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Posts Tagged ‘Foolish Virgins’

The Sleeping Church

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , on January 31, 2023| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-6

I want to talk to you today about “The Sleeping Church.” Turn your Bibles with me to Matthew and we are going to read from Matthew 25, beginning with Verse 1, “Then shall the kingdom of heaven (the church) be likened unto ten virgins which took their lamps and went forth to meet the bridegroom.”

It is interesting: you talk to the people—everybody—and they all say, “We are waiting! Jesus will soon come! We are waiting for Jesus!” All the denominations are waiting for Jesus! But it is going to be “…weeping and gnashing of teeth!” (See Matthew 8:12, 24:51, 25:30).

It goes on in Verse 2, “And five of them were wise and five were foolish.” Spiritually, it is not saying that half of them were wise and half of them were foolish. If half of the church was wise and half was foolish, it would be a wonderful thing. But it is not even ten percent of the church that is wise. There is not even ten percent! So, therefore, we are dealing with all foolish people. Foolish ministries! Foolish congregations!

Let me explain to you what “foolish” means, because sometimes you have to say what the meaning of “is” is. The Bible says in Psalm 14:1, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.” It says that the fool has said in his heart that there is no God. But here am I (saved, sanctified, baptized in the Holy Spirit) and still I will hide and do sin. I still will tell a lie. When you do this, you are saying that there is no God. You are saying that there is no God! But God is standing up looking at you while you are lying and thinking that you are hiding because the other person does not know about it. Because the people do not know, you feel quite confident that you and your situation are hidden. You come to church, straighten up, and try to sing—but you do not fool the Holy Spirit! Amen!

Let me tell you this: if we came in the congregation and our hearts were pure before God, then when we would open our mouths to sing, the whole area would be shaken! Yes! I am telling you we had had prayer meetings where we would go through the whole night. Then when we would get to three o’clock in the morning (for some reason the Spirit would always fall at that time), people in the town would come running out of their beds to the altar. They wanted Jesus! They would always tell the same stories—they could not sleep. “I was tormented! I had to come!” they would say.

So then, the glory of God and the power of God is getting into you and fastening right there, but it is not coming out. If the power of God was let loose in us, our meeting places would not be able to not hold the number of people. This whole town would be shaken! Sinners would be shaken! Oh, yes!

Forgive me please to deviate, but I have seen sorcerers to destroy churches. I don’t think you believe in sorcery. But if you do not believe in sorcery, if you do not believe that there is a living devil, then you do not believe God. For God said that there is a living devil. Let me say it again: if you do not believe in sorcery, then you do not believe God, for the Bible says that there is sorcery. Amen! In Ephesians it speaks of “…spiritual wickedness in high places.” What do you think He is talking about?

I have seen sorcerers oppress a whole church. Yes! They make the leaders of the church get sick, or some go crazy and out of their minds while the people are praising God, clapping, singing, jumping, and leaping. With all that, they cannot overcome the spirit of sorcery that was let loose upon them.

So, I am saying to you that the church is SLEEPING, but it is a time now to wake it up.

(Excerpt from The Omega Message, December 2003, pg. 2-3)

Thought for today: Is the glory and the power of God coming into you but not able to come out? Then, stop hiding your sin but let the Blood of Jesus cleanse you so that you might be part of the five wise virgin company.

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The Five Wise and the Five Foolish Virgins

Posted in Time of the End, tagged , , , , on December 21, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: Matthew 25:1-13

Matthew 25 tells us that there were ten virgins. The number ten speaks of Divine rulership. These ten were appointed to be divine rulers of God’s business, God’s work. Five of them were foolish and five of them were wise. The difference between the foolish and the wise was one little point. They were dressed alike and were clothed properly. They had oil in their lamps and their lamps were lighted. Oil in their lamps means the Spirit of God in their spirits, because the Bible says that the spirit of man is the lamp of God (Proverbs 20:27). That is where it is supposed to be. This Spirit power is supposed to fill the soul. If the soul is empty at midnight, it means that you did not store the oil in your soul, which is the place that God wants the oil anyhow. For the soul is the vessel and the vessel is the person and the person is his mind, his emotions, his will, and his desires.

If when you are in church, when you are reading the Bible, when you are among Christians, while things are all right, you have a lot of God and you can sing and pray and you can quicken people with the power of God, and yet HAVE NOTHING IN YOUR SOUL WHEN TRIBULATION HITS, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SURVIVE. This is what we mean by MIDNIGHT. At midnight, there was a cry made “Behold, the bridegroom cometh” and the virgins that were wise got up and trimmed their lamps, because at midnight people’s lamps are low. When you are in trouble, when you are in distress, your lamp is low and you need a resurgence of power coming from the oil you have stored up in your soul nature. THE OIL IN THE SOUL IS WHAT MATTERS. This the foolish virgins did not have. At midnight when the bridegroom came, they were left outside.

Matthew 25:10, “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.” Now remember, these people were there waiting for the bridegroom. They were patiently waiting and ready and well-equipped but something happened. They heard the following cry: “Behold, the bridegroom cometh.” They ALL heard it. That means the whole church is going to hear, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh” and THEY WILL BELIEVE IT. They will turn around to get themselves ready for the bridegroom for their lamps were out, their vessels were out, and they have to rush outside to the store to see if they can get oil to buy. “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.” A very sad note: “the door was shut.”

Verses 11 and 12, “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.” In other words, He was saying that He had not had intimate relationship with them. They are not known to Him. This word “know” here suggests intimate relationship.

The Lord concludes, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” God is telling us to WATCH. Whom do we watch? We need to watch ourselves. God wants every man, every woman, every child to begin to watch his own thoughts, his own mind, because only you and God know what you are thinking. Sometimes very weird thoughts come into people’s minds who are supposed to be sanctified and you had better know these weird thoughts (hidden from everyone else) should not be entertained. These thoughts will come to you and if you entertain them, because nobody knows, you will come back again and get into the same line of thinking. I want each of us to go to God and ask Him to take away these weird thoughts or else teach us how to handle them.

(Excerpt from The Book of Revelation, Volume 1, pages 141-142)

Thought for today: Let us be watchful with our thoughts in our mind. Let us store up oil in our soul so that we are of the wise virgins ready to meet our Lord at the midnight hour.

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Christ in the Soul

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , , , , , , on August 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 12:20-26

When we accepted Jesus Christ, we received life. The Blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God. This is what 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, which also had to die. So we see that when we accepted Christ as our Savior, 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 I 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 the death is complete. This is all done by faith.

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, at the same time, Christ be crowned as King. One King must depose the other. 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 Ghost 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 (II Timothy 1:10). The beast nature of man is being changed to the nature of the Christ.

We can see then that we can have Holy Spirit occupying our spirits, but not our souls as the five foolish virgins had in Matthew 25. 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.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 148-149)

Thought for today: Let us give way in our souls to the Holy Spirit so that He may fill our vessel and conquer every sin in our lives.

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Christ in the Soul

Posted in Growing in God, tagged , , , , , , , , on February 2, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[Printable version]

Scripture reading: John 12:20-26

When we accepted Jesus Christ, we received life. The Blood of Jesus Christ is the life of God. This is what 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, which also had to die. So we see that when we accepted Christ as our Savior, 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 I 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 the death is complete. This is all done by faith.

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, at the same time, Christ be crowned as King. One King must depose the other. 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 Ghost 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 (II Timothy 1:10). The beast nature of man is being changed to the nature of the Christ.

We can see then that we can have Holy Spirit occupying our spirits, but not our souls as the five foolish virgins had in Matthew 25. 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.

(Excerpt from The Pattern, pg. 148-149)

Thought for today: Let us give way in our souls to the Holy Spirit so that He may fill our vessel and conquer every sin in our lives.

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Repair Your Vision

Posted in Overcoming, tagged , , , , on November 23, 2021| Leave a Comment »

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Scripture reading: John 9:1-7

One night the Lord came to me and began to teach me a lesson, which went through the whole night. He was talking about our ability to see, about our vision. He showed me that something is wrong with our vision. The Holy Spirit gives us vision and lets us see, but different things in our lives interrupt the sight and the vision so that we see half-way or wrong in some way. God is saying to us that we need to repair our vision.

The Lord began to show me certain things. When Jesus met the blind man, He spat on the ground, mixed it and put it on the blind man’s eyes. Very unusual. It was as if God used the way He had created Adam to recreate eyes in the man. You know we have a little song that we sing – Create in me a clean heart, O God and renew a right spirit within me. Somehow or the other, I can see God saying to us that some of us have such damage to our eyes that we are totally blind and need a new creation. We need to allow God to create new eyes in us. Hallelujah. Jesus said yet to another blind man, “Receive thy sight,” and he received his sight.

Then there was Samson who got himself involved with the harlot. He was so blind to the fact that she wanted to kill him and was kind of assisting her. It went on and on until she finally got him to tell her the secret that if his hair was cut he would lose his strength. Now, you would ask the question, “Why would he tell her that?” Let us look at the story. Samson had a problem with women and it disturbed his ability to see God. Judges 16:4, “And it came to pass afterward, that he loved a woman in the valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah.”

I want you to understand, your Bible is a very peculiar book. When you see that it mentions that the woman lived in a valley, immediately something should rise in you as you read your Bible. “He went to a woman in the valley of Sorek.” The moment you see that it said that it was in a valley, you know that the man was going down, stepping down from the standard of righteousness which God had given him, which God has created that man should live in. In other words, every man must have a certain amount of control over his own body.

Now, what made Samson always go after harlots? Did you notice it? This was not the first one. Every one he went after was a harlot. He had a problem. I am saying that this problem exists in the church, in the Body.

We know that the Outer Court will soon be trampled under foot. This means everything carnal, everything natural will be under judgment. Now, if I am a spiritual man but am carnal, I am under judgment. I might believe I am in the Holy Place because the Holy Spirit is in me. NO! The Holy Spirit can be in me and I am not in the Spirit. You can have the Holy Spirit and not be in the Holy Spirit.

The five foolish virgins had everything as far as equipment was concerned that the five wise had, and one little detail that was major. The detail is to have the God that is in the universe, the God that built the universe, the God that you have in your spirit, to have Him in your soul. This is the same God that speaks in tongues, that delivers His Word, and that manifests Himself to us as we sing.

The man Samson had a problem and the problem was one that would make a person be in the Outer Court, though your place is in the Holiest of All. God gives us the ability to be in the Holiest of All with Christ Jesus Himself and we choose to be in the Outer Court because of our carnal appetite! Brethren, do you know why God leaves your carnal appetite with you? God could take it away and kill it and just leave you happy and free. But He left your carnal appetite with you to give you an opportunity to kill it, to control it, to exercise the power of life over the power of death, the power of the love of God over the power of the love of the world. Do you hear me? He leaves you free to exercise the power that God has given you over the carnal realm. We know He said to Adam, “Take charge of the carnal realm. This is your duty, this is your power, and this is your privilege. You take charge of the carnal realm.” Did you hear the word that He used? Dominion! God didn’t say that we should have dominion one over another. You must not dominate another human being. God said to Adam, “Dominate nature! Dominate the world.” Glory to God. “Dominate the circumstances!”

(Excerpt from Keeping in Touch, May 2009, pg. 24-25)

Thought for today: God left your carnal appetite with you to give you an opportunity to kill it, to control it, to exercise the power of life over the power of death, the power of the love of God over the power of the love of the world.

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