A PREPARED PEOPLE WITH A HOLY PURPOSE

Part Fourteen February 2000

Our Father has been preparing a people, who are His chosen elect, by the tests and trials of this life and by the revelation of His truth within them. That prepared people have a solemn and holy purpose to fulfill in the kingdom of our Father. Our preparation began with our initial conversion, when the Seed of Christ was planted within us. That small Seed grew within us from the smallest of seeds to become a plant growing within us, making our spirits one with God's Spirit. The Seed of Christ within us is the seed of the kingdom of God. Jesus said of that Seed, "It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds that be in the earth: But when it is sown, it groweth up, and becometh greater than all herbs, and shooteth out great branches; so that the fowls of the air may lodge under the shadow of it" (Mk. 4:31-32).

The Seed of Christ, or the Seed of the kingdom, when planted within us at our conversion, must grow from a small seed to become a "plant" (Mk. 4:26-28). That kingdom plant will continue growing within us until the Christ within shall overwhelm our whole being, transforming us within and without by His inherent power within us. When that Seed/plant has reached maturity within us, we shall then come forth in the image and likeness of Christ in spirit, soul, and body. We are not yet totally transformed, nor have we been completely changed into His image and likeness, but we are getting there one step at a time by the leading of His Spirit. We are not yet born again, but we are "BEING born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Pe. 1:23). Weymouth translates this verse as, "For you have been begotten again by God's ever-living and enduring word from a germ not of perishable, but of imperishable life." This is called conception!

The Apostle John described those who are born again, when he said, "We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not" (1 Jo. 5:18a). This means that those who are truly born again are also fully transformed from flesh to spirit and cannot possibly sin, for the sinful mind and nature has been totally removed from them. They have been born again and are changed in spirit, soul, and body, to become fully spirit by the power of God (Jo. 3:3, 6). True life begins at birth! And I know of no person living on earth at this time who has truly been born again, according to the scriptural interpretation of that term.

We are not yet born again; we have only been "begotten of God." The Seed of Christ was planted within us when we were saved. This is not a birth; it is a conception, which gives us the promise of our birth into the fullness of the Life of Christ. True life begins at birth! When Christ came into our spirits at our conversion, His Seed was planted within us. A new life was conceived within us, which means we were "begotten of God." John's message in the verse quoted in the previous paragraph ends by saying, "but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not" (1 Jo. 5:18b). Indeed, the enemy cannot touch anyone who has been begotten of God, who are keeping themselves in the love of God and are "looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life" (Jude 21). They shall be born again of the Spirit in the fullness of time!

John also wrote to tell us, "No one who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin - because he is a child of God. By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man" (1 Jo. 3:9-10, Weymouth). When we were conceived of the Spirit, the Seed of Christ was planted within us. Because of that Seed or "germ of life" within us, we cannot habitually and continually sin. It is possible for us to sin, but we will not because of that germ of Life within us. We may commit sin unknowingly at times, yet, because of His seed within us, the sinful nature with its desires of the flesh are "reckoned" to be dead, so that we no longer practice sin.

We are not yet totally "a new creature" (as in 2 Co. 5:17 & Ga. 6:15), but we are growing to the fullness of Christ to become a new creation in Christ Jesus. When we are fully in Christ, we shall become that "new creature," possessing the fullness of the image and the likeness of Christ. Since we are only "begotten of God" now, we are being kept from sin by the power of the indwelling Christ. We have the inherent mind and nature of old Adam with the capacity to sin; but we do not and will not sin, for we are being kept free from sin and iniquity by allowing Christ, the King, to reign within us completely. And those begotten ones, who have the "germ" or the seed of Christ within them and who are living in this world free from the bondage of sin and shame by His power, are no longer troubled by that "wicked one."

The words, "born" and "begotten," as used in 1 John 5:18, are both taken from the same original Greek word, "gennao." That word literally means to procreate or regenerate. That same Greek word is used in several places in the New Testament, and is variously translated as beget, conceive, bear, bring forth, be delivered of, or be born. It covers or includes everything of the birth process, from conception to birth. Therefore, the text, the use of the word in scripture, and more importantly, the revelation of the Spirit, must dictate how the Greek word "gennao" is to be interpreted and what English word is to be used, whether conception or birth or any other descriptive word.

In the King James translation of John 1:12-13, the word "gennao" is mistakenly translated "born," and is used with reference to our initial conversion. Another translation more correctly translates "gennao" in that verse this way: "But all who have received Him, to them - that is, to those who trust in His name - He has given the privilege of becoming children (or sons) of God; who were BEGOTTEN (gennao) as such not by human descent, nor through an impulse of their own nature, nor through the will of a human father, but from God" (Jo. 1:12-13, Weymouth). We have been begotten of God and are awaiting our birth into His full image and likeness. Most translations correctly refer to our future transformed or resurrected state as being born of God, or born from above, as the King James does in John 3:3-8.

Jesus spoke of the birth of the manchild, which we are becoming, or of the birth of the company of the sons of God, when He said, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow (as we have now), because her (OUR) hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that A MAN is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again (we shall then see Him as He is, 1 Jo. 3:2), and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you" (Jo. 16:20-22).

Although we are spiritually masculine sons of God, we have a feminine relationship with our Father, for we are about to give birth to the Christ that is within us. He who was planted as a tiny Seed within us when we were conceived of the Spirit shall then come forth in power and glory! The hour of our birth is at hand! How do we know this? Because of the sorrow and travail that many of us are experiencing! As a woman in the natural has some sorrow while she travails to bring forth her child, even so do we have sorrow now as we travail to bring forth the manchild. The coming to birth of the sons of God is the one, great spiritual event the whole creation is waiting for. The creation is not waiting for a manifestation of more flesh, whether it be the flesh of apostles and prophets, or the flesh of someone else who may even be anointed of the Spirit. The groaning, suffering creation is waiting for a manifestation of the Life and the glory of Christ! And by God's grace we will not disappoint them!

A gloriously arrayed MAN is about to be born in the earth! That radiantly arrayed manchild will be adorned with the full glory and splendor of the divine, spiritual garments of the Light of Christ. Those spiritual garments represent the resurrection Life of Christ, which has covered over and swallowed up the dying, Adamic man of this earth, which is within us (2 Co. 5:1-5). That new born corporate Man will be the Christ man, or the Man of the Spirit. The manifestation of "His" new, kingdom Life will signify that all the elect of this manchild company have been born again into the image and likeness of Christ. Then we shall truly "see the kingdom of God," and will fully "enter into" His kingdom by being "born of the Spirit" (Jo. 3:3-5). We shall then become the new creation of God, and the gloriously adorned, manifest sons of God in the earth. Not only is the whole creation waiting for us to receive that great glory, but so also are all those in Christ who have passed on before us!

Of our born again experience, Jesus said, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot SEE the kingdom of God" (Jo. 3:3). The Amplified gives this verse as, "I assure you, most solemnly I tell you, that unless a person is born again (anew, from above), he cannot ever see - know, be acquainted with [and experience] - the kingdom of God." This verse tells us that we must be totally changed from flesh to spirit in all three areas of our being before we can possibly see, know, and experience the kingdom of God. The Greek word for "see," as used here, means to see, to know, and to understand. Therefore, in our present state of the mixture of the two men within us, one of flesh and the other of spirit, it is impossible for us to fully see, know, understand, and experience the greater glory, power, and wonder of the kingdom of God. Try as we may, as long as we are in this carnal body with this carnal mind, we can only describe the kingdom of God in elementary terms from our limited perspective, barely scratching the surface of its tremendous, majestic and abundant glory and wonder.

We may "see" small glimpses or portions of the mystery of the Kingdom as the Spirit reveals it to us. But only when we are fully transformed in mind and body shall we truly "see" the kingdom of God as it really is in the Spirit. It is as Paul wrote, when he said, "Eye (the natural eye) hath not seen, nor (natural) ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Co. 2:9-10). The kingdom of God is a realm of perfection. It is far greater than any of us can grasp or understand in our present state of imperfection. But we rejoice to know that He does reveal some of those kingdom truths and mysteries to us by His Spirit.

Jesus said further, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot ENTER into the kingdom of God" (Jo. 3:5). The Amplified gives this verse as, "I assure you, most solemnly tell you, except a man be born of water and (even) the Spirit, he cannot [ever] enter the kingdom of God." Whenever Jesus used the word, "verily," He wanted to draw our close attention to what He is saying after that word of exclamation. The original Greek word translated "verily," means amen. Therefore, when Jesus used the words "verily, verily," as He did according to the King James version, He is not only calling our attention to what follows, but He is also confirming the truth of it with a double amen!

In order for us to both "see" and "enter" the kingdom of God, we must be born of water and of the Spirit. To be born of water is to be born of the flesh, for a large portion of our physical bodies consist of water (at least seven-tenths according to the World Book Encyclopedia). To be born of the Spirit is to become totally spirit in all three areas of our being. Jesus explained this in the next verse, when He said, "That which is born of the flesh (or of water) is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit IS (or has become totally) SPIRIT" (Vs. 6). The Amplified has it as, "What is born of [from] flesh is flesh - of the physical is physical; and what is born of the Spirit IS SPIRIT." Paul wrote to say, "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption" (1 Co. 15:50). It is impossible for us to inherit the kingdom while we are in this flesh and blood body. It is also impossible for us to fully see, know, understand, and enter the fullness of the kingdom while in this fleshly, carnal state. We must be born again of the Spirit! This means we must be transformed or renewed in our souls and resurrected in our bodies, to inherit, see, understand, and enter the kingdom of God.

We are not yet born again, but we are "BEING born again." Understanding this truth does not in any way take away from what we already have in God; nor does it diminish the life, power and authority of the Christ, Who is within us now. The Christ within, although only in elementary seed or more mature plant form in us now, has in Him all the fullness of God. Because of that Christ-Seed within, we are complete in Him (Col. 2:9-10). The Christ within us now has all the power and the authority of the Spirit of God that is necessary to take us from a converted sinner to a transformed son of God, possessing the full image and likeness of Christ, with a new and glorious body just like His. We are "BEING born again" by the inherent power of the Seed of Christ that is within us. In due time, we shall come forth bearing the full image and likeness of our glorious Head, Lord, and King. If we mistakenly think we are already born again, according to the false teachings of the church system, we deceive ourselves and may be hindered in seeking Him for that Life that will set ourselves and the groaning creation free from the bondage of sin and death.

The Apostle Paul wrote to the Colossian believers to tell us that we have already been "delivered ... from the power of darkness, and hath (been) translated ... into the kingdom of his dear Son" (Col. 1:13). We are already in the kingdom of God in an elementary sense. But when we are truly born again of the Spirit, we shall see and enter the kingdom in greater fullness, to inherit all His blessings and benefits. All the fullness of God dwells in Christ! He is within us, and is progressively bringing us to the fullness of His kingdom. All things were made by Him, and by Him all things consist. "For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (Ro. 11:36). Every situation and circumstance in this world, as it is now, is of God. He is the Author and the Finisher of it all. All that takes place originated with Him; it is all a result of His wisdom and foresight, and shall return to contribute to His praise, glory and honor in due time. He has the preeminence in all things! When the reign of Christ has prevailed over all, defeating every enemy and putting them all under His feet, He shall indeed be all in all - He shall be all things to all creatures in every area of the creation of God.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians to tell them, "But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them" (2 Co. 4:3-4). The light of the glorious gospel of Christ is shining into our hearts by the Spirit, revealing to us the image of God, which image we are becoming. Many Christians have not yet been enlightened of the Spirit to receive these truths. This is not their time for the Light of His Gospel to shine into their hearts, revealing His glorious image. But we are blessed to be enlightened by the Light of the Gospel of Christ, enabling us to see Him and be changed.

Paul continued his enlightening message, by saying, "For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in (these) earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2 Co. 4:6-7). It is by seeing Christ, in the Spirit and by the Spirit, that we are being changed into His image and likeness. Whenever we see Him as He is in the Spirit, the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God shines more and more into our spirits, increasing His presence, power, and glory within us. This is the great treasure that we now have in these earthen vessels of clay.

Then Paul describes our present life with amazing accuracy. "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." We who are the called and chosen unto the fullness of sonship believe this Gospel message, "Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with you" (2 Co. 4:8-11, 13-14). While we go through the trials and the sufferings of this life, we are always showing the death of the Lord Jesus in these bodies, so that the Life of Christ also might be manifest in these mortal bodies of flesh and blood. We also know that the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead shall also raise our mortal bodies out of this death into the Life of Christ. Then He will declare this many-membered Christ-man, together with our glorious Head, to be those saviors in Zion (Ob. 21), who are chosen and appointed for the reconciliation and salvation of the world and the whole creation.

Our transformation is purely the work of the Spirit within us. We certainly need to walk circumspectly before the Lord, walking and living in obedience to all His revealed will and ways. Above all else, we should seek for the highest and the best in God, which is not to die, but to be changed into His full image and likeness. Other than this, there is nothing more we can do to hasten our transformation or our metamorphosis from this "worm" of flesh into an "angel" of His glorious image and likeness. God has an order and a time for everything He does concerning us and His wonderful work in all the earth (1 Co. 15:23). He had an "order" and a time for "Christ the firstfruits" and He also has another "order" and time for "they that are Christ's at his coming." That last "order" will be the revealing, the disclosing, or the manifestation of the sons of God, which is our bodily change into the image and likeness of Christ.

I cannot stress too strongly the blessed hope before us! The Life of Christ, which also is the Life of the kingdom of God, is the glorious hope of all the sons of God. Our hope does not rest in the things of this world, whether it is good health, long life, success, or material prosperity. The Lord may bless us with those things of this present worldly life, which are only temporal and material. But our true hope is in the Christ-Life to come, which is the Life of the kingdom of God. Let us then fix our vision on our future hope, and on that which is beyond this present imperfect "life," to that kingdom Life which is about to be manifest in all the earth. This is our true calling in God! And by our transformation and resurrection to that new and greater Life of Christ, the whole creation also shall be delivered from its long and painful bondage to sin and death.

Paul declared a wonderful message of truth for us all, when he wrote: "If in this present life we have a hope resting on Christ, and nothing more, we are more to be pitied than all the rest of the world. But, in reality, Christ has risen from among the dead, being the first to do so of those who are asleep. For seeing that death came through man, through man comes also the resurrection of the dead. For just as through Adam all die, so also through Christ all will be made alive again. But this will happen to each in the right order - Christ having been the first to rise, and afterwards Christ's people rising at his return" (1 Co. 15:19-23, Weymouth). The true message of the Gospel of the kingdom promises all the sons of God, and eventually all mankind, that they shall all partake of the fullness of the resurrection Life of Christ. This is the Gospel message proclaiming the wonderful Truth of the transformation of all mankind - of our bodily change from this carnal man of sin and death into the new Man of the Spirit - beginning with the Lord's elect and chosen firstfruits. Any other gospel is empty and meaningless!

Called to See the Glory of the Lord and be Changed

Those who are called and chosen of their Father to attain to full sonship are seeing Christ in the Spirit and by the Spirit. They are being changed as they see Him in the Spirit. Many others are not called as we are; they perceive this walk as being very strange. Those who are not called to this high calling of God in Christ Jesus are not able to understand our walk in God and be changed. Paul refers to those people as having a veil on their hearts, and then he declares that that veil "is done away in Christ. Nevertheless when it (they) shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit (that takes all blinding veils away): and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Co. 3:14 & 16-17). The veil on the hearts of those who do not believe is not due to any fault on their part. The veil is on their hearts because God has not yet removed it from them. But that veil will be removed from them when they see Him as He is, which will assuredly and most certainly take place in their own due order, rank, and time (1 Co. 15:22-23).

Then Paul speaks to the elect of the Lord, when he writes, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Co. 3:18). Not all Christians will agree with us in seeking the Lord to know Him, see Him, and be changed as we are. But we must grow in the Spirit to see Him as He is, in spite of all the opposition and the unbelief of others. Because of our high calling of God in Christ, we must grow in the Spirit to see Him as He is and be changed into the same image of Christ, from glory to glory, by the Spirit of the Lord. And the wonderful truth for all the elect of the Lord of this hour is that we are being "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." We are not waiting for some grand "tomorrow," when all our sorrows and tribulations will end and this dark night shall be turned to endless Day. But we are consistently seeking Him now, that we might see Him and be changed into the glory of God, which glory we are seeing now in the "face" of Jesus Christ, our risen and glorified Savior, Lord and King. And our transformation into the full image and likeness of the glory of the Lord will indeed change this night to endless Day!

By the inspiration of the Spirit, Paul tells us that we are to behold the glory of the Lord "with open face." An "open face" is an unveiled face. It is the face of a called and chosen son of God who has no other veils, or creeds and doctrines, to dim and obscure their vision of Christ. They are not hampered and hindered from seeing Him because of their past understanding, or because of their previous walk with God under the old order administration of the church. This is very important for us to understand! We cannot see the Lord in all His glory and be changed according to the past principles and doctrines of the old, dead, church order of the past. To see Him as He is, we must have an open face, or an unveiled face; it is a face that has no other doctrines, opinions, or ideas about Christ and His kingdom. The Greek word for "face" implies the person; it is what we are in the spirit. Our "open face" will show that we are pure, clean, uncluttered, spiritual people, without any of man's perverted ways that might veil our faces. It is the "face" of one who is longing to see Christ in all His glory, that we might become all that He is.

Christ, the Day Star must arise in our hearts, making us aware of the greater glory of the new order of the kingdom of God! By the rising of the Day Star in our hearts (2 Pe. 1:19), we will make the transition from the old church order of the past to the new order of the kingdom of God. Then we shall see Him as He is! Paul referred to the followers of Moses as having a veil over their faces. Because of that veil, they "could not stedfastly look to the end of that which is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament. But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the vail is upon their heart" (2 Co. 3:13-15). Those Israelites obviously believed that the old Hebrew religion and the order of Moses would never end, but would continue throughout their glorious future. Their hearts were darkened by that veil and they could not see the end of that order, which began with so much glory on Mt. Sinai. So it is today! Many believers cannot understand that the old church order, which once was so full of the old glory of Pentecost, has an end and is now being abolished. A Pentecostal veil covers their minds, blinding them and preventing from seeing this new Day.

Of course, Paul also declared that that veil would be taken away from Moses' followers and all others of previous orders, by the Spirit, when they shall turn to the Lord. It is not a matter of if they shall turn to the Lord, but when! And, blessed be the Lord; they all shall surely turn to Him, maybe not now, but in Father's time and according to His due order. But we have a different calling than other Christians, with much greater responsibility. We are our Father's firstfruits! As such, we are called of Him to enter into His kingdom principles and provisions FIRST, before all others. Our entrance into the fullness of the kingdom of God will cause its doors of splendor and glory to open wide to all the world and to the whole creation of God. Let us then, with renewed zeal and confidence, press on in God until we receive our full inheritance, which is the redemption of our bodies. This indeed is the blessed hope and promise of the Gospel of the Kingdom!

Although we are seeing Christ now and are being changed, our Father has established an order or a time for the coming of the fullness of the kingdom of God to the earth. That order or time is purposed of our Father to take place in the morning (Ex. 16:7, Ps. 30:5, Mk. 13:35). The dawn of that morning has not yet arrived, but it is nearer than we may realize. Our Father is not one minute late in fulfilling His kingdom purposes in the earth, nor are we one bit behind or lacking in anything that is necessary to attain to His fullness. His elect and chosen ones, who are walking in obedience to His revealed will, are just where we should be spiritually. We are in perfect harmony with our Father's will and purpose, according to His due order for the manifestation of the sons of God. His purposes concerning us will all take place according to and in harmony with our Father's perfect will. And our transformation into His full image and likeness will bring about the coming of the greater glory of the kingdom of God to the earth. Then the new kingdom morning shall dawn in the full splendor and glory of Christ and His kingdom reign! Then the peace, justice, righteousness and love of God shall prevail in all the earth!

Know Thyself

We quote the following writing from one who expresses a proper balance between the natural and the spiritual, as it concerns each of us. We found wonderful confirmation in this writing of that which the Lord has also revealed to us. This writing by Donald K. Henry is titled, "Know Thyself."

"In 1937 my mother bought me a fine leather-bound Bible and in the front cover she wrote, `My son, remember your origin and your destiny.' A famous Philosopher once said that any country that forgets where it came from does not know where it is going. Another Philosopher said, `Know thyself.' This encompasses, where we came from, where we are going and who we are. To discover the answers to these three questions is very important to each and every one of us. When we discovered that we are the natural seed of Israel it made our Bibles read very differently because now the scriptures are talking directly to us instead of talking to someone else. This is in the natural. When we discover just who we are in the spiritual it makes just as great a change in our outlook because where we came from impacts who we are and who we are impacts our destiny.

"When I came alive to the Spirit my whole relationship changed. We who teach sonship have been accused of denigrating Jesus and exalting man about his proper place. Just who is man? Many Christians classify man very nearly the same as the people that say we crawled out of a slime pit, that we are created worms. Our flesh was created but our spirit was not created, it came out of God's Spirit just like Eve's flesh came out of Adam's flesh.

"No one ever saw Adam as he was originally created. We have only seen two halves that Adam was divided into. The male half and the female half. When we reproduce, we produce a male half or a female half, we cannot produce a whole as Adam was when he was created. We have been lowered considerably in our flesh when compared to Adam as he was created. Our spirits have been lowered in the same degree. We are all the feminine half of God's Spirit.

"This is an allegory. God made Adam complete and placed him in the Garden of Eden and the scripture indicates that Adam spent some length of time in the Garden doing things before Eve arrived. Genesis 2:8, `And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.' Verse 15, `And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden to dress and keep it.' Verse 20, `And Adam gave names to all cattle, and the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field.' I have one question. Where was Eve while Adam was dressing the Garden, naming all of the animals and walking and talking with God in the cool of the evening?

"Answer, she was part of Adam and was doing whatever Adam was doing. Then God reached into Adam and took out a portion of Adam's flesh and made it stand alone and called it woman. She was not exactly in Adam's image and likeness; but she was never-the-less bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh and capable of receiving Adam's seed and producing a son in the image and likeness of Adam. It is like Paul's statement that Levi paid tithes to Melchisedec a hundred years before he, Levi, was born because he was in the loins of Abraham when Abraham paid the tithes to Melchisedec. If this be true then we were in God when He laid the foundations of the world and we are spirit of His Spirit. This is an allegory of what God did to Himself when He Who is Spirit took a portion of His own Spirit and breathed it into flesh to become man's spirit as part of the process of producing sons in His own image and likeness as stated in Genesis one. Our spirit came from God and it was part of God before He separated it from Himself.

"My flesh came down through Adam who was the son of God. Luke 3:38, `Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.' As Adam's heir I am a child of God. That is for my flesh, now let us look at my spirit. 1 Cor. 6:19, `Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?' This says that my spirit is a portion of God's Holy Spirit and that it came from God.

"This is the spirit of unregenerate man. 1 Cor. 3:16, `Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?' Verse 17, `If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.' That portion of God's Spirit that He put into this house of flesh, as my spirit, is enough to make this pile of mud holy. That portion of God's Spirit that He separated from His Spirit and put into me as my spirit is how I am spiritually related to Him. He is Spirit, my spirit came from Him and is related to Him. He is the Father and Source of the spirits of all the sons of Adam.

"Job understood this, Job 27:3, `All the while my breath is in me, the spirit of God is in my nostrils' (as in Adam's nostrils). Job is saying, As long as I am breathing, a portion of the Spirit of God is in my nostrils and this portion is my spirit. Elihu the Buzite understood this. He said in Job 34:14-15, `If He (God) gather unto himself his spirit and his breath; all flesh shall perish together.' David understood this, Psalm 90, `Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth.'

"The heredity of our flesh is a separate line of heredity from our heredity in the spirit. Our flesh came from Adam while our spirits came directly from God's spirit. These are two separate and distinct lines of heredity. Hebrews 12:9, `We have had fathers of our flesh, which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits and live.' Two lines of heredity.

"Ecclesiastes 12:7, `Then shall the dust (my flesh) return to the earth as it was: and the spirit (me, my person) shall return unto God who gave it.' You cannot return to some place unless you have been there before. We have dual natures, one for our flesh and one for our spirit. My spirit, which is me, came from Him and will return to Him. Have you ever watched someone die? When the spirit left, the person left. We are spirits dwelling in tabernacles of flesh. Our flesh started at conception but our spirits came from God's Spirit. `It is the spirit that quickeneth.' It quickens our flesh.

"In the Old testament God required all of the adult males to come and present themselves before Him three times each year. They were required to appear before the tabernacle at Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles. In the story of Job we find two such meetings. Job 1:6, `Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.' Satan was required to come just like the sons of Elohim (man). Job 2:1, `And again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the Lord.' Satan was required. Also note that here man is called the sons of Elohim and Elohim means deity. Here man is called the sons of deity and if we look at the 82nd Psalm we find there that man is directly called Elohim, which is deity.

"Note Elohim is a collective noun that is plural, and it always describes deity. It is used for both feminine and masculine, real deity, false deity, and also for the imperfect deity but always for deity. It is used some 2300 times describing God as our deity. In Leviticus God said 43 times `I am Yahweh, your Elohim.'

"The 82nd Psalm is another meeting where all the adult males present themselves before God and here God is very critical of them. The word God/god appears four times in the King James version of the eight verses and every time the original word is Elohim and every time it refers to man. God is translated as the Most High. It is like the son of a king is royalty even if he is an imperfect child and we are imperfect children of the Most High.

"Psalm 82, `The Elohim (plural, you and I) standeth in the congregation of the El; He (the El, God) judgeth among the Elohim. How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the persons of the wicked? Selah. Defend the poor and fatherless: do justice to the afflicted and needy. Deliver the poor and needy: rid them out of the hand of the wicked. They (the imperfect Elohim) walk in darkness: all the foundations of the earth are out of course. I have said ye are Elohim; and all of you are children of the Most High. But ye shall die like Adam, and fall like one of the princes.' Verse 8 is our destiny after we are perfected: `Arise O Elohim, and judge the earth: for thou shalt inherit all nations.' We inherit from our Father's house. I did not climb out of a slime pit; I am a child of the Most High.

"Jeremiah 18:3-4, `Then I went down to the Potter's house, and behold he wrought a work on the wheels. And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.' The vessel was marred in the hand of the Potter and we are that vessel. Psalm 8:4-5, `What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels.' The word translated angels is Elohim/deity. The ASV translates it God, a little lower than God. If we research that `little lower than' we find the Hebrew word that is translated lower means to lack, or want, to be incomplete or imperfect. This says that we were made to lack from the perfect or that we were made incomplete and imperfect.

"Then if you look in Hebrews 2 you find Psalm 8 quoted. Hebrews 2:6, `What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands.' Note again we were made incomplete and imperfect. Hebrews 2:8, `But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death.' Note that Jesus was also lowered, made incomplete and to lack from the perfect. He came down to where we were/are so He could take us by the hand and lead us back home. He was made imperfect so that he could show us the way to perfection and we must be perfected through the same process that perfected Him. We both started out in the flesh as incomplete and imperfect Elohim put here to be completed and perfected.

"Hebrews 2:11, Moffatt, `Sanctifier and sanctified have all one origin, that is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers.' These scriptures state that Jesus and the Adamic man came from the same place, origin. We all have the same spiritual origin and we were both lowered or made incomplete and imperfect. While we and Jesus came from the same spiritual origin, God's Spirit, we arrived here by different routes and in different conditions. Our flesh came through Adam and is the seed of Adam while Jesus' flesh was not Adam's seed but the seed of the woman. Jesus had to be lowered to where we are so He could take us by the hand and lead us back home. We were born imperfect and separated from the source of life by sin while Jesus was made sin by taking on our sin. We, our flesh, is Adam's seed while Jesus' flesh was the Seed of the woman.

"Genesis 3:15, to Satan, `I will put enmity between thee and the woman and between her seed and thy seed.' In the flesh he was the seed of the woman. In Matthew 1, the forty-first generation is the seed of the woman and the forty-second generation is the seed of God, count them. Jesus identified the seed of Satan in John 8:44. Jesus' Spirit was made complete when the Holy Spirit descended upon him in the Jordan River and remained. We call that process conceiving to the Holy Spirit. The scripture says that He was made perfect through suffering and became the express image of God's person and the brightness of His Glory and the Beginning of the Creation of God. We will be the rest of that creation.

"With our dual natures there is marriage in the flesh that produces flesh, and there is marriage in the spirit that produces spirit. John 3:6, `That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.' Creation is a two step process, First `that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.' 1 Cor. 15:46. There will be a birthing in the spirit and John 3:5 states that one parent of the sons being birthed will be the Holy Spirit. Guess whose spirit the other parent will be! `Except a man/person be born of the Spirit (God's Spirit) he cannot enter the kingdom of God.' The church's custom of having one repeat a confession of faith and then tell them that they are born from above is a fraud. If we think that we have something we do not have, we will never go looking for it!

"We are told of two marriages - one at Sinai, and the marriage of the Lamb. Procreation in the spirit will have to come under one of those two marriages. Conception in the spirit, like conception in the flesh, is a transfer of life, a giving and receiving of life. We must receive that infusion of His life, call it what you may. He said `I am come that you might have life.' John 10:10. John 1:12, `But as many as received him (and He is Spirit) to them gave he power to become the sons of Elohim.' There is a giving and a receiving. He gives us the spiritual seed of life and then we carry it to fruition which will be the birthing into the spirit.

"The spirits of the disciples were made complete (conceived) when Jesus breathed on them in the upper room and said, `Receive ye the Holy Spirit' and they were processed/perfected through suffering until the day they went to their graves. And I firmly believe that they will be birthed into the Spirit on resurrection day as sons in the image and likeness of their spiritual Father. This process is now going on all over the world to one here and one there as Christ picks out His firstfruits company.

"I did not climb out of a slime pit, I came from God and I will return to Him. And my prayer is that I will have been completed and perfected before I stand before that great Judge." (End of quotation.)

What wonderful words of confirmation! We were begotten or conceived of the Spirit and by the Spirit when we were originally converted. At that time, the Seed of Christ was planted within us. We were then conceived or begotten of the holy Spirit. As a result of that conception by the Spirit, we were called of our Father to go through a processing of the Spirit, resulting in tests and trials of this life that would bring us to maturity in Christ. When our processing or preparation is finished and we are complete and mature in Christ, our souls shall be renewed unto our ultimate and complete transformation (Ro. 12:2). Some among us now are awaiting our birth into the full image and likeness of Christ. This is the Day; Father's redemptive plan for our complete transformation is finished; and we are the people. All the heavenly hosts, including our heavenly Father, are urging us onward and calling us to ascend to new heights in God.

We did not originate "in a slime pit," as our brother puts it. We were sent of our Father out of His Spirit to the earth at this momentous hour of time, that we might become those saviors or deliverers who shall ascend the holy hill of Zion, from there to rule and reign with Christ over all the earth. We originated with God, and now we are returning to Him, by the Spirit. From that glorious mount Zion in the heavenlies of His Spirit, we shall judge the mount of Esau, or the realm of the flesh, among the kingdoms or realms of this world, which is now under the dominion of Christ, our honorable and noble Head, King and Lord of all (see Obadiah 21). Therefore, let us keep growing, maturing and ascending in the Spirit, unto the greater glory of His fullness!

Paul and Emily Mueller

P O BOX 25055, PORTLAND, OR 97298-0055

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