Good morning, I'm Brother Anthony. Welcome to 'Bible Believers', where we focus on the PRESENT Truth - what Jesus is doing NOW. An especial welcome to our new listeners.
'To be or not to be? That is the question'! Whether to be a born-again Christian, or whether to be a critic and religionist.
Last week, as in previous programs, I invited any Bible believer who disagrees, or does not understand something I've said on this program to write to me, giving Scripture references as commanded by Jesus. This program is called 'Bible Believers' and is ONLY directed to those who believe the Bible, and are able to receive the faith of Jesus Christ. Just as the country music or football programs are directed only to listeners who understand country music or football.
Last week a critic called and complained to the Station Manager, using unclean language. So much for their 'Christian' credentials. We reviewed the Ephesian Church Age, and 'nicolaitanism'. Anyone who can read, can find this teaching in their Bible, Greek Lexicon and an encyclopaedia. It's simple truth. Our foul-mouthed caller was obviously neither a Bible Believer nor a seeker of truth. God commands us to receive the Word with all readiness of mind then search the Scriptures whether these things are so.
This program is not written by station management. Management will always support their programmers. So until you write, showing me where my teaching is not 100% in accord with the Scripture, from Genesis to Revelation, as you're commanded by Jesus, I'll continue to teach precisely what I am teaching.
You'll remember in Revelation chapter one, there were seven STARS in the right hand of the Lord Jesus. These stars represented the seven angels or messengers God sent to seven SUCCESSIVE Church Ages. The RIGHT hand symbolizes they were COMPLETELY under His control. Drawing their current, their Light from Him. Oh! Every true servant of God is the same way.
What was planted in the first age would develop in the second age, and in all other ages, until it comes to maturity and harvest. God's law of reproduction states that EVERY seed brings forth of its own kind. The Word mixed with faith will produce Sons to God, the traditions of men will bear the children of disobedience. Thus in the Smyrnaean age we expect an enlargement and enlightenment of the church corporate's history through a revelation of the Spirit.
In this age, the hatred of the false vine increases. We see from Revelation 2:9, they have separated themselves from the company of the true. They went out from them. They were liars. They called themselves what they are not. But did God destroy them? No. "Let them alone and both will go to the harvest."
"But Lord they should be destroyed, for they are destroying your people. They're killing them."
"No, let them alone. But to My Bride I say, 'Be thou faithful unto death. Love Me even more.'"
We learn in no uncertain terms that this false vine is the vine of Satan. Their gathering is of him (Satan). They meet in the Name of God and lie that they are Christ's. They preach, they teach, they baptize, they worship, they partake of various rites given by Jesus to the church, yet they are not of God. But since they say they are, God will hold them responsible and in each age He speaks of them and to them.
They remind us exactly of Balaam. He had the prophetic office. He knew the proper approach unto God as demonstrated in the sacrifice of the clean beasts. Yet he was not a true Word prophet, for when God told him not to honor Balak with his presence, he sought to go anyway, for he was motivated by his lust for gold and prestige. So God let him go. The perfect will of God gave way to the permissive will of God.
Because of the "heart desire" of Balaam, God actually said, "Go ahead." But did God change His mind? No sir. God had His way, regardless of Balaam going. Balaam did not annul the will of God. God had His way regardless. It was Balaam who was the loser, for he by-passed the Word. And today we have that very same thing. Women preachers, organization, false doctrine, etc., and people worshiping god, manifesting in the Spirit, and going right on as did Balaam, claiming that God has spoken to them - even when the commission received is opposite to the revealed Word. And I won't deny that God spoke to them. But it was just like when He spoke to Balaam that second time.
He knew that Balaam wanted his own heart desire above the Word and He gave it to him, yet in the end having His own way. So is it today, God tells folks to go ahead in their own hearts' desires, for they've already rejected the Word. BUT THE WILL OF GOD WILL BE DONE REGARDLESS. Amen.
I hope you see this. It'll not only clear up much of what is seen in all ages, but will especially help in this last age, which has so much manifestation and external blessings, when the whole period is so against the 'Word-Revealed-Will' of God.
If ever an age received a message loud and clear, Smyrna did. It was, and is, that Old Testament truth, "The son of the bondwoman will distress the son of the free woman, until the son of the bondwoman be cast out." That lets us know, that the hatred and blasphemy of Satan, against the true Christian, will be vented through a group who are nominal, false christians, and this will increase until god uproots that false vine at the end of the Laodicean Age.
The Messenger to the Smyrnean Age was Irenaeus, a mighty man of God who was militant against any form of organization. Also, his life history, wherein he served the Lord, was one of much manifestation in the Holy Spirit; and the Word was taught with unusual clarity and conformity to its original precepts. His churches in France were known to have the gifts of the Spirit among them, for the saints spoke in tongues, prophesied, raised the dead, and healed the sick by the prayer of faith. He saw the danger of any kind of organized brotherhood among the elders, pastors, etc. He stood solidly for a unified, Spirit-filled, gift-manifesting local church. And God honored him for the power of God manifested among the saints. Not among some special priesthood, AMONG the saints or the ordinary members of the congregation.
Of course Irenaeus was clear on his understanding of the Godhead. The trinity doctrine was not introduced into Christianity until over 100 years after the death of this great saint.
When Jesus was upon earth He came as the Lamb, and as the Prophet. But when He came back upon the Church by His Spirit, He became the Teacher. And to every age we hear the same truth. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches of each age." But only a Spirit-filled man, can hear the revelation for his age. None other can. No sir, they cannot. That's exactly what Paul said in I Corinthians 2:6-16. This ought to make you rejoice.
There's a most peculiar doctrine in the air that's causing much misunderstanding and hard feelings. For when the Pentecostals say you must speak in tongues, or you haven't been baptized with the Holy Ghost, they're either denying that great men like Knox, Moody, Taylor, Goforth and others received the Holy Ghost, or saying that they all secretly spoke in tongues, and were not AWARE of what was going on. Now that's not true. No sir. That's gross error. Tongues are not the evidence of being Spirit-filled. It is simply one of the nine manifestations mentioned in I Corinthians 12. There's no Scripture that says you receive the Holy Spirit speaking in tongues, or that you receive the Holy Spirit by speaking in tongues. But it does say that "after they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, they spoke in tongues," and later on it says that they prophesied.
Today, amongst many folks, it's taken for granted, that all who claim to receive the Holy Ghost by speaking in tongues, speak in a genuine Spiritual tongue. But this is not so, for many people speak in a known tongue but under the influence of a wrong spirit. Now let's say we're in a meeting, and people are all speaking in tongues. How can you know which tongue is from the Spirit, and which is from the devil?
There's something in the Word about this very subject that they ignore completely - I Corinthians 13. It mentions tongues of men and angels. These would be known and unknown tongues. Modern Pentecostals say that they can receive the Holy Ghost speaking in unknown or angelic tongues. They have the cart before the horse, for in Acts 2 the people spoke in a perfect dialect which even unbelievers heard and understood.
Now when God's silent we'd better be silent. But where He has spoken we had better speak, too, and say what He's already ;said. He told us the evidence, or what would happen after being baptized with the Holy Ghost was that we would have the Teacher come and teach all truth. But that Teacher was an INSIDE teacher, not an outside teacher. If the Spirit wasn't inside, you wouldn't hear the truth, and receive it by revelation, if you heard it every moment of the day. That was the sign of the indwelling Spirit in the days of Paul. Those who were filled with the Holy Ghost heard the Word, received It, and lived by it. Those who did not have the Spirit, heard it only as carnal men, put a wrong interpretation on it, and went into sin.
In every age, (and every age is the age of the Holy Ghost for the true believer) - I say, in every age the evidence was the same. Those who had the Spirit, the Teacher, heard the Word, and that Spirit in them took the Word and taught it, (revealed it) to them. They were of the group that heard the messenger, and his message, and took It, and lived It.
"He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches of each age." In every age it was the same cry. Hear what the Spirit says. If you're a Christian, you'll get back to what the Spirit is teaching, that is, the Word for this hour. EVERY messenger to EVERY age will preach that Word. Every fresh and true revival, will be because men have gone back to the Word for their day. The cry of every age is the rebuke, "You have left the Word of God. Repent, and come back to the Word." From the first book in the Bible (Genesis), to the last book (Revelation), there's only one reason for God's displeasure - leaving the Word; and there is only one remedy to regain His favor - back to the Word.
In the Ephesian Age, in Smyrna, and in every age we contemplate we will see that this is true. And in the Laodicean Age which was the last age, we find the blackout of the Word, the complete apostasy, ending in the great tribulation.
If you're true seed, if you're truly baptized with the Holy Ghost, you'll esteem His Word above your necessary meat, and yearn to live by every Word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
This is my earnest prayer for all of us; may we hear what the Spirit's bringing from the Word for US US today.
Each of us were foreigners, aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise. Not being Israelites descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and living in Israel, we have no part in the Covenant God made with Moses. And so long as we're not born-again, we're strangers to the love of God, and from the New Covenant. Without Christ, having no hope, and without God in the world' (Ephesian 2:12).
To know Him is to know what Love is. God IS love. He so loved the world that He manifest Himself in the flesh of Jesus Christ to pay sin's penalty that we may be reunited to Him in Love (John 3:16).
The disciples asked an excellent question, when they asked Jesus, 'Teach us HOW to pray' (Matthew 6; Luke 11). And the ANSWER of the God of LOVE is very instructive. But first I want you to notice He was teaching them how to PRAY. He was NOT teaching them a form of words to recite, but HOW to pray. Christians do NOT 'say prayers' we PRAY. Jesus expressly told His disciples, 'Don't use vain repetitions, as the HEATHENS do'.
The Lord's Prayer, as it's known, was an INSTRUCTION as to HOW we should pray, NOT a form of words we should recite to God. We're to give Him ADORATION from the heart, not repeat by rote something we've learned. If we're born-again we ARE His children, He's our Father, and provided we're ABIDING in the Word, and ask according to His Will, (His Will IS His Word), we're only asking for what we ARE, and He'll grant our requests.
We're to look forward to the day of the Lord and the Millennium, when the earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. Before we CONFESS our MISTAKES and SOLICIT His favor, we must forgive those who've made mistakes against us. Then ask with THANKS, knowing He's faithful, and that He knows the things we have need of even before we pray.
God is Love. We meet Him by faith or understanding in His Word. I was taught by a friend in Hong Kong to remember the elements of prayer Jesus taught His disciples by the word ACTS. A - Adoration, C - Confession, T - Thanks, and S - Solicitation.
And if we expect God to answer our prayers, we pray in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. NOT Father, Son and Holy Ghost which are NO name at all but three of His many Offices or Titles. The Name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost is LORD JESUS CHRIST.
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Let's review a few comments from Bible Believers'.
Asolutely! In Luke 24:47, Jesus told His disciples to 'preach repentance and remission of sin in His Name'. That's Lord Jesus Christ (Lk. 24:47; Mt. 28:19).
Peter said, "Repent and be baptized EVERY one of you, whosoever the Lord shall call, in the NAME of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin and you SHALL receive the Gift of the Holy Spirit for there is NO other Name under heaven given among men whereby you MUST be saved " (Ac.2:38-39; 4:12).
Paul said, 'If an angel from heaven or any man, priest or pastor, baptize DIFFERENTLY, he is anathema.' He commanded believers who were baptized any other way, to be rebaptized, in the NAME of the Lord Jesus Christ. God is NO respecter of persons and there is and was only ever ONE Christian water baptism (Ac. 19).
Jesus said, 'He who BELIEVES and is Scripturally baptized SHALL be saved; he that believes NOT, is anathema. BECAUSE he is without faith, and his sins are RETAINED (Mk. 16:16).
Ask God for a revelation WHO He is. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are three Titles, or DISPENSATION claims of ONE God ABOVE us, WITH us, and now IN us; not three people, and the Name of those Titles is LORD JESUS CHRIST.
There is only ONE Lord, ONE Faith, and ONE water baptism for the remission of past sin. radio022.html