i. e. let possession, property, the argument `we must live' weigh with you.

Look at the attitude of Moses - `not an hoof' (Exod. 10:26), and think of the attitude of Paul - `not for an hour'

(Gal. 2:5). ALL was necessary `to serve God' - the flocks and herds, the little ones, the three days journey - and if

Moses had faltered over one temptation, words fail to record the possible consequences.

It is impossible I believe for any believer to miss the solemn lesson here.

has his successors today;

would God Moses had as many too.

The dispensation of the Mystery cannot co-exist with a New Covenant which was made with the house of Israel

and the house of Judah with their earthly hope and destiny. This necessarily means that to stand in a pulpit and

preach the MYSTERY, and then partake of the Memorial feast of the New Covenant is to straddle the fence, and

stultify one's teaching. What such an attitude must do to the conscience of one who thus acts we must leave with

the Lord.

The apostle Paul has told us what our attitude should be to the temptation to `soft-pedal' this or that doctrine or

`We are not as many, which corrupt the word' (2 Cor. 2:17).

The word here translated `corrupt' means to `hucksterise', to adulterate wine as a taverner did, and is translated

`mix with water' in Isaiah 1:22.

James tells us that he who hears the Word, but is not a doer `reasons himself on one side' paralogizomai (Jas.

1:6,8,22 literally).

Two arguments have been put forward as a justification for remaining in a denomination. (1) ALL believers

today, willy-nilly, are members of the Body of Christ so the minister may as well stay where he is. (2) The other

arises out of the failure to see the dispensational place of the Gospel of John.

The words written in Galatians 2:7-9 show that two very distinct ministries could and did run together, and the

following items suggest most clearly that John's Gospel has a place now.

In the parable of Matthew 22:1-10 we have the following sequences:

(a) The original preaching of the earthly Kingdom (1-3).

(b) The repeated preaching at Pentecost (4-6).

(c) The consequence A.D. 70 (7).

(d) Yet after the destruction of Jerusalem, and after Acts 28, the command was given `Go ye ... into the

highways' (9).

John's Gospel, written according to tradition in John's extreme old age, appears to have been penned in the

shadow of Paul's later ministry.

John could not have primarily had a Jewish reader in mind, for no Jew needed the words `Rabbi', `Rabboni', or

`Messiah' interpreted (John 1:38,41 and 20:16). Neither was it necessary to tell a Jew that the Passover was a `feast

of the Jews' (John 6:4). John's parish was THE WORLD, and his great message was `life'. No distinct calling is

indicated. The vast majority of Christians today are `John 3:16 believers'. This is blessed indeed, but such belief

does not make one a member of the Body of Christ by itself.

It has been suggested that as every believer today must be a member of the church which is the Body of Christ

whether he knows it or not, that this justifies a minister who sees the truth of the Mystery continuing his

denominational connexion.

We have no access to the Book of God's election, we can only deal with evidence. So Paul `knew' the election

of the Thessalonians by their `faith' (1 Thess. 1:4,5), and the epistles to Ephesians and Colossians were not only

addressed to `Saints' but to `Faithful'. Such were sealed, but only `upon believing' - not otherwise.

I cannot help thinking that many ministerial brethren stop short at Acts 13 because it permits the early church

position of 1 Corinthians with the `ordinances' to be retained. All this sounds very comfortable, but it savours a

little of the spirit that prompted the words: