Spoken
Word no 41
No
private Interpretation
Brian Kocourek
2
Peter 1:10 Wherefore
the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure:
for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:11 For
so an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. 12 Wherefore
I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things,
though ye know them, and be established in the
present truth. 13 Yea, I think it meet, as long as
I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you
in remembrance; 14 Knowing that shortly I must put
off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus
Christ hath shewed me. 15 Moreover I will endeavour
that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. 16 For we have not followed cunningly
devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord
Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For
he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice
to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. 18 And this voice which came from heaven we
heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. 19 We
have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed,
as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day
star arise in your hearts: 20 Knowing this first,
that no prophecy of the scripture is of
any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came
not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
Let us pray,
Dear Father we just read in your Word that no prophecy of the Scripture is any private interpretation,
because it did not come by man, nor by the will of any man, but it came about
as Your Holy Spirit moved upon the hearts of men who were sanctified and filled
with your spirit. And we know that You Father, interpret Your own Word by bringing
it to pass. And yet we also see men who have come to a stand still in this
Message because they think this means that we are not supposed to be able to
understand the Prophecy of Scripture nor to be able to explain it without
saying word for word as our prophet did. Father, I don’t understand this sort
of mindset that says one thing and does another, for their own actions show
that they do not believe what You have taught right here in Your Word. You said
in Your Word that “The Lord Himself will descend with a Shout, which Your
Prophet told us is a Message, and in Your Word you said that Your Great
parousia Presence would come down to manifest Yourself to mankind, and You did
just exactly what You said You would do, and they don’t want to believe it.
Your own word tells us if we do not have the doctrine of Christ we do not have
you, and You said if we have the doctrine of Christ we will have both a Father
and a son. And you have shown us in your Word, and you have manifested Your
Word, and interpreted Your own Word by bringing it to pass, and yet they will
not believe. So help us Father to hold to Your Word, and to wait on Your
interpretation of it by Your bringing it to pass. And when you do bring Your
Word to pass, may we have eyes to see it, for we ask it in Jesus Christ’s
name. For Your son said, “blessed are
your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear. Amen.
Now, let me make something perfectly clear, before we
go any further in this study. Just because we hear Peter say these words about
no man has a right to his own private interpretation of God’s Word, doesn’t
mean that only a prophet can understand and teach what God’s Word declares.
When brother Vayle met brother Branham for the first time where they had
opportunity to sit and discuss the doctrine, brother Branham went away from
that meeting saying that there was only one thing they disagreed upon, and that
was the tribulation period, and whether or not the bride would go through it.
Well, when brother Vayle was told that his
understanding was wrong on that one thing, he went and studied it and found
that the word tribulation comes from the word retribution, and that the
tribulation was a retributive act of God upon all those who turned down the
Word of God. So after making that correction he and the prophet were in sync on
the doctrine, al of it.
So what Peter is saying here and what we will hear
brother Branham say is not that only one person is allowed to teach the word
for fear that he may be giving a wrong interpretation of the Word. But rather,
God interprets His own word by bringing it to pass, and as long as you don’t
try to come up with your own thoughts about it and show the written Word along
with the manifested Word, you can’t go wrong.
That is what Peter is saying, because he says we have
a more sure Word of prophecy because we have seen the prophecy fulfilled right
before our very eyes.
John tells us the same thing in 1 John 1. That which was from the beginning, which we
have heard, (so it was not their imagination, they actually heard
it) which we have
seen with our eyes,(so it was not just their idea about what
it was to be, but they actually saw it with their own eyes) which we have looked upon,(in other words, they visited with it and
they beheld it with their own eyes, and not even that but he says) our hands have handled, of the Word of life;(so they not only
heard Him, but they saw Him, and they handled Him, and so it is of no private
interpretation, because God was manifested in the Flesh of His Son, for God is
Life.) 2 (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it,
(and what we have seen, we
also) bear
witness to it, and (we) show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father,
and was manifested unto us;) (And how does God interpret
His own Word? By bringing it to pass. And so it is of no private
interpretation, because the Word with skin on it, is a living and breathing
Word. The Alpha declares the Omega) 3 That which we have seen and heard declare we
unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.4 And
these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.
So that doesn’t mean that you can not understand the
Word, nor does it mean that there are not men who can explain what the Word is
saying. You see there is a certain
mindset in the Message that says that there is only one person who understands
the Word of God and that is His Prophet.
And that is just ludicrous to even think that way. And if that be so,
then how are you supposed to believe? Then all you have is dumb driven cattle.
I have 20 pages of quotes from brother Branham himself
that I can show you where brother Branham said the evidence that you have the
new birth is that you will understand the Word of God.
Let me read a few for you.
From the sermon Key to the door
62-1007 P: 68 Brother Branham said, No man can understand the
Word outside the baptism of the Holy Ghost. And when a man says he's got the
baptism of the Holy Ghost, and disputes the Word being right, there's something
wrong.
And again from
the sermon Identified masterpiece of God 64-1205
P:67 Brother Branham said, How can a man have the
baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit wrote the Word, and a man have
the baptism of the Holy Spirit and deny the Word? How can the Holy Spirit in
you deny Its own Word that was set forth for you? I can't understand it. It's
got to agree with the Word, and if your spirit in you won't punctuate every one
of God's promises with "Amen." there's something wrong.
And again from
the sermon Discerning
body of Lord 59-0812 P:16 he said, “Jesus said once, "That
except a man be born again, he cannot see the
And from his
sermon called Calling of Abraham 55-1116 P:29 Brother Branham said, Jesus said to Nicodemus,
"Except the man be born again he cannot see the
God said in, ISAIAH 55:6 ¶ 7
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let
him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for
he will abundantly pardon. 8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways, saith the LORD. 9 For as the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your
thoughts.
And the Apostle
Paul told us the only way you will understand the thoughts of God is to have
the Spirit of God in you. And that is the new birth.
I CORINTHIANS 2:9 But as it is
written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart
of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. 10 But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit (therefore
if you do not have His Spirit in you how are you going to have those things
revealed to you?)
for The Spirit (not a spirit, but THE Spirit, God’s Spirit) searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. 11 For what man knoweth the things of a
man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God knoweth. (So what Paul is
saying here is that the only way you are going to know and understand the
things of God is if you have the Spirit of God in you. You can’t understand it
as just a man. You’ve got to have God-life in you to understand the things of
God.)
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of God; (and if it is of God then it
had its source in God, then it is a part of God’s own spirit or life that he is
talking about. And we have that in order) that we might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. 13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom
teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things
with spiritual. 14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned. (In other words it takes the
Spirit of God in you to discern them.) 15 But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he
himself is judged of no man. 16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that
he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.
And this same
Apostle said, “let
the mind that was in Christ be in you.” So it is possible to have
the mind of God but as we have seen you can not have it without having His
Spirit or His Life in you. And Jesus said that this Spirit is the Word of God.
He said, the
Words which I speak unto you, they are spirit
and they are life.
So you see, here, unless you
have the baptism of the Holy Spirit you will never understand this message no
matter how plainly the Prophet of God says it. And certainly the Word of
Prophecy is of no private interpretation because if it did not come by
man, then man has no right to interpret it. But that doesn’t mean there is no
right interpretation to it. And neither does it mean that no man will be able
to understand it and explain it. That is totally ludicrous to even think such a
thing as that.
What Peter is saying here is
that if God said it, then God is obligated to interpret it by bringing it to
pass. That’s what he meant by saying that we have a more sure word of prophecy,
because we have actually seen the fulfillment of it. And that is what the Alpha
and Omega principle is all about. What God did in the Alpha he must do in the
Omega. So if He already gave us the interpretation in the Alpha, then he
doesn’t have to interpret it again in the Omega if he does the same thing. Otherwise,
people would be like dumb driven cattle, and it would be impossible to teach them
anything, because how are you going to learn if the same thing that was done
once means something else the next time it is done.
Don’t they know that God doesn’t
change? So if He does something in the Alpha, then you can expect Him to do the
same thing in the Omega. Now, that ought to tell you that what it was then it
will be the same the next time as well. If I have a wooden board that has no
splices in it, and it is “oak” at one end, then it’s got to be “oak” at the
other end.
So for God to do something
in the Alpha and then repeat it in the Omega I do not need to wait for some
great person to tell me the interpretation if I have any Spirit of God in me. I
do not even need a prophet to come along and say this is what it is if God has
already manifested it to be the same thing he has already come and interpreted.
The prophet Himself is the interpretation of it. He doesn’t have to tell me,
because he is.
From his audio letter to brother Vayle, brother Branham said, Audio letter to Lee Vayle 64-0500 P:2 Would it be,
you think, advisable in here, to say that God then, in order to--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.
If God did a certain thing a
certain way in the first age, and that same thing transpires again in this age,
then by knowing what it was in the first age, I can know what it is in the last
age. I did not need for brother Branham to tell me he is the end-time prophet
of Malachi 4. In fact he never comes right out and says it, but I believe he
was, because I see the Scripture, and what it says this man will do, and then I
see what was done, and if you have any spirit of god in you, you can not but
help to know that he was that prophet.
Now, the problem we have is
that most people do not know what really took place in the first age, because
they look at it as a history book instead of a living Word. And that is because
they have been taught wrong to begin with. But if a person sits under the
prophet for the age, if he can not teach what that prophet taught after having
sat at his feet for many years then there is something wrong with that man.
But to some, they think that we should only listen to
the tapes because then we can be sure we got it right to begin with. But let me
tell you something, Those that only listen to tapes are the ones who have it
all wrong. They claim to believe all that brother Branham said, but by their
actions they show they don’t even understand what he said much less believe
what he said. And how can you believe if you don’t understand anyway?
Of course he said, “say what
the tapes say, say only what they say”, and that is no different than
what the apostle Paul said in Galatians chapter 1
when he said if we or an angel preach any other thing than what has already
been taught, let him be accursed.
Now, Paul was not saying, throw out the Gospels, and
the Epistles of Peter, James and John and only listen to me. He wasn’t saying
that you should not listen to anyone but Himself, and neither was brother
Branham saying that. What he was saying, is that if you are going to preach
then you had better be teaching the same Gospel, not one with a different
nature to it than what he taught.
But men can be of such a nature that they are scared
stiff to preach the Word, and so they will only play tapes of brother Branham
and yet they themselves have no clue as to what he taught and in fact deny the
doctrine he taught all the while claiming to believe everything he said.
Now, if that is not an oxymoron, I do not know what
is. Men who claim to believe this Bible from cover to cover and teaching a
Oneness Message when Jesus said that His Father was greater than himself.
Look! The fundamentalist really believes in his heart
that he believes every jot and tittle of the Word of God. But he doesn’t. He might say he does, but by his understanding he
proves he doesn’t. Brother Branham said, “just because you say it is so, doesn’t make
it so.”
And many people claim to believe brother Branham and
but I can tell you by their lives they prove they do not believe it because
they do not understand it. And it shows in their lives. I’ve seen men who take
advantage of other men and yet claim to believe the truth. Claim to believe the
Supreme Judge is here and yet destroy a brother’s reputation. Kill a man’s
influence by smearing his name and making up lies against the brother and claim
to do it in Jesus name? Isn’t that what they did to Jesus? They thought they
were standing with what Moses taught, and so the very one Moses pointed them to
they killed because He did not come the way they thought he was supposed to
come.
Now, look, those Pharisees knew the written word
better than any preachers today. They were so well trained that they could take
a pin and stick it into that scroll and tell you each letter it passed through
as it pierced through the entire scroll. None of you know your bible like that.
Let me take a pin here and stick it into your bible and you tell me what
letters it will pass through on the next page and the page following that. You
can’t do it, because you are not trained to do it. But these men knew each word
in that scroll and its position to the next one, and so on, and yet when it cam
to understand what thoe words meant, they didn’t have a clue.
O, they thought they had a clue, but they missed it a
million miles. And so was it in this day as denomination after denomination
missed the end-time message of God because they thought it should come some
other way. But the Lord Himself came down with a SHOUT. God is the One Who came
down, and His written Word said he would come the way He actually came but they
missed it because their minds had already figured it out, or so they thought.
And that is why you don’t find me preaching on the
tent vision. Because it wasn’t my vision. It is of NO PRIVATE interpretation.
It was given to brother Branham and it will come just as he said it would, but
not the way that men say it will come.
And the same for that powerful woman who will come out
of the
Let’s bow our heads in prayer.