From the desk of
Bill Ramey
7/14/12
FIRSTFRUITS
Something that has been on my
mind for some time, and perhaps I have it sorted enough to share with others,
is the place of firstfruits in the plan of salvation. We know, of course, that the law was given
and established in an agrarian society.
In this setting, there were two harvests --- the spring harvest of the
“firstfruits” and the bigger fall harvest when the crops were brought in before
the beginning of winter. It is this crop
cycle that the plan of salvation is based on.
We see a wave offering in
Leviticus 7 that it says is a “statute forever” among the children of Israel
Most of you know that I
attended WCG for 30 some years and sat through the “Why are you here?” sermons
each Feast of Tabernacles. It didn’t
occur to me to question them at the time, but after seeing the WCG takeover by
the mafia and splintered into some 2-300 groups, I had to ask myself some
serious questions. Is, or was, WCG
really the work of God in the end time?
Was HWA really the “Elijah” that was to come? Was he a prophet? Please don’t misunderstand. I am not here to cast HWA in a negative light
nor am I here to cast aspersions on his character and/or intentions. But I do call a spade a spade and I try to
incorporate truth into my life wherever I find it. I feel that HWA uncovered more truth buried
by the Vatican
The point I want to address
in this communiqué is the place of the firstfruits in the plan of
salvation. Please don’t be dismayed if I
address it from a different perspective than what you have ever seen
before. Because I want to start in the
book of Revelation, chapter 5, verse 8.
The context shows that this is the time when the book is being opened
that “…looses the 7 seals…” of Revelation 6.
Verse 8 shows 24 elders before the throne of God that “… fall down
before the Lamb.” Who are these 24
elders? It would appear that they are
before the throne at this time and perhaps have been for many years if not
centuries. The churches of God have
been conspicuously silent about who these are.
We can see in verse 9 that at one time they were human! How do you reconcile this with what you have
been led to believe?
I know that some of the
splinter groups say, “Perhaps they are angels”.
Did Christ die to redeem angels?
See again verse 9. When we begin
to crank this whole picture into our mental process and meditate on it, we can
only come up with the conclusion that HWA was wrong about a number of things
and the firstfruits was only one of them.
You see, HWA did not understand that the first resurrection is comprised
of only 144,000 even though this is plainly stated in Revelation 14:1-4. At least one of the WCG splinter groups has
picked up on this and come to the conclusion that only 144,000 out of all
generations that have lived will come up in the first resurrection (OK so far)
and those of churches of God that do not make it in that draft are lost
forever. Can this be so? To me this demonstrates a gross ignorance of
the firstfruits and the plan of salvation.
There were more than 144,000
that died martyrs in the inquisition because of their faith. Was their faith perfect at that time? No! Of
course not. The truth had been buried
for years by the fourth beast of Daniel 7 and even those who led the falling
away from the Catholic church (John Wesley, Martin Luther, William Tyndale,
etc) were still Catholic in their thinking.
So those martyred were acting on the best information they had at the
time but their faith was far from perfect.
However, they stepped out in faith and that is the important part.
Can we really accept the
concept that there has been a “preresurrection”? (What about Lazarus? And didn’t Elijah raise up the widow’s son?)
We know that it says in I Thessalonians 4:15, that, “…we which are alive and
remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent (precede) them which are
asleep.” So we know that those living
are not going to be resurrected before those that are dead. However, perhaps we should take a look at
what it does not say. It does
not say none of the dead shall precede the living! Think about it! Dare to think outside the box that our
religious gurus have limited us to! We,
perhaps, need to view them as God does and you can get this perspective in
Isaiah 56:10-11. Could it be that these
24 elders are the wave sheaf offering?
After all, the wave sheaf offering does come before the firstfruits. And
if this sounds “wild” (because it is different than what you and I have been
led to believe), then I would challenge you to read Leviticus 23:11 because it
shows that the wave sheaf is not only to be offered --- but accepted --- before the harvest of the firstfruits can begin! Does this cast our understanding of the
firstfruits in an entirely different light?
One of the errors of WCG and
other religions is in not understanding the plan of salvation. HWA felt the second coming of Christ would be
on a holy day and probably the Day of Trumpets.
Does this fit into the overall plan of salvation? Christ said in Revelation 3:14 that He was the
beginning of creation and this He was.
But more than that, He was also the beginning of the plan of salvation
and this plan begins with the Passover and progresses through the other holy
days or statutes as they were called in Leviticus 23. We can see in the first two verses of that
chapter that these were not Jewish holy days but “God’s Feast Days”. Continuing in the chapter we find that they
are statutes forever!
Now, if Christ (Yahshua) was
the beginning of creation and the beginning of the plan of salvation, by laying
His life on the line on the very day of the killing of the Paschal Lambs, (thus
becoming the Lamb of God), then where does that leave us today in that
plan? What is the next step in that plan? Why it’s the coming out of Egypt Red Sea and find ourselves wandering in this wilderness
of Satan’s governments (see Luke 4).
So what is the next step in
the plan? It’s the harvest of the firstfruits
or Pentecost (the Feast of Firstfruits).
Since Christ fulfilled His role of Passover Lamb by dying on the eve of
Passover, does that give us a clue as to the date of the next step in that
plan? Rev 14:1-4. Matthew 24:44 says, “…in such an hour as
you think not the Son of man comes.” Is
this written to Catholics?
Protestants? Pagans? No, of course not. The only scriptures the religious folks read
is those laid out for them by their religious instruct-ors. So if this is written to God’s people, why is
it His coming will be “…at an hour when you think not”? Could it be because they have been
brainwashed to believe another date of His coming like the Day of
Trump-ets? I Thessalonians 5:1-4 makes
it quite plain that there will be an inner circle that is fully aware of the
day of his second coming. Why will the
vast majority miss it? Perhaps we can
find the answer in Romans 11:7.
So just who are the 24 elders
and who are the firstfruits? The 24
elders, in my opinion, are the advance planning committee for the restoration
of planet earth. Men like Enoch, Noah,
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Elijah. Will there be apostles also in this
group? Perhaps we should look at
Ephesians 2:20 which says, speaking of the household of God or temple of God
Have we ever considered how
much work is done in preparation for constructing a large building before any
activity is observed on the site? First
there must be an idea for this edifice.
Next comes an artist’s sketch.
After this has been considered by those involved, then an architect is
employed to reduce this idea and picture to a plan incorporated into drawings
so that all can work from the “same sheet of music” as it were. And yet, the site shows no signs of a
building going up. The plans will be
reviewed by engineers and materials consultants, then their comments and
recommendations will all be put together into a final plan. Now the foundation can be prepared. It has to be rock solid because it must
support the weight of the entire building and its contents. It has been said that the foundation is the
most important part of any building. I
really think we need to flex our mental muscles and consider the possibility of
a “preresurrection” for the purpose of laying the foundation of the temple our
Creator is building.
Now with the preplanning session done and the
foundation laid, next comes the firstfruits and who might they be? It doesn’t make sense to bring up those that
will require a generation of instructional seminars to show them that there
really is no santa or easter bunny. Are
the firstfruits to be the pillars of the new government on planet earth? If so, it
means they must be people capable of seeing beyond the chimeras
presented by Satan’s governments and the sugar plums they dangle before their
recruits. They must be people capable of
independent thinking and, even more importantly, acting upon their conclusions
--- even to laying their life on the line.
So if the second coming is at
Pentecost, then what does the Day of Trumpets (Yom Teruah) represent in the
plan of God? If we look in Revelation 20
and Ezekiel 38, we can see that after 1000 years, Satan is released again and
goes forth to recruit those who long to go back to the “good ol’ days” of
political chicanery and financial deception.
At that time he musters the armies of Gog and Magog against Israel
Is it possible that the ten
days of awe (10 days between Trumpets and Atone-ment) represent ten years at
the end of the millennium, of blasting out the news that Satan is about to be
released and warning people against following him into perdition? Satan and his armies will be destroyed at
that time and then comes the time of judgment (Yom Kippur) or the Day of
Atonement. Next comes the fall harvest
which is represented by the Feast of Taber-nacles. So you see, HWA was jumping ahead in the plan
and felt that the millennium is what was represented by the Feast of
Tabernacles. This is error. The millennium begins at the resurrection of
the firstfruits. Rev 14:1-4. The trumpet is sounded at the end of the
millennium to warn of Satan’s release.
Satan and his followers are destroyed and then comes the judgment or
beginning of the second resurrection.
Then comes the Last Great Day (Shemini Atzeret) or the new
beginning.
Really now, doesn’t this make
more sense than what we were taught?
And now, the next thing I
share with you is an observation and calculation of one who has been the
recipient of a number of revelations.
(What you have just read is one of them.) I claim no prophet status but have lived for
over 76 years and seen many changes in that time. Space in this brief summary does allow me to
show all the supporting evidence for this conclusion, how-ever, it is my
considered opinion that the Abomination of Desolation, spoken of by Daniel the
prophet, will be placed during the last half of November 2012. This presupposes
that the sacrifices will be restarted before then because they will be cut off
the same day the AOD is placed. If this happens, the two witnesses will
begin their testimony twenty six and one half days later. And it is my firm belief that America
If there was ever a time to
stay wide awake, the time is now.