Spoken Word no. 64

God’s Book of Judgment

Brian Kocourek

 

Let us open our Bibles this morning to read for our text from Revelation 22: 16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. 17  And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. 18  For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, 1) God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: 19  And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, 1) God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and 2) out of the holy city, and 3) from the things which are written in this book. (So we can see how important it is to say it Like God said it.) 20  He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus. 21  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

 

Let us bow our heads and our hearts for a Word of Prayer: Dear Gracious and Loving Father, we know that Thou art the God of all Heaven and Earth and the Supreme Judge that has come down in this hour for investigating Judgment. Help us o God, for You are also our Father, and in You we live and move and have our being, and in You is Life. And You said Father that unless we have Your Spirit living in us, we can not understand the things of God, so help us Father, to understand Your Word by filling us with Your Spirit, so that our thoughts may be Your Thoughts, and then we shall know we will not add to nor take away from Thy Great Word which You have written between the pages of this Book we call the Bible. And then we shall have peace, and we shall Know that You are our God, and that You Lord are also our Father, Who has begotten us by Your Own Word of Life. Grant this we ask in the name of Your first Born Son Jesus, that we might be conformed to His Image, in Jesus Christ’s name we pray. Amen.

 

Now, this morning we have read a very important text that all will be judged by who have read the great Words Spoken by our Lord Jesus Christ through His Angel to the churches and do not say what He said. Now, as we study these Words, I want to show you how these words correspond to what brother Branham has to say in the very next paragraph of our study of His sermon, The Spoken Word is the Original Seed and I would like to read from paragraph 43 to continue with this study.  

 

PP. 43 Now, I hope that if this hurts that it isn't me; I'm trying to say why I believe what I believe and the way I've acted the way I've acted, of the things that I done. I'm trying to show myself to the world, that I have done this because this is my conviction. I believe that any word that's added to this Bible and whoever is guilty of doing it, his part will be taken out of the Book of Life: Revelation 22, "Whosoever shall add to This or take from This..." I do not believe that any creed, any dogma, anything else, but just the literal Word of God is God's plan. Anything else is sinful and will be dealt with and will be eternally lost: any man, any creed, any denomination, or anything that will add to or take from one punctuation of this Word. God, Who is not a God of yesterday Who wrote a book and handed it out in a bunch of men's hands and let it be confused and everything else, then go to judge the world with that Book. But the God that wrote It lives, lives in It, and confirms His Word. (Now, in studying the tapes, I want you to study that real close right there, that remark. See?)


44 Now, I begin at Genesis, and I'm over to Revelations now bringing this together that this is God's Word. Revelation says that whosoever will take from It or add to It, the same will be taken, his part out of the Book of Life. I get to the Scripture, quote it after while: Revelations the last chapter. That's the 1st chapter shows now, what? What is the Word. Now, It is eternal. It must not be tampered with, added to, or taken away from. See? Must not be tampered with: God sees to that. It must not be added to, anything to It. Nothing can be taken from It because It's eternal. See? Now, now, to base upon to show you that, what I'm trying to say, is in between these (Genesis to Revelation) it will not mix with anything else.


45 Now, here's where we're going to differing, from here till five o'clock this afternoon. See? Here's where we're going to differ. How many will agree that this is God's Book of judgment, that we'll be judged according to the Word of God? It shall not be added to or taken away from. Then why has this been done? Now, we're getting to it. Why has this been done in such a rude way? Now, we're going to find it between Genesis and Revelation, right down in our time, down through other times.


46 Now, let me make that real clear for the tape. Now, after I have told you why I believe the Word, and what God said about It, and how It should not be taken or added to, taken from, I want to go into the dense part of it, to the context of this long text that I have drawn out, and explain to you and show you what happened; then you can see the reason I believe what I believe, see?

 

Therefore this morning, before we get to brother Branham’s explanation of why it is so crucial for us to say only what God said is because it is in this Book and by this Book that we will be judged. That is why I can not understand how so many who call themselves the five-fold ministry of God, will not teach what God taught us in His Own Book. I do not care what organizational system they belong to, whether it is one of the thousands of so called Christian denominations, or even those who have organized themselves around this Message. I can not understand how they can be so callous and teach a Trinitarian or Unitarian concept of the Godhood of God when it is so contrary to God’s Own Word. He said if you shall add one Word to what I have said, then you shall have the plagues added to you. And if you shall take away one Word from what I teach, then 1) God shall take away your part out of the book of life, and 2) You shall have no part in the holy city, and 3) You shall be kept from the things which are written in this book.

 

What a horrendous punishment people are willing to go through just for holding onto their stupid ideas and concepts. And it all comes down to Pride. Simply and purely they are too proud to let go of their own thoughts and receive the mind of Christ.   Just think of it, not only will God take away your part out of the book of life, and that alone is a horrible thing to bear, but you will be separated from his glorious presence, and not permitted to enter into the holy city.

On top of that you will also be kept from the things which are written in this book. And God has so much for those who love Him that is written in this Book, so why would anyone be willing to throw that away just to make a ludicrous claim that they are right and others are wrong, when God’s Word is right and all man’s thinking is in vain.

 

That is why I will not fuss with anyone over the Doctrine that we teach, because I know that what we teach is Word for Word with the teachings of William Branham who alone was vindicated to be a Word Prophet of God to us in this Last hour. And I know also that what He taught is Word for Word what the Apostles and Prophets taught that were recorded in this Great Word of God. That is why all over the world we have brother who have come to this very same conclusion, because they say it all lines up from Genesis to Revelations, what we teach.

 

Now, show me one ministry who has put together the thoughts of William Branham and tied them to the Scriptures concerning his doctrine and made them available to the people as we’ve done. I know others teach it, but how many have cast that bread upon human troubles waters? And that makes us a target of every skeptic who claims to follow the Ministry of William Branham and also the rest of the world’s skeptics who denounce William Branham and his teaching.

 

So there is a sizeable risk that is taken to do so, because not only do we place ourselves before the Great Judgment seat of Christ, but also before the judgment seat of every skeptic who claims to follow or oppose the teachings of William Branham.

 

Now, someone had to lay these things together by the Word and by the end-time vindicated Message in order to shut the mouths of the skeptics who teach error concerning the things William Branham taught. Therefore, if I have taught anything that is contrary to what he taught, I do not know how it is possible seeing that every thing he has taught, we have shown from the scriptures themselves.

 

My ministry is based upon one thing, and that only.  From his sermon Shalom, 64-0119 p:92 William Branham said all the new testament speaks of this hour, and it has been my goal and motive to make clear to the people these words are true and still living among us. All the new testament speaks of this hour. Just think of that. And with that I have painstakingly worked towards that purpose, to show the people who follow this great end-time ministry of William Branham that everything he spoke on those tapes, was taken right from this Bible.

 

Therefore, if I have missed some Scriptures when trying to show what brother Branham taught, or if I missed some quotations of His in teaching what he taught, it is not because I have willfully done so, but rather because of not having come across that Scripture or quotation or else, not seeing the relevance of the one to the other. But I can say, as Paul said, “For I have not shunned to declare unto you the whole counsel of God”.

 

Now, with that said, let’s return to our study on the great judgments that await all who will not say what God has said. Basically there are two directions you can go in deviating from God’s Word. You either add to what he said, and as a result you will be here for the tribulation period, and the plagues under that 6th seal, and there will be no rapture for you, nor will you have any part in the first resurrection. So then you will come up at the general resurrection with the rest of mankind, and you will have to stand before the judgment seat of Christ and you will be judged by the Book which was opened by the Lamb of God.

 

Now, the second option is even worse, because by taking away what has been said in this Book, you are openly defying God’s Word to be true, and thus you are in opposition to God Himself. And as a result the sentence for this is much more severe than the first.  To me this will be those people who deny what the prophet teaches even though you can show them right from the Word of God that every Word he taught is true and comes right from the Word of God.

 

I have met this kind. They say William Branham was wrong, that he taught wrong and was in error when he said that God left Jesus in Gethsemane. They say there is nothing in the Word of God about that. So when you show them in the Word of God, they scoff at it and say they do not believe it anyway. These are the willfully ignorant that the Apostle Peter referred to in  2 Peter 3: 5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, …

 

But I will not argue with these men because the apostle Paul said in, 1 Corinthians 14: 38 But if any man wish to be ignorant, just let him be ignorant. And it is not our responsibility to answer the questions from those who are not asking to find out truth, but rather ask in order to trap you in your words like they did with Jesus as we see in the following Scriptures. It all depends on your own motives, what you get.

 

Luke 20: 20 And they watched him, and sent forth spies, which should feign themselves just men, (in other words, these were not just men, but these were play actors, pretending to be what they were not. So they pretended to be believers, but they were not. Then they were make believers. They feigned themselves just men, they pretended to be what they were not. And they came forth to spy on Jesus, the Bible tells us so…) that they might take hold of his words, that so they might deliver him unto the power and authority of the governor. So they came not to hear and learn but to hear so they might find fault.

 

And we see the same thing in  Mark 12: 13 And they send unto him certain of the Pharisees and of the Herodians, to catch him in his words. Again the words “to catch him” shows that their intent was to do injury and harm, to lay a trap for him, or to find something that he says in order to do him injury or harm. These are the make believers and every time God has ever sent forth a Message there have been these kind of make believers following the Message for that hour. Branham said they are in every church. And so they are also following this Message claiming to be real believers.

 

Go awake Jesus 63-1130E P:34 Now, there is another group that always hangs around, and that's the make-believer. Now, that make-believer is considered the hypocrite. Now, let's take a make-believer. It was Judas. He was the make-believer. And the make-believer hangs on and on, trying to find some way that they can get something on it. They stick around long enough just to find out if they can't find a little fault, then go out and expose it somewhere.

 

So these so-called ministers who make their own ministry out of exposing others as heretics show that there own motive is that of the make-believer. They try to say that they are following after the example of the Apostle Paul, yet when Paul did this he himself was not even born again and was following his flesh. He was deceived in his own self righteousness trying to do God a service without it being his will. That is why he hunted down heretics. But Gamaliel, that man of God whom Paul sat under told him according to Acts 22: 38  And now I say unto you, Refrain from these men, and let them alone: for if this counsel or this work be of men, it will come to nothing: 39  But if it be of God, ye cannot overthrow it; lest haply ye be found even to fight against God.

 

After the experience Paul had with the pillar of Fire he never again sought to do anything to heretics. In fact he said that he himself now worshipped God in the way many would call heresy. And when it came to heresy in the church, he had this to say…

 

1 Corinthians 11: 17 Now in this that I declare unto you I praise you not, that ye come together not for the better, but for the worse. 18  For first of all, when ye come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you; and I partly believe it.

 

Notice that Paul was addressing the church at Corinth and he told them he understood that there were divisions among them. He did not tell the people to root them out, and get rid of the bums. He did not tell the people to cast forth from the Message all heretics. He simply said, 9 I know there must be heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you. He simply told them that there are heresies among the people for the purpose of showing forth and openly manifesting those who are speaking the truth and have been identified after passing the test to be identified as ones who are true.  So the heresy is allowed by God to actually manifest the true from the untrue. Just like the night proclaims the beauty of the day, so too does the heretic among us show forth the beauty and sanity of those who teach the truth.

 

They are not to be hunted down and exposed. The Gospel is not to be preached in opposition to something? The Gospel is that which we attain unto. The word “Gospel” means “good news’ not bad news. Therefore our mission is not to root out heresy, just simply preach the truth and heresy will expose itself. Therefore the whole notion of these so called heretic hunters is nothing less than a declaration that they are make-believers in our midst trying to bring injury and harm to people and all it does is to expose their real motives as the same as that of Judas, and the Catholic system or organization.

 

Paul said in Romans 10: 3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.  So they hold everyone else up to their own standards and try them according to their own evil hearts in order to eliminate anyone who sings a different tune than they wish to hear. I pity their ugly and evil souls. I love the words that Brother Branham said concerning this in his sermon, God keeps His Word 57-0120E P:70 Why do we accept a counterfeit when the skies are full of the real?

 

Notice, brother Branham never denied the believers of other ages who only had a portion of the light we have. He included them in the great resurrection gathering.

But he says why would you accept a counterfeit when the skies are so full of the real? And that is our question to you this morning. Why would anyone wish to deny the hundreds of Scriptures and quotations that have been placed together showing what William Branham God’s vindicated prophet taught concerning the Godhead, and Presence of Christ, in favor of one or two half quotations that they have taken out of context just because their organization doesn’t see it the way we see it? Don’t they know that to deny One Word is to have their names taken from the book of Life? Don’t they know that you can not make William Branham’s quotes go contrary to God’s Word? Don’t they know that to do so it to bring them into further darkness? And in moving away from the light, they are at the same time cutting themselves off from the Life of God who is walking in the Light.

 

The Apostle Paul said in Ephesians 4: 18 Having the understanding darkened, they become alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart: and 2 Corinthians 4: 4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

 

So their own ignorance that is in them, takes them further and further from the light, and once removed from the Light they cut themselves off from the Life of God that is in Christ Jesus. Don’t they know that it was declared to us in 1 John 1:5 that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all?

 

Have not they read John 3:19-21?  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. 20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

 

So it is not a matter of trying to expose darkness, for darkness exposes itself. But just walk in the light as He is in the Light and every thing will be ok. 1 John  1: 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. Because walking in the light cleanses us from all sin, and we know that sin is unbelief. And in doing so, it changes your hardness of heart and melts you within to become soft and gentle and kind, and pure. All these are attributes of love, and God is love.

 

Then, as Paul says in  Philippians 4: 8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. I did not find in here anything that said, whosoever is teaching heresy, whosoever is not speaking the truth, to think on those things. No, he said, Finally, brethren, (or in conclusion my brothers,) whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.

Why? Because Peter taught us in 1 Peter 4: 8 And above all things have fervent Love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins. And John taught us in 1 John 2: 8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. (Now I want you to notice that John tells us that we have been given a new commandment, but it is only given to those who are walking in the light. And so he shows us how we can know whether we are walking in the light or not.) 9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. 10 He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

 

He says loving the brethren shows we are walking in the light, and Peter tells us that if we love the brethren our love will cover a multitude of sin. When they asked Jesus how many times they should be willing to forgive their brothers, he answered “70 x 7”.

 

In Colossians 1:12 Paul said, Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:  Notice then that the inheritance is only for the saints in Light or those saints who are walking in the Light.

 

And in Ephesians  5: 13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light. 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. So whatsoever things are made manifest it is by the Light. Then I challenge you to take everything William Branham said back to the Word of God and prove it by the Very Word he claimed to be preaching.

 

And finally The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4: 6 For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.  And so we see that God shined forth in our hearts to give us the “Doxa” of God in the very presence of Jesus Christ, the great Parousia of Christ, which same “Doxa” He placed in the heart of His dear son when He gave Him His own opinion, values and judgments. Therefore, having been born of His Spirit and filled with His mind, how could you add to or take away from what he has said in His Word? You could never do it if you are a seed of God. When you have the Spirit of the Living God by the Baptism of His Holy Spirit and when you have received the very mind of God through receiving the Shout or Message that God Himself came down with, how could you add to or take away from what He said? You could never do it if you are a genuine son of God.

 

Let us pray…