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TO WAR AGAINST THE LIGHT
How the Lord Protects His People from Evil
When a man openly denies the truth by breaking his covenants he is forced to throw out the Light within him because if he does not the Light will burn him up. From this point on he is at war. If he refuses to repent he will turn his anger on those who still possess the Light because this is the only way he can "justify" himself and get "peace". The moment he stops attacking those who have the Light his own terrible inner condition will again be dragged out into the light of his own conscience and he will be forced to fight within himself. If he still refuses to repent, he will again turn against those who have the Light, fighting all the more furiously in a bid to destroy them. But even if he does destroy those persons he cannot destroy the Light: "The Light shines in darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5, RSV).
Covenant vs. Denomination
The New Covenant Church of God is not just another denomination of Christianity. It is a covenant Church. By this is meant that the people enter into personal covenants with God to obey His commandments and thus claim the promises that are attached to obedience to those commandments. To enter into commandments not only confers tremendous spiritual Light upon the individual believer but upon the entire Body, or Church, as a whole.
The New Covenant Church of God is a very young and a very small Church at the time of writing. Many have come to it and many have left. With few exceptions, those who have left it have declared war on it for longer or shorter periods of time. They have never found peace. None who have tasted the Light and truth of the Covenant have been able to say: "I believe I am right and you are wrong. You follow your way and I will follow mine. May the Lord of peace be with you." They have always ended up persecuting the Church, even their own loved ones. And, as the King James Version of the Bible puts it, they have not understood why (Ibid.).
The people of the New Covenant Church of God are not particularly holy or different from other Christians who believe in the Biblical Christ. We have no special righteousness of our own. We can't, and don't, even claim, as some churches do, that we are the "only true church on the face of the earth" for we know we are not. We all of us recognise our faults and weaknesses, acknowledging our complete and utter dependence on Christ for everything we have. We have what we have because of grace and one other thing: our willingness to enter into, and be faithful (to the best of our ability, with the help of Christ) to covenants.
Power in the New Covenant
There is a power in this Church. Our enemies call it the devil, as they are wont to, and our members and friends call it the Spirit of God. Our enemies are terrified of it. It brings peace and inner harmony to our members and friends. It is the power of the Old Testament covenants elevated into the peace, love and grace of the New Testament Covenants -- the New Covenant in Christ. It is the natural unfolding and completion of the Old in the New.
I do not pretend to fully understand it myself. I have tried to but cannot. I know only that God's presence is in the Covenants. We have, many times, witnessed the power and love of God in the covenants. Last year, when the members of several of the local colonies entered into sacred covenants, one of those present saw a blazing column of light descend upon the people and the wooden floor change into marble. Some months later that man denied his covenants and has since been waging a bitter war against the Church and its leaders. He is even now "re-interpreting" that vision.
A Testimony
One man, who left the Covenant for several years, and returned recently testified of the things I have been talking about. He found himself at war against himself because he could not deny the Light and truth he had received. He experienced terrible suffering of conscience, depression, anger, bitterness, and all those fruits which the Scriptures testify are not of the Holy Spirit. When he returned he found indescribable peace and his depressions, fear and anger disappeared. Today he bears eloquent testimony as one who has lived through the inner hell of denying the Light of Truth and the glorious release it is to return to it again and experience the instant forgiveness of Christ. Repentance is truly sweet.
I am one of the founding fathers of this Church and have watched how God has taken it, shaken it, and remolded it many times. I have seen how people's faith has been tried. I have watched how evil powers have taken hold of the rebellious and how they have tried to run away from the truth. Though some have claimed they have managed, yet they acknowledge that they cannot be completely free. Whilst we, as a people, allow people to be free, and bless them when they leave us, the Spirit of God searches out every man and will not let him be until he has been true to what he knows to be true.
I have experienced many of the struggles that the others have, even to doubting this work. I too have been through the fires of affliction and refinement and am still going through them. I wish to end by bearing my testimony of this work by sharing with you a special experience.
The Third Rebellion and an Important Vision
After the recent schism in the Church which saw a third of our members depart which we have reported on in the last issue of this magazine, I began to wonder if the schismatics were not, after all, right, as I saw my own weakness and fallibility. I went to the Lord in prayer and cried to him to reveal my sin and to confirm whether I should continue with this work or follow the schismatics.
I slept badly. I always do when I doubt. The next morning I felt as depressed as the previous night and again petitioned the Lord in prayer, expressing my willingness to set aside everything I had built up over the last decade if it were wrong.
I heard His voice speak to me clearly and then I saw a vision of a Jewish Menorah -- seven-armed candlestick -- made of dark green olive branches. At once I knew that I should turn to the fourth chapter of Zechariah which read, as I opened it:
"This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubabel: Not by My might nor by power, BUT BY MY SPIRIT, says the Lord Almighty. What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubabel you will become level ground. Then He will bring out the capstone [Christ] to shouts of 'God bless it! God bless it!' Then the Word of the Lord came to me: 'The hands of the Lord have laid the foundation of this temple [Church of God]; His hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. Who despises the day of small things [when the Church is numerically small]? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb-line (or capstone) in the hand of Zerubabel". These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range throughout the earth" (Zech.4:6-10, NIV; see NC&C 396).
From that moment on I had a tremendous peace. I realise that there was nothing that I, or anyone else could do, to stop the Lord from finishing this New Covenant Church of God. It will continue, and will fulfil its mission, no matter what men may do or not do. When they curse its leaders they curse God, because the Church does not belong to its leaders, neither was it formed by them; for this is God's Church, not man's, and He will do with it what He pleases.
Descending into Darkness
It is astonishing how quickly those who wage war against this work descend into the darkness. They are one person one day and a completely different one the next day. And they wage war in the Name of the Lord, blaspheming His Name and heaping even more judgment on themselves. They rail against its Church leaders by calling them "psychopaths" as though this somehow justifies their behaviour.
Very soon big changes are going to take place in the New Covenant Church of God. It will come alive in a spectacular way. How it will do so, only God knows. Just wait and see. God is in control as His seven eyes "range across the earth".
Like the divine eagle soaring in the sky
So shall I lift you up on the eddies of afflictions;
For behold, I have brought you to distress,
That I might lift you on high.
Look not at the external appearance,
but look at the Spirit.
For beauty is hidden in uncomeliness,
and glory in that which has no worth
to human perceptions.
That which is imperfect shall be raised
to perfection by Him who had no comeliness before men;
Rejoice, for in the wings of your distress
I bring great joy
if you will but look to Me in this hour. Amen.
Prophetic word received by the author in Cranleigh, England, 16 July 1995
This page was created on 12 May 1998
Last updated on 12 May 1998
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