Responsibility Of Discipleship, 1-1-69

RESPONSIBILITY OF DISCIPLESHIP

By Dr. Wesley A. Swift - 1-1-69

As we look at our subject The responsibility of Discipleship we turn to the book of Isaiah, to the eighth chapter, for it tells us something about disciples and discipleship. Many people confuse the disciple with Sonship. I want to point out to you that disciples are those that follow a leader. A disciple is one who coordinates with HIM, whereas, the family does not always move in the area of discipleship.

Thus, a person may be a son of God, a member of this white race and not be a good disciple. For a disciple is one who follows after the Master, one who coordinates his words. One that agrees with his words, one that advocates his words. And the disciple never disagrees with the Master.

Now, I want to point this out to you however. For the disciple is found in the race of Israel. And then HE speaks and says, 'Behold all of the children that God (Spirit) hath given me, all are for signs and wonders in Israel, and they are from YAHWEH.------To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.---(or they are not my disciples.) Now my disciples are to be found in Israel and they are to proclaim the word and they are to be of Israel.’

Now, there is one factor that is quite significant. For there are some people who think that disciples are just someone who became converts to Christ and became his disciples. But they were of the house of Israel, children raised up to testify as to signs and wonders before all of the nations of the world.

Now, I want to point out to you over here in the book of John, and again we see these words coming forth from the lips of Christ. “If ye continue in My word then art thee my disciple indeed."

Now today there is a great question about disciples, for there are a lot of people who call themselves disciples, and they are found in every denomination of the church and they call themselves disciples. In fact, today there is one church known as 'The Disciples of Christ.' Altho 508 of the ministers in that church do not believe in the divinity of The Christ. But I tell you that they are like those over in the book of Isaiah who are not his disciples, for they have no light in them. Thus, we have here in the book of John, this admonition that if they continue not in my work, they are not my disciples. For ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Thus the areas of discipleship maintains that this is one who follows Christ. Thus, this is the difference between discipleship and Sonship. For the entire white race is the household of the Most HIGH GOD. They can be good sons and bad sons. They can be prodigals and sons who stay in God's Grace. They can be those who walk in the center of His light. Sonship is eventually going to establish the power of God over all people. And God says that all Israel shall be saved. There is no doubt of that. But all Israel is not necessarily a good disciple. And does not walk in the path of discipleship at this time.

We want to point out to you also that God says that 'All Israel shall be saved.' And he says that eventually all flesh shall be saved also. And this ultimate purpose of God is a great perspective for tomorrow. But as God speaks of His household, his family, it is true that he has predestined them conform to His own image. He has promised that he will unite everything in heaven and in earth all things in Christ. And all of these things shall be brought to their fulfillment.

Now turn back to the disciple. And he is not only a follower of the Master, but he is a coordinator of the word. He coordinates his life to the word. He testifies and he speaks the word. He has the testimony of the word of God.

Now we may argue with the defense of the Word. But we do not argue with the word itself. The Disciple coordinates himself with the word, and does not change the pattern of truth. Thus we understand as we read:---"Ye shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free."

Now over in the book of Acts, chapter 11, and 26th verse, we read:--"The Disciples were called Christians first in Antioch." Thus as the disciples came together, they were called Christians there in Antioch. Thus, Christians are disciples. And at large they are the maintainers of the word of God. They testify to the word of God, they utilize the word of God, and they carry forward all of the truths that God has unveiled.

Now we see that Christians have been told not to leave off the assembling of themselves together. This was an edict of the Old Testament by the Most High God. And it was the assemblies in the Old Testament. And in the New, it is the congregation. In the New Testament it is also called the Ecclesia or the called out and assembled. And then the word Ecclesia was translated as Church. So we have the word Church in the New Testament which is the same word as Kehilla was in the Old Testament. Thus, this is the word for this gathering to carry forth the testimony of HIS Word.

Now the Word says that they are to gather together so that I can pour out my spirit upon them. And when two or three are gathered together in My Name, there is greater power. And when five or six are gathered together, there is even greater power. The mighty catalyst of the spirit of God upon Christians or disciples when they gather together, is not just doubled or tripled, but it doubles and increases as more and more gather together and meditate on the word of God. And they activate their spiritual level of consciousness, and it increases over the congregation. And then the congregation becomes stronger and more powerful, not only because they gathered themselves together, but because they read the word of God.

This also tells the disciples that they are to pray without ceasing. And this does not mean, of course, that they are always to be talking and never listening. This does not mean that they are always telling God. But in their thinking and living, they coordinate their lives with the knowledge of God.

Now the word for prayer is sometimes the same word used for meditation and thinking. Thus it means that you are to have a concept of the kingdom that is a part of your life. You are to think the pattern of His Word. And the news has to fit into the pattern of his word. And the things round about have to fit into his Word. The news has to fit the word of God. And as Paul says:---'For me to live is Christ.' Therefore this disciple was coordinating the pattern, the word of God, and the process of God. And was utilizing the blessings of God for power. Thus we are to understand that there is no process that divides a disciple from the word of God.

Today we have a vast number of churches wherein the minister standing in the pulpit says, --'Yes, I am a disciple. But I do not believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God.’ The World Council of Churches said that over fifty thousand of their clergymen do not believe, or no longer held to the old position that Jesus Christ was the son of God. Altho, they believe in his examples and should follow him in Peace and works. I want you to know that those ministers do not speak for disciples of the Christ. Because they are not his disciples and they do not carry the light of his disciples. More than this, if they do not agree with the Word

of the Most High God, then they are not his disciples. The most important thing that they can know is who they are and who God is. They would agree with the Old Testament and the New Testament that this is the word of God.

More than this, as God speaks concerning his church, his household, and he speaks concerning the people whom he has for disciples, then he said that they are out of the household of Israel. One of the most important things today for discipleship is to know who the people are for discipleship, and who the Messiah is after HE came. For Christ is the fullness of God dwelling bodily. For that is the declaration of HIS Word. Jesus said, “He who hath seen me hath seen the Father (spirit).” And turning to his disciples, he said, 'Why would you say show me the Father after you have been with me so long.' And by this declaration then Christ also acknowledged his divinity. He acknowledged that before Abraham was, that HE existed. And also, he declares that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. (In the book of Hebrews.)

Now the Word of God declares the divinity of the Christ. And if a man therefore declares that he is a disciple of the Christ and still does not believe in the divinity of the Christ, then in no way can he be a disciple of the Christ. Why?---Because he does not continue in the word. In fact, my friends, this does not only start out with an acknowledgment of who the people are and an acknowledgment of who God is, the whole pattern today of the problems that are affecting our society is this getting away from the word of God. All because the disciples have not been instructed as well as they should in the advocacy of the Word of God. Discipleship requires the Word. Discipleship is dependent on the word. Not Sonship. For Sonship does not come to a recognition of that Sonship until a certain time of divine quality. But a discipleship is a follower that coordinates his life with his master.

Now today they tell us that if we do not accept this idea of discrimination and accept this idea of all races and all colors, as equal and the same, then you are a bigot. And as such you have no part in the Christian church. So where does this come from? It comes from false disciples. But a disciple is going to coordinate his life with the word of God. And that calls, not, my friends, for integration, but for discrimination and separation. And it calls for a careful selection. For God says, 'I have chosen you. Oh, you did not chose me. I chose you and I ordained you so that your work and your fruit should remain.’

And over in the book of Matthew, we discover again that discrimination is the work of the Word of God. In fact God discriminates so completely that it shocks some people to come to this realization. In the book of Matthew in the 13th chapter, he even discriminates, theologically, with his household. And he demonstrates that they, as a race, have theological capacities, or they do not have theological capacities. And he speaks unto them (his disciples), ‘It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to them it is not given.’

And therefore, God even discriminates in this also, for unto him who hath been given, and to the other even that which he hath, shall be taken away from him. Thus to the children of God who hath the spiritual capacity to understand and have receive the Word of God, more shall be given. And he that hath not, who rises up in power to take advantage of the situation and is ruling today in all parts of the world order, even that which he hath shall be taken away.

Then Jesus makes the statement that 'Blessed art thee, for your eyes see and your ears hear.' Then God makes this statement.--'I call my sheep by name, I give them Eternal life, and they never perish.’ And he talks about his sheep. And in the book of Matthew, he talks about separating the sheep from the goats. And to the sheep he is going to say,--'Receive this kingdom which has been prepared from before the foundation of the world,’ and the goats will be ruled under this kingdom, and shall be ruled with a rod of iron. HE talks about the events that shall arise until he comes and then he will separate the nations, separating the sheep from the goats. And then they will rule over the goat nations with a rod of iron. This the inflexibility of the righteous law.

Now this is the word of God. And in this coordination of the word of God, the disciple places all of his hope and his expectations. And God not only speaks in this manner, but he has ordained and declared that because his children have the capacity to understand and to receive, is because they are children of his spirit. Jesus said, 'thine they were in the heavens,' talking about the majesty of fulfilling the glory of the heavens and the earth, and how they came down out of the heavens. And now he says, ‘Since they are here in earth 'mine they are in earth.' And here embodied in earth, none of them are lost, except the children of the son of perdition.

So Jesus talks about preexistence. HE says, ‘I will pour out my spirit upon you.’ And HE says, ‘I will come unto you. I will bring all things to your remembrance. I will guide you to all truth. Whatsoever I have ever spoken unto you, I will bring back to your consciousness.’ And in the mind of the Apostle Paul, he brought out the divine promises and the things spoken unto you from before the foundation of the world. In his message, the Apostle Paul says that you existed with the Father before the foundation of the world. Therefore we understand these things as disciples, for they are the word of the Living God.

Now Jesus makes these statements. And concerning his household, he has redeemed them and identified them as his own. And he does not want to take them out of the world. For they are the spiritual power in the world. And he says that they are the ‘salt of the world.’ And if the salt hath lost its savor, wherein would the world be salted? This is the word of the Living God.

And the disciple testifies that God is. He testifies that the white race are the children of the Most High God. He testifies that the embodiment of Jesus the Christ is the fullness of God dwelling bodily in the earth. He testifies that God has not only signified as to where he came from but that he is also in the world. He says that he is told that God will pour out his spirit upon his children, and that the consciousness of the world will expand unto the knowledge of the Most High God. Then Jesus also said, ‘If ye be my disciples, ye shall love one another.’ He said, ‘As I have loved you and my Father hath loved me, --in the fullness of the spirit--and in the embodiment of the Most High God---so shall ye love one another.’

Now of course, this is not an emotion that is turned on and off. Today a lot of the false disciples of the church want you to turn on an emotion, telling you that we should love everybody. But that, my friends, is not the meaning of this passage. For you are not told to love your enemies as that passage was---for those who spitefully use you inside of the kingdom and out of your own race. But in this instance, they want to be able to turn on an emotion and call it love. They do not have it in their hearts, but they have it as they speak to others. And this, my friends, makes up this strange and unusual passage of loving everybody.

But when Jesus thus spoke, he spoke with the appreciation that the household of God, the children of God, must be thought of by the disciples as a mighty family of the Most High God. They are to recognize that among all Christians there is a deep spiritual understanding, because they can understand the thought of God, better sometimes, than they can understand the thoughts of their own relatives.

Now I think that you may have found this out. That the children of God, in their understanding, may have a deeper feeling for those of the kingdom who have the same understanding than they have for others, maybe, of a closer association, such as relatives. This then has been woven like a mantle over the Christian church. The ancient book of Enoch contains some of this ancient mystery. And this may explain it somewhat. And you may not 'realize this, but as you associate with Christians everywhere and from one end of the country to the other, but all begin to realize that they all came down out of the heavens. And according to the book of Enoch, then God declares that he interwove the pattern of the lives of his children to produce a great and mighty tapestry of light, to bring about the strength of his kingdom. Also he tells Enoch that those who were working in the heavens, in the plains of spirit, in the program of the Most High God, have been transplanted into the earth. And that they move together as they move in and out across the patterns of light in the earth.

Now the exact words as he tells Enoch this. ‘That every child of God, who is sown into earth, is eventually brought into contact with those whom he was closely associated within the plain of spirit.’ Therefore you can move across the continent and still find people with which you have a deep infinity.

Thus, God speaks out of the eons of the past and says, ‘I have sent from heaven to earth, this interwoven society which are my sons and daughters and they form a separate congregation---my church--my sphere of my called-out ones.’ This, my friends, is exactly what he means when he says, ‘as my disciples, you should love one another. You should help one another when in need. You should move to the defense of one another, just as the enemy moves together.’

The general trend of the enemy is that they stand together to fight the church. And they stand thus together to fight the kingdom. And over in communist Moscow, they may cut a lot of throats, but they also still move to destroy the church. And they move together because they are of the father and the lusts of their father they will do.

Now by the same token, the church is a dynamic force. It has the light of God's presence. It has the power of God's presence. It has the greatest power the world will ever see and will ever know. And now God calls on them to stand by and recognize the great spiritual truths that God by his redemption power has removed their transgressions and their errors and has predestined them . . . everyone to conform to his own image. And the true church is what we are talking about. Not the denominations. And as this ends, HE will give to himself, a perfect and responsible people.

Now for this cause, then we want to point this out. For when Jesus returns, you are not the ones who come before the judgment seat of Christ. For you are already in Christ. And HE gives every man 'as his work shall be' not as it has been, but as his work shall be. And Jesus says, ‘this is my reward, to give every man (every child of God--Adamite), My reward not for what he has done, but for what he shall do.’ Or not for his work that has been, but for what his work shall be. So under this measure we can well understand this.

You know, the Apostle Paul revived this. For he was like a bishop moving around thru the churches. And everywhere there was a little difference in thinking. And when he came, they would go up to the Apostle and say, ‘You look out for this person over there for he is saying such and such. And look out for this one over here, for we are not too sure of this one.’ And finally, the Apostle Paul said, ‘Now listen.--I am determined to know nothing among you than that Jesus the Christ has been crucified. I see every last one of you as sinners saved by Grace, but children of the Most High God, predestined to conform to His own image.’ Thus, the Apostle Paul said, ‘I do not want to know anything among you except that Christ be crucified.’

This then is the pattern that Jesus called for when he called for his disciples to love one another, and to stand side by side, united, to produce the solidarity of the Church. Which would, by testimony and strength, triumph over all things.

Yes, my friends. There are a great many people today who think they are disciples, but they no longer believe in discipleship. Thus they say that they no longer believe in this error that the church has taught for so long, that Christ was coming back again, and that the world would be delivered from the powers of darkness. They now say that we have to deliver the world by ourselves and the church has to revise its pattern of darkness.

Now this is not the church of Jesus Christ. And this is not the disciples of Christ. For the disciples of Christ will continue in His Word. And I want you to know that the Old Testament and the New Testament contain more truth and more stated about the coming of the Messiah, and the reign of the Messiah and the conquest of the Antichrist, and the overthrow of the kingdom of darkness. And there are more facts that show that our God shall return and that you, his kinsmen, shall recognize HIM. And that he shall lead the armies of heaven and unite the forces of God in heaven and earth. And shall cleanse the earth and triumph over every area of darkness, and take every spirit which is his, to his side. And you and I are going to enjoy this day like no other day we have ever experienced. All because we are his disciples and we support this plan. We work for this plan and for the conquest of Christ over America, and for the conquest of Christ in the world. But as far as the enemy is concerned . . . we have no plans to appease the enemy. In fact the only time I take a part is when someone appoints a Secretary of State who does not want to get along with us. Because the time they say they are appointing a Secretary of State that is honeying up to the Soviets, then we oppose this. For we are going to fight the battle of Armageddon with the Russians and their hosts the Communists rulers. This man they are talking about, says that he does not believe that we can trust the Russians . . . and I concur.

I tell you today that this 'pray without ceasing' is prayer without the word of God. This belongs to the disciples. And if the disciple believes the Word of God, then he believes everything the enemy states concerning his design, concerning his strategy, and his overthrown, that he works for it, and he sees no other end.

Now turning to the words of Jesus:--'If ye continue in my word, then ye are my disciples indeed. And ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.'

So as we see all of these situations coming to pass, then let us remember that America needs disciples in the name of the church, in the church. And these disciples need to congregate and not leave the church. It is not only necessary that you be a son, but you need to be a disciple. And of course remember when the manifestation of your race dawns upon the world, this will be a great and mighty day. But it is then important that you be a good disciple. Defending the word. Not arguing with the word, but defending it. For we can tell today who are disciples by their wording of the Word of the Most High. People might make a misinterpretation, or not understand what they are talking about, but they still believe in the Word. And they do not denounce Jesus Christ as the embodiment of God. They do not denounce the Grace of God. And in all things, they continue in the Word.

Today the true church, the church is a mighty institution that exists today in the midst of God's kingdom. It is found in the nations of God's kingdom.

Oh, some say the church is the kingdom. No, my friends, the church is the spiritual heart and the light of the Kingdom. Disciples make up True Christians, and they were first called Christians at Antioch. The Christian church is the most powerful force ever seen among the nations and among men.

Therefore, continue in the Word, therefore, ye might be called "MY disciples."

End of message.