Sunday, December 27, 2015

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: 40 YEARS BELOW ZERO, Part 1


Another Coffee Break:
40 Years Below Zero, Part 1

November 27, 2015

Some eight years ago or so, I published a series of Coffee Breaks with this same title.  This is the story of a move of God that took place in the arctic under the administration and obedience of my father and mother spanning some 40-plus years.  That move of God rivaled anything you read about in the book of Acts.  The miracles that unfolded still astound me even to this day.  Although I wrote under this title back in 2006 and 2007, I felt to at least reprise the title even though the story will be expanded rather significantly beyond what was originally written.

Some of this story will begin roughly a hundred years ago, but much of it unfold as a first-hand witness to the events recorded.  I am both a product of the events that took place and the beneficiary thereof.  I grew up in the midst of these miracles and watched my Dad walk out faith in shoeleather in a way that very few people ever get to experience.  My hope and desire in sharing this story over the next two or three months or so is that it will become an encouragement and a prick to those who may be facing some of obstacles that Alvin and Lillian Lorraine Capener overcame.
All of us have fathers in the natural or biological sense, and if we've come to know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Shepherd, we also have spiritual fathers.  Those are the ones who guide us in the early stages of our walk with the Lord.  They're the ones who encourage us, teach us to walk by faith, set the example for us, and establish a pattern for our future growth.
The apostle Paul wrote in I Corinthians 4:15-16, "For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.  Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me."
                Alvin Capener (1984)                        Howard & Carolyn Capener (front); Avis, Everett, Alvin & Dorothy (rear)
Dad was both father and instructor in my life.  He was my natural father, but he was my spiritual father as well.  His walk with God, his integrity in the Lord and in the world, his faith put to the test on a continual basis and proven in a practical day-by-day manner all served to provide me with a heritage that has served as a personal anchor, and one that I've sought to pass on to my children and grandchildren.

Born into a family with a long consecutive lineage of ministry, Alvin E. Capener was born on September 22, 1915 in the farming community of Erie, North Dakota.  Situated about 45 miles as the crow flies from the booming metropolis of Fargo, it was more like a good half-day's ride along dirt roads by horse and wagon that hardly navigated by straight lines (you couldn't very well ride through your neighbor's corn field or wheat) -- or, if you were the adventurous cowboy-type, you might make it in two-and-a-half or three hours flying by horseback.

His father, Howard H. Capener, was both a farmer and Methodist preacher.  With a family of four children (Alvin was next to the youngest), life on the Dakota plains was both adventurous and just plain tough!  Every member of the family -- from the time the children were old enough to saddle horses, milk cows, hitch wagons and plows -- learned a work ethic and hard discipline.

"Brush Arbor" camp meetings were commonplace in those days, and it was at one of those camp meetings where young Alvin made his own personal commitment to Jesus Christ.  At age six, he contracted double pneumonia.  Medical care was problematic at best on the plains, and after several weeks of fighting for breath, Alvin succumbed.  When he died, his body was carried out to the barn and put on a pile of hay to await the arrival of a nurse or doctor who could certify his death.  Naturally, word had to be sent into Fargo by horseback in order to get medical personnel, so it would be at least the better part of a day before someone could get there.

Carolyn Capener, however, was not content to lose her youngest son.  She'd already lost one child some years before, and something rose up inside her that just said, NOOOO!!!!  She went into the bedroom, closed the door, pulled the shades over the windows and knelt down beside her bed.  There she stayed for hours crying out to the Lord.  Finally, something broke in her spirit.  She prayed, "Father, if you'll raise my son back to life, I'll give him to you for the ministry."

Before too long, a peace swept over her being, and she knew God had heard her and answered.  She rose to her feet, opened the window shades and headed out of the house towards the barn.  As she walked toward the barn, a horse and buggy came driving up with the nurse from Fargo.  The nurse joined her and they headed to the barn.

The color was beginning to return to Alvin's face, and he was showing signs of life.  The rigor mortis had vanished, and as they stood next to his body, his eyes opened and he looked up at them.  He was both alive and completely healed of the pneumonia.  By the following morning, he was about his farm chores and out playing again like any normal six-year-old.

When asked about the experience in later years, Alvin was reluctant to talk much about it and dismissed the whole experience as "of no great consequence."  Even then, Alvin Capener was the master of understatement.  It was a hallmark of his entire life.  Yet whatever happened and whatever he saw or experienced during those hours his body lay lifeless on that pile of hay impacted him for the remainder of his life.

It was some three years later -- at age nine -- that he responded to the call of the Holy Spirit in his life in one of those Methodist Brush Arbor meetings, and told the Lord he'd go wherever, and do whatever the Lord told him.

Despite the fact that he was like any normal boy or young man during his young years, and enjoyed the outdoors with his brother and sisters, they often spoke of him as "serious."  It wasn't that he wasn't fun-loving -- he was -- but it was like the wheels were turning inside him constantly.  He was focused, often intense.  Through the years, his relationship with Jesus Christ grew and developed and matured into something that began to set him apart from the rest of his friends and family; and when he was nineteen years of age -- again in one of those Methodist camp meetings -- he heard the audible voice of God speaking to him.

"I want you to go to Alaska for me," he heard the voice of the Lord say.  He knew next to nothing about Alaska or the far north, and most of it was shrouded in myth and mystery.  (I have copies of some of his first letters sent to the family from Nome, Alaska in 1944 and 1945 in which he tells the family, "people do not live in igloos here.")

The Capener family had always been a very close and tight-knit family, and the thought of one of the family members moving so far away (to a foreign land!) took a little getting used to.  Howard Capener, who had pretty much been dis-fellowshipped by his church after he'd been baptized in the Holy Spirit and began to speak in tongues, was filled with mixed feelings, but was certain Alvin had heard from God.  It didn't take long for a very visible witness and proof of God's call to manifest itself in a way the whole family would never forget.

Working out in a cornfield one afternoon, helping one of the neighbors gather in the corn harvest, Alvin was meditating on that audible call of the Lord and thinking to himself, A burning bush experience like Moses had would sure confirm that call!  Wonder what it was like for Moses to see a bush that burned with a fire that didn't consume it?

Scarcely had the thought passed his mind when he turned to see a single shock of corn on fire.  It startled him, and his first instinct was to run towards the shock of corn to put out the fire.  He suddenly realized that God had answered his very thought in a personal and extraordinarily unique way.  The fire that was burning that single shock of corn was not traveling; it wasn't catching any of the other cornstalks on fire, and it wasn't consuming the corn.

Everything inside him responded instantly to the Holy Spirit.  OK, Lord!  You've proven your Word.  But it wasn't his spirit that reacted to the situation: it was his flesh.  The farmer whose cornfield he was working in wasn't too far away and his natural reaction was to run for the cornstalk to put out the fire lest the farmer think he'd accidentally set the field on fire.  He grabbed hold of the cornstalk and shook it.  The fire vanished, but he'd never forget it.  More than 45 years later when sharing the event with Alaska's (former) Lieutenant Governor, Red Boucher, in our home in Anchorage the details of the incident were as clear as though they had just happened.

Howard Capener, Alvin's father, was simultaneously overjoyed, amused and yet (if that's possible at the same time!) stunned when he learned of this confirmation.  They began talking about the need for Alvin to prepare for public ministry.  Alvin's older brother, Everett, had already decided to enroll at Central Bible Institute in Springfield, Missouri, and it seemed appropriate for both brothers -- age difference notwithstanding -- to head off to Bible College together.

Alvin expected to have to find work to pay for his college tuition since he had not had time to earn the necessary funds, but on the day of their departure for CBI, Howard reached into his pocket and pulled out $50.  "The Lord told me to give this to our Alaskan missionary," he said.  Everett, being seven years older, had already saved up money for college, and he was ready.

(You'll appreciate that in 1935, $50 was a LOT of money, so this was no small gift!)  It was more than enough to pay the beginning tuition and the cost of a dorm room at the college.  Four years later, the two brothers headed off towards the west coast after graduation.  Alvin's thought was that, At least this gets me closer to Alaska.  This is my first positive step in that direction.

The two brothers' cross-country trek saw them wind up in southwest Washington in the logging and fishing area of Ilwaco, Naselle, Long Beach and Raymond.  Both brothers played accordion and guitar, and they began to evangelize together.  It wasn't long, however, before the fact of their divergent visions caused them to go separate ways.  Everett wasn't called to go to Alaska, and Alvin wasn't really called to evangelistic ministry.

Everett settled in the Chehalis area where he ministered for awhile.  He'd always had an interest in public life and decided to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.  His political efforts were short-lived after a narrow loss in the election, and before long he found himself in the military.  A 30+ year career in the Air Force finishing up as Commanding Officer of the Strategic Air Command in Spain seemed a pretty radical departure for one who prepared for the ministry, and yet Everett spent most of his latter years in ministry, both in Arizona and in Washington state.

Alvin, on the other hand found himself drawn to the fishing community of Ilwaco.  Ilwaco is situated on the mouth of the Columbia River.  In the late 1930's and early 1940's, Ilwaco was heavily populated by Finnish immigrants -- most of whom spoke and conversed in fluent Finnish.  Beginning a church and establishing a ministry in a community of folks whose language was foreign was more than a small challenge.

A chance (?) meeting at an event where Lillian Lorraine Lehtosaari was speaking and sharing her testimony changed everything.  Alvin was ministering evangelistically with a fellow-Bible School graduate by the name of Magnus Udd (who later went on to become a missionary to Africa).  He didn't accompany Alvin on this particular day, and when Alvin came back to the house he and Magnus were sharing, he said, "Magnus, I met my wife today."

For a guy who was so serious, so focused, and sooo laid back in his mannerisms, this was an astonishing thing!  Nevertheless, within a matter of months, Alvin and Lorraine (he always called her by her middle name) were married.  Lorraine had grown up in Alaska, the daughter of a first generation immigrant from Finland, Frederich Lehtosaari.  Finnish was the language of her home, and she spoke it fluently.  Her ability to communicate easily in Finnish made her a natural fit for the ministry in Ilwaco and the church began to make real progress.

One thing about growing up in the Capener family, you learned to become a jack -- and master -- of all trades.  That was fairly true of many pioneers and farmers in the 1700's and 1800's.  The Capener family was no exception.  Great-great Grandfather, John Capener, who had migrated from England in 1836, was a musician, a pastor, a ship-builder, a violin-maker, a carpenter -- and a whole lot of other things.  His son, Alfred (who was Howard's father), may not have been a pastor per se (though he was involved in ministry), or a ship-builder, but he pretty much carried on the family traditions as a master of many trades.  Howard, likewise, was a carpenter, an electrician of sorts (electricity was pretty primitive during the years he had anything to do with it), a farmer, a dairyman, a preacher -- and a lot of other things.

The family tradition continued on with Alvin.  He became carpenter, cabinet-maker, plumber, electrician, auto-mechanic, banker, radio-communications expert, and a bazillion other things (and if you were going to be a pioneer missionary in the arctic, these were all helpful requisites).  When the opportunity came about, therefore, to build a church in Ilwaco, Alvin became a draftsman as well, designing to the last stick of lumber the new church building.

Southwest Washington state has long been noted for its logging industry, and in the relatively short period of time that Alvin had been a Washington-state resident, he had befriended (and even won to the Lord) the owners of some lumber-mills.  They made available nearly all of the necessary building supplies, and for less than $1500, he built a church and parsonage in Ilwaco.

By the spring of 1944, the ministry was well established in Ilwaco.  Alvin went to Lorraine and said, "I believe that this is the year we are to go to Alaska.  I want us to plan for an October departure.  However, we still have a thousand dollars left to pay off on this church building, and I won't leave with that debt outstanding.  It will take $5,000 to move the family to Alaska and ship the materials to Nome so we can build a new church and parsonage there."

Six thousand dollars!  He might as well have been asking for the moon.  Both my brother and I had been born by this time.  I was two years old and my brother a babe in arms.  The family was living on perhaps $50 a month – sometimes $150 in a good month!  How do you raise that kind of money -- probably equal to around $6 Million today by comparison -- in six months?

And that, folks, is where we have to stop for today.  We will pick up this narrative next week.

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Our call-in number has changed to (712) 775-7035.  The new Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.  If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944

All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.

If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to:
Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.

CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: MATHEMATICAL METAPHORS, Part 3


Another Coffee Break:
Mathematical Metaphors, Part 3

November 20, 2015

OK.  Thought I was going to finish up this thing on math last week, but I can't help it.  I get started with this stuff and can't stop.  I love the parallels in Scripture.  Math and mathematical principles abound in the Word of God.  God is very precise in everything that He does, and we govern our lives according to that precision.

Math was always one of my favorite subjects in school.  From the time I was in grade school, junior high, high school/college (you remember that I never attended a regular high school – I went straight from 8th grade into classes with the University of Nebraska), math was one of my easiest and most fun subjects.  It just came easy.  Guess it's one of those gifts the Lord gave me from my youth up.  Remembering mathematical formulas was always a piece of cake.  Just kind of goes along with engineering, too, if you know what I mean – hence my near-lifelong involvement in broadcasting engineering and electronics.

Anyway, one of the things they teach you in math is that the laws of physics dictate reciprocals.  A reciprocal is always the exact, polar opposite of whatever number or numerical equation.  Kind of goes like this: the reciprocal of 2/3 is 3/2.  The reciprocal of 27/32 is 32/27.  The reciprocal of ½ is 2/1 – and so forth.

An example of a reciprocal formula goes like this:  T050563A

The reciprocal of north is south.  The reciprocal of east is west – and vice-versa.  If you have a positive or a plus, the reciprocal is a negative, or a minus.  That’s a bit over-generalizing, but you get the idea.

Reciprocals, however, are not just laws of mathematics.  They are not simply laws of physics.

Reciprocals are laws of nature. 

Reciprocals are also laws of the spirit.  Let me illustrate.

In his epistle to the Ekklesias in Rome, Paul writes, There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”  (Romans 8:1-2)

See the reciprocal?  The positive is “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”  The negative, or reciprocal, is “the law of sin and death.”  We can come back to this in a minute, but let’s look at some others.

In John’s first general epistle to the body of Christ (I John 4:18), he writes, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

There’s a perfect example of spiritual reciprocals: love and fear.  We usually think of love and hate as being reciprocals, or opposites, but the truth is that hate comes out of fear.  Hatred is a byproduct of fear.  The true reciprocal to love is actually fear.

There’s another aspect to this picture of love and fear also.

The apostle Paul amplifies this while talking about another spiritual reciprocal: circumcision and uncircumcision.  In Galatians 5:6 we read, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”

I have frequently referred to faith and fear as working in the same realm – as being opposites of the same thing; and here’s where it comes from.  Faith and love are inseparable.  They work together.  Faith works by love; and love works by and through faith.  Think about it for a second.

Take away love and faith is non-existent.  Without love, there is no motivator, no force and means by which faith can function.  It is our love of the Lord by which faith functions.

Applying that rule to the faith/fear picture, we look once again at what John wrote, and this time, let me give you my translation from the Greek: “There is no fear or terror in love, but perfected, completed and mature love casts out fear or terror; because fear with alarm and terror inflicts punishment and torment.  He who is tormented and afflicted with fright and alarm cannot be made whole and complete in love.”

Now, let’s go back to the two primary laws of the Spirit.  The first law, as we’ve already said, is There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Simply stated, that law is described as the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.  It is absolute, and it is unequivocal.  One cannot enjoy a condemnation-free life unless they walk after the Spirit.

The reciprocal and polar opposite law is described by the apostle Paul as the Law of Sin and Death.  This law was implemented when Adam and Eve ate of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  The Law of Sin and Death was the natural consequence.

Because this law is final in its effects and consequences, and the human race as a whole has been infected by the knowledge virus which brings sin and death, there is no deliverance in the natural realm from the consequences of this law.  The tragedy is that this law need not ever have been put into force. 

Had Adam and Eve never eaten of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, their seed would never have inherited the sinful arrogance and pride that comes from eating of the knowledge of good; and their children would never have known the contrast of evil with good, they would never have been infected by the Fear of Evil, and there would never have been a reciprocal in operation for the Law of the Spirit of Life. 

The parallel to the Law of the Spirit of Life is the Law of Love.  Jesus made the following command to believers, “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”  We’ll come back to this law momentarily.

Based on this commandment, the apostle Paul expands on the differences between the Law of the Spirit of Life, and the Law of Sin and Death.

First of all, he says (Galatians 5:17), “For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

In so saying, he makes clear the fact that one cannot serve the desires of the flesh, walk after the Law of Sin and Death, and still walk after the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

He continues, “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.”

Then he illustrates the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus by saying, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Notice that the very first item that comes from walking after the Law of the Spirit of Life is love.  Once again, it is clear that the parallel to this primary law is love.

I won’t take the time today to rehearse the 13th chapter of I Corinthians (known as the “love chapter”) but the evidence of the Law of Love working in you IS the fruit of the Spirit, among which also we find faith.  If the first evidence of our walk after the Spirit of Life is love, it follows that faith must also be operational.  This brings us back to one of our first pictures of a spiritual reciprocal: faith and fear.

Faith and fear are polar opposites.  One cannot have faith and be afraid of anything.  It is simply incompatible.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of God.  Once you’ve heard that Word and it is lodged in your mind, your heart and your spirit, it becomes evidentiary.  Once you have faith, you begin to talk faith.  It comes out of our mouth as a creative force.  You expect God’s Word to be fulfilled.  After all, He has NEVER said anything He didn’t fulfill or accomplish.  And you act on that Word with that expectation.

Fear is faith in reverse.  With fear, you believe that something evil is going to happen.  Once you believe it, you speak it.  Once you speak it, you begin to take action to prevent or deal with the expected impending evil, despite the fact that fear is only imaginary evil.  What’s worse, the voice of fear in your spirit is lying to you and speaking something that is directly contradictory to the Word of God.

Let me illustrate.

In Psalm 91, David wrote, “Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night; nor for the arrow that flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the destruction that wasteth at noonday.  A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.  Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked.  Because thou hast made the LORD, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.  For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.”

How much clearer do you want things?  “There shall NO evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”

It is unequivocal and uncompromising.  There are no “ifs,” “buts” or “maybes.”  David describes the condition under which this Truth is operational when he says, “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.”

Then he writes, “Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation, there shall no evil befall thee…..”

Finally, he says, “Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him.”

Here’s the best one of all: “With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation.”

So much for insurance policies!  Insurance policies are all taken out in fear of what might happen.  If we live our lives on the basis of what the Lord says will happen, there can be no “what if,” or “suppose.”  The Word of God is clear, unambiguous and unequivocal.

Faith says that God never lies.  Faith says that God’s Word is Truth.  Faith says, “If God says it, I believe it; and that settles it!”  Faith takes positive action and steps to follow after the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus.

Fear, on the other hand, says, “Hath God said?”  Fear takes portions of Scripture out of context and twists them so as to cause doubt and unbelief.  Suppose Jesus had listened to Satan quoting the 91st Psalm when he tempted Jesus to jump off the pinnacle of the Temple because “He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone”?  It would have been to dare God’s Word.  It would have amounted to nothing less than an expression of doubt and unbelief that God’s Word was true.

I don’t want to go there today because it’s another long discussion, but one of my pet gripes against some would-be Christians is the great lengths to which they go to prepare for the “Great Tribulation.”  I refer to them as “would-be” because they live their lives in fear of doom and gloom instead of living their lives in absolute faith and trust in the Word of God.  They live their lives looking for the end rather than a continuing life enveloped in Christ Jesus.

I don't want to beat people up who've been stuck with a "Tribulation" mentality.  They just haven't received the revelation that Heaven is NOT our objective.  Heaven isn't even our final dwelling place.  Heaven is only a stopover for Eternity.  JESUS is our objective!  He MUST be our only objective!

As John closes out the book of Revelation, he says, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

In so saying, he places the fearful and unbelieving in the same category as murderers and whoremongers (the sexually promiscuous).  John makes it clear that those who live their lives in fear cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.

Faith and Fear.  Love and Fear.  Believing and Unbelieving.  Circumcision and Uncircumcision.  (That’s a metaphoric way of describing those who either live by the Law [of Moses], or those who live by the Law of Faith in Christ Jesus.)  The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus vs. the Law of Sin and Death.

These are spiritual laws.  They are spiritual reciprocals.  What are you choosing?

I've quoted him before and I'll quote him again -- my lifetime friend and brother in the Lord, Dwain McKenzie, "Things are not what they seem to be, they’re what God says they are!"

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Our call-in number has changed to (712) 775-7035.  The new Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.  If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944

All Coffee Break articles are copyright by Regner A. Capener, but authorization for reprinting, reposting, copying or re-use, in whole or in part, is granted –provided proper attribution and this notice are included intact. Older Coffee Break archives are available at http://www.RegnersMorningCoffee.com. Coffee Break articles are normally published weekly.

If you would like to have these articles arrive each morning in your email, please send a blank email to:
Subscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.To remove yourself from the mailing list, please send a blank email to Unsubscribe@AnotherCoffeeBreak.com.

CAPENER MINISTRIES is a tax-exempt church ministry. Should you desire to participate and covenant with us as partners in this ministry, please contact us at either of the above email or physical addresses, or visit: http://www.RiverWorshipCenter.org.

ANOTHER COFFEE BREAK: MATHEMATICAL METAPHORS, Part 2


Another Coffee Break:
Mathematical Metaphors, Part 2

November 13, 2015

Continuing where we left off last week, we consider the number 12 in the picture of the Bride of Christ -- the number of Ekklesia, the number of preparation, and the number of governmental authority.

Last week, we said that the New Jerusalem does not only consist of Jews.  Representing the call to, and gathering from, the nations are the twelve foundation stones, and on them the names of the twelve apostles who made up that first Ekklesia.

The dual groups of 144,000 represent the two Brides – now made One.  The significance of the number, 144, is that it is 12 X 12; that is, a finished, a completed, a fully tested and tried people.  The work of the Paraklete in Ekklesia has been accomplished.  The time of Ekklesia has come to an end, and the finished Bride has been joined to her Bridegroom.

If you will recall the vision of Zechariah, he saw the Golden Candlestick between two olive trees.  When he asked the angel of the Lord what the two olive trees represented, the angel replied, “These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”  (Zechariah 4:14)

While I recognize that there are other explanations and interpretations of these two “anointed ones,” I am convinced that they represent the two segments of the completed and anointed Bride.  The two olive trees are the source of the olive oil used in the Golden Candlestick.  The Golden Candlestick was always representative of the flame of love burning night and day for the Bridegroom. 

In Zechariah’s vision, there is only one candlestick – not two.  The flame of the Bride is one.  But it burns out of the oil from two source olive trees: the Bride taken from Israel, and the Bride taken from among the nations of the earth.  The olive is metaphoric of the crushing process which takes place during Ekklesia as the Bride is prepared.

A corollary to this picture is the evidence of the two witnesses who appeared with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Peter, James and John saw Moses and Elijah.  Moses is representative of the Law, and the Bride of Law.  Elijah typifies the Spirit, and the Bride of the Spirit.

John witnesses this in two other sets of measurements.  The city is 12,000 furlongs (roughly a distance of 1,500 miles) long, 12,000 furlongs wide and 12,000 furlongs high.  Thus you have the twelve multiplied by a thousand in triplicate.  It is a square of twelve.

Then John sees as the wall of the city is measured, 144 cubits thick.  Again he is shown the completion of the work of the Paraklete in Ekklesia as the city is protected by a barrier measuring 12 X 12 cubits (roughly 216 feet) in thickness.  That barrier is the work of Holy Spirit in the erection, the building, and the fortification and complete protection wrought in the realm of the spirit within the Bride.

The picture of the city with its measurements, the makeup of the foundations in twelve specific precious stones, and the representation of the gates in pearls, all depict a finished, a glorified, a united people – all grafted and integrated together -- made One with Jesus Christ.  The study of the New Jerusalem is a study of the completed Bride.

There is no more Bride of Flesh or a Bride of Law, separated from the Bride of Spirit, or the Bride of Love.  Jesus Christ has reconciled all to Himself.

By this, I do not mean that the flesh and the Law can coexist with the Spirit and love.  They cannot!  This is not a picture of the Bride of flesh continuing to serve the flesh, or the Bride of Law continuing in her bondage to the Law.  Jesus was the end – the completion of the Law.  He was its objective!  Jesus, however, has made it possible, and is making it possible, for the those who have served the Law and the flesh to have one more opportunity to reject them and overcome by the Spirit.

The New Jerusalem is that finished and prepared people, no longer divided by the Law from relationship with the Bridegroom, and subservient to the flesh.  Flesh and Law, Love and Spirit have been reconciled together in and through Jesus Christ.

Do you see it?  Do you see what the Lord is doing among us?  Do you see why you have been going through the trials and afflictions which never seem to end?  Do you see the objective of Jesus Christ, our Bridegroom?  Do you see the two Brides, made One?

If you do, then you see what John was permitted to see in the Spirit!  If you do, you are seeing the Brightness of the Lamb, the Glory of the Father, the surpassing greatness of His Love toward us.  It has all been wrought because it is the will of the Father, the desire of the Son, and the purpose of the Holy Spirit.  That will, that desire, that purpose are all summed up in Jesus Christ’s inheritance in us!

The picture of the two Brides really is just one complete story.

Consider this.

Jesus Christ has never had two plans.  He has never had a plan “A,” or a plan “B” if the first plan did not work.  Israel was not Plan “A.”  Neither was the “Whosoever Will Bride” an alternative to Israel.

When the first words of Creation were spoken, Jesus knew, as did the Father and the Holy Spirit, that there was only one plan for one Bride and Counterpart.

Adam and Eve were not Israelites.  Contrary to the opinion of some, Abraham and Isaac were not of the House of Israel, and they were not Jews.  They were simply the forebears.  (I’m not trying to shock you.  I just want you to see past Israel to the reality of the Bridegroom’s call.)  God’s purpose was never to call Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and then -- if their descendants missed the boat – choose an alternative.

Abraham was the father of the Bride.  Period!  He was the father of Isaac, and the    grandfather of Jacob, from whom descended the twelve tribes of Israel.  He was also the father of those who walk by faith.

The fact that Israel followed after false gods and missed out so drastically in understanding the purposes of the Lord did not suddenly make them social outcasts in God’s sight.  Neither did the Lord make a big mistake in choosing Israel.  It has never been a case of Jew versus Gentile, or Hebrew versus Heathen.

From the beginning of time, Adam and Eve, Shem and his wife, Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and Rachel and Leah, Judah and Tamar (the Canaanite), Salmon and Rahab (the Jebusite), Boaz and Ruth (the Moabite) Joshua and his wife, Caleb and his wife, David and Bathsheba (the Hittite), Esther and Xerxes (the Persian king) and a slew of others too numerous to recount, were incorporated into a single plan, together with those of every generation since the time that Jesus Christ appeared in person.

Adam and Eve were the first picture of the Bride in the earth.  Shem and his wife were the second.  Isaac and Jacob were the third.  Israel – the twelve tribes -- was the fourth.  The “Whosoever Will” people are the fifth.

Along the way, the Lord incorporated into Israel those whose walk of faith and perseverance, love and overcoming exemplified His heart for a single people drawn from every nation on earth.  The picture of Tamar the Canaanite girl, Rahab the Jebusite harlot, and Ruth the Midianite who descended from Lot, Abraham’s nephew, is a  picture of those from condemned nations and accursed lifestyles being incorporated into the Bride because of the remarkable faith demonstrated in the face of death.  In them is the most dramatic demonstration of the opportunity Jesus Christ has made – and is making – for the Bride of flesh to overcome by faith.

Tamar, Rahab, and Ruth were (ex-) citizens of those nations who had been judged, rejected and cursed by the Lord because of their sins of the flesh and their sins of the spirit.  Yet these three women were incorporated not only into the Bride, but into the direct lineage of Jesus Christ because of their stupendous demonstrations of faith in God in the face of certain death.

That which occurred on the day of Pentecost was a follow-up to Tamar, to Rahab, to Ruth, to Esther.  On that day, there were gathered together some seventeen different peoples or nationalities or ethnic groups, all of whom heard the praise and glorifying of Jesus Christ in their languages as they were uttered by the 120 gathered together in the upper room.  Suddenly the Bride began to exist as Jew and Gentile, Israelite and Arab, bond and free, male and female without any regard for race, nationality or sex.

From that time to this, there has only been one Bride in the earth.  Even though we all know that there is a very unique calling going forth among the Jews around the world, and an incredible response taking place even as this Coffee Break goes forth, it is happening only because they are being rejoined to Jesus Christ as a direct product of His everlasting Covenant.

The gifts – which represent His dowry to the Bride – and His calling of that Bride are without repentance.  Even though we have seen what appears to be the processing of two, there really is only one Bride.  The two parts of the Bride have become one.

Jesus Christ is receiving His inheritance!

Let me wrap up this discussion with a portion of a poem that I wrote for my wife on Christmas of 1995.  It puts things in perspective.

BRIDEGROOM and BRIDE

That wonderful day, those years ago,
    The Lord brought a bride -- a counterpart;
Eons had passed, it seemed, while incomplete:
This was a day designed to fill the heart.

Destined from the beginning, an Eve to be:
The picture of perfection, grace like a dove,
She came from the cry of a being in need:
The Lord Jesus Christ, who sought for His love.

Flowing in beauty, filled with desire,
Her whole being spoke, "I love you! 
I'm yours!"
Adam's very essence leaped as he saw
God's gift to him, his delight, his concours.

Then as the years turned into millennia
A new cry was heard, a cry in the earth:
A cry for completeness with
She who'd be His,
A yearning which most surely would be brought to the birth.

This second Adam then went to the cross
To buy back a people in captivity,
Created for Him;
Pierced with a sword thrust into His side,
He foresaw the future -- love filled to the brim.

The process began, a people in fire:
A Bride in the making, a Bride to abide;
Years again became millennia,
But to Jesus ‘twas irrelevant:
He saw to the day they’d sit at His side.
                                   
A people came forth -- a people who loved -
A people who overcame all to say,
"I love you, My Lord! 
Your onoma I take;
All that I am, or ever will be, is yours for eternity, going forth from this day."

The creator of all, the Lord Jesus Christ,
Now made complete -- having been joined to His Bride --
Sees destiny unfold, eternity resume,
His cry has been answered,
His love's at His side.

The future unfolds, a thousand years of time,
The throne of the heavens,
a new onoma presides;
The past is behind, the cry is fulfilled;
The need has been met,
In Bridegroom and Bride.

Know this: “that He who began a good work in you will perfect and complete it up to and until the day of Jesus Christ!”  (Philippians 1:6, RAC Translation & Amplification)

It is happening!  He is doing it!  The work of perfecting and completing continues so long as we continue wholeheartedly responding to everything He says, does and requires in us!

Let us go on to the finishing!

Once again, here is the wrap up that we used last week.  "When you want what God wants for the same reason that God wants it, you become unlimited and unstoppable!"  Today, we will add to it the following: "When you want what God wants in your life, you will see the Glory of God revealed -- in yourself and in the earth around you."

Blessings on you!

I remind those of you in need of ministry that our Healing Prayer Call takes place on Mondays at 7:00 PM Eastern (4:00 PM Pacific).  Our call-in number has changed to (712) 775-7035.  The new Access Code is: 323859#.  For Canadians who have difficulty getting in to this number, you can call (559) 546-1400.  If someone answers and asks what your original call-in number was, you can give them the 712 number and access code.

At the same time, in case you are missing out on real fellowship in an environment of Ekklesia, our Sunday worship gatherings are available by conference call – usually at about 10:45AM Pacific.  That conference number is (605) 562-3140, and the access code is 308640#.  We hope to make these gatherings available by Skype or Talk Fusion before long.  If you miss the live call, you can dial (605) 562-3149, enter the same access code and listen in later.

Blessings on you!

Regner

Regner A. Capener
CAPENER MINISTRIES
RIVER WORSHIP CENTER
Sunnyside, Washington 98944

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