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Archive for the ‘Spiritual Food’ Category

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Scripture reading: John 6:53-69

Whenever we want to make reference to a scripture, like an Old Testament scripture, we will say, for example, Leviticus chapter 11 and verse 7. But in the time of Jesus Christ, there were no verses and no chapters, just the writings of Moses, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the prophets, etc. Later, scholars added the chapters and verses that we might find these references very easily. When Jesus Christ made a reference to Leviticus, He was talking to people who ought to know better but many of them did not. And they came against Him for it.

Let us look at John 6:53-58. “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father: so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that bread which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna, and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live for ever.”

When Jesus said this, “many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him” (see John 6:66). They thought that He was crazy. They did not think of the Word of God when He quoted from Leviticus. When we eat of each other, we eat what is delivered to our souls. The soul feeds just as much as the body feeds. Soul food is spiritual; body food is natural. When Jesus spoke about eating, He was speaking about the same principle that was laid down in Leviticus chapter 11.

Revelation 10:10, “And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.”

The eating of “the little book” is none other than the taking of the Word of God into one’s soul and making it a part of you. He said that it was sweet in his mouth, but bitter in his belly. He had to walk in it and it was very bitter. It can be very bitter at times to walk in the Word of God and to live in the things that we have received and that we believe.

Revelation 10:11, “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.” This means that the walking out of that which you have received will be much more bitter than the eating of it. When you receive the Word, you have to live in it, and you have to walk in it.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 201-202)

Thought for today: Take the Word of God into your soul and make it a part of you.

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Scripture reading: Leviticus 11:9-19

God said that there were those in the waters which you should and should not eat. There are TWO TYPES OF WATERS – sea (worldly) water and pure (rivers and fountains, the church) water.

Leviticus 11:9b, “Whatsoever hath fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, them shall ye eat.” “Whatsoever has fins and scales” in the world and in the church, “…them shall ye eat.” What does He mean? He is saying that eating makes you one with the person. There are those with whom you should not fellowship. You should not eat from their table, spiritually. You should not take in their doctrine. This will kill you.

Have you ever seen the fish with the fin? It beats the water with the fin. The fin works like wings so powerfully that it propels the fish forward or backward. The fish has total control with his fin. Fins are the means by which the fish move forward or backward or upward or downward. God is saying that if they do not have fins, do not eat them, do not become one with them. If they do not have fins, they are going to move like a serpent by twisting their body back and forth, trapping the water in their coil and propelling themselves forward. God says that we should not eat those. Eat those that “hath fins and scales.”

Scales keep the fish dry in a wet environment. His scales lock one upon the other and keep warmth in. As a matter of fact, the fish can extract warmth out of the coldest water by moving through the water. The little roughage on the scale, the friction with the rough scale and the water, produces heat for his body. The fish, therefore, MUST HAVE SCALES.

Would God write the Bible to tell us about fish? NO. The Bible is basically telling us about Jesus Christ. Therefore, when we read of things like this, we must realize that it has some reference to the Christian. This is why it is in the Bible. God is saying that the Christian lives a holy life in an unholy place. He lives in light while he is actually in a very dark place. He lives in truth while he is surrounded by lies and deception. He lives contrary to his environment. This is what God is saying. He says that the Christian moves on in the world and progresses in the world, not by going along with the grain of the world, but by overcoming the world through the beating of his fins like wings. His whole life is entirely opposite to the environment in which he is.

He said that all the creatures of the water which have “no fins nor scales” would be “an abomination” to the Jew to eat. See Leviticus 11:12. It is an abomination for a Christian to be part of the world, to be worldly, to be like the world. God wants the Christian to be like Jesus Christ. If we eat this world, we will become part of it.

In Leviticus 11:13-15 we are told that we should not eat certain fowls that fly. “The eagle, and the ossifrage, and the ospray, and the vulture, and the kite…every raven” would be unclean. There are different types of spiritual people. There are spiritual people who are of God and there are spiritual people who are not of God. God is telling us we should not have fellowship with those who are not of God. We must not eat them. They are unclean to us.

A fowl or a creature that flies defies gravity by flapping its wings. The shape of the creature is designed to be able to break away from gravity and soar in the air. This is a type of Christian who is able to overcome its natural forces and fly in the air. This is a type of spiritual person who is of God.

WHY ARE SOME FOWLS UNCLEAN? Why should we not eat them? The truth about these fowls is that they pick their prey. The eagle will fly and pick up live prey off the wing and eat it. The eagle will also eat dead prey, and vultures eat dead things. God is saying that the Christian should not eat dead (spiritually dead) things. We should have life. When we go to hear the Word of God, we should get life. It should not be a dead substance. We should not be taken in by those who do not have the life of God in them. Notice also, it is speaking about some types of ministry. Some types of ministry make a very good living by picking on live people, people who are real Christians. They will get these people to empty their pockets. God calls them vultures, PREDATORS. The person is spiritual, but a predator, and you should not eat at his table (spiritually speaking).

God mentions another type of fowl in Leviticus 11:16 and 17; this type is like an owl. He says you should not eat “the owl…the little owl…and great owl.” Why? This bird can see very clearly in the darkness, but he cannot see in the light. This is the type of people who are always bringing a prophecy of who is going to die, and who is going to have wrong marriages. They are always prophesying about something evil that is going to happen. It does not mean that God’s prophet cannot prophesy something evil. But any time God’s prophet does this, it is intended to bring some glory to God by helping somebody who will need to know this before the time comes. Palm readers who can read into your future are all of the devil. We find some of this activity in the churches. People are actually submitting to certain spirits that God said you should not be having fellowship with. You can mark it, that any time there is a prophecy or a word, IT MUST GLORIFY JESUS CHRIST.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 199-201)

Thought for today: Christians are to be like Jesus Christ. If we eat this world, we will become part of it.

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Scripture reading: Colossians 1:16-17

We can see in Colossians 1:16-17 that there is nothing that can walk or talk or do anything except they get the power from God either directly or by proxy. Therefore, angels feed; spiritual beings feed. Man is spirit, soul, and body. Man’s spirit and soul must feed from some spiritual source for they cannot feed from the natural. Man’s body feeds from the earth and the earth keeps his body going. But it is not the earth that keeps his soul or his spirit going.

Psalm 78:25, “Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full.” If “man did eat angels’ food,” that means angels have food.

David cried out to God spiritual utterance when he spoke of his soul being thirsty. Psalm 42:1-3, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?”

This passage clearly illustrates that the soul feeds. Spiritual beings must feed on spiritual things. Natural beings feed on natural things. Those who do not feed their souls with the spiritual bread of heaven are hungry and weak spiritually, without energy and life. This is what God is trying to say to us. The prophets of old prophesied that a generation should arise whom they called The Elect. They should feast upon the Word of God and become the Word of God. They should be transformed to being the Word of God, walking and talking the living Word, as God has ordained. We should be like Christ and He was The Living Word on earth.

The basic principles of this understanding have been laid down in Leviticus, in the law. Let us look there and then we will understand what is meant by EATING THE WORD. In Leviticus chapter 11 God speaks to the Jews, telling them not to eat certain animals, and to eat certain animals. God is not talking about animals. To the Jews, YES. To those who were in the wilderness, YES. But not to us today. The Bible is a book with depth, and length, and height, and as we come from the natural plane, we begin to see that there is a depth within the Word, that we might understand it quite differently. Leviticus 11:2-3, “Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, These are the beasts which ye shall eat among all the beasts that are on the earth. Whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud, among the beasts, that shall ye eat.”

“The beasts…that...parteth the hoof” IN THE SPIRITUAL DIMENSION are the TWO WITNESS COMPANY, those who walk in THE SPIRIT and THE WORD (the two witnesses of God). They have PARTED HOOVES, their feet are shod, and they never have problems with walking on stones. They run and race over stones. If you watch goats on the rock, they run and jump from place to place. I have never seen a goat miss its step and fall from a rock. They have cloven feet. These are beasts which you should eat.

“Cheweth the cud” means those who speak the Word of God with truth. Those who not only catch it and swallow it and run off with it to turn it into action and make flesh out of it, but those who receive the Word of God, contemplate it, go to bed with it, eat it, bring it up again, eat it again, UNTIL it becomes part of them. God describes clean beasts, men, as “whatsoever parteth the hoof, and is clovenfooted, and cheweth the cud.” God said that there are some beasts (men) that eat (chew the cud), but they do not have cloven feet. They study, they get the Word and bring it up and eat it again, but they do not walk correctly. They have claws (they are NOT clean unto you). God spoke about the hare and the coney and other animals.

Then He said that there are some beasts who do NOT chew the cud but do have cloven feet. These are also unclean. In order to be clean, you must both walk the walk and talk the talk. You must do both, not just one. The swine is among those who walk the walk, but do not chew the cud.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 197-199)

Thought for today: Let us feast upon the Word of God and become the Word of God.

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Scripture reading: John 7:14-17

Let us look at what is happening with the Word of God in our time. The Word of God is being disfigured by some translators. Translators translate every Bible from a specific denominational perspective. Each denomination will accept a certain translation. The King James Bible, which has been translated from the true original text called textus receptus, has in it the basic truth that we need. There have been several words somewhat disfigured in the different chapters but it is not enough to really turn the believer off or to give him bitter waters to drink. But there are some translations that are specifically made to disfigure, to hurt, to turn the people of God away.

The problem is that the translations are not all false. There are some truths in these translations mixed in with the lie. Of course, if you mix a truth with a lie, the whole thing is a lie. If a truth is going to lead you to accept a lie, then the truth in itself is an agent of the lie. This is the way translators use the truth of God’s Word to disfigure, to hurt God’s people, to bring them into believing a lie. Only the Holy Ghost, at this time, can deliver us from the lie of the seminaries and the different organizations that teach different things. Sometimes you sit down and listen to a message and it sounds so good, and you rejoice that here is a man bringing the truth. But then he brings in some great falsehood that overthrows everything he said before. This is a great distress in our time.

There is one word that Jesus said and we should hold on to it very, very much, very strongly. It says that if any man desires to know the truth that the responsibility of letting him know truth is not his, it is God’s. That scripture is found in John 7:17, “If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself.” This is true for every human being. God will never allow any human being to be deceived, to believe a lie, and not give him the truth if that person really desires truth. That is like having an insurance policy with God.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pg. 162-163)

Thought for today: We will not be deceived if we do the will of God and desire nothing but truth.

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Scripture reading: Revelation 7:4

Brother John said in Revelation 7:4, “And I heard the number of them which were sealed.” Any time you see numbers in Scripture, it is a revelation God is giving you. God is NOT telling you how many people were sealed. GOD IS GIVING YOU A REVELATION. The revelation is that “and there were sealed AN HUNDRED AND FORTY AND FOUR THOUSAND of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”

Numbers in Scripture form a very important part of the dimensional gospel. They lend depth to the gospel; things are being said by the numbers that are not expressed otherwise. For instance, the number ONE is the number of God. The number TWO is the number of witness. The number THREE is the number of divine fullness (good, better, best). Number FOUR is the number of tribulation and when the tribulation comes three times, it comes to the fullness of tribulation which means victory. For instance, Moses’ life was divided into three forty-year periods. The first forty years he spent in Pharaoh’s palace preparing and training. The second forty years he spent in the wilderness, and the third forty years he spent leading the children of Israel out of Egypt to the borders of the Promised Land. That was the victory. His work had been accomplished.

FIVE is the number of ministry or the number of grace. SIX is the number of man. SEVEN is the number of perfection. Man cannot go further than six in all his endeavors. Therefore, seven is God’s perfection. EIGHT is the number of new beginnings. NINE is the number of judgment. Sometimes this number is used for Satan. TEN is the number of divine order, and ELEVEN is the number which marks the undoing of divine order and falls short of twelve, which is completion. I say all this to bring you to number twelve. TWELVE is completion of God’s government.

Let me give you a basic outline of the Word of God. The Word of God is written as no other book on earth or no other that man could write. No man could write one page of the Bible. This is why we know it is divinely done. The Bible is written in Greek and the Hebrew.

Let us look at the Hebrew. The Hebrew has a numeral for every letter in the alphabet. Each letter has a value, a numeric value. The whole of the Bible is written in this way. Every thought brought forth can be divided by seven equally. It is sevens, sevens, sevens, right through the whole Bible. Every thought, every sentence, every idea, every word, when put together with other words, can produce seven, seven, seven – always divided by seven. This is not humanly possible. I believe some time ago, somebody put out a $25,000 reward for anybody who could write anything in this manner and nobody could. I am sure no one can. This is what makes us know the Bible is absolutely authentic. Any part of it that does not match this trial of sevens is not true, it is not of the Bible, it is not of God. We know that what we have here is of God.

The Apocrypha and other books which were taken out as being noncanonical do not come up to this standard and that is one of the reasons that they were cast out. On the other hand, all the books of the Bible (for instance, the King James Version) have been certified by Jesus Christ and the apostles. They quoted these books. Jesus would not have quoted Moses if He did not believe that Moses was of God. If what Moses wrote was not of God, Jesus, the son of God, would not have quoted him. Jesus and all the apostles quoted from all the books of the Old Testament and that makes them authentic.

Let us look at this number 144,000. This number is derived by multiplying 12 x 12 x 1,000. Twelve is the number of completion. There are two completions: the completed man who is in a completed church. So if the completed man is right, according to God’s order, then the completed church will be right, according to God’s order. We have 12 multiplied by 12 which equals 144 followed by three zeros, for the end result of 144,000. The word “zero” is derived from the Hebrew word for seed “zera.” In Genesis 3:15 the Lord cursed the serpent and told him that the seed of the woman would bruise his head – which seed is Jesus Christ.

In the Old Testament, there were 12 persons anointed, 12 patriarchs, and 12 tribes of Israel. Exodus 28:1 speaks of the 5 anointed priests who were Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar. The 7 kings that were anointed were Saul, David, Absalom, Solomon, Jehu, Joash, and Jehoahaz. This makes up the 12 anointed persons. Notice the sixth anointed person, king Saul (1 Samuel 10:1) proved to be a failure, but he was number 6. Six is the number of man. David was number 7 and he was God’s perfect choice. We can see the whole thing working according to numbers and according to Scripture. In the New Testament, there were 12 apostles, 12 foundations in the heavenly Jerusalem, 12 gates, 12 pearls, and 12 angels.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 145-147)

Thought for today: The Word of God is in three dimensions. Let us be good Bible students in our understanding of the numbers in Scripture.

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