At the present time there is strong agitation against cults. Imperceptive religious people tend to associate all nondenominational religious groups into one category. Such people love to pigeonhole.
Unless we pray and are very careful, it is inevitable that we will be associated with the cults. It is very important for us to evaluate this situation without fear in light of where we are, where we are going, and what we really do believe in.
The Living Word exalts the Lord. It is a very pure word, but most Christians will not understand that the basic truth which we have taught all of these years is the Lordship of Jesus Christ over us.
He is Lord, we are his bondservants led by His Spirit, and that is why we say and do what we do.
We need to separately incorporate each local New Testament church that comes forth in this move of God. After a church is financially capable of supporting itself, it no longer remains with the mother church, but becomes independent as soon as possible.
The spiritual principle we are following it that the churches that come forth through this ministry will not be built into an organization or a denomination.
As soon as they are capable, they incorporate, they own their own property, and they are locally sovereign. Some will say that we are an organization, but we are not. We are not held together by any legal structure whatsoever, and each church is separate from the others.
This is a precept which we have taught, and diligent effort goes forth constantly toward seeing these churches individually incorporated.
At this particular time we may find a reproach upon us that we feel we do not deserve.
We are not building churches; Jesus builds His Church, we are not making merchandise of them or taking advantage of them.
What we are doing is seeking first the Kingdom and His righteousness. We desire that His kingdom come forth in the earth and every personal religious kingdom come down.
We are teaching the Pastors and elders how to hear God for themselves and govern the people under them until they reach a spiritual maturity where they present them to the Lord, to be led by His Spirit.
God has blessed us, and we ought to go right ahead with what He has set before us, not in any way intimidated by our enemies. The Scripture says that our boldness is to them an evident sign, a token that their judgment is close at hand (Philippians 1:28). The minute that God’s people walk without fear, God begins to move on their behalf.
You will have a more vivid picture of everything that is brought forth in this word, if you understand this basic principle: Whenever God does a thing in the earth, He always wraps it with some cloak of disrespectability and reproach.
That is the first thing God will do. When He sent the King of kings and the Lord of lords into the earth, the great Messiah, He let Him be born and laid in a manger (Luke 2:7).
The birth of a thing always has this characteristic: It does not conform to the image people think it should have, either in its creation or promotion.
Whenever God restored something at a certain time in history, it was never glorious, but always filled with a great deal of reproach.
Take for an example the people who were persecuted and killed because they believed in a born-again experience. Read about the people who died because they believed that the Bible should be our heritage. Many died at the stake just because they possessed a translation of the Bible.
We forget a few of those facts today as we begin to yell for tolerance. Actually, there is no more tolerance today than there was in those days.
People are still as blind, as prejudiced, and as biased as they were then. In addition to that, the people of today are more conditioned by what the media feeds them than any people have been in the history of the world.
Freedom of speech has been exploited as a method of producing conformity in people’s minds in a great many instances. We are all aware of it, but if we start talking about it now, then we will be suspected of being radicals.
Many people know this about the media, but some will be afraid to admit it. To condition the masses has always been the purpose of those who want to create a certain type of society.
There is much corruption in the capitalistic system at the present time. Billions of dollars were spent in the past wars, especially the Vietnam war. Millionaires were made, while America lost thousands of men. Nobody wants to rise up and talk about that, but these tragedies could happen again. If they do, there will be more legislation and inquiry, which in turn will cause more liberties to be eroded away.
What God does in the earth has always been reproached and easily despised. Paul said that he and the other apostles were called the “offscouring of the earth” (I Corinthians 4:13), and it is possible that we too shall be called the offscouring of the earth.
The various branches of Christianity which have become respectable have also become apostate. That bears repeating: The branches of Christianity which have become respectable have also become apostate.
When the Pharisees boasted of their devotion to the prophets, Jesus told them, “Yes, your fathers killed them, and you build the sepulchers and monuments to them” (Luke 11:47).
Religious people are always willing to worship relics and to build monuments to God’s anointed after they have died, but they find it quite difficult to live with the Word that God is bringing forth in the earth when it comes, and to bear the reproach of it. It is no wonder that the first generation of Christians were called the offscouring of the earth.
As the church progressed and the government of the land could not get rid of the church by killing them, the government took over the Church and there was a great falling away and we went into the dark ages.
We are now in the restoration, and those who were baptized in the Spirit and spoke in tongues in the early 1900’s were called “Holy Rollers.”
At the beginning of that movement, all manner of lies were spoken against them; they were accused of gross immoralities and of conducting orgies. While in reality those meetings were just good, long prayer meetings, held night after night until three or four o’clock in the morning.
those meetings were Loud and noisy, they would remind you of an intercession service now. In the midst of all the praying and seeking the face of God, certain expressions were invented, such as “falling under the power” and “talking in tongues.”
I believe in what God brought forth at that time. Nowadays, the Holy Rollers might be called “Charismatics.” It just depends upon the terms. But really, some of today’s Charismatics might do well with a good roll on the floor!
When you try to make the things of God respectable, it reveals that you are trying to make them commercial. You are trying to avoid the persecution and reproach that would come upon them.
Many of the saints grew up with the reproach of being labeled a “Holy Roller,” or a Pentecostal. There probably would have been a much greater acceptance of God’s moving during that time if there had not been a reproach.
This walk with the Lord, came forth in 1951, through my spiritual grandfather, at the same time that the Latter Rain movement was falling apart.
Just about the time that everyone fled from the Latter Rain movement, my grandfather came into a real meeting with God, and all the “dirty linen” hanging around from Latter Rain was put on him, and those he ministered to.
They were called Latter Rain (among other things), but they were never a part of it, nor involved with the leaders of it.
They did have in common the singing in the Spirit that the Latter Rain movement had but it was on an entirely different level. The result was that the reproach was there. However, many Charismatics today “sing in the Spirit,” and this is respectable now.
As we proceeded on, God said that He would do a new thing, that a new music and many other things would come forth, and that we would break into a new level of His Kingdom.
Immediately we found that happening to us. The evidence is that we are on a whole new level, an entirely new movement from what we used to call “the Walk.”
The walk with God unfolded into the Kingdom. The services and the way the people worship now is quite different from before. Very few would ever gather an hour or two early to intercede in the church.
In fact, it was a struggle to get the people there on time. Now many are there ahead of time, praying and waiting on the Lord. Now the children are pressing in too. We see many breakthroughs that did not exist before, because we have moved into another step.
We do not have to worry about being persecuted for speaking in tongues anymore, for that has become respectable in Charismatic groups in most places of the world now. Why?
Because that is no longer the front line of battle. That is not the issue anymore; that is not where the focus lies.
Where is God moving now? He is bringing forth a new level of the Kingdom.
How is He bringing it forth? The One who rides on the white horse has a sharp two-edged sword going out of His mouth; He has a name written: “The Word of God” (Revelation 1:16; 19:13).
The issue will be the Living Word of God.
It will be the prophetic proclamations of humble believers speaking the Word of the Lord. With all of their heart, soul, mind, and spirit, they have begun to enter into it.
Now we have the biggest reproach that we have ever seen—intercession.
We do not worry about the reproach on speaking in tongues anymore. Now it is “a new ball game”: intercession and prophetic proclamations mingled with a wonderful, awesome worship.
We believe and proclaim that principalities and powers will come down, that the nephilim spirits will be judged; and because we speak it forth, reproach will come upon us.
The reproach and persecution against the early Pentecostal movement will look mild compared to what we shall face as we speak the Word that God gives us.
We must become concerned about our dedication to discipleship and the guidelines of wisdom that we have received, so that we do not do something foolish.
We must curtail the zealots who have very little understanding of what they are doing but want to yell and carry on. If we do not, they could bring an unnecessary reproach upon this whole move of God.
There is no way that we will avoid the persecution or the reproach; we are not trying to dodge it. We prophesied that it would come, and it is coming.
But by His help, we shall stop the mouths of those who say foolish things that would justify the persecution. A justifiable persecution we will not have!
If we suffer wrongfully, we should rejoice. But let each man see that he does not do something for which he deserves suffering (I Peter 2:20). Let us not do something foolish that the world will see as worthy of persecution.
Some of our terminology is bound to be misinterpreted and should perhaps be changed.
The word “violence” is a good example.
We have followed Matthew 11:12: … the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force. Even though our definition of the word “violence” is scriptural, at this particular time certain cults are employing an entirely different violence.
That is Satan’s attempt to bring reproach upon the violence of Matthew 11:12—which will be his undoing.
Our spirit and soul must become violent against anything that hinders us from walking with God.
We want to become violent with anything that is passive in our own nature.
We want to seek Him with all of our heart. This does not mean that we will hurt anyone or be guilty of physical violence in any manner whatsoever.
More and more we must emphasize the collective manifestation of Christ, in order to escape the specific problems of individuality. For instance, let us believe for the Lord to be glorified in us as the Body of Christ, not as individuals. Your prayers for God’s ministers should be without any adulation of man at all. If Christ is to be glorified, He will be glorified in His saints collectively (II Thessalonians 1:10).
Let us go a step further. When we pray against Satan’s control in any area, let us pray specifically only against the corporate manifestation, so that we do not focus too much on any individual.
The individuals involved will come down, but let us not pray against them, per se. Do you understand the importance of this? We do not war against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).
There is no need to pick out certain arch offenders in government and pray for God to judge them. Instead, we shall pray that God will save this country from financial disaster.
We get into politics to the extent that the term “politics” involves our desire to see the Stars and Stripes fly in the Kingdom. Many economists, historians, and sociologists are predicting that the American culture is on its way out, and that it will be destroyed and disappear as did the ancient Roman and Greek cultures. Is it heresy not to believe this?
I do not believe that America has to go under. Let us pray for her. Our prayers for this country should be very positive. They should not be focused on individuals. We would be making a mistake if we entered into a battle against individuals. Let us just seek the face of the Lord so that we will be able to intercede and pray according to the will of God.
Because of the current attention focused on the cults, let us firmly establish what we believe, to show that we are not one of them.
Are we fundamental? Yes, we believe in the inspiration of the Scriptures; we do not swerve from them.
We believe in the absolute Lordship of Jesus Christ. We will not do flagrant un-Christlike things that to the eyes of the world deserve reproach, correction, or legislation.
We are a group of local, independent churches. Technically, we are not even a movement by legal definition. There is no organization holding us together.
There is only one thing we have in common: We have opened our heart to what is probably the greatest inspired presentation of a Living Word that has come for centuries. The only thing that holds us together is this Living Word. Because of that, let us honor the Word and support it.
We have no financial programs except those which see this Word proclaimed and sent out to other people. There is nothing in the way of projects that put money in anyone’s pocket. There are no lavish expenditures.
All we have is a group of humble people doing the very best they can to see this Word prevail and to exercise their faith in it.
In I Corinthians 14:22 Paul pointed out that God gave the gift of tongues for a sign. Your first reaction to that verse may be, “Oh, that is good. Talking in tongues is a sign that unbelievers might believe.”
On the contrary, Isaiah prophesied that the gift of tongues would come as a sign that people would not believe (Isaiah 28:11–12).
A sign from God is given to produce one of two things: It is an opportunity for people to express either their unbelief or their faith.
For example, two individuals can see a miracle. One may exclaim, “Oh, I see a miracle from God!” The other might jeer, “That’s proof of hocus-pocus going on. There was no sign; that was sleight of hand. That was no miracle at all.” Tongues come for the same purpose, a sign to the unbeliever (I Corinthians 14:22).
Our exercise of the gift of prophecy is coming the same way now, because it is a prophetic intercession. The unbelievers will not accept our intercession any more than they accepted tongues.
But it still remains that prophecy is the one medium which is intended for the believer (I Corinthians 14:22), and the prophetic flow will loose believers to walk with God. Unbelievers will become more hardened and more critical, and the very prophesying that they reject will be the sign of reproach that rests upon us.
It is inevitable that intercession would come and be rejected. Many within our own ranks have had a difficult time with it. I have even had a hard time with it.
Couldn’t there have been some dignified way of bringing down principalities and powers? Why did God choose intercession? Why does the wisdom of God always seem like foolishness to the world? Why is that always the scriptural pattern? (I Corinthians 1:18–25.)
Why can’t God do one thing one time that looks attractive? Because He sees fit to speak His Word by the foolishness of preaching.
Imagine how Paul felt when everyone called his preaching foolish. The foolishness of preaching is the wisdom of God to save them that believe (I Corinthians 1:21). God takes the foolish things to confound the wise (I Corinthians 1:27). But while He is confounding the wise, the wise still think His ways are foolish.
I Corinthians 14:5–11: Now I wish that you all spoke in tongues, but even more that you would prophesy; and greater is one who prophesies than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may receive edifying. But now, brethren, if I come to you speaking in tongues, what shall I profit you, unless I speak to you either by way of revelation or of knowledge or of prophecy or of teaching? Yet even lifeless things, either flute or harp, in producing a sound, if they do not produce a distinction in the tones, how will it be known what is played on the flute or on the harp? For if the bugle produces an indistinct sound, who will prepare himself for battle? So also you, unless you utter by the tongue speech that is clear, how will it be known what is spoken? For you will be speaking into the air. There are, perhaps, a great many kinds of languages in the world, and no kind is without meaning. If then I do not know the meaning of the language, I shall be to the one who speaks a barbarian, and the one who speaks will be a barbarian to me.
The gift of tongues is the great moving of the Holy Spirit to bring forth utterances through an individual. Yet, someone who cannot understand what is being spoken is like a heathen or a barbarian, and the one who speaks is like a barbarian to him. In I Corinthians 14:23
Paul wrote, “They (outsiders) will think that you are mad if everyone is speaking in tongues.” In pointing out a very legitimate sign from God, he also stressed the need for a way of exercising it that does not deliberately produce the reproach, but instead allows God to use it as a sign that men will either accept or reject. The Word that God is bringing by the Spirit of the Lord must become the issue, not our foolishness.
So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church. Therefore let one who speaks in a tongue pray that he may interpret. For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my mind is unfruitful. What is the outcome then? I shall pray with the spirit and I shall pray with the mind also; I shall sing with the spirit and I shall sing with the mind also. Otherwise if you bless in the spirit only, how will the one who fills the place of the ungifted say the “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying? For you are giving thanks well enough, but the other man is not edified. I thank God, I speak in tongues more than you all; however, in the church I desire to speak five words with my mind, that I may instruct others also, rather than ten thousand words in a tongue. I Corinthians 14:12–19.
Paul exercised the gift of tongues alone. When he came to the house of God, five understandable words were preferable to many words in a tongue.
“God so loved the world” would be five good words to say. Five words that get through to people are better than ten thousand words which will not edify them.
It comes down to a basic rule which we should always keep before us: Let everything be done to edify (I Corinthians 14:26).
Brethren, do not be children in your thinking; yet in evil be babes, but in your thinking be mature. In the Law it is written, “By men of strange tongues and by the lips of strangers I will speak to this people, and even so they will not listen to Me,” says the Lord. I Corinthians 14:20–21.
Paul was quoting Isaiah 28:11–12, which was a true prophecy. God said, “I shall speak to this people in strange tongues, and they will not even listen.”
Why would God do this when He knew that they would not listen anyway? That you will have to ask Him personally. God does some strange things to throw people into an hour of decision.
Joel 3:14 tells us, Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.
The whole world will be brought more and more to make a decision about the Living Word.
Whether they will have blessings to enter into the Kingdom, or whether they will see the judgments of God fall on them depends upon their reaction to the Word.
We are not judging people. Christ said, “I do not judge any man, but My Word will judge men at the last day” (John 12:47–48). The last day has come, and the Word of the Lord being spoken will be the occasion of judgment.
Exactly how does the Word judge?
It can be compared to going through a market with a shopping basket. There are many items, and each person picks what he wants. The individual is the one who decides.
Similarly, the Lord gives a great flow of the Word, and it is set before people to accept or to reject, just as they would choose or reject items in a market.
He is saying, “Choose this day whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15). “I have set a blessing and a curse before you” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Which do you want? Your decision judges you, for in a sense you judge yourself.
When you do receive a Word, do not pretend to submit to it and then do something else instead. Ananias and Sapphira agreed between themselves to bring only part of the money from a piece of land they had sold, while pretending to lay the entire sum at the apostles’ feet.
When Peter asked each one separately if the sum they had brought was the total amount received, they both said, “Yes,” and immediately dropped dead. That was all it amounted to, for they had already proclaimed a lie. The couple was not judged by Peter. Peter stated clearly, “You have lied to the Holy Spirit.” Ananias and Sapphira did it of their own free will, and judgment was forthcoming (Acts 5:1–10).
In a very realistic sense, we must face the fact that the Word we speak, the Living Word that is being published, is an exposition of the Scriptures.
It is a proclamation in living form of a Word from God that is coming right now. Sooner or later it will hit the entire world.
Many religious books that have come forth in this generation have become runaway best-sellers. Yet they contain little of the life and understanding that God has placed in this Living Word.
The fact that other religious material is eagerly accepted whereas the Living Word is often rejected is an indication that Satan fights this Word.
But he cannot stop it. This Word will go to the ends of the earth. And wherever people hear it, they will either accept it or reject it. That is exactly where the issue lies.
Paul continues in I Corinthians 14: So then tongues are for a sign, not to those who believe, but to unbelievers. Paul does not say that tongues are a sign to make believers out of unbelievers, but that they are a sign given to unbelievers.
Much of what God is bringing forth now will suffer reproach once again and be a sign to unbelievers. They will be convinced in their own minds that what they hear is not of God, and they will be sealed to the judgments of God for not accepting the Word.
But prophecy is for a sign, not to unbelievers, but to those who believe. If therefore the whole church should assemble together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? (How could they say anything else except that you are mad?) But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all. I Corinthians 14:22–24.
Even if he comes in with unbelief, he will get the Word just the same, because he can understand what is said. Let us strive for a prophetic flow that people can understand.
What does it mean to be in the Kingdom, and how do you relate to the kingdoms of this world while believing to be in the Kingdom of God?
What is your position as a good American citizen?
It is very evident what is wrong with the country, yet there are scriptural commands which you are to follow.
As a citizen of the Kingdom of God, you will find that you will also be able to be a good law-abiding citizen in America.
As citizens in the Kingdom of God, we have more than a vote. We have the power of prayer and the power of faith. We have the power of example as we show forth the very life of the Lord Jesus Christ coming forth in us.
This move of the Spirit may go into an earthshaking as God brings down the spirits which have battled us for so long.
Almost simultaneously there will be a blossoming of the divine order of the Kingdom.
One thing that could hinder would be the desire to see the shaking done quietly and in order, leaving no memory at which the world could point a finger.
As to people in churches, the Lord would not hesitate to expose everything in order that He might teach the right ways, and that the truth might be established (I Corinthians 11:18–19).
Peter’s cursing had to be exposed in order that we could see the principle of how God establishes a man (Matthew 26:74). Read about the incest at Corinth (I Corinthians 5:1) and the way they were suing one another (I Corinthians 6:1–5), so that the real principles of God could be established for the church. Read about what the Galatians went through.
Blessed is the man who does not hide God’s dealings upon his heart. He prays, “God; if You want to put the searchlight on me and make a fool out of me, embarrass me, and discredit me in order to bring forth Your truth and Your principles, I am dedicated to that.”
If God chooses to rip open every hidden thing, let it come forth for one purpose: to establish the Kingdom. It is not as though God does not forgive; that is not the issue. God is pleased to expose every prophet whoever comes forth. He let all of Israel see Moses’ mistakes.
The nephilim spirit is going to be broken. We will see how it goes through the Body of Christ, who is exposed in it, and who is embarrassed; but we cannot turn against them.
We just bless them as we realize that God used them to expose something from which the Body had to be delivered.
That nephilim spirit has to be broken. God’s way has to be established. Whatever He does with any of us or how He embarrasses us does not matter.
Our pride could get in the way, but that does not matter either. We must be able to say, “God, I am willing to be embarrassed if it ministers the Kingdom.” The end result is that instead of our humiliation, we will have a double portion, as Isaiah 61:7 promises.
The Lord is opening up a level into which we must enter: the pattern of humiliation. ” The promise to those who bear the humiliation of Christ is found in Isaiah 53:12: “He will divide the spoil with the mighty.” I believe that God will bring this to pass.
There cannot be anything in our hearts that draws back from this pattern of humiliation. We must go the route of the cesspool if we want to see the green grass growing above. There is no way that we can dodge the persecutions that are to come, but we must be diligent not to provoke them.
Again the Lord is establishing the fact that it is in the sanctity and the purity of this local New Testament church vision that we will flow right into the Kingdom. Jesus Christ is the Lord over us. The local churches will survive because they are made strong in the divine order.
Lord, it is a serious moment that we face in Your presence. As these days come upon us, we are asking to be filled again with the fullness of the Spirit of the Lord.
When the disciples were threatened, immediately they came together and sought God until the place was shaken wherein they were gathered, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and spoke the Word of the Lord with great boldness (Acts 4:31).
So it shall be with us. We look to You, Lord, that You shall cause our hearts to seek Your face with everything within us.
We cry unto You to break down everything of passivity within our spirits, every sin or uncleanness.
Lord, expose it to our hearts. Let us know that it is there, so that we can be loosed from it and cleansed. We shall walk in this fellowship with one another, and the blood of Christ will cleanse us from all unrighteousness, from all sin (I John 1:7).
We look to You, Lord, asking that Your mercy and Your grace will rest upon each one of us, that not one of us will be fearful or draw back.
Lord, if we look back, we will not be fit for the Kingdom (Luke 9:62). We know that we must face this reproach, but let us walk in wisdom before You, and before them that are without (Colossians 4:5).