THE WIFE IS THE LIVING EPISTLE

A Landmark Message

Thought for the book taken from the

Message delivered on December 27, 2009

Dawsonville, Georgia U.S.A.

©2009 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

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THE WIFE IS THE LIVING EPISTLE

A Landmark Message

We're reading today starting in 2 Corinthians, Chapter 3; there's something here that I feel is more important today than it has been in days gone by, because of the fact that we've come into the season where it is being fulfilled. Paul spoke about this setting in his day and now there is a similar setting in our day. The days when Paul preached, many of the things that he preached he couldn't go read it out of the Bible because it was written in his heart and mind. When the gospel came over from the Jews to the Gentiles it took a new move of God and many of the old laws didn't apply. It was the same thing with the Jews that accepted the gospel of Christ, much of the old law didn't apply to them. When the gospel came to the Gentiles through the mouth of the Apostle Paul it was on this wise, as Paul was on his way to Damascus, Christ told him, "I'm sending you to the Gentiles." He said, "I'm going to make you a light to the Gentiles." That's why Paul could say, "I'm in Christ's stead." Many of the things that he preached and taught and wrote he had very little background to base it on other than Christ in him. When he began to write, he began to write to the church that they were living epistles; "You are the Bible," he was saying. So I want to take a thought today, The Wife is the Living Epistle. I want to show you, it's not just reading the Word. And in this hour we're living in there's so much written Word, even on the internet and the electronic Bible, any scripture you want on any subject, you can go to it instantly and read it. But that is not the Word, that's only the letter of the Word; the Spirit of the Word is what is important as it is connected to the written Word. Because when Jesus came, the Pharisees and Sadducees and religious leaders knew the written Word better than any one, but when the real Word came they just missed it all together. The thing is, we've come to that same place again in this hour where people know the Word, they read the Word, and they think if they read the Word they are all right. There's nothing wrong with the reading of the Word of God, but just be sure that the Spirit is there also, because if God's Spirit is not there it amounts to one thing – you've got knowledge. Yes, it's true; you only have the tree of knowledge. Paul said that the letter alone will kill. So the written Word alone is not the living Word. The spoken Word is the original seed. See, the spoken Word. And then when we read what Paul says here, he didn't say read your Bible (the scriptures) and you're going to be all right. There's nothing wrong with reading your Bible; don't get me wrong. Remember the first and of the Word of God is the foundation, but without the living Word (the second and - the spoken Word – John 2:22) in this day and hour then we're not in what God wants us to be. We can't be the wife. Christ is living; He is alive and His wife has got to be the living epistle in this hour. So to be the body of Christ is to be the living epistle; not just a church that believes the Bible, but fulfilling the Word of God of what He said would be. I brought in an example last week about John the Baptist and how the Word says, "A voice of one crying in the wilderness." It did little good to know that without knowing the fulfillment of it and knowing when he came. Like the Pharisees and Sadducees, they knew that Word; but when the man stood there they didn't even know it. They said, "Who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you someone else?" And when Jesus came, the Bible says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word was made manifest (made flesh) and dwelled among us." Well, that was the Word. And those that knew the written Word totally, most of them missed the living Word as the living Word walked around here and preached and taught. Many of the things He said was contrary to the thinking of those that only knew the written Word. Jesus brought grace and truth; the spoken Word, and it didn't fit with their religious thinking. (John 1:17) Remember when Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath day in the Book of Luke 14:1-6. "And it came to pass, as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the sabbath day, that they watched him. And, behold, there was a certain man before him which had the dropsy. And Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day? And they held their peace. And he took him, and healed him, and let him go; And answered he, (being a man of wisdom, the living Word) saying, "Which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit, and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day? And they could not answer him again to these things." That was the living Word talking. The living Word has always went right among us when here laid the written Word; but all miss it except those whom God puts the living Word in. And He does it by a message. When you see in action what the Word said would be, then that is the living Word. And that is what we have today; we have in action what God said would be, the body of Christ which is His wife. These members are baptized into the body of Christ and have the mind of Christ. And you don't necessarily get the mind of Christ just reading the Bible. Because some of the things that God did in the days of Paul (and He is doing it now) they were hid in God from the foundation of the world and they weren't written; but they were spoken. And that is how it is in this day and this hour; only the living Word has life in it. All the rest is a dead letter of the Word and a good history book unless it comes alive to you. I want to read what Paul said, but let's pray first.

Heavenly Father, Lord I just thank you for this opportunity to stand up again and be identified with our Sacrifice, be identified with the Lamb, be identified with the Christ of the Bible, be identified with the Living Word in this day and in this hour that we are living in. Lord, I pray that you will anoint us with that special anointing that it takes for this end time preaching, Lord, that you will anoint us to speak words, live words, not dead letter of the Word, but life giving words and that you will just send it right to the hearts of the people. Lord, bless each one, bless us as we speak. In Jesus Name. Amen.

All right, I'm reading in 2 Corinthians 3:2-3. I want you to notice here as we read; Paul is addressing those Gentiles that heard him preach. He began to say, "Ye are our epistle (you're our letters, you're our words) written in our hearts, known and read of all men:" Now there wasn't a thing written down on paper. He says: "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ…" Notice he said our epistle in Verse 2 and here in Verse 3 he says the epistle of Christ ministered by us, what Paul was saying is the same as what Christ was saying. So Paul's epistles of Christ were the same as if it was Jesus Christ Himself talking, because Paul was in Christ's stead. (2 Corinthians, Chapter 5) But he says here, you're the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink. This is some of the things I want to deal with this morning as we talk about the wife of the Lamb. We see here that the Word is not necessarily all written. It's living; not necessarily written. Written Word and living Word are two entirely different things. Because, you see, every church uses the Bible. One preacher on television quotes scriptures and quotes Paul out of the Bible, but he doesn't even believe in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Paul quoted very little in his day. You'll not find Paul quoting Jesus very much. Why? He didn't have to quote Jesus; it was Christ in him doing the talking. The message that he had was to a Gentile people and there was no instructions written for the Gentile people. It had to be living, breathing, walking, talking Word in that hour; a church with the mind of Christ.

So watch what it says here, Verse 3, "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." That takes it totally out of just reading the Bible. I know a lot of people will say, "Well, I read the Bible. I don't have time to read other things. I use my time reading the Bible." Well, there's nothing wrong with reading the Bible; but God has a living Word now, messages that are being written in our hearts that are life giving, that is for our day and for our age. Many of the things that Paul said in his day took place and were fulfilled in his day, because his message was not only doctrinal, but was instruction. Instruction for what they were dealing with then. And many times it was for correction. But then, part of Paul's message was prophetic, to take place here at the end time. God let him see the church as though the rapture would take place in his day and age because he said, "We which are alive and remain…" He wrote it so we would have a foundation in this hour as we preach the Word; and the living Word comes down from heaven, Revelation, Chapter 10, the Mighty Angel comes down from heaven (the Word again). When the Word walked around here in the days of Jesus, you could see Jesus Christ, if you had a revelation you would have known that was the Word made flesh. But the same Jesus has come in angelical form, the same Christ, in the earth again and this time He is also manifested in the flesh, but it is through a many member body. And the many member body becomes just as much Word as He is Word, and we become just as righteous as He is righteous, and we become heir of God and joint heirs with Christ. Whatever God owns or Christ owns it is ours, too. So as the Mighty Angel comes down, He comes down to be a body to be baptized into. See Paul spoke of being baptized into the body. There are two things as we look at the Word of God as it relates to the plan of salvation. One thing is the baptism of the Holy Ghost. With the baptism of the Holy Ghost we're baptized with the Holy Ghost as an individual and the Holy Ghost can lead us and guide us. But when we're baptized into the body of Christ we become part of the body, and we have the mind of Christ. That's why when the rapture takes place just after resurrection He's married only to the living Word, which are both the resurrected and the translated saints, because He is the living Word. He's not going to marry everybody that has the Holy Ghost, because a lot of people that have the Holy Ghost have never brought their minds into subjection to the law of Christ. That's why they will stay in a denomination. That's why they will stay where the Word is not being preached, and they will go places where the Word is not being preached. But the wife has the very mind of Christ and is baptized into the body of Christ. That's why when the rapture takes place there will be many people that are left here, and the Word calls them foolish virgins and tribulation saints. And they will not be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye to be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. They've got to go by the way of the grave. But those that are living that are part of Christ, that are the living Word…He's just going to change them because they are His living Word...glorify His Word is what He will do; and if you are the Word you can't help but be glorified. And then there's what is called tribulation saints that will stay right in denomination until the middle of the week. This message of the 144,000 Jews is spoken of in the Book of Revelation, Chapter 7 and 14; it talks about the everlasting gospel, the 144,000 follow the Lamb wherever He goes and they will preach a message, "Babylon is fallen, is fallen. Fear God. Give glory to Him." That's in the last part of the 70th Week of Daniel, while His wife is in glory, because He has already gotten His wife and taken her into glory prior to this time. His wife here in the earth is not just a church member, not just somebody that knows about Jesus Christ; it's somebody that is the living Word for this day and this hour. And you can't be that unless God has ordained you to be. If He has ordained you to be, you can't help but when you hear that living Word it will pull you right into it just like a magnet pulling steel shavings to it.

Now notice the Word here, it's not something that we can read with our eyes. But it is something that is in our hearts. It is written in our hearts. It is written in our minds. It is not written with ink; it's not on paper. What Paul preached in his day originally it wasn't on paper; it was spoken Word. And only later it became written. Some of it was only made part of the Bible maybe a hundred or so years down the road. Many of the letters that Paul wrote were not included in the Bible, but God saw to it that what He wanted was put in the Bible. The thing Paul is saying here is, "This is written in your heart. It's not something that you can read." And that is exactly what he is saying in the Book of Hebrews, "I'll make a new covenant with them in that day. I will write my laws in their hearts and in their minds." You might say, "Brother Howard, are you trying to discredit the Bible, or belittle the Bible?" No, I'm just trying to get us to see there is a living Bible that is walking and talking and it is founded in this Word right here. This Bible is only the garden that the living Word grows in. In the days of Paul he came with a message. There was an apostolic ministry and there were different arms to that apostolic ministry. There were prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers, and all of that; but we see that seed as it produced its crop and the stalk died and it lay dormant for two thousand years, He said, "I will restore in this last day." There's been a complete replanting of the seed of God in this hour to bring forth the fresh new crop of Spiritual children walking around here being led by the Spirit of God, the Word of God, and they become the living Word. Hallelujah!

All right, let me show you another one. Let's go down to Verse 6 of this same chapter, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament;" We've got to know what the New Testament is. Paul's writings became part of the New Testament after he died; they gathered the letters he wrote and they called it New Testament. So be it. But as it went through the ages and the world changed and we came to the time of rapture, there's another New Testament just like it was in the days of Paul that is written in your heart. There will never be another Bible written, because we can't add to or take from it. But He just makes live what the Bible says. Christ Himself comes back, which is the Word, (Revelation, Chapter 10), and that's such an important scripture where John said, "I saw another Mighty Angel come down from heaven." It means Christ in Spiritual form. His feet were like brass, His eyes like flames of fire, and there was a rainbow about His head. Christ Jesus is here today, He has descended down and He is here making His Word live in a people, so the church has become living epistles, not just somebody that knows how to quote the Bible, not just somebody that knows how to preach the Bible, not just somebody that knows how to talk about the Bible; but it is Christ in you the hope of glory!

Listen to what he said here now. Again reading Verse 6, "Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter,…" In other words, what I'm preaching to you I'm not reading it. This is God sending it straight to you; that's what Paul was saying in his day. Continuing, "not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." Here's what he is saying, "These things that I'm saying, if we just quote them that is not where the life is at. It is making them live!" And God makes them live as we're baptized into the body of Christ, as we walk with Him, and as we let our lives become all and all for Christ. We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God. "And when Christ who is our life comes, we will appear in glory with Him." Amen. He is our life! Not somebody that can quote scripture, that doesn't give us the life of Christ. It has nothing to do with receiving the life of Christ, being able to quote scripture because "My Words are Spirit, and they are Life," Jesus said. The very ones that knew the Bible best are the ones that crucified Christ. It was the very ones that knew the Bible best all the way through each age that when God gave a new move, then the past (previous) moves would try to crucify the new move of God.

Now, I'd like to read some here in 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2, to show you how He leads us by His Spirit. We've got to begin to move by the Spirit. And we can't do it unless the Spirit is in us and He can't be in us unless we have accepted Him. A lot of people just want to be on the fringes of this thing. A lot of people say, "I want religion, but I don't want to be a fanatic." Well, religion is not going to help us a bit and being fanatic is not going to help us any; but being the Word itself, being in constant contact with the Lord. There was a man in Bible days, his name was Enoch, and the Bible says, "Enoch walked with God; and he was not because God took him." So Paul is writing here, letting us know that this thing is spiritual. We can't just operate as though we're in this world; we are in Christ. Watch what he says, 1 Corinthians 2:9, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man (carnal man), the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." The carnal man is not going to get this. But notice as he continues writing, he says, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God." Now when we begin to talk about the deep things of God we're not going to find it by just reading. We're not going to find it by just living a natural life. Christ has got to become our life and we've got to have the mind of Christ, as we will see as we read. The next Verse says, "For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? (That's the only way we will know..,) even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God." The natural man is not going to know the things of God. It takes a spiritual man to know the things of God because God is a Spirit. And the only way that we will ever know the things of God is through the Spirit of God. And the only way we will know the Word of God, which is the things of God, is to realize there is something living in this day. There is something moving in this hour. It's not the Bible. The Bible hasn't increased a bit since the day it was written. I use the old King James Version, I like it. But it hasn't grown a bit; it hasn't moved a bit, and it won't. But it's still right here. When the rapture takes place there will be many millions of people carrying their Bible around saying, "I believe the Bible." You can't find many drunks on the street today that doesn't believe the Bible and doesn't believe in God. But the wife is something entirely different. We've been baptized into the body of Christ and have become one with Him. We have become bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. He is a living Spiritual being and so is the wife the living epistle of Christ. And the Word is written in our hearts and in our minds. And we know the things of God.

Let's get the next verse, Verse 12, "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world,…" Not the spirit of the world – there's nothing worldly about this. We receive that when we are born into the world; but we get a new spirit, we get a new life, we get a new birth. Last week we brought some things in about the new birth, how with the natural birth no matter how good the mother and father is they can't produce a child with eternal life. Since the Garden of Eden children came by the way of the tree of knowledge, and the Word of God teaches us that we need a new birth. That's what Jesus told Nicodemus, "You must be born again." And this new birth has nothing to do with flesh and blood; it is Spiritual. We become part of another kingdom. As we read here we find that we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God. That is important there, the Spirit which is of God. We don't just receive God's Spirit in raw form. We couldn't even receive the Spirit of God into our soul and become one with it until Christ came and took on the form of man. He lived here and was tempted and tested in all points like we are, and then went to the cross and died for our sins. Then He came back on the Jewish Feast Day of Pentecost, not just God's Spirit, but the Spirit which God created, which was of God, and that is the Holy Ghost. But now, in Revelation 10:1, the Spirit of the Lord Jesus comes as the Mighty Angel, and that is Christ to marry His wife, making us bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.

We know that receiving Christ is a bridge between us and God. Now when we receive the Spirit which is of God we can receive it just in the form of the Holy Ghost and God gives us eternal life. And with that Spirit we can walk with God to a certain point. But the wife goes beyond that. We are not just walking with God in that sense; we're part of a body with His very own mind. When He speaks to us, we know it. We know it is Christ talking. We see the Word living, breathing, talking, and walking. We see the very wife of the Lamb where we have become one with Christ; bone of His bone, flesh of His flesh, Spirit of His Spirit; and we are operating by the mind of Christ. We are not thinking our own thoughts. He's thinking through our mind. That's how the Mighty Angel takes on human flesh. We're baptized into that body; we live in flesh, but we have His mind. "Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ." When He thinks a thought it comes right through our head, because we are living, breathing, walking, and talking Word. That's what Jesus was when He came; He was the Word of God which was Spirit, but He was made flesh through a virgin, Mary. Then He lived the life here. He had eternal life. He didn't have to die. "No man taketh my life; I lay it down," He said. When they began talking about Him being crucified, He said, "At this time I could call twelve legions of angels. I don't have to die. I've got eternal life." He was the first begotten of God. He had no sinful nature. In other words, He had no inherited sin about Him because God was His father and is His father. But it wouldn't help us any, other than seeing what God did through Him, but He gave His life to produce a Spirit that was of God. He produced a Spirit that was of God and that Spirit was part of His human spirit and part of God's Spirit. It's called the Holy Ghost. In other words, the Spirit of God took on human attributes. It took on human emotions. It took on human ways. It could feel pain. And He became an example for us. The Bible says He neither sinned nor was guile found in His mouth. And He became the captain of our salvation. On the Jewish Feast Day of Pentecost they received a Spirit which was of God. They didn't receive God in bulk form. You cannot receive God in bulk form. You can receive God in the form that is the form of Christ, the form of the Holy Ghost. That is good. That brings salvation to the soul. Everyone that receives Christ in their heart is saved, born again; that saves that soul. But now He promised to redeem the body; not only the soul, but the body. And that is His wife; she and she alone will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye. You might say, "Preacher, what about these people that are saved?" Yes, they are going to have eternal life and their redemption will come as He calls the bodies from the grave. The wife is first, and then after the tribulation all the others that are born again, in that order. And all that have died before us, gone to be with the Lord, which are ordained to be the wife, they will come up first. The dead in Christ are going to rise first. And then when they rise they're going to see Christ walking around here in a body. There are a people that are without spot, without blemish, not because of good works that we've done, but because He has clothed us with fine linen, clean and white, which is the righteousness of saints. He has given us the gift of righteousness; and He only gives that to His wife. Many have to go by the way of the grave. You can see today as this message goes forth from nation to nation, God has made it available to every person on the face of the earth, but not every person on the face of the earth is going to receive it. Many of them will hear it and walk on their way saying "fanaticism!" And they'll say, "That's not what I've been taught. I wasn't raised to believe that." And many things they will say. But there is something in a people, we have become the very Word, we've been baptized into Christ, and we are walking around here as the living body of Christ. We are walking around as that living Word and it is written in our hearts and in our minds. And we don't necessarily have to read it out of the Bible. Now what does the letter of the Word do? Killeth. It takes the Spirit of God; walking by the Spirit. But that Spirit will not contradict the Word for this time period.

Continuing with Verse 12, "…but the spirit which is of God;…" which first is the Holy Ghost, and then with the Holy Ghost as we walk with God, He baptizes us into that body. And when we are baptized into the body of Christ that gives us what we need to get a glorified body when the time approaches. Now it types out in Abraham; I'm not going over there to read as we've read it many times before. But Abraham and Sarah were too old to have children. Abraham was about a hundred years old; as good as dead. It ceased to be with Sarah as it was with woman. But there came a Voice. There came an Angel. There came God to them and said, "About this time next season Sarah will conceive and bring forth a child." And she just started laughing because that was the most ridiculous thing that she had ever heard. But God was going to fulfill His Word. He brought forth Isaac and it was fulfilled right to the letter. Then there was Enoch, he didn't have to die; he was translated the Bible says. And there was another one in the Bible, Elijah; he was picked up in a chariot of fire. He was taken up without seeing death. And Paul said in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and 1 Corinthians 15:51-52, there will be a people that are living; "We which are alive and remain till the coming of the Lord are not going to hinder them that sleep, they will rise, and we will be changed in a moment in the twinkling of an eye." That's where we are at today. The living Word of God. As Jesus was the living Word, He made it possible for us to become the living Word.

Verse 12 says we've received the Spirit which is of God. And why did we receive it? "…that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God." That's how we know them. We don't know them by going to school. We don't know them by going to a seminary. It has to be given to us by God. And I'm going to say this: We don't even know them by hearing a Holy Ghost filled preacher preach. It has to be revealed by the Lord Himself.

Verse 13, "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual." Now I want you to notice that. I'm not even in the natural realm at all now. We are in the flesh as far as living here in this world. That is our earthly contact, our bodies. We see, hear, feel, taste, smell; that's the five senses. But we're living in the Spirit. If we live in the Spirit, Paul said, walk in the Spirit. So here, we're of God. We compare spiritual things with spiritual things.

The next Verse says, "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." This takes it clean out of the natural. This takes it clean out of what Uncle John thinks. This takes it clean out of what Aunt Jo thinks. This takes it clean out of what the preacher over here thinks. It says, "These things are revealed of God comparing spiritual things with spiritual things." And it says they are spiritually discerned. And we have to be spiritual in order to spiritually discern. A lot of people cannot recognize this message. A lot of people cannot recognize this ministry. A lot of people cannot recognize Christ walking right around here among us. And I'm not just talking about me as an individual; I'm talking about Christ in His body. Paul said it is Christ in you; he didn't say it's just Christ in me. He said it's Christ in YOU the hope of glory! And if Christ is in you then the body is dead. Read in the Book of Romans along the 7th and 8th Chapters. To be carnal minded is death. Paul said there in Chapter 8 of Romans, "You're not in the flesh." Now there's a stinger. "You're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit if so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." We're living, we're breathing; it's like we're in a world that is not real. This spiritual world is more real than this natural world ever will be. You lose sight of the things of the world because you're not in the flesh, you're in the Spirit, he says. He said to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. There is a different realm. There are living epistles walking around today and they are the wife. Not somebody that knows how to quote scriptures. Not somebody that goes to church. Not somebody that knows how to sing good. Not somebody that knows how to play instruments good. All those things are good and fine, but Christ is here. He has come down as Christ the Mighty Angel to get His wife, to pick her back up, while the tribulation is going on, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. We've become bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. Once we do that we cannot die. The Bible says that Jesus died once. Death has no more dominion over Him. Then if you are Christ then death has no dominion over you. Divine healing only shows that He does something for the body, too.

The death angel goes around the earth taking different ones. Just like it did down in Egypt. The death angel came to Egypt to smite the first born of every family. But to the children of God, those that obeyed the Word for that time period, the death angel couldn't come past that blood. That's where the song comes from; When I See the Blood I will Pass Over You. Now what is the blood in this day and hour? It's not chemistry but it's the Spirit. When I see the blood, in the message, because John said, "If we walk in the light as He is in the light we have fellowship one with the other and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us." That blood follows the Word, the revelation. And there is a period of time, a place we pass, where we go in and the blood is applied to the door, the revelation, and the death angel cannot penetrate that. You say, "Preacher, do you mean there is a people that are living that won't die?" There is a people living, breathing, walking, talking, that death cannot touch… Paul saw it. Do you know what Paul said for us to say to death? "Oh, death, where is your sting?" And them that have died, "Oh, grave, where is your victory?" Hallelujah! I'll tell you, to the living saints that have been baptized into the body of Christ and are living epistles in this end time, you're Christ in the earth and Christ died once and death has no more dominion over Him! And we are Christ; we are members of the body. The death angel can come but "when I see the blood" He said. Where is the blood, may I ask? All we have to do is read the Book of 1 John. When I was over in Malawi in 2006 in the town of Blantyre I preached, The Blood and Word Travel Together. It travels, and then there is a line drawn. It's in the mind of Christ. God knew it; it was drawn before the foundation of the world. And when you pass that line which is drawn there, following the light of the Word and the blood is coming right there, there's your door post. The death angel cannot pass it. There's a people living, breathing, that can say, "Death, where is your sting?" The fear of death is gone. In Chapter 2 of the Book of Hebrews it says, "Jesus Christ came to deliver them that were in bondage of the fear of death all their lifetime." He came to deliver them from that. And this was expected to take place in the days when Paul preached. But I'm so glad it didn't. Do you know why? The saints through the ages would not be part of it. We would not be part of it. We wouldn't have been part of it if the rapture would have taken place in the days of Paul. But now that Mighty Angel has come down and He brings that little book. And in that little book it is Christ in you, it's the Word, and with that little book comes blood. And I'm not talking about chemistry. I'm not talking about blood you can see. The chemistry of the blood spilled into the ground there at Calvary. When Jesus went up into heaven He didn't take one drop of the chemistry of the blood with Him, but it is the life that was in the blood that gets the job done. How could the blood come and cleanse us from sin? No, it's the life that was in that blood. I've got the blood of Jesus Christ flowing in my body. The one whose blood is flowing in my body has already died. Death has no more dominion over us. There are many that will not die naturally, but if He calls you off the scene, so what. It's just a short-cut. But there are a people that are not going to fear death. We are going to know, "We are under the blood." How many ever heard that song Is the Blood Still There? It's about a little Jewish boy who asks his father if the blood was still there. Why? Because the death angel could not pass where the blood was at. It could be making a million miles an hour coming at that home; but when I see the blood I will pass over you. That death angel had to skid its wheels so to speak. That death angel, as soon as it spotted that blood it locked its wheels; it couldn't go any further. Now the blood is applied to us and there's a time, there's a revelation that the living wife will be changed.

Notice this, the blood and the Word travel together. It says in 1 John, Chapter one, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, and light is revelation of God's Word, we have fellowship with Him and the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sin. But if we say that we are in the light and walk in darkness we lie and do not the truth and the blood can't go with that. It has to be with the light of the Word. The light and the blood - light is understanding, revelation, life. Light always signifies life. Darkness signifies death. They were cast into outer darkness. There's no blood, no light, no life there. But there is still life in that blood. The blood still has its power. The blood has the power to change these old bodies as the revelation of the Word falls upon us; because the reception of the light of the Word of God brings that blood. And remember this, when I see the blood, when I see the light, when I see the revelation, when I see the body of Christ in full unity with the mind of Christ I will pass over you.

There's another part of 1 Corinthians, Chapter 2, I want to get in Verses 15-16, "But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (We don't go to the great white throne judgment. We have accepted Him.) For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? (It's asking a question, "Who has known the mind of the Lord?" Well, I can tell you exactly who has known the mind of the Lord. Paul had the mind of the Lord perfectly and he said you better have. Paul said, "Let this mind be in you which were also in Christ. Denominations don't know the mind of the Lord. The world doesn't know the mind of the Lord. Religion doesn't know the mind of the Lord. But God has sent a Word to us and we know the mind of the Lord.) But we have the mind of Christ." Now can you believe that? Yes, looking at the natural it is a little hard. But we think with His mind, see; or rather, He thinks with our mind. I think that would be better to say. The wife operates by the mind of Christ. What we do, it's the mind of Christ not our own mind. Most of the things I do and say and preach I wouldn't do it with my own mind, because it goes contrary to all religions today. It makes people think you've lost your mind. But we have the mind of Christ, we are the living epistles. I want to say this, "I want this to be a landmark message." Only those that are the living epistles are the wife of the Lamb. Religion is not it. It's not them that have the Holy Ghost that have stopped walking in the light. It's those that are baptized into the body of Christ and Christ is using our minds to think. That's why the things that are spiritual, the natural man cannot know them because they are spiritually discerned, but we have the mind of Christ and we know them, see; because Christ thinks through our mind. He speaks through our mouth. He walks through our legs. He sings through us."

Now I want to read in Hebrews, Chapter 10, and show you that in the days of Paul he had to go by the Spirit of God, he was forced to. Because many of the things he preached wasn't written anywhere. The Jews had the law, but God called Paul to preach to the Gentiles, and the Gentiles were never under the Jewish law. So if you want to eat catfish go ahead and eat it. Whatever is set before you, eat, drink, asking no questions because the prayer of faith shall sanctify it. Now everything may not be good for you physically. I watch the television sometimes; one time they will say, "Don't drink coffee because it is bad for you." Then later they will say, "About three cups of coffee is good for you." We can't go by that. Who told Mama and Daddy what to eat and what not to eat? Who told them old-timers? They out-lived us and did more work than we do. When my Mama was old she would get up early in the morning and work in the garden and here I was relatively young and just didn't have the energy to do it. She ate and drank what she wanted and lived a long life.

Hebrews 10:16, Paul speaking: "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them." Now where is it written? It is written in our hearts and minds. It came in letter form later on. Once I preach this we can write it. And it's good, but God is going to keep revealing more truth. We can't just stop. Some of the Bible is instruction that was given for Paul's day. But Paul didn't have possession of the little book as we do. Therefore we go beyond what was known in Paul's day.

Verse 17, "And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more." Now that's the thing about God's children; He remembers our sins and our iniquities no more. Why? Because we are the Word and there is no sin in the Word, in Christ. The Word of God says in the Book of Malachi, "Behold I will send you Elijah." That was written word. But when it was made alive we saw a man walking around here in this hour that came with the spirit of Elijah on him and he went around the world, namely Brother William Branham, to preach the Word. That was living Word. And now God said there would be an apostolic ministry and it is here. He said He would perfect the church and bring it to the fullness. How will He do it? Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers and we would all be one, along with the other members of the wife. I want to quote my title again, because the wife of the Lamb is the living epistle of our day. The Wife is the Living Epistle.

God bless you today. It's been good to come here and enjoy the blessings of God, the Word of God. So let's bow our heads in prayer: Heavenly Father, we just thank you for this time that we have had here together this morning, Lord, fellowshipping around your Word. I just pray that you will move by your Holy Spirit upon this Word, and that you will send it wherever you've ordained; and wherever you send it you said it would prosper. Take this Word, Lord, and use it for your glory and may we as living epistles realize that we have become bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh, the wife of Christ dressed in fine linen clean and white, which is the righteousness of God, and you have given us that very gift of righteousness in order for us to walk with you. Bless us all together we pray, in Jesus' name. Amen.

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

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