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“Laying on of Hands”

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , on November 21, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 8:5-10

Let us look at the principle of “laying on of hands” today. For context, we are going to read Hebrews 6:1-2, “Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

“Laying on of hands.” What is that? I didn’t know that the laying on of hands was a foundation doctrine. You know, some people love to touch everybody. “Laying on of hands” is a basic foundation doctrine. WHY? Because that which is in me can be imparted to you by my laying hands on you, and contacting heaven OR hell.

I remember one day a man was preaching. He got so excited that he started shouting. Then he ran down and slapped his hand on my head. I didn’t get rid of the headache all day. It was difficult for me to shake that headache. I am not a person to have a headache but as the guy put his hand on my head, my head began to split; I had a headache all day. We had to go home and pray and fight to get away from the thing that that man put on me, because it was something on him. Believe me, brethren, you can be wide open. Amen.

I have seen a homosexual teacher teach children, and several of them grow up and become homosexuals. He never told them to; he just imparted it to them. You can lay hands physically; you can lay hands spiritually. I can lay hands on you without touching you. The Lord God Almighty is saying that the church must be aware of the power of imparting the things of God from one to another. God wants that same mind that is in Christ Jesus to be in you also (Philippians 2:5).

The centurion came to Jesus and said, “My servant is sick and is dying at home.” Jesus said, “I will come with you.” But he corrected Jesus. Did you hear me? He corrected Jesus. He said, “For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me: and I say to this man, Go, and he goeth; and to another, Come, and he cometh; and to my servant, Do this, and he doeth it” (Matthew 8:9). He understood Jesus more than the disciples. He said, “You don’t have to come to my house, just speak the word. Just speak the word and it is done.”

We speak carelessly sometimes. Lord, forgive us, have mercy upon us, as a church, as a body, as a people. We speak careless things at times. Is it the same mouth that you used to speak a careless joke, or a careless thought, that you expect to use to speak righteousness and power? When you are ready to speak, nothing but noise will come out of your mouth.

God is saying that there is a position; now, we are still in the Outer Court. We haven’t gone into the real deep things of God yet. The laying on of hands is a basic Outer Court doctrine that every son of God must learn and know. Lay your hands on your children and bless them. Oh, yes. If you curse them, they are cursed. If you bless them, they are blessed. If you put a curse upon one, the child will have to fight a long time to get rid of that which has been put upon him, maybe by his parents, maybe his friends or sometimes it could be by an acquaintance.

For instance, a curse can be put upon a child by calling him a certain name. I will give you a name, for instance, Damon. Do you know someone called Damon? It is another way of saying that you are a demon [Strong’s Concordance #G1142 – a dæmon or supernatural spirit (of a bad nature):—devil.] If you call a person Damon, you are calling him a demon. He has to fight hard to get away.

What I am saying is that the mouth that speaketh righteousness cannot just get up and speak sin. And there are mouths that speak sin that cannot just get up and speak righteousness. The reason it works is because we are working with a body of spirits, both good spirits and evil spirits. Anything you say, they hold you to it. Did you know that? Anything you say, they hold you to it. You just keep on repeating God, the words of God and good and wonderful things, and evil ones will keep away from you. God bless you.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 7-8)

Thought for today: The mouth that speaks righteousness cannot just get up and speak sin. And mouths that speak sin cannot just get up and speak righteousness.

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Obedience in the Outer Court

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , on November 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 5:12-14

Let me ask you a question today: Have you been baptized in water? You see, when you get the baptism in water and are determined in your heart to serve God unto death, and the Holy Ghost sees a heart that is wide open then He rushes in. When the Holy Ghost comes into your heart and into your life, there is a definite change. You undergo a change when you accept Jesus Christ as your Savior, and then when you go into the baptism you undergo another change, and then when you go into the Holy Ghost baptism you undergo yet another change. But you are still in the Outer Court. Baptism in the Holy Ghost does not automatically take you into the Holy Place. Baptism in the Holy Ghost is meant to take you into the Holy Place. Am I talking riddles? In other words, because you are baptized in the Holy Ghost and you blabber in tongues and so and so and so, you feel that you are all right. You are not all right, until you begin to walk in the Holy Ghost. Amen.

In my old age, I find something terrible; there are little things that you miss. My wife and I are sitting at the table, we are going to eat and so we start to pray; I close my eyes and bend down to pray and I see the rice falling to the floor like rain. Hear me now. This is foolishness, right? Old man having hallucinations. Well, if the old man was smart, he would have said, “Sister, don’t eat that rice.” Because I was seeing what God sees. What happens is that I have a message now to say to her, “That rice is going to hurt you.” It is as simple as that.

When God looked at Adam and said, “It is good,” even though He saw all the trouble that Adam would go through, He knew that He was looking at the end of the matter – He was looking at YOU!

I am not talking about one instance. It is every day, every step of the way. If you say, “Howdy do” to somebody, and you see something flash there, you need to learn to obey it and walk in it. The Holy Ghost life is an entirely different life from the life of a natural person. Slight little things and thoughts flash to you in the spirit and you need to work on it, and the moment you move on it you have a victory. But instead you say, “Oh, it is my mind,” and the devil robs you of the moment. You are not a fit man. Yes, if you call the Holy Ghost your mind, you are not fit, because we need to be sharp in the spirit. We need to be able to discern between good and evil (Hebrews 5:14). Yes, right and wrong, good and evil, little things, and I mean, that is simple. Remember now, He said this is A-B-C. He didn’t say this is big. You haven’t gone to college yet. You are still down there in elementary school.

The same mind that the kid takes to learn in elementary school is the same mind that is going to be up there in the college. If he becomes a scientist, it is the same mind and the same principles of thinking that he is subjected to that are going to lead him right up there. Hear me now. I am not talking to you about spiritual things yet. No, no, no, we are down there in the Outer Court. It is the obedience of the child of God in the Outer Court that makes you a son of God, that takes you through the door into the Holy Place. If we have not learned how to obey the Holy Ghost, then we are still in trouble, you can still lose your life and go to hell. What? What am I saying? I am saying that if you don’t learn how to walk in the Holy Ghost, you can still go to hell.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 6-7)

Thought for today: It is the obedience of the child of God in the Outer Court that makes you a son of God, that takes you through the door into the Holy Place.

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His Writings on Your Heart

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , on November 17, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Hebrews 6:1-2

Let us look at the doctrine of baptisms today as described in Hebrews 6:2. For context, however, we are going to read from verse 1.

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God. 2 Of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.”

How many baptisms have you had? Well, I know somebody who was baptized in water seven times. Every baptism there was held, he wanted to go to get a dip. That is not baptisms, that is still one baptism, and he had never had it the first time. Amen.

Let’s take the basic. Baptism is a covenant, and the Bible says Jesus Christ came by water and by blood (1 John 5:6). Baptism is a blood covenant. It is a covenant unto death. So, if you were baptized in water and you never made that covenant in your soul, you were not really baptized. Remember now, Jesus is coming nearer to you, to the church. Whether you want it to be or not, it is not going to stop Him. Jesus has been creeping towards the church for 2,000 years. Amen.

I think of a man who they dropped in a deep, dark hole. They dug a deep hole and called it a dungeon. They dropped him down into that hole and the man was in that dungeon for three years. The man still lived and still praised God! We think of Paul being in a dungeon. What do you think these dungeons were like? They put them down there, and there was no restroom. Can you imagine a restroom in a dungeon? The dungeon is the restroom. So, every prisoner they had there would defecate and do everything there in the dungeon. Then they would drop another prisoner down there. I think of the worms and everything. The men were in there, standing up. In some of the dungeons, they couldn’t sleep on the floor; they had to lean against the wall to sleep. For food they would let down a piece of bread and a little water. There was no way of getting a change of clothes. There was no way of getting a bath. There was no way of having any kind of life down there and yet men lived in that for years, survived and praised God. Have you ever thought of it?

One time, I went into a restroom in London and it was in a part of the house that was set off from where everybody else was. When I tried to leave, the door wouldn’t open. I was locked up in the restroom, and I felt so awful. I said, “My God, suppose it was a dungeon that I was in?” You know what I mean. You knock, knock, knock, and nobody hears.

God is calling us to a higher level. He said, “Let us put aside all these foundations.” It was Paul’s way of saying, “Well, you need to have these foundations, or else you can’t go on to higher things. BUT, let us put aside these foundations and let us go on to higher things.” Praise be to God.

So, we have baptism in water, baptism in the Holy Ghost, and baptism into Christ. Have you looked at your baptism, and have you seen the thing accomplished? Because if you are baptized in water and you are not baptized in the Holy Ghost, you were not really baptized in water. That sounds bad, doesn’t it? You can go down in water and you can be wet, and come up wet. Dry Christian goes down. Wet Christian comes up, but you are not yet baptized. WHY? Because if baptism in water is without a commitment, without a contract with God unto death, then you haven’t yet been baptized. That contract, that covenant is what makes the baptism a baptism. Hallelujah! The proof of that baptism is that you are baptized in the Holy Ghost. But guess what? Some people are baptized in the Holy Ghost but because they got the inward baptism of the Holy Ghost and they weren’t baptized in the water, they think God will let them off the hook. They say, “Okay, I’ve got it! If baptism in water leads me to baptism in the Holy Ghost, and I’ve got the baptism of the Holy Ghost, then I don’t need baptism in water any more.” No. No. God comes to you and He says, “Go get baptized in water.” WHY? You must make the covenant. You must learn your lesson. You must have His writing on the tables of your heart, written in blood before you can go any further. Amen.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 2007, pg. 5-6)

Thought for today: We need to have the foundations, or else we cannot go on to higher things. BUT, let us put aside these foundations and let us go on to higher things.

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The Ministry of the Teacher

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , on October 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Timothy 2:7

A congregation can appoint a teacher, but it cannot give him/her a ministry. God alone sets ministries in the body. The ministry of the teacher must come directly from God. From my own experience, when God tells me what to tell His people, He tells me how to tell it. I teach sometimes with a chalkboard, and the drawings I put on the board are those things which I see in the Spirit.

There are, however, many, many different administrations of the Spirit. Although God deals with me in this way, He may deal with someone else in an entirely different way, BUT with the same result – His people will get the message, and it will be directed by Him.

There are ministries with the same name as gifts of the Spirit, but the ministry is different from the gift. The gift is the manifestation of the Holy Ghost within the believer, working whatever gift God sees fit to bring forth through the individual.

On the other hand, the ministry is a special and more powerful endowment to the church. The minister, therefore, is the gift of God to the church. His endowment is not his own. He cannot preach where he wills, do what he wants, but as an important part of God’s machinery, he must move when and where God wants him to move or go.

Every human being is capable of some gift of the Spirit if he or she surrenders to God, but not everyone is an anointed preacher of Christ. It must be remembered that every believer, as part of a body, is a ministering, functioning part. In a sense, everyone who is born of God is expected to work with the ministry in one capacity or another. Without these sinews of the body, the ministries could not function effectively.

These are the five bars of the tabernacle.

We should not forget one important observation. The golden rings which hold the bars are attached to the gold on the boards, thus signifying that the nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 80-81)

Thought for today: The nature of God in the body is that which holds the ministry, and not the ministry or minister holding the congregation.

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The Ministry of the Shepherd

Posted in Doctrine of God, tagged , , , , , on October 6, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:11

The word “shepherd,” translated “pastor,” does not give any minister absolute charge over any congregation. It gives him the responsible position of being answerable to the “Chief Shepherd” for the ministry to care for the sheep given to him. Therefore, while he is caring for sheep in the congregation, there are others who would be caring for lambs, and others neither sheep nor lambs, but sons – little sons and big sons. Therefore, in God’s Order, we FIND A PLURAL MINISTRY OF ELDERS WORKING TOGETHER.

It is very easy to discern the true God-appointed shepherds, as different from the man-appointed ones or the self-appointed ones. In Ephesians 4:11, we notice that the Word says that “He gave some, Apostles, etc.”

A man-made apostle is an alien creature in God’s business, yet all the churches appoint their own trainees to positions. Divine Order is totally rejected in the modern church as recorded in 2 Thessalonians 2:3.

“Let no man deceive you by any means: For that day shall not come, except there come a falling away (rebellion) first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition.”

History is repeating itself. Just as Israel turned away from God to the dumb idols of the nations, even so, 90% of the church has turned from God to worship buildings, and pews, money and status – rebelling against God. Jesus Christ, our Lord, said that this would happen before His return. He gave a parable of the wheat and the tares in Matthew 13:24-30. Then from 37-43, He gave the meaning of this parable of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Matthew 13:37-43, “He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world. The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather OUT OF HIS KINGDOM all things that offend, and them which do iniquity; And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear let him hear.”

The above passage outlines the condition of the church before Christ comes. It clearly shows that there is at this time a rebellion in the church, against the Master of the Vineyard, and that He is waiting for the time of His judgment to separate the wheat from the tares. From what I can observe, the tares have taken up the chief corners of the streets of our cities with magnificent edifices. They occupy the major positions of authority in the vast majority of the congregations of the world. They are the richest institutions on earth, but we understand that the time of harvest is very near, even at the door.

The true shepherd seeks the glory of the Lord. The false shepherd seeks the glory of his denomination, or group, or nondenominational denomination, or something else beside Jesus. The question here arises, what is meant by seeking the glory? The question brings us back to the teaching of the “firstfruits.” Whatever is the focal point of our operation and programs is the thing that is first in order of priority. Are we more interested in holding our members than in their spiritual growth? If we are more interested in their spiritual growth, even if we lose them, then Christ is first. Are the shepherds God-trained, God-appointed men, or man-appointed pastors, herdsmen, cowboys, man-appointed, Seminary-trained after the order of man, Romish? As God-appointed shepherds, they would be laying down their lives and not looking after their own enrichment or status. Then that is putting Christ first. Is the shepherd striving to do the will of the Father, rather than to please his congregation and the other church leaders around? Then he is Christ centered. Is the shepherd making plans for bringing in money in the church? Then he is NOT Christ centered but otherwise centered. Is Christ the whole motivation of the church? If so, then they are putting Christ in His rightful place – first. A shepherd, therefore, is not a hireling. He cannot be bought or fired, because he is working with God Himself who trained and sent him, and he will teach every sheep to follow Jesus Christ. Every God-appointed shepherd knows that the word shepherd is not a title like the “Names of Blasphemy” – Reverend, Pastor, Father, Holy Father, Pope etc. (Revelation 17:5) – but that it is a spiritual endowment, a deep compassion in the heart for God’s children everywhere. It is a gift of the Spirit, and we should only be under-shepherds with Jesus Christ.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 77-79)

Thought for today: Remember: A shepherd, therefore, is not a hireling. He cannot be bought or fired, because he is working with God Himself who trained and sent him, and he will teach every sheep to follow Jesus Christ.

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