The Philadelphia Church

And He said to them, "Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men. (Matt 4:19)"

Sabbatarian Anabaptists - The Annals
The Language of Redemption
Teachings of the Hewer of Wood
More on Matthew


Suggested Sabbath Readings
2009



4th Quarter 2009
December 26, 2009 Those disciples who are of The Philadelphia Church will not keep either Christmas or Easter because they strive for ideological purity, and not the “mixed marriages” into which the remnant of Israel that returned from earthly Babylon entered. These Philadelphians are, yes, intolerant of tolerance. They are unwilling to compromise with the truth. They reject ideological diversity … the outward appearance of a person has no spiritual significance. Biological ethnicity is meaningless. But the ideas within the person’s mind have significance. Therefore, the purity sought is of the mental landscape from which thoughts spring forth as vegetation grows from a garden.
December 19, 2009 If sin is not counted where there is no law, then the living (where there is no law) are under a natural form of grace that is akin to disciples being covered by the righteousness of Christ Jesus, meaning that receipt of physical life by those not under the law (i.e., human conception and birth) is analogous to receipt of spiritual life by those not under the law.
December 12, 2009 The test comes down to what Paul wrote to the saints at Ephesus: “When you read this, you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets [in spirit]” (Eph 3:4–5).
November 28, 2009 The rhetorical “they” allows an inscribed culture to paint many individuals with a broad brush and quickly dismiss critics and skeptics … Democrats in Congress presently dismiss their critics with the phrase, Tea Baggers, which they have attempted to transform into a pejorative slur. Christianity has, for centuries, dismissed Sabbatarian Christians with the slur, Legalists, when Jesus Himself was a legalist. Not much thought is usually given to how the language is used. Thus, Christianity has missed the significance of Moses dealing with an unnamed or generic Pharaoh, a rhetorical Pharaoh, when Luke names emperor, governor, tetrarchs of the region, and high priests.
November 21, 2009 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.
November 14, 2009 In Scripture, Zion is a woman; the Church is a woman; and Israel is the firstborn spiritual son that is biologically second born and is represented by Zion in Scripture. In other words, disciples are individually masculine but collectively feminine.
November 7, 2009 Christ Jesus will marry a Helpmate, a Church that will possess feminine traits even though glorified disciples that compose the Bride are His younger brothers.
October 31, 2009 In patriarchal cultures women as human beings are invisible to the male gaze, which tends to see women as sexualized objects … whereas the feminism of Betty Friedan’s generation sought to abolish the male gaze by demanding respect for female personhood, the post-feminism of Madonna seeks to use that male gaze as the basis of empowering females by using overt sexuality as an economic tool: the attire of prostitutes has become fashionable as post-feminist women trade upon the male gaze as if lust were a commodity like corn, traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.
October 24, 2009 Few become the glorified Elect, for few will believe the writings of Moses and act on those writings to make their faith complete.


3rd Quarter 2009
September 19, 2009 Unbelief will condemn filled-with-spirit Christians as unbelief condemned Israel at Sinai, the mountain of God, with this former condemnation (again, Ex 32:33) forming the left hand enantiomer of this near future condemnation of the lawless Christian Church that openly rebels against God when the man of perdition is revealed.
September 12, 2009 What has not been understood is why a miracle occurs: miracles come via the divine breath of the Father delivering in this world the speech-acts of the Father, with “speech-acts” conveying the entirety of communication occurring in an utterance.
September 5, 2009 A human being is only able to “hold” indwelling eternal life that comes from the Father through Christ being “in” the person, with the spirit of Christ functioning as the only container able to contain the life/fire that has come from the Father.
August 29, 2009 We can recount the history of Christendom and show how it matches the history of natural Israel.
August 22, 2009 Salvation has come to all peoples, those who are called by God must necessarily hear the voice of Jesus before meaning can be assigned to Scripture, with the necessity to assign meaning to words forming one of the strongest arguments for typological exegesis.
August 15, 2009 A human infant isn’t born of spirit as a son of God, but is born of a human father. It will not be born of spirit until after reaching physical maturity … regardless of how badly human parents that are disciples want to see their children join their faith, the Father doesn’t call physical children to be His sons. He doesn’t begin the spiritual maturation process in physical children; He doesn’t ask human babies still nursing their mothers to suddenly ingest the milk of the word of God. So what Paul writes about children being sanctified (1 Cor 7:14) doesn’t mean that these children are born of God because they are holy. It means that they are as natural Israel was, in the position where they can inherit eternal life upon demonstrated obedience, with this inheritance following biological death.
August 8, 2009 It should not take an endtime teacher of Israel longer than it took Paul and Silas to instruct the Philippian jailer before this endtime teacher baptizes a convert who needs to understand that growing in grace and knowledge is a maturation process foreshadowed by human growth and maturation, with this process rooted in hearing Moses read every Sabbath. A fellowship that places two years’ worth of hoops and obstacles before the convert is guilty of spiritual malpractice, with this guilt bringing into question this fellowship’s salvation.
August 1, 2009 Stephen probably did not have his own copy of Scripture to study—it would have been extremely unlikely that Stephen owned a copy of the Septuagint, let alone a copy of the scriptures in Hebrew. Therefore, considerable slack must be given to Stephen that should not be given to endtime disciples that have multiple copies of Scripture yet are still without knowledge.
July 25, 2009 Even if endtime disciples hear the words of Jesus, unless they believe the writings of Moses they will not believe Jesus’ words. There is simply too much noise in the sheepcote; it is simply too difficult to separate Jesus’ voice from the cooing of the thieves and howls of the wolves. Only by returning to Moses will endtime disciples be able to separate the voice of Jesus from the baaing of the fat sheep that push against the lean sheep, shouldering them aside.
July 18, 2009 As miracles will return with life, prophets and those who prophesy will return to the Church as Jesus breathes life into a now dead corpse. But if the visions of Daniel are to affect behavior, they must first be understood …
July 11, 2009 The person who claims to have been born of spirit but who makes a practice of sinning (such as worshiping on Sunday) doesn’t understand spiritual birth … Christianity as visibly practiced in this world serves the purpose of the dead burying the dead—
July 4, 2009 All spiritual growth must occur in this world, for growth of the type seen physically cannot occur in the timeless heavenly realm where all that “is” must coexist with what “was” and what “will be.” Therefore, all “growth” of a son of God must occur in this world where change is not only permitted but dictated. All growth, including that which comes from drinking milk and eating meat, comes in the spiritual fetal state.


2nd Quarter 2009
June 27, 2009 The endtime temple of God is not and will not be a physical structure in earthly Jerusalem or anywhere in the modern State of Israel: it is the Church, the assembly of circumcised of heart Israel. And every teacher of Israel, every prophecy pundit, every sect or denomination that looks for the building of a “third” temple to satisfy endtime biblical prophecies is without understanding and is false!!
June 20, 2009 Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.
June 13, 2009 As the temple of God, a temple not located in earthly Jerusalem nor constructed from dead stone, we had better have our hearts set on the things of God, with discernment being at the top of that list—for spiritual discernment is “real” wealth of a type that cannot be lost to thieves or to downturns in the market.
June 6, 2009 Because the elders of Israel did not know what had become of the man Moses (Ex 32:1), Israel was given a weekly reminder of Moses, about whom the Lord said that he “‘shall be as God’” to Aaron and to Israel (Ex 4:16). The circumcised nation cast the golden calf from the gathered earrings of Israel following this nation rejecting both Moses and the Lord as its God. Hence, God used the Sabbath to force Israel to think of Moses [by not kindling a fire] as if Moses were God—and that is how circumcised Israel thinks of Moses to this day.
May 30, 2009 The understanding that has been missing from Christendom is that the disciple is not the body of flesh, but the inner new self that is a son of God born of the breath of God. The disciple does no cooking on the Sabbath; nor does the disciple kindle a fire. The disciple is not able to do either. It is the tent of flesh in which this disciple dwells that kindles a fire so that the tent of flesh doesn’t freeze during the Sabbath day. And Christ gave to His disciples the liberty to make the Sabbath a delight and not a burden.
May 23, 2009 In America and in much of the Western world, democracy rules--and the ultimate biblical expression of democratic ideals is made by Korah, who said, “‘You [Moses & Aaron] have gone too far! For all in the congregation are holy, every one of them, and the Lord is among them. Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord’” (Num 16:3). Again, where is fault to be found with what Korah says?
May 16, 2009 The body/Body of Christ is both the earthly body of Jesus of Nazareth and is the Christian Church. Thus, as the red sky is a context specific sign, differing in meaning when seen at night versus when seen at dawn, the sign of Jonah is a context specific sign, differing in meaning when seen going into the darkness of the one long night that began at Calvary from its meaning when seen at dawn when the Church is restored following the second Passover.
May 9, 2009 The plagues of Moses’ day and the prophesied plagues in Revelation have not been addressed or well addressed … if Sarah’s closed womb is a type of a plague, then the lack of spiritual births (Christians truly receiving a second breath of life) is also a plague, one through which the Christian Church is presently living.
May 2, 2009 Satan is using _good,_ self-proclaimed spirit filled Christians to do his dirty work for him--persecuting Sabbath keepers.
April 25, 2009 The first four trumpet plagues are what is written within the scroll, what is not revealed, what casts as a shadow that which is written without.
April 18, 2009 If every person that opened the womb is to be redeemed—the Father redeemed all of His sons through Christ Jesus’ death at Calvary—and if natural Israel has not redeemed anyone since the temple was razed in 70 CE, and if the Christian Church, with very few exceptions, doesn’t cover itself by drinking from the cup on the night that Jesus was betrayed, all of Israel, natural and born-of-spirit, is presently unredeemed, meaning that their sins are not covered and that natural firstborns are subject to loss of life when the death angel again passes over all the world as the death angel passed over all of Egypt so long ago.
April 16, 2009 The Father and the Son will address the problem of sin when they redeem the fleshly tabernacles of Israel, but getting Israel into covenant doesn’t end the problem of sin for getting Israel into covenant will cost Israel its physical live with two exceptions, the 144,000 and the remnant of the Woman’s offspring. The kingdom of the world will be given to the Son of Man halfway through these seven endtime years, and all of the world will then be the people of God. Hence, what occurred in the first 1260 days of the Tribulation will be repeated in the last 1260 days as a chiral image of getting Israel into covenant.
April 12, 2009 Wave Sheaf Commemoration The example Jesus left with His disciples was the explication of Scriptures concerning Him, beginning with Moses and the Prophets. It is this explication of Scripture that should be undertaken on the day when the ascension of the First of the firstfruits is commemorated.
April 11, 2009 The Passover being eaten on the night that Israel left Egypt doesn’t take effect until after Israel, sent into captivity in a far land, turns to God and by faith begins to obey the Lord’s voice, keeping all that the Lord has commanded Israel (Deut 30:1–2).
April 10, 2009 Regardless of what apologists for Christianity claim, without keeping the commandments, especially the Sabbath’s of God—and without keeping the Passover on the night Jesus was betrayed—Christians are not “Christian” but are truly mules, carrying Satan’s seed, broadcasting lies 24/7 to a world that would rather hear a lie than the truth …
April 4, 2009 Jesus destroyed the temple by giving life to the temple, just as the Jesus will defeat Death, the fourth horseman, by causing the two witnesses to live again. “Destroy” doesn’t necessarily mean to demolish. Deconstructing metaphors destroys them while enlarging them and making them live. But this is something no biblical literalists is yet able to understand.


1st Quarter 2009
March 28, 2009 Adam believed what his eyes saw; Eve believed what her eyes saw. When she didn’t die—that possibility introduced by the serpent—after eating, God had a credibility problem that wasn’t His problem, but Adam’s.
March 21, 2009 Paul wrote, “Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses” (Rom 5:14), not from Adam to Jesus; for the promise of life comes via Moses through obedience to the law. Obedience is the acceptable covering for everyone, for obedience frees the person from bondage to sin and death.
March 14, 2009 But of the ten virgins, only five enter with the Bridegroom. There are not many names written in the Book of Life; there are few. Peters asks, “‘If the righteous is scarcely saved / what will become of the ungodly / and the sinner’” (1 Pet 4:18).
March 7, 2009 The humanoid image that Nebuchadnezzar saw in vision has, below the loins, two iron legs and feet … iron is a gray metal, approximately the color of lightly oxidized silver—and like silver, it will turn dark from oxidation before turning red with rust. But when polished, iron is nearly as bright as silver, but when alloyed with carbon (it’s almost impossible to smelt iron without producing an iron-carbon alloy) iron is much harder, much stronger that silver or bronze.
February 28, 2009 Herbert Armstrong could “sense” that Daniel’s long vision had an endtime application, but despite his best efforts he could not unseal these visions for it was not then time for Daniel’s visions to be unsealed. It was not yet the time of the end, despite humankind unlocking the energy of the atom to make bombs of immensely destructive potential.
February 21, 2009 A teacher of Israel “teaches” through his or her voice delivered either orally or through inscription; thus, a human teacher of Israel is a spirit, or a breath, either false or genuine. Philadelphians are to test the utterances of those who teach and who prophesy. If these utterances (breaths) do not tell Israel to keep the commandments, they are not of God—and no test could be more simple.
February 14, 2009 The separation between the resurrection of firstfruits [the barley harvest] and the main crop harvest of this earth [the wheat harvest] by a thousand years can sometimes be lost in the expression “seven endtime years of tribulation.” The coming of Christ does not mark the end of the world, but the end of this present evil age. The coming of Christ brings light so that the fruit of the spirit can ripen in its due season. Today, the fruit of the spirit must ripen in darkness.
February 7, 2009 Earth-worship has become the norm. When every firstborn of man and angel is suddenly slain as the firstborns of Egypt, man and beast, were suddenly slain, then the remaining two-thirds of humankind will not worry about global warming, or ozone depletion or energy-saving light bulbs.
January 31, 2009 The green movement will temporarily prevail politically and spiritually. From now until the second Passover liberation of Israel, Evangelical and Catholic Christians will have a difficult time. They have no friend in the White House. They have little or no influence in the American legislative process. They will be hampered in whatever they endeavor, and they will be forced to accept an anti-God agenda.
January 24, 2009 It is easy to say that ancient peoples didn’t know that the moon reflected the sun’s light … God knew, though. And if Scripture is the inspired word of God, then the presumption must be that inspiration precluded the moon’s reflected light from really being a “light.” It is this presumption of inspiration, now, that argues for gold representing a different “religion” than silver represents.
January 17, 2009 Death, now, imparts color, for a portion of the spectrum of light—of life—is reflected from the surface of the corpse. The gold and the bronze vessels and fixtures of the tabernacle in the wilderness, and later, of the first temple were lifeless or without life. Disciples become the living stones, with Christ Jesus being the cornerstone (1 Pet 2:4–5), of the temple of God. The new creature born of spirit dwelling within each disciple is, then, like a gold or bronze vessel of the first temple. However, disciples are also, collectively, New Jerusalem, made of gold as clear as glass.
January 10, 2009 The king of Greece is not a human king or even one demonic prince, but a federation of five kings, four of whom are still to come; for the first king of this king of Greece is broken at the second Passover liberation of Israel, today a nation circumcised of heart (Rom 2:28-29).
January 3, 2009 A Manual of Procedures For The Philadelphia Church & Associated Fellowships With Foundational Bylaws and an Account of the Association’s Polity and Beliefs.


Past Sabbath Readings