Honing in to Heaven: Sonship to God
England, 1882
The old man walked slowly home.
What had he just done? What
would his colleagues say? Maybe
he would keep it quiet. Would
he even have time to tell a soul? His
health was failing, and he knew that soon, he would be with his Maker.
He wondered what was in store for him, and how God would receive
him? As he strolled up the
lane to his home, his mind was bombarded with thoughts.
“Have I wasted my life? Has
my life’s work been evil? Is
there a way to undo what I have done in life?”
Just at that moment, the old man was aware of God’s powerful
presence all around him. God
was smiling upon him. The old
man sensed that God was pleased with him, and accepted him.
“Lord, you will have to work it out for me, about my life’s
work, I mean. You will have
to give it meaning, you will have to make it alright.”
With those words, the old man released the issue to God and
eternity. He felt a warm
peacefulness flood his being. He
slipped into his home, and found his easy chair.
He lied back, and smiled, and fell asleep.
This sleep would be like no other.
This look at The Ascent of Man and
a possible conversion experience of Charles Darwin brings us full circle.
It is a speculation. If
it did happen, maybe God has worked it out.
If Darwin had not written “The Descent of Man”, this writing
called “The Ascent of Man” would not have been written.
Many can be won and converted, through “The Ascent of Man”.
Who do you know who should read “The Ascent of Man” and be
converted? I challenge you to
share it with a person and then ask them to be saved.
The words of Joseph to his brothers, after their betrayal, and his
restoration and mercy with them seems fitting right here:
”But as for you, you meant evil
against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring about as it is
this day, to save many people alive.”
Genesis 50: 20
Those words of Joseph are full of
forgiveness and insight, and that is exactly how God deals with sinners.
The amazing paradox of God turning evil to good, and the factoring in of
God’s infinite grace to people, is a present principle in our story
here. The old man deceived
many and was self-deceived, and God let him play out his little game for
life, knowing that someday, a story of a different make-up would be told.
Not the story of the old man, but the story of the redemption of a
whole race of beings, and a story of their God, using Darwin’s own
written work like a mirror to man’s soul.
No ascent to God can happen unless one realizes he is on a descent,
and that task might be Darwin’s key role in history, before this book
was written, and after. We
see a role here, however unwitting it is, that magnifies evil and exposes
it, and a role that displays a dark descent and serves to warn people off
the road of that descent. God
knew what He was doing all along. If
we shine the light of God into the dark, we see much, and we see the grace
and wisdom of God ever so clearly.
I see the little
“Darwin” symbols on cars, of the fish with legs and the word Darwin
inside the fish. On other
cars, I see the same fish upside down with its feet in the air,
symbolizing the death of Darwin, and the eternity of Jesus and His lack of
death. Then, I see the
symbol on certain cars of a bigger fish, symbolizing Jesus, eating a
smaller Darwin fish. Someone
thought these symbols funny, but after writing “The Ascent of Man”, I
will never see those symbols the same again.
I will see Grace and the Love of God.
I will see God, so big in love with a planet of mankind and His
grace towards them. I will
see the repentant old man, with tears, and I will see his following of
great minds and the scientific minds of this generation being swept into
the Kingdom of God. I see an ascent of the God kind that only God can
cause.
“Moreover the law entered that
the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much
more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through
righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
Romans 5: 20-21
Darwin’s offense against God has
caused much grace, and we need to see it that way.
The more sin that abounds, the more Grace is released from Heaven.
The worst reprobate individual you know can be given that grace.
Will you believe for them and pray for them?
Will you send them this writing?
If you are a “son” in the Kingdom, you might.
Sonship In God’s Kingdom
The final ascent of man is to live
in Heaven with God forever. I’d
like to cover what I believe man’s final ascent to be while still on
Earth. As my title states, I
believe the final approach to God is one of sonship.
First, we get saved or born again.
Then, we grow as a believer in the grace and knowledge of God, and
we grow in a love relationship with God.
But a maturing must take place, and a growing up in the Kingdom
must happen. We as
believers mature into full sons of God.
Yes, the women too become sons of God.
“There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female;
for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
Galatians 3: 28
Man and woman both become like
Jesus, the first-born Son of God. Many
more sons get born again, and mature up into the image of Christ.
Thus, we are sons of God.
The Church Has Trouble
Seeing Sonship
The church must see sonship to
walk into the ascent God has in mind for her. For some reason, this
revelation, even though scriptural, has eluded many.
Many mainline denominations never teach on sonship, as though it is
some erroneous or heretical doctrine.
Many take on a false humility, saying, “I do not want to be in
the same class as Jesus.” But
God wants us in that class. God
wants us to grow up in to sonship. It
is easy to see the common mistake of denying sonship.
Maybe I can explain it this way.
The Apostle John at first made this mistake, and God let it stay in
the Bible. After the new
birth experience came to people, and many were saved, John made a
statement as he wrote the gospel of John.
“No one has seen God at any
time. The only
begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.”
John 1: 18
John said Jesus was the only
begotten Son. Was this true
at that time? It was John’s
truth, according to his understanding at that time, but it was not all the
truth. John had obviously not
read Paul’s writings about the new birth, and God’s full redemption
plan. God’s plan was a race
of sons, both male and female, to do His earthly bidding.
Satan had to have had a heart attack when he saw so many sons
coming forth in the time of the Book of Acts.
We, in this last day generation need to cause Satan that same grief
again and walk into our sonship. Every son that is born again is
also begotten of God on the inside. God allows the part or half
revelations of the apostles and writers to stay in the Bible, not so we
stumble, but rather so we do not trip up or make the same error. But
it takes wisdom and patience to mine out the golden nuggets of revelation.
It also takes comparing scripture with other scriptures. Not one apostle
or writer of scripture had the whole truth. They each had pieces,
and it only comes clear when it is in whole form. But many Bible
scholars, seminarians and individuals are running around with pieces,
before letting the Word germinate within them into full truth. Another
piece is put in the puzzle by the Apostle Paul here below.
“For it was fitting for Him, for
whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons
to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through
sufferings.” Hebrews 2: 10
This scripture states that God
would receive many sons from Jesus’ work on Earth.
But many denominations want to place Jesus into a class where none
may enter. Jesus and the
Father do not appreciate this, which spoils all the work and preparations
that they have provided for this maturing process. Although Jesus
has pre-eminence, and is the first born Son of God, we must strive to walk
into a position along with Him, as sons. The church has many
factions, denominations, and individuals who are camped out at one spot of
the revelation of full sonship, but have not progressed on. They are
stunted and plagued with limited vision of God's full plan. This
makes them not as useful in the Kingdom of God the Father. If you
made John's error, and said that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God,
you can now move on too.
Sons of God Love People
John, when he got older had quite
a different idea about sons, and who exactly was born of God.
His progressive revelation was being added to all the time, as ours is. In
his epistle, as an older wiser apostle, he wrote:
"We know that whoever is born
of God does not sin." 1 John 5:18a
John now knew that many sons had
been begotten of God, and Jesus was not the only begotten Son any more!
He also wrote:
“Behold what manner of
love God has bestowed on us that we should be called “sons” of God.”
1 John 3:1
Note that a son has great love
from God, which causes a son to love with God’s love.
Sons love! Sons pour
out their hearts to the lost and take up their place in the Kingdom and
embrace their destinies, which is to do the will of God.
Sons pray for the lost, they witness to the lost, and they show
mercy unto sinners. Children
in the Kingdom are not yet sons, and no doubt walk in a degree of the
judgment of sinners that is not God’s will.
“I will walk the path of
righteousness between the paths of judgment.”
Proverbs 8: 20
Which path are you on?
Are you in between the easy paths which are paths of judgment?
Children of God who are not yet sons of God take these easy paths.
These are the paths of the Pharisees.
Get off those paths. Do
you rail against homosexuals or abortionists?
Do you judge sinners all the time?
Do feel it your mission to expose cult religions?
God loves those people. God
wants us to love them into Heaven. God
would not have you make yourself part of the problem, He would rather you
make yourself the solution. Obey
Proverbs 8: 20, and get off the path of judgment.
Walk the less trodden path of mercy and love, which God calls the
path of righteousness. If you
get on that path, you will begin to do things like a son of God and be
fruitful in the Kingdom. How
can you pray for the lost if you spend all your time speaking about them
in a negative manner?
Have you been stuck as a child of
the Kingdom and not been able to find your way to sonship?
Do you suffer from terrible addictions, but you are saved?
Release all judgment, and you yourself will have a release of
power, in the Kingdom. The
Spirit of God is waiting for sons to receive their gifts, their
deliverances, and their anointing, but first they must walk away from
Pharisee-ism, and judgment. Would
you go on a cross for a homosexual? Would
you die in his or her place? This
is a picture of sonship. Carve
this image of love and acceptance into your inner thinking processes.
God has an ascent for you. It
is an ascent to sonship, while yet on Earth.
Time is short; do you want your destiny?
How about your in-laws, or your neighbors?
Do you think God does not know how you feel about them?
Would you die for them? Do
you pray for them? Can you
love them like a son of God? How
about your husband or your wife? How
about your ex-husband or your ex-wife?
Be a son, and love them with God’s love.
When you can overlook what they did, and release them and forgive
them and pray for them, you will be walking as a son.
Child or Son
“Now I say that the heir, as
long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is
master of all.” Galatians
4:1
“Therefore, you are no longer a
slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Galatians 4:7
Believers who are simple children
of God, and do not act like sons, seem no different than the world, who
are slaves to sin. Sonship
creates that difference and brings one into the place of acting like an
heir of God. Who is the main
heir of God? Jesus.
We are His joint heirs. But do not fail to walk in sonship, and
then tell God and others you are a joint heir.
Paul said that you, as an heir,
are a master of all. But many
believers cannot even master their own bodies, let alone master the
Kingdom of darkness. That is
why fasting is part of the basic doctrines of Christ.
Man can use fasting and prayers to break off addictions.
Oh, you have prayed much, but never fasted?
Walk as a son. Learn
to fast. Your prayers will
begin to work. Note that Paul
said in verse 7 that if you act like an heir, and a son, you will no
longer be a slave to sin. There
go your addictions. Gone!
Verse 2 of Galatians 4 says that
one who is a child is under a governor, or a steward, until the time of
sonship. The Word also says
that the law is our schoolmaster until we could become born again.
I submit that as long as a person is acting and thinking as a child
in the Kingdom, they are very subject to sin and the law, by their own
will, and when they walk into sonship, they walk higher into victory over
sin. It is a process one can practice daily.
As long as you judge people, and
criticize, and use your tongue for evil, and you are the strongest link in
the gossip chain, you cannot be a true son.
If you are saved, and you do those things, God thinks you are like
the world, and can hardly tell the difference from you and them.
In fact, you are a slave to those things, and they will kill you.
And as a person lies dying, they say God did it to them.
God made them sick and is now taking them home.
That is a lie. More
people die from what comes forth from their mouths than anything else.
If our mouths spew the spiritual sewer, how can we go unscathed? Your
call from God is into sonship. Learn
about fasting, and pray that God helps you see real sonship today!
Sin is not to be embraced by you; it is to be dealt with.
Sons Wield Miracles
Heirs are masters of all.
Paul said it. God said
it, and that is final. Sons
walk in the miraculous. Sons
expect the miraculous, and they wield prayer and supernatural power.
Do you want that? God
wants the miraculous in the church, and he is waiting for sons to step up
to it. The new birth
and redemption of a person is a miracle.
There are many other miracles.
Changing the weather through prayer is a miracle.
If you are unemployed, and you pray for a job and get one quickly,
that is a miracle. God is
good. Why do so many
religious people despise the subject of miracles?
I intend to teach on this separately later.
I have seen many miracles.
Jesus calmed the sea and then rebuked His disciples for not doing
it. If simple believers were
not to wield miracles, what right did Jesus have to rebuke them?
Shall I define a miracle?
It must occur to alter the natural order and to correct something.
God would rather that a miracle not be needed, for being correct,
or in order, or blessed already, is God’s better way.
But for mistakes, and problems, and trials and testing, that come
due to sin or error, God will use grace and mercy, and forgiveness, which
are the basis for miracles.
I believe the earth will see many
sons in their positions, doing miracles, and loving people, and spreading the
Kingdom of God in the coming last days. Look at this Romans
scripture.
"For the earnest expectation
of the creation eagerly awaits for the manifestation of the sons of
God." Romans 8: 19
Sons Have Responsibility
Jesus said to His Father, “not
my will, but thine be done.” This
is the attitude of a son of God. The
level of your calling and how you answer that call determines the level of
supernatural power God will give you.
It is a trust factor. If
you take responsibility for your fellow man and serve God, get ready to be
mightily blessed.
Sons Fellowship With God
You will pray all the time and
hear from God routinely, as I discussed in “The Ascent of Man: Hearing
From God”. But God will
have a son’s attention, and the son will have God’s attention also.
This is from intimate fellowship.
They just plain know each other from experience and time spent
together.
Jesus Came In The Flesh
There is a test of good doctrine
in 1 John 4: 1-3. It
basically says that every spirit that does not confess that Jesus has come
in the flesh is not of God, and is the spirit of anti-Christ.
Many believers have used this when casting out demons by trying to
get the subject to say, “Jesus came in the flesh.”
If the subject could not say it, it was supposedly apparent to the
believers that they had a demon on their hands.
But I want to suggest a deeper hidden meaning of this scripture.
I was studying this one-day, and God showed me the following.
Many denominations today, through a two dimensional interpretation
of the gospels, do not teach about sonship for the ordinary believer, and
they do not really teach much about the humanity of Jesus.
This is really just too deep for many.
Jesus was a man and He still is a man in Heaven, and He suffered,
He sweat, He got tired, He tried hard not to sin and prayed hard to not
sin, and He displayed many forms of human weakness.
However, He never sinned. But
He even called Himself, “son of man” more often than He called Himself
Son of God. He was
identifying with us. We slap
His face when we do not identify with Him.
Part of that identification is to become a son of God.
Jesus was the embodiment of
God’s promises! Those
promises said that one of our own brethren would redeem us, and we would
have a part in it by using our faith to accept the truth of it.
The Son of God became a son of man so you, a son of man, could
become a son of God. Many
denominations choke on this kind of teaching, or call it presumptuous
error. But if this is wrong,
and a group calls it wrong, then I believe they fail the doctrine test,
saying Jesus did not come in the flesh, and walk in sonship while in the
flesh. People who do not
practice this doctrine may say they do, with words and lip service, but
they do not practice the full reciprocal transaction, which is to go all
the way to sonship. I believe
that a religious ideology or group of believers that cannot imitate and
identify with Jesus both in His humanity and then going on to sonship to
Father God, is under the spirit of anti-Christ according to 1 John 4: 1-3.
Many might reject this teaching, disagreeing with it, but some just
omit it by ignorance, because they are too focused on less important
issues that are man made. Either
way, it is the spirit of anti-Christ.
I know that this is a strong indictment, but if the shoe fits, one
must wear it! If you do not
believe anything I said here, you must certainly admit that I made it
clear that I believe that Jesus, the Son of God, came in the flesh by
becoming a man, and brought the free gift of sonship and eternal life to
us! I am in line with the
doctrine test of 1 John 4 at least!
You Can Answer The Call To
Sonship
Today, I hope God has shown you
what He desires, and the special “ascent” He has for you, and I hope
you will respond. Ask Him
about sonship. The Holy
Spirit desires to speak to you and teach on this subject.
He has shown me quite a bit, and much more than I can share here.
Sonship may be the missing element of your walk with God and your
experience as a Christian so far. Sonship
may be the next level God has for you!
You may need to leave the child stage of the Kingdom.
A son of God is eternally minded and Heaven-bound in his or her
thinking.
Please be careful to understand from
me that I am not saying being a child in God’s Kingdom is a bad thing.
It is just the way it works, and a child is at that level, and must
grow up. I do have a problem
with children of the Kingdom of God who pose as sons, and who act as sons,
but are not really mature in God and still also practice many childish
things such as critical gossip.
Paul wrote the great love chapter
of Corinthians just for weddings, right?
NO! I believe he wrote
1 Corinthians 13 as a clue to advancing to sonship in God’s Kingdom.
The whole chapter is about Agape love, the God kind of love, which
believes all things, endures all things, and hopes all things.
That love never fails. After
Paul shares all that, he states:
“When I was a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I
put away childish things.” 1
Corinthians 13: 11
Paul was comparing his physical
childhood to his spiritual childhood.
When he became a man, it was compared to his becoming a son of God,
and the God kind of love would be the master key to sonship
for all believers.
Who do you need to wield the Agape
love towards today? Who are
you upset with? Do you have a
life long issue with someone? Become
a son, and let God’s love through you never fail again!
Sons Reproduce The Kingdom
Wherever They Go!
Sons are about the harvest of God,
daily. At night or early
morning hours, they are praying for the lost, or their loved ones.
Sons love so that unbelievers might know they are Christians by
their love. Sons are magnets
for God, and people want to be near them and be like them.
Sons hold up the fabric of this world for God, without notice or
reward. God uses sons, speaks
through sons, teaches through sons, and does miracles through sons.
Are you a son of God? Do
you know the first-born Son of God, Jesus Christ? He wants to make
you like Him, and bring you all the way.
As you can see, you can begin with
Jesus right now, right where you are at, and begin to climb the ladder of
revelation which ultimately leads all the way to Heaven. Your ascent
to sonship is an exciting one that takes patience. But with this
understanding here, you can have a vision of yourself from God that you
can walk towards.
God wants His best for you, but
also wants you to push forward in Him - He is calling each one of us to
sonship along side of Jesus.
End of teaching!
(I have placed interesting ideals
and truths about sonship woven through the 2 novels at my website for
White Fields! Go see
“What Happened To Anton Christian Erickson”, or “An American
Millennium” for more facts and thoughts about sonship to God in His
Kingdom. http://www.themfngroup.com/whitefields.htm )
The next time, The Ascent
Of Man Part 7, Honing in to Heaven:
Our Marriages
##########################################################
Growth Of This
Ezine
Please
help spread good information and bless someone’s life with these
scriptural teachings. After you have read a few issues and you trust the
content, send a copy of this ezine issue to at least 3 people that you
know could benefit, such as friends, relatives, etc.
If You Have Never
Received Christ!
There is a time for everything
under the sun, and now may be your time to receive Jesus. God
gave Him to you and I as a gift, and if you never do receive Him, you will
miss out on the greatest offer and deal humanity has ever received. This
is no accident here that you have read this ezine. This
was a Divine appointment for your Divine destiny. God set this up
and has led you to this point, so go ahead and seal the plan of God, for
you, that is, and receive His Son, Jesus.
You must be born again to see the Kingdom of God.
(John 3:3)
Maybe you have only been away from
God, but knew Him at an earlier time. God says, "Come back
child" and has arms extended open for you. Get right in your
life with God today! You owe it to yourself.
Pray this:
Simply repeat this prayer aloud
now:
Lord, I am a sinner, and I need
you. Jesus, I receive you
now. You are God, and I
recognize your death and resurrection.
Come into my heart, save me, and give me eternal life.
Forgive me of sin, and wash me clean of all unrighteousness. I
am now your child, and I thank you for saving me. Thank you Lord.
In Jesus Name, Amen.
If you said that prayer from your
heart, you are now saved and a child of God. The possibilities are
endless here for your new life, but best of all, Heaven is settled for
you!!
Watch for the next issue of White
Fields Ezine, we are going to take this to new levels!
You will get this same chance to say this prayer if you did not
this time, in every issue.
A Ground Rule
(Statement of Unity)
White Fields Ministries is a sound
Bible based organization, and I, Greg Nichols, am the Director.
I am also the owner of The MFN Group and MFN Publishing, which has
a collection of published works that are a little more secular, but full
of redeeming value. I am ordained with the International Gospel Assemblies
out of Missouri. It is a
missionary and ministerial organization founded in 1962.
My wife Debbie is a graduate of Trinity Bible College in Northern
California, and that is an Assemblies of God College.
I have had no bible college, but I do feel God has placed a gift of
teaching and preaching upon my life, and on my wife also. The ground rule
is that you and I may not always agree on doctrines, but I believe God
would have us rise above doctrines in the spirit of His love, and unite to
accomplish his purposes. That
is how strong I feel about this project for online people. The cyber
mission field here is huge, possibly the largest in the world, and the
fastest growing. The ground
rule is that if you disagree with something, I will welcome you to email
me and state your opinion. I will probably respond. But let’s decide to
think about this next fact in advance.
We will not agree on everything, but we do agree that Jesus is to
be the center of our focus, the Word of God is absolute, and the gospel to
lost souls is the priority.
For
other materials, and information about White Fields Ministries,
go to http://www.themfngroup.com/whitefields.htm
Greg Nichols
Director
White Fields Ministries
mfn2@directcon.net