Masterpiece 66
The Nicene Council
May 27th, 2006
Pastor, Brian Kocourek
1. Last Sunday we spoke on the Seed for the season,
and we read from paragraphs 110 through 113 for our text. There was something
else in that paragraph that we did not get into, so we will take this communion
service to look into this additional thought that brother Branham tells us here
in paragraph 113. He was speaking about how the seed has to die, (well, not
really die because the life in it does not die, but the shell has to die or rot
away in order for the Life that is in that seed to come into manifestation, or
in order for the life that is in the
seed to come forth into expression.
2. Then in paragraph 113 of THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705 Brother
Branham says,
“Now historians, remember, and you who's going to hear this tape, check it up
and find out if that's not right. The church died at
3. So brother Branham is placing the death of the
early church with the event that took place at Nicaea Rome in 325 A.D. That is
what brother Branham is referring to here. So what was the council at
4. The Roman Emperor Constantine Ist, was in charge over the opening session and took part in the
discussions. He had hoped that a general council of the church would solve the
problem created in the Eastern church by Arianism,
which was a heresy that was proposed by Arius of
5. They take Colossians 1:15 which
is speaking of Jesus and says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature:
and they take this first born of every creature and say he is the first
of the creation of God which is error, Because Jesus was not a created being,
He was birthed, and there is quite a difference.
6. They also take revelations 3:14 which states that
Jesus is the beginning of the Creation of God. They read this as though it is
saying that Jesus was created and that he was the first created being. But the
word translated as beginning was the Greek word “arch” which actually refers to
rank and position as “being the head of”, and is not referring to Jesus as
being the first Created being. Thus the Jehovah Witnesses refer to Revelations
3:14, and more significantly to
Colossians 1:15, to support their teaching that Christ was created by
Jehovah. This doctrinal error is based primarily on the words, "the firstborn
of all creation," that we see in this verse. But notice this Scripture
does not teach that Jesus was the first created being, but it says He is the
First born. These are two different words in the Greek, and they have two
different meanings, and those meanings are as different as Appearing and
Coming. "First-created" is translated from the Greek word “proto-ktistos”,
and "firstborn" is proto-tokos.
7. In Colossians 1:15
Paul used the word prototokos which
comes from two Greek words, Proto meaning first and tokos meaning born, thus
rendered “first born”. This word speaks of “an heir”, or a “begotten one”, the first
born, and Paul did not use the word “proto”-“ktistos”
which also is comprised of two Greek words Proto meaning first and ktistos
meaning creation, and therefore speaks of “first creation”.
8. Therefore what Paul is telling us in Colossians is
that Christ is first in rank above all creation; and therefore He is the head
of all things, and He is the Heir of all things, and He is prior to all
creation.
9. Now, the Jehovah
witnesses have a fair argument against the Trinitarian doctrine of Godhead, and
they have a fairly good argument concerning the fact that the man Jesus was a
man and not God. But they know nothing of duality that Brother Branham taught
and they fail in their assessment of the Man Jesus because they fail to link
Him to God via Seed, Duality, and Expression. And where they fall short the
most in their understanding concerning the Godhead is that they place Jesus as
a lesser God, and as a part of the creation of God. But He was far above being
just a mortal man like you or I. They liken Him to a higher ranking than the
angels, the prophets, and apostles. But they fail to link Him with the duality
Brother Branham ascribed to Him, making the body worthy of veneration and
worship.
10. 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.
11. Now, the word
preeminence simply means the first in rank and influence, and he most certainly
does.
12. So we see that the first real challenge to the
unity of the Church was over the doctrine of the Godhead, and the church
divided over this doctrine before
13. From his sermon Taking sides with Jesus COD 62-0601 P:49 Brother
Branham said, And then in there, get training in your own groups other ministers,
men that you see that has a calling in their life for the ministry. Train
them young men; bring them in here to the elder. All of you set together
in a ministerial meeting and there teach the deeper things of God. Don't go
on the bad end. Keep someone who, can have confidence in to be kind of like a
leader for you. And then sometimes if you don't see it just exactly the way he
does, that's all right, you're in the faith anyhow; just move along. Maybe when
we come together then, all of us together, we'll pray, the discernment of God
come down, and He'll give it just exactly what it is. You see, and let us
know just how to do it. And in there, churches can go hear. And training up
a group of men. And if I'm in evangelistic work somewhere, there's
places I can place them worldwide. P:50 What if I was in
14. So you see the purpose of minister meetings is to
study the deeper things of God, not compromise on the Word in order to have a
larger circle of fellowship. That never was God’s plan, but that is exactly
what the emperor Constantine did in usurping authority over the church.
15. The fuss was over Arianism which taught that Jesus
was not God, but the Son of God, and therefore not in the Godhead but the
Godhead was in Him, Now, that may seem pretty Good but it drifted from there
into Unitarianism. According to the Encyclopedia Brittanica, “Arianism
was a Christian heresy first proposed early in the 4th century by the
Alexandrian presbyter Arius. It affirmed that Christ is not truly divine but a
created being. (Now, where we differ with Arias and the Jehovah
witnesses who have taken up his gauntlet, is that we do not believe that Christ
was created. We believe he was birthed by God. In other Words, he was a part of
God, and God birthed forth this Son).
16. Arius' basic premise was the uniqueness of
God, who is alone self-existent and immutable; (that means
unchangeable) and that the Son, who is not self-existent, cannot be God. Because the
Godhead is unique, and the word unique means there is
but one.
17. In other words, Arias believed there is only One
God, that is what “unique” means, it means none other like it. Just One of a
kind.
and therefore the Godhead cannot be shared or communicated, so the Son cannot
be God. And because the Godhead is immutable (which means it can not
change; and that is what we see in Malachi 3:6, “I am God, I change Not.” and Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ the Same yesterday, today and
forever”, therefore we understand that God changes not.) but
Arias believed the Son of God is mutable, (that means he could change
and did change) because he is represented in the Gospels as being subject
to growth and change, and therefore because he can change he cannot be God.
18. The Encyclopedia Brittanica continues, “So we
see that Arias looked at immutability as the main attribute of God, and because
the Son is not immutable, he thus could not be God. Now, where Arias as
the Jehovah Witnesses also make their mistake, is that they thus concur The
Son must, therefore, be deemed a creature who has been called into existence
out of nothing and has had a beginning. And thus they conclude,
Moreover, the Son can have no direct knowledge of the Father since the Son is
finite and of a different order of existence.
19. Now, although we
agree that the Son had a beginning, because by nature of being a son one has a
beginning, but we do not attribute that beginning to an act of creation, but to
a birth. Because creation comes from nothing to something, whereas birth comes
from the Life of Another, into its an expression of that life in another
being, and that is where we believe the
Son of God came from, he came from God Himself, and thus was an expression of
God in Human form. We also disagree with the thought that the son could not
have knowledge of the Father. because the Son of God Himself said in his own
words, “no man
knows the Father but the Son and those whom the Son reveals him.”
And we believe that God indwelt His Son, and lived in that Son in a duality of
being, or sharing of that Body. Thus by God inhabiting the body of His only
begotten Son, (this co-existence) brought into the Son the knowledge of the
Father. For if God inhabited the Body of His Son, then God also inhabited His
brain, and thus the Mind of God entered the Son and as Paul said, “let the mind that
was in Christ be in You”.
20. Now, that is what
Jesus prayed when He said, “that they may be One Father, even as You and I are one, that
they might be one in us.
21. We find this in John 17:11 And now I am no more in the
world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep
through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as
we are.
22. And we know the
way they were one is because the Glory that was in God was in Christ and that
Glory was given to us by Jesus that we might be one with God, in the same way
He was one with the Father. And we know that Glory is the word doxa which is
the opinion, assessment and judgment which are God’s on thoughts expressed.
That is what Jesus said in John 17: 22 And the glory (that’s
the word doxa)
which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are
one: So you see the same mind that God gave to Jesus, Jesus gave to
us, for the reason of being one with God as He is one with God.
23.
Now we just read from JOHN 17:11 where Jesus prayed to His
Father the words…
¶ And now I am no more in the world,
but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine
own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are. And how is it that we might be One
even as which means in the same manner as Jesus and His Father were One? Jesus
said, JOHN 17:14 I have given them thy word; and the world
hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the
world. Jesus
tells us we become One with God through the same Word that He became One With
God. JOHN 17:20 ¶ Neither pray I for these alone, but
for them also which shall believe on me through their word; 21 That they all
may be one; as thou, Father, [art] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be
one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the
glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we
are one:
24. Therefore it is very apparent that we are one by
receiving the same Word which Jesus received from His Father, thus bringing us
into the same Glory or the same mind as the Father. And
the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even
as we are one:
25. And brother Branham
bears witness to this as well in his sermon, HARVEST TIME 641212 87 PP. 034 Jesus said, "That they might be one, Father, as You and I
are one." Not for
some man to be over something, it never will work; one denomination wants to
take over the other, and one man over the other. But that you might be
one with God, like Christ and God was one; that's what the prayer is.
That... He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that we might be the Word,
reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered. See how Satan scruples
it up in the carnal mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer, at all, that we might
all congregate together and all have a certain creed and so forth. Every time
they do it, they go further and further from God. He wants us to be
one with God, and God is the Word. Each
individual in his heart must be that one with God.
26. Now, there is no way that we could have the same
mind that was in Christ unless we have the same genetic disposition that Christ
had with God. And only a true born son could have the same disposition, because
every seed must bring forth after is kind. Therefore, we are a privileged
people because as Sons we are able to receive the very mind that was in Christ.
27.
That is what John meant when he said in John 1: 12 But as many as received him,
to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on
his name:
28. Now, this power to become means given an ability to make a right
decision. In other words, given an ability to have a right mind. And this
ability which comes only by predestination, allows us to think the thoughts o f
God. It allows us to receive the very mind of Christ.
29. That is why Jesus could say in, Matthew
11: 27 All
things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the
Father; neither knoweth any man the
Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
30. Therefore we disagree with Arias who believed that
the son could not know the Father directly because the Father Himself had come
into His Son and was living and abiding in His son. But those were his teachings, that is what he
said, “Moreover, the Son can have no
direct knowledge of the Father since the Son is finite and of a different order
of existence.”
31. And that is contrary to what William Branham
taught when he said, “He was a duel being, Sometimes it was the
Son of God talking and sometimes it was God talking in Him.
Where we disagree with Arias concerning the Godhead is that he looked at Christ
as being a created being, whereas we see him as a uniquely birthed Son. Thus as
sons we are also privileged to know God even as we are known by Him.
32. The Apostle John
said in, 1 John 3: 2 Beloved, now are we the
sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
33. And we know this
appearing is the phaneroo of God, when He comes to be manifested in His true
character. And thus when God manifested Himself in His true character, we see Him as He truly is and thus in seeing
God as He truly is, we thus begin to manifest change to what we truly are.
34. Now, in getting back to what brother Branham said
concerning the council at
35. Now, this happened at
36. Again from the Encyclopedia Brittanica we read, “The
Pope at the time was Pope Sylvester I, he
did not attend this Nicaean council but was represented by legates. The
council condemned Arius and, with reluctance on the part of some, incorporated
the non-scriptural word homoousios ("of one substance") into a creed (the Nicene Creed)
to signify the absolute equality of the Son with the Father. The emperor then
exiled Arius, an act that, while manifesting a solidarity of church and state,
underscored the importance of secular patronage in ecclesiastical affairs.”
37. Church Age Book Chapter 1 - Introduction - The Revelation of
Jesus Christ P:29
They didn't believe in three Gods in the
beginning of the church. You can't find that sort of belief amongst the
apostles. It was after the apostolic age that this theory came in and really
became an issue and a cardinal doctrine at the Nicene Council. The doctrine of
Godhead caused a two way split at
38. And so we see that when the church lowered its bars and came to an ecumenical
meeting which was sponsored by the Emperor Constantine, it was then the church
died.
Church
Age Book Chapter 5 - The Pergamean
Church Age P:147 And that is what
39. And we see that happening today. I know it is not
a popular thing to speak the truth, because the truth hurts. But Truth is
truth, and as long as you walk in the light as He is in the Light you are
having fellowship with Him, but the moment you let down the bars and begin to
compromise on the Word, the Word will take its flight, and the Holy Ghost will
leave the church as it did back then.
40. Look, it is not an
easy thing to walk with the Lords despised few, and in fact that is what
brother Branham said in his sermon Shalom 64-0119
P:97 Lord God, don't never let me get my mind, like
Judas, upon a extra dollar, upon some fashion of the world, or somebody to pat
you on the back, and say, "Oh, Brother Branham, this is..." No, no.
God, never let that happen to me. I'll just take the way with the Lord's
despised few. I'll be a brother to man, do everything that I can, Lord, love
people with all my heart. But, Lord, never let me move from this Word.
41. You know, we look at size as being successful. We look at all the
churches that are growing and we say, they are prosperous and they are growing,
but that is not the way of God’s Church. If we stand as Jesus did and
compromise not on the words he said, then we can not expect bigger numbers, we
must expect smaller.
42. The only way to grow a church is to compromise what this Word of God
says in order to make room for more make believers. Always remember, “many more are the
children of the prostitute that she which has a husband.”
43. Warning then judgment 63-0724 P:37 And,
oh, how sometime it's hard to do such things as that to tell people. If the
prophet don't watch, he'll get in trouble, because he'll kind a go off to one
side, trying to make it easy, or compromise a little bit here and a little bit
there. But the real prophet's got the order from God, should never compromise
nothing; he should absolutely lay it right on the line. That's the reason He
used the spirit of Elijah so much (See?), because that, that spirit always
carried out His orders. You see? See, it brought His orders just exactly what
it was, and always a "Come back to the Word." See? Always bring them
back to the Word.
44. And that is what
brother Branham is telling us that the Masterpiece in this Hour will reflect
the Masterpiece God had in Christ Jesus, because it is straight back to the
word. “The son
can do nothing in himself, but whatsoever the Son seeth the Father do, the Son
doeth likewise.” Have not I sent
thee 62-0124 P:45 The reason that God sends a prophet, the people get so far away
from God by traditions of the elders and so forth, and they bring everything
into the church that's worldly. And first thing you know they compromise a
little here and a little there, and a little here and a little there. And the
first thing you know it's nothing but an organization. It's nothing but like a
lodge. The people come there and have all kinds of soup suppers, and dances,
and buncos, and everything else. And the church is no more than a lodge. That's
right.
45. In closing I would like to say that if you read brother Branham’s
sermon entitled Influence of another preached
on October 13th, 1962 You
would see what he believed about compromising the truth. He talked about the
big ministries who had to compromise on the truth in order to stay big, while
God freed him to go to churches that could only seat 20 people. He said these
others could not afford to go to places like that because they needed so much
money every day just to keep their radio and television programs running.
46. I feel the same way. God has allowed us to do what other churches
fifty times our size could not do. This summer we will be giving away our 100th
laptop, and when we first begun to give away laptops with the entire
Message on them, and the doctrine of the Message on them, the largest church in
47. I look at this little group and see that by the Grace of God this
ministry is doing what no others are doing out there. Brother Branham said we
should conduct minister meetings and discuss the doctrine and train up young
ministers to keep this Message alive, and that is what we have been doing all
around the world by the grace of God. And by His grace I continue to go to
where no others will go because there is a need for His Children to know who
they are, and they can not know who they are until they know Him. Others who
hold ministers meetings will not teach doctrine, They avoid it lest there be
infighting among them. They hold ecumenical councils of sorts because the
emphasis on their meetings is unity and a bigger circle of fellowship.
48. But through the doctrine of Christ which we teach, God is instructing
His Children to better know and understand their roles in His family. And we
could not know our roles without first knowing Him, and that He is here, as
Brother Branham said, “My ministry is to declare Him, that He is here.” And so we do the same, and preach the same.
49. That is what he said in his sermon, From
that time 62-0713 P:102 How many knows there's a difference between
the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ? It's two different words.
Now's the appearing, the coming will soon be. He's appearing in the midst of
us, doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now, you're a part of that
church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that church. Now, I'm not a
preacher. You know I'm not. I have not the education to do it. Sometimes I feel
reluctant standing here by men of God, who's called to that office. There are
apostles, prophets, teachers, pastors, and evangelists. Not all are apostles,
not all are prophets, not all are teachers, not all evangelists. I'm standing
here, But my ministry is a different ministry from a pastor or teacher. I'm
not. And if I say things wrong, brethren, forgive me. I don't mean it. But this
is my ministry (See?) to declare Him,
that He's here.
50. And to those who are teaching this as doctrine, we are but stewards
of this great light and its doctrine that was given to us. And as Stewards we
will be held accountable with what we do with it. All the churches I know that
are big churches, began as little ones, but the ministries went out throughout
the lands gathering from the little flocks to create their big flocks, but I
have not done that, and have refused to do that. I have not sought to increase
the membership of this church. And I have not sent out my books and tapes to
make money, or build a congregation. I do not charge for the books and CD’s,
and I send mostly to countries where the brethren could not pay for them
because they do not have money.
51. Yet through this ministry, as small as it is locally, nevertheless
God has used it to take the doctrine to over 160 countries so far and as a
result we receive thousands of emails each year from ministers from countries
all over the world. And many of them tell us that they take these sermons that
you hear each week and they teach them to their own congregations, and their
people are being blessed. I do not believe we will ever know or understand the impact
of what God is doing here until we reach the other side.
52. In Congo the ministers have been getting together for the past to
years since we held minister meetings there to teach the Doctrine, and they
continue to meet monthly and take the sermons preached here as the study
materials for their own minister meetings.
It is very humbling to see what God is doing all over the world, and
that we have had a part in it. All around the world, men of God are translating
these sermons into their own language. I know of no other ministry in this
Message that this is being done, where the doctrine is being taught to so many
around the world. I do not take credit for what is happening, you’d have to be
either arrogant or crazy to think this is the work of any man. We do not have a
big machine operating here. Nevertheless, this is God’s work, and it keeps us
humble to know that.
53. Then if God is doing these things, how could we ever compromise on
this Message as the early church did at Nicaea Rome? Instead we see the
opposite from these meetings. Men, humble enough to admit that before they came
to our meetings, they had been preaching the Message in error for twenty years
or more. Men admitting that for 20 years or more although believing the
Message, yet they did not understand what the Message was about until they came
to these meetings. Men who are elders to me in this Message and yet my children
in this Gospel. Oh, amazing Grace how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like
me. It makes me ashamed of myself, to know
that I could have given God more than I have, and I could have yielded myself
to Him earlier in my life, and been more pleasing to him, through out my life.
But nevertheless, as Jesus said, “whatsoever my Father commands me to say, that is what I teach.”
And “the Bride
will have Thus Saith the Lord or she will keep still.”
54. So, pray for us as we go to these foreign lands, because the
conditions are not easy for travel, and the devil is always trying to stop the
meetings, by throwing up obstacles everywhere. So we covet your prayers.
55. May God bless you all. Let us pray.