The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is the Christian Church is deceived as the Woman was.
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Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of November 21, 2009
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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Last Sabbath’s reading closed with the reality that Christendom’s many endtime false prophets will inevitably identify the second Passover slaughter of a third of humankind, all firstborns, as the sixth trumpet plague, which remains three and a half years in the future. All of humankind becomes firstborn sons when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man halfway through the seven endtime years of tribulation; thus the sixth Trumpet Plague’s sacrifice of a third of humankind when the four angels are loosed (Rev 9:16) at the end of the Tribulation (the first 1260 days of the seven endtime years) is of those who will be spiritual firstborn sons of God within a month. This second sacrifice of a third of humankind is, therefore, directly analogous to the sacrifice of biological firstborns at the second Passover liberation of Israel.
The juxtaposition of Israel rebelling against God 220 days into the Tribulation and the third part of humankind rebelling against the Adversary who comes claiming to be the Messiah 250 days into the Endurance, with the second Passover liberation of Israel coming at the beginning of the Tribulation and the six Trumpet Plague coming at the end of the Tribulation suggests that the first Passover in the year when Israel is liberated from indwelling sin and death has significance, and would seem to suggest that the death of biological firstborns occurs on the 14th of Abib, not the 14th of Lyyar.
Although the death of biological firstborns occurring in the month of Abib cannot be ruled out, a shadow (because of the location of the light) is not the exact replication of the reality casting the shadow—the left hand is not the exact mirror image of a person’s right hand. Therefore, to assign greater precision to the narrative time line that has the second Passover liberation of Israel and the sixth Trumpet Plague being enantiomorphs is foolish … the sixth Trumpet Plague will see a third of humankind [a third of the remaining half of humankind that lived before the second Passover liberation of Israel] slain suddenly and randomly, with only Philadelphia being kept from inclusion in this third. This slain third [one-sixth of pre-endtime humanity], when sacrificed, is not yet the firstborn son of God just as natural firstborns who profess to be Christians but who do not take the Passover sacraments on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib are not born of God prior to the second Passover liberation of Israel.
Christians are not born of God (i.e., born of spirit) simply because they claim to be, or because they had a life-changing experience. Plenty of Muslims, Buddhists, and atheists have life-changing epiphanies.
Natural firstborns that take the Passover sacraments of bread and wine on the dark portion of the 14th of Abib at either the first Passover or the second in the year of the second Passover will be as Israel was in Egypt: they will cover all who dwell in the “house” or fleshly body, meaning they will cover the life that animates the flesh as well as the life of the inner new creature that is a son of God. But visible Christendom will be as Egyptians were: if any of visible Christendom not taking the Passover sacraments on the 14th is actually born of God, the life of this inner firstborn son of God will perish, and if the Christian is a biological firstborn, physical life will also be lost. (It is the Adversary’s contention that sons of God, heirs or ministering servants, cannot die; that God will not take life from those to whom He has given life.) As for the remainder of the world, these human beings, regardless of beliefs, will be as Egyptian livestock were, meaning that their natural firstborns will perish … Moses records,
At midnight the Lord struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of the livestock. And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians. And there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house where someone was not dead. (Ex 12:29–30)
At the second Passover, the Lord will strike down all of the firstborn in the Abyss that do not cover themselves with the blood of the Lamb of God, from the firstborn of the sons of God [both heirs and ministering servants] to the firstborn of Sabbatarian Christendom that annually takes the Passover sacraments a day late or doesn’t take the Passover sacraments at all—to the firstborn of greater Christendom that takes the sacraments of bread and wine/water weekly or quarterly or not at all—to the firstborn of the remainder of humankind, this remainder being to God as dumb beasts were to the Lord at the first Passover liberation of Israel. And because the angelic first king or great horn of the king of Greece cannot cover himself with the blood of the Lamb, this demonic king will be suddenly broken, and broken without scriptural explanation.
The breaking of the angelic first horn or first king of the king of Greece as seen in shadow by Alexander’s sudden death and in Scripture in Daniel chapter 8, verses 8 and 22, occurs at the second Passover and happens because this king is first, the ideological or rebelling firstborn of the Adversary, with the amalgamated king of Greece allegiance to the Adversary seen in the bronze color of this federation.
All endtime prophecies can be dated from the breaking of this first king or horn of the king of Greece at the second Passover; for from around the stump of this broken king spring forth the four kings of Daniel 8:8, 21–22 and 11:4, as well as the four beasts of chapter seven and the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. The time, times, and half a time of Daniel 7:25 is now the 1260 days of the Tribulation, which is also the 1260 days of the two witnesses’ ministry. The four beasts of Daniel chapter 7 will now have dominion taken from them when dominion over the single kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man (cf. Dan 7:9–14; Rev 11:15–18). The “truth” inscribed in the book of truth (Dan 10:21) will now have the contending between the king of the North and the king of the South (foreshadowed by the warring between the Seleucid and Ptolemaic Empires over Jerusalem) that begins in Daniel 11:5 and continues to the end of the chapter occurring during the 1260 days of the Tribulation, with Daniel 11:44–45 corresponding to Rev 11:19: the “news from the east and the north” that alarms the king of the North is the opening of God’s temple and the ark of His covenant being seen, with this ark seen in the resurrection of the two witnesses as Christ Jesus was raised from the dead, for the resurrection of the two witnesses (Rev 11:11) is the death blow or mortal wound that is dealt to the king of the North (Dan 7:11).
Satan and his angels are cast from heaven (Rev 12:9–10) when the single kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man, and the first beast of Revelation chapter 13 is the amalgamated four kings of Daniel chapter 7 after the fourth beast (the king of the North; Death, the fourth horseman) is dealt a mortal wound. The second beast of Revelation 13 is now the Adversary when cast into time. And when the Adversary is cast to earth, the 1260 day long Endurance begins.
On the doubled day 1260, Satan is cast from heaven, and using the armies of the man of perdition, the old dragon comes after Israel which flees through the split Mount of Olives. This split granite monolith closes to swallow these armies (cf. Zech 14:3–5; Rev 12:13–16) in a manner similar to how the Sea of Reeds swallowed Pharaoh’s army (Ex 15:10–12; Dan 2:44–45). The Adversary then goes after the Remnant (Rev 12:17), which will receive use of the spirit as the two witnesses had use of the spirit.
After the Mount of Olives closes, Israel [the 144,000] will follow the Lamb of God (Rev 14:1–5) as the third part of humankind [now born of God] will follow the Remnant, who will be witnesses to this third part as the two witnesses testified to [i.e., against] the Church during the Tribulation: on day 220 of the Tribulation—on or about Christmas—the greater Church will cease to cover itself with the garment of its obedience and will rebel against God (2 Thess 2:3), choosing to keep the holidays of this world rather than the Sabbaths of God, these rebelling Christians believing they honor Jesus when in reality they rebel against Him … there is nothing now or then that can be said to greater Christendom which will prevent the vast majority of Christians from rebelling against God through their renewed zeal to observe Christmas as the Church should have been doing all along. But as “life” (in the form of the only Son of the Logos) having come down from heaven, Jesus’ birth forms a type and shadow of disciples being born of spirit when they receive a second breath of life or life that has also come from heaven. To be more precise, the man Jesus receiving the divine breath of the Father [pneuma Theon] in the form of a dove is the direct shadow of disciples receiving a second breath of life through the Father raising the person from the dead; however, the person cannot receive this second breath of life without first receiving a heavenly container or vessel to hold it, and this “vessel” is the spirit of Christ [hautou monogenes uihos the unique one, from John 3:16] of the Logos (John 1:14), disciples must receive the indwelling of Christ Jesus in the form of His life (i.e., in the form of His spirit or breath— pneuma Christos) before disciples can receive eternal life from God (received in the form of the breath of God—pneuma Theon). Hence Paul writes,
You, however, are not in the flesh but in [pneuma spirit or breath], if in fact [pneuma Theon spirit or breath of God] dwells in you. Anyone who does not have [pneuma Christos spirit or breath of Christ] does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, [ho pneuma zoe the additional or second breath] is life because of righteousness. If [ho pneuma egeiro Iesou the breath of the one having raised the Jesus] from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through [pneuma enoikeo en humin the indwelling (of) His breath] in you. (Rom 8:9–11)
Throughout His ministry, Jesus had natural life received from the breath or spirit of the Logos, His father directly and indirectly, and He had spiritual or heavenly life received from the breath or spirit of the God, with whom the Logos was in the beginning. This is what John tried to convey in his gospel, and what Paul tried to convey in his epistles. As a son of Adam, a person receives life indirectly from the Logos, who made Adam as well as everything physical; this person must also receive life from the God [pneuma Theon], but to receive this life from the Father, the person must have the indwelling of Christ Jesus. Then after life is received from the God—after the Father has raised a person from the dead—the glorified Christ must also give life to the perishable flesh by causing it to put on immortality.
If the Adversary—a liar and murderer from the beginning—had not, through his ministers, convinced the Church that human beings are naturally born with indwelling immortal life (an immortal soul) and convinced the Church that the breath (life) of God had personhood in a triune deity (that the Holy Spirit was a person), then perhaps the Church would not rebel after it is born of God. But the Adversary has deceived the Church as he has deceived the remainder of the world. The Church is that portion of the world with knowledge of Christ Jesus; the visible Church is of this world as well as in this world. So until the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man on day 1260, the Christian Church, like the angels who joined with the Adversary in rebellion against God, will not believe God nor believe those who speak for God. The Christian Church, like the false prophets in ancient Israel, will set itself against the two witnesses and will generally treat these two as Israel resisted Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and as Israel responded to Jeremiah and to Jesus throughout the years of their ministry.
The 1260 day long Tribulation forms the time-linked shadow and copy of the 1260 day long Endurance with the Tribulation and Endurance, together, forming the seven endtime years of tribulation. In a like manner, Christendom today and throughout the Tribulation forms the “lifeless shadow” of the “living” third part of humankind (from Zech 13:9 and living because the spirit has been poured out on all flesh) during the Endurance. Christendom today and the third part of humankind during the Tribulation are enantiomorphs, with Christendom being the left hand enantiomer and the third part of humankind being Christendom’s mirror image. Just as Christendom today has a little knowledge about Christ Jesus but is not born of God, the third part of humankind during the Tribulation will have knowledge of Christ but will not be born of God until the spirit is poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28) as all of Christendom was filled with spirit and liberated from indwelling sin and death at the second Passover.
Although Christendom will today insist that it is born of God when it is not; although Christendom will insist that by saying the sinners’ prayer and/or by being baptized Christians automatically receive the spirit of God, the reality is that until the second Passover when the Church is liberated from indwelling sin and death, disciples are individually drawn by the Father from this world—and after being drawn and given heavenly life [eternal life] they are called by Christ Jesus and made into either vessels of wrath or vessels intended for honorable usage.
No person can come to Christ and walk as Christ Jesus walked—Jesus walked as an observant Jew—unless the Father draws the person from this world. And visible Christendom does not walk as Jesus walked: until visible Christendom begins to walk as Jesus walked, begins to walk as observant Jews, and ceases walking as it presently does [ceases to keep Christmas and the holidays of this world], visible Christendom, by how it walks, discloses that it is not of God, is not born of God, and has no relationship with God despite what individual Christians believe about themselves.
The above is a harsh message, one that is sweet in the mouth and very bitter in the belly. Many, many Christians lament the crass commercialization of Christmas and want to keep the holiday as the celebration of Christ Jesus’ birth—they unconsciously want to celebrate their spiritual birth; i.e., when they are born of God. But being born of God is no guarantee of salvation. Being born of God is spiritually equivalent to human birth—and being born does not equate to reaching one’s majority. Being born only begins the maturation process that will see the person increase in size and knowledge. Being born of God only begins the spiritual maturation process that will see this son of God grow in grace and knowledge. And of those who are born of God, some will be made into vessels for honorable usage in the house of God and some will be made into vessels of wrath that are endured for a season, but intended to be broken when the house of God is dedicated as livestock was sacrificed (22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep — 2 Chron 7:5) when the earthly temple was dedicated.
The celebration of Christ’s birth even on at a more appropriate date (the 15th of the seventh month) is wrong … should disciples celebrate themselves, celebrate the fact that they have been born of God? That is what they would do if celebrating Jesus’ birth: they would be celebrating their own spiritual births, an almost unimaginable act of hubris. But then, isn’t this why humans give presents to each other at Christmas? Are they not celebrating themselves? What present is given to Christ Jesus? What portion of the world that He as the Logos created is not already His? What kind of a gift is given if a person gives to another that which already belongs to the other? Is not obedience from belief and faith the only acceptable gift that a person can give to the Lord? Is there anything else that a person can give to his or her Creator, for is not love manifested in obedience from faith?
The woman shows her husband her love through her obedience as the husband shows the Lord his love by his obedience as Jesus shows the Father His love by His obedience, which saw Him enter His creation as His only Son, live without sin (transgression of the law), and then die on the cross to create the bridge across the dimensions so that human beings might be born of God and live in this world as Jesus lived in this world. And this is why disciples are commanded to celebrate the Passover, when Jesus’ righteousness covers their sins for the forthcoming year. This is why disciples are commanded to celebrate the Wave Sheaf Offering, when Jesus is accepted as the First of the harvest of firstfruits, thereby making possible the harvest of firstfruits. This is why disciples are commanded to celebrate the Feast of Weeks when beaten-fine firstfruits are mixed with oil [spirit] and baked into two loaves of leavened bread and “waved” before God [the Feast of Weeks is Pentecost].
Disciples do not show their Lord love by celebrating His birth or by celebrating their birth; they only disclose their hubris.
When it comes to being born of God, disciples do not make the first overture; God does when He raises the person (John 5:21) from the dead [“dead” as in Jesus saying, Permit the dead to bury their own dead — Mat 8:22]. No person can by force of will or by making a decision for Christ compel God to give to the person eternal life: in this era, unless God makes the first overture toward a person, with this overture having God give to the person a second breath of life, this “breath” being pneuma hagion spirit holy usually identified as the Holy Spirit, the person cannot come to Christ; cannot escape being a bondservant to disobedience; and does not have his or her sins either forgiven or counted against the person. The person, despite his or her protestations to the contrary, is not under grace and does not have the indwelling of Christ or of eternal life.
The Christian who is not drawn from this world by the Father has no indwelling eternal life, and is not condemned; the person will not, at death, be condemned to the lake of fire. The person is not today under judgment, but is as everyone else in the world is. Only the person has a little knowledge of Christ Jesus.
· The Father doesn’t draw a person from this world and give the person life just to kill the person in the lake of fire.
· The person determines whether he or she will be condemned and cast into the lake of fire.
· Judgment is not on the person prior to the death of the old self and resurrection of the self as a new creature, a new nature.
· Therefore, when the Father draws a person from this world, giving to that person life that has come from heaven as Jesus, the only Son of the Logos, came from heaven, this “life” is the inner fire seen by Ezekiel.
The prophet Ezekiel writes,
And above the expanse over their heads there was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire, and seated above the likeness of a throne was a likeness with a human appearance. And upward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were gleaning metal, like the appearance of fire enclosed all around. And downward from what had the appearance of his waist I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him. (1:26–27)
The dark “fire” encased by the fleshly bodies of human beings—this fire giving life to the person in this physical realm through the cellular oxidation of simple sugars—is the shadow and copy [the left hand enantiomer] of the “bright fire” seen by the prophet Ezekiel, who continues, “Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking” (1:28) … the one who spoke to Ezekiel, spoke for the Lord God, was the Logos, who entered His creation as His only Son (John 3:16; 1:14) and who asked the Father to return to Him the glory He had before the world existed (John 17:5). The bright fire that Ezekiel saw was “life” within the Logos, the “ah” radical in Eloah and in Yah. It is this bright fire that gives eternal life to disciples. It is this bright fire that disciples receive when they receive life via the breath of God. And it is this bright fire that will destroy (consume) a person if it is not “contained” by the indwelling of Christ Jesus; i.e., the spirit of Christ [pneuma Christos]. Hence, Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23).
Again, the enclosed “fire” or life that is the glory of the Lord would destroy a person unless there is within the person a “vessel” or container able to encase this heavenly fire as cell walls contain the oxidation of carbohydrates that sustains life within human beings … more is known today about cells, cell walls, and things such as Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP), a protein found throughout the body that performs an unidentified role in cellular oxidation, than Paul could possibly have known. Likewise, more is known about the things of God than Paul could know without having visited the third heaven. Thus, as more about this world is known, with the things of this world disclosing the hidden things of God, more about God is known without visiting the third heaven. For Philadelphia, the amount of knowledge will be comparable; for Paul understood little about why he continued to do those things which he did not want to do (Rom 7:15). He did not understand that Israel would be liberated at the second Passover from the indwelling sin and death he experienced when doing what he did not want to do.
Again, Paul writes, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in [en] Christ Jesus our Lord” (Rom 6:23), and, “Anyone who does not have [pneuma Christos breath of Christ] does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the [pneuma breath] is life because of righteousness” (Rom 8:9–10).
Through His breath or spirit, Christ Jesus is “in” genuine disciples as the vessel that holds eternal life; i.e., life that has come from heaven in the form of the breath of the Father. Without the indwelling of Christ Jesus, no person has nor can have indwelling eternal life. The flesh of the person is not able to hold or contain the breath of the Father.
Again, no person is humanly born with an immortal soul—and pedagogical redundancy requires that the lies of the Adversary be repeatedly refuted.
Most of the world believes that human beings have within them immortal souls, but believing that humans receive eternal life through simple birth is prima facie evidence that Satan has deceived the world (Rev 12:9) … Eve was deceived: she believed the serpent who told her, “‘You will not surely die [if you eat forbidden fruit]’” (Gen 3:4), and ever since, humankind has believed that human beings receive eternal life at conception.
The Woman was deceived as were rebelling angels. The Christian Church is deceived as the Woman was. But when Satan is cast to earth and comes claiming to be the Messiah, the third part of humankind will not be deceived; will not believe that human beings are physically born with immortal souls; for the relationship between the Christian Church in the Tribulation and the third part of humankind in the Endurance is akin to the relationship between the Woman and Her Husband, who is her Lord.
A person does not receive eternal life (an immortal soul) by being conceived in sin in the backseat of a Chevrolet; nor does a person receive an immortal soul when conceived in wedlock. A person only receives indwelling eternal life as the gift of God in Christ Jesus, for the Logos was the Helpmate of the God as the Woman is the Helpmate of Her Husband. The firstfruits of God, with Jesus being the First of these firstfruits, are the seed of YHWH, the two that functioned as one deity as Eve was one with Adam.
Sons of God are neither male nor female. Rather, they are heirs or ministering servants, meaning that the Logos was never an angel but helped create the angels. And among the sons of God destined to be heirs are those sons who are great and those who are least.
· The relationship between a man and his wife is comparable to the relationship between sons of God that are great and that are least in the kingdom of the heavens (Matt 5:19).
· This relationship is analogous to the relationship between sons of God who are heirs and sons of God who are ministering spirits.
· This relationship is analogous to the relationship between the third part of humankind (from Zech 13:9) in the Endurance and the Christian Church in the Tribulation.
· This relationship is analogous to the relationship between the Lord [YHWH] and ancient Israel.
· Ancient Israel forms the shadow and type of the Christian Church, with both being represented by the Woman who was deceived and by angels who joined with the anointed cherub in whom iniquity was found (i.e., the Adversary).
The second Passover liberation of Israel has a third of humankind, all firstborns, perishing within a day, a day that is outside of the seven endtime years, which is why this liberation of Israel is not seen in Scripture. It is the shadow cast by the sixth trumpet plague just as today’s Christendom forms the shadow and type of the third part of humankind (Zech 13:8–9) that will be born of God when the kingdom of this world is given to the Son of Man (Rev 11:15–18; Dan 7:9–14).
The relationship between the rebelling Church during the seven endtime years of tribulation and the remainder of humankind is analogous to the relationship between rebelling angels and human beings in this era: the rebelling Church will become spiritually invisible even though physically present and threatening as rebelling angels are now physically invisible but spiritually present and threatening; for human beings, even after the sixth Trumpet Plague, will not cease worshiping demons (Rev 9:20). The Christian Church today worships demons, not the Father and the Son, with their worship of demons seen in the holidays Christians choose to celebrate … the Christian Church ignores the high Sabbaths of God, does not present itself before God three times a year, and has turned the weekly Sabbath into its primary shopping day. If the Church as a woman were now married to God, she would be having an adulterous affair with the Adversary.
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."