The following paragraph must be believed without exception. Otherwise this series will be meaningless to the reader.

In His statements relative to the Very Elect’s relationship with the Godhead, Jesus made no distinction between the Godhead and the saint in terms of being IN and ONE WITH one another. THE TRUE SAINT IS IN AND ONE WITH GOD AND CHRIST IN THE SAME WAY THAT GOD AND CHRIST ARE IN AND ONE WITH EACH OTHER. THE ONLY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN GODHEAD AND SAINT IS THAT THE SAINT MUST EARN HIS WAY ONTO THE TEAM, AND ONCE ACCEPTED, HE IS ON A LESSER, SUBSERVIENT LEVEL, BEING TOTALLY DEPENDANT ON THE GODHEAD. The saint is, nevertheless, a member of a “trinity” (my word) consisting of God, Christ and himself. With this in mind, let us recall some of the things Jesus did while on earth. First, foremost and of most importance, He obeyed the Father without fail. Because of His obedience He was empowered by the Father to walk on water, raise the dead, heal the sick, cast out demons en masse, multiply food en masse, read people’s minds, tell a woman how many ex-husbands she had, kill a tree by speaking to it, control nature, etc. HE DID THESE THINGS AS A MAN LIKE ALL OTHER MEN. So what do these Truths have to do with you and me? He tells us in John 14:12 where He promised that WHOSOEVER BELIEVED ON HIM WOULD DO NOT ONLY THOSE WORKS, BUT WOULD DO EVEN GREATER WORKS. The key is in the word “believe.” Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin had plans to be priests. They “believed” in God, as does Satan, along with every drunk, prostitute, gang member and church member, many of whom wear crosses around their necks, have fish symbols on their cars, go to church and quote Scripture. THESE PEOPLE BELIEVE IN JESUS. Are such BELIEVERS eligible for “trinity” membership? The Apostle James, writing under the power of the Holy Spirit, answered the question by stating that FAITH (BELIEF) WITHOUT WORKS (OBEDIENCE TO GOD’S WORD) IS DEAD FAITH (Jam 2:14,17,28,20). In that we live by faith, and faith comes from the Word of God (Rom. 10:17/Mat. 4:4), if our faith is dead (believing but not obeying), then we are spiritually dead. God’s promises are not given to the spiritually dead.

Biblical faith (belief) in Jesus means that one believes every Word written in the Law (Genesis to Revelation) and obeys it. Faith without obedience=dead faith=dead believer who is not eligible to receive God’s promises, including salvation. To be in and one with the Godhead, one must walk as Jesus walked as a man (1 Jn. 2:6) and be as pure as He was and is pure (1 Jn. 3:3). Practically no one believes this Bible Truth, and the few who do believe it reject it because they are supposedly “saved” and therefore not obligated to obey that Truth. This is why Jesus said that only a few would qualify to join Him in paradise (Mat. 7:13,14/Rev. 3:21).

Concerning the part the Old Testament plays in the New Covenant Church, recall that both the prophets and the apostles performed some of the same miracles that Jesus performed. Though the acts they performed were miraculous, they come nowhere near fulfilling the John 14:12 promise. During these final days of the world’s existence those whom God has called to do His end-time work will fulfill Christ’s John 14:12 prophecy. Recall that only about ten percent of His time on earth was spent in ministry, and that His ministry took place only during His final three and one-half years . TIMING IS OF ULTIMATE IMPORTANCE IN GOD’S PLAN. This world will be astonished by what He is about to do on this earth through His ministers during the time leading up to the terror at the end of the age. After their work is done, He will take His people to their “place of safety” to wait out the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord. With His church safely secured in “her place,” He will send two men (“witnesses”) to preach to the world’s inhabitants throughout the following 3 1/2 years of terror. Their ministry is described in Revelation 11:3-10.

I believe that God has reserved the “greater works” mentioned in John 14:12 for the end of the age so that the world’s inhabitants can witness the events via the internet, t.v., etc. I also believe that we are the generation that will be alive during that age and will see the coming of the Lord to gather His true saints to Himself. Following the congregating of His church, He will lead them to the Holy Land where they will help Him establish the Kingdom of God. See The Kingdom of God. L.J.