The Additions to the Faith

Kenneth Wayne Hancock, B.A., M.S.

MANCHILD AND COMPANY

NORWOOD, MISSOURI

2023

First printing Spring 2023

All rights reserved. This book is not for sale. You may share it for free with anyone. But you may not change any words, phrases, paragraphs, or chapters. This book is free to the world. Freely the author has received and now freely gives. Contact the author with any questions.

Published by

Manchild & Company

K. W. Hancock

475 W. Norwood Street / Norwood, MO 65717

Prof. Hancock’s email address: wayneman5@hotmail.com

His blog is Immortality Road. You will find hundreds of articles and his first two books there: immortalityroad.wordpress.com

Other books by Kenneth Wayne Hancock

Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality

The Unveiling of the Sons of God

The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect

The Apostles’ Doctrine

The Eleventh Commandment

Outline of Book

Preface

Introduction

I. Foundation: The Mind of Christ

God’s Purpose
His Plan to Fulfill His Purpose
Law of Harvest
Spiritual Growth to Maturity
Faith

II. Additions to the Faith

Virtue
Knowledge
Temperance
Patience/Endurance
Godliness
Brotherly Kindness
Charity–Agape Love

IV. Conclusion

Preface

Vision is not man looking through his own eyes at God executing His will on earth. Nor is it us looking through God’s eyes. But rather vision occurs when God looks through our eyes. When our eyes are but His oculars through which, unclouded by the stains of earthly wisdom’s tainted presumptions, He assays His creation, and brokenheartedly sees the need for justice, love, and mercy. And He sees that from these three pools of water must He now use our hands and hearts to minister moisture to a parched and famine infested land.

For “where there is no vision, the people perish.” Where no man gives his eyes that He may peer our sad present world, then the vision is dim, and the people suffer. But after He has made His abode in a few, then in the presence of choiring angels He at last will stride forth across the domain of His kingdom here on earth, righting wrongs held seething in hearts for ten thousand years.

But first, those called to surrender their own regal aspirations and dreams of their own greatness must abdicate and throw all attempts at self-glory on the “dung heap.” For in comparison to their calling to be one of God’s sons, seated fittingly on the throne with Christ, their present vainglorious dreams do futilely fade.

For the dreams of mortals are not worthy thoughts for the immortal children of the Immortal King. Surrendered eyes, directed by allegiant hearts bring vision to the earth. For the King will then see through our unencumbered eyes the needs across the land. It is the need for love and balm and a gentle touch to heal the sores of many nations and peoples. And He will bring it through the unveiling of His offspring. For they are His princes and princesses, full of His Spirit, soon to be immortalized with their “house from heaven,” their spiritual body.

Introduction

To attain this heavenly vision, you and I must grow spiritually. Yahshua the Anointed One, our Savior, wants us to grow. He desires us to bear “much fruit.” If we don’t bear fruit, more fruit, and much fruit, the Father purges us that we bear more and more fruit. If a person does not increase, then he “is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned” (John 15:1-6).

But how does He say we are to grow? The world teaches us to just come to church, pay your tithes and offerings, read the Bible, pray, and you will be okay. Surely that is not all there is to it.

There is much more to it. To grow, we are admonished to do certain things. We are to study. We are to “continue steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine.” We are to walk in their teachings, the teachings of Christ and His apostles. We are to “purge out the old leaven, that the lump may be holy.” We are to get rid of the false teachings. We are to “put on the whole armor of God.” And we are to “add to your faith” certain attributes of God’s divine nature.

The focus of this book is on the last one. It is called The Additions to the Faith. To grow, wemust add attributes or facets of God’s divine nature to the faith we received from Him when we came to Christ. Outlined in II Peter 1, these are not spiritual things about God, but rather they are integral, distinct qualities of His divine nature. When these are added to His faith in us–by faith–He will then feel welcome to come into us and make His abode with us and look through our eyes.

Adding the seven attributes is how we bear much fruit. The Spirit through Peter says that very thing. If these seven “things be in you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [Yahshua the Anointed One]” (II Peter 1:8). He speaks of these “things” as being paramount for spiritual fruit bearing. Adding them is partaking of his divine nature (1:4). Adding them insures that we make our calling and election sure (1:10). Adding them provides an entrance into “the everlasting kingdom of our God. It insures immortality—nothing less!

These seven additions are listed in II Peter 1:5-7. The apostle Peter believes that they are extremely important, and we are to remember these always! This was Peter’s major concern, that the additions would be forgotten after his death.

He reminds us that he was an eyewitness of Christ’s glory; he saw with his own eyes the transfiguration of Christ! He walked and talked with Him daily for over three years. Peter is a reliable witness. Therefore, we should “take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts” (1:19).

Peter then forewarns us about Satan’s efforts to subvert you and me from adding the seven attributes of the divine nature. “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies…” (II Peter 2:1). Their concepts of Christ are false, according to the Spirit in Peter. You want to know what doctrines must be purged out of our lives? In a word, just about everything that churchianity teaches! They say that you cannot be like the apostles. But Christ commands us to “Be perfect.” Be mature. Bear much fruit. The false teachers will prevent you from adding the seven elements of the divine nature of which we speak.

Section One: The Foundation

Chapter 1

Knowledge Needed for Spiritual Growth

The following is rare knowledge that will prepare us to grow to full maturity. This is what our Father wants for us. This is the “word of knowledge,” the second “gift of the Spirit.” This knowledge will propel the reader’s growth in the Spirit. And most importantly, it will fulfill God’s purpose in reproducing Himself in the form of the Spirit of Love man-ifested in our bodies. We cannot fulfill His purpose without these seven additions.

We have already seen in the Preface that to grow into spiritual powerhouses like the early apostles, we must add to our faith certain spiritual elements of Christ’s divine nature. Put the opposite way, we will not grow past spiritual infancy if we do not add these aspects of His divinity to His faith, “once delivered to the saints.”

We cannot do things to achieve salvation from God, but we must do certain things to grow His Spirit within us after we receive a new heart and after we are “born again.” One of these things is the additions to the faith.

The Need for the Additions to the Faith

When the Spirit of Christ says through Peter, “Add to your faith” certain attributes, He is not saying that we must add them to be saved. Personal salvation is not the issue, though it is the first important step on our spiritual quest. The additions are the key to our spiritual growth after salvation. They are the key that unlocks the door to our spiritual perfection.

Like Jeremiah, Yahweh has known us by name before our earthly mothers brought us out into the light of day. We add these heavenly attributes of God’s “divine nature” because we are called and chosen by Him to do just that. Our names are written down in the book of life before the worlds were ever spoken into existence by our God and Savior Yahshua, the Son of God.

Consequently, we have no choice in the matter. My readers are a rare group of humans who have seen through the plastic façade of churchianity and have “come out of her.” He has predestined a vanguard who will be the first fruits that will show their brethren the way to the glory land. They have been “called according to His purpose [the reproduction of Himself—Love].”

“For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified” (Rom. 8:28-30). He knew us before we were born into mortality. He gave us our destiny to be like the Son before we came here. Because of our pre-destiny, He called us; He “got our attention” that He is real. He showed us the phoniness of human society and culture and began to teach us His way. He saved us out of the quagmire of sin by justifying us. And in His mind, He has already glorified us. For He declares the end from the beginning.

All I can do is shake my head and go, “Wow!” For the Spirit is speaking to me as I write this down. What a precious privilege—to join the ranks of our brethren like David, Jacob, Daniel, Paul, John, and so many more. Their fame lives on because they answered His call upon their lives, just like we are doing. He is working the same way today as He did two, three, and four thousand years ago. He said, “I change not.” There is not one single scripture that says the miracles ceased being performed by His followers 1,900 years ago.

Our Lives Now Are His Doing

It is His ball game now since our surrender to Christ. When we really believe Romans 6:6, we enter into His rest. How do we enter into rest? When we die with Christ on the cross and are raised up from the dead with Him, we have ceased doing our own works for our old self. It is because our old man Adam is dead. And so, we begin our Sabbath rest when we cease working for our old selves. This is what brings the love, joy, and peace and the other fruits of the Spirit. This is what casts out fear. There is nothing to be afraid of now. What are they going to do, send me to Vietnam? Once our old ego dies with Christ, what are they going to do? Kill our body? “Death has no more dominion over us.”

So, we wait for the Spirit of truth to lead us into all truth. And He shows us that we are to grow spiritually, that we are to finally mature by bringing forth “much fruit.” And then the Spirit through Peter tells us that to bear “much fruit,” we need to “add to your faith” seven additions, seven facets of His divine nature. These seven things are crucial to come to full maturity/perfection. With them we will be able “to make our calling and election sure.” What calling? God has called us “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” In other words–Oh, words that will get you thrown out of churches! —to be like the Son of God!

“Nobody can be like Jesus! That’s blasphemy!” they say.

“Well, if you won’t let me be like Jesus, will you let me be like Peter, John, and Paul? They performed miracles like Christ. They bore much fruit.”

Bearing Much Fruit

To become a mature Christian, we must add these seven attributes of His divine nature. If these seven things are pulsating and abounding in us, then they will enable us to bear much fruit of the Spirit, never to be barren of love, joy, and peace (II Peter 1:8).

Those Christians who do not add them to the faith will be blind to the vision of our true destiny, for they will have forgotten that they were purged from their old sins (v. 9-10). Old sins are like blighted branches that are lopped off at the cross. Belief/faith in His resurrection gets them started in Christ, but they need the additions. If they don’t add them, then blindness overtakes them. They will get stagnant, which stops spiritual growth.

Such is the state of most church houses. Every gathering in them is a cookie cutter copy of the last meeting. Because no new light is being shared, the spiritual manna becomes stale and spoils, and most of the clergy and laity languish in the stalls of forgetfulness.

There are several pastors who are receiving “new” light from our Father that does not agree with their church doctrine. Some are making the decision to share the new light. They should be aware of the waves they will be making, waves that will capsize their dingy. For the established denomination does not want the new wine. They will say that the old is better.

It is sad really. I still want to reach out and touch them like I have endeavored to do, but they say that they are “increased with goods and have need of nothing” (Rev. 3:18). I am learning to not be dismayed nor frustrated. For one who speaks God’s message is honored, but not “in his own country and in his own house.” (Mt. 13:57). This explains why we cannot get any respect from those in our own home.

The Need to Add to the Faith

Finally, those foreordained and predestined will feel the need to add the seven additions to the faith. God will reveal the need to them. No man with man’s wisdom will do it. “It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy” (Rom. 9:16). But those who are called and chosen will soldier on to complete the quest. That quest is “to be conformed to the image of His Son.” The gainsayers will tell them that it can’t be done, that they are crazy for thinking such a thing. But the elect will hear His voice. The others will just hear a rumble off in the distance, shrug their shoulders, and ask for seconds on the apple pie.

A Definite Plan

Because our Creator has a purpose of reproducing Himself (Love) in us, He, of course, has a definite plan to fulfill His purpose. He has thought it all through and lined it all out in His written word. And in His scriptures of truth are contained the thoughts of the Son of God, the “Word made flesh.” And these thoughts contain admonishments, and when done by us Christians, we will grow up to be like Him, which fulfills His purpose.

We understand now that God is Love and that His purpose is to reproduce Himself in us. It is written in nature; every living thing is striving to reproduce itself. He created it that way so that we could figure His purpose out.

We were created as a house for God to dwell in, for Love to dwell. And we understand that God has a plan to conduct this purpose of reproducing Himself. His plan entails His kingdom, first to be established in our hearts, and then it is to be set up as a literal world-wide government headed by our King, the Son of God, upon His return to earth.

And we see that an integral part of God’s plan is the law of harvest. God is the Seed, the Word. And this Seed/Word “was made flesh and dwelt among us.” Christ is that Seed that germinates in our hearts and starts to grow as a grain of corn is planted, dies, and resurrects and grows in our gardens. We, too, begin to grow spiritually.

These new blades of corn will suffer many trials that will tempt them into not seeking the divine knowledge needed for their growth. To ensure their growth, Christ commands us to add to our faith seven attributes of His divine nature. But before we can add them, we need to know His purpose and plan in more detail. This is laying a good foundation on which to build His spiritual temple—us. And then we need to know what the seven additions to the faith are. These comprise the two sections of the book: The Foundation and the Additions.

Each section illuminates the steps of understanding needed for mature spiritual growth in Christ.

Each section is comprised of short chapters that can be read as stand-alone statements that advance the thesis of the book. The stand that the author endeavors to prove is this: Christ and his apostles believed and taught that the human being was made to be a Tabernacle for God to dwell and grow in. They taught that the spiritual qualities of God’s divine nature are possible to reproduce in us.

The Spirit of Christ wrote through his apostle Peter and commanded us with these words: “Add to your faith…” Then he lists seven spiritual attributes of God’s divine nature. It is a command. Few see it as such. Therefore, most will never investigate this subject of being like the early apostles.

The chapters in each section will unfold more and more light as to the need for these additions, their purpose, and how we are to add them. The last section will unveil the seven additions to the faith in greater detail.

You may experience recurring themes. This is not a mistake. The scriptures teach us to review and retell the stories of our faithful biblical heroes. Also, all educators know that repetition and review are needed in the learning process. Belief that the Spirit is guiding this hand allows me to present each teaching as He leads–for your edification.

Finally, look at the sections and chapters as pieces to a jigsaw puzzle. The knowledge in the chapters, when put together, illuminates the section. And as the sections are illuminated, the mystery of the thesis of the book will be revealed.

This first section of the book will include the following chapters that will discuss more fully the foundation of this knowledge, setting the table for the additions. The chapters will include God’s purpose and plan, faith, spiritual growth, fruitfulness, blindness, the calling and election, and the entrance to the Kingdom of God. It is upon this foundation of knowledge that we are to add these seven additions to the faith. The second section of the book will go into greater detail about the seven additions.

Chapter 2

The Additions—Prerequisites for Bearing 100-Fold Fruit

Just having faith in Christ is not enough. Now, wait a minute. Hear me out before you jump. We need to get the full picture of God’s vision and handiwork.

The Spirit of Christ through the apostle Peter has given us one of the “New Commandments” that Christ spoke about. When obeyed, it will insure our mature spiritual growth in God. Christ’s desire for us is that we bear much fruit. “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, Christ said. The commandment that Peter is talking about is this: “Add to your faith” seven attributes of God’s very own “divine nature” (II Peter 1:4-7).

We will grow spiritually if we add them. But in Chapter Two he tells us why very few Christians obey this commandment. He warns us of the false teachings spewed by false prophets and false teachers whose doctrines wilt the young plantings of God. Instead of the latter rain from heaven watering young Christians, false concepts about God stunt their growth.

You can see the effects on well-meaning church goers every Sunday morning, sitting there in the same pew that they have sat in for decades, still singing “Just As I Am,” stunted now, unable to grow to full spiritual maturity because of the drought of His word. The maturity that Christ and the apostles talk about is becoming just like Peter, James, John, and Paul. Church goers have been told that it is impossible. But “with God all things are possible.”

But Christ’s elect are scattered out there. Some will hear that faint sound of the ancient trumpet, and their heads will turn up to the sky from whence the call was made.

For God calls whomsoever He will. No man through his own willpower will become His elect, His chosen ones. He does the choosing. He places the hunger for truth in them. They don’t know at first how it all works. They just know that they need to find the truth. They need to get to the bottom of this thing called life-on-planet-earth. And somehow, they finally realize that it was God all along who arranged all the serendipitous coincidences, all the failures and victories, and all the, well, miraculous turning points in our lives.

In my case, the miracle was when Mortality was rearing its desperate head–my head which was going down for the seventh time. And there with me God had Larry Golden pull me out of that South China Sea undertow at Da Nang Beach in Vietnam, one day before I was to fly home. The LORD gives life, and the LORD takes away life. Blessed be His Name.

Such is the calling and election that God makes upon us. He has a plan and a timetable for everything. And He will put a hook in the jaw of those He is angling for, if that is what it takes. He has a purpose to reproduce Himself in us. He is omnipotent and will bring it to pass. He has created all things, and all things are in His repertoire. And He uses both “good things” and “bad things” to bring His plan and purpose to full fruition. Full fruit production is bearing “much fruit.”

Which takes us back full circle to the “additions to the faith.” They are virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and agape love. These attributes of the “divine nature” are powerful. They are like the finest fertilizer for God’s young plants.

They hold many promises for those who want to grow. “For if these things be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ [Yahshua]” (II Peter 1:5-8). With these seven added, you will be full of fruit. With them you will “make your calling and election sure.” With these seven added, “You shall never fall.” With them added, “an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom” of Christ, our “Everlasting Father” (II Peter 1:10-11; Isaiah 9:6). Such promises are breathtaking!

Those that have an ear to hear, let them hear what the Spirit is saying (Matt. 11: 15; 13:9; Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 29, 3:6, 13, 22). In other words, God gives understanding to whomever He desires to give it. He opens the ears of the spiritually deaf. If He is doing that for us, then we need to hear and listen closely to what the Spirit of God is saying through Peter about the additions to the faith. Those with an ear to hear will understand.

Some have said, “Faith in Christ is all you need.” To get into the first level of a walk with God, that is true. But things must be added to the true faith for us to fully manifest God’s divine nature in us, according to the apostle Peter.

He says that we must make certain spiritual additions to the faith, so that we can be “partakers of the divine nature. Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity (agape love)” (II Peter 1: 5-7).

Peter goes on to say that if these additions “be in you and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren (idle) nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus (Yahshua) Christ” (v. 8).

In other words, without these additions, we will not grow up “unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Nor will we without these additions “be filled with all the fulness of Christ” (Eph. 3:19). Why? Because the person without these additions listed above “is blind, and cannot see afar off, and has forgotten that he was purged from his old sins” (II Pet. 1: 9). These additions, then, serve as a kind of eye salve that anoints our eyes that we may see the spiritual road ahead of us.

In fact, the way we “make our calling and election sure” is to add these very things to our faith! That is why this is so important to the overcomers of all things. For if we add these things to our faith, we “shall never fall” (v. 10). The addition to our faith of these things is the key that unlocks the door to the “entrance…into the everlasting kingdom” of our God (v. 11).

To Whom Was Peter Writing?

Peter is writing not to everyone, but to those “that have obtained like precious faith with us” (1:1). He is writing to “those who have already received by divine allotment” this equally honored and precious “conviction that God exists and is the Creator and Ruler of all things, the Provider and Bestower of eternal salvation through Christ” {Thayer’s Lexicon}.

It is God who has placed this faith, this “conviction” that He is real, in our hearts. It is not something we “muster up.” It is all Him. It is His grace to us, which is to say, God favors us with knowledge of Him and His plan and word. This brings light to our eyes and strength to our hearts. God gives grace to some during this end time era with spiritual knowledge of Him. This is His grace to us.

Now He gives this grace in accordance to “His divine power” which gives to the recipients “all things that pertain to life and godliness through the knowledge of Him” (1: 3). For He “has called us to glory and virtue.”

Glorification = Immortality

God has tapped us on the shoulder in some way to bring us to the stage of spiritual growth called “glorification”! Yes, this spiritual road we have begun to walk down is leading us into being glorified with Him! This is sonship; this is rulership with Him in His kingdom.

We must add these things listed by the apostle Peter, if we are to fulfill our calling to be His manifested sons and daughters, His ruling family that He has called us unto. That’s how important they are to Him, first, and should, therefore, be important to us. Important enough to seriously study them out.

But the big take away of this opening chapter of II Peter is this: This conviction that God is and is in control through Christ–this faith, this conviction must have other attributes added to it, for us to fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters, the princes and princesses, sitting with Him on His throne.

Peter knows full well what it takes to “make our calling and election sure.” He knows that our initial experiences based on God’s favor and grace in showing a bit of Himself to us and thereby “calling us out of darkness into His marvelous light.” He knows that those early experiences and revelations will not take us across the finish line in this race “for the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14).

And it is through this knowledge of the holy things of God that we are given “exceeding great and precious promises” (II Pet. 1: 4). God has promised to give unto us His followers immortality, or eternal life. Immortality is it. It is the biggest gift, the greatest promise the Immortal One can give to a mortal. There is nothing greater for one who will die than to be granted eternal life.

And this immortality that God has promised us is what the “glorification” is all about. And Peter says by the Spirit of God that we are called “to glory and virtue.” And God promised this to us from time immemorial. “In hope of eternal life, which God, which cannot lie, promised before the world began” (Titus 1: 2).

All this notwithstanding, to receive this precious promise of immortality, we must add certain spiritual components to our faith, to our conviction that God is real and true. These additions are the elements of the very nature of God Himself.

How do we do this? First, we must study them out and receive the knowledge of just what they are, and then, reckon them added by faith.

Two points are worthy encouragers for us on this road to immortality. First, He said of us in His prayer in John 17: 22: “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.” In His mind, it is a done deal. He is saying, I have already given them glorification, which is immortality. With this, they are one with the Father and Son. It is also good to know that “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world.” He has full confidence in His plan, which includes us.

But first, we need to know more about Yahweh’s purpose, the “eternal purpose” that the apostles talked about. We must have this knowledge before the additions can be added.

Chapter 3

The Purpose—What is God’s Purpose for Us?

As God’s sons and daughters, we search, and we receive from Him insights as to what He has done, is doing, and shall do.

Man’s most often asked question is “What’s the purpose in life?” To understand what the Father is doing, we must begin with His purpose. What is He up to? He has written the answer in the pulsing vibrancy of nature. We can look at the natural created world and see what is going on in the spiritual invisible world. “For since the creation of the world, God’s invisible qualities–his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse” (Rom. 1:20 NIV).

Nature is not God; it is not to be worshipped. But we can gain understanding about what nature’s Creator is doing by observing nature. The living things in both animal and vegetable kingdoms are reproducing themselves. It is in their drive, their DNA, their instincts to reproduce; it is their purpose. Look outside and you’ll see squirrels in trees with insects crawling and flying by. And their actions are derived from one purpose: to reproduce themselves.

God’s purpose? He is reproducing Himself. And that is where you and I come in. He is using you and me. That is what distinguishes humans from plants and animals in nature. God created us as a medium to be used to reproduce Love, for “God is love.” Agape love. That is our purpose.

It Starts with a Seed

In the natural world, it all starts with a seed. You bury a seed in the earth; it dies, and then it springs to life. It is the same with God and how He is reproducing Himself. The man Christ was the Seed. He was chosen by the invisible Father to be the Seed that through the Son, we humans could be used by God to reproduce Himself. The Seed, the Son of God, had to be sacrificed and buried in the earth, and be resurrected after three days and three nights.

He gave up His life so that those who followed His example might be resurrected with Him. To be used by God to reproduce Himself in us, we, like Christ, must choose to give up our old selfish life by letting it die on the cross in revelation with Christ. Then we are “buried with Him in baptism, and “by faith in the operation of God” who raised Him from the dead, we, too, have been “quickened together with Him” (Col. 2:12; Rom. 6:1-12).

We rise with Him and become new creatures that can mature like that little blade of corn in springtime’s field. He gives us of His Spirit, and He leads us into paths of growth all the way to His throne room.

But God is sovereign and will use both “good things” and “bad things” to achieve our spiritual growth. It is like a gentle rain upon an early crop of corn. A good thing. And then a storm smashes down those tender blades with strong winds and hail. And yet the next morning the sun comes out, and its rays caress the stalks and blades of corn, and the crop rises up and dances with the joy of summer’s warmth. So, it is spiritually with us.

Those whom He has called and chosen to reproduce Himself will embrace this message. They will be guided by the Spirit of truth, as He leads us into all truth—the truth as to why we are here and where we are to go and what we are to be.

The Son of God is the Great Teacher and has outlined in John 14-17 how the Father will hasten our growth. Christ has given us a series of New Commandments, that when followed, will pave the way to the door of His difficult to see Kingdom. Obeying them produces agape love growing inside our hearts. This is the Abiding. And His Spirit within will enable us to bear “much fruit.”

We are on the ultimate treasure hunt. “Its price is far above rubies.” Gold and silver cannot touch this treasure. For this treasure is what all the civilizations that have ever populated this planet have wanted. This treasure is nothing less than Everlasting Life, nothing less than being complete Love Incarnate, with joy radiating out from the pure heart of God within us. It is nothing less than fulfilling what all of us humans have longed for—to be loved and appreciated. And those who answer this “high calling” will be in God’s family, and He will move over and let us sit with Him on His throne.

Sound farfetched? As a competent teacher, I am merely relating now what is in the text concerning sitting on God’s throne. I am not extrapolating. I am getting this knowledge from Christ’s own lips, written down by the apostle John on the isle of Patmos. “Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me. To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne…” (Rev. 3:19-21 NIV).

Chapter 4

Being in His Purpose Before the World Began

True Christianity is realizing that we were in the Father’s heart—in His purpose—before our mothers ever gave birth to us here on earth! Understanding this knowledge makes us His. For true Christianity is not about a person striving to be accepted by Him. It is not to attain a collection of good deeds and contributions like regularly praying, attending church, paying tithes and offerings, or volunteering time. The true walk with Christ is not an accumulation of good deeds in hopes of having a better relationship with God.

It is rather a remembering of what we already had with Him before our time on earth began; it is knowing that He chose us for this honor, and not us choosing Him. Our salvation and deliverance from sin and the evil in our old life, was given to us by God before we were ever born here on earth!

“Before I formed thee in the womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5). Several points here. God Almighty, Yahweh Himself formed that baby in the womb. Man should not be messing with God’s handiwork in creating babies. Abortion is an abomination, for it kills what God is creating. He is creating vessels to reproduce Love in. Mankind keeps killing vessels of Love. Second, God knew Jeremiah before He ever started forming him in the womb. The same goes with you and me. He formed us and He knew us before the forming. He is the King and oversees His purpose, which is Him reproducing Himself, using us.

Sounds “out there,” I know, and you are probably thinking, Wayne, you are going too far now. But bear with me a minute. God has called us with a holy calling in accordance with His own plan and purpose, and we were in His plan and purpose and grace before our mothers gave birth to us.

Some may be asking, Where did you get this idea from? It’s right there in the Bible–the same one grandma and momma had. “God who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began” (II Tim. 1: 9).

This “holy calling” to be God’s son or daughter does not come down to us “according to our works.” We do not attain it because of anything we have done or could do, but because we were already included in His purpose–His plan to favor us that way. It is called grace, and this grace was given to us in Christ before time began on earth. Remember what Christ said: “You have been with me from the beginning” (John 15: 27). The word “beginning” in the Greek is the same one used in John 1:1: “In the beginning was the Word…” denoting the timelessness of the origin of all things.

We Were There with Job

We must remember how “the LORD” (YAHWEH) questioned Job intensely about the creation: “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” The answer to this question: We were with You.

“Who laid the cornerstone thereof when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?” (Job 38: 4-7). Yahweh laid it, and we were there in our spiritual bodies rejoicing!

The “sons of God” rejoicing at the creation of the earth? Yes. Isn’t that kind of like before the world came into being? Yes. And who are these sons of God? The word of God says that we are the sons of God! “Beloved, now are we the sons of God…and when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is” (I John 3:2).

“We shall be like Him…” Plain English. Yet the preachers, pastors, prophets, and priests say the opposite. They say, ‘You can’t be like Christ.’ Yet that lie goes against the purpose of Yahweh in that He would have us partake of His glory.

According to His Purpose

Also, we know that “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). That’s us, brethren! Things are going to work out great for us that love God. Since God is for us, who can be against us? For “we are the called according to His purpose.” He knew us before! He gave us this destiny before! This destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-29). Hey, I know I’m not the only one getting this right now because it says “many brethren” are on the path to being just like Him!

And let’s just say it out loud: We who He has “predestinated” to be like Christ–He has called us, “and whom He called, them He also justified, and whom He justified, them He also glorified” (v. 30). Glorified us! Notice this is in the past tense. Already done in God’s way of reckoning and doing things. “For He calls those things that be not as though they already were.” This is a huge piece of His knowledge that will liberate us from fears.

Wondrous knowledge. It is truly difficult sometimes for us to wrap our sometimes-doubting little minds around these astounding promises, but there it is. His words, not mine. The “exceeding great and precious promises” that Peter spoke of. That we “might be partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1:4).

And this is all in Christ. When we believe and trust in Him, then our inheritance manifests itself. Let us walk on in faith and assurance of these promises, not letting worldly man-thoughts hinder us from achieving what God already has spoken into existence for us. This is His purpose. This is straight from the apostles.

Chapter 5

The Secret Purpose: “The Seed Is the Word of God”

You are seeking God. You would not be reading this if you were not. You want to dig deeper and find more understanding of God and His plan and purpose.

You love the people, but you realize that organized churchianity will not take you to where the Spirit is leading you. It is not delivering that depth that you know you need. You want to build on the rock of His word, and you wonder, “But what is the word exactly? Is it just the written word in the Holy Bible? What is the spiritual secret hidden in the lines of The Book?

Understanding God’s Purpose

We learn from the inspired written word of God that His purpose is to reproduce Himself. And to understand God’s plan and purpose of reproducing Himself, we must understand the Law of Harvest. “Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6: 7). Since the beginning, man has sown seed and has harvested that very seed.

This law was enacted by God Himself in the beginning. It is a law that governs both the celestial and terrestrial realms. God reassured Noah and all of mankind, “While the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22).

Seed time and harvest. There is a “a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted” (Ecc. 3:2). A time to plant the seed, and a time to harvest that seed.

The Son of God referred to Himself as a seed, the grain of wheat that must be buried in the earth before it germinates and springs up out of the ground. Thus, that seed begins its life cycle that culminates in much fruit, the many grains of wheat at harvest time. “The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified…Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abides alone: but if it die, it brings forth much fruit” (John 12:23-24).

The “much fruit” is the “many sons unto glory” (Heb 2:10). Just like the harvest of wheat yields many grains of that same wheat, identical to the seed, so shall it be in the harvest of this present world age. The sons of God will be the harvest that will “make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.” Their destiny as kings sitting on the throne with Christ is the fulfillment of Christ’s own life cycle–just like that solitary wheat seed finds its fulfillment when it multiplies itself at harvest time.

The Secret

“Now the parable is this: the seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11). The parables reveal “things that have been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mat. 13:35). The seed is the Word, and “the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14). And that Seed, the Son of man, died, was buried, and sprang up from the dead. And that Seed germinates in the ground of our hearts when we believe the Savior rose from the dead.

This spiritual life cycle begins anew in us when we believe. And the Spirit within us now grows, and it will end in a harvest of many sons and daughters with the same spiritual DNA that Christ has. That is us that I am talking about! Not some heavenly apple pie in the sky by and by. Not floating around heaven all day. No. I am talking about being like Christ. Okay. If you are not quite ready to go that far, then how about being like Peter, James, John, and Paul.

The Seed is the Word. The Word is the Logos, which is the whole plan and purpose of God written out and spoken and wrapped up into it. And this logos/purpose/plan/kingdom/vision is all in the mind of God, in His thoughts, which are comprised of words.

And this Word/Logos was made flesh, the Son of God, our Savior. This is the Seed. Inside any seed is contained the whole life cycle of the plant-to-be, from the time of its germination, resurrection, and new life to its full harvest when the seed has reproduced itself. The seed’s destiny is foreordained inside the husk of that seed. With the proper nourishment and moisture, the seed will reproduce to its potential.

Now Christ is the Seed, the Word made flesh. And we, the children of God, are inside that Seed! We are in that Word; we are in that Seed. We are in that purpose, that plan, that kingdom, that vision. We originated in the very thoughts of God; we are in His mind, and He has poured all into His Son, the Seed. We are all in the Seed’s DNA. We who get it are part and parcel of God’s heart and mind. We are inside the mind of Christ, inside the Word, the Seed of God. For “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4).

The Word/Seed contains us. We are in His mind, thoughts, and plan. And inside this Word/Seed is the complete plan, including the pre-destiny of those who will be used in God’s plan–those who will be exactly like Him. That is us, “for in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28). And “we are in Him that is true, even in His Son” (I John 5:20).

That’s the long and short of it. God believes all this about Himself and us. Now we just need to stretch our small minds and hearts to believe like He believes. When we believe in Him, we are believing in our personal destiny that He has written down about us, written in the Logos/Word/Seed, written in the Son, “the Word made flesh.” The Word becomes light, for it makes His purpose and plan manifest; light reveals and makes known God’s secrets.

Chapter 6

Being After the Father’s Heart

Contemplating Yahweh’s purpose is seeking the contents of the mind of Christ, the very heart of the Father’s heart. It is a big step, for it stretches our small hearts and minds and enlarges them so that they can be able to see through God’s eyes. “My thoughts are not your thoughts, saith Yahweh.” We must realize that God has His own agenda. We humans have our own agenda, too. We are like Him in that we have a purpose for our own life. But very few of us have the same purpose for our lives as does our Heavenly Father. And herein lies the problem—for us.

He has a Master design and purpose in making us and everything else in this universe, yet He is willing to use much patience in waiting for us, His crowning creation, to come into line with His purpose.

His purpose led Yahweh to take the twelve tribes of Israel as His wife. Sons and daughters were to come through His spiritual relationship with them. But they whored after the false gods of the nations around them. Yahweh cries through Jeremiah, “Have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and has committed adultery there…I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of her adulteries” (Jer.3:6-8 NIV). But through His incomprehensible mercy, He will accept and forgive them when they return.

His purpose is clear and straightforward: He is reproducing Himself through a select group of human beings. Yes, He loves us and wants to save us from ourselves and our selfish desires and actions. But that is only a very small part of His eternal purpose and plan—a tiny piece of the cosmic puzzle that is His heart.

What is in the Father’s heart? What desires lie there waiting to be manifested? The answer lies in the word “Father.” “Father” implies engendering, procreating, reproducing, for there cannot be a father except there be offspring. Or to state it in another way, one must have offspring to be a Father.

Now many claim that God is their Father. Almost all of the untold thousands of denominations of Christendom assent to that. They want to claim Him as their Father and yet deny the law of harvest He spoke into existence: “Each seed bears its own kind.” If they were His children, then they would be like Him; they would be striving to know His mind. They would share the secret desires of His heart by having the same plan and purpose that He has. The Father’s heart contains His plan and purpose: to reproduce Himself until He fills the whole universe with Himself. And He has created mankind to be the instruments that He will use to do this. He will use only His crowning creation Man to manifest Himself through.

Chapter 7

Walking in the Spirit Is Powered by Knowing His Purpose

We are admonished in God’s word to “walk in the Spirit” and to “abide in [Christ]” (Gal. 5: 16, 25; John 15: 4). But to get in step with the Spirit, we need to not only know the Spirit’s destination, but also the why and the how of God’s intentions. To abide in the Spirit, we need to know what the abiding entails and how to get there.

Simply put, for us to walk in the Spirit, we must first know what God is doing and where He is going. “Can two walk together except they be agreed?” (Amos 3: 3). We must agree with Him as to the where and when of His Spirit. He said that we are to have the mind of Christ and to think the way He does (Phil. 2: 5). Christ is doing His Father’s business (Luke 2: 49).

And the Father’s business is God reproducing Himself. This is His purpose, and He has a plan to finish His work.

God has given us many clues as to His purpose. Every living thing in both the vegetable and animal kingdom is striving to reproduce itself. Just look around. It is what it is all about. You striving in your life to find “the one,” that special one to mate with–the drive has been put in your DNA by your Maker, and it is another clue as to His purpose: God is reproducing Himself, His Love, and His life. And He has the plan to make it happen. And we humans are the spiritual environment in which He is doing this reproducing of Himself.

Only when we understand His purpose and then believe it, will we be able to walk in the Spirit or abide in Him. If we are operating on a different spiritual wavelength in our worship, then we are not staying, remaining, nor abiding in Him and His purpose and His plan to achieve His purpose of reproducing Himself.

People of God, we say that we want a closer walk, a closer relationship with Him! This is our opportunity. Oh, to cease to be Christ’s servants and to become His friends! To hear Him say to us, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his lord does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” To be His friend! To be given this rare knowledge of what the Father is doing. To have Christ trust us so much that He with His great loving heart would include us in these secrets and mysteries of what the Father’s purpose is! To be trusted as a friend that knows what His Lord is doing! To be a part of His inner circle (John 15: 15).

And don’t tell me that it is not for us. That is a cop out. Two chapters later in that same flow of truth, Christ prayed for you and me: “Neither pray I for these alone [seated around the Last Supper table], but for them also which shall believe on me through their word; that they all may be one…and the glory which thou gavest me I have given them…” (John 17: 20). That’s us if we can believe it.

He has promised us that if we abide in Him, whatever we ask, He will do. If we are walking and abiding with Him then what we ask will further His purpose. Those are the prayers that will get through–those that are asked by us to further His purpose and plan.

When We Have Another Purpose

But if we have an agenda and purpose and plan other than His, then we do not have true worship of the Father, for we will be following our own imaginations as to what will please God. God does not need another church building on another corner. He does not need another minister preaching the same sermons spoken a hundred years ago because those sermons, though they may be sincere, smack of stale incense wafting up into God’s nostrils. Small-hearted prayers for ourselves won’t get through the brass heavens to His ears.

Understanding His Purpose

However, when we do get His purpose and take it to heart and begin to work to help bring it to pass, then our power increases by His Spirit, and we become co-workers with Christ in doing the “Father’s business.”

Christ is all about doing the business of the Father. He is doing His will and finishing His work. The Father’s work? Reproducing Himself.

And what are we to do? We as members of Christ’s body need to be doing what Christ is doing, which is the same work. To do the works of God, we need to believe upon Him whom God has sent, and to finish His work. We are to bear witness to the truth about how God is reproducing Himself through the Seed Son. The works that God will do through us will be a witness that Christ the Seed has resurrected in us. The Seed Son will have germinated in us as we show forth the resurrection power through many signs and wonders done very shortly on this earth.

But it all starts with wisdom and knowledge, which happens to be the main ingredients of the first two “gifts of the Spirit.” Yes, as we get on the right road, God the Spirit begins to give us gifts to help us help Him fulfill His purpose. The first is “the word of wisdom,” and the second is “the word of knowledge” (I Cor. 12: 8).

Chapter 8

God’s Thoughts Created the Plan to Fulfill His Purpose

We have seen that God is the invisible Spirit of love, agape divine love. God is the greatest Love. And Love, by its very nature shares and gives of itself. This self-sacrificing action of sharing God’s love with another begins the fulfillment of the purpose of God in our hearts. And that purpose is to reproduce Himself in the form of His Spirit of Love residing to the fullest in human beings.

So, the essence of Love gives birth to God’s purpose, which is to multiply Himself. It is more than just organic; His purpose is born out of His very nature. He is Love; therefore, He shares. That is His purpose.

What God Thinks About

We know that God thinks, for the scriptures tell us that God’s thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa. 55: 8). We know that God has a mind that thinks, for we are asked, “For who has known the mind of the Lord?” (Rom. 11: 34). We are, after all, created in God’s image, and we have minds. We are even told to have the mind of Christ (Phil. 2: 5).

So, in the beginning, God’s mind thought things through. He thought about His nature of love. This led Him to His purpose of reproducing Love. He thought about it and came up with a plan to accomplish His purpose.

At the very center of His plan would be a being that He would create that He could pour His Spirit of Love into. He would create this special being in His very own image. And He would call him Adam. And Adam would have two parts, male and female. And they would become one.

Now God’s mind is full of Adam and his offspring. He thinks about him all the time, for he is extremely important in the mind of God. For these human beings are instrumental in fulfilling the purpose of God. No other being will do. No other being in the entire creation has the capacity to be used to not only feel what the Father feels, but also to love how the Father loves.

Only the offspring of Adam can be used to fulfill God’s purpose of reproducing Himself. The use of Adam’s seed and the plan that it entails fill God’s mind and composes His thoughts.

We human beings should have the same mind that God has with the same thoughts detailing the same purpose that He has.

We must remember this: To become one of the manifested sons and daughters, to spiritually grow to become like Peter, John, and Paul, and even the Son of God Himself—we need to “have known Him that is from the beginning (1 John 2: 13-14). To know Him “from the beginning” is to know His nature of Love, His purpose, His mind, His thoughts, and His plan to accomplish all this.

Having God’s Thoughts

Wrapping our minds around God’s thoughts is difficult for us humans to do in our own strength. Our minds are like a sieve in that most truth escapes through a thousand tiny holes in our brains, as it were, leaving at best a few molecules of the original heavenly insight on the grid of our memory.

God does see fit for some to glimpse rare truths as to His thoughts, but in the end, they are not our thoughts, nor are His ways our ways. He reveals a facet of one of His jewel-like truths and tomorrow it may be gone like a vapor, or like frost evaporating before the rays of the morning sun.

And because His thoughts are not inherently ours, we must repudiate and renounce our own thoughts that our brain has been spouting since childhood. This must be a self-abdication of what we have stood for in the dark corridors of our very center of being. To gain the key that unlocks His storehouse of spiritual knowledge, our old desires, haunts, and our very own reason-to-be must go. They all go for good when we experience our own spiritual death, burial, and resurrection with Christ. This is the price that man must pay for an entrance into the kingdom of God (Romans 6; John 3: 3,5).

The words of this book open the door of understanding only slightly, allowing the rays of light to enter our eyes and to beckon us. Each of us must swing the door open and walk through by faith, studying and proving all things. Be assured of this, when viewed through the schema of the concepts of this book, the Scriptures of Truth will open unto you.

Chapter 9

God’s Plan—Spiritual Growth, the Law of Harvest, and the Gifts of the Spirit

Fine. Wonderful. We are beginning to see that God’s purpose is to reproduce Himself. And He is Agape Love. And He has a plan to accomplish this, and He will use us in the plan. But how does all this work? How does He use us?

Christ is the Word; He is the Seed. He wants to plant the Seed in the broken ground of our hearts. When brought to harvest, He will have reproduced Himself using us. Although the process is a miracle, it is not easy. Nor is it a magical sideshow. It is a struggle to come through the complete spiritual life cycle. It is called “Spiritual Growth.”

To grow to become like the patriarchs, prophets, and apostles! He is Love; He multiplies Himself when we love with the love that He is.

That is a growth! To take the likes of us and turn us into powerful apostles like Peter, James, John, and Paul. But that is the point: To walk like they did after Pentecost, we must grow spiritually from a humble beginning. For God will reproduce Himself in us using the immutable Law of Harvest. His plan to fulfill His eternal purpose is to use the Law of Harvest. “Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” You reap what you sow.

“He is bringing many sons to glory.” These will have grown through the stages of spiritual growth exhibiting the Law of Harvest. It is “first the blade, the ear, the full corn in the ear.” It is the Seed within itself–some “thirty-fold, some sixty, and some one hundred-fold” [1]. These are the levels of growth of the Holy Spirit within the sons and daughters of God. John refers to these degrees of growth as “children, young men, and fathers” [2].

When “Christ be formed” in them, signs will follow [3]. Gifts of the Spirit will flow, which includes healings and miracles. Right now, though, God’s timing calls for the first of the gifts of the Spirit to be given through the elect to others: “the word of wisdom” and “the word of knowledge” [4]. Without the truth contained in those first two gifts, a brother or sister cannot “come out from among them and be separate” [5]. This foundational truth helps to purge the “old leaven” teachings (contained in the parable of the woman putting leaven in three measures of meal or flour–leaven meaning the hypocrisy and insincerity of the Pharisees and their ilk [6].

I have wrestled with this question: God, why aren’t there more legitimate healings and miracles being done like what happened in the first few chapters of the book of Acts of the Apostles. Answer: We need some true men of God like them who have all their ducks in a row spiritually speaking and have “purged out the old leaven” from their thinking, which includes all the old false concepts and teachings and doctrines we grew up with. Then I realized how important it is to let the word of wisdom and knowledge flow unrestrained. True knowledge will not live with false doctrines.

When the time comes, God will do something special in the elect’s lives–something absolutely astounding in the power-giving category. All the way through the Bible He did just that. There is no reason to believe that it will be any other way in these latter days. After all, He said, “I am the same yesterday, today, and forever…I change not…” [7].

The sons-of-God-to-be, the elect, which means “the chosen ones,” may not at present know their destiny that has been pre-ordained by God. Right now, they may only know that there is this pull to know the truth. There is this longing for justice and truth that won’t let them go. Other things of this present world system may tug at them, but a hook is in their jaw, and they are being reeled in by the Great Fisherman, who right now is teaching some how to be “fishers of men” [8].

And they do look just like everyone else. But to themselves, they are learning to look “after the Spirit” and not the “outward appearance” [9]. By faith they are looking upon the “things that are not seen,” which is the Spirit [10]. And yes, they will be transformed, but they will go through a spiritual growth cycle as referenced above.

Knowledge of this growth process is lacking in Churchianity today. The people in the pews want “It” right now. They are used to instant pudding and mashed potatoes, instant messaging, and internet input. But growth in Him is His growth in us. It takes time for the seed “to fall into the ground and die” and germinate, and pop through the ground as a perfect little blade of grass, a perfect little “babe in Christ” [11]. “The seed is the word of God.” And a babe in Christ needs the “sincere milk of the word” that it may grow [12]. But this takes humility in giving up the old life and thoughts and habits.

That is why the Master told us, If you are going to follow Me, you better “count the cost.” For it costs everything. It is not easy to sell your earthly possessions; it is much more difficult to sell or get rid of your old self with its personal materialism [13]. The gifts of the Spirit will feed us that we may grow into 100-fold fruit production for Christ. We all need to embrace His plan for spiritual growth.

But the question still arises. How do followers of Christ grow?

1. (Matt. 13: 23; Mark 4: 8; 4: 28) 2. (I John 2: 13) 3. (Gal. 4: 19) 4. (I Cor. 12: 4-11) 5. (II Cor. 6: 17) 6. (I Cor. 5: 7; Matt. 13: 33; Luke 12: 1) 7. (Heb. 13: 8; Mal. 3: 6) 8. (Matt. 4: 19) 9. (I Sam. 16: 7; Rom. 8:1-4) 10. (II Cor. 4: 18; Heb. 11:1) 11. (John 12: 24) 12. (I Pet. 2: 2) 13. (Col. 3: 5; Luke 14: 27-33)

_{Chapter 10}

_{Stages of Spiritual Growth and What Stunts that Growth}

How does a Christian grow? What steps must be taken to “grow in grace”? What do we need to know and then to do, to spiritually progress to the growth God wants for us?

Somebody will say, Obviously you must pray and read the Bible. But is that all there is to it? That’s a good start, but millions of well-meaning people have been uttering words to God and reading verses daily, and yet, they have not become mighty men and women of valor in God.

Will just praying and reading the Bible and going to church insure real spiritual growth? Millions sit in their weekly pews wanting to grow but remain stagnant and stunted like yellowed spindly tomato plants, starving for rain and nourishment.

Stages to Our Spiritual Growth

To answer these questions, two major concepts must be understood. First, one must realize that there are stages to our spiritual growth. Christ taught these stages of spiritual growth in parables. In the parable of the Sower, the good ground (people with good and honest hearts) will bring forth fruit from the seed–some thirty-fold, some sixty-fold and some one hundred-fold. In the parable of the seed cast into the ground, spiritual growth in the kingdom of God brings forth fruit, “first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” [1].

Not All the Same

But man teaches that we are all the same in Christ. Ideally this is true when it comes to our righteous standing with God. We all start out as children of God, and that is where most Christians stay–as children in their spiritual growth. All those in Christ have the same new beginning in Him. We all are given the same foundation—Christ—but we are admonished that we should take heed how we build upon that foundation. Man’s wisdom has a way, and the Spirit has another way that we should pay heed to.

The apostle laid the foundation/Christ in us. He warns, “But let every man take heed how he builds thereupon.” Some will build up the temple of God with “gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay and stubble.” Every man’s work will be revealed by fire. If his work on the Foundation remains and abides, then “he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss…” (I Cor. 3:10-15). There is one built with everlasting, durable materials like gold and silver [truth]. The other is built with temporary things. Remaining in false teachings about Christ is building with wood which will burn. [“Our God is a consuming fire.”] The former gets rewarded; the latter suffers a loss of all his work and effort for Christ. What does this show us? Not every Christian is of the same growth. Not all will be used by God to perform miracles. Unfortunately, all will not grow out of spiritual childhood.

Three Levels of Spiritual Growth

The apostles taught us about these three stages of spiritual growth. The apostle John wrote unto “children, young men, and fathers,” detailing spiritual characteristics of each level. We must recognize this reality. If we do not understand this, then we will not know how to judge ourselves and examine ourselves [2].

The Spirit admonishes us: “Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith.” Test yourselves. “Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?” (II Cor. 13: 5). We test ourselves by answering this question: Do we know and believe that it is the Spirit of Christ that dwells within us by the love that is shed abroad to all? I.e., we are examining how much of Christ’s Spirit is flowing through us.

30-Fold Fruit

Someone will ask, “How do we know how much of the Spirit of Christ is in us?” The short answer: If we are in the “knowing” stage of most things, then it is 30-fold growth. To distinguish 30-fold from 60-fold growth, one must look at 30-fold fruit from a childlike perspective. Just like natural children accumulate knowledge of their surroundings and nature and other people, children of God are doing the same in the spiritual realm.

A 30-fold fruit bearing child of God is attaining truth and how it relates to them personally. They are “knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6: 6). And they will “know the truth and the truth shall make you free…Whosoever commits sin is a slave to sin…” (John 8: 32-36). That’s the knowledge that the child of God is gaining. A natural child is mostly alive for what he can receive from his father. So it is with the spiritual. A child of God is interested in receiving from his Father—receiving peace, contentment, joy, and love. And this only comes when our old self is crucified with the Lamb of God.

Thirty-fold Christians are spiritual children, starting out as babes in Christ. Paul tells us how to recognize a babe in Christ. They are “dull of hearing.” They either have forgotten the “first principles of the doctrine of Christ” or were never taught them. They have need of milk and not strong meat. They are “unskillful in the word of righteousness.” And they do not have “their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” [3]. They cannot tell the true doctrines of Christ and the false doctrines we are warned about by Christ and all His apostles.

I am not trying to be callously critical about these. God expects us to grow up into Him. And it takes a frank look at ourselves to see where we need to change. I love all Christians and want them to grow up into Him. I am merely relating what Christ and His apostles said about this growth level. We must know about this so that we can grow and help others to grow. For it is all about His Spirit growing up in us. I mention this to substantiate this teaching about growth levels. [For much more on this subject read the articles found here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/category/spiritual-life-cycle/ ]

Most neophyte Christians are mostly alive for what they can receive from our Father. They often “ask amiss” to consume their request on their own desires for themselves. Most of the time they are asking for material things–jobs, money, houses, goods–but God already knows our earthly needs. It is the spiritual things that He is most concerned with as in “the kingdom of God and His righteousness.”

60-Fold Fruit and 100-Fold Fruit

A Christian bearing 60-fold fruit has matured to the point where he or she desires to not just receive the fruit of the Spirit, but rather channel it to others. It is the developing of interpersonal relationships. One bearing 60-fold fruit is mostly alive for what they can do for the Father.

The 100-fold Christian is like Paul and Peter and John. They have Christ’s Spirit of agape love being manifested to others. They are agape love, insomuch as Christ is manifested through their vessels. They have the mind of Christ, and the will of their Father, foremost in their thinking. And the Father’s thoughts are rarified. Only a few will attain this position with Him in our present era. They are those who are doing the will of the Father. They will be spiritually seated at His round table. They will know His purpose and His plan to accomplish it. They are His cadre who He will use to implement His government. Their thoughts are His thoughts, for their vision is His vision—a vision that subsumes and transcends national, international, worldwide, galactic, and universal concerns. Christ is the exiled King, and “of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end” (Isa. 9: 6-7).

Those who grow spiritually into 100-fold fruit bearers will be in His inner circle. And don’t tell me that Christ does not have an inner circle. Think about the twelve disciples. And now there are positions to be filled. They will be leaders and administrators and ambassadors of the King as He establishes righteousness and judgment throughout the earth after the tribulation subsides. You will know that you are on the right track to become one of these princes or princesses of God if you are thinking His thoughts—His kingdom thoughts.

The Second Thing–Discerning Both Good and Evil

The second thing that we must exercise to grow is the discernment of “both good and evil.” And to discern these, one must have knowledge of what are the true doctrines and what are the false doctrines about Christ and His plan and eternal purpose.

To bear the same spiritual powerful fruit that the early apostles did, we must purge out the old leaven false teachings that we have learned growing up on the planet. They must be repented of and forsaken for good. For believing false concepts about Christ is the main reason young Christians don’t grow into strong, powerful men and women of God. False doctrines will stunt our growth! But to get rid of them takes courage and a love of God, despite the blow back of the foes of our own household. The clinging to traditions of men will hinder us from growing into Him.

One of the most damaging faults committed by young Christians is to believe that every church that they choose to go to has what is needed to help them grow and please God. The truth is that many old leaven false teachings and false concepts are taught in the denominational churches. These would include congregations that are non-denominational and yet still teach the same traditions and doctrines.

How can one know the true from the false? Christ said that you will know them by their fruits. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, He said. If they teach things that you cannot prove in the scriptures of truth, then it is suspect. We are to prove all things. Take everything that is taught to you and ask God to help you prove it out whether it is true or false. For in the end, you and I are responsible for our own walk. We cannot blame the preacher. For the Judge will say to us, Why did you not study it out and trust Me to help you in your search for truth?

For His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. If what is taught to you is not helping you grow, ask God to lead you in your search. Ask Him for the Spirit of truth, and He will grant your request. Ask and it shall be given. Once the Spirit of truth abides in you, then He will lead you into all truth.

Hundreds of millions of professing Christians are languishing, caught up on the broad way that leads to destruction. They need proper instruction so that they may grow and not be those who hear the heart-breaking words of our Savior. To those who claimed to have taught in His name and done many mighty things “serving” Him, He said, “Depart from Me; I never knew you.”

After Getting Rid of False Doctrines

After we know about the growth levels in the Spirit, and after we begin to throw out the false concepts, what if God has provided for us the teachings to replace them–pure teachings that like strands of golden threads lying on a table, the Spirit of truth now begins to weave them into a golden chain that supports a spiritual locket that is filled with all the mysteries of God? Knowledge of the holy is knowledge fit for the offspring of the King, knowledge that unlocks growth for His future kings and queens.

For the way into the holiest is lighted, once the old false teachings are removed. For the false doctrines about Christ spiritually blind us. Remember Paul, a Pharisee of the Pharisees, full of false doctrines, and how when he was enlightened on the road to Damascus, the scales fell away from His eyes? That is what we are talking about here. After the scales fell, then He could see into the pure teachings of Christ.

I believe that He wants to show us these true doctrines and teachings, truth necessary for us to really grow like the early apostles.

[1.] Mark 4: 14-20, 26-29 [2.] I John 2: 13 [3.] Hebrews 5: 11-14

Chapter 11

The Additions Explain the Secrets of Spiritual Growth

Spiritual growth comes through the additions to His faith that now resides in you. But God will not abide and grow within us if we believe false doctrines about Him. We cannot add His divine nature if we have false concepts of Him and His purpose and plan. Truth will not share Himself with falsehoods.

Those of us who believe in the God of the Holy Bible have faith that He created the millions of galaxies and has a guiding hand in His creation. He made us and knew us and has instituted His plan and purpose for us and this earth. We must believe that much.

Is it then a stretch for us to believe that this all-powerful Supreme Being has left us the map to find the treasures of His Spirit which is to grow up in our hearts? Christ is the truth, and now, if we are His, then His Spirit of truth is in us. Are not then the scriptures of truth, the Holy Bible, a book of written clues to help us find the treasures of His grace, mercy, and pleasure? He did say, Seek and ye shall find. So, we must believe that the Creator God is powerful enough to make sure some of His created human beings would preserve for us in our day a book that contains God’s treasure map. This map shows the path to spiritual growth culminating in being like Him.

For the scriptures contain for posterity the clues to the ultimate desire and longing of mortal man: immortality, eternal life, everlasting life. This is the reward Christ promised His followers.

It is all there in the Bible. Why then can’t we clearly see the clues to spiritual growth? Could it be unbelief that we can grow into having the same spiritual power as the early apostles? Like the two disciples on the road to Emmaus. They, like Peter, saw that the tomb was empty, but they just did not believe that Christ was raised from the dead. That unbelief blinded them so much that they did not recognize Christ when He joined them on their walk. And after Christ showed Himself to them, then they believed and “their eyes were opened.” Before, “their eyes were holden that they should not know him.” And when He opened their eyes, they said, “He opened to us the scriptures” [1].

God Is the Only One that Can Open the Scriptures to Us

It is all Him, brethren. He opens the door that no man can close. And this door is the door to understanding and enlightenment as to the spiritual growth in His Kingdom. And this door that He opens is the opening of His written word that speaks of Him, the Word, the Logos.

Why are we not walking like the early apostles? It is because we have 2,000 years of false doctrines and false concepts about Christ super-imposed on top of the initial truth. The early apostles literally saw Christ in action. He made them to be solid in their belief, for He needed witnesses to write the clues down that we would be pondering in our era.

They had the pure doctrines of Christ after He showed Himself after the resurrection. But now the churches have the traditions of men. That is why we do not grow very much. The mud of man’s traditions has been smeared on the eyes of the sheep of His pasture. And now He is crying to His people, Come home to Me! Leave your old concepts about Me behind. Cut off the traditions of men from your thinking. Repent of your sins, once and for all, and return to Me, and I will show you the new and living way.

Yes, what if the clues to the mysteries of spiritual growth are clearly given to us in the scriptures, and we have but to listen with fresh ears and hungry believing hearts the new thing that God wants to teach us.

For, brethren, there is so much more than what churchianity is teaching us. Let me put this in all capital letters. I hardly ever do this, but what I am about to write is so important. IF THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUR INFORMATION ABOUT GOD IS IN ERROR, THEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH IS NOT SPEAKING THROUGH THEM TO YOU.

That is why our Savior says for us to “prove all things.” Test everything. Examine all things. All things include also what you think to be false. Prove it out from the scriptures, asking the Spirit of truth’s guidance. Seek and you will find the answers as to what is true and what is false. Getting this right is huge, and everyone must bear their own burden of proof. And remember what the apostle John wrote to us: “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” Test the teachings, for there are many false teachers out there (I Thes. 5: 21; I John 4: 1).

Once we with His help purge out the old leaven teachings, then we are ready to add to His faith that which “was once delivered to the saints.” For it is His faith now in us. Seven attributes of His divine nature are to be added–not to just blind faith of ours in something about Christ. But added to His faith that was delivered to us. For there is only one faith, not many (II Peter 1).

Adding more of His divine nature is what spiritual growth is all about. But we must get rid of the false concepts before the Spirit of truth, which is God Himself, will come to take up His abode in us more fully. Which is the definition of real spiritual growth.

Chapter 12

What Stunts Spiritual Growth

Growth. That is what every living thing needs—especially Christians. To grow spiritually, we need clean spiritual food and water. But Christians are being fed false food and fetid water, if we are to believe the apostle Peter: “There will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies.” And “many shall follow their destructive ways…In their greed these teachers will exploit you with fabricated stories” (II Pet. 2: 1-3). Who are these false preachers? It is important to know, for many Christians are following them.

The apostle Jude warns us of them, also. “For certain individuals, whose condemnation was written about long ago, have secretly slipped in among you. They are ungodly people” (v. 4). They secretly slither into the leadership position of the congregation, sharing their tainted teachings. The apostle Paul warns us that in the latter days, many will leave the true faith and will be deceived by “seducing spirits and doctrines of devils” (I Tim. 4: 1). In our time false teachers in sheep’s clothing are teaching doctrines about Christ that are straight from Satan. And these are so-called “Christian” teachers, preachers, pastors, evangelists, priests, and prophets!

Sadly, “many” are following these false teachings about Christ and what He is doing here on the earth. The word of God says that many are being fed false spiritual food and are being deceived. Where are “the many” today? The lambs and sheep of God have been herded into corrals with names like Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, Episcopal, Presbyterian, Pentecostal, Charismatic, et al. Funny thing: Most of these denominations believe that they are the only ones with the truth.

Hundreds of millions meet. But Christ said to be careful not to follow the masses. He commands us to “enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Mt. 7: 13-14).

Most just read over these words, never taking the time to let them sink way down into their hearts. The “wide” and “broad” way is the easy way. The wide, effortless way has you to just “accept Christ as your personal Savior,” be baptized, and you are good to go. Conversely, the narrow gate is the cross experience where we place our old sinful selfish heart on the cross with Christ and let it die with Him. Then by believing in His resurrection, we receive His Spirit that raises us up to walk in a “newness of life.” Few get this deep, for they are seduced by false teachings about salvation. And until the day that my lips and fingertips fall silent, I will continue to testify for Christ, whose truth has translated me from darkness to light (Rom. 6).

Why Do We Hold on to the False Doctrines?

How do human beings get stuck in the mire of false teachings? First, no one’s pride encourages them to admit they were wrong. And there is a tendency in human nature to cling to the traditions taught to them by their elders. However, going through the “cross experience” cures all this. For when we “die” spiritually with Christ on the cross, we abdicate our own will and desire and fling ourselves into His embrace. We, like babes in arms, trust Him to care for us. We have faith in Another who is much wiser than we are. And we believe that He will raise us up and give us of His Spirit to lead us and guide us through this new spiritual landscape. This is being “born again” or “born from above.” And thereby the sin nature is gone. And He gives us the Spirit of Truth that “leads us into all truth.” It is His Spirit now within us that helps us know what is false and what is true.

This “cross experience” is there for all of us, whether we came to Christ yesterday or forty years ago. This experience is the narrow gate that allows us to enter His kingdom. Without it, we cannot see nor enter the kingdom of God (John 3: 3-6).

So, dig deep. If gigantic waves of people are following a certain teaching, it is probably a false doctrine. The cross is the starting point for Christian growth. If a person is still breaking the Ten Commandments, then how are they growing spiritually in Christ? Just remember: With God all things are possible.

False teachings are bad food for the flock of God, which stunts their growth. The true doctrine of Christ is a portion of the “hidden manna” that Christ promised to those of us who purge out the “doctrine of Balaam” (Rev. 2: 14). This spiritual bread from heaven is hidden from those who have not entered the kingdom of heaven. But it is being revealed to you and me. It has long been hidden and “kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Mt. 13: 35).

We are bidden to eat this bread of life—by faith. But which faith? Man says there are many, but the Spirit says, “There is one faith.”

Chapter 13

The “One Faith”—The True FAITH

As we have said before, these seven additions are attributes of God’s divine nature. They are to be added to faith. But which faith? There are thousands of concepts of faith. “Faith” means different things to different people. In fact, there are billions of faiths. For people think that believing in a god or gods or anything else is “their faith.”

So, which “faith” was the Spirit in Peter referring to when He said, “Add to your faith…”

Faith. When we read the word in the Bible, we think we know what it means. But can our concept of “faith” withstand the crucible of Scripture? Without God’s knowledge of faith, one cannot add His divine nature to it. And without that, we become “blind and cannot see afar off.

This pure concept of Faith is so important, for we must have faith to please God. He is an invisible Spirit, and the only way to please the great Creator is to believe that despite His invisibility, we believe that He exists. “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him” (Heb. 11: 6).

There is a problem for seekers today, however. The word “faith” is used so much in Christian circles that for many it has lost its original meaning. The following chapters explore what Christ meant when He commanded us, saying, “Have faith in God” (Mark 11: 22). The literal translation from the Greek says, “Have the faith of God.” Have God’s faith. Believe what He believes; believe how He believes. Peering deeply into His apostles’ beliefs will show us just how to believe like Christ believes.

Chapter 14

God’s Faith

Our spiritual walk as Christians is about finding our way back home. We began our journey in the Mind of God eons ago. We proceeded forth from a thought in His Mind in the beginning. For the Word-made-flesh told us, “For you have been with Me from the beginning.”

We were then deposited onto this terrestrial plain with no initial recollection of our spiritual origins–for a purpose–His purpose.

Our immersion into sin early on in our earthly life sent us on a quest for peace with our Maker. We needed to be free from the guilt and sorrow that our first life provided. That was God’s purpose in allowing us to wallow in sin for a season–to send us on our search for His redemption. We would not have ever sought His solace without the misery and debasement that sin brought to us.

So, we broke down and got real and humbled ourselves to our Maker, and He answered us in giving us a new life in the form of a new seed beginning that when watered, will grow into the same thing we had with Him before the foundations of the world (John 15: 26-27; Isa. 40: 21). And with this new life, we grew to not only appreciate God and His mercy in delivering us from degradation, but also to just plain loving Him.

God wants this love for us. His purpose is to reproduce His nature of love in human beings, which are the only beings capable of reproducing His spirit of unselfish love. We are, after all, created in His image; we are vessels to contain and to pour out God onto a thirsty land.

And the seed of this love for God grows from that appreciation we exhibit when we acknowledge God’s love to us. His love toward us is all in the plan to use His Son as the sacrificial Lamb that “takes away the sins of the world.” Christ’s self-sacrifice at the cross showed us the greatest love. There is no greater love than that. When we believe the testimony of the Seed/Son, we receive a new life in a seed, energized by the Spirit, which erases all our past sins along with the guilt.

We are made free, and as the ex-slaves of sin, we exalt our new Master who has delivered us from death. We love Him and appreciate Him. His life now through the resurrection affords us that same life inside us. And His Seed of Love is growing and growing, both in our own hearts and in the hearts of our brothers and sisters—by faith.

Christ is the Seed of a new beginning in us. When we believe (have faith in) His testimony, we receive the seed of faith into our hearts. There is no spiritual growth without the true seed being received into the ground of a fertile heart, a heart that’s honest and receptive and in need.

It is this internalization into our hearts of His resurrection power that generates within us the new life. This comes in our belief/faith that He rose from the dead. Since He rose from the dead, we do now believe that we, too, are “raised to walk in a newness of life.” Our past sins are purged, and we now live by His faith and the presence of His Spirit in our new hearts. “…And the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me” (Gal. 2:20).

The Father/Creator/Spirit/Love/Light has poured His complete plan, purpose, essence, and life into His Son. Consequently, we cannot thrive in our brief moments here on earth if we do not believe God’s testimony of His Son.

When someone rejects the Son, they reject the Truth of the ages, and in so doing, they lose their own souls. If the doubters do not surrender to God’s plan as seen in His Son’s life, then their moment of self-aggrandizement will molder in a forgotten shallow grave. But if we walk in the Light, we shall overcome all things and bask in the glory we had with him in the beginning (Heb. 2:10; 1 Pet. 1:7; Rom. 8:18).

Christ taught His disciples these precepts in seven major teachings. His apostles believed them and wrote about them, and they came to be called the apostles’ doctrine. Faith is the key that unlocks them all. It is His faith that we receive into our vessel. It is not something we muster up. For in Him we are dead and our life is hid with Him. Faith is all about Him giving us His belief in His own plan. It is all about Him now.

We Add to Faith by Faith

To bear “much fruit” and thereby attain full spiritual maturity, we must add certain qualities of His “divine nature” to the faith (II Pet. 1: 3-10). God has called and chosen us to grow and bear 100-fold fruit (Matthew 13, “The Parable of the Sower”). To walk in His divine nature, knowledge must be added to virtue. And we see that virtue is the initial moral goodness and righteousness that comes with a new heart.

To grow we must understand God’s use of not just what we perceive to be “good” toward us, but also what we perceive to be evil. We will never grow to be like Christ and His apostles if we do not understand how God uses evil to develop the attributes of agape love in our hearts. That is His whole purpose, a mystery hidden from the eyes of man. And that purpose is to reproduce agape love, which is Himself.

The apostle Peter says, “I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things…” So, it goes like this. By faith we have received a new heart and a new spirit from our Father by believing that Christ is raised from the dead—in our hearts. “Old things are passed away, and all things have become new.” We are “new creatures in Christ.” This is the way that God sees His work in us (Rom. 6: 1-11).

To His way of thinking, it is a done deal. God “quickens the dead and calls those things that be not as though they were.” You and I are the “dead” here. He has raised us from the dead through Christ’s Spirit now in us. We, walking in 100-fold spiritual growth, are the “things that be not.” We are not there yet, but Christ has great faith, and He sees us there! His belief/faith in us is much stronger than our belief in Him. We are to walk in His belief system (Rom. 4: 17; I Cor. 1: 27-28).

Our struggle is to believe the same thing that He believes about us. He has chosen us, the weak, to confound the mighty. That is His faith that we have received in our hearts. And to that faith we add virtue. We add it—by faith. And to virtue we add the knowledge of good and evil. And to knowledge we add temperance, and to temperance patience/endurance. And to endurance, we add godliness, which is loving God [forgiving Him for using both “good” and “bad” in our life]. And then adding “brotherly kindness”/loving other people [Forgiving them for being human and understanding that they have been dealing with some harsh “bad things” in their lives].

And we are to add agape love/charity to all the above. For His love is the bond of perfectness, of maturity. With this spiritual maturity in us, God will be loving mankind—through us! And that will fulfill His eternal purpose to reproduce Himself.

But that is just a mustard seed of faith. We must know more of His faith to add to it.

Chapter 15

There Is Only One Faith—God’s Faith in Himself

The early church was of one mind and one accord. And one faith (Eph. 4: 5). God’s faith. Did the apostle Paul write this? “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by my faith in Christ.” No. He wrote: “The life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God…” Paul lived here on earth by Christ’s faith—not his faith in Christ. Our faith is the Son’s faith. His faith. It is not our faith in God. But His faith—the one faith.

It is all about belief. The words “faith” and “belief” are both translated from the same Greek word. They both mean believing having not seen. But when we think of “faith” we immediately think about our faith in God. What we need to see is that we are dead, and our life now is His life; our faith now is His faith. It is all about His belief in Himself and His belief that we are in a right state with Him.

For it is God’s faith in Himself that moves mountains. “With God all things are possible.” His faith in His own intelligence and power is the foundation of His divine nature that He has imparted to us. We are to add to this faith other facets of His nature that now reside in us. God believed in His own abilities and power before He saw the fruit produced in us, according to His plan of Sonship.

It Is All About the Seed

Like every spring, we get the urge to plant a seed in the garden. We take a seed and place it in the broken earth. We do this by faith, by believing that it will spring to life and shoot up and grow and finally bear fruit. We believe that this tiny seed will bear fruit before we ever plant it.

This is like God’s faith. He believes in His Seed, His Son. He has faith that His plan will work; He knows that it will, for He has spoken it, and His word is that Seed, and it always comes up and grows and comes to pass. That’s the faith we now walk in! It is not our puny faith that we have to muster up out of our depleted reserves. It is His faith! It is all about believing what He believes! Hey, He believes in His Spirit that He has placed now in us. Now we can say, “It is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.” It is the Son’s faith that we live by now! (Gal. 2: 20).

Faith Is Not Something We Have to Muster Up

It is the “faith once delivered to the saints” (Jude 3). Faith is a spiritual commodity from God that has been delivered to the people of God. Who delivered it? The Creator Yahweh did. Faith is not something that has to be mustered up by His people. We must rather receive it from Him. It is something that originates from out of His nature and is given to us. It is the first portion of His divine nature that He gives to mankind. “For every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.” That is every gift, and that includes faith.

It is His faith that is transplanted into our hearts. It is not something we muster up and finally believe about Him. His faith in us is the first part of His divine nature to enter the human heart. But what is it exactly? Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1. “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see” (NIV).

A Difficult Concept

Be that as it may, faith is hard to get our minds around. The concept of faith concerns believing without seeing. The “hidden things” of God are the mysteries that have been “kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Isa. 48: 6; Matt. 13: 17, 35; Rom. 16: 25). These things begin to take focus when examined through the lens of faith. How else are we to reconcile with an invisible Spirit/Creator?

Faith is difficult at times to fathom because its essence is concealed by its invisibility to mortal eyes. Faith is being assured of this invisible God’s promises that comprise our hopes, without seeing the evidence right now.

God has promised us everlasting life, and yet we die. We trust in His promise to us that at the resurrection He will grant us a new spiritual body—incorruptible and impervious to age and wear and tear. But here we sit, susceptible to the incessant ravages of time, shut up to having faith in this invisible Spirit-God of the Hebrews, who came down and walked with men and showed us the way to live the abundant life in Him and His plan, which is all by faith, of course.

Yet, our Creator gives us now of His Spirit, which is His essence. We must receive it by believing His word that says this: I have given My invisible Spirit to those who believe in Me. It is all by faith. When we make the leap, this invisible Spirit/Creator has promised us that He will reveal to us the hidden, deep, mysterious, secrets about Himself—by His very Spirit that He has given us. He who does not believe will not be in on the secrets of the Almighty, for his unbelief blinds his spiritual eyes. Belief/faith is the eye salve that heals the spiritual blindness.

God will then add strength, power and virtue to this faith as He guides us on into a greener pasture that leads to a glade with a spring of the crystal clear water of life. But it will not be found through our own cunning and design. No. We will find this precious fount when we become His sheep who want to trust Him and His love, a love we can have faith in.

God Has Assurance in the Things that He Hopes For

“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for…” “Things hoped for…” Because we in our natural state are egocentric, we interpret these “things” to be what we—not Yahweh—are hoping for. No. It is not about us. Remember? We are dead, and it is Christ that lives in us now. So, it is what God is hoping for. What are the desires of His heart? What has He purposed? Long before we were ever born, He saw us in our down-trodden state of sin and misery. He also saw us rise with Him by His Spirit to vanquish sin and death in our lives.

He believed that this was a reality—that this was substance—having not yet seen it come to pass. He believed and so therefore spoke and said that it was so. He believed the best about us and His plan—not having seen the evidence yet of its fruition. We as changed individuals are evidence that the invisible Supreme Being is real. We are His witnesses that He is God. And if He believes in His work in us before it comes to full fruition, then we should, too. He is our example.

His divine nature is positive, full of faith and power. All His promises are “yes.” Nothing negative flows from His heart. He is positive; His attitude is positive. In fact, He calls those things that are not, that do not exist yet, as though they did exist. He said that He will be all-in-all eventually. We should then, right now, begin to walk around as if He already is all in you and me. This will take belief that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.”

He is positive, giving “life to the dead and calls that which does not exist as existing” (Rom. 4: 17). This is He. This is how He thinks. He is positive about His capabilities. He has absolutely no doubt about His reserves and His resolve to get done what He wants done. And what He wants done is the multiplication, the reproduction of Himself, within His creation. He is an invisible Spirit; He wants to see Himself in action in human form. This is the witness that He talks about in Isaiah. We are to be His witnesses that He is the invisible Spirit/God. His faith believes that not only we can change, but that we will change—that we are changed!

He seeks people to worship Him in this spirit and attitude and in this truth. He needs people to worship Him in this way—to believe the way He believes. And it is to this faith, His faith, that we are to add several more spiritual qualities as outlined by the apostle Peter (II Peter 1: 5- 8). These are the more advanced facets that the Holy Spirit gives to those going “unto perfection,” which is full maturity in Christ.

How to Receive and Walk in Faith

How do we begin to walk in His faith? How do we believe like He believes? How do we let the old self die, for example? We reckon it done by faith/belief. How do we start walking in a brand-new God-given life? We reckon it done by faith. Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Yahshua Messiah our Master. Rom. 6:11. Once we learn to step out there and reckon ourselves dead unto sin, then by that same reckoning, the rest of our walk in God will grow and come to pass. For it is the same reckoning every step of the way.

The word “reckon” is #G3049 in Strong’s. It means “to account it, to count it as such.” We can only reckon something that God has reckoned first. He says it first in the word of God; that is what we can reckon done. God wants us to reckon it so, but He does it first! When we turn to Him, then He counts us righteous in His eyes even in our imperfect state. This is the way our Creator is. This is part of His nature—faith, belief.

In fact, faith is the foundation of Yahweh’s divine nature, for we are admonished to be “partakers of the divine nature” by adding to the faith once delivered by Yah to His people. We start by adding virtue to faith, and then we add to virtue knowledge, on through agape-charity-love, the very essence of Him.

But His nature starts with Faith. It is His nature to “call those things that do not exist as though they did.” Rom. 4:17, NKJV. If He is this positive, then He would want us to be the same. He wants us to follow in His footsteps! God “accounted” righteousness to Abraham because of his belief—before Abraham was righteous! “Accounted” here is the same word as the one translated “reckon.” We are commanded to RECKON some things done. Now we must reckon our sinful self gone—by belief—as though it were already done—for that is how Yah looks at it! By belief! Reckon it done through Him and His faith. He said it. Let it be done (Rom. 4: 9; Gal. 3: 6). For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Rom. 4:3. Abraham reckoned the word true and acted upon it, and Yahweh imputed or reckoned to Abraham the ability to live in an upright manner, keeping Yahweh’s laws and not sinning, by just believing that Yahweh had done it!

We make it so hard through our hard heart of unbelief. He is looking for childlike faith, the belief of a small child. All we must do is just believe that Yahweh has provided a way for us to put the old life to death and start living a new life in Him.

But the main reason that many do not want this is because they do not want to give up their old lives. Yah has provided everything for us to get the sin out of our lives, to clean out the temple so that He can take up His rightful abode. But people want to keep sinning and still be the people of God. By faith we submit to the cross thereby getting rid of the sinful self. Then we purge out the old leaven, the old beliefs about Christ, the old doctrines that He is displeased with. And then the additions to His faith now within us are more easily added, bringing our spiritual maturity, which greatly pleases our Father.

When we believe with His faith, then we may go deeper into His knowledge about His belief system. It is thrilling to peek into the kind of belief that can move mountains with a tiny grain of it. That is His faith that He has given us. His is the kind of faith that raises the dead and restores limbs and cleanses all manner of diseases. That is not us trying to gin up enough belief in God for a miracle. No. The faith of God is His resurrection power brought from the spiritual dimension into our wretched world—brought by His faith in Himself. We are just blessed beyond measure that He would choose us to be a part—however small—of the Big Show. HalleluYah! Praise Yah!

The following chapters about His fathomless faith that He has given to us will give us a glimpse into the Father’s heart. This will prepare us to add to the faith. The next chapter shows the transitioning power of God’s faith in Himself and how it takes us from weakness and despair to joyful victory.

_{Chapter 16}

_{Faith Brings Joy and Then Strength}

On those dark and painful days of doubt, we sometimes wonder, “Where will I find the strength to carry on? I know that I am weak, and deep down I know that God is my source. But how does it happen? What is the spiritual mechanism that transfers His strength to us?

In the end, strength to weather the world’s “whips and scorns” does not come from us. We are the weak ones in the equation. We are the ones manufacturing a grim quizzical look toward our troubles. But this faux face of courage ultimately fades as God backs us into a tight corner to face down our personal enemies—Doubt and Unbelief. These culprits prevent us from getting strength. But God’s elect will overcome all doubts and unbelief.

The elect are those whom He has chosen to be the first to tap into and manifest the full strength of the Spirit. They are “a kind of first fruits.” They are the first humans that He will fully show His secrets to during this, the time of the end. They will learn how their old, weak, sinful nature dies on the cross with Christ. It has already died on the cross with Christ. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6: 6). And then we are “buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are risen with him” by just believing that God has “raised him from the dead” (Colossians 2: 12: 13). Just believe in the Resurrection? Yes, both Christ’s and now yours, too!

Halleluyah! Faith! Belief! It’s God’s faith in His resurrection plan, not our puny faith. The truth is, there is only one faith—His (Eph. 4:5). It is the “faith of the Son of God.” That’s where we tap into His strength.

The Joy of Yahweh

The “joy of Yahweh is our strength.” At first glance, that sounds good. The joy of God. He has joy; without Him, we don’t, as seen in the previous scenario. And then we begin to see that when we are down, weak and without strength, we can look at our Creator’s joy, and we can wait and wait and, alas, somehow it is not becoming our joy. We do not get strengthened by this. We don’t understand how to tap into His strength.

There’s a deep revelation here. Yes, the “joy of the LORD is our strength,” but it is when we realize and believe that it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me (Gal. 2:20). We will rejoice with great joy when we believe this: We no longer live in our flesh bodies, which now is His body. We are dead and our “life is hid with Christ in God” (Col. 3:3). It is the Spirit that now lives in our earthly bodies. When we really believe this word of God, great joy will abound and gush through us like rivers of living waters of joy and with it, strength.

This is the revelation, simply put: We are dead. We have, however, through belief in his resurrection, a new life living inside us. It is eternal life; it is Christ that lives within us now, even when we don’t feel like it.

We are now members of a spiritual body called “Christ.” We now live in Him, and he lives in us. We must not look at Him after the flesh, but after the Spirit, this spiritual way that the apostles saw Him. When we believe that it is no longer us that live, but Christ that lives in us, then we will see wonderful strength-giving things. When He has joy, we have joy because it is Him exulting in us. When He strengthens, we get strengthened because that’s what the one Spirit does; He shares His strength, along with many other things. We need only to ask the “great cloud of witnesses that have walked with Him. They will tell us.

Chapter 17

The Things Not Seen—Believing His Promise of Immortality

If we listen to His “still small voice,” we may hear Him share a secret that few ever hear. It is a challenge to our present belief system. Our joy issues from His joy, which rejoices at the truth.

Part of that truth is that, right now, as we speak through these earthly bodies, we have another body. Yes, another body. It is a body that is celestial in nature. It is, in the pure sense of the word, extraterrestrial, for it is outside the scope of the earth. In fact, mortal eyes have not seen it, nor has its reality even entered into the hearts of mortals. What has not entered our thinking? “The things that God has prepared for them that love Him (I Cor. 2: 9).

And what are those “things” that God has already provided for us? They are our heavenly bodies. And as we gaze into the mirror at our earthly bodies and lament their descent into mortality’s final sad scene, we cannot help but groan under the burden of our bodies’ betrayal of us. And we yearn for our other body to come and clothed us with immortality.

This present mortal state in which we live is the perfect environment, however, to nurture the Spirit within us. As we overcome in battle the devil’s onslaught, the Spirit within us grows with every victory. As we vanquish our enemy, who is designed by our Creator to dispense just the right amount of resistance each day, we grow according to the loving hand of our Master. Knowing about our heavenly immortal body is our ace in the hole and gives us great confidence that He has our backs. It is His ball game; He will win. He has already won in heaven, and now we are a part of the witness here on earth.

Our Victory Is Believing the Unseen

Our victories begin in believing that we have His Spirit within us, that He is guiding us, and that He loves us and wants us to grow to be like Him. He is our treasure that we now have in these weak, fragile earthly bodies. Our bodies seem to be hurdling back into earth. It seems that they want to return to the soil. Our bodies are not us, for they careen in an opposite direction than what our hearts would dictate. Our earthly bodies want to dissipate, but we want to live vibrantly in love and harmony.

Our “outward man” may be perishing, but our “inward man” is being renewed each day. Compared to the glorious future that He desires to shower upon us, our current afflictions pale in importance. Our afflictions are “the sufferings of this present time,” the sufferings we must endure that we may reign with Him (II Tim. 2: 12; II Cor. 4: 16-17).

We must not look at our mortal bodies thinking that this is all there is. There is no hope in seeing our flesh wrinkle and get old, our muscles failing of the strength of youth. Looking at our earthly bodies and pondering their demise is not faith. For faith is being assured of “things not seen,” not things which we do see.

We should not see those “things” in the mirror that stare back at us. We should rather look at “the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporary; but the things which are not seen are eternal” (4: 18). When we walk in the Spirit, we behold as in a mirror the glory of Yahweh, and we are changed thereby “into that same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit…” (II Cor. 3: 18). We will not experience this by looking at our earthly body, but by looking at those things that are not seen.

So, what are these things? These things are bodies, for it is bodies that the Spirit through Paul has been talking about all throughout the whole letter.

“For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.” Most have interpreted that to mean that we are going to heaven. It says, however, that we have another house in heaven waiting for us. We have another body, a celestial one, a glorified one prepared for us by our Creator (II Cor. 5: 1-4).

Our earthly bodies that we see are temporary dwelling places for the Spirit of God to grow in. They are important and indispensable, but disposable. He made them that way, of course. And as the painful treachery of our bodies increases, “we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.” Our burden is not to be “unclothed,” as in a lightening of our load, but rather “clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.”

Thus, the Spirit speaks of our heavenly body as clothing. As we ponder the word “clothing,” we see where He has promised the over comers clothing called “white raiment.” We see a picture of this in the transfiguration of the Son of God when “his face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light.” We see a picture of us after being clothed with our heavenly body. We look to that time when we “are changed into the same image from glory to glory.” Faith is being assured that we have this heavenly body prepared for us, even though we cannot see the evidence of it right now with mortal eyes (Rev. 3:4-5; Mt. 17:2; II Cor. 3:18; Heb. 11:1).

Chapter 18

Faith in His Name Yields Authority, Even Over Angels

Christ believed in the destiny written into the meaning of His Hebrew name, Yahshua. This is part of the “one faith,” which is Christ’s belief system. His name means “Yahweh is the Savior.” And it is through “His name, through faith in His name,” that power and authority is given to us to do the “greater works.”

Even Authority and Power over the Angels

The concept of angels has fascinated human beings for millennia. Man’s imagination is fertile ground for every conceivable manifestation of them. Angels come in every shape and size, from stylized little cupids hovering like hummingbirds, to mysterious figures cloaked in the shadows of night or glistening with the rays of the sun.

Some Christians today even believe that these heavenly beings are to be feared and obeyed and held in worshipful pose. But what is the truth about angels? What are they scripturally, and what is our relationship with them really about?

Knowledge about them is revealed when we see how the angels interact with the Son of God. By exploring the springs of His authority, we may imbibe draughts of understanding concerning angels. We find this knowledge in the first chapter of Hebrews.

Authority = Power

As we have seen above, “authority” and “power” are translated from the same Greek word. Christ has promised to give power to His disciplined ones. We read in the gospels about a once flawed fisherman healing the sick and raising the dead. And these same men, moved by the Spirit of God, proclaimed that we can do these things, too.

We are talking about power given to us from on high—power to be His witnesses that He is God, power to cast out evil spirits, power to heal, even power to raise the dead. The elect will be granted authority to do these things. And we will learn that it is the authority that He gives us that brings the power to do the mighty works. For He has promised the overcomers that we would do “greater works” than what He had done. Christ said, “He who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” (John 14: 12).

Let us examine “authority”—what it is and where it comes from. Analyzing the first chapter of Hebrews shines much light on the subject. Back before Christ came, the great Yahweh spoke to mankind through the prophets. But during the last twenty centuries, He has spoken to us by His Son. Very important, for the Son is heir of all things, and it was by the Son that the world was created (v. 1-2).

The Son of God was invested by the Father with several wonderful attributes. The Son is “the brightness of His glory.” He is “the express image of His person.” The Son upholds “all things by the word of His power.” All this was fulfilled by Him “when He had by Himself purged our sins,” He “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high” (v. 3).

It was after He had “purged our sins” that all these accolades were confirmed. It was at the cross through His death, burial, and resurrection that He proved that He is the greatest love. “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” (John 15: 13).

In the next verse the apostle tells us that the Son was made “so much better than the angels.” And why was the Son made so much better than the angels? Because of His name. Because of His destiny pre-written and distilled in His name. The Son was made “so much better than the angels,” for He has “obtained a more excellent name than they.” The Son’s name is Yahshua which means: “Yahweh is the Savior” or Yah saves. It was by His laying down His life for others that He became the Savior and showed Himself to be agape love incarnate, thus fulfilling the meaning of His name (v. 4).

There’s Power in His Name

The Hebrew name for the Savior, Yahshua, is extremely important for many obvious reasons, especially when it comes to receiving power to be His witnesses {Be sure to order my book Yah Is Savior: The Road to Immortality. It is free with free shipping. Send your request to my email: wayneman5@hotmail.com}.

After Pentecost Peter and John were asked how they had healed the lame man “at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful.” Peter praised Christ and said that “His name through faith in His name has made this man strong…” (Acts 3: 6, 16). Christ’s name through belief in His name is the key to the power.

The power to heal came through the Savior’s name by believing in the meaning of His name—His Hebrew name, Yahshua. Christians are stymied in their spiritual growth because they either do not know about Christ having a Hebrew name, or they don’t believe it. And it is this unbelief that is short-circuiting them from ever becoming like Peter, Paul, James, and John. If we want to walk like them, we must believe what they believe.

Christ was given at birth the same Hebrew name as the patriarch Joshua, which means “savior.” “Yahshua” means “Yah is Savior” or “Yah is Salvation.” The angel told Joseph in a dream, “Thou shalt call His name JESUS (Yahshua in Hebrew) for He shall save His people from their sins” (Mat. 1: 21 KJV). The center column reference of the World Bible Publishers edition says “Savior.” They know.

So, Peter and John knew of the power of not only knowing His name, but also knowing and believing the meaning of His name. Yahweh is the Savior. That is what Christ’s name means. The early apostles knew that Yah had come in the human form of Christ. The prophets declared it. “I am Yahweh (the LORD) and beside me there is no savior” (Isa. 43: 11). Peter and John knew that the great Creator Yahweh was walking around in human form. They knew that His Hebrew name contained this information, and they believed it. And that was the source of their power.

The apostles knew. They knew that Christ had a “more excellent name” than the angels, which gave them power over the angels—all angels—the “good” and the “bad” ones.

A Better Name

In His plan and purpose, God gave us authority over all angels. Christ has given us power to cast out evil spirits and to heal (Mark 3: 15). But how is this power implemented? How do we receive the power to do these things?

When we realize that Satan is a spirit that ministers to us, then we will see that we are over him and the other fallen angels. We need to realize that we are supposed to cast him out of people! Lucifer knows God’s plan; he was there at the round table when God was letting His angels in on what He would accomplish with earth and those special earthlings, Adam and his offspring.

Satan heard God say to him something like this: “And I am sending you down to earth to confuse, befuddle, and hurt the humans. Eventually some of them will learn by their pain and suffering to cry out to Me. They will then learn of My purpose for them and your purpose, too, which is this: to cause suffering and then to be cast out of My people. You are their sparring partner. Some of them will work you over and conquer you after they get the revelation on this.

Power comes when we believe that Christ was given a better name than the angels. Therefore, the angels cannot fulfill the Messiah’s calling and election. Their name contains no destiny that prophesies salvation. Their name does not herald them to be saviors. Nowhere does any angel have a name depicting them “laying down their lives” to save others. God never requires angels to lay down their lives and thus show the greatest love—just like the Son of God did. But God asks us to do just that: to present our bodies a “living sacrifice.” The Messiah’s name is more excellent than the angels’ names, for they cannot sacrifice themselves because they are spirits, not mortal flesh. Speaking of the angels, He says, “Are they not all spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?”

The angels are the servants of the sons and daughters of God. Their calling is to minister and help us become what God has called us to do. The Father has reserved a seat on His throne for us His offspring, His princes and princesses. He never promised that honor to an angel. Their job is to help us overcome and get to the throne (Heb. 1: 4-5). Our destiny is so glorious in Christ that the angels desire to look into it (I Pet. 1: 12).

The angels marvel at our calling and election to be members of the Son Company, that we are members of the body of Christ Himself. They know that our inheritance in God’s plan contains a greater destiny than their destiny. The angels know that they are the servants; we are the sons and daughters of the King.

For the angels have never heard their Creator say to them, “You are my Son, or, I will be your Father and you shall be my Son. Rather, the Creator says to the angels, All of you are to worship the Son.

Get this, brothers and sisters: You and I are members of the body of Christ, the Son of God. We are a part of the Son! We may be a spiritual toe, but we are a part of the Son. And God has given the angels this directive: Worship the Son! And when they worship the Son of God, they are aware that we are a part of the body of the Son. They love and adore us and want to help us fulfill God’s plan. They serve us. They minister to us. They exist to help us, their Creator’s heirs! The angels are messengers; they are spirits, ministering spirits, “sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Heb. 1: 14). They are created to serve us; they are to be our aides. They exist to help us, the heirs of God—to help us fulfill our destiny: to be the manifested sons and daughters of God.

The angels are messengers; we with the Spirit within are the message. Because the Spirit lives within us, we now are the Word, the Message, made flesh in and through Christ. For it is all Him as He flows His goodness down and through us. The angels are servants of the King. We are the second man, “the Lord from heaven.” God considers us to be members of the body of Christ. And as such, He has given us the authority to cast out evil spirits and heal the sick. We must now remember that all angels are spirits.

Speaking of angels, He said, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Heb. 1: 14). All angels, therefore, are spirits that serve us, the “heirs of salvation.” “All” angels would include the evil spirits as well as the good. That includes Lucifer as well as Gabriel.

Our Relationship with the Angels

As we have seen, the apostle Paul mentions our relationship with the angels several times in his letter to the Hebrews:

The Son is “made so much better than the angels” (1: 4).
The Son has “obtained a more excellent name than they” (1: 4).
The Father never has called the angels His sons (1: 5).
In fact, the angels are to worship the Son (1: 6).
The angels are spirits that serve the Father and the Son (1: 7).
The Son is the King on His throne (1:8). He is referred to as “God.” “Thy throne, O God.”
God has never told the angels to sit on His right hand. Why? He answers the question with this question: “Are they not ministering spirits” sent to serve and minister to the sons of God? (Heb. 1: 14).
If we take heed to the messages (2: 2) of the angels, how much more should we take heed to the King’s word to us?
The “subjection of the world to come” is not a host of angelic beings being the master race over us; it is rather that man, the second man, will be the ruler with Christ as joint heirs of all things.
It also says that even though we are made mortal at present and are “a little lower than the angels” in that regard, God has given to us a glorious destiny with all things under his authority. God has “put all things under His feet.” That’s man’s feet.

Let’s stop here just a moment. God has put “all things” under the Son’s feet. “All things” include the angels themselves; they are our servants. We are not their servants. Let’s get it straight. “All things” include those invisible things including the angels. And that would mean the angels on the good side and those on the bad side of the ledger. All the angels—good and bad—have been put in subjection unto us. Yahweh has given us authority over “all things,” and that would include the angel Lucifer, whose name was changed to Satan. This is the reason that the word says, “Resist the devil and he will flee from you” (James 4: 7). We have authority over Satan–authority to “boss him around.” He is an evil spirit, but God has given us power over him to cast out the evil spirit, which is the first step in the healing process. Christ would cast out the evil spirits and then touch and heal the sick one.

Some may be asking, “Where are you going with all this, Wayneman?” To tap into the power that God has given us, we must not only know the above, but believe it 100%. Christ is the Author and Finisher of our belief system. Christ is the Word, the Author. When we believe just like the Author of the Book of Life does, then we share in His authority. We have been accepted into His body. It is Him living through us that yields authority and power.

The Point Most Difficult to Comprehend

God in His infinite wisdom has given permission to one of His archangels to be the minister of pain and suffering, both mental and physical. Lucifer and the fallen angels have been given a mandate to exact pain upon God’s people in belief that they will rise up and overcome the wicked adversary–like Job.

And yet we still wonder. Why all the human suffering, the wasting of flesh through disease. Why all the leaking of blood through the slaughter of war? Why all the whimpers of fear, neglect, and hunger? Why

all the human pain from the pommeling in the night? Why all the suffering? Why does unwarranted evil stalk us?

God seems to be saying in still, measured tones, “They will not come to Me until evil overtakes them. They will not draw near until disaster strikes. It is then that they will cry to Me. And then I will bend low and touch their chastened cheek with ointment and give them sips of mercy’s water and embrace their pain with an eternal balm that heals from the inside out. And as they cry to Me in their discomfort, I will hear and come down and show them a love divine. And then they will know that I love them and was always by their side—through the good times and through the bad. But first, the sufferings must come, now for a season.

Chapter 19

Entering into His Rest Is the New Sabbath—By Faith

Understanding the elusive meaning of the word “faith” is the key to open up the mysteries of spiritual growth. We think that we know about it already, and we have a tiny piece of that knowledge. But there is so much more to it than what we have been taught.

“Faith” is Christ’s belief system; it is what He believes. It is not us believing in Him. It is believing the things that He cares about. He wants us to enter into His rest. HHH

We, the children of God, need to rest. We need to “be still and know that He is God.” We are “tossed to and fro” and we scurry about entangled so easily by the cares of this world and its entrapments. “There remains a rest to the people of God” (Heb. 4: 9). But what is this rest that God promises His children and how do we get there?

We enter into rest through belief. But by believing what exactly? Many believe on the Son of God, and yet they are still struggling, still exhausted by the constant onslaught of the world. Believe what?

We need to take our faith and belief to another level. We need to grow to a point where we believe that it is “no longer I that lives, but Christ that lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God” (Gal. 2: 20).

First, as the apostle Paul tells us, “Examine yourselves, whether you be in the faith…Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you…” (II Cor. 13: 5). We are to look inside of our own hearts to see where we need to be. Have we really experienced the cross where our old self dies with Christ? Have we taken the plunge and died with Christ? We need to believe this. Is our old life buried with Christ? We need to believe this. Then “through faith in the operation of God that raised Christ from the dead” we, too, have been raised to walk in a newness of life (Col. 2: 11-14). We need to believe this.

So, when we believe that it is the Spirit of Christ living and walking around in our bodies, then we let Him do His works. We cease to do our own thing. And this is when we enter into His rest. This is when we observe the Sabbath day. This is how we keep it holy. “For he that is entered into His rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from His” (Heb. 4: 10). Read this again, for herein is a revelation that few on the earth have. It is a precious promise straight from the throne of the King. Slow down and savor these words.

How can this be? What does the above mean? When we begin to really allow Christ to walk in us and let Him do His work through us, then we will have stopped doing our own thing as if we were still alive [Remember, we have died with Christ on the cross as in Romans 6: 6]. We have “ceased from [our] own works, as God did from His.” This is the rest. This is the keeping of the true Christian Sabbath day.

Ceasing from our own works means that we are no longer there dictating what our physical bodies do all day long. We no longer are imagining that this pleases God or that pleases Him. No. this rest is when we are out of the picture, when we have allowed God to take control of our thoughts and actions. At this stage we are doing His works, for He in us is doing His works. This is entering into His Sabbath rest. This is the Christian Sabbath. Amen!

How Do We Do This?

As we believe His word, we do enter into His rest. And His rest is His confidence and belief that the plan contained in the Seed/Word/Logos has come, is coming, and shall come to pass just like He created the “incorruptible seed, the word of God” in the beginning.

He believes in us more than we believe in Him. Or rather, He believes in His plan working itself out in our lives–even though we don’t even understand it fully yet.

He knows that His thoughts, which are formed into words, “will not return unto Him void, but will accomplish” what He sent them to do. And believing this solidly, God now rests and waits with great patience on us to finally believe the same thing. “There remains therefore a rest [keeping of the sabbath, from the Greek word sabbatismos] to the people of God” (Heb. 4: 9).

This new “Commandment keeping” replaces the old covenant. It is just like the Son’s faith replaces all the tired, old, material ways of worship. Adding to His belief system meshes into this.

Note: The things that we have presented in the last few chapters are part of the Foundation of Knowledge that must be laid before “the additions to the faith” are completed.

Chapter 20

Adding to the Son’s Faith that Has Become Our Faith

As we dig deep and lay our house upon the Rock, we have uncovered a vein of gold. We are adding to the Son’s faith inside of us. Part of the Son’s belief system is this new commandment found in Christ’s words: “He that has seen Me has seen the Father…It is the Father that dwells in Me that does the miracles…Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me…He that believes in Me [that the Father dwells within Him] will do the same miracles that I do and greater works…” (John 14:9-12).

Clues to Performing Miracles

Christ is promising us that we will do greater works than what He has done! His promise is with this stipulation: “Believe that the Father is in Him.” In the very next breath, Christ gives us cryptic clues on how to turn His promise into the power to do these miracles.

They seem incongruous with the previous flow. “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it” (14:13-14). He is saying, He who believes on Me the way I just explained in 14:11, they will do what I have been doing. What a promise! His thoughts go from “believing that the Father is in Him” to “asking in His name.” So we have got to ask Him for the power—after we get all of the concepts lined up correctly and in a row.

First, we must ask Him for the power to do a miracle, not command or demand of Him. We must humbly ask Him, and we must ask in His name.

To “ask in His name” we must know what His Hebrew name means. By way of review, the Son’s Hebrew name is Yahshua. Some spell it Yehoshua. It is the identical name of the patriarch Joshua the son of Nun. In two obvious references to Joshua, the KJV translators put the name “Jesus,” from the Latin Iesus (Acts 7:45; Heb. 4:8). “Yahshua” means “YAH IS SAVIOR.” This agrees with the prophets: “I, even I am the LORD [Yahweh]; and beside Me there is no savior” (Isa. 43:11; Hos. 13:4). The meaning of His name testifies that the Father Yahweh was and is in the Son. Christ did say that He came in His Father’s name and that it was Yahweh doing all the mighty works by his hands.

Three Concepts to Get Straightened Out

Consequently, we must get three things cleared up—the unity of the Godhead, Christ’s Hebrew Name, and asking in that name.

It all starts with one of Christ’s New Commandments. He commands us to believe that He is in the Father and that the Father is in Him. That is a command. If we obey this command, then He will give us the Spirit of Truth to dwell/abide/remain in us. Also, He promises that we will do the same works and miracles that He did—and even greater works.

And then He tells us how to do it. Ask in my name, which is Yahshua, which means the same thing that I am commanding you to believe: that Yahweh, the Father, dwells within the Son, and that He, in the Spirit of Truth, now dwells and remains in you! We are to ask in Christ’s Hebrew name Yahshua, with the understanding of its meaning. And He promised that “whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (Jn. 14:13).

How Do We Ask in His Name? If we ask anything that comes under what His name means; if we ask anything that glorifies His name; if we ask anything that trusts in the promises contained in the meaning of His name; if we ask anything that honors the meaning of the Savior’s name—then He “will do it” (John 14:14). It is all about Him. When we grow to the point of not besmirching the purity of His love for us and others, then His love will flow down and through us to others.

Chapter 21

Faith in the Resurrection—in Us

We are to make some additions to His faith that has been delivered to us. It is Christ’s belief system that we are to add to. What must be added? Facets or attributes of His divine nature. The seven additions.

But the everyday pressures and the stress of just living on this planet cause us much grief. The demanding bosses, the irate public, the disgruntled co-workers, the incessant bills, and the constant drain of having to deal with earthly things all day long is just too much to cope with. With all this confusion going on, the children of the King begin to feel like spiritual paupers instead of heirs to the throne.

Yes, the Father allows this to happen to His children because He wants us to finally get our fill of it and call upon His name for deliverance. He has made us “subject to vanity.” He created us, in other words, in our original earthly state to feel the futility of living on earth, no matter how much material wealth we may have. “All is vanity and vexation of spirit.” Simply put, we’ve got to get sick of it.

So enough of this world’s insanity already! The answer? God, we need more of Your Spirit working inside of us. We need more of Your love abiding in us so that we can return love to those who slight us out here in this world system. We need more of You in us, more of your Spirit welling up in love, joy, and peace. We need You, God, to fill us like you filled your chosen people in the days of the early church.

Yes, that is our need, but how do we get more Spirit into us? What did You say in your word about this? It all boils down to believing in the Resurrection.

Paul lines this out in Ephesians. He is saying to them that through God’s mercy, which is based in His infinite love towards us, He has made us alive where once we were dead in sin. He has done this through the power of the resurrection of Christ. When the Father infused that dead sacrificial body of the Lamb and raised him from the dead, all sinners who believes this were raised up together with Him. “Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ…and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Yahshua Messiah” (2:4-6).

This miraculous turnaround from the darkness of sin and sinning to light and righteousness in a person’s heart can only be realized through belief. [I know what some are thinking: “We’ve been hearing about the resurrection and righteousness and sin and belief all our lives in church. You are not telling us anything that we don’t already know.”] If what we’ve heard all our life were enough, then why are we so weak spiritually? Why aren’t we walking in the joy and victory that God has promised those who follow Him? Why? “Because of your unbelief,” the Master said.

The transformation to power in our lives is by believing what God said about the resurrection and us—that if we believe that our old life died with the Lamb 2000 years ago, that if we believe that we were buried with Him, and if we believe that God raised Him up out of the grave after three days and three nights—if we can just believe this, we can also ourselves be “raised to walk in a newness of life” (Romans 6:4-6).

We are delivered from depression and death by believing what He said He did through the resurrection and how it regenerates our hearts and consciences. For His Spirit comes into us by believing the truth of His word to us about our being raised up with him to walk in a new life.

A new life is what He has promised us. However, if we are still thinking the same way we did before our experience with God, if we are still doing the same things we did before our “conversion,” if we still are the same earthly-minded person, then how is that a new life? How does it differ from the old?

Let’s cut to the chase. If we are still lusting after women, how is that a new life? If we are still desiring another person’s material things, how is that new? If we put our own self before others, how is that new? If we are breaking any of the commandments, then how is it a new life? We were breaking them before we came to God. So, what has changed?

If we are still sinning, or breaking the Ten Commandments, then we have not died, been buried, and been raised from the dead-in-sin. We have not actually believed it yet. Our need is for the Spirit of Christ to live in us. But how do we abide in Him and He in us? “That Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith…” That the Spirit of God may live in our hearts—but how? By just believing it! It is God’s word! It is the truth! Believe it before you feel it. You have to believe it first! Then the evidence of the reality will come. The trouble is that unbelief is such a part of the human condition, the human heart, that we have trouble believing what we see. “I can’t believe my eyes,” is a common statement. God is asking us to believe before we see.

We attain this righteous state not by us trying to be righteous and keep the law. No. It is a gift from God. We cannot attain the righteous state by working for it. Faith attains it and then the works we do with the help of His Spirit within witness to the fact that He in us is righteous. “By grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is a gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast” (Eph. 2:8-9).

We in our newness of life, in our newly received righteous state with Him, are a product of His work—not our own work. “For we are His workmanship…” (v. 10). And God’s work through His own faith in us is good. He said, “Let there be light, and there was light,” and He said that it was good. We are His doing, His creation.

He knows what He is doing. He through this new life derived by Him raising His chosen ones up with the Messiah—He has through this new life created a new creation—the second Adam, the second man. And He has created us in Christ unto good works (v. 10). I repeat: We have been created in Christ with the expressed purpose of producing good works.

Not some good works through us and some bad works. No. He has spiritually created us anew “unto good works.” We need to believe this. He has not created us unto bad works or corrupt works. No. He has made us in our new life to bear good fruit. The Master said, “A good tree cannot bear evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bear good fruit. You will know them by their fruits.”

“We are his workmanship, created in Yahshua the Messiah unto good works” (v. 10). And the kicker is that God has already foreordained for us to walk in the Spirit and thereby do these good deeds.

And this great treasure-life is opened to all that our God has called. For He took all the sin of the whole world upon Himself and became sin for all of us, and when He died, all of the sin of the whole world died with Him. That’s your sinful heart and my old sinful heart. And by His shed blood we all were brought close to Him. So close, in fact, that all who believe this and respond are “one new man” (Eph. 2:15). And all believers, whoever they are, through Him “have access by one Spirit unto the Father” (v. 18).

And we all are spiritually built upon the “foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yahshua the Messiah Himself being the chief cornerstone.” We are a building made by God Himself, built on this foundation. He is building us up; we are growing into “an holy temple in the Master, builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (v. 22). God will inhabit us His temple. He will live in us through His Spirit.

Later Paul reveals the mystery of how God is opening up His Spirit to come down on whomever can receive it—be they Gentile or Israelite. Paul prayed (Eph. 3:15-19) that God would grant to the Ephesians power and strength by His Spirit in their “inner man.” Power, strength, and might, Paul knew, were needed in the spiritual new creation within the heart of each new believer.

And this strength was to be given how? How do believers receive this strengthening? “By His Spirit in the inner man.” But how does this spiritual power come from His Spirit into our inner being? It comes by faith. “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.” This spiritual anointing comes to us by us believing it. Because He said it, spoke it, and His prophets wrote down His inspired words about the power coming, we need only to believe that He is good to His word about Him giving us more of His Spirit.

We must believe that the invisible Spirit is giving us strength, and now is the acceptable time for this to happen. We’ve got to believe it before we feel the strength. Believe it because He said to believe it, and the strength and power will come. “All things are possible to him that believeth,” the Master said. “Have the faith of God,” He also said. God believes it already about us; why shouldn’t we?

He said in Eph. 2:21 that we are the spiritual building of God, and we are in Him and He in us, and we are growing “unto an holy temple” of God. This strengthening that He does on us in our inner man is the growth of the Spirit with us. We grow in His love in us, and we grow spiritually out to others. This spiritual growth ends up with us being “filled with all the fulness of God” (3:19).

We are to finally through humility “grow up into Him in all things” (4:2). We are to be “renewed in the spirit” of our mind, “putting on the new man” wherein we walk in love and forgiveness one to another.

Paul is saying that by believing it so, we can walk in His Spirit. We can leave the pride and arrogance of the old life and walk as obedient children. His Spirit can live within us and can grow in us—if we believe. For it all happens by faith—by believing what He said about it. That is what makes it so. It is not believing in something that is not there.

This new life that God has declared is already a reality in His eyes. Our new life in Him is not an illusion or some figment of our imagination. No. Our new life in His Spirit is a reality already spoken into existence by our God. We need only believe that it is real. Through us believing it, we actualize it and witness it. It is like the priests with the Ark of the Covenant stepping out upon the Jordan River and the waters peeling back for them that they go over on dry ground. God said it; they believed it, and they achieved it. A miracle happened that day at the Jordan River.

And a miracle was done in our hearts when we believed that He had taken the old one out and had given us a new one. This is how miracles are done. Miracles will come through believing that they are already foreordained to come. The disciples asked why this impotent man was lame. Was it his sin or his parents’ sin that put him in this pitiful shape? The Master said, No, because of neither, but that the glory of God could be seen when he was healed by one of God’s believers.

This is not believing this life of strength and power into existence. No. This new life that He has for us is already in existence. Our new life in Christ’s Spirit already exists. It is His with Him. When we believe in His resurrection, that power is witnessed in us again and again. We then have the witness within our own selves. This is a miracle of transformation. Let the miracles continue. Let us all walk on, believing what He said He would do for His children and through His children.

This is Christ’s faith. It is the faith that He has delivered to His followers. It is this faith that we are to add the seven additions to the faith.

Section 2

The Seven Additions to the Faith

Chapter 22

Key to Understanding the Additions to the Faith

As Christians, we’ve often wondered, God, why me? And later we find out more about His purpose for us. And we see that it is all His doing. “You did not choose Me, but I chose you…” Why? For what purpose? “…and have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you” (John 15:16).

In the grand order of things, He has ordained us to bear fruit. That is our reason-to-be as God’s people. It is important to Christ, for He speaks of “fruit” in thirty-seven verses in the gospels. Bearing spiritual fruit is why we are here on earth. Full fruit bearing happens from a mature plant. We, as His plants, must mature, thereby reaching “perfection.” This is what Christ calls bearing “much fruit.” This is reaching 100-fold growth.

The Abiding Brings “Much Fruit”

We grow through a spiritual life cycle. And when we reach spiritual maturity, God will visit us, expecting to find fruit.

What kind of fruit will He expect to see us bearing? “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…” (Gal. 5:22-23). The Spirit enters into our hearts through belief in His resurrection, and we begin to grow, bearing at first thirty-fold, which is the amount of fruit that a child of God can bear. And we continue to grow and bear more fruit (sixty-fold). And then at final maturity, we bear one-hundred-fold fruit, just like the prophets and apostles did (Matt. 13:18-23; John 15:2-5).

Who is it that will fully mature in Christ? Who will bring forth “much fruit”? Christ said, “He that abides in Me and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit” (15:5).

But how do we reach this state of “abiding in Him”? “Abide” is translated “remain or stay” in other passages. When we have Christ’s mind and think His thoughts and stay in them, then we are abiding in Him. But His thoughts do not cohabit with error-filled thoughts about Him. Before we can add more of His divine nature, we must purge out the errors. If we do not do this, then He will. “Every branch that bears fruit, He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit,” Christ said (15:2). He will refine our faith in Him and purify it through trials.

How do we abide in Him and He in us? The apostle Peter, who knew Christ well, tells us that if we add seven attributes of Christ’s divine nature to faith, then we will abide in Him and be spiritually fruitful. The seven additions will “make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge…” of Christ and His purpose and plan. You will be fruitful, bearing much fruit.

These seven additions are parts of the Godhead and have transformative power to bring us to full maturity and spiritual fruit bearing, just like the early apostles. You will know God, for His mature heart will be your heart. For the Spirit of Truth, which is God Himself, will “abide with you forever” (John 14:16). How will we know? The Spirit of Truth will abide with us and shall be in us (v. 17).

But we first are to add them to His faith, His belief system. He has commanded us, “Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me…” (John 14: 11). Christ said that it was the Father in Him that was doing everything. He also said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). His faith that we now live by is us believing what He believes about Himself: The invisible Father, the Spirit, lives in the Son. They are One.

Isaiah wrote down the following often quoted prophecy concerning the Son of God. “…Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given…and his name shall be called…The everlasting Father…” You will call Him “The everlasting Father” (Isa. 9:6). That is straight from the Spirit of truth. These seven additions must be added to a Oneness belief system, not the trinity found in most denominations.

Christ, Yahweh in human form, makes a great promise to those who get this straightened out in their minds and hearts. “He that believes on Me, the works I do shall he do also” (Jn. 14:12). Believes on Him how? Believes that the Father is in Him. Christ pleads with us and gives us a new commandment, “Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me” (14:11).

That is astounding, but the promises become even greater. “And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (14:13). The meaning of Christ’s Hebrew name “Yahshua” confirms the Oneness concept of the Godhead discussed above.

Chapter 23

Adding from Virtue to Agape Love

Adding the seven attributes of Christ’s “divine nature” to the faith is like taking steps on the path that leads to immortality. Adding virtue is the first step. Agape love is the seventh and final step in our maturing process (I Cor. 13:4-10).

It reminds me of the story where a man dies, talks to God, and then comes back to life. Maybe you have seen on youtube where this man dies. His heart stops beating, and he is gone for ten minutes. But he says that the passage into God’s presence is peaceful. God does not show His face; the man only sees His form from the back.

And God asks him, “Do you have any questions?”

The man gets embarrassed because he can’t come up with an interesting question. The only thing that he can think of to ask seems rather trite. “What is the meaning of life?”

“Oh, that’s easy. It is Love.”

And the man says, “I thought that was it.” And then right after that, the man came back to life.

Love. “God is love.” God is this divine, selfless agape love. God is invisible, for He is like the wind. You only know that the wind exists when you see its effects upon things in the five-senses-realm. We feel the wind’s effects on the trees and on our face, yet we cannot see it. Such is the Spirit of God (John 3: 5-8; 4: 24).

We know God is real and exists, for we see His effects on people. We see those addicted to drugs freed from hellish bondage. We see families restored, lives changed overnight. We see hands that stole, steal no more. We see eyes that lusted after women look up to the heavens and give thanks to this great Spirit of love for deliverance.

It is through the love that God showed to us when He “gave His only begotten Son” that we see God. For love sacrifices itself for another. “Greater love has no man than this that he would lay down his life for his friends” (John 15: 13).

And because God is this invisible Spirit of Love, we must approach Him through faith—believing having not yet seen. And through faith we begin to understand His plan to fulfill His purpose, which is this: God is multiplying Himself; He will reproduce Love—Himself—and He will do it in us (Matt. 13: 3-23). That is our calling. “Many are called, but few are chosen” by Him to be a part of this glorious vision of God reproducing Himself (Matt. 20: 16).

A Word about Faith

Again, it is not our puny little faith that we need to muster up. No. The scriptures speak about God’s faith, God’s belief. It is all about His belief and His faith in Himself and His power to accomplish whatever He has spoken. It is His ballgame in His ballpark. The bats, balls and gloves are all His. The rules are His; He wrote them. And, oh, yes. He owns us the players. For we do not belong to ourselves any longer (I Cor. 6: 19-20). It is not about us trying to believe the word of God. We are to “put on Christ.” This means we are to believe like He believes, which is how the Father believes.

The problem that Christians have is that they still believe that they are alive and well. But He said that we are a “new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (II Cor. 5: 17). He sees us as such. Therefore, we need to believe it; that is walking in faith—His faith. He said that you and I are dead with Christ, that we “are crucified with Christ” (Rom. 6: 6; Gal. 2: 20). That is the Father’s belief. You and I need to believe what God believes. When we do, we are walking in faith and in the light. He said that we no longer live but that it is Christ that lives in us. And the “life [we] now live in the flesh we live by the faith of the Son of God…” (2: 20). He has faith in Himself and belief in Himself. And He now believes that He lives in us! Believe it. Walk in it. Believing what He believes is walking in faith. It is walking in the Spirit and walking in truth.

Because God is invisible, it takes belief; it takes faith to please our Father, the Spirit of Love. After we believe that He exists, we begin to grow spiritually. We believe in His goodness and that goodness grows in us and heals our body, soul, and spirit. This is virtue—this awareness of God’s goodness now transported into our hearts, now changing us first and then growing to the point where His goodness and righteousness overflows out to others.

But there are bumps in the road to immortality. Trials come to test our mettle. Our knowledge of God’s good is seemingly thwarted by evil at times. We must not be dismayed (I Pet. 4: 12). It is all part of His plan. Our hearts are purified in the forge of God’s plan for our life in Him. The result is the gold of pure love, the divine Love that He is and will use through us to rule with Him in His Kingdom of peace, coming to this planet shortly.

Ready to Add to Our Faith

Having shored up our foundation of faith, we are now ready to add to it. Adding facets of His “divine nature” is obeying the Spirit, for He through the apostle Peter commands us to add them. What are these additions? They are facets or aspects of Christ’s “divine nature.” When the Spirit commands us, He is speaking to the spiritual son or daughter of the living God within our current mortal vessel.

In Him we are spiritual beings, chosen by Him to allow His Spirit, now in us, to grow. He is speaking to the Spirit residing in our hearts. We have received His Spirit—if we are His—and it is through His Spirit that we can “understand what God has freely given us.” Those without His Spirit cannot understand how we could ever add God’s divine nature, nor how we could ever “reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (I Cor. 2:12-14; Eph. 4:13).

The seven additions take us to “the fullness of Christ.” But we must realize that this ultimate spiritual growth to full maturity can only happen for us if we have a solid foundation of knowledge about His faith that has been delivered to us. This is the reason we spent a good deal of time on “faith.” The churches have messed it up and muddied the waters of Christ’s fountain. We are warned of false teachings and false teachers in the second chapter of II Peter, right after His command to add to our faith.

[Side note: What are the false teachings? Almost everything they teach. It is all tainted. Persistence in cleaving to the false doctrines will stunt your growth. I am not criticizing the churchgoers. It is the system that teaches false concepts to unaware followers. Simply put: They have “another gospel” based on their imaginations of who Christ is. It is not based on Christ and His apostles’ doctrine. [Send for The Apostles’ Doctrine, my fourth book. It is free with free shipping in the USA. Just send your name, mailing address and the name of the book.]

The Spirit has led you to this page. We are now ready to add the first addition to our faith—virtue.

Chapter 24

Virtue—From His Goodness to Vigor and to Power

To understand the word “virtue,” we must get back to the original meaning in the language that Peter wrote. “Virtue” is translated from the Greek word arete (G 703) in Strong’s Concordance. It means “a virtuous course of thought, feeling, and action; virtue, moral goodness; moral vigor” (Strong’s Greek Lexicon).

This “moral excellence” in us only comes from the cleansing of sin in our hearts, which is the first of the apostles’ doctrine called “repentance from dead works,” which is sin. Dead works are deeds that end in death. The blood of Christ cleanses us from all sin. And by faith we begin to walk the righteous path, led by the Spirit. This is the beginning of the “moral goodness” that is the fruit of having God’s Spirit working in us.

The more we walk in His Spirit, the more it grows into moral vigor. It is being vigorous in the spiritual, moral, and righteous aspects of the godly nature that we have been born into. Power is given–not full power, but a little here, a little there. As we grow in this new life, He grants more power to do good. Eventually we will receive much more power and authority when we believe that He is the source of that power and the authority emanating through us.

A Little Deeper

Virtue. Six letters sewn together with ink to form a concept vital to our growth and understanding. We are talking about an attribute of our Father’s very nature. It does not come easy to mortal minds. What exactly does this word “virtue” mean?

It is an English word, after all. We could look it up in Webster’s Dictionary, but we would only find what it means to the English speaking mind, distilled down through the centuries. We would see that it is from the Old French virtu, which came from the Latin virtus, meaning “strength, courage, virtue.” It has come down to us meaning “moral excellence…active quality or power…manly strength or courage; valor.”

And so, we dig still deeper, believing that this study is important and expedient, for we simply must know what “virtue” means. We are trying to “study to show ourselves approved unto God,” as we are admonished to do. Without study, we will not be approved.

The English word “virtue” was translated, of course, not from Latin, but from the Greek. So, what was that Greek word that the King James scholars translated “virtue”? The Strong’s Concordance shows us that it was arete, #703 [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G703&t=KJV]. Consulting Thayer’s Lexicon on that page, we see that arete denotes power stemming from moral excellence and goodness. It relates to God’s power, perfection, and excellence.

We get a further picture of “virtue” by looking up “virtuous” and “valor” in the Hebrew [http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H2428&t=KJV]. We see “strength, power, might.” The Hebrew word #2428 is used many times in the phrase “mighty man of valour.” Also, it is translated as “host” as in a large army of mighty warriors. It is rendered “strength” in David’s prayer to God, “For Thou hast girded me with strength to battle” (II Samuel 22: 40).

We need to stop and reflect here and not pass over this lightly. These words in II Samuel are inspired. They are the Scriptures of truth that Paul studied, and he said by the Spirit: “All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness…” Why? To what purpose do we need those old books back there in the “Old Testament”? “That the man of God may be perfect…”

Perfect. Complete spiritual maturity. These passages, like this one in Samuel, teach us lessons that will help us add the “divine nature” to our faith in God. It is for the same purpose of perfection and glorification, which is the fulfillment of His promise to us of immortality.

Looking at the Picture that “Virtue” is Painting for Us

We see “virtue” as not just power. No. It is the strength and power of God, emanating right out of His very heart through His Spirit into ours. It is He; it is a part of His divine nature; it is all about His strength and power stemming from His excellent goodness. This then is His power, which gives us now the strength and ability to go on the offensive against the devil and his tricks that block our road to immortality.

Let’s go back to David speaking to Yahweh. In this song of praise, David thanks God for His strength and power in overcoming mightily all of his enemies. He thanks God for His goodness, and then details in much “war” imagery his exploits over the enemy. This picture of a warlike attitude is a real key for us in understanding just what virtue is. David’s inspired prayer shows us the spiritual application through his physical earthly accomplishments.

The First Step

First, David declares his complete trust in Yahweh, recalling how he called on Him in his despair and how God answered (verses 1-17). David says that God did deliver him, but it was “according to my righteousness…and cleanness of my hands hath he recompensed me” (v. 21). David first had to be right with God, on the same spiritual page, “a man after God’s own heart.” “I kept the ways of Yahweh and have not wickedly departed from my God” (v. 22). That is the first step that we need. Walk on in His faith. Trust in Him. And then get ready to go on the offense like King David does in the following verses.

And now the war imagery looms as David spiritually attacks his enemies. “God is my strength and power…I have run through a troop…He teaches my hands to war; so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms. Thou hast given me a shield of thy salvation…I have pursued mine enemies [read: doubt, fear, unbelief, impatience, et al], and destroyed them (v. 31-38).

Wait. Let’s savor this. “Pursued mine enemies.” He went on the offensive! He did not just sit on the couch waiting for fear and doubt and unbelief to maybe take a holiday. Would you please leave me alone, guys? I don’t appreciate these ugly thoughts I have been having lately.” No!

David “pursued” those negative thoughts and “destroyed them”! Furthermore, David “consumed them, and wounded them, that they could not arise…” Wouldn’t that be wonderful–to have all negativity consumed and wounded so that it just was not able to rear its ugly head up in our minds ever again?

That’s adding virtue to your faith.

But David’s not through. He knows where strength and power is coming from. “They are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength to battle.” It was Yahweh that subdued his enemies under him (v. 39-40). And finally, David says, “Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O Yahweh…and I will sing praises to thy name” (v. 50).

Our Spiritual Application

This song of David is so rich, reaching even unto prophetic strains that depict a vision of the Kingdom Age in all its glory. And yes, we are in that vision. But we see here now for our present edification a picture of just what virtue does when added to our faith. “Faith without works is dead.” Without virtue added, faith/belief/assurance just sits passively on the couch “waiting for the world to change.” To the contrary, we His sons and daughters must “put on the whole armor of God” (Eph. 6: 11-18). This same war imagery is used by Paul in Ephesians, that we “may be able to withstand all the wiles of the devil.” We must put the armor of the Spirit of God on and take the fight to our adversary.

“Add to your faith virtue…” This first addition to the faith, then, is an offensive weapon given to us by God to go with our trust-faith-assurance in Him. “Virtue” then is that quality of valor, that makes us like the mighty men of war as David was. They were men of strength. Mighty men. Strong men and women in the Spirit, pro-active in their attacks on the enemy. This all comes in realizing that it is God Almighty who does all this conquering–not only for us, but also in and through us.

Yet, the question will arise in hearts: But how do you add it to your faith? Answer: You add virtue to your faith–by faith. The Master said it simply. “Ask and it shall be given…When you pray, believe that you receive, and you shall have whatsoever you ask.” Now that we know what “virtue” is, we “reckon it done,” for in God’s mind, He already sees us having it.

Chosen by God

Christ has chosen us. We are the elect, the chosen ones. Christ has chosen us “to show forth the virtues of him who has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light” (I Peter 2:9). He has given us a new life so that we can show forth His” moral goodness” that now resides in us.

What are these virtues? They are found in the rest of 1 Peter 2 and Chapter 3. These scriptures show specifically how to exhibit His virtues. They are examples of what His holy, divine nature does when present in human beings. It shows godly actions that only men can do when the Spirit is present within.

Here are some aspects of virtue: Abstain from worldly desires. Be honest. Obey the ordinances of man. Honor all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God and honor the king. “Servants, be subject to your masters.” “Endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” We are called to suffer for Christ’s sake.” “If you suffer for righteousness’ sake, happy are you.” This is virtue; this is moral goodness channeled through us to the world.

Adding virtue is about us cleaning our own backyards, taking the beam out of our own eye before we try to save others. It’s about the exercises of a new heart. In Christ we no longer harbor hate and revenge but take the lower seat in interpersonal relationships. We now have taken the moral high ground like our Master and Example, Christ.

Adding virtue to the one faith in us now, is adding moral strength to our spiritual belief system. As we grow and mature, we realize that we have been called and chosen by the Savior to represent Him in the earth. Paul called this, being Christ’s ambassadors. We are to show forth to a dark world the light of His glory. The additions help make this happen.

Chapter 25

Where Does Virtue Come From?

How do we add virtue? How do we add any of the elements of the divine nature? We add them by realizing that it is not something that is coming to us from without, from outside of us. It is coming to us from something that is within us, if so be that we have risen with Christ spiritually [1].

The addition of virtue happens when we understand that it is a component of Christ’s divine nature. He is not adding it to weak flawed characters who still believe that they are sinners. That is not Christ’s belief system that He has given His friends. That is not His faith [2]

We are spiritual members of the body of Christ. And Christ contains all seven attributes already. When we “put on Christ,” we will have added virtue because virtue is part of His nature; it is part of Him [3].

We are dead, and our new life is hidden with Christ in God. And His life is full of virtue, moral goodness, vigor, and power. But it takes faith—His faith—to believe it. This is what the Spirit through Peter meant when He said to add to our faith virtue, on through to agape love/charity [4].

We miss the mark when we try to add spiritual components of Christ’s divine nature to flawed and immature concepts of how Christ works. It is only when we believe and recognize that “it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me.” And now I live “by the faith (the belief system) of our Savior Christ [5].

Christ adds more of his divine nature to us as we judge our old nature dead and our new nature in Christ alive in us. We have the one faith when we believe that Christ lives in us and brings with him the seven additions, the first of which is his moral goodness and power—virtue [6].

[1] John 14:17 [2] I Peter 1:1-12

[3] I Cor. 12:27 “Now you are the body of Christ and members in particular.” Col. 2:10: “And ye are
complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power:

[4] Col. 3:3 “For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

[5] Gal. 2:20 [6] Rom. 6:6-12

Chapter 26

Virtue—Why We Must Add It

Conclusion

Because “all things are of God,” the very faith that we have now as Christians is not innate. We were not born with a belief in Him and His plan and purpose. It did not come up into our consciousness one day after we heard of the gospel. We received it from Him. We have “obtained like precious faith.” For the Christian life is lived “by the faith of the Son of God” which He has given us. We are now believing what He believes. He calls many but chooses [elects] a few to fully walk in His faith as His first fruits (2 Cor. 5: 18; 2 Pet. 1: 1; Gal. 2: 20; Mat. 22: 14).

He has promised us through His faith now in us that we can walk with His “divine nature” coursing through our spirit. But we are admonished that we must diligently add to our faith seven aspects of His divine. By adding them we will make our “calling and election sure” (2 Pet. 1: 10). The first one to be added is virtue, or moral goodness.

But why do we need to add this moral goodness? When we first come into God and His ministry on earth, we are like babes. We do not know how to come in (to God’s plan and purpose) or go out (to do His will). We are, nevertheless, elated. We feel great joy and immense gratitude for the way our Father has with open arms welcomed us back into His presence.

By faith we have taken the plunge and have renounced our old life by submitting our selfish lives to the death of the cross with Christ (Rom. 6: 1-12). It is a stepping out there into the unknown, trusting our Father to protect us and sustain us on our new pilgrimage.

As we begin to walk in our new spiritual life with Christ, we experience a lifting of the burden of sin-guiltiness. New freedom flows in and around us. We exult in the liberty as Christ breaks the chains from off our hearts.

It is here in this spiritual child’s playground that young Christians want to stay. They reason, “Why leave a good thing? I have always just wanted peace and love and joy, and Christ has granted me that. I am happy in this new life.”

And they stay right there. But God wants us to grow. So, the joy and the elation begin to wane. And so, at Christian gatherings pastors and church leaders try to drum up the spiritual reverb to simulate the initial joy that the “babes in Christ” first felt.

And so, what started as God’s deliverance into His new way of living with joy and peace, turns into habit and ritual. Worship services turn into attempts to recapture that first moment of euphoria when they came into Christ. And the new flush of freedom becomes a carte blanche to act on whatever thought comes to mind. But spiritual children cannot discern which thoughts are from God and which are not. They do not “have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil” (Heb. 5: 14).

Because they have taken the faith of Christ and in the end used it to secure more joy for themselves, they must be admonished to “use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh.” And because the child of God seeks a church house where members are like minded, there is no one to guide them away from the pitfalls of that kind of fellowship. They do not know that this spiritual environment just enables young Christians to stagnate and not grow. Ironically, the flow of the Spirit is blocked.

Some may be wondering, “Well, what else is there? I have given my life to Christ and have walked in the joy and freedom that He provides. So, what more is there? What do we need to do?

Peter gives the answer. We are not to remain spiritual “babes in Christ” forever. We are to grow and become full grown men and women of God like the early apostles. To remain as little children of God always seeking more stimulation to receive more joy is not the plan of God for any of us. He wants us all to grow spiritually. He wants us to “make our calling and election sure.” And to do that, we must add to our faith these seven attributes of the Spirit’s divine nature (2 Pet. 1: 3-12).

This is so crucial for our growth to full maturity. Let me put it another way. If we do not heed what the Spirit is teaching us through Peter, we will remain children, “tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive” (Eph. 4: 14). Little children will be deceived by false teachers, thereby stunting their growth.

So, the first step to spiritual maturity is to “add to your faith virtue [moral goodness and power].” The second step is to add knowledge to virtue. This is not the knowledge of the world, but that which comes from the Spirit. Being in awe of Yahweh is “the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7).

Chapter 27

Add Knowledge to Virtue—The Deep Things of God

Adding knowledge to virtue begins with a hunger to know God, to know His thoughts, His vision, His heart, and His truth. That kind of hunger is what King David had. He searched for God “as for hidden treasure.” David dug deep. The elect will dig deep for knowledge, also.

“If you look for it [for knowledge] as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD [Yahweh] and find the knowledge of God” (Proverbs 2: 4-5).

When we begin to believe what Christ believes, we are ready to add virtue, which is moral goodness that leads to moral vigor and power. We begin to feel it in our bones, but that feeling does not know how to come in spiritually or go out.

True knowledge about God’s plan must be added to give direction to our newfound desire to do the Father’s will. We have read that God wants us to walk in power and strength. But how? Where does the power come from? Many pray in public thinking that they will be heard and answered because of their much speaking. Others, through numbing repetitions, think that their prayers will elicit the desired fruit in their lives. What is the key that taps into the secret of wielding God’s power in the earth?

We have seen that some Christians are called to “go on unto perfection.” These are the elect, the ones chosen by God to be “a kind of first fruits” of His glory. They are the trailblazers into that spiritual country of immortality and will serve as princes and princesses in God’s soon coming kingdom that will subdue all of man’s governments and will fill the whole earth (Dan. 2:44).

We have seen that these sons and daughters of God will not be content with “playing church,” but will forge ahead in study and prayer, searching for that hidden wisdom of God. They are the ones who are searching for “a better [country], that is, a heavenly” one. They are on a quest to enter the heavenly New Jerusalem that will come down here to earth and will be the habitation of immortals. The Immortals are those who have spiritually matured.

They will understand that to fully partake of the “divine nature,” they will have to go beyond that initial flush of faith we Christians have all experienced. These will see that full spiritual maturity calls for additions to their faith. Just possessing in one’s heart a strong conviction that God is real and working in one’s life is not the nutrient that will foster the spiritual growth, which leads to the harvest called “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

And make no mistake, glorification is where the elect are heading. It is in the mind of God; it is already done in His books. We need to embrace this truth and make the necessary sacrifices that will bring about our maturity.

We have seen that to go on with Him on this path, we must add certain spiritual attributes to our faith. Peter tells us to “add to your faith virtue,” which is that quality that helps us be proactive and not passive in this walk. Virtue is that warlike energy that stands for moral rectitude, taking the fight to the enemy. It gets us off the couch and into the fray. It is the very strength and power of God.

Adding Knowledge to Virtue

The second addition to the faith is adding knowledge to virtue. God does not want us running out there cutting and slashing with the “sword of the Spirit” at just any old thing that pops up. Nor does He want us to be gullible and believe everything we hear about God. We must have knowledge added to the zeal.

Many “little children” of God, energized with their newfound faith, want to get out there and change the world. So, they rush out and tell everyone they meet about their experiences in God. This universal reaction comes out of a heart that means well. But like Paul says, “They have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge” (Rom. 10:2).

There is a “knowledge” then that young Christians need to agree with. If they strike out on their newfound Christian walk without this knowledge that the apostle refers to, then they will wander off onto a path that detours them away from the road to the celestial city.

Some Detours

What are some of these detours? They are imaginations; they are false teachings about the plan and purpose of God. The apostles and prophets continuously warn us about not believing false teachers and preachers.

One detour takes an unsuspecting young Christian to “Neverland.” It is the mythical concept that just accepting Christ grants them a ticket to heaven and not to the bad place. They are promised by their pastors and teachers that they will go to heaven and stay in heaven forever with God. That’s about it. They are never told that Christ is coming back here to earth. What a stupendous event! And He is bringing all the dead in Christ with Him. They have never considered it. And what about those who are alive when He touches down on the Mount of Olives? What happens to His followers who are alive? And what happens to the people who survive the Great Tribulation Period? What happens to them here on earth? All this never enters their minds.

Another detour that hinders Christian growth is the false promise of a rapture. Total escapism. Not going to happen. But people rush out in their zeal and believe this because it sounds good and logical. Yet, they never study it out and prove it one way or another to themselves. It is tricky. They have a zeal for God, “but not according to knowledge” [for more on this go here https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/?s=rapture ].

So, what is this knowledge Peter’s talking about?

To answer that question, we must be prepared to dig deep into the scriptures of truth. Knowledge is a noun translated from the Greek word gnosis (#1108) meaning “knowledge.” We see it in the English words “diagnosis” and “prognosis.” The verb form of this word (#1107; #1097) means “to make known.” So, the noun means “that which is made known.”

But there is a lot of “knowledges” out there. Which knowledge is he talking about?

So, what has been made known? What exactly is this knowledge that the apostles were so keen on? First, God has “made known” to us through Christ’s resurrection the “ways of life,” as in the path we will take to arrive at a state of immortality or everlasting life. Literally. Not “crystal blue persuasion,” “floating around heaven all day.” No. God has given us the knowledge on how to obtain immortality. That is how big this concept is. There is a true way into His kingdom/government as His elect sons and daughters. We can see this in the book of Acts where Peter is quoting David, “Thou hast made known to me the ways of life” (2:28).

Christ’s resurrection, where His earthly body did not remain in the grave–this is our hope, that as He promised, we, too, can receive immortality. But there is so much of this knowledge to learn. True knowledge of how we will attain immortality does not come willy-nilly. If our earthly jobs require a modicum of seriousness and sobriety to master and perform, how much more does our training to be His fellow rulers in His kingdom?

After all, Christ promises this to some: “To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne” (Rev. 3: 21). You mean some of us will literally sit on the throne with Christ? Somebody will, and He said, Whosoever will, may come. Kings and queens sit on thrones. But to be sitting on the one and only throne designed by and for immortals. That’s getting out there. Need more faith? Maybe we need these additions to the faith, to grow it, to feed it, to enlarge and strengthen it.

What else is God “making known” to us? “That He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had afore prepared unto glory.” Some human beings that He calls “the vessels of mercy” He has already prepared to receive “glory.”

Nothing more glorious than everlasting life. The “glory that He has for us is immortality. He is making known this knowledge of these true spiritual riches that some will be glorified with Him at the end of this age! That is what He is making known right now (Rom. 9: 23).

He is making known the mystery of His will. “That God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery…which is Christ in you, the hope of glory…even the mystery which hath been hid from ages and from generations but now is made manifest to his saints (Col. 1: 27, 26).

This “glory” spoken of here is spelled out in Romans 8:18-31. It speaks of the adoption, where we mortals shall be redeemed by God through resurrection and receive a new spiritual body that cannot die, like our earthly body can. God gave us a destiny unto this glorious state beforehand, that we would “be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (v. 29). And if we are, indeed, one whom He has predestinated, then He has called us, justified us, and He has also glorified us (v. 30). This “glorification” is all about receiving an immortal spiritual body. [Read more in I Cor. 15 and here: https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2011/11/27/the-high-calling-of-god/ ].

There is so much more that He has “made known” to His children. We are told to add this knowledge of His plan and purpose to virtue/zeal and on to the faith. Adding knowledge then is all about first learning His true plan and promises and incorporating them into our thinking. This takes true teachings, much study, and much communication with our Savior.

The Deep Things

We are commanded, “Add to your faith.” The seven additions to the faith are “the deep things of God.” Knowledge is one of those deep things. This knowledge is rare; it is not just knowing facts. It is spiritual knowledge, not the knowledge that the world teaches.

Man’s wisdom teaches us that knowledge comes as we get to know God better. But knowledge is not us knowing him or us knowing about him. It’s what He alone knows. It is proprietary knowledge—God being the Proprietor. For knowledge is an attribute of God. Knowledge emanates out of Him–not us. Knowledge is part of His “divine nature.”

It is difficult to get a handle on just what knowledge is. “Knowledge” is encrypted into a verse in Proverbs 1:7. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” “Fear” in the Hebrew means reverential awe. “LORD” is a title substituted for the name “Yahweh.” So, we can say, “Reverential awe of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge. The word “beginning” is better translated, “the principal part, the choice part” (Strong’s). Putting it all together, we have this definition: Being in reverential awe of Yahweh is the principal part of knowledge. When we have to sit down after being overwhelmed by His majesty and awestruck by His magnificence, then we will have received a tiny sliver of His wisdom and knowledge.

If we do not have this wisdom and knowledge, we need only ask Him for it. We must ask, not demand. And He will grant them to us (James 1:5).

A Hidden Knowledge

And God has hidden His knowledge and wisdom from the eyes of natural man. The disciples inquired of Christ about the hidden knowledge. And He responded, “The knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them” (Matt. 13:11 NIV).

The irony is rich. We were drowning in sin, and we reached for the lifeline. But we found that God’s lifeline does not save our old way of living; it puts it to death. His lifeline is the cross. Being crucified with Christ is God’s way of putting to death our old selfish heart. Then we are buried with Him, and then we are resurrected with Him by believing in Christ’s resurrection (Rom. 6:6-12). This is part of the hidden wisdom. It is a secret that natural man’s wisdom does not comprehend.

By this belief, we receive the Spirit of God into our hearts. Our old sinful life is dead and gone, whether we feel it or not. As we seek Him and grow, the Spirit now within us seeks and searches and shares with us the “deep things of God” (1 Cor. 2:6-16). The human eye, ear and heart cannot conceive these staggering, stupendous things that “God has prepared for those who love Him.” However, the Spirit reveals them to us as we walk on, believing having not seen (faith). Adding knowledge is a part of that walk.

The knowledge to be added to our faith is an attribute of the Spirit of God. It can only be attained through a gift from God to us; only the Spirit can teach us His knowledge. It is in the heart of God. It is the kind of knowledge that only God has. It’s the knowledge that is of Him and by Him and for Him, to be channeled through us out into the world.

The Spiritual World Contains Secrets and Mysteries

His divine nature is painted in secrets and mysteries, to be meted out to those who seek Him with all their heart. Only God can give his own secrets and mysteries and knowledge to us. Therefore, we must ask Him for wisdom and knowledge. It is His to give. He is the Great Giver of His own secrets of hidden wisdom. And He “has freely given us all things” (Rom. 8:32).

Again, to be in reverential awe of Yahweh is the first step in attaining knowledge. “The fear of Yahweh is the beginning of knowledge” (Prov. 1:7). Fearing Him, being in awe of Him—that is the start of knowledge and wisdom. When His omnipotence floods the heart and mind, then we begin to know Him and the power that He wields in His universe.

It Is All God’s Doing

Comprehending all this is having “the mind of Christ.” Paul speaks of “the wisdom of God in a mystery,” a “hidden wisdom.” God ordained it so. He ordered His plan to unfold in the very beginning. He planned it that there would be wisdom and knowledge hidden from the eyes of the unregenerated ones. And God ordained the hidden wisdom, revealed along the way, as steps toward our glorification. “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory” (1 Cor. 2:7).

He planned everything—all the secrets and mysteries—to bring us into a glorified state. He ordered it; it was part of His plan. Our glorification is His way to reproduce Himself. He does it by sharing Himself. That is what agape Love does. It shares His glory with us. After all, He did say that man is the “glory of God” (I Cor. 11:7).

The Crucifixion—Hidden Knowledge

The crucifixion of Christ is an example of this “hidden wisdom,” which leads to our glory, culminating in us sitting with Him on His throne. The rulers of this world system did not know the “hidden wisdom.” Paul wrote, “We declare God’s wisdom, a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor. 2:7-8).

This is secret knowledge that is only attained by the Spirit revealing it to us. Natural man cannot give us secret wisdom; only God can give it. Millions of souls all over the earth are “destroyed for lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6). We are talking about knowing the mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). This knowledge is indispensable, for we must know His thoughts before the Spirit will enable us to act according to that knowledge. Knowing comes before doing.

There is only one way for us to know the secret, hidden wisdom, and that is for the Spirit to reveal His knowledge to us (v. 10). Natural man’s eye, ear and heart cannot see, hear, nor feel the secret things and blessings that “God has prepared for them that love him (v. 9).

Once we receive the Spirit, then He will begin to “search all things, yea, the deep things God” in and through us! I repeat. The Spirit of God inside of us will search. The Spirit will be the driving force that leads us in our search for His truth. The hidden wisdom was this: God used hate and evil, that led to murder, to accomplish the crucifixion. It was the very thing that had to take place on the very day of Passover. The Pharisees and the Romans were serving God’s purposes, trying to wipe out the Savior through hateful murder. Their sin took the Savior’s human life but enabled the resurrection to become our lifegiving source of power. We will see that the “deep things of God” help us grow into powerhouses that bear much fruit for the King. Being in awe of Him will lead us into much more hidden knowledge and wisdom.

What Prevents Us from Going Deeper?

Later in chapter 3, Paul explains how he could not go further into the deep things of God with them. He could not teach them the “meat of the word” because they were “carnal” or worldly (3:2). Their doctrines prevent Christians from experiencing the secret knowledge and wisdom—”the deep things of God.”

But we speak not about the elect, those chosen in our generation. This is written to us: “It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given” (Matt. 13:11).

The following chapters contain knowledge that will help solve some of those mysteries.

Chapter 28

Knowledge of Him and the Power of His Resurrection—Who Is This King of Glory—Really?

This is part of the addition of “knowledge” to virtue. We are still adding knowledge.

There are many voices with many answers to this question. Several councils of Christendom have decreed iron clad missives to thousands of churches requiring them to see God the way they interpret Him to be. Most denominations teach that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one but in three different persons. They say that the Father is a person, and the Son of God is a person, and the Holy Spirit is a person. That is a cloudy picture of who God is. The Spirit is not a person; it is an invisible “breath” that animates. They call Him a trinity, although the word is not in the Scriptures. No one can explain the trinity clearly. 2,200 different denominations can’t agree on who the great God of the Bible is.

We want a sure word. Can we trust this God to show us who He is from the pages of the Bible? Can we get a clear picture of the godhead? Let’s go there and dig into the Word of God to see what He says He is. But first, we need to let go and send away from our minds all preconceived ideas. Let’s let the word today show us, free from yesterday’s imaginations.

The word says that God is the “Holy One of Israel” thirty-one times. Whatever or whoever God is, He is One. He is not three. And He is Holy, and He is Jacob/Israel’s God, as opposed to other man-devised deities.
It says that “God is a Spirit” (John 4:24). God is not a material being.
It says that “God is love.” (I John 4:8).
It says that God is invisible. “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible….” (I Tim. 1:7). Therefore, we see that the Holy One of Israel is an invisible Spirit of love.
And this One Spirit is the Father, our Father. “But to us there is but one God, the Father” (I Cor. 8:6). Therefore, the “Holy One of Israel” is the Father, who is that one invisible Spirit of love.
And the Father, the Holy Spirit, dwelt in His Son. He is the Holy Spirit because He is the Holy One of Israel.
The Son of God “is the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). We now have been introduced to the scriptural Godhead. We see that God is an invisible Spirit of love. He is the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is the Father, our Father. And our Father dwells in the Son. And we are members of the Son’s body now, able through this knowledge to begin to do and walk in His Word. For this Holy One is the Word in the beginning.

We must stay with the words of the Sacred Text. This is the text that speaks of Jacob—whose name was changed to Israel. The Sacred Text includes stories about the spiritual walk of Jacob/Israel, his father Isaac, and Abraham, his grandfather, and many more holy men and women. This Text has come down to us in the Holy Bible. It is written in words inspired by the Word Himself. For this great Spirit moves and flows in words. The words that the Word speaks are spirit and life.

We simply must not let old concepts about God cloud our understanding of the Spirit’s words about Himself. The Spirit, the Father, reveals Himself through words that even a child can understand. We do not search and study the word to prove a pre-conceived concept of who God is and what is He doing. We study to see who He is from the written word.

If we lean in, we can hear Him speak in a “still, small voice,” telling us the truth as to His identity.

Chapter 29

Knowing Him from the Beginning

Knowing the Hebrew God is knowing Him that is from the beginning. Knowing Him from the beginning will make our calling and election sure. The Son of God said, “I am the beginning and the ending.” You and I will have the mystery solved of who the Son is, when we know Him that is from the beginning.” Those who have fully matured in their spiritual growth will know Him from the beginning, before man muddied the waters of truth as to who God is and what He is like.

Who are the elect? We now realize that God wants to glorify a certain group of Christians for the last days. They will have grown into full maturity; they will no longer act like little children of God who are mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father. They are His first fruits. They are called the manifested sons of God; they are the ones for these last days that will fulfill the Father’s purpose of reproducing Himself. They are the overcomers in the church ages of Revelation 2 and 3. They will bear 100-fold spiritual fruit. They will rule with Christ in the Kingdom of God upon His return to earth. They are the “kings” in the phrase “King of kings.”

John refers to spiritual Christian growth levels when he writes to “children, young men, and fathers.” These mature Christians are the fathers. And John writes to the fathers “because you have known Him from the beginning” (I John 2:13-14).

Knowing Christ as He Was in the Beginning

Brethren, if the Father has laid on our hearts to answer this high heavenly calling and election to be His sons and daughters, then we need to know Him that is “from the beginning.” In the gospels, we see the Son of God, the Father clothed in human flesh, loving the people, healing them, and teaching them.

But to know Christ “from the beginning,” we must know of His actions and deeds in the beginning. We must go back to that primeval epoch, when on the earth everything “was good” in the Garden of Eden. We must see Him during the Exodus, communing with Moses and sitting on the mercy seat in the old tabernacle. We must see Him in the fiery furnace of Babylon with the Hebrew children and in so many other scenes.

When we know of Christ’s literal exploits on earth in OT times, we are one step closer in being what He wants us to be—one step closer in being His friend like Abraham—one step closer in knowing Him that is from the beginning—one step closer in being a spiritual father—one necessary step closer in becoming a vessel God will use to reproduce Himself in. That is what it is all about. We must decrease so that He can increase in us.

And just who was this Holy Entity that appeared and communed with the prophets and patriarchs hundreds of years before the Son would be born in a manger? He is the Word [Logos]. “In the beginning was the Word…and the Word was God [Yahweh]…All things were made by Him…” (John 1:1-3). The Word was the spiritual body that the Spirit/Father would dwell in. “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory” (1:14).

The Hebrew scriptures declare Him to be Yahweh. Over 6,700 times His name “Yahweh” appears in the Old Testament. He came to this earth many times bodily, taking a personal interest in His eternal purpose and plan in reproducing Love. This God, this great Spirit of Love, who poured Himself into a human body and laid down that life willingly, has proven by His resurrection that He is worthy of our praise.

The First and the Last

Christ said that He is the first and the last. The Father Yahweh also said that He is the first and the last (Rev. 1:11; Isaiah 48:12). This is the great mystery of the Godhead. This is the one that we must get right to grow to full maturity. We must get this to “know Him that is from the beginning.”

The Son said that He is the first and the last, and the Father said the same thing. They both cannot be the first and the last. A father is first and then the son is last. How do we solve this mystery? The answer is that the Father and the Son are one. The Son said that they were one. “I and my Father are one.” The Father is the invisible Spirit, who inhabits His body, the Son. It is Yahweh, the Spirit, the Father, speaking through Isaiah, and it is the invisible Father speaking through the Son in Revelation.

God spoke to us through His prophets in times past but has in these last days spoken to us by His Son (Hebrews 1:1). God spoke to His people through the old prophets with the same Spirit that He spoke to the Israelites through Christ. There is only one God; there is only one Spirit. And God, who is a Spirit, is invisible. Yet, He resides in a spiritual body, His Son.

On the road to Emmaus, Christ after His resurrection appeared unto two men with little faith. They talked to Him, and “beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself” (Luke 24: 27). These scriptures are the Old Testament, and Christ says that they speak of Him! This proves that the OT scriptures speak of Yahweh-in-human-form—in other words–Christ.

Christ delivered His people many times in the Old Testament; His mercy endures forever. His love carries the same power to heal in every era of time–past, present, and future. Christ’s deeds give universal comfort to all who just believe His report. When we believe that He is the Word made flesh, and contained the Father Yahweh inside His vessel, when we really see Him as He is—then we have seen the Father. We then will know Him that is from the beginning.

And this will mark the time in our growth that we will know that we are sitting down metaphorically with the apostles and prophets, knowing the same things, and doing the same things.

John’s Letter to Fully Matured Christians

John wrote to Christians of all spiritual growths about these matters. “I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning” (I John 2:12-14). It is as if John is speaking to us now: “You fathers have settled the sin question that plagues little children of God; sin is eradicated out of your lives. And you as ‘young men’ have conquered the devil and his temptations.

And now you are fully matured spiritually and have known God that is from the beginning. As one of God’s friends, you not only know, but have His mind and heart that existed from the very beginning. You know His purpose of reproducing Himself. You know His plan to implement that purpose–a plan to create a kingdom, a government with His Son as the King, who will rule and reign for 1,000 years here on earth. You know that some of us humans will rule with Him, as His Spirit will inhabit them fully, thus fulfilling His purpose.

“You fathers have known Him from the beginning, how the Father shaped His purpose and plan into thoughts expressed in words, which comprises the Logos, the Word of God. And you know now how the Father poured the Word into His Son, ‘made of a woman, made under the law.’ And you know that the Son was the Seed of Love, giving up His life a ransom for many. And you know that the harvest of that Seed in our hearts is the ultimate realization of the fulfillment of God’s Purpose of reproducing Himself.

This harvest is called ‘the manifestation of the sons of God,’ or the unveiling of the sons of God. Fathers are privy to the mind of God and His Son with thoughts so precious and ancient, that little finite minds fizzle into the ether of the spiritual world, the heavenly paradise that was in the beginning before the earth ever existed.”

Knowledge of the Light

It has all been written down in the scriptures of truth. It is there for the spiritually hungry, for the thirsty, for the famished. For only a few will find this way of truth (Matt. 7:14). Christ is the way, the path to God’s heart. Only those desperate enough to want to change their current life will find this path in the wilderness of sin. Only those who are willing to go through Christ’s sufferings will be exalted in that day.

Christ’s life illuminates man’s path to comprehending just who God is and what He is accomplishing in the earth. We can only see God and His purpose and plan when we see the love shown in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, which is the greatest love. When we believe in His resurrection–in us–then we enter this hidden realm of which we speak.

Christ is the Light that makes known the Father’s purpose. And we all should take heed to the “more sure word of prophecy…as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in [our] hearts” (II Pet. 1:19). The “day star” is the Spirit of truth that is the Word, which is a “light unto our path” (Psm. 119:105).

Christ said, “I am the light of the world” (John 8: 12). How is He the light of the world? The apostle Paul said that light makes things known (Eph. 5:13). We enter a dark room; we switch on the light. Now we know what is around us, what is coming at us. With the light we can see what the future holds.

Darkness is the opposite and is the absence of light. And people are sitting in darkness at present, just like they did as Christ was beginning His ministry in Galilee (Matt. 4: 16; Isa. 8: 22). And then they saw a great Light, just like the masses in our age will see at His second coming. Yet, a remnant will see that Light before His return, and they will respond to God’s plan and purpose to reproduce Himself through Christ in them.

Spiritual darkness has descended upon the people, and they know that they are in darkness. They realize their sinful state because they do not want their deeds brought to light. They know innately that what they do is not done in agape love but in selfishness. For this reason, those eaten up with darkness hate the light because the light exposes their evil actions. Their death warrant is already signed; their rejection of Light’s pardon seals it (John 3: 19-21). But some will come to the light.

How, then, is Christ the Light of the world? His life illuminates God’s purpose. He is the plan to carry out that purpose. For the Father has poured it all out, written it all down, and has enacted His whole plan to reproduce Love, which is God Himself. It is all in the Son of God. Knowing Christ is knowing the Father’s plan, for “He has declared” the Father (John 1:18). Christ has “unfolded in a teaching” God’s plan; He has laid it all out for us to see. For He is the Logos, the Word made flesh.

God is agape love. Agape love is the seventh addition to the faith. With it His purpose is to reproduce Himself (Love) in the earth. This love is His life. And His life of love is the light that illumines our path here on earth. It is the ray of light that overcomes the darkness of hatred and despair. And this Love/Light/Life is poured into Love’s Son, the Logos/Word that declares all this, which is the Father’s heart and mind.

How Love Is the Light

We know that God is love and God is light. Therefore, Love is Light. Since Light makes things known, then Love makes manifest as well. Love sheds light on what and who God is. Where love is present, the Spirit of Love makes God known. We see God when we see love–true selfless love from above, as we see in Christ’s laying down His life for His friends. Thus, Christ says, “I am the light of the world.”

Chapter 30

Knowledge of Those Predestined to Become Like Christ

Fathers in the gospel, like the apostle Paul, will know Him as the Light of the world. They will know Him that is the beginning. And they will know that the elect were with Him in the beginning. This is a great mystery and is knowledge that will enable us to grow into full spiritual maturity until it is “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

He foreknew some humans and predestined them “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8:29). These are the elect, the chosen (v. 30). They are the first fruits, the first—not the last—to come to full maturity. Every field of corn has ears that are first to come to maturity. When He chooses His elect, their destiny is mapped out from the beginning. Let us explore further into this knowledge that the apostles had.

The proud in the 21^st Century really do think that they are in control, that they call the shots, that they are the captain of their own destiny. And no wonder—we have been taught that since childhood. And it admittedly does seem so. A thought enters our mind, and we act on it, and—voila! —we have made a choice in life. We are in control. We commandeer our own successes or failures. We, we, we…

Today mankind is swimming in a pool of existentialism and humanism. And they will drown in that pool unless their Maker and Savior chooses to throw them a lifeline and reel them back to shore. Mankind is so humanistic that they think that they make the choices that govern their existence. Christians the world over are some of the staunchest purveyors of the doctrine of man’s free will, professing their belief on the Bible.

But upon deeper reflection, the scriptures reveal a God who has pre-written the script of life and has already assigned parts for us to enact. He has made His choices, according to the script that was sealed with seven seals. He chose us before we ever grew in our mother’s womb, before we awoke from that watery tomb, before we began to breathe the good air of earth. Yahweh said to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (1: 5). This proves that God provides a personal destiny to man.

Isaiah concurs. “Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name…Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified” (Isa. 49: 1-3). God’s servant is no longer in prophecy one lone prophet, like a Jeremiah or Isaiah, but a people, a nation that God calls Israel. And with this expansion of destiny, God reveals His plan for His glorification. It will be in a body of people.

He calls it “the manifestation of the sons of God.” The whole creation is waiting for this. It is that glorious time when death will be defeated for all of us. The doors of immortality will blow open, and we shall enter that dimension where physical suffering and decrepitude will no longer exist (Rom. 8: 18-23).

He Chose Us

The point is that He chose us; He is in control. Christ said, “You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit…” (John 15: 16). Think back to when you were converted to Christianity. Before that day of deliverance, He had already chosen you for that honor—to be His son or daughter. He chose you for His purpose, to fulfill His plan. And this “much fruit” that we are to bear is the glorification He spoke of in Jeremiah above.

It is with this choosing that He exercises His sovereignty. We see a glimpse of it in Proverbs 16:1. “The preparations [disposings] of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD (Yahweh).” “Preparations” is translated from a root word in Hebrew meaning “to arrange in order, or in a row, to put in order.” Consequently, we see an arrangement of the things of the heart, which God answers—through our mouth. Remember when Christ told His disciples to not worry about what they should say when they are delivered up before powerful world rulers, for “it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you” (Matt. 10: 19-20). We have been ordained by Him to be His mouthpieces.

God oversees the preparing of our hearts. Yes, He has given us a mind that thinks of things to do or say. He puts us into situations, predicaments, and struggles to help us grow spiritually. “The answer of the tongue is from Yahweh.” He prepares us to answer and to respond to the very stimuli that He brings.

His loving hand leads and guides our hearts and mouths. “The way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walks to direct his [own] steps” (Jer. 10: 23). God is orchestrating our walk here on earth. We sometimes pray that He will lead and guide us; He is already doing that. He is behind our thoughts, reactions, and movements. He is the “wise master builder who is constructing stone by stone His holy temple, the body of Christ.

How our inner heart and spirit is arranged—its development spiritually, its trials and triumphs, the heart’s pain, and joy—all the things that our hearts go through, is arranged and ordered by the LORD.

Chapter 31

Knowledge of “The Word”

We are still adding knowledge to virtue.

To know God, we must know His words about His creation. Because God is the Word, we cannot know Him if we do not know His words about Him being the Word. We find these words in the written word of God. The “word” found in John 1 is “Logos” in the Greek. It means “the plan,” basically. Everything in God’s far reaching excellent Plan is encapsulated in the word “word.”

God makes a big thing out of his word. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word of God.” His word is our life. Many scriptures come to mind about the word. “In the beginning was the word.” Since Christ is the beginning [“I am the beginning and the end”]. In Him was the word/logos or the plan. Since Christ is the beginning, then in Him was the word/logos/plan. Christ is the “Word made flesh” that dwelt among us.

And He was this word/logos/plan. And the Word was God. And this word, this explanation of God’s purpose and plan was at first passed on from generation to generation orally. Then his prophets wrote it down, and the word became the scriptures of truth. And the scriptures were passed down by faithful men, preserved for us today in the Bible.

This procurement by man of God’s word was done through men and women being the word. In other words, their lives became the word as their actions and interactions with God became the word, made flesh in a way. Moreover, God’s chosen people’s history, the history of the Adamites, became our Bible. Comprehending their story, capped by the New Testament story of Yahshua the Christ the Anointed One and his apostles, is the journey we have set out on.

Thy Word Is Truth

His word is the truth about what is happening in heaven and earth. Therefore, it becomes the standard that we must go to, to settle all controversies. There will be times when we have doubts as to the veracity of certain doctrinal assumptions. He said that we are to prove all things to see if they be good or bad.

A grave mistake happens here on our walk into more growth in Him. It is believing that every thought that pops into our head is of God. We must know that God has allowed Satan to communicate with the inhabitants of the earth. He will speak to us in the thoughts of our mind. God does the same thing. The mistake is not discerning properly which voice is which.

Grave errors occur to young Christians for one reason. Christ said it. “You do err. You neither know the scriptures nor the power of God.” Knowing the written word of God gives more God-thoughts to combat the negative thoughts.

There is much to prove out one way or the other, whether thoughts come from God or of the devil. People will come up with suppositions, dreams, and imaginations. These become false doctrines that are clung to. But they must be in one accord with the standard, the word of God. If it does not agree with the written word, then we must throw it out.

His word is a big thing because He is a big thing, for He is the Word. The Word is spirit, and you must “worship God in spirit and in truth…” Without the truth, there is no real worship. So, word = spirit = God = truth. We must know the scriptures of truth to know God. For He is the Word of truth.

“O, Father, Where Art Thou?”

“O, Father, where art thou?” We have all wondered about it, especially during trials of our faith. Where is our spiritual Father—really? He is not where we just think He may be. He is not where the preacher thinks He is. He is not where we hope he is. He is not where we imagine Him to be. He is not where we feel He is. No. No. The answer to this question does not come from a feeling. Feelings will let you down. So, how can we really know where He is?

“O, Father, where art Thou?” We will find the answer to this question in God’s words that have been written down. He is where He said he is. The word says that the Father is in His Son. Christ said that the Father is inside the Son. In fact, Christ commands us, “Believe me that the Father is in Me.”

The Son of God is the head of the spiritual body of Christ, which is the church. We are “members in particular” of His body. He is the head; we are His body. Because the Father dwells inside the Son, and because we are a part of the Son’s spiritual body, the Father dwells inside of us, too. That is if we have received His Spirit within our hearts.

“O, Father, where art thou?” The Father lives within the hearts of His children. We need only look in the mirror to see the Father’s dwelling place. He is in His temple—you and me. I wrote a song right after my conversion to Christ some 50 years ago called “He’s Living Here.” He is living here, deep inside, and it’s so clear this love I can’t hide because with Christ my old man is crucified…

His sweet presence can only be enjoyed when the Spirit of Truth is in our hearts. For the Father is the Spirit of Truth. If we have error within us, we are blocked from the Father. Because He is Truth.

How Our Father Communicates with and through Us

Hearing from our Father is through words that the Spirit of Truth speaks. These words are from the Word. The words from the Word come to us through thoughts. Our thoughts come from primarily two sources–our Father and the adversary Satan, who oversees dispensing evil thoughts and confusion into the earth (see Job 1). Remember Satan’s lies in the garden of Eden? “Has God really said that? God didn’t mean that. God just does not want you to know the best things.”

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He accuses through negative thoughts running through our minds. Consequently, not every thought is from God. How can we discern? How can we tell which thought is from God and which is from Satan? For the answer, we must go back to the written word of God, for His thoughts will coincide with His written word. So, let’s not be waiting for audible words spoken to us by God to receive His words to us. We waste time doing that. No doubt that is what the five foolish virgins were doing. They did not study the written word, and they wound up with no oil in their lamps (Matt. 25:1-13). Go to the written word; these are His thoughts which outline His plan and purpose. By studying His written words, we will have a library of His thoughts that the Spirit within can draw from. But do not go down every rabbit hole that Churchianity provides. They are in error; I didn’t say it; He did.

Christ said, “The words I speak, they are spirit, and they are life.” Our thoughts, no matter how lovely they sound to us, must agree with the written word of God. Dreams and visions do not always come from God. That is why we must “study to show ourselves approved unto God.” That is why we are told to “bring into captivity every thought unto obedience to Christ.” It helps to have the Teacher, the Spirit of Truth, teach us.

“O, Father, where art Thou?” His word says that the Father, the Holy Spirit, resides in the Son, of which Christ is the head, and we are the Son’s body. The Father dwells in us if we indeed have His Spirit residing within our hearts. But the Spirit will not dwell in unclean temples filled with error. It will not happen. Why? Because His word says so.

Where is the Father, the invisible Holy Ghost/Holy Spirit? I leave you with this quote. We will let the Spirit in Paul answer: “There is one body, and one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all and in you all” (Eph. 4:4-6).

As we rid ourselves of error-filled thoughts, more of His knowledge will replace them. In this book we have barely scratched the surface of His knowledge. One thing is certain; we gain no spiritual growth without His knowledge.

Chapter 32

No Spiritual Growth Without Knowledge

To grow in God, first, we have got to know things—His things. “Knowledge of the holy is understanding” (Prov. 9:10). If you want to look at a human being without this kind of knowledge, then observe the young man in Proverbs 7. He does not know of His plan to perfect us. He hasn’t a clue about the spiritual maturity that can transform us into powerhouses. He has no knowledge of God and His thoughts and ways, and he is left as prey for the lion Satan who “goes about seeking whom he may devour” (I Pet. 5: 8).

The young man is a type of all young men who are “void of understanding” and who lack true knowledge of the holy. He easily falls prey to the “woman with the attire of a harlot.” This loose woman in Proverbs is a symbol of the false religious system; she is exposed later as “MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH” (Rev. 17:5). She through flattery and empty promises of love and peace seduces the young man, and he goes down “as an ox goes to the slaughter.” The Spirit concludes with this warning: “She has cast down many wounded; yea, many strong men have been slain by her. Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death.”

So, we see that the young man was indeed destroyed for lack of true knowledge of God. False knowledge taught by the mother church and her daughters about God will ruin us. This is the lesson of Proverbs 7. Without much extrapolation, we see that, yes, we must have His knowledge; without it we are a complete spiritual failure in our Maker’s eyes.

After attaining His knowledge of His plan and purpose, we must begin to do what we now know to do. “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” Free from what? Free from thinking that you have to sin. For that is exactly what the churches keep pounding into you.

But God has it all lined out. To grow to full maturity/perfection, to be like the apostles and prophets, He’s got a grid of requirements that we are to do. These are not works to get salvation or stay saved. No. We do what He’s asked us to do because we love and appreciate Him. Yahweh desires for us to grow to be like Him, so that we can be a channel of His love to the world. That is why we do the knowledge. We are to be “doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving [our] own selves” (James 1: 22).

The word says that we can do all things through Christ. The harlot church teaches that we will be sinners right down to the bitter end of this mortal existence. The churches teach that we can never grow to maturity/perfection in this life, that we will always be sinners.

But the apostle John did not believe that. Here’s some knowledge for us. “And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abides in Him sins not; whosoever sins has not seen Him, nor known Him. Little children, let no man deceive you…” (I John 3: 5-7). These have got to be the least quoted verses in the Bible.

And as for the argument that we cannot be like the early apostles, that it was just for their time, the word says that grace teaches us “to live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in this present age.” The “present age” is our time, too, for Christ does not change (Titus 2: 12). We know that it is possible; just look at the early apostles and their doctrine that took them to maturity/perfection. And nowhere does it say that we cannot be like them–“in this present age.” That is maximum spiritual growth. And it all boils down to this: You’ve got to have the pure, clean knowledge from above to spiritually grow.

If You Ain’t Knowin’, You Ain’t Growin’

A wise voice once spoke to me, “If you ain’t knowin’, you ain’t growin’.” And so later I asked myself, “Knowing what exactly?” And then a few scriptures came to me. “Be still and know that I am God.” First, be still. Get out of

the traffic of your life, slow down, and take that country road and pull over, and with a calm mind, know that He is God.

But which God, or rather which version of the God of the Bible? “What is His name?” Moses asked. “I AM THAT I AM” was God’s reply. YHWH in the Hebrew. And it was the same I AM that spoke through Christ when He said, “Before Abraham was, I am.” Know that “the fullness of the godhead dwelt bodily in Christ.” “Be still and know that I am God” (Psm. 46: 10) [For much more on this subject, read Chapters 11-14 in Yah Is Savior].

Knowing and growing in Him. And then the much-quoted passage from Christ’s lips came to mind: “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8: 32). But free from what exactly? He answers two verses later. “Whoever commits sin is a slave of sin.” I.e., if you are sinning, it is because you are Sin’s slave. Sin is your master. You do Sin’s bidding. You are not free from sin. You don’t know the truth that will free you from sin and sinning (the breaking of the Ten Commandments [I John 3: 4]).

To know the truth that will free us from having to sin. What is that knowledge that will liberate mankind from sin’s slavery? HalleluYah! This is gigantic information! I’ve shared this before.

“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin” (Rom. 6: 6-7). Same verses in the NIV: “For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin— because anyone who has died has been set free from sin.” We have got to know that our old sinful first nature “was crucified” with Christ on the cross. It is already accomplished! The only thing that we need to do is believe it. That is all. And through believing it, we know that it is done by Him. It just takes faith/belief.

I don’t get it. This is so fundamental. Why aren’t pastors and ministers preaching this in their churches? Oh, I don’t know. Could it be that they just do not believe it? And it is not a very popular message. Hey, people, repent of your sins and die with Christ on His cross! Not really popular. Probably it will get you fired. Hirelings get fired. God’s prophets and apostles and teachers don’t. They are not in it for the salary. And so, the pastors and ministers blather platitudes about Christ and never by His Spirit speak of this knowledge.

Of course, there are many passages of scripture that deal with knowing. But I will close with one that seems to fit nicely here, again from Christ’s lips: “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them” (John 13:17). And we are growing when we do Christ’s things. Knowing and doing equals growing. “If you are not attaining knowledge from on high, then you are not growing spiritually.

Chapter 33

Knowledge of God’s Sovereignty

“And add to virtue knowledge…”

To attain a deeper understanding of adding knowledge to virtue, we must comprehend the sovereignty of God. When we really believe that the Creator of the Universe, our Father, is in complete control of every one of the human beings that He has created, it takes the burden off us. We have been told that life on earth is a complete train wreck, an Edenic experiment gone terribly wrong. But the scriptures of truth say that “He does all things well.” God did not make a miscalculation in the Garden of Eden. Things went down just like He planned it. When we believe this, we do not feel the need to go out there and take personal responsibility to make sure that every person in the world “gets saved” before it is too late. That is such a heavy burden.

But Christ said that His “burden is light.” When we truly believe that the Father is in control and that everything is going according to His plan and purpose, then the burden becomes much lighter. There was a hit song back in 1957 called, “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” It was #1 on the top 40 songs of the nation. (This shows us how far U.S. culture has slidden toward the pit). It is all in His hands. “He’s got you and me, brother, in His hands. He’s got you and me, sister, in His hands…”

It is not that we do not care about the lost. We, the elect of God, indeed do. But God has not given us a mandate currently to save every person that we meet. Many “on fire” Christians tear out with evangelistic fervor, literally huffing and puffing, and they burn themselves out. They seek for numbers of souls brought to Christ, thinking that without their effort, the lost will stay lost. “So then it is not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shows mercy.” And who gets mercy from above? It is to whomsoever He chooses to be merciful to. “Therefore, He has mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom He will He hardens” (Rom. 9:16-18).

We need to come to grips with this fact, that God, the Hebrew God, is in charge, and that He “rules in the kingdom of men” (Dan. 4: 25; Psm. 103: 19). Vengeance is His but also mercy. We should hold Him in reverential awe, for He can harden our hearts in unbelief, or He can shower mercy upon us to satisfy His good pleasure. He knows the number of hairs on our heads (Matt. 10:30). He is totally in control; we just think we are.

What Should We Be Doing Then?

We should first give thanks to Him for His mercy in revealing to us His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself and including us in it. We then need to “study to show ourselves approved unto God,” that we could be conversant with His doctrines, the teachings of the early apostles. We need to add to our faith seven qualities that characterize the “divine nature,” found in II Peter 1. In a word, we need to “wait on our ministering.” Our time as His elect is soon when the “manifestation of the sons of God” sweeps the earth.

Right now, God is dealing with His remnant. They will be His cadre of sons and daughters that He will use in the retaking of this earth from the clutches of Satan. He is calling and choosing His overcomers for this last generation. They are the first fruits of His harvest. They will be the first to receive immortality upon His return to earth. They will be the first people that He will use to reproduce Himself in.

These who have a position in the “manifestation of the sons of God” are at present awakening to this holy calling and election. They will see that now is a time of preparation for the spiritual battle that is coming. Now is the time to sharpen our spiritual Sword and check our armor to see if it is complete and in order. Right now, God is allowing the adversary to be in charge of the kingdoms of men. But after His spiritual army of sons prepare and receive their immortal orders from the King, they will rise and fulfill their destiny to be that “royal priesthood.” They will rise to fulfill their destiny to be kings and queens, ministering love and healing to the inhabitants of the earth during the 1,000-year reign of Christ. The point: He is sovereign and is bringing it all to pass, for it is His will. We all have said the words: “Thy kingdom come, they will be done.” It is His will that is driving the agenda.

All of this should be studied in a matrix of faith—His faith—now “once delivered to the saints.” For we now live “by the faith of the Son of God,” not our puny faith in Him. And besides, there is only one faith (Eph. 4: 5). Christ’s faith, now imputed into our spirit, is a faith that believes in the sovereignty of the Father. He talked about it all the time.

Without a firm grasp of what His sovereignty means, the scriptures will not open to our understanding. We will remain partially blind, our white cane feeling its way along, bumbling and bumping into a brick wall of false doctrines.

God Planned It All Out—The “Good” and the “Bad”

The sovereignty of God means that everything is His baby. The universe and all that is in it are the work of His miraculous hands. He has meticulously planned everything out, and He is executing His plan and purpose in every detail.

This is what we must believe to continue walking on the road to immortality. But there is a sticking point. It is here that many will turn away from the deeper walk. He is the Creator of every “good” thing that happens, and He is the Creator of every “bad” thing that happens. The Spirit said, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD (Yahweh) do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7).

Everything that we humans deem as “good” emanates from His mind and heart. And everything we humans deem as “bad” or evil, He instigates it—for our perfection/maturity. He administers good and evil into our lives, as it is needed to further His plan and purpose—not ours. Go back into your memories, when you were hurt the worst; it is usually a betrayal of some kind. It may seem like a curse to you, but it is an opportunity to forgive the betrayer. This develops agape love within us. This is God love, not our puny human love. For only God can forgive the unforgiveable. That is why Christ said to love your enemies.

But our minds fight this kind of love. This is why we must keep His plan and purpose of reproducing Himself in us. We must keep it foremost in our minds. He is reproducing Himself in a group of people that He calls His elect, or chosen ones. They did not earn this right to be in this first fruit company. It is total grace on His part. You cannot buy a spot in the elect, nor can you earn it. It is all His doing. The elect will be the first group to grow to full maturity in His likeness.

Many of you may be called to this honor. We all need to make our calling and election sure. You may have an indifferent spouse or other family member who is steeped in the things of the world. They may think you are crazy for following this way; they may withstand you at every turn. Just know that God has placed them in your life. Resistance builds strength and patience, two qualities of the divine nature that God is putting together in your life. Forgive them and you will be loving them with agape love. He is in control of both you and them.

Finally, believing in His sovereignty is believing that our God is doing what is necessary to effect His purpose. He will use both good and evil to do this. That God uses both good and evil in our lives is essential knowledge to be added to the virtue that He gave us at the beginning of our walk with Him. This knowledge helps us to grow and not sit there spinning, wondering why God allowed all the “bad” things to have happened to us. He does it for our good. This is a big part of the addition of knowledge. [Thanks to Garrison Russel and his book Son-Placing, for clarity on the “knowledge of good and evil.”]

Understanding Why Evil Exists

Through knowledge of God’s sovereignty, we understand that the angels are spirits and that 1/3 of them have been sent here to earth to do a job under an arch-angel named Lucifer, later named Satan—once we comprehend that this evil cabal of hurtful spirits are sent to wreak havoc upon mankind for (and this is a hard one) our perfection—and once we realize that the evil angels are really only spirits sent to actually help us become manifested sons and daughters of God [Concerning the angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” Heb. 1: 14]. Once we see that all this is an integral part of His plan, then the vista begins to clear as we see that our Father does all things well.

Our Father/Creator/Savior is sovereign. He has a purpose and a plan to carry out His purpose, which is this: He is reproducing Himself, and He is Love. And that plan includes both good and evil. Good and evil do not just accidentally exist; rather they are tools to use on us “lively stones.” They are used to chip away at our imperfections, preparing us to be laid near Christ the “Cornerstone” of the temple of God. He uses both good and evil to accomplish His plan to fulfill His purpose.

Some of you right now are having to endure unspeakable heartbreak as you see loved ones around you spiritually disintegrate before your eyes. To your understanding, this is a tragedy. Think of that thing that happened unjustly to you, that incident that is too painful still to think about. It was a trial that, like a tidal wave, sweeps your little ship of peace to the sandy bottom, leaving you thrashing and gasping for air.

And all you were doing was enjoying the sun and surf, enjoying the peace and joy of God, enjoying a new found desire to serve Him. And then the betrayal came. It came through the only ones who could hurt you. It came and locked you into a lonely room of despair with no way to escape, leaving you in shock, wondering why you had been forsaken and slandered, perhaps your reputation destroyed, your life uprooted.

Think of that painful situation, and then know that the same God who had blessed you with love and joy is the same One who dispenses evil into your life, delivering hurtful sufferings that usher us into a deeper walk with Him, a walk we cannot comprehend the why. As Job told his wife, “What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?”

Understanding Why Evil Comes into Our New Lives

God arranges for evil to come into our new lives to give us opportunities to forgive others, and to even forgive Him. For it is forgiving others that generates agape love in our hearts. The suffering that we endure is an opportunity for us to forgive those who trespass against us. This shows His power and love through us.

So, we should not think that it is a strange thing that God is the instigator of unbearable trials in our lives, “as though some strange thing has happened” unto us but realize that it is needed for our growth (I Pet. 4: 12-13). Agape love grows out of forgiveness, which reproduces God, thus fulfilling His purpose.

Once we get this knowledge of good and evil and believe this knowledge, then we will be entering the mind of Christ—or rather His mind will be entering us.

We must understand that God has ordained both “good” and “bad” things to happen in our lives to fulfill His will. And His will is the force that executes His plan to fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself.

“No, God Wouldn’t Do That!”

Some may say, “No way. God would never afflict an innocent person.” This is an understandable position but spoken in man’s wisdom. To prove that God will bring afflictions upon us, let me relate a story that happened to the prophet Moses. Moses is eighty years old. He has been shepherding flocks for forty years after being expelled from Egypt. He has been waiting and waiting upon God. He has been seeking God because he has finally found Him in the burning bush on Mt. Horeb. God tells Moses that He plans to deliver His people Israel from Egyptian oppression, and He plans to use him.

But Moses says, “They will not believe me, nor hearken to my voice, for they will say, the LORD has not appeared to thee.”

To prove to Moses that the Egyptians will listen, God asked Moses, “What is that in your hand?”

“A rod.” Now rods have been used for many years as a shepherd’s tool for good, to fend off wild beasts and to generally help both the flock and the shepherd. But Yahweh tells Moses, “Cast it on the ground.” He did, and it changed into a serpent, a symbol for evil. When Moses picked it up by its tail, it changed back into a rod (Ex. 3-4).

We get an incredible picture of our Creator in all His sovereignty. God makes little distinction between the “good” rod and the “bad” serpent. They are merely two sides of the same coin. I say one coin because if He needs “heads” to come up, He gets it. And if He needs “tails” to enter the picture, it turns up. The rod symbolizes the “good” things that happen to us, and the serpent represents the “bad” things that befall us. God uses both to mold and shape us.

God is showing us through this miracle of the rod turning into a serpent a glimpse into His mind. It is like having a tree with good and evil fruit spread out on the branches above us. We walk “under” this tree and God, as it were, causes to fall the fruit we need to grow. Suffering comes; many are caused by our faults; some are not. Sometimes a rod or staff is needed for our support and comfort, and sometimes the serpent bites or scares us like when “Moses fled from before it” (Ex. 4: 3).

But Moses did not flee the next time the rod became a serpent. He was not afraid of the evil any longer. He knew that the serpent/devil was merely doing his job in the grand scheme of things [1].

The Excuses of Moses Answered by Yahweh

After the rod/serpent miracle, Moses makes an excuse as to why he is not the man for the job. “I am not eloquent…I am slow of speech and of a slow tongue.” Moses was implying that God had made a mistake in choosing him because of his stammer.

To which Yahweh profoundly replied, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the dumb, or deaf or the seeing, or the blind? Have not I Yahweh.” God tells us that He makes the dumb, deaf and blind.

It is like when the disciples asked the Son of God concerning the blind people in their midst. “Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?” And Christ responded, “Neither, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him” (John 9: 3). And then He healed his blindness. God made the man blind to give His sons opportunity to work miracles and heal them.

God made the innocent man blind. This is rare knowledge that needs to be added to virtue, which is moral goodness, strength, and power. Some would accuse God of being cruel and immoral for making the man blind. They accuse Him because they do not understand that both “good” and “bad” issue forth from the Father. We will only see it His way when we believe this knowledge about God using both good and evil to accomplish His will.

The Father’s sons and daughters will judge it properly. And that judgement is this: The devil and his minions have a job to do. Their recalcitrance is written and choreographed by the Director and Author of our play. As the antagonist is needed to bring out the best of the protagonist, so the devil is serving God’s interests by their resistance to us.

It is said, No pain, no gain. So it is in the spiritual realm. The evil spirits cause much pain by becoming our opposing adversaries. It is like a football game. We are on offense, and they are on defense. God, our coach, has given us the right training and the necessary pep talk and the right plays to beat the devil and his minions. God finally wants us to—just run the plays! If we do, we win.

Better put: Because you and I are part of God’s elect, we not only will win, but we have already won in His sight. This is the faith of the Son of God. You and I “have obtained like precious faith.” His faith now resides in our hearts, and we are adding knowledge to it–the knowledge of good and evil.

[1] http://www.sonplace.com/sonplacing/sp_chp3.htm p. 49

Chapter 34

Adding the Knowledge of Good and Evil

The Spirit of Truth tells us to add knowledge to virtue to be partakers of the divine nature” (II Pet. 1:4). But which knowledge? Knowledge of what exactly? There are many knowledges.

Christ commands us, “Be perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.” He also commands us to “Resist not the evil” and “Turn the other cheek,” and “Love your enemies,” and “Bless them that curse you,” and “Pray for them that despitefully use you,” and “Do good to them that hate you” (Matt. 5:38-48). We are not to just observe Christ doing these things. We are to obey them. But we don’t know how to do the impossible. There must be a hidden knowledge about how to do this.

We know that we cannot obey the above commands by using our own strength. It must be His Spirit working in us that brings us to perfection. “Perfection” in the Greek means “maturity.” To grow spiritually to full maturity takes knowledge.

Knowledge from the Garden

The first mention of “knowledge” is in Genesis, which contains the seeds of all knowledge. It speaks of a knowledge of good and evil. Knowing the source of both good and evil helps us grow to the maturity that God has for us.

As we have seen above, Yahweh said, “I form the light and create darkness. “I make peace and create evil” (Isa. 45:8). Since He has created both good and evil for His purposes and pleasure, then we must believe that He is the originator and instigator of both good and evil in our lives. He has prescribed a certain amount of “good” for our lives and a certain amount of “bad” for us to deal with. Remember Christ saying, “Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof”? We like the “good,” but loathe the “evil.”

It is like growing a seed in a garden. Rain is good, and a certain amount of rain is needed. But the ground needs a certain amount of manure to build the soil, to nourish the seed. Good rain is not enough. The seed needs a proper portion of composted manure to bring the seed to full, healthy maturity. To mature, we need the “evil” as well as the “good.”

Believing this knowledge is paramount in understanding how the Gardener works. We must believe that God is sovereign and in total control of both the good and the evil that comes our way. Then we will be able to “love our enemies.” How? By knowing that certain troubles are appointed unto us to develop His divine nature in our hearts. We can begin to “resist not the evil.” How? By knowing that God sanctions a daily amount of evil for us to overcome, thereby growing stronger. To be like Him, we need someone to forgive. It is difficult to do with a whole heart. But that is what He requires of His children. And we are to “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you. But rejoice because you are partaking of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4:12). When we believe that all power is of God, then that person persecuting us has received power from God. “All things are of God.”

Christ realized that all the suffering inflicted upon Him by the haters was ordained by the Father. So when He says, “Resist not the evil,” He is telling us that the evil is from the Father. When we understand that the Father authorizes doses of evil for us to overcome, then we will know Him on a more intimate level. In fact, knowing this enables us to ask, “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

“The ability to perceive God in all things is required before He can transfer any power to you. You must come to understand that every good and every evil thing is the result of His will” (G. Russell, SonPlacing, p. 109). Evil is used and comes from God’s wisdom and is “used to accomplish His pleasure.”

Virtue is moral strength. And we are to add “knowledge” to that—the knowledge that God uses both good and evil to accomplish His will. Just ask Pharaoh. God says to him: “I raised you up…that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth. Therefore, God has mercy (good) on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens (evil) whom He wants to harden” (Rom. 9:17-18). God showered “good” on the children of Israel coming out of Egypt. He also hardened Pharaoh’s heart, crashing down disaster upon him and his kingdom (evil). Why? God did this “to make the riches of His glory known to the objects of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—even us.”

What mercy He has bestowed upon us! He brought evil destruction upon Egypt so that His story would be told throughout the ages, so that we would know about His love and devotion for us, the objects of His mercy!

My First Bible Verse

It’s funny how my first Bible memory verse has stuck with me all these –what? Seventy years or so?

I Thessalonians 5: 18. I can still see my dear mother sitting down and reading it to me and helping me begin to memorize it. I can still see her loving hands gently placing the black leather Bible into my lap and pointing at the verse. “In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”

As a six-year-old, I took this to mean, Be thankful for your blessings; it is God’s will for me to be grateful. But now, all these years later, I see it much differently. “Everything” emerges as the key word now. Everything that happens, both good and bad, is the will of God, and we are to be thankful for both the “good” and the “bad.”

It is only natural to learn to give thanks for the positive things that happen in our lives. This is good training for a child–to be grateful and thankful. It’s those hurtful things, those unkind words spoken perhaps by the one you love the most in this world–that is difficult to thank God for. Then there is the indifference and even the rejection by your friends and relatives of your new life in Christ. That pain pierces deep into your heart and is nearly impossible to be grateful for. And ultimately, the outright betrayal by the person you trusted the most takes you to the brink of despair. When we understand and can thank Yahweh for this betrayal, we will be growing and coming closer to being like our Savior, the Betrayed One.

If your betrayal has not arrived in your life yet, it will, if you are chosen by Yahweh to “be conformed to the image of His Son.” Make no mistake. Betrayal is on the menu. It is a bitter swill of anguish that we must swallow. The question is this: Are we able to drink of the same cup that Christ drank from? The supreme pain that only betrayal provides must come, for we must experience it to complete our spiritual maturation process. And not just experience it. We must overcome our first revulsion of it and realize that it is ordained by God for our lives.

Why must we endure the pain of betrayal, the worst pain there is?

It is in God’s plan and fulfills His purpose of reproducing Himself. We need to understand that the Instigator and Inflictor is ultimately our Heavenly Father. Betrayal is one of the toughest tests that we will be asked to pass. You have no doubt read about “the trial of your faith…tried with fire” (I Pet. 1: 7). And “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you…but rejoice…you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4:12; 5:8-10). We must suffer with Him before we reign with Him (Rom. 8: 17).

To bring us to a higher growth, He tests us with “bad” things to get answers to two questions. First, can we forgive Him for allowing the betrayal or any of the things we suffer? Second, can we forgive the betrayer that God used? To arrive at the answers, we must think of Christ and the betrayal by Judas. And the heartfelt words: “Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do.”

It comes back around to the initial question. Can we thank God for everything that happens to us in this life? Can we accept that “all things work together for good to them that love God”? We quote that verse, but when the pain begins, can we see that our Father–for our good–allows evil to come slyly into our lives?

It is easy to thank Him for the “good” things in life. But can we thank Him for the…Well, I will let Him answer: “I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil: I Yahweh do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7).

The Additions Are Added to the Faith—By Faith

To bear “much fruit” and thereby attain to full spiritual maturity, we must add certain qualities of His “divine nature” to our faith (II Pet. 1: 3-10). God has called and chosen us to grow and bear 100-fold fruit (Matthew 13, “The Parable of the Sower”). To walk in His divine nature, knowledge must be added to virtue. And we see that virtue is the initial moral goodness and righteousness that comes with a new heart.

And we are to add agape love to all the above. For His love is the bond of perfectness, of maturity. With this spiritual maturity in us, God will be loving mankind—through us! And that will fulfill His eternal purpose to reproduce Himself.

Chapter 35

Knowledge Leads to the Entrance—Unlocked by Humility

Now is the time that God is pouring forth deeper knowledge into thirsty ears and hungry hearts. We know that we are living in the time of the end. Signs of the end time are everywhere. The most glaring sign happened in 1948 when the fig tree nation of Israel was restored in the land of Palestine ( Fig Tree Is the Sign of Christ’s Return–Rapture Debunked | Immortality Road (wordpress.com). Gaining knowledge of His deeper truths always comes first, and then the doing comes.

We must know before we go and do His will. We cannot properly do His bidding if we do not have knowledge of it. Simply put, we must know His will before we are able to do it. A major theme of God’s will is for His followers to “purge out the old leaven.” Get rid of the old false concepts, doctrines, and teachings about God, and learn his deeper way. This cannot be done without His knowledge and ways.

How is any knowledge transferred from one to another? In grammar school we received knowledge from teachers. In Sunday school we received knowledge from teachers. Is it such a grand mystery that now as we earnestly desire to grow in the Spirit, that we should have teachers that share the “deep things of God”? Teachers led by the Spirit? “But God has revealed them [His mysteries] unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2: 7, 10).

The Gifts of the Spirit

The first two gifts of the Spirit are “the word of wisdom” and the “word of knowledge (I Cor. 12:8). The Spirit first gives wisdom and knowledge. Then He gives miracles done through us as He did through Paul, Peter and John. But man has it backwards. He accepts Christ and, in a month, or two sets out to perform full blown miracles of healing before ever receiving wisdom and knowledge.

God’s children receive grace and truth from Him. God will put them in contact with one of His offices who knows the way. The Spirit will supply through him what the seeker wants. Truth will flow out of him as the Spirit leads.

This is a description of God’s office of teacher. The apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers are the fivefold ministry of the Spirit. These five offices are God’s gift to His called-out-ones, His body, His church, His ecclesia (Eph. 4:11).

They are called and chosen by the Master to accomplish these specific tasks: “the perfecting [the maturing] of the brothers and sisters; [they are] for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect [spiritually mature] man unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” They will serve Christ in this capacity “until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:12-13 KJV & NIV).

This knowledge about God’s purpose and plan, and His five-fold-ministry offices, given to His body for their edification and maturity, is part of the “word of knowledge.” You must know about His will, His mind, and His thoughts. After receiving knowledge, you will be able to begin to do, and by doing you begin to be what you do.

Church houses are way stations on the road to the heavenly city. That’s okay. Or you may not have found a group of believers along the way and worship God alone as it were [but you are not]. That is okay, too. God is leading and guiding you on your journey back to Him. Only one thing though.

Remember this. When you begin to yearn for the deep things, when you are hungry for the meat of the word and not just the milk, then do not quench the Spirit. For it is the Spirit leading you. Be humble as you go with Him. Trust Him to lead you into the deep pastures where very few of His sheep are grazing. He welcomes us to enter that pasture, but there is a narrow gate at the entrance.

That narrow gate is built through humility. All this true knowledge puffs one up. Humility is needed to combat pride. Temperance added to knowledge brings humility. But first, we need more knowledge about temperance that is to be added to knowledge.

Chapter 36

Temperance

When we first imbibe the living waters of God’s knowledge, we are so exhilarated that we start running to tell our families and friends of our newfound truth. That’s when family and friends look at you like you’re crazy and say, “What has happened to you?”

It is a common thing; Moses had a similar experience. When the truth of the promises of God to Abraham’s children began to come into focus, Moses fought the Egyptian overseer. He believed that they should have known that he was to champion the Hebrew children. But that would not happen for another 40 years. Moses was adding temperance to knowledge and patience to temperance as he shepherded his flocks near Mount Sinai.

The new knowledge of God in Moses’ heart needed to change; it needed to have self-control. Temperance needed to be added to knowledge. And the same goes for us today. The knowledge of God’s purpose and plan to carry out his purpose is heady stuff, and it will puff us up unless we add temperance.

The apostle Paul wrote that “knowledge puffs up, but charity (agape love) edifies” (I Cor. 8:1). This puffing up is the sound of inflated pride, not knowing how to handle and share the newfound knowledge. Agape love, conversely, flows out of its heart of love and shares and builds up fellow Christians, helping them in their walk with God. Agape love is the seventh addition.

The novice in Christ will get the bighead after gaining some of the true knowledge of God. There is an innate tendency in the old nature of man and spiritual babes in Christ to have one’s pride inflated upon receiving this knowledge, which has “been kept secret from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 13:35).

This knowledge flows out of the mind and heart of God and sheds light on the very mysteries of the acquisition of immortality. This information is precious–so rare and fine a treasure, in fact, that “few there be that find it” (Matt. 7:14). A beautiful four lane highway is leading many to destruction. “But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it” (v. 14 NLT). Knowledge of these things will puff a person up. Why? Because they are still thinking that they are the object of God’s blessing and not the channel of it.

Therefore, knowledge of the holy things must have temperance added to it. Self-control must be added. And the major lesson we must learn is that our little powerless self did not come up with this knowledge on its own. It was not delivered to us for any great thing that we are or have done. No. It is pure grace flowing out of God’s heart to us. It is all Him, favoring and having “mercy on whom He will have mercy” (Rom. 9:15). It is all Him. It is our privilege to be a channel of this knowledge on out to His people.

Beware of False Teachers

Paul warns in another place about getting “puffed up” by knowledge. He warns new Christians not to get entangled by men who teach “philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ (Col. 2: 8). He is saying that men will deceive young Christians through all kinds of earthly thoughts. But Christ is all you need with the knowledge about who He is and what He has done for His people.

“You are complete in Him” (v. 10). You don’t need mumbo jumbo bells and whistles and gimmicks of worship, as it were. “For in Him dwells all the fullness of the godhead bodily.” And through His sacrifice of Himself, you have been circumcised spiritually. His Spirit invisibly cuts out your old sinful Adamic nature, and He gives you a new heart. “Buried with Him by baptism, wherein also you are risen with Him through the faith of the operation of God, who has raised Him from the dead (v. 11-12).

False teachers are “puffed up”

One who teaches false doctrines tries to “beguile you,” and is “vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind” (Col. 2:18). Remember that they “come to you in sheep’s clothing.” They appear as “messengers of light.” They have a little smidgeon of truth, and it has puffed them up as they imagine vain things about God and ways to worship Him.

How does a false teacher or preacher first go astray? He gets all “puffed up by his fleshly mind.” “Fleshly” here is from the Greek word sarx. It is a mind controlled by the “flesh” (sarx). This denotes the old nature, natural thinking man, unregenerate man. He has an earthly mind. “He that is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth; he that comes from heaven is above all…for He whom God hath sent speaks the words of God” (John 3: 31, 34).

The phrase “of the earth” points to the same origins as Adam in the garden, made of the dust of the earth, clueless about the heavenly destiny for mankind. These false teachers are puffed up with a bit of God’s knowledge yet remain Spirit-less when it comes to the truth of God. So, yes, temperance must be added to knowledge. This entails, of course, self-control in all areas of a Christian’s life.

The apostle Peter instructs those of us who have been called to “partake of the divine nature” (II Peter 1: 3-4). He relates that God promised us immortality, and it is by these promises, that we can get rid of our old sinful nature and receive His divine nature. And God’s nature grows and matures in us to the point that in the end, it will be all Him. The divine nature grows in us through receiving more true knowledge of Him and His plan. And part of that is the additions to our faith.

Someone on this earth will sit down on the throne of God alongside our Savior and will be a ruler in the government that the King will establish in all the earth. In fact, a whole company of over comers have been “predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son” (Rom. 8: 29). Fully matured, they will stride this crippled earth after the Great Tribulation. In God’s stead as His ambassadors of the literal Kingdom of Heaven will they rule with Him, for they will have His Spirit fully developed within them. These are the “partakers of the divine nature” who will do the King’s business after the disasters that will smite the earth.

“No man takes this honor unto himself” (Heb. 5:4). It is God’s doing. He has a plan and He is quite capable of helping them carry out His own plan. And that plan and purpose is to share Himself with His creation. He is Love, and all Love can do is love and share and give.

Those of us who have been called to this “high calling of God in Christ” have been left a textbook explaining how to receive immortality. We are now in the process of studying it and taking it to heart. We need this instruction to receive the proper training and education to be an effective ruler with Christ in the soon coming Kingdom of Heaven right here on earth. That textbook is found in the “scriptures of truth,” the Holy Bible, which is God’s letter to us, a guidebook He showed to His prophets and apostles. And He is now showing it to us who believe.

Chapter 37

More on Adding Temperance to Knowledge

In previous chapters we have seen that to secure “an entrance…into the everlasting kingdom of our…Savior,” we must add certain spiritual attributes to the faith that God has endowed us with [1]. In so doing, we “give diligence” in making “our calling and election sure” [2]. We are told by the apostle Peter to add “temperance” to the knowledge of God and His plan for our perfection.

Since our very spiritual growth in Christ is in the balance here, a bit deeper examination of this word “temperance” is fruitful. It is translated from the Greek word egkrateia (#G1466). Thayer’s Lexicon states that it is “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites.”

It is derived from a Greek adjective egkrates (#G1468), meaning “strong, robust; having power over; mastering, controlling, curbing, restraining.” So “temperance” is from Greek words meaning “to have control over.”

So How Does the Holy Spirit Help Us Get Control Over Bodily Appetites?

Knowing the truth will make us free, Christ said–of whatever ails us [3]. “Ye shall know the truth…” Know. There’s that “knowledge” spoken by Peter again, as in “add to your faith virtue, and to virtue knowledge…” What knowledge? The knowledge of truth, which is the mind of Christ, simply put. Yes, the mind of Christ–His thoughts, plans, and purposes. He did say, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” [4]. So, first knowing Christ’s thoughts, plans, purposes, and His word, and then doing them–this will make us free of and give us control over sensual appetites.

There is another “knowing,” and this one is huge. “Knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [Him], that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin” (Romans 6: 6). Our old sinful self, in God’s eyes, was crucified with Christ on the cross. And our old sin-soaked heart, which was enslaved to sin, is now free from all fleshly pulls. This knowledge, straight out of the plan and purpose and mind of our Savior, is the truth that makes us free from unrighteous haunts. Period.

[Someone will say, “I have been saved for many years.” That is well and good, but can you explain the cross experience to a new convert? It is important to gain understanding so that we may help those coming into Christ.]

Now. The ball is in our court. We are forced by Him to either believe this truth, which is His word and plan written down in plain English, and thereby be freed from the slavery of sin and sinning, or we continue in unbelief. That is the choice. Choosing to believe this truth opens the way to add these spiritual qualities like temperance, that He has admonished us to add to our faith, thus enabling us to “go on unto perfection.”

Temperance, then, is an integral part of the character of one who is an elder of the body of Christ, one who is mature [5]. This is a description of a temperate man, one who has his earthly body under control, leading him to be able to “hold fast the faithful word as he has been taught.” After adding temperance, the man of God will have the power to not soon be shaken through any temptations of the devil. He will be able to walk in the power of the word of God.

The elect of God will begin to realize that gaining control over the earthly body is a necessary pre-requisite in fully becoming the manifested sons and daughters of God. And because temperance is one of the fruits of the Spirit, the stronger the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives, the more temperance we will exhibit (Gal. 5:22-23). More Spirit in us, more self-control.

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance…And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts.” This last sentence is the very next verse, v. 24. Isn’t it astounding that the word goes right back to being crucified with Christ? In another translation we read, “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” (NIV).

Here it is in plain black and white: There is a direct correlation of having the “fruit of the Spirit” operating in our lives and being crucified with Christ. In fact, the crucifixion with Christ of our old nature is the very key in receiving His Spirit, which in turn yields the fruit of the Spirit in our lives–one of which is temperance or self-control. It is much easier to control one’s self after knowing and then believing that it is dead. [This paragraph explains why the Spirit keeps on reviewing the cross many times in this book. You can tell it is extremely important. The apostles wrote about our old nature dying with Christ. Yet, hardly anyone in the churches speaks of it. You won’t hear personal testimonies about the death of their old sinful self. This is a sign of its importance.]

Earlier in his letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (2: 20). And there it is. Our bodies live on now, but it is not our old selves living in them anymore. But rather it is Christ’s Spirit that lives now in us. And this life that we live is because of His faith in His own plan, now believed on by us, that by believing that He is raised from the dead, we too are now risen “to walk in a newness of life.”

It is this Rock that we are building up each other as the temple of God in the earth. This is the solid Rock foundation that we must build upon. Because the weather coming soon to this earth is going to shake and crumble all houses not built on the right understanding of His word, plan, purpose, and thoughts. If it is built on a faulty foundation, then the house will come crashing down. Tribulation is coming upon the earth, and it will touch us all. Only He is our safety net–not some imagination of a rapture that someone dreamed up in the 19th century.

The Great Tribulation is coming. We must prepare by first “knowing the truth.” For Satan is going to deceive many in these latter days. “Let no man deceive you,” Christ warned. For the “falling away” or apostacy is already in full odious bloom. The churches have been duped and lied to by false teachers and false prophets. Many pastors are ignorant of this deception and yet, they continue to pollute the flock and inoculate them with poisonous doctrines and concepts. But “the wise will understand” (Dan 12; 10).

[1] https://immortalityroad.wordpress.com/2012/11/27/the-additions-to-your-faith-prerequisites-of-receiving-immortality/

Add to Your Faith Virtue–God’s Strength and Power (2 Peter 1: 5)

[2] II Peter 1: 10 [3] John 8: 32 [4] John 14: 6 [5] Titus 1: 7-9

Chapter 38

Temperance—Banishing the Ghosts of Egos Past

In a moment of weakness, Christians will say that their “flesh” just took over, and, well, they sinned. This is not the whole spiritual story. It is old leaven teaching that is false and contradicts what the scriptures say. The Word says, “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh….” Crucified flesh is dead flesh. Let’s look a bit deeper into “flesh” because it is not our epidermis.

Sarx is the Greek word that is translated “flesh.” Thayer’s says that sarx is “the animal nature of old man Adam. It is the earthly nature of man apart from divine influence and, therefore, prone to sin…” It is the whole lost Adamic man, body, and soul, that St. Paul refers to [See Gal. 5:16-19 and Rom. 6 & 8].

After we come to Christ and give our heart to Him, vestiges of the old nature, or rather ghostly memories of the old life come into our new life. It often is through a thought or an imagination or a reaction to certain stimuli that reminds us of what we used to be. These negative thoughts are whispered into our ears by a dark angel. Instead of standing on the word that says we have a new life where “all things have become new,” the spirits of egos past come back to haunt us to see if we really believe His word. They come through our adversary, the devil.

Temperance, then, is that aspect of the divine nature where we overcome these thoughts through cleaving to the truth of His word. The self-control that it brings is a result of the presence of the Spirit in our hearts. Temperance is the addition to the faith that dispels the vestiges of our old life. The truth as to what is taking place makes us free of confusion.

If we “walk in the Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” The Spirit and the sarx, which is represented in vestiges of our old life, are opposites. The flesh is rooted in appeasing the old self. The Spirit is rooted in selflessness.

Many people teach that after receiving Christ, these two natures are at war in the Christian. This is not true. Again, many say that this old carnal nature still lives in a Christian. But the Bible says just the opposite. “They that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its affections and lust.” (Gal. 5: 24). Furthermore, Christ said, “Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit” (Matt. 12:33).

The old carnal sinful nature has been put to death in Christ. We may not feel like it at times, but in God’s eyes our old nature is dead with Christ on the cross–whether we feel it or not. There are still some habits and faults, to be sure, that must be dealt with as we add temperance to the seedling of faith now planted in our hearts. These spiritual attributes come with maturity in Christ “till Christ be formed in us.”

The Spirit of God says that our “old man is crucified with Christ.” Just like the subjects of a natural king did in the days of old, we rather have surrendered to the truth expounded to us by the apostles and prophets of God–that God has in these last days “spoken to us by his Son,” the “Prince of peace.” God’s Son, the Christ, is “the heir of all things,” and by him God made the worlds (Heb. 1:2). Christ is the “King of kings.” He is the Logos, “the Word,” the Plan and Purpose of God. If we get in line with the King and His thoughts, then we will be right with God. It is His sovereign word that has spoken: Our old life has died on the cross with Christ. Period. Whether we accept the fact or not. Lost man becomes found when he believes it.

The Modern Ego

The angst of the modern ego erupts from this molten thought: There is Someone else who is over us, in charge of us, more powerful than us, more knowledgeable, and wiser. In a word, we humans must come off our high horse and surrender to the King of the universe, known in English as Jesus Christ, but whose Hebrew name more closely resembles the Hebrew name Yahshua.

If you could boil down man’s spiritual problems, you would scrape off the bottom of the pot a spoonful of humility. Humility comes when we realize that there is a Supreme being who is immortal, and we are mere human beings, frail and, oh, so mortal. He knows all things, and it is our privilege to be privy to some of His secrets and mysteries.

When He says that our old sinful nature, with all its selfish, egotistical carelessness, is dead, then it is gone. We need to believe Him! He says that our old nature died with Christ. In His eyes and in His mind, we have obtained from Him a new life. He has spoken His word about the matter. It has come to pass. Since He believes that we have a new life, then our new life in Him is the truth. Believing Him transforms us into the answer to all our problems. We start there in what His word says. Our feelings and imaginations must conform with what He says about our spiritual condition. Always remember this: Our feelings and emotions will let us down.

Our spiritual walk must show that we believe Him–that He is all powerful and is everything good in this world, and we are but “a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away” (James 4:14). Without Him we are doomed to wander in our lowly estate, destined to inhabit the dusty chambers where no cry escapes. This should change mankind’s direction.

But what do most humans do? They strut and preen the feathers of their pride which has deluded them into thinking that our mean and insignificant thoughts surge from an intelligent mind. Humans believe that they are in control, that they are the captains of their own fates…until they first peer directly into Death’s empty eyes and realize that the time of their departure is imminent. This crushes and grinds their thoughts to powder, now mixed with tears, which makes a merciful balm-of-Gilead that anoints their eyes that they may finally see another face, the royal countenance of our King.

And what will we encounter? We will see Him as the sovereign King, first in all things, but humble and merciful to His people. When our hearts truly look at Him this way as our King, then we will have come home like the prodigal son did, and He will deal with us as family. And He will say to us, “Well done thou good and faithful servant…”

But it takes patience—godlike patience—the kind that can endure the attacks by our adversary. We will have to add God’s patience, which is a major attribute of His divine nature.

Adding Patience

Some Things to Remember before Adding Patience

The Spirit of Christ wrote through Paul: “Ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.” Since our old self is dead, then it cannot be our patience that we are to add. Each of the seven additions is an attribute of the Hebrew God’s divine nature. The patience we are to add comes from God. It is of a heavenly origin. It is not of this earth.

Patience is endurance—God’s endurance of His own purpose and plan. The addition of God’s patience into our vessels does not come from our old conceptions of what patience is. And that goes for all seven additions to His faith that has graciously been given to us.

What we are to endure and for what purpose will be discussed in the following chapters. The information in the chapters is like mosaic tiles continually being placed, each shedding a bit more light on the portrait of patience. As in any portrait, shades of color will repeat at times, blending in with the new colors being added.

As you read, take note of these three major concepts about patience: First, biblical “patience” means endurance. Second, God has endured grief and heartache to complete His plan. Third, why we are to suffer and endure with Him. These concepts do not come in this order necessarily. Look for them to appear as you would hidden treasure. For that is what they are.

Chapter 39

Adding Patience—Be Still and Wait on Him

Tweets, tiny phones, and instant electronic mail producing photos of friends’ faces in vibrant color–friends you’ve been longing to see and couldn’t until the seeming miracle of telecommunications in the 21st Century happens upon you. It’s intoxicating to ride this speeding bullet we now call our life, careening now down through time at the speed of light.

The Still Small Voice

But for many of us there’s that “still, small voice” inside that whispers to us, “Be still, and know that I am God” (1).

And we begin to realize that there comes a time when we need to take stock, when we need to get up early in the morning while the stars are still out, a cup of something hot in hand, and look out at the endless blanket of star dust thrown over us and ponder the One who put it there.

Somebody must leave “the cares of this life” for a moment and think deeply on why we are here, on His purpose for us on the planet, and on what is happening on earth.

But that takes a seeking heart, a humble spirit, a hungry soul. And He will take that heart and create a gnawing need to know the truth–the truth as to why we are here. And since there is a Creator (just look up at those stars), He must have a specific purpose for all the human vessels that He has created. I mean, He’s even got a specific purpose for the tiny digestive tract of a flatworm. How much more for our existence–us whose lives He redeemed when He gave Himself for us. No. This is no accident–our lives here on this terrestrial globe, floating serenely as it were through the late spring air.

Waiting for God

The truth as to our destiny to be His actual immortal sons and daughters–the truth as to the evil forces hindering His plan for us–the truth about how we enter this new walk of awareness–there’s so much to learn.

But we must stop and get off this speed-of-light train long enough to contemplate and savor the things God has for us. For “blessed are all they that wait for Him” (2).

We must wait for Him. “God is light,” but He does not necessarily travel at the speed of light. We have to wait for Him, for He will check us out to see if we are fit to be a ruler in His new government He’s bringing to earth shortly. He will prove us and try us to see if we are of the right stuff to be His princes and princesses. We are children of the King, aren’t we?

And this checking us out involves sufferings and trials and tribulations both in our personal lives and on a worldwide arena. So, it takes patience.

The Crux of the Matter

So, the question is this: Are we one of those He calls to love Him enough to endure to the end with Him and His glorious purpose for our lives? That’s the question we need to ponder under the stars or under the green universe of that giant oak tree, teeming with ring-necked doves and inquisitive squirrels who wonder when we are going to wake up and become what we are supposed to be.

Will we stride forth in the power of the Spirit, or will we strut our stuff, hoping our shaky little world holds up? Are we a contender or a pretender? A conqueror or a slave? Those who patiently wait for Him have the Father’s promise: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you” (3).

More Than Conquerors

As we have seen, patience is the fourth addition to the faith. To mature spiritually, we need patience working in our lives. It is the patience that God alone possesses. Patience is endurance, the ability to outlast the hardships. It is in the fiery crucible that coal is transformed into diamonds.

But it is not the puny patience that we humans try to use when the going gets tough. No, we need the endurance that is part of God’s very own divine nature. God is the standard for patience.

But God’s patience is to endure for a cause. To endure, we must first have a goal. But it must be a finer goal than just self-preservation. It must be a heavenly goal, one that agrees with our Maker’s goal. He sets our goal in this life if we are open to it. And that goal is this: You and I are to grow into full spiritual maturity–to be just like the apostles and Christ.

We have learned that God’s patience is part of His divine nature that He wishes to share with us. This attribute is vital for our ability to get through the fiery furnace of trials and tribulations that will befall all of God’s “born from above” children. If Christ and His apostles went through it, then is it any wonder that God would have us go through trials, also?

Why do new Christians stumble and fall away? Because they have not added patience/endurance in their hearts and minds. The cause goes much deeper. Modern churchianity has concocted doctrines that preclude the need for endurance for Christians. False teachers, preachers, and priests say that we will not go through the Great Tribulation. They say that we will be raptured out of the earth before the tribulation begins. This is false. The scripture teaches just the opposite, for “all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus (Yahshua) will suffer persecution” (II Tim. 3:12 NKJV).

But Paul knew that “tribulation works patience” (Rom. 5:3). I.e., trials and hardships produce endurance and perseverance. And endurance/patience is what we will need to come to full spiritual maturity and grow up into the manifested sons and daughters of God (Rom. 8: 18-19).

Psm 46: 10
Isa 30: 18 & 64: 4
John 14: 18 NKJV

Chapter 40

Patience—Enduring Spiritual Growing Pains

We are told to “make our calling and election sure” (2 Peter 1: 10). We do that by adding seven attributes of the divine nature of God to the faith of the Son of God now in us. Then the door will open into the “everlasting Kingdom of our Savior” (verse 11). God’s elect will take heed and make these seven additions.

The fourth one is patience. But what is it exactly? It is not the “patience” that we grew up with. Most of us thought that it was waiting, willing to stand by stoically until things improved. That is man’s concept of patience.

The biblical “patience” is God’s patience, translated from the Greek word hypomone meaning “endurance” or “perseverance” in some translations. Patience/endurance is a facet of God’s Spirit; it is a piece of His very Being that He transfers into us. God’s patience is His enduring all things.

Endurance only happens when we overcome a resisting force. We “partake of His divine nature” when we channel and show forth patience. For God has great patience as He endures until the harvest of the evil vine of the earth is complete. And He with great endurance waits for us to bring forth the spiritual fruit that we are destined to bear (Rom. 9:22-23; Matt. 10:6-22).

We need to add patience/endurance because we are called to add godlike qualities directly from His divine nature. His purpose is to multiply Himself—in us. Since endurance is a part of His nature, we need to add it to our faith, which is His faith (There is only one faith: Eph. 4:4-5).

Where do we get patience/endurance?

Since we are to be like our Father in full spiritual maturity, we are to endure like our Father endures. And He endures to bring His purpose and plan to pass. So, we must endure to be like Christ who was all about doing the Father’s will. So, where do we get patience/endurance? How do we obtain it?

To endure, there must be something to endure. It is not any old “something.” It is not enduring a brain freeze caused by that bowl of vanilla ice cream. The endurance that God desires for us is the kind that Christ overcame—betrayals, temptations, sins against you, insecurities, fears, loneliness, deceit—real trials of the heart. Just think of the way everyone treated Christ; Peter denied Him three times. Paul killed His followers before his conversion. Trials can come before or after receiving Christ into our heart.

Trials can come through our own thoughts. I remember when I first became a Christian at twenty-four. That first night a dark thought thrust through my mind. “You don’t really believe that He was raised from the dead, do you?” A frozen chill pierced my heart and shook me to the core. That was my first temptation. I brought the experience to my mentor, and he helped me get back into His word.

Where does patience come from? “Tribulation works patience” (Rom. 5:3). Or “Suffering produces perseverance”/endurance (NIV). Or affliction and oppression bring forth endurance. It is tribulation that brings forth patience. In other words, one must go through the sufferings of Christ for tribulation to bring forth patience in our life. Patience is developed within us by enduring hardships in our Christian walk.

“The trying of your faith works patience” (James 1: 3). “The testing of your faith develops endurance” (NIV). These trials and tribulations bring about endurance, which we must have. For patience/endurance is a key spiritual component of the divine nature. We must endure like God endures to be like him. This patience/endurance is important, for only those who “endure to the end” will be saved (Matt. 10:22). Hard times are coming, brothers and sisters.

Adding patience/endurance is the catalyst that brings us to full maturity. Enduring the testing and trials is the rough road to agape love. “But let patience have her perfect work” [completed works of maturity]. We are to “go on to perfection.” And it is patience that brings about this spiritual growth to maturity in God’s life cycle in his people.

Agape love endures all things. Agape is the seventh addition. And it is patience/endurance that paves the way for God, who is Agape, to be fully formed in us.

Chapter 41

But Why Must We Endure All the Suffering?

Adding Patience will explain why “suffering with Christ,” being partakers of His sufferings, will answer this age-old question. It is no light thing, all this heart-rending spiritual pain. We cry, “Why is there such evil? Why doesn’t God just wipe the evil out and make us pain free? The answer is found in the Parable of the Wheat and Tares.

We see that “patience” is “endurance.” And this enduring of all things by the elect is part of the fruit of the presence of the Spirit of agape love in our hearts because this godlike love endures all things (I Cor. 13: 7). It is the height of godliness, which is the road we are to travel as God’s sons and daughters.

This way to sonship is a lonely road, fraught with danger and made treacherous by highwaymen. But it is as the Creator planned it. It has all come out of His wisdom-filled mind. He knows it is an arduous path, for He first trod it. Now I am talking about the Father in the beginning, that wonderful illusive invisible Spirit, as well as His Son, the “expressed image of the invisible God.”

The Father knows of the treachery on this earth, for He wrote the script. He is the Great Playwright that created characters antagonistic to His offspring’s destiny. They are formed to be foils of His sons and daughters. They withstand the children of God, thus strengthening and forging within these future monarchs the finer spiritual character of their Father.

For His children are destined to rule with Him forever. However, they will acquire the necessary regal attributes by overcoming the struggles imposed on them by their adversaries, the “vessels of wrath. “What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory” (Romans 9: 22-23).

The “Vessels of Wrath”

God is enduring with much patience evilness and wickedness right now. He is enduring “vessels of wrath.” And why is it important for us to know about these people? For they will be our antagonists in the play that we have been called to audition for–the play called Sonship. Christ, as its Author, has in its pages outlined the way to become the veritable offspring of God, His princes and princesses. But God in His infinite wisdom knows that to be like Him, we must go through the fire kindled by our enemies.

These antagonists are explained in the “Parable of the Tares in the Field.” This is a secret that God is now handing down to His elect, His chosen “vessels of mercy.” With this information we can understand much better what our parts entail, and how to live and play them.

The parable reads: “Another parable He put forth to them, saying: The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared.

“So the servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’

“He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’

“The servants said to him, ‘Do you want us then to go and gather them up?’

“But he said, ‘No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them but gather the wheat into my barn” (Matthew 13: 24-30).

Later Christ explains it: “He answered and said to them: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, the good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked [one]. The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels.

“Therefore, as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (vs. 37-43 NKJV).

We must remember that the parables are not nice little stories to make it easier for the masses to understand. To the contrary, they are the “dark sayings” of God, spoken to deliberately cloud the secret “mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” for those not supposed to know (Mt. 13: 10-15).

Christ says that the “tares” are “the sons of the wicked one.” They are placed in the earth by “the enemy,” which is the devil.

The reason that this and other parables don’t make sense to most is because of the old leaven concepts they read into them. Old error-filled doctrines are like a dirty out-of-focus lens that the script is being read through. Distortion and confusion prevail. For example, we have the false doctrine that the devil and the fall of man is a great laboratory experiment of God that went wrong. Hogwash. A great lie. God is Sovereign and All Powerful or He is not. He is, and He created darkness and evil for His own purposes (Isaiah 45: 7).

Now, seen through this truth, we can begin to understand the parable of the tares. God has ordained “sons of the wicked one” (the tares) to not only exist, but also be an active adversarial hindrance to the future sons and daughters of God (the wheat). And they are to “grow together till the time of the harvest.” At God’s word, they continue to live and do what He wants them to do. He could have had the angels rip them up and burn them. But He is telling us that you don’t want to disturb the maturation process of the wheat. For if you pull the tares up, you will adversely affect the growth of the wheat. The root system of the wheat will be disturbed, and the sap will be hindered from coming up.

God is saying, To grow up into Me, you must let the wheat (children of God) grow up, side by side, with the tares (the evil children of Satan).

The truth is that we need these tares and the sufferings that they provide for us to become more like God. This is a precursor of adding the next addition–godliness.

God is enduring all this evil to reproduce Himself in us. He endures the evil against Him and His plan, for He knows that the enemy will make His offspring stronger. Now, to be like Him, we must endure, as well. He is enduring, and we must endure, which is adding patience. This is God’s fellowship that we are to enter; it is “the fellowship of His sufferings” (Phil. 3: 10).

Chapter 42 Enduring All Things

We are admonished by the apostle Peter to “add to our faith” certain divine attributes, calling this procedure, “partaking of the divine nature.” Yes, right now, we are to do this. When would he expect us to add these things–after we die? No, “now is the acceptable time.” Now is the only time. Whatever we humans are going to do in our fragile fleeting existence on this planet, we better do it now.

And some of us have been called to “partake of the divine nature.” “Something (or Someone)” is pulling us, leading us, and yes, even commanding us to seek a higher path. And so, we seek that better way. And some of us begin to see that that better way is Christ, for He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14: 6).

And some of us now are seeing that we are to become like Him. That is right. For we are told by the apostles to “let this mind be in you that was in Christ” (Phil. 2: 5). And “Let us go on unto perfection” (Heb. 6: 1). In fact, the Savior Himself commands us to “be perfect as your Father in heaven is perfect” (Matt. 5: 48). “Perfect” here is from the Greek word meaning “full spiritual maturity.”

Our perfection, our maturity in the Spirit, is the main reason that the scriptures of truth have been preserved for us. “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God…that the man of God may be complete (perfect), thoroughly equipped for every good work” (II Tim. 3: 16-17 NKJV).

So how do we arrive at perfection (completeness)? Our completed growth in Christ is brought about by adding to our faith the attributes of the divine nature that Peter admonishes us to do.

Compared to instant messaging and worldwide telecommunications and instant mashed potatoes, the steps toward full spiritual growth and ultimately maturity in Christ take a long time. “Instantly” is not in God’s vocabulary. That is one of the main paradoxes in this modern age. Everything happens in the blink of an eye, except the growth of God’s Spirit in a human being.

We are given but a short space of time here on earth. Our time on the planet is short lived. The older we get the faster our allotted time runs out. And most fritter their precious moments away on ludicrous pursuits. But those that Christ has chosen will redeem the time, “that they may be made perfect in one (John 15: 16; 17: 23).

Spurred on by the Spirit, they will study, dig, and search out the truth as to what this life is all about. And when they find out that life is Him, His plan and purpose, and His ballgame, then they will commit themselves to Him–though it take a lifetime. They will endure any hardships along the way. That’s the way the elect are built; it’s in their spiritual DNA. They will endure all things.

And their studies will lead them to that attribute of the divine nature called in the English language “patience.” But in the Greek (G5281), the word means “endurance, steadfastness, constancy…a patient enduring; sustaining; perseverance” [1]. This word is from the verb (G5278) “to endure.” I Corinthians 13 lists the attributes of agape love, God’s nature that is to be matured in us. It “endures all things” (v. 7).

What things? We are admonished to “endure to the end” and be saved (Matt. 10: 22; 24: 13). Trials and tribulation will be endured by the elect. Christ describes the treachery of the world at the time of the end of this age. “Brother shall betray brother to death and the father the son.” Children will betray their parents unto death. And ones He has chosen to become fully matured in His image–they will be “hated of all men for My name’s sake–but he that shall endure to the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13: 13). This is the patience/endurance that Peter is telling us we need to add to our faith.

Because this patience, this endurance, this perseverance that we must maintain speaks of a time of trials and tribulations, and persecutions and betrayals. As God begins to squeeze the evildoers, they will lash out at the righteous. We have to know that this is coming.

“Tribulation worketh patience.” Or tribulation brings about patience. Or, more clearly put, trials and tribulations are the very thing that fashions endurance, which is a big part of God’s nature. Without trials, patience/endurance will not be formed in us. And without this endurance factor in our spiritual lives, we will not fulfill our calling as His sons and daughters. For the law of harvest reads, Each seed bears its own kind.

After we are “illuminated” by the light of God’s truth, He has the adversary, the devil, present trials and persecutions to us, to which we will endure “a great fight of afflictions” (Heb. 10: 32).

In fact, Peter warns us about these afflictions. “Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial, which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you” (I Pet. 4: 12). It is not a strange thing at all, but part of the plan of God for our perfection. It is in the script. Already conceived by Him and written down. After all, Christ is “the Author and Finisher of our faith.” And all the additions to that faith (Heb. 12: 2). Yes, and in that same verse, it tells how Christ “for the joy set before Him, endured the cross.” As our example, He has endured all the sufferings before us.

These “fiery trials” that will try us will come, and we must endure it, for we are “partakers of Christ’s sufferings” (I Pet. 4: 13). These sufferings are those trials we endure for His sake. These are “also the afflictions Christians must undergo in behalf of the same cause for which Christ patiently endured” (Thayer’s Lexicon).

So we see that “patience” is much bigger and much more profound as we discover its meaning in the inspired scriptures of truth. We now see that it is an attribute of God’s presence, and we should seek to understand it according to God’s thought of what it truly is.

Patience is enduring the sufferings needed to bring God’s plan to full fruition. Enduring at all costs in the face of hardships–God did that first. It is His “divine nature” we are to add, after all. He did it first. He endured the insolence of one of His created angelic beings to provide the sufferings for us all. He endured the old nature, especially of His chosen people Israel (12 tribes), witnessed in the Old Testament. He endured the shame of their sins and whoredoms.

And now He asks us, the little flock, who He knows will answer the call, for He has chosen us–He asks us to add this part of His wonderful divine nature–patience, endurance.

We enduring, enduring, enduring the sufferings entailed in these finite earthly decaying mortal bodies. As one of their own poets said, enduring “the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.”

We now have been called into the “fellowship of His sufferings,” taking part of the same things He endured (Phil. 3: 10).

Agape love endures all things. Like putting up with the evil men in control of this world system–that’s part of enduring the sufferings. Wanting to do something immediately to banish the evil and injustice from this earth, and knowing that we now must wait on Yahweh–who will do this–but in His own time, according to His timetable. That’s part of the sufferings.

Enduring. Continuing undaunted in our pilgrimage to the City of Immortality. Unwavering. Steadfast. Unswayed by the temptations to tarry here or take respite there. Enduring by faith, entrusting our whole earthly existence on the seemingly impossible assumption and belief that somewhere an invisible Creator has life all mapped and charted for all of us.

And that He has sent us out on this dangerous dark sea, as we trust this invisible Spirit as our Captain to guide our hands on the rudder and sails, believing that He will somehow lead us through the angry storms and deposit us in a warm protected harbor where a wave is a mere warm froth lapping at our toes.

And so, we wait. And endure all things, trusting the Captain by trusting His word, which is the blueprint, the Plan and Purpose.

Chapter 43 Why Christians Must Go through Trials

We have seen where Peter tells us to add patience, which is endurance, to our faith. This is an attribute of the Holy Spirit, a part of God’s “divine nature.” But questions arise. What sufferings did He endure? What is it about His divine nature that is patient and enduring?

We all have a good idea of what the Son of God endured. We know painfully of His physical and mental torture on the cross. But it is the spiritual sufferings He endured that were the worst. Nothing is worse than to be betrayed by those you love. The betrayal and conspiracy against Him brought much grief and pain, enduring sinners against Himself. “He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not” (John 1:10).

But God’s sufferings go back beyond the Son’s time of anguish. If we go back to the beginning, we begin to see that the Father Himself endured with much longsuffering the forces of the very adversary that He positioned as such. God created and, yes, commissioned the devil to be the “accuser of the brethren.” That was Satan’s job–to create havoc, doubt, and despair–as God ordained it.

Now some will hold me to task on this point. So, I will point us to the book of Job, the first chapter. The sons of God are assembled in a meeting, and Satan appears with them. God asked him what he had been doing. Satan responded that he was just doing his job, going about his business, going to and fro in the earth. And what business was that? God tells us in His next breath. “Have you considered my servant Job?” Then Satan tells God that You won’t let me touch Him because You have blessed him and have protected him. Then God gives Satan permission to bring on much persecution and sufferings onto Job (1:6-12).

Inexplicable as it seems to our finite minds, God has Satan creating sufferings for His righteous children! God says, “I change not” and that He is “the same yesterday, today, and forever.” So we can deduce that God has ordained a certain amount of sufferings, tribulations, trials, and temptations for each of us [That was difficult to write down, but I told God that I would publish what He gives me from His word].

So, God ordains sufferings, “for whom the LORD loves He chastens, and scourges every son whom He receives” (Hebrews 12:6). There it is by two witnesses; there are many more. But He is enduring those very sufferings that come down on us. Remember our parents about to use the rod of correction on us saying, This hurts me more than it hurts you.

But God ordained and ordered His own sufferings to be endured down through the ages. If we understand this about our Creator, we get into His mind a little more deeply. This moves us closer to comprehending why we must suffer and endure trials and tribulations. These are the very sufferings which bring about the adding of patience/endurance, which is a crucial part of God’s divine nature.

Betrayal–The Suffering Most Dreaded

If a person is called and chosen by God to be His son or daughter, they will suffer a crippling betrayal at the hands of someone they love or trusted. Betrayal is the thing we most fear in human relationships. It is a heartbreaking, senseless infliction of utmost spiritual pain that the natural thinking human being finds absolutely no use for. Some never fully get over it. Some are hampered from ever giving their heart to someone’s trust again. But some go through the fiery trial stronger and purer. Their hearts are the right stuff as God deals with them to pardon and forgive, thus molding them into His image, the image of selfless love.

God Himself went through sufferings of unrequited love. He took as His wife a special chosen people Israel (12 tribes, true offspring of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob/Israel). They betrayed Him, whoring after false gods, after He had lavished His goodness upon them.

God endured with much longsuffering these things. To be like Him, His spiritual sons and daughters must go through these sufferings, also. It is called “suffering for righteousness’ sake.”

We all must grow up into Him and leave the “little children of God” behavior behind. Little children are mostly alive for what they can receive from the Father. We must grow up; we must spiritually mature. If we are chosen by Him as one of His elect, we will mature as we endure the trials He has planned for us [I know; that’s a tough one]. May He bless you all with more of His presence–patience’s big payoff.

Chapter 44

Enduring the “Sufferings of This Present Time”

As the sons and daughters of God, we are to add certain spiritual attributes of God’s “divine nature.” This is how we become “partakers of His divine nature” (II Peter 1: 4-7). This assures our inheritance as His sons and daughters. These attributes are added in sequence–in layers if you will. To our faith we add virtue, and then knowledge onto it. Then we add temperance to that knowledge. Then we add patience onto the temperance.

Patience. Patience. Oh, how we all need patience in this hurry-scurry world! This world that careens through our conscious hours robs us of this important godly essence–patience. The swirling, rushing pace of our 21st Century lives conspire against us in our search for truth. Patience is needed to even read this simple chapter on patience.

For all that we see and hear is temporary. We will be able to temper the appetites of our earthly bodies more easily when we realize how transitory–how utterly perishable our bodies are. When we believe this and wholeheartedly acknowledge the need for God’s promise of our immortal house from heaven, we will more easily shift our focus from the temporary to the eternal.

The Next Step in Adding the Divine Nature

And that next step is adding patience to the temperance. But to add patience, which is the ability to endure the sufferings of Christ, we must understand just what those sufferings are. Paul speaks of them when he writes, “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8: 18). This “glory” is, of course, that destiny of God’s elect after they have grown spiritually to full maturity, which is the evidence of them partaking of the divine nature.

But those “sufferings” spoken of by the apostle is the sojourn we are experiencing in these mortal earthly bodies. For “we have this treasure [of the Spirit] in earthen vessels” (II Cor. 4:7). And that is the root of our current spiritual problem. Our bodies are, alas, mere temporary bottles holding the water of the Spirit.

“This present time” in which these sufferings are being endured is our time now in our earthly bodies. Our perishable fragile mortal bodies will too soon return to dust. Now is our time of waiting with long patience, trusting God will deliver us from the long sleep that awaits us, tucked in dust in the tomb of the earth.

Temporarily housed in our earthly tabernacles at “this present time,” we have a universal thirst that yearns to be quenched. And that desire is to live on. And whether cognizant of it or not, we are waiting in “earnest expectation…for the manifestation of the sons of God” (Rom. 8: 19).

And so, we who have a portion of His Spirit, for a dry season at present, find ourselves trapped in a shell that will die soon. And so, we wait for our forerunners, the sons of God to be unveiled first, for they are the first fruits. And so, we are waiting for these offspring of the Almighty to come onto the scene.

For they will give His other children great hope when they are seen striding this earth–a hope that they, too, can be “delivered from the bondage of corruption,” which is the cruel slavery that our present mortal bodies inflict on us in our new spiritual journey.

Slaves to Our Own Mortality

Our earthly bodies are decaying as they grow older each day, and we are not free to ascend and descend at will. We are on a timetable, slated to expire, most likely before the age of 80–whether we want to or not. That’s slavery; that’s being in bondage to our own mortality. That is the “bondage of corruption.” In the earthly sense, we are slaves to our own decay and impending death.

In our youth we were not aware of this impending decay of our earthly body. Hence, we thought ourselves invincible and immortal. But as we get older and see our bodies deteriorate, we see that we become slaves to our own bodily limitations. We begin to admit that we cannot do what we once did. Our age, brought on by the ravages of time, becomes our master and limits us and dictates to us what we can and cannot do. This is the “bondage of corruption.”

Aging is the accumulation of many miles and years on the human body. Aging is that onerous sign announcing our impending physical passing. But this daily physical decay of our bodies does not work on our spirits. We can take heart in this, that “though our outward man perish, our inward man is renewed day by day” (II Cor. 4: 16). And this renewing is the “partaking of the divine nature,” the adding to our faith of which we speak.

So why death?

And so, we ask God, Why do we have to die? Why give us a mortal body, God? Why subject us to all this suffering? The short answer: God created us “subject to vanity.” He deliberately subjected us to mortality in the hope that we would be delivered into immortality. He made us suffer this mortal existence in hope that we would seek Him, who is Life Himself, and in so doing find eternal life, which is the fulfillment of His promise to them who seek Him and love Him.

God has dangled death ever before us so that we would seek Him. He reasoned that our looming demise would spur us to seek Him for answers to our dilemma. Surely, we would call on Him, the Giver of Life, to help us solve this problem of mortality if we were confronted with the sadness of first, the loss of loved ones and then, finally, ourselves.

God provided a law ingrained into the universe, as sure as gravity, that if we seek Him for the truth, we will find it. “Seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you,” Christ promised (Matt. 7: 7).

And so, confronted by the sufferings of our mortal worries, we turn to God. And His words resound through the ages to our hearts and tell us the answer to the riddle of our faint existence. He tells us that He is the Fount from which the blessing of immortality flows. And it starts with believing in the resurrection of His Son. And latching onto that faith in Him begins our own new life, ending in the complete inheritance of a new spiritual body that will swallow up this old earthly one (I Cor. 15).

He seems to be saying, Surely when they see my Son rise from the dead, they will turn to Me in great hope that My resurrection power will one day raise them up as well.

His resurrection is our hope to escape the dusty tombs of death. And yet, the sufferings continue. And as He teaches us and helps us to endure all things, we add patience. For patience is that part of God’s nature that endures. It lasts. And as we continue our sojourn in these earthly vessels, He grants to us patience by infusing us with experiences that helps us endure, that gives us rather things to endure.

Suffering Is Needed to Spiritually Grow

This is extremely important. Those of us called to “go on unto perfection” must realize that there are sufferings needed in our lives for us to grow spiritually “until Christ be formed in [us].”

But here is the rub; very few want to suffer with Christ to reign with Him. Paul said that he suffered “as an evildoer.” But he endured—patience was forming inside his heart—through the sufferings (2 Tim. 2:2). Very few desire the trials. It is counterintuitive. We think, Isn’t God supposed to deliver us from pain and sorrow and suffering? And why do good Christian people suffer?

Furthermore, many do not even believe that God works that way. What way is that? Most Christians don’t believe that God will love them enough to chasten them, and yet the Word says that if you endure chastening of the Lord, then God will deal with you as sons (Heb. 12:5-11). Patience is translated “endurance” in several places. If we endure Christ’s correction and chastening, then we will grow. This is part of the experience of adding patience.

“Let patience have her perfect work…” (James 1:4). Patience/endurance brings forth a maturity in us. Trials and tribulations are painful but necessary for our spiritual growth. We tend to shun the very experiences that will bring about those changes because they are painful. This is why Christians remain children and not fathers of the faith like Paul, Peter, James, and John.

Who among us would sincerely pray for patience to be added, knowing that we are asking God for trials of our faith? No child of God would, for a spiritual child wants to just feel good and be happy in the Lord. A “babe in Christ” is mostly alive for what blessings they can receive from God to ease the pain and suffering of earthly existence. When God’s elect receive the light concerning these necessary additions to the faith, they will begin to surrender to this phase of God’s spiritual growth in them.

Finally, because of all this, Paul says, “We glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience” (Romans 5: 3). We rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance [patience]” (Romans 5:3 KJV, ESV).

Enduring the fiery trials produces a jewel called “Wisdom.” If you desire her “and search for her as for hid treasures,” then you will understand “the fear of the LORD.” With wisdom, you will understand “having reverential awe of Yahweh.” To be in awe of Yahweh–that is wisdom. Let us ask Him for wisdom; He will deliver.

Yes, “tribulation worketh patience” or “suffering produces endurance” (Rom. 5: 3). Earthly wisdom shuns all suffering. The wisdom from above prescribes it. That is why He allows us to suffer–so that we can become like Him. For He planned those very steps of suffering for Himself, and if we want to be His sons and daughters, we must suffer with Him. That’s a tough one. That is why “few are chosen” (Matt. 22: 14). Those chosen are the elect, and they will submit to the plan along with its sufferings, much like those chosen for our Special Forces endure the sufferings that the training entails. It all comes with the territory. To reign with Him we must suffer with Him (II Tim. 2: 12).

Chapter 45

Patience and Wisdom—Fellow Travelers on the Road to Godliness

Our spiritual growth in God does not happen accidentally. We have a part to play. A seedling plant must strive to break free from the clutches of the clods of hardened earth to get to the light.

So it is with God’s offspring, you and I. To grow and to fulfill God’s purpose for each of us, we must first gain knowledge of his plan, and then execute it. He is “bringing many sons [and daughters] unto glory.”

How is he doing this? He has several spiritual programs to accomplish His will. They are laid out in black and white in the Holy Bible. The programs for our growth are hiding in plain sight. But you won’t hear about them in the church houses, even though the early apostles wrote glowingly about their secrets. Their pastors, priests and preachers have closed their eyes and ears to anything new. Yet God’s programs are full of “new creatures, new testament, new hearts, new lives, where all things are become new.”

Some of the Programs

We should not think that once we profess Christ, it is all done. The Apostles’ Doctrine, the title of my 2019 book, expounds on one of God’s programs that shows us how to become like the early church. The apostles walked in the seven teachings that Christ taught them. Their doctrine was Christ’s doctrine/teachings. To be like the early apostles, we need to do what they did; they “continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine,” and then power was given to do mighty works in the land.

Another of Christ’s programs to help us grow spiritually is what I am writing now–The Additions to the Faith. We must add, through much study and prayer, certain facets of God’s divine nature to His faith that now resides in us. But we cannot add them if we have no knowledge about these attributes of God.

We have seen that to fulfill God’s purpose of fully walking in his divine nature, we need to add to our faith certain attributes of that very divine nature. We see that we are to add patience to temperance. The problem has always been understanding these English words. We are dealing with three words: patience, godliness, and wisdom.

They are all scriptural, taken from the King James Version. All three are difficult to comprehend because of man’s traditional definitions and connotations placed on them. To get a clearer picture of their meaning, we go to the Greek texts. “Patience” means endurance. “Godliness” means to love and revere God. Wisdom is to fear Him, or to be in reverential awe of Him.

We can all agree that we need more wisdom. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore, get wisdom…” (Proverbs 4:7). God has made it seemingly simple for us to get wisdom. Just ask Him for it and reckon it done (James 1:2-7). The same is true with the additions. Ask Him, and then reckon it done (Romans 6:11). But we cannot waver in unbelief).

Why would we waver? Those that waver will not get wisdom. I always thought that the wavering happened because of our weak faith in not believing at the outset that God would give us wisdom. But now I see that we waver when we don’t understand how overcoming trials produce wisdom. God tests our faith; going through these trials shows us just how awesome our great Creator is. We will see his great love for us in correcting us, getting us ready to sit with him on his throne. We have a lot of changing to do. Trials bring those changes about.

We still are talking about adding patience, and to patience godliness. Many early Christians had, no doubt, complained to James about the trials that they were going through. He gets straight to the point. “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds” (Jameas 1:2 NIV). Joy? The heathens are hunting us Christians down like dogs. How do we see this as bringing happiness? At first glance, it is difficult to see, but a profound revelation hides in the shadows of our disbelief.

How Trials Bring Joy

How do trials bring joy? These trials test our faith. This testing of our faith “develops perseverance” (verse 2, NIV). It “works patience.” Trials of the faith develops endurance/patience/perseverance (verse 3). Overcoming trials develops spiritual muscle needed for us to endure all things thrown our way.

When our Father tests, chastens, and corrects us, we tend to not understand just how blessed we are. That is why we are admonished to “let patience have her perfect work.” In other words, we must allow endurance and perseverance do the job of bringing us to spiritual maturity. This is what the additions to the faith is all about: The spiritual maturity of becoming like Christ and his apostles. “Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete” (verse 4 NIV).

It is here at verse five that we receive an astounding revelation. The previous four verses show us how God gives us wisdom. “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask God who gives liberally…”

But we must ask, “What does wisdom have to do with patience/endurance? What’s the tie-in?” First, we are admonished to ask for wisdom, not knowing how or from where it comes to us. God then gives us wisdom through orchestrating trials for us to overcome in our lives. These trials, as we have seen, produce endurance/patience. Then, on the other side of the testing and trials, we see that it produces in us a love and reverence for God in all His marvelous ways of creating us in His image.

Love and reverence for Him is the very definition of wisdom. “The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom.” “Fear” in the Hebrew means “reverential awe.” Reverential awe of Yahweh, that is wisdom. Wisdom and patience/endurance combine to bring godliness to be added to patience. And the kicker is this: Godliness in the Greek means “a love and reverence for God.” This leads us to the fifth addition—godliness.

Adding Godliness and Brotherly Kindness

Godliness and brotherly kindness are fifth and sixth of the seven additions to the faith. I place and present them together for a sound reason. They are inextricably linked. You cannot have one without the other.

For example, “godliness” is loving God, and “brotherly kindness” is loving our brothers and sisters. The word says that you prove that you love God by loving others. You can’t love God without loving others first. Conversely, you can’t love others unless you first love God.

As you read the following chapters keep this in mind: “Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (I John 4:8 ESV). Here we see the link of loving God and loving others. Since God is love, any discussion about love, deals with both loving God and loving mankind.

Chapter 46

From Patience to Godliness

We have seen that to bear the spiritual fruit that we are to bear in these last days and to be found worthy to sit with Christ on His throne, we must add to our faith certain spiritual attributes (II Pet. 1).

We are to add patience to temperance. And patience is endurance, as seen in the Greek text. We must “endure unto the end.” We must endure persecution and tribulations, enduring “hardness as a good soldier” of Christ (Matthew 24:13; II Thes. 1:4; II Tim. 2:3). We must “endure all things for the elect’s sake,” especially “sound doctrine,” which are those Christ-borne teachings that attack man’s traditions that we have all been taught since childhood (II Tim. 2:10; 4:3).

And perhaps the most difficult thing to endure is the chastening of God. We must endure His correction when He begins to purge out the false teachings about Him and the immature ways that we carry ourselves. God will scourge us and prove us. He forewarns us: “My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are rebuked by Him.” For He chastens those He loves. “If we endure [this is the adding of patience/endurance] chastening [correction, disciplining], then God deals with us as sons and not “bastards.” When we have passed the tests, He receives us as his heirs, “that we might be partakers of His Holiness” (Heb. 12:5-10).

God endures our immaturity and our weakness and we, in turn, endure the maturing process. Understanding, accepting, and finally, welcoming these things that we must overcome—this brings spiritual maturity.

The Beginning of Godliness

Adding patience/endurance to our faith produces the maturing process. Going through this maturing process brings about a reverence for God. We begin to revere Him for what He is doing and how He is including us in his plan of reproducing Himself. Revering Him is adding godliness to patience/endurance.

But what does “godliness” really mean? Many say that “godliness” means “God-like-ness.” It sounds good, but the word “godliness” is translated from the Greek word eusebeia (G2150), meaning “reverence or respect.” This Greek word is derived from eusebes (G2152), which comes from sebo (G4576), a verb meaning “to revere, to worship” (Strong’s). Revering and loving God is what “godliness” means.

We now are living by the faith of the Son of God (Gal. 2:20). There’s only one faith—Christ’s (Eph. 4:5). We are now building on His faith as we endeavor to add to it. Belief first, yes. But faith/belief alone is not enough. For “even the devils believe in one God and tremble.” Virtue and then knowledge must be added, then tempered, and then endurance is added as we overcome hardships.

As we begin to comprehend the magnitude of this heaven-directed spiritual life cycle that God has called us to, then love, devotion, awe, and reverence begin to grow in our hearts toward our Father. This is the beginning of us adding godliness/reverence to our faith. We love Him “because He first loved us.” And the love of God is “shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”

This reverence for God comes when we first know about his plan. And then, as we walk in it, we endure the tribulations and chastening on the road to sonship and daughtership. Then we begin to see that we [are] receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved.” He is favoring us with this knowledge that “we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear” [reverential awe] (Heb. 12:28).

Who Will Add Godliness/Reverence to the Faith?

So, all of this creates questions: Who is going to step up? Who are these people who will do the seven additions that the apostle Peter wrote to us about? They are out there. These articles are a tiny light flashing faintly in the ocean of mankind. I believe that “this little light of mine” is shining. Its rays will reach whomsoever He directs them to. Who are they? How will we know them? We will know them by their fruits.

The scriptural answers are found in the next chapter.

Chapter 47

The Manifestation of the Sons of God—the Rise of the Immortal Ones

To understand the additions to the faith and why we are to add them, we must see the end product. We must see the vision that He has for His offspring.

When you first read Romans 8:18, the phrase “the manifestation of the sons of God” rang a bell in your heart. Something inexplicable clicked inside. Something wonderful dawned upon you, creating a thirst for more knowledge about it.

And you were not alone, for all of creation, whether conscious or unconscious of it, is longing and groaning for the revealing of these mature offspring of God to come on the scene. It is as if the earth is the woman in travail groaning to be delivered of this man child company. The “whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now” (v. 22).

No, you are not alone. There are a few of us who have sensed that we are on the cusp of something quite extraordinary. At the end of this current age, a comparatively small number of human beings will be transformed from mortals to immortals. This “manifestation of the sons of God” is the culmination of mankind’s spiritual sojourn here on earth for the past 6,000 years. It is when God will have multiplied Himself or reproduced Himself—in His offspring. The Creator is the Seed within Himself, and each Seed bears its own kind.

God reproducing Himself is the Bible’s theme from Genesis to Revelation. It is what the book is all about. Stripped of preconceived retread traditions of what man thinks it says, the pages of this Holy Book tell of a soon coming Kingdom, a government headed by the King of kings. These kings are a cadre of ruling monarchs, reigning with the Son of God, and with their Father’s full authority to rule justly and righteously. These princes and princesses of God are His offspring. They are the “manifestation of the sons of God,” the first fruits, the remnant, a “royal priesthood” and a “chosen generation.” They are you and I potentially, if we follow on to “know Him and the power of His resurrection” in us. They are the forerunners into immortality. They are the first to taste the living water that brings everlasting life.

The gospel is the good news of this government coming to earth. And it will be headed by a company of immortal beings, who have been “redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” These few will have overcome all things and will have reached full spiritual maturity. These will meet the Lamb on the holy mount. They will be glorified with the same power as the Son of God. They are God’s crowning creation and will be the “saviors [who] shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau…” And they come from regular human beings, having been “redeemed from among men” (Rev. 14: 1-6; Obad. 1: 21).

It is at this time in the not-too-distant future that the harvest of the world will be completed. This is when the world system, the kingdom of Satan, shall be conquered by the Father and these sons of God. “Babylon is fallen, is fallen…” is the victorious cry (Rev. 14: 8). The world system shall be vanquished; it is called “the vine of the earth,” and it shall be “cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God” (v. 19). This is the Great Tribulation Period. And these mature spiritual giants will be right in the middle of it here on earth.

This Is No Fantasy

All of this may sound like a fantasy novel, a phantom fiction dreamed up by Hollywood writers. Immortal beings walking the earth in a spiritual body that can’t die? Come to think of it, Hollywood’s biggest hits nowadays feature immortal superheroes. But they are creatures of fantasy. The manifested sons of God will be like the risen Christ, and they can be seen walking in the pages of your Bible. The signs of the time confirm that these manifested sons to be, are on the earth right now. They are growing spiritually, being drawn by God into His sphere of influence—drawn by dreams and whispers and quiet revelations, when no one else is around to muddy the heavenly waters of thought that we are privileged to swim in.

And you very well may be one of these future immortal ones—one of the elect—one of the ones He has chosen to reveal Himself through at the end of this age during your life time. You are, after all, reading this right now. And this “now” that we live in is extremely important because we are living in the “time of the end.” The calendar since 1948 is a prophetical time piece that tells us when the “manifestation of the sons of God” will take place.

The Generation of the Fig Tree

The nation of Israel is symbolized by the “fig tree.” Christ said that “when its branch is tender and it puts forth leaves, you know that summer is nigh.” Harvest time is near. This happened in 1948 when the nation of Israel was reestablished. When you see this, the kingdom of God is near. Then Christ makes another profound statement. “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (Mt. 24: 32-34). These things are detailed in the turmoil presented in verses 1-31 of Matthew 24.

“This generation,” Christ says. Which generation? The only generation that He has been speaking about. It is the one that is alive in 1948. In other words, the generation that sees the fig tree nation sprout again will not pass out of the earth until the fulfillment of the prophecies of the kingdom of God come to pass. And that includes the glorification of the first fruits, the “manifestation of the sons of God.”

1948 was the year that Israel became a nation again. This supposition yields this: There will be people born in the post-World War II era that will still be alive when the end of this age comes to pass. This includes Christ’s return to earth to establish His Kingdom. And a large part of establishing His kingdom is the crowning of the manifested sons of God who will sit on His throne with Him (Rev. 3:21).

This is 2023. It has been about 75 years since the fig tree nation of Israel sprouted again. Those born in 1948 are 75 years old. Since living to 100 is possible, then there is about 30 years or less before He comes back, under this supposition. He said, “There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt. 16:28). I believe that those are from this generation of the fig tree that sprouted once again in 1948.

These first fruit immortal ones see into this future and reverential awe comes over them. They are adding godliness.

Chapter 48

Adding Godliness Dives into the Deep Things of God

Adding “godliness” to patience is all about loving God and what He loves. “We love Him, because he first loved us” (I John 4: 19). We get our first impetus to really love God when we appreciate His love in giving Himself for us when we were so unworthy and wretched.

This wonderful deliverance that He has wrought is great enough, but His blessings do not stop there. The things that await those that love Him are beyond our poor powers to comprehend at present. We have not seen nor heard them. They have not entered our minds and hearts, these “things that God has prepared for them that love Him.” Another translation reads, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him” (I Cor. 2: 9).

“But God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit.” The hidden mysteries and wisdom are revealed to us by His Spirit. When we receive His Spirit, then the Spirit in us searches out all things, the “deep things of God.” But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God (v. 10).

For Those Who Love God

By adding godliness, these unseen and unheard magnificent things of God are reserved for those who love Him and are only revealed by the Spirit that now resides in us. The natural man cannot know these things, but the Spirit knows, and He can reveal those deep things to us because of His presence within us (v. 11-12).

God has something special for those that love Him. It starts out as His secret surprise. We hear about it and get curious. We receive His Spirit, and then His Spirit within begins to search for those deep things of God. Only the Spirit of God in a regenerated person can reveal the things of God to us. For only the Spirit of God searches out the deep things.

If any of us feel that we are not having that burning desire for the deep things of God, then we need to examine our hearts to see if we are really loving God and to see if we have the Spirit of God within us.

The Things that God Has Prepared

Knowing what God has prepared for those who love Him is the solving of the mystery of the “deep things.” Just what are these “deep things”? A clue can be gleaned from Christ’s parables which always likened the kingdom of God to things that can be seen and heard. The kingdom is prominent in the parables. Christ called them “the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 13: 11). The deep things concern His kingdom.

Another clue is Christ’s words about what to seek first in life. “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things will be added unto you.”

But what is most revealing is His statement to His disciples concerning the parables: “But blessed are your eyes for they see: and your ears, for they hear. For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which you see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which you hear, and have not heard them” (13: 16-17). [Much more about the parables is in my book The Royal Destiny of God’s Elect.]

Wait a minute. There is some seeing and hearing of very secret things going on here. Things that only the Spirit can reveal. And we are seeing that it has to do with God’s kingdom and all that goes with it. The things that God has prepared for those who love Him is His kingdom and government in this earth!

Christ Is Coming Back to This Earth

Christ will not stay in heaven for very much longer. He promised that He would come back, bringing with Him all His followers that had passed away, joining all of us who are “alive and remain.” What will the scene be like upon His return?

He gives a clear picture of Himself, dealing with nations. He is sitting upon His throne in Jerusalem, and He is enacting judgements upon the peoples of the earth. His kingdom, His government, has arrived. If you read chapters 24 and 25 of Matthew, you will see Him speak incessantly about His kingdom.

He is sitting on His throne with all nations divided before Him as sheep nations and goat nations. He makes that distinction. He says to the sheep nations, “Come you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25: 34). Notice that the kingdom of God established right here on earth has been prepared for us! In fact, His kingdom is the “things that God has prepared for those who love Him.” God has prepared for us a city, a capital city of His kingdom.

The Spiritual Reasons Why Some Nations Will Be Blessed

Christ explains why the sheep nations are blessed and the goat nations are not. His words are Spirit and life. He is not speaking on just the natural level. He is saying, You sheep nations on my right hand are blessed because you loved Me when you loved others who were in need. You did not hold back. You fed them with the bread of life when they were hungry. You led them to the fount of the living waters and gave them drink when they were thirsty for the truth. You opened your heart to those who were estranged from Me and My Word, remembering that we all were strangers in a strange landscape, lost and sinking in sin at one time. And you clothed them with righteousness so that the shame of their spiritual nakedness would be covered. You anointed them with the balm of My Word, which healed their infirmities. And you freed them from the prison of doubt and fear and ignorance and showed them the sunlight out past the prison walls of darkness. You were not afraid of sharing the love that I am with the people. This is how I judge your love for Me. And because you love Me, Christ is saying, “inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matt. 25: 31-40).

There it is—the deep things, the mysteries that are revealed to us by His Spirit. He has prepared a wonderful kingdom for us to dwell in as He reigns for a thousand years. It is all about the Kingdom of God in its reality, soon to fill the whole earth (Dan. 2: 44).

Chapter 49

True Worship through Adding Godliness—Loving Him in Spirit and Truth

We want to worship Him because of His love to us.

We have seen what our Father, the great Spirit of Love, has prepared for us—a wonderful Kingdom to be established right here on earth. He has prepared it for those who love Him. And we have seen that we will love Him when we appreciate just how much He loves us.

As this love begins to grow in us, we feel the need to worship Him. In fact, we feel the need to come together as Christians to worship God, to get closer to Him, to touch Eternity and be touched, in turn, by His eternal Hand. We feel a need to worship God, but “worship” is one of those scriptural words that means different things to different people. In fact, true worship and “vain worship” exist. Our worship will fall into one of these categories.

To really comprehend just what “worship” means to God (which is all that matters), we should go and see what the Master Teacher says about it. Christ, as always, teaches in short, concise statements. His words are like gold that must be mined out from the rock-hard concepts that mankind has imagined about God. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth” (John 4: 24). To understand what Christ is teaching us, we need to dig deeper into these three words: “worship, spirit, and truth.”

“Worship”

Let’s face it; everyone has their own private interpretation as to what “worship” means. Every church organization has their own take on what is proper worship. But even their members can’t agree. So, what did Christ mean by “worship”? The Greek word means “to kneel, to do homage, to kiss the hand… profound reverence” (G4352, Strong’s). Here we see a picture of reverential submission, as unto a king. The Hebrew word for “worship” means much the same: “to bow down…to honor God…to do homage, to submit oneself” (H7812, Strong’s) [1]. This definition implies not just an acknowledgement of the Father, but a humbling of oneself before Him. “Worship” entails doing homage, submission, bowing down and kneeling before the Father. Because God does not look on the outward appearance of things, worship of Him must be a matter of the heart. This kind of worship of the Father, however, must have two qualities; it must be “in spirit” and “in truth.”

“In Spirit”

Because the Father is an invisible Spirit, we need to honor and bow down and submit ourselves to Him in a spiritual way—not a physical way. But how do we do that exactly? “Spirit” is from the Greek word pneuma [# 4151 in Strong’s]. It means “a movement of air…of the wind…” Since God is an invisible Spirit, worship of Him must come out of a spirit nature. It takes a spirit to worship the Spirit. After all, if we have been truly “born again,” we are spirit. “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6-8). If you are born of the Spirit, then you are a spirit and not the earthly body you see in the mirror. Since we are spirits, we merely reside now in an earthen body of flesh. Christ calls those that are born of the Spirit—a spirit. This knowledge helps us worship “in spirit.”

Moreover, He likens us to an invisible wind that blows across the earth. We are free like the wind is free, for we are a spirit born out of the loins of our Father, who is the Spirit of truth. We are like the wind, free to love others, not bound by the physical restraints imposed by worldly tradition peddlers. We are free to love with the soft breezes of compassion and mercy, free as the wind to soothe those who sweat in turmoil, who now writhe in the darkness of this cruel world’s overseer. And there is no law against this wind of love that now inhabits our frail bodies, that now is exhaled through us, His lungs and mouth.

“So is every one that is born of the Spirit.” And because each seed bears its own kind, we as new spiritual creatures in Christ have an “earnest” of His Spirit within, and He now breathes out of our mouths the word of God. That is part of true “worship.” It is submitting our bodies to be used by the Spirit of God within us to utter His words of life to others. It is allowing the Spirit to minister through us. And His word through His children’s mouth “will not return unto [Him] void, but it shall accomplish that which [He pleases]” (Isa. 55: 11).

Some are saying, Wayneman, now you have lost it. No! Al contrario. I believe that I have found it and that I am sharing it now. At our new birth, He has transformed us into spiritual entities that no longer need anything material or physical to worship our God. The Spirit that now resides in us was before buildings, before wood and metal, before the earth was ever formed. And now we as a quickening spirit are uniquely qualified to worship Him in spirit—because we are a spirit. Why do we then insist on trying to worship God in an earthly manner?

Since we are an invisible spirit in His eyes, dwelling in an earthen vessel, let us not try to worship Him with visible, tangible, physical things. Worship of the Father must be done, first, in spirit. True worship comes from believing in this invisible Hebrew God, who is a Spirit. He is not material, physical, nor temporal, but rather an Eternal Spirit. Therefore, He is not impressed with physical things that man uses to worship Him. We are part and parcel of Him. Therefore, we are not under all of man’s vain and perhaps sincere attempts to worship Him, traditions that fall like cardboard dwellings in a summer rain.

Approaching Him with any material object, idol, icon, or picture is not worshiping Him in spirit; the Spirit is beyond the realm of our five senses. Consequently, we must believe that He will not be found in temples and church houses and buildings with religious names. Nor will God be impressed with physical things used for worship in those buildings. Why? Because the accouterment used in their services are of the material and physical realm, and He is of the invisible, spiritual realm. And He has translated us into His spiritual realm, calling us a spirit with the ability to give life to others. “And so it is written, ‘The first man Adam became a living being.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit” (I Cor. 15: 45). Christ in us is the last Adam. And we now can give life to others through His Spirit and word within–when we share.

Knowing this frees us from believing that “going to church” is necessarily the way to worship Him. For His body of true believers is the church. We are the church, the habitation of God. Our corporate bodies are the temple of God. God does not dwell in buildings made with man’s hands (Acts 7: 48-50). If we say, “I am going to church,” our words betray us, for we are saying that the building is the church. It is a simple statement, but it is very revealing, for it shows that the thinking is in error. If we are serious about becoming like the apostles and prophets of old, then we must purge out the old leaven of false concepts of worship.

The woman of Samaria believed that the site of Jacob’s well was a special place of worship. She thought that the well was a holy place because the patriarch Jacob once drew water there. But Christ explained that true worship does not hinge on a physical place like a temple or church house or a geographical location. He told her, “The hour comes, when you shall neither in this mountain, nor yet in Jerusalem, worship the Father…the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth” (John 4: 20-24). People still make pilgrimages to Jerusalem thinking that being in Jerusalem is holier worship.

True worship takes place in the invisible, spiritual place of the heart—a heart whose pride is broken. A broken and contrite spirit is the first step in worshiping our Father; He is near to those. He will only accept worship from a humbled heart and a surrendered mind. This is worshiping “in spirit.” But it must be tempered with the truth about God’s purpose and plan to reproduce Himself. Only after humility comes exaltation. The head is bowed before it’s crowned.

Chapter 50

Humility, Sufferings, and the True Worship of God

Worshiping our Father is adding “godliness,” which is the act of loving and revering Him. True worship takes place in the invisible, spiritual place of the heart—a heart whose pride is broken. A broken and contrite spirit is the first step in worshiping our Father; He is near to those. He will only accept worship from a humbled heart and a surrendered mind. This is worshiping “in spirit.” But it must be tempered with the truth about God’s purpose and plan to reproduce Himself. Only after humility comes exaltation. The head is bowed before it’s crowned.

Humility is the only spiritual clothing we are to wear in our worship of the Father. In fact, without it there is no worship. Humility is a purified expression of gratefulness to our Father who has cleaned up our sin-stained hearts. It is like the white raiment that He clothes us with, a pure garment without spot or wrinkle (Rev. 3: 5). Humility is the spirit and attitude we must have in order to worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.”

Humility Not Man’s Forte

However, being humble is not one of mankind’s strong points. Humanistic hubris has replaced reverential awe of our Creator. Man is in awe of himself. Natural man is born with the world in his heart, along with its desires of the flesh and eyes, and the “pride of life” (Prov. 3: 11; 1 John 2: 16). And this pride seems to say, “Hey, world, it’s all okay because I am here, and I have got it all figured out.” Man puts himself first, loves himself first, and generally centers in on his own abilities to solve the problems of life. Natural man basically worships himself. He gives little thought to a Supreme Being who is wiser and more powerful than himself.

But there is a reason that natural man is on the earth. God created him for His own specific purpose. God wants to use him to fulfill His purpose of reproducing Himself in man. But natural man is so full of himself that there is no room for God’s Spirit of love, joy, and peace to enter in and begin the reproduction process of Himself. God can’t live in the house of pride. There is no room for Him at Prideful Inn. God needs first for us human beings to become humble. He will not manifest Himself in vessels filled with pride because a man with no humility would take credit for the “glory to be revealed in us” (Rom. 8: 18). Just look down through history at the dictators, who were blessed with earthly power. Look how they heaped glory upon themselves, taking credit for their exalted station in life.

Humility Needed

For us to contain the Holy Spirit in His fullness, we need to be humble. But therein lies the problem. Man—even childish, immature Christians—are loathe to humble themselves. Even after the 30-fold baptism into Christ’s death and the public testimony of the new direction of one’s heart, we still need more and more humility in order to grow spiritually. We are told by the Spirit in scripture to humble ourselves. If this is not done, the Father, because He loves us, steps in, and provides trials, tribulations, and sufferings that He uses to humble us.

The Answer to One of Life’s Great Questions

Why must Christians go through sufferings? Because God cannot dwell in a body filled with pride. So, God allows us to go through sufferings which brings humility. And this, in turn, draws God closer to us because of His love for us. We then come to Him and worship Him with a humble heart and spirit.

This is why the Spirit through the apostle Peter tells us that there will come a “trial of your faith.” These trials purify our faith like fire purifies gold; they sharpen our belief in our great Father (I Pet. 1: 6-7).

These trials of your faith are called the sufferings of Christ in us. Peter tells us to “think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as you are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when His glory shall be revealed, you may be glad also with exceeding joy” (I Pet. 4: 12-13).

Pride prohibits God from entering us to reproduce Love (Himself). Trials, temptations, tribulations, and sufferings humble us that God may enter. When He does, we then feel His Spirit of Love inside our hearts, and Love begins to grow and manifests itself to others. We then go before His presence praising Him and thanking Him for His love and mercy upon us. This is how the reproduction process works. The diamond of love is produced through fiery pressure of sufferings. Knowing the truth about God reproducing Himself in us opens the doors of true worship. This is worshiping God in truth and in spirit.

When I Was a Child

When I first became a Christian, I did not understand about the sufferings of Christ. I did not want anything to do with the trials, tribulations, and sufferings. Like most newborn Christians, I just wanted to bask in the newfound joy, love, and peace that I had found in Christ and His brotherhood. And it was a wonderful time in the swaddling clothes of Love. God’s servants held me close and nourished me spiritually, feeding me with the warmth of the milk of the word. And I grew, although I was mostly alive for what I could receive from my Father. But it was only later, through the trials and sufferings, that I understood these precious and painful truths that I now share. For these truths about sufferings can only be understood when we comprehend His purpose, which He will only reveal to a humbled soul.

We have been called unto a glorious walk with our Savior—a walk that leads to manifesting God’s full glory, replete with the “greater works” than even the Seed Son did. When He comes back, He will crown the faithful over comers with a “crown of glory that fades not away.” But to arrive at this 100-fold level of maturity, we must endure with great patience the trials that bring the humility needed to insure His visitation into our lives.

As Peter tells us, “Be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble.” We are to humble ourselves “under the mighty hand of God.” God’s hand contains five fingers, a symbol of his five-fold ministry offices. These are His, not the world’s—apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers (I Pet. 5: 4-6; Eph. 4: 11-12). Without them, there will be no “perfecting [a bringing to maturity] of the saints,” no complete “work of the ministry,” and scarcely any “edifying of the body of Christ.”

True Worship and Prayer According to the Apostles

True worship, then, is worshiping God in spirit and in truth. “And so it is written: ‘The first man Adam became a living being’; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.” When we are born into this world, we are a living being, a living soul. But when we are born from above, we become a spirit that gives life; we become a quickening, “life-giving spirit.” (I Cor. 15: 45 NIV)

“For that which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3: 6). Brothers and sisters, as born-again Christians, we are now spirit because we have been born of the Spirit of God. Each seed bears its own kind.

We are new creatures—spirit-creatures now. We are no longer of the earth, although we do dwell in these clay earthen bodies. Now that we are changed into a spirit, He calls us the “last Adam.” Since we are new spiritual creatures, we simply must stop speaking as the first Adam did, as we used to. But someone will say, “Well, it is all I know.” True, but that is why we must study the written word and dig deep and get it into our new hearts. For the word of God is spirit. Christ said, “The words I speak unto you are spirit and they are life.” And He has told us to study His words, and study we must to do Him justice. We owe our King that (II Cor. 5: 17-19; John 6: 63).

Now That We Are Spirit

We now may enter true worship of our Father, for only a spirit being, born of the Spirit, can worship the Spirit of Truth, which is our Father. “God is a Spirit,” a Spirit-Being that gives life to the dead. We know this because we were once dead in our sins, but now we are made “alive unto God” through Christ’s resurrection from the dead. Engendered by the Supreme Spirit-Being, we now have His life-giving seed within our hearts. And this seed is the word that the Father has spoken and now written down in our hearts. We now are a part of His heart, born of His Spirit, and now able to give life like He did for us. We do this by sharing His word with others. This is the bread of life, broken for you and others. His seed becomes bread that will sustain others unto eternal life. His word is the seed, now ground into unleavened flour through our shared sufferings and baked into the bread of life. This is the partaking of the bread; this is communion—the spiritual sharing of His word, plan and purpose. Everything else is window dressing, if it is done without true knowledge in true worship (John 4: 24; Rom. 6: 4-11; I Pet. 1: 23; John 6: 33-35).

We now are a spirit that can make others alive. When we relate the truth of Christ to the lost, and they respond, we are being used by God to raise the dead, for they are dead in their sins. As we share our testimony of how God gave us new life in Him, we are giving new life to others. This is how we are a “life-giving spirit.” This is part of the 30-fold “resurrection of the dead,” the fifth apostles’ doctrine. If we are faithful in giving others a new spiritual life, then the Father will grant us more power to perform Lazarus-like miracles. It is coming for those who can receive it.

Those who have ears that can hear what the Spirit is saying to us—they will stand in reverential awe of this mighty Spirit of Love, who shares Himself. And as our hearts bow before Him, stupefied beyond mere human words at His majestic mercy, a brokenness comes over us as we begin to worship our humble Father and King. For He seeks such who are like Him, who have a broken spirit and a contrite heart. For they are the only ones who may enter this rarified court. For God’s love has melted our hearts from which gratefulness pours forth. And this gratitude is expressed in communication back to the Father in the form of prayer.

Prayer—What Do We Say after “Thank You”?

We cannot but pray, for it is the foundation of a spirit’s worship of the Great Spirit Yahweh. Prayer is invisible; it ushers forth from the spiritual heart with waves of thanks splashing on heaven’s shores.

No wonder we are told to “pray always.” I could not understand that as a young Christian. It sounded impossible. How many times can we say thank you to God? What else should we express to Him? What other things should we discuss with Him?

In essence the disciples asked these same questions. After seeing Christ pray, they said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” First, He told them how not to pray. Don’t pray in public to be seen of men like the hypocrites do. Go into a secret place. Don’t use “vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” Then He taught them what to say by giving them a model prayer.

And then He gives them the key. “After this manner therefore pray ye…” He then gives them the example prayer. Just mouthing the words of it does nothing. He wants our hearts full of His ideas that are contained in the phrases of the prayer communicated back to Him. When we earnestly speak to Him about the things that are on His heart—wow! We contact the Power of the universe, the Power that created it all, the Power whose thoughts and ideas will come to pass. When we get on His page, speaking to Him with details of His plan to carry out His will and purpose—then we will have effective communication, then our prayers will touch His heart and take on a gravity in His heart and mind.

When we pray in accordance with the concepts contained in His model prayer, then we will get His attention. Then He will say, “Wait, I believe that they are getting it. Let’s give them what they need, and have asked for, to get the job done. They asked for the tools to complete My plan. Let’s give them the power to finish the work before us.”

The so-called Lord’s Prayer shows us exactly what to pray for. It lines out His plan. But natural man does not perceive the things of God; he has misused the prayer and cheapened it. He has used it as penance and a good luck spiritual charm to be chanted. Satan has made it so common that many reading this now will not be able at first to see just how important it is, for it has lost its original meaning.

A Blueprint

Christ gave us the model prayer as a blueprint to show us what to pray for. Each phrase has deep meaning pertinent to our one-on-one relationship with our Father. God wants to hear the meaning of the phrases of the prayer come forth out of our mouths. This is a sacrifice of a sweet smelling savor to Him. He wants us to be able to elaborate upon His plan and purpose and share with Him our desire to used by Him to accomplish His plan for mankind. All this is contained in the model prayer.

God wants us on board with what He is doing, which is establishing the Kingdom of God right here on this planet. For He told us, “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” He is saying, Don’t ask for material things for you and your family. He already knows all about your wants and needs. What He wants to know is this: Are you in or out? If you are in then speak to Him about His plan and purpose; speak to Him of the spiritual. Show Him that you care for what He cares for. In a word, He wants us to be like Him.

His vision of His plan to fulfill His purpose of multiplying Himself in human beings—it is all there in the concepts and thoughts of His example prayer.

Take the phrase: “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” May the Father’s government come to this earth. Let the Father’s will make it happen here. His plan encompasses His kingdom and government. We should be seeking it first.

So much more can be said about His kingdom—the who, the what, the where, the when, the how, and the why. We’ve only just begun. I have written specifically about the model prayer, which gives more information about the meaning of each of its phrases. [Much more in my book The Eleventh Commandment, free to you with free shipping. Just email your name and mailing address and name of the book to wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

The bottom line for the future manifested sons and daughters is that we must begin to pray the way He wants us to. His example prayer shows us what to pray for. It reveals the mind of Christ, which we are to have. It shows God that we are serious about His plan. Praying with the mind of Christ forming the words is worshiping in spirit and in truth.

It’s like when Christ asked, If your son asked you for bread, would you give Him a stone? If we ask Him for the spiritual tools to bring in His kingdom, He will have our back and give us what we need to fulfill His plan. We must align with His thoughts, purpose, and plan. This is loving and reverencing our Father. This is godliness in action.

Alas, not all worship is acceptable to God. There is “vain worship,” the opposite of the true.

Chapter 51

Vain Worship—The Opposite of True Worship

Truth is free from error. The Father is searching for “true worshipers.” Christ said, “The true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him” (John 4: 23-24). You want to get God’s attention? Start repenting of error filled worship and get into worshiping Him in a true way, and He will take notice of you. Because He is seeking out somebody like you–somebody who will get rid of the errors and get into the true way of worship. Christ taught us that our worship of the Father must not only be spiritual in nature, but also full of truth and free from error. Since He is the truth, our worship of Him must be grounded in truth, or it becomes “vain worship.” Vain worship is fruitless, futile worship. There is no profit in it; it affects nothing. God tells us to repent of error filled worship. This is part of “continuing steadfastly in the apostle’s doctrine” of repentance from dead works.

For vain worship happens when erroneous concepts about God are taught by the preachers, pastors, and priests. When natural men concoct doctrines out of the thin air of their imaginations, vain worship is born. “In vain do they worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” They disregard God’s words and teach unregenerate man’s traditions (Mark 7: 7-8). Their imaginations become doctrines, and these talking points become traditions, and then finally these false traditions become commandments for the masses to obey. This is error-filled vain worship.

Some Examples of Vain Worship

Churchianity is rife with false doctrines. Its foundation lies rotting on the sand. They say that repentance occurs when a sinner feels sorry for their sins and accepts Christ as their personal savior. Sorrow for sinful past actions is a good thing, but “godly sorrow produces repentance leading to salvation” (II Cor. 7: 10). The sinner wants to change his ways, but the preachers won’t tell them how He brings about that change in their hearts.

They have prospective Christians being baptized in water as a mandatory action before joining the church. But they don’t teach them that the real baptism happens when the old sinful self is immersed into Christ’s death. The sinner’s old heart and spirit must die with Christ and be buried with Him and be raised with Him through belief in His resurrection. This is the truth that we should rejoice in and worship in! This is true repentance from sin. But does anyone ever speak of our escape from sin and sinning, symbolized in water baptism (Rom. 6: 1-12)? Sadly, no. We all should ask the preachers, “Why aren’t you teaching Romans 6? Just read it aloud to the people, and let the Spirit reveal His truth to those that can receive it.”

Then there’s the matter with being “born again.” They say that feeling sorry and “coming down to the front” in an altar call is being born again. But there can be no new birth without the old seed of man’s sin nature dying first. Christ said, “He that loses his life for my sake and the kingdom’s sake will save it.” There must be a losing of one’s old sinful life before one can be “born again” or born from above, which is “being born of that incorruptible seed, the word of God” (I Pet. 1: 23).

Furthermore, they teach that “faith” is us believing God’s word—accent on “us” doing the believing. They say to the young Christian, “You got to have faith,” as if that person’s faith is a different commodity than the one that God has. There is only one faith; the Spirit in Paul made that clear in Ephesians 4: 3-5. The true faith is “the faith of the Son of God.” It is His faith. When we receive Christ’s Spirit, we receive His belief system; we now possess in our hearts the very same faith/belief that Christ displayed in the gospels!

It is not, “I have faith in God.” But rather it is, “God’s faith now is in me!” As the Spirit has said before, Paul gives us the secret that he lived by: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20). Paul was dead, yet alive with Christ living in his earthly body. And the life on earth that he was living, he lived by Christ’s faith. Nobody else’s. Notice that Paul did not say, “I live now in this flesh body because of my faith in God.” No.

Newsflash! The Spirit of Christ is not just living in apostles like Paul; Christ lives in our hearts, too!

We are told by Christ to worship the Father “in spirit and in truth.” But the Christianity of the churches lies seething in error taught today by their preachers, pastors, and priests. These false concepts prevent sincere Christians from worshiping in truth. You cannot worship God in truth if your mind is full of error. When we comprehend that the Father is the Spirit of Truth, then we will realize that no room exists for error in His house of worship. And we are His house.

His Love Is Greater than Falsehoods about Him

And yet, despite the false teachings about our King and Savior, His love still touches hearts. The story of Him giving up His earthly life as a ransom for us all reaches down deep into the core of our existence. When we glimpse that inscrutable, boundless love—the greatest love the world has ever heard of—it still pierces harden hearts and leaves an indelible imprint. Today, at this very moment while you read these words, Christ’s story is touching thousands despite all the false concepts and traditions about Him.

After all, He is Love Incarnate and is come down from above, filled to overflowing with abundant mercy upon all who open their heart to Him. No matter the dastardly sin nor the craven crime, He will touch all who come to Him sincerely. Even as He prayed for His mocking torturers, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do.” That’s our King; that is who He is.

His love calls many, but He chooses but a few to fulfill the spiritual life cycle and be His elect; they are chosen to be the first to grow to full maturity during these latter days. When you read the gospels, you will hear Christ speaking to those destined to be “conformed to the image” of the Son of God. Christ does not dumb the message down. It is open to all. “Whosoever will may come.” That’s the God we serve.

But He now commands us to learn of Him. Learn the true path, the uncharted narrow path that the eagle of Rome has not seen. The time has come to put away childish things—things that will stunt our spiritual growth, things that will prevent us from becoming like Peter, John and Paul, things that will block us from becoming fit to inherit the earth upon His return to this sad, corrupt globe.

When Christ returns to earth, the spiritual little children of God will not be admitted into Christ’s inner circle where He will assign His manifested sons and daughters their duties for the rulership of the planet.

If we want to be one of these 100-fold overcomers, it is time to put away the childish desires for oneself. It is time to seek Him and His purpose and plan and not material things that will all waste away. It is time to lay hold of the plow that will turn this world over, instituting His righteous government in its stead. It is time to quit playing church and begin to repent of the errors in our worship. For He is the only hope for the survival of mankind. Our destiny is to be used by Him to save the world. He is seeking a people who will worship Him in spirit and in truth. When He returns, will He find us doing that?

Chapter 52

How Do We Know If We Have Added Godliness?

In the vernacular of the day: It’s “getting real” when we begin to add Patience and then Godliness. These are the “deep things” that Christ talked about. Enduring the sufferings and trials winnows the wheat from the chaff. And then loving God for the chastening—that is more than many can endure. They are still unmistakably God’s children. It is like being accepted to go through Army Ranger and Special Forces training. Just because you don’t make the cut does not mean that you are not a good soldier.

At this stage of spiritual growth, we will have endured many hardships, trials, and temptations. We will have learned that a hardship or betrayal is “the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you.” But rejoice “because you are now a partaker of Christ’s sufferings. For He said, “If we suffer with Him, we will reign on His throne with Him.”

When we forgive God for allowing us to suffer, when we realize that when He chastens us, it is for our good. [Remember Joseph in Pharaoh’s dungeon for fourteen years before he was elevated to the throne of Egypt. We have not had it that bad. His love for Yah carried him through the trials.] Then we are ready to add godliness to patience or better put: We endure the trials until we begin to love and reverence God being appreciative of His mighty hand in our life. This is adding godliness to patience/endurance.

All this notwithstanding, how do we really know if we are on the right track? Are there passages of scriptures that will help us know if we’re adding godliness/the love of God to patience/endurance?

The Spirit has left us a measuring stick to see where we are in the process of adding godliness. The markings on the yardstick are labeled “reciprocation, forgiveness, obeying Christ’s new commandments and feeding the flock. These four are standards by which we will recognize not only godliness, but also the next addition—brotherly love [brotherly kindness in the KJV].

Reciprocation

“We love Him, because He first loved us” (I John 4:19).

“God is love [agape]” (I John 4:7). Since God is love, He is the source of love. “Love comes from God.” For us to be changed from a selfish, sinful child to a fountain of love, we must go to the spring of living waters.

But how do we get to the fountainhead? We are introduced to the heavenly agape selfless love by first knowing about it and then believing it. For “this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (I John 4: 10). Understanding and believing this display of His love shows us the source of all love. First, we attain this knowledge, and then, we believe it. Doing this sets in motion the reciprocation and channeling of His love through us to others.

Our hope of loving, like Christ loved us, hinges on this very thing. Christ took our sins upon him. When he died, our sinful nature died with him (Romans 6:1-12). This selfless act, written in his book since the beginning of time, shows us what agape love is. It is when we believe in his resurrection that his love for us comes into focus.

We must see that Christ sacrificed His life, not just for us, but for the whole world and everyone in it. “For God so loved the world…” We are touched, yes, but we are not the only ones that he loves and has given himself for. We must look outward to all the souls in the earth and realize that his heart is much bigger than our heart.

Since God loves and has sacrificed His mortal body for the person checking groceries ahead of us in line, then we should see them “after the Spirit” and not the way as before. Since God so loved all of us, we also ought to love one another.

We see that loving God starts with knowing and believing God’s love for us through the Son. Then this loving spirit “is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit” to our fellow man.

This is how we transition from loving God to loving our brothers and sisters more fervently. We reciprocate by loving God because he first loved us then we channel that agape love to the brethren who God loves just as much as us.

We are talking about loving like Christ loves. That is adding brotherly kindness, the love of our fellow human beings. Loving them with Christ’s love flowing out from us to them, the way He loved us. When we do this, we will know that godliness and brotherly kindness are working in our new life in Christ.

Our love for Christ is shown by our love for others. “Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister” (I John 4:21). That is difficult to do at times. But we do not get to pick and choose whom to love. Christ said, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them” (Luke 6:32). So, He is talking about a higher godlike love—agape love. “If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us (I John 4:12).

Adding godliness to patience and brotherly love to godliness is the road we are on. “Being forgiven much” is an important signboard telling us we are heading the right way.

Forgiven Much—Love Much

The second proof that we have added godliness/loving God, entails forgiveness. We see this in the story of the woman who washed Christ’s feet with her tears.

Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little” (Luke 7:47 NIV).

The woman washed the Savior’s feet with her tears in gratitude for Him forgiving her many sins. She was forgiven much; therefore, she loved much. For she believed that she was cleansed by the Savior’s word. Had she in her mind believed that she was already okay spiritually, she would not have loved much.

God has through Christ forgiven the whole world. All of us have been forgiven much. Those who realize just how much sin and degradation they have been forgiven will love much. The greater the deliverance from sin, the greater will be our love in gratitude to our Savior Yahshua.

Somebody is saying to themselves, “I believe in Christ. I was born and raised in church. I have been going to church all my life and have been a part of charities and missionary support. I have been saved for most of my life. I have not lived a life of utter degradation.” According to Christ, this heart is small and will not love greatly because it believes that its sin was slight. It does not believe that it has been forgiven of very much. This heart will not love much.

The person who believes that their sins were great and serious in nature— they will love and appreciate God more. They will love God much [godliness], and then they will love mankind much [brotherly love].

We all have been saved from utter degradation. It takes self-examination to see ourselves-how-God-sees our sinful, old nature self. There’s hope for us all in getting much closer to God and His love. It takes courage to peer into our selfish past and then turn our gaze to our righteous King in complete gratefulness. Like the woman who wiped His feet with her tears.

Christ tells us to abide in Him and commands us to forgive others like He forgave us. When we obey this command, His divine nature of agape love is shown and witnessed by others. This is how we continue in His love. His love is agape love, and it is only His love, now shown through us when we forgive each other, that can truly forgive.

When we forgive someone who has hurt us, then a facet of Christ’s love begins to shine through us. This is the abiding of His Spirit inside of our hearts. This is the continuing in His love. He said, “This is my commandment, That you love one another as I have loved you (John 15: 12). This love from above flowed through Him to forgive the world and all in it. Now He has commanded us to love each other as He was moved to love all of us—by first forgiving everything in everyone. Pre-emptive forgiveness. Forgiving people for being human. Forgiving God for dealing us an “imperfect” hand, which turns out to be just what we needed.

Obeying Christ’s New Commandments

The third way we can show that we love and reverence God is if we keep Christ’s commandments. He said, “A new commandment I give unto you, that you love one another.” And “If you love Me, keep my commandments.” And “He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves Me” (John 13:34; 14:15; 14:21).

We must know of our Creator’s purpose. His purpose is to reproduce Himself in human beings. He is Agape Love, and His will is to fulfill His purpose. He has a plan to accomplish this multiplication of Himself.

It is through this knowledge that light is shed on His plan. He has chosen His apostles, teachers, and prophets to expound on His plan to accomplish His purpose. And He is now revealing His plan to any who have an ear to hear and eyes to see.

The apostle John records Christ’s last major discourse in chapters fourteen through seventeen of the gospel of John. These teachings are for those chosen by Him to be used to fulfill God’s purpose. Christ calls this bearing “much fruit.” He likens the elect to being branches of Himself, the Vine.

To bear “much fruit,” we must abide in Christ and Christ in us. To abide we must obey Christ’s New Commandments. Bearing much spiritual fruit is called many things in scripture: the “manifestation of the sons of God,” “Christ in you, the hope of glory,” 100-fold fruit bearing found in Matthew 13; the remnant; the elect; the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.” They all lead to the fulfillment of His purpose—the reproduction of Agape Love in us.

Knowledge of the New Commandments

Christ gave several new commands to His elect. The New Commandments are not to be confused with the Ten Commandments. They go far beyond the Ten Commandments in spiritual depth. The Ten Commandments are a schoolmaster to bring us to the awareness of sin and our need for a Savior and His Spirit within our new heart. But Christ came to magnify the law. With His Spirit in us, we now are equipped to reproduce His love. And we do this by keeping His New Commandments. They are for His elect, His first fruits who will be exactly like the Seed/Son. They will be the first in this last generation to fully bear much fruit. I.e., the remnant in our day will bear the same spiritual fruit as the early apostles and Christ Himself. He said as much: “Greater works shall you do…”

These New Commandments serve as landmarks on the road to immortality. As we by faith in Him begin to first understand them and then obey them, we grow up spiritually, and His Spirit manifests Himself in us. For example, Christ commands His elect, “Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me.” This is a commandment. He explained it by saying, “I and My Father are one.” The elect will see the oneness of God and will believe Him (John 14: 11).

He commanded, “Abide in Me.” This means stay and remain in Him, like the branches stay in the Vine and do not detach themselves. Abiding in Him means staying in His teachings, purging out all the false doctrines and concepts that challenges the truth of God. If we stay in the false doctrines about God, we cannot abide in Him and He in us. But if we keep this commandment, we will bear much fruit, which is 100-fold spiritual fruit bearing.

Here are some of Christ’s New Commandments: 1. Abide in Me; 2. Believe that the Father is in Me; 3. Don’t judge others; 4. Forgive; 5. Give; 6. Love your enemies and each other; 7. Pray for others; 8. Do good to your persecutors; 9. Turn other cheek; 10. Seek first Kingdom of God; 11. Don’t think about tomorrow or earthly things; 12. Lay up treasures in heaven—Mt. 6: 20; 13. Resist not evil; 14. Be merciful like He is merciful.

Keeping the New Commandments Grows Love in Us

Keeping His commands exercises the Spirit of Love within us. God’s nature of divine agape love grows within our hearts. All His commands are facets of agape love. These new commands set the parameters. When they are obeyed from the heart, our actions show that God is in us of a truth. For only God can obey them.

Christ commands us many times. Each command reveals another aspect of His nature of agape love. He commands us to “forgive.” When we forgive those who have hurt and betrayed us, agape love grows within our hearts. Only God can forgive like this, and He is manifested in us when we obey His command to forgive. We are His offspring; He forgave, now we forgive. Each seed bears its own kind.

There are several more. One of them is “Feed My Lambs…Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).

Feeding His Lambs and Sheep

Feeding Christ’s lambs and sheep is the fourth way to see if we are loving the Father.

He said that if we love Him, we will keep His new commandments. One of them is “Feed my lambs…and sheep.” Obeying these shows that we love Him. Christ asked Peter three times: “Lovest thou Me?” After each affirmative answer, Christ said, “Feed My lambs. Feed My sheep. Feed My sheep” (John 21:15-17).

It is obviously important, but what was Christ telling Peter? He was saying to him and to all of us, “If you really love Me, you will be feeding my lambs and sheep.” Christ implies a spiritual growth with the lamb and sheep metaphor. It is much like the 30-, 60-, and 100-fold growth of the Parable of the Sower. After the lambs grow more mature, they become the sheep of His pasture. We are to continue sharing truth, feeding those sheep. He wants us to continue feeding His sheep.

We know that in the Parable of the Shepherd and the Sheep, Christ is the “good shepherd.” He gives His life for the sheep. He is not a hireling, “whose own the sheep are not, who sees the wolf coming, and leaves the sheep, and flees: and the wolf catches them and scatters them…” Christ continues, “I am the good shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of mine” (John 10:1-14; II Tim. 2:19).

Christ is the righteous shepherd in this parable, and we His people are His sheep. The hirelings are those pastors who are paid to oversee and care for and feed His sheep. The people in the pews are paying the hireling’s salary by their tithes and offerings.

But instead of resisting the falsehoods of the devil, symbolized by the wolf, the pastor/hireling flees. They should resist the devil and make him flee. They should not allow tainted false teachings about the Savior to be their flock’s food. Good shepherds feed their lambs and sheep with truth.

Christ was telling Peter, “You will prove your love for Me if you teach My plan, purpose, and life to My people.” He asked Peter three times if he loved Him. Peter said yes. Christ said, “Then feed my lambs…Feed my sheep…Feed my sheep” (John 21:15-17). Christ is telling all of us: If you love Me, then you will be teaching and sharing the truth to the body of Christ.

But what exactly are we to teach? We should teach “the apostles’ doctrine.” It is the teachings that the apostles taught. [Send for your free copy of my book, The Apostles’ Doctrine.] We start by teaching the “foundation of repentance from dead works and faith toward God” (Heb. 6:1-2). We also teach the purpose of Yah which is this: He is Love, and He is reproducing Himself in us. We also should teach His plan to fulfill His purpose.

Feeding His flock with this food is loving God, which is godliness. The act of teaching others in the body is adding “brotherly kindness.” It is loving our brothers and sisters.

Chapter 53

Brotherly Kindness Added to Godliness

Godliness (love for God) can only be added to a heart exercising great patience, a heart that has endured not only the correction of the Father, but also the hardness of life on earth. When we have endured hardness and correction as a good soldier of Christ [the adding of patience/endurance], then in His own timing, we will receive understanding to begin to appreciate his glorious vision for us as His children. Godliness is when we add to patience a love for our Father. We finally understand His correction and chastening as an important part of His love for us. This understanding grows into first, appreciation, and then it ripens into a reverence for Him. This love and reverence is “godliness.”

And then we are to add “brotherly kindness” to this reverence and love for God [godliness]. “Brotherly kindness” is translated from the Greek word philadelphia, meaning “brotherly love.” It is translated as such in Romans 12:10; I Thess. 4:9; and Hebrews 13:1. The reverence and love for God [godliness] is first to be added, and then love for the brethren [God’s love for the brethren] is channeled through us to them.

It is here that He reveals to us from His word certain ways we are to love Him. These ways involve our fellow human beings. We are to love them with that same newfound love that we love our Father with.

He has left us with several commandments, which all involve loving our fellow man. He says that we must “love each other the way I have loved you.” That is the 11th commandment [send for my new book of the same name–free with free shipping—to wayneman5@hotmail.com ]. And then Christ commands us to forgive, to give, to teach and to edify each other, to name but a few. We see in this a built-in addition of brotherly love to godliness/loving God.

The following chapters contain elements of the fourth, fifth, and sixth additions to the faith—patience, godliness, and brotherly love. All three are intertwined and are part of each other. Ask Him and He will show you how it works.

Chapter 54

Everyone Wants to Be Loved

Everyone wants to be loved, to be cared for, thought of kindly, smiled upon, approved of, praised as worthy. The answer to this innate human desire is called “brotherly kindness,” the sixth addition to the faith.

Everyone wants to be loved. It is the universal spiritual need that stares us all in the face. When our eyes meet, we witness simultaneously the same longing ache that we see when we peer into a looking glass and see the loneliness reflected in our own two wells of tears.

Everyone wants to be loved. We spend much of our lives searching for “the one,” the one who can fill that longing. A cosmic vacuum exists in the human heart, and no one is there to fill its aching need for love.

And there is only one earthly organism on the planet that is specifically designed to channel the kind of love that we all need. Only one being on earth can love another the exact way that they want to be loved. And that is the human being. We are all human. So then, why can’t we simply meet the need and fill the vacuum and just love everyone?

Someone will say, Well, I love people. Yet, Christ tells us, “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” Whoa. You mean we are to love everyone? He continues, “But love your enemies, and do good…and your reward shall be great, and you shall be the children of the Highest” [1].

Everyone wants to be loved. But natural man has an irrational fear of rejection. It is irrational because even a toddler teaches us its folly when they unconditionally embrace us and drown us with wet kisses. They have no fear of rejection, for innately they know that everyone wants to be loved.

So, what happens to us? After our brief taste of the victory of fearless love as toddlers, what prevents us from giving what everyone wants?

If we can agree that the Creator made us this way–both with the need for love and the capacity to selflessly channel it–then we must realize that He has made a way for us to do it–to be the riverbeds of the living waters of the love from above that will fill the vacuum.

God is this love–this agape love. He through His Spirit will flow this selfless love and help us fulfill our destiny as His conduits, channeling His love to those who need it. For everyone wants to be loved.

The Price

But to be one of the “children of the Highest” who will love everyone like their Father does, there is a price to be paid. It costs something. And we should “count the cost,” as He admonished us to do [2].

It costs us our old life and all our allegiances to the people and things we deemed important. And to pay the cost, we must bear our own cross and follow Him.

How do we do that? We must let our old spiritual heart die with the Son of God on His cross. We must die with Him, be buried with Him, and be resurrected with Him. This happens when we believe that God raised up Christ from the grave. We, too, now are resurrected “to walk in a newness of life” [3].

It all starts at the cross–now our cross. We, like Christ, show the greatest love when we lay down our lives for another [4]. There is no greater love. He did it, and now as the “children of the Highest,” we do it. And then God’s love will flow through us. Then we will be used by our Creator to be His fountain of fearless love, His essence, agape love. For “God is love” [5].

Then we will conquer the fear of being rejected. For “perfect love casts out fear” [6]. With our old selves dead and gone, we will be able to channel Christ’s Spirit of love back to God by loving others.

And then great joy will be ours, for we will have the capacity to fulfill everyone’s desire. For everyone wants to be loved. That vision is wonderful; it is what God wants for us.

But “judgement must begin at home.” We must let love flow out to our own flesh and blood first before reaching out to others. But how do we love our wives?

Luke 6:27-35 2. Luke 14:27-33 3. Col. 2:11-12; Rom. 6:1-12 4. John 15:13 5. I John 4:8 6. I John 4:18

Chapter 55

Husbands and Wives—Conversations with the Seer

(Formerly in Israel, if a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the Seer,” because the prophet of today used to be called a Seer. I Samuel 9:9)

Brotherly love, the sixth addition to the faith, begins at home. Loving one’s wife is loving one’s own self. She is one flesh with her husband. This is the first step in loving others. That first step is usually the hardest one. It takes us changing.

Change in us may begin its work in a flash moment, but it completes its work in decades of walking down Love’s humbling path.

I was having marital problems. I was young, stuffed with the pride of youth that directed my tongue. So, I broke down and decided to seek help. I barely had enough time to sit down, and before I had spoken a word, the Seer asked, “Troubles with the wife?”

“Yes. How did you know?”

“The Spirit, if your heart is attuned, picks up on these things. It’s really not difficult to discern because ‘all things come alike to all.’ We all come up the same way” [1].

“My wife is always bringing me down. It’s frustrating. I’ll get a wonderful revelation about God, and I am so enthused, and I try to share it with her, and all she has to say is, ‘Yeah, that’s great, but would you help me, please? Could you do something around here? Help straighten up the house. Check on the kids.’ Things like that.”

The Seer just looked at me as if looking through a window at the wind blowing through a white oak tree. “We on our spiritual walk back to the Father’s heart must not get too heavenly minded to be of any earthly good.”

I looked at him as if he were speaking Chinese. “What? What do you mean?”

“It is all about taking the heavenly things like love and mercy and putting them into action here on earth. Christ did it and then taught it” [2].

“She makes me mad,” I continued. “It’s like she deliberately throws on me all this negativity, like a wet blanket. Instead of rejoicing with me, she just smothers me. I try to correct her and get her to stop, but that just sets her off and we start fussing and fighting.”

“Oh, you mustn’t try to stop her,” the Seer said. “Goodness, no. Never try to prevent someone from doing God’s will.”

“God’s will?” I asked. “A wife so earthly minded that she can’t get past the pots and pans and diapers is doing God’s will?”

“They are your pots and pans and your children’s clothes. Let me explain what is spiritually happening. God Himself has created your wife exactly the way she is in every respect. He has made her to be your absolute complement. She, with all her faults and all her many unappreciated virtues, is exactly what the Great Physician ordered–for you and your perfection.”

“My perfection?” I asked.

“She’s your help meet, isn’t she?” [3].

“Yes.”

“Well, then, she is being a good help meet because she’s helping you meet God. Look. She is merely speaking what is in the script written by God–as if He had with a thoughtful quill inked upon her DNA the lines she speaks to help you mature spiritually. And her reactions to you and her ‘negative’ comments to you about your ways are all ordained, scribed, and orchestrated by God to get a rise out of you.”

“It does that,” I said. “But she should be honoring her husband and not putting him down all the time.”

“You don’t need a wife that praises your every word or whim. That would not bring you to perfection. In fact, it would ruin you for God’s purposes.”

“I still don’t get it.”

“You see,” the Seer continued, “You have many faults that must be purged out of your life before full spiritual maturity comes. God uses wives to help us grow from a babe in Christ to a young man. A ‘woman shall be saved in child bearing’ [4]. She not only rears your earthly children, but also helps to rear the spiritual child of God in her life–you, her husband. She cannot change the way she has been created. She is saying exactly what the Father has entrusted her to say to you.”

“It just makes me mad,” I said.

“There. Right there in that thought–that unjust anger is an example of the kind of things that God desires to erase out of your life. And your wife will continue to bring it out–not to be mean, as you suppose. She has to. She doesn’t even realize that God is using her for the purpose of burning out the dross that lurks around your new faith. Yet, she will continue saying her lines as a faithful player on the stage of life–until you get it.”

“Get what?” I asked, still not understanding the depth of the matter.

“When you finally understand these words I’ve spoken and believed them–then you will have gained several precious life lessons. Number one. That God is totally sovereign and in complete control. He uses anyone and anything He desires to effect a change in one of His chosen ones–one of His elect sons of God. Two. God’s ways are not our ways. We would not perfect us the way He does. We would much rather sit in the sunshine munching Oreos as the way to make big changes in our life. Third. We need to be grateful for God’s love to us. He has chosen us as His offspring. He did not have to pick us to reveal Himself in us. So, just be grateful for your wife and don’t be bitter towards her [5]. God is using her to do a great work in you.”

“It doesn’t seem so great right now,” I said.

“When you receive this truth that I’ve shared with you, you won’t get angry and frustrated with her. You’ll know the truth that it is all God’s doing, flowing out from His heart of love. Right now you are buffeted for your own faults [6]. What will you do when you are persecuted unjustly?”

“I don’t know.”

“When it happens, just know that it is still God doing His work of perfection in you.” The Seer paused. “But, enough of this now. Tell me. What is your wife’s favorite candy bar?”

“Almond Hershey.”

“Tell you what. Go buy her one. And with no fanfare, hand it to her and tell her that you love her.”

I did what He said. And that little gesture generated a smile on her face that said, “He understands.” But all I understood that day was the magic of chocolate. She would receive several Almond Hersheys throughout the years. But it would take decades for me to finally understand and appreciate the message he gave me that day.

Eccle. 9: 2
Acts 1: 1
Gen. 2: 18
I Tim. 2: 15
Col. 3: 19
I Peter 2: 20

Chapter 57

How to Love Our Wives as Christ Loves Us

I was having trouble in my marriage. I asked the Seer, “What do I do?”

“Do you really love her?”

“Yes, I do, but I don’t know how to live with her. We are always getting into arguments, and we can’t see eye to eye on anything.” I looked down and cradled my face in my hands.

“There’s no need for all this anxiety and frustration. There is an answer, but it lies in you and the choice you will have to make.”

“What choice?” I looked up and he was smiling at me–a smile that hides a secret of the ages, a smile that shields a life-changing truth. I feel it coming; the problem will be solved soon.

“The first thing that you must realize is that you are reaping a harvest of the seeds you have sown in your garden. For, you see, your wife is your precious spiritual garden. Whatever seeds you sow into her, whatever words you speak to her and around her, they shall come up and grow and come to harvest.

“I don’t get it. She is my garden?”

“Even in the natural sense, do you not sow your earthly seed into the garden of her womb and in nine months you both reap a lovely child. Is it a great wonder that your words are seeds that will be harvested in her, for good or bad? The Law of Harvest says that whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap. You are the husbandman of your very own Garden of Eden. With God’s help, you can make it a garden of delight with joy and peace, or you can make it a garden of misery.”

“Why is it up to me? She is the one who is so unreasonable. She needs to change, doesn’t she?”

“Oh, yes, she will change. She already has changed, and she has become in your relationship what you have created in her. When you express your selfish desires, she languishes and dries up inside for the lack of the water of love that you should supply. Your sarcasm and cynicism bring forth noxious weeds of doubt in her thoughts toward you. When you are fearful and anxious, she will be perplexed. But if you sow selfless love into her heart, she will bear the peaceable fruit of harmony and love for you.”

He paused a moment. I painfully peered out the window at an irritated blue jay squawking about nothing. “Your words to her are seeds that fall literally into your wife’s ears and settle in her heart. And like the Master tells us, the condition of the heart dictates the thoughts that enter her mind and later proceeds out of her mouth. If you want to see a wife who blooms in peaceful colors of the rainbow, whose smile draws the butterflies, whose song coos so that songbirds thrill to hear her–then you have to take responsibility for what your garden is bearing right now and what it will bear in due season.”

“How do I take responsibility?” I asked.

“You can start by sincerely apologizing for an unkind word, a careless jab, a thoughtless snarl. For it is humility that will melt her heart toward you. Humble yourself and you will win her. Remain prideful and strong in your own ways, and you will lose her heart, if not her body.

“For we husbands are to love our wives, even as Christ loved all of us. And how did He love us? He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death. He gave Himself for us. Had He not done this, we would all feel lost and hopeless–the way many wives feel in their marriages.”

“I do not know how to do this,” I confessed.

“You must seek Him now. Humble yourself and ask Him for help. If you cannot express humility to your Creator, you cannot walk humbly toward others on earth. He will give you the patience to not only reap what you have already sown, but also to replant the peace-yielding seeds of agape love from above. “Your wife is your gift from God to help you get back to Him. Embrace your gift and you embrace Him.”

I thanked him and stepped out of his cabin. I didn’t get it all then. But I sincerely tried to put it into practice. God has been good, helping me through the highs and lows. Things are pretty good now, fifty years on.

Chapter 57

Brotherly Love Seen in The Prodigal Son

For most, the parable of the prodigal son is the nice little story of the son who left home and became destitute by squandering his inheritance. He then returned to the loving arms of his father, and his big brother had a problem with it.

Most keep this on an earthly plain. Most take this as a metaphor for our earthly walk–how we sinners finally hit bottom and then return to God by accepting Christ.

However, this parable goes much deeper than a salvation picture. Remember that parables reveal heavenly “secrets” and “mysteries.” The Savior was speaking parables to the masses. The disciples asked Christ, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” He told them that the “mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven” was given to the disciples but not to the masses. The point for us here is that the revealing of the “mysteries of the Kingdom of heaven” are contained in His parables. Parables reveal secrets to those who are supposed to know. They prevent the revealing of heavenly secrets to those who are not supposed to know—at that time (Matthew 13:10-17).

Parables, like the parable of the Prodigal Son, speak of heavenly things, things that originate in the heavenlies. These heavenly mysteries are the record in heaven, and they are to be witnessed in the earth.

The Parable Explained

The Father had two sons. The younger son asked for his inheritance and the Father obliged. Keep in mind that these are heavenly things. They are hidden in the heavens, and we are to start there, from that vantage point and not from the earth looking “up.”

First, they both are with their Father. King David said that God “has been our dwelling place in all generations.” Christ said, “You have been with me from the beginning.” That particular “beginning” is from the same Greek word in John 1:1— “In the beginning was the Word.” Same “beginning.”

So, the spirit of the younger son is allowed to go with the father’s blessing. His departure was in the will of his father that he go down to earth, the hot house of sin and degradation. This son is a metaphor for us in our first sinful adamic state. The son squanders his inheritance and is relegated to the swine pens of the earth. Finally, he awakens to his true spiritual inheritance of being God’s son. He repents of his sin and his heart turns back to his Father, who forgives him. This corresponds to us coming to Christ, repenting, and walking in a new life.

Like the father in the parable, our Father had compassion for us and welcomed us back with a festive celebration. Angels sing in heaven over one sinner who repents.

The older son represents us after we have been back with the Father for a while. We have been walking with our Father, accepted in the Christian brotherhood, but have not perfected agape love in our spirit. The older son in the parable is “older in the Lord.” We find an admonition in his negative reaction to his brother’s return. Here is what happened. “Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him your brother is come and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.

“And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore, came his Father out, and entreated him, and he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve you neither transgressed by at any time your commandment: and yet, you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this that your son was come, which has devoured your living with harlots you have killed for him the fatted calf.

“And he said unto him, Son, you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours. It was meet that we should make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:25-32).

We are to open our hearts and fully love the rest of God’s elect coming into the body of Christ. In other words, we are to add brotherly love to those coming into the body of Christ and to others coming in later.

Chapter 58

Brotherly Kindness–Seeing Others Like God Sees Them

We have a spiritual body; it corresponds to our natural body. In the resurrection that is coming, our spiritual body will engulf our natural body. We are groaning, being burdened, as we live here now in these earthly bodies. We want our new spiritual body to swallow up our mortality with immortality, as Christ has promised (I Cor. 15:44; II Cor. 5:4-5).

And He tells us to not look on the flesh but after the Spirit. “So, from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view” (II Cor. 5:16). We must see our brethren from a spiritual point of view.

What if we started to see each other as already in our spiritual bodies? Would we love each other more if we saw each other that way? Is that looking after the spirit? Would we show more respect, more appreciation, more love?

God calls those things that be not as though they were. We are, by His Spirit, to do the same thing. Christ sees His people not strapped and helpless, but transcendent, as if we were already walking in our glorified vessels. He sees the works being finished in us.

He sees our fellow man, not as His adversary, but as his brother and sister. He sees all of us in our glorified bodies. That is how he sees us. Should we not see each other the same way?

Seeing each other that way, would that not put a jolt of love through us when we see that person coming–giving them the benefit of the doubt, not being defensive, not eager to spar with them, not expecting a fight, but rather love and edify them and tell them about God’s plan to redeem us and them, to reproduce Himself in us all.

Even if they had not a clue as to the glory reserved and prepared for them, would not hearts melt at the bridge extended out to them from God’s heart? Because He loves them as they were, are, and shall be.

Brotherly love is realized in our hearts when we see our neighbor as God sees him. God sees his potential. He has great faith that they welcome Him and realize the spiritual grandeur that awaits them.

Like He Loves Us

One of Christ’s new commandments is the Eleventh Commandment: Love one another the way that He loves us. Brotherly love stems from Christ-love. As the Spirit has said many times: We must grasp the depth of His love when He gave up his life on the cross. Then we will look upon the people whom He died for. This is the only way to tap into the Spirit of Christ. We must go to the source of love, and that is God.

So, where do we start? When we pray for each other, we are petitioning the very source of love to intervene in our brethren’s lives with agape love. We are going to the source of divine love. We are going to agape love [God is agape love]. We are interceding on behalf of the brothers and sisters, asking LOVE to help our brother.

This is loving them. We take the lower seat when we put them in touch with our King, the King of everlasting love, joy, and peace. When we ask God to increase His presence and divine nature in our brothers and sisters, we are adding brotherly love to godliness. This leads us to the seventh addition to the faith—Agape love.

Chapter 59

On Adding Charity/Agape Love

By adding brotherly kindness, we now are commanded to add agape love itself. This is adding God, the consuming fire, into our spiritual dwelling. This is the major leagues. This is the big show. This is for all the marbles [Excuse my drifting back into childhood metaphors for a moment]. This is adding very God-is-Love Himself into our being. This is Christ-in-you. Look at the Son of God; His Spirit is coming to dwell in us!

But what is agape love exactly? That question could be, Who is God? “God is agape” (I John 4:8). When attempting to put on paper truths of God’s essence, we see this: it is deeper than the ocean and more brilliant than the Milky Way. He is more majestic then a million galaxies spread out before us on a cloudless night.

This God who created the heavens and the earth has left us the witness of his Son. His Son calms our thoughts and explains through His words and actions just who the Father is.

Studying his word draws us closer to who He is. Christ said that the Father and Creator of the universe was in Him, the Son. When we study Christ, we will learn who our Father is. He is agape/love. And now we are attempting to put lightning into the bottle of our slow-to-believe hearts.

The following chapters will endeavor to reveal who He is and what he does and will do when He comes to abide in us. This abiding is the same thing as adding agape love.

Chapter 60

Adding Agape Love to Brotherly Love

In this, the seventh addition to the faith, we are to add “charity,” according to the King James Version. Our thoughts immediately think of this word as concerning doing charitable works. This is unfortunate and has clouded the meaning of this passage.

The King James translators did us all a disservice by translating the Greek word agape “charity.” Agape means “divine love,” distinguishing it from other types of love. In many places, they do translate agape as “love,” as in “God is love.” This is more accurate, especially for 21st century readers.

To be fair to the translators, we see this definition of “charity” in the Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 5^th Edition: “Now rare. Divine love for man.” And then the most common definition: “Good will to the poor and suffering.” The latter is admirable, but we shall see that both fall short of the full meaning of agape love, which we are to add.

Consequently, it reads more accurately: “Add to brotherly kindness agape love.” Since agape is God and is divine love, then we are to add our Father’s complete Spirit of love to His divine nature within us.

Adding agape love is the capstone of the spiritual growth cycle. Adding agape love is adding God, where we are nothing and He is everything, where everything is subsumed, according to His will. We are speaking about His plan at “the fullness of the times, to bring all things together in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth” (Eph. 1:10 CSB).

This agape love is “the fullness of the godhead in Christ and in his body. Someday soon that will be us who will follow the narrow path. Adding agape love is the 100-fold spiritual growth–no more being children, nor young men, but fathers and virtuous women in the faith (Matt. 13:8, 23; I John 1:13-14; Prov. 31:10-31).

This is the “mark of the prize of the high calling…” This is for all the marbles. This is spiritual maturity. This is Christ being “formed in you and me.” This is not only our perfection, but the completion of God’s purpose of reproducing himself, in Christ and his body—us. There is no greater honor and glory than to be a part of Christ’s body of sons and daughters. All of this is under the banner of adding agape love.

The following chapters will explore facets of what the inspired word of God says about this capstone of spiritual growth. We will examine these aspects of agape love: A scriptural definition; characteristics of agape; the need for agape/love in this world; a further understanding of what agape is; how to add it to the faith; the spiritual fruit that is borne in our lives because of this addition; a summation of how agape and the other additions can affect our lives in Christ.

Chapter 61

Characteristics of the Greatest Love

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

The greatest love in this universe is God Himself, for He is Love. Some are destined to receive this Spirit of the greatest love when they add it to their faith. This is the seventh addition to the faith.

Those Christians chosen by God to answer the “high calling” in being His manifested sons and daughters in these last days must add seven things to their faith “obtained” from Him. The apostle Peter clearly lines them out in his second letter. The last one is agape, the divine love that is God Himself (II Peter 1:4-11; Eph. 1:4).

When added, these seven attributes make us “partakers of the divine nature.” They ensure that we will never be “barren nor unfruitful” in Him. Adding them is the way to “make [our] calling and election sure.” In other words, they are extremely important to study out and incorporate into our being.

Adding “godliness” is adding an increased love and appreciation of God. Adding “brotherly kindness” is loving our fellow man as God does. Adding agape love to them is when the very essence of God’s divine nature, which is Love, is placed by Him into His temple, you and me.

“Love, Love, Love”

The poets and writers know that “love is all you need,” that “love is the answer,” that “nobody gets too much” of it. They herald love’s necessity today, as they have since mankind first spoke of their feelings. They know that “what the world needs now is love, sweet love.” We hum the tunes and whisper the words of this ancient truth, but how do we tap into and receive into our hearts that divine entity, that attribute of the divine nature that eludes us?

We first look to family for love, to our dear mothers who innately gave of themselves to us. Then to friends and acquaintances we go searching for love and acceptance. Then on to our search for “the one,” the one we will marry, the one who will love us surely; surely, they will.

Natural mankind is filled with this longing to be loved. But the very people that he wants love, respect, and admiration from do not know how to give it really. Unconditional love is not man’s forte because it is the divine love that mankind is really craving. For only divine love is strong and selfless enough to forgive mankind’s sins and shortcomings. Besides, the very person that we seek unconditional love from is limited, also, and doesn’t have the capacity to love like that. Most are bogged down in their own pursuit of love for themselves from others in this world.

And so, this unrequited love on all sides seethes oftentimes into a bitter bile of dissatisfaction and dismay. The swirl of perceived rejection and angst can begin to flush one’s mind down into the pit of despair.

Consequently, the real need for us all is to forgive those who have not loved us like we thought they should have. But forgiveness only issues from a heart of love.

Alexander Pope, the 18th Century English poet, was right. “To err is human; to forgive divine.” The water of forgiveness can only be drawn from the divine well of Love. Agape love is the fountain of forgiveness. I cannot forgive you unless I love you because forgiveness is fashioned only from a heart of love.

Where Is This Fountain of Love?

But where do we get that divine love? Where is that rarefied pool of love, the “living waters” that we sojourners may drink and fill our hearts for our journey through “the valley of the shadow of death”?

It comes from God, for “God is love” (I John 4:8,16). Everyone knows that; it’s been repeated over and over down through the millennia. Yet, repeating it will still not fill us with this most ethereal of elixirs, agape love.

The Key

The key lies in answering this question: How is it that “God is love”? How is He agape love? Why is He love? We begin to sip this life-giving love when we finally see it in action. But not just see it. We must believe it, believe in it, trust it, breathe it, and live it.

For God, who is Divine Love, poured His essence of love into a man. Agape love is the Word, and the Word was God, and Love “was made flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:1,14). This Divine Love was incarnated in Christ and dwelt with mankind in the form of our Savior.

When we believe Christ’s story of God’s great love displayed when Christ laid down His life for the salvation of the world, we begin to add His nature of divine love to our spirit. When we believe in His death, burial, and resurrection, then through faith (belief) in Him and this very action of love, we begin to tap into that flow of the Spirit of love. He begins to love that hard to love person in our life through us. It is God who is loving them through us. He is the actor, we are the medium.

Our belief in His resurrection in us localizes God, who is love. Our belief in His resurrection raises up His Spirit of love in us, the divine Spirit of love. This is how God magnifies and multiplies Himself. He reproduces Himself through His spiritual nature of love manifested through us, His offspring.

Christ showed the greatest love in the universe when He willingly laid down His life for us. Meditating on this revelation of the greatest love witnessed on earth in Christ is the key to exponential spiritual growth. It is the key to understanding the Holy Bible. It is the key to solving all the mysteries of God.

How Will We Know?

Someone will ask, “How will we know when a person has added the seventh addition to the faith? The Spirit through the apostle Paul answers this question in I Cor.13. This chapter unveils the heart of the one who has added agape/love to the faith of Christ that now resides in us.

Agape/love: What it is, is what it does. We discover something precious when we see what it does. Actions reveal what and who we are. It is the same with agape love. When it is present, we see the Spirit of Christ in them. The Father, the Holy Spirit, reveals Himself in our obedience to Christ. This is agape love–that we walk in obedience to his commandments. “For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (I John 5:3). Obeying Christ’s new commandments is proof that agape is added. [My book entitled The Eleventh Commandment goes into detail. It is free with free shipping. Just ask in an email wayneman5@hotmail.com].

The Standard of Agape

The standard of agape/love is in I Corinthians 13. The King James version uses the word “charity” for the Greek word agape, which means divine “love.”

The Spirit is speaking. He says that no matter how many spiritual gifts that we may demonstrate, we are nothing without agape (verses 1-2). We can do good works for our fellow man, even giving up our life, and if we don’t have agape love, there is no profit (verse 3).

And then the Spirit describes one who has agape/love. Love is patient, longsuffering, and kind. Divine love on this level is not envious of others. It is not a braggard; it does not boast about things accomplished but gives the glory to God. It is not rude and self-centered. It puts others ahead of itself. Love knows that “the greatest among us are servants of all.” Love “is not easily angered” and “keeps no record of wrongs” against itself. Love does not hold grudges, but rather, it forgives. Love does not delight and think on evil. Love “rejoices in the truth.” Love “always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” It endures all that the spiritual world and the physical world throws at us (verses 4-7).

Agape/Love is the seventh addition to the faith. When we have added it, this standard of maturity will describe you and me. We will see that Love is the only thing that will conquer all. It will never fail. Prophecies will fail because they will come to pass and cease. Other languages that the Spirit will speak through us—they will stop. Knowledge? It will all pass away. For we only have a small part of His knowledge. And so, we can only speak to that bit of knowledge in our present spiritual growth. “But when perfection [full spiritual maturity] comes,” then all our spiritual childishness will disappear in His full presence (vs. 8-10).

It is here that the Spirit reveals more proof that there are different growth levels in the Christian walk. He mentions the differences between a child and a man of God. “When I became a child, I talked like a child.” A child of God will do the opposite of what agape/love does. A child is impatient, unkind at times, envious, may brag a bit subtly, and so on. “I thought like a child.” A child of God’s thoughts are not the Father’s thoughts about His plan and purpose. “I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put away childish ways behind me” (v. 11).

He is saying that even though he knows in part, he will someday see the Master face to face. Then he will “know fully, even as I am fully known (v.12). We have faith and hope at present because we are waiting for full maturity of the Spirit within us. That is why the greatest is agape love (v. 13, KJV and NIV].

Let us keep digging for this treasure of Love. It is, after all, our great need.

Chapter 62

The Need for Agape—The Last Addition to the Faith

Life and its meaning boil down to one thing—love. Without love hearts petrify into parched limestone. Without love man’s tears become empty waterless mirages. When man cares not for others, he becomes a deserted island where no fresh water runs into the salty sea.

Our reality, our dreams, and our destinies hinge on love. But this is no ordinary eros love, which is the fleshly romantic love seared in lust. Neither is it man’s love. No. This is agape love, the love that comes from above, not beneath. This love is the beating heart of God our Creator and Savior. “God is love.” And it is this love that gives, forgives, and has mercy on human beings. We are talking love that is the “divine nature.”

God’s purpose in our existence is not just to show His love to us; rather it is to love others through us. It is all about “Love from above—down and through.” His plan is profoundly simple, and yet impossible to fulfill in mankind’s first state of sinful selfishness.

We have a very important part to play in His purpose, which is this: God is in the process of reproducing Himself in human beings. Since He is agape love, He is reproducing Love—Himself. The abiding that we refer to is when His Spirit, which is Love, comes into us and abides/remains/stays in us. This abiding grows when we give, forgive, and do the other “New Commandments” Christ has given to us. When we channel His love onto another, His nature of love is reproduced magnified, thus fulfilling His purpose.

God has a plan to guide us into a position to receive His Spirit of agape love into the center of our being. Christ, the Son of God is central to this plan. It is only He that shows us the way to more fully receive the Father into our hearts. For He is the way. He is the road, the avenue to get there.

He lined out the secrets and mysteries to His apostles. They have shared the way with us in the letters they wrote to the church in the first century A.D. Peter tells us that we will reach spiritual maturity when we add seven additions to the faith (II Peter 1: 3-11). The last one is agape love.

This agape love is the “Spirit of truth” that will inhabit and remain in us, guiding us into all truth. Agape love is based in truth. If there is any falseness, then it is not agape love, for He is truth; His word is truth. If there are any false teachings, then the Spirit of truth cannot abide/remain/stay in us. [It is not coincidental that the very next chapter of II Peter is a stern warning to us all concerning “false prophets” and “false teachers” who will bring in heresies that will prevent us from fulfilling God’s purpose.]

Remember Christ clearing out the temple? We are the temple—the temple of God! All money changers of selfish and worldly thinking and error filled thoughts must be banished from our hearts. Then His Spirit will abide/remain/stay in us and take up residence. And through the presence of His Spirit within, His love will grow, and He will be reproduced within us.

Chapter 63

What the World Needs Now Is…Agape Love

Life is really all about love. Rather, a fulfilled life is all about love. Books, songs, poems, and most artistic masterpieces have as their major theme something about love. It is “what the world needs now.”

So, we have the thinkers and poets penning down for the masses the hidden longings of the heart, for love. Although they may not realize it, mankind’s longing for love is really a desperate desire for God on some level. For there is only one entity in the universe that islove, and that is God, for “God is love” (I John 4: 16).

Thus, mankind’s search for love ends when he finds God. Seeking to be loved from another individual is seeking an earnest of God that He has placed in man and woman, who was created in His image.

The Hebrew prophets and apostles speak of just these very things. The Son of God Himself spoke of love, living it out dramatically through His Passion. He is Love incarnate, for He exhibited the greatest love that a mortal can ever do–to lay down his life for his friends.

This act of self-sacrifice for another instantly touches the human heart like no other act. The Son of God presented Himself the sacrificial Lamb for our deliverance, and now He asks His followers to do the same. But this time we are “to present our bodies a living sacrifice.” Through this humble service to our King, we will not become self-centered proteges of this world system, but we will be “transformed by the renewing of our minds.” We will change into His image through thinking His way, by His Spirit. (Romans 12: 1-2).

Now His Holy Spirit of Love multiplies and abounds in us when we do what He did, which is lay down our lives to help save mankind from a life without love (God). It is not so we can escape hell and go to heaven. That is not why He laid His life down. To follow Him, we must do it for the same reason.

How Do We Lay Our Lives Down Like Christ Did?

He wants us to join Him on the cross. The moment just before Christ died, all of the sins of mankind were place upon Him. He wants us at first to join Him on the cross. This signifies that our old haunts and sinful desires and deeds coming out of our old heart die with Him. Our old sinful nature died with Christ that day. And “he that is dead is freed from sin” (Romans 6: 7). We are free from the enslavement to sin and sinning that was our old selfish life! The problem is many just do not believe it. They have not heard of it and are loathe to believe anything “new.” They think that it is impossible to be rid of sin in a Christian’s life. But is anything too hard for God? To him that believes, aren’t all things possible with God? (I John 3: 9).

Dying with Him is the initial baptism or immersion into His death. Then we believe that we are buried with Him. And then we believe that He was raised from the dead after 72 lifeless hours in the tomb. It is through believing in His resurrection that enables us to believe that we are raised from the dead, too! (Romans 6: 4-5). This is His faith, His belief. When we also believe this great act of the greatest love, then we receive His Spirit of life and love, and we walk “in a newness of life”! And love!

His resurrection power is born of love. For it surges forth after the selfless act of laying down His life for His friends, the greatest love. Our conscious act of following Christ in doing this is met with the resurrection power of love (God), now in us.

Spiritually Growing

And then we, “as newborn babes,” are to spiritually grow in Him. Or rather, we will spiritually grow as the Spirit of Love grows in us.

“Babes in Christ” need the “sincere milk of the word” to grow properly. They are, of course, mostly alive in their new life for what they can receive from the Father. Their prayers reflect this, for their petitions center on their own needs. This is why Christ teaches all of us to “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” and all our earthly needs will be supplied. But it takes a spiritual growth to become mature in Him enough to do this. A growth that the milk and then the meat of the Word will accomplish. For we all must be taught His thoughts, desires, and will, to grow (I Peter 2.2; Matt. 6: 31-34).

But herein lies the problem. Instead of the sincere and uncorrupted milk and later meat of the Word, they are fed with half-truths, imaginations, and traditions of men about God and not the “food that is needful for [them]” (Prov. 30: 8). Thus, the little children of God, lamentably, are stunted in their spiritual growth in Christ, stunted by erroneous concepts of the Savior and His plan for this world.

But a “babe in Christ” is like a child fed only with junk food their whole life. When the white sugar, corn syrup, and white flour products are taken away and a wholesome diet is placed in front of them, they will say that the old junk food is better. “And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new; for he says, The old is better.” “Wine” is universally accepted to be a symbol of “doctrine” (Luke 5: 39).

Warnings about this problem in the last days fill the writings of the apostles of Christ. All the New Testament writers, along with the prophets of old, expressed their concerns.

But some will break out of the stunted pack, pulled by a strong yearning for the answer to life’s riddle. God has called some according to His purpose. He foreknew and conferred on them a destiny “to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 28-29). He has chosen them “in Him before the foundation of the world, that [they] should be holy and without blame before Him in love.” Agape Love (Eph. 1:4).

These chosen ones, invisibly guided by His Spirit, will answer the “high calling.” They will decrease so that He can increase His presence in them to the point that Love (God) will express Himself fully to everyone on earth–through them.

These He is calling. They have already been chosen. And they will respond and become the over comers of all things like the corrupted half-truths and traditions of men about God. Fed with the sincere truth of God’s plan, they will grow fully to express Christ in human form again. They will believe Christ’s words: “Greater works shall you do than what I have done.”

They will be the princes and princesses in God’s kingdom, soon to be established earth wide upon His return. Filled with Christ’s Spirit, during the 1,000 Year Reign, they will be His viceroys, governing the provinces of the earth after the dust and ash of Tribulation settle.

How Will They Grow?

This vision of the “gospel of the kingdom” is what will feed and nourish young Christians so that they can spiritually grow to be just like Christ.

And the growth of God within them is the growth of love within them. Christ’s words confirm this: “All men will know that you are My disciples if you have love one to another.”

The last days are upon us. All these promises of sonship are written for our time. We are living in the time of the latter rain of His Spirit. Are we the ones who will shake off the chains of Christian mediocrity and free ourselves from spiritual infancy? Will we stand up and answer this highest of His callings–to sit with Him on His throne? Not every Christian will. Consider the five foolish virgins (Rev. 3: 21; Matt. 25: 1-13).

Or will we recede to the rear near the nursery and hide our talents in the earth, only to be chided by the Master, “You slothful and unprofitable servant.”

Sadly, this will come upon some Christians, all because they did not dig deep and prove all things and study for themselves the “new things” presented to them along the way. Christians who don’t grow will never express the greatest love, the love that comes from above, that heals the poor and needy, that rights the wrongs of human depravity, that restores God’s righteous judgements in the earth, thus incarnating God (Love) once again to a love-starved earth.

It is this kind of love that we are to finally add to the divine nature within us now. “Agape love is the bond of perfectness.” It is that last attribute of God’s divine nature that makes us complete in Him. It matures us, for when added, we will have been “conformed to the image of His Son.”

Chapter 64

The Fountain of Forgiveness—Agape Love

“Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” *

Adding “godliness” is adding an increased love and appreciation of God. Adding “brotherly kindness” is loving your fellow man as God does. Adding agape love to them is when the very essence of God’s divine nature, which is Love, is placed by Him into His temple, you and me.

Chapter 65

Our Aching Need to Be Loved

Love is the great magnet that attracts us, that draws us to others. We need only to look back in our lives to see that we are drawn to and “like” those who take an interest in us, who approve of us, who make us feel special. We are drawn to people who we believe like us.

We love God because He, who is Love, “first loved us.” When a person comes to the knowledge of His Love for us, then we are drawn like a magnet to Him, even though we cannot literally see Him.

The Universal Need

To be loved by another, then, is the universal need. “Nobody gets too much love anymore,” someone once sang truly. And so, it is. To be loved is the need that equalizes mankind. It does not matter if you are rich or poor, black or white, or anything in between–that aching need deep down in our hearts to be loved still throbs and longs to be quieted.

Of course, we speak of the higher love, the divine love, the unselfish love that negates mere earthly lust/love and relegates it to the ash dumps of the lowly earth. Many marriages and relationships go out like fading embers because the original fire which ignited it was the false flames of lustful passion, and never did it transcend the “weak and beggarly elements” of those carnal desires.

“Youthful lusts” can never satisfy the spiritual man in the end. Consequently, we continue to look for this divine love, this love from above, which is the only satisfying kind.

God has placed into our hearts this need to be truly loved, and so we seek for it. Realizing that this divine, agape love is God Himself is a life-changing revelation. For we then will see that the love we crave from everyone we see can only be satisfied by Him who is Love itself. We seek love from God’s image–human beings–instead of from the source of Love–God Himself.

And how does this God, who is Love, reach down and touch us and give us the wonderful feeling of being truly loved? How does an invisible Spirit (Love) reach down through the ether and show us His heart of Love?

He does it through His visible Son. The greatest love that one can show is to give up one’s life for others. Does it not touch our hearts to see reports of firefighters, policemen, and soldiers laying down their lives in efforts to save another? These we call heroes. “Everybody’s looking for a hero.” But the real Hero is Christ.

This is it. This is the answer that mankind is seeking for. For we all seek to be loved. Now we must realize that we are loved by God, who is Love. And now we share this love. Mankind must channel God (Love) through their actions to others.

Tapping into this Love transforms us into the loving and the loveable. The change is astounding. We become that fountain of loving waters that quenches other people’s thirst to be loved. In so doing, God is multiplied and magnified by Love’s very transformational spiritual properties.

Perhaps you have already started this change. We now are left the challenge to “go onto perfection,” perfecting His love within us. We do this by loving. For Love is an action verb, not just an idea/noun. Now let Him give His gifts to others through us.

We Are All “Damaged Goods—Needing Love”

Very rarely will we ever come to know someone so intimately that they would reveal their innermost darkest secrets to us. When it does happen, they tell us about how they were hurt as a child in some way.

Digging a little deeper into the human psyche, we see that all of us are damaged goods in our old lives before Christ. Everyone has been abused in some way–either mentally, emotionally, or physically–lied to, or used in some nefarious way where our trust in mankind and his institutions have left us cold and bitter.

Knowing that we are all damaged goods, we can now look at everyone differently–not as an adversary, but as someone needing love and understanding. They are not just someone else to use, but as another human being who needs consolation, compassion, healing, and redemption. For only love from above can buy back the lost and wasted years of fear and doubt and dismay in this vexing world. Only agape love can lay down its life for its friends. Only Christ’s love in us can heal the pains and hurts of an injured heart–injured by another lost and injured soul.

But we, with God’s help, can end the vicious cycle of hurt. We can become a part of the solution and not the problem anymore–the problem of being the victim. We can join up with Him and be a part of Christ’s cadre, His body of people with new hearts, forgiving and loving and understanding hearts that can conquer all pain and suffering and stand with Christ as one of His elect in the new kingdom of love that He is bringing to this earth.

But the catch is that it starts with us to whom He has revealed His plan and purpose to–you and me. Right here. Right now. A rebirth of mercy one toward another. Mercy from on high trickling down through us–mercy that is born from the knowledge that every single one of us walking around today–right there in our town, in our neighborhood, in our city, and, yes, even on our Facebook list of friends–everyone is damaged goods–injured spiritually in some way, vulnerable, though few would admit it. And we all have the same need, which is God’s love–a love from above that will only distil like dew upon this earth through the mercy and compassion we show toward each other.

However, to do this kind of love, we need to understand its source, a source that can help us love everyone, even those who have hurt us.

Chapter 66

WeNeed Agape to “Love Our Enemies”

Christ tells us to obey Him. We are to do what He tells us to do. He is our Lord, Master and Savior, after all. And then He gives us a seemingly impossible command: “Be perfect.”

And then the knee jerk response comes. “Perfect? That can’t be right. Nobody is perfect.” But why would Christ give us this command if it were impossible to obey it? Of course, that is the point. With man it is impossible, but “with God all things are possible.”

Still, Christ’s indelible words just won’t go away. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5: 48). This is not a perfection according to shallow man’s wisdom, but we are to be perfect like our Father. To make sense of this paradox, we must dig down deeper into Christ’s words.

We can’t love our enemies in our own strength. It is only with agape love added to our faith that we will be able to express the love that God is. Only He can love our enemies through us, thus bringing us to perfection/maturity.

“Be ye therefore perfect” is the command. The word “therefore” means “for that reason,” or “as a result of all that was just said.” So, what was He teaching in the previous forty-seven verses of Matthew 5? Christ was teaching agape love, the love from above. He was showing how human beings think and do when God, the Spirit of Love, dwells fully within them. “God is agape love,” says the apostle John (I John 4: 8). Love solidifies the fulfillment of the seventh apostles’ doctrine—perfection.

It starts with us being born of that Spirit of love. Christ is teaching us how we will be when we grow spiritually into full maturity/perfection. He is fully manifested within us. He tells us, “Love your enemies” (v. 44). Very few of us have what it takes to love everyone, especially those who hate us. So, Christ is speaking of a higher love, a love that far surpasses our original self-love that we are born with.

Christ is introducing a radical new teaching, far superior to man’s feeble and petty thoughts for self. Instead of loving your friends and hating your enemies, He commands us to “love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” He is telling us that when we obey these commandments, we will be showing that we are the children of our Father, for we will be like Him.

Well, what is the Father like? Our Father “makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust” (v. 45). The Father opens the clouds of heaven with literal showers upon the farms of the hateful farmer and the loving farmer.

Our Father provides for both the evil people and the good. That is the perfection of our Father. That is the Spirit of His perfection, the perfection/maturity that we are commanded to be.

Understanding Why?

I know. His thoughts are not our thoughts, and His ways are not our ways. We would not do it this way. It is difficult to grasp this with the natural mind, and we are tempted to just skip these chapters. The apostle Peter before the resurrection is an example of how natural man takes care of business. He got out a sword and commenced to hack off the guard’s ear. Peter loved his friends but hated his enemies. Not good. Not God’s way. Peter would have killed all the evil ones and let God sort it out. But Peter did not have the Spirit of agape love at that time. Later he got a hold of God’s thoughts and ways, and the rest is history, which now has become our future.

What are God’s thoughts toward evil people and things? Why does He put up with the evil? Why would He desire us to love our enemies? It does not make much sense when viewed with the wisdom of the world. But with God’s wisdom…

Understanding How to “Love Your Enemies”

It is perplexing. How do we love and forgive our enemies and thereby “be perfect,” the offspring of the Father? The key is understanding that God created both the light and the darkness. That includes the literal light of day and the dark of night, as well as spiritual good and evil. God created our enemies and our friends. “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things” (Isa. 45: 7). “And God saw everything that He had made, and, behold, it was very good.” There were no unexpected accidents in the script.

For all of us, good or bad, play a part in the drama that He has written, directed, and produced. Like a play, the script has been written by the great Author of our faith. He knows all about the protagonists and the antagonists; He created them. He has instilled in us, His sons and daughters, an unquenchable thirst for knowledge as to what this life is all about. His law of harvest states that we will reap what we sow. Those who seek will find out the answers to the mysteries of His interactions with man.

It is when we see life as God sees it that we will comprehend the need for evil to help us display the power of His love in dispelling darkness. For love, agape love, overcomes every dark and evil force on earth. God created it that way. And when that divine love surges through us, then God is glorified. When we through the power of His in-dwelling Spirit of agape love–when we love our enemies, then Love triumphs over hate, and God is glorified. Then God will have reproduced Himself in and through us.

The Father receives glory, not through us saying, “Glory to God!” He is glorified when we with His love inside overcome the darkness by loving the unlovable, by loving our enemies. We must understand that evil serves as a foil for the love within us in this drama. It is when we overcome evil with goodness, and hate with love, that we gain a critical knowledge of just who our Creator Yahweh is. We must never lose sight of His eternal purpose; it is written into the DNA of every living thing. He wants to reproduce Himself. When we love our enemies, God is multiplied. And the only place that He has ordained for that to happen is inside of us.

Moreover, if there is no evil for His children to overcome and surpass through His agape love, then God cannot be glorified. For good overcomes evil as light dispels darkness. In fact, agape love is matured within us by confronting evil.

I know that God is raising up a people who will understand all the above. They are the Father’s chosen ones, His elect, His sons and daughters. They will reject the doubters who say, “It is impossible to be perfect.” For they will know that perfection means the completion of the spiritual growth cycle within them. Perfection means that the Word has taken root in their hearts and has grown to full maturity and is bearing 100-fold fruit as Christ and His apostles did. For Christ did say, “Greater works shall you do than what I have done.” His word has taken root in their hearts; now that is a radical idea. It is fundamental and a sure foundation.

And armed with this knowledge, they will see that “with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). It will dawn on these princes and princesses of God that “no idle word” proceeds out of the mouth of God. They’ll take this admonition to heart: “Let us go on unto perfection” (Hebrews 6:1-2). And they’ll learn that there is so much more to God’s spiritual house than the first two apostles’ doctrines–“repentance from dead works and faith toward God,” which are the first steps of “newborn babes in Christ.”

They’ll realize that they have received in their hearts the seed of perfection. Christ is that Seed. And now that Seed is growing, for “one plants and another waters, and God gives the increase.” This growth is likened to a planted seed of wheat or corn. It comes up, “first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear.” And then harvest will come when He will have been perfectly reproduced in us. And we then in full maturity will have completed the life cycle of God. And that is perfection.

God’s elect will realize this in the command: “Be perfect.” For they will see these two words as His challenge to “overcome all things” and walk on down His road to the Heavenly City. They will answer the challenge and embark on this quest for perfection. Because He said, “Be perfect.”

Last Thoughts on Loving Our Enemies

We all have enemies. We all have people who have wronged us, and it is so easy to be bitter against them. But I never could understand until now why God admonishes us to pray for our enemies.

Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you (Matthew 5:44). That is a tough assignment. That stretches the abilities of our humanity. It is too difficult for our earthly passions to do. We in all our human frailties are being asked by the Master to do the impossible: Love, bless, and pray for those who hurt us.

Why would He put that on us? It’s in the very next verse: That you may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. His spiritual offspring, His sons and daughters, His princes and princesses–they will overcome and do just that. Because each seed bears its own kind, we, born of His seed, will become just like Him. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. He loves the whole world and knows that they “know not what they do.” We, too, will realize that our calling is to be just like Him, and with His Spirit abiding within, we will overcome.

Vengeance will be taken, but not by His sons and daughters. We were created by Him as vessels of mercy. He will show His mercy through us. That’s why He emphasized, “Vengeance is mine, saith the LORD (Yahweh); I will repay.”

Why did He want us to not rail on our enemies? Because He knew that the moment we do, we will have given in to a dark spirit, which entering our heart and mind, will poison us spiritually. Bitterness as gall will well up and sully our complete being. He does not want this for us because we are not built by Him for revenge, hatred, and cursing. We are not “wired” that way by the Creator. We self-destruct if we hate others. We are created to be channels of love, His love.

So, we are told to “pray for them that persecute you.” By doing this, the dark, spiritual acid of bitterness is neutralized, and then His love and peace begins to flow down once again and through us to others.

On the road to maturity/perfection, treachery awaits us. Evil spirits like highwaymen lie in wait to detour us from completing our Father’s life cycle for us. But He has a bodyguard to help us. It is the Father’s name.

Chapter 67

The Father’s Name Guards the Way for Agape

Christ said to dig deep. To find the vein of gold we must study thoroughly. The gold here is putting on Christ in the form of divine love. Christ’s prayer recorded in John 17 comes from the depths of the Father’s heart. It reveals how we will receive the seventh addition—agape love. And it is the Father’s name that takes center stage in our relationship with the Father.

At first, we flinch and say, “Huh? What does the Father’s name have to do with adding agape love in our spiritual walk?

Christ did say, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world…” (17:6). I have clearly shown thy name; I have made it apparent; I have made it known to them. And they have believed that You have sent Me; they have kept My word, and they believe that it is You, Father, who is doing the works through this vessel. And they know that I came out of You, and that it is You who has sent Me (vs. 6-8).

Christ goes on to say that it is His followers that He is praying for and not the world because they are the Father’s, who has given them to Christ. And the time has come, He is saying, for Him to depart out of the earth, leaving His followers. So how will they remain in one mind and one accord with the Savior? How will God keep them spiritually safe and sound after Christ departs?

Love and the Knowledge of His Name

He said to continue in His love. We continue in it through the knowledge of the Father’s name. “Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given Me…” There is keeping power in the name of Yahweh. The Greek word for “keep” means “to attend to carefully, to attend, to guard,” and is translated in other places as “to preserve.” So, He is guarding us from the evil for this purpose: “That they may be one, as we are one” (vs. 9-11). We could then say that we will never be fully one with God without knowing His name.

The Father’s own name will be a spiritual “keeping” mechanism, a way for the elect to be guarded for this reason: That they, the elect, may be one as the Father and the Son are one. They through the Father’s name will have the revelatory truth of the message contained in what His name means—that Yahweh of old came in human form to show us agape love in action. This revelation is the central revelation of truth that fills the elect’s hearts with love and brings us into One.

Then on down in John 17:26, He says, “I have declared unto them thy name…that the same love you loved me with may be in them and I in them. In the name we have Yah being the Savior, for Yahweh says, “I, even I, am the LORD [Yahweh]; and beside Me there is no savior” (Isa. 43:11). This is LOVE personified, Him giving His life up as a sacrifice for our sins. All this is encrypted in His Hebrew name Yahshua. Believing in the meaning of His name puts this Love into our hearts. It fills us with His Spirit, for we have the witness within ourselves.

He is the fountain of love. He wants us to be one with Him. It happens through the knowledge of His name. He goes on to say that while He was walking with them here on earth, He “kept them in thy name,” and none of them is lost except Judas Iscariot. He “kept” them; He guarded them. How? By teaching them and showing them and revealing to them the Father’s name. For in His name is the whole plan of God (v. 12).

Christ goes on to ask the Father to not give them an escape hatch “out of the world,” but rather guard and keep them from the evil. “I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one” (v. 15, NKJV) {Side note: That speaks against the rapture theory}.

Now some will say that this prayer is only for His twelve disciples, His followers of that era. But it is for all of us down through the ages. “Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word” (v. 20). That’s us. He was praying for you and me, so we can take these concepts to heart.

Consequently, if Christ is going “keep” and guard you and me from the evil by manifesting the Father’s name to us that we all may be one with Him, then how can that happen when very few Christians know that the Father’s name is Yahweh?

Christ’s desire is that all of us His followers “would be with Me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which You have given Me” (vs. 24). He desires that we all “may be made perfect in one” (v. 23). But we have to ask ourselves, How can this happen if a Christian doesn’t know the Father’s name, Yahweh, which God uses to guard us from the evil?

And lastly in this prayer in John 17, Christ repeats, “And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it…” For this specific reason: “That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” Let’s savor this. He is saying, I have made known, shown clearly, Your name, Father, and I will continue to make it known, for this reason: That the same love You have loved Me with may be in My followers. And that My very essence and Spirit of love may be in them!

What His Name Means

Here the very love and presence of God is tied into the knowledge of God’s name. His name means “The Self-Existent One” and Yahweh is the Savior, which is what the Son of God’s Hebrew name means—Yahshua.

Inside, God’s name contains and reveals the very nature of Himself. God is Love. Him being the Savior of His creation reveals or unveils His essence, which is Love. For “greater love hath no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends.” This touches us because it is the heart of God and shows us what He has done, whether we realize it or not.

He guards us from the selfishness of the evil one, when we think on His name and how He gave His life for us. For the great invisible Spirit Yahweh poured Himself into a human form so that He could express fully the love that is His essence. It is through realizing this knowledge of His love contained in His name that we can receive that same love—that God, who is Love, may dwell in our hearts, and that He and His love would thrive and grow in our hearts, so that we could make known who God is by the love exhibited through us to others.

And thus fulfill Christ’s prayer. “I have declared unto them thy name and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them.” This is the addition of His love into us through remembrance of the meaning of His name.

Chapter 68

The Law of Harvest—How Yahweh Reproduces Himself

I cannot over stress the importance of the Eternal Purpose of God: He is reproducing Himself. The laboratory that He is working in is the earth. He has created human beings to help accomplish His purpose. He created their bodies out of the moist clay of the earth. All things are now in place for this reproduction experience. But how does it work?

It works through the Law of Harvest. “Whatever you sow, that shall you also reap.” Therefore, God, who is the Seed (the Word, the Logos) has planted Himself in these earthen vessels called humans.

To do all this, God created a special creation Adam and his offspring, who He created in His own image. These are to be vessels of honor, vessels that would house His Spirit, which is the Seed, the Word of God.

“Greater Love Has No Man Than This…”

One might ask, “Why does the immortal God use mortal man to reproduce Himself?” To express the essence of His nature, which is Love, one must give up one’s life. For “greater love has no man than this than to lay down his life for his friends.” Sacrificing one’s life for another is the greatest love. But the Creator, by His very immortal nature, cannot die. So then, how can God express the greatest Love, which is His essence?

The Great Creator Yahweh, of course, thought all this through. In fact, in His plan, He scheduled a grand appearance of Himself in a mortal human body. He chose a special person, Jesus (Yahshua) of Nazareth to house Himself in. God, the Spirit of Love, would humbly walk among us to show us the way to be like God. God, the Word, “was made flesh and dwelt among us.”

Christ Is the Seed That Falls into the Ground and Dies

This anointed vessel, called Christ and the Messiah, is the Seed. He was planted in the earth three days and three nights. And just like a seed in your garden springs forth, He arose out of the earthy grave and ascended back from where He came.

Yahweh had to come in a body that would and could die in order to show the greatest love. Without Him giving up His human life on the cross, He could not reproduce Himself, for “except a seed fall into the ground and die, it abides alone. But if it die, it brings forth much fruit.”

We humans, then, can avail ourselves to be used by our Maker in His reproduction process. But first we must surrender to this purpose. We must allow our old selfish heart and life to die on the cross with Christ, be buried with Him in revelatory truth, and then, by believing that Christ was raised from the dead, we can begin to “walk in newness of life.”

We then begin to bear much fruit. And those who do this will become His fully manifested offspring and will rule this earth with Him during the Kingdom Age when Christ returns. These have surrendered completely and have Him fully grown up within them. These are the ones who God has reproduced Himself in.

Chapter 69

How Agape Love Grows Within Us—Keeping Christ’s New Commandments

We have seen that we are to add attributes of the divine nature of God. The Holy Spirit in Peter lines these out plainly in the first chapter of II Peter. These seven attributes are to be added by faith; the last is agape love. But the question still arises how do we add hey facet of God’s nature?

It is by obeying all of Christ’s new commandments. He commanded us to give, to forgive, do not judge others, to pray always, to put on the armor of God. All these or Christ’s new commandments. they fall under the 11th commandment: love others as I have loved you. His nature of love obeys these commands. By giving, forgiving, not judging, praying always, putting on the armor of God, et al, We develop and nurture and grow agape. For it is only the Spirit that enables us to have God’s divine nature of agape grow inside of us.

These new commandments are kept by us through the exercise of the Spirit within us. Each time we obey one of Christ’s new commandments, a new shiny facet of his divine nature is revealed. God’s nature is like a giant gemstone that reflects his love of all who will see. His love-light shines out through our countenance. When we obey one of his new commandments, a portion, a facet of the divine nature is revealed through us to the world. His divine nature is agape love.

He tells us to forgive. when we do this, more of his nature is produced in us. We as a branch of Christ the Vine channel more of the sap, which is His spirit. Christ said to love like He loved. He forgave everyone and gave to everyone, to sinners and to the righteous alike. When we do the same, more fruit is borne on us, the branches. When we obey all of His new commandments, then He will have been manifested fully in us. This is the bearing of “much fruit,” which is bearing 100-fold fruit–full spiritual maturity.

[Much more on this is in my book The Eleventh Commandment. It is yours free with free shipping. I am able to do this because God has already provided funds to do so. Just send your name, address, and the name of the book to wayneman5@hotmail.com ]

Forgiveness Creates Spiritual Growth by Adding Agape Love

God is reproducing Himself in His elect. That is what it is all about.

This is His “eternal purpose,” to magnify His nature of agape love through a body of consecrated human beings. God’s elect are the ones He has chosen for this honor, long before the worlds were created. “He has chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world…having predestinated us” for this honor (Eph. 1: 4-5; 3: 11). One cannot work for this honor of being used by God for His self-reproduction. One can only respond to the calling and election.

To expedite all this, He has forgiven us our sins and trespasses and has commanded us to walk in the Spirit that He has given us. The “Spirit of truth” will lead us into all truth about this process and will take us to a spiritual place where His eternal purpose takes center stage in our earthly sojourn.

Since “God is [agape] love,” and since He desires to reproduce Himself in us, then it is evident that we need to manifest agape love. We are given a commandment: Add to our faith agape love.

We the elect are to add seven attributes of God’s “divine nature” to our faith. These are lined out in II Peter 1. We call them the additions to the faith (vs. 5-7). Adding them is being “partakers of His divine nature” (v. 4). Adding them is how “to make your calling and election sure” (v. 10). Adding them ensures an entrance “into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ/Yahshua (v. 11). So, yes, they are extremely important.

The greatest of the seven additions is agape love. If we do not have this one operating in our lives, we will live in vain. Our words about God to others will be just a “sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal.” Why? Because we will have come up short, having not done what was needed in order to add agape love, thus fulfilling God’s purpose of reproducing Himself. But if we are part of His elect, we will respond. He has a way of getting what He wants out of us. He knows how to tighten down the screws. Just think of the prophet Jonah, who was chosen and sent to Nineveh, but refused to go. Look what he suffered. And, yes, he finally went after his ordeal.

How to Add Agape Love

When we suffer wrongs against us, God has provided an opportunity to forgive the person who wronged us. Only agape love—God, in other words—can forgive a betrayer. Only the love that God is can forgive someone who has destroyed your reputation with lies. Only God-is-love can forgive them for being Adamic old nature men and women.

In order to grow agape love within our new heart, He asks us to forgive…everyone. All seven billion of them. Every human being on the face of the earth, and some who are under six feet of earth. He is asking us to forgive everyone who hurt us in any way, and forgive those who we imagined had hurt us. I am learning to just pre-forgive everyone who I might meet today. That changes me and alleviates the problem that I create when I do not forgive that person for just being a flawed human being. Love alleviates the problem. For the problem is me—when I do not forgive [1].

By forgiving, we sacrifice our old self, letting it die on the cross with Christ. To forgive is the principal power that God has given us. If we do not forgive others their trespasses against us, precious little other powers will be entrusted to us.

By forgiving others, we “present our bodies a living sacrifice” thereby adding agape love to our walk in Christ. When we deliberately go about our day forgiving our parents, our spouse, our children, our siblings, our friends (oh, yes), our acquaintances, we will have an opportunity to “love our enemies.” What? Yes, our enemies. Christ warned us that “a man’s foes shall be they of his own household” (Matt. 10: 36; Micah 7: 6).

Furthermore, as we practice forgiveness, we become more like Him, for He forgave us all. In so doing we become that living sacrifice and a servant to others. Christ is our example and we are admonished to have the same mind. He did not make a reputation for Himself. He became a servant and humbled Himself and became “obedient unto death.” He has given us the power to be that “living sacrifice,” to be dead unto our old self, but alive unto God.

He urges us to “present [our] bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is [our] reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (Rom. 12: 1-2). This places Christ’s mind within us—when we forgive.

[1] Russell, Garrison. Son–Placing, pp. 364-390.

Chapter 70

Concluding Thoughts

Seed Time and Harvest

This book plants the seeds about spiritual growth in Christ. It speaks incessantly about His purpose and plan to reproduce His Spirit in human beings. It sows seed about the Spirit’s command to “add to your faith…” seven additions, which are attributes of the “divine nature” (II Peter 1).

This book speaks of things “kept secret from the foundation of the world.” The seminaries don’t teach these things, nor do the pastors and preachers and priests. They don’t know of these spiritual things.

The main thing to remember is this line: “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.” And the “Sower went forth to sow” (Luke 8:31; Matt. 13:3). The Sower is the Spirit in us sowing the seed, the word of God.

The truths contained in this book have been sown. They are the seeds of a mighty harvest. If we have understood in a “good and honest heart” this seed, then we will be a part of a wonderful harvest, much greater than the knowledge presented here. And this seed will take root and grow in our hearts and minds.

This book has attempted to plant seeds concerning the seven additions to the faith. The author hopes that the concepts presented will help the future sons and daughters of God grow unto the “fulness of Christ.” The seven are at first received as seed; the seed is the word of God. By adding them, we will grow and then be harvested by Him toward the time of the end. This harvest is God reproducing Himself in us, thus fulfilling His purpose. May the words contained in this book be a constant edification for its readers. May the King smile upon all who tread the narrow path that leads to immortality. Stay in touch. kwh

The Additions to the Faith

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The Additions to the Faith

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