Spoken Word #07
“Three
Great Departures”
Brian Kocourek
February 17th, 2008
7 Our heavenly Father, You said in Your Word: "If I
be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto Me." And, that is our
purpose in life, is to lift up before a dying generation of people, that Jesus
Christ is still the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. And I'm so happy to
know that I live where there’s people who believe that, and along with the
thousands that has accepted Him as their Saviour. And knowing that after this
life is finished, there will be a life on the other side that'll be so glorious
that this toils and few hours that we're passing through these shades and
shadows of life here in the testing ground, that we are merely entering into
the orbit now, waiting for the countdown, for soon there will come a time that
when God's time is fulfilled. The great
arm, that's held back the time so long, will finally let go, and His church
will move off from this earth in space out yonder into a land where
there'll be no sickness, sorrow, old age, death. That's why we are gathered today,
Lord, is to express our feeling about these things.
This morning I would like to speak on the subject of “Three
Great Departures”.
Number 1) The Departure from The Faith.
Number 2) The Departure of the Church from this earth.
And Number 3) The Departure of God’s Parousia Presence
from the Earth.
Now, if you know your scripture you will notice that
brother Branham is making reference in this 7th paragraph to 2
Thessalonians 2 where he is speaking of God holding back until the departure of
the church. Let’s read it for ourselves for our text this morning.
2 Thessalonians 2:1 Now
we beseech you, brethren, by the Parousia of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
Notice here that the apostle Paul is speaking of the
time of the Great Parousia of Jesus Christ and notice also that at that time
there is to be a gathering together of the church. And notice further that this
gathering is said to be unto Him. Now, Who is He? John 1:1, In the beginning was the What? The Word, and the Word was
and still is God Himself.
So we see that the One who will be in our midst at
this time is God Himself who is the Word. And Paul warns us about this time
when he says,
2. That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled,
neither by spirit, nor by word nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
Now, the Wuest translation translates it this way, Now, I am requesting
you, brethren, with regard to the coming and personal presence of our Lord
Jesus Christ, even our being assembled together to Him, not soon to become
unsettled, the source of this unsettled state being your minds, neither be
thrown into confusion,…
Then Paul says, 3 Let no man deceive you by any
means: for that day shall not come, except there
come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
So we see the day of the Lord will be earmarked by a
great falling away of the church. That’s Number One in our study this morning
of the “Three Great Departures”. First and foremost before the other Two Departures
can take place, there must be this Departure from ‘The Faith”. Then if there is
to be a departure from The Faith, then there has to be people ordained to come
into The Faith first in order to leave it.
Now, let’s read again from verses 5-7 to see what the Wuest Translation
says, “Do you not
remember that while I was still with you I kept on telling you these things?
And now you know with a positive assurance that which namely, the departure of
the church, the saints being assembled
together to the Lord, is preventing his being disclosed as to his true
identity, in his strategic, appointed time, for the mystery of the
aforementioned lawlessness is now operating . Only He (the Holy Spirit) who is
holding (the lawlessness down), will do so until He goes out from the midst (of
humanity.)”
So you see God is the One that is holding back the
wrath to come, and he is doing so for the Elect’s sake. Then when God takes out
His elect, the all hell break’s loose, Literally. That is when the antichrist
will come into His own Parousia (personal presence).
Now, You shouldn’t think it is a strange thing that
Christ has a Parousia and Satan has a Parousia, because after all satan was on
the scene when Christ was here to even try to tempt him while he fasted 40
days.
Paul speaks of this in 1 Timothy as well in chapter 4.
Hebrews
6:4-6 4 For it
is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of
the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, 5 And
have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come,
6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame.
Even Jesus
in His parables spoke of a falling away from the Word as we see in…
Luke 8:9 And his disciples asked him, saying, What
might this parable be? 10 And he said, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the
So you see if they have
no roots then they have no source in Christ, so it is not meant for them to
have it. Jesus said that none of those that the Father gave Him would be lost,
so these ones that fall away, they are those who come among us and although it
is said that they hear and believe, yet because they were not from Him, nor are
they His, then it is only natural that they would fall away because after all,
it is not meant for them anyways.
That is what John said
about those that fall away in 1 John 2:19
1 John 2:18 Little children, it is the last time: and as
ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists;
whereby we know that it is the last time. 19 They went out from us, but they were not of
us; for if they had been of us, they
would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that
they were not all of us.
So you see, we should
not be sad when they fall away because it is manifesting time, and all that are
not meant to be following this Pillar of Fire will be shaken off from following
it. As John said, they must go out from
us because they are not of us. For if they are of us then they no doubt would
remain with us.
In 1 Timothy 4:1 we read, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in
the latter times some shall depart from
The Faith, (and what will cause them to depart from The Faith?) giving heed to seducing spirits,(not
genuine spirits, but imposters right in the Message,) and doctrines of devils; (not correct doctrine, but doctrine of devils) 2 Speaking lies in
hypocrisy;(what do you mean speaking lies in hypocrisy? Well, the
are hypocrites, and they know the truth but will not speak it, nor will they
affirm that it is true although they know that it is. And why would they do
this? Paul says, ) having their conscience seared with a hot iron; And when the
conscience is seared that means it has turned hard, and since they have
knowingly turned away from The Truth, there is no more repentance or change of
the mind.
And again in 2 Timothy 4:1 Paul says, “I
charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove,
rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For
the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their
own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
And we even hear Jesus speaking of this falling away
as though it is a divorcement in Matthew 7:16 Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men
gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? 17 Even
so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree
bringeth forth evil fruit. 18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil
fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good
fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. 20 Wherefore
by their fruits ye shall know them. 21 Not every
one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but
he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many
will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and
in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many
wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never
knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. 24 Therefore
whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto
a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: 25 And
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. 26 And
every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be
likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: 27 And
the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it. 28 And
it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished
at his doctrine:
Jesus is speaking here of the great divorcement of the
church, and Doctor Hoyer who was perhaps the Greatest Greek Scholar in the
United States said the correct translation of this is, “I used to know you as my wife but I do not know you as my wife any longer.”
Now, in getting back to our text from 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2, we will pick up at verse where Paul is speaking of the incarnation
of satan in the Anti Christ. 4 Who opposes and exalts himself
above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the
Then the Apostle Paul speaks to the people and
basically tells them that the things he is speaking of should not be knew to
them, because after all, He’s been
telling them these things that are to come for quite some time during his
ministry. 5 Remember
ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
And then He tells us that God is holding back all
these things, until He leaves the midst of humanity with His Elect. 6 And
now ye know what with holds that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity
doth already work (Paul is assaying,
look this spirit of antichrist that exalts itself above Christ is already at
work in the church, so it should not be a knew thing to you that I am telling
you, but this is what I want you to know for certain, that this spirit that is
now manifesting itself in the church will one day incarnate itself in a man
that will rule as God over the masses of humanity. Then he says, that God is
now allowing this spirit to manifest itself in a small way in the church, but
when God Himself leaves the church and takes the elect up and out of the midst
of humanity, then that which God has been holding back will suddenly manifest
itself in a way that there will be nothing hidden but all shall be unveiled at
that time. That is what these words,) “only he who now
letts will let, until he be taken out of the way.” 8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom
the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his Parousia:
Now, this total unveiling of the antichrist comes by
the total unveiling of the Christ. And thus the anti-Christ’s spirit’s hold upon
the Elect is nullified by the unveiling of Christ.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 Even him, whose parousia is after the working of Satan
with all power and signs and lying wonders, 10 And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they
received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Now, notice here that Paul speaks of a deceivableness
of un-right-wise-ness in them that are perishing. Now, the Wuest Translation
words this exceptionally brilliant as it says, the wicked deception is geared
to the Gullibility of those who are perishing, and then he tells us that this
gullibility is caused by the fact that they did not accept the love for the
Truth that they might be saved. And because of this God will send them a
deluding influence that will result in their believing the lie, in order that they
all might be judged who did not believe the Truth but had pleasure in
un-right-wise-ness. And what lie is The lie? The same lie told to Eve. “Thou
shalt not surely die!” And notice that
they did not delight in The Truth, but took pleasure in a wrong understanding.
Why
are we not a denomination? 58-0927 P:126 She was a mother of harlots. What made her a whore? Her doctrine. What made them a harlot? Her doctrine. And
that's the reason we don't tolerate with their denominations and their dogmas.
We stay clean with this Bible. I don't know how well you live it, but you're
taught It, anyhow. That's right. That's up to you. I can't make you live it. I
can only tell you what's the Truth. That's why we're not a denomination. I wouldn't
want to defile ourselves to get into such a stuff as that, have to knuckle down
to some kind of a dogma. I'd rather take the way with the Lord's despised few.
I'd rather stay clean and pure before the Word and God, and stand there, and
say there's no man's blood upon my garment. That's why we stay at the Branham
Tabernacle. That's why we're not Assemblies. That's why we're not Oneness. That's
why we're not Jesus Only. That's why we're not Methodist. That's why we're
not Baptist. It's just a little tabernacle here. We don't have no denomination
at all. We're free in Christ. That's why we stay the way we do. And God has
blessed us and God helping us.
Now, look, he said that the wrong doctrine is what
made the Catholic church a Whore church and that is what made the daughter
churches harlots, it’s their doctrine, and then he identifies both Trinity and
Oneness as Whore doctrines. It couldn’t get any plainer than that.
Choosing
of a bride 65-0429E P:66 And
the Bible said that's the condition that they'd get into. How could a true prophet
ever miss seeing it? I don't know. Drifting right into all of our churches
everywhere. Just look at it. Just in a modern trend. The old whore and
daughters of Revelations 17 giving to the poor, blind, miserable people her doctrine of theology contrary to the Word of God.
And they found in her the souls of slaves and men and women of everywhere.
Instead of attracting the people... Christ
vindicates His Word which attracts the people. He don't attract the people of churches that are attracted by big denominations,
and big doings, and great big carrying-on, and fancy things, but the Word of
God attracts the Bride of Christ.
Five
identifications 60-0911E P:28 Therefore, the waters that the woman was setting upon, up over, she
had control of the nations, peoples, multitudes, and tongues. She controlled it
all: a woman, a ill-famed woman. Now, if a woman is ill-famed, if we know a
woman was called that in the natural, to a woman, we would know that she was
untrue to her husband. That's what she'd be called. Then she would be
pretending to live true to a man, and living untrue to him. Is that right?
Well, then this is the church that says
that Christ is her Husband, and her doctrine is contrary to His Teaching. She's
a whore.
2 Thessalonians 2:11 And
for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe
The lie: 12 That they all might be damned who
believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
So we see here that God says, for this cause He will
send them a Strong delusion. Not just a little one, but a strong delusion.
13 But
we are bound to give thanks always 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: So notice the way in
which we are saved. It is through sanctification of the spirit which comes by
believing the Truth, for we are washed in the water of the Word. 14 Whereunto
he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. And notice also that we are called to the obtaining of
the glory which is the Doxa of God. It is his opinion, assessment and judgment
that we are called unto. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand
fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or
our epistle. 16 Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, 17 Comfort your hearts, and stablish you in
every good word and work.
Now, the Second Great
Departure is not the church but is the Bride into Glory. But before she can
ascend up into Glory she must become Glorified, according to 2 Thessalonians
1:10. She must be filled with God’s Glory. And If God is the Word,
which He is, then this Glory that we are speaking of must also be God’s Word.
For it is the Greek Word Doxa which is the opinion, assessment, and judgment
which is God’s that she must become glorified in.
2 Thessalonians 1:7 And
to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels,
8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not
God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of
his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in
his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony
among you was believed) in that day. 11 Wherefore
also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: 12 That the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of
our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Next week we will look
further into this Second Great Departure, so let’s just bow our heads and our
hearts in a word of prayer.