Satan’s
Eden no 12
Pre-tribulation
Delusion
October
31, 2021
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
Last week we
read from paragraphs 5 and 6 of Br. Branham’s sermon where he read from Genesis chapter
3
concerning the serpent and how crafty and deceitful
he was. We showed how the apostle John identified the father of Cain as being
that wicked one, and showed how he named a couple identifiable characteristics
of Cain and showed they were attributes of the devil. Then we read where brother Branham said in paragraph
6
quoting from Luke
4:4 and Matthew 4:4 where Jesus said, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every
Word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God."And then he added,
“So read the
Word; study It. And study It with
the eyes of God to give your intellectuals understanding of how that we should
live in this present day.”
Now, this
morning we will continue with that thought on the deceivableness of the wicked
one and move on to what the apostle Paul had to say in 2 Thessalonians 2 where the Apostle
Paul warns us that this spirit of deception will be paramount in the end time
as a main condition or characteristic of the lat days which he says is all
about deception and delusion.
2 Thessalonians 2:10 “And with all
deceivableness (notice he says all, that’s a.l.l.
deceivableness of un-right-wiseness in them that are perishing; (not those who will perish, but those who
are in that act of perishing, (them that are Present
tense perishing)
And it shows you or identifies them that are in the act of perishing because
they are also expressing full blown deception. Therefore by watching this
attribute of deception being exposed, you will be able to identify who is
perishing and who is not just as John was able to identify that Cain’s father
was that wicked one, the devil.)And Paul tells us they are in the act of
perishing “because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe the lie:”
Notice it say The
lie, and what was the same Lie the serpent told to Eve in the beginning? And it
is the same lie being told in this
hour. You say what lie is that? “Take this, do this,
and you will not surely die.”
And the Apostle
Paul says here, 12 That they all might
be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure
in un-right-wise-ness. 13 But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for
you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth: 14 Whereunto he called you by our
gospel, to the obtaining of the glory (the
doxa of God, which comes by the shout) of our Lord Jesus Christ.
From the First seal 63-0318 P:44
Brother Branham is also reading from this same Scripture and he
says, “And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness... (deceiving people by un-righteousness)... in them that perish;... (not this Bride,
in them that's looking for such a thing)... because they received not (Ok,
so what creeds do they prefer over the Word of God. You’ve got to believe in a
Trinity to be saved? YOU have to believe in Oneness to be saved? You have to do
certain things or rituals to be saved? Like not eating meat? You have to attend a certain church to be
saved? You have to believe a certain doctrine to be saved?
You
see, their creeds can be a whole host of things my brothers and sisters because
the word “creed” simply means “a belief”. The actual definition is:
any system, doctrine,
or formula of religious belief, as of a denomination. any system or codification of belief or of opinion. an authoritative, formulated statement of the chief
articles of a Christian belief system, such as the Apostles' Creed, the Nicene Creed, or the
Athanasian Creed.
So basically a creed is any belief or
codification of belief outside the Word of God. Just adding a jot or tittle to
the Word of God can nullify its intended meaning.
So we hear
brother Branham quoting the apostle Paul from 2
Thessalonians 2 saying, “And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness... (deceiving people by un-righteousness)... in
them that perish;...
(not this Bride, in them that's looking for such a thing)... because they received not
the love of the truth... (And Christ is the Truth, and Christ is the Word,
but they'd rather have a creed.),...
that they might be saved. And
for this cause God has sent them strong delusion, that they should believe a
lie:... (It should be translated there, as I looked
in the Lexicon, "the lie," not "a lie";
"the lie,"
same one he told Eve.)That
they... might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
Look people, I
am not making this stuff up. That is “thus saith the Lord” through God’s vindicated
prophet, and he said it was the same lie the devil got Eve to believe.
From his
sermon, God of this evil age 65-0801M P:33 brother Branham said, “Making a strong delusion,
as the Bible said it would (II Thessalonians), how this man of sin would come into
existence and set in the temple of God, showing himself
he was God and caused
the people to go into strong delusion to believe a lie; and believe it will be damned
by it. That's the same thing he did to Eve,
give her... Never told her the Word wasn't right, but give her a strong delusion that she believed a lie. The spirit of delusion is of the devil, devils now
working in the children of disobedient. Disobedient to what?
What's the children of this day disobedient to? Like Eve was at the beginning: the true Word of God.
Now, what brings on the delusion? By rejecting the truth of God’s Word. In other
words, God said, “Let evey mans word be a lie and mine truth,
saith the Lord.”
Now, you think a person can turn down
what a vindicated prophet taught as truth and not be open to delusion? God said
that is the very reason for sending the delusion.
Brother Branham said how they turn down
the Truth. In Christ revealed in His own Word
65-0822M P:58 “To dislocate the
Scriptures, you might put His body together
wrong, the foot where the head should be or something.
And the word dislocate means: to put out of place; put out of proper relative position;
displace:The glacier dislocated great
stones. The earthquake dislocated several buildings. to put out of joint
or out of position, as a limb or an organ. to throw out of order; to upset the order; disorder:
He continues, “Just the same as a...
In other words,
you might have Jesus teaching Moses' message. You might have, or even Wesley
teaching Luther's age. You might have now, our age teaching Pentecost, the Pentecostal message.
You see what a mess
it would be in? Pentecost has already showed its colors. Luther's
already showed his: went off into denomination; it died right there. The
age struck; there it went. Notice, just as soon as it was organized, it died.
Now, just see if that isn't right. Look back through the pages of history. Every
time it organized it died right there; there never was no more to it. It
become a worshipper of the god of this world. It went off into organisms, and organizations,
and denominations, and illusions. A bunch of Rickys got into there and put
their own objections into it, or injected their own thoughts, rather, into
it. And what did it happen? It become a mess. Going to head up in the god of this
world where they'll
throne Satan himself, thinking that they're having a great world
leader to bring them peace.
Now, first of all he tells us that to preach a
Pentecostal Message today just makes a mess out of everything.
So why are people who claim to believe God sent Him to straighten out the whole
mess want to continue in that mess. Then he tells us that “by interjecting our
own thoughts into it will only bring us an illusion.” He further
calls those people who want to bring back a Pentecostal Message, those little Ricky's who are interjecting their own thoughts into it, thus
making it just an illusion.
Now these words describe
pseudo-ministers who come along with their Pentecostal illusions", Like the false doctrine that the “Fullness
of the Godhead dwells in the bride”. That is purely a nonsensical idea,
that there is no more God, and that all of God is now in the bride. So who is
holding the entire universe in orbit? Who is making sure the moon doesn’t get
too close to the earth to cause major flooding. Who is controlling all things,
and making sure everything is held together?
I showed you a few weeks ago how their
own lack of understanding the sovereignty of God opens them up to such
delusions as that.
The Apostle Paul
said in Colossians
1:16 “For by him were all things created, that are
in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or
powers: all things were created by him, and for him: 17 And he is before all
things, and by him all things consist. 18 And he
is the head of the body, the church:
who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the
Father that in him should all
fulness dwell;
The Apostle Paul did not say in them,
he said “in
Him should all fullness dwell.” The Apostle Paul did not say they
are before all things, he said He is, The Apostle Paul did not say by
them all things consists, he said By him.
And William Branham who made it very
clear that he only taught what Paul taught, never taught that hogwash, but those who believe that just can’t read. He said “the fullness of the
Godhead is among the bride”. Among, that is a far cry from
dwelling in. He said we have a measure and Jesus had it without measure.
Things that are to be 65-1205
P:24 Jesus was the Fullness of God manifested. He was the Fullness of the
Godhead bodily; …
Thinking man's filter
65-0822E P:16 He is the Head of the church. He's Head of the Body.
There's nothing like Him anywhere. He made all things by Himself. He
made all things for Himself, and without He there wasn't nothing made. He has
all authority in heavens and earth, and everything belongs to Him. And in Him dwells the Fullness of the Godhead
bodily. And the Word was God and made flesh among us, and
He was the One Who revealed the entire secret of the whole plan of salvation
that all the prophets and wise-men had spoke of. He alone was that wigged One
and supreme authority.”
So he is talking about God, not the man
Jesus But all of God came into that man Jesus, the son of God.
Paradox 64-0418B P:60 “God could not
take a human's place, being His Spirit. So God created a blood cell which
was His own Son, Jesus Christ. And God came in and lived in there,
and lived, identified Himself in Christ. That was God Emmanuel. Jesus
said, "I and
My Father are One. My Father dwells in Me," (See?), God in Christ reconciling the world. Jesus was
the Body, the Tabernacle, God was the Spirit that lived in Him. 61 Now, for instance, we have the Spirit by portion.
He had It without
measure. He was the Fullness of the Godhead bodily--God. But we have it by measure. Now, for
instance like the little gift that we have among us now. Now, that's like
taking a spoonful of water out of the ocean. Jesus was the whole Ocean, but
this is just a spoonful. But remember, the same chemicals that's in the
whole ocean is in this spoonful; only there's more of it out there. See? He
was God. We are not God. We are not God, but together...
Three kinds of believers
63-1124E P:35 God said, "I'm the Lord, heals all thy diseases. I am God and I change not." Amen.
And God is Word, and if God don't change, how's the Word going to change. See?
"I am
God, and I change not." The Scriptures says that; God said it Himself.
And if He cannot change, then He is the Word. In the beginning was the Word, and the
Word was with God, and the Word was God (the unchangeable Word). And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt
among us. Amen. Yes, sir. God raised up bodies all down through:
Moses, and Ezekiel, and Jeremiah, and Isaiah, and Elijah, all down where His
Word temporarily come, but the full Word was made manifest in this Man
Jesus Christ; which He was God in the--God in the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. There He was
made flesh. I believe that, every word.
Be not afraid -
62-0620 All that God was, He poured into Jesus. Do you
believe that? He was
the Fullness of the Godhead bodily. And all Jesus was He poured into the
church: The Holy Ghost. Is that right? So it's God in us. God in you. It's
not... It doesn't make you anything.
It's not the holy mountain or the holy church. It's the Holy Ghost, not the holy people, the Holy
Ghost. See? It's the Holy Ghost in the
people; not holy people, Holy Ghost. See? And that's the thing
Then others will say, the fullness of
the Godhead dwelled in William Branham when he repeatedly said “what I have is just a measure.”
But you see what creeds will do?
They will take some here and some ofrom over there and make up their own belief
system.
But why do they say it? Because they dislocate
the Words of God’s servant William Branham.
Now, let's just stop here for a moment
and look at this thought here of the Message, “by having little
Ricky's interjecting their own thoughts into it, it has become just an illusion.”
So what is an illusion anyhow? And what
is the difference between an “illusion” and a “delusion”.
According
to Webster’s Dictionary
an illusion is: “something that deceives by producing
a false or misleading impression of reality. the state or condition of being deceived; In Psychology. a perception, as of
visual stimuli (optical
illusion ), that represents what is perceived in a way different from the way it is
in reality.
So an illusion speaks of deceiving, and misleading.
While a “delusion” is defined as ‘a
false belief or opinion:”
Although
both illusions and delusions are false; illusions pertain to the mind and delusions pertain to a belief. So God will send them a
strong delusion is sending them a false belief. Whereas Illusions can
be said to be what fools the mind; but delusions
are things that an individual perceives to be truth even though it is contrary
to all evidence.
And the Bible says that God will send them a strong delusion because they love not
the truth. So it is God who
sends the delusion. And if a delusion concerns the beliefs which are
contrary to evidence and facts, then
what causes them to believe something
contrary to evidence and truths? The
Illusion of something they see or hear. And remember an illusion is a “misleading impression of reality”.
William Branham said in the Unveiling of God 64-0614M P: “And each time, if
you who take the tapes and listen, and I hope and trust that you have had a
spiritual understanding of what that God has been in trying to get over to
the church without saying it right out. See? It's a thing sometime... We
have to say things in such a way, that it might thin down, it might bring some
to go out, some to leave, and some to ponder over. But that's done
purposely. It must be done that way.”
And so in the way words are spoken
sometimes, we find people take them and misapplying them or dislocating them,
and then like in putting together a jig saw puzzle, they get the cow up on the
tree eating grass because grass and the tree are both green, and since the
puzzle cutout might have a similar look, they place the cow in the tree eating
his grass. Although the puzzle cut out may fit partially, most often a cow
eating grass in the tree is because the person pushes it in to make it fit
because that is what they perceive. That is what they believe.
Now, look. In the quote we read where
Brother Branham is telling us that this is what becomes of the Word
of God when the Little Ricky's inject their own thoughts into it. He
said, it
becomes an illusion and then he said it’s a mess.
Now,
as I said, Webster’s Dictionary
tells us that an illusion is: a
false idea or conception; belief or opinion that is not in accord with the
facts. And that is what Brother Vayle said about the Two Lords Creed,
he said “Two lords is a fallacy”. And he said, but
they use it because they can see where the Bible says in Matthew 22:44, “The Lord said unto my Lord.” But it also says
it in three other places of which it was actually stated “Elohim
said unto adonai.” So the illusion was placed their by
Trinitarian scholars who wrote the King James Bible. And so brother Vayle said,
“because it’s in there, they use it” but that doesn’t make it right. It’s still a fallacy, it’s just an
illusion that leads to a delusion. Brothers and sisters, you must run doctrine
from Genesis all the way through Revelations to make sure you have it correct.
And if Moses and Zechariah, and Jesus and Paul and William Branham all preached
“One Lord”, then “Two lords” is a delusion
based upon an illusion you read in Scripture without doing your homework and
checking it out.
An illusion is a deception that
is not real, it is a misleading appearance or image. A
false perception, or conception, or interpretation of what one sees. A
misleading image resulting in a wrong impression.
So we see that these thoughts come as a
result of a false interpretation. And Brother Branham further called them
an illusion
which means the Word is interpreted in
such a way as to make it appear to be different than it really is. Like a
mirage in the desert that you think you see water but it is not really there.
We hear the prophet Isaiah speak of this
in Isaiah 29:7
Then all the nations that fight against Mt Zion, will be like a dream; all
the nations that ·attack her will be like a vision in the night.
And remember Mt Zion speaks of the bride
of Christ.
From his
sermon Future home 64-0802 P:177 brother
Branham said, Listen,
let's just read it. Look here. And in that day seven
women shall take ahold of one man saying, We'll eat our own bread,... wear our
own apparel: only let us be called by thy name, to take away our reproach... (That's the end time where we're living now: marriage,
divorce, and prostitution, and whatevermore.) In
that day shall the branch of the LORD be beautiful and glorious,... the fruit
of the earth shall be excellent and comely... them that... escaped of Israel... (How that you escaped all that damnation. See?)And it shall came to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and
he that's a remnant in Jerusalem, shall...
(Let's see.)... in Jerusalem, shall be called
holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: (See?) Wherein the Lord
shall have washed away the filth of the daughter of Zion,... (Remember that's always the Bride. See?)... and shall have purified the blood of Jerusalem... (That's the remnant of the Jews plus the Bride. See?)... and in the midst thereof with the spirit of judgment,... (Fire, that's always God's judgment. When He makes His
final judgment, calls you, justifies you, and brings you to redemption, then
His judgment breaks forth upon you, and the Holy Ghost and Fire cleanses away
the sin. Then you're His. Same thing He does to the earth when He purges it
with fire.)... and by the spirit of burning. (Now look listen, are you ready?)And the LORD will create upon every dwelling place of mount
Zion, and upon her assembly, a cloud of smoke by day, and a shining of... fire
by night: for upon all the glory shall be a defence.
And from his
sermon Spoken word original seed 62-0318E P:186 he
said, “Then in
the latter rain there will come forth a Mount Carmel, a showdown: Bible
fulfilled to the letter. John the Baptist, His messenger before His face in Malachi 3, planted a former
rain and was rejected by the churches, the denominations, the Pharisees and
Sadducees in his day. Jesus came and had the Mount Transfiguration showdown.
This forerunner of the last days will sow for the former rain. Jesus will be
the showdown between denominations and creeds (which is His Word). When He
comes, the showdown, the
rapture of His Bride...
The first was Mount Carmel; the second was Mount Transfiguration;
the third will be Mount
Zion. Glory.
So we see then that in Isaiah 29:7-8
speaks of the illusion and delusion that comes against those who fight the
Bride and they will come like a dream of the night, a delusion,
And then Isaiah explains this night
vision or dream. And here we see the scripture warning us about what will happen
to those who are found fighting against the elect Bride. Isaiah 29: 8 They will be like a hungry man who dreams he is eating, but when he awakens, he is still hungry. They will be like a thirsty man who dreams he is drinking, but when he awakens, he is still weak and thirsty. It will be the same way with ·all the [the multitude of] nations who fight against Mount Zion. Which is those who fight against the
bride of Christ.
So we are looking at this illusion that brings on the delusion
that God promised to give to all who do not Love His Appearing, which is His
Parousia. Notice then that these men are living in a delusion. They eat from
the Bread of Life but it is only in a dream. When they
awake from their dream they will still be empty. Why?, because they are living in a delusion. Deceived by a false vision or false creed or belief. And
what has caused this? Their own opinions are held in more esteem to themselves
than the Word of God. Notice that in verses 9-12 we are told that they will
be in slumber, and the Lord will have brought on this deep slumber and their
dreams will not produce anything for them.
When men look for vindication aside
from the Word of God, they will often jump at any Scripture they think might
fit their belief. And that is exactly what happens, that is why they get the
cow eating grass up in the tree.
From CHAP. VIII.--HOW THE VALENTINIANS PERVERT THE SCRIPTURES TO
SUPPORT THEIR OWN PIOUS OPINIONS. 1. Irenaeaus wrote, “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;(4) 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.
Now, before we move ahead, I would like
to ask a question, how can you weave
ropes of sand? You
can't. By its very nature when you pick up sand it falls apart.
And if it were possible to make a rope of sand by pressing it together in some
way, you still could not bend it, because the moment you tried to tie it or
weave it, it would disintegrate. And so Irenaeus has painted a picture for our
minds to see the futility of these people endeavoring to make something work
and fit that has no possibility of working or fitting. And then he adds, “while they endeavor to adapt with an air of probability to their own
peculiar assertions”. And I want you to get what he is saying here.
"while
they endeavor to adapt with an air of probability to their own peculiar
assertions", and that
is the key. It is their own peculiar
assertions that they are stating. They are not interested in proving God's
Word, but they are only using God's Word to declare their own notions or ideas.
Irenaeaus goes
on to say, “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 Pleroma (which means Fullness.)
Now, remember the indictment to the
first church age is that they left their first love for the Word. And here
Irenaeaus who is the second Church Age Messenger comes on the scene and tells
us how they fell away. And that is exactly what brother Branham is telling us
in Satan’s Eden.
And thus we see the in Isaiah the
same scene acted out in his parable.
9. Be surprised and amazed. Blind yourselves,
so that you cannot see. Become
drunk, but not from wine. Trip and fall, but not from strong drink. 10 The Lord has
made you go into a deep sleep. He has closed your eyes. (to The prophets.) He has covered your heads. 11 This vision is like the words of a scroll that is closed and sealed. You may give the
scroll to someone who can read and tell that person to read it. But he will
say, “I can’t read the scroll, because
it is sealed.” (that’s like those people who believe the
seven seals are still sealed) 12 Or you may give the scroll to someone who cannot read and tell him to read it. But he will say, “I don’t know how to read.”
Now we know a mirage is just an illusion.
Webster tells us that an illusion is the same as a hallucination. And he also
tells us a hallucination is the same thing as a delusion, or a mirage.
But mirages are not harmless, they are
very dangerous because they give you a false hope, but you can't quench
your thirst by drinking from a mirage anymore than you could get warm sitting
by a painted fire. That is just a false illusion. Isaiah says, “When they awake from their dream they will still be empty,
because they are living in a delusion. A false vision of deception.” And
what has caused this? Their own opinions
are held in more esteem to themselves than the Word of God.
But the good
news is that the Apostle Paul who spoke of this end time or pre-tribulation
delusion also spoke of the Mind of Christ being in Gods Elect.
Philippians 2:5“Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”
And he also
said, in Philippians 3: 15 Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be
thus minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.
So what gives us the ability to be “Thus Minded” is Revelation
that comes from God.
Now, any child
who follows the ministry of William Branham should be able to quote from Matthew 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.18 And
I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock (of revelation) I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.
Now, as I said,
just about anyone who follows William Branham’s Message has heard him say this
enough that they should be able to quote it and even talk intelligently about
revelation, what it is, and how necessary revelation is to the believer. But
why do the majority of the ministers who claim to believe His Message refuse to
believe what Peter said that brought such praise from Jesus.
In verse 13 Jesus had asked the disciples the question, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? 14 And they said,
Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some,
Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets. 15 He saith unto
them, But whom say ye that I am? 16 And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God. Then
Jesus called Peter blessed and said those notable words, Blessed art thou,
Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath
not revealed it unto thee, but my
Father which is in heaven. and upon this rock (the rock of
revelation), I will build my church; and the gates of hell
shall not prevail against it.
But Peter had
just called Jesus the Son of God, and the majority of the ministers who claim
follow the ministry of William Branham do not have that same revelation as
Peter had, that revelation given to Peter by God the Father as Jesus pointed
out.
So, this morning
we are going to examine the difference between Revelation and Delusion,
because both are very powerful influences
in the world today, and not only in the World but amongst those who claim to
believe the End-time Message of Malachi Four. And let’s face it, I am not
interested in the world. It is a lost cause. They rejected the Message in 1956.
But what I am interested in looking at this morning is the rest of them that
claim the message but actually turned it down.
But what I am
interested in is the Sons and daughters of God who are sitting under false
representations of ministries who have no more revelation from God, than the
Oneness Pentecostals do.
Now as I said
earlier, to understand the difference between Revelation and delusion, we must
know what the two words mean. Because as brother Branham said about the
difference between the Appearing and Coming, he said they are two different
words and they mean two different things.
And so does Revelation and Delusion.
Now we’ve
already discussed the words illusion
and delusion, but let’s look at the
word Revelation as well. The word Revelation means: The act of revealing or
disclosing. b. Something
revealed, something not previously known or realized but is made know or
realized. In Scripture it is a manifestation of divine will or truth.
So we see that Revelation is something that was hidden
that God had before hand hidden, but then God uncovers or discloses or
manifests so as to reveal or make known that truth unto men. Therefore it is a
making known by the manifestation of Divine Truth. It is essentially God
interpreting His Word by the bringing it to pass.
Now, let’s
contrast that to Delusion, for delusion comes from deception, the act of deceiving, and to deceive you must take a truth and do
something to it to hide it from men. So revelation
takes that which is hidden and reveals it
while Deception takes
that which is revealed hides it from men. And the result is delusion.
So we can say revelation reveals or manifests while deception
hinders or covers up truth. In other words, then a delusion is anti or the opposite of Revelation. Let me say that in
a way you may remember better. Revelation
Reveals, Delusion Conceals.
Now, I have
taught the Message Doctrine to a more than 3,500 plus ministers face to face
around the world, and I will not in any way say that all that I have taught
have opened their minds and hearts to the doctrine. It all depends on your
frame of mind when you hear the Word whether you will receive it or reject it.
Br. Branham
said from his sermon Blasphemous names 62-1104M
P:56 “Number one, coming to you, your mental faith, right here, comes the Holy Spirit, coming
down into your mental faith making it a spiritual faith. Then the spiritual faith only recognizes
the Word. Now, and number two--three: Then you'll have spiritual,
you'll have the Holy Spirit, and will seal all these things into you, as
that Holy Spirit covers this. From your faith up to the Holy Spirit seals you
in with Christ; then you become one.
Amen. You become one. See, you and Christ live together. "At that day you'll know that I'm in the
Father, the Father in Me, I in you, and you in Me." See? Then that's a sealed unit of the Lord God. Now, and then they are vindicated and placed. When
that time takes place, they become vindicated sons and daughters of God.
So notice that
brother Branham is telling us here that when the Holy Spirit comes into your
mental faith, he anoints that mental faith and it becomes a spiritual
dynamic Revelation, and then it is sealed in there and no one could ever
take it from you, and he said it makes you one with Christ. And notice
he said when we come to that place, we are ready for the placing as sons and daughters
of God. In other words, we must be in
that condition where our mental faith has been anointed with the Spirit of God
and it has dropped down into our soul sealing us in and making us One with the
mind of Christ, and we must come to that condition in order to be
placed in the adoption of sons.
Again from his
sermon Blasphemous
names 62-1104M P:53 The biggest part of our faith is mental
faith. By
hearing the Word it brings us to a mental recognition of God. But if this coming from above, oh, brother, if
it ever strikes this, there is a godly, spiritual faith. Then what does
that faith do? That faith recognizes
only the Word. No matter what anything else
says, it only recognizes the Word, because "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (And the Word's still God.) And
the Word was made flesh and dwelled among us." And when the word
Itself is pouring into our faith, our mental faith becomes a
spiritual revelation. "And upon this foundation I'll build My
Church,"
(See?), not upon a mental conception of church joining, a mental conception of
that, but upon the revelation. When them streams of grace has poured into that mental faith that
you've got, then upon this, a
spiritual revelation, "I'll build My Church and the gates of hell
can't prevail against it."
See? That shows they would be against it, but it'll never prevail. Oh, what a
glorious thing.
Now, notice how brother Branham tells us
that the Holy Spirit comes and anoints our mental Faith and then it becomes a
spiritual revelation that builds upon Word upon Word upon Word. Then brother Branham says “When them streams of grace has poured into that mental faith that
you've got, then upon this, a
spiritual revelation.”
Now, Peter. The one who Jesus praised
for receiving the Revelation of the Godhead, that there is One God and He had a
Son, and Jesus was that Son of God. In 1 Peter 1:13 he tells us “Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be
sober, and hope to the end for the grace
that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;”
Notice he says
at the end time there will be a certain Grace that will be brought
to you at the time of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 we read,
1 Corinthians 1:3 Grace be unto
you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the
Lord Jesus Christ. 4 I thank my God always on your
behalf, for the grace of God which
is given you by Jesus Christ;
Now,
notice what this Grace is to do. 5 That in everything ye are enriched by him, in all utterance,(that word utterance was translated from the Greek word Logos, which we know as Word,
but also it means doctrine or teaching) and in all knowledge;
so we see that this Grace is to enrich
us like fertilizer does to the seed
planted in the soil, and it is to enrich
the doctrine and knowledge in order to produce
a fully manifested crop of sons and daughters.
Then
he tells us why.
6 Even as the testimony of Christ was
confirmed in you: 7 So that ye come behind in no gift; (the word is charisma and it speaks of an “endowment” as in mental acuity or ability to
understand..
So God sends a
special anointing of Grace in order to anoint our minds to the
doctrine so that we come behind in no understanding) waiting for the coming (the apokalupsis or
unveiling) of our Lord Jesus Christ:
8 Who shall also confirm you unto the end, that ye may be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ. 9 God is faithful,
by whom ye were called unto the fellowship
of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord. 10 Now I beseech you,
brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same
thing, and that there be no divisions among you;
but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same
mind and in the same judgment.
So you see this grace that brother Branham was talking about
is the same Grace that Peter and Paul spoke
of that would come at the time of the apokalupsia or
Unveiling of God. And it was to produce in us
an anointing upon our minds moving that
understanding down into our souls that we might understand our own role as sons
giving us the same mind that was in Christ and readying us for the adoption as
obedient sons.
So we see the important of revelation to the believer.
Revelation is what seals us in. Revelation is what takes all the
teaching handed down from a vindicated prophet and re-taught by a true
five-fold ministry and anoints our
mental faith with an ability to take Word upon Word upon Word, bringing it to a
supernatural dynamic revelation that seals us into Christ the word, and readies
us for our adoption.
The Apostle John
speaks of this in 1 John 2:20 But ye have an unction, an anointing from the
Holy One, and ye know all things.
21 I have not written unto you because ye know not the truth,
but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth. 22 Who is a liar but he
that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He
is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son. 23 Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father: (but) he that
acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also. 24 Let that therefore
abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have
heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father. 25 And this is the
promise that he hath promised us, even eternal life. 26 These things have I written unto you concerning them that
seduce you. 27 But the anointing
which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man
teach you: but as the same anointing
teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
So we see that the
Holy Spirit is our teacher and the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon the
believer is what allows you to know and understand the deep things of God.
In fact the
apostle Paul taught this in 1 Corinthians 2:9 where he says, 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
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
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 teaches; 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,
because they are spiritually discerned. 15 But he that is spirit filled
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 Chris
So we see that
the problem we have even among us with many who claim to be Message believers,
is because men have received their learning from men, but not from God. And
please don’t tell me about this message church or that message church, because
there is only one Church and that is the body of born again believers. So
individuals make up that body and not church bodies. I have never liked that
idea of calling churches message Churches, because many are not.
That’s like
calling all who believe in justification Lutherans, yet many who believe in
justification, That the just shall live by Faith or revelation, which was
Luther’s Message, but many who believe that are not Lutherans. You may call people end time believers, but
not all people who believe we are in the end time are believers in the Message
that God brought down with a Shout, and neither are all who listen to the tapes
of William Branham, believers in the Message of the Shout because they deny
what he taught.
Never forget there are three kinds of believers in every congregation,
so churches in general have three kinds of believers. Therefore to call them
all Message churches, is not only a fallacy, but it is organizational in scope
and denominational in viewpoint.
And let’s face
it, that kind of talk is organization, which lumps everyone who claims to
follow a certain teaching into one group, and that’s wrong. The wise virgin and
foolish virgin all heard the same midnight cry which is the shout of 1 Thessalonians 4
which we know is the Message, but all did not believe. And that Message was “Behold he is here, come out to meet him”, and
some did come out to meet him while others went out doubting he was actually
there. So they missed Him because they looked for a vessel, not understanding
the difference between the Appearing and Coming, that they are two different
words and mean two different things.
Brother Branham
taught us in his sermon Voice Of The Sign 64-0321E E-33 The elected listens to the voice. But the unelected ignores and says,
"Nonsense. Go on. We'll
take the same old school." That's the way they did in the
days of Luther.”
And to ignore it means to refrain from noticing or recognizing.
That is the actual definition of ignore. Therefore, although they may push play
and listen to the tape of the voice with their ears, yet they do not recognize what is being said, and therefore
they do not act up what was said. And that is exactly what the foolish virgins
did. They did not recognize and act upon and go into the wedding feast, so they
went off to them that sell.
And from his
sermon God Who
Is Rich In Mercy 65-0119 191 “If
a man comes out with an odd peculiar ministry, that's found in the Bible to be
the Truth, and that man stays right in that same old denominational doctrine, forget it. Nothing to it. God
don't do a thing like that. That thing, that's rotten manna that's got termites
in it, or wiggletails, or whatever you want to call it, from forty, fifty years
ago, still trying to eat that old manna that fell way back years ago. And the
children of Israel on their journey, new manna fell every night. That's right,
you couldn't keep it over. We don't live over some other age gone by. We're eating new
Manna, fresh Manna out of heaven, in our journey as we go on.”
Then why do men
keep preaching the same old denominational Oneness doctrine and claim to
believe the sign. They see the prophet, so they see the sign, but why do they
keep preaching the same old watered down doctrine that they held back in
Pentecost?
The Token 64-0308 77 “He displayed His sign as Messiah, and so forth. And they, many of
them, said, "Yes, I could go for that." Well, now, if that was a
sign, there's got to be a voice of that
sign. What was the voice behind it? When He begin to teach His doctrine and
call them a bunch of snakes in the grass, He wasn't popular from then on (See?)
when the voice came with the sign. The sign went first.”
And we know the
prophet is the sign, but the voice of the sign is the doctrine he taught. So we
see that the doctrine is vitally important, because it is the water upon the
seed that brings the seed into
manifestation of the life that lays within it. As Moses taught us the Rain upon
the seed is God’s doctrine in Deuteronomy 32:1-2
And Jesus said they did not want his doctrine, they wanted the doctrine
of men instead, He said “by teaching for
doctrine the commandments of men they made the Word of God of none effect to themselves.”
And
if you hear but do not learn it is because you might have heard but you did not
believe. Or else what you heard you really did not hear, or understand and what
you heard, so they
did not see nor did they perceive or understand lest God would have to heal
them as Jesus quoted. So by hearing and not hearing and seeing and not seeing it shows
they had preconceived ideas already of
what it was they were hearing and seeing, but their preconceived notions were
wrong. That is why they heard and did not hear, and saw but did
not see, nor did they understand.
That is what the
apostle Paul told us in 2 Thessalonians 2:10 because they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. 11 And for this cause God
shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might
be damned who believed not the truth,
but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Now, a delusion
is A
false belief strongly held in spite of invalidating evidence. And no
matter how many hundreds of Scriptures you may give them showing them the truth
of the Message Doctrine, and no matter how many hundreds of quotes from Brother
Branham you may give them, they still refuse to believe what the Prophet of God
taught us concerning the Word of God. Therefore to claim they follow the
Message and do not understand it nor take it back to the Scriptures is one
strong delusion. I have talked to these men and they tell me they believe every
word brother Branham said, yet they will flat
out deny and disagree with what our prophet taught us.
So instead of
Revelation that feeds Word upon Word upon Word, they receive a strong delusion
that feeds upon what other men have said, and thus they would rather “believe the Lie” than The Truth vindicated by
Scripture and Prophetic utterance of “Thus Saith the Lord.”
If revelation is
to anoint our mental faith and create in us a supernatural understanding and
bring us into a readied state for adoption, then deception has to do the
opposite. It will cause a falling away from The Faith which is The Revelation
of Jesus Christ.
Now, you can’t
tell me that these men do not intentionally hold to error rather than the
Truth. Jesus said,
John 3:19 And
this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved
darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
The Bible
tells us that they lie in wait to deceive. Paul said in Ephesians 4: 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning
craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;
And, why do
you think men would travel half way around the world to just to try to squash
my meetings, and influence men to stay way from my meetings. Jesus said, Matthew 23: 13 But
woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of
heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them
that are entering to go in.
And again we
hear Paul say the same thing in, Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;
Now, that word
“hold” was translated from the Greek word Katecho
and it means to
hold down, to withhold or to hold back. In other words they suppress the Truth.
Notice that they hold down the
Truth in un-right-wise-ness, which means they hold down the Truth by their incorrect
understanding, that’s how they hold down the truth So you see
by teaching error instead of the Truth they hold the truth back from the
people. And in order to withhold the Truth from the people, they cause the people
to stay away from the Truth. Now to do this they must lie about the truth of
the Godhead, and so they say lie and say we teach 2 Gods, and thus they are
able to suppress the knowledge of the Truth from the people, because the people
become afraid to check into the Truth.
And isn’t that
the main weapon the devil has, is fear? Is not that what the governments are
doing all over the world in presenting fear to the people everywhere? But God
promised us that fear if not from him, but rather “God has not given us a spirit of fear but of
Love and a sound mind.” So then where does fear come from? The
devil, and that is his number one weapon.
Now, in order
to teach a lie they do not come right out and deny the Scriptures. No, Satan
never did that. In fact he quoted them. But what he did was to mis-locate and
dislocate the Scriptures placing them out of context and out of order.
Men who claim
to believe the Message will not come right out and say they disagree with Br.
Branham, but when you quote from the Scriptures and William Branham they say
you are making it up, and twisting it. They say they believe him, and yet they
deny what he taught.
From his
sermon Indictment the 63-0707M P:116 Brother
Branham said, “You
poor intellectual, spiritual deprived, rejected
upon your own grounds, you read the same Bible that any other man can read;
but you've turned down the Spirit of God, till the Bible said you'd “be
given over to a strong delusion to believe a lie and be damned by it.” You actually believe that you're
right, and the Bible says that you'd believe it and be damned by the same lie
that you believe to be the truth. Therefore, I indict you by the Word of God.
You are teaching the people a error and crucifying the principles of Christ, of
holiness, and Life above as a person might walk out on the street and be a
different person.
So, what is
the best way to hide a real diamond? Put it in a room with a thousand
counterfeits. And what is the best way to hide the Truth? Put it in a Message
with a thousand counterfeits. Look, the counterfeit religion isn’t out there
somewhere, it’s right in our midst trying to keep you from the Truth of the
Message.
And how can
you worship God outside of Truth. You can’t. So they try to change the truth. And Paul
told us how they do it. He said in Romans 1: 25 Who changed
the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more
than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
And so instead of preaching about the
Son of God and how he came and laid down his own Life, they preach about the Bride, the Bride, and
the Bride. In her is the fullness of the Godhead bodily. They preach of the
creature instead of the creator.
And so they
will not believe the record that God gave of His Son and in doing so they are
calling God a liar. That is the Apostle John said in 1 John 5:10 He
that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a
liar; because he believeth not the
record that God gave of his Son.
And what was
this record that God gave of His Son. John told us in John 1:32 And John bare record,
saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon
him. And again he said in verse 34 And I
saw, and bare record that this is the
Son of God.
So the error
of the wicked is to take the word of God and twist it in such a way as to
distort it, so it does not say what it actually says. It means to lie about the
Truth in order to cause the people to stay away from it. That’s how they suppress
the truth.
2 Peter 3: 17 Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know
these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own
stedfastness.
And Jude tells
us Jude 1: 11 Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran
greedily after the error of Balaam
for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.
And what was
the error of Balaam? We’re all the same. That was the error of
Balaam, We’re
all the same, but we are not the same.
Jesus said in
his Prayer to the Father, John 17: 14 I have given them thy Word; and the world hath hated them, because
they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
And he also
said, John 16:2 They shall put you out of the
synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will think that he
doeth God service. 3 And these things will they do unto you, because they
have not known the Father, nor me.
And again
Jesus said in, John 15: 20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater
than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if
they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. 21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because
they know not him that sent me. 22 If I had not come and spoken unto them,
they had not had sin: but now they have no cloke for their sin.
Now, brother
Branham warned us in his sermon Christ revealed in his own Word that people would
lose their minds in the end time. He said, “In the Laodicean age the people were what? Naked (Are
they?), blind. What good does light do to a blind man? If the blind leads the
blind, don't they all fall in the ditch? Naked, blind, and don't know it. Even their mental faculties are gone,
their spiritual faculties of mental--spiritual understanding. See? Heady,
high-minded, lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, truce breakers, false
accusers, incontinent, and despisers of those that are good, having a form of
godliness but denying the power thereof, The power of revelation, they don't
even believe in it. See?”) They don't believe in such things as
prophets, and so... They don't believe in it.
Way of a true prophet
62-0513M P:118 The Bible said if they wouldn't believe the Word, He'd give them strong delusions to
believe a lie and would be damned by it. That's exactly what these
organizations and people of this nation's doing today: believing a lie to be
damned by it.
God's wrapped gift 60-1225
P:53 God said He'd give them over to strong delusions to believe a lie
and be damned by it. God said He would do it. You refuse right, you have to
take wrong. There's no other way. You refuse to go right, you have to go left,
go some other way beside right; so you
can't go right and wrong at the same time. When they refused the Holy Ghost, they refused Christ, they refused
God's program, they refused the
messenger, they refused everything; so therefore, they're left in their
sin. There's nothing left then but judgment.
Let us pray…