Withstanding the Effects of a Changing Culture
JAMES 4:4
4 Ye adulterers and adulteresses (This is speaking of a spiritual adultery of man against God), know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God (Enmity is hatred)? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.
This word “world” in the Greek is the word “kosmos” = the arrangement or constitution, order, government, the systems of man’s order. The headship of man without the need for God.
In other words, to be in agreement with the order and systems of man’s government when it is opposed to the word of God – that is hatred against God.
I JOHN 2:15-17
15 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. (Again, this word “world” is the word Kosmos” – this is what caused Lots wife to turn into a pillar of salt – it wasn’t so much that she looked with her eyes as she looked with the desire of her heart. She loved the fashions and the concerts and the woman’s society.
16 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.
17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof (Lust is just a superficial mental illusion that will one day pass away): but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.
The will of God in this hour is to believe on him whom he has sent. You cannot possibly do the work and will God until you first believe the message for your day for out of the message is revealed the will and purpose of God concerning you for your day and hour.
Withstanding the Effects of a Changing Culture
Just wanting to introduce this subject in this service…
It is a natural human trait to be influenced subconsciously by the environment and especially the culture that you are living in.
If you remember back to our teaching on Osmosis? There is a biological meaning of this word “Osmosis” which is the process by which molecules of a solvent tend to pass through a semi-permeable membrane from a less concentrated solution into a more concentrated one, but this same word is also used to describe the meaning of the human psyche of the process of gradual or unconscious assimilation of ideas, knowledge, views and opinions, etc. that are absorbed subconsciously over a period of time so that you don’t notice the gradual change of what you once held firm against, after a while (maybe even after many years) you slowly begin to change your views and ideas to align with the current thought of the culture that you reside amongst. That is why we need to be in the culture of the word of the hour daily.
*This is something that has caused many message believers to eventually turn against the message in their belief of what they once held firm to; they have become slowly influenced by the ideas of this evil age to the point of deception like Eve did.
***This is what Danial and them knew that they had to withstand the physiological pressure of the effects of the Babylonian culture as they faced the next 70 years of living amongst the heathen people of Babylon. This is why they purposed in their hearts to stay true to the original word of God that had been taught to them – and we must purpose in our hearts to do the same in this hour.
345-3 LAODICEAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK CPT.9
God says this church of the Laodicean Age is "wretched". That word comes from two Greek words which mean 'endure' and 'trial.' And it has nothing to do with the trials that come to a true Christian for God describes a Christian in trial as "blessed" and his attitude one of joy whereas this description is phrased as "wretched and miserable". How strange. In this age of plenty, in this age of progress, in this age of abundance, how can there be trials? Well now, it is strange; but in this age of plenty and opportunity, when everyone has so much and there is so much more to be had, what with all the inventions to do our work and so many things to give us pleasure, SUDDENLY, we find mental illness taking such a toll as to alarm the nation. When everybody ought to be happy, with really nothing to be unhappy about, millions are taking sedatives at night, pep pills in the morning, rushing to doctors, entering institutions, and trying to drown out unknown fears by alcohol.
Yes, this age boasts of its tremendous stores of worldly goods, but the people are less happy than ever. This age boasts of its spiritual attainments, but the people are less sure of themselves than ever. This age boasts of better moral values and it is more corrupt than any age since the flood. It talks about its knowledge and science, but it is fighting a losing battle in all fields, for the human mind and soul and spirit cannot comprehend or keep abreast with all the changes that have come upon the earth. In one generation we have gone all the way from the horse and buggy age to the space age, and we are proud and boastful about it; but inside is a dark void cavern that is crying out in torment, and WITHOUT A KNOWN REASON men's hearts are failing for fear and the world is so darkened that this age could well be called the age of neurotics. It boasts, but it cannot back it up. It cries peace, and there is no peace. It cries that it has a great amplitude of all things, but it keeps burning with desire like an unsatisfied fire! "There is no peace," saith my God to the wicked.
"They are miserable." That means that they are objects to be pitied. Pitied? They scorn pity. They are full of pride. They vaunt what they have. But what they have will not stand the test of time. They have built upon quicksand rather than the rock of the revelation of God's Word. Soon cometh the earthquake. Soon there will come the storms of the wrath of God in judgment. Then comes sudden destruction, and in spite of all their carnal preparation they will still be unprepared for what comes upon the earth. They are those who in spite of all their worldly efforts are actually opposing themselves and don't know it. Objects of pity are they indeed. Pity the poor people who are in this last day ecumenical move, for they call it the move of God, when it is of Satan. Pity those who do not know the curse of organization. Pity those who have so many beautiful churches, such lovely parsonages, such grandly trained choirs, such a show of wealth and such a sedate and reverent form of worship. Pity them, don't envy them. Back to the old store buildings, back to the dimly-lit rooms, back to the cellars, back to less of the world and more of God. Pity those who make their great claims, and talk about their gifts. Feel for them as objects of pity, for soon they will be objects of wrath.
MARK 9:11-12
11 And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
12 And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things (We know that this last days Elijah’s ministry that Jesus is speaking of here is the ministry of William Branham’s that God used in this day to restore the truth of the word that was lost during the 1000 years of dark ages – that prophecy has now become history in our day, but only the true elect of this age can truly recognise and understand the message of what God has sent though that Elijah ministry – many people over the years have been talked into this understanding, and that is why they are now being talked out of it – something has shifted in their minds, but when it has been made clear to you by a revelation from God, then no man can explain it out of you because it has become a faith in you and not just a mental conception of your reasoning); and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. (Remember that the Son of man’s ministry (which is the ministry of Christ himself) directly follows after this end time Elijah’s restoration ministry, just as the ministry of Christ followed directly after John the Baptist ministry at His first coming.
**The purpose of this last days Elijah ministry was to bring a restoration of the truth of the word and to introduce Christ again to the ones who could receive him in this hour, because this is time of the uniting of God and man as one again in perfect agreement of God being the headship and leadership of man as it was in Eden when God and man were one then before unbelief of the word entered into man’s heart.
**This word - to be set at “nought” = to make of no account, to despise utterly. So we are told here by Jesus, that after the truth has been restored by this coming ministry of the Elijah spirit of this end time age, that the Son of man (the word that has revealed Christ to us in this hour), that this revealing of Christ of the truth of this day would suffer many things of this generation in that it would be utterly despised and made of no account in the eyes and the esteem of the world and that as His first coming was in that he was rejected by the world, so would it repeat again at his second coming of the ministry of the revealing of the Son of man.
*And so the members of the Bride of Christ who have been untitled to Christ by their faith in the revelation of the word that has been restored in this hour, they would become the vessels of what the world will eventually come to reject.
***As Christ was rejected and suffered persecution in the form of the groom after John the Baptist ministry had introduced him to the elect back in the days of His earthly ministry, so must Christ also be rejected in the form of the Bride after this last day’s ministry of this Elijah. What was in Him back then is now in her in this hour – and the world will respond in the same way to this end time bride as they responded to the groom back then.
**Notice - Two earthen vessels with the same title deed placed within them.
PSALM 27:5
5 For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.
***The secret or mystery of His Tabernacle in this hour is you and I of whom this revealed word has been discovered within the earthen vessels of the elect of this age. This is the great treasure that has been found hidden in these earthen vessels at the end of the 7 church ages of captivity in Babylon – and it holds the documentation of the title deed to the ownership of the entire world of which Adam lost those documents – you and I hold the title deed to the complete ownership of the earth by the revelation of the word that has been released upon us in this hour.
JEREMIAH 32:6-15
6 And Jeremiah said, The word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
8 So Hanameel mine uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
9 And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle's son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
10 And I subscribed the evidence, and sealed it, and took witnesses, and weighed him the money in the balances.
11 So I took the evidence of the purchase, both that which was sealed according to the law and custom, and that which was open:
12 And I gave the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, the son of Maaseiah, in the sight of Hanameel mine uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses that subscribed the book of the purchase, before all the Jews that sat in the court of the prison.
13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
14 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
15 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
After the seven church ages (which is a type of the 70 years of the captivity of the Jews in Babylon as spoken of here in the book of Jeremiah), this document of land ownership that was sealed in the bride for seven church ages, it was to be opened and revealed at this end time age after the seven church ages have been completed, and so when the bride is revealed in this hour by her response to the word of this hour, what was written and revealed in the first vessel of the groom Jesus Christ (before the captivity of the seven church ages took place) is also to be revealed again through the vessel of the bride of this end time age at the end of the seven church ages - these both titles have to say the same thing in order for the land to come back to the one who made the purchase – in other words, the same revelation that was in Him must also now be in her and revealed in her before we can go back to Eden again.
THE.BREACH.BETWEEN.THE.SEVEN.CHURCH.AGES.AND.THE.SEVEN.SEALS_ JEFF.IN SUNDAY_ 63-0317E
91-2 {146} Jeremiah said, "This scroll must be kept..." (as you read it there) he'd say, "He must be kept in a earthly vessel." See? Oh, what a beautiful thing there I could talk about awhile. This scroll was kept in an earthly vessel, a vessel that once became flesh (Glory.), died, rose again, and kept in a earthly vessel until the time of the purchase. Oh, my, beautifully.
THE.FIRST.SEAL_ JEFF.IN MONDAY_ 63-0318
118-1 {8} Did you get to study in Jeremiah, how he wrote that, many of you taken it down last night? How them Seals were wrote and placed away for keeping until he returned after seventy years of the captivity. He was to return back and claimed his possession.
***The mystery that was sealed in Christ was also hidden and sealed in the bride to be revealed at the end of the seven church ages. What was sealed in the bride of who she was and the whole plan of redemption was to be opened to the bride in this last day to show that the same documentation of possession that was in Him is also found in her – the two parts of the matching Chinese laundry ticket coming together to claim everything back of what Adam lost so we can go back to Eden as they left Babylon to go back to Jerusalem after the seventy years.
II CORINTHIANS 4:7
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
The restored fullness of the word “Christ” of this day has come to fully reside itself within the hearts of the members of the bride body of this hour by the revelation of what the Holy Spirit has been teaching us over all these years by the message of the truth of this day.
**So because of this, and as believers of this hour, we are to bear the reproach and the rejected of this deposited truth of the revelation of the Son of man that has been opened to us but is hidden to the unbeliever.
To the world this revelation of the Son of man is despised and rejected and set at naught, but to us, we know that this word has once again become flesh in this hour in a many membered bride body, and it will also be rejected in the bride body of believers if the bride as it was rejected in the single body of the groom.
So we realise that this is the time of our greatest opportunity to suffer that rejection with him in His rejection at this time – he is to be rejected in this hour by the world rejected you because of the revelation of the truth that you have hidden in your heart.
You cannot reign with him in the millennium unless you first suffer along with him in his rejection in this hour.
II TIMOTHY 2:12
12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
Like David’s gentile warriors, they knew that one day he would come into power, and when he did they were to be made rulers over the kingdom with David in his reign – those who can stay true to Christ and suffer with him and fight with him in this hour will also reign with him in the millennium.
II CORINTHIANS 4:6-11
6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
8 ¶ We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
9 Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed;
10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
11 For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
There is a greater and more powerful culture in this hour of the revelation of the word that has been resorted to us at this time.
That is how we are to withstand the effects of this ever changing culture and beliefs and changing environment of this age that we are living in – it is the treasure hidden within the earthen vessels, that is the secret to all of this.