Circular Letter October 1990

Circular Letter October 1990

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I greet you most warmly in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ with this Scripture:

Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute...” (Luke 11:49)

The Lord Himself tells us that it is the wisdom of God according to which He sent prophets and apostles; this applies to the whole New Testament period. As far as the ministry of Old Testament prophets is concerned, we can read it clearly in Luke 16:16: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” God established a certain order and set various ministries to build His church, especially the ministries of prophets, apostles and teachers (Matthew 23:34, Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 1:11). Large masses in Christianity and the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves believers do not realise at all that they have been deprived of the “original Word”, which is Spirit and Life, and are fed with a substitute in the form of arbitrary interpretations, which may be presented charismatically. We should all be shaken when we see more than 300 Christian denominations united in the World Council of Churches in the name of God and referring to the Bible, each of them seeking to provide salvation to its members in its own way. But it is not enough: even in the most sincere circles where believers solemnly seek full cleansing and sanctification to please God, the traditions that do not agree with “the proclamation of the gospel” and “original Christian practice” have been stealthily adopted. Under full anointment, human words are proclaimed while the Word of God was made of no effect without people being aware of it.

In all time periods, it was important to receive men sent by God, who reveal God’s will and lead into what He does. Only those who recognize what God announced that He would do according to His promises, will be able to humble themselves under His mighty hand and become partakers of God’s work. The true proclamation is always based on the original Word that has come out of the mouth of God and is passed on through the mouths of His prophets. Concerning those who are sent and truly speak as commanded by God, the Lord says: “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” (Luke 10:16)

Only who is sent by Him is enlightened, filled with divine wisdom and cannot but speak and interpret what comes directly from God. The apostle Paul explains: “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ). Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:4-5) It is well known how profoundly the apostle Paul received the revelation of God’s counsel of salvation, which he presented in his sermons and epistles to local churches and fellow helpers. In this respect, the apostle Peter wrote: “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16).

One cannot do what he wants in the kingdom of God, only in one’s own denomination. What is hard to understand cannot be interpreted, but it must be left to God. Only God calls whoever He wants to perform various tasks, even the most difficult ones. There have always been exactly two options: the one shown to us in the quoted verse in Luke 11, where God in His wisdom sends prophets and apostles showing the right way, and the other when self-appointed Bible scholars become a hindrance to themselves as well as to others. The rebuke in verse 52 applies to them: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

The apostle John says: “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” (1 John 2:21) The truth remains the truth forever. And only those who come to know the Word of God through the revelation of the Spirit are filled with the full, liberating truth of the Word of God and can discern between arbitrary interpretations and explanations and the original truth as it came from the mouth of God. The Lord speaks through the prophet Jeremiah: “How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?” (Jeremiah 8:8-9)

The ministry of men sent by God cannot be separated from what God does. Israel could not say: “We believe God, but we do not need Moses. Nor could they say to Elijah: “Go your way and let us be, we are God’s people” or to Peter or Paul: “We can do it all on our own, we do not need you.” The same argument is heard again and again: “We have the Bible; we are believers; we have Christ. Our attitude towards God does not depend on a man even if he is the greatest prophet or messenger of God.” It can be easy to understand for our intellect, but it is just contrary to what Lord said and set as His order for the Church. The opposite is true: Who walks with God, truly believes the Word of God, follows Jesus Christ and is led by the Holy Spirit will receive the men sent by God, respect their ministry and will be blessed as a result.

In the days of Gideon, they were blowing trumpets and crying: “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon… and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18-20)

Somebody who was really pious could have said: “It should be enough to say ‘the sword of the Lord’ as Gideon was just a man.” In 2 Chronicles 20:20 we find an even more unusual scripture: “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” There have always been many prophets, but generally only one prophet sent by God at a given time. For example, there was one at the first coming of Christ and one is announced for this period before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. In the days of Jeremiah, there were a number of false prophets around him, Hananiah being the most well-known. Such prophets, which are predicted to appear in the end-time in high numbers, are called by the Lord as “your prophets” contrary to “my prophets”. “Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you...” (Jeremiah 27:16)

In the days of Micah, it was not different. At that time, there were four hundred prophets, their head was Zedekiah. These were trained prophets, but were not placed to this ministry by the audible voice of God. Therefore, even now, we have to discern between so-called “church prophets”, who are under a foreign influence and may even be controlled by a lying spirit, and prophets sent and commissioned by God and bound by His Word. In this respect, we have to understand the Scripture: “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Psalms 105:15)

Prophets, as God’s heralds, existed in the Old Testament and also exist in the New Testament. They can only be verified on the basis of the everlasting Word of God. It doesn't matter if a prophet or apostle was sent one or two thousand years ago, it must always be the same doctrine, preaching and practice. In comparison with an apostle or prophet, the role of an evangelist is not so difficult. He focuses on the proclamation of the gospel without having to present the details of God’s counsel of salvation. Prophets have the ‘THUS SAITH THE LORD’ of the Word and give a completely fresh revelation of the will of God coming from His throne through the inspiration of the Spirit. “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” (Proverbs 29:18) Peter writes: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy...” (2 Peter 1:19)

In the history of salvation, there are special periods, days, events, which God ordained by His eternal decision. And when prophets come up with the direct “THUS SAITH THE LORD” according to the will of God, the course of events is completely different from our human ideas about how it should take place. The best example is the first coming of Christ when religious leaders had expected the event to take place in a completely different way than it actually happened and therefore they missed the greatest event connected with God’s plan of salvation. The tragedy was that they did not recognise the ministry of John the Baptist. As a result, they did not recognise the Lord for Whom he prepared the way and Who he introduced.He was a man sent by God and who missed the message he preached missed God in spite of all religious activities and effort.

In the days of Moses, the people of Israel experienced the deliverance from Egypt in a way which is beyond our comprehension. The calling and sending of the prophet Moses was so clear that one would expect that it would all take place at once. It was God who sent him; he took his staff in his hand and came to Pharaoh with THUS SAITH THE LORD and said: “Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me...” (Exodus 4:22-23)

In the next chapters we repeatedly read that Moses came to the same Pharaoh and said again: “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” (Exodus 5:1) The whole of Israel expected that a turnabout was imminent and they would be delivered from their bondage. However, what happened first was just the contrary when the prophet sent by God came up with THUS SAITH THE LORD. In Exodus 5:6-23 we can read how much the situation of the people of Israel worsened. Pharaoh announced: “Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard vain words.” The situation turned so much worse that it was unbearable. The officers were beaten, the people were harassed and their groaning was louder and louder. Concerning Pharaoh, God tells us in the New Testament: “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.” (Romans 9:17).

When God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, His own people had to go through the worst suffering at the same time. We are now standing before the great “departure of the Bride Church of Jesus Christ”. We have received the current message and yet groaning and crying are heard everywhere. We may ask, too: “Does it all have to be this way?” Blessed is the man that does not take offense at how God works on earth. What matters is that we belong to God’s people, hear and believe the message “Let my people go that they may serve me!”, disregarding the fact that we have to overcome trials and other problems on top of it.

As surely as God had given the promise to deliver the descendants of Abraham with His mighty hand after four hundred years and then He did it, but in a way almost beyond our comprehension, so it is now. We have received the promise from the mouth of the Lord Himself; He left to prepare the place for us and He will return to take us to be where He is. In this prophetic part of human history, He sent us a true prophet who had God’s Word in his mouth. We also know that the hour has drawn near when the Lord will carry out what He promised, we are only asking why we often have to be in such an unbearable condition. However, all of us can understand what it meant for the people of Israel when they were delivered from the miserable situation. Our homeland is not on earth, but above, so we have to be completely liberated from this earth. The best way for this to happen is when the situation becomes unbearable for us, making us await God’s intervention.

I greet you most warmly in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ with this Scripture:

Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute...” (Luke 11:49)

The Lord Himself tells us that it is the wisdom of God according to which He sent prophets and apostles; this applies to the whole New Testament period. As far as the ministry of Old Testament prophets is concerned, we can read it clearly in Luke 16:16: “The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.” God established a certain order and set various ministries to build His church, especially the ministries of prophets, apostles and teachers (Matthew 23:34, Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 1:11). Large masses in Christianity and the overwhelming majority of those who call themselves believers do not realise at all that they have been deprived of the “original Word”, which is Spirit and Life, and are fed with a substitute in the form of arbitrary interpretations, which may be presented charismatically. We should all be shaken when we see more than 300 Christian denominations united in the World Council of Churches in the name of God and referring to the Bible, each of them seeking to provide salvation to its members in its own way. But it is not enough: even in the most sincere circles where believers solemnly seek full cleansing and sanctification to please God, the traditions that do not agree with “the proclamation of the gospel” and “original Christian practice” have been stealthily adopted. Under full anointment, human words are proclaimed while the Word of God was made of no effect without people being aware of it.

In all time periods, it was important to receive men sent by God, who reveal God’s will and lead into what He does. Only those who recognize what God announced that He would do according to His promises, will be able to humble themselves under His mighty hand and become partakers of God’s work. The true proclamation is always based on the original Word that has come out of the mouth of God and is passed on through the mouths of His prophets. Concerning those who are sent and truly speak as commanded by God, the Lord says: “He that heareth you heareth me; and he that despiseth you despiseth me; and he that despiseth me despiseth him that sent me.” (Luke 10:16)

Only who is sent by Him is enlightened, filled with divine wisdom and cannot but speak and interpret what comes directly from God. The apostle Paul explains: “Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ). Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.” (Ephesians 3:4-5) It is well known how profoundly the apostle Paul received the revelation of God’s counsel of salvation, which he presented in his sermons and epistles to local churches and fellow helpers. In this respect, the apostle Peter wrote: “As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.” (2 Peter 3:16).

One cannot do what he wants in the kingdom of God, only in one’s own denomination. What is hard to understand cannot be interpreted, but it must be left to God. Only God calls whoever He wants to perform various tasks, even the most difficult ones. There have always been exactly two options: the one shown to us in the quoted verse in Luke 11, where God in His wisdom sends prophets and apostles showing the right way, and the other when self-appointed Bible scholars become a hindrance to themselves as well as to others. The rebuke in verse 52 applies to them: “Woe unto you, lawyers! for ye have taken away the key of knowledge: ye entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in ye hindered.

The apostle John says: “I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth.” (1 John 2:21) The truth remains the truth forever. And only those who come to know the Word of God through the revelation of the Spirit are filled with the full, liberating truth of the Word of God and can discern between arbitrary interpretations and explanations and the original truth as it came from the mouth of God. The Lord speaks through the prophet Jeremiah: “How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them?” (Jeremiah 8:8-9)

The ministry of men sent by God cannot be separated from what God does. Israel could not say: “We believe God, but we do not need Moses. Nor could they say to Elijah: “Go your way and let us be, we are God’s people” or to Peter or Paul: “We can do it all on our own, we do not need you.” The same argument is heard again and again: “We have the Bible; we are believers; we have Christ. Our attitude towards God does not depend on a man even if he is the greatest prophet or messenger of God.” It can be easy to understand for our intellect, but it is just contrary to what Lord said and set as His order for the Church. The opposite is true: Who walks with God, truly believes the Word of God, follows Jesus Christ and is led by the Holy Spirit will receive the men sent by God, respect their ministry and will be blessed as a result.

In the days of Gideon, they were blowing trumpets and crying: “the sword of the Lord and of Gideon… and held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow withal: and they cried, The sword of the LORD, and of Gideon.” (Judges 7:18-20)

Somebody who was really pious could have said: “It should be enough to say ‘the sword of the Lord’ as Gideon was just a man.” In 2 Chronicles 20:20 we find an even more unusual scripture: “Believe in the LORD your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.” There have always been many prophets, but generally only one prophet sent by God at a given time. For example, there was one at the first coming of Christ and one is announced for this period before the great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. In the days of Jeremiah, there were a number of false prophets around him, Hananiah being the most well-known. Such prophets, which are predicted to appear in the end-time in high numbers, are called by the Lord as “your prophets” contrary to “my prophets”. “Thus saith the LORD; Hearken not to the words of your prophets that prophesy unto you...” (Jeremiah 27:16)

In the days of Micah, it was not different. At that time, there were four hundred prophets, their head was Zedekiah. These were trained prophets, but were not placed to this ministry by the audible voice of God. Therefore, even now, we have to discern between so-called “church prophets”, who are under a foreign influence and may even be controlled by a lying spirit, and prophets sent and commissioned by God and bound by His Word. In this respect, we have to understand the Scripture: “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Psalms 105:15)

Prophets, as God’s heralds, existed in the Old Testament and also exist in the New Testament. They can only be verified on the basis of the everlasting Word of God. It doesn't matter if a prophet or apostle was sent one or two thousand years ago, it must always be the same doctrine, preaching and practice. In comparison with an apostle or prophet, the role of an evangelist is not so difficult. He focuses on the proclamation of the gospel without having to present the details of God’s counsel of salvation. Prophets have the ‘THUS SAITH THE LORD’ of the Word and give a completely fresh revelation of the will of God coming from His throne through the inspiration of the Spirit. “Where there is no vision, the people perish...” (Proverbs 29:18) Peter writes: “We have also a more sure word of prophecy...” (2 Peter 1:19)

In the history of salvation, there are special periods, days, events, which God ordained by His eternal decision. And when prophets come up with the direct “THUS SAITH THE LORD” according to the will of God, the course of events is completely different from our human ideas about how it should take place. The best example is the first coming of Christ when religious leaders had expected the event to take place in a completely different way than it actually happened and therefore they missed the greatest event connected with God’s plan of salvation. The tragedy was that they did not recognise the ministry of John the Baptist. As a result, they did not recognise the Lord for Whom he prepared the way and Who he introduced.He was a man sent by God and who missed the message he preached missed God in spite of all religious activities and effort.

In the days of Moses, the people of Israel experienced the deliverance from Egypt in a way which is beyond our comprehension. The calling and sending of the prophet Moses was so clear that one would expect that it would all take place at once. It was God who sent him; he took his staff in his hand and came to Pharaoh with THUS SAITH THE LORD and said: “Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me...” (Exodus 4:22-23)

In the next chapters we repeatedly read that Moses came to the same Pharaoh and said again: “Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.” (Exodus 5:1) The whole of Israel expected that a turnabout was imminent and they would be delivered from their bondage. However, what happened first was just the contrary when the prophet sent by God came up with THUS SAITH THE LORD. In Exodus 5:6-23 we can read how much the situation of the people of Israel worsened. Pharaoh announced: “Let there more work be laid upon the men, that they may labor therein; and let them not regard vain words.” The situation turned so much worse that it was unbearable. The officers were beaten, the people were harassed and their groaning was louder and louder. Concerning Pharaoh, God tells us in the New Testament: “Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.” (Romans 9:17).

When God hardened Pharaoh’s heart, His own people had to go through the worst suffering at the same time. We are now standing before the great “departure of the Bride Church of Jesus Christ”. We have received the current message and yet groaning and crying are heard everywhere. We may ask, too: “Does it all have to be this way?” Blessed is the man that does not take offense at how God works on earth. What matters is that we belong to God’s people, hear and believe the message “Let my people go that they may serve me!”, disregarding the fact that we have to overcome trials and other problems on top of it.

As surely as God had given the promise to deliver the descendants of Abraham with His mighty hand after four hundred years and then He did it, but in a way almost beyond our comprehension, so it is now. We have received the promise from the mouth of the Lord Himself; He left to prepare the place for us and He will return to take us to be where He is. In this prophetic part of human history, He sent us a true prophet who had God’s Word in his mouth. We also know that the hour has drawn near when the Lord will carry out what He promised, we are only asking why we often have to be in such an unbearable condition. However, all of us can understand what it meant for the people of Israel when they were delivered from the miserable situation. Our homeland is not on earth, but above, so we have to be completely liberated from this earth. The best way for this to happen is when the situation becomes unbearable for us, making us await God’s intervention.