The Voice in the Tree

Armageddon

The Logos, issuing out of Jehovah, contained the embryo of the Messiah. It was the seed of God, developed in his heart and born by his mouth. And it was by that man should gain his high standing in the kingdom of God as a ruler over the created thing. The angels were also created, hence they were included in the Messianic development as subjects to the rule of the human family in the kingdom of the Messiah.

In the epistle to the Hebrews we find several testimonies, stating the true meaning concerning the Messiah and those who by the spirit of God develop in the knowledge of His Logos. Of Christ it is said: "Let all the angels of God worship him."

In His human development the Christ was made lower than the angels and yet He developed as the ruler of the world to come, where the angels become subjugated to man.

"For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him? Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands: Thou hast put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man. For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. And again, I will put my trust in him. And again, Behold I and the children which God hath given me. Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil; and deliver them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham." Heb. 2: 5 16.

The angels, as to their nature, cannot be subdued and crushed down like the man in flesh and blood, who, with a very sensitive nervous system, and subject to the power of death, is continually in fear and suffer keenly from the consequences of sickness and death. Hence he is also the object of a greater blessing in the world to come, where Christ as the first born will rule as the king of the whole earth. There He will raise his true brethren into glorious positions where the angels will become subjugated to them as servants.

It was in view of such subjugation we understand that the angelic prince and his angels revolted, and consequently were thrust down from their first estate. In getting the human family under their will-power their object was to separate it from the Logos of God by a mixture of truth and lie. In so doing they brought death into the world, and thus the prince of lie and death became a ruler, a god of this world.

The word issuing out from the true God contains life, hence the prince of death must bring forth word out of himself, by which he could lead man astray from the source of life. Christ, in speaking to His persecutors, said to them:

"If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word.. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do: he was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not." John 8: 42 - 45.

Christ as the Word of God was in His development the Prince of life. The life-power in God opened in Christ, and man, thrust out from his first estate and separated from the tree of life, became entirely dependent on God's Logos for the continuance of life.

______________

The Image of the Beast

Armageddon

All hypnotizers have generally very strong and large back-brain, the Cerebellum. They are thereby able to concentrate their will-power and apply it both on themselves and on others. The religious hypnotizer has the advantage in affecting the minds of others by using the religion as a means of getting the subjects under his control. He is thereby hid from being suspected and at the same time the minds of his subjects lose their individuality or self-defence because the sounding words of salvation capture them. They are led into, a field where they are overcome by strange words and actions. And, being mixed up with others that give expressions to their wrought up feelings, they are easily brought under the spir­itual impressions and believe that the salvation of God has touched their being.

That is a dangerous play, and the consequences will finally bring sorrow and disaster. Paul tells us in 2 Thess. 2. 8-12 that prior to and at the time of Christ's second coming Satan will work "with all power and signs and lying wonders." And the worst of it is, Paul says, that "God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie."

God's Spirit does not work the way that the spirits of delusion do. That Spirit leads to the word of God and opens the Scripture so that the mind receives light and guidance from it. And those who come to the light are worked upon by the Spirit without the aid of man. Christ says to the Jews: "He that is of God, heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God." John 8. 47. He also said to the disciples: "He that is of God, heareth us." That proves that God works upon the heart and mind of man secretly. All he needs to hear is the gospel of the kingdom, and then the Spirit of truth opens the Holy Scriptures and leads to and into the truth of God. Christ says also that no one can come to the Son except the Father draws him. That shows, that no man can turn another persons heart and mind to God or the Son. It is entirely a work of God independent of man. Man can only preach the word, the rest does the Spirit of God.

Those that the unclean spirits convert are opposed to the word of God when it as a searching light touches them. They turn away from it with disgust. To the man of God, whom the Spirit of truth has led to Christ, the light of God's word is sweet and glorious, and the more it reveals the evil and the works of darkness, the better he likes it, because he then understands that the light comes from God and that it helps him to know God and His wonderful ways of salvation.

________________

The Tares and the Wheat

The Gospel of the Kingdom to Come

The enemy is the devil. It is easy for us to understand that the devil does not appear in his own person when we consider that the Son of man no longer conducts his work personally, but that the Word of God is personified by those who are actuated by the Spirit and Word of God. The devil is the father of lie, as God is the Father of truth, and when anyone speaks a lie he is inspired by the spirit of Satan, the liar. (John 8:44.) Satan is the father of all the preachers of falsehood and deceit.

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

The devil founded his gospel kingdom when he preached his first sermon in Paradise, namely, "Ye shall not surely die"—eat all you want to. His evangelists now say, "Your immortal soul goes to heaven when you die," "You can be saved after death," and so forth, or "Jesus will come at Easter," or at this or that time, and "He will bring you to the glorious land in heaven." When revival meetings are held, and conversions are being effected by virtue of such lies as these, the "savior" immediately counts those who "are born again" and claims he has gained so many thousand, hundred, or dozen "immortal souls" for heaven. The Son of man, on the other hand, sows the Word of God and, like the natural sower, waits for sprouts to shoot forth, then ears, and afterwards seed, as a result of the creative power contained in the Word of God.

Paul says that Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and his ministers to ministers of righteousness and apostles of Christ; inwardly, however, they are ravening wolves seeking spoils. These are the ones who have conducted revival meetings, collected large offerings, and received high salaries.

__________________

The Transformation of Logos Into Flesh Prefigured

Logos

The Son of man, as previously shown, consists of the divine Word transformed into flesh through the Logos-union with the natural laws of propagation. In this condition He represents in Himself two powers, the natural and the divine. The natural is linked with the created world, the divine with the one to be created, but both creations are united with one another, and in the Son of man both of these creative powers are merged into one.

The creative power, by means of which the new creation is ultimately to appear, lies enclosed within the Son of man. The first creation was completed with man, the new begins with man. The first -creation began with the separation of light from darkness, the new will be completed by a separation of darkness from light. All this was clearly demonstrated in the Son of man, for when He walked among men He shed light in the darkness surrounding Him. "And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not."

Like the sun, Christ made His rounds in the darkness, and when He had finished His work the darkness was wholly separated from Him. The Logos-power continues again in the glory and brightness it had before this world was. The power is now thoroughly joined with the forces of nature in order that it may, in the fullness of time, change and glorify the work of creation so that it may correspond to the transformation of the flesh in the Son of man into incorruptibility and glory. Thus we understand that the Son of man in His person represents two special unions, one earthly and one heavenly. These unions are presented to our human minds in the Word (Logos) , "which our hands have handled, and which we have seen with our eyes," as the two Covenants, the first and the new.

The first union is illustrated by the kernel of wheat that dies in the seeded soil, the second in the element of germination, shooting forth and producing the new creation. The first union prefigures the second, but yet they are as closely related as are the kernel of wheat and the element of germination. Without the first the second could not take place.

The first union begins its work of unfolding in Abraham -- Ab, father, and ram, glorious -- glorious father. That is: The Logos-power is linked with this glorious (exalted and honest) man, and he becomes the cause of the unfolding of the natural power in the Logos-union. In this relation he stands as the semen patris, or the lord of the seed. In this respect he represents the power that naturally manifested itself in the Son of man. With this in mind the Lord says of him to the Jews: "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." (John 8: 56.)

How did Abraham see the day of the Son of man? When the following words, mentioned by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, were fulfilled: "Through faith (the Logos-power realized) also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable." (Heb. 11:11, 12.)

When Abraham witnessed the over-aged Sara give birth to a son, he saw the day of the Son of man, i. e., he saw the Logos-power, of which the Son of man consists, materialized in his own flesh. In other words, his own seed had been mingled with the Logos and materialized in a being he called his son. Hence his son Isaac, as a prefigure, represented the Son of man. The difference between them with respect to the conception consisted in the fact that, at the formation of Isaac, the long since discontinued laws of propagation in the woman acted upon by the invincible and energetic creative ability of the Logos-power, served, while, on the other hand, at the conception of the Son of man, a being was brought forth without the semen patris -- the natural father-seed --contrary to the acting ability of nature.

It is this wonderful Logos-work the now so conspicuous Dr. Teed, of Chicago, endeavors to explain and apply on himself when he says that God encloses within Himself both the masculine and the feminine laws of production, and that, when Christ appeared the first time, He represented the masculine in God, but now, that God has permitted Himself to be reincarnated in this C. Teed, he represents the feminine in God, which he has now developed to perfection by surrounding himself with women, contrary to the first Christ Who surrounded Himself by men.

Oh, you crafty Antichrist! What a pity for you that you came about 3700 years too late. If you had lived in the time of Abraham and had been his Sara it would have been possible for you to have had some support for your assertion, but now the whole thing is a coarse fabrication and blasphemy.

The prefiguring seed, taking form in Isaac, was, on account of its union with the Logos, a holy seed, hence the descendants of Abraham were called a holy and to God separated people. But nevertheless, they only represented the natural unfolding of power in the Son of man. Through this holy seed, linked with the divine, or the power that surpasses the natural, the whole work represented by the Son of man was foreshadowed. Logos, of which the Son of man consists, comprises in Himself both letter and Spirit. The letter unfolds itself in figures and shapes which we can see and handle. The body and parts of the Son of man represent the highest development of such figures and shapes.

The spiritual or more exalted work of the Logos-power in and through the Son of man presses forth all these forms of the letter -- figures and works, serving as preceding or typical forms, which as shadows are thrown from the perfect and higher forms. Of this we find that, in connection with the seed of Abraham, a complete and perfect kingdom, having an excellent capital city and an independent government, develops.

But in all this, despite the fact that the forms of the letter developed to as great a perfection as possible, the eternal element of germination was nevertheless suppressed, so that it all was stamped by corruption as being imperfect. The mortal, which was connected with and predominated in all these forms, occasioned that the holy seed, in order that it be kept holy and separated to God, constantly had to undergo changes from darkness to light and from death to life, but in spite of this it never was perfected. The letter, or the natural development, connected with corruption, no matter how glorious, nevertheless carries death in its bosom. But the close relation in which the natural seed felt themselves to stand to the higher and spiritual works of the Logos-power in all their vicissitudinous movements, inspired them with the hope that the goal of perfection was in view.

For instance: At the feast of tabernacles, after the crop was harvested and the families went up to Jerusalem to commemorate their redemption from the Egyptian yoke, also to remind them of how Elohim, as their King, while with their tents they moved to and fro, gave them wonderful victories over their enemies, the sun of happiness and liberty radiated over them in all its brilliancy, filling their heart with the hope that at last He, Whom they constantly awaited should come with a perfect redemption and perpetuation of their existence.

In this respect their hope was so elevating that they overlooked the union with the higher power in the Logos. Like Christendom today is looking forward to the everlasting union with the King of kings when He returns, but still wholly disregarding the Son of man's work of connection, so also the tribes looked forward to the coming of their awaited Messiah. Disappointed in their expectations they saw in Him an impostor who had come to lead them astray, and as a result of this they murdered their best friend.

___________________

The Law and Commandments of Christ

Christ's Acts of Salvation

Of the preceding we see that all of Christ's acts of salvation have saved us from the ordinances and all the curse of the law, because He Himself has borne these in His flesh on the cursed tree. But here again the question presents itself: Is the believer then freed from everything pertaining to the laws and commandments? Does not Christ say: "If. ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed"? (John 8:31.) Yes, and it is His law and commandment we now will present. His commandments and those of the law are entirely separated from one another, that is, as separated as two commanding authori­ties that are independent of each other must be. And this Paul makes clear when he illustrates this matter by quoting the power of the marriage law over the woman as long as her first husband is living, and how this law loses its power over her when her husband dies. He says:

"For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her hus­band. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married. to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be mar­ried to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God." (Rom. 7:2-4.)

We are dead to the law, he says. This is the same as to say: If we once lived in and owed obedience to all demands of the law, but then died, this released us from it all. But then we rose again in strength of what some­one else had done, and from that time we belong exclu­sively to Him and are obliged to keep His commandments. But now the question is: What constitutes the command­ments of Christ, and upon what are they based? That they are not, like the Mosaic law-system, based on trans­gression, we well understand, for Christ Himself did not keep this law-system in the days of His flesh. He neither gave tithe to the temple, nor did He sacrifice there, and He was also accused by the temple people of breaking the sabbath. They even questioned His righteousness and looked upon Him as a transgressor of the law, saying: "This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the sab­bath day." (John 9:16.) This is exactly what the sabbath keepers of our time say about those who in faith follow in Christ's footsteps.

__________________

The Knowledge of Christ

The Goal of Salvation

The Word in flesh, that is, man controlled by the spiritual sense of the Word, which is the spiritual knowledge manifested by Christ, journeys in the light of the Word, where the illuminating power increases in the proportion he learns to know Christ on the road of experience. He knows of no written ordinance of any kind in the faith of Christ, for there is none. Faith is unlimited. A glimpse of this was seen when Moses on the shore of the Red Sea. stretched his arms of faith toward Heaven and cried for a help that corresponded to the overhanging danger. In the life of Jesus this was manifested often. Thousands of hungry people were filled with a few loaves and fishes. Sickness and blemishes from birth flee from the sick, and death gives back what it had harvested.

The Word in flesh journeys in promises forward to the kingdom of resurrection. But each step forward presses the cross of Christ closer to the very life. On this journey the traveler has no prejudice against anyone, neither does he set up handwritings which he enforces as ordinances that must be followed. His watchword is: Come and follow me! Take your cross upon you and accompany me on the Christ-road toward the new kingdom. Whether you be a Jew or Greek, Catholic or Adventist, come! "For he (the Lord Jesus Christ) is our peace, who hath made both (you or me or anyone) one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition (all partisan walls) between us; Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. For through him we ,both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." (Eph. 2:14-18.)

The partisan expresses himself disdainfully against such a "lawless and unrestrained fanatic," which he considers him to be, but those who wish to learn to know Christ, enter this road, on which there is liberty in spirit, but mortification of the flesh. There he learns with Paul: "STAND fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free." And one can then join with the apostle in saying: "Be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage." (Gal. 5:1.) He also knows the import and value of the Lord's words:

"If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed." (John 8:36.)

When a son liberates a slave, the slave will be equal to the son.

_________________________