Unveiling no 43
The Frequency of God's Word part 7
The path of God's Reflection
August 8th, 2018
Brian
Kocourek, Pastor
This evening we
will look at the relationship between God, His Prophet and the five-fold
ministry and see how that relationship works.
The apostle Paul
said in 2
Corinthian 2:14 "Now thanks be unto
God, which always causes us to
triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the aroma of his knowledge by us in
every place. 15 For we are unto God a sweet aroma of Christ, in them
that are saved, and in them that perish: 16 To the one we are
the stink of death unto death; and to the other the fragrance of life unto
life. And who is sufficient for these things? 17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word
of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.
Now, that
is very true. To those who are in the act of perishing, the fragrance of Christ
is actually a stench of death to them because they are a dying people. Why?
Because the light brings the seed to life. And if it is not ordained to Eternal
life, then what life it will have is just temporary and in fact a slow
death. But to those who have received
Life through Faith, it is the beautifully sweet fragrance of Life unto Life.
Notice that
the apostle Paul is speaking of the power of life and death in the two edged
sword of the Word. The sword as is The Word of God brings life to some while it
brings death to others.
John
3:15 That “whosoever
believeth”
in him should
not perish, but have eternal life.
John
3:16 For God so loved the
world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that “whosoever believeth” in him should not
perish, but have everlasting life.
John
11:25 Jesus said unto her, I
am the resurrection, and the life: “he
that believeth” in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
John
6:47 Verily, verily, I say
unto you, “He that believeth” on me hath everlasting life.
John
3:36 “He that believeth” on the Son hath
everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but
the wrath of God abideth on him.
2 Peter
1:11 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.
Notice here that Peter tells us that this
entrance into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ come via the ministry of the Word. That ought
to tell us how important the Word of God is and having it come in the way God
intended it to come.
And that
correct way is for it to first come through a prophet of God, a Word prophet as
we see in Amos 3:7 that surely or (of
a certainty) the Lord God will do nothing except it come
first through His prophets. So the prophet comes with thus
saith the Lord, which is the voice of the Lord, and
"if you hearken to that voice" -
then you receive Life and will be blessed by God more than you could have ever
known, but if you fail to hearken to that voice of God, then - death and
cursing are the result.
Deuteronomy 28:1 And
it shall come to pass, if thou shalt
hearken diligently
unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observe and
to do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God
will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: 2 And all these blessings shall come on thee,
and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God. 3 Blessed
shalt thou be in
the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. 4 Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy
ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks
of thy sheep. 5 Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. 6 Blessed shalt thou be when thou
comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out.
And then the
blessings are listed from verse 3 until verse 15 of Deuteronomy 28 and in there
we see the blessings of God are all called out including Life.
But then
when we skip down to verse 15 and
continue to read, 15 But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice
of the LORD thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes
which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and
overtake thee:
In
verse 16 Cursed
shalt thou be in
the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field.
And then for the next 53 verses of Scripture
we are given the curse upon curse upon curse and even including death that will
come upon all who do not hearken, which means, they do not pay attention to
and
take heed to the voice of the Lord.
Those words
have been circling and circling the earth for the past 2,000 years waiting
for sons of God to hear them, to recognize them, and finally to step into them. And only those who will be conformed to the
image of the first born son can see what no one else can see. Everyone
else will make fun of it, and say it was only for one man in this hour to
reflect that life, and do the works that He did. But there will be Elect sons
who are ordained to hear it, recognize it and then act upon it.
Now, during
this mini-series on the Frequency of God we've read from the Church Age book
how God brings the light from Himself down through his prophet into a ministry
that have been faithfully taught.
From the Church Age Book Chapter 4 - The
Smyrnaean Church Age P:140 he gives us the way God has chosen for
this to happen. He says, "In
every age we have exactly the same pattern.
That is why the light comes through some
God-given messenger
in a certain area, and then from that messenger there
spreads the light through
the ministry of
others who have been faithfully taught.
And br. Vayle said "to be faithfully taught takes two
things. One who is faithful to teach and others who are faithful to shut up and
listen."
But the problem is that not everyone
who hears that prophet echoes what he said. Many take what they want and let go
of that which they don't want, but refuse to say all that was said and how he
said it. Therefore they are not truly reflecting what was said.
And
brother Branham goes on to say, "But of course all those who go out don't always learn how
necessary it is to speak ONLY what
the messenger has spoken. (Remember, Paul warned the people to say only
what he said, I Corinthians 14:37,
"If any man think himself to be a prophet
or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the
COMMANDMENTS OF THE LORD. What? came the Word of God out from you? or came it
unto you only?") They add here, or take away there, and soon the message is no longer
pure, and the revival dies down. How careful we must be to hear ONE voice, for the Spirit has but one voice which is the voice of God. Paul warned them to say what he said, even as Peter did likewise. He warned them that EVEN HE (PAUL) could not change one word of what he had given
by revelation. Oh, how important it is to hear
the voice of God by way of His messengers, and then say
what has been given them to say to the churches.
Therefore
no matter how good a speaker that five-fold minister is, no matter how wise a
teacher he may be, unless it comes forth by God's provided way which is to come
to His prophet first, it matters not how good a teacher the man may be, if it
is not echoing what the prophet taught, which he echoed from God, then it is
not according to God's choosing and is not according to the purpose and plan of
God. It then is actually "another Gospel" as
Paul tells us in Galatians 1.
Romans 10: 9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth
the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from
the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10For with the heart man believeth unto
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
Now
the fundamentalist will take this scripture and combine it with 1 John 4:15 Whosoever
shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God, and
they place their salvation and belief that they are filled with the Holy Ghost
in their own understanding of these two scriptures, and because they
misunderstand what these two scriptures says, they stop moving forward with God
and they think that they got it. They
think, "If I just tell people that
God raised up Jesus from the dead, and if I confess that Jesus is the Son of
God, then I am saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.
Look,
the Jews claimed to believe every word of the Bible, and yet it is very evident
that when the very One the Bible spoke of came to them, they rejected Him. Why?
Because
He did not come the way they had interpreted the Bible to say he'd come, and
yet He came exactly as the Bible said He'd come. So you see, they believed the Bible, and yet they
believed it in their own way of thinking and thus missed the King of Glory
when he came. And they think because I confess Jesus to be the Son of God, I've
got it, and yet they make that son a third part of a trinity and coexistent and
co-equal with the Father and with another being they call the Holy Spirit.
To
prove that you can confess that Jesus is the Son of God and not be filled with
the Holy Spirit just take for example the man that is spoken of in the
Scriptures that was actually filled with many demons, and yet that man
identified Jesus as the Son of God, and was afraid that Jesus had come to
torment him. We find this story told three times in the Scriptures.
The
1st time this story is told we find it in Matthew 8:29 and
in this version it actually speaks of two men. And,
behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
The
2nd time we see it told in Mark
5:7 And
cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son
of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not.
And the 3rd time for a witness we see the story in Luke 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell
down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee,
Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.
Now, in getting back to Romans 10, the error of the fundamentalist in
believing that he only has to say some mystical magical words and he will be
saved, is in how they interpret Romans
10: 9 That
if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine
heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation.
But in
order to fully understand verses 9 and 10, you must begin reading
at verse 8.
ROMANS 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee,
even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we
preach;
Martin
Luther in his Commentary
on Romans he reads from Romans 10:14 How shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed?
"Here the apostle
meets the arrogance of all who teach falsely and are a haughty mind. Oh, that
the false prophets (or teachers) only would heed these words! How shall they
believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a
preacher? 10:14 Even though
they say they hear, they boast in vain, unless they hear true preachers; for to
hear false prophets means as much as not to even hear. They hear and they do not hear; they have ears, but do not hear, nor do they preach (the Word of God). This is a striking
statement against all conceited hearers and students of the Bible. 10:15 How shall they preach, except they be sent? This is directed against conceited teachers and arrogant
instructors. These four statements we see in (Romans 10: 14 -15 follow one another in such a way that one
leads to the other, but so that the last forms the foundation on which the
others rest. Thus, 1) It is impossible that those preach who are not sent. 2) It is
impossible that those hear who are without a preacher. 3) It is
impossible that they believe who do not hear. 4) It is impossible that they call upon Him
who they do not believe. To this add a last one, namely: 5) It is
impossible that they who do not call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
So then, the entire source and origin of salvation rests on this, That God sends out someone, ( A true minister of the Word). If
He does not send out any, then they who are preaching are preaching falsely, and their preaching is no preaching at
all. In fact they would be better off had they never preached at all. Then they
who hear, hear error, and it
would be better for them to not have heard . Then they who believe, would believe false doctrine, and it
would be better for them to not believe. Then also they who call upon Him would
be calling falsely (upon a false Lord), and it would be
better for them not to call. For such
preachers do not preach; such
hearers do not hear; such
believers do not believe, and such callers do not call; and they
will be damned because they would be saved by falsehood. So we read in Proverbs 1:28 "Then shall they
call upon Me, but I will not answer, they shall seek Me early, but they shall
not find me: for that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the
Lord." ... Then only they can preach with certainty who proclaim the Gospel without error.
10:15 How beautiful are the feet of them that
preach the Gospel of Peace, By this quotation the Apostle shows
that only those can preach who are
sent by God. Those cannot preach the Divine Word and be messengers of
God whom He has not sent and to whom He has not entrusted His Word. So with
these same words the Apostle points out the nature of Spiritual Peace and it's
gifts. These blessings are heard only in the Divine Word and are apprehended
only by Faith.
Now
the words
"Beautiful" stands for purity, and I'd like to add, that
according to Strong's concordance it means: belonging
to the right hour or season ( timely) by implementation to be flourishing.
Therefore,
not just any word will do, but Paul says the Word which we
preach, and in the book of Galatians, he
warned us that if we preach any other Gospel than what He preached we are
cursed with a curse.
Notice
Paul said in Galatians 1:1 Paul,
an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus
Christ, and God the Father, who
raised him from the dead;)
Notice
Paul's language here, he did not say "who
raised himself
from the dead", he said, Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither
by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the
Father, who raised his
son Jesus Christ from
the dead.
Therefore,
right from the beginning of his letter to the Galatians we
see Paul speak of a relationship between God and His Son Jesus Christ (the
Anointed One), and it was this relationship between God and His Son by which
God called him to be an Apostle and to go to the world to tell others about
this relationship between God and His Son. That is what his entire ministry was
about.
2 And all the brethren which are
with me, unto the churches of Galatia: 3 Grace be
to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ, 4 Who
gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present
evil world, according to the will of God
who is also our Father: 5 To
whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Then
the Apostle Paul begins to reprimand the believers who were beginning to drift
from the true Message.
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto another gospel:
Then
Paul clarifies this by saying, 7 Which is not another; but there be some that
trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
Notice
first he says, that the people are being removed from the true Gospel unto
another Gospel. This word "another"
was taken from a Greek word that Paul used here that does not mean a totally
different Gospel, but is the word "heteros",
which means a Gospel "of a different nature."
6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the
grace of Christ unto "heteros"
Gospel. "a gospel
of a differehnt nature:"
And
then he clarifies this by saying in the very next thought in verse 7 Which
is not another; (the Greek word here is not heteros, it
is allos, which means "a
different one altogether") but there be some that trouble you, and
would pervert the gospel of Christ.
So let
me reword this for you to our understanding of English that you might better
understand what the apostle Paul is telling us here. Paul is saying 6 I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him God that
called you
into the grace of Christ unto Gospel of a different nature: 7 Which is not a totally different Gosel;
but it is a perverted gospel of Christ they are trying to pass off to you.
And
then the Apostle Paul warns the church 8 But
though we, (that means even he includes himself
in this warning) or even an angel from heaven, preach any
gospel unto you different from than that
which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.
And
then he says it again for emphasis in verse 9 As we said before, so say I
now again, If any man
preach any other gospel unto
you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.
Now,
this time the Apostle Paul does not use the word "heteros"
or "allos" but uses the word "para"
which means "close proximity"
or "same vicinity" and therefore we should read
this as 9 As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any gospel unto you that is even
close or in the same proximity to what I have preached to you but is not
exactly what I preached to you then let him be accursed.
In
other words, the Apostle Paul is telling us that one word off will bring the
curse of God upon you. Therefore One word off is Satan's kingdom.
Then
listen to what he says next. 10 For do I now persuade men, or God? or do I seek to
please men? for if I yet
pleased men, I should not
be the servant of Christ. 11 But I certify you, brethren,
that the gospel which was preached of
me is not after man. 12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it by man, but by the revelation (the apokolupsis,
which is the unveiling and thus the revealing) of Jesus Christ.
And that is
what this Sermon of Brother Branham's that we are studying is all about, The Unveiling of God. Which is the revealing of God by the unveiling
of God.
Notice in another
sermon he preached called Hebrews Ch 3
- 57-0901 1M brother
Branham lets us know that God brings that prophet into a realm that no others
can come into, then God reveals it to that prophet and then from that prophet
it goes out to others. He said, "There's probably ten or fifteen man with him. Did
any of those man see that Light? No, sir. Paul saw It! It
wasn't designated for them man to see It. So, some people can see
things where others don't. See? So Paul saw that Light, insomuch that
It even blinded him.
But
let's read the Scripture to see what took place.
In
the Book of Acts we se twice this same story told. The first time to the reader
of the book of Acts, and the second time Paul is peaking to King Agrippa the
story of what took place.
Acts 22:6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my
journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light
round about me. 7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? 8 And I answered, Who art thou, Lord? And he
said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom thou
persecutest. 9 And they
that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they
heard not the voice of him that spake to me. 10 And I said, What shall I do, Lord? And the
Lord said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there
it shall be told thee of all things which are appointed for thee to do. 11 And when I could not see for the glory of
that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into
Damascus. 12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to
the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there, 13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me,
Brother Saul, receive thy sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him. 14 And he said, The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know
his will, and see that Just One, and shouldest hear the voice of his mouth. 15 For thou shalt be his witness unto all men
of what thou hast seen and heard.
Now,
notice in chapter 22 it says, 9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that
spake to me.
Then
in Acts 26:12 we
see when the Apostle Paul was explaining to King Agrippa what took place he
said, "Whereupon as I went to Damascus with
authority and commission from the chief priests, 13 At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness
of the sun, shining round about me
and them which journeyed with me.
Now
it would appear here that he alone saw the light that was all around him and
those who traveled with him. And so they make argument that only Paul saw the
light. So they say either chapter 22 is correct or 26 is correct but they can't
both be correct. But if you just read the next verse you see that the light
affected all of them that they all fell to the ground, but in both stories even
though all saw the light yet only one heard the voice that came from the One
living in Light.
14 And when we were all
fallen to the earth, I heard a voice
speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks. 15 And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest. 16 But
rise, and stand upon thy feet: for I
have appeared unto thee for this purpose, (not appeared
unto them, but unto thee) to
make thee a minister and a witness both of
these things which thou hast seen,
and of those things in the which I will
appear unto thee; 17 Delivering thee from the people, and from
the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, 18 To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from
the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and
inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me. 19 Whereupon, O king Agrippa, I was not
disobedient unto the heavenly vision:
Now,
notice in these two versions it is clear that all saw with their eyes the
light, but the one in that light only spoke to one of them which was Paul.
Now
people may read what brother Branham said here and say he made a mistake, he
said only Paul saw the light, "Did any of those man see that
Light? No, sir. Paul saw It!
It wasn't designated for them man to see It. So, some
people can see things where others don't."
But I
want to take you back to what brother Branham describes as what the word see
means so you can understand his mindset in saying this the way he said it..
From his sermon Seeing
God 62-0609M P:17 he said, "How blind a person must be that can't see life. And think
that many people doesn't see life. Now, we might see it, but the word
"see"
doesn't mean to look at; the word "see" means "to understand it."
Now, Jesus said to Nicodemus, "Except a
man be borned again, he cannot see the Kingdom." Now, in otherwise, you be looking at something and
you say, "I don't see it"; you mean you don't understand
it. "To see,' what we call see, that's "to look at." But "to see" in Bible
terminology is "to understand what we're
looking at, to be revealed." And we
assemble together like this that Christ might be revealed among us. That's what
the conventions are held for.
To show his consistency in this let's go back 12
years before that last quote to 1950
where he said from his sermon It shall be even as
it was told me 50-0818 P:23 No matter what it looks like here... We don't look at what
we see; we look at what we do not see. Is that right? Anyhow, "to see" doesn't mean
"to look at." The word "see" means "to
understand." Jesus said, "Except a man be borned of water and Spirit, he cannot see the
Kingdom of God." In other words, he
can't understand the Kingdom of God until he's borned again. See? You have to accept it by faith. And then when He
comes into you, you understand it. You accept healing the same way. Stay
right with it. Not what you look at, what you believe, what you understand
to be the truth, what you're looking at, the unseen, then stay with that.
That's why all these visions. I just lay my life right on any, for it never
fails. I have faith in it. I believe it. If I can get you to believe the same
thing, it's over then. See?
Questions and answers COD 59-1223 P:60 Now, in there
that subconscious (See?), that's where your mind... Now, Jesus said, "Except
a man be borned again..." (Now,
that's not what I wanted.) "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, except a man be borned again he cannot see the Kingdom of God." Now, you couldn't see the Kingdom of God,
because the Kingdom of God is the Holy Spirit. "Some
standing here will not taste of death till they see the Kingdom coming in
power," He said. Then, "The
Kingdom of God," the
Bible said, "is within you." It's within you, the Holy Spirit, and you
can't see that with your eyes. So "see" means "to
understand."Have you
ever looked at anything, looking right at it, say, "Well, I just don't see
it." See? "I just don't see it." You mean you don't understand
it. See, see? You don't understand it. To see is "to understand." But
with your eyes you look at anything. But with what's inside of you, you
understand with, you see with that. See? With the eyes of God you look...
Stature of a perfect man 62-1014M P:45 Now, notice, you must be born again; that is
changed. There's got to be a change. You say, "Well, Brother Branham, I
know this certain woman over here, why, she never did do anything wrong. She's
a good woman. Or this such-and-such a man; he's a good man. He never does
anything; you know, he doesn't harm anybody." That doesn't mean one thing.
He might make a good neighbor, but he isn't a Christian until he's borned
again. Jesus said, "Except a man be born again (St. John 3) that
he can't even see the Kingdom."
Now, that means... "See" means "to
understand." You
look at anything and say, "I just don't see it"; you mean you
don't understand it.
Mary's belief 61-0121 P:30 Now, listen, friends. Don't take a substitute. Don't
just shake a man's hand and put your name on the book. That's... as far as it
goes, that's all right. It might help you to get out of the saloon and get in a
decent place and try to live right. That won't do it though."Except
a man be born again he cannot even see the kingdom of God." Now, "see" means "to
understand." There's
a lot of people that say they're born again and can't understand the message of
God, can't see the Angel of the Lord. Their eyes are blinded,
brother. Except a man be born of the Holy Ghost, the same Holy Ghost that
wrote the Word will confirm the Word, and the same confirmation of the Holy
Ghost in you... You see what I mean? It will bear record of Itself. Then our spirit bears record with His Spirit,
because His Spirit bears recorded of His Word. "The
Word of God is sharper, more powerful (Hebrews 4) than any two-edged sword,
even piercing to the... asunder... and the marrow of the bone, and a discerner
of the thought and the intents of the heart." That's "Thus saith the Lord," the
Lord's Word, just exactly, Jesus Christ the same
yesterday, today, and forever,
appearing in His elected church.
So we
understand what brother Branham was saying is that even though they might have
seen with their eyes the light, yet because they did not hear the voice that
accompanied that light therefore they did not see or understand what had taken place.
Therefore if they did not understand they really did not see it with the eyes
of their heart.
That
is what Paul tells us in Ephesians 1 is that it is with the eyes of our
heart that we are enlightened.
John
12:40 He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened
their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I
should heal them.
But
David told us the problem lays in the fact that God reveals His ways to His
prophets, but the people only see the acts that he performs. Psalms 103:7 He (God) made known His ways unto Moses, His acts
unto the children of Israel.
So
when Moses saw the Light he understood it because he heard the voice that
brought the understanding. But the people only saw the acts but they never
understood the ways of God. So you see the
prophet receives the light, and the voice and then he teaches
others, and those who have been faithful to the teaching then take it and teach
others. But as we read in the church age book, not all who hear actually hear
and understand what was said.
Jesus said
that is Matthew 13 and in Mark 4.
Matthew 13:10 And
the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the
kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
Mark 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto
you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:
12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may
hear, and not understand; lest at
any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.
Now back to Matthew 13:12 For whosoever hath,(is of such a nature as to be able to
echo) to him shall be given, and he shall have
more abundance: but whosoever hath not, (whosoever is not of such a nature as
to be able to echo) from him shall be taken away
even that he hath. 13 Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing
see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. 14 And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and
seeing ye shall see, and shall not
perceive: 15 For this people's heart (understanding) is waxed gross, and their
ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed; lest at any time
they should see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and should understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them. 16 But blessed are your eyes, for they see: and your ears, for they hear. 17 For verily I say unto you, That many prophets and righteous men
have desired to see those
things which ye see, and have not
seen them; and to hear those
things which ye hear, and have not
heard them.
So we see
it is all about being able to not only hear but to also recognize and then act
upon what they heard or understood.
Paul a Prisoner of Christ - 63-0717 Now there's no one that
could see that Light that was hanging over Paul, but it was there. No one seen
that dove coming down out of Heaven and that Light that formed and hung over
Jesus but John himself. But it was there. See? And so, then later when I was
telling the people about this Light being like a Pillar of Fire: no one wanted
to believe it, but now the mechanical eye of the camera identified that. The evil spirit is dark ... if our
lives cope with the Light of the day, we're walking in light. It's just
like you look out and say, "I see the sun" in the daytime. You see
the shadow of the sun. It's a reflection of the sun. It isn't the sun itself,
but it proves that there is a sun.
So there has to be one who sees it and then tells what he sees, and then
men who are faithfully taught who then retell what was seen, the reflection is
complete.
That is what the great commission is all about as we see in Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,.... and again in Mark 16:15 And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the
gospel to every creature. Because that
is exactly what he did.
Luke 4:18
The Spirit of the Lord is upon
me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent
me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and
recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Matthew
11:1 And it came to pass,
when Jesus had made an end of commanding his twelve disciples, he departed thence to teach and to
preach in their cities.
Matthew
9:35 And Jesus went about
all the cities and villages, teaching
in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and
healing every sickness and every disease among the people.
Matthew
4:23 And Jesus went about
all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all
manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Mark 1:14
Now after that John was put in
prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
So he commanded us to do the same as we see also in
Matthew
24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.
Luke 24:47
And that repentance and
remission of sins should be preached in
his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.
Matthew
4:23 And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their
synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner
of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.
Matthew
24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be
preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall
the end come.
But he also warned us to say what he said, and to teach the Word rightly
dividing it because He will hold everyone accountable who teaches it in error.
2 Timothy 2:15 Study
to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
Matthew
5:19 Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall
be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach
them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
And we hear Jesus teaches us that we worship in vein if we worship
outside of True Doctrine.
Mark 7:7
Howbeit in vain do they
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Matthew
15: 9 But in vain they do
worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
In his sermon Spoken word original seed
62-0318E P:192 brother Branham said, "The true prophet of God will proclaim the Word
in the last days; denominations will hate him. He will not pull any punches on
them. He will be like he was when he come at the first coming of Christ. "You generation of vipers..."
But the predestinated will hear and will make ready for the countdown.
The Royal Seed of Abraham's faith (like him) holding to the Word of God
regardless, for he was predestinated... The messenger of Malachi 4 will appear at
God's appointed time. We are all looking for him. We believe he will come. That
is according to His Word; it will be at the end time, which it is time now for
to see it. "He will be correctly dedicated to the Word as they have
always been; indicated by God's Word--and a-vindicated. God will
vindicate what he preaches to be the Truth as He did Elijah; for it is Elijah
coming, making ready for the Mount Zion rapture. Jesus said in the last days it
would be like Lot's time. His preaching will be with the Spirit and straight
line of God's Word.
Because so much has been called God's Truth, many will misunderstand this true
messenger. (I've got wrote here p-r-o-p-h-e-c-y, prophecy.) Because so much has been called
God's Truth by fakers, many true ministers will misunderstand that messenger.
....
But in every
generation, every revival brings forth some prophet of God (A prophet is a preacher, true
preacher on the Word that stays with the Word.), and they
bring forth a revival that gathers that elect out of that generation.
So we see the way that God sends his light down to the people, from God
Himself, to those who have been faithfully taught and then out to those who are
faithful to be taught.
Faith
is the substance 47-0412 P:15 This day that we're living in, it's such a day of
unsettled peace and unsettled rest everywhere. People are running to-and-fro
seeking whatever they may seek. Most anybody can get a following. No
matter what they teach or think, somebody will listen to them. And it's
a day that the prophets spoke of. People, when they're hungry, they'll eat from
anywhere. If children and people are starving, they'll eat from a garbage can,
that once eat from a nice table. But if they are hungry, they'll eat
somewhere. So I think real true ministers of the Gospel ought to be up
and going, ought to be giving the people the right things: meat in due season.
From his sermon Recognizing your day 64-0726M
P:41 The
reason people in Noah's day did not go into the ark, because they never recognized the
message nor the messenger. That's the only reason they perished,
is because they didn't recognize the hour that they were living. They
didn't recognize that God would deal with sin as He promised He would. He'd
destroy man from the face of the earth. He had prophesied it. He meant it. And
he means it today the same as He did then. But the people, instead of being
favorable towards Noah... He was considered a wild man. They didn't believe him
to be a prophet. You know, Jesus, His own self, told us how they scoffed in the
days of Noah, made fun of him, called him a fanatic, and whatmore. But they
didn't recognize their hour. They didn't recognize the day. They didn't
recognize the sign. They
didn't recognize the message. They didn't recognize the
messenger, but put him from their midst and laughed at him. Jesus said,
"As it was in the days of Noah..."
Evening
messenger 63-0116 P:83 Yes, uninspired leadership... Look at Korah in the
days when God sent Moses with the message, and Korah and Dathan thought, come
up to Moses, and said, "Now, just a minute; you take too much on yourself.
You think you're the only pebble on the beach; the duck in the puddle, you're
the only one. I'll let you know there's other people are holy too." Moses
didn't say they wasn't holy. But he had a commission; he had to carry it
out. And they organized a group and was coming against Moses. And God
told him, "Go stand yonder in the door." Those men had the censor in
their hand, and you know what that censor would've done. God opened up the
earth and swallowed them up. And they had fire from the altar in it. With
the fire in the censor, as fundamental as it was, they failed to recognize the message.
God said, "I send you, Moses, down there to do this. You bring them over
here."See, they
failed to recognize it. Moses was too straight with them.
Like Elijah was to the school of the prophets, too straight, stayed with the
Word. That's what's you Pentecostal people, had to separate yourself from
the rest of the world, straight with the Word. Now, don't fade
back into the very thing that you come out of; you're drifting. Don't cut your
anchor from Calvary. Hold on to God's Word, for "Upon this rock I'll build
My Church," stay with It.
And we have
the same problem in this hour as well. People can listen to the prophet
directly and not be able to understand what he is saying because they have
rejected the way in which God said the
light is to come to them.
Now, God placed a five fold gift in the church. That's Ephesians 4.
Super
sign 62-0708 P:58 What did Jesus say? "Go ye into all the world and preach the
Gospel to every creature." How far? All the world. How many? Every
creature, "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; he
that believeth not shall be damned, and (a conjunction) these signs
shall follow them that believe," in all the world, and every creation, every
creature. I can show
you where God put gifts and power in the church. I want somebody to put your
finger on a Scripture and show me where He took it out, where He took it back
from the church. It's a super sign to the believer, that we've
passed from death unto Life, because we feel the Holy Ghost, and see It working
on our lives, and changing us from what we were to what we are now. Amen. He
arose from the dead. Thanks be to God.
I can show you where God set in the church a true Gift of five ministries
that is to bering the church to maturity and as brother Branham said in Blind Bartimaeus 59-1127 P:46 "now you show me in
the Scriptures where He took it away from the Church. Give me the
Scripture, the verse."
From his sermon Serpent's seed 58-0928E P:28 he
says, I can show you where God put these gifts in the church, and then he said,
"I
challenge any man to show me a Scripture in the Bible where He took it away
from the church. What took it away? Your own dogma, not God's Word.
The Holy Spirit's still getting the job done, going right on just the same, and
He will forever. That's the reason we're not a denomination,...
From his sermon Tested faith produces goods
58-0518 P:51 The Bible said
there's five gifts in the church. God has set in the church Apostles, or
missionaries, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, pastors. Truly. If
there's apostle, there's a prophet. If there's a prophet, there's a teacher. If
there's a teacher, there's a pastor or a evangelist. See. You can't just
say there's a pastor and evangelist, no prophet or apostle. God still sets...
As long as He's got His church, He's still got His church setting.
Certainly.
After 2,000
years that word that has been circling the earth has now come full circle and
there is a people that have stepped into that word and will become the manifestation
of what that word promised.
And from
his sermon Power of Transformation -
65-1031 1M he said, "See, they don't have understanding no more. The people just don't move by the Spirit of God
anymore. God's Word is His Spirit, and His Word
comes to His prophet. And the Word is supposed to transform you from what the things of the world
are, into the image of sons and daughters of God. And the Word
can only come through these prophets, as they spoke.
And once
that word has been spoken it encircles the earth waiting for someone to believe
it and enter into it and become what that Word promised.
Power of Transformation - 65-1031 1M Transforming yourself,
His Holy Spirit transforms the seed Word into Its likeness ... His
Word will bring forth sons and daughters of God. That's what it is supposed to do. Then the Spirit moved on Him and sent Him
to Calvary, to the cross, to bring Light in this day, and
Light to all the predestinated seeds to the Church of this day, transforming
sons and daughters of God, into His Presence.
How many
more quotes do we need to see what I am telling you is what the prophet taught
us, but we didn't catch it, and for 53 years these words have circled
the earth waiting for someone to catch a-hold of them and enter into them and
become what they promised.
From The Indictment - 63-0707 he said,
"And
today, by the Light of the Gospel reflecting from a Light, a Pillar of Fire
visibly among us ... Science has seen It; It's in the magazines and across
the world; and It's both scientifically and spiritually recognized as the same
Pillar of Fire, by the same signs and same things It did always. When the Light struck the rich young ruler,
look what he did. He rejected - a smart man. Paul, another smart man, the
Light struck him. What did he do? He accepted It. He forgot
it, all he every knowed, that he might know Christ.
Hebrews Ch 2 #I - 57-0825 1M What type of people ought we to be? When we see the Great Jehovah come
down and do the things that He does, and see them compared Scripture
by Scripture, that they are the Truth. And we sit around sometimes like
a warts on a log, and just so unconcerned. We ought to be busy
every minute, trying to get people to Christ. We ought to be lively stones.
We should never be slothful like we are. We'll go up to church, and
we'll see the Lord Jesus do something, or bless us in such a way, and then
we'll go back out and say, "Very nice meeting."
Rising of the Sun - 65-0418 M Our name ain't nothing,
it's His Name. Our life is nothing, it's His Life. Our desire is not
to be glorified. Our desire is not some big name. Our desire is to see
Him glorified. Glorify what? Not with self- pride, but in us, our
lives, to prove that He is alive and living in us. If I can get myself out of the
way, so when William Branham not even thought of, and you not even thought of,
till we can see Jesus glorified among us. See Him, that's our
desire. I just want to see Him manifested. How can you do it?
Call Him down? No! He's in you. See? He's in you.
"Well then, Lord, if I can get myself out of the way, You can manifest...
myself. How can You do it? Because You ordained it so: `All that the Father has given Me will come'"
The Super Sign - 63-1129 Notice the Eternal sign, an
unfailing sign, It will never fail. Man and... The Word and man become
one. When God's Word and man become one, as St. John the first chapter
says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." That's the super
sign. Oh, if that was the super sign
of that day, when that same Spirit that was on Jesus Christ comes into His
Church, to manifest the written Word for today, that is still the super
sign.
Revelation Ch 4 # III - 61-0108 What called... is the Shekinah Glory? It's God's Presence.
And when a man's walking, or a woman, he's reflecting the Shekinah Glory.
He don't go into gambling dens and carry on, and go out here and deny the Word.
No matter what the people says, he's got his heart set on one thing: God.
And if he's truly called of God then Jesus Christ reflects Himself through
him with the Shekinah Glory, doing the same things He did back there, manifesting the same Gospel, preaching the same
Word, same Word being made manifest in the same measure it was then, just like it was truly at
Pentecost it's measured back again.
Let us pray...