Repentance is a exceedingly beautiful and good daughter of the Lord Most High.  And she herself entreats the Most High at all times for all that repent in the name of the Lord, for He is the Father of repentance. And she herself is the guardian.  And for all who repent, she prepares a place of rest in the heavens.  And she will renew all that repent, and herself wait on them forever and ever.” 

  These words, the Lord our Savior spoke to Aseneth, the daughter of Pentephres, the wife of Joseph, the son of Jacob, who is the first born of the Lord Most High.  Joseph received to himself she whom the Lord renamed to "City of refuge". For Aseneth was the example of "repentance".  

And it was "repentance which the Lord set as the "doorway" to come unto Him and unto His beloved Son, the Messiah whereby He would grant forgiveness in the offering of His Son on the cross.

Salvation therefore is not automatic, just because we may be saved in the blood of Christ, does not mean we will be.  There are conditions, we must believe, yes, but believing alone is not the full faith, since there must also be "repentance".   

Repentance then is very dear to God, for she is humble and meek, and gentle, she is a pure virgin, and always joyful and God loves her, and the angels of the Lord stand in awe of her.

She is a sister to the Lord who gave His life for those who had no life, but who fled under His wings by repentance.  He who comes to believe must foremost realize that he has sinned that he has defiled the Name of God, that with his evil doing he has done great injustice to God. In order therefore for faith to be realistic, to have any value, it has to start with a contrite heart,

  And so I have taken up my word to give you to understand the mysteries of the Lord, and the mysteries of salvation.  For who are they that say, "I believe," but have not seen a heart of tears?  

And who are they that confess to believe in Christ Jesus as the only begotten Son of God, and have yet to learn "repentance?" Who are they that take Jesus the Christ as their personal Savior, and have "not conformed of their deeds?"

Among the multitude that perishes there are those, which say.  "We went to church faithfully, and we helped the poor, and we sang His songs, and we prayed, and did no great evil things, nor committed murder, and yet we are not saved, since we did not know Aseneth, the "city of refuge".   We would have fled to her, but no one pursued us, and thus we did not look for safety within her walls, we did not repent.

  Hear then unto me all you who have an ear to hear.  You have heard of repentance, and of repentance, but unless you flee unto the right city, the true city of refuge, you will not he within the walls from where the Lord hears the prayers of the people.

For they who dig their coverts outside of her walls, in the open plain, or in another city, their voices will not be heard.  For repentance is a "virgin", and she is "one" with God and single in Him. Therefore is there but one city of refuge, one city of repentance, the truly contrite heart that seeks forgiveness in the right city, the city of God.

Do not think to fool the sons of God saying; that you believe, while you have yet to enter the city of refuge.  Will an un-educated person instruct a nuclear physicist concerning atoms?  As they, which have not seen the city of refuge, teach him who has been through it, and who drank of its springs?

  Will you think to fool me with words you children of the churches?  Or do you think you could persuade me with the looks of your faces, or the meekness, which you have sown upon them?  Your face alone deceives you, and your first word gives you away.

I know the looks of the city, who she is, the daughter of repentance.  But you have dug your wells elsewhere and brought forth false water, and with that you think to have life. But I say to you, that you have not known wherein is repentance, for neither is the honey of the comb in your mouth. 

How then is it that you say to have life, when the honey is missing? Investigate; check it out, for the honey of life has the exhalation of the breath of Him from whose mouth the comb came forth.  And any other comb with any other exhalation is not of Him.

  And thus the Lord put it simply: "That the sheep know the voice of the shepherd, and they will follow no other".  What is first, and what is second, faith, or repentance?  My answer would be for repentance to be first and faith simultaneous with it.

If you say; "I will believe, but I know not what to repent of, for I am not aware of any great sin, and the little things I have in my past, the Lord will surely forgive me these, so I am in good shape". This indeed looks simple; it looks like a four-lane highway with bridges and all and no stop signs to get us there in a breeze.

And so, all goes well until at the end of that road you arrive at the gates, and the gatekeeper informs you that the place for which you are looking is at the end of another road. It is then that you will be informed that you took a wrong turn somewhere far back, that the place at which you expected to arrive must be reached by that narrow road, that ugly path, full of pit holes, and hard on the frame.

  And now what?  You will wish to return to find that turn-off, but you cannot.  For once there, the gatekeeper will inform you, that these roads are only one-way streets, and that now that you have come here, you are passed the point of no return.  "Now you are ours, so you will be told, since you have come at the end of the road.

Let me now repeat once what it was the person said who started out on that road.  He said; that he was not aware of any great sin, but that he would believe if only to live.   This person is a liar, and a murderer, as well as an adulterer, and guilty of the whole law.  For how can he possibly say that he knew of no great sin, when at the same time he confesses that he will believe?

For seeing that at this point in time he "will believe," it means that there was a time, like even yesterday, that he did not have the faith. Behold then how great a sin he has committed, for what can be worse than to deny God?  Or more insulting than to place no trust in the word of God?  Has he therefore no "remorse" for his "great" sins?

He said that from this day on he would have faith, he would accept Jesus.  But what good is it to say he will cross the great ravine when he has not laid any bridge over which he might cross? If there is no remorse, there is no repentance.  If there is no sickness of heart, he requires no healing.

  And now another thing.  I hear some persons say: I accept, or I have accepted Christ as my personal Savior.  O you hypocrites, you dim-sighted creatures, when will you open your eyes to see that you have been bitten by a serpent, and that his venom has taken hold in you?

For these words are typical of the sons of the devil, of that venomous vipers brood.  Since when shall Christ have become anyone's "personal" Savior?  He died for the "whole" world.

And if in your ignorance you will answer me, that you mean to say; "I have personally accepted Christ," I will still not forgive you your ignorance. And if I do not forgive you, neither will Christ forgive you, for the Spirit by whom I speak these things to you "is" His Spirit.  

This word "personal" has the smell of no love for one's neighbor, it strives against the commandment that deals with love and humility. You might just as well say; "I am Christ's but without love." so at least you will be speaking a partial truth, the last part.

Wake-up therefore, for if "indeed" you have accepted Christ, then you have accepted Him, and the word personal, or personally, has no place in the vocabulary thereof.  For the instant that you add that to it, it reveals the venom of the serpent having you in "his" power.

  The tree is known by its fruit.  If therefore you produce thorns, while you claim them to be apples?  You won't fool me, and much less the Holy Spirit of the Lord.   One said to me: "But the church should be open to all, and we should not judge one another, for all people are basically good, and given the chance they will come to love the church and its labors."

O how dim-sighted, how blind these are, heading themselves for the fires of hell, while they know it not.  First of all, how can a church be either open or closed?  For what are you talking about?  Do you even know what a church is?  

For in your blindness you are talking about some stone structure, as if that were a church.  You are the church, every person that knows and understands the Lord; these and these only are the church.

  And you spoke of a door, and so what do you wish, to cut a door in someone's stomach, with hinges?  In the first place the door to the church is in heaven, not on this earth. What then are you saying, that someone took a space shuttle and flew into heaven, to have opened or closed a door there?  To have removed Christ Jesus from the right hand of God the Father?

You think I am speaking foolishly?  No not I am, but you are with your nonsense about anyone remotely being able to open or close a door to the church, for that is stupidity.

And what do you mean by; "We should not judge one another?"  The Lord said: "Do not judge, that you be not judged."  But you are judging, for you are justifying the wicked deeds of men, by remarking upon them in silence. For all you care, they can do as they please, and have the right to do as they judge right.  You therefore are making a false judgment be it in word or in silence.

For the Lord said again: "But make a righteous judgment, for whosoever judges righteously, shall not be judged, and no one judges him." But they who do not judge righteously fall unto the judgment; for it is in that respect that you should not judge, to "be not" judged.

  It is impossible not to judge.  For be it in word or in silence, whatsoever thing you reject or consent unto, is a judgment in itself, for however you look upon things is judgment in itself.   It is also therefore that the Lord said: "All things serve the wicked to their destruction, but to the righteous all things are beneficial".

And again: When the tree is bad, there is no good in him, all that he does, and what he thinks, and what he speaks, or does not speak, by all these he judges himself the judgment. A bad tree cannot, bring forth any good.  And on the opposing end, the good tree cannot bring forth bad fruit.

And how does one come to speak such lies in the presence of the Almighty Lord who looks upon the earth, to say: "For all people are basically good?"   What is the matter with you?  Have you been stung by the ignorance of Anna Frank?  

Do you think more of the understanding of a young woman, who is no more than flesh, as compared to the indescribable and endless wisdom and understanding of the very Creator of man?

For He knows and understands the hearts of everyone, and this is what He said of the hearts of men; . . . "The heart is deceitful, and desperately corrupt."  Not just corrupt, but desperately to that end.   Nor is the heart basically good, but basically deceitful, of which you with these words you spoke are giving a prime examples of.

  And what do you mean by: "Given a chance, they will love the church?"  Who in the whole wide world that ever sought to enter the Church of God was denied that chance?

You cannot name one single name, but I can name many who while their flesh was being roasted at the stakes, they would not renounce themselves as being the very church.  Nor would those whose limbs were torn from them pass up the chance of entering in by the door of the church.

The only ones to close the doors to the church, the real and true church, are your ministers, and your priests, and your so called rabbi's, for since they have no chance of entering the church, they labor very hard at keeping it closed for everyone else.   

And why shall it be that unto these the chance of entering the church is denied, to have no chance at all?  It is because; they set "themselves" up as servants of God. For this is a great crime, since only these shall, or can be servants of God, those whom "He" calls to serve Him.  

Anyone who sets himself up in the seat of God, is throw down faster than the lightning in the sky.   And for such accursed boldness there shall hardly be forgiveness, since they constantly day after day commit the unforgivable sin, of which Christ spoke saying: "But he who sins against the Holy Spirit, shall not be forgiven."

  You then who follow these sons of destruction, feeding them, and honoring them, and listening to their deceptions, unto you the words apply where the prophet said:  

"Cursed is the man that trusts in a man, and makes flesh his arm, whose heart turns away from the Lord.  He is like a scrub in the desert to whom no good comes.  He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited wilderness".

We know that the end is near, not only by Israel being back as a nation, unto which a measure of seventy weeks of times are affixed, but also by the fact that; the Gentiles are seen to be worshipping a piece of wood.

For what do you suppose this might mean, to say; "a piece of wood?"  Do you think it shall be a wooden statute of Christ or of Mary, which they kiss?  No, not that. Nor shall it be the timber in their houses.  Nor any timber that is currently found upon the earth.  But the tree on which the Lord was crucified, that they worship.

They have exchanged Christ for the tree itself.  And how deceived can one get to give himself to such ignorance, or who would even be so dim-sighted? It are the "Gentiles", the whole lot of them.  Themselves however, they have this problem, that they do not know it.

  Gentiles have come to worship the church, they have become denominational, which therefore has become their fate unto hell.  They have become universal, or catholic as it is also called, but the church is not universal.

They conceive that the church will endow them as Christians, and that going to church will show them as good people.  Their god therefore is the church; the church is their idol, for which reason it was prophesied that these would come to worship a piece of wood.

And so you have become idol worshipers, and devils advocate.  You run in vain, the broad road is clear before you, and you travel it well.  There is no pain in your heart, and all is well with what goes well.  

But like I said to you, wait till you get at the end of that road, when you learn that suddenly there is no return.  For once you depart from your body, there is no return.

If therefore you will take my advice, turn back now, before you pass the point of no return.  It may cause you great hardship to turn around on that one-way street, with all the multitude against which you have to strive to return, and there is bound to be collisions. Wherefore I do not recommend it for the lighthearted, but it is more than well worth the effort, that I can promise you.

  What is it that the Lord said: Trample My courts and be saved?  Or did He ever say: Faith, faith, and you shall be well?  No, but hear what the Lord said by Jeremiah:  

"Do not trust these deceptive words saying; This is the church, the church, even the church of the Lord.   But if you will amend your ways, and your doings, if you truly cut off from you your sins, then He who is faithful will come to you,"

How can you say: "I have accepted Christ in my heart, and I am reborn?"  You do not understand your speech.  For tell me you who are so wise: When you go to your neighbors house, and knock on his door, and your neighbor opens the door to you, will you say to him; "Listen Mr. Neighbor I have accepted you in my house!

Your neighbor will look at you as if you have lost your mind.  For how can you say, you have accepted him in your house, when you are standing at his doorstep, and knocking at his door?  Don't you think you are quite making a fool of yourself with such words?  

"I will open to them that knock at my door.  And whosoever seeks Me in truth, him I will accept, and to Him will I open."  These are the words spoken of the Lord.

You therefore may profess to be accepting Christ, but the question remains, whether Christ will accept you.  For not you shall accept Him as were you doing Him a favor, but He will accept you, if at all you are among the acceptable.  

Those then who truly turn from their ways unto the ways of the Lord, these will be among the acceptable, since these have fulfilled the condition by which salvation is offered.

  Many people do many things, and not everyone has knowledge, and there are the strong, and there are the weak.  But if anyone seeks knowledge let him consider what I say.

He who will not drink wine because he says it is not according to the faith in Christ, as if it were forbidden, or not desired by God, that person speaks lies, and has not understood where it says.  "Not what enters the mouth, but what proceeds from it, is what defiles a man."

And whosoever eats fish on Friday’s or who will eat no meat of any kind on any day, thinking to thereby perform some service to God, or that this is commanded, or desired in any way of Christ Jesus, that person has much to learn.

The food he is eating may be food of strangulation, and the drink he drinks may be a cup of insidiousness.  For the Lord gave all foods on earth to be taken with thanksgiving, the only thing that He commanded that man shall not eat nor drink is the blood, be it of man, or of beast.

If a man does not wish to eat meats for his own constitution, well-on that is his business, but let him not become a strangler to say, that such was commanded of God, since that is a lie, and liars are stranglers.  

If then a man says to you; "This food is offered to my idol, and you eat it, you are in the wrong since then you are breaking the law of love by offending your neighbor, and partaking of idol worship.

Allow me to speak a while on Aseneth, the wife of Joseph, who from his fathers house was sent to the Gentiles as a savior to them.  Aseneth became to be called "City of refuge", for the "repentance" which she showed.   Wherefore it is not factually in Aseneth as the woman, as in the act of repentance" which the Lord endowed as "the city, the place or the means of refuge".

This city of refuge is founded upon seven pillars, which are all virgins.  And in the token as she was - Aseneth was waited upon by seven maid-servants, seven virgins.

  Aseneth was the daughter of a priest of the Egyptians, living with her parents like a queen, and she was very beautiful.  Her father had constructed for her a house like a tower with additional rooms for all her servants. And in her room were the idols of Egypt, and she was very arrogant hating every man, for she being proud said that she will be wife to the son of pharaoh.

And having heard of Joseph, she would not believe the truth, but gave herself to believe the false rumors that he had defiled his master's wife, and that because of a dream Pharaoh had made him second in charge in all Egypt.

It then happen one day as Joseph was touring Egypt to oversee the gathering of the grain, that he came to Heliopolis and the gates of the house of Penthepres, the father of Aseneth.

Penthepres then rejoiced greatly in that Joseph had thought him worthy to come to his house to refresh himself.  And he called his daughter telling her the news, that the illustrious Joseph had sent his messenger to ask of him if he might come in their house to be refreshed, and that he would be pleased to give her to Joseph for wife.

But Aseneth on hearing this became enraged and spoke evil words, and went up to her room.  But when Joseph arrived, and she beheld him on his chariot, and his great beauty, she was cut to the heart, and said:  

"I said that a shepherds son was coming, but now how stupid I am to have believed those false rumors, for behold, the sun from heaven has arrived on his chariot, and I have despised him.  And now what will I do?

Then, when a table was brought, and Joseph sat down to eat (for he would not eat with Egyptians), he looking up saw Aseneth standing in a window, and he said.  "Let this woman depart from this house".

  This he said because all the women of Egypt as soon as they saw him, desired him, for Joseph was very handsome, and the women would molest him with their adulterous desires, and sent servants with gold and silver which Joseph sent back with insults.

So rather than being molested, he said; “Let her depart".  But her father said: “She is not a strange woman, but our daughter and she hates every man, and is a virgin as you are, you and her therefore are like brother and sister.”

At this then Joseph rejoiced, considering that he would have nothing to fear from her.  Her mother then brought her before Joseph, and her father said: "Go up and kiss your brother".  But as she leaned over to kiss him, Joseph stopped her saying:

"It is not fitting for a man who with his mouth praises God, and eats pure bread and drinks the cup of immortality, that he should therewith kiss a woman who with her mouth blesses idols and eats bread of strangulation, and who drinks from a cup of insidiousness.  Nor is it fitting that a woman who worships God should kiss a strange man, because this is an abomination before God."

This time however, Aseneth at hearing these words did not become enraged, but was exceedingly wounded to the heart, and her soul cried bitterly, and her tears wet her face.   And Joseph, being a very meek and compassionate man, seeing her thus, he laid his hand upon her head and prayed to his God that He might forgive her, and count her among the blessed ones of heaven.

Aseneth then rejoiced at these words and went to her room and wept bitterly.  And repented of her idolatry grinding the gods to powder, throwing them out the window.

  And now to recapture some things.  When Joseph reproved her, she did not as before, become enraged, she did not say; "yes but that is your word".  Nor, "But who are you to say what is right".  Nor did she harden her heart, nor did she fight against the will and the Spirit of the Lord.

Instead, she was cut to the heart, she found remorse, and she realized her wrong.  And she went forth and with the deed repented of her wrong, not as if thereby she might gain Joseph, or secure forgiveness, but rather because, she wished not to be stupid any longer, and no longer commit idolatry, but to do what is right.

She thus mourning said: What am I to do with myself?  For I have become an orphan, and everyone hates me, even my father and mother hate me, saying; "Aseneth is not our daughter."

For now I will tell you what is not written in the record.  The man Penthepres was a noble person, and Joseph had judged him right to come under his roof even though he was a priest of idols.

And Aseneth, at first being enraged when her father spoke with her, afterwards going to her room locked herself in, and Joseph mean-while having left to attend to his duties, with the promise to Penthepres that he would return on the eight day. (A meaning all to itself)

  Penthepres and his family then having planned to go to their field to gather the fruit, since it was that time, Penthepres had sent for his daughter to go along.  For this was a celebrated outing, to gather the fruits.   But not only was it the refusal of Aseneth to go along, which made her father say; I don't know this girl, but we must consider what had happen in the night.

For there had been quite a commotion outside of his house, idols of all sort had been throw out the window, gold silver, and everything.  Thus the thieves had a field day; it does not take long to gather a crowd in that way. And mind you, Penthepres was a priest of these idols, and this thing was by no means any honor to him.  And he being a very wealthy man, Aseneth's idols were of no small worth.

But no one was able to get to, or to talk to Aseneth, not even for her father would she open the door.  It was thus that her father came to disavow her by saying; "Aseneth is not our" daughter".  It was therefore that Aseneth said: "I am an orphan, and everyone hates me".

And so the days and nights passed while she pined away in her grief and the shame she felt upon her.  And though she knew of God, the God of Joseph, the one God, she was too ashamed to lift her face unto him, or even to dare speak His name.

For she had heard that the God of the Hebrews is God - and forgiving sins, but also that He hates all who worshipped idols.  And her mouth being defiled from her idol worship, even as Joseph had pointed out to her, how was she to dare to take His name upon her lips.

But at end she finally took courage to invoke His name, saying: "If in fury He strikes me, He will l again heal me, and if He whips me, He will again have mercy on me".

  Thus we see how faith is simultaneous with remorse and repentance.  For the heart goes to and fro, two spirits combat to take possession.  The one says, there is no hope I am defiled, while the other says, but God is merciful, and it may be that He will forgive my sins.

A struggle takes place within the heart and the mind, a struggle to acquire an unwavering trust upon the goodness and promise of the Lord.  Yet meanwhile she recalls all her evil deeds, and they make her sick to her stomach.

She would vomit them out, if only it was as simple as to vomit them out.  But like a whore, who even though she washes herself a thousand times remains defiled, so the evil once done cannot be scraped off, but only forgiven by the Lord of mercies.

Aseneth then at last takes up to speak to the Lord.  And the words which she spoke, are not the kind of words that could have come from her, that she should have such knowledge beyond normal understanding.

But obviously the Spirit of the Lord, the Spirit of Repentance was in her granting her the words to speak words that ascended up to the throne of God.  For did not the Lord also say; "And I will send you the Counselor?"

  This Counselor then is the Holy Spirit, as also the Spirit of repentance, which was also active in Adam and Eve in their repentance from the thing they had done. At her prayer then, a man from heaven appeared in her room, whose appearance was like fire, Him being the Lord the Redeemer, either in His person or in His angel.

And He comforted Aseneth, and gave her to eat of a comb of honey, which mysteriously had appeared upon her table, the honey that is the word of God, by which she was made whole. And the Lord renamed her, "City of refuge", saying to her: "All who come unto you within your walls will find refuge".

So thus comes repentance before salvation.  For whosoever does not repent of his evil works, for him there is no forgiving, and without forgiving, no salvation.

No one comes to the Father but by the Son.  And no one can come unto the Son by bypassing the Spirit of Him.  And as the Son is the door to the Father, so repentance, or as I may say, Aseneth, is the door to the Son.

Without remorse then, how will there be repentance?

I then shall end this chapter saying: "Not they who say; Lord, Lord, but that do My will".  And, "These honor Me with the lips, but their heart is far from Me."