How The Devil Steals Your Seed

How The Devil Steals Your Seed


The Law Of Displacement 
Seed Cultivation


Now lets get in our garden and get rid of all the tares that have slipped in while we slept.  The result of our profession as we plant seed, and the acknowledgement of the truth of the scripture pertaining to us in Christ will cause the law of displacement to begin to take effect.  In other words, the seed of Christ roots out the seed of Satan.


Light is more powerful than darkness.  One simply turns on the light switch and displaces the darkness.  John 8:12 says, "I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life."  Just turn on the Word of Truth and the lie will go.  It is that simple.


This is why Christ said in Matthew 11:30, "for my yoke is easy and my burden is light."   If Jesus said this then we can expect it to be true.  If you are experiencing anything to the contrary, if it's becoming complex or overbearing to you, then we are walking in the realm of the "self life."


Jesus said he will give us rest when we lay our burdens down to him.  This is precisely what he was talking about, resting from your own self trying to fulfill what God wants for you in your own power. All things will manifest itself from His power within us.  Because when we don't use His power we fall away in unbelief.


Timothy 2:25-26 says, "In meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves."  They actually oppose themselves by what has been planted within them.  They can't overcome these obstacles, because these obstacles are actually within them.  "If peradventure will them repentance," changing of the mind, "to the acknowledging of the truth."


Repentance is the first step.  Changing your mind or saying I don't want to be that way anymore.  You have to acknowledge you have a problem and then that you have an answer to that problem and that is Truth.  When you begin to acknowledge the truth, manifestation comes.  You don't oppose yourself anymore.  The rest of the verse says, "and that they may recover themselves."  Did you hear that?  Recover themselves.  "Out of the snare of the devil."  You see, God already recovered you.  Now you must recover yourself, by renewing the way you think.  Blindness to this truth is the reason why people continually say, "Why hasn't God done this," or "How come God hasn't come to my rescue," and so on.  He has done it all, it's already completed, it's within you and you need to release it.


What we hear, see, and say comes back to us.  It will manifest.  It is planted within you and you will see it come out of you and echo back.  Through prayer and meditation we can sow the concepts of what we are in Christ into our inner man and start having victorious thinking.  Acknowledge that the old man is dead.  It is done, it is finished.


After a seed is planted, we must cultivate it, and care for it, or it will die.  If we don't we will have wasted our time in trying to grow that seed within us.  Cultivate, according to Webster means, 1. to prepare and use (soil, land) for growing crops. 2. to break up the surface soil around plants in order to destroy weeds, prevent crusting and preserve moisture. 3. to grow from seeds, bulbs, shoots. 4. to improve or develop by various techniques. 5.  to improve by care, training or study, refine and cultivate your mind. 6. to promote the development or growth , as he cultivated a social conscience. 7. to seek to develop a familiarity with; give one's attention to, pursue.


The word of God says to break up the fallow ground and to not sow among thorns.  Jeremiah 4:3 says, "Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy, for it is time to seek the Lord, till he comes and rains righteousness upon you."


Cultivation is basically a two-fold process, the first being the preparation of the soil, and the second is caring for the seed sown.  In preparing the soil, which is our heart, there are several attitudes we must mix within us to fertilize and break up the fallow ground.  They are humility, sincerity, honesty, Godly sorrow and patience. 1Peter 5:5 and James 1:4.


This two fold process can be done by completely opening yourself up to God's spirit through surrender and fellowship with Him.  Be willing to observe the areas of your life that need changing, knowing they can be changed, and don't be intimidated about facing different areas of your life because you feel that if you try to overcome them that you will fail.  That's why we bury some areas of our lives, subconsciously, and we get into the realm called "denial."


Matthew 10:39 says, "He that findeth his life shall lose it; and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.  If we continue to hold on, through our pride some old ways, instead of coming to a place of repentance (knowing that God will give us the power to change) we will never change the things that we desire to change.  We can give ourselves a momentary fix, but unless we uproot them through humility and mind renewal we will eventually be given back over to the root.


There is one thing I must add here, and that is that the Holy Spirit is a gentleman.  He will never expose your frailties in a condemning way, but gently, one at a time with great love and mercy.  Satan, on the other hand, will condemn, bombard and intrude upon you with the problem that you have.  He will do that to get you to close up so change can not occur.  His goal is to make you defend yourself and if you are defending then you are not surrendering.


God wants us to have dominion and to prosper.  He doesn't want us in ill health, negative and in need.  It is just common sense to know that evil is not God's will for His children. Genesis 1:28.  In our hearts we know that it is not God's will for us to live that kind of life.  Yet somehow people have bought the concept of suffering, poverty, depression, confusion as being part of God's plan.  It is no wonder why the scripture says, "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge," Hosea 4:6.  It is this very thinking that has caused people to accept the seed of the serpent.  Then he has you in the bondage of fear and guilt.  That's why people fear or run from churches, they are teaching and approaching people in bondage the wrong way.


This article is a collection of teachings by Donna Braman

Churches Blow The Trumpet Of Zion

He Will Come In The Twinkling Of An Eye


Blow The Trumpets Of Zion

No More National Prayer Day! The Churches in Wilson are praying.

Have you ever wondered what happened to the Shunamites, the Hitites and all those it-ites from the bible? Well, they were scattered across the four corners of the world because of disobedience. But God is gathering them once more to the land of Canaan, (Israel) that was deeded to Abraham by God Almighty. All of the land that was promised to Abraham has never been controlled by the Jews.

The enemy wants to take even what King David purchased, Jerusalem. All of Canaan in today's Israel would include Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and parts of Iraq. It's been a long time to see this end. God will not forget his promise to the Jewish people. His anger doesn't last forever and he is a God that can not lie. People we are about to see the promise come about right before our very eyes. Don't you put your eyes on what is going on in the world, but keep your eye on Israel. God will move on his people. The Holy Spirit is moving on the body of Christ. Through the blood of Christ we are the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

I've had the earth quake in Haiti and Chili, and the Volcano eruption in Iceland (that is expected to dump ash on four nations) on my mind today and I have prayed for revelation of what in the world is happening. Nation against Nation, nations falling economically, corrupt governments, the enemy gathering around Israel, immoral living and thinking its normal. We need to kick the world out of the church and return to our blood covenant. I pray that our churches here in Wilson will sound the alarm, for the earth's labor pains are getting closer and closer together. Soon and very soon we will hear a trumpet blow and a loud shout.

More and more of our sister churches are returning to preaching the gospel and more are having intercessor prayers for Israel, our nation and our communities. We prayed fervently last Friday night at our church and cried out for revelation and for our nation to come back to righteous living. Let our hearts turn back to God. Our Pastor, Jerry Nelson cried a heart breaking cry for Christ's church body. The darkness in this world surrounds us, and we need more than ever to come together in one spirit and pray for anointing, and empowerment to finish Christ's work. The church is changing before our very eyes. We have discernment more than ever. I'm seeing a falling away of the tares and a return from people God is calling back to the church.

I was meditating today on what Jesus said about John the Baptist. He said, "I tell you that Elijah has already come." John prepared the way for Christ. Where are our preachers today that's ordained to prepare the way for the second coming? That Elijah spirit is heavy on us. It's not about shouting and receiving our blessings. It's about us teachers and ministers preparing the way for the great meeting in the air when he will snatch us up in the twinkling of an eye. Jesus' prophecy of the end time is at your door. He's standing outside his church knocking to come in.

Pray today for our churches to unit in the spirit of Elijah. I see the clouds, the latter rains are coming with power from on high to the church. Let our hearts become overwhelmed for Jesus who redeemed us. Let us build an altar and lay our worldly mess on it. It's dark, as dark as pitch black, people can not see the light. Pray for righteousness and coming back into covenant so our flames will be bright enough for the lost world to see. Pray for a fresh anointing and strengthening to finish the race. We're almost home church, don't grow weary of nay sayers, persecutions, and sin among us, but let our love for Him overwhelm us so we run our last mile home.

In the Jewish wedding, the groomsmen blow the trumpet and run through the streets with the sound of the trumpet and with shouts, "the groom is coming, wake up, the groom is almost at your door, get the bride adorned. Let us get faithful again, let us stay fresh with fine linen and precious jewels, with our oil lamps full. The Groom is coming for that unblemished bride. The earth is groaning for the hour has come to fulfill His promise to Israel and the return of the Son for his bride.

Volcano from Iceland is expected to cover five nations; UK, Germany, Russia, Sweden, France with heavy ash at 20 to 80 miles per hour.  One million people are stranded at airports in UK today and a food shortage is expected in several of these countries.  See more photos at www.daily.co.uk

Blessings to God's children

Jesus Came To Give Us Life More Abundantly

Blessings

What are the blessings from the Lord to His children when we love Him with all our heart, mind and soul? They are so numerous I can't count them all in a single article, but here are a few important ones.

HE GIVES GRACE AND MORE GRACE

Therefore He says: "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble." James 4:6.

THOSE WHO LOOK TO HIM FOR ANSWERS

Open your mouth and taste, open your eyes and see, how good God is. Blessed are you who run to him. Psalm 34:8.

TRUST

Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. Jeremiah 17:7.

OBEDIENCE

See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse, the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today. Deut. 11:26-27.

GOD'S CHILDREN DO NOT RETALIATE IN WRONG AGAINST THEM

Don't repay evil for evil. Don't retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God wants you to do, and he will bless you for it. 1Peter 3:9.

NO SORROW

The blessing of the Lord makes one rich, and He adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22

LOOK AFTER THE WEAK

Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the Lord delivers him in times of trouble. Psalm 41:1.

STRENGTH AND PEACE

The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace. Psalm 29:11.

THOSE WHO DELIGHT IN HIM

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delights is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. Psalm 1:1-2.

FORGIVENESS AND HEALING

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all you iniquity, who heals all your diseases.

May the Lord bless you all and keep you; may the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; may the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Seed principle, the incorruptible verses the corruptible

Multiplying Our Seed Is All About Choosing The Seed and Soil

SEED PRINCIPLE

There are two dimensions of the seed principle and they are spiritual and physical.The seed and harvest laws are shadows of the natural laws that govern all spiritual principles. Today through Seed Principle you are going to become free and learn how to apply seed principle to your physical and spiritual lives.

The physical world is a result of the spiritual. In Hebrews 11:3, God spoke the universe into existence. The things which appear were created from things which do not appear. The tangible is a manifestation of the intangible. The things we see in the physical world were made from things we cannot see in the spiritual world.

To understand the spiritual seed principle, you must understand the physical seed principle. Studying the seed principle in the physical realm helps to understand the spiritual dimension. This is why Jesus uses an illustration of sowing seed in the physical realm to clarify the concept of seed in the spiritual realm. Mark 4:14, “The sower soweth the word.”

The parable of the sower is the parable that gives discernment and understanding to all parables, to all truth and the foundation of the earth. It gives understanding and truth to the foundation of the old bible (physical) to spiritual foundation of the New Testament. Jesus uses the physical seed to illustrate faith being implanted in the heart and growing.

The Kingdom of God is also illustrated by the seed principle. Mark 4:30-33, It is like a grain of mustard seed, and when it is sown in the earth, is less than all the seeds in the earth but becomes the biggest tree with the largest branches and birds build their nests in it. And with many such parables, Jesus spoke the word into us, as we were able to hear it. Jesus spoke in parables for a reason. Jesus was saying, unless you have my seed in your spirit you cannot understand the planted word from heaven.

The parables of Jesus by-passes the conscious mind into the spirit in order to by-pass the seed of the serpent planted in the mind through imaginations and suggestions. We’re going to unlock the power of the seed principle today so you can begin to plant abundance in your life and stomp out the seed of Satan. If you want to build a Christian life that reflects holiness and righteousness, or build a ministry or sow seed in your children, in your business and begin to see a harvest then this is the lesson for you.

THE TWO TYPES OF SEED THAT WERE FORMED BY THOUGHT:

The Seed Of God : When God spoke his thoughts the universe was formed. When you came into being, you started from a single cell and grew into what you are today. John 1:1-2 says, “In the beginning was the word and the word was God and Jesus was the word became flesh. Only God’s word can be transformed into physical matter or become life in the spiritman.” John6:63 says, “It is the spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, the word that I speak into you are spirit and life. So all incorruptible seed manifests from God.

The Seed Of The Serpent: John 8:44 says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do and when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own seed, for he is a liar, and the father of lies.”

God’s word or seed is full of truth, life and blessing and will set us free. Satan’s word by contrast is a lie and has a curse in it and will put us in bondage and leads to death. Ezekiel 28:13, says, “thou has been in Eden the garden of God…” He devised a plan to invade man’s domain and through deception upsurge man’s God-given dominion and authority over the earth. See Genesis 1:28

THE SEED OF THE SERPENT

Satan was the first corruptible seed and he sowed that seed into man. He first gained entrance into the mind of Eve to plant his corruptible seed by getting Eve to question God’s word. Then, when the seed of his lie was conceived in her mind she acted according to the seed sown within her and disobeyed God. Genesis 3;1-6, “Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, “yea, hath God said ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said ye shall not eat of it neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”

Listen very carefully here, God never said “Don’t touch it,” he just said, “Don’t eat it.” Genesis 2:17, “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Right away the devil realized that Eve did not know the Word that God had given to Adam to give to her. Now this made her all the more susceptible to deception of course, because she didn’t know what the rules were. She didn’t know her rights. She didn’t know her authority. She didn’t know what God really had said. And she didn’t know what her authority and dominion was.

So first of all, we have to know the word if we’re ever to overcome the seed of Satan. Now when Satan tempted Jesus it was a different matter, Jesus quoted the word to him and he overcame that temptation for Satan could not plant the seed of the lie in Jesus. He shows us here that we have to know what God says in order to stand firm on a solid foundation of truth, it is what sets you free from the serpent’s seed.

Now Satan further tempted Eve in the progressive stages of deception. The lust of the eye, the desire to be wise in one’s own eyes, pride. Satan always deceives in stages. It is always mingled with truth to confuse. The best kind of lie is one that is 90% truth and 10% lie. It’s still an entire lie, because of that 10% which can put you into bondage.

Satan directly contradicted God’s command of Genesis 2:17, by twisting God’s wordinto a lie! Satan knows just enough of the word to twist it, but he has no discernment. There lies the truth in discerning spirits. So now that we’ve defined the two seeds lets look at what manifested from the two kinds of seeds.

CORRUPTIBLE VS INCORRUPTIBLE

In Genesis, Chapter 3, we find the first reference by God of two contrasting kinds of seeds. The serpent’s seed (corruptible) which is referring to Satan’s lie, and the seed of the woman, which is a prophetic reference to Christ.

God is judging the serpent, or Satan. Genesis 3:15, “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.” So, the seed of the serpent (Corruptible) and the seed of Christ (incorruptible) are staged by God for a showdown. In this verse you can clearly see how the seed of Christ got changed into the personal pronoun “He” will bruise your head. It was God prophetic announcement that he would send his son, Jesus Christ to destroy the works of Satan and his seed.

Now you can understand why David dragged the head of Goliath (a seed of the serpent) 16 miles to Golgotha Hill, because when Jesus’ blood dripped on that evil ground sin and death lost and a new seed had begun. Remember all seeds must die before they can regenerate into a new seed and yield a harvest. So when we die to him Satan’s seed dies with the old man, and all things become new in Him.

In Luke 1:38 it says, “And Mary said, behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to THY WORD. And the angel departed from her.”

God gave woman the privilege of being the vessel through whom all mankind would receive deliverance from the power of death and avenge her of Satan’s deception. The bruised head is symbolic of a death blow and also symbolic of that place from which thought originates. This means God’s word, His truth, His sword, would come against the seed of the serpent or the lie of the wicked one. So you see here an example of how the physical from the old bible became manifest into the spiritual by King David, the sceptor of Christ’s throne.

The serpent’s seed has been sown and multiplied in the earth to produce many lies, moving man into a place of darkness, death, and destruction. But of course, Jesus came to reverse this and we live with hope and faith.

In 1 Peter 1:23 the Apostle Peter also makes a reference to two contrasting seeds, by saying “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but in incorruptible seed, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” Peter makes it emphatically clear that there are two contrasting seeds and could only be referring to the seed of the serpent when referring to corruptible seed and God’s word when referring to incorruptible.

WHAT SEED IS PLANTED IN YOU IS THE KEY

In the parable of the sower (Mark Chapter 4), Jesus began to teach the disciples the key to all parables or all revelation knowledge. But you have to have the seed of Christ in you to discern truth by His Holy Spirit. The deciples asked him what it meant. He said, “Unto you is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God,” verse 11. Jesus is saying this parable is the mystery of the Kingdom of God. Then in verse 13 he says, “Know ye not this parable? How then will ye know all parables?” This statement implies very strongly the fact that this parable is the central theme to grasping all truth, and when applied will produce abundant living.

Again, I emphasize, when APPLIED, not just knowing but doing the parable of the sower. The word of God is the seed, verse 14, “The sower soweth the Word.” When the word is sown and internalized into the heart of the believer, it will bear fruit after its own kind, verse 20, “And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirty fold, some sixty, and a hundred fold.”

This is why Satan tries to steal the Word out of your mind, verse 15, “And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts. “He does not want to see God’s people blessed or prosper. He does not want to see them walking in health, he does not want to see them filled with joy, because then God is glorified and more people come into the kingdom as a result of their testimony. Read also Luke 17 starting with verse 5.

So in other words, faith begins as a seed in one’s spirit. We have to sow the seed of the word of God into the human spirit and it will breed faith after its kind of seed that was sown. If it’s a word of faith, or a seed of faith, concerning healing or renewing the mind it will give healing and mind renewal. It gives birth to what ever it is sown for. If it is a word sown to the lost then the seed of Salvation will be sown and the fruit of soul winning will result.

“So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God,” Romans 10:17. For instance tonight your faith will be stronger in the seed and harvest principle because you will see the truth of it in hearing God’s word concerning it.

Notice that Jesus did not say that your faith must be as the size of a grain of mustard seed in Luke 17:6, but was implying it must start as a grain of mustard seed. Take a look at the ramifications of a seed, the whole seed concept, how it’s implanted, how it must be watered in fertile soil, and how it must be nurtured. In other words the misconception has been a little faith goes a long way, but the emphasis is not on size but on the faith-growth process.

The more you are fed the word and apply it to your life the bigger your mustard seed gets. It does not mean that you can walk the righteous life, dodge the devil and grow spiritually if your faith remains as small as the mustard seed, because the devil will come along and snatch what little faith you’ve got if you don’t keep feeding your spirit and mind with the word.

So faith is developed in the human spirit as a result of the sowing of the engrafted or implanted word into it, James 1:21, says, “Receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.”

When you see Christians that are not growing it is because of lack of the feeding on the word. Now some people come to church to socialize, to be somebody, to hear the singing and feel good for an hour. But continued teaching on all levels that different members in the body are in need of is imperative for spiritual growth. So I pray that all of you will come and hear the bible teaching on Tuesdays by Larry. If you’re not coming to hear the word and seeking his truth and instructions then your motives for church needs an overhaul and you can be sure that seeds that you are allowing to be sown in you are not of Christ.

The seed of the serpent sown into one’s being will produce the opposite affects, doubt, fear, confusion, sickness, disease, and poverty. It will also produce bad character, jealousy, envy, and strife. Galations 5:19-21, says, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleaness(of the mouth and negative thoughts from the heart) lasciviousness, idolatry (one foot in the world and one foot in the church) witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, seditions, heresies, envying, murders,(giving death to others with the tongue) drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I tell you before as I have also told you in time past, that they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. These are the seeds of the devil who is your father which you emulate.

The seed of God’s word, on the other hand, will produce the fruit of the spirit.Galations 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” God’s seed will produce all of the good, whereas the seed of the serpent will produce all of the bad. This is further confirmed by Galations, Chaper 6:7-9, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.”

Notice verses 7 and 8 clearing shows the sowing and reaping process. The corruptible is sown to the flesh and the incorruptible is sown to the spirit.

In John 8:44 Jesus says, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.”

In other words, you are going to live out the programming of the seed that is born within you either from you bloodline or your environment. If one is your father, then you are born of his seed and have his attributes, that is exactly what Jesus was implying here, that they were born of the seed of the serpent (Satan) or the thought or mind of the enemy was sown into them and would bear corruptible fruit or deeds.

Regeneration becomes a by-product as your divine nature develops through the renewing of the mind through the word and the blood of Christ. Which attributes of the father is in you? We can change our genetics through the blood of Christ. This is clear in the seed principle. Titus 3 calls it a new gene in Christ. The word genesis means new creation, new bloodline.

The Echo Of Eternity

In His Presence

The Echo Of Eternity

Coming into the presence of God means different things to many people, but for me it is a sanctuary in time, an eternal creation which has no season, time, space nor echo of man's creation.

It is a presence with God beyond human civilization.  It is the splendor of the Eternal One.  The Sabbath means oneness with the Lord.  It is time in space that eternity utters a day.  The presence of a holiness that we can capture in time, where we can experience the essence of our Lord.

Sunday was one of those experiences at Westmoreland PHC in Wilson.  Never had I seen so many of us subdued by the Holy Spirit.  It began with a performance by Three For Thee, a sign language dance group.  In the play they acted out our worldly behavior using a laptop to connect to the world, yet still unfulfilled.  Then the cell phone, where they were talking and talking with still no fulfillment in our life. Then the pill bottles to ease the day's activities that leave us unable to sleep or find peace. 


Then we see the Holy Bible on the table beside our worldly toys and pick it up and life springs forth from the gospel of Jesus Christ, the new way!  All things are made new and suddenly all those earthly treasures become as trash to us, for we have found the lover of our souls. A presence that leaves us with unspeakable joy. The message was, return unto me and I will return unto you, with scripture from Zechariah 1-4.

The congregation began to worship during this production of songs that ushered  the Holy Spirit into our midst.  The Holy Spirit descended upon us, an unknown tongue was uttered with a message that our Bridegroom is coming for his bride, return unto him, do not delay.  We were captured in time as His voice pierced our souls.  In the end, many fell at the altar in humble reverence to our King and Savior.  

We didn't want to move from that moment in time, that holy presence that left us speechless and weeping, and yet sent a peace of unspeakable joy through our souls. There were no speeches, no altar call. There was no need, the altar call came from the Holy Spirit.  I had never seen Pastor Nelson so silent and just sitting in a bowed position, subdued in the Lord's presence. This was truly a remarkable Sabbath day.

The Sabbath is when we gather to acknowledge the sovereignty of God Almighty and our Savior that makes it possible to experience his presence united in one spirit.  Us in Him, and Him in us.  Where we can sense and see him manifest before us in a very real, tangible way.  

This presence is ushered in from entering into the House of the Lord with a heart of thanksgiving and tongues of praise.  We praise Him because we have received a Kingdom that can not be shaken.  We worship him with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.

I will thank Him forever because He has done wonders in His creation and has called my name and brought me from darkness into His marvelous light, and changed me forever, and still on my journey transforming from Glory to Glory.

I praise him because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.  Look at yourself today in the mirror and see his wonderful work in you.  We are His glory and we know this full well.  Each of us were made by His hands and through His righteousness we are justified. and complete in Him.

Great is His name, and greatly to be praised!  He is to be revered because His name is the Name Above All Names. Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

We are to take our everyday, ordinary life, our sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life, and place it before Him on His altar and live in His rest, that reflects His aroma on us and His image in us. He has blessed us in the heavenly realms and we are priests before Him.  For He chose us in Him before the creation of the world to be Holy and blameless in His sight.

That magnificent tent tabernacle was a glimpse into the eternal holiness of the Father that now resides in us through Christ Jesus.  We can see the outer court that is the place of washing, the place of prayer and kneeling and asking for our needs to be met, for him to make us whole.  It is the place of sacrificing our lives to Him, renewing and letting go of sin and the old ways of the flesh.  Here we approach Him with a humble and repentant heart.

In the Holy of Holies you come before Him with thanksgiving.  We thank Him for his atoning blood, we thank Him for the tests and trials he's put us through to make us Holy before Him.  We thank Him for His mercies, grace and guidance. It is incense to His nostrils.

The Holiest of Holies is that peaceful rest you enter into, and now you're really praising Him and the physical world around you becomes invisible as you experience that unspeakable joy and Holy Spirit flowing from you back onto Him as you glorify Him.  You're not asking for anything, you're just plain praising.  It may be in the form of a quiet subdued silence like we saw Sunday.  It may be dancing before Him, bowing to him in the altar, or lifting your arms and exalting him in His majesty with your tongue.

Oh Holy, Holy, Holy. Worthy is the Lamb of God.  Sometimes, I don't want to leave this presence, that experience of oneness with Him on His Holy day.  It is the closest to heaven you will get while here on earth and peace and anticipation comes over me as it gets closer to that appointed time each week.


To contact this dance group: three4thee@yahoo.com or to write Renee Moore at: Reflect.Jehovah.RJMinistries@yahoo.com  
Renee also has a blog at: www.reneesheart.blogspot.com


Westmoreland invites you to come and worship with them.  The Pastor is Rev. Jerry Nelson and the church is located at: 2425 Nash Street, Wilson, NC. 27896.  Worship service is Sunday at 10:30 a.m. 


This article was published in the Raleigh Examiner in the Wilson Christian Edition

Runaway Bride

The New blood Covenant: Christ's Church 

Runaway Bride

Excerpts from my theses:   

by Donna Braman, Minister of Education

CHRISTIAN REPLACEMENT THEOLOGY


     From the beginning of the early church with the apostles, right up into the 1960’s in America the church of Jesus Christ has been a powerful force that has influenced social change, government structures as well as restoring family values, and converting lost souls. The church builds community, state and nation with morals based on the word of God.  We will see in this study that a nation which removes God and biblical principles loses its character.  The only way to rebuild a nation is to come back into covenant with God and that takes a Spiritual Awakening and a restorationism and reform in the church.  


     We are going to look at the history of the church and how in certain periods when the church became legalistic and institutionalized societies went down hill.  Those have been the times that Christians rose up and rejected the schisms or cracks that affected the church, and reformation of the church took place returning to the early church doctrine. These were powerful movements by the Holy Spirit that occurred in different time periods that give a clear historical view of the legalistic church and shows the true church of Christ.


The Church of the Apostolic Age And The Division By Emperer Constantine


     Lets take a look at the make-up of the church in the 1st century, from 33 AD to 70 AD.
It is credited to the Apostle Paul and Peter that salvation was given to the Gentiles.  There were disagreements about circumcism, the Jewish covenant God had created with Abraham, and animal sacrifice in the Mosaic covenant.  Paul made it plain that the new blood covenant made moot prior blood covenants.


     The dispute resulted in the convening of the Council of Jerusalem which was headed by Peter.  In that council it was determined and agreed upon that the non-Jews would not have to be converted to certain portions of the Mosiac Law which also included circumcision.  Paul wanted to make sure that Salvation was not given with the intention of works but that it is by Grace that we become righteous, and good works is a by-product of  righteousness, not the other way around.  So basically the council decided that the Gentiles would follow the 7 Noahide Laws.  Circumcision, animal sacrifice, dietary laws and cleansing laws were omitted in their freedom in the Christian faith.


     The church makeup was Messianic Jews, Gentiles and Greeks.  All of the church leaders and apostles were born Jews.  Cornelius was the first Gentile apostle.  The Gentiles did not become leaders of the church until 70 more apostles had been added after Paul began building the church in Jerusalem and carrying the gospel to other regions.  The scripture which was taught and used for the early church was the Torah and the books of the prophets. The new testament was not produced until around 95 AD.


     The Sabbath and the Holy Feasts were observed by the early church.  Prayer shawls were worn during prayer by the non-Jews as well.  It is very clear that the Christian faith has strong roots to the Jewish way of life.  It was called the Judeo-Christian Church.  There was, for the most part, harmony in the leadership of the Apostolic church with the combination of the Messianic Jews and the Gentiles.  They had a common goal, preaching the gospel, in spite of the persecution by Nero, the Roman  Emperor. 


     In 70 AD Nero banished the  Messianic Jews and Christians from Jerusalem and they went into hiding for a time. In spite of the death of Stephen, James, Peter and Paul the church survived.  There is actually a remnant that descended from these Judeo-Christians in Jerusalem today. They make up1% of Jerusalem’s population today. That number is increasing again with the 12 lost tribes being returned to Israel and being indoctrinated with the Messianic-Christian faith.


     The church was officially established on the Day of Pentecost, Acts 2:5-11.  Present that day were devout men from every nation under the heavens…Parthians, Medes, Elamites, regions from parts of Iran, Mesopatomia, Judea, Cappodocia, Pontus, Greece and Turkey as well as Arabians.  The church spread initially in the East, ultimately becoming the state religion of Armenia between 301 AD  and 314 AD, in Ethiopia in 305 AD, of Georgia in 317AD, and then the state religion of the Roman Empire in 325 AD.


     By the 15th to 17th centuries Christianity had expanded throughout the world becoming the world’s largest religion.  It had survived two schisms, theological disputes and resulted in many Christian denominations sprouting up with the largest branch being the Roman Catholic and later Protestant Churches.


     In spite of doctrinal differences and worship styles, all Christian Churches believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, that he began his ministry at age 30, that he was a healer, miracle worker and the son of God.  All believe he was executed by the Roman Governor, Pontius Pilate and that after his crucifixion he was buried and in 3 days was resurrected and appeared to many people and descended into heaven where he sits at the right hand of the Father.


    The resurrection is the basis and historical evidence of the Christian faith.  All Christian faiths believe he will return for his church, the body of Christ, as he promised. That he will raise the dead, sit in the Great White Throne Judgment seat, and will establish his Kingdom on earth.  All Christian faiths believe in the Trinity with the exception of the Johovah Witnesses, Unitarians, and the 7th Day Adventist.


     The Christian faith is based on the 4 gospels and to a lesser extent the Acts of the Apostles and Paul’s epistles, along with other writings of the disciples, and that Jesus became the atonement sacrifice for the redemption of all mankind; that through the shedding of his blood we are reconciled back to the Creator of the Universe.


     After the ascension of Constantine the Great, the Emperor of Rome in 313 AD to the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, the Christian Church became the official church of  Rome.  Now we have two distinct phases of the church, the Apostolic period and the post Apostolic period.  The first was organized by the council of Jerusalem by the Apostles, the second became the first Episcopal structure and priests and bishops governed the church.


     After Constantine legalized Christianity as Rome's official religion all Jews were expelled from the church, making Judiasm separate from Christianity.  Constantine retained some Jewish doctrine while rejecting others.  He held the Torah as the sacred scripture, however translations were altered and new decrees made to cause even more division between Jews and Christians.  Constantine also changed God’s calendar (God's order) which made it impossible to determine God’s seasons, feasts and cycles, therefore interrupting unity with Christians in their relationship with the Creator.


    Baptism, liturgical worship, incense, an altar, scripture readings from Synagogue practice, sacred music and an exclusive male priesthood and fasting was maintained during his reign as Emperor.  Times and dates were altered for the Sabbath as well as the three appointed feasts that God commands us to come before him.  These appointed times were rejected at the first council of Nicea.


     High Holy Holidays were excluded and pagan holidays were established like Easter, Christmas, New Years and Pagan idols used to celebrate these new Christian holidays.  Before that,  the Judeo Christians adhered to all Jewish practices, except ritual atonement and circumcision, since in the new blood covenant circumcision was made in the heart and Jesus had become the final blood sacrifice for atonement. He became our new and only High Priest.


     The Messianic period ended with Constantine, never to surfice again until this last generation we are presently in.  We have had a re-emergence of the Judeo Christians (Messianics)  in the last twenty years or so.  This has brought about a Christian/Jewish revival in the world, which was prophesied to happen in the books of Revelation, Daniel and Exekiel.


     The church fell into a schism of false teaching during the Constantine period that has had profound and lasting affects on the Christian church.  The early church had survived only to become a legal institution; the very thing Jesus had rebuked the Pharisees for doing. Constantine was very delusional about who Jesus really was. He didn't care about the gospel, he cared about power and control over the masses that were Christians and having a legalistic control over the people.


     Constantine had a picture of  Jesus painted making him look more Roman than a Hebrew. He did not want to protect the church Jesus had come define.  He had the same motives that the Pharisees had; he wanted to be worshipped and rule over the church.  The very thing that Jesus had come to set us free from had been reinstituted laying a heavy burden and yoke upon the people, stripping us of the freedom from bondage Christ’s scourging and blood had given us.  We were right back at works (the law) instead of mercy and grace.


     There are no documentation of just when Constantine took to the idea of Jesus but he was influenced by his mother Helen who was a converted Christian. It may have occurred over a period of time in his life.  Constantine tells of an event right before going into battle in Milian Bridge that won him victory and the title of Emporor.  He describes that right before the battle he saw a cross silhouetted behind the sun.


     Constantine was a pagan that was indoctrinated with the worship of the Sun Goddess.  He loved archutecture and built Cathedrals in Constantiople, the capital he decreed over Rome, which is today Turkey.  In the tundra of these Cathedral’s were the paintings of the Sun Goddess.  You can see this same idol in some of the oldest Catholic Cathedral’s in Turkey and England.   In the Nicene creed Constantine declares the One Holy Catholic Apostolic Church. He was just another mere man trying to be bigger than God.  Helenization era had begun.  Idolatry became the norm in Christianity because the worship of idols set up by Constantine and idolizing the Sun Goddess was built into his pagan holidays.




The Structure of the Orthodox Church


     The initial duty of the Bishops in the early Catholic church was to return order to the Christian church.  The Roman Catholic church is rooted in the Constantine doctrine, although they deny that.  Apologist Bishops such as Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr and Polycarp, and the Nicolaitans became the first group of false prophets. Jesus referred to such false teachers that would come in Mark 13:21-23 and Mat. 13:25-30, also in Mat. 13:36-43.  Jesus clearly tells us how distorted they are about his church and we are to reject these heresays and false doctrine.


      Justin Martyr was a most interesting so-called bible scholar of the pagans.  He believed Daniel’s times, and times and a half, meant 150 years.  He believed the angels were god’s, such as those who appeared to Abraham, Moses and Jacob. He had no discernment or foreshadowing of Christ in the old testament as we have today.  He believed Jesus was suborninate to God and a separate divinity; that he was not God come in the flesh.  He had no knowledge of the book of John, Hebrews or Revelation since they did’nt become a part of the cannon until around 140 AD.  So you can see how his knowledge would have been greatly diminished in determining what diety Jesus was or his knowledge of the AntiChrist.




THE COUNCIL OF NICEA


Further distortions occurred at the council of Nicea.  The council was called to convene by Constantine when he saw different doctrines being taught that contradicted each other.  The main doctrine which was disputed was who Jesus was. A total of 250 pagan Bishops which Constantine had appointed showed up.  All Bishops who did not adopt the thinking of the Niccean Creed were exiled.  Three of them disagreed and were exiled. The Arian group was one of them. So, it's quite clear that this meeting of Nicea was staged and manipulated.


      Some present in the meeting believed Jesus was human and divine, but separate from the Father.  The creed that was finally adopted into law concerning the divineness of Jesus reflected the  Apostles' description of him; that he was human and an eternal deity of the God head. They never mentioned the Holy Spirit in the council of Nicea, but God the father and the son, and the Holy Spirit are eternal and equal with God in deity and divinity that make up the trinity.


     The issue of the Jewish calendar came up concerning the Passover in the council of Nicea. They argued that they no longer wanted to go by the Jewish Lunar Calendar because the Jews had it all wrong.  Furthermore, Constantine stated that he would no longer seek out advise from the Jewish/Christians. That decision forever separated the Jews from Christianity and robbed us of the Jewishness of our Savior.   This was the greatest schism ever done to the Apostolic church because Jesus made it clear the Jew came first and that our salvation comes from the Jews.


     God gave his eternal word, his seasons and cycles, his appointed times, to the Jews.  For instance, a day with God according to Genesis begins at sunset and ends the following sunset.  God operates on the Lunar moon which is the timing, seasons and life cycles Jews operate on.  So to change that and begin operating by the sun was a slap in the face to God and distorted the order of his creation. It took us further away from understanding God and his order.


     After the Nicean Creed, Constantine also rejected all Jewish Holidays and feasts even changing the Sabbath beginning time from Friday at sunset to Sunday at sunrise. The order of prayer service was radically changed. They rejected the prayer shawl (Talit) being worn during prayer and refused to kneel during prayer liturgy. A practice that Jesus faithfully observed and honored.


    During the council of Nicea the cannons of the new testament had been completed but was not referred to throughout the whole session to determine what the bible says about the church and the body of Christ. The new testament was completed by 95AD, however, the books were not compiled into a cannon until 160 AD.  The books of John, 111 John, 11 Peter, James, Hebrews and Revelation were heavily debated and was not made a part of the cannon until 200 AD. They were not widely accepted until the middle of the 2nd century.  A full articulation of the Gospel Cannons were not made for circulation and print until 1546 in the council of Trent. For the Roman Catholic Church in England.


     The diocese was structured at that time to organize boundaries and governmental territories and became the legalized religion of England.  The church was ruled by the Diosese from the Pope in Rome.  The Roman Catholic Church is an institution that we all have to reckon with in order to sort out misguided Christianity and to see again the real roots and truth of our faith and who the real Jewish Jesus was and his disciples.  The Catholic decree asserts that the Catholic church is the only church of Christ passed on to them by the Apostle Peter and that they are the only body of Christ. The Catholic church felt it had a God given right in the universal jurisdiction of the church during this Gregorian reform. The Catholic church so stated this position in the Vatican council of 1870.


     Even more cracks and fractures of the first church occurred in a chain of events through political and theological events after power of the church went back to Rome after Constanople was ditched. It really came down to a fight between the Latins and the Greeks of who would have control of the Church. The Eastern Orthodoxy disagreed with this saying, St. Peter’s church could never be the exclusive right to any one Pope. It eventually gave primacy to the Roman Church but not supremacy.


     The Eastern Oththodox Church refused to accept fully the Nicean creed of the Trinity.  So in short, the balance between the three persons of the Trinity was altered and the three God heads of the Trinity confused.


     The Catholic church had spread to Ireland by St. Patrick, a diocese Bishop and then to the America’s by Columbus.  This begins the Anglo – Saxon period.  They were ruled by Rome, and St Augustine who was a pagan that had converted to Christianity in 1453.


     England had full authority over it diosese with only an honorary respect for the Vatican.  The church had become a part of the Government and enforced by it.  The Catholic church taught that the essence of God could not be known in this life.  So the church had become a bunch of rituals that could’nt save a cat and was nothing but a social and moral dictatorship that not even they could live, and still can't to this present day.


     After the discovery of the New World in 1492 a Protestant Reformation occurred in 1515.  It was called the Great Spiritual Reformation.  I can see now why the settlers of the new world felt oppressed because the church had become everything that Christ had come to free us from.




THE AGE OF DISCOVERY 1492-1769


     Martin Luther was the first to reform the church in America.  He considered the root of corruption to be doctrinal rather than moral weakness.  He set out to put Christ’s doctrines back into the church so the people could receive the “true gospel”.  The word Protestant means in Latin, declaration of the gospel.  But to us Christians in America it means good news and freedom through the blood of Christ and not papable to the law or government.  In the early America’s the word Protestant was not used, the term used was evangilical.  In Greek it means emphasizing the “return to the true gospel.”


     Angelican traditions still remained at that time and rejected this reform.  Calvinism rejected the tenants of the council of Jerusalem and who Jesus was. They believed Jesus was human and a single diety separate from God.  Calvinism persisted in the new world and John Calvin’s belief in Predestination.  It was called the doctrine of the “Elect”.  The most important theological position that Calvin took was his formulation of the predestination doctrine.


      Since God knew the future did that mean that salvation was predestined?  That is, do human beings have choice in the matter?  Or did God make the Salvation decision for each of us before the beginning of time?  The Protestant churches reformed by Luther believed that God had not predestined salvation for individuals.  Salvation was in part the product of human choice.  Calvin on the other hand, built his reformed church on the concept that Salvation was not a choice but was predecided by God.  This concept would become the basis of civil society and later political society of Europe. It somewhat trickled into the Americas.


     The first protestant churches in America were the Lutherans, named after Martin Luther and the Presbyterians.  Luther’s belief was that justification came through Christ only and not of good works, rather that good works was a by product of righteousness through the blood of Christ.  He believed that is the only way we are made right with God.  The Catholics believed righteousness came through a progression of faith and good works.  Luther had it right because the Catholics were really saying you could become righteous on your own through sacraments, faith and works.  But Christ says we are made right and justified through his blood and belief in Him.  In other words, Christ gives merit to those who otherwise are without merit.  So that kind of shoots the predestination theory out of the water.


     At the same time Luther was reforming the church the Catholic church of England was reforming and denying any part of the Roman church and thus started the Puritan era in the council of Trent. This was the Catholic sector of Puritans that came to America.  It was during this period in 1545-1563 that the council of Trent began.   The Catholics established the Catechism and rejected the Protestant reformation.  The church began to fight to regain Europe which had significantly turned Prostestant.  They enacted celibacy and the 7 sacraments, the bread and wine sacrament and they sanctified the virgin Mary.  They reinstated the belief that both faith and good works were necessary for salvation.


     The Roman Catholic church established a number of missions in the America’s to spread Christianity to the new world and to convert the indigenous peoples.  The Puritans however did little to evangelize the native peoples and although they came to America to get away from religious suppression they became frustrated that the colony governments would not enforce their religious beliefs.  It was sort like taking the people out of Egypt but were'nt able to take Egypt out of the people.


CHURCH OF ENLIGHTENMENT
THE GREAT AWAKENING
1720 – 1769




     In this period the Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist were developed along with the Lutheran movement. John Wesley and other Spiritualist preachers were popping up in America especially during 1730-1740.  They emphasized Godly living, sin and redemption by Christ. The gospel was being preached again.  Revivals broke out.  It caused a restoration of the church that resembled more of the Apostolic church and it began the holiness movement.  This great awakening traveled through out the world.  Pentecostals became prominent after the 1906 Azusa Street Pentecost which was the second great awakening. The Pentecostal is a branch from the Methodist and Wesleyan church.


     The church of the great awakening reconstructed to align back up with the Book of Acts.  They did not call themselves reformist because they differed from the existing Catholic church and reconstructed the early church from the time of Jesus.  This was the restoration of the church that they believed was lost from the Constantine era. Repentance was preached again and Holy Spirit moved upon the church. If you get a chance read the sermon from John Edwards, An Angry God, do so for it is a chilling sermon and during this sermon the Holy Spirit fell on the place and one woman actually grabbed hold of a pole in the sanctuary because she thought the Holy Spirit was going to bodily lift her.  Edwards made hell real and the Holy Spirit fell upon the church again and people began to swoon and fall when listening to his sermons.  It wouldn't hurt a few of our churches to be reawakened to the Holy Spirit and have a new fear of hell and the second coming of Christ which is at our door. I believe we will see the apostolic church re-emerge and we will see healings and miracles in our midst.


See additional facts on First Great Awakening – Johnathan Edwards and George Whitfield
Second Great Awakening
Third Great Awakening
Fourth Great Awakening