An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages
A RESUME OF THE AGES
366-1 Due to the fact that our studies
have been a verse by verse exposition of those Scriptures that deal with the
seven ages, we have not set forth a continuous historical pattern of the church
as much as we ought to have done. It is, therefore, our purpose now to take this
chapter, and beginning with the Ephesian Age trace
through all ages the church and her history as given to John by the Spirit of
God. We will not be adding new material as much as correlating what we already
have.
366-2 From our studies we have already
learned that much of the Revelation is totally misunderstood because we have
not formerly known that the 'church' spoken of and spoken to in this book does
not refer to the pure 'ekklesia' the 'elect', the
'body of Christ', the 'bride', but it speaks to the entire body of people who
are called Christians, whether they be true or merely nominal. As all
366-3 We further learned that these two
vines would grow side by side until the end of the ages when both would come to
maturity and both be harvested. The false vine would
not overcome and destroy the true vine, but then, neither would the true vine
be able to bring the false vine into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ.
366-4 We learned the most amazing truth
that the Holy Spirit could and would fall upon the unregenerate false vine
Christians and manifest powerfully in various signs and wonders, even as Judas
had a definite ministry in the Holy Ghost though he, himself, was pronounced to
be a devil.
366-5 With these principles in mind we
start to trace the church through the various seven ages. The birth of the
church was at Pentecost. As the first Adam was given a bride fresh from the
hand of God and was undefiled for a brief span, so was Christ, the last Adam,
given a bride pure and fresh at Pentecost; and she remained separate and
undefiled for some time. "And of the rest durst no man join himself to
them" (Acts 5:13) and "The Lord added daily such as should be
saved." Acts 2:47. How long this continued we
do not know, but one day even as Eve was tempted and seduced by Satan, so the
church was contaminated by the entrance of an antichrist spirit. "And
this is that spirit of antichrist whereof ye have heard that it should come and
even now already is it in the world." 1 John 4:3. And Jesus said
concerning His bride in that first age, "I have somewhat against thee,
because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art
fallen and repent." Revelation 2:4-5. The church was in that first age
already a 'fallen woman.' As Satan had gotten to Eve before Adam, even now had
Satan seduced the church, the bride of Christ, before the 'marriage supper of
the Lamb.' And what specifically was in her midst that
caused the fall? What but Revelation 2:6, "THE DEEDS OF THE
NICOLAITANES." Already that first age had turned from following the
pure Word of God. They turned from God's demand of a church absolutely
dependent upon Him (depending entirely upon God to fulfill His Word from start
to finish apart from human government) to Nicolaitanism,
which is organizing a human government within the church which as all
governments do, legislate for the people. They did exactly what
367-1 Death had entered. How do we
know? Do we not hear the voice of the Spirit raised in that first age for all
who will hear, as He is calling. "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the Tree of Life in the
paradise of God." The church had already
imbibed too deeply of the tree of death (or the denominational false vine)
whose end is the lake of fire. But there are no cherubim with flaming swords to
guard the Tree of Life now. God does not now depart from the midst of the
church as He departed from
367-2 Now please let us be careful here.
This message to the angel of the church which is at
368-1 Tares always flourish mightier
than wheat or any other cultivated plant. The tare church grew rapidly in this
first age. But the wheat church was flourishing also. By the end of the first
age the deeds of the Nicolaitanes were flourishing in
the local false vine churches with increasing attempts to spread their influence
further than their own body. Its influence was felt upon the true church for
men like the venerable Polycarp were calling
themselves bishops with a reference to that title which was not inherent in it
according to the Word. Also in that age, the true church had lost its first
love. That love was typified as the love of bride and groom at their marriage
and early years of wedded life. There was a cooling of that complete love and
abandonment to God.
368-2 But notice. Revelation 2:1 describes the Lord Jesus as in
the midst of His church and holding the messengers in His right hand. Because
this bride has fallen, because the church corporate is now an admixture of true
and false, He does not leave it. It is His.
And according to Romans 14:7-9 that is exactly right. "For
none of us liveth to himself,
and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we
live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live
therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For to this end Christ both died, and
rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living."
On the
cross He bought the WHOLE world of people. They are His. He is the Lord of the
living and dead. (As pertaining to ownership, NOT
relationship.) And He walks in the midst of that body that has within it
life and death.
368-3 What was planted in the first age
will develop in the second age and in all other ages until it comes to maturity
and harvest. Thus in the Smyrnaean Age we expect an
enlargement and enlightenment of the church corporate's
history through a revelation of the Spirit.
368-4 In this age the hatred of the false vine increases. See,
they have (Verse 9) separated themselves from the company of the true. They
went out from them. They were liars. They called themselves what they are not.
But did God destroy them?
No. "Let them alone and both will go to the
harvest."
"But Lord they should be destroyed for they are
destroying Thy people. They are killing them."
"No,
let them alone. But to My bride I say, 'Be thou faithful unto death. Love Me
even more.'"
368-5 We learn in no uncertain terms
that this false vine is the vine of Satan. Their gathering is of him (Satan).
They meet in the Name of God and lie that they are Christ's. They preach, they
teach, they baptize, they worship, they partake of various rites given by
Christ to the church, yet they are not of God. But since they say they are, God
will hold them responsible and in each age He speaks of them and to them. They
remind us exactly of Balaam. He had the prophetic office. He knew the proper
approach unto God as demonstrated in the sacrifice of the clean beasts. Yet he
was not a true WORD PROPHET for when God told him not to go to honor Balak with his presence he sought to go anyway for he was
motivated by his lust for gold and prestige. So God let him go. The perfect
will of God gave way to the permissive will of God because of the "heart
desire" of Balaam. God actually said, "Go ahead." Did God change
His mind? No sir. God had His way regardless of Balaam going. Balaam did not
annul the will of God. God had His way regardless. It was Balaam who was the
loser for he by-passed the Word. And today we have that very same thing. Women
preachers, organization, false doctrine, etc., and people worshipping God, manifesting
in the Spirit and going right on as did Balaam, claiming that God has spoken to
them even when the commission received is opposite to the revealed Word. And I
will not deny that God spoke to them. But it was just like when He spoke to
Balaam that second time. As He knew that Balaam wanted his own heart desire
above the Word and He gave it to him, yet all the while in the end having HIS
OWN way; even so today God tells folks to go ahead in their own hearts' desires
for they have already rejected the Word. BUT THE WILL OF GOD WILL BE DONE
REGARDLESS. Amen. I hope you see this. It will not only clear up much of what
is seen in all ages but it will especially help in this last age which has so
much manifestation and external blessings when the whole period is so against
the 'Word-Revealed-Will' of God.
369-1 If ever an age received a message
loud and clear, this age did. It was, and is, that Old Testament truth, "The
son of the bondwoman will distress the son of the free woman until the son of
the bondwoman be cast out." That lets us know that the hatred and
blasphemy of Satan against the true Christian will be vented through a group
who are nominal, false Christians, and this will increase until God uproots
that false vine at the end of the Laodicean Age.
369-2 The third age revealed by the
Spirit of prophecy that the worldly church would adopt Nicolaitanism
as a doctrine. The separation of the clergy from the laity grew from the
Biblical truth of the elders (shepherds of local flocks) ruling the flock by
the Word, to the 'deeds of Nicolaitanes' wherein the
clergy set themselves in ranks one over the other, which unscriptural formula
then evolved into a priesthood that placed the clergy between man and God,
giving the clergy certain rights all the while denying the laity their
God-given rights. This was usurpation. In this age it became a doctrine. It was
established in the church as the assured word of God, which indeed it was not.
But the clergy called it the Word of God and therefore the doctrine was
antichrist.
370-1 Because human government is
politics pure and simple, the church became involved in politics. This
involvement was welcomed by a dictator-emperor who joined church politics with
state politics and by force established the false church (Satan's false
religion) as the true religion. And through various edicts by various emperors
we find the false church with state power destroying the true vine even more
avidly.
370-2 Sad to say the true vine was not
exactly immune to this doctrine. By that I do not mean that the true vine ever
did establish the Nicolaitane ideas as a doctrine. Far from it. But that little worm of death kept sucking at
the true vine hoping that it might fall. Even within the true church, men whom
God had called as overseers were holding that title to mean a little more than
just a local responsibility. It was not the clear understanding of Paul that
existed in the church at this time. For Paul had said,
"And they glorified God in me." No matter what authority Paul
had, he kept the people looking to God from Whom is
all authority. But the clergy was always looking to Divine Leadership PLUS
HUMAN, and thus in giving honor where honor was not due,
we find that the true church was spotted with humanism. With Nicolaitanism established--apostolic succession--placed
ministers--pastors voted in, etc., it was only one step for the false church to
proceed to Balaamism. The second step to the 'depth of
Satan' was now in full progress.
370-3 This second step was the doctrine
of Balaam, (described in Revelation 2:14) wherein Balaam taught Balac to stumble the children of
371-1 The real believers ought not to
have gone there. They had already lost much truth, and now they, too, would
lose the understanding of Godhead and forfeit names for titles in water
baptism.
371-2 Now watch this doctrine of Balaam
most carefully. Notice above all, that it is the deliberate maneuver of a
corrupt clergy to bind the people to them, by leading the people deliberately
into the sin of unbelief. The Nicolaitane doctrine
was the corruption of the clergy as they sought political power amongst
themselves, while Balaamism is the subjection of the
people to their system of creed and worship in order to hold them. Now watch
this carefully. What was it that bound the people to the nominal church and
thereby destroyed them? It was the creeds and dogmas formed into church tenets.
It was the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church. They were not given the true
food, the Word. They were given the food that came from idol worship,
Babylonian paganism wrapped up in Christian terminology. And that very same
spirit and doctrine is right amongst all Protestants and it is called
DENOMINATION. Nicolaitanism is organization,
humanizing the leadership of the church, and thereby deposing the Spirit. Balaamism is denominationalism which takes the church
manual instead of the Bible. And right to this hour, many of God's people are
caught in the snare of denominationalism and God is crying to them, "Come
out of her My people, lest ye be partakers of her
sins, and that ye receive not her plagues." You see they are ignorant.
But if the rapture should take place at this moment, ignorance would be no
court of appeal from the judgment of God for being in the wrong ranks.
372-1 For the clergy to organize
themselves with one rank over another until they are finally headed up by a
president is a manifestation of the antichrist spirit, regardless of how
wonderful and necessary it may seem. It is nothing but human reasoning taking
the place of the Word. And any person who is in the organized denominations is
right in the midst of an antichrist system. Now let me say this and make it
very plain. I AM NOT AGAINST THE PEOPLE. I AM AGAINST THE SYSTEM.
372-2 With a state and church union the
stage has been set for the Dark Ages. And indeed for about 1000 years the
church went into the depth of blackness, knowing the depths of Satan. When any
religious people embrace both Nicolaitanism and Balaamism, and have the political, financial and physical
power to back it up there is only one direction they can go. That direction is
right into the Jezebel doctrine. Now why do we say this? Because
as we pointed out in the study of the fourth age that Jezebel was a Sidonian, the daughter of Ethbaal
who was king priest to Astarte. He was a
murderer. This woman married Ahab (King of Israel) for political expediency.
She then took over the religion of the people and murdered the Levites, and
erected temples wherein she caused the people to worship Astarte
(Venus) and Baal (Sun god). She formulated the teaching and made her priests
teach it, and they in turn made the people accept it. There you can see exactly
what the nominal church was in the Dark Ages. They left the Word of God
entirely except for names and titles of Godhead and a few Scriptural
principles. They twisted what they did take out of the Bible by changing its
meaning. Their college of bishops, etc., wrote vast treatises, their popes
declared themselves infallible and said they received revelation from God and
spoke as God to the people. All this was taught to the priests who through fear
made the people believe it. To dissent was death or excommunication which might
be worse than death. It was now the church with the assured voice that took
over, and wild with power they drank the blood of the martyrs until the true
Christians were all but exterminated and there was hardly any Word left, and
little manifestation of the Holy Ghost. But the true vine struggled and
survived. God was faithful to the little flock and in spite of what
373-1 This is a good place to make an
illuminating observation. Look. The deeds and doctrines of the Nicolaitanes, the doctrine of Balaam, and the teaching of
the false prophetess, Jezebel, do not constitute three spirits or make three
spiritual principles. These three are but the various manifestations of the
same spirit as it goes from depth to depth. What it all is,
is the antichrist spirit of organization in its three various stages. Once the
clergy separated themselves and organized themselves they oppressed the people
by leading them into, and binding them to organization also. This organization
was based upon the creeds and dogma which they taught the people instead of the
pure Word of God. Ritual and ceremony was given an increasing part in worship,
and soon this whole system was a militant and diabolical power that did its
best to control all through the persuasion of discourse or literal force. It
received its energy from its own false prophecies and not the Word of God. It
was now absolutely antichrist though it came in Christ's Name.
373-2 After what seemed an interminable
time wherein Truth must surely die, men began to protest the vileness of the
Roman Catholic Church, because by no stretch of the imagination could God be in
such teaching and such conduct. These protests were either disregarded and died
from failure to arouse attention, or were quashed by
374-1 We rejoice in this age for this
one thing. Reformation had started. It was not a resurrection but a
reformation. Neither was it a restoration. But the corn of wheat that had died
at Nicaea and had rotted in the Dark Ages, now sent
up a shoot of truth signifying that at some future date, at the end of the Laodicean Age, just before Jesus came, the church would go
back to being a Wheat Seed Bride again while the tares would be harvested and
burned in the lake of fire.
374-2 Since the fifth age had brought a
great dissemination of the Word through printing, the sixth age was quick to
take advantage of it. This age was the second stage of the restoration and as
we have stated previously was the tassel age. Education abounded. This was the
age of intellectual men who loved God and served Him. Missionaries abounded and
the Word spread over the world. It was an age of brotherly love. It was an age
of the open door. It was the last age of long duration, and after it the Laodicean Age would come which would be a short one.
374-3 The true vine flourished in this
age as in no other when one thinks of numbers at home and abroad. This age
brought holy men to the forefront. The true vine spread and the false vine
receded. Everywhere the true vine went God gave light and life and happiness.
The false vine was shown up for what it was: darkness, misery, poverty,
illiteracy and death. And as the false vine in its day of power could not kill
the true vine, neither could the true vine now bring back the false vine to
Jesus Christ. But the false vine entrenched itself, waiting for the last part
of the last age when it would win all back to itself except that small flock
that were the elect, true vine of God.
375-1 But how sad does this age make us
feel as we realize that every great move of God (and there were many) neglected
to throw off the Nicolaitane doctrine for they all
organized and died. Then they moved into denominations to hold the spiritually
dead in foodless pastures. Little did they know it, but each group was tainted
with that same error, and when the revival fire burned low, organization took
over and people became denominations. They were only nominal Christians though
each group claimed with the very same assurance as the Roman Catholic Church
that they were right and all others wrong. The stage was truly set for the
daughters to go back home in the last age, back to
375-2 And so we come to the last age:
the Laodicean Age. That is our age. We know it is the
last age for the Jews are back in
375-3 The Lutheran Age was the
springtime. The Wesleyan Age was the summer of growth. The Laodicean
Age is the harvest time of gathering the tares for binding and burning; and
garnering the wheat for the Lord.
375-4 Harvest time. Have you noticed that in the harvest time, though there
is a real acceleration in the ripening, there is consequently a slowing of
growth until there is no growth? Is that not exactly what we are seeing now?
The false vine is losing multitudes to the Communists and various other types
of belief. Her numbers are not increasing as she would like us to think. Her
hold on the people is not what it used to be, and in so many cases going to
church is just a show. And the true vine? What about her? Is she growing? Where
are those vast numbers that keep coming to revivals and answer altar calls? Are
not most of them merely emotional in their approach, or desirous of something
physical rather than desiring that which is truly Spiritual?
Is this age not like the day in which Noah entered the ark, and the door was
shut, but yet God tarried in judgment seven days? No one was literally turned
to God in those silent days.
375-5 And yet it is the harvest time.
There then must come upon the scene in this age those who will bring the wheat
and tares to maturity. The tares are already maturing very fast under corrupt
teachers who turn the people from the Word. But the wheat also must mature. And
to her, God is sending the Prophet-Messenger with the vindicated ministry that
he might be accepted by the elect. They will hear him as the first church heard
Paul, and she will mature in the Word until becoming a Word Bride the mighty
works will be found in her that are always attendant upon the pure Word and
faith.
376-1 The false church groups will come together in a world
council of churches. This world council of churches is the IMAGE ERECTED TO THE
BEAST.
Revelation 13:11-18, "And I beheld another beast
coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth
all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth
the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. And he doeth great wonders,
so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the
earth in the sight of men, And deceiveth them that
dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in
the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they
should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of
the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the
image of the beast should be killed. And he causeth
all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in
their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell,
save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast:
for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred three score and
six."
Now
remember, it was Imperial Pagan Rome that fell by the sword. But she was healed
of her death stroke when she joined to the nominal Christian church
of Rome and incorporated paganism and Christianity, and thereby became the
377-1 Now as this concluding chapter
was given in order to trace the two churches and two spirits from Pentecost to
their consummation, we will take this final time to show this in the Laodicean Age.
377-2 This age started just after the
turn of the twentieth century. As it was to be the age in which the true church
would return to being the bride she was at Pentecost, we know that there must
of necessity be a return of dynamic power. The believers sensed this in their
spirits and began crying to God for a new outpouring such as was in the first
century. What seemed to be the answer came as many began to speak in tongues
and manifest gifts of the Spirit. It was then believed that this was indeed the
long awaited RESTORATION. It was not, for the latter rain can come only after
the former rain which is the spring or TEACHING rain. The latter rain, then, is
the HARVEST rain. How could this be the real thing when the Teaching Rain had
not come? The Prophet-Messenger who was to be sent to TEACH the people and turn
the hearts of the children back to the Pentecostal fathers had not yet come.
Thus what was thought to be the restoration and the final quickening unto the
rapture had not come. In it was a mixture of the unrighteous partaking of
Spiritual blessing and manifesting in the Holy Ghost as we have kept pointing
out to you. In it also was devil power as men were under the control of devils,
yet no one seemed to realize it. Then, to prove that it was not the REAL, these
people (even before a second generation had appeared) organized, and wrote
their unscriptural doctrines and built their own fences as every other group
ahead of them did.
378-1 Remember, while Jesus was upon earth so was Judas. Each
came from a different spirit, and upon death each went to his own place. The
Spirit of Christ later came back upon the true church, and the spirit of Judas
came back upon the false church.
It is right there in Rev. 6:1-8, "And I saw, and
behold a white horse; and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given
unto him: and he went forth conquering and to conquer. And when he had opened
the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out
another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take
peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was
given unto him a great sword. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard
the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he
that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the
midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a
penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil
and the wine. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the
fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and
behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed
with him. And Power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to
kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of
the earth."
See how
that Judas spirit came back as a rider on a white horse. It was white. So close to the real, just as Judas was so close to Jesus. A
crown was given to him (white horse rider). How? That spirit was now in the
leader of the Nicolaitane system and he was a triple
crowned pope who sat as God in his temple, calling himself the vicar of Christ. If vicar of Christ means 'instead of
Christ' or 'in place of' or 'on behalf of God' then the pope was calling
himself the Holy Ghost, or deposing the Holy Ghost, acting for Him. That was
the Judas spirit in him doing that. See how he conquered--going forth
conquering and to conquer. Christ did not do that. The only ones that came to
Him were already predestinated by the Father. And so on and on went that spirit
and one day it will become truly incarnate in a man who will head up the World
Council of Churches, just as we have been saying. And by his gold (remember
Judas held the bag) he will control the whole world, and that antichrist system
will own everything and try to control everybody. But Jesus will come back and
destroy them all with the brightness of His coming. And their end will be the
lake of fire.
379-1 But what about the true seed? It
will happen just as we have said. The people of God are being made ready by the
Word of Truth from the messenger to this age. In her will be the fulness of Pentecost for the Spirit will bring the people
right back to where they were at the beginning. That is "Thus saith the Lord."
379-2 It is "Thus saith the
Lord" for that is what Joel 2:23-26 says,
"Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God:
for He hath given you the former rain moderately, and He will cause to come
down for you the rain, the former rain and the latter rain in the first month.
And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine
and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the
cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, My
great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be
satisfied, and praise the Name of the Lord your God, That
hath dealt wondrously with you: and My people shall never be ashamed."
Now it
says God is going to "restore". The Lutheran Age did not
restore the church; it started a reformation. The Wesleyan Age did not restore.
The Pentecostal Age did not restore. But God has to restore for He cannot deny
His Word. This is not the resurrection of the Church; it is the
"Restoration". God will take the Church right back to Pentecost of
the beginning. Now notice in verse 25 it tells why we need restoration. The
locust, cankerworm, caterpillar and palmerworm have eaten all but the root and
a small bit of the stem. Now we are told that all these insects are all one and
the same in different stages. That is right. They are the antichrist spirit
manifested in organization, denomination and false doctrine through the ages.
And that poor little root and stalk is going to be restored. God isn't going to
plant a new Church, but is going to bring His original planting back to
original seed. He is doing it as stated in verse 23, by the teaching, or
"former" rain. Next will come the harvest
rain or rapturing faith.
380-1 Thus at this very moment we are
in the complete fulfillment of Matthew 24:24 "insomuch that, if it were
possible, they shall deceive the very elect." And who is it that shall
attempt to deceive the very elect? Why, the spirit of antichrist in the
"false anointed ones" of this last day. These false ones have already
come in "Jesus' Name" claiming that they have been anointed of God
for the last day. They are the false Messiahs (anointed ones). They claim that
they are prophets. But are they one with the Word? Never.
They have added to it or taken from it. No one denies that the Spirit of God
manifesting in gifts is upon them. But like Balaam they all have their
programs, make their appeal for money, exercise gifts, but deny the Word or
by-pass it for fear that a controversy might diminish their chances for greater
gain. Yet they preach salvation and deliverance through the power of God, just
like Judas, with a ministry imparted by Christ. But because they are wrong
seed, consequently they have a wrong spirit motivating them. Religious?
Oh my! They outshine the elect in effort and zeal, but it is Laodicean, not of Christ, for it looks for big crowds, big
programs and startling signs amongst them. They preach the second coming of
Christ, but deny the advent of the prophet-messenger, though in power and signs
and true revelation he eclipses them all. Ah yes, this false spirit that in the
last day is so close to the real, can be distinguished only by its deviation
from the Word, and whenever it is caught in being anti-Word, it falls back on
the one argument we have already shown to be false: "We get results, don't
we? We have to be of God."
380-2 Now before we close, I want to
bring this thought. All along we have been talking about the Seed of Wheat
being buried, then sending up two shoots, then the tassel, then the true ear.
This might make some wonder if we said that the Lutherans didn't have the Holy
Spirit just because they taught basically justification. It might make some
wonder about the Methodists, etc. No sir, we are not saying that. We are not
talking about the individuals or the people, but the AGE. Luther had the Spirit
of God, but his age was not the age of full restoration by another outpouring
like in the beginning. It was the same with Wesley, Booth, Knox, Whitefield, Brainard, Jonathan Edwards, Meuller,
etc. Surely they were full of the Holy Ghost. Yes, they certainly were. But the
age in which each lived was not the age of restoration, neither was any age but
this last age, the age of complete black out in apostasy. This is the age of apostasy,
and this is the age of restoration, it is the age of the finished cycle. With
this, it is all over.
381-1 So we conclude the Seven Church
Ages, saying only what the Spirit said to each age, "He that hath an
ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the
churches."
381-2 I sincerely believe that the
Spirit of God has been speaking to us, not only teaching us the truths of the
ages, but He has been faithfully dealing with hearts that they may turn to Him.
That is the reason for all preaching and teaching, for it is in the preaching
and teaching of the Word that the sheep hear the voice of God and follow Him.
381-3 Not for one moment do I bring a
message to the people that they may follow me, or join my church, or start some
fellowship and organization. I have never done that and will not do that now. I
have no interest in those things, but I do have an interest in the things of
God and people, and if I can accomplish just one thing I will be satisfied.
That one thing is to see established a true spiritual relationship between God
and men, wherein men become new creations in Christ, filled with His Spirit and
live according to His Word. I would invite, plead and warn all to hear His
voice at this time, and yield your lives completely to Him, even as I trust in
my heart that I have given my all to Him. God bless you, and may His coming rejoice your heart.