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Elders Letter
James Russell, Elder
Dear Brethren and co-workers,
God's inspired scriptures place a high priority on the importance of keeping the truth of Christ exalted
and distinct from all other systems of thought! When our Lord Jesus Christ began His ministry, it was soon
obvious to all that He was doing a new thing. Reading Matthew Chapter 9, we see Him forgiving sins, healing
the sick, raising the dead, and associating with sinners. The people said, " it was never so seen in Israel" (Matt.
9:33 ). Immediately the Pharisees and establishment attacked saying, He is working by Satan's power, " ..... He
casts out devils through the prince of the devils" (Matt. 9:34). Others went to Jesus and asked why He didn't
make His disciples keep their rules. His answer deserves the thoughtful analysis of every called out Christian.
"Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runs out, and the bottles
perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved" (Matt. 9: 17).
New wine, you mayor may not know is still fermenting. It bubbles and heaves, emitting gases, and is
expanding. Old wineskins are dry and rigid and. brittle. Such was the condition of Judaism in the time of Christ.
The pressure created by new wine must go into soft new skins, which are flexible and pliable. This represents
the Holy Spirit and God's vital truth at work in the heart of man. Jesus revolutionary teachings could not be
reconciled with the reactionary dogmas of Judaism.
It is for this reason, many churches are no longer of any use to the Lord. They have engaged themselves
in a Laodicean attitude - neither hot nor cold. They have grown dry and rigid - inflexible and unresponsive to
truth - God's truth. Their called out life is all about conserving the status quo and to resist putting on the "new
man" of change!
Three thoughts need to be made here:
1. God is always doing “New Things.” In the Old Testament God said, "Behold I will do a new thing"(Isa.
43:19 ). At the end of the New Testament, He said, "behold, I am making all things new" (Rev. 21:5 ). Between
those two promises we see God making a new covenant with anew people to whom He gives new
commandments, new doctrines, and a new ministry of the new living way, resulting in a new person who will
live his life in a new way, by growing in grace and knowledge.
2. God requires a certain kind of people to do His “new work.” Christ calls these people "new wine-
skins." Why? Because they are eager to expand and take in new truths, when proven from God's Word. God's
people are to be flexible, in their change. God's called "watchword" is "Lord what would you have me to do?"
(Acts 22:10).
The problem with wineskins is that they age and become dry and brittle, resistant and unyielding, stiff
and set in their ways - stiff-necked. Old wineskin prefers old wine. It doesn't make waves, or stir things up. Old
skins like everything tame and predictable, comfortable and un-challenging. God’s word urge you, whatever your
age, to resist this creeping negativism that wants everything the same, resisting God's new truth that He wants
to share with you.
3. Thankfully, God said He made His way, “life eternal.” “I am come that they might have life, and that
they might have it more abundantly” (John 10:10). And in Psalms we read, “The righteous shall flourish like
the palm tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall
flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To
shew that the LORD is upright: He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him" (Ps. 92:12-15).
This beautifully describes God's called out one! The righteous flourish like a palm tree that grow from
the inside, "For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed
day by day"(2 Cor. 4: 16). Cedars of Lebanon, are tall and strong yet are fruitful in old age just as God's called
are to be - full of sap and green. "Full of vinegar," we used to say. Alive and sassy.
This is what God does automatically in the lives of people who live in obedience to Him. Jesus chose His
disciples in Matthew 10. One characteristic distinguished the twelve: they were all “outsiders.” God the Father
wanted men with a total commitment to His Son Jesus, the Christ, and a willingness to obey Him at all costs!
That meant being different, not defending the status quo. In the 17th century B.C., Hosea called on God's people
to “.... break up the fallow ground.” Two hundred years later Jeremiah preached the same sermon “Sow to
yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He
come and rain righteousness upon you”(Hos.10:12). “For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and
Jerusalem, 'Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns” (Jer.4:3). A hard crust had formed over
the soil, making it impossible for seeds to penetrate, so farmers had to sink a deep turning the plow into the soil,
to break and soften it up, before it could grow a crop.
God is calling on us to do the same. The remedy is for each of us to: 1) Recognize the tendency to grow
cold and resistant to God, and the resulting danger. 2) Renounce our resistance to God for what it is, the sin of
unbelief, 3) Recommit ourselves to God's ways and truths. 4) Renew our relationship daily in prayer, in order
to stay usable for God in our calling. Those who claim to represent Christ to this world, allow His Word to pierce
their conscience and transform their minds. There is no “culture war” to fight. It's already lost. Truth's conquest
of falsehood only begins with the source of “Truth.”
The exhortation of Paul's letter to the Colossians is for us today, “Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after
Christ”(Col.2:8). This needs to be reiterated today more than ever. Paul tells us to not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. “Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with
unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or
what part has he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you
are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God,
and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, saith the Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and you shall be My sons and
daughters,' saith the Lord Almighty" (2 Cor. 6:14-18)
From the context, we see that the real danger He is pointing out is our association with “bad doctrine, not
“bad” people. We are never to forsake sharing the truth of God's message with unbelievers. We have to throw
off the yoke of our partnership with human wisdom and follow Christ's instructions with all our being - if we
want to be found in His will. Hosea reminds Israel [Spiritual Israel] of their willful ignorance by saying, “ My
people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that
thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou have forgotten the law of thy God ....” (Hos. 4:6). These people were
practicing syncretism, committing idolatry with other gods, mixing and mingling religious practices with the
worship of the true God.
We witness this practice of polluting going on in the Churches of God today. HOW ? By their postponing
all of God's appointed Holy Days! All these late days and dates are "intercalated" from the Hebrew Calendar
which is established through the teaching of Judaism, that Christ condemned throughout the Bible. They are
recognized as being the “tradition of men.”
Brethren, Jesus Christ sacrificed His life's blood for us. Christ stated to Moses, as He dealt with Israel
in His capacity as God of the Old Testament; “The blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where you
are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when
I smite the land of Egypt. And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and you shall keep it a feast to the
LORD throughout your generations; you shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. And you shall observe this
thing for an ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever. And it shall come to pass, when you be come to the land
which the LORD will give you, according as He has promised, that you shall keep this service” (Ex.12: 13 -14,
24-25).
Instructions given to Moses was to tell Israel about the Passover. “And the LORD spake unto Moses
in the wilderness of Sinai, in the first month of the second year after they were come out of the land of Egypt,
saying, Let the children of Israel also keep the Passover at His appointed season [appointed time]. In the
fourteenth day of this month, at even, you shall keep it in His appointed season: according to all the rites of it,
and according to all the ceremonies thereof, shall you keep it.' And Moses spake unto the children of Israel, that
they should keep the Passover. And they kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month at even in the
wilderness of Sinai: according to all that the LORD commanded Moses, so did the children of Israel” (Num.
9:1-5).
Now is the hour to repent - "change"and put on the new man [new wine in the new wine skin!]. Study
God's word with fasting and prayer. Let God's Holy Spirit lead you into truth from His Own Words and not from
Hillel II, calendar that intercalates on Judaism's holidays! Prove all Things for yourself as to when God's
appointed times are! Don't fall into Satan's trap and let a postponement day consume you and keep you from
being in God's Kingdom!
CHURCH OF GOD, IN TRUTH
P.O. Box 1120 Kimberling City, MO 65686
Tel: 417-338-0033
James Russell, Elder, Tel: 417-338-0033 E-mail: cogit@flash.net
Pete Fleming, Elder, Tel: 830-885-5502 E-mail: pmf06@gvtc.com
Spanish
Martin Martinez, Deacon, Tel: 787-786-5856 E-mail: mmartinez@ucsint.com
Phillippines
Romeo Samudio, Rep, Tel: 090-8536-4413 E-mail: romesamudio@yahoo.com