Click Here For Christian Media's First Video Channel

Christian Media

Communiqué

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

Part III

In our last installment of the present work, we briefly touched on the fact that literal events in the Old Covenant have a predictive dimension anticipating a Spiritual fulfillment in the New Covenant. Moreover, these circumstances typically resemble an earthly event that occurred under the Old Covenant, which is predictive of New Testament era heavenly events.

In other words, the earthly cycle is paralleled in a heavenly cycle, and this is yet another aspect of the Great Exchange. Furthermore, in transitioning from the Old Covenant between God and man, and entering into the New Covenant in JESUS CHRIST, the Scriptures consistently indicate a clear departure from the original position is necessary.

In the Old Testament, the Word of God teaches us the concept of an exchange of positions is directly related to the idea of a separation from a previous position, in order to adopt the emerging paradigm.

To rephrase that thought, when the Exodus occurred, and the Israelites escaped their lengthy bondage to the Egyptians, once they arrived in the "wilderness," the slavery they previously experienced no longer existed.

In short, they were still Israelites, but they were no longer Israelite slaves.

It should be obvious that a people who were born into slavery would have many residual elements, carried over from their former lives, well after the time in which they were freed. This is related to the very real fact that long after being liberated from the bondage of a sinful flesh and blood existence, just about every person who is under the New Covenant in Jesus Christ has reverted to their former ways at one time or another. In the Spiritual parallel, the phenomenon is colloquially referred to as backsliding.

"Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou has forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord God of hosts" (Jeremiah 2:19).

In prior expositions, Christian Media's work has highlighted many verses which obviously state the fact that prophecy is multi-dimensional. For instance, the Apostle Paul's epic statement, in which he pointedly associates well known, historic events pertaining to Israel, it comes through louad and clear that these circumstances were foreshadowing New Testament Christian prophecy.  

"Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come" (I Corinthians 10:11).

Few believers recognize this prophetic principle goes much further than is generally thought. For instance, the same letter to the Corinthian Christians (which tells us the things that happened to Old Testament Israel are futuristic outlines of things which will happen to New Testament Israel), uses figures of speech which can be allegorically identified as earthly versus heavenly things.

The Apostle Paul associates the earthly with physical things, pointedly telling us the physical realm is the "shadow," which prefigures the "substance" of eternity in Christ. The book of Hebrews tells us the same thing that Paul wrote to the Corinthians, as we learn the laws of Moses, the priesthood, and even the temple are physical representations of the reality in the heavenlies.

"[All these things] serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount" (Hebrews 8:5).

Since Corinthians tells us that "all these things" occurred as examples for the Christians, it is self evident that this would include Old Testament conditions, such as the bondage associated with the Israelites when they were held in the grip of slavery, and they were forced to build bricks for the Pharaoh.

"And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour…And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom, and Ramses" (Exodus 1:13, 11).

When the LORD spoke to Moses, the ancient sage was instructed to tell the Pharaoh that God wanted the Hebrews to travel three days into the wilderness to worship him. Obviously, the Egyptian king refused, and the chain of events leading to the Exodus was inaugurated.

Thus, the juxtaposition between a city (associated with slave labor) and the wilderness (where God can be freely worshiped) was established, with the "wilderness" related to Spiritual freedom -- as that was the place where God, who is a Spirit, ordained that He be worshiped.

"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24).

The Word of God clearly communicates that the "city" was related to the place where the bondage of servitude was seen, so the LORD was sharply contrasting the "city" with the freedom which would be found in the "wilderness."

When the Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites as demanded by the LORD through Moses, the plagues which fell on Egypt began. As the judgments progressively intensified, the Pharaoh sought to offer a compromise, in order to blur the distinction between a city and the wilderness.

"And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land" (Exodus 8:25).

The LORD prompted Moses to refuse, as the principle of separation from the ways of the world was being established in this ancient account. As the plagues sent by the LORD upon Egypt gradually made life in Egypt less and less appealing, God was steadily coercing the Pharaoh (who symbolizes our flesh and blood existence, as well as the world system), into releasing the LORD's people.

After Moses refused to agree to sacrifice to the LORD "in the land," the Pharaoh tried again, and sought another compromise with the Israelites.

"And Pharaoh said, I will let you go, that ye may sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness: only ye shall not go very far away" (Exodus 8:29).

Without a doubt, in these events the LORD is communicating that compromise with the ways of the world is the very component which will ultimately corrode the faith of the saints.

"What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?"

"And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you" (II Corinthians 6:14-17).

By the time the Pharaoh sought to offer the fourth in a series of proposed compromises to the Israelites, the futility of resisting the LORD 's will was apparent, as Egypt was thoroughly devastated from the plagues which had fallen on the land.

The rivers and fresh water tributaries had turned to blood, an unpredented plague of frogs had "covered the land of Egypt" (Exodus 8:6), "the dust of the earth" had been transformed into lice, and a massive swarm of flies disgustingly corrupted "the land" of Egypt.

As the steadily escalating progression of the plagues brought death and destruction to the people (and even the livestock), the Pharaoh continually offered compromises – ultimately reneging on every promise he made to Moses.

"And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go" (Exodus 8:32).

However, in spite of the fact that Pharaoh sought to reach a middle ground with Moses and the Israelites, the LORD firmly indicated He desired a decisive separation between His chosen, and the people of the Pharaoh.

"I will sever in that day the land of Goshen, in which my people dwell…to the end thou mayest know that I am the LORD in the midst of the earth. And I will put a division between my people and [Pharaoh's] people" (Exodus 8:22, 23).

As the LORD continued the contest with Pharaoh in which He demonstrated His sovereignty over Egypt (as well as the entire world), the Pharaoh offered his third compromise.

"And Moses and Aaron were brought again unto Pharaoh: and he said unto them, Go, serve the LORD your God: but who are they that shall go?" (Exodus 10:8).

With this effort, it is apparent the desperate Pharaoh still sought to salvage some degree of control over portions of the Israelites. Moses indicated that all Israel would leave Egypt:

"We will go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with our flocks and with our herds will we go; for we must hold a feast unto the LORD" (Exodus 10:9).

We note the divinely ordained symmetry prophetically embedded in this statement, as six categories of creation are mentioned – young, old, sons, daughters, flocks, and herds – with the seventh category another mention of the LORD.

In the final compromise proposed by the Pharaoh, he tells Moses he will finally let Israel go, but suggests they leave their livestock in Egypt.

It should be readily apparent that this sequence prefigures a progressive Spiritual compromise which consistently confronts Christians, as the Spirit of the age always seeks to seduce the believer into embracing even a germ of the idea that we can participate in the world's pleasures, and still sustain the course to our destination in heaven.

However, the various compromises offered by Pharaoh were offered to the body of Israel as a whole, as opposed to individual inducements. Thus, a more precise prophetic parallel would be realized in offers of benefits issued by the governing powers to the collective body of believers.

One would be hard pressed to find a more exact fulfillment of this pattern than the alleged benefit of tax deductibility bestowed upon churches by the IRS, in exchange for agreeing to restrict certain aspects of Christian ministry activities – notably involvement in political power.

In what has now become a shameful development, the American government convinced the vast majority of churches in the USA that registering their organizations under a statute referred to as the 501c(3) classification would ensure their ministries would automatically be tax exempt. The tactic further codified tax deductibility for donations to the church, and the churches went for the bargain like a hog goes to garbage.  

As anyone with an ounce of sense knows, government demands (particularly in the exaction of taxes), start small and continue to grow until they reach excessive proportions.

Few believers are aware that religious tax exemption is now available to any form of religion, whereas in generations past, it was the Christian churches the government encouraged, because they facilitated the righteous fire that was instilled in the people, and this process benefitted the nation in countless ways.  

However, over the years, the circumstances have been radically altered, and the values of the people have been drastically changed. Most are unaware of the fact the record shows the IRS has a secretive wicked internal faction that is quietly steering the monstrosity in the direction of a universalist, Antichristian worldview.

Worse yet, most believers are so weary of the onslaught of legislative tyranny they don't even want to know the IRS has actually granted non profit "church" status to a Satanic temple that has organized the After School  Satan Club, a nationwide outreach of Satanism that is now targeting elementary school children for devil worship.

Every church in America that has voluntarily submitted themselves to the regulatory authority found in the non-profit category of the 501c(3), shares the collective guilt for participating in this abomination of desolation – an apostasy that benefits "Christian" churches whose silence has been purchased on the altar of fiscal expediency.  

Christian churches are virtually all incorporated, and few believers understand that a corporation is legally classified as an artificial person – with the very word corporation derived from the Latin corpus – where we get our word corpse. The creator of all corporations is the government itself, and it is a fact the party that creates a person (artificial or not), is its god.

To put it another way, the "head" of the incorporated churches is the beast government, and the sad truth is the Scriptural pattern wherein Israel eventually turned away from the LORD to follow "Baal" – a spirit embraced by the ancient Israelite government – is paralleled in the collective churches of America in our time.

Conversely, the Scriptures clearly teach the following:

"…Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body…That he might present to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing;  but it should be holy and without blemish" (Ephesians 5:23, 27).

Thus, in the time of Moses and the Israelite "church in the wilderness" (Acts 7:38), the LORD adamantly refused every entanglement offered by the Pharaoh, whereas the Christian churches of America, have now been transformed into a sanctuary of silence and non-involvement concerning political processes, in exchange for 30 pieces of silver.

In this Satanically subtle process of submission to the decrees of secular governmental administration, in the vast majority of cases, the collective body of Christ has voluntarily traded their birthright to the beast, exchanging Christ as the head of the church, for the Spirit of Antichrist which inhabits all worldly government.

-- James Lloyd

To Be Continued