Feeding on Manna then and Now
Proverbs 30:8 Remove far from me vanity and lies: give me neither
poverty nor riches; feed me with food convenient for me: Feed me in the
Hebrew is: HTRYPNY Tear off for me – break of for me Convenient in KJV us another incredibly bad translation Hebrew is LHM-HKY The bread
appointed for me – “my daily bread”
So in the
Lord’s Prayer, When Jesus selected the phrase: “Give us our daily bread.” There
is a high probability that at least on disciple recognized Jesus
was quoting from Proverbs 30:8 and
that asking God to: “measure out to you your daily bread’ carried with
it a request for neither poverty nor riches.
I want to
pause here and give God the Glory.
John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father
will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
In my thirty
plus years as a believer I have found these words of Christ
to be true. In my youth I delighted myself in the Lord and his
Law and read and meditated upon it day and night. During those
days I read the New Testament through seven times cover to cover
and I read the Old Testament start to finish three times. For
a decade or longer the Holy Ghost used to not only bring the
whole word of God to my remembrance but without a concordance
I was able to find the location of these verses.
I have sort of been aware of the Spirit bringing all
things to your remembrance for quite a few years, However tonight
while writing I want to acknowledge the Lord’s hand in something
else.
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth,
is come, he will guide you into all truth: for
he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear,
that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.
In a sovereign way as I have testified else where
beginning in April of 2004 according to the words of Christ
the Holy Spirit would come and as part of his coming He has
been guiding me to all truth. In the above verse John 14:26
Christ declares that the Holy Spirit shall teach you all things.
And this has been one grand journey
Jeremiah
33:3 Call
unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty
things, which thou knowest not.
For sixteen straight months the Holy Spirit has been revealing all
manner of truth to me. Foundational
truths and insights into Adam and Christ that I did not ask
for an understanding of, truths that I have generally not studied
or given much thought to. These revelations have largely occurred
while in prayer, while fasting, or while meditating upon the
Lord. At those times the Holy Spirit illuminate a subject matter;
for example: Christ being the Second and Last Adam.
Once I would hear I would then meditate upon what I had
heard pondering what I knew of Scripture in the matter and generally
what I had been shown would be expanded upon. I would then hold
up this revelation before the Lord that He might substantively
confirm what I had seen in his written word
-- and then the scriptures would begin rolling one after
another generally filling pages, and then it would further be
confirmed in the Greek and Hebrew and then many time it would
be confirmed once again in the writings of the Apostolic Fathers.
Well somehow it has passed over my head what has been going
on here.
Today when I was looking over the opening passage Proverbs 30:8 “Feed
me with food that is convenient for me.” and that some months ago for no logical reason
that I had made a connection between it and
The Lord’s prayer: “Give us our daily bread.” I found this rather extraordinary. I went first to the Greek Septuagint to look
up Proverb 30:8 and found to my displeasure that three entire
chapters in the end of Proverbs had been removed from the Septuagint. So I then went to the original Hebrew and found that these two dissimilar
passages indeed do have a direct relationship. It was at that
point that words of Christ came to mind
”When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all
truth.”
I want to fully acknowledge the Holy Spirit’s guidance into all truth.
I can not take any credit for what you read I am only recording
that which I see and hear.
If this was by my powers of mental observation one would
have expected me to have gotten all of this down twenty or twenty-five
years ago.
Luke 17:20-21 And when He was demanded of the Pharisees,
when the kingdom of God should come, he
answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
21Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!
for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Likewise we can say that the kingdom can of heaven can not be found
by man’s power of natural observation.
Big Churches, burgeoning ministries, evangelists compassing
land and sea to make proselytes, none of these are demonstrative
of the kingdom of heaven being in our midst, or even as to the
state of the Ecclesia. For the Kingdom cometh not by observation,
but by revelation. Revelation of what? A change within as the word becomes flesh and
is written upon the fleshy tables of our hearts,
Long before Peter was “Converted” God was working in Peter’s life
and in his unregenerate state one day Peter came to the place
that he was able to receive revelation from the Father.
Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto
him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for
flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father
which is in heaven.
In other words Peter was for the first time able to receive a piece
of his daily bread from the Father and Christ celebrated that
moment with Peter. But before we make too much of this event
we need to understand that this did not deter Peter from swearing
and cursing and calling oaths on himself that he did not know
Christ. So likewise I will say that though the Holy Spirit has
undertaken leading me to things that are not revealed by flesh
and blood – this is by no means to be taken that I have arrived
to some lofty state rather If any man think he stand – take heed least he fall.
Romans 9:15-16 For he saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.
Philippians
2:13
For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of
his good pleasure.
I rejoice in the workings of God but do not rest in them
Let us now press on into the subject matter.
Interestingly the above
verses concerning our daily bread remind me of the Children
of Israel in the wilderness
where they received their daily bread and sustenance from the
hand of God..
Exodus 16:15-20 And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one
to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And
Moses said unto them, This is the bread
which the LORD hath given you to eat.
16 This is the thing which the
LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according
to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number
of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his
tents. 17 And the children of Israel
did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 18 And
when they did mete it with an omer,
he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered
little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his
eating. 19 And Moses said,
Let no man leave of it till the morning. 20 Notwithstanding
they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until
the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth
with them.
This passage
in Exodus could be entitled The Law concerning the bread of
God.
First I
would like you to consider who received this of daily bread?
The children of Israel, all the Levites, all the priests Aaron
the High Priest and even Moses himself.
Consider
now that neither Moses nor any of the Priests received a double
portion of manna. The portions, the availability and the rules
regarding the gathering and use of this manna were identical.
By the same
token also Moses and the Priests did not receive any special
rations from God. Nor did Moses and the Priests feast on steak
while the commoners ate manna stuff. This was their daily bread
– it was the only bread. They had it all in common, and as scripture
declares those that gathered much had nothing over; and those
who gathered little had no lack. (This sounds strangely like
something in the book of Acts.)
Further
nobody was allowed to profit from the manna. The young entrepreneurs
among them were not able to set up manna stands, and sell manna
by the pound. There weren’t any manna griddlecake stands.
There were no deep fried manna donut stands. There wasn’t
even a manna bread wagon making its morning circuit through
the tribes of Israel. If the entrepreneurs among the children
of Israel tried to get out early and get enough manna to sell,
trade, or hoard – it bred worms and stank.
The carnal
Children of Israel partook of this bread involuntarily. Believe
me when I say they were unwillingly participants and they ungratefully
ate of this manna. And it appears that they were displeased with
the bread from God on two counts. First the form in which it
appeared , and the manner in which this blessing was to be received.
Numbers 21:5 And
the people spake against God, and against Moses, Wherefore have
ye brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? for
there is no bread, neither is there any water; and our
soul loatheth this light bread.
Exodus 16:14
It was a small round thing, as small
as the hoar frost.
There
was nothing distinctive about this manna to brag about. So much so that this manna wasn’t even the
kind of thing that one could even boast about to his neighbor
as having received this from the Lord.
And so the
Israelites with complete contempt for this substandard stuff
and despite Moses in Exodus 16:16 telling the Children of Israel
“This is the bread
which the LORD hath given you to eat..” The Children of Israel named
it manna. Manna was
a Hebrew word meaning “What
is it?” It was meant
as a jib. It was a complaint.
They could have called it “The food of God.” They could have
called it; “The food of Angels.” They could have called it;
“Bread from Heaven.” But instead they treated it with contempt and
called it; “What is it?”
First off
the stuff was not even bread. It was a some tiny seed that had
to be ground up and baked. Then the way the stuff was delivered
was completely humbling. You had to stoop over, or kneel to
get it. And then there was the fact that the stuff was always
lying on the ground – in the dirt. Making it hardly the kind
of thing a child of the king would even want to eat.
And if that
wasn’t bad enough God had engineered this stuff so that you
couldn’t profit from it either. You couldn’t sell or trade it.
It had to be gathered fresh every day,
The
Israelites hated getting their daily sustenance from God. They
literally resented having to get all they’re needs taken care
of by God. They wanted their flocks; they wanted absolute control
over their food. They wanted absolute control over their finances,
and they wanted all the amenities of Egypt. And instead they
find themselves in the wilderness having to live according to
God’s sovereignty.
1 Corinthians 10:1-11 Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should
be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud,
and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses
in the cloud and in the sea; And did all eat the same spiritual
meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank
of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was
Christ. But with many of them God was not well
pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, to the intent
we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted. Neither be ye idolaters, as were some of them; as it is written, The people sat down to eat and
drink, and rose up to play. Neither let
us commit fornication, as some
of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand.
Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some
of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer.
Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are
written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world
are come.
We are told over and over in the New Testament
that those things that befell Israel in the Law and the Prophets
have great meaning to us as believers in Christ. And that somehow
all of this relates to us.
Now if all of these people – (let me be real
plain here) if every Jew, if every Levite, if every Priest including
Aaron the High Priest Aaron, and all of the 70 Elders that had
the spirit that was upon Moses poured out upon them perished
in the wilderness and never entered into the promise. This should
make us stand up and take motice.
Note that even with all the signs wonders and
diverse miracles Moses had only one convert in the first 40
years in the wilderness, and one convert in the second 40 years
and those people were Joshua and Caleb.
So the question comes how exactly does this
manna falling from heaven even relate to us as the Church? The
manna falling down from heaven is the word that proceedeth from
the mouth of the Father.
How do I know that? Because Jesus himself told
us that when he said:
Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceedeth
for the mouth of the Father.
Many preachers in this day assert that the
manna is the written word of God but it is clearly not for the
children had the written word from the hand of Moses. So the
bread from heaven is something apart from The Law, The Ten-Commandments,
and the written word of God. Few in the ministry understand
at all what Christ was speaking of when He spoke of: the word proceeding from the
mouth of the Father. – Fundamentalists, Pentecostals,
Charismatics, and even so called word of Faith people all lump
it together and calling it all the written word of God.
The reason for this is: in large part they have not read
the word of God for themselves and come to their own doctrinal
conclusions by pitting scripture against scripture. Instead
they read other people’s books, commentaries written by dead
men, they wile their time away listening to other peoples tape
seminars, and they go to bible school and or seminary where
they receive heavy indoctrination.
Now if indeed Manna represents the word that
proceedeth from the mouth of the Father and that the Ecclesia
in the wilderness is the fleshly forerunner of the bride of
Christ then if we re-examine this passage in light of that we
should by the Spirit of truth be able to discern some things
that not easily seen by a church that is bound by self-made
cages of the doctrines and traditions of men.
First off who in the Ecclesia Church is to
receive of the word that proceedeth from the Father?
Who has the right to hear from God and speak what He
says?
It has been taught for centuries both in the
Roman Catholic and Protestant Church that it is only the leadership
ie. your priest your bishop, your pastor, your teacher that
can hear from God. Wars between one church and another have been fought over this.
Inquisitions and purges killing probably over a million believers
were done over this question.
Exodus 19:4-6 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians,
and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself.
5Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant,
then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people:
for all the earth is mine: 6And ye shall be unto
me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are
the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel
1 Peter 2:9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation,
a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the
praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his
marvellous light;
Revelation
1:6 And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
Revelation
5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Revelation
20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part
in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no
power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign (Kings reign so this passage also refers to believers being kings
and priests unto God.) with him a thousand years.
I was taught as a Child that the reformation was fought over three
issues: 1) The authority of the written word of God over Church
doctrine. 2) Justification by faith rather than by penitence
and works. 3) And the priesthood of all believers.
And through neglect for three decades I had put my trust in books
written about other books rather than having ever read the writings
of Martin Luther, John Calvin or Menno Simons. We upon reading
the writings of Luther I discovered that the reformation was
a sham. It was actually a Coup d'état where Martin Luther became the pope over half
of the roman catholic Churches in Germany, Calvin became the
Pope over several cities and provinces in Switzerland and Menno
Simons became Pope over hundreds of Cities and provinces in
France and central Europe
And on the three great issues that they built their rallying cry
these three men in no way delivered to their followers what
they should have received.
On the issue of the authority of the written word of God – was brought
up only to block the oral traditions of the Roman Catholic Church. They did away with a few traditions they did
not like and kept the rest and then created their own traditions
– this is hardly tossing out all that can not be found in the
word of God.
On the issue of justification by faith -- it was the opposite that these sinful and
carnal men sought, Instead of ushering holiness and righteousness
the doctrine was designed that sinful and corrupt men could
maintain their communion with the church – that was done through
the insertion of the doctrines of predestination and eternal
security. As long as
you believed you could “Murder a 1000 men in an day and commit
adultery 1000 times in a day” and you remained clean as the
wind driven snow.
On the issue of the Priesthood of all believers
– it was ballyhooed as the centerpiece of the Protestant movement
but the independence to hear from God and obey him rather than
men was never given. For every denomination has set in their
own priesthood and the priesthood like in the Roman Catholic
Church inserted itself between God and men and made them mediators
for God. In Scripture
it says all believers were to be priests unto God and thus act
as their own mediators
So when we look at the pattern in the wilderness
in counter distinction to what we see now when it came receiving
the manna the people, all the Priests, the High Priest Aaron,
and even Moses himself were all equal.
As stated above
neither Moses nor any of the Priests received a double portion
of manna . So in like manner neither one’s pastor nor teacher
receives a double portion of hearing the word that proceedeth
from the Father either.
Many evangelists
claim they have received a special grace from God concerning
the word that proceedeth from the mouth of the Father.
But when we look at the written record in scripture we
see that concerning receiving of the manna that neither Moses
nor the Priests received any special rations from God in other
words they did not feast on steak while the commoners ate from
the dry letter of the word.
This was
the law regarding the word that proceedeth from the mouth of
the Father. – It was the only bread that proceedeth from the
mouth of the Father and they had it all in common, and they
all had to gather of it daily early in the morning.
Scripture
declares those that
gathered much had nothing over; and those who gathered little
had no lack. In other words regardless if one spiritual capacity
to receive from God or regardless of ones ability to go and
gather due to infirmity when they ground the manna up and made
their bread whether there was a little or a lot all were filled
to capacity.
Further,
according to the biblical record in the wilderness nobody was
allowed to profit from the word that proceedeth from the mouth
of the Father. Yet the Christian entrepreneurs and Evangelists
that have set up shop right in the church. This is a day where revelations are routinely
sold. It is a day where people travel the gospel circuit as
professional panhandlers going from church to church, and ministry
to ministry profiteering from how they were “healed,”
“delivered,” “singing”
or sharing some “revelation” that they supposedly had.
In first century as written in the Didache the
oldest Christian Document these practices were not to be found
among believers:
That no man shall live among you in idleness because he is a Christian.
But if he will not do so, he is making traffic of Christ; beware of such.
Woe to him who receives; for if any man receive alms under pressure
of need he is innocent; but he who receives it without need
shall be tried as to why he took and for what, and being in prison he shall be examined
as to his deeds, and "he shall not come out thence until
he pay the last farthing.
And when an Apostle goes forth let him accept nothing but bread till
he reach his night's lodging; but if he ask for money, he is a false prophet.
And no prophet who orders a meal in a Spirit shall eat of it: otherwise
he is a false prophet. 10 And every prophet who teaches the
truth, if he do not what
he teaches, is a false prophet.
And whosoever shall say in a Spirit `Give
me money, or something else,' you shall not listen to
him;
This profiteering
from the gospel and from the word that proceedeth from the mouth
of the father was not so among the children in the wilderness.
For those who got up early to gather much so that they might
profiteer with it by selling manna to others, or to trade it
with other s for other goods, or to just plain hoarding it were
thwarted by God. For all the extra that had been gathered bred
worms and stank.
I will suggest
here that if we could see by the eye of the Spirit those preachers,
ministries and professional panhandlers who have made it their
business to profiteer from the word that proceedeth from the
mouth of the father, we would see that they have been given
up and over to corruption, that they have bred worms, and these
preachers ministries and pan handlers have about them the savor
of death and corruption.
The reason God does not heal as in times
past is not that Gods arm is shortened, it is not that God can
not heal, it is the proclivity of sinful and evil men to use
any given healing as evidence to justify their teachings and
doctrines. It is because
sinful and evil men will use any given healing of their calling
to make themselves multi-millionaires. And it is because any
given person that is healed today can end up traveling the gospel
circuit trafficking upon the Gospel – and then burning in hell
for having been healed.
In the words of Christ it is better to live
a godly life with one eye one leg or one arm than to get healed
and made whole and live a corrupt and sinful life. The latter
end of that house is worse than they former end.
Matthew 5:28-30 But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh
on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her
already in his heart. And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck
it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee
that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole
body should be cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend
thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that
thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Who gets all the girls and the worship and
adoration of the corrupt Christian masses? A) The broken up
deformed man? Or B) A man perfect to look upon in every way
that has been made rich by preaching about his healing and his
being delivered? The
answer is the church loves winners, the church of this hour
is success orientated and loves and lauds stories of the triumph
of the human spirit. And all of this is a complete 180 from the Gospel that Christ and
the Apostles preached.
Matthew 18:7-11 Woe unto the world because of offences!
for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man
by whom the offence cometh! Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot
offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather
than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting
fire. And if thine eye
offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better
for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having
two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Take heed that ye despise
not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven
their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is
in heaven. For the Son of man is come to save that which was
lost.
And what do you suppose those offences against
the little one’s are? Jesus does not enumerate the offenses
here. Jesus said: “It is better for
thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather (or blind) than having two
hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire.”
Jesus is flat saying here it is better to
go through life halt and righteous than be healed and because
of that healing fall into sin.
Jesus is saying it is better to be lame all your days
and live righteously God, than to be healed and in that healing
fall into sin. And finally Jesus says it is better to be never
healed of blindness, and be blind and righteously serve the
Lord than to be healed and with you sight become filled with
covetousness of all the things you had never seen before and
be filled with lust for all the women you had never seen. I never thought a day like this could come.
When I was young I was taught that it was
always the Lord’s will to heal you. I have heard dozens of sermons
on those who pray if it be thy will heal me from Kenneth Hagan
and the like. Shall I indeed follow the words of these corrupt men rather than
Christ? Kenneth Hagan did not die for my sins, he can not save
me. I owe all that I have and all that I am to Christ.
Shall I disciple and chain myself and partake of their
sins? I think not
I see by the Spirit of God concerning this
passage and other of the carnal Children of Israel in the wilderness
that they did not voluntarily decide to give up their personal
sovereignty and be led by God on a daily basis or have to seek
God for their daily subsistence.
I see that they wanted instead to be free
of the slavery of Egypt, that they openly welcomed the signs
and wonders and diverse miracles, but once they were out in
the desert they balked at having God provide all of their needs
according to his riches in glory. Especially when those riches
were not gold rained down from heaven, but a small round thing
like the hoar frost that they had to get up early daily and
stoop and grovel to gather it.
I see that
the key to understanding the failure of the ecclesia in the
wilderness was that even though the Jews as a people had lost
their sovereignty in Egypt and had become slaves at no point
did they realize that the Father had in fact redeemed them.
In other words the never came to any realization that God had
bought them with a price and that they were no longer their
own. And on this issue the Church of this hour at large has
grave problems as well.
The Phrase
“And I shall
be their God and they shall be my people” is routinely interpreted as: “And He shall be God and
we shall be our own people choosing what suits us and when it
suits us to serve Him. From
a foundational point of view this is where it all went wrong..
They never accepted God as their King, as their Lord, and as
their sovereign and
that they had become his servants.
Probably
one of their chief complaints of the children of Israel in the
wilderness was that nobody ever asked me if I wanted
________ (Fill in
the blank.)
But there
was a lot more to this than their just wanting the king of the
universe to ask them for permission before doing anything. What
they really wanted was to reserve all rights to say NO to any idea God
floated. They wanted freedom and independence from God. They wanted the same freedom that the sons
of Adam had to walk away from God which had led to them utterly
corrupting themselves and the flood. But God would have no part
of that.
Since the
fall of the early Church, believers have walked away from any
notion of: “And I shall be their God and they shall be my people.”
The Church has actively inserted anti-Christ’s for us
to follow in place of Christ making so that Christ is not our
King, our Lord or our Sovereign. That which calls itself the
Church is NOT subservient to Christ or the Father and never
has been. The Preachers Teachers and Evangelists all act as
independent agents Like Luther, Calvin and Simons who were obedient
to God’s word only when it suited their purposes.
What the
children of Israel really wanted was God in smaller more controlled
doses and because of this two generations of Israelites ended
up perishing in the wilderness. Sadly the church achieved
this exact status of limiting God in its midst after it fell
from grace somewhere around the year 200 AD. For this we
have had paid a terrible price for the sins of our fathers.
Sixty generations of Christians have perished in the wilderness
and have not entered into the promise, and in the year 2005
this shows no sign of abating. The generation that I belong
to has itself been found wanting before the Lord and rejected
and God is now looking to the next generation
Some have
viewed this prolonged return of Christ as a blessing because
of all the generations of believers in the interim period of
time that have come to a knowledge of our Lord. However during
the same period of time the number of souls that have gone to
hell have dwarfed those that were saved.
Because
of the sins of our fathers hell hath enlarged itself to accommodate
at that have come to its doors.
From the
so called church in almost every quarter the word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the Father, and the gifts and operations
of the Spirit are under assault. Within the so called church Christ and the
Father are denied access to the laity at large unless they play
by the denomination or ministries rules.
And so another generation bites the dust and their bone
bleach in the wilderness – the saddest thing is “but they regard not the work of the LORD,
neither consider the operation of his hands.”
“And they consider not in their hearts that I remember
all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about;
they are before my face.”
Concerning
this manna or the word that proceedeth from the mouth of the
Father scripture says: It was a small round thing, as small
as the hoar frost
For who hath despised the day of small things?
for
they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of
Zerubbabel with those seven; (The Seven Spirits of God)
they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through
the whole earth.
When the
Jews returned from Babylon only a small fraction actually returned
I have read an estimate of 10% of those of the tribes of Benjamin
and Judah I have read that only 4 priests returned and a handful
of Levites – this was a day of small thing. So to in the end when Zerubbabel shall be sent
to restore the church few shall return to the Lord to take part
of the restoration
He is despised and rejected of men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it
were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed
him not. Even as Christ and the Father were rejected
of the Jews so have Christ and the Father been rejected and
despised of that which calls itself the Church. We discerned
not His body, we esteemed Him not, we have despised the day
of small things in our midst.
Concerning
the manna we read It was a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost
there was nothing distinctive about it and likewise there is
nothing distinctive in hearing the word that proceedeth from
the mouth so that we might brag or our spiritual prowess, brag
that through our prayers we turned the head of God, through
our powerful auditory we persuaded God to do something or that
by our righteousness or our gifts and offerings God felt compelled
to answer our request.
Receiving
manna for the children of Israel wasn’t even the kind of thing
that one could even boast about to his neighbor as having received
this from the Lord. So too should be our attitude in receiving
the word that proceedeth from the mouth of the father.
Jeremiah 9:23-24 Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory
in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might,
let not the rich man glory in his riches: 24But let
him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth
me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment,
and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight,
saith the LORD.
And Paul also spoke of one being caught up in heaven to hear
the word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Father and
of this he said: Of such an one
will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory,
Yet in this
day the sins of the Church are to testify that it was by my
wisdom, my strength, my perseverance in prayer, my persuasiveness
in speaking to God, etc.. And those who speak glorify themselves
and their ministry as if the power to heal save or answer prayer
was their own personal possess and they lift up and exalt themselves
rather than give all the glory to God.
The Israelites
had such complete contempt for this substandard stuff they refused
to call it the bread that God had given them as spoken by Moses.
Manna was a Hebrew word meaning
“What is it?” It was meant as a jib. It was a complaint.
They could have called it “The food of God.” They could have
called it; “The food of Angels.” They could have called it;
“Bread from Heaven.” But
instead they treated it with contempt and called it; “What is
it?”
This same
loathing exists to this day for those who speak in tongues,
prophesy or any laity member that dares to claim that they have
heard the word that proceedeth from the mouth of the Father.
Instead
of calling it “the
work of the LORD, or the operation of His hands it is impugned as being the work of the flesh or the
work of the devil. It is denounced as emotionalism, and wild
fire. It is declared that no behavior as such falling under
the power, shaking quaking stammering speaking in other tongues
and other behaviors associated with this can be found in scripture.
Yet there is chapter after chapter in the law and the prophets
testifying that when God comes down and visits men their flesh
and emotions as affected by the presence and the Glory of the
Lord.
Beginning
with Adam, Abraham Issac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Balaam, Joshua,
Samuel, Saul, David, to name a few their testimonies and the
words in the Hebrew and Greek Septuagint show completely different
picture of the Spirit of God among men and the operations of
God, than the backslidden unregenerate churches of our day wish
to portray. The question is who are we going to believe the
testimony set forth in the infallible scriptures in the OT and
enumerated in the New or the traditions and doctrines of a particular
church or denomination or a group of denominations? The hour
has come to decide whom we shall serve – the living God or our
particular church of denomination.
Do not forget
that in order to receive this manna – this word that proceedeth
the Israelites had to rise up early and humble themselves they
had to stoop over or kneel to get it. And then there was the
fact that the stuff was always lying on the ground – in the
dirt. Making it hardly the kind of thing a child of the king
would want to eat.
In the Church
today survey after survey for the last three decades has indicated
that preachers and congregants alike spend mere minutes a day
seeking God in prayer –they literally are taking a few gasps
of prayer a day between breaks at work or such.
How can
Christ be your personal friend if you never speak to him except
a hello and a good bye. It is utter fantasy to believe one has
been redeemed and spend no time with God. As I have said already
when Christ redeemed us he purchased us. We are no longer out
own. We have been bought with a price.
In America it is hard to understand to concept of being
a servant – most people consider themselves co-equals of partners
with God this is so completely delusional words fail me. We
have been taught wrongly that every promise in the book is mine.
We have been wrongly taught to demand of God in the wilderness
we see what their demands got them – death in the wilderness.
Servants don’t demand, servants don’t say make me rich, servants
don’t presume to be their masters equal and partner. For those
who completely don’t get it
a servant is a slave. We are slaves that have been purchased
by Christ – and only to those who have had much forgiven will
they show their master (Christ) any kind of gratitude for purchasing
them. Instead those who believe they have been forgiven little
and that they aren’t getting the kind of deal they should be
getting their eyes being filled with lust go on the pull looking
at those around them and measuring what others have received.
They become filled with jealousy and envy and become defiled.
And their light becomes darkness and they proceed down
the path of death while justifying their every action.
Simply put those that will come out from
the great whore and her daughters are in for a radical lifestyle
change one that entails prostrating yourself before God for
hours every day – that we might hear and know him. One that
when he speaks that we be obedient. One that requires a love
for the truth so that we will spend hours everyday in his word
and meditating upon it.
One will say I can not do such and maintain
my home and lifestyle – then sell your home downgrade to something
more affordable and seek him – As his servant Christ your master
is more important than your Job or anything else you are seeking
to do.
Calvin and Luther claimed to be men of the
written word of God. Luther
vehemently argued a doctrine that he called Sola Scriptura
Genesis 14:18 –15:1
Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain
of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto
the LORD.(Made Sacrifices and he called upon the name of the
Lord) After these things the
word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not,
Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
So now when Abram
called the Lord came. So we see that Obedience is better than
sacrifice. We see that Abram was justified by works but not
just any works the works of obedience to the word that proceedeth
out of the mouth of the father the Sola Dictum Dei. We see that
the Faith was something that Abram saw by the spirit in Jehovah,
something that he had apprehended and touched in God. It was
not that Abram willed something the he pleased God. It was not
that Abram acquired a set of beliefs or what we would call doctrines
that he pleased God. it was not that Abram hoped in God building a memorial on what God
had done and what God was doing in Abrams life and laid hold
on God with that hope. It was that Abram saw that his only hope
of fulfilling God’s promise of bringing forth the coming one
was that it was in Jehovah not in Abram. And so now when Abram
build this altar made the sacrifices prescribed in the Sola
Scriptura and he calls upon the name of the Lord that God comes. And howbeit the Lord makes himself known only
to Abram even while the others are with him.
John 3:19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because
their deeds were evil.
Bible believing Christians have chosen to
venerate the written word because it cannot of itself speak.
And as the Jews of old because the written word is not alive
Men cut it up and divide it as it pleases them and weave in
it their own traditions and doctrines. Contrary to that Jesus
said that the Scripture points to him – men say scripture points
to men and the synagogues and temples which they build, Jesus
said that men do not come to him that they might have life because
their religious hearts are filled with the knowledge of good
and evil and they love their darkness and what they create of
their hands with the knowledge of good and evil rather than
the light of Christ. Their deeds, their word their acts their
doctrines are their own and evil. Again is this true of false?
Christ says that we have deceived our selves
into believing that we get salvation and eternal life from scripture
and our unregenerate searching reading and study of it. Why
would he call to us again and again that we need to come to
Him if we are there already?
Interestingly the Roman Catholics have had
this debate on this specific issue with Protestants particularly
Martin Luther on this subject – Martin Luther created the doctrine
Sola Scriptura the words mean: only in the Scriptures. The doctrine state that
the final authority is in the Church is scripture alone.
Roman Catholics state that the final authority
in the Church is Sola Verbum Dei – the spoken word of God.
The Reformation Doctrine of Sola Scriptura
ultimately pointed to a most basic concern of the faithful Church
of that day which was expressed in their cry of Soli Deo
Gloria, meaning, to God alone be the Glory!
Matthew 4:3-4 "And when the tempter came to Him, he said, if Thou be the Son
of God, command that these stones be made bread. But Jesus answered
and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every Word
that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."
While the 20th century Baptist
will say that the word
that proceeded is the written word, the founder of
Fundamentalism in 1530 Menno Simons did not hold that view.
Nor did any fundamentalists for the next almost 370 years. Along
with the people that do not hold this view we can add all the
shades of Pentecostals and Charismatic believers.
So where did this notion come from that
this verse that says a spoken word that is procceding and procceding
and proceeding from the mouth of the father – is actually in
fact the written bible. And the there are in fact no words that
have proceeded from the mouth of the father since Pentecost
in acts 2:4, that there are no visions, that there are no dreams,
that men and women do not prophesy and that especially no one
can speak in tongues. The
Baptists in 1910 had a convention in which a man put forth the
notion that
Only in the word that is written down. What
Martin Luther said if anyone prophesies has a dream or a vision
I will kill them, if an angel comes to me to speak to me I will
kill them. Martin Luther believed that his nightly dreams were
inspired by Satan
I would say that Luther was a man in great
torment over his sins. And chose a path of denial rather than
repentance.
Catholics
hold to Sola Verbum Dei, "only the
Word of God," whereas Luther held to Sola
Scriptura, "only the Word that's written
down";
This begs the question
of whether Jerome operated with a principle that approximated
the later Protestant doctrine of sola
scriptura. Only
the canonical books of the Bible, Jerome states, have the authority
to “confirm” right doctrine.
This paper will not seek to address this question of sola scriptura. It can be pointed out, however, that the Protestant
reformers who coined the phrase
(Martin Luther) sola scriptura did not use
it in opposition to tradition per se, but only to the notion
that tradition was of equal authority to Scripture.
Lutheran (Luther) and Reformed theologians (Calvin) continued after the Reformation to work within the context
of the broad tradition of the church, Scripture being given
a unique place in confirming
what doctrine was or was not to be held. (Out
of what they had already selected) Sola
scriptura does not necessitate a bare inductivism (Inductivism
is truth that is the result from close, careful and accurate
observation of the facts as revealed through thorough examination
of the word of God.) that of necessity rejects
tradition, (Theoretically Inductivism
would blow out all tradition but in fact at the time of Christ
he said that the Pharisees the great inductivists of his day
had rendered the word of God of none effect by their traditions
– that is because they are corrupt, they breed corruption no
matter their intent.) later an
inductivism was developed among the more radical reformers of
the sixteenth century (The writer
believes they rectified this – he is wrong on this point. Because
they are corrupt, they breed corruption no matter their intent.) Is stress this point here only because of confusion
my use of the phrase has fostered among those less familiar
with Protestant theology.
Cited
from: When a Universal Tradition of the Church is Wrong Canon, Text, and
Jerome's ad fontes call
to the Hebraica Veritas Gregory Johnson
• St. Louis University • Fall 1999
Equally specious was the Roman
Catholic counter argument that the final authority of the church
rested in Sola Verbum Dei – the spoken word of God or the word
that proceedeth from the mouth of the Father. One the face of this it sounded like a return
the the words of Christ and that the Priests and Holy See perpetually
waited upon God so that He would speak and guide them – in reality
it was that they had taken the mantle of being the mouth piece
of God upon themselves and were pawning off the notion that
their carnal words, carnal doctrines and carnal traditions were
indeed words proceeding from the mouth of the Father – which
is utterly blasphemous. So
on the argument of Sola Scriptura and Sola Dictum Dei the words
of both parties had no meaning all they were seeking was that
their words doctrines and traditions would receive supremacy.
Unfortunately the story of Sola Scriptura
and Sola Dictum Dei does not die there because after the deaths
of Luther, Calvin, and the Pope and Bishops of day both doctrines
were elevated to that of sainthood as “venerable and long-held
traditions.” And more importantly the definitions of these doctrines
over the ensuing hundreds of years have been revised again and
again and again. So
much so that whatever Luther, Calvin and the Roman Catholic
hierarchy originally argued and whatever their original intent, all that no longer matters. All that matters now is the light of
their historic and ground-breaking revelations.
By this argument Balaam was a great
man of God, and a venerable father and prophet of the nation
of Israel who did a great service for Moses and God in that
he helped weed out a great number of tares among God’s people
By this argument Mormonism is a great
Christian religion, whose founder helped bring millions into
the Christian faith through the doctrines of polygamy and child
marriage.
According to Christ roots matter, and foundations matter. The root
and the foundation of a group, an organization or a denomination
define what it is for all time. That which is of the flesh is
flesh and that which is of the Spirit is Spirit. But the unregenerate
mind does not see it so. They believe that all that matters
is that something gets founded or started and that once it is
begun then we can make any changes needed on the fly. So according
to evangelicals the early Christians were pagans and savages
and that through time and by man’s refinement Christianity has
become the all-inclusive great religion that it is today.
So there is nothing to go back to or look too in the
early church. At very least they are telling us that what
they have and what they are doing has no relation with the early
Church and therefore it has no relation with Christ and the
Apostles either.
I have not yet mentioned here in this
piece that the great reformers Luther, Calvin and Simons were
all Roman Catholic Priests. All three lived at the same time,
All three corresponded to each other with letter over a period
of years and shared their doctrinal ideas until they broke away
from Rome. All three named denominations after themselves and
appointed themselves as the Pope for life over their denominations.
All three came to hate and revile each other when it became
apparent that the others would not submit themselves or their
denomination to their Popery.
John 5:43 I am come in my Father's name,
and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name,
him ye will receive.
Revelation
17:1-5 And there came one of the seven
angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying
unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of
the Great Whore that sitteth upon many waters: With whom the kings of
the earth have committed fornication, and (With whom) the inhabitants of the earth have been
made drunk with the wine of her fornication. So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and
I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names
of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman
was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold
and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations
and filthiness of her fornication: And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery,
Babylon the Great, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS and abominations
of the earth.
This passage tells us of
the Great Whore and her daughters – who are her daughters –
the spawn of her doctrine and traditions. Those who where born
in her Luther, Calvin, and Simons and many others. Those who
have drank of her golden cup of abominations and the filthiness
of her fornications.
Doctrinally all churches
that were created in the reformation and their spawn over the
last 500 odd years are all her daughters and all have been made
to drink deeply of her cup. We have all been tainted with her
traditions and doctrines, we are all dressed in filthy garments
as we try to minister before the Lord. We are all at the Laodiceans
before God – through no fault of our own but through the sins
of our fathers.
Matthew 24:22 And except those days should be shortened,
there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those
days shall be shortened.
Mark 13:20 And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh
should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen,
he hath shortened the days.
This tells us that things
are still to get worse. How much worse you may ask?
Matthew 23:31-33
Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children
of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure
of your fathers. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can
ye escape the damnation of hell?
Then shall
they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and
ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake.
Who is they? The same people Jesus said Fill ye up
then the measure of your fathers . . . These are “Believers”
“God’s Children” “the
Elect” going after the very elect. The called going after the
chosen committing the sign of Cain which was if they could remove
God’s favored son God would have to deal with them because they
were the only game in town. We could call this the sign of Joseph
we could call this the Catholic Church turning on the Jews in
300 AD so God could not repent of his selection of the backslidden
bride of the church.
And then shall
many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate
one another.
Who
is Christ speaking of here? These are “Believers” “God’s Children”
“the Elect” going after the very elect. The called going
after the chosen.
And because
iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.
Whose
iniquity shall abound? These are “Believers” “God’s Children”
“the Elect” going after the very elect. The called going
after the chosen.
But he that
shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
Who
is enduring here to the end? No one is flying away anywhere
in this passage. This is the very elect, the chosen of God partaking
of Christ’s cup as Peter and the Apostles did. These are those
that loved not their lives unto death. This is not those vast multitudes that call
themselves believers. These
are not casual or even fully committed church goers. Christ
paid an extreme price for your sins and if you are not willing
to do the same for others as He did for you, you are not worthy
of him.
Not Worthy
of Him means
not worthy to be his disciple or not worthy to receive salvation
of Him.
I find myself being challenged do I want to live in the comforts
of this world do I want to listen to the siren song of the fallen
church that all is well with my soul and I am in need of nothing
or am I willing to forsake all to receive the excellency of
Christ? To live as Abram as a stranger in the land seeking a
city not made with hands. The Prophets did so. Christ did so.
The Apostles did so. What are we to do accept the pleasures
of a season with our fallen brethren or suffer with Christ without
the gate? Time is running out, for the Clesia.
The question of this hour is: Who shall speak to them? Who shall
declare to them of sins?
