Copyright © 2017 Robert B Thompson. All Rights Reserved. Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.

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I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

The phrase “the exchanged life” has been much on my mind recently. Hudson Taylor and others have used the term and have described the experience very well. Some have used the expression to refer to exchanging our sin for the righteousness of Christ. Others, such as Hudson Taylor, have used the term to mean trading our old personality for the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus. It is “the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus” application that is fresh in my mind.

There are three kinds of life:

1. The original flesh and blood, adamic life.
2. The life of delusion.
3. The resurrection Life of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul, referring to the original life, remarks that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. The sin that is part of our personality has several forms and different results and consequences. If we are to inherit the Kingdom of God, the spiritual darkness that is in us must be dealt with.

The sins of the adamic nature: the sins of the flesh; the sins of the spirit; self-will and rebellion against God; worldliness; presumption; not using the talents God has given us to build His Kingdom. Another adamic sin is overemphasizing a talent, such as in music, athletics, or technology, and not following the Lord Jesus in the use of our time.

Let me comment for a bit on the adamic sin of “presumption.” Presumption is a common failing of Christian people. Sometimes they “take a step of faith,” meaning they do something without hearing from the Lord. They may borrow money to build a church, trusting that God will honor their “faith.” They then may enter the area of delusion, which can continue until they end up in jail.

Satan advised the Lord Jesus to act presumptuously by jumping off the roof of the Temple. Jesus responded, “Do not put God to the test.” This is a good attitude to take when we think we should “take a step of faith.”

From my point of view, the whole idea of Dominionism and Reconstructionism, taking control of the physical environment in Jesus’ name, is a massive example of presumption. The believers have decided what God wants before they hear from God. The end can be only destruction.

Why don’t we wait until we hear from God before we attempt to make changes in the physical world—or in the spirit world, for that matter!

The sins of delusion: the rapture; lawless grace; delicious adventures such as leaving our husband or wife to take up with another person; gambling; touring around the world in exotic places, etc.

The third kind of life, resurrection life, is imparted when our desires, thoughts, words, and actions are in agreement with God’s will for us. The result of living in the fullness of the resurrection Life of Christ is fellowship with God and Christ; rulership over the creation of God; and an inheritance of people.

By “life” I mean that which activates us to think, to speak, and to act. Our original life is moved by hunger and thirst; by the sins that reside in our flesh; and by our self-will and ambitions.

The second kind of life, the life of delusion, occupies us at times. Two examples of the life of delusion are the current, familiar “lawless grace,” and the unscriptural rapture, the catching away of all who profess belief in Jesus Christ to Paradise so they may be kept safe from Antichrist and the Great Tribulation.

If I am not mistaken, lawless grace and the rapture come to us from what is termed Dispensational theology. This means that since the time of Christ we are under a “dispensation of grace” in which sin is treated by the Lord differently from what was true in time past. The idea is that sin, which previously was defined by the Law of Moses, is now taken care of by means of “grace.” Grace then serves as an alternative to obeying God’s commands.

The term “grace” was used by the Apostle Paul, so we know the concept is of God. But I think we are using the term incorrectly. In the New Testament, grace is the forgiveness of our sins while God is helping us overcome our sins and is bringing us into His moral image. In other words, the forgiveness of grace is a temporary provision, just as is true today in business contracts.

I am under the impression that today, “grace” is thought of as a permanent manner in which God regards us. He realizes that we are sinful creatures and never will be set free from the chains of sin. So He has decided to accept us as we are and bring us to Heaven in any case. Some go so far as to say we still will be sinning in Heaven, but God through grace will keep on forgiving us. This is to say that the Divine redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ can reconcile us to God by forgiving us, but it never can bring us into God’s moral image. A part of us will always worship Satan.

It may be noted that the result of the second kind of life, the life of delusion, is destructive. In the matter of lawless grace, the result is a continuing in disobedience to God’s commands. By God’s commands, I do not mean the Law of Moses, because we are under a new covenant (not a new dispensation). I mean:

• The commands of the Lord Jesus and His Apostles that are found in the New Testament.
• The Words of the Lord Jesus that He speaks to us personally. These become increasingly clear as we mature in the Lord, as the Morning Star rises in our heart.

We also have the prophetic message as something completely reliable, and you will do well to pay attention to it, as to a light shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. (II Peter 1:19)

These Words of the Lord Jesus spoken to us personally throughout our discipleship are to be sternly obeyed, once we are certain they actually are coming from the Lord Jesus. They are not to be assigned to “grace” to be taken care of.

The teaching of the rapture, in which we are whisked away to Paradise in order to escape Antichrist and the Great Tribulation, is more destructive than we realize. For one thing, the present period of time is to be one of preparation. The Lord Jesus has come to His disciples in the Spirit (not the worldwide appearing in which every eye shall see Him) to prepare them for His worldwide appearing and also to prepare them for the days of Divine judgment that soon are to envelop the earth.

America, as well as the remainder of the nations of the world, is murdering its babies, engaging in perverted sexual behavior, and regarding money as a god that is to be worshiped. If we are to stand, and to help others to stand, during the coming Divine judgment, we Christians must draw much, much closer to Jesus than is true at the present time. We must persevere until we are one with the Lord Jesus in our thinking; one with the Lord in our speaking; and one with the Lord in our behavior.

It is possible that a godly remnant will emerge from numerous Christian churches.

By the way, this closeness to the Lord Jesus is the third kind of Life.

The rapture delusion, of the second kind of life, prevents us taking advantage of these days that are to be devoted to our learning to stand throughout the chaos, and also to be used to become part of Jesus so when He appears we are both qualified and competent to receive an incorruptible body and to participate with Him as part of His army that will establish and govern the Kingdom of God on the earth.

Because of the unscriptural rapture teaching, the believers in many instances are asleep spiritually. Our attitude is, “Jesus has done it all. The only task assigned to us is to keep believing that our sinful behavior is taken care of by the grace of forgiveness. Any moment now we will be carried up to Paradise. At that point we will receive an incorruptible body and a personality free from the bondages of sin. What we will do with these two gifts is not clear to us in the present hour. But we know that we will be free from all danger and pain—from concern of every kind.” Such is the “rapture” delusion.

If you know Jesus, you understand He does not work this way!

The truth is, those who are qualified and competent to be gathered to Him when He appears will be charged with removing sin from the earth. They shall govern with the rod of iron that has been created in them as they have pursued the third kind of Life. They are charged with bringing justice to the nations, according to the book of Isaiah. They are the body of the Messiah, the fullness of the Servant of the Lord.

They are both qualified, by the Word of God to be gathered to the Lord at His appearing, and competent because of the numerous experiences they have had with the Lord Jesus. They have pursued the life of victory over all that has sought to turn them from their cross-carrying obedience to the Lord Jesus.

The grace of God has not only forgiven them but has created them in actual righteousness and holiness of personality and behavior—in the moral image of God, we might say. Righteousness is not only imputed to them, it is created within them.

For a year or two of late I have been exhorting the congregation to seek to bring their thinking, speaking, and behaving in line with the will of God. To be living by His Life rather than our own. It is to live by Jesus as He lives by the Father.

Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. (John 6:57)

It requires practice before we make progress in this third way of living. It is a third way as compared with the first way of living in our fallen, animal nature, and the second way of living in a delusion. In my own case, being elderly, I watch to see what Jesus wants, and then I ask the Father to enable me to do it. This works quite well for me.

When Jesus said “the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me,” He was referring to His body and blood. As we continue, through Christ, to gain victory over the forces that would turn us against the will of Christ, we are fed in the Spirit the “hidden manna,” the body and blood of Christ. We keep on gaining more strength and wisdom through the impartation of the body and blood of Christ, and thus are able to avoid increasingly subtle traps and to resist higher mountains of temptation. This is how we live by the resurrection Life of Jesus.

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna. (Revelation 2:17)

By the way, this is the new covenant. Rather than obeying God only by reading His commandments, we obey God by means of the Life of Jesus directing us. This is the Morning Star, which the Apostle Peter sets forth. The Bible serves as a safeguard so we do not follow the wrong spirit.

The question is, “Exactly how do we make the transition from the life of Adam to the Life of Christ?” Obviously such a change from death to Life does not happen instantly when we “accept Christ.”

It does not help that we have been taught that when we “accept Christ,” we instantly become a new creation. Today’s “ticket” concept is that accepting Christ is our ticket to Heaven and there is no program of redemption—only a one-time statement of belief in Christ. I think this “ticket” concept has left many believers with the understanding that once they “accept Christ,” they are ready for Heaven—no additional work is needed. Christ has done it all for us.

However, becoming a new creation in which Christ lives in us is actually a program, the program of redemption. In order for our thinking, speaking, and behaving to have the strength and wisdom of Christ, we have to consider our sins of the flesh and spirit, and also our self-will and tendency to follow our own appetites and lusts. We must learn rather to wait patiently in order to gain the mind of Christ concerning the multiple aspects of our daily decisions.

If we will listen to the Spirit of God, He will point out the various sources of sin that inhabit our personality. If we will confess our sins of the flesh, such as fornication, Christ will help us turn away from immoral behavior. If we confess our pride, a sin of our spirit, God will help us overcome this attitude.

As far as our self-will and refusal to do what God wants, God will help us, when we confess and repent of this sin, by bringing us into increasingly difficult circumstances—just as He did with the Apostle Paul. We then may turn away from God and strengthen our rebellious attitude. Or, we can pray and exercise patience, and trust in God’s faithfulness. God desires that we learn obedience and trust in Himself rather than in other resources.

When the Lord Jesus spoke of thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and a hundredfold, He was giving us a key to the transitional program of moving from the adamic life, and the life of delusion, to the resurrection Life of the Lord Jesus.

The unbelievers have none of the Life of Christ in them. They are all of Adam, moved by the sins of the flesh and spirit and disobedience to God. However, they often have decent, honorable, selfless motives. But since their motives are dependent on our fallen nature, they do not have the strength and permanence of motives that are created in us by the Lord Jesus.

• The program of redemption commences when we first place our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The first phase of the program of redemption is that of the thirtyfold. Such believers have a portion of the Life of Christ, but still are mostly adamic in behavior. They may stop here, or press into the next phase or redemption.
• There is the sixtyfold phase, in which the Life of Christ is beginning to overcome the life of Adam. There is a continual struggle on this platform as the believers pray to overcome the sin in their nature.
• There is the hundredfold phase, which has no limit. It is “waters to swim in,” so to speak. The believer then is prepared to be a source of eternal life for the needy people of the world. Mankind is spiritually dead, but the hundredfold believer is as a tree of life in the Garden of God.

Although sometime in the past I had heard or read of “the exchanged life,” I had not looked it up. I looked it up on Google recently, and was delighted to read what Hudson Taylor had written. Read chapter 14 on “The Exchanged Life” in the biography “Hudson Taylor’s Spiritual Secret” by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor. I realize that many in the past have experienced the blessing of “dying in the Lord,” exchanging their old adamic nature for the resurrection Life of Jesus. Yet it is new and fresh to me. I wish to share with others what I am experiencing, because of the abundance of error in our day.

Then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Yes,” says the Spirit, “they will rest from their labor, for their deeds will follow them.” (Revelation 14:13)

The first and second kinds of life labor to bring forth truth. That truth often is incomplete and biased. In the third kind of life, eternal Truth, which is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, gushes forth in joy. That is the nature of eternal life.

The first and second kinds of life are bound on the far end by seventy or eighty years. The third kind of life stands on the threshold of eternity. I think it is true that the first and second kinds of life often consist of repetitive actions. The thinking, speaking, and behaving of the third kind of life are original because ultimately they proceed from God.

If we attain to the third kind of life, which is Christ, this will be our Life in the days to come whether we are on the earth or deceased and in the spirit world. As the Lord said, “Small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

Only if we are willing to share the sufferings of Christ will we receive the third, unchanging kind of Life. We must be willing to wear the crown of thorns if we hope one day to have the crown of righteousness.

The first and second kinds of life are changeable. The third kind of Life is unchangeable. The Lamb of God does not desire a wife who is changeable!

The Christian who is living in the adamic life or in delusion is neither qualified nor competent to serve as a chariot of God in which God can visit all parts of His realm.

There is a new trend of “jumping” to overcome “portals” and draw closer to God. The “holy jumpers.” This is foolishness. Forgiving our enemies and being honest in business are the sort of behaviors that actually will draw us closer to God.

I do not understand the violent head-shaking that takes place in some of the new meetings. It makes it difficult to hear what the individual is saying. Sometime I feel like saying, “Please quit that. I do not see it in the Bible.” Perhaps someone can correct me on this. I believe if the head-shakers would ask Jesus if this shaking was coming from Him, they would be surprised at His answer.

The true and valid Christian life is one of continually presenting our body a living sacrifice, proving God’s will in every detail. This is the rest of God and eternal life. The Christian who is living in the third kind of life is never called upon in the present hour to govern the world, only to bear witness to the righteousness of God and His Kingdom.

One of the current errors is that of “triumphalism.” Triumphalism is defined as “the attitude or practices of a church that seeks a position of power and dominance in the world” (Dictionary.com). I think this line of thinking sometimes is referred to as “Dominion theology” and also “Reconstruction theology.” Dominion theology, while it is political in nature and seeks to control society, may be distantly related to the various attempts to use “faith” to obtain for us whatever thing or circumstance we desire. Instead of praying and asking the Lord to give us the desire of our heart, we seek to bring it to pass by “believing.”

There are various forms of trying to manipulate the material world by using belief, by speaking the word of faith, by stepping out in faith, and so forth. All of these metaphysical practices are hostile to the third way of living, that is, living by the Life of Jesus.

Speaking the “word of faith” places the human being in the position of gaining what he wants by occult means rather than by trusting in Jesus and praying to Him.

God never intended for man to be another god in the universe, but to be an enlargement of Himself.

The basic question is: Are we to endeavor to find out how to use God’s power to accomplish our goals, or are we to follow Philippians chapter 3 and give up everything that we may come to know Christ? When we come to know Christ, we look to Him and pray to Him concerning our needs and desires; we do not attempt to gain our needs and desires by believing them into existence, or to seek somehow to force our will on the secular society.

Entering the “rest of God” is a major thesis of the book of Hebrews.

Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. (Hebrews 4:1)

Given the sternness of the verse above, it is surprising to me that I have not heard the “rest” preached very often. Perhaps some do not know what the rest of God is. The rest of God is our entrance into the third way of living, in which we look to the Lord Jesus for all we think, say, and do. We “die in the Lord” so to speak, and are raised to new life by entering His resurrection Life.

We cease from our own works. All that God wants us to be and do was established from the beginning of the world. Then God rested. We are to enter God’s rest, not our own rest. We cease from our own works that we may behave as Jesus, the Morning Star that is arising in us, directs us.

We can see at a glance that faith is required if we are to look to the Lord Jesus for all we are to do. This is not the way of passivity, although there is the danger that the novice will say, “I am not going to do anything unless God tells me to.” Such an attitude is understandable, but it is incorrect and gives unclean spirits an opportunity to direct us.

This is why it is important to be part of a body of fervent believers. When we have a question about whether or not we actually are hearing from the Lord, one of the experienced believers can tell whether we are being deceived.

Learning to live by the Life of Jesus, the third kind of life, is an art. Like all arts, there are correct and incorrect ways of responding. We must be patient, always ready to test the spirits, and to seek godly counsel when we feel uncomfortable about what we are being directed to do.

Practice makes perfect. If we remain humble and teachable, Jesus will cover our mistakes. Common sense is an important factor in learning to live by the Spirit of God. Do not do anything rash or presumptuous. Do what is required of you by the circumstances of your life, to the best of your ability. Keep looking to Jesus to help you do a good job performing your necessary tasks.

Living the third kind of life does not mean you cannot perform your daily obligations. In fact, when you make an attempt to live in the Spirit, I believe you will find that you are having better results.

Always examine the fruit of your activities. Are they bringing to you and to those around you righteousness, love, joy, and peace? If there is a sense of haste, worry, confusion, this most likely is not the Lord. Do not hesitate to go to your experienced brothers or sisters in the Lord, of the same gender as yourself, and tell them of your concerns.

Our third life begins when we are born again. The new Life is Christ, and after we are born again it is our responsibility to keep nourishing the new life with prayer and Bible reading. As we press forward in victory over sin and self-will, our new life is nourished in the spirit world with the body and blood of Christ.

It can be seen that the development of that which has been sown in us is a joint venture of God and us. To overcome is to each day give preference to the new life. It always must be increasing and our original life, the first life, always must be decreasing as we deny the cravings of our sinful nature and self-will.

Many Christian people are waiting for a “rapture.” I think there is an error concerning the rapture. It is the belief that the purpose of the rapture is to bring us from the earth to Heaven so we may escape the pains and problems of life on the earth. It is true rather that the appearing of the Lord Jesus from Heaven will be a chance for the Lord Jesus to draw additional soldiers from the earth, believers who are living by His resurrection Life. Many who are last in time shall be first in the Kingdom!

First Thessalonians chapter 4 tells us that we, together with the believers who have returned from Heaven with the Lord Jesus, will be caught up to meet Jesus in His staging area in the air where He is waiting with the angel army and the white war stallions. The passage does not say where we will go or what we will do after that. This is the long-awaited return of the Lord Jesus to the earth. The trumpets are blown, announcing the attack of the Battle of Armageddon. Christ, the army of believers including those just gathered from the earth, and the army of angels, will descend to the earth to drive out Satan and the other lords of sin and rebellion. You can see that this is not the same as fleeing to playland to escape Antichrist and our troubles.

Obviously we all will be in changed and resurrected bodies. Your body will be changed before you are caught up to meet the Lord in the air. What may not be readily obvious is that no believer who is gathered to Christ will be living in his adamic nature. All will be in their new nature, in the Life of the Resurrected Jesus, the third kind of life. That is why those who overcome will be given the Morning Star, the inner Life of Christ, as they prepare to govern with the Lord Jesus.

To him who overcomes and does my will to the end, I will give authority over the nations—‘He will rule them with an iron scepter; he will dash them to pieces like pottery’—just as I have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:26-28)

Think about it. Will those who are going to govern the nations of the earth still be in their original adamic nature, with their self-will, covetousness, irritability, seeking of preeminence, sexual lust, and so forth? Will such be fit to govern the people of the earth with the rod of iron righteousness? In the first place, the scepter of iron righteousness is never formed in the original, animal nature of man, but in the new Life of Christ that is being developed in them.

What I am saying is that if we do not get busy and enter the resurrection Life of Jesus, we will not be gathered to Jesus when He returns.

But what about the new Christians who have not had time to develop the new Life? They will go to Heaven when they die. They would be of no use in the army that will descend with Christ to govern the earth.

Notice that Jesus stated He would come to His disciples before His worldwide coming, and prepare them to live by His Life.

“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.” Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:18-23)

The passage above is taking place today for those who are carefully guarding Christ’s Word and obeying Him diligently in every area of their lives. And as for the exchanged life:

“Because I live, you also will live. On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.”

That “Day” is today. It also is the “Day” when the Lord alone is exalted. If we will keep our eyes on Jesus we will come to realize that He is in us, and we now are living as He is living. And notice:

“If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.” (John 14:23)

In Isaiah and in the book of Acts, God asks, “What house will you build me?” But in John, God says that He and Christ will make Their “home” in us. A home is infinitely more than a house!

If we permit the days of preparation, which we now are in, to slip by without counting ourselves crucified with Christ, and are not pressing into Jesus that we may think, speak, and behave in agreement with His will for us, we can forget about being gathered to Him when He appears. Why would we be gathered to the Commander in Chief when He is seeking soldiers for His army? We still are our same old sinful, self-centered person. We were too lazy to take advantage of the days of preparation when they were offered.

I mentioned previously the term, “Reconstruction.” I believe “Reconstruction theology” is associated with “Dominion theology.” The idea is that Christian people will apply the Old Testament civil and moral laws to the people of the world, forcing obedience. The Lord Jesus Christ will not return until the Christians have prepared society for His Presence—that is, the world has been converted to Christ.

How are we to “force” obedience? With the National Guard? Will the police put people in prison who do not observe the Sabbath?

The Seven Mountains movement of the New Apostolic Reformation appears to be part of Reconstructionism. In Reconstruction theology, all of the world’s cultures in their entirety are to conform to the moral laws of the Old Testament. This is my understanding from what I have read of their teaching.

As I see it, the central problem of Reconstructionism, Dominion theology, and the various “Faith” applications to our needs and desires, have one error in common. The central error is the attempt of human beings, operating in their adamic nature, to force righteous behavior on people, and to bring about change by means of the wisdom and strength of human beings. For those living in the lawless grace and rapture delusions, it is difficult for me to predict what they might do. In any case, such man-driven political and metaphysical efforts are the very opposite of God’s Kingdom.

How are they opposite? They are opposite because they are not making the creation an integral part of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus still is external to His brothers and sisters. He does not fill all in all.

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him. (Colossians 1:17-19)

Recently I attended a Reconstruction-type meeting. There was a good deal of laying hands on people, which resulted in those people falling down on the floor. I do not know what good that did. I do not think it furthered the image of God in the fallen. Please notice what God said to Ezekiel:

He said to me, “Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak to you.” As he spoke, the Spirit came into me and raised me to my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. (Ezekiel 2:1)

I do not recall that the Bible was opened at the Reconstruction meeting or that the name of Jesus Christ was spoken. It appears that the commotion of people falling was adequate evidence of the Presence and blessing of Christ. Apparently no guidance or encouragement concerning the need for the exchanged life was part of the program.

As far as I could see, falling on the floor was considered to be the sign of God’s approval and no other instruction was needed. I did not witness any sense of miraculous power, such as I did in a Kathyrn Kuhlman and William Branham meeting, just fifty or so people reclining on the floor. I would guess that the service did not result in the bringing of the worshipers to growth in Christ. It was a “fun” service.

A friend of mine, during a similar service, claimed he saw someone who was lying on the floor speaking on his cellphone.

It is clear to me that there is an uncrossable gulf between Christ initiating something and our initiating something. Who is acting? Is this Christ or not? Of course, we play a certain part. But the idea is, who is sponsoring this action?

I am looking forward to the time when Christ empowers the last-day witness; when we see people acting according to Christ, not about Christ; not doing something for Christ; not trying to help Him out or to build His Kingdom, but thinking, speaking, and behaving with the strength and wisdom of the Spirit of Christ.

This is my goal—to do nothing except as He directs and the Father enables. I have been sick so much lately that for me, such a life of dependence on God is not as difficult as it might sound.

Recently God said, to some who were praying, “Seek My face and not my hand.” This is perfect advice, succinctly stated. “Seek My counsel rather than My power.”

The natural, adamic man will always seek God’s power, because he wants to be on the throne. The person living in the third life, the life of the risen Christ, will always seek God’s counsel, because he loves God and desires fellowship with Him.

You may notice that the False Prophet uses a double portion “two horns like a lamb” of the power of Christ.

Then I saw a second beast, coming out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb, but it spoke like a dragon. (Revelation 13:11)
Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ (Matthew 7:22,23)

The passage above reveals that people can use the power of Christ and still be rejected by Him. They still can speak the lies of the dragon.

The False Prophet (Christians who are not dead to self-will and the adamic nature), will support Antichrist.

The second beast [the False Prophet] was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast [Antichrist], so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. (Revelation 13:15)

Antichrist loves and worships power, not God.

Instead of them, he will honor a god of fortresses [perhaps “power”]; a god unknown to his ancestors he will honor with gold and silver, with precious stones and costly gifts. (Daniel 11:38)

Antichrist and the deceived Christians are involved also with money:

So that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. (Revelation 13:17)

The “mark” may be “worship of self.”

In our day we have been as far as the spiritual fulfillment of the Jewish celebration of Pentecost. God now is moving forward to the spiritual fulfillments of the Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the feast of Tabernacles. The spiritual fulfillments of these last three feasts may be unknown to many Christians. Consequently there is a gap, we might say, concerning where we are to go after Pentecost. (The spiritual fulfillments of the last three Jewish feasts are treated in my other writings.)

Because of this gap, we have doctrines and movements which appear to me to be more characteristic of human effort than they are of the Lord Jesus Christ. Here are some characteristics of such movements:

• Empowering Christian people to work miracles. The emphasis often is not on giving glory to the Lord Jesus but on the fact of the miracle as proof that Christ is present. I believe that sometimes the minister, and not the Lord Jesus, receives the glory for a miraculous healing.
• Emphasis on money. The idea is that the money in the world will be given to Christians. This hardly is scriptural, except for some statements in the Old Testament that are speaking of the prosperity of those who obey the Law of Moses.
• Enlisting the help of angels. The angels obey the Father alone.
• Seeking to anoint with the Holy Spirit people who are not Christians. This is an abomination, to say the least.
• The minister acting as a medium, and informing people what their deceased relatives are saying. This is totally unacceptable!
• The idea that Christians should govern the secular society, enforcing on everyone the moral aspects of the Law of Moses. We in our adamic nature are to set up the Kingdom of God so all will be prepared when Jesus returns.

It is true, rather, that the Christian disciple is to be meek and gentle, faithfully following the Lord Jesus Christ and obeying Him, bearing his own cross of deferred gratification of his desires, having placed his treasures in Heaven. He will be hated by the world. Such are certainly not the rulers of the world!

It is well that a political leader be a Christian. But a Christian leader is not to attempt to force his religion on the people of the world.

Those who are advocating that Christian people govern the world before the Lord returns, and should be rich and powerful today, are not of God. They are living in the old adamic nature, promoting a delusion, and appeal to worldly believers. Worse than that, they are promoting Antichrist—the god of money. Their efforts to build the Kingdom of God by their own wisdom and strength shall be blown away like dust in a hurricane when God makes the enemies of Jesus, Jesus’ footstool. The Reconstructionists simply do not understand that it is the cross of Calvary that conquers the world, not politics!

Whatever happened to the simple, righteous, holy, humble, fruitful, walk with the Lord Jesus that characterized the saints of old?

And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.
So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! (II Corinthians 5:15-17)

Right now, you are living either from Adam, or in a delusion, or with Christ!

(“Three Kinds of Life”, 4295-2, proofed 20210808)