Spoken
Word no. 165
The
Uniting of the WCC and Catholic Church
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
May 23rd,
2010
MATTHEW
13:24 ¶ Another parable put he forth unto them,
saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in
his field: 25 But while men slept,
his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and
brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of
the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in
thy field? From whence then, hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath
done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather
them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also
the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the
time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the
tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my
barn.
This morning I would
like to read from paragraphs 9 and 10 again because I just received some
information this week on what is happening in the World Council of Churches
which brother Branham speaks about in these two paragraphs. So let me first
read from paragraphs 8-10 and then we will bring out what is happening
concerning this merger of all the churches into one super church.
8 All right, I predict that the two denominational
groups, Pentecostal and the Evangelical groups, will work together in a
denomination, will unite themselves together, and will become a member (all
of them) of the Federation of the
Council of Churches or the Council of Churches. They already belong to it, all
of them. And there will come through them a
forcing or a boycott, that'll stop everything but what belongs to
that union of churches. That's what the Bible said that there would be a
boycott, even to such a way it would cause people to not buy or sell unless they had received this, the mark of
the beast, which is Romanism, and the image of the beast, which is
Protestantism, that the image... The beast had power, authority to give the
image life to speak, and it did. And that's the Confederation of Churches, when
they confederate themselves together.
The World Council of Churches was formed in 1948 at the
close of the second world war, and the resolution expressed by the founding
Assembly at
In 1950, the WCC Central Committee, meeting in
It is interesting to
note that the early intention was not to create on superchurch but in reality
that is what is happening today.
I have listed below
the family groups of World Council of Churches members and as you can see what
brother Branham declared back in 1962 has already taken place with members
coming from the two main protestant groups of Pentecostals and Evangelicals.
The list includes 349 churches of which the main families are:
|
Orthodox
churches eastern and oriental |
|
|
|
Now, in getting back
to what Brother Branham is telling us in The Spoken Word is the original Seed,
we pick up at paragraph 9 Now, there's many young people here. I don't know; Jesus
may come this afternoon; He may come next year. I don't know when He will be
coming. But remember, if I do not live to see that day of His coming, which I
hope that I will, and somehow believe I will... Now if I do not see it, do not let this Word ever depart from your ears
and your heart. See? Just remember, I speak in the Name of the Lord. Now, I
believe with all my heart, that's the
way it'll wind up. There will be
like a union, a boycott. All such places as this here will be closed down. And you'll not be able to speak unless you
got a permission or a license from this federation of churches to hold a
service. 10 It's almost... it shows it does that now even in the denomination.
It shows where it's at. Yes, sir, you
have to have it. And that's where it'll wind up at. That's my prediction, as a servant of Christ through the understanding
that I have of the Word and the inspiration; that's where it'll come. All
signs are pointing to the end. I just got through speaking on that...
The world is Falling Apart 63-1127 157 We so hear so much about this new
system going to bring, the religious system, you know, going to bring peace
upon the earth, when the Catholic and all the Protestants unite together. Some
of them believe in Divine healing, some don't believe, and some believe this, and some believe that. And you have to forfeit your
big fuss you been fussing about all the time, your evangelical belief, to get into the World Council. And every
denomination will have to come in there.
Why it had to be shepherds 64-122 67 And
we could say as much for today, or in any age. It was the same things in the
days of Martin Luther. Same thing in the days of John Wesley. It was the same
things in the days of the Pentecostals. But God stops for no man's
organization! He moves His Spirit right on to vindicate His Word! It would
a-had to be and come in the class of their own council or they wouldn't receive
It. As they're so headstrong today, all the churches, that they are "going
to do such-and-such, and unite all the churches together." If
they're looking for a messenger now, who can unite all the Protestants,
Catholics and Orthodox, everything together, make one great church.
There is a Man here that can Turn on the
Light 64-0125 121 This
great council has moved around, to unite all the Protestants together,
this ecumenical move. And what is it doing? It's blackening out the very Word,
itself, and the Word is Christ.
The latest communiqué
from the World Council of Churches is called, “Called to be one church”, and they are pushing pretty hard now to
bring the churche together with the Catholic church. I will read parts of this
article to you and highlight points in it which reflect this
http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/.html
Prepared by the WCC's Faith and Order Commission
and formally titled "Called to be the
Days
earlier at the Assembly, the document was the centerpiece of reflection in a
plenary session titled "Church Unity: Claiming a Common Future."
Several leading theologians addressed the theme of church unity.
Now, I want you to Catch the wording of
this unity. It is based on a belief in a triune God and a baptism in titles of
that triune God.
Document date: 23.02.2006
An invitation to
the churches to renew their commitment to the search for unity and to deepen
their dialogue
WCC Assemblies have adopted
texts offering a vision, of "the unity we seek"
1. We, the
delegates to the Ninth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, give thanks
to the Triune God, Father; Son and Holy Spirit, who has brought our churches
into living contact and dialogue. .3 We
reaffirm that "the primary purpose
of the fellowship of churches in the World Council of Churches is to call one another to visible unity in
one faith and in one eucharistic fellowship expressed in worship and to advance towards that unity in order
that the world may believe".
3. We
confess one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church as expressed in the
Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed (381). The
Church's oneness is an image of the unity of the Triune God in the communion of
the divine Persons.
5. We affirm that
the apostolic faith of the
Church is one, as the body of Christ is one. Yet there may legitimately be
different formulations of the faith of the Church. The hope of the Church is one. Other differences that divide the
Church must be overcome …so that separation and exclusion do not have the last
word. God's "plan for the fullness
of time [is] to gather up all things in him" . Notice they are using
Scripture like satan did to promote this gathering together, but forget that
the tares are gathered together first.
6. The Catholicity
of the Church expresses the fullness, integrity, and totality of its life
in Christ through the Holy Spirit in all times and places. This mystery is
expressed in each community of baptized
believers in which the apostolic faith is confessed and lived, the gospel
is proclaimed, and the sacraments are celebrated. Each church is the Church catholic and not simply a
part of it. Each church is the Church
catholic, but not the whole of it. Each
church fulfils its catholicity when
it is in communion with the other churches. We affirm that the catholicity of the Church is expressed
most visibly in sharing holy communion and in a mutually recognised and
reconciled ministry.
8. Baptism
bestows upon the churches both the freedom and the responsibility to journey
toward common proclamation of the Word, confession of the one faith,
celebration of one eucharist, and full sharing in one ministry.
9. Our common
belonging to Christ through baptism “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit”
enables and calls churches to walk together, even when they are in
disagreement. We affirm that there
is one baptism, just as there is one body and one Spirit, … In God's grace,
baptism manifests the reality that we belong to one another,
even though some churches are not yet able to recognise others as Church in the
full sense of the word.
12. Paragraph 12 deals with the mutual responsibility of each church
to the whole church family, and have not always been able to articulate the
factors that keep them apart and they close this paragraph by stating it is now time to take concrete steps
together.
In 2005
another document was written as a result of the the workings between the WCC
and the Catholic Church.
Document
date: 21.11.2005
On 17-19 November 2005, 28 participants, invited by
the World Council of Churches and by the Pontifical Council for Promoting
Christian Unity, gathered at the Ecumenical Institute of
“The very fact of the establishment and continued
co-operation between the Roman Catholic Church and the World Council of
Churches for 40 years must be considered one of the significant achievements of
the modern ecumenical movement. The
slow but persevering establishment of a relationship in which the World Council
of Churches and the Catholic Church have found in one another a trusted partner
has been perhaps the most enduring achievement of the past four decades.”
The decree
Unitatis Redintegratio of the Second
Vatican Council noted that the call to
full visible Christian unity can be fulfilled only by the joint efforts of
churches working together. The Joint Working Group has sought to play this
role over the years, as well as that of calling the churches to recover and
reaffirm the original vision and goal of the ecumenical movement.
“The task
of the Joint Working Group has been one of providing a common witness to the
enduring commitment of the two parent bodies to cooperate in pursuing a common ecumenical vision. The Working Group”, it
said, …”has proved to be an effective expression of the desire of both parties
for an ongoing collaboration and
partnership. “
“The
Article spoke of the a common vision” and
a “shared spiritual commitment”. but “It was felt that the Joint Working Group
should not duplicate the work of the Faith and Order on doctrinal questions. On
the other hand, the Joint Working Group has a role to play in providing
reflection on the pastoral dimension, and must decide whether it can make a
particular contribution in a given area (cf. Eighth Report, p. 29) either
by asking a specialized body to undertake a study or by itself organizing a
study on its own. This method may continue to be fruitful, because the Joint
Working Group has an enabling function for the parent bodies.
As for
implementation, the style
of communication should be that of
advocacy aimed at enabling the churches to receive, apprehend and affirm the material communicated. A change of name for the Group may be
considered as a means of expressing the significance
of this partnership.
The document also stated that the main two issues of
concern in bringing the two Groups together is Migration and Youth,
which were explored as elements of the work of this JWG mandate. The present
global phenomenon of migration is
changing the face of the local church in many places of the world. The WCC and
Catholic church see this both as a challenge and an opportunity for deepening Christian ecumenical relations across
boundaries of nations and cultures. In other words, they will use the mass
migrations of people around the globe to further their objectives. Why do you
think the Congress who is 30 % Catholic isn’t doing anything about the illegal
alien explosion in this country.
Roman catholic
30.1%
Baptist 12.4%
Methodist
10.7%
Presbyterian 8.1%
Anglican/Episcopal
7.1%
Lutheran 4.5%
Now, these 6
denominations alone make up 73 % of our congress and these are all members on
the World Council of Churches, and there are others with less numbers but when
added together makes up another 7% or so that are WCC members so you are
looking at 80% or greater whose members are in the WCC churches. Plus Jewish
members who make up another 8.3%, so the norm in this country is a member of a
church that is a member of the WCC. So I do not believe there is anything that
would hinder laws to be written to enforce such membership on all those who
profess to be Christian. And you can see that the makeup of the WCC and
Catholic unity is based on baptism in titles and the trinity.
Then in paragraph 11 of The Spoken word is the original Seed
brother Branham continues saying, I believe it is 68,000,000 on the martyrology that the
Roman Catholic church has put to death since Saint Augustine of Hippo.
Sixty-eight million Protestants has been killed and recorded on the record of
the martyrology by the Catholic church because
of disagreeing with her doctrine. No wonder the Bible said, "In her was found the blood of every martyr." Now, didn't Jesus say there would come a time they
would kill you, thinking they were doing God a service; and they are sincere
about that. They're not hypocrites. They believe that; they're taught that. And
when that Word... When that Word is planted there, it has got to bring a crop.
Sure it has. Remember, we're staying with the Seed. That's our text, our Seed. The spoken Word of God is a Seed. See?
It's got to come back to this Word, and that Word will produce what It says.
Notice that devilish spirit, killing because they
disagreed with her doctrine.
Questions
and answers COD 64-0823M P:154 276. Brother Branham, will the Bride go
through the persecution as the early apostolic church did? No, I just explained
that a few minutes ago. No, next thing is a rapture now. Remember, we're at the
promised land; we're at the border. You understand the march of
Feast of
the trumpets 64-0719M P:75 Well, what has it done? In the cunningness,
as He said, he'd come in like flatteries. And what has he done? He's bringing the
Protestant ecumenical council of the world churches, the spirit of antichrist,
upon both of them, bringing them to the slaughter, just like they did the other
in a hour to call the Bride. How? Loosed in the ecclesiastical church, spirit.
Loosed upon what? Not upon the denominations, upon the Bride. But here you'd
get it; the Bride will not go through that time. The Bible says not. The church
will, but not the Bride. Can't you see? Ministers, can't you see that,
brethren? You say the Church has to go through the persecution for the--for the
perfection of it. The Blood of Jesus Christ perfects the Bride. A man who
chooses a wife don't put her through a lot of punishment; he's already found
grace to--with her; she's found grace with him. He--he engages to her. And if
there's anything, he'll keep her from every place to turn her hand. His grace
is so great upon them, and so will it be upon the Bride, and so is it on the
Bride.
Feast of
the trumpets 64-0719M P:69 You remember the vision the other day? Remember
the preview of it? How many remembers Sunday 'fore last? How there it was
exactly come by; we seen it exactly, seen that dirty, filthy thing come up
called the church (vulgarity is to the extreme), and that little Bride of every
nation, each one of them dressed like their nation they come from, just
perfectly, walking before the Lord. You notice, there'll be a time some time
when they'll say, "Well, I thought the Church was to go before the
persecution. I thought there's a rapture." "It's already passed and
you knew it not." That's what He said about John one time, you know. Said,
"How--why say the prophets that a--the scribes that Elias must first
come?" He said, "He's already come." And even the disciples
didn't know it. "They done to him what they listed." The rapture will
be the same way. In--in a hour... He's promised to do that. He didn't promise
to show Elias like that, but He promised to take the Bride like that--in a hour
that you think not, just a change in a moment of a twinkling of an eye be caught
away; then you're left. Then that's the time.
QA God
being misunderstood COD 61-0723E P:26 140. Now, were the five of
the virgins lost? I presume that they are asking the question, "the five
virgins," the five wise and the five foolish. Now, if you were with us in
the last teachings in Revelation, you find out there that those virgins,
the--the five foolish virgins were not lost; but they were not permitted to go
into the wedding supper, but they suffered persecution, and was martyred, and
raised again at the general resurrection in the last day. Those are the people
where He separated the sheep from the goats (See?); they stood before judgment.
You say, "Well, Brother Branham, don't we stand, the Church?" No,
sir. We do not stand before the judgment. We are now standing before the
Judgment. God put our sins upon Christ, and we... "He that heareth My Word
(