Karen's Korner

Dry Land

2012-02-12T23:57:00.002-05:00

Genesis 1 says that God says "and let the "dry land" appear". This was the beginning of the lowering of man. This is the "evening man".
The "morning man" is our first estate as a spirit creation.

It takes an evening and morning man experience to make One Day, The Day of the Lord.

Then in Genesis 2 it says that man is made of the "dry land", the dust, the dust man. This is when man became a living soul....he lived by the impulses of his mind or ego more than the guidance of his spirit.

In the OT the Spirit or the water came "upon" man.
But
In the NT Jesus said "out of your belly shall flow rivers of living water, this spake he of the spirit, for the Holy Ghost had not yet been given."

Jesus came to open the floodgates making us a well watered garden flooding us from within with resurrection reality so we we would not be a dry unproductive land.

What Is Hell?

2012-02-12T23:42:00.000-05:00

I always found M.Thomas-Benedict's near death experience description of hell to accurately sum up what hell is:

"During my near-death experience I had a descent into what you might call Hell, and it was very surprising. I did not see Satan or evil. My descent into Hell was a descent into each person’s customized human misery, ignorance, and darkness of not knowing. It seemed like a miserable eternity. But each of the millions of souls around me had a little star of light always available. But no one seemed to pay attention to it. They were so consumed with their own grief, trauma and misery. But, after what seemed an eternity, I started calling out to that Light, like a child calling to a parent for help.

Then the Light opened up and formed a tunnel that came right to me and insulated me from all that fear and pain, That is what Hell really is. So what we are doing is learning to hold hands, to come together. The doors of Hell are open now. We are going to link up, hold hands, and walk out of Hell together."

Darkness is not really the presense of anything - it is an absense. It is an absense of light. When you are made aware of darkness it is most often accompanied by a feeling of coldness.....sorta funny because hell is always pictured as a hot place. Anywhere that the Son is not shining is a mighty cold place. But as SilentR always says, "Heaven is hotter than hell"...Hallelujah! Holy Ghost Fire!

So we all know that natural darkness's only remedy is the turning on of a light. We can stand and rebuke the darkness and try to cast it out of the room, but that will not change a thing till we reach over and turn the switch on which releases electrial power to flow into the light bulb producing light.

Where did the darkness go when we turn on the light? Nowhere. Because it has no source. Light is the only thing that has a source.

Our daylight has a source, the sun. But our darkness, has no source...in other words, there is not some moon of darkness shining down darkness upon our earth during our nighttime providing a source for this darkness. Our earth has merely turned away from the sun in its daily orbit creating an absence of light.

So neither does spiritual darkness....which is a turning away from the light, either consciously or unconsciously. Now I am not saying that darkness is not a condition that doesn't need remedied...it does. "Let God arise and his enemies be scattered." The rising sun never needs to fight the darkness does it? Its mere presence does the job. Darkness finds no hiding place in the presence of the light.

How God Married Matter

2012-02-12T23:35:00.002-05:00

I believe that when God took out of Himself, Himself.... these selves/cells of him was who we were in our first estate as a spirit creation, or the Elohim. I once tried to put this into words, as best I could, as follows:

God took out of himself the image and likeness of himself. And these selves of him, called the Elohim in turn created an image and likeness of themselves, called man. And man, in his lowered and slowered condition, has in turn created an image and likeness of himself, called the ego.....who sits in the temple calling himself God.

Someone has put it very well I think when they said, "God(Elohim) created us in his image and we tried to return the complement." We in turn created God in our image. Man in his lowered condition could only create a God as he knew himself to be.

Now is God ultimately responsible for this? Yes, in the sense that the worlds were 'framed' by him. Anything that has a frame around it, has a boundary, or fence containing the contents. God knew that nothing could 'fall' outside of this boundary of true spirit that framed man.

God our Father and Source, knew when he turned the parts of himself loose to go into a far country that they would be trying out their creative skills as adolescent gods in consciousness, not fully grown up into the image of their True Father.

God wanted to experience his creation and to fill all things with Himself, and he wanted a vessel that would be experientially mature not just be innocent virgins in the sense that we had never actually intercoursed with matter. Our experience with matter had to be complete...we had to marry, or really know intimately what it means to be human.

After awakening or having our old man crucified, or having the sense that we are only human and not spirit, these vessels could now begin to experientially and consciously put on Christ .

The New Creation Man, the union of heaven and earth as One.

Now this comes through the filter called Karen, so you will have to in turn filter it through your own vessel if any of this resonates as truth in you.

Either yea or nay, all our love,
Karen

1000, The Number For Glory

2012-02-09T12:30:00.001-05:00

Thought this was worthy of a repost:

Heat Unit Requirements

1. To heat ice from 0 degrees F to 32F is 16 units.

2. To melt ice at 32F to liquid water at 32F is 144 units.

3. To heat water from 32F to 212F (boiling point) is 180 units.

4. To change the liquified water into vapor at 212F is 1000 UNITS.

1000 is the biblical number for GLORY!!

John the Baptist prophesied of Jesus' coming saying that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. "God is a consuming Fire". It is the fire of the spirit (heat units) in ever increasing measures within that melts away the frozen mortal confinements of Adamkind releasing us into our birthright as Godkind.

Ice= body (the body is as frozen spirit matter...spirit at its densest or lowest level)

Water= soul (less dense than the body...more fluid - able to flow in thought into the past, present and future)

Vapor or steam= spirit (our ascended spirit is unlimited...able to be here, there, and everywhere)

When the frequency or vibration of our soul and body is brought up to the level of our spirit man,[heating or exciting the cells by divine movement] we experience the Glory of God, spirit, soul and body.

Thought Pollution

2012-02-07T14:21:00.003-05:00

Dear Ron, I feel one of those 'tangents' of mine coming on again...hopefully into the essential. Seems like the slightest phrase sets me off these days. LOL Your comment here did it: "Abba...keep us friendly to ourselves...keep us gentle in disappointments..... not afraid of changes..... not thinking of a name change....like Judas maybe....Thomas is a given name to all true honest seekers..." end quote

But as an aside, before getting into that I recently heard the following acronym for S-I-N: Self-Inflicted-Nonsense. :-) Thought that was a good one too. Most all of us are aware of the message of the Reconciliation of All, but I want to share a thought about the 'ministry' of reconciliation, first of all to ourselves and how its truth truly does, I believe, touch all.

We were shown how through our Pattern, Jesus. Remember the scripture that says "If one died for all then all have died." And of course the converse of that is true as well, If one has resurrected, then all have resurrection life. The problem lies not in the veracity of this fact, but in our realization and manifestaion of it.

You said "Keep us friendly to ourselves"....and yes I, too, agree for I believe that the reason some of our Thomases and Judases are surfacing is that they at last feel free to come out of their hiding places in our psyche. They are drawn to the light like moths to the flame. The light and the love that we are has reached an intensity that beckons them to their death and rebirth. Just as the Lighthouse announces to the weary sailor that land is near, the Light of God in our inner being is calling all the weary pathologies of man up from the sea of humanity for healing and wholeness.

It makes me think of the prophets of old who told us that ALL the nations would say, "Come and let us go to the mountain of the Lord, for he will teach of his ways and the law shall go forth from Zion and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." These nations may have the archetypal name of Judas or Thomas, but their actual names are doubt, unbelief, fear, suicide, addictions, lust, hopelessness, low self esteem, pride, jealousy, etc.

Some of these thoughts that assail us can be some of our own stuff coming up for healing, but I think many times it is coming out of the collective unconsciousness of man, that sea of humanity. Thoughts that are sent out that are negative, I believe, create a miasma or clouds around this planet. They are what I think the scriptures mean by the prince and power of the air.

If everything is to be reconciled, then all these thoughts which really represent people for they are manifestations from them, then these "thoughts" are a negative looking for a positive. So we do need to be kind to ourselves and realize that the darkness is trying to find a remedy in the only Light that it sees in this world....and we are that Light. We are those Saviors standing on Mt. Zion judging the House of Esau. And guess what, the only judgment we have to offer is NOT GUILTY!!! God is not imputing your tresspasses. But as Jesus told the "woman" or the soul caught in adultery , "Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more." When you stand in the presence of pure Love, it has the power to impart Itself. It has the power to strip away all your coverings, so much so that you will stand naked and humbled in It's Presence. You will be left standing in your pure Essence or Truth. With this realization of who you really are, you will have had a genuine repentance or turn around. This is what enabled the woman to "go and sin no more".

So, when these (thoughts) come before us, we see the blood applied to the lintel...or we see the life of God that lights every man who comes into this world. What other judgment could we give them and be truthful.

So, yes, Dear God, what else can we offer but mercy. If the kingdom is within, then we are the Great White Throne Judgement Seat of Christ. Aren't you glad its a "white" throne...no darkness here. That makes us the Lake of Fire too, and isn't God a consuming fire. So we've got fire in our belly too, a veritible furnace of love. And wow, if Mt. Sinai was a fearsome sight, just imagine what kind of Light all the Love in the universe must be displaying to all life's weary inner travelers.

And this Light, this Love does not repel, it attracts just like we mentioned before...these conditions in man are like moths that cannot resist the pull of the Light. For it is there that they become one with the Fire and the Light and their misdirected energy is not destroyed but transmuted into higher life!

Praise God, yes, lets let every "thought" out of its prison house of consciousness and into the Light and Love of God to be reconciled and find wholeness. So pat yourself on the back a little if you are being assailed with 'thoughts'. Your Light has attracted them.

I will just share this one testimony before I wind this up. I have a friend, Ronnie H. in the ministry that told me one time that thoughts of suicide began to assail him so strongly that he almost got a gun and did himself in. If the spirit had not given him insight to where this was coming from, he might have killed himself. He said he stopped in his tracks as one of these onslaughts came on and he wrapped his arms around himself and said out loud "I don't know who you are, but I know that if it is yourself you want to get rid of, the only way to do that is to lose yourself in Christ and be swallowed up into Life. I love you and want you to know that God loves you." He said that thought lifted and never came back.

So, yes, Thomas is an experience of all true honest seekers as part of their journey.

With love,
Karen

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Just to share an observation of mine that while it is important, and that's not even the right word, for us to know our Oneness and to know our self as I Am, I find that for many it seems to edit out for them any human experience of the divine. Many would not even want to admit that they ever have any of these thoughts to contend with because they are living in Oneness.

But divinity needs a place to lay its head. This mind of Christ needs us! We are where God happens or is actualized.

God doesn't give his glory to another, that it true, but we are not another. I don't believe at all that we are robot Gods. God took out of himself aspects of himself and we are that. These aspects of himself are endowed with the same creator powers for they are bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. God knew that these apects of himself would expand his experience of himself as they were actualized and set free. For they would be the son aspect of God and would grow up into full grown sons with the ability to Father or create as well!

When we were lowered here, we came with the seed of this creator life in us. As this life was watered and fed and fertilized we began to grow as an aspect or individualization of God. So many seem to discount and even deny their divinity, it appears to me, by not seeing that when they give their energy or spirit to something that it is God doing it as them. The resulting conditions tell us what kind of seed we were sowing. Life or death. We learn by doing. We understand by seeing.

Jesus only did what he saw his Father or Source doing. Seeing it in the spirit gave him the understanding, but doing it gave him the actualized experience. Jesus was a son of God by creation but he became a father by formation. Or we are all children of God, but we are being made perfect or mature by Christ being formed in us by experience just as Jesus was:

"For it was an act worthy [of God] and fitting [to the divine nature] that He, for whose sake and by whom all things have their existence, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the Pioneer of their salvation perfect [that is should bring to maturity the human experience necessary for a perfect equipment for His office as High Priest], through suffering.

There is, I believe, the sovereignty of God or the predestination factor (the bounds of our habitation being set as Paul stated) but in order to be properly equipped as priests of God, we have to have our human experience brought into maturity as well. And we can't do that without being touched by the feelings of infirmity - ours and others.

The office of a priest is as a mediator - mediates between God and man.

Of course, this is a King/Priest ministry and the King would be another topic for discussion.

Thanks for letting me bend your ear again.
Love and communion, Karen

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I've believed for years that God has had a people from every tribe and tongue and nation that make up the collective Christ. And I believe there is a difference in the Body of Christ and the Body of God.

The Body of Christ, I see, as the firstfruit pickings unto God. They become the collective prototype to the world, just as Jesus was the individual prototype unto us.

It is when we each bring to the table what spirit makes real in us that all of these godly individuations are taken together by spirit and synergized to make something brand new. I think that is what it means when you see the following truism, "that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts." God's cookin' up something that this world ain't never seen before and using us as his secret recipe ingredients.

And "little is much when God is in it", for "God does not save by many or few", he goes first for quality, knowing that with quality, he will reap quantity.

Jesus fathered us. The word says "who will declare his generation for he was cut off out of the land of the living?" And it goes on to say in Isa. 53 that "he shall see his spiritual offspring, he shall prolong his days and the will and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand."

We are his spiritual offspring that prolongs his days and is set to fulfill the will and pleasure of the Lord. And is it not his will that not any should perish, but that all would have eternal life? Well, many will say that they already have eternal life, and yes, that is true, but it is like saying that a man is alive that has no senses and is brain dead- no senses of taste, sight, hearing, smell or touch. Yes, he is alive, but completely devoid of knowing it. So God is after, alive and awakened vessels without any blind spots in consciousnes through which to be ongoingly creative.

I just want to add that I know that I have always been spirit and have never been born so how can I die as spirit? But the other part of this equation is that that spirit wanted to make a Man. So it is the intent of spirit to be Man.

Earth and Man is just Creation School 101. There are yet worlds without end. Realms and dimensions untold in Father's many-roomed universe mansion that we have yet to furnish and decorate.

With love,
Karen

One Power !!

2012-02-07T00:22:00.000-05:00

There is much talk and sharing these days about how that ‘God is All’. And I very much agree with that statement but for me, and where I stand in my present understanding and development, I believe it begs a little more defining lest we attribute to God acts that are not in his nature.

Lets look at the ‘Love chapter’, 1 Cor. 13 again to remind us what Love is and does or what God is or what He does if God is Love.

1. Love [GOD] endures long and is patient and kind.
2. Love [GOD] never is envious nor boils over with jealousy.Is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.
3. Love [GOD] is not conceited – arrogant and inflated with pride; it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly.
4. Love [GOD] does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking.
5. Love [GOD] is not touchy or fretful or resentful: it takes no account of the evil done to it – pays no attention to a suffered wrong.
6. Love [GOD] does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.
7. Love [GOD] bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything [without weakening].
8. Love [GOD] never fails – never fades out or becomes obsolete or comes to an end."

"And so faith, hope and love abide, these three, but the greatest of these is love. Eagerly pursue and seek to acquire this love (THIS GOD) and make it your aim, your great quest…"

"But if God is All then what of the great inhumanities that are committed in this world?
Does God kidnap, torture and rape and murder a little 10 year old girl or boy?
Does he pour gasoline on his wife he no longer wants and set her afire like they do in India – called the bride burnings?
Does God abandon his family and leave them to fend for themselves in this world?
Does God strap explosives to himself and blow up innocent men, women and children?
Is God a despot that holds millions of people in a country in bondage and servitude to his self-serving whims?

Well, I’m sure none of us would want to attribute these kind of acts and untold millions more like them to the God we know. But they ALL WERE COMMITTED BY THE ONE POWER, THE ONLY POWER THERE IS, GOD!!

But, how you say, can LOVE do such things? We have shared this before and may be already a familiar fact with you, but the word “evil” is the word “live” spelled backwards. The Bible speaks of this “untoward generation”. If you are “untoward” something, you are “backwards” to it. When man lives backwards to the truth of LOVE or GOD, he fulfills that power in its negative instead of its positive, which is love. It still is the One Power, but applied negatively. And that is why evil seems so exceedingly evil. It is an unholy anointing. Instead of being a loving Creator, he is an unloving mis-creator. Or as we have borne the image of the earthly, the mis-creator, we shall bear the image of the heavenly, the Loving Creator. And the only thing that Love can create or do is what chapter 13 of Corinthians lists.

And what, to me, is so wonderful is that this is not just things that we do, but what we truly have become.This is what it means to me of laying down the gift realm or just “having gifts” to become the Gift. For anything that you just ‘have’, can be something that you lose or no longer ‘have’. But when you become something, you are IT. So are all things God? It is an enigma and the answer is “Yes, and No”. You can use your God Power for good or evil. For life or death. God said, "Six days shall you labor, but the seventh was His."

Man has had the opportunity these past six days to choose to labor with his God power and when he did it in an unenlightened state, it created the chaos of war, prejudice and hate that is so prevalent, but it was so that he would have an experiential knowledge of good and evil and could look into the mirror or this outer realm of his creation and behold what was in his inner self. This causes us to begin to ask "Is there a better way? This is not working." We learn that we can become mature gods having our senses exercised to know the difference and to turn from death to life.

And,yes, we know that "all things work together for good to those called according to his purpose." We are not trying to negate the sovereignty of God in our lives or in other words, the script that we agreed to take on in this life as our learning experience, but we are trying to show that as a god who awakens within this script, we then become the now conscious writer, director and actor of a more heavenly script where love, joy and peace reigns supreme.

Much love,
Karen

Not All Here, Yet

2012-02-02T23:18:00.001-05:00

"Yet death held sway from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not themselves transgress [a positive command] as Adam did. Adam was a type (prefigure) of the One who was to come." Rom. 5:14

"Christ's spirit has been, and is now, bubbling beneath every human illusion. It is your spirit, our spirit, the spirit of the family of eternal god-beings to which we belong. Our prototypes (earthly) incarnated initially in Eden, but as a species, as a global human family, we have yet to fully enter the earth. We are the generation who will incarnate for the first time.

The "I" that is Christ is dotted by every "we" in humanity.” Quote by Ken Carey

We have not been here consciously or in full awareness of our Christhood, so just as we refer to someone who is not quite 'with it' intellectually as "not being all there", we have not been all here either - As the fully awake and incarnated Collective Christ.

So many believe that our hope for a better tomorrow is after we leave this dimension, and I do understand and hear the cry of the heart, but dear ones we have never been "all here" yet. The suffering generated by the God of this world, the carnal mind and all the ghastly conditions it creates, will be reversed by a people who are Creators of the New Heaven and the the New Earth. And it takes a birth, a collective birth of which the singular Jesus only prefigured, just as "Adam was only a figure of he that was to come". Individually, as awakened and alive cells in the body of God we create islands of the future....havens of rest....cities of refuge.....or WE now prefigure those who are to come, the whole Body of God alive and awake and here for the first time! No wonder, the Beloved Revelator said the Spirit and the Bride say, Come! This is the true second coming of the Lord. A collective Body of Christ beings.

Much love,
Karen

Walking in Moonlight or Sunlight???

2012-01-29T14:22:00.003-05:00

I felt the following portion of a writing by Oche Landop was so very descriptive of the difference in those who DO KNOW or understand about Oneness or being part of the Source but may only USE IT or desire to manipulate IT for the satisfactions of the natural or sensual realm and then those who have been awakened to the Christ Presence by an open experience with the Holy Spirit where they know Him as Father and walk in fellowship with Him and as Him in the here and now.

I have included the link at the end of this that will take you to the full writing by this brother.

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AWAKING IN SPIRIT
“Wake up, thou who art sleeping, and arise out of the dead, and
the Christ shall shine upon thee.”
1
O AWAKE in Spirit is to become aware of one’s
Spirit-essence, and of the Father.
There are two levels of awaking in Spirit. One is
what may be called moonlight awaking, and the other
sunlight awaking.
Moonlight Awaking
At the level of moonlight awaking a man is aware of
Spirit and of Spirit-operations in him, but he is not yet
alive to the Father’s destiny for humans, that is, he will
not have “seen” Christ. To many at this level of awaking
Spirit is a power, a depersonalised Intelligence, an
impersonal force, albeit the Boundless Ultimate LifeForce, “BULF”. Such people endeavour to connect to or
touch Spirit, to “feel after Him and find Him”,
2 not as
the Father, but as tapping energy from a Limitless
Source for their various uses. For, not having had a vision
of the Father’s plan for man, they have with the mind of
their flesh3 worked out an aim in life for themselves.
They endeavour to “be in touch with the Ultimate LifeForce”, but this is to enable their achievement of their
aim. They touch what they do not worship, or fellowship
with as a child adores and fellowships with his father or
mother. The Father does not of course draw away from
the groping hands of such “Spirit feelers”: He lets them
touch Him and get what they seek. For “he who seeks
finds”
and He is even the One causing them—as
indeed He does everyone—to feel after Him and find
Him. Such people have moved out of utter darkness, yes,
the darkness of those who believe they are all flesh and
no more; but they have only got into heatless moonlight.
And as in moonlight one does not clearly distinguish
colours and is certainly not warmed, they cannot
distinguish the colours of life nor be “heated” or “filled
to all the fullness of God”
5
as in Christ “all the Fullness
dwells bodily.”
6
Sunlight Awaking
Sunlight awaking is a being “born anew ... of the Spirit”,
7
not merely being aware of Spirit or tapping energy from
Spirit. As Christ arises in us
8
and we are drawn into, or
whelmed in, or “baptised in the Holy Spirit”
9
“we cry,
‘Abba, Father!’ [as] the Spirit Himself bears witness with
our spirit, that we are children of God ... and joint-heirs
with Christ.”
10 Then I can boldly say, as Christ says, “I
am in the Father and the Father in me”
11
and “I and the
Father are one.”
12 For now I see that His relationship to
me of Father and son is not a legal fiction, as between a
man and an adopted boy, but a relationship of
connection in substance, as between the sun and one of
its rays, or between a vine and one of its branches, or
between my right hand and one of its fingers. And I
realise that I am not merely flesh, that my essence is
Spirit, the Being of the Father, and that all my life
problems arise from my not being aware of this reality
and so taking myself to be no more than my body.
This sunlight awaking is also called in Scripture “the
washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy
Spirit.”
13 For the fall of a man is his getting out of the
water of the Holy Spirit and on to the dry land of going
by his body. Salvation is getting back into the water of
the Holy Spirit. No one without being renewed or
reborn in Spirit can go fully by Spirit as is necessary for
one’s metamorphosis. Unless a man is born anew of
Spirit, he cannot walk in the Narrow Way of Spirit by
which he may put on incorruptibility.
Sunlight awaking is coming out of the veil of one’s
flesh14
and to have seen Christ. This awaking brings a man
to see the connection between him and Christ: that
Christ is the reflection of the perfect him, the Butterfly
of Glory that he is to metamorphose into.
Jesus Christ is the mirror of reality giving two images
at the same time, one of the Father, and the other of
man. He is the radiance of the Father.
15 He “contains”
and presents the Being of the Father, in the fullest
measure possible for the creature called man. “For in
Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily.”
6
“I
and the Father are one,” He says.
12
“He who has seen
me has seen the Father.... I am in the Father and the
Father in me...”
16
Also, Jesus is the reflection of man in perfection. “As
He is so are we in this world.”
17 Looking on Him, I am
looking on my perfect self. “He who has seen me has
seen his true self,” we may suppose Him to say. “He
who sees me sees his fullness, as a boy looking on his
father sees the stature he will grow to, or as a caterpillar
looking on the butterfly sees its mature form.”
In Jesus the true man is exhibited. He, who is Spirit
and “was in the beginning with God” and “was God”,
18
becomes flesh19
in this world—puts on a body that “in
all things”
20
is like the body of any human, one which at
first is not a spiritual body but corruptible and capable of
dying. Then He steadily walks in Spirit till His body is
metamorphosed into an incorruptible spiritual body, that
is, till He is “filled to all the fullness of God”
5
and is
perfect as the heavenly Father is perfect.

“As He is so are we in this world.”
17 As far as the
human condition in this world goes, as Christ is so are
we—though He is Lord and we are made through
Him.
22 Every human is Spirit who becomes flesh in this
world as Christ became flesh. And as He “grew and
waxed strong in spirit”
23
till He was filled to all the
fullness of the Father, every person is to grow and wax
strong in spirit and “be filled to all the fullness of God”
5
that the Father may say of him, “This is my beloved son,
in whom I delight.”
24
How the Father works “the supply of the Spirit of
Jesus Christ”
25
in someone to awake him is of course
beyond fathoming. But anyone reading this now is
certainly being stirred to his Spirit-essence. Probably the
voice or the stirrings of the Spirit in him in the past that
he ignored or did not recognise as such are being
brought to his awareness now. Maybe in the course of
reading this he has exclaimed, “So that was the Spirit!
And I didn’t know it.” Seeing then that the Father is
really in him, he can begin to surrender to Him this
moment. He can tell the Father: “Father, I see that You
are in me. Awake me in You. Let Christ arise in me....”
As he asks from his heart, or desires it persistently, he
will receive; and as Christ arises in him, he will know.
Whom will have addressed almost as unknown and far
away—unknown to his mind—he will feel and find.
26
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1. Eph 5:14 (YLT). 2. Acts 17:27. 3. Col 2:18; Rom 8:6, 7.
4. Mt7:8. 5. Eph 3:19. 6. Col 1:19; 2:9. 7. 12. Jn 3:3-5.
8. Jn 17:17-21; Gal 1:15-16. 9. Acts 1:5, 8. 10. Rom 8:15-17.
11. Jn 14:10-11, 20. 12. Jn 10:30. 13. Tit 3:5. 14. Heb 10:20.
15. Heb 1:3. 16. Jn 14:9-11. 17. 1 Jn 4:17. 18. Jn 1:1-2.
19. Jn 1:14; Heb 2:14. 20. 46. Heb 2:17. 21. Mt 5:48.
22. Jn 1:3. 23. Lk 2:40. 24. Mt 3:17. 25. Phil 1:19.
26. Acts 17:23, 27.METAMORPHOSIS TO GLORY 41

http://sigler.org/kingdom/Metamorphosis%20to%20Glory.pdf

The Longitude and the Latitude of the New Creation Man

2012-01-29T00:17:00.000-05:00

The cross represented the creative coordinates, the longitude and the latitude of the New Creation Man. Jesus hung at the juxiposition of where the vertical and the horizontal, heaven and earth, the eternal and the temporal crossed or intersected.

His arms were outstretched in the horizontal to embrace all that transpires in our experience with time and matter and his heart was where X marked the spot.....where these two realms collide or merge. God in Man, Man in God = a GodMan.....this is the New Creation Man to me, the inauguration of the new species in this earth that will make it a new heaven.

The God Man to me is neither just spirit or just flesh, but "splesh", as some have coined it.

That's why we need vessels or wineskins as the Bible calls them that are equal unto the new vibrations that our spirits are being caught up into in order to "hold" this vibrational presence here in this earth......it is a vibration or frequency that eventually all hearts will be entrained with for Love never fails.

He Became Us

2012-01-29T00:12:00.000-05:00

Hebrews 7:26
For such an high priest became us, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.

The Divine stated his intent in the beginning, "Let us make Man", and since he works all things after the counsel of his will, he has been steadily bringing his intent and counsel to fruition.

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and the latter rain.

Be ye patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." James 5
I don't believe that we are becoming God or Spirit....that was already our first estate in the celestials.

I believe that God is becoming Man....not generic man with a little "m", but the New Creation Man, which is the the combination of heaven and earth.

Just like water is the third result of the combining of the two gases (spirits) of hydrogen and oxygen.....something brand new emerges from this union.

It has been said, that the Greeks believed that earth was a springboard to heaven.

But

The Hebrews believed that heaven was a springboard to earth.

"I John saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God as a bride adorned for her husband;
Then I heard a mighty voice from the throne..See!
The abode of God is with men, and He will live (encamp) among them and they shall be his people and God shall personally be their God." Rev. 21
Love and blessings,
Karen

Ken Carey blog - discussing the significance of 2011-2012 events

2012-01-27T00:11:00.000-05:00

Here is the address of Ken Carey's blog started just this past year:

http://kencarey.typepad.com/ken-carey-2011-2012/#axzz1kg9vmuCK

The High Spin of Spirit

2012-01-24T15:02:00.000-05:00

God is the outside and the inside of everything that exists. He is the center and circumference of all things. A "thing" is spirit slowed down to take on visibility. Jesus was called that "Holy Thing" when formed in the womb of Mary. The Word slowed down to be made flesh.

All things are spirit (Energy) vibrations which spin or are held in different frequencies to take on visibility.

Your body is the densest and slowest, that is why it must put on immortality to function in the higher callings of God....it cannot hold or maintain the higher spin of the Life frequency. And because it spins at a slower or lower frequency it is buffeted by the frictions it encounters in this realm of gravity (grave -death realm) and succumbs in time to a slower and slower spin which results in decay and death. But even in this, nothing is lost, for energy cannot be lost - it merely changes form.

The soul is more fluid (less dense) -consciousness is a higher spin. Thoughts can come and go in any direction and be anywhere they choose to be, unlike the body. They are not even bound by time, as they can travel into the past, project themselves into the future or can choose to be aware of the present. But they only manifest Life when they are being lead by the spirit or when their intent is set by the highest purpose of the spirit man.

Our Spirit is unlimited and unbound, the highest frequency - Omnipresent, and yet presents ItSelf as The Presence or Breath of God within us. It is this Higher Frequency that is being brought to bear upon or reconciling the slower denser spins of energy of our soul and body which will reveal or manifest a body like unto His glorious resurrection body when they are brought up to match the High Spin of our Spirit.

Just offering a paragraph or two out of my book of life.
Love, Karen

Testimony of Hannah Whitall Smith

2012-01-24T14:37:00.002-05:00

Hannah Tatum Whitall Smith (February 7, 1832 – May 1, 1911) was a lay speaker and author in the Holiness movement in the United States and the Higher Life movement in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. She was also active in the Women’s suffrage movement and the Temperance movement.

Testimony of Hannah Whitall Smith

This testimony is the partial text of chapter 22 of her book, The Unselfishness of God in the original publication. It was edited out of later editions when published by Littlebrook Publishing, Inc. in Princeton, N. J., because they did not agree with her discovery that, in the end, God had made provision to save all mankind.

One day I was riding on a tram-car along Market Street, Philadelphia, when I saw two men come in and seat themselves opposite to me. I saw them dimly through my veil, but congratulated myself that it was only dimly, as I was thus spared the wave of anguish that had so often swept over me at the full sight of a strange face.

The conductor came for his fare, and I was obliged to raise my veil in order to count it out. As I raised it, I got a sight of the faces of those two men, and with an overwhelming flood of anguish, I seemed to catch a fresh and clearer revelation of the misery that had been caused to human beings by sin. It was more than I could bear. I clenched my hands and cried out in my soul, "Oh God! How canst Thou bear it? Thou mightest have prevented it, but Thou didst not. Thou mightest even now change it, but Thou dost not. I do not see how Thou canst go on living and endure it." I upbraided God. And I felt justified in doing so.
Then suddenly God seemed to answer me. An inward voice said, in tones of infinite love and tenderness, "He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied." "Satisfied!" I cried in my heart. "Christ is to be satisfied! He will be able to look at the world's misery and then at the travail through which He has passed because of it, and will be satisfied with the result! If I were Christ, nothing could satisfy me but that every human being should in the end be saved, and therefore I am sure that nothing less will satisfy Him!"
With this, a veil seemed to be withdrawn from before the plans of the universe, and I saw that it was true, as the Bible says, that "as in Adam all die, even so in Christ should all be made alive." As was the first, even so was the second. The "all" in one case could not in fairness mean less than the "all" in the other. I saw therefore that the remedy must necessarily be equal to the disease, the salvation must be as universal as the fall.
I saw all this that day on the tram-car on Market Street, Philadelphia--not only thought it, or hoped it, or even believed it, butknew it! It was a Divine fact. And from that moment I have never had one questing thought as to the final destiny of the human race. God is the Creator of every human being; therefore He is the Father of each one and they are all His children; and Christ died for every one, and is declared to the "the propitiation not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1 John 2:2). However great the ignorance, therefore, or however grievous the sin, the promise of salvation is positive and without limitations.
"It is true that "by the offense of one, judgment came upon all men unto condemnation," it is equally true that, "by the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." To limit the last "all men" is also to limit the first. The salvation is absolutely equal to the fall. There is to be a final "Restitution of all things, when, at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow, of things in heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Every knee, every tongue--words could not be more all-embracing.
The how and the when I could not see; but the one essential fact was all I needed--somewhere, and somehow God was going to make everything right for all the creatures He had created. My heart was at rest about it forever.
I hurried home to get hold of my Bible to see if the magnificent fact I had discovered could possibly have been all this time in the Bible and I had not seen it, and the moment I entered the house, I did not wait to take off my bonnet, but rushed at once to the table where I always kept my Bible and Concordance ready for use, and began my search.
Immediately the whole Book seemed to be illuminated. On every page the truth concerning the "times of restitution of all things," of which the Apostle Peter says "God hath spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began," shone forth and no room was left for questioning. I turned greedily from page to page of my Bible, fairly laughing aloud for joy at the blaze of light that illuminated it all. It became a new Book. Another skin seemed to have been peeled off every text, and my Bible fairly shone with new meaning. I do not say with a different meaning, for in no sense did the new meaning contradict the old, but a deeper meaning, the true meaning hidden behind the outward form of words. The words did not need to be changed; they only needed to be understood; and now at last I began to understand them.

Have We Touched a Dead Body?

2012-01-24T14:30:00.002-05:00

The church under Moses failed to establish the kingdom of God in the earth for they only had realized a Passover anointing.

Then the church received a greater anointing to help usher in the kingdom of God at Pentecost 2000 years ago, but because this anointing or feast was accompanied with leaven, this leavening spread through the body, leavening nearly the whole lump, except God had kept a remnant unto himself. This falling away caused the church under the Pentecostal anointing to fail in establishing the kingdom of God in all the earth.

There is another anointing(realization of) to arise within the corporate body of Christ that the feast of Tabernalces has to teach us, I believe, that will enable this firstfruits company of people to bring forth the kingdom of God into this earth in a way that we have never seen before to make us "the restorers of the breach, the ancient ruins that have lain waste for generations, the restorer of paths to walk in."Hallelujah!

I think that most of God's overcomer people are operating Now to the best of their ability with what knowledge and power that they intimately know. I, for one, know for sure that I can't do anything without the anointing of God arising in this temple, be it in a 30, 60, or 100 fold operation.

We as this Overcomer Corporation, all together as One Man, I believe, are to be presented unto the Lord as the following pattern I will try to share was outlined in the OT for us. Everything in the laws of the OT were prophetic descriptions, pictures of the plan of God being worked out in us individually and then corporately and ultimately in all the earth.

Dan. 7
"Until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given to the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominion shall serve and obey Him."

Now, one of these OT laws involved a cleasing ritual that was required when you touched a dead body. We need to remember that although all these pictures were drawn with a people that lived in the small land of Israel, they were adumbrations of truth(something that faintly foreshadows or prefigures a greater truth) and the greater truth was that God was using them to speak of his greater plan for the whole world.

The feast of Tabernacles was an 8 day feast...in order to fulfill the law of Ex. 22:29

You shall not delay the offering from your harvest and your vintage. The first-born of your sons you shall give to Me. You shall do the same with your oxen and with your sheep. It shall be with its mother seven days; on the eighth day you shall give it to Me.

According to the law, anyone that touches the dead body of a person would be unclean for seven days. Humanity is unclean for seven days until they are fully awakened in God. Num. 19:11 says,

The one who touches the dead body of any person shall be unclean for seven days.

God told Adam, "In the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Man became mortal....dead men walking. All of us has touched a dead body....our own. Paul told us in Romans 8 that even if Christ lives in you, your natural body is dead because of sin and guilt,(imputed to us because of Adam) even if your spirit is alive because of the righteousness of Christ. But, hallelujah,if the Spirit of Him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in us then He will also restore to life our mortal perishable bodies. And this restoration from the grave of mortality will reveal or broadcast us as God's sons and our freedom from death will be an outward expression or sign to the rest of creation, representing the unvoiced longings that all men have in them for joy and peace and eternal Life to become a reality in their lives and ultiimately in this world. They have not known how to find this place within themselves...but just as Jesus was a pattern of freedom to us, we will serve as a pattern of freedom for them. Now, I know we are doing that now according to the level of our anointing and development in him, but there is a 100 fold dimension of this coming of the Lord within us that will enable us to fulfill this high and holy calling to the max.

This 7 days of uncleanness is true for the greater of humanity for this statement brings you to the end of the 7000 years or 7 days of man. (we have just completed 6000 years since Adam or 6 days) And also remember that Nebuchadnezzar had 7 years pass over him before his right mind was restored. He was a picture of the greater of humanity; that all would not be coming to salvation before the end of the 7 days. The age that follows this 7 is the 8th Day or eon which has been called the age of the ages or the eon of the eons. Just like there is a Holy of the Holies...it is more holy than just the Holy Place, so in this age of ages, all men will come to the realization of who they are in God, for God will be all in all...everything in everyone experientially.

But there is a firsfruits harvest of people unto God, to whom this cleansing and anointing happens earlier in order to make them kings and priests unto God in order that they might rule and reign in Love as restorers during this age that is now before us.

Will try to share a little more on this subject of touching a dead body later......I find that I really need to write to deliver my own soul, talking to myself, trying to give voice to that which stirs within me however well or poorly articulated it is. Most of us that have been in the wilderness have had to do that...encourage ourself in the Lord. King David said he encouraged himself in the Lord too.

Brighest blessings,
Karen
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I will just share these few scriptures with you from the Amplified version about body salvation. All that any of us can do is to share what is real in us, and hopefully with grace.

Phil 3:11, 20 & 21
That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] out from among the dead [even while in the body].

But we are citizens of the state(commonwealth, homeland) which is in heaven, and from it also we earnestly and patiently await [the coming of] the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, as Savior,

Who will transform and fashion anew the body of our humiliation to conform to and be like the body of His glory and majesty, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself.
God bless,
Karen
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I totally agree with you(my response to someone who commented) about our on-going union of soul and spirit....but I'm still trying to share about physical immortality....probably just didn't make myself clear enough....the salvation of the body...that salvation that is demonstrated, I believe, at The Corporate birthing of the Body of Christ....or as Paul called it, the manifestation of the sons of God.

But this salvation, this eonian Life of the ages, encompasses so much more than just physical immortality....this is a salvation that brings us into a glory that I don't think that any of us have begun to know in its fullness. There was the singular coming of the Lord manifested through Jesus, and I believe that this Corporate Coming of the Lord fulfills his second appearance. We are that coming of the Lord that all the church is looking for..."Surprise, surprise", says Gomer Pyle. :)

Everything up until this birthing, I believe has been our training for the throne. In like manner, Joseph was pulled directly out of prison and placed upon the throne...who would've thunk it. We are that nation that is born in a day, too!

This is the first time I have written on some of these things, so I'm still trying to find my 'see' legs of presentation. But I will have to give credit where credit is due. Stephen Jones is gifted in bringing so many of these OT things up into the light of Christ. I have been blessed by many of his insights.

"It is certainly true that Christ came and now indwells us, for this is the mystery that Paul mentioned in Col. 1:27, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”[my comment: this is the appropriation of God in us individually] However, this is not the whole picture, for God will also inhabit His corporate temple.[my comment:this is the firstborn corporate son, I believe] He cannot do this until every living stone has been quarried in the earth and shaped to fit in its place."

Do you recall how that all the stones of Solomon's temple were quarried off site...this has been our individual wilderness experiences that have shaped us, where the Christ was being formed in us. It says that the stones of Solomon's temple when brought together were assembled without the sound of a hammer.

1 Kings 6:7
When the house was being built, its stone was made ready at the quarry, and no hammer, ax, or tool or iron was heard in the house while it was in building."

Hallelujah! all the hammering and chiseling, and making of these perfectly fitting stones had already been done before they were brought together....they were temple-ready to fit together.

And as we have said elsewhere, at this temple's dedication, the glory so filled this temple made of many stones, that no man could stand to minister.

Ahh, but a greater temple than Solomon's is in the making and at its dedication ceremonies the glory of God will be seen radiating from a people who appear like unto the Son of God. \o/

Two of Everything

2011-11-21T13:21:00.000-05:00

"Yes... you are correct... the double mind comes after we are declared sons... or maybe it is just OUR AWARENESS of our double mindedness that comes after our epiphany in Jesus? We may have always been double minded, AND JUST NOT REALIZED IT!" Quote

Yes, I agree, we just functioned as the natural man before being awakened in God, living without an awareness of the difference of the mind of the spirit from the mind of the flesh.

Everything about us is in 2's in this realm......we have 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 eyes, 2 ears, 2 distinct sides of our brain......because everything about us was designed to testify that we are where both realms meet....where heaven and earth comes together.

"Duality and the world go hand in hand..because it takes two hands to climb the ladder of consciousness. It takes two feet to walk the path of righteousness. It takes two eyes to be able to have depth perception lest we dash our foot against a stone.

Who created duality? Was it not God who separated the light from the darkness? Was it not God who put two trees in the garden (our mind).....all a part of the will and purpose of God in the training and outfitting of a grown up Son. Or we can instead play "dress up" and pretend that we already know everything that God knows and can do everything that God can do in the here and now.

Yes, we have to know how to go within to that Most Holy Place of Oneness (the spirit) where all things are finished and at rest, but we have to know how to bring that truth out, first into Our Holy Place (our soul or mind) and then outside into the field of this world where the work of our Father is done. Didn't Jesus the Shepherd go and seek the lost sheep. How will we find them in the Most Holy Place if they are in the outer court yard?

Yes, this world of duality will surely pass away, but I AM still in the world to save (awaken) them.

If Jesus believed as some do that this world isn't real, just an illusion to be dismissed nor considered, then why would he have bothered healing bodies that weren't really ill? Why feed bread to the hungry who just imagine that they are hungry? After all they don't have any real bodies to feed.

Obviously Jesus believed they were real and treated them as so....God meets us where we are. So perhaps it would be better to think of this world as a lower world that is serving a purpose in the plan of God.

Duality is not an enemy, but a tool...like a ladder that consciousness uses to climb." And as we ascend this ladder, we don't take the rung that we just left with us, its already served its purpose, but we leave it for the next guy coming along.

It's possible to try and cut short or truncate anothers steps by insisting they be where we are on the ladder but perhaps they haven't yet made all the steps in consciousness to arrive there yet......they may have to yet have a little more room made in their inn in order to birth higher truths.

Jesus said:
"My prayer is that you not take them out of the world, but protect them from the evil one."

"In the world you shall tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

The Making of a MAN

2011-11-07T11:52:00.000-05:00

"Let us make man in Our image and likeness and let them have dominion...."

God is not making God.

God is making a MAN.

I believe the brother is right when he says the words in Gen 1 and 2 are prophetic.

I think where we fall into division is we think that the natural man, the first man is the one that God was speaking of when he declared this. The natural man was a step in the process of the making of a God Man, the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. He was not the finished product and I agree with one that said it is only a temporary change of clothing. It is our tabernacle of David, our temporary movable dwelling, but we have a Temple of Solomon, our Promised Land where the glory of the sun glinted upon the outer walls of this gold covered dwelling and could be seen afar, and upon its dedication the glory so filled this temple that no 'man' - that's man with a little 'm' could stand because the MAN, that's man with a big 'M" was now filling the temple.

And yes, of course, God said in Gen. that what he created was good! He calls those things that are not as though they are!....are not what?....are not yet manifested in this realm.....because in the realm of the Eternal all things coexist simultaneously but in this realm they are "testified of in due time".

But we are bringing the ordinances, and the oracles of God into the Earth through God's MAN. Jesus was the express image of the invisible God. God is God whether he is ex-pressed or not, but when he wishes to reveal his Invisible Self, he needs a vehicle for ex-pression. And that was his purpose in making a MAN.

We know that natural man has been more of a caricature of God than an exact image of the Father. So we are still a work of God's Art in progress.

Just as Jesus our Pattern demonstrated. He was made perfect by the things he suffered. He grew in grace and knowledge. We live and move and have our being in Him (heaven) and He lives and moves and has his being in Us (Earth).

But I love the scripture that says, "While beholding him, we are made into his same image from glory to glory."....or from one understanding to another. Because Jesus came to show us what we are and what we can become, so, in beholding him I am looking at myself as a glorified son. So I do hear where those who declare they are finished and need no perfecting are coming from. When I behold him I am looking at my future self and declaring him glorious and beautiful. I don't think we can build our house aright without looking at the blueprint and following the pattern shown us in the "Mount". And you know we were instructed to be careful how we build.

It requires two or three witnesses for every word to be establised. Some are satisfied with just spirit and soul - they don't see that God still needs a Body in which to manifest as the third witness.

We are to see that we do not forsake the assembling of ourselves together.......our spirit, soul and body.

1. Spirit (heavens)

2. Soul (the bridge or interface between spirit and body, "Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind (Soul)...our mind, will, emotions, and desire aligned with spirit provides streets of gold, a highway of wholeness for the spirit to walk into our Earth)

3. Body (earth)

Love and Grace to all,
Karen
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I know that we each hear the other from where we are in consciousness and wherever we each are is the only place we can be until we are moved into another glory. I am thankful for every level of glory that has been revealed in me. Remember when Paul said, "that it pleased the Father to reaveal his son in me". Well, it could not have been revealed in him if it wasn't there all the time. Our immortal, perfect self, called the Christ was there all the time, but I believe it was just still wrapped in the grave clothes of our old understandings until the word, "loose him and let him go" was inacted in our lives. \o/

Not long ago this understanding was given me:

I am/ we are first a child of God by CREATION.

But we are a mature God by FORMATION.

Everybody is a child of God, but not all are behaving as mature Gods. That is where Jesus our Pattern comes in. It calls him our Forerunner in Hebrews. That means we have had the path marked out well for us. We, too, have had to take up our cross and follow on to become what we already are. One of those enigmas again.

Paul, remarked that "he was travailing in birth until Christ was FORMED in them." And it is always the feminine that takes the seed and forms it for the man. Without having "the eyes of our understanding enlightened" or without having our mind penetrated by the spirit word or the man, we cannot FORM the CHRIST a body in which to manifest his nature, or we cannot be the express image of the invisible God.

Creative formation to all you lords,
Karen

Why Did We Have to Experience Good and Evil?

2011-10-30T15:23:00.001-04:00

What Was Missing??
Here are a few of my thoughts of why we had to experience good and evil.

What was missing?

Okay, we ask ourself, if we came out of God and are just returning to God, then why the necessity of the Adamic experience? Why the middle-man experience of Adam? Why didn't God just remain self-contained as God-All-In-One instead of God ex-pressing out of Himself the All?

I think the answer is to know or 'become' good and evil. "The Man is become as one of us, to know good and evil." This also illustrates the difference between man's idea about 'knowing' and God's. Man thinks to 'know' something is to think about it - just information - information retrieval and storage. But God's definition is "to become it'. To know good and evil, we had to become it. This was what was missing!
We were not to remain as innocent celestial spirits but spirits lowered into and clothed with flesh and blood, men tried and proven and developed in experiential righteousness.

Eph. 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

Yes, God took a nap in matter(us) for a little season, but he is waking up and raising from the dead! But because there is only One Power, you can take your God power while you are asleep or unenlightened and miscreate with it. This is what the prodigal son did.

When God or the seed of life in us is asleep or not quickened to life or not conscious, we are sleepwalkers. We go about our, so called, life in a state of sleep which the bible calls death. But because there is really only one Power or Energy or Life in this universe, then what creates this thing we call evil is the only power that exists, God! But, it is God asleep, and undeveloped as man. I call it God in reverse- in reverse gear. The word E-V-I-L is the word L-I-V-E spelled backwards. Evil is living life in reverse. That's why we have to repent or turn around. We are going in the wrong direction. We are using our God-endowed creative abilities to miscreate with. But there is a people coming of full age now able to discern BOTH good and evil and having our senses exercised to know and in truly knowing we can choose again. "As for me and my house (spirit, soul and body) we will serve the Lord".

3rd Day Consciousness - 5th Dimensional Reality

2011-09-05T12:17:00.001-04:00

"At that very hour some Pharisees came up and said to Him, Go away from here, for Herod is determined to kill You.And He said to them, Go and tell that fox, Behold I drive out demons and perform healings today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish (complete) My course. Nevertheless I must continue on My way today and tomorrow and the day after that, for it will never do for a prophet to be destroyed away from Jerusalem." And the passage: " And I tell you, you will not see Me again until the time comes when you shall say, Blessed is He who come in the name of the Lord!"

What Jesus accomplished in his earthly assignment deposited into the collective consciousness or the collective gene pool of all men, resurrection and glorification reality. Because we are all spirit creations, at our deepest level we are all connected to that unlimited field of God energy. Scientists even call it the 'unified field'. Jesus effected a change in the consciousness of man at the subconscious level. For all are not yet living in full consciousness or awareness of their first estate as spirit beings. But he said he was a Door or he was an Opener, a Portal or an Energy Vortex showing man what was possible.

It only took one man to build an airplane and to become airborne to show that it is possible to do. It only took one to show that the laws of gravity can be overcome and that the new law of aerodynamics is greater. Once this possibility of flying was deposited in the consciousness of man, look what has transpired in the airline industry. We even flew a vehicle to the moon and back - all because a door of possibility was opened up in man.The past two days or 2000 years have been spent in having this great seed of resurrection truth rising ever nearer the surface into full consciousness and awareness. We have had to have our 'demons' cast out and great healings done in our land, to allow for this Christ seed to spring forth. We have had to have all of our misperceptions about God healed in us to come forth as the full-grown plant.The past two days has not been for the salvation of the world, but for the calling out of a people for his name. Act 15:14-18

The raising again of the Tabernacle of David proceeds the full manifestation of the Temple of Solomon or the raising of a Collective Resurrected Glorified Christ Son proceeds the full ingathering of all men to God. I know that the word tabernacle depicts a temporary dwelling and I only use that here in the sense that the Collective Prototype or God Elect is only temporary until there is a Temple of God or until all men are alive and awake in Him providing him an unmovable Temple. Paul was caught up into the third heaven. This is not telling us he was caught up into a third heaven like layers in a cake, but he was caught ahead into the awakening of the third day consciousness that brought forth a Collective Christ. He was caught up into some of the things we are hearing now and are going to have unfolded in us in even greater glory as we embark into greater vistas of light.

As earth dwellers we live in a 3rd dimensional world of height, width and depth, and the added 4th sense of time, but 5th dimensional reality is when heaven invades earth superimposing (covering) the earth with its greater glory! \o/

Much love and light to all,
Karen

"The Son aspect of God, the Christ, is the Father expressed, journeying through its creation for the purpose of experiencing its own potential."
"I gave you life, you give me a living-together we will give life and light to the world"

Now???

2011-09-05T11:25:00.000-04:00

There is much talk about living in the now. One of the best seller books that came out not long ago was about one man's experience of being caught up into the Now of God and he was so 'blissed out' that he just sat on a park bench for two years in awe of this awesome Presence before he was able to function in this world again. "The Power of Now" is his story.

I have been saying I need to live more in the Now (the Today of God) for a long time, but how do you do that and just what do we mean by 'now'? You know, a "stop and smell the heavenly roses" kind of thing.

It is living in and being aware of your Eternal Presence.

When for just one moment, you can see yourself as you really are, you have left the realm of time, death and hell. Some call it "the Gap" because it is the ability to slip between dimensions or it is the ability to come and go by the spirit. But I do not believe that requires an actual exit bodily out of here for we have been called to be saviors upon Mt. Zion. We just need to have our heavens opened as Jesus our prototype did at his Jordan baptism while our feet still walk this earth.

It means holding a 5th dimensional awareness (heaven) while walking in a 3rd dimensional body (earth). There is no way that you can set the oracles of God in the earth without this awareness of spirit.

As for past and future, I believe they meet in us in the realm of no time, or our awareness of the Eternal Presence.

There exists no time in eternity. It all happens at once, or it's the whole loaf. The Alpha and the Omega and everything in between exists here. This is the Full Mind of Christ, or the 100 Fold Realm and the only way you can have righteous judgment, for you know the end from the beginning, as only a God should.

I see the two arms of the cross picturing this embrace of the past and future, in the ever present Today of God which Jesus typified.

Jesus hung at the juxtaposition of where these two realms crossed. The vertical shows the realm of no time(spirit) and the horizontal is the picture of linear time (earth). They were brought together in Christ. His arms were outstretched in the horizontal embracing all of creation and all the experiences it brings, and his heart was where the horizontal and the vertical met, or where X marked the spot - God being the X factor. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself". Jesus was God's Heart Revealed.

The Cross is the longitude and the the latitude or the creative coordinates of The New Creation man! This Land of the Interface is the Matrix, the Manger of Manifestation or the spiritual springboard for this new creature that is neither spirit nor flesh. Some have coined the word 'splesh' for this New Species. Trancducers of the Divine into New Form!

Heaven and earth will pass away the scriptures say, not because they cease to exist but because they become as one.

It says in Gen1:1 that God created the heaven and the earth. They were one before any divisions that came about. We are pulling it all together in our Now as we become one in our awareness with the Eternal Presence while in a body.

This to me is what Jesus meant when he said he only did what he saw his Father do. For any given situation that he was confronted with, he reached into the Mind of Christ, that Eternal Presence where our alpha and omega exists and spoke that man's spiritual script into visibility as he was the express image of the invisible God and was able as a life-giving entity to do the same for others.

I love you and thank God for each of you as we explore together our new heavens and new earth and re-member Ourself.

PS. Are we seeing what we believe (spirit creations) or just believing what we see(flesh creations)?
Karen

Morning Has Been All Night Coming

2011-09-02T12:48:00.003-04:00

The Evening and The Morning Was the First Day

Genesis 1 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth was passed away; and their was no more sea." Rev. 21:1

Isa. 65:17 "For, behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. (isn't that what happens when a woman births a child, she forgets her pain in the joy of her child) But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy."

If this present world and world system is a projection or creation from the mind of unenlightened men out of touch with their Source, then what will the projection or creation be of a resurrected Collective Christ be. All of history up to this time has been nothing but "our evening", our time spent in darkness (the womb) [and when I say 'our', I mean all of humanity] but God's days always start in the darkness, just as all natural human life in the womb does, and ends in the light. "The evening and the morning was the first day, etc."

The only reason that there is anything in this outer world that manifests darkness is because it is a projection of man's inner world of darkness. This is the first man who has created the first heaven and the first earth that must pass away. When you are 'entombed' or 'enwombed' in a dark watery world, you can't imagine what 'morning' awaits you just the other side of the birth canal. You enter a brand new dimension, live by entirely new criteria. You breathe air, and now live in the light.

"The Collective Resurrection of Christ is so profound, so powerful, so contagious that it is retroactive. There is going to be a global shift in consciousness "when all who are in their graves/womb/tomb shall hear his voice and live", but the personal experience of the Resurrection is available here and now to those first born cells of the Body, as islands of the future, prototypes of the Body of God as this powerful Resurrection reality reaches back into time drawing all forward into the Completion. But every event, every terrestial process, all its creatures and conditions will pass through the veil of transition, the fire of transformation, ie, the birth canal into a world that offers brand new creation tools at its disposal." quote by Ken Carey Creatures that cannot but help to manifest outwardly what they are inwardly, a new heaven and a new earth! \o/

Love and blessings,
Karen

Only Dead Men

2011-08-29T12:52:00.001-04:00

Only dead men experience Resurrection Life!

Philippians 3:10
"....And that I may in that same way come to know the power outflowing from His resurrection [which it exerts over believers]; and that I may so share His sufferings as to be continually transformed [in spirit into His likeness even] TO HIS DEATH, [in the hope]
11. That if possible I may attain to the [spiritual and moral] resurrection [that lifts me] OUT FROM AMONG THE DEAD [even while in the body]. (Amplified)

Out of death comes Life.

We die to sin
We die to self (flesh)
We die to our reputation
We die to the world
We die to fear
We die to unbelief

We resurrect into Life
We resurrect into Joy
We resurrect into Peace
We resurrect into a Sound Mind
We resurrect into Power
We resurrect into Love
WE RESURRECT INTO THE FULLNESS OF GOD!!

As we put on the New, the old dies away for lack of energy. We cease feeding on our false identity and are changed into the New Creation Man while beholding Him.

1 Cor. 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.

Yehoshua

2011-08-23T11:06:00.003-04:00

"Hebrew - Yehoshua translates as "YHVH is salvation"
or
"He who is (or will be) saves"
Yeshua is a masculine noun that means:
"He is salvation" or "He saves".

The Greek "Iesous" is pronounced: Ee - ay - sooce or Yaysoos.

The Greek Iesous then got tranliterated into Latin as "Iesu[s], and then into Old English as Jesus, but initally the "J" was at that time, still pronounced like the German J, which was pronounced with more of a "Y" sound. This is the way that it still is spoken in Germany today. Over time the J sound eventually began to harden into sounding more like the French J which is where the Modern English orginated from. The end result is the current English pronounciation of Jesus.

There is no Yahshua to be found anywhere in Hebrew scriptures.
It is Yeshua or Yehoshua."

Less Equals More!

2011-08-22T15:03:00.000-04:00

"Physicists declare that when one reduces from the atom to the nucleus of the atom, you have reduced in size 10,000 times. But when you have reduced in size by 10,000 times, you have increased in power by 10,000,000 times! I believe this law also holds true spiritually."
Larry Hodges

As He increases, we decrease but in our decrease, we are increased! \o/

Suddenly

2011-08-22T14:54:00.001-04:00

Malachi 3
"And the Lord whom you seek, shall suddenly come to his temple."

We are being prepared for the "suddenly" realm.

Luke 2:13
"Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host."

This was at the incarnation of Jesus as the Word being made flesh into this earth.

Acts 2
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house in which they were sitting."

Pentecost - this was the incarnation of Christ Jesus appearance as Spirit into his disciples and this world.

Acts 9
"Suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me. And he fell to the ground."

This was Paul's first encounter with Jesus Christ in his glorified Light Form appearing to him and speaking to him.

Our Lord's appearance is as the thief in the night....this long dark night of man will be pierced "suddenly" by the Light of His appearance within his saints.
"He is coming to be glorified in His saints."

Bits and Pieces

2011-06-24T15:27:00.000-04:00

God's love for you overflows from such a full heart that it floods the universe with Light and whispers your name with such tenderness that if your heart were not eternal, it would melt.

******

Redemption of the Spirit
Transformation of the Soul
Transfiguration of the Body

******

"When the Kingdom of God forecloses upon Babylon, it takes all of its assets in payment of debt. Those assets include all of its people and territory."
Stephen Jones

******

"I AM symbolized by the conjunction of longitudinal and latitudinal - by the sign of the cross. It unites all in a unity of time and space, a unity of Creator and creation."

".....the child of matter is to be heir to the Creator of all that ever was, all that is, and all that ever shall be."
Ken Carey

******

"Jesus was God in the form of man or flesh.
Christ is man in the glorified state of God.
Jesus Christ is God in the form of man bringing man to the glorified state of God."
Bill Lancaster

******

"Everyone of us is a resume of the whole story of creation and I realize that in my atoms and cells the whole evolutionary story exists."
Barbara Marx Hubbard

******

"Because as He Himself is, we also shall be, in that world."
1 John 4:17 (Fenton Translation)

"And why did God make you two one? Because He sought a godly offspring from your union."
Malachi 2:15 (Amplified Version)

******

"Angels - information beings - condensations of consciousness in a sea of universal being. Temporal embodiments whose location creates space and whose movements create time."
Ken Carey

******

'Habit memory' moves forward from the the past. (Adam)
'Conscious memory' moves backward from the future. (Christ)

Our future end state serves as the Omega-pull-point to our lower morphic fields causing them to coalesce into higher form.

******

Jesus was the first to complete His earthly gestation in evil (the womb of time or the incubator of evil). He opened the spiritual matrix. Having completed his prescribed course, Jesus' spirit now contained the power and genetics of resurrection victory.
"And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation."
"For out of His fullness as a Source we all received." John 1:16 (Wuest)
The Divine Antibody, the Life of Christ, is the antitoxin for evil.

******

The Time-Space Continuum

In the beginning = Time
God created the heavens = Space
And the earth = Matter
Genesis 1:1

******

God's Amen!

We bring the visible manifestation of all the work of God through Christ into this world.
We are the AMEN OF GOD! Our life is to "amen" all that God is.

******

Only Sonship brings us into Fatherhood.
No one who disowns the Son has the Father.
"He who acknowledges the Son has also the Father." 1 John 2:23 (Weymouth)

******

"What scientists call "light, energy and mass" are the traditional spirit, soul and body described by Plutarch as 'nous' (divine intellect), psyche (soul), and soma (body).
Michael S. Schneider

******

Having a revelation is a remembering - It is not new information. It is recovered reality! Recalling our predestined inheritance.

******

"We were not delivered from death by the cross - we were delivered to it!"
Larry Hodges

******

The Shed Blood of Christ

"He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear." Acts 2

The incorruptible life of God - this was what He "shed" or poured forth on the Day of Pentecost. It was His quickening Spirit.

******

"Mortality is the death penalty applied with mercy. It gives mankind time to repent (a grace period) and find the path to immortality and salvation."
Stephen Jones

******

As Passover Christians, we can see the Father in Christ.

As Pentecostal Christians, we can see the Father in our fellow believers.

As Tabernacle Christians, we can see the face of God in our enemies.

The Ending of An Age

2011-06-23T00:33:00.002-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death by Dora Van Assen

2011-05-27T15:30:00.000-04:00

HAVING OUR PART IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION

"Blessed and Holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath not power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." Rev. 20:6

Before we discuss this text before us, let me draw your attention to Rev. 1:1: "The Revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto "Him!". (This "Him" is Jesus.) God was unveiling unto Jesus His coming ministry in the believers as Christ and Lord. Acts 2:36. "And He (God) sent and signified it by His (God's) angel unto His servant John." Rev. 1:1

The word "signified", means to reveal by using symbols. In other words, this bok is to be discerned in the Spirit. It cannot be taken literally. The Book of Revelatin is not unveiling future events in the natural realm, but it is ttelling us about the ministry of Christ in and as us. That He is the Head of the Body of Christ. God "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." Eph. 1:23

And gives Him as Head over all, to the ecclesia which is his body, the complement of the One completing the all in all." Eph. 1:23 LCNT

Complement means: that which fills up, completes or makes perfect. Christ is our INNER MAN, being resurrected or awakened to our true identity and relationship to our Father! We are the Sons of God being manifested to Creation. Jesus was the first manifested Son of God. He was manifested to Israel, though He looked like everybody else.

John said: "I knew Him not: but that He should be made manifest to Israel." John 1:31. Jesus was manifested as the Son of God in a natural flesh body as a man. We are all so unnatural, (living in a false imaginary world) that what Jesus did naturally seems supernatural to us.

I am so glad that God is awakening us to realize the difference between Jesus and the Christ or The Anointing. When Jesus died on the Cross, The Anointing of God did not die. "For God was in Christ (The Anointing) reconciling the world unto Himself." 2 Cor. 5:19.

Now let us turn to our original text found in Revelation 20:6. What does it mean to have PART in the FIRST RESURRECTION? The Father is quickening some other scriptures to us as we wait in His Presence for the spiritual understanding to this long misunderstood verse.

THERE IS ONLY ONE RESURRECTION

It can be likened unto the the reaping of one harvest of which Jesus Christ is The Head. "but now is Christ risen from the dead, and became the FIRST-FRUITS of them that slept...."For as in Adam all die, even so, in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward they that are Christ's at His coming. Then cometh the end (of the harvest)." 1 Cor. 15:20-24.

I added (of the harvest) because it is talking about a Firstfruits of a seed. The FIRSTFRUITS of a field of wheat is the sign or pre-representative of all the wheat growing in the field.

So Jesus is the Representative Son of all mankind. That is why He called Himself the Son of Man over and over again. Even as the Sprit of God raised the First Son of man, Jesus, from the dead, even so, He will raise up all mankind in their own order and time. Jesus is the first man ever raised from the dead. [my comment: the 1st raised from the dead into The New Creation Man, the New Species Man]

"The Firstfruits of them that slept" 1 Cor. 15:20. "The First born of the dead." Col. 1:18. "Christ cannot die anymore." Rom. 6:9. DEATH HAS NO MORE DOMINION OVER HIM. Rom. 6:9. GOD RAISED HIM UP FROM THE DEAD NOW NO MORE TO RETURN TO CORRUPTION." Acts 13:34. "THOU SHAL NOT SUFFER (ALLOW) THINE HOLY ONE TO SEE CORRUPTION." Acts 13:35.

Jesus did not see (dissolve into complete corruption) because God rasised Him up on the thrid day. Lazarus was stinking because he was in the grave four days. His body had begun to decay. Though LAZARUS was raised so miraculously by Jesus, he died again. Can we say he died twice and must therefore be raised twice?? No! It is appointed unto man once to die; then comes the judging (setting things in order), that a rightous judgement can be made. Heb.9:27

I see only one Resurrection and One Death. The "clinically dead" will all die again. For we must all be changed. - Metamorphosed either by way of the grave or by still being alive when that time comes in God's plan of the ages. God must follow His own blueprint! 1 Cor. 15:51-58

Eternal Life is the Gift of God. We cannot earn it. "The wages of sin is death, but the Gift of God is Eternal Life through our Lord Jesus Christ." Rom. 6:23 See John 17:2-3. As He has power over all flesh, Christ gives Eternal Life to all men. How? By living His life in and through and as all mankind. Christ is our Life!

THE SECOND DEATH

Turn again to Revelation 20:6. "On such the second death hath no power."

What is this Second Death? Is it a warning to sinners or backsliders? Or is it the work of the Christ, The Holy Spirit, as fire purifying the soul and mind from all false ideas and conceptions of God? - the false grandiose personations of ourselves or going to the other extreme presenting a false humility. Being pitiful and weak and self-denying. LETTING THE CHRIST MIND, which we already possess, operate in us will bring us into a true balance of knowing ourselves: Who we are in Christ. Phil. 2:5

The Second Death is only mentioned four times in the scriptures and it is always found in connection with believers. And all are found in Revelation.

Rev. 2:11 - "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death."

Rev. 20:6 - "He that hath part in the first resurrction on such the second death hath no power."

Rev. 20:14 - " Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Rev. 21:8 - "And all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which
is the second death."

In these verses we will notice that Rev. 2:11, 20:6, are referring directly to believers who overcome. Christ is THE OVERCOMER. We overcome ourself or ego in Him, by recognizing our identity I AM in THE CHRIST I AM. We are awakened by the Spirit in us to this trueself who we really are! I AM A SON OF GOD. I AM born of the Spirit out of God. His very offspring. I AM A LIVING SPIRIT. I AM MANIFESTING GOD. Without BOTH SPIRIT AND MAN there is no MAN-I-FESTATION. Spirit alone cannot be seen or is not manifest. MATTER alone cannot express SPIRIT-GOD. It takes both SPIRIT-GOD AND MATTER INTEGRATED TOGETHER IN A UNION OF ONE.

"Great is the mystery of GODLINESS: God manifested in the flesh, JUSTIFIED IN SPIRIT....PREACHED UNTO THE GENTILES." I Tim. 3:16

When did Jesus preach to the Gentiles? He was sent to the lost sheep of Israel. It is the Body of Christ IN FLESH today who are preaching to the nations.

THE FRIENDLY FOE

GODLINESS MEANS: LIKE GOD. Godliness is being worked in us by the SECOND DEATH. The Lake of Fire is The Holy Ghost Fire within us, bringing death to our Self-life. God is Consuming Fire, Heb. 12:29, consuming all our dross into Himself. He does this as He dwells in us. Our body is the Temple of God.

He walks and talks in and through us, as He is gradually changing (metamorphosing) us unto GOD-LIKENESS - HIS RIGHT-NESS. The outer man, (old man) is perishing (dying-changing) as the Inner Man (New Man) is renewed day by day. A process. The New Man is Christ in You! 2 cor. 4:16. Out of the outer man and the Inner Man, God is making One New Man! Like, out of Jew and Gentile God made One New Man. OUT OF TWAIN GOD MADE ONE MAN. Eph. 2:15

Let me give an example: a husband and wife do not become one flesh just because they are united in wedlock. Only as they reproduce themselves in their child do they become ONE FLESH. This took a death! NO LONGER BEING just husband and wife. Now they are Mother and Father and Son and family. Dying to self is really a friendly foe. In type the Mothers and Son (carrying His Father's seed) go through the channel of death to come forth into Life. So we died with Jesus, the Christ on the Cross and were raised with Him in Resurrection.

We are having our "part" in the FIRST Resurrection. Now! "Christ in you," is proof that we are in His resurrection. Paul said: "That I may know Him in the power of His Resurrection." Phil. 3:10. We know Him is His suffering and being made conformable to His death. Paul said, "I am crucified with Christ." He did not mean on the Literal Cross, but a spiritual Cross in himself. - crossing out every thing unlike God. Only God to be left. The New Inner Man needs to be RE-NEWED DAILY. Like Paul, "to die daily" IS to be "quickened" daily.

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death - Part 2

2011-05-27T15:27:00.000-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

WHAT IS DEATH?

Jesus said, "Lazarus sleepeth." When the disciples said "If he sleeps he shall do well". Jesus realized they did not understand Him, so He said plainly, "Lazarus is dead." John 11:4-13.

In this discussion, I am realizing that Jesus had a different understanding of death than that of His disciples. He said, "I must go and awaken Lazarus out of sleep". And all He said to him was "Lazarus come forth." The SPIRIT had never left. Where could it go? It is everywhere at the same time. There is no time or space or death in Spirit, and we are Spiritual Beings. In Spirit all is already finished perfectly. Heb. 4:3. Jesus said, "Follow Me, let the dead bury their dead." Matt. 8:22. To Jesus death was a lack of understanding of who He really was and a lack of understanding of what it was to be His disciple. A disciple of Jesus is one who has "Come out from among the dead." Matt. 8: 19-21.

There is no turning back. It's impossible! You are being born of an INCORRUPTABLE SEED. This Seed cannot die. 1 Pet. 1:23. It is the Seed of Christ and we are IN that Seed. The outside shell may be perishing, but THE I AM that I AM inside has no end! The life I am living in the flesh has no end, for I am living by THE FAITH OF JESUS CHRIST. His FAITH shall not fail, for He loves me and gives Himself to me. Gal. 2:20. A gracious gift of life, unspeakable and full of glory.

THE GREAT WHITE THRONE - A SPIRITUAL AWAKENING

Now let us examine the scriptures stating that "Death and hell are cast into the lake of fire. This is the Second Death." Rev. 20:14

To arrive at the true understanding of this verse, we must first find the setting around this scripture or the context. It is between Revelation 20:11 to Revelation 20: 15. Here we find that the earth and heaven are fled away from the face of Him sitting on a Great White Throne, "and there was no place for them." If this is literal, where did they go? This a spiritual awakening, coming into a new consciousness. The old has passed away never to return. DUST returns to dust. But we see all things new. Rev. 21:1, 4-5. SPIRITUALIZED - MATERIALIZED MAN! "And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God." If this is a literal resurrection of all the dead small and great, who will care for the babies, premature and aborted? And how will it be done without a heaven and earth on which to stand?

This is a Spiritual awaakening in our spirit-soul-mind realm. This is not some future event called: the Judgemnet Day. This is Christ Jesus awakening His Body to a new consciousness in God. We are THE BOOKS opened up and examined now - living epistles seen and read of all men. The Seals are being removed from our subconscious mind. We are beginning to remember our Father, how we were always His delight; there has never been a separation. Prov. 8:30. "and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works." Rev. 20:12

THE JUDGEMENT SEAT OF CHRIST - Rom. 14:10

This judgement is taking place now in our daily lives. Christ Jesus is cleansing His Temple by the Holy Ghost and fire separationg the wheat from the chaff. The chaff is our humanity or fleshly desire. This fire will not be quenched till the outer worldly life is completely dissolved into the Inner Man. Matt. 3:11-12. The Judgement Seat of Christ is a footstool judgement. It was once held out in the open street where the common people could gather and settle their differences. Now it is called: The People's Court on T.V. It is a judgement concerning our daily walk among our fellowman. Read 1 Corinthians 3:11-15. "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: But he himself shall be saved: yet so as by FIRE.

Christ is seated within us judging our talk and walk, not to condemn but to bring us into life and truth and victory over the "death and hell" within our own carnal minds. Our soulish mind is a grave of old memories, filled with old habits and traditions; useless regrets, imaginary and unforgiven offences, hurts and slights, that bring nothing but self inflicted misery. These are all "dead man's bones." Praise God! The "Bottomless Pit" in us is being opened and our false evil thoughts stored in the Computer of our minds is being reprogrammed by The Christ of of and light and truth. The Inner Man re-newed day by day. The law of Christ; the law of love: the law of faith written in our hearts and mind. Thank God for this judgement unto life!

THE SEA MEANS THE RESTLESS MIND

"And the sea gave up the dead which were in it." Rev. 20:13

The Sea is a symbol of humanity, running to and fro, always seeking for something better outside of himself. Never finding the peace and safety of Christ in himself. Double-minded and unstable in all his ways. Only when he is awakened to his true self, even the Christ within, will he come into the rest of God. Only when the sea (the carnal mind, which is death) gives up trying to live for Jesus, and lets the mind of Christ already in him live His life through him will he come into true balance and peace. Paul said, "For me to be living is Christ, and to be dying is gain. Phil. 1:21 LCNT

DEATH AND HELL DEFINED

" And death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them." Rev. 20:13

In the margin of my bible, HELL is rendered Hades or grave. In the LCNT (Concordant Literal translation) we read the UNSEEN. Actually HELL is not only unseen but imperceptible. We do not understand it in our natural mind. It must be revealed to us in the spirit. This is the work of Christ of the Holy Spirit in us. He will guide us into all truths not error! We can trust Him! The truth is written within our own heart and mind. Its been covered over by the rubbish of men's beliefs and doctrines. It is time for the SEALS to be removed and the truth declared to a groaning creation lying in the fear of the unknown. One thing is sure, God is a God of love and mercy. He will never torment His own creation, which is an extension of His SPIRIT-SELF in flesh. His offspring, meaning race or all mankind. He would be torturing or annihilating part of His own body. Too long our loving Father has been characterized as a cruel unforgiving monster by Christianity. This has been done in ignorance, due to mistranslations of the original scriptures and the imagination of our own mind. This is seen in the drawings and carvings of so-called famous artists and sculptors during the dark ages. Even in this very day, imaginary false ideas of God are preached over T.V. and over pulpits, in such a way that they form the wrong conception in the minds of those who listen to such ignorance. People's minds are still being held in bondage by the clever maneuverings of the clergy. Be thankful for the day of enlightenment. We can know God for ourself. God's Spirit is moving anew in the hearts and minds of His creation. Man is coming to a new realization of God living IN HIMSELF. Christ in YOU the hope of Glory!

LAKE OF FIRE, IS THE SECOND DEATH

Not only does death and hell give up the dead in it, but DEATH AND HELL are cast into the lake of fire. This the Second Death. We have already found out that the Second Death is not our enemy. Instead it is really our Friendly Foe. It is God's Purifying Fire. Burning up our dross, changing it into PURE GOLD, which represents His Divine Nature. God is Consuming Fire. Consuming all that is unlike God; only God is left!

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death - Part 3

2011-05-27T15:25:00.000-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

GOD THE GREAT TRANSFORMER - Mal. 3:1-3 & Heb. 12:29

Let me give an illustration: Even natural fire consumes or changes everything. Whatever we put in the fire, like paper, wood or coal, turns into flames of fire, even iron changes into steel by fire. And, yes, when steel is held in the fire long enough, it begins to flame red hot. All these things become fire, then they chnage, returning back into their original elements, especially kerosene, gasoline and oil, etc. Praise God, He is The Great Consumer, metamorphosing all unto Himself. Nothing is lost or wasted. Rom. 11:36.

He makes His ministers flames of fire. God's word spoken in and through them are flames of fire, penetrating into the hardest heart and darkened mind. He is opening the subconscious causing man to remember his true identity. Who he is and was and always shall be. The work of the Holy Spirit bringing all to our remembrance. Another meaning of mind is grave or place of remembrance. Too long we have kept our departed loved ones in a grave in the dust. Tjis is an illusion. They are not there, beloved! They fell asleep IN CHIRST, and Christ is not a literal grave, unless you do not know Him in an intimate union of love, pressed together in one (mind, soul, spirit) engulfed IN AND AS one spiritualized form, called the Inner Man, and that you are holding Him in a prison within your own self. Listen, He is knowing inside of you to let Him out. Let Him manifest Himself in and through you. Too long we have not discerned The Lord's Body. That is why we are weak, sickly, dying, because we have not recognized that we are the Lord's Body.

I thank you Father for my Friendly Foe (The Second Death) which is making me conscious of your inward dealing and workings within my Inner Man. A daily renewing as my outer man (flesh body) is burned up, becoming ashes. This is taking place right now in my daily dying and renewing; an ongoing process. The seen OUTER MAN being swallowed up by the Unseen INNER MAN. The mortal functions decreasing while the invisible IMMORTAL SPIRITUAL INNER MAN increases. SPIRIT becomes MATERIALIZED-SPIRIT and material becomes SPIRITUALIZED-MATERIAL. God used both the Outer and the Inner Man. Death is destroying death - The carnal mind which IS death. We are being "delivered from the bondage of the fear of death!" Fear hath torment. Hebrews 2:15, compare with 1 John 4:18.

The quicker we let go and accept the processing of God, dying to all these outer natural things; even to our own visible body which is temporal, the quicker our own pain and suffering will cease by the discovery ofour real life within. Joy unspeakable and full of glory! "And I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Blessed are the dead which die IN THE LORD from henceforth." Rev. 14:13 This only takes place when Christ Jesus is Lord of my life; in full control of both Inner and Outer Man, preserving Spirit, Soul and Body. 1Thess. 5:23. "Unto the coming (entering in and arising) of the Lord." "Arise, shine: for thy light IS come, and the glory of the Lord IS risen upon thee. Isa. 60:1. Like an artesian well springing up, overflowing you.

THE OPENING OF THE BOOKS

Now let us consider Revelation 15:14, where we read: "And whosoever was not found written in The Bood of Life was cast into the Lake of Fire."

We see in verse 12, "the Books were opened: and another Book was opened, which is the Book of Life." There is a distinction made between The Books and The Book of Life. God has given Christ to be the HEAD over all things to the church, which IS HIS BODY. Eph. 1:23. So we see Christ as our Head, as we are the Body of Christ. Christ, The Head - The Book of Life, did not need to be opened. he was oopened and JUDGED before all creation; heaven, earth, and under the earth. All His natural ministry was an open book, nothing hid, nothing of self. He always pointed towards His Father and directed the attention of all people towards His Father, not unto Himself. "Of myself I can do nothing. I can only do what I see my Father do, and say what I hear my Father say. These works are not my works, they are the works of my Father." He lived a life of self denial. He died daily, tasting death for every man.

He died completely to Himself in the Garden as He prayed, "Father let this cup (lot) pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done! He was not praying for God to lighten the burden of the whole world resting on Him or to keep Himself from going to the cross. He said, "For this cause came I unto the world." He cried out, "NEVER-THE-LESS." No matter what I have to go through, please don't give me anything less because I am human. "I want your will to be done!, even if I die here. GOD heard His cry! An angel appeared unto Him to help Him!! He was under such pressure, He became sore amazed and to be very heavy. He said unto His disciples, "My soul is exceeding sorrowful unto death." Mark 14:34-35. He began to pray in such agony that His sweat became drops of blood. Luke 22:43-44.

There is a record of two soldiersin World War 2 who were under fire so long that their hearts broke due to the fatigue and pressure. When they were found, they were sweating blood. They both died of a ruptured hearat. Jesus swear blood when His heart broke with the load of sorrow for all men. He did not die! An angel appeared to strengthen Him. Christ, The Lamb of God, was ordained before time began to be the Saviour of the World. He was destined to die on a tree to redeem us from the Curse of the law. "Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree." God's will was done!

Jesus did not take "the less" to save Himself from pain and sorrow. He attained unto the "greater" to become the FIRST-FRUITS of The New Creation Man. CHRIST, Head of the Body of Christ. CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD: manifested in and through all creation.

WHOSOEVER OR WHATSOEVER

Now back again to Revelations 20:15. Let us consider the word, 'whosoever'. In searching for the true meaning of this scripture, I found that the words 'whosoever' and 'whatsoever' aare used interchangeably. They both are used for the words, WHO, WHICH, WHAT, THAT, ONE, MASCULINE, FEMININE, NEUTER and IT. The subject in the sentence clarifies it. The subject in Revelations 20:15 is speaking of DEATH and HELL - not the people in it. For death and hell gave up the "dead" that were in it. THEY ARE THE GREAT AND SMALL STANDING BEFORE THE WHITE THRONE. THEY HAVE ALREADY BEEN JUDGED. Only the things that caused "Death and Hell" are left to be cast into the lake of fire. Such things as disease, germs, bacteria, worms and whatsoever destroys the body. Also all negative thougths, such as fears, regrets, remorse, (the worm that dieth not) and whatsoever other things that casue pain and sorrow. These are the things that cause pain and sorrow. These are the things cast into the lake of fire, which is God's consuming process; purifying and changing all back into Himself through Christ. Rom. 11:36, Eph. 1:10, Col. 2:8, 11, 15. Jesus put off - STRIPPED HIMSELF, or SHOOK THE CORRUPTIBLE DUST OFF His body when He AROSE FROM THE GRAVE.

Now we are coming to our last reference on the purpose of The Second Death. Rev. 21:7-8. "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers, and sorcerers and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. This is the Second Death."

These scriptures must be taken together. They are connected with the conjunction - BUT. It is written to the same company of people. Those who overcome and those who do not overcome. The overcomer shall be a SON, who inherits all things. The non-overcomer will continue to have judement or correction until he also overcomes: that is, he is delivered by the purifying fire of Christ. The Holy Spirit of God, DWELLING WITHIN, from all inward lying sorceries that worketh abominations before God. These all stem forth from fear and UNBELIEF. "As a man thinks in his heart so is he." Oh, we cry out, "No! that's not me! I would never do such horrible things! This is speaking of unbelievers and ungodly men who know not God!" That is right! We are ungodly unbelievers until we come to ourself, like the ProdigaL Son in the pig pen of his own carnal mind. When he came to himself, immediately he RECOGNIZED his Father, who He was, and his own relationship to Him as His Son. Immediately all fear and doubt was taken away; DISAPPEARED as darkness before the NOON DAY SUN. He knew there was no separation. He was his Father's Son all the time he was living it up in his mistaken identity. When we know God, then our ungodliness turns into GODLINESS.

This is a White Throne Judgement dealing with our inner thought and motives, not our outward appearances or expressions. This White Throne speaks of purity of SPIRIT IN mind, soul, and body.

We are so lacking in love and trust, we have little confidence in God or in our neighbor, we lock everthing up around us. We live in prison houses of our own making, afraid to come out into the sunlight of His loving faithfulness, afraid to enter into that secret room hidden deep in our heart that nobody knows but God. So we won't let anyone in - not even Christ. Praise God! Christ is already in us, opening that locked door, awakening our consciousness so we may be aware of these ungodly thoughts so that they can come to the Light to be judged unto Life and Righteousness - IN HIM. "He will not crush a bruised reed or quench smoking flax until He has brought judgement into truth." Matt. 12:20, Isa. 42:3-4. He won't stop or leave until, we stand righteous in Him before God.

This Second Death judgement is laying the ax to the root of the tree. The root is not only hidden, but is the very seed and substance of The Tree of Good and Evil. This double minded state where we cannot come to any decision due to lack of confidence in ourself, brings worry and anxiety. It causes sleepless nights, tossing to and fro - no rest for mind or body. No matter where we go we cannot hide from ourself. Our own heart is the greatest deceiver. All lying is sorcery, stubborness is I-dolatry. These lying vanities and false pretenses we put on before the public in reality only reveal our inner nakedness before God.. Try as we will, we cannot hide our shame until we allow Christ to open up our inner being showing us our true self. So every imagination of our heart must be exposed to HIS LIGHT, casting down imaginations and every high thing that exalts itself against God, and bringing every thought into the obedience of Christ. Allow Christ to do this! Cooperate by accepting His chastisement. "When we judge ourselves we shall not be judged." 1 Cor. 11:31. But if we do not judge ourselves, then He will judge us. This is taking our "Part" in the lake of fire, which is the Second Death, a death TO our SELF-LIFE. Christ is in my heart and in your heart right now, sitting as a refiner and PURIFIER of silver and gold. He will not be satisfied until He sees His own face reflected in our face. Only then can we offer a sacrifice of praise unto our Lord. Mal. 31-3, Heb. 13:15.

Now I want to turn your attention to the phrase: "and all liars shall have "THEIR PART" in the lake which burneth with fire and brinmstone." BRIMSTONE IS SULPHUR - USED AS A PURIFIER AND PRESERVING AGENT. In Strong's Exhaustive Concordance #3313, I found this word, "part" defined in Greek as: To get a section or allotment; division, share. Literally, it can mean coast, course, piece, portion, some sort or who what sort. Bro. William Branham, in his book The Seven Church Ages, translated this word; "Time". All liars shall have their TIME in the Lake - not forever. Surely the word, 'part' or 'portion' also suggest this to our understanding. It's only a piece - not the whole pie!

When we are judged according to our works, we will all need different kinds of correction - some will have many stripes and some will only have a few stripes. It is in accordance to how long it takes for us to let go our own will, coming willingly into harmony with the will of God. We ourself decide to lay down our soul-life. If we try to keep our soul we will lose it. If we lose our soul we will find it in Him.

"He who is fond of his soul is destroying it, and he who is hating his soul in this world, shall be guarding it for life eonian. John 12:25 LCNT

I am learning, the quicker I settle down, resolving in my own mind to accept any adjustment or align my will to His perfect will, all the hurt is gone. Hurt changed to gladness, sorrow into joy, loss into gain, death into life. My own resistance caused all the pain and turmoil in my heart. The instant I let go, I am free.

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death - Part 4

2011-05-27T15:22:00.000-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

"BLESSED AND HOLY IS HE THAT HATH "PART" IN THE FIRST RESURRECTION"
Rev. 20:6

As the body of Christ we are experiencing our PART in the Resurrection now, this very day. Every time we are quickened- made alive, in the life of Christ within we are being raised in Him. God gave Christ to be the Head of the Body to live His life in and through us. Eph. 1:23. As our Head, He is in our mind, leading and directing our thoughts and words, spoken in His Faith through our lips of clay. "What saith it?" We do not need to bring Christ down out of heaven, neither do we dig Him up out of hell; but the word (annointed Christ), is nigh thee even in thy mouth, the Word of Faith that you speak. Rom. 10:6-8. We are His visible expression in the earth.

IN partaking of His Resurrection, we are also partaking of the Second Death, at the same time-simultaneously: dying and rising daily. Life swallows up death. Mortal puts on immortal. This is done from within - not from without. Jesus brought life and immortality to Light iin our understanding. 2 Tim. 1:10.

God is giving me a new understanding of immortality. Mortal means the VISIBLE dying body. Immortal means the Invisible, Un-dying Body. This is the invisible, incorruptible Seed of Christ by which we are BEING BORN AGAIN, by the Word of God. 1 Pet. 1:22-23. Incorruptible is the same word as immortality in the Greek language. See Strong's Exhaustive Concordance #861 and #110.

Jesus Christ already has immortality. In fact, "He is the only one who has immortality, dwelling in a LIGHT that no one has seen nor can see." 1 Tim. 6:16. He is invisible to the human eye. "He is the King Eternal, Invisible, Immortal, the only wise God;" (1 Tim. 1:17) in that He is both fully God and fully man. The Head of the New Creation Man. Jesus is the first finished man. He was received up into Glory, made both Lord and Christ. Now He is planting His incorruptible Seed of Life in every man. "the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world," by His resurrected Life. The power of His Resurrection will continue to work in humanity until all shall know Him from the least to the greatest. They shall not say: "Know the Lord!", for all shall KNOW HIM and to know HIM IS LIFE ETERNAL.

OUR HOUSE IN OUR HEAVENS ( Spiritual Mind)

his Seed now impregnated in us "IS OUR HOUSE, ETERNAL IN THE HEAVENS" -Spirit-Mind Realm. 2 Cor. 5:1 and 2 Cor. 4:7. This Seed is the mind of Christ. "Christ in you our hope of glory." This Christ-Mind in our SPIRIT-SOUL-MIND is being continually clothed anew as we are changed from glory to glory into His very same image. 2 Cor. 3:18. "BE YE TRANSFORMED BY THE RENEWING OF YOUR MIND." Rom. 12:2. "BE RENEWED IN THE SPIRIT OF YOUR MIND." ePH. 4:22. "LET THIS MIND BE IN YOU WHICH WAS ALSO IN CHRIST JESUS." Phil. 2:5.

Let the Christ-Mind work in and through you. Let Him think His thoughts through your thoughts; becoming One Thought, spoken through your lips - The Word of Life, not death. The power of death is in the tongue. Therefore align your mind with the mind of God. When we realize we are pregnant in the natural realm, we immediately accept it and begin to work in harmony with it; even so when we awake to the Christ-Mind, impregnated within OUR MIND as an incorruptible Seed. We must accept it, yield our mind to His Mind. Our will and emotions are in our mind. We surrender them to His working in us. This INNER surrendering completely unto Him is harder than all the outward works we ever did for Jesus. It means dying to the old selfish-mind and putting on our Self-less mind of Christ. "Not I but Christ!" These are the good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. Compare Gal. 2:20 with Eph. 2:10.

WE ARE BEING TRANSFORMED DAILY

Our Inner Man is continually changing clothes so "we shall not be found naked." If our earthly house, covering our Inner Tabernace, is dissolved, we still have a building of God, a house eternal in the heavens. 2 Cor. 5:1. This house is the Incorruptible Seed of Christ - it cannot be dissolved or go back to dust. THE EARTHEN VESSEL that contains the TREASURE always remains. "It is the excellency of the power of God." 2 Cor. 4:6,7. "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid in the "Christ"-mind." Col 2:3.

Like the young boy, Samuel, we ned a new inner coat each year to cover our developing and awakening Christ-mind or consciousness. His mother made him a new couat as he grew in wisdom and stature. Stature does not mean only bodily height, but it also means a quality or status gaianed by growth, development or achievement. As his mother saw only his gowth in height, Eli, the High Priest, saw his spiritual gowth in wisdom and stature, accepting The Word of God coming out of his mouth.

Our Mother, The Comforter, is knitting us a new garment to cover and fit our ever increasing and changing Inner Man, in (spirit-soul-mind realm) as our outer man is also changing and decreasing in appearance, shrinking in size - becoming more feeble in mind and body. The natural man in all his achievement and worldy gain sooon fades away in the annals of time, and his place "under the sun" is remembered no more. But the GARMENT covering the Spiritual man is RE-newed daily, till it springs up like an artesian well, over-flowing and covering the outer man completely. Integrating and absorbing each other, forming One New Man. The New Creation Man - The Very Image of God, a corporate expression of God's love reaching out to all creation. This corporate expresion of God, are the Sons of God's love. They love not only the church, Head and Body, but they love all creation with the pure love of God. Only when we truly love ourself can we truly love all men as God does. All creation is crying out for this true love. Heaven and Earth and under the Earth is waiting for the manifestation of the Sons of God.

THE MAN-I-FESTATION OR UNVEILING
Romans 8:19-23

In this scripture we read that the whole creation is waiting in EXPECTATION for the Manifestation of the Sons of God. The Literal Concordant Translation renders this word, 'expectation' as PREMONITION: which means an anticipation of an event without conscious reason. It's like a woman who begins to clean her house and prepare an extra large dinner, she does not really know why, until unexpected company arrives just at dinner time! All creation has this "sense" in the depth of his being. He may not know why, but all men have a hope or expectation for something better to happen. This is a God-given urge to improve himself and his surroundings. Only he is looking in the wrong place. He cannot be satisfied with outward things. Only God, already in us can fill that need.

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death - Part 5

2011-05-27T15:21:00.000-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

THE TRAVAILING CREATION

When God lowered creation into vanity (uselessness), He did it in hope. He gave man a hope. Without hope we would go crazy- even God! God has a hope or expectation for creation. It is His plan to bring creation through this subjecting experience until all is pure even as He is pure. All is of God, all is going through God's filter; like coffee in a Mr. Coffe maker, until nothing is left but God! God has faith in His own creation.!!

It is this hope that is causing all creation to travail together in birth pangs for deliverance. "For we are aware that the entire creation is groaning and travailing together until now." Rom. 8:22 LCNT. It is now that we are realizing that all creation is one unit, so closely knit and entertwined it cannot be divided. We are all part of each other - The Great Body of God, "all live and move and have their being in God." Acts 17:28

Dear Ones, "We ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are groaning in ourselves, awaiting our SONSHIP, the deliverance of our body." Rom. 8:23 LCNT The King James Version uses the word "adoption", which means in the Greek, the placing of a Son in a place of authority in the household and the business of his father. He was always a son but now he becomes a manifestation his his father in the community. He represents his father as a grown-up person. We are "groaning inwardly as we wait for the redemption of our bodies (from sensuality and the grave), which will reveal our adoption (our manifestation as God's sons)" Rom. 8:23 AMP This is what all creation is waiting for, that they too may be delivered. "For to expectation were we saved." Rom. 8:24 LCNT "For in (this) hope were we saved. Rom 8: 24 AMP

In this scripture, in its true translation, Christ is awakening in my heart and mind that God Himself placed this EXPECTATION and desire in me to be a SON, MANIFESTED to all creation. That He is groaning in and through me, and we are all groaning together. "I do not know what I should pray for as I ought, but the SPIRIT itself maketh intercession for me in groaning that cannot be uttered. Rom. 8:26-27. It is becoming a burning desire not only to save myself, but to save all who hear and SEE ME. To see Him is to be like Him. When others hear and see Christ in me, they too will desire Him. This is not my words or my work, it is the work of Christ in me. "Look well to youself (to your own personality) and to your teaching: presevere in these things - hold to them. for by so dong you will save yourself and those who hear you. 1 Tim. 4:16 We are called to be saviors!

My life is hid with Christ in God, and when Christ, who is my true life appears, I shall appear with Him in glory; One New Man, having all His power and attributes, radiating out to all humanity. This is taking place now. It's written: We are groaning for its release.

THIS IS THE ORDER (1Cor. 15:20-24)

1. "Christ the First Fruits" - The Head

2. Then "those who are Christ's at His coming" not from heaven above, but from within; awakening our mind to His presence, making us One New Mind - The Mind of Christ- in every living stone making up HIS BODY. Head and Body complete, One Corporate Man ready to be manifest to creation.

3. "Then Cometh the End." Not the end of the world, but the End of the Harvest, which is the result of the Seed of Christ planted in the heart of every man. The First Fruit is not the whole harvest. They are the Seed that appears (ripen first) as a sign that all the rest of the harvest will be ripened and reaped, each in their own order and time.

Christ, the first fruit, and those who are Christ's at His coming, are one body, The Head and Body of Christ. They are manifested together as one complete body. No body is complete without a head, and no head is complete in itself. It needs a body. Even so Christ is completed in His Body of Christ in the earth or visible realm. Though Jesus was made both Lord and Christ, He needs a body to reveal Himself. We cannot see Him for He is : "the King Eternal, invisible, immortal, the only wise God." 1Tim. 1:17. "Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; who no man hath seen nor can see." 1 Tim. 6:16. Jesus, THE MAN, is invisible - though He is immortal, He is waiting for His body to be completed. "When He appears we also appear with Him, and are glorified together with Him. Col 3:4. "If we are children, then we are heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ: if so be that we suffer with Him, (die to self -The Second Death) that we may be also glorified together. The suffering is not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Rom. 8:17-18.

This is why Jesus is still waiting on us. "Whom the heavens must receive (retain -hold in same place) until the times of restoration of all things." Acts 3:21. First the head and body of Christ are restored together as one whole man, then all creation is released and restored in and through the Manifestation of The Sons of God ministry. They stand in Christ stead, unveiled as Christ, before all creation, saying unto all, "Come and drink of the water of life freely!" "BE YE RECONCILED TO GOD!" This will bring to pass the saying: "O Death where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory? The whole creation delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the Sons of God." Rom. 8:21, 1 Cor. 15:55. The Grand Plan of God's Redemption fulfilled in all the Universe.

But you ask, "When do we reign with Christ a thousand years?" We are reigning with Him now in this age of flesh. The King is in His Kingdom within us. The Body of Christ is The Kingdom of God in the earth - "the treasure hid in a field (world); and the leaven hid in three measures of meal, till the whole lump is leavened." The lump is the universe; heaven, earth and under the earth. Matt. 13:33, 44-45. "The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and His Christ, and He shall reign for the ages of the ages. Rev. 11:15. We do not know how long this period will be, but it will end. "For He must reign till all enemies are put under His feet. The feet of His Body (till denotes ending or ceasing). "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death." [there is only one way to destroy death - that is by making all alive!] There is only one way to destroy darkness, by turning on the light! The work of Christ in and through His Body - The Manifested Sons, will go on until the whole universe has the Light and Life of Christ. 1 Cor. 15:24-28.

So we do not destroy the Kingdoms of this world, but we save them. We woo creation as a Bridegroom woos his Bride. These Kingdoms become or (are converted) and become a very part of Himself. As The Bride of Christ, they also enter The Kingdom of The Son of His Love.

The Friendly Foe or The Second Death - Part 6

2011-05-27T15:18:00.000-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

IN ADAM ALL ARE DYING

Oh, but you say, "I believe all this but I am dying!" Yes, we are all dying in The First Adam, but in Christ, The Last Adam, all are being made alive (vivified) never to die again. The ALL that are dying in The First Adam is the same ALL being made alive in Christ. There is no other all. ALL is ALL, an equation - ALL EQUALS ALL. 1 Cor. 15:22.

It is ordained of God that all die in the First Adam - whether AWAKE OR ASLEEP. "Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleeep, (be put to repose), but we shall all be changed!....and the dead shall be raised INCORRUPTIBLE and we shall be changed." 1 Cor. 15:51-52. Changed means to be made different, into another form or realm. The awake and sleeping both are changed. "Now we all with uncovered face, mirroring THE LORD'S GLORY, are being transformed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the Spirit." 1 Cor. 3:18. This work is being done as we steadily behold the face of the Lord, as our own face. This is seeing, FACE TO FACE.

"Our conversation (conduct-behavior) is in heaven (our spiritual-mental realm) from whence we also look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change (transfigure) our vile (humilated) body," or (CONFORM it to the body of HIS GLORY) Phil.3:20-21 KJV & LCNT. Conform means to correspond in form and character, this coming of Christ, awakening our minds, is changing our character; which is changing our behavior, and will also change our body - bringing it into conformity with His Glorious Body. This old house will dissolve into the very structure of the New House. It is ordained of God that the Old must be swallowed up BY THE NEW into the Life of God. "Now He that hath wrought us for the selfsame thing is God, who also has given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. 2 Cor. 5:4-5. We have the First Fruit of the Spirit as an earnest (down payment or guarantee) of God's promise that His Word, The Living Incorruptible, deathless SEED of Christ, in us cannot fail. It will swallow up death and change us into His Immortal Life. He only has immortality, therefore He only can give it to us; and in fact, He has already given us the EARNEST OF THE SPIRIT as a free gift. If this can die - part of God can die. This is impossible. Therefore our inheritance as co-heirs in Christ is sure. Rom. 8:17. "Christ in you our hope of Glory!"

"According to my earnest expectation and hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or death. For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." Phil 1:20-21. I believe Paul came into a perfect stata of full surrender unto the will and purpose of God. He came into a rest and quietness in the center of his own being. This is the prayer of silence. Whatever happens is O.K. He wrote to Tiimothy, his son in the Gospel, "I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of Righteousness which the Lord, the righteous judge shall give to me at THAT DAY; and not for me only, but unto all them also that love His appearing. 2 Tim 4:17. The appearing of Christ in His saints is in a certain period of time, ehich Paul calls, 'THAT DAY'. Paul expected to be there, sharing in the glory of this long awaited event; together, even with those who were remaining in their natureal visible body. They would all, visible and invisible, meet together in the Spirit of The Lord, and be changed together in the Spirit of The Lord, and be changed together. 1 Cor. 15:51-52, 1 Thess. 4:9-11. Paul expected Christ to appear in him, that is in his body; and that he would receive a crown of rightiousness togethr with all others of all ages who love His appearing.

Paul did not expect to lose out in any way by falling asleep in Christ. As it was written in his script, and laid out in his course. He ran a good race and finished his course. What more can anyone do? Praise God! No one can add one step to his life journey in this earthen body. Luke 12:25. A cubit is a measure - the length of a forearm from shoulder to tip of the fingers, about 21 inches. Who wants to be 21 inches taller? This is speaking of our life span here on earth in the flesh.

For anyone IN CHRIST, the passing of this outer body is not the loss of their life. Hear the words of Jesus, "I am the Resurrection and the Life. He who is believing in Me, even if he should be dying, shall be living! And everyone who is living and believing in Me, should by no means be dying for the EON. This is, he shall be raised and be alive here on earth, in a REDEEMED VISIBLE BODY to reign with Jesus Christ in His Kingdom, for the eon! Compare John 11:25-26 with Luke 20:34-38. In Luke, Jesus calls "for the eon," that world or that age. Those who attain unto "that world" are called, the Sons of the Resurrection. Even though Lazarus was raised from the dead, Jesus knew he would die again. But He promised Martha that they would be raised in 'THAT DAY' of His appearing. 2 Tim. 1:12-14, 4:8. Jesus asked, "Do you believe this? I do! I expect to be in that appearing with all the saints in the Body of Christ. I know I have passed from death into the Life of Christ, regardless of what happens to this physical body. Christ is my Life. Christ lives in me - we are One! Christ has his being and nature IN ME, AND I IN HIM. His Life is ever on going, ever becoming. He is the Ever Becoming One - THE I AM.

Christ has given us His Life, He is now giving us His Life, and will continue to give us His life, whether in or out of the body. Christ overcame death while the body of The Man Jesus was lying in the tomb. Christ preached to the SPIRITS of those who died in the flood in the days of Noah. 1 Pet. 3:18-20. He opened the prison house of death. He took away the key. Hear His own words of victory: "I AM HE THAT LIVETH, AND WAS DEAD: AND BEHOLD, I AM ALIVE FOR EVERMORE, AMEN: AND HAVE THE KEYS OF HELL AND OF DEATH." Rev. 1:18

FOR THE LOVE OF CHRIST CONSTRAINETH US, BECAUSE WE THUS JUDGE THAT IF ONE DIED FOR ALL, THEN WERE ALL DEAD; AND THAT HE DIED FOR ALL, THAT THEY WHICH LIVE SHOULD NOT HENCEFORTH LIVE UNTO THEMSELVES, BUT UNTO HIM WHICH DIED FOR THEM AND ROSE AGAIN.

A wonderful truth is revealed in this scripture. That when that one man died, He died for all - not only all mankind, but for all creation. All Visible and Invisible Things. When He died, then all these things were also dead. But Praise God, when He arose all creation also arose with and in Him! Now we who are awakened or enlightened to this truth are no longer to live unto ourself, but unto Him who died and rose again in our behalf. He did this for our sake so He could give His Life not only for us, but TO US and IN US. There is no more death. Death has been destroyed by giving all life, whether they know it or not. 'FOR ALL LIVE UNTO HIM'. Luke 20:38. We may even deny Him, but He cannot deny HIMSELF. He came to bring life and that more abundantly.

COMFORT YOURSELF IN THIS TRUTH

"TAKE NOTICE! I tell you a mystery (a secret truth, an event decreed by the hidden purpose or counsel of God). We shall not all fall asleep (in death), but we shall all be changed (transformed).

In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the (sound of the) last trumpet call. For a trumpet will sound, and the dead (in Christ) will be raised iimperishable (free and immune form decay), and we shall be changed (transformed).

For this perishable (part of us) must put on the imperishable (nature), and this mortal (part of us, this nature that is capable of dying) must put on immortality (freedom from death)

And when this perishable puts on the imperishable and this that was capable of dying puts on freedom from death, then shall be fulfilled the scripute that says, death is swallowed up (utterly vanquished forever) in and unto victory."

O Death, where is your victory? O Death, Where is you sting?

Now sin is the sting of death, and sin exercised its power (upon the soul) through (the abuse of ) of the Law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory (making us conquerors) through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore, my beloved brethern, be firm (steadfast), immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord (always being superior, excelling, doing more than enough in the service of the Lord), knowing and being continually aware that your labor in the Lord is not futile (it is never wasted or to no purpose)."

1 Cor. 15:51-58 Amplified

May God Bless You With Love,
Dora Van Assen

The Angels Sing

2011-05-15T01:26:00.001-04:00

I just found, on You-tube, a recording of a tape that I have had in my possession for a number of years.

It is supposed to be a small group of seven people practicing their music for choir. But when they played back their recording there is this magnanimous sound of the heavenly hosts singing with them on the tape.

The words to the song are:

Hallelujah! Greetings all across the land.
Everybody's singing at the Lord's command
All the saints and the angels up in glory
Wait to hear the news
Of Jesus and his children as they're coming through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=usXUFzh6YKQ&feature=related

The Eighth-Day Man by Dora Van Assen- Part 1 & 2

2011-04-27T00:23:00.004-04:00

Please note: [while editing these writings, I got some of them out of numerical order, so please try to notice the proper order when reading]
Karen

THE EIGHT STAGES OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF MAN (Adam) Part 1 & 2

While meditating upon the development of this eighth man in this era, the Spirit began to formulate these thoughts within my mind. We present them for your consideration.

1. ADAM IN ANGELIC FORM

We have taught that sin started in the heart of Lucifer, a beautiful fallen angel, who because of his disobedience became satan. Yet the Bible states that sin entered into the world by one man, and that man is Adam! "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin", and again we read, "In Adam all die", Romans 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22. Sin did not enter into the world by an angel, nor even by satan, but by one man. Thus we surmise that Lucifer was Adam in a higher creation vibration of light substance, in an angelic form called, The Day Star, The Light Bringer, or The Shining One. Isa. 14:12. This took place in the original creation of the heavens and the earth. "In the beginning God created the Heavens and the Earth." Gen. 1:1. God spoke and creation came forth in all its pristine beauty and light. Psa. 33:8-9.

Is this too incredible to believe? Is there not a resurrection of man "equal unto angels?" Luke 20:35. And is not man being set over all the works of God's hands, from which he fell? Heb. 2:7 (quoted from Psa. 8:6) The original Hebrew translates this, "For thou hast made him a little lower than the Elohim (God) and hast crowned him with glory and honour." Thus we read that Lucifer-Adam was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, covered with glittering jewels; full of music and that he walked in Eden, the Garden of God, in the midst of the stones of fire. He was God's annointed cherub that covered, perfect in all his ways, until iniquity was found in him! Eze. 28:12

This iniquity was pride. He said, "I will be like the most High," Isa. 14:12-14. Did not Adam later in the garden fall again through this same spirit of pride? He wanted to become like God. And is not man still arrogantly (without Christ) trying to push himself into the same Godly realm? Both Isaiah and Ezekiel were given forth an adumbration against the Kings of Babylon, Tyrus and Pharoah. Adumbration means to foreshadow, overshadow, and conceal. In other words, they were speaking (by the Spirit) of something that was happening directly in their day; and also about something that was yet to take place in the future. Indirectly, they were speaking to the spirit of pride that was in them, which had orginated in the mind of Lucifer-Adam.

A lamentation is spoken against the Assyrian, likening him to a tree (trees speak of men). This tree in the Garden of Eden had exalted itself above all the other trees in the Garden. Therefore, he was driven out, and all of mankind was delivered unto death, to the "nether parts of the earth, in the midst of the children of men, with them that go down to the pit (grave)." Eze. 31:1-14.

When God began to reveal THE TRIPLE FALL OF MAN, from the Spirit to the Soulish to the Carnal-Mind-Death realms, I could not harmonize it with a scripture found in 1 Cor. 15:44-46. "there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body....Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual."

It is now becoming clear that Lucifer-Adam was first natural in a high angelic form. Angels have bodies that can be both visible and invisible. Jesus was make lower than angels for the suffering of death, but he has been crowned with glory and honor far above angels. He is dwelling in the true Spirit of God, in a light no man hath seen nor can see. 1 Tim. 6:16. So first is the natural and then comes the spiritual, unto which we are now pressing, longing for our change like unto Christ. We have had to change our opinion about the heavens, since the astronauts found the moon was made of the same natural materials as the earth. The celestials are far above the terrestials, a realm where no man or angel has ever ascended - only the Lord Jesus Christ!!!

Lucifer-Adam lifted himself in pride above the Lord, therefore God said, "I will cast thee as profane out of the Mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire." Profane means contempt for the things of God, and the Mountain of God speaks of God's government. Thus we see Lucifer-Adam cast out of his high position as the Covering Cherub, bringing DISRUPTION AND CHAOS. Gen. 1:12.

We draw your attention to the words, "Covering Cherub". We do not fully understand these terms and what they signify in the Government of God, though these thoughts have come to us. The Body of Christ, which is being formed today, his great Body of Sons, is his Covering or complement "by which all in all is being completed. " Eph. 1:23, CCV (Concordant Version) He is dwelling within us even now, "CHRIST IN YOU THE HOPE OF GLORY". This will come into reality in fullness when "He comes to be glorified in his saints." Col. 1:27; Thess. 1:10.

Praise God, one of the steps of our return back into God will be to retain this glorious position as The Covering Cherub in the Government of God! We are destined to again regaining our "Inheritance in Light". Col. 1:12, 1 Cor. 11:3.

2. ADAM IN DEGENERATED FORM

Since Lucifer-Adam was alienated from God, his mind was darkened, a veil put over his face, Eph. 2:1, Isa. 25:7-8. We read "that darkness was upon the face of the deep." Face speaks of intelligence. God would not move upon inanimate things (like water and rocks) but only upon that which could receive and understand.

Man became so degenerated in mind and deformed in body that he began to live like an animal in caves and dens. Their bones are being dug up by archeologists to this day. Death reigned before man's fall in the Garden. Throughout these long eons of time, God did not totally forsake his creation. He is the first cause and the first mover in the full restoration of man. Thus we read again, "His Spirit moved upon the face of the water," (Man's subconscious mind) "And God said let there be light, and there was light." Gen. 1:2-3. God's light began to appear in his six geological-creative-days. The earth was gradually lifted from its submerged, deformed and chaotic state. These vast periods gives plenty of time for the formation of gold and iron and jewels and "the precious things of the earth", and also the fossilizing of dinosaur bones! There is no discrepency in the Bible with true science. Thus we see God moving, even in this darkened and chaotic condition, toward his ultimate goal of full regeneration for all.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 4

2011-04-27T00:20:00.004-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

4. ADAM IN CARNAL-MIND FORM

"And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil. And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress and to keep it (guard it). Gen 2:8-9, 15.

From whom was Adam to guard the garden, if he was the only man living at that time? This command to guard the garden in its self shows that there must have been other human beings ignorant and dead to the knowledge of God. It explains where Cain got his wife in the land of Nod and immediately built a city. His seed was lost among these people. It also explains how a serpent-man could converse with Eve, denying and twisting the words of God. Gen. 3:1-5, 4-16.

"And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat; but of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it; for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (dying thou shalt die CCV) Gen. 2:16

God gave this commandment to Adam while he was yet alone. Eve never received this commandment directly from God hiself. I'm inclined to believe that she was warned by her husband. He could have said something like this: "See that tree in the very midst of the Garden: God said we are not to eat of it lest we die, so you better not touch it!" We get this impression from the words of Eve 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 sahll not eat of it, NEITHER SHALL YE TOUCH IT, lest ye die. Gen. 3:2-3 (Eve added to the word of God) Where could this thought have come from but from Adam. How often we have warned our children not to eat the cookies in the cookie jar, and so we said, "You are not to eat any of the cookies in that jar, SO YOU BETTER NOT TOUCH IT! This actually stirred up their desire to look into it and, of course, eat some. It seems that both Adam and Eve lived in the garden some time without noticing that particular tree until God himself drew their attention to it.

All the blame cannot be placed upon Eve for the fall of Adam. She arrived upon the scene much later than Adam. Besides, as we have pointed out, she did not receive the command directly from God himself. She received it second handed. Again we read, "And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression. For Adam was first formed (developed) then Eve....Notwithstanding she shall be saved in THE CHILDBEARING." 1 Tim. 2:13-15 CCV

Since Adam was not deceived; (though in the transgression, Rom 5:14), he knew what he was doing. He had his eyes open, knowing the command of God. In his pride he wanted to become like God, "knowing good and evil". Gen. 3:22. We are further told that "every man" is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust and enticed." James 1:14 Jesus said that nothing from without could defile a man, but only that which was in him could defile him. "For from within, out of the heart of man, proceed evil thoughts, etc", especially pride! "All these things come from within, and defile the man." Mark 7:18-23

"To be carnally minded is death." Rom. 8:6. In this stataement we have a clear definition of death. The naturally-minded man IS DEAD while he lives. All through the ages we have had men with great minds, conniving and conceiving all manner of evil, bringing death not only upon themselves, but upon all that follow them. The air is polluted with great swelling words, brain-washing the masses, raising up world systems of domination, enslaving the ignorant and poor. "the blind leading the blind, and both falling in the ditch (grave)." Matt. 15:14. Thank God this present evil age created by the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience, shall be destroyed by the Manchild Company of mature sons, who are caught up in God and his throne. Rev. 12 and Eph. 1:2.

A better rendition of 1Timothy 2:15, harmonizing with other scriptures, reveals that Eve became "involved" in Adam's transgression, Rom. 5:14, "for in Adam all die", 1 Cor. 5:22 - not in Eve! Eve was forgiven because she confessed that she was beguiled. No woman wants to confess that she was seduced. This was very humiliating to her. We know that she was forgiven because God gave her the promise: "The seed of the woman shall bruise the serpent's head. " Gen. 3:15. Eve became involved in Adam's fall by following him out of the garden into the realm of death. She loved (desired) her husband so much that she willingly of her own free will followed Adam out into a cold, cruel world to be his HELPER and COUNTERPART. Eve was not driven out of the garden, neither was it said that she would return to to the dust, for she was not taken out of the ground but out of Adam, who was dust in a higher and refined form, that can again make a still further change into the very image of Christ by the renewing of our mind...receiving the mind of Christ." Rom. 12:2, 1 Cor. 2:16.

God prophecied that Eve would bring forth her children in pain and sorrow, since Adam could only bring forth death. Death had entered his seed. Therefore death was in her children before they were born. This curse gave them the tendency to sin, which in its finality brings death. James 1:13-14. God also foretold that her very love for her husband (and being of a weaker stature) would give occasion to Adam to usurp over her, and rule her as his property. This is exactly what took place. Gen. 3:17. God was not laying down a rule that man had to rule over his wife, but he was foretelling Eve what would happen. How often we have seen women stick with their lazy, drunken, brutal, and unbelieving husbands, due to this misplaced love. It would be much better to separate from such an unholy condition and strive to make a decent Christian home for their children. In fact, the women then would have more time and privacy to really pray in faith and love for their salvation.

Adam understood this promise of the coming Redeemer given unto Eve. He gave her the name Eve, "because she is the mother of all living." Gen 3:26. She is the type of Mary who gave birth to Jesus, the promised Seed, thus fulfilling the covenant promise unto Abraham. "And in thy seed shall all the kindreds of the earth be blessed." Acts 3:25. There is to be a greater fulfillment of this promised Seed; Eve also foreshadowed the Sunclothed-Sign-Woman, who brings forth the many SONS that will deliver all creation! Rev. 12 Therefore Paul gives her the promise that she would be saved in THE CHILDBEARING. 1 Tim. 2:15 CCV. (If this is speaking of natural child-birth, then poor old maids without children have no chance at all). Not only will Eve be delivered from the old Adamic nature of death in which she became involved, but she will be used to bring forth that glorious Manchild Company, that shall deliver the whole creation from the pangs of sin and death. These sons are the complement of Christ: "His Body, the completness of him who everywhere fills the universe with Himself." Eph. 1:23. CCV and Weymouth.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 3

2011-04-27T00:20:00.003-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

3. ADAM IN HUMAN-SOULISH FORM

And God said, Let us make man in our own image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth....So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him, male and female created he them. And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it....And God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good. Gen 1:26-28,31

In these words God is telling forth His plan and purpose of man. It is in His purpose that man will ultimately stand in His very image, being Lord over God's universe. Adam in this human-soulish realm was not made in the full image of God. He was only a "figure of Him who was to come" Rom. 5:14. Besides, women have never been allowed to stand equal with man in subduing the earth. Praise God, in Christ they have this glorious future of ruling the earth equally with man. Together they will subdue and replenish the earth with a higher order of mankind. ("for in Christ there is neither male nor female.") Lucifer-Adam was sexless, "for angels neither marry or are given in marriage." Luke 20:35. It seems angels always appear in male form. Thus we see God beginning his plan. "And the Lord God FORMED man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man BECAME A LIVING SOUL." Gen. 2:7.

In this formation of man God took the "Higher dust" of the original creation molding man in a lower order, both soulish and soilish. Prov. 8:26. Adam "became" a living soul. The word "became" denotes a change had taken place. For anything to "become" something else, it must have already existed in another form. Christ existed as the Word in the beginning with God; then the Word "became flesh", denoting a change in realm and substance. We see this same change taking place in Adam; from a high angelic (celestial) form and realm, lowered into a Human-Dust form and realm. 1 Cor. 15:45. A "living" soul seems to indicate that Adam's soul was dead and dormant to spiritual things. His fall from a high position in the government of God caused him to lose his knowledge of God. An inkling of this fall from truth is recorded in the following scriputures.

"Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God hath shewed it unto them...when they knew God they glorified him not as God....their foolish heart was darkened...who changed the truth of God into a lie and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator...God gave them over to a reprobate mind (without understanding)". Rom 1:19,32.

This is an accusation to those who once knew God - not to heathen or those who never even heard the name of Jesus! Lucifer-Adam surely at one time knew God, whose mind was darkened, but now being made a "living" soul, God is awakening his mind, or subconscious to become aware of Godly things, so that God can have fellowship with him - though it was in a dim soulish way.

In this formation man comes forth alone, both male and female in one body. He is placed in the Garden of Eden to tend and guard it. He has matured enough to name all the animals as they passed before him. Then we read: "But for Adam there was not found an help meet, (fit or of his own substance and realm) for him." Gen 2:20. Adam was actually alone, except for his fellowship with God. They walked together in the "cool of the day". Gen. 3:8. It is better rendered in the New English Bible as, "At the time of the evening breeze", or just at the beginning of dusk. Though sin had not as yet entered the Garden, Adam was actually living in the "twilight zone", in the evening part of the day, before the night settled in. It's really speaking prophetically of the long dark night through which all mankind would yet travel to reach the light of the glorious New Day.

It isn't long before we read that what God had declared "very good" has somehow become "not good". "And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him." Therefore, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam while he removed a rib (cell or female side) out of which he made or builded a woman. Gen 2:18, 21-22.

It seems as though Adam-man is still asleep while God is building this greater woman who "compasses" a man - that glorious sign-woman of Revelation 1. She is travailing to bring forth the manchild, the sons who shall rule the universe with a shepherds staff. This is the NEW THING that God is doing in this day. Jer. 31:22

Something had already happened to make it not good for Adam to be alone, before Eve was taken from his side. God took her out of Adam in order to be his HELPER (orginal Hebrew). It means "counter-part", flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. Counterparts stand equal, complementing each other, face to face. The building of Eve required both time and care. She was not a hasty production out of the soil but was the result of God's labor and skill. She was brought to her husband by the hand of God a masterpiece of his natural creation.

Eve was not made from a literal rib (which man would have never missed) but from something he once had, his female part. The fact that he was dual, both male and female, is still evident in his body to this day. For Adam there is simply the closing (seam) of the vacancy made by her removal from him. This "seam" is evident by his reproductive organs. Eve is molded and refashioned, and built up into man's counter-part, she brings back more to her husband than was taken from him. And God himself leads her by the hand to "be with" Adam as his HELPER. He never gave her "to him" to be ruled over as his property. Gen. 3:12.

This woman has never been allowed to fill her place in subduing the earth. She has always been held down to hold a subservient place. Only as she stands equal with man, in Christ, the prophetic words of God will be fulfilled. "So God created man in his own image...And God blessed them and said unto them, be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth and SUBDUE IT....Male and female created he them...and called THEIR name Adam, in the DAY when they were created." Gen 1:27-28 5:2. They were not only to be MADE AND FORMED out of the dust of the ground, but also to be CREATED in God's own image and likeness, in order to replenish the earth with spiritual beings, as God is Spirit.

Adam and Eve in this human-soulish form were not clothed in garments of light, as we have been taught. Those shining garments of flashing jewels and encircling light of the Spirit were lost in his previous creation as Lucifer-Adam. Lucifer means light, or phosphorus, the Morning Star. In this second formation we are plainly told that before they disobeyed God's command by eating of the forbidden fruit, THEY WERE BOTH NAKED, "And were not ashamed." Gen. 2:25 In their innocence they were not ashamed of their nakedness. These radiant garments of inner and outer light can only be re-gained in Christ. "Christ in you", and you being found in Him. Col. 1:27, Phil. 3:8-9.

One of the steps in this restoration and regeneration is through the resurrection. "But they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world (age) and the resurrection from among the dead ones (a prior resurrection now) neither marry nor are given in marriage; neither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels....being the sons of the resurrection." Luke 20:35.

The fall of Lucifer-Adam caused the angels to lose their beautiful bodies which were transformable from the visible to the invisible. They were made "spirits" (wind) to be able to minister to the heirs of salvation. Heb. 1:7,14. That is why they are so interested in our salvation into complete sonship. When we attain our transformation into His image, receiving a responsible position in the government of God, they too will again receive their glorious bodies. Angels are now in a restricted state, as they can only appear in angelic form by the permission of God. These ministering spirits can be both good and bad, for we read of the "spirits of just men made perfect. Heb. 12:23. We deduce from this that negatively there could also be spirits of unjust men who remain in chains of darkness until the judgment.. 2 Pet. 2:4, Jude 6. Angel means "messenger", which can be both human or angelic. Rev. 19:10, 22:3-9.

The reformation of man in Human-Soulish Form was actually one step higher than he was found to be in his degenerated and darkened form in the the past eon, but we find that he fell again into sin and death through temptation and disobedience to God's command.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 5

2011-04-27T00:19:00.001-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

5. ADAM IN REDEMPTION FORM

"Since we, God's children, are human beings - made of flesh and blood, he became flesh and blood too by being born in human form; for only as a human being could he die and in dying break the power of the devil (adversary) who had the power of death. We all know he did not come as an angel but as a human being. And it was necessary for Jesus to be like us, his brothers, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God in dealing with the sins of the people. For since he himself has now been through suffering and temptation he knows what it is like when we suffer and are tempted, and he is wonderfully able to help us." Heb. 2:14-18 Living Word Bible

"Let the very spirit (mind) which was in Christ Jesus be in you also. From the beginning He had the nature of God. Yet He did not regard equality with God as something at which He should grasp. Nay, He stripped Himself of His glory, and took on Him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men. And being recognized as truly a human, He humbled Himself and even stooped to die; and that too a death on the cross." Phil. 2:5-8. Weymouth. Compare John 17:15

"Sending his own Son in the FORM OF SINFUL HUMANITY to deal with sin, God pronounced sentence upon sin in human nature; in order that in our case the requirements of the law might be fully met." Rom. 8:2-3. "For the One not knowing Sin, He makes to be THE SIN OFFERING for our sakes that we may be becoming God's rightousness in Him." For God took the sinless Christ and POURED INTO HIM OUR SINS. Then, in exchange, he POURED GOD'S GOODNESS INTO US." Living Word Bible. 2 Cor. 5:21.

"In this is love, not that we love God, but that He loves us, and dispatches (sent) His Son, a PROPITIATORY SHELTER (personal atonement, remedy) concerned with our sins...yet not concerned with ours only, but concerned with the whole world also." 1 John 4:10; 2:2 CCV.

We can readily see through these different versions that Jesus was born in a human, flesh and blood form. He stripped himself of his former glory which he had with the Father, taking on human nature, becoming a man like other men. The redeemer of all men came in the FORM OF SINFUL HUMANITY! He did not come as an angel, but as a man in order to die. God made him the SIN OFFERING for the sins of the whole world. He is the Lamb of God that is taking away the sins of the world. God poured our sins into him and now he is pouring his righteousness into us. He is the only remedy for our sins; and not ours only but for the sins of the entire world.

There are many scriptures indicating that Jesus was a direct descendant of David, Abraham, and Adam: "who was the Son of God. " Luke 3:38. "The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the Son of David, the Son of Abraham." Matt. 1:1, 16-17. "Hath not the scriptures said, that Christ cometh of the seed of David?" John 7:42.

Many times Jesus speaks of himself as the Son of Man (mankind or humanity). Adam is a generic word, meaning all humanity male or female. In the generations of Jesus every man "begets" except Joseph who is called the husband of Mary, of whom was "born" Jesus. We read he was born of the Virgin Mary. Joseph was actually only the legal father of Jesus, for it was "supposed" that Jesus was the son of Joseph.

"And He, Jesus, when beginning was about thirty years, being a son (as to the law) of Joseph." Luke 3:23 CCV. Therefore Jesus, who is called Christ, being the Son of David is the natural heir of David's throne. "The Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David." Luke 1:32

When God removed the Kingdom from King Saul, He established it with David, saying that it would be an agelasting dynasty. Through Nathan the prophet, God told David, "And when thy days be fulfilled and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his Kingdom." 2 Sam. 7:12, 16.

God made an unconditional promise unto David concerning his throne. Of Solomon, David's son, he said, "If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: but my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul." 2 Sam. 7:14. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David. His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven." Psa. 89: 29-37. God swore in truth unto David: "Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne"..."There shall not fail (said he) a man on the throne of Israel." Psa. 132:11; 1Kings 3:4.

It suddenly occurred to me that God swore by Himself, TWICE, when he could swear by no greater:

1. He swore by himself when he made his unconditional covenant with Abraham, concerning THE SEED that would bless all the families of the earth.

2. Again He swore by Himself when He made a covenant with David, concerning the throne.

"For when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear by no greater He sware by Himself, saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. "..."Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on His throne; He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption." Heb. 6:13-14; Acts 2:30-31; 2 Sam. 7:12; Psa. 89:3-4; 132:11-12.

The promise of the Seed was literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ (the Son of Adam and the Son of Abraham). He actually came in the flesh, a partaker of humanity. Therefore, God's promise of David's throne and his SEED ruling on it for the eons, must also be literally fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and His great Body of Sons - the heirs of the promise. "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of the promise." Gal. 4:28; Heb. 6:17.

Paul makes it plain who Jesus was. We read: "Concerning his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; And declared to be the Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. 1:3-4.

If God could preserve the seed line of Levi 430 years before he actually was born in the flesh, he could surely do it for David, a man after His own heart unto whom He confirmed His covenant with an oath.

"And as I may say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father (ancestor) when Melchizedec met him." Heb. 7:9-10. If this is possible, then we can carry it further; that all humanity was in the loins of Adam, dying in him when death entered his loins because of disobedience; then we can even extend it into the invisible realm when Jesus Christ pre-existed as the Son of Mankind. Hear him say concerning himself, "What and if ye shall see the Son of Man ascend up where he was before? John 6:62; 3:12. Adam was but a dim figure of this Son of Man "who was to come." In this pre-existent state he was known as the Angel of the Lord, who Paul called: "The Lord from heaven." Gen. 48:16; Ex. 3:2; Acts 27:23; 1Cor. 15:47.

Jesus, by partaking of humanity "was made flesh", becoming the last Adam. By overcoming the limitations of his flesh, rising triumphant over death, hell, and the grave, he "was made a life-giving spirit." 1Cor. 15:45. "He was declared the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." Rom. 1:4. Three times God affirmed that Jesus Christ was his son:

1. When he fulfilled all righteousness by being baptized by John in the river Jordan.

2. When he attained unto the transformation he displayed on the mountain.

3. And when God raised him from the dead.

Paul brings forth his witness concerning this resurrection. "And we declare unto you glad tidings, how that the promise which was made unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again, as it is also written in the second Psalm: "Thou art my Son THIS DAY HAVE I BEGOTTEN THEE."...Now no more to return to corruption, he said on this wise: "I will give you the sure mercies of David." Acts 13:32-34. While Jesus walked here in the flesh he walked in the realm of death, or corruption, but he has been raised into a realm of LIFE that death cannot touch. He is the first to put on immortality and life. He is the King, Eonian, Immortal, Invisible.. 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16; 2 Tim 1:10 CCV.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 7

2011-04-27T00:18:00.009-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

ADAM IN THE CHRIST-SPIRIT FORM

"There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; afterward that which is spiritual." 1Cor. 15:44-46.

Only recently has this scripture become clear to me. I could not understand how the natural could be first, when Christ has the first place of preeminence in all things, Col. 1:18, and we were chosen in him before the world began. Eph. 1:4. So how could the natural be first? Now I understand that we came forth in the original creation as angelic(celestial) beings in the heavenly realm. We were form before we took on this earthly expression in the flesh. From the Lucifer-Adam realm we were lowered (with all creation) into the Human-Soulish-Adam realm. "As is the earth, such are they also that are earthly; and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly", in our resurrection like unto angels.

Christ is our example: First he was in the Spirit realm as the Creative Word; then he descended to our low estate in the realm of natural flesh; and now he has ascended far above angels and all heavens - a Life-giving Spirit filling all things. "Being made much better than angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name (nature and character) than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee? And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son? And again, when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him." Heb. 1:4-6. Eph. 1:19-22; 4:10. While Jesus was in the flesh realm here on earth as a man, angels did not have to worship him. Instead they were sent to herald his birth, and to minister to him in his temptation and suffering in Gethsemene. He was crucified through weakness, yet he lives by the power of God. "For though he was crucified in weakness, yet he goes on living by the power of God. And though we too are weak in him (as he was humanly weak), yet in dealing with you (we shall show ourselves) alive and strong in (fellowship with) him by the power of God." 2 Cor. 13:4, AMP.

Peter boldly declares to all the house of Israel, "That God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ." Acts 2:36. Therefore since we have been taught to know Jesus only after the flesh, we know him that way no more; but only in the Spiritual form. 2 Cor. 5:16. The Lord is that Spirit, that returned on the Day of Pentecost to fill his people with himself, 2 Cor. 3:17-18; "Christ in you the hope of glory", Col 1:27; he did not leave us confortless, but he came to abide in us, establishing his Kingdom in his people. John 14:16-22; 16:7.

And Oh, what fellowship we have together as he sups with us and we sup with him. Rev. 3:21. It is this Christ-Spirit from that he is bringing with him. Rev. 3:21. It is in this Christ-Spirit form that he is bringing all into complete salvation, soul and body. In this AT-ONE-MENT (with him) we receive our full reconciliation. Rom. 5:10-14.

Christ will remain in these heavenly spheres until the restitution of all things, "Whom the heavens must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began." Acts 3:21. He will remain as our great High Priest after the order of Melchizedec making reconciliation for our sins on the altar of our hearts until we are fully and thoroughly sanctified and cleansed; and he will remain a SON (the Head of all the Sons) till he puts all enemies under his feet. Only then does he return the Kingdom back unto the Father. "That God be all and in all." 1 Cor. 15:26-28; Heb. 2:8-9; 4:14-16; 5:10.

It is the glorious hope for all mankind that all things be put under their feet. Even the last enemy shall be destroyed. The writer of Hebrews tells this is not done yet, "But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor, that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one (Father); for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethern." Heb. 2:5-12.

In this scripture we see that all things have been put under the feet of Jesus. Even death was overcome and destroyed in himself, and now his chosen BODY OF SONS like unto himself, are experiencing the same wonderful deliverance and glory. Co-heirs with Christ, they share together. When this work is finished in all, then and only then, he ascends into the very realm of God.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 6

2011-04-27T00:18:00.002-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

6. ADAM IN RESURRECTION FORM

"From the beginning he had the nature of God, being in the the form of God. Yet he did not regard equality with God as something at which he should grasp. Nay, he stripped himself of his glory, and took on him the nature of a bondservant by becoming a man like other men. And being recognized as truly human, He humbled himself and even stooped to die." Phil 2:5. Praise God! in this death and resurrection he is released from this realm, and is appearing in another and higher form. Mark 16:12

In this resurrection body he could appear in many forms. To the two men walking to Emmaus, he appeared as a fellow wayfarer. They recognized him as the Lord in the breaking of the bread, though their hearts burned within them as he opened up the word concerning his present humiliation and coming glory. Luke 24:13-35. To Mary he appeared as a gardener. She recognized him by his voice when he softly spoke her name, "Mary". John 20:16. He did not appear unto his disciples as a spirit or ghost, but in a flesh and bone angelic body when he called for a fish and a honeycomb. Luke 24:36-43. Is it so incredible to believe that in his ascension back into what he was with the Father, one of his expressions would be like unto an angel!

We read that he was made lower than angels for the suffering of death. Heb. 2:9 (he had to become a man in order to die). This lowering is seen in that angels ministered unto him during his temptation in the wilderness and his agony in Gethsemane. While on earth Jesus spoke of a resurrection equal unto angels. And those who attained unto this resurrection do not marry, neither can they die any more. They are the Sons of the Resurrection. Luke 20:35. Jesus as our head passed through this phase, appearing unto many witnesses chosen before of God to confirm the resurrection - that it was truly HE and not another! Acts 10:41.

In the Old Testament times he often appeared as a man in angelic form. Surely he could appear again in this manner in the New Testament days to verify his resurrection - that his body was not stolen and hidden away some place. The New Testament actually fulfills all the Old Testament types and shadows, confirming the promises made unto the fathers. Rom. 15:8 and Luke 1:72.

The word "angel" means messenger. These can be created, heavenly beings who never fell in Lucifer-Adam (Rev. 12:4, 9, the dragon drew only one-third with him) though they were lowered with all creatiion due to the fall, being made ministering spirits to the heirs of salvation; or they can be resurrected saints able to appear in angelic form by God's permission; or they can be merely men here in this earth realm sent with a message. There messengers can be both good or evil; Heb. 1:7,14.

The scriptures relate many incidents where angels were actually men. An outstanding example is found in the book of Revelation. "And I, John, saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things. Then saith he unto me, "See thou do it not: for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them who keep the saying of this book: Worship God!" Rev. 21:10; 22:8-9.

This angel told John not to worship him because he was a prophet and his fellow servant and brother. A fellow servant had to be one living contemporary with John and having the same ministry. The angels of seven churches represented the Elders and Leader of those churches, even as the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are also called angels. Rev. 2 & 3; 21:12. Speaking of the New Jerusalem, whom we are, John said that it had a wall great and high, "and had twelve gates and at the gates twelve angels, and names of the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel." Besides, this great city itself (made up of the saints) was measured "according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel." Rev. 21:17; Gal. 4:26.

We read of an angel flying in the midst of the heavens, "Having the agelasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth." Rev. 14:6. Angels are used to call out his elect. "And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other." Matt. 24:31. A company of angels seal the 144,000 in their foreheads. "And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God, saying, "Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees till WE (denoting more than one) have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. Rev. 7:2,3.

Angels are used in judgment. "When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory; and before him shall be gathered all nations; and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats...The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity." Matt 23:31-32; 13:41. In connection with these scripturers we read of an angel "sitting on a cloud" (clouds speak of saints) who thrusts in his sickle to reap the harvest of the earth. Rev. 14:15-19.

We conclude from comparing these scriptures that these angels are men who have attained unto this ministry in the heavenlies, by coming into the power of CHRIST'S RESURRECTION, like unto angels, receiving a prior, spiritual and moral resurrection into a recovery of life and truth, while yet in these bodies. Phil 3:10-14 AMP. Paul asked, "Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world, and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters? (This judgment is going on today as God is raising up Spirit-filled leaders like unto Christ.) Know ye not that we shall judge angels, how much more things that pertain to this life?" 1 Cor. 6:2-3.

All judgment has been committed unto the Son and his great company of Sons. John 5:22. Therefore these angels must have been men at one time, partakers of flesh and blood, tasting of sin and death, but rising in Christ to overcome every temptation. Having themselves suffered they are now able to make a righteous judgment. They have reached into such holiness that their very presence brings torment to those who have compromised by taking the "mark of the beast" in their hand or forehead. Rev. 14:9-12. Stephen had this transfiguration before his death, as he was witnessing of Christ before his accusers. "All that sat in the council, looking stedfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." They were cut to the heart, and they gnashed on him with their teeth in their frustration and guilty fury! Acts 6:15; 7:54. Did you know that Peter is also called an angel? Acts 12:15. Little children who have gone to be with the Lord are referred to as angels. Matt. 18:10.

On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus went through a wonderful metamorphosis. His face did shine as the sun as the fashion of his face was altered. Matt. 17:2; Luke 9:29. This scence was a vision of his coming glory. How wonderful to know that it is also promised to all who follow on to really know him in the power of his resurrection. "Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body. Phil. 3:21. This is the change for which we are groaning. "God is faithful who called us and also will do." 1 Thess. 5:24; 2 Cor. 5:5.

No wonder angels who have not yet reached into that realm where the "spirits of just men (resurrected saints) have been made perfect, "desire to look into these things." 1 Pet. 1:12. "God has provided some better thing for us, that they without us shold not be made perfect." Heb. 11:40. Therefore, we are made a spectacle (ampi-theatre) unto the world and unto angels, and unto men. 1 Cor. 4:9. It seems as though we have been hung in space between heaven and earth and under the earth as God's exhibit of love and grace to all. Adam in angelic resurrection form is in a marvelous plane. A great ministry is going forth out of these invisible dimensions (though it is only one step in our ascension back into God.) Our guardian angels could be our own loved ones raised into this glorious realm. Jesus was made higher than angels. Hallelujah, in the ultimate plan of God we are to be made like unto him! 1 John 3:2.

The Eighth Day Man - Part 8

2011-04-27T00:17:00.002-04:00

by Dora Van Assen

8. ADAM IN GODLY-FORM

"I have glorifed thee on the earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the word was. " John 17:4-5. "And now, Father, do thou glorify me in thine own presence, with the glory that I had in thy presence before the world existed." Weymouth. John 17. "In the beginning was the word, and the word was toward God, and God was the word." John 1:1 CCV.

These are the words of Jesus as he was on his way to the cross. The hour of his glorification had come. "Father, the hour is come: glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee." John 17:1. "The Son always glorifies the Father. He, being the only begotten God, (Son) who is in the bosom of the Father, he unfolds him." John 1:18 CCV. Jesus came to reveal the Father. In the very beginning as the THE WORD, he was "toward" or pointing to the Father's honor and glory. "And no one fully knows the Son except the Father, nor does any one fully know the Father except the Son and all to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. Matt. 11:27.

We have already studied how that Christ Jesus, being in the form of God, stripped himself of this glory, taking on flesh and blood as a human being. He did this in order to die for the sins of the whole world. But now that he had finished the work God had given him to do, he was affirming his faith and trust in God to raise him out of this death realm, and restore him back into his original glory which he had with the Father before the world existed. Though he has entered into Fatherhood, he does not absorb or displace God. Rather, by overcoming, he is given the glorious privilege to sit on his Father's throne; even as he gives us the honor to sit on his throne when we have fully overcome all enemies. Rev. 3:21. We sit with him even as he sits with the Father.

He has ascended into the very realm of the Father; Emmanuel, God with man. He is the "image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature." Col. 1:15. Being the Firstborn intimates that we also (as his many-membered body who follow their Head) shall be made in the very image and likeness of God. We, even as he did, will take our changed, immortalized and glorified humanity into the Godhead, for he is called; THE MAN CHRIST JESUS!

Isaiah (before the natural birth of Jesus) calls his name "Wonderful, Counsellor, The Mighty God, The Agelasting Father, The Prince of Peace." Isa. 9:6. This is more accurately rendered in the New English Bible: "In purpose wonderful, in battle God-like, Father for all time, Prince of Peace."

Paul acclaims unto him, "Now unto the King eonian, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for the eons of the eons." 1 Tim. 1:17. He is the only wise God, of these ages. As the true and faithful witness he was given this honor. He rules until all kingdoms yield unto his glorious sway. "For the Kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and His Christ." Rev. 11:15. He has put on immortality and life, attaining unto a glorifed body, dwelling in a light that no man has seen nor can see; the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. 1 Tim. 6:15-16. He is the "firstborn among many brethren." Rom. 8:29-30. The Head of a totally NEW CREATION. And Praise God, we are also called and chosen unto this order and realm. Even as he broke out of this earthly sphere back into the realm of the Father, so we too are (by his life working in us) breaking out of these limitations into the wide expanse of God.

God will not subject the coming age unto spacemen or created Angelic beings, but he will put it under the feet and control of man; who was once mortal, but has put on immortality and life that can never be touched by death; through partaking of the life of Christ, their glorious Head! His glory is ever increasing as he comes to be glorified in his saints. 2 Thess. 1:10. Only Sonship brings us into Fatherhood. No one who disowns the Son has the Father. He who acknowledges the Son has also the Father." 1 John 2:23. Wey. Thus the only life we have is in the Son. Because he lives we too shall live. 1 John 5:11.

We have a wonderful assurance of this coming change, because this flesh body was once only common dust, but even in this soulish-soilish realm it has become a beautiful earthly body; which David proclaims, "fearfully and wonderfully made." Psa. 139:14. No natural man has ever been able to improve on it as they often do on other inventions. Thus if God can make us out of dust, he can again take this dust and remold it into an even higher and more glorious body. This earthly and natural body is swallowed up in the heavenly and spiritual body. This is God's intention for all creation as it passes through these extensive periods of development.

God grant that what he has inspired us to write will be a help and inspiration to all who read, to press on into him, attaining unto the high calling in Christ Jesus.

On My Father's Side

2011-04-21T00:08:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter to everyone!!

by the Barn Again Gang

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5ddoyfn6g4

The Exact Image by Dora Van Assen

2011-04-17T19:45:00.008-04:00

INTRODUCTION

For years I had trouble combining the first and second chapters of Genesis, regarding the creation of man. These two chapters seemed to portray two separate accounts of the creation of Adam. Though I began to see that this creating and making of man was progressive, I still could not make it all fit together. There were too many discrepancies in the way it was being interpreted. I even considered the thought that perhaps these two accounts were actually given in allegoric form, thus we could choose the account that we thought was the highest revelation. In fact, this interpretation is accepted in many circles of religion. I now understand that it is one account of God creating and making mankind into his own exact image.

Truth marches onward! I soon began to believe that God was actually prophesying what he intended to do, when he said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Gen.1:26. God began to do this very thing when he formed man out of the dust of the ground, as it is recorded in Gen.2,7. I believe that this work was a process, so that man shall finally stand in the very image of God; even as God himself had prophesied. This interpretation satisfied me for a long time until many questions began to arise concerning these scriptures. For example in Gen.1;27, it states that God did CREATE MAN in his own image during the sixth day. But the formation of man in Gen.2,7 does not take place until after the long seventh day of rest which would be the eighth day. Gen.2,2. Could there be another solution to the problem of these two seemingly different accounts?

Light began to break through on the word “IMAGE.” What kind of image did God mean? Was it to be a natural or spiritual image? God is Spirit! What would his image be like? Meditating upon these questions God gave me the word “EXACT.” Therefore, we present these thoughts contained in this article entitled, “THE EXACT IMAGE,” for your consideration. May we be workers together in him, approved of God, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. God’s Word is Truth. Though Truth stands alone, it stands victorious. Only Truth can set free completely from the dogmas of men. Be not fearful! Even error enhances the truth! Only making Truth brighter! “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” 11 Cor.13:8. “For we have no power to act against the truth, but only for it.” 11 Cor.13:8. NEB.

From the very beginning it was God’s intention to make man in his own image and likeness. In the first chapter of the Bible we hear him say: “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.” Gen.1:26. Here he is stating his divine intention. He has never changed his mind. Neither sin, nor death, nor time, nor spirit, nor any other force can alter, or stop God in fulfilling his plan. He is sovereign in all that he does. “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it: God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Eccl.3:14.

The words, “Let us make” infers a process. To make anything requires time, and often different methods to reach the intended goal. There is a vast difference between “making” and “creating”. To create is to bring forth the first original idea, or thought-image into visible form. A copy of this first original idea is not created, but made. Thus we find in Gen.1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This original idea of creation came forth out of the Spirit of God by the spoken Word (Logos.) Ps.33:6 Rom.11:36 “It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God’s Word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.” Heb.11:3 GNT. “By faith we perceive that the universe was fashioned by the Word of God, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.” Heb.11:3 NEB

How can anything be made plainer than these two translations of this scripture? In the first original creation God simply spoke the Word and it was done! But from Gen.1:2, we begin to see a process. The earth was made, or “became” without form and void. The words, “was made,” or “became” denote a change. We will speak of this in detail later. Right now we want to look into the fact that in the remainder of Gen. 1:2 to Gen.2:3, we find two words used regarding the creation. They are “create” and “make”. We even find these two words used together in one verse. “Created and made” Gen.2:3.(This is rendered “Created to make” in the marginal reference.) Therefore the creation as it is today came forth through a process—and it is still a process. This behooves us not to judge anything yet, for God is not finished. He is still moving all creation unto his own ultimate and glorious goal!

In agreement with science, the bible indicates long progressive periods of development in the creating and making of mankind, into the exact image of God. With these thoughts in mind let us study in detail the profound scriptures recorded in Genesis. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen.1:26-27. Notice that the man is both created and made. In his first creation man is both male and female in one spiritual body.

The way man is formed today out of dust he could not be two flesh bodies in ONE body. Only two or more spirits could be together in one body, occupying the same space. When we are joined to the Lord, we are ONE SPIRIT. 1 Cor.6:17. God is Spirit! Therefore, in creation God brought forth spiritual beings out of himself. The bible confirms this! “God is the FATHER of spirits.” Heb.12:9. God speaks of Adam as both “him” and “them” singular and plural. Also in Gen.5:2, “God called their name Adam.” Both male and female are called “man” or “humanity” showing their perfect unity in bringing forth creation. Furthermore God commanded that THEY were (while yet in this high spiritual state) “to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion. Gen.1:28. They were to do this while yet in their ONE SPIRITUAL BODY.

Immediately after God commanded Adam to be fruitful and to multiply, we find God resting on the seventh day. Gen.2:2. This seems very strange! At one time in my searching after truth, I thought that God was idle for at least a thousand years. Just think after pronouncing that everything was very good which God had created made during these first six days, I now had God resting, just letting everything lay idle and dormant until God again began to work toward his plan by forming man out of the dust, according to Gen.2:7. Praise God! Light is finally penetrating my subconscious mind. This rest of God was not inertia! For God never slumbers nor sleeps! He is always active! Nothing is ever halted, stagnate nor void! In majestic stages God is moving all creation, visible or invisible onward into his intended goal.

I fully believe that this Spiritual Man, Adam, in his glorious dual body of male and female began to produce after his own kind: this is, Spiritual Beings! He became fruitful and multiplied and replenished the earth. God had set his plan in motion to bring many sons to glory in his own image and likeness. After starting things off (so to speak) during the first six days of creation, we read that God rested on the seventh day from all that he had created and made. To be sure God rested from this work of creating, but Adam obeyed his command. He started to work, bringing forth myriads of Spiritual Beings, according to God’s command and plan. The word “multiply” means to increase by division. Could this be an increase in development by one cell dividing into two cells, and two cells dividing into four cells, etc? even as an embryo is formed in the womb? Let that be as it may, it was a Spiritual Multiplication in order to replenish (fill up again) the earth. Praise God, they stood integrated together in perfect unity, subduing the earth; having dominion over all the work of God’s hands. This will again be seen in greater measure in the GREAT BODY OF CHRIST: male and female swallowed up in him---many members in ONE CHRIST EXPRESSION, filling the universe with his glory.

Adam (male & female) in this Spiritual Creation did not receive his flesh body until after the seventh day in which God rested. In Gen.2:7, we read that God made an earthen vessel for this man to dwell in. “God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man BECAME a living soul. Gen.2:7. The identity, personality, character and nature are found in the soul. We know each other by our spirit-soul expression. The flesh changes in appearance continually, from our pre-natal conception, through baby-hood, childhood, manhood into full age. Our flesh bodies have gone through many stages of growth, yet we know each other. This dust formation of man is marvelous to consider. He was made from the highest dust of the world. Prov.8:26. We cannot go into this aspect of this soulish formation at this time, neither can we explain in detail the meaning of the word “became”. Just hold it in mind that it means a CHANGE HAD BEEN MADE FROM ONE REALM TO ANOTHER REALM.

As soon as this soulish flesh man is formed, we find that God places him in the Garden of Eden to “till and keep (guard) it. Gen.2:15. We can readily see why God needed a fleshly material man to work in this material world; for at this point in his plan, “there was no man to till (cultivate) the ground. Gen.2:5. Only a mist arose from the earth to water the ground. Man has now become a triune being: spirit, soul, and body. In his spirit he is God-conscious; in his soul he is self-conscious; and in his body he is material-conscious. Only in this bodily aspect of his being could he till the ground, or become visible to the animal world around him; thus having fellowship with the natural creation.

Though he now had to eat food to sustain his natural body, I am sure he enjoyed cultivating the ground, as there were no noxious weeds and thorns to oppose his efforts. In this peaceful state of innocence we can see that Adam enjoyed the natural things around him. Especially the animal world! He learned all about them—their habits, character, and nature. When God paraded them before him he was able to name each one according to their nature. In his close observation of them he noticed that each had his, or her mate. Only he himself was the only one who had no visible, bodily mate. We soon read that it was “not good” for man to live alone in this state. “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help MEET for him.” Gen.2:18. God did not say that he would make a HELP-MATE, but a HELP-MEET (fit-worthy) for him. An animal would not do, neither anything lower than himself. She had to be his exact counter-part, standing face to face with him, therefore had to be taken out of his own body.

Only having a wife like unto himself could he reproduce after his kind. Though Adam was both male and female in one body, he only had that one body. He could not reproduce for it requires two bodies to bring forth in this realm. To be sure the female was there evenly integrated within him, like her hormones, femininity, etc…but she was not fused in a solid body. As we have already indicated, two solid bodies cannot occupy the same space. Therefore the female part of Adam had to be separated from him before he could multiply in this bodily realm.

“And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs (cells) and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man, made (builded) he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now (was once) bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man, therefore a man shall forsake his father and his mother and cling to his wife, and they two become one flesh. And coming are they two, the human and his wife to be naked yet are not shaming themselves.Gen.2: 21-25.

We want to point out a number of things indicated in this scripture.

1. While Adam lay in a deep sleep, God removed his female cell or side; called an “angular organ” in the CCV, and built a woman to be his counterpart or complement. Gen.2,20. CCV

2 The making of woman was a process. She was built with great care and fashioned in beauty. She also was foreordained of God, and not just an after thought to help out in a bad situation!

3 The evidence of this operation is confirmed by the scar or seam still seen on every male’s reproductive organs. At birth every baby boy has a seam on the underside of his pelvis and testicles.

4. When God brought her “to be with Adam” (Gen.3:12) she was to be his companion, not his possession. Adam named her Woman, because she was taken out of man. We find further that woman also means, “The man with the womb.” She was given the glorious privilege to bear the precious seed.

5. Again we find that the Man is to leave his father and mother and cling to his wife in order to protect her as the weaker vessel. But in our marriage ceremonies this has been reversed. Now, the woman, the weaker vessel is commanded to leave her father and mother and cling to her husband through thick or thin. This often leaves her exposed to all manner of abuse—not even her kinfolks living close enough to help her. It is time this error is corrected by the clergy.

6. United in marriage they BECOME ONE FLESH in their SEED, or offspring. The father and mother are perfectly integrated in their children, one flesh which cannot be separated in anyway.

7. They are now totally dependent upon one another in order to fulfill God’s command to be fruitful and replenish the earth.

8. The woman was made of the same substance as the man. “Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh.” If she is in anyway lower or more sinful than the man, then this lower sinful part was in him all the time! Thank God for the light breaking forth in this area, setting all mankind free!

Before leaving this part of our subject we must emphasize the fact that men and women still carry the evidence in the bodies that they once were both male and female in one body. They both have male and female hormones, feminine and masculine characteristics, etc. They both go through the menopause, and can both contract breast cancer; also after conception it is several weeks before the embryo decides what sex it will be. All evidence that they once were united in one body. Again may I say that man being made of the dust of the ground indicates the light soil in the atmosphere or air, carried about by the wind. The cells of man are really hollow. Man is mostly empty space! Thus there is plenty of room for the spiritual man to dwell inside, integrating the whole man with the Spirit of God. (See 11 Cor. 4,7.)

MAN’S POWER OF REPRODUCTION

God has never taken away the power of reproduction from Adam and Eve. In fact God himself again, set in motion the GENERATIONS OF ADAM in this natural realm. Gen.5,7. For in this natural realm in which we now live, it is first the natural and then the spiritual. All of mankind is now born, one by one, into this natural, death state, but PRAISE GOD, after this experience, all of this natural mankind will become spiritual. Paul explains this for us.

“If there is a soulish body, there is a spiritual also. (This spiritual body is already there before there could even be a soulish body. It takes spirit and body to produce a soul.) “Thus it is written also, The first man, Adam, became a living soul; the last Adam a vivifying spirit. But not first the spiritual but the soulish, thereupon the spiritual.” 1 Cor.15,45-46. As we have already stated, because a veil has been cast over the face of all men, we are not able to remember or comprehend with our natural mind that we were once spiritual beings. This is one of the many secrets that the Holy Spirit is revealing to us in this hour. Thus we can only go back in memory to when we were two or three years old. We can not even remember that we were once pre-natal. But that does not in any way disqualify the fact that we did exist! The very fact that we are alive in this natural realm proves that we once were in our mother’s womb. And now that we have been born of the Spirit, we can know that we came out from God! Isa.25,7-8: Romans 11, 36.

God has a use for all the GENERATIONS OF ADAM brought forth into this lower realm. He needs these earthen vessels in which to lower the spiritual creation for growth and development in the God-realm. God claims all souls, saying, “All souls are mine.” They came forth one by one into this earthly realm to fulfill a divine purpose. They are all needed in order to provide a house of clay for the spiritual creation. No matter how despised and lowly their birth, or how painful and meager their lives here on earth, it is still absolutely necessary that they be born into this realm of death and sin. This mortal (dying body) MUST put on immortality!

We see this in Jesus, our example! He pre-existed in God as the living Word. Then he was lowered into a human body to experience death for all. But now he has risen over death and hell taking his human body into the Godhead. He is now “The King Eternal” Immortal, Invisible, the only wise God.” He is the only one (being once mortal) that now has immortality. 1 Tim.1: 17; 6,16. As we are chosen in Christ before time began we are destined for the same goal. Praise God, by his life within us, we are being processed into the substance of the glory of God. We have a glorious expectation for the future. It is as a burning hope placed within us, and we shall not be denied! We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is. Jer.29,11: 1 John 3,2.

Thus we read that Adam knew his wife and she brought forth a son. She named him Cain—meaning: Possession, for she said, “I have gotten a man from the Lord.” But when she gave birth to her second son, she named him Abel, meaning “vanity.” She soon realized that they were not the promised seed that would bruise the serpent’s head. Life was becoming vain and empty until God gave them another son. “And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.” Gen.4,25. Eve was very concerned over her sons. We realize this in the meaning of the names she called them. Though they were not the promised seed, she still acknowledged them as being given by God. Yes, and God continued to give life on this natural realm through their son Seth. He also had a son whom he named Enos, meaning—Man. Thus the generations of Adam have continued unto this day. Thank God for it! For all who have borne the image of the first man, Adam, shall also bear the image of the last man, Adam. 1 Cor.15, 49. Changed from being a living soul into a quickening spirit.

These generations of Adam are all in his own image. They are not in the image of God. He could not reproduce anything higher than himself. He could not bring forth eternal life for death was in his seed. Many children die in their mother’s womb before committing either good or evil. They do not die because of their own sin, but because death is already in them. Let us examine two scriptures for confirmation. “And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and BEGAT A SON IN HIS OWN IMAGE; and called his name Seth.” Gen.5,3. “Therefore, even as through one man sin entered into the world, and through sin death, and thus death passed through into all mankind, ON WHICH ALL SINNED.” Rom.5,12. CCV

In these scriptures we find that Adam begat a son in his own image. Death had entered into his loins because of his disobedience. Therefore death was already present in the seed at the conception in the womb of Eve. The seed could die in the womb before birth. Paul explains this in his writings. Death is passing through unto all mankind by the seed containing death. This causes a weakness or lack of eternal life, which in turn causes a tendency or leaning toward sin. Notice the phrase, “ON WHICH ALL SINNED” not ‘FOR THAT ALL HAVE SINNED.” KJV. Death does not pass on to all men because they sinned—but death is already there in the seed and they can die before committing one small sinful act or thought! Death causes a lack in the seed. Man being born with this lack in his being, craves for fulfillment. When he yields to this weakness, fulfilling his desires unlawfully, it is sin; and then the more he sins the quicker his whole body will deteriorate finally dying completely. We thank God for his plans to bring life out of death; a life in Christ that death or sin can never touch again! This is a much higher realm of life than which the spiritual creation has ever enjoyed. Thus we read that God himself lowered his creation into the realm of death. This subjecting all into the vanity of death is actually for growth into the very life of God.

“For to vanity was the creation subjected, not voluntarily, but because of Him who subjected it, in expectation that the creation itself, also, shall be freed from the slavery of corruption into the glorious freedom of the children of God.” Rom.8,20-21.CCV Please note that God has given every man HOPE. There is always hope for everyone no matter how bound in sin and degradation. He is lowered into this death realm in EXPECTATION of something even better than what he had before. Man can exist in this death realm because the future always looks brighter. When man loses this hope he also loses his mind and finally his life. We are saved by HOPE!

Solomon saw the travail that was laid upon the sons of men that they should be EXERCISED thereby. Exercise brings perfection! Through the interplay of good and evil our senses are exercised to discern both good and evil. Again in this process, Jesus is our example and forerunner. He learned obedience by the things that he suffered, or experienced. He was made perfect and became the AUTHOR of Eternal Redemption, and was made a priest after the order of Melchisadec. He is the first finished man! He conquered death, placing it under his feet. And he is now the image of the Invisible God. Eccl.3,9: Heb.5,14:5,8-10: Col.1,15: Heb.2,8-9.

Since we were chosen in him before time began, we follow him step by step. And by his life within us we are changed from glory to glory even into his very own image. In this glorious processing of God we will ultimately stand in the exact image of Christ, who is the image of God. 11 Cor.3,18: 4,4. This is not a dim photo, or a distorted caricature of God; (part God and part man), but we shall stand in his EXACT LIKENESS, completely changed into his glorious, immortal body; who is the image of the invisible God. “Who will transfigure the body of our humiliation, to conform it to the body of his glory.” Phil.3,21 CCV

Having barely begun our investigation in this tremendous subject, we plan to continue it in our next issue. These thoughts are not given out for contention, but are given out for your consideration and constructive criticism, that we may all come into the truth that liberates into the wide expanse of God. When God said, “let us make man in our image” he meant his VERY SAME IMAGE! He did not mean a faded or dim photograph of himself, neither a distorted likeness as an idol or false God. He meant his own exact image and likeness. In the New Testament the Holy Spirit is very exact when speaking of his image.

In fact we are told the whole Sonship Body—Head and Body as ONE are called “His express image.” In Hebrews 1,2, God is speaking in SON (of SONSHIP). The articles “a” or “the” are not in the original text. It reads like this: “God…hath in these last days spoken unto us in SON, whom he appointed heir of all things, in whom also he made the worlds (eons). Thus this SON includes all God’s Sons who are CO-HEIRS with Jesus Christ, who will eventually inherit the universe. In the Old Testament times the word “Image” had lost its true meaning. It could mean a huge idol or statue, like Nebuchadnezzar’s image which he set up in the plain Dura for all peoples to worship. Or it could mean those two golden calves which the Children of Israel set up for worship in Samaria. Or again it could mean a coin with some inscription of an emperor or king. When Jesus was asked by his disciples whether they to pay tribute to Caesar, Jesus said, “Give me a penny.” Then he asked, “Whose image is this?” And they answered, Caesar’s.” Thus a small coin or a huge statue, or some distorted idol could all be an image. This was not so in the beginning when God said, “Let us make man in our own image and likeness.” God meant his EXACT IMAGE AND HIS EXACT LIKENESS!”

In the Book of Hebrews we find a good example of how minute and particular the Holy Spirit is in speaking of the image of God. Here we find Paul explaining to the Jewish Christians that in the tabernacle of the wilderness, nearly everything was purged with the blood of animals, but that a greater sacrifice was needed to purge the things found in the heaven themselves. Let us read these verses together.

“It was therefore necessary that THE PATTERN of things in the heavens should be purified with these; but THE HEAVENS THEMSELVES with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are THE FIGURES OF THE TRUE, but into THE HEAVENS ITSELF, now to appear in the presence of God for us…For the law having a SHADOW of good things to come, and not THE VERY IMAGE, can never with these sacrifices make the comers there unto perfect.” Heb.9,23-24; 10,1.

In these scriptures we find a contrast made between the PATTERN of the earthly tabernacle and the REALITY of the things in THE HEAVEN THEMSELVES (of which the earthly tabernacle is only a pattern.) Jesus Christ is now the image of the invisible God. While in the earth he walked in humanity. He was made in the image of sinful men, and was found in the fashion of a man, confined in the limitations of all mankind. Paul declares that according to the flesh he came from the seed of David. His genealogy is traced back to David, Abraham and Adam, who was the son of God. Luke 3;38: Rom.1,2-3. Only after he had finished the work God gave him to do did he make another change back into the Spirit. He is now a life-giving Spirit, and as such he is the image of the invisible God.

“This same Jesus has been made (or has become) both Lord and Christ.” Acts 2,36. He brought his whole being, body, soul, and spirit, back into the realm of God. He overcame the world, the flesh and the devil. His very flesh has become God! Yes, he and his Father are ONE! This brings us to that most enlightening word, “BECOME” found in Genesis 2,7. “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man BECAME a living soul.” This word “became” denotes a change was made. A person has to exist before he can become something else. Therefore we believe that Adam preexisted in the realm of the Spirit. In the Spirit he was created and made, Gen.1,26-27. But his flesh body was formed of the dust of the ground.

After God breathed into this flesh body the breath of life, Adam’s spirit entered into it: thus he BECAME A LIVING SOUL. A change was made from the spiritual to the soulish realm. This is plainly revealed as we look into the scriptures. Again Jesus is our example! We follow him in every detail; for the Head and Body are ONE! They are made of the same substance, and in the Spirit are always together; doing the same things: Head and Body follow each other! We read wonderful things about Jesus Christ; what he was, what he is, and what he is yet to become! “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God…And the Word WAS MADE flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1,1-14. KJV. “And the Word BECAME flesh and tabernacles among us.” John 1,14 CCV. “Before the world was created, the Word already existed…The Word BECAME a human being and lived among us.” John 1,1-14. Good News Version. “The first man, Adam became an animate being, whereas the last Adam has become a life giving Spirit.” 1 Cor.15,45 N.E.B

In these four versions before us we see that the words, “was made and became” actually mean the same thing in the original scriptures. So even as the Son of man (Jesus) made a change from the spiritual realm into the earthly realm, we must concede by the use of the same word, “became” that Adam did likewise. He also was lowered from the spiritual to the soulish, fleshly realm. In this lowering of Adam into this soulish realm that would eventually lead into death, we now find the term (even the Christ) also entering into this death realm through the body of Jesus in order to abolish death by the very means of death. Jesus is an incarnation of the Word or Christ. “The children of a family share the same flesh and blood; and so he too shared ours, so that through death he might break the power of him who had death at his command.” Heb.2,14 N.E.B.

Since the children, as he calls them, are people of flesh and blood, Jesus himself BECAME like them and shared their human nature. He did so that through his death he might destroy the devil, (adversary) who has the power over death, and so set free those who were slaves all their lives because of their fear of death.” Heb.2,14. Good News Version.

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Quote:

"Right here may we say that the devil (should use capital D but purposely won’t) never had the power of death. A devil did not bring sin, sickness or death into the world---Adam did! By one MAN (not a devil) came sin into the world and death by sin.) Look in the story of Job! There we find that the devil could not take his life. Thus the devil in this scripture cannot be Satan, but it is our adversary, which is actually Adam himself in this fallen state. We read that in Adam all die! 1 Cor.15,22. Death had entered into Adam’s seed. He could only bring forth death. Thus all his posterity dies! Death is in them at conception. Only Christ has life and therefore can reproduce it! John 5,21. Because the children of a family share the same flesh and blood, Jesus Christ as the Head of a large family of Sons, likewise shares in this same flesh and blood." Royce Kennedy

Our Metamorphosis Into God - Part 2

2011-04-17T19:27:00.002-04:00

“OUR METAMORPHOSIS INTO GOD” by DORA VAN ASSEN—CONTD.

“THE WHOLE CREATION IS GROANING AND WAITING.”

Christ Jesus himself the Spirit within us is groaning to be clothed within and without, covering us completely with his glorious image. All creation is groaning together with groanings that cannot be uttered for this transformation. Even as the mature cells of the moth ate up the dead cells of the caterpillar, so the Life of Christ is consuming the DEAD WORKS of our Old Creation Man. It is a continuous process until the consummation of all things back into God. We were created for this process. God created to make or form all men into his image and likeness. God has given us his Spirit as a pledge or down payment on our complete inheritance in Christ.

But every man in his own order: (1) Christ the first-fruits: (2) afterwards they that are Christ’s at his coming. (appearing): (3) then cometh the end—the rest of the harvest. 1 Cor.15:22-24. I see 3 orders in the Resurrection and all wait upon their own order. In 6000 years, Christ Jesus our Lord is the only one raised from the dead, even Noah, Elijah and Moses died. Jesus said, “No man hath ascended up to heaven.” John 3.13. The appearance of Elijah and Moses on the Mount of Transfiguration was a vision. Matt.17:9. Beloved! In Adam all are dying, except those who are “awake” at the appointed time of his appearing, and they have no advantage over anyone as all are changed together. “That we might be glorified together.” Rom.8,17-18. “And the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we that are alive and remain (survive) shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air (Spirit.” 1 Thess. 4: 14-18.

Our metamorphosis is a return into God. Not back into what we were in Adam in the Garden of Eden—but a returning unto our Father from whom we came. We are begotten of God, born of His Spirit. We have a Heavenly Calling, and we are returning home. “God bringeth man to destruction to say: Return ye children of men!” Ps.90:3. In returning and rest shall ye be saved! Isa. 30:15. Our strength for the heat of the day is in confidence and quietness, waiting upon him. Knowing that he who has begun a good work in us will also finish it, changing us from glory to glory into his very own glorious image. Christ all and in all, bringing us together into that place where God our Father is ALL in ALL—in all his creation. “In the dispensation of The Fulness of Times, God will gather together in One Head, all things in Christ, which are in heaven and which are in earth—even in him!” Eph.1:10. The end of this lesson by Dora!

“INTRODUCTION TO: THE EXACT IMAGE.

For years I had trouble combining the first and second chapters of Genesis, regarding the creation of man. These two chapters seemed to portray two separate accounts of the creation of Adam. Though I began to see that this creating and making of man was progressive, I still could not make it all fit together. There were too many discrepancies in the way it was being interpreted. I even considered the thought that perhaps these two accounts were actually given in allegoric form, thus we could choose the account that we thought was the highest revelation. In fact, this interpretation is accepted in many circles of religion. I now understand that it is one account of God creating and making mankind into his own exact image.

Truth marches onward! I soon began to believe that God was actually prophesying what he intended to do, when he said: “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” Gen.1:26. God began to do this very thing when he formed man out of the dust of the ground, as it is recorded in Gen.2,7. I believe that this work was a process, so that man shall finally stand in the very image of God; even as God himself had prophesied. This interpretation satisfied me for a long time until many questions began to arise concerning these scriptures. For example in Gen.1;27, it states that God did CREATE MAN in his own image during the sixth day. But the formation of man in Gen.2,7 does not take place until after the long seventh day of rest which would be the eighth day. Gen.2,2. Could there be another solution to the problem of these two seemingly different accounts?

Light began to break through on the word “IMAGE.” What kind of image did God mean? Was it to be a natural or spiritual image? God is Spirit! What would his image be like? Meditating upon these questions God gave me the word “EXACT.” Therefore, we present these thoughts contained in this article entitled, “THE EXACT IMAGE,” for your consideration. May we be workers together in him, approved of God, rightly dividing the Word of Truth. God’s Word is Truth. Though Truth stands alone, it stands victorious. Only Truth can set free completely from the dogmas of men. Be not fearful! Even error enhances the truth! Only making Truth brighter! “For we can do nothing against the truth, but for the truth.” 11 Cor.13:8. “For we have no power to act against the truth, but only for it.” 11 Cor.13:8. NEB.

From the very beginning it was God’s intention to make man in his own image and likeness. In the first chapter of the Bible we hear him say: “Let us make man in our image, and after our likeness.” Gen.1:26. Here he is stating his divine intention. He has never changed his mind. Neither sin, nor death, nor time, nor spirit, nor any other force can alter, or stop God in fulfilling his plan. He is sovereign in all that he does. “I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it nor anything taken from it: God doeth it, that men should fear before him.” Eccl.3:14.

The words, “Let us make” infers a process. To make anything requires time, and often different methods to reach the intended goal. There is a vast difference between “making” and “creating”. To create is to bring forth the first original idea, or thought-image into visible form. A copy of this first original idea is not created, but made. Thus we find in Gen.1:1, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” This original idea of creation came forth out of the Spirit of God by the spoken Word (Logos.) Ps.33:6 Rom.11:36 “It is by faith that we understand that the universe was created by God’s Word, so that what can be seen was made out of what cannot be seen.” Heb.11:3 GNT. “By faith we perceive that the universe was fashioned by the Word of God, so that the visible came forth from the invisible.” Heb.11:3 NEB

How can anything be made plainer than these two translations of this scripture? In the first original creation God simply spoke the Word and it was done! But from Gen.1:2, we begin to see a process. The earth was made, or “became” without form and void. The words, “was made,” or “became” denote a change. We will speak of this in detail later. Right now we want to look into the fact that in the remainder of Gen. 1:2 to Gen.2:3, we find two words used regarding the creation. They are “create” and “make”. We even find these two words used together in one verse. “Created and made” Gen.2:3.(This is rendered “Created to make” in the marginal reference.) Therefore the creation as it is today came forth through a process—and it is still a process. This behooves us not to judge anything yet, for God is not finished. He is still moving all creation unto his own ultimate and glorious goal!

In agreement with science, the bible indicates long progressive periods of development in the creating and making of mankind, into the exact image of God. With these thoughts in mind let us study in detail the profound scriptures recorded in Genesis. “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” Gen.1:26-27. Notice that the man is both created and made. In his first creation man is both male and female in one spiritual body.

The way man is formed today out of dust he could not be two flesh bodies in ONE body. Only two or more spirits could be together in one body, occupying the same space. When we are joined to the Lord, we are ONE SPIRIT. 1 Cor.6:17. God is Spirit! Therefore, in creation God brought forth spiritual beings out of himself. The bible confirms this! “God is the FATHER of spirits.” Heb.12:9. God speaks of Adam as both “him” and “them” singular and plural. Also in Gen.5:2, “God called their name Adam.” Both male and female are called “man” or “humanity” showing their perfect unity in bringing forth creation. Furthermore God commanded that THEY were (while yet in this high spiritual state) “to be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion. Gen.1:28. They were to do this while yet in their ONE SPIRITUAL BODY.

Immediately after God commanded Adam to be fruitful and to multiply, we find God resting on the seventh day. Gen.2:2. This seems very strange! At one time in my searching after truth, I thought that God was idle for at least a thousand years. Just think after pronouncing that everything was very good which God had created made during these first six days, I now had God resting, just letting everything lay idle and dormant until God again began to work toward his plan by forming man out of the dust, according to Gen.2:7. Praise God! Light is finally penetrating my subconscious mind. This rest of God was not inertia! For God never slumbers nor sleeps! He is always active! Nothing is ever halted, stagnate nor void! In majestic stages God is moving all creation, visible or invisible onward into his intended goal.

I fully believe that this Spiritual Man, Adam, in his glorious dual body of male and female began to produce after his own kind: this is, Spiritual Beings! He became fruitful and multiplied and replenished the earth. God had set his plan in motion to bring many sons to glory in his own image and likeness. After starting things off (so to speak) during the first six days of creation, we read that God rested on the seventh day from all that he had created and made. To be sure God rested from this work of creating, but Adam obeyed his command. He started to work, bringing forth myriads of Spiritual Beings, according to God’s command and plan. The word “multiply” means to increase by division. Could this be an increase in development by one cell dividing into two cells, and two cells dividing into four cells, etc? even as an embryo is formed in the womb? Let that be as it may, it was a Spiritual Multiplication in order to replenish (fill up again) the earth. Praise God, they stood integrated together in perfect unity, subduing the earth; having dominion over all the work of God’s hands. This will again be seen in greater measure in the GREAT BODY OF CHRIST: male and female swallowed up in him---many members in ONE CHRIST EXPRESSION, filling the universe with his glory.

Adam (male & female) in this Spiritual Creation did not receive his flesh body until after the seventh day in which God rested. In Gen.2:7, we read that God made an earthen vessel for this man to dwell in. “God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man BECAME a living soul. Gen.2:7. The identity, personality, character and nature are found in the soul. We know each other by our spirit-soul expression. The flesh changes in appearance continually, from our pre-natal conception, through baby-hood, childhood, manhood into full age. Our flesh bodies have gone through many stages of growth, yet we know each other. This dust formation of man is marvelous to consider. He was made from the highest dust of the world. Prov.8:26. We cannot go into this aspect of this soulish formation at this time, neither can we explain in detail the meaning of the word “became”. Just hold it in mind that it means a CHANGE HAD BEEN MADE FROM ONE REALM TO ANOTHER REALM.

As soon as this soulish flesh man is formed, we find that God places him in the Garden of Eden to “till and keep (guard) it. Gen.2:15. We can readily see why God needed a fleshly material man to work in this material world; for at this point in his plan, “there was no man to till (cultivate) the ground. Gen.2:5. Only a mist arose from the earth to water the ground. Man has now become a triune being: spirit, soul, and body. In his spirit he is God-conscious; in his soul he is self-conscious; and in his body he is material-conscious. Only in this bodily aspect of his being could he till the ground, or become visible to the animal world around him; thus having fellowship with the natural creation.

Though he now had to eat food to sustain his natural body, I am sure he enjoyed cultivating the ground, as there were no noxious weeds and thorns to oppose his efforts. In this peaceful state of innocence we can see that Adam enjoyed the natural things around him. Especially the animal world! He learned all about them—their habits, character, and nature. When God paraded them before him he was able to name each one according to their nature. In his close observation of them he noticed that each had his, or her mate. Only he himself was the only one who had no visible, bodily mate. We soon read that it was “not good” for man to live alone in this state. “And the Lord God said, It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him an help MEET for him.” Gen.2:18. God did not say that he would make a HELP-MATE, but a HELP-MEET (fit-worthy) for him. An animal would not do, neither anything lower than himself. She had to be his exact counter-part, standing face to face with him, therefore had to be taken out of his own body.

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You may find Jeff Priddy's following article interesting and echoing some of the information Sis. Dora was teaching about the creation of the woman being the angular organ (womb):

http://www.gtft.org/Library/condon/TheMakingOfWomanPriddy.htm

Our Metamorphosis Into God

2011-04-13T13:25:00.003-04:00

OUR METAMORPHOSIS INTO GOD…By: DORA VAN ASSEN.

“Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” 1 Peter 1;23. “Having been regenerated (begotten again) not from corruptible, but from incorruptible Seed through the living and indwelling Word of God.” Diaglott 1 Peter 1;23.

For you have a new life. It was not passed unto you from your parents, for the life they gave you will fade away. This new one will live forever, for it comes from Christ, God’s ever-living message to men. Yes, our natural life will fade as does the grass when it becomes all brown and dry. All our greatness is like a flower that droops and falls; but the Word of the Lord will last forever, and His massage is the GOOD NEWS that was preached to you.” 1 Peter 1;23-25..The Living Bible.

I cannot say it any plainer than this: “In Adam all are dying.” 1 Cor.15; 22. LCNT. All Adam can do is bring forth death. Death is in his seed. It is corruptible seed having no eternal life. Death is in a baby at conception. David said: “In sin did my mother conceive me.” He was not slurring or degrading his mother; he was explaining the imperfection of the male SPERM and the female OVUM—both contain sin and death. All of us were born into this natural death realm in our own order. There is only one way out! “In Christ ALL are being made alive.” 1 Cor.15;22.

This is also a process, each in their own order. He same “ALL” that are dying is the same “ALL” that are being made alive in Christ. This is a gift of God which no man can earn. No man can sacrifice for it—or even believe for it. Faith is a gift of God! Eternal life is a gift of God! It is a quality of life that only Christ obtained through His death and resurrection. Eternal means age lasting or life for the ages. “He is the Lord eternal, invisible, immortal, the only wise God, be honor and glory forever & ever—the ages of ages, Amen.” 1 Tim.1; 17. LCNT.

“The Rock of Ages” a song we all love! Praise God, He is our ROCK! A rock is a natural thing and lasts only for a time. It is one of the most enduring things we know about our environment here on earth. We read of the “everlasting hills” and every one will be leveled and made smooth. These are all metaphors meaning strength and endurance. Christ is our strength, giving us inner strength and power to endure. We can depend on him in this natural life. He will never leave or forsake us in our time of need in this Old creation dying body. He is the incorruptible, immortal, deathless seed within us by which we are being born again into the New Creation Man.

THE TWO SEEDS

It all depends on the TWO SEEDS!
1…In Adam all are dying because the seed is corrupt-mortal-dying. The first man, Adam, was made a living soul, which can die. Only Christ has immortality. 1 Tim.6;16.

2…The Last Adam (Christ Jesus) was made a life giving Spirit, which cannot die. Death has no more dominion over him. He arose an Immortal deathless SEED, able to reproduce himself in his creation millions upon millions of times. One in-Christed creation expressing the Father. Heb.1;3.3…It was all finished at the cross when he cried, “FINISHED!” He proved it when he rose triumphantly out from this whole realm of death into the glory of his Father. He ratified it when he returned as Lord & Christ to enter into his Spiritual Kingdom within the heart and mind of men as the Holy Spirit, “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

The Holy Spirit and Christ are synonymous terms. They are ONE! “Christ is the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” How does Jesus, the Christ enlighten every man that cometh into the world? He does it in and through you and me. And the spirit of man, is the candle of the Lord, and David said, “For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Ps. 18,28.

While here in his earthly ministry, Jesus was the Light of the World. When his work was finished, he said, “ye are the light of the world.” We, the Body of Christ are the expression of God in creation today. We bring into visible manifestation all the work of God accomplished in and through his Son Jesus Christ in his death and resurrection.

At the cross, “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself.” 11 Cor.5;19. How did he do this? In the death of Jesus, who was (the Word made flesh, the anointed Christ) God reached back in time to the first man Adam who had not only brought death into this realm, but had died, himself returning to dust, with all who died in him. This included those that were yet in the dying stage at that time; and then God reached forward in time to those in the invisible realm who were not yet born into this dying realm into which we are living now. “If one died for all, then were all dead: and he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.” He died and rose again for all. We that have been made aware of this fact should be living for him. But this does not exclude the ones who have not been awakened to this truth.

They are included in his death and resurrection. He died for all and he arose for all. All will be awakened to this truth in their own time and season. “All shall know him, from the least to the greatest.” It was finished in his death and resurrection. The Body of Christ in the earth today is the visible expression of God’s love and mercy extended to all men. “God is so loving the world that he is still giving His Son to the world.” John 3,16. LCN. This is ongoing love! It never fails or lapses! It’s not on or off! It is a steady stream of light and love unto all. The sons united in the Body of Christ as one corporate man, are the Light of the world.

Christ in us is Life & Light unto the world. This is the true light awakening every man to what is already lying dormant in him from birth. We cannot give life, but we can give information and confirmation to the Christ already given to them in the spirit before they were born—a pre-birth Wisdom above and beyond intelligence. Christ speaking to Christ—Spirit witnessing to Spirit. While we are ministering Christ, letting our light shine into the world around us, a gradual change is taking place within us, by consuming the dead works caused by our carnal mind. “The carnal mind is death.” It can only think dead thoughts which bring forth dead works. These thoughts are consumed and exchanged into the Mind of Christ.

“How much more shall the blood (life) of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?” Heb. 9;14 It was done in his death, now it is being made real in us as our conscience is awakened to his presence. The old mind is removed and the “mind of Christ” lays hold of these truths. Paul said; “Ye have the mind of Christ.” And exchange of mind takes place. This is true repentance—METANOIA in the Greek, means a repentance that cannot be repented of. We can never turn around and go back to the old ways of thinking. Repentance is a gift of God. (Acts 5;31 & 11;18) A man cannot change his ways by himself. It takes the Spirit of Christ within him to change his mind. There is a power working in man above what he can ask or think. But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed (metamorphosed) into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord. 11 Cor. 3; 18.

According to the dictionary, metamorphosis means—a change in form, structure and function. Especially in the physical change undergone by some animals, as the tadpole into a frog—any change in character, appearance and condition. Because scientists use this word about insects and animals taking different forms in their metamorphosis, Christians have become afraid to use it; though surely we are having a change in our mind that is “metamorphosing” our vocabulary and character, even our appearance, as we are being born again by the Incorruptible Seed of Christ into a totally new creation, completely severed and different from the Old Creation. Once I believed that since we were born of the Seed of Jesus, that God was bringing forth a bunch of LITTLE JESUS MEN.

Now I know that in his resurrection Jesus made a change or was made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2;36) and is now living in me and in you. “Christ in you the hope of glory---Christ is our Life---And our life is hid with Christ in God---when he appears we appear with him in glory. Col.3; 3-4. We are now the Body of Christ, bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh. He is changing this body from glory to glory into his very image. Just what that glory is I do not know, as “God gives everyone a body as it pleases Him.” 1 Cor.15: 37-38. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is!” 1 John 3, 1-3. Not as he was, Jesus of Nazareth, but The Christ, The Lord of Glory!

THE METAMORPHOSIS IN NATURE

The cycle of sowing and reaping is broken in Christ. Jesus was made both Lord and Christ. He was made perfect! He was made a priest after the order of Melchizedek. In order to do this the law had to be changed, also the priesthood was changed. Heb.7,11-22. We have many examples of this in nature. One illustration of this, known to most of us, is the metamorphosis of the tadpole into a frog. The tadpole comes from the egg. The frog comes from the tadpole. The tadpole is entirely different from the egg. The frog is entirely different from both the tadpole and the egg; though the cells forming the frog were lying dormant in the egg and also in the tadpole, until the time for its own metamorphosis into a frog. God has chosen this cycle of development in the perpetuation of certain of his creation. It is different with mankind. As I have said before, because Jesus may have been the seed, it does not follow that another Jesus is to be brought forth. For God will give that seed the body it pleases him to give it. 1 Cor.15,38.

It will not be the same old cycle, but it becomes a process through which we are brought to perfection. We have been created for this process of development—a formative process into a final perfection: being changed from glory to glory into his very image. When God said he would make man into his image and likeness, he did not mean according to one mold, all alike. The image and likeness of God encompasses a variety above the comprehension of man; and yet mankind will be in that VARIETY, thus able to manifest God.

METAMORPHOSIS OF A MOTH

We want to take the metamorphosis of a moth as an illustration of our own metamorphosis into God. There are 4 stages in a complete metamorphosis: 1…The moth lays the egg. 2…The egg becomes the caterpillar. 3…The caterpillar becomes the chrysalis. 4…The chrysalis becomes the moth. This completes the cycle, to be gone through over and over, in order to perpetuate the moth. This is not so with mankind! It is not a series of different lives lived at different times as in re-incarnation. Our lives come out from God, and we are all going through a process of development to bring us into perfection. I see that we have come through various eons for our growth and development. We read in Heb.2;14, because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, Jesus likewise took part of the same. In other words, it was our lot to pass through this life of flesh and for that reason Jesus also took part of it.

If we became partakers of flesh, then we must have been children before we became partakers of this life of flesh. This is not re-incarnation! It is the passing of one stage of development into another or a metamorphosis. In the illustration of the moth, I can see that we are now in such a process. We may take natural things to illustrate spiritual truths. Jesus did in his parables! In fact, we are instructed to do this in Romans 1,20. Let us not be afraid to accept the truth that scientists are bringing to light; things that are in harmony with the scriptures. A FORMATIVE PROCESS! “God FORMED man of dust!” Gen.2,7. A process that still goes on to perfection. In our illustration, the egg—is the first stage of development. It is fertilized, and the cells begin to grow. A strange event takes place!

A definite spot is formed in the egg from which the legs and wings of the moth shall grow called: The THORAX. From this spot a wave of determinism spreads out and directs certain cells into their specific roles to be performed in the future life of the larva or second stage of development. Soon there is a second wave that assigns other cells to their roles in the third and fourth stages. Remember, all this takes place while it is just an EGG. There are two clusters of cells. The first cluster controls the growth and development of the caterpillar. The second group which was formed is held in a dormant form and will have no effect or will do no work until the moth is formed in the body of the caterpillar. At this point the embryo appears to be only a ball of cells.

Yet in it the plan for development of two different life forms is laid out. The organism of the caterpillar and the moth in one tiny egg, yet separated, never interfering with each other, doing their own work at their appointed time. The first set of cells, controlling the caterpillar, act quickly, causing the caterpillar to emerge from the egg. This caterpillar grows and molts a number of times. It grows by its cells enlarging. It keeps the same number of cells. It has but one mission in life and that is to eat. It spends its whole life eating, for there is a time when the moth appears, when it does not eat. Here is one likeness to our own development. Some of us certainly like to eat everything God sends our way, so we “may know him and the power of his resurrection that we may grow thereby. Jesus said it was the time for our eating and drinking, for a time will come when we shall eat no more. For the water will have become a well of living water SPRINGING UP WITHIN US. We will be giving out to others, having become ONE with the SOURCE. Just before the moth begins to form in the caterpillar, all its inward parts turn to liquid. Haven’t we felt like our inward parts are being melted as we wait in his presence? Knowing the type of the caterpillar is true, we can rest assured that the time of our change is near. “Praise God!” Our redemption is drawing nigh!

At the proper time, certain glands in the head of the caterpillar tells it that it is time to die, and the caterpillar begins to die. Yet at the same time, messages are given to the moth that it is time to grow. Each set of cells begin to do their appointed work. The adult cells of the moth begin to grow and they use the dead cells of the caterpillar for their growth. The caterpillar loses all its legs, and in their place is only the long legs of the moth growing out from the thorax or middle part of the body. When all its members are complete, it is time to emerge from the chrysalis. It takes about 20 minutes for its wings to dry; and about 2 hours for them to develop into their full use. It is now a moth. The metamorphosis is complete. The moth has returned to its original state.

METAMORPHOSIS—OUR RETURN INTO GOD

“For of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things.” Romans 11,36. Source, Guide and Goal of all this is—to Him be glory for ever, Amen! Rom.11,36: New English Bible.

In this scripture we can readily see that God is the source of all things. All things are OUT OF GOD himself. Before the creation there was nothing—no-thing, only invisible spirit. “Through faith we understand that the worlds were (made) formed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” In other words, everything we see was once spirit—in the spirit mind of God. Just a thought before it was spoken into expression. Not only is God the Source but also the Guide of all things. God is controlling and directing all into his desired Goal, which is himself. All was breathed out of him; and all is being inhaled back into him! In his time and order! 1 Cor.15, 22-23. “As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.” 1 Cor.15;49. “As we have worn the likeness of man of dust, so we shall wear the likeness of the heavenly man.” 1 Cor.15, 49. N.E.B. This is a guarantee that all who have worn Adam’s likeness (body) of dust shall also wear the likeness (body) of the second Adam, Christ.

In other words, the very fact that we are clothed in fleshly dust bodies is the guarantee that we shall be changed into his very image—a Heavenly Light Body! Only those who are mortal shall put on immortality. Death is swallowed up of life. 11 Cor.5;4. 1 Cor.15;54. Therefore we are not discouraged! Though the outward man is decaying, yet day by day our INNER MAN is being renewed; while looking at the things that are not seen, for we know the things we can see are passing away. This outward body that we can see is not eternal, it is dying. It is the INNER MAN, the one we cannot see that is eternal, being the very seed of God and cannot die. It is the gift of God given to all creation.

“For we know that if the tent of our earthly dwelling be taken down, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, aionian in the heavens (our inner Christ-mind realm). 11 Cor.5,1. This is assured to all, we already have it, though many are unaware of it! They have never been awakened to this fact. Just living in their carnal mind which is death. This is the true definition of death. Jesus said: “Let the dead bury the dead”. The pall bearers at this funeral Jesus was referring to, were as dead as the man lying in the casket which they were carrying to the grave. Lack of understanding or ignorance of the spiritual things of God is death. “Wherefore he saith, awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.” Eph.5;14.

John G. Lake - The Wideness of God's Mercy

2011-04-13T00:46:00.001-04:00

Lived from 1870 - 1935 - One of God's servants of boldest faith who was tremendously used of God as a missionary in South Africa, and in the US as a pastor, with thousands of people healed and baptized in the Holy Spirit through his ministry.

As I was reading the writings of some of his sermons and testimonies, I heard the reconciling heart of God in him. In the following he relates some of a women's testimony:

"One thing stands forth in Mrs. Norton's word - that the touch of Jesus imparted to her a life and power and healing virtue and saving grace so mighty, so intense that the curse of hell in which she had lived for four years vanished instantly. Blessed be God.

So the touch of Jesus in the soul of man liberated the nature of man from the bondages of darkness, of sin, doubt, or fear, and lifts the soul of man into the likeness and righteousness of Christ's, translating his very spirit into the kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. There is a kingdom of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ into which the spirit of man has the privilege to enter.

Our sister tells us that her spirit left her body and went with the Lord into the heavenlies; that He showed her the estate of the really redeemed; that He showed her also what those endure who know not God and are yet in darkness. And as she told us these things, one thing came to my soul: a prayer to God that by His grace my soul may grow big enough that when my ministry in this world is acomplished, I may yet have the privilege of proclaiming the salvation of the ever-dying Christ wherever such be needed.

I knew one man who once said in my hearing that he prayed that God Almighty would cause him to grow big enough in God and pure enough in heart that he might go even to the damned and preach Jesus Christ and His resurrection and His salvation. My soul said, "Amen, and it has been saying amen ever since. Blessed be His name.

So I have become an enthusiast for the Son of God. His salvation to me is the mightiest conception that ever dawned in the nature of man or God. And I long and pray and rejoice in the expectation of a day to come when the universal race of man and the angels in heaven and creatures of earth will join in one glad song of holy power and glory to the Son of God, saying as the Scriptures indicate, "Honor and might and glory and blessing be unto Him who liveth forever and ever. Amen."

One of his poems:

There's a wideness in God's mercy,
Like the wideness of the sea:
There's a kindness in His Justice,
Which is more than liberty.

But we make His love too narrow
By false limits of our own,
And we magnify His strictness
With a zeal He will not own.

There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in His blood.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man's mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.

If our lives were but more simple,
We should take Him at His word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of our Lord.

"Little Women"

2011-04-13T00:10:00.004-04:00

Last at the cross,
First at the grave,
Preached the first gospel message,
After seeing where He had laid.

Resurrection Life they proclaimed,
"He is risen from the dead.
It is all so very true,
These wonderous words that He said."

"Destroy this temple
And in three days I'll raise it up."
Making a complete mockery
Of sin and death's fatal grip.

First witnesses to the greatest story ever told
"Little women" with Spirits so bold
Still herald this same message
The defeat of Death's cold icy hold.

Absolute Zero

2011-04-01T19:18:00.001-04:00

I read this article on another site and thought it was excellent - so am sharing it here.

It is by David Weber from King David's Table:

Have any of you heard of the natural phenomena called ABSOLUTE ZERO? Theoretically, scientists believe that if the temperature of minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit can be reached, everything just stops, in that all thermal energy of matter at that temperature vanishes.

Spiritually speaking, I believe that this pictures for us absolute REST IN GOD, a place where all self-seeking and self-initiative of man is COMPLETELY FROZEN. Jesus demonstrated to the world a man brought to absolute zero, that in and of Himself, JESUS DID ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Now, at absolute zero there is another natural phenomena that occurs. This phenomena is called SUPERCONDUCTIVITY. This is when electricity can be sent through a conductor at 100% efficiency without any voltage loss because there is NO LONGER ANY RESISTANCE. This means that the FULL POWER of the electricity is realized through the conductor and is transmitted perfectly.

Beloved, Jesus also pictures this superconductivity phenomena for us. Because there was no resistance in Him to do the will of the Father, Jesus became a SUPERCONDUCTOR of the full expression of the life of the Father. He was given THE SPIRIT WITHOUT MEASURE, and the power of the Spirit flowed through Jesus perfectly.

Dear ones, "absolute zero" and Jesus both picture for us THE FULLNESS OF REST which equals the FULLNESS OF POWER. This also pictures for us Sons who will do only the will of THE FATHER and because of this they will be empowered with the Spirit without limits.

Beloved, do you see why God has had me writing what He has lately? Do you see where we must be brought to and why? Absolute zero is a theoretical phenomena as far as the scientists of this world are concerned. Men by their own strength and wisdom have not been able to reach absolute zero. But what is impossible for man is possible with God. Now, He may not have any interest in allowing men to drop the temperature to minus 459 degrees, but I can assure you that He is quite interested in bringing forth Sons in the likeness and image of the Son, Super-conduits for His life and love and power to flow into this world.

The question is now though, just who is willing to surrender to Him to the extent that He can have that?

You?

Me?

Our hearts are surely being measured.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

PS...

Absolute Zero is certainly describing those who shall attain to sonship, even those through whom God shall rule in the Kingdom of the coming age. I think that it is also important to note here that this rulership is distinctly attached to sonship and not brideship. What I mean by this is that sonship is characterized by a military type [my comment: military in the sense of ruling and reigning... having authority and power to do so] of loyalty to the Father whereas brideship is characterized by deep intimacy with the Lord and sweet fellowship with the Body.

Brideship is certainly no small thing, as one must be presented to the Lord as a "chaste virgin," which means that the womb of one's soul-mind must no longer receive seed (or direction) from the (unregenerate) spirit of man or the spirit of the world (the devil). This is still not sonship though. No. Sons come forth out of the brideship relationship, but then they must be proven worthy to be given ruling authority from the Father. This proving is most often done in very painful and solitary places. We can see this work all throughout the scriptures in type and shadow.

Love Is A Frequency!

2011-03-28T19:10:00.001-04:00

Love is not just a thought that produces a feeling.....LOVE is a frequency- a God frequency!

Love is a vibration, a level of consciousness unto Itself.

In Dr. Hawkins levels-of-consciousness-map that he shares, he shows Love is a 500 level. At this level one individual counterbalances 750,000 people who function below the 200 level (the more negative vibes).

http://seeingwhatyoubelieve.blogspot.com/2007/12/map-of-consciousness.html

It also tested out to show this is the level, too, of song birds songs, and a cat's purr or a dog's wagging tail....can't leave our precious pets or animal kingdom out.

"The people who know God well - those who risk everything to find God - always meet a Lover, not a dictator."
Richard Rohr

Everything Is Spiritual

2011-03-18T00:51:00.001-04:00

by Rob Bell

The following is a full length video that I very much enjoyed watching.....it is a teaching by Rob Bell and I would like to pass the link along for those who would like to hear how the new science and the creation story mesh.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=77024018179262526#

Rob also has a new book just out, Love Wins, A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.

It is a confirmation of the God of Love that many of us have been teaching about for some time.

In His Great Love for all,
Karen

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I thought I would tack an older post of mine on here for it echoes, in a way, what Rob B. is teaching on how everything is related.......it is Energy in relationship with Itself.

The Conscious Universe

by Dr. David Hawkins

from Power vs. Force

"Thousands of reports of near-death experiences, as reflected in such bestselling books as Dannion Brinkley's Saved By the Light or Betty J. Eadies, Embraced by the Light confirm that we shall eventually have to accept responsibility for every thought, word, and deed we generate, and will reexperience exactly the same sufferings we've caused. It's in this sense that we each create our own heaven or hell.

The universe holds its breath as we choose, instant by instant, which pathway to follow, for the universe, the very essence of life itself, is highly conscious. Every act, thought, and choice adds to a permanent mosaic, our decisions ripple through the universe of consciousness to affect the lives of all. Lest this idea be considered either merely mystical or fanciful, let's remember that fundamental tenet of the new theoretical physics: Everything in the universe is connected with everything else.

Our choices reinforce the formation of powerful M-Fields, which are the attractor patterns that influence others whether we wish them to or not. Every act or decision we make that supports life supports all life, including our own. The ripples we create return to us - this, which may once have seemed a metaphysical statement, is now established as scientific fact."

Everything in the universe constantly gives off an energy pattern of a specific frequency that remains for all time and can be read by those who know how. Every word, deed, and intention creates a permanent record. Every thought is known and recorded forever. There are no secrets; nothing is hidden, nor can it be. Our spirits stand naked in time for all to see - everyone's life, finally, is accountable to the universe."

Even Jesus told us in Matthew 12:

"That out of the fullness - the overflow, the superabundance - of the heart the mouth speaks.

The good man (our spirit man) from his inner good treasure flings forth good things, and the evil man (the carnal mind) out of his inner evil storehouse flings forth evil things.

But I tell you, on the day of judgement men will have to give account for every idle (inoperative, non-working) word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified and acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned and sentenced."

And of course, all words that are spoken are most often prefaced by thought or intention. But oftentimes, those "inoperative" or less than positive ones are spouted off from just an old program that has been downloaded into our consciousness in the past and shoots to the forefront and out our mouth before we realize what we are actually doing. For instance, have you ever found yourself saying something that your Mother or Grandmother often repeated to you: "Put a hat on or you''ll catch a death of cold." We all have some old programming from Mom or Dad, religion, or culture that we are having to relegate to the "recyle bin" for it is proving nonproductive to the life of Christ that is our truth.

And besides proving nonproductive in our own lives, we are making a deposit into the collective gene pool of consciousness for all. We are creating a surplus or a deficit by our choices.

Praise God, for the many chosen choice words of Life that many share that is tipping the scale in favor of life for all.

Love and blessings,
Karen

Madagascar Vanilla??

2011-03-09T23:09:00.003-05:00

We are exhorted by the writer of Hebrews, chapter 6:

"Therefore let us go on and get past the elementary stage in the teachings and doctrine of Christ, the Messiah, advancing steadily toward the completeness and perfection that belongs to spiritual maturity. LET US NOT AGAIN BE LAYING THE FOUNDATION of repentance and abandoment of dead works [dead formalism], and of the faith [by which you turned] to God,

With teachings about purifying, the laying on of hands, the resurrection from the dead, and eternal judgment and punishment. [These are all matters of which you should have been fully aware long, long, ago.]

If indeed God permits we will [now] proceed [to advanced teaching].

Please notice that it does not say we are to LAY ASIDE these principles but we are not to LAY THEM AGAIN. I think some in the Body of Christ have interpreted this to mean we are to lay these principles aside or dispense with them even.

How well do we think that a master builder would fare who tore out his foundation and proceeded to build without one. I think Jesus called that kind of builder "the foolish man" who built his house upon the sand when it was a Rock Hard Foundation that he needed first and foremost for his house to stand.

Let's say I am going to make a cake, but I misread the receipe and think it says to abandon, not add, the flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and leavening but instead I'm a little entranced with the sound of this one wonderful exotic flavoring called Madagascar vanilla for, after all, it comes from an orchid bean grown in the jungle of a remote faraway island.....seems almost magical this stuff...and it has this heavenly aroma. But can I really make a cake with only Madagascar vanilla? Well no, it is only effective if its added to the flour, eggs, sugar, butter, and leavening.

Ephesians 2:20

"You are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus Himself the chief Cornerstone.

In Him the whole structure is joined (bound, welded) together harmoniously; and it continues to rise (grow, increase) into a holy temple in the Lord - a sanctuary dedicated, concecrated and sacred to the presence of the Lord.

In Him - and in fellowship with one another - you yourselves also are being built up [into this structure] with the rest, to form a fixed abode (dwelling place) of God in the Spirit."

1 Corinthians 3:11

"For no other foundation can any one lay than that which is [already] laid, which is Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the Anonted One.

Yes, most definitely, we want to go on to more advanced teaching that helps brings the Body into maturity, even the more exotic flavors, but I don't believe it means to discard our foundation......we just are not to keep rehearsing the basics adnauseun, but as the Grace of God permits we are brought into deeper, wider, and higher places in Him.

If you want to build a skyscraper, (one that touches the heavens) you have to go deeper before you ever can go higher.

God's Unfailing Love Revealed in the Cross - by Dora Van Assen

2011-03-03T20:13:00.002-05:00

I am happy to report that the Lighthouse Library has a copy of Sis. Dora Van Assen's book and a picture of her chart of the eons that God gave her in her vision. She was slain in a trance-vision for four hours and was caught up in the Shekinah glory of God.

http://www.lighthouselibrary.com/read.php?sel=4604&searchfor=VAN ASSEN, DORA &type=&what=author

For the chart too:
http://www.lighthouselibrary.com/searchdb.php?what=author&searchfor=

VAN ASSEN, DORA
&type=&show=titles&showitems=

The Autobiography of Dora Van Assen

2011-02-28T00:51:00.002-05:00

With Bobbie Mc Gonegal

His Story Lived Through Me
by Dora Van Assen

KNOW THYSELF, O MAN!

Dost thou discern, O Man, why I care so much for thee?
Or dost thou understand for what purpose thou wast made?
Or that I, even I, brought thee forth from my own seed?
Before ever the foundations of the earth were laid?

Thy substance was not hid when thou wast made in secret,
Curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Mine eyes did see thy members being yet imperfect,
And in my book were written before I gave thee birth.

Before the mountains settled, or the rivers ran,
Or before the mighty sea divided from the land,
And beat it's roaring billows upon the shifting san,
When as yet ther were no depths, I brought thee forth, O Man!

Where wert thou when the earth was laid by my appointment,
When the Morning Stars chorused in glorious refrain?
When to the Sons of God there was no disappointment,
And before All fell under the thrall of sin's domain?

Wast thou not with ME then, being daily my delight,
Exulting in MY desire, reflecting all MY Light,
Living in MY presence, a fountain of ageless youth?

Did I not send thee down from the womb of the Morning,
Down into this world, fallen in sin and vanity?
Partaking thus of flesh and blood until the Dawning?
Of Man's deliverance and ascension into Me!

Why art thou cast down, O Man, and why dost thou despair?
Can thou not understand my own purpose for thee?
Even though passing through this route, thou art my treasure rare!
Thy face etched on my hand is MY LIKENESS THAT I SEE!!

Dedication

I want to didicate this book to my fataher, Klaas Kooy, and mother, Elizabeth Gortzak Kooy, who had the vision, courage, and determination to leave their native Holland and travel third class by boat with nine children to come to America, the land of opportunity, where every man is considered equal and has the right to rise to a higher way of life.

I also wish to honor my five brothers and six sisters who where so patient with me when I was a shy and awkward child, living in a dream world. I am blessed to be their sister.

Finally, I would like to remember all my friends and helpers in the gospel. Without these dear, precious people, this story could never have been written. We truly are all members one of another, all workers and laborers together in God, and as one, we all share alike in the glorious reward.

Acknowledgements

My life has been made up of bits and pieces of peoples and nations and tongues. I have ministered in every state in the union, except Alaska, Maryland, and Maine; and in eleven foreign countries. Although some only touched my life for a few minutes and no words were even exchanged, each one has played a special part in my life.

I want to express my love, appreciation and thanks to all my friends, scattered like salt, throughout America. You opened up your homes and your churches and you small gathering places in halls and basements. Wherever I was, you opened your hearts gladly to hear this wonderful message of God's reconciliation for all mankind.

Everywhere I laid my head was home, and it still it. I always had a place provided for me, from the slums of America to the jungles of Africa. God watched over me through these precious, wonderful people.

Some of your names are mentioned in various places throughout the book. Only lack of space prohibits the naming of everyone dear to my heart. However, I would like to honor David Hulse and Judy and Peter Demetris whose ministries and messages have had an enormous effect on me, changing me inwardly and awakening me to my true identity as Christ. I also appreciate Rhoda and Will Geeson, and Dale and Dorothy Davis, fellow workers in the gospel, who opened their hearts and homes to be during my years in California. I am blessed to have ministered with Dennis and Irene Johnson from Colorado, and I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Flo Haidt. In addition, I want to give special thanks to Edna Bass and the people of Faith Chapel, and to Bobbi McGonegal for all their help in getting this book into print.

Above all, I wish to acknowledge and praise my Heavenly Father, Creator of the universe to which I am related!

FOREWARD

For eight years, I was blessed to have shared my home with Dora Van Assen. As with many others whose lives she has touched, she has had a tremendous effect on me. Like all of us, she has her short-comings, but we know that the Lord God has accepted man as His equal. When Dora goes forth in the mighty anointing of God, I see her represent Him as truly Man and truly God. Dora has, most surely, been as John the Baptist to many during her world-wide ministry.

You will delighted and blessed, as I am, with the dealings of Christ in her life. If ever a person was called and anointed to preach and teach, it is Dora Van Assen.

Flora Belle Haidt
12-1-90

The Autobiography of Dora Van Assen- Chap. 1 & 2

2011-02-28T00:50:00.002-05:00

Chapter 1 - A DREAM COME TRUE

The Answer To The Dream

"Mother"! Children! Come here! Come here! I have wonderful news!" shouted my father, his deep blue eyes twinkling with excitement. "The Lord had done a wonderful thing for us. There is a Dutch company advertising that they will pay half our passage to America if we sign an agreement to work out the rest of the fare by plowing on some prairie land they own over there," Thus began God's answer to my father's boyhood dream.

Dad had come from a very poor people, and when he was only eight years old, his father had died. He only had about a year-and-a-half of schooling, and he then had to go to work in a stable. When the owner of the stable would go to town, my dad had to go with him, and it was his job to hold the horse while the farmer was conducting his business. As he waited, he was required to remove his hat and keep it under his arm as a show of respect to the farmer. He just hated the fact that he always had to take off his hat for that rich man, so he longed for the day when he would be his own boss.

During those years his mother began to have seizures while going through the change of life. Sometimes, when my dad would come home, he would find his mother in one of those spells, and she wouldn't have made anything to eat. Then, occasionally, the neighbor lady would knock on the wall and say, "Come on over here, Klaas. We have some food for you." And she would give him some bread with cooked potatoes that she had made into a sandwich. If he was still hungry, he would ask her for more, but she would say, "There are a lot of sacks that are only half full that are tied up, so just pull in your belt another notch and go on to bed and go to sleep" Many nights he would cry himself to sleep, still hungry. My father began to dream of coming to America.

I often heard him say that America was the land of opportunity for man, the "promised land" for today. And I can see that my father was right, for even on our dollar bill it says, "The New Order of the Ages," and "In God We Trust." This country was built upon a new order, a new way, the order of democracy.

SHARING THE PREPARATIONS

So, my family began to save all the money they could. There were nine of us children at the time, ranging in age from one to about seventeen, and everyone who could contribute did. (There had actually been ten children, but one little girl died very young.) I was next to the youngest, and didn't really understand what was going on.

Even though she had all of us to care for, my mother began sewing for the neighbors and saving that money for the trip. She had had one year extra in school to learn to be a seamtress, and by the time she was twelve, she carried a little hand sewing machine from door to door to get work. Now her talent was again earning money.

My three older brothers, Nick, Pete, and Bill, all about a year apart, were also working. They graduated from grammer school at about twelve years of age, and then they went to work. That money was put with my mother's sewing money and the money by father got when he could contract extra jobs.

When they had saved enough for one fare, they sent my seventeen year old brother, Nick, on to America with some other people so he might go before us and scout out the land.

OFF TO AMERICA

Finally, the glorious day arrived when there was money for the rest of us to book a third class passage. With trembling and excitement, wonder and expectation, we packed our meager belongings and boarded the ship to America.

I really don't remember the trip, but I do know that my baby brother, Jan William, cried endlessly, struggling against the fever and sickness that had begun to rage in his tiny body.

At long last, the Statue of Liberty came into view, and the people on the ship cried and cheered and waved their arms and hugged one another in an outpouring of exhaustion, joy, and relief. For all of us, the Statue of Liberty was the symbol of a new life.

We landed at Ellis Island, and I know that must have been a humiliating experience for everyone, because we all had to strip and be hosed off and deloused. Eventually, all of were processed through, and we were permitted to go on our way, which for our family meant boarding a train for North Dakota.

By this time, the baby seemed worse, and the group we were traveling with tried to persuade my mother to stay in New York until he was better. But, not knowing the language, my mother was unable to communicate with anyone and didn't want to leave her husband and children. So she traveled on with the rest of us, doing her best to make the baby comfortable as we headed for the train station.

ALL ABOARD FOR NORTH DAKOTA

We must have been quite a spectacle, all ten us carrying bundles, trying to stick together in the enormous crowd being herded toward the train station.

My older sister, Tilly, was holding my hand, but I was scarcely able to keep up, being only three-and-a-half. Suddenly, a huge, black porter scooped me up in his arms and began to carry me.

My brother, Pete, screamed, "Watch her! Watch her! Watch him! Watch him, he's going to steal her." Pete managed to get hold of one of my arms and Tilly got hold of the other arm, trying to hold me, but the man just kept walking with me. All the while, I was screaming bloody murder!

When we got to the depot, the porter set me down on my feet and he held out his hand to my father. My father had a big, long coin purse, and he was going to give the porter a dime, but the man reached into my father's purse and grabbed a dollar, and off he went.

My brothers and sisters were still talking about this black man after they got on the train. Since they had never seen a black man, they assumed he was an Indian, badly burned by the sun.

THE VIVID MEMORY

Although my life in Holland and the trip to America are a blur in my mind, the train ride left a lasting impression.. Perhaps it was because I had never been on a train before. In Holland there are a lot of canals, and our modes of transportation were skating or sled sailing.

Here we were, all of us with our name and address or our destination pinned on our back, huddled together, traveling into unknown territory. But God's hand was upon us, and He supplied grace and strength for our journey.

My mother had made a huge basket of food for the trip, but since we were traveling three nights and three days from New York to North Dakota, that basket soon became empty. We smaller children began to get hungry, and we were whining and crying and giving my mother a hard time. Between us carrying on and the baby still being so sick, I don't know how she stood it.

None of us would get off the train to try to get food, because we didn't know how to speak English. Finally, when the train stopped, an American lady got off and when she came back, she had a huge bag of shiny red apples, and she passed these out to us children. That was the first time I ever had a whole apple all to myself, because in Holland we were peasants, and each apple was cut in four pieces and shared among us. When I looked at that American lady, I thought to myself, "All the women in America must be angels."

THE VIEW OF THE PRAIRIE

The view outside the window was dry and bleak with dwarfed, scrubby plants and dust blowing everwhere. The whole time the train was crossing the country my father sat gazing out the window saying, "What are we going to do? What are we going to do? There isn't any water." All those miles and miles going across that dry prairie, all he could worry about was the water. "How in the world are we going to raise anything? How are we going to grow anything if there isn't any water.?"

So, you see, it was a daring adventure. It took courage and it took faith in God and himself for him and my mother to come to America, but it was something that changed all of our lives. God is so wonderful, He never failed to provide for us. I can see, looking back, that God was directing us the entire time. We lived the reality of the scripture that says God directs the steps of a man.

Chapter 2 - LIFE ON THE NORTH DAKOTA PRAIRIE

It was March 1911 when we arrived in Delfield, North Dakota. It was extremely cold, and there was snow on the ground. Jan William's condition had grown worse by the day, and by the time we arrived at our diestination he was gravely ill.

We had a trunk with us, and my mother had made a little cradle in the trunk for him. He wailed incessantly. Finally, though, he stopped crying, but then my mother and father and brothers and sisters all began to cry. I remember thinking, "This is really strange. When he was crying, nobody else cried. But now that he has stopped crying everybody else is crying." I didn't realize that he had died and they were all grieving for him.

In this rural town they had no facilities for funerals, so they kept the baby for three or four days waiting for a mortuary to come. Finally my mother lined an apple crate, and they placed the baby in it. Then my father put the apple box on a sled and took it out to the prairie where he buried the youngest member of our family.

UNDERSTANDING GOD'S PLAN

Many times I have wondered why that innocent little baby died at a year-and-a-half and I was allowed to grow into my mature adulthood and have such a glorious life in the gospel and I questioned, "Why, Lord?"

And the Lord made it know to me that I would see Jan William again, and that he was maturing in the invisible realm and he wasn't just going to be a baby or a little cherub. There is no age in spirit. There's no space in the spirit realm. There's no time in spirit; we're all equal. He is going to know as much as I know, and his life is just as fruitful in spirit as it is on this side.

Now, at one time, I believed in a literal resurrection. I thought that graves were going to topple over, and people were going to rise out of the cemeteries. Then, I began to think that if he was only a year-and-a-half he would need a mother to take care of him.

As I matured in God, I realized that there is no waste in Him; nothing is lost and everything is moving onward according to His own plan, purpose and blueprint that He had in His heart before He ever brought forth creation.

THE FRIGHTENING TIMES

Having been peasants in Holland, we were used to hard times, but life on the North Dakota prairie was harder than we had imagined and we encountered other great difficulties.

One day my father and brother, Bill, the third oldest, were out plowing a large section of land with a team of horses. There was also an American man plowing a field nearby. It was still early in the day, but this American came over to my dad and motioned for him to unhitch the horses and go home. But my father wouldn't do that because he wanted to put in his hours so he could pay off his debt. However, this man pointed insistingly to a little black cloud in the sky.

Well, my father looked at that cloud and he didn't think it looked serious enough to scare anybody. he just thought the man was crazy. The American unhitched his team and went home as fast as he could, but my father just wouldn't budge. He stayed and plowed another lap around the section, which took quite a little while. But, something told him to look at the sky again, and when he did he saw that the little cloud had swelled enormously and the wind was becoming wild. My father decided that they had better do what the American man had done and head for home as fast as they could.

Before they reached the safety of the house, the storm exploded. Thnder crashed like firing cannons, and lightning ripped the sky apart. Razor-sharp rain and hail bombarded the earth. By the time they got to the dry wash by our house, it had become a raging torrent and they were unable to cross. The only shelter my father and brother had were the horses, so they huddled beneath them until they were able to get home.

Hail the size of eggs blasted through the kitchen window and the thunder and lightning were so terrifying that I tore up three flights of stairs to the attic and hid under my brother's bed. It was a storm none of us forgot.

THE FUNNY TIMES

Although there were many hardships on the prairie, there were delightful times as well; like the morning my sister Tilly and her future husband, Tom Hendriks, went with a group of young people to a small cafe for something to eat. They were still struggling with English, so when the waitress asked for their order, Tom blurted out, "Paan-ka-kes and ecgs."

The waitress' face rearranged into a bewildered expression.

Tom thought for a minute, stood up, flipped his arms like a chicken and crowed, "Cocka-doodle-doo."

Everyone roared with laughter. "Oh", the waitress concluded, "You want pancakes and eggs."

FOLLOWING THE DREAM

We had come to America with dreams for a better life and, certainly, the opportunities were available. Some from our group remained in North Dakota and eventually bought land even became wealthy. But my father and mother just couldn't stand the harsh weather and began to consider moving to a warmer climate.

My father, older brothers, and two oldest sisters all worked for the company who helped pay our passage and they were able to pay off the debt in seven months. Then we were free to leave!

My oldest brother, Nick, who had been sent on ahead before we left Holland was in California. He wrote us describing the mild climate and said there was a Dutch settlement and even a Dutch Reform Church there. It didn't take my parents long to decide that California was the place we should settle. So, we left our ice skates and red, long underwear in a corner of the attic and packed up what remained of our family and headed west.

The Autobiography of Dora Van Assen - Chap 3 & 4

2011-02-28T00:49:00.002-05:00

Chapter 3 - CALIFORNIA, HERE WE COME!

In the later part of 1911 we left North Dakota and moved to Corcoran, California. There my father began doing farm work for a man by the name of Dougherty. Mr. Dougherty had been a carpenter in the city and decided to leave that and try his hand at farming. I guess that's why he didn't seem to know much about running a farm. In those days if you had a horse and a plow you could prosper. My father had to milk twenty cows in the morning and work all day long for eighteen dollars a month, a free house, and a gallon of milk a day. But Dad enjoyed working for Mr. Dougherty because he was a wonderful man. He did his best to help my father learn English while Dad tried to teach him Dutch. Mr. Dougherty would oftern invite my father home for lunch so they could practice their language phrases while they ate.

Life in California seemed a lot brighter than in North Dakota and I think we all thought it felt like home. Here the weather was milder and I had neighbor children to play with. There was even a Free Methodist Church close by where my sisters and I would attend Sunday School and young people's meetings. The Dutch Reform Church was eight miles away in Hanford so we couldn't go there all the time.

My sister Lena was able to play an old fashioned pump organ and my three sisters would sing in a trio together at the Methodist Church. Then one time Lena, Tilly, and Betsy were kneeling at the front of the church by the altar, and some of the workers were gathered around them and they were all silently praying together. My sister Marie and I didn't go up and I was too young to understand what was going on, but I knew something serious was happening. It was only after I had my own encounter with the Lord that I really understood they were praying for Christ to take over their lives.

After I began to preach the gospel, that picture flashed before me one time when I was talking with Tilly about the Lord and I said to her, "Oh, Tilly, you know what I'm talking about. You remember that day in the little Free Methodist Church in Corcoran when you and Lena and Betsy were up front kneeling. That's when Jesus was coming into you heart and life."

She said, "Oh, Dora, you don't remember that."

I said, "Yes, I do. I remember that; I can see it so clearly. And whatever was happening to you then is still real now, because God never changes! Praise His wonderful name. All the glory belongs to Him because He is ever faithful."

MY WONDERFUL CHRISTIAN FAMILY

One of the reasons I believe God has been so faithful to all of us children is that we have come from faithful parents who raised us up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

I appreciate that my father and mother were good, stauch Christian people, member of the Dutch Reform Church. They were faithful to the revelation that God gave then and taught us the real, true standards of life. I believe that a child's life is formed in those early years, and things they are taught when they are young have a tendency to direct them later in life. I am very grateful for those early years of my life and my father and mother being that example to me.

My father had had a wonderful conversion experience when he was twenty-seven years old. He was driving a wagon and suddenly lost the reigns. The horses went wild! He had no control. The team and the wagon were headed for a deep canal and my father couldn't swim. So, Dad got down on his knees in that runaway wagon and cried out to God to save his life and, in turn, he promised to serve Him with his whole heart. That experience changed his life.

My mother always stood by my father and she was the one who taught him how to read. He would read the Bible at night while she would be knitting socks for us children, and when there would be a word that he couldn't pronounce she would take one of her knitting needles and spell it out and pronounce it for him. So, my father learned to read and even to write by reading the Bible.

When all of us would be around the the table, before we ate, my father would ask the Lord to bless the food and to strengthen our boodies and give us the necessary nourishment. And, after we ate we would pray again and thank the Lord and praise Him for what he had given us. First we asked Him to bless it; then we thanked Him for it. And after every meal my father would read a portion out of the Bible. In the morning we would read from the Psalms; in the afternoon he would read a short chapter in the New Testament; and then in the evening he would read a chapter out of the Old Testament. My Dad was very smart. He knew that children would often not pay attention, so he would stop at any time and call on one of us and ask, "What was the last word?"

Of course, he read from the Dutch Bible, and that's how I retained my use of the Dutch language. I can still speak and read Dutch because of that constant teaching.

MY FATHER'S FAITH

My father was a man of strong faith. He believed that God would give him his boyhood dream of coming to America and he proudly became an American citizen in 1917. That faith carried over to all things in my father's life - especially to his family during the wars. He had three sons in WW1; my brother Pete was in France for seven months and my father believed God to bring all three of my brothers home safely. The only child lost during that war was my sister, Lena, who died during the flu epidemic. During the Second World War my father had several grandsons, one son-in-law and one son in the war. He had all their names written in a book and he wrote to every one of them and prayed for each of them to return safely. Nick, Tilly, and Tom Hendrik's oldest son, was in the service in Hawaii when it was bombed. Then was in Ansio Beach during the invasion of Italy. Later he was sent to England and in the invasion of Europe on "D" Day; the Battle of the Bulge. After that, he met the Russian Army at the Elba River in Germany. When peace was declared he came home without a scratch! All of the men in our family returned except one grandson, Evert Coy, a Marine, who was killed in the battle of Iwo Jima. He was the only son of my brother Pete and his wife Minnie. No one else from the family was even hurt.

LIKE JACOB'S FAMILY

I have heard by Dad say many times that he was like Jacob who crossed the brook by himself, but when he returned and crossed that same brook, he had grown into seventy. My mother and father had two more children in America who were named Nellie and Johnny. So, they had twelve children in twenty-four years. There were twenty-four years between my oldest brother, Nick and my baby brother Johnny.

Well, my father prospered and all of his childrren prospered and we helped populate the United States! Every one of my brothers and sisters were healthy, hard-working, saving people who had good jobs and finally owned their own businesses and their own homes. My nephews and nieces have become doctors and lawyers and movie stars and nurses and business workers, active in the the affairs of the community and church.

My brother Johnny and wife Dot had the Baptist Women's Missionary Society meet in their home each week for over thirty-five years. In fact, about thirty women became missionaries through their ministry. There has even been a book published about this work.

My sister Marie and her husband Dean Smith were members of the Second United Presbyterian Church for over fifty years. Their whole family was very musically gifted and they all used their talents for God.

Elizabeth (my sister Betsy) Van Donk has a grandson, Richard John Van Donk who is the author of the book called Creating Your Own Life and is the founder/president of Uni-Dynamics.

My sisiter Nell Richardson loves people and is kept busy taking care of shut-ins and the handicapped. She bakes for them, picks up their mail, gives them rides, and helps in any way she can.

One nephew, Robert O'Neal and his wife Dine, have had a Christian group in their home for many years. Their daughter Linda Friedricks and her husband David were missionaries in South Africa. David Junior was born there. He is now grown and studying for the ministry.

My daughter Tillora Jackson loves the Lord and knows Him in a very personal way. She is a blessing to many and all who really know her love her.

Herman Floyd, my son, carried a New Testament in his shirt pocket the entirre twenty-six years he was in the Air Force. He and his wife Myrla had services in their home many times during those years.

My grandson, William (Billy) Van Assen and his wife Jean, both have a call to be missionaries to Algeria and are preparing to go when God opens the way.

So many times I heard my father quote the scripture from Acts 16:21, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved and thy house." And my Dad just simply believed that, and God confirmed that word.

I just wanted to honor my father and mother and all my sister and brothers for the great influence they had upon my life. And I just rejoice in the Lord at the wonderful family I came from.

Chapter 4 - GROWING AND CHANGING

MY GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

God is so faithful, for the day came when my father's boyhood dream to be his own boss was finally fulfilled. He had leased some land as a share cropper and was able to save enough money to buy a farm of his own. At last he was going to be his own boss. However, owning our own land required us to move to Hanford, California. This move turned out to be a golden opportunity for me!

I was a different kind of child. Even my father told me that I had been unlike the others from the very beginning. I never felt as though I fit in. I seemed slow in comparison to the others and I lived in a dream world. I can remember my brothers and sisters saying, "Look at Dora standing there dreaming." To make matters worse, I had earned the nickname "Dumb Dora" because there was a popular card game by that name. I absolutely hated being called "Dumb Dora", and I longed for the time I could change my name.

Well, the perfect opportunity came when we moved to Hanford and I had to change schools. I had to go to shcool in a town called Hardwick and the first day I told the teacher that my name was Dorothy. Well, everyone began to call me Dot. Even my parents and brothers and sisters started calling me Dot. That change made me feel like a whole new person.

But now, after all these years, I have come to really like my name Dora, and I believe that name was ordained of God. Dora means 'gift of love'. I was the ninth child to be born into the family and biblically the numer nine is connected with gifts. (nine gifts of the Spirit, nine fruits of the Spirit) That's all I really want to be - God's gift of love to all creation.

God is love. He loves everyone equally. There is no difference in the love of God for His creation. In fact, he proved that at the cross when everyone of us became equal, because we were all bought with the same price, the precious blood of Jesus.

THE SPARK IS KINDLED

Hanford was where our Dutch Reform Church was located and our whole family atended services together. My father would lead the procession into the sanctuary, followed by all the children, then my mother. We children sat quietly through every meeting, three times on Sunday. Besides church, we went to Sunday School and in addition there was the catechism class.

That class stands out in my mind because there were a lot of questions and answers that were discussed. What's more, all of this went on in Dutch. At my age, I wasn't able to read the material, so I had to depend on one of my older sisters to help me.

The smaller children were taken to the catechism class on Saturday but at a certain age, you went in the evening rather than in the afternoon. When I was eleven I was still too young for the evening class, but my sister, Marie, was thirteen, and she was assigned to go at night. However, my father didn't want her to go by herself, so I went along with her.

Anyway, one evening on our way to the catechism class, we noticed a big tent pitched on the property of the Free Methodist Church. Well, we just had to know what was going on in that tent, so we talked it over and decided we would sneak into this tent and see what the people were doing and then go on to our class.

We discovered that it was a revival meeting. I began to listen to what the minister was saying, and as he began to make his appeal for us to open our hearts to Jesus and live for Him, I began to feel a longing in my heart to answer that call. I wanted to go up to the front of the tent, as some other people were doing, to make a public stand, but I was afraid, because I didn't want anyone to see me and tell my folks that we were playing hookie from the catechism class. So I just sat there in misery and prayed in my heart that I wanted Jesus to forgive me and I made a silent promise that I would live for him.

Well, that promise only lasted a few days. It just faded away, because I didn't speak it out publicly - I didn't let anybody know it. I was trying to be a secret Christian. So the things of the world and the cares of life just caused it to fade away. But I know now that was the beginning of God letting me know that He is within me. Of course, He has been there all the time, but I thought that He had left.

CONFUSED BY THE DOCTINES OF MEN

Then, a few months later something else happened in my life that stands out. In the catechism class the question of infant baptism arose. I was being taught that should a little baby die without being baptized it would be lost, it wouldn't come under the blessings of the church. It wouldn't be able to inherit that protective covering.

Well, I began to question that in my heart - I just couldn't accept it. I just couldn't believe that. But I kept the matter to myself.

Eventually, the question of infant baptism came up again. and I raised my hand and asked the minister,
"Why would that little baby be punished for not being baptized? The little baby can't say to the mother or father, "I need to be baptized. Take me to church and baptize me so if anything should happen to me and I should die, I won't be lost." It would have to be the fault of the father and mother and if anybody should be punished, it should be the parents instead of the baby."

Well, the minister got quite upset about this and he took me by the hand and put me in another room. I didn't hear any more about it and I tried to accept it, but it was always grinding away at me deep down in my mind.

Then, something else occurred which brought the whole question of infant baptism to the forefront again. We had a little neighbor boy whose father and mother never went to church. They were not believers. It came about that this little boy had an accident with his bicycle and died. However, through the death of this little boy, his whole family began coming to church. When they became members of the church they all had to be baptized. So, one Sunday they all came in and sat on the front row and the minister and the elder came with the baptismal bowl and sprinkled all of them. So now, according to the teaching I had received they were saved and were all going to heaven when they died.

Subsequently, this baptism was discussed again in catechism class and I put my hand up and said to the minister, "I just want to ask you something. This whole family that was recently baptized; they are all saved and will go to heaven?

And the minster said, "Yes".

So, then, I said, "Well, what about their little brother? That little boy who died wasn't baptized, what about him?"

And the minster said, "He's lost; he's dying for Adam's sin."

Then something came over me and I said, "I don't believe that! I just don't accept that. I don't believe God would be that cruel."

So the minister had me put in another room and he notified my father in a letter.

The day that my father got the letter, he was waiting for me when I got home from school. My father told me that he had this letter, and it said that I had disobeyed and I had been very rude. And he told me that I was to apologize. He didn't give me any opportunity to explain he just said, "I want you to apologize."

"I won't apologize. I can't", I said.

Then my dad said, "Well then I'm going to have to give you a licking." So, he began to spank me.

Just then my mother stepped in and stopped him because I didn't really know what I had done. I was just saying, "No, no! I won't, I won't!"

After I was in bed my father came in and was kneeling by the bed and he was asking me to forgive him.

Of course I forgave my father. And I didn't even hold it against the minister. I just got mixed up some way and blamed God for it. Somehow I saw that the minister was teaching what he thought he had to teach, and my father was correcting me because I was his child and he thought I had done wrong and disobeyed. And so it all came back to God. From that point on, I decided that I could never love or serve such a cruel God. In fact, I tried to hate Him and I got to the point that I began to hate all Christians. That's the way I lived through my teenage years, blaming God for being cruel and hating those who believed in Him.

SWEET SIXTEEN

During those years some thing else significant occurred in my life. A young man by the name of Herman Van Assen came to work for my father. Herman and his mother, oldest sister, brother John, and younger sister Gertrude had come to California in 1921 to join Herman's two other brothers Gerald and Garret. Herman was the baby.

Herman had wonderful dark, wavy hair and deep, dark blue eyes and beautiful fair skin. I had always been painfully shy but his quick wit and open friendly manner drew me out in no time. It wasn't long befor we were sweet on one another. I was only sixteen at the time and our relationship went on until my father found out about it. Then he called Herman in and said, "Herman, I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but since you're sweet on my daughter, and she is way too young, I'm going to have to fire you. It isn't good for both of you to be living in the same house together."

Well, Herman stormed in and packed his things. He said to me, "It's as though your father never kissed a girl when she was sixteen."

So, Herman left the area and disappeared from my life, but not altogether from my thoughts.

The Autobiography of Dora Van Assen - Chap 5 & 6

2011-02-28T00:48:00.002-05:00

When I turned eighteen I moved to Sana Francisco to live with my sister, Marie, and take a position with the Great Western Electric Company. Life went along uneventfully until I was twenty-one when my sister and her husband moved back home to be near my parents. That left me alone in the city.

At that time I was doing a lot of things that would have been ashamed for my father and mother to know. When I look back, what I was doing wasn't all that bad, but the fact was that I wasn't following the teaching and training of my childhood and teenage years.

Every week a group of Salvation Army officers would hold street meting at 22nd and Mission Streets and sometimes I would hear music from the meeting. Well, this particular night the windows were open and I heard the sound of the Army drum drifting through the window. Something came over me to go and listen to these people. I thought that they seemed to really believe what they were saying - at least they dared to stand outside and tell people about it. So, I put on my hat and coat and walked down there.

When I got to the meeting, I noticed one young girl with beautiful blue eyes who had on a hat tied under her chin with a bow. She was just radiant. A lot of people were walking by, but nobody was stopping to listen.

GOD LOVES YOU !

I didn't want to just stand out and look like I was paying attention to what they were saying, so I turned around and pretended that I was window shopping. All the time, I was straining to listen. Well, I turned around again to look and the girl I had noticed earlier stepped out and said very loudly, "God loves you."

And I thought, "No! God doesn't love me. I don't love Him, and I know He doesn't love me. I'm doing too many things that are wrong."

Then I heard her begin to recite John 3:16, "For God so loved the world..."

And that's all I heard. My attention was caught by the word "world". And I said, "That's right, God loves the world. I'm the world. So, God loves ME." With that, something just came over me. I didn't hear any more that I could remember, but when the meeting closed, I followed them. And, as I was walking behind them, I suddenly thought, "Well, I'm not that bad. I didn't rob a bank or steal anybody's husband." So I walked up boldly and took this girl's arm and said, "Is it all right if I go to you meeting.?"

Well, she was so glad and excited about me that she turned around and put her arm around me and wasn't going to let me go.

That service was the first time I ever heard anyone testify and say they were glad they were saved. Every time someone would testify, I would turn completely around and look right at their face, and I would think, "How could you possibly be glad?" I thought when you became a Christian everything became sad. It seemed like everyone became stiff and formal and they didn't have any fun at all. But everyone of these people said they were glad, and their faces just shone. Then at the end of the service some of them came up to the front and knelt down and the officers in uniform would kneel beside them.

I wondered what they were doing. Were they confessing their sins? Were these uniformed people like priests? You see, I'd never been in that kind of service and I didn't know what was going on. But I knew these people were very serious and in my heart I knew that I wanted to come back again, because I wanted to hear more.

MY HEART YEARNS FOR MORE

The next morning at work, I called my girlfriend and I asked her if she would like to go to the Salvation Arm Headquarters on 13th and Valencia Street for a meeting. It had been announced that there was going to be a special service with the cadets from the trainging college. We both found the idea of seeing these cadets very attractive.

So she said, "Sure, I'll go with you. We'll have a good time."

Well, I was a very serious person; it wasn't easy for me to have fun. And I suddenly realized that my purpose of attending that meeting was not for fun but to find out what it was these people had in their lives that I seemed to lack.

ARE YOU SAVED?

When we arrived at the meeting I looked around, and could just sense the sincerity and dedication of those young cadets and knew that something of real meaning was in their lives.

A nice gray-haired lady, who seemed to be the officer in charge, kept looking at us from the platform. I guess my friend and I stood out like two sore thumbs. Our hair was cut short, which was unusual during the days of Prohibition and we both wore coats with fur collars. While one officer was preaching, I felt that this woman was going to come over and talk to me. Sure enough, as the message was drawing to a close, this lady started to get up. So, I began moving over so the lady would have room to sit down, because I didn't want to draw attention to us by having her stand there beside us. I made up my mind that I would ask her some questions designed to cut the conversation short. When this lady sat down beside me, she put her arm around me and asked, "Honey, are you saved?"

I answered, "No, I'm not saved. Are you?"

And she said, "Yes."

JUST ASK JESUS

Well, that startled me, becasue I expected her to say, "I hope to be", or "I'm doing the best I can." And then I was going to say, "I hope to be saved, too, and I'm doing the best I can." But when she said "Yes", by mouth fell open and I asked her, "How do you know that you're saved? You haven't died yet. The books haven't been opened. You haven't gone through the judgment. You may have more things written against you than for you. Instead of going up, you may find yourself going down. So, how could you know if you're saved?"

And she said, "God's Spirit witnesses with my spirit that I am born of God."

Well, I knew that was in the Bible, so I asked, "What did you do?"

Then she answered, "Nothing, Honey. I just asked Jesus to come into my heart, and I asked Him to forgive me. And He did!"

I said, "Do you mean to tell me that we can know, that we can be sure we are saved before we die?"

She answered, "Oh, yes!"

I said, "Well, that's what I want. I want to be saved. I want to know that I am saved."

"Well, just let Jesus come into your heart," she encouraged.

Just then I heard another officer calling out to the people , "Jesus is here. He's calling for you. He wants you to come. He wants to enter your life. He wants to change you."

I said to her, "Do you mean to tell me that Jesus is here right now? Right here? And if I go to the front I'll meet Him and He'll speak to me, and I'll know that I'm saved?"

And she answered, "Yes."

So, I said to my girlfriend, "You can do what you want to, but I'm going to get saved."

In spite of my shyness, I rose to my feet in that huge auditorium with its balcony full of people. As I got up I began to cry and my hands went up over my head. I was crying and shouting as I headed down the aisle. I wan't even aware that my friend had gotten up and was following me. When I got to the altar I cried what seemed to be a bucket full of tears. I wan't crying because of my sins or my guilt or anything that I had done; I was crying because I knew Jesus had died for me and taken my sins and I was forgiven, and I was saved!

When I got up they were all rejoicing and hugging and kissing me and accepting me as one of them. They were doing the same thing with my girlfriend.

Finally, an officer came and said, "Now that you're saved, I want to give you these little books." And he gave each one of us a book titled THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE SALVATION ARMY. Then the man said, "In order to grow and mature and become good Christians, you need to read these rules and regulations. You ought to go home tonight and read it through and begin to obey these rules."

THE REALITY OF SALVATION

When we were on the street car heading for home, my friend said to me, "You sure put on quite a show."

I said, "What do you mean, "Put on a show?"

She said, "Well, you know, the way you were acting. It wasn't real."

I said, "Oh, yes it is real. I wasn't acting. I really and truly got saved." I said, "Didn't you get saved?"

She said, Oh, no. I was just having fun." When she began to realize that I was serious, she said, "Well, I'll give you about two weeks and you'll be coming out of it."

But you know, I never came out of it. Not to this very day. I was twenty-one years old, and now I'm eighty-three and I never did come out of it, because I became a new person. Old things passed away, and all things became new. Oh, there were still things in my life tht weren't right, and I had to grow and mature in the Lord, but I was definitely born of the Spirit that night.

As soon as I got home, I began to read THE RULES AND REGULATIONS OF THE SALVATION ARMY. And at the end of the little book, there was a pledge that went something like this: "I pledge to read three chapters of the Bible and pray fifteen minutes every day. I will pay my tithes and obey the rules of the Salvation Army in order to become a member."

I thought, "That doesn't sound very hard to do." So, I signed the pledge.

The very next morning, I got up early in time to read a chapter out of the book of John where they had advised me to start. After that I began to pray. Well, I prayed for my father and my mother and all my brothers and sisters and my friends and the for the Salvation Army and for my girlfriend and I prayed that I would be a real testimony during the day.

However, when I looked at the clock, not even three minutes had gone by. I just didn't have anything more to pray. I didn't know what else to do.l I didn't know how to meditatie or anything, so I just got up and went to work.

Here, I had been so wonderfully saved by grace and I thought I was going to keep myself saved by obeying a human pledge, human regulations. That has been our error. We have been saved by grace; we're kept by grace; and we grow by grace because it is His seed of life within us that is growing and maturing. He lives His life through us.

But one thing I was admonished to do was to testify to others about my salvation. So, when I got to work that morning, the first thing I said to the other three girls in the office was, "I went to the Salvation Army last night and I got saved. And now I'm a Christian; I'm a different person."

Well, the news travelled like wild fire through my department. I worked in the section where the meters and transformers were brought in for repair, so there were quite a few men working in the shop. The next thing I knew, I was being called "Lassie", and they were all teasing me. But I survived, I was able to take it, because I now stood in a new strength. Bless the Lord!

Chapter 6 - MY YEARS WITH THE SALVATION ARMY

CALLED TO PREACH

I can clearly remember my first meeting out on the street. I was saved on Friday and the next night the Salvation Army was to conduct their street ministry. They told me one of the things I should do was to go and stand with them as a witness of the salvation of Jesus Christ in my heart. So I went. During that meeting I heard Captain Cox announce tht they had a new convert who was going to testify. I looke around for this new convert not realizing she meant me until she took hold of my arm and said, "That's you!"

I said, "I can't say anything! I don't know what to say!"

She asked me, "Are you glad your're still saved."

And I answered, "Yes."

So, she said, "Well just stand right out there and tell the people that you are glad you are saved."

The thought came to me that if I was going to tell the people walking down the street that I was glad I was saved I was going to say it just as loudly as I could. So I yelled at the top of my voice, over all the noise of the traffic, "I am glad that I am saved."

That instant something came down on me and I forgt where I was. By the time I realized what I was doing, I was crying and laughing and jumping up and down, and I was almost beside myself. Then I realized that a great number of people had stopped and were gathered around on both corners.

On the way home, Lieuutenanat White (the girl with the blue eyes and boind hair, who had caught my attention the night before when she said, "God loves you") said to me, "We didn't realize you were a preacher."

And I said, "I'm not a preacher."

She said, "Oh, yes you are. You were preaching."

I asked, "What was I preaching?"

She answered, "You were quoting a lot of scriptures."

And I said, "Well, I don't know any scriptures. The only scriptures I know were the ones I learned as a child in the Dutch Reform Church."

Then she said, "Oh, but you were speaking in English, and you quoting all these scriptures in English."

That was the anointing of God, but I didn't realize it. You see, I had the call of God the very first time I had to open my mouth and tell what Jesus had done for me.

SALVATION ARMY COLLEGE

I began attending the Salvation Army services and growing in the Lord. I learned how to really study the Word of God and to meditate and wait upon Him. I knew in my heart that I wanted to go through the Salvation Army training college and become an officer. And that's what I did. I was trained to cooperate and be in harmony with other cadets and to obey the rules and regulations. I also learned how to study the word of God systematically.

We held meeting in the women's county jail, and we visited people in the old folks home and in hospitals. Another one of our duties was to have street meetings and I was trained in how to speak extemporaneously, as the Lord directed.

MY COMMISSION

Finally I was commissioned as a Probationary Lieutenant and stationed on Third and Howard Street in San Francisco. That is like the skid row street of forgotten men, like the bowery in New York. All this was good experience and I thank God for the training I received in the Salvation Army.

A WITNESS TO MY FAMILY

I had written to my family about the change in my life, and I had been home to witness to them. So during the time I was in training my parents came to visit me. My father just had to come and find out if those things were really true, so they stayed with me for a week. They went with me to all the Salvation Army meetings and they went home satisfied that my experience was real.

I was with the Salvation Army for about five years when my mother died. Since I was the only girl who wasn't married at the time, my brothers and sisters all felt that I should be the one to come home and stay with my father for a while, because he was taking it very, very hard.

So, I got a three month furlough from the Salvation Army to be with him.