God’s Only Provided Place of
Worship # 100
Brian Kocourek,
End-Time
Error #1
Before we begin our study this morning, I just want to
say that this mini series on the false Doctrines that are a result of misunderstanding
the Revelation of Jesus Christ, is one of the most difficult things that I have
undertaken to date with the exception of the Godhead study and the Parousia ( Presence) study that were actually given out in booklet form. I have to agree
with Brother Vayle, that there is a completely
different approach that must be taken when writing in contrast to simply
speaking. When I am preaching in a
series from one of Brother Branham's sermons, I can go into my study, close the
door, and get alone with God. I will begin to read what Brother Branham is
saying and when the Spirit quickens my mind to something that is said, I will
stop and focus on that thought. The Spirit of God then begins to open the scriptures to me and
as I read it, it is like a door opening up and as I look into the particular
scripture He brings to my mind, it is like going through a door and when I do, I look and I see another door
and as I open up that door, (scripture) it leads to another door (scripture)
and so on until the sermon message is complete in the area we are studying. But
with this it is much different. First I must research what it is that is being
said that is not lined up with the Correct understanding of the Revelation of
Jesus Christ. Then I must know what it is that these men are actually trying to
get across to the people. In the process of coming to this understanding, I
will then have to look at what teaching techniques they are using and must be
able to break these down and show how they are not correct and in fact in error
concerning the Word of God. Then I must show by scripture and also by God's
vindicated Revelation of Jesus Christ through His Prophet whom He personally
vindicated and I must utilizing the Word of God and The Message of the Hour,
show where the error is made and be able to show you what is the Truth of the
Matter, for if I can only tell you that teaching which is wrong without showing you why it is
wrong, then I have failed to really prove anything and their guess becomes as
good as any one else's. But Brother Branham told us that this is a million
miles beyond a guess. We must know what we believe, and hold fast to that which
is right. That is why it is vital to know what is being taught and why it is
being taught and how it is being taught. Then we can see where the teaching
actually comes from, where it had it's source and why
it is in error, and what it's ultimate goal is, and in fact what their real
thoughts on Redemption are. For when we are dealing with a subject as Vital as
the Revelation of Jesus Christ, we are dealing with the Plan of Redemption and
when men go into error concerning the Godhead or the Revelation of Jesus Christ
it is because they do not understand God's plan of redemption and have come out
from behind the protection of the Word.
Brother Branham taught us that all false teaching had it's source back in Genesis. That is the seed chapter and in
Revelations it exposes just what that seed that was planted back their really
is. So as you see, it is quite an undertaking and it takes a lot of focus and
waiting on God to place it correctly together in the right order and structure.
Now with this in mind we shall begin our detailed study of these doctrines and
why they are false to the Revelation of Jesus Christ as we know it and were taught by God's
Vindicated Prophet.
As you may recall, the first of these false doctrines
to raise it's head in recent years was this Female
Holy Ghost Doctrine a few years back. But what has followed and has spread
forth to a greater part of this message is this latest doctrine that the
Fullness of the Godhead is now bodily in the Bride. And with this in Mind I
want to begin our study this morning with pp. 264 from God’s Only Provided Place of Worship where Brother Branham said, "No leaven among you, that brings the entire fullness of the Godhead bodily among you." (Now, as I pointed out Wednesday night, I
want you to notice how carefully He said ) "among
you" and not in you as many are saying today. "No leaven among you, that brings the entire fullness of the Godhead bodily among you. ( I also want you
to notice that he said, (BODILY among you!,
"That brings the entire Fullness of the Godhead BODILY among you). then He qualifies
this statement as we read on. "Couldn't do it in Luther's age, couldn't
do it in Wesley's age, couldn't do it in the Pentecostal age; but in
the day when the Son of man will be manifested, revealed,
( so we see that this Fullness of the Godhead Bodily among
you has to do with the Manifestation or the Revealing of the Son of Man. A Specific ministry for a specific time and for a specific people
through a specific person. In other words,
Vindication. Brother Branham
continues by saying, "brought back the Church together with the entire Deity of God amongst His people, showing the same visible signs,
manifesting Himself like He did
at the beginning when He was manifested on earth (So then we must ask
ourselves, "How did He manifest
Himself to us on earth?" ) And Brother Branham answers, "in a form of a Prophet-God. Oh! Glory! Promised
by Malachi 4, promised by the rest of the Scriptures. Where you worship
at? The house of God, seated (in present tense"
Now what we have here is a tremendous statement from
Brother Branham in reference to The Revelation of Jesus Christ or shall we say,
(Godhead) and what God is doing in
this hour. In other words, vindication which only comes in
the form of His Presence among us. But what we have here also, is a
statement that is being used by many who do not understand Godhead, and
therefore they do not understand this (vindication or Presence) which is what
God is doing here in this hour.
Now notice, he said, "the Church together with
the entire Deity of God amongst His people, showing the same visible signs, manifesting Himself like He did at the beginning when He
was manifested on earth."
Now first of all If the Fulness
of The Godhead is now in the Bride as they are saying, then where is this
manifestation and vindication today. If they can't produce
then they nee to shut up. Now, Wednesday night we looked at this and the
Scriptures that Brother Branham pointed out as in [Malachi 4] and [Luke 17].
In [Malachi] we see a Prophet coming
in the Spirit and Power of Elijah and so in examining Elijah's ministry we see
Him preaching One God. His Message to the people was a restoration of True
Worship to the True God, Who alone is God.
His ministry was to declare Him ( God) That He
was Here! Just the same as Brother Branham's ministry was to "Declare
Him, that He is Here!"
In Review also of [Luke 17] we saw how the Pharisees in examining Jesus, asked Him
where His Kingdom was, because they could not see it, and He replied it was in
their midst and they could not see it, but regardless He said, "I
tell you, though you can not see it, it is here among you". I
believe what Brother Branham was doing here as he did perhaps 80% of the time
was to point the people to this Presence of God which in itself is vindication,
that in fact what He was telling us of God and His Presence among us is in fact
found in other times and places in the scripture as types and shadows of this
which was to come. But because of the peoples refusal
to let their thinking go, they do not understand the Revelation of Jesus Christ
as could only come through the End-Time Ministry of the Son of Man. Therefore
they misapply vindication and the Presence of God and therefore come up with their
own ideas as to what Brother Branham's ministry is all about. Because after all, there was too much manifestation to do nothing
with it. Therefore, even as Nicodemus came to Jesus and said, we
know you are a teacher sent from God for no man can do the things you are doing
except God be with Him, and yet, although the Sanhedrin knew this, yet they
would not accept the teachings themselves because it was not according to their
mindset which is their preconceived
notions as to what it should be. In other words, what Jesus said to them was so
totally foreign to their way of thinking that they could not grasp it. And so
they concocted their own ideas as to what His ministry was about and in doing
do they eventually had to turn against it and say it was not of God and that He
was a Blasphemer. Now, For the next few sermons we
shall examine just what it is that they have concocted in their own minds as
relating tot he Revelation of Jesus Christ in this hour. What I wish to point
out to you in this series is how these
men think, and what teaching methods
they use to subtly indoctrinate their prey into their Blasphemous
beliefs and as Ireneaus said, "I intend to bring forward the discourses of
the Lord, so that they may not only be rendered destitute of the means of
attacking us who Truly believe , but that, since they will be unable reasonably
to reply to those questions which I shall
put forth, they may see that their plan of argument is destroyed; And my
hopes in doing this is so that, either returning to the truth, and humbling
themselves, and ceasing from their multifarious fantasies, they may propitiate
God for those blasphemies they have uttered against Him, and obtain salvation;
or that, if they still persevere in that system of vainglory which has taken
possession of their minds, they may at least find it necessary to change their
kind of argument against us.
First of all I want to make you aware of their modes
of teaching. Without exception, it is my experience in hearing these men, that
they will most always begin their sermon by going tot he scriptures for a text.
They will usually take one or two scriptures, seldom more, and read from the
scriptures to open up their sermon. But from that point on it is very rare that
they will go back to the scriptures to nail down their doctrines. What they do
is read quote after quote after quote from Brother Branham's Message and
develop their doctrine this way. Now we
Who believe That God Himself has come down in this Hour and who adhere to the
True Revelation of Jesus Christ and to the Prophets Message and
Ministry as a declaration of that One God Who has come down and the fact that
He is here vindicating His Shout or Message to be True, we on the other hand,
will usually begin with either the scripture or a statement that brother
Branham said and use that for setting the stage for our sermon. For in doing
this we are establishing a particular thought that brother Branham makes and we
then go to the Scripture from there on in order to nail it down and give the
people a scriptural understanding and appreciation for what Brother Branham is
telling us seeing He is a word Prophet we want you to see what He is saying
from the Word of God Itself.
Now, I know that these men will then say, Brother
Branham's Message is the Word of God, And I do not
disagree. But as Ireneaus himself said, "there is an importance to the order
and connection of the scripture" or even as the Apostle Paul said,
"We must rightly divide the Word of
Truth."
Now, Always remember, "Alpha has become
Omega," And what happened in the first church age must repeat in the last.
And what took place in the first church age is they left their first Love, and
our first Love according to Deuteronomy is to Have One God and Him alone shall
we love with all our hearts and minds and souls. So if they went off in this
understanding in the first age, won't they do so again in the Last age when God
once again visit's the earth to declare Himself in the Revelation of Jesus
Christ? After all, it wasn't those who
were God's Elect that went off but the church who went off. And so to begin our study of these errors in
our day right within our ranks among the Message believers, we need to see what
happened in the Alpha.
Let me begin then
by reading to you what Irenaeus Himself said from His 1st book entitled, IRENAEUS AGAINST HERESIES BOOK I, concerning those who were propagating the
same errors concerning The Godhead in the First church age.
INASMUCH (1) as certain
men have set the truth aside, and bring
in lying words and vain genealogies, which, as the apostle says,(2) "minister questions rather than godly edifying
which is in faith," and by means of their craftily-constructed plausibilities draw
away the minds of the inexperienced and take them captive, [I have felt
constrained, my dear friend, to compose the following treatise in order to
expose and counteract their machinations.] These
men falsify the oracles of God, and prove themselves
evil interpreters of the good word of revelation. They also overthrow the
faith of many, by drawing them away, under
a pretence of [superior] knowledge, from Him who
rounded and adorned the universe; as if, forsooth, they had something more
excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven and the
earth, and all things that are therein. By means of specious and plausible
words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to inquire into their system;
but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them, while they initiate them into their blasphemous and impious opinions
respecting the Demiurge;(3) and these simple ones are
unable, even in such a matter, to distinguish falsehood from truth.
2. Error, indeed, is never set forth in its
naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected.
But it is craftily decked out in an
attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it appear to the
inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself.
One(4) far superior to me has well said, in reference
to this point, "A clever imitation in glass casts contempt, as it were, on
that precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly esteemed by some), unless
it come under the eye of one able to test and expose the counterfeit. Or,
again, what inexperienced person can with ease detect the presence of brass
when it has been mixed up with silver?" Lest, therefore, through my
neglect, some should be carried off, even as sheep are by wolves, while they
perceive not the true character of these men,-because they outwardly are
covered with sheep's clothing (against whom the Lord has enjoined(5) us to be
on our guard), and because their language resembles ours, while their
sentiments are very different,--I have deemed it my duty (after reading some of
the Commentaries, as they call them, of the disciples of Valentinus, and after
making myself acquainted with their tenets through personal intercourse with
some of them) to unfold to thee, my friend, these portentous and profound
mysteries, which do not fall within the range of every intellect, because all have not sufficiently
purged(6) their brains. I do this, in order that thou, obtaining an
acquaintance with these things, mayest in turn explain them to all those with
whom thou art connected, and exhort them to avoid such an abyss of madness and
of blasphemy against Christ. I intend, then, to the best of my ability, with
brevity and clearness to set forth the opinions of those who are now promulgating
heresy. I refer especially to the disciples of Ptolemaeus, whose school may be
described as a bud from that of Valentinus. I shall also endeavour, according
to my moderate ability, to furnish the means of overthrowing them, by showing
how absurd and inconsistent with the truth are their statements. Not that I am
practiced either in composition or eloquence; but my feeling of affection
prompts me to make known to thee and all thy companions those doctrines which have been kept in concealment until
now, but which are at last, through the goodness of God, brought to light.
"For there is nothing hidden which
shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not be made known."(1)
From CHAPTER. VIII.--[How the
Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions.]
1. Such, then, is their system, which neither
the prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor the apostles delivered, but of
which they boast that beyond all others they have a perfect knowledge. They
gather their views from other sources than the Scriptures;(4) and, to use a
common proverb, they strive to weave
ropes of sand, while they endeavour to adapt with an air of probability to
their own peculiar assertions the parables of the Lord, the sayings of the
prophets, and the words of the apostles, in order that their scheme may not
seem altogether without support. In doing so, however, they disregard the order and the connection of the Scriptures,
and so far as in them lies, dismember and destroy the truth. By transferring passages, and dressing them
up anew, and making one thing out of another, they succeed in deluding many
through their wicked art in adapting the oracles of the Lord to their opinions.
Their manner of acting is just as if one,
when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skilful artist
out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of the man all to
pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them
into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed; and
should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king
which the skilful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been
admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king,
but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a
dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels,
should deceive the ignorant who had no conception what a king's form was like,
and persuade them that that miserable likeness of the fox was, in fact, the
beautiful image of the king. In like
manner do these persons patch together old wives' fables, and then endeavour,
by violently drawing away from their proper connection, words, expressions, and
parables whenever found, to adapt the oracles of God to their baseless fictions. We have already stated how far they
proceed in this way with respect to the interior of the Pleroma.
Now having read Irenaeus description of their practice
and their teaching techniques, we should be able first of all to see how it is
that they are able to draw away people's minds from the Truth into error.
Because the ignorant as Irenaeus calls them, do not know the Truth and
therefore open themselves to error
Now, I hope you understand how important it is to Know the Truth, for "the Truth shall set you free." Not only should you know the
Truth, but you should Love it, for if you do not love it, it is right there
that you are placing yourself in a position to be deceived.
[ 2 Thess 2: 10-12 ] And with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And
for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be
damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness And so we see here because they have not a
love for the Truth God Himself will send them the strong delusion, that will
cause them to leave the Truth. Now if you think for one minute that you are
more than able to resist what God sends, you had better not fool yourself. God
is ever watchful of your attitudes. Remember, He knows the very inner most
thoughts that you have. And you've got to Love it with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, or you're
scripturally open for deception.
[I Timothy
4:1-2] 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;
Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot
iron; Now, the scriptures does not
say a faith but The Faith, and as we spoke Wednesday night, faith is a
Revelation and since according to [Ephesians 4] There is only One Lord and One
Faith or Revelation, then we know by various other scriptures that this One
Revelation is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
And so the deception will have to be concerning this One True
Revelation. Also it is to come via doctrines of devils. Sot he Doctrines will
be error concerning the Godhead and they will produce error in the people. In
other words, as it was in the days of Elijah, the false ministry of that day
were successful in getting the people of Israel to worship God in a wrong way
and thus to worship God outside of Truth is to actually worship other God's.
That is why they worshipped Baal, which actually means Lord. So when they speak
of worshipping the Lord, if their worship is based on wrong understanding, they
are then in fact worshipping as Lord, a wrong Lord, even Baal worship and the
sad part is they don't even know it.
Irenaeus pointed out that the wrong connection of the
scriptures will give a wrong presentation of the Only True God and therefore
will present a perverted Lord or Baal. In [ John 4: 22] Jesus told the people that they worshipped what they
knew not, and He said, But we know what we worship, and that is the Key, you
have got to know Him who you are worshipping or you will be lost in your
unbelief. He further stated "They
that worship God must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." And so apart from the truth your
worship is in vain. You must worship God in Spirit and in Truth. Worship apart from a True Revelation is
satanic, and God
will not reveal anything without it coming via His Prophet. So, any revelation
that comes outside of the vindicated channel of God is a part of the great
deception.
In [ 1 John
In [ Genesis 4: 7 ]
After we see that God rejected Cains offering, He
said to Cain, "If thou do what is right, shalt thou not be accepted?
The Septuagint reads this way, If thou doest well, shalt thou not be
accepted? Thou hast rightly offered, but thou hast not rightly divided.." Notice how important God placed the right
division of His Word. Cain's Revelation was rejected and considered Evil
because of this.
This is why we find in [Galatians 1] and [ 2 Corinthians 11]
Paul speaks so vehemently about the people just putting up with any old thing.
He said it results in the preaching of a different Jesus altogether, and the
scriptures being presented are presented in a way which is perverted and thus
take on a different nature and thus bring forth a different spirit altogether.
And that is what Irenaeus has shown in his illustrations of men who would make
an image of a
dog or fox and try to pass it off tot he ignorant as the King Himself. Talk
about ignorance. How can you mistake a dog for The King of Glory? Yet that is
what has happened. A Minister friend of mine recently asked a member of the
laity of one of these churches who taught such false doctrine this question. He
said to this person, "Who do you say the Bride is?"
And that ignorant person responded, "The Bride is God!" I guess if you can get people to think they
are God Himself, then you can get them to believe a dog is indeed the King.
What a Mess! What a delusion! But God Himself promised it would come to this.
Only the Very Elect would not be deceived.
As I have taught so often, Jesus Himself in the
Scriptures declared, "Be careful how you hear, for with what
measure you measure it out, it is with that same measure you shall receive it
back." And he also told the
Serpent Seed that they fill up the measure of their fathers. Then He said to
them, "You do that which you understand through your father, and I only
speak that which I understanding My Father to have said." So what we are dealing with here is a certain
mindset that is being applied. Pharaoh looked out the same window Moses did,
and he saw mud dobbers while Moses saw the Children of a Promise. And so these
men through their teaching methods and the way they connect the scriptures and
quotes present error in it's naked deformity and the ignorant people believe
what they are taught without so much as a challenge. Yet when those who bring
forth the Truth declare the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and that He is here, they are looked
upon as misfits who have the wrong spirit. Well, it's True,
we do have a different Spirit than what they have, but I even say this, we do
have the wrong spirit for fitting in with that Group.
Ireneaus
said,
by wallowing in falsehood, they have lost the True Bread of Life or the bread
of True life, and have fallen into vacuity, ( which is an emptiness
of the mind ) and an
abyss of shadow.( An abyss is a bottomless pit without any foundation )
And that is what their doctrine consists of. He said, "They are like the dog of AEsop, which was walking across the bridge and had in it's
mouth a nice piece of meat, but when he looked down in the water he saw his
reflection and therefore dropped meat he had, and made an attempt at seizing
what was only a reflection or a Shadow,
and thus lost the [real] food.
[ 2 John 8-9] Look to
yourselves that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we
receive a full reward. For whosoever goeth beyond the Limits of True Doctrine
and does not remain in the Doctrine of Christ, hath not God. But He that
remains in the Doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son."
In closing I would just like to set forth the manner
in which we shall examine these doctrines which have deviated from the truth.
I) We shall try to explain and set forth the
tenets of their Doctrine as well as their practice.
II) We
shall try to relate to you how they think and teach
III) We shall prove that they had long
previously swerved from the truth itself
and we shall carefully
note the scriptures which they garble, with the
view of adapting them to their own fictions.
IV) We shall declare to you who the progenitor of their doctrine is.
V)
We shall explain the nature of their
"redemption," For after all, the nature of Their redemption is
tied into their doctrine.
VI)
We shall prove that there is but One God, the Creator, and that therein
not anything either above Him, or after Him nor is He influenced by any one, but of His own free will, He created
all things, since He is the only God,
the only Lord, the only Creator, the only Father, alone containing all
things, and Himself commanding all things into existence.