Christ is the Mystery no 160

A False Unity

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

 

This evening we will again read a few Paragraphs  from brother Branham's sermon, Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed, and we will look at what is currently taking place in the world of Religion, concerning the false uniting of the Catholics with the protestant churches and now especially the Pentecostals.

 

1 Timothy 4: 1 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4  For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5  For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, where unto thou hast attained

 

Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed 249 Now, look, Notice now. United together under one Headship in a like manner type of Israel of old. Now, are you getting it? Like Israel of old: one God, a-vindicated by a Pillar of Fire and revealed Himself through a prophet to be the Word. The same God, same Pillar of Fire, same way... He cannot change His way. Is that, just perfect as it can be, isn't it? See?


250 One God... How many gods did Israel have? [Congregation replies "One"--Ed.] How many has the Bride got? [Congregation replies "One"--Ed.] How many will there ever be? [Congregation replies, "One"--Ed.] Sure, sure. See? Under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, which was the Pillar of Fire in the days of Moses the great prophet... He was directed by a Pillar of Fire. Is that right? All right. Going to a promised land...


251 And in the Christian age there was one God which appeared in a form of a Pillar of Fire to a prophet called Paul, who was sent to the Gentiles to take a people out for His Name's sake. Is that right? And in the last days has come down in like manner a-vindicating Himself (See?) in the same signs, same wonder, same Pillar of Fire, same Gospel, same Word, same manifestation... His Body will do the works that He promised, like in Mark 16 and so forth.


252 His body was not held in the grave, but was recognized with Him in the resurrection. Do you get it? Then the Body of His believing children will not be held in the grave when He comes, but will be recognized with Him, because He died for the purpose to resurrect His Bride, the Body. Recognize, because it is His Body, because it's the Word. It's so completely yielded from denominations and things to Him, and He is the Word. See? And it's recognized with Him because now we have the first-fruit of our resurrection by know that we've passed from death unto Life, become prisoners of His, and God proving to us by His personal Headship that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, by doing the same things through the Church that He did then. He in me, and I in Him, and you, and you know, and so forth. That's right. His body was not held in the grave, recognized with Him in the resurrection, same as He is now.


253 Listen. Which means this: His Word (which He is) has been, began to be risen. The Word that down through the age of Luther, Wesley (See?) has begin to raise up to its power. There it begin to move. Then it moved a little more. Now, it's coming up to identification. See? Watch. Now, to the Life in the Body is a vindication of the rapture is at hand. When you see the Headship and the Body becoming one and the Fullness of the measure of His manifestation, shows that the Body is about ready to be received to the Headship.


254 "Nations are breaking, Israel's awakening..." See what I mean? He has begin to give Life unto His Body (Why?) the one that He has redeemed. The mediatorial work is done. He's bringing His Life to Body in the vindication for the rapture. Remember, now in the last day... If you'll just bear with me on this just a little bit, now, now, it'll be all right. I don't want you to miss it. I've got to take this tape now being I started this far.


255 One more great remark I want to make, if I have to move over a little of it. Now, notice. Listen to this. Now, is the great thing. Now, is where we want to watch. Remember, in the last days will exactly go back and vindicate the first day. See? Adam and Eve, husband and wife, no sin, life, then the fall. Notice. Notice closely (twist her up).Notice, what caused it? Lucifer. Lucifer is doing now as he did at the first time. Just as the kingdom of the Gentiles was brought in with King Nebuchadnezzar--vindicated the Gentile race by a prophet who could interpret unknown tongues, visions, dreams. And it's come down through the Gentiles without anything, just Medes-o-Persians and iron and so forth, and in the feet it goes out the same way again: the Gentile kingdom.

 

The Token 64-0208  59 Likewise, we must remember that God is long-suffering, not willing that any should perish. He always sends His signs, His wonders. And then when He gets ready to do anything, He separates the believer from the unbeliever. And notice then how He provided for His promised-land people. Look what He did for His promised-land people there, to be sure that they would not be mixed up in some kind of an ism. What did He do? He sent a prophet to them, Moses, with a message identifying God's Word. And to identify Moses, He sent a Pillar of Fire that hung over him. Amen. Then to give him the perfect assurance, He required a token. Amen. There's a messenger, the message, and the vindication, and the token, the perfect assurance that they had nothing to worry about. No matter how many plagues strike, what everybody else says they are sealed away.


Then this separation begins a warfare, a Spiritual warfare. It always dos. Even back in the Garden when Abel's sacrifice was received because He had revelation of what the Trumpet was, and Cain did not. Cain became jealous and what happened? A warfare began. The first thing Cain did was to dispute with God and then with Abel. Then after the dispute, he killed Abel. Warfare!

 

Testimony of a true witness 61-1105 P:83 And one of the very first signs of Christianity, is he refused to kill a man. That's right. And you can kill a man in more ways than just sticking him with a knife; speak against his character, many ways you can do it.

 

But in every age God send a revelation for that age, and jealousy arises among those who can not receive it, and war break out. It is the same in every age, and I can prove it by the Word of God. Look at Jacob and Esau. Revelation received by one and rejected by the other. A dispute breaks out, then warfare, then one tries to kill the other.  Look at Joseph and His Brothers, Revelation received, the same revelation rejected. A dispute breaks out and then warfare. They try to do away with him. The same in Moses day, The same in Daniel's day, The same in Elijah's day, and the same in David's day, and in fact we find this example entirely throughout the scriptures from Genesis through Revelations.

 

A Revelation is given, a dispute takes place over that revelation, warfare breaks out, and then one who couldn't receive the revelation tries to kill the one who received it. Right plum back, all the way back to when Satan disputed with Michael.

 

Now, back to Christ is the Mystery of God Revealed, where brother Branham says in paragraph 256 Notice, Lucifer in the last days is doing as he did at first. What did Lucifer do? The first thing that Lucifer done to separate the fellowship of God and man, he wanted to build him a united kingdom of greater splendor and seemingly more cultured, a greater kingdom than Michael, Christ had. You got it? Now, now, if you miss it, just hold up your hand and I'll say it again. You see? See? Lucifer at the beginning, his purpose in heart was to achieve a brighter and greater thing in heaven than Christ had (Is that right?) by seemingly a more cultured, more beautiful, more splendor than the Kingdom of Christ. Do you think we'll have automobiles in the millennium and airplanes? See? See what Lucifer's doing?


257 Now, the big fancy intellectual denominations are doing the very same thing, gathering themselves together to do the same thing. See? They are gathering and denominating themselves, each one trying to beat the other. And now they got so much splendor they don't know what to do but to unite it with the Catholic church. See? Lucifer again building a bigger kingdom to push out people that don't believe in denominations, and even take their church buildings and make storerooms, and the pastors of such has no rights at all. And a man that is a God-sent man would never stay in a denomination after hearing this or seeing it, if he's got enough to go out and look at it. Certainly. See? I don't say that critically; I say that truthfully (See?) to see that revealed.

 

Now, I would like to read for you the words preached by this new Pope Francis in

Rome, January 27, 2014 because if you listen to his logic, and the way he handles the scriptures, it is by this that he will sway the Pentecostals and all the harlot children right back into the arms of their Mother Rome.

 

Here is the translation of Pope Francis sermon on Saturday at the conclusion of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. The evening prayer service took place at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls in Rome.

 

"Has Christ been divided?" (1 Corinthians 1:13). The urgent appeal which Saint Paul makes at the beginning of his First Letter to the Corinthians, and which has been proclaimed at this evening’s scripture reading, was chosen by a group of our fellow Christians in Canada as the theme for our meditation during this year’s Week of Prayer.

The Apostle was grieved to learn that the Christians of Corinth had split into different factions. Some claimed: "I belong to Paul"; while others claimed: "I belong to Apollos" or "I belong to Cephas", and others yet claimed: "I belong to Christ" (cf. v. 12).

 

Paul could not even praise those who claimed to belong to Christ, since they were using the name of the one Saviour to set themselves apart from their other brothers and sisters within the community. In other words, the particular experience of each individual, or an attachment to certain significant persons in the community, had become a yardstick for judging the faith of others.

 

Amid this divisiveness, Paul appeals to the Christians of Corinth "by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ" to be in agreement, so that divisions will not reign among them, but rather a perfect union of mind and purpose (cf. v. 10). The communion for which the Apostle pleads, however, cannot be the fruit of human strategies. Perfect union among brothers and sisters can only come from looking to the mind and heart of Christ (cf. Phil 2:5). This evening, as we gather here in prayer, may we realize that Christ, who cannot be divided, wants to draw us to himself, to the sentiments of his heart, to his complete and confident surrender into the hands of the Father, to his radical self-emptying for love of humanity. Christ alone can be the principle, the cause and the driving force behind our unity.

 

As we find ourselves in his presence, we realize all the more that we may not regard divisions in the Church as something natural, inevitable in any form of human association. Our divisions wound Christ’s body, they impair the witness which we are called to give to him before the world. The Second Vatican Council’s Decree on Ecumenism, appealing to the text of Saint Paul which we have reflected on, significantly states: "Christ the Lord founded one Church and one Church only. However, many Christian communities present themselves to people as the true inheritance of Jesus Christ; all indeed profess to be followers of the Lord but they differ in outlook and go their different ways, as if Christ were divided". And the Council continues: "Such division openly contradicts the will of Christ, scandalizes the world, and damages the sacred cause of preaching the Gospel to every creature" (Unitatis Redintegratio, 1).We have all been damaged by these divisions. None of us wishes to become a cause of scandal. And so we are all journeying together, fraternally, on the road towards unity, bringing about unity even as we walk; that unity comes from the Holy Spirit and brings us something unique which only the Holy Spirit can do, that is, reconciling our differences. The Lord waits for us all, accompanies us all, and is with us all on this path of unity. Christ, dear friends, cannot be divided! This conviction must sustain and encourage us to persevere with humility and trust on the way to the restoration of full visible unity among all believers in Christ. Tonight I think of the work of two great Popes: Blessed John XXIII and Blessed John Paul II. In the course of their own lives, both came to realize the urgency of the cause of unity and, once elected Bishops of Rome, they guided the entire Catholic flock decisively on the paths of ecumenism. Pope John blazed new trails which earlier would have been almost unthinkable. Pope John Paul held up ecumenical dialogue as an ordinary and indispensable aspect of the life of each Particular Church. With them, I think too of Pope Paul VI, another great promoter of dialogue; in these very days we are commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of his historic embrace with the Patriarch Athenagoras of Constantinople.

 

The work of these, my predecessors, enabled ecumenical dialogue to become an essential dimension of the ministry of the Bishop of Rome, so that today the Petrine ministry cannot be fully understood without this openness to dialogue with all believers in Christ. We can say also that the journey of ecumenism has allowed us to come to a deeper understanding of the ministry of the Successor of Peter, and we must be confident that it will continue to do so in the future. As we look with gratitude to the progress which the Lord has enabled us to make, and without ignoring the difficulties which ecumenical dialogue is presently experiencing, let us all pray that we may put on the mind of Christ and thus progress towards the unity which he wills. And to journey together is already to be making unity!

 

In this climate of prayer for the gift of unity, I address a cordial and fraternal greeting to His Eminence Metropolitan Gennadios, the representative of the Ecumenical Patriarch, and to His Grace David Moxon, the representative in Rome of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and to all the representatives of the various Churches and Ecclesial Communities gathered here this evening. With these two brothers representing everyone, we have prayed at the Tomb of Paul and have said to one another: "Let us pray that he will help us on this path, on this path of unity and of love, as we advance towards unity". Unity will not come about as a miracle at the very end. Rather, unity comes about in journeying; the Holy Spirit does this on the journey. If we do not walk together, if we do not pray for one another, if we do not collaborate in the many ways that we can in this world for the People of God, then unity will not come about! But it will happen on this journey, in each step we take. And it is not we who are doing this, but rather the Holy Spirit, who sees our goodwill.

 

Dear brothers and sisters, let us ask the Lord Jesus, who has made us living members of his body, to keep us deeply united to him, to help us overcome our conflicts, our divisions and our self-seeking; and let us remember that unity is always better than conflict! And so may he help us to be united to one another by one force, by the power of love which the Holy Spirit pours into our hearts (cf. Rom 5:5). Amen."

 

[Original text: Italian]

January 27, 2014) © Innovative Media Inc

 

What is taking place now is this: the Catholic church mistakes unity by the Word of God with unity via organization. she is trying to organize back the churches ho left her to strengthen her position in the world of geo-politics.

 

Brother Branham said in his sermon, I will restore 57-0309B P:25 Then during the dark age, they come forth with an organization. They come forth with a manmade policy. The locusts begin to fly then. The same devil that broke up brotherhood is trying to break the unity of man. And they made their first organization, and that was the Catholic church. God's church never was organized until Catholicism. And then it was a forcing, that you had to do it or they pulled them apart with ox, they burned them, they fed them to lions, they done everything. And they forced in a false unity. The locusts begin to sting. And it's too bad... After the caterpillar had got into the Pentecostal church and broke up the brotherhood, then the locusts come around after that, and begin to...?... to organize different little groups to break up our unity. That's one of the destroyers.

 

The Catholic News gives a detailed explanation of the new theology between the Catholic/Protestant rapprochement: “The Catholic-Protestant divisions have had no reason to exist since the 1999 Catholic-Lutheran Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification. The agreement recognized that ‘by grace alone, in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are accepted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.’”

 

232-1 THYATIREAN.CHURCH.AGE - CHURCH.AGE.BOOK.CPT.6 Now don't be confused and start thinking that the Church of Rome has repented of her slaughter of the saints because she is attempting to unite with the Protestants by making her creeds to line up with Protestant Creeds. Not once has she ever apologized and said she was wrong for her mass murders. And she won't either. And no matter how mellow and sweet she appears at this particular time, she will yet rise up to kill, for murder lies in her evil and unrepentant heart.

 

Now, although this preacher who calls himself Bishop Tony Palmer, he says it is the doctrine that causes division, and that is right, but then he says, quotes Jesus saying, I give them the glory that we may be one, it is the glory not the doctrine that makes us one. But he does not understand that the word Glory is the values, opinions, and judgments, that is the doctrine, the True doctrine in reality not in theology. But he says the doctrine is not important, we will sort that out on the other side, and he has a different understanding of the Glory, as though it is some divine issuance of God, but God is the Word. anyway, he is very smooth and the Pope is even smoother and since the world seeks not truth but feelings, this is how the people will fall for the great deception. '

 

Now, let's watch Now, let's watch the video and notice how slick he uses Malachi 4, and speaks of the Spirit of Elijah and calls it the spirit of reconciliation of the children back to the fathers. Not back to the Pentecostal church Age Fathers, there doctrine and the power that was in that church, but the Pope he is pointing to, which is total heresy but then the Pope talks and says he comes to talk from the heart to the hearts of the children. What a setup, and as the Bible says, "The end time deception is geared to the gullibility of them that perish."

 

The Wuest Translation says that this deception is geared to the gullibility of those who are perishing and that this gullibility is caused by the fact that they did not have a love for the Truth.

 

2 Thess 2: 10-12 "Of every kind of wicked deception geared to the gullibility of those who are perishing. This gullibility being caused by the fact that they did not accept the love for the Truth to the end that they might be saved. And because of this God sends them a deluding influence resulting in their believing the lie, in order that they all might be judged who did not believe the truth but took delight in wickedness."

 

So if they are geared that means they were made that way. I like his illustration of them that are perishing are geared to the gullibility which if you understand what a gear is, it is made in such a way that it fits itself to the gullible delusion. And in the Book of Romans Paul said, Romans 9:22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

 

1 Timothy 4: 1 1  Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; 2  Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; 3  Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. 4  For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving: 5  For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. 6  If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine, whereunto thou hast attained.

 

Notice Satan's Messengers masquerading as angels of Light which is exactly what the Apostle Paul told us would take place in 2 Cor 11: 13-15 13  For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.14  And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.15  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

 

Paul calls them those super fine apostles more righteous than God is righteous, but false to the bone, and look what they did to the early church as we see in verse 1.  Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me.  2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. 3  But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4  For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, (allos: a totally different Jesus) whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, (heteros, one of a different nature) which ye have not received, or another gospel, (heteros, one of a different nature) which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. (you just seem to put up with it).

 

Gal 1:6-9 6  I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: (that's heteros or one of a different nature) 7  Which is not another; (Allos: which is not totally a different one) but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (Notice not a different Gospel but a perversion of the real) 8  But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. 9  As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.


Mark 7:7-9 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.8  For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9  And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

 

They reject the Word of God in favor of their own teachings. And what does this do? It voids the power of the Word in their lives. Thus they crucify the Word to themselves.


Hebrews 6: 4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5  And have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, 6  If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.

 

Notice they can't crucify God who is a spirit but they can crucify the Word to themselves, and that is exactly what they do, making it of no use to them by their own traditions and creeds.


2 Thess 1:10 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.

 

We are to receive His Glory in the saints in this hour. The very mind of God in us.


Ephesians 1:17 17  That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:  18  The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,  19  And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,

 

let us pray...

 

Now, if we have time let's watch the video at http://branham.org/20140223_United