THE LION OF THE TRIBE OF JUDAH CALLING FOR CHRISTIA COMMUNITY LIVING

THE TRIBAL CALL Issue One INTRODUCTION GOD IS NOT MOCKED and He is not stopped, and He is issuing the call in this hour for HIS TRUE PEOPLE TO JOIN IN THE FORCE OF COMMUNITY. I am not speaking of the community as the world would see it, but I am speaking of the Spirit-joined community led by the Spirit of God. Throughout the Bible, continual reference is made to God’s people in their various forms of community, and the laws that God gave concerning His people were for them to adhere to within their community structure. For too long, the American people have assumed that they could glide along, as Christians, mixing and mingling with the heathen and be a two-headed beast, one side pleasing to God, and the other pleasing the world. But this is the hour when God is calling for a separation and an exclusivity for His people. We have attempted to play “social worker” to the whole world and in so doing, we have developed a pseudo Christianity that is a disgust unto the Lord and His righteousness. In this generation, the call is going out and God is demanding that His true ones be willing to forsake all and follow Him and be identified as HIS PEOPLE. Professing Christian people are so full of disobedience and self seeking that they can quickly tune out every command of the Lord as being “extremist and cultish,” and go on listening to their worldly serenades and imagine themselves to be pleasing to the Lord. But the truth is that God desires a people who are not afraid to be identified as HIS. The devil and his demons are well-acquainted with the power that is in Christian community and that is why they attack it with every weapon of the world: media smear, government intervention and destruction, fear, magnified bad reports from false-Christians, and cultish accusations. When a people are joined together in the true spirit of the Holy Ghost unity, there is nothing that will hinder their prayers, and the blessings of God are multiplied for it gives the Lord pleasure to bless His people. The blessings that come to a community of believers far out number the blessings which the Lord bestows upon individuals living in isolation from a body of true spirit-filled believers. Over the last forty years, our nation has been rocked by two outstanding“cult tragedies,” namely *Jones Town (an American community in Guyana, South America) in the late 1970's and the *Waco, Texas fiasco in the early 90's. Because of these tragedies, every fearful, lying, compromising Christian is able to dismiss the call to community from their minds and their hearts as being “cultish and dangerous.” Consequently, very few believers are willing to walk out the full blessing and challenge of the Lord and the prayer of Jesus. For He prayed for us that we would be one. There is nothing that makes a people more in union spiritually than living, loving, and serving one another DAILY, not just once or twice a week on Sundays or Saturdays, but continually from day to day. Also, there is nothing which shows up the hypocrite and Pharisee in us quicker than the beautiful, refining pressure of community living. If more Christians would stop seeking to please the world and upholding the world’s opinion of then, and get busy pleasing God, they would find that He would lead and direct their lives to a much greater degree and take them into a covenant relationship with other believers where they would truly learn the truth: WE DO NOT LIVE TO OURSELVES ALONE, BUT TO OTHER PARTS OF HIS BODY. We do not compel people to obey and live-out Jesus’ prayer for His disciples and then live our lives contrarily. Since 1982, we have been called and committed to living as an ekklesia (a spirit-joined community). We are a body of believers who live together and move together under the direction of the Holy Spirit. We have forsaken all to dedicate our lives wholly to furthering the spread of the gospel to all of the world. We try our best to live what the Bible teaches, and we encourage you to also take the challenge that Jesus presented to all of His disciples to live-out what He taught. During the early stages of living as an Ekklesia, we published many articles in Tribal Call to clarify a number of important points regarding the “church.” The first publication of The Tribal Call publication came out in1994, and our goal was to show the difference between the church and the ekklesia. More specifically, there are three different types of what modern society refers to as the “church”: (1) the strictly man-made church, (2) a mixture between the man-made church and the pure ekklesia, and (3) the pure ekklesia. All three versions of “the church” have been skewed completely. There are differences, and we intend to expose these differences. We have been an ekklesia since 1982, and we encourage you to read these articles that will help you to understand why these differences are important. This is a compilation of Tribal Calls 1-68 from our archives. These publications are no longer being printed, but copies are still available. Request your FREE copies while they last! Publications listed as “out,” will be posted in full for your reading. TRIBAL THEOCRACY by Generals Jim and Deborah Green, Ben Williams, plus an anonymous contribution (p. 12 in Issue one of The Tribal Call) The Tribal Theocracy consists essentially in these three things: A) God himself, as Lawgiver, orders or modifies the relations of the spiritual and common life of the tribe by immediate revelation given to its leaders. B) God takes into His own hand the control and government of the tribal state, in that He is ever present to His people, makes known His will in important state affairs by His Holy Spirit through His Prophets and Leaders, and when necessary, interposes in a miraculous way, judging, punishing, and blessing. C) Finally, God raises up for the tribe the needed Leaders, Rulers, and Prophets, furnishing them with the power required for their office. Thus, all the human superiors of the tribe are, in the strictest sense, servants and representatives of God, whose duty is to carry out His law and execute His will. Our one Lord and Sovereign is Jehovah, the covenant God, who through His Son Jesus Christ is Lawgiver, supreme Judge and Ruler of His people. He unites in Himself all power and authority, constituting the Tribal Theocracy of His people and directing them by His servants. Spirit Tribe As the Spirit solidified the principle of warfare within our hearts, then came the expansion into the concept and the revelation of community, and He taught us that He has longed for a people who commune of the same spiritual bread and partake of Him in His fullness. We were taught that we act and react as one body and that we are joined together by the bond of His love. Not only did we receive the teaching and the revelation but we were also put to the test by God and we have lived as one people with all things common, trusting Him to be our head, our source, and our life. Then, came the time and we could feel the wind of the Sprit stirring once again and as we leaned ourselves to hear Him, we heard the greater desire of God’s heart for this hour, the desire to bring forth TRIBES for His kingdom. At first, the revelation seemed shocking, but as we sought Him in prayers, we have come to see that indeed it is God’s desire, God’s call in this hour. The devil, of course, is busy imitating the call of God, and men and women everywhere are responding to the heathenistic incantation of demonic music, which calls to everything base within the human nature. Body piercing and mutilation has become the fad, and people are practicing scarification as though it were meant to be, cutting themselves, burning themselves with permanent identification such as tattoos as to their belief systems. People will endure all manner of hardships, with no comforts nor conveniences, to hear their favorite bands scream out vile incantic groanings which further call up the demonic forces motivating men to return to gross darkness. On the opposite spectrum, the Living God is issuing the call to come unto Him as a separated people who will know Him in His goodness and see His power revealed. The true tribal people of God are as an indigenous people who are gradually being destroyed by the systems of men. No longer are men and women allowed to worship God as they desire but they are forced to report all of their activities to governments and authorities of men who claim to have the power over them. But the true TRIBALS are not ruled by men, but by God for they must answer the Spirit’s call and live in harmony with their Creator. We are actually living in exciting times, for while the battle is tremendous, and the forces of evil are unleashed, the call of the Living God is also unleashed, and men and women will begin being formed into tribes who will relate to God as their head and their life. It is beyond, beyond the boundaries of men, into the realms of God where HE REIGNS AS MASTER. No longer do we have to put on our shows for men whereby they are given the right to approve or disapprove our lives, but we are called into the I AM dimension where what God is, is just simply accepted and lived, and His desires are utmost and they must be fulfilled. The Tribe concept embraces both the army and the community and is a dimension far beyond what we have known in our lifetimes, yet if it were not attainable, God would not ask it of us. He is calling, we can hear Him, the Spirit sings His song, let us return to our Tribes where we are meant to belong. A Holy Nation, belonging to the Living God, separated by God for His purpose, His plan, His desire. Release, release, and come into the realms of God, unending, infinite, eternal, for HE REIGNS. The Correct Meaning of “Church” Let’s start by defining the word. “Church” comes from the Old English and German word pronounced “kirché.” In Scotland, it was “kirk.” The following entries are from the Oxford Universal English Dictionary: Church [Old English cirice, circe; Middle English chereche, chiriche, chirche; whence churche, cherche, etc.:–Greek kuriakón...] Kirk The Northern English and Scottish form of CHURCH, in all its senses. In the earlier Greek, it was pronounced “ku-ri-á-kon.” As you can see, this word doesn’t even resemble the Greek word “ecclesia” whose place it has usurped. The meaning of “ku-ri-á-kos” is understood by its root: “kú-ri-os,” which means “lord.” Thus, “kuriakos” (i.e., “church”) means “pertaining to lord.” It refers to something that pertains to , or belongs to, a lord. The Greek “kuriakos” eventually came to be used in Old English form as “cirice” (kee-ree-ré), then “churche” (kerké), and eventually “church” in its traditional pronunciation. A church, then, is correctly something that “pertains to, or belongs to, a lord.” Now, as you can see, there is a major problem here. The translators broke the rules in a big way. When they inserted the word “church” in the English versions, they were not translating the Greek word “kuriakos,” as one might expect. Rather, they were substituting an entirely different Greek word. This was not honest! The word “church” would have been an acceptable translation for the Greek word “Kuriakos.” However, not by the wildest imagination of the most liberal translator can it ever be an acceptable translation for the Greek word “ecclesia.” “Ecclesia” is an entirely different word with an entirely different meaning than “kuriakos.” In fact, the Greek word “kuriakos” appears in the New Testament only twice. It is found once in 1 Corinthians 11:20 where it refers to “the Lord’s supper,” and once again in Revelation 1:10 where it refers to the Lord’s day.” In both of these cases, it is translated “the Lord’s” – not “church.” This word does not appear again in the New Testament. Nonetheless, this is the unlikely and strange history of the word “church” as it came to the English language. Eventually, through the manipulation of organized religion, “church” came to replace “ecclesia” by popular acceptance. Again, I must emphasize the importance of knowing word meanings in order to know the intent of those who wrote the Scriptures. The Correct Meaning of “Ecclesia” Now, let’s look at the word, “ecclesia.” This Greek word appears in the New Testament approximately 115 times. That’s just in this one grammatical form. It appears also in other forms. And in every instance, except three, it is wrongly translated “church” in the King James Version. Those three exceptions are found in Acts 19:32, 39, 41. Here, the translators rendered it “assembly” instead of “church.” But, the Greek word is exactly the same as the other 112 entries where it was changed to “church” – wrongly. In Acts 19, “ecclesia” is a town council: a civil body in Ephesus. Thus, the translators were forced to abandon their false translation in these instances. Nonetheless, 112 times they changed it to “church.” This fact has been covered-up under centuries of misuse and ignorance. The Greek word “ecclesia” is correctly defined: “the called-out (ones)” [ECC = out; KALEO = call]. Thus, you can see how this word was used to indicate a civil body of select (called, elected) people. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica: In the New Testament, “ecclesia” (signifying convocation) is the only single word used for church. It (ecclesia) was the name given to the governmental assembly of the city of Athens, duly convoked (called out) by proper officers and possessing all political power including even juridical functions. Obviously, in Greece this had no resemblance to a church. An “ecclesia” was a civil assembly in Athens even before the writing of the New Testament. In the Oxford Universal English Dictionary (considered the standard for the English language) the word “ecclesia” is listed in its English form as used by our English forefathers. (Nowadays, only forms of the word appear – like, “ecclesiastical”). Quoting from the Oxford Universal English Dictionary on the word “ecclesia”: Ecclesia [mediæval Latin, and Greek εκκλησια – from εκκλητος: SUMMONED] – A regularly convoked assembly, especially the general assembly of Athenians. Later, the regular word for church. ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “Search For Reality” by Gen. Deborah Green ► “KORINDA” by Gen. Deborah ► “Revolution” by Gen. Deborah ► “Care-Free Tribe” By Gen. Deborah ► Words of the Sprit Prophetic Messages ► “Light/Darkness” ► “Restoration” ► “Salvation and Baptism” Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Two The Church, The Ecclesia by General Jim, Ben Williams, plus an anonymous contribution (p. 3 in Issue Two of The Tribal Call) The Ecclesia in the Book of Acts: a) a congregation or assembly of people in a given locality (8:1). b) an assembly of believers in Christ (5:14). c) a place of teaching and discipline (11:26). d) a complete unity in itself with corporate authority (15:22). e) built by Christ Himself (2:57). f) part of Christ Himself (5:14). g) a place to which the Lord joins people, not man (5:13). h) disciplined by Christ Himself (5:5). i) structured having men ordained in positions of authority to exercise leadership, discipline, and oversight (14:23; 20:17-28). j) a place of manifold ministry (13:1; 15:4). k) joined in voluntary fellowship with other Local Assemblies (15:3-4). l) a place established in the faith (16:5). m) a place from which ministry is sent out. (The Book of Acts) Acts 2:42 – And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine, and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. As we read through the Book of Acts, we cannot help but be impressed by the importance of the Local Church to every born-again believer. Being a member of a Local Assembly is clearly pictured as a natural result of receiving the Lord. No one who is not saved has a right to be a member of a local congregation, and no one who is saved should be without a spiritual home. Even Paul, that great missionary-Apostle, maintained a firm relationship to the Local Assembly that had sent him out (Antioch). The Kingdom of God (Jesus Christ being the Lion King) Everything that is true in the absolute sense concerning the invisible Ecclesia should manifest itself in principle and in relative degrees in the Local Assembly. The ideal, as stated objectively in regard to the invisible Ecclesia, is the guiding principle for the local congregation. How does the concept of the Kingdom of God relate to the Invisible and the Visible Ecclesia? The Kingdom of God can be simply defined as the visible description of the body of professing Christians across the earth or an extension of God’s rule in the universe. The preaching of the kingdom is an important part of the vision of the Ecclesia. Jesus spoke for forty days on the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God to prepare His disciples for coming ministry (Acts 1:1-3). See also Acts 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23; Colossians 1:13. Psalms 145:10-13 – All Thy works shall praise Thee, O Lord; and Thy saints shall bless Thee. They shall speak of the glory of Thy Kingdom, and talk of Thy power; to make known to the sons of men His mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of His Kingdom. Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom, and Thy domain endureth throughout all generations. The Great Commission What is the Great Commission given to the Ecclesia by Christ? There can be no proper study of the assemblies in the New Testament apart from an analysis of the Great Commission. Those who, through dispensational devices, discard the Gospel, and particularly the synoptics, find themselves in the embarrassing position of not having a commission to preach the Gospel. It is also significant that those who thus subscribe to this dispensational method of interpretation, do not expect the assemblies to fulfill the Commission, but unashamedly teach that the Jews will fulfill the Commission after the Christians are raptured (write to receive our FREE booklets exposing the fallacy of the rapture myth). The significance of the Great Commission is that it not only constitutes the most essential task of the assemblies, but that the assemblies themselves are born because of obedience by some to the Great Commission. Without the Great Commission there would not be any Ecclesias. Before Christ left earth in His final ascension, He commissioned the Ecclesia to carry on in the ministry that He began. In itself, this was an impossible commission. With the commission, however, Jesus promised to send an endowment with power from on high that would enable these men to fulfill the commission. Both Matthew and Mark record the commission given to the disciples. It would do us well to examine each phrase of this commission to see what is fully involved. The Great Commission – Matthew 28:18-20 and Mark 16:15-20 a) Jesus said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth” (Matthew 28:18). When Christ commissioned His faltering and failing followers, He did it on the basis of the absolute authority available to carry out this super-human task. Nobody can begin to put a dent in the need, nor understand the problem unless they grasp this basis and resource in the exalted Lord. Mark gives a very practical definition of the phrases and aspects of this power and resource which is in Christ. Christ gave power relating to: 1) the Spiritual Kingdom, for “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). 2) the Eternal Kingdom, for “He that believeth not shall be damned” (Mark 16:16). 3) the Satanic Kingdom, for they shall “cast out devils” (Mark 16:17). 4) the Universal Kingdom, for “they shall speak with new tongues” (Mark 16:17). 5) the Animal Kingdom, for “they shall take up serpents” (Mark 16:18). 6) the Mineral Kingdom, for “if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them” (Mark 16:18). 7) the Human Kingdom, for “they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover” (Mark 16:18). ALL POWER! Mark gives us a graphic portrayal of what the “all power” in Matthew’s Gospel speaks. This demonstrates for us the power that was given to Christ which He gave to the Ecclesia to carry out His ministry on the earth. What a wealth of power God has placed in the hands of His people! Some would rob us of the power of God by asserting that this section in Mark is not part of the original manuscript, but all one has to do is turn to the Book of Acts for a dramatic portrayal of all that is suggested in these passages of Mark. GO AND TEACH b) Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach (disciple, matheteuo) all nations” (Matthew 28:19). This is the first command given to the Ecclesia. Mark says we are to “Go... into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). The thoughts contained in these verses indicate that we are to preach the Gospel with the intent of making disciples. Our function as an Assembly is not merely to get people saved. God is not interested in a group of frail spiritual babies, even though we all must begin there. He is not interested in a Body of Believers that spend most of their Christian life backsliding and re-dedicating themselves. He wants disciples who are willing to lay down all, take up their cross and follow Him. For this to happen, we must not hide the cost of discipleship in our teaching and preaching the Gospel, but we must give everyone the opportunity to count the cost before starting to build. GO AND BAPTIZE c) Jesus told us to baptize “them in the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Ghost” (Matthew 28:19) (Please order DVD series by Gen. James Green on baptizing in Jesus’ name entitled “To Baptize”). The commission which Christ gave to the Ecclesia is to be seen in relation to each individual believer. It is completely established by the pattern of the New Testament practice that this commission was not limited to the Apostles ordained ministry or to any segment of Christians, but it extends to each and every believer in Jesus Christ. The Great Commission is the command of the risen Lord to His disciples wherever they may be found. Every person who professes faith in Christ must answer before God concerning his or her obedience to Christ’s command. THE NAMES OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD Why are there so many names given to the Ecclesia, the People of God? There are more than seventy names given to the people of God in both the Old and New Testaments. The names given to the people of God in the Old Testament are to be applied to the Believers in the New Testament. The Old Testament was written for our admonition (I Corinthians 10:11). Therefore, when Israel is mentioned in the Old Testament, it was written for God’s people, to teach God’s people the ways and dealings of God. The TRUE Israel in God’s eyes is Spiritual Israel which is made up of both Jews and Gentiles, “That is, they which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed” (Romans 9:8). Therefore, all the names that describe God’s People in the Old Testament can be rightfully applied to the Body of Christ (Romans 11:1-5, 17). As we have said, the Ecclesia was conceived in the counsels of the Godhead. It is part and parcel of the very purposes of God. For this reason, it is a ‘mystery’ in the sense that finite man can never fully understand all that is involved in this Body and its relation to Christ. God has given us over seventy names and descriptions to the People of God to show us the many facets and aspects of truth concerning this infinite reality. Each name adds to the total concept and unfolds another facet of truth in regard to God’s People. What are some of the names given to the People of God? a) His Body - Christ is the Head of the Ecclesia. As the Head is the seat of authority which commands the rest of the Body, so Christ is the Head of the Ecclesia. As the head gives direction and the body obeys and carries out the desires of the head, even so does Christ direct His Ecclesia. Ephesians 1:22-23 - And hath put all things under His feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all. b) Holy Temple - Christ is the Masterbuilder who is building a Temple for His permanent habitation. Ephesians 2:21 - In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord. c) Habitation of God - It has always been God’s desire to dwell with and in His People (Exodus 25:8; Psalm 22:3). Ephesians 2:22 - In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. d) God’s Building - The Ecclesia has its origin in God. It is not built by man. I Corinthians 3:9 - For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building. e) God’s House - God is the Lord of this Home and is to be the one in charge. Hebrews 3:6 - But Christ as a son over His own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end. f) Spiritual House - This House is not made with ordinary building materials, but it is a spiritual structure held together by the bonds of love. I Peter 2:6 - Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. g) Holy Nation - This is to be a group or nation of people that is set apart to do the will of God. I Peter 2:9 - But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. h) People of God - These People recognize that they were bought with a price, and they are not their own. I Peter 2:10 - Which in times past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. i) Israel of God - This is God’s chosen nation. He has set this Spirit people aside to be a peculiar people in the earth. Galatians 6:14-16 - But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be unto them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God. j) Mt. Zion - This is the mountain that God raised and upon which He places His glory. Hebrews 12:22 - But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. k) Heavenly Jerusalem - The Church is the spiritual city to which earthly Jerusalem pointed. Hebrews 12:22 - But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels. l) General Assembly - This is an innumerable company from every nation, kindred, tongue and tribe who have gathered themselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Hebrews 12:23 - To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. m) Church of the Firstborn - This is the group that “in Christ” can lay hold of a double portion of the blessings of God. Hebrews 12:23 - To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect. n) Wife - There is a rich future for the wife of the King. Revelation 19:7 - Let us be glad and rejoice and give honour perfect to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. Ephesians 5:25-32 - Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord of the church: For this we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church. There are many other names for the Body of Christ. This is a vast subject for which we can only give an introduction. For further study in this area, refer to Nave’s Topical Bible. Churches Have Served As Subterfuge A “church” is NOT an “ecclesia” - as the English versions of the Bible attempt to say. The churches won’t admit it, however. They prefer to just ignore the two words and avoid bringing any attention to them. Churchgoers get caught up in playing the game of church which dissipates and neutralizes them through useless rituals and countless activities. Ecclesias are different in important ways. Understanding these differences causes a profound change in your understanding of the Bible and your grasp of the Gospel of the Kingdom. Getting a grasp of this is important word may not be easy. Some commentaries prove to be little or no help because they condescend to the churches in equating “ecclesia” with “church.” Obvious differences are glossed over. In part one of this study, we defined “ecclesia.” It is the Greek New Testament word meaning THE CALLED-OUT (ONES); THE CHOSEN; THE ELECT-[EK = out; from; KALEO = call]. Some of the earliest English translators chose not to use the word “church” to translate “ecclesia” into English. Rather, they kept “ecclesia,” or else they used the English word “congregation.” The word “church,” was later used to replace “ecclesia” for the purpose of justifying a different institution. By 1611 (when the King James Version was published) the translators, and their public, had obviously become comfortable with the other institution – and the other word: “church.” The “church” is a distinct religious system created to propagate religion and superstition under the guidance of the State. It does not fit the description of an ECCLESIA. An ecclesia is a political body of Christians, under Christ. It is free, self-governing, and made up of families and communities working under the Reign of Christ – otherwise called “the Kingdom of Heaven.” The 1st-century Christians quickly learned that they had to get away from the churches (also called synagogues) because they stifled truth and freedom. They left churches/synagogues to the Judaizers, and began forming ecclesias (wrongly called “churches” by the KJV translators). All that exciting activity in the New Testament was “ecclesia activity” – not “church activity.” Its purpose and impact was quite different from the false scenario painted by the churches. The excitement was not over a new church, but a new government. CHURCH The English word “church” is derived from the Gk. Adjective kyriakos as used in some such phrases as used in some such phrases as kyriakos doma or kyriake oikia, meaning “the Lord’s house,” i.e., a Christian place of worship. “Church” in the N.T., however, comes from Gk. Ekklesia... Although we often speak of these congregations collectively as “the N.T. church” or “the early church,” no N.T. writer uses ekklesia in this collective way. An ekklesia was a meeting or assembly. Its most common use was for the public assembly of citizens duly summoned, which was a feature of all the cities outside Judæa where the gospel was planted (e.g. Acts 19:39); ekklesia was also used among the Jews (LXX) for the “congregation” of Israel which was constituted at Sinai and assembled before the Lord at the annual feasts in the persons of its representative males (Acts 7:38). (New Bible Dictionary, second edition Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, IL) The apostles and disciples were “called out” of the Roman/Jewish synagogues/church systems and brought back to the real world. In this process, ECCLESIAS (i.e., independent Christian communities) were formed. This was also called “coming out of Babylon.” ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “Love Like Crazy!” ► “I Am Who I Am” ► “Spiritual Warfare: The provision of Weapons for Warfare” ► “Discipleship” ► “Thy Kingdom Come” ► “What is the Ecclesia? Is It A Church? Is It A Cult? Is It Important?” ► Words of the Spirit ► “No Other Gods” ► “An Ideal Prayer and Its Answer Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Three What IsThe Ecclesia? (Part 1) by Generals Jim and Deborah Green (p. 4 in Issue Three of The Tribal Call) Introduction PRAISE GOD, the name of today’s message is Ecclesia Part 1. Now a lot of people would ask, what does a tribe have to do with our generation? What is the Tribal Call? What is God saying? What is He doing? Well, God is reaching out and proclaiming a call for His people to form as tribes, for His people to come forth in the fullness of what He desires. You know, we have lived as a people in starvation camps. We have lived as a people deprived of the fullness of God; we have lived as a people held back from our Master, held back from our Lord. We have lived in little vacuums. We have lived in little cells and boxes, and in prison houses, prison houses that have called themselves churches and have kept God’s people separated from Him, prison houses of deadness, staleness, and stagnation. And God is saying in this hour, that this is the generation that He is going to call a people out of those cells, out of those prison houses, out of the captivity of satan and unto Himself. The only way that we can live totally for God is to be unto God as a holy nation. For years, the Lord has been giving us tidbits. He has been giving us excerpts and glimpses of what His desire is, and His desire is to have a people who will dwell with Him in fullness. His desire is to have a people who will walk under His Lordship, who will know Him as their King, who will know Him as their sovereign, who will respect Him in every aspect of their lives. So many people are taught disobedience by the existing religious order. They are taught disobedience. They are taught to be lazy, they are taught to be beggars, they are taught to be whores, and they are taught to be whoremongers. They are taught perverted and twisted words that are proclaimed to be the Words of God. They are given doctrines of devils. They are given bread and waters that pollute them. They are not washed in the holy waters of God. They are not taught to be a separated people, holy unto the Master. They are not taught obedience to the requirements of God. If you look into the Word of God and go back into the Old Testament, you find that several times God laid down the law. And nowadays, people say, well, if you have any law, if you have any rules, if you have any standard, you are taking them into bondage. But, you see, that is just another form of lies spoken in hypocrisy that the false shepherds have put over the people of God to lead them into devastation, to lead them into captivity, to lead them into destruction. Because, the truth of it is, that God has always had a standard for His people. God has always had laws for His people. God has always had rules and ethics for His people to walk by. And, when we refuse that part of God, we actually refuse the safety that God has for us. Did you hear what I said? I said, we actually refuse the safety that God has for us. Because, when we are just wandering, we are not in the safety that God provides for His people. We are not in the place where God will keep His people covered. You see, a lot of people get wounded, they get devastated, and they get torn apart. And why is it so? It is because they are not walking under the covering of God. The Lord is coming forth in this generation, and He is going to encompass us. What He is going to bring forth is a covering that is going to shield us, a covering that is going to protect us, and a covering that is going to guide us. And, it is not going to be like a covering of the former days that only protects us when we are in the house of God, or only guides us when we are listening to the preacher. But it is going to be a constancy of the Holy Ghost. It is going to be where the Holy Ghost is abiding in His people. Not just once a week on Sunday morning, or twice a week if you include Wednesday, but it is going to be a constancy of the presence of the power and the Spirit of Almighty God. It is going to be like when that cloud and fire hovered over them in the wilderness. The cloud and fire were there, but it was because of the people’s rebellion, it was because of the people’s ignorance, it was because of the people’s spiritual blindness that they did not perceive the supernatural protection of God. And this is the time that God is going to put the essence of the Holy Ghost over us continually. He desires that we will be so quickened and so alert and alive in His Spirit that we are aware of His presence and that we will walk in the fullness of the power that He has ordained. Not to where we pay some buffoon to get up and put on some religious show, and put on a circus and sideshow act, pretending that people are being healed, and delivered, pretending, pretending, pretending while the whole motive is money. It is not going to be like that. It is going to be that GOD IS IN OUR MIDST THROUGH THE POWER OF THE HOLY GHOST. And, when God is ready to do miracles, God is well able to do miracles, and when God is ready to bring forth teaching, God will bring forth teaching. When God is wanting to bring forth judgements and chastisements, God will bring forth judgements and chastisements. And, His people will walk in the acceptance of that, and His people will walk in obedience to that. You see, God desires a people who are full of Him. This morning, He gave us a word wherein He asked us, “Why do you live in a teaspoon when you can bathe in the river? Why would you be desirous of taking a bath in a teaspoon when you can live in the river?” And that is what God is wanting to do right now, in this generation. He is wanting to pour out the fullness of His rivers of His life, the fullness of His rivers of hope, the fullness of His rivers of power, and the fullness of His rivers of love unto a people who would open their hearts to receive. Unto a people who would open their eyes and behold his glory, and unto a people who would open their minds beyond their little prison houses, beyond their little boxes, and beyond their little restraints that men have put upon them and reply Yes to the Lord. Unto such people, He will flow. In this generation that we live in, people have opened their minds to drugs, and they have opened themselves up to be possessed of demons to be taken over by wicked spirits, to be taken over by perverse spirits, greed spirits, lust spirits, and every kind of foul and unclean thing. Why? Because they have opened themselves up. But when it comes to the household of faith, you will find Christians sitting back trembling, chewing their fingernails off. Christians are too busy sitting back, saying, “It must be a cult. It must be a strange doctrine. It must be a heresy because I don’t see it in the Word. I don’t see it in the Word.” Well, the problem is they have not opened their spiritual eyes to see what is in the Word. And they have not opened their spiritual minds to receive what the Lamb of God wants to give unto His people. They have not opened their spiritual hearts to receive the engrafting that cries, “Abba, Father, not my will but thine be done.” Christians are sitting back trembling, chewing their fingernails off. Christians are too busy sitting back, saying. “It must be a cult. It must be a strange doctrine. It must be a heresy because I don’t see it in the Word. I don’t see it in the Word.” Instead, they have lived in a little bitty box, and the preacher has said no, no, or maybe, and they don’t know what is right nor do they know what is wrong. They do not walk by the standard of God but instead they walk by the standard of perversion. They have walked by the standard of adultery. They walk by the standard of greed and lust. The preacher loves it so because he is the one that gets the money and heads down the road. He is the one who bows himself down before the idols of materialism, and bows himself down unto idols of greed and lust, and takes God’s people into captivity. But God is putting forth His cry, the cry of deliverance, and this deliverance does not mean that you just get a few demons cast out. But this deliverance means that you are delivered from a life of captivity unto a life of freedom. The lies which the devil has sold the church is that you are only free if you are in captivity, if you are boxed up, if you are under the covering of evil men, then the lies and the liars say you are free. But the truth of it is that we are free when we are liberated from the systems of men and we are brought under the government of the Almighty God. I repeat, the government of Almighty God. Israel was not a nation that was subject to other nations; God did not set it up that way. Israel went into captivity because of her sins, because of her hardness of heart, and her desire for other gods. But God’s original ordination for Israel was to be a separate nation, holy unto the Lord, a separated people who would be His and His alone: a people who would not bow unto the gods of the heathen, who would not bow unto idols, but would bow unto Him. He did not desire a people caught in abominable practices and vileness and wickedness, but He desired a people who would be clean and holy and a glory unto His name. Now we are meant to be a Holy Nation. We are meant to be the TRIBE OF GOD ALMIGHTY. We are meant to be a separated people who live under the Sovereign, who live unto the King, not the systems of men, not the religious order that is covered in filthiness, vileness, and pollutedness, but we are meant to be a people who will obey God in every aspect of our lives. God dictated to His people, He dictated in reference to their clothing, to their habits and methods of cleanliness and hygiene, in reference to their food. He told them what was clean, what was unclean, and which things they were not to touch. He dictated their toilet habits, and He dictated their sex life. He told them what was abomination. We are such worshipers of sex in this generation. I said it in the 1980's, that the day would come when they would make images of sex parts and bow down to them. The day has come – the day has come. God does not want His people caught in sex idolatry bondage, and that is why God dictated to His people that they would be free from that bondage. A lot of people will say, “Stay out of my bedroom!” But God gets personal with His people – do you understand? The Word says, to the dividing asunder of the bones and the marrow. When you look at the marrow in the bone, it is inside and it is tight up against the bone. And the Holy Ghost will divide the marrow from the bone. That is how precisely God desires to rule our lives. Now all these areas I have been touching on are areas where God desires obedience of His people. God’s people are sick. God’s people are very, very vexed of devils. “The people of God” are in captivity to lusts. God’s people are in captivity to material bondage. They are in captivity to the world, which tells them where they can go, how they can go, and why they can go. God’s people are in captivity to wicked shepherds; they are in terrible, terrible captivity. A lot of God’s people are totally backslidden: they have gone back and bowed to the devil and taken on satan’s covering in all of these areas. But, if you tell somebody, “Straighten up your act up here or there,” they are so rebellious that they won’t do it, declaring that no one is going to take them into captivity and bondage. They already have chains around their necks, and they already have handcuffs on their hands, and they are already bowing down and licking up the filth of Sodom, and they are saying, “Nobody is going to take me into captivity; nobody is going to take me into bondage.” Now, the point that I am getting to is this: God is the One who is giving the Tribal Call. He is saying, “I want a holy people. I want a holy nation. I want a people who are willing to see that My way is righteousness and that My highway is holiness, and who are willing to separate themselves from the vile and come into the precious and walk therein.” It’s God who is giving the call, and we have got to stop being rebellious children, sottish brats, who find an excuse on every hand for disobedience. We have got to become a people of a willing heart, a people who are willing to be molded, who are willing to obey. A people who will say, yes, yes, yes, your way is righteousness, your way is life, and your way is holiness. You need to talk to yourself when self rises up and discourages you. You need to refute self and declare that you will do what God wants and what God desires. And declare that what God wants is what will bring life and covering and strength. I don’t want to be like the deadbeats who mourn over the fact that God moved in 1906, but I want to know what God is doing right now, and I want to be in line with that. I want to know that I have heard the call and answered the call and that I was obedient unto the end. Don’t think that after you lead others that you cannot be led astray. So many pastors settle for laziness, so-called ministers of the gospel settle for death – they settle for a comfortable niche. They settle for a place where they can rock in their rocking chair until they die. If we follow God in this generation, God has given us a promise that we are going to see a most exciting outpouring. A lot of people are saying, “Oh, if only we could see the book of Acts,” but you know what they want to see about the book of Acts? They want to see a few healings, but they don’t want to see Ananias and Sapphira. And, most of all, you know what they don’t want to see? All things in common. Yes, all things in common, that is what people don’t want to see. You can hear, “Oh, I love you brother. I love you sister. You know I really do love you. It doesn’t matter to me that you live in a shack and I live in a mansion. I still love you. Oh, Lord, if only we could see your power, we could build a fifty thousand member church.” If you want to see the book of Acts, then you better be ready for judgment of God, you had better be ready for chastisement and the correction of God, and most of all, you had better be ready for... ALL THINGS COMMON. We are so greedy in this generation, so covetous, so lustful. Everything is for me, for myself, and for ME ONLY! We say we want to see God move; we want to see the power of God; we want the manifestations of the glory of God. But when it gets down to the real requirements, nobody wants to pay. There is a hope: God has said He will have a people; He will have a tribe. God does not lie. If God has to bring them in from all around the world, God will do it because God is faithful. God will have a Spirit people, and while men and women are foolishly arming themselves in the flesh, and storing up victuals and weapons. God is putting His Spirit power into a people who will know their God and obey His commands to them. When we are talking about the Tribe of God, we are not talking about survivalists, but we are talking about a people who move in the Spirit and walk in the fullness of God whereby His power is revealed. The Message It is exciting because God’s economics are flawless, and His ecclesiastical order is flawless, but we have been blinded to that order. We have been blinded through centuries and generations to that order. If we truly go back to the book of Acts, and we return to all things common, as one people praying together to see the power of God manifest, we will see God do miracles through His apostles all around the world. When we review the New Testament, we find that the communal order did not stop with the book of Acts, but that was meant to be the blueprint of the new Ecclesiastical order. Then somehow, men perverted it, and changed the blueprint into something which they call “the Church.” The word “Church” is actually nothing more than a derivative which means the home of an important person where people met together. But, because of the twisting of mens’ interpretations and understandings, this concept became accepted as Church, when originally, God intended His people to be in communities, living and working together, communal ingatherings whereby He would rule over them. False teachings and false coverings keep God’s people from developing in all that He has for them, and consequently, the circumventing of the intended New Testament order has kept God’s people malnourished and starved in true spiritual nutrition and development. We have been taught a false concept, and that concept is the Church! Everyone thinks that a church is a building, a social structure where men and women gather together once or twice a week, or every month, and that represents their commitment to God. But actually the Church, or God’s community, is far more than that. It is those who are actively living, doing, and practicing what God wants in their minds, their bodies, and their hearts. The Church is comprised of living stones and is far bigger than any building. As we have already shown, the word “Church” is a misconception that has replaced God’s intention for the New Testament order. The actual word in the Greek is “Ecclesia,” which was wrongly translated 112 times as “church” in the King James version of the Bible. Now, the word “Ecclesia” is correctly defined as follows: “the called-out ones, summoned, a select civil body.” What, then, did the writers of the New Testament mean when they used the word “Ecclesia” to describe a Christian body of people? Obviously, they meant the same thing: a body of Christians called out of the Roman and Judean systems to come together into a separate civil community or tribe. The misuse of the terms relating to New Testament order have actually perpetrated centuries of confusion. But, then, why would the “Church of this century” want such truths revealed when they make billions of dollars off of the flock of God? Why would churches want to lose their huge, powerful, economic empires just for the sake of truth and loyalty to God? They do not, therefore, God’s people are kept in ignorance and spiritual blindness, which results in spiritual death and sickness, and the greedy, money grabbing, religious machines called churches can go on with their calloused exploitation of human kind. A midwife told me when she was in Africa that the people she worked with believed if they rubbed dirt on the baby after it was born that it was good for it. Of course, the baby receive the filth and disease in the dirt. The Church is just as guilty! Let the newborns come along and they rub them in the filth of the world, in the disease of Sodom, and they say it is good for them. But God’s intention was and is for His children to be birthed into Spiritual communities, where they can be washed by the Word, not rubbed in the filth of Sodom and Egypt! As we have just read, the Greek word “Ecclesia” correctly defined means the “called-out ones.” This word was used to indicate a select, called, elect body of people. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, in the New Testament the word “Ecclesia” is the only word translated as “Church.” If we study Greek history, we find that “Ecclesia” was the name given to the governmental assembly of the city of Athens, duly convoked and called out by the proper officers, and possessing all political power including juridical function. So when they used the word, “Ecclesia,” it implied that God’s people were meant to exercise political power over themselves. They were to be an autonomous body of Christians under no king but Jesus, under no other jurisdiction but that of Jesus. We are not meant to go to the state and ask, “Can we have a church? Can we be a called-out body for God?” That is utter stupidity. The state doesn’t ordain us, neither does a bunch of theological, brainwashed church “elders,” but God does; God calls! Obviously, what was going on in Greece during the New Testament times bore no resemblance to the modern Church, so, the order that was originally ordained by God has no resemblance to the hideous mess men have created called the “Church.” The called-out body that God ordained, the Body of Christ, was a rule itself under the power of God with its own power to select, elect, and judge according to the percepts and commands of God. In the Oxford English Dictionary, considered the standard for the English language, the word “Ecclesia” means, “a summoned, convoked assembly, especially the Athenians general assembly, later the regular word for Church.” Thus, this again confirms than an Ecclesia was originally a select body. What then did the writers of the New Testament mean when they used the word “Ecclesia” to describe a Christian body of people? Obviously, they meant the same thing, a body of people called out of the worldly systems to come together into separate, civil communities, a people under no king but Jesus, with no man to rule them, only Christ. Now that is the reason why these same Christians got into trouble with kings and rulers and were crucified and martyred, because they dropped the natural kings and adhered to their spiritual king, Jesus. Now, you see this is giving us the true definition, the true meaning that God ordained for the New Testament order. He did not establish the “Sunday-Box God.” That monster is man’s creation. God established a new Spiritual community, a new Tribe, wherein Jesus Christ was to have the total authority over the Christians’ lives. It was meant to be a complete, independent, government ruled by the Lord. That is what an Ecclesia represents, not just some religious social club meeting on weekends. ...the true meaning that God ordained for the New Testament order. He did not establish the “Sunday-Box God.” That monster is man’s creation. God established a new Spiritual community, a new Tribe, wherein Jesus Christ was to have the total authority over the Christians’ lives. It was meant to be a complete, independent, government ruled by the Lord. The Bible does not give any indication that the Church would replace the Ecclesia, nor does the scripture indicate that the word describing God’s plan would be changed to please men. There is no scriptural authority for Christians to build churches, attend churches, or support churches. Those are inventions of men and their imaginations. Churches, as they are currently, are ungodly organizations designed for and by the heathen, and ultimately ruled by the ungodly. When you have to bow unto the state to do the work of God, then God is no longer your Head. I know, I made that mistake, and God allowed me to be grievously judged by the state because I had foolishly subjected myself to that ungodly power. We are meant to be in subjection to God and God alone, and we should be looking for and working towards the establishment of God’s intended order of this dispensation, the TRIBAL CALL, whereby His people, His Ecclesia, hear the call and come out and come under His domain. It’s only two thousand years later. Isn’t it time we chose to obey God? We have centuries of religious garbage piled on top of God’s true concept of the Ecclesia, centuries of garbage laid against what God’s community, His Tribe, is really all about. Today, we have a box god, man-made organized religion, where they use God’s name and His terminology, but they refuse to obey Him. They use half truths and half lies, but they will never walk into the fullness which God desires. In the beginning, God wanted purity, a loyal Tribe of true believers. Yet through the centuries, the pure Tribe that God began was perverted by evil, religious men who changed the truth into lies for their own gain, and deceived the people in order to obtain kingdoms of power in this earth. The Catholic Church, which was the first harlotry, perverted the original order tremendously. Then came the Protestants who in the beginning were looking for truth, but after a while settled for the same religious lies as the Catholics and gave up on the original desire for purity. In the beginning of the Protestant revolution, men and women were rebelling against the religious ritualism which was passing itself off as God. As the revolution progressed, so did the need to migrate in order to escape the persecution which had become intolerable. Many individuals and groups of individuals sought refuge and religious freedom in this nation, seeking to establish a true Ecclesia or community of believers and followers of the Lord. But, the purity did not last long and the same power seeking, religious men began to build their boxes all over again and call them “god.” So, the garbage came back, and now, anywhere you go you will find confusion, delusion, and deadness, and it’s all referred to as the Church. But what was really meant to be since the beginning of the New Testament was the Ecclesia, which is an actively alive people who are in tune with the Living God, moving according to His commands and following His Spirit of life. The true Ecclesia which God intended, and which He still desires, is the Spirit people of God, who would live in the Spirit community with the Lord. During the period of the King James translators, there were shifts of meaning, and the original concept of Ecclesia was done away with and replaced with the concept of the Church, which has ended up to mean nothing more than a body of believers who met once or twice a week in a specified location, rather than a community, a Tribe of believers who lived and met together continually for the purpose of the gospel. What has evolved as the “Church” was not what God had originally planned at all for His people. The original plan was laid out in the book of Acts, but man made a big mess by trying to improve on God. In the Church of today, the members basically live for their own selves, giving to God only a small portion of their time, their energy, and their resources. On the other hand, the Ecclesia is committed to fulfilling the purposes of God from its very foundation, and the time, energy, and resources of its members all belong to God and are returned to God for His purposes. The basic motives and desires of the two forces are obvious: the Church is self seeking and self worshiping, only using the name of the Lord. The Ecclesia is used for the furtherance of God’s desires and purposes through a people who are dedicated unto Him. When people are joined together in a true Ecclesia, they do not live for themselves, but they live for Him. God is the absolute God, not a compromising God. He does not mix half truths, half lies, and say it’s all true. God is absolute and He is a dictator. This is the very thing which men have sought to destroy throughout the centuries. They have sought to destroy the absolutism of God, and to make God’s people fearful of accepting the absolute authority of God over their lives. Unfortunately, the Christians have chosen to listen to self and demons rather than to God. They have preferred comforts and their own way before God’s way. But the real truth is that the Church is weak, ineffective, compromising, and diseased. When people are submitted and joined to a true Ecclesia, they are under the authority of God as their dictator who has the Lordship over their lives for His purposes rather than theirs. So the difference is easy to perceive: the Church equals selfish religiosity, while the Ecclesia equals an abandonment of self for the kingdom of God. The devil has done everything to keep the truth from God’s people because he knows the power that is in community, and furthermore, he knows that there is even more power in a God-centered community that is in obedience to God. There is absolute, irrevocable power in absolute obedience. When God’s people obey Him, He stands with them. The only way to have that absolute obedience is to let God have absolute control over your life. What calls itself the Church today is a rebellious entity because it refuses to let God exercise absolute authority and control over it, and instead, chooses to follow it’s own mind. The consequence is spiritual fraud. Christians today are liars, only using His name but not obeying Him. It’s like writing a check that you do not have the money to cover, or using someone else’s checkbook without their permission. Whenever anyone does that spiritually, using His name without the substance to back it up, it is spiritual fraud. Few people are willing to be in absolute obedience to God, that is among those who are claiming that they are His. We are living in a time when spiritual fraud is at an all time high and people are more interested in rendering absolute obedience to the state than they are in rendering absolute obedience to God. The Church as it stands today, has literally become a state instrument, and men and women are bowing down unto the unrighteousness of the Sodomites and the Egyptians through their connections with statism. Now, the true Ecclesia, the community of the Lord is not going to be bowing unto any state or government but unto the Lord. There are many who are recognizing that they do not need to be registered with the government, and some of them have gone to prison for their beliefs. But aside and apart from the government’s control, there is a control which we gain in the Spirit if we will give complete obedience to God Almighty. In this hour, the state is being ruled by demonic powers, and when men and women choose to make that their head, they render obedience unto disobedience. As believers, our first allegiance is to God and His standards of righteousness. When we stand with Him and Him alone, rendering Him absolute obedience, He is our strength, our safety, our hope. When He sets us free, He does not desire us to put ourselves back under our former yoke of bondage. What we are expounding on is the Ecclesia, God’s called-out people. I know that there are fragments of truth taught in these cracker boxes called churches, the organized religious suckchildren of big brother. Here and there, they have fragments which they may offer in their paltry provisions. But the truth is, they are bound by their head which is the state, and they are not living in community. They are not living in the true Ecclesia that God ordained. God wants His people to live and abide by the original order set down in the book of Acts. He wants them to be going forth in every aspect where He is their head and their Lord. In the beginning stages of the early Church, obviously the struggle became manifest as Caesar came into conflict with the purposes of God by persecuting the true believers and trying to stop the communities of God. Why is it that fleshly power opposed and attempted to stop the community of the Lord? Because there was power in that community, and it threatened the heathen. That never changes. Whenever a truly cohesive group joins together, the civil powers are threatened. But the truth remains that there has begun a revolution in the Spirit, and many are going to throw off the shackles of false teachings and be made free in Christ Jesus. In Acts 19, verse 32, you will find the word “assembly,” and this word in Greek is also “Ecclesia.” Now, as you can see, they did not use the word “Church” in this instance because it would have been an obvious mistake. Only three times in the New Testament do you find the word “assembly,” and each time you will find that the Greek word is “Ecclesia.” When it was used in this context, it meant an assembly, or civil gathering. It says in verse 32, “for the assembly was confused and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.” My point in mentioning this is to show that the translators of the King James version were fully aware that the word “Ecclesia” could and was used to mean something other than the “Church” concept which was prevalent in their day. Paul used the word “Ecclesia” because he knew the meaning he intended to convey, and it’s obvious that he was not talking about a nobleman’s house or building, but rather a body of people. Paul knew, and we know, that the Church was not really a building but the believers in Christ joined together. Although more and more people are coming to accept that concept of His body, very few are willing to live that concept, that is to be joined together with all things in common. Why is it that this concept is so difficult to put into action today? Why is it so difficult to see a body of believers in a community, living and working for the Lord? Could it be because Christians are too selfish and would rather keep God in a box where they could go and visit Him once or twice a week instead of facing Him everyday? That is how far it has gone people, that the Church has become a little “selfish entity,” where everyone only visits the god they have invented once a week, then the rest of the time they live for themselves, and by themselves without anyone intruding into their space. They do whatever they want to do in the world, flirting and flaunting themselves, indulging their carnality with all the world has to offer. But in the Ecclesia, things are different. Why? Because in an Ecclesia, the business is the Lord’s, and you are working at that and being ruled by Him. That makes all the difference in the world, when God is the King and ruler instead of man. In this hour, God is calling a people to come under His Lordship, under His domain. He is calling forth His tribes of men, women, and children who will serve Him. When Jesus assigned the twelve apostles, why did He pick twelve? He could have picked fourteen, fifteen, or twenty-five. Why is it that He chose twelve? It was because He was forming a new government. He brought forth the twelve to represent the new order, the order of the Holy Ghost. The new order was a Spiritual community whereby people were meant to be Spiritual and be joined together. We are meant to be a Spirit-filled and directed people, under the Headship and dictatorship of Jesus Christ. That was the original order that was established: the Ecclesia, the concept of His body joined together in community for the purpose of His Kingdom. This concept causes satan to tremble, that a people will rise up who will abandon their rights to their lives and yield those lives totally to their sovereign, the Lord Jesus Christ, that His power and glory would be manifest through them. The thought of a people saying no to Caesar and yes to Christ is something which the devil despises. Preachers today are more afraid of the state than they are of God. Isn’t that the truth, that preachers and laity alike fear man, and the political powers of men, more than they fear the Lord. Furthermore, most people today are more afraid of losing their money than they are afraid of losing their souls for eternity. Preachers today are more afraid of the state than they are of God. Isn’t that the truth, that preachers and laity alike fear man, and the political powers of men, more than they fear the Lord. I want to be under His dictatorship, the Headship of Jesus Christ. No one is forcing me. I need to be under His dictatorship in order to have my brain washed. Most Christians are screaming, “Don’t brainwash me!”. Why are they afraid of being brainwashed? Why don’t they want the Lord to wash their brains, that is purify their thoughts? Because they love their little box god, where they can control the rest of their lives the way they want to. They live in self indulgence and selfishness, and they love it so. But life in the community is shared; it is not for the promotion of self but for the promotion of the Lord, where you live for Jesus continually with all things in common. Many nowadays have the assembly concept, but they are not living as an Ecclesia. They are still only living in the box-god realm; they are defrauding God in a sense because they are not giving the Lord their all by allowing Him to be their sovereign king. Now is God’s timing for His Tribe, and this is what He is telling us that He wants, but it has been covered over for generations. Why? Because the Church has gained her power in keeping God’s people separated from Him! The Church would rather have their state and federal approvals than the approval of God. For the sad truth is that the modern Church fears man but does not fear God! Study true Christian history, whenever a people have sought to serve the Living God completely, the half-hearted fakes have always persecuted them through accusation and slander. God desires us to be His love slaves, subject unto His rule, obedient unto Him. Unfortunately, the half-hearts only want their way, not God’s way, so they will accuse and slander those who are willing to walk the road of abandonment to the Lord. Most Christians in this generation live in man-made prison houses called churches. But the Ecclesia is not this at all, for the very essence of the word tells us that we are meant to be a holy nation, a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. The word “nation” translated means a tribe, a clan, a peculiar people. God wants us to be that so that we may shine forth the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. The Amplified Bible says that we are meant to set forth the wonderful deeds and display the virtues and perfections of God. Is this found in the Church, in the realm of the little box-god? No, all that is found is vain and profane prattle, talk, talk, talk. In this hour, God is saying to His true followers, “Walk the talk!” He is sick and tired of continual hot-air blowing talkers who are no where near where God wants them to be in the reality of their lives. When people claim that they love the Lord but they do everything that the devil’s crowd does, they are liars. God is sick of the hypocrisy and double mindedness. He is calling forth a people who will love Him and be willing to come under His command. He is saying, “I want a people I can call my own. I want a tribe to myself. I want a people who will love me as their king and serve me completely as their chief, and not serve their own selves.” He is the Lion out of the Tribe of Judah, and if we are truly going to abide in Him, then we must be as He is; we must be a tribe, a people called out, separated unto our Master. This is His hour, and His calling is going forth. Do not deny Him but hearken to Him, and bow to His way and not your way. Choose to serve Him with total dedication and abandonment, and be in His Tribe, His chosen, His people. Do not remain in the boxes wherein men have sought to imprison you, but come fully into the Lord’s desire and see His glory come forth in His people for the chosen generation! I am writing these things to you, hoping to come to you quickly: but in case I am delayed, you will know how you should conduct yourself in the house (domain) of God, which is the Ecclesia of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. I Timothy 3: 14-15 ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “Jesus Christ, Our Tribal King” ► “The Sword of the Spirit – Our Greatest Weapon” ► Quotations on Peacemaking (by various Saints) ► “Bible Separation” ► “Church/State Marriage” ► “Jesus’ politics of Sacrifice” ► “Was Jesus a Conservative or a Radical?” ► “501:The Devil’s Son” ► “Church-And-State versus the Ecclesia System” ► “Is It Grace Or Is It Race???” ► “ONENESS – Love’s Fruit” ► “Where Did Church Buildings Come From?” ► “Salvation: The Uniqueness of Jesus Christ” Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Five Unity of Community (Part 1) by General Jim Green (p. 8 in Issue Five of The Tribal Call) Text: 2 Kings 22 and Deut. 29 As far as this group here, we have been a community for twelve or thirteen years. But, we have not pushed into the fullness of what God has and that is why I want to take the time to deliver these messages: to let others know what God wants and what is available and the power behind "unity." The world is involved in the concept of "unity," with disarmament, nations getting together, laying down arms, embracing other religions, being open minded, accepting different races, trying to understand people, all of these are attempts at unity. But, you cannot have true unity without God involved in it. There are five key concepts that I will bring forth which will build a strong Christian community. These concepts are for God's people to attain the very best. I am not talking about the best in terms of materialism but the best in terms of the Kingdom of God. We are being cheated. Pastors and religious leaders of this generation and past generations have literally defrauded the people. They have stripped them bare of anything that they could have in God, higher than what they present. They present a "pig trough religion": get down and slop it out with the hogs, grab all the world has, and get involved in the world—try to win the world and get all dirty, filthy and soiled, instead of going higher, cleaner, and holier in God. God wants a holy standard, but God's people have lowered themselves to such a pig existence, becoming hoofed whoremongers, whores, and pimps, and prostitutes. That is what we have today, and even though the religious don't like to hear this, it is the truth anyway. The community that God wants is not "churchianity,” but this community goes back to the beginning of time. All throughout the Old testament, all throughout the New Testament, you will find community. You will find tribes, you will find a holy people, a tribal people, a tribal community, an army of God; the Bible talks about all of these. But, what we have today is certainly not that. We are fragmented and we have factions all fighting against one another and none of them is really grounded in the unity of community concept. The text is II Kings. Josiah was a young king, a sincere king; his heart was right with God, which was rare in those days as most kings were wicked. He had sent some of his workers to do some money transactions and to repair the house of God and in that effort, these men came across a book which they brought back to Josiah. When it was reviewed, it was discovered to be a missing book of the laws of God. In the 22nd chapter, Josiah initially didn't know what this book was about, but as it was read to him, he rent his clothes as he discovered that they (the people of God) were not even living under the covenants of God. That is what we have today, in America and universally, religious works, but not under the covenant of God at all, but simply religiosity without righteousness. This was a discovery to Josiah when the scriptures were read. In verse eleven, it says, "It came to pass when the king read the book of the law that he rent his clothes." Now, jumping over into verse 13, it says, "Go ye and inquire of the Lord for me, for the people and for all Judah concerning the words of this book that is found. Great is the wrath of the Lord that is kindled against us, because our fathers have not hearkened unto the words of this book to do all of that which is written concerning us." Well, when that book was written and you go back and read the book of Deuteronomy, which we have in our Bibles, you will see that it is the self same covenant book of Deuteronomy that was discovered. This covenant book is where we will be going For the five concepts which are the keys to a prosperous community in the Lord. Now, I am not talking about churches—these things organized under the government of whatever country you may live in, whereby you have to get civil permission to serve God. THAT IS NOT WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. I know that we as Christians are guilty of fearing the governments of men more than we fear God Almighty and His government, and it is sorrowful that we have come to that. But, I have news for you, and I am boldly declaring that God wants a theocracy and not a democracy. The western nations, especially America, have been bent on pushing democracy on everyone all around the world. For this cause, wars have been fought, millions have died, all in the name of democracy. Then on the other spectrum, tens of millions have died for the causes of communism and socialism, whereby men are trying to play god and establish the godless community, this is also a failure. As Christians we have been cheated to believe in any of these systems of men as though a form of government could solve all the world's problems. We need to return to the roots God intended and that is why I am going to take us back into II Kings because it is here we find roots to our inheritance, to the keys to success in God. The existing order, at least in this nation, of churches organized under the 501, that is not what God wants; that is not the Ecclesia. Ecclesia in the New Testament was a community of believers living together as a unit. It had nothing to do with various little churches. It was individuals brought together in community unity as laid down by Jesus and the Apostles. Community, not church was the true foundation which we were meant to build on. It was a people living, functioning, working, and witnessing together for the furtherance of the Kingdom of God upon this earth. It had nothing to do with paying a pastor to teach you and tickle your ears, giving you fancy revelations that don't do your soul any good or teach you how to overcome sin. That is what is lacking today: the community aspect, living together in harmony upon this earth. God’s intention was not what has evolved with only a pittance being given to God instead of the totality which He intended for His people. God's people have actually been cheated into settling for only a fraction of the blessings that God desires to give them. What God actually wants and will have in the earth today is a theocracy. God is calling forth His people to gather together, irregardless of how much carnal men do not want that, and irregardless of how much governments try to abolish that, God will have His people under His rule. The call is going forth around the world, and God is letting men and women know that this is the hour to name Him as King of Kings and come under His authority. We have too long feared men and their systems and have not feared Almighty God. That is exactly what Josiah came to recognize. Because their fathers had not listened to what God had to say, they did not teach the children right and here they were, living in blatant sin without knowing it, living in a broken relationship towards God because they had not been taught the truth, so they didn't even know the covenant. Josiah was a mover. When he came into the knowledge of righteousness, he took action to revolution. He implemented what he knew and went into high gear and changed the status quo. He brought Israel back into a covenant relationship with God. People that is what we need today, radical revolutionary movers who will obey God and make changes! Every church member will weakly defend themselves, declaring that they already have a covenant with God because they belong to a certain church of some kind or the other. But all of that is lip service business, because the living and the talking do not match up. We have to keep God's commandments and dictates to us, not just mouth them while we live our polluted lives full of worldly garbage and religious hypocrisies. We cannot warm a pew and live in sin and expect the blessings of God over our lives. How do we make those changes of radical revolution? By abandoning the church cell and moving out into the community concept, going ALL THE WAY FOR GOD. GIVING UP OUR PRIVACY, OUR COMFORT, OUR THINGS, THAT WE CAN BECOME A UNITED SHARING PEOPLE WHO WILL ABANDON ALL TO SEE HIS KINGDOM COME IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN! ! ! Turn to Deut. 29:9: "Keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do." Now, that is the blessing, doing what God wants us to do. We have been cheated by the prosperity lust dogs, who have taught God's people to salivate after materialism and yet have not taught them about the blessings that come from obedience. God is not asking us to salivate for the riches of this world, but He is telling us to desire the riches of His kingdom, to seek to receive the same. People have stooped to unbelievable levels of degradation trying to meet the deluded idealism of "prosperity Christianity" thinking they received the blessings when really what happens is that their wicked deeds bring upon them curses. We do not have to be reduced to the level of dogs, but we can keep the covenant, and God can give us what we have need of. He knows the kind of prosperity we need, be it in our health, our wealth, our understanding of His word, our fruitfulness as labourers in His vineyard. When we obey, He prospers us. God never intended His people to love things. He intended His people to love Him first, and then other members of His corporate body, His community. Never once did God command His people to love things! The love of things is pure and simple idolatry, and it is not scriptural. So we can see that the concept here is to "keep the covenants and you will prosper, keeping in the laws of obedience." Today, if you try to obey God, people accuse you of being under bondage, under the law, being an Old Testament legalist, etc. but the truth is, when we refuse to obey God, we are in rebellion, plain and simple. Rebellion is the same, be it in the Old or the New Testament orders. God's moral laws and high standards of righteousness never change, and when we seek to obey those we are blessed. Even though we are not under the death threat for not keeping all these laws, it would do us good to observe the guidelines as in areas of eating and sexual behavior. After all, look at how many are dying from eating the wrong foods or too much of them and from indulging in sexual practices that are unnatural and that cause diseases to flourish. How much better off we would be if we would pay heed to God's laws and His standards of righteous behavior. We here are seeking to obey God, so that we may live and be prospered by God. The five key concepts we will be studying will show us what God wants us to know in order for us to be more well pleasing to Him, that we can come into unity with His desire, abandoning man-made order and come under Him. When it is really studied out, we see that for too long, we have been duped into believing that God's order for the New Testament was the church, which is not His order at all. The church was simply a meeting place. What God ordained was the Ecclesia, a called out body, or a community. It is amazing that we can be so defensive of something invented by men, yet when God faces us with truth, we have the choice to obey, or disobey and continue in our rut. But God desires radical revolution in this hour, and if that means forsaking the existing, accepted order, then we must obey Him for He is the life. The first concept which we will study is on the Transcendent God. This basically means that God is the Creator and we are the created; it means distinction. There is a clear distinction between God and man, and God is obviously the transcendent God because He is higher than man. No matter how many men try to present themselves as God, they are not God. Adam thought he could be God, but obviously he could not. Men desire to be God because they want to create and be in control. They want all power, they want to kill, they want to do what they want, and have all of the powerful attributes of God. God is transcendent, and He is higher than men that is why men imitate Him because He is the Creator. He is distinct and He is higher; therefore, He has the authority over us, we are His subjects. No where in God's Word does He relinquish that position to men, to have authority over Him. Many men have tried, but they have lost, for God is authority and He is transcendent, far above men. Unless men abide by God's standard, they cannot tell others what to do, that is they cannot bear righteous rule. Too many today are attempting to be rulers but they have not allowed God to rule over them; therefore, their rule is unjust. So in the second key concept, we see that we must not only have God's transcendence, but we must likewise have and recognize His authority, His hierarchy. Then we will deal with the subject of ethics, which pertains to standards of morality, of lifestyle, the righteousness, the holiness of God and man. What happened to the standard of God, and what happened to the commandment of God to His people to abstain from sin? What has happened? Why do men and women sit in front of a television all day long and suck in Sodom day in and day out? Viewing television brings in all manner of evil, yet most Christians do it every day with no shame. And yet they claim to love Him. They lie and they betray the ethics that God wants for His people. In order to have a true prosperity in God, there must be the godly standard—ethics whereby God's people are given the laws and they adhere to them. The next concept we will touch on is sanctions, which God will place on us for either cursing or blessing. God will either bless us or curse us. So many ministers and ministries are cursed, constantly begging for money all the day long. They cannot even preach without begging someone, anyone, to pay their bills. That is a curse for they are relying on the arm of flesh and not on God. So, they receive a unfavorable sanction from God. Sanctions is intertwined with our commitments that we make to God and He makes to us. We can break our oaths and bring reproach on ourselves or we can keep our oaths and bring peace upon ourselves. Many times, God is forced to break His oath to His people because of their sinfulness. The last point to be studied will be continuity, which means continuing. God wants us to continue our life in Him, not becoming circumvented along the way, not giving up, or compromising. God has a desire to be fulfilled in His people and through community. We shall see that He brings forth His desire. This is the generation when God is putting out the call to His community to be in unity, unity of purpose and life, and unity of standard and aspirations. This is the time to live His Word and fulfill Him. We shall have more on this in proceeding Issues of Tribal Call. Its is time for Christians to come out of their prison cells and come into the fuflness of God. God does not ask us to live in a teaspoon relationship, but He wants us full of the richness of His presence as He evidences Himself to His community of believers. The call is going forth, all around the world. Spiritual Christians are feeling the call to community, for the Book of Acts was not intended to end, but to continue. ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “Community Immunity” ► “Spirit Community” ► “Steadfast – Community Life” ► “GOOD TRAINING – Community Life!” ► What We Believe... How We Live... What We Do. ► “The Blood for You” ► “On WAR and PEACE: Our Violent Culture” ► “The Powers of Witchcraft” ► “Islam: A Religion of the Sword” ► “Islam’s Change of Identity... The Facade, The Facts” ► “REVOLUTION” ► “Christian Patriotism” ► “The Assembly” Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Six Unity of Community (Part 2) by General Jim Green (p. 8 in Issue Six of The Tribal Call) P raise God! Welcome to part 2 of the message entitled Unity of Community. As I was saying in Part 1, we are going to be dealing with some very vital issues, or I should I say, concepts or keys to success. You can be successful as a Christian, not money wise, but Spirit wise. You can be living a fruitful life in the Spirit, not just talking about it but living it, getting the most that you can get from God. Let God's sanctions and blessings be upon us. The first message was an introduction where we briefly covered the 5 main points. Now I want to begin going through the 5 points in greater detail one by one. The first point is the transcendence of God. The context of our message is going to be in Deuteronomy chapter 1. Also, we have talked about Josiah in the book of II Kings. I think he was 8 years old when he became a king. He had discovered the book of the law that was hidden in the treasure house, and as it was read to him, he got all shook up. He began to realize that he was king in charge of a nation that was completely backslidden. The whole nation was not even in covenant with God anymore. The very nation that was supposed to stand for God was no longer doing it. The fathers had forgotten to teach the children, and the great truths of Israel's heritage were lost. We are facing the same situation here in America. You may think to yourself, “There are churches everywhere! Everybody knows about God!” Yes, they may know about it, dear one, but they’re not doing anything about it. Their fathers forgot to tell them that they had better do it and not just read about it in Sunday School or let the preacher tell you about it. You had better be living a real life for Jesus, not just talking about it. This is the problem we are facing today, both in America and around the world: Christians are not experiencing their covenant with God like they should. I've said it many times, and I'll continue saying it until the end of my life, that God is going to have a Theocracy on this earth. And I don't just mean sitting around and waiting for Jesus to come back to make it happen. Sure, I believe that Jesus is going to come back; it’s going to happen. He'll be here. But what about in the mean time before He gets here? Why don't we believe that we can have a theocracy on this earth now? What’s the problem? The problem is that somebody "said" we couldn't. The problem is nobody wants to do it. Well, I'm telling you that it can be done and it will be done! Our group here has been striving to live as a Theocracy for years, and we are determined to go all the way. We want God to be our King, our ruler, our president. We don’t need some sodomite-loving, $$$ addicted, humanist to be our president. We don't have to look to some state or to some federal government for approval or permission to serve God. NO! We need God to be our King, and that’s all we need. This is where we run into big problems in America. So many Christians have looked to the constitution. They have looked to the courts; they have looked to man made forms of government in order to secure their "rights." It makes me sick! I Used to be brainwashed like so many others to believe that our American constitution was divinely anointed and given to the people of the United States of America. It was a brainwash job. I was taught the big lie when I was growing up. I believed it when I was in school, I believed it when I was in the military, I believed it when I was a Christian in my early years, and I don't believe it any longer! Why? Because it’s a big lie! The constitution of the United States is nothing but a secular, humanist document created by men, most of whom were members of the secret Masonic Brotherhood. This is not speculation; this is documented history. The constitution, and all the governmental machinery that goes along with it, is not a "divine" document as many believe because IT GIVES RIGHTS TO THE WRONG KIND OF PEOPLE! God never gives rights to the wrong kind of people. Remember that! God gives rights to the right kind of people, people who are living righteous lives for Him. He doesn't give rights to homosexuals or lesbians. He doesn’t give rights to abortionists to murder innocent babies for profit. He doesn’t give rights to women who want to murder their unborn children because they don't want to be inconvenienced. He doesn’t give rights to animals. He doesn’t give special rights and privileges to people just because they might be a "minority." He doesn’t give rights to pornographers who poison people with their filth. He doesn’t sanction and condone perverse and idolatrous religions that oppose Him. God gives rights to those that are right with Him. From a Christian point of view, Democracy is nothing but another form of men ruling over men, and all such forms are bound to fail because they are created and governed by fallen man. As Christians, we desire to place ourselves under the direct commandship and Headship of Jesus Christ. We maintain that God is the ultimate authority in every matter. To clarify, I'm not saying that God doesn't keep and appoint men to leadership positions—because He does—but we must be sure that God puts them there. Let’s make sure that our leaders are there because God put them there, not because they wanted to be there or because they've been elected to their position by men, like they do in a Democracy and in many churches. The concept that our leaders should be elected by "the people" does not come from the Bible. Show me where the Bible teaches that "the people" should rule. God rules His people and fills the leadership positions with those whom he chooses. This brings us back to our first point concerning the transcendence of God. Transcendence means, "Surpassing others; excelling; beyond the limits of possible experience, knowledge, and wisdom." Basically what this means is that God IS. All true knowledge and wisdom came from God to begin with. Transcendence also means, “Existing apart from the material universe.” What this tells us is that God is Spirit, and God created everything that is created. He created it all out of nothing. This is what the Bible teaches us, and we believe it. Of course there are plenty of pagans and humanists. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who claim that God didn’t create the world but that it just evolved. They claim that we just kind of evolved into what we are today. Yes, even some Christians are stupid enough to believe that big, fat LIE! Why are they believing that lie? I'll tell you why: because they don’t want God to be supreme. It’s rebellion! The root of it is rebellion! To put it another way, we could say God is the creator and we are his creation. The essence of God's transcendence is that there is a definite distinction between God and man. God is divine and man is human, and the only sense in which man will ever be divine is by virtue of the substance God puts in him: When God created man, He created man in His own image an likeness. He put some divinity in him, but he was only half and half. Needless to say, when man fell into sin he lost anything good that God had put in him. Don’t ever get the idea that you can be God or that I can be God. This is what we find a lot of in the "New Age Movement,” which is really the old age movement. Man trying to aspire to be God is as old as Adam and Eve. They may call it the "New Age Movement" but it is really old; it’s ancient. Man wants to be God. He wants to be recognized as the creator; he wants to transcend. We must get back to the fact that God wants His people to live under His rulership—in other words, a Theocracy where God rules. Yes, theocracy can happen now! Yes, it can happen in the 21st century. There is no valid reason why it can’t, other than the fact that too many Christians don’t believe that it can. For too long now Christians have been under the assumption that they are bound to obey the "laws of the land" and submit to whatever government may be in power at the time. They base this belief on a twisted interpretation of Romans 13, and the government is quick to encourage them in this false doctrine because it effectively neutralizes true Christians, making them into weak, passive, unquestioning slaves to the system. True, God expects us to live peaceably with all men as much as is possible, but when it comes to matters that violate God's laws or our conscience, God expects us to obey Him, not other men. The laws of God are higher than the laws of men, and the only thing that makes the laws of men seem valuable at all is that they have always borrowed from God's law to begin with. We are looking to have an international, intentional, community, and that’s why I have titled this message "Unity Of Community.” We want God's people together in unity, forming communities where God is the Headship, God is the King, God is the Governor, and God is the Commander, yes Commander— God commands His people. Let’s go on to Deuteronomy chapter 1. As I mentioned in the first writing, the book of the law is the book of Deuteronomy. You can find all 5 of my main points in Deuteronomy. What I want to focus on here is that God was revealing himself to His people, and of course, Moses was writing all this down for us. Starting in verse 3, "And it cane to pass in the fortieth year, in the eleventh month, on the first day of the month, that Moses spoke unto the children of Israel, according unto all that the Lord had given him in commandment unto them." God is showing that He is in charge. What Moses was going to deliver to the people came from God; Moses didnt make it up. God was showing that He was the transcendent God. He wanted His people to understand that He was higher, that He was the Creator, that He was the ultimate lawmaker. It is very important that we remember that there is a fundamental distinction, an inherent difference between the creator and the created. That is the essence of the transcendence of God. Men are not on the same level as God. We are created by God, and therefore, if we are created, we should obey our Creator. Amen? So why are we rebelling? Why don’t we obey God? What’s the problem? I’m talking about Christians! Why don’t they obey the commandments of God? Essentially, they disobey because they want to play God. They want to be their own God. They want to rule and command their own lives. That is SIN, pure and simple; it’s SIN! The principle being established in Deuteronomy 3 is that God's word is above man's word. God's word is the final authority, both spoken and written, on all matters. God still speaks to us today as well, giving us His correction, wisdom, and guidance by the Holy Spirit. This is how the Theocracy is able to function, because God is still actively communicating with those who truly desire Him to be their King. This is what’s so good about the community of God—I'm talking about His universal body— that it functions under God’s command by His Spirit through His chosen and appointed leaders. We need to just humble ourselves and accept the fact that the thing we've got out here called the church is REBLLION! It's man made; it’s not God made. We need to do away with the dead church order, get on our knees, and cry out to God: "We need to renew our covenant with the Lord." What is a covenant? It’s like an oath, and for us it’s a blood covenant. Jesus died for us, and now we have to die for Him. Our covenant with God is a two way street; it doesnt just work one way. God died to save mankind, yet if you dont accept that blood sacrifice—the atonement for your sins—then you cannot be saved. You cannot expect the blessings of God to pour out upon your life while you still run around doing whatever your wicked, little heart desires. You can’t save yourself either. And this brings us back to the "New Age Movement" again, back to humanism. Men are trying to save themselves, self-help: doing it their own way, educating their own minds, developing their "god potential,'' discovering the "god within." I can go to any New Age bookstore and find literally hundreds of books on how to save myself, and no one is saved! They're all blind and lost in sin. They’re all staggering around in the dark. No one really has a handle on anything, but they talk like they do. Unfortunately, it is spiritually impossible to save yourself from the power of sin and the damnation of Hell. It is spiritually impossible for a man to wash away his own sins. Only the blood of Jesus Christ and a life lived in covenant with God can do it. Why? Again, because God is the Creator, and we are the created. He is transcendent and has power over us. Amen? God created the world out of nothing. This is what the Bible teaches us in Genesis, and we believe it’s true. God created the world out of nothing, and He created man out of the dust of the earth. Then He breathed or imputed into him the breath of life, and Adam became a living soul. From the dust, we were created, and when we die, our bodies will disintegrate and return to dust, but our soul and spirit will live on—somewhere! Don't let anyone convince you that there's an annihilation coming for you, or you are just going to “soul sleep.” No, you are going to live on, because the soul and spirit of a man are eternal. And as we continue through these messages, we will see that where you're going to be after death depends on how and what you do with your life here and now. Genesis 2:15-17 says, “And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of in the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." That was a promise; you shall surely die if you eat of this. I don’t know what kind of tree it was. How can there really be a tree of knowledge if you think about it. This is deeper than some physical fruit tree. But whatever it was, God said, "Don’t do it!" and Adam did it. You know the rest of the story. He died and fell from his original place of dominion. How did he die you ask? He didn’t die physically—he died covenentially. When Adam disobeyed, his covenant with God was broken right there. He became spiritually separated from God, yet his spirit didn’t die because spirit is eternal. In the original creation, Adam's spirit was one with God: he had communion with God. But when Adam disobeyed, his covenant was broken. He could not commune with God as he did originally. This is what salvation is all about. This is why men are lost and dying in their sins. This is why the world is in such an evil, wicked, and corrupted mess. Mankind's covenant with God has been broken. Many people have come to doubt the Biblical account of creation and man’s fall into sin because they have been brainwashed from a child by some humanistic educational system. All I can say is show me one person who has ever lived on, who has ever transcended the ravages of sin. Show me one. Prove it. All people die physically, and this death is a result of sin. Yet even though we are bound to die physically, our soul and spirit can be born again, and we can renew our covenant with God. That’s what being bom again is all about, our spirit that has been broken by sin is renewed; it’s quickened. We become alive again towards God and our communication, our communion, is reinstated. We make a new covenant with God, and as a result of this new covenant, we enter spiritually into life again. Who is the life? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). There is only one way to God. You can’t go through the New Age guru Lord Matraeya. You're not going to go through Buddha. You're not going to go through Mohammed the prophet of Islam, you're not going to go through Shiva, or Krishna, or any other pagan deity. You must go through Jesus Christ to get your covenant renewed with God, to get the life of God again. Don't be deceived! Yet, you can get “education” and have lots of people tell you that you’re redeemed, but the proof is in the life—wait until eternity hits and see where you end up. This is not a joke and it’s not a fairytale. This is serious business. Men can laugh at this all they want, but you can be sure of two vital truths: you will die someday, and you can’t save yourself from your sins. Jesus is our savior; men are not. Of course, this goes directly against the teachings of humanism which tell us that man is his own savior. Obviously, men help other men in many ways, but the truth is that men cannot save themselves from eternal damnation. Death doesn’t end it all. In fact, death is only the gateway to eternity. If when we die we are not saved by the blood of Jesus, we will be separated from God for eternity. We will experience the ultimate death in Hell. But, if we are right with God and our names are written in the Book of Life, then we will experience the presence of God for eternity. So, we see that Adam brought all men into sin by breaking his covenant with God. He died covenantially. That is why the second Adam, Jesus Christ, had to come to earth and take on the form of a man, pay the penalty of our sins, and die on our behalf. He did that so we could be redeemed from death. He conquered death through His death. He died that we could have life, and so we could die to ourselves, to who we are, to what we want to be, in order to grow in His life. Now, I want to go to Isaiah 45:5-7. It says, "I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee though thou hast not known me: that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things." Another translation makes it clearer that God actually forms things out of nothing. That is the creator God, the transcendent God. He forms things out of nothing. Can man do that? No! Men have to have something to work with before they can create anything. It says He forms, or creates, the light and He forms the darkness. He created peace, He creates evil, calamities, and destruction, and He will use a whip on our back when we need it. I can guarantee that you will never have a true Spirit community unless you believe that God is transcendent, and man is not God. If you believe in humanism, if you trust in the arm of the flesh, you will never have a true God-centered community. If you desire to have a real community of God upon this earth, you have to recognize that God is the supplier, the sustainer. God created the earth. He is not of the earth; instead, He created it out of nothing, but He’s here with us, and He sustains us in this mess. I have a message for the mess-age: accept Jesus Christ as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. That’s the message. That’s the very thing that men don’t want to hear. And I know most Christians will say, "Of course I believe that I'm born again!" But believing it and then living according to those beliefs are two different things. God wants us to believe it and experience it. And how do you experience the life of God? By living it—by letting God work His will in you. So we must recognize that if we desire to have a true Spirit community, a Theocracy on this earth, then we all have to accept the fact that God is God and men are men. Of course, God uses men and women in leadership capacities. He anoints them and appoints them, and we must honor them because of that, but we don’t look upon them like they are God. And again, most people have a hard time taking orders from other people, don’t they? We all have a hard time taking orders. But when we are willing to recognize the fact that those who God appoints as His leaders are acting as mouthpieces for God, then obeying them takes on a whole different light. Moses was a good example of someone whom God appointed to act as a mouthpiece for Him to His people. We will all be better off when we recognize that God is the boss. When we are in the ministry, we are only storehouses of God's power, energy, His knowledge, or His word. We're not God. Unfortunately, I have known many ministers who would like to think that they are God. They sure strut around and act like they're God. Yes. we may have some godly attributes and characteristics which we have obtained by obeying God, but we are not God. In other words, if we are serious about building a community for the Lord, which we are, then it is essential that we pray and ask God what His wisdom is for the 21st century. Dear God, give us your wisdom for this ugly and dark age in which we live. Yes, the Bible offers us many invaluable principles and guidelines to live by and build upon, but we have to ask God now, today, for His wisdom and guidance to deal with the circumstances we face. And God will tell us! God is Spirit, and God still speaks to His people by His Spirit. It’s not just a cut and dry thing where we decide to take a few things from here and there just because they tickle our fancy and say, "I like this. I'm going to build a community this way." No, you have to have the Living God ruling in your midst. God is Spirit and He communes with us. God can be here with us now, and He is. He works with us through the manifestations of His gifts and the power of His Spirit. He is present with us, and we honor His presence. In fact, God should be present in all churches that claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but unfortunately, most of them have kicked Him out the door. Modern day Christians don’t want God in their church, although they say they do. They don’t want His presence because it makes them feel uncomfortable. They would rather have the dead routines and easy- to-follow programs of men. When men try to play God, it is an abomination in the nostrils of the Lord. How many Christians want to use His name and His fame, and of course, experience His "blessings" but they dont want to serve Him? And as the leaders set up in their dead routines, they cut God's people off from Him. That is what we call "churchianity," where men set up their programs and they chase the Spirit of God out. So, unity of community is what it’s all about, recognizing God as transcendent. I can’t cover everything that I’d like to at this time, but I can definitely tell you one thing: unless you're born again of the Spirit of God, you can sit in the church until you drop over dead, and you won’t be able to save yourself, nor have communication with God. This three-ring circus out there called the church is really sick. What you have is a bunch of dead people, going to some carnal building to hear a dead sermon from some dead preacher. They give God lip service, but they live for the world. Christians of today are more afraid of the communists, the humanists, the sodomites, and the government than they are afraid of God; they don’t fear God anymore! That's the major problem! And because they don’t fear God anymore, they don't recognize God in their hearts as the transcendent God. Although they say they do, their actions speak otherwise. They don’t recognize God as the King, as all powerful. Instead, they recognize men. Christians literally shake in their boots at the thought of what men might say or do to them, but they forget to fear God. You can’t have a community like that. The root of a strong, thriving community is the fear of the Lord. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. If you want to be wise in God, fear Him. Recognize God as transcendent, recognize Him as all powerful, and recognize Him as ever-present with us. Amen. ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “SHIMRANA TRIBE” ► Words of the Spirit ► “A Christian Proclamation” ► “Who Do We Obey?” ► “World in Peril: The Cross and Conflict” ► “Christian Patriotism” ► “AIDS: How Sin Defeats the Christian Immunity” ► “The Heart of Man” ► “Notes on Warfare” ► “Soldiers and Soldering” ► “The Map to Heaven” ► “TRUE SHEPHERDS” Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Seven Unity of Community (Part 3) by General Jim Green (p. 2 in Issue Seven of The Tribal Call) We've been talking about theocracies upon this earth. God-centered theocracies are ruled by God, not by man. We've also been talking about some key concepts found in the book of Deuteronomy. The first message was basically the introduction, and in the second message, we talked about the Transcendence of God, meaning that God is above man, that God is distinct from Man, that God is superior to man. And yet in this generation and in generations past, men have tried to be bigger than God. Even if they don't recognize God, they want to play the role of God. They want to be superior, they want to rule, and they want to create. They either want to create wars, or they want to create peace, but it all boils down to men wanting to play God. GOD HAS A HIERARCHY So that we can cover more territory, we won’t be doing a review of what we've previously studied in Parts 1 and 2. We are going to be talking about point two which is HIERARCHY. God has a hierarchy, which means authority—delegated authority. This is a very touchy message for some people. Men that desire to be ruled over will love it, but men that don't want to be ruled over won't like it. Yet God has ordained authority upon this earth because God is superior. In fact, did you know that God still rules over men whether they believe in God or not? Whether they recognize His Government or not? God still rules over men; they don't rule over themselves. Ultimately, in the big picture, God still rules the nations: He brings nations up, and He takes nations down. He does all kinds of things. He is still in charge of the universe; men are not. God allows men to go into folly until He has enough and then He'll stop them. Regardless of how it may appear, He's still in charge, thank God! God is in complete control of this universe. I'd hate to think about where we would be headed if men were in charge! I like the end of the Bible: God's people win! I mean, we are faced with a New World Order, and all of these conspiracies and wicked plots like the "Global Two Thousand," where the secret government elite intend to annihilate billions of people because, in their opinion, they are "useless eaters." We are talking about the committee of three hundred who have put this whole thing together in order to kill all of these people in the future. It is incredible what men want to do to each other, all because they want to play God. These are some of the conspiracies that are currently unfolding throughout the earth. A lot of people don't even know this. They don't even know that the United States plots to murder people around the globe. But it is still happening—men are still trying to play God. They are saying that people are useless eaters and that this race is worthless and needs to be annihilated. But ultimately, God is in control of all these things. GOD DESIRES A HOLY NATION What does all of this have to do with today’s message? It has everything to do with it, because God is wanting to bring forth a holy nation unto Himself. Nations have wandered from God. They have gone way out into another dimension: the dimension of rebellion, sin, sickness, and death. But God is wanting to bring a people back into His dimension. A dimension of holy rulership here on earth, ruling within yourself, ruling through His delegated authority. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, that I believe it is possible to have a God-centered theocracy now, here on this earth. We don't have to submit to man-made democracies, and we don't have to submit to socialism or humanism nor any other false religions or ideologies of men, but we do have to submit to God. This has been the big problem, and this is what God is telling us. God wants to build a holy nation: He wants to bring forth a Holy Tribe, a nation under His government and under His kingship again. You say, "Well what about all this Christianity that we have today?” The truth is that it's not Christianity—it's churchianity. Don't tell me that the churches out there are letting God rule over them; they are not. If God was to rule the church in this land and in other lands, you would not see sin running rampant like we see today. Men are in charge of the church and that's why it reeks with sin. That's why it's so sickening, and that's why God is wanting people to come out of those places and come under His authority so they can find out what real Christianity is all about. And this is the call of our generation, the call to a HOLY TRIBE, a holy, righteous nation. I'm talking about a community of people, mind you, people living together, working together, praying together, doing mission work together. Just as the early church was formed into Ecclesias . That's what God wants today, a community of people. Look at all the cities and towns around the world; some are big, and some are small, yet all those people are living together under some sort of a government, whether it be county, state, or federal, or whatever. Why can't Christians live together under God's theocracy? Why do we want to submit to a dead, man-made order—even though it may be good to a point—when we can have can have the perfect, divine order of Cod? DEUTERONOMY – THE BOOK OF THE COVENANT In this message, I want to talk about an idea found in the book of the covenant, Deuteronomy. Let’s go there. In chapter one, verses twelve through fifteen, Moses is repeating what God had told him in the past. "How can I myself alone bear your cumbrance, and your burden, and your strife? Take your wise men, and understanding, and known among your tribes, and I will make them rulers over you. And ye answered me, and said, The thing which thou hast spoken is good for us to do. So I took the chief of your tribes, wise men, and known, and made them heads over you, captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, and captains over fifties, and captains over tens, and officers among your tribes." Deut. 1:12-15 What you see here is hierarchy, delegated authority. We have already discussed the transcendent God, that is God's superiority. Now we are going to break it down and look at it more closely in terms of how it relates to men. God puts men in positions and gives them authority, yet God is superior. God delegates authority to men and women that they may rule over His people in this earth. And I know that people don't want to have anyone rule over them, especially Christians. They don't want to think that someone is going to rule over them and tell them what to do; they call that cultish, or heretical. And it's primarily because they're rebellious, because they don't want to submit to God's order. Nevertheless, God has ordained leadership and authority in His body. The scripture in Deuteronomy breaks it down very clearly, describing the attributes of what kind of men should rule. Not just any kind of men, but men that are known among the people, men of good report, men that are honest, men that have understanding, and men that hate sin. These are the kind of men and women that God chooses to put in leadership capacities. So we see as we study the Biblical hierarchy that there is basically a system based on delegated authority. God chooses leaders and delegates authority to them. And you'll find it in the New Testament also. This is a vast subject, and I'm only going to try to give you a small picture of it in this message, for the sake of the radio broadcast. GOING BACK TO THE FIRST ADAM Going back to the very beginning when God created Adam and Eve, we find that God gave Adam dominion. God gave Adam dominion over the earth, and everything that was in the earth. Dominion is a form of authority. And God gave him that dominion so that he could rule the world, that he could bring forth a people upon this earth over which God would have authority. We know of course that Adam broke the covenant with God and fell out of that place of dominion, and as a result, he came into a place of broken relationship with God. He lost the power God had given him. Dominion means power. Dominion means to rule over something, and Adam lost that power. And so did everybody that has ever been born out of the loins of Adam and Eve (which is everyone that's been born to date). Yes, I know there have been multitudes of kingdoms and governments made by men, and they have brought forth all kinds of different hierarchies and power structures. Yet, the true God anointed, God appointed dominion was lost. It could not be anymore because the relationship between God and man had been broken; the covenant was broken. Adam had died covenantially, as we have been discovering. He didn’t die physically at the time; he died covenantially. JESUS CHRIST – THE SECOND ADAM Now let's jump from Genesis to the book of Ephesians where we are going to take a look at the second Adam. Thank God, the second Adam, Jesus Christ, brought back that dominion power! Thank God that He brought back God's hierarchy and authority! The whole book of Deuteronomy was a book of the covenant, where they kept the laws and the statutes, which had the do's and don'ts of how they could live. That was what they had, but it wasn't all that God intended. God has given us a better way through Jesus Christ. He has given us that dominion power which will live in our hearts, allowing us to live our lives for Him. Yet they didn't have that dominion power back then. They had to go by the do's and don'ts; they had to rely sotey on people ruling over them. But today, we are able to enter into a realm where we have dominion power within ourselves to rule ourselves. This is the essence of godly self-government, and I am not talking about democracy or any of these man-made systems that people have contrived. I’m talking about letting the power of God rule our lives. And we'll discuss what that means here, but first, let's go to Ephesians and look at Jesus the second Adam and His position of authority within God's hierarchy. "Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all." Ephesians 1:20-23 The word church used here is really the Greek word Ecclesia, which in it's real meaning bears no resemblance to the churches, or buildings, or denominational organizations we see today in churchianity. An Ecclesia is a community, a tribe, or a holy nation of people living under God's government. The translators of the King James version used the word church, but the Greek word is Ecclesia, which means a community. And this is the message: "The Unity of Community," a community of people following Jesus, living, working, praying, and seeking God together as they did in the book of Acts. I'm not talking about a bunch of religious people who live like the devil and yet they still go to Church on Sundays. That's what people today call religion; they call that Christianity. That's not Christianity—that's churchianity. THE ECCLESIA WAY OF LIFE True Christianity is a way of life. It's people living together in a community, living out their relationship with Jesus every day. That is the Ecclesia, and that is what God wants. This is what He has always desired, and this is what He is going to eventually have. I am declaring that God is going to eventually have His community. Regarding the Ecclesia, it says in verse 23, "...which is His body....” We know the Ecclesia is His body here on this earth. Now, I realize that all Christians can't live together in one spot. Yet they can, and do, live together in smaller groups, or communities, scattered all around the world. And when we talk about the Body of Christ, we are referring collectively to all these Ecclesias around the world. But a lot of people can't grasp this concept, especially people in more "prosperous" countries like America. They think of church as just going to a building once a week to hear some dead preacher give some dead sermon to some dead congregation, and then they go home and live their dead life. They just do what they want to do six days a week, worshipping the idols of money, sex, food, sports, entertainment, and the pride of life, and then on Sundays they go pay some religious racketeer to tell them lies. That is basically what you've got out there. You've got a bunch of paid preachers giving you sermonettes to make you feel good and laugh a little bit, and it’s all designed to get your money. This is what they call "church." Dear one, the true church of God is people living together, fighting together against sin and the devil, and working together towards the same purpose. And in all of these things, God is the head, and He leads and guides by His Spirit. GOD'S TRUE LEADERSHIP AND AUTHORITY Of course, this doesn't mean that men don't have positions of leadership within the Ecclesia. God delegates to both men and women positions of authority within His Body. Yet the concept of the pastor who is hired to run the church is not in the Bible, nor is it God's desire. Modern Churchianity says, "We'll pick out somebody who seems very nice and religious, then we'll pay him a certain amount for salary or give him a certain amount in tithes, and he'll preach a fifteen minute sermon on Sunday and take care of all the church "business." And everybody loves the pastor because he makes them feel good inside, and he never talks about their SINS. That's about all you'll find out there in the land of churchianity. Of course, some men put on a much better show than others, depending on how much money they spend, and they can even convince you that they are "God's man of the hour," or that "the Spirit is really moving!" Yet, sadly enough, it's all man-made, not God-made. The proof is in the fact that sin is not eradicated out of the lives of God's people. In Contrast, we need to look at God's order as it is established in the New Testament. First of all, we've got Jesus Christ. He is the head of everything. He is the head of the Ecclesia, and He is the head of His true people. There is no man ultimately in charge of God's community, and this brings us back to the hierarchy. Next we have God's anointed and appointed leaders, or little heads if you will, whom God invests with the necessary authority to rule over His people on a day- to-day basis. Christ established His hierarchy in the heavenly dimension. He planted it in this earth among people, and now it is up to us to implement that hierarchy and build communities based on it. This ends our discussion about God’s hierarchy and structure of authority. There is so much more that could be said on this subject, and we invite readers to research on his or her own, letting God reveal a deeper understanding and appreciation of His true Ecclesia community, ruled and governed by His Spirit. CONTINUED IN NEXT ISSUE... ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “Darwin’s Confession” ► “Was Jesus A Cult Leader?” ► “Religion?...Or Government?” ► “The Vanity and Insanity of Humanity” ► “Cult Deprogrammer Loses Court Case” ► “Retributive Justice or ‘Cult Catcher Gets Caught’” ► “The Idolatry Must Stop” ► “What Jesus Said About Enemies: Start the Revolution” ► “Are You Armed With The Truth?” ► News From The Generals ► “Christian Patriotism” ► Prophecy Concerning God’s Spirit Community ► “Vision On The State Of The Modern Day Church” ► “Law, Liberty, and God’s GOVERNMENT” ► “What Is Freemasonry?” ► “Urgent Message From The Lord” ► ACMTC’s Christian Force Policy Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Eight Unity of Community (Part 4) by General Jim Green W elcome to TRIBAL CALL. We've been talking about and believing God for a Tribal Community in this generation in which we live. The Tribal Community is none other than a holy nation, a nation of people that are going to walk uprightly with God. It is a people who are going to walk in purity of heart, that are going to keep their hearts low before the Lord, and who are going to obey God's commandments, something that we don't see much of anymore in today's Body of Christ. This type of real Christianity has been thrown out the window and has been replaced with the television watching, music listening, fun, and games, brand of churchianity where you just forget about obeying God. But this community that the Lord has laid on our hearts to talk about will consist of communities of Christ around the world that will work together and fight together, not against one another. They will fight the enemy together and love each other in the Lord, letting the Spirit of God run their lives. And to do this, there are some keys which will make it possible. I'm just going to quickly review some of the things we've been talking about. Now, in the first message, I only gave the introduction that consisted of talking about the five keys. Key number one talked about a Transcendent God, which basically means that God is superior and we humans are inferior. God is the boss, and we are not. And the second key, we talked about was Hierarchy, which describes how God has a Government by which He rules over His people, and He has a Government within the Body of Christ. Tonight we are going to be talking about Ethics. This is the third key. You can't have a truly holy nation, or tribe, or righteous army for God unless you have ethics and standards. And the forth and fifth keys deal with oaths and continuity. So, there it is in a nut shell, a small picture of the five vital keys for a God-centered community. In fact, we already have 20 hours that I've taught on these five keys in the series called The Tribal Call. But, the points in these messages are going to be quick (in a nut shell), points of different views on this. Hopefully, they will give us an idea of what God is wanting. GOD DESIRES TRUE SPIRIT COMMUNITIES Yes, God is wanting His people to live communally, not like the hippie communes, but communally that they would live together and that they would pool their resources together and throw their man power together, for the sake of getting the gospel out into all the world. Yet people say, "Well, that sounds kind of cultish." What do you think a cult is? The word cult comes from the word culture. What do you think America is all about? The whole American "cult"ure started out with little cults, little sects of different groups. Even the Christians of this country are brainwashed into thinking that a democracy is the greatest form of Government yet invented, and they're trying to push democracy all around the world. And if we can't cram it down their throats, then we will kill them over it. And the communists are trying to cram Communism down everybody's throats, and the Muslims are trying to cram Islam down everybody's throat, and everyone is trying to cram something down everyone else's throats. But I've got news for you, and that is that I'm not cramming anything down anybody's throat. I'm just presenting the vision of a Tribal Community under the complete Theocracy of God Himself—it can, it will, and it is currently working. It's working for this group of believers here; it's working for this Missions Training Core. It has been working for years. Our community is small, but it's sound, and it's growing, so don't tell me it can't work. If people are willing to be under a God-centered Theocracy it will work. This brings me to tonight's message: you can't have a true Theocracy unless you will obey God. This is what a Theocracy is all about; it's the rule of God through men upon the Earth. People talk about all kinds of Governments, and they talk about Utopias; they talk about all of these great communal ideas and dreams that they want to accomplish. So what's wrong with a Theocracy? Why don't today's Christians want it? Because today's Christians don't want to obey God. It's rebellion! They want the world and they want God too. Let's face it—they are double minded, and some of them have triple minds. They want God's fire insurance, but at the same time they want to live their own lives and do their own thing. Well, I'll tell you right now that if you're going to be a true, sincere, born again, Spirit filled, Spiritual Christian, then you are going to have to learn how to obey God, in both the outward commandments of His written Word and the inward commandments of His spoken prophetic Word. In the last message, I was teaching about the authority structure that God has set in His body, in His Ecclesia, of prophets, pastors, evangelists, teachers, and apostles, which is the five-fold ministry used to bring God's people into perfection in the Son of God. These offices were established with the goal being to bring God's people into the fullness of God. What this means is that God set up leaders: people that would lead His people by His Spirit. I know there are rulers and leaders in civil governments, and in the big picture, they rule over lots of people. In the Body of Christ, we're supposed to have our own leaders that are led by God. We are to establish and abide by our own government with our own leaders, over whom God is the ultimate head. To be a godly leader, you've got to be led by the Spirit of God; you can't just make rules and regulations and demand people to obey them. Being a leader for close to twenty four years now, I know sometimes you almost have to become a dictator, and there are times when you have to command people to do certain things. But, I also know that you can't make people obey at gun point, and neither can God, because every person has a free will choice, yet we can try our best to make people obey God. SIN DESTROYS! The reason that we want you to obey God is so that you will be blessed by God. Why do you think we hit on sin so much around here? Because sin will destroy you, and sin will make you unfaithful and unrighteous. This is why we always have to bring the sin issue up. I know people get tired of hearing about sin, but you know what I’ve got to say: “TOO BAD! Because sin is a destroyer of souls, and you’ve got to recognize who your enemy is if you’re going to be victorious. Your enemy is sin, and this enemy comes in many different colors, shapes and sizes. First off, you have inbred sin, which we all have to a certain degree because we were born with it from Adam. Then we have the outward sin which surrounds us in this dark, filthy, slimy world in which we live. This type of sin is waiting on every corner to try to destroy us, and this is why we've got to learn how to be soldiers of the cross, inwardly and outwardly. Amen. You've got to learn how to fight against these things, and not give into them. Alright, now I want to talk about ethics, and I'm going to read out of the book of Deuteronomy, which has been our primary source book for this study. Deuteronomy is the book of the covenant. As a matter of fact, we started this whole series talking about God's covenant people. Everything points back to the book of Deuteronomy. Let's go to chapter 4 verse 13, where we will find some points regarding ethics. It says, "And he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform...." Now listen, he commanded them to perform the covenant. He didn't ask them to do it—He commanded them! Moving on to chapter 5, you find Moses recalling to the Israelites the Ten Commandments. Here you have your ethics, the Ten Commandments, which were written upon tables of stone. The Ten Commandments were part of the character of God. They were a description of how God wanted His people to live, and He wrote them down in stone to emphasize their importance and their eternal nature. Yet people in this generation are absolutely petrified, their knees begin to shake, and their heart fails them, if you even mention that they may have to obey the law of the Old Testament. They will literally pass out on you! We have to remember that the Ten Commandments (except #4, the Sabbath) are still connected with our covenant under Jesus Christ, and if we don't obey the commandments, we don't have a covenant with God! Why do you think so few Christians of today have any kind of real covenant with God? Because they don't obey His commandments! The commandments were God's character; they were how He expressed Himself to His people. RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD BASED ON ETHICS You can't have a righteous people unless you have ethics. We can see ethics in all sorts of civil governments too. In the military, they have a code of ethics—in the political system, in the medical system, in the thing they used to call the educational system; all of these systems have some sort of code of ethics that must be adhered to in order for them to function properly. So why shouldn't the Body of Christ have ethics and laws? It should and it does! The problem is that today's Christians don't want to obey God's laws anymore. It's pure rebellion! Nevertheless, our community here is going to obey God whether the worldly Christians want to rebel on God or not! The fact remains that God commanded His true people to obey His commandments. There never were, and there never will be, any gray areas. Either you will or you won't. Either you'll obey God and receive His blessings and goodness and mercies, or you'll disobey and receive His cursings and wrath. The ethical standards of God don't change. God is a moral God, and God's character is absolute and righteous; His law doesn't change. Whether you're talking about the law in the Old Testament or the New Testament, you are still talking about the same absolute God. You can't try to weasel your way out of obeying God by saying, "Well, that was just for the Old Testament Israelites, but now we live in the New Testament and we're under grace, so we'll do what we please!" This is the prevalent attitude of today’s Christians, but I’ve got news for you, and that is that you can’t do what you please and be a Spirit people. You see, God is Spirit and the Spirit of God is moral; therefore, if you are going to be a Spirit people, then you are going to have to be a moral people, both physically and spiritually. You can't have a true community, a true Ecclesia, unless you operate by the standards of godly morality. You can't just gather people together and fit them into a community and call it a spiritual community while everyone is doing whatever they want to do. The foundation has to be moral, it has to be righteous, and it has to be holy. MODERN CHRISTIANS IGNORE GOD’S STANDARDS Ethics have to do with God's standards. When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, they were a code of ethics. He wrote them down so that they would not be forgotten by future generations and so that we could go back and obey the commandments. But the Christians of today try to say that they don't have to obey them. The truth of the matter is that you have to obey all of God's commandments, whether you like it or not. There are more commandments of God than just the ten original commandments. There are commandments and laws that have to do with eating. If people would eat right, they wouldn't be so sick all the time, yet so many people rebel and eat things that they know they shouldn't, and in the long run, they pay for it in their bodies. Even unsaved people would live Ionger and have better lives if they would obey God's laws, not to mention God's people who have no excuse at all! Why do you think that God laid down the laws in the first place? So that His people would adhere to them and so that they would live a better, more abundant life. But today, His people just throw them out the window and think that they don't need them. When you take a look at this nation of America, you can see that it's dying from the inside out. The church system is dying, the political systems are corrupt, the educational systems are decaying, every spectrum of life in this country is disintegrating right before our very eyes, and it's all a result of people not obeying God’s laws anymore. They think that man's laws are better. This nation is a nation of humanists who worship and look to man for the answer to all problems. They no longer look to God for help like many of them once did. Their covenant has been broken, and they violate God's commandments 24 hours a day. All this has to do with the cause and effect principle that I taught on earlier, as you may recall. I really went into detail on this subject in times past, and this is what we have working today and has been working now for some time, cause and effect. Imagine a homosexual laying in the hospital dying of AIDS: his body is shrinking up, he looks like a skeleton, and eventually he is going to die. Actually all that is lust, the effect of the cause. So what caused it? I'll tell you what caused it: he stopped being moral, he deviated from God's standards and laws, and he committed sin wilfully, and now he is paying the price for it. This type of cause and effect can also be seen on a large scale involving the populations of entire nations, just as it can happen on a small scale (like the homosexual dying of AIDS). In every spectrum of life, we see the principle of cause and effect working all throughout the world, whether it be with the Christians or with the non-Christians. Cause and effect is still a basic law of the universe. Man is called to be faithful to God by submitting to the morals or the morality of God and the ethical standards and laws of God. We are called to do that. We are commanded to do it! And if we don't obey God, if we rebel, then we become unfaithful, which in turn brings the effect, which will be a curse from God. All kinds of things could start going wrong in your life. Your health could deteriorate, your family could break apart, and yes, God’s curse could cause your finances to dry up. But, the biggest problem of all is when your relationship with God goes down, and God won't draw near to you anymore. He's looking to see if you're going to keep your covenant with Him. Remember the word covenant in Deuteronomy 4:13: this covenant is referring to the covenant you made with God when you got born again. What we're doing is actually renewing the covenant with God that Adam broke. Adam, who is your real earthly father, that dirty reprobate, is the one whom you came from and from whom you inherit your carnal nature and wicked heart. But when we become a born again Christian, Jesus Christ becomes our new Father, our Spiritual Father. When we get saved, we make a new covenant with Him, and we break the old covenant with death and our old father Adam. Jesus becomes our new Father, our new brother, our new Savior, our new healer, and our new baptizer. When we accept Him, we receive a new covenant of life. Now why is it when you preach salvation to people they often get mad and upset? Why is it when you tell sinners that they're going to Hell if they don't repent that they get real mad at you and want to dismiss Hell like it doesn’t exist? They want to call you a heretic or a lame brain or they curse you out, why? Because the devil doesn't want them to get saved! The devil wants to keep them in the covenant of death with him. And that's where people will stay, in the covenant of death, until they repent and cry out to Jesus to save them. All men are suffering from the effects of Adam's covenant being broken with God. It affected all men—I don't care what religion or what nationality or what country you're from, you still live in death until you accept Christ, break the old covenant and make a new covenant of life with Jesus Christ. Then the new covenant starts bringing life and blessings into your life, instead of death and cursings. I can't understand why people don't want this? I can't figure out why they rebel against it. What it comes down to is that the devil has deceived them. Also, remember that you can break your covenant with God, as a Christian, along the way. Even though you may not say, "Well, I'm tired of serving God; I'm quitting." Yet through your actions, mental attitude, and desires, you could actually be breaking your covenant of life with God. Yes, you may even be going to church and still break your covenant with God. Few Christians realize that when you neglect to keep God's standards and laws that you can actually be breaking your covenant and throw away your salvation. Then you will begin to find yourself being cursed by God instead of blessed. We've talked to countless Christians that are cursed. Why? Their lives are miserable, and they don't reflect any of the life, blessings, and abundance of God. They are just miserable—what went wrong? Obviously, somewhere along the way, they broke their covenant with God and entered back into death again, and now they don't have God's blessings, goodness, and mercies in their life anymore. This is a different kind of death than what you feel when you are going through trials and tribulations in spiritual warfare or feeling the spiritual death when you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death with the Lord. We’re talking about the death that comes when Christians break their oaths with God and backslide into their old sinful habits. We're talking about spiritual death. When a Christian breaks their covenant with God and goes back into sin then death can literally claim and consume them. Then curses will come upon them from God! Okay, let's go to Deuteronomy 5:33 where it says, "Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God hath commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess." Here again, we see God's commandments. We see that God wanted His people to keep their covenants with Him so that He could continue to bless them, so that He could prosper them, and so that they could have longer lives filled with His goodness. God wanted His people to live by His code of ethics. God truly does want the best for us, but out of our rebellion and our covenant breaking, we show that we desire death—we can commit spiritual suicide. When people give themselves over to the sodomite television, to viewing all these filthy movies and magazines, and to partaking of all the worldly entertainment they can get, they are actually giving more of their time to those things than they give to God. What they are doing is actually breaking their covenant with God, and they're throwing away God's standards and morals. They're throwing away God's ethics and they're saying God's holy and righteous character doesn't matter anymore. They are actually saying that the world is more important to them than God. As you might expect, this offends God. You say, "Well I can't offend God." You’re wrong because you can offend God. You can grieve the Holy Ghost, you can grieve God's Spirit, and if you persist in your sins, dear one, God will dismiss you as none of His—God will break His covenant with you. Yet in reality, we actually caused it by our actions, and we can then feel the effects. It goes back to the cause and effect. We caused it because we gave our hearts over to other lovers and committed every sinful act in God's face. So, then the only thing God can do, since He is Holy and Righteous and a God of standards, is to get rid of us. Amen? Let's go now to Deuteronomy 29:9 where it says, "Keep therefore the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do." Now here we go again: covenant keeping equals blessings and prosperity. When we talk about prosperity, it doesn't always just mean money and material prosperity. It can include a lot of things like Spiritual gifts. So we can see that the action or cause of keeping our covenant with God will have the effect of blessings from God. If you recall the book of Joshua when God told them to go in and take the land, you'll remember some of the wars that they went into and that the outcome of the battle depended on whether or not they were keeping their covenant with the Lord. In fact, the whole book of Joshua was a picture of covenant keeping. I know they blew it a couple of times and failed God, but the overall picture of the whole book was one of covenant keeping and blessings. As long as they kept their covenant with God, Joshua prospered, and they conquered. Of Course, not everything that God wanted was totally done, but regarding Joshua's lifetime and those that lived after his death, you could say in a sense that it was a picture of the cause and effect principle in action. They kept the covenant, they obeyed God, and the nation prospered. Then we see the sad point when we go into the book of Judges. There, we find time and time again that God's people did what they wanted to do. They did what they thought was right in their own eyes. They rebelled and broke their covenant with God. They didn’t even want to hear about the laws of God, and so God cursed them. The whole book of Judges is a book of blessings and cursings based on the cause and effect principle. God’s people would rebel and then get cursed, war after war, captivity after captivity. The enemy was always there to harass them and to inflict evil against them because of their unfaithfulness to God. Yet God was still faithful and merciful, giving them chance after chance because they were His covenant people—although they were breaking their covenant. In several instances ,God raised up judges to rescue His people and bring them out of their backslidings, but invariably, they woyld go right back and do the same thing again just a short time later. This again is a big picture of the cause and effect principle regarding covenant breaking in the book of Judges, and it's a sad thing. So it all boils down to whether or not we are faithful to God. If we are faithful, then we are going to have life, but if we are unfaithful, we will receive death. Christians today are always saying that they can't feel the Lord, "I just feel so dead." Why? "What have you been eating?" is the first thing I'll ask them. "Well, I only watch eighteen hours of television a day." Is that all? Why don't you just go for the full twenty-four hours? What you eat physically as well as spiritually will affect your body. We have learned this from experience. If you have an eating problem where you're always eating junk food, you're not going to feel very good. It's the same with spiritual food. If you eat the food of the world that's produced by sodomites and lesbians, humanists, Communists, satanists, atheists and all the unbelieving weirdos in the world, taking it into your bosom all day through the TV and movies and all kinds of worldly entertainment and music, then what do you think is going to happen? When you take all of the filth of the world through your ears and eyes into your mind and heart, you aren't going to feel so good, right? Then you have these political activist Christians who get all worked up and decide to fix things their way. They tell you, “Let’s write our congressman!" Go ahead and write your congressman, but too bad he's busy in the bathhouse committing a homosexual act with Joe the male prostitute. Brother, you might as well not even waste the stamp by writing to your stupid congressman. Why don't you just get on your knees and pray? Why don't you get your covenant back with God again? Church people are notorious covenant breakers! I would say that almost every one of the churches in our land today have broken their covenant with God. The truth is made manifest by the way they eat, by the way they work, and by the things they do and the places they go, and by the sins they commit. They aren't even doing anything that is righteous anymore. And then they have the audacity to shake their self-righteous fingers at those dirty abortionists who are murdering all of those innocent babies—when their own pastors are just as guilty of aborting the born-again babies in their own congregations by not telling them to STAY AWAY FROM SIN! Look at some of these morons that go to churches today calling themselves Christians. They look like, talk like, and act like sin! They wear the trappings of the world, they listen to the world's slimy music, they watch the world's slimy TV programs, and they have all the same mannerisms as the world. The youth look just like hoodlums, the women look like sluts, the men look like pimps and perverts, and even the old men and women can't wait to jump into bed with the first available person. And how many preachers have we met who are nothing but raving homosexuals or adulterers—I'm telling you the truth tonight—And then they want to shake their finger at the world, condemning those poor sinners who aren't as spiritual as they are. They will attack the people that don’t even know God, the people that have never even made a covenant with God, and demand that they clean up their act. These hypocritical, carnal Christians want the unsaved to clean up their act so that they (carnal Christians) can partake of their worldly entertainment without feeling too guilty. There is an entire movement in America where the Christians are trying to force the unsaved to clean up their television programs in order to make them presentable, so that when their children sit down in front of the TV, they won't have to worry about having them exposed to any cursings or live sex acts. What hypocrisy! Today's Christian camp is literally reeking with filth; it's like living in a sewer house. I don't care if the people look nice, say nice things, drive nice cars, and have lots of money in their pockets. It's all a show! The truth is that they are filthy! They are continually polluted by the things they view, the things they hear, the things they think about, and the places they go—cause and effect. Then we wonder why there is no revival. We wonder why it's hard to get people saved. Who would want to join such a bunch of hypocrites anyway? Why should they settle for "sanctified sin" in the Christian" camp when they can have a much better time partaking of the real thing in the world and not worry about being a hypocrite? Now I'm going to quickly mention three things in closing that have to do with different aspects of Biblical ethics. The first one has to do with motivation: what motivates us to do what we do? Motivation has to do with our motives. Have you let God examine your motives lately? We could be motivated out of pride, we could be motivated out of greed, or we could be motivated out of fear. There are many different things that can motivate us to do religious works. Then we can claim that we are doing them for the Lord when, in fact, He is not even in them. We need to let God search our hearts and examine our motives. If our motives are not in line with God's desires, then our actions will be unethical from a biblical viewpoint. Next, we must talk a little about God’s standards, which reflect God's character. Does God have standards for His people to live by? Of course, He does. God has always had standards, righteous and sanctified, for His people to live by. This brings us back to the question: why do so many Christians want to look like the slimy world? Why do they want to wear all the styles and fashions that identify them with the filthy gangsters, rappers, murderers, adulterers, sodomites, and every other unclean thing? Christians dress up in all the latest styles of the world and fill their houses with all the images and idols of the world. Then, they want to talk about how they serve a holy and righteous God. Something is fishy! Their lives don't match up to the standard of God. You can't have a clean camp unless you adhere to a clean standard. You can't just talk about it; you’ve got to do it. The last point we need to discuss is application. We've got to apply what we know. We've got to apply the principles of God. You can't just say, "Yes, I've memorized lots of scriptures, and I've read lots of books about God." You've got to apply your knowledge about God so that it will affect your life. Basically, you can know all about Biblical ethics and realize that they are good and true, yet if you don't apply them to your life, all your knowledge is of no use. How we apply our Biblical ethics also has much to do with each individual situation. Reality teaches us that situations will change, and that is why we must always remain sensitive to the Spirit of God in every situation. We cannot rely on ourselves; we must rely on God and seek His face. He will lead and guide us in every situation, examining our motives, pointing us toward His holy standards, and making sure we apply ourselves toward living a life that is pleasing to Him. ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► The King’s Royal Regiment: Guidelines For Consideration” ► “The Tribal Vision” ► “Christian Patriotism” ► “The Rapture Plot” ► “Spiritual Authority and Romans 13" ► “The Nature of Freemasonry” ► “SALVATION” ► Forgiveness Prayer Let us know your thoughts. Order Our FREE Publications, CDs, DVDs, and tapes. Click here to contact us by E-mail! Or, write to us at: AGGRESSIVE CHRISTIANITY HR 60, BOX 11, FENCE LAKE, NM USA THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Nine Unity of Community (Part 5) by General Jim Green (p. 4 in Issue Nine of The Tribal Call) Text: Deuteronomy 28 LET US continue on with part five of the messages entitled Unity of Community. We've been discussing the concept of a God-centered Theocracy, which is essentially a form of government where God rules over His people on this earth. In the big picture, God does rule this world and is ultimately in charge. Men think that they are in charge of their nations, or their little station in life, but ultimately God is in charge. Even in His written Word, you will find that God raises up nations and He takes nations down. In the small picture, in our little corner of the globe where we live, we are determined to be under a Theocracy, a very real form of government which operates under the rulership of God. Our community of Christians here is ruled over and directed by God. This is the concept that God is telling us He wants to bring forth in this generation of darkness filled with pride, hypocrisy, and sin on every corner. We're living in dark ages once again and, God is saying that He wants a holy people. You might be thinking, "We are holy because we're Christians." Don't give me that! Just because you say that you are a Christian or you belong to a church doesn't make you holy, and it doesn't make me holy. Holiness is something that God works in you, and holiness is something you have to practice every single day. It's not just something you talk about, but it’s something you must practice. You don’t just put on a certain set of clothes that look holy or put on a religious holy act, and then you're holy. No! You've got to live a holy life. This is lesson 5. We are going to be discussing the 4th necessary key for a God-centered community or Ecclesia to function properly. “Ecclesia" is the right Greek word which means a body of people, a called-out body of people living together. We're not talking about all the individual people that we find all over the world who gather together on Sundays at a building called a church, and then try to say that they are the "true Church." Of course, we know that the universal Body of Christ is made up of the true Christians all over the world who are connected by the Blood of Jesus, not by buildings. But what we are talking about is a real live community of Jesus' people living together and serving together. That is what the Ecclesia is. You might call them little kinglets, where God's true people live together, serve their King, and live under the commandments of their God. We've been brainwashed in this country called the United States of America to believe that a Democracy is the greatest government in the universe and that it's God-inspired and God-centered. Would you believe that many people still think that our Constitution is God inspired? I even used to believe it! Why? Because that's what I was told, that's what I read in my history books, and that's what I was told in the military. And to top it off, that's what I was told all through my years of involvement in the Church; it went right along with my belief in patriotism. So, I just naturally believed that the government of the USA was ordained and inspired by God. I thought that Democracy was so great, and I wanted to see it spread. What I didn't realize was that Democracy means nothing more than letting the people rule. It has nothing to do with what the Bible is all about. God has never instituted a system where men make the rules. That doesn't mean that God won't use leaders to rule the Ecclesia, because He does, but ultimately God is the one that gives the commands. This brings us back to the points we've been talking about in the previous parts of this series. We must remember that the Ecclesia concept rests on the hierarchy and the transcendence of God, meaning that God is superior to men, that His ways are above men's ways, and that God will ultimately rule over us. Men just don't rule over themselves. In a civil government, such as this country has or in any other government or country, I guess a Democracy will fill the bill to a degree, but please don't claim that they are God inspired, because God does not rule through men who do not allow God to rule them first! When you think about the United States Constitution and how they say that it was God's answer to the prayers of our forefathers, it has to be a joke. How do I know this is true? Because God would never have set or appointed lesbians and homosexuals to rule like we see today in the good old USA. There are openly confessing sodomites and lesbians in every level of government. God has not set that kind of system in place that gives rights to the wrong kind of people. For sodomites to say that they should have minority status and demand equal rights is totally absurd! There is no relationship between Democracy and true Theocracy, not by any means. Democracy is not and never was inspired by God. Yet today's Christians are scattered all over the place, when they should be the most tightly-knit people around. As Christians, we should desire to have our own teachers, to have our own form of government, to have our own schools, to have our own everything! Christians don't need to receive advice from United States Government. They don't need to worship the Constitution, but they should have their orders directly from God. Why don't we have this? I'll tell you why: because Christians of today want to have their cake and eat it too. Which brings us back to the main emphasis of these messages: get rid of the sin, get rid of the self-life, and then you’ll have a Theocracy. They don't want God ruling over them, whether it be by His Spirit or by the leaders that He chooses—people don't want this. They want to do their own thing and say it's of God. They would rather listen to their little paid perverts called "pastors" that tickle their fanny and tell them all the lies that they want to hear. So the preacher gets richer, and the people go away happy, thinking that they have been given deep revelation and spiritual enrichment. This is what the church scene is all about. And yet they continue to live in sin and live totally for themselves. They're totally selfish and have very little regard, if any, for the lost and dying of the world. If Jesus Christ was to come back, as they all claim that He's going to do at any moment, He wouldn't receive them! He said that He's coming back for a Church that's spotless and without wrinkle. You can't try to tell me that some whore who works the streets every night is spotless and doesn't have any wrinkles or diseases; can you? Obviously, the Christian Church has lifted her skirts to every filthy thing coming down the street—she has laid with them all—and now she stinks like the big, dirty whore that she is. God gets very picky on matters of holiness. God is absolute, and I've always taught that if you are going to believe in anything, dear people, believe in it with all of your heart; go for It all the way! Be willing to die for it. Christians, I'm telling you that this is the way things should be. We should be separated from the world, separated from sin, and obeying the commands of God under His Theocracy, where God has complete rule and rein. I know you're probably thinking to yourself that the Body of Christ international is the Theocracy of God and God does rule it. Well, don't give me that stuff! You know and I know and Satan knows good and well that God does not rule over the vast majority of those who call themselves His people. Why? Because His people won't let Him control their lives. They call it bondage and oppression. The truth is that they have twisted it around. They are ones in bondage, and they are the ones oppressed, because if they won't let God control them then they are in bondage to the devil and their own sins. They are the ones who are oppressed, vexed, tormented, and miserable, and yet they say they don't want to be in "bondage to legalism." What they are really saying is that they don't want to live by the standards of God's holiness or submit their lives to the scrutiny of God-appointed leaders. Why not? Because they love their SECRET SINS, and they refuse to let them go. The only true freedom that we will ever find is in being controlled by God and coming under His Theocracy. If God had total control over His people, we wouldn't have this thing called the Church that is so sin ridden and filthy. Amen? I could go on and on with this point, but I don’t have to convince any of us here because we already know what God has told us. Yet trying to convince some of these hard-headed religious people that they're living in sin, that they have broken their covenant with God, and that they need to renew it is another story. All we can do is continue to pound away, telling the truth whether people like it or not. Let's begin talking about key #4 which is Sanctions and Oaths. Sanctions have to deal with blessings and cursings, which have a direct effect upon many other areas of our lives. Let's go immediately here to Deuteronomy. This has been the book out of which we have been studying the five keys to the Unity of Community. Deuteronomy is the book of the law, and it's the book of the covenant. If you want to find out the true roots of your covenant with God, then go to the book of Deuteronomy. You may say, "Well that's the Old Testament, and now we're under grace, and bla, bla, bla...." Go ahead and believe whatever you want. God does not change—His moral laws do not ever change. And you'll find so many moral laws in God's book of Deuteronomy that you will be shocked, and they are good for us here and now. Even the natural laws that God's people adhered to some 4,000 years ago would do us good today, in this generation, if we carefully considered them and the wisdom that they were based upon. It would do this generation good to follow many of these laws even today. It would help us get our hearts right with God again and clean up our act. It would do us good to throw off the trappings of the enemy, to get rid of all the witchcraft out of our houses and out of our churches. Most of all, dear people, it would do you good to dismiss your heretic preacher and lying evangelist—they live for themselves, lie to you, cheat you, live double lives, and take your money. Get rid of them! You don’t need them; you need God. Get God-centered and search for some sincere people who love God’s ruling and covering. But please, stop paying these perverts who call themselves “men of God” just because they have a big church or they say that they are called of God. Listen, just because you say something or I say something doesn’t prove that it is true. Actions speak louder than words. Watch and see how they live; that will let you know where their hearts really are. "And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shaft hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.” Deuteronomy 28:1-2 Now dear people, starting in verse 3 all the way up to verse 14, you will read all about God's sanctions. Sanctions are put in place to assure, the goodness and blessings of God. The dictionary definition for sanction says: ''Giving a binding force to a law (we're talking about the covenant laws here) or secures obedience to a law as a penalty for breaking it or a reward for keeping it.” That's what a sanction is. Basically, when you break it down, sanctions are one half of the cause and effect principle. Sanctions are connected to oaths, and an oath is our statement of commitment to God. Starting back in the very beginning of mankind when God created Adam, God made an oath or a covenant with man. And man made a covenant with God. But then Adam broke the covenant with God and died, covenantly speaking. He did not die physically the day he disobeyed; he died covenantly, or spiritually. In other words, he broke his oath with God; he reneged on it, so God broke His oath and cursed man. In the beginning, Adam was blessed by good sanctions all the way. God had said that He wanted him to prosper and see Him be blessed. He said that He wanted Adam to raise up children and that they would be blessed upon the earth, and on and on. That was the original agreement. God also swore to Abraham that He would make Him a father of nations, but God made sure Abraham knew that he would have to keep his end of the covenant with God. Covenants and oaths work 2 ways. I can only make a small picture of this, but we can basically see that an oath means to promise, to declare, or to swear solemnly. That's what an oath is. If God makes an oath with us, it won't do any good unless we accept it and make an oath with God. God just does not bless us unless we accept His sanctions, or I should say the conditions of His blessings. The concept is found throughout the New Testament that when God searches us out and finds us, we are dead spiritually, or covenantly. We are dead towards God when He searches us out and brings us to a point of repentance and acceptance of His covenant. This is what it means to be born again. When you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus is the Christ and the Savior, repenting of your sins, and you make an oath with God saying, "Yes, I want to do that; I want to serve the Lord," that is when you are born again. But in the fine print, you need to know that when you accepted Him that there was in your covenant a clause that states you will receive a penalty if you break the covenant. It is vital to realize that if you break your covenant, you will receive cursings from God. Now, this is what I want to make clear, because a lot of people do not believe that once they're saved that they can lose their salvation in the Lord. They don't understand the first thing about sanctions. Sanctions are in place from the beginning to the end, and they have a very important part to play in our redemption and walk with the Lord. Now, if you take time to read verses 3-14, you will see all the wonderful blessings that God wants to bless men with, but when you come to verse 15, things change. Verse 15: "But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments, and His statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee." Then it gives a long list of all these curses. What is this all about? These are sanctions, and they should be functioning in the Body of Christ today. You will always find sanctions in place in a real Theocracy, but they won't work in the Church as we know it. Why? #1) The people get away with murder, and no one really cares. #2) The preachers can get away with murder and no one really cares. Nevertheless, God keeps track of men: just because they have broken their covenants with God and they don’t care anymore about Cod's laws doesn't mean that God won't hold them accountable. If people break the laws of God or do something that is stated to be wrong, and they don't repent of it, then they should be brought before the Church—there should be judges there to judge the matter. The Bible also teaches us that if you don't judge your own self, then God is going to have to judge you. This is why we have the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of God in us, to guide us and instruct our lives, to tell us what is right and what is wrong. For example, if you go and steal something, there should be a voice inside of you that says, "Don't steal; it's wrong. You're breaking a law of God." How do you know that it's a law of God? The Bible, our moral guidebook, says it's a law of God. Thank God that the Spirit of God told and reminded us in case we had forgotten that stealing is a sin. Now, the work of conviction is what the Spirit of God does. Yet we can still go on and say to ourselves that we are going to steal anyway because we dont care what the Spirit says to us. When that happens, then we are willfully breaking God's law. Multitudes of people break the laws of God daily, millions of them, and they don’t even pay any attention to their consciences, where the Holy Ghost is telling them what is right and wrong. It all comes down to self-government. You can offer people a system of external laws and statutes designed to ensure all possible freedoms, and many people will attempt to put on a good show outwardly, but when they are all by themselves, they secretly break all the rules. That is what you call a big, fat hypocrite. Amen! This is what Church people are so guilty of today. They go to Church and say that they love Jesus oh so much; they say that they think He is so magnificent, and all the time, they are thinking about what they are going to eat when they get home. They are fantasizing about which television programs they are going to watch and sit their kids in front of. They're sitting in the pews thinking about all the things of the world—the sickest part is that they're way more excited about the things of the world than they are about loving Jesus! That is what you call hypocritical, and this is where the Body of Christ has went down the tubes. It says it's Christian with it’s mouth, but it doesn't believe it in it's heart anymore. That's why there are so many curses and judgements besieging the Christian Church in this hour. Christians fail to realize that when they made an agreement with God, they also agreed that if they broke His laws that they were going to accept His judgments upon then. It's written in the law! It doesn't matter if you want to accept it or not; it's still written there. Just because we are in New Testament times doesn't mean that God will not judge our sins. That's why Jesus died, so that we could have power over sin and put it away from us. So, if we continue in sin after we have given our lives to Jesus, then we are going to be judged for it. I'm telling you this because I want you to see that the concept and principle of sanctions involve two parts, the fist half being blessings and the second half being cursings. It says IF you will keep my laws and my statutes, and IF you will obey me and do what I tell you to do, you will be blessed. Isn't that wonderful, glory to God. We're going to be blessed. But on the other hand, IF you go sucking after Sodom and you go whoring after Egypt and IF you lust after everything in the world, and IF you like to rub elbows with the Egyptians and the Canaanites of the world, and you like to make marriages with them, and IF you like to go to all of their recreational centers, and listen to their music and hang out at their places of filth and do everything that they do, and IF you enjoy being entertained by the world, you are eventually going to pay for it! It's all part of the contract; it’s all right there. It all boils down to what I was teaching on the other night: cause and effect. We feel miserable when we receive the effects of sin. If you drink too much at the bar during the night, you will wake up in the morning with a terrible headache. What is happening? You are feeling the effects of your sin, and you're getting your just reward. I know, I used to drink in the world, and I got plenty of headaches, you know what I'm saying. When you drink too much you feel miserable and very bad—you wish you were dead. But you wouldn't wake up with a headache if you hadn't drank a bottle of booze, right?—Cause and effect. This is the same way that all sin is: if you go ahead and let it have it's way in you, you are going to feel very sick, and your spirit man is going to be sick. You are going to pay for it—cause and effect. A Iot of things come upon our individual bodies, upon the Body of Christ, and upon the world in general because we don’t keep God’s laws. Even common sense will tell you that there are universal laws that the heathen need to abide by just as much as the Christians. In fact, the 9 (#4 is not binding) commandments are a very good set of laws. At one time, a majority of the people of the United States adhered to them, but they surely don't anymore. We've thrown it all to the wind, and we don't care about God's health laws or moral codes anymore—now AIDS is taking it's toll. This country doesn't care about God's moral laws anymore. Now, everyone is so full of filth, so full of sin and demons; they are so full of disease, murder, and darkness that all they want to do is to go around and drink blood! Now the queers, lesbians, witches, warlocks, and every other occultist and demon worshiper are coming out of the closet. They're saying to everyone else, "Come out! We have our rights! We’re in America. We're under a Democracy, which means the people can rule. We have religious rights. We have freedom of the press and freedom of speech! We can do anything that we want to!” Let me ask you, is that kind of a government God inspired? Where do these guys come up with the idea that God ordained men to make laws ensuring that all those perverts could have rights? I don't see that in the Bible. That shows you we've been brainwashed. We don't need to adhere to this corrupted system called “Democracy" anymore. We need a God- centered Theocracy, where God controls and dictates, wielding His absolute authority and leadership over His people. Under this Theocracy, His people obey Him, serve Him, and keep His standards and laws. This is God's call to this generation, that people would come out of their slimy whorehouses called churches and come into His Kingdom. He is calling them out from under the coverings of the demonic government, out of the patriot movements and all of these asinine organizations that are ruled by and set up by men. They don't do anything but take your money and brainwash you, on top of it. Now, back to Jesus. As I was saying last night, He died that we could live. That was the whole essence of His coming to earth, that He could die to take on our sin and then take on our death. Jesus knew that through His own physical death, He would make it possible to renew our covenant with God again. Before that time, all men were dead. Through the death of Christ, that realm of dominion is now available. It has been opened for us. What do we have dominion over? Over sin and death—so that death will not rule us anymore. Death ruled men from Adam on up until Jesus. In fact, all men fell into the death covenant with the first Adam by the curse, but fortunately, the second Adam (Jesus Christ) came and brought back life. But He had to pay a dear price, which ended with Him giving His life for us so that we could have life. If He gave His life that we could have life, then we've got to give our life so that we can have His life. The true Christian walk has no place for selfishness. Selfishness means that you love yourself and that you want everything for yourself. When you are in a community or a God-centered Theocracy, you will find that selfishness and self-love are the arch enemies of the community life. In community life, if you are walking with God and decreasing your own selfish interests, you will be increasingly more concerned about your brothers and sisters, about your neighbors and those all around you, and you will start thinking about the good of the whole, instead of always thinking about yourself. This is the very heart of what it means to be a Christian; we are constantly decreasing and dying to ourselves in order that Christ may increase in us, so that we may serve Him and others instead of ourselves. Yet this is the very thing that Christians in this country are avoiding: dying to their selfish desires. Instead, they feed their selfish desires and gorge on everything they can get for themselves. Being a Christian isn't just going to a building called a church and remaining selfish and individually minded. No! Being a Christian means that you think corporately, that you realize that you are part of the Body of Christ, that you put the needs of the community first 24 hours a day 7 days a week. We live this way, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. This is not just something I’m preaching, but it’s something we practice. I’ve always said that if I am going to be a preacher, then I'm going to practice what I preach, and I try my best. I would never be giving this type of message if I was not living it right now. I'm not saying that we're perfect or that we're without sin, but we are living communally, and we are living under a God centered Theocracy. Most Christians don’t realize that we are living in a country whose government is literally trying to do away with Christianity, yet I believe that our God is going to sustain and keep us. I believe it's very possible that God's Theocratic government could become a national movement. All you hear about these days is the Democratic party, the Republican party, or the 3rd party movement. You hear about all of these movements, but they are all man-made. Why not have a movement to start a Theocracy and let God rule over us once again? What's wrong with that? I’ll tell you what's wrong: men are selfish! They're selfish, and they'd rather have their dead religion and their sin-ridden lives at the same time. But in God's community, you can't have it both ways. You've got to let God be God and forsake your sins. All this has to do with oaths and sanctions. When the principles of oaths and sanctions are operating in your life, it means that you are letting Cod be God. You can't really live for Christ unless you make an oath to Christ. You can't live like the devil and say you're living for the Lord: "Oh yes, Lord, I’ll live for you, honestly!" We've heard plenty of that. When you make an oath to God, committing your life to Him, it means that you're going to keep God's commandments and obey that which His Spirit commands you to do. Our attitude must be that whatever it may require, you’re going to obey God and live in holiness. When you make your oath, you are swearing to God that you'll obey Him, and what the Holy Spirit will remind us of is that if we break our oath, there will be a penalty to be paid and cursings will come our way. God can curse our finances, He can curse our home, and He can curse our children. He can curse our bodies, and He can curse a lot of different things in our lives. Why do you think hospitals are full of professing Christians? I use to go to hospitals all the time and pray for the sick, and you'd be surprised how many confess Jesus as their Savior. So here were all these people that were dying of cancers and every other disease in the book, and they were supposed to be God's people. The Bible says that by His stripes we are healed. They didn't look very healed to me. And I tried to pray them up out of their bed, but nothing I did would work. They were there because they had broken their commitment to God, and so God, in His righteousness, had laid a sanction against them: cause and effect. Listen, look around the world. Aren't all governments like that? Isn't the United States like that? Sure, you're free to do what you want to do, but if you break the law, dear one, you are going to pay. Isn't that what it says? Then why can't God do it? We think that with God it doesn't matter, but it does matter! It matters far more with God than with the governments of men. Remember, God is ultimate. He is superior to man. Yet in this generation, people are more afraid of the governments of men than they are of God's government. This has got to be one of the biggest sins in this generation: professing Christians are more afraid of the laws of men than they are the laws of God. Someday, there will be a payday, and you will be paid your just reward. When you continually break God's laws, and you aren't repenting and trying to change, eventually it all builds up until God takes action. He'll do something to you, and it's not going to be pleasant. Why would God punish us if we don't obey Him? Because He swore that He would punish us if we don't keep our covenant with Him. It's part of the contract. God could swear by nobody greater, so He swore by Himself. We see the principle of oaths and sanctions in operation during the life of Abraham. God said He would bless Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and He would bless all of their seed IF they would obey His commandments. He said, I will bless them in the field, l will bless them at their home, and I will bless them everywhere if they will keep my commandments. They will live long, they will have good health, they will have wealth, and they will have everything and be blessed. But, IF they fail to keep their commitment and turn on God, He would curse them. We don’t like to talk about cursings because people think that it’s too negative. People say, "Jim, don't give me this negative stuff." The truth is that the principle of oaths and sanctions is only negative IF we don't obey God. We are A Spirit Community. CONTACT US! THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Eleven Jesus Our King (Part 1) by General Jim Green (p. 22 in Issue Eleven of The Tribal Call) All right, let's start in Exodus. That's our starting point or introduction to the message called, Jesus Our King. I felt today that I really wanted to talk about the King and the Kingdom of God. What is it? Who is He? Who are we? I want to give a little introduction here; it's very short, but when you talk about a king and a kingdom, that’s a vast subject. And about all you can basically do is to break it down as small as you can and pick out the major points which I've done. When you talk about a major kingdom, be it four thousand years ago, six thousand years ago, or way back yonder in the Garden of Eden, you're talking about Royal power, and you're talking about Royal sovereignty. You're talking about Royal reign and dominion. These are the things the word kingdom means. We're going to get into some deeper subjects today, and when I'm done with these messages, we're going to see if Jesus really is our King. Is He or is He not our King? I'm not going to cut any corners. We must face the issues: Is He really our King, or are we just going to play churchianity? Go to Exodus 19. The background is the exodus from Egypt, and we find God speaking to His people through Moses. Let's start in verse five. It says, "Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed....” Notice, OBEY! "...and keep my covenant....", obey and keep my covenant, "...then ye shall be a particular treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine." Verse six, "And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.” What I want to do is go way back, even before Saul was the first elected king by the people or king David was elected by God. Even before all that transpired, we see that God was telling His people that He wanted them to be a kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and a peculiar people unto Him. He was talking about a Royal Kingdom of power, sovereignty, and dominion. Since God was going to be their King, He wanted each one of them to consider themselves as a priest and little king, answerable to His ultimate authority. When God delivered Israel from Egypt, His intention was that they would become a Theocracy, or a government ruled by God. I don't think letting the people rule, like we see in our modem Democracies, is the best system. I think letting God rule over the people is the best! Spiritocracy! Or in other words, Theocracy—where God rules, where God is King, and where God reigns! If America, and the rest of the world as well, would let God really be God, then we would see a different world. With that in mind, I want to go to 2nd Samuel, chapter 7. In verse 16, it says, "And thine house, thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever." He was talking about the throne, the kingdom of David that would be established for ever. And David was as we know, the first king elected by God. Saul was a king elected by the people, but his election wasn't even God's will because God wanted to be their King. He had done a good job of being their King, working through the prophets and priests that He ordained. He was the invisible King, a phantom King, but He was King! He was their SUPREME KING! God was the Ruler over all the kingdom of Israel, over all the tribes. He was their King, but then they got a strange notion. They looked around, craned their necks to the world, and saw the Canaanites, the Hittites, and the many other "ites" in the land. And all these "ites" had their own kings ruling over the people, and Israel said, "Hey, we want a king just like them." Does that sound familiar today? Has history repeated itself? They were not happy with having God as their King; they wanted a visible, physical king. Well, they got one, and he was more than they bargained for. Jumping on over to the New Testament days in which we live, we can find a very similar pattern. So many Christians are not happy with Jesus as their King, are they? Oh no, they have to go crane their necks and look out there, and say, "I wanna be like the world! I want to have this thing; I want to have that. I want to copy the world, but I want to have the Kingdom of God at the same time." We say Jesus is our King, we say that God is our King, and yet we look to the heathen; we look to the world and worship it. We incorporate it's ways, and formulate our organizations, and everything we do according to the standards and fads of the world. That's what happened to Israel. Now remember, God said He was going to establish the kingdom of David forever. Turn to Ezekiel 37:22. Here we find the prophet Ezekiel speaking many years after the verse we just read in 2nd Samuel. It says, "And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all." After the reign of Solomon, Solomon's sons had a fight to see who was going to be king, and they started hating each other, and the kingdom split. So you had two kingdoms divided. And those kingdoms, dear one, were divided for a long, long time. Divided kingdoms—they were fighting with each other. Does this sound familiar? Like many of the denominations and organizations we have today? Sounds familiar to me. Everyone was fighting over their kingdoms. Everyone was fighting over power. Untold suffering and terrible conflicts have occurred, all over the question of who is going to sit on the throne. That's what happened when they rejected Theocracy and wanted a man to rule over them instead of God. The fight started, the split started, and the weakening started. And then, the former unified kingdom of Israel became two divided armies fighting each other, instead of fighting the enemies of God and driving the heathen out of their inheritance. Does that sound familiar? You cant even count how many “church” organizations there are in America alone, and how many of them want their own little rule, want their own little kingdom, want their own little domain, and all the pastors and leaders want to sit on their thrones and play God. And all the while, the world, the flesh, and the devil is raiding the Christian camp, encroaching upon our land, and destroying our testimony in the eyes of the world. And the Christians are too busy squabbling over who's going to be the greatest among themselves! Who's the big preacher?! Who's the big television star?! Who writes the most books?! Who's on the radio the most?! Who can draw the most money or the most people in meetings?! Who can have the biggest crusades?! GARBAGE! You see what it's done?! The same identical thing is happening now just as in the days that Ezekiel was prophesying. Pride, strife, envy, jealousy, and all nine yards of worldliness are there. In the day that Ezekiel was prophesying, he was talking about Jesus, the future King who was to come. He was speaking of a time when Jesus was going to do away with all other kingdoms and have one kingdom that was going to rule over all. Did they receive Jesus? Well, that starts me off on today's message. Let's look at it, and see what happened. All right, we've laid down the foundation. The first point I want to talk about this morning is Jesus, King of the Jews. And why I want to start off there is because we're dealing with a racial issue. Jesus became king of a particular race of people: the Jews. Let's go to Matthew 1. I'm basically sticking to the New Testament because this is where most of my message is found. The question is: Is Jesus our King or not? Let's just look and see. Back to Matthew Chapter 1, verse twenty one, "And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins." OK, what you have here is a new-born king in the making. In the Old Testament, the word Jesus was the word Joshua, and the word Joshua can be traced back to its meaning which is, Jehovah is Salvation, or Jehovah is Savior. So what it's saying here is that Jesus is going to be the Savior, the Saving King. In other words, Jesus was going to save His people. Who were His people? We've already read about who His people were. Who were they? They were the tribes, the nation of Israel; that's who His people were historically speaking. It wasn't the heathen around about. Oh yes, God created those people also. They were people created in His image and likeness, but they went whoring after other gods and fell into idolatry, separating themselves from the Living God. So God decided to institute His laws and His covenants with a little group of people called Israel or the Hebrews, and with them, He started forming His nation. His tribes. Now, let's go to the book of Romans, Chapter 1. In verse sixteen, Paul is saying, "For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation unto every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." What I'm getting at is that Jesus went to the Jews first. He became their King first. He presented Himself to the land of Israel first to become their natural-born King and also their Spiritual King sent down from heaven—God's only Son. He went to the Jews first. Now, it said that Paul went to the Greeks, and the Greeks were considered Gentiles. So, you've got the Jew first, then you've got the Gentiles, and that includes us, dear people. I'm happy about that. That we have been included to have Jesus as our King. All right, God said, "OK. If you reject me as your King, then I'll give you a man to rule over you." So what did the Jews do? They went ahead with their “religious” way of meeting God. But God had canceled it out; He had done away with it. He was bringing in a new Kingdom. He let them go on and have the reign and the rule of the Pharisees, the Scribes, the Chief Priests, and the great hypocrites. And where did it all end, may I ask you? What happened to them? It ended in a full blown rebellion, and it ended in a full blown siege by the Roman army. It ended in the full blown destruction of the nation of Israel. That was the end result. I don't have to be a prophet; I don't even have to have common sense to tell you what’s going to happen to this nation today. I'm not talking about America. I'm talking about the Universal Christian Nation that calls itself God's people or the Body of Christ. I don't have to tell you where they are going to end up. You already know where they're headed, if they don’t repent. They're end is going to be destruction. And the reason they're ending that way is because they are guilty of the same crimes against God that Israel was guilty of: rebellion, idolatry, and backsliding. Yet God is moving by His Spirit, right now, today! God is still moving out there among the churches that have been established by men, mostly greedy men, and He is looking for souls that are hungry for Him. He's going to pull them out. He's going to begin to save them from their personal sins and from the religious sin that they are sitting in called "Churchianity." He's going to begin to pull them out by His Spirit, and speak to their hearts, and let them see the hypocrisy, the slime that's calling itself Christianity. He is going to pull those people out unto Himself by the Spirit, and He's going to begin to form Himself up a new Tribe, a new Nation where He once again is King. You say, "Well General, I don't read that in the Bible." I don’t care if you read it or not. It's being done in the Spirit. The Bible does say that God is going to have a Spirit people. He doesn't want a carnal people living like a bunch of hypocritical, sin-ridden idiots, sitting in some mortuary called a "church," and having some preacher, who resembles an ice cube, giving them cold sermons. God is wanting His people on fire for Him! Hot all the way! Burning! Fire brands! But what do we see today? You've got little ice cubes sitting around. They could care less about souls. They could care less about their own soul! Their only concern is their own little kingdom—what they can get for themselves. They're only concerned about their own little sphere of activity. And all the while, some man or woman rules and reigns over them. Staying in Romans 2, look at verse 28 and 29. It says, "For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outwardly in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter whose praise is not of men, but of God.” The point we're getting at is that Jesus is still King of the Jews. Who is a Jew today? Who is a true Jew? Is it someone who lives in Israel? Is it those rebels over there in the land of Palestine? No way, dear one. It’s us, members of the Body of Christ. If we truly have been born again by His Spirit, we are the true Israel. We are the true Nation of God. We are the true Jews. We are His race. We are His people. We don't need to go get circumcised in the flesh to prove that we are Jews. We don't have to be of their blood. We should be asking what's God doing among us real Jews, among us true Israelites? Is He still our King? Now, we looked in the last message at Galatians 3:28, and I believe we talked about the barriers that Jesus broke down. One of the walls He broke down was race. Jesus broke down the barriers of class, race, and sex. He broke down those walls. Jesus is the King of the Jews, the King of the race of people called Israelites—the true Israelites, those born by the Spirit—not of men, not of blood, except His blood. If we look at this thing out there calling itself His people, I don't see any difference between now and when the Jews were in full-blown rebellion way back in Saul's days when they were committing all kinds of whoredoms and idolatry, and panting for some man and some system to rule over them. I hardly see any difference. I don't see any difference between the period when they had other kings that came after Solomon, on down until the time when the kingdom was divided, and some of them went into deeper rebellion—Ahab and Jezebel, you remember them. They had no heart for the people, they had no heart for God, and they had no heart for His standards or His covenants. They hated anything that had to do with righteousness. They had no heart for it. They were wicked, yet they were rulers of Israel! I don't see any difference between way back yonder and now. We've got the same thing; we've got a divided kingdom. We've got a kingdom of sincere people who want Jesus Christ to be their King. Then we have the majority, the bigger kingdom of the ten tribes rather than the two tribes, wanting a man to be in charge—be it one of their own, or some organization, or some dogma/doctrine, or something. The Catholic Church is a good example. They would rather have some Pope to be their king instead of Jesus. It's the same thing! Then you've got these little kinglets built all over called denominations or organizations, and every little kinglet has a little king sitting there, a little priest doing these little things they call "serving the Lord." They claim that they are serving the Lord, yet I don't see any power. I don't see any sovereignty; I don't see any dominion. I don't see Christ ruling in their midst—liars and hypocrites. We need to call the King back again. Right? We need to call Jesus back again! Let's look at point two: Jesus was King of Israel. Not only was He the King of the individual people called the Jews, but He was also King of Israel as a nation. First, you've got the racial aspect, and then the national aspect of Jesus' reign. He was both an individual King and a national King. Many people understand that Jesus is King in a general sense, and they love to sing sweet songs about Him like "Oh, how we love Jesus," and all this stuff. The question we are asking is do you really mean it when you say Jesus is your King? Or that Jesus is your Lord? Do we really mean it, or are we just singing sweet songs, singing like angels and living like devils? Is He really King of your space? Is He really King of your heart? Have you stepped down off the throne and let Him sit there and reign and rule your life? Come on! You say, "Quit joking, General. I want my dope, my drink, my sex, my music, my sports stars, and everything of the world. I want the Hittites, the Hivites, the Canaanites, the Jebusites, and the Sodomites—I want them all. I want them all! I want them, and I want to worship them. But, I love Jesus." LIARS to the core! God help you and rescue you from your lies. All right, let's go back to Matthew. In Matthew chapter 2, verse 1, it says, "Now when Jesus was bom in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is bom King of the Jews?" Already you've got the beginnings of a clash here. You've got one king, already in power, and then you've got another King who has just been born. And the king in charge is very jealous, and he wants to know where this other King is so he could do away with him. Well right there, it tells you that Jesus is truly the King of Israel. He is the national King of the Jews, prophesied long ago by the prophets. The Jews believed it and were looking for the Messiah, but they couldn't believe it was Jesus when He was born. They were looking for somebody else. It couldn't be just this Jesus guy. I mean, come on, He's not much of a King you know. He rides on that ass, He walks every where He goes, and He hangs around with a bunch of weirdos called disciples. He doesn't have a place to live; He doesn't even have a palace. He doesn't have a mansion or a chariot with six white horses and gold rims on the tires. I mean, this can't possibly be our King! Well, He wasn't King to them, and they flatly rejected him. They were happy to settle for Herod, a proselyte king, ruling over them. Now going to verse six of the same chapter, "And thou Bethlehem, in the land of Judah art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel." If you look up the word governor, it goes back to the word which means, to lead, to command with official authority. The Bible says back in the Old Testament that Jesus was going to be the Prince of peace. He was going to be all these things. It said the government was going to rest upon His shoulders—He was going to be the King! He was going to be the man in charge, the Official authority. May we ask, by who's authority? By God's authority! By Jehovah God's authority! That’s who Jesus is going to have the authority from—from God—not from man, not from the Romans, and not even from Israel's past history! Now, it says in Revelations 5 that Jesus is the Lion out of the tribe of Judah! And then in verse 9 it says, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." This proves once and for all that you don't have to have the natural blood of the Israelites, the Jews, the Hebrews, in order to be one of God's people. Forget about all that genetics business! It said He was going to redeem people out of all nations, kindreds, and tongues, and they were going to be a Tribe unto Him, and He was going to be their King. They were going to become little tribes and come into one big Tribe: that includes Jews, Gentiles, Greeks, all kinds of nationalities, and all kinds of colors. Ohh,...that's going to hurt some people. This kind of truth will break down the racial barriers. Male and female? Ohh...it’s going to break down the sex barriers. Slaves and masters? Ohh...it’s going to break down the class barrier. The glorious truth is that we are all one in Him. Jesus is the central focus—not man, not race, not class, not male/female. He IS! When we talk about Jesus Christ being our King, do we really mean this? Like I said, if He is really our King, why do we have a million different denominations and organizations? Why do we even have men calling themselves the Messiah today? They claim to be Christians, of the Christian faith. Obviously, Jesus is not really their King. My last point is that Jesus is the King of righteousness. Let's turn to Revelations 15, reading in verse 3 it says, "And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints." In the Revised Version, it says, "King of the ages." What you come up with when you put the two together is that Jesus was the King of the saints, through the ages, from the beginning, to the very end. He's the King. Now listen, just because Israel did not, and still won't accept Him, that has not done away with anything. It hasn't dulled His sharpness. It hasn't put a coldness on His fire. It hasn't ever done away with any of His righteousness. It hasn't tainted it at all. He's still the same Pure, Holy, God of the ages, and He always will be. Men in their rebellion, men in their idolatry, have not changed one thing. They've already sealed their own damnation in hell fire. Now, in Psalms chapter 2, let's go back there a minute. In verse 6, it says, "Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion." This was king David speaking, who was already a King. He already sat up on Mount Zion; he was already the King of Israel. David was prophesying here, and he was putting forth the truth that God was going to set His King upon the holy hill of Zion. He could have been talking about himself, but he was looking beyond that. He was talking about Jesus, the real King, the predicted King of Ezekiel, of Jeremiah, and of all the prophets. David was prophesying that Jesus was going to come and that He was going to sit upon the hill of Mt. Zion. Oh yes, Jesus walked the land of Palestine. He was there; He went into their temple. He went up into the temple mount. He even walked up higher than the temple. Mt. Moriah was where the temple was, and Mt. Zion was where king David's fort was. It was a higher mountain. When you read about Mt. Zion, they are referring to the highest mountain in Israel. What this symbolized was a higher place; in fact, it was the highest place or realm in all Israel. What I'm getting at is that Jesus is going to rule out of Mt. Zion. He's going to rule out of the highest realm, out of the highest dominion, out of the highest sovereignty, over His people. Jesus is not going to be limited to a lesser mount built by mens’s hands. No! Jesus is going to rule out of the highest realm, with the greatest authority, and that's what He's doing now. That's what He has been doing ever since He came up out of the grave and threw off the grave clothes. He came out as King of kings and Lord of lords. Actually, in the big picture, Jesus is King over all nations. I don't care if all the nations out there have heathen kings, He's still King over them in the bigger picture. He rules over all the nations of the world, maybe not directly because of the wickedness and iniquity in the hearts of men, but He rules indirectly nonetheless. Jesus is still the King of all. But to have a real kingdom, you have to have subjects, and to have subjects, you need the people to recognize the authority of the king. It works both ways. What good is a king who has no subjects that respect his authority? It would be silly to say, "I'm the President of the United States," and yet no one recognizes me as the President of the United States. I just run around and say I am. You have to have people who recognize your authority before you have a nation or a kingdom. Jesus is King of the ages, and there are countless millions who have recognized Him as such. I'm going to read a few more scriptures and go over them more slowly. Jesus is our King of righteousness. Now people, I can't emphasize enough how important righteousness is, and yet in today's church circles, righteousness is something that is ill spoken of. I mean Christians of today act like they don't have to be righteous, like they don't have to live clean. They think nothing about committing the grossest sins, and yet they still think God owes them heaven. I mean they don't even know what righteousness is anymore because it is hardly ever preached. The righteousness you find preached today revolves around how much money you have, how many people you have, how big of a church you've got, and how many TV and radio shows you have. Modern Christians think that all of these material things have to do with righteousness. Let's go to Hebrews 7, verse one and go slow. It says, "For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him." Abraham blessed this king, and the king blessed Abraham. Now it says, "To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace." This Melchizedek, who ever he was, was a king who did things right in the sight of God. Not only was he a king, but he was also a priest, a king-priest. He was a priest-king which meant that he had subjects and that he led them into righteousness by the things of God. What good is it to have ministers if they won't lead the people into righteousness? What stupid things are God's leaders guilty of today? One sin they are terribly guilty of today is leading God's people into sports idolatry. They talk more about the basketball stars and football stars than they do about Jesus and His righteousness. The vast majority of Church sermons come totally from a carnal point of view, and they use people of the world, like sports stars, to illustrate divine principles. They talk about the things of the world more than they talk about the righteousness of God. What they should be doing is bearing down on the little saints sitting there who reek of sin! But they won't dare do that because the leaders themselves are full of sin. Right? Now, if you are full of righteousness, you're going to want to be around people that are righteous. We refuse to allow people to bring their worldly vices in here. And if they can't take that, then they will usually accuse us of being a cult or authoritative figures. We just had one man tell us that we must not be right with God because we don't have very many people. As if how many people you have has anything to do with righteousness! If you think the church is righteous in this day and age, then you had better look again. Churches are full of these sinning “saints” sitting in their pews, believing that quantity represents quality in the eyes of the Lord. Continuing in verse 3," Without father, without mother, without descent, having neither beginning of days nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God; abideth a priest continually." Who do you think we are talking about here? Jesus! Does Jesus abide continually as our priest? Yes, He's our King. He's the King of the nation of Israel. He's my King, and I'm His subject. I want to obey Him. And like any other King, Jesus gives out His decrees. What's one of His decrees? Live clean! You think, "I dont like that decree, General. That sounds legalistic and dogmatic. That sounds like you're preaching hate. Can't you do away with that decree?" Do you see what I'm trying to tell you? Can you see the hypocrisy? And yet everybody runs around saying, "Oh Jesus is my King." They sing sweet songs about Him and live like devils! We just had a person here for four days, who I'll call John Doe. This person came in here calling for help. He confessed that he had been a “Christian” for twenty-five years. We asked him how long had he been on dope. He said, "I’ve been a dope-smoking Christian for sixteen years.” His testimony to me was that out of twenty-five years of his life, he has only been straight for nine years. On top of that, he was shacked up with some girl whom he met through advertising in a sleazy singles paper. And to top it all off, it was supposed to be a "Christian" singles paper. Needless to say, they both smoked dope, drank, and fornicated; nevertheless, they call themselves Christians. So they end up going to some church where they add sin unto sin by assuring them that they are Christians: "Oh yes, you're Christians; just pay your tithes. You're good. You'll make heaven. Everybody has a few problems." And so they fornicate, smoke dope, and drink all in the name of the Lord. They represent just one case out of millions in this country. Needless to say, John Doe and his girlfriend are a big mess, and he ended up here looking for help. So I told John Doe, "You need to get rid of your vices, and you need to get on your knees and repent." Do you know what he told me? "Ahhh General, you're a cult and I don't want no authoritative figure over me. You know, you guys aren't what you're cracked up to be." All of a sudden, He's telling us that we're confused and not right with the Lord. Of course, he thought he was. Yet he's the one with the sixteen year marijuana habit he can't get rid of. He's the one who sat at our table crying big tears saying he didn't want to go back where he came from because he knew he would fall back into sin again. He was dried out for four days, and then all of a sudden we're mean, we're a cult and he doesn't need our help anymore. He didn't want Jesus to be his King of Righteousness. Let's go to Revelations chapter 11, verse 15, "And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord," Don't you love that? I love that. You know why I like that? Because that proves God is still King. At the end of the Revelations, at the end of the ages, Jesus Christ is still King and He is still able, by the power of His righteousness, to bring worldly sin-ridden, cursed kingdoms under His power. He can bring them right in, save them, and wash them. And then they become His kingdoms; that's what it says way back in Psalms. It says that Jesus is going to have the kingdoms of this earth for His inheritance. What is His inheritance? It's sinners like me, like you, like them. We're all sinners, and when we are born again, we become His possessions. We become His subjects, and we are to serve Him as our King. So here you have it. The kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our God. They are to come under His rulership, under His sovereignty, under His dominion. That makes me feel good, knowing that as much as the devil tries, as much as "church Christians" serve the devil and try to call it Christianity, that God is still in control and God is still going to have a people who will obey Him. God is still going to have a righteous Kingdom, and He is still going to be the King! I don't care how ugly and dark it is out there. I don't care how ugly, how frightful, how great and grandiose the power of sin may be, God is still King. And He is still going to have a Spirit people, and He is still going to have a people of Light in this dark world. He is still going to have a prevailing people, and He is going to have a people who are capable, able, and willing to overcome sin, whether in it's smallest or biggest form. We don't need to make excuses for sin. That's what John Doe wanted me to do. He wanted me to compromise. You might as well talk to that wall over there if you plan on talking to me about compromise. I'm not compromising the standard of Jesus because that blood-stained standard is good forever, and it was paid for with the price of His very life. That precious standard is what lifted me up out of a life of filthy degradation and slavery to sin. God forbid that I ever turn my head from sin and act like it's OK. I'm not going to tell you to have a little wine for your belly ache or a little marijuana because, you know, you have a headache. Now, they're passing laws in America that allow marijuana to be used legally for some medicinal purposes. So now everybody is sick all of a sudden. Have you noticed? I mean everybody's got a headache, a bellyache, a backache. What happened to the days when we prayed to Jesus, and by His stripes we were healed? What happened to the power of His blood? God can heal us from our infirmities! What ever happened to that? Do we need marijuana to serve God? Do we need cocaine to soothe our nerves because the world out there is ripping us apart? I've heard so many excuses that I think I could write a volume on how to be an excuse-making Christian. It makes me sick how they want to pull everyone into their mess with them. I've got news for you, you aren't pulling me into your sin pit. I was rescued out of that world over 25 years ago, and I'm not going back into it. Jesus is our King, who is ever making intercession for us. That means He's King forever; He's Priest forever. When He sees us faltering, when He sees us wavering, He's making intercession for us so that we will make it, but He's not going to make us make it. I can't make you straighten up, lay your marijuana down or your bottle aside, or get out of bed with your girlfriend or your boyfriend. I can't make you do that. I can't make you walk away from the abortion clinic because you want to murder your baby to cover up your mistake! I can't make you do any of those things. And neither can Jesus Christ, but He can put the pressure on us: He can make our circumstances rotten to us, make oppression crush us so that maybe we will cry out and repent, but He can't make (or force) us to do anything. And after a while, if you're determined to stay in your rebellion, dear one, He'll just depart from you and go somewhere else. And you will be sealed in your damnation. You will be sealed there, but while there's yet a thread of hope, Christ is making intercession for us. While there's yet a thread of hope in people, we will still preach the gospel. When it looks like nobody wants to hear, when they all clog their ears up, close their eyes, and just get mad, we've still got a job to do. While there is still just one person listening, then you've got a job to do. Right? We've got a job to do if there's one soul that wants Christ. We need to worship God from our hearts. We need to worship Him as the Bible says, in Spirit and in Truth. We don't need to copy the fads and the fantasies of the world and put the word "Christian" on it. How many self-deceived people are out there? Multitudes! Willfully and willingly deceived. They want to be deceived: deceiving others and deceiving themselves. Why? Because they don't have a heart to be with God. That's what it boils down to. It boils down to this demon living inside called SELF LIFE! We try to keep it alive rather than putting it on the cross and letting it die. We try to keep it alive rather than letting it go down in baptism, into the watery grave, and say, "I count you as dead. I reckon you as dead. You stay there; I'm serving the King of kings, and He is going to rule arid reign in my heart: I'm His territory now." How much does Jesus rule in your heart? How much does He rule in your life? If He tells you to do something, do you drop your lip and rebel when you know good and well you shouldn't? It's easy to say, He's my King, but do you obey the King when He puts out a decree? This entire Bible, dear one, is one long decree. It's all right there in the Word. This is a Manual of Righteousness. This is a manual that will instruct us in the way that God wants us to live. Most people who read through it can easily see how many things they should not be doing, opposed to the things that they should be doing. Yet people want to cut corners with excuses like, "Oh, that's for the Old Testament. That was for the old people in the old days." Well then, what's for us today? Fun, games, idolatry, sports, money, booze, sex, and dope? According to the modern Church, all these are for us today. They believe that because they accepted Jesus once that now they can't be unsaved, no matter what they do. His standard has not changed since He came out of the grave. And it's not going to change even when He comes back, and touches His feet upon this earth, and dwells among His people. It won't change; it’s going to be the same standard. Time has nothing to do with it. Jesus is the King—He is the Priest through every age, through every dispensation, through darkness and light, through rebellions and revolutions. He is the same God, the same Jesus, and the same Savior. He is still capable, able, and willing to save us from our sins. If we ever need to pray a prayer dear one, we need to pray to Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins. Just like when I read in Matthew 1. Jesus the Savior came to save His people from their sins. That's what we need today: we need to see Jesus saving His people from their sins because they are so sin bound that they are hell bound. And they're loving every bit of it. We have too many lying leaders today telling them it's OK when it's not OK. So with all this said and done, examine your own self to see if He is really your King. You better find out if He rules and reigns in your heart or just in your mouth. You had better see if He is the sovereign of your territory; you had better see if you give Him the homage and service that He deserves. The bottom line is that it is our responsibility to come before Jesus, MAKE SURE that we are right with Him, and do all in our power to obey His commands to us, both written and spoken. Amen. We are A Spirit Community. CONTACT US! THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Twelve Jesus Our King (Part 2) by General James Green (p. 8 in Issue Twelve of The Tribal Call — Radio Tape #1169) We are going to go on and finish up with this message entitled Jesus Our King. We went into certain aspects of His Kingship in the last message and now I want to cover some more. One thing we all know is that within every born-again Christian, there are two kingdoms. One kingdom is the kingdom of flesh and the other is the kingdom of Spirit. It would be nice if it were all Spirit, but it’s not. We know we have carnality and inbred sin in us. We know we have our own will as a Christian. We're not robots, nor are we predestined without a choice in the matter. We have a choice to serve God or not to serve God. You might know about Jesus being King or you may know about the Kingdom of Heaven by reading your Bible, but do you really know Him, and are you really living there under His rulership and guidance? We might as well get down to where the rubber hits the road and face issues. Are we in the Kingdom of God or are we just in the kingdom of flesh? This is what I try to do when I teach: I try to rip away the mask of devilish deception and let us see what's really lurking beneath. There's no use in playing religious churchianity games anymore. That stuff has to stop. We might as well face what's happening. People are perishing and going to hell, and many so-called "Christians" are going there too. Everyone of us has a beast inside. I have one, you have one, and the beast is called flesh. Let me clarify: you don't have flesh—you are flesh. Right? Have you noticed how so many Christians try to say that God condones their sin life? The Lord allows marijuana smoking, shooting up dope, fornication, adultery, homosexuality, and lesbianism. The Lord allows wicked and corrupted pastors and people sitting in the pews. The Lord allows everything, according to modern “Christians.” Who or which Lord are we talking about? Is this the Lord of the Bible, or the Lord of your imagination, or Lord Satan? Now, let me quickly review these four points I mentioned previously regarding what a kingdom is. A kingdom is power, sovereignty, dominion, and the reign of a king. Let's start out now talking about the King of Heaven. We're talking about Jesus, our King. How do we know that Jesus is King of Heaven? Well, let's study this out. In John chapter 3, I want to read the first couple of verses. You know the old story about Nicodemus slipping in at night like a slippery, slimy snake. He was too proud to be seen at daytime with Jesus, so he slips in at night and begins to ask Jesus about this Kingdom of Heaven business. He was a Levite, he was important, and he was “somebody” in Israel. It says, "Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews: The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God." We have talked about the Kingdom and about the King. Now, we know the Kingdom of God, today, has nothing to do with the Jews living in Israel. Yes, Jews can be part of it if they're born again; we're not going to leave them out, but that's not it. The Kingdom of God or the Kingdom of Heaven is God's sphere of activity where He is in control. It's His sovereignty, His domain, His reign, His rulership, and His Kingship among His born-again people. You can't just be religious and belong to a church. You've got to be born again. You've got to be born of His Spirit. You can't just drag yourself into some church and sign a piece of paper that says, "I belong to this church. I'm in the Kingdom of God now." Nonsense! You're in the kingdom of men, religious men. What could be worse? Jesus said if you're not born again, you cannot see this Kingdom, but He didn't just leave us with that. He goes on here and talks more in verse 5. He says, "I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God." He says you have to be born again of the Spirit to actually enter into the Kingdom. You're not going to meet Jesus and He's not going to be your King unless you enter into His Kingdom. In John chapter 18, verse 36, we read, "Jesus answered, my Kingdom is not of this world." This stops the patriotic movement in its tracks. All the patriots love to wave their little banners and say, "Oh I'm serving the Lord. God's my King. Jesus is my King. And I'm doing all this for Jesus." They bought their guns and stacked away their ammunition, getting ready to kill somebody for their king. And Jesus comes along and says, "Hey man, this is the kingdom of the world; this is not my Kingdom. This is your kingdom. This is the kingdom of unregenerate religious men. It's not my Kingdom." Jesus says, "If my Kingdom were of this world, then would my servants fight, that I should not be delivered to the Jews: but now is my Kingdom not from hence." The point is that His Kingdom is a Kingdom of Heaven not a kingdom of earth, although His Kingdom has come to earth through born-again men and women, boys and girls. What is Jesus without a Kingdom? His Kingdom is His people. It's not land; He doesn't need land. He needs people: His people that are born again become His subjects and in turn He becomes their King. Second Timothy, chapter 4, verse 18 says, "And the Lord shall deliver me from every evil work, and will preserve me unto his heavenly Kingdom: to whom be glory for ever and ever." Here we read that He's got a heavenly Kingdom. It's not a kingdom like the kingdoms of this earth. His Kingdom is invisible, but yet it’s visible to and through His people. And listen, if you don't live the life, if you don't become a living epistle, and if I don't let the light of Christ shine in me, then who's gonna be an example of the Kingdom of God? Who's really going to perceive it? This is why men are stumbling in darkness, even though there are churches and religious establishments everywhere. This is why Christianity is mocked and made fun of, so pushed aside like it doesn't matter anymore. It's because it's all hypocritical. Christians have quit letting the light of Christ shine in them, they've quit living the life, and they just talk the talk. They cheat and cut corners, and they want to quickly run to get on the throne and get deified themselves. Instead of living a life of humble obedience, they want to be deified and put on the crown of glory. They think everybody is going to know they are a good Christian because they can talk good, they can preach good, and they can be a real "witness." But the problem is that the way you live is of the devil! As you blow your weed, and smoke your cigarettes, and drink your wine and beer, as you fornicate and have abortions and all this other stuff that goes on in the name of Jesus, you then have the nerve to claim you belong to His Kingdom. Jesus is not a King of that kind of hypocrisy. There are a lot of professing Christians that are not born again. They never had a born-again experience, yet they claim to be Christians. Either you are or you aren't. Either you've got Christ in you or you don't have Christ in you. If you don't have Christ in you, then you're not in Him and He's not in you. You're not part of His Kingdom—even if you talk about Him all day long. Now listen, an atheist who doesn't believe in God can study the Holy Bible and memorize some of it if he has a good memory, and he can even preach sermons out of it, but that doesn't mean anything. Just because people can memorize scriptures, quote scriptures, read the Bible, and even carry a Bible doesn't mean anything to God. YOU could study all about church history and you could study all about doctrine, learning all about God; you can even learn about the Kingdom of Heaven, yet that's not good enough. You've got to be part of it before Jesus becomes your King. Now I'm making a distinction between religion and righteousness. There's an element of Christianity which is only religious; it's not really righteous. Churches are full of people who have joined a denomination and never really met Jesus. The Catholic church is a good example. There are people who are born into Catholicism, generation after generation. They don't even know the Lord, they've never had an experience with Jesus, and they just say, "I'm a Catholic," and that settles it for them. They've just been brought up in the Catholic religion or the Lutheran religion, or the Episcopalian religion, or even serve the Baptist religion. Throw all man-made religion into the pit! Get back to the basics, get on your knees, and find Jesus for yourself! Get to know Him. Don't just get to know religion—get to know Him! I could know about God, and I could know about the things of God, but is He in me? That's what is important. Let's talk about the King of glory. First Timothy, 1:17, "Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever." King of eternal glory, praise God, that's what Jesus is. Go back to Second Timothy, Chapter 2, verse 10, "Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sakes, that they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory." There you have the two together again: Jesus and eternal glory. Colossians 3:4, "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear, with him in glory." One more, 1st Thessalonians Chapter 2, verse 12, "That ye would walk Worthy of God, who hath called you unto his Kingdom and glory." All right, from these verses we can see that Jesus is the King of glory. His Kingdom is glorious; He's a glorious King. Now we know that the flesh, humanity, carnality has a glory to it. Right? Sure it does. That's what religion is all about, glorified flesh. Religion has an aspect of glory. Why do you think people follow religious leaders? Why do you think they follow gurus? Yet we are talking about eternal glory, the true glory of God. And how do you get this kind of glory? There's an old saying, "No pain, no gain." I say, "No suffering, no glory." If you don't go through any suffering for Christ, you get no glory. How do you think you get glory put in you? By dancing your way into the Kingdom? By shouting and praising your way into the Kingdom? No, you get it by dying. And dying is always a painful process. You know that; I know that—that's why no one wants to do it. Who wants to lie upon a cold slab and die, or hang on a cross in shame and let people mock them as they're dying? People have lost the concept that Paul put forth when he said, "I die daily." They've lost the vision of the cross. Now what people want is an illuminated cross, the plastic kind with fluorescent lights behind it. You know, the lights that blink on and off like they do on TV. That's the glory that man has created in this hour. They've created this kind of junk to imitate the true glory of God, but man has altered the cross so that their version is without the pain of dying to oneself. You can put on a good religious show, but I'm telling you one thing, the only way you're going to get to the real glory of God is by dying, and this is the very thing we fight. We fight dying until we are dead. We hang on to our life, to our carnal flesh life, until it kills us. The Bible speaks of those who oppose themselves. Could it be us? I know I've been guilty in times past of hanging on to the very thing that was causing me hell. It was my own personal life that was causing my problems. God doesn't cause your problems—God is in your life, Jesus is in your life to rule over you. Don't you think He knows how to rule better than we do? You say, "I want to go to Heaven." Where's Heaven? Have you been there? "Well, I don't know, but I'm going." How do you know you are going? Have you been there? Have you seen it? Do you know how to get there? No, but Jesus knows. He said, "I'll send the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Ghost, which is another part of the Godhead, is going to lead you and guide you. Where? Into the bars? Into the whorehouses? Into some dead church? Into fellowship with the world? Nooo...He's going to lead you into the Kingdom of God, which is a Kingdom of holiness and righteousness. He's going to lead you into the glory of God. That's what He had against the Laodicean church. Jesus was upset because they said, "Hey, I don't need this. I'm rich. I'm increased with goods. I've got all these things. I've got oil wells and money in the bank. I'm somebody. You know. I'm somebody." Then Jesus pointed His finger in their face, and said, "You're miserable, you're wretched, you're blind, and you're naked!" What a contrast! Naked? What did He mean when He told them they were naked? He wasn't talking about their physical clothes; He was pointing out that they were spiritually naked. They didn't have one ounce of glory upon them. You're covering is your glory. So it goes back to this: You don't cheat on God. We can't cheat our way into the Kingdom, I'll tell you that right now. You are going to be sadly mistaken if you think you are going to crawl right in and snuggle up next to Jesus on that day, and put your arm around Him, and pat Him on the back and say, "Here I am Jesus; don't you love me?" Yet He sees you slithering in, like the fat reptile that you are, so putrid and full of sin, so sick and full of the things of the world. He's going to point again at your face and say, "Depart from me you slime; I never knew you." Well, He knows you for sure, but He didn't know you in an intimate way. He didn't know you like a man knows his wife. You were too busy dancing with the devils to get to know Him. You have no glory. What did He do to the guy that tried to slip into the marriage without a garment on? What do you think the garment was? The garment was glory! He didn't have it. He said,"Get out! You don’t belong here." He kicked him out into outer darkness with lots of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Revelation 17:14, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of the lords, and King of the kings." All right, Jesus is King of kings and Lord of lords, "...and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Now, going into chapter 19 you'll see the same thing in verse 16. It says, "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords.” Notice that the word King with the capital 'K' refers to Jesus, and the king with the small 'k' refers to all the other world rulers. Now back to First Timothy chapter 6, verse 15. I want to read it out of the Amplified. This is how it reads, "...which will be shown forth in his own proper time the blessed, only sovereign." I wanted that word sovereign because it goes back and relates to the subject of the Kingdom. Jesus is the only sovereign, which means He's the only King. He is the big King. What is it in us that wants to rule? It's the little king, right? And if we're not careful, what we are going to do is take the title that belongs to Jesus, and we're going to put it in front of our name. We're gonna take the capital 'K' and put it on our name, and take the small 'k' and put it on His name. You say, "General I wouldn't do that because I love the Lord!" If you love the Lord then prove it. Put up or shut up. Prove that He's the King in your life by obeying His commands. There are multitudes of professing Christians that live as ruler of their own lives. They tell Jesus what they want, why they want it, what they're gonna do, when they get it, and how they're going to use it—and He doesn't have any say in the matter. A lot of these ideas have been generated by greedy, lustful leaders as we know. They teach their people that they need to command God and dictate to God what they want. I can name names right now but, I don't feel like getting sick before I'm done with this message. You know what I’m referring to: pride, arrogance, the whole nine yards that make up the kingdoms of carnality. And all the time they're putting on a show like, "Oh I’m so humble; I'll do anything that God asks of me." You can fake your little humility. You can claim that you'll scrub toilets or do something very lowly to be seen and heard of men, but really you won't do that. You'll just say you'll do that. I tell you one thing, people can lie. They should get a crown for the best liars that they are. Now, let's continue talking about the King of kings and Lord of lords. These are points six and seven, but we'll include them together. Now, go back to the book of Acts 2:36: "Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye crucified, both Lord and Christ." From the Jews' point of view, Jesus was never the Messiah, and Jesus was never the King. From the writer of Acts point of view, on this side of the cross, Jesus was his King, and he wanted all those born again to know assuredly as well as those unbelievers to know assuredly that Jesus was the King. He was hitting both camps here. Jesus was both Lord and Christ. Not only was He Lord, but He was Christ. Not only was He supreme and sovereign, but He was Christ. He was anointed—Christ the anointed. What was He anointed with? He was anointed with Holy Ghost oil, Holy Ghost glory. So what I'm getting at here is He's Lord of all. In other words, He is the Lord with a capital 'L.' He's not just a lord; He's THE Lord. Now one more scripture. Acts 17: 24: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of Heaven and earth...." Here we have a scripture that tells us God is the Lord. You can see that the Trinity is all one in the same: Jesus, God the Father, the Holy Ghost. They're interchangeable; they're all the same, but all three are distinctly God. Continuing on it says, "....dwelleth not in temples made with hands.” There you have it. When you say, "I'm going to a church," where are you really going? Are you just going to some building to be with other religious people, or are you going to go meet the Lord? What about when God's people come together? They are the church because He's in them, and they are His temple. What about that? "Well I don't know about that, General, but I know I'm going to church, because it's a church that will allow me to do the things I want to do. And we have twenty thousand in the congregation, and we have singles meetings too, General." Good for you. Let's look closer at the meaning of the word Lord. The word Lord means: master, owner, and sir. "Yes sir, I will disobey! Yes sir, I will disobey!" This is the war cry of the modern Christian, for they are at war with God. Yes sir, you're your own Lord, you're your own Jesus, and you're your own King. Yes sir we have seen it in this generation. Churches are full of kings and queens, people who are doing their own thing and calling it Christian. Yes sir, during the last several weeks here, we've had several people come here and ask for advice because they are crying over the messed up condition of their lives, and they need advice. They say, "Please give me help. Give me a direction." So, you give them sound advice, sound direction, even scriptural, and they turn around and spit in your face because they didn't like what you told them. Who's ruling your life? The lord of the flies, could it be? "Oh no, I serve Jesus. I go to church." That's your problem. You go to church—you don't go to Jesus! I want to see a revolution where every church in America would be forced to get on their knees and seek God! Yes, SEEK GOD. And that includes pastors and leaders, that they would be saved. Churches are no better than whorehouses anymore. Everything ungodly goes on in them. They're nothing but business and social clubs. They're entertainment centers decked out with all the best that the world has to offer. They have to have their music so they can "praise the Lord." Sure, they "praise the Lord" with unholy hands and filthy lips, with bloated eyes from watching too much TV, with burning ears from hearing the filth of the world, and with hearts enlarged from eating too much. So, you've got the Lord Jesus in His deity, and you've got all the other lords of the earthly or carnal realm; you've got the heavenly and the earthly. That's what you've got—and that's where our warfare is. That's where you start getting rid of your problems. The truth is you've got to fight, learn spiritual warfare, and put it in practice if you want to remain a citizen of the Kingdom of God. Jesus said if my Kingdom was of this world, my soldiers or my people would fight for me. What this scripture means is that His Kingdom is a Spirit Kingdom, and our warfare is not with flesh and blood using carnal weapons. It is a command that we have to fight. We are to join the ranks of the army of God, and He tells us, He even commands us, in Timothy to endure hardness as a good soldier. Don't get entangled with the affairs of this life and that's the very thing that Christians are strangling themselves with! Getting money, getting this, getting that, and they're so involved in the business world out there and in the world in general that they are strangling themselves and killing themselves. They might as well put a noose around themselves, jump off a tree, and kill themselves. He says if you're going to be in my army and be one of my soldiers, don't even get entangled with the world. You ask, “Well how do you not get entangled with it, General?” I've got to make a living. Making a living is one thing, and worshiping material possessions to the point that you work like a slave is quite another thing. What do you think communities are all about? Why do you think we live together as a community, army, nation tribe? Communities cut out a lot of that junk right away. When you live together, share your resources together, worship God together, pray and fight the enemy together, you just quit feeding the world so much. And that doesnt mean that you're secluded in some compound where you peek out the windows because you are so afraid to go out into the world. Far from it! We're out in this world everyday being a witness for Christ, but we don't get entangled with it. We've traveled this world, we've been in many countries and different cultures, and we are still here alive and well, serving the Lord. The essence is that you dont give your heart to the world. Don't give your soul to it. Don't worship it, that is what Paul was telling Timothy. Get out there and be a bold witness to people: win them to Christ, do your business in the world, but don't fall in love with it. That's what's wrong with Christians; they're so in love with the world. They work five days a week, some six, some even seven days a week, for hours on end in the world. Then they go to a church, a building, and give God one hour or two hours a week. Then they sit back and think to themselves, "Oh, I'm a good Christian. I worship God. Come to my church." Let's talk about what Christians do in a week. Let's just say that the average Christian works forty hours a week in the world. Then Saturday is a day off because you have to unwind from the world, so you don't serve God on that day. That's your day to watch football or sports, or go skiing, or whatever you like—whatever you, the lord, likes to do. Then when Sunday comes around all of a sudden, it's religious day. If you're really good, you might spend three hours in church on a Sunday morning. Of course, on Sunday night, they have to have something special to get you there, some kind of entertainment, concert, drama, or other diversion. Anything to entice Christians to come on Sunday night. All right, if you're good you'll go Sunday night. So all totaled, you've got about five hours worth of time at church as opposed to forty hours a week of work, plus twenty-four hours on Saturday, which is all yours because you're the lord. So do you get my point? Five hours a week for God, compared to sixty-four for yourself. No wonder the average Christian is so spiritually weak and unable to stand against the devil. Another good comparison is between what you eat for your natural body and what you eat for your spiritual body. Of course, we know what you ate at church, don't we? You ate church food. The snacky goodies, you know the sweet things with lots of sugar coating on them. Nothing that you have to chew very much. Maybe you had a little bubbly glass of champagne if you went to a charismatic, prosperity church. This kind of food gets you feeling real good so that you don't notice that your wallet was missing $$$ because Pastor Disaster got it. Yet, what about physical food. Oh my God, we live in the land of total consumption. There is no limit put on what you can eat for your fleshly, carnal body. People will go to great pains to make sure they have the highest quality food, in very large quantities. Yet when it comes to their spiritual food, all they eat is a few snacks covered with sugar—nothing to build strength. Nothing that might make you have to work at digesting deeper spiritual truths. What I'm getting at is that if you only ate that little amount of food in the physical, you would be screaming. You would be upset and you would be mad. Not only that, but you would be losing weight real quick, and your natural body over a period of a full year would probably be a skeleton. , All right, look at it in a spiritual light. If all you feed your new man is spiritual junk food, naturally he is going to be skinny and weak. No wonder Christians hide behind the curtain and peek out the window when the devil comes around. They have no guts, no grit, no muscle or strength. They have no power. God knows you don't want to tackle anything out there that might cause you spiritual exertion because you don't have any strength for it. So you keep on working for the world and do nothing for Jesus. That's the way it is. Christians starve the new man to death, while their carnal man is a fat, bloating beast that rules all day long and demands more and more of their life and time. What's wrong? Why are the forces of darkness growing so big that Christians are afraid? Because Christians aren't doing anything, and they have no guts anymore. They don't do anything for Christ: they don't witness or change anything, and the world is just getting worse, and worse, and worse! Now all the "educated" humanists at the universities talk about "post-Christian America," meaning that Christianity has reached its zenith and is now passed in America. Unfortunately they are not far from the truth. The devil is ruling the streets and the churches. He's ruling everything! Satan's soldiers are on the offensive 24 hours a day, every day of the year, while Christians go off and play churchy-church one day a week. Now in Matthew 28:18 when Jesus came out of the grave and appeared to His people, He said, "...all power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth." All power! In Heaven, heavenly power and in earth, earthly power. He has it all. He's the Lord of lords and King of kings. He has all power! And He's going to give it to you. Jesus is going to invest it in you, and you are going to go out and be His witnesses unto the ends of the earth: “You're going to preach, teach, and do mighty works in my name. You're going to do all these things because I have all power, and I'm giving it to you." Where's the power? Huh? Where's the power today? You hear a lot of preaching, you hear a lot of moaning and groaning about finances, but really, honestly, we don't see the power of God, do we? There's no power because Christians are powerless. They're powerless because they have no glory. They have no glory because they refuse to die to themselves; instead, they spend very little time with God, and eat spiritual junk food. So what do you have? You have a worthless, weak, spineless abomination called the "church." We are discussing that Jesus is the Ruler, the invisible Ruler over His visible Body on this earth. Jesus is our King, and we are the subjects of His Kingdom. You cannot barricade His Spirit in, and you cannot barricade His Spirit out. Men have tried to blot God out. They've tried to stop the moves of God, or they've tried to promote them. You can't do either one, for He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He's going to do what He wants to do. You can't reduce His strength because He's all-powerful. You can't say Jesus is weak because His Body on earth is weak in this hour. Yea, the Body is weak, but Jesus is not weak. You can't control His reign or His domain. I can't tell God what He can and cannot do, or why He should and why He shouldn't do something. He's immortal, powerful, merciful, righteous, and steadfast. These are points we've talked about. His truth is marching on, and there's a deadline for men. One of these days, the clock is going to strike twelve, and it's going to be all over. Nothing is going to stop it. No one is going to turn back the hands of time another day or two, or another month or two so they can have one more fling in sin. No, there's a deadline, people. We don't know when it is. I don't know. I don't know when He's coming back or when the time will be over, and I don't know when things are going to be sealed and shut. But I do know that it is going to happen, and that Jesus the King is going to judge every person. And whatever amount of glory you have or don't have, that's going to be it. It's finalized, finished, done. Once you die, you are sealed for eternity, and you will either be in God's Kingdom or in the lake of fire. The choice is up to you. Jesus gives life to the dead, strength to the weak, forgiveness to the sinners, and freedom to the captives. He rewards the good and punishes the wicked. That I know! So what you've got is Jesus is our King. As far as I'm concerned, I don't need any other King, and most of all, I don't need to be a king. I don't want to serve any man. I want Jesus Christ to be my King. That's where the power is, that's where the glory is, and that's where the strength is— the strength to serve God in holiness and truth. And it's a shame to Him when His people drag along, mess around, goof off, waste time, and resources, and never really get down to business for God to let Him be Ruler of their lives. Now Jesus is smart enough to know exactly what He wants to do with every individual. He knows exactly what He wants to do with me and with you. He doesn't guess; He knows. He already has a blueprint. He already knows what He wants to use you for. But are we willing? This is the vital question. Inside we are all full of good intentions, and we will tell God we are willing to be made willing. Yet you'll see what's going to happen when the spiritual battle begins for control. You'll see the little lord and the little king stand up and say, "No way, not right now." How do I know this? I've done it! And I'll tell you where He always takes you: He'll always take you to the cross, to the way of death, to where you become lesser and He becomes greater. He'll always do that, because if He didn't do that, people would be no good. We would all go to hell. He needs to empty us out so He can fill us up. And if we don't get emptied out, then He won't fill us up. That's the process of true Christianity, and there's no other way around it. There's no other way that you can live your Christian walk and fulfill the will of God unless you die, and that's the very thing we don't want to do. The key to everything is dying. You know in my early days, I was like everybody. I used to dread the thought of dying, of crucifying the flesh. I used to just wake up in cold sweats and think, “I don't want to do that, God. I don't want to do that because...." You know how distasteful it is, going to the cross and doing something you don't want to do. Oh, I would just go through fits over dying because I didn't want to die to myself, to my ambitions, to my will, to all the stuff that made up who I thought I was. It drives even the most spiritual people crazy. But if you keep practicing, if you keep yielding your will to God, and making yourself die, as the years go by, you will actually find yourself desiring to die so that the life of Christ can come forth. I actually pray that God would show me new ways to die. I pray that way, and I mean it. I want to die to my will and to the things that have tormented me. I look back and wonder why I ever wanted to hang on to that stupid thing. The things of the world were killing me in the wrong way. And if some of you have such problems that are driving you nuts, start praying that God give you the strength to die. Make up your mind that you really want to die to that thing. Yet, you can get to that place with God where you find yourself actually begging God to take anything out of you that’s evil—that's the place where Jesus is really your King. "Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches." THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST – 3:11-13 We are A Spirit Community. CONTACT US! THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Thirteen The Warrior Tribe by General James Green (p. 17 in Issue Thirteen of The Tribal Call) What is a Warrior Tribe? A Tribe of people, a holy people, a blood-bought people that are rooted, grounded, and built up in Jesus Christ the LION (Eph 3:17). He is our Tribal King—we are His Tribal Warriors. "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.'' Col. 2:7 The Greek word for "nation" is “eth’ros” (Strongs #1484) (1 Peter 2:9). It means a race of people, i.e. a tribe of people, true Israelites (Col. 3:11, Romans 3:28-31) So, those who are born again, regardless of race, become a Tribal member (John 3:3,6). But, this does not make us WARRIORS. Becoming a warrior involves dominion, discipline, and deliverance! Where do we begin? With our King Commander, Jesus Christ. "...the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has won—has OVERCOME and CONQUERED!" He will teach us to overcome and conquer." “There is neither Jew not Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:28 CALL TO ARMS "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand." Joel 2:1 The calling to arms is of utmost importance, a calling that will take us out of the "safety zone" and into the "danger zone." It is a call to become warriors for Christ, a call to put our inward enemies under foot and put our outward enemies to flight, and a call to fight the good fight of faith. Our warfare is not against flesh and blood, dear brothers, sisters, and comrades, but we wage war in the Spiritual dimension (2 Cor. 10:3-6)—Spiritual warfare. "Set the trumpet to thy mouth. He shall come as an eagle against the house of the Lord, because they have transgressed my covenant, and trespassed against my law." Hosea 8:1 Jesus was called to do battle on our behalf. He took on the forces of Hell and legions of sins that hold men and women, boys and girls in death throes. He overcame every attack and conquered death, hell, and the grave. He took on all the Satanic hosts of demons (Col. 2:15). Not only did He unlock the prison house that holds men captive, but he also unlocked the treasure house of the Kingdom of God (Matt. 19:21; Mark 10:21; Luke 12:33, 18:22; 2 Cor. 4:7; Col. 2:3). "Again, the Kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field." Matthew 13:44 Unfortunately, many men and women are either ashamed of the Tribal Uniform (Eph 6:11-17) or afraid to do combat with God's/their enemies (Psalms 78:9). They fear the enemy's camp more than they fear God! But we are commanded to "Fear God. Honor the King" (I Peter 2:17). Just as the military recruiting poster aims to promote a "fearless spirit," so we must pray to God for the WARRIOR SPIRIT. If men and women in the service of earthly kings and governments can sacrifice life and limb, can we sit idly, fearfully, and allow the enemies of God to prevail? History proves over and over again that men and women have a built-in capacity for aggressive behavior which, given the right provocation or stimulus, can be harnessed. History also proves that men and women are capable of extreme cruelty, ruthlessness, fear, greed, and power. All these ingredients are found in men and women at war. But mans' inhumanity to man is not true evidence of an aggressive lion instinct. We are instructed, yea, commanded to hate the sin, not the sinner. Yet inspite of this command, bloody wars have been waged in the name of religion. But, Soldiers of the Cross, we can be empowered with kindness, compassion, courage, and loyalty. We can be a meek people (not weak), fair but firm. We must realize that demons influence and motivate men and women, and when they yield to these demonic forces, they inevitably do evil. "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." I John 2:15-16 Movies, television, and printed matter all help to glamorize war—the wrong kind of war. The media madness has thoroughly poisoned our society. Even the bloodiest battle scenes are illuminated with a CULTivated glamor. Kids' videos are nothing short of perversion, sick murder, and delightful killings. Yet can we get Christian soldiers who will stand against such filth, men and women of God who will fight such things? Most Christians DEFEND their televisions, their "Bible video games" for kids, and all the rest of their cheap entertainment deVICES. They will even rebuke you for taking such an aggressive stand against sin. GOD or gods? Wars have been waged in the name of religion, not just the Christian religion, but many religions. Superstition, greed, fear, self-preservation, and other things are causes for war. The combination of BELIEF and the honor of dying for the same produces fanaticism. The fatalism of the militant Muslim, confident that death will bring everlasting sensual delights, is the same spirit found in the exhortations of staff-recruiting sergeants, the preaching of army chaplains, and the suicidal attacks of Japanese Kamikaze pilots in World War II. Let us not forget the Biblical exhortation that we should earnestly CONTEND for the faith. The word "contend" means to struggle and fight for something, in this case the Apostle is referring to the Christian faith. POWER AND GLORY There are those who fight for the power and glory of it. Mercenaries fight for CASH, not for CAUSE. They are not usually driven by fanaticism or nationalism as we know it, to them war is just a job! We should look at our service in the Kingdom as a job without the power, glory, and cash that rule so many professing Christian soldiers of today. The influence of Power, Glory, and Cash— demonic god/idols in themselves—drives men and women into the arms of God's enemies. But we as missionaries, under the commandship / Kingship of Jesus the Lion, must do our job out of love for Heaven and love for humanity. We are to seek the things above (Spiritual), not the things of this earth (carnal). When we seek service to be seen of men, a sick system develops as absurd as it is convenient. This system has shamefully degenerated into a lustful desire for money without the godly will to fight. For our Modern Churchianity, this process has become a trade, a business. Now we find ourselves fighting among ourselves (Tribal feuds). Once the war is on, we become enemies of the Lord's true camp. Let us remind ourselves that we fight for the King (Jesus) and His country (heavenly estate) (I John 2:15-16; III John: 9,11). "From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not." James 4:1-2 Rebuke the spirits of greed and powerlust. Pray for the Spirit of sharing and share alike, for kinship, for unity of community within the Tribe. Don't let the devil rob you of life, put death under foot (I Cor. 15:25-27). The spirits of selfishness and greed have all but devoured the Body of Christ. Jesus taught the principle of sharing. As a Tribal Leader, He paved the way for the birth and growth of His NEW TRIBAL ARMY. Hence, the interests of Tribal leaders should bare a close relationship to the interests of the Tribe. But dear ones, look at what we've got today. A class differentiation has transpired: the leaders have embarked on wars, usually fighting to build a bigger organization than their rivals, solely as a means of fulfilling their own personal ambitions. Another area we need to avoid is the divine right of kings / queens syndrome. Success in business/battle (like the multi-million dollar T.V. ministries), coupled with self-authority (fleshly, carnal, and sensual), can and does lead into a CULT of hero worship. The ruler / leader becomes their very own ardent admirer! "Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted." Matt. 23:10-12 The belief of a credulous populace in his/her almost god-like qualities (not God-like), usually convinces them that they really and truly are divine—a god! Many of todays popular Televangelists are a good example of this. The divine right of kings and queens, as it is commonly understood, can be interpreted in such a way as to indirectly impute divinity to the ruling monarch. They demand the praise and worship of their subjects, exercise dominion (fleshly) over them, and extract great wealth from them (pay up or I won't perform). Rulership and leadership have their place in the Body of Christ, but Jesus taught that the GREATEST shall be the SERVANT of all (Philip. 2:7). Sad but true, the lust for power of the "Christian" empire-builders and glamour stars is matched only by their cravings for wealth, much of which is spent conducting campaigns to accumulate more power and wealth—the war goes on!! Cold-blooded murderers of Biblical truth and ruthless self-seeking are smartly camouflaged under the guise of “spirituality” (Col. 2:4; 2 Cor. 4:4). "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Col. 2:8 WARRIOR ELITE History tell us that the success of the Spanish Conquistadores was a tribute to their military elite. They were successful! They conquered by murder, Mass (militant Catholicism), and massacre. The epitome of military elitism were the Samurai of feudal Japan. They developed a code that forbade them any activity other than the martial arts and DEMANDED strict adherence to vigorous principles of discipline and honor. Cowards were scorned and zealots praised, the chicken and eagle syndrome. "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the putting down of strongholds)." 2 Cor. 10:3-4 The true way for Christians to fight is on their knees, not with guns, swords, or bombs, but in prayer—humility prayer. We need not look to the world, for the world has its own way of fighting. Our victory lies in the profound truth that we refuse to fight as the world does; we refuse to lower ourselves to violence and hatred, which are the essences of mortal combat. We need to look to our War Captain Jesus for battle inspiration. We must look to the one who defeated the Kingdom of Hell through the ultimate humility sacrifice. The Captain fights for total victory, the faithful soldiers follow their Captain. FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." II Tim. 2:3-4 Fighting the good fight of faith is likened unto patriotism. As mentioned before, faith in the Kingdom of God can be perverted by greedy and power-hungry people. Patriotism, mans' need to belong to a kingdom, can be perverted by power-hungry politicians. Preachers and politicians, warriors and wars, mercenaries and missionaries, the Kingdom of God and the kingdoms of men— all of these come into play as men struggle for what they believe is right. Music played, men sang, off to war they went...to fight and die in battle. Patriotism: love of one's country, religion, ideals, and people. Patriotism: the expression of sentimental attachment to what is familiar, reassuring. Patriotism: mans' basic need to belong, his craving for identity, what the Bible calls "tribal feeling." Biblical and secular patriotism can both be twisted and perverted by power-hungry or ignorant leaders, and sold to the masses through mass-media propaganda, public education, and tradition. Therefore, it becomes justified—justification for the countless atrocities committed in the name of "my country, my religion, right or wrong!" Patriotism produces the "Warrior Spirit." It promotes loyalty, comradeship, unity, and culture—all good qualities. The politics of secular patriotism leads to destructive forms of nationalism wherein people only fight for that which will perish and neglect the salvation of souls, but the politics of true Christianity leads to Tribalism, unity, community, and one Tribe under God. Secular nationalism is the precursor of feelings of national superiority (as we, dear Americans, well know!). From a secular point of view, this is right, but from God's point of view, as the Transcendent God who is the Creator of men, pride is an abomination, whether it be spiritual or in the form of national superiority. Remember, God is the Creator; we, the people (all races), are the created. Militant nationalism is usually just a step away from racism, and from there to war! "But we are citizens of the state (commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await the [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as Savior." Philip. 3:20 Amplified Bible THE NEW TRIBE There is nothing wrong with being a patriot in the true sense of the word, but patriotism for any nation other than God's true Tribe automatically leads to secular nationalism, causing people to take sides against each other, when neither one is right with God. Distinctions arise between "us and them," "white vs other colors," "USA vs other nations.” Not so in the Tribal Kingdom of the Lord. We are not identified by race or culture, but by position. The Bible also tells us that Jesus "...hath raised us up together, and made us sit together (all races) in heavenly places in Christ Jesus" (Eph. 2:6). There is no doubt that God is raising up a NEW TRIBE, a new government of His Spirit with a new brand of patriots who will swear their allegiance to the Kingdom of Heaven first. We can experience a clean, holy patriotism, and a healthy nationalism that seeks to share its resources (Spiritual treasure) with all men, regardless of race, creed, or color. And as we work together under the command of Jesus our Tribal King, He will be our protection and He will fight for us. We will not take up the weapons of the world which bring forth death, but we will fight with the weapons of the Spirit and bring forth LIFE! "And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof." Rev. 5:5 We are A Spirit Community. CONTACT US! THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Fourteen In The Life Of A Bible: NOTES ON THE ECCLESIA by Capt. Peter Green (p. 5 in Issue Fourteen of The Tribal Call) We all owe a great debt to William Tyndale. He was the first to translate the New Testament from the original Greek into the everyday English language of the common people. Few of us realize the severe opposition and bitter hatred leveled against men like Tyndale by the established religious order of their day. After rotting for sixteen months in a dark, damp dungeon, Tyndale was strangled and burnt at the stake on October 6,1536. His great crime? Daring to give the Word of God to the common people in a language which they could understand. In discussing Tyndale's enemies and their reasons for opposing him, we will quote from the introduction to a current version of Tyndale's New Testament by David Daniell: “The Bishop of London hunted down and burned many thousands of Tyndale’s successive New Testaments and Pentateuches with fanatical thoroughness, a ruthlessness that seems close to hysteria - only a dozen in all survive. King Henry VIII's Chancellor, Sir Thomas More, showed himself less than gentle, reasoned, saintly and urbane, in his long, and indeed violent polemics against Tyndale. He calls him in his Confutation, 'a beast', as one of the 'hell-hounds that the devil hath in his kennel', discharging a 'filthy foam of blasphemies out of his brutish beastly mouth'. Elsewhere, More calls him a deceiver, a hypocrite, 'puffed up with the poison of pride, malice and envy'. And so on. Yet the best that More, in all the great length of his tirades, can summon against Tyndale, when all is boiled down, is that he translated the Greek word for 'elder' as 'elder' (not 'priest'), and the Greek word for 'repentance' as 'repentance' (not 'do penance'), the Greek word for 'congregation' (Ecclesia) as 'congregation' (not 'church').....Even Erasmus, More's friend, had translated the Greek Ecclesia as congregation, not 'church'. Every change that Tyndale makes is more than defensible: it is correct. ""In another paragraph, Mr. Daniell explains in more detail why More hated the simple directness of Tyndale's work. This quote makes it clear that the warfare against the true Ecclesia pattern laid down in the New Testament has been long and vicious, spanning many centuries. We find it always being carried forward by the leaders of the man-made religious systems, usually with the sinister approval of the state. It is these antichrist, religious hypocrites, that have set themselves up as rulers over God's people, who have the most to lose as the ECCLESIA REVOLUTION brings down their kingdoms. We quote Mr. Daniell: "Of the words to which Sir Thomas More took exception to bitterly, the most objectionable was 'congregation' instead of ‘church’ for the Greek Ecclesia. It is a word most common in Acts and the Epistles, referring to the communities of Christians around the Mediterranean, early in the second half of the first century. These were, of course, literally congregations or communities of people, and that Greek sense cannot be avoided. What More found heretical in the word 'congregation' was the implication that there is not one hierarchical body, as in the Catholic church with the Pope as it's head, of which all Christians are members, but rather, self-governing communities of Christians, led by the Spirit, with allegiance only to God through their experience of Christ: precisely the New Testament sense. The same point is made by Tyndale's correct translation of the last words of John 10:16 as ‘one flock and one shepherd’, which became in the Latin-based versions, including the Authorized Version, 'one fold and one shepherd'".Another very interesting fact that many people are unaware of is that the translators of the King James Authorized Version borrowed a very large percentage (many scholars estimate well over half) directly from Tyndale's work, and they never even once mention his name. So much for scholastic integrity. Nevertheless, we note that by the time the KJV was commenced, the forces of state controlled religion, which murdered Tyndale, had become so deeply entrenched that wherever the text did not conform to the ideas of the centralized religious government, it was modified to make sure that it did, and that government control over God's people was well backed up in the scriptures. Thus we have the word church used in all but two instances to translate the Greek word Ecclesia. This is a gross mistranslation, but a sweet revenge for the religious hypocrites who fawned at the feet of the king in order to keep their oppressive and profitable system of tyranny in place. The idea of autonomous congregations or communities of Christians with no king but Jesus was too dangerous and could not be allowed to live. Once again, Truth suffers at the hands of religious men. The forces that drove the Spanish Inquisition are still with us. Religious demons in human bodies will always persecute those who truly follow the Lord whithersoever He leadeth. Did you know that the King James version, commonly known as the ‘Authorized Version’, was never even authorized by the king? It had no royal seal upon it at all. The designation of 'Authorized Version' is the first of many myths about it. For two hundred years, from the middle of the eighteenth century until after the Second World War, the KJV had an increasingly bright halo, which it did not altogether deserve. It became glorified, to the point of idolatry, until the KJV became the acme of achievable literary perfection. Even today, you will find large groups of people who literally idolize the KJV, refusing to use any other version whatsoever. They make statements like, "The KJV is the Bible that God uses”, or that "the KJV is inerrant and you will go to Hell if you don't use it". We are no advocates of the kind of Biblical criticism which seeks to undermine and destroy the Word of God; in fact, we love and use the KJV very much. Yet at the same time, we refuse to put God in a box built out of man-made doctrines. Whenever something is set up as an idol in the house of God, whether it be a certain version of His Word, a certain doctrine, or even a leader whom God may have originally appointed, the Spirit of die Living God will be offended and depart. Our God is jealous, and He will have no rival lovers. It is the Holy Spirit of God which has been sent to lead and guide us into all truth, and if He uses a version of the Bible other than the KJV then that is His business, not ours. Our business is to humbly listen to what God has to tell us and then obey. This cannot be done when an idol has usurped the throne and demands our worship and loyalty. In our time, we see much of the extravagance lavished on the KJV waning, and because of this we can begin to see the history of Bible translation a little more clearly. If you are willing to remove the idolatry and undeserved exaltation which has grown up around the King James version, you can plainly see that in many instances, it is a 'government translation'. It is not true to the original Greek in some very crucial places, precisely for the purpose of promoting and maintaining governmental control over the people. Over the years, God has blessed us with many important revelations, taking us back to what the Spirit has called 'ancient truths' which have been buried under centuries of religious garbage. The Ecclesia pattern is one of those truths. As our knowledge and understanding of the Ecclesia continues to grow through experience. We are determined to see this glorious 'hidden treasure' brought back to God's people on a world-wide scale. The Ecclesia concept is very simple. The true followers Of Jesus Christ are meant to live together, holding all things common, under the leadership of men and women who have been appointed and anointed by God for the job. It is a wonderful way to die to yourself and begin really living the Gospel instead of just talking about it once a week at 'church'. The Ecclesia Revolution is underway, for the Spirit of God is calling men and women, boys and girls, to come out from among the unclean systems of men and consecrate themselves to His eternal purposes. Souls are perishing without the knowledge of Christ. If you would like to find out how you can get involved, just contact us. We offer a wide range of printed materials as well as audio and video tapes for the serious student. Isn't it time you did something real for Jesus? Seek God! Start an Ecclesia and watch God do miracles on your behalf. If we can do it - you can do it. ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► Prayer of Thanksgiving ► “...When Men Shall Hate You” ► “Grounds For Gratitude” ► WORD OF THE LORD: “Imitators and Emulators” ► “Missions: Taking Jesus To All The World” ► “The Heart And Soul Of Islam (A Continuing Series...) ► “Voice Of The Warrior” ► “Angelic Calvary” ► “Theocracy vs. Mobocracy” ► “WHAT IS THE ECCLESIA? Is It A Church? Is It A Cult? Is It Important? ► Letters From The Field ► “Blow The Trumpet” ► Salvation We are A Spirit Community. CONTACT US! THE TRIBAL CALL Issue Sixteen The School of Jesus Christ by General James Green (p. 2 in Issue Sixteen of The Tribal Call) Jesus was and is the world's best teacher: both unique and ultimate. However, many men may differ about Him in other respects. Irregardless of how much they may disregard, or disobey His teachings, few are able to deny His teachings and qualify them as "untrue or false." Because what He taught is the ideal and the truth, and the teachings of Jesus are more widely referred to than the teachings of any other teacher known to man. Jesus is the teacher who is more widely quoted than any other, and although there are some who declare that His teachings are too ideal and impractical for common, everyday usage, all have to agree that if His teachings were put into universal application, they would cause to come forth a new social and economic order and transform entire civilizations! Seeing the crowds, He (Jesus) went Up on the mountain and when He was seated, His disciples came to Him. Then He opened His mouth and TAUGHT them...." Matt. 5:1,2 Amplified Erect in youthful grace and radiant with glory came Jesus to sinful men and women, boys and girls. Jesus Christ was and is our universal seminary at which mankind is evermore learning. He was and is the most remarkable phenomenon in human history. God's only begotten Son became the "Son of man", the representative and example of sinless humanity. He teaches about love and war, curses and blessings, religion and politics. Supreme in sympathy and unparalleled in power, Jesus laid down His life for us. Pick up the Bible and start reading Matthew 5: 1-48 and catch Jesus teaching in the outdoors (not in a fancy church) with common people sitting or standing in natural surroundings, pupils of the greatest Master in time. The teachings of our Lord have been the inspiration, the creative and constructive forces in the development of Christian civilization. In a world gone mad, we need now more than ever to reapply His teachings. Never were they more needed than right now. This is our generation. This is the hour that His disciples need to devoutly and devotedly teach and preach His principles with conviction. When the world is at wit's end and the church miserably in bondage to sin and the rudiments of wickedness, we need to reaffirm our loyalty to Jesus and His principles. Let us put ourselves into His school once again. Let us make ourselves available as we read in Mark 3:14, "And He appointed twelve to continue to be with Him, and that He might send them out to preach (as apostles, missionaries)." You might think, "I am a Christian; I go to church ". Yet the great commission tells us that we are to first learn, then teach others about what we have received. We are to give away the principles we have been given, not sit like bumps on logs, ever learning yet never coming to the knowledge of the truth. Jesus never once told His disciples to "go to church". He trained His disciples to go forth as ambassadors of His Kingdom into all nations! We are to give forth as we have been given: principles of spiritual birth, death to self, growth of the new man, living in a right relationship with God and humanity. We are to share as we have received; lessons about sin and salvation, faith and love, mercy and judgement. As we learn to see ourselves and to identify the sins inherent to humankind, we are to likewise admonish others as to the statutes & tenets of righteous living to which we are expected to adhere in the heavenly Kingdom. We are to likewise teach others the necessity of Christian character and the far-reaching effects of the same. We must never forget His sacrificial death, but call to remembrance to ourselves and others, the price that has been paid for our redemption. Likewise, the miracle of His resurrection and ascension are. truths which must be passed on to generations yet in the balances. Jesus never taught His disciples how to extract money from church members, nor did He indulge in entertainment of the members, nor did He teach His disciples to remain in the perpetual babyhood realm. Jesus taught the truth, and He stood for the principles of righteousness. He did not bow to sin nor turn away from the hypocrisy which was evident amongst the religious, but rather, He faced the issues as they were and called sin, SIN! Jesus never taught His disciples to "sell the gospel" through the writing and selling of books, nor through cassette tapes, videos or music concerts. No, indeed He lived simply, taught freely, and looked to His Father to provide. He did not promote a lifestyle of luxury or extravagance, but rather a simple life of faith in the goodness of the Father. Let's face it: the garbage today being touted as ''teachings of Jesus" is nothing more than the lust of greedy men and women who are looking for nothing more than to live as kings and queens in this earth and make a prey of the sheep! The school of Jesus was unique. It was not a soft, loose, "do your own thing" style of learning, but it was militaristic in style and character. The basic tenet of Jesus' teaching was discipline, coupled with determination and duty. He was radical in His approach, and He taught as one with authority, not like the rabbis who depended upon extensive learning and proud display. His message was from the heart, and it went into the depths of men's souls. Jesus defied the religious system of His day, going instead to the common people wherever they could be found, in their needs, in their sorrows and sicknesses, in their desolation of soul. He went to them and taught the law of mercy, the doctrine of compassion, and the tenet of forgiveness. He lived what He believed, and by example, He won them to Himself, despite the opposition of the wicked religionists. He was a man of authority—the greatest authority—Godly authority. So thorough were His teachings that He gave His life to conclude His message. So sound has that message remained throughout the centuries that millions have come to know, believe, and trust that He was, is, and always shall be the greatest teacher of all time. Jesus appealed to the common man because He taught through everyday examples. He walked amongst the poor and manifested the power of His Father unto men and women, boys and girls. Unlike the proud religious leaders of His day, Jesus was not afraid to trust His Father in every circumstance. The Bible says of Him in John 2:25 that, "...He knew what was in man". There are plenty of men and women who can learn of Jesus and His teachings in their minds, but there are very few who will take the time and endure the pain of knowing Him thoroughly in their hearts. Mere book knowledge will not replace the way that the Holy Ghost desires to lead us to know Him and to that which is written on the tables of our hearts. Of course, Jesus visited the Synagogues, the nests where the religious demons kept their poison, but He called them what they were. He did not play hypocrite with them. Jesus was not afraid to identify wickedness and to declare unto the so-called leaders of the flock of God that they were in grievous error and were the children of the devil. The bitterness which counter assaulted Jesus from the religious demi-gods is the same spirit of religion which hates the Truth unto this day. Wherever religious men have built their kingdoms, they despise the infiltration of the truth, because the truth will expose them for the destroyers of souls and the devourers of life that they are. The teaching of Jesus was moving, not stagnated in one place but moving out among those who were athirst. The Lord did not establish a system of religious feudalism but rather He intermingled with those who were in need, who were bound in their sins, who were crippled and sick, who were dying. Some of those who chose to follow Jesus came from a school of the followers of Aristotle. They were trained to walk and were taught—fitting it was that Jesus led the way in the walk of righteousness! Wherever Jesus went, there was a school, for He was the teacher. To the western mind, a school is usually a building or a set of buildings run by a group of teachers. But Jesus was a different kind of teacher, and wherever He went, the circumstance became His school and He taught. The Scripture does not tell us that Jesus stopped and raised money to build a beautiful Bible college with His name on it, but rather He taught wherever and however He could. He taught principle, He taught love, He taught understanding, and He taught judgment. Jesus never had a beautiful chariot, but He walked. The ministers of today would have heart failure if they even had to walk one mile to the house of God. But it says of Jesus that He ". . .went on His way (on foot) through the cities and villages, teaching'' (Luke13:22). Jesus taught His disciples as they all walked together! What is it that makes Jesus unique and drastically different from the other religious figures who have come and gone upon the earth? Very simply this: He is "THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE. Jesus wrote no books, yet His eternal words spoken have been recorded and passed on from generation to generation. The holy Scripture tells us that "heaven and earth shall pass away but my words (Jesus speaking) shall not pass away" Matthew 24:35. The teachings of the founders of the world's major religions are mere words, and they shall pass away as do all the rudiments of men. But we can trust and rely upon the words of Jesus, the Son of the Living God. His Word is holy and solid, “...that thou might know the certainty of those things, wherein thou has been instructed" Luke 1:3,4. The Moffatt translation says, “...to let you know the solid truth of what you have been taught." Jesus had a close relationship with His pupils—His disciples. They were a real team, fitly framed together. They walked, talked, worked, and lived together—a small community, a mobile school. Jesus and His band of new warriors attacked the issues of His day, religion being their biggest target. They exposed and assaulted the evil spirits that kept people bound. Jesus worked miracles, and He rebuked sins, personal and national. Yet, He willingly interacted with the sinners and publicans whilst keeping Himself unspotted. Jesus started a new culture, and He was the Cult Leader. The members enrolled were few while He lived, but grew steadily after His death and resurrection. Jesus was not a man whose pride was offended by small numbers, because His work was not to be seen and heard of men, but to please His Father. What a wonderful school Jesus laid down the pattern for! He had lectures, discussions, criticisms, expositions, illustrations, personal interaction, and living experiences. "Having loved His own...He loved them unto the end" John 13:11. Can we, His disciples, His soldiers, His missionaries, do less? Can't we love Him enough to carry on with His work? Can't we love enough to avoid the distractions of sex, race, and social class? Although Jesus school while He walked among us was temporary and evolved through a handful of chosen vessels, His greater, enduring school of the Spirit is still open for enrollment. The brave man walking the shores of Galilee has had His influence spread around the world, throughout the centuries, and it has become the most renowned Spiritual university in the universe, with adherents to His message being found throughout all nations. Wouldn't you like to enroll in the school of Jesus? Because of the teacher, because of the knowledge, because of the wisdom made available, this school will never be closed down or done away with. In fact, many disciples, became the first martyrs; they were willing to lay their lives down as the Master teacher had laid His life down. They had learned from the example of the One who was perfect love. Those first students who sat at the feet of the Master and learned are remembered likewise throughout the centuries for the privilege they had of personal and intimate fellowship with Jesus, the world's divine Saviour and Lord. What followers of any other master have had such a lasting memorial and impact as the original men who followed, who loved, who learned from the Master Teacher? What other disciples have gained such acclaim as these common men chosen by the Lord? Truly, there are none to compare, because none had the privilege, nor the instruction that they received. Their influence (the power of God) still remains, even to the ends of the earth, because their teacher was divine and His influence was eternal. The Master Teacher, with His small, unpretentious school, and His common people followers, left for us the pattern, the Way of eternal life. And this eternal life is available to any and all who will follow the Master—here, now, TODAY. And what is more, He has sent the Holy Spirit of God to lead and guide us into all truth (John 16:13). No other teacher left such a legacy on earth! It was to His few chosen pupils that Jesus committed the continuance of His divine teachings and work under the Great Commission (Matt, 28:19,20). Now, centuries later, we each have a wonderful duty to perform in that commission, "...to teach all nations". The Jesus of history, we can all appreciate, but there is more: Jesus can even now become your personal friend. Right now, you can receive Him with just a simple prayer. You too can become a disciple and sit at the Master's feet, for He still walks among us in the Spirit. You can receive the indwelling of the Holy Spirit of God, filling you to overflowing, and prove to the world by example and precept that you have been with Jesus and learned of Him. If you want to help change the world, start by changing! ALSO INCLUDED IN THIS PUBLICATION: ► “The Word Of God” ► “The Logos and Rhema: WORD OF GOD” ► “The God Of The Word” ► “Some Thoughts About Bible Translations” ► “Eli’s Broken Neck” ► WORD OF THE LORD ► “The Holy Ghost As Paraclete F. Y. I.” ► “Silent Martyrs” ► “15 Centuries of Church” ► “The Believer’s Security: Conditional or Unconditional? ► “Great Sorrows, Great Harvest” (WORDS OF THE SPIRIT) ► “God’s Plan of Salvation!! For You!!” ► “Jesus The Savior”