.
But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:23,24
.
.
The Arc of the covenant speaks of Christ's presence and surely as we leave the Age of the Wilderness Church and move on to Zion and the restoration of David's tabernacle, many desire to stay with the old religious settings even though the Arc and His presence has left.
We however, can praise our God because we know that with every generation He has always held a faithful remnant close to His heart. These are those that have not bowed to Baal. Being reminded of Joian's encouraging post a few days ago about Joseph, I thought to add the words of Elwin Roach which speak to the many Josephs residing in this very day we live in. There is a "coming great awakening" and I believe we are experiencing the first fruits of it now.
God has been preparing and perfecting these Josephs in the darkness and in the prison houses of loneliness and isolation for a day and hour that they will be unleashed as a secret weapon on the kingdom of darkness. He has allowed all of these things to happen to them for their good. He has prepared a people that He can trust with His power, gifts, and anointing. In holiness, humility and boldness they will fulfill His plans in our day. They will give HIM the glory. They will give HIM total control of the coming Great Awakening. The door of their prison house of utter loneliness and rejection is about to open. Their "word" is about to come. That word is "the King has need of thee." In a moment, they will be ushered from prison to position. In a moment, they will fully understand their long and severe sufferings. In a moment, they will be brought out into the light of God's divine destiny for them. God will use them to lead the Coming Great Awakening.
........"And they loved not their lives even until death." (Rev 12:11) God is even at this moment harvesting a holy remnant from this generation and He will have a church that is without spot or wrinkle, a pure bride for His Son. Be encouraged. Lift up your heads. Your God has come! "The King has need of thee!" (Roach)
If we care to understand what God is going to do, we must look back and understand what He once did. This piece of writing quoted below spoke strongly to my heart last night in confirmation of what God did in the past and what He is doing again today. The Arc of the Covenant and His presence has left the building and it resides in the hearts of men and women being fit together into a temple of lively stones not made with hands. You need not travel far to visit this temple and partake of His presence. As we worship in Spirit and Truth, we discover that Christ's presence and His temple is ever with us and gives expression and life in a multitudes of ways.
Following this excerpt entitled "Gibeon to Zion" I have includes the most touching of expressions by one of God's sons possibly experiencing the twilight of his earthly journey. I finally had the wonderful pleasure to visit with this dear older saint by phone this last week. I know that which I have included in this closing portion of this post will touch your heart and encourage you as you discover the many ways God brings the Arc of His presence to you.
Gibeon and Zion
For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. (1 Chronicles 21:29)
Only the tabernacle and the altar of offering rested on Gibeon, not the ark. What transpired that the ark would no longer be in the holy of holies? At this point it would be good to do a brief history of how the Ark of the Covenant and the tent of meeting (the tabernacle which came to rest on Gibeon) were permanently separated and how this seeming disaster served to advance God's eternal plan.
At first, both the Ark and the tabernacle moved around together from point to point in the Promised Land during the time of the judges. The tent housed the ark when it was stationary. One of the later judges named Eli was also the chief priest and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests before the Lord when the tent of meeting was at Shiloh.
One day a woman came and was weeping and groaning in prayer at the door of the tent and Eli rebuked her because he thought she was drunk. Hannah replied that she was not drunk, but rather grieving because she was barren. Eli assured her that God heard her prayer. Soon she conceived and gave birth to a child named Samuel. When the child was weaned, as promised, she brought him to the tabernacle to minister before the Lord as a Nazarite and prophet. Though Samuel was not of the family of the Levites, but of Ephraim, he ministered there at Shiloh before the Lord and God started speaking to him at a very early age.
God was about to replace Eli as judge over Israel because he and his sons were corrupt. The Philistines came up to invade Israel and the army of Israel went out to head them off at the pass. The battle was not going well, so someone got the bright idea to fetch the ark of God from Shiloh, believing that God would fight their battle for them because of the presence of the ark. Wrong! Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark to the field of battle, but when the Philistines heard of it they became more determined. They routed Israel, killed the two sons of Eli, and took the ark as a trophy of war.
At this point, a runner brought news to Eli that his two sons had been killed and the ark had been lost. Eli was old and obese, and when he heard the ark was in enemy hands he fell backwards off his chair, broke his neck and died. When the pregnant wife of Phinehas heard of the death of her husband and the loss of the ark, she went into labor early and gave birth to a son. She named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured" (1 Samuel 4:21-22, NKJV).
Samuel and those who remained at Shiloh packed up the tabernacle and all its furnishings and headed south to avoid the invading Philistines. The tent of meeting finally came to rest on a hill called Gibeon, but without the Ark of the Covenant. The priests who succeeded Eli and his sons continued to minister before the empty tent for many years, though the glory of God's presence was not there.
A reporter once asked Billy Graham what he feared the most. He said it was building up such a well-oiled evangelistic organization that it could go right on doing its thing even after God departed and not even know the difference. Such is the case with empty religion. This is truly a very sad state of affairs, but all too common today. It is too bad that they are not as honest as the wife of Phinehas when they name their organizations.
Meanwhile, the Philistines brought the ark to Ashkelon, one of their five major cities, and put it in the temple of their god Dagon, an idol with the head and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. They come back the next day to find Dagon fallen off his perch, prone before the ark of the Lord. Thinking it a fluke, they set him back up. The next day they found him fallen before the ark at the threshold with his head and hands broken off. It was a knock out in the second round and God was the winner!
The ark was too hot for the king of Ashkelon and the priests of Dagon to handle. They decided to send it away to another Philistine city, where the people broke out with a plague of tumors (hemorrhoids in the Hebrew) and the city was overrun with a plague of mice. So the Ark was shipped on down the line to the next city and the next, each breaking out with the same afflictions until after many months, they got the bright idea to send the ark back to Israel. Their priests and diviners told them to put five golden "tumors" and five golden mice in a box, one for each of the lords of the Philistines. They put the ark on an oxcart with the box of offerings beside it, and then hitched up two milk cows that had calves. They tied the calves to a post to see if the mother cows would ignore their bawling and take the ark to Israel. If they did, the Philistines would know that their woes came from the ark and that they had broken the plague by returning it to its rightful home.
The people of Beth Shemesh in southern Israel, reaping in their fields, heard the cows bawling as they came pulling the oxcart with the ark. They went out to see it with great rejoicing. The cart came to a halt at a great rock. The local Levites took it down from the cart, placed the box of golden mice and tumors along side it, chopped up the oxcart for firewood and slaughtered the two cows as a sacrifice to the Lord. The narration continues,
Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?" So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up with you." Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. (1 Samuel 6:19-7:2, NKJV).
This same Kiriath Jearim is also called Baale Judah in 2 Samuel. There the Ark stayed throughout the reign of King Saul (a type of the flesh), who never once sought it out. (See 1 Chronicles 13:3). Sacrifices were still being offered on the altar at Gibeon. The washings of the laver continued. The seven-branched candlestick was still lit and fueled and smoke was still rising from the altar of incense, but behind the veil of the Holy of Holies, all was dark. The glory had departed. There was no receptacle for the sprinkling of the blood of the slain lamb, i.e., the mercy seat. There was no light beyond the veil, for He who is the Light was gone. In short, the system was still functioning but the Lord of glory was gone with the ark.
The ark was gone during the whole reign of Saul and no one looked for it. No one missed it! Why? The ark of God's presence is despised and neglected whenever and wherever the flesh of man reigns. Religion works quite well without God. His presence is not required for it to function. Israel was never more religious than at those times when they were in outright disobedience to God or had completely forgotten Him. Regardless of their condition, they continued to burn incense long after God's presence had departed.
God spoke of this through Jeremiah, "But my people have forgotten me, they burn offerings to a delusion; they have stumbled in their ways, in the ancient roads, and have gone into bypaths, not the highway" (Jeremiah18:15 RV).
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message Bible, captures the true meaning of Isaiah 1:13 through 14. "Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings--meetings, meetings, meetings--I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning."
The point is that men will continue to burn incense, give offerings and go right on worshiping long after the glory has departed. Jeremiah noted that in the midst of the religious hubbub and digging of religious cisterns, not even the priests thought to ask, "Where is the Lord?" (See Jeremiah 2:8). The fact that people are unified in religious activity is not an indicator that God is present among them. If anything, it is a sign of apostasy. As Isaiah prophesied, it is quite possible for a people to come near to God with their mouth and honor Him with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. Their worship consists only of rules taught by men.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah.29:13-14
(George Davis and Michael Clark)
This is part of Dick Hotchkiss's journal "Tiny Morsels" put together by his daughter Sharon. I ran into Sharon on an Internet forum and discovered something of her dad's walk as she shared his thoughts on her blog. Both his writings and her sharings have been a strength to me and I pray you are touched by a couple of Dick's journal entries copied below. While visiting with Dick earlier this week by phone I truly felt we both stood in the presence of Christ's wondrous abiding glory. We had church that day.
We however, can praise our God because we know that with every generation He has always held a faithful remnant close to His heart. These are those that have not bowed to Baal. Being reminded of Joian's encouraging post a few days ago about Joseph, I thought to add the words of Elwin Roach which speak to the many Josephs residing in this very day we live in. There is a "coming great awakening" and I believe we are experiencing the first fruits of it now.
God has been preparing and perfecting these Josephs in the darkness and in the prison houses of loneliness and isolation for a day and hour that they will be unleashed as a secret weapon on the kingdom of darkness. He has allowed all of these things to happen to them for their good. He has prepared a people that He can trust with His power, gifts, and anointing. In holiness, humility and boldness they will fulfill His plans in our day. They will give HIM the glory. They will give HIM total control of the coming Great Awakening. The door of their prison house of utter loneliness and rejection is about to open. Their "word" is about to come. That word is "the King has need of thee." In a moment, they will be ushered from prison to position. In a moment, they will fully understand their long and severe sufferings. In a moment, they will be brought out into the light of God's divine destiny for them. God will use them to lead the Coming Great Awakening.
........"And they loved not their lives even until death." (Rev 12:11) God is even at this moment harvesting a holy remnant from this generation and He will have a church that is without spot or wrinkle, a pure bride for His Son. Be encouraged. Lift up your heads. Your God has come! "The King has need of thee!" (Roach)
If we care to understand what God is going to do, we must look back and understand what He once did. This piece of writing quoted below spoke strongly to my heart last night in confirmation of what God did in the past and what He is doing again today. The Arc of the Covenant and His presence has left the building and it resides in the hearts of men and women being fit together into a temple of lively stones not made with hands. You need not travel far to visit this temple and partake of His presence. As we worship in Spirit and Truth, we discover that Christ's presence and His temple is ever with us and gives expression and life in a multitudes of ways.
Following this excerpt entitled "Gibeon to Zion" I have includes the most touching of expressions by one of God's sons possibly experiencing the twilight of his earthly journey. I finally had the wonderful pleasure to visit with this dear older saint by phone this last week. I know that which I have included in this closing portion of this post will touch your heart and encourage you as you discover the many ways God brings the Arc of His presence to you.
Gibeon and Zion
For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. (1 Chronicles 21:29)
Only the tabernacle and the altar of offering rested on Gibeon, not the ark. What transpired that the ark would no longer be in the holy of holies? At this point it would be good to do a brief history of how the Ark of the Covenant and the tent of meeting (the tabernacle which came to rest on Gibeon) were permanently separated and how this seeming disaster served to advance God's eternal plan.
At first, both the Ark and the tabernacle moved around together from point to point in the Promised Land during the time of the judges. The tent housed the ark when it was stationary. One of the later judges named Eli was also the chief priest and his two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, were priests before the Lord when the tent of meeting was at Shiloh.
One day a woman came and was weeping and groaning in prayer at the door of the tent and Eli rebuked her because he thought she was drunk. Hannah replied that she was not drunk, but rather grieving because she was barren. Eli assured her that God heard her prayer. Soon she conceived and gave birth to a child named Samuel. When the child was weaned, as promised, she brought him to the tabernacle to minister before the Lord as a Nazarite and prophet. Though Samuel was not of the family of the Levites, but of Ephraim, he ministered there at Shiloh before the Lord and God started speaking to him at a very early age.
God was about to replace Eli as judge over Israel because he and his sons were corrupt. The Philistines came up to invade Israel and the army of Israel went out to head them off at the pass. The battle was not going well, so someone got the bright idea to fetch the ark of God from Shiloh, believing that God would fight their battle for them because of the presence of the ark. Wrong! Hophni and Phinehas brought the ark to the field of battle, but when the Philistines heard of it they became more determined. They routed Israel, killed the two sons of Eli, and took the ark as a trophy of war.
At this point, a runner brought news to Eli that his two sons had been killed and the ark had been lost. Eli was old and obese, and when he heard the ark was in enemy hands he fell backwards off his chair, broke his neck and died. When the pregnant wife of Phinehas heard of the death of her husband and the loss of the ark, she went into labor early and gave birth to a son. She named the child Ichabod, saying, "The glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured" (1 Samuel 4:21-22, NKJV).
Samuel and those who remained at Shiloh packed up the tabernacle and all its furnishings and headed south to avoid the invading Philistines. The tent of meeting finally came to rest on a hill called Gibeon, but without the Ark of the Covenant. The priests who succeeded Eli and his sons continued to minister before the empty tent for many years, though the glory of God's presence was not there.
A reporter once asked Billy Graham what he feared the most. He said it was building up such a well-oiled evangelistic organization that it could go right on doing its thing even after God departed and not even know the difference. Such is the case with empty religion. This is truly a very sad state of affairs, but all too common today. It is too bad that they are not as honest as the wife of Phinehas when they name their organizations.
Meanwhile, the Philistines brought the ark to Ashkelon, one of their five major cities, and put it in the temple of their god Dagon, an idol with the head and hands of a man and the tail of a fish. They come back the next day to find Dagon fallen off his perch, prone before the ark of the Lord. Thinking it a fluke, they set him back up. The next day they found him fallen before the ark at the threshold with his head and hands broken off. It was a knock out in the second round and God was the winner!
The ark was too hot for the king of Ashkelon and the priests of Dagon to handle. They decided to send it away to another Philistine city, where the people broke out with a plague of tumors (hemorrhoids in the Hebrew) and the city was overrun with a plague of mice. So the Ark was shipped on down the line to the next city and the next, each breaking out with the same afflictions until after many months, they got the bright idea to send the ark back to Israel. Their priests and diviners told them to put five golden "tumors" and five golden mice in a box, one for each of the lords of the Philistines. They put the ark on an oxcart with the box of offerings beside it, and then hitched up two milk cows that had calves. They tied the calves to a post to see if the mother cows would ignore their bawling and take the ark to Israel. If they did, the Philistines would know that their woes came from the ark and that they had broken the plague by returning it to its rightful home.
The people of Beth Shemesh in southern Israel, reaping in their fields, heard the cows bawling as they came pulling the oxcart with the ark. They went out to see it with great rejoicing. The cart came to a halt at a great rock. The local Levites took it down from the cart, placed the box of golden mice and tumors along side it, chopped up the oxcart for firewood and slaughtered the two cows as a sacrifice to the Lord. The narration continues,
Then He struck the men of Beth Shemesh, because they had looked into the ark of the LORD. He struck fifty thousand and seventy men of the people, and the people lamented because the LORD had struck the people with a great slaughter. And the men of Beth Shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? And to whom shall it go up from us?" So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of Kirjath Jearim, saying, "The Philistines have brought back the ark of the LORD; come down and take it up with you." Then the men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. So it was that the ark remained in Kirjath Jearim a long time; it was there twenty years. And all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. (1 Samuel 6:19-7:2, NKJV).
This same Kiriath Jearim is also called Baale Judah in 2 Samuel. There the Ark stayed throughout the reign of King Saul (a type of the flesh), who never once sought it out. (See 1 Chronicles 13:3). Sacrifices were still being offered on the altar at Gibeon. The washings of the laver continued. The seven-branched candlestick was still lit and fueled and smoke was still rising from the altar of incense, but behind the veil of the Holy of Holies, all was dark. The glory had departed. There was no receptacle for the sprinkling of the blood of the slain lamb, i.e., the mercy seat. There was no light beyond the veil, for He who is the Light was gone. In short, the system was still functioning but the Lord of glory was gone with the ark.
The ark was gone during the whole reign of Saul and no one looked for it. No one missed it! Why? The ark of God's presence is despised and neglected whenever and wherever the flesh of man reigns. Religion works quite well without God. His presence is not required for it to function. Israel was never more religious than at those times when they were in outright disobedience to God or had completely forgotten Him. Regardless of their condition, they continued to burn incense long after God's presence had departed.
God spoke of this through Jeremiah, "But my people have forgotten me, they burn offerings to a delusion; they have stumbled in their ways, in the ancient roads, and have gone into bypaths, not the highway" (Jeremiah18:15 RV).
Eugene Peterson, translator of The Message Bible, captures the true meaning of Isaiah 1:13 through 14. "Quit your worship charades. I can't stand your trivial religious games: monthly conferences, weekly Sabbaths, special meetings--meetings, meetings, meetings--I can't stand one more! Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them! You've worn me out! I'm sick of your religion, religion, religion, while you go right on sinning."
The point is that men will continue to burn incense, give offerings and go right on worshiping long after the glory has departed. Jeremiah noted that in the midst of the religious hubbub and digging of religious cisterns, not even the priests thought to ask, "Where is the Lord?" (See Jeremiah 2:8). The fact that people are unified in religious activity is not an indicator that God is present among them. If anything, it is a sign of apostasy. As Isaiah prophesied, it is quite possible for a people to come near to God with their mouth and honor Him with their lips while their hearts are far from Him. Their worship consists only of rules taught by men.
Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men: therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous work among this people, even a marvellous work and a wonder: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid. Isaiah.29:13-14
(George Davis and Michael Clark)
This is part of Dick Hotchkiss's journal "Tiny Morsels" put together by his daughter Sharon. I ran into Sharon on an Internet forum and discovered something of her dad's walk as she shared his thoughts on her blog. Both his writings and her sharings have been a strength to me and I pray you are touched by a couple of Dick's journal entries copied below. While visiting with Dick earlier this week by phone I truly felt we both stood in the presence of Christ's wondrous abiding glory. We had church that day.
.
"Tiny Morsels"
http://roseofsharon154.spaces.live.com/blog/
Cancer Update 06-22-2007
Well, here it is June 22, 2007, and my condition hasn’t really changed very much.
I’m still on oxygen 24/7,
I can go for walks occasionally, but I never go alone, and I’m limited to about four blocks.
Sometimes I feel great when I start walking, but after two blocks or so, I can feel my energy fading, so I cut it short.
I used to lave to run. I spent two years in the army during the Korean War. I was a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division, and I love the running part, but I loved civilian life too, so I made 13 jumps, put in my two years, and took my discharge, 12-3-1952.
I was, very rebellious back in those days, and it took a lot of hard discipline to break my stubborn pride and self dependence.
I suffered a lot of losses before I discovered that God was working in my life. I thought I was simply a failure, and that God could never make anything useful out of me.
In 34 years we belonged to at least 7 different churches. I learned a lot about different doctrines, and I experienced being tossed to and fro, and being carried about with every wind of doctrine, Eph. 4: 14.
In 1989 we were rejected by the church for the last time, and we never went back.
After leaving the church, I learned that I had an open heaven, and I began to write, and the Holy Spirit began pouring out beautiful revelations upon me.
Now, 18 years later, I have lung cancer. My life on this earth is very uncertain, but life in the next age is growing more certain, and more and more beautiful all of the time.
As I receive more perfect interpretations of the word, the future gets brighter and brighter.
We have walked in darkness for so many years, that now; the light has become so brilliant that it is blinding us.
It takes time to adjust to such perfect light. As we gradually adjust to deeper truths, and begin to see the unconditional promises of God, made to Abraham; then we see that those promises are free to all of us who are “in Christ”, Romans 8: 1-2.
As I see His glory that We shall share at His coming, it leaves me speechless.
How could God, our Creator, come to earth and live in a nature as wicked, and evil, as mine had been?
He changed me, and His love and nature is still changing me into His likeness, Romans 8: 29, until eventually all can see Him living in me, Gal. 2: 20.
When that is in my future, how can I have any desire to stay here? Wouldn’t it be better to hasten His return?
My lungs keep filling up with mucous. I have to take 8 Nebulizer treatments a day. That loosens the mucous so I can cough it up, and spit it out. I wake up coughing about every hour throughout the night.
My son, Rich, and my daughter, Jamie, get up once or twice during the night to set up my Nebulizer equipment.
That Nebulizer is keeping me alive now. Without it, my lungs would fill up with mucous and I would stop breathing.
I don’t mind talking about death and dying, so I’m inviting you to e-mail me if you want to talk about anything.
That wasn’t possible a few months ago because we didn’t have a computer in the house. Now my two kids have two of them, but I don’t know how to operate either of them.
You can e-mail your phone number to me if you’d like, and I’ll call you on the phone.
His word is getting more precious to me. It’s like a gold mine, and the biggest nougats are deeper than the others. It takes some digging to get the big ones, but they are well worth the effort.
The dying process has many benefits. As my natural strength gets weaker, then His Spirit in me gets stronger.
Many times, my natural strength is a hindrance to the Holy Spirit. As I get weaker, He gets stronger. Then He can break through with a more pure word of prophecy, and those listening can be refreshed, and re-energized, and many will be encouraged to run the race more eagerly, and to cast off weights and besetting sins that would hinder them, Hebrews 12: 1.
I do want your lives to be enriched, and that you may hear His voice more clearly.
May God bless and keep you in His Amazing Grace until His Appearing.
Dick Hotchkiss
http://roseofsharon154.spaces.live.com/blog/
Cancer Update 06-22-2007
Well, here it is June 22, 2007, and my condition hasn’t really changed very much.
I’m still on oxygen 24/7,
I can go for walks occasionally, but I never go alone, and I’m limited to about four blocks.
Sometimes I feel great when I start walking, but after two blocks or so, I can feel my energy fading, so I cut it short.
I used to lave to run. I spent two years in the army during the Korean War. I was a paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division, and I love the running part, but I loved civilian life too, so I made 13 jumps, put in my two years, and took my discharge, 12-3-1952.
I was, very rebellious back in those days, and it took a lot of hard discipline to break my stubborn pride and self dependence.
I suffered a lot of losses before I discovered that God was working in my life. I thought I was simply a failure, and that God could never make anything useful out of me.
In 34 years we belonged to at least 7 different churches. I learned a lot about different doctrines, and I experienced being tossed to and fro, and being carried about with every wind of doctrine, Eph. 4: 14.
In 1989 we were rejected by the church for the last time, and we never went back.
After leaving the church, I learned that I had an open heaven, and I began to write, and the Holy Spirit began pouring out beautiful revelations upon me.
Now, 18 years later, I have lung cancer. My life on this earth is very uncertain, but life in the next age is growing more certain, and more and more beautiful all of the time.
As I receive more perfect interpretations of the word, the future gets brighter and brighter.
We have walked in darkness for so many years, that now; the light has become so brilliant that it is blinding us.
It takes time to adjust to such perfect light. As we gradually adjust to deeper truths, and begin to see the unconditional promises of God, made to Abraham; then we see that those promises are free to all of us who are “in Christ”, Romans 8: 1-2.
As I see His glory that We shall share at His coming, it leaves me speechless.
How could God, our Creator, come to earth and live in a nature as wicked, and evil, as mine had been?
He changed me, and His love and nature is still changing me into His likeness, Romans 8: 29, until eventually all can see Him living in me, Gal. 2: 20.
When that is in my future, how can I have any desire to stay here? Wouldn’t it be better to hasten His return?
My lungs keep filling up with mucous. I have to take 8 Nebulizer treatments a day. That loosens the mucous so I can cough it up, and spit it out. I wake up coughing about every hour throughout the night.
My son, Rich, and my daughter, Jamie, get up once or twice during the night to set up my Nebulizer equipment.
That Nebulizer is keeping me alive now. Without it, my lungs would fill up with mucous and I would stop breathing.
I don’t mind talking about death and dying, so I’m inviting you to e-mail me if you want to talk about anything.
That wasn’t possible a few months ago because we didn’t have a computer in the house. Now my two kids have two of them, but I don’t know how to operate either of them.
You can e-mail your phone number to me if you’d like, and I’ll call you on the phone.
His word is getting more precious to me. It’s like a gold mine, and the biggest nougats are deeper than the others. It takes some digging to get the big ones, but they are well worth the effort.
The dying process has many benefits. As my natural strength gets weaker, then His Spirit in me gets stronger.
Many times, my natural strength is a hindrance to the Holy Spirit. As I get weaker, He gets stronger. Then He can break through with a more pure word of prophecy, and those listening can be refreshed, and re-energized, and many will be encouraged to run the race more eagerly, and to cast off weights and besetting sins that would hinder them, Hebrews 12: 1.
I do want your lives to be enriched, and that you may hear His voice more clearly.
May God bless and keep you in His Amazing Grace until His Appearing.
Dick Hotchkiss
June 29
REMEMBER
WHEN I AM GONE, REJOICE WITH ME!!
I HAVE BEEN PROMOTED, SO DON’T FEEL SAD.
THE PURPOSE FOR ALL OF MY MESSAGES HAS BEEN TO TEACH ALL OF YOU TO LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT.
HE IS ALMIGHTY GOD, AND HE WILL LEAD YOU INTO ALL TRUTH, JOHN 16:13 & I JOHN 2: 27.
LISTEN TO THE MIND OF CHRIST.
I AM
YOUR LOVING SERVANT
DICK HOTCHKISS
Dick's daughter, Sharon is indeed the apple that has come to rest not far from the tree and once while trading messages with her she made reference to an old story she had read about a "bamboo water pipe." I had never heard of the story but today I thought to see if I could search it out. Now, I do not know if this is the same tale Sharon referrenced to me, but it did remind me greatly of both Dick and his children as they give their lives for others.
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A Bamboo Tree
A farmer had a cluster of beautiful bamboo trees. One day he stood before the tallest one and said, "My friend, I need you." "Sir," said the bamboo, "Use me in any way you wish, I am ready." Then the gardener's voice became serious and he said, "In order to use you, I've got to split you in half." Then the bamboo reacted, "Split me" Oh, no... I'm the nicest bamboo in this garden. Use me in any way you wish, but please don't split me in half." "Well," said the gardener, "if I can't split you, I can't use you." The bamboo went silent. Then it bowed its head and said, "Okay. If the only way you can use me, is by splitting me, go ahead." "But that's not all," said the gardener. "I am going to have to cut off all your branches." "That will be the end of my beauty," the bamboo said. "But - if that's the only way I can be of use - cut me down altogether." So the farmer cut down the bamboo, removed its branches and split it down the middle. After hollowing out its insides, he brought it to a spring of water. It became a pipe to bring water to the gardens and make them fertile and fruitful.
It gave its life to help other lives. Everyday right around us people are giving their lives that we might live...
In closing I ask you to please pray for Dick and Sharon, along with the rest of the Hotchkiss family. Lastly if you feel so led, I invite you to drop Brother Hotchkiss an e-mail sharing your love and encouragement.
mail Dick at: Inhissteps_heb.1313@yahoo.com
Jack
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