Omega Message – August 1995
Cecil J. duCille
What is on my heart this morning is the urgency of the preparing of the temple for the coming of the King. I do not think we really understand just how urgent it really is. Many of the churches that are in Christendom (we are in particular speaking about the Evangelicals, the Pentecostals, and the Charismatics), as represented by their leaders, are now openly saying that we have thirty years left before the coming of Jesus Christ. These leaders minister to hundreds of thousands of people all over the world. They are teaching this premise on the assumption that the counting of time as it pertains to dates on the calendar begins with the time that Jesus took up His ministry at thirty years of age. If this assumption is true, it would then put our present day calendar back thirty years. It is by means of the Catholic numbering system that we have our present day calendar, and as is well known, the Catholics marked the beginning of the calendar from the year that Jesus was born. By this system, we would have this to be approximately the year 1995, and with the possibility of there being an error of four years, the year 1999. Therefore, we would then be very near the year 2000 and the end of the age. This is, however, as I have previously stated, not the assumption of these church leaders.
Well, I am not going to be able to refute them by going to the Scriptures, for the Scriptures do show that Jesus did take up His ministry at a certain time. I do, however, refute them by what God says, for the Spirit of God is now telling us that now is the time that “the fullness of Christ” (Ref. Ephesians 4:13) must come to the Church and not in thirty years of time.
What are we talking about when we say “the fullness of Christ”? We are talking about all that we have read in the Bible about the coming of Jesus Christ, that Jesus must come first in His temple before He comes in the world (when every eye shall see Him). We shall see Him then coming down even as He went up. We are talking about the physical body of the man named Jesus.
“This same Jesus which is taken up into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven” (Acts 1:11).
We must never forget that He is going to be coming here like a man, physically, as we yet are. However, before Jesus comes, Christ must come. Christ is the second person of the Godhead. He must come in us, in His temple, as figured by the Day of Atonement in the Feast of Tabernacles. Do you follow what I mean?
God said that there were three feasts. We read in Exodus 23:14-18,
14 “Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
15 “Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread (PASSOVER): (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib: for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
16 “And the feast of harvest (FIRSTFRUITS), the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field; the feast of ingathering (TABERNACLES), which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
17 “Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord God.
18 “Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the fat of my sacrifice remain until the morning.”
The order of events prescribed by God for the Jewish year were designated as a type or shadow to highlight the events that would transpire during the historical year of the Church, which is a period of time that has extended over the last 2000 years. God ordained that within the span of the Jewish year the nation was to keep three feasts: The Passover, Firstfruits and Tabernacles. In the nearly 2000 years since Christ, only the first two have been fulfilled in the history of the Church.
THE FEAST OF PASSOVER
As you are probably aware, in Chapter 12 of Exodus, Passover was instituted by God while the Israelites were in Egypt. There was the necessity of the families of the Israelites to take a lamb, kill it, and apply the blood to the posts and the lintel of the door. It was only in this manner that the Israelites could escape the death angel. This was the initiation of the beginning of this the first of the three feasts. Hebrews 9:22 says that without the shedding of blood there is no redemption. In order for the Church to participate in this feast of Passover, it is necessary for each one to experience salvation through Jesus Christ. It is because of the shedding of His blood that we are able to accept Jesus Christ as our Savior. This is our experience of Passover in the Church.
THE FEAST OF HARVEST
“And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field…”
This is the second feast that has been given to the Church to participate in. It is also called Pentecost or “the baptism of the Holy Spirit.” Do you know why it is called the Firstfruits? It is because it is the first manifestation of the life that is within you. It is the first time in the history of humanity that Christ entered into His temple. So that is the symbol of the firstfruits.
The question should be asked, where did He enter? In John 14:16-17, Jesus said,
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever; Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
It is according to the account in the second chapter of Acts that we find the place that He entered. It was not into the temple of stone or wood, but it was into the temple that was man.
I would like to remind you that the temple, as is man, is made up of three sections: The Outer Court (body), the Holy Place (soul) and the Holy of Holies (spirit). It is imperative that in order for the cycle of the year to come to a close in the prescribed manner, He (Christ) must enter into these three sections. Passover takes place in the Outer Court (body), Firstfruits takes place in the Holy Place (soul), and Tabernacles in the Holy of Holies (in the realm of the spirit of man).
Now, God is entering into you piece by piece. I do not know if you understand. A piece of God enters into a piece of you. The whole of God could not come in. Man could not stand the fullness of God. It says, “No man can see God and live.” That is what it means. So God has to enter into you one piece at a time.
So, what part of Him entered into you first? It was His “life.” He projected His life into you. Why? It was because you were dead! You were dead and God could not do business with a dead man. He had to bring you to life before He could do business with you. He sent ahead and entered into the soul. The blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God. It is very important that you understand this. Do you know why? It is because the Baptists are teaching it different, the Pentecostals are teaching it different, and the Evangelicals are teaching it different. They are all teaching it different. They say that when you accept Jesus you receive Christ. No!
Do you understand the difference between Jesus and Christ? CHRIST is the eternal Spirit of the Godhead, the second person of the Godhead. JESUS is the son of Mary, but Jesus had Christ. Therefore, we call him Jesus Christ. Do you follow what I am saying? Let me elaborate.
2 Corinthians 5:19 says that, “God was in CHRIST, reconciling the world unto himself.” Now what I am talking about? Before the time when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, could you say “Jesus Christ”? No! There was no Jesus. Jesus was “born.” The fact is, if it says Jesus was born, that means to say that Jesus had a beginning. Christ had no beginning. Christ is God! When Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, God put the Spirit of Christ in him, so that Jesus became the Christ on the earth. He was Jesus Christ only because of the Spirit of Christ that inhabited him.
This does not mean that there was no Christ left in heaven. This is where the people we call “Jesus Only” make their mistake. They say that when Jesus Christ was down here on earth, there was no Christ up in heaven. What happened is that Christ inhabited Jesus, but the Spirit of Christ was still in heaven and all around the world. God is omnipresent and this omnipresence extends to other positions of the Godhead. The Spirit of Christ was still out there, but He also gave Jesus the fullness of Christ.
I think what we can conclude, from what I have shared above, is that God is entering into us a piece at a time. You may ask, “What part of God?” The first part of God to come in was the blood that was applied to your soul. The second piece that God put into us was the Spirit of God.
The question that can be asked here is, “Are the Holy Spirit and Christ the same?” The answer to this is, “No.” In Romans 8:2 it is talking about the “law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus” making us free from the “law of sin and death.”
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
It is speaking about a separate entity that exists within the individual; a life form that receives its strength from a higher order.
Romans 8:9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.”
This verse speaks of the necessity for man to have the Spirit of Christ. Why? It is because it is the only means by which we can be considered as sons (Verse 19):
“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.”
So, it is that the Spirit of Christ is synonymous with the word “Son”. This is supported by Luke 1:35,
“The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Highest (God) shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Christ).”
If I might be so bold, I could say, “son of Mary”; “Jesus”; “Son of God”; “Christ.”
Further proof that we find in Scripture is found in Genesis 3:15,
“And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed….”
In describing the issue of the woman (“her seed”), the Hebrew word “zera” is used for seed, which when translated with the definite article means, “The Christ.” If you will turn your Bible around to Galatians 3:16, you will see that it says,
“Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”
In John 17:21-23, Jesus said,
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; THAT THEY ALL MAY BE ONE; AS THOU, FATHER, ART IN ME, AND I IN THEE, THAT THEY ALSO MAY BE ONE IN US: THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE THAT THOU HAST SENT ME. AND THE GLORY WHICH THOU GAVEST ME I HAVE GIVEN THEM; THAT THEY MAY BE ONE, EVEN AS WE ARE ONE: I IN THEM, AND THOU IN ME, THAT THEY MAY BE MADE PERFECT IN ONE….”
Jesus gave us here the formula for oneness, a formula that consisted of each being in the other, and then He (Jesus Christ) being in His disciples. The Holy Ghost is inside the Christ (Son), and God is inside the Christ (Son), so that the Father (God) and Holy Ghost are in Christ. Christ is inside the Holy Spirit, the Father (God) and the Son (Christ) are inside the Holy Ghost. So, what we have is, Christ is in God, and God is in Christ. Now how can one thing be in the other and the other in the one? I hope you recognize that I am just quoting scripture. I am quoting Jesus Christ trying to describe Christ and the fullness.
I said to God, “God, this thing is very confusing. Could You explain the trinity to me?” He said, “It is simple. Look at yourself. You are a spirit, you are a soul and you are a body.” I know a body named Gordon, but his soul I cannot see. I can see by his actions that there is intelligence, a living being inside there. His spirit is even further back and I cannot see it at all, but there is knowledge that I have that lets me know that without a spirit a soul is a beast. Without the spirit of man, which God incorporated into man, then you are a beast. You are just like a cow, or a dog.
“Jesus living within me” means that I have His blood, I have his life. Christ did not have blood. It was Jesus that had the blood. The blood of Jesus has in it the life of God. God incorporated His life into Jesus so that we might get it. In other words, I am just talking about a conduit. It is a method that God used to get the thing to you. It is like the pipes that bring the water from the reservoir to you. Jesus (Christ) is like those pipes. God used Him (Jesus) to bring life from Him (God) to us.
What I am explaining to you is Passover. What is Passover? Passover is supposed to be out in the Outer Court. The bull (Jesus) was brought in and tied down on the altar (cross). He (Jesus) was slain. His blood was released from His body, and that is your salvation. Accept Jesus, and you receive the blood. It is not in your body but in your soul that you received the blood. You check your blood and your blood is the same.
I remember one time we did check the blood. A brother and I were studying the thing, and we were thinking that when you were saved something happened in your body. We felt that physically you were changed. You do not even have the same taste anymore. You had a taste for liquor, but now you do not have that taste anymore. You had a taste for cigarettes, and for this and that, but now you do not have those same tastes anymore. It means that something did happen in your body.
We went and had a blood test. There was no change. The blood was the same type, so it was the soul that was quickened. The soul is master of the body. Anything the soul tells the body to do, the body will do it. Do you see what I am saying? What happened in actuality is that Jesus’ blood quickened your soul.
Now, when we talk about your soul we mean an entity, a spirit, named your “mind.” Your mind is a spirit. Your emotions are a spirit. Your will is a spirit. Your desire is a spirit. These four things joined together make you what you are. God gave you the power of creation. In Genesis 1:28, when God relinquished the position over creation to Adam, it was not only over the plants and animals, but over his own soul as well. That soul was as much a part of the command to “subdue and take dominion” as were the various things that were round about Adam.
Have you heard the term, “You are what you eat”? Well, that is essentially true for your soul also. What you put into your soul determines what your soul will be. What you put into your soul determines what you will create. If you pursue righteousness, then you will create God. If you will partake of wickedness and perversion, you will then create devil. You are not yet finished. You are being made. Everybody is being made, and whatever thing you do, whatever you believe, whatever you say, it is making you what you are and what you will eventually be. Isn’t that something?
God put all that in your hands. You can become a Firstfruits Company person, or you can become a secondfruits or even a thirdfruits. You have the power to become whatever you want to be. If you earnestly desire now to be among the firstfruits of God, you will be. That is your assurance. The very desire in you makes you firstfruits. You have the power to create. It is this ability that killed the angel Heylel (Isaiah 14:12). This is what made him the Devil. He found out that he had the power of creation. He found out that he could create what he wanted, and so he made himself a devil.
God never made a devil. God, however, did give you that power. Right now, you have the power to make yourself a devil. If you really want to be a devil, a devil you will be. If you want to be a child of God, then nothing will make you a devil, because God will see to it that you become a child of God.
Let us look at the process. God said, “…three times for the year (2000 years) all thy males (those who want to be saved) shall appear before the Lord God.” That means within the 2000 years of the Church (which here represents one Old Testament Jewish year) all those who want to be saved must appear before God three times. Most of us have only appeared twice. We are yet awaiting the third appearing, which is the Feast of Tabernacles, when God will tabernacle within us, and we will tabernacle with Him, and we will be like Him (Malachi 3:1-3).
Now let us see if we can understand what I am saying here. First of all, the blood was applied to the soul, because God would not apply the blood to your body, for that would not do any good. So He applied the blood to the soul.
When the blood is applied to the soul, the soul becomes compatible with the nature of God—we become a “living soul.” This compatibility allows God to enter in a greater measure via the Holy Ghost. Can you recall the scripture in Matthew 6 where Jesus prayed that the kingdom of God would come “in earth”?
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
We might also turn to Luke 17:21, which expresses the thought of His Kingdom being “within” you.
“Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.”
Where is it that this happens in us? The revelation that is given is that,
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth…” (John 4:23).
They that worship God must worship Him “in spirit and in truth.” The Holy Ghost is applied to your spirit, and your spirit becomes a realm of heaven.
You may want to ask, “What makes Heaven, Heaven?” Is it not the “abiding/ruling” presence of God?
“And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;” (John 14:17).
“Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).
The key words here are “abiding” and “ruling.” The dictionary defines “abiding” as, “That which is permanent.” It defines “ruling” as “Having control; to govern; to exercise complete authority.” Can we say that there is the abiding/ruling presence of God in our soul? Without exception, I think the answer has to be “No.” It, therefore, has to be in the realm of our spirit. Heaven came into the realm of our spirit to overshadow the realm of our soul, even as the natural heavens overshadow the natural earth, so the realm of His heaven (our spirit) overshadows our earth (soul).
Heaven is the place where the Father (God), the Son (Christ), and the Holy Ghost abide and exercise complete authority. That is Heaven. Therefore, part of you dwells in heaven. Did you know that? There is a part of you in heaven right now. Your spirit is in heaven, and if you get in the Spirit right now, you are in heavenly places with God. It is like a room in a house that is called heaven (our spirit), and we have the ability to go in or out of that room. The thing that gives us the mobility to enter into that room is our “Getting into the Spirit” (Moving in the Life of our regenerated soul). The only time you are out of this is when you find yourself moving in the strength of your dead soul.
This, then, is the problem. We have only little glimpses of heaven, because we do not stay in the Spirit of Life for five minutes. We are going in and dropping out. It is, then, for us to learn how to stay in the Spirit.
I have been encouraging the young people, and I encourage all of you, to buy a Walkman. Buy a Walkman and let us encourage Brother Gordon to make more of those Bible tapes. Begin to listen to the Bible tapes with whatever you are doing. It will do something to you. I do not like to use the word “brainwash” because that is what the world is doing to you. You are being brainwashed by the world. Everything you see out there is trying to attract your attention to get your mind, and you need to begin to let the Word of God sink into your mind.
Put on your Walkman. Put it on and listen to the Word of God. The Word of God itself will do something to you. It will renew your mind, but it will do it without you even knowing it. You might not think you are listening, but all the time something is going into your soul. Sometimes you do not understand what you are hearing, but the Word in itself has the power to revive your mind and your spirit. When you are in trouble, the words will come back to you. I am going to ask you to do this, brethren, because if the devil is using methods against us, we must have some methods that we can use to help ourselves to hear God.
Let us go back to this again. We must understand this today. Part of you is in heaven; and if you are not baptized in the Holy Ghost, a part of you is not in heaven, and you only have the movement of the Spirit upon you. God says the Holy Ghost will be with you and then in you.
TABERNACLES
We have Passover, then we have the Baptism of the Holy Ghost (Pentecost or Firstfruits), and then we have Tabernacles. Let us read again John 14, starting at Verse 15,
“If ye love me, keep my commandments.”
That is a big word, “if.” It is a powerful word! God says, “Not all of you love Me. If you love Me, then keep My commandments.”
I have heard brethren say, “Oh, that brother really loves the Lord—but he is not walking with God.” There is nothing like that! When you love the Lord, you keep God’s commandments. You keep God’s commandments whether it is going to kill you or not. You just keep them because you love Him. Jesus says in Verse 15 that if you love Him then you will keep His commandments. Verse 16,
“And I will pray the father and He shall give you another comforter that he may abide with you for ever.
Verse 17 says that He will not only be “with” you, but He shall be “in” you:
“Even the Spirit of truth… for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.”
Now, who is this other “comforter”? We are talking about the Holy Ghost. Those of you who are not baptized with the Holy Ghost, after this session let us get together, and because you love God you will receive the Holy Ghost.
Let me tell you what “loving” God is. It is “wanting” Him. Loving God is wanting Him. “Lord God, I want you!”
“How much do you want Me? Do you want Me more than you want to have your way?”
So, you think about it, and you say, “Oh God, help me that I want You more than I want to have my own way.”
God looked at Peter in John 21, and said “Peter, do you love (Greek: agape) Me more than fish? Do you love Me more than you love fishing?” Peter said, “Oh yes, Lord. You know that I love (Greek: phileo) You like I love my own self and my own family.” Jesus asked him again and again, and Peter could not respond in the right manner. He could not get to the place where he could say, “God, I have agape love for You!” He was always saying that he had phileo love. “I love You like I love my wife and children.”
God’s love cannot be measured by “I love You because You are nice.” You just have to love God because He is God. You cannot love Him for anything else. You are going to have to love God when He drops the whip upon your back. You are going to have to say, “God I love You, and I love Your chastisement.” We are not used to that. We are used to hollering, “Oh God, why did You do this to me?”
Now turn to John 17:15. Jesus is praying here to the Father. Remember that in Verse 9 He said, “I pray for them…that thou hast given me.” Now, in Verse 15, He is talking to the Father,
“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil (of the world).”
Now that means to say that Jesus is praying to the Father not to rapture you. Read it! Look at it and tell me if that is not what it is saying. He is praying against the rapture. “Do not take them out. Do not blast them off into the heavens like Enoch or like Elijah, but keep them in the world, and let them overcome the evil of the world.”
Look closely at Verses 16-20,
“They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth: Thy word is truth. As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world. And for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. NEITHER PRAY I FOR THESE ALONE, BUT FOR THEM ALSO WHICH SHALL BELIEVE ON ME THROUGH THEIR WORD.”
Jesus Himself prayed for you. When you come to me and say, “Brother Ces, come and pray for me.” It is taking a step down. Do you want Ces to pray for you? Jesus prayed for you already. You need to just believe what Jesus prayed for you.
Lets us now go to Verse 21.
“That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me and I in thee, that they may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.”
THERE IS ONLY ONE PLACE THAT YOU AND I CAN HAVE ONENESS. THAT PLACE IS IN CHRIST. THE MEETING PLACE FOR ONENESS IS CHRIST. IF YOU WANT TO BE ONE WITH THE BRETHREN, YOU MUST GO INTO CHRIST.
You can, however, also interpret this scripture in the converse. [If you are in Christ], then all those who are against you are not in Christ, for two people in Christ can not be against each other. YOU CANNOT HAVE A DENOMINATION IN CHRIST! A DENOMINATION CANNOT BE IN CHRIST! ONLY THOSE WHO ARE UNDER THE HEADSHIP, LEADERSHIP, AND DIRECTION OF CHRIST ARE IN CHRIST!
It is simple! Whatever you had for breakfast this morning is in you. I do not see the breakfast sitting down in front of me. I see you sitting down before me. In other words the breakfast that you ate this morning is not controlling you. Once you are in Christ you are being controlled by Christ. You are like the breakfast. It has no say in it, unless you get indigestion or something. When the high priest killed the animal and ate it, it became a part of the high priest. The only way the substance of the animal was going to go through the veil was inside of the high priest. It is as true for us today as it was for them. THE ONLY WAY WE WILL GO THROUGH THE VEIL IS TO BE INSIDE OF CHRIST. CHRIST MUST BE OUR HEAD.
How do you make Christ your Head in your day by day action? First of all, to make Christ your head, you must have a determination that you are not going to do anything, unless you believe that it is God that wants you to do it. You are not going to say anything, unless you believe that God wants you to say it. Oh yes! At my age I have learned to keep my mouth shut if I am angry. I do not say a word. If somebody does or says something to you and it upsets you, say nothing. Regardless of what is being said around you, regardless of what they are doing, you say nothing.
The government took in a brother the other day and they wanted to charge him with certain charges. The brother was not guilty. He did not do it. They were going to make him guilty. So, they hooked him up on this polygraph, and they shot a question at him that would kill a cow. It was a question that would hurt you no matter who you are. They then checked him on the polygraph and his hurt came forth, and they said the answer of “No” that he gave was a lie. Do you understand? His reaction showed on the polygraph and they said he lied. They now have him ready to be put in prison. They are ready to take him before the court as being guilty of something that he did not do. The point I am trying to make is that he lost his cool!
Being under the direction of Christ is the only safe place to be. They (the New World Order) are going to charge us with all kinds of different things. More and more we are seeing brethren being sent to prison for something they did not do. This is a trend. It is something that is coming. We are in dangerous times, you know. This whole system that we call America and democracy is about to blow, and we are in the midst of it, and what are you going to do?
A brother came to me a couple of days ago, and said he had a dream. I know that this brother is not a person who dreams very much. The dream was that all of a sudden the stock market fell and the government was calling in all the money that you had. When you took in your money, they gave you two cents on the dollar. Do you say that is impossible? Well let me tell you, some smart person realizes that that is the only way to pay the deficit that America owes. They are going to do it. It is going to happen.
That is really only part of the problem. There is today this Christian movement called the “Right Wing” (or whatever you want to call it), where the Evangelicals joined with the Pentecostals and the Charismatics. I mean the 700 Club people and the TBN people and so forth, who constitute about 95% of Christians in America. Well they rose up—and the worst part about it was that I sort of agreed with them. I would have gone out there and voted to throw some of those fellows out of Congress myself. However, do you know what they did? They made up a list. It was a hit list and they revealed what all these men in office had been doing. They told the Christian community that they must go out there, and vote this way or that way. Well they went out there, and they voted, and they succeeded in rejecting the men in government that had been previously elected by the people.
What they did basically was to destroy the power of the President. Who do you think they are going to thank for that? Christians, of course! They are coming at Christians with all they have! They are planning how to get us! They are building concentration camps. Do you know that? A lot of these military bases that they are closing, they have plans of turning them into concentration camps. Their intention is to create a rebellion and blame it on the Christians. Well, guess what? The Christians are falling right into their plans.
The Lord is saying that we are heading into the end of time. He is saying that we are right there! Now, why all of a sudden have all these people taken this doctrine that it will be thirty years before Jesus will come? Some time back, I got into a crowd of ministers and we had a conference. Part of those that came were those who participate in the Vineyard ministries. I got up and began to tell them of the coming of Jesus Christ. They shouted me down! One man got up and said that a brother gave him a note to read. He read the note, and the note said, “Do not let anyone deceive you about the coming of Jesus. Jesus will not be here within thirty years.”
Later I went to Illinois for the purpose of speaking to a group of brethren that are in a prominent ministry there. I told these brethren that they were walking in deception. What they asked me to do was prove my indictment. I told them that I had one simple proof and that I was going to let them prove it themselves. There was a situation involving a word that one of their prophets had ministered during one of their meetings. I asked them if they had been present when the prophet ministered on “The generation of the righteous”? They acknowledged that they had been present. I then asked them if he did not specifically point out two teenagers and say to them that he saw them “ministering in the generation of the righteous as teen-agers.” One of the brothers again acknowledged that this was what had happened, for he had been present. I asked him (as I am asking you who are receiving this message), “How long could a young person be a teen-ager? Until nineteen. How long is that? If he is thirteen now, it is a short six years, and yet they are saying that Jesus is not coming for thirty years.
It is unfortunate that when truth is presented, these ministries (because of their own desires or expectations) choose to ignore it. Brethren, I am not saying this to put anybody down. These are men of God. You can have no doubt about that. THEY ARE MEN OF GOD, BUT THE BIBLE SAYS (IN ISAIAH 28:7) THAT THE PROPHET AND THE PRIEST, “THEY STUMBLE IN JUDGMENT.” STUMBLE IN JUDGMENT! THEY FALTER IN TRUTH! WHY? IT IS BECAUSE THERE IS ONLY ONE HEAD IN THE BODY OF CHRIST, AND HE IS JESUS. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE JESUS AS YOUR HEAD—IF YOU ARE THE HEAD OR IF YOU WANT TO BE THE BOSS AMONG GOD’S PEOPLE—THEN YOU ARE GOING TO BE A LOSER. YOU WILL BE CONFOUNDED. GLORY TO GOD! YOU WILL BE BROUGHT LOW.
We see this nonsense called the “Toronto Blessing.” It is nothing new! We have known this from many years ago. As a matter of fact, a woman came in one time, and she said that God had given her the ministry of laughter. She said it was the ministry of “Ha! Ha! Ha!” and she began to laugh. It was not long before everyone began to laugh. It was so funny seeing somebody laughing like that (false laughter), and it was not long before everyone began to laugh until they were rolling on the floor. It was no joke then.
You know I recently went to Ireland and they had the same thing there. They were not only laughing, but they were also barking like dogs. Would you believe that? The children of God have a distraction that they are calling the Toronto Blessing. My blessing must come from God and out of His kingdom, not Toronto.
Have you seen the man, who I believe comes from South Africa? He feels that this “holy laughter” is his ministry to the people of God. Do you know how he starts out? He begins by telling you funny jokes. Did anybody see it on ABC? He started with a joke on how dead the churches were, and about how “there was a man who died in the back of the church and they couldn’t find the dead man among all the people because everybody was so dead; and how they had to go through fifteen benches before they could find the dead man!” The people started laughing, and he said that was “God.” Laughing and laughing—that is how he started them off. Now, that is not God! That is not the way God does it.
You know, it is a blessing to know that even in the darkness there are some little spots of light. I saw a brother on TBN one night, and he was very sad, for he said that now is the time for weeping, and he said he was so unhappy that the people, instead of weeping between the porch and the altar, they are laughing. He said, “But, let me take you and show you what has been happening out on the street. The gangs are getting more powerful. The young people are being embroiled in the gangs, because they are hopeless.”
He had been going down into the gangs, among men that will cut you to pieces—men that will shoot you for the fun of it. He told of how he began to tell them about Jesus, and he spoke of how one whole gang came to the altar and bowed down and received the Lord. A whole gang in New York! He asked, “What are we doing in these churches, preaching to people who want to laugh, when outside there are men that are dying?”
You know, I was blessed to find that right in there, that there were people who were hearing from God.
The headship of Jesus Christ is what we need! The Tabernacle experience! Let us look here in John 17:20-21,
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word: that they all may be one….”
Verse 22, “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one even as we are one.”
Now what glory is He talking about? Jesus said in Verse 5,
“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.”
I want your imagination to run a little. Think of heaven. Think of God the Father. Think of God the Son (The Christ) and the glory that is involved. We are talking about an energy—a life that goes through the universe, that comes from God and lightens the whole of heaven. We are talking about something we cannot even imagine! You cannot imagine it! HE SAID, “NOW THIS GLORY, GOD—GIVE IT TO THEM.” AMEN! “GIVE IT TO THEM.” WHAT IS IT GOING TO DO TO THEM? IT IS GOING TO MAKE THEM ONE! MY GOD! IT’S GOING TO MAKE US ONE!
When you see a man shouting in the Spirit, jumping, and dancing—and then he goes over there and talks against his brother! It was only a superficial anointing! It was something that got on his outside and quickened him. But, we are talking about this glory—this love of God, this power, this light, that emanates from God to usward. He said, “I give it to them.” Take it! It is for those who want it. It is for those who can open up and receive it!
DO YOU KNOW HOW TO GET RID OF THE SIN THAT KEEPS YOU FROM OPENING UP AND RECEIVING—THE SIN THAT IS PREVENTING YOU FROM BEING PERFECT? DO YOU? IT IS SIMPLE! JUST OPEN UP TO GOD! HE WILL DEAL WITH IT!
Somebody says that they are smoking and they cannot quit. Open up to God! He will blast the smoking out of you! You will never have the taste for it anymore. Oh yes!
I used to smoke. I told God that I could not quit. I told God that if He wanted me to quit smoking, He would have to take it. Well, He heard me. I took a cigarette, put it in my mouth, and I vomited. From that time, if you smoke in my presence, it does not make me vomit, but if I touch it to my mouth, I vomit.
He said, “The glory…I have given it to them.” My God, help us! Help us! THE GLORY IS THERE GIVEN TO US! WE CAN RECEIVE IT BY JUST OPENING UP AND RECEIVING IT. Just open up and say, “My God, I want You! I am not satisfied! I know that I received the baptism of the Holy Ghost, but I am not satisfied. I want more of You. I want the power of You.”
Do you know what He says? “How much do you want? How much do you really want?”
Something in you gets afraid. Yes! You say that you would like to have the power that Peter or Paul had. God knows that that power is not enough. That is not enough for this present age. That is not enough power for what is going on now. You ask Jesus to give you, if possible, the power like He had it.
He is going to respond by asking you another question. He is going to ask you the question of whether you are willing to drink of the cup that He drank from. He is going to ask you if you are willing to be kicked, and kicked, and are you willing…?
It seems that the first kick you get, you take the person to the law. You take him to court. Yes. The first kick you get, you take him to court and charge him with assault. You lose! You win the court case, but you lose God.
Mavis was allowed to actually die twice. The first time, she had cancer that covered her whole body. There was no hope. The doctors even gave up. God healed her in one moment! The doctors were shocked, for right before their eyes their x-rays and everything came to naught.
We, at least, could see a result right there. The story of her having cancer and God healing her went through the whole hospital. As long as that doctor lives, he will never be able to get over it. He came out trembling like a leaf. This man is one of the greatest oncologists in Jamaica. He came out trembling like a leaf, and he said that he could not understand it. I told him that it was because we had been praying. I told him it was the work of God, and he agreed.
It happened again here recently. Mavis got this malaria. She did not have to get malaria. Amen. We did not think we could get malaria. We had had malaria from when we were kids, and we overcame it. Once you have had it, you are not supposed to have it again. However, this particular strain of malaria that is in Nigeria, you can get it ten times over. The doctors told us it was terminal. They said that nobody recovers from this thing that she had.
This doctor, who is a friend of ours, sat down and talked with her for half an hour. He was just talking to her to see if she was still here. A fever of 105.7 degrees is supposed to burn your brains to nothing, and this was the fever that she had! She was healed and they could not understand it. Nine doctors were attending her (the bill came to $25,000 for just three days), and they had to admit that this was the work of God.
That last night prior to her healing, they were ready to bury her. A brother and I got together and prayed. We asked Jesus Christ to touch her blood with His blood. I told the brother that she would be better the very next day. The next morning we came back. I called the doctor and he told me that they had taken a blood test that morning, and that it was not necessary to think about moving her. I asked what had changed his mind. He said, “Well it was your God! Your God did it, for we did nothing. There was nothing that we had here that could have made her better.” It was a blessing to hear him saying that. The other doctors came and thanked us for giving them the opportunity of seeing malaria healed.
Praise be to God! But she suffered that way, and she got over it again and again. Of course, right now it is just a matter of gaining back her physical strength. She still does not have the strength to put up with too much stress. We are believing that here again God is going to restore. You see it is “…by reason of strength” (Ref. Psalm 90:10). You use up what you have, and you find you do not have anymore. You have to get new life from God.
Jesus said, “The glory that You have given Me, I am going to give it to them; and this glory is going to make them one.” In Verse 23, He describes this “oneness,” and it is a peculiar description. He said,
“I (Jesus) in them (us) and thou (God the Father) in me (Christ) that they may be made perfect in one: and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
So, it is Christ in us and us in Christ; and God is bringing us to Tabernacles where God is going to tabernacle within us. Now the tabernacling has begun, because after He comes into your spirit, He is going into your soul. It is all scriptural. Proverbs 20:27 says that the spirit of man is the lamp of God lighting the soul.
This, then, is the plan of God. Where do we come in? WE ARE THE ONES THAT OPEN THE DOOR. Revelation 3:20,
“Behold, I stand at the door and knock, IF any man hear my voice” (do you see that if again), “and IF any man open the door (which means that you can hear His voice and not open the door), I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.”
MAY WE HAVE THE DESIRE, AND MAY GOD GRANT US THE DETERMINATION AND THE STRENGTH TO OPEN THE DOOR.
Sonlight Devotional 