Desperation
no 24
Signs
of the End
May 15, 2016
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
Matthew
24:3 And as he sat upon the mount of Olives,
the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things
be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and
of the end of the world? 4 And Jesus answered and
said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. 5 For
many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 6 And
ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all
these things must
come to pass, but the end is not yet. 7 For nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes in divers
places. 8 All these are the beginning of sorrows. 9 Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's sake. 10 And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another. 11 And many false prophets
shall rise, and shall deceive many. 12 And because iniquity shall abound, the love
of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same
shall be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. For nation
shall rise against nation, and kingdom
against kingdom: and there shall be famines,
and pestilences, and earthquakes
in divers places.
Mark 13:8 For nation shall rise against nation, and
kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and
there shall be famines and troubles: these
are the beginnings of sorrows.
Luke 21:10 Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:
41 And
on the Lamb's Book of Life, I want my
name wrote. I want Him to remember me when the roll call. And it throws me
into desperation, that is, like Paul said, "After I have preached the
Gospel shall I be a stowaway, shall I be a castoff?" It could happen. So
it throws me into a desperate stage, desperations, to think of after all these
years of preaching, would I, could I, a place come where I could fail Him.
What's the next move? What must I do next? And it throws me into a nervous
stage that what can I do. It throws me to the mountains and to the valleys. And
it's hard, because when I'm with the people I've got to be all things to all
men that I might win some to Christ, yet with that Token always before me. See?
42 And I see things that's coming up, and you can't tell the
people. You see different
things, and you're forbidden.
You know that is exactly what Br. Billy Paul said that brother Branham told
him when he came out of the room after meeting with the angel concerning the
sixth seal. Br. Billy told me that he said to his father, "Daddy, what
did the angel show you in there". And brother Branham said, "Son, I can't
tell you or the people, because if I told you, you would never sleep another
night the test of your life."
So let me read paragraph 42 again. And I see things that's coming up, and you can't tell the
people. You see different
things, and you're forbidden. Them visions that they call on, and sometimes
they'd be sorry if you did tell them...
And you know better than to do it.
And what is causing these things? What is causing the shaking of the
earth? And what is causing the shaking of nations? What is causing the shaking
of Kingdoms, and something must be shaking the people's brains until there is
so much insanity among the nations of the world that a person that the
politicians have resorted to toilet politics.
God's provided place of
worship 65-0425 P:77 Look at this teenage insane. Why, I told you
the other day, they was taking an analysis there of the schools in Arizona
where I live, and eighty
percent of the children in school is mentally retarded. What will their children be?
We can't have another generation. We're at the end. Jesus said these things
would come. Look at all the televisions and things getting these fictitious
things in order. It'll come a time, I predict, that people will be completely totally insane;
the world will be.
The Bible
speaks of such hideous sights as they show in movies today of some prehistoric
creature's age, that's lived in the earth for so many thousands and millions of
years, hatch and come forth to some... That's just a minor thing to what's
going to happen. When
hell is opened and the Devil comes out with all of his mysterious
things, of women--or locusts with hair like women, and teeth like lions.
Why, the world will
be completely, totally insane. It's not but just about one degree
from it now.
And you think things are crazy today, with all the toilet politics and
LGBT tummy rot and gay marriage and all the filthy Obama sodomite agenda, just
wait until hell opens its doors, and Satan Himself comes out incarnate.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him, 2 That ye be not soon shaken in
mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us,
as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of
sin be revealed, the son of perdition; 4 Who
opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is
worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple
of God, shewing himself that he is God. 5 Remember ye
not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He (God) who now letteth will continue to let or allow, until He (God)
will be taken out
of the way (or goes up out of the midst of humanity). 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed,(apokolupsis
or unveiled) whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his presence: 9 Even him,
whose presence is after the working of Satan with all
power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness
in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie:
12 That they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un-right-wise-ness.
So we are
looking at a time when the Holy Ghost who is in our midst leaves the earth and
we with him, then shall the wicked one be unveiled, and come totally into
power.
Wuest Translation II Thessalonians 2: 5-7 Do you not remember that while I was still with
you I kept on telling you these things? And now you know with a positive
assurance that which namely, the departure of the church, the saints being
assembled to the Lord, is preventing his being disclosed as to his true
identity, in his strategic, appointed time, for the mystery of the
aforementioned lawlessness is now operating. Only He, the Holy Spirit, who is holding
the lawlessness down, will do so, until He goes out from the midst of humanity.
And then shall the lawless one be disclosed in his true identity..etc.
So
we see here that this Scripture speaks first of the Saints assembling to the
Lord and then it speaks of their departure from the earth. Then, as if in the
same breath, Paul also tells us this will happen when the Holy Spirit departs
from the midst of humanity. Now, the Holy spirit could not depart from the
midst of humanity if He were not here. And if we are to be gathered together to
Him first, then when he goes we go, for nowhere in scripture does it speak
contrary to this. Nowhere in Scripture does it speak of the Lord leaving at a
different time from the earth than the saints leave. So, if we are gathered
together unto Him first, then it is He that takes us up from the midst of
humanity just like Jesus took Peter James and John up into the Mountain.
Second seal the 63-0319 P:105
The
Bible said he would be setting in the temple of God, worship like
God. When that little doctrine become incarnate, it become a vicar instead of
the Son of God. See? Oh, my. That awful deceiving spirit. If you want to
read that, read in II
Thessalonians 2:3 and you can see where it's at. And of course, you will remember Satan is the
head of all political power of every nation. How many knows that?
You want to put it down? Matthew
4:8 'Satan took Jesus up to a high mountain, and he
showed Him all the kingdoms of the world that ever was, or ever would be in a
moment of time'. Talk about a person, he said, "I'll give them
to you if you'll worship me." And Jesus knew that He was going to fall
heir to them.
Second seal the 63-0319 P:83 Now, watch. Satan,
when he incarnates himself in his subjects, they do the work that he did.
Don't you see? What did he do? Come right to that innocent woman to deceive
her. And that's exactly what some of these devils do: come right into a place,
and say, a little pastor gets started out somewhere come in and say, "Oh,
if you just join up with us..." See? The same devil work. Now,
that's the Truth. And when Satan become incarnate into his church, if there
be a devil, then they are the ones that does the murdering and killing and so
forth, because Satan is a killer in the first place, a liar and a... See? All
right, what does Satan do when he does, when he becomes incarnate amongst
the people? It's his duty to be shrewd. He is shrewd. You search the Bible,
and you show me where God ever dealt with intellectual people. Hunt for it and see
if it isn't always the intellectuals that's devil possessed. It's a big
word, but it's true. I challenge you to take the lineage from Abel to Cain, and
them fourteen generations, run them out, and see which ones was on the smart
side and which ones was the humble ones.
Second seal the 63-0319 P:81 Now, but in the age after the Church goes
home, he becomes a beast. He becomes the devil incarnate, the red dragon
himself. Oh, my. Can't you see what I mean? He's incarnate in his people
then. He's got his people bound by his power. The false
prophet has prophesied them right into it, give them over to strong delusions
to believe a lie and be damned by it, denying the Word with a form of
godliness. God works His place in a trinity: justification, sanctification and incarnate
Himself in His people in the baptism of the Holy Ghost. Same thing. The
devil's just in a type after Christ. Oh, Satan incarnates himself.
Do you see
then that the incarnation of God in His church doing the signs and wonders must
take place before we go home, then Satan impersonates this and incarnates his
people with false signs and wonders because they are without the Word.
Below is an article from the "Wall Street Journal"
and of all newspapers, The Nations business newspaper, and just look at the
name of the article.
CERN Is Seeking Secrets of the Universe, or Maybe
Opening the Portals of Hell. Operators of Large Hadron
Collider gear up to battle conspiracy theories
By
JOHN LETZING
April 4, 2016 4:01 p.m. ET
GENEVA—The
European Organization for Nuclear Research, or CERN, is gearing up for another
run at smashing particles together to unlock the secrets of the universe.
That means anticipating
a new round of conspiracy theories that its real aim is to blast open a gateway
for apocalyptic demons.
Never mind that a few years ago, CERN
scientists discovered a particle crucial to the understanding of physical
matter. Many Internet commenters want to talk about how CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, a 17-mile subterranean loop that
smashes particles at nearly the speed of light, may breach another dimension and unleash the forces of
darkness.
One commenter fretted
about how best to confront them: “Do we buy guns and ammo?”
Others zeroed in on
the statue of Shiva, a Hindu god of destruction, on CERN’s Geneva campus—it
might have caused last year’s deadly earthquake in Nepal, one blogger thought.
Also, what about the CERN logo that looks a lot like the 666 sign of the
Antichrist?
“We Should be Very
Scared About CERN,” read the headline of an opinion piece published by The
Daily Reporter, in Coldwater, Mich., that suggested the organization could “destroy
our universe.”
Last summer, Internet chatter about CERN’s
role in hastening doomsday spiked. “It got to the point where there really
needed to be some intervention,” said Kate Kahle, who oversees social
media at CERN.
In September, CERN
quietly posted the sort of frequently asked questions page many organizations
publish. But this one had a unique working title: “Surreal FAQ.”
Cern has set up a
statue of Shiva the Hindu lord of
darkness and it is interesting that his role is "to destroy all the
worlds at the end of creation and dissolve them into nothingness."
http://www.hinduwebsite.com
Communion 65-1212 P:2 Now, there's
one thing that I'd want to say just before we start the communion, is this;
that I believe that we have seen enough in our day that we live in, that we
ought to really give every, all of our being to God. We should really serve
God. I believe that He has blessed us with the direct answer to Scripture. As
Brother Pearry gave it a few moments ago, that we're at that time. We're not
blind; we see that we're here; we've arrived. And we also can look around and see that the way that
the human mind is leaving the people. That we can't stay too much
longer, we'd be in a complete insane institution; the whole world would
be. See? So we're at the end time.
Oddball the 64-0614E P:22 I was thinking
the other day, who is able, who today is not a nut? You're somebody's
nut. I believe the
world is completely going insane. Did you know, it's a time
that people can't judge between right and wrong, or truth or error? Do you know the politicians
can't judge right and wrong? You see them keeping quiet on this
voting the Bible back in the church or the Bible back into the schools? They
don't know which way their politics are going to blow. Think of it. I don't
know how it is in Indiana now, but in the State of Arizona it's against the law
to read the Bible in school. I think it's the same thing in Indiana, nearly the
whole United States, because some infidel woman changed the whole program. And
remember, it's against the law to read the Bible in our public schools, but believer's
taxes supports infidelity to be taught in the schools. Politics...
Christ
Revealed In His Own Word pp.18 "I was just talking to a young minister and his
wife in the room just a few
moments ago. And both of them
are nervous just like the rest of the world, rest of the human beings on earth.
I said, "Remember, Satan's got a punch coming at you." I don't care
who you are, God... He's got a right to that one punch. Which had you rather
be, that punch, be blind, or be an arthritic setting in a chair, or be nervous?
See? He's got somewhere he could punch you. He's got a right to that open
place. Now, that's the spot you got to keep covered all the time. 19 And to
see this nervous age that we're living in... And last week's tapes, I
think, will reveal to you the great hideous things that we're going to speak on
one of these days when we can get a place sufficient, of the opening of those
last plagues to be poured out upon the earth--those Vials, rather, pouring out
of the Vials, and the Seven Thunders... And those hideous sights that's coming
upon the earth... 20 Men
now and people today are in such a neurotic condition, the whole world... You read this last months
"Reader's Digest." You notice the subject there; it's on Billy Graham
the great evangelist. He got so tired he just couldn't hold his meetings, and
he--he went to Mayo's Clinic for a physical checkup. There wasn't nothing wrong
with him, only he just doesn't
do enough work. And they put him to running: physical exercise. He runs a
mile every day. And then, the article goes on to say that science has proved,
that today, that young children, these little boys and girls hit their middle
age at twenty years old. And by twenty-five, many times in many cases the girls
are out of menopause at twenty-five years old. I don't know if you knew it or
not, but a few nights ago while the Holy Spirit was speaking here in the
meeting, a little girl setting down here; that's exactly what was wrong with
that child when It called out. I looked at her a second time, looked again, and
I seen what was the matter. I thought, "It can't be; that child's too
young." But it was, menopause, about twenty years old, twenty-three, something
like that. See? 21 My mother and your mother struck that age
about forty-five to fifty. My wife struck that age about thirty-five. Now, it's down to twenty. The whole human race is rotten.
Well, if them physical beings of our body is tearing down like that from eating hybrid foods, tensions, that rotten
it, does not that also rot the brain cell? Then we can see how women can get on
the street naked. We can see how they can speed through the streets at a
hundred and twenty miles an hour, all these things. It's come to a place where
the whole nation, the whole world, not only this nation, but everywhere,
mentally gone. 22 And then when we open up those, the Lord
willing, on those Seven Vials and show those
hideous things... Men will be
so insane after while, till they'll imagine they're seeing ants the size of
a mountain. They'll be tormenting women, be locusts come upon the earth with
long hair to torment women who cut theirs off, hair like women hanging down,
and long teeth like a lion, stingers in their tail like a scorpion, and so
forth, to torment men upon the earth. But then it'll be too late to do anything
about it. You get right now. See? Tormenting..."
Now I hope you noticed that Brother
Branham is focusing his thoughts here on the mental condition of men and women
in this last hour. How men and women have come to the state where their bodies
are rotting and their minds have become rotten as well.
In paragraph
18 he speaks of a young couple, a Pastor and his wife
that he’s been counseling and he mentions how nervous they both are. Then he
says, And both of them are nervous just like the rest of the world, rest of the human beings on
earth.
We see then, he’s not mentioning this
because a certain couple were nervous, but to let us know that the condition of
this couple is a universal condition in all mankind. It’s not just a problem in
America, but in every nation on earth. And so we see this nervous condition is an
attribute of or identifier of the days that we live. It identifies the
times in which we live.
Now, I would like for you to pay close
attention this morning to what I will be sharing from Brother Branham's
thoughts here, because in these thoughts you will receive the help you need for
yourself as well. Notice in paragraph 19 He said, "And to
see this nervous age that we're living in"...and notice how he went on to tie this thought into the opening of
the 7
vials and the letting loose of the end-time plagues upon man.
Again we see in paragraph 20 he says,
"Men now and people
today are in such a neurotic condition, the whole world"... Therefore we see this neurotic condition
is universal, for he said, the whole world!
In paragraph 21 he speaks of how the body
is rotting and women are reaching menopause at an earlier age, and we know
menopause is a condition that the body goes into after it passes out of its
life cycle and enters into its dying or death cycle.
And since this condition is reflexive upon
all mankind, that ought to tell you that the whole earth is in its last phase
or cycle of death.
He continues to speak of the deteriorating
mental condition of the people until the entire world is going insane. He says, The whole human race is rotten. Well, if them physical beings of our body
is tearing down like that from eating hybrid
foods, tensions, that rotten it, does not that also rot the brain cell? Then we can see how women can get on
the street naked. We can see how they can speed through the streets at a
hundred and twenty miles an hour, all these things. It's come to a place where
the whole nation, the whole world, not only this nation, but everywhere,
mentally gone.
Now, finally in paragraph 22 we hear him say, Men
will be so insane after while and he speaks on how they will see things
that are not really there, but their minds will be seeing things like from
another dimension or something, a real delusion, and it will be real to them as
far as they are concerned just like when he went into one vision after anther
and could not tell vision from reality.
And all you have to do is open your eyes
and your ears to see that hell has opened its doors and the nation is filled
with evil hateful demons, and Satan has begun to incarnate his own people, and
they are pushing his demonic agenda through the politics of every country and
the people that have not lost their minds yet see this and are looking for a
Savior, but they are looking at a political savior instead of God to save them.
And so they are looking for some knight in shining armor to save this nation,
but a vindicated prophet of God has said Thus Saith the Lord in 1956 that this
nation and the world would reject the Gospel that year, and they did just that,
and kicked God out of the pledge of allegiance, then kicked God out of the
schools, then out of all public property.
And so we will examine these thoughts on
the condition of man in this last hour and the condition of the mind. Brother
Branham is telling us that the whole world has come to a condition that it is
mentally gone. He said, the hybrid foods and the tensions have caused our
bodies to rot and since our brain cells are part of our bodies, they are
rotting as well.
We find this condition that brother
Branham is speaking of in the scriptures. We are warned that there is coming a
time that will be full of tension and stress and it will hard to bear. We are
also told that the anxieties of life will be self-consuming everyone who lives
on the face of the earth.
In 2 Timothy 3: 1 the Amplified version, we read: "But understand this, that in the last
days there will set in perilous times of great
stress and trouble -hard
to deal with and hard to bear."
Now if you caught what Brother Branham was
telling us, he said it is "the hybrid foods and the tensions that are
rotting the bodies" and "thus the minds of the people".
So it is already too late. The Monsantos
and other chemical warfare companies have already destroyed the minds of the
people through destroying their brain cells, until we see insanity on almost
every street corner and in every story on the news.
And the tensions or stress are a very
critical thing in the undoing of the human race, because the brains are already
weakened by the amounts of chemicals in the air and water and in our food,
until if the Lord tarries any longer no flesh will be saved.
Mark 13:20 And except
that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect's sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath
shortened the days.
And you will notice that the Amplified
Translation of 2 Timothy 3:1 tells us these times of great tension
and stress will be hard to deal with and hard to bear, that is why the suicide rate is so high.
In Mark 4:18-19
we read, 18 And these are they which are sown
among thorns; such as hear the word, 19 And
the cares of this world, and the
deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the
word, and it (the Word) becometh unfruitful.
Therefore notice that the cares
of this life creep in and choke off the Life of the Word.
Now this is a warning to us to be careful
not to get so caught up into the things of this world as to allow them to take
over sole dominance of our lives.
The Greek word used here for cares is the word Merimna which means the
anxieties of this Life.
And I want you to notice that the word anxieties
is defined by Webster as: being a state of being uneasy or apprehensive,
or worried about what may happen;
concern about a possible future event, and
the psychological effects of anxiety are
worry and nervous tensions.
We read in Luke 6:47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth
them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an
house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood
arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for
it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he
that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an
house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and
immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.
And again we read of this end time condition in Luke 21:34-36 NIV
34 "Be careful, or your hearts will be weighed down with (1) dissipation, (2) drunkenness
and (3) the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly like a trap.
35 For it will come upon all those who
live on the face of the whole earth. 36 Be always on the watch, and pray
that you may be able to escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be
able to stand before the Son of Man."
Now, let's stop here for a moment to
see just exactly what this means. He told us to be careful about three things that could weigh upon us and
close in on us like a trap.
The first thing Jesus mentions is Dissipation:
means: Wasteful expenditure or wasteful consumption. If that isn't this
Laodicean condition where men think they are rich and increased with good and know not that
they are miserable blind and naked, and don't even know it. Just
look around.
It also means, 3.
Dissolute indulgence in sensual pleasure; intemperance. 4. An amusement; a diversion. So we are
warned to be careful not to become too weighed down by these things which are
rampant in our society today. That's laodicea full speed ahead.
And second thing Jesus mentions is, Drunkeness: which implies a losing of ones ability to rightly reason. And to be resolute in our
minds.
In other words, being so caught up into today that we do not see what lays ahead for us
tomorrow.
And finally the third thing Jesus mentions that will
creep up on us like a trap is Anxieties of this
Life: And we are told by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 4:6
"be anxious
for nothing".
You see, God is not pushy, and he does not want us to
get pushy about anything. He told us that "the bride needs
to lay in the presence of the Son to ripen." Not run, run,
run, but lay in His presence until we get mellow in
our spirit and ripe in our soul.
Now, this scripture tells us that if we are not
focused on Christ when that day comes, we are going to miss Him, and yet these
three things are what the entire world are focused on and they have missed Him
altogether.
Notice he said, if you are caught up in these things, that day will close on
you unexpectedly like a trap. 35 For it will come upon all those who live on the face of
the whole earth.36 Be always on the watch, and pray that you may be able to
escape all that is about to happen, and that you may be able to stand before
the Son of Man."
Luke 8:18 Take heed therefore how ye hear: for whosoever hath, to him
shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from
him shall be taken even that which he seemeth to have.
Notice in this Scripture that it is not just the anxieties of this life, the bills
and the mortgage and the auto loans, and the utilities etc., but it is
also the pleasure seeking and other things as well that will creep into our
lives and choke off the Life of the Word.
Now notice that brother Branham used the
term "neurotic" which comes from the word neurosis.
And the word Neurosis according to Webster is defined as: Any of various Psychic, or mental, functional disorders
characterized by one or several of the following reactions: anxiety, compulsion,
obsession, phobia, depression, disassociation and
conversion.
And I preached seven sermons years ago on
this subject showing that anxiety is a lack of trust that God has everything
under control, and anxiety leads you to compulsive behavior because you want to
take charge of your own fate and in doing so you see what is coming upon the
earth and you compulsively try to gain some sort of control of your own fate,
and thus leads to obsession because your compulsive behaviour leads you to an
obsessive behavior which brings on a fear or phobia that you might not make it,
and that leads to depression, and when a person is depressed they become
reclusive and pull back from fellowship and that leads to disassociation, and
once you have forsaken the gathering together and fellowship of the saints, you
have been converted to full blone neurosis, and you become a neurotic.
Brother Branham said, Men now and people today are in such a neurotic condition, the whole world.
So we see that this neurotic condition is
a world-wide mental condition that has come upon mankind like a trap.
Just as we see the Laodicean condition of
being naked, blind and miserable is a universal condition as well.
Rev 3:17 Because
thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and
knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and
naked:
Brother Branham said "a person who would walk around naked and
then doesn’t know it, is either mentally gone or demon possessed." We’ll find out in this message.
Now, remember the condition we saw in Luke 21:31-36 For it will come upon all those who live on
the face of the whole earth. Notice
that this condition is to come upon everyone who dwells
upon the face of the earth. So it is a
world-wide condition, and then if that is so, then it will affect us as well unless
we are aware of it. Therefore we read in verse 36 "Be always
on the watch, and pray that you may be able to escape all that is about to
happen, and that you may be able to stand before the Son of Man."
Now, we are not super humans that cannot
be affected by these things. We are merely mortals in our flesh and we need to
know what it is that affects us before we can find the cure. If we think this
doesn't pertain to us then why did Jesus warn us that it was coming, and warn
us to be on the watch for it?
Now, I believe the thing that is causing
this condition in the earth is the focus we have in our lives. If our focus is on the things of this world, then
we will be caught up into these anxieties which become a snare to us just as
they are a snare or trap to the entire world.
But if our focus is upon Christ and His End
Time plan for us and the Promises He has come down to make manifest to us, in this
last-hour, then we will overcome this trap.
Jesus said "if the man of the house had know what hour
the thief was coming, he would have prepared his home and he would not have
suffered the thief to break in."
And William Branham said in
his sermon, Modern events made clear by prophecy
65-1206 P:117 Dear God, we realize that
Jesus Christ is in our midst. We know that He is here. He's here tonight, the invisible God is here with us, and can
confirm every promise that He made in His Word.
And not only can he confirm his promises
to us, but brother Branham said in his sermon,
Presence of God unrecognized 64-0618 P:1 "working for this one purpose, for you to recognize the Presence of Jesus Christ.
See? If He is present, then, why,
everything is settled. He made the Word. He is here to
confirm It. He proves
that He'll confirm It. "He is just the same yesterday, today, and
forever." We see Him do it last night, infallibly; we see Him night after
night, and day after day, and year after year. Never one time has He predicted
anything, regardless of what it was, when it would happen, out of the thousands
of times, of what was perfectly on the dot, on time, and right. How can it? How
many knows that, and knows the ministry, and knows that that's true? There you
are. Not one time, regardless, how even impossible, happened just the same. He's
God. And if we would just recognize that, take ahold of it...
Therefore our focus has got to be on
"standing in the presence of the Son of Man" as Jesus said. We should not be concerned
with the cares of this life, they are a snare to the real things that God has
in store for us.
We are told in Matt 7:24-27 That the same trials will come
upon all who dwell on the face of the earth.
Therefore, it’s the spirit of the age, or
the condition of the hour, as we know that Revelations 3:14-20 speaks of.
Letting off the pressure
62-0513E P:21 Everybody... It's just becoming a neurotic age. Everybody's
all built up, haven't got no time. And that builds up to a place that it
breaks up things, it causes people to have hard feelings when they snap them
off and say things you don't mean to say. Now, everybody's guilty of
it. I'm guilty; you're all guilty, We do things under pressure that we
wouldn't do otherwise. So there is an excess pressure built up today. I
believe, before I go any farther I might say this: I believe it's the enemy
coming down and pressing. I believe it's the devil. And we know the coming
of the Lord is at hand, and the Bible said in the last days that the devil
would go about like a roaring lion. And if he could get you under pressure,
hurrying, running over something, you'll make decisions that you wouldn't make
if you'd set down and think it over.
Letting off the pressure
62-0609E P:28 Now, we don't have to hurry, and scuffle, and act
like the rest of the world. Quieten down. What's the matter with the
Christian? The spirit of the world today is neurotic. But that's
not the Spirit of Christ. Did you ever see Him get excited about something? Just
as calm as He could be. He knowed exactly where He was standing. Oh, what a
blessed assurance is. Just like a baby, to lay your trust upon Him, and let
Him take all your cares; for He cares for you. Don't try to do anything about
it. He will do it already. He's promised He would do
it. It's His
business. As long as you're fooling with it, well, then, He
can't have it. But when you turn it loose and let Him have it, He will take
care of it for you. Yes, sir. Oh, I like that. What a perfect calmness the
Christian ought to have.
Letting off the pressure
62-0513E P:15 We are living in a neurotic age, nervous tension. Everybody's
racing here and going there, and going nowhere. It's just at that kind of
an age. And I know this church would be plagued with it as every where is
plagued with it. Tabernacle's plagued with it, everywhere, the whole world.
It's a day of pressure. Hurry, hurry; hurry, hurry; hurry up and wait. Drive
ninety miles an hour to get home for supper and wait two hours till it gets ready.
That's right. It's the time. And in that rushing and speeding it gets you to
a nervous tension; the wife say something a little contrary, you want to
fly off: temper.
Christ is the mystery 63-0728
P:116 Now, you say, "I might know I was losing my mind. Maybe a man that
loses his mind does that." But if you have the mind of Christ, Christ expresses Himself through
you. Shows that it's Him and you've not lost your mind.
Some people under illusions of things goes out and becomes insane. Well,
that... We know that's wrong. That's the devil trying to impersonate the real
thing before it gets here. See? There's always a bogus. See? But a real man is
a lose his own thoughts and his own thinking, not come up blindly like that.
No, sir. You come up with your right senses and Christ takes you over and
expresses Himself. And now, to the world you're an insane person. Now, if
you're insane, you're actually insane, then there's nothing... The devil can't
take you in complete control. He will make you do everything contrary to this
Word, but when Christ takes you over, He will express that Word right
through, because it's Him. He is the Word. See? And then you can see
the expression of Christ, not some illusion of some sort, but a real genuine
Christ, expressing Himself right through you. How beautiful.
In closing let me finish our reading from paragraph 42 of Desperation,...
And
then, you go so far in visions till everything becomes a vision, and it throws you into a nervous stage.
You look and say, "Now, am I in a vision?" Like setting right here,
"Is this a vision? Where am I really standing at?" See? You overwork yourself; you overtax yourself.
And you find out things about people
that you wished you didn't know. The people that desires these things,
to know these things, they don't realize what that type of ministry costs. You
don't know what goes with it. Then it
throws into desperation, "Lord God, I know I'm going to have to
answer."
Let
us pray...