Rising of the Son no 64
Soon removed from Him
May 7, 2017
Brian Kocourek, pastor
Last week we examined paragraph 128 of
The Rising of the Sun (Son) where brother
Branham said, "God bless you. I've kept you here a long
time. If them people is still on that telephone, they
sure--at fifty cents a minute, they'd really paid this morning, but I just
couldn't stop at that hour; I just had to go on. Now, the Lord willing, I'll be
back tonight to talk with you again. And if I can't, and then you all know... I
suppose we're not on no--or no--we're on telephone no more? Not on telephone no
more. You all know where I'm going, don't you? Africa. I've called for a long
time, for years I've tried to get back. Now, a vision, the Spirit of the
Lord has prepared the way. They said when those poor natives heard it,
that I didn't come the last time when, there, they laid on the ground day and
night and moaned and cried, saying, "Lord, what have we done?"thousands
of them. Those people don't even believe they got a soul. See? And they cried,
and they moaned, and they cried, "Don't you send no word ahead.
Please don't." See? If that visa would happen to go through there and get amongst of them ministers,
they'd stop me right there. I have to go in as a hunter.
We went on to show how that Satan always tries to
hinder the Word going forth and he uses his ministers to do it.
The Apostle Paul said in Galatians 1: 6 I marvel that ye are so soon
removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel:7 Which
is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ.8 But though we, or an angel from
heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto
you, let him be accursed.9 As we said before, so say
I now again, If any man preach any other gospel
unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.10 For
do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to please men? for if I yet pleased
men, I should not be the servant of Christ.11 But I
certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I
taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.13 For ye have heard of my conversation in time
past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of
God, and wasted it:
And of course we know that the Paul's conversion came directly from God
as He had shown Himself to Paul in the form of the Pillar of fire and revealed
Himself to Paul.
Now, what I would like
to focus on here for a few moment this morning before our brother Modesto comes
to preach for us, I want to focus on what Paul said especially in verse 6.
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which
is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the
gospel of Christ.
Therefore we should consider this very carefully. And therefore we
should "take the Word
just as He said it," In other words, as Peter taught us that "The scripture is of no private
interpretation."
Let's just read that for ourselves. 2 Peter 1:20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation.
Therefore, God's Word says what He means and His Word means what He said. And that is what broke
the union between God and man, that is what broke the oneness and fellowship God
had with his son Adam, and it broke up Life!
To break the continuity of Scripture or give it another
meaning than what was written is to give another nature to it and therefore
another Spirit altogether. Then it is no longer the same Spirit, but another Spirit. Then it is no longer the same message but another Message,
another Gospel.
And notice Paul said, 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into
the grace of Christ... Removed from Who? He said they had removed themselves from Christ,
And they were removed to where? He said to another Gospel. 6 I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of
Christ unto another gospel:
Yes, sir, he said they left Christ for another Gospel. Another Gospel. Now, the Greek word Paul used here that
was translated as "another" is the word "heteros". Now, the word "heteros", means "different" but not
altogether different but rather of a " different nature", "another nature".
When w use the word hetero in our English
language we usually place it as a adjective before a noun. We say a man is
"hetero-sexual" meaning he is attracted to the opposite sex.
So Paul is saying they left Christ for a Gospel
or Message
of "different
nature" than the one he preached.
Therefore if it is a
Gospel of "another
nature", then it
must be of a "different Spirit", right? And Paul goes on to say, it is not another
as if a completely different one in substance, but only in
nature.
Galatians
1:7 Which is not another;
(this
word another is not translated from the same Greek
word "heteros",
meaning different in nature, but rather from a Greek word "allos" which means
"different altogether"). But
notice Paul said it is not "Allos," it is not an
altogether different Gospel, and then he explains why when he says, "but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ."
So we see the
reason it is a perverted Gospel is because it's nature has changed from what
Paul taught. Notice, the
Apostle Paul tells us it is a perverted Gospel with a perverted nature.
The word "pervert" here was taken from the Greek word "meta strepho" which means literally "to change the mind." In other words, these men crept in and got the people
to "change
their mind" concerning the
nature and characteristics of the Word Paul had presented.
Paul said the
people in his day had come to the place where they were worshipping another
Jesus and using the same Gospel but presenting it in a perverted manner and
thus the people heard a Gospel of a different nature and were receiving a
Spirit of a different nature as well. This was all the beginnings of the Great
deception.
In the next church Age, Irenaeus came along and nailed down the fact that the
people had gone back into idolatry and pagan worship, all the while trying to
prove their doctrine using the scriptures, along side of old wives tails.
Iraneaus who was the messenger to the second church age put it so well when he spoke of a master sculpture
who took gems and fashioned them into the likeness of a
king. He fitted the gems so well together that there was no disputing
the fact that they
formed the image of a King. But then he said others came around and took the statue and broke it to
pieces and took the same gems and refashioned them into the
likeness of a dog or fox. And yet purely done. But the ignorant come around and look
only to the gems and say in
turn, yes this is the image of the king.
"In as much as
certain men have set
the truth aside, and bring in lying words and vain genealogies,
which, as the apostle says, "minister questions rather than godly edifying which is in faith," and by
means of their craftily-constructed plausibility's draw away the minds of the
inexperienced and take them captive, [I have felt constrained, my
dear friend, to compose the following treatise in order to expose and
counteract their machinations.] These men falsify the oracles of God, and prove
themselves evil
interpreters of the good word of revelation. They also overthrow
the faith of many, by drawing
them away, under a pretense of superior knowledge,
from Him who rounded
and adorned the universe; as if, in truth, they had something more
excellent and sublime to reveal, than that God who created the heaven and the
earth, and all things that are therein. Therefore, by means of
specious and plausible words, they cunningly allure the simple-minded to
inquire into their system; but they nevertheless clumsily destroy them,
while they initiate them into their blasphemous and impious opinions respecting
the Creation; and these
simple ones are unable, even in such a matter, to distinguish falsehood from
truth."
"Error,
indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being
thus exposed, it should at once be detected. But it is craftily decked
out in an attractive dress, so as, by its outward form, to make it
appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous, as the expression may seem) more
true than the truth itself. "A clever imitation in glass casts
contempt, as it were, on that precious jewel the emerald (which is most highly
esteemed by some), unless it come under the eye of one able to test and expose
the counterfeit. Or, again, what inexperienced person can with ease detect the
presence of brass when it has been mixed up with silver?" Lest, therefore,
through my neglect, some should be carried off, even as sheep are by wolves, while
they perceive not the true character of these men, because they
outwardly are covered with sheep's clothing (against whom the Lord has
warned us to be on our guard), and because their language resembles ours,
while their sentiments are very different, --I have deemed it my
duty (after reading some of the Commentaries, as they call them, of the
disciples of Valentinus, and after making myself
acquainted with their tenets through personal intercourse with some of them) to
unfold to thee, my friend, these portentous and profound mysteries, which do
not fall within the range of every intellect, because all have not
sufficiently purged their brains. I do this, in order that thou, obtaining
an acquaintance with these things, mayest in turn
explain them to all those with whom thou art connected, and exhort them
to avoid such an abyss of madness and of blasphemy against Christ. I
intend, then, to the best of my ability, with brevity and clearness to set
forth the opinions of those who are now promulgating heresy. I refer especially
to the disciples of Ptolemaeus, whose school may be
described as a bud from that of Valentinus. I shall
also endeavour, according to my moderate ability, to
furnish the means of overthrowing them, by showing how absurd and inconsistent
with the truth are their statements. Not that I am practiced either in
composition or eloquence; but my feeling of affection prompts me to make known
to thee and all thy companions those doctrines which have been kept in
concealment until now, but which are at last, through the goodness of God,
brought to light. "For
there is nothing hidden which shall not be revealed, nor secret that shall not
be made known."
Notice the Apostle Paul
called it "a perverted Gospel". Not a different one altogether, for they still use the same
words, "Christ, Holy Spirit,
Word, Church, Token, Presence, etc. but when you listen to what they have to say it isaltogether of a different nature.
Let's turn to 2 Corinthians 11:1-4 and read what the Apostle Paul had to say in
warning the Corinthians church. 1 Would
to God ye could bear with me a little in my
folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am jealous over
you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may
present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
3 But I fear, lest by
any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve
through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 4 For
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, (that
word another was translated from the Greek word
"allos",
meaning a different Jesus altogether) whom we have not preached, or if
ye receive another spirit, (but
notice this word another is translated from the
Greek word "heteros",
meaning of a "different nature") which ye have not
received, or another gospel, (a
Gospel of a different nature) which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him. He says why do you put up with it. And
then the Apostle Paul says, ... 5 For I suppose I was
not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles.
6 But though I
be rude in speech, yet not in knowledge; but we have been
throughly made manifest among you in all things.
The Expanded
Bible puts it this way, 4 You
·are very patient to willingly put up with; or gladly tolerate anyone who comes to you and preaches a
different Jesus from the one we preached. You are very willing to accept a
spirit that is different from the Spirit you received, or a gospel that is
different from the one you ·accepted or received from
us.
I like the way the version called The Message 4-6 lays
out the thought Paul is saying here. "It seems that if someone shows up preaching quite
another Jesus than we preached—different spirit, different message—you put up
with him quite nicely. But if you put up with these big-shot “apostles,” why
can’t you put up with simple me? I’m as good as they are. It’s true that I
don’t have their voice, haven’t mastered that smooth eloquence that impresses
you so much. But when I do open my mouth, I at least know what I’m talking
about. We haven’t kept anything back. We let you in on everything.
Here we see Paul telling us that a Message
of a different nature will bring with it a different Spirit, and
that present to you a totally different Jesus altogether than what he preached.
They could be presenting a Gospel using the same quotes and
scriptures and yet because they have a wrong understanding they will be
presenting a totally different Jesus while claiming to believe
the same Jesus Paul believed.
Always remember and never forget, unless you
have the same Holy Spirit that dwelt in Christ Jesus and in Paul you will never
understand the things of God.
1
Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither have entered into the
heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God
hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit:
for The Spirit (God's
Spirit) searcheth
all things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For
what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man,
but the Spirit of God knows. 12 Now we have received, not the
spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God;
that we might know (there's your
key right there, we receive the Spirit of God that we might know, for the
purpose of knowing and understanding) the things that are freely given to us of God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words
which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost
teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God:
for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, (that means it is
impossible for him to know the things of God, Why?) because they are spiritually discerned. (it
takes the Spirit of God to know the things of God). 15 But he that is
spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind
of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
From
Chapter VIII. --How the Valentinians
pervert the Scriptures to support their own pious opinions. 1. Such, then, is
their system, which neither the prophets announced, nor the Lord taught, nor
the apostles delivered, but of which they boast that beyond all others they
have a perfect knowledge. They gather their views from other sources than the
Scriptures; and, to use a common proverb, they strive to weave ropes of sand,
while they endeavor to adapt with an air of probability to their own peculiar
assertions the parables of the Lord, the sayings of the prophets, and the words
of the apostles, in order that their scheme may not seem altogether without
support. In doing so, however, they disregard the order and the connection of
the Scriptures, and so far as in them lies, dismember and destroy the truth. By
transferring passages, and dressing them up anew, and making one thing out of
another, they succeed in deluding many through their wicked art in adapting the
oracles of the Lord to their opinions. Their manner of acting is just as if one,
when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by some skillful artist
out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of the man all to
pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as to make them
into
the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly executed; and
should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful image of the king
which the skillful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels which had been
admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image of the king,
but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the shape of a
dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant who had no
conception what a king's form was like, and persuade them that that miserable
likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of the king. In like
manner do these persons patch together old wives' fables, and then endeavor, by
violently drawing away from their proper connection, words, expressions, and
parables whenever found, to adapt the oracles of God to their baseless
fictions. We have already stated how far they proceed in this way with respect
to the interior of the Fullness.
Now having read
Irenaeus' description of their practice and their teaching techniques, we should
be able first of all to see how it is that they are able to draw away people's
minds from the Truth into error. Because the ignorant, as Irenaeus calls them,
do not know the Truth, they therefore open themselves to error. Which reminds
me of one sister years ago who said, "Since I don't understand, I can not be held responsible," but she was rebuffed by
my good friend who told her, " on the contrary my sister, you are
responsible, therefore you had better understand."
How
many foolish people will try and twist brother Branham's words. The Oneness
believe he is a Trinitarian, while the Trinitarian believe he is oneness.
Others try to make him say things he never said, and some claim he taught that
you do not need to understand, you only need to believe. He explicitly taught
that only the Elect will understand. For how can you believe without knowing
what you believe?
Now,
I hope you understand how important it is to know the Truth, for "the Truth shall set you free." Not only
should you know the Truth, but also you should love it, for if you do not love
it, it is right there that you are placing yourself in a position to be
deceived.
2 Thessalonians 2: 10-12 And with all
deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not
the love of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might
be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
And
so we see here because they have not a love for the Truth, God Himself will
send them the strong delusion that will cause them to leave the Truth. Now if
you think for one minute that you are more than able to resist what God sends,
you had better not fool yourself. God is ever watchful of your attitudes.
Remember, He knows the very inner-most thoughts that you have. And you've got
to love it with all your heart, with all your mind, and with all your soul, or
you will open yourself up for deception.
I
Timothy 4:1-2 Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some
shall depart from The Faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of
devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot
iron; These are hypocritical lies, because they know better but refuse to teach
the truth. The scriptures does not tell us, "some shall depart from faith", but from
"The Faith," and we know
that faith is a Revelation. and there is only one Revelation that the
Scriptures speak about, and that is the Revelation of Jesus Christ.
Now, in closing I will read two more paragraph brother Branham mentions
about his Africa trip before I turn the service over to our brother Modesto
from Africa.
129 I'm going
up to the queen that brought seventeen trainloads down and come down to the
meeting. I get to go up and hunt on her territory. And I go in; my passport and
everything calls for a hunter, not a religious service. Then there's going to
be one brother meet me, say, "Why don't you have a little meeting for
us?" The stadiums are already rented; they don't even know it. See? Oh,
glory. Pray that the will of God will not be hindered, that my soul that's cried for Africa
since I've left, may I be able to return again and then bring you a message of
a great meeting.
130 I probably won't see you no more from today
until I return back. We're going in just a few days now, the 10th of May. Will
you pray for me? Remember, you don't know what troubles are till you hit
there: witch doctors on every side and devils; and don't
think they don't know what to do. See? And you better know what you're talking about, when you
stand before them. "But I know in Whom I have believed, and I'm persuaded He's able to
keep that which I have committed to Him against that day." Now,
there's some handkerchiefs laying here. Dear God, as this message this morning
of the resurrection and me standing here, Lord, and proving by the Word that
that Quickening Power is in the believing child; therefore, upon believing
in faith that that Quickening Power has changed my life, and these people
believes, Lord, and It changed their lives; and we pray one for another. I'm laying my hands upon these handkerchiefs that may God, Who
quickened Jesus Christ and brought Him from the dead, and that Spirit that
raised Him up from the dead, be dwelling in our bodies. The Spirit that was upon the
body of Elisha that after being dead and nothing but bones, it had Quickening
Power in them. The hands of the apostles had Quickening Power in them. The minds of the apostles, the
sight of the apostles, the tongues of the believers, all had Quickening Power.
Now, may that Quickening Power, as I lay this Word upon them and my hands to
represent a possessor by grace of that Quickening Power, may It quicken every
one of these sick bodies and they be made whole again, God. Through Jesus
Christ's Name. May it not only for these handkerchiefs, but for those
people out there in the audience, everyone that suffers, those little
children, elderly people, whatever they are, may that Quickening Power
quicken them right now in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Let
us pray...