Useful Resources
OMEGA-MINISTRIES.ORG
ISSUE: 05
In this section are a number of websites which can help inspire you to to seek the Lord in effective praying and in getting out there doing as well. As always, JESUS CHRIST is our greatest example and the one to whom we must compare ourselves and obey. The greatest resource is the Bible itself, so please spend your main study time in the Word of God, preferably the King James Version!
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15 Websites: www.omega-ministries.org www.biblegateway.com www.biblehub.com www.spurgeongems.org www.heartcrymissionary.com www.propheticvision.org.uk www.eurovisiontv.org www.thelastreformation.com www.propheticalert.net www.biblearchaeology.org www.fwponline.cc www.creation.com www.refornation.eu
Free material to download, booklets and tracts. Online Bible versions for comparison Online Bible versions and Greek / Hebrew Lexicon and Interlinear Powerful messages from one of the great preachers of the 19th Century Equipping and mobilizing indigenous churches and missionaries David Hathaway evangelistic website - recommended! Revival preaching broadcasts to the world- David Hathaway Join the network of believers who want to see power evangelism Insights into current affairs and how to avoid deception A useful site for the latest in Biblical related finds A good source for some of the best Wesleyan texts and comment The best resource for creation material and news The Kingdom teaching of Wolfgang Simson will refresh your vision
If you have been blessed by anything in this magazine please be as generous as you can to any of these good Christian ministries to the poor and needy: www.bhct.org.uk The Beachy Head Chaplaincy - on mission to prevent suicides www.m25m.btck.co.uk Matthew 25 Mission - helping feed the wandering and homeless www.opendoorsuk.org Supporting outreach globally and supporting Christians in persecution www.teenchallenge.org.uk Helping people escape the problems of drugs and addiction www.capuk.org Christians Against Poverty, bringing the good news to the poor in UK hopenow.org.uk Working with Orphans in the Ukraine The way we practice and experience “church.” Are we off by about 180 degrees? The training of young men to be ministers. Is our present practice more rooted in paganism? Is there a better higher way to go about practising the entire Christian faith than is presently known?
Available from: www.seedsowers.com
Do not read this book if you enjoy Sunday morning church services! This book is for believers who want to utterly abandon it all, from top to bottom, and then start over in a way that is a revolutionary, radical departure from all present-day church practices.
Available from: www.seedsowers.com
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19
JESUS CHRIST THE FOUNDATION “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11
I
n the letter to the Hebrews the writer highlights what all the apostles considered the foundational teachings of the Christian FAITH. These foundations were demonstrated and taught by Jesus Christ himself and now by his Holy Spirit through the apostolic scriptures to revealed us. These are the foundation or Rock of our faith - Jesus Christ. However, during the last 2,000 years this foundation has often been eroded or perverted by ‘religious men’ and ‘humanist systems’. These false teachers introduced other gospels which drifted away from the foundation of Christ’s teaching alone. The true apostolic teaching is sometimes referred to as, ‘the full gospel’, as it includes all the teaching and beliefs that the early disciples stood for. You may well know some, if not all of these, but you may not - it’s important to check you’re truly founded on the truth! This message is
designed to make sure you are on the solid foundation of Christ Jesus and not on traditions of men. The Scriptures in the Bible reveal that Jesus is both the architect and builder being God the Son incarnate and so there can be no other foundation of the faith we profess. Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? (Matt 21:42)
A Sixfold Foundation (Tav) (from Hebrews 6:1-2) The six elementary teachings of Jesus Christ are these: 1. Repentance from Dead Works, 2. Faith towards God, 3. Teaching of Baptisms, 4. Laying on of Hands, 5. Resurrection of the Dead 6. Eternal Judgment. We will consider these essential teachings in brief:
1. Repentance from dead works
Notice that the writer does not just say ‘repent’ in general, although this is still an essential thing to do, but he says specifically from ‘dead works’. What does ‘dead works’ mean? It’s vital to know what ‘dead works’ are, so that you might ‘change your mind and actions’ (repent) from them and do God’s will instead. According to the Scriptures true repentance always precedes true faith which is obedience. Without such repentance belief alone is a mere empty profession. Dead works includes all acts and activities of religion - even of so called ‘Christianity’ that are used to justify acceptance with God. These include the pagan ‘traditions of men’, church attendance and the works of the Mosaic Law. As Isaiah cried out to God: ... And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags... (Isaiah 64:6) continued on page 3
INSIDE A Message for our times Part 4 • First Apostles • The Called Out Ones • Epistle to the Gentiles & more...
OMEGA-MINISTRIES.ORG
ISSUE: 01
Revival – God’s Way Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19
Revival times is a FREE publication offered to those who want to be encouraged and built up to know JESUS CHRIST as their Lord God and saviour. It is published by Omega Ministries which is a non-denominational prophetic movement of believers who want to see the Kingdom come on earth as in heaven. Please send all enquiries or questions to the email address given below. We recognise all material copyrights and thank God that all contributors take no wages for their work of faith in order to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and to revive his true church in our day. All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Bible and or Greek and Hebrew, where appropriate, for clarity. This paper and other teaching material is offered online for downloading and printing free of charge. If you are inspired by the content of this paper please pass on to brothers and sisters for their encouragement. Revival is a long lost concept in our modern society because the true Gospel has been perverted, watered down and twisted for personal gain by wolves in sheep’s clothing. Enough is enough and now the sleepers must awake from their spiritual stupor. The dead dry bones must live and the faithful army of the Lord arise and shine the beauty of Christ in us, the hope of glory.
The Call Has Gone Out Soldiers of Christ, arise And put your armour on, Strong in the strength which God supplies Through His eternal Son; Strong in Lord of hosts And in His mighty power: Who in the strength of Jesus trusts Is more than conqueror
Where is the hope for Revival— God’s Holy Spirit outpoured Convicting of sin, and of judgement And righteousness of the Lord? When nothing else is important— Only God’s presence Divine, When Christians quit worldly pleasures, Then God, His ear will incline. Desperate prayer for Revival Will cleanse the Church by the Word. Then clothed in spotless, white linen, The Bride clears the way for her Lord. Prayer is the key to Revival, Prayer that is true Spirit-born, Nights of compassionate weeping— Intercession for all the forlorn. Then will the burdens be lifted, Then all the sinners will cry, Then all the chains will be loosened And worldly passions will die. The lost ones will yield to God’s Spirit When Christians, cleansed, weep and pray; God’s Living Water flows outward; This is “Revival—God’s Way”! —Estelle Gifford Jackson
Editor: Stephen Turnham © please copy and pass on
FIRST THOUGHTS That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Download the PDF here: www.omega-ministries.org email: info@omega-ministries.org
Apostle Paul
They will soar on wings like eagles; They will run and not grow weary, They will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
PAGE 2 REVIVAL TIMES
in
The E pistle
to the
Romans
chapter
8
we ready for that moment? If not, let us get ready –now! REFORNATION TO THE KINGDOM TEMPLATE
Jesus preached the Kingdom what came was Christianity: Pyramidal structures, religious personality cults, nepotism, clerics-laity-division, programs, rituals, dogmatism, church splits, denominationalism, an obsession with buildings, competitiveness and the naïve or shameless marketing of religious brands to religious consumers. In one word: religion. Large parts of the body of Christ have become lost sheep in this chaos, yet again. Once they were lost without Christ, now they are lost within religion. Good-natured and devotedly they have followed the blind leading the blind, and watched their lives turn into a dead end road: disillusioned, sobered, incapacitated and tired of all those fundraising appeals. Many are restless, upset, some even resigned. Many are treading water and ask themselves: Was that it? Was that all there is? They were looking for God, but were given a church leader. They looked for the Kingdom, but were given the church instead. But there is hope! There is life beyond CAWKI: Church-aswe-know-it! Entire generations, inspired by the Spirit of God, are turning away from the institutionalized religion of their parents that is obsessed with organized meetings. Large parts of society have long lost interest in CAWKI, seeing it for what it is: a series of orchestrated, badly choreographed, predictable, boring meetings in buildings that are mostly empty and unproductive for the largest part of the week. Once inside a church building, you will inevitably have to experience a 4-S-performance: sermons, songs, and sponsoring for yet another social project. Every once in a while, CAWKI would raise some ethical concerns and challenge a world gone greedy and hypnotized by the spirit of Babylon, while it fails to demonstrate and live the
radical alternative, what Jesus called, “the city on the hill”, the light of the world. The world is not all that impressed with the church, because it fails to see it as a true and exciting alternative to its own predicament. One of the reasons for this is that the founding message, the core narrative, has changed. Jesus preached: Repent, because the Kingdom has come. The church preaches proselytism: Welcome, become a member of our religion today! But God is not oblivious to this dilemma. Too much is at stake. In a global recall, God’s spirit is beckoning everyone who has ears to hear to say farewell to man-made religion and come back to him. First and foremost, he is calling his bride: Come back to the house of the Father! But it is also a call to God’s people: Come back into God’s order! And the Spirit of God is saying to the world: The Kingdom, not the church, is God’s amazing offer to you. Wherever people are following this call from God, we will observe a migration, people fleeing from religion and repatriating into the true Land of the Free − The Kingdom of God. If Jesus is not only our God, but our active King; if we observe his constitution and his (economic) house rules, we will experience a true revolution. The spirit of Babylon and religion will lose its power over us, and God will be able to perform a factory reset which will literally re-invent us to become, in his Kingdom, what we were supposed to be in the first place. This begins a process where we as individuals and as a body can begin to model the city of God, filled with the life of citizens of the Kingdom. Because this process is based on God’s original and final nation, the Kingdom, we call it Refornation. “Give me back my church, so I can give it back to the world.” John Wimber (USA; 1934 – 1997)
“The church is having a layover, that stressful place where we are no longer in the old and not yet in the new.The future of the church hinges decidedly on
whether we have the boldness to dare new things, to set out, to allow for new forms of church and rearrange ourselves in a new way.” Michael Herbst (Germany), Prof. of practical theology (Lutheran)
“The church is the only club in the world allowing itself the luxury to repeatedly do things since 500 years that have proven not to work. If it were a business, it would have gone bankrupt long ago! Something crucial needs to change. In our country it seems that those who succeeded prayed: On earth, as it is in hell.That is why the centerpiece of the reformation is to be formed into the original blueprint of the order of God.We need a church that brings the order of heaven back to earth and finishes what was started hundreds of years ago.” Johannes Wöhr, Konstanz (Germany)
KINGDOM RECALL God will not remain silent if his people are lost. Will he not reach out in compassion to his lost bride and call her to come home? Even if this means leaving the man-made religion of Christianity and CAWKI? This is exactly what millions of Christians sense the Spirit of God saying. For all those who have ears to hear, God has issued a global recall for his people: Come out of Babylon, come out of man-made religion, come out of kingless rebellion, come out of lawlessness and economic licentiousness that follows mammon, not God. It is a call to come back to our maker and humbly ask him for a factory reset. A call to finally grow up and dismantle the childish balancing wheels of religion. When we find the Kingdom, the treasure hidden in the field (Matt 13), we do no longer need any human religious systems, because we have come home. God is calling all his lost sons and daughters to say: I have sinned. I have missed the mark. I have failed my mission so far. Let me arise from feeding swine and go to my father. It is a call to step into the true inheritance of the sons of God, the Kingdom. It is a call for all of us to become what God wanted us to be since the foundation of the world: The King’s Woman. REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 23
A Refornation has begun by Wolfgang Simson
The following is a short extract from Wolfgang’s excellent free online book called Refornation which openly reveals the difference between religious organisation and following the Kingdom of God by the Spirit. For the complete publication please visit the website: www.refornation.eu
S
ince the beginning of humankind, there was one single, ultimate message from God man needed to hear. And it was that one single message man automatically and routinely rejected. Many would rather die than even hear it – let alone respond to it. What is that message? REPENT, BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND.
This was and is the central message of Jesus Christ, the King. Jesus neither came to reform Judaism, nor to found the religion of Christianity. He came to usher in his Kingdom, the domain of his uncontested rule. But most of humankind has been a rebel at heart. That is why until today, the sovereign Kingship of Christ that offers to rule us is the one single message that utterly confronts our cockish egos. It is a violent threat against any uncrucified desire to build our own little kingdoms, ministries and brands and to put our human logos on the Logos (“the word”) of God. The message of the Kingship of Christ completely implodes our guru-driven personality cults. It exposes our small, man-made religious empires and insults our democratic mindset that absolutely refuses to be ruled by anyone but ourselves. However, no other message is so utterly
liberating for our spirit and so revolutionary for the world. Any religious person can cry out to God for help, healing, deliverance and salvation. Anyone can say: “Lord, Lord!” but fail to do what this Lord says. Anyone can have a god. But not everyone has a king. Only when we submit ourselves lovingly to the full authority of Jesus Christ as our ruling King and judge; only when we align ourselves to his Kingdom, its constitution and its economy as our ultimate frame of reference, then, and only then, will we become the revolutionary people that we are all called to be. That revolution has now begun. And you are invited to join.
1.VISION Do you see him as he is? When the Apostle John saw Jesus in his resurrected, glorified nature in Rev. 1:12-17, all he could do was to fall flat as though dead. That is the one single, correct response to a true encounter with him, the resurrected King of kings. Jesus is no longer the itinerant preacher from Galilee. He is not a baby any more to fit into our little Christmas cribs. He does no longer hang helplessly on the cross. He refuses to fit into neat, controlled, harmless, religious theologies. He is risen! He is now the arresting, dazzling and utterly sovereign persona, the Lord of lords, the judge of the world. Can you fall flat as dead before him as you should? Because many have a Jesus that is far too small. A Jesus imported from history, “yesterday’s Jesus.” But if you truly see him as he is now, if you would fix your eyes on the one that sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12), what would you do if he asks you to? Anything?
PAGE 22 REVIVAL TIMES
We are looking for the city that is to come (Heb 13:14). Again, we are defined by what we see. Do we look backward to a manmade religion that defines us? Or do we look forward to the City of God, the New Jerusalem, the City without a temple that Jesus is building (Rev 21:22)? In the first case, we are slaves, bound to a religious history. What we rather should do is to be looking forward to our returning King and his City as our true home and destiny. This is our template. This is what defines the true nature of the church. Can you see it? Imagine the day when it will become global news, broadcast across all TV channels and social media simultaneously: Jesus Christ has returned visibly and has assumed global Kingship. He has, effective immediately, declared a global theocracy under his rule. He is not inviting any referendums, votes, or even parliamentary discussions about this. On the very first day of his global Kingship, he has summoned all heads of State, all kings, dictators, tribal leaders, warlords, chancellors presidents and prime ministers to appear before him within 24 hours. On the next day, he has summoned all denominational church leaders, metropolits, the pope and his cardinals, all bishops, superintendents, all apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and every ministry and mission executive to appear before him. On the third day, all economists and finance ministers, all participants of the World Economic Forums, all directors of foundations and particularly all those that are both rich and claim to be Christians will have to stand before him. What will he tell all of them? Are
continued from cover
Anything we do that we believe makes us ‘good enough’ for God, or makes us a ‘good person’, are in fact ‘dead works’ and not acceptable to God, who now commands that we obey his Son Jesus! (Acts 17:30-31). Charity, prayers, church attendance, every rite and ordinance, all alike are merely ‘dead works’ if seen as self justification before God. Knowing the Scripture is not enough because our hearts are desperately wicked when unredeemed by the Spirit. The apostle Paul repented and declared that all his previous Jewish religion was indeed rubbish! (Phil 3:7-11) Like Paul, we must realise that nothing we do can save us from God’s judgement on Satan and the world rulers. Only knowing Jesus personally by the Spirit can save us from the final day of judgement to come. We must turn from all sin AND rebellion and all MAN MADE religion and superstition (iniquity). As Peter said on the day of Pentecost we must admit our guilt before a holy God, repent, believe, be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit of promise.
2. Faith towards God Our modern society (and most churches) use classroom type educational methods to fill minds with knowledge. As a consequence we do not fully grasp the true meaning of living by faith. Jesus’ faith is not just about mentally believing that something is true, but rather it is about taking action in obedience to God’s clearly defined commands through Jesus. We see this when Jesus commends the soldier for GREAT FAITH towards Him. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! (Luke 7:8-9)
Great faith understands the chain of authority - God commands:angels obey, people obey, demons obey. All else is worldly rebellion and co-operation with Satan and his lies - yes ALL of it! (Matt 5:37; 1 John 2:3-4; 16) All the apostles taught this same message - faith without action by the power of the Spirit in us is dead! But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.You believe that there is one God.You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”And he was called the friend of God.You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:18-24) Abraham responded to God’s command, he heard and obeyed - his heart faith was shown by his obedient actions - he set off with all his family, not knowing where. Jesus said to the disciples ‘follow me’ and they quite literally had to pack up their bags, leave their businesses, friends and family and walk with him around the country, they knew not where! He offered the same to the rich man, but he preferred to hang on to his possessions! (Matt 19:21). We must therefore be DOERS of the Word not just hearers! (Matt 7:24) James continues to tell us how to repent and have real faith towards God (James 4:7-10). The purpose of our faith in Jesus is that we come to Him and OBEY HIS NEW COMMANDS as recorded in the Gospels - this is faith. This means YOU must seek the Lord Jesus while he can be found (Isaiah 55:6) and be born again of the water (baptism) and the Spirit. Paul also brings these two things together when testifying before King Agrippa. “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but
declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:20).
3.Teaching about Baptisms In order to be saved, you need to realise what you are being saved from. Jesus came to save us from the second death judgement - in the lake of fire when Satan is destroyed. He did this by paying for our human sin, buying us back by sacrificing his own sinless human body and blood. He died and was buried, but by the Holy Spirit his body was raised from the grave to become a life giving Spirit, a spiritual body free of death. He defeated the first death of the body that we must all face one day. In order for us to receive this work of Christ, we must do three things: A. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, putting all our hope and faith in him alone (Rom 8:9). Leave everything else behind as rubbish, as sin. Give up religious traditional thinking. B. Be baptised. We must die with him to escape the consequences of our rebellion under the Law of God. The way God has ordained this is by full immersion under water, a burial by faith in the power of God in Christ, whereby we also die to sin and make Jesus Lord. This is true Christian baptism, when we break free from the condemnation of the Law (Rom 5:13): Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3-4; see also Eph 2:15) REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 3
Without genuine Christian baptism (death with Jesus) you cannot walk in newness of ‘spiritual life’ and you will not receive the third important part of salvation - holiness, in order to overcome sin & iniquity. God says, ’Be holy, for I am holy’. (1 Peter 1:13-21). This means we are to be seoarate from the evil principles and regimes of the world according to Satan. C. Receive the Holy Spirit. Sanctification or ‘being made holy’ is essential otherwise you cannot see God! (Heb 12:4) Once you have been baptised into Christ’s death you can be fully cleansed from ALL Satan’s devils, lies and teaching by the Holy Spirit of Truth. This is the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire’ of which John the baptiser spoke. He said that this would be the main work of Jesus the Messiah, “John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16). You are like a house that needs to be cleaned out completely before all the Godhead can dwell in you! Without water baptism (death) and Spirit baptism (cleansing) you are not cut off from Satan, the accuser, and you are not experiencing the resurrected life. Jesus said this is how we enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3). Once baptised in this way Paul tells us this: Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:11-14) The Apostles made it clear that to be a disciple we must be born again in our inner spirit, baptised into his death, raised to new life and filled with the Holy Spirit for sanctification. (Acts 2:38; John
3). This makes us a ‘new creature’ separate from Adam’s race! (2 Corin 5:17; Gal 6:15). We then have the power to reject all fear even death itself. The third kind of baptism that was mentioned by Jesus is the baptism of persecution. He suffered this for us first, but told his apostles that we also would suffer it: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:49) And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” (Mark 10:37-40)
4. Laying on of hands We see a number of occasions where hands are laid upon people to impart blessing, authority and healing by the Holy Spirit. An anointed cleansed disciple or apostle can lay hands on someone when directed by the Holy Spirit to transmit spiritual blessing or authority to that person for the purpose of Christ (Acts 18:3). The Apostles, like Jesus, laid hands on the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-20; Acts 9:17) and also laid hands on the sick to bring healing as Jesus had commanded (Mark 6:18). Again this was ordained for all those who believe, every disciple of Christ. The laying on of hands is also ordained for appointing believers for specific tasks of service (Acts 6:6; 13:3; 1 Tim 5:22; 2 Tim 1:6)
5. Resurrection of the dead Nothing is more important to
PAGE 4 REVIVAL TIMES
the believer than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Revelation opens with these words: “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Jesus is the firstborn from the dead by the power of the Spirit and when he returns he will raise all those who have died physically by faith in him. This is the great hope of the gospel of the kingdom! For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:14-17). Notice the order of resurrection, first we see the Lord in the sky, second the dead in Christ are raised, then those who are still alive will be transformed and rise to be with him. This is not a secret or quiet event (see also: Matt 22:28-29; John 11:25: Acts 2:31; 4:2: Rom 6:5: 1 Corin 15; 2 Tim 2:18). This is that great and terrible day of the Lord when the dead in Christ are raised up and the wrath of God comes upon the earth.
6. Eternal judgement There is a difference between making ‘judgements’ and the ‘eternal judgement’. This foundation deals with the final judgement of God Almighty upon the body, soul and spirit of everyone that ever lived. This judgement looks for one vital qualification, in order to avoid
If this has not happened to you, you will not be raised to life at the resurrection of the dead no matter how much bread and wine you have consumed! Passover was an annual meal, it was a symbolic meal of deliverance from evil, it was symbolic of God’s wrath upon sin and demonic hierarchy. It symbolises God’s vengeance upon Jesus for our sakes. Whenever we celebrate this symbolic meal as a family it’s not about us, it’s about him and what he has done, so we can be free simply by faith in his work! God, like Abraham, offered up his Son on earth to clear the debts and start anew. Spiritual bread and wine, the WORD and the SPIRIT.
What communion? The point of what we are saying is this; Jesus never instituted a sacrament called ‘communion’ or created some kind of religious ritual with wafers when he raised the cup and broke the bread, but was simply showing that he was the Lamb of God and was about to give his body and blood for them - to deliver them from the consequences of their sin, iniquity and the national apostasy. That he was about to take on to himself the full responsibility (curse) of the Law and end it all by death on the cross and, by so doing, open a door back to heaven that had been shut since Adam sinned in the garden. From now on the disciples could never take Passover the same way again. Firstly, Passover was now fulfilled by him and replaced by his sacrifice, secondly Jesus gave new symbols representing their new spiritual deliverance, not from Pharaoh, but more importantly from Satan himself! They could never have another ordinary daily meal of bread and wine without remembering how Jesus was now among them, even in them. He was to be slain for them so that they would now be protected by his interceding holy blood - both from Satan, but more significantly from a holy Father, a consuming fire! Satan is only an angel, but God has ALL the
power, it is God the Father who must be satisfied and through Christ and he was, hallelujah and glory to his name! Now when we break our daily bread and drink our drink together we should remember this payment and new covenant between Jesus and our own body. We must feed off this offering of his flesh by faith and respect each other as his new dwelling place, literally his resurrected body! “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke 24:49) “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Ephesians 5:30) So when we gather to eat together and fellowship one with another (as disciples), as the early apostles and disciples did, we break bread and drink and remind ourselves that we are free of the judgement of the Law, not once a week or once a fortnight but everyday by faith through Christ’s work on the cross. It is his faith in his Father to raise him up by the Spirit that we trust in and celebrate, remembering that he is coming back in glory with the kingdom saints and the angels, to eat the great supper of God (wrath) and to establish his eternal kingdom in a new heaven and earth. So when we gather to share, whether two’s and three’s or thousands, we must consider how precious each one of us truly is in his sight, that he died for each one that we may be free from the curse of the Law and protected by his blood from the wrath of God to come on the world - WOW now that’s being saved! There’s actually now no Law against us - unless we put ourselves back under that law and so fall away from grace (Gal 5:4 ). However, we cannot now choose to live selfishly and go back to worldliness, because if we are living in sin when he returns we will be considered as an unbeliever or even worse a traitor (like Judas). If demons are inhabiting or controlling us we will be dragged down to the pit with them. This is why both Jesus and Paul said this:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then,Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” (Gal 5:13-18)
Why do we gather? So in answer to this question we can see that the purpose of our gathering together is that we might be led of the Spirit and know Christ as a spiritual family body. This is a supernatural gathering, because the focus is not on anything in this world, but of heaven and of the world to come. Without the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you you’ll never be able to participate in such a gathering, it’s not a preset ‘order of service’ or ‘church meeting’, but entirely run and led by the Holy Spirit. The focus is on things above where Christ dwells and upon the purpose of his Kingdom. As a famous hymn writer once expressed it: “The things of the earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace” If people gather purely for religious ritualistic reasons hoping that God hears them - they are not gathering in Christ, but are missing the joy of knowing him. When we read Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:2), we see that the Holy Spirit was actively and intimately guiding and directing the believers. We see that the very miracles and healing that Jesus showed they also showed as they witnessed to the resurrection. As Paul clearly describes in 1 Corinthians 12 even whole assemblies were equipped in the gifts of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit was experienced by all in some measure in order for the whole body to benefit. n REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 21
the wailing and crying parents of the dead Egyptian firstborn children. The Lord YAHWEH passed through and his holiness literally killed them, because the firstborn of the Egyptians had been dedicated to their false gods (demons). “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13) The Hebrews were told that this event signalled the beginning of their ‘new year’ and was to be celebrated every year! So for many hundreds of years, and now even thousands of years, Jews have remembered this deliverance by God from their enemy - Pharaoh. It remembers not just the death of the firstborn, but the lambs blood protection from God’s wrath and the subsequent deliverance from slavery and bondage. They also take the meal to ‘remind’ God that he is their deliverer and pray for this deliverance to continue. All the time not realising that it was a symbol of ‘the lamb of God’ who would take away the sins of the people and even the world. It’s key to realise that the protection needed was not from Satan, but from God’s wrath (judgement) which is much worse! Notice in the story that the meal was in the home and by families. They did not gather together as a big meeting - this is still true today among Jews, it’s a small family reunion event!
Jesus’ re-interpretation (fulfilment) of the Passover Under occupation the Passover meal was a time the Jews dreamt of being delivered from their enemy - Caesar and Rome. The Romans permitted the Jews to celebrate this holy feast - mainly to keep the peace and avoid social unrest. There was a lot of blood from lambs and goats and a lot of unleavened bread cooked PAGE 20 REVIVAL TIMES
and consumed in Jerusalem and Israel. The smell in the air would have been a strange mix of death and that of roasting meat and bread. They also ate bitter herbs as a reminder that they had escaped the bitterness of slavery. Although not listed in the original meal, in Jesus time wine had now been included as part of the meal. Jesus took these elements and symbolically used them to show how his personal sacrifice was the fulfilment of the firstborn male Lamb (without defect). His blood was to be the ‘new covenant’ or ‘guarantee’ that would protect them from the wrath of God to come, the final judgement of the whole world. It also symbolised the new beginning, the new creation that God the Father had always planned to create. “And he said unto them, ‘With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said,Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying,This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying,This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed (poured out) for you.” (Luke 22:15-20) In all of this it’s important to note that when the apostles and Jesus came together (not for the first time in three years) it was to eat and celebrate together the new year and the historical deliverance by the God of Israel from Egypt - the passach. There was discussion, laughter, food and noise (they’re Jewish right!) and Jesus breaks into this time of fellowship with a new symbolism to bring their attention back to his purpose - he was about to leave them through death, but they still had no real idea, not what they expected. In fact they completely ignored what he said about his body and blood and started fighting over who would be the greatest in the new kingdom! (Luke 22:24)
Consider for a moment what Jesus actually said to the disciples in that meal, what he was really saying to them: “This is my body which is given for you”. He was not speaking of the bread, but of his actual flesh, the bread was a mere symbol showing that he was ‘the real bread from heaven’. There was no power in the bread itself, but in his sinless flesh. Then secondly; “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”. The cup of wine is likewise a mere symbol of his ‘cup of suffering’ and his pure blood that he was about to pour out for them. There was no power in the wine, but in his sinless, innocent blood. The purpose of these symbols was to give a revelation of the truth of his sacrifice. For us to put our faith in him - not in the symbols not in the Sabbath celebration! False teachers have distorted this annual meal to mean something that Jesus never did, they turned it into a religious ceremony supposing that the actual elements of bread and wine have some kind of power in them this is not true, but superstitious sacrilege perpetrated mostly by Romanism. The purpose of this remembrance is so much more than a superstitious belief in the physical bread and wine. Jesus was drawing our attention to the fact that the covenant was changing from old to new. He was paying off the deal between God and Israel, dying to pay the cost and close the old contract of Law keeping for justification! His body now represented the Law itself, his blood represented the life of the Spirit that he was offering, in love, in order to free the Jews from the requirements of the Law and free all of us all from our sinful hearts. He did this to open our eyes to the truth that your body and my body, your blood and my blood (life) now belong to him. When we enter the new covenant by obedience to him and are baptised into him by water and the Spirit we become his property! Think again what this means, God comes and dwells in us, in our body, this is a huge miracle!
the punishment of the lake of fire with Satan and his host. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell (hades) were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20) Are you in the book of life? Are you still living with sin. Then you must question your position. Do you still love the things of this world more than Jesus and his Word? Then you must turn to Christ for mercy, repent and get in that book! You can know with assurance that Christ dwells in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).
These are the foundations of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20) For more on Jesus Christ’s teachings please visit the website and read ‘The Commands of Christ”. n
First Apostles
Who are apostles and why are they important to Jesus?
And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28
T
he word ‘apostle’ isn’t directly mentioned in the old testament Scriptures. What we do see, however are the patriarchs and prophets (seers) whom God used to establish a people for himself. These servants of God were sent to guide the nation of Israel in God’s ways. The Bible is a clear record of how God the Almighty spoke through them to correct and help them. These prophets were indeed ‘sent’ by God and the first of these was Moses. It was Moses who prophesied that one day the Messiah would come and, like him, be used save the people. Moses faithfully helped established the ‘house of Israel’ (Hebrews 3:5). Why is it we suddenly see this new function ‘apostles’ introduced by Jesus in the new testament era? You may not have noticed or realised that Jesus was in fact the first ever apostle having been sent to the earth by the Father from heaven (John 8:42). He was like Moses in this sense because he came to save the people from bondage. This is what ‘apostle’ means ‘a sent one’, but importantly sent for a specific purpose and mission. In some ways we see that Moses was like an apostle being sent to rescue Israel from Egypt. To help us define the term ‘apostle’ we see that it comes from the root Greek word ‘apostello’. The most trustworthy concordance we have defines it thus: Strong’s Concordance definition apostelló: to send, send away Original Word: ποστέλλω Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: apostelló Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tel’-lo) Definition: I send forth, send (as a messenger, commission, etc.), send away, dismiss. This root verb is used to give us the noun of ‘apostle’: apostolos: a messenger, one sent on a mission, an apostle Original Word: πόστολος, ου, Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: apostolos Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os’-tol-os) Definition: especially a man sent out by Jesus Christ Himself to preach the Gospel; an apostle. Paul also referred to himself as an Ambassador for Christ (2 Corin 5:20) and this carries similar meaning to apostle. Both these terms should be understood as a ‘job description’ or ‘function’ rather than a ‘title’ or fixed position like ‘king’. So for example the twelve original disciples were always disciples, but Jesus appointed them ‘apostles’ and then accordingly sent them out on a mission (Luke 6:13; John 20:21). He did the same with Saul (Paul) and many others then and since. However, in terms of positional identity before God, they were all still ordinary men (Acts 14:15), all brothers (Matt 23:8), all disciples along with everyone else. The main difference is
that they knew God’s kingdom plan for his spiritual body on earth, the ‘ekklesia’ (called out ones). They were given ‘authority’ and ‘responsibility’ to represent Christ as he outreached to the world through them, like ambassadors. For this same reason there can also be ‘false apostles’ or ‘false messengers’ who take a different message and represent a different master. It all depends who sends them out, and this is why Jesus was the very first apostle from heaven, because he was sent by the Father and he proved faithful to that mission. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” (Heb 3:1) “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9) Jesus’ apostolic (or sending) mission was first to redeem those who repented in Israel. “But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 15:24) This explains why Jesus never really preached to the Gentile (foreign) nations, apart from a few exceptions (such is his mercy, Matt 15:28). Jesus was an apostle to Israel, as clearly stated in Matthew. All the Gospel accounts show us how Jesus fulfilled his apostolic mission and prepared his disciples with the Word from the Father. Then how he commissioned them (sent) to take the truth of himself out to all nations by the power of the Holy Spirit within them. This is what makes disciples into apostles, they are sent by Jesus, who is the same yesterday today and forever! So we see that the first apostles had to be Jewish and Jesus chose Twelve to mirror the Twelve tribes of Israel symbolically representing the new beginning and foundation of a new nation - a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9) of Jew and Gentile. This title had been offered to the Israelite people before, at Mount Sinai through Moses (Exod 19:6), but they rejected the good news of becoming kingdom priests, afraid to hear God speak to them (Exod 20:19). After Jesus established his church and ascended to heaven to rule from there, Israel as a physical nation was destroyed and barren for 1800 years. Both the spiritual Jews and Spirit filled Christians have been estranged and peculiar in the nations in which they have lived. For we are strangers and sojourners according to Scripture (1 Chronicles 29:15; Hebrews 11:12-16). Jesus has now initiated what the Father had always wanted - a nation of priests who know his voice and are prepared to obey him fully and be blessed beyond measure! However, we are not yet in our true home, we no longer fit into this world system of lust and greed, but like those before us seek a kingdom and a city to come! (Heb 13:14) continued on page 7
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 5
Let God Speak to your Heart Nothing speaks more than the pure Word of God the Father through his servants the Prophets. This chapter of Proverbs reveals the benefits of wisdom.
Proverbs 3
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. PAGE 6 REVIVAL TIMES
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
guilt before him, in order to wake us up, to show how Satan has deceived mankind and continues to do so. Escaping deception is not easy because it seems so logical, even normal, to our natural carnal mind, sinning seems normal to a sinner. To conclude this section on false doctrines, without going into the details of specific false teachers, groups, cults and ‘churches’ just look at what Paul says in Colossians! “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (church) is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Col 2:16-23)
Once we realise the schemes of Satan to lead people back under the laws of men for our justification before God, we can break free and realise that when we gather together there is only one King and we are all brothers and sisters under his rule of love (Matt 23:8; Luke 22:24-26). Confused and evil men (or women) will try to drag us under the old shadow, in order to control the definitions of what is and isn’t acceptable to God, but when we read the apostolic letters and even the gospels we realise that life is not about this earth, his Kingdom is not a political system, it’s not an organisation called ‘the church’, it’s not the nation of Israel anymore, but as the letter to the Galatians and to the Hebrews
declares it’s the New Jerusalem in the heaven of God and it is in our hearts - all invisible to the human eye, but revealed through the love and mercy shown by our behaviour towards one another.
But who’s in charge then? “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matt 23:8-12)
These are the very words of Christ himself, this is the TRUTH! He declares that there is only ONE MASTER and we are all brethren under him, noone between him and the Father in heaven and you, yes really - no-one! This is the good news of the true gospel. As Paul said, ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free’. So when we gather together we are seeking to express ourselves with our new reality in the heavens, our connection to God one and all, equal before God and with no man over us (or under us). The purpose of church gatherings is not to make you happy and comfortable in this life, because this life is passing away (Matt 24:35) rather through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). Just ask the apostles if the Christian life was easy on their flesh! The purpose of the church is to fearlessly declare the kingdom of heaven to principalities and powers (Eph 3:10 ) and the salvation message of Christ to the lost! When we gather to encourage and edify one another as equals in these purposes the selfish evil plans and schemes of mankind become irrelevant! Whether we gather for prayer as 2’s, 3’s, 4’s or 10’s or 100’s or 1000’s it should always be to meet with our Lord and Master through the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of heaven and to hear his Word, so that we
can then obey with joy. Among the first believers there was a consensus of the mature and by the Holy Spirit of what they should do - especially in terms of mission. Caring and carrying each others burdens was de-facto normal practice, as was praying for each other and eating together as equals.
What about The Lord’s Supper? In order to support his vision of his church Jesus gave us the fulfilment of the Passover meal which has been called the ‘Lord’s supper’. It’s called a ‘supper’ because it was an ‘evening meal’ which for the Jews was actually the start of the next day (see Gen 1:5). In order to understand what Jesus did we need to understand what the Passover was intended for in the first place.
The Mystery of the Passover The Jewish Passover was given by God to the Hebrews when they escaped death prior to leaving Egypt. Families, in their own homes, had to sacrifice and eat a male lamb without defect and spread some of the blood on the frame of the doorway of their house. This blood was to protect them from the wrath of God, because he was going to strike down the firstborn of the land. They ate this food as a proper meal until it was all gone: “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.” (Exodus 12:8-11) God had pre-warned his people that he was going to pass judgement on Egypt in a devastating way. Notice how they had to be ready to leave Egypt having their shoes on! This was an awesome experience, when in the night they heard REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 19
command that was not from the past Scripture which says: “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (J ohn 13:34).
These are the three laws or commands that Jesus gave to his disciples as the foundation of his faith, what the apostle called the Law of Christ. It is only possible to keep these commands by the help of the Spirit dwelling in you. When we genuinely love God and our fellow man we do not sin against each other - we do no harm and so peace reigns among us. Legalism and religious rules cause division among us.
Break free from the system So it’s very important to know how Jesus loved you! Through humility he laid down both his position as Lord and King and his physical life for our sakes, taking the form of a humble servant. Essentially this kind of genuine love can only be achieved by the Spirit working in you, because the spiritless heart of man is ‘desperately wicked’ and is always wanting to benefit itself carnally from relationships and material things (see Gen 6:5; Psalm 141:4; J er 17:9-10). Mankind desperately tries to preserve this carnal (natural) life for its own benefit. We also see that people have different motives even for laying down their lives, other than for Christ. e.g. soldiers, parents, firemen etc. But our faith is about laying down our life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel message of grace that declares the magnificent work of the cross to bring us into eternal life. Jesus therefore frees us from the curse of law and the bondage of hierarchical leadership both of which are key to Satanic systems of control in the world and in the apostate church. Is the organisation you are a part of based on any kind of hierarchy? If so you must question it and challenge it’s motivations as this is not Christ’s example. If you are unable to talk openly and sincerely with leaders about the issues raised in this teaching then you may be in the wrong place! Once we grasp these PAGE 18 REVIVAL TIMES
fundamental truths the ‘organisations’ and ‘religions’ of the world which claim to know better than God are revealed for what they are, ‘seducing controlling, lies and hypocrisy’. This seems harsh, but no one was more harsh than Jesus himself (who is God in the flesh) when he confronted the so called ‘leaders’ of Israel. Just take a look at Matt 23! “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt 23:29-33)
In this whole chapter Jesus accuses these deceivers of leading all the people astray by manipulating and perverting the Scripture to their own ends and they showed no obedience to the heart of the Law such as mercy and love! Rather they loved money and prided themselves for being at the top of an hierarchy. The people supported them because of their fear of rejection and their lack of knowledge, but this was a lie and deception which Jesus reversed. Sadly, as Jesus said, most of those Pharisees died and went to hell - not what they were expecting for their service to their ‘church’ (Judaism)! The rotten core of all demonic, seducing doctrine can be seen in Satan’s original temptation of Eve, where he questions God’s will and presents a new law, the ‘law of sin’ which denies the consequence of disobedience of God (which is death). Eve was seduced by what she saw not realising how Satan had reversed things around. He promised her ‘god like’ understanding if she obeyed him and ate (accepted) of the forbidden knowledge. “Yea, hath God said,Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,We
may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman,Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ” (Gen 3:1-3)
Temptation common to all Eve chose to submit to these suggestions and convinced herself it was safe. She submitted to three temptations: 1. Good for food (satisfy the flesh) 2. Pleasant to the eyes (designed well) 3. To make one as wise as a god (to have control of others) So there we have it - the doctrine of Satan, ‘ye shall not surely die’ if you disobey God’s Word, your mind will be opened or enlightened to evil, and you will be as gods independent with power to control others. This is the ‘old age’ (new age) philosophy of the devil and the fallen angels and this is why death came into the world. This is what blinds peoples eyes today from the truth. All mankind is born into this disobedience through the woman and will therefore die physically and spiritually unless there is a saviour by grace from heaven. Praise the Lord there is - JESUS CHRIST! All false gospels manifest these three seducing temptations and seek to define what you can and cannot do, what is good or bad through pride (how it looks). It appeals to human affections (flesh) with an appearance of good (eyes), in order to be self righteous - a god by your own efforts (witchcraft). This is why God gave Israel the unchanging Laws at Sinai, because these define what sin truly is - rebellion against God’s Word. The Law revealed Israel’s (and all mens)
This is extremely good news for those who believe and receive the Holy Spirit of God. Paul beautifully articulates this in his letter to the Ephesians: “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2:14-22) The foundation of the church is the Word of God through the service of the apostles and prophets in the new covenant, all being measured squarely up to Jesus Christ! (2 Pet 3:1-2) The purpose of this work is that we become a living temple now and for eternity, in whom God dwells by the Spirit and that is the church body that Jesus builds. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corin 3:16) “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” (Eph 5:30) This is the foundation that apostles lay, Jesus Christ, as the true temple pattern - his body. Apostles are sent because they have been given this revelation, they have matured and know how to reveal Jesus Christ as God in the flesh and as the risen Lord in glory. They know how Jesus’ new priests (all believers) should live and serve, in order to mature in Christ and please the Father. Builders of people, not bricks and mortar! The mission of the church of Jesus “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” (Acts 13:1-3) The church at Antioch was a vibrant and healthy body of believers, they knew their stuff. It was a place where some had matured over the previous 15 years being recognised as teachers and prophets. Four of these men are highlighted, but there were likely many others. Paul mentions some of these others in Romans 16:7. We see that faith and the knowledge of Jesus and his mission was blossoming in that city. Noteworthy among the prophets is Barnabas who is first mentioned and the one who had discovered and protected Saul in the early days of his conversion (Acts 11:25). These historical records are vital because we see both Paul and Barnabas transition from being teachers and prophets, within the mainly Jewish church, into their calling by the Spirit to go as ‘apostles to the nations’. Both Barnabas and Saul were appointed and sent as ‘apostles’ by the Spirit through the other prophets, with the message that Christ was for all men. Clearly they and others like them were not like the Twelve original apostles, who had lived with Jesus from the beginning, however in terms of anointing and function they were recognised by Peter and the others (Gal 2:9), because they had the Spirit and calling. It was after 3 years of ministry that Paul finally spent time with Peter in Jerusalem. All these first apostles were contemporaries and recognised their callings from Christ as equals. Peter was not in charge of Paul, nor vice versa, and Barnabas was as much an apostle as Paul, even though there’s no record of him having met Jesus in the flesh, or as the risen Lord. Other apostles (sent ones) included Apollos, Silas, Andronicus, Titus and Junia (Rom 16:7; 2 Corin 8:23). All these and others were sent out by the Holy Spirit across the known world with the message of Christ! What stories will be told when we meet these great and humble servants one day in glory. Ask yourself, ‘how did the true gospel of the Kingdom come to my nation?’ At some stage it was by an apostle who was sent by Jesus through the prophets in the church. They preach the kingdom in power and gathered believers together around Christ to form families of disciples. These disciples formed the body of Christ by His Spirit in them in that location. They were not part of an organisation, but connected by the Kingdom. Sheep among wolves Jesus warned his disciples that when they are sent out as apostles,
prophets and evangelists they will experience persecution. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.” (Matt 10:16) Isn’t it amazing that he never said to them, ‘beware of the devil’, but rather ‘beware of men’, because he had defeated the devil! How true this word has been through the ages. It has been evil and religious men who have mainly scourged and killed the holy messengers of God’s word, the true apostles and disciples of Jesus. Research reveals how 11 of the Twelve first apostles died by the cruel Romans, and look how the Roman Catholic religion, in particular, murdered those who preached the grace of God in the dark ages! Paul was right about the suffering of those who truly serve God, sadly it’s so often the evil in religious men, ‘false teachers’, that oppose apostles the most. Many are still opposing the true apostles who preach the kingdom message? Paul and the other apostles kept their eye on the newly formed ‘area’ churches to protect them from false teaching that would pervert the simplicity of Christ. Religion always makes things complex by adding man’s pagan traditions. Jesus, the apostles and prophets show that true leadership is about being a ‘living sacrifice’ laying down their life for the sheep. It’s about being an obedient servant to all others at great cost to yourself, in order to bring the truth of Christ free of charge. Are you a teacher? are you a prophet? are you a pastor? Have you reached maturity? Do you know the only foundation Jesus Christ intimately through prayer, revelation and study? Are you prepared to be like Isaiah in answer to this call of the Lord? “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:6-8) Jesus Christ has purged your sin, all sin! (Heb 1:3). If this has not happened in your heart you don’t truly know him, and you are not prepared to go out to the world with his message of the Kingdom. You will preach organised church and religion instead and hinder his purpose. Can you say along with Paul, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal 2:20)? Search your heart and be honest with yourself, because God can see your true self, nothing is hidden from his sight! (Luke 8:17; 12:2. Heb 4:3). Are you struggling, not sure what to do next? Things don’t seem to go aright for your vision? You have the wrong vision, you need only to see Jesus Christ the risen Lord, all else is vanity, worldly and not of him! “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him? (Joel 2:12-14) As already mentioned the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body, we are the true temple. He now dwells in us and not in buildings made by men. This is the apostolic message, Christ IN YOU the hope of glory! (Col 1:27). Can you lay this foundation and nothing more and nothing less, and then walk away when the job is done? Paul did! “It’s a law of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and gravity, that if you put the Christian faith in a building, cover it with ritual, employ ministers, take away the informality, outlaw the spontaneity, and end the functioning, you cease having the true ekklesia of God. It does not matter how perfect your theology, you have pretty well killed the practice of the faith” (Gene Edwards) How to spot the true apostle of Jesus Christ: “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonoured! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.” (1 Corin 4:8-14)
continued on page 14
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 7
A Message For Our Times PART 4 - By Stephen Turnham
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings sensual songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes*—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33) (*judgement).” Welcome to the fourth in a 12 part series looking at who the ‘church’ really are and why.
PART 4 - WHY DO DISCIPLES GATHER TOGETHER?
We now consider how and why Spirit sealed disciples of Jesus gather together in order to please the Father, we will discover that; A. We are only united together by the Holy Spirit in us (not by organisation, race, gender or nationality etc.) B. We are strangers and pilgrims in a corrupt world that’s blinded to the truth of Christ C. As Christ’s body and royal priesthood we can hear from him in heaven together D. We gladly obey his commands to love one another as he loved us, by obediently doing His teaching E. We must encourage one another in the revelation that the Spirit gives (to build our faith and knowledge of God). F. We must grow into maturity, going from babes to adults in the faith of Jesus G. Every believer is empowered to die to sin and live for Jesus in holiness and purity H. We seek to share and help each other with daily necessities, especially the poor The Gospels record that Jesus disciples gathered around him on a daily basis and he showed them his glory and purpose - he discipled them by word and action. His teaching was by example and demonstrated God’s love and discipline, seeking to equip them to become like him mature in holiness and power. He PAGE 8 REVIVAL TIMES
prayed for them to come into the same relationship with the Father that he enjoyed (John 17). He had many disciples that followed him and at times great crowds, but at his core he chose just 12 key men whom he appointed as apostles (sent ones) entrusting them with the truth and the Spirit (even before Pentecost came), but why 12? He sent them out to declare the Gospel to the whole world, but why? The answers to these kinds of questions reveal great deal to us about why disciples should gather together in groups, in what we commonly call congregations and the purpose of it.
The Secrets of the Kingdom To the Twelve he also revealed the ‘secrets of the kingdom of heaven’ and it was for these, in particular, that he laid down his life. His mission became their mission, to spread the good news of deliverance from Satan and his kingdom and to receive the gift of eternal life by the Spirit in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus lit a holy fire in the earth that would never go out because Satan’s main power, death, was now defeated by the Son of man! The apostles, and the women that followed (including his mother Mary) from time to time helped to provide many practical needs. The reason for his new structure of 12 was to establish a rounded team of willing servants relying totally upon his guidance and power. They followed him on his mission to Israel going from town to town and house to house. They experienced the power ministry for themselves when
he sent them out. He then sent a further 70 others ahead of him to emphasise the importance of sending. The three years or so that they walked with Jesus, eating and sleeping under the stars, was an amazing time of preparation and apprenticeship before he would leave them at the dramatic fulfilment - the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Jesus taught them to put his words into practice because faith is about action not just words. “And the King shall answer and say unto them,Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt 25:40)
The pattern of the gospel is our pattern for life
How Jesus actually lived, walked and trained his men, was by the design of the Father not just coincidence or a good idea that Jesus had. It was a deliberate pattern that the apostles would later imitate (1 Corin 11:1). This was Jesus as the Apostle of faith (i.e. sent from heaven), a master builder in the Spirit, bringing men together into a structure of living stones to form a foundation, that would set the pattern for the future. This apostolic pattern reflects the pattern that Yahweh had once given to Moses on Mount Sinai. “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exod 25:8-9) The tabernacle, was (and still is),
Moses. Paul addresses this issue very strongly in this letter: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, ‘The man that doeth them shall live in them’. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3:11-14)
Notice that Paul tells us categorically that the Law is NOT of faith which means that just keeping the Law outwardly does not get you points with God! As we have already said, the whole point of the Gospel of Jesus is that he baptises disciples with the Holy Spirit (the promise within) through faith in him and his work and not by any of our own efforts. This blessing is received supernaturally and is not dependent on anything we can do for ourselves, nothing we can earn. The Law requires full compliance (to the letter), in order to be justified, and so receive the blessing and benefits of life. You can try to keep this outward obedience without any faith at all in Christ, simply by doing what’s required by the letter of the Law. However, full compliance with the whole Law is no longer possible due to the fact that the temple sacrifices were ended by God when the Temple was destroyed (AD 70). That Temple still existed in Paul’s day, but he still stood against its use for any more sacrifice or any justification. Trying to go back to any part of the Law has the reverse effect and puts you back under the curse of the Law because it nullifies the work of the cross! This is why the Jews still have so much grief in the world today. Insisting on any part of the Law to justify implies that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for your salvation and this is now sacrilege! This sacrilege (blasphemy) in God’s sight is why Paul was so stirred and angry because this takes away your freedom (from Satan) in Christ (Gal 2:21) and subjects
you again to God’s wrath because of your failure to keep the whole Law. This is why Satan encourages legalistic teaching in the churches as it gives him power to bring judgement against law breakers! Many Christian’s are hindered and suffering because of this error, confusing the Law and grace! Another key reason why ‘wolves’ want to take people back to laws and rules is to support their hierarchical leadership in order to receive payment. These organisations often require a lot of finance to gain security and prestige for themselves, but only in a worldly sense. This also includes what Paul calls the ‘merchandising’ of the gospel for profit (Titus 1:11; 1 Pet 5:2; 1 Tim 6:5 ). This was one of the things that really upset Jesus in the Temple (and still does!) “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Matt 21:12-13; John 2:16)
Paul also warned Timothy that false teachers would promote godliness as a ‘means to financial gain’ and that the ‘love of money was the root of all evil’ in the world! (1 Tim 6:5). In reality this means that so called ‘ministries’ (charging for their teachings in order to raise funds) are not being supported by God’s supernatural provision or simple hard work. Jesus is the pattern and he never sold a thing to a soul! However, he did receive many donations requiring a treasurer, but who did he put in charge of the money? None other than Judas Iscariot whom he knew would betray him! But Jesus work and ministry did not depend on finance, but on the power of the Spirit! Jesus himself died naked and penniless and the early believers gave their money towards mission and helping the poor Christians in Judea, no-one took a salary - no-one! Instead they shared food and resources to achieve God’s purpose to reach the lost. The mission was more
important than personal comforts and wealth. Do we think this way today? We should, because it’s the true gospel, according to Scripture.
Beware the legalists All Satanic (religious) false doctrine teaches that we must ‘earn’ (justify) salvation by submitting to ‘laws’ (including man made stuff). Now these laws may be wrongly taken from the Bible or made up by men (cults), but the principle is the same - men at the top who say, ‘you do as I say’. Conversely the good news of Jesus is that carrying this burden of ‘Law’ is no longer necessary, because he has completely and utterly paid the price for us to receive eternal life (the Spirit) simply by trusting and confessing him to be our Lord, receiving forgiveness of our sin and rebellion. It is his blood sacrifice which the Father has accepted as FULL payment and this cannot be undone as it has been sealed in heaven itself - the Lamb upon the throne (of heaven). This is what Paul means when he later tells the Galatians that they are free: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal 5:1) Paul calls obeying rules and laws imposed by men’ (in order to be justified), as ‘bondage’ and a violation of the liberty that Christ has paid for. The only law which Paul says we are subject to is the ‘Law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2) which depends on the Spirit’s power from within and not by obeying external rules which others put over us (even if these rules come from other believers!). It is literally true that Christ is the only way to the Father and he sets us free indeed! Once we are connected to Christ we must hear his inner voice guiding our path according to His Word. Jesus said he fulfilled all the Law and Prophets as do we when we: “love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt 22:37-40). Plus Jesus gave us a brand new
continued on page 24
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 17
that clearly exist in the world of ‘religion’ today. Jesus said, beware that you are not deceived by ‘false Christ’s’ or led astray by the ‘yeast’ (teaching) of the Pharisees (religious hypocrites). The difficulty for the inexperienced is that these ‘wolves’ can appear in ‘sheep’s clothing’, appearing good outwardly - looking holy, but they deceive by using seducing and enticing words. However, when tested against the Scripture (especially Jesus lifestyle), this mere surface appearance is exposed and their true motives are revealed (usually involving money or perversion). As you would expect over 2000 years there are now many ‘different gospels’ that have been created by Satan to cause confusion, and if possible even deceive genuine new believers in Jesus. Many of us will have come into contact with these false gospels and the wolves that run them, you might even be following one without realising it! Some of these schemes of men are very extreme and obvious (Mormons, Moonies, Jehovah Witnesses etc.), even so they still get millions of followers, who sadly remain on the road to destruction blinded by lies, pride, fear and vanity. The danger comes with those more subtle organisations and systems which promote mediocrity and a powerless gospel which depends on superstition and tradition (Roman Catholic, Church of England etc.). Every false gospel doctrine in the world or in the ‘apostate church’ is demon inspired and creates a bondage and blindness. Paul reminded Timothy of this back in their day: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy..” (1 Tim 4:1)
These seducing men (spirits) bring teachings that originate from demons (via Satan himself). What’s crucial to understand is that deception manifests as spoken lies and hypocrisy. They say we should be holy and yet they behave unholy, they are PAGE 16 REVIVAL TIMES
friends with the world and do things as the world does. They promise a prosperous life if we follow their ways. This is very seductive, but it’s definitely not the gospel of Christ! Jesus and Paul taught that this warfare against lies is not against flesh and blood, but rather against spiritual powers from whence it comes: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13)
Escaping the wolves So what is it that these false doctrines and false gospels are trying to do? What do these ‘schemes of the devil’ have in common, can we recognise Satan’s ‘mark’, in order to help us overcome their deception? Like Jesus can we see the unseen and the true spirit behind what men say? It all comes down to two key things; your ‘freedom’ and your ‘obedience’. Paul, in his first ever letter, had to combat these ‘wolves’ who were trying to ‘bewitch’ or ‘seduce’ the flock at that time away from the Spirit based Gospel of Truth back to Jewish Law for justification. Surprisingly these wolves were Jews who had apparently believed in Jesus, but had not understood the truth of grace! They wanted to impose parts of the Mosaic Law on Gentiles as well as the teachings of Jesus, to ‘glory in their flesh’ as Paul explains (Gal 6:12-14). Paul was furious with these men who were motivated by selfish ambitions and tradition. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-10) We see that these ‘preachers’ were coming to them to ‘upgrade the gospel’ and so we must understand what this kind of perversion is? These men were telling the new believers that they needed to follow the rules of Judaism in order to be fully accepted by God. However, Paul and all the apostles (event the whole church) rejected this notion as false and wrote a letter to all Gentiles regarding this truth (See Acts 15). Unfortunately there are many in ‘churches’ today who may not have ever really received or understood the true gospel of grace that Christ gave to us, because they were either born into a cult or have become involved in a ‘perverted’ or ‘mixed’ version in their first experience. This is why people get caught in false religions, cults or factions (denominations) in the first instance and determine to defend their organisation because of pride. Younger generations have grown up into these cults and religions of the world, thinking that it’s the real truth, not realising they have believed a subtle lie from the very beginning! This is a very crafty scheme of Satan who has worked over the long term as each generation fails to grasp the truth and follows man’s tradition instead. It happened to Israel and it has happened to many churches and organisations. Paul knew the exact pattern of the Gospel of grace, as seen in Christ alone, he could see what a perverted or corrupted gospel was, even when it was using the holy Law of God in a wrong way! So how is the true gospel of the ‘grace of Christ’ perverted? The first perversion was to try and take away ‘justification by faith alone’ and place it back on to obeying aspects of the Law of
the only building structure that God ever ordained for any man to build. Even so that pattern and structure, amazing as it is, became referred to as merely a shadow of Christ himself, who is the reality. The tabernacle tent and the laws were very precise, because God is very precise about what is right and holy. Jesus was the fulfilment of the Tabernacle and dwelt among us, showing us how the Father wants us to live as a men of faith - simply and powerfully, by the Spirit within! “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1) . Moses had to follow the pattern exactly as shown to him from heaven and we must also follow Christ exactly as shown from heaven. However, following in this way is impossible without the power of God’s Spirit within! This is why Jesus said, ‘You must be born again’. If we dare build anything else then it is not of the truth, it’s not God’s design and so it’s not his good and perfect will, but worse - vanity. The question is not, ‘what would Jesus do?’, but rather, ‘did Jesus do it?’. If Jesus did not do it, then neither do we have to do whatever it is that men tell us we should do to be acceptable to God (Gal 5:8). In the old tabernacle shadow they followed a man, Moses, but in the new testament we follow Christ who is God Almighty in the flesh! The well known Christian writer and church planter from the 1990’s Gene Edwards puts it this way: “The pattern had not changed. Jesus was showing these men how he had lived the Christian life… in the Godhead, back before creation. Dare we hope to find men who can teach us how to have such a relationship with Jesus Christ? Do such men exist? Look for men who grew up in Christ… in the body of Christ… and I don’t mean in the traditional church setting, or in any untraditional but legalistic setting. It is remarkable that when the Lord finished with the twelve, they could do, and did, with three thousand new converts what they had seen their Lord do in their own
lives.Thank God those men eventually learned the way to live the Christian life… the only way.The way. And it wasn’t Bible Study that got them there! It was an internal thing, an eternal and invisible thing, a thing that belonged to other realms. It was because they lived in God’s presence.” (Gene Edwards, Overlooked Christianity p64)
The right foundation The apostle Paul was aware of this great truth and taught the same apostolic message of Christ which, although he did not experience it first hand like the Twelve, he received it by revelation! (the rock of the church) This means that we can also receive revelation when we see Jesus the risen Lord through the eyes of faith! Paul was a third generation apostle along with Barnabas, Silas and others as recorded in the Acts. “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” (1 Corin 3:10)
What’s often missing in modern Christian experience is the apostolic foundation and the example of life and teaching that comes with it. There is a great deal to review on this subject, but for the sake of brevity in this message we need to summarise the key points and how this foundation greatly influences genuine Christian lifestyle. The apostles and Luke wrote down the key elements of Christ’s life in order for us to fully grasp this new foundation of His faith (authority) and how this contrasted religious works under Law or the corruption of the world system. The Gospels and Acts are key helpers in confirming what the Spirit would guide us to do in order to fully reflect the beauty of Christ himself. Jesus explains why it’s important for us to live and work together in the right way, rather than in a random or cultural/ worldly fashion - making us a peculiar people of the heavenly Spirit: “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.” (John 17:21-22) The point of gathering together as one in Spirit, as he desires, is so ‘that the world may believe’ that Jesus is who he says he is! Could anything be more important than this outreach? We may have many ideas on outreach, but God’s best idea is for us is to be the ultimate loving family that demonstrates the love and power of the Spirit from heaven! This is why the greatest commandment Jesus gave us is, ‘love one another as I have loved you’, because God is love, in the supernatural and sacrificial way, God is Spirit! In order for us to be one as the Father and Son we must focus on the Spirit life, on things above and not on earthly things (more on this in part 7). The true church of Jesus should be very poor in worldliness, but rich in heavenliness! Most people who call themselves Christian have probably never experienced this kind of relationship, because most traditional churches are not based on this purpose, but have other agendas. The church structures we see today (especially in wealthy nations) bear little or no resemblance with the simplicity in which Jesus discipled the twelve, but why?
False doctrine and false apostles - the great deception then and now
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matt 7:15) “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” (Acts 20:29) Both Jesus and Paul spent time warning their followers (flock) that ‘wolves’ or ‘false prophets’ would seek to destroy God’s plans for his people. Sadly over the last few millennia we can see how history has proven this to be so true! It’s important that every genuine member of a body of believers is aware of the characteristics and schemes of these ‘wolves’ that have been and continued on page 16
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 9
The Called Out By Stephen Turnham
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Rev 18:4-8)
esus was just 30 years old when he began his public ministry. To the elders in the Sanhedrin and the Synagogues he seemed like a young upstart with grandiose ideas above his age. However, everyone soon realised that he was more than the average budding Rabbi.
J
12:23-27). He warned them that
He began preaching repentance and baptism like John, but then took things to the next level by demonstrating the supernatural powers of the Kingdom of heaven, things not seen since the last major prophets over 400 years earlier. It got their attention (Mark 1:27 ). His miracles began early on, increasing in number and influence right up to the garden in Gethsemane and the betrayal by Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:4951 ). Healing, deliverance, multiplication and even authority over the weather we’re all demonstrated before the eyes of his followers and all the people in Palestine, the Roman province. The Prophet had come, the Kingdom was on earth as in heaven through him. These proofs and his claims to be the promised Messiah were believed by many who had been previously baptised for repentance by John. At first, most of the leaders rejected his claims and teaching being fearful of losing their status (John 12:42). They wrongly judged Jesus as just another trouble maker who was trying to usurp their authority. They claimed that the miracles he worked, that actually helped people be free from Satan, were actually from the devil. Something strongly refuted by Jesus as illogical (Matthew
The secret plan of God
PAGE 10 REVIVAL TIMES
they should not attribute evil to the Holy Spirit as this was an unforgivable sin (Matthew 12:31). They could not understand that Jesus came as a humble servant to the lost souls in Israel. The leaders (and most Jews) wanted another Jesus, a political conquering king. Instead of this Samuel they again wanted a Saul. If he wasn’t coming as the conquering King what was Jesus really up to? Why didn’t he use his divine power to rule out of the Temple?, after all despite Roman occupation it was there and available. He could have called upon the armies of heaven and taken control. The truth is that Jesus mission was much bigger than just saving Israel and Judah, he came to save mankind from it’s hopeless condition, slavery to sin and iniquity. The Scripture is clear that he came to destroy sin, death and ultimately even Satan himself (Mark 1:24; John 16:11; 1 John 3:8; Rev 20 ). Jesus reveals the true spiritual warfare that humanity has been engaged with since Adam and Eve submitted to the serpent. This battle had to be won spiritually first, so that humanity can enter the Kingdom of heaven (eternity) upon natural death. Jesus knew that we are first ‘spirits’ made by God’s will and we have a soul (mind, will & emotions) that dwells in a body of flesh. (Zech 12:1, Prov 18:14, 20:27; Eccl 3:21; 1 Corin 15:45; 1 Thess 5:23)
The corruption of the flesh and death are unstoppable despite science (Rom 8:20-22), because God himself ordained it so, but the human spirit and soul can be saved for eternity by Jesus at the resurrection of the dead into
the new heaven and new earth. This is the good news message of the kingdom of God when we are born again (in spirit) by God into eternal life (Mark 10:30). Conversely we can also be lost for eternity if never disconnected from Satan and his kingdom of darkness (Matthew 25:46). Jesus saves by the circumcision (cutting away) of sin by the risen Christ. His promise is of a new ‘house’ or ‘spiritual body’ like his, to be given us at the resurrection of the dead! (John 14:1-3; 1 Corin 15:44). Despite its passing beauty, the current world and the earth is in a corrupted form that is doomed to death and collapse. The consequence of sin is death which holds true for individuals as well as the whole world system. Bible prophecy also points this out in many places (). The demons know we are on a sinking ship and this is why mankind is trying to fly off to Mars in the hope of escape! But this will never be possible in time.
services, an army and international trading etc. Many (ethnic or religious) Jews still live in other parts of the world and have no plans to go to Israel as their homeland, and Jerusalem although partly rebuilt is not just Jewish, yet. The Temple has not been rebuilt and as such the nation has no way to have sins forgiven by the Law of Moses (although this is now not acceptable to the Lord anyhow). They cannot be saved other than through the mercy of God and prayers of the church for them. Just as Paul pleaded with them it should be our desire to see them saved by Jesus, their own Messiah. The good news is that many more Jews are converting than at any other time in recent history and this is a sign that God is again beginning to open their eyes to see the truth. Israel is a sign of the end to come. The fig tree is blossoming again! Regarding Jerusalem itself, Paul clearly states that we should not get confused, but realise that the believer’s city is now the new (future) Jerusalem in heaven where God dwells. “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break
forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Gal 4:19-31) We must conclude from this and also the preaching of Moses regarding Jesus Christ, that those who are not ‘in Christ’ are not in the New Jerusalem or the New Covenant (book of Life) and as such are therefore not in the household of God, just as Moses himself declared: “And the Lord said unto me,They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” (Deut 18:17-18 see also Acts 7:37-43). Sadly like many pagan nations in the world today most Israelites are blinded to the Gospel by Satan, but through our prayers and love they can find repentance. By faith in that Word and power they can be grafted back into Christ the true vine, and it will be life from the dead! “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. (Luke 18:31-34) Download the complete booklet here: www.omega-ministries.org
Cut away from tradition So when Jesus was revealed to Israel by John the baptist he continued on his way and called to himself many disciples, later appointing 12 as founding apostles (‘sent ones’ Luke 6:13) from the remnant of Israel. There were also the 70 that were sent ahead of him as evangelists and his ministry spread across the land at that time (Luke 10:1). All Israel and surrounding areas knew of Jesus, he was big news even among the Romans. Jesus was calling people out of that present darkness, but also out of the many traditions which were crippling them - quite literally! This is why he called his chosen disciples his ‘ekklesia’ or ‘the called out’. In the Greek language this also implies a kind
This satirical Jewish cartoonist is famous in Israel for revealing serious subjects that affect Jews and Christians. It shows that many Jews are beginning to realise that Christians are suffering for the same God and testimony as they do. To find out more about how Christians can love and testify to the Jews please visit: www.jewsforjesus.org.uk
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 15
seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.” Here we have it, a short letter (almost a text message) to the Gentiles and that’s anyone not Jewish, but utterly to the point and agreed by the whole church and confirmed by the Holy Spirit (God) that there is only need for Gentiles who believe to do 4 things related to the Law (all the Law!) so as not to offend the Gospel truth. 1. Abstain from food offered to idols 2. Abstain from eating uncooked blood (also associated with idol worship) 3. Abstain from eating things strangled (usually birds for idol worship) 4. Abstain from fornication (sexual immorality in all its forms - also associated with worshipping other gods like Bel) Sadly even today there are still many cultures which have primitive rituals involving the worship of idols (Buddhism, Islamism, Hinduism, Animism, Roman Catholicism etc.). When coming to Christ one would certainly expect that such behaviour (listed above) would cease in anyone who previously did such things. Plus it is also expected that individuals would also desire to follow the Holy Spirit and not the flesh and so stop any immoral sexual behaviour in order to be pure before Christ (see 2 Corin 6:1518). This is therefore the official letter to ALL non Jews and has been in your Bible all this time! Notable by its absence is the demand that any aspect of the Law or traditions of the Jewish people including circumcision and keeping of the Law of Moses,
the annual feasts, unclean food laws etc. need to be followed in any way whatsoever - James said, “we gave no such commandment”. This was signed and sealed by all the apostles and all the church in Jerusalem and the Spirit affirmed it - can it be any clearer than this! All glory to God. Now this is not to say that we do not now (by the Spirit in us) keep the ‘spirit’ of the Law, because in fact Jesus’ new commands often go deeper than the Law and challenge the heart and motives (conscience)! Living the holy Christian life is actually impossible unless his Spirit dwells inside you to equip and enable joyful obedience and love. The problem today is that by promoting obedience to any aspect of the Jewish Law in order to be saved (or justified) false teachers destroy faith and dishonour the COMPLETE work of the cross. In so doing they are preaching what Paul calls ‘another gospel’ and this actually brings a curse upon those people - a falling from grace back to bondage (Gal 5:4). Beware the teaching of the Pharisees (who add to the Word of Jesus) and the Sadducees (who take away from the Words of Jesus) and avoid idols (even Christian ones like crosses, statues and trees etc.). Amen.
What about Israel today? With all this in mind it is reasonable to therefore ask; what about the State of Israel and Jews we see in the Middle East since 1948 and even those still dispersed in the wider world? Firstly, we must recognise that there are indeed many prophecies that speak of a re-emergence of Israel (in part) as a testimony of God’s faithfulness to that nation’s patriarchs (Amos 9:13-15). However it must also be recognised that their ‘official’ stance on the Gospel is to reject it. The government currently forbids preaching in public and converting Jews is against their national law, so essentially it’s an anti-Christ society. It’s also important to note that they now have a democratic government and are not governed by a Sandhedrin, although one of sorts does exist today. It’s difficult to say who are genuinely ‘Jewish’ by birth and who are just ‘Israelis’ by nationality. In many respects they are similar to most democratic nations with public continued on page 15
continued from page 7 Are you now willing to suffer for Christ like this? No earthly riches, displayed last like men condemned to death, poorly clothed, beaten and homeless? Jesus the apostle died penniless and homeless on that cross, alone, rejected and even forsaken by God the Father, in order to purge away our sin. Let us now take James’ advice: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (Jas 4:7-10) The goal of all these ministry functions is that disciples are holy, sanctified, mature Sons of God. “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
PAGE 14 REVIVAL TIMES
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph 4:11-16) No compromise, but full obedience to Jesus by the Holy Spirit in us.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.(1 John 1:1-3) n continued on page 18
of separation for governance. We see that Israel had 12 Patriarchs and Jesus had 12 Apostles who formed his spiritual overseers. Our bibles usually translate this word ekklesia as ‘church', but more accurately sometimes ‘congregation’. However, we must remember the context in which Christ does this. He only had 12 close men, and associated women - a very small group. They were designed to be a kind of ‘spiritual government’ prototype to help save people from the corruption in Israel and the wider world (Isaiah 9:6). These were the beginning of a new spiritual nation out of heaven destined for the world to come (1 Peter 2:9; Rev 5:10). Because we have grown up in very tradition soaked nations it’s easy to miss the fact that Jesus, and subsequently the apostles, called new disciples to do two very radical actions; 1. Leave the corruption of religious traditions (even Jewish ones) (Matt 15:4-6; Gal 4:9-11; Phil 3). 2. Leave the corruption of the ungodly world system (hierarchical lordship) (Luke 22:2526; 1 J ohn 2:15)
Jesus modelled for us how we should live (in light), by the Spirit, whilst in the earth (1 John 2:6). Being the Light of the Kingdom is founded on love and mercy, even towards our enemies, with power over Satan. Trusting in God the Father alone for salvation or death in him. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of heaven to earth at Pentecost, so that we become holy children of heaven separated from this corrupt world system. This means that true disciples are heavenly minded and ‘called out’ from the principles of the world which are founded on evil secrecy and hierarchical organisation. As an old English word was once used to describe this holy nation, we are a ‘peculiar people’ (1 Peter 2:9). This peculiarity is not weirdness, but holiness (separation) unto the Lord. It means that we take our instruction only from the Scripture, especially Jesus Words,
and the Holy Spirit of Truth he gives us to understand the apostles teaching. Not relying on religious organisations or the principles of business world (John 14:26; Gal 1:12; 1 J ohn 2:27 ).
The message of the Kingdom Once we are born again of the Holy Spirit and have the clear revelation of who Jesus is we are not just called out, but also called to do. Jesus wants us to be coworkers with him to reach those still trapped in the darkness of Satan’s deception (1 Corin 3:9; Acts 26:18). However, we must be clear that we are not only working FOR Jesus but WITH him and by his guidance, through the Holy Spirit. The work of God is both supernatural and practical as we declare the Gospel revelation of God’s kingdom in us by love, faith, mercy and declare the kingdom to come in the future. This present world is going to be judged for its sin and iniquity and needs this saving grace to escape the wrath that is coming. Salvation in Jesus does not necessarily improve things in this life although it often does, thank the Lord! For some it may mean rejection and even death! All the first apostles suffered and died poor most being martyred. Jesus also said, ‘you will be persecuted’ when you live as he did, nevertheless along with this we receive joy in knowing the creator and the assurance of the kingdom to come with a great reward. Some find this hard to believe because they have been told a different gospel which promises prosperity in this life. We are called to share what we have with those in need, especially with fellow Christians, so that we all are able to best demonstrate the love of God in Christ. Sadly many Christians (Est. 250 million) in the world today are suffering persecution in some form and this will likely only get worse. Jesus said that ‘the love of many will grow cold’ (Matt 24:12) and this has and will create wars and persecution against those who stand for godliness by following Jesus. The Prophets who constantly warned
the unbelieving that their turning away from holiness and the adoption of foreign gods would result in destruction. The leaders and the people refused to heed their warnings and even when Jesus came (God himself!) they still refused. Jesus warned them that the Temple and Jerusalem was to be utterly destroyed, not by Satan, but by God! Why? As in the ancient times it was both as a discipline and also for a blessing to come. It was a pruning of the vine. No-one likes pruning, but if it is not done the vine is all but dead! As Paul states in Romans 11 Israel and the Jews were cut off for our sakes (the nations), so that we would receive the vital message of the Kingdom of God and salvation.
The Shape of Deception Both Jesus and the Apostles spoke of a time in history when there would be terrible times of persecution of believers. History has shown this to be true. The rise of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy was a great falling away from the grace of Christ back to a form of evil legalism and idol worship. A darkness that continues to this day. Consequently more than 50 million true Christians were martyred (dark ages) and many more still die for the faith under Islam. Despite persecution over the last 2000 years millions have come to Christ from all nations, a great multitude. Since 1948 we also see that the return of Jews to the land of Israel signals the imminent judgement to come as time begins to wind up. Israel’s punishment is over and the Gospel of Jesus is now coming to them, the first will be last. There are now two witnesses in the earth, the church and Israel. The alternatives to the plain message of Jesus Christ and the simplicity of a trusting faith and obedience abound. Deception has never been more powerful than it is today taking many strange forms. Wars in the earth are continuing despite huge political efforts to try and prevent them. Technology is being developed to bring control over the masses REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 11
now upon the earth as sin gets a free reign. Nevertheless the Gospel of the Kingdom is also being preached with power. In the midst of the darkness the true light shines to many nations and then the end will come. Jesus’ message of the wheat and weeds is being fulfilled before our very eyes today. Good and evil are dwelling together and the harvest is near! (Matt 13:2430 ) Consider also the vision of the great statue with the feet of clay and iron mixed, the point at which the great stone comes from heaven and destroys all the kingdoms of the world! (Dan 2). True Christian people know that their identity is in Christ alone and not in the nation or traditions into which they were born. They know that they have been called out of man’s ways to God’s only way, obeying Christ by the Word and Spirit. This means Christians are not of this world’s spirit, but part of an holy nation in the eternal Kingdom of heaven now and in the age to come.
The Terrible Day of the Lord Because of their many apostasies and adulteries with foreign ‘gods’ ancient Israel experienced many ‘Days of the Lord’ judgements. They were sent into the captivity of their enemies and exiled twice and many died. God’s holy judgements are designed to heal the sickness of deception, otherwise like a cancer it spreads and destroys the whole (Gal 5:9). Mankind is determined to spread his corruption into the whole universe (watch the movies!) and this will not be permitted! Jesus is coming back to trash the rebellion! This will be a terrible day to be on the wrong side of Yahweh. Anyone still loyal to sin and Satan’s world system will be judged. According to Peter the whole earth will be destroyed by fire, according to John the whole earth will be destroyed by fire and of course this was the message that came from Christ himself!! Everything you see around you today will be gone, vapourised for eternity! Land, sea, animals, trees, plants and people will melt away in the heat as Satan is destroyed in the lake PAGE 12 REVIVAL TIMES
of fire. As Jesus said, ‘the spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing’. Why? Because one day it will all be gone and forgotten, everything man has built and loved will be gone, all pointless! So why bother to invest in it, why try and build an empire of pride when it leads to nothing. All that counts is being in Christ our ‘ark’ for salvation and the great hope of the world to come where righteousness dwells (Isaiah 51:6; 2 Peter 3:13 ). There’s only one way to get there and that’s Jesus Christ, that’s why he came, to save us from the soon coming wrath, the end of all things. How we have lived with our fellow man will be judged. The book of revelation makes clear that if we are not found in the book of life (i.e. in Christ) we will be thrown into the lake of fire with Satan. This is why it’s so serious folks! This is what should motivate us to get out there with Jesus to reach those lost souls who are still headed for total destruction, who are in ignorance and proud stupidity. Most humans have no idea of what is looming in the nearest future, they cannot read the signs of the times, they are blindly unaware of the time that is upon us. Jesus has generously given us 2000 years plus of time to get ready, he has sent generations of Christian apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare us for the terrible day of God’s wrath, total global destruction. Today we find ourselves part of the last generation, like those who lived in the time of Noah. They mocked him and no-one wanted to believe his seemingly mad ideas about the nd of the world, but boy did they regret it! When the rain came it was too late. Likewise when the fire came down on Sodom and Gomorrah it was too late and when the fire comes upon the whole earth it will be too late!
What do we do now? Firstly if you’re a believer you must be ‘called out’ from the traditions of men and live as Jesus and the apostles commanded us, by the Word and Spirit alone. Test everything you do and believe
against the truth of Scripture for yourself, don’t rely on others, especially those who claim to be leaders. Good leaders will tell you to study the Word if God yourself and to seek the Lord in prayer. Be hungry for the truth and test everything like the Bereans did. Even small amounts of tradition and worldly hierarchy causes blindness and deception to the real truth of Jesus. Look carefully again at how he actually lived, what he actually did and actually said and become like him with the help of the Spirit. You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling because no one can do it for you. Take responsibility to be separated from the worldly system that promotes selfishness and sin. Work less for the worlds desires and co-work with Jesus each day. Live the supernatural life that he gives. Secondly, leave organised religion, even so called Christianity, because it has been corrupted and cannot be fixed. Jesus never set it up! Traditional ‘church’ is not following Jesus way, but is has become a fake substitute to control your time, relationships and to take your money. Accept that you cannot change these systems, instead ask the Lord to lead you to his true faithful remnant (not SDA by the way). These ones are not seen by the world, they are busy obeying Christ, praying and reaching the lost on the streets. By their fruits you will know them and they lead by example, by giving of themselves to the mercy and purpose of Jesus. They demand nothing back, but seek to help you follow him as those called out to be his body in the earth at this time. The end is near, time is running out fast! Finally accept that you will be persecuted from all and any direction for taking this radical obedience to Christ. Embrace it as a blessing and reward from the Father as it will give you great peace and joy in him. n www . omega - ministries . org
Free to download, booklets and tracts
The Epistle to the Gentiles After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the remnant of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things’ (Amos 9:11-12) The following is a chapter in the free booklet called, ‘All Things Accomplished’ available on the Omega-ministries.org website.
T
he final word regarding the ‘end of Law’ as a means to justification is recorded for us by Luke in the book of Acts when an important letter (epistle) was drafted by the Twelve apostles, the elders and the church assembly in Jerusalem to the new Gentile believers. This came about in response to the question of whether Gentile believers in Jesus should have to obey any aspects of the Jewish Law in order to be saved and thus included in the church of Jesus? Spearheading the argument for dropping ALL the requirements of the Law were Paul, Barnabas and Peter. Consider what they said: “And certain men (Pharisees) which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, ‘Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved’. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” (Acts 15:1-2) So here is the challenge by the Pharisees from Judea (Jews) that salvation depends also on keeping the Law of Moses (circumcision, Sabbaths etc.), because if you keep one part of the Law you must keep ALL of it. The Pharisees tried to push this viewpoint in the discussion. “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying,That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.” (Acts 15:5-6) Now we see the whole church comes together to consider the matter and the claim that keeping the Laws of Moses is required to be saved (justified). Notice these Pharisees are also called believers, but they did not want to separate from the Law or culture. So what do they all conclude after much disputing? First we hear from Peter considered the chief of apostles to the Jews in Jerusalem: “And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (Acts 15:7-11) There is a lot of heated discussion about this issue (as today) but notice that Peter clearly states that receiving of the Spirit is what purifies the heart and saves by faith! He insists that the yoke of the Law should not be put on disciples of Christ. Next up we hear from Paul and Barnabas who share all the miracles of the Holy Spirit that came upon the nations during their travels (over many years) and everyone is amazed and encouraged that God is accepting these nations without the Law. Finally we hear from James the Just: “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simon (Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:That the remnant of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things’ (Amos 9:11-12). Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Acts 15:13-19). James also makes it clear that the Gentiles who turn to God are not to be troubled with keeping the Law! This is the conclusion of Peter and James, both of who were with Jesus on the mount of configuration! Could it be any clearer? The result of these two wise presentations was the drafting of an epistle (official letter) to go to ALL the believing Gentiles in the whole world, what we may call the ‘epistle to the Gentiles’. “Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 13
now upon the earth as sin gets a free reign. Nevertheless the Gospel of the Kingdom is also being preached with power. In the midst of the darkness the true light shines to many nations and then the end will come. Jesus’ message of the wheat and weeds is being fulfilled before our very eyes today. Good and evil are dwelling together and the harvest is near! (Matt 13:2430 ) Consider also the vision of the great statue with the feet of clay and iron mixed, the point at which the great stone comes from heaven and destroys all the kingdoms of the world! (Dan 2). True Christian people know that their identity is in Christ alone and not in the nation or traditions into which they were born. They know that they have been called out of man’s ways to God’s only way, obeying Christ by the Word and Spirit. This means Christians are not of this world’s spirit, but part of an holy nation in the eternal Kingdom of heaven now and in the age to come.
The Terrible Day of the Lord Because of their many apostasies and adulteries with foreign ‘gods’ ancient Israel experienced many ‘Days of the Lord’ judgements. They were sent into the captivity of their enemies and exiled twice and many died. God’s holy judgements are designed to heal the sickness of deception, otherwise like a cancer it spreads and destroys the whole (Gal 5:9). Mankind is determined to spread his corruption into the whole universe (watch the movies!) and this will not be permitted! Jesus is coming back to trash the rebellion! This will be a terrible day to be on the wrong side of Yahweh. Anyone still loyal to sin and Satan’s world system will be judged. According to Peter the whole earth will be destroyed by fire, according to John the whole earth will be destroyed by fire and of course this was the message that came from Christ himself!! Everything you see around you today will be gone, vapourised for eternity! Land, sea, animals, trees, plants and people will melt away in the heat as Satan is destroyed in the lake PAGE 12 REVIVAL TIMES
of fire. As Jesus said, ‘the spirit gives life, the flesh counts for nothing’. Why? Because one day it will all be gone and forgotten, everything man has built and loved will be gone, all pointless! So why bother to invest in it, why try and build an empire of pride when it leads to nothing. All that counts is being in Christ our ‘ark’ for salvation and the great hope of the world to come where righteousness dwells (Isaiah 51:6; 2 Peter 3:13 ). There’s only one way to get there and that’s Jesus Christ, that’s why he came, to save us from the soon coming wrath, the end of all things. How we have lived with our fellow man will be judged. The book of revelation makes clear that if we are not found in the book of life (i.e. in Christ) we will be thrown into the lake of fire with Satan. This is why it’s so serious folks! This is what should motivate us to get out there with Jesus to reach those lost souls who are still headed for total destruction, who are in ignorance and proud stupidity. Most humans have no idea of what is looming in the nearest future, they cannot read the signs of the times, they are blindly unaware of the time that is upon us. Jesus has generously given us 2000 years plus of time to get ready, he has sent generations of Christian apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to prepare us for the terrible day of God’s wrath, total global destruction. Today we find ourselves part of the last generation, like those who lived in the time of Noah. They mocked him and no-one wanted to believe his seemingly mad ideas about the nd of the world, but boy did they regret it! When the rain came it was too late. Likewise when the fire came down on Sodom and Gomorrah it was too late and when the fire comes upon the whole earth it will be too late!
What do we do now? Firstly if you’re a believer you must be ‘called out’ from the traditions of men and live as Jesus and the apostles commanded us, by the Word and Spirit alone. Test everything you do and believe
against the truth of Scripture for yourself, don’t rely on others, especially those who claim to be leaders. Good leaders will tell you to study the Word if God yourself and to seek the Lord in prayer. Be hungry for the truth and test everything like the Bereans did. Even small amounts of tradition and worldly hierarchy causes blindness and deception to the real truth of Jesus. Look carefully again at how he actually lived, what he actually did and actually said and become like him with the help of the Spirit. You must work out your salvation with fear and trembling because no one can do it for you. Take responsibility to be separated from the worldly system that promotes selfishness and sin. Work less for the worlds desires and co-work with Jesus each day. Live the supernatural life that he gives. Secondly, leave organised religion, even so called Christianity, because it has been corrupted and cannot be fixed. Jesus never set it up! Traditional ‘church’ is not following Jesus way, but is has become a fake substitute to control your time, relationships and to take your money. Accept that you cannot change these systems, instead ask the Lord to lead you to his true faithful remnant (not SDA by the way). These ones are not seen by the world, they are busy obeying Christ, praying and reaching the lost on the streets. By their fruits you will know them and they lead by example, by giving of themselves to the mercy and purpose of Jesus. They demand nothing back, but seek to help you follow him as those called out to be his body in the earth at this time. The end is near, time is running out fast! Finally accept that you will be persecuted from all and any direction for taking this radical obedience to Christ. Embrace it as a blessing and reward from the Father as it will give you great peace and joy in him. n www . omega - ministries . org
Free to download, booklets and tracts
The Epistle to the Gentiles After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up: That the remnant of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things’ (Amos 9:11-12) The following is a chapter in the free booklet called, ‘All Things Accomplished’ available on the Omega-ministries.org website.
T
he final word regarding the ‘end of Law’ as a means to justification is recorded for us by Luke in the book of Acts when an important letter (epistle) was drafted by the Twelve apostles, the elders and the church assembly in Jerusalem to the new Gentile believers. This came about in response to the question of whether Gentile believers in Jesus should have to obey any aspects of the Jewish Law in order to be saved and thus included in the church of Jesus? Spearheading the argument for dropping ALL the requirements of the Law were Paul, Barnabas and Peter. Consider what they said: “And certain men (Pharisees) which came down from Judea taught the brethren, and said, ‘Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved’. When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas, and certain other of them, should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.” (Acts 15:1-2) So here is the challenge by the Pharisees from Judea (Jews) that salvation depends also on keeping the Law of Moses (circumcision, Sabbaths etc.), because if you keep one part of the Law you must keep ALL of it. The Pharisees tried to push this viewpoint in the discussion. “And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received of the church, and of the apostles and elders, and they declared all things that God had done with them. But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying,That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses. And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.” (Acts 15:5-6) Now we see the whole church comes together to consider the matter and the claim that keeping the Laws of Moses is required to be saved (justified). Notice these Pharisees are also called believers, but they did not want to separate from the Law or culture. So what do they all conclude after much disputing? First we hear from Peter considered the chief of apostles to the Jews in Jerusalem: “And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by
my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe. And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us; And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why tempt ye God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.” (Acts 15:7-11) There is a lot of heated discussion about this issue (as today) but notice that Peter clearly states that receiving of the Spirit is what purifies the heart and saves by faith! He insists that the yoke of the Law should not be put on disciples of Christ. Next up we hear from Paul and Barnabas who share all the miracles of the Holy Spirit that came upon the nations during their travels (over many years) and everyone is amazed and encouraged that God is accepting these nations without the Law. Finally we hear from James the Just: “And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me: Simon (Peter) hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name. And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written, ‘After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:That the remnant of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things’ (Amos 9:11-12). Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. Wherefore my sentence is, that we trouble not them, which from among the Gentiles are turned to God” (Acts 15:13-19). James also makes it clear that the Gentiles who turn to God are not to be troubled with keeping the Law! This is the conclusion of Peter and James, both of who were with Jesus on the mount of configuration! Could it be any clearer? The result of these two wise presentations was the drafting of an epistle (official letter) to go to ALL the believing Gentiles in the whole world, what we may call the ‘epistle to the Gentiles’. “Then pleased it the apostles and elders with the whole church, to send chosen men of their own company to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; namely, Judas surnamed Barsabas and Silas, chief men among the brethren: And they wrote letters by them after this manner; The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia. Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 13
seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have sent therefore Judas and Silas, who shall also tell you the same things by mouth. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things; That ye abstain from meats offered to idols, and from blood, and from things strangled, and from fornication: from which if ye keep yourselves, ye shall do well. Fare ye well.” Here we have it, a short letter (almost a text message) to the Gentiles and that’s anyone not Jewish, but utterly to the point and agreed by the whole church and confirmed by the Holy Spirit (God) that there is only need for Gentiles who believe to do 4 things related to the Law (all the Law!) so as not to offend the Gospel truth. 1. Abstain from food offered to idols 2. Abstain from eating uncooked blood (also associated with idol worship) 3. Abstain from eating things strangled (usually birds for idol worship) 4. Abstain from fornication (sexual immorality in all its forms - also associated with worshipping other gods like Bel) Sadly even today there are still many cultures which have primitive rituals involving the worship of idols (Buddhism, Islamism, Hinduism, Animism, Roman Catholicism etc.). When coming to Christ one would certainly expect that such behaviour (listed above) would cease in anyone who previously did such things. Plus it is also expected that individuals would also desire to follow the Holy Spirit and not the flesh and so stop any immoral sexual behaviour in order to be pure before Christ (see 2 Corin 6:1518). This is therefore the official letter to ALL non Jews and has been in your Bible all this time! Notable by its absence is the demand that any aspect of the Law or traditions of the Jewish people including circumcision and keeping of the Law of Moses,
the annual feasts, unclean food laws etc. need to be followed in any way whatsoever - James said, “we gave no such commandment”. This was signed and sealed by all the apostles and all the church in Jerusalem and the Spirit affirmed it - can it be any clearer than this! All glory to God. Now this is not to say that we do not now (by the Spirit in us) keep the ‘spirit’ of the Law, because in fact Jesus’ new commands often go deeper than the Law and challenge the heart and motives (conscience)! Living the holy Christian life is actually impossible unless his Spirit dwells inside you to equip and enable joyful obedience and love. The problem today is that by promoting obedience to any aspect of the Jewish Law in order to be saved (or justified) false teachers destroy faith and dishonour the COMPLETE work of the cross. In so doing they are preaching what Paul calls ‘another gospel’ and this actually brings a curse upon those people - a falling from grace back to bondage (Gal 5:4). Beware the teaching of the Pharisees (who add to the Word of Jesus) and the Sadducees (who take away from the Words of Jesus) and avoid idols (even Christian ones like crosses, statues and trees etc.). Amen.
What about Israel today? With all this in mind it is reasonable to therefore ask; what about the State of Israel and Jews we see in the Middle East since 1948 and even those still dispersed in the wider world? Firstly, we must recognise that there are indeed many prophecies that speak of a re-emergence of Israel (in part) as a testimony of God’s faithfulness to that nation’s patriarchs (Amos 9:13-15). However it must also be recognised that their ‘official’ stance on the Gospel is to reject it. The government currently forbids preaching in public and converting Jews is against their national law, so essentially it’s an anti-Christ society. It’s also important to note that they now have a democratic government and are not governed by a Sandhedrin, although one of sorts does exist today. It’s difficult to say who are genuinely ‘Jewish’ by birth and who are just ‘Israelis’ by nationality. In many respects they are similar to most democratic nations with public continued on page 15
continued from page 7 Are you now willing to suffer for Christ like this? No earthly riches, displayed last like men condemned to death, poorly clothed, beaten and homeless? Jesus the apostle died penniless and homeless on that cross, alone, rejected and even forsaken by God the Father, in order to purge away our sin. Let us now take James’ advice: “Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.” (Jas 4:7-10) The goal of all these ministry functions is that disciples are holy, sanctified, mature Sons of God. “He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;
PAGE 14 REVIVAL TIMES
that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph 4:11-16) No compromise, but full obedience to Jesus by the Holy Spirit in us.
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.(1 John 1:1-3) n continued on page 18
of separation for governance. We see that Israel had 12 Patriarchs and Jesus had 12 Apostles who formed his spiritual overseers. Our bibles usually translate this word ekklesia as ‘church', but more accurately sometimes ‘congregation’. However, we must remember the context in which Christ does this. He only had 12 close men, and associated women - a very small group. They were designed to be a kind of ‘spiritual government’ prototype to help save people from the corruption in Israel and the wider world (Isaiah 9:6). These were the beginning of a new spiritual nation out of heaven destined for the world to come (1 Peter 2:9; Rev 5:10). Because we have grown up in very tradition soaked nations it’s easy to miss the fact that Jesus, and subsequently the apostles, called new disciples to do two very radical actions; 1. Leave the corruption of religious traditions (even Jewish ones) (Matt 15:4-6; Gal 4:9-11; Phil 3). 2. Leave the corruption of the ungodly world system (hierarchical lordship) (Luke 22:2526; 1 J ohn 2:15)
Jesus modelled for us how we should live (in light), by the Spirit, whilst in the earth (1 John 2:6). Being the Light of the Kingdom is founded on love and mercy, even towards our enemies, with power over Satan. Trusting in God the Father alone for salvation or death in him. Jesus sent the Holy Spirit of heaven to earth at Pentecost, so that we become holy children of heaven separated from this corrupt world system. This means that true disciples are heavenly minded and ‘called out’ from the principles of the world which are founded on evil secrecy and hierarchical organisation. As an old English word was once used to describe this holy nation, we are a ‘peculiar people’ (1 Peter 2:9). This peculiarity is not weirdness, but holiness (separation) unto the Lord. It means that we take our instruction only from the Scripture, especially Jesus Words,
and the Holy Spirit of Truth he gives us to understand the apostles teaching. Not relying on religious organisations or the principles of business world (John 14:26; Gal 1:12; 1 J ohn 2:27 ).
The message of the Kingdom Once we are born again of the Holy Spirit and have the clear revelation of who Jesus is we are not just called out, but also called to do. Jesus wants us to be coworkers with him to reach those still trapped in the darkness of Satan’s deception (1 Corin 3:9; Acts 26:18). However, we must be clear that we are not only working FOR Jesus but WITH him and by his guidance, through the Holy Spirit. The work of God is both supernatural and practical as we declare the Gospel revelation of God’s kingdom in us by love, faith, mercy and declare the kingdom to come in the future. This present world is going to be judged for its sin and iniquity and needs this saving grace to escape the wrath that is coming. Salvation in Jesus does not necessarily improve things in this life although it often does, thank the Lord! For some it may mean rejection and even death! All the first apostles suffered and died poor most being martyred. Jesus also said, ‘you will be persecuted’ when you live as he did, nevertheless along with this we receive joy in knowing the creator and the assurance of the kingdom to come with a great reward. Some find this hard to believe because they have been told a different gospel which promises prosperity in this life. We are called to share what we have with those in need, especially with fellow Christians, so that we all are able to best demonstrate the love of God in Christ. Sadly many Christians (Est. 250 million) in the world today are suffering persecution in some form and this will likely only get worse. Jesus said that ‘the love of many will grow cold’ (Matt 24:12) and this has and will create wars and persecution against those who stand for godliness by following Jesus. The Prophets who constantly warned
the unbelieving that their turning away from holiness and the adoption of foreign gods would result in destruction. The leaders and the people refused to heed their warnings and even when Jesus came (God himself!) they still refused. Jesus warned them that the Temple and Jerusalem was to be utterly destroyed, not by Satan, but by God! Why? As in the ancient times it was both as a discipline and also for a blessing to come. It was a pruning of the vine. No-one likes pruning, but if it is not done the vine is all but dead! As Paul states in Romans 11 Israel and the Jews were cut off for our sakes (the nations), so that we would receive the vital message of the Kingdom of God and salvation.
The Shape of Deception Both Jesus and the Apostles spoke of a time in history when there would be terrible times of persecution of believers. History has shown this to be true. The rise of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papacy was a great falling away from the grace of Christ back to a form of evil legalism and idol worship. A darkness that continues to this day. Consequently more than 50 million true Christians were martyred (dark ages) and many more still die for the faith under Islam. Despite persecution over the last 2000 years millions have come to Christ from all nations, a great multitude. Since 1948 we also see that the return of Jews to the land of Israel signals the imminent judgement to come as time begins to wind up. Israel’s punishment is over and the Gospel of Jesus is now coming to them, the first will be last. There are now two witnesses in the earth, the church and Israel. The alternatives to the plain message of Jesus Christ and the simplicity of a trusting faith and obedience abound. Deception has never been more powerful than it is today taking many strange forms. Wars in the earth are continuing despite huge political efforts to try and prevent them. Technology is being developed to bring control over the masses REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 11
The Called Out By Stephen Turnham
Then I heard another voice from heaven saying, “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues; for her sins are heaped high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities. Pay her back as she herself has paid back others, and repay her double for her deeds; mix a double portion for her in the cup she mixed. As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’ For this reason her plagues will come in a single day, death and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for mighty is the Lord God who has judged her.” (Rev 18:4-8)
esus was just 30 years old when he began his public ministry. To the elders in the Sanhedrin and the Synagogues he seemed like a young upstart with grandiose ideas above his age. However, everyone soon realised that he was more than the average budding Rabbi.
J
12:23-27). He warned them that
He began preaching repentance and baptism like John, but then took things to the next level by demonstrating the supernatural powers of the Kingdom of heaven, things not seen since the last major prophets over 400 years earlier. It got their attention (Mark 1:27 ). His miracles began early on, increasing in number and influence right up to the garden in Gethsemane and the betrayal by Judas Iscariot (Luke 22:4951 ). Healing, deliverance, multiplication and even authority over the weather we’re all demonstrated before the eyes of his followers and all the people in Palestine, the Roman province. The Prophet had come, the Kingdom was on earth as in heaven through him. These proofs and his claims to be the promised Messiah were believed by many who had been previously baptised for repentance by John. At first, most of the leaders rejected his claims and teaching being fearful of losing their status (John 12:42). They wrongly judged Jesus as just another trouble maker who was trying to usurp their authority. They claimed that the miracles he worked, that actually helped people be free from Satan, were actually from the devil. Something strongly refuted by Jesus as illogical (Matthew
The secret plan of God
PAGE 10 REVIVAL TIMES
they should not attribute evil to the Holy Spirit as this was an unforgivable sin (Matthew 12:31). They could not understand that Jesus came as a humble servant to the lost souls in Israel. The leaders (and most Jews) wanted another Jesus, a political conquering king. Instead of this Samuel they again wanted a Saul. If he wasn’t coming as the conquering King what was Jesus really up to? Why didn’t he use his divine power to rule out of the Temple?, after all despite Roman occupation it was there and available. He could have called upon the armies of heaven and taken control. The truth is that Jesus mission was much bigger than just saving Israel and Judah, he came to save mankind from it’s hopeless condition, slavery to sin and iniquity. The Scripture is clear that he came to destroy sin, death and ultimately even Satan himself (Mark 1:24; John 16:11; 1 John 3:8; Rev 20 ). Jesus reveals the true spiritual warfare that humanity has been engaged with since Adam and Eve submitted to the serpent. This battle had to be won spiritually first, so that humanity can enter the Kingdom of heaven (eternity) upon natural death. Jesus knew that we are first ‘spirits’ made by God’s will and we have a soul (mind, will & emotions) that dwells in a body of flesh. (Zech 12:1, Prov 18:14, 20:27; Eccl 3:21; 1 Corin 15:45; 1 Thess 5:23)
The corruption of the flesh and death are unstoppable despite science (Rom 8:20-22), because God himself ordained it so, but the human spirit and soul can be saved for eternity by Jesus at the resurrection of the dead into
the new heaven and new earth. This is the good news message of the kingdom of God when we are born again (in spirit) by God into eternal life (Mark 10:30). Conversely we can also be lost for eternity if never disconnected from Satan and his kingdom of darkness (Matthew 25:46). Jesus saves by the circumcision (cutting away) of sin by the risen Christ. His promise is of a new ‘house’ or ‘spiritual body’ like his, to be given us at the resurrection of the dead! (John 14:1-3; 1 Corin 15:44). Despite its passing beauty, the current world and the earth is in a corrupted form that is doomed to death and collapse. The consequence of sin is death which holds true for individuals as well as the whole world system. Bible prophecy also points this out in many places (). The demons know we are on a sinking ship and this is why mankind is trying to fly off to Mars in the hope of escape! But this will never be possible in time.
services, an army and international trading etc. Many (ethnic or religious) Jews still live in other parts of the world and have no plans to go to Israel as their homeland, and Jerusalem although partly rebuilt is not just Jewish, yet. The Temple has not been rebuilt and as such the nation has no way to have sins forgiven by the Law of Moses (although this is now not acceptable to the Lord anyhow). They cannot be saved other than through the mercy of God and prayers of the church for them. Just as Paul pleaded with them it should be our desire to see them saved by Jesus, their own Messiah. The good news is that many more Jews are converting than at any other time in recent history and this is a sign that God is again beginning to open their eyes to see the truth. Israel is a sign of the end to come. The fig tree is blossoming again! Regarding Jerusalem itself, Paul clearly states that we should not get confused, but realise that the believer’s city is now the new (future) Jerusalem in heaven where God dwells. “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you.Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break
forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.” (Gal 4:19-31) We must conclude from this and also the preaching of Moses regarding Jesus Christ, that those who are not ‘in Christ’ are not in the New Jerusalem or the New Covenant (book of Life) and as such are therefore not in the household of God, just as Moses himself declared: “And the Lord said unto me,They have well spoken that which they have spoken. I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” (Deut 18:17-18 see also Acts 7:37-43). Sadly like many pagan nations in the world today most Israelites are blinded to the Gospel by Satan, but through our prayers and love they can find repentance. By faith in that Word and power they can be grafted back into Christ the true vine, and it will be life from the dead! “Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. (Luke 18:31-34) Download the complete booklet here: www.omega-ministries.org
Cut away from tradition So when Jesus was revealed to Israel by John the baptist he continued on his way and called to himself many disciples, later appointing 12 as founding apostles (‘sent ones’ Luke 6:13) from the remnant of Israel. There were also the 70 that were sent ahead of him as evangelists and his ministry spread across the land at that time (Luke 10:1). All Israel and surrounding areas knew of Jesus, he was big news even among the Romans. Jesus was calling people out of that present darkness, but also out of the many traditions which were crippling them - quite literally! This is why he called his chosen disciples his ‘ekklesia’ or ‘the called out’. In the Greek language this also implies a kind
This satirical Jewish cartoonist is famous in Israel for revealing serious subjects that affect Jews and Christians. It shows that many Jews are beginning to realise that Christians are suffering for the same God and testimony as they do. To find out more about how Christians can love and testify to the Jews please visit: www.jewsforjesus.org.uk
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 15
that clearly exist in the world of ‘religion’ today. Jesus said, beware that you are not deceived by ‘false Christ’s’ or led astray by the ‘yeast’ (teaching) of the Pharisees (religious hypocrites). The difficulty for the inexperienced is that these ‘wolves’ can appear in ‘sheep’s clothing’, appearing good outwardly - looking holy, but they deceive by using seducing and enticing words. However, when tested against the Scripture (especially Jesus lifestyle), this mere surface appearance is exposed and their true motives are revealed (usually involving money or perversion). As you would expect over 2000 years there are now many ‘different gospels’ that have been created by Satan to cause confusion, and if possible even deceive genuine new believers in Jesus. Many of us will have come into contact with these false gospels and the wolves that run them, you might even be following one without realising it! Some of these schemes of men are very extreme and obvious (Mormons, Moonies, Jehovah Witnesses etc.), even so they still get millions of followers, who sadly remain on the road to destruction blinded by lies, pride, fear and vanity. The danger comes with those more subtle organisations and systems which promote mediocrity and a powerless gospel which depends on superstition and tradition (Roman Catholic, Church of England etc.). Every false gospel doctrine in the world or in the ‘apostate church’ is demon inspired and creates a bondage and blindness. Paul reminded Timothy of this back in their day: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy..” (1 Tim 4:1)
These seducing men (spirits) bring teachings that originate from demons (via Satan himself). What’s crucial to understand is that deception manifests as spoken lies and hypocrisy. They say we should be holy and yet they behave unholy, they are PAGE 16 REVIVAL TIMES
friends with the world and do things as the world does. They promise a prosperous life if we follow their ways. This is very seductive, but it’s definitely not the gospel of Christ! Jesus and Paul taught that this warfare against lies is not against flesh and blood, but rather against spiritual powers from whence it comes: “Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.” (Eph 6:10-13)
Escaping the wolves So what is it that these false doctrines and false gospels are trying to do? What do these ‘schemes of the devil’ have in common, can we recognise Satan’s ‘mark’, in order to help us overcome their deception? Like Jesus can we see the unseen and the true spirit behind what men say? It all comes down to two key things; your ‘freedom’ and your ‘obedience’. Paul, in his first ever letter, had to combat these ‘wolves’ who were trying to ‘bewitch’ or ‘seduce’ the flock at that time away from the Spirit based Gospel of Truth back to Jewish Law for justification. Surprisingly these wolves were Jews who had apparently believed in Jesus, but had not understood the truth of grace! They wanted to impose parts of the Mosaic Law on Gentiles as well as the teachings of Jesus, to ‘glory in their flesh’ as Paul explains (Gal 6:12-14). Paul was furious with these men who were motivated by selfish ambitions and tradition. “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we
have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-10) We see that these ‘preachers’ were coming to them to ‘upgrade the gospel’ and so we must understand what this kind of perversion is? These men were telling the new believers that they needed to follow the rules of Judaism in order to be fully accepted by God. However, Paul and all the apostles (event the whole church) rejected this notion as false and wrote a letter to all Gentiles regarding this truth (See Acts 15). Unfortunately there are many in ‘churches’ today who may not have ever really received or understood the true gospel of grace that Christ gave to us, because they were either born into a cult or have become involved in a ‘perverted’ or ‘mixed’ version in their first experience. This is why people get caught in false religions, cults or factions (denominations) in the first instance and determine to defend their organisation because of pride. Younger generations have grown up into these cults and religions of the world, thinking that it’s the real truth, not realising they have believed a subtle lie from the very beginning! This is a very crafty scheme of Satan who has worked over the long term as each generation fails to grasp the truth and follows man’s tradition instead. It happened to Israel and it has happened to many churches and organisations. Paul knew the exact pattern of the Gospel of grace, as seen in Christ alone, he could see what a perverted or corrupted gospel was, even when it was using the holy Law of God in a wrong way! So how is the true gospel of the ‘grace of Christ’ perverted? The first perversion was to try and take away ‘justification by faith alone’ and place it back on to obeying aspects of the Law of
the only building structure that God ever ordained for any man to build. Even so that pattern and structure, amazing as it is, became referred to as merely a shadow of Christ himself, who is the reality. The tabernacle tent and the laws were very precise, because God is very precise about what is right and holy. Jesus was the fulfilment of the Tabernacle and dwelt among us, showing us how the Father wants us to live as a men of faith - simply and powerfully, by the Spirit within! “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1) . Moses had to follow the pattern exactly as shown to him from heaven and we must also follow Christ exactly as shown from heaven. However, following in this way is impossible without the power of God’s Spirit within! This is why Jesus said, ‘You must be born again’. If we dare build anything else then it is not of the truth, it’s not God’s design and so it’s not his good and perfect will, but worse - vanity. The question is not, ‘what would Jesus do?’, but rather, ‘did Jesus do it?’. If Jesus did not do it, then neither do we have to do whatever it is that men tell us we should do to be acceptable to God (Gal 5:8). In the old tabernacle shadow they followed a man, Moses, but in the new testament we follow Christ who is God Almighty in the flesh! The well known Christian writer and church planter from the 1990’s Gene Edwards puts it this way: “The pattern had not changed. Jesus was showing these men how he had lived the Christian life… in the Godhead, back before creation. Dare we hope to find men who can teach us how to have such a relationship with Jesus Christ? Do such men exist? Look for men who grew up in Christ… in the body of Christ… and I don’t mean in the traditional church setting, or in any untraditional but legalistic setting. It is remarkable that when the Lord finished with the twelve, they could do, and did, with three thousand new converts what they had seen their Lord do in their own
lives.Thank God those men eventually learned the way to live the Christian life… the only way.The way. And it wasn’t Bible Study that got them there! It was an internal thing, an eternal and invisible thing, a thing that belonged to other realms. It was because they lived in God’s presence.” (Gene Edwards, Overlooked Christianity p64)
The right foundation The apostle Paul was aware of this great truth and taught the same apostolic message of Christ which, although he did not experience it first hand like the Twelve, he received it by revelation! (the rock of the church) This means that we can also receive revelation when we see Jesus the risen Lord through the eyes of faith! Paul was a third generation apostle along with Barnabas, Silas and others as recorded in the Acts. “According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master builder, I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon.” (1 Corin 3:10)
What’s often missing in modern Christian experience is the apostolic foundation and the example of life and teaching that comes with it. There is a great deal to review on this subject, but for the sake of brevity in this message we need to summarise the key points and how this foundation greatly influences genuine Christian lifestyle. The apostles and Luke wrote down the key elements of Christ’s life in order for us to fully grasp this new foundation of His faith (authority) and how this contrasted religious works under Law or the corruption of the world system. The Gospels and Acts are key helpers in confirming what the Spirit would guide us to do in order to fully reflect the beauty of Christ himself. Jesus explains why it’s important for us to live and work together in the right way, rather than in a random or cultural/ worldly fashion - making us a peculiar people of the heavenly Spirit: “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.” (John 17:21-22) The point of gathering together as one in Spirit, as he desires, is so ‘that the world may believe’ that Jesus is who he says he is! Could anything be more important than this outreach? We may have many ideas on outreach, but God’s best idea is for us is to be the ultimate loving family that demonstrates the love and power of the Spirit from heaven! This is why the greatest commandment Jesus gave us is, ‘love one another as I have loved you’, because God is love, in the supernatural and sacrificial way, God is Spirit! In order for us to be one as the Father and Son we must focus on the Spirit life, on things above and not on earthly things (more on this in part 7). The true church of Jesus should be very poor in worldliness, but rich in heavenliness! Most people who call themselves Christian have probably never experienced this kind of relationship, because most traditional churches are not based on this purpose, but have other agendas. The church structures we see today (especially in wealthy nations) bear little or no resemblance with the simplicity in which Jesus discipled the twelve, but why?
False doctrine and false apostles - the great deception then and now
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” (Matt 7:15) “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.” (Acts 20:29) Both Jesus and Paul spent time warning their followers (flock) that ‘wolves’ or ‘false prophets’ would seek to destroy God’s plans for his people. Sadly over the last few millennia we can see how history has proven this to be so true! It’s important that every genuine member of a body of believers is aware of the characteristics and schemes of these ‘wolves’ that have been and continued on page 16
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 9
A Message For Our Times PART 4 - By Stephen Turnham
“As for you, son of man, your people who talk together about you by the walls and at the doors of the houses, say to one another, each to his brother, ‘Come, and hear what the word is that comes from the Lord.’ And they come to you as people come, and they sit before you as my people, and they hear what you say but they will not do it; for with lustful talk in their mouths they act; their heart is set on their gain. And behold, you are to them like one who sings sensual songs with a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument, for they hear what you say, but they will not do it. When this comes*—and come it will!—then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33) (*judgement).” Welcome to the fourth in a 12 part series looking at who the ‘church’ really are and why.
PART 4 - WHY DO DISCIPLES GATHER TOGETHER?
We now consider how and why Spirit sealed disciples of Jesus gather together in order to please the Father, we will discover that; A. We are only united together by the Holy Spirit in us (not by organisation, race, gender or nationality etc.) B. We are strangers and pilgrims in a corrupt world that’s blinded to the truth of Christ C. As Christ’s body and royal priesthood we can hear from him in heaven together D. We gladly obey his commands to love one another as he loved us, by obediently doing His teaching E. We must encourage one another in the revelation that the Spirit gives (to build our faith and knowledge of God). F. We must grow into maturity, going from babes to adults in the faith of Jesus G. Every believer is empowered to die to sin and live for Jesus in holiness and purity H. We seek to share and help each other with daily necessities, especially the poor The Gospels record that Jesus disciples gathered around him on a daily basis and he showed them his glory and purpose - he discipled them by word and action. His teaching was by example and demonstrated God’s love and discipline, seeking to equip them to become like him mature in holiness and power. He PAGE 8 REVIVAL TIMES
prayed for them to come into the same relationship with the Father that he enjoyed (John 17). He had many disciples that followed him and at times great crowds, but at his core he chose just 12 key men whom he appointed as apostles (sent ones) entrusting them with the truth and the Spirit (even before Pentecost came), but why 12? He sent them out to declare the Gospel to the whole world, but why? The answers to these kinds of questions reveal great deal to us about why disciples should gather together in groups, in what we commonly call congregations and the purpose of it.
The Secrets of the Kingdom To the Twelve he also revealed the ‘secrets of the kingdom of heaven’ and it was for these, in particular, that he laid down his life. His mission became their mission, to spread the good news of deliverance from Satan and his kingdom and to receive the gift of eternal life by the Spirit in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus lit a holy fire in the earth that would never go out because Satan’s main power, death, was now defeated by the Son of man! The apostles, and the women that followed (including his mother Mary) from time to time helped to provide many practical needs. The reason for his new structure of 12 was to establish a rounded team of willing servants relying totally upon his guidance and power. They followed him on his mission to Israel going from town to town and house to house. They experienced the power ministry for themselves when
he sent them out. He then sent a further 70 others ahead of him to emphasise the importance of sending. The three years or so that they walked with Jesus, eating and sleeping under the stars, was an amazing time of preparation and apprenticeship before he would leave them at the dramatic fulfilment - the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. Jesus taught them to put his words into practice because faith is about action not just words. “And the King shall answer and say unto them,Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt 25:40)
The pattern of the gospel is our pattern for life
How Jesus actually lived, walked and trained his men, was by the design of the Father not just coincidence or a good idea that Jesus had. It was a deliberate pattern that the apostles would later imitate (1 Corin 11:1). This was Jesus as the Apostle of faith (i.e. sent from heaven), a master builder in the Spirit, bringing men together into a structure of living stones to form a foundation, that would set the pattern for the future. This apostolic pattern reflects the pattern that Yahweh had once given to Moses on Mount Sinai. “And let them make me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I shew thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all the instruments thereof, even so shall ye make it.” (Exod 25:8-9) The tabernacle, was (and still is),
Moses. Paul addresses this issue very strongly in this letter: “But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, ‘The man that doeth them shall live in them’. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: that the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.” (Gal 3:11-14)
Notice that Paul tells us categorically that the Law is NOT of faith which means that just keeping the Law outwardly does not get you points with God! As we have already said, the whole point of the Gospel of Jesus is that he baptises disciples with the Holy Spirit (the promise within) through faith in him and his work and not by any of our own efforts. This blessing is received supernaturally and is not dependent on anything we can do for ourselves, nothing we can earn. The Law requires full compliance (to the letter), in order to be justified, and so receive the blessing and benefits of life. You can try to keep this outward obedience without any faith at all in Christ, simply by doing what’s required by the letter of the Law. However, full compliance with the whole Law is no longer possible due to the fact that the temple sacrifices were ended by God when the Temple was destroyed (AD 70). That Temple still existed in Paul’s day, but he still stood against its use for any more sacrifice or any justification. Trying to go back to any part of the Law has the reverse effect and puts you back under the curse of the Law because it nullifies the work of the cross! This is why the Jews still have so much grief in the world today. Insisting on any part of the Law to justify implies that Christ’s sacrifice was not enough for your salvation and this is now sacrilege! This sacrilege (blasphemy) in God’s sight is why Paul was so stirred and angry because this takes away your freedom (from Satan) in Christ (Gal 2:21) and subjects
you again to God’s wrath because of your failure to keep the whole Law. This is why Satan encourages legalistic teaching in the churches as it gives him power to bring judgement against law breakers! Many Christian’s are hindered and suffering because of this error, confusing the Law and grace! Another key reason why ‘wolves’ want to take people back to laws and rules is to support their hierarchical leadership in order to receive payment. These organisations often require a lot of finance to gain security and prestige for themselves, but only in a worldly sense. This also includes what Paul calls the ‘merchandising’ of the gospel for profit (Titus 1:11; 1 Pet 5:2; 1 Tim 6:5 ). This was one of the things that really upset Jesus in the Temple (and still does!) “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Matt 21:12-13; John 2:16)
Paul also warned Timothy that false teachers would promote godliness as a ‘means to financial gain’ and that the ‘love of money was the root of all evil’ in the world! (1 Tim 6:5). In reality this means that so called ‘ministries’ (charging for their teachings in order to raise funds) are not being supported by God’s supernatural provision or simple hard work. Jesus is the pattern and he never sold a thing to a soul! However, he did receive many donations requiring a treasurer, but who did he put in charge of the money? None other than Judas Iscariot whom he knew would betray him! But Jesus work and ministry did not depend on finance, but on the power of the Spirit! Jesus himself died naked and penniless and the early believers gave their money towards mission and helping the poor Christians in Judea, no-one took a salary - no-one! Instead they shared food and resources to achieve God’s purpose to reach the lost. The mission was more
important than personal comforts and wealth. Do we think this way today? We should, because it’s the true gospel, according to Scripture.
Beware the legalists All Satanic (religious) false doctrine teaches that we must ‘earn’ (justify) salvation by submitting to ‘laws’ (including man made stuff). Now these laws may be wrongly taken from the Bible or made up by men (cults), but the principle is the same - men at the top who say, ‘you do as I say’. Conversely the good news of Jesus is that carrying this burden of ‘Law’ is no longer necessary, because he has completely and utterly paid the price for us to receive eternal life (the Spirit) simply by trusting and confessing him to be our Lord, receiving forgiveness of our sin and rebellion. It is his blood sacrifice which the Father has accepted as FULL payment and this cannot be undone as it has been sealed in heaven itself - the Lamb upon the throne (of heaven). This is what Paul means when he later tells the Galatians that they are free: “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.” (Gal 5:1) Paul calls obeying rules and laws imposed by men’ (in order to be justified), as ‘bondage’ and a violation of the liberty that Christ has paid for. The only law which Paul says we are subject to is the ‘Law of Christ’ (Gal 6:2) which depends on the Spirit’s power from within and not by obeying external rules which others put over us (even if these rules come from other believers!). It is literally true that Christ is the only way to the Father and he sets us free indeed! Once we are connected to Christ we must hear his inner voice guiding our path according to His Word. Jesus said he fulfilled all the Law and Prophets as do we when we: “love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind” and “Love your neighbour as yourself” (Matt 22:37-40). Plus Jesus gave us a brand new
continued on page 24
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 17
command that was not from the past Scripture which says: “A new command I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.” (J ohn 13:34).
These are the three laws or commands that Jesus gave to his disciples as the foundation of his faith, what the apostle called the Law of Christ. It is only possible to keep these commands by the help of the Spirit dwelling in you. When we genuinely love God and our fellow man we do not sin against each other - we do no harm and so peace reigns among us. Legalism and religious rules cause division among us.
Break free from the system So it’s very important to know how Jesus loved you! Through humility he laid down both his position as Lord and King and his physical life for our sakes, taking the form of a humble servant. Essentially this kind of genuine love can only be achieved by the Spirit working in you, because the spiritless heart of man is ‘desperately wicked’ and is always wanting to benefit itself carnally from relationships and material things (see Gen 6:5; Psalm 141:4; J er 17:9-10). Mankind desperately tries to preserve this carnal (natural) life for its own benefit. We also see that people have different motives even for laying down their lives, other than for Christ. e.g. soldiers, parents, firemen etc. But our faith is about laying down our life for the sake of Jesus and the gospel message of grace that declares the magnificent work of the cross to bring us into eternal life. Jesus therefore frees us from the curse of law and the bondage of hierarchical leadership both of which are key to Satanic systems of control in the world and in the apostate church. Is the organisation you are a part of based on any kind of hierarchy? If so you must question it and challenge it’s motivations as this is not Christ’s example. If you are unable to talk openly and sincerely with leaders about the issues raised in this teaching then you may be in the wrong place! Once we grasp these PAGE 18 REVIVAL TIMES
fundamental truths the ‘organisations’ and ‘religions’ of the world which claim to know better than God are revealed for what they are, ‘seducing controlling, lies and hypocrisy’. This seems harsh, but no one was more harsh than Jesus himself (who is God in the flesh) when he confronted the so called ‘leaders’ of Israel. Just take a look at Matt 23! “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous, and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?” (Matt 23:29-33)
In this whole chapter Jesus accuses these deceivers of leading all the people astray by manipulating and perverting the Scripture to their own ends and they showed no obedience to the heart of the Law such as mercy and love! Rather they loved money and prided themselves for being at the top of an hierarchy. The people supported them because of their fear of rejection and their lack of knowledge, but this was a lie and deception which Jesus reversed. Sadly, as Jesus said, most of those Pharisees died and went to hell - not what they were expecting for their service to their ‘church’ (Judaism)! The rotten core of all demonic, seducing doctrine can be seen in Satan’s original temptation of Eve, where he questions God’s will and presents a new law, the ‘law of sin’ which denies the consequence of disobedience of God (which is death). Eve was seduced by what she saw not realising how Satan had reversed things around. He promised her ‘god like’ understanding if she obeyed him and ate (accepted) of the forbidden knowledge. “Yea, hath God said,Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent,We
may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said,Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman,Ye shall not surely die: for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. ” (Gen 3:1-3)
Temptation common to all Eve chose to submit to these suggestions and convinced herself it was safe. She submitted to three temptations: 1. Good for food (satisfy the flesh) 2. Pleasant to the eyes (designed well) 3. To make one as wise as a god (to have control of others) So there we have it - the doctrine of Satan, ‘ye shall not surely die’ if you disobey God’s Word, your mind will be opened or enlightened to evil, and you will be as gods independent with power to control others. This is the ‘old age’ (new age) philosophy of the devil and the fallen angels and this is why death came into the world. This is what blinds peoples eyes today from the truth. All mankind is born into this disobedience through the woman and will therefore die physically and spiritually unless there is a saviour by grace from heaven. Praise the Lord there is - JESUS CHRIST! All false gospels manifest these three seducing temptations and seek to define what you can and cannot do, what is good or bad through pride (how it looks). It appeals to human affections (flesh) with an appearance of good (eyes), in order to be self righteous - a god by your own efforts (witchcraft). This is why God gave Israel the unchanging Laws at Sinai, because these define what sin truly is - rebellion against God’s Word. The Law revealed Israel’s (and all mens)
This is extremely good news for those who believe and receive the Holy Spirit of God. Paul beautifully articulates this in his letter to the Ephesians: “For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” (Eph 2:14-22) The foundation of the church is the Word of God through the service of the apostles and prophets in the new covenant, all being measured squarely up to Jesus Christ! (2 Pet 3:1-2) The purpose of this work is that we become a living temple now and for eternity, in whom God dwells by the Spirit and that is the church body that Jesus builds. “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corin 3:16) “For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones.” (Eph 5:30) This is the foundation that apostles lay, Jesus Christ, as the true temple pattern - his body. Apostles are sent because they have been given this revelation, they have matured and know how to reveal Jesus Christ as God in the flesh and as the risen Lord in glory. They know how Jesus’ new priests (all believers) should live and serve, in order to mature in Christ and please the Father. Builders of people, not bricks and mortar! The mission of the church of Jesus “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” (Acts 13:1-3) The church at Antioch was a vibrant and healthy body of believers, they knew their stuff. It was a place where some had matured over the previous 15 years being recognised as teachers and prophets. Four of these men are highlighted, but there were likely many others. Paul mentions some of these others in Romans 16:7. We see that faith and the knowledge of Jesus and his mission was blossoming in that city. Noteworthy among the prophets is Barnabas who is first mentioned and the one who had discovered and protected Saul in the early days of his conversion (Acts 11:25). These historical records are vital because we see both Paul and Barnabas transition from being teachers and prophets, within the mainly Jewish church, into their calling by the Spirit to go as ‘apostles to the nations’. Both Barnabas and Saul were appointed and sent as ‘apostles’ by the Spirit through the other prophets, with the message that Christ was for all men. Clearly they and others like them were not like the Twelve original apostles, who had lived with Jesus from the beginning, however in terms of anointing and function they were recognised by Peter and the others (Gal 2:9), because they had the Spirit and calling. It was after 3 years of ministry that Paul finally spent time with Peter in Jerusalem. All these first apostles were contemporaries and recognised their callings from Christ as equals. Peter was not in charge of Paul, nor vice versa, and Barnabas was as much an apostle as Paul, even though there’s no record of him having met Jesus in the flesh, or as the risen Lord. Other apostles (sent ones) included Apollos, Silas, Andronicus, Titus and Junia (Rom 16:7; 2 Corin 8:23). All these and others were sent out by the Holy Spirit across the known world with the message of Christ! What stories will be told when we meet these great and humble servants one day in glory. Ask yourself, ‘how did the true gospel of the Kingdom come to my nation?’ At some stage it was by an apostle who was sent by Jesus through the prophets in the church. They preach the kingdom in power and gathered believers together around Christ to form families of disciples. These disciples formed the body of Christ by His Spirit in them in that location. They were not part of an organisation, but connected by the Kingdom. Sheep among wolves Jesus warned his disciples that when they are sent out as apostles,
prophets and evangelists they will experience persecution. “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents and harmless as doves. But beware of men, for they will deliver you up to councils and scourge you in their synagogues.” (Matt 10:16) Isn’t it amazing that he never said to them, ‘beware of the devil’, but rather ‘beware of men’, because he had defeated the devil! How true this word has been through the ages. It has been evil and religious men who have mainly scourged and killed the holy messengers of God’s word, the true apostles and disciples of Jesus. Research reveals how 11 of the Twelve first apostles died by the cruel Romans, and look how the Roman Catholic religion, in particular, murdered those who preached the grace of God in the dark ages! Paul was right about the suffering of those who truly serve God, sadly it’s so often the evil in religious men, ‘false teachers’, that oppose apostles the most. Many are still opposing the true apostles who preach the kingdom message? Paul and the other apostles kept their eye on the newly formed ‘area’ churches to protect them from false teaching that would pervert the simplicity of Christ. Religion always makes things complex by adding man’s pagan traditions. Jesus, the apostles and prophets show that true leadership is about being a ‘living sacrifice’ laying down their life for the sheep. It’s about being an obedient servant to all others at great cost to yourself, in order to bring the truth of Christ free of charge. Are you a teacher? are you a prophet? are you a pastor? Have you reached maturity? Do you know the only foundation Jesus Christ intimately through prayer, revelation and study? Are you prepared to be like Isaiah in answer to this call of the Lord? “Behold, this has touched your lips; Your iniquity is taken away, and your sin purged.” Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (Isaiah 6:6-8) Jesus Christ has purged your sin, all sin! (Heb 1:3). If this has not happened in your heart you don’t truly know him, and you are not prepared to go out to the world with his message of the Kingdom. You will preach organised church and religion instead and hinder his purpose. Can you say along with Paul, ‘I no longer live, but Christ lives in me’ (Gal 2:20)? Search your heart and be honest with yourself, because God can see your true self, nothing is hidden from his sight! (Luke 8:17; 12:2. Heb 4:3). Are you struggling, not sure what to do next? Things don’t seem to go aright for your vision? You have the wrong vision, you need only to see Jesus Christ the risen Lord, all else is vanity, worldly and not of him! “Now, therefore,” says the Lord, “Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the Lord your God, For He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm. Who knows if He will turn and relent, And leave a blessing behind Him? (Joel 2:12-14) As already mentioned the body is for the Lord and the Lord for the body, we are the true temple. He now dwells in us and not in buildings made by men. This is the apostolic message, Christ IN YOU the hope of glory! (Col 1:27). Can you lay this foundation and nothing more and nothing less, and then walk away when the job is done? Paul did! “It’s a law of physics, chemistry, astronomy, and gravity, that if you put the Christian faith in a building, cover it with ritual, employ ministers, take away the informality, outlaw the spontaneity, and end the functioning, you cease having the true ekklesia of God. It does not matter how perfect your theology, you have pretty well killed the practice of the faith” (Gene Edwards) How to spot the true apostle of Jesus Christ: “For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonoured! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labour, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now.” (1 Corin 4:8-14)
continued on page 14
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 7
Let God Speak to your Heart Nothing speaks more than the pure Word of God the Father through his servants the Prophets. This chapter of Proverbs reveals the benefits of wisdom.
Proverbs 3
My son, forget not my law; but let thine heart keep my commandments: For length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add to thee. Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart: So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man. Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones. Honour the Lord with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase: So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine. My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord; neither be weary of his correction: For whom the Lord loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious than rubies: and all the things thou canst desire are not to be compared unto her. Length of days is in her right hand; and in her left hand riches and honour. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. PAGE 6 REVIVAL TIMES
She is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon her: and happy is every one that retaineth her. The Lord by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens. By his knowledge the depths are broken up, and the clouds drop down the dew. My son, let not them depart from thine eyes: keep sound wisdom and discretion: So shall they be life unto thy soul, and grace to thy neck. Then shalt thou walk in thy way safely, and thy foot shall not stumble. When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid: yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet. Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it cometh. For the Lord shall be thy confidence, and shall keep thy foot from being taken. Withhold not good from them to whom it is due, when it is in the power of thine hand to do it. Say not unto thy neighbour, Go, and come again, and to morrow I will give; when thou hast it by thee. Devise not evil against thy neighbour, seeing he dwelleth securely by thee. Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm. Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways. For the froward is abomination to the Lord: but his secret is with the righteous. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. Surely he scorneth the scorners: but he giveth grace unto the lowly. The wise shall inherit glory: but shame shall be the promotion of fools.
guilt before him, in order to wake us up, to show how Satan has deceived mankind and continues to do so. Escaping deception is not easy because it seems so logical, even normal, to our natural carnal mind, sinning seems normal to a sinner. To conclude this section on false doctrines, without going into the details of specific false teachers, groups, cults and ‘churches’ just look at what Paul says in Colossians! “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (church) is of Christ. Let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels, intruding into those things which he hath not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God. Wherefore if ye be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? which things have indeed a shew of wisdom in will worship, and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh.” (Col 2:16-23)
Once we realise the schemes of Satan to lead people back under the laws of men for our justification before God, we can break free and realise that when we gather together there is only one King and we are all brothers and sisters under his rule of love (Matt 23:8; Luke 22:24-26). Confused and evil men (or women) will try to drag us under the old shadow, in order to control the definitions of what is and isn’t acceptable to God, but when we read the apostolic letters and even the gospels we realise that life is not about this earth, his Kingdom is not a political system, it’s not an organisation called ‘the church’, it’s not the nation of Israel anymore, but as the letter to the Galatians and to the Hebrews
declares it’s the New Jerusalem in the heaven of God and it is in our hearts - all invisible to the human eye, but revealed through the love and mercy shown by our behaviour towards one another.
But who’s in charge then? “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” (Matt 23:8-12)
These are the very words of Christ himself, this is the TRUTH! He declares that there is only ONE MASTER and we are all brethren under him, noone between him and the Father in heaven and you, yes really - no-one! This is the good news of the true gospel. As Paul said, ‘Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free’. So when we gather together we are seeking to express ourselves with our new reality in the heavens, our connection to God one and all, equal before God and with no man over us (or under us). The purpose of church gatherings is not to make you happy and comfortable in this life, because this life is passing away (Matt 24:35) rather through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom (Acts 14:22). Just ask the apostles if the Christian life was easy on their flesh! The purpose of the church is to fearlessly declare the kingdom of heaven to principalities and powers (Eph 3:10 ) and the salvation message of Christ to the lost! When we gather to encourage and edify one another as equals in these purposes the selfish evil plans and schemes of mankind become irrelevant! Whether we gather for prayer as 2’s, 3’s, 4’s or 10’s or 100’s or 1000’s it should always be to meet with our Lord and Master through the Holy Spirit in the kingdom of heaven and to hear his Word, so that we
can then obey with joy. Among the first believers there was a consensus of the mature and by the Holy Spirit of what they should do - especially in terms of mission. Caring and carrying each others burdens was de-facto normal practice, as was praying for each other and eating together as equals.
What about The Lord’s Supper? In order to support his vision of his church Jesus gave us the fulfilment of the Passover meal which has been called the ‘Lord’s supper’. It’s called a ‘supper’ because it was an ‘evening meal’ which for the Jews was actually the start of the next day (see Gen 1:5). In order to understand what Jesus did we need to understand what the Passover was intended for in the first place.
The Mystery of the Passover The Jewish Passover was given by God to the Hebrews when they escaped death prior to leaving Egypt. Families, in their own homes, had to sacrifice and eat a male lamb without defect and spread some of the blood on the frame of the doorway of their house. This blood was to protect them from the wrath of God, because he was going to strike down the firstborn of the land. They ate this food as a proper meal until it was all gone: “And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the Lord’s passover.” (Exodus 12:8-11) God had pre-warned his people that he was going to pass judgement on Egypt in a devastating way. Notice how they had to be ready to leave Egypt having their shoes on! This was an awesome experience, when in the night they heard REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 19
the wailing and crying parents of the dead Egyptian firstborn children. The Lord YAHWEH passed through and his holiness literally killed them, because the firstborn of the Egyptians had been dedicated to their false gods (demons). “For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the Lord. And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt.” (Exodus 12:12-13) The Hebrews were told that this event signalled the beginning of their ‘new year’ and was to be celebrated every year! So for many hundreds of years, and now even thousands of years, Jews have remembered this deliverance by God from their enemy - Pharaoh. It remembers not just the death of the firstborn, but the lambs blood protection from God’s wrath and the subsequent deliverance from slavery and bondage. They also take the meal to ‘remind’ God that he is their deliverer and pray for this deliverance to continue. All the time not realising that it was a symbol of ‘the lamb of God’ who would take away the sins of the people and even the world. It’s key to realise that the protection needed was not from Satan, but from God’s wrath (judgement) which is much worse! Notice in the story that the meal was in the home and by families. They did not gather together as a big meeting - this is still true today among Jews, it’s a small family reunion event!
Jesus’ re-interpretation (fulfilment) of the Passover Under occupation the Passover meal was a time the Jews dreamt of being delivered from their enemy - Caesar and Rome. The Romans permitted the Jews to celebrate this holy feast - mainly to keep the peace and avoid social unrest. There was a lot of blood from lambs and goats and a lot of unleavened bread cooked PAGE 20 REVIVAL TIMES
and consumed in Jerusalem and Israel. The smell in the air would have been a strange mix of death and that of roasting meat and bread. They also ate bitter herbs as a reminder that they had escaped the bitterness of slavery. Although not listed in the original meal, in Jesus time wine had now been included as part of the meal. Jesus took these elements and symbolically used them to show how his personal sacrifice was the fulfilment of the firstborn male Lamb (without defect). His blood was to be the ‘new covenant’ or ‘guarantee’ that would protect them from the wrath of God to come, the final judgement of the whole world. It also symbolised the new beginning, the new creation that God the Father had always planned to create. “And he said unto them, ‘With desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and said,Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the kingdom of God shall come. And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying,This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying,This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed (poured out) for you.” (Luke 22:15-20) In all of this it’s important to note that when the apostles and Jesus came together (not for the first time in three years) it was to eat and celebrate together the new year and the historical deliverance by the God of Israel from Egypt - the passach. There was discussion, laughter, food and noise (they’re Jewish right!) and Jesus breaks into this time of fellowship with a new symbolism to bring their attention back to his purpose - he was about to leave them through death, but they still had no real idea, not what they expected. In fact they completely ignored what he said about his body and blood and started fighting over who would be the greatest in the new kingdom! (Luke 22:24)
Consider for a moment what Jesus actually said to the disciples in that meal, what he was really saying to them: “This is my body which is given for you”. He was not speaking of the bread, but of his actual flesh, the bread was a mere symbol showing that he was ‘the real bread from heaven’. There was no power in the bread itself, but in his sinless flesh. Then secondly; “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you”. The cup of wine is likewise a mere symbol of his ‘cup of suffering’ and his pure blood that he was about to pour out for them. There was no power in the wine, but in his sinless, innocent blood. The purpose of these symbols was to give a revelation of the truth of his sacrifice. For us to put our faith in him - not in the symbols not in the Sabbath celebration! False teachers have distorted this annual meal to mean something that Jesus never did, they turned it into a religious ceremony supposing that the actual elements of bread and wine have some kind of power in them this is not true, but superstitious sacrilege perpetrated mostly by Romanism. The purpose of this remembrance is so much more than a superstitious belief in the physical bread and wine. Jesus was drawing our attention to the fact that the covenant was changing from old to new. He was paying off the deal between God and Israel, dying to pay the cost and close the old contract of Law keeping for justification! His body now represented the Law itself, his blood represented the life of the Spirit that he was offering, in love, in order to free the Jews from the requirements of the Law and free all of us all from our sinful hearts. He did this to open our eyes to the truth that your body and my body, your blood and my blood (life) now belong to him. When we enter the new covenant by obedience to him and are baptised into him by water and the Spirit we become his property! Think again what this means, God comes and dwells in us, in our body, this is a huge miracle!
the punishment of the lake of fire with Satan and his host. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell (hades) delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell (hades) were
cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Rev 20) Are you in the book of life? Are you still living with sin. Then you must question your position. Do you still love the things of this world more than Jesus and his Word? Then you must turn to Christ for mercy, repent and get in that book! You can know with assurance that Christ dwells in you, the hope of glory (Col 1:27).
These are the foundations of Jesus Christ and his teachings. Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20) For more on Jesus Christ’s teachings please visit the website and read ‘The Commands of Christ”. n
First Apostles
Who are apostles and why are they important to Jesus?
And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues. 1 Corinthians 12:28
T
he word ‘apostle’ isn’t directly mentioned in the old testament Scriptures. What we do see, however are the patriarchs and prophets (seers) whom God used to establish a people for himself. These servants of God were sent to guide the nation of Israel in God’s ways. The Bible is a clear record of how God the Almighty spoke through them to correct and help them. These prophets were indeed ‘sent’ by God and the first of these was Moses. It was Moses who prophesied that one day the Messiah would come and, like him, be used save the people. Moses faithfully helped established the ‘house of Israel’ (Hebrews 3:5). Why is it we suddenly see this new function ‘apostles’ introduced by Jesus in the new testament era? You may not have noticed or realised that Jesus was in fact the first ever apostle having been sent to the earth by the Father from heaven (John 8:42). He was like Moses in this sense because he came to save the people from bondage. This is what ‘apostle’ means ‘a sent one’, but importantly sent for a specific purpose and mission. In some ways we see that Moses was like an apostle being sent to rescue Israel from Egypt. To help us define the term ‘apostle’ we see that it comes from the root Greek word ‘apostello’. The most trustworthy concordance we have defines it thus: Strong’s Concordance definition apostelló: to send, send away Original Word: ποστέλλω Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: apostelló Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os-tel’-lo) Definition: I send forth, send (as a messenger, commission, etc.), send away, dismiss. This root verb is used to give us the noun of ‘apostle’: apostolos: a messenger, one sent on a mission, an apostle Original Word: πόστολος, ου, Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine Transliteration: apostolos Phonetic Spelling: (ap-os’-tol-os) Definition: especially a man sent out by Jesus Christ Himself to preach the Gospel; an apostle. Paul also referred to himself as an Ambassador for Christ (2 Corin 5:20) and this carries similar meaning to apostle. Both these terms should be understood as a ‘job description’ or ‘function’ rather than a ‘title’ or fixed position like ‘king’. So for example the twelve original disciples were always disciples, but Jesus appointed them ‘apostles’ and then accordingly sent them out on a mission (Luke 6:13; John 20:21). He did the same with Saul (Paul) and many others then and since. However, in terms of positional identity before God, they were all still ordinary men (Acts 14:15), all brothers (Matt 23:8), all disciples along with everyone else. The main difference is
that they knew God’s kingdom plan for his spiritual body on earth, the ‘ekklesia’ (called out ones). They were given ‘authority’ and ‘responsibility’ to represent Christ as he outreached to the world through them, like ambassadors. For this same reason there can also be ‘false apostles’ or ‘false messengers’ who take a different message and represent a different master. It all depends who sends them out, and this is why Jesus was the very first apostle from heaven, because he was sent by the Father and he proved faithful to that mission. “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was faithful in all His house.” (Heb 3:1) “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” (1 John 4:9) Jesus’ apostolic (or sending) mission was first to redeem those who repented in Israel. “But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” (Matt 15:24) This explains why Jesus never really preached to the Gentile (foreign) nations, apart from a few exceptions (such is his mercy, Matt 15:28). Jesus was an apostle to Israel, as clearly stated in Matthew. All the Gospel accounts show us how Jesus fulfilled his apostolic mission and prepared his disciples with the Word from the Father. Then how he commissioned them (sent) to take the truth of himself out to all nations by the power of the Holy Spirit within them. This is what makes disciples into apostles, they are sent by Jesus, who is the same yesterday today and forever! So we see that the first apostles had to be Jewish and Jesus chose Twelve to mirror the Twelve tribes of Israel symbolically representing the new beginning and foundation of a new nation - a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9) of Jew and Gentile. This title had been offered to the Israelite people before, at Mount Sinai through Moses (Exod 19:6), but they rejected the good news of becoming kingdom priests, afraid to hear God speak to them (Exod 20:19). After Jesus established his church and ascended to heaven to rule from there, Israel as a physical nation was destroyed and barren for 1800 years. Both the spiritual Jews and Spirit filled Christians have been estranged and peculiar in the nations in which they have lived. For we are strangers and sojourners according to Scripture (1 Chronicles 29:15; Hebrews 11:12-16). Jesus has now initiated what the Father had always wanted - a nation of priests who know his voice and are prepared to obey him fully and be blessed beyond measure! However, we are not yet in our true home, we no longer fit into this world system of lust and greed, but like those before us seek a kingdom and a city to come! (Heb 13:14) continued on page 7
REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 5
Without genuine Christian baptism (death with Jesus) you cannot walk in newness of ‘spiritual life’ and you will not receive the third important part of salvation - holiness, in order to overcome sin & iniquity. God says, ’Be holy, for I am holy’. (1 Peter 1:13-21). This means we are to be seoarate from the evil principles and regimes of the world according to Satan. C. Receive the Holy Spirit. Sanctification or ‘being made holy’ is essential otherwise you cannot see God! (Heb 12:4) Once you have been baptised into Christ’s death you can be fully cleansed from ALL Satan’s devils, lies and teaching by the Holy Spirit of Truth. This is the ‘baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire’ of which John the baptiser spoke. He said that this would be the main work of Jesus the Messiah, “John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” (Luke 3:16). You are like a house that needs to be cleaned out completely before all the Godhead can dwell in you! Without water baptism (death) and Spirit baptism (cleansing) you are not cut off from Satan, the accuser, and you are not experiencing the resurrected life. Jesus said this is how we enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 3). Once baptised in this way Paul tells us this: Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts. And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but present yourselves to God as being alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace. (Rom 6:11-14) The Apostles made it clear that to be a disciple we must be born again in our inner spirit, baptised into his death, raised to new life and filled with the Holy Spirit for sanctification. (Acts 2:38; John
3). This makes us a ‘new creature’ separate from Adam’s race! (2 Corin 5:17; Gal 6:15). We then have the power to reject all fear even death itself. The third kind of baptism that was mentioned by Jesus is the baptism of persecution. He suffered this for us first, but told his apostles that we also would suffer it: “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled! I have a baptism to be baptised with, and how great is my distress until it is accomplished! Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.” (Luke 12:49) And they said to him, “Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.” Jesus said to them, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, or to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptised?” And they said to him, “We are able.” And Jesus said to them, “The cup that I drink you will drink, and with the baptism with which I am baptised, you will be baptized, but to sit at my right hand or at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared.” (Mark 10:37-40)
4. Laying on of hands We see a number of occasions where hands are laid upon people to impart blessing, authority and healing by the Holy Spirit. An anointed cleansed disciple or apostle can lay hands on someone when directed by the Holy Spirit to transmit spiritual blessing or authority to that person for the purpose of Christ (Acts 18:3). The Apostles, like Jesus, laid hands on the new believers to receive the Holy Spirit (Acts 8:14-20; Acts 9:17) and also laid hands on the sick to bring healing as Jesus had commanded (Mark 6:18). Again this was ordained for all those who believe, every disciple of Christ. The laying on of hands is also ordained for appointing believers for specific tasks of service (Acts 6:6; 13:3; 1 Tim 5:22; 2 Tim 1:6)
5. Resurrection of the dead Nothing is more important to
PAGE 4 REVIVAL TIMES
the believer than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Revelation opens with these words: “Grace to you and peace from Him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven Spirits who are before His throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler over the kings of the earth. To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.” Jesus is the firstborn from the dead by the power of the Spirit and when he returns he will raise all those who have died physically by faith in him. This is the great hope of the gospel of the kingdom! For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. (1 Thess 4:14-17). Notice the order of resurrection, first we see the Lord in the sky, second the dead in Christ are raised, then those who are still alive will be transformed and rise to be with him. This is not a secret or quiet event (see also: Matt 22:28-29; John 11:25: Acts 2:31; 4:2: Rom 6:5: 1 Corin 15; 2 Tim 2:18). This is that great and terrible day of the Lord when the dead in Christ are raised up and the wrath of God comes upon the earth.
6. Eternal judgement There is a difference between making ‘judgements’ and the ‘eternal judgement’. This foundation deals with the final judgement of God Almighty upon the body, soul and spirit of everyone that ever lived. This judgement looks for one vital qualification, in order to avoid
If this has not happened to you, you will not be raised to life at the resurrection of the dead no matter how much bread and wine you have consumed! Passover was an annual meal, it was a symbolic meal of deliverance from evil, it was symbolic of God’s wrath upon sin and demonic hierarchy. It symbolises God’s vengeance upon Jesus for our sakes. Whenever we celebrate this symbolic meal as a family it’s not about us, it’s about him and what he has done, so we can be free simply by faith in his work! God, like Abraham, offered up his Son on earth to clear the debts and start anew. Spiritual bread and wine, the WORD and the SPIRIT.
What communion? The point of what we are saying is this; Jesus never instituted a sacrament called ‘communion’ or created some kind of religious ritual with wafers when he raised the cup and broke the bread, but was simply showing that he was the Lamb of God and was about to give his body and blood for them - to deliver them from the consequences of their sin, iniquity and the national apostasy. That he was about to take on to himself the full responsibility (curse) of the Law and end it all by death on the cross and, by so doing, open a door back to heaven that had been shut since Adam sinned in the garden. From now on the disciples could never take Passover the same way again. Firstly, Passover was now fulfilled by him and replaced by his sacrifice, secondly Jesus gave new symbols representing their new spiritual deliverance, not from Pharaoh, but more importantly from Satan himself! They could never have another ordinary daily meal of bread and wine without remembering how Jesus was now among them, even in them. He was to be slain for them so that they would now be protected by his interceding holy blood - both from Satan, but more significantly from a holy Father, a consuming fire! Satan is only an angel, but God has ALL the
power, it is God the Father who must be satisfied and through Christ and he was, hallelujah and glory to his name! Now when we break our daily bread and drink our drink together we should remember this payment and new covenant between Jesus and our own body. We must feed off this offering of his flesh by faith and respect each other as his new dwelling place, literally his resurrected body! “Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.” (Luke 24:49) “For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.” (Ephesians 5:30) So when we gather to eat together and fellowship one with another (as disciples), as the early apostles and disciples did, we break bread and drink and remind ourselves that we are free of the judgement of the Law, not once a week or once a fortnight but everyday by faith through Christ’s work on the cross. It is his faith in his Father to raise him up by the Spirit that we trust in and celebrate, remembering that he is coming back in glory with the kingdom saints and the angels, to eat the great supper of God (wrath) and to establish his eternal kingdom in a new heaven and earth. So when we gather to share, whether two’s and three’s or thousands, we must consider how precious each one of us truly is in his sight, that he died for each one that we may be free from the curse of the Law and protected by his blood from the wrath of God to come on the world - WOW now that’s being saved! There’s actually now no Law against us - unless we put ourselves back under that law and so fall away from grace (Gal 5:4 ). However, we cannot now choose to live selfishly and go back to worldliness, because if we are living in sin when he returns we will be considered as an unbeliever or even worse a traitor (like Judas). If demons are inhabiting or controlling us we will be dragged down to the pit with them. This is why both Jesus and Paul said this:
“For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another. This I say then,Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.” (Gal 5:13-18)
Why do we gather? So in answer to this question we can see that the purpose of our gathering together is that we might be led of the Spirit and know Christ as a spiritual family body. This is a supernatural gathering, because the focus is not on anything in this world, but of heaven and of the world to come. Without the Spirit of Christ dwelling in you you’ll never be able to participate in such a gathering, it’s not a preset ‘order of service’ or ‘church meeting’, but entirely run and led by the Holy Spirit. The focus is on things above where Christ dwells and upon the purpose of his Kingdom. As a famous hymn writer once expressed it: “The things of the earth grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace” If people gather purely for religious ritualistic reasons hoping that God hears them - they are not gathering in Christ, but are missing the joy of knowing him. When we read Acts of the Apostles (Acts 13:2), we see that the Holy Spirit was actively and intimately guiding and directing the believers. We see that the very miracles and healing that Jesus showed they also showed as they witnessed to the resurrection. As Paul clearly describes in 1 Corinthians 12 even whole assemblies were equipped in the gifts of the Spirit. The power of the Spirit was experienced by all in some measure in order for the whole body to benefit. n REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 21
A Refornation has begun by Wolfgang Simson
The following is a short extract from Wolfgang’s excellent free online book called Refornation which openly reveals the difference between religious organisation and following the Kingdom of God by the Spirit. For the complete publication please visit the website: www.refornation.eu
S
ince the beginning of humankind, there was one single, ultimate message from God man needed to hear. And it was that one single message man automatically and routinely rejected. Many would rather die than even hear it – let alone respond to it. What is that message? REPENT, BECAUSE THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS AT HAND.
This was and is the central message of Jesus Christ, the King. Jesus neither came to reform Judaism, nor to found the religion of Christianity. He came to usher in his Kingdom, the domain of his uncontested rule. But most of humankind has been a rebel at heart. That is why until today, the sovereign Kingship of Christ that offers to rule us is the one single message that utterly confronts our cockish egos. It is a violent threat against any uncrucified desire to build our own little kingdoms, ministries and brands and to put our human logos on the Logos (“the word”) of God. The message of the Kingship of Christ completely implodes our guru-driven personality cults. It exposes our small, man-made religious empires and insults our democratic mindset that absolutely refuses to be ruled by anyone but ourselves. However, no other message is so utterly
liberating for our spirit and so revolutionary for the world. Any religious person can cry out to God for help, healing, deliverance and salvation. Anyone can say: “Lord, Lord!” but fail to do what this Lord says. Anyone can have a god. But not everyone has a king. Only when we submit ourselves lovingly to the full authority of Jesus Christ as our ruling King and judge; only when we align ourselves to his Kingdom, its constitution and its economy as our ultimate frame of reference, then, and only then, will we become the revolutionary people that we are all called to be. That revolution has now begun. And you are invited to join.
1.VISION Do you see him as he is? When the Apostle John saw Jesus in his resurrected, glorified nature in Rev. 1:12-17, all he could do was to fall flat as though dead. That is the one single, correct response to a true encounter with him, the resurrected King of kings. Jesus is no longer the itinerant preacher from Galilee. He is not a baby any more to fit into our little Christmas cribs. He does no longer hang helplessly on the cross. He refuses to fit into neat, controlled, harmless, religious theologies. He is risen! He is now the arresting, dazzling and utterly sovereign persona, the Lord of lords, the judge of the world. Can you fall flat as dead before him as you should? Because many have a Jesus that is far too small. A Jesus imported from history, “yesterday’s Jesus.” But if you truly see him as he is now, if you would fix your eyes on the one that sat down at the right hand of the throne of God (Heb 12), what would you do if he asks you to? Anything?
PAGE 22 REVIVAL TIMES
We are looking for the city that is to come (Heb 13:14). Again, we are defined by what we see. Do we look backward to a manmade religion that defines us? Or do we look forward to the City of God, the New Jerusalem, the City without a temple that Jesus is building (Rev 21:22)? In the first case, we are slaves, bound to a religious history. What we rather should do is to be looking forward to our returning King and his City as our true home and destiny. This is our template. This is what defines the true nature of the church. Can you see it? Imagine the day when it will become global news, broadcast across all TV channels and social media simultaneously: Jesus Christ has returned visibly and has assumed global Kingship. He has, effective immediately, declared a global theocracy under his rule. He is not inviting any referendums, votes, or even parliamentary discussions about this. On the very first day of his global Kingship, he has summoned all heads of State, all kings, dictators, tribal leaders, warlords, chancellors presidents and prime ministers to appear before him within 24 hours. On the next day, he has summoned all denominational church leaders, metropolits, the pope and his cardinals, all bishops, superintendents, all apostles, prophets, pastors, teachers, evangelists and every ministry and mission executive to appear before him. On the third day, all economists and finance ministers, all participants of the World Economic Forums, all directors of foundations and particularly all those that are both rich and claim to be Christians will have to stand before him. What will he tell all of them? Are
continued from cover
Anything we do that we believe makes us ‘good enough’ for God, or makes us a ‘good person’, are in fact ‘dead works’ and not acceptable to God, who now commands that we obey his Son Jesus! (Acts 17:30-31). Charity, prayers, church attendance, every rite and ordinance, all alike are merely ‘dead works’ if seen as self justification before God. Knowing the Scripture is not enough because our hearts are desperately wicked when unredeemed by the Spirit. The apostle Paul repented and declared that all his previous Jewish religion was indeed rubbish! (Phil 3:7-11) Like Paul, we must realise that nothing we do can save us from God’s judgement on Satan and the world rulers. Only knowing Jesus personally by the Spirit can save us from the final day of judgement to come. We must turn from all sin AND rebellion and all MAN MADE religion and superstition (iniquity). As Peter said on the day of Pentecost we must admit our guilt before a holy God, repent, believe, be baptised and receive the Holy Spirit of promise.
2. Faith towards God Our modern society (and most churches) use classroom type educational methods to fill minds with knowledge. As a consequence we do not fully grasp the true meaning of living by faith. Jesus’ faith is not just about mentally believing that something is true, but rather it is about taking action in obedience to God’s clearly defined commands through Jesus. We see this when Jesus commends the soldier for GREAT FAITH towards Him. For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” When Jesus heard these things, He marvelled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him, “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel! (Luke 7:8-9)
Great faith understands the chain of authority - God commands:angels obey, people obey, demons obey. All else is worldly rebellion and co-operation with Satan and his lies - yes ALL of it! (Matt 5:37; 1 John 2:3-4; 16) All the apostles taught this same message - faith without action by the power of the Spirit in us is dead! But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.You believe that there is one God.You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble! But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”And he was called the friend of God.You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. (James 2:18-24) Abraham responded to God’s command, he heard and obeyed - his heart faith was shown by his obedient actions - he set off with all his family, not knowing where. Jesus said to the disciples ‘follow me’ and they quite literally had to pack up their bags, leave their businesses, friends and family and walk with him around the country, they knew not where! He offered the same to the rich man, but he preferred to hang on to his possessions! (Matt 19:21). We must therefore be DOERS of the Word not just hearers! (Matt 7:24) James continues to tell us how to repent and have real faith towards God (James 4:7-10). The purpose of our faith in Jesus is that we come to Him and OBEY HIS NEW COMMANDS as recorded in the Gospels - this is faith. This means YOU must seek the Lord Jesus while he can be found (Isaiah 55:6) and be born again of the water (baptism) and the Spirit. Paul also brings these two things together when testifying before King Agrippa. “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but
declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance. For this reason the Jews seized me in the temple and tried to kill me.To this day I have had the help that comes from God, and so I stand here testifying both to small and great, saying nothing but what the prophets and Moses said would come to pass: that the Christ must suffer and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light both to our people and to the Gentiles.” (Acts 26:20).
3.Teaching about Baptisms In order to be saved, you need to realise what you are being saved from. Jesus came to save us from the second death judgement - in the lake of fire when Satan is destroyed. He did this by paying for our human sin, buying us back by sacrificing his own sinless human body and blood. He died and was buried, but by the Holy Spirit his body was raised from the grave to become a life giving Spirit, a spiritual body free of death. He defeated the first death of the body that we must all face one day. In order for us to receive this work of Christ, we must do three things: A. Repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord, putting all our hope and faith in him alone (Rom 8:9). Leave everything else behind as rubbish, as sin. Give up religious traditional thinking. B. Be baptised. We must die with him to escape the consequences of our rebellion under the Law of God. The way God has ordained this is by full immersion under water, a burial by faith in the power of God in Christ, whereby we also die to sin and make Jesus Lord. This is true Christian baptism, when we break free from the condemnation of the Law (Rom 5:13): Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. (Rom 6:3-4; see also Eph 2:15) REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 3
OMEGA-MINISTRIES.ORG
ISSUE: 01
Revival – God’s Way Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19
Revival times is a FREE publication offered to those who want to be encouraged and built up to know JESUS CHRIST as their Lord God and saviour. It is published by Omega Ministries which is a non-denominational prophetic movement of believers who want to see the Kingdom come on earth as in heaven. Please send all enquiries or questions to the email address given below. We recognise all material copyrights and thank God that all contributors take no wages for their work of faith in order to promote the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the world and to revive his true church in our day. All Scriptures are quoted from the King James Bible and or Greek and Hebrew, where appropriate, for clarity. This paper and other teaching material is offered online for downloading and printing free of charge. If you are inspired by the content of this paper please pass on to brothers and sisters for their encouragement. Revival is a long lost concept in our modern society because the true Gospel has been perverted, watered down and twisted for personal gain by wolves in sheep’s clothing. Enough is enough and now the sleepers must awake from their spiritual stupor. The dead dry bones must live and the faithful army of the Lord arise and shine the beauty of Christ in us, the hope of glory.
The Call Has Gone Out Soldiers of Christ, arise And put your armour on, Strong in the strength which God supplies Through His eternal Son; Strong in Lord of hosts And in His mighty power: Who in the strength of Jesus trusts Is more than conqueror
Where is the hope for Revival— God’s Holy Spirit outpoured Convicting of sin, and of judgement And righteousness of the Lord? When nothing else is important— Only God’s presence Divine, When Christians quit worldly pleasures, Then God, His ear will incline. Desperate prayer for Revival Will cleanse the Church by the Word. Then clothed in spotless, white linen, The Bride clears the way for her Lord. Prayer is the key to Revival, Prayer that is true Spirit-born, Nights of compassionate weeping— Intercession for all the forlorn. Then will the burdens be lifted, Then all the sinners will cry, Then all the chains will be loosened And worldly passions will die. The lost ones will yield to God’s Spirit When Christians, cleansed, weep and pray; God’s Living Water flows outward; This is “Revival—God’s Way”! —Estelle Gifford Jackson
Editor: Stephen Turnham © please copy and pass on
FIRST THOUGHTS That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us . For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Download the PDF here: www.omega-ministries.org email: info@omega-ministries.org
Apostle Paul
They will soar on wings like eagles; They will run and not grow weary, They will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:28-31
PAGE 2 REVIVAL TIMES
in
The E pistle
to the
Romans
chapter
8
we ready for that moment? If not, let us get ready –now! REFORNATION TO THE KINGDOM TEMPLATE
Jesus preached the Kingdom what came was Christianity: Pyramidal structures, religious personality cults, nepotism, clerics-laity-division, programs, rituals, dogmatism, church splits, denominationalism, an obsession with buildings, competitiveness and the naïve or shameless marketing of religious brands to religious consumers. In one word: religion. Large parts of the body of Christ have become lost sheep in this chaos, yet again. Once they were lost without Christ, now they are lost within religion. Good-natured and devotedly they have followed the blind leading the blind, and watched their lives turn into a dead end road: disillusioned, sobered, incapacitated and tired of all those fundraising appeals. Many are restless, upset, some even resigned. Many are treading water and ask themselves: Was that it? Was that all there is? They were looking for God, but were given a church leader. They looked for the Kingdom, but were given the church instead. But there is hope! There is life beyond CAWKI: Church-aswe-know-it! Entire generations, inspired by the Spirit of God, are turning away from the institutionalized religion of their parents that is obsessed with organized meetings. Large parts of society have long lost interest in CAWKI, seeing it for what it is: a series of orchestrated, badly choreographed, predictable, boring meetings in buildings that are mostly empty and unproductive for the largest part of the week. Once inside a church building, you will inevitably have to experience a 4-S-performance: sermons, songs, and sponsoring for yet another social project. Every once in a while, CAWKI would raise some ethical concerns and challenge a world gone greedy and hypnotized by the spirit of Babylon, while it fails to demonstrate and live the
radical alternative, what Jesus called, “the city on the hill”, the light of the world. The world is not all that impressed with the church, because it fails to see it as a true and exciting alternative to its own predicament. One of the reasons for this is that the founding message, the core narrative, has changed. Jesus preached: Repent, because the Kingdom has come. The church preaches proselytism: Welcome, become a member of our religion today! But God is not oblivious to this dilemma. Too much is at stake. In a global recall, God’s spirit is beckoning everyone who has ears to hear to say farewell to man-made religion and come back to him. First and foremost, he is calling his bride: Come back to the house of the Father! But it is also a call to God’s people: Come back into God’s order! And the Spirit of God is saying to the world: The Kingdom, not the church, is God’s amazing offer to you. Wherever people are following this call from God, we will observe a migration, people fleeing from religion and repatriating into the true Land of the Free − The Kingdom of God. If Jesus is not only our God, but our active King; if we observe his constitution and his (economic) house rules, we will experience a true revolution. The spirit of Babylon and religion will lose its power over us, and God will be able to perform a factory reset which will literally re-invent us to become, in his Kingdom, what we were supposed to be in the first place. This begins a process where we as individuals and as a body can begin to model the city of God, filled with the life of citizens of the Kingdom. Because this process is based on God’s original and final nation, the Kingdom, we call it Refornation. “Give me back my church, so I can give it back to the world.” John Wimber (USA; 1934 – 1997)
“The church is having a layover, that stressful place where we are no longer in the old and not yet in the new.The future of the church hinges decidedly on
whether we have the boldness to dare new things, to set out, to allow for new forms of church and rearrange ourselves in a new way.” Michael Herbst (Germany), Prof. of practical theology (Lutheran)
“The church is the only club in the world allowing itself the luxury to repeatedly do things since 500 years that have proven not to work. If it were a business, it would have gone bankrupt long ago! Something crucial needs to change. In our country it seems that those who succeeded prayed: On earth, as it is in hell.That is why the centerpiece of the reformation is to be formed into the original blueprint of the order of God.We need a church that brings the order of heaven back to earth and finishes what was started hundreds of years ago.” Johannes Wöhr, Konstanz (Germany)
KINGDOM RECALL God will not remain silent if his people are lost. Will he not reach out in compassion to his lost bride and call her to come home? Even if this means leaving the man-made religion of Christianity and CAWKI? This is exactly what millions of Christians sense the Spirit of God saying. For all those who have ears to hear, God has issued a global recall for his people: Come out of Babylon, come out of man-made religion, come out of kingless rebellion, come out of lawlessness and economic licentiousness that follows mammon, not God. It is a call to come back to our maker and humbly ask him for a factory reset. A call to finally grow up and dismantle the childish balancing wheels of religion. When we find the Kingdom, the treasure hidden in the field (Matt 13), we do no longer need any human religious systems, because we have come home. God is calling all his lost sons and daughters to say: I have sinned. I have missed the mark. I have failed my mission so far. Let me arise from feeding swine and go to my father. It is a call to step into the true inheritance of the sons of God, the Kingdom. It is a call for all of us to become what God wanted us to be since the foundation of the world: The King’s Woman. REVIVAL TIMES PAGE 23
Useful Resources
OMEGA-MINISTRIES.ORG
ISSUE: 05
In this section are a number of websites which can help inspire you to to seek the Lord in effective praying and in getting out there doing as well. As always, JESUS CHRIST is our greatest example and the one to whom we must compare ourselves and obey. The greatest resource is the Bible itself, so please spend your main study time in the Word of God, preferably the King James Version!
Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 Tim 2:15 Websites: www.omega-ministries.org www.biblegateway.com www.biblehub.com www.spurgeongems.org www.heartcrymissionary.com www.propheticvision.org.uk www.eurovisiontv.org www.thelastreformation.com www.propheticalert.net www.biblearchaeology.org www.fwponline.cc www.creation.com www.refornation.eu
Free material to download, booklets and tracts. Online Bible versions for comparison Online Bible versions and Greek / Hebrew Lexicon and Interlinear Powerful messages from one of the great preachers of the 19th Century Equipping and mobilizing indigenous churches and missionaries David Hathaway evangelistic website - recommended! Revival preaching broadcasts to the world- David Hathaway Join the network of believers who want to see power evangelism Insights into current affairs and how to avoid deception A useful site for the latest in Biblical related finds A good source for some of the best Wesleyan texts and comment The best resource for creation material and news The Kingdom teaching of Wolfgang Simson will refresh your vision
If you have been blessed by anything in this magazine please be as generous as you can to any of these good Christian ministries to the poor and needy: www.bhct.org.uk The Beachy Head Chaplaincy - on mission to prevent suicides www.m25m.btck.co.uk Matthew 25 Mission - helping feed the wandering and homeless www.opendoorsuk.org Supporting outreach globally and supporting Christians in persecution www.teenchallenge.org.uk Helping people escape the problems of drugs and addiction www.capuk.org Christians Against Poverty, bringing the good news to the poor in UK hopenow.org.uk Working with Orphans in the Ukraine The way we practice and experience “church.” Are we off by about 180 degrees? The training of young men to be ministers. Is our present practice more rooted in paganism? Is there a better higher way to go about practising the entire Christian faith than is presently known?
Available from: www.seedsowers.com
Do not read this book if you enjoy Sunday morning church services! This book is for believers who want to utterly abandon it all, from top to bottom, and then start over in a way that is a revolutionary, radical departure from all present-day church practices.
Available from: www.seedsowers.com
Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord. Acts 3:19
JESUS CHRIST THE FOUNDATION “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11
I
n the letter to the Hebrews the writer highlights what all the apostles considered the foundational teachings of the Christian FAITH. All these were taken from what was demonstrated and taught by Jesus Christ himself and now by his Holy Spirit through the apostolic scriptures to us. These are the foundation or Rock of our faith. However, during the last 2,000 years this foundation has often been eroded or perverted by ‘religious men’ and ‘humanist systems’. These false teachers introduced other gospels which drifted away from the foundation of Christ’s teaching alone. The true apostolic teaching is sometimes referred to as, ‘the full gospel’, as it includes all the teaching and beliefs that the early disciples stood for. You may well know some, if not all of these, but you may not - it’s important to check you’re truly founded on the truth! This message is
designed to make sure you are on the solid foundation of Christ Jesus. The Scriptures in the Bible reveal that Jesus is both the architect and builder as God the Son incarnate and so there can be no other foundation of the faith we profess. Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? (Matt 21:42)
A Sixfold Foundation (Tav) (from Hebrews 6:1-2) The six elementary teachings of Jesus Christ are these: 1. Repentance from Dead Works, 2. Faith towards God, 3. Teaching of Baptisms, 4. Laying on of Hands, 5. Resurrection of the Dead 6. Eternal Judgment. We will consider these essential teachings in brief:
INSIDE A Message for our times Part 4 • The Called Out Ones • & more...
1. Repentance from dead works
Notice that the writer does not just say ‘repent’ in general, although this is still an essential thing to do, but he says specifically from ‘dead works’. What does ‘dead works’ mean? It’s vital to know what ‘dead works’ are, so that you might ‘change your mind and actions’ (repent) from them and do God’s will instead. According to the Scriptures true repentance always precedes true faith which is obedience. Without such repentance belief alone is a mere empty profession. Dead works includes all acts and activities of religion - even of so called ‘Christianity’ that are used to justify acceptance with God. These include the pagan ‘traditions of men’, church attendance and the works of the Mosaic Law. As Isaiah cried out to God: ... And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags... (Isaiah 64:6) continued on page 3