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Archive for the ‘Body of Christ’ Category

Everybody Must Have a Head

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , on November 8, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Scripture reading: Matthew 23:8-11

Jesus called some fishermen and a few learned men. He selected twelve of them and called them the “apostles of the Lamb.” These twelve people were people who God chose from the foundation of the world to become apostles for all time and eternity. Anytime anything would happen to one of these apostles, God would put in another apostle. We find out that when Judas betrayed Jesus, God called Paul and put Paul into the apostolic ministry. The brethren didn’t get the message because they had a ballot, voted and put in a man named Matthias. And from the time that they put in Matthias, we never hear another word about him. But God selected Paul and put him in as an apostle to fill the place of Judas. So, that apostolic thing was closed. You cannot have an apostolic ascension that is like, when the king dies, his son takes over. Therefore, when the church begins to appoint their own apostles, they are going against God’s divine order.

I want to make it scripturally clear. Turn your Bibles to Matthew 23:7-8, And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi. 8 But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. We don’t really call anybody Rabbi in English, but we do call them Master. And what about Doctor? Nowadays, all the preachers are Doctor So and So, and Doctor So and So. It means that these people are saying that they are Doctors of the Word of God. When you are sick, you go to a doctor, sure. And there is no problem about being a Doctor of Philosophy, but a Doctor of Theology is an offense before God. Therefore, you don’t call anybody Master. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven(Matthew 23:9). Now, I had a father, and you have a father, and I called him father, but that was my natural father. It wasn’t an offense before God. But if I began to call Brother John, “Father John” or “Father Smith,” then you would know that we are way out of God’s order. So, one of the problems is not only of those who are called Father, but also for those who call them father.

Now, what about the Great Father? In other words, it is wrong to call a man Father, spiritually Father So and So. But what about calling him the Great Father? Papa? Pope? That is entirely out of God’s order. So you must not call anybody Father; you must not call anybody in the church, spiritual Father or Pope. So, what about those that do call themselves Father and Pope? It means that they are not hearing from God, and it means that you cannot hear from them.

At this hour, the Body of Christ is being put in order. Everybody must have a head, and Jesus Christ is the Head of the Body of Christ. When we gather together, we gather together to hear Jesus and we recognize Jesus Christ as the Head. We want to hear what Jesus says. If someone gets up and prophesies in the name of any other name besides Jesus, he is a false prophet.

Now, how do you identify a false prophet? Can you figure it out? How would you identify a false prophet? The main identification of a false prophet is that he has a false spirit. He does not speak from the Spirit of God. His spirit is not of God, it is of the devil. His duty is to deceive, to disrupt, and to destroy. What does God say about true prophecy? It is given for exhortation, edification, and comfort (1 Corinthians 14:3). So you have to learn to recognize true prophecy – true prophet, different from false prophet.

When we look at Ephesians 4:11, we see that it says that God has set in the church apostles, prophets… Now, if somebody else sets a ministry in the church, then it is not the Body of Christ. It is the ministry that makes the Body either the Body of Christ or not the Body of Christ. Let us look at the departure, when we began to depart from being the Body of Christ to be different denominations. We departed with the appointment of ministers that were appointed of men. The seven churches of Asia rejected Paul as a minister of God. From the time that they rejected the ministry of Paul, they began to get into false doctrine. Let us make sure that we are not among those who reject the ministry that God has set in the church.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 17, 2006, pg. 4-5)

Thought for today: At this hour God is putting the Body of Christ in order. Make sure that you are not among those who reject the ministry that God has set in the church.

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Divine Order or Man’s Order?

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , on November 7, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:1-6

Let us talk about the Body of Christ today. How do we become the Body of Christ? How do we know that we are in the Body of Christ? There is only one God, one Church, one Body. When you read Ephesians 4:1-6, you will find out that it is very dogmatic. Anyone who tries to change these scriptures is not of God. If we do not belong to the one Body, then we are not of God. We were not of God before we were of God. Therefore, if we find out that we are not of God, we only have to repent, and be of God. There are many bodies in the world, so what makes us so sure that we are in the right Body?

The church was captured by the Roman Catholic system, back in the second century. The Catholics took the church and they immediately created a hierarchy. That means that they had to reject the ministry that God had set up in the world. We call the ministry that God set up in the world divine order. The order that was set up by the church is called man’s order. Now, let’s look at the difference between divine order and man’s order. Divine order is in Ephesians 4:11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. It says here pastors, but in my Bible, it is crossed out and it says the word shepherds and teachers as it is in the Greek original version. You know, the Word of God is correct, but the translations are not correct. So, the Spirit of God in the people of God will correct the translations of man. Amen.

Now, we don’t have the order of man in the Bible, but we can at least talk about it. In the Roman Catholic Church there is a Pope. The Bible says that we should not have a Pope. Let us turn to Matthew 20:20-26, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Here we see a rivalry begin to take place. They wanted position now. They were about to start church politics.

25 But Jesus called them unto him, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. The word dominion means having a big boss. So, it means that Jesus is saying that is a thing of the world. In the world you have the big boss and the little ones coming right down in the hierarchy position. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. Those of you who are reading the King James Version of the Bible, if you have a pen on you, cross out the word minister and put servant. The Greek says diakonos (Strong’s Concordance #G1249) and it means servant. The minister is the man with the collar and the head of a church. In Latin, minister means servant, but the church changed it to mean the man who is the head of the church. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your slave (Matthew 20:27). I am reading the Greek. It says doulos (Strong’s Concordance #G1401). Doulos could not be anything else but slave.

We can therefore see very clearly that God is saying you must not have a hierarchical system in the church. So, if you are going to take charge of a church, the first thing that you would have to do is to break God’s divine order that He has put in the church and put in your own order. I am saying this to you, brethren, because if you are subject to any other order but God’s order, you are not in the Body of Christ. God has His order established in the earth in spite of all this confusion that we have in church business.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 17, 2006, pg. 3-4)

Thought for today: It is necessary, especially at this time, for the people of God to find God’s order.

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Error in the Body

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , on October 18, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 24:23

Before we attain the perfection, which entails changing the human nature to the DIVINE NATURE (2nd Peter 1:4), we must abide in the perfection of the Spirit. At present, we do partake of the divine nature in a limited way, but then we shall in its fullness. No man will rise to the perfect image of God before the death and the resurrection of the FIRSTFRUITS COMPANY, and this event shall jolt all creation. No man is correct in going around saying he is Christ. He cannot be Christ until the firstfruits come forth, and we shall all know about this when it happens, because perfection will come to a body of people and not to an individual. Thus it is the body that will be called Christ, and not the parts. This is the meaning of the scripture in Matthew 24:23, “Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.”

If Christ was going to come in this fashion, then in obedience to the scripture, we would not believe Him when He comes. This scripture, more than any other, clearly says that Christ will not come and say unto any man, “I am Christ.” Thus, any person who says this is doing so in the spirit of the antichrist. The people of God who are now being taught that because Christ is coming forth in His church in the individual members, that we are Christ, are being “artfully and cunningly” prepared by the devil to accept the antichrist. My instruction to you is that you must repent now and cease from this heresy, if so be that you thought it was all right to worship the Christ in your brother. Worship the head, not the body. The body is not yet perfect. We must only worship God.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd Edition, 1995, pg. 118-119)

Thought for today: Worship the head, not the body. The body is not yet perfect. We must only worship God.

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Equality with Christ

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , on October 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 2:6

The Golden Lampstand in the Tabernacle of Moses has seven lamps that are on one level at the top which signifies equality with Christ. When man comes forth in Christ, he will sit in an equal place with Jesus Christ as part of the Christ Himself. Ephesians 2:6, “And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” There is perfect equality between the head and the body. Jesus is the head and we are the body, WHEN THE BODY FUNCTIONS IN THE SPIRIT.

It is, therefore, not just a matter of being perfect at some future time, and then gaining equality with Christ, but obeying the Spirit now, operating perfectly now, because we have been given an equal status with Christ. This is not to bring Christ down, but to lift humanity. Jesus said, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me” John 12:32.

It is necessary for us to understand equality. This is a statutory equality which is different from the position one holds in the body, and the work appointed for each to do.

In other words, Jesus is the head and the different functions are apportioned out to us, the body. We are just as important and equal in the body operation as the head, but, of course, we are not the head. If one part usurps the function of another, then two jobs would be undone. I am afraid that this is the problem of the body today.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 117-118)

Thought for today: Let us not usurp the function of another member of the body of Christ. Otherwise, two jobs will be undone.

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The True Church Defined

Posted in Body of Christ, tagged , , , , on September 27, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 5:25-27

The church was never meant to be a building or an organization, but God Himself designed His people as HIS CHURCH. All that has been done in the past has only been a preparation for the TRUE CHURCH. Any organization which claims that it is the true church, no matter what good intentions it has, must be usurping a position which it can never live up to. When Jesus called His disciples together and gave them a spiritual charter, it exceeded and superseded all human charters and laws and was above them all. It was a “law planted on the fleshy tables of their hearts,” which, if you have, you will obey God and be one with God’s people. If you do not have it, you will just do everything but that which God requires. Thus we find that the churches which are running headlong with their programs of doing good are not in God’s order, and to God, they are like wild animals running up and down in the jungle doing their thing until their day of visitation.

For a long time, we all dwelt in this overcast situation, and after a while, we convinced ourselves that we were in the will of God. God, on the other hand, gave us many blessings and encouragements, healings and deliverances, which we have used to convince others that we are in the will of God, and that they should follow us and our program. YET, every honest minister of the Gospel knows that our programming of God, and our business of running the church, never really filled the bill in the eyes of God. Could God use this word for our works: “Perfect in his generation?” This kind of action, which has lasted for hundreds of years, while the light slowly breaks upon the church, demands an END. We HAVE NOW COME TO THE END OF PLAYING CHURCH. God is bringing the ax down upon our churchanity, and within a short period of years, there shall be a cleaving and a tearing, and GOD SHALL SUDDENLY DIVIDE THE SHEEP FROM THE GOATS.

For a while, which seemed to be a very long while, God winked at our operations in His Name, but now, He winks no more.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 47-48)

Thought for today: We have a spiritual charter: It was a “law planted on the fleshy tables of their hearts,” which, if you have, you will obey God and be one with God’s people.

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