THE HEAVENS DECLARE

(continued)

The first Decan, or minor constellation, in the house of Cancer is URSA MINOR — THE LESSER BEAR. However, The Lesser Bear is not the ancient meaning of the constellation URSA MINOR. No bear ever existed with such a long uplifted tail as is shown in modern atlases of the constellations! No traces of a bear are to be found in the ancient Zodiacs of Chaldea, Egypt, Persia or India. Rather, what we have is a SHEEPFOLD — the original meaning of Ursa Minor. It was the Greeks who changed it into a bear. The second Decan in the house of Cancer is URSA MAJOR and these two constellations refer to a little fold and a great fold. In the depths of my spirit I receive the witness that the sons of God are the 'little flock or fold," and the church at large is the "great sheepfold" (Ursa Major) composed of the people of God of all classes, companies and realms in God. We are drawing ever nearer to the long- awaited reign of URSA MINOR — the manifested sons of God. The whole creation for six thousand years has ceaselessly groaned for the manifestation of the sons of God. That blessed manifestation has been long in coming, but it will surely come. The heavens declare it! God's immutable Word proclaims it! And the prophets of God across the land and around the world in this significant hour bear blessed witness to the imminence of this wonderful event.

All who have ears to hear must hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. The Spirit is saying today that He is preparing a people, He is preparing a body, He is preparing sons who shall be conformed to the image of His Son, who shall be partakers of the divine nature, who shall have the mind of Christ, who shall be brought to glory and who then shall become the very express image of the Father. These shall become the very brightness of the Father's glory and the very express image of the Father's person. Even as the first Son, who went into the ground and died as a grain of wheat to produce other sons in His likeness, bearing His image — He was the brightness of the Father's glory and the very express image of the Father's person — and God sent Him to be the Saviour of the world. God is now preparing sons, God is now preparing a body for that first Son, we are the body of the first son, the body of Christ. We are the body of the Christ and in and through these sons, when all have grown up into His fullness, His salvation shall be manifested unto the ends of the earth. The Lord is saying unto His people in this day: "For this cause have I raised thee up and sent thee to be a light unto the nations, and thou shalt be My salvation to the ends of the earth" (Isa. 49:6; Acts 13:47).

God is not talking to babies today. God is not talking to spiritual children today. Spiritual children have a little knowledge that puffs them up. Spiritual children fight among each other. "I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas. Spiritual children pride themselves — who shall be the greatest. Spiritual children want to know which side of the throne they will be sitting on, "What am I going to get out of all this. Spiritual children like to play adult, imagining that they possess much more than they actually have and that they have attained a stature far beyond their experience. God is not sending children today, He is sending sons, whose only desire is that the Father may be glorified, that the pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand, that the will of the Father may be done. What happens to us has no bearing on the situation. Christ says, "As My Father has sent Me, in this total commitment to His will, so that I desire only to reveal the Father, so I am sending you, in a total commitment to the Father's will, that the Father may be revealed in the multitude of sons." And let me assure you, precious friend of mine, if through one son in the Garden of Eden who disobeyed, the whole creation came into bondage and death because of disobedience, and if through one Son in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Mount of

Calvary, God was able to provide a salvation through the shedding of His blood for all humanity, if God could bring such a revelation of Himself through one Son, a Son who was crucified and rejected, whom God raised again and set at His right hand — what will happen in these days, when through a multitude of sons who have been identified with Him, buried with Him in His death, raised again in the likeness of His resurrection, ascended with Him, seated with Him in the heavenly places, glorified with His glory, anointed with His Spirit, invested with His wisdom, nature and power — what is going to happen in all creation when many sons are revealed in the glory of God?

The future the Father has planned for His sons is away beyond our ability to comprehend or even imagine. I am overwhelmed with awe when I think of what is ahead for us. Rom. 8:18 reads, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us." Phillip's rendering of this is beautiful: "In my opinion whatever we may have to go through now is less than nothing compared with the magnificent future God has planned for us." Oh! the glory of it. Who can express it! Who can articulate the wonder of it! Paul said, "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath entered the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that, love Him" (I Cor. 2:9). I have heard preachers attempting to describe the future glories with the most eloquent language; but it didn't come anywhere near the truth. The human mind is incapable of conjuring up a picture of what the omniscient Father has prepared for His own. We can let our imagination run as wild as the wind and it will not come anywhere near comprehending the grandeur of what the Father has in mind.

Paul prayed for this understanding for us when he wrote, "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him; the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling..." (Eph. 1:17-18). Can we know what this glorious hope is? Is there any way we can begin to comprehend it? Yes, but I doubt that we can begin to grasp the glory of it in its fulness; but the scripture says, "God reveals it to us by His Spirit." As we are able to receive some small measure of the wonder of our calling the Spirit will reveal it to us in a measure. As the Spirit begins to open the eyes of our understanding how different it is from what the preachers have been telling the people for centuries, of a glory land where all is eternal day with nothing to do but sit on a cloud, strum a harp, flit about in a white night gown, and own a mansion over the hilltop or a cabin in the corner of gloryland.

The manifestation of the sons of God has not yet taken place. There are the "normal" workings of God — as if anything God does could be considered "normal"! But there are the on- going, day to day activities of the Holy Spirit — all of them supernatural happenings, but all of them that which we are accustomed to experiencing. The ongoing salvation of souls, the continual manifestation of gifts and ministries in the church, the healing of sick, answers to prayer, meeting of needs, changing of lives, the progressive revelation of truth, the processings of God to conform us into the image of the Son. Then there are the "interventions" of God. The interventions of God are sudden happenings of God in which the course of human history is literally changed because God comes on the scene in an unexpected and accelerated fashion. The scriptures usually announce an intervention of God by using the word "suddenly."

In Lk. 2:13, of the birth of Jesus, we read, "...and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host.." The annunciation of the Incarnation was a divine intervention. Here's a great one: "And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance" (Acts 2:14). There in that upper room, united in their faith in Christ and in their holy mood of expectancy, these humble disciples received their marching orders and were empowered to carry them out. They had had a long period of teaching and preparation; they had spent many hours in prayer and holy waiting. The great day came for them on Pentecost, and they were ready to march. March they did, straight into the heart of the pagan world. The Holy Spirit guided them step by step. He told them where to go, what to say, what to do. He walked in them and worked with them, confirming their word with mighty signs, wonders, and miracles. Armed with the word of God, the love of God, and the power of God, they were unconquerable and turned the world upside down and changed the course of history!

Then there was poor Saul of Tarsus, who ran headlong into a blinding suddenly: "It came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me" (Acts 22:6). In Mal. 3:1 we read of another intervention of God - one reserved for our day: "And the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple..." This is a divine intervention — when God suddenly comes to His elect in a manner different from, and infinitely more powerful and glorious than His normal workings throughout the past age. We stand today in an hour not unlike the days preceding the day of Pentecost. The next great Feast, the Feast of Tabernacles, is about to "fully come." The Christ is among us in a fresh manifestation, there is a new message going forth, a declaration concerning the next step and phase of the Kingdom of God, there is a unique dealing of God, and a manifestation of ministry. The greater glory to come, the manifested sons of God upon the heavenly Mount Zion, the City foursquare coming down from God out of heaven, the tabernacle of God among men, the new order for the new age, will be birthed suddenly and sovereignly BY GOD HIMSELF when the fullness of time has arrived. Let no man deceive you! The Feast of Tabernacles has not yet begun. The revelation of it has come, the hope has been birthed, the preparations are in progress. But all who currently proclaim the Feast of Tabernacles are still walking in the old order of Pentecost with their church meetings, praise service, preaching, gifts of the spirit, etc. A new revelation has come, but not a new order. The Lord of glory will suddenly appear in His greater temple in the manifestation of incorruptible life and nature and immortal power and glory — with no carnal efforts or soulish works to produce it. In the fullness of time God will send forth His sons and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed before the face of all nations, tongues, tribes and peoples— by a sudden, powerful, sovereign move of God!

The jubilation, gladness and joy that will take place at this ultimate Feast of Tabernacles is beyond our wildest expectation. The Christ body, the sons of God, will experience great joy at their change from mortal to immortal. And the creation will also express the ecstasy that will be theirs' when they are released from 6,000 years of bondage and servitude. The songs of victory and glad tidings will be greater far than on that first glad occasion when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy (Job 38:7). "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope. Because the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (Rom. 8:20-22).

"The whole creation groaneth..." The word "groaneth" signifies to sigh, to pray, to be moved with inward feeling. Creation is depicted as a slave in bondage, groaning in its captivity, crying out to be free. Today the world is full of broken hearts, the hospitals are crowded, the cemeteries are being filled, and all nature is groaning under its bondage to corruption and death. You go down to the seaside and you can hear the sob of the waves, you go to the mountains and you can hear the low sigh of the wind in the tree tops. Can we not hear the sigh and groan of nature in the meow of the cat, in the yelp of the dog, in the shriek of the captive, in the bleat of the sheep, in the lowing of the cattle, in the roar of the lion, in the hiss of the serpent, in the cry of the vulture, in the hoot of the owl, in the wash of the sea, in the rush of the storm, in the tremor of the earthquake, and in the exclamation of pain?

"The bondage of corruption." The word "bondage" means more than being bound, it means servitude, slavery; and "corruption" signifies ruin, decay, death, to perish. The servitude of decay resulting in death conveys the meaning. The latter word is rendered "perish" in Col. 2:22; and the former comes from a word which means to serve as a slave and is rendered "serving" in Tit. 3:3. Creation is said to be longing with "earnest expectation." Those longings which are implanted by God will surely be met by Him. It is a fact in nature that God never puts an intuition within, without meeting it without. Therefore while creation is in bondage it is not in despair, for an earnest expectation throbs through it and makes it to be like one who is looking out with intense longing for someone who is expected. The Greek word rendered "expectation" is made up from apo- kara- dokia. Apo signifies from, or from afar. Kara means the head, and dokia means to wait for, or to look with intense expectation. This compound word at once suggests a striking figure, namely, one whose head is raised, and who is looking out on the distant horizon with intensity on the countenance, and longing in the eyes, as one expecting to receive something from another.

The whole creation is joining with us in unutterable groans and birth pangs, earnestly looking forward to its release with ours, out into full and free and eternal inheritance. EVERY CREATED THING is waiting, looking anxiously and with a kind of universal travail — waiting for what? A great manifestation of the gifts of the Spirit? More missionaries? More Bibles and gospel tracts? Greater evangelistic crusades? Another televangelist? Or are they waiting for the combined efforts of all churches to get together in an all- out assault against sin, sickness, and evil? Are they travailing for another preacher, another ministry, another revival, or even another

sonship" convention? NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO! Creation is not waiting for any of these things to take place. The whole of creation, without exception, is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God which is that FULL SONSHIP, THE TRANSFORMATION OF OUR BODIES. It is full and complete and eternal victory over sin, sorrow, limitation, sickness and death. It is the life and glory of the Father fully revealed in a people.

Paul Mueller has written: "The principal purpose which is uppermost in the mind of the Father at this time is the growth and coming to maturity of His chosen remnant. Every other purpose under heaven is secondary to this greater purpose during this exceptional time. Therefore, it is essential that all who are members of this Christ body, the sons of God, should concentrate on their own spiritual maturity. Strive not to do the religious works of man, but seek rather for the fullness of Christ in your own heart and life. There is no other purpose under heaven that can equal this grand and holy purpose of the Father. Put away all the desires and appetites of the world and of the flesh, and seek only to please the Lord. And if you really care for the masses of the world who know not God and His wonderful grace and mercy, then you will seek for His fullness in your life. If you have really heard the groans of a creation that is suffering under the burden of sin and shame, you will cease all your religious activity, which is really only the works of the flesh, and will follow hard after the Lord. Let us seek to please God as Enoch did, and we will witness a glorious manifestation of His life that will set every captive free. God, in His great wisdom, has linked all of creation's needs and travails with the glorious transformation of the bodies of the sons of God into bodies like unto Christ's body. And it is quite possible that when this glorious transformation does occur, the stones, the trees, shrubs, and grass of the field, as well as all animal life, will lift their voices in praise to Him who has fulfilled His word and satisfied the inherent hope within every created thing" — end quote.

The story is told of a little boy who couldn't play outside because it was raining. His father, who was trying to take an afternoon nap on the sofa, became annoyed. "Go to the other room, son; Daddy wants to sleep. Find something in there to play with." "Like what?" "Anything," snapped the father. "There isn't anything, replied the lad. Grabbing the newspaper, the man tore out a page with a large map of the world printed on it. With the scissors he cut it into dozens of odd- shaped pieces like a puzzle. "There, see if you can put it together, and don't bother me till you're done." The father settled down on the sofa thinking his problem was solved, but ten minutes later there was a tug on his shirt. "You can't be done yet" But there on the floor was the neatly constructed world. "How did you do it?" he asked. "Easy," said his son. "A man's picture was on the back, and when I got the man together right, the world was right." Ah, yes — when God gets HIS MAN put together in the fullness of Christ all the problems of the world will simply fall into place! Let us not expend our energies trying to get the world straightened out and ordered aright in this hour. Let us give ourselves to apprehending that for which Jesus Christ has apprehended us — to grow up unto a PERFECT MAN, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. Then the whole creation will fall into place. Let us not sell creation short!

If Alexander the Great could march his armies across the earth and conquer the whole civilized world before he was thirty-three years old; if Hitler could change the world for evil; if the Communists could march forth to enslave one-third of the world's population, weaving a hundred million into the vortex of communism each year — it is not presumptuous to believe that the sons of God, armed with the immortal life and glory of Christ, can turn all nations to God, deliver the whole creation from the tyranny of sin and death, and bring the Kingdom of God to pass under the whole heaven, from pole to pole and sea to sea in power and glory. As Ray Prinzing has written: "What glory, what wonder awaits the revelation of that true character and quality which HE is producing in His new creation species. Resurrection life shall burst forth, Babylon's shame and corruption shall be ended. Holiness is to be personified in a people. Religious racketeers will come to nought. Light will dissipate the darkness. No more will there be wells without water, and falling stars that fade into the darkness. HIS SONS will be a revelation of such character and quality as to satisfy all that men have waited for" — end quote.

THE MINISTRY OF THE SONS OF GOD

We have not yet witnessed the magnitude of ministry that shall be revealed through the manifested sons of God. God is preparing His perfected and matured body, anointed with the seven-fold Spirit of God, and this enChristed company shall appear on the cosmic stage of history in these last days with ten thousand times more power than a Luther, a St. Patrick, a Wesley, a Whitefield, a Finney, a Moody, a Billy Sunday, or any of the revival showers of this century. God has moved deeply upon my heart in these days to prophesy to God's elect that there is coming a great and glorious MANIFESTATION OF CHRIST before the face of all nations and the whole earth. There will be a fresh revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's going to come in the midst of a people who truly love His appearing, and I see and hear signs that already He is beginning to come. We are standing on the threshold of a new and fresh and transcendental manifestation of our Lord. These things are burning like a furnace inside of me. I am being quickened by these things. I know God is on the move, and my deepest desire is to be a part of this manifestation that will usher in a new day for this sin-cursed planet. The Lord wants to reveal Himself in our midst in a new way, and through us to creation.

The church order has been an order ordained of God for this age when the Lord's purpose was to bring men to Christ by "the foolishness of preaching" (I Cor. 1:21). We rejoiced to see many gathered together to hear the anointed messages of preaching and to be saved and blessed by that means. That has been God's method for this age of the formation of His body. But to deliver creation from the bondage of corruption GOD HAS A MORE PERFECT WAY! The old order of meetings, of an hour of singing and worship, of clapping and dancing, of the manifestation of the gifts, followed by the foolishness of preaching, will never deliver creation. This has all been good, and is still good for saints growing up into Christ. Let no man say that we are opposed to it! But it is not sonship ministry. The Pattern Son was never "meeting oriented." Meetings "happened" but they were not called, announced, planned or organized. Jesus never announced that He would be speaking or ministering in the temple, or at Peter's house, or in the upper room, or at the Coliseum. No date was set for a meeting on a certain day to commence at 7:30 P.M. There was no place and no time. All was entirely spontaneous. Jesus ministered at all times and in all places. He taught and healed in the streets. He ministered in the homes. He ministered in the places of business. He taught by the sea. He ministered in the fields. He spoke to multitudes in the mountains. He proclaimed the Word of the Kingdom in the temple. He ministered to one person alone. He ministered to ten people. He ministered to crowds of many thousands. It made no difference. Buildings, dates, and order of meeting were all completely irrelevant to His sonship ministry. He ministered wherever He was, day or night. He ministered to whomever the Father sent Him — one person or a thousand mattered not. He never congregated a people and set up a "meeting." He never organized a "crusade." He never rented an auditorium. He never advertised — He didn't need to! He never started His meetings with a "praise service." Peter never led the singing. James never made the announcements. John never received the collection. There was absolutely no "meeting" mentality in the life of the firstborn Son of God. God was God in Jesus at all times, in all places, to all people, in a perfectly natural expression. And, my beloved, JESUS IS THE PATTERN OF SONSHIP — not Paul, or Peter, or the apostles, or the Church Fathers.

When the sons of God are manifested, instead of announcing a meeting, rather than inviting people to a building, in place of opening the service with prayer and the singing of hymns and choruses, the transformed saints will appear amidst many on the streets, in the business establishments, in the restaurants, on speeding trains and flying airplanes, on the highways and in the byways, or in a shopping mall. The appearing will be supernatural, the spoken word will be with power and demonstration of the Spirit, the secrets of men's hearts will be revealed, and all needs met then and there. Imagine the wonders of the mighty moving of the Spirit of God as He is outpoured upon ALL FLESH! Instead of a church meeting or organized crusade, or a revival campaign, the Spirit of the Lord will move upon an entire body of people wherever they may be and the whole group will be converted without a "building," without a "song service," or any of the trappings of church-age "meetings." It may be difficult for some to understand, but that new manifestation of God in His sons will transcend a million times any glory we have witnessed in the past. God will do more in one minute by His Spirit than a man has been able to do in an entire lifetime of ministry. In times past the Lord worked and moved in the thirty and sixty-fold degree, but in the days before us He will move in a hundred-fold manifestation of power and glory. And all of this will be the result of our growth into sonship! It will be the manifestation of the fullness of His life within us. Multitudes will then find the peace, joy, deliverance and salvation of Christ, and will embrace the fullness of His Kingdom and dominion. When the sons are manifested, I believe the Spirit will then echo the words of Winston Churchill, "Never have so MANY owed so MUCH to so FEW!"

When God roars out of His Zion Company in the fullness of His life and glory and presence, the old drunk will rise up out of his drunken stupor and know that there is a God upon the throne. All will know, kings and presidents and prime ministers and members of congress and parliament and rich men and mighty men everywhere will be made to know that there is ONE to whom they all owe their allegiance. The church has not yet started on world evangelization. This has been the age of "calling out a people for His name, not saving the world. Now God is laying a ground work and processing, preparing, equipping and empowering His people for the coming invasion of all the world. He must do something unprecedented for us first so that we will be ready. We don't have all we need for this work, but God is quickening us for it. We still put too much dependence in money, methods, and materials, but God wants us to move out of that old order into His new realm of fullness. It is my deep conviction that the sonship ministry will be something like this. The word came to Phillip in Samaria to go down into the desert and meet the Ethiopian eunuch. Phillip didn't say, "Lord, I haven't got a helicopter, how can I get down there? Give me time to mail out a newsletter to my partners and raise the money for the trip. How am I going to find one man in all that desert, and anyway, Lord, I've got a big revival going here in Samaria." Phillip did not argue with the Lord at all, but obeyed the voice of the Spirit and went immediately. You see, he had no program to perpetuate. God transported him by the Spirit to the desert and pointed out the chariot and commanded, "Go join yourself to that chariot." Phillip had to run and outrun the horses to get into the chariot. When God was through with him, the Spirit took him up and he was "found" at a place called Azotus.

Do not doubt for one moment, precious friend of mine, that when God wants any of His sons in any place, He will put them there. God need pay no attention to iron or bamboo curtains, or boundaries between nations. He need not take into consideration immigration, consulates or custom houses. I am talking about the miracle working power of God to be manifested when the sons of God arise as King-Priests after the order of Melchizedek. We really know little of the Melchizedek order. We are not yet equipped, but God is working! We have yet to see a pure, unadulterated moving of the Spirit with everyone moving on the plane of incorruption, doing just what the Father wants them to do, but we are going to. It must come in this hour. Today, before a great evangelist gets to town, his advance agent comes and takes care of the advertising and makes all the preparations so that everyone knows that "Rev. So and So" is coming. The auditorium is rented, the crusade organized, they get all the altar workers lined up and teach them a few scriptures and train them for the BIG MEETING. But even Billy Graham has been quoted as saying that with all these vast crowds and all that goes with it, "We haven't yet had revival." Ah, this is one work the Holy Spirit desires to do — to be the ADVANCE AGENT for God's ministries! HE will prepare the way for us. No better means of advertising can be found than that of the Spirit. When God begins to spread everywhere what He is doing, whole cities and entire nations will know, and His fame will spread far and near and men will flock to receive from God. Not one dime of money will need be spent on buildings, stadiums, staff or advertising.

I emphasize again that the scripture declares that the Spirit shall be poured out upon ALL FLESH. In the cities, on the plains, in the jungle paths, in the deserts, in all the dwelling places of men the Spirit shall flow. In the time of which I speak God will not leave one place on the earth where the adversary can rally his forces. If God did not cover the seas with His Spirit, and move upon all flesh upon the seas, the adversary would have a place to rally his forces. If God did not pour His Spirit out and flood the desert, the adversary would have a place for recruiting his followers. But, thank God! the glory of the Lord shall cover the the earth as the waters cover the sea. God will have this time, this day to do His mysterious work in all the earth and all the kindreds of the earth shall turn unto the Lord. All nations and all peoples will come and bow down before Him. The saints of the Most High shall take the Kingdom (government) and possess the Kingdom and reign forever and ever. Hallelujah!

Again I would share blessed words of insight and revelation from the anointed pen of Paul Mueller. "Imagine ourselves freed from the need to scrounge for money to buy food, clothing, housing, and all our earthly needs. Imagine a people who are transported from one place to another by the Spirit without using any of man's inventions. Imagine a people whose minds receive and whose lives express fully the mind of Christ, unhindered and unfettered by earthly, carnal desires, ambitions and needs. Imagine a people who speak with one mind, the mind of Christ, and who minister only the things of the Spirit, and that which is of the Kingdom of God. Imagine a people who have graduated to the highest realm of spiritual activity, who function in the one-hundred-fold realm exclusively and always. This people will never revert to the flesh or the things of it. They have been delivered of the carnal nature that binds us to the flesh realm. They will never do anything for personal gratification. Their sole objective is to do Father's will and promote the Kingdom of God. They never consider any other way but the way of the Spirit. They never minister from the thirty-fold or sixty-fold realms, for the power that has held them in bondage to the lower realms has been destroyed in their lives. They function from the Spirit realm of true Life, and with the authority of His Name. Think on these things, beloved, and you will then comprehend what your life will be like when God's purposes for this 'day' have been fulfilled. And all who are apprehended of the Father to rule and reign with Christ as sons will have no desire to cling to the old, dead church order of the past after thinking on these things with wisdom. Firstfruits must be set free first! Firstfruit saints shall be the first to make the transition, and we will do so in the victory of Christ as we surrender to the workings of His Spirit within. But we will not make this transition by clinging to the old church order of the past. The Lord is establishing a higher order which is the new order of the Kingdom of God. This is new wine! New wine can only be contained in new wine skins! Therefore, we repent of the old wine skin of the past order and surrender our lives to Him. Then He will make us into new wine skins, ready to receive the new wine of His Spirit to be poured out to the multitudes" — end quote.

There was a little boy who came home from Sunday School. His Mom said, "What did you learn in Sunday School today?" The little boy answered, "Oh, we learned about Moses." "Oh? And what did you learn about Moses?" He answered, "Mom, if I told you, you wouldn't believe me." "Well, try me," she responded. So the little boy began. "Well, Moses was in a terrible situation. He had all of these soldiers coming at him on chariots and he was pinned at the Red Sea. So he prayed to God, and suddenly, all these tractors came rolling along and workmen and steel crews appeared, and within half an hour, they built a bridge that spanned the Red Sea. Then Moses and the Israelites walked across it safely, to the other side." His mother looked suspiciously at him and said, "Son, I don't believe you learned that in Sunday School today." To which the little boy muttered, "Mom, if I told you the TRUTH, you really wouldn't believe it!" And I do not hesitate to say that when we speak the truth of the glory and power of manifested sonship it is impossible for the carnal mind to comprehend it or the religious mind to accept it. Because men cannot see or believe the purposes of God in sonship, or the power and triumph of the Kingdom of God, they have spun fanciful and ridiculous tales of a rapture for the saints and eternal damnation for the billions of earth's inhabitants. But be it known unto all who read these lines that the impact Jesus made on the world of His day and the environment in which He lived sent such shock waves throughout the universe that twenty centuries later the effects and effectiveness of His ministry is still felt by multitudes throughout the world. If only one Son of God can so impact society and change the course of history — how stupendous would be the impact of 144,000 in His likeness! Yes, it shall be, praise His name!

Many years ago an aged prophet of God shared the vision God gave him of this ministry. "In that vision which lasted all night, the most wonderful vision I ever had, in which I saw the sons of God in action all over the world, ministering to the multitudes in every tongue and nation, to all people, I saw both men and women ministering. I saw them standing in mid air, in the midst of a busy intersection of a large city, with all traffic stopped, and thousands of people seeing them with their eyes, and hearing them with their ears, regardless of distance, and without the aid of mechanical devices. I saw them speaking to a people of one language, and in a moment's time I saw them transported to another people of another language, speaking to them in their own language, having power over all mechanical devices, so that they could cause everything to cease, and every eye to be fixed upon them, until their message had been delivered. I saw them walk upon the water; I saw the terror in the faces of the wicked, at the sound of their voices. I saw the professing Christians fall down in true repentance, calling out for mercy, and I saw them being genuinely converted. I saw the skeptics being convinced, and the blasphemy of the wicked, as they would rail and mock, only to be struck dumb or blind at just a word from the manifested sons and daughters of God.

"The vision lasted all night, as in my spirit I was living in that time when God will be manifested in His sons and daughters, while my body was back there in a bed alongside my wife. Sometimes the scenes would make me weep, I would sob, my body shaking with pain and agony; then another scene would cause me to laugh with holy laughter. I'll never forget the vision of the young girl (the daughters of God) who spoke with the voice of many waters. Human language could never describe the quality of her voice. All I can say is, it was so filled with love and compassion, it would break the hardest stone, and at her command every infirmity, every sickness was healed. Every one was made perfectly whole, the blind, the lame, and even those who had been lunatic from birth. Sister Britain (this was a cousin of brother Bill Britton) got no sleep that night, and finally, when it was near daylight, she asked me why I didn't get up and write it. I did try, but could not hold my hands on the key-board of the typewriter. Some unseen force held them aloft over my head. I walked the floor and wept, and begged the Lord to let me write some of the visions I had seen. Finally He did, and I wrote just a very few of the visions I had seen, for a large book could not contain them all.

"What did it do for me? That vision set my soul aflame! Should I publish what I had written? What would people think of me if I did? Surely they would think me mad! I was just getting started in the writing and publishing ministry, and surely that one message would cause all men to lose confidence in me! Those were my thoughts. At last, with tears streaming, I said, ‘I'm going to publish it, regardless of the cost. I know it's true! I know it is going to come to pass, and if all men turn against me for it, I'm going to publish it anyway!’ And so we did. We waited anxiously to hear the reaction of the people. To our surprise, it thrilled their hearts. THEY BELIEVED IT! They still believe it! Immediately we were besieged with orders for many copies of it to pass out to others. Our limited production facilities could not handle it, so God gave us new, bigger equipment" — end quote.

I am deeply impressed to share here the testimony of Sis. Lura Grubb, a friend of ours from many years ago — one of the most remarkable testimonies I have known in my lifetime. The following is transcribed from a message she delivered to a Convention some years ago, along with other materials. "I believe that my restoration to life in 1932, was a sign of a sort of LIFE into which God plans to bring His sons for manifestation in the end time. I was a Baptist girl when God healed me and raised me from the dead. After three years of serious health crises I was seized with horrible convulsions which continued for six days. Again my family doctor consulted with the surgeon from Marks, Mississippi. His verdict was grave this time as before. There was no hope for complete recovery. There was little possibility of sustained life. He said that I was in too serious a condition to be removed to the hospital, that I would not live to get five miles. I was to remain where I was. And if I should recover enough to undergo an operation, he would perform it, and perhaps relieve the condition partially.

"The family physician returned early the following morning. He was not sure that he would find me alive. He found me in the continuous convulsions and unconscious, just as I had been for the past six days. Again he examined my uncontrollable body. With a note of hesitancy in his voice, he said to mother, 'Mrs. White, I hate to have to tell you this, but Lura is dying now. We have done all we know to do. I will call in any specialist you suggest, but it will do no good. We have done all that medical science has to offer in a case like this. Lura is dying, and if you have any messages to send to relatives, you should send them immediately. These convulsions will continue until she passes away. She may die in the next one, but she might last until midnight. But she is dying and cannot pull through the night. With your consent, I can inject a fatal sedative into her vein which will stop the convulsions, and she will die a peaceful death. If not, she will continue to have convulsions, and die in just as pathetic a condition as she is in at present.'

"Mother consented for the injection to be given. Her compassion could not endure the thoughts of my dying in such a pitiful state. The doctor prepared the medicine and administered it to my body. It was too late. I was too far gone already. My circulation was so poor by that time, that it circulated no further around the injection than a spot the size of a quarter. The doctor shook his head, and told mother to make me as comfortable as possible. Mother looked up to that tall man of medical skill, and with a spark of faith still flickering in her soul, said, ‘But doctor, can't God?' That fearful tone called forth all the sympathy within the kindly soul of that good man. He looked her straight in the eye, and encouraged, ‘If anything is done now, it will be from a Higher Power than medical science.'

"That evening, the godly, white-haired, Holiness Baptist evangelist came to the house. He had been coming to see me and to encourage mother every day. This was the last day of the revival at the church, but not in mother's heart. That last visit was a lighthouse in a storm for my mother who had prayed and fasted without sleep nor rest for six days and nights. She remained close beside my bed those six days and nights of convulsions. That day he told mother that he had had a revelation while in prayer that morning, and that God showed him that her daughter would live and ‘be a shining light for Jesus.’ The veil of sorrow enshrouding her despairing soul was parted by that message of hope. Her faith revived, and she took another tenacious hold upon God and fortified herself against the doubting taunts of Satan. The convulsions continued until midnight — the crisis hour, beyond which the doctor predicted that I could not live. Everyone was tense as thirteen strong men and women held my convulsive form on the bed and waited for the final hour to strike and the curtain to fall.

"The fatal hour struck — it was midnight. I became conscious for the first time in six days and nights. But the consciousness was not earthly. I was yet unaware of the things transpiring about my bed in the darkened room. I had become fully conscious of the heavenly. I beheld a great shaft of light, more brilliant than the noonday sun, stream to me directly from heaven. A blinding radiance, very large in diameter, circumscribed the beam of glittering glory which terminated at my bed. The bed seemed afire with its brightness. I will not recount all my experiences during the time I was dead, in which I saw the Lord Jesus and was commissioned to come back to earth because the Lord had a work for me to do. Down — down — down I drifted until I reached the small frame farmhouse in which lay my lifeless physical form. Then, suddenly, the corpse sat up — the miracle took place! The miracle was not the result of any personal knowledge I had of healing, to say nothing of being raised from the dead. My humble, farm- woman, mother was a Methodist, that fasted six days and nights and prayed for my healing, and finally my resurrection from the dead. I was pronounced dead, and preparations for my funeral were already underway. My mother would not submit to death, even as she stared it in the face of her dead daughter.

"Sometimes I think that we Kingdom people do an injustice to our testimony by so readily submitting to death. We do not contend for the faith of the Son of God. I believe that there is a vast area that we are failing to march into and possess, of the Kingdom provisions. We proclaim Kingdom, but God expects us to have more than revelation. We are called upon to go beyond revelation to manifestation. We are tempted to dwell on a platform of revelation. Revelation is wonderful, but it will never amount to much until it is translated into manifestation. The manifestation of the sons of God is what groaning creation is waiting for, and not just revelation of some mystic character. Some have thought it to be some special revelation for which groaning creation is waiting, but this is not the case. They wait for a manifestation. They want deliverance from their bondage to corruption. We also groan within ourselves, waiting for the redemption of our bodies.

"Now this redemption of the body is interesting. Before we ever heard that there be a Holy Ghost, my mother prayed for my restoration to life in 1932 in Mississippi. Before she committed me to God like Abraham did Isaac, God spoke to her, 'Will you give her to Me if I restore her to life?’ When He got her commitment, He said to her, ‘Get up, I have heard your prayer. See what I have done.' When He instructed her to come to my room and look again into my cold, dead face, she obeyed in faith, believing, without any hesitation. She believed God. I tell you, our faith must go beyond what we are expressing today. She had to go in obedience to the Word of God, and look at me with no life in me, until she saw me begin to breathe and open my eyes. That obedience was her faith in action. For twelve days and nights after God raised me from the dead, I walked in a resurrected body. It was not a glorified body. It was still mortal, not glorified, but resurrected. When you begin to talk about these resurrections and these proofs of Life, people immediately say that we are talking about glorification. No. The Spirit by the pen of Paul in Romans 8 tells us that, ‘If that same Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He shall also make alive your mortal body' - not glorified body. We shall not need quickening when we receive our body of glory like unto His glorious body. A resurrected body and a glorified body are two different things.

"The same power which raised Jesus from the dead raised me from the dead. I was also miraculously healed of multiple afflictions instantly and restored to life after the spirit departed my body. We really do not need long, drawn out healing services. We just need God to come on the scene. As I looked into the face of Jesus, I was instantly healed. I never became hungry, sleepy nor tired for twelve days and nights after I was healed and restored to life. When my feet touched the floor, a supernatural phenomenon occurred. I felt myself being raised to my tiptoes, and my arms being raised heavenward. The power of God enveloped my body, and I felt so light I hardly had my feet on the floor. Many times during the twelve days and nights that followed, I would unconsciously grab the furniture to hold myself down to the floor. I can describe it as none other than the resurrection power of God — the power that restored my spirit to the body — the power that raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead. When my hands were down, it was by force. My feet would rest flat on the floor only by force. My natural position those days was on tiptoes and hands upraised. When I forced myself to an arms-down, flat-footed position, I was unable to take a step. This supernatural sign convinced the newspaper photographers and reporters. This was at the conclusion of three years of illness and six days of convulsions and lockjaw. After the miracle, I ministered to thousands of people who came from all over the country, having seen the news story in all the major press service papers in August of 1932. It reached as far as the Shanghai, China newspapers. One hundred fifty three of the largest city newspapers of America carried a full page story in the Sunday Magazine Section of this miracle God performed in Mississippi.

"The thing that is so wonderful to me is the fact that God performed this miracle. We must point the groaning creation to God. He is the miracle worker. In all these years I have enjoyed life and strength from God to preach the Gospel of Divine Life to forty-nine nations. During those twelve days and nights I saw all types of healing and miracles. I did not know how to pray for the sick. As the Spirit led me to touch sick ones who were brought, God performed the miracles, not I. God wants to show forth His glory and ability. God is not looking for people who have excessive knowledge and understand mystical truths. He is looking for a people who are committed that He can fill with Himself and manifest Himself through to the world. He is looking for people who will yield, people who will obey Him, a people who have faith and will allow Him to just flow through them. The vessel is not the important thing. It is God who must perform His work and express His power. Only through committed vessels can this be done. God chose a cotton picking girl in Mississippi, who had no formal knowledge and education to perform this miracle through. He is doing what He will in this hour and manifesting His glory through 'the base things of the world' as the apostle Paul declared. ‘Not many mighty, not many noble,’ respond. God can take nobodies who are submitted to His will and reveal Himself through them to the world. People of low degree are going to make up His Joel's Army Company in this endtime hour.

"During those twelve days and nights, I would sense my spirit leaving my body, and being present in other locations. For example, I found myself in one car of skeptics coming to the farm house where I was ministering to the sick. I heard their conversations. When the auto drove up some time later, I informed them of what they discussed on the way. They recognized that it was a phenomenon of God. They were made believers by the supernatural manifestation of God in the event. Many times I was transferred out of my body while I stood praying for the sick and was conscious of that which was transpiring many miles away. Many were made believers by this miracle manifestation.

"God is going to have a manifestation of Himself in this endtime. I can take no credit for having been raised from the dead. But I do expect to be 'alive and remaining' and see it all through to the climax of this church age. The Bible says that it is appointed unto man once to die — I have met my appointment and do not expect to set another appointment with death. Some may mark me as heretic, fanatic, or off-brand doctrinally. But it is still true. From the day I was raised from the dead, I started declaring the generation that would never have to die to be the one in which we are now living. I believe that my generation is being offered this victory over death. And I believe I happen to be one of the ‘living and remaining’ ones unto the coming of the Lord. Death holds no fear for me. But God is ordaining this thing for this generation. We will never be able to convince mankind just by preaching. We will have to begin demonstrating the presence of the supernatural God in manifestation. It must take the Spirit of God to draw men unto Him. The scripture declares that 'it is unto Shiloh (Christ) that the gathering of the people shall be.' It was not an unlearned, unimportant, cotton picking girl unto whom was the gathering of the people in 1932. It was unto GOD who performed the miracle in this life which could take no credit for it.

"I believe the full manifestation of God into earth is closer than we can believe. We know that God is going to have a company in which to make this revelation of Himself. He did so with me, one who knew nothing about miracles. He is going to show that the power is of God and not of man. It is unto Christ that the Father purposes to draw mankind. Although I knew nothing about the baptism in the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit, God manifested each one of them through me at that time. It was not my doing. Our heavenly Father is bringing a company of believers to the place of commitment to Himself that He can manifest Himself in a way in which no man will receive the glory. It must be a company of sons who are dead to self, filled with Christ, manifesting God life and God power only. It must be a manifestation of God in His many-membered body of sons. God is going to begin to speak through his sons. And when the dead hear the voice of the Son through the sons they shall live! That is the thing that will bring the dead out of their graves. That is the thing that will loose the captives. The son company will not consist of just one select group of believers. No preacher or church has a corner on God! It will be the qualified ones from all of God's groups of believers. The dead shall hear the voice of God through His sons, and they shall live. This must be the company who will submit to God, step out in faith and believe what God has promised. We have preached this for many years. But unless we start manifesting it, we shall not participate in it. We have to believe that God is ready to do it, and it does not depend upon our abilities. It depends on Him. It is time for His sons to rise up and possess their possessions" — end quote.

ARGO - THE SHIP

The third and final Decan, or minor constellation, in the house of Cancer is ARGO. Argo presents the figure of a large ship. Argo means The Ship. Here we have a picture of pilgrims safe at last in harbor. In this ship, the sails are rolled up. It is not a ship in the midst of a journey, but it is a ship which has completed its journey and is now at rest in a safe harbor. Ah — Christ is our ship! And the Father is our safe harbor at home! We are brought at the end into that peaceful harbor and haven of rest, by the glory and power of our great Redeemer and Captain, Jesus Christ. "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by Me" (Jn. 14:6). All we are mariners, spiritual voyagers. Each and every son of God is a navigator on the sea of life. And the voyage upon which we all embarked had its origin in God. When we came into this world of sin and death we were thrust out upon a tempestuous sea, there to maneuver our tiny bark to another shore. Winds, tides, and currents swept us out to sea, and carried us on. We were lost and hopeless until we discovered the Captain of our bark. We eventually must land on that other shore. There is no alternative. Day by day we are being swept on, ever nearer to journey's end. There is one safe and commodious harbor. How happy is the man who knows that Christ is his ship, and the bosom of the Father is the harbor! Jesus came into the world that through death and resurrection He might bring us to God (I Pet. 3:18). It is in Him that we have access to the Father.

Paul's favorite expression for man's union with Christ is surely the phrase "in Christ." One hundred and sixty-four times it appears in Paul's writings. He creates a symphony of language out of it. The Lord Jesus in the last night with His disciples used this word more than once. "In that day" — when the Spirit had been poured out — "ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me." And then follows "Abide in Me; he that abideth in Me beareth much fruit." "If ye abide in Me, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." But the child of God cannot appropriate these promises unless he first prayerfully accepts the word: in Christ. Paul expresses the same thought in Romans. "We are buried with Christ." "There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." And in Ephesians: "God has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Christ; hath chosen us in Him; hath made us accepted in the Beloved; in Him we have redemption." And in Colossians: "In Him dwelleth all the fullness; we are perfect in Christ Jesus; Walk ye in Him; Ye are complete in Him."

Precious phrase! sweeter than honey to our soul, we would adore the Holy Spirit for revealing such a wonder to those elect ones called to sonship. The word translated "complete" is used by Demosthenes in describing a ship fully manned — and truly our ship is well manned by her Captain who Himself steers the vessel, and brings all safe to their desired haven. His glorious life is the dwelling place of all sufficiency for in Him dwelleth all the fullness.

While Christ is our ship bringing us to God, Argo pictures a ship in which the sails are rolled up. It is not a ship in the midst of a journey, but it is a ship which has completed its journey and is now at rest in a safe harbor. The pilgrims are safe at last in the harbor. At home in the bosom of the Father! Returned from whence we came! But returned with what wisdom and riches and glory accrued by experience along the way! As Carl Schwing has written: "So lovely is the place of our dwelling. It is high and holy... it is beyond compare. It far exceeds the dreamings of heaven. It is unknown, unseen and untouched by all that is less than spirit. Spirit has no depths, nor heights... no time or limitations. The universe is but a path that leads to it... even infinity is but its threshold. This is the place where all things were planned. It is the substance of all matter, the source of fire and light... it is the birthplace of love and wisdom... it is the heart of the Eternal One. Here, in the ‘secret chamber’ of His Being, is our dwelling place... it is here that He shares the secrets, the mysteries and the purposes of the ages. It is here that we partake of His mind, His abilities and His attributes: and it is here we become the dwelling place of all the creations and all the ages yet to come. Should it seem strange that like Father, like sons? Can religion forbid God to give us the mind that was in Christ Jesus? Can the clutter and chatter of a dead order keep us from a life in the Spirit? The Spirit is showing us things to come... do not cling to things that are past. God is not going to ‘revive’ a lifeless Christianity. 'Come out of her My people' is a call of the past... the message of ‘Israel’ only wearies the spirit. The Father makes all things new; a new age, a new order and a new gospel. The seed of the Church, the seed of Israel and the seed of the Gospel of the Ages is in the SONS... and, as you know, the Sons are in Christ Jesus.

"I do not write of a vision or a dream, I write of that which our spirits have moaned for, have longed for, sensed, and now reach out for. I do not write of someday, rather of our place in Him today. I do not write of somewhere... it is not a place far off... it is all around us, brothers. Seek it and you will find it... knock and it will open to you... enter and you will possess it! In this holy place all of Adam's race and all of God's creation will hear these purifying words of love and grace: ‘Be ye reconciled to God.’ It is in this holy place that death and hell shall be cast into the lake of fire which burns forever, ages without end, within the depths of our Father's glory. It is in this holy place that the sons shall return all things to their Rightful Owner; and it is in this holy place that the Age of Fullness shall begin. Praise the Lord!

"This is truly the glorious Sonrise of a New Day. All that dwell in the heavenlies behold the glory of the Morning Son as He shines from the faces of His younger brothers. Even now His transforming rays burn deep within us, awakening the ‘new creature’ and calling him forth to 'Resurrection Life'. One by one He calls us, each in his order, each in his time. If we be in a grave, in the flesh or in a steeple-house, means little... when the voice of the Living God is heard, our spirits rise and 'go out to meet Him.' Things visible mean less than nothing. Death shall not hold its prey... and the stronghold of Babylon, like a great rock, is cast into the sea of oblivion. There are regions far beyond the knowledge of man, even beyond the knowledge of sons. Regions reserved by the Father for the dawning of an Infinite Age... regions that exist on the other side of the Great White Throne... regions to be given to the Lamb and His Bride... an Eden for the Spirit's race... sons and daughters born of God's Christ..." — end quote.