KEYWORDS: kingdom, blood, lord, well, god, flesh

First Supper, The

David Berg

DFO 14739/7/82

1. I WAS THINKING ABOUT FAMILY DINNER TONIGHT & HOW IT'S A TYPE OF SOMETHING. Can you think about what it's a type of? Food is always symbolic of our spiritual food. What's the way we're going to celebrate our arrival in the Heavenly City?—A feast together!—The Marriage Supper! So therefore, apparently the Lord considers a Family dinner or a feast as a happy celebration, something you should enjoy. It's a time of fellowship & seeing each other & enjoying visiting together, & ours is going to be a pretty big one there! I'll never forget that picture of the Throne Room.—All my wives were seated around me on thrones! We'll all be together there then, girls! I don't know where your hubbies were, but I presume they were seated behind you or somewhere.

2. I'VE BEEN WONDERING, "NOW WHY DO WE ENJOY COMING TO DINNER SO MUCH?" It's not just to eat, but I enjoy coming to dinner with you folks & I really miss it when we can't. I'm glad I'm sort of getting on your schedule now so we can be together with you more to see these Heavenly visions of loveliness & have my own Heavenly Houris right here! PTL! XXX! GBY, girls! That was a good dinner!

3. SO THIS IS GOING TO BE THE WAY WE CELEBRATE OUR ARRIVAL IN HEAVEN, WITH A FEAST!—THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB! So we must be going to have something to eat! You don't have to eat in your new bodies, but you can eat, just like Jesus did! He ate several times with His disciples after His resurrection. I guess you still apparently have your senses & can enjoy it, just like sex! If you can eat & drink & enjoy it, I'm sure all the physical pleasures are still there! PTL!

4. THINK HOW LONG IT'S GOING TO TAKE TO EVEN FIND ALL OF OUR FRIENDS & RELATIVES & MEET THEM! If there are different levels, there may be levels we're not even allowed to go to! Some of you guys will probably outrank or outclass me & be on upper levels. (Maria: Never!) What a dinner, huh? What do you suppose they're going to serve for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb? ([Fam:] A lamb!—It'd sure have to be a huge lamb!) "Nothing shall hurt nor destroy in all My Holy Mountain!" (Is.11:9)—Apparently nothing is going to be killed there, so He didn't have lamb! ([Fam:] Wine & manna & vegetable?) I think he mentioned the two things that I would say may be most likely—we might have bread & wine!

5. MAYBE WE'RE GOING TO CELEBRATE THE LORD'S SUPPER! I wouldn't be surprised! It'd take quite a big kitchen to cook that many loaves of bread!—Or probably an angel could just wave his wand & there they are! (Family: I have a question, it says in the Communion Chapter we'll celebrate the Communion till the Lord will come, so does that mean after He's come we won't celebrate it any more?) Well, how would you interpret what the Lord Himself said at the Last Supper, that He was not going to drink wine with them any more until "I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom"? (Mt.26:29) What do you think that means?

6. WELL, IT ALL DEPENDS ON HOW YOU INTERPRET THE KINGDOM! The Kingdom of God is already here! The Kingdom of God is within you! (Lk.17:21) What did Jesus say as He started preaching? He said, "Repent ye, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand!" (Mt.4:17) Well‚ what was that supposed to mean? "At hand," especially used there, means very close or here. The literal expression is within reaching distance. The point was‚ it's almost here! Well, if He was talking about the Millennial Kingdom, that was 2,000 years away! So some people think that couldn't mean the Millennial Kingdom, it must've meant the spiritual Kingdom right then. Well, when Jesus was teaching He said the Kingdom of God is within you, so it must've already been there! When do you think it began? Hm?

7. I HOPE YOU DON'T MIND MY DISCUSSING THIS OR ASKING YOU THESE QUESTIONS! I got to thinking about this tonight‚ just thinking about what a happy family occasion the Family dinner is & how it's like the Lord's Supper. It's like the Marriage Supper of the Lamb! There're several indications in the Bible that we're going to sit down at a feast. He said to His disciples, "You'll sit down with Abraham‚ Isaac & Jacob‚ but the children of the Kingdom shall be cast out." (Mt.8:11,12) In fact, they are already cast out because they cast Christ out! What do you think that means? You asked me a question, I'll ask you one!

8. HE SAID, "TILL I COME"—BUT HE DIDN'T SAY WE WOULDN'T CELEBRATE AFTER HE CAME, DID HE? Maybe He was thinking about them celebrating here. Well, if we're going to have a supper in Heaven‚ there must be going to be something to eat & drink! Where was it Jesus said He was not going to drink it any more until "I drink it new with you in My Father's Kingdom"? (Fam: At the Lord's Supper.) I believe that's where it was. (Mt.26:29)

9. BUT AFTER JESUS APPEARED TO HIS DISCIPLES LATER, HE SAT DOWN & HE ATE & HE DRANK WITH THEM, REMEMBER? He said, "Touch me, feel Me. See that it is I. A spirit hath not flesh & bones as ye see Me have." (Lk.24:39) You notice He didn't say blood. I think I talked to you about this once before, but I don't think anybody ever transcribed it as far as I know. There're lots of hidden secrets that you've never heard about yet!

10. WHY DIDN'T HE SAY BLOOD? I like to ask questions! I taught school for years, & I found out the way to make people think is to ask questions, then they want to know the answers! It's sort of like waving something to eat in front of them before giving it to them & it makes them hungry! So why didn't He say blood? Can you give any Scriptures about blood that would give some kind of a hint? (Fam: He shed His blood?) Yes, He shed His blood, but we haven't yet!

11. (MARIA: "THE LIFE OF THE FLESH IS IN THE BLOOD.") (Lev.17:11,14) That's a good Scripture, Honey! Did I tell you that already sometime? Good girl! It pays to be brought up in Church, you really absorb an awful lot of a Scripture! Well, this is just a clue. I'm not claiming to know anything. "The life of the flesh is in the blood." Now that ought to ring a bell about some other Scripture that says something about the flesh & blood.

12. (FAMILY: "FLESH & BLOOD CANNOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD.") (1Co.15:50) How about that? Flesh & blood. Jesus said He had flesh, but no blood! If you put all those Scriptures together, you begin to get a kind of a pattern, don't you? We know Jesus had flesh & bones, but He didn't say blood. And Paul said, "Flesh & blood shall not inherit the Kingdom of God." For as she said, the life of the flesh is in the blood! Science has been looking for that secret for years, & there it is right in the Bible all the time! Only recently they said they'd decided that's where the secret of life was, in the blood! Very smart. They could've read it in the Bible thousands of years ago!

13. I GOT TO THINKING ABOUT THIS TONIGHT, "WHY DO I LIKE TO GO TO DINNER WITH THE FAMILY SO MUCH?" Why is it such a pleasure & joy that's in a way the happiest time of day, when our day's work is done & we can sit down & enjoy a good meal together! It's not just the food, we enjoy the fellowship more. We could eat food by ourselves in our room‚ as I have sometimes, but I much more enjoy eating here with you & joining you & the children for Family dinner & fellowship. …

14. SO WHY DID THE LORD FORBID THE DRINKING OF BLOOD? I'm just throwing out a lot of questions here to make you think! Why was it that He allowed eating of flesh but not the drinking of blood? (Ge.9:4; Lev.17:14) (Fam: Because it's a symbol of Jesus shedding His blood for our sins?) Well, we can guess, but the fact of the matter is, we don't really know why the Lord made that commandment. That could be one reason, that's a good suggestion.—The very fact that He says "the life of the flesh is in the blood."

15. THERE ARE CERTAIN TRIBES & PEOPLES IN THE WORLD THAT DRINK BLOOD, USUALLY CEREMONIALLY. The Devil has made his own ceremonies to be contrary to the laws of God. I'll never forget the time I saw that movie. They like it warm & fresh right out of the flesh, & they don't always kill the animal to get it! Certain tribes just poke a little hole in the side of the cow & they hold a little bowl there to catch the blood! Then they pass it around & drink it right there on the spot as part of their religious ceremony.—Ugh!

16. I'VE NEVER TASTED BLOOD THAT I KNOW OF! I remember I used to be kind of horrified when my Father would cut his finger & immediately suck it! He was taught to do that to purify it, & it does sort of act as an antiseptic because your saliva is so strongly alkaline, meaning lye. I'm not talking about the kind of lie you shouldn't tell‚ but it's the first mouth stage in eating to kill the germs, then the acids in your stomach are supposed to finish them off. But there're some kinds of germs that'll survive almost anything, even some boiling! But I remember I'd heard stories in the Bible about how you're not supposed to drink blood, so I was horrified! I thought my father was drinking blood!

17. SOME OF THE GERMANS & SOME EUROPEANS EAT BLOOD!—How? (Fam: Blood sausage!) And the French are great for eating raw meat that still has the blood in it. Even the Americans have gotten to where they are eating what they call "cannibal burgers"—raw hamburger meat! Did you hear that before you left the States? They were just beginning to be popular. Well remember, there's a difference between rare meat that looks a little red, & actual blood. It doesn't necessarily mean it's actually got the blood in it, because all meats are supposed to be killed under the supervision of government meat inspectors, etc., & of course the Jews are very careful about that. They have a rabbi right there at the slaughterhouse to make sure the meat's drained properly of all blood.

18. BUT THERE'S ALWAYS A LITTLE OF THAT JUICE THAT LOOKS A LITTLE RED SOMETIMES IN THE MEAT, but this is not necessarily what the Lord's talking about. You're not eating or drinking the blood, really. He's talking about these Satanic practices of some of these Devil-worshippers where they actually do drink the blood! Of course if you had to, Paul said you could even eat things unclean or offered to idols if you pray. (1Ti.4:4,5.) There were some circumstances when we were in evangelistic work eating in other people's homes where I sure had to do some tall praying to eat some of the junk they fed us. (Dad swats at a mosquito & crushes the Kleenex box!)

19. THE WAY THOSE MOSQUITOES CHEW ON MARIA‚ I SURE HATE TO SEE THEM LOOSE! You know, a female mosquito will poke around at the screen for hours until she can find a hole to get in. Now there's an example of a creature that's desperate for blood!—She can't even propagate or hatch her eggs without blood. Blood is really a very interesting thing, huh? Well, that's a side issue‚ but it's interesting to think of Scriptures about the blood & why the Lord didn't want us to drink it. Maybe it's just plain not good for you! I knew people that were workers in slaughterhouses in Chicago that said they used to drink blood, & they claimed that it supposedly strengthened them & all that kind of stuff!

20. AND OF COURSE DRINKING OF BLOOD BY CIVILISED POPULATIONS NOWADAYS IS EXTREMELY POPULAR, THEY DO IT ALL THE TIME IN BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS! What's the difference whether you take it through your mouth or through a tube in your blood vessel? What's the difference whether you ingest it or if they feed it directly into your veins? Well, for one thing, they've found out it carries all kinds of diseases! All these old drunks & sots are always selling their pints of blood to get a pint of liquor! Years ago in Los Angeles a lot of people got yellow jaundice, hepatitis & a lot of venereal diseases from blood transfusions, & I know that I heard of a blood transfusion nearly killing some people‚ especially in the early days before they found out that you had to have a certain type of blood‚ & it was pretty dangerous business.

21. BUT ANYHOW, JESUS DIDN'T HAVE ANY BLOOD! "The life of the flesh is in the blood‚" & although He had flesh‚ He didn't have that kind of life. What kind of life is in the blood?—The life of the flesh! In other words, the fleshly carnal type of life, the natural elements which keep us alive physically in the physical realm, carnally, in this meat we live in today.

22. WE'RE GOING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE WE DO NOW, ONLY BETTER! We're going to have flesh that looks like this flesh & feels like this flesh too, but it's not going to have this kind of life.—Not the kind of life that blood gives, which is not eternal life. It's not everlasting life, it's not a spiritual type of life that'll keep you living forever, it's a carnal, temporal, earthly form of life energy, whatever it is, that keeps us alive now as we are in the flesh.

23. THE CARNAL FLESH OF TODAY HAS TO HAVE BLOOD TO LIVE, BUT OUR REJUVENATED OR MORE THAN REJUVENATED, REGENERATED & RESURRECTED FLESH, OUR NEW BODY WILL NOT NEED ANY BLOOD AT ALL! We will have some type or form of energy which will not need blood, although we'll have flesh that looks like the flesh we have today. I'm certainly glad about that, girls!—So happy to know we can still see how pretty you are! In all those trips & visions I've had of Heaven, you women are still looking like women & still beautiful like women & beautiful to be seen! They wear these sort of light flimsy white robes of light that look like some of those pictures our artists draw of those sparkles, & some of this material that you girls get to dance with that's sort of see-through with sparkles.

24. THERE'S HARDLY ANYTHING GOD HAS IN HEAVEN, EVEN INCLUDING SOME OF THE FABRICS & BUILDINGS‚ THAT THE DEVIL HASN'T TRIED TO INSPIRE MAN TO IMITATE!—OR MAYBE THE LORD IN SOME CASES! When I was at the New York World's Fair‚ I always thought how much it was like Heaven!—All those strange beautiful buildings, guards at every gate, & you couldn't get in without a ticket or a pass! We were exhibitors so we had free passes. It was a wonder World of almost Heavenly wonders, the closest man has ever come to imitating something like Heaven! Of course, compared to Heaven, they're a cheap imitation, but at least they are beautiful. They try to make them very beautiful.

25. SO YOU WON'T NEED ANY BLOOD, but you'll still have some kind of flesh & bones, some kind of a physical structure that keeps you together in a nice packaging like you have today, only better & everlasting! You'll never wear out, think of that! There's some type of energy which is not blood & does not require blood, but is apparently something spiritual. But you can eat if you want to & you can drink! We're going to sit down & eat & drink in the Kingdom of God like Jesus did with His disciples when He appeared to them!

26. HE ATE WITH THEM SEVERAL TIMES, YOU LOOK IT UP!—One time when He appeared in the upper room & said, "A spirit hath not flesh & bones as ye see Me have" & He sat down & ate with them. (Lk.24:41-43) Another time He broke bread with the disciples after the walk down the road to Emmaus. They didn't recognise Him until after He broke bread. (Lk.24:30,31) That doesn't mean because He looked so different, He just says that they couldn't recognise Him! That sure would be handy for security right now, wouldn't it? Another time He fried fish for the disciples on the shore of Galilee when they were out fishin'! (Jn.21:12‚13) Wasn't that nice of Him? And I'm sure He must've eaten with them‚ since He could. It would've been impolite not to eat with them!

27. IT WAS ALWAYS A SIGN OF FRIENDSHIP & PEACE TO SHARE BREAD & WINE WITH GUESTS OR FAMILY. In fact, I remember my Grandfather said that in the days when the Arabians were still pretty rough & a little primitive, that if you came to an Arab's tent or place as a visitor or guest & he didn't immediately go through this little ceremony of making this thick black muddy-looking coffee for you that's almost like syrup, don't stay! How many of you have ever had that Arab coffee? The Cubans drink it too in a little tiny demitasse cup, real thick & very sweet & strong as can be.

28. SO MY GRANDFATHER USED TO SAY, "IF THEY DON'T OFFER YOU COFFEE, DON'T STAY!"—'Cause even if you did, you were apt to wake up with a knife in your back or something! They'd counted you as an enemy! But if they give you coffee, they are bound by their custom & tradition not to hurt you & to do you no harm at all. You can be perfectly safe & you can stay over night even in a tent that's open that anybody could get into. You don't have to worry about anything being stolen or being bodily harmed if they will offer you coffee when you first come. You can be safe as long as they still keep serving you coffee in that little ritual. (Maria: And you keep accepting.) Yes, & you keep accepting it. This little ritual they go through, it's almost like a ceremony.

29. HE SAID, "BUT IF FOR ANY REASON THEY STOP GIVING YOU COFFEE, DON'T SPEND THE NIGHT! You'd better clear out! Your visit is over."—Gentle hint it's time to go! And it is the Arab custom in Arab countries. I presume it's a Muslim custom, I don't know whether it's in the Koran or not. Well‚ I think it antedates the Koran. And you can only be a guest for four days, after that you go to work like the rest of the family, like anybody else. You can't stay as a guest just eating & drinking & enjoying their hospitality longer than four days‚ unless you go to work & start going into the fields & working with the rest of them.

30. WELL ANYHOW, THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB IS GOING TO BE QUITE A FESTIVE OCCASION! PTL! Hallelujah! TYJ! Do these questions ever occur to you? Why am I so curious? I'm always thinking about those things!—Maybe so I can get some answers so I can tell you! Well‚ I have a feeling that maybe it's going to be sort of like the Last Supper!—The First Supper in Heaven! Maybe the Last Supper was a type of the First Supper! Of course, at the Last Supper they also had food, they had soup. Apparently they were pretty poor & they couldn't afford to buy a very big lamb, or not very much lamb, so it must've been pretty thin lamb soup!

31. BUT I DOUBT IF WE'LL HAVE LAMB SOUP THEN‚ SINCE THERE ISN'T GOING TO BE ANY KILLING IN HEAVEN, NO DEATH, BUT WE COULD STILL HAVE THE BREAD & THE WINE! There're going to be plants there, though, & there are going to be some animals‚ think of that!—But you won't kill them any more, you'll be friends. That's why they know they can be friends, because they know that you can't kill them any more! But if plants can grow well‚ then I presume we can grow food! They're apparently going to have wheat fields outside the City, & it sure was beautiful! There were rolling hills & trees & lakes & rivers & farms & it looked a lot like some places in the World today! It reminded me a little of that rolling hill country in Europe or some places in the Eastern United States that are very green & verdant & fertile & beautiful & well-watered.

32. IT WAS JUST REALLY BEAUTIFUL OUTSIDE THE CITY, & PEOPLE WILL STILL BE LIVING OUT THERE SIMILAR TO THE WAY THEY LIVE TODAY! It won't be us, we live inside. We can go out & come in, but they can only stay out & can't come in. So maybe they'll be growing wheat! Maybe the Lord'll have somebody fixing us some bread so we can have not the Last Supper, but the First Supper! I don't know really, I'm just asking you! Maybe you've got some ideas! Maybe this'll set you thinking enough to want to know enough you'll pray & the Lord might give you some answers!

33. BUT IF IT'S GOING TO BE A SUPPER, WE CERTAINLY MUST BE GOING TO EAT SOMETHING & DRINK SOMETHING! Now whether the Lord fulfilled that "drinking of the wine in the Kingdom of His Father" or not when He drank wine with the disciples after He was resurrected from the dead depends on whether you think that was the fulfillment of the Kingdom. Of course, the Kingdom is not completely fulfilled until it is real & visible & tangible right here on Earth in the Millennium, the Kingdom of Christ! It's not yet fulfilled. The Kingdom of God today is within you, but are you in the Kingdom? Why don't you try to think of some Scriptures? Maybe the Holy Spirit will give you an answer from Scripture. If I have a question, the Lord will usually give me a Scripture if there's a Scriptural answer.

34. (FAMILY: "THE KINGDOM OF GOD IS NOT MEAT & DRINK"?—NO, THAT'S NOT IT.) (Rom.14:17) No, of course not. That doesn't mean you can't eat & drink in the Kingdom. The Lord was trying to get their minds off of the carnal material, physical things. He was trying to get them not to be worried about just what they had to eat. You're not to be mostly concerned about having something to eat & something to drink, but you're to seek first what? (Family: The Kingdom of God!) "And these things shall be added unto you." (Mt.6:33) So it's obvious that the Kingdom of God is not meat & drink, that's a good Scripture, but that doesn't mean you can't have meat & drink in the Kingdom!

35. WELL, JESUS SAID THE KINGDOM IS WITHIN YOU & THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND, so apparently it was already within some of them or He wouldn't have said that! But in the sense of being in the Kingdom‚ do you think they were in the Kingdom yet? It depends on what you call the Kingdom. If you're talking about the spiritual Kingdom of Christ, His Spirit in your heart‚ well, this of course is definitely the Kingdom of God, & it's within you right now, right?—And you might say only within you. If you can think of any other Scriptures on it, volunteer them! It'd make a good study on the Kingdom, wouldn't it? There's something in one of the Letters about the Kingdom. I guess I'll have to read it again & see what it's all about! (No.185)

36. MAYBE IF I PIQUE YOUR CURIOSITY OR PRICK YOUR CONSCIENCE A BIT, YOU'LL GET CURIOUS ENOUGH YOU'LL WHIP OUT YOUR CONCORDANCES & START LOOKING UP THESE TERMS & SEE WHAT YOU CAN FIND ON THEM! I'm asking you the questions‚ I'd like you to bring me the answers! Somebody could start doing a little research on blood & what it's got to do with it‚ & how come we're not going to have any blood in our spiritual body, & about the Kingdom particularly. How come it was in them then?—We certainly won't be in the visible literal Kingdom of Christ until He returns‚ right? But you hear many preachers saying, "Are you in the Kingdom?" Well‚ in a sense, you're in His Kingdom now spiritually, but the literal Kingdom is not yet fulfilled, so you're not in that Kingdom yet.

37. SO WHICH KINGDOM DO YOU THINK THE LORD WAS TALKING ABOUT when He said He wouldn't eat & drink until He "drank it new with you in My Father's Kingdom"? And He did drink wine later, but I wonder if it was new wine! Why did it say "drink it new"? Do those things arouse your curiosity at all? Hm? Well, I didn't mean to just have a question-&-answer period, but I was curious to know if you were curious & if you'd ever thought about those things. But I was pleased to have the Lord give me a little something, & I thought I'd give it to you fresh while I was thinking about it.

38. WHY DOES IT SEEM TO BE SUCH AN ENJOYABLE OCCASION WHEN WE EAT DINNER TOGETHER? It's not just because we eat & because the food is good, the girls cook & we're satisfied physically in the flesh, but it's the fellowship! It's just like love & sex & marriage, etc., the flesh satisfies your flesh, you might say‚ momentarily, or at least for a little while, but what's the most satisfying part? Is it just the flesh? No, it's the fellowship we have in the spirit! That's the kind of fellowship & love & spiritual communion we have, you could even say intercourse in the spirit‚ & I can even have it with you boys! That's outside of the flesh & has nothing to do with the flesh. It's in the spirit, in which there's no male nor female, no sex.

39. WHEN PAUL SAID THERE'S NO MALE NOR FEMALE IN CHRIST JESUS, WHAT DID HE MEAN? (Ga.3:28) (Fam: Anybody can receive Jesus?) Well, that was really the literal application at the moment, because he was talking about whether you're Jew or Gentile, male or female, this or that. (Fam: Well, perhaps that the traditions or the rules concerning male & female of the society or religion didn't apply when it came to the office of the Spirit.) Exactly!

40. IN SPIRITUAL THINGS & IN THE OFFICE OF THE CHURCH, ETC., SEX IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE ANY CONSIDERATION WHATSOEVER! You're all the same to the Lord, whether male or female. He didn't mean that there wouldn't be any sex!—Obviously we have lots of it!—Ha! I'm male & you're female & obviously there are a lot of us males & females in the Lord, but He meant in the Spirit, when spiritual things are concerned, sex has nothing to do with it! It doesn't make any difference whether you're male or female, we're all one, all equal in the Lord!

41. BUT HE DIDN'T MEAN BY THAT THERE WAS NO SEX & NO MALES OR FEMALES! That's not what He meant! Some cults have taken that to the extreme. I knew a friend that got lost in some kind of a Hindu mystic cult, but they were Christians who thought that verse meant you weren't supposed to have any sex in the Church‚ not supposed to have any male or female sex‚ & of course they soon died out by committing genocide! Because one thing the Lord seems to love is lots of babies! That's one way He has of growing His Kingdom besides winning souls & witnessing! He seems to know that the best kind of disciples & converts, as we've brought out before, are born in the Family & raised from scratch. In fact, even before they're born, they're influenced & blessed & given good bodies & spirits, etc. What a wonderful miracle is a baby!

42. OF COURSE, THE CHURCH IN GENERAL IS HORRIFIED IF YOU EVEN SUGGEST THERE'S GOING TO BE SEX IN HEAVEN! "Uhhhh! That horrible wicked sin & iniquity is going to be done away with!" It shows you what they think about sex, that it's wicked & sinful & bad‚ & therefore‚ of course it couldn't be in Heaven! There are cults & sects which prohibit sex, beginning with the Catholic Church prohibiting marriage to the priests & nuns! And you know what Paul calls that?—The doctrine of devils in the Last Days! He said there'll come false prophets, false teachers teaching not to eat meat & not to have sex & forbidding to marry & all those things! (1Ti.4:1-3)

43. THAT'S ONE THING THAT WORRIES ME ABOUT POPE JOHN! I don't know how he can be so spiritual & yet be so far off the beam when it comes to sticking to celibacy as being something Scriptural & something good for the priests! It's resulted in some of the worst havoc in the Church! I've had so many reports from converted priests & people themselves‚ including one sad experience in Israel.

44. ONE ARAB BOY WE KNEW GOT CONVERTED & JOINED THE CHURCH, & as an Arab‚ he practically had to move in for safety's sake! The priest came around to his bed one night to have sex, & he was so horrified & so astonished & shocked that he told us about it! He said, "What is this?" And we told him, "Well, that certainly was not of God! He was not a man of God to do things like that!"—And he was horrified & we were horrified! But even before that I heard that sodomy or homosexuality is rampant in the Catholic Church amongst the priesthood! After all, they've got to have sex, it's normal & natural, the flesh needs it, craves it, & if they won't let'm have women, the Bible says they burn in their lusts, men with men working that which is unseemly. (Rom.1:27)

45. SO THAT'S A DOCTRINE OF DEVILS, A FALSE DOCTRINE, & how the Pope can be a man of God & stick to it, I don't know!—Along with a few other things! I certainly highly agree with his stand against birth control & abortion & most other things, although the Catholics are not very strong on salvation by grace. But that business of celibacy has caused nothing but trouble & is still one of their biggest problems, & it should be!

46. SO IF YOU START THAT BUSINESS OF "SEX IS BAD," YOU'RE BEGINNING WITH THE WRONG PREMISE! "If sex is so bad & they're not going to have it in Heaven, then oh my, we shouldn't have it here in the Kingdom of God on Earth! Oh my, we shouldn't have it in the Church! We shouldn't have it amongst Christians!—Not only the priesthood & the nuns, but even Christians of any kind! It's so bad they shouldn't indulge in sex!" If you start off on the wrong foot, you follow through & you wind up in a mess! So it shows they're wrong. Paul said it's a doctrine of devils, forbidding to marry‚ forbidding to eat meats, etc. So how'd we get on that? I always seem to wind up on sex somehow! That doesn't mean that we're not going to be males & females in Heaven.

47. SOME PEOPLE USE THAT OTHER SCRIPTURE THAT SAYS, "WHEN THEY SHALL RISE FROM THE DEAD, THEY NEITHER MARRY NOR ARE GIVEN IN MARRIAGE, BUT ARE AS THE ANGELS IN HEAVEN"—TO TRY TO PROVE THERE'S NO SEX IN HEAVEN! (Mk.12:25) Jesus was talking to the Scribes & the Pharisees about this guy‚ & they tried to pop this conundrum on Him. It was perfectly legal for the woman to marry the brothers one after the other, in fact, it was required by Mosaic Law, so they thought they had Him trapped in a legality! Apparently this had occurred to them before. The main thing was a matter of money, really, inheritance. If the woman didn't bear children, she lost her share of the inheritance, she had no child to give it to, so each wife had to have children to get their share of the husband's property. Well, these … Jews were so sly & slick & thought they were so smart they had thought up a problem for Christ that He couldn't solve!

48. THEY SAID "BUT WHOSE WIFE IS SHE GOING TO BE IN HEAVEN?" Now polygamy was commonly practiced & accepted, of course, as is obvious in the Bible, that a man could have more than one wife, but in those days it was strictly forbidden that a woman should have more than one husband. There have been all kinds of theological explanations‚ that the Church could not have more than one Bridegroom‚ one God, one Christ, & that this was a type of that & that's why it was forbidden. Well, that's a theory. We don't know. But anyway, under Mosaic Law it was forbidden. So they wanted to know what's going to happen then when she gets into the Kingdom, whose wife is she going to be or are they all going to live together?

49. THAT'S ONE THING ABOUT THE JEWS, THEY WERE PRETTY LITERAL ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD! In fact, to them it was pretty carnal, very literal & very physical. Have you read that Martin Luther book summary yet? He brings out that point that the Jews were extremely carnal in their idea of the Kingdom. Well, the Kingdom of Christ is going to be very literal, visible & tangible when He returns to the Earth with us later. But since Moses forbade a woman to have more than one husband, they wanted to know what she was going to do in Heaven when she's married to all seven of them! They carried over the idea of the physical relationship to the Heavenly Kingdom & apparently figured there was still going to be sex in Heaven!

50. SO WHAT WAS JESUS' ANSWER WHEN THEY ASKED HIM, "WELL NOW‚ WHOSE WIFE IS SHE GOING TO BE IN HEAVEN?" It says‚ "Know ye not in the Kingdom of God they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels of God?" (Mt.22:23-33.)—And right away the Church seized on that to try to prove that there's no sex in heaven! That's not what He said at all‚ & He really didn't answer them either‚ did He? He didn't say she wasn't going to be the wife of all seven of them. It was really a parry, He didn't really answer the question at all, He just said they neither marry nor are given in marriage! It was up to the men to marry, they were supposed to take the initiative, the women were given in marriage. But does that mean they wouldn't be married in Heaven? We're going to be married with the Lord!

51. WELL, WHAT ARE ALL MY WIVES DOING SITTING AROUND ME IN HEAVEN IF WE'RE NOT MARRIED? "They neither marry nor are given in marriage." That's the secret. She didn't have to marry or be given in marriage, she was already married! Right? Neither did He say there wasn't going to be any sex in Heaven. He said, "They shall be as the angels of God!" Well, what about the angels of God? Can they have sex? (Fam: Yes!) In fact, they still have sex! In the early days before the Flood they even came down & fucked the pretty daughters of Earth, like you girls! (Gen.6:2)—And giants resulted!

52. THE GENERAL IDEA WAS, HE LEFT THEM MORE QUESTIONS THAN HE ANSWERED, SO THEY DIDN'T DARE ASK HIM ANY MORE QUESTIONS! He gave them an answer which really was no answer at all‚ that even aroused more questions & more problems & left them with more enigmas than ever! But of course‚ if they knew their Bible, they shouldn't have had too much trouble figuring it out.

53. WELL, ALL I KNOW IS I'M STILL GOING TO BE MARRIED TO YOU WHEN I GET TO HEAVEN—MY QUEENS & MY WIVES! You're my women, my wives! These men are not your husbands, I'm your husband! These men are your consorts, that's what the Lord's called you! PTL! Thank God! I'm glad you have these consorts because I certainly can't take care of all of you, I'd be worn out! I'm already worn out! I have a hard enough time trying to keep dear Maria happy! Well, I try to keep you girls happy the best I can, but not like I used to. The old grey stallion is not quite the stud he used to be! Well, that's one of the problems & weaknesses of the flesh. But I can still do it, as you know, on occasion! PTL!—When I rise to the occasion!

54. THERE ARE SO MANY INTERESTING THINGS ABOUT THE KINGDOM OF GOD! Maybe you'll want to look it up in your concordance when you have study time, to see what it's got to say about the Kingdom of God. Our dear friendly enemy Scofield tried to make a difference between the Kingdom of God & the Kingdom of Heaven, because Matthew speaks of the Kingdom of Heaven & the other Gospel writers talk about the Kingdom of God! He said that's because Matthew was talking to the Jews & they're the only ones that would inherit the Kingdom of Heaven, the Kingdom of God was something else for the Gentiles.—Isn't that ridiculous? … I'm convinced the Brethren Church was developed by the Jews—converted Christian Jews—so they could have their own religion to suit their own doctrines that favour the Jews!—Like my Grandfather!

55. WELL, IT'S VERY SIMPLE TO DISPROVE THAT THEORY OF HIS! All you have to do is look up the same quotations & exactly the same quotes of Christ in the other Gospels where Jesus said exactly the same thing! Matthew has Him saying Kingdom of Heaven & the other Gospel writers have Him saying Kingdom of God. No problem. It's plain as day they're talking about one & the same thing‚ it's just a matter of difference in expression! As though the Kingdom of God would not be the Kingdom of Heaven & as though the Kingdom of Heaven wouldn't be the Kingdom of God! Isn't that ridiculous?

56. I'LL TELL YOU‚ SOME OF THESE THEOLOGIANS & DOCTRINAIRES OF THE CHURCHES REALLY GO TO SPLITTIN' HAIRS & WIND UP WITH SOME OF THE ZANIEST CRAZIEST DOCTRINES YOU EVER HEARD! I mean, religion is complicated enough as it is! The Bible is difficult enough to understand as it is without them screwing it all up & making it even worse! Just like I told that professor at the University of Arizona, I got angry because I gave a simple explanation to something & he wanted something very complicated. I said, "I think your education is a mess! You try to make simple things complicated!" I told him this right before the class, & of course he flunked me for it! Ahem! But it was worth it!—Ha!

57. SO THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN‚ KINGDOM OF GOD, WHAT'S IT GOING TO BE LIKE?—NO BLOOD BUT PLENTY OF SEX! You don't need to eat, but you're going to have a Marriage Supper! See, some of the old infidels & atheists, etc., used to take these points & use them against each other, saying there were 4,000 contradictions in the Bible! Well, nothing contradicts itself in the Bible! It's just because they couldn't understand what it meant in the first place! How could you expect their carnal minds to understand the Bible? They take two verses that were supposed to contradict each other & they didn't know what either one of them meant‚ so how could they tell? Carnal man is absolutely a fool! He's so foolish, so ridiculous to try to understand things that he couldn't possibly understand without the new mind‚ the regenerated mind‚ the mind of Christ, the mind of the spirit, the totally new man. They're only spiritually discerned, PTL? (1Cor.2:14)

58. WELL, I'M RAISING A LOT OF QUESTIONS TONIGHT THAT I HOPE WILL AROUSE YOUR CURIOSITY TO START STUDYING UP ON SOME OF THESE THINGS! Some of you are naturally rather researchive, including me & a few others of you, I think. We have two full-time researchers here, & of course we're all researching something. Our dear cook researches my meals everyday & Maria's too!—Searches to find out what Maria wants to eat, & that's quite a research! I never saw anybody eat so many funny peculiar things, never the same thing twice in a row! So PTL! Well, I hope that's sort of aroused your curiosity a little bit if nothing else.—About the Heavenly Kingdom, I mean!

59. BUT ANYHOW, I WAS THRILLED TO THINK ABOUT THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB‚ & WE'RE GOING TO HAVE A WONDERFUL TIME UP THERE! It's going to be a feast of fellowship, most of all meeting old friends & relatives!—Yes‚ & all the saints & heroes of the Bible! I mean, it's going to take us probably the whole Millennium to even get started meeting everybody & having visits with people we'd like to meet. There's some boys up there I sure have some questions for, askin'm why they did this or that, & I'm going to be wanting a lot of answers to a lot of questions I don't understand! But I understand enough, thank the Lord, to know where I'm at & where I'm going & pretty much what to expect when we get there! It'll be a wonderful place! XXX!

60. I'M SURE GLAD YOU WOMEN ARE GOING TO BE JUST AS BEAUTIFUL, EVEN MORE AVAILABLE, & I'M GOING TO BE MORE ABLE! PTL! I think the Arabs would like our religion, 'cause they have that concept also. They're right! I don't quite go along with them that all the houris are daily virgins though! Some of their tradition teaches they can fuck'm everyday & they grow a new hymen everyday so they can deflower them the next day! That's kind of ridiculous! See what these theologians get into, even the Muslim theologians, when they start trying to figure out every detail! Well, I just want you to think about what a wonderful place it's going to be & what a wonderful time we're going to have up there, still able to enjoy what we enjoy here & even more‚ of which this tonight is just a sample!

61. THIS IS JUST LIKE A PICTURE OF THE REALITY, AN ILLUSTRATION OF THE REAL THING WE'RE GOING TO HAVE OVER THERE!—Such fellowship as we've never known, communication like we've never had before‚ no misunderstandings any more, you can read each other's minds! You don't really have to talk. Just think, we can just sit there & hmmm! You can tell what's on my mind, can't you?—Ha! It's not hard to know what's on my mind with you pretty girls sitting around! PTL! ILY! But really it's just wonderful beyond compare. Have you a Scripture for it? (Fam: "Eye hath not seen"?) (1Cor.2:9) That's a good one! The preachers use that all the time to try to cover up & say, "Well, you can't understand, you can't know & nobody's ever seen it. Nobody's ever really heard, it's too wonderful to know anything about it!" Finish the Scripture. (Fam: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of Man‚ the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.") (1Co.2:9) In other words, you haven't seen it, you haven't heard it‚ you haven't imagined it, but what? That's where the preachers stop. What's the next part?

62. (FAMILY: "BUT GOD HATH REVEALED IT UNTO THEM BY HIS SPIRIT.") Exactly! The Lord's revealed it to us by His Spirit! These carnal eyes haven't seen it, these ears haven't heard it. Wherever I was when I was there‚ apparently it wasn't the natural eye or the natural ear nor my natural imagination, but it was the spiritual eyes of the soul or the Spirit, the eyes & the ears of the Spirit & my comprehension the Lord speaks of as the heart imagining these things.—In other words, the concept of it entering into your heart, comprehending it & grasping the idea. You couldn't do that with the natural. Paul said, "I don't know whether it was even me or some other man!" (2Co.12:2) All he knew was he'd been there or he thought he'd been there or somebody'd been there!—Ha! That's how incomprehensible it is! You just know you've been there, that's all, & if these eyes didn't see it, some eyes saw it! You saw something, you heard something, you comprehended something & it was wonderful! The Spirit has revealed it‚ PTL?

63. ISN'T THAT TERRIBLE HOW THE CHURCH TWISTS THINGS & STOPS SHORT OF THE FULL TRUTH? They quote that one Scripture & don't go on to the end! They use that Scripture to say, "You just can't even imagine! You couldn't possibly see or hear the marvel, how wonderful Heaven's going to be & the things of the Spirit. You can't see, hear or imagine what it's going to be like." They as good as close the door & don't try! It doesn't say that at all! It turns right around & says, "But the Spirit shall reveal it to us!" It's pitiful how they hide the truth from the people & give them half-truths that are contradictory & worse than almost no truth at all! It's delusion, deceit, wresting the Scriptures, twisting the truth! Isn't that pitiful? It's amazing how little the Church & the preachers have told people about the Spirit & the spiritual & the spirits & the things of the Spirit. How much did you ever hear in church about it outside of about Jesus & the Saints & Mary & the Angels?—And they didn't tell you too much about them, right? If you asked any questions they'd say, "Well, you're not supposed to understand‚ that's not for you to know!"

64. THANK YOU JESUS FOR ALL YOU HAVE REVEALED TO US! You've been so good to us, Lord‚ You've almost overfed us & overstuffed us! If we hadn't kept pouring it out, we'd have been overstuffed like the churches, because they keep feeding & yet they don't give it out. They don't pour it out, they don't share it or give it away, so they get fat & flabby & dull & blind & useless! Lord Jesus‚ even of the little truth You've given them, so few of them share it. But thank You Lord that You have given us so much, because You have trusted us to share it & give it away, & we have & we're still doing it‚ Lord.

65. BLESS ALL THOSE ENGAGED IN THY WORD AROUND THE WORLD, LORD, so many engaged in creating & producing it & processing it, Lord, & printing it & distributing it & all. Bless them all, keep them all & all Thy children around the World & our Family & all Thy Family safely in Thy care, & continue to bless them & use them & make them a blessing. Thank You Lord for how good You've been to us, too good almost, Lord! You've spoiled us, given us so much & been so good to us physically & financially‚ Lord, & provided every need, protection, everything, as long as we please Thee & we produce & are sharing it & feeding Thy sheep. It seems that nothing is too good for us, Lord. You've given us everything, everything our heart could desire because we delight ourselves in Thee, Lord, & Thy work. Therefore You've given us the desires of our hearts‚ everything we desired‚ even things we didn't think about‚ Lord, that You've showered on us! We thank You Lord!

66. CONTINUE TO BLESS US & USE US & MAKE US A BLESSING! Help us to get out Thy Words to the people for their encouragement, inspiration, feeding, enlightenment & guidance, Lord, all that they need to know to keep them going & to help them pass it on to others & enlighten others & teach others to teach others to teach others. Thank You for it all, Lord! It's all You, Jesus, You did it all! We had little or nothing to do with it, You just worked through us, spoke through us! It's Your Word, Lord‚ & we know it. We have just done our best to treasure it & to mine it & process it & distribute it to the people. Thank You Jesus for making that possible too! PYL! TYJ! In Jesus' name. Amen. PTL! TYJ! Hallelujah!" (Sings "The Lord's Prayer.")

67. AMEN, LORD, KEEP US SAFELY & GIVE US A GOOD NIGHT'S REST! Bless all of our loved ones & children, Lord. Keep the house, protect it & all of its parts & yard, Lord, & we thank Thee for Thy angels who are camped around about us & protect us constantly. Thank You Jesus for Your angels! TYJ! PYL! Hallelujah! TYJ! In Jesus' name. Amen! TYL!

68. HE'S ALREADY GIVEN US ALMOST MORE THAN WE'LL EVER BE ABLE TO GET OUT‚ unless you guys can carry on after I'm gone & finish the job. I think maybe you hungry typists would probably still be banging away wanting to keep it up even when Jesus comes! "Wait just a minute, Lord! I've got to finish this Letter!"—Ha! Reminds me of that old song about St. Peter at the gate, "St. Peter you can wait!" Something about the gate, "I just gotta have another smoke!" Well, some of you typists are so hungry for the Words, "I just gotta get this down, Lord‚ before I go!" GBYA! Some of these witnessers are going to want to pass out one more tract or win one more soul!

69. THERE'S AN OLD SONG WE USED TO SING: "WAIT A LITTLE LONGER PLEASE, JESUS, SO MANY OF MY FRIENDS ARE LOST IN SIN!" Well, there's kind of a point to that. But He has been waiting quite awhile since they sang that song‚ about 50 years since I first heard it, so I guess He answered their prayer! We've been doing a pretty good job getting out the Word to all their old friends, if they haven't already died. PTL! GBYA! ILY! Excuse me for keeping you so long, it's just so delicious to be here with you & I love my sheep & I love to feed you, & the Lord loves you & He loves to feed you & I love fellowship! Maybe you can be thankful when I don't come to dinner because I always keep you too long. PTL! Bless them & strengthen them now, Lord, & do help them to get their work done, in Jesus' name, amen! GBY! ILY! I'm looking forward to our "First Supper" in Heaven!—Aren't you?