The Ages of Spirit

Although we have looked at Acts 2:4 in some detail, there is still much to uncover. You just can't exhaust God's word.

Acts 2:4
And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost [pneuma hagion - holy spirit], and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.

When a word or phrase is first used in the bible, God always gives us special information that carries through to every other usage of that word or phrase. To illustrate this truth, consider this record of Joseph, who had just been summoned from the Egyptian dungeons to interpret two dreams for Pharaoh.

Genesis 41:14-16,28,32
Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh.

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it.

And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.

This is the thing which I have spoken unto Pharaoh: What God is about to do he sheweth unto Pharaoh.

And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh twice; it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.

This is the first occurrence of revelation being given twice, and Joseph told Pharaoh it was because the revelation was established. In other words, there was no way to avoid this famine, it could not be averted. From this we learn that revelation from the true God given twice is established and will come to pass. From this point on, whenever God says something twice, rest assured that the revelation will never change. For example, consider this in Psalms.

Psalm 103:10
He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities.

Here, God states the same thing twice, in two different ways. This is a figure of speech that establishes the truth that God will not deal with us according to our sins. Regardless of anything we have ever done, God has not and will not reward us according to our sins. You can see this beginning with Adam and Eve. God did not reward them for what they did. Instead, he came up with a plan of redemption to get them out of the mess they had made for themselves, and helped them deal with the consequences of their actions. This truth is established and has never changed because God stated it twice. God never deals with us according to our deeds. He will even help us with the consequences of our actions when we mess up. It doesn't matter what it is your guilt is destroying you with, God does not deal with you according to anything you've ever done. Yes, there are consequences for our actions when we do things wrong, but that's just life, that's not God punishing us.

We also learn from this record in Genesis that revelation given just once can change! Consider this account of Isaiah and Hezekiah.

Isaiah 38:1-5
In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the LORD, Set thine house in order: for thou shalt die, and not live.

Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed unto the LORD,

And said, Remember now, O LORD, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in thy sight. And Hezekiah wept sore.

Then came the word of the LORD to Isaiah, saying,

Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.

God told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah he was going to die, and to set his house in order. This wasn't mean of God, as Hezekiah was the king and was looking after God's people, Israel. God simply wanted to ensure Hezekiah took care of business before his death so the kingdom would enjoy a stable political transition to a new king. However, the revelation prompted Hezekiah to change his believing and so the revelation to Isaiah changed.

Here, in a real life situation, we see that revelation given once may change if circumstances change. Revelation given twice, however, is established. This is an important key to walking by the spirit. We learn all this from that first usage in Genesis.

Regarding the first occurrence of the new birth in Acts 2, the initial outpouring of the gift of holy spirit, the first manifestations of the Christ in us, is there anything important recorded? First occurrence always gives us important information. For a start, we can summarise what we learned in the previous session. Speaking in tongues is an overflowing of supernatural power from the spiritual realm into the physical realm. The holy spirit is ours to energise at will and it is something we control at all times. These truths are set here and never change. These truths still apply today and they will continue to apply until Jesus Christ returns to usher in the next administration.

Is there anything else we can learn? How about the fact that all the apostles spoke in tongues? This is important. They all spoke in tongues, not just some of them, and this sets the standard for this administration, the Age of Grace. Everyone who receives the gift of holy spirit in this administration can and should speak in tongues.

I keep mentioning administrations, so I guess this would be a good time to handle the seven administrations, the seven ages, the seven distinct and different time periods in the bible. The Age of Grace, the age in which we now live, is but one of them.

Every country in the world, every nation, every culture, and every civilisation since the dawn of time has gone through changes. Britain has seen changes from prehistory through the Saxons, Normans, Picts, Romans, Celts, Vikings, and others, each bringing with them a different way of life and changes in civilisation. Different peoples have differing laws and customs, and whenever civilisation changes occur, there are changes in culture, law, and life. Even unimportant things like political elections bring changes to law and life. For example, if a president, prime minister, king or queen introduce laws granting human rights to homosexuals, and promote that lifestyle to our children through education and the media, that nation is headed towards extinction. However, if another president, prime minister, king or queen believed God instead of bending over for the jesuits and would reinstate the death penalty for homosexuality and carry it through, life for them and their people would change for the better. The point is, when there are changes in political administrations, there are necessarily changes to life.

Similarly with changes of administration in the bible. There are scriptures in Paul's epistles that contradict scriptures in the old testament. For example, God told Abraham to circumcise himself and all the males in his family.

Genesis 17:10,11
This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.

And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.

Paul, however, contradicts this revelation given to Abraham.

Galatians 5:2-6
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.

For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.

For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith [believing] which worketh [energeō - is energised] by love.

Why do Paul's epistles contradict the old testament? Does this mean the bible is full of contradictions, as many claim? No, it doesn't. Look, both Moses and Paul wrote by revelation what God told them to write, and God doesn't contradict himself. There had been administrational changes and of necessity there were changes in how things were done. When trying to make sense of the bible, we must recognise the administrations in which scriptures were written and apply them accordingly.

When Adam and Eve fell and the devil became the god of this world, there was a civilisation change which brought massive changes to life. Instead of being the lords of the earth, having dominion, authority, and power over everything, man lost his job and the devil was elected into power. The consequences were catastrophic.

Genesis 3:17-19
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;

Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Luke 4:6
And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.

See, there was a change of administration from man being the Lord of the earth to the devil becoming the Lord of the earth. There were different rules before and after the fall of man. This is the first administrational change in the bible, from the Original Paradise to what we call the Patriarchal Administration. There was a change from paradise to an overthrown world, in which man suffered the consequences of death and the devil had the authority to rule the world as he pleased. This is a clear change in administration, with obvious changes to life.

The Patriarchal Administration was set up to keep man safe from the world's new Lord, the devil. Man had died spiritually, he had no spirit, so God could no longer communicate, no longer talk with him. Therefore, God had his word written in the stars so man could know and learn of him. This word in the stars included the plan of redemption about a coming messiah who would defeat the devil and deliver God's people from death. The devil then went to war with man to prevent this redeemer from ever being born.

Revelation 12:4,15-17
And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.

And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood.

And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Make no mistake, we are in a spiritual competition. We have a very real adversary who comes not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy. As we walk according to the revealed word and will of God, we are protected from him, we have God's hedge of protection around us.

In the Patriarchal Administration, God set things up to keep his people protected, and this required communication. As man had died spiritually, this presented enormous communication challenges as all man had left with which to receive information was his five senses. He had no spirit, so he could no longer talk with God. Man was separated from God, cut off from him, so God had to come up with a way to get through, and the only way he could get through was to use primitive methods of communication, like writing his word in the stars, burning bushes and dreams. Spiritually, these archaic methods can be likened to using Morse code, semaphore, or sign language. It was a bit like banging pipes to pass messages between cells in the devil's new world prison order.

When God first spoke to Moses, it was by way of a burning bush. Moses saw a burning bush with his eyes and heard an audible voice with his ears. God talked to Moses by way of primitive phenomenal manifestations because Moses had no spirit and could not communicate with God.

Exodus 3:1-4
Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.

And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt.

And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.

Later on, once Moses had learned a thing or two about spiritual matters, God was able to give him spirit. Other men, like Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and many others are also recorded as having had spirit. So, we know there was some kind of holy spirit available in the old testament after the fall of man. However, there are some striking differences between the spirit which was available in the old testament, and the gift of holy spirit we have today.

One major difference between the two spirits is that in the old testament only a handful of people were given spirit, whereas today in the Grace Administration every born again believer is given spirit. This is remarkable. Another major difference, is that old testament spirit was tailor made and custom built for specific jobs. Joshua, for example, was tasked by Moses to lead God's people into the promised land. To do that, he would need to know how to do it. There were no university courses available at the time on how to take promised lands, so he was stepping into the unknown. He had absolutely no idea what challenges lay ahead of him, or how he would deal with them. He had been Moses' servant for years, so had been trained in spiritual matters. Before his death, God instructed Moses to lay his hands on Joshua, and from that moment, Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom. This is tremendous to understand.

Deuteronomy 34:8,9
And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab thirty days: so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses were ended.

And Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom; for Moses had laid his hands upon him: and the children of Israel hearkened unto him, and did as the LORD commanded Moses.

Another major difference is that there were only seven manifestations available with the old testament spirit, not nine as there are today. Which manifestations do you think Joshua needed? Joshua didn't need word of knowledge, as he already knew what he was supposed to do - take the promised land. Word of knowledge would have been of no value to him or the children of Israel. He needed to know how to take the promised land, so God gave him word of wisdom. The spirit of wisdom, or word of wisdom, is a revelation manifestation which gives you information on what to do in certain situations when you can't know what to do by your five senses. See, old testament spirit was tailor made and custom built for specific jobs so men and women could carry out their spiritual responsibilities.

Another major difference between old testament spirit and the holy spirit we have today, is that you could lose old testament spirit. Saul found that out to his cost when he refused to obey God and David was anointed king in his place.

1 Samuel 15:22,23
And Samuel said [to Saul], Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the LORD, he hath also rejected thee from being king.

1 Samuel 16:13,14
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him [David] in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

But the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the LORD troubled him.

Saul lost the spirit God had given him because he was rebellious, disobedient, arrogant, and stubborn. Whose fault was that? God's? Nope. Saul could have changed and not lost the spirit he was given. We can see that in David's life. David later had Uriah the Hittite, one of his best men, deliberately placed into a dangerous situation during a war where he would be killed. David did that so he could take Uriah's wife who was pregnant with his child. Just as God had sent Samuel the prophet to confront Saul, God sent Nathan the prophet to confront David. However, unlike Saul, David realised what he had done and humbled himself. He even wrote a psalm about this after Nathan had confronted him. Note how David prays that God wouldn't take his spirit away.

Psalm 51:1,2,11
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.

Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.

David asked God to allow him to keep his holy spirit and not take it away. There you go, right from the scriptures, we can see very clearly that old testament spirit was conditional and you could lose it. The holy spirit we are given today is unconditional, and once we have it, once we are born again of God's spirit, we are his children for eternity. The holy spirit we have today in the Grace Administration is unconditional.

As an exciting sideline here, verse 11 of Psalm 51 is that figure of speech when the same thing is stated twice in two different ways. For God to cast David away from his presence would have been to take away the spirit from him. It's the same thing. Without spirit, we cannot enter into God's presence. David knew that, which is why he begged God to allow him to keep his spirit. In this Administration of Grace, it is impossible for God to cast us away from his presence, because the seed with which he impregnated us at the time of the new birth is eternal life. We have a permanent spirit born within us which those in the old testament did not. God can no more take his seed out of us than our earthly father's could take theirs out of us.

Another major difference between old testament spirit and the Christ in us, the gift of holy spirit, is that old testament spirit was measured out, or dished out in varying proportions or amounts.

2 Kings 2:9,10
And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

And he said, Thou hast asked a hard thing: nevertheless, if thou see me when I am taken from thee, it shall be so unto thee; but if not, it shall not be so.

Elisha did see Elijah go, and he did receive twice as much spirit as Elijah had, a double portion. If you count the miracles recorded in the bible that these two men of God performed, Elisha did exactly twice as many as Elijah.

The old testament spirit was tailor made and custom built for specific jobs, it was measured out in differing proportions, and it was conditional. The only man to ever have a full measure of the old testament spirit was Jesus Christ.

John 3:34
For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

John the Baptist by revelation recorded that Jesus Christ was the only human being to ever receive the full measure of the spirit that was available in the old testament. In this Administration of Grace, there are no differing amounts of spirit. We all get the same amount, no one gets more, and no one gets less. We all get the same measure of the spirit, the gift of Christ in us, and we all get everything that's available. No one gets any more than anyone else. We are all blessed with all spiritual blessings. All of us. None of us misses anything.

Ephesians 1:3
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:

Ephesians 4:7
But unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

Another major difference between old testament spirit and what we have today is that each time someone is born again of the gift of holy spirit, it is an entirely new creation, something which has never existed before. Old testament spirit was not. Each one of us in this Age of Grace has something created within us at the time of the new birth which never existed before. It is a new creation, which means every single person who has the gift of holy spirit has something completely and absolutely unique, entirely different from anyone else's holy spirit.

2 Corinthians 5:17
Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature [creation]: old things [former things] are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

We all get the same measure, we can all manifest it the same way, but like earthly children, we are all different. Each one of us is inimitably and distinctively different and special to our father, God. We really are his children, and we're not clones.

So, the gift of holy spirit which we have today is remarkably different from the holy spirit which was available in the old testament. Even the holy spirit Jesus Christ had was different from the holy spirit we have today. It took Jesus Christ's death and resurrection to make the gift of holy spirit available. Without his death and resurrection there would have been no gift of holy spirit and no Grace Administration.

Now we understand old testament spirit a little better, let's return to the Patriarchal Administration, where things were set up to keep man protected from the world's new Lord. God wrote his word in the stars for them, and he also gave old testament spirit to the patriarchs so he could talk to them. A patriarch is a man who rules an entire family, a clan, or tribe. During the Patriarchal Administration, God set things up so his people could get information from him by reading his word written in the stars and also from the patriarchs who had spirit upon them.

Incidentally, Jacob passed his patriarchal responsibilities and his inheritance to his son Joseph, which is why Joseph had spirit upon him and why the devil energised through his brothers to hate him so much they plotted to murder him. When God's people followed the direction of the patriarchs, that kept them protected because God could keep his people informed and wise as to what the devil was up to by talking to the patriarch who had spirit. If the devil had succeeded in having Joseph murdered, God's people could not have been protected because they would have had no patriarch with spirit. God kept his people protected during the Patriarchal Administration by giving old testament spirit to the patriarch and passing information to him to pass on to his people.

Eventually, however, God's people grew into a multitude so large, the Patriarchal system could no longer do the job for which it was designed and a change was necessary. God's people had also lost the knowledge of how to read the word in the stars because parents were not teaching it to their children. So major changes were needed. We can see this in Moses' life. After he had led the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt, we see him up from morning until night judging God's people. He was doing 12 hour shifts every day being the link between God and his people.

Exodus 18:13-16
And it came to pass on the morrow, that Moses sat to judge the people: and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening.

And when Moses' father in law saw all that he did to the people, he said, What is this thing that thou doest to the people? why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even?

And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God:

When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. 

Clearly, the Patriarchal system was no longer adequate and a change was necessary. As God's people had also lost the knowledge of how to read his word in the stars, God had Moses begin writing the bible as we know it today. With Moses there was a change of Administration, from the Patriarchal to what we know as the Law Administration. From that time on, God's people were to follow the law, which was written in the old testament scriptures. God no longer honoured the patriarchal system, and being a patriarch was not an entitlement to any kind of spirit. During the Law Administration, spirit was given where it was needed, whether men were patriarchs or not. God's people had the written word in scripture, which they could refer to for guidance on spiritual matters, and if something came up that was not covered by scripture, they could then go and find a man or woman of God with spirit who would go to God on their behalf for their answers.

Samuel, for example, was not a patriarch, but he was a man of God, a prophet. Saul was searching for some missing animals, and there is nothing in the bible about that. How to find missing animals is not covered in scripture. Saul and his servant searched for them for days and couldn't find them, so additional information was needed.

1 Samuel 9:3-6
And the asses of Kish Saul's father were lost. And Kish said to Saul his son, Take now one of the servants with thee, and arise, go seek the asses.

And he passed through mount Ephraim, and passed through the land of Shalisha, but they found them not: then they passed through the land of Shalim, and there they were not: and he passed through the land of the Benjamites, but they found them not.

And when they were come to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant that was with him, Come, and let us return; lest my father leave caring for the asses, and take thought for us.

And he said unto him, Behold now, there is in this city a man of God, and he is an honourable man; all that he saith cometh surely to pass: now let us go thither; peradventure he can shew us our way that we should go.

Throughout the Law Administration, men and women had spirit upon them to whom God's people could go for spiritual answers and guidance - men and women like Samuel, Nathan, Deborah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, Elisha, and many others. Often there were a few of them at one time, all available with spirit upon them for people to get answers from God.

How long did the Law Administration last? We don't have to guess, the bible tells us. There is no private interpretation in this.

Matthew 11:13
For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.

Luke 16:16a
The law and the prophets were until John:

The Law Administration ended with John the Baptist. Why? Well, Jesus Christ was around, that's why. John the Baptist was the last prophet of the Law Administration. At that time there was another change in administration, from the Law to the Christ Administration.

The Christ Administration, however, ended abruptly as the Judeans had the Romans brutally murder their messiah. After Christ's resurrection from the dead and his ascension, a new Administration was quietly ushered in, the Administration of Grace, the Administration of the Mystery, the age in which we now live.

This Administration of Grace will end with the return of Jesus Christ, as recorded in 1 Thessalonians 4, which event will usher in the Revelation Administration, the time of the wrath, as recorded in the book of Revelation. At that time, the devil will have his one world government and the earth will not be a pleasant world in which to live. Following the Revelation Administration, the final administration will begin, the final Paradise Administration, when everything is put right again and the devil and his spirits are introduced to the lake of fire.

Here are the seven Administrations listed in the bible.

The Original Paradise.
The Patriarchal.
The Law.
The Christ Administration.
The Age of Grace (the Administration of the Mystery).
Revelation.
The Final Paradise.

It is important to realise that with each change of administration, there were changes to life. That is why some things in one administration in the bible seem to contradict other things in other administrations in the bible. When interpreting the bible, we must interpret it with the understanding that with changes in administrations, there were changes in the bible too. For example, in the Law Administration there were over 900 laws. In the Grace Administration we are not obligated to keep all those laws, and that's why Paul gave us different revelation regarding circumcision in this Administration of Grace. Circumcision no longer applies. It isn't a contradiction, it was simply a change in life after a change in administration.

Galatians 5:2
Behold, I Paul say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

Perhaps the biggest change through all these administrations until the present day, is how God spoke with and fellowshipped with man. In the Original Paradise, man had spirit and could talk with God freely. After the fall man had no spirit, so God did his best to give spirit when and where he could to keep communication lines open while his plan of redemption was steadily working towards its fulfilment on the day of Pentecost. The patriarchs kept God's people informed, and when God's people listened to and obeyed the patriarchs, they were protected. Eventually, God's people grew into a multitude so large, the patriarchal system was no longer adequate and there was another change in administration. The Law was not a patriarchal system, and there were men and women of God with spirit upon them available as necessary.

When Jesus Christ was alive during his earthly ministry, God stepped things up another notch and we got to see his word actually living in someone who had the full measure of old testament holy spirit. All these changes had been gearing towards the Age of Grace, which began on the day of Pentecost. In this Age of Grace, everyone who is born again has the full measure of the gift of holy spirit and can talk to God directly themselves. We all have direct and personal access to God every moment of every day. We no longer require patriarchs - or matriarchs for that matter - as Christ is our head, and any information we need that is not covered in the bible we can go directly to God ourselves and get our answers. Men and women of God today are not to go to God on our behalf and run our lives for us, their job is to minister and teach us how to energise and operate the gift of holy spirit for ourselves. They are not there to go to God on our behalf to get us our answers, and God will not energise in broken cisterns that attempt to run things as they were run in the Patriarchal and Law administrations.

The Age of Grace is absolutely not another patriarchal system. That is why God no longer dwells, no longer resides, no longer frequents temples made with hands. We must learn to walk by the spirit for ourselves. As soon as you have councils of men, like a board of directors running an outfit, you are in a temple made with hands and Christ is not your head. These man made systems trick you into believing that God works with them on your behalf. That is a lie because this is not a patriarchal system, and we are no longer in the Law or Christ Administrations either, when that would have been true. God will no longer honour such a system, which is why he told Paul to tell us he no longer lives in temples made with hands.

Since the day of Pentecost, with the dawn of the Grace Administration, things have changed. In this Administration, because of the work Jesus Christ accomplished, the gift of holy spirit has become available to everyone. There is no longer a need to go looking for someone who has spirit in order to get answers from God. We all have it and, therefore, we all have direct access to God ourselves. If we wish an audience with God, we have access directly to him at any time of day or night, wherever we may be.

Romans 5:1,2
Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

By whom also we have access [prosagogē ] by faith [by believing] into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

We all have spirit born within us and it is that spirit that gives each and every one of us direct access to God. Access is the Greek word prosagogē, which means a leading to or bringing to the presence of someone, freedom of access, an introduction. Jesus Christ led us into the presence of God and we now have that introduction and freedom of access. We all have immediate and intimate access directly to God, our Father, by way of the holy spirit within us.

Hebrews 4:16
Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Are we to run off to men to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need? That's not what the bible teaches in this Administration. That was what men and women in the Patriarchal, Law, and Christ Administrations did, but it is absolutely not what we do in this Age of Grace. My job as a minister is not to run your life for you, it is to teach you how to go to God yourself and take responsibility for your own life. To put it in 21st Century language, I don't want to be a patriarch and I thank God I don't have to be. This is how it works - I teach you the word, you take responsibility for your own life, you get your life together with God and learn to walk by the spirit, and then you teach others how to do the same.

One last thing, people today often yearn for those old testament signs and wonders they read about, like burning bushes, dreams, and voices from heaven. They were primitive methods of communication that God was forced to employ because man no longer had spirit and couldn't hear him. Man was spiritually deaf. A burning bush was like God using a torch to send Morse code signals to the earth in the hope someone would see.

In our day, would God work with a primitive Morse code system when there is a state-of-the-art holy spirit communications system in place? The simple answer is, no, except in dire situations of ignorance when there simply wouldn't be any other way to get through. Talking bushes is not one of the manifestations of holy spirit.

Would a modern business rely on carrier pigeons to convey messages rather than use the telephones? Not if they want to remain in business they don't. Burning bushes and other old testament phenomena are gone, replaced by the gift of holy spirit. It is up to us to learn what it is we have and how to use it properly.

Chapter 42 - The Mystery