Spoken Word #33
“The
Present Truth a Living Word”
Brian Kocourek
Matthew 23:13 But woe unto you, scribes (men learned in the scriptures) and Pharisees, hypocrites! (actors
on the stage of life, playing the role of something that you are not) for ye shut up the
kingdom of heaven against men: (you bar the entrance into the
kingdom of heaven before men) for ye neither go in yourselves, neither are you (permitting) others who are
desiring to enter, to go in.
And again I would like
to read from Romans
1: 17
For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is
written, The just shall live by faith. 18 For the
wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and un-right-wise-ness
of men, who hold down the truth in un-right-wise-ness; Now, the word
hold
here was translated from the Greek Word “katecho” which means to hold down or
to hold it back as to keep it from moving forward.
And Brother Branham said from his sermon, Anointed ones at end time 65-0725M P:168 "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. …
So you see how important it is for us to continue to walk in the Light as
long as He is in the Light? Therefore if the Just are to Live by Faith, then
Faith is not a thing of the past, but an on-going revelation that takes us step by step into the
Right-Wise-ness of God himself. “if you walk in the light as He is in the Light,”
not, “if you walk
in the Light as He once was in the Light.” Because Faith is a
Revelation, it is an unveiling, a bringing into open view what is presently set
before you. Revelation is not something from days gone by, but the present
Truth.
ANOINTED ONES AT END TIME 65-0725M P:158 Said, "I AM sent
me." I AM, not I was, or will be, I AM, present tense, the Word now. Not
the Word that was, the Word that will come, the Word that's now. See? You get
it?
Now those
of you who are most familiar with the way I preach, you will notice that I can
not help but to look around at what is happening in the message and then I take
it back to Alpha so that it might become a present tense Word to you. Although
I was a History Major in College, I never liked history from a standpoint of
looking back. I was always fascinated with history because I could see a
pattern that repeated itself, and thus every twenty years or so the cycle
repeats itself and the wide ties of the fifties became the wide ties of the
seventies which will become the wide ties of the nineties, etc. "The
generation who fails to remember history is doomed to repeat it."
And if you
ever noticed that is the way brother Branham preached as well. For you see to
just preach a sermon there is no life in it, but to preach on what you se
happening around you and then take it back to the Alpha in order to be able to
identify it, then the Word comes alive, and real to us, and it becomes a living
word.
In the sermon called TESTIMONY 63-1128M
13 brother Branham said, I'm not a preacher. Anybody knows that. I'm not a preacher.
But it's made up in a spiritual form of watching things and seeing things move,
and forewarning people of things that's coming to pass. And it's just that's my
makeup. I can't help that, no more than you can help your makeup. But God has
put us each one in the Body to do certain things. And I watch every little
move, every objective, every motive, 'cause everything is governed by spirit.
And in the sermon
entitled, THIS
DAY THIS SCRIPTURE 65-0125 5 he said, I watch little things. Just every little thing
has a meaning to me. I don't believe that anything happens to a Christian by
chance. I think it's ordained of God, 'cause Jesus said He'd make all things
work together for good to them that loved Him. So therefore, I believe that every
little thing in the little humble ministry that He has given me to help you
people, to help everyone, and you all are a help to me, helping each other to
get to glory. In that, every little thing has a meaning to me.
Eccl 3: 15 - 17
That which hath been is now; and that which is to be hath already been; and God
requireth that which is past. 16 And moreover I saw under the sun the place of
judgment, that wickedness was there; and the place of righteousness, that
iniquity was there. 17I said in mine heart, God shall judge the righteous and
the wicked: for there is a time there for every purpose and for every work.
So we see then that
everything just continues in a cycle, and the discerning eye will watch as
things develop to see in what direction they will go.
That is what Brother
Branham told Br. Vayle in his audio tape to him, AUDIO LETTER TO LEE VAYLE 64-0500 2 Would it be, you
think, advisable in here, to say that God then, in order to proclaim this, has
to send a prophet in order to inject this, make this real again, show the
people the hour we're living in?, Because if
they only see it in the hour past, then there's no hope for the church. The
church must see it in the present tense. So God sends His prophet to
manifest, present tense of it. You see? And then, after it's over, then history
is. Now, you might inject that, Brother Lee. I don't know whether that's any
good or not, but it's just a thought right here. Thanks a lot.
Now, brother Branham
was a very humble man. He tells brother Vayle the answer to walking in the
Light is to see the Word of God unfolding itself in the present tense and then
he almost apologizes for saying it. That’s incredible. Yet that’s the key. And his ministry was not made up of one big
sermon. His ministry was made up of over 1200 sermons from 1947 to 1965 where
every sermon he preached the Word of God became a living reality, not just sermonizing. And with each one sermon we
heard, we all took a step forward into the Presence of Christ together with him.
In fact that is how brother Branham explains his ministry.
Paul said in Colossians 3:1-4 1 If ye then be risen
with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the
right hand of God. 2 Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is
our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
In fact brother
Branham said, in
Just
One More time Lord pp. 52 "Man is always thinking back on what God did, and
looking forward to what God will do, but ignoring what God is doing".
And he also said in
his audio letter to brother Vayle, " If they only see it in the hour past there's no hope
for the church. The church must see it in the present tense. So God sends his
prophet to manifest present tense of it."
And He also said from
His Message False Anointed
Ones PP. 219 He said, "I
AM sent me." I AM, not I was, or will be, I AM, present tense, the Word
now. Not the Word that was or Word that will come, the Word that's now.... and
then he said in PP. 233, "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."
This is why it is so
important to understand the Alpha and Omega principle that brother Branham laid
out for us. He said this was the very first principle he learned as a
Christian. What God did in the first age He is obligated to do in this last
age. Then, if we can look at what God did in the first age under the Pillar of
Fire ministry of Paul, and how He did it, we then will see what He has done
under the same Pillar of Fire ministry of William Branham in this last hour,
and what He is continuing to do after brother Branham went off the seen.
Now, to me, what
brother Branham said concerning this Bible is a daily experience for you in
your walk with Christ if you believe every word he said to be from God. And I
do, therefore, this Word is a living reality of the Present Tense God who Is
the I Am.
Shalom 64-0119 P:92 Now,
the same Word that was reflected in Moses could not be reflected in Elijah,
because that was another day. Same one that was reflected in Noah could not be
in Moses, 'cause (See?) Noah built an ark. Moses led a people, just exactly
what was promised. The same light was reflected in one, wasn't in the other,
but one told of the other one. And all the New Testament speaks of this hour.
Jesus Christ speaks of this hour. Who is it then, some man? It's Jesus Christ,
the Son of God manifesting, reflecting the Light on the Word that He promised
for this day. When men see you living like Him, when he sees your character,
your conduct with the Word just exactly like He was, the Word being manifested,
then men will see Jesus Christ. They won't have to look around anywhere else,
say, "What does this creed teach, what does that creed teach?"
They'll know what God is when they see you.
And that is because
you have become a living expression of the living Word of God. Colossians 3:1-4 When Christ, who is
our life, shall manifest in His true Character, then shall ye also manifest in
your true character with him in glory, in the same doxa, the same opinion, with
the same values and the same judgments.
And that is exactly 1 John 3:2-3 Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that,
when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he
is.3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself,
even as he is pure.
By seeing Him as he truly
is, you can see who you truly are. Not just some church member told to get in
line by some preacher or deacon board but you are a son of the Living God,
fashioned an created in His image and you are being conformed to the image of
the eldest Son in a vast family of brethren.
Christ is identified the same 64-0415 P:26 He
was the manifestation of God. He was God in Christ, reconciling the world to
Himself. He was expressing what the Father was in Himself. He said, "I do
always that which pleases the Father. And I and the Father are One. The Father
dwells in Me. When you see Me, you've seen the Father." In other words, He
expressed God, the Spirit so much in Him, that He and the Father, it wasn't
robbery for Him to be the same Person.
Investments 63-0126 P:84 Jesus
Christ was the expressed Image of God. He was what God through His power
projected: a body which was called Son because He was a man, and He come from
God. And He was so committed to God,
till He didn't think it robbery that Him and God being the same Person. And
they were, because God was the Word, and He was the Word. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God. And there's where God could take His Word
without anything, any interruption. He was constantly doing that what the Father
wanted done. And there the Word could work through Him there, till Him and
Father was One. That's what...And then He took that perfect Life and all of our
sins, and placed it upon that perfect Life and He died that we renegades could
die to ourselves and be born of above, and His Word could work through us the
works of God.
Identification 63-0123 P:21 But
when He seen that His creation had fallen, now His own loving character molded Himself into the Person of Christ.
God's own character of love projected
Himself in the man, Christ. As Paul, speaking here, "Thinking it not
robbery, but making himself equal, equal to God," rather. See, His own character molded that kind of a
Person. Oh, no one could ever do that but God. This was done so that He
could pay the penalty of the fall of His creation. See, There must be something
save this creation. And nothing could save it, because the high species of His
creation had fallen, and everything under it fell with it, because it fell.
So God came into Christ to reconcile the World back unto Himself. God was
manifest in the Flesh of His Son Jesus to take your sin and my sin away, and to
offer back to God the perfect Life, the perfect sacrifice, his own life living
out itself in the body of His Son.
Christ
is the mystery 63-0728 P:84 84 Moses: his intellectuals, he had to lose them in order to find
Christ, to be a prisoner. Then when God got all the world beat out of him
and all the mighty man that he was, and stand in the Presence of that Pillar of
Fire that day, he was found just speechless. He couldn't even talk, he said. God had a prisoner then. See? You won't
try after your own searching. Then God had to endow him with power enough that
he could go down there. And he said, "Lord, I told Pharaoh what You said,
and he wouldn't do it." He said, "Then take this, thy rod (God
speaking; that's God's Word); go out there and point it toward the east and
call for flies." And flies come into creation, because He had a prisoner
that Pharaoh couldn't pay off with nothing. Nobody else could turn him no way. He was a complete prisoner in the chains of
God's Word, bound up wholly to THUS SAITH THE LORD. Oh, if God can get His
prisoners like that. 5 Now,
that's when He can express the pre-eminences. You see? He's got the man or the
person so that he knows nothing but Christ. You get what I mean? All right.
That's secondly. First, to express Hisself completely: God in Christ. Second,
to have the pr-eeminences by this in His Church (which is His Body, Bride)
to... He could have the preeminence to
express Himself through them. All right. And thirdly, to restore the Kingdom to its rightly position
that fell by sin by the first Adam, back to where He walked in the cool of the
evening with His people, talked with them, fellowshipped with them.
HARVEST TIME 641212 87 034 Jesus said, "That they might be one, Father, as You and I
are one." Not for
some man to be over something, it never will work; one denomination wants to
take over the other, and one man over the other. But that you might be
one with God, like Christ and God was one; that's what the prayer is.
That... He was the Word, and Jesus prayed that we might be the Word,
reflecting Him. That's His prayer to be answered. See how Satan
scruples it up in the carnal mind? But that wasn't Jesus' prayer, at all, that
we might all congregate together and all have a certain creed and so forth.
Every time they do it, they go further and further from God. He wants us to be
one with God, and God is the Word. Each
individual in his heart must be that one with God.
SHOW US THE FATHER IT'LL SATISFY
56-0422 E-36 Now,
it's many times it's been said that no man can see God at anytime, the Bible
said so. But the only begotten of the Father has declared Him. Philip, here was
very inquisitive; he wanted to see the Father. Says here He said, "I've
been so long with you, Philip, and you don't know Me?" Said, "When
you see Me you see My Father." In other words, you see the Father
express Himself through the Son. Him and the Father were one in the sense that
His Father was dwelling in Him, not Him doing the works; He was a Son, Himself,
the immortal, virgin born, Son of God. And then in Him was dwelling the God the
Father, expressing Himself to the world, His attitude towards the people. See?
Well, that's how Christ and God were one. God was in Christ reconciling the
world to Himself. Now, He said, "When you see Me, you see the Father, and
why do you say, 'Show us the Father?'
Now, in getting back
to our thoughts on a Present tense Living word becoming a reality to e people
who have been made alive by the Living Word, when I hear brother Branham says, all the New
Testament speaks of this hour then I can not view it as a history of
another age and time, but rather as a living word for a living people. We must see
the Word of God in the light of the hour in which we live. For if we see them
only from a 2000 year old perspective, there is no life in them. But to see
them in the present tense, brings them alive and gives us hope and
understanding of the day in which we live. For God is the present tense God,
not a God of past ages. He said, I am that I am. Not I was what I was. He is a
Living God, and if this be so then His Word will come alive in our life if we
have been made alive in Him.
IDENTIFICATION 63-0123 111
He's not a dead founder like Mohammed, or Buddha, or some other of the cults. He's a living, present tense now,
resurrected Jesus. He's alive forevermore and can never die no more, and
has give to us Eternal Life, and has presented Himself among us, and we, Lord,
reflecting His grace to others. Help us, Father, as You've promised in the last
days what would happen, just like it was in the days of
ABSOLUTE.AN 63-0127 78
Moses had that Absolute. Paul had the same Absolute, the same Pillar of Fire,
the same Holy Spirit, the same God, not the "I was," or "I will
be," the "I AM," uh-huh,
present tense, always.
GOD'S ONLY PROVIDED PLACE OF WORSHIP
65-1128M 262 The Lutherans, under justification, the
feet, raised it like that; Wesley, under sanctification. The Pentecostals under
the arms, the works and deeds and so forth, had to be Calvinists... or had to
be Arminian, had to be legalists. But now we come to the head, the capstone.
"Grace. Grace." the capstone cried. The headstone crying what?
"Grace. Grace." Passed from death and creed into a living Word of the
living God. God's only provided plan for His age, His sons in the Word age
quickened by the Spirit like a spark that's lit off of something to make it
alive; and seated now in heavenly places
in present tense, already alive and subject to every promise in the Word.
Then what does that do? You being a part of God's gene, a part of the Word,
other men a part of God's Word, seated together, manifest the entire Body of
Christ, because there's no leaven among you. (See what He's talking about,
Brother Brown?) No leaven among you, just the Word only, seated in heavenly
places in the door where He put His Name: Christ Jesus. 264 No leaven among
you, that brings the entire Fulness of
the Godhead bodily among you. Couldn't do it in Luther's age, couldn't do
it in Wesley's age, couldn't do it in the Pentecostal age; but in the day when
the Son of man will be manifested, revealed, brought back the church together
with the entire Deity of God amongst His people, showing the same visible
signs, manifesting Himself like He did at the beginning when He was manifested
on earth in a form of a Prophet God (Oh, Glory.) promised by Malachi 4,
promised by the rest of the Scriptures. Where you worship at? The house of God,
seated, in present tense.
THE MASTERPIECE 64-0705 25
Father God, Thy Word is a Lamp, the Light that lights the path of every
believer into the Presence of God, as It carries us like a lantern in our hand.
You've not provided enough that we should see the end from the beginning, and I
walk with faith. But as a man would
travel through a dark forest at night (And that's where we are.), the light
that he holds only provides step by step. But the path, though leading
upward, just walk with the Light. And may The Light shine today upon the Word
to lead us one step farther to the
So you see,
that is the key right there. If we are walking in the light as he is IN the
Light we have
fellowship one with
another, and the Blood of his son cleanses us from all sin.
The problem I see in
this message is that many who claim to believe it no longer see it with eyes of
present tense but it has already become a history to them. There is no revival
fire down in their souls because the Word is not alive in them. The same thing
among many who followed brother Vayle’s ministry. The revival fire has burned
down and is gone because they have stopped walking in the light.
Listen my friends,
those who are old enough to remember the revival fire that they felt when
brother Branham was here, do you still have that same fervor for the Word as
you did back then? And what about those of you who attended those wonderful
meetings when brother Vayle was breaking down the teaching of Br. Branham and
that word was coming alive to you. Do you remember the revival in your hearts
you felt as the Word opened up to you in ways you had not seen since brother
Branham? Well, I have news for you, That same Pillar of Fire is still leading
the elect and he will not leave here without taking us to the Millennium, so just
because the revival fires may be just a smoking ember of memory to you, it does
not mean that the revival fires have burned out for others.
I know, because the
same word is living and coming alive to thousands around the world because the
same teacher, the Holy Spirit is still in our midst. Brother Vayle has told me
on many occasions, he said, “Brian, people are saying when I am gone then the
teaching is over, but that is not true. As long as the Holy Spirit is here,
there will be teaching because He is the teacher.
As I mentioned last
week concerning all Three Exoduses, how God came down in the form of the Pillar
of Fire, raised up a prophet from among the brethren and through this prophet
God revealed his Purpose and Plan and brought the people out from organization
by a mighty hand demonstrating his Supernatural Presence among the people while
vindicating the Message that He gave that prophet to call the people out from
the bondage and slavery of Organization. The Message was to “come out from among
her and be ye separate saith the Lord, and I will be will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”. 2 Corinthians
6:17-18.
Then God withdrew His
prophet from the scene, but God remained on the scene manifesting His presence
in the same Pillar of Fire to lead the people into the promise for the age
using another ministry to positionally place the people into the promise of
their day. Not another Message, not another purpose and plan, but a ministry to
take the people “IN” to the purpose and plan of God.
We saw how in Moses
day, God ordained a Prophet to bring the people out with a mighty hand, but
then God remained on the scene after taking Moses off the scene and brought the
people in under Joshua. At the Second Exodus, we see the Pillar of Fire come
down and rest upon Jesus and enter into Jesus (Jesus in Jesus as brother
Branham put it) and in Him, the Pillar of Fire brought the people out of
Organized religion that had held down and suppressed the Word of God. The
people received a message to come out from among her “come out from among her and be ye separate
saith the Lord, and I will be will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my
sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”. 2 Corinthians 6:17-18.” .
Position
in Christ 60-0522M P:15 The purpose of this study in this Book of
Ephesians is to positionally place the church where it absolutely stands in
Christ. It is a type of the Old
Testament and the Book of Joshua, where Joshua lotted the land to each man.
And he done it by inspiration. How Moses brought the people out of Egypt, the
garlic, leek, out, and gave them a place to where God had promised four hundred
years before, that He would bring them into a place, a goodly land flow with
milk and honey. And Moses led the children of
Again God using that
prophetic ministry to bring the people out of organized religion, into a
relation with Himself, but then God took His Son, the Son of Man ministry, that
ministry of the prophet for the age off the scene and once again God raised up
a teaching ministry to positionally place the people into the promised Word for
that age. God sent forth that same Pillar of Fire, and anointed Paul to be a
teacher of the Gentiles to positionally place the people into Christ.
Now, in this last
Exodus, we see the same scene unfold itself once again. God comes down with a
Shout, Reveals His purpose and plan to His prophet William Branham, The people
come out of organized religion, and begin to wander in the wilderness. then God
pulls that prophet from the scene and that Pillar of Fire remains on the scene
and God uses a teaching ministry under that same Pillar of Fire, to bring the
people in and positionally place them in the promise for the age, making them
ready for the adoption of sons, thus fulfilling His Word once again. “come out from among
her and be ye separate saith the Lord, and I will be will be a Father unto you,
and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”. 2 Corinthians
6:17-18.”
Ephesians
parallels Joshua 60-0515E P:35 Joshua,
that great warrior, anointed of God, positionally placed into the land, like
Ephesians to the new church, possessing the land, taking it over.
Ephesians
parallels Joshua 60-0515E P:19 Now, the Book of Ephesians, as I was just
saying, to my opinion, is one of the greatest Books of the New Testament. It
leaves us on where Calvinism runs out on one limb, and Arminianism runs out on
the other limb, but the Book of Ephesian
draws it together and positionally places the church. Now, I've typed it with Joshua. If you
notice,
Manifested
sons of God 60-0518 P:10 Then did you notice Moses, that great
miracle performer that brought down Israel down through the land, and brought
them up to the promised land, but did
not place their inheritance to them? He
did not give them their inheritance; he
led them up to the land, but Joshua divided the land to the people. Is that
right? And Christ brought the church up to the place to where their possession
was made to them, was given to them, just the Jordan to cross, but the Holy Spirit is the One Who sets the
church in order, the Joshua of today puts the church in its order, giving
to each one, gifts, places, position. And He is the Voice of God speaking to
the inner man that Christ has saved: the Holy Spirit. Now, do you get that much
of it? Now, we're getting over into the Book of Ephesians. Now, the same way,
He's positionally placing the church where they belong. Now, Joshua placed them in the natural land.
Now, the Holy Spirit is placing the
church positionally, in the position that they belong in, their inheritance.
Adoption
or placing 60-0522E P:57 ... after you heard the truth, the
Gospel of your salvation...What was the salvation he was trying to
tell them? Predestinated before the foundation of the earth (Is that right?) to adoption of sons, predestinated to
Eternal Life. Now, after you come into Eternal Life, after you been saved, sanctified, filled with the Holy Spirit, you're
sons. Now, God wanting to place you positionally,
oh, so that you can work for His Kingdom and His glory. That's the Gospel.
Being first, hear the Word, "Repent, be baptized in the
Name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins." Taking away all your
sins, calling on the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, for the promise is unto
every sojourner that's on your road. If you left your home tonight, a sinner,
saying, "I'll walk over to the Branham Tabernacle," God gives you the
opportunity tonight. There's one thing lays between you and the promised Land.
What is the promised Land? The Holy
Ghost. What laid between Joshua and the promised land was the
Ephesians parallels Joshua 60-0515E P:15 I'd
like to say this, that this Book of
Ephesians perfectly parallels the Old Testament Joshua: Ephesians, the Book
of Ephesians...
Now, in getting back
to our theme on walking in the light as He is in the Light. What I am trying to
tell you is that God is not finished with His elect yet, and we are to keep on
walking further and further into the promises of God for this hour, and he will
keep on teaching until we have been fully restored to the position that we are
ordained to be in for an adoption of sons.
So brother Branham
said in THE
MASTERPIECE 64-0705 25 Father God, Thy Word is a Lamp, the Light that lights the
path of every believer into the Presence of God, as It carries us like a
lantern in our hand. You've not provided enough that we should see the end from
the beginning, and I walk with faith. But as
a man would travel through a dark forest at night (And that's where we are.),
the light that he holds only provides step by step. But the path, though
leading upward, just walk with the Light. And may The Light shine today upon
the Word to lead us one step farther to the
Notice he said, the light that he
holds only provides light for us step by
step.
So that is s
what I would like to focus our attention on this morning. Brother Branham
speaks here of God's Light as only providing enough for us as we take each
step, after he said, God has not
provided enough Light for us to see the end from the beginning. So Brother
Branham is speaking of walking in the light step by step. Therefore the Light
that God gives us is not one big dose that will see you all the way through.
The Light that He gives is not enough to last you from birth to Manifested Son.
It's like eating. You must eat every day to keep your energy level at a certain
level. They have not developed a system whereby man can eat one big feast and
live on that the rest of his life, and neither has God made man to eat one big
spiritual feast and live on that for the rest of His Life.
I heard a
minister one time boasting how he has not changed what he is preaching for 40
years. Well, I’m sorry for that man, because he’s lost. He’s dead and done
dried up, and so have the people that he pastors, because Revelation is
progressive just as Life is progressive. You do not start out as a fully grown
individual, you start out as a babe and then you grow and add cells to the body
and as you eat the food breaks down and feeds the blood and the blood feeds the
cells and the cells get nourished and grow and the body grows and gets strength
and energy from the Nourishment that you take into the body.
Now, Jesus said, Man
does not live by bread alone, and if this man has not changed his diet in 40
years then he has not grown spiritually in those 40 years, because revelation
is progressive and we should be growing and changing from image to image and
from glory to glory, and if you are not changing you can be but one thing.
Dead! Dead men don't grow, and they
don't increase, except if they are recently dead and then they bloat.
The apostle
Paul said in 2
Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory
of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by
the Spirit of the Lord.
Now the apostle Paul told us here that
when we look into the mirror of the Word we are changed into the Image that we
see in the Word which is Christ Who is our light. And then he tells us we are
changed from image to image and from glory to glory, and we know that this
glory was translated from the Greek word “doxa” which is the opinion, values and Judgment of God. So he tells us
that we are changed into the image of Christ who is our light and we are
changed from one opinion to another and to another and to another until we come
into the mind of God.
We are also told by the apostle Paul 1 Corinthians 15:
52 In
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
1 Corinthians
15: 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed,
Now, therefore if this man claims to
never have changed his preaching, and he was a oneness 40 years ago, it is very
apparent that he is still a oneness. And further more if we are all to be
changed, which is our hope, and we receive our transformation by the renewing
of our mind, then there is no transformation for this man and all those who
think just like him.
Well, bless God I
talked to the prophet, and I walked with him and even hunted with him. And 2
million people walked and talked with Moses and they are every one dead, and
brother Branham said that is eternally separated from God. God is not
interested in who you once walked with, He’s interested in Who you are now
walking with. If you walk in the Light as HE IS IN the Light.
That is what He is
interested in.
Ephesians 4:11 tells us, And
he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some,
pastors and teachers; And it seems to me there are five here,
not just one or two. And why did he give these gifts to the church? 12 For
the perfecting of the saints,(that’s
the maturing and finishing off of the saints) for the work of the ministry, for the edifying
of the body of Christ: (and what is the edifying of the church? It’s the building up, not
tearing down) 13 Till we all come in
the unity of the faith,
(not just Faith, but THE FAITH, and there is only One Faith and that is the
revelation of Jesus Christ. And notice he also says, ) and of the knowledge of the Son of God,(so
unless you are teaching a knowledge of the Son of God, you are not one of these
gifts God has placed in the church. ) unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the
fullness of Christ: (And
the purpose of having a knowledge of the Son of God is so you are not tossed
around.) 14 That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and
carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; 15 But speaking the truth in love, may grow
up into him in all things, which is the head, even
Christ:
In Romans 12: 2
the Apostle Paul said, And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by
the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable,
and perfect, will of God.
And again in Colossians 3: 10 he said, And have put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
Now the evidence that you have put on the new man is that you have been renewed
in knowledge of Him. But what if you have not been renewed in your mind like
this preacher I heard? Then what?
The Apostle
Paul further said in Ephesians 4: 23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; Now
to renew does not mean to make new again. The Greek word that was
used here means to renovate or reform. And we do not renovate something unless
it has become worn out or in need of repairs. And we do not reform someone
unless that person needs a change of the mind from that which was corrupt to
that which thinks right.
And we are told in Hebrews six that those
who fall away from the Once for all enlightenment, that it is impossible to
renew them again. Hebrews 6: 6 If they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance;
seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open
shame. Therefore what we must conclude from the reading of the
scriptures is that if a man claims to not change, and claims he has been
preaching the same thing for the past 40 years, and by now it would have to be
50 years for this particular preacher, because I heard him say this over ten
years ago. Then to not change shows you are either dead, and can not change, or
you have crystallized your thinking like
6. for it is impossible If they shall fall away, to renew them again
unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and
put him to an open shame.
Now notice he
said they could not renew them to repentance, and we know that repentance is a
change of the mind. So these are not capable of renewing their mind. So what
does that tell you about such a character. It tells you they have crucified to
themselves the Word of God Afresh.
So you see, I would not want to be in
that man's shoes at the white throne judgment. No not for one moment. Why?
Because he is admitting by his statement that he has crucified the Word of God
afresh and put it to an open shame.
Now you might say, Brother, those are
pretty strong words. Well, this same man who claimed to never have changed also
called the Parousia of Christ “puke”.
So we see how brother Branham's illustration of walking in the light one step
at a time is very necessary to a life that is willing to be changed.
Therefore, as in the natural where we
must eat everyday to keep up our energy, God has made us in the Spiritual to
eat from The Tree of Life on a daily basis to keep up our Spiritual energy.
There is an old expression that says, Seven days without prayer makes one “weak”,
and if you did not eat in the natural for seven days you would become very weak
in your body. And seven days without prayer and the Bread of Life will weaken
the man in his spirit.
So we hear
Brother Branham say, “the light that he holds only provides step by step. But the
path, though leading upward, just walk with the Light. And may The Light shine
today upon the Word to lead us one step farther to the Kingdom of God.
And these words still have meaning today, 43 years later.
Now, remember when the Pillar of Fire was
first on the scene, the people walked with that Light when it moved and when it
stopped for a certain time they stopped with it. And why is that? Because if
they didn't move when it moved, it would have left them behind. And if they
kept walking when it stopped they would have walked out from the presence of
God like Cain did.
So the Light represents the Presence of
the Living God. And where there is the most light coming forth from a ministry
is where the Spirit of God is working at presently. Brother Vayle used football
terms like when the man has the ball you are supposed to block for him, not try
to take the ball away. And when you see God is moving in a certain ministry and
you see that ministry moving on with God, then get behind it and walk in the
light of the glorious presence of the Living God. What would have happened to
the people if they would have stopped walking forward when god took Aaron off
the scene, or when Moses was taken away. They still moved forward under the
same Pillar of Fire, and those who did entered into the promise for their hour
and they were positionally placed, and that is what God is still doing today.
We think, oh what would
God do without brother So and so. Well let me tell you, He would still do the
same thing He is doing now without brother so and so.
Brother Branham said, Why little
Bethlehem 63-1214 P:25 Let me tell you, brother, no matter who we are,
"You want to know how important you are," I said to my little girl,
"Stick your finger in a bucket of water and pull it out, and try to find
the hole." We're nothing.
There's only One important; that's God. We must remember He's the One.
Influence 63-0112 P:58 Listen.
Be conscious of your littleness. Who are you? Stick your finger in a bucket of
water and pull it out, and find the hole you put your finger in. Then say,
"That was me." You're nothing. You'll not be missed after, a little
while after you're gone. They'll have a funeral possession out here, and that's
all. But your influence will live on, and on, and on.
So let’s move on as
the Pillar of Fire is still here leading us. And remember,
brother Branham told us that God only gives us enough light for a step by step
walk in the presence of the Light. Notice he tells us, the Light only provides for step by step but
then he adds,
just walk with the Light. So if you are going to walk with the Light
then the light has to be walking as well. And John tells us in 1 John 1:7, If you walk in the
Light as He is in the light, you have fellowship one with another and the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses you from all sin.
Paul said in 1
Corinthians 13: 12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to
face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
And again in 2 Corinthians 3: 18 But we all, with
open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the
same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
And in Colossians 3: 4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,
then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
And the Apostle
John told us in 1
John 3: 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet
appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be
like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And Brother Branham told us
TRUMPET GIVES AN UNCERTAIN SOUND 63-0114 89
And word by word, step by step, you'll possess everything that God promised
you. For all things are possible to him that will ride on it. Ride on His
promise, for it's certain to bring you to the camp. It'll bring you to the
Presence of God.
Just listen to the
promises we have from God, for as it was in the first exodus so he is the same
today, and we are fixing to cross over into that other dimension one of these
days just as Israel was about to cross over the Jordan. I would like to read
from the NIV
Deuteronomy chapter 11and picking up at verse 16 Be careful, or you will
be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord's anger
will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain
and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good
land the LORD is giving you. 18
Fix these words of mine in your hearts
and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your
foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and
when you walk along the road, when
you lie down and when you get up. 20
Write them on the doorframes of your
houses and on your gates, 21
so that your days and the days of your
children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers,
as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. 22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am
giving you to follow--to love the LORD
your God, to walk in all his ways and to hold fast to him-- 23 then the LORD will drive
out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and
stronger than you. 24 Every
place where you set your foot will be yours: Your territory will extend from
the desert to
Deuteronomy 12 7
There, in the presence of the LORD your God, you and your families shall eat
and shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the LORD
your God has blessed you. 8
You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit, 9 since you have not yet
reached the resting place and the inheritance the LORD your God is giving you. 10 But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the LORD your God
is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your
enemies around you so that you will live in safety. 11 Then to the place the LORD your God will choose as a
dwelling for his Name--there you are to bring everything I command you: your
burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, and all the
choice possessions you have vowed to the LORD.
Oh what a promise, to
walk in his presence and find rest in His presence. And we are on our road home
now, brothers and sisters, and only a short little more time and we shall be on
that other side away from this desert and pest house that we are living in.
END TIME SIGN SEED
62-0319 17 The man who knows not where he goes, stumbles. And you said
we were children of the light, and we should know where we are going, step by
step, as packing a light.
WHY ARE PEOPLE
SO TOSSED ABOUT 56-0101 122 Now, what do we do? Stay in the glory.
Walk in the Light. Walk step by step with Him, ever holding to His everlasting
hand; eternal blessings of God resting with you, knowing this assurance, that
God will not promise anything that He cannot do. See?
So keep walking on, and stop when God
stops, and move on when he moves on. If the people had stopped when Moses there
prophet died, then they would never have crossed over the
So we must keep moving on with the Word.
Brother Branham in his sermon ANOINTED ONES AT END TIME 65-0725M 168 "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.