Spoken Word #16

“A Peculiar God, Message, Messenger and People”

Brian Kocourek

April 13th, 2008

This morning we will read from the last two paragraphs of Brother Branham’s opening prayer for his sermon “The Spoken Word is the Original Seed” and we will pick up at paragraph number 10 where he talks about his ministry as being a peculiar one..

  10   And now, O Lord, Who separated me from my mother, Who's fed me all the days of my life and has brought me to this hour, by Thy grace, feeling it was Thy will that I should explain to the people why that I have acted and did the way I have done; may it be in such a way that people will have a better understanding, Lord, of the peculiarity of Thy servants. Grant these things, Father, these Scriptures and a text and words that we have written here through the week, praying and studying. May they fall on good ground everywhere they are heard, a ground that can hold them and nourish them, and then all praise shall be given to Thee, for we ask it in Jesus' Name. Amen.

Now, notice he said, by Thy grace, feeling it was Thy will that I should explain to the people why that I have acted and did the way I have done; may it be in such a way that people will have a better understanding, Lord, of the peculiarity of Thy servants. So we want to know what this word peculiar means and especially what brother Branham is referring to here when he describes himself as such.

Now, the word pe·cu·liar is an adjective and it means 1. Unusual or odd. 2. Distinct from all others. (unique) So brother Branham is talking about the oddity of his ministry. Then we must know what makes it odd or what makes it stand out as so different from all others.

God revealing Himself to His people 50-0813E P:27 I knew that was the same Voice that spoke to me all along. That was the first time I'd ever seen It like that, but I knew that Voice. He said, "Fear not. I am sent from the Presence of the Almighty God to tell you that your peculiar birth and peculiar life, been always misunderstood with men." Said, "Your peculiar life and peculiar birth has been to indicate that you're take a gift of Divine healing to the peoples of the world." And I said, "Sir, I am uneducated. I could not go." He said, "I'll be with you." And I said, "Sir, I'm uneducated." I said, "I could not go. The people wouldn't believe me." He said, "As the prophet Moses was given two signs, so will you be given two signs." Said, "First will be that you'll be able to detect diseases by your hand, taking the patient by the right hand in your left. And if you'll be sincere when you pray, get them to believe you and be sincere when you pray, nothing shall stand before your prayer, not even cancer." See, He spoke cancer. That's the only disease He said. And He said, "Then if you'll be sincere with that, it will come to pass that you will tell them the secrets of their heart." Said, "Them will be the two signs." And He said, "I'll..."And I said, "I will go." He said, "I will be with you."

Balm in Gilead 59-0707 P:24 We take our ministers and make great doctors of divinity out of them, instead of giving them the new birth. Many of our seminaries take the man and try to educate him. Education is a wonderful thing. But education will never substitute salvation or the new birth. It cannot do it. God has a program and we must measure up to that program. We try to teach our ministers knowledge. We ought to teach them the baptism of the Holy Spirit. We ought to teach them Christ. But we're trying to get a better class of people among us. There's no better class of people than born again Christians. They may be peculiar, act peculiar, look peculiar, dress peculiar, but they are peculiar people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation offering spiritual sacrifices, the fruit of our lips giving praise to His Name. Certainly.

Divine love and sovereign grace 56-0814 P:27 Going down to take over, eighty years old, whiskers blowing to one side, leading a mule with a wife with a child on each hip, jogging along the road... "Where are you going?" "Down to Egypt to take over." But the beautiful thing, he did it, because God said so. That settles it. No matter how ridiculous it looks to you, if God said so, that settles it. That's all. No matter if it seems strange. You say that they act strange; they look strange and peculiar... Sometimes God's people are peculiar. He said they were. You see? And they act peculiar to the carnal mind. But one time come into the Presence of that same Angel of the burning bush and you'll act the same way. You'll--you'll have a peculiar look-out on things. You'll say, "I ought to have seen that before. I ought to have knowed it." But it's got to be a con--converted mind.

His wonders to perform 58-0112A P:7 God does things peculiar. He works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Did you catch that? He works in mysterious ways, His wonders to perform. Oh, I just love that. And how that He does it in such a way sometime that it absolutely cannot be explained.

Great shining light 57-1222 P:42 And we cannot be an ordinary. We have to be unusual. We cannot be usual, because God's people are a peculiar people. They've been through the ages. Although peculiar, yet the Star was brilliant, not brilliant in world's educational, world's affair, but brilliant as sacrifice before the Lord. We prostrate ourselves, as the Magis did in the Presence of the King of kings, to reflect His Light.

Israel at Kadesh Barnea 53-0328 P:12 And then He sent a man; a child was born, a peculiar child, and he was raised a peculiar life, but God had His hand upon him. Moses, how he was hid in the bulrush, born in a time of persecution, just like Christ, born a proper child just like Christ. And he was born in this world to be a deliverer just like Christ. And, oh, how he, his work, how he was a law-giver, went up in the mountains and stayed forty days, come back out with the law. And he, his besetting sin was temper; he broke the commandment. Went back up, showing that that priesthood must die, pass away.

1 Peter 2: 9 But ye are a chosen generation, Now, the word Generation here was translated from the Greek Word genos which we get the word gene from and which refers to Lineage, the seed or offspring and I want you to notice what the attributes of this gene seed are. He says, they are: an Holy nation, a peculiar people. (Now, this is not peculiar in that you are cooky and crazy, but peculiar in that you are God oriented while the rest of mankind is not. He says you are a chosen lineage, chosen genos, chosen genes, and those genes are from God Himself which makes you different from the rest of the world. 1 Peter 2: 9 But ye are a chosen generation, an Holy nation, a peculiar people. (and what makes us peculiar? Notice what Peter says that makes us peculiar…) that ye should show forth the praises of Him Who hath called you out of darkness unto His marvelous light: Now if we are to show forth the praises of Him, then we are to say the same thing He said. We won't add to it, and we won't take from it. Jesus said, " If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my father." And Brother Branham taught us that the word “confess means to say the same thing”, because it is made up of two Greek words, "Homo" which means the same as, and "Logos" which is the very thoughts of God manifested or expressed. So we see that to confess Him is to say the same things He said about Himself. Then you have got to understand what he said in order to repeat it correctly.

And brother Branham said in 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 I want you to notice that God chooses peculiar men to bring a peculiar Message, not a message that every one knows, but what they don’t know.

Israel P. Warren wrote in His book The Parousia published in 1879, "We often speak of the second advent, the second coming, etc., but the Scriptures never speak of a second Parousia.. Whatever was to be it's nature, it was something peculiar, having never occurred before and being never to occur again. It was to be a Presence differing from and superior to all other manifestations of Himself to men, so that It's designation should properly stand by Itself, without any qualifying Epithet other than the article, "The Presence". "From this view of the word it is evident, I think, that neither the English word coming, nor the Latin Advent, is the best representative of the word. They do not conform to It's etymology; they do not correspond to the idea of the verb from which It is derived; nor could they appropriately be substituted for the more exact word, "Presence". In the cases where the translators used the latter, nor is the ratical of them the same. "Coming" and "Advent" give most prominently the conception of an approach to us, motion toward us; "Parousia" That of being with us, without reference as to how it began. The force of coming or advent ends with arrival; that of Presence begins with the arrival. Coming and advent are words of motion whereas Presence shows rest. The space of time covered by the action of coming or advent is limited, it may be momentary; that of Presence is unlimited.

So now we have a peculiar God who comes in a peculiar way and Declares Himself with a peculiar Message by a peculiar ministry to a peculiar people. I like that. So if you want to be like the rest of the world, go ahead, but then that tells me that this message isn’t for you. Jesus said, “If you love the world or the things of the world the love of God is not even in you.”

All of God’s prophet’s and people were peculiar people. Let’s just look at some of them.

From his sermon, The Masterpiece 64-0705 91 Brother Branham says, And we find out then in Joseph, that Joseph was a peculiar-born boy,

And what about Moses?

Br. Branham said in his sermon, Waters of separation 55-0606 P:8 There was a man born by the name of Moses, a very peculiar child. Of course, I believe that gifts and callings are without repentance. You can't make yourself something that you're not. I differ a little bit with you, some of you Latter Rain brethren on that, of laying on of hands and giving gifts. I differ with you Scripturally. I believe that you're born from God. God has set in the church certain things; God did it. And no matter how much you want to be something else, I couldn't make myself have brown eyes if I wanted them; they're blue.

And from Israel at Kadesh Barnea 53-0328 P:12 And then He sent a man; a child was born, a peculiar child, and he was raised a peculiar life, but God had His hand upon him.

Spoken word original seed 62-0318E P:178 Like the mighty anointed prophet Moses knew God would use him, for He had proved Moses to be His servant by his peculiar birth. At the right time that if--deliverance for Abraham's seed was at time. (Are you getting it?) Moses never stayed in Egypt and argued his Scriptural points with them. He never fussed with the priests, but he went to the wilderness and waited on the Lord until the people was ready to receive him. He had come to testify of them, but they would not receive him. God called His prophet to the wilderness. God had testified He had chose him, but the waiting was not by Moses, but for the people to get ready to receive Moses. Moses thought the children would understand that he was sent. (I never wrote it; He did.) So is it now.

Witnesses 54-0303 P:26 he said, Moses, when he turned aside, looked at the bush, God was going to send him, but before Moses knew, he said, "Show me Your glory." You know, sometimes when God does things, He does it in such a funny way, an odd way, peculiar way to the people of this world, it seems foolish to the carnal mind. How that God does things so simple, it just confuses the carnal mind. For instance, the virgin birth, and many things that's yet got the carnal mind all broke up. They don't know what to think about it. But God does it. Just like when John the Baptist came. Why, the Scripture said, when the inauguration of Jesus down there, at the river that day, that the... "All the high places would be made low and the low places brought high. And the leaves all clapped their hands, and the mountains skipped like little lambs." Just think of it. And what was it? An old woodsman type of a preacher, with the beard out over his face, like a fuzzy worm, and a big piece of sheepskin wrapped around him, standing on the muddy banks of Jordan, preaching repentance. Amen. (No fine, dressed lace, silks, and satins and whatever it was.)

The Apostle John tells us that Jesus had a very peculiar ministry in that He absolutely had surrendered His Life, in fact His very will over to the Fathers will. And Jesus became a good steward to do only the bidding of the Father. And John also told us that the reason the people were blinded to Jesus and the Vindication of His Ministry, is because they were blinded to the Word of the Father which Jesus was only acting out and fulfilling. So, in essence what we see is the blinding was a spiritual thing, because even though they could see with their eyes, yet they still could not understand or perceive what was happening. And peter called them willfully ignorant because they turned down the understanding that was presented to them because it didn’t fit their own understanding. And don’t think that they won’t be judged in this hour as well for turning down the truth though it was vindicated right before their very eyes. That is why John said, they would rather have the Doxa of man than the Doxa of God. We can't blame God for their unbelief. God doesn't shove you through a pipe and then say blessed is he that overcomes. In fact from the Message ...

So we see in Hebrews 1:1 ¶ God, who at various times and in divers manners (odd and peculiar ways) spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Now, Hebrews 1:1 tells us here concerning God, that the way that He operates is odd and peculiar. Hebrews 1:1 ¶ God, who at sundry times and in divers or different manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

The word Sundry is the English equivalent of the Greek word, polumeros pronounced, {pol-oo-mer'-oce} and it means 1) by many portions, by many times and in many ways

So we see here that God does things in many portions and in many different ways. That means what he does is not in a usual way, but rather in an unusual way. Then Paul goes on to say, God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, and it means 1) in many different ways or manners. Now the word divers is the same as our English Word Diverse. = di·verse ( d¹-vûrs“, d º-, d º“vûrs”) adj. 1. Differing one from another.

Now, this would seem to at first glimpse come into conflict with Malachi 3:6 that says, I am God and I change not, or Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same, yesterday, today and forever.

But a closer reading of the definition for diverse sheds more light on this difference. DIVERSE 1. Differing one from another but Made up of distinct characteristics, qualities, or elements: And as Brother Branham has taught, "God is identified by His Characteristics."

Therefore, I would like to look at these peculiar ways and peculiar times that God speaks to man. First of all, the Scripture reads ¶ God, who at various times and in various ways spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Now, although the way, and the times are varied and changing, yet we see the common thread here is that God speaks through His Prophets.

AMOS 3:7 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.

Now, therefore, although God changes the scene, and the manner in which he manifests Himself, and even the times, yet the constant is that before he does anything He will reveal it through one of His Servants called prophets.

I Samuel 2:2 There is none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God. Notice here that we are told there is none like him. That again speaks of an unusual God, in which there is none other like Him. Otherwise if there were others like him, He would not be unusual. Right? And God wants it to remain that way. He likes being One of a Kind. He likes to be the Unusual God.

Exodus 20:2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Exodus 34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name [is] Jealous, is a jealous God:

Now, let's examine this unusual God and let's see how unusual His ways are and His manner of speaking to his people.

Door in a Door 63-0223 E-33 But you know sometimes it's unusual things that God appears in. God appears in the unusual because God is unusual. He does unusual things. He appears at unusual times. And He's seen at unusual times, when times you wouldn't think that He'd be there, yet He's there. Very unusual. "He works in mysterious ways," the Bible said, "His wonders to perform." Therefore that makes Him unusual. And that's the way... We get into a usual trend of things and we miss God. It's the unusual that brings God many times, the unusual things, something... We get so tied up into a certain creed, or something that we're trying to serve, and then if everything doesn't come just according to the way we think it should, then we offset it. "It's not of God." We make a mighty mistake.

Look at Adam: God threw bloody skins at their feet, and demanded the blood of an innocent one to atone for their sins. That was a pretty peculiar thing to do, but he did it.

WE HAVE SEEN HIS STAR 63-1216 33 This that I'm speaking of tonight might seem just a little bit unusual, and especially of these notes and Scriptures I have written here, which I will refer to, as many of them takes down the Scriptures, and so forth. Now, it's a little unusual. But I want you to always bear this in mind: God is unusual; God does unusual things. That's the trouble with us today; we get so set in the usual things, that when something unusual takes place, then we're all out of it; we don't know what's happened. God does the unusual. And any man that's ever read the Bible, knows that God always does the unusual.

Look at Noah: and old man, building a large ship on the top of a mountain when it had never rained before. It would not have been unusual if he built it at the sea shore, but up on a mountain top? Now, that would seem peculiar to man, but not if you knew the flood was coming, and when it got to the top of that mountain it would lift that boat up above any mountain rocks and cliff that could have slammed that boat to pieces.

You see, many things seem strange if you don’t understand what is happening.

WHY LITTLE BETHLEHEM 63-1214 19 We think of how God does things in unusual ways, because He is unusual Himself. God is unusual. He's the Supernatural, the Infinite, unto we finite. So anything He does is--is so unusual. And God is so great, till He takes the unidentified things of the earth to identify Himself by it.

What about Abraham and Sara? God gave them a promise of having a son when he was 75 years old. And then He made them wait until they were too old to have children naturally. She was 90 and he was100 years old. But you see, that is unnatural because so it took a supernatural God to make this supernatural birth come to pass.

Then, what about Jacob and Esau? Jacob a momma's boy and Esau was a real man and yet you would think the One God loved was the opposite of who He chose. Why? Because it takes an unusual people to receive an unusual promise from an unusual God.

Investments The 64-0314 E-24 That's what makes the Gospel today. It's the unusualness, because God is unusual. His Word is interpreted unusual to what we sometimes have it interpreted. But as I've said before, God needs nobody to interpret His Word. He does His own interpretation by bringing to pass the things that He said He would do. He interprets His own Word. He doesn't need our interpretation. It's... Our interpretation is our own manmade thoughts that we put with It.

And Joseph was a boy who was home schooled, then sold into slavery and sent to prison, and then pulled out of prison to become the chief financial officer of the greatest nation on earth at that time.

Moses was the son of a slave, being raised right up under pharaohs nose, and in line to become pharaoh himself. He rose to be the greatest general Egypt has ever known. The greatest general in the greatest nation of his time, and then sent away to the wilderness to forget everything he knew about how to fight, only to be sent back to conquer and totally destroy the greatest and most powerful nation in the world with only a stick in his hand. Show me one man in history that conquered a nation single handedly with a stick. And I don’t car if that nation is some little island in the pacific. No man has ever conquered a nation with a stick, much less the greatest military nation on earth at that time. God is peculiar and his ways are past finding our. And his prophets are a peculiar people as well.

VOICE OF THE SIGN 64-0214 24 Now, we find that Moses, after doing this he got bitter. So he just run, left Egypt and went out into the deserts. And there we find he married an Ethiopian girl, had a son named Gershom. And one day while he was walking along the side of an old familiar path, on the backside of the desert there herding sheep, well, he was attracted by a scene that was unusual. And God is so unusual. He does things in such an unusual way, so contrary to science, so contrary to education, so contrary to, sometimes, man's theology, just contrary to that. God does that just to show He's God. And to do that He has to take somebody that knows none of these things, so that He can work through that person. 26 When Jesus come, why didn't He take Caiaphas, the priest that was trained and ready for the job? He went down and got men that couldn't even sign their name. Ignorant and unlearned, the Bible said they were. 'Cause God takes nothing to make something out of it. See?

Let’s look at Joshua. He was a man that was raised up from obscurity, a stone mason who had no military training and yet led the armies of Israel to route every enemy that came against the children of Israel. He even called for the sun to stop in order for them to have enough light to finish the fight they had begun, and the sun obeyed his command.

SEED NOT HEIR WITH SHUCK 65-0218 44 Sometimes we find God in those odd, unusual hours, unusual ways, unusual things. Because God is unusual, and those that really serve Him from their heart, serve Him in a unusual way to the things or the ways of the world.

And what of Rahab the harlot, out of her marriage and out of her loins, came forth the lineage of king David, and eventually the Messiah Himself.

And who would have thought that little David, that little ruddy fellow with stoop shoulders would ever be selected as King of Israel. Samuel the prophet had to bypass every man in Israel that was head and shoulders above that little boy, in order to anoint Him as King of Israel.

What about Elijah. He was a real odd man, very peculiar living alone as a recluse in the wilderness, dressed in camel leather and being fed sandwiches by the ravens. How could God do things in any more peculiar way than that? And yet this one man withstood a nation and army and 400 priests because he knew God in a peculiar way.

Elisha: The prophet with a temper, that cursed the rude children that made fun of his bald head, and a she bear came out of the woods and ate those rude little children up. What an example for a prophet of God. God's messenger, the one with a temper. Well, Moses had a temper too come to think of it.

And what about Samson: A scrawny little kid with 7 curly locks running down his back. A very peculiar instrument in the hands of a peculiar God. The carnal mind would make you think Samson was a huge massive built man with more muscles than a grizzly bear, and yet he was just a cute little girly boy that was undisciplined and rebellious against the will of God. But God chose him, not someone else. God chose him, because God is a peculiar God doing peculiar things in peculiar ways to make His supernatural presence known to man.

And Gideon, like that of so many other men God had called into service throughout the ages. His life as we see it in the scriptures began in total obscurity. Gideon, like the other men of God became a strange instrument of deliverance in the hands of God. There was no gradual buildup of events that led to his arrival, but his calling sprang forth from a need in his generation. He recognized the need and set his hand to do it believing that God would guide his every movement. So was the coming of Elisha, who emerged from among the seven thousand faithful but unknown men, not one of whom was known to Elijah. John the Baptist came on the scene like a whirl wind coming forth from the Wilderness. His attire was totally out of touch with the styles of the day, but that didn’t matter to him, for he was focused on what God had for him to do. But it was one man with One God. And that is all it took to turn the world upside down in their day, one man yielded to his One God.

Then there was Shamgar, who slew 600 Philistines with an ox goad. You know what an ox goad is? It’s just the little stick that you see the native herdsmen in Africa use to this day. A long thin stick to prod the oxen along as they walk down the path. Shamgar of which little is spoken of in the Scriptures, but who followed in the same manner as did Samson

In the book of Judges 3:31 we read, ¶ And after him was Shamgar the son of Anath, which slew of the Philistines six hundred men with an ox goad: and he also delivered Israel.

Now, this scripture does not tell us a whole lot about Shamgar. But it does tell us that the men of Israel were not trained fighters at this time, for had they been trained fighters, he would have used a sword or spear or some other implement of war. But He chose to use an ox goad which tells us he was a farmer. Now, an ox goad is a sharp stick used to prod the oxen along. To prod them along so they will go into the stall. And that is the closest thing he had to a spear. Now, another thing we want to examine here.

Israel at this time was only a scattered people. They were not an organized group like all the other nations. There was a small group here and there. And they had no central place that unified them all together. In fact that did not happen until they denominated, and wanted a King like the other nations had. I think it is interesting how the minds of men seems to work. Israel, while they were just a scattered people with small groups scattered throughout the land, seemed to have trials come and go with an opposing force once in a while. And God always delivered the people by raising up someone, some insignificant person, to become a judge over them, not through education, not through years of training with the sword and spear.

No, these were not an educated lot. But they were led by the Holy Spirit. Men of God led by the Spirit of God. And all it took was one man to destroy the workings of the enemy. One man against a thousand and the one man would destroy them all. And such was Samson and such is this man of God Shamgar. One man, used by God to defeat the gates of the enemy.

And look at Daniel, and Shadrack, Meshak, and Abednego: Talk about a peculiar God with peculiar people. Look at Isaiah’s message, A virgin shall conceive! I’ll bet you people thought he was nuts. But God proved that he was right.

MAN THAT CAN TURN ON LIGHT 63-1229M 55 It was a unusual thing for that to happen. Joseph being a just man... He was unusual; God is unusual. And the unusual's hard to understand. That's why it's hard to understand Truth today; it's so unusual. A woman to have a baby without knowing a man, that was very unusual. But if you're honest and sincere, God can appear to you yet in a dream. It goes to show that anything that you have, whether it's your mind, whether you can whistle, sing, testify, or whatever you can do, if in your whole being is committed to God, God can use it if you'll just let Him do it.