Feeds:
Posts
Comments

Everybody Must Have a Head

March 29, 2017 by Admin

[Printable version]

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.

Posted in Body of Christ | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Divine Order or Man’s Order?

March 28, 2017 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Ephesians 4:1-6

Let us talk about the Body of Christ today. How do we become the Body of Christ? How do we know that we are in the Body of Christ? There is only one God, one Church, one Body. When you read Ephesians 4:1-6, you will find out that it is very dogmatic. Anyone who tries to change these scriptures is not of God. If we do not belong to the one Body, then we are not of God. We were not of God before we were of God. Therefore, if we find out that we are not of God, we only have to repent, and be of God. There are many bodies in the world, so what makes us so sure that we are in the right Body?

The church was captured by the Roman Catholic system, back in the second century. The Catholics took the church and they immediately created a hierarchy. That means that they had to reject the ministry that God had set up in the world. We call the ministry that God set up in the world divine order. The order that was set up by the church is called man’s order. Now, let’s look at the difference between divine order and man’s order. Divine order is in Ephesians 4:11. And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers. It says here pastors, but in my Bible, it is crossed out and it says the word shepherds and teachers as it is in the Greek original version. You know, the Word of God is correct, but the translations are not correct. So, the Spirit of God in the people of God will correct the translations of man. Amen.

Now, we don’t have the order of man in the Bible, but we can at least talk about it. In the Roman Catholic Church there is a Pope. The Bible says that we should not have a Pope. Let us turn to Matthew 20:20-26, Then came to him the mother of Zebedee’s children with her sons, worshiping him, and desiring a certain thing of him. 21 And he said unto her, What wilt thou? She saith unto him, Grant that these my two sons may sit, the one on thy right hand, and the other on the left, in thy kingdom. 22 But Jesus answered and said, Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. 23 And he saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father. 24 And when the ten heard it, they were moved with indignation against the two brethren. Here we see a rivalry begin to take place. They wanted position now. They were about to start church politics.

25 But Jesus called them unto him, Ye know that the princes of the Gentiles exercise dominion over them, and they that are great exercise authority upon them. The word dominion means having a big boss. So, it means that Jesus is saying that is a thing of the world. In the world you have the big boss and the little ones coming right down in the hierarchy position. 26 But it shall not be so among you: but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister. Those of you who are reading the King James Version of the Bible, if you have a pen on you, cross out the word minister and put servant. The Greek says diakonos (Strong’s Concordance #G1249) and it means servant. The minister is the man with the collar and the head of a church. In Latin, minister means servant, but the church changed it to mean the man who is the head of the church. And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your slave (Matthew 20:27). I am reading the Greek. It says doulos (Strong’s Concordance #G1401). Doulos could not be anything else but slave.

We can therefore see very clearly that God is saying you must not have a hierarchical system in the church. So, if you are going to take charge of a church, the first thing that you would have to do is to break God’s divine order that He has put in the church and put in your own order. I am saying this to you, brethren, because if you are subject to any other order but God’s order, you are not in the Body of Christ. God has His order established in the earth in spite of all this confusion that we have in church business.

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, September 17, 2006, pg. 3-4)

Thought for today: It is necessary, especially at this time, for the people of God to find God’s order.

Posted in Body of Christ | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

The Woman and the Glory

March 27, 2017 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: John 17:5, 22

God’s smile, His good will, and His permissive will are all that the church seems to have been enjoying until now. But now is the time of the overshadowing, when the manchild church is being brought forth within the woman church. We are moving into a time when nothing but the perfect will of God will be acceptable.

“And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” Revelation 12:1.

This is not Mary, the mother of Jesus. This chapter was written of the future and not of the past. Mary was overshadowed by the Holy Ghost and brought forth Jesus Christ, the son of God. The church is being overshadowed by the Holy Ghost again to bring forth the Christ in us, not in a physical sense, as with Mary who had a natural child, but in the spiritual sense, where we shall bring forth the fruit of the soul and not the fruit of the womb. “Clothed with the sun” signifies an elect and called-out people of God, who at last will attain to the glory of God as their covering. Covering is not only for protection, but clothes which they wear daily – the righteousness of God being a part of our habit. The sun represents Christ, just as the moon represents the church. This woman was clothed with the sun, and her footstool was the moon. The meaning is clear. It brings out the scripture of Jesus’ prayer in John 17:5 and 22,

“And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.

We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

This glory which Jesus prayed about is the picture we see in Revelation 12. It is the same glory which hung over the tabernacle in the wilderness. The same glory Ezekiel saw at the river Chebar, and which Isaiah saw in Isaiah 1 and 6. All the prophets saw it, and Paul saw it when he was knocked down on the road to Damascus. I believe this is the same glory which I also saw in a vision in Greenwich Farm in western Kingston, when I saw the shadow of a man, cast by a great light in the sky, resting on the sea and on the land, and the voice of God speaking to me, saying, “The glory of God dwelleth in His people.” The glory is already given, and the church needs to appropriate it. The people of God is the only temple on earth now recognized by the Lord as His temple. In Haggai 2:7 and 9, there is a prophecy which is yet to come to pass, and it cannot be speaking of a natural temple, as there is none now standing which would have the approval of God. This temple, of course, must be the temple of the human body which God desires to dwell in, “not made with hands.”

“And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the Lord of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This scripture speaks of Revelation 12:1, which is the fulfillment of Haggai’s prophecy. The woman, the church, will be clothed at last, not in her own righteousness, but with the GLORY OF GOD.

“Upon her head a crown of twelve stars.”

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 151-153)

Thought for today: We do not need ecumenism. The glory of God in us is making us one without reservation or fear of separation.

Posted in Being One | Tagged , , , , | Leave a Comment »

Seven Stages of Overcoming (7 of 7)

March 25, 2017 by Admin

This message entitled “Seven Stages of Overcoming (7 of 7)“ was given by Brother Cecil duCille in the Czech Republic in 2006.

For more audio messages please visit Audio Messages.

Posted in Audio Devotionals | Leave a Comment »

We Must Be Overshadowed

March 24, 2017 by Admin

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: Psalm 57:1

In order to be filled with the “divine nature,” we must be overshadowed by the divine. The effigy of the two cherubim on the Mercy Seat in the Tabernacle of Moses is a type of the divine overshadowing. The Song of Solomon speaks of the love between Christ and the church, and the final act of planting the seed of life within the soul, the womb of the church. This is God’s divine order of bringing forth life.

Isaiah 51:16, “And I have put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say unto Zion, Thou art my people.”

Since the heavens are of old, and the earth is already founded, we can only conclude from this scripture that it speaks of the heaven, or abiding place of God within the soul of man, and the earth, to mean the physical man which as the scripture says, will be made immortal. The covering here is one of protection, an overshadowing that does not only change man’s nature, but protects him while the change is being made. This idea is carried out by the scripture as shown below.

“And it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the rock and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by.” Exodus 33:22.

It is absolutely amazing that God had to cover Moses to protect him from Himself. In simple terms, the power of radiation of God was too much for Moses’ eyes, so God simply hid him in a rock. The overshadowing always brings protection along with the main purpose for which God gives it.

“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee; yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” Psalm 57:1.

“For thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.” Isaiah 25:4.

Here again, we see the double purpose of overshadowing. Not only is it a place of hiding, but in this scripture, it created strength to the poor.

“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.” Genesis 28:15.

In 1st Corinthians 10:1-2, Paul writes in the Holy Ghost,

“Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”

With every age, there is an overshadowing, and this must come forth within those overshadowed by the will of God for their time. We, therefore, in this time have an overshadowing, and this is the greatest of all the overshadowings of the past. They were only a type of that which God is bringing forth within us for our time and for all mankind.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, 2nd edition, 1995, pg. 150-151)

Thought for today: We, therefore, in this time have an overshadowing, and this is the greatest of all the overshadowings of the past.

Posted in Time of the End | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment »

« Newer Posts - Older Posts »