Doctrine no 16
Falling Away from the Doctrine of Christ no2
The punishment
Brian Kocourek, Jun10
This
evening I would like to finish our study that we began on Sunday concerning "The Falling away from The Faith"
which is the Falling Away from the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
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 Thessalonians 2:3 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;
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him, and for him:17 And he is before all things, and by
him all things consist. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who
is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.
19 For
it pleased the Father that in him should all fullness
dwell;
Therefore, we must understand, this end
time falling away concerns Him, for He is before all things, and all things
were created by Him and for Him, And he is before all things, and by
him all things consist. And this falling away concerns the
shifting away of the believers from a Christ centered Revelation to other
centered revelation. And then he gives us some examples of that shift which he
calls doctrines of devils.
Paul tells us in Timothy this shifting
away from Christ Centered Faith to other ecntered
faith comes via seducing spirits and doctrines of devils.
Therefore, to understand this falling
away, I will list as point number one, All things are
subject to Him and Point
number Two And all things evolve around Him or are in reaction
to Him. And since all the end-time events are all subject to Him
and they all evolve around Him, and are in reaction to His Him,
(His Presence), then All the events constituting the end can not begin without
His Presence as the catalyst for the end.
Therefore, there could not be a Falling
Away from The Faith, except there be a "The Faith", and His presence
here to vindicate That "The Faith".
1 Timothy 6:3-8
If any man teach otherwise and consent
not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to
the Doctrine which is according to Godlikeness; He is proud, knowing
nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of
words, whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings,
perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and
destitute of the Truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such
withdraw thyself. But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we
brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
Notice he
doesn't want us to fuss with them. He says those who dote about questions and strifes of words, and surmising,
and disputings of men who are destitute of the Truth, from
such withdraw thyself.
Paul said
in 2 Timothy 2:12-19 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him,
he also will deny us: 13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot
deny himself. 14 Of these things put them
in remembrance, charging them before
the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers. 15 Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 16 But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will
increase unto more ungodliness. 17 And their word will eat as
doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus;
18 Who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the
resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. 19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let
every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from
iniquity.
So we see
that this falling away will result in vain babblings, men striving over the
meaning of words, and questions that will gender strife. You know you can
hardly go near any of their chat rooms. You ask a simple question and they want
to bite your head off.
But we are
warned to stay away from them. And the falling away is earmarked with their
kind of behavior.
Paul said, shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more
ungodliness.
The word shun means
to stay away from it. And what we are to
stay away from is profane and vain babblings. Now, the word Profane means irreverant and abusive. In
other words, we are to just listen to the way they talk, and if they can not
hold a civil conversation without getting arrogant and blow there mouth off, and
start name calling, then we are to just walk away from it. And the word Vain babblings means fruitless discussions, meaningless chatter. Therefore,
unless their discussion is something that will produce fruit, and save Life, or
correct error, then just leave it alone. It's vain babblings. In other words,
look at the motives and objectives of those who are discussing before you jump
in the discussion, because unless they are sincerely looking for truth, you can
not help them. They have their minds already made up, and all they are wanting to do is provoke a fight.
And Paul
said, for they will increase unto more
ungodliness. 17 And
their word will eat as doth a canker, or
ulcer. And what does an ulcer produce? A gnawing
pain in your stomach. In other words, Paul is saying nothing good comes
from holding discussions with irreverent and ungodly people. The only thing it
will produce is a gnawing sinking feeling in your stomach.
Now, Paul
gave us an example of the falling away in his day in 2 Timothy4:10 For Demas
hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed
unto Thessalonica; Notice,
you never hear again from Demas in the
rest of the Scriptures. And notice Paul let's us know Demas motive for falling
away. He loved the world and the cares of the world more than he loved God's
Truth.
Again we
see another example of falling away given by Jesus Christ Himself in...
Luke 9:62 And Jesus said unto him, No man, having put
his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the
We see yet
another example of the falling away in the Book of Acts
7:39 Whom our fathers would not obey, but thrust Him from them,
and in their hearts turned back again into Egypt saying unto Aaron, make
us gods to go before us: for as for this Moses, which brought us out of the
land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.
Punishment of Renegades.
Now, I
would like to take a look at the punishment God has for being a renegade, which
is defined as "one who departs from The
Faith".
James 4:8 Draw
nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse
your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded. 9 Be
afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness. 10 Humble
yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. 11 Speak not
evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his
brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the
law: but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge. 12 There
is one lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?
The Message version says it this way: 7-10 So let God
work his will in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil
and watch him scamper. Say a quiet yes to God
and he’ll be there in no time. Quit
dabbling in sin. Purify
your inner life. Quit playing the field. Hit bottom, and cry your eyes out.
The fun and games are over. Get serious, really serious. Get down on your knees before the Master; it’s the
only way you’ll get on your feet.
Notice we
are told, that of you come near to God, He will also come near to you. YOU run
to God, He will run to you. But we are also told in 1
Chronicles 28:9 if thou forsake Him He will cast thee off for ever.
The Message 1 Chronicles 28:9 God examines
every heart and sees through every motive. If you seek him, he’ll make sure you find him,
but if you abandon him,
he’ll leave you for good.
That is why
Hebrews 6 is so important to us, because
this is the hour of "the once for all
enlightenment," and to abandon this, you will be abandoned forever.
So this is the hour for the total abandonment. Men abandoning
God and God abandoning them, and never allowing them to come again unto
repentance or to ever change their mind again. Then they are finished,
they are crystallized and ever frozen in the space-time continuum.
Now, what do I mean by that, let me
explain...
"In 1906, soon after Albert Einstein announced
his special theory of relativity, his former college teacher in
mathematics, Hermann Minkowski, developed a new
scheme for thinking about space and time that emphasized its geometric
qualities. In his famous quotation delivered at a public lecture on relativity,
he announced that," "The views of space and time which I wish to lay
before you have sprung from the soil of experimental physics, and therein lies
their strength. They are radical. henceforth, space by itself, and time by
itself, are doomed to fade away into mere shadows, and only a kind of union
of the two will preserve an independent reality." "Space-time does not evolve, it simply exists. When we
examine a particular object from the stand point of its space-time
representation, every particle is located along its world-line. This is a
spaghetti-like line that stretches from the past to the future showing the
spatial location of the particle at every instant in time. This world-line
exists as a complete object which may be sliced here and there so that you can
see where the particle is located in space at a particular instant. Once you
determine the complete world line of a particle from the forces acting upon it,
you have 'solved' for its complete history. This world-line does not change
with time, but simply exists as a timeless object. Similarly, in general
relativity, when you solve equations for the shape of space-time, this shape
does not change in time, but exists as a complete timeless object. You can
slice it here and there to examine what the geometry of space looks like at a
particular instant. Examining consecutive slices in time will let you see
whether, for example, the universe is expanding or not."
Now, let me
make this a little bit clearer for you and then if you read it again you will
see that science has unwittingly proven one of brother Branham's statements to
us. So let me read his statement and you will see how what He is saying mirrors
the space-time continuum.
Questions and answers COD 54-0103M P:32 Now, notice then when they were captured
and carried away into
Fifth seal the 63-0322 P:123 He was
still a prophet.
See? And these fellows are still prophets. Now, we're going to get a
little deep in that just in a few minutes, the Lord willing. See? Oh, my, how I
love that Word. There's no wonder man shall not live by bread alone, every word that proceeds out of
the mouth of God. These
two prophets are Moses and Elijah according to their works being repatterned again. That has always been their ministry.
Now, notice, just as they did... That didn't change them. Remember, these
guys never died. Watch just a minute. Now, don't confuse, 'fore we get away
from this, don't confuse Elijah's fifth time ministry with his fourth time
ministry. I've been telling you, the
Future home 64-0802 P:225 Oh, brother, sister, death doesn't change
you. Death only changes your dwelling place. See? Remember, Samuel,
when he was dead and been buried for two years; he was in Paradise, and the
witch of Endor called him up, and Saul recognized
him, and she did too and fell upon her face. He hadn't changed one bit.
He was still the same Samuel after being dead two years, and he was
still a prophet. He said, "Tomorrow you'll fall in battle, your son with you, and by this time
tomorrow night you'll be with me." And that's just what happened. See? And when Moses
returns back and Elijah for Revelations 11, they'll still be prophets. Hallelujah.
Fifth seal the 63-0322 P:122 See, the man, when he dies, he doesn't change his status;
he doesn't change his
make-up. See? Look, When Saul had backslid
and there was no prophets in the land, he couldn't understand what to do. He
was up against it; he was going to battle. He went to the witch of Endor. Now, just the blood of bulls and goats, she could do
this. And she called up the spirit of Samuel; and when Samuel come up, there he stood in his prophet robe. Not only
that, but he was still a prophet. He said, "Why'd you call me out of my rest?" (See?) said,
"seeing you've
become an enemy to God."
He said, "By this
time tomorrow night you're going to fall in the battle, and this time tomorrow
night you'll be with me."
That's exactly what happened.
To whom would we go 60-0606 P:66 Now, listen, my friends. If you die
without the Spirit of Life in you, you cannot go to that place. Listen, as
I said in the beginning, death does not change your spirit. It only
changes your dwelling place. I was teaching on that a few nights ago. And I
come to this subject on where that Saul, when he had backslid on God... And the
Urim Thummim wouldn't
answer him, neither would a prophet prophesy and could answer him. He couldn't
even have a dream from the Lord. And he went down and had the witch of Endor to call the spirit of Samuel. And Samuel had been
dead nineteen years; I just looked it up to find out for sure. He'd been dead
nineteen years. And when the witch of Endor
called the spirit of Samuel, he hadn't changed his appearance. He was
still standing there, thin with a mantle on his shoulder. Not only that, he
hadn't changed his life any; he was still the same Samuel and was still a prophet.
Speak to this mountain 57-1215 P:32 When the witch of Endor called up the
spirit of Samuel, he was still in his prophet robe, and he was still a
prophet. He told her what would happen the next day. Certainly.
Death doesn't change a man; it just changes his dwelling place. If
you're a sinner when you die here, an unbeliever... Oh, you might be a loyal
church member. But if you die in your unbelief, there's nothing left for you
but to be condemned. If you die in faith, that's what saves you. Your faith
has saved you. You've got to go to Eternal Life, because it's Eternal Life
that's your faith in God, the same thing. May the Lord
grant tonight that He will bless us now in these next few moments of the
remaining part of the meeting.
Fifth seal the 63-0322 P:162 Notice, watch. Look at Moses. Elijah, after
Moses had died and Elijah had been taken into heaven, he stood there on Mount
Transfiguration with his senses of speech, hearing, understanding and talked to
Jesus before the crucifixion. Now, what kind of a body did he have? Look at
Samuel. After being dead for about two years, was called back in the--the cave
that night by the witch of Endor and talked to Saul
with language, heared Saul, spoke back, and foreknew
things that was going to happen; still his spirit hadn't changed. He was a
prophet.
And
again from Explaining healing and Jairus 54-0216 P:37 The devil's just
trying to scare you out of something. He's trying to put something off
somewhere else, say, "Some of these days you'll be this." You are
now. Now,
we're sons of God. Now, we're seated
together in heavenly places. Now, we have all powers in heavens and the earth. See? Now, we have it. Not in the millennium, we
won't need it then. We got it now. We're... Right
now we are the sons of God. "It does not appear what we shall be, but we know we'll be
like Him." What you are here is a reflection of what you are somewhere
else. "Those
who He called, He justifies." Is that
right? "Those who He justified, He has
glorified." Already in the Presence of
the Father, we have a glorified body. Whew! Wasn't that deep? All right. We'll find out whether it's right or not. "If this earthly tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already
waiting." Is that right? That's right. So right
now, and what we are there, is a reflection. Here, what we are here, is a
reflection of what we are somewhere else. So if your deeds are
evil, you know where it comes from.
You know where your other body's a waiting.
Now,
some might think that, "well, that might be so
for a prophet, but what about me?" Listen
to what brother Branham says in this next quote.
Door to the heart 58-0112E P:4 And to you other ministering brothers,
that's been in the meetings, someday when it's all over... And just
think, when all these great choirs gather together, won't it be wonderful. You
might say, "Brother Branham, do you believe that they'll still have
their talent?" Certainly. Sure.
They were given that forever. If you notice, when the witch of Endor called up the spirit of Samuel, he was still a
prophet. So death only moves us from a different place of abiding. This
is just for a little while, and that one's eternal. So we're looking to
that day.
End time sign seed 62-0319 P:10 Then you say, "Well, Jesus healed the
sick." He is the Word. He is the Word. When you receive the Word, you
receive Jesus, for He is the Word. "The Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." We believe that, don't we, every bit? We believe that Christ is God's Word made manifest; and we believe that
His Bride must be the same thing. We believe that she must
believe every bit of the Word and have that Word in her, because she is part of
the body. She is the body where He is the head. And when He died, and rose
from the dead, and resurrected, and set on high on by the majesty of God on His
throne, right hand of Majesty, and we are His delegates. And we reckon ourself
dead, and buried by baptism, raised with Him, and now seated together with
Him in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That'd get us all shouting,
wouldn't it? Think of that. We are, not will be; we are now. Now, we
are sons of God; now we are daughters of God. Not we will be seated;
now we are seated.
QA Hebrews part 2 COD
57-1002 P:39 So it had to take One that was not guilty to do it. And the
only One that wasn't guilty was God Himself. And God had to come down and
become man. And He came in the form of Christ to anchor the stinger of death,
to take the sting of death out, to redeem us, that we, not by our works or by
our goodness (we have none), but by His grace to be saved. Then we receive
of His Life into this mortal body, and now we are sons and daughters of God,
and have Eternal Life within us. We are sons and daughters of God.
Therefore, Jesus, being alive...And no man, no matter how wicked or how good, when he has to... When he leaves this earth, he's not
dead. He's somewhere else. But he has a life that will perish after he's
punished in hell for his deeds. But yet that life has to cease. There's
only one type of Eternal life.
There's
your space-time continuum, there's where you've entered into The Space-time
continuum through Hebrews 6. Hebrews 6 tells us how all things are frozen in
space and time, never to change, never to be even able to repent again, change
again. You with the Holy Ghost, with eternal never changing Life, and they
which turned away from The Faith, crystallized forever. O my!
And God
said in Isaiah
Their fate
is locked in by the space-time continuum, and they can not get off that line of
thought, they can not repent and get away from their fate, for they have turned
away from the Truth.
And they
have entered in to the curse, the space-time continuum of the cursed. Jeremiah 17:5 Cursed be the man whose heart departeth from the Lord.
Ezekiel 3: 20 When
a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity,
and I lay a stumblingblock before him, he shall die: Why? Hebrews 6. Iniquity is
to be will fully ignorant. Ignorant by ignoring. And
they step across that line and when they do, it's all over, they can no longer
change.
Hebrews
It's all over, you've stepped over the line and you've
sealed yourself away from mercy forever. You've crystallized on the space-time
continuum and you will never be able to receive a change or the mind of body.
You are doomed forever. what you are here is a reflection of where you are going.
27 But a certain fearful looking for of judgment
and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28 He
that despised Moses' law died without mercy under two or three witnesses:
29 Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted
the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30 For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will
recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people.
31 It is a fearful
thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Ezekiel 18:24 But when the
righteous turneth away from his righteousness,
and commiteth iniquity, and doth according to all the
abominations that wicked man doeth, shall he live?
You're only
fooling yourself if you think God will forgive you, when you willfully do
despite to the Spirit of Grace and count the blooda
common thing to be trampled by your arrogance.
Ezekiel 18:26 When a righteous man turneth away from his
righteousness, and commiteth iniquity, and dieth in them; for his iniquity that he
hath done shall he die.
Matthew 13: 20 But he that receiveth the seed into stony
places, the same is he that heareth the Word, and anon with joy receiveth it.
Yet hath no root in himself, but dureth
for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the Word, by and by he is (offended).
Look, he
has no roots. He never was saved in the mind of God, so he lives in that state
of space-time continuum, where there is no change for him. He is born a sinner
and dies a sinner, period.
John 15: 6 If a man abideth not in
me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered: and men gather them into the fire, and they
are burned. Just cannon fodder, that's all.
Questions and answers COD 54-0103E P:97 What you are here... Get this in your mind now.
I'm going to close. But what you are here is a sign that you are something
else somewhere. You've always wanted to be in perfection, you Christians.
There is a perfection, and that perfection is not in
this life. But every man and woman here that is a Christian, every person that is a
Christian here now is already glorified in the Presence of Jesus Christ.
And you've got another body. You won't have some other time; you have
right now. Right now there's another body waiting for you if this one
should perish. Could you think of that. Study that just a minute. Do you know every one of us may be
in eternity before sun rises tomorrow morning? Now, if you're not a Christian,
my friend, there's only one thing left for you. You've got to go that way. If
you're on that road, you have to go that road. If you're a grain of corn,
you'll produce corn. If you're a cocklebur, you produce cocklebur life. Now, if
you've been belonging to a church somewhere that doesn't know and doesn't
teach, and just lets you come to church and be a member of the church... You
say, "Well, Brother Branham, my church teaches that we must accept Jesus
Christ as our personal Saviour. If we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we are
saved." If your life doesn't compare with that, you haven't made it
yet.
Finally
in closing let's read from Ecclesiastes which
was written by Solomon, and brother Branham said of him in his sermon, Investments 63-0126 P:34 Solomon said so. He's the wisest we ever had.
Fellowship by redemption 55-0403 P:27 Hear the great, wisest man, Solomon,
and all the rest of them, speaking in the Ecclesiastes, he said, "Let's hear the conclusion of the whole
matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the full duty of man." That's the full duty of man.
And
in Ecclesiastes
Let
us pray...