Ineffable Union with Christ: Living in the Kingdom
Selected Writings of J. Rufus Moseley, 1927-1937
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The emphasis of Jesus while on earth was upon the Kingdom of God. The Kingdom is of such supreme importance that we are foolish not to put and keep it first, not to sell all that we have and buy the field where this pearl of great price is found, not to let go everything that keeps us on the outside of it.
As St. Paul puts it so simply and comprehensively, the Kingdom of God is not “Meat nor Drink,” it is not anything physical or carnal, nor anything over which there can be strife or rivalry, false pride, or selfish possession; It is “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” It is a life in the Good Spirit, flowing out in peace, rest, assurance, joy and bliss. It is the sweet holy meekness and boldness that Jesus had superlatively, and gives without limit as we humble ourselves at His feet, and surrender to be made like Him, to know His will, and to do it. It is perfect love that believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and that never fails, nor grows old. It is innocence, desiring, willing no ill to anyone, but the longing, prayer and effort to work unspeakable good to all--even to those who most misunderstand, and make it hardest for us, or even hate and use us. It is also the wisdom that is from above, that is gentle and pure, and full of kindness and good works. It is the state and place where all evil is met with good, all hate with love, all unkindness with kindness.
As Jesus explained to those about Him who wanted to know who would be the greatest in the Kingdom, unless they repented and became as little children, they could not even enter. All false pride, all bondage to public opinion, all holding on to a life unlike God, and outside of God’s nature, will and love has to go before we can enter into Christ, into God, and into His unspeakable joy and glory.
The call is to repent of and to leave on the outside everything that is keeping you on the outside of union, to surrender to His will, which is His perfect love, and to fall at the feet of Jesus. Here one enters and is found the secret place of the Most High; here is found the life hidden with Christ in God; here is Heaven on earth, and Heaven anywhere.
The righteousness that brings the assurance in the Holy Ghost is better than the righteousness of the law, morality, and popular religion. It is the righteousness that fulfills morality and religion and goes above and beyond them. It not only does not kill, but it takes all of the hate out by putting in Perfect Love. It not only does not commit adultery, but it brings in the pure heart and mind where there is no desire and no imagination that is impure and unlawful. The righteousness of the Kingdom is in fact the love, nature, mind, and the life of God. The righteousness already exists for us and is at hand all the time and everywhere. It only has to be put on; and it is put on as we chose Christ and His Spirit and teaching. In the first instance we must choose Him and the things of obedience and love—in other words, the faith that works by love. In doing so, we put on heavenly righteousness, or the wedding garment, the Christ nature, and thereby put on Christ Himself. This putting on not only brings Heaven within us and we within Heavenly peace, but prepares us to be manifested with Christ on the plane of His resurrection and glorified body, which manifestation is the coming of Christ in His own Glory, and is the Glory of the Father.
We have witnesses all along the way that we are submitting to God’s will. These witnesses are that we have His peace, rest, joy, assurance, love, and fellowship. By walking with Him and pleasing Him, by coming and abiding in the light we dwell where there is no darkness or evil at all. All that has defiled is washed away or burned up. His Spirit in this place bears witness that we are His. We have communion and fellowship with Him. He talks to us and we to Him, and we are made white like snow. In this union there is no disturbance; all is sweet assurance, peace, and joy in the holy burning and the quickening of the Holy Ghost.
Since the Kingdom of God is all of the good fruit of the Spirit and life lived in Him, we must bear all of the good fruit thereof in order to have the Kingdom in power and in fullness. Of course, we must in the first instance repent of all that is keeping us out of God, and out of the life in the Spirit. We must be born of and Baptized with the Spirit, and then go on to the perfection and fullness that is in the life lived in Christ.
All religious groups and all individuals need to humble themselves at the feet of Jesus, be Baptized of Him, and enter into the union with Him, and into His kingdom, and never go out anymore. This is the way. There is no other way!
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About the Book
The articles and speeches found in this book are a selected collection Rufus Moseley wrote between the years 1927 and 1937. They detail the journey of a man of God who first came to Christ in 1889, received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in 1910, and began a lay ministry that would in time extend across the United States and overseas. The theme of these articles is living in the Kingdom of God in the here and now, what Moseley was fond of calling “Ineffable union with Christ.” It was his contention that each believer has promised to them the ability to live in daily, moment-by-moment conscious union with Jesus that will produce a life of joy on an unparalleled level. Also calling this union the “Life as Love,” meaning that as one lives in that joy and gives out God’s perfect love and nothing but that love, the union will deepen. A deep secret of the Kingdom, Moseley contended, was that we are forced to realize that we live in what we give out; as such, to give out anything less than Christ’s perfect love takes one out of intimate fellowship with Him. If we give out evil to anyone, we live in it ourselves until we repent and return.
It is no exaggeration to say that the writings of J. Rufus Moseley read like new Epistles of John. The sheer depth of the revelation that the Holy Spirit gave him of this union was indeed decades ahead of his time. A towering figure in his day, it is time the great gifts he had to share are once more available to Christians today. As you read his folksy, humble words and partake of the Spirit contained therein, you will, I believe, find yourself asking for that Perfect Love and realize as Rufus Moseley did, that God is a good God, a loving Father who wants the very best for his children, and is more willing to offer it than we are to ask for it.
About the Author
Rufus Moseley was a pioneering Charismatic Christian, who above all else sought to provide the keys to Kingdom living to all believers. While he belonged to no denomination, he spoke to a wide variety of them across the United States and in Europe. He received the Baptism of the Holy Spirit in March of 1910 in Macon, Georgia, and began a ministry to the poor, needy, those on death row, as well as to the rich and powerful. Whether in prison death cells, at major universities, or consulting with political leaders in Washington, D.C., his message was always the same: the New Birth, the Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and living in vital, conscious union with Christ as a result of those experiences. Between 1921 and 1954, he wrote a weekly religion column for the Macon Telegraph (Georgia) newspaper, in which the immense depth of his spiritual wisdom and the simplicity that is in Christ was given to readers. These articles contain some of the most profound works on living in the Kingdom of God in the here and now that have ever appeared in print, and are testimony to a man who lived a life in Christ that few have attained, yet is available to all who seek it.
The compiler of these articles, Gregory S. Camp, Ph.D., is a historian who has served as a professor, government researcher, museum specialist, archivist, and independent scholar over a thirty-five year period. He first came upon Rufus Moseley’s writings in 1974, and in 2013 was inspired to find as many as he could and make them available to the Christian reader. It is his contention that you will find Rufus Moseley as much a blessing, and his writings brimming with spiritual wisdom, as anything you have ever read.