WE ARE GOING INTO THIS SUBJECT TODAY, BECAUSE OF THE GREAT MULTITUDES THAT ARE GOING TO CHURCH EVERY WEEK THAT DO NOT KNOW FOR SURE WHETHER GOD IS ONE, TWO, THREE OR WHAT. THEY READ A CERTAIN EPISTLE AND FORM AN OPINION ABOUT GOD, BUT THEN THEY READ ANOTHER EPISTLE AND SAY, BUT WHAT ABOUT SO AND SO, THAT I JUST READ OVER THERE? I WANT TO EXPLAIN SOMETHING AND I PRAY THAT I CAN MAKE IT CLEAR TO EVERYONE. WE MAY ALL HAVE DIFFERENT LEVELS IN OUR EDUCATION, BUT WE HAVE GOT TO ACCEPT THE FACT THE FOUR GOSPELS WERE WRITTEN TO VERIFY WHAT JESUS DID AND SAID. MATTHEW, MARK, LUKE AND JOHN WERE THE MEN WHO DID THE WRITING, AND EXCEPT FOR LUKE, THEY HAD WALKED WITH JESUS AND HEARD WHAT HE SAID. THEY DID NOT ALL WRITE OF THE SAME EVENTS, BUT THERE WRITINGS WERE ALL IN HARMONY AND THERE IS NO REASON WHY WE CANNOT GET A TRUE PICTURE FROM READING THEM.

Luke came into the picture later on, but when he started his epistle, he said he had perfect understanding from those that had lived in the hour of Christ, and had walked with Him. Let us read the first four verses of the Epistle of Luke. “Forasmuch as many have taken in hand to set forth in order a declaration of those things which are most surely believed among us, (2) Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word; (3) It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, (4) That thou mightest know the certainty of those things, wherein thou hast been instructed.” From there, he set in order an epistle of the things Jesus said, and the things Jesus did. No one particular man wrote down everything Jesus said and did in that three and a half years of His ministry, but when you take all four Gospels together you get a pretty good picture of what His ministry was all about, so if you will pay attention, I believe we can help clear up any questions you may have concerning the godhead. It seems as though God used certain men to record certain things Jesus said or did as it struck a spot in their own heart. Therefore they got an understanding of what they were hearing and looking at. When we come over into the New Testament Epistles, written by Paul, Peter, James and John, I would like to remind you, We are all sitting here as Gentile believers. We have been brought up in our early years under many different church teachings, so what I am going to say may not agree with what you have been taught, but I assure you, none of it is meant to be derogatory or critical of you because of what your particular ideas may be, because of what you might have grown up with. For a long time, I said I would never just keep teaching on this subject of the godhead, just going over and over it, but it is becoming alarmingly apparent that there are people scattered throughout the world today that are not going to let it rest, because of what they refuse to turn loose of. They are just exactly like the men were in the closing days of the apostolic hour. Many of them were Greeks; and they were bold and very subject to bragging, simply because the average Greek had an education that far exceeded the other races of people of that hour of time. When the Greeks were converted, they set about to use their education as a means to study this great mystery that the apostles, which were Jews, had brought to them. After two thousand years of the Grace Age and the growth of the Church, we have ended up with many different denominational groups, each one believing some things differently than the others, and every denomination believing that their version is the one that is correct. In their theological schools of learning, God has been interpreted to be three persons, when in reality He is not a person at all: He is a sovereign, omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Spirit. They speak of three persons, co-equal, all in the same godhead, yet they say, God is one, but there are three distinct persons, each one co-equal. HOW CAN THAT BE POSSIBLE? They will use a certain scripture to try to justify that. Naturally that kind of thinking comes from Gentiles. No such idea about a sovereign God would ever come from a Jewish mind. We Gentiles have had the gospel for almost two thousand years; and we have done more to bring disgrace upon it than we can even speak of at one time, all because of our various ideas on how to explain something written in the scriptures. That is why, in the last five hundred years, coming out of the Dark Ages, God, A SOVEREIGN SPIRIT has chosen certain men at various times to pick up a truth in HIS written word and put it back in effect in the Church. All of this has been God’s way of giving back to the Church accessibility to that which was originally the truth taught by the apostles that walked with Jesus. The godhead itself is one of those truths that will lead a lot of carnal minds to debate in anger, hostility, and cause them to become very abusive. They attack it and say, That is of the devil! That is why I want to get right into this message. We have many scriptures we will use to clarify what is taught. First I want to say, No two or three different men, can be talking about the same thing, and paint a different picture: Not if they have an understanding. A true revelation will always paint the same picture. It has got to be the same. If any one particular man, such as the apostle Paul who wrote all of the large epistles and some of the small epistles in the New Testament, had wrote something different to each assembly when referring to the same thing, we could have no confidence in what he wrote. However when you study his epistles you will find no variance; and furthermore, when you study all of the New Testament writings together you still find no conflict. The obvious conclusion, is that they all believed the same thing. Yet we find hundreds of different denominational churches in the world today: each set believing something just a little differently than the others, all taken from the same scriptures. You can start with the Baptist and go right on down through the Presbyterian to the very last ones, and you will find that many of them believe everyone should have the privilege of interpreting the scriptures to their own choosing. How in the name of common sense can we learn anything like that? What would God’s purpose be? How would we even know whether we are on the right track or not? Remember this, There are doctors of divinity from all walks of denominational life, even in the Pentecostal, from the trinity side to the oneness side, that obtain their theological education in what the Greek means, what the Hebrew means and so forth, but they all have something different, so I ask you, Why do they not all get the same picture as they study a certain scripture? One will say one thing and another will say, but this says So and so and here comes a big disagreement. I say, First determine who said what; and then look at both scriptures, study them; and let the Spirit of God reveal to you what each scripture is designed to portray. Now if the same one that said that, said something else over in another Epistle he wrote, do you not think we should begin to look at that man and ask ourselves the question, What is the man talking about? What is he trying to portray to the people? How could the apostle Paul, in the Galatian epistle, say, “Thou we or an angel from heaven come preaching any other gospel, than that which you have received, (What did Paul say about it?) Let him be accursed!” Paul was a man that went into the Arabian desert for three years after his conversion to Christianity, and was taught the scriptures by the Holy Spirit. From the very time God gave him an understanding of the revelation out of the Old Testament, and commissioned him as a chosen vessel to be a light to the Gentiles, he never wavered in that revelation. You must always remember, he spent a full three years out there in the Arabia Desert, learning what he taught from the best teacher anyone can ever have. He did not come from a Seminary where he learned some doctrines prepared by man: he got his revelation straight from heaven. He already had that institutional background, where he had learned what was written in the scriptures at that time, so all he needed was a revelation of what they pertained to and that came straight from the Spirit of God. A Jew, sitting on the Sanhedrin Court, was in the highest order of mankind in that day. As far as the theological side of the law, he plainly testifies that he was of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the Hebrews, and as touching the law, was blameless. He knew everything man was able to teach at that time, concerning the Law. When he spoke of the gospel of Jesus Christ, he made it clear that he received it by revelation. Revelation is something that God quickens to your understanding. You do not have to know Greek and Hebrew to receive a revelation from the Spirit of God. Regardless of the particular language a scripture may be written in, God depends on you and me to open our heart’s door to the Holy Spirit. Did not Jesus say to His disciples, that the Holy Spirit, when He comes, will teach you all things? The church world has taken that right out of the Bible by just simply ignoring it. They know they cannot eliminate it from the written scriptures, so they present all of that which we know must come by revelation as the Holy Spirit opens it up to us, as that which only the educated people can understand and explain. They will quickly tell you, it takes an educated man to tell you what that means. We find that the apostles who wrote in their hour, whether they only wrote one epistle, or however many, they did not depend on their intellectual learning, but rather on the inspiration of the Spirit of God. They wrote it first of all because they were witnesses of something that took place, and beyond that, they instructed believers according to the revelation God had given them. Except for the apostle Paul, the rest were eye witnesses of the works of God through this man they are writing about. If God was going to let this man called Saul, who was later called Paul, who was not personally, an eye witness of the ministry of the man called Jesus, be the apostle to the Gentiles, He would have to deal with him in a way that the others had not been dealt with. Therefore God absolutely dealt with him in a supernatural way, so that he later could say, (1^st Corinthians 9:1) “Am I not an apostle? Am I not free? Have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? (2) If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.” God taught him by the Spirit, out there in the Arabian Desert, and gave him an insight into all the Old Testament scriptures that spoke of another hour of time, a time when a Savior would do for lost mankind what we could not do for ourselves, and because he knew the Gentiles were going to have to depend on God’s messenger in their particular hour of time, because we are going to have to believe by faith, not because we have seen Christ in the flesh, he was even more diligent in going into detail. We have to believe something that is given to us by eye witnesses of the works of the Savior. That is what I want us to remember as I read these scriptures, so turn to the book of Ephesians at this time and we will see what kind of picture the Spirit of God will paint for us.

PAUL MINISTERING AT EPHESUS

We are going to read from the 3^rd chapter of the book of Ephesians first, as we begin to lay the ground work for this message. I am going to read a very familiar passage of scripture; and I will read the first nine verses of the chapter. I chose this particular epistle because the Ephesian Church that we read of in the book of Revelation, was the first Gentile body of people established in Asia Minor under the ministry of the apostle Paul. It was in this city, that Paul stayed in one particular school building, the school of Tyrannis, for two and one half years preaching and teaching about Jesus the Christ. Paul did not go to Philippi. He did not go to Laodicea. He did not go to those other churches we find named in the book of Revelation. The truth is, the fire in all those other places was lit from the Holy Ghost fire that burned so brightly at Ephesus. It was a glowing revival fire that God bestowed upon the Ephesian people, that spread out into all those other places. That is where they brought aprons and handkerchiefs to the sick and diseased people, from the body of the apostle Paul, even into the far regions, and into the mountains, or wherever sick and diseased people were found; and they were healed. Even those who were possessed with demons were delivered, when handkerchiefs and aprons were taken to them from this one lone man in Ephesus who was preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ. Paul prayed for those handkerchiefs and aprons, but he himself never saw the people they went to. That is found in Acts 19:11-12. “And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: (12) So that from his body were brought unto the sick, handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.” All this is a background for our message, because it shows how God moved in one lone city. They never had television or radio to spread the GOOD NEWS: the people who were blessed to the point of being present in those meetings, carried the good news to those who were not able to come personally. As Paul preached day after day in that one place the word spread far and wide, and people that were hungry for something and able to make the trip, traveled the necessary distance to get there; and those who could not come personally had someone as a go-between, so that Paul later testified of how all Asia had the gospel preached to them. He did not personally go, but people came, got something from God, and went back home to share it. A little while later, six other churches were growing, and the revival fire burning in all of them was lit from that same revival fire that was burning at Ephesus. We are living in a day when we have fast means of transportation. Look at our society. There are a few people willing to pay the price to go somewhere and hear truth, but not many: The rest who enjoy hearing truth preached, just wait for it to come to them. That is a fact. By what means do you think those people from Laodicea, Smyrna and the other places traveled to Ephesus? There were no street cars, no fast trains, no buses running, but I believe they had some means of transportation. It might not have looked like our automobiles of the twentieth century, but I imagine those people were so hungry for God, that when they heard about something wonderful taking place in Ephesus they were willing to drop everything, get in a cart behind a donkey or a camel and go to that city. In other words, the distance did not keep them from going, because their soul’s were hungry for what Paul was preaching there. The truth, at the end of their journey was all they were interested in. It was quite some time later, that Paul was writing this letter to this particular church. Keep in mind, the Ephesian church which is first mentioned in the 1^st chapter of the book of Revelation, and then spoken to in the 1^st verse of chapter 2, is the model church, because it was where the revival fires first began to burn. From that revival fire, six others were lit. This is really what started the Grace Age to the Gentiles. Grace had already been evident, manifested in the other churches, but the time factor had not yet really been anointed of God. Paul wrote this Ephesian letter, and I want to remind you that he was not illiterate. Whatever caliber of education he had, he knew exactly how to put it in words that those Gentiles, as well as whatever Jews there were in their midst, could all understand and believe the same thing. We are going to read in this 3^rd chapter now. Then I am going to show you how it reads from the Aramaic translation, which was the gospel that went to the churches, like in Antioch and Syria, after the hour of the apostles. Then we will read the same thing from the Hebrew text, that which is from Hebrew to English. I want to show you the discrepancy that can be found in the translation of certain scriptures. I want to show you how a Trinitarian mind will translate it into English. He never goes back to dig into what the thought of Paul really was, so we have to ask ourselves, Was that really the thought Paul desired to pass along? If Paul tells you in Ephesians a fact about God, he means the same thing when you get to Colossians, and he means the same thing when you read it in Corinthians, or Philippians. He may be bringing out a different angle to the thought, but with that thought, he is saying in his language of that hour, so that a Jew or Gentile, as they sat together, could understand it the same way. We must keep in mind that most all those early churches of that day, their first converts were Jews. The church at Corinth was started in a synagogue. When they put Paul out, he went right next door, where a man opened up his house to him and that Corinthian church got started. I am just saying this to try and get you to understand, that I always stick by the old King James version. I have used the Scofield Bible for years, really all my life. It is just the way it is put together that I like, and I realize that some of the footnotes are not exactly as they ought to be, but that is understandable: What Bible can you find, that all the footnotes match this revelation we have? I simply feel that in the time he lived and put together the King James version into a study bible, to me it was one of the best for the hour. Now let us read this scripture. I want us to get Paul’s thought here. That is why I have this little chart up here. We are talking about God the Creator, and then God the Redeemer. “For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles, If ye have heard of the dispensation (which means a period of time) of the grace of God which is given me to youward: (meaning for your benefit) How that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; (The word mystery here, is implying that something is not understood, but has been laying there, and saints knowing that something exists that could not be explained, so he is ready to make it known. Paul is saying that God has made known unto him the mystery.) as I wrote afore (or before) in few words. Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men.” He is talking about things you find written in the Old Testament, through Genesis, through the Law, and through the Psalms. There were things promised that no one understood. God, through these various writers, had spoken in advance what He would do one day for the Gentiles. You will find this also in Genesis, when He called Abraham to leave his country and his kinfolk and come on down into a land I will show you. God said, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven. Then He speaks of the One, in thee and thy seed shall all families, or all nations of the earth, be blessed. That was the beginning of that covenant God promised to work by. God had in mind, that one day Gentile people, regardless of whether they were white or black or what their language might be, they would be given an opportunity, in a period of time, to have access to the same gospel that was delivered to the Jews. God would cause every race to have access to the knowledge of the truth; and that same salvation would be freely granted to all who would believe. Up until that time though, it was just going to lay there, written in the Old Testament without anyone actually understanding it, because, even the prophets that prophesied those wonderful things, did not understand what they were writing about: It was all a mystery. Down through the ages, as they wrote those various prophecies, they looked upon the Gentiles from the natural viewpoint as just plain heathen. They could travel through their lands and see the idolatry they practiced, the way they paganly celebrated and worshiped the different deities. All you have to do, is get in a tour group to the Bible lands. The Bible lands are not just the land of Palestine: Other land such as the island of Rhodes, Cyprus, or even into the ancient land of the Babylonians, one could consider to be a part of the Bible lands. On the east side of Jordan there is an old city called Baalbek. The ruins of it still exist. A few Bedouin Arabs are living near the ruins. There were people there, even on up until the second century A.D., a thriving society of people, but they had a different god for everything under the sun. You can see the remnants of their altars, parts of their temples and all such. Some of the things they did in those orgies of worship, would not even be good to mention. That particular place is where Baal worship first began. That is why it was named after Baal, but coming on down through the years of time there was a god of wine. The first thing they would do, was go there and drink wine until they were completely intoxicated. The purpose was, that was the way they worshiped the god of wine, by getting so intoxicated. Then there was a female goddess, the goddess of love. That involved male and female worshipers, worshiping the god by intimate relationship. Some of the things that followed that are not even fit to be talked about. Do not ever think God did not know all about that kind of behavior: HE just left them alone. When we look back to the history of the Old Testament and ask ourselves, why did that northern tribe of Dan fall victim to Baal worship? You just have to look at circumstances. If you have ever been to this ancient city and see where it is located, in ancient times there were trade routes out of the regions of Iran and Persia that came right through there. The camel caravans of traders, passed through Baalbek. They would trade their wares to the merchants there. They would journey southward, passing through the northern part of Israel. The first tribe to be exposed to all this was the tribe of Dan. That is why you read in the Old Testament, that they were the first tribe to be led astray into Baal worship. They were the first ones to see this bunch of camel caravan traders. They were freshly exposed. Since those caravan traders would use this opportunity to unload some of their wares, the tribe of Dan became victimized by it. I am thankful that God let most of that pass by. We have been exposed to the gospel, which is good news, but as Gentiles, in some direct or indirect ways, we have done as much harm to the gospel as would have been done if it had fallen among those ancient Babylonians and Persians, the heathen of that hour. I just want to say, The revelation Paul is talking about here in verse 3, is not something that he had previously learned going to some kind of seminary. “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men,(The advent of Christ came, then God begins to take the veil off of it, and then He chose a man He was going to make to be a great light to the Gentiles, even to the ends of the earth. Paul now is very grateful. He speaks like that, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men.) as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, (The body he is talking about is the body of the Church, which is made up of those who have the indwelling character and Spirit of Jesus Christ.) and partakers of His promise in Christ (Notice how Paul said this, in Christ.) by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of His power. Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given; that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; (The 9^th verse carries the punch line. Let us look at it very seriously.) And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world (Think of this, which from the beginning of the world, remember, the word world here does not mean the earth. I want us to catch that. It has nothing to do with the earth itself: It is talking about age, or period. In a minute we will come to where he speaks of worlds in plural. So I have to say when he is speaking of worlds in plural, he is not talking about specific periods of time. Let us read this again. And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world, or this era of time,) hath been hid in God.” Let us be sure we catch this point, because that lets me know there is one sovereign being that is omniscient, all wise, knows everything. He has no flaw in His intellect. Hath been hid in God. That is why I say, God the Creator, then God the Redeemer. Hath been hid in God, and God is a sovereign Spirit. Your religious world from the Catholics on down, has said that God is a Spirit, but they also say He is a person. Nowhere do you find in the Bible anything that says that. That is merely a theological assumption. The Bible does say He is an invisible being. What does the word invisible mean? He cannot be seen, never has been seen, and never will be seen. Sure you can read in the Old Testament, in Exodus, how this mysterious God which is invisible, came down on Mt. Sinai and passed before Moses. Moses was allowed to see his hinder part. People are ready to debate, Oh but the Bible says Moses saw Him. Wait a minute! John the Gospel writer plainly tells you in John 1:18, that no one has ever seen God. Notice, “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” Then in John 4:24, we find these words, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” God has never been seen by anyone, because a spirit cannot be seen. He is talking about God in His true being, which is a Spirit. He is not made up of material substance that can be seen. He does not even exist in a material, fleshly form, but He is the God that is omnipotent. He is unlimited in power. In order for earthly beings to be able to see Him, at times God has chosen to come to man in a theophany form. He will project Himself in a theophany form for some specific purpose, but seeing that form, you have still not seen God, because as John said, No man hath seen God at any time: That is only a temporary thing He has chosen to appear in. In that theophany form, He will communicate, not to groups of people, but to one lone person, whether Moses or the prophets. You never see where He does this for a large congregation of people. Most of the time when He speaks in the presence of a number of people it is either thundering or lightening and it scares the people half to death; and they are ready to run and hide because they are scared. My point is this, as I read this verse, “And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world (or the age of time) hath been hid in God, (Listen to the next line.) who created all things (by Jesus Christ.)” Now is that really what the apostle Paul said? No. That is what Trinitarian interpreters say he said. We will just have to nail this down.

IDENTIFYING THE CREATOR

I have read various writings by different theologians from the trinity to the oneness side, and I do not find a satisfactory answer anywhere among them, concerning certain verses in the King James translation of the Bible that seem to make Jesus the Creator. I have to say what I am going to say in a way, so as not to scare anyone, but rather to help people take a serious look at this thing as it really is. Some people think, when they go to St. John 1:1, which says, (in the King James Bible) “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God,” That they really understand all about it, but did you know that this English translation comes from a Greek word which does not end up with an accurate translation? When you take that over to the Aramaic side, their word gives it a greater meaning, a meaning that the Greek word does not include. The Aramaic says, “In the beginning was the thought.” Thought originates with the mental memory, the mind. Now, with that in mind, let us look at this from the Hebrew, as well as the Aramaic, and it does not even read like that. Let me read this line again. “Who created all things by Jesus Christ.” (Remember that now, and pay attention to the difference.) This automatically tells thousands of people that everything that exists in the world was made by Jesus. This is why thousands of people will sit in a pew and say, I just do not understand it: However I do not think it is all that important, so they just accept it without any more thought. I want to ask a simple question, Who did create everything? Did the Son of God do the creating? Or did God Himself do the creating? I believe it is important, that every believer understand the Godhead, and understand which One is What. When I take you to the gospel of St. John and we watch this man that was filled with the fulness of the Godhead, I can see Him express His human side, and I am saying this for the sake of some of the critics on the oneness side, because they try to make it appear, Oh but He was the Word by which God created everything. I know what the word “Word” is implying, but if God the Father, who we say is Creator, just anointed the Son and said, You create a star, you create a moon, you create a sun, which one is the Creator? I ask you, What is the Father doing? Where does he fit into the picture of creation? I hope you understand what I mean. He is not Creator at all, if it is as the King James translators portray it. If He is not Creator, how can He be a Father? Think of that. I will read it again as the Trinitarians do, and please keep in mind that the English, King James version of the Bible was translated in the 1600’s, by men who injected what they believed, in certain places, and this is one of them. They say that this mystery was hid in God, the great eternal Spirit, who created all things by Jesus Christ, meaning Jesus was the instrument. Well, here is the Peshitta Bible, which is the Aramaic translation. This is the Bible to the eastern world. I am reading here, from the 3^rd chapter of the Aramaic translation to English, and I am starting with the 8^th verse, “Even to me, who am less than the least of all the saints, this grace was given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; and that I might enlighten all men (That is you and me.) that they may see what is the dispensation of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden from the world (That means the world of mankind, and notice who created all things.) by God, who created all things.” To me, that is as plain as the nose on my face. Why? Because it was not Englishmen in the 1600’s, messing around with this version of the Bible. Alright, let’s take it from the Hebrew. It is almost word for word, Aramaic to English, Hebrew to English. I will start with the 8^th verse. “To me, who am less than the least of all saints, was this grace given to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of the Messiah; (meaning Christ, and keep in mind, the word Christ, in our English is the Greek word for the Anointed One. Messiah is the Hebrew word for the Anointed One.) and to make all men see what is the dispensation (period of time) of the mystery, which for ages has been hidden in Elohim (That is Hebrew for God.) who created all things.” Notice particularly, that it does not say, Who created all things by Jesus Christ. These are things, you can get a bunch of doctors of divinity together to discuss and they will argue and debate about them like, But what about this? And What about so and so? And in doing so they are fooling the world instead of helping them. When they are done, most of the time they have butchered everything, because they think they can take what Paul said in one spot and that when he mentioned something over here in another writing, they say he changed his mind. Do you understand that? I hope you do. You have to catch his original thought and keep that in mind throughout all his writings. He was God’s anointed apostle to the Gentiles, so his revelation remained consistent throughout his writings, regardless of what the translators might have done with certain statements. Now having said that, we will take the King James and go to Colossians. In Ephesians 3, he was talking about God being the Creator, who created all things. It was God who had a plan. It was God that made this plan known through men of old, but it was said in a certain way, because God did not want mankind to understand it during those early ages. Yes, God said it, so men wrote the verbal words, but they did not know what those verbal words added up to, because God kept the fulfilled picture in His own sovereign mind. This is exactly why, when you read the prophet Daniel’s writings, knowing when He lived in Babylon, and when you come to the 12^th chapter, coming down to the latter verses, Daniel began to ask the angel of the Lord, as he was the instrument through which God showed these things, Daniel began to ask the angel of the Lord, What about this? When will this be? Right back, through that angel, Daniel was told, Shut it up, it is hidden until the appointed time. Yet Daniel kept begging the angel. Finally the angel does give him a little insight. But again he is told, It is shut up until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, knowledge shall be increased. Today, in this hour of time, we can see how true that is. We have educated men today, in the political realm, that are standing ready to try and show the world there is no God, thinking, just let him open the skies and start coming toward earth and we will blast Him out of the picture. Where do you get such an idea as that Bro. Jackson? In the 19^th chapter of Revelation, where else? Look how stupid the world has become: In the 19^th chapter of Revelation we see the beast, and it is not the United Nations and the New World Order. It is the old European beast with the pope sitting at the head of it. What does it say? “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him that sat on the horse, and against His army. (Why were they there like that? Because they thought they were more powerful than any God we Christians might speak of.) (20) And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image.  (The false prophet is the antichrist.) These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (21) And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of His mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.” The kings of the earth are assembled to make war against Him that sitteth upon the white horse. It plainly tells you in the 17^th chapter of Revelation, who the kings are. Notice, (12) “And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast. (13) These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast. (14) These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful.” We also know who they are that follow Him (Jesus) on white horses: They are the bride saints, as it says in Revelation 19:14, because they are those that are clothed in fine linen clean and white. There will be a great conflict, as He that sitteth upon the white horse shall come with His army from heaven and conquer this whole monstrosity of men in their modern, scientific, military might. They are educating modern man to get ready for an hour that is just ahead, thinking, we will show you who is boss. That is why it tells you in the 19^th chapter of Revelation, the heaven is opened, and yes, God is going to pull back the curtain that all may see the descent of the army from heaven, and when they get finished pouring out the wrath of God upon that conglomeration of mortal men that are assembled to make war against them, the birds of the air are going to have a great feast upon their dead carcasses. I have read, how in the years gone by, when we did not have TV and radio, back in the days of Bach and all those great orchestras and musicians, how from all over Europe people would come from miles around to sit in those great theaters and listen to the symphonies. They wanted to hear the professional music. There were a lot of writers of that kind of music back then. Imagine an orchestra of a hundred violins, every bow is ready, and that long haired character gets upon his stool and raises his hand, then down it goes and the bows hit that same note for about ten minutes. (Oh Bro. Jackson! Why do you talk like that? Because there were some of those concertos they played, that it sounded like they held the same note for five or ten minutes. Then the instructor would change direction. All the violins would die and here would come something else to lead. It would pick up the tempo. I am not making fun: I am just speaking like this to illustrate something to you. All of Europe went and wept. What precision! To them it was something beautiful. I wish Bach would have come walking in when the Beatles were here. They advertised, What a wonderful change it brought to the world of music. Well they sure did bring about change: they opened up the gates of hell and brought it into this world, and demonic music has invaded our lives ever since. Worldly minded people just assume that everyone ought to be ever so thrilled when those demon possessed characters play what they consider to be music. To me, it is an abomination. Well I have said enough about that for now, so let us get on over here to our next scripture. Remember what the title of our message is, GOD THE CREATOR – GOD THE REDEEMER. We are going to the Colossian Epistle, chapter 1, and starting our reading in verse 9. Remember, we are still going to be talking about God, but we are going to see how He is manifested in the person of His Son, to set about the redemption process. Listen carefully, as we begin reading this, for you need to get the full picture. “For this cause we also, since the day we heard it, do not cease to pray for you, and to desire that ye might be filled with the knowledge of His will (this is the will and mind of God) in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God; (God the great Creator, the omniscient one, the omnipotent one) Strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness; (Now as he approaches this, we are going to see the other object of thought enter the picture here, which is none other than the Christ.) Giving thanks unto the Father, (Who is the Father? It is God Himself, the Creator.) Which hath made us (or ordained us) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light.” Is he talking about sunlight? No. He is talking about understanding truth. Truth is like a light. Thousands can walk in tradition. They say, What makes the difference? That is exactly what a lot of people think, as they speak about going to church. Why get so worked up, what is the difference? Well we need to have respect for what is written: That is what makes the difference. “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: (truth) Who hath delivered us (It is God that has delivered us,) from the power of darkness; (which is tradition, and I say, God help the church world today: as people sit in pews for a few minutes listening to their preachers talk about God, and talk about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, but none of them are able to break it down and give their congregation a picture that is worth anything to their spiritual stature. That is just the way denominational religion is, ever so holy in words, but almost totally ignorant when it comes to a true revelation of the scriptures. When asked a specific question about some point of doctrine most will say, Well, it is just too deep for me. It is supposed to be deep to the carnal mind, or natural mind, because it takes it away from the wise and prudent of the world, the ability to put the true picture together. You do not have to have a college education to understand God when you are a genuine believer hungering for the truth. You need to be a person with a sane, sound, reasonable mind and be willing to let that mind be surrendered to God. That is all He requires out of us: He will do the rest, so listen carefully as we read here, where it says this concerning God the Creator, Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, tradition.) And hath translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.” That gives us something to talk about. Let me say this, The One we adore, the One that hung on the cross, the One that gave His life for our redemption from sin, death and hell, when the spear went through Him and the blood come out, He was the One that furnished the redemptive price for all who would believe, because God the Father did not live in flesh. He never had been composed of flesh, as some believe: He has always been a sovereign Spirit and always will be: The Creator Himself will never be seen as a man of flesh and bones. He did not have personal blood to keep Him in existence. Keep in mind, when we say He, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God created in that virgin womb the embryo that started the process of the Son of God coming into existence, a lot of the critics think we make Jesus just like any other man. No, we do not. Some of these critics are highly educated, but they are spiritually blind. Jesus was born without sin. He had no earthly father. He had a heavenly Father, a Father that sovereignly ordained His only begotten Son to come into the world in that manner. On the oneness side of denominational religion they will say, Oh but the Son always was! No, He was not. That is a prefabricated, totally false gospel. He was always in the mind of the Creator, but His literal existence had a starting point, and that has never been a secret: The Bible makes that point very clear. Let me just go slow with this, because I do not want any sincere believer to miss the point. “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness. (You and I know the apostle Paul wrote this. He was not talking about us being without sunlight or moonlight. He was talking about traditional darkness that is void of spiritual light. Think of the church world, the religious world, Judaism and Catholicism, and all the others, they have a bunch of theology put together that is tradition; and it is spiritual darkness. Hail Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death. Where did that come from? You do not find any authority for that in the Bible. That is tradition. That is darkness. Yes, He has delivered us from the power of darkness), and hath translated us, (picked us up out of one realm and set us over here to see light and to begin to walk in it, in another realm) into the kingdom of His dear Son.” I want to say to you that as far as the natural earth we live on, if you understand my point, there is a kingdom out there that the people of the world are living in. That is why thousands of them do not want to darken the door of a church building where they can learn something. Just wait though, until the Sunday noon meal is finished, if there is going to be a ball game somewhere they will line up in their cars as far back as they have to, just waiting to get in, We have got to see the game. No wonder the Bible says that in the later days men shall be lovers of their own selves; and lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof. Don’t preach too long, preacher, I have a roast in the oven. The religious world today is in a hurry, because they have a program to go by, but we have no such program. Not too long ago they advertised on TV, that a certain Baptist church was going to show the Super Bowl. The preacher talked for about 15 minutes and said, Now we are going to watch the Super Bowl. What are you going to learn from that? If I wanted to learn what the Super Bowl had to offer, I do not see myself sitting in a congregation somewhere, having to put up with all the other nonsense you find there. I want to say this, and I hope all of you can understand what I am talking about, There is a kingdom here, right in our midst; and I am part of it. That is why I can hardly wait to get here each time. If I ever miss coming here, it will be because I am sick or prevented somehow: It will not be because I am playing sick to keep from coming. It will not be because I am tired of coming. If I am sick and feel it would be better to stay home and rest, I will still be anxious to get back here. I will say this, If you have the Spirit of God in you, you should know beyond any shadow of doubt that you belong to a kingdom that is not of this world, because that kingdom is of heaven. Though it is down here now, in some vessels that Christ has redeemed and cleansed, we look for the time when the entire process has reached God’s ultimate purpose and we are dwelling in eternity with Him. Hallelujah! That is what brings joy to my soul: not some ball game somewhere. Yes the blood of Jesus has redeemed us, it has cleansed us, and we are in a kingdom the world at large cannot comprehend. Yes, it is a mystery, but only to the world. That is why those of the natural world say, What makes you people act so strange? I just say to them, Stick around; and you will see that we have our hearts centered on something different than what you can understand. We are in the process of learning how to walk in the Spirit, seeking only to please our heavenly Father. What I have read to you here, is the written word of god, as was written to the Colossian Assembly by the apostle Paul who had the revelation given to him by the Spirit of God. He is breaking the thought down and is letting you see that it is God Himself that has redeemed us, but it consists of a mystery that has been hidden for ages. Now the mystery is coming off the paper it was written on and is coming alive in the hearts of believers. It is coming alive through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ that is being preached both to Jews and Gentiles. Jesus is the means, because it was His blood that was shed for the atonement. This is why He is called the Lamb of God, because prior to the cross God had required a lamb without spot or blemish, to be offered for the sins of the people.

WHO DIED FOR OUR SINS, GOD OR HIS SON?

An awful lot of people, that is, people who are of the Oneness Denominational persuasion, look upon Jesus as God Himself, the God who created all things, so let me say this, God the Father did not die upon the cross of Calvary. He never will die. He cannot die, but the Son of God in which He incarnated Himself, did die. It was the Son who gave his life. That is why He told his disciples just a few short hours beforehand, The time will come when you will all be scattered in your own ways, but the Father never leaves me: He is always with me. Just try to let your mind go back two thousand years. There is a man, who by nine o’clock in the morning was hanging on the cross. The Roman soldiers put Him there at the command of the centurion, but Jesus did not have to be tied up and forced, nor drugged like a man being led to death row in our day. He was ready and willing to forfeit his life as a sacrifice for the sins of all mankind. When they laid the cross on the ground, they had already dug the hole, Jesus laid Himself on the crude, rough piece of wood and they pulled his arms out in full length, then they drove the spikes through the palms of his hands. Some will say, No. It was through His wrists. Well I am not here to argue with anybody about whether it was through His wrists or the palm of his hands: we know for sure there was suffering with it. Whatever his body weight was, when they raised it up and dropped it in the hole there was terrible pain involved. For those few hours He hung there, every muscle, every nerve, every sinew was stretched to the full extremity of suffering. There were those that watched the entire thing. Finally Jesus slumped his head saying, Father, unto thee I commend my Spirit. He was ready for the life to be taken from Him. That was the life of the Son of God. That life in Him did truly come out from God, and some make more out of that than what they should, so I hope all of you will get the picture right and that you will make sure you understand the Godhead; and not like a certain critic who wrote about an article we put out in the Contender a few months ago. I would not bother to carry on a verbal debate with a man like that, because he has that oneness concept, that Jesus Himself was God, and he cannot see that God was in the person of Jesus who was the Christ. Why call a man the Messiah, when the very word itself means the anointed? Anointed of what? He did not anoint Himself, so if you look at it right you will see that it was the Father that came down when Jesus was baptized and incarnated Him; and from that point on the Father was in the Son, but that did not make the Son God. He was the Christ, the anointed One, but He still remained to be the Son of God. Anyone who is willing to read the four Gospels with an open mind will surely have to take note of the fact that Jesus always prayed to ONE that was higher than Himself. He prayed to and spoke of His Father often, so you could never accuse Him of saying He was God, even though He said, He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. (John 14:9) “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Show us the Father?” That is perfectly understood by anyone who truly understand the Godhead. What do we find the Father saying when Jesus was baptized and came up out of the water? (Matthew 3:17) “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased,” or pleased to dwell in. That is where John the Baptist, following that, said it like this, and we will read about three verses to give you the entire thought. John 3:30-36 “He must increase, but I must decrease. 31 He that cometh from above is above all: he that is of the earth is earthly, and speaketh of the earth: He that cometh from heaven is above all. 32 And what He hath seen and heard, that He testifieth; and no man receiveth His testimony. 33 He that hath received His testimony hath set to his seal that God is true. 34 For He whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto Him. 35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” Jesus received the fulness of the Spirit with all its divine attributes that could be invested in the person of a man. From that day forth, Jesus never did claim that the works He did was His own works: He would always say, The works that I do, they are not mine, but He that sent me. This proves beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this perfect man that had no sin, and that was born sinless, and no guile in Him, willingly took your and my place at the cross of Calvary, and let His life be forfeited, let His blood be shed to become an atonement for the sins of the whole human race. God ordained it to be this way, and the Son was obedient to the entire plan of His Father. As the man hung there and died and His head went limp, the Spirit of the life of Christ went out of that body, but the power of the Holy God that was in Him, went with that Spirit into the jaws of hell and set some captives free. Look at it in a simple way: If you have the Holy Ghost in you, you cannot say that you have God in you in the fullness: you just have a measure of the Spirit Jesus had in its fullness, and that is according to the grace of God, that He chose to put Himself within you, but that measure He invested in you is enough, if you will let Him teach and guide you, and allow Him to direct your entire life, to enable you to overcome every trial you will ever face in life. I promise you, Ten years after you have surrendered your heart to God, you are going to know more about Him and His plan and purpose than you did the day you surrendered yourself to Him. My purpose is to try to show you, that when Paul is talking about God, you see God in His majesty. When he takes the thought of how God has redeemed us, God had a plan, that through the Lord Jesus Christ, He might began us to Himself by the Spirit. It was not the person of the man Jesus, that chose you and me to receive this great salvation. No. It was God Himself, that sovereign Spirit that had no beginning and will have no end, that did the choosing; and that was all based upon His faultless foreknowledge. I pray you will understand: It is very important that you do. We will take these many scriptures and show you, it was God the Father, in the person of His Son, that is a God of redemption, and Christ Jesus was and is the redeeming man, in the part of a sacrifice, because He furnished the necessary offering for the sins of all mankind. Look at that body. Look how it was beat. Look how it was whipped until blood flowed freely from the wounds. That body suffered: and the human spirit in Him was in anguish, but the Holy Spirit that became ONE with His spirit there at the river Jordan, is an overcoming Spirit that never fails. The blood that He shed, and the life of that physical body, was that of a man, but His life was totally without sin, because that cell of life He was born of, was a created cell that was created and placed in the womb of the virgin girl Mary by the Holy Ghost, which is none other than the SPIRIT OF THE CREATOR HIMSELF: therefore He had no father other than the CREATOR: Joseph was his stepfather. Mary was His mother from the standpoint that she furnished the necessary nutrients from her own body, for the maturing and birthing of the child she carried in her womb. He had no sin; yet He became sin for us, that we might be set free from the penalty of sin and unbelief. It was the Father Himself, that heaped upon Him the sins of the world: It was not a case where the Son went unto the Father and volunteered to do this great thing for us. No. He did not choose to do this or that in His walk of life. It was God, His Father that did the choosing: He was a totally obedient Son who always took delight in obeying the will of His Father, the sovereign Spirit that dwelt in Him and was ONE with His human spirit. God heaped upon Him the iniquity of us all: That is the only way we could ever be free from the bondage of sin.

READING THE HOLY SCRIPTURES THE RIGHT WAY – BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD

We are still in the 1^st chapter of Colossians as we continue on with our message, because we need to deal some more with the thought Paul is bringing out here, in comparison to what he, Paul said in Ephesians 3:1-9. Here, the conclusion is, God is the Creator, because he said, who created all things. Who did? God Himself did. Otherwise you would have to ask, Why would a God that designed everything in His mind before there was anything else, be thought to designate something, or someone else to do what His sovereign mind had determined to do? There was nothing else but Him! He sent, His Word, yes, but His word is His thought: they are inseparable. When He said, Let there be, He needed no one, nor nothing to help get the job done. To many people, when they read certain scriptures they get the idea that He sent His Word to do this or that, and that Jesus was His WORD, and He went here and there and did that, and went here and did something else, and so forth. That is not the setting you see Paul presenting here. That is just the way the English translators have translated the thought. We have to wake up to the fact that this great mystery of God that was hid to men in other ages, but was made known here in these latter eras of time, meaning this dispensation of Grace, is revealed by the Holy Spirit, and the conclusion of it is that the Church should be the fountain of all wisdom and knowledge in the light of this wonderful revelation. God help the church world, that is made up of people who are so full of tradition and theology they are unable to see light when it is revealed. They argue, but they have no real argument, because they are just holding on to handed down traditions. They drag junky ideas around, that are as carnal as can be, and their only excuse is, It was good enough for my saintly old Grandma, so it is good enough for me. Well I just have to take exception to that excuse. That is why there had to be a Reformation. The Reformation is not over until He takes His Bride Church out of here. She is literally going to be the fountain, because it says in 1^st Timothy 3:15, that the church is the pillar and ground of the truth. That takes all the systems of religion completely out of the scriptural picture. Denominational religion cannot quality for 1^st Timothy 3:15, so let us go ahead through here, because here we see where God is in the person of His Son, and believers need to see this picture as it really is. The Son has been anointed, given authority to bring about certain finished thoughts of God, so what He does is not by His own will: it is by the will of the Father that is in Him. Keep in mind, it is God Himself, according to His foreknowledge, that chose you and me to be redeemed and reconciled back to Himself. We are not reconciled just to Jesus Christ: He is the means by which God brings about the reconciliation. Jesus’ benefit is, He becomes the head of this redeemed family. That is why He took our place in so many settings, our sins are represented to God in the flesh of Jesus the very begotten Son of God. That is why He was bruised for our iniquities and so forth. He paid the total price for our reconciliation to God. Well we came down to the 14^th verse, so let us continue on. We see in the 13^th verse, how God has delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. The power of darkness is this world of traditional religion. Think of our ancient forefathers who had gods of every description; and then do not allow yourself to think that because we have had the gospel for the last two thousand years, we had a good background. WE did not. When Paul came into the regions of Asia Minor, or wherever he went, especially over there in Bosnia and Croatia, where all of that area was his stomping ground, he was not there to pass along a lot of traditions: He was there to preach the unadulterated gospel of Jesus Christ to them. He went into Macedonia which covered a wide territory before it became broken up. There, is also where some of the first churches were established. In fact it is recorded in history, that out of that region of Bosnia, in the third and fourth centuries A.D., preachers in that era of time made their way into Russia, which was nothing but a vast region of atheists. They had various religions, but some had nothing at all. Christianity became embraced in the Russian regime. However through the centuries, as it grew, there came a time when Moscow became the second Rome of that old world. As Rome became the religious center of the western world, Moscow became the center of what was known as the eastern church world. Time has produced all sorts of ideas about Christianity. People have a tendency to read certain scriptures and form ideas that very few others will embrace, so the first thing you know, you have another little group gathering together thinking they are right and everyone else has missed the boat. That kind of thing has gone on for centuries, so we want to try by the grace of God, to show you how people read and misread the Bible. I know I used to. I would read certain things and get mixed thoughts, like What is Paul trying to tell me here? One way you would read it, it sounds like Jesus is the means by which all things were created, but the Bible does not call Jesus the Creator at all: It is just the way Trinitarian translators have injected certain words and phrases to match what they themselves believed. We are going to get a different picture, if I can express it so that you can catch the true thought. Paul is saying here, that by the power of God Himself, in these previous verses God has reconciled us to Himself, by and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Why would Jesus say in another place where He spoke, I am the door? The door to what? To God. If any man goes to God, he will have to go by the means that have been opened up by what Jesus the Christ accomplished at Calvary. He is the door, the gate or whatever term anyone may use, to the sheepfold. He is the door to the house of God. He is everything, and the only thing mortal man has to his favor, when he desires to approach God. The prophets of old never talked like that, because the hour had not come that the Son of God had become manifested, meaning put on public display and accepted as the only sacrifice for the sins of lost mankind. Therefore as we see in the 13^th verse, God has picked us up by grace, because He imparted unto us the faith to be able to believe on Him through the means that have been provided, and that is the intervening work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul goes on in the 14^th verse, saying, “In whom we have redemption through His blood, even the forgiveness of sins,” or, We give attention to this One through which we have been redeemed and reconciled to the Creator. That is redemption from death, hell and destruction. That is exactly why you have to see God as the Redeemer. It was not Jesus that foreordained us to receive this blessedness. Keep in mind, though, Had Jesus never went to the river to be baptized, in Matthew 3, and as you read also in Luke 3, our redemption would not have yet been executed, or finalized. It would have been God by His grace and mercy saving us on the merits of something else, but there was nothing else that could have accomplished it, because there was no other sacrifice that met God’s requirements. That is why it is written in the scripture, that the blood of bulls and goats, which was under the Old Testament Law, could not take away sin. Sin was constantly present. Sacrifices under the Law only pushed mans sin debt ahead. In other words, God just renewed the note each time. The debt of sin still lay there until Jesus Christ, the spotless and perfect Lamb of God came upon the scene and willingly lay down His life for all. He was God’s perfect sacrifice: which simply means God Himself had to furnish the sacrifice for the sin debt of the whole world. Regardless of how one says this, there is always the feeling that there ought to be a better way to express it, but the simple truth is, God’s standard was so high that He Himself was the only One that could produce an acceptable sacrifice to deliver mankind from their lost estate. That is why He had to create the cell of life in the womb of Mary: every other life was tainted by man’s original sin in the Garden of Eden. The life of His own perfect Son was forfeited for us, because that was the redeeming price; and His Son was willing to pay it. Paul is talking about that in the verses we are looking at. “In whom we have redemption through His blood.” We can easily see here, that he is talking about the blood of the Son of God. We even have the forgiveness of sins. This was God’s provided, perfect way, that He had determined to bring about redemption and reconciliation. By this means man could be redeemed and reconciled back to his Creator. Therefore every scripture you think of, whether Jesus is referred to as the gate, the door, the way, the truth, the light or what, He is everything you and I need to get us back to God, our heavenly Father by creation, so that makes Him Creator and Redeemer. It was God Himself that condemned us to death; and it is also God doing the saving, but He does it through the Lord Jesus. Paul speaks again in the 15^th verse, pointing you to Jesus the Christ, the anointed one, the Son of God, and says, “Who is the image of the invisible God.” Right there, the apostle Paul tells you God the Creator is invisible. Therefore nobody could ever see Him. That is why we find written in John 1:18 that “No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him.” For centuries, mankind looked for a God, but the only way they could ever recognize that God was to see His power demonstrated in something, through something, and to something. When God brought forth His begotten Son, a man through whom the very power of God was demonstrated, many saw only what was manifested, without ever really seeing the relationship between the Creator and His only begotten Son. Therefore I want to say this for the sake of the critics, and I know some of them will want to climb a wall: Jesus was a man: He was not God Jehovah, even though we know His very name implies that. That is why I say the name Jesus, or Yahshua, is a compound name. It is the name of the Father and it is the redemptive name of the Son. I am a Jackson because my father was a Jackson. I hope you understand that. That is a carnal illustration, but one that describes the picture. God Himself chose, that one day His entire family would be known by a certain name, and that is the name Jesus. He gave that name to His first begotten Son. That is why He is the second Adam. In that second Adam, God invested all the attributes that He intended to have displayed before mankind for the purpose of bringing you and me back to Himself. That is why, at the name of Jesus every knee shall bend, every head shall bow, and every tongue confess that He is both Christ and Lord. Keep your mind on who this man called Jesus is: He is the very image of the invisible God, this God that no man had ever seen, except in the limited way He expressed Himself to Moses in the book of Exodus. Knowing that God is an invisible Spirit, there is no reason for anyone who has a revelation of the Godhead to ever say that Moses saw God. God came to certain men at times, in a theophany form, but having seen that temporary manifestation does not mean that any person has seen the invisible God. When Moses received the Law, he saw something, but keep in mind, He just saw a form pass before him. God also took on the similitude, or the likeness of some king and priest one time, when He appeared to Abraham, but when that form disappeared from Moses’ eyesight, God never appeared that way to anybody again. That is why we must see that these manifestations of God Jehovah at times, were just for some specific purpose but none of them were eternal. They were only momentary manifestations when He desired to convey to some man a certain picture; a picture mankind was to benefit by. All of those likenesses God projected Himself in down through the Old Testament period of time typed the man that He one day would bring forth from Himself, that would be a perfect man, a man without sin, yet He would be a man that would demonstrate the attributes of the great Creator Himself. He would have no guile in Him, no inherited nature to sin. One of my critics wrote, that I was saying that Jesus was just a created man like we are. That man does not even see what I am talking about when I describe the Godhead. We are going to see here in the scriptures what I meant by my proverb: He who is your heavenly Father will never be your Brother. That is not written in the Bible. It is a riddle that I have put in here. He who is going to be your elder Brother one day, has never been, and will never be your heavenly Father. On the other hand, he who is your heavenly Father, was in your Brother, to reconcile you back to Himself. You will know who God is, because He is the one that created you and has forgiven you, because he purchased you through the means of His begotten Son. We are going to see why Paul would say that God chose to make Him head over all things. We are going to find out though, that Jesus is not the head of space, because the gospel story is not pertaining to outer space. Jesus is head over all things pertaining to the Church, so His interests are confined to this earth and the immediate sphere surrounding it, because that is where the devil is warring against the saints of God. There is where the devil does all his warfare, trying to defeat the purpose of God. Some people actually think God, like a mortal man might, just sat back somewhere in ancient times and sent forth His Word, which they think was the man Jesus, and created all things. That is an abstract view. That is strictly a concoction of mans carnal mind. God alone, sent forth His thought to do the creating. Everything that became manifested was a thought with God before the world was created, before there was a moon, a star, or anything. Then, whatever He wanted done, or chose to do, His power just took that thought and executed it. That is why I can believe you will never find the church world saying this, That God is the greatest Scientist that has ever been. God did not have to go to school to make hot ice, if you understand what I am saying. He already knew the composition and material formula of ice, as well as everything else. Whatever He used to form those gases that came into existence eons of millions of years back, I do not have to stumble over the idea. I just say there was a super mind, an omniscient mind behind all of creation. First it was a thought. When the apostle Paul would say in Ephesians, how God counseled with Himself, you think like, when you hear a man walking around, hummmmmm, yes, I believe it will work, because that is the way that kind of thing is portrayed in our society. Sometimes his wife will ask, Who in the world are you talking to? He is talking to himself. If you could just know what his mind is on, you would know what he is actually looking at. Therefore when God counseled with Himself, that does not necessarily mean He was talking to Himself: He was thinking. After He finished counseling with Himself a great explosion went off, (according to one theory) but hear me, Jesus Christ had nothing to do with any of that! God was the author of the whole thing. We are coming here to this person, who is pointing emphasis to this Son of God, who is the image, or the visible way to contact, or to be able to see what God is like. If God in His natural being and makeup is invisible, (and we know He is) then it would be hard for man to understand just how great God is, but if God is going to bring forth something so that His earthly creatures, (you and me) can be able to see His power demonstrated, then God had to have a means, or a way to manifest His power and authority. That is why He chose to do it in the person of His Won, that He might reveal His power in a way we can comprehend.

VISUALIZING WHAT JESUS LOOKED LIKE

Imagine Jesus standing here in front of us. Naturally we do not know how tall He was. That is immaterial. We do not have to know how broad His shoulders were. They were broad enough for him to carry the sins of the whole world to Calvary. We do not have to know how much He weighed. Those pious Jews saw all of that and still do not believe. However there were other Jews who saw the same man, the same features and abilities, but they saw something else greater than all of that. What did they see? They saw Jehovah God manifesting His omnipotent power in that vessel of clay. That is the thing that Paul is talking about in these scriptures we have read. That is why I have said, Jesus led multitudes from one city to another. He could stop on the trail and verbally speak to the whole crowd, turn around and do a miracle, and some would see the effects of it, but when it is all over, spiritually, they have not seen one thing that helped them. They come back the next day wanting to counteract everything that was done, because they did not have a revelation. Others would see something that goes beyond the ability of the man they heard speak, and because they were willing to accept what God was doing in their midst their understanding was opened. When Jesus had ministered three and one half years going from place to place, keep in mind, In those three and one half years several thousand Jews had heard Him teach, their attention has been brought to this man in some way, but when He came to the end of His ministry on earth in the flesh, How many from among those multitudes actually were His true disciples? The Bible tells us there were about 120 disciples that waited together for the promise of the Father that Jesus spoke of. When He began to come to the closing hours of His ministry, those that had seen Him the most were the first ones to criticize Him, saying, He does these miracles by the power of Beelzebub. What a blasphemous behavior! Others, when they were coming down to the wire, in the final hours of Jesus’ earthly life, we hear them say, when Jesus took them up to Caesarea and Philippi and asked them the question, Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am? Some say you are this or that. Then He asked them personally, But who do you say that I, the Son of Man, am? Peter said, Thou art the Christ! Meaning the anointed One, the Son, the offspring of the living God. What did Jesus say? Flesh and blood hath not revealed this to you, but my Father (SPIRIT) which is in heaven. He is pointing to something forty million light years in space. He is pointing to the spirit world that exists in the sphere right around this planet earth. If God is omnipresent, (and we know He is) He is just as much beyond Jupiter as He is here, but His attention is drawn to what is going on right here on this earth, because that is where He is working out redemption for the family He has determined to spend eternity with. We can spend the night talking about the expression in Colossians 1:15, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,” so just follow me, as we look at what it means. He is the image, the expression of the invisible God. He is the firstborn of something, and we need to understand that. The firstborn takes your thought away from God the Creator. You have got to look at the man. He is the firstborn, or what? It is God’s beginning of a new, spiritual creation. What does it tell you in Romans 8:28-29, “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. 29 For whom He did foreknow, (This tells me it was God the Creator that foreknew you and me, before there was a twinkling star. That does not stop your belief in a prehistoric world, because God Himself ordained periods of time.) He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.” He is a God that is eternal, He does not even exist in time, like, Well I had better hurry up, things are getting behind. No. We are going to find out, when this age is all over and the Millennium age is over, and we are in that age of eternity, world, or ages without an end, that we finally understand things that we never thought we could understand. We are going to know why God allowed, or permitted, or ordained for certain things to be a certain way. We will see then, that this man who is referred to as the Son of God, and who is portrayed here as being the firstborn of every creature, is really our elder brother. Of every creature, what does that infer? He is the firstborn of every creature that is willing to submit his will to God the Creator. He is not the firstborn of the fishing worm, neither is He the author of that fishing worm being in existence. It has nothing to do with that. When we study through here, and it is the Hebrew and the Peshitta text from the Aramaic, that gives this same thought a more clear understanding, we are going to see that the great apostle Paul, who could say one thing in one Epistle, and never changed his revelation, is just stating a fact and it is our responsibility to find out how to apply what he says. He many times takes the object and places emphasis, whether he is talking about the thought, the concept of God the Creator, or the means that God the Creator has ordained, that redemption should be expressed through, or put on display to the world of lost mankind through. Therefore as we continue on here, the apostle Paul says this, “For by Him were all things created, (Now in this we have got to understand, God himself is the ONE that created the heavens and the earth: not His Son.) that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible.” We are going to find out, Paul is not even implying, for by Him (Jesus) was Jupiter created. For by Him Mars was brought into existence. Paul is not talking about that sphere of heaven. He is talking about the spirit world. How many remember the words Jesus said when He rose from the dead? Now is all power in heaven and in earth, given unto me. From that He launches the great commission. What was Jesus talking about, power in heaven and earth? Is He actually talking about the complete power throughout the entire universe? He is not talking about that at all. He is talking about what He has authority over in the spirit realm of heaven, for the purpose of fulfilling the Father’s plan of redemption. That is why, whatever you ask in the Father’s name, He who takes the position of our High Priest says, He will give it to you, because He (Jesus) makes intercession on behalf of our petition, which we pray to God through the person of His Son the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not say, and you can pray that the stars will disappear and it will be so. He is talking about power to deal with demons, principalities and powers that will hinder, not prevent Him from fulfilling all He is ordained to accomplish. Why would the apostle Paul speak of how the God of this present world does thus and so, what is he talking about? He is not talking about the God of this planet (Jehovah). There is one thing sure, there are a lot of things going on throughout the realm of this planet that God (Jehovah) is not the author of. Satan has supernatural power, but there is one thing sure about it, he cannot move the planet. There is a sovereign God that runs this thing, and He has complete control. The devil has nothing to do with anything, in that sense of the word. I hope you begin to catch the thought the apostle Paul was trying to get the Church to see and understand. Yes, God invested in Him (Jesus) power, after He had submitted His blood, His body and His life, that being the three elements that constitute total redemption. It is God who is the architect of it, but Jesus was given all power in heaven and earth as pertaining to fulfilling His part in this plan of redemption and restoration. God the Creator, is the ONE that chose and elected us in Christ before the foundation of the world, and has manifested, or put on display, here in these later times, Himself working through His begotten Son. Listen to me now. “For by Him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, (Paul is not talking about Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, or any of those planets. He is talking about things in the spiritual realm around this earth.) visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, (We have heard much about Saddam Hussein, what a throne of satanic power he has. Satan created that. Satan is the one that allowed that man to talk like he does, act like he does, and be as cold hearted and merciless as he is.) or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him.” It is God who is the architect of it all, but He invests in the person of His Son certain powers in a certain period of time, for this to be executed. We will go to another translation and consider this verse. “And through Him (By is a word that has a misleading thought. Let us just say this, I decide I want to build a house. In my mind I know what it is to look like. I sit down and draw the plans in detail. I could give those plans to one of these brothers of the carpentry trade and they are the ones that will do the building of it. Notice though, people coming down the road past the location, from the day the foundation is laid will say, I hear that this is where Mr. Jackson is building his new house. I am building a new house, but those brothers are doing the work. I pray you everyone catch the point of this illustration. Let me say this, If I am out there watching over that project, reading the blueprints and supervising, I can say I am building a house, I am supervising it through these builders. It has an altogether different meaning than what you might get by just reading about it. That is why people are reading their Bibles and getting words all misconstrued. I want you to understand, Jesus did not create the universe. When you say that, the religious world thinks you are crazy, but that is because they are void of revelation. The Bible says, By His word He created all things. Yes, but remember this, Jesus is the manifested word of God for the redeeming of lost mankind, but He is not THE WORD that brought a rock into existence, or that formed a planet. Do you understand what I mean? You have to read the scriptures through the eyes of spiritual revelation. And through Him) were created all things that are in heaven, (That is talking about the spirit world around this earth,) and on earth, visible and invisible, whether imperial thrones or lordships, or angelic orders, or dominions: all things were in His hand and were created by Him. And He is before all things, (We are going to understand all of that from this standpoint, That before Jesus, the Son of God, was ever born, every bit of this was designed by God the Father, the Creator. It was the sovereign God that created this universe in the first place, eons of ages before the Son was born, so He (the Son) was not sitting on another throne helping the Father created the universe, (as the Trinitarians say) because they believe the Son is co-equal with the Father. That is a perverted picture, to say the least. That is an abstract. It is a thought, but it does not give you a picture of facts. We can say this, That He was preferred, or ordained for His role, before all things.) and by Him all things are sustained.” Or kept in place. He is not talking about the sun or the moon. He is talking about things relative to your and my redemption. That is why, when He rose from the dead, He said, Now, is all power and authority in heaven and earth given to me, because He was plainly telling them that demons and devils will be subject to the name Jesus Christ, because through Him they have been conquered. He is not talking from the standpoint that we are going to stand out here and speak to Mars, Pluto, and all the other planetary bodies that are thousands of light years out there in space. He is not talking about that, because we have nothing to do with any of that. He is talking about certain powers that have been invested in the person of Jesus Christ, power to make intercession for you and me, and power to overcome all opposition to our victorious life in our Christian walk. That is why He says, Whatsoever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven. Do you think for one minute that you can tell the Milky Way to dry up? No. We are foolish to even think like that. We are foolish to think that is even what He meant. That Milky Way out there has an important part in space. You cannot pray to Jesus, Tell me all about the Milky Way, and expect an answer. That is the way some people think. When He made certain statements He knew this, that when you really begin to get the mind of God, you will begin to understand things the way God wants you to, and as a redeemed child of His, a child who has allowed himself or herself to be renewed in their mind to be submissive like Jesus was, you will know how to pray according to the will of God. You are not going to ask God foolish questions, and you are not going to be asking for foolish things. You are going to begin to think in realistic terms according to a spiritual revelation. That is what God wants us to be, because He portrays the Church as being the fountain of something the world needs. The world needs truth, something that makes sense; and not something to pacify flesh. When Jesus said in St. John 16:23-27, the things He did, He was teaching His disciples how to pray after He was taken from their midst, and those instructions pertain to us as well, here at the end of this Gentile age, because the bride of Christ shall surely know how to approach their heavenly Father. “And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. (After He has ascended into heaven to sit on the throne of intercession) Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, He will give it to you. (We are now to pray to the Father.) 24 Hitherto (until now) have ye asked nothing in my name: (They had always just asked Him, Jesus, for whatever they desired, but from now on it is to be different, we are to ask the Father in the name of Jesus when we are praying for something.) ask, and ye shall receive, (not material riches, but things for our benefit as children of a spiritual kingdom) that your joy may be full. 25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father. 26 At that day (after you have understanding of the Godhead and know that Jesus is not God) ye shall ask (the Father) in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you: 27 For the Father Himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I cam out from God.” Now I want to continue on here with this, sustained means held in existence. That is things pertaining to the spirit world, wherein demons, devils, and evil powers work in negative ways toward the kingdom of God. Keep in mind, the kingdom of God is now down here and we are in it. That is this present kingdom of God. Why did Jesus say one day, The kingdom of God cometh not by observation, like Lo, it is here, or Lo, it is there? You know exactly what He meant. He meant there is a spiritual realm of something that is coming down from heaven. When it does, it is going to live inside of these redeemed lives that have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus. That is the atonement. The life that was forfeited from him, that is the redemption price. The devil we could say, demanded that, only because, without a proper sacrifice for the sins of mankind, he still keep them under bondage. He forfeited His life for our sins, but something else took place before that: He took those stripes upon His back as God heaped upon Him, upon His flesh the sins and the iniquities of all of us. Try to keep your mind open to the fact God is dealing with sin, things that the powers of Satan, in the spiritual sense of the word, push against us with. Why did Bro. William Branham preach that great sermon, “The Greatest Warfare?” It is not on the battlefields of Europe, or the beaches of Normandy: It is in your mind. There, is where the devil hits you and torments you. He comes against you with all his artillery and holds back nothing. You know it is not talking about guns when Paul would say this, For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but they are mighty through God, for the pulling down of strong holds. The devil likes to get in your mind sometimes and build a great big bulwark of false ideas. God knows the church world has theories that makes the Ft. Knox gold vault look like something a dog would sleep in. That is a figure of speech. He sure likes to put a thought into your mind and build upon it. Then you go around thinking, I just don’t know what I am going to do. I thought I had the victory, but the devil hit me last night and now I am not sure what to believe. I am not making fun: I am just using an illustration that many people will identify with, because Satan has been allowed to rob them of their peace. People sometimes allow their mind to become like some backyard’s you have seen. You try to keep your yard neat: You keep the grass mowed, the hedge trimmed, flowers growing around; and then here comes two or three smart aleck kids that just cannot help but be an aggravation wherever they go. They will say, We are going by So and So’s house, so they begin to pick up all the junk they can get their hands on, and as they walk by, they pitch it over the fence when no one is looking. That is what the devil likes to do to you whenever he finds you in a weakened state from some adverse condition you have had to face. When you least expect it, he drops a bomb in there. Then when you see it, you get hysterical: God has left me! No. God does not leave us: It is the devil’s business to drop junk in your yard, (your mind). If there is any way he can get you upset, he sure will do it. That is why Jesus was given power and authority of the spirit world, because that is where you deal with that kind of attack. You cannot see what the devil is actually doing, but if we can understand it in the right way, we can understand the victory we can have by confronting his attack instantly. One minute that stuff is there defeating you, but if you look at it just right and realize the devil did it, you can say, Lord, I know where this pressure is coming from, so I ask you to remove it: I ask that you make him come back and get his junk. If we will learn how to overcome these negative thoughts the devil likes to put in our mind, we will avoid many difficult times. Well Bro. Jackson, I don’t like these negative thoughts that flood my mind. Nobody does, but the devil sure likes to dump them in your mind, or we could say, He likes to throw junk in your front yard also, right where it will hurt the most. Nevertheless being a child of God, we need to go on down the road of life realizing who we are, and refuse to dwell on negative thoughts that flood our mind. Do not even allow your adversary to make you think, I had better be careful now, lest something worse comes upon me. Fear has no place in our lives, because the Bible declares that God will not allow us to be tempted, or tested beyond that which we are able to bear, but will with the temptation always make the way for us to escape. You find that in 1^st Corinthians 10:13. “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.” As you learn to call upon your available resources in those times when Satan attacks your mind, You will begin to feel the victory and the liberty, that every child of God is entitled to. All of that has to go on in the spirit world, which you cannot even see, but your mind can sure be a recipient, either of victory or defeat. That is up to you. Only you yourself can stand your ground and claim your victory.

RECOGNIZING WHERE YOUR TROUBLE IS COMING FROM

As we come to the eighteenth verse Paul becomes more specific in how he is pointing you to the person of the Son of God. “And He is the head of the body.”  We are talking about headship of a body. What is this body? It is a nucleus of redeemed people, composed of people just like you and me, who were born into this world sinners, but one day God sent the provision for us to be reconciled from our lost state as sinners, so that we could be reconciled back to Him. We came to the place where we realized we could be lifted out of this state of sin, where we were always doing something wrong and were without help. When we become a person that grace has been allowed to come down inside of, we no longer want to do those former things any more. That is why some people, when they started smoking very young, have such a hard time breaking the habit. I was one of them: I think I was about fourteen, just like all the rest of the hillbillies that lived in southern Indiana and Kentucky. We thought we had to smoke to be considered a man. After we started, we had the same habit that dad had. I went off to the war, I smoked all the time we were over there, but as soon as we came home, God began to deal with me. I am telling you, there is one thing sure. When God puts you under conviction and He starts walking in your mind, it is not the devil, it is God walking in your mind. He begins to tell you, Nothing is going to be the same until you give your life to me. When God is dealing with you like that, everything you set about to do will make you look like you are facing a brick wall. You try to quit smoking, but the more you try to quit the more the devil irritates, agitates, and stimulates that habit. After a while you get to realizing just how weak and unstable you are. It is the same way with the guy that likes alcohol. The more he tries to get rid of it, the more the devil will put it on him. He will get to looking at himself, realizing just how weak he is, and that it is utterly impossible for anyone just to quit on his own power. God will let you walk for months, sometimes even a few years with that negative thought in your mind: I know things will never be right until these cigarettes are gone, or it will never be right until this alcohol is out of my system, but you feel helpless to do anything about your condition. Then one day, after you have seen your problem and walked with yourself so long, God just moves upon you and touches your life with a manifestation of His imparted grace. Suddenly you begin to feel an urge, and something inside of you says, Yes, I can do it now: This is my time. Somewhere you lay that pack of cigarettes down, never intending to pick them up again. You mean well, but there is still something missing. That is what happened to me. You cannot know the times, many men have said this, and I have said it. Many times I have thrown away a pack of cigarettes and said, I will not smoke anymore. The first time I could get to a grocery store, I spent money on another pack, smoked one or two cigarettes from it, then threw that one away, just to rid myself of the temptation. It was a battle. Then one day, sitting on the old tractor plowing corn, in the month of April, as I looked one way in life, it looked like a brick wall up ahead. As I looked another way, I could say, That is the way I have to go, if everything is to ever be right. I went to a meeting one night after that, with just one thing in mind: I had to get everything right between me and God. When I went, I had already made up my mind, This is going to be my night. God is going to have His way with me. I never heard what the preacher said: I was only waiting for him to finish preaching and give the altar call. My mind was just filled with the thought, Give the altar call, I want to be there. When he gave it, I was the first one there. When I got there I said, Lord, I don’t know how to pray, but Lord if you will take away this burden of condemnation I am under and give me peace of mind and a know-so salvation, and take these cigarettes away from me, Lord, (I just threw this in for good measure.) I will do my best to teach your word. I went home, and when I woke up the next morning it was raining. I went to the barn, milked the cow, come back to the house and breakfast was ready. Since it was raining, I could not do anything in the field that day, so I just stayed in the house. That was in the month of April: God sat me down in a living room chair, and for the first time in my life the book that I did not ever want to get too close to, (thinking it caused people to go crazy, even pluck their eyes out, and made them cut their hands off) became a book I could not lay down. (You know what I am talking about. I just did not want to be like that.) I sat in that chair all day long. I could not put the Bible down. That is the most I had ever read the Bible in my entire life until that day. I am not saying I understood everything I read, but here and there, there was a little something that stood out to me. The next day, late in the evening, I was with a friend that lived close by in the neighborhood. I was going with him to a certain place and I knew he smoked. He took his cigarettes out and handed them to me: I took one and he took one and lit it, and lit the one I had. Bro. Jackson, aren’t you ashamed of yourself. Listen to the rest of it before you say that. No sooner was it lit, it was like a neon light flashing before my eyes, You know what you said, you know what you said, you know what you said. I rolled the window down, (It was not an electric controlled window like so many are today. I rolled it down.) I flipped that cigarette out the window and thought, He is going to see this and think I am a nut. From that day to this, I have never had a desire to smoke again. The neighbor never did know I threw that cigarette away. God just hid it from his eyes. Therefore he never asked, Why did you do that? From that moment on, I lost my desire for that stuff. That is the grace of God. He can do alcohol the same way. He can do beer the same way, gambling the same way. These ungodly traits we cultivate in our sinful life, He can change them, but He has got to be allowed to get into our lives. That part of the spirit world that affects us, is where the power of God operates on our behalf. That is why we have to understand the mediatorial work of Christ. He is not up there forty million light years in space: he is out there in the heavenly sphere that is just around this earth, just a little beyond where the devil and his demon helpers roam. The Bible speaks of Satan as the prince of the power of the air. Let us try to understand that. What would be Satan’s purpose in being on Mars? Think of it. No, he is down here where he can harass the children of God. He is hitting you with everything he can hit you with. He follows you. He stalks you. He taunts you. He whispers in your ear. He makes fun of you at times. He gets you to talking to yourself. That is the work of the devil. When we begin to think about what Jesus said, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, He was not talking about power to change the course of the astronomical cycle No. That is why I want you to get this, 2^nd Corinthians 5:14-19, and also 1^st Corinthians 11:3. What did the apostle Paul say in 1^st Corinthians 11? I would have you to know that the head of man is Christ. Right? The head of woman is man. Right? But the head of Christ is God. Come on you oneness who say that Jesus is God simply because it is written that the fullness of the Godhead dwelleth in Him. That fullness is related to the redemption of you and me. That has nothing to do with what goes on out there with the stars of the universe. When God caused the great explosion that put everything in its orbit and in its place, it has been there ever since. None of that needs to be redeemed. It has never been messed up. It is only this planet earth that has been messed up. Right here, is God’s workshop. Here, is where He started out with a plan. He made a perfect man; and then, from him, He took his companion. Then He placed a little bit of heaven over a geographical spot on this planet. That place is in the Middle East. He gave this man and woman a commission, to fill the earth by doing certain things the right way. From that day until now, man has not been able to do anything right. How many understand my thought? Look at the wars that have been fought on this planet. Look at the wars that have been fought on this planet because of this greedy, hostile creature that we are, because of our fallen nature. When He made the first Adam, in His image and likeness, that Adam did not know how to fight and kill; and neither did he have any reason to. When God separated his wife from him, they both knew the commission God had instilled in them before He separated Eve from him. They knew the means by how this replenishing was ordained to take place, so the propagation of human life on the earth started right there. Then the test came, and Bingo! Man started it out wrong. Right there, is where the fall of man started, because the first Adam started replenishing the earth from the fruit of the wrong tree, thereby condemning all mankind to a sure death. He still multiplied himself on the planet, but they are not pure sons and daughters of God that have a nature to be Godlike. He has learned to curse, to kill, to connive, to cheat, to lie and commit all sorts of atrocities. It is just as the scripture says, in Romans 3:10, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” That is why there had to be a Law made to show man what sin really is. Man had the Law, “Thou shalt not kill,” because every time somebody came along and did something wrong, it was, Oh, just let me get my hands on that guy. That is the way the Jews looked at things. Here we are though, and God has taken away our sins, washed away our iniquities, and we have to begin to look at things altogether differently, because, inside we feel, I want to do it His way: I want to serve Him His way. That is a result of beginning to take on the mind of Christ Jesus, as the scriptures admonish us to do.

THE HEAD OF THE BODY

Let me get back to the Colossians letter though, and finish this thought, “And He is the head of the body, the church.” As I said, Jesus is not the head of the universe. That is why we must realize that God is still the head of everything else, except that which pertains to redemption and restoration of that which was lost, estranged from the Creator. How many understand? God alone is the head of everything. He is the one that keeps every planet in its precise order, so accurate, so precise that mortals calculate all their space endeavors by it. I was reading an article the other day, how they have to know where every planetary body will be a hundred years from now, and how, by the means of the computer they have put together a composite of outer space. When they set this in motion, you can sit and watch the screen; and here comes space rolling up before you. As you watch, there is a planet coming into view. It is a bright dot, but they know what it is. As you watch, it will keep on bringing space up before you. There is another, then another, then there are three. They can pinpoint it precisely down to the last second. My point in saying that, is, When God created everything, He did a perfect job. What a universe this would be, if everything was up there just swirling and there never had been anything interrupt any of it. The only thing that gets out of kilter is those pieces of rock. They do collide. That is why some are saying Armageddon could be the collision of some of those satellite things, which are just big pieces of rock. No. Armageddon is not going to be like that. A lot of that might be going on, but that is not what constitutes Armageddon. I can see in the book of Revelation, where it says, And a star fell into the sea and it became like wormwood. I have no doubt that could be one of those big pieces of rock, but the world is not coming to an end by one of those things. It is coming to an end, this present sphere of things, because God is bringing an end to man’s sinful rule, and to man’s sin. Jesus Christ is the head of the Church; and the Church is to be His mystical body. I hope I can bring this out the right way. Really, the Church is to be the embodiment of the person of Christ; not the flesh person of Christ Jesus, but everything that He is in the character, the exampleship, the things that motivated Him, and the things that He said and did and the way He did it: The Church is to be an embodiment of all of that. That is why, in the book of Acts, when those early apostles preached and said what they did, God confirmed the word with signs following. Do not ever get the idea that any of the apostles of old just went down the road of life doing anything they pleased. They were led to do what they did. They were directed by the Spirit of God in them, to do those things they did and said. Just as Jesus said, It is not I that doeth the works. Over and over, Jesus talked using that terminology. The Church is to think the same way. He (Jesus) is the beginning? Of what? Of a new creation. We just got through preaching the Eighth Day message. We can see from the eighth day, that it was pointing to this era of Grace. It was typed under the Law. We find the setting there in Leviticus, as well as in Ezekiel, where the eighth day mentioned. Right here and now, is the period of time the eighth day usage pertained to. That is why the Christians chose the eighth day, which is the first day, for their worship and rest day, because it types the beginning of a new creation of God, a creation which is in people. He is the beginning, the first fruits of the resurrection. This is why, when Jesus died on the cross of Calvary, He died for me, and for you. All my sins, my wrong thoughts and deeds were represented in the flesh of Jesus as He voluntarily carried them to the cross. He took them to the cross and suffered there in my place. Then He was buried, but as I accepted this finished work of God that was done in the person of Christ, I began to realize, He rose from the dead because He was raised from the dead by the power of God. Then if that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead, dwell in this mortal body, do you know what the Bible says? Yes death can separate my spirit life from this body, but that gift of God, the Holy Ghost that He has given to me will never die. Wherever my spirit goes, that measure of the Spirit of God is going to go with this spirit that I am. When that great resurrection morning comes, He who is the resurrection and life, the beginning of a new creation, will raise me up to live forever. The new creation is a family of people God is perfecting through this era of Grace. Therefore we have this hope and promise, That as Christ rose from the dead, if we pass by the way of the grave, we too will share in that glorious resurrection. When we do, we will come forth with a glorified body just like His. For it pleased God to complete all things in Him (Jesus). Completing all things, is not pertaining to a golf course on the moon. When I think about that little toy thing they shot up there to Mars, I cannot help but wonder how many times they tried to send a signal up there to get the thing to work. That just goes to show how earthly man down here has pushed his junk out there in space; and much of it has been in vain. I want to reemphasize the fact that Jesus, God’s begotten Son, has nothing to do with changing the order of what space itself is. Changing the environment of what is going on right around this earth, is where the emphasis is. That is why there has to be a Millennial reign of Jesus Christ, to redeem and restore to perfection, that which Satan has been allowed to pervert through six thousand years of time. In this Millennial reign, He is going to rule and reign with a body of believers who are the embodiment of the knowledge and revelation of the true God. That God Himself has done the choosing of this people, and the placing of them in authority to rule and reign on earth with Christ. I have to say this in regards to the old Methodist idea, which is, “I do not believe in the Millennium.” Well I do. My Bible tells me we are not only gong to live in heaven for a little while, but that we are returning back to earth to rule and reign with Christ Jesus, the King, whose queen is the bride Church of this Age of Grace. They (the Methodists) will take the rapture: Oh yes, the Bible says that at the last trump of God the dead in Christ shall rise, and we shall rise to meet Him in the air, and so shall we ever be with Him: We are going to heaven to live forevermore! That is the way they look at it. You cannot tell them of anything that follows the rapture: That is all they are looking for. Then you have the Baptist sitting over here, so what about them? They believe in the Millennium, but they hardly ever preach it. (I am just using these as an illustration.) There sits the Jehovah’s Witnesses, the kingdom church that knows nothing else. Every time you hear them, it is the kingdom, the kingdom, the millennium age, God is going to have an earthly kingdom. He sure is, but if you Jehovah Witness people do not wake up and get born again by His Spirit, you can talk about the kingdom, and you can talk about the millennium, and how God is changing things, but you will never share in any of that. He sure is in the process of changing all things pertaining to man’s government on earth, but as it stands now, you will not share in any of it. That is why God has made us to be new creatures in Christ. We have a new outlook, we have a new hope, we have a sure promise, but we have stepping stones to step on as we make our way through this present life and they are only revealed to those who come to God through His provided way. He has made known to His blood bought children the things that are ahead, but they are revealed by the Spirit that dwells within His chosen family. They are revelations of what God is going on our behalf, and how He has worked through His only begotten Son, the blessed Lord, whom He has made head of everything pertaining to the Church. I say again, No. He is not the head of Mars, and not head of the universe: He (the Father) has made Him (Jesus His Son) the head of all things pertaining to the Church. In this Grace Age, which God determined to have even before the world was brought into existence, He, through the Lord Jesus Christ, is getting that family of people together that are to be redeemed. I am so thankful for that. However if God is going to complete all things through Him, (Jesus) it has got to be relative to redemption. His purpose is to reconcile everything to Himself, but He is doing that through the ministry and shed blood of His begotten Son. He (Jesus) went to the cross to make peace both for those who dwell on earth and for those who dwell in heaven. He is talking about the dead that died in other ages. Now turn to 2^nd Corinthians 5. When the apostle Paul was writing this epistle he was being very plain about this glorious plan of God. He was not going into great detail, but he says in the 14^th verse, “For the love of Christ constraineth us; (or compels us) because we thus judge, that if one died for all, (Who was this one that died for all? Jesus) then were all dead.” Dead to what? Dead to sin. That is why I preached the message “Crucified with Christ.” Hundreds and thousands of people the world over have a visible body of people they go to fellowship with, but one would have to ask, Why? When you watch their lives, and when you hear what they talk about, see what they like to do, you immediately begin to see a person that has no interest whatsoever in talking about the grace, mercy and goodness of God. They like to talk about making money: A lot of people do that. They like to talk about the brand new car they just got hold of. They talk about the nice new home they have acquired. They worship those things more than they worship God. Though they go to some kind of religious institution as regular as clockwork, if you get around them and begin to talk about the goodness and mercy of God, and especially some of the things God is helping you to understand, they get very restless. They begin to look for a way out of that conversation. I have been around many who are like that. You have to say that they are very good people in the natural term, but they just simply do not have an appetite for the spiritual food of God. In fact, if you talk about it too much, they get offended. They begin to act like, Well you seem to think you have everything and we have nothing. I am just saying this to say, Are such people really children of God? Has God ever been allowed to change their ideas and outlook on life? No. They have their own concept as to what they think God is, and that only requires their physical presence to be sitting in a so-called church building somewhere, going through certain ceremonial procedures and calling themselves Christians and saying, God just wants us to be sincere. Listen to what I am going to say: If you went to the natural school and took your learning there with that same attitude, then you go to a bank and apply for a job, what do you suppose they would say when they find out you can hardly add two plus two and get the right answer? It has never been in the plan of God for His children just to coast through life, never being very serious about anything, and always expecting everything to go their selfish way. When we really become a child of God by faith, we become crucified with Christ and that crucified life requires something other than just a life of carelessness. (Listen) “And that He died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again. Wherefore henceforth (from now on) know we no man after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we Him no more. Therefore if any man be in Christ, He is a new creature: (What did I read back in Colossians? That He might be the first fruits from among the dead, the firstborn among many creatures. We can see them, that we are part of a new creation.) old things are passed away; (That is why one can say, There goes my cigarettes, and another, There went my beer. There went the cards. There went the cursing. I do not understand every detail of how God works inside of us to accomplish these things, but I can testify to the fact that He does it when He finds a heart that is sincerely seeking His fellowship.) behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God, (Behind it all God was the architect, but it was all executed and set in motion through the person of Jesus Christ, who became the means of us being reconciled back to God, so we think different and act different. The Church is to be a body of people that think like this. They rejoice because of the new life they find in Christ Jesus.) who hath reconciled us to Himself by Jesus Christ; (That is as plain as the nose on my face, right?) and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; To wit, (to preach or to testify) that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them: and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.”  Be ye reconciled to God. That is the final goal.