THE COMMUNITY
by Tony Alamo
In teaching His disciples to pray, Jesus taught, “Our Father which art in Heaven [the kingdom of Heaven is within if you are born again of the Spirit, born again or carried along by the Spirit], hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven” (Matt. 6:9-10).
People, when they receive salvation, ask, “What does God want me to do?” It obviously tells us in this prayer that Jesus is teaching us to pray, that He wants us to be about our Father’s business establishing the kingdom of Heaven here on earth, and that we are to make it every bit the same here on earth as it is in Heaven. Every person and every angel will be together in Heaven with God, but are the born again of the Spirit of God together here on earth? This is an excellent question and most important, because Jesus said in Matthew 12:25, “And Jesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.”
Hardly any born of the Spirit Christians are living a Christian kingdom community life on earth where everyone has everything in common, which is the community life we see in the book of Acts or The Acts of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:42-47, 4:32-35). The entire book shows that the Holy Spirit fills the lives of the apostles with the presence of the Son of God. We start out with the first account Luke wrote in the book of Acts, “all that Jesus began both to do and teach” (Acts 1:1), and throughout the book of Acts, all that Jesus continued to do and teach.
The Holy Spirit was sent down from Heaven.1 Born of the Spirit Christians are the mystical body of Christ. This body is not one member, but many.2 The body of Christ is composed of many people, so the church of the true born-again Christians cannot be divided in doctrine or spirit. We must be together (one body). If not, we will be divided. Jesus said, “If a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand” (Mark 3:24).
If we refuse to keep the first commandment, what good would it do if we kept the others? “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” (James 2:10). The first and most important is this. When a scribe asked Jesus, “Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31). These commandments are impossible to keep unless we give up our old life—everything—to give God ALL of ourselves “undivided.” This is giving us true illumination. The inspired Word commands “ALL.”3 Jesus, who is God, commands “ALL” (Matt. 22:37-38). The kingdom of Heaven is at hand when the entire Godhead lives in our hearts and we live the book of Acts life communally, as all Israel did with Moses for 40 years, as Joshua did for 40 years, and the apostles, and as our church has done for over 44 years. In these terrible times we must be as one body. Jesus said so.
When the 120 born-again Christians were together in the upper room, they received the power from on high, “the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.” We need that power in these last days of major tribulation. Jesus said, “But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8).4 “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from Heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance” (Acts 2:1-4). They were all together, not divided—then God moved for them, giving them ALL POWER.
Today the devil knows how much better it is for Christians to be together and not divided. As you see in the press, he is doing everything in his power to divide the church of the strongest Christians. We were warned of these times. We have been told to prepare our hearts for sorrow5 and “Be strong and of a good courage: for unto this people shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land, which I sware unto their fathers to give them” (Joshua 1:6). “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that believed were together and had all things common [community living, the best living in the world, where people help and support one another]; And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart, Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:42-47).6
These scriptures show that when the Godhead is living within, “The kingdom of Heaven is at hand” (Matt. 4:17), and if they are a community, with all things in common, the kingdom of Heaven is established on earth as it is in Heaven (Matt. 6:10). If you’re opposed to this kingdom way of living, you are divided from the brothers and sisters and cannot enter Heaven. Heaven must be first entered here on earth.
People living in the kingdom of Heaven community here on earth have all things provided for them, so that they need “take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles [the unsaved and those without knowledge] seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye FIRST the kingdom of God, and His righteousness [God’s commandments]; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof” (Matt. 6:31-34).
Remember, if you don’t follow these rules (the kingdom of God life here on earth), you separate yourself out of the heavenly life too.
Start out now by accepting the kingdom of Heaven in your heart. When the Pharisees asked Jesus when the kingdom of God should come, He answered them and said, “The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: ...for, behold, [in other words look, you can see it in operation like you see it in Me in operation] the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20-21). Get the kingdom of God now. Say this prayer:
Prayer
My Lord and my God, have mercy upon my soul, a sinner. 1 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of the Living God. 2 I believe that He died on the cross and shed His precious blood for the forgiveness of all my sins. 3 I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit 4 and that He sits on the right hand of God at this moment, hearing my confession of sin and this prayer. 5 I open up the door of my heart and I invite You into my heart, Lord Jesus. 6 Wash all of my filthy sins away in the precious blood that You shed in my place on the cross at Calvary. 7 You will not turn me away, Lord Jesus, You will forgive my sins and save my soul. I know because Your Word, the Bible says so. 8 Your Word says that You will turn no one away, and that includes me. 9 Therefore, I know that You have heard me, and I know that You have answered me, and I know that I am saved. 10 And I thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving my soul, and I will show my thankfulness by doing as You command and sin no more. 11
You've just completed the first step in a series of five steps which are necessary to receive salvation. Your second step is to deny yourself and take up the cross daily for the purpose of mortifying yourself, that is, for putting to death your own will, your soulful self, and the world with all of its lusts. All these must be baptized into the death of Christ.
Step three is your resurrection from the satanic life of Adam unto the sinless life of Christ. Step four is your ascension into a position of authority to reign for God on earth, and the fifth step is to reign for God on earth to the end for the purpose of bringing about the kingdom of Heaven on earth. You must learn the Word of God, then submit yourself and do what the Word says, so that the Church and the world may see evidence of your submission to God's Word, His order, and His authority in and by you.
Praise the Lord. May God reward you abundantly.
Pastor Tony Alamo
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The Community footnotes:
1 John 14:15-20, 26, 15:26, 16:7 return
2 Rom. 12:4-8, I Cor. 12:12-14, 27-28 return
3 Deut. 6:5-9, 10:12-13, 26:16, Josh. 22:5 return
5 Matt. 24:3-8, John 16:20-22, II Cor. 6:4-10 return
Prayer footnotes:
1. Psa. 51:5, Rom. 3:10-12, 23 return
2. Matt. 26:63-64, 27:54, Luke 1:30-33, John 9:35-37, Rom. 1:3-4 return
3. Acts 4:12, 20:28, Rom. 3:25, I John 1:7, Rev. 5:9 return
4. Psa. 16:9-10, Matt. 28:5-7, Mark 16:9, 12, 14, John 2:19, 21, 10:17-18, 11:25, Acts 2:24, 3:15, Rom. 8:11, I Cor. 15:3-7 return
5. Luke 22:69, Acts 2:25-36, Heb. 10:12-13 return
6. I Cor. 3:16, Rev. 3:20 return
7. Eph. 2:13-22, Heb. 9:22, 13:12, 20-21, I John 1:7, Rev. 1:5, 7:14 return
8. Matt. 26:28, Acts 2:21, 4:12, Eph. 1:7, Col. 1:14 return
9. Matt. 21:22, John 6:35, 37-40, Rom. 10:13 return
10. Heb. 11:6 return
11. John 5:14, 8:11, Rom. 6:4, I Cor. 15:10, Rev. 7:14, 22:14 return