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.
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.