The Presence

of Jesus Christ

BY

Brian Joseph Kocourek

Pastor

Grace Fellowship Tabernacle

2380 Jefferson St.

Highland Heights, Ky. 41076

(513) 932-2156

 

  

- preface -

During the ministry of William Branham, there were two things that caused more controversy among the denominational and Pentecostal churches than anything else, and these were:

·         #1) Brother Branham's use of the term Vindication: "That, God has a One man Message and He deals with One man only". This caused much of the clergy to alienate brother Branham, which was due mostly to professional jealousy.

·         #2) Brother Branham's teaching on the Godhead, for He did not teach as the Oneness or Jesus Only, nor did he teach a Trinity. He said, I stand in between them. I do not believe in a Trinity where there is three persons, and he also said, neither do I believe that Jesus is One like your finger is One. In fact most people seem to think he was oneness, but he denied being oneness. When he preached the Godhead Explained, E-74 he said, Many of you people listening to this would say, "Brother Branham is a Oneness." I am not. I think you're both wrong, both oneness and trinity. Not to be different, but it's always the middle of the road."  These two doctrinal issues were the "Rock of Offense" that kept brother Branham from being accepted by the Church world in His day. Why is it that the Trinitarian Cult chasers brandish brother Branham as a Oneness and yet the Oneness think he is Trinitarian. It is because he was neither of these two schools of thought? He stood right between them, and they could not discern the difference, but they knew he didn't preach it like they do. He was not Oneness, neither was he Two-ness or Three-ness. But he believed there is One God who had a Son. Not God the Son, but the Son of God. It should come then as no surprise that amongst the very followers of William Branham, these same two major doctrines have caused more controversy and have been attacked more than all others.

·         Doctrine #1) Again Vindication is the issue: Not so much that it was God who backed up William Branham's Message, for all Pentecostal people believe that God works out of heaven and does fantastic things. They will even allow for God to come down to do certain things, but the understanding that this Vindication comes in the form of God's Personal Presence with His prophet, and that this Presence was referred to by Brother Branham himself as the Appearing of Christ has become the central doctrinal debate within the "Message clergy" because it comes into direct conflict with their understanding of the Second coming of Christ as they have always perceived it, and this is due to the fact that they do not understand Godhead correctly.

DOORS IN DOOR 65-0206 119  And then you see His appearing, His Presence, and what He does. He's always with His people, His Bride. He's courting her. Someday there's going to be a wedding supper.

·         Doctrine #2) Godhead : Again, most people who have come into the "Message" have come from a Trinitarian background. The problem is that they have left the Trinitarians and became Oneness in their thinking, until perhaps 99% of the people who claim to follow the message today are Oneness in their thinking. This is due to the fact they have failed to really listen to what brother Branham taught us on the Godhead. And because of professional jealousy amongst the clergy again, we see the same alienation of those who have stood by what Brother Branham has taught pertaining to the correct understanding of the Appearing and Godhead.

From pp. 202 [Identified Christ of all ages], 64-0617 brother Branham said, "The Presence of Jesus Christ, which ought to illuminate the church, to know that in this last days where creeds and denominations and isms and everything has got the Word all smothered out, and Jesus the Word on the outside of the church, [Rev 3: 20, James 5: 7-9, John 12: 48, 2 Thess 1: 7-10 , Matt 16:27,] and to see Him come right back among the people and identify Himself as He promised, "in the last days when the Son of man is being revealed." He was revealed in the baptism; He was revealed in Divine healing; here He is in His last attribute. Remember, that was the last thing that Abraham saw before the fire fell and Judged the Gentile world, and before the promised son came on the scene, Isaac. This is the last thing that the Christian church will see, in the sign of miracle, until the appearing of Jesus Christ. If God has give me favor before you, believe me in the Name of the Lord, there is nothing else left in the Bible to be done but take on the mark of the beast; and you have the Seal of God. And What did Abraham call him? He said, Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? So we see that the Judge has once again come down in the Form of The Word to judge amongst the Living and the dead. For if He must bring forth a resurrection, then He must have already chosen who will come forth and He is here to execute this Judgment. This is why in his Message [Perfect Faith] he could say  "I'm standing before the White Throne, now."

Again we notice brother Branham's gift of discernment. And what is discernment but a judging. And Who Judges but a Judge. And this is why brother Branham made such a point in showing the people the Picture in [Life Magazine] of the Cloud of angels which made up God's White Wig, which he called the "Supreme Judge". Unless the people can see that the Judge is here, they won't understand the last attribute that God is manifesting to them before we are caught up to meet Jesus His Son in the air. We shall study this more in the chapter on the Glory [Doxa] of Christ.

I hope you enjoy this book. I will publish more chapters as the Lord permits. God bless you.

" This is my ministry, see, to declare Him, that He's here!" [From That Time PP. 227]

These eleven words could very well be the most profound statement that Brother Branham ever said, and yet the majority of people who claim to follow his message simply pass over these words and do not understand what he was trying to tell them.

In [ACTS 13:41] Paul not only used these same words, but he let us know that this was speaking of a future time. He prophesied that there would come a ministry in the end time that would declare the very Presence of the Resurrected Christ among the people, and although Christ would vindicate His own Presence among the people at this time, they would still refuse to believe it. "Behold you scoffers, be astonished and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall utterly refuse to believe, though a man fully declare it unto you."

The scripture tells us a man will fully declare the ministry of the resurrected Lord Christ among the people, yet the people who hear him will refuse to believe this declaration. "He came to His Own and His own received Him not." The Message of Christ's Appearing went forth from the lips of God's anointed servant William Branham to the Pentecostal people and God Himself backed up this Message of His own Appearing, showing infallible proofs of His resurrection and Presence, yet even those who claimed to receive Brother Branham and claim to believe every word he said, reject the very message he brought. I have heard these same men on their own tapes call this Presence of Christ, "just another doctrine" and some have even called it "Puke" because in their ignorance they could not pronounce the word "Parousia". Others have even called it "garbage". To think that these men know what this word means and yet would call the very Presence of God, "Garbage or Puke". Jesus Himself said, "To speak one word against the Holy Ghost when He comes will never be forgiven, no not in this world or the world to come."

The scripture says, "Had they known who He was, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory". So in their own ignorance they crucified Christ. And since the scriptures can not be broken, [Hebrews 6:4-6] tells us that this will repeat again in this last days. " For it is impossible for those who have been once for all enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly Gift (The Lord Christ Himself) and were made partakers (companions) of the Holy Ghost, having fallen away, it is impossible for them to renew themselves again, seeing that they crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame ( public disgrace)."

Now brother Branham taught us that [Hebrews 6] refers to Christ  in the Form of the Word in the last days. So we see then that  these men will be judged for their blasphemous words and yet they claim that they have always known Christ is here, for, say they, " He's always been here. I know He's here because I can feel Him in my heart." They are simply deceived by their own indoctrination and as the scripture calls them, "Ignorant in their our own conceit." Brother Branham said in His message entitled 'A DECEIVED CHURCH' "But as Israel was bound by their Kings that they could not follow the real King; and the real King, when He came, they didn't recognize Him. So is it today, oh, Lord. The King of Glory has appeared in the form of the Holy Ghost and Lord, They don't know it. They don't recognize it. They're so organized so tight, that they do not understand it, because It's not in their organization. Lord this is a work of the devil that's done this to the people. May the Samson of God, may the True in heart, those who are longing and crying and pleading and holding on, may they stay with It, Lord, until this new crop grows out. Until there comes forth again a joy in Zion, and there comes forth a group that can recognize and understand. That can see the Messiah and the hidden power that's hid from the world, that they will not understand now. Grant, Lord, that they'll see this, for we ask It in Jesus name, a-man."

Brother Branham said that his ministry was to declare that Christ is  here among us. Now, if Christ has always been here,  as  some people  preach, and if the people also knew it, then, why  would God send a prophet forth to declare something that was  already known. God has never wasted His time sending forth a Messenger with a Message that the people already knew. From the [TOKEN pp. 73] (3-8-64) He said, "When you see signs going on, and no Message behind it, just the same old school of theology and on down, that wasn't from God. But where there is a sign showed, a message follows it."

He said, "This is My Ministry, see? To declare Him! That He's Here!" Now most of the people that follow the Message of God's servant William Branham believe the Message of the hour is, "God sent a prophet! "They believe that the Message was to get you to see who brother Branham was. Now, I would like to ask, since when has God sent forth a Messenger to declare himself. Since when has any Messenger of God come forth with a Message, "Look, here I am. God sent me!" Even Jesus said, "If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true." So for brother Branham to come and preach about himself would make himself not true just as Jesus said. So then what is the Message? He said, ""This is My Ministry, see? To declare Him! That He's Here!"

Now this is a two fold Message. Number 1) To declare Christ, and Number 2 ) To declare His very Presence among us. I  am sure that he said what he meant and he meant what he  said. He didn't come just to pass on more Pentecostal teaching as  some would  like  you  to believe. His whole Purpose in  Life  was  to declare Christ, that He has come down with a shout, which he said was  a message to gather the bride to Christ the Word, to get  her ready for a rapture.

Now  in  examining what he said, we must know what  it  means  to declare  something.  The word declare is a Greek word exegesis meaning to lead forth into view; to make clearly known, to reveal. The scripture speaks in various places that the Son of Man is to be revealed in the last days,  yet why is it that they will accept the fact that God  has sent  a  prophet, but they will deny the very ministry  that  the prophet says he is sent to bring? Brother Branham's Message was surely greater than the Pentecostal message  that had preceded him by many years. If you  would  just stop  for  a moment and examine the theme of His Message  to  the End-time  Bride, you will find even the titles of his sermons  a sure give away as to his real purpose.

1) [A GREATER THAN SOLOMON IS HERE] Now why would he preach this? What is his purpose? Was he pointing the people to Himself, or to the same One that John pointed the people to. Christ among us. John said, "He's standing in your midst and you don't know it."

2) [IDENTIFIED CHRIST OF ALL AGES] What  does  it mean the Identified Christ? How is Christ  to  be identified?  Who  does the identifying? How does it  take  place? When is it to take place? Why is it to take place?

3) [THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US] The  word unveiled let's us know that which was  hidden  comes into plain view, that which was a mystery is now revealed. So the Mighty God must now be in plain view. And if in plain view,  then He must be here to be viewed or on display. Then we must ask  the question, How is He to be unveiled? The answer lies in this  very Message brother Branham preached.

4) [WHO DO YOU SAY THIS IS?] And that is the question. Many don't know who is here. Who  was brother Branham speaking about? It could not have been himself, because when he uses the word THIS it refers to another, not self. Who was that other if it wasn't Christ Himself? Also you will note, if he spoke of Jesus back there he would have said, Who do you say that was? But he is bringing it into present tense.

5) [THE UNRECOGNIZED PRESENCE OF GOD] This  title alone ought to let you know that He  is  here  but unrecognized.  Why is He unrecognized? Because they expected  Him to come another way.

6) [WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC?]  Notice the emphasis is on WHO IS THIS, which signifies that he was pointing to someone. If he was speaking only in a historical sense he would have said, WHO WAS THIS or WHO WAS THAT?) I believe Brother Branham was trying to show us the same One Who came down and indwelled the body of flesh in Abraham's day is here today doing the same thing.

7) [LOOK] Brother Branham preached this sermon shortly after he preached the Seven Seals and he began by saying, "now a person says "LOOK" when he wants you to see something that he sees but that you don’t".

8) [CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD REVEALED] The emphasis is not that Christ was the Mystery but that He is the mystery that is being revealed here now, among us. If this was referring to a historical Jesus of 2,000 years ago, he would have said, "Christ was the Mystery of God Revealed.")

9) [WHAT SHALL I DO WITH THIS JESUS CALLED CHRIST?] That is a fair question to ask you today as you read this book. What will you do with this Jesus Who is here?

10) [LOOKING UNTO JESUS] Now how could we look unto Jesus if He is somewhere  else  and can not be seen?

11) [JESUS KEEPS ALL HIS APPOINTMENTS] And what appointment do we expect in this last hour. He's  here keeping His appointments as He declared in His Word. As you  read this book you shall see many of the things we shall examine these in detail later in this book.

12) [CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD] The answer as to how He has revealed His Presence and  Himself to us in this last hour is exactly what this message declares. He is revealed in His own Word.

As  we  can see, the central theme of His entire message  was  to declare  CHRIST, and His Presence among us. But the  Pentecostals have rejected His message in favor of there old worn out message.

From [Q & A ON THE HOLY GHOST] 59-1219 PG. 425-75, he said, "When the Holy Spirit comes in and reveals the Truth of anything and proves it by His Own Presence and by His Word, you can’t expect the Pentecostal people to say I’ll agree with it! You’ve got to stand alone like Luther did, like Wesley did, like the rest of them did."

Now he said that His ministry was to declare that Christ was here among  us, and the word "declare" means: To make known openly by an explicit or clear statement to show or reveal. So what was he saying  when he said, ""This is My Ministry, see? To declare Him! That He's Here!"

Brother Branham is telling us that His whole ministry was for one purpose  and one purpose only, and that was to introduce  or  declare Christ's Presence. His great commission was thus, "As John the Baptist foreran My first coming, so shall your Message forerun my second."  John the Baptist's ministry was for one  purpose and  one  purpose  only, to introduce Christ. Now, would  John's ministry even be needed if everyone had already known that Christ was  present? Wouldn't brother Branham's statement be  considered absurd if he came with a message to tell us what we already knew? Does  not the word Declare tell us by definition that it  is to "Make fully known", something that wasn't known. Brother  Branham  was  saying,  " My ministry is to declare Him, that He is here."

Just before he said these most notable words, he said the following.  E-102 "How many knows there’s a difference between the Appearing of Christ and the Coming of Christ? It’s two different words. Now’s the Appearing; the coming will soon be. He’s Appearing in the midst of us, doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now you are a part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that Church.' " Now  if we truly believe that brother Branham was God's  ordained Messenger  for this age, then we must examine carefully  what  he was  trying to tell us. If in fact Christ has always  been  here, then what do we need a prophet to tell us what we already know. In [JOHN 1:18] we read " No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." As Scofield noted, "He hath literally led Him forth into full revelation. The example we see of this declaring is in Jesus' answer to Philip in [JOHN  14: 9]  He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Jesus went on to say that this declaring of the Father would repeat.

CONVINCED AND THEN CONCERNED 62-0521  E-31   031   Now, John was so sure that he was going to see the Messiah, till he said, "He's in our midst now." Now, watch. Notice. There's a great big difference in the sign of Jesus appearing, and then Jesus coming. There's two different words, means two different things: the appearing of the Lord, and the coming of the Lord.  Now, the appearing of the Lord is now, when He's appearing in His people, His Spirit working among them, proving that it's Him with them, getting them ready for the rapture, for the coming of the Lord to catch away His--the Bride (See?): the appearing and the coming. All right. Now.

 

END TIME EVANGELISM 62-0603   50   030   Same thing today, when you see His work. Now, we have already seen and are witnessing the appearing of the Lord. Now remember, appearing and coming is two different words: to appear and then to come. Now is the appearing; He's already appeared in these last days, right here with us in the last few years. Now, it's a sign of His coming. He's appearing in His Church in the form of the Holy Spirit, showing that it's Him, 'cause people cannot do these things that you see the Holy Spirit doing; so that's the appearing of the Lord. Now, you remember, it spoke both places, "appearing" and "coming."

 

LETTING OFF THE PRESSURE 62-0609E  E-58   058     But if you can beat all that away from you, say, "Lord God, I believe just exactly what Your Word says, and I believe (as we preached last night), that the appearing of the Lord comes before the coming of the Lord," for it's just two different words altogether. See? Now's the appearing, as He promised in the last days that He'd be with us.

 

IT IS I BE NOT AFRAID 62-0611  E-81   081   You know, there's a difference between the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ. That's two different words altogether. He's appearing now in His church. We see Him; we know it's Him. It's the Holy Spirit. See? We know it is. 

 

BE NOT AFRAID 62-0620   E-66   066   There's a different word used. The appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ (See?) it's, two different words altogether. See? Now, Christ is appearing in these last days in His church, bringing His church together in unity, and faith, and power in the Word, all together; that when He returns He will find the same church.

 

WE WOULD SEE JESUS 62-0627  E-76   076   Civilization has traveled with the sun. The sun rose in the east, and the same sun, s-u-n, that rises in the east is the same s-u-n that sets in the west. We've had a dismal day, as the Bible said, neither called day nor night--enough to join church, and to do good, and so forth. But it shall be light about the evening time. And the same S-o-n, Son of God, that rose yonder in the east on the eastern people, and showed His blessings and power... It's been a dismal day, but now on the west coast... If we go any farther, we go back to China again to the east, and back to the eastern country. Now, we're at the west coast, and the S-o-n is appearing before His coming. Remember, appearing and coming is two different words. See? He's appearing now in the church, showing Himself alive after two thousand years. "Sirs, we would see Jesus."

 

FROM THAT TIME 62-0713 E-102   102   How many knows there's a difference between the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ? It's two different words. Now's the appearing, the coming will soon be. He's appearing in the midst of us, doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now, you're a part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that church.

 

GOD HAS A PROVIDED WAY 62-0728   E-81  Now, remember these two words before I leave you: the appearing of Christ and the coming of Christ is two different things. Christ is now appearing in the fullness of His power. His coming will be afterwards: His appearing before His coming.

Again we see in [1 JOHN 1:1-3] "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of Life. (For the Life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that Eternal Life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;) that which we have seen and heard we declare unto you, that ye may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. " The purpose for this study then as now is to invite you into this  fellowship which  comes from the "Presence" of our Lord and  Saviour  Jesus Christ  who has once again in this last day come down  to  earth and  has manifested His PRESENCE among us in a way which  He  has not for over 2,000 years. He has returned, once again veiled in the Pillar of Fire. Misunderstanding  surrounding  this "PRESENCE" have  resulted  in many  questions being asked through-out "The Message".  Hopefully this  study shall answer some of these questions and quell some of the commentary as well. This study is in no way all conclusive on  the matter but is meant to be only a help to those  who  have questions concerning this Great event: "His Presence".

We shall refer to the Greek word Parousia through out this  study by it's English equivalent (Presence). The word "Parousia"  actually  means  "the  act of arrival and  subsequent  presence."  It focuses the attention not on the arrival but on the events  after the arrival,  or  the Presence.  It has been used to  refer  to  Christ's Presence  here  among us. It has been called a  new  doctrine  by some,  but  it is not. Actually the doctrine of the  Parousia  or more  commonly  known as "The Presence" is as old  as  the  bible itself.  Jesus, in the book of Matthew spoke of it, Luke spoke  of it, Peter and John both spoke of it and so did Paul. This Revelation  of  Christ and His divine Presence that was to  strike  the earth in one final Glorious manifestation to the Gentiles  before His second coming, was lost during the dark ages of church  history. The Catholic church did the most to hide this Glorious  Truth during  her thousand year reign in which she taught  that  Christ was  here  ruling through her, Vicariously. The Pope  was  to  be God's mouth piece to man on earth, and it was through this  blasphemous pretense that Christ's Presence was displayed and  established in the earth. This was man's darkest hour.

As  the light started coming back after Martin Luther, we see  in the age of man, various ministries rise up who began to understand  that Christ  was to come in the form of the Holy Ghost in the  closing hours of  humanity.  In  1897,  the  notable  Christian   author J. B. Rotherham  of Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote a Bible translation  he called [The Emphasized Bible]. In his translation he noted the following , "In this edition the word Parousia is uniformly rendered "Presence" ("Coming," as a representative of this word being set aside.)" He continued  "The Parousia,...  is still in the future, and may therefore be enshrouded in a measure of obscurity which only fulfillment can clear away: It may in fine be both a period, more or less extended, during which certain things shall happen, an event, coming on and passing away as one of a series of Divine interposition's, Christ is raised as a first fruit, that is one event; He returns and vouchsafes His "Presence," During which time He raises His own, That is another event, However large and prolonged; and finally comes another cluster of events constituting "The End." Hence after all, "Presence" may be the most widely and permanently satisfying translation of the looked for Parousia of the Son of Man."

Another author, Israel P. Warren DD of Portland Maine, wrote in His book [The Parousia] 1879 in pp. 12-15 "We often speak of the second advent, the second coming, etc., but the Scriptures never speak of a second Parousia.. Whatever was to be it's nature, it was something peculiar, having never occurred before and being never to occur again. It was to be a Presence differing from and superior to all other manifestations of Himself to men, so that It's designation should properly stand by Itself, without any qualifying Epithet other than the article, "The Presence".

"From this view of the word it is evident, I think, that neither the English word coming, nor the Latin Advent, is the best representative of the word. They do not conform to It's etymology; they do not correspond to the idea of the verb from which It is derived; nor could they appropriately be substituted for the more exact word, "Presence". In the cases where the translators used the latter, nor is the ratical <root> of them the same. "Coming" and "Advent" give most prominently the conception of an approach to us, motion toward us; "Parousia" That of being with us, without reference as to how it began. The force of coming or advent ends with arrival; that of Presence begins with the arrival. Coming and advent are words of motion whereas Presence shows rest. The space of time covered by the action of coming or advent is limited, it may be momentary; that of Presence is unlimited. Had our translators done with this technical word "Parousia" as they did with "Baptisma" transferring it unchanged, or if translated using It's exact etymological equivalent, "Presence" and had It been well understood, as It then would have been, that there is no such thing as a second "Presence,"' I believe that the entire doctrine would have been different from what it now is. The phrases, "second advent," and "Second coming," would never have been heard. The church would have been taught to speak of the "Presence" of the Lord, as that from which It's hopes were to be realized, whether in the future or at the remotest period, that under which the world was to be made new, A resurrection both Spiritual and corporeal should be attained, and justice and everlasting awards administered," ....He continued,  "The word Parousia became the official term for a visit of a person of high rank, especially Kings & Emperors visiting a province."

Before we move on to other authors of ages gone by who knew that there was to come a Parousia of Christ, I want to just stop here and reflect upon a few things already said. First of all Rotherham said, "it was still in the future but we would know it by it's coming to pass." This is almost verbatim to what brother Branham said, when he said, "God interprets His Word by bringing it to pass." Also Warren said the Word Parousia or Presence implies rest. Brother Branham said, "when the Seventh Seal is opened there is relaxation time," which is rest. Warren also said, "if we had understood that this word is not coming but presence it will change our total perception of the Parousia of Christ." Which it does. He also said, "the church would have been taught to speak of the "Presence" of the Lord, as that from which It's hopes were to be realized. From his message called [Unrecognized Presence] 6 - 18 - 64, Brother Branham said, "Working for this one purpose; for you to recognize the Presence of Jesus Christ, See? If He is present then, why everything is settled. He made the Word, He's here to confirm it." And then he said in the same message, "If we could realize He is Appearing to us in these meetings for one purpose and that's to release our desires that we have in Him to us. But we've got to recognize His presence. And how you recognize His presence, is when the promised Word for this age is made manifest."

In  1909,  Scofield wrote in His [Bible edition] that  the  Word Parousia  speaks of Christ's' Personal Presence. (see page  1212). Also, any  [Greek Lexicon] will give you the  same  definition. Brother  Branham used the word "Presence" himself quite often  in referring  to this great Appearing of Christ in this  last  hour. But as always, there are some who would throw off and say, "His Presence" is only some doctrine. But I say,  It should  not be looked upon as merely a doctrine as it is  dealing with the very Person of Christ Himself. It should be referred to as  a doctrine  only in the same way we would say that "JESUS" is  "The Doctrine". You can not say that Jesus is only a doctrine, anymore than you could say "His Presence" is only a doctrine?

The fact is, God HIMSELF has come down in this last hour in a very special way in which  He has not been here for 2,000 years. Br. Branham said  in [C.O.D.] 54-0103 pg. 102-263, "Just think, the very Lord Jesus that was back in the days of the Apostles is right here now. And It's just winding up the end of the Gentiles. A great move is going on amongst the Supernatural believers because we believe that God is Here."

You might ask, "How was He here in the days of the Apostles?" People  tend  to misunderstand Brother Branham in this  area  the most.  Their thoughts go back immediately to Jesus in  His  flesh walking  the  shores of Galilee, not to the One Paul met  on  the road  to  Damascus.  Yes, Paul did meet the very  same  ONE  that walked  in Galilee, only in another form . Paul met Him in the  form of the Pillar of Fire. The same ONE Br. Branham refers to "as in the days of the Apostles." Now remember, brother Branham did  not say "in the days when Jesus walked upon earth in His flesh."  But he  said, " in the days of the Apostles." People have a  tendency to  read  the Word with their minds already made up  by  previous learning. Brother Branham is not saying that Jesus is here in His  Corporal body.  In fact from [THE MESSAGE of GRACE] PP. 176 Brother  Branham said,  "There's only one thing different in Him being here this morning than He was amongst the people at Galilee, that would be His own body of  flesh."

In  fact he said in, [SPIRITUAL FOOD IN DUE SEASON] pp. 167 "  Now, if He Appeared here as a physical body, looked just exactly like Hoffman's head of Christ at 33, and blood running out his hand, and so forth, nail scars all over Him, I wouldn't accept it." He goes on to say, "we don't believe these cults and clans. We believe God is the Word."

From the message entitled [THE TRIAL] 4-27-64, he said, "We don't look for nail scars, we look for the Word made manifest." He continued, "The Life of Christ returns in the form of the Holy Ghost, not a nail scar. The corporal Body's sitting at the right hand of God to make intercession. But the Holy Ghost has come to carry on His Work." Brother Branham even quoted people who were looking for Jesus  to come  in  bodily  form and in HEBREWS chptr 3, 57-0901m, pp. 99-73 he said, "I thought He was a man, has scarred hands; that they claim is Appearing in meetings now, with nail scars in His hands and His head.' No, No, not that Body, not in that body. See? He's now a light.  Saul, when he was here on earth, He said, I come from God I go back to God. He was the Angel that led the children of Israel in this Light through the wilderness. He returned back to that same Light, and Paul saw it out of the Old Testament. He said, 'I am Jesus, the Angel of the covenant.' "

William  Branham was neither Oneness, nor was he Trinitarian.  He used  the  phrase quite often, "God changing His  mask."  In  Our opening statement to this study, I quoted from [1 John 1:1-3].  The very Source of Life that John spoke of is the very Presence  of God Himself, and He is here. Notice what John was trying to  tell the  people  of his hour. "That Eternal Life that was with the Father and was manifested unto us. " The very Life of  God  had come down and had literally manifested Himself to the people. GOD Declaring Himself. And how did He do it? Through a body ( a mask, a  veil  ) called Jesus. This is exactly what Jesus  was  telling Philip in [John 14] when He said, "He that has seen me has seen the Father," then He said, "Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works ( vindication) sake."

Again in [1 John 1:3] "That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us." John  tells  us that the only way we can have true fellowship is to receive  the declaration  of  God's Presence and the manifested  Life  (through vindication)  which has come down into our midst. God's very  personal Presence among His people. I  believe  the reason people miss this, has to do  with  expectations. Why did the people miss Messiah at His first coming?  They didn't  expect  Him to come the way He did. And today,  not  many people will argue and say God is not here, but when you tell them He is here in a different way than He has been through the Church ages, they will habitually fall back to their past theology  that says,  "He's always been here." But, as we see in [1 John  1:1-3], The Fountain of Life Himself has once again returned to earth  in the same way He was Present in the first Church Age.

From  [I  KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVETH] pp. 47, 4-10-1955,  Br.  Branham  said, "Then when every creature has heard the Gospel, then Jesus will return again. Did you ever stop to think this morning, as far as returning, that is to become visible. He's already here with us now. Now, today, just imagine that, His Presence being here today. The Lord Jesus is in another world or another dimension, right here today in form of Spirit. His Spirit is blending in with our spirit.  Our eyes can't see Him because that  they're physical. Yet unless something would happen that we could see vision.  But He is here just as visible, just as real as He was the day He spoke to Mary at the grave, or He met Cleophus on his road to Emmaus. His Presence is here. It can be feeled with that, felt with the inner charge that's on the inside of the human body called the new birth."

Notice here, brother Branham is telling us that it takes the  new birth to be able to recognize His Presence. People have a  difficult  time being able to separate the Baptism of the Spirit  from the  Baptizer Himself. [Ephesians 1:13-14] speaks of the  Baptism that is needed to prepare us to receive the very Presence of  God which Paul speaks of as the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Him in Vs [15-17].

One  of the greatest Keys to understanding our day and it's  Message  was  introduced in the Seven Church Age Book. That  key  is Alpha has become Omega. Let me use an  illustration  from  the scripture  as we will read from [John 1]. Now this let's us know that His Presence among us  is more than mere Doctrine, for it says, " In Him was Life and the Life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God who's name was <Wm. Branham>. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. ( The Angel told him, "If you can only get the people to believe you".) He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the World was made by Him, and the World knew Him not." ( Didn't brother Branham teach us that the Logos that went forth from God as a Light created the world?) And this is the condemnation, That Light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than That Light, neither cometh to the Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he, that doeth Truth, cometh to the Light, ( submits his own thinking to the Light) That his deeds may be manifested, that they are wrought ( have there source ) in God."

From the [Seven Church Ages] brother Branham said, "On the Isle of Patmos, Jesus spoke to John by vision and said,  I am  Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End.  He  never said anything in between. I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last! That's it! The First ministry and the last ministry is the same. The First Message and the last Message is the same thing."

Masterpiece 172,  The Alpha and Omega is the same. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega." He never say anything in between, "I'm Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last." That's it.  The first ministry and the last ministry is the same. The first Message and the second--last Message is the same thing. "I'm--I was in Alpha; I'm in Omega." "There'll be a day that won't be called day nor night, but in the evening time it shall be Light." See? Alpha and Omega; it's become the first and the last. Oh, my, brethren, we could stay a--hours on that.

Then  what was the first message? For if we knew what  the  first message  was, we will then know what the last message is  to  be. People  have  been debating this question for over  2,000  years. What was the message to the first age? Again from the CA book we read, "Paul was the first Messenger. Remember, Paul come at the end of the Age. All Messengers come at the end of the Age."  So the question  then  remains, "What was Paul's Message?  To  find  the answer  let's turn to Paul's' own testimony in the book  of  Acts. Here he tells us that the Pillar of Fire came to him and he heard the Voice  of Jesus which spoke and said, "I have Appeared unto thee for this Purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, ( The Pillar of Fire returning to earth) and those things in which I will Appear unto thee." [See Acts chapter 26]

We  see then, the Message of Paul was the declaration that  Jesus Christ  not only had risen from the dead, but that the Spirit of God that had been in Him, had returned back again as the  Pillar of Fire. Brother Branham said, " How many know that Jesus today, is the Pillar of Fire that followed the children of Israel? I come from God and I go to God. Is that what He said? When Paul met Him on the road to Damascus, what was He? The Great Light! The Pillar of Fire! He is the same One today! The Holy Spirit of God! The Body of Jesus sits at the right hand of God on His throne in heaven, but His Spirit is here on earth completing and finishing His work. That same Spirit that was in that Angel that lived in the Body of Jesus Christ was the same Spirit that was in the Angel that come to Sodom and Gomorrah." Do you believe that? The same One that followed the children of Israel, the Same God!"

Again in [THE UNITING TIME AND SIGN] pp. 97 he said, " Never before since the early church Age was the Pillar of Fire ever among the people. Never before, since the early church Age, did they ever see the things that we are seeing today. And this was only made possible when God sent the seven Seals and give us a sign by it and sent Seven Angels down out of Heaven and come to bring back that scattered Word in them denominations and tie it back into the Word again, to bring down His Holy Spirit."

Now, these statements surely must cause us to ask some questions. For  instance, why would brother Branham say, "To bring down His Holy Spirit" if the Holy Spirit has always been here  throughout the Seven Church Ages? Again, why would brother Branham say "My ministry is to declare Him, that He is here." if He, (God's Presence), has  been  here  all along? In fact brother  Branham  also  said, "After almost 2,000 years He has visited us again." Why would  he say  such a thing unless He hasn't been here for the  past  2,000 years in the same way that He is here now?

Now  if you are looking at the Message with the Glare of  another age,  you will say that he was talking about the Jesus  of  2,000 years  ago and your mind will picture the Body with nail  scarred hands.  But, if you have correctly believed brother Branham  when he  told us to not look back, and to not look forward but  to  see what  God  is doing right now, then all of these  message  titles point  to one thing. He's here, Alpha has become Omega. The  One Who Appeared to Paul in the first age has come back again in this last age to wind up His work. From [The Message of Grace]pg. 30 he said, " There's only one thing different in Him being here this morning than He was amongst the people at Galilee, That would be His own Body of flesh, His Corporal Body."

In fact brother Branham said, in [Just One More time Lord pp. 52 "Man is always thinking back on what God did, and looking forward to what God will do, but ignoring what God is doing". And he also said in his audio letter to brother Vayle, " If they only see it in the hour past there's no hope for the church. The church must see it in the present tense. So God sends his prophet to manifest present tense of it." And He also said from His Message [False Anointed Ones] PP. 219 He said, "I AM sent me." I AM, not I was, or will be, I AM, present tense, the Word now. Not the Word that was or Word that will come, the Word that's now.... and then he said in PP. 233, "For it is impossible for those which were once enlightened and didn't move on with the Word as it come to pass... They're dead, gone." This is why it is so important to understand the Alpha and Omega principle that brother Branham laid out for us. He said this was the very first principle he learned as a Christian. What God did in the first age He is obligated to do in this last age. Then, if we can look at what God did in the first age under the Pillar of Fire ministry of Paul, and how He did it, we then will see what He has done under the same Pillar of Fire ministry of William Branham in this last hour, and what He is continuing to do after brother Branham went off the seen.

Remember he taught us that there were Three Exoduses and all three were under the Pillar of Fire and leadership of a Vindicated Prophet. Moses, Paul and Wm. Branham. And as you can see the people have missed the whole purpose of this last time Exodus.

THE UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M  297    Notice the same Pillar of Fire that sent Moses, the same Pillar of Fire that was on Moses that wrote the Bible, the same Pillar of Fire that Paul met on his road down to Damascus, and Paul wrote the New Testament... Remember, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they only wrote what they seen, but Paul had the revelation. He pulled it out, for he had met the Pillar of Fire, himself. And, think, the same... There, Joseph, all them wrote what went on, everyone wrote back in that day. But when Moses came on the scene, he had the revelation. He had met the Pillar of Fire, and it was revealed to Moses how Genesis. He had wrote the first four books of the Bible; Moses did. Is that right? For he met God in the form of the Pillar of Fire, veiled in the Pillar of Fire.

When Paul met Him on the road... The disciples just wrote what they seen Him do, but Moses had the revelation. Went down into Egypt for three years and studied, and seen that God of the Old Testament was Jesus of the New, the revelation, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision." That's right. Right.  And think of It. The same Pillar of Fire that come upon those man that wrote the Bible, is the same Pillar of Fire here today interpreting the Bible. Amen. How we thank Him for that. Same... What a comfort, what identification. I'm so glad to be identified in that; I don't know what to do. I'd rather be identified in that than all the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and all the rest of them. Identified in that Word where that Shekinah Glory and revelation lays...

 The Pillar of Fire appearing visibly among us, identifying that the Message is right, like He did at Mount Sinai... Remember, before the true message come forth, Moses preached, and he led them out of Egypt, but there before the real commandments was laid down (the seals was brought in), God come down before the people and proved that Moses was sent from Him (Is that right?) in a Pillar of Fire, that Moses said he had seen in a bush and talked to Him. Oh, in this last days to see that same Pillar of Fire right among us, speaking the same Word, not only that, but interpreting It by making It manifest and proving that It's the Truth. So the people has not one way to disbelieve, lest they just wilfully want to, and then, "He that sins wilfully after having a knowledge of the Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Notice, same Pillar of Fire sent to Moses and to Paul that wrote the Bible, now sent to reveal It.

Brother Branham was concerned for the people because they were not recognizing what God was doing in their midst, but they were looking forward to the Second Coming and backwards at a Pentecostal glare of another age and they were failing to see the very Presence of God in their midst, as we have already explained. If your memory serves you right you will remember that when brother Branham was caught up beyond the curtain of time he was told that He and His message would be judged. And He asked the question, "Will Paul and His Message be judged?" And the angel answered, yes. Then brother Branham said, " I only preached what Paul preached," and all those people who were looking on said, "we're counting on that brother Branham." Now as Paul said in [Gal 1: 8] " if we or an angel ( a messenger ) from heaven preach any other Gospel than that which has already been preached, let him be accursed." Then brother Branham's Message to us in this hour had to be the same Exodus Message. In fact in [2 Thes 1: 10] Paul tells us there is coming a day when Christ will come in a way in which He will be glorified in his saints, because he says, His (Paul's) Gospel will be believed in that day. So here we see that day and that Message is Wm. Branham's Message today.

Now in following up with this thought on Alpha and Omega we read in [Luke chapter 4] concerning the beginning of Jesus Own Ministry in the first age, " And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from Him for a season and Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And there went out a fame of Him through all the region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all. And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound, to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, "

Now  you will notice, at this point scripture tells us he  closed the book and handed it back and said, "This day this scripture is fulfilled in your ears. Notice, Jesus never  continued  reading where  the Scripture continued. It read, "To proclaim the acceptable year of our Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God." Notice how the first part of this sentence pertained to His first coming  but  the second pertains only to His  second  coming  and therefore He could not possibly have read it. He paused and said, "This day this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears." 2,000  years separated by a comma.

In  referring to Christ's presence here among us brother  Branham said,  "I've read the Scripture with a dozen or more evidences that we're living in the last days, the generation that will see Jesus Christ return to earth, and I say to you tonight, again! 'This day this Scripture is fulfilled in your sight.'" Again we hear brother Branham  saying in the Message Jehovah Jireh PP 174, "The Appearing of Christ and then the coming of Christ. That's two different things altogether, the Appearing and the Coming. He's Appearing now, working with us in the form of the Holy Spirit, making it just perfect; the church. It has to." And so, we must ask ourselves, if God has come in what brother Branham and Scripture calls an Appearing, in what way is it perfecting the church as He says here. And of Course we find in Scripture that the Word of God perfects the church or Bride. So it is in the form of the Word that perfection comes. And when that which is perfect comes, then that which is part must cease. And brother Branham in quoting this in the COD book, 1005-56 he said, "When that which is perfect ... and we have today by God's help the perfect interpretation of the Word with Divine vindication." Then later in the same series of questions he said, " when that which is perfect is made known." And then he said, "Now is there anything perfect but God? And then he said, "And the Word's still God. " So we can see once again His focus was to get the people to see God in the form of the Word in our midst has come. And that is why he said, don't look back and don't look forward but look to what God is doing now.

Now we know that we can not worship God apart from Revelation. But what if our revelation is a wrong revelation. In [Romans 12] we are told that we receive our transformation by the renewing of our minds. So we can see we are dependent upon a Word to give us a change of the body. That is what [1 Thes 4 : 15 - 17] is all about. The Lord Himself descends with a shout which is the Message getting us ready for a rapture. Brother Branham told us that when Word cell is piled upon word cell, it will build a word body,  "And if you were ordained from the beginning of the earth to that Word, every Word will come right on top of the Word. Like a human cell will not have one human cell, and the next the cell of a dog, and the next the cell of a cat; it'll be human cells. But it's got to have a cell first to start with. Is that right? say, "Amen." [Congregation says, "Amen."--Ed.] Well, if it is the Word cell to start with, the other Word cells are ordained to make it a full body. "Well, if it is the Word cell to start with, the other Word cells are ordained to make it a full body". Then in other words, when Word is piled upon Word, upon Word, it will take a hold of every fiber of our bodies. So we are dependent upon the piling upon of the Word to take a hold of every fiber of our bodies in order to get our change. But what if our minds are renewed by a wrong understanding. By a corruptible word rather than an incorruptible one. Then won't our change also be corruptible? That is why it is essential to have a word come forth that is vindicated by God to be incorruptible. [1 Peter 1: 23] tells us "being are born again not of a corruptible seed, but by an incorruptible, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever." So we see here a person can be born again of a corruptible seed. And we know that [Mark 4 & Luke 8] tells us that the word is a seed which the sewer sewed. But we are told two sewers went forth sewing seed or Word. The Son of Man and the Devil. So then One sewed perfect Word Seed and the other corruptible word seed. And this word corruptible comes from a Greek word Phthartos whose root word is phtheiro which means something that is liable to decay or perish being death - doomed and refers to the "withdrawal of Life".

Without the Shout there will be no change of the mind which then there could be no change of the body which then there could be no resurrection of the dead nor could there be a catching away. So the Shout starts the whole thing in motion. And Jesus said, "As a man thinks in His heart so is He and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." So then if God Himself comes forth with a shout, this can only be a declaration of Himself. And that is exactly how we are to receive our change. In [1 John 3: 2] the scripture tells us, " Beloved, now we are the sons of God, but it does not Appear what we shall be, but we know that when He Appears ( At His Appearing) We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He really is. " So we see here that we receive our change by seeing Him as He really is. In fact in Col 3: 4 we read, " When Christ who is our Life shall Appears, then shall we Appear with Him in Glory. " So we see again that it takes His Appearing to bring out of us who we really are. This Appearing then is instrumental to our change. Seeing Him changes us. Earlier we quoted Br. Branham telling us when that which is perfect comes and he told us He has come. It is God in the form of the Word. Now in [1 Cor 13:12] we are told, " For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face: ( When? When God comes!) Now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we are known." We also see in [2 Cor 3: 18] that as we look into the mirror of Gods Word we only see Christ and the more we look upon Him the more we are changed from image to image and from Glory to Glory.

So we see that the Word is what brings about our change and if we are to receive a change that is incorruptible it must come by a Word which also is incorruptible. That is why it is so important for God Himself to come down. Br. Branham told us that Christ Himself is our Elijah of today. He said, Christ is the Messenger to this Age. And as we know he speaks to us through the lips of His Prophets. So God comes down with a Shout which is a Message which is a declaration of Himself. As He is He speaks. And we are caught up into the Revelation of Himself and this brings about our change. In [Ephesians 1: 17] Paul tells us that God will send forth the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him, that we might know what the hope or earnest expectation of this calling from God is. Br. Branham defines this for us in the Series, [Seventy Weeks of Daniel] pp. 67, "The Spirit of Wisdom comes into the church by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost bringing the church in and revealing what day that we are living in. Just the same as Gabriel come to Daniel, the Holy Spirit comes to the church in the last days to reveal these great deep secret things. Do you understand now?"

In [1 Corinthian 1: 4 - 10] we see that Christ sends us a special dispensation of Grace also spoken of in [1: Peter 1: 13] that is to enrich us or like fertilizer does other seeds. It is to help us to grow up into Him in all things. He tells us that this is to help us so we come behind in no spiritual gift which is a spiritual endowment or understanding in order that we might be able to see and perceive what is taking place at the Unveiling or Revelation of Christ. So we see the essentially of Christ among us in the form of the Holy Ghost bringing forth His Word to quicken us and change our mortal bodies to immortal. We also find that the Word will bring forth a righteous Bride for a Righteous God. And the Word righteousness comes from an old English word, right - wise - ness. So then if we are a righteous people it is because we are a rightly wise people, or a people with a correct Word. Again, He said, " Who is perfect but God and what is God but the Word, that's [John 1: 1]. And we see that It is by this same Word that we are to be changed and caught up.

The emphasis is not on the baptism any more but the Baptizer, Himself. Paul spoke in [Ephesians 1: 15 - 17] about the Spirit of Wisdom coming to ones who were already prepared by the baptism in verses [13 - 14]. So then we can see the Message brother Branham spoke in this hour takes us beyond the baptism of the Holy Ghost right into the very Presence of the Baptizer Himself, Who is the Holy Ghost. In fact that is why there is so much flack amongst the Pentecostal element in this Message. Br. Branham warned us this would come in [Q & A on the Holy Ghost] pg. 19 "Now, when the Holy Ghost comes in and reveals the Truth of anything and proves it by His Own  Presence and by His Word, you can't expect the Pentecostals to agree with it. You've got to stand alone like Luther did, like Wesley did, like the rest of them did."

I hope by now that you can see clearly by scripture and by God's vindicated  prophet that Christ is here now, in a way He hasn't been for nearly 2,000 years.  The next few paragraphs will deal with 11 reasons why  He is here now.

1) He is here to make ready a prepared people. [Luke 1:17 Ephesian 1: 3 - 6, 17 - 21, 1 John 3: 1 - 3, 2 Cor 3: 18, Col 3: 4, 1 Cor 1: 4 - 10, 1 Peter 1: 10 - 13, 23,]

2) He is here to gather His Elect & claim His Inheritance [ Matthew 3: 11 - 12, 13: 28 - 31, 41, 24: 31 Mark 13: 27, Luke 3: 17, Ephesians 1: 10, 2 Thes 2: 1, ]

3) He is here to save the righteous from perishing. [ 2 Thes: 1 & 2 , 13 1 Peter 1: 5,9,10 end time Revelation bringing salvation. 2 Peter 2: 12 - 13 while they feast with you. 3: 9, 1 Thes 5:9, 2 Thes 2: 13Titus 2: 11, Hebrews 2: 1 - 4, Hebrews 9: 28, ]

4) He is here to save the Elect from deception. [Matt 24: 3 - 5, 11, 24, Mark 13: 5-6, Eph 1: 17-18, & 4: 14, 2 Thes: 1: 7 - 12, & 2: 2-3, 10 - 12, 2 John 8 - 10, 1 John 2: 19 - 20, 28, Luke 21: 8, 2 Tim 3: 13, Rev 13: 4 - 10, 14 - 16, 19: 20, Matt 13: 1- 17 Mark 4: 11 - 12, Luke 8:10, 1 Tim 4: 1 - 2, 2 Tim 3: 1 - 9, 4: 3-4 & 8]

5) He is here to seal in the wise Virgins. [Matt 25: 1-13, Ephesians 1: 13 - 18, & 4: 30, 1 peter 1: 3 - 7] ordained to pass the end time Faith test (Faith is a Revelation, there's Only one Faith, Revelation, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, These ordained to pass the test <Godhead etc.> but those who fall away from THE Faith, THE Revelation of Jesus Christ are Reprobate concerning THE Faith, The Revelation.

6) He is here to separate the chaff from the wheat. [Matt: 3:11-12, 7: 15-23, 13: 24-30, 36-43, 47-49, 25:1-11, 2 Thes 1: 7 - 12 , 2: 3, 10 - 12, 1 Tim 4: 1, Hebrews 6, 1 John 2: 19 - 21, 28, 2 groups, Luke 17: 26 - 37, 2 Cor 4: 3-6, 11: 1-4, Gal 1: 6, 2 Tim 3: 1 - 9, 4: 3-4, 8 ]

7) He is here to raise the dead. [1 Thes 4: 15 - 18, 1 Cor 15: all Ephesians 1: 17 - 23, Gal 2: 1, Acts 1: 9-11, Matt 27: 51-53, Col 3: 4, Deut 30:3, Luke 20: 36 children of the resurrection, John 11: 24-25, Acts 24: 15, 21, Rom 6: 5, Phil 3: 10-11, 2 Tim 2: 18, Rev 20: 5]

8) He is here to change the living. [1 Thes 4:15-18, I Cor 15: all, 2 John 3: 1 - 3, 2 Cor 3: 18, Roman 12: 1-2, Col 3: 4, 1 Cor 13: 9 - 12, 2 Thes 1: 7, 10-12, Acts 3: 19-21, 1 Peter 1: 7 -9, 13, 2 Peter 1: 1-4, 10-12, 1 Cor 1: 4 - 10, Matt 24: 30 ]

9) He is here to put us in a rapture. [1 Thes 4: 15-18, ] See also transformation and change.

10) He is here to Glorify His saints [2 Thes 1: 7, 10-12, 2: 14, 2 Cor 3: 9-10, 18, 4:6, 1 John 3: 1-3, 1 Cor 1: 4-10, 13: 9-12, Romans 12: 1-2, Matt 16: 27, 24:30, 25: 31, Luke 2: 32, 21: 27, John 17: 5, 22, 24, Acts 22: 11, Romans 5: 2, 8: 18, 9:4,23, 1 Cor 2: 7, 15:43, Eph 1: 14, 17-18, Phil 4: 19, 1 Peter 1: 7, 8,11,21, 4: 13-14, 5: 1, 4, 10, 5: 10-11, Col 1: 27 why should there be this hope of Glory? 3: 4, 1 Thes 2: 12, 1 Tim 3: 16, Heb 1: 3, 2: 7,9,10, Jude 1: 24]

11) He is here to Judge the Living and the dead. (Investigating Judgment) A Judge!

[ Rev 3: 14-21, James 5: 7-9, John 12: 48, Matt 3: 12, 7: 15-23, 13: 24-30, 36-43, 47-49, 25: 1-11, 2: Thes 1: 7-10]

Now there are various other questions that have risen as a result of certain people trying to teach this Message of Christ's Appearing without really understanding it. As a result many fanatical doctrines have been superimposed which have caused much distress among Message believers. The following questions and answers should help to quell some of these questions that have arisen as a result of wrong understanding.

[QUESTION]"  Some people have said that the second coming  is  taking place right now. Is this true?

[ANSWER]"  Yes,  but  not per'se ! What is taking place  now  is  the Appearing which Br. Branham said "it's a sign of His Coming. Brother  Branham said in the Seven Seals, pg. 308, "Christ's first coming, a mortal. He comes three times. Christ is in three. See? Watch how he comes, he's a four.  Watch Christ. First coming, He come a mortal to bleed and die. Is that right? That's His first coming. The second coming is the rapture. We meet Him in the skies, immortal. His third coming, He's the incarnate God (Amen. Yeah.), God Emmanuel to reign on earth. That's right. Only three...

 He Comes  three times. Christ is in three. So,  the second Coming in itself must be as His first one  was  and the  third  one will be and that is in  His  Corporeality. In  other-words, He will come in a physical manifestation just as He did  His first  coming. Notice the type in Gen 18: when "Elohim" Appears"  to Abraham.  The  sign  of discernment is performed.  Then  after  the burning the promised son comes to earth. Luke 17:30 says this is to repeat.  However, many of the scriptures we've associated with  His second  coming  are actually referring to His Appearing,  which  is essential  to  the actual fulfillment of The Second Coming  of  our Lord Jesus Christ.

Notice  at His First Coming, He comes to earth a mortal. He  is  on earth when God descends like a dove from heaven and incarnates  Him on earth. God then leaves Him in Gethsemane to die a mortal. At His Second Coming God is on earth having descended with a  Shout (  The  Message),  a Voice, (The Resurrection),  and  Trumpet  (the catching  away)[1 Thes 4:13-18]. All of this is in preparation  for the Meeting in the air. [SEE RAPTURE SERMON] Jesus (the Body) is in heaven. As God gathers together His Bride [2 Thes 2:1] and  catches her  away to meet Jesus in the air, He draws her up as He  did  the Apostles on Mount Transfiguration and Incarnates Jesus again,  this time  midway between heaven and earth. [ Matthew 17:1-2 ] His  third Coming  which is His last, He then Comes to earth from  heaven  already the Incarnate God. [Rev 19 & 20 ]

[QUESTION] You say, He must return in a physical form as He did  the first  time.  If this is true, what was Paul telling us in [ II  COR 5:16 ] when he said, "Wherefore henceforth know we no man after  the flesh:  yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh,  yet  now henceforth know we him so no more."?

[ANSWER]  Remember  the disciples on the road to Emmaus?  Also  when Jesus appeared to Peter and the Brethren who were fishing? What did these  appearances have in common? The Bible tells us they did  not recognize  Jesus. But then He did something that made Him  manifest in His true Character. He broke the bread a certain way. Now  today He  has  come and has broken the Bread of Life in His  own  certain

way. But many have missed Him because He did not come in their  way but in His own way.

If  you'll notice further down in vs.[18-21], Paul is speaking  of  a relationship  which does not exist by mere acquaintance  only,  but rather  is  a ministry imparted to us which reconciles us  back  to Him. Now this ministry of reconciliation is needed because we  have been separated from Him. The word Reconcile is from two words "Re": a prefix meaning (anew or again), and the word "Conciliate":  which means  to  (assemble, unite,). This then is a Word  ministry  which will  unite or assemble us again. This Word of reconciliation  then places  us  in a position of Ambassadorship as we see in  Vs [ 20].

Thus  as Ambassadors, we represent our Sovereign while resident on foreign soil, thus separated from the one whom we represent. Therefore,  it  is a Word of reconciliation  because  the  reconciliator Himself  is not present. Thus by Word, we are brought into a  relationship to our Sovereign. As we have at His first coming a  reconciliation of man to God or (The Word). God used Jesus (the complete manifestation  of His Word) to bring man back to His Word.  Now  He has  come as Word (Logos) to assemble or unite us to  the  Complete manifestation of His Word namely Jesus. When Jesus was here in flesh at His first coming, no man knew  Him, or  Who  He represented, by looking at His flesh. Some  Greeks  had heard  that God was descended and they went to meet Him,  but  when they saw only a man, they went away discouraged. The Bible tells us that  after  His resurrection, He appeared unto many. If  you  will notice, on many occasions He was not identifiable in His flesh,  It was  what  He  said that made them take note  that  "This  was  the Christ".  If they did not know Him after the flesh then, how is  it that they will know Him by His flesh now. "As a man thinketh in his heart  so is he", and "out of the abundance of the heart the  mouth speaketh". So we don't really know any man by his flesh but  rather by  what he says, for this is what bears witness to what he is  and what  he  stands for. So we do not know, and will  not  know  Jesus after the flesh but by a perfect Word description. After all He  is the Word. In fact He is the complete manifestation and the  perfect interpretation of the Word.

[QUESTION]  Are you then saying, that unless we somehow are  given  a clear  description by word of Jesus that we wouldn't really  recognize Him if He was to make Himself visible in flesh?

[ANSWER] Precisely. That is what the ministry of His Appearing is  all about.  God  has  come down in form of Logos to  reveal  or  unveil Himself  to us. In this ministry He, as the Spirit of Truth, is  to lead  us into all truth. He is The Spirit of Wisdom and  Revelation that gives us The Knowledge of Him. Without this ministry, we could not  be caught away, for we would not even be aware of the  day  or season of the catching away and thus would not be prepared for such a great event. We'd still be holding onto our own ideas of what  is to take place and we would surely miss it. Let me use an illustration to bring out my point. Eliezer was  sent to  bring a bride home to a promised son Isaac. He met a  woman  at the well who received him and his ministry. By word he proceeded to tell  her of this groom who had sent him to bring her home to  him. The more he spoke of this groom the more she longed to meet him. By word  then, she received this promise and was caught away  to  meet going  to meet for when they arrived she lighted off the camel  and ran  into  his awaiting arms. Now she was a virtuous  woman  and  a woman  does  not keep her virtue long by running into the  arms  of complete  strangers. This then would truly be out of character  for her  to do, had she not already known Him, before she actually  met him in flesh.

[QUESTION] Are you then saying that the Appearing is an introduction to  His  coming. And without it we would still  be  wondering  How, when, where, by what etc.

[ANSWER] Yes, you are very perceptive. The Appearing is that portion of time  or  season, an epochal season whereby we are  ushered  into  a transitory  state, a rapture. It is the season where  after  coming out  of  Egypt so to speak they had to reach a  point  where  their coming out turned into an entering in. To come out of Egypt was not enough.  They had to enter in. It took the Holy Spirit in  form  of Pillar  of  fire to lead them into the promised land. As  John  the Baptist's  ministry fore ran the first Coming, so too this  ministry of Elijah in our day was to fore run the Second Coming of Christ. An introduction. Johns ministry was not The Coming, but The Coming  of Christ was subsequent to it

[QUESTION] Then, What you are saying is there is a difference between the appearing and the coming.

[ANSWER] Yes, Brother Branham said it in various places, for example in  the Message [END TIME EVANGELISM]" he said "Now, we have  already seen  and are witnessing the appearing of the Lord. Now  remember, appearing and coming are two" different words, to appear and then" to come. Now is the appearing, He's already appeared in these last few days. Right here with us in the last few years. Now, it's a sign" of His Coming." Notice  that he cautions us to remember that these are in fact  two different words and two different events. He says that it is a sign of  His Coming. Remember the parable of the thief, if the good  man had known what hour the thief was coming he would not have suffered his  house to be broken into. This sign of the appearing is a  sign given that an epochal season is in process or in motion. But  remember, it is a sign only, it is not the event itself.

[QUESTION] Well, if our Lord Himself is here in the form of a Pillar of  fire or shall we say as Logos, What more could we  want.  What more can the actual body of a man add to us.

[ANSWER]  First  of all we have two questions here. Let's  take  the last  one  first. You ask what more could the Body  of  Jesus  add. Apparently  you  are  aware that we receive our  change  under  the Shout,  Voice  and trumpet which are three stages of  the  rapture. This is true. However the Seventh seal goes plum into Eternity as a continual  unfolding  or as Brother Branham put it,  Like  a  Roman candle,  one ball of fire goes up and out of it comes  another  and another  and on it goes plum into Eternity. Now also remember that we are changed from Glory to Glory and  thus the  meeting in the air is a further Glory from the  Appearing  and the wedding supper is a further glory from the meeting in the  air. The whole thing is an adding Word upon Word upon Word or from Glory to  Glory beginning with the Appearing and swinging right into  the Second Coming. The Millennium is a Glory beyond the Wedding  Supper and New Jerusalem is a further Glory beyond the Millennium.

Now the first question which we chose to answer last is "If God  in the form  of  Logos or Pillar of Fire is now on the  scene,  what  more could  I want". Remember, God was also on the scene in the days  of Abraham  and  Abraham  still longed to see his  Promised  Son.  The promise  to  Abraham  was not complete until  the  actual  physical arrival  of  His son, Isaac. We are still under the promise  as  we have  not actually crossed the Jordan yet. To say, "If I  have  His Logos,  what  do  I need the physical body for?" shows  a  lack  of understanding concerning the actual body of Jesus. This then is the real question, and must be answered first in order for us to really appreciate this great revelation of what God is doing in these last days. The  revelation of Godhead is one which is truly misunderstood.  No one wants to admit that they do not understand the Godhead but  the fact  is that very few people really do. The whole of  Christendom is  primarily a trinity believing people. They are very  wrong.  On the other hand, the oneness people, though few in number are closer yet still way out in left field. Where the trouble seems to lay  is what to do with this Corporal body. Trinitarians want to deify  the body and make it a second person in the Godhead while oneness  want to  eliminate  it all together and put it's importance  only  in  a historical sense (in other words since He came from God and  went back  to  God  they feel that the body is of no  further  use  or importance in the economy of God. It is this lack of understanding which caused the Jews to kill Jesus. The  answer to this understanding is in the Word of God. God  being invisible wanted to show His love for His children. As an invisible one  He  knew that they would have trouble receiving His  love.  He then,  in  order to show forth His love, made a body  in  which  He might  outwardly express His Love for His Children.  The  invisible God thus became visible. In other words, Jesus Christ is the full and complete interpretation of the expressed thought of God.  God expressed.  The outward manifestation of God. Every characteristic, every attribute, every thought that God ever had, He  formed into a sperm and egg and placed it in the womb of Mary. As  this body  begin  to grow it took on the full character  and  complete fullness of what God had in His thoughts to begin with. Therefore the  Word which began as a thought one day became flesh  and  God child  now make visible His expression of Love for His  children. He now can receive our love in a way which we could not love  Him as an invisible One. It gives a direction to channel our love.  A focal  point. Then the body of Jesus being man is more than  just man,  it is  God manifested or made visible. Thus  the  One  who created this body is gathering a bride to bring to this body  and He thinks so much of this body, He will incarnate it again at the meeting  in the air.

[QUESTION] What you are saying  then,  is that we have had our thinking all wrong for many ages, so God had to  Appear on the scene once again to straighten out the mess  we had  gotten  ourselves into and to bring us to a place  where  we could truly receive Jesus as our Head and Husband.

[ANSWER]  My, how quick you learn. Yes, Even at His first coming He was looking for a Bride but the church was in no condition to really be received as one. Paul reprimanded them in Galatians for returning back to law so soon after they had come out from under it. It took more than a prophet to return the hearts of the children to their first love. It took the God Prophet Himself. He wanted our hearts and our minds. How ironic in an age where women strive for personal freedom that He has come for a Bride who has completely, willfully, and joyfully surrendered all of her rights to Him. She has even come to a state of letting her thinking go. Perfect rest because of perfect trust.

[QUESTION] My, what a beautiful picture! So what you are saying is that He is here to ensure that she doesn't fall like the first Eve fell.

[ANSWER] Correct! As she becomes more aware of His Presence she enters more and more into a state of rest. She completely trusts Him to bring her into a state of rest. She completely trusts Him to bring her in and fulfill every promise that He has given to her. In the first Exodus, Moses commanded the people to "Stand Still and see the salvation of God." But they got antsy and wanted something in it to do themselves. Ruth, another type of the Bride was told by her bridegroom Boaz, to "rest until the morning." And in this third exodus we are told to be at rest also. Br. Branham said that there is "relaxation under the seventh Seal." He said, we must "Let go and let God."

[QUESTION] Then, what about winning souls to Christ and all these things that have been so important to us all these years? Where does this fit in if we are to be resting?

[ANSWER] Well, that's just the point. Jesus said I do nothing unless my Father shows me first. How often have we tried to do God a service without it being His will. Jesus told the Pharisees that they would compass land and sea for one proselyte and the result would be someone who was now twofold more a child of hell than he began. Br. Branham said, "The Bride will have 'Thus saith the Lord or she will keep still." She is to "lay in the presence of the Son to ripen." So, if God is truly in it, we will definitely see results. Now remember, results are not numbers. What were the results of Jesus' preaching to the totally lost?

[QUESTION] I'm beginning to understand more clearly now than ever before. This last day Bride is not concerned with trying to work her way into favor with God, she knows she is already in His favor, so she is resting in what He has done for her and she ministers back to Him what He has shown her already as Jesus did when He was here in flesh.

[ANSWER] Yes, she loves Him so much that she is only concerned with pleasing Him. As any good wife will do, her first service is to her husband,. She's not interested in what her neighbors got going. She then becomes in perfect image of Jesus Christ for that is exactly what He did while here on earth in flesh.

[QUESTION] Oh, I see! And we must come into this same image of Him before we can leave this world. Well, how does this come about? I mean, how does the Holy Spirit Who is in our midst bring this to pass?

[ANSWER] Brother Branham said, "the right mental attitude toward any Divine promise of God will bring it to pass." This is not works. Remember, God must show it first, then your attitude toward it will bring the result. Just before the children of Israel entered into the promised land they were given last minute instructions. They were told to claim every step that they took, and every place that they stepped, was given to them. Parallel this then to Abraham and you will notice that God first gave Him the revelation of the land of promise. He received the promise first and then started to walk toward it. Every step that he took was an outward show that He believed God. He thus received it from God and He offered it back to God. The journey then was his offering or sacrifice to God. His every step toward the land of promise then became a manifestation of the promised word of the hour. In this hour too, the Bride becomes the manifestation of her revelation, the Word becoming flesh. As she receives the revelation of the rapture, or appearing, she is transformed by the renewing of her mind. And thus becomes the fulfillment of [2 Cor 3: 18] which states that she is changed from Glory to Glory, which indicates a progressive change from a progressive revelation.

From His Message, 182 I HAVE HEARD BUT NOW I SEE 65-1127.2E, brother Branham said, " Now, He promised that He would do that same thing again, just before the world would be burnt, and the world would be in a Sodom condition. The New Testament, the Prophet, the God-prophet, the Prophet of prophets, the God of all the prophets, the fulness of the Godhead bodily, God manifested in a flesh, the Creator, of Genesis. Hallelujah! It's His Word! He said it would happen! And we see Sodom condition, we see the world in that condition, now we see Him come down and do exactly what He said He would do. Now, we've heard of Him, now we see Him! "I've heard of You with my ears, now I see You with my eyes." Amen! "I see Him with my own eyes." What a hour it should be! What a time it should be! The confirmation of His Word! Always when the Word is confirmed, that's God speaking in His Word, making Hisself visible that you can see.