Desperation no 31

Scriptural Examples of Desperation no 2

June 19, 2016

Brian Kocourek, Pastor

 

So far we have found brother Branham referring to Jacob, Ruth, and Eliezer as he shows us Scriptural Examples of believers who were Desperate, but notice these examples are not just of desperate people, but rather in their desperation their Faith took hold and they cried out to God and walked away victorious.

 

And in the next few paragraphs we will find brother Branham adding to that list with Jonah, Hannah, The shunammite woman, and Blind Bartemmaus, Then after he is finished with Bible characters, he goes into a list of people whose faith took a hold during their own times of desperation.

 

We also see in Hebrews 11 that the Apostle Paul had a list of Bible characters for us to study out to see how they manifested their faith during great times of trials and in times of great and personal desperation.  In each of these we see how that through out their trials their desperation is what set their faith in motion for God to come on the scene and make a desperate people a victorious people.

 

Hebrews 11:1  Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, And this word substance was translated from the Greek word "hupostasis" and this word "hupostasis" is also translated by this same author Paul in Hebrews 1:3 when he speaks of Jesus Christ being the exact image of God's person. And this word person is also the same greek word "hupostasis".

 

Thus we read in Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the "Hupostasis" of things hoped for...

 

And in Hebrews 1:1 we read,  " God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2  Hath in these last days spoken unto us in Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;
3  Who (he is still speaking of the Son here) "Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, (Hupostasis) and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 4  Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

 

Now, since Paul tells us in Hebrews 1:3 That Jesus is the exact representation of God's person or hupostasis, and in Hebrews 11:1 we see that "Faith is the substance or Hupostasis of things hoped for", Therefore we can see that this substance then is actually the person of God Himself that we hope for, and since God is invisible, "He" is "the evidence of things not seen."

 

2  For by it (what is this "it" Paul speaks of here? By God Himself he is telling us) the elders obtained a good report. 3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

 

So really when we speak of faith, brother Branham taught us that "Faith is a revelation", and since we are also taught by the Apostle Paul that "there is only One Faith Because there is only One Lord", and since Faith is a revelation, then what Paul is teaching us is that this one Faith is the revelation of the one Lord. And we must know this before we can understand the rest of what Paul tells us in Hebrews 11.

 

4  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.  5  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord)  Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. 6  But without faith (without the revelation of this One Lord) it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

 

7  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith (by the revelation of this One Lord).  8  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 9  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

 

11  Through faith (through the revelation of this One Lord) also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. 12  Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. 13  These all died in faith, (these all died having revelation of this One Lord)  not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.  14  For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15  And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16  But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.


17  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son, 18  Of whom it was said, That in Isaac shall thy seed be called:  19  Accounting that God was able to raise him up, even from the dead; from whence also he received him in a figure.


20  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.


21  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Jacob, when he was a dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.


22  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord)  Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones.

23  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king's commandment.


24  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; 26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward.

 

27  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king: for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.


28  Through faith (through the revelation of this One Lord) he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.


29  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) they passed through the Red sea as by dry land: which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.


30  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) the walls of Jericho fell down, after they were compassed about seven days.


31  By faith (by the revelation of this One Lord) the harlot Rahab perished not with them that believed not, when she had received the spies with peace.

 
32  And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:(And let's not forget the Judges God raised up over Israel as well. Paul mentioned Gideon, but there was also Samson and Shamgar, and Jeptha, and others.)


33  All these who through faith (through the revelation of this One Lord) subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
34  Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
35  Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection: 36  And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: 37  They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;

38  (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. 39  And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, (through the revelation of this One Lord)  received not yet the promise: 40  God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

 

So in this sermon on Desperation, we will see that brother Branham illustrates how desperation is like a quickening agent or simply the tool that God uses within us to quicken to us the promises he has already given to us. And this quickening is the coming into manifestation of those promises he has already given us through his word, but when God sees we are desperate to receive them, he quickens them to us and they become manifested promises. And brother Branham illustrates in this sermon how that when the believer becomes desperate to hear from God that each went to prayer, and when they did, that is when they heard from heaven. 

 

In his sermon, God in simplicity 63-0317M P:21brother Branham said, "When a minister walks into a congregation of people praying in the anointing of the Spirit, you're bound to hear from heaven. That's just all. There's no way to keep from it. But if you walk into confusion, then you're so confused, the Spirit's grieved.

 

Therefore this morning We are going to cover several more of the characters that brother Branham brings out in this sermon of his called Desperation.

 

And so we see the next Bible Character that brother Branham mentions in paragraph 70 is Jonah.   

 

Notice what brother Branham says of Jonah here in paragraph 70 "Jonah, thrown overboard in the time of a storm, in the bottom of the sea in the belly of the whale. All hopes of survival was gone. But it happened to come on his mind that Solomon in dedicating the temple said, "Lord, if the people be in trouble anywhere and they'll turn towards this temple and pray, then hear." And turning over in the belly of the whale, managed to get somewhere to his knees, I imagine, with the vomit of the whale all over him. There he prayed in desperation, and in that desperate... Just a few breaths of oxygen is all he had in the whale's belly, and in them few breaths that he was drawing, maybe he didn't know which way he was, but said, "Lord, I believe I'm looking upward towards Your temple." And with just a few breaths to go, in desperation prayed under those circumstances, never been done before, but he was desperate. He prayed, and God kept him alive for three days and nights, and delivered him at the place to deliver his message. Desperation.

 

Now, we find this story in the book of Jonah 1:1  "Now the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying,  2  Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me.

 

Now, Jonah being a Jew had no dealing with the pagans from Nineveh. After all the Ninevites worshipped a god called Dagon, who was half fish and half man.

And so we see Jonah run away from this command of God to go to these pagans, and call them to repentance. 3  But Jonah Dagan.jpgrose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the LORD, (Notice this prophet was running away from the presence of the Lord.) and went down to Joppa; and he found a ship going to Tarshish: so he paid the fare thereof, and went down into it, to go with them unto Tarshish  from the presence of the LORD. 4  But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.  5  Then the mariners were afraid, and cried every man unto his god, and cast forth the wares that were in the ship into the sea, to lighten it of them. But Jonah was gone down into the sides of the ship; and he lay, and was fast asleep. 6  So the shipmaster came to him, and said unto him, What meanest thou, O sleeper? arise, call upon thy God, if so be that God will think upon us, that we perish not. 7  And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. 8  Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou? 9  And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land.  10  Then were the men exceedingly afraid, and said unto him, Why hast thou done this? For the men knew that he fled from the presence of the LORD, because he had told them.  11  Then said they unto him, What shall we do unto thee, that the sea may be calm unto us? for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous.  12  And he said unto them, Take me up, and cast me forth into the sea; so shall the sea be calm unto you: for I know that for my sake this great tempest is upon you. 13  Nevertheless the men rowed hard to bring it to the land; but they could not: for the sea wrought, and was tempestuous against them.  14  Wherefore they cried unto the LORD, and said, We beseech thee, O LORD, we beseech thee, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not upon us innocent blood: for thou, O LORD, hast done as it pleased thee. 15  So they took up Jonah, and cast him forth into the sea: and the sea ceased from her raging.  16  Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly, and offered a sacrifice unto the LORD, and made vows.  17  Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

 

2:1  Then Jonah prayed unto the LORD his God out of the fish's belly, 2  And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the LORD, and he heard me; out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.  3  For thou hadst cast me into the deep, in the midst of the seas; and the floods compassed me about: all thy billows and thy waves passed over me.  4  Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight; yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. 5  The waters compassed me about, even to the soul: the depth closed me round about, the weeds were wrapped about my head. 6  I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars was about me for ever: yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O LORD my God. 7  When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. 8  They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. 9  But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving; I will pay that that I have vowed. Salvation is of the LORD.10  And the LORD spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.

 

Jonah.jpgNotice that God had prepared a special fish to swallow Jonah, and God commanded that fish to deliver Jonah to the city of Nineveh which lays at the shores of the Tigirs river in what was then Assyria, and is now modern day Iraq. These people as I mentioned before worshipped a god called Dagon who was part man and part fish. So God had this whole scene prepared and knowing Jonah's disposition he walked right into the trap God had prepared for him to walk into so that he as God's prophet could come to Nineveh out of the belly of the large fish so they could see this was a man sent from God, or in their minds a man sent from Dagon. Which would make this man a prophet of God, coming with a Message from God.

 

You see the omniscience of God, and how all things work together for the good to them who love Him and are the called according to His purpose.  Why? Because God planned it that way. He laid out every circumstance that will ever cross your path. His Own word declares, "a man will choose his own path, but the Lord will direct his footsteps." We also read, "The footsteps of the righteous are ordered of the lord, and though He stumble yet he will not fall, because the Lord upholds him." So even though Jonah tried to run, God knew he would try to run, and God knew which way he would run, and so God had his prepared fish to meet him, and deliver him to where God wanted him to go. And God planned it this way, because there is no way they would have accepted the words of a Jew, so God had him come by way of the prepared fish because he knew that is what they believed to be their god.

 

3:1  And the word of the LORD came unto Jonah the second time, saying, 2  Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto it the preaching that I bid thee. (In other words go with "Thus Saith the Lord") 3  So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD.

 

...4  And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown. 5  So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. 6  For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7  And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:  8  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. 9  Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not? 10  And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.

 

Oh my, look how God saw the repentance of a pagan people who obeyed the words of God through the lips of His prophet that he sent to them, and when they repented, God hear it and hearkened unto it, and turned away his anger from them. If America would only do the same, it might put off the judgments of God upon her, for we see in the book of Jonah that judgment was proclaimed, and yet because the people repented God postponed that judgment in their day, and America has heard the proclamation of God's judgment through the lips of His prophet in this hour how that America will be destroyed after that wicked woman is Elected President. And we have even seen how Vladimir Putin himself said, If the American people elect Hilary Clinton we will destroy America.

 

According to quite a few reports all across the internet, there is a report that reads as thus.:

 

putin.jpgA grim Ministry of Defense (MoD) report circulating in the Kremlin today states that during President Putin’s meeting earlier today with Aerospace Defence Forces (ADF) commanders where he ordered them to accelerate the deployment of at least two more missile attack early warning system satellites, he further warned these military leaders about the facts regarding the American presidential election by stating to them: “If it’s Hillary Clinton, it’s war”.

According to this report, President Putin’s decision to launch the Angara-class heavy carrier rocket from the Plesetsk Spaceport by the end of December to deploy these missile attack early warning system new-generation satellites ahead of a new US president taking office in January, 2017, is in direct response to the Obama regimes activation on the Western Front, in Romania, yesterday of its European Phased Adaptive Approach (EPAA) missile system that Russia warns is a direct threat, and leading some online commentators to warn that Romania might be reduced to “smoking ruins”. With President Putin having already ordered a Western Front military buildup in January to counter the Obama regimes and NATO’s aggression against the Federation, this report continues, Kremlin experts are also warning that there are “no illusions” about Russia being the intended target of this EPAA missile system, especially when viewed in the light of the statements made recently by NATO’s new commander in Europe, US Army General Curtis Scaparrotti, who lied to the press telling them that Russia is a threat. As both the Obama regime and NATO continue to pour troops into Eastern Europe and conduct overtly hostile military maneuvers on the Federation border, this report states, President Putin was also forced barely a fortnight ago toorder the MoD to form three new divisions to counter them. [Note: 3 Russian military divisions equal around 40,000 troops.]

 

What is very strange about all this is that the world is now headed towards fulfilling the sixth and seventh vision God gave to God's prophet William Branham in 1933.

 

And look what is driving the Presidential elections today, if the people are not fearful for their very lives, I don't know what. Half the people in this day fear Hilary Clinton coming into office, and they know and they say that if she is elected it's all over for America. Oh, how right they are.

 

Notice their fear of destruction, and brother Branham said, ...E-16  Preparation 53-1111 And may I stop right here just a minute and say: I believe that the people are in the preparation of the last great destruction this world will ever know. I believe we're at the end. You can speak to people; you could put a Billy Graham in every city in the United States; they'd drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes and laugh at you and everything else just the same. They are in the spirit of the last days. And God cannot send destruction before the people are in the spirit for destruction. God never did destroy anything. Man always destroys himself.

 

And from his sermon From that time 60-0716 P:92 And so, I won't have time in this meeting to tell you. In 1933, this is a woman's nation. It's the number thirteen. It appears in the thirteenth chapter of Revelation: thirteen stars, thirteen stripes, thirteen... Everything's a thirteen. Everything is a woman. And remember, THUS SAITH THE LORD there will be a woman rule before the end time. She'll either be President, Vice-President, or it'll be the Catholic church as a woman. I've seen her: A great woman, the nation bowed to her. It'll be one before the end time. THUS SAITH THE LORD. Write it down and find out, you young people. See if it happens. If it isn't, I'm a false prophet.

 

Notice brother Branham's language here. He does say govern, he says she will rule. The word rule means to control, exercise dominating power,    authority,  or influence over. So this is not speaking of a nice lady. This speaks of a dictator.

 

Why are we not a denomination? 58-0927 P:93 "Remember, in that day, before the end time comes, before the end time comes, that a woman... Now, you all keep this wrote down. There'll be a great powerful woman raise up, either be President, or dictator, or some great powerful woman in this United States. And she'll sink under the influence of women. Now, you remember; that's THUS SAITH THE LORD."

 

Again brother Branham gives us the character of this woman and uses the word "rule" this nation. Laodicean church age 60-1211E P:29 But there'll be a powerful woman. Now, remember, this is on tape too. A powerful woman, great woman, she'll either be President, or it'll be a woman representing the Catholic church (which I think it is) will take over here someday and she'll rule this country.

 

One thing that has puzzled me though is that I always thought brother Branham described this woman as beautiful, but in this next quote he is not saying that the woman herself was beautiful but her ward clothing was beautiful.

 

Seventy weeks of Daniel 61-0806 P:110 Now, I predicted and said, "I saw a great woman stand up, beautiful looking, dressed in real highly royals like purple, and I got little parenthesis down here, "She was a great ruler in the United States, perhaps the Catholic church." A woman, some woman... I don't know her to be the Catholic church. I don't know. I can't say. Only thing I seen, I seen the woman; that was all.

 

Teaching on Moses 56-0513 P:14  I predicted that women would keep demoralizing and the nation would keep falling, and they'd keep hanging to mother, or like mother like that, till they become, a woman become an idol. And after while, that America would be ruled by a woman. Mark it and see if it's not right. A woman will take the place of a President or something, of great, some high power in America.

 

God's covenant with Abraham 56-0428 P:44 And remember, this is... America will... A--a woman... I--I better leave it alone. But just remember this. I predict that a woman will be president before we're annihilated. That's right. I said that in 1933 by a vision.

 

Once more 63-1117 P:54 1933, the Holy Spirit came one morning and told me seven things that would take place before this nation was destroyed. One of them is that. It's on old paper there at the church; many has looked at it. How that we would go to war with Hitler and How Germany would fortify and build a Maginot Line, or the Siegfried Line, I believe it was, eleven years before it was ever thought of. And how that automobiles would constantly shape like eggs. And how that they'd permit women to vote, and in doing so, they would elect the wrong President. And in this would be a woman stand up that would govern the United States: not actually a woman, but a church. Then I seen her with nothing but ashes. It's going to happen. Five of those things has perfectly been fulfilled exactly. How Mussolini would rise and go to Ethiopia, and fall at his steps; and he would be turned to the people, in shame, with a woman. Many, many years before it happened perfectly on the dot... And it's never failed, and it won't fail, because it's THUS SAITH THE LORD. And it's not contrary to these Bible.

 

Conference 60-1125 P:6 And I said, "It will come to pass before the end time comes that there will be a great woman stand up in the United States, because the United States is marked woman. Her number is thirteen, and she'll rise up, either be president, or (I put it in parentheses) perhaps the woman being beautiful and attractive will be the Catholic church but cruel at heart, and she'll lead the nation to pollution.

 

Jehovah Jireh 57-0309E P:59 I seen in '33 how cars would look before the coming of the Lord. They're pretty near in that shape. You remember, I prophesied this... You mark it in your books... I've told you many times--every time here. There'll come a time... America is a woman's nation. And a woman will rise up, soon, in America, and become a great person, like a president or somewhere, before the coming of the Lord, I believe. See? Just remember that, that I've said that. And cars will become more like an egg shape, just before the total annihilation or the destruction comes to this nation. Let us pray.

 

God keeps His Word 57-0120E P:40 And I seen a woman lying, vulgar as she was, and dominated the country. And I predict that a woman will either be President, or come into great power of some sort in the United States before the total annihilation of the world. Keep that in mind,...

 

Faith once delivered to the saints 55-0501 P:17 And I said, "Just before the end time comes..." Now remember, I still say this: "Before the end time comes..." Wrote twenty-three years ago. "Before the end time comes, there'll be a woman, that'll be a great ruler in this nation. She will either be president or something on that order, some great woman.

 

By faith Moses 58-0720M P:4 just the two things left. And one of those great prophesies; that is, for cars to be on the road with remote control, looking like a egg, only you don't drive it; it controls itself. And then, there'll be a great woman rise up, 'cause America is a woman's nation. And it'll... A great woman will rise up and be president, or something like that in the nation, and then there will come a total annihilation, the entire nation will be wiped out.

 

let us pray...