Revelation Teaching for the Age to Come...

From the Gospel of Thomas

These are the secret sayings that the living Jesus spoke and Didymos Judas Thomas recorded.

1 And he said, "Whoever discovers the interpretation of these sayings will not taste death."

2 Jesus said, "Those who seek should not stop seeking until they find. When they find, they will be disturbed. When they are disturbed, they will marvel, and will reign over all. [And after they have reigned they will rest.]"

My name is Barbara Symons and I am president of Appointed Time Ministries.  My husband Lyle and I have been married for 30 years. We have three children and four grandchildren. Immortalson.com is a small project of ATM that hopefully will provide some answers to those who find themselves in a spiritual  transition of sorts.  ATM began as a deliverance and lay counseling ministry however, the ministry is evolving to be iconoclastic in nature, challenging modern Christian doctrine and thought.   

Immortalson.com is dedicated to offering subject matter to challenge current doctrinal understanding.  After serving the traditional church structure for years, I left dissallusioned and dissatisfied with the status quo condition of myself and the institution. I began to search for teaching that would satisfy questions that my cultural religious thinking could not answer.  

Many of you will feel somewhat disoriented and disturbed when you leave behind the thinking of the institution of "church"  and or your traditional understanding of spiritual things.  Much of what you have been taught has been through people you love and trust.  Because of this however, you have received doctrine and teaching without testing.  You have a plumb line deep within you and this plumbline is Christ.  If you are becoming dissatisfied, I encourage you to challenge your current doctrinal understanding and simply ask the Holy Spirit to lead you and guide you into all truth.  Be patient with yourself.  Leaving a Babylonian culture (mixture and confusion) is a journey and a process.  The farther away you get from it, the clearer things become. 

I describe the institutional church as a Babylonian culture because like Babylon the institutional church is "building focused."  Ancient Babylon tried to build an earthly structure (the tower of Babel) for heavenly ascent and God resisted them by scattering their language so that they could not understand one another or work together.  Isn’t this what has happened to the Christian faith?  Haven’t we tried to build our own earthly structures (denominations and reputations) and aren’t Christians just as divided as ever, each denomination speaking it’s own doctrinal language, competing rather than uniting for a common cause?  If you don’t believe we are divided and competitive, then ask yourself, if the Apostle Paul walked the earth today and wanted to write to the church in your city, who would get the letter?  

The institutional church, like Babylon has experienced God's hand of resistance to spiritual progress.  We keep laying the same foundation over and over again never teaching on what it is to go on to perfection.  

Hebrews 6 1-3  1 Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this we will do if God permits. 

Christianity in its simplicity has a pattern for believers to follow in the New Testament and it has nothing to do with multi million dollar buildings.  Have we, as representatives of the Christian faith  lost our way not to mention our focus?  Instead of paying for buildings, salaries, utility bills, administration, etc. just think of the impact we could make if we began to spend our tithes and offerings on those whom Jesus said would always be with us, the poor?  What would happen to our welfare system if we began to take care of our neighbor in need instead of thinking that it is the job of our government?  

A popular Christian teaching from the book Malachi chapter three is interpreted to say that we are robbing God if we dont give our tithes to the "storehouse."  We are also taught that the "storehouse" is the church.  Believers are prompted into giving their money to the church system because they believe that if they don't, they are robbing God.  Whereas in truth this chapter read and studied reveals a clear rebuke from God to those people and institutions that extract money from wage earners for anything other than to feed or tend to the poor.  The question begs to be asked, Who is  robbing God?  

We should be comforted that the Biblical pattern for exodus from Babylon happened in at least three sequences; Nehemiah, Ezra and Zerubabbel. If this is our pattern and I believe it is, not everyone leaves at the same time.  There is purpose for the institutional church environment just like there was a divine purpose for Babylon. As you begin to depart from the traditional church culture you will sense God in your heart prompting you to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.  

You may become dissallusioned with stagnant spiritual growth and with the endless cries for  money to build buildings. You may begin to see the futility in church membership drives and "houses of God" that are run by people with masters degrees in marketing. You will be consumed with zeal for the FATHER'S HOUSE and you just may feel the urge to overturn some tables. You will begin a pilgrimage back to spiritual Jerusalem to construct a mystical building called "the temple." 

Jerusalem in a spiritual sense is not a a city, it is an environment for the resting place of God in the heart of the believer. This spiritual abode of God is not found in a building made with hands. The Christos of God will find no place to lay His head in the Inn.  As we are born from above, so He will be born into humility. His throne is the soul of man.

The exodus from captivity is a purposeful one. The Jews left in droves to gather and build the ruined places of Jerusalem and more importantly, the temple. Don't loose your focus - it is time to rebuild His temple...and His temple is YOU!  

I applaud all those churches who are sensing that something is amiss in our traditional church culture and are beginning to make necessary changes to recognise and put an end to its religiosity. The poles of tradition must come down if we are to progress into the age to come. 

Glory to God.