Publication 98.107

"And they said unto Moses (Moses, Hebrew meaning, to draw out), Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off....And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Exo 20:17-18, 21)

Practically everyone will carry on about how they want to see the Lord and sit at His feet; however, when it comes down to it, most avoid Him like the plague. And there is good reason for this. It’s called self-preservation. Although their surface thoughts and words are geared to meet Him face to face and hear His wise counsel, there is something in them that fears the prospect. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, as Paul pointed out in his letter to the Ephesians. He also informed us that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50). Therefore, after declaring that they want to see God, men of the flesh will stand afar off when He comes upon the scene; for they do not want to change, and they certainly don’t want to die.

Moreover, when they see where God abides, IN THICK DARKNESS, they don’t want to have anything to do with Him, at least, not on a personal basis. For the most part, they will let Moses (their minister) risk his life while they stand at a safe distance. In this present day, however, we will not find a large number of ministers who draw near to God. They likewise are content in standing away while mulling over and dishing out yesterday’s manna. Whether it is the clergy or the laity, it is much easier to minister from the confines of protected denominations, or to nestle into comfortable pews and avoid the potential danger that lurks in God’s abode of thick darkness. Although it is in this dreadful place where the unveiling of God’s mysteries are found, fear has a way of ruling, and foregoing His treasures is not an option to them. They are willing to have someone tell them about the mysteries in the form of a new doctrine, or old ones; but they fear what it might cost to venture into the unknown for themselves.

You would think more people would be eager to hear what the Lord has to say, especially after reading verses like we find in the book of Acts: "For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you" (Acts 3:22). People, however, are no different today than they have ever been. In the same way Israel chose the Law and Moses, they will choose what their pastor says and religiously follow it to the letter. "Just tell us what to do and what not to do, and we will be the most obedient, religious, God pleasing bunch of people in the world." This was the voice of Israel’s heart, and so it is today with Christendom as a whole. People look to their leaders to lead them, and few lay it to heart that Moses (representing the law) could not lead Israel out of the wilderness, and neither will any man clothed in the veil of flesh.

It is clear that the law is not the end of our journey, and was never intended to be. We must not, however, lose sight that the law is holy (Rom 7:12), and the scriptures are good for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness (2 Tim 2:16). They also testify of Christ our Lord, and are almost always the tools used by the Spirit to enlighten souls — but they are not Christ (John 5:39). Life is not found in them, not in the letter alone, and they are not our salvation.

For example, the Boy Scout manual may tell the boys how to build a fire, and we may hear them bragging about how they can start a fire by rubbing two sticks together; but until they get the fire going — they will not feel its warmth. The book and all its worthy information cannot replace the reality. It is the same with the Bible. I encourage you to learn from it, memorize and quote the scriptures if you will, for this is good; but never let them take the place of the One to whom they point. Hear the anointed teachers of the Kingdom of God, this is also good; but never let them take the place of the One of whom they speak. As it was with Abraham, once Lot (Heb., veil) is removed, lift up your eyes from the earthy plains of the wilderness, pull up your tent stakes, walk in the land, and possess all that your eyes see.

Although God’s presence and His piercing voice means death to the natural man, it is the only way to effectively deal with sin: "And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that His fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not" (Exo 20:20). Man’s heart has not changed. It does not wish to relinquish its rule. However, it matters not what man wants, for God reigns in the kingdoms of men, and it is time for them to stand before Him and hear for themselves. "And when He is come, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment" (John 16:8). And please, do not think this judgment is some natural tribunal with God sitting on a huge throne with every soul passing before Him to receive their just rewards. We don’t have 100,000 years, give or take a few years, for Him to spend two or three minutes on every soul upon which He passes judgment.

There is a throne in the midst of the heavens in everyone, and from there will Christ reprove in righteousness and judge the hearts of men. Moses can put bits in people’s mouths, and guide them in circles for a season through the wilderness of the world; but it is from within that sin will be purged and man made clean to walk a straight path in the Kingdom of God.

In Christ’s presence comes conviction, Godly sorrow, repentance, rest, and salvation. Justification for all came at the cross, it was finished the moment He declared it so. It was as finished as this article I am in the process of writing is finished. In a moments time, in the flash of a lightning bolt, I saw that this word was finished. It was finished in my spirit when the revelation illumined my understanding. For that matter, it was finished before it ever entered my spirit or mind. I just didn’t see it until then. Furthermore, whether I see it or not has nothing to do with whether it is finished or not. My perception does not make it so or not so. Jesus is the Author and Finisher of everything, not me.

To help you to see that finished work as well, I am placing it in feeble print and sending it into your homes and hearts. Hopefully, Christ will make it plain as He writes it upon the tables of your hearts, and from there to grow in each vessel and eventually be seen of those in the world as it is manifested in lives across the earth. So it is with the Finished work of the Cross. In the Holy of holies, where revelation is conceived, all is finished; but it must be released and manifested before the natural eye will be satisfied that it is finished.

Again, in Christ’s presence and at the sound of His voice comes conviction, Godly sorrow, repentance, and salvation. The carnal mind, of course, abhors this change. It is enmity against God, it is not subject to the laws of God, and never can be. Therefore, at the prospects of the appearing of the Lord, men will call upon their personal Moses to draw out of the Rock for them, lest they look upon God and die. Their interest does not lie so much in having a well of living water to spring up within them, but desire more to drink externally from that Rock. In this manner, it is the same as having Jesus WITH them, rather than having Him IN them. So long as He is merely WITH them, they can stay at arm’s length and are safe from any direct influence upon their hearts.

A great number of people love to be religious. It gives them some sort of self-exalted worth, not realizing that God’s estimation of their worth has always been so high that He gave His first Son in death for them. Even so, man is bent on ‘doing’ things to win God’s favor, and also to make a name for themselves. It is much easier for that which is enmity against God, the carnal mind, to be about doing religious works than to hear and see God and die.

Sin is revealed in God’s presence, and people do not like that. When the Kingdom of God came, that which would free them from their sin, the religious crowd did not welcome it. They made it clear when they said: "We will not have this Man to rule over us" (Luke 19:14).

People today are no different. When Jesus’ thundering voice sounds, and His anointing streaks through their heavens like lightning, and their kingdoms are going up in smoke — they remove themselves afar off. They also make it perfectly clear: "We will not have this Man to rule over us. Get out of our church." They prefer Moses (the law, the veil) over Christ — for it stands between them and God’s glory. Their veil of safety consists of everything found in their religious lives: their creeds, their laws, their dogmas, their works, their rituals, their pastors, their teachers, and anything else that has a show of Godliness but lacks the power. All these things serve to keep the people from the presence of God. They will do anything to keep from being exposed and consumed by God’s glory. As long as there is a veil between them, and they cannot hear the voice of God or see His face, Adam will live. Yet, they that live in pleasure are dead while they live (1 Tim 5:6).

It may seem at times that my words are too direct when I speak of the "church", and if I am not understood, I know there are dear people therein who can be offended and hurt by what I say. But please know, I do not speak ill of the Church, which is heavenly Jerusalem the Mother of us all. My comments are not aimed at her. To do so would be dishonoring my Mother. My remarks are aimed in the opposite direction, which is that of the religious system masquerading as the church. My words may indeed pierce the hearts of the Pharisees and Sadducees whose father is the devil, as Jesus told them. However, I never direct my words at any person who is a prisoner of these religious systems, except, perhaps, in hopes of enlightening and freeing them from such darkness, servitude, and bondage.

I find it difficult to ignore the religious prisons and gatekeepers that make slaves of men. I, like many others, have been called to free and reconcile people to God, and when I see what religious leaders are doing to people’s souls and lives, I cannot endorse them or their efforts. They may take offence at what I write; but that is better than to leave forlorn souls in captivity. I am compelled to use the keys of death and hell and open those dark gates. When I see the entangling webs of deceit, how can I leave them intact, as the newborns are swept daily into them to have their life drained from them? I find it hard to turn a blind eye to such.

We should never delight in exposing anyone’s garbage; but if children are eating from those disease laden pails, mustn’t we let them know, as we supply them with rich food from the Masters table? I think yes. Can we ignore the serpent in the field wherein children are playing near at hand? To the contrary, we should help light the Way for those in darkness and expose the danger. We should help them to see a little more clearly in their perilous walk. We cannot help it that a snake is a snake, and when it is in it own element and away from God’s people, then let us leave it alone. But we must not be guilty of whitewashing the thing and proclaiming it righteous when we see it slithering into the lives of our home and family.

You may think it strange, but I will not kill a rattlesnake when it is where it is suppose to be. We have been living at our present location for twenty-two years, which is a mile out of town in the desert. To date we have killed one rattlesnake, and that was because it invaded our kingdom. It was too near our home for the safety of our family, and rather than risk the hazzard it posed, we crushed its head. Some may think that is cruel; but the same people would think it cruel for me to use the Word of God to crush the head of the serpent that bruises the heel of our Lord’s body.

There is nothing wrong with calling a snake a snake. A Pharisee is a Pharisee, that is simply what he is. To call him anything else would be a lie. The wrong comes when you see a danger and you don’t warn the people. Their blood is then on your hands. Therefore, brethren, you should not take offense if what I write sometimes exposes serpents in your pulpits (pits from where people are pulled into darkness). Only if you are one with the serpent should you be offended.

I speak of the serpent, the devil, that is, Satan and religious leaders as being in union with one another. They are inseparable, and in reality, they are one and the same. Every time, as far as I have seen it written in the Bible — Satan, the devil, the serpent has to do with religion. At every turn this infamous creature was busy steering people away from God, hindering God’s people, or persecuting them because of their testimony. It seems that Satan cannot be disassociated with religion, that this is his primary objective. All other evils in the world are in relation to either man’s carnal nature or demons. You will never read in the scriptures where the devil was tempting, afflicting, maligning, persecuting, lying about, lying to, or doing any evil against anyone except God’s chosen. And I thank the Lord for our dear friends Stacy Wood and J. Preston Eby for bringing this to our attention.

We must understand that the worldwide religious structure that is inspired by the spirit of the subtle serpent is not the Church, it never has been, and it never will be. It is the harlot of Revelation that sits upon the back of the worldly beast. It is the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and who commits fornication with the kings of the earth. She has nothing to do with Godliness, and she is certainly not heavenly Jerusalem the mother of us all. She is not remotely related to the pure Church who will soon be seen in the earth as she descends and is manifested from the heavens. The one to whom I speak in negative tones is Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots.

It was not until Israel refused to hear God for themselves that the order of the Levitical priesthood was established. Their wishes were granted and they were given the Law and the Veil to keep them from the presence of God — and it continued until Jesus. He made a way for everyone to go beyond the veil and enter into the Holy of holies (Heb 10:19-20).

Some today would like to have seen Him remain and not have gone to the cross. Not even His own fleshly body, however, could usher men into the inner presence of God. On the contrary, it was also a veil to men, and therefore, had to be torn. He had to go away to make it possible for men to hear God and live. He then came again the second time with neither a body resembling sin, nor having to present a sin offering (Heb 9:28). He came not to be with men, but to be IN them, and this time — unto salvation, unto deliverance from sin (John 14:17-18).

Until Jesus came and finished His work, the priesthood of the law was the standard. This new freedom and sweet communion with Christ endured for a season. Men moved in to help the Lord. They elected themselves into offices of His Kingdom and built alternate bridges (pontiffs). The system for constructing these bridges was instituted by the Roman emperor, Constantine. His construction business was a big success. It was not long before he had bridges everywhere, from the Pope to the Cardinals, to the Archbishops, Bishops, and all the way down to the parish priests.

With so many bridges, it soon became old fashion to use the Ancient Bridge that God had built. Rather than the man Jesus continuing as the mediator between God and men (1 Tim 2:5), the Pope took His place and became the chief bridge. With this man in place, men no longer looked from within to the Bridge of Life that leads to New Jerusalem, but from without to a bridge leading to Rome. If you didn’t know:

"Pope is the title of the spiritual ruler of the Roman Catholic Church. The Church regards the pope as its visible head and Jesus Christ as it invisible head. The word pope comes from the Latin word papa, which means father....The pope is also called pontiff. Pontiff, from the Latin pontific, pontifex, meaning bridge. It is from this word that we get pontoon. A pontifex is a member of the council of priests forming the most important part of the Roman Religious body (Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary).

The system of government of the Roman Catholic Church with the pope as supreme head is called the papacy. The word papacy also refers to the office of the pope. The congregations, tribunals, and offices in Rome through which the pope governs the church make up the curia. The pope’s seat of authority is in Rome. It is called the Apostolic See or the Holy See.

"The hierarchy, or governing body of the church, is organized somewhat like a pyramid. The pope stands alone at the head of the entire church. Below him are a number of cardinals, patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops. A large number of abbots, prelates, and vicars form the base of the hierarchy. Members of the hierarchy inform the pope of their activities through written reports and personal visits. As a result, he has a continual flow of information about all areas of church government....

"Roman Catholics believe that the pope is infallible in matters concerning faith and morals. He claims divine assistance as the successor of St. Peter when he speaks in this manner. The pope...has absolute authority." (World Book Encyclopedia).

So here we have the old priesthood back with us. It has been here since the inception of the Roman Catholic Church, and to make sure we are kept safe from the presence of God, pontiffs, veils of flesh, have been built. We look upon the above as being so clearly emboldened with apparent counterfeits that anyone with any spiritual insight could see how man has usurped the place and authority of Jesus. However, this very scheme has prevailed from Luther, to Finney, to present day Protestant churches, and into what is called Kingdom churches, ministries, and home meetings. People in every realm are willing, like Israel, to sit in their marked pews each week, or in their homes, and be spoon fed by the pontiffs who see, hear, and think for them. They have become reliant on these crumbling bridges to nowhere.

Let us quote from a dear brother and co-laborer in Christ. "It is amazing how quickly men are willing to become followers of other men. They choose a doctor or a dentist with more care than in the attention they give to preachers — listening to anything that comes along, and then they wonder why they sense no life within, or in what they hear. The writer to the Hebrews admonishes that we are to be ‘followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.’ (Heb. 6:12) And again, ‘Whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.’ (Heb. 13:7)

"This greatly limits our following any man — as we consider the end, the net result of their behavior. Do they point you to Christ, or are they building a kingdom around themselves? Do they bring you into a bondage to the flesh, or do they encourage your liberty IN CHRIST? The ‘revelation’ they proclaim, does it lead into the life of Christ, or does it leave you feeling dull, empty, and dry? At its worst, following man becomes idolatry. And at its best, we can only say with Paul, ‘Be ye followers of me, even as I also AM OF CHRIST.’ (For) I would have you know, that THE HEAD OF EVERY MAN IS CHRIST. (1 Cor, 11,1, 3). We can walk with other men only in the measure they are walking with Christ and encouraging us to have HIM to be our Head. For sure, this truth is in direct contradistinction to those men who teach for some man to be your covering, your spiritual head. Let it ring out loud and clear, ‘the Head of every man is Christ,’ and HE IS GOOD!" (Ray Prinzing, Letters of Truth, No. 274).

And we will draw from another anointed writer concerning Kingdom truths:

"My beloved, if ever you hope to reign with Christ YOU MUST BECOME SUBMITTED TO THE AUTHORITY OF GOD, THE SHEPHERD OF ISRAEL. And I’m not talking about coming to El Paso and submitting to my ministry, or to any other man, or group of men. It is amazing how ‘man’ conscious even many who have received the call to sonship are! They are looking for a man, a ministry, that can bring them into the Kingdom of God and into eternal life. There IS such a man, my friend — His name is Jesus Christ. Certainly we must walk in all humility with our brethren, ‘submitting ourselves one to another in the fear of God’ (Eph. 5:21). But true SONSHIP SUBMISSION is SUBMISSION TO THE FATHER THROUGH THE HEADSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST, for God has ‘put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the Head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fulness of Him that filleth all in all’ (Eph. 1:22-23). ‘And He is the Head of the body...who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things HE might have the preeminence’ (Col. 1:18). How tragic that there are so many in this hour who are ‘not holding the Head, from whom all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God’ (Col.2:19).

"There are multitudes across the land who loudly profess to have received the call to sonship who, rather than submitting themselves UNDER THE MIGHTY HAND OF GOD, submit their walk with God into the hands of others who persuade them that they are more capable than themselves to watch for their souls. The land is filled with men calling themselves apostles, elders, teachers, shepherds, etc., who desire to lord it over a flock or other men*s lives, telling others what they can or cannot do, esteeming themselves spiritual enough to discern for everyone else what the will of the Lord is, though they bear no credentials other than their own word that they possess such authority. Some claim that they alone have the words of life, they among all God*s prophets have the true, deeper, spiritual, mystical revelation that will lead the sons to perfection and immortality. Not discerning the Lord*s body, and elevating their word and their ministry above all the Lord*s brethren, they draw disciples after themselves. But I tell you the truth and I lie not when I say that no man can minister to you that which he himself does not possess. If a man tells you that he possesses the secret and the truth by which you can save your life and enter into physical immortality, yet he himself has neither stopped nor reversed the aging process, only a fool would commit their lives into his hands. Ah — there is ONE, precious friend of mine, who HAS STOPPED THE AGING PROCESS, WHO HAS CONQUERED DEATH, WHO IS ALIVE FOREVERMORE, and this One holds the Key, He knows the Secret, He Himself IS the Truth, and I must tell you today that HE, AND HE ALONE, HAS THE WORDS OF LIFE! Yes, those words are ministered through His many brethren. Certainly there are many precious under-shepherds, true ministries HE has set in the body, humble examples to the flock, with a flow of HIS LIFE, bearing the true Word of the Lord for this hour, a source of encouragement, confirmation, and strength unto all to whom they are sent, and we praise God for them. All such true ministries bear one signal mark of distinction: they do not draw followers after themselves, they POINT ALL MEN TO THE LORD; they do not ask you to blindly submit to them, or follow them to the exclusion of the other ministries in this present truth, but they present you unto HIM WHO IS THE HEAD OVER ALL THINGS TO THE CHURCH.

"I speak the truth when I say that the greatest need in this hour is for the people of God to begin to KNOW THE LORD FOR THEMSELVES. Let all who treasure the beautiful hope of sonship begin to seek God, and walk with God, and know God, and hear from God, and submit to Him in all His ways, and to His will and to His word, and GOD HIMSELF will be YOUR FATHER and you will sup with HIM and He with you. Ask the guidance of the Holy Spirit, thrust yourself in utter abandonment upon His love and care, and before you realize it you will find yourself digging deep in the storehouse of God*s treasures of wisdom and knowledge and sitting with Him at His banqueting table. He will spread a table before you in the presence of your enemies, He will lead you through green pastures; He will reveal to you fountains of living water flowing from within; He will cause you to rest beside cool, still streams; and HE, the Great Shepherd of the sheep will abide with you and your cup will overflow with the unspeakable riches of His grace and the wonder of His glorious and eternal reality.

"How many are submitted to men but not to God! Men will travel or move thousands of miles across the land to receive from man, but have never discovered the well within which springs up into eternal life! Their obsession with ‘man’ reveals their own inner desolation. If you would keep the position of order in God*s house of sons you must remember that ‘Christ is a Son OVER HIS OWN HOUSE; whose house we are’ (Heb. 3:6). He is the Head, He is the Good Shepherd, and the Great Shepherd, and the Chief Shepherd, He is the Lord, He is the forerunner, He is the firstborn who has entered in for us and opened up the way. I can assure you, dear ones, that to the degree that you KNOW HIM in intimacy of fellowship and vital union, and submit to Him in all His will, ways, and dealings, you will know His authority in your life and be strengthened to reign with Him, and He will be able to reign through you in all things! It is not enough to know how God would have us think, act, and be as sons of God. There must be submission to Him, with daily inworkings of His nature, mind and power. When we obey men, our authority comes from men. When we obey God, the authority comes from God. And when we obey God — we REIGN!

"Our Lord Jesus Christ is THE SHEPHERD and THE PASTOR. It is also true that He has under-shepherds who assist in the care of the flock. An under-shepherd of the Chief Shepherd is merely a slave of God going about the business assigned him by the Master. There is a wonderful lesson Jesus taught in Luke 17:7-10 wherein He says, ‘But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down to meat? And will not rather say unto him, Make ready wherewith I may sup, and gird thyself, and serve me, till I have eaten and drunken; and afterward thou shalt eat and drink? Doth he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded him? I trow not. So likewise ye, when ye shall have done all those things which are commanded you, say, We are unprofitable servants: we have done that which was our duty to do.’

"When Jesus speaks of the role of a servant in this passage He uses the Greek word POIMAINO which means ‘to act as a shepherd.’ God does not approve of pastors who conceive of their role as giving them the right to push the sheep around! And even more importantly, it is not the business of the under-shepherds to lead the flock! Only one shepherd can lead. Only one shepherd is The Shepherd. The Shepherd leads the flock. The under-shepherds merely flank the sides and bring up the rear in order to make sure that all the flock FOLLOWS THE SHEPHERD. It is not God's will for any one person, pastor or pope, to rule or lead a group of people; but neither is it His will for any number of persons to rule or lead a group! In other words what is worse than a one man ministry, is a many-man ministry. We have made this mistake so often. We say we believe in plural ministry; but in so doing we create a monster by making the ministry many-headed, instead of Christ being the one Head over all. A true spiritual ministry will never seek to draw people to himself, but rather to Christ. There are many movements in the earth today stressing ‘divine order’ and ‘authority’ and ‘submission,’ and one of the tests of what they teach is whether the people are being released to draw their life and substance from the Christ within or not. Many leaders and movements seek to bind people to their group and lead their followers to believe that they are the choice, select group God has chosen to complete His work in the earth, manifest sonship, and bring the sons into immortality and incorruption. Unless you are joined to them and submit to their ministry you just can*t make it in! When someone leaves the group or that leader, they are made to feel as if they are missing the purpose of God, have left the body of Christ, and have repudiated the High Calling of God. You must be spiritually wise to discern the spirit of any group or individual that usurps the headship of Jesus Christ by the indwelling Spirit over His people.

"Truly, the most faithful under—shepherd is not the Great Shepherd of the sheep. The brightest reflection of His beauty that is seen upon a servant, is not the revelation of Himself. Those who are closest to the Lord, who know Him best, and are more deeply conformed to His image, can only direct the searching soul to the Lord. They can never satisfy the hunger of the heart that is going out after Him. How we praise God for all the help we have received through every chosen vessel that He has used to draw us on toward Him, and into a deeper relation to Himself. With what gratitude to God do we remember those whom He has used to point out to us a nearer approach to our glorious Lord. How tenderly do we look back upon every faithful servant and child of His, who brought us new light, who stirred within us a deeper hunger for God, who opened to us an understanding of His great plan and purpose in us, who provoked us to holy jealousy and emulation through their godly lives. How we praise God for those who warned and instructed us through the exhortation and admonition that they gave in the hour of need, or in times of weakness and immaturity. How our hunger for Reality, and abandonment to God*s will and desire to follow Him all the way to Mount Zion, have been increased as we have seen that mysterious light which shines upon the faces of those who have soared with Him into the heavenly heights. While we thank God for every instrument He uses in our lives, how little one or all of these precious ones can be, compared with our Beloved, if in any way they take His place and draw us to themselves rather than to Himself. We must esteem every servant and instrument of God ‘exceeding highly in love for their work's sake,’ but we must never permit them to usurp the place of the Good and Great and Chief Shepherd in our lives and affections. Therefore the elect of God in this hour have no desire for an under-shepherd to lead them; and when they do not yield to them, they appear as though they were a stranger. But that is not it at all — it is that the Lord Himself is becoming ALL to us!

"Oh, let us once for all grasp this one great fundamental truth. Christ*s church is not an organization, but an organism, a body, a living reality. He, and He alone, is the Head. But when man builds an organization, or a movement, or an assembly of which he himself is the head, and when he begins to legislate and pass church laws, and formulate creeds, and institute rituals, he is merely manifesting that both the system and he himself are spurious. Of course there are Christians in these organizations. Let us not lose sight of that fact. And let us not lose sight of the fact that many of the founders of these organizations were honest and sincere Christians. Yet they were ignorantly sincere. The whole trend of organization is to lead away from Christ the Head of the organism, away from the Christ within each member as the way, the truth, the life, the wisdom, the knowledge, and the righteousness of God. And it induces men to look to man, the head of the organization or movement." —End quote. (J. Preston Eby, The Heavens Declare, Part 40).

Although it is clear that the vast majority of Christians are trusting in their own Moses to lead them into heaven or the Kingdom of God. It is not so with others. While many preachers and teachers have by design, or accident, become bridges (pontoons, pontiffs) for the people, others refuse as they stand in the midst of death with Christ, the Ark, lifted up to show the Way. They who look to Him, and they who point others to Him, draw near to His glory. Even though He abides in thick darkness, they desire His embrace. They hear and follow no other voice but His alone. They are the ones to whom God spoke, saying: "Now therefore, if ye will obey My VOICE indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto Me above all people: for all the earth is Mine" (Exo 19:5).

Elwin R. Roach