Psalm 19 -The Glory of God

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God, and the Expanse shows the work of His hands ~Psalm 19

Listen and YHWH shall tell you Heavenly Secrets!

God reveals the Mystery of His Creation through one of the most iconic psalms that contains matchless poetry – the silent testimony of the heavens that speak His Glory without words. The principal analogue to the flawless celestial mechanics of the heavenly bodies in their marvelous motions shows itself as the LAW OF GOD, which is perfect, restoring the soul.

In this Heavenly-Earthly correspondence lies the object lesson, the order of the universe is dependent upon laws which the Father in His Divine Wisdom has established as the foundation for the perfection of His creation. The same goes for earthly matters as heavenly. Man is governed by laws, and those laws are the template of perfect life. 

Both astrophysics and Torah reveal the mind of God — they testify to His Glory. Paul declared this profound truth to the Romans (chapter 1), for it is the foundation for living in harmony with the Creator and the sublime creation He has made for His offspring.

The Devil’s Advocate

The Naked Reality of Christian Nationalism

All the nations are as nothing before him,
     they are accounted by him as nothingness and emptiness.   Isaiah 40:17

For as I have often told you before, and now say again even with tears: Many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ . . . Phil. 3:18-20

The likeness of what is below is that which is above; for everything is above; what is below is nothing but the imagination of those that are without knowledge. Ode 34:5

My kingdom is not of this world.         John 18:36

Α ∞ Ω

In the last post, we saw the mystery of lawlessness at work in the ekklesia, the church, and came to understand that it is filling up until the days of the Gentiles, i.e. the nations, are complete.

What, then, might be the consummate expression of this leaven-filled vessel? Perhaps the most unacceptable conclusion to most Christians is the one they may encounter in the scroll of Revelation.

If the end goal of antichrist is to replace Christ, then there must be some semblance, albeit quite distant, to Christ in the presentation of rulership, though it must be mixed with lies and deception, since that is the Adversary’s modus operandi. It must be a kingdom of darkness disguised as the light for as the beloved apostle tells us:

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself transforms his appearance to an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their actions.  2 Cor. 11:13-15

Thus, the wise scribe and disciple must apply the laws of Spirit to discern the truth and not be misled. To that end we leap to the punchline of this study, viz.:

Christian Nationalism is not a thing. It is a fiction, an oxymoron, a deceptive term that leads one into the kingdom of antichrist, the kingdom of darkness.

This truth is self-evident from the scriptures at the head of this writing. Christ is gathering out of all the nations His faithful people. Ekklesia means “called out of.” This special possession of His people are those that do not embrace nationalism, but pray continually for His kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven — not as it is in some nation on earth. No nation can even approximate His Kingdom whose righteousness knows no end. Hear the apostle preaching to the Greek citizens on Mars Hill, the place of many gods:

The God who made the world and everything that is in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made by hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one [man] every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might feel around for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His descendants.’  Acts 17:24-27

Should we attempt to make a list of the scriptures that conclude this truth, we should become exhausted. There is no Christian nation. All are corrupt. Kierkegaard famously stated that people talk about such and such a nation as Christian, but see if you can find a single Christian therein.

To proclaim a nation over others is to divide, whereas Christ Jesus is gathering together as One, those “from every tribe and tongue and people and nation” (Revelation 5:9) to make them a kingdom and priests to our God.

In fact, nationalism simply opposes the coming kingdom, and witness the following texts. In Luke, Jesus tells a parable about His coming Kingdom and the attitude of those who are citizens.

But His citizens hated Him, and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’   Luke 19:14

The kings of the earth set themselves,
     and the rulers take counsel together,
     against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
     and cast away their cords from us.”     Psalm 2:2-3

Isn’t it clear? The people of this world do NOT want the King of kings to rule over them. And that goes doubly for the church. They want to rule over their own domain in His Name, and make a livelihood out of it. The want to renounce His word and commandment which is quite explicit, as Matthew’s gospel records it.

But Jesus called them to him and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. It shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant.           Matthew 20:25-26

Have we not seen this in the march of human kingdoms down to this day? We have world leaders who claim to be Christians but put themselves in place of Christ. They overthrow His rule, His commandments of Love, and replace them with their own rule over others.

Their deeds are the very deeds which Christ has said He hates, that of the Nicolaitans, those who quite literally conquer the people. They make idols of themselves and their nation, because they refuse to humble themselves before the Lord of all the earth. They do not seek to be servants of all, but to serve themselves alone.

Nationalism sets another king in place of Christ, an idol more precisely.

Christian nationalism is an idol of the heart. It is part and parcel of the extreme narcissism and self-glorification at the heart of Babylon. It is a human product of ignorance and delusion (see Ode of Solomon 34:5).

Twenty five years ago, Al Pacino starred in a movie entitled “The Devil’s Advocate.” He played an attorney named John Milton, who reveals himself as the Devil over the course of the film. He makes a statement at one point: “Vanity, my favorite sin.” This proves to be a one size fits all sin which the Adversary employs as a snare for all mankind.

John Milton rails to his young lawyer played by Keanu Reeves that God is not a suitable ruler, that He is more like an absentee landlord and not worthy of our trust and allegiance. (Shades of the parable in Luke 19)

Doesn’t that sound like the rulership in the world today? The extreme right wing evangelical branch of the church does not trust God to rule over all His enemies, but they want to do that now and to execute those who oppose the theocratic government and its autocratic leader.

Please consider: How does any of that remotely sound like Christ and His Kingdom? Has He ever commissioned us to conquer our neighbors and execute them if they do not bend the knee?

The Adversary plays upon the vanity of human beings to get them to follow the idols of their heart and rebel against the kingdom of God. Thus, they reject the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ, and embrace the Law of sin and death, rebelling against the kingdom by establishing a kingdom of their own. Similarly the Al Pacino character prays upon the pride and vanity of the Keanu Reeves character and manipulates him to sell out his higher principles to be a winner. How fitting that the Pacino character is the head of a law firm — Christ was convicted by a religious law firm, and today we are all convicted by the Law of Sin and of Death (Romans 8). Yet, there is another way — we are acquitted by Divine Grace and the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus has set us free from the law of sin and death (Romans 8:2).

But the other, the attitude of winning depicted in the young attorney, is the new ethos of right and wrong isn’t it? To win is good and to lose is evil. This ethical standard has eclipsed the timeless biblical measure of good and evil. This is the Adversary’s mindset: winning is everything. Sadly, this desire for power in victory over others is daily evident in political parties and religious sects around the world. Now the Church and the world are virtually indistinguishable — Christendom has become the world.

And this grand drama is established by God to prove out what sort of seed each one embodies — the seed of Isaac or the seed of Esau. Will a person long for the kingdom of peace and righteousness, or sell out that birthright for the flesh? That is the question.

The text from Matthew cited above gives us the basic distinction in being — the Devil’s way is to rule over others and proclaim one’s own greatness; Christ’s way is the servant’s path, and he who is the greatest servant is greatest in the kingdom.

So, as we walk through this valley of the shadow of death, whom shall we follow? That is the question for today, for these times that close the current aeon, “the age of man.” Will we follow Christ, The Good Shepherd, or will we follow another voice, another Christ, another gospel? If another, it will be another of our own making, and not the gospel of Jesus Christ. Will we enter the Kingdom of Light, or be closed out in the outer kingdom of darkness?

If we follow His voice, and abide in Him by keeping His commandments, we will eat from the table He prepares in the presence of our enemies. If we adopt our own WAY, we will eat from the table of demons and not enter into His lovely and glorious fellowship.

Do not be mismatched with unbelievers; for what do righteousness and lawlessness share together, or what does light have in common with darkness? Or what harmony does Christ have with Belial, or what does a believer share with an unbeliever? Or what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God . . . “Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE,” says the Lord. ~ 2 Corinthians 6:14-16, 17a

But if the community of seekers of Christ advocates for a kingdom of this world, then what are we to say? Shall we not stand with Christ and say: our kingdom is not of this world?

The prophet says, Woe to those who are at ease in Zion! What of those who advocate for the world, for the kingdom built by Man in the name of Christ? Such claims by all who make them, Restorationists or other, are the same. They are claims for another Christ, and another Kingdom. And another Christ is simply a  synonym for anti-Christ.

So there you have it, Christendom’s last best defense against The Kingdom of God! It is to build the Kingdom of this world in His name, but without His characteristics, His qualities, and His precepts. It is to make a kingdom of lawlessness and name it Christ!!! And what fellowship does the kingdom of Righteousness that knows no end have with the kingdom of lawlessness?

If then Paul’s witness to the Ephesians is true and God will gather back into Christ all things in Heaven and Earth, then it must only include things which have come from Him, and not from the delusions of mankind, correct? Ephesians 1:10-11 comprehends that subsequent message of the odist which is cited at the top of this writing. This would make all human, churchly, masonic, New Age, Restorationist attempts to build the Kingdom, to be nothing but “the imagination of those that are without knowledge.”

Therefore, we as ministers of reconciliation, and ambassadors of His kingdom, must plead His case, to await God’s establishment of our Lord’s kingdom and its everlasting Righteousness. Every other human attempt will be a counterfeit, and simply another variant of the Adversary’s kingdom of darkness.The task of building the kingdom — unlike the command to walk as He walked — is not a God-given task, plain and simple. God will usher in the Kingdom of His Beloved Son according to His Plan, in His own time and in His fashion.

What we are watching form to the contrary is nothing but a global effort to oppose God and install various principalities that are all united in opposition to the Kingdom of God and His Christ, to wit:

Why do the nations so furiously rage together, and why do the people imagine a vain thing?
The kings of the earth rise up, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord, and against His anointed. (Psalm 2:1-2 – Messiah libretto) Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. (KJV, v.3)

In the ultimate irony of this age, and one which has telegraphed itself through the amazing scroll of Revelation, it would appear that Christendom is aligning itself with this rebellion. Indeed, it is The Great Apostasy.

So the tragedy we must watch unfold on the world’s stage, is to see those who claim as their leader the Prince of Peace, the Lord of all the Earth, become an instrument of rebellion against Him and the establishment of His Kingdom.

It is the unequivocal reality of our time that the evangelical churches espousing Christian nationalism — “a vain thing” — thereby proclaim they have become “The Devil’s Advocate.”

The Mystery of Lawlessness

Lawlessness and the Spirit of Antichrist

Α   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   Ω

. . . regarding the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, that you not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit, or a message, or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. No one is to deceive you in any way! For it will not come unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying himself as being God. Do you not remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And you know what restrains him now, so that he will be revealed in his time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is removed. Then that lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will eliminate with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and false signs and wonders.    2 Thessalonians 2:1-9

Why do the nations rage,
     and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
     and the rulers take counsel together,
     against the Lord and against his Anointed, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
     and cast away their cords from us.”    Psalm 2:1-3

“But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.    Luke 21:20-24

   Α   ~   ~   ~   ~   ~   Ω

In stark contrast to the “mystery of godliness,” which Paul writes about to Timothy (1 Tim. 3:16) — an unequivocal reference to the incarnation of Christ — stands the enigmatic and rarely exposited “mystery of lawlessness.” The former mystery is frequently taught from Colossians, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” But the later may not be well understood.

How is it that Paul could write to the Thessalonians, observing that this mystery of lawlessness is already at work, not three decades from Any believer would expect that spirit to be at work in the world, but in the Church? Against all hope, that spirit was already in the Church in the first century.

Insofar as Jesus came to make the law replete (Matt. 6: ), then the antithesis would be a spirit of complete opposition to the law, a spirit of lawlessness and rebellion, a spirit that would replace Christ. John wrote: Sin is lawlessness. And the man of sin would equate to the man of lawlessness.

Concerning the rebellion of Mankind against the kingdom, not only does Psalm 2 attest to this, but likewise the Lord’s own parable:

“A nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom and then return. Calling ten of his servants, he gave them ten minas, and said to them, ‘Engage in business until I come.’But his citizens hated him and sent a delegation after him, saying, ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’ Luke 19:12-14

How remarkable this sounds to us who love the Lord and His coming, and are grateful for his rulership, which brings in everlasting Righteousness — though we were once children of wrath and held the same feelings. Now, by His Grace, we are able to understand and here we do not simply see the opposition of the world, but know this: the great rebellion, the great apostasy, is the rebellion of the church!!! As the temple leadership was toward its own messiah, so now is the Christian community infused with the spirit of the nations and all of the Babylonian poison of worldly religion. It is rebellion against the teaching of Christ and against His kingdom.

And that rebellion is marked by the refusal to keep the words of Christ, to keep His commandments, a hallmark of John’s exhortations, along with those of Peter and Paul. Indeed, the scroll of Revelation links keeping the commandments of the Lord with entry into the Heavenly Jerusalem by its gates. Others are closed out!

Moreover, in worldly events, we behold that spirit of rebelliousness playing out. Rebellion against the rule of law in our society, right here in the United States of America, is but a sign and a shadow of rebellion against our king.

Did He not speak to Peter and Paul where they have written that all authorities are established by God and are to be obeyed? To wit we read Romans 13:1, 2Peter 2:13-15, Titus 3:1, etc. which remind us, along with Daniel 2, that all authorities on earth are in place by God’s design. Indeed, he works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph. 1:11). Rebellion against these authorities is at the same time rebellion against God. And rebellion against God is as the sin of witchcraft.

And so we consider that just as there is the Spirit of Christ dwelling within us that enables us to fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 5:2), so too there is a spirit of Antichrist that inspires rebellion and lawlessness. Jesus Christ did not abolish the Law, He made it full! Listen:

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to make them replete. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.     Matthew 5:17-20

As we reflect on the state of our congregations today, where do we hear pastors and teachers guiding the faithful to observe and keep the least of all these commandments? In fact, whereas it was once common for ministers to proclaim the commandments of God and to exhort the believers to follow them, it is rarely heard today.

Regarding materialism, the commandment that you cannot serve God and mammon has been supplanted by a harmonization of the two, although such a project is impossible. Idolatry rules; and Christians today are encouraged to follow their their own way and to do what is right in their own eyes.

Where, then, is the way of peace? John reminds us in his first epistle that we are under obligation to walk as Christ walked. And truly, He did NOT walk in the pathways of mammon. There is no friendship between God and the world. (James 4:4)

To enable deeper understanding of how the prophets may have portrayed rebellion in Christendom, aka The Israel of God, as Paul called it, we have to penetrate the spiritual words in the texts cited above. For example, in Luke 21, Jerusalem is trampled underfoot by the Gentiles until the time of the Gentiles is complete. The spiritual Jerusalem, our Mother, is under attack by the nations, by Babylonian religion, which is a blend of personal idols and doctrinal teaching that opposes the teachings of Christ and His call to Keep His Word, so that God will love us and come and make a home within us. The self-aggrandizement and displacement of Christ that is consequent to the worldly expositions of spiritual teaching including the bible in the hands of the untaught and unstable (cf. 2 Peter 3:16) is a compendium of destructive heresies that nullify the saving Grace of Christ Jesus, and treat as unclean His redeeming blood.

To use Medieval language and constructs, the infidels have invaded the Church and despoiled her with their food and drink sacrificed to demons. And this saddles us with the worst condition — not only the kings of the earth and the rulers (read: spiritual powers) take their stand against YHWH and His Mashiach, but the false leaders of the church too have opposed the establishment of Christ’s kingdom by establishing the false doctrines of the world. Revelation 17 depicts this union of the kings of the earth with the antichrist spirit, just as Psalm 2 did earlier. Just listen once again to Christ’s own teaching in Luke 19:14 – ‘We do not want this man to reign over us.’

This rejection of the kingdom is indeed a repudiation of Christ Jesus as the unique Son of God and ruler with all authority in Heaven and on earth given to Him (Matthew 28). Does anyone need to say that picking a fight with God is surely a fool’s errand, inspiring laughter in the Divine Council? (Psalm 2)

And as the faithful sons of Light are gathering to their Lord, who is the Spirit of Holiness, so too the sons of darkness are hearing the call of that spirit that animates them, that spirit of Antichrist which embodies the mystery of lawlessness, and is set to oppose the establishment of the true Kingdom of Light on earth. As the psalmist has written (Ps. 2), they have taken their stand against YHWH and His Maschiach!

How is Lawlessness a Mystery?

In the Greek New Testament, the word ‘mystery,’ Greek: mysterion, means ‘a thing to be revealed,’ even if it is known to someone. Christ in you is a mystery which was hidden but has now been revealed. This ‘mystery of lawlessness’ is a similar reality that is hidden but which a true steward of the mysteries of God can explicate.

It was the introduction of certain destructive heresies into the early church as prophesied by the apostle Peter and by Jude, which began to to erode the ethos of the Christian fellowship of the early church. We know from the scriptures how it entered in by men who were appointed from times past to introduce such blasphemies, but we must dig deeper to understand God’s purpose for He does indeed work all things according to the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11). The deeper question is how could these men enter into the fellowship or koinonia of the church, the called-out ones.

“The days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and of beast. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, to demolish, destroy, and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant,” declares the LORD.   Jeremiah 31:27-28

Doesn’t that describe what we see in the lawlessness bursting out around the world in nominally Christian nations from Russia to Hungary to the United States? The beastly image is actually predominating in many places. Christ has been set aside, and His ‘Way of Peace,’ (Luke 1:79) is forgotten. Pope and priest, patriarch and metropolitan, minster and teacher, have all forsaken the commandment to put up your sword. “He who lives by the sword will die by the sword.” Our Lord’s words are not accounted true. The teaching has been harmonized with the ethos of the world and the practicalities of realpolitik which requires the nations to pursue war as necessary.

And yet: their king is The Prince of Peace!

We are supposed to be the exponents and heralds of Psalm 120. “I am Peace. But when I speak they are for war.”

Or do Babylonian Christians suppose that Zacharias, father of John the Baptist, and serving as an anointed priest in the temple, filled with the Holy Spirit, was misled when he proclaimed:

And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
     for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,
to give knowledge of salvation to his people
     in the forgiveness of their sins,
because of the tender mercy of our God,
     whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high
to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,
     to guide our feet into the way of peace.” Luke 1:79

But woe be unto that disciple that proclaims the word of his King and does not support the establishment church in her quest for power and dominion. You can preach peace on Sunday but in the reality of this world we must support war. Why?

War is big-time Sin, lawlessness on steroids. And all of the nations have blood on their hands. It is foolhardy to imagine dissuading the nations from their murder-suicide pact. For as Daniel wrote: “War is decreed until the end.” This age or aeon will not see peace until Messiah comes — except for the peace of Christ within which He promised to those who are His disciples.. You can take that the bank — more properly to the Heavenly Treasury.

But when Messiah appears, the wicked will be removed from His Presence, so that the kingdom can be established in Righteousness (Proverbs 25).

In short, the way of lawlessness ends in destruction as Psalm 1 proclaims. It is the disobedience to the gospel which Paul explained to the Thessalonians (1 Thess. 1:10) which cannot endure the fiery manifestation of the Lord and His Holy Angels.

So the mystery which was at work in the first century exhibits the corrupt teaching of Babylon which pollutes the altar of Christ”s church, and corrupts the altar of the Holy Spirit in the body of Christ, His people. And God Himself introduces an operation of error so those who do not love the truth are drawn to the strongman, to the Antichrist, or Man of Lawlessness, because it is in their own fleshly nature. That mystery is useful in the separation of the seed of man and the seed of beast, or the wheat and the tares according to the parable.

It is then possible to set up antipathies, e.g. the mystery of godliness vs. the mystery of lawlessness; or the mystery of the Gospel (salvation) vs. the mystery of lawlessness. In the domain of persons we might observe the Man of Holiness vs. the man of Sin; Christ and the Antichrist.

But why is the mystery of lawlessness needed? Couldn’t God have simply done without it? The answer is really quite simple. In the realm of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, both mysteries must be present to experience and to know. We are privileged to know both so we can discern, and can love good and reject evil. Because of this all human beings are born consigned to disobedience, so that God can show mercy to all. (Romans 11:32)

We are shown in our pilgrimage through the world both the way of Holiness, the pathway of love, the way of peace (Luke 1:79), as well as the way of the wicked, and the rule of the Lawless.

In the next section, we will reflect upon current events at home and around the globe, insofar as they show the time of the nations is nearly complete. Particularly, we will examine the doctrine, ethos, and comportment of the Christian community, to see that the mystery of lawlessness, like leaven in a jar of flour (Matt. 13), has virtually transformed the entire lump.

Albeit in a strange way, this growing reality is good news, because it serves as a sign that the days of the gentiles are nearly fulfilled (Luke 21:24).

In such manner, the answer to the mystery of lawlessness is revealed in the fullness of time. It is required that the Lord’s “holy ones” may show the contrast between a world without God and a world founded on God. Romans 11:32 and Romans 8:19-21, which has been a conundrum to many in Christendom, and is seldom elegantly addressed.

The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.   Romans 8:19-21

Here we see that the ‘mystery of godliness,’ like the ‘mystery of lawlessness,’ is a matter that must be revealed. Yet, the hope declared in verse 21 still begs the question: “Why?”

And we can find the answer in the accurate knowledge — epignosis — held in unity within the faith community of the early Christians, the keepers of ‘The Way.’ For that bridge from the apostles to the post-apostolic church we find illumination in the so-called “Odes of Solomon.”

Thy way was without corruption, and thy face; thou didst bring thy world to corruption: that everything might be dissolved and then renewed,

And that the foundation for everything might be thy rock; and on it thou didst build thy kingdom; and it became the dwelling place of the saints. Hallelujah — Ode 22:11-12, (Rendel Harris translation)

Here, at last, a precise and concise resolution of the mystery of corruption, that the creation may come to understand the ground of its being, its life as a creation of the Word, the unique One of God, upon whom all things must be founded if they are to have Life and Light unto the aeon of the aeons. For what is not founded on Him, has no life in it, and cannot last. Apart from Him, one cannot do anything.

Here, at last, is that ‘mystery of lawlessness,’ that ‘wicked one,’ revealed, and his own instrumental role in preparing the field for the coming of the True Kingdom of Righteousness that shall know no end.

This is the Mystery hidden from all ages, Christ in YOU, the hope of Glory (Col. 1:27). And by abiding in the Word, the Unique Son of God, we partake of that Sonship and are renewed beyond corruption.

Lawlessness in Christendom

Because the rise of lawlessness is so intimately connected with the cooling off of love (cf. Matthew 24), and the man of Sin (read: lawlessness) is hard-linked with the displacement of Christ in His Church (cf. 2 Thess. 2), our greatest concern as the people of God — Heb. Ammishaddai — must be the loss of faith, hope, and love of God, These now we see replaced by self-will and self-glorification.

Violence is not an acceptable means for moving society forward, and securing certain rights and privileges which are desired by the citizens. This is particularly so for those who would claim Jesus Christ as their Savior and leader. His ethos is unequivocally and unmistakably the way of Peace. This is so well established historically in view of the self-identification of the early Christians as members of ‘The Way.’

This identification has given way long ago, as competitive pathways of licentiousness and lawlessness have increasingly displaced the spiritual focus and non-material life emphasis that once dominated the houses of the faithful. Far too much rapprochement has occurred between Church and State. Now the world, aka ‘the nations,’ has infiltrated The Way, so that a theology of prosperity, and a pluralistic god-system wherein all of the “spiritual” teachings of Babylon which supplant devotion to God with self-glorification, have ascended above that which was originally transmitted in ‘the faith once delivered.’ This faith had eyes fixed on Jesus Christ, and on the spiritual realities of faith, love, and hope, that are the sine qua non of Life in Christ.

Under domination by the nations, Christian life and community has become worldly life with the name of Jesus upon the lips. The apostle Paul once said such Christians were the name of Jesus on loan. They do not embody it as the foundation and essence of their new life.

The antinomian perspective which Dietrich Bonhoeffer termed “cheap grace,” arose partly due to a misunderstanding of the gospel message, and poor translation through the centuries has enshrined that error into the doctrine of Christianity.

Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Matthew 5:16-17

So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. vv.19-20

The lynch pin of the problem lies in the poor understanding of the word ‘fulfill’, in Greek pleroo. A more highly nuanced meaning that fits with the remainder of the text would be ‘to fill up,’ or ‘to make replete.’ Indeed, Christ made the law replete by raising it to its spiritual fullness. A deep reading of the sermon on the mount will prove this out. Christ did not relieve us of the commission to walk in His ways and to keep His word, but he made the law replete that we might walk in the Spirit and live out the spiritual contours of the law, viz. the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, which sets us free from the law of sin and of death. (Romans 8:2)

It was men from Egypt bringing in the Eleusynian mysteries, and those from the Greek Mystery schools that set up a false dichotomy between the body and the soul, condoning all acts of the body due to its evil nature, allowing the soul to be delivered, since its nature is good. The Matthean text thus served as a proof text to support the idea that Christ had fulfilled the law, and thus there were no longer any behavioral obligations remaining to the followers of Christ. This theological pillar of lawlessness has survived to this day, and can be heard in the words of prominent pastors and church leaders who excuse the most reprobate behavior because “well, we are all sinners.”

To understand how this is an attack by spiritual armies on Jerusalem, we must return now to the eschatological vision of Jesus as Luke recorded it (21:20-24) and we have cited at the head of this paper. And to add insult to injury we must read it afresh since we have arrived at a time in history where there are next to none who can actually read the scriptures and hear the intended message. (cf. Isaiah 29:11-12)

And the entire vision will be to you like the words sealed in a scroll. If it is handed to someone to read, he will say, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” Or if the scroll is handed to one unable to read, he will say, “I cannot read.”

How tragic that this is the state of our pastorate today. I will explicate by example with the Lucan text concerning the armies of the nations surrounding Jerusalem — a profound and principal cause that so many who are led by the blind will not see the signs of Christ’s imminent return.

If the reader can be like Paul and learn things of the Spirit taught by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 2), comparing spiritual words with spiritual realities, then such reader can hear what the Spirit says to the Churches. But you must put on the mind of Christ to understand. That will give you ears to hear. For God is interested in spiritual things above all else. And for that we must likewise fix our minds on Jesus Christ, who is the Spirit of Life, our life, and not the material.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
     neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
     so are my ways higher than your ways
     and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Peter likewise convicts us on the question of trying to make an interpretation of the prophecy, because the Spirit of Christ, aka the Spirit of Truth, has an intended meaning for each message..

Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture comes from one’s own interpretation. For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:20-21)

Now that we have established the foundations of our reading of the text in Luke, we begin to see it in a new way. Jesus was standing in Jerusalem, but He was not speaking of that Jerusalem, which is in a spiritual sense called Sodom and Egypt. It is the Jerusalem of the earth, like Hagar, in slavery — this Paul laid out to the Galatians.

No, Jesus is speaking of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the spiritual reality that inhabits us within, and is also above. And those who live in her are truly the called and chosen and faithful (Revelation 17). It is this reality that is under attack. And as long as the seekers of Christ believe the blind and uneducated leadership of Christendom that is fleshly minded, they will be waiting to see military armies in the physical nation of Israel and will miss the more serious spiritual attack that is already underway, and will soon culminate in the complete possession of the church on earth by the nations, not by the spiritual leadership of the Israel of God. This Jerusalem will be trampled by the nations.

What the contemporary church is not mindful of is that all of the Babylonian tendencies toward cheap grace, ear-tickling teachings, and self-glorification, are all stumbling blocks to following the Good Shepherd (John 10). “My sheep hear my voice, they know me, and they follow.”

To fail in following is to rely on another spirit, and that is the spirit of anti-Christ. In this realization we come to the understanding that Paul made it abundantly clear to the Thessalonians that this spirit of anti-Christ is of one piece with the spirit of lawlessness. This in turn will trample Jerusalem, the holy city, i.e. the fellowship and unity of those who proclaim to live in the Spirit of Christ. The Temple of Spirit within is where the true disciples gather together. The outer courtyard, termed by Moses “the courtyard of the Gentiles,” exhibits the worldly mind-set of the nations, and thus is not part and parcel of life in Christ. This Babylonian Christendom is being trampled on every front, from the New Age to the Christian Nationalist.

Watch for our coming article on the unreality of Christian Nationalism — it is not a thing, but a delusion of the worldly aka “fleshly” mind.

The Christianity of right-wing evangelicals turns the teachings of Christ on their head. The Law of Christ, wherein the believer is called to carry his neighbor’s burden is now deemed to be a commission to rule over that neighbor and place them under a Pharisaical law of the believer’s own creation. The commandments of Christ are overthrown for the traditions of men, just as it was with the religious leaders of Jesus’ own time.

In so examining the meaning of historical events in our own time we simply cannot arrive at the depth of their significance unless we take into account all that the Lord has said regarding what we is to occur — from the divine perspective.

Psalm 2 and Luke 19 furnish the more encompassing context and backdrop against which we can evaluate visible signs of the worldwide rise of the anti-Christ spirit. 

Note: the identity of any single human being as “the anti-Christ” is far less important than the visible signs of that spirit in the words and actions of those who claim Christ as their lord and savior.

It is the error of Judas, and in like manner these “followers” of Christ make the same equivocation. They conspire to overthrow governments and force peoples of all tribes and tongues and nations to submit to their own twisted view of what the kingdom would look like. 

We viewed the parable from Luke 19, and this is intricately related to the first verses of Psalm 2. We repeat that citation here.

Why do the nations rage,
     and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
     and the rulers take counsel together,
against YHWH and against his Messiah, saying,
“Let us burst their bonds apart
      and cast away their cords from us.” Psalm 2:1-3

It is as the Lord Messiah Himself said, recorded in Matthew 11:12 — “The Kingdom of God is suffering violence; violent men take it by force.” And in the church, this is the extreme deeds of the Nicolaitans which the Lord hates. They want to rule, rather than to serve.

And Revelation 17 shows that Christ and His Elect will conquer all the kings of the earth (10 kings = the complete number). It is the beast with 10 horns.

In so far as God has established all the kingdoms of the earth — an unpopular position articulated by the prophet Daniel, and confirmed by Paul in Romans 13 — rebellion against the governing authorities is a shadow which shows beasts turning to the Beast and rebelling against the commands of Christ. God is ruler over all the kingdoms of the earth. This is yet another instance of the mystery of lawlessness at work in the church rebelling against the established authorities.

Isn’t it ironic, that the historical church, in attempting to establish law in the nations of the earth, is exhibiting the extreme of lawlessness?

In conclusion, the rebellion of evangelical streams of the church against the temporal administration of the United States government and its peaceful transition of power between administrations, is but a shadowy reflection of the rebellion against the heavenly kingdom and their very own proclaimed king. By killing their neighbors and the peace officers sworn to protect the servants of the people, the self-proclaimed Christians and their denominational leaders demonstrate they reject their king.

And thus we observe evidence that the time of the nations is coming to its fullness, as its rebellious influence has invaded and consolidated a stranglehold on Christ’s own church. In this is revealed the mystery of lawlessness and the fulfillment of the purpose and end of the tree of knowledge in this aeon of creation. And Paul proves his wisdom in writing that “all are consigned to disobedience, that God might have mercy on all.” (Romans 11:32)

It is a mystery, because it needs revealing to the mind of Man, and because it is an operation of spirit, albeit a spirit of opposition and rebellion, operating according to the power of the Adversary himself.

This mystery is received for those who have not received a love of the Truth, which literally means the love for Jesus Christ, since He IS the Truth. The choice is clear: it is either love and obedience in all humility, or it is rebellion and lawlessness and the spirit of anti-Christ. There is no in between. As Moses proclaimed it to all Israel, choose this day life or death.

In final analysis we hear that we must return to love!  For it is a result of the increase in lawlessness that the love of the greater number has grown cold. (Matthew 24:12) And didn’t the Lord remind us of this in His message to the angel of the congregation at Ephesus?

Amen, it is the revolt against our heavenly Father, (cf. Isa. 1:2, Psalm 2) and the lawlessness (aka repudiation of love) that has ensued, we are able to behold the visible fruits of the tree of knowledge and the evil they contain. When we supplant the Love of God and of our neighbor with the narcissistic love and self-glorification which the mind of the Adversary epitomizes, and the hatred of God and neighbor that is a direct consequence, then we are compelled to examine the mystery of lawlessness and the fruit of the tree of knowledge that is pleasant to look at, but “lights the  way to dusty death.” Here, William Shakespeare characterizes life as Macbeth sees it, in our view a life devoid of God and Christ.

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow,

Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,

To the last syllable of recorded time;

And all our yesterdays have lighted fools

The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!

Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,

That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,

And then is heard no more. It is a tale

Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,

Signifying nothing.

Ultimately, this is the very purpose of this mystery of lawlessness, that it might teach us a way that does not light the way to dusty death, but that is a path to righteousness and a way to eternal life; one which is full of significance, and founded on the Rock, the Word, the Lord of All the Earth.

Now that we have delved into the depths of the way of wickedness, the mystery of lawlessness — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, as it were — it remains our task to explore the way of righteousness and peace, which we shall do in another installment.

But before we can tread “the road less traveled by,” as Robert Frost might call it, let us peer through the present roiling sea of humanity and the nascent consummation of the kingdom of darkness, into the near future to examine the contours of the ultimate expression of this mystery of lawlessness. This is emerging as a single world kingdom that has consolidated its counterfeit countenance of Christ with the enthronement of antichrist. This image of the beast is currently supplanting the image of Christ in nations and congregations today, and portends a persecution of the truly Christed ones by the Pharisaical/Nicolaitan leadership of the historical “Church.”

Love is the Truth of Our Being

For the dwelling place of the Word is Man: and its Truth is Love.     Odes of Solomon 12:11

It is an indelible sign of our age, that the love which Christ made manifest is cooling off dramatically. To that end, it is no wonder that the Lord’s first grievance to the Churches — let those with ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches — was that they had left behind their first love.

This fundamental Truth, that God is Love — and that we, if we would claim we are in the likeness of God, would radiate the Light of this Love — is the foundation of the Law, and reiterated in Christ’s own articulation of the Two Great Commandments. In a profound way the apostle Paul spoke an elegant form of this by saying: “Bear one another’s burdens and in this way fulfill the Law of Christ.” Galatians 6:2

By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:35

So we have the simple epitome of the story of God’s work in creation. It is a love story and we are the recipients of that love, and the participants in that story. In turn we are created to be radiators of that love, because He first loved us. (1 John 4:19)

As the Lord told me some years ago: “Just tell the story. Keep it simple. Do not add a word or take away a word. Just tell the story.”

The truth of the story begins with the witness of the apostle John.

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have beheld, and our hands have touched, concerning the Word of life— and the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:1-7

He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John bore witness of Him and cried out, saying, “This was He of whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is preferred before me, for He was before me.’ ” And of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace. For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has beheld God at any time. The only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has thoroughly unfolded Him. John 1:10-18

And that Grace and Glory was meant to be dwelling within us!! It is the Father’s will that we be glorified (cf. 1 Peter 1:11, as part of “the glories to follow”)

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. John 14:20

If anyone loves me he will keep my word; and my Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode with him. John 14:23

And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.    John 17:22-23

Readers might ask: why does this foundational teaching of Christ needs revisiting right now? It must be daily entered because the first concern for the churches in Revelation 2 cited above, is precisely that departure from love. And we see that everywhere as we look around our society, and even within the church at the wrangling over words and the debate over this strange and varied teaching and that.

Our eye needs be single, fixed on Christ Jesus and the love in which He called us. Then our body shall be full of light indeed.

And we cannot know the truth — Jesus is the Truth — if we do not abide in His word. That is obedience to the gospel, it is the lawfulness of keeping His commandments, His word, and living off of every word which proceeds from the mouth of God (Mt. 4:4, Deut. 8:3); and just to be clear: Jesus is the mouth of God. This truth of walking in Christ is the very being of Christ and it sets us free from slavery to sin and death.

This means we are under obligation to walk as Christ did. That is our expression of love, for it can never be mere lip service. (1 John 2:6)

All of this sums up the choice before us in this time of trial when sheep and goats are being separated, when the faithful conquer the image of the Beast within them. We can choose Love or lawlessness, love or rebellion against the King and His kingdom, love or death. By choosing obedience to the Gospel, we hasten the coming of the Kingdom, showing ourselves ready to inhabit the Life of the Aeons.

Praise the Holy One, for He has said:

Set me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm: for Love is as strong as death.” Song of Songs 8:6

And so let the thoughts of our heart and the actions of our arms be sealed in the loving thoughts and works of our Lord, that as we abide in Him, His thoughts and words and deeds may shine through our clay vessels. He is that treasure (2 Cor. 4:7) inside of us — Christ in you, the hope of Glory.

This cannot be pure poetry. It is the sublime truth of our deepest being. And it must be so that truth may flow from our lips like streams of living water, that our hearts may radiate the Spirit of Love, and that our mind may break and share the living bread of Heaven.

It is we who, like the One in whose image we are made, are meant to be the living bread and living water to the nations, as the anointed ones of the Anointed Son of God.

Now let our benediction be the glorious words of Ode 12, most likely a first century writing by someone who clearly must have known Christ quite intimately in Spirit if not also in flesh. Its divinely expressive poetry plucks the strings of our hearts.

He hath fulled me with words of truth; that I may speak the same;

And like the flow of waters flows truth from my mouth, and my lips show forth His fruit.

And He has caused His knowledge to abound in me, because the mouth of the Lord is the true Word, and the door of His light;

And the Most High hath given it to His words, which are the interpreters of His own beauty, and the repeaters of His praise, and the confessors of His counsel, and the heralds of His thought, and the chasteners of His servants.

For the swiftness of the Word is inexpressible, and like its expression is its swiftness and force;

And its course knows no limit. Never doth it fail, but it stands sure, and it knows not descent, nor the way of it.

For as its work is, so is its end: for it is light and the dawning of thought;

And by it the worlds talk one to the other; and in the Word there were those that were silent;

And from it came love and concord; and they spake one to the other whatever was theirs; and they were penetrated by the Word;

And they knew Him who made them, because they were in concord; for the mouth of the Most High spake to them; and His explanation ran by means of it;

For the dwelling place of the Word is Man: and its truth is love.

Blessed are they who by means thereof have understood everything, and have known the Lord in truth. Hallelujah.

This first century teaching is one of the most elegant distillations of the doctrine of Christ and the deep truth that All True Life is in Him. There is an emphasis on those who receive this Love and are penetrated by the Word. The Lord makes a home within them.

And these we come to realize are “His words,” those who become the multiplicity of logoi, the “little Christs” Luther would come to call them. For are not these the Elect, foreknown from the foundation of the world, those who are foreordained to the good works prepared for them? And we see their nature and commission upon reception of The Lord, the true Word. They are:

the interpreters of His own beauty, and the repeaters of His praise, and the confessors of His counsel, and the heralds of His thought, and the chasteners of His servants. Ode 12:4

And so we must be!

Such ones cannot be mere words in the terrestrial sense, but are communicated exressi0ns of the Divine Life of the Logos, and they give glory to God by reflecting His Glory as from a mirror, in Love, and knowledge, and Truth. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

And so may the Living Word dwell within all who will receive Him to abide within, and may such tabernacling together allow the words of Asaph the psalmist to be fulfilled:

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth. Psalm 50:2

This is the glory of God, seen through His people, the image of His Christ, firstborn in all things. May it be complete in these days and fulfill the promise to the Romans that all creation will revel in the revealing of the Sons of God. And may it shine in the darkness and dispel all the shadow of the old aeon that is passing. Amen

The Spirit to the Churches

Christ is speaking. Listen. Let him who has ears to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The Lord addresses this message to all churches for all time. It is so important and especially now in our time. John’s words give us answer enough:

Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.      Revelation 1:3

But the churches have not had ears to hear. The same shortcomings which Christ pointed out in the first century are just as true today. They are so crucial that our Lord came back to visit John at Patmos and open a door in Heaven so He could see what would quickly come to pass and that he, John, could reveal it to the congregations in Christ — for our time!

That should not seem strange, but now I adjure you all you congregations in Christ: Listen and Hear! For the Lion of Judah has conquered, the Lamb of God has opened the seals!

As these are the last words of Christ Jesus which the apostles confirmed as direct divine communication, we ought view them as the Lord’s Living Last Will and Testament! [We have written about this on the previous post entitled Hidden Manna.] So let he and she who has an ear Hear. Christ is speaking now, and it is incumbent upon us as heralds of His return to clarify what He is saying to us now.

Verily, the Church must come out of Babylon, that she not have to see the handwriting on the wall: Mene, Mene, Tekel, Parsin! The kingdoms of this world have been weighed in the scales and found wanting, so now their judgement has come upon them.

To amplify this final recorded message to the churches, we listen attentively to hear what the Spirit says to the churches. That is, what is the Lord saying at this moment, and just to be clear who is the Spirit speaking:

When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirits.      2 Corinthians 16-18

The Lord, the Spirit, is not bound by time, as humanity is. He is not bound by space as we are. His words echo across time and space and like oxgoads, dig into our flesh to steer us in the path of righteousness.

“Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this.As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.      Revelation 1:17-20

There is a past, present, and future orientation in this exhortation. In His Love, the LOGOS is disclosing what is, what has been, and what will come to pass.

But the key to victory for the churches, while summarized later in the scroll, with some additional features, is most clearly layed out in exquisite detail in chapters two and three.

The Menorah pictured above reminds us of the unity of the Church, because while there may be seven lights, it is one. And in Revelation, there are 7 lampstands, but together they comprise one church — it is the church of the firstborn (Hebrews 12:23). It is the reality that shall not be shaken.

But the schismatic reality of a church that has now 34,000 denominations worldwide, of which the apostle Paul said “let there be no divisions among you, can still be pictured in its totality by the seven lampstands, seven being the number of spiritual completion.

Jesus directed His message to those churches in Asia Minor, where the message would go out under the leadership of John and Polycarp (the angel of the church at Smyrna later martyred), where the scroll of Revelation would be nurtured and protected and dispatched to all the world! The Lord knew well His strategy as He always does.

He would not write to Rome and acknowledge the future seedbed of Egyptian magic and Babylonian teachings of demons. And He would not write to Jerusalem, Sodom’s sister, especially in view of the fact that He had just taken the mission away from the natural olive tree and was vouchsafing it to the newly grafted branch of the olive.

So Christ Jesus used the seven congregations in present-day Turkey, all within a close proximity to each other, to elucidate the most serious sins of the church, and the penalty for remaining in those sins. He also pronounced the promised blessings for those who repent and conquer those sins.

In this writing, we will not cover the full revelation of all of those warnings and all of those rewards. Rather, it is time to Listen to the Spirit, for many admonitions and many promises are given, all pertaining to  -an everlasting (aeonial) life in Christ.

Hear what the Spirit says to the churches!

For CHRIST IS SPEAKING – NOW – not simply to John at Patmos for the churches in Asia Minor around 90 AD.

You have left your first love – you will have tribulation, be faithful unto death – you hold to false prophecy eating defiled foods (teachings) and committing acts of immorality (adultery with other gods like Mammon) – you tolerate the false prophets like Jezebel, committing adultery with the gods of this world and consider as prophecy things which are the deep things of Satan – disobedience (Sardis), not keeping the things you were told by Christ (Sardis) – and being lukewarm, materialistic and comfortable / Woe to those who are at ease in Zion! / that is wretchedly poor and blind and naked. This last means lacking in any knowledge of God, obedience to God, unable to see His saving Grace in Christ right before their very eyes.

ALL OF THIS is lamentably true of the Christian churches today. Only those depicted in Philadelphia in the context of the Key of David, those who have a heart like David, and a destiny to rule with Christ as His anointed kings, simply need to hold onto their crown. These two are among the churches as a remnant.

But the people are, with notable exceptions, like the rabble, like the beasts with which Moses dealt, like Korah, rebellious and disobedient. And they are like the wild neighbors of Noah who partied on as destruction approached.

The churches party on likes it’s 1955. Though the Lord’s four sore judgements are upon us, the church slumbers on and like Sardis, must wake up, or the Lord will be upon them like a thief in the night.

Christ is speaking to the churches today, “Repent, for I am near at the door. Awake, for you slumber as lawlessness rises to a fever pitch.”

These are the clear and unequivocal signs of His Presence today. The churches are as the temple was at the time of the Lord’s first coming. People are not obedient to God, but are claiming salvation in Christ.

Do we dare treat His saving and cleansing blood as unclean? (Hebrew 10:2-31)

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.   (Hebrews 10:26-31, ESV)

You trample on the precious blood of Jesus when you regard His sacrifice as some kind of license to commit sin without consequences. Such licentiousness was anathema to the apostles and writers of the new testament scrolls.

Again, for what reason do you think, oh followers of Christ, that He returns to judge the living and the dead?

Indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you,and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints . . .   (2 Thessalonians 6-10)

Yes, we shall all face the judgement seat of Christ to receive just recompense for all we did and did not do.

So the words of Jesus and John the baptist echo through the millennia – the first words they each uttered: “Repent, for the Kingdom of God is near.”

There is a war raging inside of each person, and Michael and his angels are warring against the Devil and his demons. We shall either be conformed to the image of Christ, obedient as He was unto death, as meek as Moses, submitting entirely to the will of God, and overcoming the image of the Beast within, the old man, the fleshly minded part of ourselves, or we shall never stand upon the glassy sea.

And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and  those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. Revelation 15:2-3

Only those redeemed from the earth — signified as the 144,000 — can sign the song. (Revelation 14:3)

Redeemed from the Law of Sin and Death, redeemed from the flesh, from self-glorification, but signing ALL glory to the Living God.

Chris is indeed speaking at this moment. He has gone to a distant place to receive a kingdom. He has gone to prepare a place for His Elect. He has asked us to be ready, to expand the talents of His fathomless Treasury of knowledge and wisdom of God, He has said we must fill our lamps with oil. He has told us to remain awake for he will not tarry.

And now He has said, “Blow a horn in Zion.” The words of Joel are reprised, for war is at the gates. The fallen thoughts, fallen nations, fallen messengers or stars, are all battling against the Holy Seed, which is His offspring. We cannot be at ease in Zion, the inner spiritual reality of the Kingdom of God, the Holy City and the Temple of God, because there is “war in the gates,” (Judges 6).

The Christ of Christ (Obadiah 21, Revelation 14), the anointed of the Lord are being prepared as this is being written. These are shown in the cipher of 144,000. There is no Jew, nor Greek in this body, the 12 tribes are all there, but quite apart from physical genealogy, they are spiritually present from every tribe and tongue and people.

Jews are those circumcised of heart, and only those who are Jews inwardly. The House of David are these kings who will lead with the heart of David, a heart for the Lord.

Those who love God will receive the blessings He has set aside for those who Love Him. The ones who “love His coming,” know that the beginnings of Justice and Righteousness can only come with His mighty appearance when all wars are brought to a finish (Psalm 46) and the kingdom of this world becomes the Kingdom of Our Lord (Jesus) and His Christ (the anointed of the anointed One).

But obedience must come first or there is nothing but fiery judgement to face. As Luke wrote in Acts 5 portraying Peter’s testimony to the Sanhedrin in Jerusalem, the Holy Spirit comes to those who are obedient to God. This cut them to the quick because they knew Peter spoke the truth, they were not obedient to God, and Christ had accused them of the same thing. Paul seconds that emotion by stating that all your disobedience will be punished (2 Corinthians 10). See The Obedience of Faith for more teaching on what obedience to the Gospel really means.

If Christ came today He would say the same thing. The silence of the churches to the creeping in (cp. 2 Peter) of false teachers bringing in the unclean foods of the table of demons, and utter silence of pastors to the rampant sexual immorality of those who lust after flesh, as do some of the cherished church leaders or their very idols in the political realm. These are the pastors who feed themselves without fear, who are at ease in Zion. And the table they set is full of unclean food, and that which is undigestible as Isaiah 28 so graphically portrays. See our paper on Why do you spend money for what is not bread?

How can the body of Christ reach a unity of the faith (Ephesians 4:13) when many of its leaders are sons of disobedience? Looking at the litany of charges above, it is clear that Jerusalem and the Temple of God (within) has been invaded by Babylon and the stones are laying around scattered and burnt.

This is why there will be a shout of Hurrah, when Zerubbabel takes the plumbline in his hand — let him who hath ears what the Spirit said to Zechariah.

The Temple needs to be rebuilt and the Living Stones must come to Christ (1 Peter 2). And our collective body in Him must eschew the things enumerated in Revelation 2 and 3. For on the other side of that victory, conquering the Beast and its image, conquering the world by Faith, and enduring to the finish, resides that new Life and new Being.

And all of the rewards — which God gives to those who love Him (1 Corinthians 12:9), aka keep the commandments of God (1 John 2:3-5)  — all of them are dimensions of aeonial or eternal Life in Christ. In this section of Revelation they include: eating from the Tree of Life in the Paradise of God (Christ as the food of Heaven), not being hurt by the second death aka Living through the burning spiritual fire, eating the hidden manna (words of Spirit and Life from Christ Himself, receiving the morning star (Christ Himself), The Lord confessing their name before the Father, being kept from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world, being made a pillar in the temple of God inscribed with the name of the Father and the Son and the Heavenly City Jerusalem, sitting down and dining with them and having them sit down on His throne with Him. This epitome clearly refers to various ways of understanding that eternal Life in Christ and the many facets of its expression. It is all a Revelation of Jesus Christ and the glories of Life in Him!

All of these glories await the followers of Christ, the glories which the prophets and patriarchs and kings wrote about (1 Peter 1:10-12) and int0 which angels have longed to look!

But all this requires that each one who would inherit these glories must be prepared to suffer alongside the Lord, and must be willing to come out of Babylon, and to be obedient to the gospel, to abide in Christ and to live by His Commandment to love one another.

So now is the time! He has issued the decree to blow a horn in Zion! It is time to repent and to make sure your lamps are filled with oil. For it will be too late once He has come. Now is the appropriate time to cease living with the daughter of Babylon within you. Hear the words of Zechariah;

Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. For thus said the Lord of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.     Zechariah 2:7-10

In the coming days, we will have fresh oil for your lamps that you may see and be ready to go into the wedding feast. We shall as well delve into the mysteries of Christ, as well as Mystery Babylon and what means it to “Come on out of her, my people.” This will be critical in this time period when participation in her sins will mean partaking of her plagues. For the judgements of YHWH are in the earth, and now will be amplified so the peoples may learn righteousness. Go then and dwell in Zion, the city that cannot be shaken, that is the reality of the people in the Kingdom that cannot be shaken (Hebrews 12:27)

Christ is speaking! Hear what the Spirit says to the churches. Amen.

To Him Who Overcomes I Will Give Some of the Hidden Manna

We live in a world that is decidedly future oriented, a fact that is especially true in Christ’s Church. If you survey teaching on the 7 churches in Revelation, there is an expectation of a future fulfillment when all is complete and the current age has come to an end. But how can that be? People have been overcoming for the last 1900 plus years, so the hidden manna must always be available with the stated caveat: “To him who overcomes.”

Moreover, the words of the Lord are clear: give no thought for tomorrow. We are to live in the present moment, abiding in Him, and looking to Him to guide us in all our ways. And that is the underlying truth for the book of Revelation as it is for every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

With this in mind, the reader of these messages to the 7 churches would be wise to step back and examine some of the foundation stones of God’s word, in order to derive the true hidden nutriment in this text of prophecy. And that should include context, the spiritual meaning of the words as Paul emphasized in 2 Corinthians 2, and any resonances with other scriptures that illuminate the message by way of cross-fertilization.

Context of the Message

The first is to consider the context of the hidden manna message which Jesus gave to John by means of His angel. Touchstone number 1: the context of all scripture is the entirety of God’s word, because the Lord has asserted it in various places, such as Psalm 119:10 — “The sum of Thy Word is truth.” We must listen to every word as refined silver (Psalm 12:6) and consider it in the light of the totality of the Spirit’s communications. A daunting task you will say, and you would be correct.

And the more focused context would be the entirety of the message of Revelation, telescoping down into the message of the 7 churches, and narrowing into the entirety of the message addressed to Pergamum. This message is written for us, and not simply for that ancient Christian congregation.

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look. 1 Peter 1:10-12

The same must then be said about John the prophet and Revelator, who was serving future congregations as well.

Here we have to understand that the message to the 7 churches, the 7 lampstands, MUST BE a message to the entirety of the Body of Christ. Seven is the number of spiritual completion, which means we must view this message to Thyatira under the rubric (vs. 29) “he who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” That is a plural, viz. all churches; of all time. It applies to the body, one and all. And such is true of all of the 7 messages. So all of the attempts to pin down the churches to ages, to specific denominations, or any other typology utterly fails on the basis of not hearing what the Lord is saying.

Signs of the Content in the Message

Revelation is the Lord’s posthumous “Last Will and Testament.” Reflect on that statement and take it in, for this writer does not make it lightly. This is Christ’s last recorded message to His followers, sealed up by His disciples (Isaiah 8:16) who closed the canon according to His will and the will of His Father, our God. These are his loving promises and harrowing cautionary words for His beloved ones. There is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11). As with the beatitudes in Luke, there are the blessings and the woes. We must hear what is being said to all here. To that end hear the words once again:

“And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: ‘The words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:

“‘I know where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you hold fast my name, and you did not deny my faith even in the days of Antipas my faithful witness, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, so that they might eat food sacrificed to idols and practice sexual immorality. Likewise, also you have those similarly holding the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Therefore repent. If not, I will come to you soon and war against them with the sword of my mouth. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’”       Revelation 2:12-17

The passage is so rich it invites a surplus of discussion since it contains a surfeit of meaning. And if we bear in mind that the entire Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave Him, He signified (1:1), which is to say, he communicated by signs. And by the hermenteutical rule of Paul to the Corinthians (1Cor 2) and the fact that Christ disclosed His words to be Spirit and Life, we must take these words to be spiritual words applying to spiritual things, or realities. They are spiritual signs in human language given to disclose non-material realities, viz. spiritual.

So the signs to be examined here in the message to the angel (aka ‘messenger’) of the church at Pergamum — location of the temple of Zeus, or throne of Satan, the entrance to which was announced this last week by archaeologists in Turkey working on the ruins — include ‘throne of Satan,’ ‘teaching of Balaam,’ ‘food sacrificed to idols,’ sexual immorality,’ ‘teaching of the Nicolaitans,’ ‘sword of my mouth,’ ‘hidden manna,’ ‘a white stone,’ and ‘a new name.’

And of all of these, it is abundantly clear that the treasured reward for conquering the false prophecy is the hidden manna. But all of these iconic symbols must be penetrated to draw out the real hidden manna that is here in this text. And the reader must needs remember that each of these is chosen carefully in ways that are super appropriate to the church of Christ, which is now in the wilderness.

In the process of this journey, we do not have to revisit the question of why Christ might conceal the true knowledge, even as He told the disciples in Matthew 13, quoting Isaiah in the process. It is to God’s glory:

It is the glory of God to conceal things,
     but the glory of kings is to search things out. Proverbs 25:2

And thus, the task falls to us, who are called to be a royal priesthood, to reveal the hidden things.

Let’s try to boil down the spiritual content of these symbols which are drawn from historical experience in the ‘heilsgeschichte’ or ‘holy history’ of Israel. During the sojourn of Israel in the wilderness Balak, king of Moab, hired a well-known “prophet-for-hire” who was renowned in Babylon for his prophetic skills, Balaam was his name. Now Balak’s aim was to cause Israel to stumble and sin before its God, YHWH, so they would fall from His Grace and lose His protective care. So Balaam enticed Israel to eat foods sacrificed to demons, and to seek out foreign wives so they would wander away from their God. This is prima facie linked to the “throne of Satan.” It is the false teaching and false alliances which are emblematic of the rebellion against God, and which oppose the ministry of reconciliation.

To deepen the perspective with respect to Christ’s Church, it means that with the congregations in Christ, relieved of the burden of the Law of Moses, there are things analogous to Balaam’s inducements in the spiritual domain that cause a similar stumbling and a similar alienation from God and Christ.

The Nicolaitans is another metonym Christ uses to describe those who despise authority and engage in “the mystery of lawlessness,” antinomian in the extreme. Despising the words which the Jerusalem Council gave to Paul regarding “food sacrificed to demons” and “sexual immorality.” Here we have those who tickle the ears of the innocent with all manner of the tasty treats of Babylon which drive away Christians from their God and obedience to the Gospel. It is nothing for these false teachers — which Peter, Paul, John, Jame, and Jude warned the Church of Christ — to spread the teachings of demons, and foreign dalliances with the fallen daughters of Babylon, aka the religions of the world. In fact, Paul warned Timothy of those who would be misled by the teachings of demons. And Timothy was bishop of Ephesus at one point, and we see in that section that the Ephesian church hated the Nicolaitans. These lawless claimaints of Christ were actually antichrists who indulged in licentious behavior and imported all manner of Gnostic heresy from Egypt (Alexandria), Babylon, and Greece.

The Nicolaitans by the etymology of the term implies those who would conquer the people even if by subterfuge and false teaching, inserting any other as an intermediary between God and His people, whether angels, men of renown, or simply a lawless people themselves doing what is right in their own eyes. In fact, Paul taught (1 Timothy 2:5-6):

For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, which is the testimony given at the proper time.

What now is the spiritual analogue of this story for our time? Are there strange and varied teachings people are drawn away to from the doctrine of Christ? Are there foreign wives or relationships that are adulterous in view of the exclusive marriage of Christ and His bride? Deceitful spirits and teachings of demons are plentiful in our days and they are the demise of the church, propagated by the wicked deceivers who would rule over the people in the name of fundamental evangelical doctrine.

But all that promotes self-glorification steals the glory from God and His Christ. All that mixes ear-tickling teachings from rebellious spirits draws people away from Christ and substitutes other saving ‘graces’ to the true Saving Grace of the blood of Christ.

Thus, all the people of all the churches, who search the scriptures for eternal life, have forgotten the words of Jesus to the Pharisees and Saducees, “But these bear witness of me.”

Anything other replaces Christ, with Torah keeping, with doing what is right in one’s own eyes, with blending all the worlds religions into one giant honey pot. All of it is anti — Gk. ‘in place of’ — Christos.

To talk about any leader, such as the former president of the United States, more than talking about Christ is literally anti-Christ. We have no hope in any other.

So there is no food for such ones, no manna, and especially no hidden manna.

Such is the qualification in the offer of this reward for one who conquers these anti-Christ teachings and ways of walking. To fail is to not avail of the offer — there will be no hidden manna.

To receive the true food of Heaven — Christ Himself (John 6:51) is the living manna from Heaven.

I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

This bread is spiritual food, even as He said “my words are Spirit and Life.” There is no covenant without a reciprocity. Jeremiah 31:31 that speaks of the New Covenant “and they will be my people,” discloses the other side of the marriage covenant.

Paul wrote about it as well, you cannot have other spouses, that is adultery. You cannot have the hidden manna, and the food of demons both.

Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread. Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. Shall we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?      1 Cor. 10:17-22

So there is a caveat! The hidden manna, Christ Himself — participation in the altar, partaking of His flesh and blood, His Life — remains for those who renounce false prophecy, the teachings of demons, and marriage to more than one husband. That is the hidden manna of this very scripture. You must conquer as He says.

The Epitome of the Inner Message

Do not think you will find and absorb the hidden manna and be able to assimilate the True Life of Christ if you do not renounce the world, and your self, and pick up your cross and suffer with Him. Your self-glorification is verily your desolation!

All that allows you to block the knowledge of God is a fortress of your own making, built to prop up your pride in the old man, all that you are and all that you have done and all that you have become. But it is only an open grave. All those thoughts must become captive to the glory of God, that He has done it all (Eph. 1:11). It is the knowledge of God that is eternal Life (John 17:3) not knowledge of yourself. All of the New Age Babylonian teaching that tells you self-knowledge is salvation is simply a Lie! This is eternal Life, that you should know God and Jesus Christ whom He sent. John 17:3

For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but are powerful in God to destroy strongholds. We are overthrowing speculations, and every high thing lifting itself up against the knowledge of God, and taking every thought captive into the obedience of Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.   2 Corinthians 10:4-6 – see Destroying Speculations

And it IS all about this disobedience to the Gospel (1 Thessalonians 1:10) which is cause for the fiery judgment to come. See also The Obedience of Faith

In light of this profound insight from Paul, we must realize that all of our speculation is done to lift itself up against the knowledge of God which is a Key to the Kingdom! We want to partake of this nature of Christ, we want to eat this manna, this true Life, His flesh, and yet we lift up ourselves in opposition to it.

It is not about flesh and blood, ours or any other. Flesh and blood is no avail as the Lord says. But His flesh and blood, His words and His Spirit are what we consume for Life. It gives us knowledge which is a Key to entering into the divine nature!!!

His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.     2 Peter 1:3-4

For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. 2 Corinthians 4:6

Give up the false foods of the powers of the world forces of darkness. Forswear and forsake speculation and foreign entanglements with any of the daughters of Babylon — that is, any of the religions of the world. Cleave only to the way, the truth, and the life.

Otherwise, what is the point and what is the blessing of hearing this Last Will and Testament of Christ Jesus? What is written there and why is it written? It is a love letter from the Lord to make sure His Faithful Ones do not lose their crown, or have their names removed from the Book of Life. As the scroll opens:

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He signified it by sending his angel to his servant John, who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near. Revelation 1:1-3

The message to the churches reveals what things Jesus would like us to do, to observe what He desires, to know the defects in the Church (His body) and what must be done to overcome them, so that every member may inherit the Kingdom of God, which is coming quickly.

In this instance, there is hidden teaching and hidden life, or manna, as there is in every word of scripture. If the disciple is truly seeking to follow the Lord, then He will forsake all others to be with Christ and be like Christ. He and She will renounce the false foods of Babylon (cf. Daniel 1:8), and will renounce flirtations with other husbands apart from the Bridegroom, Christ Jesus Himself. Forsaking all others, the true disciple will truly honor the the First Commandment and remain faithful to Him alone.

This keeping of the marriage covenant in Christ’s blood will open up the inner Life and the Hidden Manna of the Life of Christ.

If we gather now, on the 6th day, we may truly rest on the Sabbath in the Kingdom, and we will have all that we need to live on of His flesh until the aeon of the aons. In the 7th day we can cease from all striving for our Life in Word will be established complete.

But if we don’t, there will be no Peace. He will come and wage war with the Sword of His Mouth – the Word of God, sharper than any two-edged sword (Heb. 4:12). That Word will destroy the towers and they will fall as Isaiah and the other prophets proclaimed. Under the Law of Moses, adultery brought with it a sentence of death. And here the unfaithfulness brings about War and the destruction of the old self. If you cannot put the old man to death, then The Word of God will come and war against him.

There will be no white stone with a new name, like Jacob received the name of Israel. The white stone would be the sign of approval and admittance to the kingdom, just as the black stone would symbolize destruction. With the white stone and the new name, a whole new world will open up and the inner manna of every word of scripture will be accessible and he or she will live off of every word as food for the spiritual life in Christ. And growing into that life, such a one will have the knowledge of God and Christ that is eternal Life (John 17:3).

We offer this spiritual food in humility knowing that this treatment is just a bare sketch of all that lies in the fathomless deep of this teaching of Christ. But it is offered in love with the hope that it will provide at the very least a little bread for the journey.

In days to come we will similarly unveil the remaining messages of the Spirit to the Churches, along with a fuller  disclosure of the things which Jesus signified to His servant John.

In ancient Israel a sheepherder from Tekoa named Amos received the word of the Lord telling him that future days would come, in which there would be a famine, but not for food, but a famine of the Word of God.

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord God,
      “when I will send a famine on the land—
not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water,
     but of hearing the words of the Lord.
They shall wander from sea to sea,
     and from north to east;
they shall run to and fro, to seek the word of the Lord,
     but they shall not find it.

Amos 8:11-12

In our time, can we possibly admit this is true, considering that tens of thousand churches in America read the bible from their pulpits every Sunday, and on Saturdays for traditional Sabbath-keeping congregations, and Jewish synagogues? As difficult as it may be to admit, we are living in times such as Amos portrayed.

The words of the Bible are read aloud, proclaimed, studied, discussed, written about in commentaries, but people are simply not hearing the words of the Lord, YHWH. There is an altered teaching, a different spirit, which blocks the transmission of the truth of Yah. There are towers that need tearing down, fortifications which block the knowledge of God. And we should be destroying all speculations (2 Corinthians 10) and destroying fortresses. Without that we will remain in the famine.

It is just as Jesus proclaimed to the churches in Revelation, under the words to Pergamum, you must stop eating the foods of Babylon if you are to receive the hidden manna. Which do you want? Do you want the ear-tickling spiritual foods of Babylonian religion, even Babylonian Christianity? Or can you renounce the Nicolaitans, and the false prophecies akin to Balaam and Jezebel, so you can be admitted with the white stone to enter the Treasury of Christ and eat of His flesh, the veil wherein lies the Hidden Manna? We are in a famine of the Word,

But surely, you will say, this occurred in ancient Israel, at the time of the diaspora, with the exile of Israel. There has frequently been a famine of the hearing of the Word of God. But since Christ said not one word of the Scripture would pass away before Heaven and Earth (Matthew 5:18). In fact, not even one stroke of a letter will pass away before everything should come to be that is written. So, yes, there is another famine for hearing God’s teaching.

What do we have instead, from Ephraim, from ‘the first fruits?’ We have the ‘Babylonian captivity of the church,’ as Martin Luther called it, and much regurgitated speculation from partial and fragmentary reading of God’s Word. Listen to the stinging rebuke YHWH delivered through Isaiah.

Ah, the proud crown of the drunkards of Ephraim,
and the fading flower of its glorious beauty,
which is on the head of the rich valley of those overcome with wine!

Isaiah 28:1

These also reel with wine

and stagger with strong drink;

the priest and the prophet reel with strong drink,

they are swallowed by wine,

they stagger with strong drink,

they reel in vision,

they stumble in giving judgment.

For all tables are full of filthy vomit,

with no space left.

Isaiah 25:7-8

“To whom will he teach knowledge,
and to whom will he explain the message?
Those who are weaned from the milk,
those taken from the breast?
For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept,
line upon line, line upon line,
here a little, there a little.”

Isaiah 28:9-10

And the word of the Lord will be to them

precept upon precept, precept upon precept,

line upon line, line upon line,

here a little, there a little,

that they may go, and fall backward,

and be broken, and snared, and taken.

Isaiah 28:13

No matter how much regurgitation of the literal words, there is no reception of the Living Word possible from a leadership drunk on strong wine. What is missing is the true wine – in Hebrew yayin, or ’embodied spirit.’ Without that there is no life.

The inner meaning of the text is clear: priest and prophet are intoxicated with their own visions, and the meaning of God’s Word is hidden from them. They have generated unclean foods, and unable to digest what is not healthful, it has come back up, and is clearly recognizable as Lo-Debar, not the Word. So while the priest and prophet speak words, they are not words of God, and thus are not testimony to Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19), but they are testimony to the speakers, to their visions.

All of this self-righteousness and self-glorification is unclean and testifies to the intoxicating spirits they have consumed in their own heady self-adulation. It is a mere vanity, a mere breath.

To put it in other terms, if there is only intoxicating spirits, and NOT the Spirit of the Living Word, then there is a Famine.

We can retrieve some of the hidden manna here as well as the tremendous irony of the situation, by looking at the shadow and type recorded in the scriptures. Joseph in Egypt is the physical shadow and type of what is a spiritual reality functioning in the body of God’s people. They had seven years of good harvest followed by seven years of drought and famine. Joseph planned ahead by storing grain in the storage areas of the temples and underground. We too, ought to lay up stores of the good, pure food of the Word so those of the true Israel that come in from the world’s vacuum of healthful proclamation will have True Bread to eat.

In so far as the scripture was written for our benefit (Romans 15:4) and not to advance the world by appropriating physical meaning to the words, but that the spiritual application of the physical type might obtain. Joseph stored physical grain so that the people would survive the coming years.

We are charged in these final days to secure spiritual bread, when there is a dearth of knowledge of God, so that people might not perish spiritually. (Hosea 4:6)

We could go on and speak of Elijah and the famine in Israel, and the fall of Ahab, who is shadow and type for the man of lawlessness and the pollution of the faith by the religion of Baal. But rather, let us return to Amos to complete our circuit in this journey. It is true that many wander to and fro and cannot find the true doctrine of Christ, growing parched and famished. Others sit in comfort having made their covenant with Sheol (Isaiah 28:15-19).

1“Woe to those who are at ease in Zion,
and to those who feel secure on the mountain of Samaria,
the notable men of the first of the nations,
to whom the house of Israel comes!
2Pass over to Calneh, and see,
and from there go to Hamath the great;
then go down to Gath of the Philistines.
Are you better than these kingdoms?
Or is their territory greater than your territory,
3O you who put far away the day of disaster
and bring near the seat of violence?

4“Woe to those who lie on beds of ivory
and stretch themselves out on their couches,
and eat lambs from the flock
and calves from the midst of the stall,
5who sing idle songs to the sound of the harp
and like David invent for themselves instruments of music,
6who drink wine in bowls
and anoint themselves with the finest oils,
but are not grieved over the ruin of Joseph!
7Therefore they shall now be the first of those who go into exile,
and the revelry of those who stretch themselves out shall pass away.”

Amos 6:1-7

8The Lord God has sworn by himself, declares the Lord, the God of hosts:

“I abhor the pride of Jacob
and hate his strongholds,
and I will deliver up the city and all that is in it.”

Amos 6:8

The covenant with death will fail! As Isaiah 28:18 records it:

Then your covenant with death will be annulled,
and your agreement with Sheol will not stand;
when the overwhelming scourge passes through,
you will be beaten down by it.

The future of the eminent drunkards, the shepherds who feed themselves without fear (Jude), the fat sheep who devour the skinny sheep. They have created a famine — not exalting the Living Word of God, but exalting themselves, and they, with all the arrogant, shall be brought low (Isaiah 2). Death will not release them from their debt.

But there is good news in the midst of the famine. Joseph has stored away food. It has been hidden for the days of want. It is, as it were, ‘hidden manna.’ So put on the mind of Christ, that you may be able to receive the hidden manna and be fed in the Spirit. We must be the Josephs of today, ruling over Egypt (the flesh), and exalting the One True God, and not ourselves.

Our next blog will speak to this rich and lavish topic, a feast that goes beyond all of the dainty foods of Egypt and Babylon. In face, we will discover that the Hidden Manna can only be received when one has repented or turned away from the false foods of the princes of the earth. False prophecy, immorality, and self-glorification over others keep one from this life-giving food.

The words of Hoshiyah 4:6 (Heb. God is Salvation) are as ox goads (Eccl. 12:11). It is a truth that humanity simply cannot handle; much as the words of God to Adam in Genesis are held in denial: “in the day you eat of it, you shall die.” Thus, bible interpreters have gone to extraordinary lengths to prop up their denial with some good arguments. The only problem is this: scripture is not susceptible to its own interpretation:

20knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from its own interpretation. 21for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

2 Peter 1:20-21

Notwithstanding ingenious reasoning by human beings, one thing remains certain: these words are as true today in our context as they were in Israel in the 8th century BC. Nuancing the word “perish” or refocusing the word “knowledge” on knowledge of the physical world do not remove the sting of death.

We are destroyed, cut off, for our lack of knowledge – knowledge of God. We cease to be. And it is not knowledge of the world or the universe that is our problem. It is knowledge of God. Hosea begins this chapter and then reiterates in verse 6 that we are dealing with knowledge of God. No science of longevity can alleviate this primal cosmic wound. Christ Himself turned this statement around, thus confirming it and also pointing out the remedy:

And this is eternal life (aeonial life), that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you sent.

John 17:3

The deeper question now presents itself – Do we believe this?

After all that the Lord did in the wilderness coming out of Egypt, did His people really believe His word? And with all that the Father manifested of His Name through Jesus Christ, and the further miracles of the early church, do His people believe?

The global pandemic is a perfect test of belief. There are dozens of scriptural pronouncements that are related to this set of events, and yet there are no strident voices supporting them in the Church. People would rather engage in conspiracy theories — contrary to the Lord’s express will in Isaiah 8:12-13 — than to look to the One who struck them, and return that they might be healed (Isa. 9:13). Believers on the right do not ascribe the plague to the right source — Amos 3:6 says that if there is evil in the city has not the Lord done it? Remaining in denial they do not recognize the judgment as the gift it is to correct our path, and thus they deny their Sin and are unable to return and be healed.

Believers on the left do not understand God’s way with evil and the mystery of iniquity, and they take refuge in the State and its science to deliver them. In so doing, they too, may succumb to the plague by refusing the offer of the One who has the true power to protect. Consider the following words of the psalmist and all they entail:

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!” . . .

For you have made the Lord, my refuge, Even the Most High your dwelling place. No evil will befall you, nor will any plague come near your tent.

Psalm 91: 1-2, 9-10

Really? Does anyone believe this? No one is talking about it, even though without faith it is impossible to please God. But the answer is: Yes! The anointed of Christ, His chosen ones actually do! They do Not retreat to Egypt to protect them.

But if anyone in the body of Christ says I take refuge in the Lord, I dwell in His shadow, and he will not allow a plague near my tent, well then both in the church and without, that person will be considered disconnected from reality. Because he or she will not retreat to the medical authority of the world and simply rely upon a Higher Power that can ACTUALLY heal all things, they can be declared mentally unstable or incompetent. That is how far the apostasy has gotten in the church — rebellion against the authority of God and His Anointed, and supplanting Him with another authority or power!

But can we get a confirmation on this truth? Isn’t a matter established at the mouth of two witnesses? It is indeed.

And I heard another voice from Heaven, saying, “Come on out of her, that you may not participate in her sins, and that you may not receive of her plagues.”

Revelation 18:4

And not knowing what Babylon is, and not knowing what her sins are, is precisely a function of not knowing God, and what He means by these Words, some of which are spiritual realities and some of which are metonyms. But the common denominator is that there is not much belief in the truth of the assertion.

If we take our heart and mind out of the homogenized polytheistic religion of this world, aka Babylon, we can be spared participating in her plagues. Believest thou this? Is God the author of hollow promises?

In fact, physical death, which is a shadow of perishing spiritually, can come to those who, by lacking in knowledge of God, are not able to listen to the Almighty, or to hear what He is saying. Listen to Hosea once more:

Come, let us return to the Lord. For He has torn us, but He will heal us. He has wounded us, but He will bandage us. He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him. So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.

Hosea 6:1-3

We are called to return to the Lord. To believe Him, to know Him, so that we may return and be healed.

This gives us a more biblically correct understanding of the purpose of the Lord’s judgement in the earth, and how the global pandemic, as one of his 4 sore judgements (Ezekiel 14), will be instrumental as the wounding that can lead to our healing.

God delights in knowledge of Him, rather than burnt offerings (Hosea 6:6). And to love Him, is to begin to know Him. To know Him is to believe Him and to believe in His Christ. It is to trust in His Word, and to live by it — not to say it is impractical; that we need science to supplement His power. To understand God, we must begin with trusting Him and taking Him at His Word that His thoughts are beyond our thoughts.

For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.

For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9

We cannot understand by reason alone the thoughts and ways of God. It requires the mind of Christ, the Spirit, to compare spiritual with spiritual. (1 Cor. 2:10-16) Apart from that Mankind cannot see how and why God works.

We are in a global pandemic, a plague. By God’s own disclosure, it is His responsibility.

Does evil come to a city, unless YHWH has done it?

Amos 3:6

But this confounds man’s natural sensibilities and understanding of God. The nations, and even the Israel of God does not comprehend the message we hear in Isaiah.

The people did not turn to him who struck them,

nor inquire of the Lord of hosts.

Isaiah 9:13

This way of the Lord is clear, He disciplines all whom He would receive as children. He brings about judgement that we would learn righteousness. The people do not inquire. Of the Covid crisis, are the people inquiring of the Lord? Are they asking why it has come upon us, and what is asked of us?

We know what is asked. Repent and turn back so He might heal us and mold us into His righteousness.

He is the Lord our God;
his judgments are in all the earth.

Psalm 105:7

My soul yearns for you in the night;

my spirit within me earnestly seeks you.

For when your judgments are in the earth,

the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.

Isaiah 26:9

Yes, it is cystal clear, God’s thoughts are as the Heavens to the earth, with His being spiritual, and humanity’s largely focused on the material. The Divine Mind sees physical judgements as instructive, corrective, bringing back the wayward. Human beings see judgements as condemning and guilt producing and final, with no yield of righteousness.

Without this elementary knowledge of God, people will spiritually perish. They will not turn to the One who is striking them and be healed. They will not understand God’s ways and why he must chastise all whom He receives.

So the remedy for the problem which Hosea lays out, the dearth of knowledge of God, and its consequent wounding, is very simply given in chapter 6 by the same prophetic voice. We take these words from Hosea 6 cited above and take them in:

Come, let us return to the Lord. Let us press on to know the Lord. And He will come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth. We only know God when we seek Him, listen to Him, and trust His Word. Then we may indeed lay hold of His promises, and no plague will come near our tent. Amen

This most profound spiritual question, coming from the quill of the great prophet Isaiah (55:2), perhaps the greatest poet in Israel’s history (with the possible exception of King David), resonates through time with the question which Christ asked the disciples in the boat. “How is it that you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?” (Matt. 16:11) Truly, the Lord’s words are Spirit and Life, and He does not dwell upon the material needs of the flesh. And so believers in Christ today must grapple with where they are putting their focus — and are they getting words of Spirit and Life for their investment.

Because this Word is addressed not to atheists, agnostics, and people of the nations, but to the people of God, the Church, the body of Christ, it is revelatory of the great distance between God and His people. Many sheep have gone astray and are now putting their money into what is not bread. They are investing in a world that is passing, and in teachings that are not food for the spirit, but rather food for the flesh, part of the temporal world.

It is the Spirit that gives life; the flesh profits nothing. the words that I have spoken are spirit and are life.

John 10:63

As Christ was the voice of God to the prophets, how can it be other than He, the Lord, is NOT talking about food. With the disciples He was discussing the leaven of the Pharisees, the false teaching of their “traditions of men,” especially that He, Jesus, was not the Messiah. Today we see plenty of that in the Church, where the Jesus of history is often separated from the present Christ. But how can that be? He is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The Jesus Christ of history, the Word made flesh, IS the Living Christ of today. The Spirit of Christ, His Presence, is NOT separate from the person of Christ. He IS The Christ, not just a prophet who had the Christ Spirit. He is not a forerunner, but the one prophesied to come, “The Savior of the World.” Any distortion of this Truth – and Truth is in Jesus – is not bread which came from the Father as Isaiah proclaimed His Word to be our Food. It is rather “the leaven of the Pharisees, the “teaching of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1). It is something people pay for but it is not food.

The LORD is interested in our eating what is healthful in terms of Spiritual Food. And you cannot eat both, as the apostle said to the Corinthians (10:21). We cannot eat from the table of the Lord and the table of demons.

We no longer live in an age where animals are sacrificed to demons and consumed as spiritual food. That was but a dim shadow of the deeper spiritual conflict, by which the Lord signified the problem to us. The thought-forms we take in are the real food and the relevant issue at stake. That bread accomplishes all that God wishes. Because it is our spiritual formation with which God is most concerned, and not what kind of foods we eat to survive.

So if the words Christ spoke are Spirit and Life, what is the body of Christ doing searching for something better? Going beyond has no value. Whoso does that has neither the Father nor the Son (2 John 9). This amounts to the charges laid out by Malachi of sorcery and adultery, and swearing falsely.

“A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my respect?” says the Lord of Hosts to you, O Priests who despise My name. But you say, ‘How have we despised Thy name?’ “You are presenting defiled food upon My altar. But you say, ‘How have we defiled Thee?’ In that you say, ‘The table of the LORD is to be despised.'”

Malachi 1:7-8

In hearing the Word of the Lord, we need to attend to the place of His focus. The table of the Lord must be a table of His Word, unadulterated, but pure as the sacrifices without defect imply. You cannot eat from the table of the Lord AND the table of demons (1 Cor. 10). To mix the truth with the falsehood of “deceitful spirits” and the “teachings of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1) is to despise the table of the Lord.

Spending money on what is not food is meant to keep us from adulterating the pattern of healthful words and the spiritual words for spiritual realities which the apostles and the prophets have left us as the life-giving food from God. And today, as so many in the churches shop and consume books and teachings that are not compatible with the teachings of Christ, and go beyond what is written (1 Cor. 4:6). This rampant absorption of all things “spiritual” has laid the foundation for conditions which really will require Elijah to come and restore all things.

Let us long for the pure, unadulterated milk of the Word (1 Pet. 2:1) and thereby grow in salvation. And this we may buy without money as is written also in this same passage of Isaiah cited above:

Come buy wine and milk without money and without cost.

Isaiah 55:1

And this Word shall not return to Him empty, but shall accomplish what He desires — the growth of His children in salvation.

For thus the LORD spoke to me with mighty power and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,

You are not to say, ‘It is a conspiracy!’

     In regard to all that this people call a conspiracy,

And you are not to fear what they fear and be in dread of it.

It is the LORD of hosts whom you should regard as holy.

And He shall be your fear,

And He shall be your dread.

Then he shall become a sanctuary;

But to both the houses of Israel, a stone to strike and a rock to stumble over,

A snare and a trap for the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples.” Isaiah 8:12-14,16

In spite of the fascination by conservative, or right-wing evangelicals with the latest in conspiracy theories, it is incumbent upon them to pay attention to the words of their Lord. Know who is behind the sore judgments in the land (Ezekiel 14, Rev. 6) and realize the purpose for which they were sent.

Daniel 4 and Amos 3 — and Ephesians 1:11 for that matter — remind us clearly how we are to view events in our world at any time. “The MOST HIGH is ruler over the realm of mankind, and bestows it on whom He wishes, And sets over it the lowliest of men.” (Dan. 4:17)

And, “If a trumpet is blown in a city, will not the people tremble; If evil occurs in a city has not the Lord done it?” (Amos 3:6)

Clearly, the LORD is the One who “works all things according to the counsel of His will.” (Eph. 1:11) Romans 8 underscores God’s purpose in working all things to the good, although only those who Love the LORD can see it this way.

Returning to our reflection on conspiracies, on which side of sacred history would we be found?

Is it the world powers of this darkness (Eph. 6) that we want to credit with shaping physical history, or is it the Living God who teaches righteousness when his judgments are in the world?

Herein, lies the serious pitfall of becoming obsessed with conspiracy theories, whether of global governance, medical plans, or virtually any other human plan designed to oppress or destroy any of God’s people. God does not want us to minimize His rulership and care for us by magnifying the small, doomed plans of human beings. He the Lord of Heaven and earth. Nothing can frustrate His plans for us.

Two psalms in particular help us to remain mindful of the vanity of human plans and the conspiracies breathed behind closed doors, Psalm 31 and Psalm 33. The solution lies not in studying the plans of the world powers of darkness and in working to overthrow them, but rather in taking refuge in God, firm in the knowledge that He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

If God nullifies the counsel of the nations, then why study their conspiratorial plans? They will soon be on the ash heap of history.

How great is thy goodness,

Which Thou hast stored up for those that fear Thee.

Which Thou hast wrought for those who take refuge in thee before the sons of men.

Thou dost hide them in the secret place of Thy presence from the conspiracies of men.

Thou dost keep them secretly in a shelter from the strife of tongues. – Psalm 31:19-20

The LORD nullifies the counsel of the nations;

He frustrates the plans of the peoples.

The counsel of the LORD stands forever,

The plans of His heart from generation to generation. – Psalm 33:10-11

Returning to the main theme of conspiracy, the crushing realization stands in plain view, and why the instructions to Isaiah are God’s exhortation to us all:

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy.”

In short, it profanes the NAME of the LORD — that is, the honor, the glory, the reputation of God is slandered by all this focus on the conspiracies of the world. Such talk is truly a sin, because it denies the Father’s sovereignty over all things and all spirits in Heaven and on earth. It denies God as Lord and MOST HIGH over the realm of mankind.

Such preoccupation with the creation argues against the testimony sealed by His disciples, that God’s plans endure forever, and are not affected by the counsel of the nations which God nullifies. As the Father guards and protects us, it is an insult to turn the tables and ascribe any power to those who conspire; we are hidden from their plans by God, and moreover, He nullifies their plans! Thus, we call God a liar when we repeat conspiracy theories as if they will come to pass. They are part and parcel of God working “all things” according to the counsel of His will.

Finally, we SIN against the Father when we do not love Him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength. This is the First Great Commandment as Jesus taught it. We do not love God if we teach that mankind’s plans can be sovereign over God’s plans.

Isaiah is replete with statements to the effect that God will accomplish all He desires.

And Paul teaches the community of Christ that God is the blessed and only Sovereign (1 Tim. 6:15).

I charge you in the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus, , who in His testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, to keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which he will display at the proper time — he who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be the honor and eternal dominion. Amen.       1 Tim. 6:11-16

In view of this word of God, I exhort you, brothers and sisters, not to give into temptation and call conspiracy all that the nations call conspiracy. Instead keep the commandment to love God free from stain, and defend the honor and eternal dominion, by ascribing to the Lord all command over events in the world, realizing that if there is evil in the city, He has brought it about to teach righteousness to the peoples.

It is the Lord of Hosts you should regard as Holy, Him you should fear, and THEN He shall become your sanctuary.

To Him be all honor and glory and praise, forever. Amen.