Spoken Word #18
“No
Matter what they do”
Brian Kocourek
April 26th, 2008
1 John 4:15 Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the
Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. 16 And
we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he
that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. 17 Herein
is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:
because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love;
but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth
is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him,
because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love
God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother
whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And
this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother
also.
This
evening we will take our study from paragraph 14 of Brother Branham’s sermon,
The Spoken Word is the original Seed.
14 And
I have never,… there's been many times that I have scolded churches,
denominations, the dressing of women, the acting of men. I think I have
thoroughly supported that by Scripture. And never one time, God knowing my
heart, have I ever had a bad feeling towards anyone. No matter if they
disagreed with me as far as the east from the west, I still loved them. And as long as I have the Spirit of God in me I'll always love His church, His people.
No matter what they do, or how they treat me, that won't have
anything to do with it. I still love them.
Now, we could easily pass by these words and think very little of them
but that would not be consistent with our efforts to take every thought that
Br. Branham presents to us back to the Scriptures.
Notice here he said, No
matter if they disagreed with me as far as the east from the
west, (now, that would be no small
disagreement. How far is the west from the east? It’s a lot further than you
can see isn’t it. And he said though our disagreements be as far as you could
even imagine) I’d still love them. And as long as I have the Spirit of God in me I'll always
love His church, His people. No
matter what they do, or how they
treat me, that won't have anything
to do with it. I still love them.
Now, can you say amen
to that? Can you in your heart say that is where you are at with your
relationships with the people of God? Because if you can’t I think we know
where we need to work on. And to be honest with you, I don’t see this in
practice among the ministers or laity in this Message. I wish I did, but I
don’t and I have traveled far and wide around the world many times and I’ve sat
down with all races of people throughout all the world and it seems to me that
the main attitude is, “If they are not for us they must
be against us”. And they
think they are quoting scripture when they say that.
But that is not what
Jesus said at all. He said in Luke 9: 50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid him not: for “he
that is not against us is for us”.
And again in Mark 9: 40Jesus said, “For he that is not against us
is on our part”.
Now, why is it that men seem to misconstrue what Jesus said to mean, “If they are not for us they must be against
us”, because clearly he never
said that.
Now, let’s look at the two statements for a minute to see how different
they really are. First let’s take what Jesus said, “For he that is not against us
is on our part”. Now, the Wuest
Translation translates this word part as on our behalf. So if some one is on
your behalf, they are for you. It is just that simple. Now, you can not use the
“associate property of addition” with the Scriptures, because it just doesn’t
work. “if A = B and B = C, then A = C ”. It just doesn’t work.
Let’s say A = God, and
B = Love, so forth. for God is Love. Then what if we introduce another factor.
Love covers a multitude of sin, there fore Love is blind. So C = Blind.
And if we say B which
is Love = C which is blind, therefore love is blind. And we can say, ok, so far
so Good. But now, wait, If ‘A’ which is God = ‘B’ which is love, and if ‘B’
love = ‘C’ which is blind, those statements may be true, but just because A = B
and B = C it does not mean that A = C.
Now, that is taking a
mathematical property into Scripture and it won’t work. Then you would have God
who is the all seeing one, not able to see.
Well, that is where
men get themselves into trouble with Scripture. And that is where many have
fallen short and come into error even in this message. They say, brother
Branham said you have two natures. Tat is true.
Communion
65-1212 P:16 Like in the book here, and the spot there
we was talking about the--the two Books being one, the Book of Life. The first
Book of life coming up, was when you were born, that was your natural birth.
See? But then one time, way back down in there, there was a little grain of
Life as I've explained to some of the young sisters at the house this
afternoon. See, there's a little grain of Life laying there which you'd wonder,
"Where did It come from? What these strange things?" I was saying
this, taking for myself, like you was going to say, "William Branham,
well, forty years ago, the William Branham, this and the same one
tonight." And somebody back there would say, "We're, very... He was a
rank rascal." See? Because I was born of Charles and Ella Branham. In
their nature I was a sinner; I came to the world, a liar, and all the habits of
the world laid right in me. But down in
there too, was another nature present (See?), predestinated, was in there by
God. In this same body (See?) two natures in there. Well, I only
catered to one. As it growed, I gooed as a baby, "Da-da." First thing
you know, I become a liar, become everything else that's a sinner, because I
raised up that way. But down in there was a little speck of Life all the time.
Questions
and answers COD 64-0830E P:35 This is a dying spirit in a dying body; but
now, you can't be in two bodies at one time, but there can be two natures in you at one time. So we see that brother Branham definitely speaks of
having two natures in you at the same time. But then he defines the one as your
own nature by birth and the other as the nature of the Spirit of the Lord.
When you're born again, you're not born of
physical, like the baby was; but what's happened, the spiritual birth has come
to you. And while this spiritual birth is growing into your heart, of God,
there is a physical or a celestial body growing to receive that spirit. And
when the life leaves this body, it goes to that body. Just as when the body is
presented to the earth, the spirit comes in, and when the spirit goes out of
the body, there is a body waiting. "For we know that after this earthly
tabernacle be dissolved, we have one already waiting." See? That's it, the
spiritual body of the people.
So we can easily see
that William Branham is telling us we have two natures by two sets of parents.
One by our natural parents and the other by our Father God, because the
Scripture tells us that every seed must come forth according to it’s kind or
nature.
Well, then where does
the Two Souls doctrine come from? These
men who teach it take yet other quotes where brother Branham says, you have two
natures, and the soul is the nature of the spirit, and then they make their
conclusion and say, “if you have two
natures you have two souls”, and that is heresy.
Token
the 64-0308 P:15 Now, the animal life could not come back in
the human, because they wouldn't match; the
animal life has no soul in it. The
human life has a soul. The animal doesn't know he's naked. He doesn't know
right from wrong. He has a spirit, but
not a soul. Now remember, now the
soul is the nature of the spirit, of course.
Now, you have to be
careful here or you will have brother Branham saying two things very contrary
to each other. He said the animal has a spirit, and if it has a spirit it must
have a nature. For every seed must come forth after the nature of the seed
giver.
So animals do have
natures. On the wings of a dove 65-1128E P:16 brother Branham said, How beautiful it's typed here as Jesus being
the Lamb, and God being the Dove. And the dove would not have settled on a wolf; his nature's not right. It couldn't
have settled on a dog; his nature's not
right. It had to be on a lamb; the
two natures had to be the same. And that's the way we have to be; our natures has to change from the roaring
sinner to the meekness of a lamb. And did you notice the Dove led the Lamb?
And notice, the Lamb forfeit everything He had to the Dove. And look where the
Dove led Him: to crucifixion for the sins of us all. Now, the Dove, if God
wanted to represent His Son, He was represented by the most cleanest and
meekest animal on the earth, a earthbound creature; but when God represented
Himself in the heavens, was by the meekest and most cleanest bird there is in
the heavens: a dove.
So animals do have a
spirit, and they do have a nature, but animals do not have a soul. So you can
not say that every nature is a soul, and that is where the 2 souls people make
their mistake.
Token
the 63-0901M P:40 Now, there's a life, a blood, a life, and a
soul in the life. The soul is the nature
of the life.
Now, we see here that the soul is the nature of the Life, but not be
careful here to not lump everything together and make all natures souls,
because we have already established that animals have natures but no soul.
Voice of
the sign 64-0313 P:55 The Bible said there's one faith, one Lord,
one baptism. And that baptism is spiritual baptism, the body being washed. It's
just only an illustration to give a sign that something inside has happened.
But it's that soul that's got to be
baptized with the Holy Ghost. That's the eternal, coming into that human nature and changing it around, to make it a
believer...
And in the Scripture it tells us, Ezekiel
18: 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. But then the next
verse says, 21 But
if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and keep all
my statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die.
Now, those who teach the Two Souls doctrine will not teach you both of
these verses. They will show you that the Soul that sinneth it shall die, and
so they make a case that one soul has to die that another can live. But it
tells us that the same soul shall live, not another soul living in it’s place.
But a converted soul that lives, a changed soul.
Yes, we do have two
natures of course. We are born with the nature of the flesh and then when we
are born again we receive the nature of God in our Soul. Now, because we have
two natures does not mean we have two souls.
Just because the soul
is said to be the nature of the spirit, it does not contend that the other
nature is also a soul. No way. That other nature is the nature is unregenerate.
A flesh that is not being led by the Spirit of God, but rather a soul that is
dead while it yet liveth.
Now, in getting back
to our thought this evening, we can see that we must be very careful in how we
align the Scriptures together. Br. Branham taught us that there are three musts
that we must never do.
Christ
revealed in His own Word 65-0822M P:53 Now, in order to study the
Scripture... Paul told Timothy, "Study It, rightly dividing the Word of God which is Truth." Then there's three musts in the Scripture.
In using God's Word there is three
things that you must not do. Now, let's study those for the next ten
minutes: Three things that you must not do... And all out in the land wherever
you are across the nation, be sure to put these down in your mind if you
haven't got a pencil. You must not do these things. We tell you all the time
how you must do; now, I'm going to tell you what you must not do. Now, you must
not misinterpret the Word.
You say, "Well, I believe It means this." It means just what it says.
It needs no interpreter. And you must not misplace
the Word. And you must not dislocate
the Word. And if we would do either of these, it throws the whole Bible in a
confusion and in a chaos.
1. You must not Misplace
2. You must not Dislocate
3. You must not misinterpret
But that is exactly
what the people do who claim to read this Bible and follow this Message.
Now, first, let's see
what Webster tells us these three words "Misinterpret, misplace, and
dislocate" mean.
#1) The word Misinterpret means: to
interpret wrongly, to understand or explain incorrectly.
#2) The word Misplace means: to
put in the wrong place. To wrongly place or to improperly place. To take away
from the proper, or natural position, time, or character.
#3) And the word Dislocate means: to
upset the order or connection of.
So we see God
does not only require that we believe His Word, but that we believe and apply
the correct Word for the Correct time and occasion. And so it goes beyond just
saying that we believe every word. The Bible tells us the devil believes and
trembles.
In the Message The
Token, brother Branham said, "Don't just come this far and say, "I believe the
Message, " You obey the Message. Come into Christ. You say,
"oh, I
believe every word you said, brother Branham." That's good, but that is
just being able to read. Take the Message; take it into your heart, that you
must have the Token, the very Life that was in Christ, be in you. "When I
see that, I will pass over."
And so we see the importance of not only
hearing, but how we hear. In Luke 8:18 we are commanded to "take heed how we
hear." And in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15 we are commanded to “take heed how we
build upon the Word seeing that the foundation is Christ”. And in Romans 10:13-18
we see that “although they might have audibly heard the
voice, yet they did not understand what was said”.
We see the same thing
in Matthew
13:10-16 and Mark 4:11-12 where Jesus tells us, “It is given for you
to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to them on the outside, I
speak in parables so that they will see but not perceive and they will hear but
shall not understand, and this will be the fulfillment of what Isaiah the
prophet spoke.
Now, in getting
back to what Paul said in Romans chapter 10, we see Paul raise the question, How can they call on
Him if they don't believe in Him? and how can they believe in Him if they have never
heard of Him? And how can they hear of Him without a preacher? And
yet we must ask the question, what if they hear a preacher that has not been
sent by God? Then What? Then, if they do not hear a True God sent Preacher,
they will not hear the True God sent Message, and therefore, if they hear a
false preacher, they will receive a false message, and therefore they will have
a false hope in a false Word, And there you are. That is why Paul was so
concerned in the First Church Age, because already by this time seen false brethren having crept in unawares.
In 2 Corinthians
11: 1 - 4 Paul worried about the Corinthians because they were too open
to just anything that claimed to be a preacher sent from God. The same as Eve opened
herself up to the lies told her by satan. And what did it produce? They’re
opening up themselves produced “Another Gospel”
first. Then it produced “another Jesus”
and then “another Spirit”.
Remember, Jesus said
in John 6: 63,
" My words are Spirit and they are Life."
But so too are the devils words a spirit and another form of life, demonic life.
We see in 2 Corinthians 11:
13-14 that Satan's ministers
actually appear to be ministers of light. But who are they
serving? And what is the end product? The end product is they believe Another Jesus
and receive another
Spirit which was given to them for believing in another
Gospel.
Now the Greek
word for another that was translated here was the word heteros and it means
that these are not another as though numerically they are different. But it
means they are of a different nature altogether. Just as a man and woman are
heterosexual, or of a different nature sexually. So too as these men preach another Gospel which is different in nature
from the genuine. When the people open themselves up to it, they receive a
seed-life that is different in nature, just as the Serpents seed was different
in nature from
Now, remember, the Word is a Seed that
was sown. And a seed, by definition is a carrier of Life. Therefore, whether it
be sown by God or Satan, it is a word that contains a life.
In Matthew 13 after the Son of Man went forth
sowing His Seed, or His life, we find the devil following closely behind also
sowing his seed. So then we can see that two different life seeds were sewn.
The first Life came forth from the Son of Man, which is God Life. The other life
comes forth from the devil, which is a perverted life. So then those people who
receive the false word seed, will receive the life of that word into themselves
and therefore they will receive another spirit or life instead of the Holy
Spirit.
Therefore we see that
there must come forth another Gospel
first. One of a different nature, pointing the people to a different Jesus, and
by receiving this other Gospel, they birth in themselves another
spirit which is one of a different nature than that of the Holy
Spirit of God which brings forth a new birth by His Own Word.
In Galatians 1: 6-9
we also read that this "other Gospel"
is a perverted Gospel. It was translated from the Greek word Metastrepho
which is two Greek words,
And According to our Webster’s
dictionary, it means to change from one from, specie, condition, nature, or
substance into another. Then we will notice the men in 2
Corinthians 11 : 13-14
shows that they have been transformed
from Satan's ministers into what appears to be angels or ministers of light.
We see also the same
example in Matthew
7 where these men are likened unto wolves in sheep's clothing. So
what is the end product of their doctrine and seed that they sow to these
gullible people? These people will think they are what they aren't and
therefore we would call such as these make believers. Make believers therefore
are actually hybrid products. And we know that there is no life in a hybrid.
Martin Luther
in his Commentary on Romans, said, “How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
(10:14) Here the apostle meets the arrogance of all who teach falsely and are a
haughty mind. Oh, that the false prophets (or teachers) only would heed these
words! How shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall
they hear without a preacher? (10:14) Even though they say they hear, they
boast in vain, unless they hear true preachers; for to hear false prophets
means as much as not to even hear. They hear and they do not hear; they have
ears, but do not hear, nor do they preach (the Word of God). This is a striking statement against all
conceited hearers and students of the Bible. How shall they preach, except they
be sent? (10:15) This is directed against conceited teachers and arrogant
instructors. These four statements (10: 14 -15) follow one another in such a
way that one leads to the other, but so that the last forms the foundation on
which the others rest. Thus, 1) It is impossible that those preach who are not
sent. 2) It is impossible that those hear who are without a preacher. 3) It is
impossible that they believe who do not hear. 4) It is impossible that they
call upon Him who they do not believe. To this add a last one, namely: 5) It is
impossible that they who do not call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So then, the entire source and origin of salvation rests on this, That God
sends out someone, A true minister of the Word. If He does not send out any, then they
who are preaching are preaching falsely, and their preaching is no preaching at
all. In fact they would be better off had they never preached at all. Then they
who hear, hear error, and it would be better for them to not have heard . Then
they who believe, would believe false doctrine, and it would be better for them
to not believe. Then also they who call upon Him would be calling falsely (upon
a false Lord), and it would be better for them not to call. For such preachers do
not preach; such hearers do not hear; such believers do not believe, and such
callers do not call; and they will be damned because they would be saved by
falsehood. So we read in Proverbs 1: 28 "Then shall they call upon Me, but
I will not answer, they shall seek Me early, but they shall not find me: for
that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord." ...
Then only they can preach with certainty who proclaim the Gospel without error.
How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of Peace ( 10: 15).
By this quotation the Apostle shows that only those can preach who are sent by
God. Those cannot preach the Divine Word and be messengers of God whom He has
not sent and to whom He has not entrusted His Word. So with these same words
the Apostle points out the nature of Spiritual Peace and it's gifts. These
blessings are heard only in the Divine Word and are apprehended only by Faith.
They can not be presented in visible form...Now the words "
Beautiful" stands for purity, for they that preach the Gospel of Peace and
bring glad tidings of good things do not proclaim the Gospel for their own
advantage or on account of vain Glory, as this happens here and there today.
They preach solely from obedience to God and for the sake of the salvation of
their hearers. ( this word beautiful is a Greek word Ho-rah-yos and according
to Strong's it means belonging to the right hour or season ( timely) by
implementation to be flourishing. )
And Irenaeus in Chapter VIII.of
his book How the Valentinians pervert the Scriptures to support their own Pious
opinions said, “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 skillful 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
skillful 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. We have already stated how far they proceed in this way with respect
to the interior of the Fullness.
Acts 20:28-30 28 Take heed therefore 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. 29 For
I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you,
not sparing the flock. 30 Also of your own selves
shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
As you can see, these three musts that
brother Branham is bringing to us, have been an important discipline since the
very founding of the Church 2,000 years ago. You must not misinterpret God's
Word. And how do you know the interpretation of His Word? God interprets His
Word by bringing it to pass. So we must wait for God to do the interpreting,
then we will know that our understanding is correct. Therefore, I hope we can
see that by misinterpretation, or misplacing or dislocating the scripture, we
not only get a false understanding, but a false hope and a false Revelation as
well. Therefore what we really receive is death instead of Life. For if the
Just shall live by Faith and our Faith is a False one, then we shall not
receive Life but death.
2 John 1:8-9 Wuest: He who
goes beyond the limits of true doctrine has not the Father nor the Son.
So let’s keep the
limits of the Doctrine of Christ, and let us love one another as Christ loved
the church, and gave Himself for it.
1
Corinthians 4: 6 And
these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos
for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which
is written, that no one of you be puffed
up for one against another.
And remember, just
because someone is not with you in terms of they are in direct fellowship with
you, that does not mean that they are against you.
Let us pray…