do less for you than He did for His servants? You shall have a song, as in the night. People, it's the greatness of the Word. You have to receive this Word or people will stay in the dark night of the soul. You have to receive it, or you will not be delivered. And you cannot receive God's Word unless someone teaches it and you have a desire, a longing in your heart to really know it. You receive the Word, you know the Word, you believe the Word -- or it would be better if we just leave the Word. We know, we believe, we walk on that Word. Walk on that Word is to lambano, it's to manifest the Word. It's so simple. Class, it's this written Word, this written Word, here, that makes known the living Word, Jesus Christ, our Lord and our savior. The taught Word or the preached Word makes known the written Word. Second Timothy, two, fifteen: "Study to shew thyself approved to [whom?] God," most of us know that one from memory -- Foundational Class. "Study to shew yourself approved unto [whom?] God, a workman" Not a lazy duffer, a workman. God is, God has and God will bless you for being here -- this took some effort to get you here, took some believing, took some action. God will - bless you for it, perhaps far beyond even your immediate cognizance of it. People, we are workmen -- workmen, who need not to be ashamed because the one thing you want to do is to rightly divide the Word of what? Truth. People, if God said it, to me that settles it, if God said it, honey, that settles it, if God said it, sir, that settles it -- I never argue with God or His Word, 'cause the Word makes known God. No man will know God without coming to the Word. You and I have to absolutely come to the place that we go by God's divine revelation of Himself in His Word rather than man's religious imaginations about the Word. There's a little poem I sorta like. I think many of you know I like poems. I like 'em when they're simple, when I can understand 'em, see. When they get complicated, I got problems in my mental IBM or somethin'. Originally: First came the Word with precision Then came man with his own opinion. Inserted some doubt So turned it about Today we call it Christian religion. You have to work the Word in your mind, people, until your attitude to the Word is changed to the end that whatever your attitude is the same attitude the Word has. Did I say that right? Okay, let me speak it again, bless your souls. I'm glad you're here, you just have to learn to put up with my idiosyncrasies. After two or three days we'll get used to each other, maybe. But you should be used to me, you've listened to me at least thirty-five hours by now. (laughter and applause) Aw, shoot. Okay, you work the Word in your mind, until your attitude is changed that you have the attitude of the Word in your mind. That's neat, I just said it. That's right. 'Til you have the attitude of the Word in your mind. Then you are The Word -- speaking it forth with all the power, every time you speak. Every time you open your mouth, you're talkin' the Word. That doesn't mean you're quoting scripture, or write it on your cuff, and say "Ah, look at me, I'm real religious!" No-no-no, You've got it so in your heart, if you tell somebody to go get a bucket of water, it'd be the Word. That's what I'm tryin' to say. Gettin' a little clumsy sayin' it. The Word always says it good, look at John seventeen, eight -- John seventeen, verse eight: Jesus said: "For I have given unto them the words which thou [what?] gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst [what?] send me." Jesus Christ spoke God's Word, Ma'm. Whenever Jesus Christ spoke, it was always God's Word. You know, he said, "Fellows, let's go fishin'," - it was what? (God's Word) You know, for most people, God's up there someplace, they don't know where, but He's up there. Used to be - I saw Him once in a show, He was floatin' around on a cloud up there, and He was sorta relaxin' sorta Oriental wise. Part of the cloud was like a pillow. And lo and behold there He had a fifty cent cigar, ya know. Another time I saw Him up there floatin' around, He had somethin' hot around His head, at least it was radiating - it must have been a halo or somethin', I don't know. And it was - He had arms like tentacles, ya know, reachin' out. Another time you'd see Him sittin' up there and He's got awful long legs - 'cause, you know, heaven is His seat, the earth His footstool, there He is. People have crazy pictures in their mind of what God is. God is spirit, go to the Word and find out who Jesus Christ is who always manifested God. Then you can know God who is spirit. You know, God doesn't float around on a cloud with a fifty cent cigar in His hip pocket or somethin'. Jesus Christ, people, always spoke God's Word. And certainly, Jesus Christ carried out God's Word. He was God's only begotten what? (Son.) I always do my Father's what? (Will.) See? It's fantastic! In Hebrews, class, chapter nine - Hebrews, Hebrews, nine, nine-nine, verse eleven: "But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect [what?] (tabernacle), not made with hands, . . ." It doesn't say "temple" - the individual human body is a tabernacle, when all the bodies are together, it is a temple. Look at the greatness of that Word, again, class. Christ's perfect what? Tabernacle - perfect tabernacle. Never does the Bible call God a perfect tabernacle, I guarantee you. But Jesus Christ, the son of God, our savior here upon earth, a perfect what? (Tabernacle.) ". . . not made with hands, that is to say, not of this . . ." "Neither by the blood of [what?] goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, . . ." And that, he referred to as entering into the holiest of all holies, the temple of God. " . . . having obtained eternal redemption [what?] for us." Verse thirteen: "But if the blood of bulls and goats, and ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: How much more [verse fourteen,] shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, . . ." How can God offer Himself to Himself? Jesus Christ offered himself without what? (spot) Sorta interesting. Jesus Christ offered himself without spot because, sir, he was the Passover Lamb. Man, I'd love to spend an hour in this - we will, sometime but not in this Advanced class. But I want you to think, 'cause it's simply fantastic, because that lamb that they offered, that he talked about, "blood of bulls and goats and ashes of a heifer," and also the lamb that's mentioned, the Passover Lamb, had to be a lamb of the first year, without spot and without what? Blemish. Many years ago, I don't know, as I worked the Word, I saw in the Word, I thought, at least, something again that contradicted all my theology and that's bad. But, you know, you get to be so acclimatized to God's Word that, once you see it in the Word, you just change your attitude, I guess. I've done that so many times, Jekyll and Hyde are partners - see. But, I've never taught it to the great extent that, I'm sure, we will one of these days. But we've had enough difficulty this year handling "Jesus Christ Is Not God." So, if I come up with another one in the same year, it'd be like having twins, and that'd be bad. (laughter) But do you know something? I'm gonna ask you a question - don't answer it, just think about it: if Jesus Christ is the Passover Lamb, how could his ministry, as a Passover Lamb, then be three years? Which we've all been taught in the organized so-called Christian church. That his ministry was about three years. He was the Passover Lamb. It had to be a lamb of what? (The first year.) That's right. And when we work the Word, I'll show it to you one of these times. I think it's right around six and a half or seven months, that's all the time he had to move the Word. (Applause) That's right. Well, we're headed for the fire again, aren't we? (laughter and cheering) Welcome to "the fold"! Really great, ain't it? I wish God'd quit screwin' me up on the Word all the time. I'd so love to be accepted by the confusion. (laughter) And to be so patted on the back by error. But it just doesn't quite work that way. We are research people, and, people, when I can put it together in God's Word, that settles it for me. And I don't give a hoot in a hail storm, see. (Applause and cheering) Hah, you bet your life! And I think that's why you came, one reason, because you know the integrity and accuracy of the Word. And when I can read it so that you can read it, we can both read it, we can understand it. We're back to God and His Word and once again, like the prophets of old, we can say, "Thus saith the Lord!", boy. (Cheering and applause) You know somethin', if nobody'd believe it, it'd still be God's Word. They wouldn't get the results of it, they'd get the consequences of their unbelief. Without spot and without what? (Blemish.) Tremendous, boy! ". . . purge your conscience from dead works to serve [whom?] the living God?" Moving from the dark night of the soul, to having a song in the midst of all hell, or the darkest of all nights, you've got a song in your heart. Verse fifteen: ". . . that, they which are called might receive the promise of [what?] eternal inheritance." Isn't that fantastic? Look at chapter ten - chapter ten. In this particular hour I perhaps will not have time to read all these verses, I planned on it. But, chapter ten, you ought to start with verse one - well, let me quickly read it: "For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image [the exact reality] of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto [what?] (perfect.) For then [verse two:] would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once cleansed should have no more conscience of sins [awareness]. But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. [Verse four:] For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away [what?] sins. Then said he [verse nine], Lo, I come to do the will of God. He [Jesus Christ,] took away the first, that he may [introduce or] establish the [what?] (second). By the which will we are sanctified [set apart] through the offering of the body of [what?] Jesus Christ once for all." [That settles it, once for all.] "Every priest standeth daily ministering . . . never take away sins: [Verse twelve:] But this man [This who? - This who? Man? Is that what it says? The man, who? (Jesus Christ) That's what it's talking about, class. The man, Christ Jesus.], after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of [what?] (God);" My goodness, how simple! The man, Christ Jesus. Remember second Timothy, what is it? "One mediator, between God and men; the man [whom?] (Christ Jesus)." Here it is in Hebrews again. How many times is God gonna have to tell people that His Son, Jesus Christ, is the man? And that he is not God? It seems to me, if God would speak once, it'd be His will. I think when He speaks twice it's grace. So some of us are living in grace to the "nth" degree. Thank You, Lord. Verse fourteen: "For by one offering he [Jesus Christ] hath completed for ever them ["perfected" is "completed" - forever them] who are [set apart] sanctified." That's you, the believer. He has, by one offering, completed. Look at verse fifteen: "Whereof the Holy Ghost also is witness to us: for after that he had said [this, before - he had said] before, This is the covenant that I will make with them . . . I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember [every two seconds and remind them of 'em. (No!) Will I remember what?] no more. [Boy-oh-boy!] Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for [what?] (sin). Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest [we enter in by what?] . . . the blood of Jesus, By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil [torn from top to bottom], that is to say, his flesh; And having an high priest over the house of God; Let us draw neigh with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. [And here's the great twenty-third verse:] Let us hold fast the profession of our [hope is the text. Hold fast the profession, the confession] . . . without wavering; (for he [God] is faithful who [did what?] promised " Class, it's the Word that produces results, all else produces consequences. You and I become Christ-like to the extent, class, and to the degree that the Word lives in you and lives in me. You get right results from right believing, from right teaching from the Word. It's the Word that's the foundation, class. So from the rightly dividing of the Word we would have the right teaching, then we'd have the right believing, then we can have the right results. Turn it up here, if you want right results, you get it from right believing, from right teaching, from right Word. The life style, class, is in the choosing. To win, you have to believe for it. No one ever wins unless they believe for it, and we are winners for God because we believe His Word. (Applause) [END OF SEGMENT-1] SEGMENT 1: "THE LIFE STYLE OF GOD'S WORD" (version 2) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Segment 1 from: THE ADVANCED CLASS ON POWER FOR ABUNDANT LIVING THE LIFE STYLE OF GOD'S WORD ________________________________________________________________________ I Thes. 2:13 For this cause also thank we God without ceasing, because, when ye received the word of God which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe. Thessalonians was the first of the epistles to the modern church written, but is ordered last in the section of God's Word containing the church epistles because it concerns the future - the return of Christ and the "Parousia" - the gathering together of the church - which we all look towards (the Hope). - Jesus Christ did a perfect work for us, then he did a perfect work in us. - Our contact with the master is by our believing the Word. - Seeking wisdom apart from God's Word is absolute stupidity. - We become Christ-like to the extent that the Word lives in our lives (the extent that we read and believe the Word). John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. - "Ye shall" = absolute tense - "greater works" (than Jesus could do while he was on earth) = You have the ability to lead someone into the new birth which was not available to Jesus Christ since the new birth was not available until the day of Pentecost. - You have nothing to lose by believing God's Word, but your wrong teaching and fear. - The Advanced Class is separated into two major sections: 1) How Jesus Christ and the men of the Old Testament did the Will of God, and manifested power from on high. 2) How the men of God do it today. II Cor. 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. - What you look at, you become: If you look at the negatives, your life will manifest those negatives, but if you look at the positives, your life will manifest the positives. - "Open face" = nothing hidden - God's glory reflected in our lives. Job 23:12 Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips; I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Mark 16:20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen. - The Lord was working with them, not through them - God does not use people. - By the freedom of your will, you make the commitment to stand on God's Word and to hold it forth in your life. - Signs never precede the Word, they follow it. Signs do not follow ministries, they follow believers and believing (those who believe and rightly divide the Word of Truth). Signs miracles and wonders belong to believers. - You have to become the Word of God. - It is not true simply because you experienced it, it is true because God's Word says so. - The reason that we have such a dearth of confusion concerning God's Word today is because the words of men have taken precedence over the Word of God. Luke 4:17 And there was delivered unto him the book [scroll] of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, :18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, :19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. Isaiah 30:29 Ye shall have a song, as in the night when a holy solemnity is kept; and gladness of heart, as when one goeth with a pipe to come into the mountain of the LORD, to the mighty One of Israel. - God's Word, rightly divided, is our "Song in the Night" and takes us out of the dark night of the soul. - "holy solemnity" (like a night owl fellowship) - God is the way and makes a way where there is no way. He did it for the people of the Old Testament times who were His servants - would He not do as much and even more for those who are His children? - If God said it, that settles it, just never argue with God or His Word. II Tim. 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. - You work the Word until you have the attitude of the Word in your mind (heart). John 17:8 For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Heb. 9:11 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; - "tabernacle" = singular - Christ's perfect tabernacle is each person's body. Temple = the body collectively - all the bodies in the Church of God - the body of Christ. :12 Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. :13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: :14 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 to serve the living God? - Jesus Christ offered himself without spot or blemish as the passover lamb (the final passover lamb). Jesus Christ was THE passover lamb which was a lamb of the first year, thus his ministry had to be less than one year (not the 3 years many have thought it to be) - see "Jesus Christ Our Passover". :15 And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance. - Jesus Christ the man is our mediator between man and God. Heb. 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us: :25 Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; Heb 10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect. :2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? Because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins. :3 But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year. :4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins. :9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may establish the second. :10 By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. :11 And every priest standeth daily ministering and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins: :12 But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; :13 From henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. :14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. :15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, :16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; :17 And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. :18 Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. :19 Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, :20 By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; :21 And having an high priest over the house of God; :22 Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. :23 Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised :36 For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. - No one ever wins unless they believe for it. - You get right results from right believing, from right teaching, and from rightly dividing the Word of Truth. ////////////////////////////////////////////////////// GOD'S HEALING WORD By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille Edited Posthumously The greatest healing I know is the new birth, and it's spiritual; but the spiritual is so dynamic that it effects the physical. Now it's basically in believing, because those people of the Old Testament could not be born again. If they were properly taught and they believed, then believing brought a lot of healing to them. But in our day and in our time, "If thou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." This, I believe, is the greatest healing. Now accompanying this, of course (this birth of Christ within), is speaking in tongues, where you build up that inner man, that spiritual man. The Word declares because of this new birth, that God is at work within us to will and to what?... Do His good pleasure. You all know III John 2 which says, "Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health." Well, that spirit of God working within us has never been analyzed as to how much it does physically for us. But the Word of God says that He worketh within us to will and to do of His good pleasure, and one of His good pleasures is III John 2, His will, right? Prosper and what? ... Be in health. Now, it's not just to be born again, it's to be born again with the renewed mind on what our sonship rights are and what we have in Christ, because you've known a lot of people that have been born again but nothing happened to them physically. The reason it didn't happen to them physically is because they never put on the mind of Christ, and what really happened to them spiritually when they were born again. This is why our teaching ministry is so dynamically urgent. Just teach, teach, teach, teach. Then I believe that perhaps the greatest thing I know in all healing is love. Now you know the foundation's done, but then in practice, it's that love. I Corinthians 12:27-31: Now you are the body of Christ [whether we like it or whether we don't, we are the body.] And [we are] members in particular. [Not everybody's a sore thumb in it. Not everybody's a pointing finger, not everybody's an eye, but every part of that body is very important.] And God set some in the Church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities [genus] of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way. This more excellent way is chapter thirteen, which is the greatest chapter in the Word on the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. You see, God so loved (according to John 3:16) that God gave His only begotten son. Now you and I are sons of God. Now we must so give, that others can learn to live, for as we give, they live. If God so loved that He gave, the least that you and I can do is so love that we give. You know it's so easy to criticize, it's so easy to find fault, it's so easy to see wrong because that's the natural man. That's how we were born and raised. That was the environment; that's the culture we came out of. Now we're born again. Now we are believers being motivated by the greatness of God's Word, and we have to just drive ourselves to get over that criticism, that fault finding, that seeing the wrong all the time. God so loved that He what?... Gave. I remember Moses, I remember Abraham, I remember David, I remember a lot of others in the Old Testament that God so loved that He gave. I remember Paul; God so loved that he gave. Boy, if we could just discipline our minds to never say anything but that which is positive and on the Word. What a day that would be! Just to never say anything except that which is good about someone. If we couldn't say anything good about anyone, then we better look at ourselves, because everyone has something good that we could share. In I Timothy 6:10, it says that the love of money is the root of all evil. If the love of money is the root of all evil, then by sheer logic the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation must be the root of all good. Money represents the world, the power, the structure. Nothing wrong with the world, nothing wrong with the power, nothing wrong with the structure, except once they get money, they never get enough of it. That's why the love of it is the root of all evil. They never get enough. The love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation is like this. We'll never get too much of the love of God. We can always use more. Spiritually He's given us all, but we haven't put it on up here. Just picture for a moment; just remember the healing that came when somebody really loved you, with that love of Christ. Not that possessive, not that egotistical type of love, not that get-something-out-of-you type of thing called love; no, no. But where they just opened their heart to you; and just took you in and tenderized you with the love of God in the renewed mind. I don't know anything more healing than to be loved, than to just gather someone into your spiritual arms, so to speak, into your heart, into your mind, and just share your dynamic love with them, with that Christ that's in you, just tenderly. You know anybody can raise hell, but very few people who are Christian ever get to the place of really exuberating love, tenderness, kindness, forgiveness, understanding. Think how healing it is when someone just walks up to you and takes you by the arm and says, "I sure love you." A lot more healing than someone take you by the arm and say, "Well what in the h--- is the matter with you?" Isn't it now? You see, we've heard that negative side, and all that bad stuff. We seldom take a look at how healing a place can be where there's a believer with that love. Golly, you are the greatest arm of God's healing in the world today! You heal, just by loving people, by tenderizing them, by taking them in. Now you may not agree with what they're doing, they may be wrong, you may have to show them a little scripture, but you can do that lovingly too. God is our Father; we are His children. If God so loved, we are His children, then we love. There is no other way of bringing great healing. Now I'm not just speaking spiritually, I'm speaking physically (physical healing) because that love does something to people that makes their blood flow better, I don't know, muscles function better. I don't know what happens in the physical body, I just know it happens. It warms them on the inside. They say that worry gives you ulcers, because it does something to your blood stream and it eats out your stomach or your intestines and you get ulcers. Well if that poison in the bloodstream is from worry, think of the sweetness of love in there! Then love would be healing. Love would tenderize and love would bring that blood to flow better. You know, when you loose your temper and you really jump up and down, just think how sick you feel on the inside. How your old heart just pumps like crazy, and you get all red in the face. Just the opposite of what love does. It'll settle that heart down and it'll beat normally and nicely. I doubt if any of us has ever taken a look at the healing wholeness of love. And when you spell it all out from God's Word, the Word says, "How can we say we love God if we do not love our neighbor?" God so loved that He gave. You can just look at verse after verse on love. Every one of them, you will see, is contributing toward making you and me physically whole. Nothing is as healing as that love. I looked up a few verses of scripture that I thought would bless you. Proverbs 12:17-18 He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit. There is that speaketh like the piercings of a sword: but the tongue of the wise is health. So there are two ways of going, one is the love way, the other is the opposite. "Speaketh like the piercing of the sword." You know, loud voice, yelling at each other, or at someone, are like the piercing of a sword; it cuts, it injures. But the tongue of the wise, not piercing, but out of love, speaketh truth, showeth forth wisdom; that brings health. Proverbs 16:24 Pleasant words are as an honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones. Pleasant words come from the heart of love, and the heart of love is the heart that has been tenderized with the love of God in the renewed mind, where we've put on the mind of Christ and we speak and we walk with that mind and with that love. It says also in Proverbs that death and life are in the power of the tongue. Death and life are in the power of the tongue! All sickness is death in whole or in part; all healing is deliverance in whole or in part, as needed. Death and life are in the tongue! Proverbs 13:17 A wicked messenger falleth into mischief: but a faithful ambassador is health. Faithful ambassadors holding forth God's Word bring health. One of the reasons we don't minister here every Sunday night is because I'm just so convinced that this place has the love of God here, and the accuracy of the Word. And I am just so convinced that when we speak with that love of God, that the healing has to come. You've got to build people's believing on the Word. Sure I could minister healing every night, but that's not the greatness of what I believe in. I want the Word, the Word in this ministry. I believe it's wonderful from time to time for me to minister, but I think the greatest ministering is the ministering of the Word! It's that Word that liveth and abideth forever. It's that Word that brings healing, and people have to get confidence in the Word and not in a man. They gotta get confidence in God and His Word. Now the man is a vessel, that's fine-need it-but boy, the Word, THE WORD! A faithful ambassador brings health by teaching the Word and by loving people. You see, in spite of the shortcomings of all of us, we still have the greatest amount of love radiating of any peoples any place in the world; and as ambassadors holding forth the love of God, it will bring health to people. And it's that Word you want to promote. Isaiah 58:7-8 Is it [talking about the fast] not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward. Do you know what that means? Sometimes men are prone to help somebody else, but they won't help their own kids. They're sweet on everybody else's woman except their own wife. Sweet on everybody else's man except their own husband. Sweet on helping the poor heathen in India, but not their next door neighbor. They want to send a missionary to India, when they ought to be missionarying next door! That's what that verse means. If we get things in proper order with the new birth, the manifestations, speaking in tongues, studying to show ourselves approved by putting on the mind of Christ and rightly dividing it. And then just have that love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation, the physical healing is fantastic among a group of believers. Because it's built on the Word, and the Word delivers, the Word heals. ********************* Manifestation of Faith #3 The Manifestation of Believing: What It Is Not by Ivan Maddox Atlanta, GA I was taught that the manifestation of believing is "your operation of the God-given ability whereby you may believe to bring to pass the impossible at your command, according to what God has revealed to you by word of knowledge, word of wisdom, and discerning of spirits. It also inspires believing in others." I was taught that "the manifestation of believing is believing for miracles before they are manifested." I was also taught that "the manifestation of believing ceases when the result is manifested." Ref. Page 38, "Advanced Class Power for Abundant Living" Syllabus, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, American Christian Press, New Knoxville, Ohio, copyright 1971, 1985. http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/mfaith03.html The Manifestation of Believing: What Is It? In the faith lesson that Jesus teaches here, man is the initiator. Jesus is not talking about faith regarding a declared promise of God, but about something the man has apparently decided to do. This something is not in the realm of the natural but currently unavailable, but rather is clearly impossible by human and natural means. The key requirement on the man's part is that he "shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass". If that requirement is met, "he shall have whatsoever he saith." http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/mfaith04.html See also: An X-Ray Look at the Manifestations The Bible is uniquely designed to teach people who have holy spirit how to manifest it. It is one of the best, and most easily accessible, teachers there is in the holy spirit field. http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/mfaith02.html And Teaching Others to Manifest Holy Spirit The mechanics of the manifestations of the spirit are very simple, as long as we distinguish between God's job and our job, and are content to do only our job. http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/mfaith01.html And Manifestation of Faith, Introduction Greater Works Than These Numbers 11:29b ...Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, [and] that the Lord would put His spirit upon them! http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/mfaith00.html And http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/ivan02.html http://userwww.service.emory.edu/~cmadd01/lessons.html ********************* JESUS CHRIST IS NOT GOD INTRODUCTION By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille The American Christian Press New Knoxville, Ohio Note to the reader: All biblical quotations are from the King James Authorized Version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ To my wife, Dorothy, who is a loving helpmate to me, a gentle mother to our five children, and an enthusiastic supporter of the ministry to which God has called us. She is a virtuous woman Note to the reader: All biblical quotations are from the King James Authorized Version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I am grateful to many dedicated people for the assistance given to me in preparing and producing this book. Rev. Walter Cummins and a small research team worked closely with me after I had once done the basic research. They also studied all the pro-trinity positions and discussed them with me. Bernita Jess checked Aramaic manuscripts when related to the topic, while Rev. Cummins and Donna Randall checked the Greek. Ronald G. Webster's research contributed greatly to the first chapter, "The Origin of the Three-In-One God." Donna Randall and Karen Wierwille Martin (my editor and daughter) and my wife, Dorothea, reworked and proofed the manuscript for readability and clarity. I thank them knowing how much the readers will benefit from their efforts. I acknowledge a very great debt to my secretary, Rhoda Becker Wierwille, who not only typed and retyped this manuscript with a willing heart, but who has been faithful to my secretarial needs for over twenty-five years. To her I am indeed grateful on all counts. I am grateful to all workers at The American Christian Press, under the leadership of Milford Bowen, and the Way International Bookstore, under the leadership of Emogene Allen, for seeing this book become a concrete reality in its publication and distribution. To all these and many more for their devotion to God's accurate Word, I give thanks. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION No statement to many Christians could be more emotionally charged than that of "Jesus Christ is not God." I can understand this. I was reared in a Christian denomination that taught the Godhead as a trinity: that is "God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit. I accepted this doctrine because I respected the sincerity of my teachers, although its meaning kept vexing my mind. I vividly recall asking my saintly pastor when I was just 16 years old to explain the trinity to me. Ever since then I have searched to understand this doctrine which has been considered the cornerstone of Christianity for the past fifteen centuries. I have had access to and have read the major works in systematic theology both of the past as well as current publications. For years I have done my utmost in evaluating whatever I could find to read plus directly studying with biblical scholars. I have asked theologians of unblemished character to discuss the trinity with me, yet I never found more substance than what my childhood pastor, Dr. L. H. Kunst, told me 42 years ago: "No one can explain the trinity. We simply accept it by faith." I am aware of the scripture which tells us that God hasn't revealed all his secrets. > Deuteronomy 29:29: The secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law. But I also know that God has revealed to us all things that pertain to life and godliness. II Peter 1:3: According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue. So while studying God's Word for the past several decades, I have always kept the trinity in mind, hoping I would find the key to understanding it, hoping that this wasn't one of God's secrets. But, through the years, the more and more I carefully researched God's Word for knowledge, the less and less I found to substantiate a trinity. Even though I had always accepted the idea of a three-in-one God, I continually found evidence in the Word of God which undermined a Christian trinity. If 42 years ago or 30 or maybe even 20 years ago someone had postulated to me that Jesus Christ was not God, I too would have been taken back. But for me it has been a gradual learning and, therefore, an unlearning process as I've progressively gained a knowledge of God and His Son. I didn't begin research of this topic from a negative framework. It was never part of my motivation to disprove the trinity. If the Bible had taught that there is a Christian trinity, I would have happily accepted it. Obviously, when a person does unpreconceived research, he does not determine beforehand what he will find. Research doesn't begin with the answers; it looks for the answers. I did not willfully choose to find what I have found. Also, my conclusion therefore is no Johnny-come-lately idea set forth to be iconoclastic, splashy or controversial. I have written up my years of research not to be argumentative; neither am I apologetic. I simply want to set forth my study as a workman for God, realizing that if the research is a right-dividing of God's Word, many who believe will be blessed. If my research is a wrong-dividing of God's Word, then I stand before God as an unapproved workman. Either way I accept full responsibility. I have checked God's Word hundreds of times over, and thus I am convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus Christ is not God but the Son of God. If I weren't totally persuaded, I wouldn't think of committing this thesis to paper. I realize that I am asking a great deal of the readers of this study. For what it has taken me several decades to search out in God's Word, I am exposing you to in a moment's reading. Wht I have had time to think over and pattern through God's Word, you are seeing in rapid progression. What I have had to unlearn from my religious upbringing and culture, you are facing stark naked. In other words, I've had time to study and change my conceptions when necessary. You too will need more time than one reading of the research contained in this volume allows. After all, research doesn't mean a simple, cursory reading; it denotes study, observation and unemotional detached consideration. A topic so utterly important as God and His Son Jesus Christ certainly deserves both yours and my clearest and best thinking. Before we proceed further, we must define our terms. Many people may be misled because while using the same language or words, we don't mean the same thing. First of all, let me give the orthodox definition of Christing trinity. The doctrine of the trinity states that the Father is God, The Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God and together, not exclusively, they form one God. The trinity is co-eternal, without beginning or end, and co-equal.(1) That defines the doctrine of the trinity, and this I do not believe the Bible teaches. With all my heart I believe the Bible teaches that (1) God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, that (2) Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that (3) God is Holy and God is Spirit. The term "Son of God" is used at least 50 times in the Bible; not one place is there "God the Son." To say that "Son of God" means or equals "God the Son" totally negates the rules of language, leaving it utterly useless as a tool of communication. In other words, I am saying that Jesus Christ is not God, but the Son of God. They are not "co-eternal, without beginning or end, and co-equal." Jesus Christ was not literally with God in the beginning; neither does he have all the assets of God. The research in this book will show why I believe as I do. Perhaps many Christians have never questioned or given thoughtful consideration to the doctrine of the trinity. The idea is so well-rooted among church-going and Bible-believing Christians that we've seldom considered the implications of a three-in-one God. What difference does it make whether Jesus Christ is God or the Son of God? The difference and the importance of this difference is the basic reason for writing this book. If Jesus Christ is God and not the Son of God, we have not yet been redeemed. The difference is that important, that critical. As a preliminary to research let us note that the Bible says there are two types of doctrine: man-made doctrine - what man's mind has thought up or concluded; and God-breathed doctrine - that which holy men spoke and wrote as it was revealed to them by God.(2) Now, how are we to know whether what we believe is God's truth or man's opinion? By testing it against God's Word. The Bible, being in its original form God's revealed Word to man, speaks the truth for God is Truth. To get to God's doctrine, we have to divide God's Word. II Timothy 2:15: Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of truth. We have to study God's Word to know His will. To the extent we rightly divide the Word of Truth, we have true doctrine, that is, right believing and knowledge. When we wrongly divide the Word of Truth, we have false doctrine, man-made doctrine. Because of the host of different beliefs in Christendom taught today, it is evident that not all doctrine is from the rightly-divided Word. Therefore, it is the responsibility of every Christian believer to test to see whether these various doctrines originated in the right or wrong dividing of God's Word. This book is a summation of my personal quest to test the doctrine of the trinity to see whether it be a man-made or a God-breathed doctrine. The first chapter of this study is a historical look at the evolution of the trinity. This doctrine was nurtured by non-Christian religions and given accreditation by churchmen under political expendiency. The second chapter begins the biblical quest. Who is Jesus Christ? Is he God? Or is he the Son of God? The culminating study is the third chapter, "The Man-Man's Redeemer." Our very redemption. The crucial point on which all of Christianity rests, is dependent on Jesus Christ's being a man and not God. Our passover, which was Jesus Christ tortured, crucified, dead and buried, had to be a sheep from the flock. God would hardly qualify as one of our brethren, yet His Son could. One of the most beautiful and yet illogically interpreted scriptures is the first chapter of the Gospel of John. The final chapter in this book, entitled "Who is the Word" referring to John 1:1, is an intricate study of the first 18 verses of this great revelation. The book ends with a brief conclusion and five appendixes for a more careful study of certain aspects regarding God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. Before closing, let me bare my soul. To say that Jesus Christ is not God in my mind does not degrade the importance and significance of Jesus Christ in any way. It simply elevates God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to His unique, exalted and unparalleled position. He alone is God. I do believe the Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is the son of Man because he had a human for a mother and he is the Son of God because of his created conception by God. So on the basis of the parentage of God alone, besides his choosing to live a perfect life, Jesus Christ is by no means a run-of-the-mill, unmarked human being.. Thus to say that I do not elevate and respect the position of the Lord Jesus Christ simply because I do not believe the evidence designates Jesus Christ as God is to speak the judgment of a fool, for to the very depth of my being I love him with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. It is he who sought me out from darkness. It is he who gave me access to God; even now he is my mediator. It is he who saved me when I was dead in trespasses and sin. It is he who gave me the new birth of God's eternal life - which is Christ in me, the hope of glory. It is he who gave me remission of sins and continues to give forgiveness of sins. It is he who filled me to capacity by God's presence in Christ in all the fullness of God's gift of holy spirit. It is he who was mad unto me my wisdom, righteousness, sanctification and redemption. It is he who called me and set me in the heavenlies. It is he who gave me his joy, peace and love. It is he who appointed me as a spokesman of God's accurate Word; may I be found faithful in that calling. It is he who is all in all to me that I might give my all of him. It is he who is God's only-begotten Son. May I as a son of God live and die to glorify the God whom men can only know from God's written Word, the Bible, and from the declared Word, God's Son, Jesus Christ. In spite of all of my human frailties and shortcomings, I endeavor to love him with all my being. I love him and the one and only God who sent him. May His mercy and grace continue to be yours as well as mine, and may God be magnified by our testimony of Him who gave His Son that we might have life and have it more abundantly - yes, that life which is eternal and therefore more than abundant ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (1) William Wilson Stevens, Doctrine of the Christian Religion (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Erdmans Publishing Co., 1967), pp. 113-122. (2) II Timothy 3:16: "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,for instruction in righteousness." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Standard Book Number:0-910068-97-0 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 74-25962 The American Christian Press New Knoxville, Ohio 45871 copyright 1975 by the Way International All rights reserved Published 1975 Printed in the United States of America Jesus Christ is NOT God CHAPTER ONE - THE ORIGIN OF THE THREE-IN-ONE GOD Long before the founding of Christianity the idea of a triune god or a god-in-three persons was a common belief in ancient religions. Although many of these religions had many minor deities, they distinctly acknowledged that there was one supreme God who consisted of three persons or essences. The Babylonians used an equilateral triangle to represent this three-in-one god, now the symbol of the modern three-in-one believers.(1) The Hindu trinity was made up of the gods Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The Greek triad was composed of Zeus, Athena and Apollo. These three were said by the pagans to "agree in one." One of the largest pagan temples built by the Romans was constructed at Baalbek (situated in present-day Lebanon) to their trinity of Jupiter, Mercury and Venus. In Babylon the planet Venus was revered as special and was worshipped as a trinity consisting of Venus, the moon and the sun. This triad became the Babylonian holy trinity in the fourteenth century before Christ. Not only did non-Christian religions believe in a triune god, but ancient cultures also accepted this idea:; cultures such as the Babylonians, Egyptian, Phoenician, Greek, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Icelandic, Siberian and others. That the triune concept of God was not only a part of the religions but even permeated the cultures of the dominate ancient nations shows how deeply rooted in human thinking this notion was. Although other religions for thousands of years before Christ was born worshipped a triune god, the trinity was not a part of Christian dogma and formal documents of the first three centuries after Christ. Certainly, during this time, Church leaders spoke of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but they never referred to them a co-equal or of one numerical essence or as three in one. In fact the opposite was the case. They spoke of the Father as supreme, the true and only God, as without beginning, invisible, unbeaten, and as such immutable; and of the Son as inferior, and as a real person, having a beginning, visible, begotten and mutable.(2) That there was no formal, established doctrine of the trinity until the fourth century is a fully documented historical fact. The history of the church's first three centuries with regard to the trinity can best be summarized by the concluding paragraph of The Church of the First Three Centuries written by Allan Lamson. . . . . The modern doctrine of the Trinity is not found in any document or relic belonging to the Church of the First three centuries. Letters, art, usage, theology, worship, creed, hymn, chant, doxology, ascription, commemorative rite, and festive observance, so far as any remains or any record of them are preserved, coming down from early times, are, as regards this doctrine, an absolute blank. They testify, so far as they testify at all, to the supremacy of the Father, the only true God; and to the inferior and derived nature of the Son. There is nowhere among these remains a co-equal Trinity. The cross is there; Christ is there as the Good Shepherd, the Father's hand placing a crown, or victor's wreath, on his head; but no undivided Three, -- co-equal, infinite, self-existent, and eternal. This was a conception to which the age had not arrived. It was of later origin.(3) Even such a conservative source as the New Catholic Encyclopedia states that trinitarianism became part of Christian doctrine in the fourth, not the first, century. It is difficult, in the second half of the 20th century, to offer a clear, objective and straight forward account of the revelation, doctrinal evolution, and theological elaboration of the mystery of the Trinity . . . . There is . . . recognition on the part of historians of dogma and systematic theologians that when one does speak of an unqualified Trinitarianism, one has moved from the period of Christian origins to, say, the last quadrant of the 4th century. It was only then that what might be called the definitive Trinitarian dogma "one God in three Persons" became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought. . . . The dogmatic formula "one God in three Persons" . . . was the product of 3 centuries of doctrinal development.(4) There are, however, evidences of trinitarian concepts being introduced by Christians converted from paganism possibly as early as the last part of the first century. The gradual incorporation of pagan ideologies into Christian doctrine and practice came about by the interaction of four historical components: 1.The early apostles, who had been strong in their knowledge and application of the Word of God, had died. Their steadfastness of God-breathed doctrine was not longer a living example to the followers. 2.The anticipation of the "speedy" return of Christ subsided in the minds of many Christians as time went on. 3.Many pagans who were converted to Christianity still adhered to some of their previous beliefs and practices. Thus this pure Christian doctrine of the first century was quickly corrupted. 4.Due to the above three elements many people began anticipating a new revival or a new administration to replace the old.(5) Even while Paul was alive and ministering, the pure gospel which he preached was being contaminated by those who wanted to modify God's Word to their own predilection. Note that the falling away in the Christian Church began to take place shortly after the middle of the first century, toward the end of Paul's ministry. II Timothy 1:15: This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me; of whom are Phygellus and Hermogenes. II Timothy 4:10: For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia. Already by the last half of the first century two major sects, other than the adherents to the revelation given to the early apostles, had made in-roads into Christianity. First there were the Ebionites. These were the Judaising christians who plagued Paul in their attempt to keep Christian believers under the law and bondage of the Old Testament.(6) While some of them indeed believed that Jesus was a man born of divine conception, others relegated Jesus to being the son of Joseph and Mary. Second there were the Gnostics. This sect had its roots in Greek philosophy and religious ideas. They believed that Jesus was a deity, his physical body being either just an appearance or something he borrowed temporarily.(7) The Apostle John, according to secular sources, was the only apostle to live late in the first century during which time his contributions to the New Testament were written. The true God had the Gospel of John written to clarify Christ's position as the Son of God and the Son of Man (which will be discussed in chapter 3) since sects such as the Ebionites and Gnostics were spreading false doctrines of Christ's position. The Gospel of John establishes the truth of God's Word that Jesus Christ was the Son of God, not "God the Son" or "God Himself." With the rise of the various sects, the truth of God's Word became infiltrated by idolatrous worship and theories. Christians gradually accepted the foreign elements introduced to their teaching because they were not being taught the doctrine of God's rightly-divided Word. To show how quickly some of the foreign elements were introduced to Christianity observe the beginning of the seventh chapter of "The Didache," the annonymous Christian treatise of the late first or early second century. This example of modified doctrine was written sometime between 80 A.D. and 120 A.D. [insert the Greek text of the following] "Now as regards baptism, thus baptize ye: having first rehearsed all these things, baptize into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, in running water. But if thou hast not running water, baptize in other water; and if thous canst not in cold, then warm. But if thou hast neither, pour water upon the head thrice, in the name of Father and Son and Holy Spirit. But before the baptism, let the baptizer and the baptized fast, and any others who can; but the baptized thou shalt commnd to fast for one or two days before" (8) As early possibly as 80 A.D. this trinitarian baptismal practice was introduced. Baptismal practices of water in the name of Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost replaced the baptism in the name of Jesus Christ. Clearly, there are two scriptures which in our modern versions of the Bible contain a trinitarian formula. One of these two is found in I John 5. I John 5:6: This is he that came by water and blood, even Jesus Christ: not by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. Verse 7: For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. Verse 8: And there are three that bear witness in earth, the spirit, and the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. These verses contain words that do not appear in any of the early manuscripts. The words added begin in verse 7 with "in heaven" and go to "in earth" in verse 8. these words are not found in any of the Greek manuscripts before the sixteenth century. First appearing in Latin copies, the added words crept into the English texts.(9) In other words, all early manuscripts read: For there are three that bear record, the spirit, the water, and the blood: and these three agree in one. Including more words was an attempt of a scribe or scribes to corrupt the original text with the theology propounded by Irenaeus (second century), Tertullian (early third century; the first person to use the word trinity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit), Cyprian (third century), Hieronymus (fifth century) and Augustine (fifth century). Since the corruption of I John 5:6-8 had not yet occurred by the fourth century, promoers of trinitarianism and adherents to the trinitarian baptismal formula prior to the fourth century had only one scripture on which to base their new theology and that was Matthew 28:19. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. All extant manuscripts do contain this verse in Matthew 28, the oldest dating from the fourth century during which century trinitarianism was becoming a part of formal doctrine and writing. It would not have been difficult for scribes to insert "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," in place of the original "in my name." This must have been what happened because earlier manuscripts from which Eusebius (who died in 340 A.D.) quoted in the early part of the fourth century could not have used the trinitarian words. He cited Matthew 28:19 eighteen times without once using them. Rather he wrote, ". . . baptizing them in my name." The Greek Christian Justin Martyr who wrote in the middle of the second century never quoted "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," nor did Aphraates of Nisibis in the early fourth century. This shows that Justin and Aphraates must have had earlier manuscripts than are now in existence. Furthermore, regarding water baptism, there is no record in the New Testament that the trinitarian baptismal command was ever carried out by the first century Church. They always baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.(10) Acts 2:38: Then Peter said unto them. Repend, 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. Acts 8:16: (For as yet he was fallen upon none of them: only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.) Acts 10:48: and he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord. Then prayed they him to tarry certain days. Acts 19:5: When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. It was not difficult for fourth century scribes to change the words "in my name " to "in the name of the Father, the Son, and The Holy Ghost" in the few existing manuscripts, since the Godhead was gradually taking on a triune nature in their religioous environment. Because of doctrinal problems such as baptism presented, reactionary and reforming parties organized to dissolved the confusion. But the persecution or threat of persecution of Christians under the Roman emperors Nero (54-68 A.D.), Domitian (81-96 A.D.), Trajan (98-117 A.D.) and others simply caused more dissension within the Christian body. During the persecution of the second century, a small group of Christian intellectuals, most prominent of whom were Aristides and Justin Martyr, wrote discertations to emperors and other notable persons to defend the gospel, to stop the persecution and to answer the charges against them. These dissertations, called Apologies, were, in fact, compromises between Christianity and paganism. Thus from the apologetic period on, because of the impact the Apologies had, the concepts of the triune God, plus Mary as the mother of God and pagan symbolism took root and began growing in discussion and writing.)> The attempts at suppressing the early Chruch by the Roman government ended when Constantine, the Roman emperor, gained power after his vidtory at the Milvian bridge in 312 A.D. After Constantine's conversion to Christianity he issued an edict at Milan which granted Christians the same rights as the followers of other religions, as well as restitution of wrongs done to Christians.(11) Constantine soon began to grant special favors to Christians which made conversion to Christianity a ticket to political, military, and asocial promotion. So thousands of non-Christians began joining the Chruch for political favors. In return for granting special favors and acting with leniency, Constatine insisted that he have a strong voice in Church affairs. It was at Constantine's peak of power, early in that fourth century, that the idea of Jesus Christ's being co-equal with God the Father began to gain a wide base of support. Yet trinitarianism at that point was not an established doctrine. The idea of a triune God stirred great controversy within the Church as there were still many clergy and laymen who did not accept that position of Christ as God.> The disagreement about the position of Christ reach its most noted level in the confrontation between Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt, and his presbyter Arius. Bishop Alexander taught that Jesus was equal to God; Arius di not. So at a synod held at Alexandria in 321, Arius was deposed and excommunicated.(12) Aris, although now in institutional disfavor, still had much support outside of Egypt. Many of the important bishops such as the learned historian, Eusebius of Palestinian Caesarea, and his powerful namesake, Eusebius, Biship of Nicomedia, theologically agreed with Arius: Jesus Christ is not God.(13) Constantine, disturbed over the sustained controversy in his empire, sent his ecclesiastical adviser, Ossius, Bishop of Cordova, to Alexanderia on a mission of reconciliation and inquiry.(14) After visiting Alexandria, Ossius sided with Alexander agains Arius. Ossius returned to Rome and there presuaded Constantine to imbrace Alexander's position.(15) To legitimatize his position, Constantine invited all bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea (which is now in Asia Minor) in May 325 A.D. Thus, the Council of Nicaea) began with its main goal being to settle the dispute over the relationship between God and His Son. The council consisted of approximately 220 bishops who were almost exclusively from the Occident. Constantine, who was in control of the proceedings, used his political power to bring pressure to bear on the bishops to accept his theological position. The creed they signed was clearly anti-Arian; in other words, the Nicene Creed embraced the Son as co-equal with God. Two hundred eighteen of the 220 bishops signed this creed, although it was truly the work of a minority.(16) The Encyclopedia Britannica summarizes the proceedings of the Council of Nicaea as follows: The Council of Nicaea met on May 20, 325. Constantine himself presiding, actively guiding the discussion, and personally proposed (no doubt on Ossius' prompting) the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ to God in the creed issued by the council, "of one substance with the Father." Over-awed by the emperor, the bishops, with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them against their inclination. Constantine regarded the decision of Nicaea as divinely inspired. As long as he lived no one dared openly to challenge the Creed of Nicaea, but the expected concord did not follow.(17) Although the Nicene Creed had been accepted by the council of bishops, there still remained great dissension amoung many of the clergy about the deity of Jesus Christ. So in the year 381 A.D. a second ecumenical council met in Constantinople.(18) This council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed stating that Jesus and God were co-equal and co-eternal, and also declared the deity of the Holy Spirit. The doctrine of the trinity was then fully established and thus became the cornerstone of Christian faith for the next fifteen centuries.(19) Clearly, historians of Church dogma and systematic theologians agree that the idea of a Christian trinity was not a part of the first century Church. The twelve apostles never subscribed to it or received revelation about it. So how then did a trinitarian doctrine come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum in late first, second, and third centuries as pagans, who had converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity some of their pagan beliefs and practices. Trinitaranism then was confirmed at Nicaea in 325 by Church bishops out of political expediency. Its reaffirmation was thereafter needed and received at Constantinople in 381. Since that time the "God-in-three-persons" doctrine has been adhered to as though it were divine revelation. The following chapters of this book will show that it is not. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (1) Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons (New York: Loizeaux Brothers, 1959), p.16. (2) Alvan Lamson, The Church of the First Three Centuries (Boston: Walker Fuller and Co., 1865), pp. 75, 97, 98. (3) Ibid., p.396. (4) New Catholic Encyclopedia, 1967, s.v. "Trinity." (5) Charles Hase, A History of the Christian Church (New York: D. Appleton and Co., 1886), pp.53-71 (6) Acts 21:20: "And when they heard it, they glorified the Lord, and said unto him, Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there are which believe; and they are all zealous of the law." (7) Hase, A History of the Christian Church, pp. 53-71 (8) Harry Rimmer, Crying Stones (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1946), p. 99. (9) The Companion Bible (London: The Lamp Press Ltd.), p. 1876. (10) See V.P. Wierwille, "Baptism," The Bible Tells Me So (New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian Press, 1971). (11) Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, rev. ed. (New York: Charles Sribner's Sons, 1959), p. 101. (12) Hase, A History of the Christian Church, p. 111. (13) Henry Chadwick, The Early Church (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968), p. 129. (14) Ibid. (15) Ibid., p. 130. (16) Henry Bettenson. ed., Documents of the Christian Church, 2nd ed. (London: Oxford University Press, 1963), p. 58. "Arius and his followers were forthwith banished to Illyria and his works were burned. The reverberations of this treatment of Arius had a profound effect on the Church, as well as on Constantine, for several decades. Just as Arius was to have been pardoned by Constantine and reinstated in the Curch, he died." (17) Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, s.v. "Council of Nicaea." (18) B.K. Kuiper, The Church in History (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951), p. 128. (19) The Nicene Creed: "We believe in one God the Father all sovereign, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible: And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all the ages, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became mand, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and cometh again with glory to judge living and dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end: And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Life-giver, that proceedeth from the Father, who with Father and Son is worshipped together and glorified together, who spake through the prophets: In one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church: We acknowledge one baptism unto remission of sins. We look for a resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come." http://www.christadelphia.org/trinityhistory.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------ APPENDIX E Antanaclasis in John 1:1In normal grammatical usage the same meaning and sense is given to the repeated use of a single word in a sentence. This is what is used to support the interpretation that John 1:1 reads, "In the beginning was Jesus Christ and Jesus Christ was with God and Jesus Christ was God." However, John 1:1 contains the figure of speech antanaclasis so that the meaning of the repeated usage of logos is not the same. John 1:1: In the beginning was the Word [logos], and the Word [logos] was with God, and the Word [logos] was God. Here the first usage of logos means God Himself. But the second usage of logos has a different sense. There are several things which show this difference; the figure of speech antanaclasis is one of them. E. W. Bullinger in his work Figures of Speech Used in the Bible explains antanaclasis so clearly. Antanaclasis, from anti, against or back, ana, up, and klasis, a breaking, from klao, to break. Hence, a breaking up agains. This name is given to this figure; because, when a word has been used once in a sentence in its plain and natural sense, it is used again in the same sentence in another sense which breaks up against it. It is the use of the same word in the same sentence in two different senses. It is essential to this figure that the two words must be the same in spelling . . . It is in frequent use in all languages: e.g., "while we live, let us live": or "learn some craft while you are young that when you are old you may live without craft." When the Declaration of American Independence was being signed, Hancock said, "We must be unanimous; there must be no pulling different ways." "Yes," said Franklin, "we must all hang together, or most assuredly we shall all hang separately."(1) In John 1:1 this means that the first and second usages of logos differ in sense. The normal laws of language are departed from and the sentence is given a pecular form or shape to draw our attention and to supply emphasis. The first usage refers to God as a distinct entity. He is the Word. The second usage changes in second usage changes in sense and refers to God as revealed by Jesus Christ and the written Word. Let us look at other examples of the figure of speech antanaclasis. John 1:10: . . . the world was made by hime, and the world knew him not. The word "world" is here repeated twice but in two different senses. The former refers to the created world, and the latter to unbelieving men. John 3:31: . . . he that is of the earth is earthly [is of the earth], and speaketh of the earth. . . He that is of the earth (in respect to his natural birth and origin) is of the earth (in respect to his nature and speaketh accordingly (according to his nature). Here again the word "earth" takes on two different senses and thus becomes the figure of speech antanaclasis. John 4:13 and 14: Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. . . The word "drinketh" is used in two different senses and the meaning of the statement is thus emphasized by the second usage breaking up against the first. John 4:31 and 32: In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. In the former place, the word "eat" is used naturally of eating food; in the later, spiritually, of doing the Father's will. Romans 9:6: . . .For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel. The first usage of the word "Israel" refers to the believer's line of Israel. The second refers to the flesh, the natural descendants of Jacob. E. W. Bullinger gives 34 illustrated examples of this figure antanaclasis in Firgures of Speech Used in the Bible from page 286 to page 293. His torically, antanaclasis is not a recent invention of rhetoricians. Its classification dates back to Cornificius, the author of Rhetorica ad Herennium (ca. 86 B.C.). Cornificius wrote, "To the same type of figure (transplacement or ploce) belongs that which occurs when the same word is used first in one function, and then in another (antanaclasis), as follows: 'Why do you so zealously concern yourself with this matter, which will cause you much concern?' Again: 'To be dear to you would bring me joy--if only I take care it shall not in anguish cost me dear.' Again: 'I would leave this place, should the Senate give me leave.'"(2) In the early part of the first century, Rutilius Lupus abridged a dictionary of definitions of figures of speech. He defines the figure of speech antanaclasis.(3) In the late fourth century, Julius Rufinianus also mentions this figure.(4) Thus in John 1:1, where logos is used more than once, with each repetition designating a different meaning, our attention is arrested and made keenly aware of the different kinds of logos referred to. God used this figure of speech antanaclasis in John 1:1 so that we may recognize that God is the Word, and that His Son and His written Word are God's communication of Himself to mankind. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ (1) E.W. Bullinger, Figures of Speech Used in the Bible (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1968), p. 286. (2) Cornificius, Rhetorica ad Herennium, 4. 16. 21. Trans. Harry Caplan (loeb Classical Library, 1954), p. 281. (3) Rutilii Lupi, Schemeta lexeos, 1. 21. In Carolus Halm, Rhetores Latini minores (Leipzig: Teubner, 1863), pp. 1-21. (4) Julius Rufinianus, De figuris sententiarum et elocutionis. In Carolus Halm, Rhetores Latini minores (leipzig: Teubner, 1863), pp.24-38. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ International Standard Book Number 0-910068-33-X Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 81-66710 American Christian Press The Way International New Knoxville, Ohio 45871 copyright 1981 by The Way International copyright 1975 by The WAy International All rightrs reserved. Published 1975 Second Edition 1981. Seventh Printing 1992 Printed in the United States of America --------------------------- Historical details: "In the fourth century Eusebius was asked by the Emperor Constantine to make 50 copies of the New Testament on fine vellum. None can be found today - most likely, they have been altered, mutilated, lost or destroyed. No manuscript from previous centuries has been found, as all extant manuscripts, the oldest dating from the fourth century, have been altered by scribes which deliberately inserted "in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost" in place of the original "in my name." " (http://www.geocities.com/fdocc3/appendix1.htm to read about those fifty copies). "During the persecution of the second century, a small group of Christian intellectuals, most prominent of whom were Aristides the philosopher and Justin Martyr, wrote dissertations to emperors and other notable persons to defend the gospel, to stop the persecution and to answer the charges against them. These dissertations, called "Apologies", were, in fact, compromises between Christianity and paganism. Thus, from the apologetic period on, because of the impact the Apologies had, the concepts of the triune God, plus Mary as the mother of God [deceivingly canonized as "We confess that our Lady, St. Mary, is properly and truly the Mother of God, because she was the Mother after the flesh of One Person of the Holy Trinity, to wit, Christ our God, as the Council of Ephesus has already defined", in The Second Council Of Nice. A.D. 787, previously seen in the spurious document "The Divine Liturgy Of James, The Holy Apostle And Brother Of The Lord" as "Thou who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal; who didst submit for our salvation to become flesh of the holy God-mother, and ever-virgin Mary; who didst immutably become man and wast crucified, O Christ our God and didst by Thy death tread death under foot; who art one of the Holy Trinity glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit..."] and pagan symbolism, took root and began growing in discussion and in writing" (by the way, we don't need to "apologize" to anybody because we believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, it is God's Word which says so, not my feeble pen!). "The attempts at suppressing the early Church by the Roman government ended when Constantine, the Roman emperor, gained power after his victory at the Milvian Bridge in 312 A.D. After Constantine's conversion to Christianity he issued an edict at Milan, which granted Christians the same rights as the followers of other religions had, as well as restitution of the wrongs done to Christians (Williston Walker, A History of the Christian Church, rev. ed., N.Y.: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1959, p. 101). Constantine soon began to grant special favors to Christians, so many made conversion to Christianity as a ticket to political, military, and social promotion. Thousands of non-Christians began joining the Church for political favors. In return for granting special favors and acting with leniency, Constantine insisted that he have a strong voice in Church affairs." "It was at Constantine's peak of power, early in that fourth century, that the idea of Jesus Christ's being co-equal with God the Father began to gain a wide base of support. Yet trinitarianism at that point was not an established doctrine." The heathen idea of a triune God stirred (and still does) great controversy within the Church, as there were still many clergy and laymen who did not believe in that rare "position" of Christ as being God himself, "the great question that had generated the controversy over Jesus' divinity remained - and remains yet -" (Richard E. Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, 1999, Harcourt, p. 231, see http://www.geocities.com/fdocc3/appendix4.htm for a Biblical evaluation of the conclusion of his book). "The disagreement about the position of Christ reached its most noted level in the confrontation between Bishop Alexander of Alexandria, Egypt, and his presbyter Arius. Bishop Alexander taught that Jesus was equal to God, however Arius did not. So, at a synod held at Alexandria in 321, Arius was deposed and excommunicated (Rubenstein, When Jesus Became God, 1999, Harcourt, Ch. 4, p. 84; Hase, A History of the Christian Church, p. 111). Arius, although now in institutional disfavor, still had much support outside of Egypt. Many of the important bishops such as the learned historian, Eusebius of Caesarea, and his powerful namesake, Eusebius, Bishop of Nicomedia, theologically agreed with Arius, they saw by the scriptures that "Jesus Christ is not God". Constantine, disturbed over the sustained controversy in his empire, sent his ecclesiastical adviser Ossius, Bishop of Cordova (Hosius of Cordova, president of the Council of Nicaea, Constantine's earliest "christian" advisor), to Alexandria on a mission of reconciliation and inquiry. After visiting Alexandria, Ossius sided with Alexander against Arius. Ossius returned to Rome and there persuaded Constantine to embrace Alexander's position (Henry Chadwick, The Early Church, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1968, p. 129.)" "To legitimatize his position, Constantine invited all bishops of the Christian Church to Nicaea (which is now in Asia Minor) in May 325 A.D. Thus, the Council of Nicaea began with its main goal being to settle the dispute over the relationship between God and His Son. The council consisted of approximately 220 bishops who were almost exclusively from the Occident. Constantine, who was in control of the proceedings, used his political power to bring pressure to bear on the bishops to accept his theological position. The creed they signed was clearly anti-Arian; in other words, the Nicene Creed embraced the Son as co-equal with God. Two hundred eighteen of the 220 bishops signed this creed, although it was truly the work of a minority (Henry Bettenson. ed., Documents of the Christian Church, 2nd ed., London: Oxford University Press, 1963, in p. 58 says: "Arius and his followers were forthwith banished to Illyria and his works were burned. The reverberations of this treatment of Arius had a profound effect on the Church, as well as on Constantine, for several decades. Just when Arius was to have been pardoned by Constantine, and to be reinstated in the Church, he died.") Constantine himself actively guided the discussion, and personally proposed (no doubt on Ossius' prompting), the crucial formula expressing the relation of Christ to God in the creed issued by that council: "of one substance with the Father." Over-awed by the emperor, the bishops, with two exceptions only, signed the creed, many of them against their inclination. At that moment Constantine regarded the decision of Nicaea as divinely inspired. As long as he lived no one dared openly to challenge the Creed of Nicaea, but the expected concord did not follow (Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968, s.v. "Council of Nicaea.") "Although the Nicene Creed had been accepted by the council of bishops, there still remained great dissension among many of the clergy about the deity of Jesus Christ. So, in the year 381 A.D. a second ecumenical council met in Constantinople (B.K. Kuiper, The Church in History, Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1951, p. 128). This council reaffirmed the Nicene Creed stating that Jesus and God were co-equal and co-eternal, and also declared the deity of the Holy Spirit." The doctrine of the trinity was then fully established and thus became the cornerstone of the Catholic, wrongfully called also "the cornerstone of the "Christian faith" " for the next fifteen centuries. Bettenson says also, that at the Council of Nicaea: "Eusebius of Cesarea, the historian, suggested the adoption of the creed of his own church... But as it did not deal explicitly with the Arian position... It was taken only as a base (by Athanasius and by Hosius), and put forward by the council in its next "revised" form": The Creed of Nicaea (325 A.D.): "We believe in one God the Father All sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible; And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge living and dead. And in the Holy Spirit. And those that say 'There was when he was not,' and, 'Before he was begotten he was not,' or those that allege, that the son of God is 'Of another substance or essence,' or 'created,' or 'changeable,' or 'alterable,' these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes." (The Council of Constantinople of 381 defined the Holy Spirit as consubstantial and coeternal with the Father and with the Son in "the divine trinity"). Betterson then explains some of the anachronisms within the so called 'Nicene' Creed as follows: "[It was] found in Epiphanius' of Salamis, Ancoratus (374 A.D.), and extracted by scholars (as it was found also in Eusebius of Caesarea) almost word for word from the Catechetical Lectures of Cyril of Jerusalem (~315-387 A. D.), and then was read and approved at Chalcedon (451 A. D.), as the "original" creed of '(the 200 or 318? fathers who met at Nicaea and that of) the 150 who met at a later time' (i.e. at Constantinople, 381 A.D.). Hence, often called the Constantinopolitan or Nicaeno-Constantinopolitan creed, and thought by many to be a revision of the creed of Jerusalem held by Cyril" (of the 178 words in the original of this second "Nicene Creed," only 33 are positively taken from the creed of AD 325. This second creed is received as ecumenical by the Eastern and Roman communions and by the majority of the Reformed churches.): The 'Nicene' Creed says (or its 'version' of 451 A.D., as is still recited inside Catholic churches, as a history's 'living witness'): "We believe in one God the Father all sovereign, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, Begotten of the Father before all the ages, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made; who for us men and for our salvation came down from the heavens, and was made flesh of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and became man, and was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, and suffered and was buried, and rose again on the third day according to the Scriptures, and ascended into the heavens, and sitteth on the right hand of the Father, and cometh again with glory to judge living and dead, of whose kingdom there shall be no end. And in the Holy Spirit, the Lord and the Life-giver, that proceedeth from the Father, who with Father and Son is worshipped together and glorified together, who spake through the prophets. In one holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. We acknowledge one baptism unto remission of sins. We look for a resurrection of the dead, and the life of the age to come." ("Filioque", a novel combination of Latin words meaning "and from the Son," was added to the Nicene Creed by the Third Council of Toledo in 589, and refers to the doctrine of the Holy Spirit as emanating from the Father and from the Son, an issue added to the great schism). Nothing is said in this "creed" about our salvation by grace in Christ Jesus' name, or of our new birth, neither nothing is said of the Mystery of Jews and Gentiles being made members of the same body of Christ and fellow-heirs, nor of the power of holy spirit within us with his nine manifestations and its fruit made by nine segments, etc... [Nicene: Of or relating to Nicaea or Nice, an ancient city of Asia Minor in which a "confession of faith" was formulated and decreed by the First Council of Nicaea in A. D. 325 in opposition to Arianism and reaffirmed by the First Council of Constantinople in A.D. 381 or to one of the later forms of this confession (p. 1525, Webster's Third New International Dictionary, vol. II, 1981)] "Historians of Church dogma and systematic theologians agree that the idea of a trinity was not a part of the Bible (see end of http://www.geocities.com/fdocc3/appendix3.htm). "The twelve apostles never subscribed to it or received revelation about it. So, how then did a trinitarian doctrine come about? It gradually evolved and gained momentum in the late first, second, and third centuries, as pagans, who had converted to Christianity, brought to Christianity some of their pagan beliefs and practices. Trinitarianism then was confirmed at Nicaea in 325 by Church bishops out of political expediency. Its reaffirmation was thereafter needed and received at Constantinople in 381 A. D. Since that time the "God-in-three-persons" doctrine has been adhered to as though it were a divine revelation." But, if we have eyes to see, we can see by the Biblical Texts themselves, and even by the records of history, a very different picture (V. P. Wierwille and Ronald G. Webster, in the book "Jesus Christ is Not God, 1981, pp. 11-27"). "A handful of Western churchmen came to the Council of Nicaea. The eastern predominance can be attributed to the westerners' lack of interest in the Arian controversy, which still seemed to most of them an obscure "Greek" matter. But it also reflected the great size, strength, and vitality of Eastern Christianity - one reason that Constantine had decided to locate his new capital in Asia Minor". "Constantine, who considered himself an acute judge of character, was often swayed by the apparent sincerity, intelligence, and depth of feelings of someone seeking his favor. If Arius, for example, seemed sincerely repentant and desirous of living at peace with his brother priests, Constantine might not worry that his views were somewhat at variance with the Nicene Creed. Arius had a genuine devotion to Christ and the Church, as was his desire to live at peace with other Christians, even if he and they differed in matters of doctrine". The council of Nicomedia (328 A.D.) readmitted solemnly Arius and Euzoius to communion. "Little more than two years after the Council of Nicaea ended, its most significant practical decisions were thus overturned. The apparent consensus reached at the Council Nicaea was, in large part, an illusion produced by the bishops' desire to please the emperor and to restore the unity of the Church. A false consensus may be more productive of conflict than an honest disagreement. By other side, Athanasius, losing patience with the fifty assembled bishops which were conferring day and night in an effort to elect a new metropolitan bishop for Alexandria, convinced a few of them to go with him to the church of Dionysius and consecrate him bishop behind closed doors. (The Council of Nicaea had designated three bishops as the minimum number who could consecrate, provided that the candidate also received the written consent of the other bishops.) Using his considerable political influence, Athanasius obtained a decree of the Alexandria City council characterizing his election as the people's choice, and sent it to Constantine with a letter alleging that he had received the consent of the Alexandrian bishops. Constantine accepted Athanasius' claim without further investigation, and wrote the city officially approving his appointment. But the emperor was mistaken if he thought that this would bring peace to the city. Athanasius, the new bishop, younger than the legal 30 years old for the task, embarked on a tour of his domains, reorganizing the Egyptian clergy so as to put his own supporters in key positions". Arius was officially readmitted to communion, but Alexander, Athanasius and Macarius... rejected him. Constantine was to use his full authority in support of Arius...but Arius died just one day before the official ceremony of reacceptance to the church... Arius was an old man, "probably in his seventies; he would not have been the first person his age to die of an intestinal aliment, or, possibly, of a heart attack brought on by the combination of illness and the tension of awaiting one of the most important days in his life. Still, poison was the murder weapon of choice for many Roman intriguers, and from the point of view of Arius' enemies, one could hardly imagine a more urgent or convenient time for murder than the eve of Arius' triumph. A whisper of poison drifts about the event, captured by some of the literature on Arius' death, although the only direct evidence for it is the timing and manner of his passing". Few months later, Constantine himself died, and so, the Athanasian violence increased, being opposed later, only by Constantius, the faithful son of Constantine... Frend, W.H.C., The Rise of Christianity, 1984, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, p. 528, Rubenstein, R.E., When Jesus Became God, 1999, Harcourt, pp. 75, 102-106, 126-137, 169-191. "In 312, on the eve of a battle against Maxentius, his rival in Italy, Constantine is reported to have dreamed that Christ appeared to him and told him to inscribe the first two letters of his name (XP in Greek) on the shields of his troops. The next day he is said to have seen a cross superimposed on the sun and the words "in this sign you will be the victor" (usually given in Latin, "in hoc signo vinces"). Constantine then defeated Maxentius at the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, near Rome. The Senate hailed the victor as savior of the Roman people. Thus, Constantine, who had been a pagan solar worshiper, now looked upon Christ as a bringer of victory. Persecution of the Christians was ended, and Constantine's co-emperor, Licinius, joined him in issuing the Edict of Milan (313), which mandated toleration of Christians in the Roman Empire. As guardian of Constantine's favored religion, the church was then given legal rights and large financial donations. Constantine intervened in ecclesiastical affairs to achieve unity; he presided over the first ecumenical council of the church at Nicaea in 325. He also began the building of Constantinople in 326 on the site of ancient Greek Byzantium (present-day Istanbul, which remained the capital of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire until 1453). The city was completed in 330 (later expanded). In addition, Constantine built churches in the Holy Land. The emperor was baptized shortly before his death, on May 22, 337.As the first emperor to rule in the name of Christ, he was a major figure in the foundation of medieval Christian Europe". "Constantine the Great," 1994, Microsoft Encarta. ETC... To go to the main text: http://www.geocities.com/fdocc3/in-my-name.htm ----------------------- The insertion within 1 John 5:7-8 was omitted completely by the British Committee in the Revised Version of 1881-1885, and by the American Committee in the American Standard Version of 1901. Yet both, the American and the British Bible Societies, knowing that the ancient texts and manuscripts do not substantiate the insertion, have continued to insert the error in the newer versions of the King James Version (KJV) as genuine Scripture. To print these verses for many years after it was known not to be true, is an immoral act with Scripture, and as such, it is sin. The English translation is a clear case of forgery to mislead the reader. Whosoever committed the forgery had been trained to believe that there were three persons, each of whom was infinite God, yet there was but one God. If three equals one, and one equals three, the mathematics of theology must be a mysterious thing, "the mystery of the trinity." However, it is not a matter of mystery; it is a matter of deliberate lying and of plain contradicting the Scripture. One error leads to another, because if Jesus Christ is God, then, by sheer logic, Mary has to be the mother of God [deceivingly canonized as "We confess that our Lady, St. Mary, is properly and truly the Mother of God, because she was the Mother after the flesh of One Person of the Holy Trinity, to wit, Christ our God, as the Council of Ephesus has already defined", in The Second Council Of Nice. A.D. 787, previously seen in the spurious document "The Divine Liturgy Of James, The Holy Apostle And Brother Of The Lord" as "Thou who art the only-begotten Son and Word of God, immortal; who didst submit for our salvation to become flesh of the holy God-mother, and ever-virgin Mary; who didst immutably become man and wast crucified, O Christ our God and didst by Thy death tread death under foot; who art one of the Holy Trinity glorified together with the Father and the Holy Spirit...]. Opposed to that, Jesus Christ said: "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit" (Lk 23:46). The mystery of the trinity is within the creeds of men, not in the Word of God. The Trinitarians call themselves orthodox, and everybody else heretics - those who, on standing for the Word of God, differ to them. They consider themselves the custodians of evangelical truth. Bible societies and Bible translators continue to issue these forgeries, yet they endeavor to tell us they stand for honesty and integrity. Why not just simply believe the truth of God's Word? The errors of the so-called orthodoxy are going to continue to be the forgeries of the Scriptures. Thus, they are adulterating the truth - those very people who profess to teach truth. The respect of thinking people cannot be permanently retained, for the seekers after truth will sooner or later discover all the mistranslations, as well as all the forgeries on which the doctrine of the trinity has been based. At the present time, there is no Roman emperor's sword to sustain it, only the tongue and pen of men. The trinitarian teaching has destroyed both good sense and good morals for leaders and for the so called "Christian thought". Religion has lost its hold on thinking people. Thinking people will not continue following leaders in whose honesty they have no confidence, those who defile the Word of God and defile themselves. To say that Jesus Christ is God the Son is idolatry. To say: "Jesus Christ is the Son of God", is truth. The early Church taught, with emphasis only one God; but the trinity was forced on the world by the sword of the Roman power. The early Christians had no conception of the doctrine of the trinity as it is now taught. Today, it's like in the days of Elijah: one who calls people back to the worship of the true God is considered a troubler, as if disseminating dangerous views. Endeavoring to sustain a doctrine disproved by the integrity of the Word of God and by human intellect, is putting forth a great deal of effort in trying to believe a lie. Anyone questioning the settled dogma of the trinity is advised not to do so, why? It is because it would upset the orthodoxy relative to the doctrine of the trinity? A doctrine established by the sword, by persecution, and by cruel oppression? On doing so, the roman church, which was corrupted by statesmen and ecclesiastical hierarchy in a civilized world, became only an imitation of heathen religions using Christian names. The average student is not told that the dogma of the trinity unified the roman church by persecution. It is concealed from him that Theodosius "the Great" (see http://www.geocities.com/fdocc3/appendix3.htm to read his statement and of his sanguinary character) in the latter part of the fourth century made, by force, the trinity to be the official doctrine of the Roman Empire; and at that time, there were not enough trinitarians in the capital city of Constantinople on the first Sunday thereafter, to place, not even to one single trinitarian worshipper in each church building in the city. The first commandment states, "I am the Lord thy God... Thow shalt have no other gods before me" (Ex 20:2-3) and "The Lord our God is one Lord" (Deut 6:4-5, Mk 12:29-30). These are never emphasized in any creed that man has made. Yet, these scriptures still shine like diamonds, with great accuracy in the Word of God. God's revelation to men opens with God creating, and closes when "the Son, also himself being subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). I know of almost not even one denomination that does not treat the greatest and most beautiful of all the commandments as though it were obsolete, and brand as "heretic", to anyone disagreeing with their own imaginations and opinions exalted to dogmas. "Religious Men" want us to worship their human thoughts consecrated as dogmas and not the true God! What do we really "win" by believing that God is "one in three persons"? Are we not rather contradicting the Word of God and loosing our good sense by that statement? If the truth of the greatness of God's Word is not revived and believed, "Christendom" will still to be the laughingstock of the world, and only will be a veneered heathenism [Thought inspired by: V. P. Wierwille, Forgers of the Word, 1983, American Christian Press] --------------------- God can only be known from God's written Word, the Bible, and from the declared Word, God's Son, Jesus Christ. God gave His Son that we might have life and have it more abundantly - yes, that life which is eternal and therefore more than abundant. If Jesus Christ is God and not the Son of God, we have not yet been redeemed, our very redemption, the crucial point on which all true Christianity rests, is dependent on Jesus Christ being a man and not God. Our Passover, which was Jesus Christ, was tortured, crucified, dead and buried, and he has to be a sheep from the flock: "If an ascending-sacrifice, be his oblation-of the herd, a male without defect, shall he bring near,-unto the entrance of the tent of meeting, shall he bring it, for its acceptance, before Yahweh" (Leviticus 1:3, The Emphasized Bible, by J. B. Rotherham). "A flock animal, a perfect one, a male, a yearling, shall be to you. You shall take from the sheep or from the goats. And it shall be for you to keep until the fourteenth day of this month." (Exodus 12:5-6a. (B. C. 1491), Green's Literal Translation, 1993) "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. For this reason he ought by all means to become like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the things respecting God, in order to make propitiation for the sins of his people. For in that he himself has suffered, having been tempted, he is able to rescue those who have been tempted." (Hebrews 2:16-18, King James Version -plus- Green's Literal Translation). "...The blood of Christ (which through the eternal spirit offered himself without spot to God) purge your consciences from dead works for to serve the living God?" (Hebrews 2:14b. William Tyndale Translation, 1525). Christ, the blemish-less lamb offered himself to God. God would not offer Himself to Himself. But Christ was not God; and, therefore, presented himself to God as the perfect sacrifice. Christ did met every requirement of the law: "For Christ is the end of the law to justify all that believe" (Romans 10:4. William Tyndale Translation, 1525). The greatness of God's Word shows how, through his sacrificial death, Jesus Christ was our Passover: "...For Christ, our Passover Lamb (Korban Pesach, esterlambe) is already offered up for us" (1 Corinthians 5:7b, William Tyndale Translation, 1525 -plus- Brit Chadasha). "On the morrow John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, 'Lo, the Lamb of God, who is taking away the sin of the world' " (John 1:29, Young's Literal Translation). "And Abraham said: 'God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt-offering, my son'. So the two of them continued on together" (Genesis 22:8, Jewish Publication Society -plus- NET Bible). Gen 22:8 is an important passage in the background of the title Lamb of God as applied to Jesus. In Jewish thought this was held to be a supremely important sacrifice. G. Vermès stated: "For the Palestinian Jew, all lamb sacrifice, and especially the Passover lamb and the Tamid offering, was a memorial of the Akedah with its effects of deliverance, forgiveness of sin and messianic salvation" (Scripture and Tradition in Judaism, 225; a NET Bible note). Examples of scriptures that show who Jesus Christ was: Man, Of the Male Sex Arrhen: "And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne" (Rev. 12:5). "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child " (Rev. 12:13). Man, Adult Male Aner: "Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know" (Acts 2:22). "Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31). "This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me" (Jn. 1:30). Man Anthropos: "For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim. 2:5). "For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead" (1Cor 15:21). "But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many" (Rom. 5:15, see below). "The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven" (1 Cor. 15:47). "But now ye seek to kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this did not Abraham" (Jn. 8:40). "Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?" (Jn. 4:29). "And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God" (Mk. 15:39). "Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man" (Lk. 23:47). "But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men" (Mt. 9:8). "The officers answered, Never man spake like this man" (Jn. 7:46). "Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles" (Jn. 11:47). "Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed, and walk?" (Jn. 5:12). "He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight" (Jn. 9:11). "Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And there was a division among them" (Jn. 9:16). "Nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not" (Jn. 11:50). "Now Caiaphas was he, which gave counsel to the Jews, that it was expedient that one man should die for the people" (Jn. 18:14). "Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this man is a sinner" (Jn. 9:24). "The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God... Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?" (Jn. 10:33, 36) "Doth our law judge any man, before it hear him, and know what he doeth?" (Jn. 7:51). "The Son of man came eating and drinking, and they say, Behold a man gluttonous, and a winebibber, a friend of publicans and sinners. But wisdom is justified of her children" (Mt. 11:19, Lk. 7:34). "And again he denied with an oath, I do not know the man... Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the man. And immediately the cock crew" (Mt. 26:72, 74). "But he began to curse and to swear, saying, I know not this man of whom ye speak" (Mk. 14:71). "Then saith the damsel that kept the door unto Peter, Art not thou also one of this man's disciples? He saith, I am not" (Jn. 18:17). "For I also am a man set under authority, having under me soldiers, and I say unto one, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it" (Lk. 7:8, Mt. 8:9). "Pilate then went out unto them, and said, What accusation bring ye against this man?" (Jn.18:29). "Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man" (Lk. 23:4). "When Pilate heard of Galilee, he asked whether the man were a Galilaean" (Lk. 23:6). "Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man!" (Jn. 19:5). "...Ye have brought this man unto me, as one that perverteth the people: and, behold, I, having examined him before you, have found no fault in this man touching those things whereof ye accuse him" (Lk. 23:14). "Saying, Did not we straitly command you that ye should not teach in this name? and, behold, ye have filled Jerusalem with your doctrine, and intend to bring this man's blood upon us" (Acts 5:28). "But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross" (Philippians 2:7-8). Etc.. Here is the expanded context of Romans 5:14-19: "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification. For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.) Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous" (Rom. 5:14-19, KJV). And the same context, in another version that supplies every ellipsis to be found within this text: "Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who did not sin in the likeness of Adam's transgression, who is a type of the coming man. But in this way also, the gift is not as the transgression. For if by the trespass of the one man the many died, much more the grace of God, and the gift in grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. And the gift is not as through one man who sinned, for indeed the judgment from one man was for condemnation, but the gift from many offenses is for righteousness. For if, by the offense of the one man, death reigned through the one man, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. So then, as through an offense of one man was for condemnation for all men, so also through a righteousness of one man was for justification of life for all men. For as through the one man's disobedience the many were led sinful, so also through the obedience of the one man the many will be led righteous" ((Rom. 5:14-19, A Conservative Version). [Even in "the trinitarian" KJV is clearly established in Rom. 5:15 that Jesus Christ was a man (anthropos in the Textus Receptus), Jesus Christ was our "man - man's redeemer". As we have seen before, the ellipsis describing Jesus Christ as one man are accurately supplied four more times in Walter L. Porter's "A Conservative Version", making in that version a total of five appearances of the word "man" to describe Jesus Christ in Rom. 5:14-19, and also, less times in its surrounding verses, the ellipsis have been supplied for Jesus Christ being a man in the "New English Translation", in Timothy E. Clontz's "Common Edition", in Gary F. Zeolla's "Analytical-Literal Translation", in Annie Cressman's "Bible in Worldwide English", New International Version, International Standard Version, New Revised Standard Version, 1949 Bible in Basic English, "The Message", Spanish "Dios Habla Hoy", Spanish "Castillian (CST-IBS)", 1933 G. Lamsa Translation from the Peshitta, Paul W. Esposito's "English Majority Version", "Philips NT", "Twentieth Century", "NET Bible", Spanish "El Libro del Pueblo de Dios", Spanish "NVI". The version "God's Word" translates the Greek word "anthropos" as "person" and with "person" it supplies its ellipsis, "New Living Translation" supplies one ellipsis with "man" and one other with "person", Weymouth (1912) supplies one ellipsis with "individual". The "Contemporary English Version" even deletes the original Greek word "anthropos" translating only "Jesus Christ alone".] "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born" (Mt 26:24) [To see "the son of man", see also Mt 8:20, Mt 9:6, Mt 10:23, Mt 11:19, Mt 12:8, 32, 40, Mt 13:37, 41, Mt 16:13, 27, 28, Mt 17:9, 12, 22, Mt 18:11, Mt 19:28, Mt 20:18, 28, Mt 24:27, 30, 37, 39, 44, Mt 25:13, 31, Mt 26:2, 45, 64, Mk 2:10, 28, Mk 8:31, 38, Mk 9:9, 12, 31, Mk 10:33, 45, Mk 13:26, (Mk 13:34, by ellipsis), Mk 14:21, 41, 62, Lk 5:24, Lk 6:5, 22, Lk 7:34, Lk 9:22, 26, 44, 56, 58, Lk 11:30, Lk 12:8, 10, 40, Lk 17:22, 24, 26, 30, Lk 18:8, 31, Lk 19:10, Lk 21:27, 36, Lk 22:22, 48, 69, Lk 24:7, Jn 1:51, Jn 3:13, 14, Jn 5:27, Jn 6:27, 53, 62, Jn 8:28, Jn 12:23, 34 (twice), Jn 13:31, Acts 7:56, Heb 2:6, Rev 1:13, Rev 14:14, etc.] "And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead" (Rom 1:4) [To see "the Son of God", see also: Mt 3:17, 4:3, 6, 8:29, 14:33, 16:16, 17:5, 26:63, 27:40, 43, 54, Mk 1:1, 11, 3:11, 5:7, 9:7, 15:39, Lk 1:32, 35, 3:22, 4:3, 9, 41, 8:28, 9:35, Jn 1:18, 34, 49, 3:16, 17, 18, 5:25, 6:69, 9:35, 10:36, 11:4, 27, 19:7, 20:31, Acts 8:37, 9:20, 13:33, Rom. 1:3, 4, 9, 5:10, 8:3, 1 Cor. 1:9, 2 Cor. 1:19, Gal. 2:20, 4:4, Eph. 4:13, 1 Thess. 1,9, 10, Heb. 4:14, 6:6, 7:3, 10:29, 1 Jn. 1:3, 3:8, 4:15, 5:5, 10, 12, 13, 20, 2 Jn. 3, etc.] God has already revealed to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, and that surely includes the revelation of "who is his son", and God has already made us partakers of God's own divine nature: "According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust" (2 Pet. 1:3-4). Jesus Christ told it before: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it" (Jn. 14:12-14). And Paul explains it: "Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Eph. 5:20). "And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him" (Col. 3:17). "Whatsoever ye do in word or deed" surely includes anything that a human being can say or can do, and all needs to be done "in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ", not "in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost". "And this is the confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us: And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him" (1 Jn. 5:14-15). Even to ask anything to God with our understanding, according to his will includes doing it in the name of Jesus Christ. If we don't confess who Jesus Christ really is, according only to the Bible, we are also betraying Jesus, as Judas Iscariot did. Humans can be easily deceived, but not in this point if we believe and obey the Word of God. "Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:9-11). "Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). "Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand, and lifted him up: and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength" (Acts 3:6-7). "But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). "By him [Jesus, from v. 12] therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his [Jesus] name" (Heb. 13:15). In the name of Jesus Christ there is power. In the name of Jesus Christ the sick are healed. In the name of Jesus Christ devils are cast out. In the name of Jesus Christ people are freed from mental bondage. We need to know the name of Jesus Christ and use that name, believing in it. All your needs are guaranteed to be supplied by Christ Jesus. We have all power in that name. We have the power of attorney that when we use the name of Jesus Christ, powerful things must happen. "And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment" (1Jn 3:23). We should love one another because of the name of Jesus Christ. You must know what the Word of God says, and then act upon that Word. As you hear The Word and act upon it, God will answer your requests. We have Christ in us, so we have the power of attorney. In the name of Jesus Christ activate that power and live the more abundant life!. [Wierwille, V. P., Your Power of Attorney (chapter 4), "The New Dynamic Church", 1971, American Christian Press, pp. 43-55]. //////////////////// The Giver And The Gift Two authors who tried to be sensitive to the usages of "spirit" (pneuma) were E.W. Bullinger and V.P. Wierwille. In his book, The Giver And His Gifts, Bullinger showed a number of the uses of pneuma that the reader of Scripture must recognize. These include God, Jesus Christ, operations and gifts of the pneuma, the new nature that is born in the Christian, the nature of man, the character of man, angels, evil spirits, the resurrected body, etc. Wierwille recognized many of these, and although he differs somewhat from Bullinger, as is apparent from studying his book, Receiving The Holy Spirit Today, there is a large area of agreement between them. A study of both of these works can be helpful to see the intricacies in this area of study. 13 In their works, or in your own study of the subject, you will see that when the words pneuma hagion (holy spirit) appear with the article "the," they almost always refer to the Giver. You will see also that when pneuma hagion appears without an article, as it does about 50 times, it almost always refers to the gift of the divine nature. 14 Refs. 13. You will not have to read far in this book to realize that we, the authors, do not believe in the "Trinity," at least as it is usually defined by orthodox theologians. We do believe there is God the Father, Christ the Son, and holy spirit. It concerns us that some Christians would, for that reason, discard everything we write in this book. We would ask those Christians to read prayerfully. Bullinger was an orthodox Trinitarian, and a linguist, and he saw clearly the difference between Holy Spirit and holy spirit. 14. E.W. Bullinger, The Giver and the Gift (Kregel Publications, Grand Rapids MI, 1979); The Companion Bible, Appendix 101; Victor Paul Wierwille, Receiving The Holy Spirit Today (American Christian Press, New Knoxville OH, 1967). The "rule of thumb" that seems clear in Scripture is that whenever holy spirit is referred to as "given," "filling," "falling upon" or as the element of baptism, it is pneuma or pneuma hagion, the gift. http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/html/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=133 Taken from The Gift of Holy Spirit: Every Christian's Divine Deposit, Mark H. Graeser, John A. Lynn, John W. Schoenheit. //////////////////// Christians Should Be Prosperous by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille The scriptures used throughout this study are quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. Any explanatory insertions by the author whin a scripture verse are enclosed in brackets [ ]. Table of Contents Introduction The Profit in Giving The Renewed Mind Regarding Finances Plain Logic Why Do Non-Christians Prosper? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ INTRODUCTION Multitudes of Christians are limiting God's prosperity to themselves because they fail to apply the principles involved in opening the floodgates to allow God's abundance to flow to them. I firmly believe that Christians who know the will of God and love Him will do the will of God. You can know the will of God only as it is taught to you and explained to you from the Bible, which is the recorded will of God. This study in the law of prosperity is an educational venture, a training school, for all those who desire not only to know the will of God but to do His will, thus gaining for themselves the blessings which His will promises. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Published by American Christian Press The Way International New Knoxville, Ohio 45871 ISBN 0-910068-65-8 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Royal Tapestry of God's WordRESEARCHINGTEACHINGEXHORTATIONLETTERSPOEMSAFTERGLOWGIFT MINISTRIESLINKSTO THE TOP Chapter I THE PROFIT IN GIVING III John 2: Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth. Many professing Christians need to recognize that this passage is God's will for their lives. God's will above all things is prosperity for His children. To be in health is also His will, but that is not our primary consideration in this study. However, please note that both prosperity and health are dependent upon "even as thy soul prospereth." Many professing Christians think it wrong to pray for prosperity, yet they would like to have carloads of money. Some even go to the extent of severely criticizing those who seem to be "specially favored." God has no favorites. Prosperity is dependent upon certain definite laws which everyone may learn and apply. But the law of prosperity must be viewed in a spiritual light. When prosperity is viewed in its true spiritual perspective, then other values in life fall into proper order and sequence. Many professing Christians and many struggling churches are failing to reap God's abundance because of the lack of teaching and proper understanding of the spiritual nature of prosperity. They lack the true perspective regarding financial prosperity. God's will is that Christians always have all sufficiency in all things (II Corinthians 9:8). Psalms 37:35: I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. Throughout the Bible material prosperity always hinges upon tithing. Tithing was established centuries ago as God's basic law of prosperity and has been practiced by spiritually-minded people ever since. As a method or system, the thithe has never been improved upon except by increasing the proportion. Today, as through all ages, man is free to choose. We may keep the spiritual law of proportionate giving and thus reap the rewards, or we may withhold the rightful portion from God and take the consequences. This truth is a historical fact written in bold letters across all the pages of history. Even the unbelievers recognize giving as a vital principle of spiritual worship. It is the foundational key to matterial prosperity. I am fully aware of the truth that ours is an Age of Grace, that we as born-again believers are not under law but grace. Yet, would a believer under grace, which is so much bigger than what believers had under the law, do less than believers did under the law? Certainly we would not do less than our tithe, since the "law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus" will not tolerate such a thought if we desire his blessing. Christ fulfilled all the Mosaic law; however, he did not terminate the immutable laws, such as believing and prosperity.* Many people believe that tithing was instituted by Moses; however, it did not begin with Moses or the Mosaic law. Many years before Moses, in the days of Abraham, Melchizedek, king of Salem, blessed Abraham saying: "Blessed be Abram of the most high God, possessor of heaven and earth" (Genesis 14:19). This blessing by Melchizedek upon Abraham was responded to by a tithe, one-tenth of all Abraham possesed. As Abraham was blessed by Melchizedek under God's immutable law of prosperity, so God blesses His Christian children today. The tithe as a minimum payment results in a minimum response to such a blessing. For a Christian the tithe is a minimum external manifestation of an internal spiritual recogzition that God is our basic source of supply and prosperity. In making the tithe our minimum, we share the knowledge of God with others and thus open the floodgates for prosperity to ourselves. From the beginning the tithe was frequently referred to and mentioned as the reasonable and honest return to the Lord of the increase, in recognition of the good He gave. As long as the people tithed, they prospered in everything. When they withheld their tithe or tried to substitute second-rate offerings, when they became stingy with God and refused their rightful offerings to Him, they became afflicted, oppressed, diseased, and defeated. When we fail to adhere to God's law of supply, we immediately begin to close the floodgates to ourselves and our own benefits. When we recognize God with our "firstfruits," and by the love in our hears and with the proper devotion in our souls give heed to Him, then we open the way for God's financial and material prosperity to flow to us. The prophet Malachi, who wrote the last book in the Old Testament, which stands as a liaison bridging the Old Testament age and the New Testament Gospel Administration, makes the blessings of tithing vivdly clear. Malachi 3:7-12: Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, wherein shall we return? Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast here fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts Whatever our life's calling may be, we can prosper only as we return to God at least a tithe of all our increase. Then we have His divine protection as well as His manifold blessings. Tithing opens the floodgates for God's abundance. It makes possible the natural inflow because of the natural outflow, for as we give we receive. This simple procedure of tithing puts us in direct contact with God and His abundance. Tithing is the contact point; it is the switch that completes the connection that results in prosperity. Tithing is an honest external demonstration of Mathew 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness. . ." No one is ever poorer for giving, but richer; nine-tenths with God's blessing will go further than ten-tenths without God's blessing. Consider the widow who cast in her last mite. Was she poorer or richer? Consider the words of Jesus: "It is more blessed to give than to receive? (Acts 20:35); and "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). Jesus Christ definitely obeyed tithing, taught it, and commanded it; however, he put tithing on its true spiritual plane when he said to the scribes and Pharisees, "Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone" means you should tithe, but get the attitude of tithing in its proper place, with justice, mercy, and faith. Tithing without love for God or a recognition of His goodness to you is sheer folly. The law of prosperity operates from the inside out. The desire must be right, else the gift without the giver is bare. But when the desire within man is right, his minimum expression will be a tithe. When a man pays with love at least one-tenth of his increase and believes freely and without compulsion, he begins to demonstrate by action the great commandement in Matthew 22. Matthew 22:37-40: . . . Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Furthermore, note this great promise of prosperity: ". . . He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth boutifully shall reap also bountifully" (II Corinthians 9:6). Tithing makes you conscious of your partnership with God in the material and financial realms as well as the spiritual. It is a definite recognition of God's ownership and man's stewardship. You may only expect God's best when you have shared your best. Thithing for some is a great mystery and paradox of God: that you can give something away and be richer after you give than before. Tithing gives wings to life. Life will never be dull for you after you start tithing, for it is a literal investment in your spiritual and material prosperity. Thithing opens the pipeline, not only for financial prosperity but prosperity in health and every other physical and materal blessing. This does not mean, however, that we can buy our way into prosperity or other matieral blessings, including the prized heavenly treasures, without first dedicating and devoting the coin of our hearts to our Creator. The material and spiritual realms are so closely aligned that everyone who has practiced the law of systematic giving has grown in the blessed grace of giving. Tithing is minimum giving with grace, grace in the heart for God's inestimable gifts of supply. Tithing is a practical way whereby we show our willingness to seek God first, to work with Him as our partner, to receive the prosperity due us according to His love and riches in glory. Tithing is the minimum required in the area of giving, just as confessing Jesus Christ as lord is the minimum requrement for salvation. Tithing is God's absolute minimum law of financial liberty, prosperity, and abundance. A tither owns his possessions without his possessions owning him. Tithing is our minimum financial insurance, health and accident insurance. Tithing is man's seed-sowing time. The harvest is guaranteed by the Bank of Heaven. Tithing is thanksgiving by "thanksliving." Tithing develops believing in God for individual security, dispelling doubt, fear, greed, and vanity. Tithing is divinely assured income tax, paid freely in offerings with love. Our responsibility is to set aside at least one-tenth of our total income for the Lord's work, regardless of whether the government or anyone else is taking money from our income. If we do not do this, we are simply defeating ourselves and indicating by our actions that someone or something is ahead of God in our material life. Important scriptures: Malachi 3:7-18; II Corinthians 8:1-15; 9:6-15; Leviticus 27:30. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter II THE RENEWED MIND REGARDING FINANCES ICorinthians 6:19 and 20 say, ". . .Know ye not that. . .ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. . ." Rebirth is God's response by a miracle to man's need. Tithing is man's minimum financial response in love to God. Because of the spiritual new birth there should be a corresponding response of thankful giving once one is born again. The renewed mind is the fascinating part of this spiritual growth. Everyhone has mind-set. This is the reason why we hold certian viewpoints. To renew the mind we must send new and added information via the senses to our minds, according to the accuracy of the Word of God. (See Romans 12:2; 13:14; Phillippians 2:5; Colossians 3:5-7.*) You will discover that when you start tithing you will gain financial liberty. This is true because tithing is God's minimum for financial liberty. I challenge you who are in bondage to any type of limitation to start tithing. In so doing you open the doorway to a mind renewed in the area of finances and in many other realms of life. Tithing gets your foot off the hose, which has been limiting God's supply to you, and puts you on the postive plane of receptiveness. There is a close and definite relationship between the material and the spiritual realms. You just cannot separate the two, for they are inextricably bound by all the cords of life. The spiritual and material go hand in hand. Medical science in the field called psychosomatic medicine indicates that at least seventy to eight percent of all diseases are rooted in the spiritual realm. The Bible clearly indicates that all material manifestations are the result of our spiritual attitude. Thus, there is no question but that the giving of the one-tenth, the tithe, will bless the other nine-tenths, plus all that our hands touch and do. Every person who has renewed his mind to the law of giving and has lovingly presneted his minimum of one-tenth to the Lord's work over a period of time has been blessed not only financially, but in the material, physical, and spiritual realms. As the new birth spiritually is from the inside out, so the renewed mind financially is an inside job--not just the giving of the tithe, but the attitude and spirit in which it is given "not grudgingly, or of necessity." Tithing just because you have to yields indiffernt results and frequently turns the tither into a critical Pharisee. As in all life, that which is done grudgingly and of necessity brings little joy; likewise with tithing. Thithing with a sense of obligation only, without the pure impetus of love as the motivating principle, is fickle and shallow. God wants the heart to be right, knowing that then the tithe will bless both the giver and the receiver. Tithing is the spiritually renewed mind in relation to giving whereby we begin to use the material belssings of God in such a way as to bear fruit for both the giver and the receiver. No farmer or gardener would expect a crop or harvest without first planting the seed. Yet it seems that so many Christians expect God's supreme blessings without first planting the seed. When we have spiritually renewed our minds in the area of finances, we will hsare a minimum of the tithe from the heart with love, thus assured by God that our "tithing seed" will yield a certain definite increase. Nature yields her increase to the generous, the one who abundantly plants the seed. God yields His increase to the tithing Christian who has developed heartfeld willingness to give. When we tithe we are definite in our convictions and believing, knowing that God will bountifully bless our efforts. We re not poorer by tithing but richer. The farmer knows that he is not being made poorer by planting, but in season he will regain the seed sown plus an abundant increase. I think of the tithe as seed. A farmer uses the best seed gladly, joyfully, and freely. Leftovers are never used as seed. The tithe is the best seed, planted in the best grownd at the best planting time, and given the best care. This is man's doing--God is simply the increase-giver, the abundant supplier. The best ground for the planting of the tithe is with a body of believers who are endeavoring to rightly divide the Word of God and who declare it bodly. The tithe planted where there is abundant believing, where the principle of Christ are taught, lived, and magnified, is surely ground of abundant fertility. As the farmer prepares the ground before planting, so by believing and love, the believer must prepare receptive ground for the tithe seed. Believing and love are the fertilizers for the fruitful harvest. The best planting time for our tithe seed, the minimum, is now. "Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come" (I Corinthians 16:2). The best care is given the tithe seed when we give special attention to it by prayer and thanksgiving. We willfully send it forth to bless and increase everything it touches. We are realizing that our tithe no longer belongs to us, bu to God, and in His name we see it go forth, supplying all the requirements of the needy in the Body (Acts 4:34,35).* Each member can supply what the rest of the Body needs from his abundance. The tithe, our minimum, because God's servant to others, breaking all bondage of limitation in the lives of fellow believers, as well as in one's own life. The tither denies lack or need by giving. He knows that God is faithful in keeping His promise of an abundant incrase. He knows that God is present in him; and where God is present to act, there the richest of all blessings are present. The tither consciously and purposefully begins to practice the presence of God in his finances. He makes a willful mental equivalent of God's goodness and blessing, not only on the one-tenth but on the other nine-tenths of his substance, as well as in his entire mental and physical life. All men who have experienced the renewed mind in this area of finances and who have with systematic accuracy applied the principle of giving have succeeded materially. Immutable laws work for the believer and the unbeliever alike. You cannot help but succeed when the principles of the new birth are spiritually applied. Likewise, you must succeed when the law of the renewed mind regarding giving is applied. Case upon case demonstrating this truth could be given from every stratum of society. Farmers have demonstrated that their crops yield an above-average increase relateive to adjacent farmlands. Other records I know indicate that even the elements of nature respond favorably to he who shares abundantly. The principle of giving is the familiar: "Be it unto you according to your believing." Withholding money which rightfully belongs to God closes the door on God's abundance. God does not close the door; we are the ones who close it by refusing to abide by God's law of love. We thus limit and bind God's supply to ourselves. Using 99 percent of our financial income for ourselves turns our money and income into a boomerang. We receive the opposit of what we truly desire. The law of giving ensures receiving back prosperity. As you give you receive. A man who determined to selfishly breathe in all the air into his lungs without exhaling would soon be poisoned and dead. We find that as we breathe out we can breathe in. It is said that tuberculosis is partly due, not to what we inhale but what we fail to exhale. The sickness of lack and need is due to what we fail to give out. People whose incomes seem to be limited, and especially those who have a large family or are just starting out in married life, frequently take the attitude that they cannot afford to thithe. They are of the persuasion that they cannont affort to give one-tenth of the ten-tenths away because the ten-tenths is already so meager in meeting all their needs. The truth is that they are bound by their limited thoughts of God's abundant supply and increase. Abundant sharing eradicates that belief and corrects the error. It cultivates the finanacial ideas of abundance. It takes discipline to get started, but the disciplined mind, knowing the justice of giving to God and realizing the love of God, will take the forward step. The financially renewed mind gives you the freedom of love in your giving. However, your attitude and the amount given govern the results. The tithe should be your minimum because you have been spiritually reborn by the power of God, and you love Him because He first loved you. Therefore, you love to give your tithe and gifts not primarily for the reward, though you know the reward is certain. "Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again" (Luke 6:38). The Word of God says, "Be not decived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" (Galatians 6:7). This verse is absolutely true, for you can never change the crop you are reaping except by changing the seed you are sowing. On the other hand, we should also be reminded that no one ever reaps a crop without first sowing. The immutable laws of God are unchanging and unfailing. They are the same yesterday, today, and forever, even as Jesus Christ remains unchanged. Both the Prophet Malachi and the greatest of the prophets, Jesus Christ, encouraged man to apply the wisdom of the law of prosperity: "Return unto me, and I will return unto you," saith the Lord of all supply and abundance. "But wherein shall we return?" Have we not been faithful in our attendance and in all other matters? Return unto me your tithes and offerings; therein you have not been faithful. "Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse [at the feet of the apostles, Acts 4:35]," the reason being, "that there may be meat in mine house [that there is plenty of money to meet every need among the Body without borrowing from a secular bank or an unbeliever; then no penny suppers or other forms of merchandising need to be carried on to raise money], and prove me now herewith, siath the Lord of hosts [the supplier of all need and lack], if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it" (Malachi 3:10). You are the one on whom the windows of heaven will be opened. You are the one on whom the blessing is to be poured out. But you must receive it, meaning you must expect, you must not only be ready, but with thankfulness be willing to receive. "And I will rebuke the devourer [the Devil] for your sakes, and he shall not destroy . . . " God says He will personally rebuke the lack and need in your life by rebuking the one causing it. Furthermore, He will keep the Devil from destroying in the future the innermost desires and longings of your heart. This is God's basic law of prosperity for all people. This law stands firm in the face of all realization to the contrary and operates in all fields of endeavor. The farmer receives protection for his crops, and every businessman for his business. The Mormons, perhaps as no other group in America, have proved this great law of financial prosperity in the midst of rigorous adversity. They have become a law of prosperity unto themselves, their children, and their people. The Mormon Church and Mormon people are listed among the most prosperous in not only the United States but the world. The law of prosperity works equally efficiently whenever and wherever applied. The immutable laws of God are blind to both color and creed. The law is not a respecter of persons, but of conditions only. It is said that a Christian who has his mind renewed to financial giving will have at least seven surprises: 1.At the amount of money he has for the Lord's work. 2.At the spiritual deepening of his own life. 3.At the amount of money he has left, and the great extent to which it reaches in meeting his obligations. 4.At his financial, spiritual, and physical blessings. 5.At the ease with which he can go beyond the law of one-tenth to freewill gifts, which is the spiritually renewed mind. 6.At the discipline this gives for the wise and faithful use of the other nine-tenths. 7.At himself for not adopting the plan sooner. Do all to the glory of God. Amidst all this information, keep Matthew 6:33 foremost in your mind: "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter III Plain Logic One of the most heartening and satisfying experiences in the life of any Christian man or woman is the consciousness of being useful in a great work for the glory of God and the accuracy of HIs Word. The knowledge of having a very definite part in bring the resources of God's eternal love into reality in the life of not one person, but many, is rewarding. Tithing as a starter, a minimum, gives you the sense of working in harmony with God's will, knowing that not only much good will be coming through you to others, but to you also, for God is a respecter of the conditions of his Word that you fulfill. It is natural for a tither to be instinctively conscious of partnership with God. This knowledge is no longer just lip service, but is concrete and tangible. Have you ever sen a chruch where the people have a difficult time meeting their financial obligations? Have you ever seen a chruch that is losing ground in membership as well as spiritually? Have you ever seen a church where they had to have all kinds of special suppers, parties, selling stunts? Have you ever seen a church where they had to make an individual member canvass to raise the stipulated budget? Show me that church and I will show you the membership of a church that is not tithing, for the tithing church has meat in God's house. This is God's Word and it is true. A tithing church is a prosperous church. A tithing church is a spiritually-minded church. A tithing church is a missionary-minded church. A tithing church has all the facilities it needs to do the work of Christ. A tithing church has God's blessing upon it. Therefore, the people are happier, healthier, and more prosperous. As you tithe so you prosper. This is true for a church as well as an individual. In observing this law of prosperity work, one wants to give even if there were no additional spiritual blessings promised. While we are considering plain logic in this lesson, let up look at some of the questions most frequently asked. Surely a Christian does not have to tithe, for the law of the tithe is an ancient law. Don't you believe that Christians are free from all bondage of the ancient law?" That is right, you are free, but who made you free? Who prospers you? Who owns what you have in money or goods? Who is first in your life? Does a Christian neglect or obey the ancient law regarding murder? A Christian is never uner law, he is above it, beyond it. Therefore, he goes the second mile; but logic says you cannot go the second mile until after you have gone the first. A chirstian under love goes beyond the tithe, according as he is prospered. "I don't feel like I want to tithe." Friend, it does not depend upon how you or I may feel. God said, "Tithe." you must prod yourself to start doing what you know is the will of God. It takes a little push on your part. A christian must do the will of God to have the blessing of God. Once we have the knowledge of God's Word on a certain subject, it is wisdom for us to act upn that knowledge of God's will for us. "Doesn't everything we have belong to God?" Indeed it does. God gives to us as a sacred trust. To prove this sacred trust you are to pay a minimum of one-tenth of your increase. As good stewards, therefore, we use it according to God's standards. "Isn't a Christian supposed to give until it hurts?" No! He is to give joyously. A Christian gives happily and with pleasure, for he knows that hereby he is opening all the floodgates for God's abundant prosperity. "What proportion do I give?" You haven't given anything to God until after you have first paid what you owe Him. God says that one-tenth is a debt we owe and it is the most sacred of them all. After you have paid your honest debt to God, then whatever you give is true giving. According to the Word, your giving is to be in proportion to your receiving. If God has blessed you bountifully, give bountifully, for "God loveth a cheerful giver." "I am in debt. Should I pay my honest debt first before I start giving my tithe?" Which is your most honest debt? It is your debt to God. Pay it first and you will find that your other debts will be easier to pay. Nine-tenths with God's blessing will go further than ten-tenths without God's blessing. "I can't see tithing but I am liberal in giving." Liberal in what? Paying only a portion of your debt to God? You owe Him the tithe. Liberality does not start until after your tithe is paid. "You talk about paying the tithe to God; how can I do that?" You can't. But God has put much trust in you. HIs child. You believe and know His plan of redemptive love, and He is insistent that you take his money and spend it wisely where it will do the most good to His glorious work. This requires stewardship, where one is trusted to use another person's property for that other person's purpose. Always remeber the tithe money is His, not yours. That is why people get poorer in the keeping of it. "I cannot affort to tithe." Yes, you can. You cannot afford not to tithe. By tithing you allow yourself to receive God's abundance. You take your foot off the hose and start believeing God. If you will try, you will continue. God loves and honors people who will prove Him. Jesus was accused of many violations of the ancient law, but none of those who were watching for some cause of offense in him ever accused him of neglecting the tithe. Everybody knows that the usual way of raising money for churches has something wrong with it. It turns Christians into coaxers and beggars. It makes informed believers ashamed that the work of their church is done on a begging basis. It puts means above ends. We are forced to give concerts for money, not music; to hold suppers for profit, not sociability; to distribute books for a commission, not instruction; and generally to degrade and pauperize the greatest business on earth. It makes the money bag the measure of recognition and mortgages a church's conscience to its heavy givers. In getting the tools for the work, a church uses up time and strength which ought to be spent on the work itself. (The time used by one denomination's financial ways and means committee in the course of a year is estimated at ten men's working time for three hundred years.) With all its other disadvantages, some people might defend it if it worked, but it is a self confessed failure. Like the perpetural motion machine in the Patent Office, it is highly complicated and very ingenious, but it won't work. Anyone who things amout it know that there is nothing wrong with paying the tithe as a sign of stewardship. Tithing saves the Christian's self-respect. He need not apologize either for doubtful methods or inadequate results. It conserves the energies of the believers for the Church's scripturally designated business. It puts a stop to the necessity of a church becoming a peddler of pies, oysters, ice cream, chicken pie, and notions. It gives the senses world a new regard for the believers. It collects itself. It puts a quietus on all display and self-seeking in one's contributions. Nobody can get puffed up over paying his debts. It makes the Christian's financial relation to his church a pleasure instead of a perpetual annoyance. It is the one sure way of proving we are in earnest when we say of God that he owns all we have. It links us with God in a real and definite sharing of His work. It is the plan our Lord approved as a minimum. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Chapter IV Why Do Non-Christians Prosper? Matthew 5:45: . . .for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. On a number of occasions I have given the Biblical background as to how Satan obtained the legal rights he has to control man. I am taking up the question of "Why do the non-Christians prosper?" because this question has penetrated the mind of every person who is a Christian and who believes in the power of God. The prophets of old were confronted with the same question, and they had to find God's answer. Not only do you find the material prosperity of the wicked mentioned on the pages of God's Word, but when you look about you, you find that very often the wicked appear more prosperous than the godly. You see the prosperity of the wicked on every hand; you see that the things the wicked touch turn into gold. On the other hand, you may see what ment of God touch turn to ashes. The prophets of old wrestled with this question and found the answer. This study has that answer for you. God has established immutable laws for all creation. The unchanging laws of God are the perpetual sign of His love. The infinite mercy and the love of God make the sun to rise on the evil and the good, on the just and the unjust. If God were not love, He would have the sun to shine upon only those who obey Him. In order for God to show His matchless, wonderful love and mercy, He instituted certain immutable, unchangeable laws. These laws cover all mankind and all creation. Therefore, today the sun is shining just as much upon the sinners outside as upon the saints within the Body. This is true only because of God's mercy and God's love. God is doing His best all the time to show man His wonderful love, that thereby men may be won to Him (Romans 2:4). It is the purpose and will of God to win all men, so that all may be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. It is God's will for all to be saved, but not everyone is saved. Yet God made salvation available for all. So it is with the rain falling upon the just and the unjust, the sun shining upon the evil and the good. It is God's will that His mercy be made known unto all people. The unsaved man who does not love God or serve Him is, according to Tod and the Bible, an unrighteous man. The Christian believer is a righteous man. The rain falls on the just and the unjust; yes, but there are certain legal rights over and beyond the rain and the sunshine process, legal rights which belong to Satan and his power today. Legally, the man who is not righteous in Christ belongs to Satan. The man who is not a Christian, the man who is not a believer, not a follower of God today, that man's body, his mind, and his life belong to Satan. The Christian belongs to God; he is a believer, a righteous man. The power of Satan is not upon the body, the soul or the spirit of the Christian, legally speaking. Satan hs absolute legal rights over the unbeliever, but he has no legal rights whatsoeer over the believer. Yet, Satan is constantly trying to operate through the believer's mind. He will do his best to afflict the believer over whom he has no legal rights. On the other hand, Satan at times will do his best not to afflict the unbeliever who legally is already his. The purpose of Satan is plain and simple, but strictly satanic, sly as the Devil himself. Satan wants us as believers to believe that his counterfeit life is better than God's perfection. Satan wants us to believe that the man who does not name the name of Jesus Christ and does not know God is blessed by Satan's "goodness." Look at all the prosperity many unbelievers have: plenty of money, healthy children, lots of fun, a wonderful family -- everything seems to be perfect. Satan may refuse to operate his legal rights over the unbeliever. Satan allows God's law of the rain falling on the just and the unjust to go on perfectly, as perfectly as possible. But, on the believer Satan will bring defeat, if at all possible, by putting negative thoughts in his mind, because most believers do not know their legal rights in Christ and thus cannot claim them. Satan has no legal rights over a Christian, but he will try to enter the Christian's mind to make him believe he is the one who has no legal rights to goodness. He will say that you as a believer are not good enough. He will try to penetrate the believer's mind, and he will bring all afflictions, diseases, and defeat. Why should the Devil be concerned about the unbeliever? Satan already has him. The unrighteous man who does not name the name of Jesus Christ belongs to evil and wrong and the poers of Satan. Satan doesn't have to make him appear foolish; he is foolish already. Therefore, why should Satan afflict him further? Why should Satan try to penetrate his mind and afflict his body? Satan's purpose is just the opposite, for he will allow God's law of the rain falling on the just and the unjust alike to go on unhindered. On the other hand, take a man who has been redeemed and belongs to God. If Satan can make that believer's life look defeated, Satan may keep others away from God. Satan can never have the believer's life. Once a man confesses Jesus as lord in his life, believing God raised him from the dead, he has eternal life. Satan knows that. When a man has eternal life and knows God's Word, he is going to witness for the true God and live the abundant life. That believer is going to lead sinners to salvation. This is exactly what Satan wants to stop. He stops it by putting negatives in the mind of the believer who does not know or claim his legal rights. We allow the negatives to bring negative results to ourselves through Satan's power. Why do the wicked prosper? Because the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike, and Satan does not endeavor to disrupt this law for the unbeliever. Why does a godly man get afflicted? He does not know, or does not claim, his legal sonship rights. Satan starts using all his power to nullify the believer's works. Satan cannot stop a believer from going to heaven, but he can try to ruin his testimony and ministry on the way. However, there is a wonderful solution which belongs to the Christian that most believers have never claimed. As long as you do not claim your legal rights in Christ, Satan will usurp the authority that is legally yours. Satan will endeavor to consign to your life all things negative, evil, and worng. Believers have legal rights in the name of Jesus Christ, rights to command that none of these negative thoughts of the Devil be allowed in their lives. We have rights in Christ as the redeemed. We no longer belong to the power of Satan. Those who are redeemed have their body, soul, mind, and spirit under the legal rights of Christ. Satan has absolutely no legal rights in or over a believer. However, you must claim your rights. Satan has no legal rights over your body, your soul, your mind, or your spirit. If Satan has no legal rights over you, but he is operating in your life, then you as a believer have not claimed your legal and rightful inhearitance. You must claim it, you must command in the name of Jesus Christ that this poverty stop in your life, this sickness disappear, this affliction dissolve, this suffering go away. You must say it, believe it, and know that you have the legal right in Christ to do so. Satan hs to move out, and you have more of all the good God has for the believer than the unbeliever under the hand of Satan could ever have. Believers must awaken to their sonship rights in Christ. A believer who does not know his rights in Christ paralizes the hands of God. Why do the wicked prosper? Simply because the Devil wants them to, and the mercy of God allows the rain to fall ont he just and the unjust alike. Why doesn't the godly man prosper? Simply because the Devil does not want him to. The godly man allows Satan to talk him out of his legal rights. The wicked say: "We don't want anything to do with your God because what is the Almight, that we sould serve Him? We have everything we need. What profit shall we have if we pray unto Him? Look at the blessings in my life. I don't have to pray." You see how the Devil allows God's blessings to fall in abundance upon the unbelievers? God in Chirst gave us legal grounds to stand on, wherewith to defy Satan; but every man must claim those legal gounds for himslef. God's natural law is that the rain falls on the just and the unjust alike. A redeemed person in Christ Jesus, a God fearing man, goes over and beyond the law. God's unchangeable laws are immutable. They are the same yesterday, today, and forever; but remember that the God who made them can also go beyond them. He would not be God if He could not have greater laws than the natural. We know certain laws, but there are always laws we do not know. Elijah, the great prophet, was a man subject to passions as we are. He was a human being. James 5:17 and 18: . . . and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit. A man like us prayed earnestly that it should not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain. Yet, the law says the rain falls on the just and the unjust. It sounds like a contradiction. There is no contradiction if we know the Word of God and how the Devil operates. A man of God has legal rights over and beyond the natural law. The legal rights we have in christ make it possible for us, according to revelation, to pray earnestly and God will do for His children more good and could ever be done for unbelievers. This study on prosperity for Christians is truth and has nothing to do with whether or not anyone will hear and believe. The secret of prosperity is, first of all, to know what God's Word teaches and , then, to be honest with God. The believer always tries to be honest with God. Every person who is a vital Christian will not do less than the tithe. It does not take superior intellegence to be taught to tithe. It takes action. Do you know what the tithe is? It is one-tenth of your income. If you have earned a dollar, you have ten cents for the Lord. If you get ten dollars, you have one dollar; if you have one hundred dolars, it is ten dollars. The tithe is not difficult, but Satan is present and doesn't want you to get the blessing that you are supposed to get when you tithe. Satan will come into your mind and he will say, "Oh, you can't afford to give that much. You must buy a new hat or a new coat or a new suit; your aunt is sick; Grandma has something the mater with her." Then you start allocating your money. You pay something here and there, and the week is up, and you have to dig down into the change pocket when the believers meet. That is not tithing. Don't let the Devil cheat you out of your rightful blessing. I want you to note carefully the undiluted Word of God where God says what He will do if you will share the minimum, which is a tithe. Malachi 3:6-10: For I am the Lord, I change not[if God does not change, then He must be the same today] . . . Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. [Stay away from God and God must stay away from you.] But ye said, Wherein shall we return? [We say, "I go to church every Sunday morning. I do that which is right. I endeavor to treat my neighbors justly."] Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. [Therefore] Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have roobed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house [Did you ever see a poor church? You show me a poor church, and I'll show you a congregation that is not tithing. You show me a tithing congregation, and I will show you a church that is blessed of God. ], and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. This is God's promise, but you must claim the blessing. God will open the windows of heaven the moment you lay your tithe at "the apostles" feet." All you need to do is receive the blessings available right here and now. Malachi 3:11: And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes [The devourer is Satan and his power. You have the right to claim God's promise, believing God to rebuke the devourer. These words are especially to the farmers.], and he shall not destroy the fruit of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts. The Lord said it and if the Lord said it, I believe it's right, because God does not change. We talk about crop insurance, but as Christians we have no insurance at all until we learn to trust the Lord and really believe deep in our hearts that His Word is true. When we receive the Word as truth the windows of heaven will open. We must claim our rightful inheritance. Malachi 3:11 is not only for the farmer. The devourer for your sake will be rebuked too; he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground, nor will he destroy anything else if you will stand on God's promise and claim it by saying, "In the name of Jesus Christ I claim these blessings, I claim this prosperity, I claim this goodness." You claim it with your mouth by believing it in your heart. Don't pray for prosperity if you don't tithe. Tithing as a minimum must be from a heart of love to do any genuine good. We may lay all our tithes at the apostles' feet, but without love the tithe is shallow and empty. When we love God because of what He did for us, tithing pays large dividents. If you will lay your one-tenth aside, as a minimum, ffrom a heart of love because of what God did for your and because of what He promises He will do, then you will reap the harvest. It is the heart of love that not only brings the minimum of the tithe, but goes beyond the tithe. A true believer claims his legal rights in Christ.* ------------------------------------------------------------------------ *Wierwille, "The First Century Church in the Twentieth," The New Dynamic Chruch. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JESUS CHRIST Our Promised Seed (brief fragment) By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille ------------------------------------------------------------------------ One of the most celebrated of holidays around the world is Christmas. Its popularity is growing even in traditionally non-Christian countries. Merchants capitalize on its lucrative tradition of gift giving. In my own family we have always given gifts at Christmastime and gathered the family around the Christmas tree. Warm memories of love and giving arise when I think of our tradtional family Christmas celebrations. Yet tradition rather than truth is the basis for celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25. Tradition has brought us a stationary, dazzling star over Bethlehem being pursued by three wise men on the night Christ was born in a manager surrounded by shepherds and animals. Tradition has brought us Santa Claus sliding down the chimney to deliver gifts to all good girls and boys. Christmas is and always has been an incongruous blend of tradition, imagination, and a little truth. Like everyone else, I was taught as a youngster that there were three wise men who came to see Jesus at his birth, yet nowhere in the Bible can you find the number three designated. I was taught as a youngster that there were three wise men who came to see Jesus at his birth, yet nowhere in the Bible can you find the number three designated. I was taught that the sheep were grazing in the fields on the night of Deember 24. Yet all the books I have read on Eastern customs, plus visits to the Bethlehem area, have verified that sheep are not put out in the pastures past October because it is simply too cold. I also wondered why King Herod would have all male children two years old and under killed if Jesus Christ were just a newborn babe. As I was growing up in the church, no one ever taught me that there could be some direct relationship between the astronomical signs in the sky and the birth of God's only begotten Son. Yet God put the stars in their courses and set them for signs and seasons (Genesis 1:14). Surely it is not inconceivable that the Lord god Almighty, the Creator of the heavens and earth, would in His infinite knowledge, wisdom, and ability coordinate the movements of the stars and planets so that they with celestial grandeur could announce the birth of His only begotten Son, the Messiah. So how did the birthday of our savious become associated with December 25? When was the savior really born? By carefully tracking the details in the Word of God, in histroy, and in the field of astronomy, we can certify the time of his birth to within an hour and a half: the year, the date, and the hour. December 25, 1 A.D. is far off the mark. In order to discover the truths regarding this subject, we must be willing to lay aside tradition, and honestly approach the subject with rational objectivity, as any honest scientist approaches an experiment. We must allow the Scriptures, the Word of God, to speak for themselves. We must also know and understand figures of speech, Eastern customs, and the study of ancient Biblical manuscripts. Sometimes it is interesting to note that our minds have interpreted God's Word from presumptions that we ourselves are not even aware we are making. When we question these presumptions, we immediately see that our mental picturs do not accurately reflect what is stted in the written Word. We must permit the Scriptures to interpret themselves and block out private assumptions and interpretations from our research study. In Biblical research we study the Scriptures with the understanding and believing that they are God-inspired and, therefore, perfect and without contradition when the original revelation is accurately known. Biblical research recognizes that no record in one Biblical account may contradict a passage in another record on an identical subject. As products of God's inspiration, all records will complement or supplement, and enhance each other as they enable us to see an overall view of the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. Secular sources of information from the fields of science, history, and ancient literature should also be utilized as tools os study when they shed light on the testimony of Scripture, However, such information of sources dare never be permitted to have more credibility than the Word of God itself. At best, secular sources will simply corroborate and give illuminating detail to truths already revealed in Scripture. All these above-mentioned methods have been employed in this work. ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** The coming of the Chirst was by no means an unanticipated event. Indeed, the story of the coming redeemer was written in the stars when the heavens were originally put in order by God. The first part of this study examines the Biblical information regarding "his star" which was seen by the wise men. The Biblical record is enhanced and substantiated by astronomical and historical records which further underscore the magnitude of God's power and love in planning of our redemption. Once "his star" has been identified, the documentation of the very day and the time of day when the Christ was born can be pinpointed. Whereas the first section of the book is scientific innature, it is written with the non-scientist in mind. All of us can apprciate the greateness of God's revealed Word as He placed it with such precision in the stars. Since all preceding history was leading up to and preparing the way for the comming of the Messiah, it is appropriate that the second part of our study should begin with the Old Testament prophecies of the prmised Messiah and with the reasons why this Messiah's coming was so significant to the men of antiquity. After this, we will study the record of Jesus Christ's genealogy, his relationship to the House of David, and his divine conception. In order to understand the context of thid times in which the Messiah was born, we will examine records concerning his spiritually powerful predecessor, John the Baptist. John was a prophet sent by God over four hundred years after the Prophet Malachi. John called Isreal back to God's Word and thereby prepared the way for God to reveal the ministry of Jesus Christ. With a knowledge of John and his divine mission, we can move in chronological order through the events leading to the birth of man's long-awaited promised seed. We will observe many wonderful truths concerning the parents of both John and Jesus. the ardent commitment of Zacharias and Elisabeth, and Joseph and Mary were vital in making possible both the lives and ministries of John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ. Throughout this book the perceptive reader will be awed by the accuracy of the Word of God and the magnificence of what God wrought in bringing into the world the redeemer. His part in God's plan was so vital that he was ever foreknown and foretold, but he was not God the Father. The redeemer's actual existence began with his conception and birth to a womwn named Mary about two thousand years ago. Born of divine conception into a world that was bent on killing him from his birth, the Christ would ultimately fulfill his God-given mission as savior of the world. ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** ***** As the research team and I considered and reconsidered the structure of this study, we went back and forth trying to determine which part of this research should come first: the Biblical aastronomy with its histroical and scientific dats or the prophecies and people associated with the promised seed. It became evident that the astronomy and its fixing of dates had to be this study's foundation as every succeeding chapter is affected by these dates. However, I am suggesting that you, the reader, determine which approach to reading seems most helpful to you. Some may want to read the book as it is now structured; others may find it more beneficial to read Par II first, followed by Part I, and then, perhaps, Part II again. Whichever way you choose to approach this tudy, may the result be the same: I want this research on one of the greatest events in all history to bless you mightily, building your believing in God's incomparable integrity as He revealed the coming of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, our promised seed. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This book Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed came into concretion with the assistance of the scholarship of a group of qualified research men and women. In August of 1979 a research team, consisting of Walter J. Cummins, John Crouch, Gary R. Curtis, Michele Randall, Bo Reahard, and Chip Stansbury, joined me in considering my original research work on the birth of Christ. After the research team's study and discussion, Chip Stansbury and JohnCrouch, under the supervision of Walter J. Cummins (coordinator of the Research Department of The Way International) continued to refine and expand the research work on this great topic of the coming of the Messiah. John Crouch's scientific contribution to Part I of this study regarding astronomy is most illuminating and exciting in bringing to light the unparalleled accuracy and depth of God's dynamic Word written in the stars. My daughter and long-time editor, Karen Wierwille Martin, along with Michele C. Curtis, reworked the research manuscript for its structure and clarity of communication. The manuscript in its numerous drafts was tirelessly retyped by our Word Processing Department under the supervision of Joann Herman. Camille Kavasansky and Barbara Geer proofread the manuscript, while Way Prublications uner Tom Plain prepared the copy for publication. Rosalie F. Rivenbark, as coordinator of my publications, oversaw the production of this book and Emogene Allen, coordinator of The Way International Bookstore, prepared Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed for marketing. To all who contributed to this work, I am very grateful. As a follower of God and a confirmed believer in the accuracy of God's Word, I am particularly awed and grateful for the love, the grace, and the goodness of our God in allowing such truths as these unfolded in Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed to be heralded again from His Scriptures. ------------------- Genesis 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years. Days and years are familiar... "seasons"... indicate periods of time, not just spring, summer, fall, and winter. The word "signs"... is of great significance. It comes from the Hebrew root "avah", meaning, "to mark," and is used of marking someone significant to come. Thus, at the very opening of the written Word, God declares that lights in the firmament of the heaven are signs of important things to come. The record of Gen. 1:14 anticipates the coming of the one who is explicitly prophesied of in Gen. 3:15, the "seed of the woman", our promised seed: Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Since the stars declare God's plan of redemption, it is necessary that the stars should herald the coming of the woman's seed, the redeemer. But how does one begin to understand the stars and their signs and how these reveal God's plan? A person must first be aware that the original names of stars have been providentially preserved down through the centuries in the Semitic languages. The ancient names of the stars have meanings which, when properly understood, make up the foundation of a true Biblical astronomy. Carefully note at the outset that Biblical astronomy differs vastly from the counterfeit... astrology, which purports to interpret celestial events as they influence men's lives. The original revelation of the stars' meaning was God-given, but as the years passed, the true meaning of the stars' revelation was corrupted and perverted into astrology. From such perversion developed many of the widespread myths of the ancient and modern world. The stars of heaven do give God's divine plans when properly understood, but the distortions and practices of astrology are idolatrous and strenuously forbidden in the Scriptures [God's Word specifically forbids astrology and worship of the heavenly bodies.] Biblical astronomy is the true understanding of the names of the stars as they depict the coming of the once who is the Christ. Just as the sun and moon in their courses mark out the days, months, and years, likewise the stars and planets in their courses mark out the signs concerning God's plan of redemption which culminates in Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, the Messiah, the promised seed. The names of the stars give the detailed parts of the plan, for the ancient star names were first given by God... carefully observe Psalms 147:4 He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names. To begin to understand God's message, the ancient names as well as the groupings of the stars and planets need to be studied. The heavens contain twelve conspicuous groupings of stars. Throughout the ancient world these twelve groupings, called "constellations," or "signs of the zodiac," were known and respected as depicting eternal truths. To focus in on one of these constellations and demonstrate its significance, we can see the record in Genesis 49 where Jacob on his deathbed prophesies concerning his twelve sons and their offspring for generations to come [For a consideration of Jacob's sons as the twelve zodiacal signs see Ferguson, The Stars and the Bible, pp. 13-15.] Verses 9 and 10 contain Jacob's words to his son Judah: Genesis 49:9 and 10: Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet [Hebrew: regel], until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. Jacob by inspiration declares that the lion symbolizes Judah. In the twelve constellations of the zodiac, there is one sign for the lion and that is Leo. Here in Genesis 49, Leo, the lion, and Judah, are being identified with each other. Furthermore, Jacob declares that "the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet." In astronomical terms this statement is also significant because of the star named Regulus, which is the dominant, brightest star in the constellation of Leo. The Arabic word regel means "foot" and is identical in meaning to the Aramaic word "regla" and the Hebrew word "regel". Thus the brightest star in the constellation of Leo has the Biblical connotation of the foot, tying in with the "from between his feet," of Genesis 49:10. In this one verse alone, the lion of Judah, Leo, is intertwined with a lawgiver coming from between his feet, represented by the king star, "Regulus" [all ancient civilizations recognized Regulus as the king star, the one and only king star in the zodiac. "Regulus" means "kingly" in Latin. See Richard Hinckley Allen, Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning (1899; new ed., NY: Dover Publications, 1963)] Some of the things foretold in the Book of Genesis gain their full interpretation and meaning in the Book of Revelation. So it is with the full identification of the lion with the Messiah who would descend from Judah, which is stated explicitly in Revelation 5:5 And one of the elders saith unto me [the Apostle john, writer of the Book of Revelation], Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof [Christ being the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Rood and offspring of David]. "... The Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David." Clearly here is the conclusive link between Judah, the lion, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, Leo was the specific sign placed in the heavens to communicate part of God's redemptive plan from the great-grandson of Abraham, Judah, through his genealogical line to the Christ. This example of the offspring of Judah being linked to the constellation Leo is just one of many examples, which show the authority of the stars as, signs. The significance of this particular constellation of Leo will be viewed in more detail later in this study [presented in that book], but it is pointed out here to demonstrate that celestial bodies are God-arranged and have definite God-ordained meanings and significance. By way of the stars, God's blueprint for mankind was known long before it was put into writing. The detailed meaning of the revelation of the heavens may never be fully recaptured in our day and time. However, by studying ancient records, languages, and astronomical terms, and by evaluating them in light of the written Word, enough truth can be seen to demonstrate some of the greatness of God's wonderful revelation. Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed, Victor Paul Wierwille (American Christian Press, 1982, pp. xii, 5-11). ------------------- Revelation 12:1-2 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars: And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered. In 3 B.C the constellation Virgo clothed with the sun as it entered the mid-body in its ecliptic course had the moon under her feet on one day only - Wednesday, September 11th. This configuration was visible in the Palestine area between 6:18 P.M. and 7:39 P.M. on that day. It was during this time period that Jesus Christ was born. September 11, 3 B.C. fell on the first day of the month Tishri (the seventh month of the year according to the calendar given Moses following the exodus from Egypt.) Prior to the exodus, Tishri was the first month of the year and "Rosh Hashanah" or New Year's Day is still celebrated in modern Judaism on this day. "During the whole of New Year's Day [Tishri 1], trumpets and horns were blown in Jerusalem from morning to evening." - Alfred Edersheim - The Temple: Its Ministry and Services. On Tishri 1 [September 11, 3 B.C.] while trumpets were blowing in Jerusalem to honor God and welcome the new year, in the small nearby town of Bethlehem the promised Christ who would reconcile men to God was being born. The religious and political leaders of the day were occupied with their own affairs and unaware of the significant event that was occurring. Biblical, chronological, historical and astronomical evidence concerning the birth date of the promised Messiah to Israel, every man's lord and savior, Jesus Christ - points to Wednesday September 11, 3 B.C. between the hours of 6:18 (sunset) and 7:39 (moonset) Palestine time. Almost every Biblical scholar has known and attested for centuries, that Jesus Christ could not have been born on December 25th. The December festival in Rome known as the Saturnalia, or the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birth of their sun-god was adopted by the church in Rome as Christ's birth date in the third century. A special mass was instituted and celebrated for Christ. Hence, the name "Christ-mass", abbreviated "Christmas". The pagan celebration and traditions of decorating fir trees, lighting the yule-log, and many other customs associated with Saturnalia were adopted. The truth of God's Word regarding the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the fall of the year has been lost in the traditions and artistry of pagan and modern celebrations. If we are to truly understand our savior's birth we must study God's Word from its inherent accuracy. We will find that on that September evening the Word of God reports no record of three wise men, drummer boys, or flying angels. We will see the quiet rejoicing of a handful of shepherds, Mary his mother, and Joseph reported in the gospel of Luke. The record of magi from the east following "his star" recorded in Matthew occurred almost a year and a half later and is not the subject of this presentation. Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed [registered]. The word "taxed" is from the Greek word apographo meaning to register. The "all the world" is used to emphasize the immensity of the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus was preparing to celebrate his Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) as Roman Emperor in 2 B.C. Prior to the celebration he wanted an accounting of his subjects and an official declaration of political allegiance. Registrations such as this were typically conducted in the fall of the year when the weather was mild for travel. Luke 2:2 (And this taxing [registration] was first made when Cyrenius was governor [commander] of Syria.) Cyrenius was governor of Syria in 6 A.D. about nine years after this record. The Greek word for "governor" in this verse is hegemon which means commander. This "first" registration was made in 3 B.C. when Cyrenius had been sent to Syria to command the registration process. Later in 6/7 A.D. while he was governor a second registration took place. The word "first" is the key to understanding the historical evidence. Luke 2:3-5 And all went to be taxed [registered], every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David). To be taxed [registered] with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. Two of the old Aramaic manuscripts read "that there they might be enrolled, because they were both of the house of David." The Old Testament records that David was from Bethlehem (I Samuel 16:1-4) and that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Joseph and Mary were both descendants of David. Both Aramaic manuscripts omit the word "espoused" and just read "wife" which is also more accurate. Luke 2:6-7 And so it was, that, while they were there [in Bethlehem], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. The word "accomplished" is the Greek word for "filled to overflowing". It was time for Mary to have the baby. Jesus Christ was God's only begotten son. God had provided seed in Mary's womb to fertilize her egg. This was the first and only time that God ever did (or will do) this. Therefore, Jesus Christ was His "only begotten son". Mary, however, had other children and Jesus Christ was her "firstborn" son. The inn of verse 7 was a khan or lodging house for caravans. It would have had an inner court yard and stables for caravan animals along the outside back wall. Within each stable would be a manger with straw to feed the animals. Jesus Christ was not born in a stable because Mary and Joseph were poor. He was born in a stable because "there was no room in the inn". A lot of people had come to be registered. Mary wrapped Jesus in "swaddling clothes". Swaddling clothes are also not an indicator of being poor. When the son of a king, a prince, was born, that child was wrapped in swaddling clothes after being washed gently with water having a small portion of salt in it. The salt symbolized the qualities of truth and honesty and was used so that the child would grow up speaking words that were "salted". The swaddling clothes were narrow strips of fine linen cloth, about two inches wide which were wrapped around the baby's body. The child was wrapped from head to foot with only a part of his face left uncovered so he could breathe. The baby's body and limbs were thus held very straight. This was to indicate that he would grow up to be free from crookedness and waywardness; that as a king he would walk straight and tall before his people. The swaddling clothes were left on the baby for only a very short time while the parents took time to pray and make their commitment to God concerning the upbringing of the child. In Ezekiel 16:4 an insult was delivered "...thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." To say to a noble-born person that he had not been salted or swaddled was to indicate that he was unreliable and dishonest and that his parents had not raised him properly. Mary and Joseph washed Jesus in salt water and swaddled him according to the custom of the time indicating that he was of royal lineage, as God's son and as heir to the throne of David. Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country [the vicinity of Bethlehem] shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Shepherds would abide with their flock using a cultivated field as their fold for the sheep in the fall of the year. In the late summer and early fall a farmer in Bible times would hire shepherds to keep their flocks in his field overnight. In this way, the sheep's manure would fertilize his field. This is another indicator that Jesus Christ was born in early September. In December it is too cold for shepherds to watch their sheep at night in fields or pastures and too cold for travel to "registrations". Luke 2:9-11 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon [stood by] them [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The words "came upon" are translated from the Greek word epeste which means "stood by". The angel was not flying over them. He was standing beside them. Angels in God's Word appear as men [sorry-no record of a female angel]. They do not appear with wings. They do not sing. Angels are messengers. They speak God's Word. They "say" what God's wants said. The pictures and teachings about angels in our day and time do not reflect the accuracy of God's Word. The message this angel was delivering to the shepherds was "fear not!" "good tidings!" "great joy!" "Christ the Lord!" Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The timing of God is perfect. He gave the shepherds specific instructions so that there could be no mistake. Swaddling clothes were left on a baby for only a very short time. I am sure that no other newborn baby in the small town of Bethlehem was lying in a manger in swaddling clothes. They would have to hurry after receiving this message to get there while Jesus was in swaddling clothes. It always amazes me that this group of shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem (where by the way David had been a shepherd many years before) were the only ones willing to listen and go see the Christ. God is no respecter of persons or positions. He would have been willing to send messengers to any of the priests or religious leaders in Jerusalem just as he did the shepherds. But they would not have listened. They would not have come. When a person wants to know God's Will [God's Word], God will make it known unto him. The shepherds were the only ones who were told. The only ones who showed up. The only ones willing to listen. WOW! Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel [standing by the shepherds] a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will [hope] toward men. All of these messengers suddenly appeared with the angel and the shepherds and together delivered the message of God's hope for mankind. The Aramaic text reads "good hope for men". They did not sing it. But I bet it sure made an impression! Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. The angels, who had been standing on the ground by the shepherds, went away from them into heaven. The shepherds wasted no time. They said let us go NOW! Luke 2:16-18 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. The shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem and had enough details to "find" the baby Jesus. And after they had seen the child, they told others. They spoke the Word. The told others that the Christ was born. They told others about the "good hope" for men. Maybe that is why God told them. From: "Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed"-Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille http://bibleforums.org/forum/showthread.php?threadid=4157 ------------------------ Was Jesus Christ really born on December 25th? ...how did December 25 come to be the date that most all Christians recognize as the birth date of Christ? We quote from Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed: "In 274 A.D., the Romans designated December 25 as the birthday of the unconquered sun, being the time when the sun begins noticeably to show an increase in light, resulting in longer daylight hours. By 336 A.D., the church in Rome was adapting this festival, spiritualizing its significance as a reference to Jesus Christ and calling it the 'Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness.' Attempting to Christianize and incorporate the pagan traditions of antiquity, the church in Rome adopted this midwinter holiday celebrating the birth of the sun god as one of its own observances, somewhat changing its significance, but retaining many customs of the pagan festival. As the Roman church spread its influence religiously and militarily, this holiday of December 25 became the most popular date in Christendom to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. A special mass was established for Christ, hence, the name, 'Christmass,' abbreviated 'Christmas.'" Ref. Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed, Victor Paul Wierwille (American Christian Press, New Knoxville OH, 1982) http://www.truthortradition.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=468#_ednref2 ------------------- In August of 3BC, the wise men or Magi would have seen Jupiter first becoming visible above the eastern horizon as a morning star. In Jesus Christ our Promised Seed, Victor Paul Wierwille states: "As the Magi approached Bethlehem, Jupiter finally "stood over" where the child was, the area of Bethlehem. The time period in which the Magi traveled to Bethlehem could only have been between December 4, 2BC, when Jupiter could be seen in this position over Bethlehem, and before January 9, 1BC, when the events surrounding the death of Herod began." http://www.bytheword.com/birth ////////////////////////////////////////////// THE CONCEPTION OF JESUS CHRIST, INSIGHTS GIVEN BY V. P. WIERWILLE "From a physical, genetic point of view, Jesus Christ's Father was God and his mother was Mary. Joseph, Mary's husband, became Jesus Christ's human father, but not by his genetic contribution. Joseph, by God's direction accepted the responsibility of rearing Jesus as a son in his household. The Bible teaches divine, supernatural conception. God was literally Jesus Christ's Father. In any conception there are two necessary elements: the egg and the sperm: The egg is supplied by the mother, the sperm is supplied by the father, who in this case was God. By divine creation, God put seed within Mary. That is how Mary, who had never had sexual relations, had Jesus Christ conceived within her. This is the miracle of Jesus Christ's conception. The Bible teaches that all men since Adam are born "dead in sins" (Eph. 2:5), "shapen in iniquity, in sin conceived" (Ps. 51:5), "by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned" (Rom. 5:12). Not only is man born spiritually separated from God, he is born physically with sin, corruption, and impurities in his blood and in his soul life. This soul life which is the natural life of man, and attested to by a person's breathing, is found in the blood, "for the life of the flesh is in the blood" (Lev. 17:11). While the mother and father both make genetic contributions to the flesh and blood of a child, soul life in the blood is contributed by the sperm, the seed. It comes from the male side. In the conception of Jesus Christ, this truth is pointedly stated in Hebrews 2:14: children "partakers [koinoneo, "to share fully"]," Jesus Christ "took part [metecho, "to take a part or portion only, not all"]." The word "blood" is used to represent the soul life in the blood by the figure of speech metonymy of the adjunct, while "flesh" here is used for the physical part of man. In partaking of the flesh and blood, all people have inherited their bodies and their soul life from Adam and his descendants. This soul life in the blood is corrupt with a sinful nature inherent within it. Physically, according to the flesh, part of Jesus' genetic makeup came from Mary. However, the soul life in his blood (the life of the flesh in his blood) was not inherited from Mary, Adam, or any other human being. The life within the flesh of man, within his blood, is corrupt. But Jesus Christ's came from God. That is why Jesus Christ's soul life was conceived without sin or corruption. Sin is transmitted through this soul life, the blood, and not through the flesh. With masterful foresight God prepared for the sinless birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, from the very beginning. In order to produce a sinless man descended from Adam, God provided a way whereby Jesus would have a human body derived from Adam's line, yet uncontaminated by Adam's sinful soul life. To accomplish this, God created the sperm containing a perfect soul life, which impregnated the egg in Mary's fallopian tube. This sperm, being perfect, carried only dominant characteristics and did what any sperm would do to an egg. Therefore, the dominant characteristics of the genes determining the makeup of Jesus Christ came from his Father, God. The miracle was the divine conception of Jesus, but like any infant he developed within Mary's womb and was born according to natural processes. But, the miracle of his divine conception enabled man's redeemer to come into the world as a sinless, perfect human being, yet having the freedom of will to sin or not to sin. Understanding all of this, many scriptures concerning Jesus' descent from the lineage of David become much more meaningful: "of the fruit of his [David's] loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ" (Acts 2:30), "Jesus Christ our Lord, was made of the seed of David according to the flesh" (Rom. 1:3). These verses do not say that Jesus Christ was of the seed of David "according to flesh" "and blood." That would be totally inaccurate. Physically, according to the flesh, Jesus Christ can properly be said to be of the seed of David. That is the great accuracy of these key verses of scripture." (Wierwille, V. P., "Jesus Christ our Promised Seed," Chapter 10, pp. 114-118, 1982, American Christian Press, Ohio). "All men since Adam are born "dead in trespasses and sin" (Eph. 2:1), with the exception of Jesus, who was a sinless man and maintained himself sinless as he grew older. Satan could have kept man in an uredeemable state of sin forever if man had eaten of the three of life after once sinning. If Adam and Eve had been allowed to stay in Paradise after the fall, Satan would have eternally defeated God. In Heb. 2:14 we see that Jesus took some part, but not all; he did not share fully (koinoneo) our fallen nature; though he shares fully the human nature, as Adam had it before his fall. Flesh is used as a figure of speech for physical body, while blood represents life. Sin is transmitted through the soul life and not through the physical flesh, which is simply the vehicle that manifests sin. Nutritive elements and even antibodies pass freely from mother to fetus through the placenta, along with the waste products of the child's metabolism which pass back to the mother. Normally, however, there is no actual interchange of blood. All the blood in a male child is produced within the fetus itself (inherited by his father). Sin made man's soul life corruptible, but the soul life of Jesus was from God. How wonderfully God prepared for the birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, from the beginning!. When He formed and made woman, He made her so that no blood should pass directly from her to her offspring. Adam is the head of all the races of men on earth, and Jesus had to be of the line of Adam in order to fulfill the law. God, to produce a sinless man, and yet one who was of the line of Adam, had to provide a way whereby Jesus would have a human body derived from Adam and yet not have soul life from Adam's sinful blood. In Jesus' arteries and veins there was sinless soul life. When Judas betrayed Jesus, he confessed: "I have betrayed the innocent blood" (Mt. 27:4.) If Jesus Christ had had the same source of soul life as all other men, he could not have legally redeemed man for he would not have been a perfect sacrifice. Similarly, if Jesus Christ had been God, he would not have legally redeemed man, for man could not have willfully chosen to do so. Had God not cared to act within legal boundaries, He could have rectified the situation immediately after Adam and Eve's fall. But, had God done this, He would not have been all good and all perfect. Jesus Christ brought righteousness because he willingly gave himself as a perfect, sinless sacrifice - a perfect redeemer. Christ, our Passover was sacrificed for us (1 Cor. 5:7). Jesus Christ was without blemish and without spot. Furthermore, the male Passover lamb was to be taken out from among the sheep. This is why Jesus Christ had to be man. He had to be one of the flock. Christ met every requirement of the law ("Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth," Rom. 10:4.) Christ, the blemishless lamb, offered himself to God (Heb. 9:14)" (Wierwille, V. P., "Jesus Christ is not God," Chapter 3: "The Man - Man's Redeemer" pp. 70-81, 1981, American Christian Press, Ohio). "If Jesus had been conceived by sexual relationship between Mary and Joseph, He would have been as sinful as any other child that is born of man's seed, and would have shared fully in Adam's flesh and blood," "the original sin of Adam and Eve affected the whole blood stream. Since we are partakers of the flesh and blood of Adam and Eve, our lives are contaminated to the extent that there is no hope without a Savior who had sinless soul-life; Jesus Christ purchased us with his own blood, who in himself was deathless until he took the sin of others upon himself and died their death. All of this because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of Mary," "Mary's "knowing not a man" (Lk. 1:34) means that Joseph and Mary had not yet had sexual intercourse with a resulting pregnancy. The time of the coming together was determined by the priest and elders of the city, taking into consideration the birth-dates of the bride and groom," "in the latter part of Mt. 1:20, the angel said to Joseph, "fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife." To "take unto thee" means to draw close or to be intimate in sexual relations, literally "to take her as a wife," nor just to take her and watch over her until the baby is born. Mary is already the wife of Joseph. He "took unto him" (Mt. 1:24) simply means he had intercourse with Mary. From this point on, Joseph and Mary lived in a normal marital relationship. Mary was a virgin when she became pregnant (Mt. 1:23), even though Joseph took unto him his wife, "he knew her not," and this last expression specifically has to do, not with sexual intercourse alone, but with sexual intercourse producing pregnancy. Even though Joseph had sexual relations with Mary while she was pregnant with Jesus, Mary never conceived by Joseph until after Jesus Christ was born (it is possible for a woman to be pregnant again during the early days of the first pregnancy. This verse contradicts that possibility in this particular situation. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph had more children, as Mt. 13:55-56 details: "[Jesus] brethren James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?") Thus the conception of Jesus Christ is by supernatural laws and the birth by natural law with one complementing the other and neither contrary one to the other" (scriptures to study the last issue: Gen. 4:1,17,25, 19:5,8,14, 24:16, 38:18,26, 39:14; Num. 31:17,18; Jdg. 21:12; 1 Sam. 1:19,20; for the full study see: Gen. 9:4; Lev. 17:11,14; Acts 17:24-26, 20:28; Heb. 9:22; Rom. 3:25, 5:9; 1 Pet. 1:19; 1 Jn. 1:7; Rev. 1:5, 5:9, 7:14, 12:11) (Wierwille, V. P., "The Word's Way," Chapter 10: "The Conception of Jesus Christ" pp. 157-174, 1971, American Christian Press, Ohio). /////////////////////////////////// Take God At His Word (brief excerpt) By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille edited posthumously by Christopher C. Geer European Christian Press The Way in Great Britain Ltd. Altrincham, Cheshire, U.K. Note to the reader: The scriptures used throughout this book are quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. All explanatory insertions within a scripture verse are enclosed in square brackets. All non English words are printed with English letters and italicized. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Thanks To Dorothy Owens and Rhoda Wierwille --- for your years of loving service to God, to the Household and to The Teacher --- Thank you, Dorothy, Thank you, Rhoda. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Preface Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille was known for many years and to many people as "The Teacher". His teaching of God's Word enlightened and enriched, bringing insight and understanding of the Scriptures to many of God's people. But, it also oftened challenged. He often presented his listeners and his students with the challenge to trust God and His Word as much as the word of the banker, the word of the lawyer or the word of other men. Then logically he would point out that, because the Word of God was written by holy men of God who were inspired by God and who wrote what God wanted them to write, it is worthy of more trust than are the words of men. We are so often prone, Dr. Wierwille would point out, to take man at his word, why should we not take the wonderful God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ at His Word? God bless you as you grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ and as you too Take God at His Word. Christopher C. Geer Bonn, West German September 1987 -------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------------------------------------- ISBN 1 870676 05 X European Christian Press The Way in Great Britain Ltd. Altrincham, Cheshire, U.K. copyright 1987 by the Way in Great Britain Ltd. All rights reserved. Published 1987 Printed in West Germany ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Take God At His Word By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille edited posthumously by Christopher C. Geer European Christian Press The Way in Great Britain Ltd. Altrincham, Cheshire, U.K. Note to the reader: The scriptures used throughout this book are quoted from the King James Version unless otherwise noted. All explanatory insertions within a scripture verse are enclosed in square brackets. All non English words are printed with English letters and italicized. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Commitment to Truth God never set the standard for failure; God only set the standard for success for every born-agan believer. Ignorance is never a virtue, no matter how you look at it, when knowledge is available; and the knowledge of the integrity and accuracy of God's Word is available to people. God gave His Word, in the written form, the reason being that He might interpret Himself and His will to us and for us. The Word of God is the will of God, and no man or woman can really know the will of God without knowing the Word of God. To know God's will you cannot go by tradition, you cannot go by the history of so-called Christendom, you have to go back to the integrity of God's Word. You cannot go by what men say, by what theologians say, by what clergy or by what anyone else may say, you have to come back to the Word of God. In every organized sport there are rules, and when you play a sport you have to play by the rules for that sport. When there are any differences of opinion between officials in a sports competition, then they refer back to the rule book. They read it, and then they determine from the rule book what is the proper decision to make. Likewise, if you want to play in God's league, then you play by God's Rule Book. It is as simple as thet; we go back to the Rule Book. God's Son, Jesus Christ, fully exemplified and manifested God's written Word. He always did the will of the Father, and that is why he could say, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." As sons of God, born again of God's Spirit with Christ in us, the hope of glory, we are to live God's Word. This Word makes known Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, and the Father, God. This is a tremendous calling. Ephesians 3:19: And to know [experientially] the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ GOD'S BLUEPRINT OF CREATION: By Victor Paul Wierwille _______________________________________________________________________________ Preface ..... God designed life - He made, formed, and created us. Therefore He certainly knows what richness of life He intended for us when we live life according His plan. When we believers line up our lives according to God's Word, God's rule book, we put ourselves in the position to receive the maximum blessings of life - in body, soul, and spirit. ...... God's order for life ...... "God's Blueprint for Creation" describes how God so beautifully planned interrelationships between Himself, man, the earth, and the universe. ..... When we know and understand God's order for life, and how carefully and lovingly He prepared for us and provided for our every need, our hearts overflow with wonder and thanksgiving for our loving heavenly Father. ..... ______________________________________________________________________________ God alone conceived, designed, and ordered life - all of it, from man to the earth to the entire universe. Only His mind could conceive it; only His power could create it; and only His ability could achieve it. Then God, by way of His Son Jesus Christ, was able to beget spiritual children. Those of us born again of God's Spirit are these children whom God begot because of Christ's works. And we make up a family which is called the family of God, with God as our Father. The interrelationship of the Father with His family is the very core of Christianity. Christianity is the way of a Father with His family. God is our Father; we are His children. We are members of His family and of His household. And He has already prepared a tremendous home where throughout all eternity we, God's family, can be together. True Christianity is not a religion. Religions are man-made; Christianity is what God wrought by Christ Jesus when spiritual sonship became available to mankind. Not only is Christianity not a religion, it is not a philosophy either. Philosophy is man's wisdom. The German word for "philosophy" is "Weltweisheit". "Welt" means "world"; "Weisheit" is "wisdom". "World wisdom" is philosophy. Christianity is not world wisdom, but a divine - human relationship. Not only is Christianity not a religion or a philosophy, it is also not a theology. Theology is the "science of God". For man to explain God would be like having the Model T explain Henry Ford. Man cannot begin to describe the fullness of God's nature and ability. So Christianity could not be a science of God, but rather the union of God and his children. Twenty - three miles northwest of Camp Gunnison in Colorado, there is a little town known as Irwin, previously called Ruby Camp [I've read a daily by H. C. Cornwell which covers the years from 1879 to 1886 at Ruby Camp, a mining camp. The silver mined there was actually a sulfide of silver. It had a crystal form that when crushed was a blood red color; thus the name "Ruby Camp"]. In the spring of 1879 something very exciting occurred at Ruby Camp. The driver of a freight wagon bringing supplies from the railroad came in early one morning. Workmen unloaded his wagon, but he didn't want to leave until the following morning. Since the driver had nothing to do that particular day except wait, he told some people who were standing around that he was thinking about mining a little for himself. The people he spoke to thought they would have some fun with him and advised him, "If you want to find a mine, go down that gully and just start digging; you'll find one". The wagon driver followed the people's suggestion which was meant as a joke. Less than 400 yards from where he stood that morning, he started digging. To everyone's amazement, he began to see the outcrop of a silver vein. As he continued digging, he found what he later named the "Forest Queen Mine." A short time after he discovered this mine, the man sold it for $ 50,000. With two years the buyers took out of that vein silver ore worth one million dollars. Hundreds of miners had walked over that mine before, but no one had realized the tremendous treasure so close at hand. None had found it except this one man, who named it "Forest Queen." The Forest Queen Mine is like God's Word. The treasures of God's Word have been available for centuries. The reason people never find its treasures is that they never dig, never search, at the right place. A person cannot know the greatness of God by his five senses. In order to understand spiritual things a person must have the spirit of God within. [1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know then, because they are spiritually discerned."] Now the Word of God is the most remarkable document in the whole world. Even though God's written Word is in the senses realm, a man who believes it can receive holy spirit and begin to understand the spiritual realm. For the most part, people never see the greatness of God's Word because they are "natural" people, people without God's spirit. The natural man never will understand God's Word; he simply cannot understand it. I wouldn't criticize a blind man for his analysis of a great masterpiece of art, would I? So why criticize a natural man for his blind attempt to analyze the spiritual truths in the greatest masterpiece of all time, the Word of God? W. W. Kinsley, in describing the masterpiece of God's Word, wrote the following: "The more profoundly phenomena have been studied by scientists and scientific philosophers the more gloriously have shown out the truths... that God has busied Himself through untold ages in preparing for man's advent, that man has been the grand goal of His endeavor, the ultimate Thule of His creative thought on this planet; that all this prolonged preparation could not have been merely to render comfortable a short-lived and low-planed animal existence; that this patient approach could not have been to a consummation so inconsequential and unworthy..." [E. W. Kenyon, The Father and His Family, 11th ed. (Seattle: Kenyon's Gospel Publishing Society, 1964), p. 18, citing W. W. Kinsley.] Blind chance was not the author of life. Explore the mineral kingdom; explore the animal kingdom; explore the vegetable kingdom. From the lowest to the highest, there are marks that specifically call our attention to the superbly conceived reality of that which we observe. Some great design, some great intelligence confronts us everywhere we look in the realm of creation. We can always see an intelligent purpose behind this realm, which was brought about by some type of consistent power. Take a microscope, even a low-powered one. Focus under its lens an eyeglass, for example. You would see some imperfections in the glass, although perhaps only a few. Next, focus a high - powered microscope on the same eyeglass. You will find that the more high - powered the microscope, the greater the imperfections that will be seen in the glass. There are imperfections in anything man - made. This example of the eyeglass demonstrates a principle. The more high - powered the microscope used to observe the works of man, the more imperfect the object appears. On the other hand, the more high - powered the microscope used to look upon something that God formed or made, the more perfect and orderly it appears. The closer the scrutiny of God's Word, the more obvious become its beauty and perfection. It is only a man who uses a poor microscope who never sees the greatness of God's Word. He does not observe it to see its perfection. The Word of God is for all believers the blueprint of creation. God's plan of life to the last greatness of His wonderful Word. But a person must be born again to understand it and be willing to renew his or her mind to the truth of that Word, rather than accept man's opinions, religions, philosophies, and theologies. 1 Corinthians 2:14 says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God...." If natural man does not receive spiritual things from God, then he does not have them. No matter how sincere the natural man looks, no matter how highly educated he may be, or how sensitive, intelligent, and tolerant, he is still a natural man; and the natural man simply cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God "for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." The senses man may learn a great deal about the universe in which he lives, but he cannot learn anything about the Creator of that universe, but he will never be able to see the Intelligence behind all creation: God. A person can look at a watch and observe that there must be some kind of intelligence behind it. A natural man can do the same with the universe. But the natural man can never see the Intelligence Itself because that takes spirit to understand. The question "Why creation?" must be the first question answered when a person truly wants to understand God in relation to himself or the world in relation to himself or the universe in relation to himself. The highest sounding of theologies has never given us a reason for creation. Theology, because it lacks a foundation, simply suspends a massive structure of thought and opinion in midair. Theology has given us several cosmological arguments for the existence of God, but it has not given us the simply - stated Biblical answer. Theologians, for the most part, have found more pleasure in abstract theology than in personal dealings with God. They have found more joy in metaphysics than in divine revelation. Most theologians have founded their positions upon the opinions of men rather than on the Word of God. Theologies and philosophies need constant revitalizing in order to survive. Truth is eternal. Have you ever met a person who was considering revising mathematical tables? Why not? Because they need no revision. Theories, including Darwin's, must constantly be revised and updated. The first three chapters of Genesis have been scoffed at for centuries, and yet it is only those first three chapters that give the truth answering the question "Why creation?" To see the purpose of the universe, we must go to the first chapter of Genesis. Genesis 1:14: "And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament [the expanse] of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years." Without those lights in the firmament, the earth would have no days and nights, or seasons and years. Verse 15: "And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so." The earth was not made to give light to the universe or even to itself; the "lights in the firmament of the heaven" were made to give light to the earth. Verses 16 and 17: "And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth." Notice that earth is God's central focus in His creative plan. Up to this point in Genesis 1, everything was made for the earth. Verses 18 and 19: "And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. And the evening and the morning were the fourth day." The great star - spangled universe was designed to support the earth. What then was the earth designed for? Genesis 1 reveals that the earth was made to support the physical part of man. Genesis 1:28-30: "And God blessed them [Adam and Eve], and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat. And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so." The earth was designed to physically support man. God made the earth for man. The heavenly bodies, the animals, the fruit of the trees - these were all made for man. The reason for the earth is man. So then what is the reason for man? God. Ephesians 1:4-6: "According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved." God created man for Himself, so that He could have companionship, so that He could have children with whom to communicate. Psalm 8 contains a wonderful revelation of the position God has given His children in His plan. Psalms 8:5: "For thou hast made him [man] a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him [man] with glory and honour. The word translated "angels" is "elohim", the Hebrew word for God. So what Psalms 8:5 is really telling us is that God made man a little lower than Himself. That's how well - placed man was intended to be. That demonstrates the greatness of man as the pinnacle of God's creation." Many years ago when I was reading E. W. Keynon's "The Father and His Family", I became totally absorbed in considering his insight about creation, and I would like to share a passage from his book with you now. He noted the record of a well - known astronomer who was discussing with his son the influence of the heavenly bodies on the earth. The following is what the astronomer said to his son. "I have noticed that at certain times the Earth is lifted out of her orbit or path by an unseen body lying beyond the reach of our most powerful telescope. If ever they build a larger telescope, I wish you would go and search the heavens to find out what it is that so affects this planet of ours." [Kenyon, "The Father and His family", p. 22] Keynon then goes on to say, "When the great Lick Observatory was reared with its powerful telescope this son traveled across sea and continent, and one clear night turned the great telescope against the dark space in the heavens where this unseen, uncharted planet reached down its mighty hand and gripped the Earth. After gazing awhile, suddenly there appeared a tiny speck of light; it was a star swinging in its giant orbit away out on the frontier of the Universe. He saw the planet that had so strangely affected the earth. It was millions of miles beyond the farthest star that the human eye had ever seen. Yet, this giant star sweeping on its great orbit came regularly every few years close enough to our planet, so that it could reach its mighty hand of gravitation down through the unmeasured space and grip our little earth and lift it out of its orbit. As a ship on the ocean responds to the slightest touch of the helm, our Earth responds to the touch of its course; then when the planet's grip is loosed, back into its path it comes and goes rhythmically on its way. This establishes one fact: that there is neither planet, nor sun, nor moon, nor star in all the vast universe but has its influence upon this little planet of ours. How it thrills the heart to realize that this Earth of ours, so small that one thousand of them can be lost in the sun, is the center and reason for the Universe. Tonight this old Earth of ours is being held as safety in the embrace of those uncounted and uncharted planets as a child in its mother's arms. The heavens are tonight Earth's only perfect timepiece; no watch or clock ever built by man can give us perfect time; but he who knows the path of the stars knows that every star, or sun, or planet will pass a certain given point in the great unpathed space on schedule time. The star may not have been seen for thousands of years, but she will appear at the cross - roads of the heavens not one second ahead nor one second behind her schedule. Oh! the wonder of the Architect, the marvel of the Creator, the might of the Sustainer of this great universe of ours! If the Earth is the reason for the stellar heavens, what is the reason for the Earth? Before the Morning Stars sang their first anthem to the heart of the lonely Father God, before the foundations of the Earth were laid, before the first rays of light ever passed through the dark expanse, the heart of the great Creator God had a yearning, deep, mighty, eternal. It was the primordial passion for children. The Father heart of the Creator God longed for sons and daughters. This yearning passion took form, and God planned a universe for His Man, and in the heart of that universe He purposed a Home. There is no time with God. Time belongs to day and night, to sun and moon. The Omnipotent God was not hampered by days, nor nights, nor years. When Love laid the foundations of this mighty universe, He planned, He purposed it all to be the Home of His Man. It was to be Man's birthplace, Man's Garden of Delight, Man's University where he would learn to know his Father God." [Kenyon, "The Father and His Family", pp. 22, 23.] God said that the earth is the reason for the universe. Man is the reason for the earth. And God is the reason for man. Why did God do all this? The reason is very simple: God wanted sons to love Him, and He wanted daughters to love Him - not by compulsion, not out of necessity, but because of their desire to do so. God so loved that He gave, so that we in turn can love Him and live our lives for Him. God's heart yearns for children. He craves sons and daughters who will freely love Him. Before God had children, He had angels to minister to Him as servants. But He still wanted children. So with love's wonderful, guiding hand, God prepared the earth and the heavens for His children. If this be true, and I believe it is true according to God's Word, then man is the most wonderful of all of God's creation. And everything in the earth and in the universe is for the person who is God's child. Unbelievers also partake of the blessings of the universe and of the earth, but these blessings were not designed for unbelievers. If God so wanted children and so loved sons and daughters that He spent ages in preparation for them, what a wonderful place those children must hold in His heart and in His eternity. You, as a believer, a son or daughter of God, are the culmination of God's dream because you are God's man, God's woman. The earth was made for you. You were made for God. He is your Father Who loves you. This is God's blueprint of creation. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bibliography: Wierwille, V. P. 1985. Chapter two: "God's Blueprint of Creation" (pp: 21-37). In: "Order My Steps In Thy Word" - Studies in Abundant Living, Volume V. American Christian Press, Ohio. /////////////////////////////// Ref: Our Times Dr. V.P. Wierwille 1990 Chapter 7: Records from History Pages 99-102. First Century: Luke: "And they were all filled with holy spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance." Acts 2:4 Paul: "I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than ye all." I Corinthians 14:18. Second and Third Centuries: Irenaeus: (115-202) Bishop of Lyons and theologian, born in Asia Minor, pupil of Polycarp who was a disciple of John. In his book Against Heresies, bk. V, p. 6: "In like manner do we also hear many brethren in the church who possess prophetic gifts, and who through the Spirit speak all kinds of languages, and brings to light for the general benefit the hidden things of men and declare the mysteries of God, whom also the apostles term spiritual." Tertullian: (160-220) invited Marcion to produce anything among his followers such as was common among the orthodox Christians. "Let him exhibit prophets such as have spoken, not by human sense but with the Spirit of God, such as have predicted things to come, and have made manifest the secrets of the heart; let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer, only let it be by the Spirit in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture, whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him." He also gives a full description of a certain sister who often spoke with tongues, cf. Smith's Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 4, p. 3310. [See: http://www.tertullian.org/anf/anf03/anf03-35.htm] "Let Marcion then exhibit, as gifts of his god, some prophets, such as have not spoken by human sense, but with the Spirit of God, such as have both predicted things to come, and have made manifest383 the secrets of the heart;384 let him produce a psalm, a vision, a prayer385 -only let it be by the Spirit,386 in an ecstasy, that is, in a rapture,387 whenever an interpretation of tongues has occurred to him; let him show to me also, that any woman of boastful tongue388 in his community has ever prophesied from amongst those specially holy sisters of his. Now all these signs (of spiritual gifts) are forthcoming from my side without any difficulty, and they agree, too, with the rules, and the dispensations, and the instructions of the Creator; therefore without doubt the Christ, and the Spirit, and the apostle, belong severally389 to my God. Here, then, is my frank avowal for any one who cares to require it." Fourth Century Pachomius: (292-348) an Egyptian hermit and founder of the first Christian monastery. He was able to speak the Greek and Latin languages, which he had never learned, after seasons of special prayer. cf. Lives of the Saints, Butler, 1756. Augustine: (345-430) Bishop and theologian of Northern Africa. "We still do what the apostles did when they laid hands on the Samaritans and called the Holy Spirit on them by the laying on of hands. It is expected that converts should speak with new tongues." The Dark Ages: (475-1137) Twelfth to Fifteenth Centuries: From the 12th to the 15th centuries there were revivals in southern Europe in which many spoke in tongues, particularly the Waldesians and Albigenses. The Waldesians were founded by Peter Waldo of Lyon about 1170 (France) and Albi, France was the chief stronghold of the Albigenses. Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 27, pp. 9-10, 11th ed.; states that tongues were present among the mendicant friars of the thirteenth century. In the History of the Christian Church by Philip Schaff, we read of Vincent Ferrer who died in 1419. "Spondamus and many others say this saint was honored with the gift of tongues." This work also tells of Francis Xavier who lived from 1506 to 1552 who was a spanish Jesuit and missionary to India and Japan, called the apostle of the Indies. Xavier "is said to have made himself understood by the Hindus without knowing their language." The Catholic Encyclopaedia speaks of his preaching in tongues unknown to him. Reformation Period: Sixteenth to Eighteenth Centuries: In Souer's History of the Christian Church, vol. 3, p. 406; the following is stated: "Dr. Martin Luther was a prophet, evangelist, speaker in tongues and interpreter, in one person, endowed with all the gifts of the Holy Spirit." Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 22, pp. 283, 11th ed.; tells of tongues among the "Jensenites and early Quakers, the converts of Wesley and Whitefield, the persecuted Protestants of Cevennes and the Irvingites." Dr. Middleton wrote: "After the apostolic time there is not in all history one instance either well attested or even so much as mentioned of any particular person who had ever exercised the gift [tongues], or pretended to exercise it in any age or country whatever." John Wesley wrote in protest against this statement Wesley's Works, vol. 5, p. 744; "Sir, your memory fails you again... It has been heard of more than once, no further off than the valleys of Dauphiny." Thomas Walsh, in his diary of 8 March, 1750, wrote: "This morning the Lord gave me a language that I knew not of, raising my soul to Him in a wonderful manner." OTHER COMMENTS: Alexandris Mackie, The Gift of Tongues: "The attention which the Reformation drew to the Scriptures, is the reason for the reappearance of the gift. Men do not usually have the gift of tongues unless they know there is a gift of tongues..." W. C. Braithwaite, Message and Mission of Quakerism: "While waiting upon the Lord in silence, as we often do for many hours together, we received often the pouring down of the Spirit upon us, and our hearts were glad and our tongues loosed and our mouths opened, and we spake with new tongues as the Lord gave us utterance." Rev. R. Boyd (Baptist), Trials and Triumphs of Faith, Concerning Dwight L. Moody: "when I got to the rooms of the Y.M.C.A. (Victoria Hall, London) I found the meeting 'on fire.' The young men were speaking with tongues and prophesying. What on earth did it mean? Only that Moody had been addressing them that afternoon." Dr. Henry W. Frost, China Inland Mission, 3 March, 1934 in Sunday School Times: "It may confidently be anticipated as the present apostasy increases, that Christ will manifest His deity and lordship in increasing measure through miracle-signs, including healing." Dr. Hames M. Gray, Christian Workers Commentary commenting on Mark 16: "such signs do still follow the teaching of the gospel on foreign mission fields, and doubtless will be practically universal again as the end of the age draws near and the coming of the King." Bengel declares: "The reason why many miracles are not wrought is not so much because faith is established as that unbelief reigns." John Wesley: (1703-1791) "Because the love of many, almost all Christians so-called, waxed cold, that was the real cause why the extraordinary gifts of the Holy Ghost were no longer to be found in the Christian Church." Dr. Philip Schaff, History of the Apostolic Church: "The speaking with tongues, however, was not confined to the day of Pentecost... we find traces of it still in the second and third centuries." [See also: http://members.aol.com/captainpen/scripture.integrity18.html] ---------------------------------- Karen W. Martin, from Somerset, NJ, wrote a beautiful foreword for the book of Dr. Wierwille entitled "Are the dead alive now?" (Of which title the clear Biblical answer is "NO"). Here is a pertinent excerpt of that foreword (maybe later it will be quoted in full, but now let's see a fragment): "The Word of God painstakingly divides all things into two realms: the physical and the spiritual. Science and 'the five-senses man' (the Bible calls him the "natural man") can know and analyze the physical or material world." "What does science know or believe about the existence of two gods? The Bible explicitly shows that supernatural phenomena must come from one of these two antithetical powers whose exclusive domain is the spiritual: (1) the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the true God; or (2) Satan, the god of this world, the false god who would deceive the very elect of the true God if he could." "The laws of the spiritual world of God and Satan are authenticated in the Bible... In an age of questioning and questing, a return and a search of the Word of God seems not only reasonable, but in the end, most satisfying." /////////////// The Prophetess of Endor "To understand... one must know that anything that has been manifested and is known in the senses world is accessible to Satan's knowledge. All the facts listed in 1 Samuel were well known to Satan. [For Saul,] the séance with the woman of Endor is only the climax of the deceiving power of Satan working through a woman who was possessed and controlled by a specific kind of evil spirit called "familiar" (1 Sam. 28:3, 7) because they are well aware of and acquainted with all that has happened in a person's earthly life in the senses world." "The one fact to keep uppermost in our minds is that Satan always produces a counterfeit, never a genuine. A counterfeit always resembles the genuine so perfectly that only a qualified person in that certain field can distinguish between them. Therefore, Satan's deceit can often be so effective." "Satan can imitate and counterfeit anything so long as he is familiar with the original. Satan has access to the knowledge of everything that a man does while on earth. Satan knew all about Samuel: what he looked like, how he dressed, what his voice sounded like, what he had said and done, and so on. Thus Satan used the woman ["the séance medium"] of Endor who had a familiar spirit (1 Sam. 28:3, 7), a spirit obedient to the woman's own beck and call, to counterfeit Samuel by materialization and impersonation. Not one fact in 1 Samuel 28 brings out any evidence which Satan could not know about Saul's person and circumstance for all these things had been told before except for Saul's death, and death is of Satan anyway." "...The dead stay dead until the return or the resurrections... Satan simply is impersonating the departed dead by familiar spirits who dwell in people's minds, operating and controlling the individual they possess even to the end of using their vocal organs, and changing the possessed-one's physical appearance. By these imitative means Satan tries to deceive the very elect of God. Since the dead remain dead until the return [of Jesus Christ], Satan's impersonations are all frauds, the work of familiar spirits (1 Sam. 28:3, 7)... the dead are dead and stay dead until the return [of Jesus]... anyone who... supposedly reproduces them [the dead] in any way is absolutely a fraud. Such acts are perpetrated by Satan himself in order to deceive and to cause people to worship and obey him." "Satan... worked through people to destroy Saul and cause him to sin. Saul was now Satan's man and Satan could carry on his evil intentions without God's intervention. It is only when we will to belong to God that Satan cannot be certain of the outcome, for the Lord watches over His own." "[In 1 Sam. 35 Samuel] breaks off relations with Saul [read 1 Sam. 15, noting especially verses 23-24, 35, 3, 9, 13-14, 20-22, 26, 29]." "Thus, without a relationship with God or Samuel, King Saul is beside himself (1 Sam 16:14)." ""Samuel anointed David as king and then soon Samuel died." "Saul had lost all communications with the True God [1 Sam. 28:3-6]. Although Saul tried, his efforts could not restore the lost connection. So in desperation, after having put away all those with familiar spirits (1 Sam. 28:3, 7), Saul demands to have personal audience with such a person (1 Sam. 28:7)." "Having lost his connection with God through disobedience to God's Word, Saul grasps for suggestions from Satan. Satan put ideas into Saul's mind because he knew that he could influence Saul through a familiar spirit (1 Sam. 28:3, 7), and thus, not only cause Saul's death, but the death of Saul's sons, the destruction of the army of Israel, and misfortune to the entire nation (1 Sam. 28:8-20)." 1 Sam. 15:23-24 gives the account of King Saul's rejection by God after the battle with the Amalekites (Saul refused to obey God) Later, in 1 Sam. 15:35, Samuel, the man of God breaks off relations with Saul (Saul refused to repent and justified himself time after time) Thus, without a relationship with God or with His Prophet, King Saul is beside himself in 1 Sam. 16:14. Saul had lost any communication with the True God (as seen in 1 Sam. 28:3-6) So, in desperation, after, as told in 1 Sam. 28:3, having put Saul himself away all those with familiar spirits (here, the woman of Endor it is not a person acting under the holy spirit from God, but under an evil spirit, called a "familiar spirit" in 1 Sam. 28:7. Those evil spirits are so deceiving, that with them Satan will even try to deceive in this present time the people elect of God, can you see that today in any TV show, being B. Walters or Osteen Sr. almost all the people thinks that dead people stills alive?) As we can see, by carefully reading 1 Sam., we can see who really was Saul, a man who having lost his connection with God through disobedience to God's Word, gasped for suggestions from Satan's realm. Why for God were forbidden in His Law all the mediums, spiritists-spiritualists, witches, and every one dealing whit the idea that the dead still alive after their death? That woman of Endor was not a Godly woman. Because the adversary is enough smart as to mimic the dead to deceive people. 1Chr 10:13: So Saul died for his transgression which he committed against the LORD, even against the word of the LORD, which he kept not, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to enquire of it {Verses that include the expression "familiar spirits" in the OT: 1Chr 10:13, 1Sam 28:3,7,8,9; 2Kgs 21:6; 2Chr 33:6; 2Kgs 23:24; Lev 19:31; Lev 20:6; Lev 20:27; Deut 18:11-12} [Wierwille, V. P., Chapter Ten, "The Prophetess of Endor" (1 Samuel 28:7-25), pp. 89-96, Are the dead alive now?, American Christian Press (The Devin-Adair Co., 1971)] -------------------------------------- Luke 16:19-31 (Lazarus in Abraham's bosom) Luke 16:19-31 describes Lazarus, the beggar, after he died, as being in "Abraham's bosom." Since the Bible clearly says that in death there is no consciousness, this story must be figurative, and it is. In his book, Are The Dead Alive Now? Victor Paul Wierwille points out that in: ...two ancient Greek manuscripts-the Bezae Caulabrigiensis and the Koridethian-Caesarean text-words are included which have been deleted in other translations. Both of these ancient manuscripts begin Luke 16:19 with the words: eipen de kai heteran parabolen, which translated means, "And He said also another parable." Victor Paul Wierwille, Are the Dead Alive Now? (American Christian Press, New Knoxville, Ohio, 1971), page 73. http://www.truthortradition.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=129 -------------------------------------- ARE THE DEAD ALIVE? By Jeff Rath 5-99Are The Dead Alive Now? (1971) Victor Paul Wierwille "if a person immediately after expiring is taken to eternal bliss, why is the return of Christ and/or the resurrection necessary? If after death the Christian is already alive and with Him, why should Christ return to gather His Church?" http://home.flash.net/~jwr2/death.htm -------------------------------------- Ref. for text below: Are the Dead Alive Now? Dr. V.P. Wierwille Third printing, 1976 Pages 37-39. II Thessalonians 2:1-3: "1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand. 3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first [properly translated, "a falling away first" is the "gathering together"],* and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition." Te Church will be departed and with Christ before the wrath of the day of God's judgment comes to pass. The following passages also substantiate this truth: Romans 8:1: "There is therefore now no condemnation [katakrima, judgment] to them which are in Christ Jesus..." 1 Thessalonians 1:10: "And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come." Romans 5:9 "Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him." At this part of the parousia of Christ, the Church will already have been judged, not for punishment but for rewards. II Corinthians 5:10, in reference to the parousia for the Church, says, "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ..." This judgement seat is the bema, the place, from which prizes and rewards are given for "the things done..." * The Geneva Bible and the Cranmer Bible, first published in 1537, and the Tyndale Bible published in 1539 preceding the King James translation, all translate "a falling away first", "a departure first." Before the "day of the Lord", there must be a departure of the born-again believers from this world to be with Christ. After this will come to pass that the "man of sin de revealed" which will then be followed by "the day of wrath." In II Thessalonians 2:3, the Greek words are he apostasia. The word he is the article "the". The prefix apo means "away from". Having a circle, apo would be illustrated as a line in motion from the exterior of the circle to some distant point. Stasia means "to separate," or "draw out." He apostasia is a separation away from, or drawing out from among; it is the departure. Same book, pages 117, 118 "Tartarus is used only once-in II Peter 2:4-for hell: "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartarosas], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." I Peter 3:18-20 and Jude 6 must be taken into consideration with II Peter 2:4. Only the evil spirits that corrupted the earth before the flood are the so-called "imprisoned spirits."* Tartarus denotes the bounds or limits of those evil spirits. In II Peter 2:4 the word for "hell," tartarosas, is an nominative singular masculine participle in the first aorist tense meaning a one-time (once and once only) action with continuing results." Abussos is a Greek word which is translated "deep" in Luke 8:31; and Romans 10:7, and "bottomless pit" in Revelation 9:1, 11; 11:7: 17:8; 20:1, 3. (This word is transliterated into English "abyss.") The abyss is a place of torment where some devils are now confined. Devils begged Christ not to send them to the abyss or to torment them before their time. (Matthew 8:29; Mark 5:7; Luke 8:26-31.) Twice the spirit of Antichrist is spoken of as coming out the bottomless pit. (Revelation 11:7; 19:8) The abyss is the prison where Satan ad his angels will be bound for a thousand years in chains. (Revelation 20: 1-7.) The lake of fire is found five times: Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14, 15, 21:18. There is no record of anyone being in the lake of fire now. Check Revelation 19:20; 20:10-15. * Victor Paul Wierwile, The Lord's Brethren and Sons of God, 1963, 15 pp. (The American Christian Press of the Way, Inc., New Knoxville, Ohio 45871). THANATOS, TARTARUS, GEHENA, ABADDON, ABUSSOS AND LAKE OF FIRE The natural end of life, thanatos, is the state of man brought about by sin. It is used in the following places in the King James Version: Matthew 4:16; 10:21, 15:4; 16:28; 20:18; 26:38, 66; Mark 7:10 9:1; 10:33; 13:12; 14:34, 64; Luke 1:79; 2:26; 9:27; 22:33; 23:15, 22; 24: 20: John 5:24 8:51, 52; 11:4, 13; 12:33; 18:32; 21:19; Acts 2:24; 13:28; 22:4; 23:29; 25:11, 25; 26:31 28:18; Romans 1:32; 5:10 12, 14,17, 21; 6:3, 4 5, 9,16, 21, 23; 7:5, 10, 13,13, 24; 8:2; 6, 38; I Corinthians 3:22; 11:26; 15:21, 26,54,55, 56; II Corinthians 1:9, 10; 2:16; 3:7; 4:11, 12; 7:10; 11:23; Philippians 1:20; 2:8, 27, 30; 3:10; Colossians 1:22; II Timothy 1:10; Hebrews 2:9, 9, 14, 14, 15; 5:7; 7:23; 9:15, 16; 11:5; James 1:15; 5:20; I John 3:14, 14; 5:16, 16, 17; Revelation 1:18; 2:10, 11, 23; 6:8, 8; 9:6, 6; 12:11; 13:3; 18:8; 20:6, 13,14, 14; 21:4, 8. Tartarus is used only once-In II Peter 32:4-for hell: For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell [tartarosas], and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. I Peter 3:18-20 and Jude 6 must be taken into consideration with II Peter 2:4. Only the evil spirits that corrupted the earth before the flood are the so-called "imprisoned spirits." Tartarus denotes the bounds or limits of those evil spirits in II Peter 2:4 the word for "hell," tartarosas, is a nominative singular masculine participle in the first aorist tense meaning a one-time (once and once only) action with continuing results. Gehenna is used twelve times in Scripture and is always translated "hell," a place of torment: Matthew 5:22, 289, 30; 10:28; 18:9; 23:15, 33; Mark 9:43, 45, 47; Luke 12:5; James 3:6. Abaddon is a Hebrew word translated "destruction" in Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psalms 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20. Abussos is a Greek word which is translated "deep" in Luke 8:31; and Romans 10:7, and bottomless pit I Revelation 9:1, 11; 11:7 17:8; 20:1, 3. (This word is transliterated into English "abyss.") The abyss is a place of torment where some devils are now confined Devils begged Christ not to send them to the abyss or to torment them before their time. (Matthew 8:29 Mark 5:7; Luke 8:26-31.) Twice the spirit of Antichrist is spoken of as coming out the bottomless pit. (Revelation 11:7; 19:8) The Abyss is the prison where Satan ad his angels will be bound for a thousand years in chains. (Revelation 20: 1-7.) The lake of fire is found five times: Revelation 19:20; 20:10, 14. 15. 21:18. There is no record of anyone being in the lake of fire now. Check Revelation 19:20; 20:10-15. -------------------------- The Counterfeit Teaching on Death Whenever any question arises pertaining to life or death, we look to the Word of God for our answers. We know that every-thing good and true comes from God. Jesus said in John 4:14, "...whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Wherever we have the truth on a subject, we have the inner assurance. This comes when the Word of God fits together from Genesis through Revelation without contradiction. This is a dark hour among many leaders of vast influence who should have LIGHT. It is spiritual darkness under the guise of light that is as appalling today as was the darkness regarding Truth in the synagogues and Temple in the days of Christ. The challenging counterfeit of spiritualism has infiltrated many segments of Christendom. Being spurious, we know the source of such teaching. Satan has always been busy setting truth and error in the same mould, but, never more so than in dealing with leadership in churches. The sickening part is that spiritualism has been given the nod of acceptability without realizing and recognizing it to be a counterfeit. A university, pioneering in parapsychology and extra-sensory perception, has elevated the psychic field into the position of intellectual acceptability. This spiritualism has boldly and openly come forth with what they call concrete evidence of survival after death. This however, does not prove its accuracy, Biblically speaking. This week there came to my desk, influential and far - reaching publications, all more or less presenting the challenging counterfeit of spiritualism as truth. These magazines included the April issue of Guideposts, published by Norman Vincent Peale; the April issue of the Reader's Digest; the fundamental and evangelical 12th April issue of Christianity Today, and the April issue of Christian Life. In Guideposts, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale presents the first article in a new series entitled "The Blessed Assurance." He states that, "Guideposts has commissioned some of America's most talented artists to give their interpretation of immortality." Are we really concerned about man's interpretation of immortality, or are we concerned about "what does the Bible say"? He states in his article: "The truth is, death has been miscast as a grim reaper. To almost everyone, when it finally comes, it comes as a friend." How like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal this statement must sound to the ears of those who know the Word of God in 1 Corinthians 15:26, "The last ENEMY that shall be destroyed is death." Dr. Peale says: "What is death then? Obviously, it is a change into some new form of existence." Then it is not death logically, scientifically and accurately speaking. Dr. Peale also tells in the article about 'seeing his father', who has been dead for many years, appearing among the ministers gathered in a Methodist conference in Georgia. How could this be if his father is dead? Only by a familiar spirit, a spirit which has likeness to the personality of the person who once lived. The people who have familiar spirits are not God's people (Leviticus 20:27). God may give His people a vision, by the holy spirit within us, through a word of knowledge (1 Corinthians 12:8), [and] this is always given for a profit (1 Corinthians 12:7). The Reader's Digest article is simply a reprint and reworking of Dr. Peale's article in Guideposts, under the title of "How to rise above the fear of death." The caption reads, "A renowned minister reviews the evidence supporting the great message of Easter; that death is not finality but the gateway to life." [However:] death is a finality without the resurrection. In Christianity Today, under the title of "Light on our Destiny; death has no shape," by Robert Paul Roth, comes the same old evangelical and denominational double-talk. He says: "although personal consciousness survives [in death], the person becomes a shapeless shadow. But the work of Christ in regeneration is to give us bodily shape until the final resurrection, when we shall be raised with incorruptible bodies." Who can make anything out of that statement, except to conclude it to be [the] 'ethereal nonsense'? Certainly there is no Biblical data to corroborate this statement. [Contrary to that statement, the Bible says that when a person dies 'in that very day his thoughts perish' in Psalms 146:4; 'the dead know not any thing' for 'the memory of them is forgotten' in Eccl. 9:5; 'neither have they any more a portion for ever in any thing that is done under the sun' in Eccl. 9:6; 'there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave' in Eccl. 9:10; 'in death there is no remembrance of thee' in Psalms 6:5] Finally, the Christian Life magazine, under the caption of "The Family Doctor", by William Standish Reed, MD, quotes this statement: "Death to the Christian is simply a graduation exercise." This implies that you immediately go on to a higher life. Again, how subtle and how devilish. THE WORD SPEAKS! It is in the Word that we have the answer without guessing or conjecture. I will say again as I have been saying frankly, boldly and courageously, that spiritualism will infiltrate the organized church to the extent that even the very elect of God will be misled. Remember, Satan can do signs and wonders, but, they are lying signs (2 Thessalonians 2:9; Matthew 24:24). Christ died, and he is the only one whom God raised from the dead thus far. If the Bible is right [and we believe so], then the only way out of the grave is at the time of the gathering together (1 Thessalonians 4:13ff.) and the resurrections (1 Corinthians 15:13ff.). [Wierwille, V.P., Our Times, Ch. 7, 1990, European Christian Press, U.K., pp. 145-147.] ////////// The next four taken from http://home.flash.net/~jwr2/vpwteach.htm Seven Characteristics of a Faithful Minister By Victor Paul Wierwille Tonight I had prepared for you an 8-1/2 by 11" sheet of paper that has the whole teaching on it. This teaching that I'm going to share with you tonight, I think, is one of the most important teachings that I could do at this time in the history of our ministry and of my life. I'd like for you to turn to II Timothy. Tonight the subject is the seven characteristics of a faithful minister. I wanted to share this with the leadership Friday at International, but we had so much other business to take care of that we never got to it. So you are the people that'll have to live through it tonight. But everybody there, I think, was an ordained minister and I had been working this and I wanted to share it, but as I said, just time was not available. This is also the truth regarding a twig coordinator. There is an exhortation of each characteristic given in this second chapter of II Timothy. The number seven, people, is the number of perfection, and this is the only place in the Bible where all the seven characteristics of a faithful minister are put together in one chapter. So all you need to do is understand this chapter, and you'll always be able to judge from the Word of God (let the Word of God do the judging) of whether the ministry of a twig coordinator or any other individual is according to the Word of God. It is these seven characteristics that I listed on your paper, because I thought you might be able to write in other things, but these seven are: 1. Son, be strong in grace. 2. Son, be strong in service. 3. Son, be a strong athlete. 4. Son, be a strong husbandman, a cultivator. 5. Son, be a strong workman. 6. Be a strong vessel. 7. Be a strong servant, a doulos. Those are the seven characteristics given in II Timothy, chapter two, with an exhortation on each one of the characteristics. Tonight I want to go through this second chapter with you, verse by verse. II Timothy 2:1 Thou, Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in (whom?) Christ Jesus. Timothy was not Paul's physical son, but he was his spiritual son. Paul was the one who had taught him the greatness of God's Word and led him to the Lord Jesus Christ and the great truths of God's Word. The first chapter of I Timothy gives a real great insight on this word "son." I Timothy 1:2 Unto Timothy, my (what?) own son... The literal of those words "own son" are "true child." "Unto Timothy my true child in the faith." That is basically the meaning of chapter two, verse one: "Thou, therefore, my true son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus." True son be strong in the grace. Grace is God's divine favor, perpendicular from God to man, unmerited and that grace is in what Christ Jesus accomplished for us. (1). The first requirement of a faithful minister is that he is to be strong in grace, divine favor, perpendicular. He is not to be strong in his own mental acumens or the seminaries he graduated from; that's all secondary. The primary is that he remembers to be strong in what? Grace, divine favor. That's why a true minister of God is never critical in a negative sense. He's not raising hell with people. The only people who ever raise hell with people are people who forget the grace of God and the love of God and forgiveness of God. A true son is one who remembers that it's by grace that he is a minister of the Word, and that he is to be strong in that grace. And if he remembers that, and, verse two, "The things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses," in other words, a true son stands faithful with the one who taught it to him. Paul taught Timothy, and Paul said, "The things that thou hast heard of me (Paul) among many witnesses (other people heard the same thing)..."A true minister, a faithful minister, a son strong in the grace, is concerned about committing to faithful men that same truth "...who shall be able to teach others also." So that is the exhortation about a son who is strong in grace. (2). Number two is in verse three: Be strong in service. The King James reads, "Thou, therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ." It should be translated and read, "Thou, therefore, endure training, mental pressure, as a good server of Jesus Christ." Because we are athletes of the spirit, we are not warring soldiers that go out to kill and to destroy, but we are athletes running in the spiritual race of life. "Thou, therefore, endure training as a good server of Jesus Christ." The second great truth regarding the characteristic of a faithful minister: he is strong in what? Service. Strong in service. He endures training. II Timothy 2:4 No man that warreth (and the word "warreth" is a deliberate forgery in the King James. The word is serveth or serves) ... No man who serves entangles himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (worker, a server). (3). Number three is to be a strong athlete and that is in verse five: II Timothy 2:5 And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The word strive in this verse is the Greek word athleo, from which we get our word "athlete." Literally, this verse accurately reads, "And contending in the games, the athlete will strive to be the best (masteries) but he is not crowned except he (do what?) strive lawfully (stay within the bounds of that athletic competition as he contends in the games)." He was talking about the Roman games. So he is a strong athlete who develops himself to be absolutely the best it is possible for him to be. But he is not rewarded or he doesn't receive, he is not laced with the floral tributes, except he contend in the games according to the rules. (4). The fourth characteristic is in verse six: II Timothy 2:6 The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. I figured most people didn't understand the old English usage of the word "husbandman." The husbandman is the cultivator, the one who cultivates the land, Biblically speaking. Today we would call him a farmer. This son is to be a strong cultivator. He is to cultivate people properly. He is to work with them properly like you would prepare the ground properly to receive the seed like a farmer would. That's why he says he must be first partaker of the fruits. You must be a partaker in cultivating and seeing this fruit develop if you're going to be a faithful minister, a wonderful twig coordinator. You have to work with people and you have to cultivate them. You have to prepare them to receive the Word of God. You just don't come in and bulldoze your way through a twig meeting. You love those people and so you cultivate them, you understand? Some people need help here, someone else there. That's how you get to be partaker of the fruit that you will see in their life as they grow. There are quite a few verses after verse six that set this great truth in here, and I think the reason he used this many verses from six on through fourteen is because it's such an important phase of a faithful minister's respansibility. That's why he expanded it: so we would have a greater understanding and not screw up. The exhortation begins in verse seven: "Consider what I say..." These words, "Consider what I say" are the translation of the word "selah." "Selah" in the Old Testament; whenever you read that word in the Old Testament, class, it always means "consider what I say." Flip to Psalm 3, please. To the best of my knowledge, this is the only place I could remember where it was used for the first time. I'm not sure, but I think it is. People read the words like "selah" and they don't know what they mean. At the end of verse two in Psalm 3 - do you have it? Psalm 3:2, 4b, Bb Many there be which say of my soul, There is no help for him in God. (then is the word) Selah. ... he heard me out of his holy hill. Selah. ... thy blessing is upon thy (what?) people. (and then the word) Selah. It means "consider what I've said." And it relates itself to the context of that which immediately follows. So back to verse seven of II Timothy, please. II Timothy 2:7 Consider what I say; (what I have just said and what I am going to say now) and the Lord give thee (what?) understanding in all things. The Lord give thee understanding. The reason he says that is because human nature is always to go back to what men say, or read what the world calls the most up-to-date periodicals, things that people talk about. The Word of God says that a faithful minister is to go back primarily to the Lord, for it's the Lord that's going to give him what? Understanding. See, it's always a temptation to go to the world and then to quote what the world says. It's wonderful to quote what the world says if it agrees with the Word, I guess. But the Word teaches that a faithful minister has to rely upon the Lord, not man, to give him understanding in what? All things. II Timothy 2:8 Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: The reason it was his gospel is because God revealed it to him and Paul declared it. II Timothy 2:9 Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not (what?) bound. The word "evil doer" here is the same word that's used regarding two of the men that were crucified with Jesus. It's the word "malefactor"...kakourgai. You suffer trouble from other people because they will treat you as a malefactor. Paul said he had suffered it even to where they had put him in jail. But when he was in prison, the Word was still not what? Bound. Philippians, Colossians, Thessalonians were all written from Rome when he was in prison. See, I don't think Peter was ever in Rome. Told the Corps that last Wednesday night. So if that group over there wanted to have a Pope, they should've had Paul. Paul was there, but Peter never was. So the first Pope in Rome could not have been Peter; he never was there. Well, you figure it out, I don't care. But Paul was in prison in Rome and from the prison in Rome he wrote some of the great mystery revelation because the Word of God is not bound by chains. You see, no matter what people say about you, you know your own heart. You know your own mind, and they can speak of you as a malefactor and evil doer, but you know the purity of your own soul and of your own mind, and you know that you are a faithful minister. II Timothy 2:10 Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes (for the born again believers), that they (and then the word "also" should be there ... that they also, the elect also) may obtain the salvation (the wholeness) which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. You're a strong cultivator of the people. II Timothy 2:11 It is a faithful saying: (The text literally reads, "Faithful is the saying:") For if we be (are dead ... we are dead with him, not "be" but "are") dead with him, we shall also live with him: II Timothy 2:12a If we suffer(ed), we shall also reign with him. (Then there should be a period. Verse twelve ought to start with the words "If we deny...") "Faithful is the saying: for if we are dead with him, we shall live with him and if we suffered with him we shall also reign with him." You see, when Jesus Christ died, we died with him. When God raised him, we were raised with him. When he was seated at the right hand of God, we were'seated with him. Everything with what God wrought in Christ Jesus. II Timothy 2:12b If we deny him, he will also deny us: If we deny the truth of the greatness of this, then God can't do anything else but deny us too and say, "Look, Dude, you're wrong! You're not a faithful minister." To teach anything else but that every believer died with Christ and arose with him is to deny what Christ Jesus really did for us, and we're not faithful ministers. II Timothy 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: (Why? Because God) he cannot deny himself. II Timothy 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, (a good cultivator puts people in remembrance) charging them before the Lord (the word Lord is God in many texts, and I think that's what it should be here) that they strive not (contend not) about words to no profit, but to the subverting (or the disrupting) of the hearers. If you are going to be a good cultivator, a faithful minister, a good twig coordinator, you've got to remember to charge them before God that they contend not. You do not contend about words that are unprofitable. You know you can spend all night arguing about how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. That would be words to no profit, and all it would do is subvert, distract the hearers. (5). That's why verse 15 now comes as the fifth great truth: Son, be a strong workman. II Timothy 2:15 Study to show thyself approved unto (whom?) God, a workman that (who) needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. You study diligently, you apply yourself as a twig coordinator, as a faithful minister, to do one thing - to stand approved unto God as a workman of the Word. Not of theologians or all that other stuff, but you work the Word, people! That's the only way you can stand approved before God ... working the Word, rightly dividing the Word of truth. The Scriptures, the Word of God is the Word of truth, but only to the end and in the proportion that we rightly divide it do we have the true Word. And most of Christendom today is built on tradition rather than the right dividing of the Word. They are sincere, but sincerity is no guarantee of truth, people. The devil is as sincere as you are. I think, many times, more so than you are. Shouldn't be, but... Look, you will never have the true Word until we rightly divide it, and that's that right cutting. I think it's orthotomounta or something in the text. I teach it in the Foundational Class. Then come the following verses regarding this strong workman. Verse sixteen: "...shun profane and vain babblings..." I put this on your paper because I doubted if too many of you would be able to understand what profane really was. "Shun profane" is the dishonorable, and "vain babblings" is intellectual stupidity; and you're constantly being tempted with that and bombarded with it in the world. So a faithful minister, a twig coordinator, has to shun (the word shun, you know, means to avoid), you avoid profane or dishonorable because we are to study to show ourselves approved unto God. The profane would be that they would lower the "Study to show yourself approved unto God." They would demand of you that you study to show yourself approved to the tradition. It's dishonorable to study to show yourself approved to tradition. The vain babblings, as I said, are the presentations that people hit you with. It sounds so intellectual and they're so intellectual, and they hold degrees from the most reputable so-called academic institutions, and so people sit back and say, "Well, he's got to be right." But what he says is contrary to what the integrity of the Word says. That's why it's intellectual stupidity. II Timothy 2:17, 18 And their word (this intellectual stupidity) will eat as doth a canker: (and the word canker is gangrene. Then it names two fellows, Hymenaeus and Philetus) of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred, (and how did they err?) saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. They did this in a very intellectual way, and so they overthrew the believing of some. II Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, (His Word standeth sure because His Word liveth and abideth forever. God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today, forever.) having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. II Timothy 2:20 But (for) in a great house (in a big home, a big house, a big family) there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to (then King James says what?) dishonour. That's another terrible mistake. Not dishonor, less honor; because a vessel that's of less honor is still not a dishonorable vessel. What he is giving here is an illustration out of the culture of his time. That they had vessels of gold and of silver that were used for the anointing of the head of the guest. There were vessels that were used for the washing of the hands and the face. Then there were vessels that were used for the washing of the feet, and then there were vessels that were used when you have to go to the bathroom. Now those vessels that were used for the washing of the feet were not gold or silver; they were lesser vessels. That's what he's talking about. And yet, very needful. Likewise the vessels that they used when they went to the bathroom. Those were considered lesser vessels. then comes the sixth great truth: Be a strong vessel, a good, strong vessel. II Timothy 2:21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work. You see, the lesser vessel was clean, but it was just not used for the anointing of the head. It might be used for the washing of the feet. Those vessels are meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. In order to illustrate this, he gives the exhortation in verse 22: II Timothy 2:22 Flee also youthful lusts: but follow righteousness, faith, charity, (which is the love of God in the renewed mind) peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. (6). We are to be a strong vessel unto honor, and we have to flee youthful lusts. What are youthful lusts? Well, I don't think it's particularly sexual. Maybe occasionally, but, you know when you're young you want so many things. You want to own things. You know, you want this, you want that, you want two cars, you want this, you want that, you want all new furniture in the house, you want three TV sets, all of that stuff. And that's what he says we ought to flee. God said Held supply our need. Every faithful minister, every twig coordinator will have his need supplied. God never promised He'd fulfill our greeds, and it's in greeds that you get burdened down. When you get all these things that when you're young you think you'd like to have, you get so burdened down that you're just like the rest of the world: you get nothing done for God. All you work for is the world, and the world, for the most part, gets people so tied up they're never free to serve God. All they can do is go out there and serve the world and pay off what they've already accumulated which they didn't need. You try to keep your life as simple as you can, if you're a faithful minister. You see, Jesus Christ came that we might have a life and have it more abundantly. But the abundance is not particularly in material things, possessions. See, I don't care who owns this auditorium as long as I have the privilege of teaching the Word in it. I don't own it. You don't own it. The ministry has it. And yet every one of us in here tonight can get blessed, see? If I owned it, I'd have a barrel of trouble. You know, then I'd have to pay tax on it, I'd have to see about all the heat, everything else. Now all I do is bless people, and they all work together as a family: we all get blessed. You know, I don't care about these material things as long as I can use them. That is why I can speak with great authority in this field: because I've been there. I was born and raised in a very wealthy family, and then of course when the time came to inherit the Wierwille stuff, we gave it all away, gave it all to The Way Ministry. The whole farm, all the money, everything else, and it's wonderful. If I still owned The Way International farm, I couldn't enjoy it as much as I enjoy it now, and yet I have the freedom of living there, have the freedom of spending my life there. What else could a man want? You know, I can walk all over that three hundred acres, every foot I want to walk on it; nobody throws me off. So can you. So it's not in ownership, it's just that we have the freedom to use that which is made available to us. That's why in verse twenty-three comes up another truth, like we had earlier, only here it's stated, "Foolish and unlearned questions (do what?) avoid." Like poison ivy. They're unlearned questions because they do not represent the accuracy of God's Word. They are simply put in there to irritate you. They want to irritate you. They say something which is contrary to God's Word, you know, like they'll say, "Well, you don't believe Jesus Christ is God? Well then, explain John 1:1 to me." That's a foolish and unlearned question. You explain it! Don't ask me to explain it. Let them explain it to their friends or enemies. You see, you just don't get taken in with those things when you are a faithful minister. You don't spin your wheels with foolish and unlearned questions. You avoid them, like I said, like poison ivy or something. Why? Because you know that they will just gender strife. They are asking this of you not because they want to learn but because they want to fight, and you and I haven't got time to fight as faithful ministers and Twig coordinators. All we've got time for is to love God's people and then hold forth the Word in all of its greatness and all of its truth. Let them fight with somebody else. (7). And then comes this great twenty-fourth verse, which winds up, which is the seventh one, which puts it into the perspective of perfection, class: son, be a strong servant. II Timothy 2:24a And the servant of the Lord must not strive; The word servant is doulos, the marked-out minister. You've gotGod's brand on you, you've been branded by God. You have His stamp on you as a twig coordinator, as a faithful minister. And as a doulos of the Lord, he must not strive. Strive is the word battle or fight. ...but be gentle unto all... That's the second great exhortation here. Be gentle. You see, people through the years have violently disagreed with what I stand for and what I believe to be the truth of God's Word. Yet I always endeavor to be gentle with them, as much as lieth within me. A faithful minister, a faithful twig coordinator has to be apt to what? Teach. He must be able to teach. I so believe that I am able to teach that when I finish tonight I don't expect any questions left over the subject I've taught. I expect everybody here to understand it, because I believe I've got the ability to teach. Because, first of all, the enablement came from God with the manifestations, and then I have studied to show myself approved by rightly dividing the Word. So when I teach, I expect people to understand what I teach, because I try to make it so simple that nobody is stupid enough to miss it. You just can't miss it when I teach because nobody would be that stupid. (Or else the devil'd never let you get in here, or something...) ... apt to teach, (and then you have to be) patient, Good Lord! That's another one of those youthful lusts: impatience. You want everything right now. A faithful minister, a wonderful Twig coordinator, is patient. Whenever you work with people, which is basically all that we work with, it just takes patience. Sometimes it takes a whole month until you see any fruit, but you're cultivating, remember? And when a farmer plants a field, he doesn't see the wheat crop immediately. He has patience. I, as a minister of God, for God - I have to have patience with people. Wait, just wait ... they'll come, sooner or later. If it doesn't come sooner or later, what have you lost? Nothing, you just wait. That's why we were able to do those thirteen major television productions, which should've been done ten years ago, but I just had to wait until the right people that were committed and had the talent that could put it together. You know, I don't like to wait either, but I cannot be a faithful minister and not wait, because if I don't I become critical, just opposite of what the Word says. Then you criticize people and find fault, and that is not being a faithful minister. So I do not criticize or find fault, I'm just apt to teach, patient. II Timothy 2:25 In meekness instructing those (that are screwing themselves up) that oppose themselves; (who hurt themselves) ... You'd like for them to walk the Word but you know they're not. So in meekness you instruct those that oppose themselves. The reason you can do this in meekness is because you are strong in the grace that is in whom? Christ. When you forget God's grace, that's when people become critical. That's when they begin pointing fingers. All you have to remember is what God forgives you for and you have no problem forgiving others in your twig or people that are under the ministry that God has given you and made you responsible for. So, in meekness, humility, tenderness, honey, instruct those that oppose themselves. The rest of that verse reads, accurately, "That God, at some time, will give them a change of heart to the acknowledging of the truth." Isn't that beautiful? You're a strong doulos. A son of God who is a strong servant, not striving. You're gentle, you're a teacher, and you walk meekly and humbly with the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation in your life. II Timothy 2:26 ...that they may recover themselves out of the snare of (what?) the devil .... Right. These are those that are opposing themselves. So in meekness.... and meekness is what helps them to recover themselves. You can't recover anybody; the individual has to do that. You can't get saved for me; I have to do it. These people, if you have them in your fellowship and you are a faithful minister, you will in meekness instruct them that they, by the freedom of their will, can have a change of heart. When they have a change of heart, they recover themselves out of the snare of the devil. ... who are taken captive by him at his will. The adversary took captive of them at the adversary's will because they did not have the renewed mind, did not put on the mind of Christ yet. Every day in this ministry we've got new babies. This next month, perhaps we'll have a couple thousand new babies. Just here in the United States. Well, you wouldn't expect a human baby to play football the first day. Well, what about a spiritual baby? You've just got to take time, and the greatest thing I know that brings people into the greatness of all of this is the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation and a faithful minister. That he so loves because God loved him, that he just surrounds the twig, the believers, with the love of God. I see this in our leadership, and I'm real grateful, real thankful, and I appreciate that God put here in one chapter all those characteristics of a faithful minister, a faithful twig coordinator. A twig coordinator is ministering to the twig. All you need to know is this chapter and you can make a decision according to the Word of God regarding the faithfulness of any minister any place, anywhere in the world, or in anything you read. So: 1. He is to be strong in grace. 2. Be strong in service. 3. A strong athlete. 4. Strong husbandman or cultivator. 5. A strong workman. 6. A strong vessel. 7. A strong doulos. Those are the seven characteristics. ------------------------------------ MOTIVATED BY THE GOODNESS OF GOD By Victor Paul Wierwille Negative motivation is the basic ingredient in our cultures. It sells products; it sells government; it sells religion. Motivation is a primary prerequisite to a successful success, or to a successful failure. Acts 2:38: ... 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. This verse of scripture has been an enigma since the early days of Christianity, because of erroneous teachings. For instance, the word "repent" has been taught to mean: "confession of sin". We have been taught: "If you do not confess your sin then you are going to go to hell." Therefore fear has been bred into people, and people gotten "saved" because they were afraid to go to hell. In contrast to this, Romans 2 makes a singularly significant statement. Romans 2:4: ... knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance. Thus repentance is not a confession of sin, nor do you repent to avoid hell. We are not to preach hell-fire and brimstone in order to get people saved, for it is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance. When people see how good God really is, they will see that He is not a fire-escape from hell. In fact, God and His Word give an enrichment, a joy and an effervescence that make life worth living, and then we can change the motivation for our lives. The non-Biblical motivation has been fear. People have been motivated to be Christian because of fear and have been told: "If you do not confess your sin then you are going to go to hell." God knew that the world would build on fear, therefore He instituted repentance. "Repentance" means: "a mental change of principle of motivation due to positive action". For one who is motivated by fear, true repentance is a mental change of motivation due to positive action and not negative. It is the goodness of God that leads to repentance, and that is positive action. In order to see this, we have to first begin to see where the natural man's basic condition resides, and so we go to I Corinthians, chapter 2. 1 Corinthians 2:14: But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. The natural man, under no condition, can receive the things of the Spirit of God. As a matter of fact, to the natural man the things of the Spirit of God are foolishness, because the natural man is limited to the information he gathers via the five senses. Via the five senses the natural man cannot know spirit, because spirit is spirit; and, in order to understand spiritual things, you must have spirit. The physical body is fed on physical food, but what are you going to feed the spirit? You cannot feed the spirit on physical food. The Bible is in the senses realm, thus a man could memorize everything from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 22:21 and not believe one word of it. The Bible is not "spirit" food; it is "head" food. The mind is part of the natural man, and that is why the natural man could quote the entire Scripture and still not be spiritually alive. Spirit has to be fed via spirit, and the Word of God teaches that there is only one way whereby you can feed that spiritual man in you, and that is by speaking in tongues in your private prayer life. (See Victor Paul wierwille, Receiving the Holy Spirit Today, 7th ed. (New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian Press, 1982), pp. 26-28, 35-36.) The natural man's condition is of such a nature that he simply cannot receive spiritual things. Theref ore he will say: "Well that is foolish. Why would you want to?..." "Man, have you got the religious bug or something? You are crazy!" If those of us who believe His Word are crazy, then God's Word is crazy. And, if God's Word is crazy, then we have not got much else left. If the natural man laughs at you for your believing and for the manifestations of the spirit that you operate, do not criticize him; he cannot help it. He cannot understand it, it is foolishness to him. Let us look at this natural man in Ephesians, chapter 2. Ephesians 2:1-3: And [the word "and" is the word "even"] you ... who were dead in trespasses and sins; Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the f lesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. The natural man is by nature a child of wrath. He cannot help but to tear down the things that are the truth of God's Word. The natural man came into the world just body and soul, that is why he is dead in trespasses and sins. He is living physically, but he is dead spiritually. All of God's blessings are wrapped up in Jesus Christ, and it is Christ in you, the hope of glory, that makes the change. We see this in the 13th verse and following of chapter 2. Ephesians 2:13 and 14: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both [that is Judaean and Gentile] one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us [Judaean and Gentile]. You can never have peace without the prince of peace, the Lord Jesus Christ, because the natural man is the child of wrath. He is going to utilize, to the best of his ability, what he knows, but all he knows is what is gathered via the five senses, and that cannot be spiritual. Therefore, everything he institutes for peace has to terminate; it has no life in it, for it lacks that one great element that makes for peace, the prince of peace. Verses 15-19: Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain [two, Judaean and Gentile] one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both [Judaean and Gentile] unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby [that is, in himself with his death]: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we both [Judaean and Gentile] have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God. If you belong to a household then you must have a father. The natural man is a child of wrath by nature because he is dead in trespasses and sins. When the natural man gets born again he has Christ in him, the hope of glory; he spiritually has a new Father. For those that are born again, God is our Father, and we are His children. That makes the household. Christianity is not a religion. There is a lot of religion in so-called "Christianity" today, but that is not God's fault. Religion is what man does; Christianity is what God wrought in Christ. Christianity is not a religion-it is The Way, The Truth, and The Life it is what God wrought in Christ. It is a Father and His family; God is our Father, and we are His children. That puts us in the household of God. Verse 20: And [we] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone. To walk in the revelation of the apostles and to apply the principles that they applied and the efficacy of the Word that they utilized is apostolic succession. Verse 21: In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. Every individual believer in this Body is a tabernacle, but the believers all put together make up the Temple. Verse 22: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through [or, "by way of"] the Spirit. Still speaking of the spirit, II Timothy 1:7 tells us: For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore the spiritually dead man, who is outside of Christ, has to have an unsound mind because all he has to go by is the information he has acquired via the five senses. That information is not trustworthy when it comes to spiritual things. Thus, without the spirit and without a mind renewed to the reality of the spirit within, man, biblically speaking, has an unsound or insane mind. God does not give a spirit of fear. Then there must be someone else who does give it. But, the spirit that God gives is a spirit of power, love and a sound mind. The reason that people who have belonged to the household of God, the born-again ones, have continued to manifest an equally unsound mind is because they have never put on, in the renewed mind, what God, by His mercy and grace, put on the inside, Christ in you, the hope of glory. They have never been transformed by the renewing of the mind, because the new birth does not affect the mind. Whether we like it, or whether we do not like it, we are the products of what we think. No one can believe beyond what he or she is taught. All the knowledge of the natural man has to come by the five senses. He is totally ruled and governed by those five senses, and therefore his motivation is a motivation of fear. Repentance is a mental change of principle of motivation due to positive action. There is only one way up and out for the natural man-he has to get born again and then begin to get a sound mind. Romans 5:12,15-17: (The New English Bible) Mark what follows. It was through one man that sin entered the world, and through sin death, and thus death pervaded the whole human race, inasmuch as all men have sinned. But God's act of grace is out of all proportion to Adam's wrongdoing. For if the wrongdoing of that one man brought death upon so many, its effect is vastly exceeded by the grace of God and the gif t that came to so many by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ. And again, the gif t of God is not to be compared in its effect with that one manes sin; for the judicial action, following upon the one offence, issued in a verdict of condemnation, but the act of grace, following upon so many misdeeds,issued in a verdict of acquittal. For if by the wrongdoing of that one man [Adam] death established its reign, through a single sinner, much more shall those who receive in far greater measure God's grace, and his gift of righteousness, live and reign through the one man, Jesus Christ. There is only one way whereby the natural man can get all these blessings. He cannot receive it as a natural man, for they are foolishness unto him; he must be born again, born from above. (That is what the words "born again" mean in John 3:3 and 7. The word "again" is the Greek word another, meaning "from on high"; thus: "born from above"). The natural man must be born from above so that the spiritual law will take precedent over the natural law. By nature he is a child of wrath, but when he is born again of God's Spirit he is a child of God and belongs to the household of God. At that moment he again has a contact, a connection, between God and the spirit that God gives and can walk and talk with Him. This is what Christianity is all about. Romans 10:9 and 10:That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. This is talking about confessing Jesus as lord in your life. Before this, the natural man has confessed somebody else as lord, but he changes and confesses with his mouth Jesus as lord and believes in his heart (in the innermost part of his being) that God raised him f rom the dead. Man is not saved by works, he is saved by grace; and yet, believing and confession are works. That is why believing is unto righteousness and confession is unto salvation. At that moment God goes into operation, and that which He operates is by grace. The natural man believes "unto", but the work has to be a work of unmerited grace, for you are born again of God's Spirit. That is the miracle of the new birth, which is the greatest reality in the whole world-that God would so love us that in a moment of time we could be born again of God's Spirit. At that moment we belong to the household of God and pass from death unto life, and are nevermore to come into condemnation. The wrath of God has no effect upon us, and we are now heaven bound and all hell cannot stop us. That is the only way the natural man can attain. The natural man cannot work his way in; he cannot even pray his way in. He cannot even confess his sins and get in, because man is not saved by confession of sin, he is saved by confessing the saviour from sin, the Lord Jesus Christ. And from that moment on, the natural man is now a man of the household of God. He has the peace of God. He has all the fullness of God in Christ in him. Ephesians 2:4-10: But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together ["quickened" means "made alive"] with Christ, (bygrace ye are saved;) And [not only quickened us, but] hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Each man must choose his motivating principle. We are surrounded with the negative in abundance. This is why we must declare God's goodness, which leads a man to repentance. This is a day of grace. We have the privilege of living in this day and in this grace and of holding forth the ineffable greatness of God's wonderful, matchless Word. This type of repentance means, a mental change of principle of motivation due to positive action. You are the one who decides what you want to do with your life. Each person has to make that decision for himself. Everything starts with the individual. You cannot help your neighbour until you first help yourself. Every man must make the decision whether his motivating principle is going to be fear or whether the motivating principle of his life is going to be the grace of God which He has so freely bestowed. ------------------------------------ THE HEALING OF NAAMAN By Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille There lived a mighty king who was head of the mightiest empire of its day called the Syrian Empire. The record that I want to look at is regarding one of this king's great men. His name was Naaman. 2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria: he was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. He was captain of the host of the king of Syria, which perhaps would mean in our day that he would have been a "five-star general". There was no one above him. He was the leader of the greatest army of its day and of its time. He was a great man with his master and honourable because by him the Lord had given deliverance unto Syria. He was also a mighty man in valour, but he was a leper. To be a leper in Israel put you outside of the pale, but if one was a leper among the Gentile or pagan nations, they did not throw you out. That is why Naaman was allowed to stay, and to the best of my knowledge, as I have worked the Word, this perhaps was in the early stages of what we know as leprosy. 2 Kings 5:2 And the Syrians had gone out by companies, and had brought away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid; and she waited on Naaman's wife. When Syria had gone in to capture Samaria, the capital of the ten northern tribes of Israel, they brought many of the men and many of the women out. One little maid whom they brought out became the helper to Naaman's wife. 2 Kings 5:3 And she said unto her mistress [this is unto Naaman's wife], Would God my lord [that is Naaman] were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy. She was just a little maid. She had been captured. She had been brought in as a slave, a little maid in the house, a servant to the great Naaman's wife. And this little maid, in that situation, said to her mistress, "Would to God my lord, Naaman, were with the prophet that is in Samaria, for he would recover him of his leprosy." That is a bold statement! 2 Kings 5:4 And one went in, and told his lord [that is Naaman], saying, Thus and thus said the maid that is of the land of Israel. And the king of Syria heard about this. 2 Kings 5:5 And the king of Syria said, Go to, go, and I [the great king of Syria] will send a letter unto the king of Israel.... Just stop right there. That was not what the little maid had said. The little maid had said, "Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in Samaria! for he would recover him of his leprosy." But that sharp king, he was smart! Do you know what he figured out? He figured out if that prophet down there in Samaria could deliver him, the king had more power than the prophet, so instead of sending him to the prophet, he would send him to the king. He was smart, and it was great protocol as well. So the king of Syria wrote a letter. 2 Kings 5:5-7 ... And he [Naaman] departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment. 5:6 And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, saying, Now when this letter is come unto thee, behold, I have therewith sent Naaman my servant to thee, that thou mayest recover him of his leprosy. 5:7 And it came to pass, when the king of Israel had read the letter, that he rent his clothes, and said, Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man doth send unto me to recover a man [Naaman] of his leprosy? wherefore consider, I pray you, and see how he seeketh a quarrel against me. "He knows that I cannot recover Naaman, therefore he sends the letter, saying, 'Recover him.' I cannot recover him, and that will give him an excuse so he can send his armies down and destroy us." That was what the king of Israel said. 2 Kings 5:8 And it was so, when Elisha the man of God had heard that the king of Israel had rent his clothes, that he [Elishal sent to the king, saying, Wherefore hast thou rent thy clothes? let him [Naaman] come now to me, and he shall know that there is a prophet in Israel. That is telling the king! And, the king did not wait very long to tell Naaman about this. 2 Kings 5:9 So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. He is a five-star general, and he stood at the door waiting for that prophet to come out there to him - because after all: "I am five-star! That little old prophet he's just some nincompoop of a little old 'God' fellow." Do you know what Elisha did? Elisha, I think, was sitting in the kitchen, and his servant had baked some chocolate chip cookies. He was having himself a cup of tea and chocolate chip cookies! And there was that five-star standing outside. I can just see this thing: Elisha reached over; he took a sip; and, while he took a sip he signalled with his eyes to his servant; the servant came over and he said, "Go tell the five-star out there:-" 2 Kings 5:10 ... Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean. And then, he took another sip of tea! Naaman, of course, stood outside waiting for the man of God to come out, which was the respect that was needed, according to his thinking. But, the man of God never moved out of the kitchen. He just poured himself another cup of tea, gave a messenger the information, sent the messenger out; the messenger delivered the report to Naaman, and the messenger came back in. What a great, tremendous lesson. It is not important who delivers the Word; it is important that it is the Word. It is not important how you get the information from God; it is important to get it. The Word of God was from the Prophet Elisha to Naaman via the messenger, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." 2 Kings 5:11 But Naaman was wroth, and went away, and said, Behold, I thought, He will surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and strike his hand over the place, and recover the leper. Naaman had it all figured out, but it did not quite work that way! 2 Kings 5:12 Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? may I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage. The Jordan is very narrow, usually very dirty; it is not mountain water. The logic of a man's mind really tricks him. He was told, "Go dip in the Jordan seven times," but his mind said: "Why Jordan? Why that stupid, dirty Jordan? Are not the rivers of Damascus clean and nice? I might as well go there and dip seven times." But, the Word of God is the will of God; it means what it says and says what it means. The prophet had said, "Jordan", and what did he mean? Had he meant the rivers of Damascus, what would he have said? That is how simple the Word is. 2 Kings 5:12 ... So he turned and [he] went away in a rage. 5:13 And his servants came near, and spake unto him, and said, My father, if the prophet [Elisha] had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou not have done it? how much rather then, when he saith to thee, Wash, and be clean? If Elisha had said to him: "Look, I will take all those gifts you have got. Go back and get twice as much, and God will heal you of your leprosy," do you know what Naaman would have done? He would have gone back and he would have gotten all the money that he needed - he would have begged it; he would have borrowed it; he would have gotten it any which way he could to come back to get deliverance - for when a man is really hurting physically, he will pay everything he has got, if necessary. And his servants said to him: "If he would have asked you, you would have done it, right? If he would have asked you to crawl barefooted up the steps to the highest pinnacle, you would have done it. But, since he said the simple little thing to you, 'Go wash in the Jordan seven times,' it upset you. What is the matter?" 2 Kings 5:14 Then went he down [to the Jordan], and dipped himself seven times in [the] Jordan, according to the saying of the man of God... He dipped himself how many times? Seven. That was exactly what the prophet had said via his messenger. He had delivered the Word of God via a messenger and said, "Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean." In order to dip seven times he had to dip the first time. When he dipped the first time, he was a leper when he went in, when he came up and he looked, he was still as much a leper as he was before he went down the first time. He went down the second time, came up, looked at himself, and he was still as much a leper, because he had not yet fulfilled the Word of God, which is the will of God. The Word of God was to dip seven times. Even if he had no improvement after six times, which he did not, that did not invalidate God's Word, because he had not yet fulfilled the Word. Most people start praying for their deliverance, and then they think about it, and they say, "Well, I do not see much improvement." He did not see any! He went down six times and he did not see any improvement. But, he went down the seventh time according to the word of the prophet and when he came up from the seventh dipping... ... his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. The skin on him was like the skin of a baby. Gillette went out of business. So did Wilkinson Sword Blade, all of them, because a little child does not need a Gillette. The most important thing is to (1) get God's Word, then to (2) carry it out literally. If God would say, "Jump," you never ask, "How high?", you just jump. 2 Kings 5:15-16 And he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and came, and stood before him [the man of God]: and he said, Behold, now I know that there is no God in all the earth, but in Israel: now therefore, I pray thee, take a blessing [a gift] of thy servant. 5:16 But he [Elisha] said, As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, I will receive none. And he [Naaman] urged him to take it; but he [the prophet] refused. The reason the prophet refused is because of revelation. God told him not to take it. 2 Kings 5:17-18 And Naaman said, Shall there not then, I pray thee, be given to thy servant two mules' burden of earth? for thy servant will henceforth offer neither burnt offering nor sacrifice unto other gods, but [only] unto the Lord. 5:18 In this thing the Lord pardon thy servant, that when my master [the king of Syria] goeth into the house of Rimmon [which is a pagan god] to worship there, and he [the king of Syria] leaneth on my hand, and I bow myself in the house of Rimmon: when I bow down myself in the house of Rimmon, the Lord pardon thy servant in this thing. Oh it is beautiful! Being the king of Syria's right-hand man, whenever the king walked into the house of worship of Rimmon, the king would put his hand on Naaman's arm and he would walk with him down to where the altar was, and when the king would bow, Naaman would have to bow. Naaman asked the prophet, Elisha: "Do you think, maybe - because I am the king's right-hand man, even though when I bow, I really won't worship Rimmon, I am only going to worship the true God, but in order for me to go with the king, do you think, maybe - the Lord, Jehovah, God would overlook this?" Do you know what I would have said? "No, He won't. If God delivered you, why don't you take a stand out there in Syria?" The average man would have said: "Look, God delivered you. It is my denomination; don't you get out of this denomination and go back to all those sinful things." There is fantastic learning in here. 2 Kings 5:19 And he [the prophet] said unto him, Go in peace.... By revelation from the true God, the Prophet Elisha said to Naaman: "Go in peace. Whenever the king goes in to worship Rimmon, let him lean on your arm." What a tremendous God of love we have. We believe in healing - our God is able to deliver to the uttermost - all things are possible to him that believeth. Yet, we never speak disparagingly about the medical profession; we do not speak disparagingly about the chiropractors, the dentists.... We are not in the business of speaking disparagingly about people or professions; we are in the business of teaching God's Word - God's deliverance - no matter what profession or business. God had delivered Naaman of the leprosy. The Prophet Elisha had carried out the ministry that he was responsible for. And yet, the love of God is so tremendous that He allowed him to go back and go into the house of Rimmon. If God is that loving, why should I become critical? Why should I criticize people? Every man has to walk in his own shoes before God, for we are all accountable to God. He is our Creator. He is the One Who gave us the new birth. We will all stand before Him, and therefore, there may be some things in your walk that you can do which I cannot do. There may be things in my walk I may be able to do that you cannot do. So it is never that we criticize anyone, we just hold forth the greatness of God's Word, that whosoever will may come and get delivered and get what God's best is. Elisha said, "Go in peace." --------------------------- NO AUTOMATIC IMMUNIZATION By V. P. Wierwille Most fundamental, Bible-believing Christians believe that once they are born again of God's spirit the adversary (Satan, the Devil) cannot touch them. They believe that he has no influence over them, that he cannot do anything to them because they are Christ's. Now if that is not about the height of stupidity, I would like to know what is the height of stupidity! That is just what the adversary wants, because if he can keep us blind, he can keep us stupid, and he has done such a masterful job that there is hardly anybody in the Christian believing field today who knows the basic principles that are the groundwork on which the adversary lives and operates in people's lives. This idea that simply because you are a Christian nothing can touch you is a trick of the adversary. I John 4:4: Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world. This is literally true from the moment that you are born again, and yet that is not seen in the lives of Christian believers consistently, so there is either something wrong with God's Word or with our understanding. Well, I want to tell you there is nothing wrong with God's Word, it has been in our misunderstanding, or lack of understanding, regarding the truth of it. Christians have gone around and said, "Well, greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world," and thought that this immunized them against the adversary .That is exactly what has been taught, that we as Christians had a spiritual immunization, that the adversary could not get to a Christian. I would call it "Automatic Immunization", because people think that if they are born again, then they are automatically immunized against the adversary, that they automatically are protected. If we are automatically immunized and automatically protected simply because greater is he that is in us than the adversary who is in the world, then you have got to explain how the adversary gets such an advantage of Christians time and time again. It is simply a trick of the adversary to get Christians to believe that they are automatically immunized and that nothing can hurt them; so then, he can just come and defeat them because they go along and think, "Oh, I'm automatically immunized," yet all the time they are getting beaten down. He just keeps fooling Christians like this. Ephesians 1:3: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ. He has blessed us, so Christians go around and say: "Well, look I'm blessed! I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings! I've got Christ! He that's in me is greater than he that's in the world! I got all the blessings!" And so, they think that they are immunized against the adversary, that he cannot touch them. Christians think this simply because they read it in a verse of Scripture, but reading something and making it your own is as different as can be. To say that we believe and to actually believe is sometimes as different as day and night. Verse 4: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love. Christians read that and say: "Well, He chose us; I did not have anything to do with it, therefore I am His. The adversary cannot touch us Christians." Verse 8: Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. They say, "We have got all of it, therefore the adversary cannot touch the Christian." Verse 9: Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself. "We know His Mystery, therefore the adversary cannot touch us." This is what Christians say. Ephesians 2:10: For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Therefore they say: "Well, if we're His workmanship, the adversary can't touch us. We are God's workmanship." Verse 19: Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and [now we are] of the household of God. "And, if you're of the household of God, the adversary can't touch you," they say. Ephesians 3:20: Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. And the scripture says that God is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure, therefore they say, "Oh, the adversary cannot touch the Christian." That is not true! Colossians 2:9 and 10: For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him! And so they say: "Well, if we are complete in him, the adversary cannot get into that completeness. Therefore, the Christian simply cannot be controlled or possessed or taken over by the adversary." Let us delve into God's Word and find out some of what it tells us about what the adversary is. John 14:30: Hereafter I will not talk much with you: for the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me. Here he is called "the prince of this world". II Corinthians 4:4: In whom the god of this world.... In John he is "the prince of this world", and here it says he is "the god of this world". Ephesians 6:11: Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. "The wiles of the devil." The word "wiles" means "cunning, crafty, sly". II Corinthians 11:3: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The adversary is referred to as the serpent and as being subtle. He is "the prince of this world"; he is "the god of this world"; he is "the serpent" showing his subtlety and slyness. Verse 14: And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. If the adversary ever came to the Christian and portrayed himself like he really is, the Christian would not have anything to do with him. He has to get to the Christian subtly, slyly. He has to get to the Christian to say, "Has God really said?", as he did to Eve in Genesis. Then he has to get the Christian to omit a word, add a word, change a word When he finally has him hung then he can say, "God is all wrong." But, the adversary never says this at the beginning. He would not dare to say it even half-way through, because if the adversary showed himself and declared his intentions to the Christian believer, the Christian would not have anything to do with him. He has got to work the Christian around to the place where he finally gets the Christian so engrossed that he is not even cognizant mentally that the adversary has engrossed him. I Thessalonians 2:18: Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. In addition to those things that we have already read, the adversary is a hinderer. I Thessalonians 3:5: For this cause, when I could no longer forbear, I sent to know your faith, lest by some means the tempter have tempted you, and our labour be in vain. There he is called "the tempter". Ephesians 2:2: Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. In John 14:30 he is called "prince of this world" and here he is called "prince of the power of the air", thus he is prince of both. I Peter 5:8: Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. The adversary roars to freeze us in our tracks so that we do not do anything for God, like a lion does to freeze his prey in its tracks before he springs. Revelation 19: 19: And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. There he is referred to as a "beast". He is not a very kind-hearted fellow; he is a beast. I John 5:18: We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. There he is called "the wicked one". There are many more in the Bible, but these are some of the great ones in the Bible that tell you what the adversary is. Luke 4:12: And Jesus answering said unto him [the Devil, the adversary], It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Jesus said to him; him who? The adversary. If Jesus was not immune to the adversary, do you think you and I will be? Do you think any Christian is going to be immune? Do you think there is automatic immunization? Since he is the prince of the air and he is the god of this world, he arranges circumstances and situations so that when people come to them they are impressed by the situations and by the circumstances which he has altered to suit himself. He is always after God and His people, so he cuts the Word to pieces, because the Word is the only thing that gives an accurate knowledge of the true God and of the desires that He has for His children. II Corinthians 12:7: And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. Paul's thorn in the flesh was people. The people were the thorns in the flesh; the people were the messengers of Satan; they were the ones who buffeted Paul's ministry. II Corinthians 11:3: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. In the adversary's use of situations and conditions he gets to people's minds. Verse 3: But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. The minds are corrupted. That is how he gets the ground prepared, he corrupts our minds. How does he do this? He does not come and say, "Well, I'm taking over today." No, no, no, no! If he did, he would be rejected. He organizes the world, situations and circumstances so that as people walk day by day they are walking right into his workings and so it gets to the place where their minds become corrupted. Instead of following the simplicity that is in Christ, the minds of Christians have been corrupted by what they hear, see, smell, taste and touch in the world that is round about, through people or situations that the adversary has arranged. Matthew 16:23: But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but, those that be of men. Jesus said to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan," for you are "an offence unto me", and yet Peter was one of his right-hand men. It was Peter, James and John whom he took along on the Mount of Transfiguration and when he went in to raise the young girl mentioned in the Gospels. And yet, to that same Peter at another time he said, "Get thee behind me, Satan." The adversary operates through people, circumstances, the environment or situations which influence people. The reason that he organizes people, circumstances, the environment or situations is to get to people. Jesus had to say to Peter, "Get thee behind me, Satan." Who had influenced Peter? The adversary. I Thessalonians 2:18: Wherefore we would have come unto you, even I Paul, once and again; but Satan hindered us. "We would have come unto you," Paul said, "but Satan hindered us." Paul was wanting to go, but the adversary hindered. He obstructed through people, situations, environment, whatever was involved, that kept them from going. Acts 5:3: But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? "Why did the adversary fill your mind?" How did the adversary do that? Everybody was bringing their plurality and laying it at the apostles' feet. Joses, the Levite, had sold his single possession and laid the money at the apostles' feet. The adversary organized things in such a way that Ananias was influenced. "If I would sell that one property that I have and lay that money at the feet of the apostles, look what advantage I would have, because they only sold their plurality. If I really went all out and sold that one single " How do you think the adversary influenced him? These people were selling their plurality so he started Ananias thinking: "How can I promote myself? How can I get myself at the top of this thing?" And Peter said to him by revelation, "Why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost?" Matthew 13:19: When anyone heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he, which received seed by the way side. A man listens to the teaching of the Word and it is sown in his mind, but if he does not understand it to the end that he walks on it then the adversary comes and he catches it away. This is a description of the Word and how this Word falls in different places and the reactions to it. There is only one thing that ever keeps any of us from not being controlled by the adversary, and that is the knowledge of God's Word that we have and that we walk on. A person can have a tremendous knowledge of God's Word, but if he does not walk on it, he will still faint in the mind and the adversary will snatch it away. The adversary cannot get in the spirit of one who is born again, for it is eternal life, incorruptible seed. But, the adversary is the god of this world and so he influences people, circumstances, the environment or situations, and the born-again believer still has body and soul and is in this world. He lives in this world. He eats in this world. He sleeps in this world. He breathes in this world. He travels in this world. If he is not taught God's Word, or if he does not believe it, the adversary will get an advantage of him and operate by affecting the mind. The man has freedom of will to believe the adversary's deception or not to believe his deception, and if he chooses to believe his deception, the adversary sees to it that there is more deception presented, and that is just the way that his vicious cycle runs. If you do not understand formed, made and created, body, soul and spirit, you get lost in the shuffle. After the new birth the mind is still the same, but we have the privilege of putting on the mind of Christ. To the end that we put on the mind of Christ we become more than conquerors; only to that end do we manifest that which we read in Ephesians. We are not automatically immunized simply because we are Christian, but because we are Christian we have the potential, the power, to renew the mind. Most Christians are still walking for the adversary, because they are as much in the world and the world is as much in them as it is in any other person. They live for what they want. They eat what they want, go where they want, see what they want, do what they want, say what they want, spend their money any way they like, use their time as they please and squander their talents as they will. They are concerned with: "How can I get ahead? This is my life. I can do with it as I please." That is how the door is opened. And all of this is so human; it is just so natural, isn't it? It is just what all of us have done at one time or another, to a lesser or a greater degree. Do you know how to get rid of it? You never get rid of it any other way except in the category of the renewing of the mind, "be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind " James 4:7 tells us: Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Do what? Resist him! Resist him! Resist him! You are never going to get rid of him by enjoying his presence or by simply saying to him: "Now look here, I'm a Christian. Please don't do that to me." The only way you can get rid of him is to submit yourself to God and to resist the Devil. You have got to take a very sharp stand, like Jesus did. Do you think Jesus enjoyed saying to Peter, one of his best friends, "Get thee behind me, Satan"? II Corinthians 10:4 and 5: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds) 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. You cannot stop the adversary from coming to your mind, because you are living in the world in which he is boss. He sets the things up using people, circumstances, the environment or situations. You cannot stop him from coming, but you can sure stop him from controlling the mind, because you can pull down the strongholds and deliberately bring into captivity every thought - you control your thinking, and you bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Do you know why we think wrong? Because we want to. Do you know why we think bad thoughts about one another? Because we want to. We have got to quit blaming anybody else. We have got to simply say: "Well, I have not brought into captivity my own thinking. I have freedom of will, I can control it. I can think what I want to think." We have to have a center of reference for truth outside of the individual seeking, and we have come to the conclusion that there is only one center of reference for us, and that is the integrity and accuracy of God's Word, for it means what it says and it, says what it means. This Word of God is our only rule of faith and practice, so we do not go by what people say, by circumstances, by the environment or situations. We can only go by the Word, and to the end that we go to the depth of this Word and bring every thought into captivity we will pull down the strongholds of the adversary, where he will not have the influence over us. I John 5:4:For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. What is He talking about, "overcometh the world"? The adversary, because he is the god of this world. "Whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world," provided the latter part of that verse is obeyed: "our faith", and faith is believing. Our believing of God's Word overcomes the adversary. II Corinthians 2:11: Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. We are not stupid. We know from God's Word how the adversary gets advantage of us. We are not ignorant of his devices. Since we are not ignorant of his devices, if he gets an advantage of us it is because we have given him the freedom to do so. Most of the fundamental, Bible-believing Christians believe that once they are born again of God's spirit, the adversary (Satan, the Devil) cannot touch them. They believe that he has no influence over them, that he cannot do anything to them because they are Christ's. Now if that is not about the height of stupidity, I would like to know what is the height of stupidity! That is just what the adversary wants, because jf he can keep us blind, he can keep us stupid, and he has done such a masterful job that there is hardly anybody jn the Christian believing field today who knows the basic principles that are the groundwork on which the adversary lives and operates in people's lives. This idea that simply because you are a Christian nothing can touch you is a trick of the adversary. There is no "automatic immunization" for the Christian. We do not need to be ignorant of the adversary's devices but we can lead every thought captive and manifest the victory that overcomes the world by our believing of God's wonderful matchless Word. --------------------------- Other materials: ----------------------------------- Ref: Our Times Dr. V.P. Wierwille 1990 Chapter 8: How About That! Pages 103-104. How About That! An Associated Press release from San Francisco quoted Dr. Douglas Horton as saying, "Speaking in tongues can lead to murder, says Dean." This is about as irrelevant and misleading as saying "praying in the church can lead to suicide." Certainly the so-called "brains" in the miscalled Christian ministry know very little accurately from the Word of God. They talk a lot, and they spew out many words simply to confuse the hungry people of God in the United States. It is a disgrace when men of the caliber of Dr. Horton and the radical Episcopal Bishop James A. pike come forth with such a statement. Yet, that is the kind of material the newspapers and the periodicals like to pick up. Dr. Douglas Horton, former Harvard University Divinity School Dean, is supposed to have said that "tongues can lead to murder just as easy as to love." According to the release, Dr. Horton, Congregational Christian Church leader from New Hampshire, supported Dr. James A. Pike's pastoral letter effort to check the rise of glossolalia. "Believers in the glossolalia phenomenon claim it is an individual's experience of having the Holy Spirit speak through him unintelligible to the speaker or the listener." This may be what Dr. Horton and Bishop Pike say, but that is not what the Word of God says. The Holy Spirit, as we well know, does not speak through a man, nor is speaking in tongues necessarily unintelligible to the listener. So again they are wrong on both counts and the reason being, of course, that they do not rightly divide the Word of God nor understand it. Dr. Horton stated that "you can go out from glossolalia and murder a guy as quickly as you can love him." Now isn't that a damnable statement without logic or reason? Furthermore, he quotes "there is no direction in glossolalia, no guarantee that the fruits of the spirit will be achieved." Again he is wrong, for there is direction in speaking in tongues to the end that you can speak when you want to; you can stop when you want to. As to the guarantee of the fruits of the spirit, Dr. Horton does not mean fruits of the spirit, he means works and the Word of God when speaks of the fruit of the spirit does not speak of it in plural, but in the singular. This of necessity must be the result of the operation of the manifestation of the spirit for you cannot have fruit of the spirit without manifestation of the spirit. Furthermore, what fruit is Dr. Horton producing? Continuing in the article, he stated "It is a form of mysticism which relies on personal contact with God, but denies contact between men because they cannot understand each other." Again he is wrong, for the man speaking does not understand but the hearers may at times understand. If it is done in a public meeting, it must be interpreted, according to the Word of God. Finally the article stipulated, "This sort of thing must be confined" because he said, "it is dangerous to religion." I agree with him on this one point. Sure it is dangerous to religion, even as the gospel Paul preached was dangerous to the religion in Ephesus. There at the great Temple of Diana of the Ephesians, they had a lot of religion, and Paul came not only to bring the salvation message but the power of the holy spirit, for he spoke in tongues and so did the other believers. Kindly read Acts, chapter 19. Dr. Horton needs to read the book "Receiving the Holy Spirit Today". ---------------------------------- OUR TIMES Page 105 True Worship - II Timothy 2:15 The urgency of OUR TIMES is such that the continued activity of a Biblical Research Center must enlarge its field of influence and operation. Of religion we have an abundance, but of true Biblical Christianity little. The forms of godliness abound - the doctrines and commandments of men are in abundance but in vain is man's worship. Why? God is Spirit and can only be worshipped by spirit in truth. In other words, truthfully it is impossible to worship God in any other way than by the spirit. To worship God by the spirit can only be to speak in tongues much. We must also constantly remind ourselves in OUR TIMES that we stand approved before God on one basis only, and that is if we rightly divide the Word of Truth. We dare not and cannot conduct our lives by what men say, but we must under all circumstances conduct ourselves according to what the Word of God says. II Timothy 2:15, "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." This is the only passage in the Word of God that tells us HOW we stand approved before God. Since "rightly dividing" the Word is the whole key we must of necessity keep going back to the Word to discover from the Word exactly HOW it must be divided to be right. May God grant us continual life to boldly and courageously stand fast in His Word. Chapter 31 So What! P. 323-324 In 1923, a very important meeting was held at the Edgewater Beach Hotel in Chicago. Those present were: the president of the largest independent steel company; the president of the largest gas company; the greatest wheat speculator; the president of the New York Stock Exchange; a member of the President's cabinet; the greatest "bear" in Wall Street; head of the world's greatest monopoly; president of the Bank of International Settlements. Certainly we must admit that here was gathered a group of the world's most successful men. At least, men who had found the secret of "making money". Twenty-five years later, 1948, what was their status? The president of the largest independent steel company - Charles Schwab - died a bankrupt and lived on borrowed money for five years before his death; the president of the largest gas company - Howard Hopson - insane; the greatest wheat speculator - Arthur Cutten - died abroad, insolvent; the president of the New York Stock Exchange - Richard Whitney - released from Sing Sing penitentiary; the member of the President's cabinet - Albert Fall - was pardoned from prison so he could die at home; the greatest "bear" in Wall Street - Jesse Livermore - died a suicide; the head of the greatest monopoly - Ivar Krueger - died a suicide; the president of the Bank of International Settlement - Leon Fraser - died a suicide. All these men learned well the art of making money, but did they learn the "More Abundant Life"? OUR TIMES P. 143-144 Revival in Indonesia The spontaneous outbreak of revival, saving the nation of Indonesia, is a work of singular spiritual significance in OUR TIMES. Indonesia, the firth largest nation in the world, has 110,000,000 people spread out over 10,000 islands, in a land area one-quarter the size of the United States. After the attempted coup of 1965 and 300,000 Communists having been put to death, a young Christian believer, Darious Marpaung, was elevated to leadership over all the labour unions. He is head of the Christian Union, an organization bringing Christ to the working man. Through this man a nation started calling upon the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It occurred when Darious asked all the government officials to pray, saying to them: "Gentlemen, we say we are a religious people and believe in God. The Communists do not pray and if we do not pray either, we are just like the Communists." Spiritual awakening in Indonesia s reaching all levels of people according to Marine Captain John Somerville in Viet Nam, who has actively investigated the reports. It is not in the churches that the awakening action is taking place, but principally among the unchurched people. Everywhere government leaders, young people and adults are meeting each morning for 5:00 a.m. prayer hours. What God is doing in Indonesia was recently related to our government leaders in Washington by Darious Marpaung upon the invitation of Dean Rusk. There are substantiated reports of resurrections from the dead and the reports read like page after page and verse after verse of the Book of Acts. Hundreds of gospel teams are springing up and the revival and awakening is unprecedented in OUR TIMES. People in every strata of life are being born again, bringing their charms and amulets to be burned. The gospel teams average six or seven workers on each team. They include some who, according to world standards, would be entirely unfit for spreading the gospel, but is anything impossible with the Lord? --------------------------------- OUR TIMES P. 211 Priorities Moon City, U.S.A., home of Astronaut Neil Armstrong, Wapakoneta, Ohio, is just a few miles away from our Headquarters. We had a big home-coming for our boy from the moon- with thousands of man-hours of labor involved in preparation and clean-up thereafter. We have a new state and national museum going up. Isn't that wonderful! More than 400,000 Americans were directly involved in our space program to put our man, Neil, on the moon - all Americans were involved tax-wise to accomplish this astro-athletic feat. In OUR TIMES, for our neighbor Neil to place his footprints in the dust of the moon, it cost more than 24 billion dollars, and for most Americans our thrill and pay-off was the television - for a few scientists, a sack full of moon rocks. In OUR TIMES we calculate lunar landings and earth splash-downs with split-second precision but fail to calculate the accuracy of God's Word. In OUR TIMES, or in any time since the first century, men have never worked together as a team to "rightly divide" the Word of God - so, even if we can land a man on the moon, we cannot as yet get to the primary accuracy of God's Word. In OUR TIMES we talk about using the moon for peaceful purposes - yet we are the earth men, where among the 120 nations there is a continuation of "wars and rumors of wars." Can we face the burning truth: as children of Adam's race we are incapable of handling earth problems; we will be equally incapable of handling outer-space problems. ----------------------------- Book Our Times Chapter 12 P. 145 The Counterfeit Teaching on Death Whenever any question arise pertaining to life or death, we look to the Word of God for our answers. We know that every-thing good and true comes from God. Jesus said in John 4:14, "...whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." Wherever we have the truth on a subject, we have the inner assurance. This comes when the Word fits together from genesis through Revelation without contradiction. This is a dark hour among many leaders of vast influence who should have LIGHT. It is spiritual darkness under the guise of light that is as appalling today as was the darkness regarding Truth in the synagogues and Temple in the days of Christ. The challenging counterfeit of spiritualism has infiltrated many segments of Christendom. Being spurious, we know the source of such teaching. Satan has always been busy setting truth and error in the same mould, but, never more so than in dealing with leadership in churches. The sickening part is that spiritualism has been given the nod of acceptability without realizing and recognizing it to be a counterfeit. A university, pioneering in parapsychology and extra-sensory perception, has elevated the psychic field into the position of intellectual acceptability. This spiritualism has boldly and openly come forth with what they call concrete evidence of survival after death. This however, does not prove its accuracy, Biblically speaking. This week there came to my desk influential and far - reaching publications, all more or less presenting the challenging counterfeit of spiritualism as truth. These magazines included the April issue of Guideposts, published by Norman Vincent Peale; the April issue of the Reader's Digest; the fundamental and evangelical 12th April issue of Christianity Today, and the April issue of Christian Life. In Guideposts, Dr. Norman Vincent peale presents the first article in a new series entitled "The Blessed Assurance." He states that, "Guideposts has commissioned some of America's most talented artists to give their interpretation of immortality." Are we really concerned about man's interpretation of immortality or are we concerned about "what does the Bible say"? He states in his article: "The truth is, death has been miscast as a grim reaper. To almost everyone, when it finally comes, it comes as a friend." How like sounding brass and tinkling cymbal this statement must sound to the ears of those who know the Word of I Corinthians 15:26, "The last ENEMY that shall be destroyed is death." Dr. Peale says: "What is death then? Obviously, it is a change into some new form of existence." Then it is not death logically, scientifically and accurately speaking, Dr. Peale also tells in the article about seeing his father, who has been dead for many years, appearing among the ministers gathered in a Methodist conference in Georgia. How could this be if his father is dead? Only by a familiar spirit, a spirit which has likeness to the personality of the person who once lived. The people who have familiar spirits are not God's people (Leviticus 20:27). God may give His people a vision, by the holy spirit within us, through a word of knowledge (I Corinthians 12:8). This is always given for a profit (I Corinthians 12:7). The Reader's Digest article is simply a reprint and reworking of Dr. Peale's article in Guideposts under the title of "How to rise above the fear of death." The caption reads, "A renowned minister reviews the evidence supporting the great message of Easter; that death is not finality but the gateway to life." Death is a finality without the resurrection. In Christianity Today, under the title of "Light on our Destiny; death has no shape," by Robert Paul Roth, comes the same old evangelical and denominational double-talk. He says: "although personal consciousness survives [death], the person becomes a shapeless shadow. But the work of Christ in regeneration is to give us bodily shape until the final resurrection, when we shall be raised with incorruptible bodies." Who can make anything out of that statement except to conclude it to be ethereal nonsense? Certainly there is no Biblical data to corroborate this statement. Finally, the Christian Life magazine, under the caption of "The Family Doctor", by William Standish Reed, MD, quotes this statement: "Death to the Christian is simply a graduation exercise." This implies that you immediately go on to a higher life. Again, how subtle and how devilish. THE WORD SPEAKS! It is in the Word that we have the answer without guessing or conjecture. I will say again as I have been saying frankly, boldly and courageously, that spiritualism will infiltrate the organized church to the extent that even the very elect of God will be misled. Remember, Satan can do signs and wonders, but, they are lying signs (II Thessalonians 2:9; Matthew 24:24). Christ died, and he is the only one whom God raised from the dead thus far. If the Bible is right, then the only way out of the grave is at the time of the gathering together (I Thessalonians 4:13ff.) and the resurrections (I Corinthians 15:13ff.). ----------------------------- Church Epistles "The order of the seven Church Epistles is significant. There is a structure to the seven Church Epistles. This structure is set around the epistles of Romans, Ephesians and Thessalonians. These three epistles are treatises more than epistles, in that they are doctrinal in content. These three epistles contain the basic doctrinal truths to the Church of the Body of Christ. The four remaining epistles relate back to the doctrinal epistles that they follow, and are the reproof and correction for those doctrinal epistles." For more on the Church Epistles read: Victor Paul Wierwille, God's Magnified Word (New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian Press, 1977) Chapter 10, The Church: The Great Mystery Revealed http://members.iquest.net/~szkotak/wow6.htm Index (work in progress): http://members.iquest.net/~szkotak/wow_index.htm ----------------------------- THE LIFE-STYLE OF A BELIEVER A Prolegomenon on Christian Ethics by Victor Paul Wierwille Right and proper conduct is for a person to live according to the principles of God's rightly-divided Word. These principles set forth in God's Word are the bases of Christian ethics, or if you prefer, the believer's life-style. All Christian ethics are found in the Word of God, specifically in those Church Epistles addressed to the born-again body of believers, as well as the scriptural records of the person of Jesus Christ and of other men and women in the Word whose lives manifested these principles. This essay is intended to be a prolegomenon, a basic introduction, on the topic of ethics for believers. If the principle of our position is accepted that the Word of God is the will of God and is the ultimate authority in the field of ethics, then the logical deduction will be even more firmly established than the facts of any science because they are based on unchanging truth. Different premises cause different systems of ethics. Therefore, recognition of our stated premise is essential to understanding and accepting the system of ethics based upon it. Technically, ethics is the science of conduct, producing a defined result. The word "ethics" means the science of morals. "Ethics" is from the Greek ta ethika, which is derived from ethos, meaning custom or habit. The word "morals" comes from Latin, moralis. The goal of a code of ethics is to help people live virtuously, morally, uprightly-in order to manifest the more abundant life. I believe it is possible, if we accept the premise that the Bible is our ultimate authority, that we can collect a body of specific truths of universal application. From this single premise we have produced a coherent system of general Biblical principles applicable to all believers who want to follow the accuracy of the Word. The study of this system of principles is the "science of ethics." Living the principles is the "art of ethics." Ethics is an applied and directive science, teaching man how he ought to behave. It is not a natural or descriptive science. In all other sciences except ethics, values are arbitrarily imposed by man's desire and vantage point. Therefore, scientists start from different premises with different understanding, due to rearing, habit, personal taste, exposure. Premises are seldom settled upon by logic. People simply choose a particular premise. In our case, we choose the premise that the Bible is the only and ultimate authority. What is "right" is what God's Word says is right. What is "wrong" is what God's Word says is wrong. Likewise with "good" and "evil." The definition of terms dealing with ethics must be in agreement with God's Word. We must always define our terms, think clearly and logically, and use plain, simple language. The more searching our analysis of the Word and the more accurate our understanding of the Word, the more insights we will gain into the true nature of man. Therefore, the more we know of the Word, the more complete, satisfactory, and detailed our science of ethical behavior will be. Moral or ethical progress generally fails to keep pace with material and intellectual progress. Thus, man is usually not morally or ethically good enough for the task to which he is called because of his lack of true knowledge of the Word of God or lack of desire to believe God's Word. A major difference between the precepts of ethics and of all other sciences lies in the hypothetical precepts of the form: if you desire such and such a result, you follow such and such a method. In contrast, however, the precepts of Christian ethics are categorical or absolute precepts or imperative in the essence of "thou shalt" or "thou shalt not." According to jurisprudence, a law is a command to do or refrain from doing something issuing from a competent authority. Our competent and sole authority is the Bible, the Word of God, rightly-divided. Thus, in Christian ethics the commands, laws, and rules are categorical, such as found in Isaiah 30:21: " . . . this is the way, walk ye in it . . ." The conduct or behavior of an animal is prescribed by its physical constitution, its animal nature. Biologically, man, homo sapiens, is an animal. However, when a person is a Christian, he or she is more than a physical and mental being; he or she has a spiritual side, which no other animal-human or beast-has. Instinct is for man and animals an innate psychological, psychophysical, mental disposition which leads to action in a certain way. The will, emotions, and reason, while all single entities, are unified in one person who is body, soul, and spirit. A man's intellect is the whole person thinking; his will is the whole person choosing; his emotions are the whole person liking or disliking. A man's belief and conduct are indissolubly bound together as roots, trunk, limbs, branches, twigs and fruit are organically connected to one tree. His thinking is done in the light of his own interests. Conscience is a moral awareness established within us by the habit patterns we have formed due to previous teaching. A person may be honest and sincere yet narrow and prejudiced. A man may know a statement to be true, yet deliberately desire to disagree, or, being weak in desire, settle for less than the truth. A man cannot be argued into agreement on the Word of God, ethics, or anything else. One person may appeal to and even convince another by logical argumentation and reasoning so that the one feels obligated to admit that the other is right, according to a specific definition, yet he does not will to do what is right. On the other hand, he may desire to do what is right, but being weak of will or of renewed mind, he may fail to bring his good desires into concretion. In other words, men cannot be argued or forced into agreeing on opinion or virtue. There is no sphere of human activity where ethics is not involved. Whenever men continue to choose evil when they know good, that choice will always be spirit influenced. Ethics determines what is best. However, there are circumstances where what is best or right is not always possible. Each situation must be judged on its own merit and, above all, the motive must be considered. There are three basic propositions for man in this life: 1. Man is born to live for the glory of God. 2. Man is to be born again, and come to a knowledge of God's Word so as to effectively witness to the glory of God. 3. Every man is an individual in himself and is never a means to another man's end. There are five categories of duty for a Christian believer: 1. The believer's duty to God. 2. The believer's duty to himself. 3. The believer's duty to the household. 4. The believer's duty to the family. 5. The believer's duty to society (unbelievers). The presence of God is man's "natural environment," man as he ought to be. ETHICS AND THE INDIVIDUAL The education and discipline of the mind according to the accuracy of God's Word is the highest education of all intellectual powers. Man must so educate his will and desires that he becomes the master in the tabernacle of his own being. He must educate his mind to love good and abhor evil, and educate his intellect so that he has a coherent system of true beliefs. There are five basic types of judgments which a man can make: truth judgments, ethical judgments, expediency judgments, esthetic judgments, and judgments of fact. Unity, certainty, and stability are qualities of life which every man should desire to attain. The teaching that "the end justifies the means" is ethically wrong. Arguments of immediate expediency, failing to evaluate the total situation in a moral light, are erroneous. No human being is ever a means to another's end. Every man counts for one and no man for more than one. Greed in a man's life is the desire for exclusive possession. "Enough" for most men is more than they have. Men's hearts are generally set on material acquisitions, but in practice happiness depends less on what they have than on what others have and they have not. A person never feels the lack of material things of which he or she has no knowledge. Mere possessions give no lasting pleasure. There is a great new freedom once man has, by his will, released himself from the "wheel of things," "the Jones syndrome," and shaken himself loose from the tyranny of possessions. Man's basic human nature has the desire to possess. Lust, greed, and anger are all perversions. Sadism is a fruit of lust and unrestrained greed, and its outcome is hatred and bitterness. God's Word says that no one is at liberty just to please himself. He must sublimate his desire for individual possession until it becomes a desire to serve in love and to develop to the utmost this service for others rather than himself. Moral judgments must be passed on motives rather than on actions. Self-discipline with a view to obtaining self-mastery is a requirement. Man must become master in the tabernacle of his own being. Seeking to define clearly when the gratification of a bodily desire becomes sinful is extraordinarily difficult. To say that excess indulgence alone is sinful, simply shifts the difficulty from one point to another. You are left with the question, what constitutes excess? Desire should be simple. The zest of living is increased by simplicity, even in food. In many of the richest, fullest, deepest, and most vital lives passion plays a great part; but passion must be curbed, restrained, and controlled. Passion must be a servant, not master of a man's life. Duty is what one ought to do. Duty is the law applied to individuals. Duty deals with purpose, aim, and reason for conduct. A man's willful decision toward duty determines his virtue. Virtue is a man's fixed attitude toward his ideal. There are circumstances under which clear and plain duties conflict, and we have to choose at times which duty to perform and which to neglect. It is ethically wrong to worry about things beyond our control. Ethics claims to determine what is right. It does not profess, however, to show that under all circumstances what is right or best is always possible. Each case has to be judged on its own merit, and above all, the motive of the heart must be considered. It is the man, not the act, we must judge good or bad. Illustration: cutting off a man's leg. What is the motive is the important question. A good man is the one whose heart is set on virtue. A bad man is the one whose heart is set on just the opposite. Galatians 5:19-21: Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. The four cardinal virtues of Plato are wisdom, courage or fortitude, temperance or self-control, and justice. Aristotle, retaining Plato's four virtues, added six more, namely: liberality, high-mindedness, gentleness, friendliness, truthfulness, and decorous wit. The seven deadly sins listed are pride, anger, sloth, sensuality, avarice, gluttony, and envy. Virtue as defined by the Word of God can be seen in Isaiah 11:2, referring to the coming Messiah, and is described in part by the fruit of the spirit of Galatians 5. Isaiah 11:2: And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. Galatians 5:22 and 23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. The ability to arrive at an intelligent decision between alternative courses of action takes a knowledge of God's Word. Godliness is God-likeness or goodness. "Fear of the Lord" is reverence for Him. Virtues of Christ: Matthew 5:1-16 Virtues of Paul: Philippians 4:8; Galatians 5:22 and 23; I Corinthians 13; Colossians 3:12-15 Virtues of Peter: II Peter 1:5-8 Works of the flesh: Romans 1:29-31; Galatians 5:19-21 When alone, most people do not control what they will or will not think about. They daydream, "float along," even fantasize. However, there is a duty of disciplined thinking. The power to determine what you will think about and what you will not think about is a valuable aid in resisting temptation. Do not allow mental, moral, or spiritual deterioration. Have knowledge of yourself. Know where you are and redirect yourself to a fuller life. There is a matter of callous indifference which must also be dealt with in ethics. The Bible refers to the person who is callously indifferent as one who has a "conscience seared with a hot iron" or one who refuses to "abhor that which is evil." Pleasure is not always good. For example, when a person has had his or her mind seared with a hot iron regarding sexual matters, the last stages of vice have been reached, namely homosexuality. It is the lowest form of sexual vice. Suicide is a violation of the law of individualism. Life is a trust which is given to us to use. Suicide is an act of selfishness. It leaves the living to suffer. Suicide is usually an act of cowardice. Suicide is presumptuous. Suicide is spirit possession. The individual has a right to defend himself, just as does the state. Under no system of ethics is it held that the duty of any man is to allow himself to be killed rather than to protect himself. Nor is man to allow himself to be despoiled of his possessions rather than to resist. Living in this world, we have to take this world as we find it and resolutely endeavor to act as virtuously as possible in every situation, striving always to choose the better of two or more alternatives and to make it a better world in which to live. Though we may not be perfect in this world, we must strive to be as perfect as possible. A pin has a head which keeps it from going too far. A pin is straight, which enables it to stand upright; it is polished-cultured, educated. Finally, it's got a point so it can get somewhere. Sketch on the canvas of you mind the sort of man you ought to be, and in a given time you will become that man. No man willing to face the truth will deny the positive effects of the new birth and the renewed mind. The Christian believer is in a position of self-realization because God places in the believer's hands the ability to make decisions according to God's Word. Each man's future is fashioned by means of his own conscious selection and rejection. This is the very essence of determining what will become of an individual. It is the artistic production of one's own life. SERVICE One of the greatest activating principles of human life is the motivation to serve. The principle of service is more powerful than that of financial rewards. A believer's ethics include both love (agape, love of God in the renewed mind) and service. Man has free will, and is therefore spiritually and morally responsible for his conduct. Man's free will places in his hands the responsibility to direct his own life. To the extent that a man willfully determines to make God's will his will, he will find himself a doulos, bonded slave of the Lord Jesus Christ according to the inherent and inerrant accuracy of God's Word. Being a "slave"-living a life of service and commitment-produces the greatest attainable freedom. Such a paradox! A true man will have superb confidence in his own inspiration, desire, and ability. Men who hear the "call of God" most clearly are most likely to easily justify the sacrifice they make in following it. The man who hears the call clearly enough, yet decides not to sacrifice himself-his own ease and comfort-is rightfully condemned. The duty of service includes the responsibility of sacrifice because that service which costs us nothing is valueless. Self-sacrifice, the giving of oneself completely, is the passion of great men-most vividly exemplified in Jesus Christ. Self-sacrifice must be a part of the ministry of The Way for every believer. In the principle of the ethics of sacrifice is this truth: that mankind can have nothing for which someone is not prepared to pay the price. Sacrifice demands that someone have great commitment. There is also the principle that each man has his appropriate status and duties. The truth that all born-again believers are of equal value in the eyes of God does not indicate that every man must necessarily do the same work or receive the same education or be paid the same wages. But it does indicate that all good work in every profession or sphere is honorable. The return of Christ, as set forth in the Scriptures of Truth, gives man a motive, a reason for action, making every believer's life worthwhile, which brings forth the life of a doulos, the highest type of heroism. THE INDIVIDUAL AND SOCIETY It is axiomatic that a Christian order of society implies Christian men and women. To alter any situation in our society there must be a sufficient number of people who want it altered, who care enough about a given issue to make the sacrifices necessary to bring about change. The first step in all social change is a strong public opinion, the education of the public mind. Whenever a society chooses to use men, we must not be surprised to have moral problems to which there are no solutions. There is no right course available then, but merely a choice of the lesser evils. There are moral problems to which there are no apparent solutions in this world because of man. There sometimes appears to be no really right course of action under utterly unnatural conditions. If the highest good is possible for man now, then our highest duty is obviously to act so as to make the highest good possible for future generations. Society must be based on the sanctity of private property and of the individual. There should be some form of strong and stable government, making the practice of morality possible. The state recognizes the right to hold property. The individual has a moral as well as a legal right to property and to the exercise of all the rights attached to it. But it must also bring the maximum good for the community as a whole. Ethically, property is a trust. For its efficient working, a republic needs a majority in the nation of good and strong citizens. Our present day moral codes are frequently irrational in the highest sense of ethics. The greatest hindrance to advancement towards any reform is that we have not enough good men and women to speak up and stand to effect change. If a thing is harmful to public morals, it should be prohibited no matter what others consider to be its artistic value. On the other hand, to forcibly suppress the expression of unpopular views produces the impression that no adequate argument can be found with which to refute them. Truth has nothing to fear. The real unit of society is the family, not the individual. Marriage is a partnership in which each partner gives himself or herself wholly to the other. Marriage is manifestly unequal if a man demands the whole of a woman's being-body, soul, and spirit-in return for no more than a share of himself. Likewise with the woman. Divorce usually starts at the cradle. In a society where there is no strong Christian public opinion, a just solution to the problem of divorce seems unattainable. There is nothing like "injustice for the innocent party" for there is no innocent party. Probably there is no Christian solution to the problem of divorce because a Christian solution involves Christian men and women in a Christian society, acting in a Christian way. But the great majority of men and women are scarcely more than nominal Christians and our society is, in many respects, non-Christian. The ideal state of things would obviously be for the standard of the Word to be the standard of the state. But the standards of morality set forth in God's Word and the standards acceptable to the state are diverging more and more widely. To deter such a divergence must be primary. The man of low mentality always, and the clever criminal usually, are made worse by our current systems. Natural perverts are unknown in primitive and simple states of society. To suggest that a sexual pervert is more to be pitied than blamed, and that, by nature, they have a right to live their own lives by their own natural instincts, is in itself a perversion. Perhaps it would be wise to treat them as insane, as we would treat a homicidal maniac or kleptomaniac. Speech enables us to communicate ideas. Art enables us to communicate emotion. Music, perhaps the purest of all the arts, enables us to convey the highest and purest emotion. Art is judged by the success or lack of success with which the desired emotion is conveyed. Ethics, however, must determine whether the emotion evoked or conveyed is one which should be. Art is for the sake of enriching and elevating human life, stimulating emotion and honor. Art is never for art's sake but for man's sake. That which enriches life in one way only at the cost of impoverishing it in another must be condemned. An ideal inspires imagination, organizes human urges and instincts, and stimulates the will, thus determining the direction of our character and activities. It is right in society for every job to offer a full, interesting, and useful life for the believer, and the opportunity for the free development of the individual. The worker must take an interest, a pride in his work and exercise his greatest ability to develop his total life. Christianity touches every sphere of man's activities. To be immeasurably happier and healthier, a man must have freedom in getting and spending, giving and serving. Gambling is trying to get something for nothing. It is the distinctive vice of a degenerating age and nation, as are alcohol and dope. Gambling is a transaction between two parties whereby the transfer of something of value is made dependent on chance in such a way that the whole gain of one party equals the whole loss of the other. There is no increase of wealth. All that one party gains is gained at the expense of the other. A gamble is an attempt to gain something without rendering any return. Gambling is a sin against God, self, neighbor, and society and increases appallingly the amount of waste, misery, and crime. The state should never be involved. The argument that a raffle is merely helping a good cause, nobody really caring whether they win or not, is erroneous logic. All gambling makes its appeal to the base passion of greed and when this passion is fed, it strikes against the very root of the corresponding virtue, the virtue of giving. There are three things that justify a man taking money from another person: 1. The law of exchange: that one person gives another money in exchange for merchandise 2. The law of service: that one person gives another service in exchange for money 3. The law of love: that one person out of love freely gives money to another who has freely and willingly given to him The basic essence of ethical business is competition for the best service. Working people must give their best service. Sloth is a very dangerous vice and, if habitually yielded to, brings about the fatal destruction of character of a person. (See Proverbs 12:24; 13:4; 15:19; 18:9.) The state takes no cognizance of private sin until it becomes a public crime. When the state takes cognizance of anything morally wrong, it should always be to check and punish; never to regulate, much less encourage it, still less to derive any revenues from it. The argument that man will sin, and that it is the duty of the state for its own sake and for the sake of the innocent third parties, and even for the offender's own sake, to take precautions so that as little evil may result as possible, is an erroneous concept of logic and is unethical. It is never the duty of the state to make the way of transgressors safe and easy. The action of every state, when it acts, must be to restrain and to punish, never to organize or license vice, or crime, and still less to derive a revenue from it on what they refer to as the grounds of expediency. Make punishment follow closely after the crime. Extended judgment in justice is usually fraught with error. The solution to ethical questions regarding economic problems, mineral wealth, and such (which many times is handled by the state or large corporations), is often nothing more than "legalized robbery" dealing with masses rather than the individual. By a solution in ethics I mean a true adjustment to the various interests which could then be made the subject of legislation. A satisfactory solution can only be looked for in a Christian society in which Christian men behave in a Christian manner. In all industry for production, two things are needed: namely, labor (workers) and capital (stored money). Thus, logically, those who labor and those who supply the capital should both share in the fruits of production. As civilizations bring along new comforts, new conveniences, new ways, they also bring with them ways in which man can annoy his neighbor. Airports are only one illustration of many. This too becomes an ethical consideration. The rights of citizenship necessarily involve duties of citizenship, and so move into the field of ethics. Therefore, politics must also be considered in any study of ethics. A man may be adequately fed, clothed, and amused, yet remain no better than an animal. Morally, under God, a government of the people, by the people and for the people, even at the cost of many failures is preferable to any "perfect" government by any kind of arbitrary tyrant. Men should rather desire to make a complete wreck of their own affairs than to have their life controlled by the most well-meaning, benevolent dictator. No material wealth, no national power or prosperity can compensate for the surrender of one's own right to choose. Of all governmental systems, a republic best sustains and preserves this right for man. However, if a great proportion of the people of a republic display a greed for enjoyment with disregard for the rights and happiness of others, and a lack of self-discipline and sense of duty, a republic becomes unworkable. CONCLUSION Christian ethics is the science of conduct which is consciously and purposefully directed action for a desired result according to the principles of God's Word. This prolegomenon is intended to bring to light a coherent system of Biblical guidelines applicable to all men who are believers and who will follow the accuracy of the Word. This is the science of Biblical ethics. The art of ethics discusses the "how" of the application of God's moral laws, rules, or guidelines to specific classes, and how they must be modified at times by special conditions and circumstances. There is no sphere of human activity where ethics is not involved. Thus we need to carefully consider ethics and its application in every sphere of our life: in relation to God, to one's self, to society, and to government. Supplemental Reading MacKenzie, J. S., The Manual of Ethics Robinson, N. L., Christian Justice Sidgwich, Henry, The Methods of Ethics Sidgwich, Henry, Outlines of the History of Ethics Thornton, L. S., Conduct and the Supernatural ------------------------- Charismata Five Gift Ministries to the Church (The Body of Christ): Apostles, Prophets, Evangelist, Pastors, Teachers Living Victoriously in God's Love John 14:12 The Love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell, It goes beyond the highest star and reaches to the lowest dale, God's love so sure shall still endure God made his son to win, Each erring child he reconciled and pardoned all his sin. The Love of God how rich and pure how measureless and strong, It shall forevermore endure a love eternal and strong. Could we with ink the ocean fill and were the skys of parchment made, Were every stalk on earth a quill and every man a scribe by trade, To write The Love of God above would drain the ocean dry, Nor could the scroll contain the whole though stretched from sky to sky. From: "The Royal Tapestry of God's Word" ------------------------- Holy Communion in the Home Fellowship Every year around the week of Passover / Easter we get our family fellowship together and share the great love that Jesus Christ had in his heart when he died for us. We share the memorial of "communion" as he presented it at the last supper he ate with his disciples prior to his crucifixion. Communion in your own home can be one of the sweetest fellowships you will ever experience. Much of what I plan to share on this page comes from information that Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille shared regarding how to do an effective communion service so that everyone will be blessed abundantly by the fellowship. Each year as I set up and plan for this wonderful occasion I review this information. I hope it will bless you as you prepare to share Christ's love in your own home. There are many different ways to handle the fellowship, but you need to be sure that you have planned ahead and have everything set up and thought through before anyone arrives for the fellowship. 1. WORK GOD'S WORD on this subject. Think it through and do the best you can to bless the believers in your home. 2. Make the atmosphere soft and easy, tender and loving. This should not be a long drawn out fellowship (like two hours), but you need to take enough time to present Christ's love for us and cover all the important aspects of the communion memorial (including forgiveness of sin and physical healing). 3. In the weeks before you do communion tell the believers in your fellowship about what will happen at that fellowship and involve as many as you can in the preparations and presentation of communion. Remind them that when the communion fellowship is over that you are not going to do a lot of visiting. There should not be a lot of running around, loud noises, shouting or visiting. Let the believers go home quietly reflecting in their hearts on the love of Christ. TELL them that this is a time to be alone with God and meditate on communion. The physical set up: Have a chalice, loving cup, or nice looking wine glass. Fill it about 3/4 full with red wine. I have used Port, a dry red wine, or a good non-alcoholic red wine (not carbonated). Cover a small coffee table or card table with a white table cloth. I have used a cedar chest or a square end-table that I can easily get around. (The person serving communion sits or stands behind the table.) I usually buy a disposable paper or plastic embossed table cloth that looks kind of lacy to cover the table. Have a small loaf of bread and place it in front of the wine on the table. Cover the wine with a white cloth or napkin. I have used some nice white cloth handkerchiefs. Also cover the bread with one of these. For the bread we usually bake a frozen bakery loaf in a small round pan. We kind of try to make it like the round flattened loaves of Bible times. Any fresh home made bread works nicely. We usually set the bread on a round silver serving tray or round white plate. Place a "horn of plenty" (cornucopia) somewhere on the table. Have two candles, preferably red, and place them on the table. Years ago my wife and I found some candle holders that look like up-turned cornucopias and these have become our communion candle holders. If you can find dripless red candles use those. The candles are burning for most of the fellowship and can be quite a mess on a white table cloth (one of the reasons I use a disposable nice looking table covering). Candles can also be very effective soft lighting if properly set around the room. Take care to place them where they won't be knocked over. If there are small children in your communion fellowship you need to consider them before using or placing candles in the room. Have the physical set-up complete before anyone else arrives. In planning any fellowship or presentation of the Word of God, don't leave God out! These are guidelines for presentation. You must never let the presentation become more important than the heart of God's Word you are sharing. Especially when preparing the great heart of God that was demonstrated in His giving His only begotten son. We must allow God to work within us to will and do His good pleasure in presentation of His wonderful Word. A believer once taught me when preparing to share God's Word that he thought about it like a coloring book: We work God's Word and draw the outline of what we want to present - then let God fill in the colors. God may reveal to you an entirely different picture than the one I will describe. If the truth of God's Word is presented in a loving atmosphere God will bless the fellowship. Order of the meeting: When everyone is there, sing a song or two. I like to have some soft music playing in the background when believers are arriving. Rev. Dean Ellenwood has a tape of soft Instrumental Hymns called "In His Own Quiet Way" that would be nice to use. (You can purchase this tape from him at: Household Music, 8805 Sparkling Creek Drive, Austin, TX. 78729-4547 (512)335-7337.) Have some prayer with the understanding for specific things. Pray for the individual believers in your home, the believers around the world, the leaders and ministries that God has placed in the church for our edification. (We would be blessed if you remember our fellowship in your prayers.) Pray for the continued outreach of His Word around the world. Have the worship manifestations - tongues with interpretation - prophecy. Have another song or short chorus. Use songs that are quiet and peaceful. Sometime during the fellowship share I Corinthians 11:23-30. The first century believers met in their homes and remembered the accomplishments of Christ by sharing communion. However, they made it such a common practice that some came to eat and drink rather than to remember Christ's love. Great healing is available when the Word is presented with focus on its significance. Have a prayer of blessing over the bread and wine. You can stand or sit while giving communion. Mainly do what is comfortable. Remove the napkin from the bread and lay it nicely to the side. Fold it (you are not in a hurry), and do the same for the napkin over the chalice. Take your time; fold these nicely and lay them to the side. Pick up the bread in both hands, hold it, then break it in half. Then, pick up half and quote "Take, eat, this is my body which is broken for you, for your healing, this do ye in remembrance of me." (His body was broken for our healing!) I like to say it like this: "Take, eat, this is Christ's body which was broken for us. For our healing! This do in remembrance of him." Then put one half down, take the other half and break a little piece off and put it in the hand of the believer. Go around or pass the half around and let them break off their own pieces. All hold their piece in their right hand until everyone has one. (You have to tell them this!) Say "Everyone hold your piece until I tell you to eat it and then we will eat it together." Also if you are giving pieces take a soft small piece from the center of the bread (not the crust) to give to each believer. Make sure it is small enough that they can eat it easily and do not have to sit there chewing while you have moved on to the next part of the communion. Try to give everyone the same size portion. When all have the bread in their right hand you say, "Take, eat" and then you all eat together. Wait about 30 seconds, praying silently. Then you take the cup and say, "This cup is the New Testament in Christ's blood unto the remission and forgiveness of sins. This do ye in remembrance of me." You then take a sip of wine out of the cup, and take the cup or pass it around with a napkin so they can each take a sip. As you go around the room give each a sip and wipe the cup between each with the napkin. Maybe turn the cup a little each time. I like to be last to sip rather than first when we do this part. Its up to you (and God). Set the cup down on the table and cover both the bread and the wine. Give a prayer of thanksgiving, where you thank God for His son, Jesus Christ, and that he came and gave his life for us, and that these symbols of the broken bread and the cup are indicative of what he accomplished for us and made available to us. You may want to then sing a chorus or two of "Peace, Peace, Wonderful Peace", or "My Jesus I Love Thee", or "Yes, It is Jesus", or anything soft and nice. Then just sit quietly for a minute or two and relax and be thankful. Then you will have your abundant sharing. God gave so much for you, you and I can never out give Him. Have a prayer of blessing and thanksgiving and close your meeting and have the believers go on their way rejoicing over what God has done for them. As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is good news from a far country. Proverbs 25:25 Taken from: Cortright Fellowship Homepage: http://redbay.com/ekklesia/index.htm -------------------------------- Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. II Peter 1:20 Colossians 1:24-28: Who {"I, Paul," vs.23} now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church: Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; Even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now is made manifest to his saints: To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory: Whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: Whereunto I also labour, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily. 2 Timothy 2:8-10: Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel: Wherein I suffer trouble, as an evil doer, even unto bonds; but the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is what Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille called "becoming broken bread for people," and "letting them walk on your feet until they can walk on their own..." DH ////////////////////// Woman Professing Godliness The Woman of God The beauty of a woman of God is mirrored in her eyes. Her lips are beautiful to behold. Her smile portrays the inner depth of her soul. Her voice is soft and clear, From a heart that is tender and pure. Her walk is a gracious carriage Of a woman of dignity supreme. Her hands are like the softness of spring, With a touch of blessing, comfort, and peace. All this.... and far more. The woman of God whose joy Springs from a fountain of life within. She is a kaleidoscope of ever-changing beauty, a spectrum of color beyond the rainbow, A light more scintillating Than the Milky way or the Aurora Borealis. yes, she is, she is...the woman of God. --Victor Paul Wierwille. //////////////////////// Christian Marriage God's Plan for Mankind Gen 2:18_25 18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him. 19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof. 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him. 21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. 24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. 25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed. Matt 19:5_6 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. Prov 18:22 22 Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD. Prov 30:18_19 18 There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not: 19 The way of an eagle in the air; the way of a serpent upon a rock; the way of a ship in the midst of the sea; and the way of a man with a maid. Ps 139:14 14 I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. Sound Doctrine of Christian Marriage Eph 5:20_33 20 Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ; 21 Submitting yourselves one to another in the fear of God. 22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. 23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. 24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; 26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, 27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. 28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. 31 For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. 32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. 33 Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband. 1 Cor 7:1_5 1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman. 2 Nevertheless, to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband. 3 Let the husband render unto the wife due benevolence: and likewise also the wife unto the husband. 4 The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband: and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife. 5 Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency. 1 Pet 3:1_7 1 Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; 2 While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear. 3 Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; 4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price. 5 For after this manner in the old time the holy women also, who trusted in God, adorned themselves, being in subjection unto their own husbands: 6 Even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him lord: whose daughters ye are, as long as ye do well, and are not afraid with any amazement. 7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered. --------------------------------------- Love By Roy Croft. Reworked by Dr. V.P. Wierwille I love you, Not only for what you are, But for what I am When I am with you. I love you, Not only for what You have made of yourself But for what You are making of me. I love you For the beauty of me That you bring out; I love you For putting your hand into my heaped-up heart And passing over All the foolish and weak things That you can't help Dimly ever seeing them, And for drawing out All the beautiful belongings That no one else had looked Quite far enough to find. I love you because you Are helping me to make Of the raw material of my life A melody to others But with you a song With a two part harmony. I love you. --------------------------------------- Women, Keepers at home 1. Woman are to be keepers at home A. Titus 2:5 "keepers at home" Greek word oikouros - "guard" B. Guards of the home. Woman were chosen for this responsibility. 2. What do you guard against? A. Negatives, devil spirits. B. Confusion, strife, every evil work. C. Ungodly Physical surroundings. 3. How to guard the home. A. Do not be deceived by the five senses (Genesis 3:6) B. Line up your thinking with Gods word. Woman hold positions of influence in the home. She works for the husband. C. Spot the enemy coming. Speak up when things are not right. For example: when the children are sick. D. Do not forsake your post. 3. Fatigue- Don't exhaust your self. A husband's sincere appreciation contributes greatly to a woman's overall performance. Keep your home physically attractive and clean. No success in life can make up for failure in the home. 4. What are you guarding? A. Physical atmosphere of your home. Be sure all things are decent and in order. Right colors, godly artwork on walls, ect. Your home should be a "haven." B. Spiritual atmosphere of your home. Guard against anger, bitterness, resentment oppression. Guard against the "wrong" people inside your home. Watch over husband's schedule - avoid conflicts. Think through the timing in doing things. C. Set an atmosphere of peace, joy and pleasantness. Titus 2: speak and think sound doctrine. ///////////////////// Keys to the Word's Interpretation The Giver and the gift Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, [holy spirit] and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. A great deal of confusion and misunderstanding of God's Word has come from a failure to make a distinction between God who is The Holy Spirit and the gift He gave to mankind on the day of Pentecost which is also called holy spirit. In the New Testament there are nine distinct usages of the word "spirit." These usages are explained and covered in Appendix II of Victor Paul Wierwille's Receiving the Holy Spirit Today, 7th ed. (New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian Press, 1982). In English we can make a distinction between the Giver and His gift by the use of capital and lowercase letters. God is "The Holy Spirit." His gift to us is "holy spirit." When the Bible was put into English it was translated from manuscripts called UNCIAL which were written in continuous capital text such as FORGODSOLOVED; or the English was translated from CURSIVE manuscripts which were continuous hand written script such as forgodsoloved . There were no spaces between words or distinctions made for proper nouns by capitalization in the manuscripts. The translators made the decisions about what was to be capitalized and how words would be translated. As a result an understanding of the distinction between God and His gift is very difficult for the casual reader of the Bible. In the King James Version of the New Testament of the Bible the word spirit is translated from the Greek word pneuma. The word holy is translated from the Greek word hagion. The translators presented these words as follows in the KJV: pneuma (spirit) is used a total of - 385 times pneuma as spirit with a lower case "s" - 153 times pneuma as Spirit with an upper case "S" - 133 times pneuma as spiritual - 1 time pneuma as ghost - 2 times pneuma as life - 1 time pneuma as wind - 1 time pneuma as spiritually - 1 time pneuma hagion as holy spirit - 4 times pneuma hagion as holy ghost - 89 times To understand the distinction between God who is Holy Spirit and His gift which is holy spirit we must study the context in which the words pneuma and hagion occur in the Word of God and ignore the use of capital letters and the translator's interpretation of these words. We must let them speak for themselves in their context. Let us begin by understanding that God is The Holy Spirit. John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. Psalm 99:5 Exalt ye the Lord our God and worship at his footstool; for he is holy. God is holy and God is spirit. This is the nature of God. In English when we are referring directly to God we would capitalize the words as proper nouns. God is "The Holy Spirit." When the Word of God refers to God directly as the source of supply - the giver, the words should be capitalized and translated Holy Spirit. Luke 1:35 And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost [The Holy Spirit - God] shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. John 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. God is The Spirit and that which He gives us when we believe His Word as recorded in Romans 10:9-10 is also called spirit. Since God is Holy and God is Spirit, when we are born again of God we receive the nature of God: holy spirit and become His sons and daughters. We do not receive God. We receive His gift which is holy spirit. In most references in the New Testament God is referred to as God or the Father and that which He gave us and we received is called holy spirit. His gift of spirit to us makes us spiritual beings. Although capitalized in many places in the King James Version the gift of holy spirit that we received does not refer to God and therefore should not be capitalized. Some examples of God's gift are as follows: Matthew 3:11 I [John] indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, [holy spirit] and with fire. The article "the" does not appear in the original text and along with the capital letters changes the meaning of God's Word. Jesus Christ came to make sonship available. He came to make the gift of holy spirit available to all who would believe. Acts 1:8a But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost [holy spirit] is come upon you: and ye shall be witnessess unto me . . . Acts 2:4 And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, [holy spirit] and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit [God - the giver] gave them utterance. I Corinthians 12:3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God [spirit from God] calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost. [holy spirit] Each use of the word pneuma (spirit) must be carefully studied in its context in God's Word if we are to understand and rightly divide the difference between God: the Giver, and his gift of holy spirit which we received when we got born again. //////////////////////// Following are a few uses of the figure of speech condescensio adapted from a list provided by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille in the Power For Abundant Living class: Human Beings Bodily member of Man Leviticus 26:11 - soul I Samuel 13:14 - heart Job 4:9 - nostrils Job 11:5 - lips Psalm 55:1 - ear Isaiah 30:27 - tongue Isaiah 30:30 - voice Isaiah 5511 - mouth Isaiah 63:15 - bowels Zechariah 2:8 - eye Matthew 18:10 - face Luke 1:51 - arm John 1:18 - bosom John 10:28 - hand I Corinthians 11:3 - head Feelings of Man Genesis 6:6 - grieved Exodus 20:5 - jealous Psalm 104:31 - rejoice Actions of Man Genesis 3:9 - called Genesis 18:21 - go down and see Circumstances Negative - God can't swallow it - Isaiah 1:13 - away with Positive - Psalm 23:1 - shepherd. Matthew 6:1,6,8,9 - father Place - Psalm 2:4 - sitting. Matthew 5:35 - earth. Acts 2:25 - right hand Time - Job 36:26. Psalm 102:24,27. Romans 8:29. Colossians 1:15, 18 Irrational Creatures Animals Deuteronomy 32:11 - eagle Hosea 11:10 - lion Bodily Members of Animals Psalm 91-4 - wings Plants Hosea 14:8 - a green fir tree that produces fruit Inanimate Things Light - Psalm 27:1 James 1:17. I John 1:5 The Elements Deuteronomy 4:24 - fire Job 4:9 - breath, air Hosea 14:5 - dew The Earth Psalm 121:5 - shade Psalm 18:2 - rock ---------------- Five Crowns "To know God and to love His Son is to joyfully anticipate his return." Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille ROA '78 II Corinthians 12:1-2 It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. The apostle Paul experienced a great deal of persecution including many physical attacks as he held forth God's Word as described in II Corinthians 11:23-28. Throughout the tribulations he experienced Paul held his focus on the hope of Christ's return. Because he kept focused on that hope God showed him what was coming in the future in the third heaven. "If you have the hope, God reveals things like this to you to help you keep your hope hot." Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille - Thursday, August 16th, 1978 at the Rock of Ages. God has revealed that part of our great hope is the anticipation of rewards for the work we do to move and live His Word. II Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgement seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. "This judgment seat is the bema, the place, from which prizes and rewards are given for 'the things done...' The Church of the Body appears before the bema of Christ to receive the 'crown of righteousness,' 'rewards' for deeds done for the faithfulness of our stewardship for Him. We appear before the bema of Christ not to receive God's sentences of wrath of condemnation, but to 'have praise of God.' None of God's born-again children in Christ will ever be judged as to their standing or anything else for they have already been judged in the Person of their substitute and mediator, Christ Jesus." Page 39 - Are the Dead Alive Now - Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille. The five crowns available at the bema: Crown of Life James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. For those who rightly divide God's Word to stand approved before God. Crown of Rejoicing I Thessalonians 2:19-20 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming? For ye are our glory and joy. For those who win others to the Lord Jesus Christ after they have rightly divided the Word. Crown Incorruptible I Corinthians 9:24-25 Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. For those who exercise self-control in all disciplined training. Crown of Glory I Peter 5:1-4 The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. For those leaders or elders in the Body of Christ who become examples to the flock. Crown of Righteousness II Timothy 4:7-8 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing. For those who love Christ's appearing. Cortright Fellowship URL http://redbay.com/ekklesia/5crowns.htm -------------------- God-Inside Minded Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. "We have to become God-inside minded, because it is God in Christ in you, the hope of glory. I picture this as a massive house built out of brick. You cannot lay the top brick until you first lay the foundation and build up the house by laying one brick at a time. You become God-inside minded by beginning to build God's Word in your life, day after day, brick after brick, until you get the whole edifice of your life built up into a beautiful tabernacle of God. It must be brick, after brick, after brick. You do not genuinely become God-inside minded overnight. You have to build and stay faithful - day, after day, after day. You have to stay put on God's Word, and keep building it, and building it, and building it - just like a house." "God is at work within us to will and to do of His good pleasure, so we have to become God-inside minded. " (Quotes from "God-Inside Minded" by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille) URL http://redbay.com/ekklesia/godinyou.htm ////////////////// ... When describing the justice of God in the Power for Abundant Living class, Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille said that "the wheels of God grind slowly, but they grind finely." Receiving that which God promises requires us to wait patiently for the Giver to fulfill His promise. Hebrews 10:35-37 Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompence of reward. For ye have need of patience [hupomone], that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry. The Greek word translated patience in this verse is the word "hupomone." Hupomone means to hold up under pressure - to endure - to be constant. Patience in the Word of God is always tied to hope. We continue doing God's Word day after day after day looking forward to the day when Christ shall return. We endure the pressures of life and hold up under the tribulations that would have us quit because we know that we will receive the promise of God... URL http://redbay.com/ekklesia/duetime.htm /////////////////////////// Salted and Swaddled Luke 2:7 - And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. "Whenever a son of a king, a prince, was born, that child was "salted" and "swaddled." To salt a child meant that soon after birth the newborn babe was gently washed with water having a portion of salt in it. Salt symbolized the qualities of truth and honesty. Bathing a newborn in salt water indicated that the child would have these characteristics. His words would be "salted." After salting the newborn child, strips of fine linen cloth, about two inches wide, were wrapped from head to foot, with only a part of his face being left uncovered so he could breathe. The baby's body and limbs were held very straight when wrapped in this fashion. These linen strips were not rags and did not mean that Jospeh and Mary were poverty-stricken when they wrapped Jesus, but rather, this was a sign to God that these parents would raise the child to be upright before the Lord, and that he would be free from crookedness and waywardness. The babe would normally be left in the swaddling clothes for only a brief period of time, while the parents took time to meditate and make their commitment to God concerning the sacred trust which was given to them in having the child. Salting and swaddling were recognizably significant to an Eastern person. In Biblical times, any child born to nobility or royalty would be salted and swaddled. If this were not done, there would be doubt regarding the person's integrity both in his youth and his adulthood. Note the following insult in the Old Testament. Ezekiel 16:4 . . . thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all. To say to a noble-born person that he had not been salted or swaddled was to indicate he was unreliable, dishonest, without integrity - - as though his parents had not gone through the proper ritual at his birth. According to the customs of the time, Mary and Joseph washed Jesus in salt water before they swaddled him, indicating that he was of royal lineage, as God's Son and as heir to the throne of David." Quoted from Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille. The wonderful teaching ministry that brought me God's Word set forth a knowledge of God that literally had not been known for centuries. Under the teaching ministry of Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille and other men and women, the knowledge of God brought the light of God's Word to a generation that hungered after it. In reflecting upon that light, I thought I'd share, in thankfulness, what I consider to be their greatest contributions to the knowledge of God this century. Colossians 2:6-10 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him: Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power After we confess Jesus as Lord, and believe that God has raised him from the dead, God's Word directs us to become rooted and built up in him and to be established in the faith. This requires that we are taught God's Word by knowledgeable men and women and that we abound therein with thanksgiving. It is the teaching of God's Word that makes known our completeness in Christ so that we may grow up in him in all things. Titus 1:9 Holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. The birth of Jesus Christ - September 11, 3 B.C. Biblical, chronological, historical and astronomical evidence concerning the birth date of the promised Messiah to Israel, every man's lord and savior, Jesus Christ - points to Wednesday September 11, 3 B.C. between the hours of 6:18 (sunset) and 7:39 (moonset) Palestine time. Almost every Biblical scholar has known and attested for centuries, that Jesus Christ could not have been born on December 25th. The December festival in Rome known as the Saturnalia, or the Feast of Saturn, celebrating the birth of their sun-god was adopted by the church in Rome as Christ's birth date in the third century. A special mass was instituted and celebrated for Christ. Hence, the name "Christ-mass", abbreviated "Christmas". The pagan celebration and traditions of decorating fir trees, lighting the yule-log, and many other customs associated with Saturnalia were adopted. The truth of God's Word regarding the events surrounding the birth of Christ in the fall of the year has been lost in the traditions and artistry of pagan and modern celebrations. If we are to truly understand our savior's birth we must study God's Word from its inherent accuracy. We will find that on that September evening the Word of God reports no record of three wise men, drummer boys, or flying angels. We will see the quiet rejoicing of a handful of shepherds, Mary his mother, and Joseph reported in the gospel of Luke. The record of magi from the east following "his star" recorded in Matthew occurred almost a year and a half later and is not the subject of this presentation. Luke 2:1 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus, that all the world should be taxed [registered]. The word "taxed" is from the Greek word apographo meaning to register. The "all the world" is used to emphasize the immensity of the Roman Empire. Caesar Augustus was preparing to celebrate his Silver Jubilee (25th anniversary) as Roman Emperor in 2 B.C. Prior to the celebration he wanted an accounting of his subjects and an official declaration of political allegiance. Registrations such as this were typically conducted in the fall of the year when the weather was mild for travel. Luke 2:2 (And this taxing [registration] was first made when Cyrenius was governor [commander] of Syria.) Cyrenius was governor of Syria in 6 A.D. about nine years after this record. The Greek word for "governor" in this verse is hegemon which means commander. This "first" registration was made in 3 B.C. when Cyrenius had been sent to Syria to command the registration process. Later in 6/7 A.D. while he was governor a second registration took place. The word "first" is the key to understanding the historical evidence. Luke 2:3-5 And all went to be taxed [registered], every one into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David). To be taxed [registered] with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. Two of the old Aramaic manuscripts read "that there they might be enrolled, because they were both of the house of David." The Old Testament records that David was from Bethlehem (I Samuel 16:1-4) and that the promised Messiah would be born in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2). Joseph and Mary were both descendants of David. Both Aramaic manuscripts omit the word "espoused" and just read "wife" which is also more accurate. Luke 2:6-7 And so it was, that, while they were there [in Bethlehem], the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. The word "accomplished" is the Greek word for "filled to overflowing". It was time for Mary to have the baby. Jesus Christ was God's only begotten son. God had provided seed in Mary's womb to fertilize her egg. This was the first and only time that God ever did (or will do) this. Therefore, Jesus Christ was His "only begotten son". Mary, however, had other children and Jesus Christ was her "firstborn" son. The inn of verse 7 was a khan or lodging house for caravans. It would have had an inner court yard and stables for caravan animals along the outside back wall. Within each stable would be a manger with straw to feed the animals. Jesus Christ was not born in a stable because Mary and Joseph were poor. He was born in a stable because "there was no room in the inn". A lot of people had come to be registered. Mary wrapped Jesus in "swaddling clothes". Swaddling clothes are also not an indicator of being poor. When the son of a king, a prince, was born, that child was wrapped in swaddling clothes after being washed gently with water having a small portion of salt in it. The salt symbolized the qualities of truth and honesty and was used so that the child would grow up speaking words that were "salted". The swaddling clothes were narrow strips of fine linen cloth, about two inches wide which were wrapped around the baby's body. The child was wrapped from head to foot with only a part of his face left uncovered so he could breathe. The baby's body and limbs were thus held very straight. This was to indicate that he would grow up to be free from crookedness and waywardness; that as a king he would walk straight and tall before his people. The swaddling clothes were left on the baby for only a very short time while the parents took time to pray and make their commitment to God concerning the upbringing of the child. In Ezekiel 16:4 an insult was delivered "...thou wast not salted at all, nor swaddled at all." To say to a noble-born person that he had not been salted or swaddled was to indicate that he was unreliable and dishonest and that his parents had not raised him properly. Mary and Joseph washed Jesus in salt water and swaddled him according to the custom of the time indicating that he was of royal lineage, as God's son and as heir to the throne of David. Luke 2:8 And there were in the same country [the vicinity of Bethlehem] shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. Shepherds would abide with their flock using a cultivated field as their fold for the sheep in the fall of the year. In the late summer and early fall a farmer in Bible times would hire shepherds to keep their flocks in his field overnight. In this way, the sheep's manure would fertilize his field. This is another indicator that Jesus Christ was born in early September. In December it is too cold for shepherds to watch their sheep at night in fields or pastures and too cold for travel to "registrations". Luke 2:9-11 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon [stood by] them [the shepherds], and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. The words "came upon" are translated from the Greek word epeste which means "stood by". The angel was not flying over them. He was standing beside them. Angels in God's Word appear as men [sorry-no record of a female angel]. They do not appear with wings. They do not sing. Angels are messengers. They speak God's Word. They "say" what God's wants said. The pictures and teachings about angels in our day and time do not reflect the accuracy of God's Word. The message this angel was delivering to the shepherds was "fear not!" "good tidings!" "great joy!" "Christ the Lord!" Luke 2:12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. The timing of God is perfect. He gave the shepherds specific instructions so that there could be no mistake. Swaddling clothes were left on a baby for only a very short time. I am sure that no other newborn baby in the small town of Bethlehem was lying in a manger in swaddling clothes. They would have to hurry after receiving this message to get there while Jesus was in swaddling clothes. It always amazes me that this group of shepherds in the fields of Bethlehem (where by the way David had been a shepherd many years before) were the only ones willing to listen and go see the Christ. God is no respecter of persons or positions. He would have been willing to send messengers to any of the priests or religious leaders in Jerusalem just as he did the shepherds. But they would not have listened. They would not have come. When a person wants to know God's Will [God's Word], God will make it known unto him. The shepherds were the only ones who were told. The only ones who showed up. The only ones willing to listen. WOW! Luke 2:13-14 And suddenly there was with the angel [standing by the shepherds] a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will [hope] toward men. All of these messengers suddenly appeared with the angel and the shepherds and together delivered the message of God's hope for mankind. The Aramaic text reads "good hope for men". They did not sing it. But I bet it sure made an impression! Luke 2:15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. The angels, who had been standing on the ground by the shepherds, went away from them into heaven. The shepherds wasted no time. They said let us go NOW! Luke 2:16-18 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning the child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. The shepherds went quickly to Bethlehem and had enough details to "find" the baby Jesus. And after they had seen the child, they told others. They spoke the Word. The told others that the Christ was born. They told others about the "good hope" for men. Maybe that is why God told them. The great sign in heaven of Revelation 12: http://www.redbay.com/ekklesia/revsign.htm The background for this teaching (as with many of the studies presented) comes from the writings and work of Doctor Victor Paul Wierwille. This particular study is derived from his book "Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed". Tradition teaches that the star noted by the Magi was very bright. The Word of God never mentions the brightness of the star. The Word states that the Magi recognized "his star" for its significance as an announcement of the birth of the Judean king. The fact that none of these people [all Jerusalem, Herod, the chief priests & scribes] noticed the star indicates that it was not unusual in appearance. Rather it was significant to trained astronomers who were looking for a particular movement in the heavens. (A detailed study of the astronomy of this record and the significance of the king planet Jupiter can be found in the book Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed by Victor Paul Wierwille - American Christian Press, The Way International, New Knoxville, Ohio 45871.) URL http://redbay.com/ekklesia/magi.htm An astronomical simulation of the Birth of Jesus Christ can be seen at: http://www.geocities.com/kubyimm1/sm3.htm //////////////////// From Jesus Christ arrest until his death was a period of approximately forty hours. During this time he was utterly humiliated, illegally "tried," savagely tortured, and relentlessly mocked. - quoted from Jesus Christ Our Passover - by Victor Paul Wierwille --------------------- Jesus Christ Our Passover By Victor Paul Wierwille : Published 1980 (Excerpts from) http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering "To understand the significance of Jesus Christ as our Passover is to come face to face with God's magnificent plan of all ages. This research study encompasses the events of two critical months of God's intervention in human history. After the introduction, which sets the content and context of events, the book begins as scrutiny of the Biblical record from six days before Jesus' crucifixion, through the crucifixion, the resurrection, the ascension, and, finally, the great day of Pentecost." http://groups.msn.com/truthseekers/yourwebpage.msnw http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering/Preface1.jpg http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering/Preface2.jpg http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering/Preface3.jpg http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering/Preface4.jpg http://www.prophecy.worthyofpraise.org/Suffering/weekofnisan.jpg --------------------- Why Man? What did God make first? * THE EARTH * In Genesis 1:6 God made the expanse [firmament] in which he placed the Earth. * In Genesis 1:11-12 God made grass, herb yielding seed, and fruit trees yielding fruit to support the life that he would later place on the Earth. * Isn't it amazing to know that before God made the stars or the moon or the sun, He made the Earth? Why did God make the stars, sun, and moon? * FOR THE EARTH [After the earth was made] Genesis 1:14-16 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament [expanse] of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament [expanse] of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. [AFTER HE MADE THE EARTH!!!] * God made the stars, the moon, the sun - the outlying universe - after He made the earth. In fact, He made them for the earth. WOW! This truth would revolutionize the science of astronomy if the astronomers believed it. The earth is the reason for the universe! Psalm 19:1-2 The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. * The knowledge that is shown at night is the witness of the stars, the truths that are written in the stars. God revealed Himself and His plan of redemption for man in the stars before He ever revealed Himself in written form. God designed the stars for the earth - for man! If the earth is the reason for the universe, what is the reason for the earth? * MAN * The earth, according to Genesis, is the reason for the universe. All the stars that move through their mighty orbits of exactness within the limits of space were made to bless man upon the earth. Man is the reason for the earth just as the earth is the reason for the universe. God prepared the earth and the universe for mankind. After all was prepared God created man: Genesis 1:26-27 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. * God created man in His image. We know from John 4:24 that God is Spirit. When God created man, He made man entirely complete. God made man with body, with soul (moving breathing life) and with what He is - spirit. Man had spirit in the beginning. If the earth is the reason for the universe and man is the reason for the earth, what is the reason for man? * To fellowship with GOD!!! * Science has no accurate nor adequate reason for creation. God does ... namely you! All creation is a revelation of a great Father and His plan for man's beautiful home. The heart of our great Father, God, did all this because He longs for fellowship with sons and daughters. He longs for worship in spirit (speaking in tongues) and in truth. When God laid the foundations of the earth and the universe, He planned it all to be the home for His children. It was to be man's universe where he could learn to recognize and to bless and to thank his Father - God. Ephesians 1:3-5,9,11 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children [sonship] by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: * "the good pleasure of his [God's] will" - that we were predestined to be His sons! Predestination always comes after God's foreknowledge. He knew we would believe, so He made it available. He set up the earth. He sent Jesus Christ. He made sure you heard His Word [Romans 10:9] and He created holy spirit in you making you His child. The words "adoption of children" are the Greek word huiothesia from huios meaning "son" and tithemi meaning "to place." God made us His sons not by "adoption" but by placing His holy spirit in us. God's great purpose of creation has come to pass in us. We can truely fellowship via spirit with our loving heavenly Father. * "the mystery of his will" - that all, Jews and Gentiles, would be able to have a knowledge of God and get born again. All could be His children. All could fellowship with Him. All could know His good pleasure which he purposed in himself - to have children! * "the counsel of his own will" - that He also predestined us to be His heirs with an inheritance gathered together with Him for all time. These wonderful truths regarding our Father's plan for sons and heirs are repeated in two of the other uses of the Greek word huiothesia - sonship: Romans 8:15-17 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but the ye have received the Spirit of adoption [sonship], whereby we cry, Abba [daddy], Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. Galatians 4:4-7 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons [sonship]. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba [daddy], Father. Why Man? - To fellowship with God: to be His sons and to be His daughters. The great purpose of God in creating the earth and the universe was to provide a loving home for His children in which we could get to know God and fellowship with Him as His children. References: Why Man --The Way Magazine/September-October 1975 - David Craley Living in God's Living Room --The Way Magazine/January-February 1983 - Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille May, 1997 URL http://redbay.com/ekklesia/whyman.htm ------------------------------------------ THE GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST As the Messiah, Jesus Christ had to fulfill certain genealogical requirements promised in the Old Testament, among them, (1) he had to be a de- scendant of Adam; (2) he had to be a descendant of Abraham; and (3) he had to be a descendant of King David. The Old Testament further stipulated that the Messiah's royal lineage would trace its way through King David and Solomon. Finally, besides being the son of Adam, Abraham, and David, the Messiah would also have to be the Son of God. That Jesus Christ had all of these qualifications will become indisputably clear in studying his conception and genealogy. Jesus Christ's genealogy, as with all people, was determined by his mother and her predecessors and his Father. So in researching God's Word for the great truths of Jesus Christ's genealogy, we need to begin by noting certain details regarding his concep- tion. Matthew 1:18: Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost [Holy Spirit]. "Before they came together" means that before Joseph and Mary had sexual intercourse Mary was already pregnant, and the child she was carrying was conceived in her by God, who is the Holy Spirit.1 Therefore, from a physical, genetic point of view, Jesus Christ's Father was God and his mother was Mary. Joseph, Mary's husband, became Jesus Christ's human father by the circumstances in which he found himsel{ but not by his genetic contribu- tion. Joseph by God's direction accepted the respon- sibility of rearing Jesus as a son in his household. There is no question that the Bible teaches divine conception, that God was literally Jesus Christ's Father. In any conception there are two necessary elements: the egg and the sperm. The egg is supplied by the mother, who in this case was Mary. The sperm is supplied by the father, who in this case was God, who is the Holy Spirit. Being Spirit,2 God did not, of course, have sexual intercourse with Mary, for spirit cannot cohabit with flesh. Rather, by divine creation, God put seed within Mary. That is how Mary, who had never had sexual relations, had Jesus Christ conceived within her. This is the miracle of Jesus Christ's conception. Theoretically, God could have created seed within any woman in history, for all women conceive in the same manner, however only Mary fulfilled all the prerequisites necessary in order to carry the promised seed. God said He would have an only begotten Son, and He chose Mary in whom to create the seed that would give birth to that one Son. There are several genetic and physical considera- tions involved with Jesus Christ's divine concep- tion. The Bible teaches that all men since Adam are born "dead in sins. "~ Man is conceived and born with a sinful nature. Psalms 51:5 states, "Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. Romans 5:12 states, "Wherefore, as by one man [Adam] sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." Not only is man born spiritually separated from God, he is born physically with sin, corruption, and impurities in his blood and in his soul life. This soul life which is the natural life of man, and attested to by a person's breathing, is found in the blood. Leviticus 17:11: For the life of the flesh is in the blood.. While the mother and father both make genetic contributions to the flesh and blood of a child, the soul life in the blood is contributed by the sperm, the seed. It comes from the male side. In the conception of Jesus Christ, this truth is pointedly stated in Hebrews. Hebrews 2:14: Forasmuch then as the children are partakers [Greek: koinoneo, to share fully] of flesh and blood, he [Jesus Christ] also himself likewise took part [Greek: metecho, to take a part or portion] of the same [flesh and blood]... All children share fully of both the flesh and blood, genetically passed on to them since Adam and Eve the first man and woman, but Jesus Christ took only one part. He did not share "fully." Here in He- brews 2:14, the figure of speech metonymy of the ad- junct is found, in which the word "blood" is used to represent the soul life in the blood. This usage of ''blood'' is common in the Bible, especially when it is used with the term ''flesh,'' which here is used for the physical part of man as opposed to the soul part. In partaking of the flesh and blood, all people have inherited their bodies and their soul life from Adam and his descendants. This soul life in the blood is cor- rupt with a sinful nature inherent within it.4 This is why it is necessary to understand from He- brews 2:14 that Jesus Christ "took part of the same." What part did he take? He did not share fully in both the flesh and blood of man. Physically, ac- cording to the flesh, part of Jesus' genetic makeup came from Mary. However, the soul life in his blood was not inherited from Mary, Adam, or any other human being. The life of the flesh is in the blood, ac- cording to Leviticus 17:11, and the life within the flesh of man, within his blood, is corrupt. But Jesus Christ's came from God. That is why Jesus Christ's soul life was conceived without sin or corruption. As we have seen, natural life, which is called "soul life," is in the blood. Sin is transmitted through this soul life, in other words, through the blood, and not through the flesh. That is why Hebrews 2:14 is such a tremendous statement. How marvelously God ar- ranged for a child to be conceived that would be completely a man, having complete freedom of will, but also having a sinless nature.5 With masterful foresight God prepared for the sin- less birth of His Son, Jesus Christ, from the very beginning. In order to produce a sinless man descended from Adam, God provided a way where- by Jesus would have a human body derived from Adam's line, yet uncontaminated by Adam's sinful soul life. To accomplish this, God created the sperm containing a perfect soul life which impregnated the egg in Mary's fallopian tube. This sperm, being perfect,6 carried only dominant characteristics and did what any sperm would do to an egg. Therefore, the dominant characteristics of the genes determin- ing the makeup of Jesus Christ came from his Father, God. The miracle of the birth of Jesus Christ was his divine conception in Mary. His birth was not miraculous, for like any infant he developed within Mary's womb and was born according to natural processes. But, the miracle of his divine conception enabled man's redeemer to come into the world as a sinless, perfect human being, yet having the freedom of will to sin or not to sin; to believe or not to believe God. God did not go beyond any of His previously instituted laws to bring His Son into the world. Understanding all of this, many scriptures con- cerning Jesus' descent from the lineage of David be- come much more meaningful. That is why the following scriptures are so accurate. Acts 2:30: • . that of the fruit of his [David's] loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ.. Romans 1:3. Concerning his {God's] Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which [who] was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. These verses do not say Jesus Christ was of the seed of David "according to flesh and blood." That would be totally inaccurate. These verses all say "ac- cording to the flesh," for Christ's soul life in his blood came from God. It did not come from David or David's descendant, Mary. But physically, ac- cording to the flesh, Jesus Christ can properly be said to be of the seed of David. That is the great ac- curacy of these key verses of scripture. With this basic understanding of the unique conception ofjesus Christ, we will find the records of his genealogy most illuminating. Let us begin with the genealogy given in the Gospel of Matthew. Matthew 1:1: The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Matthew documents that Jesus Christ was a descendant of both David and Abraham. According to the Old Testament prophecies, these were two in- dispensable requirements of the promised Messiah. As we have seen, genetically Jesus Christ had two parents: Mary and God. Jesus Christ's human ge- netic background is traced in the Gospel of Matthew through Mary. This genealogy from Mary is the focus of the first chapter of Matthew. Matthew 1:2-16: Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob; and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren; And Judas begat Phares and Zara of Thamar; and Phares begat Esrom; and Esrom begat Aram; And Aram begat Aminadab; and Aminadab begat Naasson; and Naasson begat Salmon; And Salmon begat Booz of Rachab; and Booz begat Obed of Ruth; and 9bed begat Jesse; And Jesse begat David the king; and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wjfr of Urias; And Solomon begat Roboam; and Roboam begat Abia; and Abia begat Asa; And Asa begat Josaphat; and Josaphat begat Joram; and Joram begat Ozias; And Ozias begat Joatham; and Joatham begat Achaz; and Achaz begat Ezekias; And Ezekias begat Manasses; and Manasses begat Amon; and Amon begat Josias; And Josias begat Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon: And after they were brought to Babylon, Jechonias begat Salathiel; and Salathiel begat Zorobabel; And Zorobabel begat Abiud; and Abiud begat Eliakim; and Eliakim begat Azor; And Azor begat Sadoc; and Sadoc begat Achim; and Achim begat Eliud; And Eliud begat Eleazar; and Eleazar begat Matthan; and Matthan begat Jacob; And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. This last verse, Matthew 1:16, stirs up contro- versy when it states that "Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary" because this contradicts a state- ment in Luke. Luke 3:23: Joseph, which was the son of Heli. Matthew says Joseph's father was Jacob, whereas Luke says Joseph's father was Heli. How can this ap- parent discrepancy be reconciled? The two Josephs surely cannot be the same person if the Word of God is right. Furthermore, Matthew 1:16 declares Joseph to be the husband of Mary. Certainly she did not have two husbands named Joseph. Comparing the records as given by Matthew and Luke, it is only logical and reasonable that they must be speaking of two different people named Joseph. Further investi- gation shows this difficulty in reconciling the two Gospel records has been in fact caused by a serious mistranslation in Matthew. Matthew 1:16: And Jacob begat Joseph the husband [Greek: andra; Aramaic: gavra] of Mary. The word "husband" is the Greek word andra, from the root word ane~r. The word ane~r simply means "a male person of full age and stature," in contrast to a child or a female. It is used of men in various relationships, but its specific usage must always be derived from the context. Indeed anir can be and is translated "husband" in some contexts, but its nor- mal translation is "man." In Matthew 1:16, Joseph is the ane~r, "the man" of Mary. The Aramaic word translated in English "husband" is gavra. Gavra means "mighty man." In Biblical culture the father who is the head of the household is "the mighty man." The son would not be considered "the mighty man" of the household until the father died, at which time the younger per- son would become the head of the household. Therefore, the English phrase 'Joseph the hus- band" in Matthew 1:16 is properly translated from the Aramaic as "Joseph the mighty man [gavra, the father] of Mary." In the King James Version some translations into English of the Greek word aner include: "man" (I Corinthians 13:11), "prophet" (Luke 24:19), "fellows" (Acts 17:5), ''murderer'' (Acts 3:14), and "husband" (Romans 7:2). Although aner is Biblically used in many different contexts, its primary meaning is always used in reference to an adult male, a man. This truth is substantiated even further in Mat- thew 1:19 where the word "husband" is properly translated in the King James Version. There, this word which refers to Mary's husband Joseph is bala in Aramaic. It is not gavra, as in Matthew 1:16. That is because Matthew 1:16 speaks ofJoseph who was Mary's father, her gavra, while in contrast, Mat- thew 1:19 speaks of Joseph who was Mary's hus- band, her bala. Hence, Mary's father's name was Joseph, and Mary's husband's name also was Joseph. We have utilized Greek, Aramaic, the recorded genealogies, and ancient custom to demonstrate that the word "husband" in Matthew 1:16 should be rendered "father." However, if all of this evidence were not enough, there is yet one more safeguard supplied by God's Word which proves that the Joseph of Matthew 1:16 was Mary's father. Matthew 1:17: So all the generations from Abraham to David are four- teen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are four- teen generations. Counting carefully in the record of the Gospel of Matthew 1:2-16, we note that the first two groups each contain fourteen generations, in accordance with verse 17. However, the third group would have only thirteen generations if the Joseph of Matthew 1:16 were the husband of Mary. In order for Mat- thew 1:17 to delineate fourteen generations for the third group, verse 16 must read "Joseph the father of Mary." How wonderfully God protected this truth by the revelation of Matthew 1:17. The following table lists the genealogy given in Matthew I and shows the three groups of fourteen generations. THE ROYAL GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST FROM MATTHEW 1 From Abraham to David (14 generations) 1. Abraham 8.Aminadab 2. Isaac 9.Naasson 3. Jacob 10.Salmon 4. Judas 11.Booz 5. Phares 12.Obed 6. Esrom 13.Jesse 7. Aram 14.David (the king) NOTE: The names in this genealogy are spelled somewhat differently from the way they are spelled in the Old Testament because Old Testament spelling is a transliteration from Hebrew whfle the New Testament spelling is a transliteration from Greek. From David to the carrying away to Babylon (14 generations) * 1. Solomon 8. Joatham 2. Roboam 9. Achaz 3. Abia 10. Ezekias 4. Asa 11. Manasses 5. J osaphat 12. Amon 6. J oram 13. Josias 7. Ozias 14. Jechonias From the carrying away to Babylon unto Christ (14 generations) 1. Sal athiel (born after 8. El jud carrying away) 9. Eleazar 2. Zorobabel 10. Matthan 3. Abiud 11. Jacob 4. Eliakim 12. Joseph (father of Mary) 5. Azor 13. Mary 6. Sadoc 14. Jesus 7. Achim *This second group of fourteen generations purposely omits four of David's descendants in this line. They are Ahaziah (II Kings 8:24-9:27 and II Chronicles 22:1-9) the son ofjoram (number 6), Ahaziab's son Joash (II Kings 11:2-12:20 and II Chronicles 24:1-22), Joash's son Amaziah (II Kings 14:1-19 and II Chronides 25), and Jehojakim (II Kings 23:34-24:6 and II Chronicles 36:1-8) the son of Josias (number 13). One possible reason for their omission could be idolatry and other wickedness, since certain generations had names deleted for this reason. (Note Exodus 20:4 and 5 and Deuteronomy 29, especially verse 20.) The omission was not an oversight on Matthew's part, as he must have been well aware of their place in the genealogies clearly set forth in the Old Testament. God inspired the setting forth of the generations as they appear in Matthew 1. The preceding list demonstrates Jesus Christ's royal lineage through his mother, Mary. The descendants listed postdating David were rightful heirs to David's throne. The genealogy of Matthew 1:2-16 clearly shows Jesus Christ's genetic and legal claim to inherit the throne of David. It gives the Messiah's standing in the House of David by birth. He was the long-awaited promised seed, the Christ, the true king of Israel. Besides the royal genealogy of Jesus Christ given in Matthew, the Gospel of Luke records Jesus' genealogy from the viewpoint of him as a commoner, taking his roots back through David to Adam. Luke 3:23-38: And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli, Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Meichi, which was the son ofJanna, which was the son of Joseph, Which was the son of Mattathias, which was the son of Amos, which was the son of Naum, which was the son of Esli, which was the son of Nagge, Which was the son of Maath, which was the son of Mat- tathias, which was the son of Semei, which was the son of Joseph, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Joanna, which was the son of Rhesa, which was the son of Zorobabel, which was the son of Salathiel, which was the son of Neri, Which was the son ofMelchi, which was the son ofAddi, which was the son of Cosam, which was the son of Elmodam, which was the son of Er, Which was the son of Jose, which was the son of Eliezer, which was the son of Jorim, which was the son of Mat- that, which was the son of Levi, Which was the son of Simeon, which was the son ofJuda, which was the son ofJoseph, which was the son ofJonan, which was the son of Eliakim, Which was the son of Melea, which was the son of Menan, which was the son of Mattatha, which was the son of Nathan, which was the son of David, Which was the son of Jesse, which was the son of Obed, which was the son of Booz, which was the son of Salmon, which was the son of Naasson, Which was the son of Aminadab, which was the son of Aram, which was the son of Esrom, which was the son of Phares, which was the son of Juda, Which was the son of Jacob, which was the son of Isaac, which was the son of Abraham, which was the son of Thara, which was the son of Nachor, Which was the son of Saruch, which was the son of Ragau, which was the son of Phalec, which was the son of Heber, which was the son of Sala, Which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Arphaxad, which was the son of Sem, which was the son of Noe, which was the son of Lamech, Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son ofJared, which was the son of Maleleel, which was the son of Cainan, Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. Note that Luke 3:23 includes the phrase "as was supposed." Jesus Christ was not really the son of Joseph by birth. People just supposed that he was because Joseph was Mary's husband, and she gave birth to Jesus. The Father of Jesus Christ was God. However, Joseph accepted Jesus Christ into his household to be reared and treated as a son. The genealogy in Luke 3 demonstrates that Joseph, like his wife Mary, was a descendant of the House of David. A person's standing in a family was normally recognized by the lineage of the father. From a human point of view, Jesus needed patrilineal credentials in order to function in a society built upon a paternal genealogy. He would not be accepted in the Judean society without a pedigree traceable through both parents. Since few would believe that on his Father's side he needed no pedigree, his Father being God, he had to have socially acceptable credentials through the human being whom society considered to be his father, Joseph. Since Joseph assumed the responsibility for Jesus as his son, it was Joseph's line that gave Jesus full legal standing in the House of David. Whereas Joseph's genealogy listed in Luke 3 gave Jesus his standing in the House of David by the assumed responsibility ofJoseph, it was in truth the genealogy listed in Matthew 1 which gave Jesus Christ true standing in the House of David with the right to in- herit his throne by the family line and genetic con- tribution of Mary. 9. In Luke 3:23-38 we observe that the words "the son" are con- sistently italicized throughout the genealogy from Joseph back to Adam and God. The words do not occur in the Greek, but they are ap- propriately supplied as the expression "David which was of jesse" normally implies that David was the son of jesse. The addition of "the son" is an accurate aid to our understanding. The Aramaic texts of this passage include the word bar, meaning "son of," in each place where the King James Version it£icizes the words "the son." The single exception is Luke 3:38 where we read in the KingJames Version, "Adam, which was the son of God." Here the Aramaic does not use the word bar. Instead, it simply uses the words adam dmen alaha which literally translates as "Adam who was of [from] God." The genealogy given in Luke 3 is not Jesus Christ's royal lineage. Matthew I indicates his royal lineage from Solomon and others who sat on David's throne (Matthew 1:6 and 7). Luke 3 demonstrates Jesus' lineage through another son of David, Nathan, who was not a king (Luke 3.31). This is why the genealogies in Matthew 1 and Luke 3 are iden- tical up to David, but not from David on to Mary and Joseph. The following table is a listing from the genealogy of Joseph as given in Luke 3:23-38. THE LEGAL GENEALOGY OF JESUS CHRIST FROM LUKE 3 GOD 1. Adam 26. Aram 2. Seth 27. Aminadab 3. Enos 28. Naasson 4. Cainan 29. Salmon 5 Maleleel 30. Booz 6. Jared 31. Obed 7. Enoch 32. Jesse 8. Mathusala 33. David 9. Lamech 34. Nathan 10. Noe 35. Mattatha 11. Sem 36. Menan 12. Arphaxad 37. Melea 13. Sala 38. Eliakim 14. Heber 39. Jonan 15. Phalec 40. Joseph 16. Ragau 41. Juda 17. Saruch 42. Simeon 18. Nachor 43. Levi 19. Thara 44. Matthat 20. Abraham 45. Jorim 21. Isaac 46. Eliezer 22. Jacob 47. Jose 23. Juda 48. Er 24. Phares 49. Elmodam 25. Esrom 50. Cosam 51 Addi 64. Esli 52. MeIchi 65. Naum 53. Neri 66. Amos 54. Salathiel 67. Mattathias 55. Zorobabel 68. Joseph 56. Rhesa 69. Janna 57. Joanna 70. Melchi 58. Juda 71. Levi 59. Joseph 72. Matthat 60. Semei 73. Heli (father of Joseph) 61. Mattathias 74. Joseph (husband of Mary) 62. Maath 75. Jesus (as it was supposed, 63. Nagge the son of Joseph) The story of Jesus Christ's genealogy is now com- plete. Both lineages-that of Mary, in the Gospel of Matthew, and that of Joseph, in the Gospel of Luke-have Abraham and David common to their ancestry. Since Joseph assumed the responsibility as Jesus' father, this gave Jesus during his earthly walk a legal standing in the House of David. But as Mary's son by birth, Jesus had more than legal standing in the House of David; because of Mary's genealogy, Jesus Christ was descended from the royal line of the House of David, so that he could genetically and legally inherit the throne of David. Being conceived by the Holy Spirit (who is God) Jesus was the true and only begotten Son of God, the ssemah or offspring of the Lord. Jesus was the offspring of Mary and God. Thus he was born with no sinful nature in him, yet he was totally a man, a male child who would have to mature and learn in order to complete his God- ordained mission. As the offspring of both God and Mary, the Christ came into the world fulfilling all the genealogical requirements of the promised seed: he would be a descendant of Adam, of Abraham, and of David. He would also be the only begotten Son of God, the promised seed, God's perfect plan for man's redemption. Written by Victor Paul Wierwille Taken from his book "Jesus Christ our promised Seed" 1982 the Way International Transcribed by MB. ////////////////// In a nutshell: The genealogy of Jesus Christ. For more information, you might look at The Word's Way, by Victor Paul Wierwille, American Christian Press, ISBN 0-910068-12-7, pp. 145 - 155. See also The Companion Bible, Appendix 99. In the Gospels, there are two genealogies for the Lord Jesus Christ, the "son of David." They both seem to be the lineage of Jesus through Joseph, the husband of Mary. But they don't match! After careful consideration of both records, it can be concluded that the genealogy listed in Luke 3:23 - 38 is indeed the lineage of Jesus, through Joseph. This list of ancestors traces the lineage of Joseph, Jesus' stepfather, all the way back to Adam, the "son of God." It seems that God's reckoning of Joseph's lineage is greater than others might say. The other list of ancestors (the other genealogy of Jesus Christ) is in Matthew 1:2 - 16, and if it is compared with the one in Luke, we've got a problem. But it's quite solvable. God has made sure of that. This second genealogy ends with these verses: Matthew 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. 17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations. If this Jacob was Joseph's father (that is, the Joseph that was "the husband of Mary" as it reads in the KJV) then either this verse is wrong, or Luke 3:23 is wrong, for there it's written there that Heli was Joseph's father: Luke 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was [the son] of Heli, 24 Which was the son of Matthat, which was the son of Levi, which was the son of Melchi, which was the son of Janna, which was the son of Joseph, Likewise, the rest of the genealogy is messed up, all the way back to David, where the two meet up again. The word "husband" in the Matthew record could be translated from the Aramaic the "mighty man" of Mary. In the Greek, it is the word aner, which is an honorable term, meaning a man who is grown, mature. Instead of being the husband of Mary, this Joseph is instead the father of Mary. Then the Word of God fits. So this second genealogy, the one in Matthew, represents Jesus' line through Mary, not Joseph. It's so wonderful how God provided us with a perfect "check" in verse 17. It turns out we needed it! I'm referring to the three sets of "fourteen generations." If one counts the "fourteen generations" all the way through, it is easily seen that the third set wouldn't work out to fourteen, if the "mighty man" of Mary was Joseph, her husband. It is her father. You can see (and count) for yourself later in this appendix. Now it fits perfectly, and we have two different genealogies recorded for the Lord Jesus Christ. One through his mother Mary, in Matthew, and one through Joseph, in the Book of Luke. Mary's father was named Joseph, just as her husband was called Joseph. And her husband Joseph had a great great great great grandfather named Joseph, the son of Mattathias, and another Joseph, nine generations from him, and yet another Joseph, another 19 generations behind that one! The names "Joseph" and "Mary" were common at this time. There are plenty of Josephs and Marys mentioned in the Gospels and in Acts and the Epistles. {i.e. Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathaea, etc. See also The Companion Bible, Appendix 100: "The Six Marys."} Genealogy was generally reckoned through the father. But our Lord's genealogy is singularly significant (as is everything about him!) being God's only-begotten son by divine conception. Mary was his only human parent from the standpoint of "bloodline." Therefore, her lineage is also significant. At least, God apparently thinks so, and so should we. Jesus' lineage through Joseph was also required for him to have proper legal standing, hence the two genealogies. Notice in the following lists that they are both traced through David, but from David, Mary's line descended through Solomon, whereas Joseph's line descended through Nathan, another of David's sons. It's interesting that the line through Joseph starts with Jesus, and works backward, while the line through Mary starts at back at Abraham, and goes forward to Jesus. If someone could tell me why that might be, I'd like to hear it. God has a purpose for everything He says, and how He says it. I'd also like to know why in Mary's genealogy, four of the wives are listed, along with their husbands: they are Thamar, Rachab, Ruth, and (Bathsheba) "her that had been the wife of Urias." Why that is, again, I do not know. After reading this study, a friend wrote to me: You know what else I find interesting? Why does Jesus Christ's lineage through Mary stop at Abraham, while Joseph's continues all the way back through Adam to God? There must surely be something very noteworthy in this striking contrast that God is pointing out to us. One obvious consideration might be our relationship to the "father of all them that believe"... Take some time and review these lists; print them out, and take a good look, study them and work them through the Old Testament records, and you will be amazed at the great accuracy of God's Word. Luke 3:23 - 38 Through Joseph Jesus Joseph (the husband of Mary) Heli Matthat Levi Melchi Janna Joseph Mattathias Amos Naum Esli Nagge Maath Mattathias Semei Joseph Juda Joanna Rhesa Zorobabel Salathiel Neri Melchi Addi Cosam Elmodam Er Jose Eliezer Jorim Matthat Levi Simeon Juda Joseph Jonan Eliakim Melea Menan Mattatha Nathan David Jesse Obed Booz Salmon Naasson Aminadab Aram Esrom Phares Juda Jacob Isaac Abraham Thara Nachor Saruch Ragau Phalec Heber Sala Cainan Arphaxad Sem Noe Lamech Mathusala Enoch Jared Maleleel Cainan Enos Seth Adam God Matthew 1:2 - 16 Through Mary Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. 1. Abraham 2. Isaac 3. Jacob 4. Judas 5. Phares and Zara of Thamar 6. Esrom 7. Aram 8. Aminadab 9. Naasson 10. Salmon 11. Booz of Rachab 12. Obed of Ruth 13. Jesse 14. David the king 1. Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias 2. Roboam 3. Abia 4. Asa 5. Josaphat 6. Joram 7. Ozias 8. Joatham 9. Achaz 10. Ezekias 11. Manasses 12. Amon 13. Josias 14. Jechonias and his brethren, about the time they were carried away to Babylon, then after the carrying away to Babylon: 1. Salathiel 2. Zorobabel 3. Abiud 4. Eliakim 5. Azor 6. Sadoc 7. Achim 8. Eliud 9. Eleazar 10. Matthan 11. Jacob 12. Joseph (the "mighty man," the father of Mary) 13. Mary 14. Jesus, who is called Christ. "So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David until the carrying away into Babylon are fourteen generations; and from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are fourteen generations." ////////////////// When Judas Hanged Himself The topic of when Judas hanged himself is worthy of research because of the common teaching that Ju das hanged himself before Jesus' crucifixion. God's Word teaches that Judas Iscariot not only was alive at the time of the crucifixion, but he saw the resurrected Christ and was also an eyewitness of Christ's ascension. To understand the accuracy of God's Word regarding the activities of Judas after his betrayal of Jesus, let us begin our research in I Corinthians. I Corinthians 15:3-5: how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; And that he [Christ] was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: And that he was seen of Cephas [Peter], then of the twelve. If the resurrected Christ was seen of the twelve as verse 5 states, then Judas had to be alive during the appearances of Jesus. Proceeding to search The Word regarding all of Christ's appearances, let us consider the accounts recorded in the Gospels of Luke and John. We need to establish first of all that the accounts in these two Gospels are identical. It is on this occasion which was Jesus' first appearance to His apostles that Jesus showed the apostles His scars. It is inconceivable that Jesus, after He had once shown them His hands, side and feet, would upon another occasion deem it necessary to show them again. The day and the time of that day when this singular event took place is clearly stated. The time of this appearance is the first day of the week, after the resurrection, toward evening. John 20:19: Then the same day at evening, being the first day of the week Luke 24:1 and 29: Now upon the first day of the week for it is toward evening, and the day is far spent.... Luke 24:33 and 36: And they rose up the same hour, and returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them. And as they thus spoke, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. There were eleven of the apostles gathered together, and those who were with them, when Jesus stood in the midst of them. John 20:24 gives the same account only this time the record states the name of the absent disciple. John 20:24: But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. Thomas was absent; the other eleven apostles assembled when Jesus came; thus Judas Iscariot had to have been living and present. John 20:26 tells us that "... after eight days again his disciples were within...." These are the same apostles as were gathered at the first appearance in Luke 24. Luke 24:33: the eleven (without Thomas] gathered together, and them that were with them. The time that Jesus was seen of the twelve, then, is specifically stated in John 20. John 20:26: again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them [eleven and Thomas made the count twelve]: then came Jesus, the doors being shut and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be unto you. Jesus came and stood in the midst of the twelve, confirming the information in I Corinthians. I Corinthians 15:5: he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve. Matthew 27 records the events of Judas' life after he betrayed Jesus Matthew 27:5: And he [Judas Iscariot] cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. This account does not say that these events happened in quick succession. This simply summates Judas' life. How wonderful the Word of God is and how plain when once we understand it. Another account also confirms that Judas was alive after the resurrection. Acts 1:1,2: The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen. Luke 6:13 tells that Jesus had chosen twelve, not eleven, and Acts 1:2 says He gave "commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen [the twelve].' Acts 1:3: To whom also he shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days.... "To whom" refers back to the apostles (of verse 2) whom He had chosen. To the twelve apostles He showed Himself alive after His passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them - the twelve apostles - forty days. In order to accurately divide The Word on the rest of Acts 1, it is important to establish that eleven of the apostles were Galileans, but the one named Judas Iscariot was a Judean. He was from the town of Kerioth in southern Judea. "Iscariot" is commonly thought to be from the Hebrew Ish Kerioth, that is "a man of Kerioth." The record of Judas from Kerioth is found in two of the oldest codices. We need only Acts 2:7 to prove that the other eleven apostles were Galileans. On the day of Pentecost the multitude at the Temple said, "... Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?" referring to the eleven apostles (without Judas Iscariot) plus Matthias. Whenever any reference is made to men of Galilee or Galileans, Judas is left out for he was a Judean. Now, we must continue following the pronouns in the first chapter of Acts very carefully. Acts 1:4: And, being assembled together with them, commanded them [referring back to verse two, apostles whom He had chosen which were twelve] that they [twelve apostles] should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Fattier.... In verse 5, the "ye" refers to the twelve apostles Verses 5 and 6: For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. When they [the twelve] therefore were come together, they [the twelve] asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel? In verse 7 "them" refers to the twelve apostles, while the "ye" in verse 8 refers to the twelve aposfies. Verses 9 through 11 continue the account. And when he [Jesus] had spoken these things, while they [the twelve apostles] beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their [the twelve apostles'] sight And while they [the twelve apostles] looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them [the twelve apostles] in white apparel; Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? In verse eleven the "two men" addressed their remarks to "men of Galilee," the eleven apostles -not to Judas, the Judean. Note the time of verse ten, when the two men stood by them (the twelve), and verse eleven when the two men spoke to men of Galilee (the eleven). Judas Iscariot departed the scene at this time. There is a passing of time between verses ten and eleven which allows for this departure, so verse eleven could well begin a new paragraph. Note that verse eleven does not say, "Which also said unto them." Had it read "unto them," the pronoun "them" would have referred back to the twelve (the same as verse ten) and this would be inaccurate for the "two men" spoke to only eleven apostles from Galilee: "Which also said, Ye men of Galilee ...." This change from using pronouns through verse ten to "men of Galilee" in verse eleven is certainly no accident. How wonder-fully accurate the Word of God is. Acts 1:12: Then returned they [the eleven] unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet.... They, the "men of Galilee" (without Judas, the Judean) returned unto Jerusalem. Verse 13: And when they [the men of Galilee] were come in, they [eleven apostles] went up into an upper room, where ........ Eleven men of Galilee are then all named one by one. Judas Iscariot is never heard of again. Peter tells what happened to Judas in verse 18. Acts 1:18: Now this man [Judas Iscariot] purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. Choosing a replacement for Judas then followed in short order. It was very fitting that this should take place so close to the ascension, and yet before Pentecost. A replacement was not chosen earlier because Judas was still alive. Now we have the whole story of Judas Iscariot who betrayed the Son of God and then regained apparent fellowship with the other eleven after the crucifixion for he was with them during Christ's several appearances. Finally Judas was found at the scene of the ascension. Afterwards he departed and hanged himself The term "hanged himself" implies to the Western mind that he took his own life by suspending himself from the neck. This however is not the case according to Eastern custom. We read of King Saul falling upon his own sword. This was tile method of hanging for government or military personnel Judas was not in this category. Being a common man, he fell upon a stake. The term "hanging" is used for this type of suicide because the victims suspended themselves on pointed objects. By such action the abdomen was punctured and the bowels gushed out, as is described In order to note the so-called discrepancy regarding Judas' death as recorded in Matthew 27:3-10 and Acts 1:15-20, let us note the Word of God accurately and see for ourselves that there is no discrepancy whatsoever in these two accounts. Acts 1:15: And in those days (the days between the ascension day of Pentecost) and then Peter stood up in the midst of the disciples, and said, (the number of names together were about an hundred and twenty). Note that this is not the day of Pentecost, but this is in the days before Pentecost. How long before Pentecost we do not know but we do know that it was after the ascension and before the day of Pentecost. cost. On this occasion before Pentecost, the names together were about one hundred and twenty. It was at this time that Peter stood up among the disciples and led the meeting to elect someone to replace Judas Iscariot who had hanged himself after the ascension. Verses 16-18: [Peter said,] Men and brethren, this scripture must needs have been fulfilled, which the Holy Ghost by the mouth of David spake before concerning Judas, which was guide to them that took Jesus. For he was numbered with us, and had obtained part of this ministry. Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. The word "purchased" is the word "provided." It is the same word used in Matthew 10:9 where it states, "Provide neither gold...." Judas purchased or provided for himself "...a field with the reward of iniquity...." The word "field" in this verse is the Greek word ch6rion meaning "property." Judas provided for himself a property which he purchased "...with the reward of iniquity." Most people believe that his reward of iniquity was the thirty pieces of silver, which cannot be true because he cast them down in the temple. In John 12:6 we are told that Judas "was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein." Judas was the treasurer or the caretaker of the money of tile apostles. It also instructs us that he "was a theif" Judas stole money from the bag, and with this stolen money, which is called the "reward of iniquity," he provided for himself a property. After tile ascension, as we have traced earlier in this study, Judas returned to his own purchased property which he had acquired with money stolen from the bag "... and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." It plainly states that he hanged himself on his own property sometime after tile ascension and before Pentecost because the "about a hundred and twenty" elected someone to replace Judas, as we noted in verse fifteen, "in those days" before tile day of Pentecost Acts 1:19: And it was known unto all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch as that field is called in their proper tongue, Aceldama, that is to say, The field of blood. Matthew 27:5: "And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself." Note very carefully that in this verse the property which Judas purchased or provided for himself is called Aceldama, the field of blood It could not have been called "the field of blood" when he purchased it or provided it for himself, but it was called this later because he hanged himself on his own property. Matthew 27 gives the following account of Judas Matthew 27:3-5: Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down tile pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself People have inferred from verse five that as soon as Judas had east the thirty pieces of silver back into the temple, he immediately went and hanged himself. This cannot be true as we have seen from our study of the Word of God. Verse five is just a summary of what occurred later; it simply telescopes time. Verse six of Matthew 27 gives us some interesting information regarding what the chief priests did with the thirty pieces of silver that Judas returned and cast back in the temple. Matthew 27:6: And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. The chief priests said that these thirty pieces of silver were "the price of blood," the price of blood that the chief priests had paid Judas to betray the Lord Jesus Christ and to deliver Him to them. After Judas had done this, the priests had Jesus crucified. Matthew 27:7: And they [the chief priests] took counsel [They got together in a discussion as to what to do with the thirty pieces of silver since it was not lawful for them to be put back into the treasury, because they were the price of blood.], and bought [purchased in the open market place where the sales of properties and fields were made] with them [the thirty pieces of silver] the potter's field, to bury strangers in. The word "field" in Matthew 27:7 is not the same word chorion as the word "field" in Acts 1:18, which verse we have discussed. The word "field" in Matthew is the Greek word agros meaning a larger area than the chorion, property, purchased by Judas. The chief priests, after due consideration and counsel, purposely decided to go to the open market and there to buy a potter's field. They did not buy the property on which Judas hanged himself for that was Judas' own property. The chief priests took the thirty pieces of silver and deliberately purchased a field in which to bury strangers - meaning the poor people, criminals and those who had no other place to be buried. This field was called "the potter's field." Matthew 27:8: Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. When the chief priests went to the market place to buy the potter's field, they did not go out to buy a field called "the field of blood"; but it was called thus by the people later because the priests had purchased it with the thirty pieces of silver. The word "field" in this verse, again, is the word agros in the Greek, and the word "blood" is the word haimatos in the Greek. This is an entirely different field from the one referred to in Acts. In the latter it was a property, and the property was "the property of blood" using the word Aceldama, while in Matthew it is called "the field of blood," namely, agros haimatos. Thus, there is no contradiction between the records of Acts and Matthew. As a matter of fact, a very careful study of these facts makes the record detailed and real. It thrills our hearts when we see the great accuracy of the wonderful Word of God. This was extracted from- The Bible tells Me so - Victor Paul Wierwille American Christian press 1971. [Transcribed by MB]. ///////////////////////////// Tape: The Teachings #741124 Title: Christ Formed In You Teacher: Doctor Victor Paul Wierwille Date: November 24, 1974 Purpose of the Teaching: Dr. Wierwille expounds on the topic of how Christ is formed within us. The Father God, through Jesus Christ, builds Himself in us through the fullness and greatness of His revealed Word so that our moment by moment living is like and with the master. Growth, building the Word (love, grace) within a life to have something to share with others, takes time and a lot of love. The walk is two-fold: with the lord and in the world. Wonderful men and women of God show forth to the world the Christ in them, with that love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation and help people. Dr. Wierwille further teaches on how we are to learn to love people as we grow deeply spiritual. The Word of God living in us and we living in the Word manifesting forth the greatness of that Word will move the greatness of the power of God in our world today. Topics: heart of Christianity, love, giving, everlasting life, eternal life, loving the unlovable, criticism, complaining, building the Word in a life takes time and love, suffering under adverse conditions, being broken bread for people, getting born again, labor, Diamonds in the Rough, God's good pleasure, growing in grace, our lives as living epistles, forgiveness, becoming Christ filled, unsearchable riches of Christ, walking with the lord and in the world, living the abundant life, learning to love, living love, identification with Christ. Scripture: Ephesians 5:1; John 3:16; Acts 16:16-34; Galatians 4:19; Genesis 3:16; Philippians 2:13; II Peter 3:18; I Corinthians 2:9; Ephesians 3:8; Colossians 1:9; Philippians 4:11; Galatians 2:20. English Words: everlasting, eternal, grace, unsearchable, fruitful Length: 45 minutes, 53 seconds. Tonight I've been thinking about how Christ is formed within us and that's what I want to open up with you tonight and share with you. In Ephesians, chapter 5... you see... every earthly father who is a real... you know... Christian father and who loves his children.... he desires within his inner most being to produce,... reproduce himself in his children. The heart of Christianity, my people, is the Father God, through Jesus Christ, building Himself in us through His revealed Word. So moment by.... so that our moment by moment living is like and with the master. In Ephesians 5 it says, "be ye therefore followers of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savor." God so loved according to John (remember?) 3:16. God so loved that He what?.... gave. All love is giving. God, the Creator of all heaven and earth, so loved that He gave His only begotten son that who so ever believeth on him should not perish, but have what?.... everlasting life! The reason it's everlasting life is because it has a starting point for you. The reason it's eternal life is because it has no starting point for God. And therefore that which you receive from God is eternal, but for you it's everlasting. That's the difference in the usage in the two words everlasting and eternal. With God that which you receive is eternal, but for you it's everlasting because it had a starting point. If you were 25 years old before you were born again, then before that time you had no everlasting life. But when you got born again of God's spirit at 25, that from then on you have this eternal life but it's everlasting from that point on for you. We walk in love, as Christ hath also... hath loved us. He who knew no sin became sin so that you and I might become what?.... the righteousness of God in him. Imagine that! God so loved that He gave. Jesus Christ so loved that he gave. And you and I must so love that we have to give. I have to love to the point where people learn to love because of the love I share with them. That's what I meant when I say in classes, you have to learn to let people walk on your feet until they learn to walk on their own. You have to be the hands of people until they learn to use their own hands. You have to be the heart of people until people learn to use their heart and extend it out to the lives of other people. We have to be broken bread for people until they learn to break their own bread of life. God so loved. Christ loved. And we have to so love because he hath given himself for us an offering, a sacrifice to God, for a sweet smelling savour. And that's better than Chanelle #5. And the Word says that we are to God a sweet smell. When this Christ is formed within us to the end that we love wherewith he loved. And people, it is possible to love the unlovable in spite of, it is possible to so renew your mind that there is absolutely nothing that any other Christian believer does but that you still love them and don't criticize and find fault with them. There is something brewing in my heart, just didn't have time to get it all brewed up and canned. But one of these Sunday nights, by God's mercy and grace, I'm going to teach on the battle of the mind. And show you that you can so get in alignment and harmony with God's Word, that that Word so lives within you and you live in that Word, that you can absolutely take anything your mind has done previously and make it agree with God's Word. Change it around. And you can so walk, that you are the optimization of the love of God in Christ Jesus. Christ in you the hope of glory. Spiritually, yes, but what about that love, that forgiveness, that tenderness? What about the criticism we pass on people? You know, he's a Christian brother and he does something that doesn't quite agree with what you think you ought to do. So instead of really loving, we criticize. The only criticism I've seen in God's Word that Jesus Christ ever gave were to the religionists. Those men who sat at the top echelon of so called Judaism which was suppose to represent the power of God and the Word of God in its day and time. Those men he called whited sepulchers, he called them hypocrites. But I remember a woman taken in adultery, everybody else was really laying it on her. They wanted to stone her and Jesus said, which one of you fellas wants to throw the first one. He never criticized her. He never called her a whited sepulcher or a Pharisee. You see, we've got to go to the Word and love with the love wherewith Jesus loved. And you're never going to get to that place unless you commit yourself to the integrity of God and His Word and let this Word be built in you. And the building of the Word takes time, people. It's not something you take a class on in Power for Abundant Living in two weeks and walk away and say, "Now I've got it. The rest of my life I can fool around." That's just the bare foundation. It gives you all the principles upon which to build , that I know, but the building takes time. Like building this Biblical Research Center takes time. If we were going to manufacture a piano, you could have all the things that put it... to put in a piano, it still takes time to put it together. And in that process of learning and growing, where people move from hearing the Word to building the Word within their life takes time. And that takes a lot of love. Well think of the love God had in Christ Jesus to make salvation available to us. To make it possible for us to be born again of God's spirit, to be filled with the holy spirit. To have a knowledge of His Word so that we could rightly divide it and operate manifestations decently and in order. That all of God's people can be edified, built up, by way of exhortation and comfort. To hear from God All Mighty, the Creator of heaven and earth. In Acts chapter 16. There's a record of two men of God and the same God that was in those two men is in you tonight. The same Jesus Christ yesterday, today, and how long? I think I'll just read this thing, I hadn't planned on it, but it won't hurt you. 16:16... Acts. It came to pass as we went to prayer a certain damsel, young lady, possessed with a spirit of divination met us, who brought her masters much gain, by soothsaying, palm reading kind of stuff, you know other things. The same followed Paul and us, and cried saying, these men are the servants of the most high God, who show unto us the way of what? Was she right in what she said? Absolutely right. Don't tell me that devil spirits don't know. What she was saying was right on. Most of the people would give her a front row seat. This did she many days, but Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the woman... no, he said to the what?... the spirit, the spirit, that devil spirit he said I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he, the devil spirit, came out the same hour, that means pronto, right away, booms quick. And when her masters saw that the hope of their gains was gone, they caught Paul and Silas, and drew them into the marketplace, or the court, unto the rulers, and brought them to the magistrate saying, these men being Jews do exceedingly trouble our city and teach customs which are not lawful for us to receive, neither to observe, being Romans. And the multitude rose up against them, against Paul and Silas, and the magistrates rent off their clothes, you know they're gettin' real hot under the collar, and commanded to beat them. And when they had laid many stripes upon them they cast them into prison. Charging the jailer to keep them safely, who having received such a charge, thrust them into the inner prison so they couldn't get out and he fastened their feet in stocks. And at midnight Paul and Silas moped, they said, "Oh God, we're working for you, why do we have to suffer like this Lord? All we were doing was your will. You gave us revelation, there was a devil spirit, we took it out." Midnight, Paul and Silas (did what?) prayed. Under the most adverse conditions, being in prison for something they shouldn't have been in prison for at all, yet at midnight they prayed and they sang praises unto whom? And the prisoners heard them and Paul and Silas were ashamed that they heard them sing... No. Suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone's bans were loosed. And the keeper of the prison awaking out of his sleep and seeing the prison doors were opened he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had all what? Paul cried out with a loud voice saying, "Do thyself no harm, we're all here." Then the jailer called for a light, he got his lantern, his six-cell, and sprang in, and came trembling, fell down before Paul and Silas and brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" What a record! God so loved. Jesus Christ so loved. Paul and Silas so loved that even though they had laid many stripes upon them, cast them into prison, they sang hymns, they praised the Lord, they prayed and when this thing occurred, the jailer said, "Guys, I want that stuff that you've got. I want to tap into the same thing you've got. What must I do to be..." What? right. And they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, thou shalt be saved and thy house" and they spoke unto him the Word of the Lord. That's the only thing that saves people. And to all that were what? And he, verse thirty three, the jailer, took them the same hour of the night, washed their stripes, and was baptized (it doesn't say water so keep it out)... was baptized, he and all of his household straightway, that means immediately, they were born again of God's spirit, that whole household that night. And then, when he had brought them into his house, he made a steak dinner for them. This has gotta be at two thirty or three o'clock in the morning. And rejoice, believing in God with all of his.... What? house. Paul and Silas did not cry because the magistrates threw them in prison. They didn't go around complaining. They knew they had to be broken bread until the people learned to break their own. They knew they had to be able to take it until people could take on Christ for themselves. You and I have to so love, so have Christ formed in... within us, that we are the demonstration of the love of Christ in the renewed mind in manifestation. In the book of Galatians, chapter 4, look at verse 19. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be... What? formed in you. This was the walk of the apostle Paul. See, they were born again of God's spirit, they were already children but there were little kids spiritually. You can be 90 and just be a little child spiritually, just sort a like a pledge or a fledgeling. And the word says, My little children, of whom I travail in pain, like in, in travail in birth, not pain, travail in birth, labor. See, it's like in Genesis, you know, ah, says something about in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children. That's a bunch a baloney. The Word says in labor, but you see being occidental and everybody having to suffer like crazy having kids, so we gotta get the word sorrow in there. No, it's labor. Boy, there's a tremendous class that Mrs. Duncan taught on Diamonds in the Rough. I've only listened to the first tape and a half on it. I didn't have any more time on my way back from Minnesota. Ah, but if this... if this last part is as good as the first tape and a half, she's got something going in our ministry that all the young women and men ought to hear because she is discussing, from the greatness of God's Word, the power of it. The new families in the ministry, the new husbands and wives who want to have a baby. How to go about getting ready for that baby. How to prepare for that baby. Then, how to work with that baby after it arrives. That's why she called it Diamonds in the Rough. It's a beautiful thing that she's doing, you see. And she handles that verse I just mentioned. That isn't sorrow in Genesis. It's labor, which is true. And any woman who has a baby is gonna put in fifteen minutes at least a little bit of labor to get the production, I guess. Ah, but look at what he's saying, children of whom I travail in birth, in labor, in birth, again... again. See they're born again of God's spirit, Christ is in them, but Christ is not formed in their mind. The new birth is Christ in you the hope of glory but putting it on in the mind up here is to get the form of Christ up here. So that when you speak, you speak like Christ would speak. That when you would smile, you would smile like Christ would smile. You'd love, like Christ would love. You'd share his peace, like Christ would share his peace. In Philippians chapter 2, look at verse 13. For it is God, it is who? God. Which worketh in you. It is God Who is at work within you. To will and to do His what? good pleasure. God at work within us. Spiritually He is at work within us. That we may will and do His good pleasure. Now to know what is God's pleasure, you must know God's Word. And one of the things that is God's pleasure, is certainly to love wherewith He loved. The tenderness wherewith He was tender. The joy with which He joyed. The blessings with which He blessed. The thanksgiving with which He lived. It is God at work within us. To will and to do His what?... good pleasure. You see, God is building His love life in you. His righteousness, His strength, His perfection, His goodness, His justice, His forgiveness. God is at work within you to build that within you so that you can share it with others. In Second Peter is a tremendous truth. Hebrews, James, first/second Peter, chapter 3, verse 18. But grow in what? grace. Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Grow in grace. The word grace literally could be translated, love's gifts. Grace is always God who is love at work. Love at work is grace. It says, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our lord and savior Jesus Christ. It doesn't say, grow in the knowledge of scripture, The Way Ministry is loaded with that stuff at times but no love. We've got grads of the class Power for Abundant Living I wish I'd a never taught 'em. All they do is prance around showin' people how much knowledge of the scriptures they have and make everyone else who hasn't got that knowledge feel badly if they can. Why, my goodness, why did I ever teach 'em God's Word for?... breaks my heart. It's not the knowledge of the scriptures, ya know, but the extent to which you know Him and walk wherewith the love that He loved. Nothing wrong with knowledge of the scriptures but it looks to me, you haven't got enough knowledge if you don't apply it. You ought to read a few verses that tell ya how to put it on. How to love with the love wherewith He loved. How to forgive with the forgiveness wherewith He forgives. How to keep your tongue under control so you don't go blabbin' everything all the time. It's an unruly evil, remember?... the tongue. No man can tame it so quit trying to tame it. Let God tame it. He's the only one who can do it. Otherwise your always gonna have the runnin' off with the tongue and diarrhea of the mouth to boot. Sorry, without exlax of the spirit. So, grow in grace, that growing in grace is to grow in the love life of Christ. Like you can grow in the new birth. You can get more spiritually than in the growing of it is in the renewed mind and in the walk. Grow in grace, love at work in your life by God through Christ who saved us when we were totally dead in trespasses and sins without God and without hope. People, He loved us enough that He saved us. Can you and I really, if we know what that means do less than endeavor to build the grace of God in our minds and the love wherewith He loved to share that love. So it's not a knowledge of the scriptures but what do I love, how do I love with that knowledge. You know, in First Corinthians, chapter 2, look in verse 9. As it is written, eye hath not see nor what? ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that what? love Him, yet God hath revealed the things unto us by the spirit for the spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God. God hath prepared for them that what? love Him. He has revealed them by His spirit and it's the spirit that searcheth the deep things of God and God at work within you to will and to do of His good pleasure. When you and I renew our minds and walk in the light of that Word, then we are having Christ formed in us. People will never see Christ until they see you. He's seated in the heavenlies waitin' to get back. The only Christ they'll ever see is the walk within you, the Christ in you, the joy in you, the thanksgiving , the blessing, the, the effervescence, the enthusiasm, the smile, the dedication, the commitment. That's all they'll ever see of Christ. They're not going to open the book. They'll buy one and put it in the house. They ain't gonna open it, not gonna read it, not gonna study it. But they're gonna look at your life and they're gonna look at mine and they're gonna say, does he really love? He talks about forgiveness. Does he do the same? You see honey, they'll never see Christ until they see it in you, see it in me. We have to become Christ filled, Christ centered, Christ everything has to be within us whether we're in a shop or a factory or in a car or sittin' on a log. It has to be Christ in manifestation. In Ephesians chapter 3, listen to verse 8. Unto me who am less than the least of all saints is this grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the untrackable, unsearchable riches of Christ. There are some things in life that you can track. Maybe one of these mornings we'll have some snow and, if the rabbits have been out that night, I guarantee you that you can track 'em. But there are other things that, in the Word of God, that can not be tracked. Some things you can track. Having been in research all these years there are some things I can put together as I say, "With a mathematical exactness and a scientific precision." That when I'm finished with it I'm absolutely positive it's God's Word, it's right. That there's nobody that can touch it. Because I can just track it, like a rabbit to where he's sittin' underneath the bush or the wood pile, track him right in. But then there are other things in God's Word that are absolutely untrackable, that's this word "unsearchable". That word "unsearchable" is the word untrackable. The grace given that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable or the untrackable riches of Christ. Tonight people, again I feel like I feel every time when I teach God's Word whether it's here or any other place in the world. I feel like this verse, the least of all saints to me was this grace given that to you I have the privilege and to the people of the world that I minister among, to teach and to share with them that untrackable riches of Christ. I don't understand it but I sure appreciate it. I can't explain it but I sure love him for it. But there are a lot of other things much simpler than the riches of Christ that I can't explain either. Electricity is one. I've had a real problem trying to explain it but I sure enjoy it when I need it for the darkness to be dispelled. When I need toast in the mornin', a few other things. You see, that love of God tenderizes you, forgiving, makes you tender, makes you kind, makes you understanding. Because it couldn't do anything else but. In Colossians chapter 1, verse 9. For this cause, we also since the day we heard it do not cease to pray for you and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual what?... understanding, that you might walk worthy,... walk worthy of the lord unto all pleasing being fruitful... and to be fruitful is to propagate oneself. Literally in the texts, in every good work and growing up, increasing is growing up, by the knowledge of God, by the knowledge of God. Walk worthy of the lord, unto all what? pleasing. You see, there's a walk with the lord and there's a walk with the world. It's a two fold walk, it's a walk with Him but there's also a walk in the world. And we're to walk so worthy of the lord in the world, unto all pleasing, propagating oneself and growing what? up, growing up. I know that this Christ in you the hope of glory is perfect, I know it's eternal life from God's point of view. I know all that. But I know people born again of God's spirit who have an absolute miserable existence, who are full of fear and anxiety, and frustration, down cast and defeated. People, that can not be right on. For our Christ came and lived within us that we might have a life which is more than what? That we might be more than what? I can do all things through Christ who infuses, inner strengthens me, one translator puts it. Who strengthens me. What a tremendous record from God's Word. You know in chapter 4 of Philippians. In chapter 2, in chapter 4 in, in ah verse 11. Not that I speak in respect of want, for I have learned in whatsoever state King James says, I am there with content. That would say, if your sick be thankful your sick. Well, if your dying be thankful your dying. That's a bunch a baloney. The text reads, in whatsoever state I am self adequate that makes you more than a what? more than an abundant life. In whatever state your standing as one of a son of God state, I am, I am what? self adequate. Not because of my own self but because of His self, God at work within me to will and to do what? He makes me self adequate, don't ya see it? That's why I'm adequate because of His adequacy, His ability, His willingness, His desire. I too had to learn to love. Like everyone has to learn. It said growing up, right? I too had to grow up. Cause there was a long time I took growin' up. Especially some people I had to love. 'Cause it was so much easier to get mad at 'em. 'Cause I just didn't like the way they combed their hair, or put on their pants, or somethin', or what kind of shoes they wore, ya know, and golly sixty, ya know, to find some unlovable one and then the Word says that ya have to love 'em, that's a real strain on your head. I too had to learn people. I've always had, of course, in me, the inner part of my being I guess, the ability to understand a lot of things about people, but, that love wherewith I love today is just unbelievable, even for me. I'm like that vessel we read about I know this it can only be God at work within me that brought me to that place because there is nothing that anybody could tell me that would shock me, number one, nobody. You couldn't tell me of anything that you've done that you could even shock me. And you couldn't tell me of anything you've done that would make me think less of you. And for God to do that within one takes an awful big God. And have come to the place where, I trust by God's mercy and grace, I am tonight, that there is just nobody that I could not love. Has to be God. And I can so easily put up with the short comings of people, I'm talking now Christians, who are also now growing up. Because God tenderized me on the inside because of the greatness of His love. If He can take a man that is callused and hard and egotistical and all the rest of the junk that goes with usual academic procedures and so bring him in the place that he can so love that he is willing to give what he has, that others may be willing to learn too. It has to be God, people. That's how I got to it, just by growing up in the Word and letting this Word live in my mind and begin practicing the presence of God, the Word, all the way through. This is why Galatians speaks so loudly to my heart tonight people. Galatians, right before Ephesians, look at that chapter 2, very familiar to ya I'm sure. I was crucified with Christ, never the less I what?... live, yet not I, but Christ liveth where?... in me. And the life which I now live, right now, this Sunday night, 1974, the life I now live in the flesh, senses world, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loved me, and who gave himself, what? for me. I was crucified with Christ, when Christ was crucified I was crucified with him, so were you. When he died we died with him. The Word says, when he was laid into the sepulcher we were laid with him. When he arose we arose with him. When he ascended we ascended with him. That's why the Word says we're already seated in the what?... heavenlies in Christ Jesus because wherever Christ was, we were. Where he is we are, where he comes back, where he will be, we will be. For he is our savior and our lord. I was crucified with Christ, never the less what?... live. I'm alive, yet the light, yet not I but Christ what? liveth in me. That's the greatness of that life and the life which I now live, right now in the senses world, I live by the pistis of Jesus Christ,... the believing. Who so what? loved me that he gave himself for me. People, far as I understand a little bit about the Word and about building the greatness of this Word in your life. The only thing I have seen through the years is that men who grow deeply spiritual, women who grow deeply spiritual, are men and women who allow the Word to be fully declared unto them and walk in the fullness and greatness of that Word. These are the men and the women who become deeply spiritual. I didn't say religious, I said spiritual. And it is that Word, that Word living in us, and you living in the Word manifesting forth the greatness of that Word, that moves the greatness of the power of God in our world today. This is Thanksgiving week, many of you will not be in this auditorium Wednesday night for our Thanksgiving service. That's why I'd just like to share this message that I shared with you tonight about Christ being formed in you. Because this is what our nation needs, to see that Christ in you with that love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation. Your next door neighbor needs it. There is nothing so completely satisfying as the knowledge of the Word in the renewed mind in manifestation, bringing that love to people. You will never be so blessed in your life until your blessed by helping somebody else with the love that Christ has given you. You will never be so blessed until you learn to forgive like Christ has forgiven you. To bring peace to someone's soul because Christ first brought it to you. That's why my prayer to is that Christ be formed in you. And that we can so love that we will be wonderful men and women of God, whom the world can look at, and if they want to see, they can then see Christ. For God so loved that He gave. Jesus Christ so loved that he gave. How can we say, we love God, when we don't even love our fellow brothers and sisters? [Transcribed by TB] ////////////////// Ref: God's Magnified Word Volume IV, Studies in Abundant Living Dr. V.P. Wierwille 3rd Printing, 1980 Page 62 Water in the outer space as an evidence of the Noah´s flood. Recent discoveries of the existence of water in the outer space as an evidence of the Noah´s flood leads us to propose a model for that cataclysmic event. Briefly, one of the first references could be found when God spoke to Job in chapter thirty-eight. Job 38:22 and 23: "Hast thou [Job] entered into the treasures of the snow? Or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?" As Doctor Wierwille exclaimed when he quote this verse: "Are there treasures in snow and hail? The twenty-third verse is still future. Scientists came up a few years ago with a bold declaration that there are "floating ice cubes" weighing two and three hundred pounds each floating in space. I do not know if they are right or wrong, but my Bible says that there are going to be great hail stones, "...the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved against the time of trouble...." We simply thrill with the revelation of those men many, many thousands of years ago." This can be considered one of the first evidences from the presence of water in the space. This evidence was corroborated with the space infrared telescope ISO (from the european space agency) at the end of 1995. since that year this telescope has been detecting more evidences of water in the outer space. The stellar heat could evaporate this ice, reaching a temperature of 30 º C según Ewine Van Dishoeck (Leiden Observatory, Holland). (ewine@strw.leidenuniv.nl) http://www.iso.vilspa.esa.es/ http://www.iso.vilspa.esa.es/outreach/esa_pr/in9614.htm http://www.origins.rpi.edu/iso_news.html http://www.esa.int/export/esaCP/Pr_14_1996_i_EN.html http://www.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~ewine/ Other: http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Dec96/IceonMoon.html (http://cass.jsc.nasa.gov/lpi/abspudis.html) http://www.sciencemag.org/science/scripts/display/full/274/5292/1495.html http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9907/31/lunar.prospector.crash.04/ Fragment in spanish: El 3 de diciembre de 1996, el departamento de defensa norteamericano declaró que su sonda espacial Clementine se encontró con un lago de agua congelada dentro de un cráter gigante del lado obscuro de la luna, en su polo sur. Dicho cráter tiene una profundidad de 12 km (compárese con el Everest que tiene unos 8.85 km de altura) y un tamaño del doble que Chipre. "La señal recibida concuerda con la del hielo", señaló Paul Spudis (Instituto Lunar y Planetario de la Universidad Rice). http://www.oup-usa.org/docs/0195099389.html http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/water_caution_000629.html (water mars) http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/europa_ocean_000824.html http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/solarsystem/mars_water_000620.html http://galileo.jpl.nasa.gov/moons/europa.html http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/galileo/status960813.html (water europa) http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9907/26/space.briefs/ (water asteroid) Undersea explorer finds new evidence of great flood: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/0105/online_extra.html (http://www.ife.org/_private/main.cfm?ID=110) http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/09/13/great.flood.finds.ap/ http://cbsnews.com/now/story/0,1597,232898-412,00.shtml http://www.usatoday.com/weather/science/wgrtfld.htm http://www.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/08/space.water.folo/ (space water meteorite) ///////////////////////// Philippians 4:9: Those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you. I Corinthians 4:15 and 16: For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me. I Corinthians 11:1: Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. ********* Some of Dr. V. P. W. last words, taken from his last trip to "The Way College of Biblical Research" in Scotland (Apr-May 1985), from: "Passing of a Patriarch", by Christopher C. Geer (15 Feb. 1986; Gartmore, Scotland): "I have never, and I will never, put myself in the shoes of the Biblical apostles" [from VPW last teaching in the USA: "The Hope"] (It went on to cover II Peter 1:12ff. and II Timothy 4:lff.) "Son, if I had had you with me I think I could have gone on living." "If I look like a man who has just lost his only friend, it is because I just have." "When it comes to the Ministry and the Word I just have no friends. Every day is a day of decision for every man, no matter how high he rises or how low he sinks." "Son, if you could stay with me I think I could live. Without you I'm not sure I'll live more than five years..." "[HRA] you don't need to play cards [a poker game,. a long-standing HRA's family tradition], you could just go for the fellowship." (Howard's reply was along the lines of referring to the value of the game, how it was for low values only. Doctor's comment was) "That's not the point" [Howard did go play poker that night; Doctor said very little and went to bed early... Doctor had prepared and read a piece on gambling at Headquarters. At the time Don, Howard and a number of Staff members had been involved in a regularly occurring game of "Hearts", a kind of card-game, played for only a penny a point... despite what Doctor had said [HRA] was going to go on playing "Hearts". He and Don had agreed; they were going to keep on playing. That night they did play "Hearts" and so did a number of the others who regularly played with them.] "Son, what would you say if I told you I was going to die?... Well, I am dying. The doctors call it [OE] melanoma'... Dr. Winegarner says I have up to a few years to live, but Father has told me that the time is very short. My days are shortly numbered. That is why I came to see you' this will be the last time we are together... Do you believe me?.. Bless you, son... My being here is really a breach of protocol in the Ministry, but no one else has believed me yet. They all keep saying or thinking, "That's just V.P.'... In the end I am almost alone. I am reminded of Paul. My last days have been so lonely." "...[DFW] is governed by facts, sense knowledge, and has basically neglected the spirit of God in his life." "There are basically only two men that I could talk to, you [CCG] and Howard [HRA]. You never have been the friend to me that Howard has." "I told him [HRA] that I was going to die soon, and he responded just like Don did, with all the sense knowledge about doctors and facts... He has been so busy with the Ministry I feel guilty to bother him, and when I do, I see how he has been influenced and lost his spiritual perception. Today he is not the man he once was spiritually and certainly not the man he could have been if he had stayed faithful. The infection that has so deeply cut into the life of the Ministry has taken my only real friend from me, too. In fact, I haven't had him as a friend for a number of years now, and that is almost too much for me to bear. I would have thought he would be the last to go, but not the first." "I knew that I would have to come to see you, but I kept fighting it. I knew a long time ago that it would come to this. Now I am so weak and close to death; I didn't want to come. For me it is so hard to be here. This really is the end of my life. In coming here I have admitted defeat. You see, I have tried everything to keep going. I kept thinking, praying, believing that somewhere the door would open for me to change things. I really didn't want to come here and see you. I knew a long time ago that things would come to this, and I have wanted to avoid it, but Father was right. Even last week I didn't want to come. In my heart I was thinking that if Fritz [Dr. Frederick Winegarner] said I couldn't travel then this would not happen. But, here I am." "Everyone else has been giving me facts to tell me that I am wrong, and you [CCG] come up with the facts to prove me out." "Son, I really should have died rather than let them take my eye out." "You see, when I first got sick Father had already told me by then that I couldn't change the things that were happening in the Ministry, but I kept thinking that I could get Don to change and live as a spiritual man, that I could get things back on the right track. I don't know how it got so far developed without me really knowing what was going on. I do know that I was aware before I gave up the Presidency. I saw things starting and then what I said was rejected. Then things started going worse faster and faster. Really, it is too far gone and I am too tired. The days are so limited; they are really gone for me." "I know that over the past few years I have cost the Ministry a lot of money. If I had gone to sleep when I knew I should have it would have been much cheaper, but I didn't. I kept thinking that maybe things would change. I kept looking for reasons to go on, thinking that He would open a door." "I will finally be out of his [DFW] way, and there will be no one to stop him from running things with sense knowledge and without God. Why should it come from within my own household? Son, it has cost me my friend and will end up costing us the Ministry." "You know, to live these past years has cost a lot compared to what I have been able to contribute. I just kept thinking there might be an open door..." "He [God] told me before, when I first got sick, that it was time. I knew it then, but I sure wanted to see things different. See, son, spiritually things are in a real mess. You were the first one to come along and find out the legal problems that our men were making for us. I knew it spiritually and spoke up a long time ago, but no one would listen to me then. All I got was facts. We are losing this Ministry to facts -- putting facts ahead of God. I pretty well have gotten out of the fight, but it looks to me that unless we have a major change spiritually we are going to lose to the IRS. We have walked away from God, and His hand of protection will be off us. It's just a matter of time. You can't run the Ministry without God; you just cant. You know, I told them a number of years ago to get their head out of the legal and drive themselves on the Word but facts -- facts -- facts. When you found out that stuff about our lawyer [Jim Peterson] I knew you were right. I had told them a number of years before that I felt spiritually he was doing things behind our backs to hurt us, to get us in trouble. When you spoke up I had the facts that he was. No one wanted to believe me, but now we see it in evidence." "It has been a hard time for me. I have watched men that I have fought for ruined. Well, for me anyway the time is up". "Son, I am so tired of facts. This Ministry was built on God and His Word. It was a Ministry of faith. But, no more. Now we need facts -- facts -- facts. Facts should be to support faith, not kill it." "Well, son, we aren't getting anything solved by sitting here. I see the trees [the pines] so we might as well head home." "I know that you must have been hurt in your heart by all the things that you told me once about how Vince and the others had handled the Ministry. I never responded to you, did I?" "Well, I saw it so much bigger than you ever did. He [Rev. Vince Finnegan] was only one. Our finest men, men I had poured out my life for and who really loved God, have been systematically destroyed. Today there aren't many left standing for the truth. It's like a tree. It takes so long to nurture and grow, but it can be killed so quickly. What I never would have expected was for Howard to be the first I just never would have believed it." "So many of the things that I have tried have gone so wrong. Like this Bill Maize thing at Emporia. Years ago I had Bill to teach the Corps. I thought it would be good learning for them, good exposure, and that they could grow. I knew that all that Carnegie stuff was basically selfish, basically greedy. But, I felt it could be good for some of our Corps kids, but I always had to watch over Bill. He never really developed it on the Word, he was never really honest with the stuff. Now we have our Corps man in Emporia full time to teach the stuff. As far as I am concerned he is way off the ball spiritually, but that isn't the worst part. We have gone so far off balance that Carnegie is more important than the work programme. I just know spiritually that there are people who come into the Corps to be able to get the Carnegie stuff and they put up with the rest. Spiritually the whole thing stinks, son." "I think my greatest regret is "the Advanced Class". I never did a good job of teaching it on film. Now it is up to one of you to get it done; I won't be here to do it. Son, if you ever get to Headquarters there is almost no one left that you can trust. I trusted Bob Winegarner and got so let down. It seems that each time it got worse." "You know, the live PFAL class at Gunnison was terrible for me. I should have known not to trust him, and it almost killed me. I regret being talked into doing it at all. It was a great idea, but with all this other stuff on my heart and then the same problems with Bob as all the other times, well... I did such a bad piece of work. I wish I could undo it. The worst, though, is the Advanced Class. Now I will never get it done. See, he could have stayed sharp and developed, too. He was a good man but he didn't stand either, he knuckled under." "Don has been after me to explain to him and others what I had in my heart for the Continental Outreach Centers I had talked about. They haven't believed anything I have told them lately so I saw no reason to try to explain all that to them... It would do some of our other men a world of good to get out from behind their desks and come, look and be a part of it. But they won't. And if they did they wouldn't see it anyway. Son, our days are dark ones." "You know, I used to work like this at Headquarters. I have spent days doing what you are doing here -- from painting to gardening. Today the same Headquarters that I worked so hard for and bleed out my life for, the one that we gave to the Ministry, has only a handful of people that are spiritually trustworthy. Most have been turned. Today it harbors more hypocrites than believers. There are only a handful left, and very few of them are in top positions. Most of the ones you could trust are malcontents, troublemakers, the ones who don't fit in. I would say that there is almost no one at the top levels that you could really trust." "You and I are the only two who believe what I am saying. Others know but..." (and then he cried. After a while he took a breath) "I told them, and they did not believe me. More facts. Well, there [Dr. Wierwille was pointing at the television screen and was quite obviously referring to his last teaching in the USA: "The Hope"] I said it publicly. When I am dead then maybe they will believe me. I was faithful, son. I tried." "What does Barbara [the wife of CCG] think of my being here?... Well, does it bother her that I don't feel well?... , "Does she know that I am dying?.. I knew you wouldn't [tell her,] I just knew it. Well, I suppose I had better tell her myself sometime soon... Well, see you later, son." "I remember at the opening that I sensed spiritually the need to cover for having opened with the national anthem, and that's why I covered for it right away in my opening comments. As far as I can remember, that is the first time that He has brought to my mind that need. I need to remember to tell the Trustees when I get home that we have to think more and more as an international Ministry and watch it carefully. Sitting here in another country today and then again tonight I see it so clearly." "Get me home, son... I need to go home... That was close. I didn't think I was going to make it back here." "For me to go [on "the Bible Lands Tour"] would take quite a miracle, we both know that. By then, son, it looks to me like the IRS will have beat us. If I were to live long enough to go on the Bible Lands Tour I will tell you what it would take. When I go home I believe I will have one more opportunity to see the full Board of Trustees. If even one of them would look at me and say: `Doctor, you told us you were going to die. Is there anything that you want to tell us about the Ministry before you die?', I think that I could believe to be healed. You know what I would do? I would turn right around and come back here and be with you, and I think that in a matter of a couple or a few months I could be delivered TOTALLY. You and I could do it." "See, son, they are willing to buy me anything or let me do anything but they are keeping me away from the Ministry. They won't talk to me or listen to me honestly. This Ministry is my LIFE. They want to change it, and change is a good thing, but never when it is away from God and His Word. See, son, even the research work is being affected. It is still accurate but not vital like it should be. It is only a matter of time until it loses its integrity too. Walter is already kowtowing to Donnie. Donnie has no right to be involved in the research; he hasn't got the spirituality or the integrity to touch it. His kind of management will kill it. You cannot buy a knowledge of God's Word; no man can do it, and I don't care what his name is. "Now is not the time for the Bible Lands Tour. I told them this, but they wanted it. The research isn't ready yet, and if you squeeze it, you will lose it. The Bible Lands Tour just isn't right. It will be a fight all the way, and for no other reason than that it is not God's time yet. "Unless things change drastically, our research work will suffer very quickly. Donnie will push to have things done that will impress the academic world. I have nothing against impressing the academic world. Son, we have to work the Word to stand approved before HIM. It's HIS Word. If it impresses the brains or not, it's still HIS Word. When we lose the sensitivity of listening to that Word, then we will be a denomination. That's the only route it can go. "There just isn't much light left. You can buy acceptability before man in many ways but before God only one way. "I am just not willing to be a fixture on a shelf, 'This is our Founding President' and have them send me on tours that aren't right. Let me tell you, Donnie will be the one not to go. He will stay behind and while the others are gone he will pull in the strings more and amass more power. If I were to live I would stay at Headquarters and protect it, not go on the Tour. "You know, in the first Board of Trustees [VPW with HEW and ELO] our real strength was in our spirituality, not in our brains. We loved God. We trusted Him. We didn't spend our time fighting Him." "I told them at least three times that I felt spiritually our translations were off [especially, VPW knew and acknowledged that the "Advanced Class" in its very original making in English, was inaccurate]. The last time was after I had been with you. I don't speak these languages, but spiritually I know. All I got was facts slapped in my face. Son, within five years, or ten years at the most, if there is not a major change, those who have sat under our Ministry in other languages will rise up against us. I would not be one bit surprised if they rise up to kill us." "The top men of our Ministry are no longer standing up to protect the integrity of the Word. It no longer is God's Word that is of primary importance in their considerations for the Ministry. The full Board of Trustees will have to bear the responsibility of compromising the integrity of His Word in our translations work, as well as all our other men involved. It will be our men who have to stand up before the lord and have it taken out of their hides -- our men. When Israel numbered themselves then they paid the price too." [Text of a memo by Dr. Wierwille after a previous European visit: "I spiritually feel that all these boys that are translating my class into all these languages are not accurate. For some Greek words there may be as many as seven English words and you have to translate it accurately or you don't have the Word. It won't fit. It looks like we'll be a denomination before too long if this keeps up".] "What am I going to do with the dogs?... I knew before I brought Mark [Mark Fischer] in I was wrong. I knew I was going to have to die soon but I was grabbing. I was holding on to anything, trying to see if there wouldn't be a change and God would open a door. I was wrong, and I know it, and I have a massive responsibility on my head. I will tell you what I want done with the dogs. I want you to have them. Put them all in your name. You take TJ for yourself and let Mark handle the rest. Mark will need a year or two to really establish himself and we can let him do that by working our dogs. Don't let him go too fast so he gets in trouble. I don't know where you will get the money, you will just have to believe for it I guess. My concern is that the Trustees don't close it down. I am pretty sure that they will try. They will consider it from every angle except one -- the fact that before God I took responsibility for a man and his family. It is a massive responsibility and I know that I was wrong, I should never have done what I did. If you can, please protect my heart on this, OK?" "I have not been able to stop this Athlete of the Spirit thing. Let me tell you, it may well end up costing us the Ministry. When you forsake God's Word for the imagery of that Word, you lose the power of God. The same is true of research. You never research for research's sake. Anything ahead of God is sin. So many other men and ministries have gone under on this very point through the years." "It took me years to convince our people that Christianity was something to be taken seriously. Effectively, we have lost all that. It is just a game again, and that is not at all what I had in my heart when I taught it originally. I don't know how you will ever get through to Craig and the rest on that one, I really don't. It's like we talked about the other night, whatever a man willingly disciplines himself to is what he loves. Once, this Ministry was a Ministry of the accuracy of God's Word and deliverance for His people; that is why He blessed it and protected it." "If Craig does not come back to the integrity of the Word then before too long he will begin to blame others around him for lacking spiritual perception and will begin to blame the loss of power in the Ministry on others. I've seen it before and I see it in the Word. He will start to lash out wrongly. It will hurt so many. It will sound genuine, but it will not bring deliverance to those who follow what he says. Spiritually they will be empty words. Once God's Word is compromised in any way it no longer is God's true Word. You have error, and error is error" [VPW also declared: "Look how far Saul went when he stopped lovingly listening to Samuel"]. "I have tought this thing all my life. I know what I am talking about. I have seen it in the Church, the mission fields and in other ministries. Paul faced the exact same thing. Outwardly they salsam you and slobber all over you, but without a solid Biblical footing you flounder. He'll be grabbing at straws. I sure wish I could do something for those who will be around him when it happens, if he doesn't get back to the truth of the Word. The further you drift the worse it gets. Look how far Saul went when he stopped lovingly listening to Samuel. "Sure Craig was up against a lot. Right before the inauguration Donnie really pulled in all the strings. Craig was up against a stacked deck; I know that. But, he chose to discipline himself for the Athlete of the Spirit thing and not for the Presidency. Today, the seat of the President is basically vacant. Craig took a portion, the authority, without the responsibility." "I sure don't know why Donnie isn't blessed and thankful; we bought him his doctorate. If Craig had wanted to be a good President he could have; he chose to discipline himself to other things. I know that if he had applied himself honestly he could have gotten to the bottom of things. You did, and you were not in the middle and didn't have the responsibility. I did, and I was forced out. I just know that he could have, too. Why he didn't -- I just don't know why. Son, he basically didn't stick to what I taught. He gave. I sure don't know why." "Chris [CCG], if things ever do get back on the Word I don't know if any of those men will be big enough to straighten things back out again. I just don't know. I wish I did. All the work of a lifetime.... To be lost so soon.... At least I wrote a lot or it down so maybe others will rise up in the future." "I want you to remember, I may have made mistakes, but to the best of my ability I never have handled the Word dishonestly or deceitfully. You know that; you lived with me. It just hurts my heart. Paul had the same problem in his day too." "Being here with you has been a blessing. I think you are the first man that I have really been able to talk with like this in a long time, maybe since Uncle Harry died. Last time we were with you was a wonderful vacation for me, this time we haven't had much time for that, have we?" "If things are no different when we get back home, then these [pins with the logo of "The Way", given to each person at the campus by Dr. Wierwille] will be the last ones ever given away." "Did any of them [DFW, LCM and HRA back to USA] want to talk to me? Did they talk with you about it?" "Well, it looks like a good basketball game [on TV], but I guess they will go on after I am dead and gone. You might as well watch it." "Well, this is the finals this time, isn't it?" "Did they [DFW, LCM and HRA] come to talk or just visit?" "That's the end. I can't turn it back now. There isn't much you can do for me now. Thanks for everything... Time?... Thank." [Dr. VPW died hours later, Monday 20, May, 1985]. ["As far as Dr. Wierwille himself was concerned he wanted to die rather than compromise... He died for what he had lived by and for, God's Word. He was a tough, uncompromising man. He was difficult to live with because of his intensity and his commitment. He demanded of others what he demanded of himself, total commitment... He was crushed and very lonely and alone. He was hurt deeply. He felt that before his days were over what he had stood for was basically lost... What he shared with me was knowledge of situations in the Ministry that he felt needed to he known before he died. His thrust was not to hurt anyone or especially the Ministry as a whole. He only wanted to preserve it as a living and growing blessing to all that hunger and thirst for an accurate knowledge of God and His Word. I have allowed you to read this believing God that the same end will come to pass as a reality in your life and that you will be better enabled to lovingly be a vital part of the continuance of The Word Over The World. I love you, In His service." "Dr. Wierwille was a wonderful man, a "man of God" in the truest and fullest sense. I saw him give his utmost for God's highest day after day in his life and finally in his death. And, I should know. I lived; I worked; I took care of the man and his heart for years." (CCG, 15 Feb., 1986. Gartmore, Scotland)]. ["I've read this several times. I believe it to be the truth. It must be adhered to for the survival of this ministry. I stand with The Teacher and the truth of his last words. I love you." (LCM, 3/22/86)] ["I read it and all is true. I've felt it and didn't know what to do. So I will change to do my best for the man I helped kill." (HRA, 3/22/86)] ["I've read this and am thankful for the revelation. I apologize for not having followed my "man of God." I shall be a doer of the Word more and more as I renew my commitment to God's Word. Thank you Chris for having eyes to see and ears to hear." (DFW, 3/22/86)] [At Gartmore House, 17-19 November, 1987: "I explained that the reason that we were publishing looks was because they were a survivable media, and that perhaps in another time God would raise someone up to handle His Word again, and that this was the best way that I could see to go... We talked about how there had been no great resurgence of the love for God and His Word in the Ministry, that their actions were prompted by wanting to appear better and wanting to DO rather than BELIEVE (John 6). We talked at great length about how they had reverted to something which approached a form of legalism, the intent being to do something in order to re-achieve spirituality rather than to believe God's Word to re-achieve spirituality and then subsequently produce the good works. There was a great deal of sharing from the Word. We talked about Jeremiah 7 (sacrifice versus obeying God's Word); Colossians 3 (doing, since we are risen with Christ); Samuel and Saul (rebellion as the sin of witchcraft); God's Word versus the word of man; Acts 15 (Peter knew Paul was right but he did not live up to it); John 8 (first believe then continue in God's Word to be a disciple). We talked about how good works were to be as an appreciation and as a result of what God had wrought for and in us and not to obtain that which He had already done and given to us. We talked about how their attitude still was not lovingly thankful and in the vein of, "We get to do" instead of, "We've got to do". We talked about how there was not a joyful appreciation for what God has done, for and in us and how this was not any longer a Ministry of deliverance... I told them that things had gone wrong from the top down, and that there would be a need for them to get put right at the top. Very few of our people had come to the place of appreciating what God has given us in this day and time, and very few believed that Dr. Wierwille was raised up by God. We talked about how flesh is flesh and how spirit is spirit. It is one of the hardest lessons to learn, but it is one of the most important (example of Miriam and Aaron vs. Moses, disciples vs. Jesus Christ, Paul's contemporaries).. Since there was not going to be a great resurgence of the Word of God in the Ministry, the best value for my life that I could see was if I continued to try and put the works of Dr. Wierwille into written form and to continue to rework the Advanced Class to the end that I could assemble a final copy, like Dr. Wierwille had asked me to do... I do not need to produce a lot of new stuff; I am very happy rounding out what God called him to do... if God should raise somebody up in a future generation, the materials will be available to that person, because it is not going to happen in our generation again unless people change their minds, and the only way that they can change their minds is if we teach the Word in the first place." (CCG)] Taken primarily from: http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/pop1.pdf http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/pop2.pdf http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/pop3.pdf http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/pop4.pdf http://www.swiftlynx.com/beyondTheWayInternational/pop5.pdf And from: http://www.waychrist.com/passing_part_5.htm http://www.trancenet.org/noway/secrets/pap/ftnts.shtml ///////////////// To the unjust critics of the life and ministry of Dr. Wierwille (nobody is perfect) the next letters found Online can be an eye-opener: In the meantime, Ray Murphy of Monrovia, California, about three years ago told me about a book he had inadvertently picked up at the Monrovia Library titled Jesus Christ our Passover, written by Victor Paul Wierwille, published by American Christian Press, The Way International, New Knoxville, Ohio 45871-a book of 527 pages length, including index. He said this fellow had some fascinating new information about Jesus' final week. At the time, I did not read the book, but intended to get around to it later. Well, after being reminded of the "problem" in the chronology by Glen Myers' letter, I checked with Ray, got hold of the book by Wierwille, in April of this year, and read it. It was indeed fascinating. Wierwille went through the last week of Christ, step by step, day by day, spending about one chapter on each day, showing the activities that occurred, and proved-at least to my satisfaction-that indeed, not only was there a problem with the WCG's traditional explanation of events, but that they were WRONG-ie, John was not using Roman time at all, and Moffatt and other translations were right in saying Jesus appeared before Pilate the final time about NOON. Since He was already nailed to the stake about 9:00 AM on Nisan 14, this plainly meant He had to appear before Pilate for His final sentencing the previous DAY-at noon on Nisan 13. I considered this to be a "blockbuster" new idea. I studied the book carefully, and found that Wierwille covered the subject in a very thorough and convincing manner. In his letter, Glen Myers had reminded me of the difficulties in thinking Jesus made all His appearances before the high priests, the full Sanhedrin, Pilate, Herod, and Pilate again, all before "6:00 AM.," Roman time. But Glen Myers only pointed out problems with the chronology, which I was already aware of. He did not bring up or refute the problems posed by the scriptures in Mark and Luke which implied that the day when Jesus told His disciples to prepare the passover was "the day of unleavened bread, when the passover was killed" (Mark 14:12;Luke 22:7). Myers did not even mention these two scriptures, which at the time I believed were the "coup de grace" for any theory that the last supper could have occurred prior to Nisan 14, the day the passover was killed. However, in his book, Wierwille does spend a whole chapter dealing with these scriptures, and shows plainly that the Greek word for DAY here is hemera and can mean a 12-hour "day", a 24 hour day, or a general period of time, such as "the day of vengeance," "day of the Lord", or "day of adversity" etc, or even a "thousand -year day" (IIPet 3:8-10). I found this to be very exciting, a thrilling discovery, which finally "solved" the whole puzzle and every difficulty of the chronology of the "last week of Jesus Christ." That is why, in my own article on the subject in the May-June issue of Prophecy Flash, I referred to this as an earth-shaking, blockbuster, tidal wave of new truth which would shake up the conventional explanations and nonsensical reasonings which men have used, in the past, to support their erroneous theories. Therefore, I most certainly did not "steal" any ideas from Glen Myers. In fact, in a personal letter I thanked him for reminding me of the problem with the chronology of the crucifixion, but apparently he became offended and accuses me of "stealing" his ideas. Nonsense! Most of my article was based on my own cautious and careful research, guided in no small measure by the influence of Victor Paul Wierwille's 527 page book on that very subject. If anything, I owe a debt of gratitude to Wierwille, but the truth is, I believe GOD in heaven is the one who deserves the credit for this "new revelation" and "new understanding." Herbert Armstrong used to say that it is ten times more difficult to unlearn an error than simply to learn "new truth". How true that is! I have found, since writing on this subject, that some people have studied it and accept it as wonderful and exciting new truth which helps them to understand and appreciate even more the pain and suffering that Christ went through, for us. Some others however, have condemned me roundly for daring to publish this, and one has even accused me of "deliberately" doing this in order to do away with the whole concept of a Nisan 14 "Last Supper", or "Passover." It is sad how some people react to new truth, new knowledge, and how impervious and impenetrable their minds have become. Rather than being open-minded, with the faith and innocence of a child, they have become adamantine like stone, and resist the truth to the point of hurling false accusations at the "truth bringer." I personally, take no credit for this new truth. I merely lay it out there, and ask people to study it carefully, sincerely, with an objective and open mind-and not to allow the cobwebs of confusion caused by previous teachings to cloud and obscure the truth. To me, this new truth is like the crystal clear water of a mountain spring, uncontaminated and unpolluted-pure and fresh, with no ulterior motives or hidden agendas attached to it. People can accuse me of whatever they want-and some have. But the truth will win out in the end (Luke 10:21). At any rate, I feel sorrow for Glen Myers, who seems to feel so unappreciated that he thinks he has to slap and falsely accuse some of the few friends he may have left. His overall attitude toward others seems to be so hostile, full of anger, and distrust. I pray for him, that God will help him overcome his gigantic "chip" he is caring around on his shoulder, and forget the past, and begin to stress the positive things in His relationship with God; because, although he may feel bitterly betrayed by many men, including many ministers in the past, we have all been "there", and many of us have "suffered many things, of many men." This is part of the "walk" Christ has called us to (Luke 14:26-27.). I chalk all the "past sufferings" we have gone through, in our previous associations and churches, up to "experience". As the apostle Paul wrote, "And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us" (Rom 5:3-5). Sincerely, -William F. Dankenbring PO Box 292, Altadena, CA 91003 http://www.servantsnews.com/sn9709/s709032.htm ----------- "... [Dr. V. P. W.] has done a lot of teaching of right Bible principles and rejected some erroneous mainstream Christian doctrine. Shalom. -NSE //////////// Fragment from "The Despoiling of America And Why Antonin Scalia Is Wrong About Romans 13" I believe in God, as perhaps you do. I believe that the Bible is His revealed Word, and it must be rightly-divided (2 Timothy 2:15) in order to have the true Word (references and quotes here are from the King James Version). It must fit, and it must make sense, even more than our senses perceptions... In context, Romans 13:1-4 (and verses 5-7) have nothing to do with secular government. First of all, God's Word is written primarily to His people who want to know what's going on. People submit themselves to God because they want to. The Church Epistles (Romans through 2 Thessalonians) are written to the Church - read the salutations at the beginning of them. "Let every soul" implies permission, not commandment. The question is, who are the "higher powers"? Victor Paul Wierwille, in a study titled "The Higher Powers of Romans 13," has set this as clearly and as lovingly as anything that I know of.[1] He says, "Let every soul [every person, every individual] be subject unto the higher powers...." Usually this is interpreted to mean that the higher powers refer to political governments. This is not and cannot be true. It's very clear as we continue the thought trend of Romans 12 that this first verse of Romans 13 is speaking of the functions within the Body of Christ, the Church. God is not talking about the Congress or the President or the Supreme Court of the United States or those with governmental authority in any nation's political structure. The Word of God here is talking about the Body of believers in relationship to the higher authorities in that Body. Let every soul, every person, be subject unto the higher powers. The higher powers are those operating charismata, the spiritual abilities and assignments, which God has set in the Church to help the Body function properly.[2] That is the immediate context of this thirteenth chapter. How can people say that all governments are instituted by God? It is absurd. It is crucial that the Scriptures are handled properly, particularly when people's freedoms are at stake. I am not trying to teach you the Bible (well, maybe I am), nor argue about it. God's Word stands. Those handling it are answerable to God Almighty for their works, as are we all. I thank God that people like you, and hopefully myself and others, have the interest, ability and commitment to work for the good to stop this and to chart a better course for our country and others. Sincerely, Ken Stauffer ___________________________________ [1] Victor Paul Wierwille, Order My Steps in Thy Word, Chapter 6 (American Christian Press: New Knoxville, OH, 1985). This book is available through The Way International Bookstore, P.O. Box 328, New Knoxville, Ohio 45871. 2 See 1 Corinthians 12:27 and 28: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular. 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." My note. http://www.yuricareport.com/Mail/Mail_BagPage2.html //////////// Some of Dr. VPW Biblical helps: Rosalind Rinker http://www.majesty.org/tract/meditation.html http://www.zondervan.com/../0310321719.htm http://alpha.wwwebcity.com/crossroads/response/witness.htm Glenn Clark http://www.campsfarthestout.org/clark2.html http://cfo.winni.org/beginning.html http://www.campsfarthestout.org/Publications/FM0498.html Starr Daily http://www.campsfarthestout.org/talkincfo/_disc7/0000000f.htm http://www.campsfarthestout.org/talkincfo/_disc7/0000000b.htm K. C. Pillai http://redbay.com/ekklesia/key6.htm http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/4988/books.html (last link with access to Spurgeon) George M. Lamsa http://www.aramai.org/lamsa.html http://atour.com/assyrian/George_Lamsa.html http://www.interart.net/books/books/lamsa_g.html http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0060649232/creatiozip2 http://shop.barnesandnoble.com/bookSearch/isbnInquiry.asp?sourceid=00000336790239264843&ISBN=0060649232&bfdate=08-20-1999+11:19:38 J. E. Stiles http://members.tripod.com/~RobertGillette/TONGUES.html B. G. Leonard http://homepages.netway.at/diereihe/bookshop.htm E. Stanley Jones ("ashram" program) http://www.mindspring.com/~christianashram/ http://www.vaxxine.com/eves/xashram.htm http://www.vaxxine.com/eves/esjbookl.htm http://www.evangelize.org/sse/lesson1.htm Rufus Mosley http://www.oslbooks.org/Inventory/inventory.html http://www.oslbooks.org/ Karl Barth http://members.aol.com/KatharenaE/private/Philo/Barth/barth.html http://www1.appstate.edu/~davisct/temenos/Paul/karl_barth.htm http://www.netstoreusa.com/rkbooks/080/0804206120.shtml E. W. Bullinger http://www.philologos.org/downloads/downloads.htm http://www.airlinedisciples.org/bullinger.html http://catalog.com/pwm/articles/nwcrebul.html http://home.sprynet.com/sprynet/dvogel/ E. W. Kenyon http://catalog.com/pwm/kenyon/index.html Paul Tillich http://www.baylor.edu/~Glenn_Gentry/Tillich.html http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Troy/2967/Tillich.html Richard Niebuhr y Reinhold Niebuhr http://www.fuller.edu/sot/ecds/974/ET541-841_Stassen.html http://www.frontiernet.com/~kenc/niebuhr.htm Dr. Karl J. Ernst Barth, K., and Eduard Thurneysen. (1934). Come Holy Spirit: Sermons (George W. Richards, Elmer G. Homrighausen, and Karl J. Ernst, Trans.). New York: Round Table Press, Inc. http://www.assumption.edu/dept/Library/FortIn/Fortin.html Elmer G. Homrighausen http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/jan1969/v25-4-editorial4.htm [49, many his editorials "The Church in the World"] http://www.zaadz.com/quotes/authors/elmer_g_homrighausen http://www.ptsem.edu/meet/faculty/paris.htm Dr. William Warren Sweet http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0815404212/creatiozip2 John Wycliffe http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biorpwycliffe.html William Tyndale: http://www.williamtyndale.com/0welcomewilliamtyndale.htm Dr. John Gaynor (Gayner) Banks http://www.oslsandiego.org Rev. L. H. Kunst: http://www.rootsweb.com/~ohauglai/deathrec/deat005.htm Dr. H. Ellis Lininger: http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=41+Lincoln+Manitou+Springs+CO 1944-46 -- Mayor, R.S. Ellison; Trustees, H. ELLIS LININGER, Monroe Campbell, Frank C. Boldt, Shuster, Homer Sharpton And Graham. Ellison died during his term of office and GRAHAM filled out thie balance of the term (from: "Town Of Manitou Springs Is 75 Years Old". Pikes Peak Journal 27 July 1951 Diamond Jubilee Edition). http://www.rootsweb.com/~coelpaso/msgovern.txt LININGER H. Ellis. Born: 13 JUL 1894. Died: 3 SEP 1949 (from: Crystal Valley Cemetery): http://ftp.rootsweb.com/pub/usgenweb/co/elpaso/cemeteries/manitou/cryvlp00.txt http://www.rootsweb.com/~nehayes/news/obits001.html Dr. Lohman Albert Cliffe Dr. Blackwood Dr. Loetcher Dr. Joseph Bauer Dr. Louis C. Hessert Dr. Riddle Dr. Weiman Dr. Garrison Dr. Caldwell Alleta Jacobs Florence Scheidt Amil Schaffner Harry Wierwille Mohler Mal George and his wife Jan The Jones The Permann Dr. E. E. Higgins Bertha Scheidt Ernst Traeger Dr. Beckman Dr. Josiah Friedli "Vale" (from Florida, who knew the manifestations of inspiration) Contemporary Believers: http://www.redbay.com/ekklesia/behome.htm ////////////////////// Places: Dr. Wierwille's line: http://www.justcallbob.com/reports/WC03/WC03_178.HTM United Church of Christ: http://www.unitedseminary-mn.org/ Lakeland College: http://www.lakeland.edu/ http://www.lakeland.edu/llc4-c.htm Princeton: http://www.ptsem.edu/index.asp Payne, Ohio: http://www.pe.net/~rksnow/ohcountypayne.htm Manitou Springs (where Dr. H. Ellis Lininger awarded to VPW his Doctorship): http://www.manitousprings.org/ http://remax-allstars-cs-co.com/climate.html WLOK (radio station, in 1942 VPW's "Vesper Chimes Hour"): http://www.wlio.com/history/history.htm WLW, Cincinnatti (1950 VPW's "The Chimes Hour Youth Caravan", in more than 9 USA states and nearby from Canada): http://www.exit109.com/~jimh/wlw.shtml Haight-Ashbury: http://www.haight-ashbury.com/history/index.html http://www.haight-ashbury.com/sixties/index.html Tulsa (where J. E. Stiles showed VPW how to speak in tongues, at that time the Pentecostal "star" was Oral Roberts) : http://www.wunderground.com/US/OK/Tulsa.html //////////////////////// Other fragments related to the works of Dr. VPW: "I love the Word of God taught me by the Way Ministry and will always be thankful for Doctor Wierwille's teaching and stand on that Word. I still believe it is ONE BODY and that our brothers and sisters deserve our support and fellowship to the extent that we can without compromising the integrity of the Word." He IS coming back, Mike ----------------- From: The Far View (November 2002-January 2003). Face to Face. Holy and without Blemish before Him in Love (Part Three). Ephesians 1:4: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before [katenopion] him in love: (emphasis added). Dr. Wierwille rendered katenopion, "directly in the sight and presence of God." He commented further: We are holy and without blame, directly in the presence of God. That's why we can come boldly before the throne of grace. What did Abraham do [in interceding for Sodom]? He finally got it down to ten people. He wheeled and dealed with God. You're directly in the presence of God, do you think you can, 'wheel and deal? [Corps Notes] /////////////////// Some comments on the books by Dr. VPW: http://www.book-thoughts.com/book/wierwille.html +++++ What a Book! "I read this book [Jesus Christ Our Passover] 24 years ago, the truths in it will blow your mind. I had the opportunity to be around and involved with Dr wierwille, I have never found anyone that taught rightly divided word of God as he did. These kind of believers dont come around that often, buy the book and make it your own". Mick QUITE SIMPLY, ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS EVER WRITTEN Action and detail-packed account of the last days of Jesus Christ, ACCURATELY described and analyzed, with no opinions or guess work. Will blow anyone's mind, what Jesus Christ accomplished in such a short time, how he accomplished it, and the significance of the dates of the Hebrew calendar. An incredible work Is it possible that the subject of Christ's last few days of life could be set forth in a clear concise, understandable manner? Yes, this book does set forth, the accuracy of the Bible, and Jesus Christs last days, as no other work has done. It should be a "must" read for all who are students and teachers of the Bible. +++++ How to speak in tongues... If you have been longing to finally learn from the scriptures "how" to SPEAK IN TONGUES then this is the book [Receiving the Holy Spirit today] for you. The author simply lays out common fears and how to overcome them with comfort from the Bible. For those who are disgusted with religious tradition. If you want to escape religion/tradition... Very good book Are you a little tired of tradition? Have you ever wondered about some of the things in the bible that they don't teach in church? If so this is a very enlightening book... +++++ Are The Dead Alive Now First of all, I would like to inform readers that contrary to one reviewer's comments, I am not involved with The Way International. I have been a researcher/student of the Word of God for over 26 years. I found this particular work a tremendous blessing in dispelling many erroneous beliefs concerning death, life after death, resurrection, etc. This is a marvelous work in regard to Biblical accuracy concerning this subject from God's Word. In the occident (Western cultures) many times the beliefs do not align with the Word of God as in the Near East or do many times our "texts" contain 'pure' translations. This work will definitely help clear up much confusion and help you understand the importance of THE HOPE OF JESUS CHRIST'S RETURN and our gathering together unto him. Breathe it in... Life after death before the return of Jesus Christ is ONE of the most poisonous teachings that has infiltrated the truth of Christianity. This erroneous belief opens wide the door to the un-Godly non-biblical lies of parapsychology, psychic readings and other such dangerous spiritual darknesses. This rare and extremely valuable work concisely presents the truths of the scripture for all those who have "eyes to see and ears to hear". ++++ + Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed An excellent, excellent work. I wish the astronomers who are trying to figure out the date of Jesus' birth would read this book and comment upon it. There are no opinions or conjecture in this book, it is all facts from the Bible, astronomy, and history. As opposed to most commentaries on the Bible which are mostly opinions by those who have not thoroughly researched the topic. This book is clear, reverent, and easy to understand, giving the glory to God and to Jesus Christ... An Awesome Piece of Work This book was written in two parts - the prophecies in the bible about the coming Messiah, and the actual celestial events that took place upon His arrival. Both sections are very thoroughly researched and detailed, and tied together very well. I read this book about 10 years ago and subsequently watched a presentation on it in a local university's planetarium. The astronomer who presented it praised this work after a very enthusiastic and exciting presentation. Unfortunately I lent the book out and never got it back, so here I am trying to get another copy... Compelling... ...This book's sources are well-documented, and one may find the same date presented by Ernest L. Martin in "The Star that Astonished the World" and "The Birth of Christ Recalculated"... This is a fascinating read. ++++ A GREAT FOUNDATIONAL BOOK This book [Power for Abundant Living], and the late author, offer the reader an unique opportunity to gain insight into the Bible and principles of Biblical research that offer keys to understanding your reading of the scripture. There are fascinating sections that show how the Greek version of the Bible communicates precise meanings that are sometimes missed in the English translations. Principles are set forth to help resolve apparent contradictions in the Bible. Practical application for daily life is not missed. This book appeals to our rational nature, but it also reaches into the depths of our spiritual longing for meaning and a closer relationship with God in daily life. The book and class changed my life many years ago, and I hope it will help others who read it. A Teaching Book I have read this book many times and each time it gives me a greater understanding of God's Word. It lays out the bible so simply that anyone can learn how to have all that God intended for his children. Don't be alarmed by other reviewers saying that this is some cult thing. There isn't anything to join. There is no brainwashing, only simple biblical truths. It is a shame that the book is out of print, but perhaps you can find it at your local library. A Miracle Is Waiting To Happen For You ... Even with all the flaws in the book, the way the class was operated, and the ministry itself (and there were plenty), I learned more of the Bible (with understanding) in three weeks than in all the rest of my life put together ever before or since -- and remember more than 80 percent of it still 28 years later. God used Power For Abundant Living to bring me into a new relationship with His Word. I was never silly enough to trade my relationship with Him for a place in some organization. I was silly enough to continue to be a sinner in my freedom, but not silly enough to give up my freedom for a position in a ministry that was obviously run by private interpretations rather than by the Open Book. ... PFAL was a miracle for me. I recommend the book but not the ministry. This book is a great beginning to Bible study. If you want to understand the Bible, get this book. If you want to believe, read this book. Don't be concerned with flaws in the view of its author. The insights far, far outweigh the mistakes. You won't be sorry you read it, if it's the Bible you're interested in. It's the best Bible study I ever found. (Avoid the Way International though.) Make sure you have a Bible to go with it. Get this book and get yourself a miracle. Time to come to the Word Though I never met Dr. Wierwille in person, I believe his stand upon Gods word was genuine. He was a man who researched the word of God to learn it for himself and to better be able to teach other how to read the Bible on their own. Yes, on their own!! God could of never ment for just a select few people to understand His Word, for He deisres we all come to a knowledge of the truth, His Word. If you really want to get a good basis after reading this book for how to read and understand the Bible for yourself, I recommend buying E.W. Bullingers "How to Enjoy the Bible." This book is essentialy the Power for Abundant Living Class that Dr. Wierwille videotaped and made available for people to learn how to not only get born again but how to "manifest" the nine manifistations of Holy Spirit. If your really interested in more on christian fellowshiping or other books E Mail me anytime @ GRMICHIGAN@AOL.COM Let he who is without sin cast the first stone I Know the Way international, I was a PFAL grad in 1981. And I know the awful things that "Organized Religion" has to say about Dr. Victor Paul Wierville's ministry. Yet nowhere, in any of his books did he ever propose his own interpretation of the Bible. His position was simply that God's word interprets itself, either in verse, context or previous usage. He didn't offer easy answers to his students, he merely showed them how to go about getting to the truth. And like just about every great Christian throughout history, his reward was to be openly critized and denounced as a heretical cult leader. I Guess not much has changed in the twenty years since I sat through the PFAL class. The same People are still spouting the same holier than thou condemnation that sent me looking for something better in the first place. I'm sorry that Dr. Wierville wasn't good enough for them and I'm sorry I wasn't good enough for them. I just hope God thinks we're good enough because even Christ himself was reviled and condemned before Men. I learned a lot from this book, and the only people who would want it removed from publication are probably the same people who don't want your child to be allowed to pray in school. So when you pray, pray for the religious freedom that this country was founded on. Don't take it for granted or you might end up "BEING" the next heretic. ++++ Absolutely revelatory This book [Jesus Christ is not God] really opened up my spiritual eyes. I am going to preaching a lot different now that I understand the truth. No wonder I could never make much sense out of what most preachers said about who Jesus is. I recommend this book for everyone who wants to know God and how Jesus relates to God. Jesus Christ is not God and never will be I found this book to be a very in depth study on this subject but broke down piece by piece that anyone can understand. Dr. Wierwille handles the few scriptures the trinity stands on and does not miss out that 68 times it says son of God and nowhere does it say God the son. He points out the few scriptures the trinity hangs once looked at from a Bibical reasearch method three steps of letting the word interpet itself either in the: 1) verse where written or 2) in the context or 3) where the word is used before. This keeps you from just looking at it from a trinity perspective. He also states the trinity is nowhere in the Word! His research on the history of the trinity was very helpful for me to start my research to build an even bigger foundation on this subject. Jesus Christ is not God! ================= Lose Yourself in Loving Service Dr. Wierwille once said that all who serve will be rewarded as much as he, even though he is teaching multitudes of people. II Timothy 2:24 and 25: And the servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; RHH ====================== http://www.picturesofsilver.com/Teachings/teachings.htm I am also thankful to Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille who taught me much regarding the accuracy and integrity of God's matchless Word. ====================== The real birth date of the Master There was no snow, or shepards in the snow. In fact, I don't believe there was a "super nova". I know these are pretty bold statements to make, but I can back them up, due to an incredible book written by a great scholar named Victor Paul Wierwille called "Jesus Christ - Our Promised Seed" (thanks to my pal Diane Brown for lending me this book and "The Message of the Stars" which reinforced these conclusions). http://www.garone.net/tony/themaster.html ====================== The Magi - They Looked for His Coming If you would like to learn more about the Magi and the Word that they saw in the stars, you may order Jesus Christ Our Promised Seed by Victor Paul Wierwille from The Way International Bookstore P.O. Box 328 New Knoxville OH 45871-0328 (419) 753-1018 Copyright (c) 2005 The Way International http://theway.com/Monthly/12Dec/The_Magi.htm ====================== Thankful for God's Word Robert Houk Hitchcock Sugar Land, Texas USA November 1999 The wonderful teaching ministry that brought me God's Word set forth a knowledge of God that literally had not been known for centuries. Under the teaching ministry of Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille and other men and women, the knowledge of God brought the light of God's Word to a generation that hungered after it. In reflecting upon that light, I thought I'd share, in thankfulness, what I consider to be their greatest contributions to the knowledge of God this century. http://redbay.com/ekklesia/rhhnov99.htm http://members.aol.com/Logahome1/Thankful.html ====================== The Franklin Opera House News Franklin Opera House (located at City Hall) • Franklin NH 03235 • Vol. II Issue 2, April-June 2002 "History revolves around a committed few. As a result of their lives, whole civilizations change." - Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille http://www.franklinoperahouse.org/newsletter3.pdf ====================== Mickey Newbury Covers Discography An American Trilogy - The Way Choir (Victor Paul Wierwille production) http://www.mickeynewbury.com/discographymain.htm ====================== Das Erkennungszeichen der Christen von Wolfgang Schneider "Dieser einleitende Abschnitt von Johannes 13 behandelt die Fußwaschung, die Jesus Christus beim letzten gemeinsamen Mahl mit seinen Jüngern durchführte. Noch am selben Abend, nur wenige Stunden nach diesem Ereignis, wurde er gefangen genommen und anschließend nach ca. 40 Stunden Verhör und Folter gekreuzigt." 1 1. Viele Einzelheiten zu den Ereignissen in den letzten Tagen vor Jesu Kreuzigung und Tod werden ausführlich in dem Buch Jesus Christus, unser Passa von Victor Paul Wierwille behandelt. Einige für das Verständnis hilfreiche Aspekte bzgl. dieses Mahls sind dort nachzulesen. Vgl. Wierwille, Victor Paul: Jesus Christus unser Passa. New Knoxville, Ohio: American Christian Press, 1980. http://www.bibelcenter.de/bibel/studien/d-std017.php ====================== CiberRespuestas CiberEscrito N° 114 de MUNDO MEJOR Dr. Iván Seperiza Pasquali Quilpué, Chile octubre de 2003 "Me llama la atención el por qué todos los posteriores "traductores" conocidos de las diferentes versiones conservan el mismo párrafo sin variarlo, salvo una versión griega, la más primitiva que se conoce y en la que se lee: Cerca de la hora novena, Jesús exclamó a gran voz, diciendo: Elí, Elí, ¿lama sabactani? Esto es: Dios mío, Dios mío, para este propósito fui destinado. Mateo 27: 46. Varios bíblicos estudiosos sobre la base de una mejor comprensión del arameo, un idioma sirio-caldeo que hablaba Jesús estudiaron este tema, entre ellos Victor Paul Wierwille quien destaca que: Esto debió habernos motivado para iniciar una indagación en cuanto a la desviación de lo usual por parte de los traductores. Este versículo lo entendemos palabra por palabra excepto por las palabras extranjeras. Contradice a otros versículos y pareciera como si Dios hubiese abandonado a Jesús. Jesús hablaba el arameo o sirio-caldeo. Lmna es siempre un grito de victoria, una declaración de "para este propósito", o "por esta Razón". La raíz shbk de sabactani quiere decir "reservar", "dejar" o "destinar". Es decir llega a igual conclusión moderna que aquella versión primitiva del lejano oriente donde en Mateo 27 : 46 se nos dice: Dios mío, Dios mío, para este propósito fui reservado." http://wind.prohosting.com/~quiman/114.html ====================== God's Word Kindles In Your Bones, Jeremiah 20 "Regardless of what people may call those who seek God and His way, God still reveals Himself to the meek. And sometimes what God reveals is intended to give the unbeliever, who is meek, an opportunity to leave his spiritual darkness and the valley of death and to follow the way of life. Jeremiah was God's messenger to offer God's plan to the people of his day." Ref. Wierwille, Victor Paul. Order My Steps In Thy Word, Chapter Ten, The Way of Life or Death," page 187. American Christian Press, Copyright 1985, The Way Internation: New Knoxville, OH 47871. First Edition. Third Printing 1985 http://joechristiangod-log.blogs.com/christian_leadership/2005/04/gods_word_kindl.html In Loving Memory of Victor Paul Wierwille (Dec. 31, 1916 to May 20, 1985) ...by Joe From my thirty years of study in God's Word, and in my opinion, Dr. Wierwille brought great light from God's Word to our times, light that brings deliverance to any who actively believe God's Word... His ministry in his times was full of God's backing and power and love and accurate truth. It was without traditional error and theological constipation. His teachings were deep but practical and easy to follow .....and to then see for yourself from God's matchless Word, which he encouraged... I look forward with great anticipation for the day of the return of Christ, when we shall see God face to face ...as well as our beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, like Dr. Wierwille, and will not see those who have relentlessly and in great error hammered away at God's accurate Word. Joe //////////// Dr. Wierwille taught the accuracy of God's Word on subjects like, Jesus Christ is not God, and the manifestations of holy spirit. This wonderful man of God served the bread of life daily to people like me, saving us from the lies taught on these very subjects and many more subjects that are incorrectly taught by many churches and denominations. These two verses come to my mind: John 10:10, I Timothy 2:4. I am really glad, this man helped turn me from devastating darkness to the light of God's Word in the face of Jesus Christ. God bless you, and thank you for the wonderful Word of God that I am learning here. Love, L.R. //////////// I, too, remember Dr. Wierwille, and The Way. Prov. 16:28, for many whisperers have caused many to leave, but he just kept on teaching and teaching to those who wanted to know the truth. WILLIAM //////////// http://joechristiangod-log.blogs.com/my_weblog/2005/05/in_loving_memor.html#more In Loving Memory Each year about this time, I am always reminded to give thanks to the Father above for sending men and women of God into our times for the proclamation, the declaration of the integrity and accuracy of His Word. It is because of the life of Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille (December 31, 1916 to May 20, 1985) ...that I do so. Continue reading "In Loving Memory" » Posted by Joe Christian on Saturday, May 14, 2005 at 05:30 PM in Home Page Posts, God-logs http://joechristiangod-log.blogs.com/my_weblog ====================== "Life for some is like a mill pond. It's teeming with life, yet when the turbulent storms hit, it causes confusion and havoc. Life for others is like the sea - teeming also with life yet, when the turbulent storms hit, only the upper layer of the sea is touched, for its strength and its heart are in its depth. The life in the deep goes on, hardly affected at all by the turbulence above. God never promised life without storms, but for the believer with God's Word dwelling deep within, he maintains the quiet seas of the soul and the hurricanes of life pass over as simply gentle breezes because you have the love of God in the renewed mind in manifestation without hypocrisy." - Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille http://www.sdbiblicalstudies.com/teachings/vpw_heart_troubled.htm ====================== Rev. Shroyer was ordained to the Christian ministry in 1980 by Dr. Victor Paul Wierwille, whose life, teachings, and ministry had profoundly impacted his life. http://home.flash.net/~jwr2/compassion.htm ====================== "Dr. Wierwille often said "Right results come from right believing from right teaching from right doctrine from right Word'. "