(Continued)

The Books Were Opened

It is great when we understand the symbols and signs of the Bible; such as, the face of the Lamb and the face of the serpent that we covered in Part 13. The bonds of ignorance are broken by simply knowing that the face of the Lamb signifies the revelation, the revealing, the manifestation of the Lord and His many membered body, their exceeding power, and supreme authority. When His face shines, His royalty that had been working inwardly is seen radiating outwardly throughout the world of darkness. It is what Paul called the manifestation of the Sons of God!

Moreover, it is with the serpent as with the Lamb. The face of the serpent signifies an all-out manifestation of its life, power, and authority; however, those manifestations are all from beneath. They are those things which come from Adam's beast nature, from the dragon's pseudo religion, and from the false prophet's spirit. All of these manifestations can be transformed as angels of light which easily entice the human genome. And when these masquerading expressions shine from the serpent's face, his subtle word proceeds like a flood which would appear to overwhelm and subdue the true Church of God. Although religious men and women swallow the muddied waters mixed with the dirt and debris of the adamic earth, the Church will have none of it! Once the dragon's identity is known as being the captain of every lie, the prevaricator of all truth, and who had transformed himself as an angel of light, he is cast down from the heavens and loses the war that is fought against the Sons of God. It is then that this father of lies floods the earth of carnal man with his deceptions. This flood, of course, can sweep through a single individual or overflow the corporate body of people who believe themselves to be the bride of Christ but are not, and their earthen minds will swallow it hook, line, and sinker, even as they are doing today. The woman who brought forth the manchild, the Sons of God, is not so deluded and gullible, and she escapes to the place within, prepared of God, where there is perfect safety from such deceit.

The wrath of the Lamb and the wrath of the harlot were also seen to be something other than what is usually portrayed by popular church dogma. Rather than this wrath being akin to the rage of a raging bull or maddened lion, it speaks of passion. There are times, of course, when anger is a companion to the Lamb's passion; but it is with the root of love embracing it.

With this bit of understanding, it is easily seen that the Lamb's wrath is actually His love for the lost and rebellious of the world, which flares passionately in purging flames of fire, much like the anger and love of a mother toward her wayward child.

This passion is certainly not pleasant to those being judged, and try as they may, they cannot prevent the open face of the Lamb's Sun from shining into the depths of their dark hearts; but it is a passionate love that brings godly sorrow that works repentance unto salvation. And this is in union with His feet of fire tramping out judgment in the earth. This is the wrath of the Lamb, while the wrath of the harlot has a flaming passion to seduce the nations and kings of the earth with all manner of religious forms, doctrines, creeds, programs, entertainment, and countless other adamic activities that entice the carnal mind. While the harlot's wrath deceives the whole world and draws them into her deadly embrace, the Lamb's wrath does not destroy people's lives. It changes them and builds them up in faith and love so that their cleansed, transformed life is His Life and is always to His glory. Once the carnal thoughts and imaginations of their minds are purged, that same fire illumines their hearts to the unspeakable riches found in Him. This fire is not the common fire that is kindled by man's own making which is so familiar. It is divine fire that no man can make nor resist, and once the change comes, none will want to resist it; for they too will be flaming torches in God's hand.

In the confines of the man's religion, there will be no manifestation of such. Religious men and women of all faiths may appear to shine as fire when they transform themselves into angles of light; but their light comes not from the fire of God, but from their own kindled sparks of human reasoning.

The church system has laid out its dead tenets of faith, not by inspiration nor by the abundant evidence contained in the scriptures, but largely on beliefs that came from what had been accepted as truth by church leaders before them. They saturate their minds with mistranslated scriptures, along with biased commentaries, dictionaries, and lexicons. Therefore, those erroneous traditions are perpetrated, and the clergy requires the people to follow them into the ditch in spite of all the clear, scriptural evidence that declares their error. Even though they are virtually void of inspiration from on high, one would think that even the dead letter of the word would persuade them otherwise, but not so, for they trample over the clear evidence and they look for that which has deep roots in their religious minds. I am reminded of something I read from Bob Evely, a former Methodist pastor and author of At the End of the Ages....The Abolition of Hell. He said:

"I recently read 'A Study In Scarlet,' a Sherlock Holmes novel by Arthur Conan Doyle. Early on, when Holmes had only heard a few specifics about the case, when Dr. Watson asked why Holmes had not yet given much thought to the case, Holmes responded …

"'No data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before you have all the evidence. It biases the judgment.'

"But most believers today make the very mistake that Holmes warns us of. Most make up their mind about Biblical interpretation before they even study it and consider all of the evidences. For example, most believe God will eternally torment non-believers because of what others have told them the Bible says. And when evidence is presented by others as to correct Biblical interpretation -- showing that God will ultimately save ALL -- they are biased and cannot see any possibilities beyond what they have been locked into.

"In the Holmes mystery, when others failed to see certain evidences, Holmes reports … 'I approached the house, as you know, on foot, and with my mind entirely free from all impressions. I naturally began by examining the roadway, and there, as I have already explained to you, I saw clearly the marks of a cab.'

"Most Believers have their minds made up, and even as they read and study the Bible they cannot see 'the marks of a cab' as Holmes did.

"Let us understand that the majority within The Church today have simply received their Theology and Bible interpretation from others preceding them, and it has been passed down to you. But if this Theology contains error (and I argue that it most certainly does), if we accept this Theology ourselves we become locked into error. We are biased from the start, and will be unable to see the truth that God has revealed to us in His Word." -- End quote.

Martin Luther, father of the Protestant Reformation, not only knew the value of godly inspiration, he knew the value of looking at the evidence rather than blindly accepting what others had told him. For instance, professor of theology, Johann Eck, one of his interrogators, challenged him about his doctrinal views:

"Martin, how can you assume that you are the only one to understand the sense of Scripture? Would you put your judgment above that of so many famous men and claim that you know more than they all?"

The accused responded:

"Unless I am convicted by Scripture and plain reason - I do not accept the authority of popes and councils, for they have contradicted each other - my conscience is captive to the Word of God." (Here I Stand by Roland Bainton, page 185).

And here we stand, brothers and sisters! Even though there have been many famous men -- the popes, bishops, counsels, big-name TV evangelists, pastors of mega-churches, seminary professors, leaders of local churches, and more -- unless we are convicted by inspiration, scripture, and plain reason, we do not and cannot accept the authority of popes, counsels, and error-laden church leaders who can't even agree on their fictitious notions.

Indeed, here we stand, and as we stand, we will see this religious system that looks like a lamb but speaks as a dragon cast into the Lake of Fire. Moreover, we will not only see it, but we will be instruments of this flaming judgment. The very structure of man's religious system will be consumed as every member of that society is cast into the fire that burns with purifying brimstone:

"And the Devil, who is leading them astray, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where [are] the beast and the false prophet, and they shall be tormented day and night -- to the ages of the ages." Revelation 20:10. (Young's Literal Translation of The Bible). After God's fire sweeps through the religious systems of individuals and of the world, it will deal with the serpent from where all lies come. There will then be no more lies and religious facades to entice and deceive people as it was in the beginning. They will no longer be tempted to become gods on their own merits or religious practices; for that bestial system that is full of false prophets and dead men's bones will have been destroyed. It will be destroyed as surely as Jerusalem and that heavenly kingdom was destroyed in A.D. 70. However, that is not the end of the matter. For all the people of the world must be judged by fire.

The Books Were Opened

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15.

Even though the first verse of this book clearly states that it is a book of signs, these verses have been taken to be literal by most. By doing so, the gates of men's minds have been primed to fabricate horrid stories. Since the lake of fire does not burn with literal flames, their stories, of course, are not true. And neither are the books literal that are opened. Although everything that anyone has ever done has been and is still being recorded, it is not as men have supposed. And to clarify this, although not verbatim, I will share some thoughts from one of the anointed pens of this age, Brother J. Preston Eby.

Heaven, certainly, keeps a record of everything everyone does, as well as every thought and emotion by which they act. Myriads of human beings have lived and died of whom the world knows nothing; but the lives they lived, the deeds they wrought, the thoughts and passions they indulged, still stand written where the memory of them cannot perish. Not a human being has ever breathed a breath of air whose life has not been traced at full length in the books God has ordained.

Whoever we may be, our biography is written. An unerring hand has recorded every detail. Every secret thing has been placed on record. There is not an ill thought, a mean act, a dirty transaction, a filthiness of speech, or a base feeling that was ever entertained in our hearts that is described in clear letters by its true name. But thank God, all the good is recorded there too!

Where might those records be? And what is this book where the secrets of our hearts are carefully and accurately written? We should not be shocked at the answer to these questions, but I am sure some might be, and some will even take offense. Nevertheless, no good would come of sidestepping the issue, and it will not help to continue along in error with the accepted norm. Therefore, in plain speech, I will tell you, this book is the book of our own nature, it is the makeup of our very own being! When the truth is known we will understand that we, and every man, woman, and child on this planet, is a book, and inscribed within our minds and characters is everything that we are. "Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh" Matthew 12:34. When our mouths speak, the message inscribed in our inner nature is exposed and read by all who hear. Moreover, every outer action is a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a page of our books, the book which we are, known and read by all men.

And we should not think that when our bodies are laid in a silent and motionless tomb that the omniscient God must resort to some celestial scrolls wherein His angels have faithfully recorded our every thought and deed. Such notions are void of truth and will find their place in the lake of fire. The fact is, everything is recorded in the law of our lives. It is all deep within the recesses of our own nature. It is in our spiritual condition and soulish state of being, whether good or bad.

We do not awaken on the other side a different person or in a different condition than we were in the flesh. You see, the record is in our very nature. In order to deal with us in judgment, in the flesh or out of the flesh, all God has to do is to stand us up and prompt us to speak or act, and immediately we will manifest exactly what is inscribed in the makeup of our inner life. Immediately our books will open with each word and line being made clear, and we will be judged by the things written in that book which we are. When God, either now or in ages yet to come, lays His mighty hand upon us, and summons us to stand before Him, our books will open, and we will not then manifest anything other than what is written in the book of our own nature. It would be impossible to do otherwise. How truly it is written, "For the word of God is living, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature (dead or alive, visible or invisible) that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do" (Heb. 4:12-13).

Does this trouble you? If so, be assured, I am a bearer of good news. The grand purpose for this opening of our books is so that all that is written therein may be exposed, revealed, uncovered, displayed, and brought to judgment, dealt with by a concentration of divine discipline and instruction, as the Father processes each individual.

I have heard some say that they don't believe in processing. I have seen them make fun of those who speak of processing. They believe in the finished work! I can agree to a point; namely, your spirit does not need processing; for your spirit is the offspring of God. Your spirit has been quickened by His Spirit, you have been regenerated, born again of the incorruptible seed of the word of God which lives and abides forever. Your spirit is pure, holy, undefiled, the dwelling of the Most High God! But you soul needs some processing! If there were no processing, if the finished work took care of everything, there would be no work of sanctification, no cleansing by the washing of the water of the word, no discipline or chastening of the Father, no putting off of the works of the flesh. There would be no mortifying of our members which are upon the earth, no purging of the old leaven, and no refining fire by which the sons of Levi are purified that they might offer an offering in righteousness unto the Lord. If there is no processing there would be no washing of our robes to make them white in the blood of the Lamb, and there would be no pruning of the branches that they may bear more fruit. The bride, the soul, must make herself ready for her marriage union with Christ, the bridegroom, the spirit. We need to think with our spiritual senses about these things!

Although processing is an essential part of everyone's life, even as a baby goes through a process to become a full-grown, mature man, the growing process does not continue forever. There is an end to it. There is a time when we become conformed entirely -- spirit, soul, and body -- to the image of the Son! Jesus finished one thing He was called to do by taking on human form and then dying so we could also live. He finished that particular mission. That is crystal clear; but if we think our Lord's entire mission ended the day He was held suspended between heaven and earth, we are sadly mistaken. If that act alone finalized humanity's quest for perfection, we are left extremely lacking in our "perfect" state of being, regardless of what we think about it. If His cross was the ultimate finish, the climax of all the ages, if it was the end of all things, and all we had to do was to awaken ourselves to that "reality," this would mean the adamic mind could transform the man by simply believing it, and he would instantly be made perfect. If there is no truly processing, I would concede and say that we can be taught how to become manifested sons of God; but since reality hits me square in the face and says such ideas are nothing but another for Adam to make himself God, I have to say otherwise.

There is certainly a body of people who are coming forth in the likeness and fullness of Christ at this present time; but to say that there is no processing, that the finished work of Calvary takes care of everything, is to deny the testimony of scripture, not to mention the experience of every saint that I know. The scriptures would be made out to be a lie if there is no processing, and we might as well throw our Bibles in the trash can. For why would we want to continue reading and teaching from something that would lead us astray, as lies will do? Whether we believe it or not, the processing will continue, and judgment is also a part of God's way of dealing with humanity.

The means by which He brings His judgment into our lives is simple, yet very effective. The person abiding in some realm of soulish or fleshly death is made to stand before God. He is brought before the Judge of all, directly into His glorious countenance. God arranges the circumstances, places the man in a situation, and his book is opened. The light shines into the darkness which reveals everything hidden. The inner condition of his soul is uncovered. His deep secrets and the intents of his heart are manifested in such a measure and expressed to such a degree that no other record or evidence is needed to testify to his being. As it is written, "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil" Ecclesiastes 12:14, for, "God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ" Romans 2:16. That doesn't mean that this will happen some fearful day in the future before a great white throne out in space somewhere! Not by any stretch of the imagination! These are spiritual realities, plain and simple. They speak of the dealings of God in judgment right now, right here, today, in the life of every son of God who shall be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, the first begotten Son. These dealings bring the elect unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!

This refining judgment proceeds from the throne of God, which is white. White, of course, speaks of righteousness. Everything about the throne of God is a righteous. It could never be any other way. His throne is of love, grace, salvation and power unto mankind. But you will never see this throne, for it is established in the lives of those who rule and reign with Christ!

Every soul will shrink in despair before God's judgments, that is, until it is clearly understood that He does not open anyone's book to embarrass or destroy them. His purpose of opening people's books is to deliver them. God brings no man to judgment apart from opening his book. That is the true spiritual message conveyed by these beautiful symbols in the book of Revelation. It is a divine law that God can never deliver you, or any man, until the carnal corruption in your heart has been drawn into open manifestation. Once it is exposed, it can then be dealt with by God's stern, yet tender hand. When the inner nature of your soul erupts in rebellion, evil works, or some outward uncleanness, do not despair. But with repentance, thank God for exposing the deceit that was harbored in darkness and cast yourself upon the tender mercies of the Lord who judges you in unconditional love and infinite goodness, and yield yourself to His mighty hand that He may bring forth victory in your earth. We must never be discouraged nor feel condemned when God reveals the man of sin who sits in the temple of God which we are, but neither should we become complacent about it, as so many seem to be doing. Nevertheless, whether we are down-trodden or complacent, God will send forth judgment unto victory however long it takes and however severe the dealings. He will never abdicate His throne, He will never terminate His judgments until every man is conformed into the image of God's glorious Son!

In the same way, the Book of the Life of the Lamb is the autobiography of God's Lamb, the record of who He is, what He is like, and what He does. Everything you always wanted to know about the Son of God is contained in this wonderful Book of the Life of the Lamb. It is not a literal book, this is clear, for the sons and daughters of the Most High are the living record and revelation of the life of the indwelling Lamb. It was to the apostle Paul that the revelation was given that the Book of Life, the Book of the Lamb, the Book of the Son of God is a people. He said: "Forasmuch as YOU are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. Who also has made us able ministers of the New Testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life" 2 Corinthians 3:3,6.

How tragic that the people of earth for the most part have never read this beautiful epistle of Christ, this glorious book of the life of the Lamb. They have poured over the religious books, the commentaries of learned scholars who write out of carnal minds with the words of man's wisdom, the books of hypocrisy, the books of forms of godliness that deny the power thereof, the books of dead doctrines, empty rituals, lifeless ceremonies, and man-made rules and regulations of self righteousness. They have mountains of data, but it is all infected with the disease of error. But very few have ever seen the greatest book ever written -- the Book of the Life of the Lamb! There is, however, a time when it will be seen and read by every soul. What a wonderful gospel shall fill the earth beneath and the celestial realms above when God fully opens His holy book of Life. The book of Life is that blessed company of the sons of God in whom the life of the Lamb is fully and eternally formed! This book is being carefully written word by word, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by page, and chapter by chapter in the nitty-gritty of our daily experience with God, and it will continue to be written until the full revelation of the Christ is written therein.

God's clock of the ages is striking the hour for the manifestation of the sons of God. It is time for God's book of living people to be opened, and what a manifestation it shall be! That book is being opened within us even now. The Spirit is giving us life. As Christ in our spirit is opened within ourselves, the life of the Lamb is released to swallow up all sin and death!

To be continued...

Elwin R. Roach