Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
Another one of our spiritual fathers, Arthur Burt, has gone on to be with the Lord. It was time; he was 102 years old! He finished his course here and the world is a better place because of him and a sadder place without him. I really loved Arthur.
I first met him in the 1970’s at our church, The Lamb’s Chapel. There was a buzz going around that a mighty prophet of the Lord was coming. I was full of anticipation and I wasn’t disappointed. Although Arthur was in his 60’s he was a very passionate speaker. He was different from any preacher I had ever heard. He told a lot of allegorical stories; somewhat parable like and he always seemed to weave in his core message, the glory of God (His glorious manifest Presence).
I knew right away I had to listen to this man not with my natural ears, but with my heart. Some of what he said was like reading the Bible, apart from the Holy Spirit’s enlightenment it made little sense to my natural mind. So for the first few years I would sit and soak up what he was saying and not really know how to apply it to my life. However, without my knowledge God was laying a foundation in me for some of the greatest revelations I would later receive, in particular a passion for His Presence, grace and walking in truth.
I was blessed to get to know Arthur Burt the man and I saw that he lived what he preached better than anyone I have ever known. He described himself as “a piece of paper blown by the wind from one place to another,” but more often as simply a vessel of God’s mercy. “If you ask me who I am, I will tell you. I am nobody, and the message I bring today is that every somebody will now have to become nobody. We must lose our identity in the body of Christ, because Father will not give his glory to anybody but Christ.”
The last time Arthur came to RiverLife was June 27, 2012. He was 100 years old! He spoke about getting ready for the glorious Presence of God. It was a very fitting last word to our body.
Here are some excerpts from that evening.
Everything God has begun He will finish. God is a great finisher.
God is not out of business. He will bring into being His blessings.
When God fulfills, God fills full.
God requires you and I to empty ourselves before He will fill us. This is a divine principle. He will have a people who will be filled with His blessings on the highest level.
What is God’s highest level? It is Jesus. Christ in you the hope of Glory (Col. 1:27).
Could it be that God would have a people that will come into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13)? That you and I would live in the Presence of God.
Every man and woman here are not here by accident. God sent you here and He offers you the fullness of Christ. God has brought us to the end so we may have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
He offers you the opportunity to enter into the fullness of the blessings of the Almighty.
Your best days are in front of you.
I am going to leave you with something Arthur shared many years ago. I think this is the greatest treasure I received from him. It set the course of my life. I hope it does yours.
“I had met God. I yearned and longed for His Presence. I just couldn’t settle for anything less than living in God’s Presence.”
Many Blessings, BW