Spoken Word no. 172
Geared to the gullibility of them that
Perish
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
June 20th, 2010
For our study this
morning, I want to take our thoughts
from paragraph 22 and 22 this morning from the second half of The Spoken Word is
the Original Seed. 22 All these things look real.
Pentecost looks real. Think they... "Why I belong to a Pentecostal
organization." That don't mean no more than if you lived
in a hog pen.
Wouldn't make a bit of difference. Wouldn't! It's just a sounding brass and a
tinkling cymbal. Yeah, no matter where you belong, if you're not born of the
Spirit of God and receive the Holy Ghost... And the reason... If you don't believe all the Word of God,
you haven't received the Holy Ghost yet. That's right. That's exactly right. The
Holy Spirit... When you hear the truth, and the Holy Spirit don't lead you to it,
then there's another spirit in there keeping you away from it. So the spirit you got in you ain't the Holy
Spirit. Oh, yeah. 23 Now, we find out, went on
said as Jannes and Jambres
withstood Moses (We talked about that.), how that these things would be in the last days.
Now, and the last quotation we had was that God made every seed after its kind;
that's His. See? Then when He made His Man in His image, was a seed of His Word. And when Jesus was
made flesh, He was the flesh of the Word
of God. And when we receive the Word of God, then we become God's Word in our flesh. See? The church should be in that condition.
2
Thessalonians 2:10 And
with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perish; because
they received not the love of the truth,
that they might be saved. 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. 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 of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Now. the Wuest
Translation says it this way, 2 THESSALONIANS 2: 10 -12 AMPLIFIED & WUEST And by unlimited seduction to evil and with all wicked deception geared to the
gullibility of those who are in the act of perishing, this gullibility being caused by the fact that they did not welcome and
accept the Truth but refused to love it that they might be saved. Therefore
God sends upon them a misleading
influence, a working of error and a strong delusion to make them believe
what is false.
First
seal the 63-0318 P:44 And
with all deceivableness of unrighteousness... (deceiving people by
unrighteousness)... 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.
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.
We also see Paul warn
us in 1 TIMOTHY
4: 1 – 2 NIV The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will fall
away, which means they will abandon the faith and follow
deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through
hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.
These
men are "Conscious but without a conscience". "Children of disobedience".
In JUDE 16 we
read, 10 But these speak evil of those things which they
know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they
corrupt themselves. The AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION words it this way. These men revile, scoff and sneer at anything they
do not happen to be acquainted with and do not understand ; I want
you to notice 2 things here: It says Things They are not acquainted with, therefore things they do not understand, so instead
of searching to find the Truth, they can only do what they are destined to do
and that is to mock it.
Brother Branham was said in paragraph 127-128 of
Christ revealed
in His own Word, All other words, I
don't care how well they're placed, how-, who they come from, what denomination
they come from, or how smart the man is, is to be absolutely ignored, anything contrary to the Word. If you
want to put that Scripture down, that's Galatians 1:8. See? Paul said, "Though we or a angel from heaven would preach any other thing
than this that you've already heard, let him be cursed." In other words, if an angel would come to you from
heaven, a bright shining angel, and would stand... Boy, that would be bait for
this day, wouldn't it? A bright shining angel come up there, and stand, and say
things was contrary to the Word, you'd say, "Satan, get away from me." That's right. If he's a
bishop, if he's a whatever he is, don't
you never believe him if he doesn't speak exactly with that Bible, word by word.
Watch him, he will carry you with the Bible now. He will carry you to a certain place and then hook it right there. When you see the Bible saying one thing and
he bypasses that, watch him right there. See, that's the way he done Eve.
He come right down and said everything just exactly. "Well, God said this.
That's right, Eve. Amen, we believe that together." "Well, God said
this." "Amen, we believe that together." "God said
this." "We believe that, sure." "Well, but God said we'll
die." "Well now, you know, He's a good God." He didn't say He
wouldn't you know. "But surely..." Oh, me. There he is. And if he was
deceitful like that, and the Bible said
in the last days he would deceive the elected if it was possible, where ought
we to be today, friends. Now, these little Sunday school lessons should be
carried pretty close, you know, to our hearts, to see... We ought to listen
real close and see how deceiving that thing is.
I see this on a daily basis almost. I get emails from
all over the world with brothers coming on at fist like they want to know, but
when you show them by the word, and you can give them hundreds of scripture to
prove the doctrine William Branham taught, and they don’t even see it, and then
they make statements like, well if you could show me just one Scripture and
here you gave them a whole boat load, and they just want to argue. Look, I
don’t have time to argue, so I am getting to the place like Paul said, give one
or two admonitions, and then just forget it. Let them alone, and they will
manifest themselves in their folly. Just let them alone, you can’t help those
kind of people.
Do what God said do, give them one or two
opportunities, and then when they refuse to listen, just forget them, and move
on with God. Now, that shouldn’t be too
hard since John said in 2 John 9 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of
Christ, hath not God. (That means to go beyond the limits and not
remain in the doctrine of Christ, so the doctrine of Christ has limits. And he
tells us what those limits are…) He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. (Now,
both is not one like your finger is one, and it is not three like the
Trinitarians believe, both means two. Not Two Gods, but One God who is the
father of our Lord Jesus Christ). That’s verse 3… Grace
be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from the Lord Jesus
Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.
That’s why William Branham told us the Oneness are
just as far out on a limb as the Trinitarians, because they believe that God
and Jesus are one like your finger is one, and he said they are not,. And They
believe that Jesus is His own father and brother Branham said how can Jesus be
his own Father.
And so we hear the Apostle john tell us in verse 10 If
there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your
house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that
biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.
From his sermon, Baptism
of the holy spirit 58-0928M P:83 Brother Branham said, And now, in Galatians 1:8 Paul said, "If a angel from heaven comes, a bright shining angel..." What's he
speaking of? A revelation.
Blessed be the Name of the Lord. It
don't matter how good your revelation is... You remember the first of our
service this morning, the Urim Thummim? If
something comes and reveals it perfectly, he's a liar; he's a false angel; and
a man who packs his message is a false prophet. you're living, but you're
dead." Father, Son, Holy Ghost is a dying name.
Christ Revealed Paragraph 93 Notice, we cannot; we must not, listen to
any other man's word. We don't care how smart, how educated. The Bible in
Proverbs says we must cast down
reasonings. See? Now, here in this second realm... First realm is your
senses of see, taste, feel, smell, and hear; that's in your outer body. On the
inner body, which is the spirit, is reasonings, and thought, and so forth. We must cast all that down. Can't
reason, say, "Now, wait, if God is a good God..." And we're told so
much today that He is. "If He is a good God, then if I be sincere, though
I can't see that in that Bible being right, though I be sincere, I'll be
saved." You'll be lost. "If I go to church and just do the things
that I believe it's right and try to hold up for what I think is right, well
I..." You're still lost. "There is a way that seemeth right unto a
man, but the end thereof is the ways of death. See? You won't be saved; you'll
be lost. See, see? It must be that inside control man.
Now, this morning I
would like to expound again on these two paragraphs and the thoughts that are
coming forth from Brother Branham. what I am hearing him say is that "one
Word off is death." And it really doesn't matter what your motive is. You
can be as sincere as is possible, and yet still be lost. Now, in order to get
the point across, he used two very good scriptures in doing so. Let's then
examine these two scriptures tonight in order to see the magnitude of what he
is trying to tell us.
Let's
first begin with Galatians 1:8 "Though we or a angel from heaven would preach any other thing
than this that you've already heard, let him be cursed." In other words, if
an angel would come to you from heaven, a bright shining angel, and would
stand... Boy, that would be bait for this day, wouldn't it? A bright shining
angel come up there, and stand, and say things was contrary to the Word, you'd
say, "Satan, get away from me."
Now, the key to this
scripture is one word off. Brother Branham goes on to say, "That's right. If
he's a bishop, if he's a whatever he is, don't you never believe him if he
doesn't speak exactly with that Bible, word by word. Watch him, he will carry
you with the Bible now. He will carry you to a certain place and then hook it
right there. When you see the Bible saying one thing and he bypasses that,
watch him right there."
In
other words, he is telling us that we have already been given the Word, and any
other word which would in any manner deviate from that word, you had better
watch it because it could be 99% right, but watch if it has a little hook at
the end and doesn't dovetail right with the scriptures. He said, I don't care what
office he holds, he could be a Bishop or what evermore, if he doesn't say it
the same way the scripture says it, then it's a wrong word, and it's a wrong
Gospel.
Notice that brother
Branham says, . He
will carry you to a certain place and then hook it right there. When you see
the Bible saying one thing and he bypasses that, watch him right there."
And this is the key when we look at the deception. Because, they will teach
most of the truth, but they will bypass certain things, or certain words that
are used that are key words in being definitive when speaking of the doctrine.
Now, in order for us to understand how critical this warning is, we can see
that any other word than that which God has spoken through Christ would not
reveal Him but would alter whatever
revelation we are receiving from Him
through His Word.
And the thing about this deception that we are being
warned of, is that it isn't so blatant that it stands out all alone like a sore
thumb, but that it is interwoven with the Truth in such a way as to pervert the
Truth and distort the understanding of it, thus giving us a distorted picture
of Christ.
Now, to better understand
how this takes place let's see what the scriptures tell us will take place and
how this weaving of Truth and error will occur. Let's begin by turning to 2 Peter 2: 1
and begin reading. "But as there were
false prophets among the people, even so shall there be false teachers among
you,"
Now,
here we find Peter warning us of false teachers who will come in and sit among
a certain group of people. And he tells us where these false teachers will come
into. Notice he says, "AMONG"
Who? And the answer is, Among you!
And who is this You that Peter is talking to? 2 Peter 1:1 says, "To them which have obtained like precious faith with us"
So we can see that these false teachers will be among those who have obtained
like precious faith with us, by the Right-wise-ness of Jesus Christ. In other
words, those who are under the correct teaching can be looking for these false
teachers to come in and sit amongst us. Notice also that they did not start out
with us, but they will come in and join together with us. This should also help
us to understand, and to know better and be on the look out for this to happen.
Not, that we should be suspicious of every knew minister or teacher who shall
come in among us, because this would be self defeating as far as spreading the
word goes. But there are other attributes that we must look at that will
describe these false teachers.
Now that we know that
we should be expecting these false teachers to come in right among those who
are professing a like precious faith, what will they do when they get here? The
Scriptures say, "who privily shall
bring in damnable heresies," Now, this word privily is translated from two Greek words,
which mean "to bring in alongside of"
and "to lead". In other words, they will become leaders among the
rightly wise, and they will use their leadership to bring in among us, heresies which will be of such a nature that they
will undermine the Truth and weaken it. They will do so in a manner which
is craftily or cunningly performed. Therefore, these men will not be ordinary
men, but men who will have a great ability to lead, and to persuade others to follow their manner of thinking or their
approach to the truth. After all the word heresies that is used here, according
to VINES is "a choosing or a choice, and hence an opinion, especially a self-willed
opinion, which is substituted for submission to the power of Truth, and leads to
division and formation of sects; such erroneous opinions are frequently the
outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage."
Now, we also know that
these teachings will be alluring to those who are lost because they will have
an appeal which will actually draw them away from the Truth.
II
Thessalonians 2:3 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; And of course we must ask ourselves the
question, "a falling away from where?" and we get our answer in I Timothy 4:1-2
Now the Spirit
speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from THE Faith,
So we see the falling away will come from THE FAITH
and we know according to Ephesians 4 that there is
only ONE LORD and ONE FAITH, and of course that ONE
FAITH is THE REVELATION of that ONE LORD. And if any other revelation
is brought forth, it would by virtue of it's differing character, be another
Gospel, and would bring forth another Jesus and another Spirit as we see in 2 Corinthians 11:
1-4. 1 Would to God ye could bear with me a little in
my folly: and indeed bear with me. 2 For I am
jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband,
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.3 But
I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so
your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.4 For
if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye
receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye
have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.
And of course those that are lost are
those who are also blind to the Word as we see in 2 Corinthians 4:1-4 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, as
we have received mercy, we faint not;2 But have
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor
handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth
commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
3 But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the
minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Now, in 2 Corinthians 11 Paul is speaking of the people
listening to a Gospel of a different nature and opening themselves up to a
totally different Jesus than the one he preached. Now, Paul went on to tell
Timothy, that this falling away from THE FAITH would come about
because those who fall away would be, "giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils;"
And so we see the
very nature of these destructive heresies, which are undermining opinions,
would be of such a nature as we earlier said, that they would be alluring to
some, and of which Paul calls them seductive in their nature. Again we also see
that these people give HEED to
these seductive spirits and doctrines of devils.
Now this word HEED was translated from the
Greek word, PROSECHO and it is actually two
words PROS: meaning to attach oneself to, or to hold in regard the
and ECHO which is the reflection or giving back of
what is heard. Therefore because these people will hold onto a wrong echo of the Word, that wrong echo will take
over and as we taught on the garden of your mind, "You
don't always get what you pray for, but you will always get what you sow for."
And "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he."
So, if you are thinking the wrong things, if you are thinking the wrong
teaching, or doctrine, you will receive the fruit of those wrong things,
teaching, or doctrine.
Let’s turn to Matthew 13: 10-17 to see what I mean. 10 And the disciples
came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you
to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he
shall have more abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away
even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in
parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do
they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the
prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not
understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive: 15 For
this people's heart is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and
their eyes they have closed; lest at any time they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be
converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed
are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For
verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men have desired to see
those things which ye see, and have not seen them; and to hear those things
which ye hear, and have not heard them.
Therefore, we are
warned that these men know better but they will teach their own opinions regardless.
Because in I
Timothy 4:2 we read, Speaking lies (which
is teaching falsely) in hypocrisy; they
will have their conscience seared like with a hot iron; And so
the lies, or false things they teach, they will do knowing that they are being
hypocritical in nature. And the word hypocrisy means : pretending
to be what one is not, And this is exactly the nature we see
these pretenders do, and they know better, but they are deceiving and being
deceived, because when they teach their lies, and the gullible receive their
lies, it reinforces them that they must be right. And the people love to have it so.
Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, and the
priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what
will ye do in the end thereof?
Now,
the next question we should ask is this, "What kind of distortions will
they preach, and try to mix with the Truth? We shall find our answer
again as we continue to read from 2 Peter 2. "even
denying the Lord that bought them", ... Now, what does it
mean to deny the Lord that bought them. This word deny is the Greek word, Arneomai
and it means to disregard or refuse. So we see that their own opinions means
more to them than the opinions of the Lord. And by doing this they will surely
"bring upon
themselves swift destruction.”
Now the fact that these
men are leaders is made relevant in 2 Peter 2:2 where we read, "And many shall follow their pernicious ways;
There will be a large following of these men and those who follow, will do so
as complying to or yielding to their undermining opinions. And this is what
will cause the way of Truth to be blasphemed. Because men will look upon the
gathering of the Rightly wise, but right in their midst will be men who will
preach things that are true and false mingled together and by reason of the
false being brought to the forefront by these leaders, it will stain the Truth
along with it. That is why we read in 2 Peter 2:2, "by reason
of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of."
Now,
as we said before VINE’s explains the meaning of the damnable heresies as
"such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal
preference or the prospect of advantage." And as we continue in 2 Peter 2:3
we read, "And through covetousness shall they with
feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time
lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not. So we see
here that their motive is covetousness. They are not content with what they
have, but they strive for more, and like those Pharisees that Jesus rebuked
when He said, in Matthew 23
Matthew
23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and
Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and
when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves. And so we see the
motive is Money and popularity instead of the saving of souls.
Now, from verse 2 Peter 2:4-9
we see that the same thing took place in the days of
Here
we find three attributes, as listed: 1)
Presumptuous
which means these men are daring, they take too much for granted and therefore
show overconfidence, arrogance, and thus become too bold and forward. That's
why they will speak against God's anointed and think nothing of it. That's why
they think they have a right to do things that God's Prophet even kept himself
from doing. And The Scripture also tells us they are Self-willed,
in contrast to Doing the Will of God as we saw
in the pattern that Christ Jesus the Son of God left for us, and in which we
saw William Branham conform to that pattern as well. Even Jesus Himself refused
to have His own will over the will of His Father. Luke 22: 42 we read, 41 And he was withdrawn
from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down, and prayed, 42 Saying,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will,
but thine, be done.
And again in John 5:19 19 Then answered Jesus
and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of
himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth,
these also doeth the Son likewise.
John 5: 30 30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I
hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but
the will of the Father which hath sent me. And look, Jesus didn’t even like to talk about
Himself. He came to declare the father that abode in Him. In the next verse he
says, 31 If
I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. 32 There is another that beareth witness of me;
and I know that the witness which He
witnesseth of me is true. Now, he is a personal pronoun, so this
other one is a person, which is not himself because he said it is that of
another. 33 Ye sent unto John, and he bare witness unto
the truth. 34 But I receive not testimony from man:
but these things I say, that ye might be saved. 35 He
was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice
in his light. 36 But I have greater witness than that
of John: for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works
that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent me. Now, works are not a personal pronoun, but if we read
on he tells us who that other that he describes as the pronoun “HE” is. 37 And the
Father himself, which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have
neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. 38 And
ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.
Again we see in John 7:16-18 That Jesus didn’t even have his own
doctrine. 16 Jesus answered them,
and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. 17 If
any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God,
or whether I speak of myself. 18 He that speaketh
of himself seeketh his own glory: but he that seeketh his glory that sent him,
the same is true, and no unrighteousness is in him.
2 Peter 2:11 Whereas
angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation
against them before the Lord. 2:12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to
be taken and destroyed, speak evil ( Blaspheme) of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly
perish in their own corruption;( in their own misery and moral
decay). 2:13 And shall receive the reward of
unrighteousness, [as] they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time.
Spots [they are] and blemishes, sporting themselves ( living luxuriously) with
their own deceivings (deceptions) while
they feast with you; 2:14 Having eyes( their mind) full of adultery, And don’t forget, idolatry
and adultery are the same spirit, and that cannot
cease from sin (disbelieving) ;
beguiling ( or baiting, and alluring) unstable
souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices (
desires to have even more); cursed children
(or children of the curse they are): 2:15 Which have
forsaken the right way( they have ceased to care for the right
way) , and are gone astray (began to wander), following the way of Balaam [the son] of Bosor, who loved
the wages of unrighteousness; 2:16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb
ass speaking with man's voice forbad the madness of the prophet. 2:17 These are
wells without water (No water, no Word…), clouds
that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for
ever. And Jude tells us they are clouds without water, that
means clouds without any rain. Now Paul said we have many clouds of witnesses,
so these are witnesses without rain, and God told us in Deuteronomy 32:1 My Doctrine shall fall like the rain. So these are
witnesses without The Doctrine of Christ
which is God’s Doctrine. 2:18 For when they speak great swelling [words] of vanity,
they allure through the lusts of the flesh, [through much] wantonness, those
that were clean escaped from them who live in error. 2:19 While they promise
them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man
is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage. 2:20 For if after they have
escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Lord and
Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the
latter end is worse with them than the beginning. 2:21 For it had been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have
known [it], to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them. 2:22 But it
is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog [is] turned to his
own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
There are many more
scriptures that warn us of these infiltrators in the End-Time Message as well. II Timothy 4:3-5 For the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine, (This means they will no longer put up with
correct teaching); but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves
teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away [their] ears from the
truth, and shall be turned unto fables. Now, it is really strange how people could
actually be so stupid that they would rather listen to fables and stories than
to hear the Truth, but just look at Roman Catholicism, it's full of fables.
And yet their are over 800 million people who believe
it. So we are commanded to: " But watch thou in all things ( and this is
essential, to watch means to keep an eye on what is happening, to be
observant), and that is the key as we see in the book of Jude 3 Beloved,
when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. 4 For
there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to
this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into
lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
5 I will therefore put you in
remembrance, though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the
people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. 6 And
the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he
hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the
great day. 7 Even as Sodom
and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over
to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
8 Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh,
despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. 9 Yet Michael the
archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses,
durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
10 But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but
what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.
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. 12 These are spots in your feasts of
charity, when they feast with you, feeding themselves without fear: clouds they
are without water, carried about of winds; trees whose fruit withereth, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots; 13 Raging
waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is
reserved the blackness of darkness for ever. 14 And
Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 To
execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their
hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. 16 These
are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth
speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage. 17 But, beloved, remember ye the words
which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ;18 How
that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk
after their own ungodly lusts. 19 These be they who
separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. 20 But
ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost, 21 Keep yourselves in the love of God,
looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. 22 And
of some have compassion, making a difference:23 And
others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment
spotted by the flesh. 24 Now unto him that is able
to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of
his glory with exceeding joy, 25 To the only wise
God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Amen.
Acts 20:28-31 Take heed therefore ( be careful and
pay close attention ) unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the
Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath
purchased with his own blood. For I know this, that after my departing shall
grievous wolves ( violent, cruel, and unsparing ones) will enter in among
you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking
perverse things (things that are twisted and made different from
what they were meant to be), to draw away disciples after them. Therefore watch (
pay close attention to), and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not
to warn every one night and day with tears.
Matthew 7:15-19 Beware of false prophets, which come to you
in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves ( In other words,
what they are and what they appear to be are two different things). Ye shall
know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. Even so every good tree bringeth
forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree
cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither [can] a corrupt tree bring forth good
fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast
into the fire.
And we know that the fruit is the teaching of the
season. Therefore, what you see happening in their lives is an indication of
what they are teaching. Because the Mind is a garden of thoughts and as a man
thinks in his understanding, so is he. Therefore, whatsoever you sow, you shall
also reap. And righteous thoughts will produce righteousness. Unrighteous
thoughts will produce unrighteousness.