Who is this Melchisedec #131
God
Proving His People
June 2, 2002
Deuteronomy 18: 15 The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me (Moses); unto him ye shall hearken; (The word hearken means to listen carefully to, to be attentive, be diligent to consider. Notice the promise is made that of thy own brethren shall the Lord raise up a prophet from thy very midst. In other words if God is dealing with the Jews that prophet will be a Jewish prophet, and He is dealing with the Gentiles, that prophet must be a Gentile. Look, Moses was raised up from the Jewish race although he was educated as a Gentile. The Jews would never have received him if he were Gentile. Paul was Jewish although raised up in a Greek home. He knew the ways of both Jew and Greek, and was able to communicate to both, and thus was able to take the Gospel to the nations. But at the end-time, God has sent a Gentile prophet to a Gentile people. A Christian prophet to a Christian people. And notice God said, ) 16 According to all that thou desiredst of the LORD thy God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I die not. (Now this took place in Exodus 33 and 34. Here we find the people are camped at Mt. Horeb and Moses asks the Lord to Show Himself to the people.)
Deyteronomy 331 And the LORD said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou
and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the
land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed
will I give it:
2 And I will send an
angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the
Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3 Unto
a land flowing with milk and honey: for I
will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people:
lest I consume thee in the way. 4 And when the people heard
these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.
5 For the LORD had said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are
a stiffnecked people: I will come up
into the midst of thee in a moment, and consume thee: therefore now put off
thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee. (let’s skip tp vs 9 to save some time)
9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered into the
tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the
tabernacle, and the LORD
talked with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at
the tabernacle door: and all the people rose up and worshipped,
every man in his tent door. 11 And the
LORD spake unto Moses face to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. And
he turned again into the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young
man, departed not out of the tabernacle. 12 And Moses said
unto the LORD, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast
not let me know whom thou wilt send with
me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast
also found grace in my sight. 13 Now therefore, I pray thee, if I have
found grace in thy sight, shew me now thy way, that I may know thee, that I may
find grace in thy sight: and consider that this nation is thy
people. 14 And he said, My presence shall
go with thee, and I will give thee rest. 15 And he said unto him, If thy presence go not with
me, carry us not up hence. 16 For wherein shall it be known here that I and
thy people have found grace in thy sight? is it not in that thou goest with us?
so shall we be separated, I and thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth. 17 And the LORD said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that
thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I
know thee by name. 18 And he said, I
beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make
all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD
before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy. 20 And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live. 21 And the LORD said, Behold,
there is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock: 22 And
it shall come to pass, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a clift
of the rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: 23
And I will take away mine hand, and
thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
Chapter 34:1 And the LORD said
unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write
upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which
thou brakest. 2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning
unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of
the mount. … Now let’s
skip ahead to vs 29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai
with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the
mount, that Moses wist not that the skin
of his face shone while he talked with him. 30 And when Aaron
and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone;
and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and
all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses
talked with them. 32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh:
and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with
him in mount Sinai. 33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face. 34 But when Moses went in before
the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he
came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was
commanded. 35 And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the
skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he
went in to speak with him.
Now that we have the background let’s continue back
in Deuteronomy 18 and pick up at vs 17 And the LORD said unto me, They have well spoken that which
they have spoken. 18 I will raise them up a Prophet from among
their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he
shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. 19 And it
shall come to pass, that whosoever will
not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him. (In other words, you had
better listen or else.) 20 But the prophet,
which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him
to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet
shall die. 21 And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we
know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? 22 When a
prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to
pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath
spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.
Now, this morning I wish to read from WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E paragraph 153 where Brother Branham says “She said, "Sir, I perceive that You are a Prophet." She said, "We haven't had one for four hundred years. (And how long has it been since God Himself has come and stood Mouth to Mouth with a prophet. Remember, Wesley was not a prophet. He did not have Thus Saith the Lord. Luther was not a prophet, he did not have Thus Saith the Lord. Columba, Martin and Ireneaus were not prophets, they were Messengers, with a Message to the church, but they were not Vindicated Prophets.
In the Book of Deuteronomy God tells us the difference between someone whom God simply speaks to, and a Prophet that He stands behind or vindicates. We’ve already seen such a prophet spoken of in the Book of Deuteronomy chapter 18.
God promised such a prophet and said if you do not listen to that Prophet surely he will require it of you. Now, many will say that, that was speaking of Jesus. But we are told in the book of acts that it is yet to come.
ACTS 3:19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord; 20 And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: 21 Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began.(Now, notice these words until the restitution of all things, so this has not happened yet by Paul’s day, for it speaks of the day coming where all the entire Word will be restored. ) 22 For Moses truly said unto the fathers, A prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you of your brethren, like unto me; him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever he shall say unto you. 23 And it shall come to pass, that every soul, which will not hear that prophet, shall be destroyed from among the people. Now that did not happen ne jesus day, but we know the wrath of God is on it’s way, and in fact is in the earth now just waiting for the Elect to be taken out of the way, that the wrath of God will belch forth like never before, because this 7th Angel brought for 7 last vials which are the seven plagues, and they are here now, ready to come forth upon all mankind. Remember, when Moses called for the plagues, so did Jannes and Jambres, but Jannes and Jambres could bring on the plagues but they did not know how to get rid of them. And so with the Governments of the world. Brother Branham said they are manufacturing germ warfare in the nations labs, and will user them one day on each other.
Brother
Branham said from GOD ONLY POROVIDED WAY FOR HEALING p 42, Listen, did you know the Bible predicts that
in the last days, that they'll be a germ warfare? That diseases will break out
upon the people, and will fall on everyone without the baptism of the Holy
Spirit? But with the Angel or who had charge over these plagues was given
orders to touch no one on whom the mark was. Why, how much, kind of teachers
have we got to be, brethren, to get the church in order to be in that
condition? Immune.
Planting the vine
and where to plant it 59-0920 P:14 Moses called for plagues, and they could call
plagues too. But they could not take the plagues away. They couldn't heal,
because God is the only Healer. But they could cause plagues to come; then
Moses took them away. And then, the final showdown came where Moses did just as
God told him to do. And I know all this that's dividing the world today is
finally going to come to one great showdown someday, 'cause the Bible said,
"As Jambres and Jannes withstood Moses; so will men with reprobate mind
concerning the faith withstand in the last days. But their follies will be made
manifest." It's a prophecy that must be fulfilled. And you can see both
sides a rising now.
Look at the headlines today. I warned you people back in 1996 these things were coming, and here they come. Headline after headline. People walked out of here snickering and making fun and calling me names and such, but I’m telling you we’ve got Thus Saith the Lord it will come, and then it will be too late to get right. You’ve got to get right now. Listen to the radio, they are talking now of the whole nation being inoculated against Anthrax and Small Pox. I work with the vaccine manufacturers and I know what is going on. Why does the Bible call them sorcerers, when the Greek word is pharmakeus or pharmacist, and the word means a poisoner, and the whole world is being poisoned, both spiritually and physically.
Now we are looking at the fact God has sent a prophet and he said if you will not hearken to His words, God will require it from you. And God also promised to test our faithfulness to His Word.
First of all let’s look to Deuteronomy 13 to see what the main objective is in the servants of God.
Deuteronomy
13:1 If there arise among
you a prophet (Now, I hope we all understand what that means. It
means if there comes forth someone, anyone from among you that comes as a
prophet), or (He says, and this word
OR is a big word, because he is saying not only someone claiming to be a
prophet, but anyone who comes forth as a ) a dreamer of dreams, and
Now here is that word AND
again, so we know it is going to link two things. Therefore, he is linking the
fact that this person has dreams with this person also having some form of
manifestations as well. AND giveth thee a sign or a wonder, (in other words we are talking about anyone, whether
they are male or female, young or old, Teacher, Pastor, Evangelist, Apostle, or
even a legitimate Prophet and he comes with any kind of a sign or signal, something
that shows an outward manifestation, or some sort of indication and then God
qualifies this manifestation or indication by saying, or (and here is that big word OR
again, OR he brings you) a wonder (a miracle) 2 And (Now, remember, AND is a
conjunction which links two things together) AND the sign (the signal, the outward
manifestation) or
the wonder (the miracle) come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go
after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve
them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that
dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love
the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
Now let’s just stop here a moment. God is speaking
here, and He is telling His people that if any man, woman or child comes and
seems to have some sort of spiritual manifestations in their life, and they
point you to any other Object of Worship other than the One True God, He is
telling us that He not only allows this to happen, but He purposely does this
in order to test you. And He says in verse 3, Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or
that dreamer of dreams: (Thou shalt not hearken which means to intelligently listen in order
to obey that prophet or dreamer of dreams, and then He tells us why.) for the LORD your
God proveth you,(The Lord will put you to the test. And fore what
Purpose will the Lord do this?) to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your
heart and with all your soul. He’s checking two things here. First
He’s checking your heart, which is your understanding, and secondly but no less
important, He’s checking your soul which is the very essence of your nature, or who you are.
Now in the next verse God tells us what He expects
from us. He says, 4 Ye shall. Ye
shall what? That means there is something God wants for you to do. Ye Shall
#1) walk after the LORD your God, and
#2) fear him, and
#3) keep his commandments, and
#4) obey
his voice, and
#5) ye shall serve him,
and
#6) cleave unto him. (That means to follow closely to and hold onto
dearly. Up through this point it looks like there are only six things here that
God requires from you concerning Him, but if you will carefully notice there is
one more thing, and it is this thing that the people fail to do. Notice He said… And, and that is number seven.
#7) And we know that SEVEN is completion, it’s the all of what God requires… And that
prophet, or that dreamer of dreams,
shall be put to death;
because he hath spoken to turn you away from the LORD your God, which brought
you out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, to
thrust thee out of the way which the LORD thy God commanded thee to walk in. So shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee. (This has been the big stumbling stone not only in
this message, but even in this church over the years. Notice in the next verse
we see that God tell us, “I don’t care who it is, and I don’t care what sort of
relationship you have to that person”.) He says, 6 If thy brother, the son of thy mother, or thy son, or thy daughter, or the wife
of thy bosom, or thy friend, which is as thine own soul, entice thee
secretly, saying, Let us go and
serve other gods, which thou hast not known, thou, nor thy fathers;
7 Namely, of the gods of the people which are round about you, nigh unto
thee, or far off from thee, from the one end of the earth even unto the other
end of the earth; 8 #1) Thou shalt not consent unto him, #2) nor hearken unto him; #3) neither
shall thine eye pity him, #4) neither shalt thou
spare, #5) neither shalt thou conceal him: 9 $6) But thou shalt surely kill him; #6A) thine hand shall be first upon him to put him to
death, and #6B) afterwards the hand
of all the people. 10 #7) And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he
die; because he hath sought to thrust thee away from the LORD thy God,
which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 11 And all Israel shall #1) hear, and
#2) fear, and
#3) shall do no more any such wickedness as this is among you.
Look, we have seen the people time and time again fail to take heed to this seventh expectation from the Lord our God. Why? Because, most people believe that blood is thicker than water. Oh, surely not my kid. Kill My kid? Maybe my wife, or maybe my husband, but my child? Now, look how he says to kill them… God tells us,
#1) Thou shalt not consent unto him, What does that mean? They have no say anymore. They have no hold on you, they have nothing to offer, period.
#2) nor hearken unto him; This means don’t even listen to what they have to say. Don’t let them even have a platform to speak in their defense. They have nothing to say, period.
#3) neither shall thine eye pity him, Oh, if this hasn’t been the straw on the camels back. You feel sorry for the child that speaks heresy, and so by feeling sorry for them, you do not allow the Word of God to become effective in that child’s life. You keep trying to undo what God is doing. Brother Branham said character comes from suffering but you will not let your child suffer, and therefore have stifled any character development in that child.
#4) neither shalt thou spare, We know that the Scripture tells us to spare not the rod, or you will spoil the child.
#5) neither shalt thou
conceal him: 9
#6) But thou shalt surely kill him; How much plainer can it get. This means if they are dead to you, you can not hear them, you can not spoil them, you can not give in to them, etc. In other Words, there is nothing you can do for them, period. And then he says, this is how you are going to do it…
#6A) thine hand shall be
first upon him to put him to death, You are dupposed to be the
first to make this child or whoever a non person. You don’t hear their
complaints, you don’t try to make excuses for them, you don’t try to spare,
conceal, pity, listen to or give consent to.
And once
you have done this first, then you are to pass it along to the rest of the
believers so they will deal with them as you are doing.
#6B) afterwards the hand of all the people. You know there was a time in this country when people worked that way. If I got in trouble while at my friends house, his dad spanked me and then when I got home my own parents did the same all over again. If I did wrong in school, first the school got a hold of me and then my parents did the same, so I always got it twice, because 2 is a witness. And the whole community showed agreement that way. The community ad standards and that is how they were enforced.
10 #7) And thou shalt stone him with stones, that he die; That person whosoever it be is stoned. Put to death, no longer having any influence in the community. Not in your home, and not in the community. Dead is dead. You’ve heard the old expression, “Dead horses don’t kick,” well, a dead son, or daughter, or friend, has no voice, has no influence, has no rights, has no say at all. You don’t spare because there is nothing there to spare. You don’t conceal because there is nothing to conceal. You don’t pity because there is nothing to pity. You don’t consent to nor hearken to because there is no-one there to consent to nor hearken to, because they are dead to you.
If some of the people I have known over the years would have done this to their children, they would still be walking with the Lord today. How, do you expect God to correct what you are covering up for, consenting to, pitying, listening to, and trying to spare. Just let go, and let God have His way.
12 If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD
thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying, 13 Certain
men, the children of Belial, are gone out from among you, and have withdrawn
the inhabitants of their city, saying, Let us go and serve other gods, which ye
have not known; 14 Then shalt thou enquire, and make search,
and ask diligently; and, behold, if it be truth, and the thing certain, that
such abomination is wrought among you; 15 Thou shalt surely
smite the inhabitants of that city with the edge of the sword,(And
what is sharper than any two edged Sword? It’s the Word. You slay them with the
Word.) destroying
it utterly, and all that is therein, and the cattle thereof, with the edge of
the sword. 16 And thou shalt gather all the spoil of it into
the midst of the street thereof, and shalt burn with fire the city, and all the
spoil thereof every whit, for the LORD thy God: and it shall be an heap for
ever; it shall not be built again. 17 And there shall cleave
nought of the cursed thing to thine hand: that the LORD may turn from the
fierceness of his anger, and shew thee mercy, and have compassion upon thee,
and multiply thee, as he hath sworn unto thy fathers; 18 When thou shalt hearken to the voice
of the LORD thy God, to keep all his commandments which I command thee this
day, to do that which is right in the eyes of the LORD thy God.
\
Now we all know that God wants us to
#1) walk after the LORD your God, Because
he said if we walk in the Light as He is in the Light, we not only have
fellowship with Him, but the Blood of Jesus Christ will cleanse us from all our
sin. We also know that He wants us to …
#2) fear him, for the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
wisdom, and we know He wants us to …
#3) keep his commandments, For Jesus said, if we keep His commandments, He will come to us and manifest Himself to us. John 14:21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. And we know that God wants us to…
#4) obey his voice, which is His Word by His Prophets, and God want us to…
#5) ye shall serve him,
and how do we serve Him? How? Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God,
that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service. 2 And be not conformed
to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may
prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. Romans
16:17 Now I beseech you,
brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine
which ye have learned; and avoid them. 18 For they that are
such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly; and by good words
and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple. And…
#6) cleave unto him. That means to never let Go of His Presence, for not reason, none whatsoever.
So
we se that God places us all in a place of testing to see how we are going to
respond to those tests. Hebrews 12:5 And ye have
forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son,
despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of
him: 6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth
every son whom he receiveth. 7 If ye endure chastening, God
dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? 8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are
partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. 9 Furthermore
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them
reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of
spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be
partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but
grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of
righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
1 Peter
1:3 Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath
begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from
the dead, 4 To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you, 5 Who
are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed
in the last time. 6 Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for
a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:
7 That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that
perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: 8 Whom having not
seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with
joy unspeakable and full of glory: 9 Receiving the end of your
faith, even the salvation of your souls.
Jehovah Jireh
56-0224 P:23 You believe God
tests you? He's tested me a many time, and He will test every son that comes to
Him, no matter who it is, not any exceptions. He will... Every one that comes
must first be tested, child-trained, brought up. You know that's what makes a
good child sometime, when you give him a little testing, you know. Papa used to
give it to me with the--with the hickory switch, about this long, you know,
with all the ten commandments wrote on it. When I... All of them, you know,
that was the golden rule at our home. And he sure knowed how to use it right
too.
Their eyes were
opened 57-0421E P:16 And those discouraging times comes to every
believer to test you, and to try you, and to see if you really do believe.
"Every son that cometh to God must first be tested, child-trained. "There'll
be some of you here tonight, no doubt, will go through that same testing.
Reaction to an
action 59-0810 P:21 Isn't it strange how God does things? He will let us get
right down to the last, the last mile away. You know, He likes to do that. He
did it with the Hebrew children. He knew who He could trust, so He let them
boys walk right up to the fiery furnace, till they could almost smell the fire,
and He never moved. But when it comes time, He will move. He will move, but He
waits till His own time. He wanted to see what kind of a reaction they'd have.
He knew they'd made their stand. And when He knows that you make your stand...
He will let Satan take you to the last mile of the way. But just remember, He's
still there. He wants to see if you really mean what you're talking about.
"Oh, I believe God's a Healer. Yes, I sure believe it." And the next
day, you still got your pain. "Well, maybe I never got it." Sure you
got it, He just wanting to see how you're going to react on what you said. You
say, "Oh, praise God, I believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit."
The first little temptation that comes along, you fly off like a buzz saw. He's
trying to see your reaction on your action. He's trying to test you.
"Every son that cometh to God must first be chastened, tested." Every
child that comes to Him, He puts him through a test to see how he will act.
1
Peter 4:12 Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial
which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that,
when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye;
for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil
spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15 But let none
of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody
in other men's matters. 16 Yet if any man suffer as a
Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house
of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey
not the gospel of God? 18 And if the righteous scarcely be
saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19 Wherefore
let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their
souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.