CRUSHED GRAPES MINISTRY |
Frank B. Smith, Director, PO Box 3009, Vista, CA. 92085-3009 |
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May 26, 2008
Dear Friends and Loved Ones,
Hallelujah! By the grace and mercy of God I have been able
to finish the book, or at least get into the phase of final editing.
God-willing, What Is This Thing We Call Church? will be
available soon. If you would like an electronic copy, I would be happy to
send it at your request. When I combined the chapters to make it easier to
email, the endnotes didn’t copy, but the chapters and appendices are
complete.
Now, when I am ready and able to hit the road, I am laid up
with what started as possibly a spider bite, but has released some virus
in my system that looks like chicken pox, or measles, and in one spot like
shingles. The medicos don’t know what it is, but are treating everything.
They think I might have gotten something in Mexico. I did spend some
wonderful time at the San Clemente Healing Rooms and feel that the toxins,
viral or bacterial, are being removed from my system, and God is about to
launch me/us into some wonderful ministry.
Here is the Introduction to, What Is This Thing We Call
Church?
“Jesus came into the world that we might have
life, and have it to the full. Our real life with God had been lost in the
Garden, and He Himself came to restore it to us. Actually, Jesus gives us
more than was lost as God Himself now lives in us. He no longer just walks
with us; He lives in us as we walk everywhere. We are never separated from
Him Who is our life. In Him we live and move and have our being.
However, our enemy deceives us into foolish and
stupid errors. We take this life, and turn it into a religion. We quickly
forget that He is in us. We take the forgiveness of sins that Jesus earned
and procured for us, once for all, and develop sin management systems. We
sew up again the veil that God ripped from top to bottom, and then fret
and fuss thinking, “I have to get back in there.” We make up religious
ways to get back into the Holy of Holies even though the barrier of the
veil is forever shredded. We make mixtures of the Old and New Covenants.
We forget that Jesus blood is the covering over the mercy seat, and that
now God comes out and lives in us and uses us as His instruments. We set
up priests or clergy patterned after the pagan religions, and elevate them
to high and holy offices.
We call this aberration, “church.” Moreover,
most of us have separated “church” from life. We think of church as an
experience separated from our real life. It is something that we “do” or
attend. This is an abomination before God. Jesus came into the world to
give us life, not a religion or system. He came to give us the life that
is Himself. He calls us out of the world and into His Body, His church.
What is this thing we call “church?” What
constitutes church? What is church and what is not church? God help us as
we seek His face and His answers to these questions and more.”
God bless us all and use us to His glory. May
He use this book set people free from religious bondage to live glorious,
fruitful, and victorious lives in Christ. May we all rise up to the
exciting and uncharted “sons of God ministry” that is ours during this
transition into the Sabbath Millennium. (There is some of this in the
book, but I would appreciate any revelation you might have on this
subject.)
I bless you and love you in Christ,
Frank
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