Preparation
#47 (The Appearing or
Coming?
Brian
Kocourek
HEBREWS
For the last few weeks
we have examined the Life of Sampson and Shamgar, and
Gideon and the men of faith as recorded in God's holy Word. We noticed that in each man there was a
certain weakness that each had and yet through it all they were made strong.
Strengthened by the Presence of God in a time of desperate need. And if ever we
have a need for the presence of God among us it is now. And yet we know full
well that God himself came down in this hour in a way which He has not been
here for 2,000 years.
Brother Branham called
it the Appearing which takes place before the coming. He said in End-time
Evangelism,
THE END TIME EVANGELISM
TITUS
Now, who does this tell us will Appear? Who is it Paul
is speaking of here? Let's read it together again. TITUS
It is the great God who is savior that Paul is
speaking of.
ISAIAH 43:10 Ye [are] my witnesses, saith
the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me,
and understand that I [am] he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall
there be after me. 11 I,
[even] I, [am] the LORD; and beside me [there is] no savior. 12 I have declared, and have saved, and I have
shewed, when [there was] no strange [god] among you: therefore ye [are] my
witnesses, saith the LORD, that I [am] God.
Now the question then is in what fashion will this God
Who is the Only savior come? For almost
two thousand years men have looked upon this scripture and have presumed that
this glorious Appearing and His Second coming were one and the same event. But in
this last hour God promised to "restore" and reveal all the
mysteries. Brother Branham rightly
divided this Appearing from the second Coming and in doing so established it as
doctrinal truth and allowed us to see that The Appearing of the Lord comes before
the actual 2nd Coming of the Lord.
FROM THAT TIME
pp. 225
Then. In the next breath he goes on to say "This is my
ministry, see, to declare Him, that He's here." Now the question
then remains, Who is here. God, or the Son of God? Which Jesus is here.
Brother Branham used 1 Thessalonians 4:16 for his text
when He preached the Rapture message, and he told us that the Message is the
Shout. I THESSALONIANS 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump
of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17
Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever
be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these
words.
RAPTURE THE
65-1204 082 He
ordained these things to be, and He must send this. The first thing come when
He starts descending from the heaven, there's a shout. What is it? It's a
Message to get the people together. A Message comes forth first. Now,
"Lamp trimming time. Rise and trim your lamps." What watch was that?
The seventh, not the sixth, the seventh. "Behold the Bridegroom cometh.
Rise and trim your lamps." And they did. Some of them found they didn't
even have any oil in their lamp. See? But it's lamp trimming time. It's Malachi
4 time when you come... It's Luke 17. It's--it's Isaiah... All those prophecies
that it can--perfectly set in order for this day in the Scriptures, we see it
living right there.
Now the question still remains, Who came down with a
Shout. Paul calls Him Lord in this verse.
He says, for The Lord Himself shall descend with a shout which
brother Branham told us is the Message.
But is this Lord God? Or is it the Son of God? So which Lord comes down? You say which Lord, what are you talking
about, there is only one Lord. What then
will you do with PSALMS 110:1 ¶ The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at
my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
Well you say that is a mistake, and I say is it? You
say, well, The old and new testament speak of only One Lord, and that may be
true, but how does it speak of One Lord. Let's just examine what the Scripture
speaks concerning One God and One Lord.
DEUTERONOMY 6:4
¶
Hear, O
The next time we see in scripture where it tells us
that there shall be One Lord, we see it in
ZECHARIAH 14:6 And it
shall come to pass in that day, [that] the light shall not be clear, [nor]
dark: 7 But it shall be one day which shall be
known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, [that] at
evening time it shall be light. 8 ¶
And it shall be in that day, [that] living waters shall go out from
Now what is this a picture of here. It is of the new Jerusalem, right?
Now, there are five times total in the Scripture where
we hear the words ONE LORD used together, so let's go to the next verse which
we will find Jesus Himself speaking in MARK 12:28 ¶ And one of the scribes came, and having heard
them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked
him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The
first of all the commandments [is], Hear, O
Now, notice how specific Jesus answer was…. The
Lord our God is one Lord… In other words, He spoke of God as being One Lord in
contradistinction to being more than one.
He was speaking of God being
ONE, and the Word LORD that He used here is the Greek Word kurios, which means
master or ruler.
We next see this ONE LORD used by the Apostle Paul in I
CORINTHIANS 8:4 ¶ As concerning
therefore the eating of those things that are offered in sacrifice unto idols,
we know that an idol [is] nothing in the world, and that [there is] none
other God but one. 5 For though there be that are called gods,
whether in heaven or in earth, (as there be gods many, and lords many,)That
word LORD is also kurios which is master 6
But to us [there is but] one God, ( and notice the title Paul
gives to this ONE GOD!) the Father,
of whom [are] all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by
whom [are] all things, and we by him. 7 ¶
Howbeit [there is] not in every man that knowledge: He tells us to us who are believers, there
is but one God and there is one Kurios or master, and that is Our Lord Jesus
Christ, by whom are all things… in other words this one He is speaking of is
the Creator.
Now, finally we will come to the 5th time
this word phrase is used in God's Holy Word. Paul again is the speaker, in the
book of EPHESIANS 4:4 where he says,
[There is] one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope
of your calling; 5 One Lord, (ONE
KURIOS OR MASTER) one faith, one baptism, THEN NOTICE VERSE 6 One
God Who is Father of all, Who [is] above all, and through all, and in you
all.
Now, first of all this ought to tell us that if there
is ONE GOD Who is the Father and He is in you all, then the Holy Ghost is none
other than that part of God the Father which has come into you. And what part of any Father comes into his
children? His Life! in JOHN 5:26 26 For as the Father hath life in himself; so
hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
Now the question we must have then is this. If there
is but One God who is Father, then Who is the Son. And how does He differ from
the Father? Because the Scripture tells us that He is called the Son of God, He
is never called in scripture, "God the Son".
Did you know the Pharisees were also bothered by this
question because they really did not understand Who the Messiah would be, and
they did not understand His relationship to the Father. Jesus said to them, ye do always err in your
hearts because you do not understand, neither do you know the scriptures.
In MATTHEW 22:41 we read, ¶ While the Pharisees were gathered together,
Jesus asked them, 42 Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son
is he? They say unto him, [The Son] of David.
43 He saith unto them, How then
doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
44 The LORD said unto my Lord,
Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool? 45
If David then called him Lord, how could he be his son?
Brother Branham taught us that the only difference
between the Father and the Son is that
the Son had a beginning.
From HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT.1 57-0915E
062 that same
Melchisedec that met Abraham coming from the slaughter of the kings. Certainly.
The God of heaven, the Elohim, the Great I AM, not the I was, the I AM (present
tense). "And He blessed him."
Listen here just a little further, so we can get the lesson a little
closer together. Now, the 4th verse... Now consider how great this man was,...
(I just think that too.)... consider how great this man was,... He's beyond the
Son of God. The Son of God had father and mother; He didn't. The Son of God had
a beginning of time and an ending of time; He didn't. Who was that? That was
the Father of the Son. That's Who it was.
HEBREWS CHAPTER. 7 PT.2 57-0922 035 And this
Melchisedec was not Jesus, for He was God. And what made Jesus and God
different, that... Jesus was the Tabernacle that God dwelt in. See? Now,
Melchisedec... Jesus had both father and mother, and this Man never had father
or mother. Jesus had a beginning of life and He had a end of life. This Man had
no father, no mother, no beginning of days, or ending of life. But It was the
self same Person; it was Melchisedec and Jesus was One; but Jesus was the
earthly body, borned and fashioned after sin: God's
own body, His own Son, borned and fashioned after sin
to take the sting out of death, to pay the ransom, and to receive sons and
daughters unto Himself. You get it? That's the reason that He had--He had a
beginning; He had an ending.
HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT.2 57-0922 036 But this perfect body, in
commemoration as a--as the earnest of our resurrection, God would not suffer
that holy body to see corruption, because He created it Himself, and brought it
forth, and resurrected it, and set it at His right hand. And today, the Holy
Spirit that raised that body up is here in the Church (Blessed be the Name of
the Lord.) and showing forth the same miracles and power. And someday this Holy
Spirit, that's in the Church, will scream, and will lift up, and will receive
Itself into this body form that's setting at the right hand of the Majesty of
God, to make intercessions for we sinners, and by there we're perfectly kept
from sin. Not that we don't sin, but kept from sin in the Presence of God;
'cause there's a bloody Sacrifice standing between me and God, and between you
and God. That's the reason He said, "A man that's born of God, does not
commit sin. He can't sin. For if you're borned again,
the very Holy Spirit that lived in that Body, lives in you, and It can't sin.
The sacrifice is laying before Him. Then if you willfully do it, shows that
it's impossible for you to be into that Body. Amen. That's the Gospel. There it
is.
Now, notice how brother Branham lays out the
difference between the father and the Son. And if there is a difference, then
they are different. But you will w\find
that the only difference is that a Son has a beginning, and God does not. Then
the Son is not God, but He is the Son of God. Yet we know that God dwelled in
Him, and anointed Him with His Holy Life, His Holy Presence, His Holy Spirit.
In the Book of ACTS 2:29 we read, Men [and]
brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both
dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us unto
this day. 30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that
God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to
the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne; 31
He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul
was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. 32 This
Jesus hath God raised up, Now, let's just stop here for a moment… Notice he
says, This Jesus hath God raised up,… Now this tells you that God is not Jesus, for if God was Jesus then
He would have raised up Himself.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof
we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, ( Now let's examine this here. Notice, he
says, that Jesus The Son of God had to receive the Holy Ghost Himself… Now if
He had to receive the Holy Ghost, then where was it.
This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof
we all are witnesses. 33 Therefore being by the right hand of God
exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear. 34
For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he saith himself, The
LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, 35
Until I make thy foes thy footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house
of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye
have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Now, then… How did Jesus become Lord? God made Him
Lord! And How did god make Him Lord? By indwelling Him. God hath made this Jesus both Lord and
Christ! The fact is that God made
Him Lord when He made Him Christ. And the Word Christ is the word Christos which means the anointed One. Now, I would
like to ask this question, How could he be the anointed One unless He had been
anointed. And Who anointed Him? If He was God then why would He need to be
anointed, and recognized as The Anointed One?
In the Book of ACTS 10:38, we read, How God
anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went
about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God
was with him. 39 And we are witnesses of all things which he
did both in the land of the Jews, and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged
on a tree: 40 Him God raised up the third day, and
shewed him openly;
Now, if God had to anoint Him and Show Himself to be
with Him and even raise Him up, then was this one that was raised up God? The answer is quite apparent. The Son of God
is not God the Son, but Paul clears up the relationship that the Son had with
the Father in II CORINTHIANS 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath
committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now notice what Paul tells us here,
God was in Christ… and that is what made Him deity.
Now, we have already established that it was God that
raised up Jesus From the dead. And We know by scripture that it was God that
anointed Jesus With the Holy Spirit. And we know that brother Branham taught us
that the Spirit of God entered Him at His baptism, and left Him in the Garden
of Gethsemane.
JESUS CHRIST THE SAME
55-0806 You got to come
back to the Bible, back to the truth. And when Jesus, a carpenter's Son,
physically speaking, when He come to the earth here that's all He was known of,
and the day that when John baptized Him, God a vindicated Him. God spoke from
the heavens. John saw Him coming in the form a dove, and said, "This is My
beloved Son in Whom I'm pleased to dwell." The right translation there is,
"In whom I am pleased to dwell in." Jesus immediately anointed with
God, He was just a man till that time, but now He becomes the God-man. Someone
telling me here not long ago, as I many times referred to it in this shiftless
day, that He was just a prophet, He was a good man. He was more than that. He
was the anointed God. The Bible said, "God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself." God in Christ. Amen.
QUEEN OF SHEBA
60-0110 075 Then after He was baptized in water, John saw
the Spirit of God descending like a dove and going on Him, a Voice saying,
"This is My beloved Son (correctly like this) in Whom I am pleased to
dwell in." God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Jesus said,
"It's not Me that doeth these things; it's My Father. The Son can do
nothing in Himself but what He sees the Father doing." And then God was
with us, God above us, God with us in Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.
FORMER AND LATTER RAIN
60-0303 014 And now, the sun has come across giving a
dismal light because of the denseness of the faith of people. Jesus was the Son
of God, as we was talking today. He was the Son of God as much as He was a man.
At thirty years... We have no record of Him doing anything till He was thirty
years old. When He was baptized in Jordan by John, then the Holy Ghost came
upon Him without measure. In Him dwelled the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. He
was Emmanuel. God was in Him. Why was God in Him? Because He was sinless born
and because that He had a way that He could yield Hisself
to God, and in Him dwelt all of God. Now, you and I could have no more God in
us than what we can yield ourself. As much as we
abide... As much Bill Branham as I can get out of the way, God will come in.
But as long as William Branham's in there, then God has no way of getting in.
And the same with you. It's getting ourself out of
the way, not looking the way we think, not doing the way that we think, but
letting Him do our thinking. Let Him do our looking, listening to the Holy
Spirit.
WHY
61-0413 E-85 God the Father
is a Spirit, The Son of God is a Man Who the Spirit of God dwelt in. RISING OF THE SUN
65-0418M 34-5 When God looked down upon the body... (The Spirit left
Him in the Garden of Gethsemane; He had to die a man.) Remember friends, He
didn't have to do that. That was God. God anointed that flesh, which was human
flesh, and He didn't have... If He'd went up there as God, He'd have never died
that kind of death; can't kill God. He didn't have to do it, but remember, He
went there with you in Him. See?
LETTING OFF THE PRESSURE PP. 96 6-9-62 “But
if you can beat all that away from you, say, "Lord God, I believe just exactly what your word says,
and I believe [ as we preached last night ] that the Appearing of the Lord
comes before the Coming of the Lord," for it's just two different words
altogether, see. Now's the appearing, as He promised in the last days that He'd
be with us.”
BE NOT AFRAID, IT IS I
4-14-61 tape 1 side 1
"We pray that will take place among us tonight as
we will see the Lord God Jehovah to which we are all worshipers of. May He come
forth in His great power, and will SHINE FORTH His Glory into every gloomy
heart. Bring forth faith, Life. We pray that every church that's represented
here may go from here tonight with a fresh vision and a revival spirit break
out in this country, and in the schools,
that there will be prayer day and night, and hungering and thirsting.
May the salt that seasons our life, come tonight and make us so thirsty to be
like Him. We commit this service unto
Him now, The Author Who said, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today
and forever. May He come SHINING FORTH in His Word. And then afterwards SHINE
FORTH in the people. And we will praise Him for it with humble hearts."
II TIM 4:1 "I
charge the therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Chris, Who shall judge the
quick and the dead at His APPEARING and His kingdom." … II
TIM 4:8 "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge, shall give me at that day:
and not to me only, but unto all them that also love His APPEARING."
END TIME EVANGELISM
pp. 186 6-3-62 "I've kept the faith, and henceforth there's a
crown of righteousness laid up for me, that the righteous Lord will give me in
that day; not only me, but all those that love His Appearing.' Not believes
His Appearing; but loves His Appearing,..."
In II THES 2:10-11 those who did not love the
Truth on the other hand are sent a strong delusion. It is during the time of
the Presence of Christ that the false anointed ones bring forth their lying
wonders. But unto those that Love His Appearing He shall give us a crown of
Right - Wise - Ness or correct understanding. On the other hand, a strong
delusion is sent to those who do not love His APPEARING. What is this strong
delusion: Webster's says it is A FALSE BELIEF HELD IN SPITE OF
INVALIDATING EVIDENCE.
No matter how
well you lay out this great revelation of Christ's Presence to the people they
still refuse it and say that it is a false doctrine while they themselves hold to their false teachings
that are solely based upon denominational understanding. They have not yet
learned to question everything they were taught under their denominational
system and to bring it into focus with the Word as revealed by God's Servant
and Prophet.
JEHOVAH JIREH
PART II 7-6-62 "This
is the close of the Royal Seed's waiting. He's here, the APPEARING of Christ.
Did you ever try to DIVIDE?... There's a place in the Bible, you know, I ain't got time to go into it, says "the APPEARING of
Christ," and then "the Coming of Christ." That's two different
things, altogether, the "APPEARING" and the "Coming." He's
APPEARING now, working with us in the form of the Holy Spirit, making it just
perfect, the Church, It has to."
SPIRITUALFOOD IN DUE SEASON 65-0718E 066 Now, He appeared here as a physical body,
looked just exactly like Hofmann's Head of Christ at Thirty-three, and blood
running out of His hand, and so forth, nail scars all over Him, I wouldn't
accept it. No, no, no, no. When He comes, Hisself,
"Every eye shall see Him, every tongue shall confess Him; and as the
lightning cometh from the east unto the west, so shall it be." See? We
don't believe these cults and clans. We believe God is the Word. But He
embodies Himself, taking your body and my body, and gives you gifts, gives me
gifts, and through these gifts He makes Hisself
known. That's the secret Food. No matter how much He'd make Hisself
known by me, you've got to believe it; you've got to have a gift of faith too
to believe it. You believe that? And now if He will manifest Himself in that
manner, will you believe Him with all your heart? You'll believe Him? Oh, how
wonderful, just waiting on Him, just waiting to see what He says.
HAVE FAITH IN GOD
54-0900 017 Jesus is risen from the dead. He's just doing
all kinds of things to get people to believe it, but we're just so loose. We
let it slip through. He could come here tonight, walk out on a platform,
visible in a body with nail scarred hands and return. He's here in the form of
Spirit, but not in the form of flesh. When He brings His body back with Him,
well, it'll be the second coming. It'll all be over then.
THE GREATEST NEWS FLASH IN HISTORY 4-24-61 "And then He APPEARED to His Elected Church only. The rest of them
did not recognize Him. And if He was here today, He would just do the same as
He did then; Appear to the Elected Believer. He never APPEARS to the
unbeliever.. That's the same way
He would do today. If He should come today, and which He has, in Spirit form.
And you notice that He only shows Himself like we left off last night in
Abraham. He never went down unto Lot's group. But He APPEARED to the Elected
group. Turned His back to the tent and said, "Where is thy wife
Sarah?"
If He APPEARS to His Elected only, then what is the
delusion that causes the others to miss His APPEARING? They can not rightly
divide the difference between the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and the Person of
the Holy Ghost Himself. Didn't brother Branham in referring to Matthew 7 tell
us that these people who had gifts of the Spirit were told, "Depart from
me for I never Knew you." Did he not also teach us that when the church
denomination goes for the oil it's all over. Why? Because they think they are
receiving Him and they aren't.
He never knew them, yet they were baptized in the
Spirit even as the tares received the same rain as the wheat. He also taught us
that you can be baptized in your spirit with the Holy Ghost every hour of your
life and still go to hell, unless you have the seed gene. And any time God
sends forth a new Message it is preceded by healing. So, if the Message is a
new Message and not the same old worn out Pentecostal message of the baptism of
the Holy Ghost, you can see that their old understanding becomes a deluding
influence and points the people away from the very presence of the Baptizer
Himself. They say, what do we need a prophet for when we already have God!
"Why, I know he's here because He's in my heart. Don't you realize that
the Baptist's and Pentecostal's all say the same thing? It's to late an hour to
be ignorant of the difference between an anointing in the flesh and the
Presence of the Anointed Christ Himself. So they will keep on looking for the
an evidence in their flesh that they have been baptized in the Spirit.
WE WOULD SEE
JESUS pp. 170 7-4-62 "In the evening time it shall be light. What
is it? The same sun that rises in the east, sets in the west. And the same Son
of God that manifested and APPEARED in the east, is APPEARING in the west now
at the evening time, evening light to the church that's called out and filled
with the Holy Spirit."
THE TRIAL 4-12-64 "Our heavenly Father, the strain
of this moment.. We're wondering Lord, just how many really believe. The seed
has been sown, the Word has been read. Christ, the Holy Ghost, has APPEARED
before us and showed that Life that was in this Light... And He was the light
of the world. He's the Light now. He's the great Eternal Light, and He has
APPEARED before us this afternoon and done just what He said He would do in
this generation. The Word's been thoroughly spoken, the Word's been identified,
and the people now, if they just thoroughly believe it with all their
heart..."
SOULS IN PRISON pg. 21 pp. 4 11-10-63 "Notice. The same spiritual sign Jesus done has reoccurred on
the earth in the last days...the very same spiritual sign that He identified
Himself as Messiah, has identified Him today! He's still Messiah! The same
material sign has APPEARED on the earth that APPEARED about what He was...the
same Pillar of Fire that St. Paul saw, the same One. And all that has
reoccurred with the same nature in it, doing the same thing."
DECEIVED CHURCH BY THE WORLD pp. 83 6-28-59
"But as Israel was bound by their kings, that they could not follow the
real King; and the real King, when He came, they didn't recognize Him. So is it
today, Oh Lord, The king of Glory has APPEARED in the form of the Holy Ghost,
and , Lord, they don't know it. They don't recognize it. They're so organized
so tight, that they do not understand it, because it's not in their
organization. Lord, this is the work of the Devil that's done this to the
people."
WHERE IS HE KING OF THE JEWS pp. 99 12-21-58 "Yet in
all of our theology and our great churches, and so forth today, when the great
light of God has begin to SHINE, the church knows nothing about it."
HEBREWS CHAPTERS 5 & 5 PT. 1 pp. 170 9-8-57 "Friends,
let us go on to perfection. We're with out excuse today. We have no excuse at
all. The God of heaven has APPEARED in these last days and is doing the very
same things that He did then, when He was here before, when He was on earth.
He's proved. As we are coming through this Bible, and you class, know this;
that we have taken miracle by miracle and sign by sign and wonder by wonder
that He did with the children in the
wilderness, the things and signs that He did. The things that He done when He
was here on earth, manifest in the flesh, and the very same things are taking
place today, right here among us. Here's the Word to Vindicate it. Here's the
thing to say It's right, to make it right. Here's the Spirit of God to do the
same thing, so we're without excuse."
WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST 57-0303E 031 What kind
of people ought we to be? How should we conduct ourselves? We are sons and
daughters of a King, not a king, but the King: Jesus Christ the Son of the
living God Who is the King of kings.
II PETER 3:9 ¶ The
Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is
longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a
thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the
works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 ¶ [Seeing] then [that] all these things shall
be dissolved, what manner [of persons] ought ye to be in [all] holy
conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming( Parousia-Presence) of the day of God, wherein the heavens being
on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
HEBREWS pp. 235 CHAPTER 4 9-01-57 "God come down and He showed them a Pillar of
Fire; by His prophets, signs and wonders, He was with them. They didn't
believe It. Oh, they liked to see the miracles. They liked to hear the prophet.
But as far as believing It, they didn't. their lives proves they didn't. [236]
Now, He said, "Don't you fall after that same example of unbelief!"
For if the last day, to the Gentile church, God has APPEARED again: Same sign,
same wonder, same Pillar of Fire, Vindicated, Proven. Let us not harden our
hearts and fall in that temptation back yonder of unbelief, for we'll rot on
earth and that'll be the end of it. [237] And when the Holy Spirit knocks at
your heart, "After so long a time when you hear My Voice, harden not your
heart;" say, "Child of mine, this is the truth." Don't look at
the messenger, listen to the Message."
INVISIBLE UNION OF THE BRIDE pg. 11 pp. 3 11-25-65 "And so was God manifested in the beginning. And
finally He Appeared as Jehovah, God the Father. Then He APPEARED as God the Son
in Jesus Christ. Now, He has APPEARED as God the Holy Ghost, the same God all
the time. Three manifestations of the same God."
THINKING MAN'S FILTER
pp. 34 8-22-65 "And
when the Angels of the Lord APPEARED out there for the seven seals, and it went
up into the air (which we had the picture of It here and around over the
country), there He was standing there still wigged with the Supreme Authority.
He is the Head of the church. He's head of the body. There's nothing like Him
anywhere."
WHEN THEIR EYES WERE OPEN 3-12-64 “Remember, the reason they knowed that was
Him, He did it just like He did it before He was crucified. Then He vanished
out of their sight to get away from it. He did it that way. May He come tonight
among us, and open our eyes by revealing Himself to us by the same things that
He did when here on earth, because He promised He's the same yesterday, today,
and forever. Mat the Lord help us to see Him as He appears to us.”
THE SNARE OF
GIDEON The first man in the land was now Gideon. He was the
conqueror of the enemies of his country and had been made Judge of Israel. The
blessing of God was upon him, and he possessed the favor, confidence and love
of the people. And yet, in the face of all this honor and glory, we see the man
going down under the double snare of gold and false worship. The fall brought
not only trouble to himself, but evil to the nation, as a degenerate leader and
corrupted religion are bound to bring woe to any people. In the very flush of
his victory Gideon got his eyes faced on certain golden ornaments worn by the Ishmaelites, which represented a vast fortune. And so he
secured them. With the entrance of covetousness came idolatry, for the Bible
declares that “Covetousness is idolatry.” An image of worship was made out of a
part of the gold and afterwards erected or set up in Ophrah;
and the Bible says that “and Israel went thither a whoring after it.” After
this, on the death of Gideon, the people worshipped Baal one wrong step leading
to others deeper, darker and more damnable. Why is it that so many great and
useful men, before finishing their course on earth, will write, say or do
something that, if it does not undo all their previous work, leaves some kind
of blemish on the good name or fame, causing the wicked to laugh and the
righteous to grieve?
The Bible tells of
just such happenings in the lives of Saul, Samson, David, Demas, Mark and a
number of others. History bears witness to the same melancholy fact from John
Calvin, who had a man burned at the stake on theological and doctrinal grounds,
and to Aaron Burr, who, after a life of brilliant service, plotted the
overthrow of his country. S. S. Prentiss, the gifted orator from Mississippi,
fell back exhausted at the conclusion of one of his most wonderful speeches,
when a member of Congress leaped to his feet, bent over the prostrate man and
shouted in his pallid face: “Die, Prentiss, die!” His idea was that the
eloquent speaker before him had reached the highest point of earthly success
and glory, and should pass away thus at his very best.
When we study the
spiritual life, the same character of facts confront us. Paul said to the
Galatians: “Ye did run well, who did hinder you?” The “hindrance,” it is
noticeable, came after the “running well.” The twofold snare of Gideon
presented itself after his great victory. David’s temptation drew nigh after he
had performed some of the noblest acts of his life and composed a number of his
sweetest Psalms. The teaching from these and many other scriptural instances
is, that awful moral lapses and falls may take place after years of remarkable
services and faithful living. An humble-spirited preacher is made a bishop and
develops into an autocrat or pope. A gifted but lowly-hearted country boy
enters the ministry, has success, gets his head turned, develops oratory,
strives for popularity, and by-and-by a backslider in heart and life is in the
pulpit giving announcements and pounding the Bible. A faithful layman,
entrusted with a large sum of money, is true for years, and then, in middle
life, listens to the Tempter, and first uses, and, later, purloins sacred funds
and flies from the country a disgraced man. Time would fail to tell of men who,
after ten, twenty, thirty and forty years of correct moral and even religious
living, went down under some sudden or prolonged temptation, and got as far
from God as they had been previously distant from the world and the Devil.
The snares that trap
and catch men are different; but Satan, who seems to give no man up while he is
living? finds some way by which to confuse, entangle, sidetrack and secure his
downfall if it be possible. The snare in Gideon’s case, as has been said, was
gold; with Samson and David and Solomon, lust; with Saul, envy; with Balaam and
Judas, money; with Demas, the love of this present world. To this day men are
falling away from duty and God on account of these things. And because the
Devil has had such success in the employment of these baited traps and
flower-covered pitfalls, he is as persistent in his temptations these days as
in former times. He knows the power of the snare and the weakness of the nature
he has to deal with, and never seems to be discouraged.
This is the reason
that the Bible has so much to say about “Watching and Praying;” about working
out one’s salvation with fear and trembling; and utters the peculiarly solemn
words, “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.” We have all known men who not only thought they stood,
but really did stand in grace and were used of God; and yet we have seen them
sour, grow bitter, become envious, backslide in heart, backslide in life and
then lay around for years as helpless, useless and melancholy in appearance as
the wrecks of ships thrown by a storm on the beach and left after that to
whiten and fall to pieces as the days and months rolled by. God save us from
the snare of Gideon and from those of Saul, Samson, David, Judas and Demas and
from any and every other kind which the enemy of our souls would place in
position to cripple and capture us, and finally, to destroy and damn us, both
soul and body, in hell forever.
CHAPTER 18
THE FINAL SCENE
The writer of the Book of Judges says, in the conclusion of the eighth
chapter, that Gideon “died in a good old age.” In another verse is the
statement that as soon as Gideon was dead the “children of Israel turned again
and went after Baal.” In Hebrews Paul says that “he died in the faith.” From
these different passages we gather that the famous leader of the “three
hundred” must have repented of his error and got right with God, for it is said
that “he died in the faith.” Not only that, but his influence for good must
have been reestablished, for the instant he died, and not until he died, the
people of Israel went after Baal. This teaches most unmistakably the
restraining power of the man and the ascendancy for good he regained and which
he then wielded until the hour of death. Not all men get back to God from their
life-strayings, but when such wanderers do return,
the coming home rejoices not only Heaven but every true child of God on earth.
The more prominent and useful they were the sadder their lapse or fall is felt
to be, and the deeper is the joy if they get back to salvation and usefulness.
A man’s gifts and
power for good will naturally make him a target for the Devil. In the Boer War,
in South Africa, the best marksmen were stationed in tree-tops and upon lofty
crags to pick off the English officers, and, as a consequence, we read that the
mortality among them was simply dreadful. Satan knows that some men are worth
more to God than others, and that their fall would mean more than that of those
less prominent and successful; and so he makes peculiar and persistent and violent
attacks upon them. Death is said to love a shining mark; and so does the great
adversary. How he must gloat in entangling them in his toils on earth and
seeing them bound in everlasting chains in hell. If such a character is
wounded, but recovers strength and power again, it naturally brings dismay to
the Devil and a great joy and thankfulness to the people of God. But how much
more blessed and inspiring it is to see a man faithful to God and truth and
duty from the start to the finish of his career. It commends the cause of God,
commands respect, stimulates faith and brings in a great army of new
volunteers. David, Samson and Gideon went into sin and error before completing
their course in life. They were restored, and died in the faith; but the blemish
was left on their name and fame and the blot on the pages of their history.
There were other
characters like Job, Daniel, Joseph and Paul who never failed. They were true
to God through trouble, temptation, worldliness and persecution. Heaven has
long ago approved them. Nor is this all, for mankind itself, in reading of
their trials and triumphs, their battles and victories, has also passed
sentence and declared them to be the real heroes and victors of this world.
Truly, it is better to be like this latter class than the former; and we can
be. The Scripture is faithful to warn us concerning the possibility of
disastrous failure. “Ye did run well, who did hinder you?” Again we have the
passage, “I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest by any means,
that I, after having preached the Gospel to others, may be a castaway; “ and
still again, the solemn passage, “Let him who thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall.” The same Bible, however, tells us that we need not
fall. The promise is that “He will keep us from falling;” that “He is able to
do for us exceeding abundant above all that we can ask or think;” while Paul
adds, “I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto
Him until that day.” It was a heart-stirring scene in the old-time days of the
South to see all the slaves gather from the fields at dusk with their bags and
baskets stuffed full and piled high with beautiful snow-white cotton. The
laborers would stand or sit around in the shadows of the early night, while
their days’ work was weighed and publicly proclaimed.
But it will be a far
more wonderful sight to behold the toilers of Christ coming up from every land,
and, at the Judgment Day, lay down before their God their trophies, sheaves and
good works — the labors of a lifetime.
The unspeakably
sorrowful feature connected with the close of a great war and the return of the
soldiers is that so many who went forth never come back, but are left sleeping
under the soil of many a bloody battlefield or in the obscure graveyard of some
far distant hospital or prison. Far sadder than this will it be if many who
were once soldiers of Christ and marched away to fight His battles should have
been wounded, captured or destroyed by the enemy and never come back. The Devil
will finally surrender, the war on earth be over and then the Celestial army,
the Church Triumphant, will appear returning to enter upon everlasting peace,
when lo! it is seen that many who once fought in the ranks for Christ are not
beheld in the homecoming. They have been left on some distant field of sin.
They were mortally wounded by Satan. They were not faithful unto death. Like
the angels, they kept not their first estate. Like Baalam,
Judas, Saul and Demas, they fell and “went unto their own place” in the world
of the lost, the eternal captives of the Devil. How we pray that all of God’s
Israel may be saved, that those who read these lines, as well as he who writes
them, may endure hardness as good soldiers of Christ, fight a good fight, keep
the faith, and dying, find our latest foe under our feet at last. May we be in
our places on that wonderful day when the Saints come marching into Heaven from
all climes and nations of the earth. And may we all have the King to smile upon
us, and bless us, and say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant; enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord.
Let us him acceptably,
for our god is a consuming fire.
Rom 14 we don't live
unto ourselves we are the lord's.
1 cor
16 he addicted himself to the ministry
of the saints, all of you should honor him.
Phil 4 2 Cor 8& 9 titus sent to
teach them how to give
2 tim
1 end onesephorus he sought me out and ministered to my needs,
I pray that he might find mercy
is my life pleasing to
him.