Never let an opportunity for declaring God's Word pass you by. What comes around, goes around. For His Word is a seed which will not return to Him void, but will accomplish that for which it was sent.
One day a little boy, belonging to a Sunday School, met one of his friends, and told him that he expected to visit his relatives in the country.
"Well," said his friend, "What are you going to the country for?"
"Oh, I'll run, and play in the fields and enjoy myself very much."
"Well, so much for what you're going to do for yourself. What else do you expect to do?"
"Why, perhaps I can help the farmers."
"Well, so much for yourself and the farmer. But what do you expect to do for your heavenly Father?"
"What, me?" replied the child, in surprise. "What can such a little child like me do for God?"
"You can do much. I'll give you a bundle of tracts. Take these, and when you go into the country, give them away."
"To be sure, Sir, I can do that," said the boy, and he received the tracts.
Now, here was the seed sown. Let's see what came of it. The boy went into the country as he expected. After being there a day or so, a lad in the neighborhood, asked if he'd help gather the cows together, and bring them home.
"Oh," thought the young missionary, "Here's a good chance to give out one of my tracts."
So off they started for the cows. The child (for he was no more) took out one of those silent preachers, saying, "Here's something for you."
"What is it?" he said looking it over; "What is it?"
"It's something good to read." said the lad.
"But I can't read. Never mind, I'll take it home; they can read it there."
Some days after, the country boy met his city friend. "Well," said he, "that little book you gave me made a great stir at our house, I tell you."
"Did it, though? How do you mean?"
"Why," he replied, "they read the tract, "and then they read the Bible, and when sunday came, they made me get out the old carriage and clean it up, and then we all got in who could, and the rest got on before and behind, and rode off to church. That tract has done great things, I tell you."
Afterwards, it was learned that this one tract was the means of converting twenty-four souls. From little acorns mighty oak trees grow.
For perhaps six weeks, I've been fellowshiping with an ex-Muslim. He loved God all his life, but was never able to know Him. Neither could he see sense or purpose in reciting prayers - over, and over again. When his parents gave him a Koran, he devoured its pages, hungry for the reality of his unknown God. But when he read: that husbands are to beat their wives, he cast it away as not of God.
One Saturday, a stranger, a black Brother all the way from Africa, introduced himself, and the Lord Jesus. He spent time with my new Brother, and gave him a Gospel tract. This sacrifice of a little time to introduce a stranger to the love of Jesus was the start of a young Brother's Christian walk, and relationship with the living Lord Jesus Christ. And I feel confident He can receive the present truth, and be born-again.
The Brother from Ghana sowed, I'm watering, and praying God will give the increase: the new birth. Isn't it strange how God brought three brothers together from three different countries so that one of His sheep could receive His Word. The Spiritual Life of Christ must pass through His Body, just as our natural life had to pass through the body of our earthly father, which is his own wife, our mother, to produce our first birth.
Do you recall the story of the Ethiopian eunuch? He was a great man, and a Bible believer who was returning to Ethiopia by chariot after worshiping at Jerusalem. He was reading about Jesus in the Book of Isaiah (53:7; Acts 8:26-40). 'The place of the Scripture which he read was this, "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened He not His mouth: In His humiliation His judgment was taken away: and who shall declare His generation? for His life is taken from the earth".'
Now the Lord had prophesied beforehand to Philip, that he should wait by the highway. And when this chariot appeared, God told him to hitch a ride. This Ethiopian was the the elect of God, but he could not be born-again, until the Life or Spirit of God passed through His body, and Philip WAS the Body of Christ.
We receive the Spirit or Life of God by the hearing of faith. That faith can come only through the Body of Christ, His true saints.
Every Christian has two births. The first is a natural birth which starts our earthly journey and ends in death. The second is our birth from Above to eternal life.
Our new Brother's been attending church every Sunday. Praise God! Proving the Word that's preached, and what he learns in fellowship after service. By taking things back to the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, He's been singularly blessed of God for his obedience.
Now, although he's attending church, it's a denominational church, and it's impossible for him to be born-again, in this day, under denominational preaching of part-Word - part-creed and tradition: or guesswork. The Life of Christ can only come to him through the Body of Christ, which is the true Church.
To illustrate, his preacher is a woman. Now we know that woman is forbidden to preach, teach, or usurp authority over the man. So we know this is one woman who's not in the Body of Christ. Nobody's going to be born-again through her ministry. For the husbandman that labours must be first partaker of the fruits. In this case, the new birth. So naturally, he's being taught error, which is not the Word of God. Not His Spirit and His Life, but the anti-Christ spirit, and death.
Let me illustrate for your edification, by relating a conversation we had last week. Now he reads a modern translation of the Bible. That's a definite handicap for anyone - seriously wanting to know God by the Spirit, (or faith), and not just the letter. Anyway, he called up and inquired, "Why did Paul teach that the Sisters at Corinth, should wear a veil on their head, like Muslim women. The Christian women I see don't wear a vail".
Firstly, God is no respecter of persons. As we learn in Ephesians 4:5, and Galatians 3:28, there is but 'One faith' or understanding of God's Word, and It's common to all saints, whether Jew or Greek, bond or free, male or female (Titus 1:4; Jude 3). Paul was a prophet with thus saith the lord. He wrote the New Testament. And the whole world shall be judged according to His Gospel.
Clearly, there could not be one faith for the saints of Corinth, one for the saints of Parramatta, and another for the saints at Dee Why. No more can there be one faith for the Baptists, one for the Methodists, another for the Anglicans, and something different for the Pentecostals. And as each have a different understanding, on the revealed Word of God, at most, only one of them can be in the Light of the PRESENT Truth, because Jesus stated emphatically, that the Holy Spirit guides into all Truth, and is not the author of the denominational confusion we see here. So Paul's teaching is for every Christian Sister, wherever she lives, and for every Age.
Paul is teaching that a woman is to have a covering on her head at all times. And in I Corinthians 11:15, we read, 'Her hair, is her covering, or vail'. Not her hat. Uncut hair is a Nazarite sign for a woman. A Sign she's separated from the world, and under the authority of the Word. 'For the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God'.
Any woman who cuts her hair signifies she's rejected the authority of her husband, or if she's unmarried, her father - and of God. That's why Paul says, she's not fit to pray. In the old days, when a woman dishonored her head, her hair was shaved. Paul says, if she cuts her hair, it's the same as if she were shaved, for she's dishonored her husband, and God, and can be put away.
As I was saying last week, marriage is not 50:50, it's 100:0! You can trace Paul's teaching here right back through Jeremiah, Isaiah, Deuteronomy, Numbers, Leviticus, Genesis, and many other places in the Old and New Testaments. From the very beginning, god placed man and woman under separate covenants, and she is to obey, and reverence her own husband.
Speaking of the Genesis story, Paul explains how woman is not even original creation, but a by-product of the man. Whereas the man is the image and glory of God, being the manifested Word of God, and therefore could not be deceived by Satan on the revealed Word. The woman is made secondarily - of the man, and for the glory of the man. Can you see the perfect type of Christ and his Bride? The true Church, reflecting his glorious Attributes, thinking his thoughts, and obeying His every Word. Hallelujah!!!
Because woman is not the Word, but a by-product of the manifested Word. She's made so she can deceive and be deceived. And for this reason, says Paul, the woman ought to have authority over her. Her uncut hair is the sign that she's under the jurisdiction of God, and man. Paul calls uncut hair, a 'glorious witness' to Her.
Remember Sister - women, even pagans, only began to cut their hair early this century. Ask you grandmother. And if cut hair was a shame then, it's a shame today. You won't see any Christian woman who cuts her hair. No sir! And yes, there are very, very few Christians. Men, or women
What you do with this word is between you and God. I'm only called to deliver His unchanging Word - the faith of Jesus Christ. If you're one of His sheep, you'll receive His Word. Paul wasn't a 'woman hater'. The Words he spoke were not his own, they were the Words of God. Eternal LIFE - IF they manifest by faith through our life. Death if we reject them. For a life lived by the Word is the Word expressed. Christ in you, willing and doing His own good pleasure.
Why should we ask God, why?
When God taught Israel the difference between clean and unclean, He commanded what they should not touch, and may not eat. He was not saying there was any fault in His creation. The creatures were not unclean in themselves. God wanted obedience to His clear Word. He was trying Israel. Obedience is better than sacrifice. So if we can read God's Word - why ask why?
Our new Brother wants to be in the faith of Jesus Christ, and to know His Word, that He may be obedient. Faith is Spiritual discernment of the revealed word, or will of God. It's the mind of Jesus Christ in us. Arrogant spirits are not of God. God can only fellowship with those who have a teachable spirit. These are the meek, who shall inherit the earth. I've found our Brother is able to receive God's Word, and discern what it means.
Now when I told him that woman was forbidden to teach, or to be in authority over the man, but to learn in silence, and to be under obedience, asking their husbands at home. He responded, 'But Paul only commanded the Sisters from the Church at Corinth to keep silence, saying it was a shame for women to speak in the Church (I Corinthians 14:34-35). And this was because the Corinthian women were sitting up the back, talking in service'.
We can see where he learned that load of Old Nellie! That's a lie! An evil spirit on a woman preacher who's so deceived, she imagines she can interpret God's Word, to justify her sin, of usurping the Authority of God and man.
Notice, Paul commanded the Sisters to keep silence in the churches (plural), all the churches of all ages, wherever they are, saying it's a shame for women to speak in Churches. And Paul established his teaching on the Word of the earlier vindicated prophet, Moses. For he says, 'Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it's not permitted unto them to speak; but they're commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the Law' (I Corinthians 14:34-35). Paul establishes His revelation on God's unchanging Word, from the Garden of Eden, where the preaching and teaching of Eve, who was not subject to her husband, caused the fall. In Genesis 3:16, God said the woman's desire shall be to her own husband, and he shall rule over her. A perfect type of Christ ruling over His Wife, the true Church.
Again we find Paul issuing the same instruction, to Sisters in the Church at Nicopolis of Macedonia (in Titus 2:1-6). To the Sisters at Ephesus in Ephesians 5:22, and at Colosse, Colossians 3:18. Now if we turn our Books to I Timothy 2, we find Paul again commanding the Sisters at Ephesus, 'Let the woman LEARN (not TEACH) in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence'.
Once again Paul bases his teaching upon God's unchanging Word from the beginning, for he goes back to Moses in Genesis, chapters one to three. And he explains the reason why woman is to be silent and under subjection is: 'For Adam was first formed, afterwards Eve'. If you prayerfully study Genesis, you'll discover that God formed Adam about 150 years before He put him to sleep, and took of his bone and flesh to make the by-product, Eve. Woman was made for man, to be his helper and companion.
'And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression'. Sin is unbelief in the revealed Word of God. That's why Adam could not by any stretch of imagination, sin. Adam was the Word made flesh. He that's born of God does not commit sin (I John 3:9). It would be unbecoming to God were Adam, a spoken Word, and the Son of God, to be deceived on the revealed Word of God. It's unthinkable.
There had to be a Fall, so that God could manifest His Attributes as Savior. Adam could not fall. And God would be unjust to cause the Fall, so He made the woman, the by-product, and placed her on free moral agency under her husband. They were shielded behind the Word, but able to choose. And woman, not being the Word, was the weak link, who could be deceived.
'Notwithstanding her deception and the fall, she shall be saved in childbearing, if they continue in faith and charity, and holiness with sobriety'. What caused the Fall? Eve was deceived by Satan who incarnate the serpent which was a man-like creature before God changed every bone of his body, and placed him on his belly. That beast seduced Eve, as taught by Moses and Jesus and Paul - and the other prophets - conceiving Cain, whom the prophet John says: 'was begotten of that wicked one' (I John 3:12).
And that's why the token of the Old Testament was circumcision. A Woman could only be in the Old Covenant, under the covering of her marriage, because you can't circumcise a woman. That's why our Redeemer had to be born of a virgin. And we can only be in the new Covenant by the Spiritual marriage, or new birth to the word which circumcises our heart and ears, or soul so we cannot sin.
To suggest that only the women in the Church at Corinth, were to obey their husbands, and be silent in the church, has no basis in God's Word. And to actually say it's because they were disrupting worship by 'talking in church' demonstrates an absence of the Holy Spirit. And suggests that there was an epidemic of talkative women in the churches throughout the world. Because Peter commanded the Sisters in the churches throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappodocia, Asia and Bithynia, 'Wives, be in subjection to your own husbands - even as Sara obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, (or ruler over me)' (I Peter 3:1, 5-6).
Praise the Lord who's hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and revealed them to babes as will learn. What marvelous grace our Saviors' shown, to those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
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Before we close, I wish to share a portion of a message I received last week, from a Brother Earl Clark, who says,
Truly, STRAIT is the gate, and NARROW the way, and but FEW there be that FIND It.
-oOo-
[Notes:- Transliterations of certain sections of the Qur'an The New Edition with Revised Translation (1929)
From Surah (Prayer) 4, named "Al Nisa'", Verse 34: "Men are the protectors and maintainers of women because Allah has given the one more (strength) than the other, and because they support them from their means. Therefore the righteous women are devoutly obedient, and guard in (the husband's) absence what Allah would have them leave guard. As to those women on whose part ye fear disloyalty and ill-conduct, admonish them (first), (next) refuse to share their beds, (and last) beat them (lightly); but if they return to obedience seek not against them means (of annoyance): for Allah is Most High, Great (above you all)."
The words in parentheses are those added by the editor to clarify the meaning of the Arabic script. (lightly) was added by the editor to bring light to the disciplinary measures sought by Allah, however referring to the Arabic there is no mention of 'lightly' in the script translation.
From Surah 2, named "Al Baqarah", Verse 230: "If a husband divorces his wife (irrevocably), He cannot, after that, remarry her until after she has married another husband and he has divorced her. In that case there is no blame on either of them if they reunite, provided they feel that they can keep the limits ordained by Allah. Such are the limits ordained by Allah, which He makes plain to those who understand."
Judge for yourself the integrity of this rule through anyone who has at least some decency in their hearts, and ultimately the Word of God]. radio028.html