Restoration Ministries International

• To mutually establish a biblically-based way of life, read:   

“General Rules of Biblical Interpretation.”

• To remain free of the bitter hatred of contemporary politics , read:   

“True Patriots Are Bible-based Constitutionalists.”

May 11, 2023

The Genuinely Born Again Are Chosen To Bear Lasting Fruit

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Please download Sue’s latest Reality 22, If You Don’t Bear Lasting Fruit, Do You Really Belong To Jesus? Sue shares her own convictions based on our Lord’s parable of the different soils in Luke 8:4-21. Writing this Reality has been a heartfelt endeavor for her because so many Christians we’ve met over the years live among the “thorns” – pursuing first and foremost what the world offers, or consistently giving way to fretting and worrying about what's going on around them. Sue is writing from the Hebraic understanding of God’s Word that preceded the anti-Semitic scribal theology of both Roman Catholicism and Protestantism which minimize the crucial importance of the Older Testament for followers of Jesus as Lord of their lives. Both of these institutionalized systems trust in theological stances which are so very far away from the way of life which our Lord’s earliest followers practiced because HE commanded it and they knew the Hebrew Scriptures. 

To put it simply: The life of a genuinely born again person 👉is an ongoing living testimony to the presence of His Spirit within them, 👉is verified by the lasting fruit they produce through the Spirit under the Lordship of Jesus 👉is grace with purpose as they fulfill our heavenly Father’s purposes in love-grounded obedient trust.

“You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in My name the Father will give you” (John 15:16).

Based on our Lord's parable of the soils, you’ll discover in Reality 22 that His view of those who are genuinely born again is demonstrated and confirmed by their fruit-bearing life as they heed the indwelling Spirit and do our heavenly Father’s will. God’s Word offers clear guidance to the Lordship-committed as they actively represent Jesus as Lord in His love and concern for humanity. Our Lord foreknew that His followers would receive the indwelling Holy Spirit, so He specifically gave and keeps on giving to the genuinely born again their “marching orders”: 

“All authority in heaven and on earth was given to Me. GOING therefore, DISCIPLE ALL THE NATIONS, IMMERSING THEM in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, TEACHING THEM TO OBSERVE all things that I COMMANDED you; and behold, I AM WITH YOU all the days until the completion of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20, literal translation). 

Jesus is speaking to ALL who belong to Him for ALL ages. And the Bible affirms a crucial truth of the Lordship of Jesus which He has privileged you to bear: Our Lord's burden for the lost must be your burden as well — if you possess His indwelling Spirit. Having His heart to reach the lost who stand condemned without Him not only verifies that you really belong to Him; it also assures you that the Holy Spirit abides within you and is operating through you. No matter what you’ve believed about your salvation until now — "Lordship" is the rule of our Lord Jesus in you by His Spirit. As the One Who loves you beyond measure, Jesus actively exercises rule in you as your Lord and Master by commanding you by grace to do His Father's will, including reaching the lost. (See John 14:21; 1John 2:3-6,17.) As we've so often stated, to be genuinely born again is to live a life of His love in obedience-based trust with our heavenly Father’s purposes foremost in your life.

You were redeemed for our Father’s purposes: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them" (Ephesians 2:8-10). For both of us, our family in Christ are the same people our Lord Jesus declares to be His family, “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:50). The relationships within the family of Jesus that we have had the privilege to experience are the most precious on earth because of His Spirit’s divine presence in His own. 

But if His Spirit isn't abiding in you, then you remain a prisoner of anti-Semitic theology. If Jesus isn’t your Lord now and you don't repent and call upon Him to be Lord of your life, what will He say to you at the Judgment Throne? We hope that the attached Reality will help you live in spiritual fruitfulness with Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

Mike & Sue

PS With Mother's Day coming this weekend, we encourage you who are mothers and grandmothers to focus on a role that never ceases in your progeny's lives: to speak forth as the heart and voice of Jesus as Lord of your life. Ask the questions that need to be asked about their own relationship with Him. Don't assume that each family member belongs to Jesus just because they attend services or believe that there is a God or do kind deeds on occasion. If this was to be your last Mother's Day this side of eternity, how would our Father have you speak forth to them as His ambassador for Christ?

April 26, 2023

Truth Is Given To Those Who Earnestly Seek It

Dear Friends in Christ Jesus our Lord,

Please download Reality 21, You Must Be A Spiritually Valiant Older Woman! In this Reality Sue focuses on "putting off" and "putting on" two spiritual realities which directly oppose each other: •the Jezebel-influenced life of control which an older woman must adamantly resist, and •being an older woman who is wholly devoted to our Lord Jesus and serving Him together with others as His valiant witness. Remember, while these Realities may be directed specifically to older women, you who are younger are heading in that direction and can glean insights to help you be more fully prepared. (These Realities can also help men of all ages to more fully understand Father's role for older women!)

The Reformers created divisiveness, not unity!

If you're a Protestant it may be hard for you to read anything that comes across as less than commendable for the Reformers since they are esteemed so highly. But from our Father’s viewpoint they lacked the courage to restore everything according to His Word. If we were able to speak with the Reformers, we'd certainly commend them for restoring essential Hebraic truths to a populace who'd been led astray by the power-hungry religious system of Rome: sola fides — salvation by faith alone; sola scriptura — by the Bible alone; sola gratia — by grace alone; sola Christos — through Christ alone; soli deo gloria — glory to God alone. 

Most of the Reformers knew that older men of wisdom were the original shepherd/teachers — the biblical elders of our Lord’s first followers. These older men embodied the Hebrew zaken and the New Testament shepherd, poimen. So, based on their awareness of this biblical pattern, we'd ask the Reformers, “Why did you refuse to restore as shepherd/teachers the wise older men who have proven their trust in Christ instead of perpetuating the pagan-adapted clergy system of the organized religious establishment?" 

The Roman Catholic religious establishment had absorbed numerous pagan practices to pacify heathen converts who became "Christian". This syncretism of adapting and merging pagan beliefs into Christianity included such assimilations as celebrating Christmas and Easter with all the pagan trappings such as trees and eggs and bunnies. Early in its history the Roman Catholic establishment eliminated the key anointings which our Lord Jesus had given: anointings of apostle, prophet, evangelist and shepherd/teacher (Ephesians 4:11-16) In their place was instituted the ecclesiastical dominance and hierarchy which were most visibly demonstrated in the Nicolaitan clergy system of Greek Hellenism. Without even questioning this grievous sin against Christ in His choice of who was to lead and instruct His sheep, the Reformers echoed the Catholics in their system of organized religious hierarchy. 

The Reformers were able to restore crucial Hebraic understandings UNTIL it came to eliminating the organized clergy system in favor of the biblical pattern of apostles, prophets, evangelists and older men as shepherd/teachers. While various factions and divisions splintered Protestants into what eventually became denominations, most didn't establish the autocratic rule of Roman Catholicism. But those within the clergy system of these diverse groups still viewed themselves as "ruling" their congregants because of their religious education training. But consider this biblical truth as noted in Revelation 2:6,15: God hates and fights against the teaching and practices of the Nicolaitans. And why does this concern you? The word ‘nicolaitane’ in Greek means “conquering the people.” The last part of the word is where the term ‘laity’ is derived. God hates and fights against the Nicolaitan system of clergy which subjugates the people by making spectator “laity” out of them through raising up others who lord their position over them. This system of clerical rule which has almost universally replaced Christ's pattern of wise older servant/leaders is not what our Lord Jesus intended!

Picture this simplified history: The obstinate and stiff-necked nature of our political system's Republican vs Democrat parties has sharply split the nation into two opposing camps. In a somewhat similar manner, Protestantism became divided by John Calvin’s creedal teachings vs Jacob Arminius’s creedal teachings. And the majority of Evangelicalism is divided along the opposing creedal systems which were established by the teachings of these two men. This division has resulted in over 40,000 competing denominations and sects, each believing they are right. Commitment to creedal colonies has replaced wholehearted service under the Lordship of Jesus as His beloved bondslave. Perhaps you are among those who is more devoted to your religious system than to unreservedly loving and serving our Lord Jesus and His purposes for your life. The Bible mandates that Jesus be your Lord as He lovingly rules you and guides and empowers your actions by His indwelling Spirit. That's so you and every other born-again follower of Jesus can do your part in the Body as the Spirit has gifted you. But your necessary role in putting these essential biblical truths into practice has been kept from you by the Nicolaitan clergy system in which the most effort is spent in keeping the system running through your attendance and bill-paying. This isn’t the way of Jesus!

For further insight into how Nicolaitanism keeps itself in power, read Chapter 4. Mutated By Vested Interests And Revisionists (page 16) in our online book, Restoring the Early Church.

FYI: Once a creedal-based religious system is established instead of a Christ-centered extended spiritual family based on His personal Lordship and rule of you, it takes on a life of its own. In time leadership is taken over by laggards who won’t allow change of any kind. In many Nicolaitan-led congregations, the laggards in leadership are easily threatened when someone questions them about any of the faith practices. Laggards who lead have the audacity to tell God what they will do for Him — the method of ministry in both Catholicism and Protestantism. But they will not submit to the Headship of Jesus nor will they earnestly seek and act upon the rhema of the Holy Spirit.

After 30 years of sharing the Hebraic foundations we're convinced that if the Reformers had restored older men as shepherd/teachers and the other anointings of apostle, prophet and evangelist, there wouldn't be such division and disunity within Protestantism. And maybe Roman Catholicism would have discontinued its pagan-adapted religious practices and rituals and a religious system of governance that is patterned on the Roman Empire.

The last book we wrote from the notes we came back with from Israel was Pastoring By Elders. In it we determined to reveal to older men and their wives their God-given role of leading and discipling as our Lord’s first followers did. This shepherd/teacher was a spiritual family leader in a fellowship of homes who represented our Father’s compassion and concern for His children. Our heavenly Father is restoring this vital role and ridding His children of the clergy-centered religious system which was adapted from the pagan Greeks and Romans. The biblical shepherd/teacher is being restored because our heavenly Father wants it so. But this is going to happen during a time of deprivation and devastation when people really need the kind of leaders whom Christ purposely gave to shepherd and disciple His people.

Mike & Sue