FIELDS OF THE WOODS

The passionate words of the Psalmist King rolled on and the scribe’s pen struggled to keep pace as he set down David’s new song. The king paused and the scribe glanced up to catch the far-away vision in David’s eyes as he continued:

Psalm 132:4-6 -- I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids. Until I find out a place for the Lord, an habitation for the mightly God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood.

A GLORIOUS PROPHECY

The Psalmist could not have known the great prophetic significance of his new song. It recalled the joy of the discovery of the ark of the covenant and of bringing it to its resting place in the tabernacle at Jerusalem. It gave utterance to David’s great zeal to build the Lord a house, a place where God could dwell. However, in prophetic terms, David was foreseeing the establishment and fulfillment of God’s last days’ program. The birth of Christ in the little town of Bethlehem Ephratah was the beginning of God’s plan for a new tabernacle, a new temple of God, a spiritual house where God would dwell. The last phase of this divine program, eventually to culminate in the second coming of the Lord, was to begin in the fields of the wood, where David said he found the habitation of the

1 Lord. That those words have reference to the Church is clearly shown, for in verse 13 of this same Psalm David tells us that Zion (prophetic term for the Church) has been chosen by God as His habitation.

Thus, the prophetic connection is specific and distinct. The plan of God for the last days which began with the coming of Christ (“Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah” or Bethlehem where Christ was born) was to reach its fulfillment in the time of the end, when the habitation of the Lord was to be found in the fields of the wood.

THE PLACE OF ITS FULFILLMENT

How can we identify and recognize the place of this prophetic fulfillment? Let us follow the clear path of prophecy in the Scriptures. The apostle Paul in Acts 20: 29 foretells the great falling away, or apostasy, which would plunge the early Church into darkness. (Also read 2 Thessalonians 2: 1 – 3; Timothy 4: 1 – 3.) The final act of this tragedy occurred in A.D. 325 at the Council of Nicea when the Church became a mere instrument of the Roman state, and substituted a creed for the Word of God. That great darkness was to cover the divine Church for almost sixteen centuries. The fact that the Church was lost to view in this great obscurity makes David’s use of the work “found” doubly significant.

Isaiah 49: 19 reveals that the Church would rise from obscurity (or be “found”) in a place far removed from

2 where it went down. To bring about the fulfillment of this prophecy, God began working back in the time of Columbus to prepare a place that would provide the proper atmosphere and the necessary conditions for the Church to rise and perform its functions. That place was the United States of America, thousands of miles from the place where the Church’s great apostasy occurred.

Centuries after David recorded his prophetic words, the same Spirit which inspired their utterance also stirred the hearts of those whom God had chosen as the instruments of their fulfillment. When the time was ripe, God began to move among the humble folks of western North Carolina who began to search the Scriptures for the truth and new light, agreeing to discard all man-made creeds and to accept the whole Bible rightly divided. Into this small but significant beginning God sent a humble servant by the name of A. J. Tomlinson. Then on June 12, 1903 a small group met at a mountain home in Cherokee County, North Carolina, to make a more thorough search of the Scriptures and to seek God for His will. Early on the morning of June 13, A. J. Tomlinson climbed alone to the mountaintop to pray and there received a revelation that was to transform all their lives and open a new chapter in the history of the Church of God. The great truth which dawned in the heart and soul of this saintly man was that this small group was in reality the Church of God of the Bible, for they had agreed together to accept the whole Bible, rightly divided and to walk in all

3 the light as it shined on their pathway. To this revelation the group unanimously assented and A. J. Tomlinson became member to take the covenant of membership in the light of that understanding. This was the event and the place where David’s prophecy was fulfilled: “We found it (the Church) in the fields of the wood.”

A GREAT AWAKENING

Picture the drama. An early morning climb up the steep slope, a period of agonizing prayer, and the quite but unmistakable voice of God speaking to the heart. The return to the small group of saints waiting expectantly in the rough mountain home, their awe and reverence when an awareness of the sacredness of this moment of truth breaks upon them like the dawn of recently past, followed by the solemn administering of the membership covenant. These are some of the elements comprising this event of tremendous significance which took place on June 13, 1903 in the Fields of the Wood. Although hidden on this day from all minds and hearts except these few seekers after truth, the great light so suddenly and unexpectedly shining forth from this brushy woodland in western North Carolina, heralded the great awakening of the last days and began the fulfillment of the last phase of God’s great plan of the ages.

THE PLACE COMMEMORATED

4 It is altogether fitting that this site should be commemorated and hallowed, for no other happening in the Twentieth Century is so filled with significance to the children of God. From this place the Church of God has gone forth bearing the flame of truth, proclaiming to the world the divine revelation of the true fold of God and opening wide its loving arms to all the races and nations of the earth. Fields of the Wood is not just a religious retreat or a tourist attraction. It marks and beautifies the very spot where the Church of God emerged from the deep blackness of the Dark Ages to become once more the great beacon of truth to a world still groping in spiritual darkness. (This was also in fulfillment of Isaiah 60: 1 – 3.) The Church of God lay desolate and lost through the centuries, we found it in the Fields of the Wood.

Fields of the Wood is a memorial project of t he Church of God of Prophecy, consisting of over 200 acres dedicated to the revelation of the divine will through the engraving of God’s Word on stone and the erection of memorials of spiritual significance. Fields of the Wood nestles in the midst of the wild beauty of the Great Smokey Mountains like a polished emerald in a heap of uncut jewels. It is a place where the voice of God speaks to the hearts of thousands through the messages of salvation and of God’s plan for mankind engraved in the stones and markers found there. These voiceless markers speak in silent but emphatic words the glorious truths of God.

5 A marker is located in Fields of the Wood and stands where the house stood in which the services were conducted June 12, 13, 1903, when the Church arose from the dark ages in fulfillment of Isaiah 60: 1, “Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.”

Fields of the Wood is located on TVA Highway 294, 18 miles west of Murphy, North Carolina U.S.A. People of all races and religious beliefs are welcome to visit Fields of the Wood to enjoy the presence of God and to see the dramatic presentation of truth in a unique and revealing manner. Visitors are admitted without charge in order that all may freely receive the spiritual blessings awaiting them at Fields of the Wood.

Isaiah 2:3 -- And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 17: 23–24 -- In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it: and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedar: and under it shall dwell all fowl of every wing; in the shadow of the branches thereof shall they dwell. And all the trees of the field shall know that I the LORD have brought down the high tree, have exalted the low tree, have

6 dried up the green tree, and have made the dry tree to flourish: I the LORD have spoken and have done it.

Micah 4: 1–2 -- But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 47: 1–23 -- Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar. 2 Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and led me about the way without unto the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward; and, behold, there ran out waters on the right side. 3 And when the man that had the line in his hand went forth eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through the waters; the waters were to the ankles. 4 Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through the waters; the waters were to the knees. Again he measured a thousand, and brought me through; the waters were to the loins. 5 Afterward he measured a thousand; and it was a river that I could not pass over:

7 for the waters were risen, waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. 6 And he said unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river. 7 Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. 8 Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea: which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. 9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh. 10 And it shall come to pass, that the fishers shall stand upon it from Engedi even unto Eneglaim; they shall be a place to spread forth nets; their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. 11 But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt. 12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. 13 Thus saith the Lord GOD; This shall be the border, whereby ye shall inherit the land according to the twelve tribes of Israel: Joseph shall have two portions. 14 And ye shall inherit it, one as well as

8 another: concerning the which I lifted up mine hand to give it unto your fathers: and this land shall fall unto you for inheritance. 15 And this shall be the border of the land toward the north side, from the great sea, the way of Hethlon, as men go to Zedad; 16 Hamath, Berothah, Sibraim, which is between the border of Damascus and the border of Hamath; Hazarhatticon, which is by the coast of Hauran. 17 And the border from the sea shall be Hazarenan, the border of Damascus, and the north northward, and the border of Hamath. And this is the north side. 18 And the east side ye shall measure from Hauran, and from Damascus, and from Gilead, and from the land of Israel by Jordan, from the border unto the east sea. And this is the east side. 19 And the south side southward, from Tamar even to the waters of strife in Kadesh, the river to the great sea. And this is the south side southward. 20 The west side also shall be the great sea from the border, till a man come over against Hamath. This is the west side. 21 So shall ye divide this land unto you according to the tribes of Israel. 22 And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. 23 And it shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth, there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord GOD.

9 When you visit Fields of the Woods, you can personally dip your hand in the water that comes down from under the right side of the house. You can sit on the altar on the south side. The house is the building where the Church held it’s first assembly. The water runs eastward and uphill without a pump. It ends on the other side of the mountain, near the witness tree and the altar where God spoke to A.J. Tomlinson, the very spot where the Church came out of darkness. Verse 9 refer to the inflow. Depth of the water relates to the number of people and understanding. Water ends at Israel (east country). River of people flowing relates to people coming into the church.

Isaiah 62:6-12 -- I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, 7 And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. 8 The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: 9 But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. 10 Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. 11 Behold, the LORD hath

10 proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. 12 And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken.

Currently darkness is trying to consume the Church.

AIRPLANE

Isaiah 60:8 - 9 Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows? Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the Lord thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.

NAHUM 2:4 The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall justle one against another in the broad ways: they shall seem like torches, they shall run like the lightnings. No one in the Church today seems to understand that the airplane and the automobile was part of the proof of the rising of the Church. They don’t teach this anymore. The Church rose on 13 June 1903. On 17 December 1903, the first airplane flew on top of Kill Devil hill. This is part of the last day’s message, the rising of the airplane and the automobile proving that

11 this is the True Church of God, the Bible Church, not to fight wars, but to carry the last day’s message to all the nations. Surely the isles shall wait for me, and they are waiting for Him. The ships of Tarshish (airplanes) will be the first to bring thy sons from afar.

BANNER

Psalms 60:4 -- Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

Isaiah 13:2 -- Lift ye up a banner upon the high mountain, exalt the voice unto them, shake the hand, that they may go into the gates of the nobles.

Isaiah 18:3 -- All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye. Numbers 2:2 -- Every man of the children of Israel shall pitch by his own standard, with the ensign of their father's house: far off about the tabernacle of the congregation shall they pitch. Isaiah 11:10-12 -- And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious. 11 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to

12 recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea. 12 And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.

Song of Solomon 6:10 -- Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?

Isaiah 5:26 -- And he will lift up an ensign to the nations from far, and will hiss unto them from the end of the earth: and, behold, they shall come with speed swiftly.

Isaiah 59:19 So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him.

Isaiah promised The Church of God, that the Spirit of the Lord would lift up a Standard, which is the Flag. In September 1933, God brought the Flag up. The Flag showed who the enemy was. God didn’t give them the Flag.

The Lord lifted up the Standard to show who The Church of God is, and who The Church of God will be. Now, yet again, the enemy has shown its ugly head.

13 People in the Church want to take Christ out of the Church and go into that same man made creed the elders wrote in 1921. You can go if you want to, but The Church of God of Prophecy will remain The Church of God of Prophecy. People don’t understand whom they are dealing with. They are dealing with the Redeemer, they are dealing with the Holy One of God, and they are dealing with the Master. In the elder’s new constitution they wanted adultery, fornication and they wanted to write the rules for The Church of God. Everybody is not going over into the elders. The enemy is Gods enemy. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, and these people came in like a flood. But the Spirit of the Lord was there this time. He would not let her be covered over in darkness. Jesus said; my soul makes me aware. It won’t happen again. This is God’s enemy. Jesus said he would put all things under his feet. It is given to Him to be the Head of the Church. The Church is not going under this time.

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