Christ is the Mystery no. 111
Chronology of End Time Events
Judgment no 1 Abandonment
Aug 28, 2013
Brian Kocourek
Malachi 4:1 For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn
as an oven; and all the proud,(that's all the arrogant people) yea, and all that do wickedly,(all
who do not the Word of God) shall be stubble:
(cannon fodder) and the day that
cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, (in
other words, that is "Thus Saith the Lord") that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. Now,
that is a promise to all the inhabitants of the entire world. Death and
destruction is coming. Then notice what
he says next.
2 But (now
what does this word but mean here? It means there is an exception to this death
and destruction. and who is this exception? He says,) unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of
righteousness arise with healing in his wings; (that's healing
campaigns) and ye shall go forth, and grow
up as calves of the stall. (notice, you
shall go forth as calves released from the stall and he says you will grow up,
that means the mature ones. These are the ones that are the exception from the
burning. These are the ones that are chosen by God to be saved from the wrath
of God. Then he skips ahead to the Millennium.
3 And ye shall tread down the wicked; for they
shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, saith the LORD of hosts. 4 Remember
ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments. 5 Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day
of the LORD: 6 And he shall turn the heart of
the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers,
lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Hear ye Him 60-0806 P:28 God, before He does anything,
always declares it in heaven first, and then on earth. No one ever goes into
judgment without thoroughly being warned. ...then he says, God always sends mercy before judgment. He always has. He always will. And this great
revival, that the church has had, a revival of miracles, and Divine
healing, and gifts of the Spirit, remember, something follows that. God
always sends mercy before judgment. He declares it in the heavens above, liked
the wise men saw the star, come to worship the Lord Jesus. And then, God always
makes a witness of what He does.
Resurrection of Lazarus 53-1122 P:33 Before God does anything He
always sends mercy before judgment. He always sends warning. And when
man won't heed the warning, there's only one thing left, that's judgment.
That's right. "If you die in your sins, where I am you cannot come." God sends preachers and everything and gives warning,
sends His Spirit and warns the people. Now, before He sent Jesus, He sent a
warning to the people to make ready His coming. And may I stop here just a
minute to say this with a deepest of sincerity: I believe the things that
you're seeing taking place today across the world, is a warning: Jesus is
coming.
Then we find brother Branham tell us in 1956, "I predict this year the United States will reject the Word."
Now, most people think so what, but what they fail to realize is that with
rejecting the voice of God comes many curses. And to receive the voice of God
you on the other hand will be anointed to be blessed.
In the Book of
Deuteronomy which is the Book of two laws, God tells us that we are blessed if
we hear, recognize and act upon the Word of God.
But He also tells us in the same chapter that if we hear, recognize and do not act upon the Word of God,
there is nothing but a curse for us. In fact he says the curse shall come upon
us and overtake us. That means it comes up from behind, and you don't see it
coming until it overtakes you.
The same word brings
Blessing and cursing and it all depend on your attitude towards it.
You
will notice the blessing and the curse are both dependent upon our response to
the Word of the Lord. What we do with it is what result we shall reap. If we
plant it in our heart we shall reap all the blessings from it. But if we say no
to it, then we shall not only not receive the
blessings, but we shall receive the same things cursed. And if you follow
through and read the blessings, for each blessing listed, there is a curse to
match which is just the opposite of the Blessing. Now, I believe that this both
the blessing and the curse is an anointing upon which you enter, and not only
do you enter into this anointing, but the anointing actually takes you over as
we see in these scriptures. The Blessings speak of life and growth and
abundance while the curse speaks of what life is there being drained out, dying
off and decaying, rotting, death. In fact we read in
Deuteronomy
28:1 ¶ And it shall come
to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto
the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and to do all his
commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee
on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come
on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken
unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 13 and; if that thou hearken unto the
commandments of the LORD thy God, which I command thee this day, to observe and
to do them: 14 And thou shalt not go aside from any
of the words which I command thee this day, to the right hand, or to the left,
to go after other gods to serve them.
Now
notice these blessings in contrast to verse Deuteronomy 28:15 ¶ But
it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy
God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command
thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee:
In Deuteronomy we
find God listing for us the Blessings and curses which are directly related to
our attitude towards the Word of God. In verse 1-14 we see 21 blessings,
1.
God will set you on high above all the other nations of the earth and all these
‘blessings’ shall come upon you and overtake you (Deut 28:1-2)
2.
You will be ‘blessed’ in the city (Deut 28:3)
3.
You will be ‘blessed’ in the field
4.
You will have blessed in your offspring (Deut 28:4)
5.
Your crops will be ‘blessed’ (prosperity provision)
6.
Your cattle will be ‘blessed’ (prosperity provision)
7.
Your flocks will increase
8.
Your baskets and storehouses will be full of good things(Deut
28:58)
9.
You will be ‘blessed’ in everything you put your hand to do Deut 28:68 Psalms
1:1
10.
Blessed with Victory over your enemies of poverty sickness and disease) (Deut
28:7)
11.
Your land will be abundantly fertile and productive
12.
You will be established as a holy people unto God (Deut 28:9)
13.
You will be a witness and an example to all people on earth vs
10
14.
All nations will be afraid of you
15.
You will be prosperous in goods in children in stock and in crops in all the
land vs
16.
The Lord will open to you all His good treasure
17.
The heavens will give you rain in due season in all your land
18.
The Lord will ‘bless’ the work of your hands
19.
You will be prosperous enough to lend to many nations
and you will ‘not’ need to borrow
from them.
20.
The Lord shall make you the head and ‘not’ the tail vs
13
21.
You shall be above and never beneath
Now, from verse 15 and on through
the end of the chapter we are also promised many curses that shall come upon
and overtake those who will hear, recognize and act upon the Voice of the Lord
God. God listed them through the mouth of Moses as follows:
1.
You will be ‘cursed’ in the city (Deut 28:16)
2.
You will be ‘cursed’ in the field
3.
Your baskets and storehouses will be ‘cursed’ vs 17
4.
Your children will be ‘cursed’ vs 18
5.
Your crops will be ‘cursed’
6.
Your herds will ‘not’ increase
7.
Your flocks will ‘not’ increase
8.
You will be ‘cursed’ when you come in vs 19
9.
You will be ‘cursed’ when you go out
10.
Jehovah will send ‘cursings’ upon you vs 20
11.
He will send vexation
12.
He will send rebukes
13.
You will fail in all you do
14.
You will be destroyed
15.
You will quickly perish
16.
Pestilence cleaving unto you (Something that brings a slow death) vs 21
17.
Death emaciation (To grow thin to waste away)
18.
Consumption vs 22
19.
Fever (a burning fever inflammation inflamed persecutor This probably refers to a rapidly consuming cancer or ulcer)
vs 22
20.
Extreme burning (This refers not only to inflammation of the body but to
agony of mind and torture of soul because there would be no help) vs 22
21.
Sword (wars and civil strife) vs 22
22.
Inflammation (Burning) vs 22
23.
Blasting (This refers to blighting east wind ruining crops and suffocating
men and beasts) vs 22
24.
Mildew (paleness of persons from fright or of plants from drought)
vs 22
25.
Heaven as brass (Could refer to unanswered prayers as well as no rain and
fruitful seasons) vs 23
26.
Earth as iron (Failure of crops) vs 24
27.
Drought dust-no rain( A way of saying there will
be no rain from heaven and the land will turn to dust from a lack of rain)
vs 24
28.
Destruction because of long drought
29.
Smitten before enemies vs 25
30.
Going out 1 way fleeing seven ways vs 25
31.
Removed into all kingdoms of the earth vs 25
32.
Bodies eaten by fowls and beasts
33.
No help in driving away your enemies
34.
Botch of Egypt (Inflammation botch ulcer boil) vs
27 35
35. Emerods which were
bleeding piles (hemoroids) vs 27
36.
Scab (to scratch scurvy scab) vs 27
37.
Itch (to scrape itch) vs 27
38.
No healing (there will be no remedy)
39.
Madness (craziness madness confusion not knowing what to do) vs 28
40.
Blindness (physical mental and spiritual) vs
28
41.
Astonishment of heart (that's dread and fear) vs
28
42.
Groping at noonday
43.
No prosperity
44.
Oppressed and spoiled forever
45.
No man to save you
46.
Betroth a wife and an enemy shall capture and ravish her vs
30
47.
Build a house and a enemy will take it for his own, look at the millions of forclosures each year (you build it and the banks take it)
48.
Plant a vineyard and an enemy shall take it
49.
Your stock will be slain and eaten before your eyes vs
31
50.
No restoration
51.
You will have no man to deliver you
52.
Your sons and daughters will be given to other people as slaves vs 32
53.
You will long for deliverance for your children and it will not come
54.
You will be powerless to help them
55.
Enemies will eat your crop vs 33
56.
You will be crushed always
57.
You will be mad when you see your own helplessness vs
34
58.
You will serve other gods idols
59.
You will not enjoy your sons and daughters because they will become slaves vs 41
60.
Strangers among you will be exalted and you will be humbled vs
43
61.
Strangers will lend to you vs 44
62.
You will serve your enemies vs 48
63.
Robbery of all possessions
64.
Nakedness
65.
Want of all things
66.
Bondage
67.
Destruction of lives vs 48-51
68.
War with foreign nations vs 49
69.
Unmerciful treatment from enemies vs
50
70.
Cannibalism vs 53-57
71.
Famine and distress vs 53-57
72.
Men murdering closest relative-brothers wives and even children
73.
Women murdering close relatives- husbands sons daughters,
even babies vs 56-57
74.
Great plagues of long endurance vs 58-59
75.
Sore sickness of long continuance vs 59
76.
All the diseases of Egypt shall cleave to you vs 60
77.
Service to other gods
78.
No peace
79.
No rest fearful and trembling hearts
80.
Eye failures
81.
Sorrow of mind
82.
Fears day and night
83.
No assurance of life
84.
Fretting and worry because of the constant dangers of life vs
67
85.
Slavery again as in Egypt vs 68
86. The woman among who has been so delicate and refined will become so vile and coarse that she will murder her husband sons daughters and even her babies
Notice the blessings of
God were not as specific in detail as to how you would be blessed in those
areas of your life, your family and your possessions and health, but in the
curses God is very detailed as to how the curses will come upon and overtake
you, and so the Scripture gives us many, many verses of detail concerning the
curses. It would seem that there are many more curses than there are blessings,
just as the children of the desolate have many more children than she that has
a husband. And in this world there are many more weeds than there is wheat, and
so too the specifics of the curses are manifold times the specific of the
blessings as we shall see.
Now, I want you to notice that for every
blessing God promised us who hear, recognize and
act upon His Word, God has also set a curse upon those who will
not hear, recognize and act upon His Word.
And not only will they be anointed with a curse, but that curse will bring with
it 4 times as many curses as there are blessings. And what is that? It is
double unto her double. In other words, double x double is 4 times as many. And
it all depends on how you receive the Word which God personally came down to
give to us in this hour, and what you do with what he has given you and your
attitude towards the voice of God itself, which is His Prophet.
Now the word curse
is a word which means to treat with contempt. And it comes from a
root word which means to be consecrated to. Therefore,
"anointed to a certain thing." And that thing that
the one cursed is anointed to is destruction
in every way conceivable manner as we have seen in
the list above. So you are either anointed to be blessed or you are
anointed to be cursed. And those who are anointed to be blessed are anointed
with God's spirit. How could God ever curse His own Spirit, His own Life.
Now, As I mentioned
to begin with this morning, in 1956 brother Branham predicted that this nation
would reject the Word of God and from that point would begin their downward
fall. What I would like to do with this message this morning is to give you a
comparison of two peoples. God's elect as one group and all the rest of mankind
as the other
group. And I hope this morning you will see the curses which are to come upon this
nation, and all nations for rejecting the Message of Grace that God brought in
this hour.
What is a vision 56-0408A P:68 Now, the thing to do is to be true
in your heart, love the Lord with all your heart, and just be
thankful that God is marching on with us: the resurrected Lord Jesus
Christ. I say this and make this predicting: I'm not saying this in the Name of
the Lord now. I'm saying this as your brother. I predict this (And listen close.): I predict that America this year, the
United States this year will either receive Christ, or she'll start
falling from this year. Yeah. This is America's time to repent, and if
it doesn't... I predicted that on, I think, about January the 15th or 16th
of this year, just feeling led to say it, and it's--I've stuck with it, and I
look at the wheels turning up.
And then he says in P:70 See, have
to watch what you're talking about; watch what you're saying, but I believe
that. Now, the Lord hasn't told me that, but I believe that, that America is
either going to receive Christ or is going to turn Him down flatly this year,
and I predict that they will turn Him down. I do.
Again in his sermon, Divine love 56-0826 P:15 When I predicted six months ago that this was the closing
year for America, and we'll see whether it is according to the Gospel or not.
This is the time when she's gone. It's either going up or down this year.
That's right. Now, you young children, I want you to bring you a piece of
paper and write it in the flyleaf of your Bible that when Brother Branham's
done passed on perhaps, you see whether I was right or wrong. See? And
you'll know whether the Lord still speaks or not. See?
Now, with that said, let's look at the
events that have taken place in the United States and see the evidence that this
warning was from God, because man can not know the future, but God knows all
things. I would like to read some information from the Gallup.com website which
has polled the people each year since 1957.
"Since 1957 Gallup has periodically asked this question: "At the present time, do you think religion as a whole is
increasing its influence on American life or losing its influence?"
"In December 2012 only 32% said religion was increasing its
influence, and 61% said it is losing its influence, with the rest volunteering
that it was staying the same or not giving an answer."
But in all actuality according to several other surveys, only 17.7 % of americans got o church on a
regular basis.
Now, How does that compare with the time
brother Branham made his prediction?
There's been a lot of variance in these responses over the decades. Back
in 1957 -- during the days of the Eisenhower administration -- 69% of
Americans said religion was increasing its influence. But by 2003, the
percentage saying religion was increasing its influence had dropped back into
the 30% range and though it has been as high as 50% since then, it is just 32%
today. In a couple other polls conducted in 1969 and 1970, only 14% said
religion was increasing its influence -- the lowest readings on record.
Another time period with a low "increasing its influence"
percentage was in the early 1990s."
But if you think that is just America, you are wrong. The waited
average across the
entire world is only 27.2% as is the UK at 27% Norway 5%, Sweden 4%
Finland 4% And Russia at 2%. Now, think of it, there are African countries like
Nigeria as high as 89% and Ireland at 84%, then it
drops to 69% in the Philippines.
In an article by "Christianity Today" we read, "According
to the time-use studies, Presser and Chaves conclude that religious attendance
did decline in the period between the 1950's and 1990. Mainline Protestant and
Catholic service attendance also declined over that period. According to the
authors, there is currently no theory of religious change that accounts for
periods of stability alternating with periods of decline. However, Presser and
Chaves determine that attendance has been stable (at about 25%) since the
1990s. There may be no social scientific
theory to explain a small decline during the period in question."
No, maybe no scientific reason, but we have a prophet sent by God who
told us when and why it would decline. And I find it interesting that 1957 was
the peak year for church attendance in the USA at 69% and it has dropped
to 25% since then, with low's in the late 60's of 14%. Whew!!! 1
in 7 or 1 in 8 people going to church, or 1 in 4 and they call that stable? I
call that Godless. But what can you expect when they have taken prayer and the
Bible out of the schools.
In
yet another study, findings reveal that the actual rate of church attendance
from head counts is less than half of the 40% the pollsters report. Numbers
from actual counts of people in Orthodox Christian churches (Catholic, mainline
and evangelical) show that in 2004, 17.7% of the population attended a
Christian church on any given weekend.
In yet another study published in The Journal for the Scientific
Study of Religion by sociologists C. Kirk Hadaway
and Penny Long Marler — known for their scholarly
research on the Church — backs up these findings. Their report reveals that the
actual number of people worshipping each week is closer to 17.7% figure
— 52 million people instead of the pollster-reported 132 million (40%).
"We knew that over the past 30 to 40 years, denominations had
increasingly reported a decline in their numbers," Marler
says. Most of the mainline denominations were all reporting a net loss over the
past 30 years. And at the same time, the Gallup polls had remained stable. It didn"t make sense."
What Hadaway and Marler,
along with Mark Chaves, author of the "National Congregations Study,"
discovered was at play is what researchers call "the halo effect"
— the difference between what people tell pollsters and what people actually
do. Americans tend to over-report socially desirable behavior like voting
and attending church and under-report socially undesirable behavior like drinking.
So according to national reported church attendance, 1957
was the peak year for church attendance in the United states
at 69% and it has declined ever since to about 17.7%. That's more
than 4 times less people attending church now than in 1957 as reported. And remember, 4 is
double unto her double. 17 % of 69 is .25% of those who attended back them
attend now.
So we see the words of a vindicated prophet when he predicted
America would start going downhill from 1956 when he made the prediction, and
the stats show what he said has come True. And as the people abandoned God, we
can see evidence that God has began to abandon the people, and this nation.
Now, besides church attendance let's look at some
other evidences of this decline in hearkening to The Voice of God.
Only five years later in 1962 In two landmark
decisions, Engel v. Vitale (1962) and Abington
School District v. Schempp (1963), the
US Supreme Court established what is now the current prohibition on
state-sponsored prayer in schools. While the Engel stated that prayer in
the schools was in violation of the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause,
The Abington case held that reading the Bible and other religious activities
were prohibited from schools and from any government sponsored event. Another
case The Murray v. Curlett
lawsuit, led to the Supreme Court ruling ending official Bible-reading
in American public schools in 1963. This came one year after the Supreme
Court prohibited officially sponsored prayer in schools in Engel v. Vitale.
Thus by 1963 Prayer
to God and reading of His Word were put outside the
public schools in the USA. Thus this country abandoned God, cut him off, so we
see God begin to cut off this nation from all its blessings of the past. And
remember, God taught us in His Word, Proverbs
22:6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not
depart from it.
And since the people of this nation chose to not obey
the Word of God and instead they chose to have their children trained up in the
government training and indoctrination centers called public schools which put
God out of their thoughts, we can see why only 17.7 % of people go to church in
this country. As God was Abandoned in their training
of their children, and thus abandoned in the churches and homes, God himself in
turn began to abandon this nation years and years ago. And thus we see the
beginning of the judgments of God and the 1st judgment of God is His
abandonment Judgment.
In the Bible we see the first one that was sent away from
the presence of the Lord was Cain.
Genesis 4:11 And now art
thou cursed from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to receive thy
brother's blood from thy hand; 12 When thou tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee
her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be
in the earth. 13 And Cain said unto the LORD, My punishment is greater than I can bear. 14 Behold, thou hast driven me
out this day from the face of the earth; and from thy face shall I be hid; and
I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond in the earth; and it shall come to pass, that every one that findeth
me shall slay me. 15 And the LORD said unto him, Therefore whosoever
slayeth Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him
sevenfold. And the LORD set a mark upon Cain, lest any finding him should kill him.16 And
Cain went out from the presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of
Nod, on the east of Eden.
Now, this word "Nod", is not
any particular land or place, but it actually means to wander endlessly like a
vagrant, a wanderer, or wandering star, as brother Branham said, always
Wondering about this or that. Never able to settle down with
the truth.
Again we notice in the book of Judges that God used
this judgment of abandonment and cut off the anointing from Samson because he
just would not hear, recognize and act upon the Word. He chose rather
to womanize and play around instead of listening to the Voice of God that called
him to defend Israel from her enemies the Philistines. And so Samson was cut of
from the presence of the Lord God. God abandoned him until he came to
repentance.
Then we see in the book
of Hosea - Hosea 4:17 Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone. And so God abandoned Ephraim.
In the Book of Psalms we see two types of people, Blessed and Cursed, so lets turn to Psalms 1.
Psalm1:1 Blessed is the man
that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he
meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree
planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth
his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he
doeth shall prosper. 4 The
ungodly are not so: but are
like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of
the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous:
but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
And we even see God abandon His own Son on the cross
when he took on Himself the sins of the World and was judged for our sins.
Matthew 27:46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani? that is to
say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
And the word forsaken means to
be totally abandoned.
Again that is what was prophesied by David
in Psalms 22:1 My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why
art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
2 Thessalonians 1: 8-9 rejected from his presence. 7 And to you who are troubled rest with us,
when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking
vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord
Jesus Christ: 9 Who
shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall
come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe
(because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.
2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves
from every brother that walketh disorderly, and
not after the tradition which he received of us.
Questions and Answers 54-0103M
87-176 I remember years ago. You always heard
them talk about the sawdust trails and things in the Tabernacle. That didn't
make it any more, not a bit more. But then it was fresh; God was calling His
church. I've seen them sob and cry and lay on the altar all night long.
I've went to their houses, and you could hear them
when you come up, just in their--in their bedchamber, men and women, crying,
"O God..." You'd see them walk through the church, and I'd see the
piano start playing, "Jesus Keep Me Near The
Cross," and the tears flowing down there, you know. [Brother Branham
sniffles--Ed.] Walk into this church, then walk down to another church, and
hear them there, "There's a precious Fountain..." "O God, save
my boy. Save my daughter; she's lost, Lord. Please." You don't find that
no more. What's the matter? The Spirit of God is withdrawed.
Jesus said, predicted this, "That
because iniquity would abound, the love of many would fail." See? See, grow cold, go away...
The love is dying away. And what they got into, just a form.
Notice he said, there used to be such a Love
for God that people would cry out to God day and night for their loved ones.
But you don't see that any more. He said, years ago, it was fresh; God was
calling His church.
2 Timothy 4: 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Galatians 5: 7 Ye did run well; who did hinder you that
ye should not obey the truth?
Galatians 3:1 O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey
the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth,
crucified among you?
Jezebel Religion 61-0319 When God sends forth a message and tells the people, and they don't
receive it, then He withdraws His servant and sends His plagues: famine,
death, spiritually speaking, physically also. You watch for a
depression, brother. You think you've seen something; you just wait after
while. You haven't seen nothing. You think you're
dying for a good spiritual revival; you wait till after a bit. You just
wait, long and cry to hear the Word of God. The Bible said so. "There'll be a famine in the last days," said the prophet, "and
not for bread and water alone, but for hearing the true Word of God." But that voice will be quiet in the wilderness somewhere, hid
away.
…Then he tells us that the persecution will come via a political route
because they don't have enough clout via a religious route.
102 64 Then
one day after sin had took its toll, and God has brought His people to their
knees... Jezebel took everything; she wiped it all up; and she'll do it again.
That's THUS SAITH GOD'S HOLY BIBLE. She'll do it again. She's right on the
throne now, behind the figurehead, twisting it anyway she wants to; and nobody's
going to stop her. Certainly, nobody's going to stop her now,
because what they couldn't get in the religious circles they cut it all into
politics, and there they done it. Uh-huh, that's exactly what they done. Which the political will be a boycott just exactly back to the mark
of the beast, as sure as I'm standing here. See? And the Bible said it.
Knoweth it not 65-0815 P:40 Now, we'll take the Pentecostal
woman. She shouldn't wear shorts, makeup, or cut her hair, but she looks back
down at the Methodist: "Say, look at that woman do so and so." Say,
the woman don't wear shorts but she said... And herself with bobbed hair... See? Higher you rise in God, the more sinful the whole thing looks. And
then sometimes in prayer you can imagine when the Holy Spirit take you up into
a sphere, then the whole thing looks chaos. Then when you come back down, just
seem like you're, to the people you're a rascal, that you're nothing but an old
sarcastic, you're a fool, because you stand as an old crank and always
rebuking the people, but if you ever climb into them spheres one time, when
you can be in the presence of God, not through emotion, but through genuine
Holy Spirit lifting up, the whole thing is wrote "Ichabod"; the glory of the Lord has departed from the whole denominational outfit. That's right. There's none of
them that's right.
Again from the sermon, Choosing of a bride 65-0429E P:86
Brother Branham said, "Dear
God, when in my spirit is shaking, my heart is dropping teardrops of warning,
grant, O God, that men and women will not think of what I've said as a joke, and
the church people will not think of it as something that was prejudice or
against them. May they see, Lord, it's in love. Thou barest me record,
Almighty God, that up and down this coast I went, year after year, proclaiming
Your Word. Bear me record, O God, if it would happen tonight, I've told the
truth. Thou knowest this vision of the Bride is the
truth. I've took Your Name by it, Lord, and said it was, THUS SAITH THE LORD,
and I feel that I'm conscious, Lord, of what I'm doing. So I pray Thee, Lord,
in Jesus' Name, let people shake themselves tonight and flee from the wrath
that is to come, for the--Ichabod is
wrote over the doors and over the nation. A black check mark is come across
it; the Spirit of God is grieved away from it; and they're
weighed in the balances and found wanting. The feast of King Nebuchadnezzar has
repeated again with drunken parties and half-dressed women calling themselves Christians.
Jehovah Jireh 3 64-0404 P:104 You know, when I see personal
workers going with people, I want to say this about you people here. That
proves what you're made of. See? I've went to places, even in people who's
supposed to be Spirit-filled people, and see altar calls made. And, why, you
couldn't get people to go in with anybody to pray with them. See, that
shows it's Ichabod. The Spirit of the Lord has departed.
Super sign 63-1129 P:75 But are
we going to set numb like? Has the Spirit... Is it "Ichabod" on the Life Tabernacle? Has that been wrote
across the tabernacle? Has that been wrote across
the churches that I've been visiting across the nation? Is it so dark and
dense now that one here, and one there, one in the field, "I'll take one," and maybe one over across
the other side of the world, and, 'I'll take
one'"? "As it was in the
days of Noah, wherein eight souls were saved by water, so shall it be in the
coming of the Son," have we reached that place?
Three kinds of believers 63-1124E
P:56 See, the
Gentile kingdom come in with forcing of the worship of a image of a holy man.
And the Gentile kingdom goes out with the forcing of the image of a holy man
(See?): same way. And there was a handwriting on
the wall of unknown tongues at the beginning of the Gentile kingdom, that no
one could read but that prophet, and there's a handwriting on the wall today
(That's right.): Ichabod, that the glory of God has departed from them things. And the handwriting's on the wall and can be read by the spiritual
mind that believes in spiritual things, that's been born of the Spirit of
God. Old Belteshazzar goes out and gets these vessels
of the Lord to drink wine of. Why? He was a
unbeliever. He thought he was a believer, but he was a
unbeliever. See, that's it. He disbelieved the Word.
Only one way provided by God
63-0731 P:52 And
any religion today that hasn't got the Blood Life of Jesus Christ behind it,
the death angel's on it (Right.), death angel, separated from God.
Yes, indeedy, Ichabod's
wrote on every bit of it that hasn't got the Blood. You say, "Well,
I'm glad, the Blood..."If the Blood hasn't taken effect, if it hasn't
taken effect and you see it in your life as a consecrated child of God,
with what Jesus said would take place, then be careful, you might have
something else besides the Blood. You might have a little injection of
theology in there or something, a little inject of some sensation. You say,
"I quivered. I shook. I danced. I've did this."
Be careful. If the medicine ever strikes you, it's good for every human being.
It'll save from sin. It'll clean up from a life of sin,
It'll make a different person out of you. It'll take the doubt away, and It'll make you a new creation in Christ Jesus.
Amen. Death struck Egypt. God separated a belief from unbelief that day by
the--by the blood upon the door.
Planting the vine and where to
plant it 59-0920 P:24 The thing of it is, they haven't got spiritual joy, and the joys of the
waters of Life can flow through. That's the whole lot's the matter with the
Branham Tabernacle. Because that unbelief, the cares of the world has bound the
people until it cannot produce spiritual growth. That's what's the matter with our nation. That's the matter with
our churches. They have no joy, and the joy of the Lord has departed, as was
written one time in the Scripture, the Hebrew word of "Ichabod," which means, "The Presence
of the Lord has departed." That's
over our churches, because that we left off of the original foundation, and
placed ourselves into creeds and denominations, and permitted the things of the
world to dry up our experience with God.
Sign of the time 58-0520 P:46 Can you see the handwriting on
the wall? Here we are, the handwriting in the sky,
"Ichabod" on the church, "the
Spirit of the Lord has departed."
Where are we standing? What's the matter? This is a horrible time.
And let me just say this in closing. Don't
think just because you
are in this Message that God's presence can not leave you. Don't you think for
one minute that just because you sat under a vindicated prophet and an
indicated teacher that God's presence can not leave you.
Not when there are churches in this Message who've canceled services to have
social events and football parties, and you think God is pleased with that?
I weep when I see the sacrifices that
William Branham made so that you and I might have this wonderful Message, even
denying his own family the pleasure of his presence with them in order to
travel this nation and the world to bring us this Bread of Life that delivers
men from the cares of this world. I weep when I see churches in this Message
become ensnared by the cares of this life. My heart is heavy, my burden is
great, When I see how Jesus Christ sanctified Himself for our sake, and when I
see how William Branham sanctified Himself for our sake, and then when I see
how the people have no desire for a sanctified life themselves, that others
might be saved from this world and the cares of this life through their
sanctified. My heart weeps, and I say where have I
failed oh God, where have I failed.
Jesus cried on the cross, Eli Eli lama sabachthani. "My
God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me", and there
he hung on that cross, forsaken by His Father for you and for me, and he hung
there to die all alone, forsaken by his disciples, forsaken by all. And I cry out this morning, "My
God, My God why have we forsaken thee!"
As David said in Psalm 139:23 Search me, O God,
and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: 24 And see if there be any wicked way in me, and
lead me in the way everlasting.
Let us bow our hearts in prayer.