This month's article is dedicated to my brother: 
Robert Cooley
October 3, 1947- February 26, 2012
 

(Picture courtesy of: www.2ndmanunited.com)


As we continue last month's teaching, we glance briefly at the nations under the human government of four world empires, and we see strange figures for facts. The Prophet Daniel saw the beginning when he was a captive taken by King Nebuchadnezzar at the fall of the holy Temple in Jerusalem. In Daniel 1:8, he purposed in his heart he would not be defiled with the king's meat, and God gave him spiritual gifts. He interpreted a dream the king had forgotten and was elevated to the office of Prime Minister. In Daniel chapter 3, the IMAGE of a man was erected, and it was decreed that all people must worship this image at the day of dedication. This chapter pictures the three Hebrew men who refused to bow down and worship the image and were cast into the fiery furnace; but God delivered them. God proved Himself through mighty and strange miracles. Thus the Times of the Gentiles began with an IMAGE of a man and if we understand Revelation 13:14-15, it will end with worship to an IMAGE, or death, once again.


As we look back in Daniel's history in chapter 7:4-7, we view his vision of four terrible wild beasts arising one after the other. They are described as a LION, a BEAR, a LEOPARD, and for many years, most Biblical scholars have agreed that Rome is the fourth, described as a fierce, cruel beast. In this same chapter, coming out of the Roman Empire, the Ecclesiastic Rome overthrew the civil government and the LITTLE HORN became the Roman Empire down into our day, and will soon be overcome by the one world Church, seen in Revelation 17:16. Now, with “Chrislam” looming on the horizon, this interpretation may be closer to fulfillment than expected. All we can say for certain, is that today, we see strange scenes shifting in the gentile nations.    


Each of the three world-ages ends in a great tribulation, having crossed God's line of death in rebellion to His plan and order. The first of these was in Noah's day when the flood destroyed all human beings except Noah's family, the remnant being saved because of their full obedience in building the Ark, (which speaks of Christ), to deliver them. The second world-age ended after our Lord's death, burial, and resurrection, when Titus the Roman General destroyed the Jewish city of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple, then carried away and sold as slaves the masses of Jews. The remnant saved were the believing Jews who became the first Christians. God's hope is in the remnant.
The third world-age concerns Christ's glorious Church as it passes through an unfriendly world.


For the next nineteen centuries, after the Roman invasion, Israel wandered through the nations of the world until they forgot their identity of tribes, lost their knowledge of idol worship, and lost the genealogy of their High Priest. They had no Temple, priesthood, or sacrifices. From 1948 until 1970, the Jews suffered 22 years of Jacob's trouble. They now have part of their land back, even though the two sons of Abraham are still fighting and contending for this Land of Promise. However, God gave it to Israel. Ezekiel gave us the true picture of the last great battle for possession of Israel and Jerusalem. The prophet even told us that Israel would declare that her enemies would be saying that they desire the riches of this land that is the gateway to three continents.


In June of 1967 during the six day war, Israel's God came down and fought for/with them, and in six days the enemies' forces were scattered. In Malachi 4:5, God promised Israel to send their prophet Elijah*, and in the heat of the battle many soldiers saw a heavenly figure in the front lines three times. It was a happy Jewish throng the chief Rabbi led through the old Gate of Zion on their Day of Pentecost, and before the wailing wall he declared the MESSIANIC ERA had come, in June, 1967! The stage is now set as little Israel awaits the next move.


Daniel 9:27 reads, “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week (seven day-years): and in the midst of the week...he shall make it desolate...” For many years all large Pentecostal bodies have been looking for this last or lost week of Daniel 9:24-27, seventy sevens, to be the last seven years of this church age. So the coming of the Lord is very near. Matthew 24:40 “Then shall two shall be in the field: the one shall be taken and the other left”. Of our Lord's ten virgins, five were wise and five were foolish. Here the Lord pictures two groups of believers, the spiritual ones and the worldly ones.


Our Lord in Matthew 23:37-39, prophesied that their House (Israel) would be desolate “...till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” In Daniel 12:11-12, the Angel revealed to Daniel the time of Israel's regathering again in their home and Promised Land. A large colony of Jews resettled in Palestine a few years prior to A.D. 632 and began again their daily sacrifice. So we read in Daniel 12:11-12, “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination...set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days (1290 day-years). Blessed is he that waiteth, and cometh to the thousand three hundred and five and thirty days (1335 days).”


Archaeologists know that the prophet Mohammed died in  A. D. 632, and before that date the Jews, the same year, were driven out and Jerusalem fell to the Muslims. By adding 1290 to the 632 day-years, one has 1922. On July 24, 1922 the Allied Supreme Council of the League of Nations confirmed the Mandate for Palestine. By adding the 1335 to 632, the year 1967 brings us to the capture of Jerusalem by Israel.


Today, the Levites are in training for the priesthood, so Joel 3:2 is being fulfilled, as well as their pure language restored. Much has been accomplished, although the Temple is yet to come, delayed because the Moslem Mosque of Omar is on the Temple site. Secondly, they do not know who their High Priest would be and thirdly they are not quite ready to resume the blood sacrifice of  a pure red heifer (Numbers 19:2). The requirement for Temple purification when it is built, is for The High Priest to sacrifice a pure red heifer. Even ONE hair of a different color would disqualify the animal. (To view the status of Israel's progress, go to www.templeinstitute.org).


Having looked briefly at Scriptures concerning the times of the Gentiles and Israel, we will now take a look at the New Testament Church. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18,”...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not shall not prevail against it.” The birth of the Church was at Calvary, but the conception of the Church was in that part of Calvary in the sufferings of the SOUL of our Lord in hell. Thus the Church was conceived in the lowest hell, and hell was conceived in the sin of Lucifer in the highest heaven. Christ's SOUL's suffering in hell is set forth in Psalm 16:10, Psalm 139:15-16, Isaiah 53:10-12, and Acts 2:27. Jesus had to divide His spirit, soul, and body because our precious Lord had wrought a triune salvation for His triune creation! His SPIRIT did not die on that cross, Luke 23:46, but went down to Paradise to release the righteous spirits and lead them up to Heaven. Luke 23:42, 1 Peter 3:18-19, Psalm 68:18, and Ephesians 4:8-10. His BODY was in the tomb, three days and three nights as Jonah was in the belly of the whale, according to Matthew 12:40. (Jewish calendars begin a new day at 6 pm the evening before rather than at midnight as we do. This is why in Genesis 1, it reads that “The evening and the morning were the first day”, etc.).


Our Lord said in Acts 1:8 “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you:...” It was fifty days after the Church was born at Calvary that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples, as recorded in Acts 2:4, with the evidence of speaking in tongues. There the early church was SET IN  GOD'S DIVINE  ORDER with the same THREE SIGNS with which Israel had been SET IN ORDER at Sinai. The three miracle signs were the WIND the FIRE, and the TONGUES, or divine utterance. Then these disciples at Jerusalem went forth preaching and healing everywhere. Mark 16:20 “....the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with SIGNS FOLLOWING.” This DIVINE ORDER has never been changed, and Mark 16:17-18 is still following the full BELIEVERS.


A LOCAL CHURCH is a training school and must have Church government, truth, and discipline. Our Lord's life ministry is the true pattern, and also the Apostle Paul's revelation of truth and practice, then also must have discipline by the Holy Spirit. The government is by men and has the authority and is centered in divine Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Pastors, and Teachers, Ephesians 4:11. The truth is in Paul's Gospel fully set forth in faith, and in practice. The discipline by the Holy Spirit is in the enablements of the Nine Spiritual Gifts: Wisdom, Knowledge, Faith, Healing, Miracles, Prophecy, Discerning of Spirits, Tongues, and Interpretation of Tongues. Today, the modern Laodicean Church, under human leadership, has set God's Plan and the preaching of the headship of Jesus aside and has built a Lordship for themselves into highly centralized church government, following the pattern of Rome.
The Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit through the two apostles, Paul and Peter, sets forth the truth in practice, and makes it easier to understand. The New Testament Church is not an organization, but a living organism. We read of the Apostle Paul's ministry and see he did not go forth to establish home prayer meetings, but to set in God's order, New Testament Assemblies that would have true church Government, Truth,  and Discipline. With the Lord's ministry as their pattern they did their ministering with the Holy Spirit's leadership and power and ordained ELDERS in every city (Titus 1:5).


In the Scriptural teaching of Justification by FAITH, rather than Old Covenant “works”, they taught the new disciples REST, PEACE, and POWER. The Local Church should have a strong framework of Elders and Deacons, for no structure is stronger than its framework. The requirements for these two offices are found in 1 Timothy 3:1-13, and for deacons also in Acts 6:1-8.


God is calling His true people out of Babylon. “Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Rev. 18:4). Today it seems the Church stands before the Great Tribulation as Israel did before the Red Sea, with no escape except God. Let us pray that before that day comes, we catch the vision of God's Divine Order for His New Testament Church! Amen!!


{*Elijah was one of the two men (the other was Moses) seen by the disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration talking with Jesus in Matthew 17:3 and Mark 9:4. Some of us believe that Enoch and Elijah are the two witnesses who are killed then rise again in three and a half days in Revelation 11:3-12. Most teachers have said they think it is Moses and Elijah appearing together again, as on the Mount with Jesus. However, in the Spring of 1966, God reminded two of us as we were pondering the Word together, that since the Word clearly states  in Hebrews 9:27 “...it is appointed unto men once to die...” it has to be Enoch, since Elijah and Enoch were the only two men who never saw death! 


Although it was most likely an angel, according to the rest of the Scripture in Malachi, if it could have been Elijah appearing in 1967 during the Six Day War, then he will have appeared three times since he first left earth in that fiery chariot drawn by horses of fire caught up in a whirlwind (2 Kings 2:11)!}


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P.S. Dear Friends,


The above teaching was mostly taken from the teachings of my pastor and mentor Glenn W. Ewing during 1966-1972. He founded Grace Gospel Church in Waco, Texas sometime in the early 1940's. He was a young attorney with a wife and children and an elder in the Presbyterian Church when he first came into the fullness of the Divine Order of the New Testament Church teaching, and eventually began his own church. He was elderly when I met him, yet a man of great faith, power, and deep humility. As educated as he was, he was not into titles. The adults of the church were usually called Brother or Sister, while the elders were addressed as Mom (or Mother) and Dad; therefore, our pastor and his wife were called Mother and Dad Ewing.


People heard of Glenn Ewing all over the United States, but only by word of mouth. God directed many of us to move to Texas and attend his classes until we were led to stay, move back home, or go on to the mission field. We left there very changed people as it was an education and experience that money could not buy, yet it was given without price. For many years “Dad Ewing” published a monthly newspaper full of great teachings. Eventually, the church was able to buy the old Methodist Tabernacle and Campground on the outskirts of town, and held two conventions a year, without charge, in the spring and fall, which coincided with the Spring and Fall Jewish holidays. People came from all over the United Sates with campers, or stayed in cabins or the dorms. The missionaries came in off the field, as they timed their vacations to attend one or the other week long celebration. They came from all over the world for the spiritual refreshment, singing, teaching, and fellowship. The home church did all the cleaning, serving, and cooking in the dining hall, and a plate was never passed to collect an offering nor was money ever mentioned from the pulpit...yet every year all expenses were paid before the conventions ended! There were three services each day and the last evening was a Communion service, later followed by foot-washing held in the outbuildings; the men in one building and the women in another.


The following is a personal testimony Dad Ewing had written and published in the March, 1972 issue of his own “The Texas Grace Counselor”:
                                                                
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“In June, 1946 our local assembly, with its Presbyterian background, heard for the first time, that God has a PLAN for building and operating His true New Testament Church. We began receiving all finances through a little offering box at the entrance of the church. We then began a morning prayer meeting at ten, that ran through the next twenty years, except Sundays when we met in regular services.(Later, the morning prayer meetings turned into classes, with a few select teachers taking turns, and a late afternoon class was also offered Monday through Friday as the church grew. This enabled the working people, as well as the stay at home moms to attend class. We also offered several evening church services per week, and Saturday night prayer time, where people slipped in and out quietly so as to not disturb the rest). 
The pastor's salary was the Lord's offering in the box each Sunday morning. The Lord sent in young men for training, and from them He began a number of New Testament Churches after His order and plan. Soon, the spiritual gifts became more active in our midst and many miracles and wonders took place to confirm it. We saw the Lord cast out demons, and many lives were changed. Spiritual conditions have fallen away as Paul prophesied, in the past few years. Also God had many old time Christians Spirit-filled, through whom we see even today many prayer meetings rising and some going on into New Testament Churches.


In spite of the general apostasy seen in the churches as they have traded their family altars for the altars of Baal, or television, God is still moving by His Spirit and we are living in Bible days again, on the eve of our Lord's return. Thousands of precious Christians have been baptized by the Holy Ghost or Spirit these past few years, and this is probably the greatest move of God in this century. The staid old historic organizational churches, by believing the lie of their own traditions that the days of miracles are over, still fight to keep this wonderful experience out of their churches. Jesus our Lord spake in the divine utterance called “tongues” in Matthew 27:46. He cried from the cross, “Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? That is to say My God, My God why hast thou forsaken me?” All that Jesus did is scriptural. In Matthew 10:7-8, He commanded every Christian, “...go, preach saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils...”


Our Lord's forty-eight parables close with three parables showing the Church's need of consecration, stewardship, and sure judgments. The parable in Matthew 25, shows two groups of believers, the five WISE and the five FOOLISH. The over-comers and the overcome groups fill the Bible. In Hebrews 11:35, the writer speaks of a BETTER RESURRECTION, and in Matthew 27:52-53, we see that of the Old Testament over-comers, when the graves opened and the BODIES of some came out AFTER HIS RESURRECTION. One of the last pictures before our Lord's coming is found in Matthew 22:8-10 “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.” Could this be the JESUS MOVEMENT out from among the hippies, that the church has scorned and rejected? Thousands of these in the past few years have been wonderfully saved, baptized in the Holy Spirit, and are ready for the marriage supper and the wedding of the King's Son, Jesus. With the prophecies now fulfilled to the time of our Lord's coming, and the trumpet of God soon to sound, what have you done with Jesus that is called the Christ? Matthew 27:22.”


Glenn W. Ewing
                                                           
                                                            
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May God Bless You All,
Pastor Moser
February, 2012