Mountain Streams

All Things Change, But Jesus Never! was first published October, 1970. Flatlanders was first published March, 1971. Vol. 1, No. 11. 1993, Mountain Streams.

ALL THINGS CHANGE, BUT JESUS NEVER!

By David Brandt Berg

Yesterday, today, forever, Jesus is the same!--All things change, but Jesus never, glory to His name! (See Hebrews 13:8.)

Changes in Man's society always come from the bottom, not the top--changes in economics, politics, or religion, or the Earth--because the top does not want to change; it always wants to be on top. But if they try to seal the pot to preserve the status quo, they cannot, and the pot will explode and destroy itself because of the fire.

There must be this continual change; otherwise there would be total stagnation and corruption, because that which is at the top is the first to ferment, to sour, to rot, and that which is on the bottom is full of dregs, which if allowed to accumulate would solidify and clot the circulatory process. Then that which is on the top would become scum and froth. So, as in the brewing of a good beverage, it must be constantly stirred to prevent the settling of the dregs or the accumulation of scum. To insure the equal distribution of all properties concerned, there must be constant change and constant stirring and constant circulation to prevent stagnation--either by fire or by sword.

This is the principle of society--of the society of human beings, as sure as the laws of physics. God has ordained it that way! It is as sure as the law of gravity--what goes up must come down! And as sure as the law of circulation of liquids and gases, what is down must go up! For every high place shall be made low and the low places shall be made straight, and the mighty shall be abased and the weak shall become great. They which live by the sword shall die by the sword; but the meek shall inherit the Earth. (See Matthew 26:52 and 5:5.)

As sure as the night follows the day, the light follows the darkness. As sure as the sun rises, it must also set. As sure as the rain falls, it must also rise again. As sure as "from dust thou art, to dust thou shalt return!" (See Ecclesiastes 12:7.) There must be a continual birth, life, death, resurrection. The cycle must be completed. The perfect circle of eternity, to complete the Creation of God, of which He is the Designer and the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega. (See Revelation 1:8.)

So, "He that hath begun a good work in you shall complete it to the end" (Philippians 1:6). There must be both "In the Beginning" and "The Last Days", as the Bible terms it. "Fret not thyself therefore because of evil doers" (Psalm 37:1), because their great houses shall become desolate and their palaces shall be laid waste, the grandeur that was Greece shall tumble into ruins, and the glory that was Rome shall fade into oblivion, that He which is Eternal may be made manifest, and the beauty of His Creation and the glory of His power and the eternity of His Love, that He may be all and in all, that God may be glorified.

Society and economics and politics tend to solidify, like the church, if not melted and caused to flux by the white-hot heat of God's judgements--persecution, hardships, suffering--if not stirred over the fire by the sword of His chastisement.

God moves. He is a moving God. He is never still. He is always doing, going, saying, effecting change in every sphere of creation. He is never static, except for Himself: "I am the Lord: I change not" (Malachi 3:6).--And except for His Word: "Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is settled in Heaven" (Psalm 119:89).--And except for the future--His promises to His children: "There remaineth therefore a rest for the children of God" (Hebrews 4:9).

As for all else, "The mountains shall be made low, that which He has exalted shall be abased, and the low places shall be exalted. (See Isaiah 40:4.) He that is of a humble and contrite heart, in due time shall be highly exalted, until time shall be no more, and the Kingdom of our Lord is come, where He that ruleth in righteousness shall judge the Earth and establish everlasting peace, and the Kingdom shall never fall, neither shall it be given unto others." It shall be forever! And we shall rule and reign with Him upon the Earth and He shall rule the nations with a rod of iron--inflexible, unchangeable, eternal--the society of the Kingdom of God. "For the things which are seen are temporal"--for a little while--"but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18).

"Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever; nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it, and God doeth it that men should fear before Him, for God doeth it, that men might fear before Him!" (Ecclesiastes 3:14). Behold, how the mighty hath fallen, and God hath exalted him of low degree! (See Luke 1:52.)

Are you becoming stationary with those seeking to preserve the status quo, to freeze the World into a block of ice? Or are you moving with the white-hot fires of the Spirit of God--burning, melting, moving, molding, flowing, pouring, sharing, in this age of Aquarius--the age of the water of life, the age of the water givers, the age of life sharers?

Are you attempting to freeze, to preserve, to solidify into immoveable ice that means death?--Or are you warm, loving and sharing and wooing and sowing and conceiving with the seed that brings life--new birth, new creatures, and a new World--where "old things are passed away and all things are become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17).

You'd better move now, with the life of God, or you'll be left behind in the death of this World! Karl Marx was right, this World must change in the dialectics of its materialism in which nothing is permanent; of course, Karl Marx was short-sighted and did not foresee the unchangeable eternity of the spiritual World which will never change. "For that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit" (John 3:6), and "flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God" (1 Corinthians 15:50), for "God is a Spirit," eternal, unchangeable in the heavens, and "they which worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him", neither in this place, nor in that mountain, but in the eternal Spirit of God. (See John 4:21-24.)

All things change, but Jesus never!--Glory to His Name!

"Abide with me, fast falls the eventide;

The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide . . .

Change and decay in all around I see;

O, Thou Who changest not, abide with me!"

FLATLANDERS!

By Father David

In this talk we're going to "jump off the deep end" by diving into the realm of the Spirit World!--That mysterious dimension of eternal realities, the living World of Forever rather than the dying World of Now! The everlasting realm of Eternity rather than the temporary space of Time. That fascinating dimension which is largely unseen by us in mortal flesh rather than this mundane plane which is so temporary.

Wherefore the Bible counsels us, to "Set your affection on things Above, [Heaven] not on things on the Earth, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal" (Colossians 3:2). "For by faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter,"--he could have been the king of Egypt--"choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward. By faith, he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king, for he endured as seeing Him Who is invisible" (Hebrews 11:24-27).

All God's children of faith since the beginning of time have been looking for an unseen World, "a city which hath foundations", eternal foundations, "whose Builder and Maker is God. Not having received the promises but having seen them afar off, . . . they confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the Earth that seek a better country, that is, an Heavenly! Wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a City," just such a place, the Heavenly City which will come down from God out of Heaven and dwell with men! (See Hebrews 11:10,13-16; Revelation 21:2,3.)

This is the hope of all ages: that now unseen Eternal World where we shall dwell with Him forever, the Heavenly City described in Revelation Chapters 21 and 22 and mentioned many other places in the Bible. That's what we're all looking forward to; not pie in the sky but Heaven on Earth, a new Heaven and a new Earth with its Eternal City.

But even now, His invisible Heavenly Kingdom is already in operation and existence! It not only surrounds us, but is within us. As Jesus said, "The Kingdom of God is within you . . . for if My Kingdom were of this World, then would My servants fight, but My Kingdom is not of this World." (See Luke 17:21; John 18:36.) In other words, not after the fashion of this World with its earthly, carnal, flesh and blood kingdoms of evil men and evil spirits, but a now invisible Kingdom of His Spirit which is already within us and which "now we see only through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now we only know in part, but then we shall know even as also we are known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).--The amazing realm of the Spirit, the Kingdom of God, where everything is much clearer, more real and everlasting. "For the fashion of this World passeth away, but he that doeth the Will of God abideth forever!" (See Luke 17:21; John 18:36; 1Corinthians 7:31.)

I could hardly begin to describe this Spiritual Kingdom of the Now, much less the Future, for all we know about it is what we read in the Bible, have heard from the testimony of others, and witnessed in our own experience, which is still very limited. But I have told you a few things and it may be that the Lord will permit me to tell you more and try to help you to understand!

To make it very simple, perhaps we could take a very childlike so-called scientific approach with our tiny little finite minds to attempt some comprehension of this almost incomprehensible realm, not the one of the future, but the one in which we are now living--not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, the Fifth Dimension. As you know, science tells us that there are four dimensions comprising the existence of matter: in order to exist, all material objects must have length, breadth, depth, which comprise space, and one more, which is called time. Einstein's theories brought this out very clearly--that time and space are definitely related in his theory of relativity, that nothing can occupy material space without time. It must have time to exist!

I hold in my hand an amazing little postcard, a beautiful underwater scene of God's gorgeous and colourful creation. Now the strange thing about this little postcard is that as I look at it edge-on, I can really only see about two dimensions, length and breadth, and I am in the land of the Flatlander who can only understand his own little World of distance in two directions with no depth whatsoever. He can't see anything else! And as I look at this card edge-on I can't see anything else either, and if I were a Flatlander I would insist that there was no other World beyond my two dimensions, just because I can't see it.

But we are now going to move in a new and strange direction unknown to the Flatlander--the direction of height! We're going to go up into a new World of the Third Dimension! We're now looking down on this little postcard from above, and we find that it's a very amazing World indeed, because this little two-dimensional postcard of the Flatlanders is a very unusual postcard known as a three-dimensional postcard, which when looked at edge-on seems to have only two dimensions, length and breadth, but suddenly when looked at from above, it seems to have an altogether new dimension known as depth, and I actually seem to be able to see into the picture, observing some objects in front of others! A reed is growing in front of a lovely red coral, and fish are swimming in between, and the pebbled bottom fades away into the distance, even beyond my new three-dimensional vision!

So now we have entered a new World, beyond the scope of the poor Flatlander who can only see two directions, if he could exist at all, and we are looking in a new direction which gives height and depth and a whole new beautiful World to explore! "O, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" (Romans 11:33). We have become like a god to the Flatlander, a being entirely beyond his comprehension.

Since we are now above his lowly plane of only two dimensions, we have passed completely out of his sight, because he can neither look up nor down, and unless we condescend to stoop to his lowly level, he cannot see us at all, much less understand our new dimension.

To reach his level at all we have to get on an exact plane with him, completely in tune with his two dimensions in an extremely limited area, for him to even be able to see us. But the moment we vary the slightest fraction out of his limited orbit we are truly "out of sight!"

Isn't this "outta sight!" Our three-dimensional World becomes one of almost unlimited space, so much larger and greater than his, so vast, so deep, and so high that he could not possibly begin to understand it or us. It's simply out of his sphere, out of his depth, of which he has none, and beyond his tiny plane. A whole new World, marvellous and magnificent, that he does not even know exists, simply because he cannot see it, and in which we live and have our being because of the Fourth Dimension, Time.

And although the Flatlander cannot see us unless we stoop momentarily to his narrow plane into his very limited line of vision, we can nearly always see him from almost any direction in or out of his dimension--from above, beneath, or on his own level.

Since our dimension is completely beyond his realm of Flatland science, and his little flat brain has never seen anything else but his own dimension and he doesn't understand it, knows nothing about it, has never seen it, much less ever been there, he simply brushes all such nonsense aside and says that we and our dimension just don't exist!

Even if it were possible to show it to him, it would be so beyond his two dimensional understanding that he would probably be like the farmer, who the first time he saw a giraffe, said, "There just ain't no such thing!" Or just like my kids when they were little and we tried to get them to eat some new food: I remember one saying at about the age of four or five, "But I know I don't like it, Daddy, because I never had any before!"

"The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit, for they are foolishness unto him!" (1 Corinthians 2:14). "There just ain't no such thing", because he never saw it before, and he knows he wouldn't like it, because he never had any before!

The fact of the matter is that the dear little Flatlander, in his pride, since he personally can only operate on one plane, hates to admit that there's anything beyond his level where he hasn't been; and in fact where he cannot go, unless he is given third-dimensional wings and time to explore it.

Poor fellow! How limited his vision, how narrow his realm, how restricted his scope of operation! Since he can't go anywhere else, he just hates to admit that there is anywhere else! And he is particularly furious with anyone else who claims that at some time or other he has been lifted up into that other World by some third-dimensional creature to give him a glimpse of what is beyond his own little domain. Since he never saw it, it doesn't exist! He refuses to acknowledge anything that he cannot see on his own little plane in his two little directions. He is strictly a plane geometrist, and cubic measurements just don't exist for him! "To Hell with the cubist," he says, "let's send them back where they came from!"

O, foolish Flatlander! How can he do this when he doesn't even know where it's at! But just because he doesn't believe in it, that doesn't make it not so!

And so it is even with the "4D" natural cubic man! He's a square-head, a blockhead who refuses to believe that anything else exists, such as a Fifth Dimension, a Spirit World, simply because he's never seen it or been there, and he's furious at anyone who claims they have; because this really puts him down below their level, their Fifth Dimension, the Spirit World, the heavenly, which he says doesn't exist simply because he hasn't seen it or been there.

This is just as stupid as if you were to say, "I don't believe that New York or London exists because I've never seen them or been there! And though you travellers in time and space claim that New York and London do exist because you say you've been out of my realm and visited these cities, seen them with your own eyes, I flatly refuse to believe you because I've never seen them or been there myself!" How ridiculous can you get?

This is just as silly as the natural man who refuses to acknowledge the realm of the Spirit. You can even read him stories about it in God's Word! You can tell him personal experiences of your own visits there and what you have seen in the land of the Fifth Dimension, the World of the wonders of the Spirit, but he will refuse to believe you because he hates to admit you have a vision and a dimension that he hasn't got, a spiritual perception which he lacks--the dimension of Eternity, which his tiny temporal mind cannot grasp, and does not want to grasp because it puts him down on a lower level, and he hates to admit there's anything beyond him! Poor narrow-minded Flatlander! He just can't face it!

But, brother, I want to tell you something! I've not only heard about it, read about it, seen pictures of it in vision, but I've been there, so I know it exists whether you believe it or not! And unless you're willing to admit that I've got something you haven't got and that you'd like to have it, too, and humbly ask for the truth, confess your limitations, and ask the spiritual men to help you find a whole new World, you'll never know the indescribable joys, the beautiful scenes, the gorgeous sounds, and the ecstatic feelings of that marvellous and Heavenly realm!

God in His mercy may even give you personally a glimpse of Heaven through the window of the Spirit, but if you refuse to receive it or believe it and reject it, you'll probably never see it again!

It's that certain something you see in our eyes that you don't understand, that light on our faces you can't comprehend, that almost tangible happy atmosphere that pervades our presence, that you can almost feel but find it hard to believe. You're like a fish out of water, a Flatlander out of flatland, and you either have to receive new life and new vision by the Spirit or you'll die! You'll go back to your natural realm and be as spiritually dead as you were before! Poor fellow! Too bad! You may never know what you missed! Almost!--But lost!

Well, I haven't even begun to tell you about my experiences in this field, and I'll never be able to tell you everything. We're almost to the end of this little message, but just let me give you a few more Biblical examples of the Fifth Dimension: That's the way this whole thing started out, with a Spirit--God! "For God is a Spirit, and they which worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth" (John 4:24). "In the beginning He created the heaven and the Earth, and His Spirit moved upon the face of the waters" (Genesis 1:1,2). This is such a limitless subject, we cannot possibly cover it all here! If you read your Bible, you'll find evidences, stories, and positive declarations of the existence of this Fifth Dimensional Spirit World throughout the whole Book! Some of its immortal characters, having passed on into it through the glorious gate of death, even came back to tell us about it.

Others were lifted up into the realm of the Spirit to get a brief glimpse or vision of it, and many received messages from it. And some of us have been there! It's wonderful, such a happy place, it's "outta this World!" You'll love it!--Why not try it?--What have you got to lose?

"He is no fool who trades what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose!" Have you?

"The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8). If you would like to enter the "Fifth Dimension" that Jesus is referring to here and which is explained in this talk, just receive Jesus into your heart today, by simply praying the following prayer:

Dear Jesus, I want to be a citizen of Your Spiritual Kingdom. Please forgive me for all my sins and come into my heart and give me Your free gift of Eternal Life. Also, please fill me with Your Holy Spirit to empower me to be a witness and tell others of Your Love. Amen.