Letter
Eight
Dear brethren, you that eat and drink of our Savior ¾ for you are what you eat ¾ it
is written: a
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless
you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in
yourselves. “He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I
will raise him up on the last day. “For
My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. “He who eats My flesh and
drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. “As the living Father sent Me, and
I live because of the Father, so he who eats Me, he also shall live because of
Me ¾ it is time to be about
our Father’s business, for now our salvation is nearer than when we began. For
in our beloved Apostle Paul’s letter we read: b
And that, knowing the time, that now it is high
time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we
believed. The night is far spent, the
day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put
on the armour of light. It is
time. to go on into the regeneration. Hear what the apostle Peter has
to say: Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed you; what shall we have
therefore? And Jesus said unto them, c
Verily I say unto you, That you which have followed
me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his
glory, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s
sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. But
many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.
Haven’t you heard, don’t you
understand what the Holy Spirit,
through the Apostle Paul, in his
letter is saying: ¾ you surely know, for you
are anointed of the Holy Spirit and know all things ¾ d And that he died for all, that they which live should not
henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them,
and rose again.
Wherefore henceforth know we no man
after the flesh: yes, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet
now henceforth know we him no more. Therefore if any man be
in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all
things are become new. e The
law is spiritual and is not subject to the flesh, nor can it be used by the
flesh, it is for the Godly: for spiritual things hoped for, by the promises of
God. As our Lord said to Nicodemus: f
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born
of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That
which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is
spirit Here it is meant: the
Water of the Word and the Holy Spirit as expressed by our beloved apostle Paul:
g Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved
us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior.
Being free from all condemnation, we begin our journey into the regeneration For the apostle Paul says: . h There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. And you know it. You experience the light coming down from our Father. Antichrist is saying: be careful for this and that, for he knows the end for him is near. But there must be a completion of birth, here we read Paul and can in our heart hear and understand what the Spirit is saying:
i You know how
through the infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first.
And my temptation which was in my flesh you did not despise nor reject; but
received me as an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus. Where then is the
blessedness you spoke of? For I bear you record, that, if it had been
possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.
Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?
They zealously affect you, but not
well; yes, they would exclude you, that you might affect them. But it is
good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not
only when I am present with you.
My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand
in doubt of you.
To understand the word spoken to us: it is necessary to know and understand the types, shadows and examples set before us. For these are not the very real, but what they speak to. What follows, we see ourselves: they are a type speaking to us.
You also see
types in Deuteronomy, chapter twenty eight as well in many other scriptures
Below is a type of what began, long ago, but to our
God is only a moment:
j “But it shall come about, if you will not obey the Lord your God, to observe to do all His
commandments and His statutes with which I charge you today, that all these
curses shall come upon you and overtake you.
“Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you
be in the country. “Cursed shall
be your basket and your kneading bowl.
“Cursed shall be the offspring of your body and the produce of
your ground, the increase of your herd and the young of your flock. “Cursed shall
you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when
you go out.
“The Lord
will send upon you curses, confusion, and rebuke, in all you undertake to do,
until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of
your deeds, because you have forsaken Me. “The Lord
will make the pestilence cling to you until He has consumed you from the land,
where you are entering to possess it. “The Lord
will smite you with consumption and with fever and with inflammation and with
fiery heat and with the sword and with blight and with mildew, and they shall
pursue you until you perish. “And the
heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under
you, iron. “The Lord will make the
rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until
you are destroyed. “The Lord will
cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against
them, but you shall flee seven ways before them, and you shall be an example
of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. “And your carcasses shall be
food to all birds of the sky and to the beasts of the earth, and there shall be
no one to frighten them away.
“The Lord
will smite you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors and with the scab and
with the itch, from which you cannot be healed. “The Lord will smite you with madness and with blindness and with
bewilderment of heart; and you shall grope at noon, as the blind man gropes in
darkness, and you shall not prosper in your ways; but you shall only be
oppressed and robbed continually, with none to save you.
“You shall betroth a wife, but another man
shall violate her; you shall build a house, but you shall not live in it; you
shall plant a vineyard, but you shall not use its fruit. “Your ox shall be slaughtered before your
eyes, but you shall not eat of it; your donkey shall be torn away from you, and
shall not be restored to you; your sheep shall be given to your enemies, and
you shall have none to save you. “Your
sons and your daughters shall be given to another people, while your eyes shall
look on and yearn for them continually; but there shall be nothing you can do. “A people whom you do not know ( see: Joel chapter 2) shall
eat up the produce of your ground and all your labors, and you shall never be
anything but oppressed and crushed continually. “And you shall be driven mad by
the sight of what you see. “The Lord will strike you on the knees and
legs with sore boils, from which you cannot be healed, from the sole of your
foot to the crown of your head. “The Lord will bring you and your king, whom
you shall set over you, to a nation which neither you nor your fathers have
known, and there you shall serve other gods, wood and stone. “And you shall become a horror, a proverb,
and a taunt among all the people where the Lord
will drive you.
“You shall bring
out much seed to the field but you shall gather in little, for the locust shall
consume it. “You shall plant and
cultivate vineyards, but you shall neither drink of the wine nor gather the
grapes, for the worm shall devour them.
“You shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you shall not
anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives shall drop off. “You shall have sons and daughters but they
shall not be yours, for they shall go into captivity. “The cricket shall
possess all your trees and the produce of your ground. “The alien who is among you shall rise above
you higher and higher, but you shall go down lower and lower. “He shall lend to you, but you shall not
lend to him; he shall be the head, and you shall be the tail. “So all these curses shall come on you and
pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey
the Lord your God by keeping His
commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. “And they shall become a sign and a wonder on you and your
descendants forever. “Because you did
not serve the Lord your God with
joy and gladness of heart, for the
abundance of all things; therefore you
shall serve your enemies whom the Lord
shall send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in the lack of
all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed
you.
For our Savior foretold: that the way to destruction was wide and many would enter into it. Few escape.
The locust, as prophesied by Joel in chapter two, verse twenty and what our God does with His army in the end is described by Joel. Here the Sun is darkened and the stars fall. Our God gives us a new spirit and a new heart, this day is,and has been coming for a long time:
k Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy
mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD
comes, or it is near at hand; A
day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as
the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there has
not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the
years of many generations. A fire
devoureth before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the
garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yes, and
nothing shall escape them. The appearance of them is as the appearance
of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run. Like the noise of chariots on
the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that
devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array. Before their face
the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness. They shall
run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall
march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks: Neither
shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when
they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded. 9They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run
upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the
windows like a thief. The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall
tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their
shining: And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is
very great: for he is strong that execute his word: for the day of the
LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you
even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and
with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the
LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of
great kindness, and it repents him of the evil. Who knows if he will return
and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a
drink offering unto the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a
fast, call a solemn assembly: Gather the people, sanctify the congregation,
assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let
the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. Let
the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar,
and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to
reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say
among the people, Where is their God?
Then will the
LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people. Yes the LORD will answer and
say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you
shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the
heathen: But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will
drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea,
and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his
ill smell shall come up, because he has done great things. Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for
the LORD will do great things. Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the
pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the trees bears her fruit, the fig
tree and the vine do yield their strength. Be glad then, you children of Zion,
and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain
moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain,
and the latter rain in the first month.
And the floors
shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I
will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and
the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And
you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your
God, that has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am
the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
And it shall
come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh;
and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream
dreams, your young men shall see visions: And also upon the servants and upon
the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit. And I will show wonders
in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke. The sun
shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and
the terrible day of the LORD come. And it shall come to pass, that
whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount
Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the
remnant whom the LORD shall call.
Zion
means: burnt and so she is after the Northern armies of our God moves
over her ¾ hence: A fire devoureth
before them; and behind them a flame burns. Read Joel chapter two.
We see again
why our Lord cannot stand hypocrisy.
l And the disciples came and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them
in parables?” And He answered and said
to them, “To you it has been granted to know the
mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. “For whoever has, to him shall more be
given, and he shall have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he
has shall be taken away from him.
“Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not
see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. “And in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is
being fulfilled, which says,
‘You will keep on hearing, but
will not understand;
And you
will keep on seeing, but will not perceive;
For
the heart of this people has become dull,
And
with their ears they scarcely hear,
And
they have closed their eyes
Lest
they should see with their eyes,
And
hear with their ears,
And
understand with their heart and return,
And
I should heal them.’
“But blessed are your eyes, because they see;
and your ears, because they hear. “For
truly I say to you, that many prophets and righteous ones desired to see
what you see, and did not see it; and to hear what you hear, and did not
hear it.
We see below in Jeremiah
those that do not escape: those that are torn by dogs, for our Savior warned us
not to give that which is holy to dogs:
m Do
not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, lest
they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
n Then
the Lord said to me, “Even though
Moses and Samuel were to stand before Me, My heart would not be with this
people; send them away from My presence and let them go! “And it shall be that when they say to you,
‘Where should we go?’ then you are to tell them, ‘Thus says the Lord:
“Those destined for
death, to death; (There is no life in the
kingdoms or religions of this world.)
And those destined for
the sword, to the sword; ( For by their doctrine, they slay.)
And those destined for
famine, to famine; (They of the captivity shall strive to death ¾ like the
prodigal son)
And those destined for
captivity, to captivity.”’
(
They are captive, and do not know it.)
“And I shall appoint over them four kinds of doom,”
declares the Lord: “the sword to
slay, the dogs to drag off, and the birds of the sky and the beasts of the
earth to devour and destroy. “And I
shall make them an object of horror among all the kingdoms of the earth because
of Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, the king of Judah, for what he did in
Jerusalem.
“Indeed, who will have pity on you, O
Jerusalem,
Or who will mourn for you,
Or who will turn aside to
ask about your welfare?
“You who have forsaken me,” declares the Lord, “You keep going backward. So I
will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am tired of relenting!
In Amos we see a famine of the hearing of the Word of God ¾ the hypocrites are in that famine now. They take the same course, that the Northern army has taken.
o Behold, the days come, says the Lord GOD,
that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for
water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the
east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not
find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for
thirst. They that swear by the sin of Samaria, and say, Your god, O Dan, lives;
and, The manner of Beersheba lives; even they shall fall, and never rise up
again.
In Ezekiel it is written: although I have scattered them among the countries, yet will I be to them as a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come.
p Then the word of the Lord
came to me, saying, “Son of man, your
brothers, your relatives, your fellow exiles, and the whole house of Israel,
all of them, are those to whom the inhabitants of Jerusalem have said,
‘Go far from the Lord; this land
has been given us as a possession.’
“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God,
“Though I had removed them far away among the nations, and though I had
scattered them among the countries, yet I was a sanctuary for them a little
while in the countries where they had gone.”’
“Therefore say, ‘Thus says the Lord God,
“I shall gather you from the peoples and assemble you out of the countries
among which you have been scattered, and I shall give you the land of
Israel.”’ “When they come there, they
will remove all its detestable things and all its abominations from it. “And I shall give them one heart, and shall
put a new spirit within them. And I shall take the heart of stone out of their
flesh and give them a heart of flesh, that they may walk in my statutes and
keep My ordinances, and do them. Then they will be My people, and I shall be
their God. “But as for those whose
hearts go after their detestable things
and abominations, I shall bring their conduct down on their heads,” declares
the Lord God.
Here, like the q prodigal son, the Lord God was a sanctuary for those who were the true type and shadow of Jews and we read below in the Proverbs what awaited them ¾ in regeneration.
r The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel:
To know wisdom and instruction,
To discern the sayings of
understanding,
To receive instruction in wise behavior,
Righteousness, justice and equity; To give prudence to the naive,
To the youth knowledge and discretion,
A wise man will hear and increase in learning,
And a man of understanding will acquire wise counsel,
To understand a proverb and a figure,
The words of the wise and their riddles.
The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge;
Fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Many are looking for the carnal coming of Jesus Christ; and when they die, they descend to the kingdom that has received them. ¾ see Luke chapter sixteen below. There they will not be disappointed, for he that sat in the temple of God, will be there to greet them. They that love the unrighteous riches of mammon will be received into that which they love.
s And he said also
unto his disciples, There was a certain rich man,
which had a steward; and the same was accused unto him that he had wasted his
goods. And he called him, and said unto him,
how is it that I hear this of you? give an account of your stewardship;
for you may be no longer steward. Then the steward said within himself, what
shall I do? For my lord takes away from me the stewardship: I cannot dig; to
beg I am ashamed. I am resolved what to do, that, when I am put out of the
stewardship, they may receive me into their houses. So he called every one of
his lord’s debtors unto him, and said unto the first, How much do you
owe unto my lord? And he said: An hundred measures of oil. And he said unto
him: Take your bill, and sit down quickly, and write fifty. Then said he to another: And how much do you
owe? And he said, An hundred measures of wheat. And he said unto him: Take your
bill, and write fourscore. And the lord
commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the
children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of
light. And I say to you, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of
unrighteousness; that, when you fail, they may receive you into
everlasting habitations. He
that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that
is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If therefore you have not been
faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if you have not been faithful in that
which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own? No servant
can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or
else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. You cannot serve God and
mammon.
tAnd the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. They that perish have their savior ¾ they wanted a carnal savior, that is what they have.
u
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to
the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our gathering together to Him, that
you may not be quickly shaken from your composure or be disturbed either by a
spirit or a message or a letter as if from us, to the effect that the day of
the Lord has come. Let no one in any way deceive you, for it will not come unless
the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of
destruction, who opposes and exalts himself above every so-called god or object
of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, displaying
himself as being God. Do you not
remember that while I was still with you, I was telling you these things? And
you know what restrains him now, so that in his time he may be revealed. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at
work; only he who now restrains will do so until he is taken out of the
way. And then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with
the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that
is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all
power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for
those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to
be saved. And for this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so
that they might believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who
did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.
This statement from
our beloved brethren and apostle, could not have been said better:
But we
are bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord,
because God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: Whereunto he called you
by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore,
brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which you have been taught,
whether by word, or our epistle.
Now our Lord
Jesus Christ himself, and God, even our Father, which has loved us, and has
given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, Comfort your
hearts, and establish you in every good word and work.
a
John 6:54-57, b Romans 13:11-12, c Mark 10:29-31,
d 2 Corinthians 5:15-17, e Romans
7:14, f
John 3:5-6, g Titus 3:5-6, h Romans
8:1-2,
i Galatians 4:12-20, j
Deuteronomy 28:20, k Joel 2, l Matthew 13: 10-17, m Matthew 7:
6, n Jeremiah
15:1-6, o
Amos 8:11-14, p
Ezekiel 11:14-21,
q
Luke 15:11-32,
r Proverbs 1:1-7, s Luke 16:1-13, t Revelation 10, u 2Thessalonians 2:1-17.
Amen,
Wallace
F.Ingram