The Mystery of the four kinds of ground

Good evening, beloved friends and brethren present here in Ji-Paraná, Rondônia, Brazil. It is a great blessing to be with you, to share some moments of fellowship with you around the Word of God; and thus, to see what kind of ground, what kind of land we are at this Last Day, according to the parable of the sower given by our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

After Jesus Christ spoke this parable, while He was with His disciples, they asked Him why He spoke in parables to the people, and He said to them:

“Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.”

And after saying this, in chapter 13, verses 10 to 11, He explained the parable of the sower in [Matthew] chapter 16… or rather, chapter 13, verse 16 and on, where He says:

“But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear.

For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things which ye hear, and have not heard them.

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower.

When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;

Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.

But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”

May God bless our souls with His Word and allow us to understand It, and to bear fruit in abundance.

Our subject for this occasion is: “THE MYSTERY OF THE FOUR KINDS OF GROUND,” or land.

There are four kinds of land, in other words, there are four kinds of people who hear the preaching of the Gospel, and you and I are one of those four kinds.

Now, on this occasion, we will see where we are according to this parable of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ says that the land that is by the wayside represents those who hear the Word and don’t understand It. Those are the people represented in the land by the wayside, where the Word is sown.

When he sowed, notice, some seeds fell by the wayside, in other words, when he is sowing, you can see that the wind blows away some seeds, and they are sown by the wayside, in a place where they will not sprout nor bear fruit.

That is the kind of person who hears the preaching of the Gospel, and doesn’t understand It, in other words, he doesn’t understand his need for salvation in order to have Eternal Life; he doesn’t understand his need to believe in Christ as his Savior, and wash away his sins in the Blood of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, in order to be sinless before God, and receive the Spirit of God.

Christ said: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life;”¹ but he who doesn’t hear It or who hears It but doesn’t understand It, and therefore, doesn’t receive It in his soul, and treasure It there so that It sprouts and brings forth fruit, what happens? Well, he doesn’t have Eternal Life.

And that person, despite having the opportunity to obtain Eternal Life through the preaching of the Gospel, by hearing the Gospel, and believing in Christ as his Savior, that person loses that opportunity.

In other words, he hears the Word being preached, but he doesn’t regard that Word with the importance It has; because he doesn’t understand that eternity for him depends upon receiving that Word that is preached, and accepting Christ as his Savior, and washing his sins away in the Blood of Christ, and receiving His Spirit, in order to be born again. But that person who doesn’t understand loses the opportunity for Eternal Life that has been before him when he had heard the Word of God.

Then the person leaves, and the devil roots up what was sown there in his heart, and the person forgets that he needs Christ as his Savior, that he needs what was preached: Christ as his Savior; and thus, the person loses God’s blessing, which is for all eternity.

Because: “He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life;” but he who doesn’t hear It, and doesn’t believe in God and in Jesus Christ, well, he doesn’t have Eternal Life.

And, therefore, when that person dies, he will go to the place he would have never wanted to go: to the fifth dimension. Anyone may say: “It’s good that he is going to another dimension;” but do you know which is the fifth dimension? Hell, which is the place where no one wants to go.

The rich man who went to hell didn’t want to be there; but he asked Abraham for the opportunity to get out of hell. Did he ask Abraham for an opportunity? Of course he did, but Abraham didn’t give it to him; he asked for a man from among the dead to go to his brothers.²

And he spoke about Lazarus resurrecting; but there was also the possibility of Abraham telling him to go to his brothers himself, because his brothers knew him. But neither Lazarus nor the rich man could return to Earth to testify about how it is there.

Now we can see that the request of that person who went to hell was not granted, because that person lost every right to Eternal Life and every right to make requests to God. Here on Earth is where he needed to ask God; when a person goes to hell, he has no rights there.

Hell is a prison to which the person goes until he is called to Judgment Day; and there, the person doesn’t have the opportunity to be released on bail until Judgment Day takes place. No, the person has to stay in that jail called hell.

Remember that Christ went to those who were, what? In prison, which were disobedient in Noah’s time. This is in First Peter, chapter 3, verse 18 and on, where it says:

“For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison…”

Jesus Christ went in Spirit (meaning, in His theophanic Body) to hell when He died. For the wages of sin is death;³ and Christ took our sins and died; and therefore, He had to go to hell, He had to go to hell in Spirit, just as every human being who dies without salvation goes to hell in spirit.

But if the person dies saved, then he goes in spirit to Paradise, which is the sixth dimension.

Now, since Christ bore our sins and died for our sins, He had to go to hell. And it says:

“…And preached unto the spirits in prison; 

Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah.”

Who were those people that in spirit were in hell, in the fifth dimension, in that prison?

Because the fifth dimension is the prison where sinners go until Judgment Day takes place, for which they will rise, and they will be brought before the Throne of Jesus Christ to be judged on Judgment Day, at the White Throne Judgment, after the Millennial Kingdom.⁴

Now, Christ went and preached to those people not salvation but condemnation, testifying to them why they were there: testifying to them that they were there because they were unbelievers to Noah’s preaching.

And now, Christ, after being in hell… we find that there, in hell, He fought with the devil, He took the keys to hell and death away from the devil,⁵ so that He could get out of hell and death, because the devil had the keys to hell and death; but Christ took them, He took them away from him, and went to Paradise; He got out of hell, He went to Paradise.

And after being in Paradise (where Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the Old Testament saints were, including John the Baptist), then He rose from among the dead, and the saints of the Old Testament rose with Him, according to Saint Matthew chapter 27, verses 50 to 53.

And they appeared to many in the city of Jerusalem, after the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

And Jesus Christ Himself appeared to His disciples on different occasions, for forty days; throughout forty days, He appeared on different occasions; and then He ascended to Heaven.⁶

And ten days later, He poured out of His Holy Spirit upon one hundred and twenty people who were in the upper room waiting for the promise of the Holy Spirit,⁷ to bring forth in them the new birth which Christ spoke to Nicodemus about, saying, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee: Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus thought this was a new birth through a woman, and he says to Him: “How can these things be? Can a man enter into his mother’s womb and be born when he is old?”

Nicodemus thought of a new birth through a woman, but Christ is telling him about a new birth through the Spirit of God. And He tells him: “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God,” (or enter the Kingdom of God). Therefore, he cannot belong to the mystical Body of Jesus Christ, which is the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot belong to the Kingdom of God.

Now, notice how there in Saint John chapter 3, verse 1 to 6, Jesus Christ testified to Nicodemus about the new birth.

Now, the disciples of Jesus Christ hadn’t been born again yet, although they were believing in Jesus Christ, but they had to go through their different stages. They had received the seed of the Word of God, which had to sprout, and had to grow to then bear fruit. Now, we find that on the day of Pentecost they were filled with the Holy Spirit, and were born again.

Now, notice, the Word has to have, in the life of the person who receives It, its different stages.

We find that those by the wayside did not have the stage of the birth of the Word in them, and therefore, they were not born again; they did not wait for the different stages that this good seed of the Word of God had to go through.

Just like after every seed is sown into the ground, it has to sprout, and that seed sprouts in the form of a plant; and then it has to grow, and for that to happen, the plant has to be watered, and the sun has to gives its light as time goes by, until the time comes when it brings forth fruit and bears fruit in abundance.

Now we can see that the people who are by the wayside—which represent the people who hear the preaching of the Gospel and do not understand It, and therefore, don’t receive Christ as their Savior, and don’t receive salvation—we find that those people have not had in their souls the different stages that the seed of the Word of the Kingdom has to go through, the seed of the Word of God that has been preached for the salvation of the people. And now, we find that those people are just forgetful hearers.

Then we have the people represented in the land full of stones, a stony land; those are the ones who receive the Word (the Gospel) with joy, but don’t have roots, in other words, that Word is not rooted in them, because they are people represented in stony land.

Those people seem to become Christians, but for a short time; they are the ones who are offended when trials and afflictions come because of the Gospel they received.

Some people say: “But I didn’t expect to have these problems in my house. Now my wife doesn’t believe, and I believe in the Gospel and now she criticizes me; and now even my children criticize me,” and that is when those people’s trial begins.

Because every person must be tried or tested to show whether he has truly believed in Jesus Christ and taken up his cross to follow Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ didn’t say that we weren’t going to have struggles and problems; He said: “If any man will come after Me, let him take up his cross, and follow Me.”⁸ In other words, He showed us that the way of Eternal Life is one of trials, struggles, afflictions, and suffering; but for Christ, we must be willing to suffer whatever we have to suffer.

“And he who does not forsake father, mother, and possessions,” (and whatever is an obstacle to follow Christ), “is not worthy of Me,” Jesus Christ said. And the disciples of Jesus Christ tell Him: “Well, we have forsaken all, what about us?” Jesus Christ told them that they would have, how much? A hundred times what they had forsaken, and Eternal Life;⁹ in other words, Jesus Christ gives people a hundredfold.

That Word brings forth a hundredfold for the people who receive It with all their soul; and Eternal Life, which is the most important thing for every person.

For “what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and loses his soul?”¹⁰ What good has it been for him to be a multimillionaire on Earth, with great earthly goods, but after that person dies: is everything over for that person?

He is cast into hell until he is called to Judgment Day, to be condemned and then cast into the lake of fire.

What good was it for him to live on Earth for seventy or a hundred years, or more than a hundred years, and to be a multimillionaire on Earth?

It was of no use to him. He was a man who did not value his soul, he was a man who was stingy or ungenerous with his soul, he was a man who did not feed his soul with the Word of God; therefore, he lost the right to Eternal Life, and here on Earth he had the opportunity of Eternal Life, to hold on to Eternal Life.

Lay hold on Eternal Life!¹¹ That is why we are here on Earth: to lay hold on Eternal Life; and all other things are the additions of life.

We need to understand the purpose of our lives here on Earth. Christ said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all other things shall be added unto you.”¹²

But some people seek the additions of life, and forget to seek the Kingdom of God, and they waste the time that God gave them, and then they die. And once they are in hell, they want someone from Paradise to come to them with a cup of cold water or with their finger dipped in water, to give them a drink.

Do you know what that rich man wanted? He wanted Abraham to send Lazarus to hell; but God told him that Lazarus was not going to hell to bring him water there in hell. Lazarus was going to stay in Paradise, and the rich man was going to stay in hell.

And if he didn’t have water, why didn’t he seek salvation when he lived on Earth? Then he would have lived happily, after his physical body died he would have lived happily in Paradise, in the bosom of Abraham.

Now we can see that real happiness is not in this physical body, it’s when one’s life in this physical body ends; eternal happiness: that is real happiness. What we have in this physical body is temporary.

A person can be very rich here; but notice, when the rich man was in hell, he couldn’t even buy a cup of cold water; his money had remained on Earth; and in hell he was a poor rich man. He was a poor man over there, even though he had been rich on Earth; and Lazarus was that poor beggar, but now he was rich in Abraham’s bosom.

Now who was the real rich man? The one who was a poor man on Earth. And who was the real poor man? The one who had been a rich man on Earth. But the rich man is represented in the land full of thorns.

That land filled with thorns is the one that hears the Word… just as the rest heard It; just as it was heard by the one represented in stony places, but when the afflictions came along, he turned away from the Lord.

You can see people who have been in the Gospel for some time and then walk away; that is land represented in stony places; it is bad land, therefore, that is a bad Christian. He was in Christianity for a while and then he walked away; that is bad ground, it is stony land.

But now, the land that is full of thorns, that is the land or the person who hears the Word…:

“He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”

The Word is meant to bring forth fruit in the person, because it is a seed that is sown in the person’s heart, and It must sprout, the person’s new birth must come forth.

But notice, of these three kinds of people we have spoken about, none of them obtained the new birth; they all remained in the stage of hearing the Word.

And now, notice, both the second and the third went on a little further, but they didn’t make it to the new birth.

And now, notice how the riches and cares of this earthly life choked the Word he had received, and the person—represented among the thorns—didn’t continue seeking God and serving God until he obtained the new birth so that he could bear fruit in abundance. Without the new birth, a person cannot bring forth the relevant fruit as a Christian.

But it’s not all negative; not all people are negative people; there is a group of people represented in the good ground. And it says:

“But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it.”

Because the Word of God is meant to be heard and understood; because faith comes by hearing the Word of God being preached;¹³ and the just shall live by faith.¹⁴ And he who hears the Word and understands It is the one who brings forth fruit a hundredfold, sixtyfold, and thirtyfold.

In other words, just as you sow a corn of wheat and that corn of wheat sprouts, and one starts to see that plant grow, and then at the end (at the appointed time for that plant to bear fruit), one starts to see the fruit of that plant; and it starts to bear fruit; and when you see the fruit on that plant you say: “I planted a corn of wheat, and now I am seeing many wheat grains on the top part of that wheat plant.

That wheat that already sprouted there on the Plant must ripen or mature; and as the Sun of the Teaching of the Word shines on it, it matures, so that it can then be harvested. And notice, those people, on the top part of the Plant, bring forth much fruit.

In other words, a corn of wheat is sown, and there are plants that produce one hundred wheat grains, there are plants that produce sixty wheat grains, and there are others that produce thirty wheat grains. Some a hundredfold: a grain was sown and it brings forth a hundred grains. That is the law of sowing and reaping

And that is why one sows: to reap or harvest what was sown, in a multiplied form.

Likewise, Christ spoke to us about the Son of man, the Corn of Wheat, in His First Coming; and He told us: “Except a Corn of Wheat falls into the ground and dies, It abides alone; but if It falls into the ground and dies, It brings forth much fruit.” We find that in the Gospel according to Saint John, chapter 12, verse 24.

Now, notice, Jesus Christ is the Corn of Wheat that was sown into the ground: He died on Calvary’s Cross; and then, on the day of Pentecost, He was born in the form of a Wheat Plant, in the form of His Church. There we have Him, Jesus Christ, the Corn of Wheat, turned into a Wheat Plant, turned into His Church.

And in His Church is where the wheat grains just like the Corn of Wheat that was sown into the ground will appear.

That is why Jesus Christ, the Corn of Wheat, would be multiplying Himself according to the law of sowing and reaping, to bring forth many wheat grains, millions of wheat grains, millions of human beings in His image and likeness, in the image and likeness of Jesus Christ, as First Corinthians chapter 15, verse 49 and on, says. It says:

“…As we have borne the image of the earthy,” (of Adam), “we shall also bear the image of the heavenly,” (meaning, of Jesus Christ).

We will be in the image and likeness of our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, and then we will be just like the Corn of Wheat, Jesus Christ, who was sown into the ground.

And at this Last Day, the harvest of the wheat grains will be carried out, the harvest of the product of the Corn of Wheat that was sown into the ground will be carried out. That is why at the Last Day the dead in Christ will rise in incorruptible bodies, and we who are alive will be changed, and we will all be just like our beloved Lord Jesus Christ; and thus, the Corn of Wheat that was sown into the ground will be multiplied into millions of human beings just like the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now, notice the mystery of Jesus Christ the Corn of Wheat that was sown into the ground: He is the Word that was made flesh and dwelt among human beings.¹⁵

And now, when we hear the Word of the Kingdom, the preaching of the Gospel, that Word enters in us and becomes flesh in us; that is, in those who hear the Word, and understand It, so that they may bear fruit in abundance; a hundredfold in some, in others sixtyfold, and in others thirtyfold; to bear the fruit of that Word that was sown in the heart of each person who heard and understood that Word. Those people are represented in the good ground.

Now we can see tonight what kind of ground you are. Examine yourself in the mirror of God’s Word and see what kind of ground you are.

Now, let’s look at four kinds of ground as ages of the Church of the Lord.

We have each of the Church ages, during the time that it was in effect it was the good ground of that time; and we have the seven Gentile Church ages, which were fulfilled (each one in its time) and that was the good ground where the wheat grains, God’s sons and daughters of each age, were sown.

And we find that at the Last Day, God’s elect will also be in the age pertaining to the wheat.

In each age, we find that the wheat grains, meaning, God’s sons and daughters, were sown on this Earth, and were in the territory where each age was fulfilled, under the ministry of the messenger pertaining to each age.

The seven ages of the Gentile Church were fulfilled.

The first in Asia Minor. That first age, represented in the church of Ephesus, was the good ground for that time; and the territory of Asia Minor, as a territory, was the good ground for that time.

Then the second age represented in the church of Smyrna, one of the churches of Asia Minor, was the good ground for the second age; and we find that this second age was fulfilled in France, a European nation. That was the good ground as a nation, as a territory, for the second age, to have God’s sons and daughters: God’s elect, God’s wheat.

And thus, we have seen that five ages were fulfilled in Europe: the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth ages were fulfilled in Europe, in different European nations; and then the seventh stage or age of the Gentile Church was fulfilled in North America.

The seventh age was the good land or good ground for that seventh stage of the Gentile Church, and the territory was North America as the good ground, where God put His children, His seed for the seventh age; and from there, the Message spread to other nations.

And now, at this end time, where is the Age of the Cornerstone fulfilled? Because the Age of the Cornerstone is the good ground as an age, to have the seed of God’s sons and daughters. That Age of the Cornerstone is fulfilled in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Latin America and the Caribbean as a territory is the good ground where God has put the good seed, the good seed of His Word, His Word, His Last Message; and where He has put His good seed, God’s seed, which are God’s sons and daughters.

And now we can see: “THE MYSTERY OF THE FOUR KINDS OF GROUNDS.”

And we are living in the good ground, the good ground of the Last Day.

Notice, for our time, [the places] where the seven Gentile Church ages were fulfilled, are currently no longer the good ground for this end time, for God to put His seed there, His children pertaining to the Age of the Cornerstone.

The good ground for this end time is Latin America and the Caribbean. And in Latin America and the Caribbean is where God’s sons and daughters will be, who are also the good ground where the Word of the Kingdom is sowed, is put, so that they bear fruit in abundance.

Now we have seen who is the good ground where the seed of the Word of God would be sown. The good ground is God’s elect, who have had their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life before the foundation of the world.

Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, of the Kingdom of Heaven; unto you it is given to hear the Word of the Kingdom and understand It. Why? Because you are the good ground, the seed of the Word of the Kingdom, so that it bears fruit in abundance.

And now we are in the last stage of the Divine Program, and we have seen the four kinds of ground or land.

And we have identified the good ground as a territory for this Last Day, which is Latin America and the Caribbean; and as an age, which is the Age of the Cornerstone; and as a dispensation, which is the Dispensation of the Kingdom; and as individuals, which are God’s elect, which are called and gathered at this Last Day, in the Age of the Cornerstone and Dispensation of the Kingdom, who will be changed when the dead in Christ rise at this Last Day.

So, if all of us who are present here are alive when the dead in Christ rise, we will be changed; but if someone goes ahead of time, there is no problem, he will come back to be with us and he will come back in the eternal body that Christ has promised for each one of you and also for me.

So, there is no problem if one of our own goes at this end time, he will come back; and he will come back in an eternal body.

Now, all of us, as Saint Paul said, don’t want to be unclothed of this earthly garment, but clothed upon with the new body,¹⁶ without seeing death; and this way, no one suffers for us, and we also don’t suffer for leaving Earth; because when we leave Earth, our time to Work in the Kingdom of God comes to an end.

We must redeem the time by working in the Kingdom of God, serving Christ with all our soul, and glorifying His Name, and thanking Him for His blessings that He has given us at this Last Day, thanking Him for sowing His seed in our souls, and making known to us the mysteries of the Kingdom of God so that we may understand the Word of the Kingdom and be identified as the good ground of the Last Day.

Where is the good ground of the Last Day? Here we are, present, with the Word of God put in our hearts, and we are understanding that Word of God pertaining to this Last Day, to thus bear fruit in abundance.

May the blessings of Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Covenant, be upon all of you and also upon me. And may all the stages that the Word of the Kingdom has to go through be carried out in your lives, and may you bear fruit in abundance. My desire is that you all bring forth fruit a hundredfold; that is my desire for each one of you.

May God bless you. And soon may we all be changed and taken to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb in Heaven.

And soon may those who are yet to come, whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, be called and gathered at this end time. And may you also bear fruit in abundance at this Last Day, as good ground. In the Eternal Name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and amen.

Thank you very much for your kind attention, kind friends and brethren present, and have a good evening everyone.

I will leave Rev. Miguel Bermúdez Marín with you to continue and conclude our participation tonight by thanking our beloved Lord Jesus Christ for giving us His Word pertaining to this Last Day: the Message of the Gospel of the Kingdom, through the manifestation of Jesus Christ in Holy Spirit through His Angel-Messenger, through whom He is calling and gathering all His elect, all the good ground, all the elect who would hear His Word, the Word of the Kingdom, and would understand It at this Last Day.

May God bless you, and have a good evening, everyone.

“THE MYSTERY OF THE FOUR KINDS OF GROUND.”