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Kept in Perfect Peace

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 24, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Isaiah 26:2-3

Have you ever thought about the distraction that comes upon this nation, upon this generation, upon your children? It is something greater, much greater than we have ever seen before. I never suffered the kind of distraction that the children suffer today. Even some of you parents, you never suffered what they suffer, what they are under. Therefore, it is our duty to protect them, to help them to be concentrated upon God. When you read the story about Elijah being taken up into heaven, you find something very interesting. Elijah knew that there was going to be a distraction. But Elijah did not warn Elisha, “Watch out now, remember now, there is going to be a chariot of fire, you must keep your eyes on me.” Nothing of the kind. The man had to pass the test upon his own merits. He had to pass the test according to the godly calling that he had, for he was not worthy to receive a double portion of Elijah if he could not pass that test of distraction.

Brethren, I am talking to you about the distraction that we are undergoing and how you must keep your eyes on Jesus, for everything in this world at this time is designed to take your eyes off Jesus! Hallelujah. Your poverty is a distraction. Your affluence is a distraction. Whether you have money or you have it not is a distraction. You cannot get away from it; anywhere you turn it is a distraction. Keep your eyes on Jesus.

Elisha heard the chariot of fire. The scriptures tell us that it was a chariot, horses of fire, chariot of fire. Who saw it? It had to be Elisha that saw it. It had to be Elisha that told the story. So, he had to see it, and quickly take his mind off it, take his heart off it, and pinpoint Elijah. And then, he saw him taken up. You know, I always preached that Elijah was taken up in a chariot of fire. But he was taken up in a whirlwind. You see what I am saying? On top of the chariot of fire, there was a whirlwind. He was taken up by the whirlwind, not the chariot of fire! So, you can see how much distraction that there was. I don’t think it was all silent. It must have been an uproar, everything that was necessary to get the man’s mind off the concentration on Elijah. The truth is, I don’t see Elijah taking off the coat and waiting for the wind and then throwing the coat to him. I see him shedding the coat when he put on his heavenly garment. He put on a heavenly garment as he shed off the earthly one. I think Elisha caught it. I don’t think it dropped on the ground. The man was on the ball. He caught it. Do you remember the scripture which says that He will keep him in perfect peace? Isaiah 26:2-3, “Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in. Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” God wants us to be concentrated, to be focused on Him at this time.

The time is now so short that you are going to have to drop off all the unnecessary things. Drop all the unnecessary things and look towards God. In other words, we are on the home stretch, brethren. We are on the home stretch. God is saying to divest yourself of every weight, and the sin that doth so easily beset us, and let us run, strip down to a minimum, because God wants you to run the race and to win at this time (Hebrews 12:1). It is a short time that we have. I believe that we should lay down everything that we have and concentrate absolutely upon God and upon the things of God. It is not everybody who is doing that. It is not every Christian who can do that. If God gives us the privilege and the ability, let us use it! Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us (Hebrews 12:1), because I tell you something: the sin that easily besets you is one of the heaviest weights that you carry! When the Bible talks about your besetting sin, it is talking about ancestral sin. I know some people who cannot get away from it. Every time you talk to them they say, “I am so and so and I have to do so and so because I am so and so.” Well, I would like to see you get to be nothing. We don’t want any German, any Jamaican, any American, any whatever you are! We just want to see people say, “I am a son of God, therefore I cannot bow to this. No matter how my grandfather used to do it, I cannot bow to it! No matter how much I have of them in my veins, I cannot bow to it! I can only do what God wants me to do, because I am a son of God.” God bless you.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)

Thought for today: Drop all the unnecessary things and look towards God. In other words, we are on the home stretch.

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The Still, Small Voice

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on September 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: 1 Kings 19:1-12

Today I want to speak to you a word that pertains to our ability to be focused upon God. Everything around us is designed to distract us, to turn us aside, to get interested in this, to get interested in that. Some people have a hobby and that hobby becomes more important to them than God. Even during meeting times, some people are pursuing their hobbies instead of seeking God. One of the great tools in Satan’s arsenal is distraction. I want to talk to you a little bit about this distraction. When you turn to 1 Kings 19, you will see that this portion of scripture comes just after the great victory that Elijah had over the priests of Baal. But it also reveals that this was a low point in Elijah’s life, when he, after his great victory, was still afraid of Jezebel. It is difficult to understand, but I think that we are able to relate, being as we have some of that problem, too. Many of us feel that we are the only thing that God has here. What a poor God it would be if we were all that God had! The fact that you feel that you are a true Christian, the fact that you feel that you are 100% for God, should indeed be proof to you that there are others like you. What I am saying is that if you believe that you hear God, that in itself should indeed be proof to you that others are hearing God, also.

Of course, we are reading about Elijah, a man who did not know Jesus. Elijah knew God, but he didn’t know Jesus. Isn’t that something? Elijah did not have what we have – the living God moving through and through our being. You know, I sit in a meeting, I hear the singing and I can see God just seeping into us. We open our mouths to sing and the breath of God is breathed into our very beings. Hallelujah. This is proof of God. Hallelujah. So, here is Elijah talking to God saying, “I’ve been jealous, Oh God, and I have been a wonderful fellow and You lost everybody else besides me.” What a wretched thought. What an awful thought. “Everybody else is gone, everybody else is dead, nobody else is serving God, nobody else has the message. I alone, Oh God, am the only one that is left and all You have to depend on is me.” Do you see how preposterous it is for us to think that way? God is providing, preparing an army. We are just a little speck of it. Amen! We must realize that without the rest of this army, we are nothing, we are finished! Don’t you understand? God is preparing a first-fruits company, an Elijah company, I could call it thirty other names company, to save the rest of the church. Our duty is to be servants to the rest of the church! It is like you have a mouth, and the mouth takes in some honey, and the mouth says, “I love this honey, this honey is so sweet, I’m going to keep it for myself,” and the mouth decides to hold on to it, “I am not swallowing it, I am not giving it to any other part of the body, I am just keeping it for myself!” That mouth would soon be useless.  We must realize that without the rest of the Body, we are nothing. We should be grateful, thankful to God that we are privileged to be a part of this magnificent thing that God is doing in the earth today. Amen.

So here is poor brother, Elijah, in a very low, low part of his life. He says in 1 Kings 19:10-11, “I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. 11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind.” What happened? In the midst of the manifestation of God, the devil was right there. Because if God was not in the wind, who was in the wind? Have you noticed it? I mean, if you were not keen, you would not notice that passage, that God did pass by. But then, before God, rushed the devil breaking up rocks and carrying on. I am telling you, without the discernment of God, you and I would say, “God did it. It was God that did that. It was God.” God was not there.

Now, let’s read a little more. “…and after the wind an earthquake; but the Lord was not in the earthquake.” We are talking about manifestations now. Manifestations. Some of the manifestations that we see are not God. God did come, God did do something, God did speak, but that one wasn’t God. Verse 12, “And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.” Who must recognize it? Who must discern it? Do you see the problem we have? The onus, the responsibility, is on you to discern who is doing what and when. If you do not know who is doing it, you are in trouble, but why did God put such an awful responsibility upon us as Christians? I can tell you why. It is because inside of you, you have God. The Spirit of the living God in you must make contact with the spirit of whatever is doing that. You must be able to say, “This is God, but that is not God.” Right in the meetings! Right in the middle of your meetings you see God working and you see another spirit working. The other spirit is always trying to distract.

Satan always brings in a distraction. In your lives, you have to look out for that. But then, the still, small voice came. You know, you have that voice inside you. For Elijah, it was out there. He was hearing with his ears. You don’t have to hear God with your ears any more for the God in you will give you that strong, still, small voice that quickens you inside.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, December 12, 2004)

Thought for today: You don’t have to hear God with your ears any more for the God in you will give you that strong, still, small voice that quickens you inside.

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His Writings on Your Heart

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 28, 2025| 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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Everybody Must Have a Head

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , on August 19, 2025| Leave a Comment »

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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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Christ in the Soul

Posted in Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , on August 15, 2025| 1 Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-13

When we accepted Jesus Christ, we received life. The blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God which we received in our souls, which were dead in trespasses and sins. This life had to help us die to the alien life of sin which had occupied the soul. Then we had the self life, also, which had to die. So we see that when we accepted Christ as our Saviour, it was a matter of submitting to death in order to receive life. When that process is completed, then we begin to enter into Christ. Paul speaking to the Corinthian Christians in 1st Corinthians 12:13 declares,

“For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body.”

We are not baptized into the body of Christ until the body of sin and self is given a death blow. If sin is still reigning in our members, then it was not fully dealt with. The grain of corn cannot bring forth a new life until it has given up its own life. We must die to live, and that life does not begin until that death is complete. This is all done by faith. We cannot deal with this subject fully in this short article, because there would not be enough space.

The divine order of the entering into Christ is shown in the Tabernacle of Moses by the three veils. The first veil is called the Gate. The second is called the Door, and the third is called the Veil. The door is Christ, and the entering in is preceded by the washing at the Laver, which is death to self and a complete surrender to Christ. Self cannot be on the throne, and Christ be crowned as King at the same time. One King must depose the other, and even more than being deposed, ONE KING MUST SLAY THE OTHER, so that there is no further possibility of a coup to regain the throne.

THE ENTERING IN OF CHRIST INTO THE SOUL of man is a conscious act of man’s will, which is preceded by the three BAPTISMS of death.

There must be a death before there can be a resurrection. The three baptisms are:

1) Baptism in water, the baptizer being human
2) Baptism in the Holy Ghost, the baptizer being Jesus Christ
3) Baptism into Christ, the baptizer being the Holy Ghost

Christ enters into us, then we begin to enter into Christ. Just as the Holy Spirit enters into us, then we begin to live in the Spirit.

When Christ enters the soul as King, He begins His rule on earth within the individual. HE MUST REIGN TILL ALL ENEMIES ARE PUT UNDER HIS FEET, even death. We see, therefore, that He brings life and immortality to light by the gospel. 2 Timothy 1:10.

The beast nature of man, therefore. is being changed to the nature of the Christ.

From the illustration, we can see that the five wise virgins in Matthew 25 had oil in their lamps, which is the Holy Spirit which occupies our spirits, and not our souls. This stands to reason why, although we receive the Holy Spirit, we still have the power to reject His counsel and have our own way. It also is the reason why we still fall into sin, though having the Holy Spirit of God within us. The process of the Kingdom of God gently seeps into every area of our lives with our own free will consent, just as the leaven that leavens the whole three lumps of the woman’s meal in Matthew 13:33.

This, therefore, is the work of the overshadowing. The work is done in:

  1. The individual temples (individual lives)
  2. The elect church (called out of the called out)
  3. The time of the restitution of all things, the dispensation of the fullness of times, IN OUR TIME.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 162-164)

Thought for today: One King must depose the other, and even more than being deposed, ONE KING MUST SLAY THE OTHER, so that there is no further possibility of a coup to regain the throne.

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