Is the Pastor the head of a church?
Headship of the Church
The Roman Catholic system is to have a priest as the head of a local church. The priest tells the congregation what to believe and how to live. The priest controls who can and who cannot preach. The priest controls how the tithes are spent. Thus the congregation is under the rulership of this one man.
The people are simply absorbers of the priest's wisdom.
Then a group of priests fall under the central control of a bishop.
It is an efficient model for church growth. That is why the Catholic church is by far the biggest Christian organization.
Protestant churches either follow the Bible or they follow the example of Catholicism, the mother church who gave birth to her Protestant daughters. If a Protestant group wants to get big, they tend to follow this very successful Catholic model of church growth. Protestants have different doctrinal beliefs to the Catholics (and to other Protestant groups ) but they mostly agree on the method of church control by the centralization of power in the hands of one man, who is called pastor, the Protestant version of the priest. The pastor is the head of the church and basically rules the church. Very efficient, but is it Scriptural?
What does the Bible say about pastors?
Not much in the New Testament. The word pastor is only mentioned once.
11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
12 For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Ephesians 4 : 11-12
A five-fold ministry is needed to guide the believers among whom pastors are mentioned fourth.
This is not a high ranking position. Does this entitle the pastor to dominate a church? Certainly not.
Where is the five-fold ministry today? No-one is allowed to preach unless they agree with the pastor. Disagree with the pastor and he closes his pulpit to that ministry. Thus the pastor acts as a Catholic bishop, controlling the other four ministries. The pastor also controls the tithes so any independent thinking by the other four ministries is financially throttled.
Just as the Catholic emperor Constantine subsidized the churches to make them obedient to him so that he was then able to bend them to his will, the pastors only subsidise the ministries that agree with them. The congregations are only exposed to ministries that the pastor approves of.
Thus many pastors develop into a pre-eminent "one-man show" . One man who can do it all : preach, teach, evangelise, rule the church, subject the church to his beliefs etc. The congregation benefits from his strong points but are also subject to his weak points and errors.
9 I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
10 Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church.
3 John 1 : 9-10
This man, who coveted more than his due, and lorded it over God's heritage, ruled the flock and usurped a one-man power over them.
Who bans people from his church and pulpit today? The pastor.
Who has the pre-eminence in the church today? Pastors.
2 Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:
Matthew 23 : 2
The scribes and Pharisees quoted from the prophet Moses. Selective quotes that suited their theory. Pastors today mainly preach from quotes. "The prophet said this", "the prophet said that"... Selective quotes that suit their understanding of the mysteries. Mystery Babylon? They do not prove their point by going through the Scriptures. Their understanding is based on certain quotes.
Ask the question "Why does a pastor rule the assembly?" and you get a flood of quotes to justify that the pastor is the head of the church. Not a flood of Scriptures because the Bible says that Jesus is the head of the church.
23 ...even as Christ is the head of the church:...
Ephesians 5 : 23
6 And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
Matthew 23 : 6
"The chief seats". How many modern church buildings have seats in front for the important people to sit in? Who are these important people? Usually pastors or visiting pastors. No ministry will sit there if that man disagrees with the pastor. Pastors do not welcome opposition. Just as pope Leo did his best to get rid of Martin Luther. The man in charge is always right, the person who disagrees is always wrong. That thinking is called Churchianity, the subtle enemy of Christianity.
7 And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
Matthew 23 : 7
How often do you hear the title "Pastor" being mentioned?
"Who is your pastor?" . This unscriptural question is one of the first to be asked.
The early church never spoke like that.
8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
Matthew 23 : 8
"All ye are brethren". We are all supposed to be equal. A teacher is not called Teacher Smith, just brother Smith. But pastors insist on being called Pastor Smith. William Branham didn't ask to be called prophet Branham. He was happy to be brother Branham. We should address men as brother, not some other title which implies that they are above us in some way.
Until Constantine stopped the persecution of Christians around 312 AD, Christians often had to meet in houses, open air places or secret places owing to the major persecutions that had been launched against them. If they met in public buildings these were liable to be confiscated. Tertullian ( 160 - 228 AD ) wrote "We are besieged, hunted down, taken by surprise in our secret congregations". The severe persecution kept them on track. After 312 AD, church buildings sprang up with a priest who ruled the congregation, basilicas ( fancy cathedrals ) were built to give certain places preeminence and their ceremonial worship copied the ceremony that took place in the emperor's palace. Worship of God was modeled on emperor worship. Churchianity replaced Christianity. The state was ruled by a human head, the emperor. So the churches also had to be ruled by a human head. The church copied the political example. Church leaders were elevated above the church members and they ruled and dominated the people.
Look what the Bible says of this third church age
12 And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write...
13 I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan's seat is: ....
15 So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
Revelation 2 : 12-13;15
Church buildings thus open the door to a large crowd being organized and dominated by one man.
"Nico" means to conquer. "Laity" the people in the assembly. God hates an Aaronic priesthood, or worse still a one-man show, that elevates men above the assembly and then rules and regulates and subdues the assembly until they are bent to the leader's will.
"Satan's seat". This is a harsh condemnation. This is one successful technique whereby Satan takes over the church although the people sincerely believe that they are serving God.
The Old Testament only speaks of pastors in Jeremiah, who does not say much good about them.
15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.
Jeremiah 3:15
This is good. Pastors can be a useful ministry if they find their correct place.
16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.
Jeremiah 17:16
This is a reasonably neutral statement. What came out of his mouth was true. That is good.
But, being a pastor did not make him follow God. And he was slow to get away from being a pastor so that he could follow God. That was not so good.
The rest of his comments are very condemning of pastors. They are obviously not the one-man superstars that their congregations think they are.
8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.
Jeremiah 2 : 8
"The pastors also transgressed against me".
21 For the pastors are become brutish, and have not sought the LORD: therefore they shall not prosper, and all their flocks shall be scattered.
Jeremiah 10 : 21
The pastors are become brutish and don't seek God. Their agenda is their own gain and their own importance. They love to rule over people. Anyone who disagrees has to leave. The believers who want Scripture have to scatter. Then the assembly cannot be corrected. Submissive to error, the congregation heads for the tribulation.
10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard, they have trodden my portion under foot, they have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness.
Jeremiah 12 : 10
We are supposed to prove our beliefs from Scripture. Now that pastors have decided to interpret the unwritten mysteries in the Bible like the seven Thunders and the new name of Jesus, etc. They have made people put their faith in selected quotes instead of Scripture. Truth is no longer based on Scripture. People parrot quotes. Scriptural proof of a doctrine is left desolate. Message people cannot prove their beliefs from the Bible any more.
22 The wind shall eat up all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go into captivity: surely then shalt thou be ashamed and confounded for all thy wickedness.
Jeremiah 22 : 22
"The wind..." By interpreting certain selected quotes to mean something that brother Branham never said, pastors become windbags.
Brother Branham never said "The seven Thunders have uttered" but pastors make this statement a foundation of their mystery beliefs.
Brother Branham never said that the Cloud of 1963 is the Coming of the Lord. It was photographed going away, not coming.
It was photographed on 28 February 1963. How can this be the Coming of the Lord when he said that the seventh Seal brings Him back to earth. The seventh Seal was only preached on 24 March 1963. So which date was the Coming?
347 The Seventh Seal brings Him back to earth.
"Souls that are in Prison Now", preached on Sunday morning 10 November 1963
Then he also said that the seventh seal never opened.
176 The Seventh Seal hasn't opened yet, you know. That's His Coming.
"The Feast of the Trumpets", preached on Sunday morning 19 July 1964
If the seventh Seal never opened, then Jesus never came on that day.The prophet said that it would be light at the evening time. In the hymn it is written:
177 And now I'm here in Yuma, Arizona. Hallelujah! I'm identified tonight, here in this Stardust Motel, with a group of people who believes the same thing. "And now we're seated together in Heavenly places in Christ Jesus." Hallelujah! I'm looking for His Coming in glory, some of these days. Identified with Him!
"The Identified Masterpiece of God", preached on Saturday morning 05 December 1964
Long after revealing the Seals, he was still looking for the Coming of the Lord.
1 Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23 : 1-2
By preaching their different versions and interpretations of quotes, pastors browbeat and brain wash a group into not building up their beliefs on Scripture. Selected quotes are all you need. His opinion of these selected quotes is the truth. Your pastor will see you through ( an unscriptural statement). Yet one pastor differs from another as the Message has fragmented into numerous variations. So which pastor and which version of the Message is correct ? The size of the congregation is regarded as proof of correctness. By that logic the Catholics are most correct as they are the biggest in numbers.
But any person who wants to learn Truth by linking up Scripture to Scripture gets driven away.
Pastors do not visit these dissenters. They don't want them in their assemblies.
So what is the alternative?
People claim that a pastor is a shepherd but there is no Scripture that says this.
2 Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3 And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4 And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 23 : 2-4
God condemns the pastors that have fed the people the wrong food. But then He says that He will provide shepherds who will feed the people the correct food. The people 'shall fear no more'. They will not be subject to terror tactics if they disagree. No more will dissenters have to undergo having the blood remitted ( an unscriptural statement ).
God rejects the pastors and sets up shepherds. Who are these people?
They will be a minority.
7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18 : 7-8
Shepherds always go to the Word. So shepherds were sent by the angel to the baby Jesus.
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalms 23 : 1
The only real Shepherd is Jesus.
11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
John 10 : 11
2 But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
John 10 : 2
The door to heaven is Jesus who is the Word. You must only preach the Word. If you establish truth by running it through the Bible then you are turning people to the Word which is the only door to heaven. And the focus of the Bible is your dependence on Jesus Christ.
5 And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers.
John 10 : 5
Human interpretations cannot link Scripture to Scripture. You get your ideas from the quotes. But then you must track those ideas through the Bible. If you do not prove your ideas from Scripture, without having to refer to quotes, then you simply do not know what you are talking about. Then the true believer, who wants to build faith on the written Word, will not follow your opinion.
Jesus left the apostles in charge of the church. Who did the apostles leave in charge?
Elders, not one man.
Saint Paul spoke to the elders of Ephesus who established the first church age which is the model that the last church age must return to. This is near the beginning of the New Testament.
17 And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called the elders of the church.
28 Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Acts 20 : 17;28
The elders are to feed the flock. It is not a one-man ministry.
The elders are the overseers of the church of God in any one place.
Saint Peter says the same thing near the end of the New Testament.
1 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:
2 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;
3 Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.
4 And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
1 Peter 5 : 1-5
Peter greets them as an elder himself, not as an apostle.
The 12 apostles would die in due course and it was elders who would take over from them.
The elders must feed the church...and not for the sake of money.
Verse 2 does not justify a pastor collecting all the tithes. The elders take the oversight of the church and handle the money matters as well as all the other issues. It is not a one-man show.
Verse 3 speaks out against a pastor who dominates an assembly.
No-one is lord over God's people
Verse 4 speaks of the chief Shepherd, Jesus, who actually runs the church. Thus the elders can only tell people what is in the Scripture because that alone points the people to the chief Shepherd.
Verse 5 "All of you be subject one to another". This was the key to the early church. All the elders were equal. No elder was the boss. No single elder was in charge. They ran the church as a group.
Paul warned
29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
30 Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Acts 20 : 29-30
Notice this tactic "to draw away disciples after them" is to promote a human leader for the church to follow. One man then runs the show and the people are subject to his opinion. It is effective in terms of building up a big group but God says they are wolves. Romulus and Remus were twins who were suckled by a she wolf and then pastor Romulus got rid of the only man who was his equal, his twin brother Remus.
After taking that step he was undisputed leader and on his way to successfully building up Rome. Stay away from that spirit. Do not follow a man. Do not believe anything that does not get proven to you from Scripture.
The five fold ministry are not the only elders. People claim that there is a new Aaronic priesthood called the five fold ministry that runs the church.
The true Melchizadek priesthood consists of every believer which maintains the equality of everyone.
You are as much a part of the priesthood as anybody else.
9 But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
1 Peter 2 : 9
No-one is between you and Jesus. The elders are simply guides or signposts to point you to Him. You do not hero worship a signpost. You are grateful for a signpost but you move on to the Person of Jesus which is what the signpost is pointing to.
The five fold ministry are simply elders who preach. There are other elders involved in the running of the church who do not preach. But they are all elders. Each has his own function but a function does not make the person more or less important.
109 I'm going to pray for you right now. I'm going to lay hands upon you. I'm going to ask the minister brothers, so that you see it's not just me. I'm not the only one. Any minister has the right to pray for the sick. Any minister that's godly and God-sent, that's got faith in God, God will hear his prayer just the same as He will anybody. They may not be able to discern and things like that. They don't... That don't happen too often. That's right. But that don't make the person doing that any more than anybody else.
"The Way Back", preached on Friday morning 23 November 1962
5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
1 Peter 5 : 5
We are all subject to each other. We are all ruled by Scripture. Whoever finds a relevant Scripture that deals with an issue, we all are then subject to that Scripture. That is how we can all correct each other.
There is no bigshot.
17 Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word and doctrine.
1 Timothy 5 : 17
Some elders labour in the word and doctrine. They are the five fold ministry. But there are other elders who are not preachers but they also play a part in ruling the church.
It is the combination of preaching and non-preaching elders who rule the church.
Paul lays out how the church should be run.
28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1 Corinthians 12 : 28
These are the key points for running the church. Notice, pastors are not even mentioned.
The apostles come first. They were trained by Jesus and they laid down the rules and guidelines for the New Testament church to follow. The original 12 apostles had the highest authority. Other apostles or missionaries must be subject to the teachings of the first apostles. These truths and guidelines would get lost during the church ages. God has often used a prophetic gift to guide His people at different times during the church ages but the main prophetic ministries would be Paul,Peter and John who wrote the prophecies of the New Testament and then the end time Elijah who came to turn the children ( us ) back to the fathers ( the original apostles ).
247-3 So he (Luther) was not able to lead the church back to the whole truth as would a man like the apostle Paul who was both apostle and prophet.
"Sardisean Church Age", Church Age Book Chapter 7
We have the written Word from the apostles. We have the spoken word from the end time prophet. We get our ideas or revelations from the spoken word. Then we have to prove those ideas from the written Word which has the preeminence as It is mentioned first.
This is where the church fails. They get a revelation from the quotes but do not prove it from Scripture.
This is why teaching is the third step.
Teaching is focused on Scripture. Taking the quotes back to Scripture.
227 ... Believe all the Message. Believe That. If it isn't, if it isn't written in the Bible, then don't you believe it.
"He That Is In You", preached on Sunday evening 10 November 1963
267-3 {281} If that Angel of the Lord told me anything that wasn't Scriptural, I wouldn't believe Him.
"The Third Seal", preached on Wednesday 20 March 1963
38 ...In the Old Testament, before a prophet's word could be made manifest, it had to be examined and proved. They wasn't loose with it, like we are today.
39 Just go out and have any kind of a sensation, or anything else, "Oh, glory to God, that's it!" You're mistaken.
The Bible said, that, "In the last days, the Devil will impersonate Christianity, so close, till it'll deceive the very Elected if possible." That's right. So, we must test it.
40 And how did they test it in their day? To the Urim Thummim. The breastplate of Aaron, that had those stones in it: carbuncle, jasper, diamond, ruby, sapphire. All those stones, that represent the birth of these twelve patriarchs, was in the breastplate of Aaron. And when a prophet prophesied, and that sacred Light flashed over it, God said, "That is the Truth." But, no matter how real it seemed, if it didn't flash on that, it wasn't the Truth. So, that Urim Thummim went with that priesthood.
41 But this Bible is God's Urim Thummim today. And when a prophet prophesies, it must absolutely flash with the Bible.
"Hebrews Chapter Two", Part 1, preached on Sunday morning 25 August 1957
106 The teacher is a special man. He sits back under the anointing of the Spirit and is able to take the Words and put them together by the Holy Spirit, that, the pastor or evangelist either one could not compare with him.
"God Doesn't Call Man to Judgment Without First Warning Him", preached on Wednesday morning 24 July 1963
The teacher gets his revelation or understanding from the quotes. Then he places those ideas into the Scripture and links Scripture to Scripture to prove the idea purely from the Bible. No quotes are needed to prove the point. The Bible alone must be able to do so. The other ministries cannot compare with this ability to link the Scriptures together.
But if the quotes can be proven from the Scripture then these revelations can be guaranteed to be the truth. This is the value of teaching. If the pastors etc are not too proud to learn doctrine from a teacher. "Helps" The church is not run by one man. All the people should be involved. Anyone can help and find something useful to do. This ministry is an invitation for people to pitch in and be active.
"governments" refer to the elders ( preachers and non-preachers ) who govern the church.
172 But what happened? Balaam, he succeeded in weakening Israel. What did he do? He weakened their camp. God let him go and weaken their camp, and it polluted the whole camp. And when some doctrine starts, that's not the Bible Truth, it pollutes the whole camp. Somebody raise up with a different idea, like Korah, and say, "Well, this, that, and the other, and I got a different idea," it pollutes the whole camp. And that's what's done the whole church camp today. That's right.
173 Teaching as he did, weakening the whole camp for Kadesh-barnea, the Word showdown. When they got to Kadesh-barnea, then, the weakening of the camp. They come back. They had went right after...
Remember, they had eat angels' food. They had the Word of God, every night, made manifest. And they eat the food. They drink from the rock. They did all, seen the miracles. They watched Moses, and seen his word, seen his prophesies, everything.
And then finally when they listened to this false teacher, come in among them and teach wrong, he weakened the camp, and prospered by it.
He might have built a million-dollar buildings. He might have had great denominations. He might have added thousands times thousands, and done great works, and mighty works, and was a prophet. That's alright, but, as long as it's not with the Word of God, you better stay away from it.
God don't change His mind. Stay right with His Word, 'cause that's what's going to come out in the end, the Word, Word by Word. "Whosoever shall take one Word away from It, or add one word to It!" It's got to stay, that Word.
"Does God Ever Change His Mind About His Word", preached on Sunday evening 18 April 1965
106 ...Show unto us the way to walk. Teach us, O Father, God. May we receive it. And if it's contrary to the Word, we know that it's the wrong teacher. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. He wrote the Word, and He would not teach anything but the Word. And we pray that He'll make it manifest to us this night in our heart. Grant it, God.
"Jehovah Jireh 3", preached on Saturday 07 July 1962
27 That's the reason I have a--a wonderful Bible teacher here before me, who places the people and everything right on God's Word. For this is God's Word.
"Do You Now Believe", preached on Sunday evening 17 August 1952
9 Which is a... Which was a New Testament modern day prophet, a preacher. "Prophesy" means "to foretell, or to tell some personal thing."
In other words, if you read the Bible and start tell... Then that's a teacher. See? But a "prophesy" is "to testify or foretell." All right. Now... And the Spirit of Christ is prophecy.
"I Perceive That Thou Art A Prophet", preached on Sunday evening 14 June 1953
16 I remember staying a year and six months in this Book of Revelation in--in the Tabernacle here. That's what I like in--in teaching. I just love teaching. Oh, my. I--I--I think it's wonderful. It gives the basis and settles the church.
And in preaching, now, there's some people that are preachers. They can pick up the Word with inspiration, and sway It out there in places. That's watering the Seeds that the teacher has taught. See? Now, you got to put some Seed in first, and then water It. And the watering comes from the preaching of the Word.
There's a great vast difference between a teacher and a preacher. See? It's two different gifts of the Spirit altogether, two different gifts. And I humbly say this, but I haven't a gift of either.
"The Seven Church Ages", preached on Wednesday 12 May 1954
62 Now, the Urim Thummim has been done away with, in that sense, but This is God's Urim Thummim now, the Bible. If a prophet, or a dreamer, or whatever it is, or a teacher, hasn't based his theory exactly on THUS SAITH THE LORD, I don't believe it. See? Got to come right here, from Genesis to Revelations. Not just in one place, it's got to come through the Bible and tie It exactly together. Yes, sir. It's got to dovetail with the rest of It, and hook It all together. If you don't, you could take one thing and say that that's purgatory and preach Catholicism out of the Bible. But it's got to dovetail completely from Genesis to Revelations, make the picture clear. That's right.
And the Holy Ghost is the One Who develops this picture for you, if you'll just let Him do it. He will lead you into all Light. The Bible said so. Jesus said He would do it.
"The Seal Of God", preached on Friday 14 May 1954
203-341 You say, "Well, glory to God, the Bible said when the Holy Ghost is come you don't need any teacher; He's the teacher Hisself." Oh, brother. How can you be so little from reading the Scrip... Why did the Holy Ghost set teachers in the church then?
Say, "I don't have to have anybody teach me; the Holy Ghost teaches me." It does through a teacher. He set teachers in the church.
He said, "Are all teachers, are all apostles, are all gifts of healing?" The Holy Ghost set these things in the church; He operates them all, and each one of them operates orderly.
"Questions and Answers", preached on Saturday 15 May 1954
23 And many times we substitute so much instead of the Word, especially today. We're substituting phenomenal. We're substituting a lot of other things that shouldn't be.
After all, church is for preaching the Word. Testimonies are fine, and different things that we do is wonderful, but we must give the Word first place because It's for the sinner, and for the people that has the Holy Spirit also.
Jesus said, when Satan tempted Him, He said, "It's written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." See? The Holy Spirit feeds on the Word of God. The Holy... He takes the Word and places it into your heart, and it makes you grow in strength, good Bible exposits. And I love it.
I love to sit and hear a good Bible teacher who takes the Bible and lays It out. Then the Spirit of kindness and meekness with it, where it takes root in good soft ground, and goes to growing.
"A Hidden Life In Christ", preached on Thursday 10 November 1955
32 God stays right with His Word. Here's the instructions the Holy Spirit got to teach a child by. He will never leave that for nothing. He will never add one word or take one word away from it. He will stay exactly on that. He will never leave that Bible.
If the Bible said, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever," the Holy Spirit will say the same thing.
Men will say, "Oh, no, you can't teach that. You couldn't get by with it."
The Bible said, "I'm the Lord healeth all thy diseases."
Man say, "Oh, you can't believe that."
The Holy Spirit said, "Amen. It's right."
See? But that's what makes the difference. "Oh, we Presbyterian, we Pentecostal, we Assemblies, we this, we don't believe that."
Why don't you believe it? Because you're listening to men teachers in the stead of God's Teacher, the Holy Spirit. That's exactly right. Stay right with the Word. He will never add nothing to It or take nothing away from It. He will stay right with the instructions. He is God's Teacher.
"Hear Ye Him", preached on Sunday 19 May 1957
48 Now, Moses, when he was called by God, he was a total, complete prophet. When God sends a man to do anything, He completely equips him with everything that he has need of. If God calls a man to be a preacher, He puts something in him to preach with. If He calls him to be a teacher, He puts something in him to teach with. If He calls for him to be a prophet, He puts something in him to see visions and to be a prophet. God always completely equips His man.
"A Total Deliverance", preached on Sunday 12 July 1959
18 A New Testament prophet is a preacher. We all know that. Just any minister that's a preacher is a prophet, a New Testament prophet, if he's prophesying, preaching, not to try to edify himself to make a big name, or to edify his organization. Which, he should be in an organization. Here I am without one, but yet preaching you should be. That's right. Every man ought to have a church home. You ought to have a place, not just to float about from pillar to post, but have somewhere that you go to church and you call it your church, somewhere you pay your tithe, and somewhere that you help support the cause. Take your choice, but then don't never disfellowship the other man because he don't belong with your group. See? Discern his spirit...
"Discernment Of Spirit", preached on Tuesday 08 March 1960
55 He's the Tutor of the church. He's the One. Let the Holy Spirit live in the church and make way. That's when you'll have real meetings. Listen to your pastor. Let him not, let it... See, if the devil can't keep you from seeing the real--real thing of God, he will push you off the deep end with it, like that. He will make you go to a fanatic. You don't have to fanatical. There's too much real and real genuine to have to be a fanatic. My, the whole Pentecostal skies are full of it.
But listen to your pastor, a good God-sent man, a teacher that'll send and tell you just exactly what to do, because himself is anointed with the Holy Ghost. And watch him; he will stay right smack with the Word. Exactly what the Word says, he will say right with It. And God will bless that Word. I don't care where it's at; He will bless it because He promised He would do it. That's right. He will stay.
"Hear Ye Him", preached on Tuesday evening 12 July 1960
520-54 If you see him real flighty and going on, you--and he says, "The Lord called me for such and such a--to be a pastor." Now, a pastor can't be a flighty person. A pastor's solid, sound. See?
"God called me to be a teacher." And watch him how he interprets the Word. See? He gets It all mixed up and everything, then you can tell. See?
But then, the thing to do, your position is usually known whether you can do it or not.
"Questions and Answers", preached on Thursday 12 January 1961
520-57 Now, when God called me to be an evangelist, I wanted to be a pastor. And I thought staying at home here would just be fine. And the Lord called me. Finally all the people got together. There's not a one of them left tonight in here, that they cried and went out there on 1717 Spring Street. And the lady, Mrs. Hawkins over here, met me and said (crying, during the time of depression, when one in the neighborhood would cook a mess of beans and we'd all come in and eat from that), and she said, "I'll allowance my children at the table if you'll only build a tabernacle." See?
And my calling was an evangelist. The morning... Laying right here at this cornerstone, if we could burst in there tonight, you'll see a flyleaf off of my Bible where He told me to be an evangelist. See? And I wasn't a successful pastor, never would be, because I haven't got the patience and what it takes to be a pastor. See? So therefore, if I tried to pastor, I would just be as far out as a pastor is trying to be an evangelist.
"Questions and Answers", preached on Thursday 12 January 1961
172 Recently I was talking to a priest, he said, "Why, you're just another Bible teacher." Said, "You--you just stay with the Bible."
"The Comforter", preached on Sunday evening 01 October 1961
185 What is it? With God-sent teacher that'll stay right with the Word to the real church, not move one iota no matter what an organization says; they're not connected with it. Prophets; not make-belief, so-called, but a genuine prophet has THUS SAITH THE LORD, and right on the dot every time. That's what He's sent in His church. That's what He said He would do. Believes the Word; not the creed, not the dogma, but the Word... And by doing this, He shows Himself in them by confirming His Word, making the same life that He lived once, live over again, bringing His Word to pass. Oh, my.
"Oneness", preached on Sunday 11 February 1962
264-5 {263} The first stage, a white horse (See?), he was just a teacher, just an antichrist teacher; he was against the Word of God. And now, how can you be an antichrist? Anybody that denies that every Word of this--isn't true and to be taught just the same, is an antichrist, 'cause they deny the--the--the--the--the Word, and He is the Word.
"The Third Seal", preached on Wednesday 20 March 1963
104 But, you see, in the church there is the pastor, and that pastor is a special person. He's built to where he can--he can put up with the fusses of the people. He--he--he's a burden-bearer, he's the ox of the team. He--he's a man that can sit down when the... somebody's got something against somebody else, and sit down with them two families (and take neither side) and reason it out and bring it right back into sweetness. See? He--he's a pastor, he knows how to take care of things. 105 The evangelist is a special man. He's a man that's burning like a fireball. He runs into a city and preaches his message, then gets out of there somewhere else. See, he's a special man. 106 The teacher is a special man. He sits back under the anointing of the Spirit and is able to take the Words and put them together by the Holy Spirit, that, the pastor or evangelist either one could not compare with him. 107 And then, we find out, the apostle is a special man. He's a--he's a "set-her-in-order." He's a man that's sent from God to set the things in order.
"God doesn't call man to Judgement without first warning him", preached on Wednesday 24 July 1963
83-1 "Thou hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars."
My, that is a blunt statement. "Thou hast tried them who call themselves apostles." Isn't that presumptuous? What right has a people to try those who call themselves apostles? And how do they try them? Oh, I love this.
Here it is in Galatians 1:8,
"But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have (already) preached unto you, let him be accursed."
It was the apostles who brought the original Word to the people. That original Word could not change, not even a dot or dash of it. Paul knew it was God Who had spoken to him so he said, "Even if I come and try to give a second revelation, try to make one little change in what I gave originally, let me be accursed." You see, Paul knew that first revelation was correct. God can't give a first revelation, then a second revelation. If He did, He would be changing His mind. He can give a revelation and then add to it, as He did in the Garden of Eden when He promised the Seed to the woman, and then later designated that Seed had to come through Abraham, and then later said it would come by the same blood lines in David. But it was the same revelation. It only gave the people more information to help them receive and understand it.
But God's Word can't change. The Seed came exactly as revealed. Hallelujah. And see what those false apostles were doing. They came with their own word. Those Ephesians knew that Word as Paul had taught it. They were full of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of Paul's hands. They looked those false apostles in the eye and said, "You are not saying what Paul said. You are, therefore, false." Oh, that sets my heart on fire. Get back to the Word! It is not you that really tries the apostle, and prophet and teacher, IT IS THE WORD THAT TRIES THEM.
One of these days there is going to come a prophet to the Laodicean Church Age and you will know if he is the real one sent from God or not. Yes you will, for if he is of God HE WILL BE IN THAT WORD EXACTLY AS GOD GAVE IT TO PAUL. HE WON'T DEVIATE FROM THAT WORD FOR A MOMENT, NOT BY ONE IOTA. In that last age, when there will be many false prophets appearing, watch and see how they keep telling you that if you don't believe them and what they say, you will be lost; but when that LAST DAY PROPHET comes on the scene, if he is truly that prophet, he will be crying out, "Get back to the Word or you are lost." He won't build on a private revelation or interpretation, but on the Word. Amen, and Amen!
Ephesian Church Age - Church Age Book Chapter 3
247-3 Now as I mentioned already, this age has been called by the historians, the Period of Reformation. That is exactly right. That is what it was. It had to be that for Martin Luther was a reformer, not a prophet. Now I know the history book calls him a prophet, but it doesn't mean that the history book is right, for there is no record of Martin Luther qualifying as a true prophet of God in the grand Scriptural sense of that word. He was a fine teacher with some of the manifestations of the Spirit in his life and we praise God for that. So he was not able to lead the church back to the whole truth as would a man like the apostle Paul who was both apostle and prophet.
Sardisean Church Age - Church Age Book Chapter 7
Jesus Christ is God
Now that is the revelation: Jesus Christ is God. The Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New. No matter how hard you try, you can't prove there are THREE Gods. But it also takes a revelation by the Holy Spirit to make you understand the truth that He is One. It takes a revelation to see that the Jehovah of the Old Testament is the Jesus of the New. Satan crept into the church and blinded the people to this truth. And when they were blinded to it, it wasn't long until the Church of Rome stopped baptizing in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I admit that it takes a real revelation from the Holy Ghost to see the truth about the Godhead these days when we are in the midst of the perverting of so much Scripture. But the prevailing, overcoming church is built on revelation so we can expect God to reveal His truth to us. However, you actually don't need a revelation on water baptism. It is right there staring you in the face. Would it be possible for one minute for the apostles to be led astray from a direct command of the Lord to baptize in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost and then find them in willful disobedience? They knew what the Name was, and there is not one place in Scripture where they baptized any other way than in the Name of Lord Jesus Christ. Common sense would tell you that the Book of Acts is the church in action, and if they baptized that way, then that is the way to baptize. Now if you think that is strong, what do you think of this? Anyone who was not baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus had to be baptized over again.
Acts 19:1-6, "And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on Him Which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues and prophesied." There it is. These good people at Ephesus had heard about the coming Messiah. John had preached Him. They were baptized unto repentance of sins, looking FORWARD to believing on Jesus. But now it was time to look BACK to Jesus and be baptized unto REMISSION of sins. It was time to receive the Holy Ghost. And when they were baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Paul laid his hands on them and the Holy Ghost came upon them.
Oh, those dear folks at Ephesus were fine people; and if any one had a right to feel secure, they did. Notice how far they had come. They had come all the way up to accepting the coming Messiah. They were ready for Him. But don't you see that in spite of that they had missed Him? He had come and gone. They needed to be baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. They needed to be filled with the Holy Ghos ed in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, God will fill you with His Spirit. That is the Word. Acts 19:6 which we read was the fulfilling of 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." See, Paul, by the Holy Ghost, said exactly what Peter said by the Holy Ghost. And what was said CANNOT be changed. It has to be the same from Pentecost until the very last elected one has been baptized. Galatians 1:8, "But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."
Now some of you Oneness people baptize wrong. You baptize for regeneration as though being immersed in water saved you. Regeneration does not come by water; it is a work of the Spirit. The man who by the Holy Ghost gave the command, "Repent and be baptized every one in the Name of the Lord Jesus," did not say that water regenerated. He said it was only an evidence of a "good conscience toward God." That was all. I Peter 3:21, "The like figure whereunto even baptism doth also now save us (not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience toward God,) by the resurrection of Jesus Christ." I believe it.
If anyone has any false ideas that history can prove water baptism in any other way than in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I would advise you to read the histories and find out for yourself. The following is a true record of a Baptism which took place in Rome A.D. 100 and was reproduced in TIME magazine, December 5, 1955. "The deacon raised his hand, and Publius Decius stepped through the baptistry door. Standing waist-deep in the pool was Marcus Vasca the woodseller. He was smiling as Publius waded into the pool beside him. 'Credis?' he asked. 'Credo,' responded Publius. "I believe that my salvation comes from Jesus the Christ, Who was crucified under Pontius Pilate. With Him I died that with Him I may have Eternal Life." Then he felt strong arms supporting him as he let himself fall backward into the pool, and heard Marcus' voice in his ear ---- 'I baptize you in the Name of the Lord Jesus' ---- as the cold water closed over him."
Right up until the truth was lost (and did not return until this last age ---- this is from Nicaea till the turn of this century) they baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But it has come back. Satan can't keep the revelation down when the Spirit wants to give it.
Yes, if there were three Gods, you might very well baptize for a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Ghost. But the REVELATION GIVEN TO JOHN was that there is ONE GOD and His Name is LORD JESUS CHRIST, and you baptize for ONE God and only one. That is why Peter baptized the way he did at Pentecost. He had to be true to the revelation which was, "Let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that SAME JESUS, Whom ye have crucified, BOTH LORD AND CHRIST." There He is, "The LORD JESUS CHRIST."
If Jesus is "BOTH" Lord and Christ, then He (Jesus) is, and cannot be else but "Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" in ONE Person manifested in the flesh. It is NOT "God in three persons, blessed trinity," but ONE GOD, ONE PERSON with three major titles, with three offices manifesting those titles. Hear it once more. This same Jesus is "BOTH Lord and Christ." Lord (Father) and Christ (Holy Spirit) are Jesus, for He (Jesus) is BOTH of them (Lord and Christ).
If that doesn't show us the true revelation of the Godhead, nothing will. Lord is NOT another one; Christ is NOT another one. This Jesus is the Lord Jesus Christ --- ONE GOD.
Philip one day said to Jesus, "Lord, show us the Father and it will suffice us." Jesus said unto him, "Have I been so long with you and you don't know Me? He that has seen Me has seen the Father, so why do you say, Show us the Father? I and My Father are One." I quoted that once and a lady said, "Just a minute, Mr. Branham, you and your wife are one."
I said, "Not that kind."
She said, "I beg your pardon?"
So I said to her, "Do you see me?"
She said, "Yes."
I said, "Do you see my wife?"
She said, "No."
I said, "Then that oneness is a different kind, for He said, 'When you see Me, you see the Father.'"
It'll be Light in the evening time,
The path to Glory you will surely find,
In the water way, that's the Light today,
Buried in the precious Name of Jesus.
Young and old, repent of all your sin,
The Holy Ghost will surely enter in.
The evening Light has come ---
It is a fact that God and Christ are one.
Not too long ago I was talking to a Jewish Rabbi. He said to me, "You Gentiles can't cut God in three pieces and give Him to a Jew. We know better than that."
I said to him, "That's just it, Rabbi, we don't cut God in three pieces. You believe the prophets, don't you?"
He said, "Certainly I do."
"Do you believe Isaiah 9:6?"
"Yes."
"Who was the prophet speaking of?"
"Messiah."
I said, "What relation will Messiah be to God?"
He said, "He will be God."
I said, "That's right." Amen.
You can't put God into three persons or three parts. You can't tell a Jew that there is a Father, and a Son, and a Holy Ghost. He will tell you right quick where that idea came from. The Jews know this creed was established at the Nicene Council. No wonder they scorn us as heathen.
We talk about a God that does not change. The Jews believe that too. But the church changed its unchanging God from ONE to THREE. But the light is returning at eventide. How striking it is that this truth has come at the time when the Jews are returning to Palestine. God and Christ are ONE. This Jesus is BOTH LORD AND CHRIST.
John had the revelation, and JESUS was the Revelation, and He produced Himself right here in the Scripture ---- \"I AM He That Was, Which Is and Shall Come, the Almighty. Amen.\"
If revelation is beyond you, look up and seek God for it. That is the only way you are ever going to get it. A revelation has to come from God. It never comes by human, natural endowments, but by Spiritual enduement. You can even memorize the Scripture, and though that is wonderful, that won't do it. It has to be a revelation from God. It says in the Word that no man can say that Jesus is the Christ except by the Holy Ghost. You have to receive the Holy Ghost and then, and only then, can the Spirit give you the revelation that Jesus is the Christ: God, the Anointed One.
The Use of Money
"I say unto you, Make unto yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when ye fail, they may receive you into the everlasting habitations." - Luke 16:9.
Our Lord, having finished the beautiful parable of the Prodigal Son, which he had particularly addressed to those who murmured at his receiving publicans and sinners, adds another relation of a different kind, addressed rather to the children of God. "He said unto his disciples," not so much to the scribes and Pharisees to whom he had been speaking before,--"There was a certain rich man, who had a steward, and he was accused to him of wasting his goods. And calling him, he said, Give an account of thy stewardship, for thou canst be no longer steward." (Luke 16:1, 2.) After reciting the method which the bad steward used to provide against the day of necessity, our Saviour adds, "His lord commended the unjust steward" namely, in this respect, that he used timely precaution; and subjoins this weighty reflection, "The children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light:" (Luke 16:8:) Those who seek no other portion than this world "are wiser" (not absolutely; for they are one and all the veriest fools, the most egregious madmen under heaven; but, "in their generation," in their own way; they are more consistent with themselves; they are truer to their acknowledged principles; they more steadily pursue their end) "than the children of light;"--than they who see "the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." Then follow the words above recited: "And I,"--the only-begotten Son of God, the Creator, Lord, and Possessor of heaven and earth and all that is therein; the Judge of all, to whom ye are to "give an account of your stewardship," when ye "can be no longer stewards;" "I say unto you,"--learn in this respect, even of the unjust steward,--"make yourselves friends," by wise, timely precaution, "of the mammon of unrighteousness." "Mammon" means riches or money. It is termed "the mammon of unrighteousness," because of the unrighteous manner wherein it frequently procured, and wherein even that which was honestly procured is generally employed. "Make yourselves friends" of this, by doing all possible good, particularly to the children of God; "that, when ye fail,"--when ye return to dust, when ye have no more place under the sun,--those of them who are gone before "may receive you," may welcome you, into the "everlasting habitations."
An excellent branch of Christian wisdom is here inculcated by our Lord on all his followers, namely, the right use of money--a subject largely spoken of, after their manner, by men of the world; but not sufficiently considered by those whom God hath chosen out of the world. These, generally, do not consider, as the importance of the subject requires, the use of this excellent talent. Neither do they understand how to employ it to the greatest advantage; the introduction of which into the world is one admirable instance of the wise and gracious providence of God. It has, indeed, been the manner of poets, orators, and philosophers, in almost all ages and nations, to rail at this, as the grand corrupter of the world, the bane of virtue, the pest of human society. Hence nothing so commonly heard, as:
Nocens ferrum, ferroque nocentius aurum:
And gold, more mischievous than keenest steel.
Hence the lamentable complaint,
Effodiuntur opes, irritamenta malorum. Wealth is dug up, incentive to all ill.
Nay, one celebrated writer gravely exhorts his countrymen, in order to banish all vice at once, to " throw all their money into the sea:
. . . in mare proximum [. . .] Summi materiem mali!
But is not all this mere empty rant? Is there any solid reason therein? By no means. For, let the world be as corrupt as it will, is gold or silver to blame? "The love of money," we know, "is the root of all evil;" but not the thing itself. The fault does not lie in the money, but in them that use it. It may be used ill: and what may not? But it may likewise be used well: It is full as applicable to the best, as to the worst uses. It is of unspeakable service to all civilized nations, in all the common affairs of life: It is a most compendious instrument of transacting all manner of business, and (if we use it according to Christian wisdom) of doing all manner of good. It is true, were man in a state of innocence, or were all men "filled with the Holy Ghost," so that, like the infant Church at Jerusalem, "no man counted anything he had his own," but "distribution was made to everyone as he had need," the use of it would be superseded; as we cannot conceive there is anything of the kind among the inhabitants of heaven. But, in the present state of mankind, it is an excellent gift of God, answering the noblest ends. In the hands of his children, it is food for the hungry, drink for the thirsty, raiment for the naked: It gives to the traveller and the stranger where to lay his head. By it we may supply the place of an husband to the widow, and of a father to the fatherless. We maybe a defence for the oppressed, a means of health to the sick, of ease to them that are in pain; it may be as eyes to the blind, as feet to the lame; yea, a lifter up from the gates of death!
It is therefore of the highest concern that aall who fear God know how to employ this valuable talent; that they be instructed how it may answer these glorious ends, and in the highest degree. And, perhaps, all the instructions which are necessary for this may be reduced to three plain rules, by the exact observance whereof we may approve ourselves faithful stewards of "the mammon of unrighteousness."
I. The first of these is (he that heareth, let him understand!) "Gain all you can." Here we may speak like the children of the world: We meet them on their own ground. And it is our bounden duty to do this: We ought to gain all we can gain, without buying gold too dear, without paying more for it than it is worth. But this it is certain we ought not to do; we ought not to gain money at the expense of life, nor (which is in effect the same thing) at the expense of our health. Therefore, no gain whatsoever should induce us to enter into, or to continue in, any employ, which is of such a kind, or is attended with so hard or so long labour, as to impair our constitution. Neither should we begin or continue in any business which necessarily deprives us of proper seasons for food and sleep, in such a proportion as our nature requires. Indeed, there is a great difference here. Some employments are absolutely and totally unhealthy; as those which imply the dealing much with arsenic, or other equally hurtful minerals, or the breathing an air tainted with steams of melting lead, which must at length destroy the firmest constitution. Others may not be absolutely unhealthy, but only to persons of a weak constitution. Such are those which require many hours to be spent in writing; especially if a person write sitting, and lean upon his stomach, or remain long in an uneasy posture. But whatever it is which reason or experience shows to be destructive of health or strength, that we may not submit to; seeing "the life is more" valuable "than meat, and the body than raiment." And if we are already engaged in such an employ, we should exchange it as soon as possible for some which, if it lessen our gain, will, however not lessen our health.
We are, Secondly, to gain all we can without hurting our mind any more than our body. For neither may we hurt this. We must preserve, at all events, the spirit of an healthful mind. Therefore we may not engage or continue in any sinful trade, any that is contrary to the law of God, or of our country. Such are all that necessarily imply our robbing or defrauding the king of his lawful customs. For it is at least as sinful to defraud the king of his right, as to rob our fellow subjects. And the king has full as much right, to his customs as we have to our houses and apparel. Other businesses there are, which however innocent in themselves, cannot be followed with innocence now at least, not in England; such, for instance, as will not afford a competent maintenance without cheating or lying, or conformity to some custom which not consistent with a good conscience: These, likewise, are sacredly to be avoided, whatever gain they may be attended with provided we follow the custom of the trade; for to gain money we must not lose our souls. There are yet others which many pursue with perfect innocence, without hurting either their body or mind; And yet perhaps you cannot: Either they may entangle you in that company which would destroy your soul; and by repeated experiments it may appear that you cannot separate the one from the other; or there may be an idiosyncrasy,--a peculiarity in your constitution of soul, (as there is in the bodily constitution of many,) by reason whereof that employment is deadly to you, which another may safely follow. So I am convinced, from many experiments, I could not study, to any degree of perfection, either mathematics, arithmetic, or algebra, without being a Deist, if not an Atheist: And yet others may study them all their lives without sustaining any inconvenience. None therefore can here determine for another; but every man must judge for himself, and abstain from whatever he in particular finds to be hurtful to his soul.
We are. Thirdly, to gain all we can without hurting our neighbour. But this we may not, cannot do, if we love our neighbour as ourselves. We cannot, if we love everyone as ourselves, hurt anyone in his substance. We cannot devour the increase of his lands, and perhaps the lands and houses themselves, by gaming, by overgrown bills (whether on account of physic, or law, or anything else,) or by requiring or taking such interest as even the laws of our country forbid. Hereby all pawn-broking is excluded: Seeing, whatever good we might do thereby, all unprejudiced men see with grief to be abundantly overbalanced by the evil. And if it were otherwise, yet we are not allowed to "do evil that good may come." We cannot, consistent with brotherly love, sell our goods below the market price; we cannot study to ruin our neighbour's trade, in order to advance our own; much less can we entice away or receive any of his servants or workmen whom he has need of. None can gain by swallowing up his neighbour's substance, without gaining the damnation of hell!
Neither may we gain by hurting our neighbour in his body. Therefore we may not sell anything which tends to impair health. Such is, eminently, all that liquid fire, commonly called drams or spirituous liquors. It is true, these may have a place in medicine; they may be of use in some bodily disorders; although there would rarely be occasion for them were it not for the unskillfulness of the practitioner. Therefore, such as prepare and sell them only for this end may keep their conscience clear. But who are they? Who prepare and sell them only for this end? Do you know ten such distillers in England? Then excuse these. But all who sell them in the common way, to any that will buy, are poisoners general. They murder His Majesty's subjects by wholesale, neither does their eye pity or spare. They drive them to hell like sheep. And what is their gain? Is it not the blood of these men? Who then would envy their large estates and sumptuous palaces? A curse is in the midst of them: The curse of God cleaves to the stones, the timber, the furniture of them. The curse of God is in their gardens, their walks, their groves; a fire that burns to the nethermost hell! Blood, blood is there: The foundation, the floor, the walls, the roof are stained with blood! And canst thou hope, O thou man of blood, though thou art "clothed in scarlet and fine linen, and farest sumptuously every day;" canst thou hope to deliver down thy fields of blood to the third generation? Not so; for there is a God in heaven: Therefore, thy name shall soon be rooted out. Like as those whom thou hast destroyed, body and soul, "thy memorial shall perish with thee!"
And are not they partakers of the same guilt, though in a lower degree, whether Surgeons, Apothecaries, or Physicians, who play with the lives or health of men, to enlarge their own gain? Who purposely lengthen the pain or disease which they are able to remove speedily? who protract the cure of their patient's body in order to plunder his substance? Can any man be clear before God who does not shorten every disorder "as much as he can," and remove all sickness and pain "as soon as he can?" He cannot: For nothing can be more clear than that he does not "love his neighbour as himself;" than that he does not "do unto others as he would they should do unto himself."
This is dear-bought gain. And so is whatever is procured by hurting our neighbour in his soul; by ministering, suppose, either directly or indirectly, to his unchastity, or intemperance, which certainly none can do, who has any fear of God, or any real desire of pleasing Him. It nearly concerns all those to consider this, who have anything to do with taverns, victualling-houses, opera-houses, play-houses, or any other places of public, fashionable diversion. If these profit the souls of men, you are clear; your employment is good, and your gain innocent; but if they are either sinful in themselves, or natural inlets to sin of various kinds, then, it is to be feared, you have a sad account to make. O beware, lest God say in that day, "These have perished in their iniquity, but their blood do I require at thy hands!"
These cautions and restrictions being observed, it is the bounden duty of all who are engaged in worldly business to observe that first and great rule of Christian wisdom with respect to money, "Gain all you can." Gain all you can by honest industry. Use all possible diligence in your calling. Lose no time. If you understand yourself and your relation to God and man, you know you have none to spare. If you understand your particular calling as you ought, you will have no time that hangs upon your hands. Every business will afford some employment sufficient for every day and every hour. That wherein you are placed, if you follow it in earnest, will leave you no leisure for silly, unprofitable diversions. You have always something better to do, something that will profit you, more or less. And "whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might." Do it as soon as possible: No delay! No putting off from day to day, or from hour to hour! Never leave anything till to-morrow, which you can do to-day. And do it as well as possible. Do not sleep or yawn over it: Put your whole strength to the work. Spare no pains. Let nothing be done by halves, or in a slight and careless manner. Let nothing in your business be left undone if it can be done by labour or patience.
Gain all you can, by common sense, by using in your business all the understanding which God has given you. It is amazing to observe, how few do this; how men run on in the same dull track with their forefathers. But whatever they do who know not God, this is no rule for you. It is a shame for a Christian not to improve upon them, in whatever he takes in hand. You should be continually learning, from the experience of others, or from your own experience, reading, and reflection, to do everything you have to do better to-day than you did yesterday. And see that you practise whatever you learn, that you may make the best of all that is in your hands.
II. Having gained all you can, by honest wisdom and unwearied diligence, the second rule of Christian prudence is," Save all you can." Do not throw the precious talent into the sea: Leave that folly to heathen philosophers. Do not throw it away in idle expenses, which is just the same as throwing it into the sea. Expend no part of it merely to gratify the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life.
l'd condemn these. But there is a regular, reputable kind of sensuality, an elegant epicurism, which does not immediately disorder the stomach, nor (sensibly, at least) impair the understanding. And yet (to mention no other effects of it now) it cannot be maintained without considerable expense. Cut off all this expense! Despise delicacy and variety, and be content with what plain nature requires.
Do not waste any part of so precious a talent merely in gratifying the desire of the eye by superfluous or expensive apparel, or by needless ornaments. Waste no part of it in curiously adorning your houses; in superfluous or expensive furniture; in costly pictures, painting, gilding, books; in elegant rather than useful gardens. Let your neighbours, who know nothing better, do this: "Let the dead bury their dead." But "what is that to thee?" says our Lord: "Follow thou me." Are you willing? Then you are able so to do.
Lay out nothing to gratify the pride of life, to gain the admiration or praise of men. This motive of expense is frequently interwoven with one or both of the former. Men are expensive in diet, or apparel, or furniture, not barely to please their appetite, or to gratify their eye, their imagination, but their vanity too. "So long as thou dost well unto thyself, men will speak good of thee." So long as thou art "clothed in purple and fine linen, and farest sumptuously" every day," no doubt many will applaud thy elegance of taste, thy generosity and hospitality. But do not buy their applause so dear. Rather be content with the honour that cometh from God.
Who would expend anything in gratifying these desires if he considered that to gratify them is to increase them? Nothing can be more certain than this: Daily experience shows, the more they are indulged, they increase the more. Whenever, therefore, you expend anything to please your taste or other senses, you pay so much for sensuality. When you lay out money to please your eye, you give so much for an increase of curiosity,--for a stronger attachment to these pleasures which perish in the using. While you are purchasing anything which men use to applaud, you are purchasing more vanity. Had you not then enough of vanity, sensuality, curiosity before? Was there need of any addition? And would you pay for it, too? What manner of wisdom is this? Would not the literally throwing your money into the sea be a less mischievous folly?
And why should you throw away money upon your children, any more than upon yourself, in delicate food, in gay or costly apparel, in superfluities of any kind? Why should you purchase for them more pride or lust, more vanity, or foolish and hurtful desires? They do not want any more; they have enough already; nature has made ample provision for them: Why should you be at farther expense to increase their temptations and snares, and to pierce them through with more sorrows?
Do not leave it to them to throw away. If you have good reason to believe that they would waste what is now in your possession in gratifying and thereby increasing the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life at the peril of theirs and your own soul, do not set these traps in their way. Do not offer your sons or your daughters unto Belial, any more than unto Moloch. Have pity upon them, and remove out of their way what you may easily foresee would increase their sins, and consequently plunge them deeper into everlasting perdition! How amazing then is the infatuation of those parents who think they can never leave their children enough! What! cannot you leave them enough of arrows, firebrands, and death? Not enough of foolish and hurtful desires? Not enough of pride, lust, ambition vanity? not enough of everlasting burnings? Poor wretch! thou fearest where no fear is. Surely both thou and they, when ye are lifting up your eyes in hell, will have enough both of the "worm that never dieth," and of "the fire that never shall be quenched!"
"What then would you do, if you was in my case? If you had a considerable fortune to leave?" Whether I would do it or no, I know what I ought to do: This will admit of no reasonable question. If I had one child, elder or younger, who knew the value of money; one who I believed, would put it to the true use, I should think it my absolute, indispensable duty to leave that child the bulk of my fortune; and to the rest just so much as would enable them to live in the manner they had been accustomed to do. "But what, if all your children were equally ignorant of the true use of money?" I ought then (hard saying! who can hear it?) to give each what would keep him above want, and to bestow all the rest in such a manner as I judged would be most for the glory of God.
III. But let not any man imagine that he has done anything, barely by going thus far, by "gaining and saving all he can," if he were to stop here. All this is nothing, if a man go not forward, if he does not point all this at a farther end. Nor, indeed, can a man properly be said to save anything, if he only lays it up. You may as well throw your money into the sea, as bury it in the earth. And you may as well bury it in the earth, as in your chest, or in the Bank of England. Not to use, is effectually to throw it away. If, therefore, you would indeed "make yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," add the Third rule to the two preceding. Having, First, gained all you can, and, Secondly saved all you can, Then "give all you can."
In order to see the ground and reason of this, consider, when the Possessor of heaven and earth brought you into being, and placed you in this world, he placed you here not as a proprietor, but a steward: As such he entrusted you, for a season, with goods of various kinds; but the sole property of these still rests in him, nor can be alienated from him. As you yourself are not your own, but his, such is, likewise, all that you enjoy. Such is your soul and your body, not your own, but God's. And so is your substance in particular. And he has told you, in the most clear and express terms, how you are to employ it for him, in such a manner, that it may be all an holy sacrifice, acceptable through Christ Jesus. And this light, easy service, he has promised to reward with an eternal weight of glory.
The directions which God has given us, touching the use of our worldly substance, may be comprised in the following particulars. If you desire to be a faithful and a wise steward, out of that portion of your Lord's goods which he has for the present lodged in your hands, but with the right of resuming whenever it pleases him, First, provide things needful for yourself; food to eat, raiment to put on, whatever nature moderately requires for preserving the body in health and strength. Secondly, provide these for your wife, your children, your servants, or any others who pertain to your household. If when this is done there be an overplus left, then "do good to them that are of the household of faith." If there be an overplus still, "as you have opportunity, do good unto all men." In so doing, you give all you can; nay, in a sound sense, all you have: For all that is laid out in this manner is really given to God. You "render unto God the things that are God's," not only by what you give to the poor, but also by that which you expend in providing things needful for yourself and your household.
If, then, a doubt should at any time arise in your mind concerning what you are going to expend, either on yourself or any part of your family, you have an easy way to remove it. Calmly and seriously inquire,
"(1.) In expending this, am I acting according to my character? Am I acting herein, not as a proprietor, but as a steward of my Lord's goods?
(2.) Am I doing this in obedience to his Word? In what Scripture does he require me so to do?
(3.) Can I offer up this action, this expense, as a sacrifice to God through Jesus Christ?
(4.) Have I reason to believe that for this very work I shall have a reward at the resurrection of the just?"
You will seldom need anything more to remove any doubt which arises on this head; but by this four-fold consideration you will receive clear light as to the way wherein you should go.
If any doubt still remain, you may farther examine yourself by prayer according to those heads of inquiry. Try whether you can say to the Searcher of hearts, your conscience not condemning you, "Lord, thou seest I am going to expend this sum on that food, apparel, furniture. And thou knowest, I act herein with a single eye as a steward of thy goods, expending this portion of them thus in pursuance of the design thou hadst in entrusting me with them. Thou knowest I do this in obedience to the Lord, as thou commandest, and because thou commandest it. Let this, I beseech thee, be an holy sacrifice, acceptable through Jesus Christ! And give me a witness in myself that for this labour of love I shall have a recompense when thou rewardest every man according to his works." Now if your conscience bear you witness in the Holy Ghost that this prayer is well-pleasing to God, then have you no reason to doubt but that expense is right and good, and such as will never make you ashamed.
You see then what it is to "make yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness," and by what means you may procure, "that when ye fail they may receive you into the everlasting habitations." You see the nature and extent of truly Christian prudence so far as it relates to the use of that great talent, money. Gain all you can, without hurting either yourself or your neighbour, in soul or body, by applying hereto with unintermitted diligence, and with all the understanding which God has given you;--save all you can, by cutting off every expense which serves only to indulge foolish desire; to gratify either the desire of flesh, the desire of the eye, or the pride of life; waste nothing, living or dying, on sin or folly, whether for yourself or your children;--and then, give all you can, or, in other words, give all you have to God. Do not stint yourself, like a Jew rather than a Christian, to this or that proportion. "Render unto God," not a tenth, not a third, not half, but all that is God's, be it more or less; by employing all on yourself, your household, the household of faith, and all mankind, in such a manner, that you may give a good account of your stewardship when ye can be no longer stewards; in such a manner as the oracles of God direct, both by general and particular precepts; in such a manner, that whatever ye do may be "a sacrifice of a sweet-smelling savour to God," and that every act may be rewarded in that day when the Lord cometh with all his saints.
Brethren, can we be either wise or faithful stewards unless we thus manage our Lord's goods? We cannot, as not only the oracles of God, but our own conscience beareth witness. Then why should we delay? Why should we confer any longer with flesh and blood, or men of the world? Our kingdom, our wisdom is not of this world: Heathen custom is nothing to us. We follow no men any farther than they are followers of Christ. Hear ye him. Yea, to-day, while it is called to-day, hear and obey his voice! At this hour, and from this hour, do his will: Fulfil his word, in this and in all things! I entreat you, in the name of the Lord Jesus, act up to the dignity of your calling! No more sloth! Whatsoever your hand findeth to do, do it with your might! No more waste! Cut off every expense which fashion, caprice, or flesh and blood demand! No more covetousness! But employ whatever God has entrusted you with, in doing good, all possible good, in every possible kind and degree to the household of faith, to all men! This is no small part of "the wisdom of the just." Give all ye have, as well as all ye are, a spiritual sacrifice to Him who withheld not from you his Son, his only Son: So "laying up in store for yourselves a good foundation against the time to come, that ye may attain eternal life!"
May we all thus experience what it is to be, not almost only; but altogether Christians; being justified freely by his grace, through the redemption that is in Jesus; knowing we have peace with God through Jesus Christ; rejoicing in hope of the glory of God; and having the love of God shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us!
Resume of the Ages
Due to the fact that our studies have been a verse by verse exposition of those Scriptures that deal with the seven ages, we have not set forth a continuous historical pattern of the church as much as we ought to have done. It is, therefore, our purpose now to take this chapter, and beginning with the Ephesian Age trace through all ages the church and her history as given to John by the Spirit of God. We will not be adding new material as much as correlating what we already have.
From our studies we have already learned that much of the Revelation is totally misunderstood because we have not formerly known that the "church" spoken of and spoken to in this book does not refer to the pure "ekklesia" the "elect," the "body of Christ," the "bride," but it speaks to the entire body of people who are called Christians, whether they be true or merely nominal. As all Israel is NOT Israel, so all Christians are NOT Christians. Thus we learned that the church is made up of two vines, the true and the false. The two vines are motivated by two kinds of spirits; one has the Holy Spirit while the other is endued with the spirit of antichrist. Both claim to know and be known of God. Both purport to speak for God. Both believe certain very basic truths and differ on others. But since both bear the name of the Lord, being called Christ-ians, and by such name-bearing obviously claim a relationship to Him (God calls it marriage), God now holds them both responsible to Him and therefore speaks to each.
We further learned that these two vines would grow side by side until the end of the ages when both would come to maturity and both be harvested. The false vine would not overcome and destroy the true vine, but then, neither would the true vine be able to bring the false vine into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
We learned the most amazing truth that the Holy Spirit could and would fall upon the unregenerate false vine Christians and manifest powerfully in various signs and wonders, even as Judas had a definite ministry in the Holy Ghost though he, himself, was pronounced to be a devil.
With these principles in mind we start to trace the church through the various seven ages.
The birth of the church was at Pentecost. As the first Adam was given a bride fresh from the hand of God and was undefiled for a brief span, so was Christ, the last Adam, given a bride pure and fresh at Pentecost; and she remained separate and undefiled for some time. "And of the rest durst no man join himself to them" (Acts 5:13) and "The Lord added daily such as should be saved." Acts 2:47. How long this continued we do not know, but one day even as Eve was tempted and seduced by Satan, so the church was contaminated by the entrance of an antichrist spirit. "And this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and even now already is it in the world." I John 4:3. And Jesus said concerning His bride in that first age, "I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen and repent." Revelation 2:4-5. The church was in that first age already a "fallen woman." As Satan had gotten to Eve before Adam, even now had Satan seduced the church, the bride of Christ, before the "marriage supper of the Lamb." And what specifically was in her midst that caused the fall? What but Revelation 2:6, "THE DEEDS OF THE NICOLAITANES." Already that first age had turned from following the pure Word of God. They turned from God's demand of a church absolutely dependent upon Him (depending entirely upon God to fulfill His Word from start to finish apart from human government) to Nicolaitanism, which is organizing a human government within the church which as all governments do, legislate for the people. They did exactly what Israel did. They took the expediency of human government instead of the Word and the Spirit.
Death had entered. How do we know? Do we not hear the voice of the Spirit raised in that first age for all who will hear, as He is calling. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life in the paradise of God." The church had already imbibed too deeply of the tree of death (or the denominational false vine) whose end is the lake of fire. But there are no cherubim with flaming swords to guard the Tree of Life now. God does not now depart from the midst of the church as He departed from Eden. Oh, no, He will ever be in the midst of His church until the final age. And until that time He calls to all to come.
Now please let us be careful here. This message to the angel of the church which is at Ephesus is not a message to the actual local Ephesian church. It is a message to the AGE. And that age had in it the seed of truth and the seed of error exactly as set forth according to the parable of the wheat and the tares. The church ages is the field, and in it are wheat and tares. The false church organized, humanized the government and the Word, and fought the true Christian.
Tares always flourish mightier than wheat or any other cultivated plant. The tare church grew rapidly in this first age. But the wheat church was flourishing also. By the end of the first age the deeds of the Nicolaitanes were flourishing in the local false vine churches with increasing attempts to spread their influence further than their own body. Its influence was felt upon the true church for men like the venerable Polycarp were calling themselves bishops with a reference to that title which was not inherent in it according to the Word. Also in that age, the true church had lost its first love. That love was typified as the love of bride and groom at their marriage and early years of wedded life. There was a cooling of that complelete love and abandonment to God.
But notice. Revelation 2:1 describes the Lord Jesus as in the midst of His church and holding the messengers in His right hand. Because this bride has fallen, because the church corporate is now an admixture of true and false, He does not leave it. It is His. And according to Romans 14:7-9 that is exactly right. "For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living." On the cross He bought the WHOLE world of people. They are His. He is the Lord of the living and dead. (As pertaining to ownership, NOT relationship.) And He walks in the midst of that body that has within it life and death.
What was planted in the first age will develop in the second age and in all other ages until it comes to maturity and harvest. Thus in the Smyrnaean Age we expect an enlargement and enlightenment of the church corporate's history through a revelation of the Spirit.
In this age the hatred of the false vine increases. See, they have (verse 9) separated themselves from the company of the true. They went out from them. They were liars. They called themselves what they are not. But did God destroy them? No. "Let them alone and both will go to the harvest."
"But Lord they should be destroyed for they are destroying Thy people. They are killing them."
"No, let them alone. But to My bride I say, 'Be thou faithful unto death. Love Me even more."'
We learn in no uncertain terms that this false vine is the vine of Satan. Their gathering is of him (Satan). They meet in the Name of God and lie that they are Christ's. They preach, they teach, they baptize, they worship, they partake of various rites given by Christ to the church, yet they are not of God. But since they say they are, God will hold them responsible and in each age He speaks of them and to them. They remind us exactly of Balaam. He had the prophetic office. He knew the proper approach unto God as demonstrated in the sacrifice of the clean beasts. Yet he was not a true WORD PROPHET for when God told him not to go to honor Balak with his presence he sought to go anyway for he was motivated by his lust for gold and prestige. So God let him go. The perfect will of God gave way to the permissive will of God because of the "heart desire" of Balaam. God actually said, "Go ahead." Did God change His mind? No sir. God had His way regardless of Balaam going. Balaam did not annul the will of God. God had His way regardless. It was Balaam who was the loser for he by-passed the Word. And today we have that very same thing. Women preachers, organization, false doctrine, etc., and people worshipping God, manifesting in the Spirit and going right on as did Balaam, claiming that God has spoken to them even when the commission received is opposite to the revealed Word. And I will not deny that God spoke to them. But it was just like when He spoke to Balaam that second time. As He knew that Balaam wanted his own heart desire above the Word and He gave it to him, yet all the while in the end having HIS OWN way; even so today God tells folks to go ahead in their own hearts' desires for they have already rejected the Word. BUT THE WILL OF GOD WILL BE DONE REGARDLESS. Amen. I hope you see this. It will not only clear up much of what is seen in all ages but it will especially help in this last age which has so much manifestation and external blessings when the whole period is so against the "Word-Revealed-Will" of God.
If ever an age received a message loud and clear, this age did. It was, and is, that Old Testament truth, "The son of the bondwoman will distress the son of the free woman until the son of the bondwoman be cast out." That lets us know that the hatred and blasphemy of Satan against the true Christian will be vented through a group who are nominal, false Christians, and this will increase until God uproots that false vine at the end of the Laodicean Age.
The third age revealed by the Spirit of prophecy that the worldly church would adopt Nicolaitanism as a doctrine. The separation of the clergy from the laity grew from the Biblical truth of the elders (shepherds of local flocks) ruling the flock by the Word, to the 'deeds of Nicolaitanes' wherein the clergy set themselves in ranks one over the other, which unscriptural formula then evolved into a priesthood that placed the clergy between man and God, giving the clergy certain rights all the while denying the laity their God-given rights. This was usurpation. In this age it became a doctrine. It was established in the church as the assured word of God, which indeed it was not. But the clergy called it the Word of God and therefore the doctrine was antichrist.
Because human government is politics pure and simple, the church became involved in politics. This involvement was welcomed by a dictator-emperor who joined church politics with state politics and by force established the false church (Satan's false religion) as the true religion. And through various edicts by various emperors we find the false church with state power destroying the true vine even more avidly.
Sad to say the true vine was not exactly immune to this doctrine. By that I do not mean that the true vine ever did establish the Nicolaitane ideas as a doctrine. Far from it. But that little worm of death kept sucking at the true vine hoping that it might fall. Even within the true church, men whom God had called as overseers were holding that title to mean a little more than just a local responsibility. It was not the clear understanding of Paul that existed in the church at this time. For Paul had said, "And they glorified God in me." No matter what authority Paul had, he kept the people looking to God from Whom is all authority. But the clergy was always looking to Divine Leadership PLUS HUMAN, and thus in giving honor where honor was not due, we find that the true church was spotted with humanism. With Nicolaitanism established ---- apostolic succession ---- placed ministers ---- pastors voted in, etc., it was only one step for the false church to proceed to Balaamism. The second step to the 'depth of Satan' was now in full progress.
This second step was the doctrine of Balaam, (described in Revelation 2:14) wherein Balaam taught Balac to stumble the children of Israel by a "united meeting." There the guests would do two more things contrary to the Word of God. You will recall that Balac needed help to keep his kingdom. He called on the most dominant spiritual figure of his day, Balaam. Balaam gave the advice that trapped and destroyed Israel. It was, first of all, to suggest that they all get together and talk things over, and eat together and get things ironed out. After all, understanding each other goes a long way. Once you accomplish that you can go from there. The next step would be worshipping together, and of course, a little pressure from the host usually makes the guests go a lot further than they intended. Now that didn't only happen back there to God's church of the Old Testament but it happened to the church of the New Testament, for there was an emperor, who like Balac needed help to secure his kingdom. So Constantine invited the nominal Christian, First Christian Church of Rome, to help him get the Christians behind him, as they were a very large body. The outcome was the Nicene Council of 325. There the Christians, both true and nominal, came together at the invitation of Constantine. The true Christians had no business even going up to the meeting. In spite of all Constantine could do to unite them all, the real believers knew they were out of place and left. But to those who remained, Constantine gave of the state's treasury along with political and physical force. The people were introduced to idol worship and spiritism, for statues with names of saints were placed in the buildings and the people were taught to commune with the dead, or pray to saints which is nothing more nor less than spiritism. For the food that man truly needs, even the Word of God, they were given creeds, and dogmas and rituals which were also enforced by the state, and above all they were given three gods with the triple compound name of the One True God, and water baptism in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ gave way to the pagan baptism of three titles.
The real believers ought not to have gone there. They had already lost much truth, and now they, too, would lose the understanding of Godhead and forfeit names for titles in water baptism.
Now watch this doctrine of Balaam most carefully. Notice above all, that it is the deliberate maneuver of a corrupt clergy to bind the people to them, by leading the people deliberately into the sin of unbelief. The Nicolaitane doctrine was the corruption of the clergy as they sought political power amongst themselves, while Balaamism is the subjection of the people to their system of creed and worship in order to hold them. Now watch this carefully. What was it that bound the people to the nominal church and thereby destroyed them? It was the creeds and dogmas formed into church tenets. It was the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. They were not given the true food, the Word. They were given the food that came from idol worship, Babylonian paganism wrapped up in Christian terminology. And that very same spirit and doctrine is right amongst all Protestants and it is called DENOMINATION. Nicolaitanism is organization, humanizing the leadership of the church, and thereby deposing the Spirit. Balaamism is denominationalism which takes the church manual instead of the Bible. And right to this hour, many of God's people are caught in the snare of denominationalism and God is crying to them, "Come out of her My people, lest ye be partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not her plagues." You see they are ignorant. But if the rapture should take place at this moment, ignorance would be no court of appeal from the judgment of God for being in the wrong ranks.
For the clergy to organize themselves with one rank over another until they are finally headed up by a president is a manifestation of the antichrist spirit, regardless of how wonderful and necessary it may seem. It is nothing but human reasoning taking the place of the Word. And any person who is in the organized denominations is right in the midst of an antichrist system. Now let me say this and make it very plain. I AM NOT AGAINST THE PEOPLE. I AM AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
With a state and church union the stage has been set for the Dark Ages. And indeed for about one thousand years the church went into the depth of blackness, knowing the depths of Satan. When any religious people embrace both Nicolaitanism and Balaamism, and have the political, financial and physical power to back it up there is only one direction they can go. That direction is right into the Jezebel doctrine. Now why do we say this? Because as we pointed out in the study of the fourth age that Jezebel was a Sidonian, the daughter of Ethbaal who was king priest to Astarte. He was a murderer. This woman married Ahab (King of Israel) for political expediency. She then took over the religion of the people and murdered the Levites, and erected temples wherein she caused the people to worship Astarte (Venus) and Baal (Sun god). She formulated the teaching and made her priests teach it, and they in turn made the people accept it. There you can see exactly what the nominal church was in the Dark Ages. They left the Word of God entirely except for names and titles of Godhead and a few Scriptural principles. They twisted what they did take out of the Bible by changing its meaning. Their college of bishops, etc., wrote vast treatises, their popes declared themselves infallible and said they received revelation from God and spoke as God to the people. All this was taught to the priests who through fear made the people believe it. To dissent was death or excommunication which might be worse than death. It was now the church with the assured voice that took over, and wild with power they drank the blood of the martyrs until the true Christians were all but exterminated and there was hardly any Word left, and little manifestation of the Holy Ghost. But the true vine struggled and survived. God was faithful to the little flock and in spite of what Rome might do to their bodies, Rome could not kill the Spirit within them, and the light of the Truth shone on, backed by the Holy Ghost and power.
This is a good place to make an illuminating observation. Look. The deeds and doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, the doctrine of Balaam, and the teaching of the false prophetess, Jezebel, do not constitute three spirits or make three spiritual principles. These three are but the various manifestations of the same spirit as it goes from depth to depth. What it all is, is the antichrist spirit of organization in its three various stages. Once the clergy separated themselves and organized themselves they oppressed the people by leading them into, and binding them to organization also. This organization was based upon the creeds and dogma which they taught the people instead of the pure Word of God. Ritual and ceremony wr worship, and soon this whole system was a militant and diabolical power that did its best to control all through the persuasion of discourse or literal force. It received its energy from its own false prophecies and not the Word of God. It was now absolutely antichrist though it came in Christ's Name.
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 either disregarded and died from failure to arouse attention, or were quashed by Rome. But 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. So 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. And 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 did go as far as it did, 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 to merely 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 Nicaea 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.
Since the fifth age had brought a great dissemination of the Word through printing, the sixth age was quick to take advantage of it. This age was the second stage of the restoration and as we have stated previously was the tassel age. Education abounded. This was the age of intellectual men who loved God and served Him. Missionaries abounded and the Word spread over the world. It was an age of brotherly love. It was an age of the open door. It was the last age of long duration, and after it the Laodicean Age would come which would be a short one.
The true vine flourished in this age as in no other when one thinks of numbers at home and abroad. This age brought holy men to the forefront. The true vine spread and the false vine receded. Everywhere the true vine went God gave light and life and happiness. The false vine was shown up for what it was: darkness, misery, poverty, illiteracy and death. And as the false vine in its day of power could not kill the true vine, neither could the true vine now bring back the false vine to Jesus Christ. But the false vine entrenched itself, waiting for the last part of the last age when it would win all back to itself except that small flock that were the elect, true vine of God.
But how sad does this age make us feel as we realize that every great move of God (and there were many) neglected to throw off the Nicolaitane doctrine for they all organized and died. Then they moved into denominations to hold the spiritually dead in foodless pastures. Little did they know it, but each group was tainted with that same error, and when the revival fire burned low, organization took over and people became denominations. They were only nominal Christians though each group claimed with the very same assurance as the Roman Catholic Church that they were right and all others wrong. The stage was truly set for the daughters to go back home in the last age, back to Rome, under the mother hen.
And so we come to the last age: the Laodicean Age. That is our age. We know it is the last age for the Jews are back in Palestine. No matter how they got there; they are there. And this is harvest time. But before there can be a harvest there has to be a ripening, a maturing of both the vines.
The Lutheran Age was the spring time. The Wesleyan Age was the summer of growth. The Laodicean Age is the harvest time of gathering the tares for binding and burning; and garnering the wheat for the Lord.
Harvest time. Have you noticed that in the harvest time, though there is a real acceleration in the ripening, there is consequently a slowing of growth until there is no growth? Is that not exactly what we are seeing now? The false vine is losing multitudes to the Communists and various other types of belief. Her numbers are not increasing as she would like us to think. Her hold on the people is not what it used to be, and in so many cases going to church is just a show. And the true vine? What about her? Is she growing? Where are those vast numbers that keep coming to revivals and answer altar calls? Are not most of them merely emotional in their approach, or desirous of something physical rather than desiring that which is truly Spiritual? Is this age not like the day in which Noah entered the ark, and the door was shut, but yet God tarried in judgment seven days? No one was literally turned to God in those silent days.
And yet it is the harvest time. There then must come upon the scene in this age those who will bring the wheat and tares to maturity. The tares are already maturing very fast under corrupt teachers who turn the people from the Word. But the wheat also must mature. And to her, God is sending the Prophet- Messenger with the vindicated ministry that he might be accepted by the elect. They will hear him as the first church heard Paul, and she will mature in the Word until becoming a Word Bride the mighty works will be found in her that are always attendant upon the pure Word and faith.
The false church groups will come together in a world council of churches. This world council of churches is the IMAGE ERECTED TO THE BEAST. Revelation 13:11-18, "And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name. Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred three score and six." Now remember, it was Imperial Pagan Rome that fell by the sword. But she was healed of her death stroke when she joined to the nominal Christian church of Rome and incorporated paganism and Christianity, and thereby became the Holy Roman Empire which was to endure until Jesus came and destroyed her. But Rome is not going it alone. Her daughters are right with her and she will take over absolute authority by the World Council of Churches. This may seem far fetched to some but actually it is very plain for all to see because right now the churches are controlling politics and at the opportune time will manifest exactly how great is that control. This ecumenical move will end up with Rome at the head even though the people did not envision it that way. This is so because in Revelation 17:3-6 it states that the whore, Mystery Babylon is seated on the beast. She is controlling the last, or fourth empire. This Roman Church is doing that. With the world church system under her Rome will be controlling, and this image (church system) will be obedient to Rome because Rome controls the gold of the world. Thus all the people have to belong to the world church system or be at the mercy of the elements for they cannot buy or sell without the mark of the beast in the hand or head. This mark in the head means that they will have to take the doctrine of the world church system which is trinitarianism, etc., and the mark in the hand which means to do the will of the world church. With this great power the church systems will persecute the true bride. This image will try to keep the bride from preaching and teaching, etc. Her ministers will be forbidden to give comfort and truth to the people who need it. But before the antichrist (in person) takes over this complete world system of churches the true church will be taken away from this world to be with the Lord. God will catch away His bride for the great Marriage Supper of the Lamb.
Now as this concluding chapter was given in order to trace the two churches and two spirits from Pentecost to their consummation, we will take this final time to show this in the Laodicean Age.
This age started just after the turn of the twentieth century. As it was to be the age in which the true church would return to being the bride she was at Pentecost, we know that there must of necessity be a return of dynamic power. The believers sensed this in their spirits and began crying to God for a new outpouring such as was in the first century. What seemed to be the answer came as many began to speak in tongues and manifest gifts of the Spirit. It was then believed that this was indeed the long awaited RESTORATION. It was not, for the latter rain can come only after the former rain which is the spring or TEACHING rain. The latter rain, then, is the HARVEST rain. How could this be the real thing when the Teaching Rain had not come? The Prophet-Messenger who was to be sent to TEACH the people and turn the hearts of the children back to the Pentecostal fathers had not yet come. Thus what was thought to be the restoration and the final quickening unto the rapture had not come. In it was a mixture of the unrighteous partaking of Spiritual blessing and manifesting in the Holy Ghost as we have kept pointing out to you. In it also was devil power as men were under the control of devils, yet no one seemed to realize it. Then, to prove that it was not the REAL, these people (even before a second generation had appeared) organized, and wrote their unscriptural doctrines and built their own fences as every other group ahead of them did.
Remember, while Jesus was upon earth so was Judas. Each came from a different spirit, and upon death each went to his own place. The Spirit of Christ later came back upon the true church, and the spirit of Judas came back upon the false church. It is right there in Revelation 6:1-8, "And I saw, and behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." See how that Judas spirit came back as a rider on a white horse. It was white. So close to the real, just as Judas was so close to Jesus. A crown was given to him (white horse rider). How? That spirit was now in the leader of the Nicolaitane system and he was a triple crowned pope who sat as God in his temple, calling himself the vicar of Christ. If vicar of Christ means "instead of Christ" or "in place of" or "on behalf of God" then the pope was calling himself the Holy Ghost, or deposing the Holy Ghost, acting for Him. That was the Judas spirit in him doing that. See how he conquered --- going forth conquering and to conquer. Christ did not do that. The only ones that came to Him were already predestinated by the Father. And so on and on went that spirit and one day it will become truly incarnate in a man who will head up the World Council of Churches, just as we have been saying. And by his gold (remember Judas held the bag) he will control the whole world, and that antichrist system will own everything and try to control everybody. But Jesus will come back and destroy them all with the brightness of His coming. And their end will be the lake of fire.
But what about the true seed? It will happen just as we have said. The people of God are being made ready by the Word of Truth from the messenger to this age. In her will be the fulness of Pentecost for the Spirit will bring the people right back to where they were at the beginning. That is "Thus saith the Lord."
It is "Thus saith the Lord" for that is what Joel 2:23-26 says, "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God: for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworms, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord your God, That hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed." Now it says God is going to "restore." The Lutheran Age did not restore the church; it started a reformation. The Wesleyan Age did not restore. The Pentecostal Age did not restore. But God has to restore for He can not deny His Word. This is not the resurrection of the Church; it is the "Restoration." God will take the Church right back to Pentecost of the beginning. Now notice in verse 25 it tells why we need restoration. The locust, cankerworm, caterpillar and palmerworm have eaten all but the root and a small bit of the stem. Now we are told that all these insects are all one and the same in different stages. That is right. They are the antichrist spirit manifested in organization, denomination and false doctrine through the ages. And that poor little root and stalk is going to be restored. God isn't going to plant a new Church, but is going to bring His original planting back to original seed. He is doing it as stated in verse 23, by the teaching, or "former" rain. Next will come the harvest rain or rapturing faith.
Thus at this very moment we are in the complete fulfillment of Matthew 24:24 "insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect." And who is it that shall attempt to deceive the very elect? Why, the spirit of antichrist in the "false anointed ones" of this last day. These false ones have already come in "Jesus' Name" claiming that they have been anointed of God for the last day. They are the false Messiahs (anointed ones). They claim that they are prophets. But are they one with the Word? Never. They have added to it or taken from it. No one denies that the Spirit of God manifesting in gifts is upon them. But like Balaam they all have their programs, make their appeal for money, exercise gifts, but deny the Word or by- pass it for fear that a controversy might diminish their chances for greater gain. Yet they preach salvation and deliverance through the power of God, just like Judas, with a ministry imparted by Christ. But because they are wrong seed, consequently they have a wrong spirit motivating them. Religious? Oh my! They outshine the elect in effort and zeal, but it is Laodicean, not of Christ, for it looks for big crowds, big programs and startling signs amongst them. They preach the second coming of Christ, but deny the advent of the prophet- messenger, though in power and signs and true revelation he eclipses them all. Ah yes, this false spirit that in the last day is so close to the real, can be distinguished only by its deviation from the Word, and whenever it is caught in being anti-Word, it falls back on the one argument we have already shown to be false: "We get results, don't we? We have to be of God."
Now before we close, I want to bring this thought. All along we have been talking about the Seed of Wheat being buried, then sending up two shoots, then the tassel, then the true ear. This might make some wonder if we said that the Lutherans didn't have the Holy Spirit just because they taught basically justification. It might make some wonder about the Methodists, etc. No sir, we are not saying that. We are not talking about the individuals or the people, but the AGE. Luther had the Spirit of God, but his age was not the age of full restoration by another outpouring like in the beginning. It was the same with Wesley, Booth, Knox, Whitefield, Brainard, Jonathan Edwards, Meuller, etc. Surely they were full of the Holy Ghost. Yes, they certainly were. But the age in which each lived was not the age of restoration, neither was any age but this last age, the age of complete black out in apostasy. This is the age of apostasy, and this is the age of restoration, it is the age of the finished cycle. With this, it is all over.
So we conclude the Seven Church Ages, saying only what the Spirit said to each age, "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches."
I sincerely believe that the Spirit of God has been speaking to us, not only teaching us the truths of the ages, but He has been faithfully dealing with hearts that they may turn to Him. That is the reason for all preaching and teaching, for it is in the preaching and teaching of the Word that the sheep hear the voice of God and follow Him.
Not for one moment do I bring a message to the people that they may follow me, or join my church, or start some fellowship and organization. I have never done that and will not do that now. I have no interest in those things, but I do have an interest in the things of God and people, and if I can accomplish just one thing I will be satisfied. That one thing is to see established a true spiritual relationship between God and men, wherein men become new creations in Christ, filled with His Spirit and live according to His Word. I would invite, plead and warn all to hear His voice at this time, and yield your lives completely to Him, even as I trust in my heart that I have given my all to Him. God bless you, and may His coming rejoice your heart.
The Biblical Year
In this study we will see that the Biblical year has 360 days (having 12 months of 30 days each).
We think of a year as having 365¼ days. But, was it always like this? Many other nations and cultures have used different calendars from the one we commonly use. The Jews use a lunar calendar, with an extra month slipped in every few years to sort things out again (much like we do with leap years). The Muslims are using a lunar calendar dating from an event in the life of Mohammed. Take a look at the history of our modern calendar. Many changes were still made to the calendar as late as the 16th century AD. The Bible was written long before that. We thus ask the question, "Does the Bible use the same calendar as we do?" The logical answer is, "It is likely that the Biblical calendar is not the same as our current calendar".
The days of Noah
In Genesis 7 & 8 we read,
Genesis 7:11
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In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
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12
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And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights.
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24
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And the waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.
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8:3
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And the waters returned from off the earth continually: and after the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters were abated.
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4
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And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.
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The time period from the 17th day of the 2nd month, to the 17th day of the 7th month (a period of exactly 5 months), is 150 days. This implies that a biblical month has 30 days, and a Biblical year has 360 days.
(Please note that the Biblical calendar is not the same as our calendar. Even though it looks like this must be the 17th of February to the 17th of July (which also happens to be 150 days), the Biblical year starts somewhere in our month of March (at harvest time).)
The calendar in Revelation
The prophetic calendar in the Bible works in the same way.
Revelation 11:1
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And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.
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2
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But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.
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3
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And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, ...
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6
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These have power to shut heaven, that it rain not in the days of their prophecy: and have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with all plagues...
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Forty and two months is 1260 days. This once again implies that each month is 30 days, and a year is 360 days. God is always the same.
(To get a clue who one of these prophets is, see James 5:17. "Elias (Elijah) was a man subject to like passions as we are, 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." 3½ years is the same as 42 months, is the same as 1260 days.)
Scriptural
The fact is that we cannot use a Gentile calendar. In Isaiah we read that everything has to be according to the law and the testimony (the Word of God).
Isaiah 8:19
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And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? for the living to the dead?
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20
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To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
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We are therefore living very dangerously if we use anything that is not Scriptural to explain the Scriptures. Even to the point of being associated with wizards and the occult!
Our calendar
There is another reason we cannot use Gentile years. Julius Caesar only got the Gentile calendar correctly lined up in "the year of confusion" (46 BC), when he added about 80 days to line up the calendar with the earth’s orbit. After that Augustus Caesar made a change involving a few days. Pope Gregory 13th finalized the current calendar in 1582 AD. He did this by adjusting the leap years at the beginning of each century. Again some days were added. All these changes make it almost impossible for anybody to determine exactly (i.e. to the day) any of the dates used in some prophecies. We can however safely and accurately work with the nearest part of a year.
The Beast
Daniel 7:23
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Thus he said, The fourth beast shall be the fourth kingdom upon earth, which shall be diverse from all kingdoms, and shall devour the whole earth, and shall tread it down, and break it in pieces.
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24
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And the ten horns out of this kingdom are ten kings that shall arise: and another shall rise after them; and he shall be diverse from the first, and he shall subdue three kings.
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25
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And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time.
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Looking at who has changed the times (calendar), we can now also identify the fourth beast! The Romans, and more lately, the Roman Catholic Church. Must we rely on "the beast" to produce us a calendar before we can work Bible prophecies out? Certainly not!
Conversion
Converting a certain number of biblical years to our year-unit would imply multiplying by 360 and dividing by 365.24219879 (the length of our current solar calendar year).
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