Truth is a Treasure

19 November 2017

Dear Phyllis,

Many years ago I was preaching in a small church in Florida. After the meeting my spiritual father said to me, “The first 30 minutes of your message was very good, but the next 30 minutes undid what you accomplished in the first half. No one can remember all of Ronald Reagan's speeches but his one liners are legendary. From now on I am going to totally revamp my letters to you and stop sending lengthy expositions and try to cut them to brief single thoughts.

I am increasingly impressed that God has hidden Himself so that the wise and noble can't see Him but He reveals Himself to the humble and simple (Mt. 11:25). In like manner spiritual truth is a treasure. A treasure is not something that can be found on the shelf of any 7-11 store. Treasures are rare and frequently hidden. You don't find diamonds lying on the sidewalk. Diamonds are only found by digging. Digging means hours of Bible study not 3 minute devotions reading Our Daily Bread.

Finding Jesus is well worth the time.

                                                     bill

CITIES OF REFUGE

12 November 2017

Dear Phyllis,

Paul's wife, Marisa, recently opened a new restaurant. It is just awful. She has some of the best food I have ever eaten at a give- way price. The problem is that I can only eat one meal at a time. That means that I have to postpone the rest of the menu until a later date. It is a grief to know that there is such delicious food waiting but I can't eat it right now. I had a Marisa Eden Garden restaurant meeting with Jesus last week.

The Word was exploding with such delicacies as I seldom see and there was little I could do to handle them. I felt like Jesus gave me a bushel basket of apples but no sack to carry them in. What a frustration! There were apples all around me but I only had two hands and could only carry two apples at a time. I don't know what to say. There is so much I would like to share with you but I am incapable of sorting all this material out to present it in any coherent manner.

One thought is the cities of refuge. I have known for many years that the Lord commanded Moses to set aside six cities in the promised land for a sanctuary for a man who had accidentally killed another. Justice demands retribution. The law demands that the land can only be cleansed by the man who shed (caused) the blood (Num. 35:33). That is one of the most reasonable laws of God. You kill a man – you die. Who can argue with that? God has put it in the heart of man that there should be an avenger of blood. If a man murders a child there is something intense in the heart of the father that says, “If I get my hands on that bird I will kill him!”. It is not immoral for a man to say to another, “You hurt my brother you will have me to deal with.” That is the spirit of the avenger of blood. That is a God-given instinct. But in the case where the killing was not intentional God made a provision for deliverance. This is not to be confused with intentional murder. In that case God says the murder should be killed.

There is no excuse for sin. God has given to every man a free will and he is 100% responsible for what he does. In this, we have the same option that Adam had in the Garden – to obey God or violate His law. And yet there is one basic difference between us and Adam. Adam was created perfect. He had no sin nature. We are born with two strikes against us before we get to bat. It is guaranteed that we will sin. Last week I was talking to Sangha about original sin. He protested that not all men are bad. I showed him Rom.3:23 - “ALL have sinned...”. I asked, “Are your boys sinners? Do they do bad things?” “Yes. Of course.” “Why? Did you teach them to lie and steal?” “No” “Why are they bad?'' Silence. Then I said, “Because they have a bad father. They got it from you” In that sense we are not totally responsible. David, in self-defense, said, “I was born in sin. In sin did my mother conceive me” (Ps. 51:5). When we see a man with an ugly face we can say, “Poor thing. But it really isn't his fault. It is his fathers fault”. Considering the fact that we sin because we are born with the nature to do so we are like the man who accidentally kills another. Law demands justice but God has provided a city of refuge for us. We can flee to Jesus and be safe. I have known this ever since I have been saved. If a man doesn't like to flee to a city of refuge he will pay the price and get killed. But I never understood what the death of the high priest had to do with it. The killer could flee to a city of refuge and be safe, but he couldn't go home until the high priest died (Num. 35:25,28). Last week the Lord explained that to me.

There is a bewildering passage in Hebrews 9:16. Hebrews 7, 8, 9, and 10 all talk about the New Covenant. Tragically very few people understand what the New Covenant is that God has provided for us. Basically it is God has placed us in Christ so that, we are saved by our identification with Him, and He has placed Christ in us giving us a new nature that doesn't want to sin. And Jesus is our High Priest to represent us before God. But Heb. 9:16 says that the Covenant is not enforced until the priest dies. The answer to that mystery is linguistic. In our English language there is a basic difference between a contract and a last will and testament. In English, the contract is only good as long as both parties are alive. And a last will and testament is only valid after the rich man dies. You might have fortune coming but you can't get your hands on the money until Uncle Herbert dies. But in Greek the word COVENANT applies to both the contract and a last will and testament. Most of the provision of the New Covenant applies to a contact, but the the writer of Hebrews drops back to also insert the function of a last will and testament, that is only applicable after the author dies.

In the city of refuge the man who has fled there is really not free to go home until the High Priest dies. This tells us two things about our relationship with Christ. One is that the function of the New Covenant doesn't really take hold until death takes place. I cannot go into detail about this here other than to say this is Romans 6 – our death with Christ. The power of sin will still keep us captive until we learn that when Jesus died we died with Him and His death delivers us from the power of sin. But there is another wonderful aspect about the death of our High Priest. This is the last will and testament function (Heb. 9:16).

After Rosemary left I was really in bad shape. I lost everything. At one point I was building a house for my friend Rody. I had no home but he let me stay in a shack that he used for a mono oki (storage shed). It was filled with mattresses and junk, and had no heat or running water. It was about an 8x10 foot shack. There was a place for me to sleep like a rats nest but no drawers or any luxuries. It was freezing cold. One night I was feeling sorry for myself. I thought, “Man howdy, I am kawai so (pitiful)”. Suddenly the Holy Spirit spoke to me in almost an audible voice; “Son, thou art always with Me and all that I have is thine”. When it dawned on me where that was I was stunned. That is what the father said to the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son (Lk. 15:31). I thought, “That poor turkey was in worse than me. He had everything but wasn't enjoying it”. I wondered; is it true that God could say to me “All that I have is thine.”? Then the Holy Spirit showed me that the Father has given heaven to His Son. It is a fact that God has given to Jesus everything. And God emptied heaven when He gave us Jesus. When Jesus died we inherited everything that was His. This is the second half of what Heb. 9:16 is telling us. We are the inheritors of Jesus wealth when He died. Oh my goodness, is that true?

There is another way of looking at it. By the law of God a man and a woman become ONE by marriage. When God placed us in Christ we literally became one with Him. It is an undeniable fact that we are joined by marriage to Jesus. That means we are coheirs with Him. All that He has is ours.

Oh my goodness, I can't begin to tell you what it was like when God gave me a bushel of apples and I didn't know which one to eat first. Gomen nasai. I wish I could tell you how wonderful Jesus is but I only have two hands. I guess you will just have to get some for yourself. All I can say is Jesus apples sure are oishi (tasty) (S. of S. 2:3).

                                               bill

Mark of the Beast

5 November 2017

Dear Phyllis,

Last week I had an amazing time with Sangha. At the moment the Lord has not given me a public ministry of proclaiming Jesus; but in the absence of a public ministry the Lord has given me one special brother that I speak with for an hour every morning.

Last week Sangha asked me about the mark of the beast in Revelation 13. I told him that is a hotly discussed subject in Christian circles and hundreds of books have been written.. I'm sure there are many theories, but I told him about four that have been banished about in recent years.

For generations the basic theory of the 666, mark of the beast, was a tattoo that would be placed on the forehead or right hand of everyone in the world. Without that tattoo no one would be allowed to buy, sell, or engage in any financial transaction (Rev. 13:16-18). When I was saved 60 years ago that was the only position I heard.

But 40 years ago, when the bar code took over the financial world, someone noticed that the basis of the bar code was 6-6-6. That made sense that without the bar code financial transactions looked impossible.

Then more recently microchips made their appearance. It is possible to record all personal data on a tiny microchips that could be implanted in a persons right hand or forehead that could be used in place of a credit card. We were told that the day would come when, not only would paper money disappear, but plastic money (credit cards) would no loner be used for buying and selling. All financial data would be recorded on these implanted microchips and read at check out counters. It was suggested that the microchip would be the compulsory mark of the beast.

The latest suggestion has been made by Walid Shoebad. Walid Shoebad is a converted Muslim who was born in Bethlehem of Muslim parents. After his dramatic conversion to Christianity he has become a well known Bible scholar/speaker. Shoebad has come up with a very interesting argument based on his observation of the Codex Vaticanus. The Codex Vaticanus is the oldest known manuscript of the Bible dating back to the 4^th century. It is written in Greek. Greek numbers, as is true also of Hebrew, are not expressed in our Roman numerals but in Greek letters of the alphabet. But in Rev. 13:18 the numbers written are not the Greek chi, xi, sigma but in Arabic. Shoebad said, “When I saw the 666 in the Codex Vatanicus I could read it. It was Arabic.” Shoebad tells us that what those Arabic symbols actually say is “In the name of Allah”. Well known Christian speakers ranging from Chuck Missler to Sid Roth have endorsed Walid Shoebad as a reliable authority and have come down heavily that the mark of the beast is actually the headband worn by all Islamic warriors written “In the name of Allah”. This gives credence to the argument that the anti-Christ will be Islamic and Islam must be embraced by everyone in the world or you are gone.

I don't know where I got this. I don't know if I heard it from some source or it is actually my own thoughts, but there is one other possibility to understand the mark of the beast. I told Sangha that sometimes to understand the spiritual teaching in the Bible we must identify the verb that goes with the noun. To illustrate this I asked Sangha, “What is the verb that goes with feet?” He immediately responded, “Walking”. “What goes with legs?”. - “Stand.” “Teeth?” - “Eating” “Tongue?” - “Talking”. Then I asked, “What goes with forehead?” He thought for a minute and responded, “Brain”. Brain is close – it is a noun - but I believe the verb that goes with forehead is our thoughts. When I said “thoughts”, suddenly Sangha exclaimed, “Uuuuuh, my body is tingling all over”. Sangha is the most infallible sign of the Holy Spirit I have ever met. In our times of fellowship when there is something of the Holy Spirit, he suddenly breaks out with goose bumps on his arm. Time and again he will say, “Look at my arm:. In every time I agree with him. He is truly amazing. He is the most infallible physical sign of the Holy Spirit I have ever seen.

In our talk about the mark of the beast I had previously shown Sangha the mark on the forehead of the 144, 000 in Rev. 7:3,4; 14:1, and the marking on the forehead of the righteous before the destruction of Jerusalem in Ezek. 9:4. The forehead mark in Ezekiel and the 144, 000 are clearly a spiritual sign – not a physical tattoo. I have thought for some time that the forehead sign is actually our thoughts or attitude. The forehead and hand speak of our thoughts, attitude, and the things we do (hand). This is the distinguishing difference between a Christian and a non-Christian; what we think – our attitude – and the things we do – our activities.

As I was taking Sangha through the noun-verb teaching and came to the forehead and hand possibility of the mark of he beast, suddenly he broke out in cold chills and goose bumps all over. He rolled up his sleeves and said, “Look at my arms”. That was something like I had never seen before. Suddenly he became tremendously energized and said, “I am totally different than everyone else”. His wife, Lec, is not saved yet. He said, “My wife and I are totally different. I think one thing and she thinks the dead opposite”. I asked, “What was it like six years ago?” “Oh, then we were the same, but now that I am saved I am totally different”.

What is the mark of the beast? I don't know. I seriously doubt that it will be a tattoo. I really don't think it is the bar code. We have moved past that. I question that it will be a microchip. Walid Shoebad has a good argument. The Codex Vatanicus is interesting. It certainly looks like the world is moving in a Islamic direction at a very high speed. I have seen several You Tubes that demonstrate that Europe and England are irreversibly moving towards becoming Islamic states in the near future. And the mark of the beast could be a spiritual mark that is our mind set and activities. I really hadn't taken my own theory seriously until I saw Sangha's reaction. I wonder if that discussion hadn't been more for me than for him.

Paul has told me about the time he was working with the FBI in counter terrorist intelligence. He told me that he was monitoring Islamics that had stashed away a huge arsenal of military weaponry in remote houses in upstate New York. He said the only possible explanation for such arsenals was plans for war; and added, “If they are doing that in remote places in upstate New York they must have similar places all over the US”.

Whatever the scenario, the Lord is giving us ample warning and this is a good time to look up. Praise God we know the last chapter and it won't be long before Jesus is here to receive the full reward of his sufferings. And it is a pretty good time to settle whose side we are on. May God put a seal on our hearts and a mark on our foreheads that, not only angels can see, but all the world can see that we belong to Jesus.

                                                 bill