(This article is the continuation of the articles entitled “THE THREE PARTS OF MAN ACCORDING TO THE BIBLE” and “THE BORN-AGAIN EXPERIENCE”. I highly recommend reading those articles first before reading this one for a better understanding.)

So you have been born-again. Congratulations! You have now Eternal Life. You are now saved. You now possessed the Spirit of the Lord in you.

But after this, what now? Does it all just stop there? Nope. This is just the beginning of your Spiritual journey. After you have been born-again, just like a newborn baby, you need to grow and be fully matured spiritually (Eph. 4:13-14).

THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOUL

After experiencing the Quickening of our spirit (Born-again experience, Baptism of the Spirit), the next step that our Lord will do to us in our complete redemption is the transformation of our soul (Rom. 12:2).

It is not enough to have Eternal Life. It is not enough to just be baptized by the Holy Spirit. Yes, you may be saved, but being just saved will not qualify you to the Rapture. And this is our ultimate goal – to make it in the Rapture. To achieve this, our soul needs to be transformed.  We may be baptized by the Spirit of God but our soul (mind, emotion, and will) may still remain the same. That’s why this second step for our complete redemption is very important.

After being born, we need to grow. God’s Word will then continue to grow in us, expanding continually from our spirit into our soul until It will completely transform our soul. As this renewing progresses on from day to day, we begin to think as our Lord God thinks, love as He loves, and choose as He chooses. Then eventually, we will resemble God in full (Eph. 3:19), that is, we will absolutely conform to His image. This is why we read in 2 Corinthians 3:18:

“We all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.”

Until we can fully reflect the glory of the image of our Lord in us, we cannot be Raptured (Mal. 3:3). So how will the Word of God be able to transform us? How can we grow in the Word? What is the mechanism behind for the Word to transform us? To answer these, we need to know the following:

THE BLACK DOG AND THE WHITE DOG

From the time that we are conceived in our mother’s womb, we already possess the original sin. We are conceived in sin (Psalm 51:5). We have inherited the fallen state of Adam. We are already sinful in nature. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).

There’s no good thing that dwells in our flesh (Rom. 7:18) and since we are only born in flesh, there’s no good thing that dwell in us. Religions, philosophers, preachers, psychologist and scientists may declare unto you that there is some good thing in man and that all we have to do is to discover and improve it. I tell you, THIS IS A GREAT LIE that has been propagated by man since time immemorial. 

Only God alone is good (Mark 10:18, Luke 18:19). Without Him, no one can be good. Therefore, we need to possess God in order for us to be good. We need to be born of the Spirit in order to possess Him. We need to be born-again.

But before we are born-again, we have already inherited the genes of the serpent in our flesh. Satan has already inflicted his attributes in us before we are born in the Spirit of God. It is this fallen state that has a great influence on our soul (mind, emotion, and will). There are actually many factors that influence our mind, emotion and will but our fleshly desires have the greatest influence of them all.

The one that greatly darkened and fed our soul is the serpent’s venom in our flesh. That’s why our soul knows no good (Rom. 7:18). Our mind, emotion and will are being fed by our flesh. This is the reason why the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:18-20

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.”

Our mind, emotion and will are doing the things that the sin that dwell in our flesh wants. That sin present in our flesh has greatly influenced and corrupted our soul that we were spiritually dead before our Lord quickened us. Brother William M. Branham called this inherited sin as the Black Dog that penetrated and darkened our soul.

After we have been born-again a new nature is introduced, it’s the nature of God that is present in our spirit. It’s the Word. Brother Branham called It the White Dog. So there’s a tug-of-war happening in our soul. The war between the nature of Satan (sin) in our flesh (Black Dog) and the nature of God present in our Spirit (White Dog). As to what dog will greatly influence our soul, it depends on what dog do we often feed. Oftentimes, it’s the black dog that prevails. That’s because we feed it more often and we starve the white one.

THE WORD OF GOD IS OUR FOOD

“But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, cf. Deu. 8:3b)

Our physical body is formed from the dust of the earth. This is also the reason why we eat the elements of soil which are taken out by the plants that convert them to essential nutrients needed by our body. We eat what we are made of, so to speak. And we know that we are not only made of physical body, we have also our spiritual component that is made of the Word (Gen. 1:27), that’s why it should also eat the Word (John 6:51).

Just like the natural so is the spiritual. After we have been born-again, in order to fully transform our soul and for us to grow, the newly born spiritual us needs spiritual food. By constantly infilling our selves with the Word of God means that we are feeding It and making It grow in us so that It will be strong and win the war.   

This new nature born in our spirit needs to grow.  As a newly born infant, our first food is milk. Every nutrient that the baby needs are present on its mother’s milk. Just like what’s written in 1 Pet. 2:2-3:

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”

Like a newborn baby, our first food in the “sincere milk of the word”. In the natural set up, after about 6 months old, the baby is then introduced to solid foods. Like in the natural, we are also introduced to solid Word (Hebrews 5:14) and we fully learn to digest and to absorb them to become part of us. This process is called the “infilling of the Holy Spirit” where we are continually infilled by the Spirit of God through the “eating, digesting and absorbing” of the Word (Eph. 5:18).

We must remember that the Word of God is both Spirit and Life (John 6:63). The reason why the wise virgins have enough oil is that they have eaten enough Word compared to the foolish ones. They have absorbed enough Word.

OUR OPTIMUM GROWTH

After we have been born in this world and are able to digest solid foods, our next goal is to reach our optimum growth.

An average human being eats about five pounds of food per day. We stop gaining heights at the age of 22 but our brain and other parts of our body are still developing until we are about 40 years old. So we reach our optimum growth when we are about 40 years old. An average human being has already consumed about 20 tons of food when he reaches this age. 

So after we have been born-again, our next goal is also to reach our optimum spiritual maturity. This process of transforming our soul to its optimum growth is the longest step in the stages of our complete redemption. We need to eat about 20 tons of spiritual foods to reach this stage. We know that there are three stages for our complete redemption namely: the Quickening of the Spirit (Born-again experience), the Transformation of the Soul and the Glorification of the Body. Among the three, the Transformation of the Soul is the longest process.

Anyone who is malnourished to the Word will have a hard time achieving this. The reason why the Black Dog often wins in our daily battles is that we are malnourished in the Word. We often feed the Black Dog and starve the White one. We are only alloting a small amount of our time to the hearing of the Word. Sometimes, we are not even listening attentively.

Even worse is, we go to church not prioritizing the Word. Some are only going to church because of nice singing and worship songs and other foolish reasons. We need to remember that we cannot worship with our ears by listening to music, nor can we worship with our throats by singing. All that comes from the flesh “profiteth nothing” (John 6:63a). God has no respect for it, and it is labor in vain. The churches today all seem to be “music mad”. They will prioritize the singing, the instruments, the “solos” and the “choruses” over the Word. We are in the generation where the flesh seems to hold universal sway in what still retains the name of worship. Today, we are even evangelizing using more of Christian songs than the preaching of the Word.

But alas, this kind of worship “profiteth nothing“. To worship our Lord, we must worship him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). “Speaking to yourselves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your hearts (not merely in your throats: and this, not to any audience or congregation, but) to the Lord (Eph. 5:29). If you want to sing unto the Lord, sing using your heart not just merely your throat.

Aside from these, every day, we are also always exposed in the schemes of the world which is the reason why the Black Dog is being greatly fed. Therefore, every day, we need to put on the whole armor of God (Eph. 6:11-18) for the Black Dog to starve.

If we seldom eat the Word of God, the transformation of our soul will be much slower. And it will take us a much longer time to completely transform us.

FIVE-FOLD MINISTRY TO FEED AND EQUIPT THE BODY

Eph. 4:11-13 “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.”

It is the TASKS of the five-fold ministers to feed and equip the saints (members of the Body of Christ). They are given the ascension gifts for the perfecting of the saints, to work for the ministry and for the edification of the body of Christ (Eph. 4:13).

After we have been born again, we are just like newborn babies incapable of feeding ourselves. We are weak and our body is not yet fully functioning. To reach our optimum growth, our body needs to be nourished. It is the hand of God (Five-fold ministry) who were tasked to feed the body until our soul is fully transformed and we all come to “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” That is, when the image of our Lord is already fully reflected in us.

In terms of preparing our Food (the Word of God), the true Five-fold ministers are like Master Chiefs who have different gifts in preparing our Food to cater to the different needs of the body. We have known that the Word of God (Bible) is our complete Food source, but just like our physical body, one needs to give high attention as to what kind of nutrients are needed to be eaten, when to eat them and what kind of cooking is needed in order for the Body to easily absorbed them. And the Five-fold ministers are experts on this. To understand what the specialties of these Chiefs are, we just need to look at our hands.    

Evangelists

If you are a newly born-again Christian, go to Evangelists. They represent our middle finger. They are the ones used by our Lord to touch us first. This is the reason why our middle finger is the longest finger among the five fingers. They are experts in providing us milk rich in calcium which is essential for our bone growth. Their preaching and writings are not hard to digest and are highly recommended for new converts. Our bones play a vital part in providing support to our body that’s why we need them to be strong and tall. Being the tallest of them all, the Evangelists are expert Chiefs on this. They know how to easily extract calcium from the Word of God.

Prophets

If you have already absorbed enough milk, the next thing that you need to absorb are essential vitamins and minerals coming from the vegetables. These are the specialty of the prophets. They will provide you with “vegetables” from the Bible that are rich in Vitamins A (development of good eyesight), B complex (cells and brain development) and K (blood development). All of these “vitamins” are necessary for our spiritual growth. Also, minerals like fiber and folate are essential for our maturity. The Prophets are represented by our forefinger. They are the “Seers” among the five. They have the eye to know the essentials vitamins and minerals lacking for the development of the Body. It is therefore very important to hear them.

Apostles

Along with essential vitamins and minerals, as we continue to grow in the Word, we are ready to eat “hard foods”. These foods are protein-rich foods like meat, fish, egg and beans. Protein is necessary for our muscle and organ development. It builds, maintains, and repairs the tissues in our body. Muscles and organs (such as our hearts) are primarily made of protein. Muscles are important in order for our bodies to stand and move. They are the support of our bones. Your whole body growth is directly proportional to your muscle growth. The more your muscles grow, the more your body grows. Among the five fingers, the thumb is the most muscular and it represents the Apostles. They are the ones who lay down the foundational faith or the Apostolic faith. Without them, we cannot stand and can’t be able to learn how to walk with our Lord. Without these foundational “protein” in our diet, we can’t be able to stand and walk with our Lord.

Pastors

The great providers of our daily foods are the Pastors. They provide our daily balanced diet which is complete of essential nutrients for our spiritual growth. They are literally our “feeders.” Among the nutrients that they provide which should be always present in our daily meal are carbohydrates. Cereals and wholegrain foods like rice, oatmeal and corn are rich in carbohydrates which is the source of energy for our body. We need energy in order for our bodies to go on. Not enough supply of carbohydrates will make the body weak and will not function effectively. Just like in the physical, a balanced diet for our spiritual growth is very important. This is the reason why Pastors play an important role in feeding the flock of the Lord.

Teachers

For a complete and balanced diet, micronutrients and antioxidants present mostly on fruits play an important role in the growth of the Body of Christ. Without them, your diet is not complete. They are the one that fights cancer and boosts our immune system to prevent diseases. They are the “capping” elements to reach our optimum growth. Providing us these nutrients are the specialty of the Teachers. They are the one who provides the Body of Christ with teachings that prevent a member to be a “cancer” to the whole Body. Their teachings from the Word fight wrong doctrines. If wrong teachings are being taught in the Body, they have the keen eyes to easily point them out to prevent the Body from eating them at to prevent each cell became cancerous. Then they will recommend what to eat to strengthen your immune system. Just like these micronutrients and antioxidants, teachers are also the smallest among the Five-fold. But the Body will not reach its optimum growth without them.

ATTENTION TO DIET

Since the Word of God is the food of our New Nature, attention to our spiritual diet is very important. Just like in the physical, these “nutrients” are essential for the development of the Body.

Since the desire to eat is a sign of a healthy body, low appetite for the Word of God means that you are spiritually sick and therefore not getting the required nutrients. When we are physically sick, we have no desire to eat. All of our senses are somehow weak. But our mother would cook us soup and encourage us to eat in order to gain nutrients that will make us strong again.

The same is true when we are spiritually sick, we don’t have the desire to eat the Word of God. We don’t have the desire to go to church and hear the Word. That’s why those believers who seldom go to church are spiritually sick people. But we need to force ourselves to eat. We need to encourage them to eat. This is the only way that we can replenish the nutrients for our growth.

SWEET IN THE MOUTH BUT BITTER IN THE STOMACH

Most people today do not like the foods that these Five-fold ministers of God are offering. It is because these foods are as sweet as honey in the mouth but bitter in the belly (Rev. 10:9-10, Jer. 15:16, Eze. 3:1-3, Psa. 119:101-103). These foods that they providing us are all-natural food directly coming from the Word, unadulterated and free from additives and preservatives that are harmful for the Body.

Once the Word is eaten, It will give us a pleasant enlightenment as we chew It. But as our body digested It and absorbed It, the digested Word will automatically counteract every “poisonous” thought, deed or belief that has darkened our soul and it will bring about a complete work of perfection in our soul. That’s why It will upset our “stomach” that is loaded with poisonous substance.

THE INEXHAUSTIBLE WORD

The Bible is the written Word of God. According to 2 Timothy 3:16 “All scripture is given by inspiration of God…” The last five words in this phrase are represented by only one word in Greek which is “Theopneustos”. This Greek word means “God-breathe”. Therefore, the Bible is in-breathed of God. It came from God Himself.

With this in mind, no human mind therefore can ever exhaust the Bible. There is no such thing as “all revelation is revealed to one man.” It came from the mind of God, no one can exhaust the fullness of the Word. No person has ever lived, except from our Lord Jesus Christ which is the fullness of the Word), has ever possessed the full revelation of the Word. As it is written in 1 Corinthians 2:11

“For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”

Amen. If for example, I will study a book written by Einstein or any other person, a mind which has equal power to mine, then I can exhaust it and fathom every detail in it. When I have exhausted it, there is nothing more it can do. It will give me nothing anymore even if I will reread it many times.

But the Bible is different. It came from the mind of God. It came from an infinite mind. Who then can ever say that he had exhausted It? That all revelations are revealed to him? That he had extracted all the Foods from it? Nay! It is therefore for this reason that the Bible is never out of Food. It is also for this reason that even if you have read the verse before and it made an impact on you, and sometime later when you read it again, this time, it has created a different impact on you but it’s the same verse!

This is the great wonder of the Bible. It can never be exhausted. And since God is the author of It, it is only our God alone who can interpret It. That’s why unless our Lord God will reveal It to us, we can never have the right interpretation of It.

ADVICE TO THE FIVE-FOLD MINISTERS

Revelation from God is progressive. That is, He reveals to the latter generations the things that He didn’t reveal to the former. For example, He revealed to Martin Luther the message of Justification but He never revealed to him the message of Sanctification. The message of Sanctification was later revealed to John Wesley. But He never revealed to John Wesley the revelation of the Godhead, He revealed it later to brother Branham.

Sometimes, this is also the reason why those former ministers being used by God are in disagreement with the latter ones. This is because former ministers were not given the revelations which are given to the latter ones. So they will often have disagreements (like Peter and Paul, Bro. Raymund Jackson and Bro. Richard Gan).

These disagreements will also often fire up being fueled by the “followers” of the former ministers. These “followers” will often tell the latter ministers: “Your revelations were never preached by apostle __________. It was never revealed to him. Therefore, yours is a false revelation.” That’s why they will always have a dispute. These people cannot accept that God will use latter ministers for the progression of His revelations.

If you consider yourself as a true minister of God, then you must accept that God will also use latter ministers. Your time will also someday be used up and you have done your part in the Body of Christ. Our Lord will commend you on that. However, God’s revelation will continue to progress and no one can ever exhaust the Word of God. That’s why you need to accept that other ministers will be given revelations that are not revealed to you for the perfecting of the Body. DON’T EVER DISCOURAGE NEW MINISTERS. Instead, test their revelations using the Word. This way, there will be harmony in the Body.

Another thing, most of today’s ministers are using the “Intellectual Approach” when preaching. That is, they are using terms that are not common and are not understood by common believers to appear knowledgeable. They will often boast about the many mysteries revealed to brother Branham to the point that they are quoting him on his language that are not common to the believers here in the Philippines. They sound like more on bragging instead of preaching.

Please don’t be like them. They are not good preachers. They may know many revelations but those revelations are nothing if the members of the Body cannot understand them. It is like preparing a food that cannot be digested. Don’t imitate them. Stop this intellectual approach. Get down off the high horse of intellectualism. Reach out those at the lowest of the flock. Remember: You are feeding sheep, not giraffes.  

FOODS OFFERED BY SATAN

Revelation 6:7-8 “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Today’s enemy of the Bride is Satan appearing as Death riding the Pale Horse of Revelation 6:8 where Hell also followed him. Now, the Greek word used for the word “Pale” is “Chloros” which came the word “chlorophyll” which means “greenish or verdant”. However, the actual color of the horse in the language of the Orientals is “black-green” (blackish green).  Black means “dying, death” and Green means “living, life”.

Therefore, today’s scheme of Satan is to offer us food teeming with life but adulterated with death! Upon offering us the Word of God, he will put leaven on It so that the whole lump will be leavened (Matt. 13:33). Satan’s ministers and preachers today are preaching the Word of God but their preaching has poisons on it that are able to kill the listeners when eaten. They are preaching Love but have the leaven of abandoning the pure Word. They are preaching Unity but has the poison of Nicolaitism. They are preaching blessings but has the poison of material prosperity. This is exactly what Satan did to Eve in the garden of Eden using the serpent (Gen. 3:1-5).

If you will hear Satan’s preachers today, their preaching are all good. The food that they are offering is both as sweet as honey in the mouth and in the belly. It is because these foods are adulterated. They are full of additives and preservatives that will poison the body unlike the pure Word preach by the Five-fold ministers. This is the reason why Hell followed him (Rev. 6:8). Many shall eat his food and many will die upon eating it.

But the Bride is given the Flying Eagle Anointing of Revelation 4:7. She has the eye that is twenty times more excellent than the human vision. She can easily see the leaven that is added by Satan to the preaching and therefore She will not eat it. She is not deceived by the schemes of Satan.

CONCLUSION

Be strong Bride of Christ. You need to prepare yourself for the coming drought. You need to submerge yourself in the Word today and be filled with It as much as you can. The drought mentioned in Amos 8:11-13 is drawing nigh. And just like the final admonition of Apostle Paul in Ephesians 3:16-19:

“That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.”

It is my prayer that the fullness of God be filled upon us.

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