Christ Revealed in His Own Word #65

Investigating udgment Angels #2

Sunday, December 29, 1996

Brian Kocourek, Pastor Grace Fellowship

[68] You see these little pockets going through the air they call "saucers," so forth. People so that... Well, we better leave that alone. "Hear how these people come up missing?" you say. Don't hear from them; they're standing there, and they're not there. That's the way the rapture's going to be. One of them would drop right down, and this terrestrial body will take on a celestial body. ( so we see here that they have to do with receiving our change). And they'll be hide, hair, or bones left. It'll be transformed in a moment of time, dropping right out of space and taking home that... We see all this going on now, and the Pentagon wondering about these lights, and mystic lights, and everything they're seeing in the sky. You seen they had one here in the paper at Jeffersonville this week and so forth, a mystic light saw. Oh, they don't know what that is. But listen, little children, it's going to pick you up one of these days (See, see?); don't worry.

Now the word he uses to describe these light is the word mystic. He calls them, Mystic lights. Now the word mystic or mystical according to Webster means, “beyond human comprehension but having a spiritual significance.” Then we hear brother Branham give us some scriptural clues as to why he calls them this.

[ 69] You remember, Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom..." What happened just before Sodom? God came down with some Angels, and they had an investigation judgment. Said, "I've heard the cry that is so sinful, so great, so I've come down to find out whether it's altogether the truth or not." Is that right? Watch, that main One that stayed with Abraham could discern the thoughts was in Sarah's heart behind Him. ( and I would like to add, and the others went on to investigate Sodom. Also , I would like to ask you this question, “How did God manifest Himself in this Hour? And since brother Branham is speaking of these lights in connection with our Exodus from here, I would like to ask, “how did God manifest Himself in the other two Exoduses under Paul and Moses?” As a Light, right? The Pillar of Fire! And notice that He said they. So we are speaking of other lights as well. The Pillar of Fire with the Elect, and the others to the world. Now, you'd look around just a little bit and notice (See?); watch what It's doing, the same thing today. It's an investigation judgment. When after while the church, when It can stand that place and every seed has been brought to it's spot, they'll be gone. They won't know what happened to them. One will be going one way. See? One will be going over to the pastor's house, and one will be going here or down there; and the first thing you know, they're not there. For Enoch which was the type, God took him, and he was found not. Come down to investigate...

[70] The continuity, how that Enoch translation, a type of Israel being carried over in the ark... So perfect... The Word of God is so perfect, even to the Old and New Testament is two halves and one whole. Right. Old Testament's half of It, and New Testament's half of It. Put It together, you got the whole revelation of Jesus Christ. There's the prophet speaking; here He is in Person. See? Two halves and one whole.

Christmas night we looked at these thoughts here in respect to the Alpha Ministry of Christ and we saw how that 2,000 years ago there were certain phenomena that took place in the heavens as well. And what the shepherds saw was a light. [Luke 2: 1-20] Now this light did not go away that sacred night for the scriptures tell us that the wisemen followed this Light for two more years until they found the young child Jesus with His mother in their house. [Matt 2:1-16] Later when Jesus is around thirty years old, we see this light again when He went forth to be baptized in the Jordan by John. [Luke 3:22] And we know that this light was the shekinah Glory that represents the Presence of God Himself. After Jesus was crucified and arose, we see again this Light, or Pillar of Fire meet Paul on His Road to Damascus and commission him. [Acts 26:12-23]

Now in believing that Jesus Christ Is the Same yesterday, today and forever, we can see that it is by a Light that He is to bring us Light. In other words, the Light, His Light, the Pillar of Fire which represents the Shekinah Presence, is the evidence that He is risen, and by the Light of His Glorious Presence shining upon the Gospel light, His Word, His Message, it brings forth illumination and then transformation.

Now the thing of it is, is that this Light that has appeared unto man at different times and in different ways, does have certain characteristics and therefore by those characteristics it can be identified. When this Light Appeared unto Paul, and knocked him off his horse, he knew exactly who it was. And when he said, “Who art thou Lord?” He was not asking who this was that spoke from the Light, for Paul addressed Him as Lord. But this word WHO that is translated here is a word which can also be asking the question why? As if Paul is Saying, Lord, why would you be doing this to me? And we immediately hear the explanation of why from the Lord, to Paul. Therefore when we read verse 8 we need to read immediately verse 10 as well because verse 9 is an interpolation of another phenomena taking place simultaneously.

Now as I have already pointed out, there are telltale characteristics about this Light that Paul recognized and we hear Brother Branham in this Message of Christ Revealed in His Own Word, tell us that this Light that has come in this hour is here for investigating judgment. And so we see that the Pillar of Fire has to do not only with a gathering together of the Elect, but also a weighing out and judging as to what it sees.

Now, you'd look around just a little bit and notice (See?); watch what It's doing, the same thing today. It's an investigation judgment. [ 69] You remember, Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom..." What happened just before Sodom? God came down with some Angels, and they had an investigation judgment. Said, "I've heard the cry that is so sinful, so great, so I've come down to find out whether it's altogether the truth or not." Is that right? Watch, that main One that stayed with Abraham could discern the thoughts was in Sarah's heart behind Him.

There are other things that we might look at pertaining to this Light as well. You will notice that with this advent of this Light came Life. This Light appeared when Jesus was born as well as when brother Branham was born. Remember that it came into the room the morning of his birth.

[74 Man that can Turn on the Light 63-1229M] Life comes only by the Word of God made manifest. As long as it is just in the Book like this, it still can be questioned; but when it's made manifest, then you see the product of what It spoke of being manifested; then that is Light on the Word. See? That's what brings... The Word said so, and then when it comes to pass, that is Life in Light, Light bringing Life.

Light brings life. Plant the wheat out here, it'll... You put it in a basement, cover it all over, and it'll--it'll never bring forth anything, because it can't; there's no light there. But as soon as light strikes it, then it'll bring forth life if it's a germitized seed. That's the same thing it is in the Word. See, the Word is God, and when the Light strikes It, it brings the Word to life again. Every age has always been that.

So we are dealing with this light that came at the time of the birth of Jesus and man had been looking for the Messiah to come. When the Light came it pointed the people to that portion of God’s Word which was to be manifested, and the Light then brought forth the manifestation of that portion of the Word. Paul said in [Ephesians 5:13] all things that are reproved are made manifest by the Light, for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. And this making manifest is the word phaneroo which means to be revealed in one’s true character. And the word reproved that is used here is a word which means to become exposed. And so we see that it takes light to see and to understand. That is why we are called children of the light. Because, we have all been birthed or we have all received our new-birth by this same Light. Because Light brings life.

And so we see brother Branham tell us that this Light is here to judge and to discern, and in the process of judging, He is selecting out those who are His and separating them from those ho are not His. That is what judging is all about. That is what discernment is. But today the cultural attitude teaches you to go in just the opposite direction. You are taught to not be discerning, you are taught that discrimination is an evil thing, and yet the word discriminate means simply to discern; to be able to see and recognize the difference between things. And what brings discernment, but light. We use the word light for knowledge and understanding for so this is what brings knowledge and understanding. You know because you see, you understand because you can see it’s identifiable characteristics. All things are manifested by the Light.

Now the fact is that we have not yet fully surrendered ourselves to what God is doing for us in this hour. We would rather keep going on in our own traditions and many who profess to believe this Message do so only in a social way, but if this Message calls for us to do one thing and that thing conflicts with our social affairs then we do what we plan to do anyway. Like brother Branham said, people would rather stay home from church and watch I love Suzy. It shows where they are at spiritually. And this is the problem. Because the people are so lacking in judgmental ability, the power to rightfully discern between right and wrong, and this is because they do not know the Word and they do not talk the word.

[Malachi 3: 16-18] Here we find that our talking the Word brings to our attention the things we are to rightfully discern. If those people who stay home on Wednesday nights to watch their TV shows would be talking the Word, then they would say to themselves, what does the Word say about being in church? Then, they would know what the Word says, and they would do what it says. But they put the Word aside for a purpose, and that is to fulfill their own desires. There is a way that seemeth right unto man, but the ways thereof are the ways of death.”

We are told in [2 Timothy 2:15] “Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.” And this word study is the Greek word Spoudazo which means to make haste and exert oneself in the process, to be diligent, not dilatory. And so we see that there is an effort that God looks at and if He sees that effort in us He will be pleased. Now this is not the same as doing works, because in doing this we actually manifest a certain attitude that places the Word above all else in our lives. And that is what the rebuke by Brother Branham is all about when he speaks about those who would stay home from church for any reason other than a death bed situation.

We are actually commanded to have this spoudazo in order to enter into rest, lest we seem to come up short. [Heb 4: 11] So we see that effort is a reflection of attitude. In [John 3: ] we read that those who love darkness do not exactly hate the light, they just love it less than they love darkness, and the reason they love darkness so much is that they think they can hide their faults in it, whereas they know that light exposes their faults. That is why we read in [2 Peter 1:10 & 3: 14] that we are to make our calling and election sure.

Again we are reminded by the Holy Scriptures that discernment does not come on it’s own self, but rather it must be exercised which means an effort must be make to become better in discernment. [Heb 5: 14]. Now on the other hand, those who do not exercise their senses to discern, will not build up their faith muscles as brother Branham called it. In fact he said in the Message [Faith Cometh by Hearing] Now, hope will agree with the Bible. Hope will say, "It's True." Hope will say, "I believe every bit of It. I believe that that's the Word of God. And I believe that God will keep His promise." Hope believes all of that. But hope then says, "Now, I believe that God will heal, but look at my condition." Now, faith don't look at that. Faith comes around, "I don't care nothing about conditions. God said so, and it's mine." You see? Faith's burly. As I once said, "Faith has hair on the chest. When it stands up and pulls its big muscles out, everything else vanishes away." Just flies away. When faith really takes a hold, nothing else stands.

But what the problem then is, is that the people are not conditioning themselves to faith, nor are they applying the Word to the building up of their Faith muscles. But like the Indian chief said, the one I feed the most is the one who’s winning the battle. Even the Apostle Peter pointed this out to us.

[2 Peter 2:14] shows us the effects of a people who exercise their understanding (their heart) with the wrong things.

From the Message [Attitude and Who is God] Brother Branham said, “ Exercise your Faith. Let it loose. Let God have His way. God will grant it to you.” again from the Message, [Will I find Faith when I Return] He said, “exercise your Faith and do something for God’s children quickly before Jesus returns.”

From the Message, [A Greater than Solomon is here] He said, He was wounded for our transgression. With His stripes you were healed. You’ve got the power in you, if you’ve got the faith to exercise it.

[Queen of Sheba] "Pin your arm and don't use it for a few months and find out what happens." It gets so weak it can't be used. That's what the church has done with these things, with all the gifts of God. You just pin them up; they're not usable. See? Let them loose. Exercise faith, get some muscles in it. Let me tell you: Faith has got hair on the chest. When faith speaks, everything else sets down. That's right. That's right. When it speaks, everything else shuts up.

And from the Message [Hear Ye Him] He said, “You’ll never do no better until you exercise your Faith.”

[Heb 12: 11]

Now what are we speaking about this morning? we began by looking at the characteristics of this Light that has come in this hour. We see that it has some identifiable characteristics, and since it is the same yesterday, today and forever, all we need to do is to go back and study in the Word of God about this Light and we will know for certain as to what those identifiable characteristics are.

[Hebrews chapter 2 part 2] Paul saw Him, and He was a Light. None of the rest of them saw Him. They seen Paul fall. Something struck him, and It was a Light. Paul said, "Who is It that I persecute?" He said, "Saul, Saul, why persecute thou Me?" Said, "Who is It?" He said, "I'm Jesus that you persecute. And it's hard for you to kick against the pricks." Then he went and studied that Light. Paul went back in the Bible to find out what that Light was. And he wrote this Letter. He's the same Jehovah. That same Light was in the wilderness with the children of Israel. And when Peter was in the prison, He was a Light that came in and opened the doors.

Paul knew that that what he saw with his own two eyes had to have identifiable characteristics, and so he began to search the scriptures for more knowledge about this Light that he had come in contact with on His road to Damascus. For is He not the Same yesterday, today and forever? Did not He tell us in the Book of Malachi, that He changes not? Then what are we waiting for? Why do we say we want to know Him more and yet we do not study? I’ll tell you why. Because you don’t want it bad enough. You’ve gotten soft, depending on someone else to do your studying for you.

Get together and talk this Word, when you sit at your table with your brethren or your family, talk it, eat it, breathe it, and above all live it. And exercise your faith and belief in it with all that you have. And exercise those faith muscles until they become a reality to you. Schwartzenagger was a puny, skinny runt who used to get picked on, but one day he just got sick and tired of being that skinny kid and he set his mind to becoming the biggest and strongest man alive and you know what, he did it. And not only did he achieve his goal, but all that sowing that he did reaped for him more than he could ever have expected when he sat at that bench press and pushed those weights. He wasn’t born that way, but through shear determination he molded and fashioned himself into what he is today.

And yet we are also told in [1 John 3:2] “beloved, it does not yet appear what you shall be, but we know that when He shall Appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He really is, and everyone who has this hope in himself, purifies Himself even as He is Pure.” And we also see in [Col 3:4] When Christ Who is our Life shall l Appear, then we shall also Appear with Him in Glory.”

And we know that He has Appeared and He has unveiled Himself to us and He has shown to us His Identifiable unchanging characteristics, and this has allowed us to become like Him. But what is our response to this. Do we sit and dawdle, and do nothing, or do we begin to purify ourselves as He is pure. What is our attitude this morning. He is here. And as that Light He is here in judgment, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And so I ask this question to you this morning. What are your intentions. What are your desires. What are you longing after. Is it the things of this world, or is it to become in the same Image, having the same mind set as the One who is here. Are you willing to exercise your Faith to receive it, or are you too lazy and one of those who have been caught slumbering?