Bible Believers' Newsletter 310
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In his eulogy to Antony Sutton, Alan Stang wrote, "His volumes will explain why the West built the Soviets and Hitler; why we go to war, to lose; why Wall Street loves Marxists and Nazis; why the kids can't read; why the churches have become propaganda founts; why historical facts are suppressed, why politicians lie and a hundred other whys".
According to official US Army sources, since the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003, Germany's Landstuhl Military Hospital has treated 9,433 wounded US soldiers. One in seven non-hostile deaths of GIs since the start of the war is due to suicide and 400 troops have been evacuated due to stress-related problems. There would have been no illegal invasion had Americans been thinking instead of worshipping the idiot box "It is estimated that 186 MILLION Americans combine to watch at least 56,000,000 hours of television every single day" (Onward Newsletter, March/April 1995).
Without a true revelation man turns to idolatry, worshipping the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life. Covetousness propagated by television is idolatry (Colossians 3:5). The Sardis Church Age ended after the teaching of John Calvin (Cohen or Cauvin) had turned grace into disgrace and the "higher critics" had rationalized intellectual faith into unbelief. The Philadelphian Church Age became self-worshippers with their holier than thou works programs of do's and don'ts, while the Laodiceans idolized the Gifts instead of worshipping the Giver.
An iconoclast is a breaker of idol images. Exodus 20:4-6 says, "You shall not make for yourself any idol, nor likeness of anything whatever it is in heaven above, or in the earth beneath, or in the waters under the earth: you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord your God, am a jealous God, recompensing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me; and bestowing mercy to thousands of them that love Me, and keep My commandments".
Emperor Leo III issued an edict in 726 ordering that all images and paintings in churches should either be covered or destroyed. His motives included the desire to purify the debased Christianity of much of the East, especially the Balkans where the continual raids of Slavs, Bulgars, Saracens, etc., had demoralized the population and almost destroyed learning. Christianity here was fast becoming a degraded superstition, inferior, both intellectually and morally, to Arab monotheism (Islam). The edict gave rise to rioting: people destroyed many images and the church was split into opposing groups.
After the Second Nicene Council of 787 (which was convened to decide on this matter) the Byzantine Empress Irene permitted images to be worshipped according to the determination of that Council which states:
". . . Proceeding as it were on the royal road and following the divinely inspired teaching of our holy Fathers, and the tradition of the Catholic Church (for we know that this tradition is of the Holy Spirit which dwells in the Church) we define with all care and exactitude, that the venerable and holy images are set up in just the same way as the figure of the precious and life-giving cross; painted images, and those in mosaic and those of other suitable material, in the holy churches of God, on holy vessels and vestments, on walls and in pictures, in houses and by the roadsides; images of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ and of our undefiled Lady, the holy God-bearer, and of the honourable angels, and of all saintly and holy men. For the more continually these are observed by means of such representations, so much the more will the beholders be aroused to recollect the originals and to long after them, and to pay to the images the tribute of an embrace and a reverence of honour, not to pay to them the actual worship which is according to our faith, and which is proper only to the divine nature: but as to the figure of the venerable and life-giving cross, and to the holy Gospels and the other sacred monuments, so to those images to accord the honour of incense and oblation of lights, as it has been the pious custom of antiquity. For the honour paid to the image passes to its original, and he that adores an image adores in it the person depicted thereby".
The Holy Spirit dwells in the living saints who are the Church, not in church organization. And although the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Catholic churches adore relics, venerate Hoffman's Head of Christ at 33, and worship statues and murals, Christians do not. This is paganism.
It is your personal choice but there is no necessity to hang framed verses of Scripture, crosses, pictures of the Cloud that appeared over Arizona in 1963, Hoffman's Head of Christ or any other representation in your house or Church. Acts 2:25, "David said, I foresaw the Lord [Jesus] always before my face, for He is at my right hand that I may not be moved" (Psalm 16:8). Psalm 119:30, "I have chosen the way of Truth: Your judgments have I laid before me".
God's people are iconoclasts. Read Exodus 23:34 and the life of Martin Luther. We stand against idolatry, worshipping the Lord in Spirit and in truth [a clear understanding of His revealed Word], and Him alone. The revealed Word brings the Lord to mind, unfolding His will that we may "present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service" and true worship (Romans 12:1-2).
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith and whosoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.Your brother-in-Christ,
Anthony Grigor-Scott
Avon Calling
Check out your Hebrew Lexicon and learn who has made fools of vain Goy ['human cattle'] women or as Samson spoke concerning his Gentile wife, Delilah, "ploughed with our heifers" (Judges 14:18). The Hebrew word for 'Avon' means, "perversity, depravity, iniquity and guilt." In the '50s and '60s the entertainment industry sold 'chick,' a Yiddish slang word for "prostitute," as a colloquialism for a Gentile woman whom they regard as perpetually unclean, and labeled two types of modern music 'Jazz' and 'Rock 'n Roll'—Negro vernacular for fornication.
Why is the Internet not controlled by the Authorities?
On the surface the internet seems a powerful communications tool useful for the masses to receive information without the filters applied by the authorities to other media sources like TV, Radio, and Newspapers. Why is this freedom on the internet allowed when all other media outlets are being rigidly controlled? The same people (elite) who own the bulk of media outlets also own the infrastructure of the internet and could easily control its content, why don't they?
Are the elite too dumb to see the internet's potential for countering their objectives?
This is not likely considering their ability to plan and control in other aspects of society.
Our world is controlled by a small group of people (elite) who feel entitled to decide what happens in the world without regard for the desires of the masses. The democratic process that is supposed to allow the participation of the masses in the decision making process has been rendered inoperative through the control of the political process by the elite. . .
Another reason the internet is not regulated is that if people thought the elite controlled the internet they would be more careful about what they say online. As it is it's a perfect place to identify potential protesters. Looking at the Elite's track record of respecting the laws regarding privacy elsewhere are you comfortable they are respecting your privacy online?
Full story: hraunfjord.com
Mad Cow Risk from American Vaccines
January 4, 2004 — Eating meat from infected cows is not the only, or even the most likely way of contracting the human form of Mad Cow Disease (vCJD). It has been known for some time that an even greater risk to humans is posed by the injection of vaccines containing brain and nerve tissue derived from infected cattle—products which are contained in many childhood and adult vaccines . . .
. . . In February 1988, The Southwood Committee, charged by the British government with investigating the potential for transmission of Mad Cow disease from cows to humans issued a report stating that. "The greatest risk . . . would be from injection of material derived from bovine brain or lymphoid tissue. . ."
An FDA Committee which met to discuss the issue of potential risk of BSE from vaccines actually talked about revealing the risks to parents and decided that, "We have a duty . . . to protect the vaccine system in this country."
"With an incubation period before symptoms emerge of between 20 and 40 years and a prognosis of almost certain death from prolonged and terrible neurological symptoms, it is essential that we err on the side of caution," states Meryl Dorey, editor of the Australian health magazine, Informed Choice. "Many of the most commonly prescribed medications in use today (such as insulin and many hormone-based drugs) and almost all injected and oral vaccines contain bovine products which have the potential to spread this deadly disease to our children. . ."
Comment: Protocol 10:19, "But you yourselves perfectly well know that to produce the possibility of the expression of such wishes by all the nations it is indispensable to trouble in all countries the people's relations with their governments so as to utterly exhaust humanity with dissension, hatred, struggle, envy and even by the use of torture, by starvation, by the inoculation of diseases, by want, so that the "Goyim" see no other issue than to take refuge in our complete sovereignty in money and in all else. Also see: Potassium deficiency
Immigration and Information: Big Brother may get His Wish
Grant de facto amnesty to millions of illegal invaders and use the national security shibboleth to press for ID cards to ensure any potential terrorists are thwarted through the usual efficient government methods. Richard Perle and David Frum called for a national ID in their new book "An End to Evil" . . . Even Bush the Younger has needed a pretense for this instead of risking an Executive Order. Mark my words; the Bush administration will use the immigration initiative to justify a national ID card for all Americans. Full story: lewrockwell.com
Jewish Leaders pan Gibson Film after posing as Pastors
ORLANDO, Fla. January 22, 2004 — Leaders of two Jewish groups are giving negative reviews after posing as pastors so they could attend an advance screening of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ." Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League and Rabbis James Rudin and David Elcott of the American Jewish Committee paid their way into the Global Pastors Network conference in Florida.
They sat unnoticed Wednesday evening among thousands of pastors, who had been addressed earlier in the day by Gibson himself. Foxman and the rabbis told The Washington Times they registered for the conference under a fabricated church name and signed a non-disclosure agreement regarding contents of the film.
But afterwards, they called reporters to complain that the movie includes a verse from the Gospels that historically has been used to blame the Jewish people for killing Jesus. In Matthew 27:25, Jews calling for Jesus' crucifixion say, "His Blood be on us and on our children".
I asked God
I asked God to take away my habit.
God said, No.
It is not for me to take away, but for you to give it up.
I asked God to make my handicapped child whole.
God said, No.
His spirit is whole, his body is only temporary.
I asked God to grant me patience.
God said, No.
Patience is a byproduct of tribulations; it isn't granted, it is learned.
I asked God to give me happiness.
God said, No.
I give you blessings; Happiness is up to you.
I asked God to spare me pain.
God said, No.
Suffering draws you apart from worldly cares and brings you closer to Me.
I asked God to make my spirit grow.
God said, No.
You must grow on your own! But I will prune you to make you fruitful.
I asked God for all things that I might enjoy life.
God said, No.
I will give you Life, so that you may enjoy all things.
I asked God to help me LOVE others, as much as He loves me.
God said, Ahhhh . . .
Finally you have the idea.
Word made Blood
Before I came to the Lord I used to attend Wednesday night Bible study at the home of Sister Gladys Donithorne in Kowloon Tong, directly beneath the flight path to Kai Tak airport. "Auntie Donnie" forsook the privileges to which she was born, and as a young bride sailed to China with her missionary husband where they served until after the Communist takeover when she established numerous works among refugees in the resettlement areas of Hongkong.
The Lord used Auntie Donnie as an influence in my life and I shall never forget her admonition, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all other things shall be added unto you" (Matthew 6:19-34). This old saint began her rounds at 6.00am when her fierce-looking Chinese driver called. Only after her death in 1976 was it known that she had had a colostomy on a visit to England. I expect to see her soon, not as an 86 year-old but as that young bride who dedicated her life to serving the Lord in the Middle Kingdom.
This week we welcome another new Brother who has heard the "Shout" of the Message of Malachi 4:5-6 and Revelation 10:7. He writes, "From today I put all organization behind my back." What better admonishment can we offer than, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all other things shall be added unto you." And "let God's Word be true, but every man a liar" (Romans 3:4).
Our Brother has asked for understanding in some important questions he wishes to explain to his wife and children. I am sure he will not mind this public answer as they concern each one of us and the answers incorporate links to more fulsome explanations expounded elsewhere on the Church Website.
Question: Are you saying that Jesus left the "Mercy Seat" in Revelation 4 and 5?
Jesus was not on the Mercy Seat during the Church Ages, His bloodless carcass lay on the sacrifice altar. His Blood had been used to cleanse the heavenly tabernacle of the sins of the Old Testament saints with the excess poured onto the ground at the foot of the altar, which was His cross.
It was not His body but His Blood that covered the Mercy Seat as the sign sin's price had been met for "whomsoever will" in Adam's race, "Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe" (Exodus 21; Isaiah 53:4-5).
Jesus was the antitype of the lamb slain that first Passover in Egypt whose blood was daubed on the lintel of the door of the Hebrew homes as evidence that the life of an innocent lamb had been sacrificed to atone for all inside the door and that they had received mercy under the blood, Exodus 12:13, "The blood shall a token for you on the houses where you 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".
The Mercy Seat was only a Mercy Seat so long as it was sprinkled with blood. This signified God's requirement had been met and stayed His hand in judgment. Hebrews 9:22, "According to the Law almost all things are purified with blood; and without shedding of blood there is no remission [of past sins]." In the absence of the blood it was a Judgment Seat.
Leviticus 17:11, "The life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul".
Blood is the medium that conducts the spirit of mortal life through the body as copper wire is the conduit through which electricity is conducted. The presence of blood on the Mercy Seat witnessed the life of the expiatory victim on the annual day of atonement had been surrendered as a substitute for the life of the people, the loss of which they had merited by their sins. By this ordinance God was appeased: Israel's sins were transferred to their sacrifice, and expiated. Obviously this was but a temporary measure and type pending the sacrifice of our Kinsman Redeemer Jesus Messiah as animals are not kin to man and have no soul that can return upon the believer.
The Gentile dispensation was typed by the Pentecostal feast of Leviticus 23. It commenced with a holy convocation or sabbath on Nisan 16 which was not necessarily a Saturday. The antitype was Resurrection Sunday when Messiah was waved before the Lord as the first of many resurrected sons on the second day of Israel's feast of unleavened bread (I Corinthians 15:20). Bread is the staff of natural life and types Jesus Christ, the Word-Bread from heaven and staff of Spiritual Life. Leaven types sin—something added to the wheat dough (Revelation 22:18)— so these last six days of unleavened bread typed Pentecost, when the Church was born and fed the pure Word of God or faith once delivered to the apostolic saints—unleavened by man-made reasoning. Pentecost lasted from AD33 to about AD53.
Seven sabbaths or rests followed the holy convocation of Nisan 16, typing the seven different and distinct baptisms of the Holy Spirit by seven portions of Word and Spirit that created and distinguish seven different sabbaths or rests called the Seven Church Ages. The forty-nine days of the Hebrew feast of Weeks, or Pentecost, were magnified to 1,920 years from AD33 to March, 1963, when the forty-ninth day of the seventh or Laodicean Church Age ended.
We are now living in the fiftieth day which is another holy convocation like the first wherein the apostolic faith is restored (Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 17:11; Acts 3:19-21), the mystery of God is finished (Acts 3:21; I Corinthians 13:10; Revelation 10:7), and the saints have entered their perfect rest to make themselves ready for the manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation by coming to maturity in the unity of the faith under pre-eminence to the revealed Word of God (Romans 8:19; Ephesians 4:13). Revelation 19:7-9, "For the marriage of the Lamb has come to pass and His wife has made herself ready. And to her was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And (after the sinking of Los Angeles at the end of the Gentile dispensation—Revelation 18:21-24) he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God".
The marriage of the Lamb is His invisible union with each saint at their second birth. The wedding is taking place now and finishes at the close of the Pentecostal feast or Gentile dispensation. Then, after a short and powerful demonstration of the Spirit, our little hunted and persecuted group will go to be with Jesus at the wedding supper of the Lamb in the sky.
A holy convocation is a declared sabbath wherein the saints perform no servile work. Our holy convocation is a restoration of the apostolic faith plus the perfect interpretation of Scripture by THUS SAITH THE LORD of God's end-time prophet, William Branham. During the Church Ages when the Book was sealed, the faith was lost through martyrdom by the Roman false church, and the saints hardly ceased their labor of interpreting, so they could understand the Bible.
When the last saint predestinated to the Laodicean part of the Body was baptized into Christ, the sevenfold Spirit of God that anointed the Church Age messengers and their converts in portion returned back before the throne whence came lightnings and voices and thunderings. The Blood was removed from the Mercy Seat making it a Judgment Seat whereon sat an angry God holding the Book of Life Adam forfeited when He redeemed Eve. Laodicea had ended, and Christ was no longer a Mediator because the laver or sea of brass before the throne in which the PART-Word saints were washed is now crystal clear (Revelation 4:5-6).
The Laodicean Church Age ended in 1963 before Christ claimed the Book of Life, broke open the Seven Seals and revealed their mysteries through His prophet, William Branham.
Like Boaz His type, Christ issued a challenge to any nearer kinsman in Adam's race who was worthy to play the part of our redeemer to claim the Book and loose the Seven Seals. "But no one in heaven, nor on earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the Scroll, or even to look upon it" (Revelation 5:1-3).
No man being found worthy, Christ's nail-scarred body with its lacerated back, pierced side and wounded brow, raised from the sacrifice altar where it had lain as a memorial for almost 2,000 years. No longer was He in the Office of Son of God and Mediator, neither was He the sacrificial Lamb but the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, the overcoming Root of David and the Son of man. Advancing from the outer court into the sanctuary, He took the Book which is the Title Deed to His inheritance from the hand of God and broke its Seven Seals.
As Son of David He is heir to the throne; as Son of Abraham He is Heir to the royal grant; as Son of man (Adam and his race) He is Heir to the earth; and as Son of God He is Heir to all things. We elect are joint heirs with Him once we recognize our place in Christ and our position in the Body.
Today there is a Man in the Judgment Seat of God to Whom is delegated all authority in heaven and in Earth "until He shall have put all enemies under His feet, and the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death" (Matthew 28:18; I Corinthians 15:25- 26).
John 5:25-27, "Most assuredly, I say to you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the [spiritually] dead shall hear the Voice of the Son of God [as Mediator during the Church Ages]: and they that hear [the elect] shall live [or be born-again (Ephesians 2:1)]. For as the Father has [eternal] Life in Himself; so has He granted the Son to have Life in Himself; and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man" [with pre-eminence over His peers].
In Revelation 10:1-6 Christ returned to Earth as the Angel of the Covenant signified by the rainbow over His head. The Book of Redemption open in His hand implies He has resumed the prophetic Office, Son of man, and with the authority of the Judgment Seat is Judge of all. He indicts Rome, the United States and the once Protestant church, as enemies, beneath His feet, separating and preventing the union of church and state into Satan's totalitarian one world government until the Holy Spirit departs in the translation of the living saints (II Thessalonians 2:7). He swore by God that there should be no further delay in the full redemption of His Bride, and that the mysterious Voices of the Seven Thunders should be revealed through the ministry of the angel to the Laodicean Church Age, William Branham, to gather His end-time Bride into oneness with the Word by the unity of the faith (John 17:21-26).
Brother Branham's Message introduced the second or 'parousia' Coming of the fullness of the Word which is Christ (John 1:1-14; Acts 3:21; I Corinthians 13:10; Colossians 2:9; Revelation 10:7). The revelation of the Seven Seals in 1963 brought Christ back to earth in WORD form. His second Coming is not the glorified Man from Galilee but the fullness of the WORD spoken by the mouth of all God's holy prophets since the world began, now becoming manifest in written epistles of the Bride of all Ages. When Christ descended from heaven with the "Shout" of the Prophet's Message, "God brought with Him all those who sleep in Jesus" (I Thessalonians 4:14-16).
This is the uniting time when Christ is gathering into one Bride Body the New Testament saints of all Ages (Ephesians 1:10). And Satan is uniting his children with the false church. Soon they will be cast out of heaven and Satan will incarnate the Pope and deceive all the non-elect who dwell upon earth (Revelation 13:1-10).
In Revelation 10:8-11 we emulate Christ's action in Revelation 5:7 where He boldly took the Title Deed from the hand of God as His lawful right and promised inheritance—no please or thank you—It was His through overcoming in Gethsemane and paying redemption's price on Calvary. Likewise and without reserve, we take the open Book from the hand of the Covenant Angel, and become one with the Word as Ezekiel became one with his Message (Ezekiel 3:3).
Since the Seals have been revealed to us the Bible has become a new Book. THUS SAITH THE LORD is so sharp it divides the very thoughts and intents of the heart, separating the realms of body, spirit and soul. Since that Word is now the Husband of my soul I must come under its pre-eminence for it shall rule over me. The revelation is sweet to my soul, but bringing my senses under submission can be a bitter experience.
Now that I am feeding on the unfailing Body Word of the Son of man the Blood is no longer the evidence of new birth: I must have the Token of His Life on display in me, for I must "testify this revelation again concerning many peoples, nations, tongues, and kings".
Homework: For a fuller exposition, please study Revelation Chapter Four Part I; Revelation Chapter Four Part II; Revelation Chapter Four Part III; Revelation Chapter Five Part I, and Revelation Chapter Five Part II.
Question: How is a sinner cleansed today without the Blood on the altar?
It was only ever God's elect who could be Blood-washed and born-again. Romans 8:29-30, "All God foreknew as His elect He predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Hebrews 2:10). Moreover whom He predestinated He has also called, justified and [accounts as already] glorified." So in Daniel 7:10 and Revelation 5:9-13 we see you, me, Auntie Donnie and the whole New Testament Church standing in the celestial or theophany bodies of our glorified appearance. The different classes of the "saved" will be purified through the tribulation and "appeal" at the White Throne Judgment where they will be granted in to eternal Life.
The Church Age saints could not be fully redeemed in Christ on Calvary because they were predestinated to dispensations of PART-Word as the Bible was sealed with Seven Seals "unto the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4,9; Revelation 10:4), and without Christ's intercession their faith was not sufficient to make them perfect. After the Roman Catholic church was organized at the First Nicaea Council of AD325 in union with the state, they proceeded to martyr the saints who refused their mark of the beast, and faith in the safe and sacred repository of their hearts went to the grave with them, and was lost. The Dark Ages followed.
From the day of Pentecost to the close of the Laodicean Church Age, Christ was a Mediator for the ignorance of these PART-Word saints.
A mediator is an objective go-between or arbiter between two parties to an agreement who find themselves in dispute. His partiality is restricted to the terms of the agreement. However, as God and Christ are one, as Mediator Christ was also Advocate interceding in behalf of the Church Age saints, pleading their case, because our Agreement is Abraham's Covenant which is not of Law but of promise by Grace through faith (Hebrews 8:6-12). With "all authority in heaven and on earth" Christ's role as Mediator was to reconcile the PART-Word elect to God the fullness of the Word (Matthew 28:18; John 12:32; II Corinthians 5:13-21).
Without Christ's intercession the faith of the Church Age saints, leavened with errors and guesswork, was unacceptable to God (Revelation 22:18-19). So Christ was a Mediator in order that they could be born-again. When they presented faith in the Word for their day He placed their ignorance under the Blood and they were baptized into the Body.
Galatians 3:20 "A mediator is not a mediator of a single party, the very concept of mediation presupposing at least two parties, but God is one." God stood alone and dealt with Abraham singly and directly using no mediator or go-between like angels or Moses. And the Mediator for Abraham's Church Age seed was the God of Abraham made flesh and glorified so their Judge was also their Mediator. Romans 8:31-33, "If God be for us, who can be against us? Since He did not spare even His own Son for us but delivered Him up for us all, won't He also freely give us everything else? Who dares accuse us whom God has justified and chosen as His own?"
Since we now have the perfect interpretation of the Word, a deep and perfect understanding not expected of the Church Age saints is mandatory for Christ's end-time Bride. God will only receive THUS SAITH THE LORD of perfect faith. With no Blood on the Mercy Seat and no mediation for ignorance it is essential we receive Brother Branham's ministry of restoration. Acts 3:23, "It shall come to pass, that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be destroyed from among the people" or cast into the tribulation (Malachi 4:6; Revelation 22:17-19).
Actually, redemption is over. Redemption ended with the close of the Laodicean Church Age in 1963, and since the Seven Seals are revealed, Christ's Mediation has finished.
Although there is now no Blood on the Mercy Seat, the end-time Bride, like Israel's 144,000 elect, is predestinated to receive the fullness of the Word. Foreseeing that we would come into oneness with the fullness of His Word in answer to Jesus' prayer in Gethsemane (John 17:21-26), God predestinated us to full redemption in Christ on Calvary with no need of mediation for ignorance.
The Blood is no longer the token of the new birth. The fullness of the Word quickened by the fullness of the Spirit means that our Token is the Life of Christ on display.
Question: Since Christ is a judge now, how are sinners and saints to access grace without the Blood? To receive Birth, Baptism and the three works of Grace? Where is the Blood today?
We don't need Christ's Blood on the Mercy Seat today. The Life was in the Word made blood; we now have the fullness of the Spirit on the fullness of the Word to transfuse that Life into us. This is the Token. But the Token is not the Token unless it is on display.
As the Church Age saints received only a seventh portion of the Spirit to quicken the measure of Word for their day their revelation was incomplete. But the Blood on the Mercy Seat signified that although the Book was sealed and they only "knew in PART and prophesied in PART," mercy and new birth were available because Christ was a Mediator to enable the elect to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit which is the new birth. However Christ's mediation had nothing to do with either justification by grace through faith or sanctification, only election, which is the baptism with the Holy Ghost or new birth.
The Blood of Christ fell on the ground and dried up 2,000 years ago as the blood of the natural lamb poured out at the foot of the altar. But the Bride from Pentecost to the present is the Blood of Christ because the life is in the blood and the Life of Christ is now in us. The living saints are the Blood of Christ by the baptism with the Holy Ghost.
Acts 7:49, "Heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool: what house will you build Me? says the Lord: or what is the place of My rest"?
Of course the Place of God's rest or sabbath is in Christ and His Bride. Outside of Christ there can be no sabbath. I Corinthians 6:19, "Don't you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you. . ." I Peter 4:17, ". . . judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who disobey the Gospel of God?" Christ's throne will be on Earth. God's throne is in heaven but His judgment seat or footstool is on this Earth.
So long as the Blood is on Earth in the form of Christ's Bride, Earth remains a Mercy Seat because we are the Blood of Christ. II Thessalonians 2:7, "The mystery of iniquity is already at work: only He Who now restrains [Satan and his children from slaughtering the Church as they did throughout the Dark Ages] will continue to do so until the Holy Spirit is taken out of the way [at the translation of the end-time Bride]."
The "three works of Grace" are three works of the Spirit: three steps in understanding the mind and conforming to the image of Jesus Christ such that when people meet us they will know we have been with Jesus.
We are justified by grace through faith in Who Christ is and what He has accomplished in our behalf, followed by repentance for our unbelief and Scriptural water baptism in His Name for the remission of past sins.
As human blood carries the spirit of mortal life and cleanses our body of impurities the Blood of Christ sanctifies the Body of Christ of uncleanliness through faith (Ephesians 5:26). God's only cleansing, holy stream is sanctification, and sanctification is on-going throughout life. We said that the Blood of Christ fell to the ground and dried up 2,000 years ago, but what was the Blood of Christ before it was blood? It was Word. It is faith in God's Word that cleanses, heals and sanctifies us.
John 17:17, "Sanctify them through Your truth: Your Word is truth".
When a woman sees by the revelation of God's Word that she is to dress modestly and not wear clothes that pertain to a man, correction received cleanses and brings her life subject to the Word. This is sanctification by the Blood or Word of God. Likewise, when a man sees that he should not watch television, smoke, drink or gamble, and he obeys the revelation, that is sanctification by grace through the obedience of faith.
The third work of grace is the baptism with the Holy Spirit, this further step in faith is the new birth. In each of the nine Gentile dispensations the new birth came through obedience to a clear revelation of the present Truth (I John 1:7; Revelation 2:7). We must walk in the Light as Christ is in it, or hear what the Spirit is saying to the elect and nominal churches in this day; otherwise we cannot come under the Blood which is to be born-again.
God is only writing epistles of the present Truth—what Jesus is doing now. Not what He did in the days of Moses, Luther, Wesley or Pentecost, but what He is doing in our day.
Although Christ is now Judge, grace is more abundant today that at any time since the Fall because since Christ opened the Seals we have the perfect interpretation of the Word by the fullness of the Spirit.
Grace ends for us Gentiles (inasmuch as there will never be another Gentile born-again) once the Seventh Trump sounds the close of our dispensation and Los Angeles has sunk beneath the Pacific.
You must recall that all of the Old Testament saints from Adam were justified by grace through faith and sanctified but they were not born-again until the Blood of the Lamb of God had been shed. Grace is accessed not by blood but by faith in Christ's propitiation for our sins (John 1:29; I John 2:2).
Question: How are the 144,000 saved since Christ left the "Mercy Seat"?
Precisely the same way every son of Adam is saved: by retaining his or her name sanctified on the Book of Life. I realize, however, that you are not speaking of "salvation" but of "new birth" or regeneration and redemption which is altogether different.
Being sons of Adam the 144,000 were born "saved" by virtue of the fact their names were written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, and in God's great thinking Christ was crucified from the foundation of the world to "save" every one of them. They will be born-again as Christ's Bride is born-again, by recognizing their day and becoming written epistles of its Message.
The 144,000 were predestinated by God's foreknowledge of how they would exercise their own free choice and receive "the" faith through the revelation the Seven Trumpets which will reveal the 'parousia' Coming of the Son of Man to them as the revelation of the Seven Seals revealed His 'parousia' to us. Once they have a revelation of the Son of man, they will have a revelation of the fullness of the Word and have no need for mediation for ignorance or the token of Blood on the Mercy Seat. And unlike the Church Age saints whose understanding was in continual disagreement with God the Word, the 144,000 will be one with the Word. Thereby they were all fully redeemed in Christ on Calvary.
Question: Should I look for another return of Pentecost?
As I have explained above, you have already found it, Brother. William Branham, the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6 restored the faith once delivered to the apostolic saints, and that brought us back to Pentecost. Then the Son of Man finished the mystery of God by revealing the Seven Seals through him so we have Pentecost Plus (with vitamins P and F for Perfect Faith)!
Brother Branham's Message was the former or "teaching" rain. We are now resting in the holy convocation or fiftieth day of the Pentecostal Feast, ripening as the SON-Light of Christ takes all the "greenness" out of His end-time Wheat Bride, and brings us all to maturity in the unity of the faith for the new wave offering which will be the manifestation of the Sons of God when the latter or "harvest" rain falls at the close of our dispensation.
The Laodicean Church Age is commonly called Pentecost because they mistakenly thought the "restoration of the Gifts of the Spirit" first recognized in Azusa Street, Los Angeles, was the return of Pentecost and the promised restoration. But since the prophet was not even born in 1906, the former or "teaching" rain had not come, and they were mistaken.
"Pentecost" (so-called) became a mixture of the unrighteous partaking of Spiritual blessing and manifesting in the Holy Ghost. Too often it saw man using God's Gifts instead of waiting upon the Lord. In it also was devil power as men were under the control of demons, yet no one seemed to realize it. Then, to prove that it was not the REAL, these people (even before a second generation had appeared) organized, and wrote their unscriptural doctrines and built their own fences as every other group ahead of them did. Organized religion is not of God.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . . and let God's Word be true, but every man a liar." God will richly bless you. nl310.htm
Pass it on . . . please send this article to someone you know
Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
PowerPoint presentation The Second Coming of Christ
Subscribe to Newsletter Unsubscribe from Newsletter
