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  GETTING BACK TO BASICS
  by Robert Wurtz II
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Wurtz's theological work examining foundational Christian practices and
institutions, including the biblical basis for marriage as the oldest human
institution ordained by God. He addresses fundamental questions about Christian
doctrine and the proper ordering of society under divine authority.

  Chapters: 10

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  TABLE OF CONTENTS
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    0. Getting Back To Basics
    1. INTRODUCTION
    2. Chapte 2 The Oldest Institution)
    3. Chapte 3 Divorce)
    4. Chapte 4 Salvation That Saves)
    5. Chapte 5 Salvation that Lasts)
    6. Chapte 6 Survival of the Revival)
    7. Chapte 7 Fishers of Men)
    8. Chapte 8 The Love We Had At First)
    9. Chapte 9 Speaking The Truth In Love)

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  CHAPTER 0: GETTING BACK TO BASICS
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  CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
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INTRODUCTION

In these last days God is calling out a remnant people; but end time trials,
temptations, and detractions have left the Church in spiritual shambles. Radio
and Television messages of prosperity and grace abound, while the call to
repentance is rarely heard. The Spirit of God is crying out in the earth 'Come
out of her my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and be not partakers
of her plagues;' (Revelation 18:4) but the mega-church messages of tolerance
have drowned it out. The overall Spirituality of the Church is spinning out of
control and the prophetic voice of God is all but silent. Sin is so rampant in
the Body of Christ today, that it is doubtful that God accepts any of our
services or worship (Malachi 2:15).

The Salt Has Lost its Savor

This generation that now is knows little of a real move of God; and those who do
and can remember- are growing fewer by the day. Christians are no longer mocked
in America for their peculiar life styles, because it is essentially no
different than the world's. The salt that once slowed the decay of society has
all but lost the savor of holiness and righteousness; and the result is a
society full of rottenous pockets of sin and iniquity. For this cause the Church
has been marginalized into a place of irrelevance. And it has happened according
to the true proverb, 'They are henceforth good for nothing but to be trodden
under the foot of men.' (Matthew 5:13) Christians have held silent in America
until the courts have constitutionalized sodomy, evicted God from the classroom
and courtroom, and sought to legalize homosexual marriage for the first time in
mankind's fallen history. Church organizations that were birthed in the fires of
holiness are now ordaining practicing homosexuals into the pulpit in an act that
would make Sodom and Gomorrah blush! Then when God sends plagues upon America to
get our attention TV and Radio preachers busy themselves rebuking the devil,
instead of calling a people who are in the crosshairs of the greatest judgments
ever conceived-, to heart rending repentance. They're blaming the devil, but
it's the people's sins causing the land to vomit the people out (Leviticus
18:24-30).

Stewards of the Dunamis

Judgment is not coming; it is here. Judgment is coming on a world that looks
increasingly like Noah's generation everyday. But before God judges the world it
will judge the Christian nations first. And before America is judged the House
of God will be judged (I Peter 4:17). And the judgment that comes upon the
Church has already begun in the sect that is most worthy- the full Gospel
movements. The initial judgment has come in the departure of the great power of
God that once was. And why are we judged? Because we are stewards of the message
of Pentecost and watchmen of God's glory and anointing. Full Gospel evangelical
organizations are SUPPOSED to be preaching holiness and preaching against SIN!
To whom much is given much is required and there is no doubt that we have tasted
of the good word of God and the powers of the world to come (Hebrews 6:5). I
fear the youth are rejecting every element of full Gospel but the 'feel good.'
They reject holiness, sanctification, convictions and obedience to their
leadership. If America is going to repent it must start in the first place that
God will judge- it must begin with the stewards of the dunamis.

Modern Day Pentecostalism

God started modern day Pentecostalism by baptizing a congregation of people in
the Holy Ghost roughly 50 miles west of where I am writing this sentence. The
time was 1901 and the place was Bethel Bible College in Topeka, Kansas. The man
God used was Charles F. Parham. Kansas is a name that means 'People of the south
wind.' God does nothing with meaningless details. The timing was no less
significant as the age of humanism, secularism, and materialism was winding up.
God knew that it would require the power of the Holy Spirit to conquer sin and
all that the ‘imps' of hell would bring to bare in these last days. We must be
FULL of the Holy Ghost to have the boldness and power to confront the highhanded
sin we are seeing!

From Pentecostalism to Charismania

A great portion of influence that later came to be the Charismatic movement
began in a town 50 miles to my east. Kathryn Kuhlman was born-again at the age
of fourteen in the Methodist Church of Concordia, Missouri. Her ministry
witnessed something different than Pentecostalism; it brought the rise of an
emphasis on worship and the presence of God. Katherine showed people how to
worship God and entertain the sweet presence of God. Benny Hinn took up this
ministry and his services are a near replica of her's. Emphasizing the presence
of God gave rise to the concept of a personal relationship with the Holy Spirit.
In time, we began loosing what it means to be FULL of the Holy Ghost, as the
emphasis became on feelings and away from the true holiness and righteousness.
People began thinking they could regularly 'plead the blood' over their lives
and run into the Holy of Holies with iniquity dripping from their fingertips.
Now the Charismatic movement has 'spun off' the Faith Movement and the emphasis
is on material and physical blessings. Gain is equated with godliness in this
belief system and we have to wonder how long God is going to put up with it? (I
Timothy 6:5).

The Loss of True Pentecostalism

The Pentecost of the past was characterized by holy living and powerful
conviction. People were filled with the Spirit of God and would run to the altar
under great conviction. Today, there is such a lack of spiritual power that
people actually can feel comfortable nearly blaspheming the Holy Ghost in our
services. There is such a lack of control that you almost have to get in the
flesh to deal with the highhandedness. Why? Because at the grass roots level
people are simply not living right and the power of conviction is not striking
fear in the peoples hearts. Sinful saints come to worship services and try to
cast themselves on the mercy of God and then expect God to show up! Like the
sons of ELI they are committing gross sin and then trying to run into battle
with the Ark of the Covenant over their shoulder. You can worship until you are
blue in the face, but it doesn't take the place of living right. The evidence is
in our altars. Charismania taught us to define power by people falling out or
dancing or feeling goose bumps; but all these things happen at football games.
We came to believe that if we set the mood right in a service, we could court
God like our wife or girlfriend with soft music and a candlelight dinner. That's
all fine and good if you're living in fidelity; but when we sin against God all
week, mix worldliness into the worship, and then try to sweet talk God- He must
see us as wretched fools (Malachi 2:13-15). Worse than that we can't see how
repulsed He is and keep doing it as though He is enjoying it. God would trade
all the praise we give Him for simple obedience. We have bought the lie that our
sacrifice offsets our disobedience as long as we ask forgiveness. The fruit of
this is empty lives, empty altars, and empty spirits. Yes, we are in a crisis in
Pentecostalism. The situation; people won't live righteous and holy and as a
result our cruse of oil is all but dry. The question: will the true Saints
hearken before it's too late?

The Saul Generation

Romans 12:1 tells us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice holy and
acceptable unto God-, which is our spiritual worship. This is an allusion to the
requirement that an offering to God in the New Testament must be holy and
without blemish as they were in the Old Testament (Exodus 12:5). We cannot do as
did Cain and bring just whatever we want and get mad when God won't accept it
(Genesis 4:5). Nor can we forget that obedience is the prerequisite for bringing
any offering to God. To obey is better than to sacrifice (I Samuel 15:22). God
will not accept our gift at the altar, if we so much as remember in our hearts
that our brother or sister has 'ought' against us (Matthew 5:23). II Chronicles
7:12 tells us that God ordained His house as the house of sacrifice. Every time
we preach, teach, pray, play instruments, or sing, we are bringing an offering
unto the Lord (Hebrews 13:15). On top of this we are to worship in Spirit and in
truth. God asked the people through the prophet Malachi 'If you offer a blind
sacrifice is it not evil?' In Malachi 1:13 & 14 God says: 'When you bring
injured, crippled or diseased animals and offer them as sacrifices, should I
accept them from your hands?" says the LORD.' (NIV) He goes on to say in the
next verse that people who do that are cursed. Cursed of what? Cursed with the
absence of the glory of God. Why? Because our sacrifices are laced with sin
(Malachi 2:15).

Full Gospel Indifference

The great indictment against us as full gospel believers is how only the older
generations truly weep over sin and its effects on God's people. Young people
today do not weep over sin. People don't rend their garments anymore- much less
their hearts (Jeremiah 36:24). All the while the clock is ticking toward
judgment. When you find pleasure in sin it truly is hard to weep over it (II
Thessalonians 2:12). We must pray that God will cause us all to HATE sin and
iniquity. We must pray for an excellent Spirit that believes we should offend
ALL before we offend God (Daniel 6). We must clean our closets of the
worldliness that has marginalized those who were once mocked of this world-
those who believe in living right and under the power of God. People don't even
make jokes anymore! We must get full of the Holy Ghost once again- that we might
have the power to confront this train wreck of sin head on.

Back to the Basics

If a person has the least bit of fear of God and good sense they see the urgency
to see God's people turn before it's too late. If not they are likely doomed
already to reprobation for their highhanded sin. Many will cry 'legalism' or
some other blasphemy that makes the word of Christ of none effect. The flesh
will not accept these things; this was the case in Jesus' day and was the cause
of Him prefacing some of His statements with, 'He who hath ears to hear let them
hear' (Matthew 11:15). Not everyone has their Spiritual ears open; some are just
too caught up in the world and are drunk on their sins. Like the notorious
doomed frog, many prefer to watch the bubbles of God's wrath- as the pot grows
hotter- knowing not they are burning to death. As in Jeremiah's day, the lies,
the adultery, and the treachery have got to stop. Dishonesty has to stop,
covetous idolatry has to stop, and so do the multitude of categories of secret
sins. Convictions must return. No longer can any of the SAINTS continue to
partake of other people's sins through the multitude of media choices ranging
from Internet to TV and music. We have set in the seat of the scornful too long
and filling our minds with sin and grieving the Holy Ghost. We must stop these
things not to 'spoil our fun' or 'get legalistic;' we need to do it because God
makes no distinction between those who commit the sins and those who have
pleasure in partaking with them (Romans 1:32). God is saying 'Come out of her,
my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her
plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her
iniquities' (Revelation 18:4 &5). Getting back to the discarded principals that
our elders passed down (and are too often scorned) of God's holiness and
righteousness is the first step in avoiding God's judgment.


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  CHAPTER 2: CHAPTE 2 THE OLDEST INSTITUTION)
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CHAPTER 2 THE OLDEST INSTITUTION

God designed marriage as the foundational element of all human society. Before
there was a Church, a government, a school, or a business, God formally
instituted marriage. God created man and placed him in a Garden. Because it was
not good that man was alone, God took a rib from Adam’s side and formed Eve. God
then decreed… "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall
cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." (Genesis 2:24) The
institution of marriage is subject only to the rules and regulations set down by
God in His immutable word. Individuals may marry, be divorced, and be
remarried-, only if, when, and how He says they may. No private individual or
the state has competence or authority to decide who may be married or divorced
and on what basis. The state has been given by God the task of keeping records,
etc., but it has no right or authority to determine the rules of marriage; that
is the perogative of God alone.

Marrying and Giving in Marriage

Jesus said that “As it was in the days of Noah so shall it be at the coming at
the Son of Man. For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating
and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered
into the ark.” (Matthew 24:37 &38). For years this passage has made little
sense. What could possibly be so bad about marriage and giving in marriage? Is
not marriage what God wants people to do? Marriage and divorce are so rampant
now that even same sex marriages are being debated and are likely to become law
apart from a miracle from God. Having been used to “putting asunder” that which
God hath “joined together” these many years- now they seek to join that which
God will never regard. Satan is attempting to sit in the throne of God and
decree the affairs of men through demonized liberal judges. With sodomy laws now
deemed unconstitutional; any sex act imaginable will be sanctioned by the state.
Any perverse joining together of man or beast they will no doubt cite as a civil
right and will press for public approval and then sanction. No generation
including Sodom and Gomorrah would believe what we are seeing in America today.
Jesus warned us about this “giving in marriage,” but no generation in man’s vile
and debauched history could imagine this.

Digging up Sodom?

Those cities (Sodom and Gomorrah) were destroyed by fire and are a warning of
the eternal fire that will punish all who are evil (Jude 7 NLT). Sexual sins are
over-running America and the Church. Revelation speaks of one third of the earth
being burned up by fire at the sounding of the first trumpet judgment
(Revelation 8:7-10). This is no doubt a reference to a nuclear exchange or a
giant asteroid hitting earth at 40,000 MPH. If a third part of the earth is
destroyed and the Middle East, Europe, Russia (Gog and Magog), India and China
(kings of the east), and Egypt are still around at the battle of Armegeddon-
what was this third part that was annhilated? If America does not repent God
will not be digging anyone up to apologize- archeologists will be digging up
America. There is something about sexual sins and transgressions that bring on
the firey judgments of God and America is in the crosshairs. Never in history
has God allowed such highhanded perversion to go long unpunished.

What God Hath Joined Together

Most of society treats marriage as though it were a simple man made agreement or
contract that can be entered “into” and “out of” at will. In God’s word we
discover that marriage is not a contract; it is not a partnership. It is a blood
covenant – a covenant of such consequence that a man and a woman have become
fused by God into one being. The Bible uses the language: "They are no more
twain, but one flesh" (Matthew 19:6). In Mark 10:6-8 we read “But from the
beginning of the creation of God made them male and female. For this cause shall
a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; And they twain shall
be one flesh: so then they are no more twain, but one flesh.” When man and woman
are joined in marriage and consummate that relationship in the marriage bed, it
is a union made by God. The hymen is broken, the blood is spilled, and the
covenant begins. This is indeed a remarkable truth. It is hard to find any other
physical human experience that can rival such a wonder – that God would join a
man and woman together (Mark 10:9). Society is in chaos today because this
pattern is so foreign to both saint and sinner alike. “Blasphemous Unions”

America has literally got a fist in the air in the face of God in this
generation. Mankind has exalted themselves to try to define what marriage is and
is not. This is utter blasphemy. It should go without saying and beyond reproach
that God joins only a male and female in marriage. Same sex unions are born in
the same reprobate minds that sought to legalize partial birth abortion. How
would God sanction an abomination such as homosexuality (Leviticus 18:22,23)
when John the Baptist lost his head over Herod’s adulterous and incestous
marriage? Adultery, homosexuality, and bestiality all were under the death
penalty in Levitucus 18 & 20. These are the sins that caused God to destroy the
world in Noah’s time and Sodom and Gomorrah. If God is merciful the land will
simply vomit the people out (Leviticus 18-20). Asking forgiveness after the
marriage did not allow Herod to keep his brother’s wife and it would not allow a
man to keep his husband or a woman her wife. God does not recognize them.

The Bowels of Abominations

As soon as the Supreme Court struck down the sodomy laws of Texas in 2003 a
lawsuit was filed in Utah challenging Tom Green and Rodney Holm’s polygamy
convictions. Supreme Court justice Scalia in his dissenting opinion stated that
state laws against bigamy, same-sex marriage, adult incest, prostitution,
adultery, fornication, and bestiality are called into question by that decision.

As American’s have become embolden to not feel sufficed to merely commit such
abominations they will seek to have them constitutionalized and rights sought
for marriage in each respective category. These reprobate marriages will take
Romans 1 and 2 to the next level as the people wholly overthrow the law of God
in their minds and set themselves up for FULL BLOWN REPROBATION (Romans 1:28).
You cannot excuse God from your heart to commit such sins and not be in danger
of eternal damnation. First it will be men marry men and women marry women; then
men and women marrying close family members. We know it today as incest, but it
may soon be a civil right. If the Lord spares America from the same fires of
Sodom ere many years pedifilia, pologamy, and beastility may well find their
days in court. Prostitution may soon be as legal as gambling. Children could be
perpetual victims of adult pedifilia. Adults may well take children not yet past
the flower of their age to wife or husband (I Corinthians 7:36; also as did
Muhummad). After America is overcome with pagan sexuality the only thing left is
to integrate idols and their associated demons (Psalm 106:34-38). Temple
prostitution could be legal within the next 10 years. All of these things should
have any God fearing person vexed- as our society is now officially more
abominable than Sodom and Gommorah in this regard (II Peter 2:8). Fear and
trembling should be the state of anyone who knows their bible and God’s track
record of judgment. Genesis 6 would be the only abominations left to commit.

Why God Created Marriage

Didn't the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And
what does he want? Godly children from your union (Malachi 2:15 NLT). First of
all God warns believers not to enter a marriage in which the other person is not
a believer. The Mosaic Law clearly stated that an Israelite was never to marry a
Canaanite. The Israelite would be constantly tempted to embrace the spouse's god
(Exodus 34:10-17; Deuteronomy 7:3-4). This is exactly what happened to Solomon
(I Kings 11:1-9). Likewise, the apostle Paul commanded the members of the church
at Corinth, "Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers" (II
Corinthians 6:14). Statistics reveal overwhelmingly that children whose father’s
do not serve God are most likely to rebel against God- regardless of whether the
mother serves God or not. This leaves generations of damned souls being birthed
into the earth. One act of disobedience in this commandment can contribute to
the loss of multitudes of souls. A woman who marrys an ungodly man will come
under his authority and headship (Ephesians 5:23). When he kicks against the
pricks- she and her babies will be along for the ride. God created marriage to
raise up godly seed in the earth- disregard this command and the exact opposite
will happen. Who could stand watching their sons and daughters damned because
they disobeyed God?! This thing ought never happen again among believers; but
rebellion and lust is usually stronger than reason, sad stories, or
threatenings. In what greater measure could a child of God possibly wax wanton,
or sin against Christ than this?

Choosing a Mate

Man in his heart determines his way but the Lord directeth his steps (Proverbs
16:9). If a person seeking a mate will delight themselves in the Lord God will
give them the desires of their heart (Psalm 37:4). Psalm 37:5 Commit thy way
unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass. When our mind
is on God our priorities are right and God will give us the perfect mate. Going
ahead of God is sure to bring disaster! God desires good things for His
children. James tells us that when we ask sometimes we do not receive because
our motive is not love- but lust (James 4:3). This is what Paul was referring to
when He told Timothy that young widows often “wax wanton” against Christ by
going after a man at the expense of their relationship with God (I Timothy
5:11-13). Waiting on God is worth it.

Society in Chaos

The enemy seeks first and foremost to undermine the basic unit of the family,
because it serves as the foundation from which a godly community is built
(Malachi 2). We have watched as the spirit of antichrist has invaded our schools
teaching children from a yound age that many abominations are ok to commit-
calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20). Then the child goes home and
Hollywood gives them a good dose of adultery and fornication as if they were
normal behaviors. Then their parents divorce and a mass of confusion sets in
until it’s nearly impossible for those kids to fully recover. This is what
Malachi 2:16 means when God said that divorce is as cruel as putting on your
victim’s bloodstained coat! (NLT).

I hear the cry of the Spirit saying God is tired of fornication. He’s tired of
adultery. He’s tired of homosexuality. He’s tired of the whoreing and
whoremongering. He’s most of all tired of the excuses! He is tired once again of
the same sets of sins that have plagued mankind since Noah’s time. Sins that
once destroyed every breathing creature on earth save those on the ark- and
caused fired to reduce Sodom and Gomorrah to a mere remembrance. People with
eyes full of adultery are sinning and provoking God- totally ignoring warning
after warning after warning (II Peter 2:14). People are leaving spouses without
cause and unleashing a torrent of confused, twisted, and complex sin that no
Spiritual gift can unwind. All that’s left for them is judgment if they don’t
repent- God has talked all He’s going to. Hell will be a refuge for these people
if they quit not their sins (Compare Matthew 10:15 & Jude 7).

Writings of Divorcement

And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is it lawful for a man to put away
his wife? tempting him. And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses
command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement, and
to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your
heart he wrote you this precept (Mark 10:2-5). There were two schools of thought
in Jesus time Hillel and Shammai; one believed adultery to be the only cause for
divorce and the other would grant it over burned biscuits.

The Grievous Sin of Fornication

Fornication is a blanket term defined as any sexual contact between unmarried
people. It runs the full gamut of sin from sins of the heart to beastility and
beyond (Gk. pornea). It should not be confused with the sin of adultery that
takes place when one or more of the parties involved are married to someone
else, but adultery is still under the heading of fornication. God did not intend
that men and women treat their bodies like rental property before they get
married. So serious was God in the Old Testament about people marrying in their
virginity, that if a woman was supposed to be pure and could not produce the
token of her virginity at the consummation of the marriage, she was to be taken
to the doorway of her father’s house and stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:21). If
the daughter of a priest especially were guilty of fornication, she should be
stoned and her body burnt (Leviticus 21:9); because these things, as Moses
observes in Leveticus 19:29 and Deuteronomy 23:17,18, were a great abomination
in the sight of God. The broken hymen is the source of the blood covenant that
is made between the man and the woman (Hebrews 9:20). God is the witness of this
covenant (Malachi 2:14).

Fornication and especially whoremongering is such an agredgeous sin that God has
promised to judge the people who are involved (Hebrews 13:4). Fornication with
multiple partners is the single greatest blow that can be dealt to a marriage
before it is consummated. Fornication is a sin against God, your future wife,
husband, and children. The jealousy that stirs from such behavior can only be
dealt with righteously by staying full of the Holy Ghost. For when the flesh
takes over it will result in some form of escapism, perversion or extreme anger
and resentment.

The coming together of two to make one flesh is such a mysterious and sacred
phenemona that we ought to fear and tremble at the very thought of fornication.
A fornicator or whoremonger should fear and tremble before the Lord in sackloth
and ashes- zealously seeking to conform to God’s word. The body is not for
fornication (I Cornthians 6:13), but belongs to God (v13b). As members of the
Body of Christ we join Him to a harlot if we dare go in to them (v17).
Fornication is the only sin that is specifically against our own body (v18), the
Temple of the Holy Ghost (v19). If any person defiles this Temple of God (their
body)- God Himself will destroy them (I Corinthians 3:17). To avoid fornication
everyone who cannot control themselves needs their own wife or husband (I
Corinthians 7:1&2). I Corinthians 10:8 reminds us that God killed 21,000 people
in one day over the sin of fornication. In II Corinthians 12:21 Paul bewailed
the lack of repentance of fornicators and in I Corinthians 5:2 he rebuked them
for not mourning of the extreme fornication going on in that Spirit Filled
Church. He took it upon himself to order them to turn the man over to satan so
he would repent and not loose his soul (I Corinthians 5:5).

Fornication is the one sin that places us in danger of forfeiting our birthright
as Christians (Hebrews 12:16). I Corinthians 5 and Galatians 5 tell us that
unrepentant fornicators will not inherit the Kingdom of God. Paul told Timothy
to flee fornication (II Timothy 2:22). We are not to fellowship with fornicators
(I Corinthians 5:11), because a little leaven leavens the whole lump (I
Corinthians 5:6). Allowing fornication to go unaddressed emboldens others to
commit the sin. Paul told the Ephesian church not to allow the sin to be named
even once among their congregation (Ephesians 5:3). Colossians 3:5-7 tells us
that fornication brings the wrath of God upon those who commit it and names them
as children of disobedience. The greatest aspect of our sanctification is to
abstain from sexual sin (I Thessalonians 4:3). And that, because fornication
leads to the pagan practice of temple prostitutes and the like and eventually
must lead to idolatry. Solomon is the greatest example of how sexual sin can so
dominate a life that it would lead to us forsaking God all together for the
allurement of idols. This is brought about by the frequency of yielding to the
forbidden sexual sins to no satisfaction. The dulled heart then turns to the
mighty sin elixir of idol worship to regain the temporary satisfaction of that
sin.

The Damnable Sin of Adultery

Adultery is rampant in society and in the Church. It is a sin that is of an
exceptional heonousness in that it opens the door for men to raise Children that
are not theirs or women to grieve over their husband’s mistress’s babies as did
Sarah with Hagar (Genesis 16). The Old Testament leveled the death penalty for
such sins (Deuteronomy 22). And that because people who did such things
corrupted whole family geneologies with their sin. Not to mention the extreme
hurt and pain that it causes the marriage partner that has kept their vow.


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  CHAPTER 3: CHAPTE 3 DIVORCE)
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CHAPTER 3 WHAT GOD HATH JOINED TOGETHER LET NOT MAN PUT ASUNDER

For the Hardness of Your Hearts

The fact that divorce in the “Church” is statistically the same in terms of
percentages as the heathen society in which we live- testifies that the Church
is filled with carnality. Two equally yoked Christians walking together in the
Spirit of God do not get divorced. Jesus points to the true reasoning for Moses
allowing divorce in the first place as the "hardness of the peoples hearts"
(Matthew 19:8). It is from this condition that we will discuss divorce- as the
error of “hardness of heart” begets the error of divorce. The hearts of the
people have to be dealt with- as the hardened hearts of stone are worthless to
bring about the true design of marriage within society. Ezekiel 36:26-27 reads…
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart
of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my
statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them. This is what it means to
be born again according to John 3:3 and to have His “seed” remain in us since we
have been born of God (I John 3:9). Without this process a person is not saved
no matter what they profess or confess. Upon realizing the enormity of our sin
in light of the true revelation of God’s holiness- we see the great need for our
sin to be purged and our hearts to be replaced. Until this happens the cross of
Christ appears as foolishness to them that are perishing (I Corinthians 1:18).

Separation Begets Separation

People are not just sinners they are DEAD in trespasses and sins (Separated from
God; Ephesians 2:1-5; Colossians 2:13). You can’t put a Band-Aid on a dead
person and send them home from the hospital- they need a transformation of the
Spirit that results in their becoming a new creation in Christ that walks NOT
after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4). The Gospel of humanism
places the emphasis on the assurance of salvation and not the true process of
the born again experience itself. The Gospel of humanism says, “be assured,” but
the bible clearly warns us repeatedly to “examine ourselves whether we be in the
faith” (I Corinthians 11:28; II Corinthians 13:5). The fact that a person would
even consider divorce ought to be a red flag to examine themselves- but
assurance says, “There is forgiveness.” At the LEAST a Christian seeking divorce
is in a “prodigal” state of backsliding. And IF they are true prodigals they
WILL “come to themselves.”

Modern Christianity does not teach walking in the Spirit… but rather, is a
perpetual “sin-repent-sin-repent-sin-repent” Christianity. This is NOT true
Christianity- nor is it victory. It is CARNALITY. The foundation of Christianity
is repentance- in which we are then Born Again after the personality of God and
receive the witness and working of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:16). As children of
God we have His Holy Spirit- as the old man is dead and the new man is alive to
live after Christ (Romans 6:6). We are to walk in the Spirit free from any
conscious sin (Acts 23:1; II Corinthians 1:17; I Timothy 1:5; etc.). Without
this foundation in place we may as well be trying to teach a pagan about God’s
true design for marriage. When Christians are separated from God there is no
wonder they separate from their spouses in divorce.

Reconciliation is God’s Plan in Times of Trouble

Remember in our previous study of adultery we learned that “adultery was the act
whereby any married man was exposed to the risk of having a spurious
(illegitimate) offspring imposed upon him.” This is the great fear for men or
woman alike when it comes to adultery. If a married man goes off and creates an
illegitimate child with another woman- a grievous and troublesome wound has been
thrust deep within the faithful spouse the likes of which are hard to imagine
for a person who has never been there. It carries with it the greatest negative
emotion in the human soul… betrayal. However, as gruesome a crime as this is it
does NOT necessitate divorce. God never mandated divorce- except in the case of
the intermarriage of the Jews with Pagans in Ezra 10. In this case the souls of
the kids were damned to the extent that they couldn’t even speak the Hebrew
language anymore and only knew the language of paganism. In every other case of
legitimate marriage- God’s plan is reconciliation and restoration of the
marriage. Only with the exception of fornication is divorce granted by God and
we will assume that if divorce is granted by God- so to there is liberty for
remarriage. Otherwise a whole quagmire of nonsensical issues surface which, God
knowing the hearts of men, and women, would not allow to go undealt with. It is
my argument that God understands the human need for cohabitation and would not
grant a divorce to people and expect celibacy when He has already stated that
satan will tempt those for their incontinency (lack of self-control) who do not
“join together again” with their mate after extended periods of fasting and
prayer… so we can glean from this that God would not place man in a scenario
where sin would be perpetually crouching at the door (I Corinthians 7:2-5).

Except it be for Fornication

As we mention previously, the liberty given to a man by the Mosaic law to put
away his wife "because he found some uncleanness" or something offensive in her
(Deuteronomy 24:1) was an accommodation to the hardness of the Jewish heart, and
did not harmonize with God’s original plan concerning the nature of marriage.
The two schools of thought in Jesus day were based in the teachings of Hillel
and Shammai. One believes divorce for any cause, the other believing only in the
case of fornication. Jesus, being tested by the people answered this issue as
follows: He, therefore, who puts away his wife, except on the ground of her
fornication, and marries another, commits adultery (Matthew 19:9), and he who
thus puts her away leads her to commit the same crime (Matthew 5:32). He who
marries a woman that has been divorced commits adultery, and the woman who puts
away her husband and marries another man (Mark 10:12) incurs the same
transgression. This indicates that God did not acknowledge the divorce to begin
with and still considers the originally parties married- otherwise the sin would
not be adultery merely some lesser sexual crime. We may observe in regard to the
passages pertaining to divorce (Matthew 5, 19, Mark 10, Luke 16), first, that
Mark and Luke do not record the exception preserved in Matthew, "excepting for
the cause of fornication." Hermeneutically, the plain reconciliation of the
passages must be found in the principle that an exception in a fuller document
must explain a briefer one. Fornication for grounds of divorce is a sexual crime
since the beginning of the betrothal period (see Matthew 1:19) committed by
either of the parties with a third person. Fornication is a blanket term that
covers all sexual crimes from adultery to homosexuality to bestiality to incest.
The exception of fornication in Jesus’ teaching is the SOLE exception as grounds
for divorce- to add to or take away from this is to add to yourself the plagues
of the Book of Revelation (Revelation 22:19). It cannot be said with any honesty
that Christ, in saying "except it be for fornication," gives a sample of the
causes which may dissolve the marriage union, as one of many which put an end to
the state beautifully called “one flesh.” Plainly but one cause of separation
with remarriage is in his thoughts. Christ says, let not man put asunder. He
gives a rule to his followers, who must follow it, whether the State allows
larger liberty or not. To depart from this law of Christ is to set sail into a
sea of confusion the likes of which there is no compass- nor map with which to
navigate. Christ offered no contingencies for those who IGNORE this warning- to
do so is to cast yourself into the hands of the Living God. (Some excerpts taken
from McClintock and Strong Encyclopedia)

I Corinthians 7:10-15

But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, or be reconciled to her
husband: and let not the husband put away his wife. But to the rest speak I, not
the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to
dwell with him, let him not put her away. And the woman which hath an husband
that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave
him. For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving
wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are
they holy. But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister
is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.

Pagan Marriage Laws

For 1500 years the teaching of Jesus we just studied kept divorce greatly at a
minimum within the Church, because the Church and the State were one and the
same and the Church would not act out of harmony with God in putting asunder
what God joined together. The early American Colonial laws allowed the court to
grant divorce for adultery, fraudulent contract, willful desertion for three
years, or seven years providential absence without being heard of after due
inquiry made and certified, and in all these cases the aggrieved party might
marry again. This legislation remained almost unchanged for nearly two hundred
years. In 1843 two new causes of divorce were added to the old, namely,
"habitual intemperance" and "intolerable cruelty;" and five or six years
afterwards the legislation on this subject reached its climax by the further
addition to the causes of divorce of "imprisonment for life," "infamous crime,"
and any such "misconduct as permanently destroys the happiness of the
petitioner, and defeats the purposes of the marriage relation." Now a vague
subjective indeterminate cause was added to the determinate causes of former
legislation. The law allowed immediate remarriage, does not forbid an adulterer
or adulteress to be united after divorce to a partner in guilt, nor divorced
persons to be remarried to one another. Divorces have, as might be expected,
greatly increased with the new legislation. Now, society is suffering from a 50%
or greater divorce rate and the Church is nearly the same. Without question, the
family life and morals of a community once most religious, are being gradually
undermined and poisoned by such a social evil (excerpts from McClintock and
Strong Encyclopedia).

God Hates Divorce

The question that must be asked is “What has strengthened the hand of those
seeking divorce that they would sin against God with such wickedness?” It has no
doubt come on three counts 1) A state that puts asunder what God joined
together- not knowing God is not subject to the state 2) A church that allows
people to feel they can now get forgiveness for putting away unlawfully since
they couldn’t get permission. 3) An impenitent and adulterous generation that
will do what they will IN SPITE of what God says or the ministers of the Gospel
say. This is a sin that will certainly require an answer before God for EVERYONE
involved. Especially when you consider the untold numbers of lives destroyed by
such a practice. David Wilkerson writes “The servant of God, the layman, who is
untrue to his wife, who cheats on her and finally abandons her to remarry
another, is even now under God’s anathema (curse)- especially if children are
involved. God says to them… You cursed (your) children (II Peter 2:14).” God
doesn’t accept any offering when we deal treacherously with the wife of our
covenant (Malachi 2:14). In Jeremiah 23 God says… “I found their wickedness.”
Verse 14… “I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they
commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers,
that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as
Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.” Let a renewed fear of God give
rise to a renewed sanctity of marriage. "For I hate divorce!" says the LORD, the
God of Israel. "It is as cruel as putting on a victim's bloodstained coat," says
the LORD Almighty. "So guard yourself; always remain loyal to your wife"
(Malachi 2:16 NLT).


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  CHAPTER 4: CHAPTE 4 SALVATION THAT SAVES)
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CHAPTER 4 SALVATION THAT SAVES

Strait is the Gate and Difficult is the Way

The pathway that we must travel begins with a narrow gate (Christ) and continues
as a narrow road that leads to eternal live. In Matthew 7:13, 14 we read… 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. The
implication of these verses is that the wide road is traveled more frequently
because the narrow road is a difficult one. The Greek word for difficult is
thlibo (thleebo) and it is translated as affliction, trouble, and tribulation.
This is first and foremost the reality of the path that we choose to take as
Christians. The New Testament believers knew full well what lay ahead of them
once the accepted Christ as Lord and Savior. To be a Christian is to be a martus
which is translated as “witness” (usually) and carries a full gamut of meaning
ranging from simply giving verifiable testimony through our life or by our death
from martyrdom (Acts 1:8, etc.). This is a great contrast to the humanistic
slant that began being placed on the Gospel 150 or so years ago that deletes the
possibility that any suffering can come about from accepting Christ and inserts
a “God is my servant” concept. This was the FIRST fatal change that has been
made to the Gospel of Jesus Christ since the Reformation. The fact is, the gate
is strait, the road is one of holiness (narrow), and it is a difficult road. ALL
who live Godly in Christ Jesus WILL suffer persecution (II Timothy 3:12). Marvel
not if the world hates you (I John 3:13). In the world you WILL have tribulation
(John 16:33). Jesus said, “I send you as lambs among wolves” (Matthew 10:16;
Luke 10:3) and again, we are killed all the day long and made as sheep to the
slaughter (Romans 8:36). All the apostles save John the Revelator was martyred.
Steven the deacon preached one message and was gnashed upon with the people’s
teeth and stoned to death (Acts 7:59), Peter was imprisoned for preaching. James
the half brother of our Lord was beaten to death with a fullers club and that is
just the beginning. Paul was beaten, stoned, left for dead, ship wrecked and a
host of other inhumane things (II Corinthians 11). The time would fail us to
tell of the prophets that were stoned, sawn asunder, afflicted, etc. (Hebrews
11:37).

There is a SHARP contrast between Christ’s message and our modern American
televangelistic ‘gospel” of prosperity: “Come to God and He will bless you
financially, etc.” This is an American gospel that ignores the fact that 2/3rds
of the worlds Christians live in poverty and many of them are persecuted,
beaten, or killed for their faith. The fact is, if America’s gospel can’t be
preached in Sudan where Christians die daily; it shouldn’t be preached in
America! If there was ever a generation that needed the Gospel to be presented
EXACTLY as Christ presented it- it is this one. The Gospel itself filters a lot
of chaff early on; but if the laborers of the harvest are working the fields as
necessary, a new batch will be coming in continually and Christ will glean His
wheat from the harvest. The modern “Church Growth” philosophy says… “don’t
offend” and take down the cross if necessary, sin is not on the menu. If God had
wanted numbers He would have changed the message Himself. Moreover, the true
wheat rejects such a message because their conscience warns them of its
fraudulence. The impenitent heart embraces it and will even agree with it; but
those are not the terms of the agreement we are supposed to be preaching.

Counting the Cost

When Christ called Paul the Apostle one of the first things He did was to show
him all the things that he would suffer for the Lord before he died (Acts 9:16).
Jesus told us we should count the cost before serving Him. In the next verse He
says… So likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath,
he cannot be my disciple. (Luke 14:33) The disciples left their fishing nets,
tax collecting, and Zealotry to follow Christ. You are literally exchanging the
bonds of sin for the bonds of Christ when you genuinely get saved. Jesus
intentionally tried to point out something in a person that would disqualify
them from following Him (as with the rich young ruler) and often would offend
the people to see if they continued following Him (See John 6:54-68). Unless you
sell out lock, stock, and barrel you cannot be Christ’s disciple (Matthew
10:37-39, etc.). Later in Matthew 19:27-29 we read… Then answered Peter and said
unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have
therefore? And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have
followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of
his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life. This is not a “least
common denominator” message; it is a message designed specifically to separate
chaff from wheat. Christ was not interested in followers… He wanted disciples.

The Road less Traveled

Key in on a word Jesus used in Matthew 7:14 “BECAUSE” (because narrow is the
gate and difficult is the road). There is a reason why impenitent sinners ignore
the light that God gives them to see the gate and enter on to the right road.
That reason is that they love their sin and that way is the easiest way (in the
beginning). John 3:19-21 reads… And this is the condemnation, that the light has
come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their
deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come
to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. Here is that word “BECAUSE”
again. The broad road is downhill all the way to hell; but the narrow road is an
uphill climb all the way to Heaven. It is a narrow and difficult road to travel
and because of that it is the road far less traveled. Man does not miss the
opportunity to get on the right road because he or she is unaware of it; they
miss it intentionally because they don’t want it. We see it in America where
there is more “light of truth” than anywere in the world, but is America
responding to that light? Is America seeing the road less traveled with great
clarity and luminance and jumping right on? The fact is, there are more sources
of light (churches, Christians, radio messages, TV, etc.) in America than
anywhere in the world; but do they head for that difficult road? The road for
many is seen CLEARLY and rejected PLAINLY. They know full well what road they
are on and have no intention of doing a “U” turn. The biblical concept for this
is called “supressing the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18). It is a
condition when a person knows right and does wrong. If a person wants to serve
God we must do everything we can to help them along and shepherd them. Changing
the message will not draw one person one inch closer to God. As a matter of fact
it brings anathema (a curse) upon our heads (Galatians 1:8). To continue to try
to force feed a person the Gospel when they openly reject it is to cast your
pearls before swine- to which we were given instruction not to do (Matthew 7:6).
Jesus said to wipe the dust from your feet and head out to the next wheat field
(Matthew 10:14, 15). We have wasted so much time, energy, and resources trying
to convert impenitent chaff to wheat that we have utterly neglected the whited
harvest! Some people have heard the gospel so many different times and ways it
is nonsensical and a reproach against Christ. It would be like struggling to
bring a person who refused to leave from a burning building while others who
would readily leave are left to burn to death. As unpopular as it will be- this
generation MUST learn to MOVE ON! Far too many people are going to Hell to play
games with people. Most of these people know better and know the way out of the
building to safety. That is not giving up on people- it is doing what we were
told. We need to obey Christ and stop this massive sin.

The Wrath of God Revealed

Romans 2:1 tells that the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against ALL that
hold the truth in unrighteousness. We are all accountable for ALL of the LIGHT
we have. Luke 12:47-49 reads… And that servant, which knew his lord's will, and
prepared not himself, neither did according to his will, shall be beaten with
many stripes. But he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of stripes,
shall be beaten with few stripes. For unto whomsoever much is given, of him
shall be much required: and to whom men have committed much, of him they will
ask the more. I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I if it be
already kindled? When a person openly rejects Christ they are toying with
damnation and it is left to the stewards of the manifold grace of God that must
tell them- lest their blood be on our hands and heads (See I Peter 4:10 &
Ezekiel 33). As it is written… They who despised Moses law died without mercy
under two or three witnesses. Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he
be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For we know him that hath said,
Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The
Lord shall judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
living God (Hebrews 10:27-31). Initial Evidence of a Born Again Experience

Much emphasis and rightly so is placed upon the initial evidence of baptism in
the Holy Ghost (tongues). But how much MORE should there have been these many
years… an INITIAL EVIDENCE teaching on the Born-Again experience? Hosea 10:12
gives us a starting point saying… Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in
mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he
come and rain righteousness upon you. There must be a brokeness that comes by
the law of God breaking the heart that it might convert the soul (Psalm 19:7).
We “plow” 90% law to break up the heart and we sow 10% grace (seed). If we
neglect this stirring of the fallow ground, carelessly sow, or the heart is rock
hardned by impenitence, the seed will not survive or be productive. Maximum
repentance digs a trench in the heart at the optimal depth for planting the seed
of God’s word. We then change analogies to that of giving birth. Labor is time
consuming and painful- so to when a person is born again. Few if any babies are
ever born without tears being shed on part of mother and baby. If a baby is born
and does not cry panic soon sets in. So to being born again of the Spirit is a
transformation and newness that brings with it HUNGER and THIRST, with a heart
that CRIES out to God. The mouth of a born again believer IMMEDIATELY begins
confessing their new life- UNCOERCED- but rather, from the abundance of their
NEW heart of flesh their mouth speaketh (Romans 10:10). There is an immediate
hunger for righteousness (Matthew 5:6). Jesus said His “meat” was to do the will
of God and so to it is the “meat” of a born again believer to do likewise (John
4:34). The milk of God’s word provides the initial instructions to satisfy that
newborn hunger and it begins with the commandment to repent and be baptized
(Acts 2:38). Jesus said baptism was an act to fulfill all righteousness (Matthew
3:15) and it is the first real act a born again person can do. The Ethiopian
Eunuch heard the gospel and IMMEDIATELY wanted to be baptised out of that
newfound desire and NATURE to do the WILL of Him that birthed us by the Spirit.
If the “baby” won’t take that bottle when offered it-it is no different than a
lack of evidence of tongues for the baptism in the Holy Ghost (only more
important). How could they be born as this? There is no such thing as a newborn
baby that does not have an appetite. The milk of the word becomes “meat” not
when we HEAR it, but when we DO it (James 1:22). The end of this process in
keeping with the baby analogy of Christ is uncontrolled bowels (lit. Gk. spleen
or intestine) of compassion and mercies, kindness, etc. (Compare Mark 7:19; Acts
1:18 ; Colossians 3:12; I John 3:17). It begins with a crying out of the heart a
hunger and thirst for righteousness- followed by God filling them with a means
(the milk and later meat of the word) to DO that righteousness (II Corinthians
9:9). When we hear the word and do the work THAT is the “MEAT” of the born again
believer- just as it was for Jesus.


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  CHAPTER 5: CHAPTE 5 SALVATION THAT LASTS)
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CHAPTER 5 SALVATION THAT LASTS

Another Gospel?

The book of Galatians is the most unique of all of Paul the Apostles epistles
for this one reason- it was written totally by his own hand. Normally Paul would
write a salutation at the beginning and end of each book and dictate the
contents to one of his close associates (an amanuensis). When he had completed
his work, Paul the apostle took up the pen o - reed, and added, in his own large
characters (Galatians 6:11), the authenticating autograph, sometimes with
special stress on the fact that this was his writing (1 Corinthians 16:21;
Colossians 4:18; II Thessalonians 3:17), and always with one of the closing
salutations, "grace be with thee" or "the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with
your spirit." Paul wrote in large characters because it is likely he had a
terrible eye condition. When Galatians was written- the large characters covered
the entire body of the text- as it was written suddenly and urgently under great
distress and concern. This no doubt would have caused great alarm to the one
opening it. One of the first things Paul does in Galatians is pronounce a curse
upon anyone who would preach a different Gospel (Galatians 1:6). In this case
some had come to bring the people under the bondage of the law rather than
instructing them to live the life of a Christian by faith. We read in Galatians
3:2-3… This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of
the law, or by the hearing of faith? Are ye so foolish? having begun in the
Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh? This is to ask them whether they
were now living the Christian life in their own power or by the power of the
Spirit of God. He continues and then adds in Galatians 3:26-27… For ye are all
the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Born Again and Now the Children of God

But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might
receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the
Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father (Galatians 4:4-6). This
is not a pie in the sky idea- it is a real transformation in which the Spirit of
God confirms to us that we are God’s children. We CRY OUT to God as a newborn
baby would for its parents. He continues in Galatians 4:19-20… My little
children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I
desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt
of you. DOUBT? Doubt of what? Doubt that they were ever really born again. He
continues on… Galatians 4:27-29… For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that
bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate
hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as
Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the
flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now. Ishmael
persecuted Isaac and was thrust out of the home with his mother- so to, those
who live after the flesh- either under the law for salvation or by the works of
the flesh for sin- will likewise be thrust into outer darkness in the end
(Galatians 5:19-21). Any life we live that is not by the power of the Spirit of
God is in this category. Ye Did Run Well-Who Did Hinder You?

The passage that asks this question in Galatians 5:7 is the crux of what was
going on. Here was a people that was running the race with patience and all the
sudden because they listened to a false teacher returned back to trying to live
the Christian life in the flesh. They built again the things they destroyed and
made themselves transgressors (Galatians 2:18). They became carnal and had no
other power but to “walk as men” and live like everyone else (I Corinthians
3:3). When a baby is hungry they will crawl around on the floor and literally
pick up anything that will fit in their mouth to eat. These young Christians had
been seduced by someone feeding them a deadly poison. They had returned to try
to live the Christian life by the beggarly works of the law and by the works of
the law will no flesh be justified. Christianity is not a pipe dream; neither
legalism nor license- it is a life we live by the Spirit of God.

Romans 8 Parallels Galatians 4

For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we
are the children of God (Romans 8:13-16). Here again is that doctrine “the
Spirit bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God.” This is the
key to everything. Ephesians 1:13, 14… In whom ye also trusted, after that ye
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, Which is the
earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of his glory. And again… Romans 8:9-11… Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. And if Christ be in you, the body is
dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the
Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up
Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that
dwelleth in you. The internal evidence that we are Children of God is that we
long to CRY OUT to God and we HUNGER and THIRST after righteousness. The
external evidence is by the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5)- to which Jesus
said it is by their fruits that you will know them and John the Baptist said
that if the fruit is not there the tree will be chopped down and thrown into the
fire (Matthew 3:10; 7:16-20). My Sheep

In any given church there are three type of people: sheep, goats, and wolves.
Concerning the sheep in John 10:3-5… To him the porter openeth; and the sheep
hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. And
when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow
him: for they know his voice. And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee
from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. The goats are those
according to Matthew 25 that were in the pasture with the sheep and were divided
based upon whether or not the exhibited the love of Christ in their life
(Matthew 25:31:46). This is at the end of time we must remember. The division
will not be based upon confession- but on fruits. This is why John said we ought
not love in word or in tongue- but in deed and in truth (I John 3:18). The goats
heard what the sheep heard- but they were not DOERS of the work (James 1:25).
Why? Because they were goats and not sheep. Wolves are there to devour the flock
with all manor of false doctrine or sin and desire to draw disciples after
themselves (Acts 20:29-31). Paul warned the Church in Acts for 3 years in crying
and tears about these sinful deceivers. But the sheep hear the voice of Christ
and another they will NOT follow. Jesus said that “if it were possible” they
would deceive even the very elect (Matthew 24:24). These deceivers may even
produce signs and wonders (Mark 13:22). It is to those sheep that know His voice
and do His will that He gives eternal life and they will never perish (John
10:28). God calls the wolves and goats to REPENTANCE. Clearly the difference
between the sheep and the goat is their nature: one follows Christ- the other
follows whoever.

Partakers of the Divine Nature

God does not save people in their sins, He saves them from their sins. When you
are genuinely born again the Spirit of God takes up residence in you to begin a
process of transforming you into the personality of Jesus Christ. Everyone right
now either has the nature of the children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3) or you are a
partaker of the divine nature (II Peter 1:4). Ephesians 2:2-3 reads…Wherein in
time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of
disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the
lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and
were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. We were “of our father the
devil” doing the deeds of his depraved nature before we were saved (John 8:44).
We loved the world and the things of this world before the love of the Father
came in and overthrew by a new nature that former love. As it is written… Love
not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the
world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of
the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust
thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever (I John 2:15-17). In
other words; how can you cry out in your great love for Him- ABBA Father when
your love is for this world? To a sober minded person that could never be
possible; but sin has a way of intoxicating us until it actually seems to make
sense.

His Seed Remaineth in Them

John the Revelator spoke plainly; but the crafty weavers of doctrinal tapestry
can paint a different portrait. It has been said that the Pharisee’s were
required to be able to prove a false doctrine from scripture to get their
credentials- we are not far from that in many ways today. How much clearer can
God’s word be when a statement like this is made… I John 3:9-10 Whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot
sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and
the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God,
neither he that loveth not his brother. It doesn’t get any clearer than that.
Oh- the doctrines that have been contrived over the last 2000 years to overthrow
this plain fact. The nature of God is to live holy and righteous. The evidence
of the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the fruits of the Spirit and fruit unto
holiness. As it is written… But now being made free from sin, and become
servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus
Christ our Lord (Romans 6:22-23).

Salvation the Lasts

Salvation that lasts is a salvation that God began and will personally perform
until the day of the Lord Jesus (Philippians 1:6). It is a sovereign act of God
that begins when we RIGHTLY respond to the drawing of the Father by the Spirit
(John 6:65). Remember, five out of every seven Pharisee’s were hypocrites,
stiffnecked, and always resisted the Holy Ghost (Acts 7:51), and they were the
fundamentalists of their day. They knew the word, but not the God of the word.
They used their traditions to make of none effect the passages required to bring
a person genuinely to Christ (Matthew 15; Mark 7). That “VAIL” is still upon the
hearts of many of the Jews today (II Corinthians 3:13-16). The people could not
look to the end of those things of the law that they might be schooled unto
Christ (Galatians 3:24, 25). The laws “impact” was lessened until it had not the
power to convert the soul (Psalm 19:7). It then served to draw proselytes after
them that they might make them twice more the children of the devil than the
pharisees themselves (Matthew 23). The Gospel told through the traditions of men
has brought us where we are today in the Church. Fallen heads in lukewarm
seminaries have sent out their desciples with “their gospel” and that “gospel”
is responsible for where we are. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is was it is. Ye
MUST be born again (John 3:3) and if you are their WILL be verifiable evidence
that you have passed from death to life (I John 3:14). True salvation is a
salvation that lasts.


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  CHAPTER 6: CHAPTE 6 SURVIVAL OF THE REVIVAL)
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CHAPTER 6 SURVIVAL OF THE REVIVAL

Do You Really Want Revival?

Revival begins when God sovereignly begins to place an urgency within the hearts
of His Saints to awake from their spiritual slumber and repent of ALL their
ungodly deeds (Ezekiel 14:6). An awareness comes over His people of the times
and conditions in which they live. The Saints of God are carried along with the
tide of worldliness and if they are not careful find themselves falling in step
with the behavior of impenitent sinners. God calls His people to repent. The
word repent is used in connection with the Seven Church’s of Asia eight times.
Revival begins when man rightly responds to God’s call to repent. Mclintock and
Strong defines evangelical repentance saying “It begins with conviction of sin,
accompanied by sorrow for it, confession of it, hatred to it, and renunciation
of it.” The author as well as the object of true repentance is God (Acts 5:31).
Man in of themselves do not desire to repent. It is initiated by God when He
sends His ministers to preach repentance to the people (Acts 17:30; Romans
10:14, 15, etc.). The Holy Spirit begins to convict of sin, righteousness, and
judgment (John 16:8); and it is up to the hearers whether they will submit
themselves to God or resist the Holy Spirit and stiffen their necks (Acts 7:51).
The Spirit of God will not always strive with man because they are also flesh
(Genesis 6:3). Man’s response to the call to repentance answers the question if
they really want revival or not. Some will heed the call and forsake all their
sin and the objects of their sin. Others will continue to believe that they can
manage their compromise and in the end will finally believe the lie and be
damned because they did not love the truth, but took pleasure in sin (II
Thessalonians 2:12). Short Term Repentance

Some people initially repent because they are in a crisis or they see danger
looming and repent only to avoid judgment or to ease the punishment associated
with it. If their heart is not changed (replaced) their foolishness will only be
driven far from them as it is bound in the heart of the impenitent. When relief
from the trial comes they will soon forget their pain and their foolishness will
return and take center stage in their life once again. True repentance used to
be preached as follows: 1) It must be haughty and not timid 2) It must be total
and not partial 3) It must be permanent and not temporary. If the repentance
does not follow this pattern it is not true biblical repentance. When those who
temporarily repented sinned they felt no shame, but yet they were ashamed to
openly repent. They were haughty sinners and timid repenters. They sinned with a
“fist in the air” and in all manor of shameless highhandedness, but they
repented silently and hid themselves as though they were ashamed to be seen
repenting and accepting the Lord. Jesus openly rejects this when He said that if
you are ashamed of Me before men I will be ashamed of you before my heavenly
Father (Mark 8:38). What wrath must burn in the eyes of Christ when He bore our
sin in His own body on the tree laid bare before the entire world; yet a
“temporal repenter” won’t even acknowledge that they sinned and caused it. How
is it we could embarrass God and all the host of Heaven and then refuse to
embarrass ourselves by openly repenting? Show me a person embarrassed to repent
and I’ll show you them home on Sunday in 6 weeks.

Dangers of Short Term Repentance

Pharaoh remains as the great example of what happens when you resist the Holy
Spirit and the judgment of God that brings repentance. As God stepped up the
judgment, Pharaoh resisted the Holy Spirit and God hardened his heart all the
more. Finally when the judgment reached its apex- Pharaoh agreed to let the
Children of Israel go; but later he pursued them to his own destruction. This is
how people are, they have no intention to repent until the situation is at its
maximum judgment- and by the time they repent they think they have done God a
service, but they have only hardened their own heart. And that, because as soon
as they find relief they pursue their old sin as though they felt it slipping
through their fingers. Short-term repentance is not repentance at all and it is
evidenced in the end.

Repentance Means Forsaking Sin and the Means of the Sins

It is not really repentance until the “High places” and the “Groves” are thrown
down. Jehoshaphat was one of the great Kings of Israel. It was said of him that
he did always have the Lord before his eyes. In II Chronicles 17:6 we read… And
his heart was lifted up in the ways of the LORD: moreover he took away the high
places and groves out of Judah. When our hearts are truly lifted up to do the
will of God we will destroy the High places in our lives. Christians all over
this nation have severe strongholds of the devil that have to be dealt with and
yet they refuse to. The enemy has built a sin or sins in their life that the
person keeps running back to over and over again. True repentance is when we
burn the bridges back to our old sins. This may mean getting rid of things that
serve as stepping-stones back to your sins. As long as you think to yourself
something like this… “Well, if anything goes wrong, I can still go back to thus
and such” it is not true repentance. True repentance is when you do as did
Elisha and kill the oxen and burn the yoke and plow (I Kings 19:21). True
repentance is when we take hold of the plow and refuse to look back.

The Revival Will Last as Long as the Repentance Lasts

When the people fall back into their old ways revival is over. When the newness
of repentance has worn off and the zeal to do God’s will is wearing thin- there
is a danger to falling back into a spiritual slumber. When the people don’t get
into the word and pray and witness they will be running on the same dead battery
they had before. God may “jump start” the people with a sovereign act of
revival, but He expects us to then stir up the gift of God that is within us
from there on out.

Thermonuclear Revival

There comes a point when God is sending revival that the people keep taking in
and taking in and taking in, but they are not giving out. God has empowered them
for service and they are using that “power” as a means to a new “spiritual
experience” rather than to do God’s will. This is where many revivals blow up.
People start seeking a “deeper experience” in the Lord in some mystical way and
end up ready for the funny farm. Instead of allowing the Spirit of God to
empower them for service they keep seeking more and more and more “spiritual
blessing” until they just flat loose it all together! The pressure and drive to
minister becomes so volatile that they nearly explode like an atomic reaction
from the pressure. Anyone seeking an experience with Christ apart from knowing
Him in the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings- being
made comfortable until His death- is headed for flakesville. The anointing of
God is for service. An experience with God that is genuine causes us to want to
share the faith with others and conform to pure religion. A lot of things have
been blamed on the Holy Ghost that were not God at all! People don’t bark in the
Holy Ghost. They don’t contort their bodies like epileptics or any other demonic
thing. When people don’t use their anointing to minister and they keep seeking
more and more and more power and blessing—they open themselves up to devils.
Protecting the Ground God has Given Us

It is impossible to be full of the Holy Ghost and not desire greatly to minister
to the lost (Acts 4:31). It is impossible to be full of the Holy Ghost and
continually struggle with sin (John 16; Mark 16, etc.). It is impossible to be
full of the Holy Ghost and not love your neighbor as yourself (I John 4:8). When
God sends revival into our lives and into our church serious changes take place.
People begin to feel the heart of God to want to witness. They begin to live
holy lives separate from sin. Their life is characterized by Godliness. When we
begin to wax lazy and begin allowing the enemy to offer us alternative
entertainment for our Spiritual walk with God trouble is on the way.

Revival According to Atkins

The revivalists diet is one of strong meat and very little fluff and nonsense.
Many people believe that they can turn God on and off like a switch- they can
shift into Spiritual mode or compromise mode at will. However, ANYONE who has
ever done anything meaningful for the Lord lived with a high level of
consecration to God. They were often misunderstood and disliked. They seemed to
be dull and boring. This is because impenitent sinners measure their beliefs by
their fleshly standards and not by the fruit of the Spirit. What a sinner hates
a believer loves- they cannot understand spiritual things. An” on fire for God”
individual has a different diet than a person who is “half backslidden” or
lukewarm as a Christian. Too often we forget that Jesus rejects lukewarmness.
When we are half in and half out He spits us out of His mouth. When we get into
this condition we have need to be taught again Spiritual truths that we once
understood. Hebrews 5:12 reads… For when for the time ye ought to be teachers,
ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the
oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong
meat. As a new born babe grows up in Christ they begin to apply the word and
understanding moves from the milk to the strong meat (adult food). Milk is for
New Converts and when it is needed among aged Christians it is evidence that the
senses are not being controlled and all manor of sin is being let in to the
heart and mind.

Drowning in Chocolate Milk

Hebrews 5:14, 15 reads… For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word
of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are
of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to
discern both good and evil. The use of meat has less to do about education than
it does with our walk with the Lord. Many people in the time of Christ could not
read or write, but they could exhort the meat of God’s word. In Acts 4:13 we
read…Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they
were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of
them, that they had been with Jesus. On the contrary, someone who has NOT been
with Jesus may have multiple degrees and not know the first thing about the
truth of God. The word of God is not intellectually understood- it is
Spiritually discerned (I Corinthians 2:14). God hid His truths from the wise and
the prudent (Matthew 11:25) and revealed them unto His children (Luke 10:21).
Strong truth has little to do with human wisdom and much to do with being born
again and simple obedience. The more light we desire to walk in God will give us
more light to see with. If there is no hunger and thirst for righteousness- men
and women will eat the strong meat of sin and iniquity for years and sip the
milk of God’s word. Soon it will get so bad that the only thing they will drink
is the “Chocolate Milk” of God’s blessings and promises. What a meal? “Steak and
potatoes sin” washed down with the “chocolate milk” of God’s promises. This is
the preferred meal of modern Christendom and it’s a mockery of God worse than
the impenitent sinners on the streets. People trying to use God’s promises to
assist them in serving their god of mammon. We live in a day opposite of the
book of Job according to David Wilkerson. Its as though Satan approached the
throne of God and demanded that God bless His people until their vats were full
to sift them to see if they would serve God or mammon.


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  CHAPTER 7: CHAPTE 7 FISHERS OF MEN)
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CHAPTER 7 FISHERS OF MEN

Follow Me

In Matthew 4:18-22 we read… And Jesus, walking by the sea of Galilee, saw two
brethren, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
sea: for they were fishers. And he saith unto them, Follow me, and I will make
you fishers of men. And they straightway left their nets, and followed him. And
going on from thence, he saw other two brethren, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in a ship with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and
he called them. And they immediately left the ship and their father, and
followed him. According to John Chapter 1 verse 35-40 Andrew was a disciple of
John the Baptist and it is very likely that John the Revelator himself was, but
was careful to studiously conceal his name (See Adam Clark Commentary). This
would mean that quite possibly Andrew, Peter, James, and John were all friends
before the met Jesus. However that fits together one thing is certain, they were
all fisherman. And after their first meeting in John 1, Jesus passes by their
way with a life changing command… “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of
men.” Notice Jesus didn’t ask them to follow Him… He told them to follow Him and
He would make them to be fishers of men. The scripture is clear to demonstrate
that when Jesus gives a command everyone including James and John’s father was
under His authority for them to obey. And obey they did and they straitway left
their father with the work of mending nets and fishing for food and they
followed Christ. You see, James and John’s dad probably had a career in mind for
his sons to take over the family business of fishing; but God had different
plans. We know that the family was probably somewhat wealthy because in Mark
1:20 they had hired workers. Scripture does not elaborate on their father
anymore, we do not know if he objected to this or not. His wife, indeed, appears
in the list of the pious women who were in constant attendance on the Lord
towards the close of his ministry, who watched him on the cross, and ministered
to him even in the grave (Matthew 27:55,56; Mark 15:40; 16:1; compare Matthew
25:20; Luke 8:3).

Forsaking Your Plans

There is a cost associated with following Christ that can be truly great. Many
young men are pressured by the father to be what He wants them to be. Young men,
who want to please their dad, often end up doing what he wants. This is one of
many obstacles to following Christ. You see, many people like the idea of
following Christ, but not the reality of following Christ. They follow in word
and in tongue, but not in deed and in truth (I John 3:18). Before Jesus’
ministry was over most felt that forsaking all and following Christ was simply
taking things too far. Some pretend to follow Jesus, but are never found one
single place that Jesus would regularly go and they attend many places He would
never be found. You’re not a follower of Jesus until you are following where He
would be going. Following Jesus means to forsake our will for our life and allow
Him to lead us into His will… the will that He rightfully purchased for us to
walk in (with His own blood). We invite God to follow us with His presence into
our services, but He is demanding that we follow Him with our presence into the
fields.

Self Willed and Spirit Filled “Christians”

II Peter 2:10 paints a portrait of what it really means to walk in the flesh. To
describe this he uses a Greek word authades (ow-thah-dace) and it means self-w
illed. It can also be translated as arrogant, but is not rendered as such in the
KJV as it is in the RSV, etc. It is translated as “overbearing” (domineering) in
the NIV. Christians who so desire to do their own will, that they refuse to do
the will of Him that bought them (I Peter 2:1) by their own actions testify that
they were never bought with a price. A slave knows they are a slave and they
obey their master. When He says go they go; they do not argue or do their own
thing; why? Because they are slaves and it is not for them to question. If we
are slaves of Christ we follow Him no matter when or how He asks us to “leave
our nets” and do His will. This is the #1 problem in Christianity today in my
estimation. Nearly everyone is doing their own thing and calling it “following
Jesus” or worse yet they believe they can be self-willed slaves of Christ and do
their will and pretend to be Christians. But what saith the scripture… Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have
cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I
profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity
(Matthew 7:21-23). Why? Because when they got ready to be seen of men they
prayed for the anointing and God used them… but in their life they did their own
will and not God’s. The things we do that men would “glorify us for” don’t even
count as God’s will (Matthew 6:4-6). We already have our reward on earth when we
are praised of men. When you really start doing God’s will—you won’t get many
praises, because God’s heart is with the helpless.

The Fearlessness of Authades (ow-thah-dace)

The root of a self-willed heart is firmly planted in the soil of rebellion. We
see it boldly today in Televangelism. When ministers become “self-willed” they
begin to make merchandise of the people. Hear the words of Peter… But there were
false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers
among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord
that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall
follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil
spoken of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make
merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their
damnation slumbereth not (I Peter 2:1-3). Church, that is EXACTLY where we are
today. The “way of the truth is being evil spoken of.” Why? Because of the
damnable heresies that make merchandise of the people. Even well intentioned
people who you ask to come to church these days will ask you “Do I have to give
$X to come to YOUR church?” Preachers who talk more about money than they do
souls are serving the God of Mammon. When they take more time to raise funds
than they do to give an altar call they serve Mammon. What shall be their end?
“SWIFT” destruction. If a person is obedient to God they don’t have to remind
Him to bless them. And when He blesses them if they love Him they will do what
HE wills with the money. This is why a Bishop’s #2 requirement according to
Titus 1:7 is they must not be self-willed. If they begin seeing the Kingdom of
God as a “Business” they are OUT of God’s will automatically. Soon their
decisions making processes are little different than board meetings in a
corporation. GOD does not have control of the ministry- the money (mammon) does.
It controls their messages and the tone and content of their teachings. Soon no
messages will be allowed that may cut down on the offerings. Sin preaching on
Television is nearly extinct. There are but a few brave souls left. The Gospel
of prosperity is a damnable heresy that seeks to lure people into the Kingdom as
though it was a multi level business opportunity. And as Paris Reidhead put it-
their “Gospel of humanism” is no different than two men sitting in a coffee shop
talking about going down the street to rob a bank in the way it appeals to the
flesh. Luke 20:46-47 describes them seeking vainglory, devouring widow’s houses
and receiving the greater damnation. There are really only two types of people…
those who serve their money as God and those who make their money serve God. One
serves “mammon” the other serves God- but not both. Christians are slaves to God
they are not the servants of mammon.

Taking to The Fields

A lot of people are “gung-ho” to reach the lost until the ministry is placed in
shoeleather. The time is coming and now is that real messages of the true Gospel
that confront sin and sinners will not be allowed in most Churches- because of
the backlash associated with it. This generation, like none in history, cannot
endure persecution for the words sake- neither can they endure the word of God
when it is merely quoted. It was prophesied by Jesus and is now even is at the
door. As it is written… But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you
up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be
brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. And
the gospel must first be published among all nations. But when they shall lead
you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither
do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak
ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. Now the brother shall
betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up
against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be
hated of all men for my name's sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the
same shall be saved. (Mark 13) That is a prophecy of the last days in which we
are now living. People cannot endure sound doctrine and heap to themselves
teachers having itching ears. They don’t care what you talk about as long as you
don’t invade their comfort zone. That’s hard to do though when God has called
you to wake a church up out of its deep slumber.

Does God Honour our Sacrifice?

THE purpose of the Church is to go into the world and teach all nations the
Gospel. It is why the Holy Ghost fell at Pentecost and it is why Jesus died on
the Cross. It is up to each generation that passes to ensure that Christ
receives the RETURN on the investment He made on the Cross. To go into the
fields and gather the wheat that He purchased with His own blood. Its as though
I hear the Holy Ghost whispering… What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep
in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear? (I Samuel 15:22). How can
we in good conscience tell the Lord how much we love Him in all our “worship”
songs and not even be in step with a more direct command to reach the lost? We
put together an offering for God like unto Cain- its not even what He asked for.
We bring in the fruits and vegetables of our songs and hymns- when God wanted
the “Spotless Lamb’s reward of His sufferings” (souls). To obey is better than
to sacrifice. Do we really believe that God desires our worship more than He
desires our obedience and the souls that He came and died for? As I mentioned
before, people are all for a feel-good revival, perchance some would endure a
revival of worship and possibly repentance. But who could endure a revival of
perpetual holy living and reaching the lost through evangelism?

Church in the Community

Drive around the inner city some time and notice something about old churches… they have very little parking. There was a time when everyone came from the local neighborhood to church and the flock was that churches community. You came to church with your next door neighbors. You loved the neighbor (if you were genuinely saved) and could live as Christians around each other to both encourage and make one another accountable. Its not so today. People drive for miles to Church to be with semi-strangers- and the ease to which they fall into sin is immeasurable- because they are not in church with their neighborhood. What would our neighbors say of us if they came to church? Instead of building lots of little churches in communities and having the church reach their immediate neighborhood we build mega churches that are expensive to maintain, require compromising means of raising funds, requiring a compromised message. It exalts leaders into pride because of the numbers and it allows compromising Christians to “hide” among the numbers with little or no accountability with their real neighbors. In this scenario we are sure to find compromise literally EVERYWHERE. This IS the Church growth philosophy played out. But Jesus said to Andrew and Peter and James and John… follow Me and when they followed HIM--- HE led them to where the harvest was and not the other way around.


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  CHAPTER 8: CHAPTE 8 THE LOVE WE HAD AT FIRST)
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CHAPTER 8 THE LOVE WE HAD AT FIRST

The Reason For Everything

Christianity in its purest form boils down to just two requirements: that we
love the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our
neighbor as ourselves (Mark 12:30). Upon these two commands rest all of the word
of God (Matthew 22:37). Without these two basics elements in our Christian life;
no matter how much we give to God or do for God, it is all in vain (I
Corinthians 13). I John 4:16 reads… And we have known and believed the love that
God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and
God in him. This love that we know and believe then begins to have a profound
effect on us as verse 11 states… Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to
love one another. When we deeply consider the genuine sacrifical love that God
poured upon us while we were yet sinners, the natural outworking of that love is
to love one another (I John 4:20). When the revelation of God’s compassion for
us is revealed and is allowed to sink down and touch every fiber of our being,
scripure says it would then be impossible to shut up the bowels of your
compassion when you see your brother or sister in need (I John 3:17). Morover,
it is the greatest evidence of all that we are truly saved, that our great love
for God is translated to also include one another. As it is written… A new
commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that
ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples,
if ye have love one to another (John 13:35, 36). The one who searcheth the minds
and the hearts will give to everyone according to their works and those works
must have been motivated by love (Revelation 2:23).

To Whom Much is Forgiven…

There was a time in Jesus’ ministry that a woman came and washed his feet with
her tears and wiped them off with the very hairs of her head. Jesus said the
woman did not cease from kissing His feet. The Pharisee who resented this showed
no such affection for Jesus. And herein lies the great lesson about our love for
Christ. Jesus answered this Pharisee and said this… Wherefore I say unto thee,
Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little
is forgiven, the same loveth little (Luke 7:47). The Pharisee showed by his
actions that in his own view his sin was about $50 worth compared to this womans
$500. This pride and arrogance stripped the man of any real and meaningful love
for God. He should have known that one cent of sin was enough to damn his soul
and that he ought to be thankful. Because he perceived his sin as little and the
woman knew her sin was great we learn a lesson about the human condition. When
we cease to appreciate the love that God showed us by sending His Son to die
upon a cross for our sins, we neither “kiss the Lord’s feet” with our love, nor
do we welcome others to do likewise. He showed almost no love for Christ or his
neighbor in this passage and it it began when he would not recognize his own
great need for forgiveness. He did not stop to consider his sins. He did not
take time to name them one by one. He conveniently cast his thankfulness as far
as the east was from the west when God cast his sins. How can a person truly
love when they never consider their sins? His arrogance expected God to forgive
him as is indicated by his unthankfulness.

The Church at Ephesus

The church at Ephesus had the greatest teaching available in the New Testament
and especially on the subject of love. Both Paul the Apostle and John the
Revelator worked diligently with this church. Paul in the book of Ephesians
writes that we should be holy and without blame for Him in love (1:4) and
commends the church for their love for the saints (1:15). In 2:4 he reminds the
people of the great love wherewith God loved us to quicken us with Christ while
we were dead in sins. In 3:17 Paul tells us that we should be rooted and
grounded in love and verse 19 we read these words… And to know the love of
Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of
God. In 4:2 we are admonished to “bear with” one another in love and to speak
the truth in love (v15) until the body is built and edified in love (v16).
Perhaps 5:1,2 are the most telling… Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear
children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself
for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour. Three
times Paul tells the husbands to love their wives as themselves, even as Christ
loved the Church and gave himself for it (5:25, 28, 33). Paul under the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit made two final pleas of love when he closed his
writing… Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and
the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace be with all them that love our Lord Jesus Christ in
sincerity. Amen (6:23,24). It can be noted that I Corinthians was written by
Paul from Ephesus which contains the great love chapter- I Corinthians 13 (I
Corinthians 16:8). John the Revalator spent much time at Ephesus and is believed
to have written the Gospel of John from there. From Ephesus he penned the words
“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son….” Ephesus was
inundated with the teaching of love, both in word and in example.

The Departure

John the Revelator writing from the isle of Patmos saw visions of the great and
mighty majesty and glory of God. As one of the first orders of business Christ
gives a report on the condition of the seven churches of Asia. He begins with
Ephesus. The Living Bible captures the great essense of what is happening… here
Jesus says: “I know how many good things you are doing. I have watched your hard
work and your patience; I know you don't tolerate sin among your members, and
you have carefully examined the claims of those who say they are apostles but
aren't. You have found out how they lie. You have patiently suffered for me
without quitting. "Yet there is one thing wrong; you don't love me as at first!
Think about those times of your first love (how different now!) and turn back to
me again and work as you did before; or else I will come and remove your
candlestick from its place among the churches.” (TLB) What horror John must have
felt. They seemed to be doing everything right, but their motivation was all
wrong. They had become a sounding brass and a tinkling symbol and all these
things profited them nothing. Their hearts were hardened. There was a lot of
business, but no real fruit. They hated sin, but did not balance it with their
love for Christ. This was no different from the Pharisees that Jesus chastised
in the years he walked the earth. They had abandoned their love for Christ that
should have been chief and foremost (GK. protos). And if there is no real love
for Christ we need not look for a love for the saints and vise versa (I John 3,
4). After all that teaching on love and all that example of what love was… they
forsook the great love that they once had for Christ. They naturally, in an
atmosphere such as this would have hated sin without having the heart of God’s
love for lost souls. They would have been moved by contention, strife, fear,
envy, resentment, jealousy, guilt or vain glory, but not by love to do Christ’s
work (See Philippians 1:16). They would have condemned the guilty without
considering their own sins (Galatians 6:1). Perchance they had so forgotten
their sins that they may have thanked God that they were not like sinners such
as the wretched publicans as did the Pharisee who prayed with himself (Luke
18:11). With them, yes, the Gospel is preached, and we can rejoice, but from the
workers point of view it was all in vain because the motivation was not
compassion (unmerited love). The fire in the end shall try every man’s work of
what sort it is (I Corinthians 3:13) and if it were birthed from a heart of
great love, that work will not fail the test, because love never fails (I
Corinthians 13). They condemned sinners and argued theology real good, but where
was the compassion and love?

Retracing Your Footsteps

The church at Ephesus like so many Christians once had a great love for Christ,
but lost it little by little. The physics law of the conservation of matter
guarantees that the love did not dissappear, it was redistributed somewhere
else. This is a travesty in the body of Christ. The blood bought Saints of the
living God begin to take the love that once belonged only to God and gave it to
someone or something else. This is the true definition of harlotry. How does
this happen? It is simple. Jesus said that if you love me you will keep my
commandments (John 14:15). In verse 16 Jesus says He will send the comforter and
in verse 17 says that He (the Holy Spirit) is the Spirit of truth- which the
world cannot receive because it sees Him not and does not know him. Why? Because
they do not have a heart to keep the commandments of Christ (I John 2:4). The
passage says that if a person contends to love God and does not keep the
commandments they are a liar. So we see then that the Holy Spirit is sent to
steer us and empower us to keep the commandments of Christ and in so doing
brings forth the fruit of the Spirit which is above all things love. What
happens? The Saints begin to quench the Spirit and disobey the commandments.
Both sins of ommission (he that knoweth to do good and doeth it not) and sins of
commission. The more the Spirit of God is quenched the harder the “soil” of the
heart gets. The harder the heart gets the less impact the word has when it is
sown. The problem is the soil (see Mark 4:8). Soon preachers preach in vain and
teachers teach in vain. Why? Because the “soil” of the peoples hearts are all
hard and dried up from quenching the Spirit. Soon they have no fruit of the
Spirit in their life and rather than love Christ and their neighbor they begin
to love the world and the things of this world and the love of the Father is no
longer in them (I John 2:15). Roots of bitterness are then intrenched deep in
the soil and must be overturned.

Breaking Up the Fallow Ground

Both Jeremiah 4:3 and Hosea 10:12 deal with breaking up the fallow ground. In
Hosea the Saints are depicted as going like a harlot after other lovers and
abandoning God’s love. The prophet under inspiration tells the people… Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it
is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have
plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies:
because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men (Hosea
10:12, 13). How can a person break up their fallow (unplowed) ground? Simple. Go
back and revisit what made it hard in the first place and repent. This requires
a serious time of reflection and examination before the Lord. Jesus calls it in
Revelation 2 “doing your first works.” So many people never spend enough time in
reflection of all their sins (that they can possibly recall) until their is a
brokenness before God for what we have done. Psychologists have people recall
all the bad things that happened to them so they can blame others for their
problems. God says to the backslidden “break up the fallow ground of your own
heart.” Recall when you quenched the Holy Ghost and made a hard spot in your
heart and started the process of leaving your first love.

Here is the crux of God’s argument against the backslidden people in Hosea, your
heart needs to be as tilled up as would be a farmers field at seed time. Go back
and repent and repent and repent until you are broken enough to be in a place
where the seed of the good word will bring forth the fruit God designed. Who
ever heard of a farmer sowing seed on unplowed ground? Plowing is a lot of work,
but the indictment against the sinner is that they plowed all sorts of
wickedness. They grabbed the plow and tore up with great pain and labor all
sorts of Gods work in their heart. Now its time to reflect and do the first
works of repentance. Modern Christianity says don’t think about what got you
here, just keep on asking forgiveness. God says, get about the work of breaking
up the fallow ground of the hardness of your heart. Go back and remember what
God forgave you of- so your love for Him will not grow cold. Keep his great
mercy ever before your eyes by continually considering yourself and your own
sins (Galatians 6:1). This does not dig up condemnation church- it digs up
appreciation for what God has done and it keeps you humble before God. Were like
the pharisee sitting around wondering why the woman is crying all over the Lord
and kissing his feet. Its because she knows her sin and she loves much. God
forgive us of our arrogance and excuses for blocking out our sins until we had
no love left.


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  CHAPTER 9: CHAPTE 9 SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE)
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CHAPTER 9 SPEAKING THE TRUTH IN LOVE

The Most Basic Aspect of Christianity

Scripture tells us in Ephesians 4:16 that the Church is to be built up in love.
Love is the very ‘mortar’ that is holding everything together. We must be built
up in this love so that we can understand the full magnitude of what God is
doing in the earth as well as understanding the love of Christ which is beyond
our comprehension (Ephesians 3:17-19). Moreover, Paul tells us Colossians 2:2
that we are to be knit together in love and in Ephesians 3:17 we are to be
“rooted and grounded in love.” The very foundation of our behavior and
expression of attitude must be love. This is because God is love and he that
does not love does not know God (I John 4:8). The word of God boils down to two
commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and
strength and your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:30). On these two commands rest
all the law and the prophets (Matthew 22:40). Any expression of our religion
that does not contain love and is not motivated in love will not stand the test
in the Day of Judgment (Compare I Corinthians 3:13; 13:8). Our ministry must be
motivated by love. Some ministry is done out of envy, strife, contention and
insincerity, but we must minister in love (Philippians 1:15). The word for love
used in these passages is the Greek word agape. Vines describes this word saying
“Agape and Agapao are used in the NT (a) to describe the attitude of God towards
His Son, John 17:26; the human race, generally, John 3:16; Romans 5:8; and to
such as believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, particularly, John 14:21; (b) to
convey His will to His children concerning their attitude one toward another,
John 13:34, and toward all men, I Thessalonians 3:12; I Corinthians 16:14; II
Peter 1:7; (c) to express the essential nature of God, I John 4:8.” Vine then
continues saying “This is not a love of complacency, or affection, that is, it
was not drawn out by any excellency in its objects, Romans 5:8. It was an
exercise of the divine will in deliberate choice, made without assignable cause
save that which lies in the nature of God Himself.”

The Mandate of Agape Love

As we are the recipients of God’s sovereign decision to love us apart from any
merit, we are then commanded to return that love back to God and then towards
our neighbor (John 15:12; I Corinthians 16:22). This commandment is summed up in
the passage… beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another (I
John 4:11). We are commanded NOT to show this love towards the world or the
things of this world (I John 2:15). John describes those who say they love God
but hate their brother as murderers without the hope of eternal life (I John
3:15). Moreover, we read in I John 4:20… If a man say, I love God, and hateth
his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen,
how can he love God whom he hath not seen? This extends to require that we
freely forgive one another (Matthew 18:21,22). Jesus said we must forgive 70
times seven in the run of a day. That number is 7 times the number of members
that sat on the court of the Great Sanhedrin (Hebrew, beth-din- “House of
Judgment”; See also Numbers 11:16 70+Moses). This is what scripture means when
it said where sin abounded grace did much more abound (Romans 5:20). Moses had
70 helpers to judge Israel, but Jesus sent out 70 with the good news. And Jesus,
having ushered in the dispensation of grace, symbolically demonstrated how we
ought to show mercy and not judgment to one another. Take them before the
Sanhedrin to be condemned? Stone the adulterous woman to death? Call fire down
from heaven?

The Wisdom of Forgiveness

Matthew Henry comments on this verse in Matthew 18:21-35 saying… “He (Peter)
takes it for granted that he must forgive; Christ had before taught his
disciples this lesson (Matthew 6:14,14), and Peter has not forgotten it. He
knows that he must not only NOT bear a grudge against his brother, or meditate
revenge, but be as good a friend as ever, and forget the injury.” He continues
saying… “He (Peter) thinks it is a great matter to forgive till seven times; he
means not seven times a day, as Christ said (Luke 17:4), but seven times in his
life; supposing that if a man had any way abused him seven times, though he were
ever so desirous to be reconciled, he might then abandon him, and have no more
to do with him. Perhaps Peter had an eye to Proverbs 24:16. ‘A just man falleth
seven times.’” Because God is the primary offended party in ALL offenses, if He
is willing to forgive, we are commanded to.

Shall I Come to You with a Rod or in Love and a spirit of Meekness?

In Zephaniah 2:3 we read these words… Seek ye the LORD, all ye meek of the
earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it
may be ye shall be hid in the day of the LORD's anger. Meekness is the Greek
word prautes (prah-oo'-tace); and it means mildness and humility. But this does
not fully describe the word because there is no English equivalent. The word
actually means to have an inwrought grace of the soul; especially towards God so
that the person does not fight against Him. It extends to our fellow man, even
if they act with evil towards us with insults and injuries that they may
inflict, especially for the Gospel’s sake; believing they are employed or
permitted by God for the purpose of chastisement (W. E. Vines Expository
Dictionary). It is not a state of being depressed or down cast because of
circumstances, but depressed of the desire to exalt ones-self; and that, because
it is not preoccupied with self at all. It is not weakness as some would
believe; for Jesus was meek and yet had infinite resources at His disposal at
all times. Meekness is to act with restraint when it is well within your power
to render evil for evil.

The Meekness of God’s Ministers

Meekness is an essential requirement for every one of God’s ministers either
angelic of human. God cannot long use a person who is not meek. The opposite of
meek is arrogance. Arrogance flaunts its abilities as a means to try to
intimidate. Meekness restrains a person no matter how sufficient their resources
are to do evil or seek vainglory. Moses is the first example I wish to use of
meekness. In Numbers 12:3 we read… Now the man Moses was very meek, above all
the men, which were upon the face of the earth. He had to be. He was the only
person qualified for the job that God wanted to use him for. Think of what it
would be like to try to use a prideful person to write the first 5 books of the
Bible? To tell of the origin of all creation? To tell the great stories of the
Patriarchs? To give the Ten Commandments and the written law. To establish the
Tabernacle? To go on the mountain to speak to God face to face? To smite Egypt
will all manor of plagues? To cross the Red Sea on dry ground? And that, having
been raised in Pharaoh’s house! So great were the acts that God did through
Moses that God had to bury his body while Michael contended with the devil. In
Jude 9 we read… Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he
disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing
accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. Here is another case of great
meekness. Michael would not make a railing accusation against the devil. Not
that he was afraid of the devil; but he was concerned that God may be offended.
Michael is the Archangel, but could not be so without a great meekness. This is
consistent all throughout scripture. When a person ceases in meekness their
pride leads them to destruction (Proverbs 16:18). God resists the proud but
gives grace to the humble. Jesus in all His regal power and authority came
riding in to town “meek” and riding upon a mule. The meek, God will lead in
judgment and teach His ways (Psalms 25:9). He will beautify the meek with
salvation (Psalm 149:4) and they shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:11; Matthew
5:5).

Precious in the Sight of God

When a person is genuinely meek they will often hold their peace in times of
persecution. When this happens God will step in and fight their battle. When
Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses; God qualifies the situation by
reminding us that Moses was the meekest man on the earth. He then called the
three of them out with a bath kol (voice from heaven) and pronounced judgment
upon Miriam. Why, because Moses was the man in authority and He walked and lived
in extreme meekness. In I Peter 3:4 But let it be the hidden man of the heart,
in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit,
which is in the sight of God of great price. What a decision to be made that we
could decide to walk in love by the Spirit of God in such meekness that God
would view us as extremely costly. This is in such direct opposition to the
deeds of the flesh that it takes a high amount of submission to the Holy Spirit
to bring it about.

The Greatest Man Apart From Christ

When God gets ready to perform a work in the earth- depending on how great of
work that needs to be done- He will raise up a man or woman to perform it- that
will walk and live in utter humility and meekness. God cannot use a proud person
to do his great works unless He uses them in a sense as He did Pharaoh. God has
raised up proud men to a place of prominence to do his will as He did Pharaoh.
God opened all sorts of doors for that man until He was right in a place to
stand opposed to the meekest man on earth at the time-, which was Moses. I would
dare say, that Pharaoh was the proudest man alive when He decided to have a
stand-off with the God Almighty. As it is written… And in very deed for this
cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may
be declared throughout all the earth. As yet exaltest thou thyself against my
people, that thou wilt not let them go? (Exodus 9:16, 17). On the contrary when
God got ready to raise up a man to be the forerunner of Jesus Christ- He chose a
man that would yield to Him in great meekness. Jesus said that there was not a
man born among women greater than John the Baptist. What was they key to his
greatness? One passage of scripture… He must increase, but I must decrease (John
3:30).

The Tongue is a Fire

There is a people that have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge
(Romans 10:2). These are religious people who do great violence thinking they do
God a service (John 16:2). It is important to know what spirit we are of. Lest,
like Peter, we would desire to rain fire from Heaven upon peoples heads- and
wist not that we were yielded to a foul spirit. Some have a zeal of God, but not
according to knowledge. These are those who perchance may even preach Christ out
of envy and rivalry or selfish ambition and not of love (Philippians 1:16). And
James said that where envy and rivalry is there is confusion and every evil work
(James 3:16). Some are just in a contest with other preachers. But the others
preach out of love. It is what qualifies us to minister under the anointing of
God (Revelation 2). James 3:13-15 reads… Who is a wise man and endued with
knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with
meekness of wisdom. But if ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts,
glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above,
but is earthly, sensual, devilish. It is earthly at best and demonic at worst.
Why? Because without God’s love a person does not rightly handle God’s word.
Anyone can go into God’s word and mine out the most wrath based scriptures they
can find- incorporate them into a message and literally set a person on fire
with the fire of hell if God’s not in it. Is this the wisdom that is from above?
Does this sow the fruit of righteousness in peace? Is this the love of God? When
we have our own concepts of revival that are not God’s will- we will err as have
most other revival movements. The end of revival is not repentance- nor our
concepts of holiness. The ultimate purpose of revival is to bring God’s people
back into conformity with the person of Jesus Christ. Any other purpose will end
this revival as every other revival has ended.


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Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/getting-back-to-basics/
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