Articles

Part 2 of 2 Parts

 

The Following Message Has Been Transcribed For
Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation By
 The LEM Transcribing & Editing Team.

 

Alternate Translation of Ephesians Chapter 1 verses 1 thru 11. Paul, the God appointed apostle of Jesus Christ, writing to the holy ones at Ephesus, who believe in Christ Jesus. May grace be imparted to you, and peace from God, our Father, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Adored is God, the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who has caused us to submit to Christ, and must enter into all spiritual prosperity, who having decided because of His own desire, and kind intentions towards the human race, to adopt us as His own children through Jesus Christ, so that we might be in submission to God through him, by whom God made us acceptable when we became members of his body, even the one whose blood is a ransom, which purchases the forgiveness of our sins by the spiritual wealth of Christ, which spiritual wealth he has caused to overflow from within himself towards us through all manner of human wisdom and intelligence, and in giving us an understanding of and a holy love for the will of God. Having revealed to us this secret of His kindly intentions towards humanity which He intends to do through His body so that in the last days every man who is in servitude to Satan might experience the liberty which is in Christ Jesus by joining in the battle to bring his own carnal mind into submission to Christ, even the one who was chosen beforehand, having selected us by lot, according to the vision of the Father, who effectively molds all men according to the purpose which He intends to accomplish in them.

Verse 12. That we should be to the praise of His glory, who first trusted in Christ. Now in Part 1 of Ephesians 1 and on other messages I have translated this phrase, the praise of His glory, as praise meaning submission to God. The word glory is the Spirit of God in the soul realm. I have translated this phrase submission to the Spirit of God in the soul realm. But in this verse 12, we are going to take another translation. This is very legitimate, same Greek words in these fifteen different English translations, and because of the context of the verse, we are going to make a small change. The Greek word translated praise means commendation, to advocate, to indorse, or to promote. The word glory can be translated opinion, evaluation, judgment, or measure.

In view of the context of the verse, I want to suggest to you that Paul is saying here that those of us, who first trusted in Christ, are to be the praise, or the promotion, or the advertisement, or the expression of God’s measure, or God’s expression of Himself. The phrase first trusted in Christ in the Interlinear is translated those having previously trusted in Christ. What I am suggesting to you is that it is saying the apostles, one of which Paul was, came up to full stature, or even those that did not come to full stature, came up to a very high measure of Christ. I do not believe Peter was in full stature, but he was a miracle working apostle. We all know that, and that God gave them this increase rapidly because of God’s purposes.

The apostles were ministering now to the common people, and the common people, including us, are not being raised up as rapidly. Those of us who trusted secondly in Christ, because of God’s purposes, are not being brought up to spiritual power as rapidly as those who first trusted in him. Why? Because those who first trusted in him were called to be teachers. We will see in the next verse that God is saying, those who secondly trusted in Christ were given the Holy Spirit of promise. It does not say the apostles received the Holy Spirit of promise. Let me read you what I said again. Those who first trusted in Christ were called to be the promotion, or the advertisement, of the expression of God Himself through their apostleship.

We see a glorified Jesus Christ pouring out of his Spirit upon a group of men and bringing them to a high spiritual place very rapidly. Then we see those men, who were not in the same condition that the Glorified Lord Jesus Christ was in, giving out of their substance, but not able to raise the people they were ministering to up to the level that the Glorified Spirit of Christ raised them up to. Do you understand what I am talking about?

It is like, if you know anything about messages, anyone who knows something about messages will tell you every time you copy a master message, you lose some of the power on the message. The tone was just a little less accurate every time you duplicate it. Let me say it again. You have the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ pouring out of heaven on the day of Pentecost raising up apostles, either to full stature or to a pretty high place, but those apostles were not of the same quality of the Glorified Lord Jesus Christ. So the people that the apostles poured out of themselves upon could not hope to attain to the position that the apostles had attained to, at the very least, in the same amount of time.

Those individuals lived and died, eventually. The work of Christ through the apostles are going to raise up the second generation of Christ, but it is taking two thousand years. When the Lord Jesus Christ poured out of his Spirit on the apostles, he raised them up. I do not even know how long it took. It could not have been more than a couple of weeks or a couple of months, if it was that. It may not have even been that. It may have been immediate. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was glorified. He was no longer Jesus Christ of Nazareth. He was the Glorified Lord Jesus Christ, and he raised them up in a very short period of time. Who? Those who first trusted in Christ. Who? Those who were raised up by the chief apostle, himself. All I can give you is what I have. That is why you are struggling. That is why it is taking so long to get delivered, to overcome your problems, because I am not even where the apostles were. Does anybody not understand what I am saying?

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:12. So that we, who trusted in Christ before you did, should be the expression of God’s nature.

Verse 13. In whom ye also trusted in the same God, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. Now remember, Paul was an apostle because the word of God, the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ came right into his heart and grafted to it, and raised up Christ Jesus. But that which Paul was given out, he is telling us, is not the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. He did not have the power to go right into these people’s hearts, and cause them to conceive, and raise up Christ Jesus. He is starting by imparting the Holy Spirit of promise to them. That is what he is telling them. It is going to be a little longer process.

In the phrase, the word of truth, the Greek word is logos, but I remind you that the Greek word, logos, means the embodiment of an idea. God had a dream. He had an imagination that there would exist in the earth a creature that would express the nature of God. The Bible calls it a cherubim. God, the Father, being a superior or the most superior Spiritual Being, having this thought in His mind, had the spiritual authority to cause it to appear. Jesus Christ of Nazareth was the embodiment of God’s imagination. We see this in a lesser measure here, down here in hell. If you take a talented person, and we have an artist amongst us, she gets an idea in her mind, and she gathers canvas, paints and brushes, and whatever else you need, and she sculptures and gathers the clay, and her tools, and everything that she needs, and makes a physical embodiment of the idea that is in her mind. But down here in hell, we labor with our hands. God does not labor. God thinks and it appears.

So we are speaking about the word of truth. I want to suggest to you that what this scripture is saying is the true word. If there is a true word, if there is a word of truth, or if there is a true word, there is a word of what? There is a false word or there is a lie. We know who was the liar from the beginning? Satan is the lie. Satan is the lie. Let us look at this verse a little more clearly again. We are in verse 13. In whom he also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. I want to suggest to you that the word of truth is the Lord Jesus Christ because He is the life and the truth. Right? The word of truth is the Lord Jesus Christ, and that the gospel of your salvation is not something different than the word of truth. It is just like saying I am Sheila Vitale, your minister. The word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, Jesus Christ, the gospel of your salvation.

Most of us here know that the word gospel means good news. Jesus Christ, who is himself, personified the good news of your salvation. Brethren, you can tell somebody about the Lord Jesus Christ, and you could tell them that it is the good news, and that is fine, but it is the same thing as saying that this Bible, this printed book, is a Bible. It is not the word of God. It is just a book. The word of God is Jesus Christ. Amen. So when I speak to you about the gospel of your salvation, I can say it to you as I am reading it off this printed book, or I could say to you there exists a man who, himself, is the very gospel, the very good news of your salvation. Your ears might hear this message from me or somebody else, but you have not received salvation, brethren, until the good news, himself, is appearing in you. Okay? Glory to God.

The Greek word translated truth in Ephesians 1:13, I just thought you might like to know that it is the same Greek word which is translated truth in a multitude of other New Testament scriptures. I therefore suggest to you that the correct translation of the phrase, the word of truth, in Ephesians 1:13, should be the true word, the true word, as opposed to the false word or the lie. The Greek word translated salvation means rescue. It means rescue. Brethren, to be saved you must be rescued from what? Does anybody know what we are rescued from? Death, and what else? Hell. If you still die, brethren, you are not saved, and if you are still experiencing manifestations of hell in your mind and in your life, you are not saved.

The only one that I know of who is saved is the Lord Jesus Christ. I know many who have been reconciled unto God. So let us walk in truth, brethren. Lies have never saved anybody. They just kill. We have been reconciled unto God and we are in the process of being saved. If you are saved, there would be no sickness. There would be no aging, and there would be no death in your body. Let me take this opportunity to tell you a funny story. I was at a convention recently. There was a pastor there from another state who was very upset with this doctrine. There was a bit of a scene in that convention. He stood up and started to preach something about the 30, 60,100 fold, that he was saved, and he could not get sick, and whatever. All of this nonsense. He left this convention, and went to another convention in another state, and became so ill that he had to go home. In his own words he was as sick as a dog.

He called up the pastor who ran the first convention and she, not being too subtle, said to him what happened to your 30, 60,100 fold? I thought you could not get sick. This is a beautiful man of God. The closer you are to Christ, the more quickly judgment falls on you. When you are very far away from Christ, if you have not even been reconciled, judgment may not be falling upon you at all, but it will the deeper you walk with God. Open your eyes and ask God to show it to you. Judgment falls quickly. If you have to wait twenty four hours, it is a long time. I have seen people sin, and walk out from my midst, and go right into judgment within an hour. What does that mean? It means that they are likely to experience someone abusing them the way they have just abused me, or something along those lines. The closer you are to God, the faster and the harder it falls. Glory to God. I tell you the truth.

Well, it is a new translation. The first half of Ephesians 1:13. In whom you also trusted after you heard about Jesus Christ. After you heard about him, you trusted him, because faith comes by hearing. Right? Faith comes by hearing the word of God. In whom you also trusted, after you heard about Jesus Christ, the one who is the true word, and the good news of your rescue from this world’s system, which is what? It is hell. Amen.

Continuing with the second half of Ephesians 1:13. In whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. First you heard about the Lord Jesus Christ and you heard about him because the apostles first trusted in him. Then you heard about him and believed. After you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. One of the translations of the Greek word translated believed is commit. Brethren, the whole world out there is filled with millions of sinners that believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, but they have not been sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. They have not been reconciled towards God, and they are leading a reprobate life.

People, beginners or seekers read the Scripture, and they hear something like this, and it seems to them to be contradiction, and they go away because they cannot believe such a contradictory message. It is a poor translation, brethren. When you have committed your life to the Lord Jesus Christ, you shall receive the Holy Spirit of promise. You made a commitment to him to serve him, to love him, to follow him, to the fullest degree that he enables you. You shall receive the Holy Spirit of promise. Not only is it a poor translation, it is not preached properly. It is preached as it is in the King James that as soon as you believe, you receive. Well, it does not happen to everybody.

Everybody that believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God does not receive the Holy Spirit, and people are condemned. Let us get the truth out. You must commit yourself. Even when you commit yourself, it might take a while for you to connect with God at the other end. Maybe there is the equivalent of some spiritual paperwork that has to be done. Do not be discouraged if it does not happen right away. Do not be discouraged if you do not receive the Holy Spirit of promise right away. Do not be discouraged if you do not receive your deliverance right away. Do not be discouraged, because God is faithful.

I was watching the 700 Club the other day, and they had a man from Exodus International, I think. It is an ex-homosexual group of born again Christians. This man was a very credible man. He was speaking about the plight of homosexuals in the Church, how they are persecuted, and the prejudice against them. One of the things he mentioned was the churches that many of them have gone into, have laid hands on them, and tried to cast demons out of them. He said only five percent of homosexuals were cured by having demons cast out of them. All the others were persecuted until they left the Church. His response to that is what I have been preaching here for five years, that homosexuality is not a demon, except in maybe one or two cases. It is a damaged soul. It is a deformed soul. It is a malfunctioning soul. These are my words. They are not his words.

You see, some people that come to them have spent twenty years or more as a homosexual. You do not just cast this thing out. Your soul must be reformed. It is malfunction. It is malformed. It has to be broken like a bad set leg, and reformed. It takes time. There is much more involved than casting out a demon from someone who has a severe deformity in their soul. That is not to say that there are not demons to come out, but it is just not that simple. This error being taught in the Church has resulted in severe persecution to solve the most hurt members of the Church. It takes time to change, unless the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, is rebuking your legion. In the Church today, it just takes time to change.

Commit yourself to God. Put yourselves in the scriptures, attend meetings, submit to counseling if it is available, and wait. Wait with all prayer and supplication, never ceasing to make your needs known to Him. Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all of these things shall be added unto you. There is a false doctrine in the Church today. Change is not easy. The more seriously you are damaged, the harder it is to change, and the longer it takes. Glory to God.

We are dealing with the phrase, in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. The word seal means to set a mark, to set a mark upon. The Interlinear Text reads, you were sealed with the Spirit, the promise, the holy. You were sealed with the Spirit, the promise, the holy. The word of is not in the Greek. The Spirit of promise. The word of is not in the Greek. You were sealed with the Spirit, the promise, the holy. I am suggesting to you that the phrase should be translated, you were marked by the Spirit of promise, the holy one, the Spirit of promise, which is the holy one. Let me give it to you again.

The Interlinear says, you were sealed with the Spirit, the promise, the holy. This is one of these instances where the foreign language is eliminated, has left out prepositions or connecting words, and it is translator’s license as to where you put in the words that are going to put this phrase in good English. So I disagree with the King James translators. They translated it the Holy Spirit of promise, but I am translating it, the Spirit of promise, which is the Holy One. Is not the Glorified Lord Jesus Christ a Spirit in this hour? The Spirit of promise, which is the Holy One.

You are marked by the Spirit of promise, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy One. You are marked by the Spirit of promise, which is the Holy One. He put his seal on you. When he put his seal on you, He left a residue of Himself, and that residue of himself in you is called what? Yes, the Holy Spirit. If you had, or if we had the actual Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ in His fullness in us, we would have all power. We just have a residue of Him, which we will find out a few verses down is our down payment. It is just a touch of Him, just a drop of Him, just a taste of Him. He is the one who sealed us, and left a residue, a drop of Himself in our heart.

Alternate Translation of the second half of Ephesians 1:13. In whom after you committed yourself to him, you are marked by the Spirit of promise, which is your Holy One. So you see, they were not baptized with the Holy Ghost. You may remember the apostles were baptized with the Holy Ghost, but the people today receive the Holy Ghost. We have a whole message on this. People today are not being baptized with the Holy Ghost. They are receiving the Holy Ghost. The way I express it on our message, The Truth About Baptism, is that there is a lesser and a greater anointing.

Here we see in Ephesians 1:13 another way of expressing it. The fullness of the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is called the Spirit of promise, but the drop of Him that gets on you has another name. It is called the receiving of the Holy Ghost. The baptism with the Holy Ghost is receiving the full power of the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ upon you. We do not have that today. I would not have a hoarse throat if we had that today. It just is not true. The Church is going to have to start facing up to some of their fantasies. The Church today in many areas is not lining up with the Scripture. There has to be a reason why.

Amplified translation of the second half of Ephesians 1:13. The Holy One who put His Spirit of promise in you. The Holy One who put a drop of His Spirit of promise in you, after you committed yourself to Him, which Spirit is the mark of His ownership upon you. Let me give you the whole verse 13 together. You see, this is all one sentence, so let me give you verse 12 also. So that we who trusted in Christ before you did should be the expression of God’s nature in whom (talking about God now) you also trusted after you heard about Jesus Christ, the one who is the true word and the good news of your rescue from this world system, which is hell. He is the holy one who put a drop of his Spirit, in you, after you committed yourself to Him, which is His mark of ownership.

Amplified translation of Ephesians 1:13. Speaking about God the Father. In whom you also trusted after you heard about Jesus Christ, who is the true word, and the good news of your rescue from the hell of this world system, and He is also the Holy One who put a drop of His Spirit of promise in you after you committed yourself to Him, which Spirit is a sign that He owns you. He owns us, brethren. We do not own Him. He owns us.

Verse 14. This is speaking about the measure of the Spirit we received. Which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory. The Greek word translated earnest is Strong’s #728 and it means a down payment, which assures that the balance will be paid. There is a down payment, which assures that the balance will be paid. Inheritance is #2817. Let me comment on that. I do not want you stumbling over that. It is possible for someone to receive the Holy Ghost and not go on in God. It is possible for the Holy Ghost to engraft to your soul, for Christ to be conceived, and for you to abort. What this scripture means is that the earnest of our inheritance. Is it of your inheritance? No. It is of the living souls’ inheritance. The down payment of the living souls’ inheritance is assureity that the full amount will be paid, but not necessarily in any one individual.

The full measure of God’s Spirit will be imparted to this living soul. We have an earnest. We have a down payment. We have assureity. Christ will appear in this living soul, but the fact that an individual receives the Holy Ghost is not assureity that he will appear in you. The Scripture is very clear that some people will be ashamed at the hour of His appearing. People who thought they had the Holy Ghost, people who thought that they had Christ, will be ashamed. Scripture is very clear about it. Anybody have a problem with that?

The Greek word translated inheritance is Strong’s #2817 and is speaking about the property which is received, that which is given one as a possession. Does anybody know what we are inheriting? What are we inheriting? It is the kingdom of God. I have three references for you that state that. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 9 and 10, 1 Corinthians 15:50 and Revelations 5:21 speak about inheriting the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God is who? It is Christ. Amen. We are speaking about redemption. Let me give you the verse again in verse 14. We are speaking about the Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession. There are several words in the Greek which are translated redemption. This is Strong’s #629 and it refers to liberty, which is obtained by the payment of a ransom. I would like to review that for you.

This is the concept of us being ransomed, in the natural, in this world. If a millionaire’s son is kidnaped, the millionaire gives money to the robber. The robber takes the money and goes away, and the child is returned to the father. But in the spirit, it does not work this way. The human race is lacking. We are lacking our righteousness because of the robber. Who is the robber? Satan is the robber, and has stolen God’s creation. We are lacking our righteousness, and when God pays a ransom, the robber is not running away. The robber is staying right there with the creation. The ransom is Jesus Christ, who is being joined to this deficient living soul, and he is going to be our righteousness. He is going to complete us. Are we not complete in him? We are all going to be stuck together for the life of the ages.

This is the tremendous sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is much more, much greater than we know. The sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ is much greater than giving up the body and the soul of Jesus of Nazareth. The spiritual entity, that is our Lord Jesus Christ, has given up his life of glory with the Father so that he could be nailed to the cross of humanity. Humanity is made out of wood. We are his cross. He shall be nailed to us for the life of the ages. Because of the miracle working power of the Lord Jesus Christ, he will not be in this unhappy condition forever, because there is enough miracle working power in the Lord Jesus Christ to translate us into what he is. He will not be brought down, but we shall be raised up. That is the miracle of the salvation that God has provided for us. He has sacrificed his own Son for a season, to be nailed to this wicked living soul, but the end of it is that we shall be raised up to where he is.

Brethren, Jesus Christ cannot touch your life and not change you. It is not possible. It is not possible. You might not see the change right away in anyone that he touches. Now I am not talking about a word that comes out of your carnal mind, but anyone that he touches, and he touches people through men. Any word that is him speaking through you, will produce fruit. It must produce fruit because the word of God is life itself, and everything that life touches produces life. The ransom is the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is nailing himself to this living soul. What is the scriptural word for that nailing? It is the crucifixion. He is being crucified to us.

Paul said that he was crucified to the world. It meant he was calling himself Christ. He was saying Christ in me is so joined to my carnal mind that I call it a crucifixion. That means Paul was in full stature and experiencing the blessings of the kingdom of heaven. His carnal mind was inoperable through crucifixion. This is the ransom. It is the giving of God’s Son to us, because that is the only way we are going to be raised up. See if you are moving in the lifestyle or the manifestation of Christ. If you are not doing this, just tell God you want it. Do not get upset. Do not yield to any envy or condemnation, but if you want a scale or a standard by which to measure to what degree you are entering into a lifestyle, that in some little way looks like Christ, look around and see if God has joined you to someone who is trying to kill you.

See if He has joined you, in your life, with someone who gives you grief, after grief, after grief, and then look at that person, and see if they are bringing you down, or if you are bringing them up. If this is the kind of life that you live, you are moving in a measure of the life of Christ, because that is what he does. He joins himself to people that are not acceptable in the Church. He joins himself to people that are not respectable, and he is not pulled out, but these people are raised up. So examine your life, and if you do not see this in your life, just tell him that it is not there. Maybe you do not want it. I do not know, but if you want it, ask for it. There is much work to do. There is so much work to do. The Lord is revealing that, to us here, in severe cases that are really not helped even in the Pentecostal Churches out there. They need deep ministry, personal ministry. They need to be attached to a son who is going to drag them up by their bootstraps. That is what we are facing today. It is the greater works. Let us go on.

For purchased possessions is Strong’s #4047. It means one’s own property. We see that the King James translators have taken a lot of license with that translation. We are told it means one’s own property. I remind you that the living soul is God’s own property, which has been stolen. The phrase we are working on is, unto the praise of his glory. We are going to use the same translation that we used in verse 12 to express God’s nature.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:14. We are speaking about the earnest of our inheritance, which is the Holy Spirit, who is a taste of the kingdom of God, until the ransom is paid for the living soul, and she expresses God’s nature. When the ransom is paid, when Christ is crucified to the living soul, she shall express God’s nature. Christ shall not give up his Godhood and become fallen, when he shall defeat the military strength of the living soul, and she shall express the nature of God. We are told here that when we receive the Holy Spirit, it is a taste of the kingdom of God. It is a taste of the spiritual life of God to keep us, to familiarize us with spiritual things, to help us, to bless us, to draw us, but it is only until. Do not be satisfied with Pentecost because it is only until.

Let me give you the exact words here, until the ransom is paid. The paying of the ransom is the nailing of Jesus Christ to you. It is the engrafted word. The Holy Spirit is your touch of God until the word engrafts. Once the word engrafts, the Lord will not rest until you are expressing his image in your mind, and in your heart, and in your soul.

Amplified translation of Ephesians 1:14. We are speaking about the Holy Spirit now, who is our opportunity to experience the spiritual life of God in our fallen condition, until the living soul is nailed to Christ Jesus and expresses the nature of God. You see that there are two nailings. First the Holy Spirit engrafts, and Christ is conceived, but we are not in the nature of God at that conception. But that conception which brings forth Christ Jesus is the beginning of the nature of God being impressed upon us. Christ Jesus, who is Christ in you, the hope of glory, when he is fully born, will crucify himself to your carnal mind. It is not the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ that is being crucified to your carnal mind. It is the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is engrafting to your human spirit and conceiving Christ. When Christ in you, the second generation of Christ, Christ Jesus is fully born, he will crucify himself to your carnal mind.

Let me say it again. It is not the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is your personal ransom. It is the reproduction of the Lord Jesus Christ in your very own person, the second generation of Christ, Christ Jesus, who will be crucified to your carnal mind. Yes, the Lord Jesus Christ is the ransom, but your personal measure of that ransom has a different name. The Lord Jesus Christ is the ransom in general, but when he is reproduced in your heart, so that you personally are saved, his name changes to Christ Jesus. Is everybody okay? Jesus. Thank you Lord.

The Holy Spirit is our opportunity to experience the spiritual life of God in our fallen condition until the living soul is nailed to Christ Jesus and expresses the nature of God.

Verses 1 thru 14 are one sentence, brethren. I am going to read the Alternate Translation for these verses, 1 thru 15 now. Paul, the God appointed apostle of Jesus Christ, writing to the holy ones at Ephesus, who believe in Christ Jesus. May grace be imparted to you, and peace, from God our Father, even the Lord Jesus Christ. Adored is God the Father, even our Lord Jesus Christ, who has caused us to submit to Christ, and thus enter into all spiritual prosperity. Who, speaking about God the Father. Who having decided because of His own desire and kind intentions towards the human race, to adopt us as His own children through Jesus Christ, so that we, the living soul, might be in submission to God through him. Through who? Through the Lord Jesus Christ.

By whom God made us acceptable when we became members of His body, Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus, the one whose blood is a ransom which purchases with forgiveness of our sins by the spiritual wealth of Christ. Which spiritual wealth, He, God the Father, through the Lord Jesus Christ, has caused to overflow from within himself towards us, through all manner of human wisdom and intelligence, and in giving us an understanding of and a holy love for the will of God. Having revealed to us the secret of His, of God the Father’s kindly intentions towards humanity, which He intends to do through His body, Christ Jesus.

Then in the last days every man who was in servitude to Satan, might experience the liberty which is in Christ Jesus by joining in the battle to bring his own carnal mind into submission to Christ, the one who was chosen beforehand, having selected us by lot, according to the vision of the Father, who effectively molds all men according to the purpose which He intends to accomplish in them, so that we, who trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ before you did, should be the expression of God’s nature, in whom you also trusted, the Lord Jesus Christ, after you heard about him, who is the true word, and the good news of your rescue from the hell of this world system, and the Holy One who put his Spirit of promise in you, after you committed yourself to him, which spirit is a sign that He owns you, who the Lord Jesus Christ is our opportunity to experience the spiritual life of God, in our fallen condition, until the living soul is nailed to Christ Jesus and expresses the nature of God.

So we see verses 1 thru 14 are an explanation of God’s purposes towards mankind. Then starting with verse 15, we see Paul speaking to the church and explaining in more detail how these purposes will be accomplished.

Verse 15. Paul is speaking. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints. Again, verses 15 thru 23 is one sentence. So we are stopping there. Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints. This Greek word translated also, can be also translated, and I, or even I. So we are going to leave that word also out. It did not flow smoothly with our alternate translation. The Greek word translated faith #4102 means belief or fidelity or faithfulness. It is not so much faith in that Jesus Christ can save you, but faithfulness to God. Do you know, brethren, God is challenging us to be faithful to Him as a man requires his wife to be faithful, because in our thoughts can be spiritual adultery.

This particular word translated faith, it is not the word which means the faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, but it is speaking about the faithfulness of a faithful wife, that we believe what God has to say, faithfully, as a faithful wife, and to not be committing spiritual adultery in our mind. Also, I would like to review for you this concept of believing. I mentioned it a little earlier. When you read about believing in the Scripture, it is not good enough to say intellectually I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. That will not do it. Our belief has to be a spiritual experience because our soul, brethren, reaches out to other people. That is how we form soul ties. Our soul reaches out to other people and joins with other souls.

When we believe what we read, and what we hear, to the point that our soul, more specifically our human spirit, starts reaching out towards Christ, that is what the word believe really means. It means you believe into Christ, that your heart is believing with such an intensity that you are reaching out to make a spiritual contact with him. That is what belief is. It is not an intellectual belief that I read it in the book, and said yes, Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and Jesus Christ was raised from the dead. That is not what the Greek word translated believe means.

I have been in churches where the pastor said to someone on the prayer line, do you believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God? Do you believe he died and was raised from the dead? Well amen, you are now welcomed into the kingdom of God. That is ridiculous. That is ridiculous. You have just lied to that person. Brother pastors, if you have done that, you have lied to those people. They have not entered in anywhere. They mimicked what you said like a parrot.

We are dealing with verse 15. Wherefore, I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the saints. The Greek word translated love is the agape love. Now the word saints. This is a very mysterious word. If you want to disagree with me about what I am about to say, that is fine. Do not worry about it if you disagree with me. When we did Daniel 7, word by word, I found out to my satisfaction in those studies, that from the time the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified, raised from the dead, and ascended, and began to pour out of his Spirit upon all flesh, from the time that salvation became available to all men, that God looks at this whole human race as His holy one. Why? It is because He fully intends to make us holy.

Now God is not a fool, and He does not go around engaging in positive thinking, saying that you are holy and therefore you cannot sin, which we hear in the Church today, but He calls us His holy one. It is just as if you had a teenage son, and you are teaching him your business, and you tell him you are the owner of this business. You are my partner in this business. Well, sure he is your partner in this business, but are you going to let him handle the books? Are you going to let him make decisions on millions of dollars? Of course not. You are controlling everything that he does, watching him carefully, and correcting every error, but he is the owner of the business. Does anybody not know what I am talking about?

I want to suggest to you that in verse 15 where Paul is speaking about the love for all the saints, that Paul is not just restricting this love to the people in the Church. I think we all know that Jesus has challenged us to love everybody with the agape love of the Lord Jesus Christ, to love the loveless, and to love all men, because the love of God loves men. In our Alternate Translation, I am going to take an attitude that the love of the Ephesians for the saints, that they are demonstrating, is a love for all men. What Paul is saying is, I see that the love of Christ is manifesting in you, and therefore this is a sign to me that you have faith in Jesus Christ.

You see, it was not enough for Paul to hear them say, I believe Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day. He wanted a sign. He wanted a witness. He said, I have heard of your love for all of the saints, and therefore I know that you have faith, or that you have believed into, or that your soul or your human spirit, more specifically, is making contact with the life of God. Why? Because that contact has changed you.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:15. This is why, I, after hearing that you are expressing the love of God to all men, which is proof that you are believing into the Lord Jesus. Verses 16 and 17 we are going to do together. Because I witnessed this, because I see that you are loving all men, I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. Now I am going to intersperse verses 16 and 17 in the King James and then we will do an alternate translation on those two verses, which I have joined together. I have joined them together and changed the order. I will do an alternate translation as if it was one verse.

Ephesians 1 verses 16 and 17 interspersed. I cease not to give thanks for you, making mention to the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, in my prayers, that He may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. This Greek word translated make mention can be translated remembrance. I remind you of the concept behind the word remembrance in the Scripture. When God remembers you, you live, and when God forgets you, you die. When you are in the memory of God, you have existence. Remember what I said at the beginning of the message that God is the superior Spiritual Being. When He thinks, a logos appears. A physical embodiment of His thought appears. For us to be existing, we must be in the mind of God. In the mind of God, He is dealing with some of us more positively than others, and He is quite simply dealing with some of us more than others.

Paul said, when I heard that you were expressing the love of God, and I knew that meant that you were touching the spiritual life of Christ, from that moment forward I never stopped praying for you. I never stopped putting your name or your memory before the Father, that He should think about you more and more, because God said in another place, my thoughts towards you are what kind of thoughts? My thoughts towards you are good thoughts for good, and not for evil. So Paul kept putting their names before the Lord that God should think of them. They should think good thoughts to them, that they should increase. That is what Paul is saying now. Why would Paul have to do that? Why cannot the Ephesians do it for themselves? Because, brethren, God heard every prayer that Paul ever prayed.

Brethren, some people get deeper into the throne room than other people. When I was a young disciple, I used to hear all these TV and radio programs, I was offended at one point. I said who are all of these people saying send me your prayer requests. I am a Christian too. I thought the only mediator between God and man was Christ Jesus. But brethren, everybody’s prayers are not equally powerful. If you think they are, grow up and confess the sin of pride, because it is not true. Paul was doing a great service to the Ephesians that, apparently, they did not have the strength to do for themselves. Some people’s prayers penetrate right into the throne room, every prayer they pray.

Some people’s prayers do not even get heard. Why? There are several possibilities. Anybody know of one possibility why someone’s prayers are not getting heard? Sin. They have aught against their brother that they have not done everything that they could to resolve. Now you can be on the outs with somebody because it takes two people to reconcile, but you must do all that you can do. If you have done all that you can do, your hands are clean. Jesus said leave your gift at the altar and go make it right with your brother. Do not go asking him to forgive you when you cannot forgive the one who hurt you. Jesus clearly speaks on that. I forgave you and you did not forgive your brother, and judgment fell on that person. Right?

Another potential is do not mistreat your wife and come and ask me for blessings. Does it say that in the Scriptures? Do not mistreat your wife. Do not mistreat your children. Do not mistreat your employees and come and ask God for things. So we have many people in the Church whose prayers are not being answered. Now this is what happens when someone with power comes along and prays for them. Let us say people know their prayers are not being answered, so they get a revelation that someone has power and they say come pray for me. That person whose every prayer enters into the throne room puts their request forth, the request of a person whom has not forgiven as they were forgiven, who has ought against their brother, what do you think happens? Does anybody know what happens?

Judgment falls on the wicked servant, because someone whose every prayer penetrates the throne room has penetrated the throne room, and God honors their every prayer.

When God hears the prayer, but He says I cannot answer it right now because the person is out of order. Because God is faithful to answer the prayer of His faithful servant, He starts raining down judgment on the wicked Christian, so in due season he can answer the prayer of His faithful servant. Amen. Everybody is very quiet, but I am telling you the truth. You had better be careful who you ask to pray for you. (Laughter) You never know what is going to happen. Jesus.

Alternate Translation of the first half of Ephesians 1 verses 16 and 17. Paul is speaking. I do not stop giving thanks for you and asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the soul realm, to remember you because of my prayers for you. The Father of glory. Glory is the Spirit of God in the soul realm. I do not stop giving thanks for you, and asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the soul realm, to remember you because of my prayers for you.

Continuing with the second half of verses 16 and 17. That He may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. The Greek word translated wisdom is speaking about knowledge which comes from experience. Brethren, that is really important, knowledge which comes from experience. You can read it in a book. You can listen to me preach it, but it is not really real to you until God gives you an experience with it. Knowledge that comes with experience is worth its weight in gold. That is at least one of the reasons why the Lord says respect your elders. They have much to give you.

In most societies the gray haired person is highly esteemed, but not in our society today. No matter how ignorant a person is, just the fact that they have lived for seventy years on this earth means they must know something that you do not know. They have got to know something. If they spent their whole life in a farmhouse and never went outside of it, they have got to know something about people, something about human nature, something about life that they learned that you do not know. I want to learn everything I can from everybody that I know. If you know something that I do not know, I want it.

Revelation is Strong’s #602 and it means a disclosure of truth. It also means instruction about things previously unknown. I suggest to you that it is speaking about spiritual things, spiritual truth that has been previously unknown to you, or previously unknown to the Church, or previously unknown to the world. Revelation is not something that comes from experience, but it is instruction about spiritual truth that is imparted from the mind of God into the mind of a man, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with experience.

Knowledge means precise and correct knowledge. As you hear the alternate translation, you realize what that word is doing in verses 16 and 17 is indicating that the knowledge of God, which is in the world, even in the Church today, is imprecise, and incorrect. There is an imprecise and an incorrect knowledge of God in the world today. If you have an imprecise and an incorrect knowledge of God, everything that you do with relationship to Him will have to be off somehow. So what does that mean? It means that you are not getting your needs met to the fullest degree. You are not getting your blessings to the fullest degree. You are not understanding to the fullest degree. You are not ministering to the fullest degree. We need a perfect and a concise true knowledge of God.

Now remember that this word knowledge is not speaking about book knowledge. It is speaking about what the world would call carnal knowledge. It is talking about intercourse with God, sexual activity of the mind. So to have a precise and correct knowledge of God, you must be in bed with Him. You must be intimate with Him. You must be so joined with Him that you are one with Him. We are not talking about a book knowledge. We are talking about revelation knowledge that you get from lying in bed with Him. Everybody in these meetings know that the words that you read in this book called the Bible are wonderful, and God can use them to help you on any level, but to know the real spiritual truth behind these words can be very far from the translation that we read.

I am going to say this again so that nobody crucifies me. God will use the translations in the book to the fullest degree, but as we mature in Christ it comes two ways. As we mature in Christ, He shall impart to us a more correct and precise knowledge of the spiritual reality behind the word. As we receive a more correct and precise spiritual reality of the word, we shall increase in Christ. As we increase in Christ, we shall receive a more precise and correct understanding of the word. As we receive a more precise and correct understanding of the word, we shall mature in Christ. This shall continue until we attain to full stature. So there is nothing wrong with the Bible. Please do not go out saying Sheila Vitale is against the Bible. I am not against the Bible, but there is a deep spiritual truth that is underlying beneath the human words. Glory to God.

We gave the definition of the words, wisdom, revelation knowledge, and we are dealing with the second half of Ephesians Chapter 1 verses 16 and 17. That He may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him.

Alternate Translation of the second half of Ephesians Chapter 1 verses 16 and 17 interspersed. That He may give you the administration of His Spirit. You know I am saying that because the King James says the Spirit of revelation and the Spirit of wisdom, but we here know that there is just one Spirit and many administrations thereof. There is just one Spirit of God and many administrations thereof. Amen. That He may give you the administration of His Spirit, which imparts an ability to learn from your experiences, and understand instruction about spiritual things, which produce a precise and correct knowledge of Him.

We are told here to obtain or to have a precise and correct knowledge of God. We must first have an ability to learn from our experiences and to receive spiritual instruction. Brethren, do you know that there are people in this world who do not learn from their experiences. They make the same mistake over, and over, and over again. The Bible says this is a curse of foolishness. It is a curse of foolishness, an immaturity, and foolishness leads to destruction. If you keep making the same mistake over and over again, you need to seek the Lord about breaking a curse of foolishness and immaturity over you. You need to ask Him if He will not see fit to have mercy on you, and impart the spirit of wisdom to you.

Someone gave me a little cartoon once. It read, I was walking down the street one day and I fell into a big hole. It took me three months to get out of this hole. A week after I got out of the hole, I walked down the same street and I fell into the hole again. This time it took me four months to get out of the hole. The next time I walked down the same street I saw the hole and I walked around it. The next time I walked in that direction I did not even walk on that street. But there are some people who keep falling into that ditch. That is one heavy curse. They cannot stop drinking. They cannot stop fornicating. They cannot stop taking drugs. They are completely given over to it. This is a curse that must be broken.

Now if you are hearing this message, you need to understand that all that a person of God can do for you is to pray for you, breaking that curse, and asking God to help you. It can take a long time to break. It breaks a piece at a time. It breaks little by little, and sometimes it takes heavy corrective strokes to break it over you. Do not lose faith if it is not happening overnight. God is faithful, but these curses have to be worked out of your life. The first thing He starts to do is to strengthen you to resist and overcome the behavior. That is painful, but most of the time He does not just remove it from you. He will strengthen you to overcome. He will give you what you need to do it yourself. If you have been taught it is easy, you are wrong. I had someone say to me why do you not break the curses off of it? Well, why do you not break the curses off of it? Let us see how fast it breaks for you. What an arrogant statement to make. It is just not that easy. If you have fallen into a spiritual pit, it is very difficult to climb out.

What is a spiritual pit? Brethren, I was out this morning having a cup of coffee by the water in Port Jefferson. There are a lot of wealthy people around there. I was looking at them, with their beautiful wives and beautiful children, taking a walk in the morning. They were beautiful, physically strong, and healthy. You could see the mental alertness upon them. Brethren, a spiritual pit is a place inside the realm of the spirit that your mind falls into. If you are in a spiritual pit, even if you had every opportunity in this world, if someone came to you and gave you a scholarship to one of the finest colleges, promised you a job at a million dollars a year to start when you graduated, gave you all kinds of money and clothes so that you could be at peace while you studied, brethren, you would not make it through that school. If you are in a spiritual pit, you would not make it through the school. There is no external opportunity that can establish you. There is something wrong with your mind.

This is a problem that exists in our country today. The government does not seem to understand it. The Church understands it, but the government does not understand it. The problems in the ghetto are much greater than the need for money. Those people in the ghetto, whose minds are not in a spiritual pit, will prosper from the impartation of scholarships and gifts. But when you see thousands and millions of people not responding to opportunities to go to school and better their lives, somewhere along the line, someone is going to have to realize that money cannot do it. For those people there is something wrong in their soul. There is something wrong in their mind. We have got to get them out of the pit before you send them to college or they will not make it through.

Brethren, being a lawyer is much more than having book knowledge. You have to have a strong personality to be any kind of a professional or business man, or a salesman. It requires much more than book knowledge. You have to be prepared to engage in the spiritual warfare that exists on a day to day basis in this society, and be a victor. Some people, no matter what you give them, will never succeed. Some people, no matter what obstacle you put in their path, will always succeed. It is a spiritual condition of the mind. Money has nothing to do with it. We have a spiritual crisis in this country, and only God is going to pull us out of it. Glory to God.

Alternate Translation of the whole of Ephesians Chapter 1 verses 16 thru 17. This is Paul speaking. I do not stop giving thanks for you and asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the soul realm, to remember you because of my prayers for you, and give you the administration of His Spirit, which imparts an ability to learn from your experiences, and understand instruction about spiritual things, which produce a precise and correct knowledge of God.

Verse 18. So that the eyes of your understanding being enlightened that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. Glory to God. This is what Paul is praying for, that the eyes of the understanding of the Ephesians be opened. He wants their eyes opened so that they might understand the hope of Christ’s calling, and the riches of the glory of the inheritance He has promised us in the saints. The eyes of your understanding. That Greek word translated understanding means mind. It is talking about the enlightening of your mind, because your mind cannot understand if it is under darkness. I have seen people under curses of darkness, and under curses of death. They cannot understand. Sometimes they think they are stupid, but it is not a lack of intelligence. It is a shroud or a darkness over their mind.

So Paul is praying for the Ephesians that the eyes of their mind should be enlightened or illuminated, that they should be able to understand. The reason he wants them to understand is that they might know what is the hope of His calling. The Greek word translated hope is Strong’s #1680 and it means the expectation of good, the expectation of good from God. We have a whole world that expects evil from Him, but I expect good things from God. I do not expect Cadillacs and a million dollars, but I expect the good things of this life from God. I expect His Spirit. I expect righteousness. I expect victory over destruction every time it comes to my door, and I fight in accordance with the guidelines of God. I expect victory over disease. I expect victory over poverty. I expect victory over every affliction known to man for every person that God puts under me. I expect one hundred percent victory because God loves us.

God loves us and He thinks good thoughts towards us. Sometimes those good thoughts come in the form of painful judgment, because before He can do good for us, He must break us of our rebellion, and our pride, and our wickedness. God is benevolent. Man is wicked. God is benevolent. He expects good things for us, and He will bring them to pass in our life. The hope of His calling. The Greek word translated calling is Strong’s #2821 and it means an invitation to embrace the salvation of the kingdom of God. He expects good things for us, and all of the good things of God are embodied in the kingdom of God, which is where? The kingdom of God is within you.

All of His good and precious blessings are within you, and your part is to do everything you can to build that kingdom. Seek ye first the kingdom of God. Study to show yourself approved. Pray without ceasing. Forgive those who have hurt you. Bless those that are your enemies. Pray for those who despitefully use you. Have mercy. Take the wrong. Be harmless as a dove and wise as a serpent. This form of behavior and thought pattern will build the kingdom of God within you.

Continuing with the second part of verse 18 of Chapter 1 of Ephesians. What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints. The glory is the Spirit of God in the soul realm. The riches is speaking about the wealth of Christ. His inheritance. Well, we are inheriting Him and He is inheriting us. We are inheriting the mind of Christ, and Christ is inheriting the living soul. So there is inheritance in the saints.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:18. So that the eyes of your mind might be illuminated, that you might understand the expectation of good things which are in the Father’s invitation, and the wealth of the kingdom of God in the soul realm. See, there are good things in two places. There are good things in the Father’s invitation, and there are good things in the wealth of the kingdom of God in the soul realm. Both of those things, the Father’s invitation, which is the Lord Jesus Christ, and the kingdom of God, which is Christ, are in the saints. They are within the saints.

Amplified translation of verse 18. So that the eyes of your mind might be opened that you might understand, and therefore expect the good things which are in the Father’s invitation, and the wealth of the kingdom of God in the soul realm, which are in the saints.

Verse 19. This is still Paul praying for Ephesus. And that you might understand what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power. Let me point out something to you at this point. What is happening here is that Paul said, you heard the message of the Lord Jesus Christ. You heard the message of the cross and you believed. You believed into a spiritual reality, whereby you touched Christ, and that touching is evidence by the fact that you are now showing love. Where there was never any sign of love present, you are now showing love towards the brethren.

Because I see that you have started, because I see that you are moving towards Christ, I am praying for the greater things of his kingdom. It is not enough to have the Holy Spirit. It is not enough to show love for the brethren. Get it all. That is what he is saying. There is good expectations for you. God has the kingdom of God for you. He has an invitation into the spiritual realm of God. He has much more for you than the Holy Spirit, and even what is true agape love. He has great things for you. Expect them. Expect to receive them because they are for you.

What is the exceeding greatness of his power? The word exceeding means to go beyond. The word greatness, we are going to translate it magnificent here. You may know that there are two Greek words that are translated power in the Scripture. This is the Greek word dunamis, which is speaking about supernatural miracle working power. The greatness of his power to us-ward who believe according to the working of his mighty power. This Greek word translated working means efficiency. His mighty power is efficient. That means it does the job. It does the job. Sometimes our carnal minds do not think it is doing the job, or we think it is not doing the job faster enough, or we think it is not doing the job cleanly enough, or we do not like the way it is doing the job.

The Scripture says his power is efficient and great enough to do the job according to the Lord’s instructions. If you are suffering because things are not moving quickly enough for you, or you do not think they are happening at all, just leave it to God because He is going to do it His way. He is not going to take your instructions. He is not going to take your instructions, brethren. Feel free to express yourself to Him. Tell Him how you feel. Speak about your hurts, and your needs, and then let Him do what He will do for you, because anything else might be hindering your own deliverance.

Do not try to control God, because He could take five years out of your life dealing with you to break your control before He starts to answer your needs. This word, working, which we are translating efficiency, is used only of miracle working power in the New Testament. The words, mighty power, is Strong’s #2479 and it is speaking about strength or ability.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:19. This is speaking about the miracle working power of God. And which magnificent power is towards us who believe, which power exceeds man’s power because it has supernatural strength. This magnificent power of Christ is towards us to do good things for those of us who are believing into Christ, those of us whose faith is touching Christ. This miracle working magnificent power is available to us to do the impossible, and it is not against us. It is for us, but sometimes we have problems that the Lord must break down before we can experience good things.

If you are bitter towards God, repent, because He is for us. All of the strength of His kingdom is behind His love for us. All of the miracle working power, and probably a large part of the reason, if not the whole reason that it is taking so long is that you could not bear it. You could not bear the correction if He were to bring it any more quickly in your life, which is dust, brethren. We are just dust. We might break. Our body might break. Our mind might break if He goes too quickly with us. All of His great power, which far exceeds the greatest power known to man is for us. That is exciting. That excites me.

I know my faith has really grown these last few months. The fire has been intensely hot, and my faith is growing. I know He is for me. I know good has to come out of everything that happens. No matter how bad it looks, or how bad it feels at the moment, He is God. All things must work for my good because I love Him. There is peace in that, brethren, not only for me, but for everyone that God has put under my wing. That is not necessarily someone I have taken under my own wing, but everyone God has attached to me, because I have prayed for them, as Paul has prayed for these, good must come unto those people. I do not care what it looks like. I do not care how long it takes. Good must come unto them. Glory to God.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:19. Which magnificent power of God is towards us who believe, which power exceeds man’s power because it has supernatural strength.

Verse 20. This is speaking about the power of God in the King James Bible. When he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. Brethren, this supernatural power of God is able to raise us from the dead. Someone said to me the other day, I do not care about being raised from the dead. I do not care about being a son of God. I just want to be delivered. Well brethren, if you are raised from the dead, that includes any deliverance you could have ever hoped for. It means everything. This power that is towards us, this supernatural power that God is giving to us to work for us, is strong enough to raise us from the dead. What an awesome message.

Verse 20. Which power He wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and after he raised him from the dead, he set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places. The Greek word translated wrought means worked effectually or worked efficiently. The Greek word translated set means to situate or establish. It means He rooted Christ in after He raised him from the dead. He was rooted in, never to die again. Remember Christ, having been raised from the dead dieth no more. This is the imparted anointing. It is a Christ that has roots, which have wrapped themselves around the carnal mind, binding it to Himself.

The words, right hand, are not in the Greek. The Interlinear says, at the right of Him. The right side of God is the side of blessings. The left side of God is the side of judgment. And the Greek word translated heavenly is plural. It is heavenlies. I want to suggest to you that it is speaking about the two heavens or the kingdom of the two heavens. Can anybody tell us the difference between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the two heavens?

COMMENT: The kingdom of God is the mind of Christ, and I am not sure about the two heavens. I guess it is the mind of Christ overriding the carnal mind.

PASTOR VITALE: Yes, the mind of Christ binding up the carnal mind to the point of its paralysis. It is the kingdom of the two heavens operating in you. What that means is your carnal mind is totally not functioning. That was pretty good. Excellent.

Well, it is a new translation of Ephesians 1:20. We are talking about the power which God worked effectively in Christ when He raised him from the dead, and established him, or rooted him down in the blessings which are in the kingdom of the two heavens. We are talking about the power of God that is given to us to raise us from the dead, which we have already seen proven in that He raised Jesus Christ of Nazareth from the dead, and established him by crucifying the Christ mind to the carnal mind.

Verse 21. King James Bible. Setting him up far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name, that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. All means the whole of. Principality is #746 and means the person or thing that commences, the beginning. I want to suggest to you that the beginning is the first Adam. The beginning is the first Adam. In John 1 we find out that the beginning is the Lord Jesus Christ in the form of the first Adam, but in this hour, Adam is fallen. The living soul is fallen, and he is criminal.

When we talk about powers and principalities, we talk about them in the sense of waging war against them, because the fallen Adam has gone out and set up his own base, as we found out in the Book of Zechariah. He set up his own military base from which he is waging war against the living God. Adam, which was the angel of light, has become the arch enemy of God.

Power is Strong’s #1849 is one of the two words translated power in the Greek. It is exousia. It is speaking about authority, and Satan has authority in hell. He is the prince of the power of the air. Might is Strong’s #1411. This is the dunamis miracle working power. I want to suggest to you that it is speaking about the carnal mind. The authority is Satan, and the dunamis miracle working power is in the carnal mind. Dominion is Strong’s #2963 and it means government, one who possesses dominion. I want to suggest to you that this word is referring to the second generation of the carnal mind, just as there is a second generation of Christ. Who is the second generation of Christ? It is us. It is humanity, which is in Christ.

There is a second generation of the carnal mind. That category of people is humanity, which is not in Christ. Their mind is fully the carnal mind being reproduced as the conscious mind of a man. The unconscious mind of the people who are in Christ is the Father, and the conscious mind of humanity in Christ is Christ. The unconscious mind of humanity, which is not in Christ is who? Yes, it is Satan. The conscious mind of humanity, which is not in Christ is the carnal mind. Just as Christ Jesus is the second generation of the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, the carnal mind is the second generation of the spirit of Satan, the manifestations of the carnal mind in human beings as we know them.

Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named. Now we know that names in the Scripture typify spirit. I want to remind you that we have not named the human spirit here. We have named Adam, Satan, the carnal mind, the individual members of the carnal mind. I want to suggest to you that this word name is speaking about the human spirit, every name, the whole of the human spirit that is named. That Greek word translated name means mentioned. I want to suggest to you that it is talking about manifestation. We are talking about criminal spirits here. We are talking about principalities, powers, mights, and dominions. They are criminal spirits. Paul talks about names. I want to suggest to you that he is speaking about the whole of the human spirit, which is married to Satan, that utter reprobate harlot as expressed in Revelation 17.

Paul is saying that He raised up the Lord Jesus Christ above all principalities, above the fallen Adam, above Satan, above the carnal mind, above the second generation of carnal minds, above the individuals, and even above Eve, who is involved in every manifestation of witchcraft that we see in the earth. Every manifestation of witchcraft involves someone’s human spirit joined to Satan. Miracle working power in Christ involves someone’s human spirit joined to the Father or Christ, the Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every name that is named is speaking about the whole human spirit that is manifested in witchcraft, not only in this world, not only in this age, which is the Church age, but also in the age to come, which is the age of the kingdom.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:21. Speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, who is now much higher than fallen Adam, Satan and the two generations of the carnal mind put together. He is even higher than the corporate manifestation of man’s adulterous human spirit, which is being expressed, not only in this age, but in the age to come.

Amplified translation of Ephesians 1:21. Again, speaking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who has been exalted much higher than the carnal mind in full stature, as well as every expression of man’s witchcraft, not only in the Church age, but also in the kingdom age. We see here that even in the kingdom age, there are going to be manifestations of the carnal mind in full stature, and manifestations of human witchcraft. Now, brethren, the ages of man are in the hearts of man. The kingdom of God is the mind of Christ, which is within you. So what this verse 21 is speaking about is believers who have the kingdom of God within them, and next to that kingdom of God is a carnal mind in full stature, and an adulterous human spirit that is still working witchcraft.

The Church age is the age where believers are carnal, and they have the Holy Spirit, and the kingdom age is referring to believers who have the kingdom of God within them, but are still dealing with a carnal mind, and the witchcraft of their own mind.

Verse 22. And the Father has put all things under Christ’s feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church. The concept of feet we have had many times. It is referring to the external apparatus of the spirit. When a spirit stands on the earth, he has to be standing in a human body. We do have a diagram that I think goes with the #78 series showing how the spiritual man is within, and how he walks on the earth through the feet of human beings. So when the Scripture speaks about the feet of Christ, He is speaking about us. He is a Spirit and we are His feet. We are His appearance on the earth. When He appears in us, He is standing on the earth. He speaks through us. He does miracles through us. He is standing on the earth. When He is communicating with us in our mind, He is in heaven. He hath put all things under his feet. That Greek word translated put means subjected. And gave him to be the head over all things to the church.

Alternate Translation of Ephesians 1:22. And Christ has brought all things into subjection to his feet, which are the sons of God. He also gave himself. Jesus Christ of Nazareth, gave himself so that he could be the head of the church. What does that mean? Jesus Christ of Nazareth sacrificed his soul life so that he could become pure Spirit and be the unconscious mind of man, which is the head of the church. The Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is the head of the church. He is our new unconscious mind. He is in heaven. Christ Jesus is on the earth. The Glorified Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ is in heaven. He is our unconscious mind, and Christ Jesus, the only mediator between God and man communicates with the Glorified Jesus Christ and also speaks out of a man, and is the mediator that communicates with men. And has brought all things into subjection to the sons of God, and he gave himself to be the head of the church.

Verse 23. Speaking about the church. Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all. The Greek word translated the fullness is speaking about that which has been filled up, speaking about his body. The Interlinear reads, the fullness of the one, all things with all things filling. That was a very difficult verse. I am going to tell you what the Lord told me it meant. You are free to say yea or nay.

Alternate Translation of verse 23. The church, which is his body, which has been filled up with the substance of God, and is therefore equipped to fill all things. That is what God told me that meant. I had no idea what it meant. I really could not figure it out. Let me read it to you again. Which is his body, the fullness of him, that filleth all in all. Our alternate translation is, which is his body. We are his body. The sons of God, the church, which is his body, which has been filled up with the substance of God. Because his body is filled up with the substance of God, they are therefore equipped to fill all things or all men.

When we are in full stature, when we are filled up with the substance of God, we will have everything we need to fill up everyone who comes to us. I can just give you what I have. I am not in full stature. I cannot give you full stature. But when someone is in full stature, they can give you full stature. I have an imparted anointing. I can give you an imparted anointing. Someone who has an imputed anointing can give you an imputed anointing. You cannot give what you do not have.

Now I have interspersed verses 22 and 23. This is an alternate translation of interspersed verses 22 and 23. And Christ has sacrificed his soul life as Jesus of Nazareth so that he could be the head of the church, which is his body, which has been filled up with the substance of God, and is therefore equipped to fill all men. This is how Christ has brought the whole creation into subjection to the sons of God. I think my tenses are wrong here. I am going to have to go over that. I will say this is how Christ is bringing the whole creation into subjection to the sons of God. How is he doing it?

Jesus Christ of Nazareth gave up his soul life to become a Glorified Spirit. He is our unconscious mind. He is bringing the sons of God to full stature, filling them up with himself, and then the sons of God will have everything they need to raise the rest of the creation from the dead, which will be in stages. First they will give them the Holy Spirit. It is going to be in stages. They are going to have the maxim. Well not the maxim. They will not be glorified, but they are going to be fully equipped to minister to the people of the world.

Alternate Translation, the recap of verses 15 thru 23, and this is Paul praying for the Ephesians now. This is why after hearing that you are expressing the love of God to all men, which is proof that you are believing into the Lord Jesus, I do not stop giving thanks for you, and asking the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of the soul realm, to remember you because of my prayers for you, and to give you the administration of his Spirit, which imparts an ability to learn from your experiences, and understand instruction about spiritual things, which produce a precise and correct knowledge of him.

For this reason, so that the eyes of your mind might be opened, that you might understand, and therefore expect the good things which are in the Father’s invitation, and the wealth of the kingdom of God in the soul realm, which are in the saints. And that you might also understand the magnificence of his power towards us who believe. Which power exceeds man’s power because it has supernatural strength, which supernatural power he worked effectively in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and established him in the blessings which are in the kingdom of the two heavens, which is much higher.

Speaking about the kingdoms of the two heavens, it is much higher than the carnal mind in full stature. It is also much higher, as well as every expression of man’s witchcraft, not only in the church age, but also in the kingdom age, and has sacrificed his soul life as Jesus of Nazareth, so that he could be the head of the church, which is his body, which has been filled up with the substance of God, and is therefore equipped to fill all men. And this is how he is bringing the whole creation into subjection to the sons of God.

I would just like to point out to you in verse 20, what Paul is saying is that the kingdom of heaven is greater than the church age and the kingdom of God. Listen to this. Which supernatural power he worked effectively in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and established him in the blessings which are in the kingdom of the two heavens, which kingdom of two heavens is much higher than the carnal mind in full stature. That is this fallen age, as well as every expression of man’s witchcraft, not only in the church age, but also in the kingdom age. What he is saying is that the kingdom of heaven is greater than the church age and the kingdom of God. As we have studied here, we know that to be true.

Let me just review that. The kingdom of God, the mind of Christ can exist while your carnal mind is still in existence. That makes you a double minded man. But for you to have the kingdom of the two heavens, your carnal mind must be brain dead. It must be in total subjection to the kingdom of God. Therefore the kingdom of heaven is greater than the kingdom age. Does anybody not understand that? Hallelujah. Any questions tonight?

COMMENT: Someone who has received the down deposit, the earnest of God, and does not go on to have Christ formed in them, does that lay the responsibility upon them or is it that God does not choose to move upon them?

PASTOR VITALE: I am still struggling with that. As of today, I am of the opinion that every second of our life is not preplanned by God. There are certain spiritual principles and truths that are planned by God that must come to fruition, must come to fulfillment, but I believe God sees humanity as the nations, and even calls us the nations in Scripture. If you look that word up, more in the Hebrew than the Greek, it means that we are flocks of animals to Him, and He is going into His flock. You see, the one who is chosen is Christ, who is Spirit. He is going into His flock, and He is choosing certain animals from His flock to put His mind into. We are the animals of His flock. We are the herds. If it does not work with one animal, He will just go to another one. That is how I see it on the one hand. Did you understand what I said? Okay.

On the other hand, for purposes that I really do not completely understand, although I may have some idea, but I do not completely understand it, there will be some animals out of His herds that He has made a judgment even before they were born, that this person He is going to appear in. Those people, no matter how many mistakes they make, He will just beat them to a pulp until they come into the image that He wants them into. So the bottom line is that there are some people that He lets walk away from Him, and there are other people that He will not let walk away from Him.

COMMENT: Where does the shame enter in then?

PASTOR VITALE: Shame? Where do you get the word shame?

COMMENT: Shame that someone would be ashamed at His presence.

PASTOR VITALE: Well, to the best of my knowledge, that would refer to the people who have a choice. Some people have a choice. He has called, probably, millions of people in this hour. Some of them are going to want Him, and are going to be willing to pay the price.

Let me say it a different way. These people that He has called are in two categories. People who cannot say no, and a group of people who can say no. The group of people who can say no, what that means is if you walk away, He will let you go. Those people who walk away will be ashamed when the sons of God stand up, and they realize what they walked away from. They will realize how foolish they were, and they will be ashamed.

But there is a group of people that He will not let them go. They are just His, that He ordained them before they were born, and most of these people have had very hard lives, because it is a hard life that drives you to Christ. If you have everything you want in this world, you do not want any part of Him. So the people that were called before the foundation of the earth, pretty much all of them have had terrible lives. Many of them are in the world right now waiting to be fished out by the Lord. That is why, out of the millions of Pharisees in the church world, there are going to be many through whom Christ will not be revealed.

They are in the church every Sunday. There are a category of people that were ordained before the foundation of the earth, large numbers of them out there in the world, involved in all kinds of sin. The people in the church have a choice. I should not have said it that way. I am not feeling well tonight. I am sorry. Let me say that again. The Pharisees in the church that have a choice, not the ones who are called from the foundation of the earth, they have a choice. Most of them are not going to make it, but they think that they have already arrived. Did I answer your question?

There are two categories of sons. Some people He lets walk away. I have seen it. I have seen Him let people walk away. They just go away, and He lets them go. I used to be very frustrated over it because I used to think that something was just really wrong. I could never walk away from Him, not that I ever wanted to, but I know that I could not. Now as the time draws near, I see Him pressing people into His service. That is the Scripture. Go out into the highways and the byways and compel them to come in. No one is coming. No one in their right carnal mind is coming into this walk. (Laughter) You have to be out of your carnal mind to come for this. It is the truth. It is very hard. I want the glory, but to want what you have to go through, no self-respecting carnal minded person would take this. Anybody else?

It gets easier though. Let me encourage you. It gets easier, but for it to get easy, you really have to die. It is getting easier for me because I am so dead to this life, I am so powerless outside of Christ in this world, that I am just giving up and I am saying, Lord, whatever you want, let it be. If you kill me, let me die. If you keep me alive, let me live. Whatever you want. I just cannot fight anymore. In that is peace and prosperity, because He is not going to let me die. He wants me to live, and He has lots and lots of work for me to do, so the peace is in the death of my own self-preservation, if you can understand what I am saying. But I have been through hell for years, and years, and years to get to this point. I just take it. I do not even take it a day at a time anymore. I take it an hour at a time. I just think about what I am doing now, and there is peace in that.

Because I am blessed that I do not have a secular job, when things get very bad, I just spend hours praying and crying out to God. I get through, but I want to tell you, I am in a war. I am in a war. I am not saying you are not in a war. I do not really know how you would describe your own experience, but I am in a battlefield every minute of every day, and much of the time, at night also. I have dreams that I need to interpret and hear from God on. I wake up with all kinds of discernment, knowing what is going on in certain areas. It never stops. I am in a full scale war. I guess that is what they do on the battlefield. You just take it an hour at a time. When you feel you cannot take it anymore, you just cry out to God. It is just the truth.

I know last night I was laying in my bed crying out to God saying, Lord, this has got to break. I cannot take anymore. This has just got to break. I was just trying to fall asleep, just saying that over and over again in my mind, and everything broke. It just broke. I guess it was true. I could not take anymore. It must have been true because everything broke, but not everybody has the time to do what I do. To me this is just another witness to what Paul said. I cannot quote the exact scripture, but he said if you are called to this present distress, which means if you are called to this measure of warfare, it is a full time pursuit, day and night. A lot of the church do not understand that scripture because they do not see it, and they are not experiencing it, but God has to bring you to that place. Not everybody could bear a life like this. I wonder how many of you could bear my life for a month. (Laughter) Who would like to try it? No volunteers? Glory to God.

02/13/13 Transcribed by MJS