Omega Message – December 1997
Cecil duCille
QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION PART III of III
(Message given Friday afternoon meeting at the Sonlight Gospel Conference, Illinois July 1997.)
Question: (1st Question: Concerning what was said concerning 2 Thessalonians 3:6): “Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourself from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the traditions which he received of us.”
Brother Cecil: You notice that it said, “Now we command you….” He did not say, “Now, I am telling you this from my own feelings….” That means to say that it is a commandment of the Lord.
2 Thessalonians 2:3 tells us that there was going to come a “falling away” (rebellion: “apostasia” in the Greek); and God is saying that His people should not be part of the rebellion, because He was going to send them “strong delusion,” and let me tell you, brethren, the delusions that I see coming forth now, there is no way that a man could resist it if he is not walking in the Spirit. They are stronger than any delusions that I have ever seen before.
Like I tell you, the man comes before the crowd and he waves his hand like this, and he knocks down a whole broadside of the people! One man said that when he dropped on the ground, he tried to get up and could not get up. There was a force holding him down there, and he was struggling! He was not being blessed! He was struggling to get up and could not get up, because a force was holding him down there.
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Question: “Why did you say they went out into the darkness to get oil?”
Brother Cecil: Matthew 25:8-13, “And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. And while they went to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.”
The question you were asking is, “Why did I say that they went out into the darkness to get the oil?” [It is] because the Scripture says here that they “went out.” You should continue and read the rest of the Scripture. You cannot take one verse, or one little piece, to stand by itself; but if you recall, I said we happen to know that this was the time of the tribulation
The whole order is, that Jesus will come and fill the Temple; and when Jesus fills the temple of those who are anointed to be the Firstfruits Company, then the others will get serious with God. And if you read about the three and one half years, you will see that it will be the same time when the Antichrist will be reigning on earth, and the Antichrist will come to his full power in the darkness, up to midnight. And the Bible says that he will oppress the saints “Until the Ancient of days comes.”
So, if you put all that together, you will see that there will be Christians in the world, apart from those who are filled with the fulness of God, and these Christians will be under great tribulation and great suffering. The body of Scripture bears me out. We cannot go into all the Scriptures, but if you understand the whole timing of everything, you will understand that this is the three and a half years of suffering. If you turn to Revelation 11 you will see it there.
Revelation 11:1-2, “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod:” and he measured…, “…But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.”
So, the brethren who were out there in the darkness, he called them the “holy city.” They are still God’s people: the Bible says that they are “virgins.” It does not mean that God took away that “virgin” quality from them. They were just not part of the Firstfruits, but they were saved people.
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Question: You were talking about how some of us were not going to make it, and that God’s plan is that all of us could make it, but we have like a race to run. Where does the “preordained” thing come in. Doesn’t that mean He knows who is and who is not? I mean I believe what you said, but now I wonder about the predestinated.
Brother Cecil: I am going to ask you one question that will answer this whole thing. Let us say you had a dream of exactly what is going to happen tomorrow, and you saw where somebody is going to get into an accident. You have many of these dreams, you have that gift in the Spirit. Have you in any way a responsibility?
Question: Yes. To pray for him.
Brother Cecil: There you are! You pray for him. You try to stop it. Right? But, sometimes you did not. Although you prayed, you did not stop it. So, that is like God. God knows the thing is going to happen, but it is not every time that He can change the person, because the person has to do it himself.
So, “preordained” (predestination) is only “preknowledge.” God knows [beforehand], and He tries to help you. He does everything to change it and if it is not changed, God then is not responsible.
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Question: Is there a difference between the wise virgin and the Bride, or does the wise virgin become the Bride?
Brother Cecil: The wise virgin is the Bride. And the Bride is the Manchild.
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Question: …Going back to what you said, that you do not accept the word “pastor.” The greatest problem, or question, that we meet is that Ephesians 4:11 talks of apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, evangelists. And you said you do not accept pastor.
Brother Cecil: Yes…
Question: Other people use the term “shepherd.” Is it then the institution that gives “pastor” a position that is not scriptural in his job description that is wrong, or is it the term “pastor”? And, if it is the term, would it be okay if we changed it to “shepherd”?
Brother Cecil: No! If you call him “John Brown,” and he is the same thing, it would not be any different. In other words, the word “pastor” became wrong because that is the word that they changed in order to bring in a new system. It is the system that is wrong. It is the lack of divine order that is wrong. You see what I am saying?
To be able to carry out their doctrine, they changed the word “shepherd” to “pastor.” Now, if you call the same pastor a shepherd, it would not make any difference because the system is the thing that is wrong.
Actually the word “pastor” is unscriptural. God never wrote the Bible in Latin, and if you take out a Greek word and put in a Latin word in order to make a whole hierarchial system, then that is entirely ungodly and you are disfiguring the Word of the Lord.
So, when you call a man a pastor it carries a certain connotation. It carries the fact that he is the head of that congregation, which God said should not be. So that name is entirely [outside] of Scripture.
But suppose we turn around, and call the same man who heads the congregation a “shepherd”? We would be putting him in the place of Jesus Christ, for Jesus said “I am the good shepherd.” It was never meant to be: apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher were never meant to be a title! You say, “Pastor So and So.” You make it a title! There is no such title in the Bible. To do that would be wrong, and the whole system is wrong! These are not titles, but ministries that God has set in the Church.
Brother Mark Jantzi: There was a man we know in Russia and his title is “elder,” but he still ruled as a “pastor.”
Brother Cecil: Amen!
Question: That being the case, Cecil, I agree with you on that and I agree with the Lord. There is still a “function,” there [are still] those “functions” within the Body, though? Correct?
Brother Cecil: The function-apostle, prophet, evangelist, shepherd, and teacher-this function is in the Body! God gives this to people, but you should never use this as a title: “Apostle So and So.” The only title that God gives us [Matthew 23:8], which Paul definitely spoke of, is to call them “brother.” The brethren wanted to know how to relate to the other brethren in the church. He said to call the men brothers and the women sisters.
Question: I do not remember if it is in the book of Acts where he said, “Some came who were ‘prophets’ from Jerusalem.”
Brother Cecil: Yes….
Quesiton: They called them “prophets.”
Brother Cecil: Oh, they were prophets! But, when they called them names, they did not say, “Prophet Agabus.”
Question: Oh, I see. I understand….
Brother Cecil: They said he was a “prophet,” because that was his function in the church.
Brother Burt Asbill: …With regards to the functions that we see in Ephesians, aren’t they more indicative of a “nature” that is worked within the lives of the individuals that are filling the functions?
Brother Cecil: You will find that a person will prophesy until he becomes a “prophet.” That is, the thing becomes a “nature” in him: the Spirit of God moving through a vessel to a point where God calls him a “prophet.”
You follow what I mean? But, the whole Church prophesies! You see? So, it is not just a nature, but it is a gift, and the gift creates within the person a nature, and the person becomes the gift to the Church.
It is not because a man prophesies that makes a man a prophet. That means to say, a person can prophesy until he reaches a degree in God. Amen! And then God calls him a prophet, like Agabus. He was known by the Church, they trusted him. They believed the word that he brought because they knew he was coming directly from God.
We had better stop. God bless you.
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