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Are You Baptized?

This message entitled “Are You Baptized?“ was given by Brother Cecil duCille in 1973.

For more audio messages please visit Audio Messages – Foundational Teachings.

Victory over the Beast

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Scripture reading: Revelation 15:2

It says in Revelation 15:2 that there are people who had “gotten the victory over the beast.” Basically, man has these four beast natures in him. He has the nature of the flying eagle. His mind will always be flying in different directions; high-mindedness will always be rising up and flying off. Man’s emotions are like a fierce, roaring lion that tears its prey and destroys rather than makes whole. His will is stubborn as an ox. Man is a creature who desires everything. He desires heaven and hell at the same time. He will build great palaces and comfortable houses to live in but he will also build machinery of death. He will build armies. He will want to fight, to kill, to overcome his neighbors, and to rule over other people.

THIS IS MAN. These natures have been made inside the man’s soul. This is the man himself. God wants to change this nature. Before the flying eagle can be used of God, it must be changed to an eagle saint, one that will rise up in Christ. In Exodus 19:4 God said that He had borne the Israelites “on eagles’ wings” out of Egypt into Canaan. The great eagle is Jesus Christ Himself. We then have the nature of the eagle. God intends to use this nature, not destroy it but use it, by recreating it with a rebirth. The new eagle is one that will only fly in Christ and rise up in the things of God.

The emotions are wild. I do not need to tell you how wild emotions can be. When they get loose, they are merciless, brutal. God wants to change the emotions from being that of a roaring lion to the nature of “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” that will break the chains of hell, death, and bondage that has bound the whole human race. God has created this Lion to break these chains. In Christ, we will receive the nature of “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” that breaks every chain.

We have the nature of the ox. It will be changed; in Revelation 4 the ox was changed to a calf. The calf is humble and sucks milk. Still of the bovine species, but now it is not stubborn but humble. Humility will be crafted into man’s will, so he no longer wills to rule over his neighbors, his brethren, and his enemies. He will be humble according to the humility of Jesus Christ.

Next, we have THE MAN. This MAN is going to be changed. The change that will come upon him will be as the Son of man, no longer called just man, but SON OF MAN. As God addressed Ezekiel, “Son of man, can these bones live?” God called Jesus Christ, the Son of man, and that is the great name that God gives, the Glory of God. He made Adam and He saw Adam as the man that He would want to be perfected. He had to wait for six thousand years and the time has now come when the new Adam will come forth. The second Adam, Jesus Christ, came and saved the first Adam. We can understand then what God is saying.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 2, pages 89-90)

Thought for today: As we submit to the Spirit of God, our beast nature is being changed into the nature of Christ.

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Revelation 12:11

THE WORST PROBLEM in the Christian world is that the word “Born Again” has been compromised. People are asked to repeat the sinner’s prayer like the chanting of magical words, and are told that they are saved. Mass meetings of crusade dimensions are kept and we hear figures like 10,000 to 50,000 persons being saved, yet there does not seem to be any change in the quality of life in these areas. My opinion is that most of these people are being won to religion and not to Christ. One morning I heard a well-known evangelist on his morning show say that rock music with Christian words is going down where the people are and that we should do this to save souls. I believe rock music is of the devil and it cannot save any souls. Let me tell you the story of a vision or dream I once had:

I was a young man filled with zeal but still struggling with the flesh. In fasting and prayer I would sometimes cry out to God to show me the way to overcome. Although to others I was a mighty preacher with a very powerful healing ministry, yet in the quietness of my room I saw the yawning abyss of failure and degradation before me. One night God gave me a dream:

I was like an ancient traveler passing through a strange land. The people all seemed strange and afraid. I tried to communicate with them but they were afraid to talk. Soon there was a parade coming down the street and at the head was a man of lordly appearance; he was their king and the oppressor. I soon learned that he would not allow any stranger to pass through his land unless this person could beat him in a duel of swords. I had neither desire nor inclination to try to fight him, but he gave me a sword and would have decapitated me had I not tried to defend myself. Soon I realized that he was only toying with me and that he could kill me at any time he chose as I was no match for him. In this dilemma I cried to God as to what to do. The Lord whispered in my ear that I cannot win him with his sword, but that he would lose strength if I lifted him off the earth. (The earth was his strength). I waited my opportunity, grabbed him around the waist and lifted him and into the air we went, whereupon I cast him down to his death. Immediately a great chorus of singers broke forth; with dancing they lifted his body to their shoulders and sang, “The master of Yon Dong is dead, with joy we bear him home.”

The victory over carnality cannot be won by using the sword of carnality. If we are earthbound we are losers; we cannot win over Satan at his game with his tools. To win we must rise above earth, whence our adversary is weak and puny.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: Let us use the tools of the Spirit of God to overcome our adversary and gain victory over carnality.

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Matthew 7:16-20

The tendency in the groups and bodies around the world, who believe the word of the end time messengers, is to believe that they are the first fruits company or even the overcomers. BELIEVING THE MESSAGE OF THE OVERCOMERS QUALIFIES THE BELIEVER TO BECOME AN OVERCOMER – BUT DOES NOT MAKE HIM ONE.

The high calling of God is given to many, but some fall like Judas going to the very depths of degradation. Others fail in a lesser sense, like the five foolish virgins only losing their position and reward, but not necessarily their souls. There are also others who fail for one reason or another and force God to take them out of the battle rather than allow them to lose everything. The basic point here is that Overcomers must overcome the world, the flesh and the devil. This is the victory. The victory which God requires is that the character of Jesus Christ be formed within the soul of the believer. God will not give the believer OVERCOMING as a present. The believer must overcome using the tools which God has given him.

We, therefore, are being encouraged to turn away from the distractions which are so prevalent within the thinking and operation of the church today. The distractions are subtle and sometimes deceive the best of us. A good example of this is the case they had in Miami, Florida, where two bank robbers, long sought by the Police shot seven FBI men and were themselves shot and killed. It turned out that one of them was a well-known “Born Again” Christian who was publicized in a well-known Christian magazine as a model Christian. The reason why the Christian world accepts and fellowships with devils without recognizing them, is that our criteria for judging, say a Born Again Christian, is absolutely not scriptural but according to our traditions and humanistic thinking.

Let us take for instance the subject of VICTORY for a Christian: It is being taught and preached from the pulpits of almost every realm of the church as meaning those who can get miracles to physical bodies and also financial miracles. Although these can come from God, they are not on a plane where they can be the criteria for judging Godliness. If however, you can get a few miracles done, not only the crowds will come flocking to you, but the whole Christian world will look up to you regardless of your spiritual condition. Some live in adultery and others are fornicators. Some lie and cheat to get offerings and others are lords over God’s heritage, flaunting God to the face, but they are exalted by the church and the world as the greatest Christians of our time. According to the norm of our times, successful ministers must have big congregations and wield influence over many persons to be counted. Is this the victory which Jesus Christ gives? No! The overcomer must live above earthiness. Devils do also get miracles done as stated in the scripture that it would be an end time sign. Jesus Christ gave us a sure word pertaining to the discernment of those who are truly Christians: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” Fruits are different from GIFTS. If He had said by their gifts ye shall know them, then we would be totally deceived. Gifts can be counterfeited, but fruits of the Spirit cannot.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: God will not give the believer OVERCOMING as a present. The believer must overcome using the tools which God has given him.

Do We Believe?

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Scripture reading: I John 5:5

I John 5:4 speaks of “Whatsoever is born of God” as the overcomer of the world, but let us look at verse 5 which speaks of the WHOSOEVER:

I John 5:5a, “Who is he that overcometh the world?”

This question in itself is a challenge. Do we know him? Are we also overcomers of the world? He said, “The prince of this world cometh and findeth nothing in me.” Is Satan finding something that belongs to him in us? Let us look at the rest of the verse:

I John 5:5b, “—but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.”

Many of the things some of us do convince me that we do not really believe that Jesus is the Son of God. I am sure this sounds very strange to the reader, but if you just look with me for a while at some practical examples: If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, then we must also realize that He is here with us and that He knows our thoughts; that in the privacy of our very souls there is nothing hid from Him. How then could we live day after day and go to prayer, some of us even preaching to others, without repentance before Him, of attitudes and thought of others which are not apparent but secret. Every work shall be brought into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.

Do we really believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Then we are overcomers of the world system. When we fear the high and mighty hierarchy of man and cower before his power; when we have to go to politics for our deliverance, then we are denying the power of Christ and we deny that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.

Once Jesus visited me in my room, just after I had gone to register for bible school. His eyes were ablaze as if a fiery steam issued from them; He pointed His finger in my face and said, “If you go to bible school, you will be rejecting me as your teacher.” I had no such intention, nor would I ever consciously reject Him as my teacher, but by the act of TAKING ANOTHER TEACHER, I was automatically rejecting the one I had. When we accept certain things or do certain things, we automatically reject other things. Could it be possible that some of us are denying Christ by accepting some other thing or person? Let us walk circumspectly before God so that we can be numbered among those who overcome the world.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, May 1986)

Thought for today: If we believe that Jesus is the Christ, then we must also realize that He is here with us, that He knows our thoughts and that there is nothing hid from Him.