Romans 127

Questions and Answers concerning the Godhead No. 2

July 6, 2003

Brian Kocourek

 

2 Timothy Chapter 3  Verse 16 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  Let’s bow our hearts in prayer.

 

Dear Gracious Father we come to Thee this evening with hearts open for examination, because we have come to commune with Thee this Communion night. It is in reverence and fear that we approach Thee for you have told us through your vindicated Prophet William Branham that “One Word off is Satan’s Kingdom.” And we know Lord, that “unless the Lord build the house, they that build, buildeth in vain.” Keep us from adding our own thoughts to your Word, and help us to say only what you have said, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s Name. You may be seated.

 

I would like to read three scriptures for our text as we shall take a short message tonight answering some questions concerning the Godhead.

 

Colossians Chapter 2 Verse 8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.  Verse 9 For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.  I do not know how much more plain the Apostle Paul could be here. Notice he is telling us that in Him (Christ) dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead (That’s speaking of God Himself) in a bodily form. God dwelling in a body, IN Him, in the Son Christ Jesus, God indwelling.

 

Romans Chapter 1 Verse 20 For the invisible things (Those things which are unseen or can not be seen with the natural eye) of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen,  (Seen not with the eyes, but with the heart they are seen thoroughly, perceived clearly, and), being understood by the things that are made (that means they are understood by His workmanship, His nature is expressed then in His Work), even his eternal power (that word is dunamis) and Godhead (Divine Nature); so that they are without excuse: That means what they do with it cannot be defended. Either they accept or they reject, but there are no excuses with God. Paul tells us here that the Power and Godhead or Godhood of God is clearly seen in the way He has brought about His Creation, and there is no excuse for people to not understand the nature of God, the WHO and what concerning God. Then if so, it is not such a mysterious thing after all, that people so want to make it. He said there is no excuse, it is inexcusable for people not to be able to see the very power and Nature of God by His workmanship. It is only mysterious to those who have closed their eyes to the Truth. But the Godhead is clearly seen. Then why so much debate over the Godhead? Why so much rejection over the True Doctrine of the Godhead as William Branham vindicated Prophet of God brought forth.

 

You know they would tell him, “You sure don’t know your Bible”, and he would respond, But I know the Author real well!, and they could not deny that he like no man living for the past 2,000 years had a working relationship with God. He knew God in a way that no one else knew God. Then why would they question his understanding of the Godhead?  I believe the reason they would challenge a vindicated prophet of God is because they do not believe what is so apparent that there are no excuses not to believe. Knowing there are no excuses, they then challenge that which is clearly seen, and deny it altogether.

 

Acts Chapter  17  Verse 29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. The word device means  thinking, consideration, or thoughts, so we see the Apostle Paul telling us here that we are not to use our own reasoning ability to understand the Godhood, for God has already made it plain to us through the things he has created and the fact that we are His offspring, and thus His children. What he is telling us here is that when we think of God, our thoughts should be as children considering the desires of our Father and as obedient children, responding as He would so desire for us to respond.   

 

As you may recall last week we examined two questions concerning the Godhead, which were:

 

Question 1: How can brother Branham say Jesus was a dual person when Jesus Himself saidI and My Father are One”, and “when you see me you see the Father”?

 

Question 2) What about quotes where brother Branham said that Jesus and God were one, but not in the same way as a husband and wife are one. How does that fit then with what you are saying? 

 

Notice that brother Branham points out that we are not talking about two physical being like a man and wife are two physical beings. But he explained that there is one that was a man, and we know to be a man you must have body, soul and spirit. But in that man that was fully man, indwelt the God, the Father, who is Spirit. Thus making them one by the indwelling. But notice in this next quote how brother Branham is more specific and shows that the oneness of God and His Son is not like Husband and wife and He is more clear as to why it is different.

 

Baptism Of the Holy Spirit 58-0928M   94  Jesus, He said, "I and My Father are One. My Father dwelleth in Me." No one could read that any plainer. They said, "Why don't You show us the Father, and it'll satisfy us." John 14:8. He said, "I've been so long with you and you don't know Me?" He said, "When you see Me, you see My Father." As a lady once jumped up, she said, "Why, Brother Branham," she said, "the Father and the Son are one, just like you and your wife are one." I said, "Oh, no they're not." I said, "Do you see me?" She said, "Yes." I said, "You see my wife?" Said, "No." I said, "Then they're not the same kind of one. Jesus said, 'When you've see Me, you have seen the Father. The Father dwelleth in Me.' My wife don't dwell in me." See? They are One; in every way they are One.

 

Now this leads us to Question 3) What about where brother Branham said that Jehovah was born over a manure pile? What about it? God was never born? If He was born he had to have a beginning. If you examine that quote carefully you will find that brother Branham said, “Little Jehovah” born over a manure pile.

 

IDENTIFICATION 63-0123  E-23    Now therefore, His loving character of love, oh, for us, it makes plain John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but would have Eternal Life." God, projecting Himself, and become man that He might have upon Him the form of His creation. In other words He changed His tent. He spread it amongst human beings. And the infant Jehovah, crying in a manger, could you imagine it? It ought to alarm the hearts of believers. And that was all done... Could you imagine Jehovah, being a baby in a manger, in a stable of manure? Could you imagine that? Could you imagine little Jehovah playing as a boy? It's an example. Could you imagine Him as a teenager? Could you imagine in the carpenter's shop? And could you imagine Him in such complete obedience to God, dying on a cross to redeem His fallen creation? That's the kind of a love that God had. And He had to become that in order to die, to hold the sting of death.

 

Now, if you think he is talking about Jehovah God is the one born, then how could he speak of this one and say, you imagine Him in such complete obedience to God. Do we have Two God’s Now? I don’t think so. He is talking about John 3:16 God sending forth His own Son.

Now, the Body was both God’s Body and He also loaned it to His Son. They shared the same body, and that is the key to understanding the Godhead. Jesus was not the fullness of the Godhead, but IN Him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead.

 

Show us the Father/ 60-0731 "GOD is a SPIRIT. He had no hands till HE become JESUS. He had no feet, arms, legs and so forth, till He become JESUS... HE come to a stable, borned over a manure pile. And Little JEHOVAH crying in a manger, little JEHOVAH playing as a boy, little JEHOVAH toiling as a man, He crossed His cast with us. GOD BECOME HUMAN. When JESUS CHRIST was born, GOD was HUMAN on earth... He toiled and labored and felt for the teen-ager. HE went through every temptation that we go through. GOD DID IT, that He might do His own judgment justice."

 

WHEN THEIR EYES WERE OPENED 64-0416  E-14    He was a man when He died on the cross crying for mercy; He was a man. But when He broke the seals of death, hell, and the grave, rose up on the third day, He proved He was more than a man. He was God in a man. No wonder every man that’s ever amounted to anything believed that. All poets and everything that’s ever amounted to anything believes that. That’s right. He was more than a man; He was God. Now, God in His own Son built a body that He lived in, tabernacled, changed His strength. Just think, Jehovah laying in a manger over a manure pile in a barn, crying like a little baby. Those little baby hands, little Jehovah, coming down and in-veiled Himself in that form. Look at the Jehovah out playing as a teenage boy. Look at Jehovah building in a carpenter shop, Jehovah hanging on the cross. Then when He rose up, He proved He was Jehovah. That’s right. God in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself... He was more than a philosopher; He was more than a prophet. He was Emmanuel.

 

Question 4) What about Isaiah 9:6. This tells us the one born is the everlasting Father, and the Almighty God. Does it? Let’s read it thought by thought. ISAIAH 9:6  For unto us a child is born, Now, if the child is born it has a beginning. Then how can it have a beginning and be the everlasting Father. William Branham said he cannot be His own Father, so we have an oxymoron here, but let’s read on,  unto us a son is given:” Now, if this Son is given, then someone greater had to give Him, and who could that be? We find our answer in John 3:36 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. Therefore when Isaiah 9:6 tells us this son was given it is imperative that someone greater gave him, and we have our answer, the Father gave His Only begotten Son. “and the government shall be upon his shoulder: Now, in order for the government to be on this ones shoulder, he would have to be elevated to that place, and we find the Scripture tells us in the Book of Acts, 2:36 that God hath made Him both Lord and Christ. Now, if God made Him Lord then he wasn’t Lord to begin with. ACTS 5:31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand [to be] a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. PHILIPPIANS 2:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 9 Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of [things] in heaven, and [things] in earth, and [things] under the earth; Now, this scripture plainly tells us that he was obedient showing he was not sovereign, and God the Sovereign One exalted the one who was not sovereign.

 

 and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Notice it does not say he is, but His name shall be called, and that is very significant because Jesus said I come in My Father’s name.  JOHN 5:43  I am come in my Father’s name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. And what does the name Jesus come from? It comes from Joshua which means “Jehovah Savior”. Therefore, His name shall be called…Called what? The same as the almighty God and the everlasting Father…

 

Question # 5) I always thought that God died for our sins. How does 1 JOHN 3:16Hereby perceive we the LOVE [of GOD], because HE laid down HIS LIFE for us.” fit with the way brother Branham taught on the Godhead?

 

Answer: The body of Jesus was created by God in the womb of Mary. The Bible tells us, “A Body hast thou prepared me. ”All the DNA come from God. In essence then we could say that body was God’s body, and yet it also housed another person, the person of His Son, Jesus Christ the Son of God. In Hebrews Chapter  10  Verse 5 we read, Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:  6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. 7 Then said I, Lo, I come in the volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God.

 

Now, who came to do the Will of God the Father who is the Creator of all things? Of course it was the Son of God.  What those who use this Scripture try to say in their use of it, is that God died. But it is impossible for God to Die. We have many Scriptures and many quotes that tell us other wise. It was the Son of God who died.

 

1 Timothy Chapter  1  Verse 17 Now unto The King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible, The only Wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.  Notice then the attributes of God, Eternal, Immortal Invisible, King. If he is Invisible it is because He is Spirit. The body that died on the cross was not Spirit.  God is Spirit. The body was not deity, but deity dwelt in the body. I know you can find quotes that tell us the body was God, and yet there are many more that tell us the Body was not God. So what are you going to do with it. If you do not understand what brother Branham was saying, then you will be constantly back and forth in your belief of God. But if you truly understand, it does not shake you because if you look at all those quotes that say things like the Body was God, you will find him correct that by saying, God dwelt in that body.

 

Now, they will say, Brother Branham believed that Jesus Christ is God Himself: And they will use the following quote as the basis for their statement.  "JESUS was GOD in the form of a man. That's hard for people to swallow.. He wasn't nothing less than God. He was GOD manifested in FLESH. He was the Creator in His own creation."
(God's Gift Always Find Their Places/63-1222) If you notice that brother Branham said God in the form and God manifested IN flesh, and the Creator IN His creation. That does not make the creation God? But simply tells us God was IN Christ reconciling the world to Himself.

Then they use another quote, "I believe HIM to be GOD: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. That He wasn't just a prophet, that He wasn't just a man, that He wasn't just a teacher or a good man, HE was the DIVINE JEHOVAH GOD living in a BODY of Flesh." Who Is This?/59-1004.  Now that quote is exactly how we teach it, but they just don’t get it. We believe that when You saw Jesus the Son of God, the Body, that you were looking at God, for that body was the only manifestation of God’s fullness to man. Jesus said, when you see the body, you see God because I and my Father are one in the sense that His Word is living in me and I in Him, and the Son can of Himself do nothing, but what the Father doeth, that the Son doeth likewise.
 

Another statement they will teach is they say, Brother Branham believed that the BODY of JESUS was GOD: And yet there are dozens of quotes that brother Branham told us that the Body was not God, was not deity, but deity dwelt in the body. Here is the quote they use…"That's exactly what HE was. "We handled God," the Bible said. 1 Timothy 3:16, "Without controversy, great is the MYSTERY of Godliness, GOD was manifest in the FLESH." We handled HIM with our hands. THAT BODY WAS GOD. Certainly was. He was GOD all over, in the form of a human being."
The Token/64-0308. Again it is just a matter of not wanting to read what the Prophet of God is saying, because right in this quote he tells us, God manifested IN flesh, and God IN the form of human… God IN, God IN, God IN, but they for some reason cannot read those two little letters IN.
 

Again they  say that Brother Branham believed that JESUS is the very PERSON of GOD: and they use the following quote as their evidence.  "So you see, JESUS was GOD. He was not NO third person, fourth person, second person, HE was THE PERSON, HE was GOD, see? He was GOD Immanuel, God come down from glory, revealed Himself." God's Gift Always Find Their Places/63-1222. Now, if he tells us that He was God Immanuel, then that tells us that it was God in Flesh, for that is what the word Emmanuel means. Then brother Branham sings down from His Glory and finishes this quote by saying, “and all God’s fullness dwelleth in Him, that’s the One met the requirement.”

 

Again they teach that Brother Branham believed that GOD DIED in His SONSHIP FORM: And I have no problem with the quote they use, because the Sonship form is what died, not God Himself dying. "GOD veiled in JESUS to do the work of REDEMPTION at the cross... GOD could NOT DIE in the SPIRIT; He's ETERNAL. But HE had to put on a MASK and ACT the part of death. HE DID DIE, but He couldn't do it in His God FORM. He had to do it in SON form, as a Son of Man on earth." Unveiling of God/ 64-0614m. This quote tells us that the form died, not God Himself, for God is spirit. But they can not understand this, so they believe this quote tells us that God Himself Who is Spirit actually died.

 

Another quote they use is this…"Your BODY has to LIVE by DEAD SUBSTANCE for natural life, then you've got to have something DIE SPIRITUALLY to SAVE your SPIRITUAL LIFE. And GOD BECAME MATERIAL, FLESH, and DIED that WE MIGHT LIVE." Anointed Ones at the end Time pp 27 Now, by not understanding that God was IN Christ, they do not understand this quote and therefore, they elude that God Himself died, which is impossible for God to die. 

 

Then they teach that Brother Branham believed that GOD is the Soul, Spirit and Body of  JESUS: And use this quote to establish that doctrine. "But the first thing YOU ARE a TRIUNE BEING, just like Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Father, Son and Holy Ghost is THREE TITLES going to ONE PERSON, which is JESUS CHRIST. And YOU'RE soul, body and spirit. But it takes THOSE THREE to MAKE YOU. With just ONE of them, you're NOT YOU. IT takes THREE to make YOU.. YOU'RE living in a HOUSE - SOUL, BODY and SPIRIT. THAT'S THE WAY GOD LIVED in JESUS CHRIST, both SOUL, BODY and SPIRIT." Inner Veil/ 56-0121.  Now, how does that quote fit in the way we believe he said it. Well, the body certainly belonged to God because God brought it forth. But God shared that body with His Son. And God’s Own Soul which is His individual being also dwelt in that Body, and God’s Spirit which is His Life did as well. That does not mean that the body was God, and neither does that do away with the duality of God was IN Christ reconciling the world to Himself.


They also do not understand Who Melchisedec was and will throw away almost 100 quotes and hold onto one that appears to say that Brother Branham believed that MELCHISEDEC was JESUS Himself:  "Now, MELCHISEDEC, the King of Salem, the Priest of the Most High, the King of Peace, which was NONE OTHER THAN THE FOREPART of the LORD JESUS CHRIST, and when HE met Abraham, He fed Abraham the COMMUNION and blessed him.. WHO WAS THIS PRIEST? NONE OTHER THAN THE INCARNATED LORD JESUS CHRIST. In His magnificent power He was the same ONE a LITTLE LATER ON, after HE met Abraham, and gave him, as being a COVENANT PEOPLE, the COMMUNION." Melchisedec the Great Prince/ 55-0109m 

 

Now, this attempt to make Melchisedec the Son of God is almost hilarious how they will take nearly 100 quotes that Brother Branham says He is not the Son and try to identify him as the Son Jesus.  It just goes to show that they do not know what Jesus Brother Branham was speaking of.

 

Now, just for the record, let me read you several statements that Brother Branham says concerning Who Melchisedec was.

 

 HEBREWS CHAPTER 7, PT. 1   57-0915E   291-20  Who could He be? Now, He was the King of righteousness, the King of Jerusalem, the King of righteousness, the King of peace. Jesus was called the Prince of peace, and a prince is the son of a king. So this Man was King of peace, then He would have to be the Father of the Prince of peace. Get it?

 

    291-22    Now, let's see, get His genealogy a little further, to see where we're going. Without father,... (Now, Jesus had a Father. You believe that? Sure He was.)... without mother,... (Jesus had a mother, but this Fellow had neither father nor mother.)... without descent,... (He never had anyone that He come off of, any descent. He always was.)... without descent, having neither beginning of days,... (He never had any time He ever started.)... nor the end of life;... (It could been nothing else but God. That's all It could be.)

 

292-23    Now, now if you'll notice, as we read the next verse. See? First, being by interpretation, King of righteousness... (That's not where I want to do. The--the 3rd verse.) ... nor end of life; but made like unto the Son of God;... (Now, He was not the Son of God. For if He was the Son, He had a beginning, and this Man had no beginning. If He was a Son, He had to have both father and mother. And this Man had neither father nor mother, but He was made like unto the Son of God.)... And this Man was without father, without mother, without beginning of days or ending of life. …..Who this was, this was Jehovah! This was Almighty God Himself. It could be no other.

 

  292-25 there's a difference between God and Jesus, Jesus had a beginning; God had no beginning; Melchisedec had no beginning; and Jesus had a beginning. But Jesus was made likened unto Him.

 

HEBREWS CHAPTER 7 PT.1  57-0915E   305-93    He wasn't the Son of God; He was the God of the Son. He wasn't the Son of God (Melchisedec wasn't), but He was the Father of the Son of God.

 

From HEBREWS CHAPTER 7, PT. 1 57-0915E  309-118   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 341-306   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.

 

WHY CRY SPEAK  59-1004E   E-48    God is a Spirit. Jesus was the body that the Spirit of God dwelled in, made Him Emmanuel, God, tabernacled on earth. He was God. Jesus Christ was God, yet He was the Son of God. His flesh was the Son of God 'cause God created it, but inside He was God. "It's not Me," said Jesus, "does the works, it's My Father that dwelleth in Me. And that day you'll know that I'm in the Father, the Father in Me, I in you, and you in Me." There you are.

 

SHALOM 64-0112  75  When Melchisedec met Abraham from the slaughter of the kings, he was the King of Jerusalem, a Priest, which was Christ; it was God; no one else could be Melchisedec but Christ Himself, God Himself, rather (See?), God Himself, because He was without father and without mother. See? Jesus had both father and mother. See? So this Man was without father, without mother, without beginning of days or ending of life. And whoever He was, He still lives.

 

TRIAL THE  64-0419   74  Jesus said, "As it was in the days of Sodom, when the Son of man is being revealed..." In the days of Sodom was the Son--that was God revealed in human flesh, which was one time called Melchisedec, the Father. Melchisedec at that time had no father, no mother, no beginning of days, or no ending of life; ever Who He was, He remains the same. Jesus had father and mother, but this Man had neither father nor mother. And He appeared to Abraham in the form of a Son of man, Elohim, Jehovah.

 

WHO IS  THIS MELCHISEDEC   65-0221E  64  He was at the beginning the Word, an "En morphe" body. He came in and lived in that in the Person of Melchisedec. Then later... We never heard no more of Melchisedec, because He became Jesus Christ. Melchisedec was the Priest, but He became Jesus Christ. Now, you bypassed that, because in that form He knew all things.

 

Now, the question must arise, "how did He become Jesus Christ"? And the answer is simple, By indwelling His Son just as He indwelled Melchisedec".

 

WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC 65-0221E  95  Now, the true revelation of Melchisedec comes into view was--that He was God, the Word, before He became flesh, God the Word. 'Cause He had to be; no one else could be immortal like Him. See, I had father and mother; you did too. Jesus had father and mother. But this Man had no father or had no mother. Jesus had a time He started; this Man didn't. Jesus gave His life; this Man couldn't, because He was Life. And it's the self same Man all the time.

 

WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC  65-0221E   109    Who is this Melchisedec but God?

 

If Brother Branham keeps telling us that Melchisedec was not the Son, but He was the Father of the Son, and if He throughout His ministry kept telling us that Melchisedec was not Jesus, and then turns around and calls Him God and then here he calls Him Jesus, then we must ask ourselves which Jesus is He talking about. Jesus came in His Fathers name, and if that be so then the name of the Father is also Jesus. And if this is True, which it is, then this Jesus He is speaking of here is the Father as well.

 

And then they say, Brother Branham said that you have to believe these things to get the REVELATION of WHO GOD really is: as thought the way they teach it is correct  which I find almost humorous if it wasn’t for the fact that these people are actually fighting the True Message Doctrine. "If people CAN'T SEE the TRUTH of the GODHEAD, but FIGHT it; they can't ever see the rest of the TRUTH because the REVELATION is JESUS CHRIST in HIS CHURCH and HIS works in the MIDST of the Church Ages." Seven Church Age Book/ pp. 309

 

One thing I find quite amusing is they will use the Church age Book written by Lee Vayle to fight what Lee teaches concerning the Godhead. But they also use the words of William Branham to teach contrary to what he taught, and they use the Bible to teach contrary to what the Bible teaches. That just means they have no word of their own. Just like Lucifer has no word of his own. So they have to use the right Word and pervert it to given them their own word.

 

Acts Chapter  4  Verse 10 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. And this does not tell us that God is here raising up Himself from the dead.

 

Acts Chapter 2  Verse 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. And if God made him Lord and Christ, then He wasn’t

 Lord nor was He Christ before God making Him so.

 

Let’s bow our heads and hearts in prayer…