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The Bride
John of Patmos, wrote:
“And one of the seven angels came who had the seven bowls, which were laden with
the seven last plagues; and spoke with me, saying: “Hither, I will show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb.” (Rev.21:9)
Because the Creator-God is all-knowing—that means He knows everything, always—
He also knew from before the foundation of the world that someday there would be
this misinterpretation of the Bible about the bride; that is the reason why He sent His
angel to John to tell him: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
And he showed him and John wrote it down for all to read in order for it to be clear
to all.
John was in exile on the isle of Patmos, because he was a follower of Jesus, and he
was praying continually and talking with Jesus; his heart was focused on God; that is
why Holy Spirit could give him this indescribable revelations and visions that are
recorded in the book of Revelations.
Since I repented and met with Pentecost, I heard that born-again people are “the bride
of Christ.”
Although I never was very satisfied with this, I just accepted it as I did hundreds of
other teachings of the “church.”
However, after Holy Spirit started giving me His revelations, by His utmost grace, I
started reading the Bible and seeking after the truths of God with an unsatisfied
hunger and craving after God. Later, as I knew the Bible better, I saw that the story of
the bride, as the church told it, was very different than was told in the Bible.
I knew what a bride was in the natural life; I also knew what a bridegroom did with a
bride—and it wasn’t acceptable to my heart—I had this uneasiness about it.
Because I was searching the Bible day and night, Holy Spirit revealed to my spirit
who the bride is, the wife of the Lamb—and I was so relieved and grateful!
I carefully searched the New Testament and got a good deal about the “bridegroom,” I
also saw that Jesus talked about the ‘guests’ but there was not much on the bride.
Holy Spirit also made it clear to me what He meant and did with the creation of the
first people; Jesus clearly states: “He that made them made them man-and-wife.”
(Matt.19:4)
He never says that he made them from the beginning “a man with lots of wives!” One
man with one wife; this was the example of God; this was the perfect will of God.
If God wanted Adam to have other women, He would have made other women; God
gave the perfect example as He clearly wanted and planned it; one man with one
woman.
Even the method used by God to make the woman for Adam, makes it clear; God
made the woman from the very bone and flesh of the man himself, as was God’s will;
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only this one woman—not a lot of different women—that there never could be any
doubt about it.
As man defiled everything that was made by God, he also did not keep to this plan of
God of one man and one woman; with the sin also came the custom of one man with
more than one woman—but that was not God’s plan or example.
All through the Old Testament this was the custom, and it reached its peak with the
wise and smart King Solomon—although he was warned by God, his many wives
later lead him into idol worship—what else did he expect?
But then Jesus came! Jesus came to bring to naught the works of the devil, and He
gave to His followers gathered around Him, as well as to all of His followers that
would follow after Him, this example; He took them back to what God did in the
beginning; as it was God’s perfect will: “Have you not read, that He who created
from the beginning made them man-and-woman…and the two shall become one
flesh;” for they are, because the woman was made from the flesh and bone of the man.
Jesus took His followers back to the example in the beginning; that was the will of
God, and that is why He did it like that; this was one of the things that went wrong
with the coming of sin, that Jesus came to correct; one man with one woman.
Now the Old Testament was something of the past; “the old things are passed away;
lo, they are become new.” (2 Cor.5:17)
Everything that went wrong with the sin of Adam, Jesus came to restore to how it
was in the beginning; to the original, perfect plan and example of God.
Because man was living in sin for thousands of years, and the Jews lived under the
distorted interpretations and traditions of the law and Judaism, they were at that time
very far from the truth of God.
Even the disciples, who lived with Jesus for many years and heard His teachings, had
no idea of what happened to them that day when Jesus blew on them and said:
“Receive the Holy Spirit.” (John 20:22)
That was their rebirth, but they were totally ignorant; although Holy Spirit who now
dwelled in them caused them to live a different life, they just continued with temple
service and even with circumcision—with the laws of the Old Testament.
Holy Spirit chose Paul to teach him by revelations what happened with rebirth, also
that the law was totally fulfilled and that the old things were passed away; that
everything was changed a hundred percent with the death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ.
Jesus came to restore everything that went wrong with the sin of Adam to where it
was before that happened.
Not all have believed Paul, for the most part they just went along keeping their laws
and temple service as was their custom, until the true followers of Jesus were killed
and martyred by the millions. That went on for many ages, right through history, even
until today, by the Roman Catholic Church as well as by Communism and Moslems.
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But this Paul received it from Holy Spirit through revelations, therefore we have to
give heed to what was written by him; revelations are the truth. Paul says: “though
we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel other than that we
preached to you, let him be a curse.” (Gal.1:8,9)
Now Paul wrote, amongst other things, that the overseers out of the born-again people
have to be “the husband of one wife.” (1 Tim.3:2) Back to what originally was
meant and done by God; one man and one wife.
The traditions of the churches take every wedding in the O.T. and try to make it a type
of and applicable to the so called “marriage” of Jesus as the Bridegroom with the
“church” as “bride” as they inherited the tradition from the Roman Catholic church;
that was made up by them.
They take the parable of the ten virgins in Matt.25 where they went forth to meet with
the Bridegroom, and they say those ten virgins will be the bride of that groom, and it
shows that the “church” with shining lamps is the “bride of Christ.”
They explain how this was the custom of marriages in the Oriental ways—and with
that they pretend that God will fit Himself to the uses and customs of Oriental ways of
one husband with ten wives!
God can never adapt to anything! Wherever adaptability is needed, it has to be
adapted to Him; God can’t adapt, for He says: “I AM WHAT I AM!”
How should God ever change His original plan and will, to fit into the traditions of
the churches! Never!
This is one of the many times where the traditions of the churches come with a
different gospel than the gospel preached by Paul, of which he wrote that even an
angel from heaven preaching another gospel has to be a curse.
The worst of all is that they try to pull Jesus into their distorted “gospel” by trying to
make of Him a bigamist to fit into the bigamy of the Oriental customs—and the
members of the different churches don’t wink an eye over that.
Jesus is the Creator, (John 1:3) He is God; it is He who in the beginning made man as
one husband with one wife, because this is what He wanted. Then He came and
confirmed it where He said: “He who made them, made them man-and-wife.” And
why did He do it like that? Because this is how He wanted it to be; this is the will of
God for a marriage. (Matt.19:4)
By a revelation Holy Spirit gave it to Paul that an overseer should be “the man of one
wife.” So how can Jesus give this command to His followers while He takes for
Himself a lot of women as the churches wrongly teach?
(Because it was expected of the overseers, it meant that the others also had to do it
like this.)
What do the people of the different churches think of Jesus?
Let’s now look at Jesus, who is the Bridegroom, and then we follow step by step and
see who is the bride; what the Bible says about the bride—not the traditions.
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Jesus said to them: “Can the wedding-guests mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with
them? But days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and
then will they fast.” (Matt.9:15)
This is where we for the first time hear about the bridegroom—and we hear that the
disciples were called wedding-guests, but nothing is said about the bride.
When the Jews questioned John the Baptist, he answered that the one having the
bride, is the groom, but he is the friend of the groom he rejoices for the groom. (John
3:29)
John is the friend of the bridegroom, but the bride is not mentioned.
Now Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins (Matt.25) who got their lamps ready to
meet the bridegroom, and then, while the bridegroom tarried, they fell asleep. At
midnight they woke up to go into the wedding with the bridegroom—but of course,
the Bible doesn’t call them the bride! The churches do!
These ten didn’t even know the time when the bridegroom would come—a bride
would have known.
Of this so called “bride” only half was accepted by the bridegroom, the other half
were sent away—so the bride is divided in half and only one half is taken by the
bridegroom—if that should have been the bride.
It is here where tradition wants Jesus Christ as the Bridegroom to marry ten—or
five—girls at the same time, and this same Jesus is the Creator who had made them
man-and-wife; one man with only one wife.
The churches and religion say that the born-again people are “the bride of Christ” a
phrase never even mentioned in the Bible.
They read Ephe.5 and then decide that the born-again people are the “bride of Christ.”
The Bible says that a husband has to love his own wife as he loves his own body, as
Christ loves the church—for the church is the body of Christ. (Ephe.5:30) He doesn’t
say the church is the bride of Christ!
Although Eve was made out of the bones and flesh of Adam, she definitely was not
Adam’s body! Each one of them had their own body; Adam could not marry his own
body!
Today we see a man marries wife after wife and later it is one head with six bodies! If
it was like that, King Solomon had 700 bodies! There is a big difference between a
man’s body and his wife—only his love for both needs to be equal.
We are Christ’s body, we are not His wife! With this tradition people are so confused,
it borders on blasphemy even.
Now we can search further; what does the Bible say; are the born-again people the
bride?
Holy Spirit gave this revelation to Paul and is more than willing to give it to every
person who is interested enough. Paul calls it a great mystery in regard to Christ and
the church.
“For even as the body is one, and has many members, and all the members of the
body, being many, are one body; so also the Christ.
For in one Spirit also were we all baptised into one body…” (1 Cor.12:12,13)
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“Now you are Christ’s body, and severally members thereof.” (1 Cor.12:27)
We are the body of Christ, of which Jesus is the Head. “And He put all things in
subjection under His feet, and gave Him for the Head over all things to the church,
which is His body, the fullness of Him that fills all in all.” (Ephe.1:22,23)
Many times in the New Testament we read that the born-again people are the body of
Christ. Never once it is called the bride of Christ.
Thus we are the body of the Bridegroom!
How can we at the same time be the body as well as the bride of the Bridegroom?
No man or bridegroom ever marries a bride with only his head! He marries a woman
with his head as well as with his whole body.
This same bride that is the bride to the Bridegroom Jesus, the Lamb that was slain,
also is the bride of the whole body—that is the born-again people.
There is nowhere in the Bible anything like “the bride of Christ.” It is tradition of the
churches.
Now we can go back and ask of Holy Spirit to please show us who the bride is? For
now we know that each one of us also has part in this bride; we are the body of the
Bridegroom.
“And I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem new coming down out of heaven from God,
made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev.21:2)
Here the bride is mentioned, but it is not yet said who the bride is.
“And one of the seven angels came, who had the seven bowls, which were laden with
the seven last plagues; and spoke with me, saying; Hither, I will show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb.
And he carried me away in Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the
holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, having the glory of
God; her luminary was like unto a stone most precious, as a jasper stone.” (Rev.21: 9-
10)
It can’t be made clearer! What does the Bible now say; who or what is the bride of
the Lamb?
The Bible says it is the holy city, the New Jerusalem that is the bride, the wife of the
Lamb. We have to believe the Bible, not the traditions!
God specially sent His angel to go call John and get his attention, to have a look, he
will show him the bride; and he showed him the New Jerusalem; this is because
God knew from the beginning about this wrong teaching of the Roman Catholic
church that they fabricated and passed on to all of their followers.
Although Holy Spirit explained it so clearly that even a child could understand it, the
churches went on with their traditions and deception.
We born-again people are the body of the Bridegroom and the New Jerusalem is
the bride of the Bridegroom; that day when the Bridegroom, the Head with His
whole body will enter into the holy city, the New Jerusalem, this is then how and
when the Bridegroom will unite with His bride in marriage. Hallelujah!
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After that John described how beautiful our bride is, in order for us to look forward to
enter into it.
Because of this some of the last words of the Bible are: “And the Spirit and the bride
say; Come!” (Rev.22:17)
The summit of what Jesus earned for us is; to live everlasting life as part of the body
of Christ yet as different members, in our indescribable home, the New Jerusalem.
Why did Jesus call the disciples the “wedding-guests” and not the body of the Bride-
groom?
Because, at that stage the disciples were not yet born again—there was no rebirth
before Jesus was resurrected from the dead; He was the first in the resurrection. So
there was not as yet the body of Christ. (Col.1:15-20)
Many of those people of whom He talked that day as being “wedding-guests” later
were saved and born-again after Jesus was risen and also were part of the body of
Christ.
Only born-again people are the body of Christ.
For the same reason John the Baptist called himself the “friend” of the Bridegroom:
John died before the death and resurrection of Jesus, so he never received rebirth—he
never was part of the body of Christ.
John was just like one of the prophets of the Old Testament; before the resurrection of
Jesus Christ.
This is the gospel preached by Paul; he says that anybody, even an angel that preaches
another gospel has to be a curse—what about the evil angel of tradition that came
from the Roman Catholic church and wormed itself into every other church and
denomination that followed?
The “church” or “assembly” or “born-again people” are not the “bride of Christ” but
the body of the Bridegroom; the Lord Jesus Christ.
The bride of the Bridegroom—of the Head as well as of the whole body—is the New
Jerusalem.
Letta Pretorius. P.O.Box 2216 Hartswater 8570 Rep. of South Africa
Tel. 053 474 1088
gospel@ballmail.co.za www.armageddon2012.co.za