Token no 11
The Token
August
12, 2015
Brian
Kocourek, pastor
The Token Sep
01, 1963 pp 46 There's only one thing I am responsible: is to preach it. It's God's business to look out for that
predestinated seed. There's going to be there, all because... They're going to be there each one of them,
one with the other: the water age, the blood age, and now the Token age of the Holy Ghost.
47 And
remember, Israel came through many things, but it was evening time when the token was required, not in the
morning, not in the preparation of the fourteen days of the keeping up of the
lamb. Israel knowed something was coming; so did Luther know it; so did Wesley
know it; so did Finney, Knox, Calvin know it. This is it. They knew there would come a time that the Pillar of Fire would return
back to the church. They knowed there'd come a time that these things would
happen. But they didn't live to see it, but they looked forward to it. Israel knew something was coming, but it
was in the evening time when that lamb's blood, the token, was placed on the
door. Yet the lamb was already put up.
48 It's been the lamb all the way through.
It was the lamb in Luther's time; it
was the lamb in Wesley's time. But now is the Token
time, that each house must be
covered by the Token. Each house of God must be
covered by the Token. All that's inside of it must be
covered by the Token. The
House of God is the Body of Jesus Christ. And by one
Spirit we're all baptized into this Token and
become part of it, that God said, "When I see this token
displayed, I'll pass over you."
49 What a hour that we're now living. Oh,
a blood identified, identified the
believer, because that the life had gone out, could not come back, so he
had to have a chemistry. He had to have
it like a paint, a blood, a chemistry that showed that life went from it. Now, the very Spirit
Itself is the Token. The Holy Spirit Itself is the
Token, not the Blood. The Blood was shed at Calvary, that is true,
but the Blood, as far as it is, went back into the elements from which it come,
from the food that He lived on. But you see, inside that Blood cell was a Life that started the blood cell to moving.
If it wasn't, the chemistry had no Life in it itself; and therefore it could
not move. But when the Life come into the chemistry of the blood, it formed a
cell. It formed its own cell, then cell
after cell. And it become a Man, and
that Man was God Emmanuel in flesh. But when that Life returned back the
chemistry went to it. But the Token is
the Holy Ghost upon the church, that they see Christ.
When brother Vayle preached his series on the Token, he showed us the
difference between "a token"
and "The Token", "A Token"
being "the
baptism of the Holy Ghost" and "The Token" being "God Himself
who is the Holy Ghost". He also used other words like
"the
baptism" vs "the Baptizer Himself."
Somehow I think some didn't catch what he was teaching because they
placed the emphasis correctly on the Holy Ghost Himself coming down into our midst,
which is the Parousia-Presence, but they de-emphasized what made a way for that
to happen.
Let me
explain, We are all familiar with the quote from brother Branham where he said
in his sermon, The Masterpiece
64-0705 P:82 Notice
here. The life that was in the husk, in the stalk, and in the tassel, in the
husk, all gathers in the seed.
Notice he is talking about the same
Life, the same Holy Ghost Life, it goes all the way through the church
Ages.
And then he says, "And the life
that was in the stalk, went, one went to
make the other. Justification made a way for
sanctification. Sanctification made a way for
the baptism of the Holy Ghost. The baptism of the Holy Ghost made a way for the Holy Ghost Itself to come
right down in perfection, back to the Word again to manifest Itself.
Notice He is telling us that the Life,
the very same Life of Christ that entered the people on the day of Pentecost stayed
in the church all the way through and that Life of Christ that was in the
church made a way for Luther's
Message of Justification. In other words, it prepared the ground to receive the
seed doctrine of Justification. And Luther's Message of Justification made a
way or prepared the ground for Wesley's teaching the doctrine of Sanctification
to be sown. And Wesley's Doctrine of Sanctification made a way or prepared the
ground for the Doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost and the restoration of
the Word of God to be taught.
You see, every move of God came about
from teaching a certain doctrine for that age or time. That is why those who
teach that doctrine is not important, do not understand that there never was a
move of God outside of doctrine being taught.
Remember, The prophet Messenger to the
Pentecostals was William Branham. This
is the Age where The God-Life is now fully sown into the people by the
unadulterated Word or doctrine that was taught by the son of man ministry. And
the doctrine and acceptance of the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost is
what prepared the people for the Person of the Holy Ghost Himself to come down,
which is the Presence of God Himself.
We see this in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. 13 But I would not have
you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow
not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if
we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in
Jesus will God bring with him. 15 For this we say
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not
prevent them which are asleep.
16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: 17 Then we which are
alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with
the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with
these words.
What Paul says here is exactly what brother
Branham was saying in that quote from the The Masterpiece. But as always we must read
all of the quote to fully understand what he is saying.
So let's read the rest of that quote. "But what denominated, dies. Like Life in
Luther went to make Wesley. And from the Wesley It went to Pentecost, and from Pentecost to make the original seed.
Pentecost comes out of the Wesley until that time. The reason that Pentecost
come out of Wesley, because it was no denomination, Pentecost was. Then Pentecost went to denominate. And
what did it do? It turned to the husk.
It looked like the real thing. And
anybody... "
What I am trying
to say is this: Brother Branham never said Justification was done away with
when Sanctification came, and sanctification was done away with when the
Baptism of the Holy Ghost came and the baptism of the Holy Ghost was done away
with when the Holy Ghost Himself came down in perfection. But that is the way
that men have interpreted brothers Branham's words when he said, Justification
made a way for, and sanctification made a way for, and the Baptism of the Holy
Ghost made a way for."
"Making a way for" is not "doing
away with". I know brother Branham's illustration may look like it
because he speaks of the stalk, tassel, and husk, but Those are just the stages
the Life went through to come up to perfect or to the grain seed again. But he
is also talking about the Christ Life that produces those stages in the church,
and each stage was just a period of Growth coming up to perfection. It does not
do away with the Life that was in Justification, it does not do away with the
Life that was in Sanctification and it does not do away with the Life that was
in the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. No sir, not at all.
It's like when
you are born again, you are born into the family. You are a son, but you must
be the right kind of son to come to adoption. And Justification was a growing
into a certain knowledge that led to a sanctified Life, and that sanctified
Life brought you into the very presence of Christ to where He was not afraid to
call you brethren, and come in and make His abode in you.
So when we talk
about each stage making a way, we are talking about the necessity of each stage
to get you to the next stage. We don't look back on those stages and say they
are no longer necessary. We look upon them with an understanding that if it
were not for them we would not be where we are now.
Brother Branham
continues in his sermon, The Masterpiece
pp. 83 How many ever seen a seed, a seed of wheat
start to grow? (Now, listen carefully, he's talking about stages of
life here.) What's
the first little thing? It's just exactly like the seed, but it's the husk. See the three stages? Stalk, tassel or the pollen, then the husk.
And then, out of the husk comes the original seed. Not a
seed, it was the Life of the seed
growing through this to come to the seed. Amen, amen. Do you see it? What
is it? A resurrection, coming back to a Masterpiece again, like the one that went in. Pentecost came out of the Wesley,
because Wesley was an organization. Pentecost come out as no organization and then
turned to one. It had to, to make the husk. The true Word of Life on it was on its way then to the original grain
through these stages: through the stalk, then into the pollen; from the pollen into the husk;
and from the husk it made seed. No... Stalk,
tassel, husk.
84 Living, they produced
in their early revival a holder of a
certain portion of the seed Life; but when
they organized, the Life moved out of it. That's proved by all history. Never an organization ever done a thing
after it organized. It was dead. That's right. Watch, the life's traveling on now. It's moving on. Notice.
What they have done, all these have done, is proved by history just exactly the
way the church has come, never to be
useful to Him again.
(He's not
talking about that portion of the Life is never useful to God again, he's
talking about that organizational life that organized itself to the knowledge
of that doctrinal teaching. Justification was a move of the Holy Spirit but men organized it, and it died right
there. Sanctification was a move of the same Holy Spirit but men saw the light
and organized around that light and because they put their own two cents into
it, and organized around it, it died and the Life kept moving on up. Then Men
began to teach the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and it was a move
of God, but when men began to organize this experience and make it a doctrine,
God left it behind.)
Notice,
Justification was a move of the Holy Ghost through Luther. But it came in the
form of doctrine and it set men free from the restrictions of the nicolaitans.
However once free it digressed into doctrine only and when men organized around
it the Holy Spirit moved on.
Then Wesley went
out preaching works, but it never succeeded. And one day coming home from
America where his mission trip was a failure he met believer who invited him to
Alders gate, where he heard Martin Luther's teaching on Justification, and it
so stirred his soul, that he began to teach the doctrine of Sanctification. It
too set men free from the form of godliness that was in the churches, but
because it was a move of the Holy Spirit, there was power in that word as it
went forth. Then the men around Wesley began to organize around that doctrine
and the Holy Spirit left them. It wasn't Wesley that organized around the
doctrine, it was those who followed him.
From the Church Age Book
Chapter 8 - The Philadelphian Church Age P:21 we read, "Wesley was not in favor of organization. His associates did have
a "United Society" who were, "a company of men having the form,
and seeking the power of godliness, united in order to pray together, to
receive the Word of exhortation, and to watch over one another in love, that
they may help each other to work out their salvation." The only condition
of those entering was they should be of those, "who had a desire to flee
from the wrath to come, and to be saved from their sins." As time went on
they worked out a strict set of rules to be used in self discipline for the
good of their souls. Wesley recognized that after his death the movement could
be organized and the Spirit of God leave them to dead form. He once remarked
that he did not fear that the name of Methodist would leave the earth but that
the Spirit might take His flight.
Then as the
Light of God moved on, men who believed
in Justification by Faith and led a sanctified life, began to be moved by the
Holy Ghost and began to teach an infilling of the Spirit was necessary, and
many people began to follow the doctrine of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and
for a while like before, men were set free from the forms of godliness that was
in the church, but always when the church held to a form of godliness, but
denied the power thereof, that is when the Holy Ghost Who is the Power thereof
moves away from that movement.
When men "walked in the light
as He (Christ) was walking in that light," they were in the
movement of God, but when men began to stop and organize around what doctrine
they saw in the light, they stopped walking to organize and God kept moving on.
That is why
brother Branham continued by saying, "Watch, the life's
traveling on now. It's moving on. Notice.
What they have done, all these have done, is proved by history just exactly the
way the church has come, never to be useful to Him again.
Organization is laid on the shelf. There never has been in all the history of church after it
organized, but what it died. And the
organization died and never did raise again. Can't you see it?
Now, what is he
talking about? what organized? The church organized. And how did it organize?
What did it organize around? Doctrine. It organized around the very doctrine
that God led them by. The very doctrine
that proved they were walking with the Pillar of fire, is the very doctrine
they organized around, and God left them, because of it.
Church Age Book Chapter 3 - The Ephesian Church Age P:64 But as usual people don't heed God's
warning. That revival fire built upon
the sacred Word is so wonderful, and the
manifestation of the Spirit so blessed, that a little fear
creeps in and a whisper in the heart says, "How can we protect this truth we have? What can we do to see this
revival goes on?" That is when the "antichrist spirit"
comes in and whispers, "Look, you have the truth now,
see that it doesn't get lost. Organize and set up your creed of what you
believe. Put it all in a church manual." And they do it. They organize. They add to the Word. And they die just like Eve did for taking One
wrong word. It's God's Word that brings life. And it's not what we say about the Word that counts, but it's what God
said.
But do you think men ever learn? Brother
Branham came with a message and in that Message was Life, but men organized it
into various camps and died right there, but the Light moves on.
Brother Vayle
came along, saw men organizing this Message, and fled the ministerial circles
just as fast as he could, and when he did, he began to show the people what had
actually happened in this hour, with God coming down, and so he took the
Message back to the Word. And then he went off the scene and we all know what happened
after that.
A
little fear crept in
and a whisper in the heart says, "How can we protect this truth we
have? What can we do to see this revival goes on?" That is when
the "antichrist spirit" came in and whispered,
"Look, you have the truth now, (You have the right
teaching, you have the right doctrine) see that it doesn't get lost. Organize and set up your
creed of what you believe. Put it all in a church manual." And
they do it. They organize. They add to the Word. And they die just like Eve did for taking One wrong word. It's God's Word that brings life. And it's not what we
say about the Word that counts, but it's what God said.
What I'm showing
you is what happens when men through fear try to organize around a Bible truth.
They end up taking things which are not Biblical to prove their doctrine, and
they die right there.
Brother Branham
continues in The
Masterpiece pp 84 "Men who are blind, open your eyes. Nature and the
Word coordinating together and proving it right here that this is the Truth,
that it is the Truth: That Life leaves the stalk to make the tassel;
from the tassel it makes the husk; and from the husk it goes into the original
again. Notice, never again to be useful
to Him.
85 How noticeable this life is in its travel in the corn of
wheat than it is in the tree. God called His people like a tree. See? The life
goes down in a tree and comes back up again, goes down and comes back up. See?
It goes down and comes back up. But in the corn of wheat it goes up from the
original stalk through the stalk, tassel, and husk; and the thing that it
passed through dies so it can't get back through it again. What is it? It's no
use any more. It goes on to its perfection. Amen. Don't you see why
He never used an organization? He can't get back in it again. It's
dead. But the Life passes on from one to
the other. See? They put creeds and inject...
"Whosoever shall add one
word or take one word out..."
See? He's blocked off from it. It must be the
Life seed traveling on.
86 I'm using this in a parable now
of the Bride, the Masterpiece that's coming forth. There's a Masterpiece fell; there's a Masterpiece rising. The
Masterpiece fell at Nicaea, Rome. After Nicaea, Rome, She's come through a
process; but She's coming right back again to that Masterpiece, perfected,
'cause She's a part of that Word that was spoken by Him. He'll have a
Church without spot or wrinkle. It'll not be connected any way with any kind of an organization or a
denomination (the cursed thing). It's
passed through those such things, but it'll never be there.
87 Notice. The seed is coming up. That
Life is coming up, not going back. There'll be no more resurrection after
this. The Life is coming up to go to its
perfection, a resurrection. Notice, the husk put forth... Notice, the
husk puts the original seed out of itself. In Revelations the 3rd chapter we find this. Now
remember, no other church was He put out of in the Bible, of the Seven Church
Ages. How many remembers it? He
passed through the church age to go on to make something else. But this is it. There's nothing else.
Now, in closing, let's go back to the Token, and
read from pp. 50 It has to be, because a woman and her husband become one. They become one, and so does the Bride and Christ become One.
The ministry of the Bride and the ministry of Christ is
the same. You remember, "These
former treatise, oh, Theophilus, have I wrote to you, that Jesus begin to do
and continues to do..." His death didn't
stop Him. No, sir. He returned again, not a third person, but the same Person
returned back again in the form of the Holy Ghost; and It continues to work on
and continues on, said the Book of Acts. "Jesus
Christ the same, yesterday, today, and forever."
That's the Token. That's the sign.
51 When
Peter and John passed through the gate called Beautiful, there laid a man who
had been crippled, lame from his mother's wombs. And he said, "Silver
and gold have I none; but such as I have, I give you. In the Name of Jesus
Christ of
52 Now,
the Holy Ghost is our Token from God.
As a great theologian, a scholar, a Baptist brother, fine man, fine character,
when he come to me one time, and he said, "Brother Branham," he said,
"you talking about this Holy Ghost." He said, "Why, that's
nothing new." Said, "We've taught it all along through the
ages."And I said, "Well, I..."
He said, "We received the Holy Ghost." I said, "When did you receive
it?" He said, "When I believed."
(Because I knew that was the Baptist theology, that when you believed, you
receive the Holy Ghost.) I said, "Then, Paul said in Acts 19, to
a bunch, a group of Baptists, which a Baptist preacher that had been one of John's
converts, was proving by the Bible that Jesus was the Christ... When he passed
through the upper coast of
53 Then
he asked how was they was a baptized. They hadn't been baptized in the Name of
Jesus Christ, the sacrificed Lamb. They
wasn't identified with Him at all. They just believed it, like the medicine
setting there and hadn't took it. Paul
commanded them to be baptized over again in the Name of Jesus Christ. And when he did this, then the Token came upon
them. They were identified by the works and signs of the Holy
Ghost, speaking in tongues through them, and prophesying and
magnifying God. They were identified as with their sacrifice. And the Holy Ghost is our identification. It's what identifies
us as Christians, not our membership in churches, not our understanding of the Bible, not how much you know about the Bible; it's how much you know about the Author
See?, or how much the Author is living in you.
Let us pray...