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Chapter Three Divine Manifestations Before the Lord revealed I was to be His ADVOCATE, I knew I had a calling. I had attended church, worked in several lay ministries, and was an avid Bible student. The miracles confirmed that belief. As I looked at my growth in faith, I knew that something very important was somehow missing. I had sensed it all along. I saw all of the signs. I could not read them. There was a void I could not fill.
Shortly before The Third Covenant was started, our lives were a mess. Anything and everything that could go wrong did. We were in a great deal of pain both spiritually, psychologically and physically. One day my wife said we should be praying together. She said, “What we feel in our hearts should come out of our mouths. We must be of one body, one soul and one spirit. We must gain unity with the Spirit of God!” Our custom was and is that I pray first. My wife makes mental notes on what I may have missed. She adds them to her list. Our prayers have always been fluid. They are like a river. Our prayers last from one to three hours a day. Much of this time is spent on meditation and listening for the voice of the Lord. We found that it was a great deal harder to listen than it was to pray!
One night I was very sick, both physically and emotionally. The following day my wife and I began our morning prayers. I prayed to God to take away the pain and sorrow. It was my wife’s turn. She did not pray. There were no words. She both knew and understood the pain and anguish I was suffering. I was hurt, but said nothing. Normally she would have joined her prayers with mine.
That night the Holy Spirit lifted my burden. I was excited. I had received God’s blessing. The following morning we began our prayers. I prayed first, as usual. I gave thanks and praise to God. When it was my wife’s turn to pray she COULD NOT PRAY! NOT A SINGLE WORD. This puzzled me. How could this be?
I waited in silence. She did not pray. I started praying again. This time, I prayed for the Holy Spirit to open our eyes. I prayed, with great power, that my wife could see why she could not pray. The dam broke. The Holy Spirit came to her and removed the mist that had been covering her eyes. She cried. She had finally come to the truth.
Unfortunately, that truth hurts. We began a prayer dialogue between each other and the Holy Spirit. It was something she did not want to face. She did not want to believe it. She wanted it to go away. It would not. Everywhere we turned we were forced to see it time and time again. Simply put, the foundation of modern Christianity is based on something less than the truth. By the same token, much of the contemporary Christian Church is based on “Modernistic Ideology.” These include those churches where the views of humanists, secularists and political correctness are used to define both theology and doctrine.
We had spent our entire lives living in the secularist church. It is subtle. Secularism it is all around us. It’s easier to say the words than explain them. In this church the religious leaders go out of their way to please and appease their membership. Some churches throw out anything that is not humanistic, socially or politically correct. Other churches allow a religious agenda to be changed by the minister. He need not agree with the church. Other churches change not because it is RIGHT, but in an effort to increase membership. Recent examples of these actions in some churches include: dropping the commandment “Thou shalt not commit adultery;” the inclusion of homosexual ministers; accepting abortion, divorce, and doing away with marriage. We ARE NOT to pass judgment on those who do these things. This is between them and God. The true Disciple stands his ground. He fights for God’s truth. He prays for the sinful to change their ways. If any church changes or drops the Ten Commandments, it is no longer part of the Church of Jesus Christ. Such people are going completely against the Word of God. We can conclude the result without passing judgment. If you are in one of these churches, you need to make a major change in your church affiliation.
I am familiar with all of the major Christian churches. They constitute about eighty percent of all Christianity. Not one of these churches resembles the Christian Church between A.D. 1 and 4! The failure to follow the early church, has divided the Christian Church into approximately 500 different sects. Each sect has a different belief system. What do these churches offer their members? Are prayers readily answered? Do they experience miracles? Are horrible things happening? Are Christians better off than non-Christians? Do they live longer? Have happier lives?
Christ said you can always tell a tree by its fruit. What is the fruit of the contemporary Christian Church? This may seem like a tongue lashing and a broad condemnation of all Christian churches. IT IS NOT! There is a reason for all of these things. There is also a cure! First we will examine the sadness. It touches each one of us in one form or another. It touches all of our lives.
Contemporary Church
How many times have you heard these words or words like them? If you will listen, you will hear them all around you. You will hear these words from friends, coworkers, strangers, your own family, and most importantly, within YOURSELF!
If God was alive and well in His Church, why would He be doing this to us? In this alleged new era of Christian enlightenment, why is there so much darkness?
Having lived within The Third Covenant on a daily basis, I readily accepted the teachings of the Covenant. My wife did not. After reading The Third Covenant aloud for two days, she was devastated by THE REVELATION OF ITS COVENANTS! It was the first time she saw all the pieces put together.
Unlike the Bible, you can read The Third Covenant in a couple of days. Reading The Third Covenant gives immediate insight and understanding. To gain its fullest impact, it should be read and then used as a study guide. I will attempt to prepare you for the journey you are about to take with Jesus Christ.
God’s First Covenant with man was given to Abraham. It was a covenant based on faith. God’s Second Covenant with man are called the Ten Commandments. The prophets foretold of a Savior who would bring God’s Third Covenant. Jesus came to fulfill what the prophets had said. His Covenant is a Covenant of Love. He sealed the Covenant with His own blood.
Jesus Christ gave mankind a third covenant. This is the covenant of the forgiveness of sin, how to obtain the answer to our prayers, and how to receive miracles. He also came to bring the good news of Resurrection of the Dead and the Kingdom of Heaven. Christ’s Apostles did not understand the Covenant, until the Holy Spirit came to them. Even after being “SPIRIT FILLED,” they did not call Christ’s promise “the Third Covenant.” They did not need it. They lived it.
Many Christians believe that Christ died for the remission of their sins. The process is automatic. Nothing else is required. All that is required is faith and belief in Jesus Christ. Sin is irrelevant. Second, man would enter Heaven as a result of Christ’s promise. This automatic staging has lead many spirits to Hell. It will undoubtedly lead many more. This theology defines the result as the result. Forgiveness IS NOT a foregone conclusion. There is no guarantee that you will go to Heaven. Christ is explicit. We will gain the forgiveness of sins and entry into the Kingdom of God, when we follow the Ten Commandments and Christ’s teachings. Redemption is a privilege. IT IS NOT A RIGHT! The Kingdom of God Our purpose for living is to prepare for our own personal “END TIME.” Our only goal is to spend eternity before God’s Glory. This is the most important thing in our lives. It receives the least amount of our attention! We also need God’s help with our living. We need answers to prayer and miracles. These are in short supply. How often are your prayers answered? How many miracles have you experienced in your life? We live in the shadow of many miracles. The miracle of life! The miracle of God’s work in the heavens! The miracle of rain or sunshine! These are all miracles. They are wonderful. These miracles are bestowed upon the sinner as well as the saint. These are not the prayers and miracles we are addressing. Christ’s Apostles answered many prayers and miracles. They healed the sick. They cured the blind, the deaf, the leper, and the cripple. They raised others from the dead. They brought thousands to Christ and the Holy Spirit. This was the strength of their preaching. This is what we seek. It is found in The Third Covenant of Jesus Christ. It is the subject of this book. Why was my wife depressed? She understood that her vocabulary and beliefs were a part of the “Secularist Church”! I was guilty as well. My dear friends in Christ, you are not going to find yourself the answer to prayers or miracles in the “Secularist Church,” “The Humanist Church” or the “Politically Correct Church”!
Somehow, we just cannot grasp this reality. Just like Adam and Eve, all we care about are the apples on the Tree of Knowledge. What apples? MONEY, MATERIAL THINGS, POWER, AUTHORITY, ABORTION, LUST, DRUGS, ALCOHOL, APPEARANCES, SEX, AND EVEN CHURCH KNOWLEDGE. That does not mean that we cannot live in this world and enjoy all the fruits of our labors. We can! We cannot be of this world with its sin and depravity. THE SOLUTION TO THE LITANY OF SORROWS IS TO SEEK THE KINGDOM OF GOD WITH ALL OF OUR BODY, SOUL AND SPIRIT AND TO OBEY GOD’S LAW AND CHRIST’S TEACHINGS. You respond: “We do those things at our church.” Do you? What you are seeing are the signs. You cannot read them any more than my wife or I could. Go back to the Litany of Sorrows.
IF YOU AND YOUR CHURCH LOVE, SEEK AND OBEY GOD, WHY DO MOST OF YOUR PRAYERS GO WITHOUT ANSWER? WHY ARE YOU SUFFERING GREAT TRIALS AND TRIBULATIONS? WHY ARE THE AFFLICTIONS OF MANKIND SO HORRIBLE? WHY ARE GOD’S CHOSEN ONES THE MOST OPPRESSED? WHY? I ASK YOU AGAIN, WHY? Almost every Christian I know has an answer to those questions. It’s not my fault. “Oh, I believe the End Times are upon us.” All the Christian media is a buzz with End Times Prophecy. It is the sins of the world. Everyone blames everyone else for its coming. Is it the End Time? The only word of relevance in that statement is “believe.” What do you believe?
God helped us to see that what we believed was not the truth. God was kind to my wife for He lifted her veil of tears that same day. She openly confessed her failures to me. She had many regrets from the past. She would not let go of her grudges or bad feelings toward others. She was not forgiving. She was also in constant fear of the future. She worried about everything you can imagine. Caught between these polarities she was frozen in the present and very unhappy past. The “Secular World” was the focus of her life. We talked freely about all the people we loved and knew, and could see the “buzz” words of the contemporary churches everywhere. My wife’s life changed dramatically. She was no longer the same person. She was happy for the first time in her life. All her troubles were washed away. She was in God’s sunshine for the first time in her life!
God’s First Commandment is to have no other gods before Him. That means that what ever controls your life is your god! The drug addict’s god is drugs. The materialist’s god is earthly possessions. The ancient people worshipped idols, the sun, moon, planets, stars, animals, etc. These idols controlled their lives. Modern secular man, in his attempt to find himself, keeps looking for something that isn’t there. He is an intellectual and follows the scientific and or historical methods. These people are also the leaders of all the different Christian churches. Each church believes only in itself.
So how does humanity pursue his search? What is it that controls him? What is his god? Again, it is easier to say the words than explain them. Each of these gods represents something you may do, want, sanction, or approve.
These are just a few examples of the things that control and destroy our lives. By virtue of their prominence they become our personal god or gods. The worst of these is regretting the past, being confused in the present and fearing the future. All of these things disable us in the present. We cannot go forward because we are too busy regretting what we have done. This may manifest itself as not being worthy of God! We are confused in the present and may not be able make a proper decision regarding our faith. When we fear the future, we do nothing to change it. The net result is the same in each of these cases. Do you see it? We do not plan. We react. The way we react is the same. We do nothing to change our circumstances. We react only out of fear!
Fear is Satan’s angel. We can never achieve. We can never grow. If we do not grow, we will lose all hope. We fear because we do not have faith and trust in God to deliver us. Yet we believe in the secular world that cannot be trusted. So we lose the ability to have faith and trust in God. We may live in a world that cannot be trusted, but we have a God who can. He is changeless. If we surrender, commit and follow where God leads us, WE KNOW WE HAVE NOTHING TO FEAR. God will provide (Jehovah-jireh). With God’s help we can do anything, from the answer to our prayers to miracles.
Are there any other expressions just as deadly?
When we free ourselves of blame, we free ourselves of guilt. We are no longer responsible. If we are no longer responsible, there is no need to repent for our sinful actions. How often do we see these things in society? As long as these draining forces remain in our lives, we cannot direct our energy into a future that is rooted in the present.
After a lengthy discussion of the Litany of Sorrows, the false gods and casting of blame, my wife said she was guilty of all of them. I was equally guilty. She felt that she had never actually been happy. I experienced the same problem. She pointed out that in all her years of going to church she never heard a sermon that addressed the TRUE PURPOSE OF JESUS CHRIST. They danced around it, but never come right out and say you have two choices, HEAVEN OR HELL. I remarked that I had heard the OLD TIME FIRE AND BRIMSTONE preachers when I was child of eight or ten. It helped shape my concept of God. She also said she had never heard a sermon addressing the Litany of Sorrows.
She did not have long to wait. We went to church that Sunday. The message was unmistakable. Our pastor looked straight at us and his sermon paraphrased the last two days of our lives. The message was obvious. This was a positive affirmation of God’s Will. God was explaining the sorrow and affliction of the 21st Century Church. Please be forewarned. These afflictions may cause you great pain, sorrow or elation. Somehow when we tell a lie long enough it becomes the truth. Almost 2,000 years have passed since the early catholic (meaning universal) Christian Church. A lot has happened in those 2,000 years. Regardless of the church you attend, it has STRAYED FROM AND ABANDONED THE TRUTH AND THE WAY OF JESUS CHRIST. The Third Covenant of Jesus Christ will attack that church and virtually every human institution, not out of anger but out of love and by the Grace of God. God loves us very much. Like our Jewish ancestors we have strayed from the path of eternal life and lost the power that God freely gives us.
The Lord Speaks:
This is the Word of the Lord! |
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