Nov-99
Letter continued: Letter #2
I do want to make it very clear to you brother Jim and brother Weyman, I do believe very strongly in MARKING a brother or sister in Christ that is causing a division among us and I will stand by that marking . I do believe very strongly that divisions are wrong and the Lord Jesus Christ abhorrers divisions. I do believe very strongly in following those that are in leadership. But I will tell you and Weyman I will not follow either one of you blindly and if I don’t understand what you are giving, I will question you every inch of the way. I am not walking with marked Christians. The Lord has put this burden on my heart and mind for marked Christians, I have never turned the Lord down when he gives me something to do.
Marking I can see, AVOID NO. Please read over ALL the Box Cars in my second letter very carefully. And read the whole context I have given you, not just the verse you have picked out. A brother or sister in Christ are HIS children, and,-- They have been redeemed of the Lord. They are accepted in the beloved. They are joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. They are Pilgrims and Strangers in a foreign land. Their Names are written in the Lambs Book of Life. They do belong to the Family of God. They do belong to the household of faith. They are Precious Jewels of the Lord. The Lord did give his life a Ransom for them. Mark - yes - yes - yes - yes-, Avoid - NO - NO - NO.- I only found the word avoid only once in Romans16:17-20 and compare with Phil 3:16-21, these people are the enemies of Christ, they do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, whose God is their belly, whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things, by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. Are you saying to me that all the Christians you have mark to be avoided, fall under these seven damnation’s? Sorry brothers I do believe we are avoiding the wrong people. I do not believe that we are never to avoid our brothers and sisters in the Lord.
What you have put before me is what the world stands for, confusion – "What came first the chicken or the egg?" Am I to understand you to say that the marked brethren caused the division? They did not mark themselves to be avoided. It wasn’t an action on their part that took them away from the assemblies.
You ask the question "Why don’t we see them meeting with us in the name of the Lord?" You have already said they are out of the will of the Lord by marking them.
You told them and the assembly that not only are they marked, and that all saints are to avoided them. To me my brother, that is the cutting edge, mark & avoid.
The next question I would ask; "Does the penalty fit the crime?" When you became aware of this Christian Rebellion, did you warn the Christian assemblies what would happen to them if any of them rebelled against GOD’S AUTHORITY?
Again I am looking at a Box Car called God’s Authority. Can I ask on what subject they violated God’s Authority?
Again a Box Car their refusal to submit to what in your leadership? Can I ask you to give me a book, chapter, and verse, on both subjects? Did all of this come about after the fact, were those Christians forced to make a choice, to submit or be marked?
I am sorry Jim if I upset you, but this is the way I see it. You can call me carnal, you can say you are disappointed in me, you can say that I have been influenced by evil (?) people, you can say you resent my ignorance in the Lord, you can say I am out of active fellowship. I will quote to you again: 2 Tim. 1:7 For God has not given us the Spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. That’s my verse Brother Jim and I am sticking to it with all my heart and soul.
I have never followed Brother Maurice, Brother Wilbur, Brother Ed., Brother James, any of these older brother’s blindly. I would not just take them at their word. It’s not all right to lead me down the primrose path. I will never take any preachers words on a doctrine (teachings) until I have checked them out for myself in the Word of God. And if I did just take older ministering Christians words without checking up, I can tell you I feel I would have been rebuked sharply, because they wanted my help just like I wanted theirs. I don’t believe Christian ministers are leaders of the blind.
The first man in the scripture that was marked was Cain by our Lord. Genesis 4:9-17 And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? And He said. What hast thou done? The voice of thy brother’s blood crieth unto Me from the ground. And now art thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother’s blood from thy hand; when thou tilllest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto you her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth. And Cain said unto the Lord, My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, thou hast driven me out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I hid; and I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that everyone that findeth me shall slay me. And the Lord said unto him, Therefore whosoever slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold. And the lord set a MARK upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him. And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord. And dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east side of Eden.
There is severity here which had to be, no question about it. There had to be the telling of the truth, with no lying. The penalty had to come, the penalty had to be receive. When was Cain marked? "The Lord came to Cain." "The Lord questioned Cain." "The Lord listened to Cain’s answer." "Cain lied to the Lord." "Cain asked the Lord, am I my brother’s keeper?" (I do believe we all are our brother’s keepers) "The Lord told Cain what the penalty was for killing Abel." "Cain told the Lord he was not able to bear the penalty and why." "Our Lord had compassion on Cain and set a MARK upon Cain." "Yes Cain was Marked, but not to be Avoided."
Brother Jim I am looking back over a period of time that would be ten years not three years. This is about the time I had my heart problems, and ten years to a seventy-three year old man (I’ll be 74 in March) is a very short time. I don’t know how many Christians were marked and to be avoided during this time period. But it does sound like a lot. You say 50 have had their markings lifted, and to this I say praise the Lord. I would have to say this is a very sad time period in our Christian life. And just in the last three years you said you sat in at least 20 meetings?
I have no question about yours and Weyman’s Stewardship, I have MARKED your WALK (Christian life) and your Talk and in the main I don’t have any problems. I do worry greatly about the doctrine (teaching) that someone seems to have grouped words together and made them MARCHING ORDERS for Christian Saints. No! These are not my MARCHING ORDERS. Put them back into the scripture verses where they belong, and I will be very happy to follow them. "Avoid, purge out, have no company with, don’t eat with, cut off, have no fellowship with, withdraw from, don’t partake with, turn away, be ware of, reject, and be at peace about it" ARE NOTHING BUT A BUNCH OF WORDS!
All words taken out of verses where they rightly belong and made into a very neat package. If this upsets you on what I just said I am sorry, don’t yank words out of verses and give them to me.
Believe me when I say "I want book, chapter, and verse." I have had too many denominational Christians pull this on me, as though that is what the bible says. And try and make me eat the words they are giving me. I want to know who said it? Who are they talking with? What is the subject before them? What is the time period? What is happening around them? For me this is my Christian protection against false doctrines (teachings)
You used the saying "and no man gave unto him." With, we do not contact marked people. We wait till they move first. Where is this found in the bible? Give me book, chapter, and verse please?
The good Shepherd said he would leave the ninety and nine sheep that were safe in the fold, to find the one sheep that had gone astray. Let’s take a look at this in Matthew 18: 10-12. Take heed that ye despise not one of theses little ones: for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven. For the son of man is come to save that which was lost. How think ye? If a man have a hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and go into the mountains, and seek that which is gone astray? And if so be that he finds it, verily I say unto you, he rejoices more of that sheep, then of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish.
And lets take a look at Matthew 18: 20-22. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus said unto him. I say not unto thee, until seven times: but, until seventy times seven. So, what is the problem? The Christians were not only marked, but they were also marked to be avoided, avoided should not have been done, never with a Child of God. The way I see it, you can mark (point them out) a Christian, but you still have the right to help them. Just because someone is marked, you can still check up on them to see how they are doing. If you ask me, someone blow it.
Back to that saying: "and no man gave unto him" is this what Paul said about himself? I know I heard this saying before but I can’t place it in the scripture, book, chapter and verse.
I remember our a radio program on Sunday mornings that my wife and I would listen to every Sunday morning and I would hear the message on Ephesians 4. I could always enjoy hearing it over and over again. When I say that I no longer hear it, I don’t, no radio program. I am very glad to hear that you speak more often on Eph. 4 then any other passage. No one is filling my ears, and what I gave is God’s word. I may not hear it, but you say you are giving it, thank you. -Please keep it up, the Saints do need to be grounded in God’s Word on what Christ’s Body is and how they are to function in this Ungodly world today.In Gal.6:1-8 Said nothing about not seeing a brother or sister after they have been marked . Please read this from the lips of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he was giving these words to his disciples. Matthew 18:15-17: Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. And Brother Jim, please put the Box Car (marked to be avoided) back in Romans 16:17-20 were it belongs.
Brother Jim, I am not saying that you do not really know an individual Christian brother or sister in Christ, it is their new nature that you need to know! I want you to look at the whole picture of all the Saints beyond the problem of marking.
What I was trying to give with the chapter above and the one you are quoting from is this: We are all a family and as family members one of another we do care for each over. We all have grown very close to each other through all these years and we do love each other. When we have trouble in our families it is a very difficult time for all of us. But we do try to work through the problems and when we don’t faint along the way, we learn from our problems. And when we learned we were able to solve our problems. We had to control ourselves so that we didn’t loose sight of what our end goal was. We had to always love each other (every though we are not always lovable), and work with each other, pray for each other, and hope for each other.
The verse that comes to my mind is found in Romans 5:1-6: Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience, and patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given us. For when we were without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. Brother Jim I did not wish to make you sad and to get you to think of your loved ones you had to mark. I am very sorry to have done this to you, please except my apologies.
Brother Jim I would never try to stop you from speaking against TV, or the Internet, or video’s, or movies, I know better. In 1 Cor.9:9, The apostle Paul is speaking and I do believe he is speaking about himself. "For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shall not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen?" (Yes he does). And 1 Tim.5:18, "For the scripture saith, Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn, And the labourer is worthy of his reward." I do agree 100% with you on what you wrote. I have no problem with this. The individual Christian Families are very dear to our Lord. And I do believe they are the Lords, if I can use the word "BIG" testimony today in this ungodly world.
In closing Psalms 37:37, Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Your Brother in Christ
Eddie Billmeyer