God’s Only Provided Place of
Worship # 98
Brian Kocourek,
Alive
and Subject
Sunday we focused on the last part of PP. 263 where brother Branham said, "and seated now in heavenly places (in
present tense), already alive
and subject to every promise in the
Word". And we saw
that something had to come forth to quicken us at this end-time Word Age in
order to make us Alive so that we
could become subject to every promise that God has for us in His Word. Now this is a tremendous statement in itself.
Just think of what he said here. "Alive and subject
to every promise in the Word".
We examined what it means to be subject to every promise in the
Word? And we found Webster's
Second College Edition, defined the word ,
"Subject" as: to place under, or bring under the authority
or control of, liable to receive
Now, Brother Branham said, "Alive and subject
to every promise in the Word". And we know that there are certain laws that
God has set forth that will work for every one; such as sewing and reaping. But
we are not talking about those laws that apply here to every one. What He is
telling us here is that We who are Sons of God and have been made alive, we are
then brought into a place or condition to where every Promise that is contained
in the Word of God is within our grasp and because we alone have been made
subject to them, then we are talking about a group of people who have been
singled out and who are set apart from all others in that this Group is subject
to EVERY promise contained in the Word of God as opposed to just some of the
promises.
In order for you to understand what I am driving at
here, let me first explain what I mean. As I said, there are certain promises
that God has laid down as laws such as sowing and reaping which if you sow, you
shall also reap. But there are also others promises in the Bible such as "If a man regard iniquity in his
heart the Lord will not hear his prayer." Now these are not the same thing. One is a law
that if you sow you shall also reap what you sow. But the other doesn't specifically
have to do with sowing at all. He said that one day our relationship with Him
will be such that before we even ask, He will answer. So in this case your
prayers and requests will be answered even before you have done any ground work
and any such sowing. But on the other hand, based upon the law of sowing and
reaping a man could sow and sow and sow and he shall reap even if none of His
prayers are ever answered. That is why the wicked seem to do so well so often.
It is not God blessing them, but God is honoring a law that he set forth. And
if the wicked really put forth the effort to sow, then they will get a return
on their invested time. But let's face it, their sowing is but for a season and
so shall their reaping bring forth only for a season. But what Brother Branham
is talking about here goes far beyond just a seasonal thing. He is talking
about a relationship that is Eternal. That is In Christ, and in this age gets
kicked into gear and will last for ever. And that is why he said,, this processing of being quickened takes us to the place
of becoming "Alive and
makes us subject to every promise in the Word". Not just
some of the promises that apply to whosoever, But specifically a group in which EVERY promise
applies to and there are over 800 promises contained in This Book called the
Bible that apply to you and me and every one of them we are subjected too
because of a special relationship which we have with our Heavenly Father Who
has come down to give us our desires. Just look at the hundreds of promises
that alone are to come to pass in this last day. A Parousia
of Christ, and Epiphanaea, an Apocalypses, a Phaneroo, A Doxa and Parrhesia, etc. That bring the Elect into a
Transformation of the Inner man first and then the outer man next. A gathering together of the Elect, a change in our bodies and a
catching away. And this is just part of the many many
blessings that were promised for this hour, not to mention the Grace that is
bestowed upon us and the change from Church to Bride etc. The Scripture speaks
of those from other ages who did not receive these promises yet, because they
without us can not be made perfect. So
we see that we are a very special people in a very special time to receive a
very special promise of a very special blessing. Now we could go on for hours
and get more into detail of what these Promises are but we don't have time this
evening to do this because I want to proceed further into this Message of God's Only
Provided Place of Worship.
From the Message Uncertain Sound pp. 73 Brother Branham said, All
of His promises are yes to us. We're living in the last days. We see everything
just exactly the way He said. So there's nothing uncertain. And
again in the Message Scriptural Signs of
the Time 67. He said, `A greater than Solomon is here,' and I know
that that's prophesied to return. And it hasn't been in the world for hundreds,
and hundreds, and thousands of years--but
you promised it would return again in the last days according to Malachi 4,
and promised in St. Luke 17, and all these other promises... "You said it would be here when the Son
of man revealed Himself, because it has to be the Word. Because
`In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was
God... The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us.' And the Word
discerns the thoughts."
So we see that many of the promises that were made to
us actually involve a relationship that He Himself comes to establish or shall
we say reestablish with His Elect. Now , this promise
is not just for some high and mighty men who have placed themselves into the
ministry. This promise is said to be unto us and to our children as well as we
see in [II Peter 3:4] And saying, Where is the promise
of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep,
all things continue as [they were] from the beginning of the creation. 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
long-suffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. And in [Acts
263 GOD'S.PROVIDED.PLACE.WORSHIP - SHP.LA -
V-7 N-4 - 65-1128.1M
The headstone crying what? "Grace! Grace!" ( notice the echo
here of Matthew 13 to Him that Hath or to Him that echo's he shall have more of
what the Original Shout or Message is.)
Passed from death and creed, into a living Word of the living God. ( remember we see a Living Word coming forth from The
Living God, and what is that Word? In Him was Life and the Life is what Lights
or Reveals to men what it is all about, but the main thought here is Life,
God-Life!) God's only provided plan
for His age, His sons in the Word age
quickened by the Spirit like a spark that's lit off of something to make it
alive; ( and so we see the main purpose of His Presence is to quicken
us to Make us alive to every promise He has for us in His Word.) and seated now in heavenly places (in
present tense), already alive and subject to every promise in the Word.(
Now, let's pick up from there as we continue with this paragraph). Then
what does that do? You being a part of
God's gene, a part of the Word, other men a part of God's Word, seated together, manifest the entire Body
of Christ, because there's no leaven among you. (See what He's talking
about, Brother Brown?) No leaven among you, just the Word only, seated in
heavenly places, in the door where He put His Name: Christ Jesus.
Now I
want you to notice that brother Branham said, You
being a part of God's gene, a part of the Word, other men a part of God's Word,
seated together, manifest the entire
Body of Christ. Now before
we get carried away here, we had better understand the Doctrine or we might get
the wrong idea of what he is saying here. And that is the problem with all the
people who claim this Message, because the ministers and their people just take a
bunch of quotes and run with them and pretty soon they're all messed up and are
brought into confusion and God is not the author of confusion. . If we read on we will find Brother Branham
making a similar statement in the next paragraph, where he begins to hone this
initial statement to better Fit the Doctrine. But if
you were to stop right here you would get the wrong impression that he is
telling us that the entire Fullness of the Godhead is to be manifested in the
Bride and that would be error.
264 GOD'S.PROVIDED.PLACE.WORSHIP - SHP.LA -
V-7 N-4 - 65-1128.1M
No leaven among you, that brings the entire fullness of the godhead bodily among you. ( now I want you to here this again carefully. He said among
you not in you. ) No leaven among you, that brings the entire fullness of the
Godhead bodily among you.( Now notice also he said, That
brings the entire of the Fullness of the Godhead BODILY among you)
(BODILY
among you!, then He qualifies that 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, 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 ( How? ) 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).
He is not telling us here that the Fullness of the
Godhead will be bodily in the
Bride but with and among the Bride.
Then He tells us how God does this. He says, "In a Prophet like always".
Now, there is a vast element in this Message, namely the Lonny Jenkin's and Eddie Biskal's and
the like that are preaching that the Entire fullness of the Godhead is now in the Bride and they are dead wrong. And I mean
Dead, Dead, Dead wrong! Because they do not understand
Godhead. It has always been that way. It was that way in the beginning
and it has come full circle again. Because they do not understand Godhead they
have done away with the One that Bought them. This
evening I want to begin a mini series off from this Message and these thoughts
here and I want to help you to be able to place the Alpha and Omega principle
and to be able to apply it. What happened in the first church age has got to
repeat in the last.
[ II Peter 2:1-3] But
there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring
in damnable heresies,( now the Wuest
translations says, These men will be of such a character as to bring in
alongside of true Doctrine destructive heresies. ) And that is exactly what the
King James version says if you read it correctly. It
says these false teachers will bring in, bring in to where? And if it is
brought in, then it really wasn't meant to be there in the first place. So if
we are talking about the Word of God which is the thoughts of God, then what
they bring in is not God's Thoughts but their own thinking which is death in
the pot. ) And look what it says these destructive heresies will produce, "even denying the Lord that bought
them",( and who is the
Lord that Bought them? It is the Father who bought them, and Jesus was the
price He paid. And Who came down in this Hour? The
Lord that bought us, the Lord Of Glory. None other Than the Father Himself in the form of the Pillar of
Fire. And not only do they deny Him, that He is Here,
but they also deny Him and have done away with Him altogether by their very
doctrine that they preach.
I told you before that they are teaching that the
fullness of the Godhead is now bodily in the Bride. And of course these Guys
who preach this revelation think they are the Bride, but how can they be. The
Bride does not bear witness of herself. She is only a Jewel in her Husbands
Crown. And what does that do? It points to the head and brings forth
preeminence to the head. How can she bear witness of herself when even Jesus
said, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness would not be true, but
there is another that beareth witness of me. Then if we are to come into His Image, how could we be
any different. But these men take quotes out of context with the Doctrine of
Godhead, and because they do not understand the Godhead, they take a quote like
this one we read in pp. 263 and say the fullness of the Godhead is bodily in
the Bride. But that is not what he said. He said is amongst the Bride. And
there is a big difference. But they will take another quote where brother
Branham said, " All that was in the Father He
poured into Christ and all that was in Christ He poured into the Church. And
then they will take 3 glasses and label #1 as the Father, #2 As Christ and #3
as the Bride. Then they pour the water from glass #1 ( The Father ) into Glass
#2 and say all that was in God He poured into Christ and then they discard
glass #1. Then they take glass #2 and say all that was in Christ He poured into
the Church and then they pour it into #3 and discard the glass. Now by looking
at this demonstration what conclusion can you make? They have done away with
the Father and His Son. So they neither have the Father nor The Son, right?
And so what they have done is to deny the Father and
Son. And by discarding the two glasses they are in reality showing they no longer possess the
Father and the Son. Remember, in [John
[ 2 John 9 ] Wuest : Every one who
goes beyond the limits of true doctrine and does not remain in the
aforementioned teaching with reference to the Christ does not have God. The one
who remains in the aforementioned teaching of Christ, this one possesses
both the Father and the Son
If, as is the case, a certain one comes to you and this teaching is not
bearing, stop receiving him into your house. And stop giving him greeting. For one who gives him greeting is a partner
in his works which are pernicious.
But the thing of it is that many more are the children
of the desolate than she which has a husband, so these men will appear to be
the ones who have the greatest understanding because they have the numbers to
prove it. But God has never worked in numbers. In fact He is just the opposite.
And so we read on in 2nd Peter, and
bring upon themselves swift destruction. And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by
reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long
time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.
And so we see the Truth behind their whole purpose is popularity and money.
We are told that the motive of these men who would bring forth such destructive
heresies is money and popularity, and that is why they use feigned or
pretentious words, so that they can indeed make merchandise of the poor souls
who are so diluted that would follow after such tripe. This is the same spirit
of hell that has been around since the early conception of the Catholic church. The same heresies are abounding once again and it is
for the same motives as in the first church age. In the book of [ Revelations
[Acts 8:9 - 24 ] But there was a certain man, called Simon,
which beforetime in the same city used sorcery, and bewitched the people of
Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one: To whom they all gave
heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of
God. And to him they had regard,
because that of long time he had bewitched them with sorceries. But when they
believed Philip preaching the things concerning the
From Irenaeus Against the
Heresies Book 1 Chapter 23
CHAP. XXIII.--DOCTRINES AND PRACTICES OF SIMON MAGUS AND MENANDER.
1. Simon the Samaritan was that magician of
whom Luke, the disciple and follower of the apostles, says, "But there was
a certain man, Simon by name, who beforetime used magical arts in that city,
and led astray the people of Samaria, declaring that he himself was some great
one, to whom they all gave heed, from the least to the greatest, saying, This
is the power of God, which is called great. And to him they had regard, because that of long time he had driven them mad by
his sorceries."(7) This Simon, then--who feigned faith, supposing that the apostles themselves performed
their cures by the art of magic, and not by the power of God; and with respect to
their filling with the Holy Ghost, through the imposition of hands, those that
believed in God through Him who was preached by them, namely, Christ
Jesus--suspecting that even this was done through a kind of greater knowledge
of magic, and offering money to the apostles, thought he, too, might receive
this power of bestowing the Holy Spirit on whomsoever he would,--was addressed
in these words by Peter: "Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast
thought that the gift of God can be purchased with money: thou hast neither
part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God;
for I perceive that thou art in the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of
iniquity."(8) He, then, not putting faith in God a whit the more, set
himself eagerly to contend against the
apostles, in order that he himself
might seem to be a wonderful being, and applied himself with still greater
zeal to the study of the whole magic art, that he might the better bewilder and
overpower multitudes of men. Such was his procedure in the reign of Claudius
Caesar, by whom also he is said to have been honoured
with a statue, on account of his magical power.(1)
This man, then, was glorified by many as if he were a god; and he taught that it was himself who appeared
among the Jews as the Son, but descended in Samaria as the Father while he came
to other nations in the character of the Holy Spirit. ( There's your Oneness doctrine) He represented himself, in a word, as
being the loftiest of all powers, that is, the Being who is the Father over
all, and he allowed himself to be called by whatsoever title men were pleased
to address him.
2. Now this Simon of
At present, however, I have simply been
led to mention him, that thou mightest know that all
those who in any way corrupt the truth, and injuriously affect the preaching of
the Church, are the disciples and successors of Simon Magus of Samaria.
Although they do not confess the name of their master, in order all the more to
seduce others, yet they do teach his doctrines. They set forth, indeed, the
name of Christ Jesus as a sort of lure,
but in various ways they introduce the impieties of Simon; and thus they destroy multitudes, wickedly
disseminating their own doctrines by the use of a good name, and,
through means of its sweetness and beauty, extending to their hearers the
bitter and malignant poison of the serpent, the great author of apostasy?
From Irenaeus Against the
Heresies Book 1 Chapter 28
CHAP. XXVIII.--DOCTRINES OF TATIAN, THE ENCRATITES, AND OTHERS.
1. Many offshoots of numerous
heresies have already been formed from those heretics we have described. This
arises from the fact that numbers of them--indeed, we may say all--desire
themselves to be teachers, and to break off from the particular heresy
in which they have been involved.
Forming one set of doctrines out of a totally different system of opinions, and
then again others from others, they insist upon teaching something new,
declaring themselves the inventors of any sort of opinion which they may have
been able to call into existence.
Now what I want you to see is that we do not have to
worry about the unbeliever coming in and taking over. It is the makebeliever who has done the damage through out the ages.
Just always remember, Alpha has got to be Omega and then what you see happening
in the first church age you know must come around once again in this last
church age. And as it was False teachers who crept in
unawares back then, so will it have to be the same today.
[I Timothy
4:1-2] Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart
from the faith, ( How?) giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines
of devils; Speaking lies in
hypocrisy; having their conscience
seared with a hot iron; Seared so hot that it becomes cauterized and
hard as stone. In [Hebrews 6] we
find these are those who have been once for all enlightened, and have tasted of
the heavenly gift and have been made companions of the Holy Spirit. In other
words, these are they who are aware of the True Doctrine of Christ but for
other reasons of their own they will not speak the Truth just like Simon of
Samaria in the first church age. But notice, these are those who have been
around the Truth long enough to know better.
[ Revelations 2:1-6] Unto the angel
of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven
stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden
candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil:
and thou hast tried them which say they
are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and
hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.
Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou
art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee
quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou
repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest
the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Now this is what he said to them in the first church age. But what about the
second church age? [ Revelations 2: 14-15] But I
have a few things against thee, because thou
hast there them that that hold the doctrine of Balaam who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrficed
unto idols, and to commit fornication.
So hast thou also them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes,
which thing I hate.
[ Church Age Book
pg. 91 - 92 ] we read "in Revelation 2:2, the
God’s Only Provided Place of Worship #
98
Wednesday Evening November 29, 1995
The people were being subjected somehow in
a way that was absolutely contrary to the Word of God. Now to get the real meaning of what we are
about to go into, I must caution you to ever keep in mind that religion
(spiritual matters if you like), is composed of two parts that intertwine but
are as opposite as black and white.
Religion and the spiritual world are made of those two trees which had their
roots in Eden. Both the Tree Of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and
Evil stood in the midst of the garden and no doubt their very branches intertwined each other. Thus in the
Ephesian Church is that same paradox. The church is made up of good and bad. Two vines make the church. They are like the wheat and tares, growing up
side by side. But one is the TRUE. The
other is the FALSE. Now God will speak TO each one and He will talk ABOUT
each one. He will call them the church. And
only the elect will really know which is the true Spirit.
Only the elect will not be deceived. Matthew 24:24, "For there shall arise false Christ's, and
false prophets, and shall shew great signs and
wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very
elect." So way back there in the early church (a very
short period after Pentecost) the false
vine got to intertwine itself around the True Vine and we find these deeds
of the Nicolaitanes. And that spirit is going to be found fighting the True Vine until it is
destroyed by God. Now have you got it?
The people in Ephesus took a strong stand for the
Doctrine but what they failed to do was to separate themselves from those who
were constantly going off after some mystical knowledge. In Titus Paul warns the church to avoid such people who were unstable
in the Word. [ Titus 3:9-11] But avoid foolish questions, and genealogies, and contentions, and
strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable and vain. A man that is an heretick after the first and second admonition reject;
Knowing that he that is such is subverted, and sinneth,
being condemned of himself. And again in [ 2 Corinthians 11:1- 4] we hear Paul not only warn the church about
men who are being used by satan to seduce the church,
but after His admonition about these men preaching a different Jesus than the one He had brought by
Vindication to them, and that these men were in essence bringing forth a Gospel
of a different nature and therefore producing a different Spirit than the
Genuine Holy Spirit, and after he warns them, he then in verse 4 says, Why do
you bear with it so easily enough? The
people failed to take a stand by getting rid of those false pervayors
of Light. And since the people just let bygones be bygones, it affected their
own children in the second church age. Because after all, these men should have
been marked and avoided, but they were not and once the wolves in sheeps clothing were allowed to run with the sheep, they
eventually would have to bear the fruit of their own nature and begin devouring
the sheep as well.
In [II Timothy
2:14-23] He says, 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. Study to shew thyself approved unto
God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. But
shun profane [and] vain babblings: for
they will increase unto more ungodliness. And their word will eat as doth a
canker: of whom is Hymenaeus
and Philetus; Who concerning the truth have erred,
saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of
some. 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. But in a great house there are not
only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If
a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be
a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the
master's use, [and] prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a
pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid, knowing that they do
gender strifes.
Now, Sunday morning Brother Pete Klassen
will speak, and then next Wednesday we shall look more specifically at the
specific doctrinal error which began in that first church age and which has
even to this hour still popping up it's head in this Message. And Believe me, when you see it in the Alpha,
I won't even have to mention what it is in the Omega. Let's pray. .....