THE LEPERS OF SAMARIA

Publication #53

(Part 1)

HER OWN TENT
THE WORD OF THE PROPHET
THE WHITE MAN
THE RED MAN

"And there were FOUR LEPROUS MEN at the entering in of the gate: and they said one to another, Why sit we here until we die? And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there" (II Kings 7:3,5).

Serpents and lepers are not commonly thought to be types of Christ or His body; but strangely, we are. There is not a lot of teaching concerning lepers; but what little we have, the disease of leprosy carries a primary thought: that in type, it is the disease of sin that has afflicted Adam, and it flows throughout humanity. I believe this to be accurate, but not in its entirety. The seventh chapter of the second book of Kings portrays the four lepers much like the brazen serpent that Moses lifted up and all the snake-bite victims who looked upon it were healed. Like leprosy, the serpent always spoke of sin; except that one time in the wilderness. It then represented Jesus, the unblemished sin offering (not sin itself) upon the cross. The four lepers of Samaria, unlike all the other lepers of the Bible who were outcasts of society and reeked of death, they became the deliverers of that city. Rather than a plague of death, they were the plague of life.

The northern kingdom, Israel, or better known as Samaria when she was practicing idolatry (spiritual adultery), came under siege of Syria. This was due to her sin of worshiping idols. Ezekiel had another name for Samaria. He called her Aholah, which means My Own Tent. This is one characteristic harlots have in common. They move into their own place, outside the earshot of any authority, and do their own thing.

Please permit me for a few moments to be straightforward and very frank. It is not my aim to offend anyone, but at times one must deal a little pain in order to reveal an underlying problem. People hate to hear the doctor's report that they have cancer, yet if the patient is not aware of it, or if he denies it altogether, it will eventually destroy him. The news is not so menacing, however, when the cancer has not reached its point of being terminal, and the doctor says he can save his patient by ridding him of the tumor. The man is a little shaken to know something is eating away at his body, but he is excited that deliverance is in sight. In like manner, although there may be some unsavory facts presented in this study, it is only to alert the people of the Church that a problem exists; but remember, it does not end with the diagnosis alone. There is a cure for the disease!

It doesn't take much spiritual insight to see that today's Church has not only given herself to adultery, but true to form, she sits IN HER OWN TENT as the lukewarm Queen of Aholah. Whether we like it or not, we are going to face the cold fact that all the words we hear coming from steeple houses, as George Fox called church buildings, are not the voice of the Son of God. Every denomination, and non-denomination alike, claims to be abiding in "the house of the Lord," that they are the chosen of the God, that they are only ones who really possess the truth, that they alone have unraveled God's great mysteries, and "If you come and live in OUR TENT," they say, "you are more apt to please God and will surely be `saved.'" Let me ask, just how in God's holy name can each one of these countless sects be right? The fact is, they can't! They aren't! And the sensible ones know it, while followers of tradition continue on with blinders. Year after year they remain joined to the adulterous woman who bows her knee to every flesh appealing imagination conceivable. The deeds of her life reveal with whom she sleeps, as well as in which house she lives — and we suspect it is not the one whose builder and maker is God. "IN OUR OWN TENT, will we live!" she declares with pious conviction, while with her wanton lips she says she is the virtuous bride of Christ. Let her say what she will, but her life bears fruit of the exact opposite. In fact, she is the very embodiment of the promiscuous women of Is. 4:1: "And in that day seven women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called by Thy name, to take away our reproach." She wants an honorable name (Christian) but will not submit to the One whose name she has taken. She wants to sit as a queen upon her own throne and to provide for herself. She wants to pleasure herself with all the niceties of life, yet with God's sanctions upon these fleshly works of death.

Centuries before Samaria was built, man's independence from God was firmly established in the earth by the grandsons of Adam and Eve; and in reference to these forerunners, one of the anointed expressions of God's kingdom today, J. Preston Eby, penned the following:

"There are three primary requirements for man's existence and well-being on earth: provision, protection, and pleasure. For man to live an abundant and fulfilled life in the earth realm he needs the provision of food, clothing, shelter, etc., a means of defense, to be protected from adversaries, and a form of recreation and amusement for his happiness. Prior to the fall GOD WAS RESPONSIBLE FOR PROVIDING THESE THREE NEEDS OF MAN, and they were supplied abundantly in the Garden of Eden experience. After Cain's departure from the anointing, the scripture describes him as `of that Wicked One' — the seed of the Serpent! Out of the descendants of Cain were produced the founders of man's own system of supply for these three great needs of life. These were the three sons of Lamech. Jabal was the father of tent dwellers and cattlemen (Gen. 4:20). Tents and cattle are for the supply of man's living and therefore belong to the category of provision. In the beginning God intended that HE should be our provision and so made Himself available to man in the Tree of Life, that in union with Him we should have all things, even the supply of God Himself. Jabal represents man's own efforts, apart from the anointing, to make provision for himself. Spiritually, this symbolizes the carnal religious systems with their rituals, ceremonies, and ordinances designed to `feed' God into man. All religion is the invention of man in his effort to meet man's spiritual need — apart from the anointing! Alas! they understand not that the reality of God's life is not contained in, nor ministered through, doctrines, programs, rituals, ceremonies or ordinances. Those who live in that realm know nothing of the mighty power of the indwelling Christ of God. Man's religion is of the world, for it is outside of God, being not of the Spirit, nor by the anointing.

"Another of Cain's sons, Jubal, was the father of all that handle the harp and organ. Playing harp and organ is for pleasure and inspiration and thus pertains to the category of pleasure. This worldly aspect is fulfilled, spiritually, in the maze of social activity in religion, as well as in much of the music, programs, and sermonizing, all of which is designed to be pleasant, acceptable, and entertaining to the people. I personally have little use for most of the concerts, programs, and pulpit showmanship which constitutes much of the so-called `ministry' among God's people today, for it is, without doubt, very appealing to the carnal mind which is ever wont to feed upon soulish entertainment rather than with reverential awe and holy brokenness to drink at the fountains of living water from the throne of God. I am convinced that our faithful heavenly Father has given the ministry of the blessed Spirit of Truth for the perfecting of the saints, whereas the worldly church system has given us a smorgasbord of religious shows for the entertaining of the saints. Most solemnly do I declare unto you that all such ARE OF THE WORLD, and not of the Father, for their methods and means lie outside of the anointing of the Spirit and can never lead God's people beyond the husks of man's own vanity. Thank God! a people is arising who are finding their way out of Cain's pleasure land of entertainment and sentimentality, back to the Paradise of God, back to the Tree of Life, where they partake deeply of this sublime truth: `...in Thy presence is fullness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures forevermore!' (Ps. 16:11).

"The third son, Tubal-cain, was the instructor of every artificer in brass and iron instruments. These instruments were formed for the purpose of defense, thus referring to the category of protection. Ignorant of the power of sufficiency of the indwelling Spirit, with what pompousness do the religious systems construct about them their walls and implements of defense! Church history is replete with examples of revival after revival in which men were sovereignly caught up into heavenly places of glory and power, only to have man put his hand of flesh upon the workings of God, to control, protect and preserve it, as though the omnipotent Spirit needed man's useless wisdom and regulations to preserve His mighty work! Out there in Cain's world you must have the earthly brass and iron implements of Tubal-cain — the implements of organization, denomination, creed, coverings, fellowships, rules, regulations, boards, etc., to defend and preserve the work; but, blessed be God! as one moves westward into the anointing of God's presence and life the omnipotence of the indwelling Spirit Himself becomes our fortress and exceeding strong tower! With what deep comprehension of the ways of the Lord did the Psalmist pen the words of faith in the power of God alone when he wrote, `Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. For THOU art the glory of their strength: and in Thy favor shall our horn be exalted. For THE LORD IS OUR DEFENSE; and the Holy One of Israel is our King' (Ps. 89:15-18)." — End quote.

HER OWN TENT

In these three inventions of the sons of Cain, man found within himself, so he thought, the answer to his three needs — supply, defense, and amusement. Men found no need for God. Like their mother Eve, they set about to establish their own world, independent of God. Hence, we have AHOLAH, the woman who lives in HER OWN TENT in SAMARIA, the city built upon an elevated mound of earth (humanity), the city that left the presence of the living God to serve Baal along with all the other gods of the surrounding nations. And may I ask, is it any different today? If this is not you or your church, then praise God, for there are those 7,000 who have not bowed their knee to Baal, but the majority have.

We may look at the Roman Catholic Church and say it is a great deal the same, for in their repetitious prayers they still finger the beads which find their origin in ancient worship of the gods in Nineveh, as well as Mohammed, Malabar, Astarte, and of Brahma, Buddha, Siva, and Vishnu. And yes, they also pray to clay, wood, stone, silver, and images of gold. They all plead their cause to men (saints) who did not die for them and a woman who is not their mother, hoping to bypass the imagined wrath of the Son. But so what! Is their serving other gods any less than what all her daughters are serving? By no means! The gods of Romanism are visible while the rest of the denominations are invisible. It is easily established that a string of beads is not Christian practice, but many fail to consider that neither does a string of religious opinions constitute Christian faith, as stated by John Wesley. Both serve about the same — false security and dishonorable notions about God.

Many who have left Rome may worship in much pretense and in a flood of words, and with songs sounding like heaven's choir, but the sum of it is just that — pretense, words of rhetoric, and pretty songs inspired by the spirit of man. If this is not you, forget it; but if it is, take stock of what I am saying and do something about. Get real with Christ!

Worship in spirit and truth is what the Father seeks, as Jesus said, but such worship is foreign to most. In effect, they are attempting to create God in their own minds, develop what they imagine He might desire, and then do those things they assume will appease Him. If they are not worshiping in spirit and in truth, at best, it is ASSES' HEADS (the knowledge of man), DOVES' DUNG (that which remains after the dove has flown away), and BABIES (consuming all the newborn of the kingdom until they are twofold more the children of hell than themselves) [see Pub. #52.] Truly, as a whole, things have not changed, "So these nations feared the LORD, and served their graven images, both their children, and their children's children: as did their fathers, SO DO THEY UNTO THIS DAY" (II Kings 17:41). This is what has caused the besieging and great famine of hearing the word of God in the Church of modern Samaria — adultery of idol worship, the giving of themselves to anything other than the person of their espousal, Jesus Christ.

THE WORD OF THE PROPHET

I would be greatly lacking and grossly remiss if I left our thoughts in this graphic, but true, view of the Church today. The fact is, anyone can see faults and shortcomings with almost anything, but if that is as far as they see, regardless of how accurate their sight is, they still miss the mark. Everyone can find fault, but without the remedy, without the healing of the stroke of their iniquitous wounds, it is best left unsaid and covered from observation when possible. But we praise our mighty God of revelation, for He has not only opened our eyes to the fallen woman of the night, but he has given to us the wherewithal to save her from the depth of her plight. We once again peer into the open scripture and see the stone rolled away, not reading the epitaph of the one once buried there, but hearing the One risen from within.

"Then Elisha said, Hear ye the word of the LORD; Thus saith the LORD, To morrow about this time shall a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of barley for a shekel, in the gate of Samaria. Then a lord on whose hand the king leaned (the gatekeeper) answered the man of God, and said, Behold, if the LORD would make windows in heaven, might this thing be? And he said, Behold, thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat thereof" (II Kings 7:1-2). When the prophets of God declare a word, there will always be the gatekeepers of congregations who will deny it, attempting to dissuade those in need — "If the LORD would make windows in heaven, this thing might be...."

I will be bold today and tell you this one thing. It matters not who your gatekeeper is, when the men and women of God declare things from the throne — they will come to pass. And furthermore, among other things, God's prophets have already declared a breaking of the famine in the ranks of the Church. One, of whom I know personally (J. Preston Eby), prophesied in 1983 that communism in the Soviet would fall, and it did. He also prophesied a short, victorious Persian Gulf war with the horizons set ablaze with fire, and it happened. We know in particular another brother who took part in that eventful day. In the latter part of 1989 he was caught up to the throne of God and spoke to the spiritual powers over each of the communist-block nations along the iron curtain (Poland, East Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, etc.). He first rebuked them and then commanded them to cease and desist. These commands were not in English, but in the tongue of each of those nations; and once the word of rebuke was delivered to the powers that were to end, he turned his attention to the spiritual powers that were replacing them, and gave to them their authority and power, along with instructions, from the throne of God.  Soon afterwards those nations began to topple like dominoes. One after the other they fell just like the Spirit of the Lord commanded them to.

Let the gatekeepers decry the word of the Lord. Let them try if they so choose, to discourage the people from believing their deliverance is in the making, and let them bar the gateway to freedom if they will, but they can't stop it. When deliverance comes, to their dismay, they will find themselves overwhelmed by the flood of the liberated saints, trampled underfoot by the starving ones of Samaria.

THE WHITE MAN

The FOUR LEPERS sitting outside the city came to the end of their waiting and said to each other, "Why sit we here until we die?" They went on to conclude, even if they went into the city they would still die. That alternative didn't look any better than where they were, besides, they had their fill of man's theology of asses' heads, and yesteryear's revelations of doves' dung. Coming to grips with their prospects, they made the decision to leave the city and go into the face of the enemy. They may perhaps be taken in and fed, but if not, they would only be killed and would be no more dead than if they remained on the hill top of Samaria. "And they rose up in the twilight, to go unto the camp of the Syrians: and when they were come to the uttermost part of the camp of Syria, behold, there was no man there" (II Kings 7:5.)

Are you hungry? Are you on the verge of starvation? Are you dejected and unappreciated? Then rise up all ye lepers and leave the city of Samaria! And please, don't be hasty to take offense at being called lepers, for there is a bright side to this.

To stir your pure minds let me pose some questions. Knowing you are walking in the light Christ gave to you, do you ever get the feeling that the religious people you come in contact with look upon you as something less than desirable? Do they act as if you have a horrible, contagious disease, even though you have never done anything except being friendly to them? Do you get the feeling that they are repulsed at your presence, that they wish you would just go away? And if you don't go away, do they perchance take the initiative to see to it that you do? Have they ever told you not to come back to their church? Have you ever been cast outside the gates of their city? Ah, don't you know why they can't stand the sight of you? Don't you know why they fear your very presence? It's LEPROSY, my friend — IT IS L-E-P-R-O-S-Y. Now you know what it is to have leprosy, at least from Samaria's point of view.

Think it not a strange thing for those with little or no understanding to see you as having leprosy; for don't you know what the symptoms of that disease are? They are very much like that of THE WHITE MAN: "And the priest shall look on the plague in the skin of the flesh: and when THE HAIR in the plague IS TURNED WHITE, and the plague in sight be deeper than the skin of his flesh, it is a plague of LEPROSY: and the priest shall look on him, and pronounce him unclean" (Lev. 13:3). "...And, behold, Miriam became leprous, WHITE AS SNOW"...(Num. 12:10).

Let us take note of someone with similar characteristics: "HIS HEAD and HIS HAIRS were WHITE LIKE WOOL, AS WHITE AS SNOW; and his eyes were as a flame of fire" (Rev 1:14). "And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, CLEAN AND WHITE: for the fine linen is THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF SAINTS" (Rev. 19:8). "And as He prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and HIS RAIMENT WAS WHITE and GLISTERING" (Lk. 9:29).

THE RED MAN

There is yet one more set of people to notice who is identified by their color tones — ADAM. Adam is the name given to the human race, and it is interesting that his name means, TO SHOW R-E-D-N-E-S-S IN THE FACE. You see, the light that once flowed through his veins was extinguished. The breath of life God breathed into his nostrils abated. Upon eating the fruit of the tree of death, the light faded and the red clay from which he was formed began to filter through his thin skin. His face, no longer radiated with the light of whiteness but emitted the color from whence he was formed — EARTHY REDNESS — ADAM, THE RED MAN.

Modern Samaria, the Church at large, is much like that ancient city which represents her. She lives upon an elevated place of grandeur. The citizens of this city, all the way from Romanism to Kingdomism, have laid aside worshiping God in spirit and in truth — giving themselves over to every seducing spirit imaginable. They have become akin to those David wrote about: "The idols of the heathen are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not; eyes have they, but they see not; They have ears, but they hear not; neither is there any breath in their mouths. THEY THAT MAKE THEM ARE LIKE UNTO THEM: so is every one that trusteth in them" (Ps. 135:15-18).

Everything they think, say, or do has its origin in the red earth of Adam. The foundation of their city, their very life, rests upon the mound of earth their earthy hands built. They worship the imaginary idols that were birthed from the carnal minds of the flushed face of Adam. They, along with the rest of carnal humanity, are the true "RED MEN" OF THE EARTH.

Do you really want to fit in, to be loved, to be accepted in this elevated city? Then I can tell you how it can be done. Paint your face red. Put on the mask of Adam. Or better yet, eat from the same tree they are eating, eat from the rebellious head of the ass (man's knowledge and ways) as did those of ancient Samaria, and you will also show redness in the face. This will be from the inside out. You will then be just like them without even trying. But I believe you do not choose to compromise your inheritance, that your diet will continue being from the Tree of Life, the life which swallowed up the red death that once flowed through your veins.

Can you now see why you have been like a plague to those of Samaria? The red death of Adam is gone. Brethren, you are not showing redness in the face! You are shining with the white light of Christ! Your skin is white! And it goes down deep, right to the bone, down to the core of your being. Your hair is white with the ancient of days, the wisdom of God. Your countenance, your words, your ways are not understood, for they are from above. Those from below will never comprehend that which comes down from heaven's throne. Their carnal minds are enmity against God, and to hear your sincere words of the Kingdom is damnable heresy to them. Your voice, the voice of the Son of God, is a strange, unknown sound to them. They tremble, fearing utter destruction if they listen — forgetting that those who hear the voice of the Son of God will live (Jn. 5:25).

Everything about the Sons of God, as perceived by the seduced city of Samaria, looks like leprosy. Your hair is white with the wisdom of God, your face shines with His light, your hands work the works of the Father, and your feet walk the avenues of righteousness. Everything is white! You are so contrary to the redness of Adam that they cannot begin to grasp it. The Sons do not have black hair (spiritually speaking now), that which manifests what is in the blood (life or death). They do not show redness in the face, the shining of the adamic nature. Their hands do not work the works of evil. Their motivation is always that of the Spirit of life and not of the carnal mind. And the Sons do not walk the streets of the scorner, of the gainsayer, of the busybody, of the sluggard, of the malcontented, or of the adulterer. Their walk is a straight one. It is one of purity. It is white, and the Adamites of Samaria don't know what to do with the likes of you. That is why you hear their priest's alarming cry — "Lepers! Lepers! Beware of the lepers! Cast them out before they infect the whole city with their deadly disease."

When this happens, as some know by experience, it matters not how you reason with them or what you do to let them know that you mean only good and absolutely no harm, their fear is so overwhelming that you will leave, one way or the other. Can you now see why you are sitting in the gate, outside the city, like the four lepers of Samaria? It is not that you have rotting flesh upon your bones. You really don't have the stench of the walking dead. You are simply unperceived by the red man. He doesn't know who you are, and in order to maintain his present order — you white people have to go. And go, you will, right into the face of the enemy who has besieged Samaria of this day. It is in that camp where the riches of the Kingdom are recovered and the deliverance of Samaria's dilemma is found; and guess who brings that long-sought-after cure — THE LEPERS, of course.

Elwin R. Roach