"ON EAGLES’ WINGS MINISTRIES"

“See how I bare you on eagles’ wings and brought you unto myself.” Ex.19: 4.

Royce Kennedy ◊ 909 Whistling Duck Drive ◊ Largo, MD 20774
Website: www.godfire.net/kennedy/

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“HIS MINISTERS A FLAMING FIRE.” PART 1. MARCH 2016

         “Who maketh his angels spirits; his ministers a flaming fire. Psalm 104:4; “And of the angels he saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.” Hebrews 1: 7. 

The second scripture offered by the writer of the Hebrews, is merely a cross reference with the one rendered by David in the Psalms. But one is used to underscore and add authenticity to the other. This study will be centered mainly in the physical nature and expression of God’s holy fire as recorded in scripture. Since this is likely to be unusual to some and possibly hard to digest to others, let me begin by showcasing a little of my personal life’s history. When in my teenage years in Kingston, Jamaica, my land of birth, I worked in a number of Chinese grocery stores, serving over the counter. When I relocated to a parish 50 miles west of Kingston, I continued to work in the same capacity. In this setting, I attended a number of Chinese celebrations, and sitting around the dinner table, I was the only “non-Chinese” among them all. 

Every other person spoke Chinese and the table is usually full of Chinese dishes; which was foreign to me. I did not know the names or how they tasted: so I sampled each dish as the carousel turned and turned. When I tasted a dish that satisfied my taste buds, I kept my eyes on it until it came around to me the second time. Over all, by sampling one dish after another—and avoiding others, I enjoyed the occasion to its fullest. I managed not to embarrass myself or my host. The general consensus is that you don’t have to fight with the cook or the butler: simply eat that which is palatable to your taste buds. I have said all of the above, simply to suggest that what I am about to share, is like all my other writings. I offer them freely as I am inspired to do: but you as the reader is free to accept or reject these truths as you see fit. Don’t stop reading at the first verse or passage that you find hard to digest: keep reading and no doubt you will discover little nuggets of truth that will warm your heart. From my vantage point, I have boldness in what I share in the ministry, because my practice is to stay within the context of the written word of God. 

Where I differ from many others, is the interpretation and application of what some “think the word is saying.” Bible commentaries whether in the bible footnotes or written in best-selling books are only the opinion and interpretation of the authors—but nothing beats the WORD itself: and that is why I stay within the context of the written word. Again! In this study, receive what you can, and as they say, that which is a little hard for you right now, simply “pigeon hole it” for a later date. But always remember that which you reject is gone out of your grasp, possibly forever. We are told that charity believes all things. A pastor in northern California said that her duty is to believe all things. But after she goes in prayer, the Holy Spirit will quicken to her what is true and what is false.  Friends! We must trust the Holy Ghost as he was promised to guide us into ALL TRUTH. John 16:13. We must always bear in our minds that truth is shared in segments or installments, as we grow from glory to glory.  My former Presiding Bishop, Monroe Saunders said in Washington DC: the church is not standing anywhere; it is moving forward from truth to truth. But we should remember that growing in Christ is like climbing a flight of stairs: and you don’t get to the step above, until you get off the step below. Moreover, you don’t take the steps with you: you leave them for others who are coming behind.  

          Some years ago, possibly in the early 1950s a brother by the name of Franklin Hall, Phoenix, AZ wrote a book titled “Atomic Power with God through Fasting.” A number of ministers west of the Mississippi got a hold of that truth and ran with it. Some became big names with nationwide wide ministries. Many years later, in the early 80s I was blessed to meet Brother Hall in Phoenix and ministered at his Assembly while in town. His brother took me out to Apache Junction to a gold smelting plant that had a conveyor belt leading into the plant from the surrounding mountains. I learned a lot of spiritual truths while touring the plant, which I will not go into at this time.

             In this study, we must decide what and where the truth lies. As we get closer to the nuts and bolts of the lesson, we must ask ourselves if God really did make his angels spirits. In many religious circles, the idea of angels is relegated to the pastor of the local Assembly; being classified as “the messenger” to the flock. On that basis, many conclude that the seven letters that John was commissioned to write and send to the seven churches, simply meant that each letter should go to the pastor of each Assembly. Those who hold this concept dear to themselves, by the same token dismiss the ministry of actual angels. So are there really angelic beings? And what is their mission to us?

             Here is the big picture concerning angels! “But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool? Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister FOR THEM (on behalf of them) who shall be heirs of salvation? Hebrews 1:13, 14. It would take a long time and a lot of space for us to go back in time to the very cradle of humanity and gradually “fast-forward” through time to observe the impact angels have had in the development of our civilization.

             Even after Jesus was baptized in the Jordan and anointed with the Holy Ghost; and after he was tempted forty days, we are told that finally, “angels came and ministered unto him.”     

            Matthew 4:11. But the Tempter knew the scriptures, and in daring Jesus to cast himself down from the heights, he quoted this scripture: “He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.” Matthew 4:6. We know the story well, how that after Peter was delivered from prison by an angel, he went and knocked on the door where other disciples were meeting and praying for his release. 

            When the damsel who opened the door announced that it was Peter, they quickly decided that it was not Peter, but his angel. Having established the truth and reality of angels, we have to move on the next half of the equation. Any reasonable person with any measure of honestly and purpose must acknowledge that if indeed God made his angels spirits, it must also be an established truth that God also made his ministers a flame of fire as the scriptures have said. 

            As we embark upon a biblical safari, searching out the meaning of ministers of fire, we will quickly see that Jesus taught this truth: and Paul added his understanding and revelations to the subject. Before we proceed, let us explain that human beings are actually light beings. An experiment was performed on television in which a man and a woman met around a table under special cameras. They were told to embrace with their fingertips almost touching, but leaving a certain amount of space between them. They were then told to embrace and to put all emotions into it. As they did light beams began to be emitted from the fingertips of both parties, in so much, that the light met in the middle to become a single light. 

            Over the years, in church, when we spoke of our light shining before men that they may see our good works and be led to glorify our heavenly Father, we were always told it meant our good, clean, and spotless living. The idea of actual light was never brought into the equation; because that concept was too far-fetched. But let me explain some truths that I brought with me to America when I first visited in March 1969. 

            When I arrived in Baltimore, Maryland, I brought with me the beliefs of Bro. Franklin Hall of whom I spoke earlier. I taught what is called “Body Felt Salvation” and people lined up around the altar for hands to be laid on them for the baptism of fire. I had to go back to Kingston, Jamaica to file my papers with the US Embassy there. On my next trip into Baltimore (on my way back to London) I again ministered to people around the altar. After laying hands on a certain sister, she whispered to herself: “I thank God for feeling the fire once again.” That spoke volumes to me, because after my departure the first time, I knew that the local ministry would not follow through on the ministry that I had introduced for one reason or the other. 

            Here is a question that I want you to ponder and make it personal. Do you think that an angel is spirit one day, and is something else the next? Don’t you think that they are always spirit beings, because they were made so? I am sure you have to answer YES. By the same token since the Word of God confirms that HE has made HIS ministers a flaming fire, don’t you think that they are always flames of fire? But they don’t walk down the street every day displaying the fire: like in the case of Jesus. Watch what happened in his case!  

            “And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” Matthew 17: 1,2.  The secret in this transaction is that Jesus was always that bright. He walked in that glory every day: but in this moment, he lifted the scales from off the eyes of the disciples, and they saw him as he really is. Long before Jesus came to earth, he was referred to as a light. 

            “The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shinned. Isa. 9:2. Lord lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people: a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” Luke 2:29-32. One of the main characteristics of “Body Felt Salvation” is the word “UPON.” By applying that word, the overall understanding becomes physical. For instance notice the implications in the following scriptures. “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen UPON THEE. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise UPON THEE, and his glory shall BE SEEN UPON THEE. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.” Isa.60:1-3. 

            It can easily be argued that the language used by the prophet here is purely metamorphic that should not be taken literally. These scriptures referred to the coming of Jesus Christ to earth and the glory he would bring. However later we shall examine what Jesus said in regards to this study, and how we should understand it. Once again, we look closely at the word UPON. Just before he ascended up to heaven, Jesus gave this command to his disciples. “And behold, I send the promise of my Father UPON YOU: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued (clothed upon) with power from on high.” Luke 24:49. Our next step is to join at least one hundred and twenty souls, who are waiting in the upper room for the past ten days—and now, something unique and unknown is about to transpire that would shake Jerusalem to its very core. Its ripples would break into a flood that would shake the Roman Empire off its foundation; banish its broken pieces into oblivion, so that its former glory would become something like a mirage.         

            Let us observe how a single prophecy can have double meanings that apply to two or more people living in different time frames and under different circumstances. We read the following: “And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall SEE IT together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 40: 5. Many will say that this prophecy concerns Israel as a nation; and my bible caption says verse three refers to the preaching of John the Baptist. So already we see how far reaching these prophecies can be. 

We are going to equate UPON with SEE, and both are addressed in Isaiah 60. The glory is risen UPON THEE—and his glory shall be SEEN UPON THEE. So it is easy to compress both thoughts into one single expression of truth. We can remember that Jesus said: “And, behold, I send the promise of my Father UPON YOU: but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued (CLOTHED UPON) with power from above.” Luke 24: 49. Shortly after this, Jesus ascended up into heaven and the disciples returned to the city and went into seclusion in the upper room: where they would wait ten days to complete the 50 days required from the Passover to Pentecost since Jesus, after his resurrection spent 40 days with the disciples teaching them things concerning the kingdom of God.

             But now we come to the morning of the 10^th day or the 50^th day, depending on what point you wish to count from. Watch carefully what really happened early that morning. “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 (wind typifies the Spirit of the Lord) and it filled the house where they were sitting. And there appeared (appeared means to become visible) unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.” Acts 2:1-3. Remember that we quoted above that the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and all flesh shall see it together. In this dynamic revelation of God’s glory each of the 120 people in that room, saw it sitting upon the others. All flesh did see it together. And Isaiah wrote that his glory shall be seen upon thee: And even kings shall come to thy rising. When the people gathered together in awe of this new manifestation, Peter explained about Jesus: “Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye NOW SEE and hear. (verse 33.)  

            By this statement made by Peter, we must conclude that not only the hundred and twenty souls in the upper room saw the glory of the Lord as tongues of fire sitting upon each person’s head: but it was necessary for him to explain to the multitudes rushing together to see what was going on, what they were witnessing. Human bodies were set on fire (and their bodies were not burnt) in an amazing display of God’s glory emanating from the bodies of the humble people. Some of the confused folks brushed it off as a display of people who were drunk. This heavenly manifestation did not cease after Pentecost: neither was it confined to the apostles alone.

             After his visit and ministry to Cornelius and those in his house, all Gentiles; Peter was called before the elders in Jerusalem to account for his visit and ministry to non-Jews. In his defense Peter said: “And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us.” Acts 15:8. It is safe to assume that these Gentiles received the Holy Ghost with a visible demonstration of fire since Peter said that it happened to them, even as it did unto us. Let me add this little caveat for good measure! The truth began to slip away into oblivion even while Paul was alive. See Galatians 2:4, 5. During the Dark Ages the light of the gospel was almost completely extinguished. But when the light began to shine again under Martin Luther and into the Reformation, much of the original truths still laid buried under the sands of Papal dogmas.

             At the start of the 19^th century from Topeka, Kansas to Los Angeles, California, the Pentecostal experience began to be restored. Across this country, people began to receive the gifts of the Spirit that soon turned into a movement that soon took on different names to different groups. But the restoration of the Five Fold Ministry, for the most part failed to recover and embrace the salvation of the body aspect of our redemption. They emphasized healing for our well-being; but the body was something we need simply to live in: and I have heard some preachers say from the pulpit in my presence: “Don’t worry about the body; because it isn’t going anywhere: Just seek to save your soul.”  We know how Jesus was transfigured and he became as bright as the sun. (See Matthew 17: 1-2.)  There is also the case of Stephen as he was being tried for his life. “And all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel.” Acts 6:15. 

              All across the broad spectrum of the Christian landscape, people are taught a salvation that is centered in emotion and not anything physical. In other words, it is believed that salvation does not actually affect the human body. Thus, our salvation experience functions within our deep emotions. When stirred to tears, we weep with joy, dance in the Spirit, speak in tongues, and yield to the stirring of our emotions. But where can you get teachings on an experience that takes control of the body? We love to teach that we are actually “spirit beings” with a soul and living in a body; as David Ebaugh of Harrisburg, PA wrote so beautifully. However, along with us being spirit beings, we are also light beings: and as we alluded to from time to time, the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord.

             “The spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly.” Proverbs 20:27. “For thou wilt light my candle: the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness.” Psalm 18:28. These scriptures support an ongoing truth that supports the notion of what we call body felt salvation. Consider this: When Mary said: “Be it unto me according to thy word, the angel departed and at the same time, he left Mary with child, or soon thereafter. She became pregnant in her womb exactly the way all women get pregnant and carry a child for nine months.

            How did this happen? “And the angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come UPON THEE, and the power of the most Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. By the Holy Ghost coming UPON HER and the power of the Highest overshadowing her, Mary was left pregnant that would result in the birth of the Son of God. It was then that the Word became flesh so as to dwell among us.

 Now we come to Mount Sinai and Moses is returning to the people after spending forty days up the mount in the presence of God. “And it came to pass, when Moses came down from the mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not (knew not) that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out.” Exodus 34:29-34.  

 Paul explained the events that transpired with Moses this way: “But if the ministration of death, written and engraven in stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses for the glory of his countenance; which glory was to be done away: How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious? For if that which is done away was glorious, much more that which remaineth is glorious. Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech. And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face, that the children of Israel could not steadfastly look to the end of that which is abolished.” 2^nd Corinthians 3: 7-13

The people standing with Moses on the sides of mount Sinai saw a unique demonstration of glory that they could not understand. In fact, we cannot be sure that even Moses himself knew the true significance of what was happening at the time. He himself at first did not know that the skin of his face shone brightly; and after he realized it he covered his face. We can safely assume that both Moses and the people had no idea of what God’s message woven into that event really meant. Only when we fast forward to New Testament times and open our study to Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, do we learn the true significance of what God intended to teach us from the fiery display upon the very skin of the face of Moses. From this single event, we must train ourselves to learn and accept that the human body can be used as an instrument in the hands of the Almighty to convey his message. As we proceed, we will learn how our salvation experience is designed to accommodate the Holy Spirit in whatever form he chooses to display himself.

This should not be a hard task, since we are told to: “Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” 1^st Corinthians 6:20. (Continued in part 2.)

 In His Service—Royce