Bible Believers' Newsletter #114
"We focus on the PRESENT Truth -- what Jesus is doing NOW . . ." ISSN 1442-8660
Christian greetings in the wonderful Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Paul said, that after the opening of the Seven Seals, "Evil men and seducers shall grow worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived." (II Timothy 3:13)
Last Sunday in a service broadcast from St. Paul's Anglican Cathedral in Melbourne, noted Tibetan Buddhist, Sokyal Rimpushe, proclaimed the current Anglican doctrine of "unity in diversity." He preached unity among all religions of the world, for all uphold the principles of love and goodness, and are therefore basically one in spirit.
St. Paul himself was of a somewhat different mind. He said, "I implore you, by the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you; but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment" (I Corinthians 1:10). So were Amos (3:3) and Jesus Christ (John 14:6; II Corinthians 6:14-18).
We are certainly "in the last days . . . for evil men and seducers are growing worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived". Within Message circles, congregations who imagine themselves "elect," permit apostate sefl-styled "Jewish" rabbis to present blasphemoussewer Talmudic thought from their pulpit, proclaiming the same message of unity as the Anglicans and their Buddhist teacher. They say, "I am rich in the Message, and increased with the Spoken Word, and have need of nothing more". Jesus replied, "And know not that you are wretched, and miserable, spiritually bankrupt, blind to the LOGOS of the Spoken Word, and naked of the blood" (Revelation 3:17-20).
These Buddhists, Anglicans, Message ministers and their congregations anointed by the Holy Spirit in the end-time, are bringing forth the fruit of the seeds that were planted. Clearly those seeds were NOT God's unchanging Word.
The same Holy Spirit that falls upon the just falls also upon the unjust. The Spirit that fell upon Moses also anointed Dathan and Korah. It fell upon Balaam. And It anointed Judas no less than Jesus and His other disciples. However we identify a tree not by the rain that waters it, but by the fruit of its life. We live in the harvest time, the season of mature fruit. The fruit of our end-time Judas and those who follow his ministry is so close as would almost deceive the very elect IF it were possible . . . but it is diabolically OPPOSED to the written and spoken Word.
What we are witnessing among mainline demoninations of all religions, including those who acknowledge the letter of Brother Branham's Message, is a uniting against the revealed Word. This is the second crucifixion of the Word as the Holy Spirit bundles the thorns and briers ready for the burning.
Never has God shone so much Light as He has revealed today to bring the Fruit of the Gospel to maturity in the unity of the faith, for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the harvest or translation. By the law of contrast this must also be the time of greatest spiritual darkness or apostacy. The Roman Catholic church term for this universal darkness that can almost be felt, is "Jubilee 2000".
Christ's tiny "wheat" Church is being called out of Babylon by the "shout" of the Message of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7 (Matthew 25:6; Revelation 18:4) into maturity in the unity of the faith by the "Voice" of Revelation 10:8-11 (Ephesians 1:17-20; 4:13), for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation following the "Trump" which sounds the close of the Gentile dispensation (Romans 8:19; I Corinthians 15:51-52).
Satan's huge church is gathering the "tares" of all nations, races and religions into a "unity in diversity." One thing Rome has is numbers -- over one billion acknowledge they are hers. Now she is calling runaway Protestants back into the fold, and extending the hand of apparent friendship and conciliation to various religious, racial and political groups she has harmed in her sixteen hundred and seventy-five year history. The Pope has asked forgiveness for certain past offences, but her motto is "Semper Eadem" -- always the same. His ploy is part of the grab for power in the millennium end-game.
Brother Branham said, ". . . they never change the system, and go on to perdition."
Thanks to an alert subscriber who "proves all things and holds that which is good," I too must apologise. In last week's Newsletter one article said Madeline Murray O'Hare's group had been granted a hearing by the Federal Communication Commission. The FCC http://www.fcc.gov/mmb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html says this was a hoax.
Clearly, everything presented in this Newsletter should be confirmed personally in your own Bible. Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony . . .
The Keys to the Kingdom
We'll continue our examination of the history of the past Seven Church Ages. If we can identify Scripture with past history, we can know what Scripture is already fulfilled, see what remains to be fulfilled. and know which part of His Word, God is fulfilling now. Once we've recognized what God promised He'd do in our day, we lay aside all else; we don't rest, until we can see that part of the Word manifesting through our life. Only then we can say, like Paul, "The life I now live is not me, but Christ living in me".
There were Seven Church Ages and seven earthly angels or major apostles, one to each Age. And being messengers, each had a Message. Seven different and distinct Messages, symbolized in Revelation Chapters 2 and 3, were inspired by the Holy Spirit to these seven men in God's time. These seven Messages were the "the KEYS to the kingdom of heaven" Jesus gave to Peter. They are FAITH keys.
Do you remember Jesus' solemn declaration to Peter in Matthew 16? "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jona: for flesh and blood (man, books or learning) has not revealed Who I am, but my Father in heaven has revealed Me. And I say also, That you're Peter, and upon this rock (of the Spiritual revelation of Who I am -- faith or understanding in the revealed Word), I'll build My Church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against faith in the Word. And I'll give unto you the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven". Provided only that it is bound or loosed by faith. For God's Word does not return to Him void, but accomplishes that for which it was sent. So if we abide in His Word, and His Word abides in us, we can ask anything in His Name, and He'll BIND or LOOSE it.
The KEYS Jesus gave to Peter were FAITH Keys. The first time they were used was in Acts chapter 2. After the Church was inaugurated by Jesus Christ, on the Day of Pentecost, the 120 original Christians emerged from the upper room and their spokesman, Peter, addressed the huge crowd of Israelites who'd come from all over the Roman world, to observe the Feasts of Passover and Pentecost, at the Temple in Jerusalem. Beginning with the prophet Joel, Peter preached to Israel the PRESENT Truth -- what God was doing in THAT hour.
When he identified Jesus in the Scripture, those Israelites saw plainly that they'd killed their very Messiah. And in desperation cried, "Men and brethren! What shall we do? We've sacrificed our God".
Then Peter replied, "Repent, and be baptized, in the NAME of the LORD JESUS CHRIST for the REMISSION of sin, and you SHALL be born-again!" Oh my! The KEY turned right then, and about three thousand souls entered the kingdom of heaven, which is the NEW-BIRTH.
Peter unlocked the kingdom of heaven, or new birth, to Israel on the Day of Pentecost. Until Peter turned the keys, or imparted the faith, no Hebrew, other than those in the upper room with him, could be added to the Kingdom.
But the kingdom is not restricted to the Jews. For Moses and the prophets and Psalms had spoken beforehand concerning the Gentiles (Genesis 9:27; Deuteronomy 32:43; Psalms 117:1; Isaiah 11:10; Malachi 1:11, etc). In Acts 8:14-17, Peter turned the FAITH keys once again to unlock the Kingdom to the Samaritans who were half Jew and Gentile. Again in Acts 10, Peter turned the Faith Keys, and God admitted Gentiles from about five different nations into the Kingdom by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is the new birth.
The keys to the Kingdom of heaven are faith or a clear REVELATION of the Word for YOUR day. "For by ONE Spirit we're ALL baptized into one Body, whether we be Jews OR Gentiles, whether we're bond or free" (I Corinthians 12:13). And we receive the baptism of the Holy Spirit, which is the new-birth, by FAITH. Paul said, "We receive the Spirit by the HEARING of Faith" (Galatians 3:3; 14). And "Faith comes by hearing, and hearing (or UNDERSTANDING) the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Jesus said, "Except a man is born-again, he cannot see (or understand) the Kingdom of God" (John 3:3; I Corinthians 12:3).
Now I wish to draw our attention to a very important observation, which will help us better understand this lesson. Notice that Jesus gave Peter the keys (PLURAL) to the Kingdom (SINGULAR).
This confirms Paul's teaching of I Corinthians 12, that the true Church or Body of Christ, like your body and my body, is made up of different parts and although each member has its own function, all members of the body are interdependent, necessary to one another, and equally members of the body. Without any one of them, our body, or the Body of Christ, the true Church of all Ages, would not be complete and perfect.
The Body of Christ is made-up through the Gentile dispensation by seven DIFFERENT Portions of the ONE Holy Spirit. In the Old Testament, as in the Book of Revelation (which only employs Old Testament symbols), these portions are called "the seven lamps of Fire which burn before the throne of God". They represent the Seven Church Ages. And the seven Church Age messengers or angels were each anointed with a Portion of the Spirit so it should be clear that the Body of Christ was made up by FAITH in their Messages.
According to the Pentecostal Feast of Leviticus 23 (which TYPES the Gentile dispensation), there were NINE distinct divisions of the Church. This agrees with Matthew 24, and Revelation 1 to 3 which describe them as Alpha, or Pentecost, which had ALL the KEYS, or faith ONCE delivered unto Peter; Seven Church Ages of PART Word with ONE specific Key (or portion of Spirit) revealed to EACH Age. And TODAY, the Omega Age wherein the apostolic faith has been RESTORED by the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7.
Both Jesus and Peter promised: "Elijah truly shall come BEFORE the great Tribulation, and RESTORE the Word spoken by ALL God's holy prophets since the world began".
Once again, we have in THIS day, ALL the KEYS (plural), that Jesus gave unto Peter. Paul called It "That Which is perfect": the FULLNESS of the Word.
If you catch what I'm saying, you'll appreciate what we've been reviewing in our study of the Seven Church Ages. Each Church Age is a DISTINCT dispensation, a DIFFERENT part of ONE Body, made up by seven DIFFERENT baptisms of the Holy Ghost -- seven DIFFERENT measures of the ONE faith of Jesus Christ.
When one part of the Body was completed, God added another line, another precept, another Word, a greater measure of Revelation or Spirit; (as foretold by the prophet Isaiah). The revelation which gave the new-birth, or baptized one Church Age into the Body, could not give the new birth in any of the succeeding Ages. It could make a foolish virgin, but not a saint.
Oh, we should search the Scriptures, for in them is eternal Life. Jesus said, "You can discern tomorrow's weather, or NATURAL things, but you can't discern the SPIRITUAL Signs of the times".
People fail to recognize these different dispensations. They fail to see that denominations are tombstones -- memorials to past Moves of God already fulfilled. There's no Life in them -- they formed AFTER the Revivals they represent.
I John 1:7 says, "UNLESS we're walking in the Light, or REVELATION of the Word, that God's fulfilling NOW, we are not and cannot come under the blood, or be born-again".
Unless we recognize OUR day and ITS Message, we are not in the economy of God Who is only making written epistles of the PRESENT Truth.
We'll continue our review of the Seven Church Ages which are ALL fulfilled. The Seventh or Laodicean Church Age ended in 1963, when Christ came forward, claimed the Book of Redemption, tore open the Seven Seals, and revealed their mystery to us, through His prophet, the late William Branham, who was the angel or messenger to Laodicea.
Last week we covered the Thyatira or DARK Age. This week, we'll examine the Fifth Age. Sardis is the first of three Ages of the REFORMATION of the Roman Catholic SYSTEM of worship.
After what seemed an interminable time, wherein Truth must surely die, men began to protest the vileness of the Roman Catholic church, because by no stretch of the imagination could God be in such teaching, and such conduct. These protests were disregarded, and died from failure to arouse attention, or were quashed by Rome.
Then God in His sovereign grace, sent a messenger by the name of Martin Luther to start a reformation. He worked in a climate where the Roman Catholic church had been given so much rope that she was about to hang herself.
When Luther preached JUSTIFICATION by faith, the true vine, for the first time in many centuries, began to grow in a bountiful manner. As the nominal church had used state power to back it up, now state power began to flow against it. This is where Luther made his mistake, and the true believers made their mistake. They allowed the state to subsidize them. So this Age did not launch out very far on the Word. Thank God that it went as far as it did go. But because it leaned on political power to a great extent, this age ended in organization. And this very group that in Luther's generation had broken from the false vine, now turned back to become a daughter of the harlot for she went right into nicolaitanism and Balaamism. This era had scores of factions within it, and to prove how far they were from true seed is merely to read history and see how they persecuted each other, even unto death in some cases. But there were a few names amongst them, even as there always are in every age.
We rejoice in this age for this one thing. Reformation had started. It was not a resurrection, but a reformation. Neither was it a restoration. But the corn of wheat that had died at Nicea and had rotted in the Dark Ages now sent up a shoot of Truth, signifying that at some future date, at the end of the Laodicean Age, just before Jesus came, the Church would go back to being a wheat Seed Bride again, while the tares would be harvested, and burned in the lake of Fire.
Praise God! Jesus said, "The generation that sees Israel restored to the Promised Land will not pass away, before the millennium is ushered in".
We're living at the climax of Christian history. Soon cometh the earthquake that marks the end of the Gentile dispensation. Soon the Seventh Trump will sound to call the sleeping saints out of the dust and change the living Bride in the atoms. Then we'll be caught up with them in the Clouds, to meet the Lord in the Air for the Wedding Supper.
We're living in the harvest time. Waiting for the resurrection.
Jesus said the seven stars in his right hand, meaning "in his control", represented the angels to the Seven Church Ages. Those men were: Paul, Irenaeus, Martin, Columba, Luther, Wesley, and Branham. If you wish to learn a little about the life and work of these mighty saints, check them out in an encyclopaedia. God will bless you and strengthen your faith as you "prove all things, hold fast that which is good"'. radio025.html
Homework: I would like you to continue reading The Nameless War by Captain A.H.M. Ramsay, a book that should be prescribed reading in all schools. Our on-line version is abridged; nonetheless, it provides an easily read historical background which will prepare us to understand God's Word in upcoming Newsletters.
For Further Information Contact:
Bible Believers' Church
Currabubula, NSW 2342, Australia
e-mail: ags@biblebelievers.org.au
URL: http://www.biblebelievers.org.au/