Spoken Word no. 175
Willfully Ignorant
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
July 4th, 2010
2 Peter 3:1 This second epistle, beloved, I now
write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That ye may be mindful of the words which were spoken before
by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and
Saviour: 3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers,
(empaiktes a derider, by implication
a false teacher:- mocker,
scoffer to treat with derision) walking after their
own lusts, 4 And saying, Where is the promise of his Parousia?
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the
beginning of the creation. 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, …
Let us pray… Dear
father, we have read in Thy Word that at the end time men would be scoffers,
False teachers, men who would mock the truth, men who would treat Thy Truth
with words of derision, and this Lord, shows that they just have not a clue to what Truth is, they are ignorant of
Thy Truth, and not only ignorant, but they are willfully ignorant, because they
just don’t want to know. And when we approach them with Thy Truth, they sneer
at it, and call us names, and make fun of Thy Truth, Lord. And we see in the apostle
Peter warning us that these false teachers would be this way, so when they are
as youu said they would be, we are thankful for the warning, because it helps
us to know, you foreknew these things, and have prepared us to deal with them. And
Your Only begotten Son told us also that the world would hate us because it
first hated him, so we are in good company Lord, and we thank you for caring
for us so much that you would forewarn us of these things long before they ever
took place, so that when they did take place we could be aware of them, and
rightfully place them in Thy Word.
We know also that these
mockers of thy truth walk according to their own lusts, their own desires, and
do not care what Your Word says because they have their own word which means
more to them than your Word Father.
Be with us today, Dear
Father, and as David said, try our hearts, to see whether there be any
wickedness in us, and purge us O Lord, by the washing of water by Thy Word, for
we have a need that after we have patiently waited for Thy Promise of this
Hour, that we might with Patience receive the Promise, for we ask it in Jesus
Christ’s name, Amen.
Now, from The Spoken Word is the Original Seed, paragraph 33 the
afternoon service, brother Branham said, Now, she mingled her
seed illegally, illegal to the Word. What was she trying to find? (Now, listen
close.) What was she after? Wisdom, wisdom. And that's what she's done today.
She's sent her preachers away to schools, incubatored them out on a machine,
psychology, all kinds of stuff that should not even in the Bible. And she's
incubatored her eggs. And when she's
done, she's brought out a product of a bunch of people that will compromise
anything and refuse the very message of God, not knowing what she's doing.
She's ignorant of it. She
don't believe, she don't think she's
wrong. Neither did Eve think she was wrong. Eve thought she was right.
And if that was a type, and this is the antetype, it'll have to work the same
way the type did. Now, that's just... To me that's just two times two equal
four.
And I hope you can see brother Branham is telling us just as eve was
ignorant of what she did, so too the church today is ignorant that they have
already conceived another seed and not the seed of God by his Word. They
believe they have the truth, but the very fact that they are arrogant shows
that they have a wrong spirit, and that arrogance, that mocking spirit places
them in this scripture as those mockers walking after their own lusts.
Notice that she mingled her seed like Eve did with something other than
the word, and as a result it has produced a bunch of people that will compromise anything and refuse the very
message of God, not knowing what she's doing. She's ignorant of it. She don't
believe, she don't think she's wrong
as brother Branham warned us.
Now, remember, Eve was not raped. She entered into that union willingly,
and yet she was ignorant of what she was doing, so she wasn’t innocent, and she
may have been ignorant of what she was doing, but she was willingly a
participant in what she did, so that makes her willfully ignorant. If you are
willing to turn down the truth because of your own ignorance, that makes you
willfully ignorant.
Now, listen, I have had to deal with a whole lot of ministers in and out
of this Message who close their eyes and shut their ears so they won’t see or
hear what we try to tell them concerning the doctrine of Christ. And why do
they do it? Because it interferes with what they think they already know and
are comfortable with. And how many people are going to spend an eternity in
hell where it will not be comfortable, just so they can be comfortable now in
their own imaginations or among their own little groups of likeminded people.
What a shame to turn down truth for popularity or money. What a shame to spend
an eternity in hell for comfort today.
And that is what Peter told us in 2 Peter 3: 5
For this they willingly are
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were
of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water: 8 But,
beloved, be not ignorant of this one
thing, …
And so we see constantly throughout the Scriptures both Paul and Peter
warn us not to be ignorant.
In 1 Thessalonians 4: 13 Paul
admonish the Thessalonians, But
I would not have you to be ignorant,
brethren,…
And in 2 Corinthians 1: 8 Paul
speaking to the Corinthians said, For
we would not brethren, have you ignorant…
And in 1 Corinthians 10: 1 Moreover,
brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, … and in 1 Corinthians 12: 1
Paul says, I would not have you ignorant. And again in 1 Corinthians
14: 38 Paul concludes, But if any man be
ignorant, let him be ignorant.
And then to the Romans Paul said in Romans 1:
13 Now I would not have you ignorant, brethren,
…and again in Romans 11: 25 For I would not,
brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery…
And in Romans 10: 3 Paul tells us
why they are ignorant of God’s Truth…For they
being ignorant of God's righteousness, (right-wise-ness) and going about to establish their own righteousness, (right-wise-ness)
have not
submitted themselves unto the righteousness (right-wise-ness) of God.
Brother Branham taught
us that "Christ is Revealed in HIS Own
Word." And to be frank,
the Scriptures teach us that all men are revealed by their own words, as
Jesus said Himself, “for as a man
thinketh in his heart so is he, and out o the abundance of the heart the mouth
speaketh.”
In Deuteronomy 6: 4-9 KJV we read, 4 Hear, O
Now,
the NIV for verse 7 reads this way…
Impress them on your children. Talk of them when you
sit in your home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when
you get up. 7 Amplified And
these words which I am commanding you this day shall be first in your mind
heart; then you shall whet and sharpen them, so to make them penetrate, and
teach and impress them diligently upon the minds and hearts of your children,
and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the
way, and when you lie down and when you rise up." And so we see that
to do so they were to place pictures and Scriptures and all sorts of things
that the children will actually see with their eyes and when they see with
their eyes it will have an influence in their minds and in their hearts.
Malachi
3: 6 "For I am the Lord and I change not" Also we
read from
Hebrews
13:8 "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today,
and forever."
Now let me first
explain what this means that God is the Word. In Proverbs
23:7 we are told, "as a man thinketh in His Heart, so is he." Now, this body is not you nor any part of it.
Brother Branham said it is like an old coat that we wear. Well, my coat is not
me. So what you are is what your thoughts are.
In Matthew 12:34 & Luke 6:25 Jesus tells
us, "For
out of the abundance, or overflow of the heart, the mouth will speak."
So then there is no getting away from the fact that you are not only what you
think, but what you are will be expressed through your lips in the form of
words. You will speak what you are.
John 1:
1 that tells us "In the
beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God."
To get to know God, it must come through His Word, and since He can not
change, then we can establish the point and that Christ is Revealed in His Own Word, because after all, Christ and the Word is the same.
Now if you are revealed by your own words, then Christ is Revealed in the same
manner. Therefore, to get to know Christ we must get to know His Word. And that
is why God has given us His Word. Could you imagine God wanting for us to know
Him and not telling us anything about Himself? Then our knowledge of Him would
be left up to our own imagination.
Let me put it to you
this way. When a young man sees a young girl and he likes what he sees, what
doe he do? He tries to get to know her. But what if he never talks to her? Can
he get to know her? Not really. He may say that he has fallen in love with her
without ever talking to her, but how does he know that it is her that he is in
love with? It might just be his own imagination that he is in love with. He
imagines what she is like and so he thinks on these thoughts and then he falls
in love with his ideals of what she should be like. But what happens if he
dates her and they never talk? He will go on thinking she is what his mind
imagines her to be. And what if they get married and they have never really
talked and communicated to each other. Then he will be in for the shock of his
life when he marries her and then finds out later that she is not what he
thought she was.
So you see, we
express ourselves by what we say and what we do. That is the real person in us doing those things and
saying those things. This shell of a body is only a housing in which the real
person in us lives. You do not no me by what I look like but by what I say and
do. My expression reveals to you the real me. How often people marry thinking they
will be able to change the one they marry. But it doesn’t work that way.
And so we see that not only is God revealed in His own Word, but we
are also revealed by our own words. But
what if those words are not true? Or what if we were told words that were not
true? Or what if we only hear what we want to hear? Then the description of the
One being revealed will be wrong. Then that one will not be truly revealed will
he?
What if you are a man
looking for a wife and are given a wrong picture and a wrong description of
that woman. What if you fall for a girl that you believe is virtuous because
she told you she is, and yet in reality she is a little prostitute? That would
be deception by testimony or deception by words. And how was Eve seduced.? By
what? By a lie! And the early church left the One who bought them for another
one. How? By deception.
The apostle Paul warned us in Galatians 1:
6-9 ¶ I
marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel: 7 Which is not another; but there
be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (now let me read it again with the Greek word
inserted and it’s definitions)…
I marvel that ye
are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto
another gospel: (That word another was translated from the Greek word heteros which
means of another nature. The Paul says,) 7 Which is not another;(now this word another was
translated from the Greek word allos which does not mean of another nature as
heteros does, but this means an altogether different Gospel. So Notice that
Paul is saying it is not an altogether different Gospel you are hearing but one
which is the same but it has a different nature to it. So it’s not the same,
but it’s been perverted. And that is what he says next…) but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert
the gospel of Christ. (Now,
this word pervert was translated from the Greek word transmutate, so they were
hearing a mutated Gospel.) 8 But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other
gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
9 As we said
before, so say I now again, If any [man] preach any other gospel unto you than
that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Again we see in 2 Corinthians 11:
1-4, Paul’s warning to the early church. ¶ 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]. (you put
up with it so easily). 5 ¶ For I
suppose I was not a whit behind the very chiefest apostles. And now, let’s read 13-15 For such are false
apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of
Christ. 14 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of
light. 15 Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed
as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
The great falling
away happens because of the gullibility of those people who are perishing.
2Thessslonians
2: 5-12 KJV 5 Remember ye not,
that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? 6 And
now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. 7 For the mystery of iniquity
doth already work: only he who now letteth 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 coming: 9 Even him, whose coming
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. 11 And for this cause God shall send them
strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That
they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in
unrighteousness.
Now, the Wuest translation says, "whose coming and presence is
in the sphere of every kind of wicked deception that is geared to the
gullibility of those who are perishing, this gullibility being caused by the
fact that they did not accept the love for the truth tot he end that they might
be saved. And because of this God sends them a deluding influence resulting in
their believing THE lie, in order that they all might be judged who did not
believe the truth but took delight in wickedness." So you see, God knows who already believes and who
does not. And so the purpose of the wrong influence is to give those who do not
believe an opportunity to expose their unbelief.
John 3:
17-21 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the
world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on
him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because
he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19 And this
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness
rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20 For every one that doeth
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be
reproved. 21 But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought
in God.
Did you notice, it
says They are already condemned. But notice those who have their source in God,
they can not help but to come to the Truth.
Most people haven’t a clue as to who or what God is? What they have is
based solely upon their own imagination, or the imagination of another whether
it be a churches position, or the opinion of a priest, rabbi or some minister.
The Messenger
Irenaeus said in his letters 1. Such,
then, is their system, which neither the prophets announced, nor the Lord
taught, nor the apostles delivered, but of which they boast that beyond all
others they have a perfect knowledge. They
gather their views from other sources than the Scriptures;(4) and, to use a
common proverb, they strive to weave ropes of
sand, while they endeavor to adapt with
an air of probability to their own peculiar assertions the parables of the
Lord, the sayings of the prophets, and the words of the apostles, in order that their scheme may not seem
altogether without support. In doing so, however, they disregard the order and the connection of the Scriptures, and
so far as in them lies, dismember and destroy the truth. By transferring passages, and dressing them up anew, and making one
thing out of another, they succeed in deluding many through their wicked art in
adapting the oracles of the Lord to their opinions. Their manner of acting
is just as if one, when a beautiful image of a king has been constructed by
some skilful artist out of precious jewels, should then take this likeness of
the man all to pieces, should rearrange the gems, and so fit them together as
to make them into the form of a dog or of a fox, and even that but poorly
executed; and should then maintain and declare that this was the beautiful
image of the king which the skilful artist constructed, pointing to the jewels
which had been admirably fitted together by the first artist to form the image
of the king, but have been with bad effect transferred by the latter one to the
shape of a dog, and by thus exhibiting the jewels, should deceive the ignorant
who had no conception what a king's form was like, and persuade them that that
miserable likeness of the fox was, in fact, the beautiful image of the king.
In like
manner do these persons patch together old wives' fables, and then endeavor, by
violently drawing away from their proper connection, words, expressions, and
parables whenever found, to adapt the oracles of God to their baseless
fictions.
So we hear Jesus warn
us in Mark 4:
24 And he said unto them, Take heed what ye hear: with
what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you: and unto you that hear shall
more be given. Notice he said, take heed, in other words, be
careful how you hear. How you hear? Don’t we hear with our ears? I’d
like to ask this question myself. How do you hear? with your ears? He said, Take
Heed: Blepo= Beware of, be careful, to discern, to
observe and contemplate, to weigh carefully, examine. What you hear,
the word is Tis :What, who, whom, why, that which Hear from Akou:
To
understand, comprehend or perceive, to sense what was being said, to give an
ear to a teaching or teacher with a view toward understanding.
We also see in Matthew 13: 10 – 17 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].
Notice he said we do
not hear with our ears nor do we see with our eyes. These are only outer senses
that send stimulus to our mind. But what we hear with and what we see only
brings a stimulus that enter into our mind or spirit where we have five other senses.
1 Corinthians
2: 11a For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of
man which is in him? We have Spiritual Sight which is Revelatory and
is possessed only within the soul of the Believer who alone has this Spiritual
sight which is also called Faith. This Comes only from God .
Now what I am trying
to say here is that you see and hear with your mind, and we read in Mark 4: 24 that we must be
careful, we must take heed how we
hear because the measure we use to hear is the only thing we will
hear. As a tree leaneth so shall it fall.
If our minds are already made up then what we hear will be filtered by what we
want to hear. If our minds are not open then we will never come to the
knowledge of the truth. ( ex: young man leaning, try to stand up, can’t
do it!)
Mark 4:24 For with what measure you use to
measure out, that is all you will receive back.
Luke 8:18
Take heed therefore how ye hear: How
: Pos : By what means, after what manner, in what way for whosoever hath, Hath : echo : The word
speaks of possession, but we also understand the word echo means repetition
through reflection. to him shall be given; and whosoever hath not, from him shall
be taken even that which he seemeth to have..
1
Timothy 4:15-16 Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to
them; that thy profiting may appear to all. 16Take heed unto thyself, and unto
the doctrine; Doctrine : Didoskalia : Doctrine, teaching, instruction...continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and
them that hear thee. Notice that we are told that it will save both
you and those who will hear you.
Proverbs
22:6 ¶ Train up a child in the way he should go: and
when he is old, he will not depart from it. And so a child will
always revert back to the way he or she was trained. The filter we have, the
measuring stick we have is based upon what information we filter it through.
And so we see that every thing we know we were taught by someone. Every fact we
use to make our decisions with is based upon what we were told. And the world
is under such delusions today that people take what is only theory and believe
it for Gospel. Ex:
I used this
illustration in a church who had sat under false teaching for so many years
that the people did not know what truth was. I hid a Lamb under a blanket and
told them that The Gentiles worship what they know not, as Jesus has said. I
told them to guess what was under the blanket because that is what most people
do concerning faith. It is only a guess to them. I then read to them 7
attributes which described what I had hid under the blanket. Before I did,
though, I told one group that what was under the blanket was a Bunny Rabbit.
Another Group I told it was a Collie dog. Both Groups then thinking they knew
what I had under the blanket, were actually blinding themselves to the
attributes which were expressed because they read into them what they wanted to
hear. That attributes were: 1) Four legs 2) beautiful outer coat 3)
Gentle nature 4) it’s nature is to follow 5) It can jump small fences 6)
it is sacrificial in it’s nature 7) A Shepherd
boys best friend . When each attribute was read each group reinforced their
error with the hearing of the attribute. Finally a group that I had told to be
completely open until they heard all the attributes, said it was a Lamb and
they alone were right. You should have seen the faces of those others. They
were mad when they found out they had been duped. But I told them I purposely
duped them in this illustration that they may never be duped again.
John 8:
37 – 47 I know that ye are Abraham's seed; but ye seek
to kill me, because my word hath no place in you. 38 ¶ I speak that which I have seen with my
Father: and ye do that which ye have seen with your father. 39 They answered
and said unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus saith unto them, If ye were
Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. 40 But now ye seek to
kill me, a man that hath told you the truth, which I have heard of God: this
did not Abraham. 41 Ye do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We
be not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God. 42 Jesus said unto
them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came
from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. 43 Why do ye not understand
my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. 44 Ye are of your father the
devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the
beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When
he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of
it. 45 And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. 46 ¶
Which of you convinceth me of sin? And if I say the truth, why do ye not
believe me? 47 He that is of God heareth God's words: ye therefore hear them
not, because ye are not of God.
Matt
23:32 Fill ye
up the measure of your fathers. Jesus told them to fill up the
measure of their fathers. In other words, every seed will bring forth after
their own kind, or their own nature. Then can you expect them to believe? There
is no way they can believe. They are ordained not to believe. That reminds me
of a man who was mental and thought he was dead. So the doctor trying to help
him, asked him if dead men can bleed, and the man answered, of course not, dead
men don’t bleed because they have no blood. So the doctor trying to shock the
man into his senses poked him with a needle and immediately the man began to
bleed. Upon seeing the blood come he shouted, I was wrong, dead men do bleed!
Now, if God were to
come in this day and walk down the street, there is no way that you would know
it was Him unless he began to open his mouth and talk to you and by words He
would declare Himself to you. Because, you can only know someone by their mind
- what they think and what they say. Even the things they do are a
manifestation of what they are thinking. Brother Branham said, Eve had to first
think adultery before she could perform it. You must first think of lying
before you do it.
If you hear a false
description you will be looking for a false person. That is why Paul told us in
2 Corinthian 11:1-4 that the people had
become seduced to believe another Jesus, because they received so openly
another Gospel.
Therefore how do we
know what is the Correct Word of God? VINDICATION
is the only way. And how does God VINDICATE His Word? God
interprets His Own Word by bringing it to pass. Brother Branham
spoke of vindication well over 2,270
times and the word comes from a Latin word vindicatius. This word comes from
two Latin words, vim or vin which means to use force and the word
discrere’ which comes from the root word diction which means to
express by words. The words together form the word as we know it
vindicate which means to clear from criticism or suspicion,
in other words, to prove and back up. Therefore we see that the very presence
of God on the seen is to back up the message that He gave His Prophet. Let’s pray….