The salvation experience and the baptism with the Holy Spirit are to prepare us for the personal advent of Christ to us. God is seeking a house, an eternal resting place. He finds it only in the Lord Jesus Christ and in those in whom Christ has slain every trace of Satan.

The end result is that we enter rest in the Godhead and the Godhead in us. This is the spiritual fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. It requires much tribulation in order for us to enter the desired state of trust and selflessness.

This is the inner establishing of the Kingdom of God and it absolutely must precede our participation in the manifestation of Christ at His coming. (How can we be revealed together with Him if there is no creation of glory in us to shine?) If Christ has not become our very Life we will not be revealed together with Him (Colossians 3:4).

But what is happening today? The believers are seeking to use the gifts and revelations, that are intended to bring us into union with God, as a means of some sort of spiritual or material success. If we have faith we can get this, that, or the other out of God. We have become as so many prodigal sons who are asking for our inheritance so we can leave home and spend our inheritance any way we desire. It appears we do not know where to go after Pentecost.

It is the Lord Jesus who, through the Holy Spirit, should be guiding our ministry. It is true that the gifts have been given to us. But we now are to give back all of our gifts and talents to the Lord so He can use them as He will. The gifts we have been given are subject to us. But this does not mean we are to use our gifts according to our own understanding. We ourselves along with our gifts are to be subject to the Holy Spirit of God. Only then can we enter the rest of God and enable others to enter the rest of God.

The believers are being taught today how to get power from God, how to get God to give them more money, how to manipulate the supernatural realm with their "faith" so they can be prosperous and wealthy—all, of course, "for the glory of God."

The latest delusion is that God wants us to set up the Kingdom now, to rule the secular realm. All of this is Antichrist and the False Prophet. Its purpose is to keep us occupied with externals so the formation of the inner Kingdom of God, the real threat to Satan's kingdom, does not take place.

The prayerful saint should be put on guard at the first sign of such an approach to the Gospel. The ease with which multitudes of Pentecostal believers have been deceived gives us some idea of the ability of Satan to produce Laodicean-type churches.

The current emphasis on "positive" thinking and preaching is in complete opposition to the fiery trials that are to come upon us. Numerous believers because of the "rapture revelation" and "positive preaching" will be unable to cope successfully with the tribulations of the closing days of the age. This is Satan's motive in promoting these errors.

To be continued.