persecution of the Bride of Jesus
Christ. Many are being led to ask
the question, how do I know the true
Bride of Christ? Will the true Church
please stand up?
As a Banker, I was taught that to
rightly identify a forgery I must first
study the genuine note well so that
the false would be easily seen. I
find that this principle is also true in
looking at things in the spirit. If we
know the truth, inside out, when the
false turns up its easily detected.
Identifying The Bride
Firstly, she is Jesus’s bride; “I will
show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s
wife.” (Rev. 21:96) Jesus further
teaches in Matt. 16:18 “And upon
this rock I will build my Church..”
It is His Church, not an institution,
system of rules or organization. It is
a body, born to be Jesus’s Bride, His
wife. The Church’s chief function is to
love Jesus. We are Jesus’s people.
Jesus didn’t give birth to another
religious system He had that in
Judaism. Christianity is fellowshipping
with Christ our beloved and Him with
us until the marriage feast. The Bride
is in waiting and whilst she waits she
is ministered to by the Holy Spirit,
matured and made ready to be
equally yoked to her lover - Jesus.
Eph. 4:10-11
Her role is to occupy till He returns;
she only has eyes for Him, she rules
over His business, she walks in His
delegated authority, she models and
represents Him not herself. She is
a virgin, she keeps herself pure for
Him and worships Him alone. Her
lamp is trimmed and full of oil as she
purposefully waits on her Groom.
This Church is powerful and will be
persecuted. She is Christ centered,
radically faithful, she rejects the
institutions of men and their religious
systems designed to block the free
flowing Spirit of God to her.
We have relegated the Bride to a
Church service, a day of worship,
this is not the true Bride. She is the
visible representation of Christ in
the earth as Jesus was the visible
image (representation) of the Father
in the Earth so are we for Christ. The
best and finest example I can use to
represent the Church of Jesus is the
story of Mary who anointed His feet,
St. John 12:3-8. Her actions reveal the
heart of the true Bride. She lavished all
that she had on Jesus, her ointment of
spikenard and when she was done she
used her glory (her hair) to wipe His
feet. Her posture drew criticism and
indignation. She was called wasteful
and history has not been kind to her.
However, Jesus came to her defense,
“Let her alone…” John 12:7. Her
actions changed the atmosphere.
In a room full of people she was the
closest to Him, ministering to Him,
that was her purpose, that’s what
gave her fulfilment. She is a picture of
the true Bride.
The Harlot
Revelations 17:3-18, Reveals the
counterfeit bride. She is described as
a harlot. Verse 3 “And I saw a woman
sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full
of names of blasphemy...”
John called her a woman, however
in the middle Eastern context, she is
understood to be a divorcee, or one
who broke a covenant. She seems to
have all the outer covering of the true
Bride. (Rev. 21:9-13) the similarities are
stark (Rev. 17:4) “And the woman was
arrayed in purple and scarlet colour
decked with gold and precious
stones and pearls...”
I don’t only believe she is a false
Church/Bride, I believe she was once
a follower or seeker of the truth, one
who was joined to Him; and just like
Gomer, Hosea’s wife, she joined
herself to others and despised her
husband for other lovers. She looks
like the real bride because she too
has been around Jesus. However,
instead of desiring intimacy with
God, she craves her own worship.
So instead of intimacy she forms an
institution ‘called the Church.’ Her
tool for worship is religion. Religion
is defined as man’s attempt to know
God. She mimics the true Church, by
her worship, her colours, her structure,
her love affairs but unlike the true
Bride’s love for Jesus she prostitutes
herself to power, she fornicates with
kings, as stated in Revelations 9-14.
These kings have one purpose, to
make war with the Lamb.
She is against the true Bride, in fact
she is the instigator of the Bride’s
persecution. The Harlot is a people
who have Church programmes
without Jesus’s Spirit. A love for the
things of God without a passion for
holiness. She will take a stand on
natural issues but compromise on the
truth of Jesus’ revelation.
The Harlot is seen as a horror in the
realm of the spirit but is a wonder
in the eyes of men. The beauty of
Babylon and it’s hanging gardens
is one of the seven wonders of the
world. John said in Rev. 17:6b “..and
when I saw her I wondered with
great admiration.” That Angel had
to ask John why did he marvel? We
must not be deceived by her beauty
or goodness in the natural because
she will become drunken with the
blood of the saints. Her attraction
is the same as it was for the tree of
the knowledge of good and evil.
Remember, in the book of Daniel, the
sons of God were taught the ways
of the Babylonians, their kingdom
philosophy is to capture and cause
the captives to be assimilated and
become like them.
We must resist the counterfeit
Church and her agenda. We must
call her what she is - a whore and
abomination of the earth.
January - March 2018
Continued on pg 32
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