The Known God
Plan of God; Prelude to Answering. “Who Is God?”
March 3, 2001
…And
the Word of this hour has not been the Word of this hour after all, and people
get weary and faint. We trust, Lord it shall not be named amongst us, but
rather, Lord, It shall encourage and lift up our hearts and our minds, even our
hands to heaven, knowing that when all these things come upon the earth, we
have this Word as our defense, standing behind It, and we rejoice, Lord, that
all these things are here with the outer man perishing, the world systems going
down the drain, attrition having set in, erosion everywhere, and yet there is a
people that will be standing here, and as the ages have gone by, and You took
them away a little at a time, You’re going to be taking us away too, but some
not tasting death.
Father,
we the people, rally around Your Word, knowing that in there is life and in
this alone there is that help that they have need of at this moment in there
with the life for their nourishment spiritually and even physically, Lord. So
help us bring to Your Word and understand the truth as never before. We give
You the praise. In Jesus’ Name we pray. You may be seated. [Problems with the
microphone.]
1. Now
we’re going to read very splendid portions of Scripture, and there are going to
be quite a few of them, and we’ll start over here in the Book of Acts. The
subject matter is “The Known God,” and He is known in the depths of the
revelation of this hour. And Paul, speaking over here in Acts 17 where he’s on
Mars’ hill, verse 22, says:
(22) Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’
hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too
superstitious.
(23) For I passed by, and beheld your
devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom
therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
(24) God that made the world and all things
therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples
made with hands;
(25) Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as
though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all
things;
(26) And hath made of one blood all nations of
men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times
before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
(27) That they should seek the Lord, if haply
they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of
us:
(28) For in him we live, and move, and have our
being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his
offspring.
(29) Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of
God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or
stone, graven by art and man's desire.
(30) And the times of this ignorance God winked
at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
(31) Because he hath appointed a day, in the
which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath
ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised
him from the dead.
2. And
over here in Rom 1:18-21 It speaks thusly:
(18) For the wrath of God is revealed from
heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold back the
truth in unrighteousness;
(19) Because that which may be known of God is
manifest in them; for God hath showed it unto them.
(20) For the invisible things of him from the
creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are
made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
(21) Because that, when they knew God, they
glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their
imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
(22) Professing themselves to be wise, they
became fools,
(23) And changed the glory of the uncorruptible
God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted
beasts, and creeping things.
3. And
over in 1 Corinthians, just a couple verses there before we get to Ephesians. 1
Cor 2:7-8, and It said:
(7) But we speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory:
(8) Which none of the princes of this world
knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
Now
what you see there is the absolute fact of a certain knowledge of God that is
available and is not only available, but actually presented by God in such a
way that it could be turned down…not only could be turned down but could be
treated despicably by iniquitous men, which means they have perverted the Word
or held It back through unrighteousness, through their own desires.
4. Now
in Ephesians we have much reading starting with Ephesians 1:
(1) Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the
will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ
Jesus:
(2) Grace be to you, and peace, from God our
Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
(3) Blessed be the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ:
(4) According as God hath chosen us in God
before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame
before him. (That’s before God.)
(5) In love having predestinated us unto the
adoption of children (That’s the actual placing positionally of children, which
will be fulfilled of course in the Millennium, going into the New Jerusalem,
and you’ll find much of that in 1 Cor 15.) by Jesus Christ to himself, (That’s
to God Himself) according to the good pleasure of God’s Own will,
(6) To the praise of the glory of God’s Own
grace, wherein God hath made us accepted in the beloved. (Now of course It
tells you how that was the means which was used there, man having drifted
away.)
(7) In whom we have redemption through his
blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
(8) Wherein he hath abounded toward us in
all wisdom and prudence;
(9) Having made known unto us the mystery of
his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
(10) That in the dispensation of the fulness of
times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in
heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
(11) In whom also we have obtained an
inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all
things after the counsel of his own will:
(12) That we should be to the praise of his
glory, who first trusted in Christ.
(13) In whom you also trusted, after that you
heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that
you believed, you were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
(14) Which is the earnest of our inheritance
until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.
Now
in here is the interpolation for the end time, the exposition in these verses
here: 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, moving into 20, which is the Rapture, and proceeding
forward. This portion of Scripture embraces the Book of Revelation. Now most
people don’t understand that, and they wouldn’t care to understand if I told
them, but I’m telling you, and that is actual and factual.
And
in Revelation 3:14 on, where we find that speaking in there concerning the end
time Message, coming from God, that… I’ll just read It. It’s over here in 3:14.
And he says:
(14) Unto the messenger these things saith the
Amen, (That’s the God of Truth, according to Isaiah.) the faithful and true
witness, the beginning of the creation of God. (Which was God creating Himself
in the form of human flesh.)
So
this is the end of it, because Revelation is the harvest chapter of the Book of
Genesis, and in Ephesians here we’re having the entire plan of God laid out
before you.
5. Now
let’s just keep reading, Ephesians 2:
(1) And you hath he quickened, who were dead
in trespasses and sins;
(2) Wherein in time past ye walked according
to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,
the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
(3) Among whom also we all had our behavior…
Now
It doesn’t say that they were children of disobedience. They were disobedient
children. The child of disobedience was Cain, through Eve, actually disobeying.
And a disobedient mind brings forth a disobedient act, which has a disobedient
harvest. And if you know anybody more disobedient than Cain was, well, I’d like
you to tell me about it after service. It would be quite interesting.
So
these are simply disobedient children, and they have their behavior, their
social contacts and their living amongst the children of disobedience. So it’s
these children here that are quickened… Now ‘to quicken’… You can use the word
‘quickening’ in the sense of ‘making alive’, and you will use it according to
our quickening to our heritage, which we have in Christ, being children of
Christ. But when you talk about the quickening of the dead: that’s not exactly
quickening the dead; that’s resurrection, although it’s a quickening too. You
could call it that, but the quickening here has to do with being quickened
toward God by the Holy Spirit. And remember the salutation of Paul, and from
whom he has received the salutation in order to address these particular
people, and thereby you’ll understand very definitely we are talking about the
children of God.
6. Now:
(3) …Your behavior in times past in the
lusts of your flesh, (And Bro. Branham makes a quote on that.) fulfilling the
desire of the flesh and of the mind; whereby nature (that were by nature) the
children of wrath, even as others.
So
you’re looking at a common birth here and a common type of society, and right
away you see the one lump that is here mentioned, as it is in Romans. All
right.
(4) But God, who is rich in mercy, for the
great love wherewith he loved us, (What was that ‘great love’? Predestinating
love. So the predestinated here are in the muck and the mire and the filth, and
we are to come forth as lilies in the scum pond. Next:)
(4) …Wherewith his great love, (The love which brings predestination;
wherewith He loved us. Now that’s over here in the first chapter. All right.)
(5) Even when we were dead in sins…
Now
you see the quickening is unto the life spiritual, not the body. The body is
over here has the Holy Spirit baptism, which is guaranteed to get you out of
the grave. That’s what Bro. Branham talked about: he had blessed assurance, not
something that was paid to put him in the grave, but something that was unpaid
by him to get him out of the grave.
7. Now:
(5) …Hath quickened us together with Christ,
by grace ye are saved;
(6) And hath raised us up together, and made
us sit together in heavenly places in Christ:
(7) That in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus
Christ.
Now
there again is predestination. And because it’s predestination there is a
choice, which is election. And because there is a choice, then there has to be
foreknowledge, and the foreknowledge is simply that God knew exactly how many
children He would have, what their names would be, where they would be placed,
and all these things about them; and this is a manifestation and proof of the
love of God. And right away, anybody but us and those who believe in the
sovereignty of God and predestination, will scream, “Murder!” They simply can’t
take this, period.
They’ll
say, “Sovereignty of God... They haven’t got a clue. Predestination—vile,
terrible thing; never accuse God of doing that!”
“Well,
the thing is, see, God just knew, because God knows.”
I
would like to ask them some questions about that, and I can’t buy what they’re
trying to tell me. How do you know for sure if you haven’t the power or in some
way are privy to that power to predestinate?
8. We’d
take all night. I’ve got lots of Scripture, and lots of things here that I want
to talk about.
(7) That in the ages to come he might show
the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Jesus
Christ. (Now he tells you there’s a means of it.)
(8) For by grace are ye saved through faith;
and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
(9) Not of works, that man should boast.
(10) For we are his workmanship, created in
Christ (Now notice in there: ‘workmanship’ and ‘created’, and part of it is not
created: a part of simply nature working, and a part of God working, a part of
us working.) which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.
(That’s those works. Well, how do you know? Well, the Word of God was forever
settled in heaven and that’s what we walk by: the Light and the Lamb at our
feet.)
(11) Wherefore remember, that you being in time
past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is
called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hand;
(12) That at that time ye were without Christ,
being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants
of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
9. Now
that’s just natural because they were in this one lump, made in the image of
man, having fallen to begin with, and then next in the image of beast, which is
animal (because we’re all animals—mammals) and then that fell, the image got
broken, and now we have bodies that are really miserable with serpentine minds.
And without Christ we are of all men most miserable, because the point is there
that we have within us that seed that can only find its resting place in the
ultimate that God has for us. So here you’d be a homing pigeon with the
instincts and no home. But you’re not that way. It just tells you the miserable
condition that people are in but not without hope. You can see that in verse
13.
(13) But now in Christ Jesus you that were
sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.
(14) For he is our peace, who hath made both
one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition;
(15) Having abolished in his flesh the enmity,
even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of
twain one new man, so making peace;
(16) And that he might reconcile both unto God
in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:
(17) And came and preached peace to you which
were afar off, and to them that were nigh.
(18) For through him we both have access by one
Spirit unto the Father. (And so there’s still the Jew, the Gentile and the
Church of God. There’s still the division, as Paul said it.)
(19) Now therefore you are no more strangers
and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of
God;
(20) And are built upon the foundation of the
apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone;
(21) In whom all the building fitly framed
together groweth into an holy temple in the Lord:
(22) In whom you also are builded together for
an habitation of God through the Spirit.
And
now, look what It says here in the first chapter, after the interpolation,
where the Spirit of God comes in and opens the Book of Revelation, because that
Spirit has to tell us the hour and the times in which we live, and the deep
secrets and mysteries of God. That’s a quote from Bro. Branham, period, in
“Daniel Seventies Week.” When I first saw that quote, I knew exactly where it
came from: right here in Ephesians.
10. Now
it leads to the Rapture. And what does that lead to? Eph 1:21-22:
(21) (It puts us:) far above all principality
and power and might and dominion and every name that’s named, not only in this
world but also in the world which is to come:
(22) And to put all things under Jesus’ feet,
and give him to be the head over all things to the church,
(23) Which is his body, the fulness of him that
filleth all and in all.
So
It tells you right here: there you are, is that temple. See? What he’s doing
here is actually revealing in detail through the rest of the Book of Ephesians
what is in this first chapter, which is the epitomization of God, period,
meaning the full compass, the full compass from Gen 1:1 to Rev 22:21. It’s all
in there, every single bit of it. Now minutely, yes, but it’s all there.
11. Now
let’s keep reading:
(1) For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of
Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
(2) If ye have heard of the dispensation of
the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: (Now notice how this wonderful
grace comes: it comes by a man. Now this wonderful grace that’s in God is
placed in Jesus Christ. In other words he’s the one that God works through to
get to us, and it doesn’t stop there. It goes to a prophet. All right.)
(3) And how by revelation he made known unto
me the mystery; as I wrote afore in few words,
(4) Whereby, when you read, you may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ
(5) Which in other ages was not made known
unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets
by the Spirit.
In
other words what the Spirit of God said long ago by the prophets was very
sketchy, but now it’s not sketchy anymore, because the details are filled in.
Now keep that in mind as you understand, and I’ll quote again: “Just think how wonderful. The same Spirit
Pillar of Fire that brought the Word to Paul is here revealing It.” And
what Paul could not see fulfilled in Philippians is being fulfilled now. Paul
couldn’t do it, because it’s only at the end of the age that the Holy Spirit
baptism runs out and the Holy Spirit Himself takes over; and that’s His Spirit
or God Himself.
12. Keep
listening now. This is a tremendous book. I’ve always loved Ephesians. So does
everybody else that is born again, or at least think they’re born again. But
nobody knows It like we do. Nobody, nobody; because nobody had the prophet. I
picked up every book I could get my hands on, always turned to the Book of
Ephesians, and I’d want to know what are these verses, 15 to 18, about?
Oh,
they had all kinds of ideas. Just like 2 Corinthians 5; to them that’s the
resurrection. It’s not the resurrection; it’s the body you go to when you die,
and that’s in the message tonight, if we get that far. Bro. Branham preached
six hours. I’ll just do it in five. You can laugh now, but you might not be
laughing. It’s a good thing those seats are so comfortable.
13. Now:
(6) That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs,
and of the same body, (Uh huh, that’s why there’s two parts to the first
resurrection. See? And that’s why there’s only one part to the second
resurrection when all the rest come up.)…be fellow heirs of the same body and
partakers of his promise in Christ by the Gentiles. (By the way, the first part
or half of the First or Outresurrection took place when Jesus Messiah arose.)
Well
now let’s face it this way: if the promise was there, and the ability given
through Christ to partake, and it was all in God in the first place, then I
have this feeling that this must be God in Christ doing it, not simply
permissive, and not simply a way, a conduct, but in reality as God was in
Christ reconciling the world to Himself. So we’re looking at this as a pretty
deep matter. At least I think it is.
(7) Whereof I was made a minister, according
to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his
power.
Now
Paul tells you right there that it is the effectual working of God’s power to
bring this whole predestinated plan into divine consummation. And it comes
through this man, Paul, who brought the Word, and established in Ephesians 4
the five-fold ministry that brings the church to perfection, which means: where
the Head is, having been resurrected and risen, “the Body must follow.” Do you follow me? I’m quoting Bro. Branham
just left and right. If you know Bro. Branham, you know where we’re coming
from. And I want you to see the importance of the prophet and the five-fold
ministry, because that’s ordained. Now it doesn’t matter what anybody thinks, it’s
what God says. So that’s a part of it—ordained—commanded by God Himself in His
sovereignty.
14. Now
he says:
(7) …The effectual working of God’s power in
him.
Now
he uses that very same thing in 2 Corinthians when he talks about the fact that
the veil was upon Moses’ face, and they could not reach the full revelation of
God. They couldn’t do it. But unto Paul was given the effectual working of God
in order to remove the veil and to actually declare God, to lead Him forth by
words and present Him the same as he said concerning God the Father and the
same thing as he said concerning the Son: “to declare him.” Bro. Branham said
the same thing about himself and his ministry in 1962.
In
other words, without this effectual working of God, God effecting His Own
purpose, bringing it into effect—that’s what we’re talking: not affect, but
effect—it has to come through these men, and particularly the prophet. As Bro.
Branham said, “You can neither worship
nor serve God except by a prophet.” Now where does your freethinking and
all your ideas go now?
You
say, “I don’t like it. I’m an independent thinker.”
Listen,
I’m happy for you, but I’m extra happy for me, because I’m off the hook. God is
going to deal with me the way He said, and I’m happy to have Him deal with me
that way. Being led by a prophet is not the same as a man leading you. When I
was first in Pentecost they tried to steer me around by the nose. I just walked
right out. Oh, no, I don’t get into organization—all that claptrap and
balderdash. Forget it. But I’m so happy to have a prophet. Why? Well, I think
I’m Seed. That’s why. Well, I know I am. I don’t have to think about the thing.
I should think about the fact and dwell on it and rejoice in it. My faith is
based on vindication.
But
you know, faith has to come to the place of knowledge. See? And hope transcends
faith. And what a man seeketh, he had hope for. What he sees he doesn’t have to
hope for. Well, we’ve gone way past hope and faith. There’s only one thing left
and that’s love…that’s God Himself…in the Presence of the great God—the same
Presence that Paul had, which Presence left the first age but is now returned
to take a Bride out of here in the last age.
15. Now:
(8) Unto me, who am less than the least of
all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the
unsearchable riches of Christ;
(9) And to make all men see what is the
fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid
in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ: (So now right here you have a
mystery that was not definitely known, though it was there hidden in the Word,
but actually made known now.)
(10) To the intent that now unto the
principalities and powers in heavenly places might be made known by the church
the manifold wisdom of God.
It
tells you right here that whoever these people are who have what is effectually
working in Paul by the Holy Spirit, the living revelation of Almighty God, and
the great mysteries resound in heaven to the extent that that which is there
outside of the Bride, they would not even have a clue to what you and I have
access to, and are part and parcel of this great plan of God, wherein is
manifested His wisdom. God’s intelligent creation can look in on us but never e
a part of us. We are not sons by creation but actually ‘of’ or ‘part of’ God.
It’s
like the old song said, “Angels never knew the redemptive power of the Blood,”
which of course the cross and the shedding of Blood is foolishness to the
Greeks, the smart, wise ones; and to the Jew of course, it’s blasphemy.
(11) According (Now watch.) to the eternal
purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: (Now with that you’ve got
to keep going back to the first chapter. See? What you’re looking at, as I’ve
said, are the details being laid in there: from eternity to eternity; from God,
back to God. This begins to fill it in.)
(12) In whom we have boldness and access with
confidence by the faith of him.
16. Now
It doesn’t tell you that it’s our faith that does it, although we have a gift
of faith according to 1 Peter. Bro. Branham said the first virtue there is
faith. It says it’s true. But It says ‘in whom’ we have boldness—that’s because
of Jesus Christ—and access with confidence by the faith of him. “And this is
the confidence,” said John, “that we have in him.” See? There’s the confidence.
And that is, “that if we know that he hears us, we know we have the petition we
desired of him.” [1 Jn 5:14-15] And remember you know that He does hear you,
because you have not turned your ear away from hearing His Word. The only ones
whom God does not hear are those that turn their ears from hearing His Word.
[Prov 28:9] Then if they butt in under their false anointing to get the things
of God, they’ll answer to God on Judgment Day and get a debit. In other words
they will suffer for a crime that they feel they have not committed, because
they spoke in tongues: gift of God; they prophesied: gift of God; cast out
devils: gift of God; discerned spirits: that’s a gift of God: faith, healing,
miracles: gift of God. They used it, and it becomes a debit; they become
workers of iniquity, and they’re cast out. Now you better begin to think about
this. There is a ‘true’ boldness ‘granted’ to us, but the others presume. And
remember Bro. Branham’s message on “Presuming”.
(12) In whom we have boldness…
17. Now
I don’t care about the false anointed. They don’t have a thing to do with me.
If we could have a gift of tongues and interpretation here, you bet we’d have
them. I want them. If we had only one person that we knew had the discerning of
spirits, to sit outside that little room Bro. Branham talked about, we would
start right now, or I’d walk out of here and get some place else to preach. It
wouldn’t bother me any. If I can’t find one here, you know, I can always go out
there and find people that are willing to work at it. I know you would, too.
But where is it? You have to go by the Word. You can’t go by your own hearsay.
That’s Matthew 7, and you’ll stand in jeopardy. You’ll stand in judgment and in
condemnation for having done the Scripture outside of you being entitled to do
it. Yeah. “Many will come in that day, having done so and so….” Here it’s right
here in the Bible, right here in the Book. He said, “You weren’t entitled, you
perverters of the Word of God.”
18. Now
this signifies a boldness at the end time wherein Bro. Branham categorically
stated, “It was wrong at one time and
meant death to enter in beyond the veil of Christ, but it’s death today ‘not’
to enter in.” Well, if that’s not Hebrews 6, I don’t know what I’m talking
about. And I certainly don’t think I’m a servant of Christ if this is the
furthest I can go, especially trying to teach you people and to help you.
(13) Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my
tribulations for you, which is your glory.
(14) For this cause I bow my knees unto the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
(15) Of whom… (Watch now again:) Of whom the
whole family in heaven and earth is named…
Now
then what’s the Bible all about? If you haven’t guessed by now, I’ll tell you
very plainly: God and His Family. From Genesis to Revelation, every single
chapter, every single thing written in there is about God and His Family, and a
lot of it is pretty bleak, to the end that the end time prophet said, “We’d sin a thousand times a day.” We’d
blackslide a thousand times a day.
Now
I thought, “Well, Bro. Branham, I agree with you. I agree with you.”
(15) Of whom the whole family in heaven and
earth is named, (Not one too few; not one too many.)
(16) That he would grant you, according to the
riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner
man; (Remember Bro. Branham’s picture there that Arganbright took—the sort of
death head and then a young man behind? The outer man was perishing; the inner
man was growing stronger and richer day by day.
(17) That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love.
19. Well,
if you’re not rooted and grounded in love, you tell me what predestination is
all about? It says right here: “In love He predestinated us.” Bro. Branham
preached just about a whole sermon on that. That was the last week of his
sermonizing. That was between December 4 and 12 of 1965—somewhere in there.
(18) That you may ‘comprehend’ with all saints
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height.
Now
remember, there’s also a negative to that. Now, on the one hand, comprehending
the length, the depth, the height and all, the negative is where persecution
comes in, where you have height and depth and length and breadth that can’t
come against you. So you can see here we’re more than conquerors through Christ
Who loved us.
(19) And to know the love of Christ, which
passeth knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fulness of God. Don’t
be mislead here. The sequence is ‘knowledge’ then ‘love’, then the fullness.
(20) Now unto him that is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that you can ask or think, according (If you let Him
control His Own power that is working within you, if you can get out of the
way—and that’s been the secret of the whole thing—that God might have
preeminence.)…
(21) Unto him be glory in the church of Jesus
Christ forever more.
20. Now
with that, we go to 1 Cor 13:8-12. And he says here:
(8) Love never fails: but whether there be
prophecies, they’ll fail; there’ll be tongues, they’ll cease; knowledge, it’ll
vanish away.
(9) For we know in part, and we prophesy in
part. (And that’s exactly true.)
(10) But when that which is perfect is come…
Now
remember, perfect doesn’t just mean it’s perfect in the sense it’s altogether
wonderful and lovely. This perfection means it’s thoroughly complete; it’s
finished; it’s polished off. To take one Word from It, to add one Word to It,
you’re going to ruin It.
(10) When that which is perfect is come, then
that which is in part shall be done away.
Well,
you can’t have a thing ‘perfect’ unless it has all its parts. So all the parts
are Seven Church Ages with seven messages. And the last message finishes it
off, and that’s right. You can’t add or take a Word. Until that time, you
could, but now you can’t. You couldn’t add or take a Word under Paul, and you
can’t add or take a Word under Revelation 20. It can’t be done.
21. And
remember: when you can’t add or take a Word, it always indicates a journey unto
completion—you’re going to get to your goal. It was in the wilderness that
Moses spoke—God speaking through him—you can’t add or take a Word, because they
were going in. At the same time Paul starts the journey, you can’t add or take
a Word. That’s right in the Book of Corinthians and Galatians and all the way
down the line. It’s said here in Romans 1, the whole indicates you can’t add or
take from It.
Now
at the end time then, before going in, the Word is repeated as It was in the
time of Moses, Deuteronomy, twice given. And then immediately after that came
the Book of Joshua, which was a special grace. Who went in? Only two old-timers
and those under twenty at the time of the journey. They were those that were
positively one with the Word—neither adding nor taking from It.
22. So
now It says:
(9) We know in part, we prophesy in part.
(10) When the perfect is come…(There are no
more parts left.)
(11) When I was a child, I spoke as a child,
understood as a child... When I became a man, I put away childish things.
(That’s where Melchisedec comes in: the great mystery of Melchisedec.)
(12) For now we see through a glass, darkly;
but then face to face…
Now
Paul himself had said it was his ministry that could tear the veil away from
Israel, though they did not want it torn away, and would not allow it to be
torn away, but his ministry was effective to the doing of it. Now Paul starts
out here with a clear view that he gives to the people. Of course at the end
time when it’s all in, that view has been absolutely vague. So until the end
time you are getting a part of the revelation and the mystery and the
wonderment of God.
23. Now
remember: to begin with, it was a pure, absolute testimony of God. It began to
go down until the fourth age, and you find it went into absolute oblivion. Then
It started coming back under five, six and seven. Under seven you come to the
place where he says here:
(10) …the parts are done away.
(11) …I put away childish things.
(12) We see through a glass, darkly, but then
face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am
known.
(13) And now abideth faith, hope and love…the
greatest of these is love.
Bro.
Branham said when they asked him, “What does it mean: that which is Perfect has
come?” And he said, “Who is perfect but
God, and what is God but His Own Word, and therefore we have the perfect
revelation of the Word for this hour.”
So
therefore, we have an absolute, perfect revelation of Almighty God by the Word,
because the Only-begotten declared Him, and Paul declared Him, and he declared
His Son, he declared the Church, and so we now have a full declaration, a
complete, full revelation of God and it starts from eternity to eternity, and
we know the place we are in, eternity, the time lapse, which is the end of
time, and eternity and time are blended, and it’s “face to face,” because it
takes the presence of God and the word ‘presence’ means ‘face’. Look it up in
the Hebrew: it means ‘face’. “If Your Presence go not with us... If Your Face
doesn’t go with us, we are not going in.” [Ex 33:15] Moses was afraid.
This
is a different story entirely. We’re not going into another land, like an army.
We’re going to be caught up. So therefore, it takes a presence of God to do it,
which means He is present, the Pillar of Fire here, to lead us into the
Millennium. So we understand that. It’s face to face now. Bro. Branham said so:
the unknown God of Trinity and Jesus-Only is fully known now.
24. With
that, we go to 2 Cor 3:17-18:
(17) Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
(18) But we all, with open face beholding as in
a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed unto the same image from glory to
glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Now
back here when we read this in 1 Corinthians, which is your Gentile church, it
sure didn’t sound too good, because It says, “We look in a glass darkly.”
Now
over here It tells you, “We all, with open face, are looking in a glass”—and it
can’t be darkly anymore; there can’t be mysteries and the unrevealed things of
God. There can’t be, because you’re looking into the Word to see where you are,
because according to James, you look in the Word as a mirror. We’re looking in
there.
25. Now
notice what Paul says, and I’ve been talking about:
(1) Therefore seeing we have this ministry,
as we have received mercy, we faint not.
What
is it? That a man has the ability to have people at a certain hour, no longer
looking darkly in a mirror? Better than that; it’s going to be face-to-face and
changed from glory to glory. Now you’re changing from glory to glory as Bro.
Branham said, “When Luther came on the
scene, compared to Catholicism—and there were some people being born again
there. Don’t worry, there were—oh, what a glory that was. And when Wesley came
on the scene, oh, what a glory that was. And when the Pentecostals came on the
scene, oh, what a glory that was. But this glory shall never fade away!”
That’s us.
So
where are you at? And how does it come? Well, Paul never claimed that he did
it. He said God was working in him effectively—effectively and effectually—and
proven by vindication. And Bro. Branham comes with the same Pillar of Fire,
with the same anointing, but in a different period, because it’s this period
that it’s over! There’s got to be a Bride who gets out of here. As Bro. Branham
said, “If we’re not Bride, there’s a
Bride out there somewhere, and by the grace of God, I won’t stand in Her way.”
That means…listen, even if it starts with a couple of four-year old
kids…they’re thirty-nine years old today. What do you think of that? Time’s
winding down.
26. Now
let’s keep reading:
(2) But have renounced the hidden things of
dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, not handling the word of God deceitfully
(That’s holding back the truth in unrighteousness.) but by the manifestation of
the truth commending ourselves…
Vindication!
Do you see it? Vindication. “Commending ourselves”—saying, “Listen: I’m the
one. Listen to me. I’m the one that’s got it.” That’s what Paul said. And
William Branham said the same thing, “I’m
the one that’s got it. Tell me when it ever failed. Show me I’m not vindicated!”
(2) …To every man's conscience in the sight
of God.
Knowing
there’s a God in heaven, this Bible open before me. See? I told you,
brother/sister, this Word is serious. Let me tell you something. I don’t care
if I finish this tonight or not. It really doesn’t matter, because I can always
take it up. Let me tell you something about vindication: was Mohammed
vindicated? Ha! And hogwash and pigs’feet. He isn’t nothing but a nothing. Joe
Smith? Ha! Mary Baker Eddy? Mrs. Miller? Mrs. White? Buddha? Confucious? Name
them! Name them! Not one vindicated. Therefore, without vindication, you don’t
know God; you don’t know the first thing about God; you can’t even get to God;
you can’t have anything from God; you can’t worship God; you can’t pray to God;
you can’t be born again.
“Well…well…Jesus
died!”
Okay,
come on, prove it. Prove it. You can’t do it. You cannot prove that he died.
“Well,
I know, because I’m forgiven.”
Well,
let me tell you something: the Hindus are so smart and so nice they don’t need
forgiveness. The Gentile goes to India, and he says to some of those nice
people, “Listen, you need to be saved.”
He
said (The guy was a drunkard), “I was a wife beater…I was this, and the other
thing, and God saved me.”
And
the guy said, “Well, you sure needed to be saved.” He said, “I never was any of
those things.”
Prove
it! Without vindication, you’re nowhere, and I’m nowhere either. That’s why I
preach so strong, because I stand right on a vindicated Word. I’m adamant, and
without it I wouldn’t give you two bits today for any of it, because we’re in
that place where there are going to be people ditching everything until only
eight people make the ark. And I don’t want to be one of those that ditches it.
This holds me steady. This is all my hope and stay—my tie post—my absolute—my
ultimate.
27. And
Paul held them steady. He said, “Listen, I’m going to tell you something: I’m
patting myself on the back as it were, and I’m telling you: I am vindicated.
God vindicated Himself to me; He vindicated me to you; and this is a vindicated
Word, because that’s why I am here to declare God, to declare His Son, to
declare the Gospel, to tell you so that you can see by hearing, and you can
know and have fellowship, and that’s the same thing that John said, “That my
hands have handled and my eyes have seen, and my ears have heard… I’m telling
you, and if you don’t listen to me and hear me, you are not of God, but you are
of the devil, just like Cain was.”
“Whooa!
I can’t take that!”
Sure
you can’t, because you’re not of God. Make it go your way. Do what you want to
do. It’s okay by me. I believe in vindication. I wouldn’t move one inch without
it. It’s everything, brother/sister. It is everything. If God had not
interposed Himself, which is exactly what He did, and has been doing all
through the prophets, I’d be left to my own resources and what I have in myself
or what I can produce to give me assurance, and I’d be my own prophet and not
vindicated.
He
said, “Do you believe that really is a light that reflected off of the Spirit
of God somehow?”
Absolutely,
I do. Absolutely! I was around that too many times not to know. The word of a
man never does what that man’s Word did. The mind of a man never ever does what
that man’s Word did. The mind of a man can’t begin to conceive and construe
what that man’s mind did. Forget it. See? When Paul said, “I’ve got the mind of
Christ,” he wasn’t just making a little flimsy remark.
28. Now
watch:
(3) But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to
them that are lost:
(4) In whom the god of this world hath
blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious
gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Now
It tells you right there that your mind is open to receive, and their minds are
closed so they cannot receive. Now, what about predestination? Well, doesn’t my
Bible tell me the same thing It tells you? “I will compassionate whom I will
compassionate, and I will reject those whom I will reject.”
And
the man comes back and said, “Well,” he said, “If that’s the case, why doth God
yet find fault?” [Rom 9:18-19]
“Who
are you, O man?” Shut up and sit down. “Can the thing formed say to him that
formed it, why has thou made me thus?” [Rom 9:20]
If
God loved one, and not the other, that’s His business. See, people don’t like
that. We like it.
You
say, “Well, that’s because you think you’re…”
No,
no, no. It goes way beyond me thinking I’m one of them or being one of them. It
goes to the sovereignty of God, and that’s where the people are making their
mistake all over the world: they do not accept sovereignty! That’s why they’re
mixed up on Godhead.
29. Now:
where are we going from here? 2 Cor 3:17-18. We read that, and we read chapter
4:1-7. [2 Cor 4:7:]
(7) But we have this treasure in earthen
vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
And
Paul tells you right there: I am an infirm person. There is no way I’m going to
produce this of myself; and God takes the least ones amongst us in order that
He may have the glory, because anybody that’s got too much power, has too much
himself and not enough of God.
30. Now
let’s go back to 1 Corinthians again, and we’re talking about 2:1-16.
(1) And I, brethren, when I came to you,
came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom…
Now
notice he doesn’t say, “I wasn’t talking,” because that’s what he was
doing—preaching. He said, “I declare unto you. I declare unto you. I declare
unto you. I lead the whole thing forth by words. I present the Word picture,
and ‘by words you’re justified, and by your words, you’re condemned.’” [Mt
12:37]
So
if a man is justified by his words, and by his words he’s condemned, it’s far
better to use the Word of God; then you can’t be condemned. Of course if you
use it in a bad way, you can be. That’s what they call ‘iniquity’—perverting
the Word. Satan was perfect in all his ways…wisdom and all, beautiful,
wonderful…until iniquity was found in him, which means he changed the Word of
God. He told lies with It. It wasn’t that he didn’t know It. He sure did know
it. Absolutely. All right.
31. Now:
(1) …Declaring unto you the testimony of
God. (There it is right there: vindicated to tell the truth.)
(2) For I determined not to know any thing
among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. (Why? Because that’s where you
start.)
(3) And I was with you in weakness, and in
fear, and in much trembling.
(4) And my speech and my preaching was not
with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of
power: (“THUS SAITH THE LORD.” There’s vindication.)
(5) That your faith should not stand in the
wisdom of men, but in the power of God. (In other words you know that this is
the truth because of the power of God behind it. And being full of the Holy
Ghost, It begins to work.)
(6) Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that
are perfect: (I told you that’s like joining the lodge: those that have the
keys to the mystery.) yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of
this world, that come to nothing:
(7) But to speak the wisdom of God in a
mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our
glory: (In other words it was all written in heaven.)
(8) Which none of the princes of this world
knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
(9) But as it is written, Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things that God
hath prepared for them that love him. (And who are those that love Him? Why,
those in whom His love has been shed abroad in their hearts. They’re the
elected, foreknown, predestinated ones. They’re the only ones who can have a
true love to God. The others cannot do it.)
(10) But God hath revealed them unto us by his
Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.
(11) For what man knows the things of a man,
save the spirit of man that is in him?
Now
notice right there: that tells you the spirit, and he’s talking now about the
man, the sense man in the body. He’s telling you that. The soul-man is another
man entirely. Now Bro. Branham said, “You
were in God.” He said, “You were in
your father’s loins. Levi was in the loins of his great-great grandfather,
Abraham.” That came on through Isaac and came on through Jacob and came
down to Levi.
Now
where was Abraham? He was in the loins of Adam. Where was Adam? He was in
Christ. Whoever was in Christ was in God. So it comes on down, right down here.
Now:
Bro. Branham said, “Who’s me? My eyes, my
nose, my ears…”
Well,
that goes three different ways. Mary said, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and
my spirit doth rejoice in God my Savior.” [Lk 1:46-47]
Who
is me? The body, because you are your body; but you are also your spirit.
You’re also your soul.
32. Now
he said:
(11) No man knows the things of a man, save the
spirit of man that is in him?
“And
the spirit of man is a candle of the Lord searching the inward parts of the
belly.” [Prov 20:27] And Bro. Branham said, “That child is nothing but kicking muscles and nerves, until it comes
forth and breathes and cries and a spirit, waiting to receive it, and it
receives the spirit. It is now alive.”
Just
a minute. If the soul came, it had to come from God through the man. And the
soul, therefore, built itself a body that wasn’t its true body, but it was
alive. It had to be. He didn’t say, “The child is dead,” because you can’t say
a thing is dead when it’s moving, and you can’t say there’s death there when
the egg is a good, fresh egg and the sperm is living, because “the man,” Bro. Branham said, “has the life.” And that life has got to
be replicated.
So
there’s something there, but it doesn’t have a spirit. Now what am I talking
about? That soul bypassed the body that it should have had, which would have
been eternal, and now it’s got this one that is mortal flesh. What’s it going
to do with it? Nothing! Can do nothing. That’s what I’m telling you. That’s
what I believe from what Bro. Branham taught.
33. Now
the spirit of man comes in allowed of God, but not of God, and knowing the
things of man, hooking up the five senses that lay dormant in that body until
the spirit came in, hooking up the mind, the nerves, and everything else, so
now you have body, soul and spirit. And the body is the vessel on the outside;
the spirit is the next on the inside, the soul in on the very inside.
And
so therefore, now, whether it’s liked or not, this spirit here must take all
the knowledge that comes here, which it can be the perfect knowledge from God,
but mechanical… It’s got to take it down here in the soul, and the soul, then
producing now, with the baptism with the Holy Ghost, commensurate to the
Word-body, which it couldn’t have. It had to bypass; you’ll get it later on.
Now just a minute, now watch: if you get it later on, what is it that gets it
later on? So you’ve got three parts…huh?…soul, spirit, body. You follow me?
It’s as simple as A-B-C.
You
can’t say, “Well, you bypassed the body.”
Who’s
‘you’? The body’s there; the spirit’s there. It didn’t get what it should have
had, but when it leaves here, does get it. But the baptism makes it
commensurate. So now you’ve got a perfect hook-up here. Now you’ve got what
you’re looking at.
34. So
that’s what I’m trying to tell you here about this. I see what Bro. Branham
taught is right here:
(11) No man knows the things of a man, save the
spirit of man that is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God.
So
now only the Spirit of God can take and feed your soul with that true inner
manna, because when you die, the body goes to the grave, the spirit goes to
‘God knows where’. It just goes back to God Who gave it: allowed of God, but
not of God. And the soul, which is the real you, goes, according to the
parable: “The rich man lifted up his eyes in Hades, and he said, “Soul thou
hast much good laid up for many years… Take your rest: eat, drink, and be
merry.” He went to Hades. Down there he had memory, he had feelings, he had
remorse, he had love, he had everything. And Bro. Branham said, “The soul is the nature of the spirit, giving
it an atmosphere.”
Now
if the soul is the nature, then it’s not a real thing. There’s something behind
it, and that isn’t true. The soul is the real thing. It has to be a part of
God. It’s got to be a part of God. Your spirit’s not. Your body’s not. It’s got
to be your soul. Where did it come from? How did it get there? See?
That’s
the reason when you’re baptized with the Holy Ghost, your life changes, and
from now on it’s a matter of the Word: What does the Word say? And if you and I
can learn to get out of the way, because we’ve still got that rotten, human
spirit that knows only the things of man. It’ll say, “Just a minute now, that
can’t work because of the Word saying opposite.”
“Just
a minute. God says so. God says so.”
The
spirit might say, “Well, I don’t care if God says so. Look, it didn’t work down
there. When was the last time you tried it?” Oh, he’ll give you a battle and a
half. Sure he will. He can be pretty rough.
35. Anyway,
here’s what I see here in this truth:
(12) Now we have received, not the spirit of
the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things of God
that are freely given to us of God.
(13) Which things also we speak, not in the
words which man's wisdom teaches, but which the Holy Ghost teaches; comparing
spiritual things with spiritual.
In
other words there are two completely different realms there. Don’t mix them up.
And both of them deal with you and me living right here in this earth, in our
bodies, and dealing with everyday consequential, and inconsequential things, as
though we were almost nothing but animals. But we aren’t. We’ve got a soul.
(14) But the natural man receiveth not the
things of the Spirit of God: they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know
them, because they are spiritually discerned. (Judged between, to know what’s
right.)
(15) But he that is spiritual judgeth all
things, yet he himself is judged of no man. (How can you? How can any man
judge?)
(16) For who hath known the mind of the Lord,
that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ. (So Paul tells you
right there: “I’m the one that can tell you…I’m the one that’s vindicated.” And
Bro. Branham stood in the same position because “the Same Pillar of Fire that was there giving the Word is now here
revealing It.”
36. Now
we’ve got just time pretty well to read what I’ve written down here, so we can
go on to what I’m trying to open up to us. All the Scriptures I have read
emphatically proclaim that the knowledge of God is to know the True and Living
God in a personal revelation; that is, this revelation can be attained by the
human race, or species, because God has Himself revealed it all to us according
as to how He has chosen to do so, which is by the vindicated prophet. And not
only can God be known, but His purposes and plans can be known and entered
into. Those purposes and plans cannot only be known, but they can be entered
into, and they will be entered into by the Born Ones, who have descended from
Adam, through Eve. But of course she blew it, and now it’s just the seed of
Adam, who were the original children of God. And if they were the original
children of God, then they would have to be able to produce those children.
Remember, they had bodies.
37. Now
can God be known? Absolutely. Paul said so in Acts 17:23: “I’m going to declare
Him unto you, and I will make you to know Him, and he also tells us the same in
1 Corinthians 2, which I read to you that “God and the things of God can be
known.” And Paul boldly declares God, and here’s what he says... It’s in 1
Timothy, we read It many times, 1 Tim 6:13:
(13) I give thee charge in the sight of God,
who quickens all things, and before Jesus Christ, who before Pontius Pilate
witnessed a good confession;
(14) That thou keep this commandment without
spot, and unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ:
(15) Which in his times he shall show, who is
the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;
(16) Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the
light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to
whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
Again,
Paul also says, “Unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise
God.” He positively declares Him and by vindication proves that there is a God,
because God answers back to him, and on the grounds of God answering back to
him, which is vindication, he brings them the truth concerning Godhead, and
concerning all of those things which we read in the Book of Ephesians, which
goes from eternity to eternity, so that it is absolutely shown that God is
sovereign and God is all and in all, and that everything that God does by
creation and by His acts are by God and for God and to God, simply as well as
from God, so that all things are of Him.
38. Now
here’s what he says in 1 Tim 2:1-7, and he said:
(1) I exhort therefore, that, first of all,
supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all
men;
(2) For kings, and all that are in
authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and
honesty. (Evidently America has forgotten to pray, because look at the mess
you’ve got in Washington. If there ever was a bunch of hoodlums and liars. How
can it get any worse? The vast majority are felons. That’s right. It’s a
pitiful thing, but it is. They’re drunkards, wife abusers, drug users,
swindlers, and that’s proven by the fact that most are lawyers. ‘Lawyers’ is no
longer spelled L-A-W-Y-E-R-S; it’s L-I-A-R-S. For now It says:)
(3) For this is good and acceptable in the
sight of God our Saviour;
(4) Who will have all men to be saved, and
to come unto the knowledge of the truth.
(5) For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;
(6) Who gave himself a ransom for all, to be
testified in due time.
39. So
Paul has declared God. He has declared the Son; he has declared every single
principle relative to God: from the plan of eternity to eternity, the means
that God uses, what God has in mind, what God is doing about what He has in
mind, what He’s going to do about what He has in mind; and it all finishes up
in the Book of Revelation in the New Jerusalem. And that’s where that portion
comes in, the first verses of Eph 1:15 to about 18, the Spirit of God, the
wisdom and revelation comes into the church in order to make known the hour in
which the church is living, the times, what is going on, the deep
mysteries—placing it all, which opens up the Book of Revelation to us. So all
right. Paul declared it. And Paul was in full accord with John the Revelator.
And John the Revelator later took over the pastorate of Ephesus, which was in
Paul’s charge for some time.
So
he declares the relationship of the children of God to God Himself through
Jesus Christ, and unfolds the whole plan of God as to His Godhood and the
attributes and essentiality of God Himself: “Unto the King eternal, immortal,
invisible, the only wise God,” “Who alone hath immortality, dwelling in the
light in which no man can approach,” brings it right on down, showing the
sovereignty of God, enunciating it very, very carefully in the Book of Romans,
Chapters 9 through 11, as believers in the Pauline faith, Christian faith and
doctrine, we have no where to turn and begin, except as we embrace the God,
Jehovah-Elohim, as Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of Moses and the children
of Israel. Now let’s add “The God of William Branham.”
You
have nowhere to turn, because you see, since Paul people worshipped in
increasing ignorance, not knowing the truth, but it was there. It was declared.
And God wasn’t known as He’s known now—according to Ephesians 1. And the reason
it wasn’t known, and it was known then, is because God interprets His Word by
bringing It to pass, and when you see It come to pass, you know that’s It. That
is our age. And even then It has to be explained to you. That’s part of your
five-fold ministry. It continues in the teaching of the prophet, or as Bro.
Branham said, “Breaking it down and feeding it to the people.”
40. He
alone is God; there is none beside Him. He is omniscient and omnipotent. He is
an unseeable Spirit. He is holy and unapproachable except He makes provision
for the individuals that He chooses to approach unto Him. That’s Scripture.
Paul knew that Jehovah-Elohim led Israel as a Pillar of Fire, the One Who
appeared to Moses and vindicated Moses. And then Paul, knowing what he knew as
his background of Jehovah, His relationship to Israel, but he does not accept
what was before him in Jesus Christ.
So
Paul begins to fight to the death those of the Christian faith, because he
denied Jesus being the Son of God in a way that no other one could possibly be
the Son of God. And that’s where the Israelites went astray, because they could
trace themselves back to Abraham, and Abraham would go right back to Adam, who
was a Son of God. Then if Adam was truly a Son of God—God, being his
progenitor—then this was the race that was anciently known as ‘the children of
Light’, the children of God, absolutely enlivened—not baptized with the Holy
Ghost. No. But the stream of life in the male and female, Adam, absolutely came
from God, where God breathed into Adam the breath of lives, and at that time he
became a living soul. And that’s the time he could begin then to propagate.
You’ll notice that’s just backward to what we have it today. I’ll talk about
that another time.
41. This
now brings us to God of our faith. See? Since we are involved in Christianity,
we speak in terms of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, which is not found openly
expressed in the Old Testament. Yet the Old Testament speaks of Father, It
speaks of the Son, and It certainly speaks of the Holy Spirit. And so now we
come to a question, but don’t let this throw you, because it’s not what you
think it is.
The
question then is this: did the Jews fail to believe that the One and Only God
was actually three Gods in one, because of the essential Spirit, purpose, and
power? Or have the Christians today, in majority, made a mistake in not
realizing that God is one God: Jehovah-Elohim of Israel, Who birthed a Son, who
is not God, and the Holy Spirit is the designation as to what God in substance
actually is, which is Holy Spirit. Now, you see, there you are. And the same
thing holds right today.
42. Now
here is where we read many quotes, of which there are many that sound as if
there is a confusion in expressing the truth of only one God, Who fathered
multitudes of children, of which there was a first-begotten Son and who was
unique. As the Bible says, it means ‘only-begotten’—‘unique’, and uniquely
positioned above all the other children so that this Son’s stature is sometimes
overestimated to the extent where some believe that he is Deity or God. Now
think it over, because that’s the truth.
So
I’m just showing you that there is a real revelation of God; and what is it?
There’s a revelation of His plan. What is it? God glorified His Son, gave him a
Name above every name, and a place over all the children and the Kingdom, with
all things under his feet, except God the Father Himself, Who alone is
Sovereign God and blessed forever. Amen.
So
in going to the question we will attempt to see the One and Only True God and
Jesus Christ, the uniquely begotten Son, and there will be terms of logos,
theophany, attributes and thoughts, and we’ll see if Bro. Branham is actually
speaking of one God and His Son, Jesus Christ, who is not God, but greatly
exalted, and the Holy Spirit is God working in and through His children by His
Own Spirit filling and empowering them, so it is all of God that we are seeing:
One, True and Living God, all-wise, all-powerful, but loving and completely
sovereign.
43. Now
we hope to start back in the ‘50’s, because you’re going to go back where the
confusion begins; because in the ‘50’s Bro. Branham said many things that he
does not say after the Seals were opened, and the period after the church ages:
’60, ’61, ’62, ’63, and up to ’65, that there is a clarification, there are
elements in there that cause a confusion, because people simply don’t
understand the principle cannot fail: there is one God, period. Beside Him
there is no other. And that ‘beside Him there is no other’: God alone can be
worshipped. Nobody else can be unless God permits an adoration and a love and a
deference to someone that is qualified according to God. That’s not the pope!
It’s Jesus Christ the righteous. And remember, he is not praised for who he is;
he is praised for what he did. And he would never be loved and worshipped for
what he did, because he wouldn’t have done it except for who he was, and that
even goes for you and me.
So
we hope to start back in the ‘50’s and then come up to ’63 and on where the
Seals correct the errors and place the Word as perfectly in revelation for this
hour as It can be, and It can be made perfect. We are not actually thinking in
terms of errors, because Bro. Branham did not make errors. There’s some
misunderstandings that he was off a little in his doctrine. He never changed
his doctrine. He never changed his doctrine substantially. You’ll find that he
always believed in one God, period. The problems will be who is doing what, at
what time, so there’s a misunderstanding as to appellation, and you get into
appellations, you will get into ‘nouns in apposition’, and you’ll think, “Just
a minute, two different people?”
No.
A Macintosh Red is an apple, but every apple is not a Macintosh Red. Sheepnose
apples—they’re delicious. Then there are Delicious apples—they are the Red, the
Golden…different ones. But every apple is not a Delicious or that. So that
there’s problems with appellations.
So
we look at all this, and we look at the Word and come to the place where we are
in a position—we’re not here, thank God—to accept the Jesus-Only doctrine.
Deserting the Trinity doctrine does not necessarily mean we have to become
Jesus-Only. Many people have already done that. I don’t know how many there
are, but sort of believe there’s a large number, but I don’t know, because I
don’t question people.
44. Bro.
Branham was neither Trinity nor Oneness in the sense of organizational doctrine
of the Oneness people, but he believed in oneness of the Godhead: that there
was only one God, period, and Jesus was the Son. He was not God the Son, he was
the Son of God, and he was not eternal—as God is eternal—because sons have
beginnings, though they are of the same life stream or substance, and it
wouldn’t matter what kind of a covering God gave the substance, which is
spirit, that life would still be there, which is a part of the life of God. He
said he stood between the two people: Trinity and Oneness, and he stood exactly
with the Apostle Paul.
And
please let me say here that Bro. Branham’s ultimate—to bring us back to
Paul—is, as he said, “Just think, how
wonderful that the same Pillar of Fire that brought the Word to Paul is here
revealing It.” And when he was caught away beyond the curtain of time into
whatever realm he was taken to, which evidently caught up into
Paradise…whatever…there he was with the people who were part of him and his
ministry, and he said, under questioning, “Well,”
he said, “I preach what Paul preached,”
and they all screamed, ‘We’re resting on that.’”
45. Therefore,
I want you to understand that Bro. Branham did not come here to open the Book
of Revelation. If it weren’t opened to us, and we all passed on, it wouldn’t
make any difference, as long as we were one with the Pauline Epistle, not only
in doctrine, but in spirit.
What
did he do? He came to bring us the Gospel. It was the law of Moses. It was the
Gospel of Paul. It was the Message of William Branham. And William Branham
placed himself with those two other men, and it’s right on a tape when he said,
“See, Lee, we haven’t had the Pillar of
Fire That was with Moses for two thousand years since the Apostle Paul till now.”
Moses, Paul, William Branham, a trinity right there; three, to whom the Pillar
of Fire came, and remember: God Himself came to Moses, and God said, “I will
speak to My prophets in visions and in dreams, but My servant, Moses, is not
so. I will speak to him even apparently”—that means face to face—“I will make
Myself visible to him, and we will talk face-to-face.”
Paul
did it, William Branham did it. See? So he was to bring us back to the
vindicated Word, and in doing it the Holy Spirit would not only give him
perfect vindication that he is able to bring us the message of Paul to the
Gentiles, because he was a Gentile prophet, in whom was a Spirit of God, not
only vindicating God to the prophet, the prophet to the people, but fulfilling
the Scripture of Isaiah, wherein It says that “In him the Gentiles shall
trust.” [Rom 15:12] And at that time when He comes in judgment, it will not be
for destruction, but hurling forth to victory. So judgment must set in. There’s
only one Judge: that’s God, and at that time the Gentiles go on in to the
Millennium.
Now
if we did not have that interpolation there, Eph 1:15-18, there would be no way
that you could possibly even think that the Book of Revelation was part of the
Bible, because there’d be no way that anybody could figure it until or unless
the very God that gave It would come down and do it all over again.
46. So
now we have, therefore, the perfect revelation. We have an understanding, and
we know that in these quotes, which are literally hundreds, I hope to go over
most of them without comment, except perhaps slightly in one or two places,
always remembering God is one Person, yet in three major, dynamic roles of
Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and you’ll see more and more of that as we look at
it—the three roles.
Yet
in spite of the change of the roles and the masks and the various appellations,
it is still one God, Jehovah-Elohim. Thus there will be Names according to the
hour and to the place, because remember: God said, “By My Name, Jehovah, was I
not known.” Yet He was Jehovah, Abraham recognized Him as Jehovah, but He was
not known as Jehovah because until that time, He had withheld Himself from the
people as a people of the flesh who would be His children. And that’s what Paul
was talking about here in Ephesians.
So
now we have these coming in, and you have, in Bro. Branham, the absolute
authenticity from Almighty God Himself, that in no way can any man change, that
he would have the truth like Paul to declare God to the people who are
worshipping with a wrong understanding, knowing there is a God, but not
understanding. And remember that Bro. Branham said, “You can neither worship nor serve God outside of a prophet,” and
that is a hundred percent, because there’s no vindication anywhere in this
world outside of the message Bro. Branham brought. It is no longer in the
Pauline epistle. I’m sorry but it’s not there any longer. Why? Because men have
so perverted it by their understanding that the people can only read with a
perverted mind, and a perverted mind cannot receive the Word of God, because
it’s still in a mystery. But the mystery is no longer mysterious or mystifying,
but it becomes crystal clear as face-to-face.
47. In
other words the end time, brother/sister, simply tells you it’s as though each
one of us was a prophet and standing face-to-face with God. Now if you don’t
accept that, there’s something wrong with you somewhere, because the veil has
been taken off. It’s been rolled back. God is in plain view. Those things which
hid Him, as the Scripture distinctly says, “They have been hidden in order to
be revealed.”
Now
that’s the same as somebody said, “Well, I’ve lost this in order to find it.”
But that’s not what the mystery is. God deliberately veils it, and through the
veil He tells you exactly what it is. And the Word is veiled in a man. Let’s
face it, that Word has now come a hundred per cent clear to us at this time and
in here we’re able to take and read hundreds of quotes that Bro. Branham gave
concerning Godhead; and so why I’ve read this at this time is to let you know
and to understand that it’s as Bro. Branham said. And he said it in such a way
that you almost think the man was going to faint, he said, “It has been Christ
all the time,” and reference was Christ the Holy Spirit, which was God. So you
have…all right, Jehovah-Elohim…that can put that right down as Christ. You can
put down the Name of God—Lord Jesus Christ. Bro. Branham said, “That is His Name.” He also said, “His Name was ‘Jesus Christ’.”
48. So
you see when you’re getting here, you have to know your tie post: there is one
God, period. No one else is Deity. If He should attain some special position,
through some meritorious act that qualifies him in the sight of God to receive
any type of respect, adoration, and adulation. I don’t like the word ‘worship’,
but I’ll throw it in there—worship, because under conditions that’s allowed,
that does not make him God. It is strictly permissive. And as the Bible speaks
of the resurrection, It says, “All flesh is not the same flesh.” There’s one of
bird, there’s one of beast, there’s one of this and that. And he said in the
heavenly position, there’s stars and there’s a moon and the sun, there’s comets
up there, there’s galaxies, and he says, “So also is the resurrection.”
In
other words there’ll be people in that that have lived the lives with what God
gave them—learning to get out of the way. And they’ll shine up there
meritoriously. They’ll be given marvelous crowns and gifts, and as the Bible
says, “Let no man take thy crown.” And Paul said, “Run the race, but run that
race legally.” Every man can win a race. Every person is guaranteed to lay up
in heaven treasure…thirty, sixty, a hundred. Everybody is guaranteed the
ability by the Holy Ghost to absolutely live as you never had a body to
encumber you. That’s why Paul said, “I keep under my body.”
I
used to think that was ‘that eager wrestler, lifting the man here…’ I taught
you that years ago…like…put him up here…you grab a wrestler here…hold him up
here, and then give him the old airplane twist, throw him overboard. Not at all. It’s you presenting your body a
living sacrifice unto God. Oh, how we can hear such clap-trap, balderdash and
drivel when you go to hear certain people without the Holy Ghost. I’m glad we
have the Holy Spirit.
Well,
all right. That takes care of this tonight, and I want you to keep in mind
everything I said laying the groundwork, because we told you and showed you the
plan of God, the execution of it. The question is, “Who is God?” I want to talk
about Him, as the prophet said, “Down the
line.” So all right.
Let’s
pray: Heavenly Father, we thank You for the time of fellowship, and trust,
Lord, by grace, if something grows out of this foundation laid, then fine. If
it doesn’t, we know that at least what we have said glorifies Your Name
minutely, if not perhaps a little better, but we try to exalt You, knowing You
are God. And it’s true, Lord, if we’re not Bride, there’s a Bride out there
somewhere, and by your grace, we won’t get in Her way. And if it best we’re
simply friends of the Bridegroom, that should be the most marvelous thing in
the world; as long as we are a part of it, Lord, which we really believe we
are.
And
we thank You for it, Lord, having been part, with this revelation, and knowing
it only, trust, Lord, it is absolutely right in every single one of our hearts,
having come down mechanically through the mind, and now feeding the soul and
then coming back into manifestation. Let the outer man perish, O Lord; let the
inner man grow more and more to the positive. In the Name of Jesus, we pray.
Amen.
[Communion
and Foot-washing service follows.]