Today the Lord desires to give us another example of what He arranged. When the police­men and most of the people from the church left, the Spirit of Christ led my wife and me INSIDE of that Pentecostal Church. We came to our two former pastors and their wives, we embraced them and greeted them with a true love and joy! When the current pastor, who apparently called the Police, saw it, he became absolutely stunned and speechless! Later on when we were already at home, the Lord showed me how I had on that Sunday in the Pentecostal Church unknowingly fulfilled the Word of God (Mt. 5:44) by embracing my former pastor showing him my true love though he, in his spirit and soul, became my “enemy”! This is the true Spirit of Christ and also the true fruit of His Spirit (Mt. 7:16-20). Well, is not the above example also clear for all simple and faithful brethren?

I would like to emphasize at this place another specific fact and truth. In Mt. 5:21-47, the Lord as it were changes the Old Testament into the New Testament repeating (several times): “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time…” – and then saying: “But I say unto you…” The Lord changes the “old man” into a “New Man”, He changes the old nature into a new (Divine) Nature! No wonder that the Lord closes this change by His Commandment in verse 48: “Be ye THEREFORE perfect…”

And furthermore, IF I DO any of the Lord’s Commandments, which precede verse 48 – IN THEM I AM PERFECT! If I go 2 miles for someone, who is forcing me to go 1 mile (friends do not force) – I thereby show my love for this not too friendly person and also for the Lord. Do not imagine, however, that you are able to do some of these Commandments without your “old man” being broken and crushed, without your old nature being destroy­ed. The “old man”, old nature CANNOT DO any part of the Word of God, much less these unbelievable Commandments from Mathew 5:21-48. Therefore, if a Pentecostal pastor calls Police on his brother, which is only standing on the walkway offering a free Christian literature, then it is needful to ask at least one basic question: Is this the Spirit of Christ, or is it the spirit of Satan in that pastor? And if Pentecostal pastors have in themselves the spirit of Satan, then whom are they serving? Christ or Satan? This also applies to pastor Stanislaw Gawel in Žilina, Slovakia (see the note in the second paragraph below).

What else should I say? Are we, the disciples of Jesus Christ, able to formulate some con­clusions to the above examples? Are we able to determine our own spiritual state, our own spiritual walk, our own love for the Lord, our own true desire for our perfection? Or, perhaps, we have not even been thinking about it until today? I will not blame for it any­one – this declaration of the Lord in Mt. 5:48 is the most shocking declaration in the entire Bible. And as far as I know, I have never heard anybody preach this Word, or explain it or even mention it, though it is also a Word of God.

Had we by any chance ever thought, or very likely even believed, that we are pretty good Christ­­ians and stand firmly and securely on our feet, we should think about it again (1Cor. 10:12). For, if we do not know the Reality of the Word of God, then most assuredly we do not know the reality about our own selves, how Christ sees us in the Light of His Word! If you have not been before the Lord for some time in a repentance spirit for your own self, it cannot harm you if you do it, even though it might seem to you that there is nothing wrong with you. Do it according to your faith and the voice of your conscience. For the Lord is exactly at this time making it possible for you to read living testimonies about the nightmarish spiritual situations of too many of His disciples and servants, let alone multi­tud­es of believers. (Note: The most recent case is with, so called, pastor Gawel in Žilina, Slovakia, the organizer of the conferences of “Friends of Israel”. The case was to be con­si­dered and resolved by the bishop of the Apostolic Church in Slovakia, Jan Lacho. This is a too broad topic for this elaborate of basics and this case is also so spiritually piggish that I do not want to describe it here. The necessary documents (in Slovak language) are, how­ever, at the disposal to anyone, who is interested in the “spiritual reality” of the Church in Slovakia of these days. Every such interested party would much more readily understand the Word of God in Revelation 3:16 where the Lord says in His Own Words that He will “spue this church of the end times from His mouth”.)

Let us now look at some examples regarding the degrees of perfection. I quote Heb. 13: 20a,21: “Now the God of peace… make you perfect in every good work to do His Will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ; to Whom be Glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Notice that the degree of perfection re­lates here to “every good work” and not to the Perfection of the Heavenly Father. Maybe the Spirit of God, Who inspired apostle Paul foreknew that these Jews will at least in their hearts desire to do for God good works. There definitely exist many servants and disciples of the Lord, and maybe some even from among the multitudes, which, similarly as the above mentioned Jews, desire in their hearts to do a good work for the Lord. There is no­thing wrong with that. But there is the degree of their perfection – IF they allow the Spirit of God to do in them “that which is wellpleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ”. So, as we can see, the desire alone, even in this lower degree of perfection, is not suffi­cient. The work of the Holy Spirit must always be present, always and for all the degrees of perfection!

We can now take another example from the Church at Corinth, which abounded with flesh (lust, sensuality, court cases, etc.) Their flesh was present mainly in their mind, in insuffi­cient understanding, in fleshly lusts which caused many disputes and controversies and sinning among them. No wonder that apostle Paul, toward the end of his second letter warns and advices them: “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2Cor. 13:5). In verse 9, he prays for their perfection and in verse 11 he continues: “Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you.” The Spirit of God through Paul wishes and advices them that they would at least de­sire the degree of perfection regarding the unity of their mind, which perfection brings comfort and also peace. This is far more than just wish, this is a prayer. Paul is not telling them to be perfect as their Heavenly Father is. This “unity of mind” presupposes the work of the Holy Spirit in the renewal of their mind (Eph. 4:23). Thusly renewed mind is then able to focus on God and trust God in everything instead of being always occupied by flesh, which was the main problem of the believers in Corinth. We also know that God grants His perfect peace to such minds, which are stayed, focused on Him because they trust in Him (Is. 26:3).

Today the Lord is granting us the Reality of the full spectrum of Perfection from the lowest levels and limited forms of perfection to the highest Perfection of Our Heavenly Father. It is also very similar to the Magnificent Salvation by Christ, which He is offered to all man­kind as it is with the Magnificent Perfection, which He is offering to all believers. We know that not every pagan’s heart finds its faith for Christ and desires His Salvation. Many of them will perish even though the Lord saved the whole world and offered His Salvation to all mankind. Similarly, not every heart from among the believers finds love for Christ and desires His Perfection!

(One word of comment: We know that in every big house, estate or palace there is a good number of servants, like, doormen, gardeners, chambermaids, cooks, helpers, guards, secretaries, accountants, etc. There are also the sons and daughters of the owner just as the owner himself, landlord, nobleman or prince and his wife. It is the same in the King­dom of God. He who has an understanding heart, let him understand.)

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To be continued next week

brother Hanola

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