the marriage of the lamb puts the wife beyond … · puts the wife beyond the times of ignorance...

THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB

PUTS THE WIFE BEYOND THE TIMES

OF IGNORANCE AND CARNAL RITUALS

But Now

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on September 7, 2014

Dawsonville, Georgia U.S.A.

©2014 by Ben Howard

All rights reserved. This book cannot be sold,

nor in any way be used for the soliciting of funds.

All scripture quotations are taken from

the King James Version Bible

Published by the Sound Of Liberty

7286 Hwy 53W, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 U.S.A.

www.SoundofLiberty.org

[email protected]

THE MARRIAGE OF THE LAMB

PUTS THE WIFE BEYOND THE TIMES

OF IGNORANCE AND CARNAL RITUALS

But Now

Good morning to each one of you. Let us be glad and give

thanks to the Lord for His goodness and His mercy that He has

freely bestowed upon us. I’m reading today from the Book of

Acts, Chapter 17. I believe that you will receive something from

the Word today that will be very special to you.

I remember when we were in Mozambique visiting many

towns and villages as I preached to the saints there. We have

enjoyed being with the saints in Africa over the many years. But

there was one particular place in Mozambique called Tete where

I preached a message that we simply titled, But Now. I said in

this message, “God once winked at our ignorance, but now He

commands all men everywhere to repent,” putting the emphasis

on but now. After the meeting, while on our way back to the

hotel, our driver, who was also a minister, was rejoicing in the

Lord. And as we traveled back into the city of Blantyre, Malawi,

where we were staying, every few minutes he would say, “It was

that way, but now. But now it is different!” That message meant

so much to him. This message (But Now) is on our website and

can be heard and viewed there. It was a real good service as the

saints of God worshiped and the Spirit of Lord blessed us. I was

thinking about that meeting this morning as I was reading in

Acts, Chapter 17. So we praise God for His working in a special

way. It brings us to conclude that God is moving in this day as

we rejoice over our marriage to the Lamb of God. We’re not in

the old way; but we’re in a fresh new part of the Word of God,

and we praise Him for it!

2014 The Marriage Of The Lamb Puts The Wife Beyond 2

So today I’m going to take a thought, The Marriage of the Lamb

Puts the Wife Beyond the Times of Ignorance and Carnal Rituals. It’s

by revelation that God has put us beyond the times of ignorance

and carnal rituals. That’s what the marriage does. But sadly

there’s many people today that don’t realize that the marriage of

the Lamb has taken place. They still want to be attached to, and

operate like, some carnal church system. But this message isn’t

attached to a church system. This is for the wife of the Lamb

which is in the earth today. So before approaching the

scriptures, let’s pray and ask the Lord’s blessing upon His Word.

Heavenly Father, we come to you now. We come praising you, Lord,

that your Word will go forth and have free course and will find a

lodging place in every heart where you’ve ordained it to go. And we

thank you for it, in the precious name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

Before reading Acts 17:22-30, I want to summarize what was

going on before Verse 22: There were certain happenings that

began to take place in Berea, and the brethren had to send Paul

away, because the Jews of Thessalonica had received word that

the Word of God was being preached by Paul in Berea, and they

came also and stirred up the people against him. So the brethren

sent Paul away by sea, and they that conducted Paul to a ship

brought him unto Athens, Mars Hill. He was there for only a

short time when he sent for Timothy and Silas asking them to

meet him there. And while waiting for them, his spirit was

stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. He

therefore disputed with the Jews in the synagogues, and with

the devout persons, and in the market daily with those that he

met. Then certain philosophers mocked Paul, as they said,

“What will this babbler say? He seems to be a bringer of strange

gods,” because he preached unto them Jesus, and the

resurrection.—Then here in Verse 22 is where Paul begins his

sermon on Mars Hill. It says, “Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars

Hill, and said, “Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are

too superstitious. Verse 23, “For as I passed by, and beheld your


devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE

UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him

declare I unto you.”

Notice that these people were given strictly over to

superstition. And that’s about the way of the religious world

today; there’s a different altar to every god (modern day

Christianity, denominations). Then Paul goes on to say in Verse

24, “God that made the world and all things therein (He’s telling

about the true God.), seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,

dwelleth not in temples made with hands;” He is the Lord of heaven

and of earth, see. And He doesn’t dwell in temples made with

hands. Solomon built a temple to the Lord God for Israel’s

prayers and their dedication, but it was made known to Solomon

that God doesn’t dwell in temples made with hands. That is, He

doesn’t dwell in buildings made of wood and stone, because our

bodies are the temple of the Lord.

Many people come to church buildings and they think the

building has something to do with meeting with God. But the

building is only a place to get out of the weather; and there is no

holiness in the building. God doesn’t dwell in the building; He

dwells in us, and we in Him. The only temple that will have any

relevancy to it as far as an earthly building is concerned will be

the Jewish temple that will be built in Jerusalem. And that will

be for Jesus Christ and His wife to dwell. His throne and ours

will be there.

In Africa (as well as other places) we have had many meetings

outside. And many times the Lord blessed in a mighty way. I

remember a particular meeting in Malawi where at the end of

the message, while we were praying, many birds came down

amongst us. At the end of the meeting, we could barely hear the

dismissal prayer because of a big bird up in a tree; it was keeping

in tune with the one that was dismissing with its song of praise.

Those birds would fly down (zoom!) right close to us as though

they were putting their approval on our service. We had a good


time and the birds enjoyed service, too. Those were some of our

most enjoyable meetings. So it’s not always in a temple or

church building; it’s having church in your heart. That’s what

Paul was trying to convince to these people—that God doesn’t

need your altars. God doesn’t need all these things because He

dwells in our hearts and not in the rituals of man.

Let’s go a little deeper into his testimony, Verses 25-26 (And I

agree with what Paul is saying in these verses.), “Neither is

worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing

he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;” God doesn’t need

you to fix something beautiful for Him and then say, “God gave

us a beautiful service.” That’s not God’s way of doing things.

“And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the

face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and

the bounds of their habitation;” Another thing that Paul tells the

people of Athens is that God made us all from one blood.

I preached a message in Mchacha, Mozambique, entitled, He

Has Made Of One Blood All Nations, that really brought this out.

It lets us know that in the eyes of God, when it comes to

receiving the gospel, that one nation doesn’t have preeminence

over another nation, but we all need the cleansing power of the

blood of the Lamb.

Verses 27-28, “That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might

feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.

For in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of

your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.” These

people did have one thing right—“we are also His offspring.”

And therefore we now speak on this wise, “In Him we live,

move, and have our being;” not in a temple, not in a religious

school, and not in certain forms and rituals. It’s in the Spirit.

God is a spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in

spirit and in truth.”

Verse 29, “Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God,” Many

times we’ve heard someone say concerning a son or daughter


that resembles the father or mother, “You can tell whose

offspring you are, because you are a chip off the old block.” or

“The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.” Well, Paul is

saying here that we are God’s offspring. And if we are God’s

offspring, then the attributes of God will be in us. He is the

Word. So the Word will be in us. And when the Word is in us,

it’s not just what is written in the Bible (the tree of the knowledge

of good and evil), which is the natural part of the Word, but it’s

the spiritual Word (the tree of life) that is in us. Jesus said, “My

words are Spirit and they’re life.” And we know this truth by

revelation, “The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” So we

are God’s offspring and we have His attributes.

Continuing Verse 29, “we ought not to think that the Godhead is

like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.”

They were making different types of gods and altars and images

to represent their god. Well, I want to say, “Our God doesn’t

need that kind of representation.” God made man in His own

image and in His likeness. And He put His own life, His own

Spirit in us, and by the baptism of the Holy Ghost, which is the

Spirit of God, we are made a part of Him. And the Word says,

“He that is joined unto the Lord is one Spirit.”

So we’ve got His Spirit in us, and we are joined unto Him by

the Spirit. And now the next step after our soul is connected

with God’s Spirit is what happens in Revelation, Chapter 10, as

Christ comes down from heaven. By this transaction God

produces a message to redeem our bodies. This is the spiritual

body of Christ that Paul prophesied about when he said, “For by

one Spirit are we all (all the members of the wife) baptized into one

body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and

have been all made to drink into one Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13)

And by being baptized into the body of Christ, our flesh and

bones are now a part of Christ, which are the saints that Paul

spoke of when he said, “Then we which are alive and remain shall

be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the


air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:17)

Paul spoke of this same event in 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, saying,

“Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all

be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump:

for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,

and we shall be changed.” That is redemption of the bodies of

those ordained to be the wife of the Lamb, of those whose souls

were already redeemed by the receiving of the Holy Ghost. This

transaction of redeeming our bodies is applied only to the wife

at the rapture. All the remaining saints will be resurrected into

their glorified bodies at the beginning of the millennial reign

after the great tribulation period. And this completes the

redemption of all God’s children.

Now we can say that we are bone of His bone and flesh of His

flesh. We are part of Him. That is the reason there’s a people in

this end time that death has no more dominion over; not only in

the spiritual realm, but it has gotten into the flesh and bone part

of us. This has been made a reality to the living part of the wife

of the Lamb only in this hour we are living in, as this light has

set upon Ephesians 5:30 that proclaims, “For we are members of his

body, of his flesh, and of his bones.”

Let’s read on, Verse 30 says, “And the times of this ignorance..”

Many people are still in the times of ignorance, because they try

to use other things to connect with God. We don’t need any

natural works in our connection with God, because that only

hinders, not helps. There are many carnal rituals within the

religious systems in this day—all their graven images, ritualistic

worship, and paraphernalia mean nothing. So when we come

to worship God, we worship Him in spirit and in truth without

regards to the building and altars. That’s the way it works for

us. This is the reason for the title of my message, The Marriage of

the Lamb Puts the Wife Beyond the Times of Ignorance and Carnal

Rituals.


Reading Verse 30 again, “And the times of this ignorance God

winked at;” Now there was a time when the Bible schools served

a good purpose and people were helped as they studied in the

Bible. Many people felt that the more scriptures you could quote

the more spiritual you were. But I have noticed through the

years that those who focused on quoting many scriptures were

among the most ignorant about what the scriptures were saying.

In that day God was working more in the natural realm of the

Word, but now God has moved by revelation and brought it

over into the spiritual realm. What happens is people get the

tree of knowledge, which is the written Word only; not knowing

that it won’t produce without the Spirit of the Word, the tree of

life. Here we have to go back to the Garden of Eden where God

placed two trees (spiritual laws). One of those trees was the tree

of knowledge, which in our day is the natural Word. But

without the tree of life, the tree of knowledge will kill you, “The

day you eat thereof, that day ye shall die.” But the Spirit of the

Word (revelation) is the tree of life. That’s what makes it live.

The Spirit makes this Bible come alive. It makes the letter of the

written scripture come alive to us. And the Word is not

necessarily always written. But once it is written it becomes the

tree of knowledge and it is valuable and it will produce what it

says when it is connected with the tree of life.

Now in the days of Jesus’ earthly walk, His words were life,

the words that He spoke; for He spoke things that weren’t even

written, as did Paul. And when God made a covenant with

Abraham and gave the promise to him and his seed (the children

of Israel), that was unwritten present-tense Word. Then years

later, Jacob and his sons went down into Egypt and they were

there 430 years, and still there was unwritten Word. Then God

led them out with a mighty hand. Think about it; all this time

there was not one scripture written anywhere. But the living

God spoke to them from time to time. (Hebrews 1:1-2) Even

from the beginning in Genesis all the way through; they were


some four thousand years down the road without any written

scripture. So how did the Jews know the Word then? The Word

was spoken Word before the law was given. God moved by the

Spirit, and it was life to them. It was the same way with Jesus

and the new covenant. He said, “My words are Spirit and they

are life.” That was the Word before it became written Word,

which in this day has become the tree of the knowledge of good

and evil.

In the Book of Galatians, Chapter 3, Paul writes about being

under grace and not under the law. And he tells us that the

promise was given to Abraham without the law (written Word).

Then he asked, “What was the law for?” Then he answered the

question by saying that it was given because of transgression

and would last until the seed came to whom the promise was

made. (Galatians 3:17-25) That’s when it ended.

So the children of Israel couldn’t correctly serve God without

a written law. That’s because the natural unconverted people

chose the ways of the world, which was the ways of the devil.

But then God raised up Moses and He gave him the Ten

Commandments and other instructions, which we find in the

first five books of our Bible which covers the period of time

starting with Adam and Eve. Think about it, while they were

without the written Word, the only thing they had was spoken

Word from God and the history which was passed on to them

by word of mouth of what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob said. But

there was no scripture written until the law was given unto

Moses. And when Paul came it was about the same way, no

written Word on how he should lay the foundation for the

Gentile church to be built upon.

It’s very clear that when Jesus came and brought His message,

much of it was unwritten. This was pointing to the very end of

the law age which ended at His death, burial, and resurrection.

Afterwards came Paul with the spoken Word for the Gentiles

(and any of the Jews that would accept his spoken Word


ministry) which engaged them to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2-3)

Then the church fell away from the spoken Word and the

marriage was delayed. Then God took Paul home. A few years

later, much of Paul’s writings were gathered together as the

saints realized that these letters were God’s Word for them; for

in them contained the Word to engage them for the marriage.

This is the Word that became the tree of knowledge for all the

church ages, and the wheat and tares ate of this same Word. The

tares used it to create a carnal church system, which produced

death; while the wheat (God’s children) accepted it by

revelation, which was eating of the tree of life that was in heaven

(in the midst of the paradise of God), and it gave life unto their

soul, although they died physically. But they are now waiting

for the resurrection in our day. This brings us to the end time

when in Revelation, Chapter 10, God sends us the spoken Word

in the form of the little book which ends the church age law for

the wife as the marriage takes place.

So it has become now as it was then. In the day of Jesus’ earthly

ministry the Jews continued in the Law of Moses. And now,

even after God has given us the spoken Word, the church world

continues in the church age law and their rituals. Many things

that Jesus said and did, the religious Jews couldn’t handle,

because they couldn’t find it in the scriptures. But Jesus Christ

was the very Word standing there speaking. See, that is what it

is now. It’s Christ in the earth, the living Word of God amongst

us; and it’s not how much we’ve read or how much we’ve done

this or that. But the Word is Spirit and it is life and the revelation

of what the Word means is in your heart.

We can get carnal knowledge of the Word, but if that is as far

as we go, it will kill. 2 Corinthians 3:6 says, “For the letter killeth,

but it is the Spirit that giveth life.” In Romans, Chapter 7, it talks

about the oldness of the letter and the newness of the Spirit. So

we’ve got both here; the Bible is the oldness of the letter, but that

is not all we need. We’ve got to have the newness of the Spirit


to make it work. And for the wife that is the little book of

Revelation, Chapter 10, revealed unto us by the sounding of this

last trumpet. The little book is brought down from heaven and

given to us by Christ, the Mighty Angel.

The Book of Redemption was sealed away, the whole Bible

was sealed away, waiting for God to open the seven seals and

take from it the little book which was sealed away within it just

waiting to be given to the wife (both dead and living) for the

rapture. This message is like it was with Paul when he said, “I

dare not speak of these things that God has not wrought by me.”

And he began to preach the things that related to his calling of

getting the virgin engaged for the marriage in this day.

I preached a message recently, A Message So Radical That There

Has To Be Another Foundation Laid For It To Sit Upon. Well, the

little book is the tree of life which has come to reveal the tree of

knowledge (which was Paul’s writings) and give its proper place

in the chronicles of the scripture and cause it to live. Because

when Paul received it at the beginning of his ministry, it was life

from God. But then the old enemy got in among the people with

his iniquity and the saints fell from the Word; and the life of the

Word that would make us ‘bone of His bone and flesh of His

flesh’ was picked up and sealed away within the Book of

Redemption until this hour. But Christ came and gave us the

words of this life, and we ate it; therefore the enemy can’t get to

this life which is now in the wife, because we have been baptized

into Christ. Satan can’t get inside the body of Christ.

So in our text verse, Paul was telling them, “We’re past the

time of ignorance.” And now that’s what I’m telling you in this

message. Verse 30, “and the times of this ignorance God winked at;

but now (see, that’s the change) commandeth all men every where

to repent:” See the, but now. It was then similar to our day of

these denominational systems. Coming through the church ages

there were, and are now, many different rituals. But, thank God,

He gave them Jesus Christ who walked among them as High


Priest during that time and made intercession for them, which

was represented by the taking of the bread and wine which they

referred to as the Lord’s Supper or communion, which was

showing the cleansing mercy of the blood of Jesus Christ during

that past age.

We find this transaction taking place in the first three chapters

of the Book of Revelation. Those chapters show seven church

ages, and in the very first church age the Word came forth,

“Thou art fallen; you’ve left your first love.” And so God

provided a way to work among the fallen church and bring them

through that time period. It became necessary for them to have

some natural ordinances to help them to have an understanding

of the mercy of God on them which served to keep the

knowledge of the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for them on

Calvary fresh in their minds. Also during those dreadful days

of coming through the dark church ages, God let them see the

city of New Jerusalem and heaven as a blissful country that they

would go to if they endured and overcame the devil and all the

hardship of those troublous times. That’s a picture of God’s

grace and mercy.

So the gospel that God gave them was just to survive on, and

He sent messenger’s to proclaim it to them; known in the

scripture as the church ages. All these things they had to come

through. But now. But now we’ve passed that till of Ephesians

4:13. That’s when we became married, and now we are beyond

these rituals. We’re beyond the ignorance of having a certain

church order. Paul wrote in the Book of Ephesians of this time

of perfection (It was his first letter written from prison.). This

book was sent to the Church of Ephesus and it was also sent to

the Church of Laodicea. Ephesus being the first church age and

Laodicea being the last. Notice, it was sent to both. And in the

Book of Ephesians you’ll not find any church order whatsoever.

That’s where it tells us that there is a marriage to take place.

That’s where it tells us that we become bone of His bone and


flesh of His flesh. That’s where it tells us that we become the

fullness of the stature of the man Christ Jesus. And that’s where

it tells us that there is one baptism. It cuts out all the baptisms

but one, and that is our baptism into the body of Christ.

(Ephesians 4:5)

God once winked at our ignorance and there were certain

rituals (such as join the church) that people went through; and it

was necessary because they were still in the fleshly realm. And

even now we are asked, “What church do you belong to?” Well,

I belong to Christ. We are Christ, the anointed Word. We belong

to the Lord Jesus Christ. And if we belonged to a church we

couldn’t belong to Him, not in the realm of being married to

Him. Because you have grown away from needing church

rituals to keep your conscience alive to Christ. You are one with

Him. He is your very life. It’s Christ in us the hope of glory! We

are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. We have been

translated by the Spirit of God into the Kingdom of God. So

we’re translated out of this world. And if we are still living in

this world (I’m speaking here about the customs of the world

and the way the world lives) then we are not in Christ. All

you’ve got to do is read the Book of John, Chapter 17, to see that.

Jesus prayed to God to take the world out of us. He said, “I pray

that you’ll not take them out of the world.” In other words, “I

pray that you won’t take them out of the world but you will take

the world out of them.” And through this last trumpet message

God has explained the full Word to us, the part that relates to

the wife of the Lamb.

I am so happy for the Book of Revelation and for the fact that

God saw fit to include it in the Holy Bible to preserve it for us.

There are so many things that we never would have known

without it. One of the things that really stands out to me is about

the tribulation saints. We never would have known that those

saints won’t make the rapture but will have their place in the

Kingdom of God as is shown in Chapter 7.


Here I’m talking about those that are born again; and yet many

of them are in some church system and will be there until they

are called out by the 144,000 Jews whose ministry starts in the

last half of the 70th Week of Daniel. This is seen in Revelation,

Chapters 14 and 18. They are the ones that miss the rapture

because they were not part of the high calling of God in Christ

Jesus. But we are already translated into the body of Christ, even

before the rapture, as seen in Colossians 1:13. For the trumpet

sounded forth and it was said, “Take the little book, and eat it

up.” And yes, it was bitter on our stomachs, because we had to

change our ways; unlike the many people that are so stuck in

some kind of religious order that you couldn’t pry them out with

a crowbar. But I am telling you, God is moving by His Spirit,

leading a people and guiding a people; and it’s not like church

services where in days gone by that God once winked at our

ignorance—but now!

See, in times of this ignorance some thought they were so

smart. In 1 Corinthians 1:26-31, it tells about the true wisdom of

God, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men

after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: But God

hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and

God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things

which are mighty; And the base things of the world, and things which

are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring

to naught things that are: That no flesh should glory in his presence.

But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom,

and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: That according

as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.” You can’t

even know these things except the Holy Ghost teaches you. (1

Corinthians 2:13) It takes the Spirit. We have got to give

ourselves wholly over to Christ; that’s the spiritual realm. This

is the way we have to think. This has to be the way we live. This

has to be what we are all about. It can’t be just thinking about

the natural things. Yes, we have got to make a living in the


natural. I’m not talking about that. But while we are making a

living we can be praising God!

The Mighty Angel has now come and given us the little book

and baptized us into His body. I tell you, this thing is real! It

has become a part of us. When the Holy Ghost dispensation

came to an end (the revival part), many people died with that

revival and they went right back to the world to live after its

customs.

In the past, I’ve preached in Pentecostal churches where the

sisters wore long dresses, not necessarily down to their ankles,

but modest and respectable. They had long hair; they wouldn’t

have dared to cut it off short. Their faces were not painted up.

They shouted and talked in tongues and they rejoiced in the

Lord. But when the Holy Ghost dispensation passed on (I’m

speaking of them having only the first leg of the spiritual coming

of Christ) they went right back to the world – showing that all

they had was an anointing. Yes, it was that anointing causing

them to shout. It was that anointing causing them to sing. But

way down on the inside of the inside there wasn’t something

saying, “Go on. Take the next step.” And that next step was—

God sent a message, “Come out of her My people; be not

partakers of her sins.” There were ten virgins; five wise and five

foolish. Yes, many of the virgins were foolish and didn’t

continue to walk on in the newly revealed Word. But the wise

continued to walk with the revelation of the Word as God had

revealed it, and they went into the marriage. That’s Matthew,

Chapter 25, where it says, “The marriage came and they that

were ready went in;” not in the rapture at this time, but into

Christ, as the wife of the Lamb. And to them all the world is

shut out; and they don’t care about the customs of the world or

living after the manner of the world.

So before our marriage, God once winked at our ignorance; but

we gladly move on with the Word just as He commandeth us.

Paul said in his day, “But now commandeth all men every where to


repent:” The wife realizes she can’t be careless. We don’t talk

careless. We don’t talk negative about one another. If someone

does, that just means that they are not a part of the wife, and

there is something bad wrong down inside with their spirit.

We’ve got to be led by the Spirit of God. Yes, it has to be on the

inside of the inside of the inside. David said, “The deep calleth

unto the deep at the sound of thy waterspout.” That’s what is in

us. If there is a seed in us, God will quicken that seed. And

when we get a hold of something from God we just won’t let go;

we just can’t turn it loose! Then that’s real. But the Bible talks

about false Christ’s. (Matthew 24:24) Christ means anointing.

So there are false anointed ones and to them their anointing is

real, as they have that diluted spirit that Cain had in him, being

part animal and part human. This created within him a hybrid

seed, and his spirit was part of that breeding. Now that brings

forth a spirit that is not a pure human spirit and it’s not a pure

beastly spirit. It’s diluted enough that it can be sanctimonious

and worship God.

Paul spoke on this matter in the Book of Colossians 2:14-19,

and told us that Christ spoiled all powers and principalities

(that’s the spirits that are not pure). This is the same spirit that

Balaam and all the other false prophets throughout time had,

starting with Lucifer before mankind was on earth. Jesus spoke

of this spirit in Matthew 24:24, saying, “For there shall arise false

Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders;

insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.” So

you can see that this message of the trump of God puts the wife

with the knowledge beyond the times of ignorance and carnal

rituals, because we are in the body of Christ.

Now I want to read in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 11, and I’ll pick

up with Verse 2. Paul is talking to the Corinthians, the same

group as those in 1 Corinthians. He is writing back again to

them. He says, “For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I

have espoused (engaged) you to one husband (That’s Christ; I have


got you engaged to Christ.), that I may present you as a chaste virgin

to Christ.” Paul had a gospel that would undo the lives that were

deep in sin and make them virgins to Christ. Paul had a gospel

that he could say about them that were morally defiled and

certainly not virgins, “Such were some of you.” (1 Corinthians

6:9-11) And that means that they were not virgins in the past,

but Christ Jesus the great un-doer undid their troubled lives for

them, and they had become virgins by accepting the gospel that

Paul preached. (The marriage of the Lamb has brought the wife

to the place where God undid everything in her life that was

contrary to the perfect spiritual plan of God for His Son’s wife.

But now she has moved beyond being a virgin to being a wife.)

Verse 3, “But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve

through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the

simplicity that is in Christ.” This gospel is not complicated. It just

takes a revelation to understand that the serpent corrupted the

minds of the virgins in Paul’s day, just as he did Eve’s mind. But

once married to Adam she could never stray again. So has it

been with the living virgin that has become the wife of the Lamb,

because we’re not tossed to and fro after our marriage to our one

and only love, our Husband and King, the Lord Jesus Christ.

And now He has made us a part of the Godhead.

Let’s go from here to Ephesians, Chapter 4. I want to begin

reading in Verse 11. And keep in mind that by this time we have

passed beyond the time of having this ministry outside the body.

This same ministry is now on the inside of the body of Christ. I

want to begin reading Verse 11 where Paul tells about the

ministry. “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some,

evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the

saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of

Christ:” God has put all that ministry that was in the outer realm

inside the body. And while it was outside, Paul said, “Obey

them that have rule over you; these things I command you.” But


inside the body it is Christ; everybody has got the same mind.

We’re beyond that till of Ephesians 4:13.

Watch Verse 13, (This is the way it is after the till.) “Till we all

come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God,

(watch) unto a perfect man (we express Jesus Christ perfectly),

unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ:” Now, do

you want to see Christ? Look at us. Someone may say, “I want

to see the man Christ Jesus.” Well, look at us again, because we

have reached the full knowledge of Jesus Christ and come to the

full stature of the man Christ Jesus. This happened when we

passed that till. This means we have come to the place beyond

engagement, to the place of being married to Him. Because in

the very next chapter, Ephesians 5:30-32 Paul is referring to

Adam and Eve and tells us that we have become bone of His

bone and flesh of His flesh. Yes, we are made out of the same

Word that Jesus Christ was made from. And when this

happened we became Christ the wife.

See, up to Verse 12 we were virgins. But once we get to Verse

13 we are no longer virgins, we are His wife. And after this came

into fulfillment, we fulfilled Verse 14, “That we henceforth be no

more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of

doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they

lie in wait to deceive;” See, “that we henceforth,” notice that. Now

we can say as Paul did, “From henceforth let no man trouble me

(us).” Verse 15 says, (here’s what we do) “But speaking the truth

in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even

Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted

by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working

in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the

edifying of itself in love.” That’s what we are doing to one another;

we are edifying one another. We will never pull down. We will

never talk against another member. We are not like the religious

people of today. I know that some of them say, “This ole sister

did this,” or “That ole brother did that.” People in the religious


world are known for their backstabbing and talking negative of

one another for the sake of conversation. But thanks be to God

who has eliminated that from the body of Christ, we stay right

with God’s Word. We are far beyond that, beyond being

ignorant, beyond rituals, beyond water baptism, beyond taking

communion, beyond foot washing. We’ve been married to the

Lord Jesus Christ. We’ve become the wife of the Lamb, the very

Christ in the earth. Amen. God bless you today.

Heavenly Father, we just thank you today for this opportunity thou

hast given us to meet together in this building, and not just in a

building, [but inside the house, just as the disciples followed you inside

the house] one more time this side of the rapture. And, Lord, I just

thank you, for your servant Paul; for he not only told them what fallen

mankind was, but he told them how to get out of the situation. He said,

“For you were that, but now you’re cleansed, you’re washed.” O God,

I pray that whatever situation your wife finds herself in, and all those

that are yet to be a part of the wife finds themselves in, Lord, that they’ll

know that there’s a way to be sanctified, to be washed, to be justified,

and to come forth as pure gold. O God, help us all to do thy will. We

pray in Jesus Christ’s name.


AUDIO/VIDEO SERMONS AND BOOKS

All sermons by Brother Ben Howard are recorded on Cassette

tape, CD's, DVD's, and Mp3 formats. Also, there is a collection

of published books that are available for download or by request

as well. Please feel free to visit us at our website often as new

materials are constantly being added, or write to our postal

address below.

Sound Of Liberty

7286 Hwy 53W, Dawsonville, Georgia 30534 U.S.A.

www.SoundOfLiberty.org

[email protected]

the marriage of the lamb puts the wife beyond … · puts the wife beyond the times of ignorance...

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