SONSHIP 22 THE REAPERS

THE REAPERS
--adapted from DAY OF ATONEMENT--PROCLAIM LIBERTY

"And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat LIKE UNTO THE SON OF MAN, having on his head a golden crown, and in his
hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, 'Thrust in thy sickle, and reap; for THE TIME IS COME for thee to reap; for the HARVEST OF THE ARTH is ripe'. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped." Rev 14:14-16

HAVE you ever thought about the nature of the reaping? I have, many times. May I share with you here a few of my "thoughts"?

IN St. John 4 Jesus identified the work of the Reapers. It was to gather souls to Salvation through Him. He told His disciples that there was plenty of work to be done even at that time.

LATER, He told them that the "Harvest" was at the end of the world. Much, but not all, of what He told His followers was directed to that period of time He referred to as the "Harvest".

IF you will take the time to read the tenth chapter of Matthew, with this thought in mind, you may discover, as I did, that Jesus was ENACTING A PROPHESY of the Harvest Time when He gave His disciples power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease. He told them to preach as they went, saying that the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand. As they preached, they were also to heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils.

HE told them, "I have given this power (authority) to you without limitations (freely), now you go out and dispense it without regard for man or devils."

NOTHING could stand before them, because they had been given unlimited authority over all satanic activity.

HE promised to supply EVERY NEED THEY HAD: that they were not to bother themselves about ANYTHING pertaining to their physical or monetary
needs. Later, He asked them if they had suffered any lack when He had sent them out in this manner. They confessed that they had not. This arrangement only lasted long enough for it to be established for the record that Jesus WAS and IS ABLE TO DO THIS SORT OF THING for, and I and through human beings. It was never intended to be a permanent arrangement at that time, for it was NOT YET HARVEST TIME.

HE also cautioned them about the dangers of the Mission on which He was sending them. They were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

THERE will be no place in the Harvest for men and women who are self-seeking, and vindictive in their nature. They must be "Wise as serpents and HARMLESS AS DOVES." And they CAN BE when they have received the "Harvest-time Anointing" from Jesus on the Day of Atonement. Let me hasten to say, however, that this Anointing will never be given to anyone who has not engaged in a life-and-death type of struggle with their carnal tendencies. We want to get "even" with those who have done us wrong, or to play favorites in our dealings with other human beings. This Anointing is for those who have pressed their way as close to the Tabernacle Gate as they can get, without horning other people in the process.

WE SHUDDER when we behold some of the carnal maneuvering and manipulation employed by some Christians and Leaders today.

THE COMBINATION of preaching the "Everlasting Gospel", with the miracles of Deliverance, will be the essence of "Thrusting in the Sickle".

THE ACCOUNT in Rev 14 states that "The earth was reaped". No maybe so, no hope so, not possibly so, but THE EARTH WAS REAPED.

WHY should it be such a staggering effort to believe that God is capable of drawing almost one whole generation of humanity into the Kingdom? We have not staggered at believing that He is able to change humans from mortals to immortals in the twinkling of an eye, and to bring back from the graves all the believers from every generation, in one swoop. Our belief in the catching away has been drilled into us since childhood. However, we HAVE NOT BEEN TAUGHT to believe that God is planning to use mortal human beings to reap a Harvest for Him. Why?

I believe that part of the reason has been our childish desire for "Goodies from God", and a carnal, childish shrinking back from the personal refinement which God will require from the candidates for this "Choosing" of the Reapers.

We all love the promises which require little effort on our part to lay claim to them, so we gravitate that direction. Our teachers have helped us along in this line of thinking, in that they have had a desire to tell us something that would make us feel good.

Teachers and Leaders have been fully as human as the rest of us, and endowed with the same spirit of self-preservation and gain. If they tell us what we love to hear, and what makes us feel good, they have a following, and an income. Those who tell us what is not so pleasant to the ears and the emotions, usually stand more-or-less by themselves, and at their own expense.

WE have been just as much at fault as the leaders, in that we have wanted to hear the smooth things, instead of those things which would put a load on our shoulders.

AND let me interject right here, that my memories of the harvest fields of Southwestern Idaho in the 1930s still sort of make me itch and sweat. IT WAS ANYTHING BUT FUN.

JESUS said, "The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, BECAUSE HE HATH ANOINTED ME."

JESUS went about doing good--healing all that were oppressed in any way. It was His ANOINTING that made it possible for Him to do it. It was the ANOINTING that made Him WANT TO DO IT.

THE REAPERS will experience the same type of anointing that Jesus did. They will feel the same type of compassion that Jesus felt. They will produce the same results that Jesus was able to produce, because of the similar anointing. Great multitudes followed, and listened to Jesus because of the mighty miracles which He performed. Their lives were touched as they had never been touched before. He spoke with an authority they had not seen before.

JESUS told His disciples to speak in the light what He told them in darkness, for nothing could remain covered, but would be revealed for everyone to see.

THE REAPERS will receive continual instructions from the Holy Spirit in the same manner that Jesus did in His earthly Ministry. Jesus could only be in one place at a time. That is why I would rather live today than when He was on earth. With my luck, I would have been somewhere that He was not, most of the time. Even so, He, being only one, set the world aflame with His Ministry.

THE BIBLE tells us that God plans to fill "Babylon" with men, as Grasshoppers, and that they will "Shout" against her.

TRY to imagine, if you will, what sort of an impact this world is going to feel when "men as grasshoppers" go forth among human beings with the same type of Ministry that Jesus had. Joel 2 tells us that NOTHING SHALL ESCAPE THEM. Their Ministry will be virtually irresistable.

WHEN the masses of humanity start turning to God, away from sin and shame, Babylon will begin to feel the pinch. Certain kinds of merchandise will not have any more buyers.

JESUS became very unpopular with the Religious Department of Babylon when His teachings and actions pulled the covers off of their errant ways. JESUS warned that the Reapers would encounter the same type of opposition from the same Department of Religion in the last days. They would also draw fire from the Economic and Military Departments. For, you see, the reaping of the world for Jesus is the ESSENCE OF THE OVERTHROWING OF BABYLON.

As with animal life, so with organizational life, the struggles of death are often quite violent.

BABYLON is in control of Military power, Economic power, Political power, and MOST OF ECCLESIASTIC power. As the hour of death approaches, she will not hesitate to use EVERY BIT OF THE POWER SHE POSSESSES against those humans who are CAUSING HER THE PAIN.

BUT GOD is more than a match for the "Merchants of Souls", and will protect His Reapers until the short Harvest is completed.

REAPING will not be a "joy ride" in any sense of the word. It will be wearying work. But the labourer is worth of his hire.