Spoken Word no. 184
There is no
Fear in Love
Brian Kocourek, Pastor
August 29th, 2010
The
Spoken Word is the original Seed part 2 pp. 38 Now, Jehovah had
a bride once. Adam had a bride; Jesus had a bride; Jehovah had a bride. You
know that? He had to put her away. She become a whore, so he put her away.
That's exactly what He said. She become a whore, prostitute. What caused her to do that? (I wish we
had time to read it. I may get to some of it after while.) Right now, it was in
the time of Samuel when
39
You back-washed Pentecost, that's
exactly what you done. When this old preacher setting here, nearly a
hundred years old today, when Pentecost broke loose back there, you couldn't
tell nothing about no organization. They wouldn't listen to that. They called
that the things of the devil, and them men were right. But what did you do? You
had to act like the rest of the churches. You had to organize it. Then, as He
said, you drawed fences between you. Went to teaching,...?... teach us (Glory
to God. Hallelujah.) this way and jump up and down and speak in tongues say,
"Put him in as a member; he's got her." He's not baptized right,
neither with the water nor with the Spirit. He's wrong and his fruits prove it;
he's got the wrong kind of seed to grow on. "Bless God, brother, we'll lay hands on you here and make you an
elder. I tell you what you... We're going to build this organization here
till it's going to be bigger than the Assemblies." That's just the way
it's went. Read the Pentecostal history and see if that isn't so, or any of the
church.
40
The Baptists wants to outdo the Methodists. The Methodists wants to outdo the
Lutheran. The Lutherans want to outdo the Catholic. They're every one wants to outdo somebody. See, that's the... That's the spirit of the organization.
Jesus said, "But few there'll be that will be saved.
Strait is the gate and narrow is the way, but few there'll be that'll find
it." Just
a few. If He said few , that's the Word of God, that Seed, there'll be a few.
Won't be no tens of billions and billions. It'll
just be a few that'll find it. Them
that's predestinated to it, they hear it. The former rain has went forth now.
Now before we go too far
along in this study this morning, I just want to point out that brother Branham
has been blasting the fact that the Word begins to move on and then what does
man do, they organize it or try to organize It. And what is it that they try to
organize? God’s Word. Therefore they are trying to organize God, for He is the
Word.
THE
MASTERPIECE 64-0705 153 Now notice. If the Bridegroom, the
beginning, the first Bridegroom... This is the Bride coming forth. Remember,
the Church begin at Pentecost, and It fell at
Now, don’t think that this kind of attitude could never affect the
churches in this Message who claim to have received the Doctrine of Christ. Brother
Vayle told me years ago, “they got it but
they don’t got it”. They can
quote it, and even quote it right, but if their life doesn’t reflect that He’s
here, and if their own life does not show that they are living in the Presence
of the Great Judge of the heavens and earth, then don’t tell me they believe
it, because it isn’t real to them. And if it is not a reality, then it is just
a mental conception. And then what makes their mental conception any better
than anyone else’s mental conception. That is why I try to teach the Doctrine
from a relationship standpoint instead of from a theological standpoint.
Theology is man’s ideas, not God’s. God showed us this great relationship He
had with His firstborn son, and Jesus the first born son showed us all how to
be sons.
Now, there’s nothing wrong with having a mental conception. But unless
you are aware He is here, you’re only hoping what you heard is true but you
don’t really believe it’s true or your life would measure up to it and reflect that
He’s here.
Now, just because you might mentally believe it, does not prove that you
believe it, but if you truly believe it you will not only talk it but you will
walk it. But as is the case in every revival there are twins, Brother Branham
said, “every revival produces twins”. And what that means is there are not only
truly born again believers who are birthed in the revival but there are also
carnal born ones as well.
And the carnal ones are the ones who move toward organizing what they
heard in the revival.
From Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:259 he
said, Now, listen close. Fallen
angels, what kind of angels? Luther,
Wesley, Catholic, Pentecostal who kept not their first estate like the
angels did and has fell into
organizations like Lucifer's
main hold at
And again in paragraph 267 of Christ is the
mystery 63-0728 P:267 Brother Branham said, And
here's Lucifer at his job again today.
And remember, the antichrist is not communism. The antichrist is so close like
the real thing till it'd deceive the very elected if it was possible, Jesus
said (Matthew 24)--the elected if it was possible. Lucifer again is breaking God's unity in man by his limiting the Word of God to his
reasoning’s, what he thinks is right, and what he thinks, he breaks the Word of
God. And the same thing he did in the days of Jesus. And Jesus said,
"You by your traditions have made the Word of God of no effect." And the denominations by their organized
intellectual reasoning’s has made God's Word of no effect upon the people.
That's right. They just can't see it. Then they say, "Where is the God of
the Bible?" He's right here. He's the Bible, that’s what He is.
And what did they do
in Jesus day? They quoted the Prophets, that’s what they did, and they missed
the very one those prophets pointed to, the Living Word of God right there in
their midst. They said, we have Moses but who is this man?, we know not from
where he came? In John chapter 9 we see Jesus heal a man who was born blind,
and this really irritated the Pharisees because it took away their power over
the people.
John 9: 28 Then they reviled him, and
said, Thou art his disciple; but we are Moses’ disciples. 29 We know that
God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we know not from whence he is.
30 The man answered and said unto them, Why herein is a marvellous
thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet
he hath opened mine eyes. 31 Now we know that God
heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will,
him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not
heard that any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind.
33 If this man were not of God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou wast
altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him out. 35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he
had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the
Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is
he, Lord, that I might believe on him? 37 And Jesus
said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that
talketh with thee. 38 And he said, Lord, I
believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? 41 Jesus said unto them, If ye
were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin
remaineth.
And notice that when
they can’t control you the first thing they want to do is to throw you out. And
because they can’t control God in His Word they excommunicated Him from the
church as well. That is how they exercise their control over the people. If
they can’t get you to think like a slave and act like a slave to their own
kingdom rules and regulations, then, they don’t want your independent mind in
their circle, because it will have an adverse effect upon the rest of the
people who do have their group-think mindset. And so they will get rid of you.
And that is nothing less than organization which tries to control the laity.
Church
Age Book Chapter 4 - The Smyrnaean
Church Age P:4 With Irenaeus
this was not so. He was militant against
any form of organization. Also, his life history, wherein he served the
Lord, was one of much manifestation in the Holy Spirit; and the Word was taught with unusual clarity and conformity to its
original precepts. His churches in
And notice what else brother Branham said about these fallen angels. He
said they come into every Message before it could break forth into the real
Revelation of Christ and they take over that Message. That is why brother Vayle
told me that the make believers have taken over this message.
So, in his message Christ is the mystery
63-0728 P:260 brother Branham said, Wesley was a man of God, but
what followed him? Fallen angels got
into it. What was the angels first? Created beings of God that fell for Lucifer's wisdom, fell
for Lucifer's wisdom. And you see what
they become? Fallen angels. And organizations from man of God who's
went forth to establish truths in the earth, before that truth could go along
and proclamate and get on to the real
revelation of Christ, fallen angels
come in and took it over and made denominations out of it. That's the
reason the revelation of the Seven Seal mystery had to be unfolded. Now, you
see it? What they left off... If Luther
would've went on, it'd been here. If Wesley would've went on, if Pentecost
would've went on, what would they'd done?
The answer is they would have come to this Message. To the Revelation of
Jesus Christ, that there is but One God and He had a Son, and indwelt that son
to show himself to mankind. To reveal His character to us, that we might
reflect it back to Him. But men entered in among the people not sparing the
flock. And that is what Paul said in his day. And he called them false brethren
in the Book of Acts chapter 15 and again in Galatians chapter 2.
Galatians 2:1 Then
fourteen years after I went up again to
You know I like that because people today are so
focused on THE MAN rather than the Message, and I don’t say this concerning
brother Branham, but concerning any man that God uses, the people get so
focused on the individual that they miss what that man of God is trying to tell
them. They miss the Message because they are focused on the man.
7 But
contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed
unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter;8 (For he
that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the
same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)9 And
when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace
that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of
fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen,
and they unto the circumcision.10 Only they would that we should remember the poor; the same
which I also was forward to do.11 But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood
him to the face, because he was to be blamed. And yet our churches are filled with people that are
afraid to stand up to their Pastors when those pastors drift from the Word.
Yes, the people are afraid just like they were in
Brother Branham said in his sermon, Rising of the sun 65-0418M P:61 Well, you say, "Well, now, let me tell you something;
my pastor..." I don't care what your pastor says; it's what the Word says.
If you want to be a chicken, go on with him. But if the pastor speaks different from this Word, then he's not a feeder
of the eagles (Uh-huh.); he's a feeder of the hens (See?), not of the
eagles. See? Eagle eats on eagle's food. See? they're clean. The Bible said
it's wrong to do that, and the men and so forth, and what all you do that's
wrong... Say, "Days of miracles is past."
And look at even the leaders like Peter who became
cowards at the presence of the false brethren. Galatians 2: 12 For before that certain came
from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew
and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision.13 And
the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was
carried away with their dissimulation.14 But when I
saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said
unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew,
livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest
thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,16 Knowing that a man is not justified by the
works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus
Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works
of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.17 But
if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found
sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin?
God forbid.18 For if I build again the things which
I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I
through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by
the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Now, brother Branham said from Questions and
answers COD 59-0628E P:42 And isn't that just the way that people get
today? Let God just bless a fellow and put a little confidence in him, and he
gets to be a know-it-all. He gets to be... He's
got to start an organization, or he's got to do something that's different.
"Why art thou fallen from heaven, O
Lucifer. "It's... God has a
hard time trying to get somebody that He can deal with, that'll stay humble,
and meek, and stay in the place until God calls him to do something (you
believe that? See?), a man that God can
bless and he'll still keep hisself a man, not be an angel or a god. As soon as man gets blessed and has a
little something given to him, he wants to become a god; he wants to become
a angel. He wants to become some great person. "What I do, what... Me and
me and mine..." all that. That's
the wrong attitude. God's hunting
for somebody who He could bless and pour out the blessings, and more He
blessed, the littler the man will become. And you'll never get more of God until you become nothing. You've got to
belittle yourself. He that will
exalt himself, God will bring abase. He that will humble himself, God will
exalt. You've got to get little before you can get big. And you'll never be
big in your own self; you'll only be as
big as God will be big in you. See?
So you see how contrary organization is to God himself? Organization uses
the power of its numbers to control man, instead of allowing the anointing of
the Holy Spirit upon God’s Word to control that wayward person. And that is
because organization wants immediate results. But they that wait upon the Lord
are the ones that get the promises. You can’t rush God and neither can you
change a person’s heart by clipping out the symptoms. Preach the word of God
and let it penetrate into the very marrow of the bones, and it will change the
thoughts and intents of the heart.
Again from brother Branham’s sermon Christ is the mystery 63-0728 P:270 Notice,
Lucifer comes in cunning like he did
then, and by temptations, and false promises of power out apart from the Word of God. He did the same at
From The Masterpiece 153 brother Branham continues, but it sprouted in order to make an
organization. And it pulled through
that organization. And then what did it do? Then it went, from that organization it went into another organization,
… went into another stage of the Word: justification, sanctification, baptism
of the Holy Ghost. See? And as it went through this stalk and process, it kept
coming on more.
Too many times in the history of the church people
placed more value on their church membership than they placed on the Truth of
God’s Word.
We even find this same organizational spirit
controlled the people by fear back in the days when Jesus walked the
John
9:1 And
as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind
from his birth. 2 And
his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents,
that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the
works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is
day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the
world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on
the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind
man with the clay,
7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the
pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way
therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbors
therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not
this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is
he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called
Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of
Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.
12 Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I know not. 13 They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was
blind. 14 And it was the sabbath day when Jesus
made the clay, and opened his eyes. 15 Then again the
Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, He
put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see. 16 Therefore
said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of God, because he keepeth not the
sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that is a sinner do such miracles? And
there was a division among them. 17 They say unto
the blind man again, What sayest thou of him, that he hath opened thine eyes?
He said, He is a prophet. 18 But the Jews did not
believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until
they called the parents of him that had received his sight. 19 And
they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind? how then
doth he now see? 20 His parents answered them and
said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:
21 But by what means he now seeth, we know not; or who hath
opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. 22 These
words spake his parents, because they feared the
Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that he was
Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. 23 Therefore
said his parents, He is of age; ask him.
Now, let’s stop here for a moment and look at what has
just taken place. Here we see two parents that were not even permitted to enjoy
the miracle that God had just performed on their son who had been blind his
entire life, and suddenly can see for the first time. What caused this fear
that was placed upon these parents? Stupid Jealousy by those religious leaders
that were jealous of what Jesus was doing and saying. And what did they do s a
result of this jealousy? They used the power of the pulpit to hold down the
people, and keep them from seeking further light. They held down the people by
causing them to fear being expelled from the church for seeking out greater
truth than what they wanted them to know and understanding.
And isn’t that same devil still controlling the
churches today? Claiming to believe the Prophet of the hour and yet forbidding
the people they shepherd to examine the Doctrine that William Branham taught
concerning the Presence of Christ and the relationship between the Father and
His Son because it isn’t endorsed in their camp.
Now, I like the guts that this young man showed to
these Christ Rejecting Pharisees. He wasn’t going to down play what had just
taken place in his life for nothing. Let’s read it.
24. Then
again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God the praise: we know that this
man is a sinner. 25 He answered and said, Whether he be a
sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that,
whereas I was blind, now I see. 26 Then said they to him
again, What did he to thee? how opened he thine eyes? 27 He
answered them, I have told you already, and ye did not hear: wherefore would ye
hear it again? will ye also be his disciples?
28 Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art his disciple; but we are
Moses' disciples. 29 We know that God spake unto Moses: as for this fellow, we
know not from whence he is. 30 The man answered and said unto them,
Why herein is a marvellous thing, that ye know not from whence he is, and yet he hath opened mine eyes. 31Now we know that God
heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will,
him he heareth. 32 Since the world began was it not heard that any
man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. 33 If this man were not of
God, he could do nothing. 34 They answered and said unto him, Thou
wast altogether born in sins, and dost thou teach us? And they cast him
out.
Oh, how that devil doesn’t like to be given back
scripture. He hates to be taught. He hates to be shown up by the Word of God.
But I love this man’s attitude. He saw what had just happened to his parents
and how they were coward into avoiding talking about this great thing that had
happened to their son. And I will bet that his righteous indignation flared up at
watching his parents being put on the spot and watching them in a way deny this
greatest thing that had happened in their family since he was born. So he spoke
up to these religious leaders and let them know that he wasn’t going to be
coward by their sharp tongues like his parents had just been treated. And he
took out the Sword of the Word and let them have it to the point that they
gnashed their teeth and kicked him out of the church. They excommunicated him
for disagreeing with the pastor, so to speak.
Now, I would like to know where in the Bible a man can
be put out of the church for disagreeing with the Pastor or the church elders.
There is a certain thing called church order and there is a way of dealing with
someone that sows doubt. But for a person to say I disagree, then he ought to
be given an opportunity via the Word of God to show the pastor where he is
wrong.
Even brother Branham said, “You are obligated to come to me if you know
where I am teaching something that is not right according to the Word.”
Jesus
Christ same 61-0516A P:73Remember, search the
Scriptures. Bring your papers and take
down the Scriptures that I quote. If they're not right, you're solemnly obligated to come to me and
show... I don't want to be wrong. But I'm not wrong as long as the
Scripture says it's so and God confirms it. A man can say anything he wants to;
that's a man. But when God speaks, dare anybody to doubt it? It's eternal
separation from His Presence forever.
So if a man comes in a right spirit to the pastor to
talk to the pastor on something the pastor said, and where he can show the
pastor by the Word where he disagrees with the pastor, or believes that the
pastor may have said something not exactly right according to the Scriptures,
if that pastor has the Holy Spirit he will take what is said to him, and check
it out himself by the Word. Then if the Lord gives him insight to where he was
wrong, then God receives the Glory. Now, if the Spirit of God can show the
Pastor other Scriptures which show he had it right, and where the man might be
off, then if the pastor has the right spirit he will in a spirit of meekness show
the brother by the Word of God where he wasn’t understanding it, and then God
receives the Glory.
But if a man comes to a pastor believing the pastor
may have strayed from the Word, and can show him so, and the pastor tries to
use his title as a means of lording over that man, that shows that pastor has
slipped from Grace. And if that Man approaches with a wrong motive to the
pastor and acts like a know it all, then it shows that man is anointed by a
wrong spirit. Now, listen there are a lot of those people out there. I have
been in contact with a bunch of this type in the
Well, I do not see that as a miracle at all, because
the people that are fanatical are so overly out of line that anyone can look at
them and see they are anointed with devils, and not the Holy Spirit.
If a man comes humbly to the pastor and the pastor
gets all riled up and threatens to excommunicate that person, then that shows
the pastor is off the Word Himself and has fallen from Grace. And if the person
leaves the church just because the pastor might have something wrong in his
understanding then there is something wrong with that person. But if that
person goes in a spirit of meekness as Jesus told us to then if the pastor
blows up, then that pastor needs a dose of grace from the Holy Spirit.
And so, for all of you out there that have been
threatened with being excommunicated from your church, don’t you worry, as soon
as Jesus heard that this man was excommunicated from the church for identifying
with Him, he came to that man, and He will come to you too, for Jesus Christ is
the same yesterday, today and forever.
Notice in verse 35 we read, Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him,
Dost thou believe
on the Son of God? 36 He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on
him? 37 And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast
both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. 38 And he
said, Lord, I believe. And he worshipped him. 39 And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not
might see; and that they which see might be made blind.
40 And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also?
41 Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We see;
therefore your sin remaineth.
Jesus said in Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye
shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves,
neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
In other words they stand in the way of those entering
to go in.
The Apostle Paul said the same thin in Romans 1:18 For the wrath of
God is revealed from heaven against all un-godlike-ness and un-right-wise-ness
of men, who hold down the truth in unrighteousness; Now that word
hold down comes from the Greek word katecho which means to hold down or to with
hold the truth from.
And let’s face it, the seed of the serpent do not want the truth to be
taught. Because in John 8:37 Jesus told the Christ Rejecting religious leaders,
“The reason you can not hear the truth of the Word is because there is no place
for the Word of God in them.” And then in verse 43 Jesus said, 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.
Now that reminds me of a story I read in a book years
ago. The story was in a book entitled, “THE
DEVIL IN THE CHURCH AND HS SNARES LAID TO DESTROY OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS
copyright 1902. The article was called “Enough
Scripture to Poison a Parish”. And the story goes like this.
A little
girl, being asked by a priest to attend his religious instruction, refused,
saying it was against her father’s wishes. The priest said she should obey him,
not her father. “Oh, sir, we are taught in the Bible, ‘honor Thy Father and thy
Mother.’” “You have no business to read the Bible,” said the priest. “But sir,
our Savior said, ‘Search the Scriptures’ ” (John 5:39) “That was only
to the Jews, and not to children, and you don’t understand it,” said the priest
in reply. “But, sir, Paul said to
Timothy, ‘From a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures,’ ” (2 Tim 3:15) “Oh’” Said the priest, “Timothy was being trained to be a bishop and
taught by the authorities of the church.”
“oh, no, sir,” said the child, “he was taught by his mother and
grandmother.” On this the priest turned her away, saying she “knew enough of
the Bible to poison a parish.”
And so we see where that spirit comes from that would
try to control the people through fear rather than through teaching them the
truth of the Scriptures, and letting them make up their own minds concerning
the Scriptures.
The Apostle Paul said in 2
Corinthians 4:2 1 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:
I like the way the
And the Wuest
translation says, “we
have renounced the hidden things of shame, not ordering the manner of our lives
in the sphere of craftiness, nor even adulterating the Word of God [by an
admixture of error], but by means of an open declaration of the truth
commending ourselves to every variety of the conscience on men in the sight of
God.”
The problem we have today, even among us in this
Message, is that the people in the churches do not judge others by what kind of
Life they are living before God, but rather they are judged by whether or not
they are loyal to the “powers that be” in their church.
From his sermon, “Thinking Man's Filter” 65-0822E
P:32 Brother Branham
said, “No, she isn't a thinking woman. If she was
thinking she'd know the church isn't going to judge her at the last day. The church is judging her now by her
membership, her loyalty to the circles that she belongs to and the
societies. They're judging her now by that. But God's going to judge her at the
last day. So she isn't thinking.”
So stand firm with the Word of God, and don’t worry
about what the leadership in that church will say to you. What you should worry
about is what God is going to say to you if you do not stand for what He has
revealed to you.
Those poor parents that were afraid to take a stand
for what was right. I feel sorry for those poor people who were coward by those
religious leaders who held down the people and kept them back from entering in.
And I am sorry to say, but if they did not have enough manhood to stand up against
those religious leaders, that’s their problem.
So when any religious leader tells you that “you’ve got to
believe what they say just because they say so, and after all they are a five
fold minister so you’ve got to believe them.” Let me tell you that is
so childish and shallow it’s thinner than the broth made out of a chicken that
starved to death. You don’t have to believe so just because your pastor tells
you to believe something. You believe it because God’s Word says so.
And so any ministry that used fear to control you is
not of God. We are promised by God Himself that He has not given us a spirit of
fear but a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1: 7 For God hath not given us the spirit of fear;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Therefore if you fear man more than you fear
God, then you haven’t got what God said he would give to you.
In 1 John 4:18 we read, There is no fear in love; but
perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath a penalty. He that feareth is
not made perfect in love. And the penalty of fear is that when you fear, you
begin to freeze, and you stop moving forward with God, and what God is bringing
you into.
Fear is a dangerous tool of the devil, because it has
a penalty. When a person is afraid they become bound by those fears. We read in
1 John 4.
That perfect or
mature Love will cast out fear because fear has a penalty, it has to
do with your freezing and crystallizing in your thinking. You see, in the Bible
we read of where Joseph was engaged to marry Mary, but when he found her to be
pregnant, even though she told him how it happened, that God Himself
overshadowed her, yet his fear stopped him, and he was privately mindful to put
her away. In other words the penalty of fear caused him to stop the plans that
he had to marry her. Joseph feared that Mary had not been faithful, and because
of that fear he made plans to stop the marriage. So God sent His Angel to Joseph, and told him,
“fear not” to take Mary as His Wife. What had fear done to Joseph? It caused
him to doubt that God wanted him to marry Mary. And it caused him to stop
moving forward with the plan of God for his life.
Luke
21: 25-27 25 And
there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon
the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 26 Men's hearts failing
them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the
earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 27 And then shall they see the Son
of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. 28 And when these things begin to
come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth
nigh.
Notice the Scriptures tells us that men will see
things that will bring on perplexity which is doubt and anxiety feeling they will have no way of
escape, and then what follows? Fear, then fear follows shortly thereafter.
In 1 Kings 18:21 Elijah
said to the people, how halt ye between two opinions? How long will
you be lame and stopped in your forward movement? AMPLIFIED
VERSION: How long will you be halt and
limp between two opinions? NIV: How long will you waver between two opinions? NAS How long will you
hesitate between these two opinions? So you see that fear will cause great damage
in your walk with God because it causes you to stop your moving forward with
him. And you know, according to 1 John 7: “if you walk in the Light and He is in the Light, you not only
have fellowship with one another but the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses you
from all your sin.
Therefore, as long as you are walking in the light, your
sins are covered and you are having fellowship with the One Who is in the
Light. But what if you stop walking with Him. And you will if you let your
fears take control of you. Therefore, any ministry that puts the people into a
state of fear is not from God.
Did you know there are 62
times in the Bible we are told “fear not”. And it seemed every time the angel of the Lord
comes on the scene he would say, “fear not”. So I say again, that any ministry
that tries to control you through fear, or through the fear of excommunication
is a spirit from hell.
From paragraph 233 Anointed Ones at the End-Time 65-0725M "For it is impossible for those which were once
enlightened and didn't move on with the Word as it come to pass..."
They're dead, gone. And if fear causes you to stop, then it will
also kill you spiritually.
Notice in Genesis
19: 26
The apostle Paul said in Romans 8: 15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage
again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry,
Abba, Father.
And in 2 Tim 1: 7 Paul said, For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power,
and of love, and of a sound mind.