April 10, 2004 ©Homer Kizer
Printable File
An Open Letter to Sasha
“Why Do You Call Your Fellowship Philadelphia?”
Dear Sasha:
My answer is delayed, forgive the delay. You asked why those few of us who have begun a new work identify ourselves as part of the endtime Church in Philadelphia. No short reply will satisfactorily answer your question. However, a short answer exists. We have sufficient concern for all who identify themselves as Christians to fight to return these disciples to the covenant relationship into which they were placed when drawn by God the Father. The name Philadelphia was given to the ancient Asia Minor city now named Alesehir, Arabic for “City of God,” to honor Attalus II, the younger brother of Eumenes II, king of Lydia. The city was named to honor this king for successfully fighting against his brother’s enemies, then unselfishly giving his victory to his brother. So brotherly love isn’t touchy-feely emotionalism, but the hard work of making war for one’s brother, thereby placing one’s life at risk for a victory that will be given away. And we who have grown in truth and in grace have the task of delivering Jesus’ words about patient endurance to all the world as a witness to all nations. The war we make for Christ is against Death. All who will endure to the end during the seven years of tribulation will be saved (Matt 24:13). The Holy Spirit will be poured out upon humanity halfway through these seven years. Satan will be cast from heaven so he can no longer reign as the prince of the power of the air. The kingdom of the world will become the kingdom of the Most High and of His Christ. Human nature will be changed as Jesus begins His reign over the mental topography of humanity three and a half years before He returns as the Messiah. Therefore, the war we fight has already been won. But the greater Christian Church of today, like the circumcised nation in Egypt, will believe the ten witnesses, instead of the two, 2300 days before Jesus returns to restore all things. They will become the rejected spiritual nation, for they will not enter the promised land of glorification because of unbelief that becomes disobedience. So we fight to return as many as possible to a covenant relationship with Christ Jesus. We fight to save the lives of those who do not think they are lost.
The Son of Man will be revealed suddenly, with no warning signs (Luke 17:26–30). The tenth plague that humbled Pharaoh’s Egypt was the death of all uncovered firstborns of man and beast. The circumcised nation of Israel sacrificed a lamb for a household, smeared doorposts and lintels with the blood of this lamb, and lived when the death angel passed over the blood. The lamb was penned on the 10th day and killed at even of the 14th day of the first month. Jesus as the Lamb of God was penned in Jerusalem on the 10th day and buried at even on the 14th day of the first month. And humanity entered the long spiritual night during which circumcised Israel roasted with fire the paschal lamb—indeed, bearing the sins of the spiritual nation has caused the Lamb of God to be symbolically roasted with fire. Many of the most heinous crimes committed by humanity have been executed in the name of Christ Jesus. Yet where no hypocrisy existed, no condemnation has also existed. Jesus has covered the sins of the Church with His blood, and He will continue doing so until the fullness of iniquity is reached. Then the spiritual nation will be liberated from bondage to sin as the physical nation was liberated from physical slavery. Death angels shall pass over the houses of the world, slaying all uncovered spiritual and physical firstborns—all who have not covered their sins with the blood of the Lamb of God. Since Calvary, humanity has been living through the spiritual darkness of the night that precedes the day of the Lord. And prophecy and typology reveal that the death angels will slay a third of the greater Christian Church in one day.
The Church will not be bodily raptured to heaven at the beginning of the Tribulation, but will be slain because the Church will not cover its sins by taking the blood of the Lamb of God as Jesus established the example. Yes, a third of the Church will experience actual death while out of covenant with God, meaning this third will be resurrected to condemnation. Then the truly bad news: the remaining two-thirds of the Church that hasn’t practiced walking blameless by faith before God will, once liberated from bondage to sin, return to this spiritual king of the South. Except for the portion of spiritual Israel represented by Joshua and Caleb, all of the spiritual nation will rebel (2 Thess 2:3) and will spiritually die in the wilderness of Sin through God sending a great delusion over the nation because it didn’t love righteousness enough to even attempt to walk blameless by faith.
We who are of Philadelphia fight now to save your life. Our fight is personal. And we know that in most cases, we will fail to return disciples to living within the laws of God written on the hearts and minds of those individuals who are justified [by putting on Christ’s righteousness] and sanctified [by having been drawn and made holy by the Father].
Christ is the good shepherd (John 10:11), who does not flee when spiritual wolves come. Rather, He laid down His life for the sheep of the holy nation of Israel (1 Pet 2:9 -- compare with Exod 19:5-6). His blood covers their sins so that everyone, circumcised and uncircumcised, can enter into covenant with the Father. And following His resurrection and glorification, He has as the high priest of spiritual Israel labored bearing the sins of disciples so that no sin will be imputed to disciples who remain in the covenant in which they were placed when drawn by the Father.
With the man Jesus of Nazareth’s death at Calvary, the physical creation was complete. The universe was intact. The bridge between dimensions was established, but the toll for crossing this bridge into heaven is to walk blameless before God. This is not a walk of perfection, but of faith—of being willing to follow Jesus wherever He leads (Rev 14:1–4), of being willing to get up and go when told to move (Heb 11:8). Abraham didn’t wait until the following day to enter the promised day, and disciples also will not enter the promised land of Christ’s rest on the following day. The rebellion of the greater Church comes from attempting to enter Christ’s rest on the following day, instead of on the Sabbath, when the lawless one attempts to change times and the law (Dan 7:25).
Philadelphia’s fight against the lawless one and his ministers will wear out many saints, but because Philadelphia’s fight is by faith and by Spirit instead of by might, this fellowship will prevail against the Cross, the fourth beast of Daniel chapter seven, and the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse. It is the mark of this beast that Satan, when cast from heaven, will require all who would buy and sell to bear in their minds and on their hands. I fight for you, Sasha, to keep you from rebelling against God, then to keep you from accepting the tattoo of the cross. The tithe of the harvest of the earth belongs to God. Will you be part of this tithe? If you are to be part of this tithe, then you need to be forewarned that you cannot enter the promised land on the following day. This is the fight I make for you, that all who are of Philadelphia make for you. This is the fight we make for Christ Jesus on your behalf, for we are not hirelings who will flee when the wolf or the bear or the lion or the thief attempts to enter Christ’s sheepfold. We are like David in that we will fight—and we will prevail by faith against even our own deaths.
The short answer is true. Our willingness to fight for our elder brother to save you is what places us in the spiritual church of Philadelphia.
Many saints wish to identify themselves as being of Philadelphia. Some of these saints will not fight even shadows, let alone spirit beings whose disguised ministers teach lawlessness (Matt 7:21–23). Some of these saints believe they alone possess all truth. They are unwilling to let even Jesus enter their fellowship to teach them; they are of Laodicea, and they, like thieves, love only their own. Likewise, many fellowships worshipping on the eighth or following day identify themselves as Philadelphians. So you will have to determine whether you hear Jesus’ voice in my words, or in the writings of the Philadelphia Church. If you do, heed these words. Redeem the time that you have to practice walking blameless before God while you remain under the cover of Christ’s righteousness. This covering will be lifted when the fullness of iniquity is reached, and spiritual Israel is liberated from bondage to sin. Then your covering for sin will be your obedience, your walk by faith before God.
In love, respectfully,
Homer Kizer