Part 9 of 19 Parts

  

The Following Message Has Been Transcribed And Edited For

Clarity, Continuity Of Thought, And Punctuation By

The LEM Transcribing & Editing Team.

 

On part 8 of this message, I brought a correction. I told you that I had been talking about the piercing serpent and telling you that the word, piercing, meant fugitive. And I told you, on part 8 of this message, that I had made a mistake, that the Hebrew word, translated crooked in crooked serpent, means fugitive. Well, I found out that the Hebrew word that means fugitive is translated in Job 26:13 as the crooked serpent. And in Isaiah 27:1, the same Hebrew word is translated piercing serpent. So I was right when I told you the piercing Serpent is the fugitive Serpent.

 

This is something that the King James translators do. They take the same Hebrew word and translate it sometimes three or four different ways throughout the Scripture, one more witness as to how ridiculous it is to be distressed if I take or if I choose a different translation that the King James translators choose. They do it themselves, and they do it themselves arbitrarily. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason as to why, in one place, they would translate this word piercing and, in another place, they would translate this word crooked. There does not seem to be any rhyme or reason to it, and they just do it. So we have to look up all these words in the Hebrew, the Hebrew much more so than the Greek, although we have to check it out in the Greek too.

If you want to take Scriptures from the Old Testament on the surface, you can be blessed by them. You can be encouraged by them. The Spirit of Christ can touch your heart. But if you are really looking for the deep truth, if you are looking for the hidden manner, if you are looking for the true spiritual meaning of these Scriptures, you really cannot get it without looking up the words in the Hebrew and looking up the whole grammatical structure in the Hebrew. You really cannot do it. And then again, God is so great. Who could tell Him that there could not even be more than one meaning, more than one translation to his Scriptures?

 

I had an interesting experience tonight as I was working on this message. As you know, we started this message a while ago, and then we stopped, and now we are picking it up again: The Serpent, the Dragon, the Devil & You. And I noticed that one of the Scriptures that I did in the last message, I had already started it in another place that I had forgotten about. And I got a different translation in the other place than I did in part 8, both of them completely valid, both translations true, completely valid, although I decided that the one that I put on the message last week was more practical, was more appropriate to the message that the Lord was giving out. What is that? That the spirit of Satan in our words produces wounds.

 

I think the Scripture was Psalms 140 that, when we speak words which are motivated by the spirit of Satan, those words hurt people, and that our tongues are a weapon. James says that our tongues are fiery members because they are used to express the thoughts and the motives of the carnal mind.

 

But the workup that I did a couple of months ago revealed that that spirit that speaks through us is coming from the Dragon. Well, that is true. That is true also, is it not? That hurtful spirit is coming from the Dragon. And that the Dragon is in the bottom of the sea, well, that is true also. All of these translated words were in Gesenius. I just picked up another potential translation which is true. The words come from the Dragon, who is lying in the bottom of the sea. The bottom of what sea? The sea is the unconscious mind of fallen man.

 

So as I looked at these two different translations, I had to make a decision whether or not I would come in here tonight and tell you which translation I chose to make the Living Epistles' official translation of this Scripture. And I decided to leave it the way it was on the message last week for the reason I just told you.

 

Let me tell you again. The translation we did last week says that, when your motives for what you are saying are coming out of the unconscious mind (which is your natural man, which would be Satan), when that is your motive, when the hidden spirit in your carnal mind is motivating you to speak, your words can bring deep wounds into people's souls. That is important that we know that because a lot of people do not know that. Words hurt. Words can hurt and wound very badly and sometimes permanently.

 

Well, that does not make any sense. When I was a kid, I was taught to say, Sticks and stones hurt my bones, but words can never harm me. But it is not true because, when the spirit that propels the word has come from an evil motive, it puts arrows in your heart. That is what the Bible says.

 

So I chose to stick with that interpretation over the interpretation which says words come from the Dragon which is in the bottom of the sea. Why? Because Minnie Mouse is going to understand the first interpretation a lot better. And she is going to understand the second interpretation -- what does Minnie Mouse care whether or not Leviathan is the Dragon in the bottom of the sea?

 

When I looked at the workup that I had started and forgotten about, I had said that Leviathan is the Dragon in the bottom of the sea. Well, you cannot leave it there. It is like you may recall, if you had math in high school and you tried to reduce something to the lowest common denominator, you just had to keep on going and keep on going until your fraction could not be reduced any more. Well, if my interpretation was Leviathan is the Dragon who lives in the bottom of the sea, I could not stop there because most people would not know what I was talking about. So in that very set of notes, I had gone into another Scripture in Isaiah, where we were getting more information about Leviathan being in the bottom of the sea.

 

So this Hebrew language is very rich, and you have to keep reducing and keep reducing until you get down to a translation that the man in the street can understand. This is God's intention. He does not want us to be an exclusive club and making us the only ones that know what we are talking about.

 

I have been reading a lot of psychiatry books lately. And it just amazes me how these psychiatrists make up their own language. They need their own dictionary. And I have been reading psychiatry books for a long time, and they keep changing their terminology. So if you do not stay up on it, if you are not a member of their club, you do not know what they are talking about. And we do not want that to happen in Living Epistles Ministries. We want to reduce everything we say to the lowest common denominator so that someone who is in here for the first time can at least get some idea of what we are talking about.

 

We are going on with our study in The Serpent, the Dragon, the Devil & You. What we are doing right now is looking at a series of Scriptures which translate the Hebrew word, serpent, Strong's #5175. That word, Strong's #5175, occurs 27 times translated as serpent in the King James translation. There are three other Hebrew words translated serpent by the King James translators. And sometimes these words are translated Leviathan; sometimes they are translated whale. Sometimes they are translated dragon, and sometimes they are translated serpent.

 

This is what we are doing. We are going through all these Scriptures, trying to get information about the Serpent; finding out that the Serpent, the Dragon, Satan and the Devil are the same entity in a different form, just as Jehovah, Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ and Christ Jesus, and even the Spirit of Christ. They are all God, whose name is Jehovah, in different forms, some forms incarnated, and other forms not incarnated.

 

So we are working on these 27 occurrences of this word, translated serpent. We are in the midst of that right now. We have not done anything on whale or Dragon yet.

Tonight, we are going to take a look at Proverbs. Well, let us do a recap. On the last message, we did Proverbs 23:30-32, and we found those Scriptures to read as follows: The Dragon incarnates as the Devil when he causes the soul to receive the Dragon's seed instead of having intercourse with the Spirit of Christ. So those who delay in increasing into Christ Jesus enter into the earth of their carnal minds, where they search out the knowledge of the Serpent. And the ultimate state of the Devil is the separation of the witch into a many-membered evil man.

 

So we see that the witch of creation is the Serpent. The Serpent became the Dragon. When did the Serpent's name change to the Dragon? Let us review this.

 

PASTOR VITALE: When did the Serpent's name change to Dragon?

 

COMMENT: When the Serpent disobeyed the will of God and decided for himself how to think.

 

PASTOR VITALE: When the Serpent separated in thought from Christ, her name changed to Dragon. And we see the Dragon in an incarnated state and in an unincarnated state. As I told you last week, if the Dragon in her in- -- in her unincarnated state has a name, I do not know what it is. But the Dragon has a name in his incarnated form. What is that name?

 

COMMENT: The Devil.

 

PASTOR VITALE: No.

 

COMMENT: It is not? No?

 

PASTOR VITALE: No. What is the name of the Dragon? I have already said it.

 

COMMENT: Oh, Leviathan.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Leviathan. The name of the Dragon is Leviathan, and Leviathan is a spirit. If you remember the chart that I put up Sunday, he is on the same level as the Lord Jesus Christ. He is, in this hour, a spirit which is operating as the unconscious mind of man. And his residence is in the Devil. He is a part of the Devil.

 

I am just going to go over this until you get it. I am going to go over it until you cannot stand it anymore.

 

PASTOR VITALE: The Devil is who? What is another name for the Devil? Your old man or your new man?

 

COMMENT: Your old man.

 

PASTOR VITALE: The Devil is your old man. And what is the name of your new man? Christ Jesus is the name of your new man. A man is a whole personality. A personality is made up of two parts. What are the two parts of the personality?

 

COMMENT: The unconscious mind and the --

 

PASTOR VITALE: No.

 

COMMENT: -- conscious mind?

 

PASTOR VITALE: No. What are the two parts of the personality?

 

COMMENT: The spirit and the soul.

 

PASTOR VITALE: The spirit and the soul. What form does spirit take in a man?

 

COMMENT: The mind.

 

PASTOR VITALE: The mind. A man has a soul and a mind. The Devil has a soul and a mind. Christ Jesus has a soul and a mind. The unconscious mind of the Devil has a name of its own. What is it? Satan. And the conscious mind of the Devil is known as the carnal mind.

 

COMMENT: Carnal mind.

 

PASTOR VITALE: And the unconscious mind of the man Christ Jesus has a name of his own. What is it?

 

COMMENT: Jehovah?

 

PASTOR VITALE: The Spirit of Christ.

 

COMMENT: The Lord Jesus Christ?

 

PASTOR VITALE: The Spirit of Christ.

 

COMMENT: Oh.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes, the Spirit of Christ. And the conscious mind of the man Christ Jesus is called the mind of Christ.

 

And who is the witch? The Serpent is the witch. And no matter what form she is manifesting, she is the witch. Now, does not a witch change form? Just the term, witch, implies spiritual power to change form. So the Serpent is the witch. The very word, Serpent, implies enchanter, witchcraft, trickery, magic. So the Serpent herself is changing from the Serpent in submission to Christ, to the Dragon in rebellion against Christ, to the Dragon in the visible world, who is lying in the unconscious mind of man, who is now named Leviathan.

 

And then this Dragon, lying in the spiritual realm of the soul, when he incarnates as a man, has a personality whose name is the Devil. Now, the Devil has an unconscious mind named Satan and a conscious mind named the carnal mind, or another way to say it is death. The carnal mind is death.

 

PASTOR VITALE: You know what this reminds me of? When I was a kid, we used to have flash cards. Jehovah is the Spirit who formed this creation. When he breathed his breath into the earth, the name of that breath is called --

 

COMMENT: Christ.

 

PASTOR VITALE: -- Christ. Christ is a man. Christ is a man, and the name of the mind is Christ. How did I get that? Well, I do not want to stick with the pre-incarnate stuff. Let me see how I am going to say that to you. The man Christ, he had a soul, and the name of the soul -- well, I do not want to get into that now. I am going to confuse you. Let us just stay with that the way it was.

 

We are going on with Proverbs 30:18-19: There be three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not. I have read these Scriptures so many times.

 

Verse 19 says, (These are the wonderful things) There be three things which are too wonderful for me (I cannot bear it; it is so wonderful), the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of a sea, and the way of a man with a maid. Can anybody tell me what is so wonderful about those things? What is so wonderful about those things?

 

I suggest to you that the King James translators changed the intent of the Scripture. Why? Because they did not know what the intent of the Scripture was. They laid out the Hebrew words, and they looked at it, and they just tried to make an English sentence out of it. It makes no sense to me at all.

 

So I looked up the words, and I found out this Hebrew word, translated too wonderful, is Strong's #6381. And that very same word can be translated too difficult. And I choose too difficult as the translation. I choose too difficult. Makes sense.

 

Well, we still have to find out what the rest of it means. How is an eagle in the air, and a serpent upon a rock, and a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid, too difficult? How is it too easy, and how is it too difficult? The problem is that the Hebrew does not mean any of those things. So let us find out what the Scripture is saying.

 

Three things in this life, three things in this existence, are too difficult for me. They are too difficult for men. Too difficult for what? You may recall our Alternate Translation of Romans 5. I do not remember the verse. Well, I have this. Let me get that for you right here. The Lord just gave me that. I did not have it prepared in my notes. Let us take a look at Romans 5:7. Well, let us start with verse 6.

 

Alternate Translation, Romans 5:6, Because, in the age of innocence, which has now passed (it was the age before the fall) Christ died when he failed to distinguish between good and evil, and we were cast down to this present, evil age with him and became ungodly. Therefore, the fall has made it very difficult for anyone to die to their carnal mind.

 

Now, listen, we are talking about difficult things. We are talking about what is too hard. In the Book of Proverbs, we are talking about what is too hard. And now we see, in Romans 5, it is saying the fall has made it very difficult for anyone to die to their carnal mind so that Christ can be fully born in them. Under these present circumstances then, how can anyone possibly not only slay their carnal mind but cross over into the life of Christ?

 

So here is what is difficult: To die to your carnal mind so that Christ can be fully born in you, to slay your carnal mind, and to cross over into the life of Christ. And the reason it is so difficult, verses 8 and 9, is that we are sinners, because the immature Christ death in the past age is still overshadowing us.

 

The reason it is so hard is that the condition that we fell into, when the immature or the incomplete Christ died, is still our condition. Therefore, it is very hard to kill our carnal mind, to overcome our carnal mind. To die to your carnal mind, to slay your carnal mind, and to cross over into the life of Christ. First, your carnal mind loses power over you; then you kill him; then you cross over into the mind of Christ. That is what is so difficult.

 

And I suggest to you, we find the same principle in Proverbs 30:18 and 19. There are three things that are just too hard for me and too hard for you. And these are the three things. Well, we are not up to that yet. There are three things which are too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not.

 

The Hebrew word, four, is Strong's #702, and it means the number four. I had a little trouble doing this alternate translation, and I had to pray about. And what I am going to tell you, I got by revelation. If you do not want to believe it, that is OK. If you have any wisdom at all, you will just ask the Lord if it could possibly be true.

 

We did a series on Ezekiel 1. It is the Series #38, where we worked up an understanding of the number four, of the word four. We went into a deep, symbolic study of the word, four, and we found out that, in certain prophecies, this word was used to describe a four-legged animal. And we went into the Hebrew; we went into Webster's dictionary. And we found reason to believe that this word could be used to indicate a beast, the number four, the four-legged beast.

 

And we also know, in other Bible symbology, that the number four typifies the earth, the four corners of the earth. It is an earthy number, and the earth is inhabited by beasts. And I suggest to you that, when I get through showing you the whole concept of this verse and how I am going to translate it, I hope that you too will have the opinion that this word, four, is speaking about a four-legged beast, speaking about the fallen bestial creation.

 

Brethren, these three things are very hard for the fallen man, who is in the condition of a beast. If you are a fallen man, you are in the condition of Nebuchadnezzar. Your beast is stronger than your spirit man. Your spirit man is weak because he is dead. So it is therefore very hard for your spirit man to die to the beast who is ruling him. It is very hard for your spirit man to overtake the beast who is ruling him. It is very hard for your spirit man to rise up and be God because the beast who is ruling him is too strong. His beast nature is stronger than his spiritual nature in this hour.

 

There be three things that are too difficult for the fallen man, who is really nothing more than a beast, yea, four which I know not. The Hebrew word, translated I know, is Strong's #3045, and it means, to acquire knowledge by experience.

 

Does that sound familiar to you? It is the most recent study we did. I think it must have been in Micah 2. We found out that humanity must be educated. Humanity must grow up. Humanity must mature. And humanity is either going to mature by obtaining knowledge through instruction by the Spirit of God, or what is the other way we are going to learn? What?

 

COMMENT: By experience.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Experience. By experience, yes. And who teaches us by experience? If God teaches us by instruction, who teaches us by experience? Satan. So humanity must mature, and we will mature by obtaining or acquiring knowledge, either by submitting ourselves to instruction and godly council, or we will learn from painful experiences, which are inflicted by Satan. That is his job.

 

There are three things which are too hard for me, who is a beast, who is acquiring knowledge by experience of the Serpent. Now, listen: too wonderful for me, yea, four which I know not. Once again, we have this negative particle, which the King James translators have interpreted as not, making the whole sentence negative.

 

But we found in prophecy, that there are several negative particles. We did a word study on it. If you want it, I could find it for you. We did it in the #78 series where we found out God, in the Scripture, using these negative particles to indicate the Devil. It could mean the Devil, the Serpent, the Dragon. It is a negative particle. It is a hidden way that God refers to some manifestation of the Serpent because God considers the Serpent a nothing. As far as God is concerned, whether you are talking about the Devil, the Dragon, the Serpent, they are negative.

 

Now, remember, God is the positive charge of the creation. The Serpent is the negative charge of the creation. God considers the Serpent, the Dragon, nothing. He laughs at him. As far as Jehovah is concerned, the Serpent, the Dragon, is just a wind, just an empty, powerless wind, a shadow which will disappear when the Spirit of Christ arises to high noon in the heavenlies.

 

So we are going to translate this negative particle. We are going to use it to describe the Serpent. We are going to translate this negative particle, the Serpent.

 

There are three things which are too hard for me, four (meaning they are too hard for me because I am the beast) which is acquiring knowledge not (the Serpent).

 

There are three things that are too hard for me, the beast who is acquiring knowledge by the experience of the Serpent. It is a second witness to what I just read you in Romans 5. Three things are too difficult for the beast, who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience.

 

Can you hear it? Can you hear it? Everybody is staring at me. Can anybody hear it?

 

Three things are too difficult for the beast, who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience. If you are fallen, brethren, it is too difficult for you to overcome the Devil. If you are a man down here in hell in this hour, you are a part of the beast company who is who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience. And if you are in that condition, and everybody is in that condition except Jesus of Nazareth, you are not strong enough to overcome your carnal mind. You are not strong enough to kill him. You are not strong enough to raise yourself from the dead. You are not strong enough to restore yourself to righteousness and eternal life.

 

Is everybody OK? The anointing just rolled in very thick. You all look hypnotized. I will read it again: Three things are too difficult for the beast, who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience.

 

Romans 5:7, Therefore, the fall has made it very difficult for anyone to die to their carnal mind so that Christ can be fully born in them because, under these present circumstances that we are fallen, no one can slay their own carnal minds and cross over into the life of Christ.

 

Now, you may or may not recall that that translation that I just read you in Romans 5 is a very controversial translation. We had manifestations right here in the fellowship when I translated it that way. Why? Because it is the exact opposite of what the King James translation says. Therefore, finding a second witness to it in Proverbs is very important.

 

Oh, my God. I am getting slain in my own meeting. Any questions or comments before I go on? Is everybody OK?

 

We are the beast. We are locked into a personality. We are truly spirit, but our spirit is dead. We are locked into a personality which is being ruled by the beast instead of the spirit. Therefore, it is too hard for our spiritual man to overcome the beast.

 

Is everybody OK? Any questions at this point?

 

You will never make it without a savior. You are not going to make it out of hell. You are not going to overcome the curses that are killing you without a savior. It is too hard for the beast, who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience. You are talking about overcoming the one who is teaching you. You are talking about overcoming the one who has authority over you. And that one was given that authority by the Lord. Jehovah said, Teach him. He did not want to receive my instruction. He is yours.

 

Now, for us to learn, for us to acquire knowledge by instruction, we must be living out of our spirit and exercising a continuous dominion over the Devil. To acquire knowledge by experience, we must be living out of our soul and having the experiences of the beast, who is the Devil. The Devil is the beast.

 

So if you want to avoid the painful experiences of acquiring the knowledge of the Serpent through your bestial existence, you are going to have to lay hold of Christ Jesus and stand up by His power and start acquiring knowledge out of the new man in you, Christ Jesus. And in order to do that, you have to give up your bestial experiences. God help us.

 

COMMENT: A few nights ago, I was reading [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Microphone, microphone, microphone.

 

COMMENT: A few nights ago, I was reading just these exact two Scriptures, and I said, Lord, what do they mean? And [CROSSTALK]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Proverbs 30?

 

COMMENT: These exact two Scriptures.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Really? Well, praise the Lord.

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Xxxx, would you do me a favor?

 

COMMENT: When you said, I know, and then, when you went into it, you said it is too difficult to get up, in what other ways can you emphasize that? You know, it is too difficult to get up. Or in the way that you are explaining it spiritually, that is the only wait that you can explain it?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Let us finish the next verse and see if that does not answer your question. OK?

 

Verse 19, These are the three things that are two difficult: the way of an eagle in the air, the way of a Serpent upon a rock, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea, and the way of a man with a maid. Well, I do not know what that means, so I am going to change the King James translation. The Hebrew word, translated way, means lifestyle or a form of existence.

 

So it is just too hard for a fallen man to exist as an eagle in the air. What does that mean? The Hebrew word translated eagle, is Strong's #5404. Sometimes this word is used to describe vultures which feed on dead bodies, and sometimes this word refers to the eagle itself, which changes its feathers just like a serpent changes its skin. So let us talk about that.

 

First of all, this word can be used to describe a vulture which feeds on dead bodies. Matthew 24:28 says, For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered together. For wheresoever the carcass is, there will the vultures, that feed on dead bodies, be gathered together. Anybody know what the carcass is? What is the dead body? Christ is not dead.

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: The carnal mind. To be carnally minded is death.

 

Alternate Translation of Matthew 24:28, The sign of the man who is being rejoined to the kingdom of God is the death of his carnal mind.

 

The King James translation says -- well, it is not just the King James translation. Now, remember, sometimes we do not understand the Scripture because of a choice of words of the King James translators. But sometimes certain aspects of the Scripture are written in parable form, and Minnie Mouse cannot understand it. Minnie Mouse understands it in a carnal way.

 

No profane person shall enter into the kingdom of God. No fornicator shall enter into the kingdom of God. Well, everybody thinks that that is restricted to physical fornication. It is not. Physical fornicators will not enter into the kingdom of God, but neither will spiritual fornicators.

 

No homosexual will enter into the kingdom of God. Well, you think you have got it made; you could not even bear the thought of being a homosexual. But you do not know that God thinks you are a homosexual because you are having intercourse with other people on the soul realm when you are supposed to be having intercourse with the living God, intercourse of the mind. So you are not entering into the kingdom of God until you start getting your sex life straight. You are supposed to be communicating up, not on the same level. You are supposed to be intimate with the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

The sign that you are entering into the kingdom is that you are not living out of your carnal mind anymore. That means your comfort comes from Christ Jesus. That means your friendship comes from Christ Jesus. The sign that you are being restored to the kingdom of God is that your carnal mind is dying from lack of use.

 

How come you are upset? And you turn to another human being; you are committing an act of spiritual homosexuality. You are not getting into the kingdom, you are going in the wrong direction. The sign that you are being restored into the kingdom of God is that your carnal mind is dying from lack of use.

 

I am getting slain in the spirit in my own meeting. Jesus, help me preach this.

 

The other comment in Gesenius, which says this word, translated eagle, is referring to the eagle itself, which often changes its feathers, just like a serpent changes its skin. I have talked to you about this before. It is just a little side point that you might find interesting. The serpent changes its skin every seven years. Is there anybody that does not know when snakes shed their skin? I do not know if it is every seven years or not. I know that the cells of the human body are completely changed over every seven years.

 

Snakes shed their skin. And the concept is that the snake, or the Serpent, is a spiritual being, sometimes called our old man. He is a spiritual being, and he is continually shedding his skin. Who is the Serpent's skin? We know that the Serpent of this world system just sheds his skin and slithers away, and you find the skin on the ground. Well, when the spiritual Serpent sheds his skin, how is that recognized in this world system?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Who is the spiritual Serpent's skin? Take a wild guess.

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: No. What did you say?

 

COMMENT: Us, us, us.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Us, us, us, us, us. We are the Serpent's skin. And when we die, we have been shed.

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: And he continues his existence in our children, in our brothers, in our sisters, in our nieces and in our nephews.

 

COMMENT: Now, God talks about His covering as a garment. So the Serpent; is that his skin? Yes?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Well, yes. We are -- oh, God, help me preach this message. I am getting slain.

 

COMMENT: Pastor Sheila, is that the skin he covered Adam with, the Devil's skin?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes. We are the skin that He covered Adam with. Do not be naive enough, brethren, to think, because Genesis says that God gave skins to Adam and Eve, that way back there in antiquity, that at that very moment, skins appeared on Adam and Eve. Because, when the Scripture says God gave Adam and Eve skins, those skins may not have appeared on them for a couple of thousand years later. You have got to get spiritual. Genesis 1 said, Let us make man in our image. We are not in His image yet. So if the Scripture says God gave Adam and Eve skins, those skins may not have appeared for a couple of thousand years. But we are the skin. This is the skin.

 

COMMENT: Was that not in reference to what you said? Was it not Satan's skin that is shed? You were just talking just before.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Right.

 

COMMENT: And so is that not that the same that you referenced to?

 

PASTOR VITALE: I am not sure what you are saying.

 

COMMENT: I am so mixed up.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes, the Scripture says God gave the fallen Adam and Eve skin. And it was this skin. But that skin that is announced in Genesis 1 may not have appeared in the creation for thousands of years after the Scripture says God did it.

 

God also said, Let us make man in our image. It is has been thousands of years; it has not happened yet. God also said, Let man have dominion. I do not have dominion. Mosquitoes kill people; ants kill people; ticks kill people. We do not have dominion. It did not happen yet. God said it thousands of years ago. It has to happen, but it has not happened yet.

 

So we are the Serpent's skin, and he sheds us periodically. Why? Because we die. And he gets a nice new skin, some cute little baby, smooth baby skin. In the same manner, I always knew that the Serpent shed his skin. But when I first found out that the eagle shed his feathers, it was a real blessing to me. That just really excited me because the eagle typifies the Sons of God, and there is a spiritual man in the earth. His name is the new man.

 

We have an old man and a new man. The old man is the Serpent, and the new man is the eagle. His name is Christ Jesus. He is glorious. And until such time as He matures to a point where He can preserve His skin and His flesh, the eagle too sheds His skin.

 

There are people, Bill Britton for one, who have done mighty wonders as expressions of Christ Jesus. And yet they die. Why has the eagle shed His feathers? Because the eagle, Christ Jesus, at the time of this person's death, was not yet mature enough to keep His soul and His body alive. You think it is easy for a spiritual man to keep your soul and your body alive? It is not. It is hard. It takes a lot of spiritual strength.

 

We are studying about it right now. To keep your body and soul alive, that spiritual man has to overcome the beast in you, has to overcome the carnal mind, has to utterly subdue him, bind that strong man so that he can ruin his house and purify the soul from all sin. It is very hard for a man to keep His household alive. We are the household of God. We are His flesh. And to keep us alive, He has to engage in a warfare with His wife.

 

And that is what Proverbs 30:8 is saying. Listen to this. I wrote you a note. This Scripture is saying that is very hard to be a male. Well, I did not finish this last thing. The way of a man with a maid is simply speaking about -- this word, man; there are several Hebrew words translated man. This one is Strong's #1397, and it is not talking about Adam. It simply means male, that which is opposite of female, and it is specifically speaking about male strength. The word, maid, is Strong's #5959, and it is speaking about a youthful girl. It does not matter whether she is married or unmarried -- a youthful girl, and that is speaking about the soul.

 

PASTOR VITALE: So the Scripture is saying it is very hard to be a male. Why? Because to be a male means that you have to rule over the female. And what is the name of the female?

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: No, you are close. What is the name of the female? What is the name of the spiritual female in this world?

 

COMMENT: Jezebel.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Jezebel? Well, that is one of her names, the Devil. The Devil is the name of the whole personality. Satan is the unconscious mind of the Devil.

 

COMMENT: Where does Jezebel play a role in this?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Well, Jezebel is just a name, you know, of a particular manifestation of the Devil, you know.

 

COMMENT: Instead of saying [INAUDIBLE]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Instead of saying Devil, Jezebel is a function named. Jezebel is a spirit of witchcraft which tries to exercise authority over someone who is supposed to be her authority. The Devil is just a general name. Jezebel signifies the witchcraft aspect of the Devil.

 

So we see that this Proverbs 8 is saying it is very hard to be a male because being a male means that you have to rule over the female, and the female is the Devil. Now, this is no easy place to be because, in order for you to be a male, Christ Jesus has to be forming in you. And when Christ Jesus is forming in you, you are -- in our society, it would be said you are caught between a rock and a hard place.

 

What does that mean? Let me explain it to you. When Christ Jesus is forming in you, you experience the existence of an eagle in the air, and the air is speaking about the heavenlies. We are talking about the eagle in the air. It is the experience of Christ Jesus devouring the carnal mind. The eagle: for wheresoever the carcass is, there will the eagles be gathered. The sign of a man who is being rejoined to the kingdom of God, or the sign of a man who is existing in the heavenlies, is that your carnal mind is dying. And the reason that it is dying is that Christ Jesus in you, the one who makes you a male, is killing your carnal mind.

 

There is only one problem: You are attached to your carnal mind. And when Jesus kills your carnal mind, you feel it. It is very hard to be a spiritual male, because Jesus is killing your carnal mind. Ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch. Pressure is being put upon you to resist your carnal mind. Do not yield to her pressures. Live out of Christ. That hurts. That is one reason that it is very hard to be a spiritual male.

 

The second reason? The Serpent upon a rock. Serpent means snake. That is the word; that is what we are talking about. This Hebrew word, translated on, can also mean over. Rock is Strong's #6697. Who is the rock? The Lord Jesus Christ is the rock.

 

I want to suggest to you that the way of a Serpent upon a rock is the experience of Satan being vexed by the Spirit of Christ. The Serpent over a rock: Christ Jesus is being formed underneath the carnal mind. Brethren, we are manifestations of the Serpent. When Christ Jesus is being formed in us, the Serpent is over Him. And Christ Jesus, from His position underneath the Serpent, is vexing the Serpent.

 

Brethren, if you are a spiritual male, you would be caught between a rock and a hard place. Christ Jesus is tormenting your natural man, trying to bring your carnal mind down, and the Devil in you is waging war against Christ Jesus. And part of you is Christ Jesus, and part of you is the carnal man. So whichever one is bombing, you are the one that is getting bombed. Can you hear this? It is very hard being a spiritual man. Your whole person is being crushed and vexed and formed.

 

This whole concept of being vexed is the basis of the tribulation. Do you know what the tribulation is? It is Christ Jesus pressuring your natural man to conform to his righteousness. If you look up that word, tribulation, in the concordance, and you research it, and you follow it all the way down to its root, you will see that what it means is to vex. What vex means is to be forced into a narrow place. Christ Jesus in your mind is forcing your spirit into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Satan in your mind is being forced down into the bottomless pit. He is being forced to cease his activity in your life, and it is painful for you, as the natural man, because you and I, we, are so one with Satan in this hour that what we call our natural desires are the desires of Satan. They are the desires of the beast. We desire what the beast desires because our spirit is completely joined to the beast. And Christ Jesus is pressuring us: Do not desire that anymore. Desire that which the mind of God desires. And He is pressuring us.

 

The Scripture describes it this way: that we are clay, and He is impressing a seal in us, forming the impression of the seal in our clay. And we are under the pressure of Christ forming us in His image and, at the same time, are under the pressure of Satan, who is blowing his winds upon us with the Reaping and Sowing Judgment for sin. Satan is judging us in the areas that are not confessed as sin. We are under the Reaping and Sowing Judgment. And in the areas which are confessed as sin, Christ Jesus is pressuring us to change. We are caught between a rock and a hard place. That is what this Scripture is saying. Let me give it to you again.

 

The way of an eagle in the air: This is Christ Jesus forcing us into the image of God. This is the judgment seed of Christ, more specifically Christ Jesus devouring the carnal mind. The Serpent on the rock: This is the experience of Satan being vexed by the Spirit of Christ, which is being formed in Christ Jesus underneath the carnal mind. Those are two things that are very hard.

 

The third thing, the way of a ship in the midst of the sea -- ship, Strong's #591, used generally of large merchant ships. And I suggest to you, the large merchant ships are fallen men. We are living in a cosmic sea. This world that we live in is not empty. As I wave my hand, this is not empty space. It is filled. This space that I am waving my hand through is filled with particles, cosmic particles, atoms. We are living in a cosmic sea, and each of us is sometimes, in some Scriptures, called an island. In other Scriptures, we are called ships. Sometimes we are called bottles from heaven. We are that which is solid in the midst of a sea which is not solid.

 

So when the Scripture talks about a ship in the midst of the sea, it is speaking about human beings. The sea is Satan. We have talked about that many times. Satan's symbol is the sea. He is spirit; he is unstable; he is unformed. The Hebrew word for sea is Strong's #3220. Gesenius says that this word properly denotes the boiling and the foaming of the sea. I suggest to you that this phrase, a ship in the midst of the sea, is referring to the experience of a personality being tossed and blown about by Satan's wrath. This is the Sowing and Reaping Judgment.

 

Ephesians 4:14, That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive.

 

And of course, the last one, we have done already: the way of a man with a maid. This is one of those instances such as with the seven seals. If you remember our teachings on the seven seals, there is one seal with six parts to it. One seal with six parts to it makes the seven seals.

 

This is the same situation. The Scripture is saying the way of a man with a maid is very hard. It is very hard being a man to this soul. And the reason that it is hard is that, when you are a man, that which makes you a man is that Christ Jesus is being formed in you. And when Christ Jesus is being formed in you, Christ Jesus is at war with your carnal mind and with the spirit of Satan which is in you. And at the same time, the spirit of Satan is beating on you every time. He can locate sin in you. He is beating up on you. You are getting it from both ends. It is very hard to overcome your bestial condition, brethren, very hard to overcome your fallen condition because your carnal mind is stronger than you.

 

Now, the male in you is your human spirit. Your dead human spirit is the male in you, and the maid is your soul. So it is very hard to be a male in your fallen condition. It is very hard to be under the satanic judgment in your fallen condition. It is very hard to have Christ Jesus being formed in you in your fallen condition. It means continuous war. Being a male means to be caught between two supernatural forces who are trying to destroy each other.

 

Alternate Translation, Proverbs 30:19: Experiencing Christ Jesus' pressure to conform your unconscious mind to the righteous motives of the Lord Jesus Christ and to express his righteousness in your thoughts and behavior, and Satan's pressure to yield to his unrighteous motives and thoughts and act out his lusts. Let us read them together; it is clearer.

 

Proverbs 30:18-19: Three things are too difficult for the beast who is acquiring the Serpent's knowledge by experience. And these are the three things: experiencing Christ Jesus' pressure to conform their unconscious mind to the righteous motives of the Lord Jesus Christ, one, and to express the Lord Jesus Christ's righteousness in their thoughts and behavior, two, and experiencing Satan's pressure to yield to his unrighteous motives and thoughts and act out his lusts. It is just too hard for a fallen man, too hard, too hard, too hard. You cannot do it without a savior. It is too hard. Jesus.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Any questions or comments on Proverbs 30:18-19? Please take the microphone.

 

COMMENT: I just want to know what this means. I am listening to what you are saying about how hard it is to overcome our bestial nature, that Christ is waging war against Satan, and Satan is --

 

PASTOR VITALE: And Satan is judging the sin in us.

 

COMMENT: Yes. So I am just sitting here, and I am thinking about my weaknesses. You know, I think that I have some problems in my life. And right now, I feel very strong in the Lord, and I feel like I have overcome. But, like, right now, I am sitting here, and I feel like I might be led to go back into things that I thought I overcame. But I am sitting here, and I feel like these things that I thought I have overcome are stirring up inside me again.

 

And I am trying very hard to; I wish I could resist, but it is like I feel like I am weak. Right now, as you are talking to me, I feel like I am weak. And I am hoping that I will not go back to doing some of the things I would not do. And so I am sitting here; I am feeling the weaknesses, and I am thinking about my past. And I am thinking that there is a possibility I might fall back into that again, which is very frightening. And then, when you are sitting here, and you are telling me what you are teaching us, I was feeling depressed, like, oh, this is very [INAUDIBLE] you know, the bestial nature and how hard it is to overcome.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes.

 

COMMENT: And it is very scary. And I was just feeling helpless because I am feeling, gee, you know, the carnal mind in me is a lot stronger than the Christ in me, and here I am. I am battling with some things, and it is hard for me to resist. And, you know, now, when Satan puts this thing in front of me again and I may fall into that thing again, I am just feeling kind of depressed right now.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Oh, really? Were you depressed when you came in here tonight? Was that your depression, part of it?

 

COMMENT: Well, it had to do with my job, something that I am going through at my job. It is, you know, and [INAUDIBLE] from that. Since yesterday, I have been feeling this way. But as you are teaching, I am just thinking about --

 

PASTOR VITALE: Wow.

 

COMMENT: -- you know, I am benefiting from what you are saying, and I am understanding. But it is the truth, what you are saying. When I hear about it is hard to overcome this bestial nature, and that the carnal mind is stronger than the Christ, and I am thinking about some of the sins that I still have in my life, even though I am not acting them out, but they are still there. And then, when Satan puts it in front of me, and when there is spiritual warfare going on and it hits that weakness, it just stirs up in me, because I have a problem in some areas of my life; I have shared it with you. It just makes me feel that I am going to go back into that.

 

And right now, I am not involved in anything right now, but I just perceive something in me that, if something was to be put in front of me right now, I have that potential in me to sin. I do not understand why, because a couple of days ago, I felt on top of Christ, and I am by myself growing spiritually every day. But now I feel that it is still there, and I still have a problem with it because it is in my mind.

 

PASTOR VITALE: It is the beast nature in your mind.

 

COMMENT: I know.

 

PASTOR VITALE: See, when your carnal mind is defeated, you will not want these things anymore.

 

COMMENT: And it is a battle, and it is a lot of pain, and it is hard. I know. I know that will happen.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes.

 

COMMENT: It is a battle, and --

 

PASTOR VITALE: It is all in the mind. It is all in the mind. When we are delivered from the beast nature, we will not crave these things anymore.

 

COMMENT: I just wanted to share that.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes. OK. Anybody else?

 

COMMENT: A few days ago, I was questioning the Lord about some of the great men of God who, it was just brought to my attention that they had died. People had called me and told me about it. And I knew that Christ was being formed in them. And I wondered, how could I possibly even have the hope of attaining when these men, who really had Christ developed in them, did not make it?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Because the fact that they had Christ developed in them had nothing to do with it. It was not the season. And it has nothing to do with you or with your righteousness, whether or not you are going to make it. It has to do with the righteousness of Christ Jesus and which vessels He has decided to appear in. Maybe He has decided to appear in your vessel. He is going to purify you.

 

None of us are worthy. We are all dirty, no-good sinners. That is why God hates the Pharisees: because they do not think they are dirty, no-good sinners, and they go around condemning everybody else, but they are just as dirty as everybody else.

 

COMMENT: I guess the only thing the Lord is looking for is the job he gives you to do, that you fulfill it, like the [UNINTELLIGIBLE] or the different ones in the past movements. They -- or writing books or preaching. They did what they were supposed to do.

 

PASTOR VITALE: They did their jobs.

 

COMMENT: And then that is where the fulfillment -- for us to use that for our growth and to go on. And if the Lord does not really be fulfilled in any of us now, we are to go on and do what we have to do for whatever [CROSSTALK]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Right, right. And you just hope for the best that, if you are going to be amongst those in whom He will appear, and then you will live forever, well, praise God. But if you are not, you know, you just hope that He finds you faithful and that He visits your blessings onto your offspring and that you die without a long period of infirmity or without much pain. You just hope for the best. We are down here in hell, man. We have to hope for the best.

 

COMMENT: [INAUDIBLE] teaching -- I do not remember what days or what, but I do not know whether it was yesterday or today. I saw [INAUDIBLE] and they were praying for a certain person. They call him -- one of the calls that they came -- called in.

 

And I guess the person was either backslidden or finally came to the Lord after much time, and the person was in a car accident, I think. And just before the person died, they called in to say that the man called up the -- I guess they had the family call in to thank them for speaking to this person, he said, because he saw Jesus, and he died within a few minutes. But what does that mean, that he just fulfilled his part? That is what his part was for. And he did what he had to do, and he finished.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yeah. But he was not existing in the season where he would obtain or attain unto eternal life. So if you are not existing in that season, if you are not called to go on forever, as far as I am concerned, to die without a long period of sickness or without pain is a good thing. You just pass out of this world.

 

COMMENT: Is this correct that the Spirit of Christ that has developed in a man of God will be recycled into another human being coming forth, and they will have a higher potential to receive revelation and battle against their carnal mind?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Well, that is true. That is even true in the world. Take any field of education in the world: psychiatry, math, any discipline. You take a young disciple, a young student. They go to college, and they learn everything they could learn about their subject, and they mix it up with their own creative force, and then they produce a creativity. Maybe they write books, or they invent something new, and that goes down on the records.

 

And then another young man arises and goes to college, and he studies everything that this first man studied plus all the books that this man spent a whole lifetime writing. This new disciple digests them in two years, and then he digests everything, and his creative force comes into play. And the discipline of psychology or mathematics evolves. It increases with each generation.

 

And it is the same thing with spiritual things. Christ Jesus is increasing with every generation that He is in the earth, and He has been in the earth for the past 2,000 years. And eventually, He is going to be strong enough and mature enough to preserve the soul and the body of a company of people, at which point He will abide in a full manifestation of maturity in the earth forever. And from that point forward, He will begin to increase into more and more members. That is what is happening. It is true of the whole creation.

 

COMMENT: People who come forth as Sons of God upon the earth and continue to go on with the second and third stages of the resurrection -- will they have any remembrance of any part of their carnal lifestyle?

 

PASTOR VITALE: I am sorry. Ask me that again.

 

COMMENT: Men who walk on and become Sons of God and go from the first resurrection to the second resurrection to the third resurrection -- will they have any remembrance of anything in their life as they were like on this earth for 1,500 years until the third stage of resurrection came?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Oh, I am sure they will. You mean, from the moment of preservation until the moment that they go into glorification, will they remember their life? Oh, I would imagine so. I do not know for sure, but I would imagine so.

 

COMMENT: Men who have gone on before -- there is no remembrance?

 

PASTOR VITALE: I do not know. When Christ Jesus appears, there may be a remembrance. We saw Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, and we saw Moses and Elijah. It was a part of Jesus' experience. So I do not know what our memory will be like in full stature. I do not know.

 

Do you have a question?

 

COMMENT: Yes. Does it matter that, if Christ does not choose to come forth in my lifetime, but I have done all I could for him, and Christ has fully matured to the best He could in this lifetime, and then, when I pass on, and the spirit goes on, like you were saying, that second human being would have the more revelation? Remember that? You were just giving her that because it does not matter whether I come into it or not; what matters is Christ.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Right.

 

COMMENT: So is it pride for some Sons of God to get mad at God, saying, But I want to come into it now, Lord? And then Christ says, You are not important. I choose not to come in forth in you because it is not the time. And because they hear that, they do not have these deep revelations. But other Sons of God, they want to come into it no matter what. And they cannot accept that they may pass on.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes.

 

COMMENT: So is it pride for a Son of God to say that?

 

PASTOR VITALE: It is pride, and it is immaturity. I had a conversation with one woman that was really upset over this teaching. And she kept saying, Well, what about what we did for Christ? Well, what about what Christ did for you?

 

The example that I give is a natural lifetime. It is like a 14-year-old girl saying, I will not give up my 14th year to become 15, 16 or 17. You have to give it up. You have to give it up. And no one has overcome death except Jesus, so you have to give it up. And unless the father raises you from the dead, you have to give it up. That is just the way it goes.

 

COMMENT: So -- I am sorry, Pastor Sheila. So I know --

 

PASTOR VITALE: It is OK.

 

COMMENT: -- that everyone in this meeting --

 

PASTOR VITALE: I am sorry?

 

COMMENT: Everyone in this ministry right now, including you and me, everyone, passes on in the natural. Whatever we accomplished in this ministry would go on to others and then maybe others after that. And then what was taught here would --

 

PASTOR VITALE: Definitely. The Church is maturing.

 

COMMENT: Will the [UNINTELLIGIBLE] continue to the next generation, the next [CROSSTALK]

 

PASTOR VITALE: Yes.

 

COMMENT: There will be a Son of God manifested. So --

 

COMMENT: Right.

 

COMMENT: -- even though we do not come into it in this lifetime, what we did all these years, what you did, will not be gone away, will just continue.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Oh, not at all. It has taken me seven years to research and preach all these messages. If, for any reason, though I do not see it happening. But if, for any reason, God were to put an end to this this ministry now, there would be a new generation coming up that would probably digest these messages in a couple of years, and then go on from there. You know, it has taken me all these years to bring forth this doctrine. Someone else will grasp it like that and go on from there. That is the way of life. That is the way it is.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:8: He that diggeth a pit shall fall into it. And whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him. This Scripture is a little simpler than the past one, than the previous one.

 

The word, dig, is Strong's #6258. It also means to search out or to explore. The pit, I remind you, signifies the soul realm. The pit -- Satan is trapped in the bottomless pit. The pit is the valley as opposed to the heavenlies. The heavenlies is the spirit realm; the valley or the pit is the soul realm. So we are saying, he who explores the soul realm -- see, you cannot fool around with soulish spiritual power. We could even say, he who fools with witchcraft power.

 

You may recall my opinion that at least part of what happened with regard to the fall of man, not only at the beginning of time but even after the flood, when the Scripture says that the Sons of God started looking upon the daughters of man and found them fair -- just before the flood, when God wiped out all of humanity because some form of corruption had taken place in the human race.

 

And we do not know what men looked like before the flood. We do not know. All we know is that there were no bones found of any kind of superior man that might be a Son of God from before the flood, which leads me to believe they did not have bones like we have. They looked different. I do not know what they look like, but I do not want to go into it too deeply. Most of you know I do not believe they were male and female. I believe they were superior beings. They were not separate males and female, but they were individual, superior beings which were both male and female. And they did not reproduce like we reproduce. Men and women today reproduce like the animals. We are manifestations of the beast.

 

And I think, before the flood, the Scripture said that they were Sons of God. They were men who were in bodies that were not beast bodies. They did not reproduce like the beasts, and they did not do what the beasts did, what the beasts do. So we do not know what they look like.

 

COMMENT: This may seem way out, but is it possible that dinosaurs -- that the Dragon could have taken any kind of a form like that? Is it a possibility?

 

PASTOR VITALE: I have asked that question myself, and I do not think so. I do not think so because I am told that the survivors of the dinosaurs are birds. Both dinosaurs and birds reproduce by laying eggs. And my Bible says, in Genesis 3, when we looked up all the words signifying the curse, we found that, when God pronounced the curse upon Eve, one of the Alternate Translations of the King James translation is that she shall bring forth young in an animal body. So I do not think we went from being cold-blooded beings that lay eggs to beings in animal bodies. It does not sit right with me. But of course, this is all conjecture. I do not have any proof about any of this, so I do not think so.

 

COMMENT: When you were saying something about Noah before the flood, something came to my mind. I heard somewhere -- I do not know if this was true that they found -- I do not think they did, but I might be mistaken -- something about Noah's ark? Did they ever find it? I think I read that they did.

 

PASTOR VITALE: Well, some people say they found it. You know, there may have been an ark.

 

COMMENT: So is that a reality, the ark and all?

 

PASTOR VITALE: Well, it may have been.

 

COMMENT: A natural ark?

 

PASTOR VITALE: May have been. I do not know. May have been.

 

Speaking about the Scripture, I do not know what chapter of Genesis it is where it says, And the Sons of God looked upon the daughters of men and found them fair, but one of the theories, and which I think may be correct, is that there were two races on the earth at the time. These bodies that we are living in, in this hour, are fallen bodies. Separate males and females is a low spiritual realm. Higher life forms are both male and female and reproduce by a form of cell division. And I believe that Cain's descendants had fallen very quickly and were a race of people on the earth, before the flood, that had already separated out into male and female bodies.

 

Also on the earth at that time, before the flood, were the descendants of Seth, the second seed that God gave to Eve. And I believe that that race, those descendants of Seth, were still in a high spiritual life form whereby they were not male and female bodies; they were some form of superior being, which was both male and female, who reproduced by some form of cell division, which means, when they reproduced, the offspring was a fully mature adult, not a weak manifestation of the parents, which need years of nurturing to function on their own.

 

And these Sons of God, these descendants of Seth, began to partake of the physical experiences which they were capable of having with the descendants of Cain, whose descendants had broken down into male and female bodies. So I am saying that these superior descendants of Seth were having physical experiences with the fallen race of Cain. And they actually thought that they could descend spiritually and partake of these experiences and ascend back up into their spiritual manhood.

 

And sin is a seduction. Every time they went down to have an experience with a fallen female, it was harder for them to get back up into their spiritual heights. And one day, they went down to have a physical experience with a fallen female, and they could not get back up. They were stuck down there in hell. And this is what that Scripture was talking about.

 

And here we see, in Ecclesiastes 10:18, the Scripture is saying, If you explore the soul realm, if you are a spiritual man and you start to have soulish experiences, you could get stuck down there and not be able to get back up into your spiritual manhood. He that diggeth a pit, he that searcheth out and explores the soul realm, may fall. The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it.

 

That is the Alternate Translation of the first half of Ecclesiastes 10:8, The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it.

 

Continuing with the second half of Ecclesiastes 10:8, And whoso breaketh an hedge, a Serpent shall bite him.

 

To break is Strong's #6555; it means to destroy, to scatter or to disperse. And whoso breaketh a hedge -- the Hebrew word, translated hedge, means wall, Strong's #1447, it means a wall, or a place fortified with a wall. Walls typify salvation.

 

The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it, and the one who breaks a hedge, the one who breaks down his salvation, a serpent shall bite him. The word, bite, is Strong's #5391; it means to vex or oppress. It is the same word that we had in the previous verse that we just discussed above.

 

Now, remember, to vex or oppress is to force into one's image. We said Christ Jesus is forcing Satan down under his authority. He is vexing him. That is what the tribulation is. So we see here, in Ecclesiastes 10:8, the same principle that we studied in Proverbs 30:19, where Christ Jesus was forcing Satan down under.

 

Only here, in Ecclesiastes 10:8, we see that the Serpent is reversing the situation. The one who breaks down the hedge that the Lord has put around him -- and what will break down your hedge? What will cause your hedge to be broken? Sin. The one who enters into sin and has their hedge broken down will find the Serpent vexing them and forcing them into his image. They are going to lose the image of Christ.

 

And along that line, I would like to read you our Alternate Translation of Amos 9:2-4 in the Alternate Translation.

 

Alternate Translation, Amos 9:2-4, If they dig themselves into hell because of their sins, I will possess them in hell. If they have ascended into heaven because Christ Jesus is in them, I will still bring down their carnal minds. And if they hide themselves in Christ Jesus, I will look for them and possess them there. And if they hide from Me in their carnal minds, I will command Satan, and she will oppress them. And if they are overtaken by their enemies, I will command Christ Jesus, and He will do evil to their enemies, and not good, and slay them. And the Lord God of battle shall injure the carnal minds of men, and they shall be cast down and dissolve.

 

Well, that is all that we need for here. So we see that, when we sin, our protection from the Lord comes down, and Satan has free access to attempt to force us back into his image.

 

Alternate Translation, Ecclesiastes 10:8, The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it, and Satan shall form the one whose salvation is torn down into the Serpent's image. The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it, and Satan shall form the one whose salvation is torn down into the Serpent's image.

 

I amplified that. I put it in better English, and this is what that sounds like: The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it, be reformed into the Serpent's image and lose his salvation. It is dangerous to search out the soul realm, brethren, because, while you are looking at it, you may fall into it and find out that you have been reformed into the Serpent's image and lose your salvation.

 

I think that sounds a lot like what we just did in Proverbs 30:19. Sounds the same. It sounds very similar. All these verses sound very similar. We are finding out that it is the Serpent's goal to form us in her image. When we read about being bitten by the Serpent, being vexed by the Serpent, what she wants to do is form our mind in her image. And Christ Jesus wants to form our mind in His image.

 

So we human beings are between a rock and a hard place. We have two supernatural beings fighting to form our mind in their image. And we are getting hit by both of them. Everywhere sin can be found in us, Satan has legal ground to rip us around. And then we have Christ Jesus being formed in us, who is trying to save us from sin by forcing our minds into His image. So we are getting hit on both sides. The winds are blowing, and they are howling, and it is hell.

 

And I am just believing what I just read to you in Amos 9, that the Lord Jesus Christ is going to get me. And the Lord God of battle shall injure the carnal minds of men, and they shall be cast down and dissolve. And Christ Jesus shall arise, and the whole creation shall sink down and become the bed of his river of life because the Lord will command it. Thank you, Jesus.

 

Well, here is a somber warning. Verse 10, The Devil will kill Christ Jesus in the believers who are agreeing with her thoughts, which are saying, 'I am God,' and Satan has no power to force himself upon the man who intellectually identifies with Christ. The Devil can kill Christ Jesus. You better cry out for help, brethren. We are living in a serious hour. We can die to our salvation.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:11, Surely the Serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no better. This is a real interesting one.

 

Do you remember me telling you that there are two different levels of spiritual power, whether it be witchcraft of whether it be in Christ Jesus? There is the level where, in witchcraft, they use blood and rattles and all kinds of things, paraphernalia, to cast spells. And then, for those of you who saw the movie, Shaka Zulu, you saw the two levels of witchcraft. You saw the witch doctor who was drinking the blood and doing the whole thing. And then you saw the old woman who merely went up on a mountain and invoked the power of her god.

 

And I liken those two levels of witchcraft to Jehovah. And under the old covenant, the priests shed blood, and they wore costumes that had to be conformed to a certain standard. And they did follow certain rituals to obtain spiritual power. But in this day, in Christ Jesus, we do not use ritual. We just stand on the mountain, but it is a spiritual mountain, the high place of our spirit, and we invoke the power of our God by the spoken word. Two levels of spiritual power.

 

And I have taught this several times. When we have a Scripture on it, this gets me so excited. When I preach something by revelation and I find it in the Word, it really gets me excited. That is what this is all about.

 

Ecclesiastes 10:11, Surely the serpent will bite without enchantment, and a babbler is no better. Believe it or not, that verse is saying what I just told you about the two levels of witchcraft. I will show you how I got it.

 

The word serpent is serpent. The word, bite, means to vex and oppress; we have just talked about that. Without means without. The word, enchantment, is Strong's #3908, and it is speaking about incantation; that means magical songs, magic amulets, superstitial [sic] ornaments, charms. It is talking about paraphernalia. It is talking about doing things to bring down spiritual power. That is what the word is talking about.

 

The word, babble, is Strong's #3596, and basically, it means tongue, but usually a malignant tongue, malignant meaning evil tongue. And I suggest to you, to have an evil tongue, what you are speaking must be a result of an evil spirit seeking to express itself through your speech. The word, better -- the interlinear says advantage -- is Strong's #3504, and it means profitable.

 

Alternate Translation, Ecclesiastes 10:11, The Devil's malignant tongue is more profitable for working witchcraft than physical paraphernalia. Can you hear it? The Devil's malignant spirit is more profitable for working witchcraft than physical paraphernalia. You do not need all the physical paraphernalia. You do not need the blood; you do not need the charms; you do not need the rattles. All you need is the Devil's malignant spirit coming out of your mouth to invoke the power of your god.

 

I shook up more Africans than you can imagine who thought they had rejected witchcraft. When I told them that that spirit was still in their mind, they were really scared. And I actually found one lovely, lovely married couple who thought they had a prayer life together, and they were practicing witchcraft. They did not even know it. To their way of thinking, they were not drinking blood; they were not casting spells. But they brought that spirit of witchcraft right into the church. It was exalting itself.

 

And there are strong manifestations of witchcraft taking over the whole Pentecostal church in Nigeria, whole congregations worshipping the Holy Spirit. You are not supposed to be worshipping the Holy Spirit, brethren. I really do not want to go into it on this message, but whole congregations worshipping Satan in Pentecostal churches and not knowing it.

 

And we talked about it at the beginning of this meaning how this Holy Ghost laughter is not the Spirit of God. The children of light are ignorant, brethren. They are ignorant about spiritual things, and wrongful spirits enter right into their worship, and they cannot even tell the difference.

 

We had that in Africa. We had an out-and-out warfare. Another spirit came in through a believer who had been manifesting Christ for several weeks. One night, he walked in there, and it was not the Spirit of Christ; it was the spirit of anti-Christ. And we had a warfare. And Christ Jesus won.

 

He does not usually win when a wrong spirit comes in. Why? Why does Christ Jesus not usually win when the spirit of the Devil or the spirit of the world comes into a service? Because the man running the service does not even know what is happening. But by the grace of God, I knew what was happening, and that spirit was defeated.

 

Recap, Ecclesiastes 10:8 and 11, The one who searches out the soul realm may fall into it, be reformed into the Serpent's image and lose his salvation. The Devil's malignant spirit is more profitable for working witchcraft than physical paraphernalia.

 

I did prepare Isaiah 27:1, but I am not going to do it. Does anybody have any comments or questions?

 

Transcribed by VerbalFusion, 07/11/19

1st Edit, 07 19 19, rh