Stewardship
#5
According to the Job Description;
Jesus as Michael;
Jesus’ Warning About Gifts
Shall
we pray. Heavenly Father, we’re so grateful for Your Presence, and we feel that
Presence, some might say like electricity, and we know Lord it’s perhaps more
like the breeze that blows stiffly across the city that is smog covered, and
the smog all rolls out to sea, and the city is breathing the fresh air that you
want us to have. And we feel therefore, Lord, You’re breathing upon us, and giving
us the oxygen of life, the life of the Word of God, to give us the strength, to
give us the understanding, to give us all those things that we need in this
last hour. And we know that that is true, because there is nothing missing, for
that which is perfect has come, the perfect revelation of the Word, given to
us, and we know it on the grounds of vindication, because it follows exactly
how the Bible was written. And so we are very fortunate people, standing in
Your Presence tonight, Lord, and we just pray now that Your Word shall have
free course, as many say, and be glorified. That nothing will stop it from
going forth, not our spirits, or spirit of the enemy, or anything whatsoever as
we humbly bow before You and ask for Your help, and believe we’ll receive it.
In Jesus’ Name, we pray. Amen.
You
may be seated.
1. Now
we’re actually into “Stewardship”, [ ] number five, tonight. We had a little
message in there on Mark 16 and the two spirits, and we’ll also just talk a
certain amount of that also. But, because of the fact that I did not intend to
make such a detailed and prolonged study of this subject of stewardship, I
neglected to carefully plan every segment so that we could have as clear an
account of the subject as is actually in the Word, wherein we see stewardship
from the top, meaning the Kingdom of God in heaven, to the bottom, which is the
Kingdom of God on earth.
Now
there’s much that I would have actually made in a note form to take a series
had I been so aware of the particular subject. But I did not look into every
facet, or we would have had to start, of course, with the heavenlies to go into
the Kingdom from the top, down to what is on earth today, to actually trace
what’s in the Word and to trace the history. And the truth is that until I
started to teach on the failed stewardship of Adam’s accountability to God, it
had not crossed my mind as to the scope and revelation that lies in our subject
matter. And that’s very true, because starting with the stewardship of Adam, it
went on, and it keeps growing on, so that we begin actually to see that what
we’re dealing with is literally the whole Bible.
Oh,
some years ago I mentioned that the Bible is actually a record of God dealing
with man, and man’s response to God, how that man is dealing back with God,
and, except for the grace of God, there would be a complete failure on the part
of man, and there has been that failure. But in the measures that God has
allowed we have been able to come up to the place where God wants us. So, it’s
all a matter of grace.
2. Now
the basic revelation or spiritual enlightenment of the subject to my thinking,
gives us a better understanding of the inflexibility, or of inflexible
predestination, and flexible choice, which Bro. Branham and most theologians
(not all, but a lot of them) have called free moral agency, or as Bro. Branham
has said, “God put Adam to a free moral
agency, and therefore, He must do that for everybody.”
So
God gave Adam a choice, and thus it is written over here in Genesis 2,
concerning that choice, in verses 16 and 17.
(16) And
the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest
freely eat:
(17) But
of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not eat of it: for in
the day (of the) eating thereof (dying) thou (dost) surely die.
Now
we know that Adam died just short of a thousand years. And Bro. Branham made
that comment, not particularly toward Adam, but the fact [that] a thousand years is as a day with the
Lord. And no man ever lived that out. And we’re just coming to that time when
we’re going to have that particular thousand years on earth here, which is a
time period. And even though it’s blended with eternity, we’re still waiting
for the eternal.
3. Now,
so therefore, God gave Adam a choice. Now He already had given him an office.
And the office was that he was to literally be the supreme ruler of the
universe under Almighty God. And God just handed it to him gratuitously, and He
said, “Here it is; now you are to work with it.” And there’s no doubt in my
mind that there are certain things that God said to Adam that you don’t find
recorded here in the Word, but you begin to see them on the grounds of the
history of what has taken place.
So
He said to Adam, “You have the right to eat of all the trees in the garden,
except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and, if you eat of it, in
that day you will die.” And, of course, the woman was included in this. And you
can find that over in [Gen] 1:26-27:
(26) And
God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, over the
cattle, over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon
the earth.
(27) So
God created man in his image, in the image of God created he him; male and
female created he them.
And,
of course, you’ll notice he created him, and then, he put ‘the them’. And ‘the
them’, of course, you have masculine and female. And Bro. Branham said, “That was only there on the grounds of
propagation.” And so what you see there, “He called their name Adam.” And
it’s all a matter of looking at Adam, the born one of God, or [the one who] is
called the son of God. The Greek makes it plainer: the born one of God.
4. So
all right. The woman was included in this by virtue of what was said over here,
God talking to His Only-begotten Son. Now notice carefully, that neither Adam
nor Eve had anything to do with who and what they were and what position of
responsibility they were given by God. Not one thing. Not a thing. They didn’t
have one thing to say about it. They didn’t have a choice in the matter. There
was no argument. There was no deal cut. This was an absolute sovereign act and
a sovereign dictate. They had no choice whatsoever in the matter. They were
predestinated to it. And you can see that, of course, by Gen 1:26,27, they were
predestinated to it. Absolutely.
So
absolutely by God Himself, in conjunction with His Son, we see what occurred,
and was to occur, in Gen 1:26, and then, was repeated to Adam so that he knew
who he was, what he was, what he was to do. He was given plenty incentive. He
was given lots of motivation. He was given that capacity.
Now,
so there, they had no choice, because they were part of God’s thinking. They
were His thoughts, His plan, His purpose. They were predestined. In other words
a set destiny of who, what, and for what purpose. And they were made privy to
none of that! They were only told it. So it’s a very sovereign situation we see
here. And they were made actual bondservants, or slaves, if you will.
5. Now
Paul, the apostle, called himself a bond slave too, and, of course, we know
that Paul called himself a bond slave of love because of the love of God. And
you’ll find that most people who study the Word, will concur with that, that we
are slaves and love slaves of God, and we love it, as the apostle Paul tells
us: those things that we once loved, we now hate; and the things we hated, now
love.
And
I’m sure that most of you sitting here tonight, having a Trinitarian background
even worse than mine, because I was sitting on the fence between the two, and I
couldn’t make head or tail to what the real continuity of the doctrine was,
because I knew there was only one God, but I really was trying to confuse my
mind about the other issues. But I hung onto the fact that no matter what,
there’s one God, and you’re not going to get rid of that Son, because there’s
no way that you can go to the Father but by the Son. There’s no way the Son did
anything, except God did it through Him, and today, of course, we have a very
clear understanding. But the understanding wasn’t so clear there.
6. Now,
so we find here that we are actually bond slaves according to God’s plan and
purpose. And that goes all the way through creation, as well as into sonship.
So, what we’re looking at, then, is a real understanding of Romans 9, and it’s
in the light of the stewardship, wherein God actually gave each one an office,
gave him a position, and we can see predestination carried all the way through.
Now we might as well read, take our time here. We begin at verse 1.
(1) I
say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing witness in the
Holy Ghost,
(2) That
I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
(3) For
I could wish myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen
according to the flesh: (Now that’s like Moses. But a little different.)
(4) Who
are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the
covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
(5) Whose
are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over
all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
(6) Not
as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all
(7) Neither,
because are they the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac
shall thy seed be called.
So,
there you got the premise here, the start of issue, and one is a genuine issue,
and the other is evidently an intrusion. Now it has to be an intrusion of some
sort, because as you view life, and life is categorized, all the way through
from every single type, from even diseases, bacteria, of molds, and fungus, and
yeast, and everything else. You can put them under a microscope, and you can
actually find out, by examining the form, and the action, exactly what that is.
Now you can’t do that with a human being, because we found what happened, and
we describe it tonight as the one lump: the one lump condition. So right here
it tells you that these two children were in Abraham, were in Isaac, now coming
right on down through with Rebecca, we’re bringing forth these two children.
7.
Now:
(8) That
is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God:
but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Now
you’ll notice right in there, there’s something said in there very, very
clearly. One is not a product of the flesh, though it comes by the flesh. The
other has to be a product of the flesh and coming by the flesh. So you’ve got a
very, very strong statement here and it tells you that:
(8) …(those)
of the flesh, are not the children of God: but the children of promise are
counted for seed.
Now,
right there again you notice that there’s a seed that has to do with promise,
which is a word. That’s why Bro. Branham positively called us seed, called us a
part of the Word, called us a part of God.
(9) For
this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sarah shall have a
son. (And that was never said before. That’s why he had a son by Ishmael; the
thing messed up.)
(10) And
not only this; but when Rebecca also conceived by one, even our father Isaac;
(11) (For
the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that
calleth;) (Now notice election is a calling, and it said here the One Who calls
is the Elector. And now he said there’s one that is of Him; the other isn’t.)
(12) It
was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
(13) As it
is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.
(14) What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
8. Now
he’s going to start talking about that. Is there unrighteousness with God?
You’ve got even twins now, and one is loved, and one is hated. But he already
explained to them that one is a promised and the other is not promised. One is
Word by covenant; a part of the Word, the other is not. And it all comes by the
flesh, there’s nothing you can do about it. There’s no way, shape, and form.
And, of course, your average, ordinary person that believes in predestination
will simply tell you on the grounds that God simply foreknew: “He knew, it was
nothing definitive, there are not two lines.” But there are two lines. And the
two lines were in one lump, because It says right here. And people don’t like
that. It’s very confusing, it’s very annoying, it’s very unloving, very unkind,
it’s very mean, it’s very terrible that anybody should believe that stuff,
because God wouldn’t do that. No, God wouldn’t do that; He couldn’t do that.
Nope.
9. (14) What
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
(15) (Now
he says:) For he saith to Moses, (now he’s going to clear himself on that
charge in 14, by going to 15.) I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and
I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. (Or as they say in
another translation, “I will compassionate whom I will compassionate.”)
(16) So
then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that
sheweth mercy.
(17) For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up,
There’s
a predestinated clause here. Now the purpose of God has an end to it, because
there’s nobody can stop God in His purpose. There’s no way you can stop Him. If
God’s got a purpose, just shut-up and take it. If He wants to send you to hell
and burn you, that’s exactly what you’re going to do. You’re going to have to shut-up
and take it anyway. The people that mouth off are always the ones that can’t
believe. They’ll raise a big stink about this.
And
you’ll get your woman preachers, and they’ll tell you, “Well you see what that
is, that’s your two natures in there. Heh, heh, heh, heh.”
Oh
God. And you wonder why I’m not all sweet and all light, and all love, and all
gooey, gooey? This is the stuff that just tears me to pieces and makes me
angry. Angry, because they don’t believe what God said! This man Paul is
vindicated. This is God talking. See? Now William Branham came just like the
apostle Paul did, which is absolutely marvelous.
10. (17) For
the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee
up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared
throughout all the earth.
That’s
the same thing he said about the Gospel! It’s the same thing he said about the
Gospel: through every creature, throughout the whole earth. And remember, when
the woman that anointed Jesus, he’s going to be known through the whole earth.
This Message goes out the same way. There’s got to be something there. See?
(18) Therefore
hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
(19) Thou
wilt then (say) unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his
will?
(20) Nay
but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say
to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? (Or why have you set me here
for this particular purpose? Why do I have this particular position? Why?)
So
you’ve got predestination here, just one hundred percent. And it goes all the
way back to God. All the way back. And in one place you have birth, and the
other place you have creation. And that’s the whole thing you’re looking at.
And then, of course, we know that creation got mixed up with birth. In other
words creation began to spread itself to the position where to which it was not
entitled. The intermingling…
11. Now:
(21) Hath
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump…
Moses
and Pharaoh. Cut them to pieces, put them in a test tube. There’s no
difference. No difference at all, when it comes to the one lump. And that one
lump, of course, took place back in the Garden of Eden. And the last true human
being disappeared when Noah died, after the ark settled on the earth, and there
were no more true human beings. It was all one lump.
12. When
God took
What
do they do? Did opposite. That’s why Bro. Branham said in “Marriage and
Divorce”, “God will create again, but not
by sex.” Sex would do it. All God has to do is match this one, and match
that one, He gets those genes in perfect order. He gets the human genes; throw
out the animal genes. You have a perfect individual again.
Dr.
Kelly said it would take eight generations to breed the Americans back to
health. Hah! You can’t even do it in eighty generations, because nobody’s going
to live that long, and nobody wants to be healthy. They got a junk food taste,
and a junk food appetite, and a junk food body, and that’s all they want. And
they got a junk food religion, and that’s, you know, French fries, greasy
hamburgers.
13. (21) Hath
not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor, and another unto dishonor?
(22) What
if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with
much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
(23) That
he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he
had afore prepared unto glory,
Now
you notice verse 22, if that were properly translated from the Greek, it would
show that these people actually prepared themselves. Now what does that mean?
If they’ve prepared themselves, they positively then went against the position
and authority that God gave them, and did on their own what they should not
have done.
Now
don’t tell me that they don’t know better, because Paul said to the Jews, “The
Gentiles who by nature are heathen Gentiles, they do the things that God
commanded you to do, and you’re not doing them, and they’re doing them.”
Showing that there is a conscience there that God deals with. The Bible said,
“The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord searching the inward parts of the
belly.”
So
what you’re looking at here is the truth of predestination, right down the
line, where you have predestinated sons, and you have also in the
predestination on creation. Because starting with Satan in the garden,
preparing themselves coming all the way down here, and there is a Word that God
has spoken concerning all of it, and each one has a light. Of course, it’s the
truth where their conscience is now seared with a hot iron. But the conscience
is still there.
14. (23) That
he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he
had afore prepared unto glory,
Now
there’s where you get your picture today as you had in the days of Jesus, when
John the Baptist came to make ready the vessels that were prepared; to make
ready the prepared people. Now God has got a prepared people. There’s no two
ways about it. A hundred percent purely predestinated in the line coming
through the flesh, which is different from a line that is also coming through
the flesh. And one is distinctly prepared of God, “Jacob have I loved; Esau
have I hated.” And there’s nothing you can do about it. Absolutely nothing you
can do about who and what you are.
As
Bro. Branham said, “If you didn’t have
representation back there, you haven’t got it now, and there’s no way you can
get it.” See?
That’s
why they say, “Well, if the Bible then say, ‘Why doth he yet find fault?’ ”
The
point is: they didn’t have to do what they did! They weren’t forced to. Even
the child of God wasn’t forced to. As the old song said, “He does not compel
you to go against your will, He just makes you willing to go.” And that’s the
truth. And those that are completely adamant and will not change as a child of
God, God will remove from this land, and as He removes, coming up in whatever
resurrection they are placed in, first or second, they’ll find themselves
completely bereft, when they could have had so much. We’ll see these things as
we go along.
15. Now
we notice at least two particular principles here.
One:
the principle of birth.
Two:
the principle of position.
In
birth we see Jacob and Esau: twins. In birth we see Moses and Pharaoh: twins.
Now the Hebrews did not look like the Egyptians. You can get the ancient
woodcarvings and so on, and you’ll see they don’t look alike. Doesn’t make one
bit of difference. Cut it in pieces, the flesh would test a hundred percent the
same, because it’s one lump. And it’s one lump under God Who is sovereign, and
never gives up His sovereignty. He does what He wants when He wants to do it,
and He never asks anybody. And that the Book of Isaiah tells you, “With whom
did I take counsel?” With nobody. Who’d they ever ask? See? “Come, now let us
reason together,” saith the Lord. What does that mean? “Come and listen to me.
And I’ll show you what is right. And, if you can reason unto righteousness, you
will come with what I am telling you, you’ll agree. Behold I stand at the door
and knock, same thing, you’ll let me in, we’ll agree. We’ll have a good time
supping, communicating. And I’ll show you the principles and the way of life.
Get you out of this mess here.” So God’s sovereign.
So
two things: birth and position. Now there is nothing that either of these four,
the two sets of twins, could do about who and what they were. They were born.
And nobody says to his parents… How
would you even know your parents? “Now I want to be a girl, I want to be a boy.
I want to be an accountant. I want to be this. I want to be that. I want to be
the other thing. I want this gift. I want that gift. I want this thing. I want
that. This position; that position.” Nope, nothing to do with your birth. Not
one thing they could do about it, and not one thing anybody can do. But examine
the position. So we talk about position.
16. And
we go to Heb 12:16-17.
(16) Lest
there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat
sold his birthright.
(17) For
(you) know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he
was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it
carefully with tears.
Now
in other words here, there is something you can miss, and there’s nothing under
heaven—there’s nothing in the plan of God that will ever give it to you. So you
blow, you throw away, disregard, hold in contempt, refuse to listen to,
understand, accede to, acquiesce, and move on with God, He moves on without
you. I don’t care what position you have; how great you are or anything else.
God will do everything He can to hold you and mold you. But there is an element
here in the willingness of the individual. And the ability of the individual to
conform to what God desires. You see?
17. Now
we go also to Heb 11:20, and It says:
(20) By
faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning things to come.
(21) By
faith Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and
worshipped, (on) his staff. (And so on.)
So
in here we find there is a position. There are certain things that are granted
us. And with that granting there is a responsibility. And the responsibility
has to be adhered to, and under no condition can that responsibility be
changed, or the laws regarding that responsibility be changed, and a man stand
right before God. That’s the thing that started in heaven. That’s where the
devil went plumb off.
18. Now
he’s a created being. But see, watch where this whole thing starts. It starts
with the created being. John distinctly tells us, and Bro. Branham brought it
very clearly, the seed of God cannot sin, and sin is unbelief. Now that person
however, is committed to an office and a trust, and therein he can be at fault.
How
much is practiced by a certain guy that said he started to pray and fast three
days. But he told the congregation, “Well,” he said, “I went on then for twelve
days.” He said, “You see, I didn’t get an answer.”
That
man is telling you something. He’s telling you, you can twist God’s arm by
praying and fasting. He said, “In spite of the fact of the prophet telling us
we should only pray and fast three days, I did twelve.”
In
other words he couldn’t listen to the prophet that said, “Pray and fast three days, then you leave it there!”
Why
didn’t he leave it there? Why didn’t he leave it there? [Why didn’t he] turn
his back and walk off and say, “God it’s in your hands; it’s out of my hands?”
No, he’s got to pray and fast twelve days, and twist God’s arm. A.A. Allen, the
same way. Get in the closet, throw away the key, he came out, but he never came
out victorious. He died a drunk. Yeah. You better watch these things, because
these things are given for our admonition, [so that] we might learn by them and
know the things that Bro. Branham taught us.
19. So
all right; we saw a position—position all the way through the Bible.
Stewardship—granted a certain place by God.
God
said to Abraham, “You’re going to have a child by Sarah.”
Now
Sarah gave up, just like Adam listened to Eve, and he listened to Sarah. I
can’t understand that. His wife Sarah had everything that the Egyptian girl
had. Why would he want to? Now you men know what I’m talking about, and you
women. If you can’t, my God, I’m going home. Forget it. He blew it!
He
said, “It’s by Sarah.”
And
God rubbed his nose in it. He rubbed his nose so hard he even had to lie about
Sarah, saying, “That’s my sister.”
He
thought the king might kill him for it, because God brought her right back
prettier and more beautiful than that little snippet from
See,
you get a preacher out of line; see what happens with the church. You get
deacons out of line, elders, other people out of line; see what happens.
There’s a sacred trust given in these positions.
20. Now
also, we see the principle of birth and position here also in Heb 11:23-29. It
says here:
(23) By
faith Moses, when he was born, was hid three months of his parents, because
they saw he was a proper child; and they were not afraid of the king’s
commandment.
(24) By
faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of
Pharaoh’s daughter; (Now watch, he’s right alongside of old Pharaoh there now.)
(25) Choosing
rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures
of sin for a season;
(26) Esteeming
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures (of)
(27) By
faith he forsook
(28) Through
faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed
the firstborn should touch them.
Now
there is as the Bible tells us, Moses was a servant faithful in his house!
That’s over here in Hebrews 3.
(2) Who
was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his
house.
There
was a faithful man; he went right by it. But watch: [Hebrews 11]
(29) By
faith they passed through the
Why? Through the sprinkling of the
blood and the protecting power of Almighty God, Jehovah-Elohim Himself
escorting them over by a cloud by day, and a Pillar of Fire by night. [He]
escort[ed] them over. What does It say here?
(29) They
passed through the
See?
Both in position. Both foreordained. Both predestinated. But two different
lines entirely, by reason of the fact that one comes down from the seed of God,
and the other comes down from a creation. Because that’s what we’re looking at.
21. Now,
look over here in Ex 4:29-31:
(29) And
Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of
(30) And
Aaron (spoke) all the words which the Lord had spoken unto Moses, and did the signs
in the sight of the people.
(31) And
the people believed: and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children
of
Now
that’s what happened with a vindicated ministry. And over here in Ex 5:1-5:
(1) Afterward
Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the Lord God of
(2) And
Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, that I should let
(3) And
they said, The God of the Hebrews hath met with us: let us go, we pray thee,
three days’ journey into the desert, and sacrifice unto the Lord our God; lest
he fall upon us with pestilence, (and) with the sword.
(4) And
the king of
(5) And
Pharaoh said, Behold, the people of the land are many, and ye make them rest
from their burdens.
(6) And
Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters (you know they have to make
brick without straw, and so on.)
Now
over here in Ex 8:16-19:
(16) The
Lord said unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust
of the land, it may become lice throughout all the
(17) And
they did so; for Aaron stretched out his hand with his rod, and smote the dust
of the earth, and it became lice in man, and beasts; all the dust of the land became
lice throughout the
(18) And
the magicians did so with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they
could not: so there were lice upon man, and upon beast.
(19) Then
the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh’s heart
was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the Lord said.
22. Now
here is a man in position to let
Now
you can say, “Well, the democratics are ordained by God.”
The
communist [system] and dictatorship is just as ordained by God. There’s nothing
you can do about it. Government is ordained. And the devil, of course, being
the power of the universe, the kingdoms of this world, which are going to be
taken away from him, has been allowed that privilege to control. And God,
because He [God] did it, is behind it. And God has taken full responsibility
and will continue to take responsibility, because it’s His, and He’ll bring it
to a proper end.
23. Now
notice the two human roots of the twins in Gen 4:1-5, which we understand, of
course, is serpent seed where Eve actually brought forth two children of two
different forms of life. And here you got it right now, where science can go
ahead and take the DNA or the nucleus (Call it what you want. I don’t know what
the scientists call it, because one says one thing, one another. Call it DNA.)
and put it then in an egg, and this now, when it’s close enough as it was in
the garden, you could actually take that and fuse them, and bring forth individuals—entities,
(That’s what I call them, ‘entities’.) and the life is not the life that was in
the egg at all. It’s another life in there. But that egg is alive in this
sense, that it’s raw. It can be joined to it. If it were dead, it would be
rotten; [it’d] go away. So there’s a life there. So you can actually take the
physical part and bring it together.
And
that’s what they’re arguing right now. There’s a soul in there. So how would it
be if science begins messing with human cells, what will that soul be? Well, I
say forget it, that’s a bunch of hogwash, that’s been dealt with in the first
four chapters of Genesis. And revealed to us through Jesus Christ in John 8.
“You’re of your father the devil,” He said. Brought it right on down the line.
These guys just don’t know anything. See?
24. Now
we go back before Genesis 1, and we see the original principle of
predestination and free will, or free moral agency, wherein we see stewardship
in the very original. But, before we go to the Old Testament, we want to go
first of all to Heb 8:1-5.
(1)
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the
sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of
the Majesty in the heavens;
(2)
A minister of the sanctuary, and of the true
tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, not man. (Now this is all of God. See?)
(3)
For every high priest is ordained to offer gifts
and sacrifices: (that’s an office. And you have to be a special man to do it.)
wherefore it is of necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer.
(4)
For if he were on earth, he should not be a priest,
seeing that there are priests that offer gifts according to the law:
(5)
Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly
things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the
tabernacle: for, See, saith he, (said God to Moses,) that thou make all things
according to the pattern shewed thee in the mount.
So
what God did, He showed Moses what was going on in the heavens, which I said is
from the top: the
25. Now
this tabernacle made by Moses was according to a heavenly pattern that was
instituted by God Himself. Now here is the Lord’s Prayer on this subject in Mt
6:10.
(10) Thy
kingdom come. Thy will be done (on) earth, as it is in heaven.
So
we’re going to have it eventually. But you have to remember, then, you’ve got
to go back way, way, even beyond the creation of man, if necessary. And go way
back to the very heavenly pattern that is there.
So
we see Mt 6:10 is the same as Heb 8:1-5. There’s actually a pattern in heaven.
There’s actually something that God laid down. There’s actually something that
God wants to have and will have. See? That also is predestinated. And that form
must come to pass at a certain time. In the meantime, you see these other
things going on, where the
Now
there was a pattern set in heaven, and it came to earth in God’s earthly
headquarters, the Garden of Eden. But as that pattern in heaven was broken by
Lucifer, so it was broken by Lucifer in
26. Now
let us just get the original again, as we have two times already, and showed
you on the board. So all right, number one: we’re going to go to Isa 14:12.
[End of side one of tape one.] [ ] It says:
(12) How
art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! (This fellow that’s
a very outstanding creation, actually a cherub, and he is an angel of light. As
we can see from Ezekiel.) how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst
weaken the nations!
(13) For
thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my
throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the
congregation in the sides of the (earth):
(14) I
will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
(15) Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Now, of course we
find that in the Book of Revelation.)
(16) (That
they may look) narrowly upon thee, (and so on to verse 13.)
(13) I
will exalt my throne above the stars of God:
So
you go to Job 38:1, and It says:
(1) Then
the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
(2) Who
is this that darkeneth my counsel by words without knowledge? (Oh that’s a good
one. He said, “You’re just talking up a storm, you don’t know what you’re
talking about. You don’t have any knowledge of Me,” He said, “I’m going to just
let you know something now.”)
(3) Gird
up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.
(4) Where
wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast
understanding.
(5) Who
hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line
upon it?
(6) Whereupon
are the foundations thereof fastened? (In other words the earth hangs upon
nothing.) or who laid the corner stone thereof;
(7) When
the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Now,
we’re looking at those stars, are we not?
27. So,
we go to Heb 11:12, concerning Abraham.
(12) Therefore
sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, (as) many as the stars of
the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable.
And
with that we go to 1 Corinthians 15, which is on the chapter of the
Resurrection, and remember, you can’t resurrect anything that wasn’t there to
begin with. And, if there’s something there now, that wasn’t there before,
then, it’s a replacement.
So all right, let’s go ahead and take a look
at that. In verse 41:
(41) There
is one glory of the sun, and another of the moon, and another glory of the
stars: (and) one star differeth from another in glory.
And
It’s telling you of the position of the stars, the saints, the preexistent ones
that were in Him, a part of His genes, a part of His thoughts, a part of the
Word, a part of God. And they were in that purpose and plan of Almighty God,
and they had to be there before there was even one atom, or any creation
whatsoever, because it was all of God. And so there you see it. So, that’s
where the great start of it is. And the devil said, “I’m going to exalt myself
above that.”
28. Now
let’s go ahead and take one more verse here about stars. And this is the very
interesting one, because it’s found over here in Jude 13. And this is about
these people that are the serpent seed; the Cain’s, and the Balaam’s, and the
Korah’s, and the Dathan’s, and the rest of them. And It says here:
(13) (They
are) raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars…
They
were up there too! They are the created ones balancing out the uncreated ones,
balancing out the born ones! So what I want you to see, there’s two systems in
the human flesh; there are two systems in the universe; there are two systems
under Almighty God; there’s two things going on now. They’re twins! And one is
of God, which is birth, and the other is of Satan, which is creation. And the
intermingling of the satanic program, with flesh, which God had created in the
animal, which could actually propagate itself in the human form in Eve—and
bypass Adam entirely.
And
you can do the same thing right now in a test tube! You got a little
micro-dish. You know right now you could take an animal, put it with a human
being, clone it, and pretty soon they’ll be able to take two different
substances. They’re doing it now with plant life and insect life. No problem!
No problem! Why? Because the principle’s there! Didn’t God say to Adam, “Take
absolute control over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air”? How are you
going to do it? Just call them in, you could, but there [are] laws of genetics
laid down there. And you can cross them successfully by science. That’s where
you get breeding of livestock and certain things. See?
29. Now
you come to the place where you could create anything at all. I don’t mean
create in the sense—well, you create in the sense man is doing something beyond
himself, but he always has to take that which is here. That’s why I can never
understand who people want to start with materiality, and they say, “Well, all
it was, was material. There’s protein there. Ah-hah! We’ve got some H2O;
that’s going to bring life.”
Hogwash,
those idiots know the theory of spontaneous regeneration was thrown out of the
cupboard years and years ago. There’s no such thing.
Remember,
years ago they took some hay, and they put it in their bottle, and they saw
little things crawling around, and they said, “Ah-hah, spontaneous generation!”
And
somebody said, “Hogwash.”
Finally,
some guy that wasn’t a scientist, or at least he had an ounce of brains, which
scientists don’t seem to have… That’s right, they don’t have it. They got an
illusion of grandeur, and something from the devil, in their noggins up here.
That’s how Eve got fooled. [It] was right in the noggin up here. [It was] right
in the brain. And that’s how the early church got deceived. Right there. And so
that’s how the whole thing goes.
And
so somebody said, “Well we better just go ahead and boil that hay.”
So
they boiled the hay, and they sterilized the jar, and they put a cover on it.
Nothing. Well the spontaneous generation’s down the tubes. Just stick with
nature!
30. Well,
did you people eat turkey fifty years ago? Well, I guess some of you did, well,
even seventy years ago; but let’s get it down to seventy-five years ago, [and]
make it a little narrower. Remember, the turkeys didn’t have very big breasts.
Then they got the big-breasted bronze. Then they started getting in the white.
But the bronze is better than the white; [it has] better flavor. They breed
them that way. They could breed a chicken, right now, so big he can’t stand up
on his legs. And that’s not taking the DNA, or the RNA, or anything else. They
just recently bred dogs back to the age of the Inca’s—a purple dog without hair
on him.
So,
I told you [that] God could have done that to
31. Now,
let’s go over here to Ezekiel 28. And in there It says in verse 12:
(12) Son
of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, say, Thus saith the Lord
God; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.
Now
this fellow right here we know is not the king, it’s a picture of the devil and
the antichrist that’s to come on the scene. So all right.
(13) Thou
hast been in
(14) (He
was) the anointed cherub that cover(s); (and he’s called the covering cherub.)
Now,
if you go through the Scripture, you’re going to find that the cherub may not
be, but I think is, the highest form of spirit creation that there is. Now the
seraphim is also noted. And the seraphim is likened unto a fiery serpent. And
it could be the seraphim and the cherubim are related. It could be even they’re
the same thing, but I kind of doubt it. But I do believe the cherubim is the
highest form, because the high form, Satan, being a cherubim, allowed him to
lead in the worship of Almighty God. Because that’s what he was doing.
32. Now
also It says:
(15) (Thou
wast perfect in thy ways from the day thou wast created, till iniquity was
found in thee.
Till
you begin changing the Word! Till you begin changing what? You began changing
the system laid down for your position! What’s the first thing you go to get a
job? They hand you a sheet and you have a job analysis right there. Then, [ ]
they give you a job description. And you’ve got to do what that paper says,
because that’s the way it is. That’s all based upon the heavenly pattern that
comes right down here. There’s a job description! There’s everything that’s
ordained of God on the grounds of whether it’s created or whether it’s by
Sonship, and those are offices, which are stewardships—absolute stewardships of
accountability. And at the end time every single person is judged according to
his stewardship. You can’t be judged whether you’re a son of God or not,
because you are or you aren’t! There’s no way. But you can be judged, were you
faithful to the place that God put you?
Now,
where [are] your woman preachers? Yeah. Rebellious as the devil themselves!
Seed of the serpent. But they’ll worship God. Sure they will! I’ll show you a
Scripture for it; don’t worry. [How much time we got? About a whole half tape?
40! We had a turn over here, and you didn’t tell me.] All right, well, we’ll
keep going. You were the cherub, the covering cherub.
33. So
therefore, we see that he was in my understanding, from Scripture here, he
sealed up the sum. If he sealed up the sum, a cap was put on it, as a created
being, an entity, at the time Satan was set forth to be that leader in the
worship. So, in my understanding he’s absolutely the top one of a created
being—a created spirit.
Now
thus, God as worshipped in the beginning, gives us a glimpse of what it should
be and will be upon earth, in spite of Mt 15:9 and Mk 7:7, which started in
heaven, and we saw in Ezek 28:15, which was “Thou wast perfect. Everything was
exactly right. You’re the right one for the position. You’ve filled it. And
you’re doing a great job, until one day you begin to break the job description
that was given to you.” See? What did Cain do? Same thing. Offered the first
fruit, instead of the blood. Wrongly divided. Threw out the job description.
34. I
preached a long time ago; I was so upset about what’s going on amongst some of
the preachers that called themselves believers in this Message. I took sermon
after sermon on what was required in the Word of God with stewardship of
pastors. Do you think anybody gave two hoots and cared two bits about it?
Let’s
go to Matthew 15. Well Matthew 15 to Mk 7:7 is the same thing. So Mat 15:9 is
good enough. It’s a clear condemnation that explains everything that happened
in heaven. And It says then in 15:9:
(9) But
in vain do (they) worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
So
what happened? It wasn’t that they threw out the Word of God. It was that they
parodied or paraphrased, or gave their own understanding and interpretation.
So, that it got so bad under the Pharisees, especially the Pharisees, that they
counted the number of nails, or what you had, and they say in the soles of your
shoes, lest you were carrying too much weight on your feet, and working on the
Sabbath. And they hated Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Yet Jesus said,
“You are allowed to pull an ox out of the ditch, and do a good turn to somebody
that needs it. You can even go to the field and eat wheat, but you can’t steal
it. If you’re hungry.”
Oh
they say, “No, no, no, no, we’ve got the pots and pans, everything our own
idea.”
“In
vain do you worship Me! Your worship and your service is vain, because you
didn’t stay, as I’ve often said, keep the Word within the framework of the
Word!”
35. So
it’s Word, Word, Word, Word.
Not
long ago Bro. Pete Klassen was dealing with a fellow, and the man got very
sarcastic.
He
said, “Oh yes, it’s always the Word, the Word, the Word.”
Oh!
Listen, it was the Word that made it all. It’s the Word that sustains us all.
It’s the Word that gives us life. It’s the Word that condemns us. It’s the Word
that justifies. It’s the Word, Word, Word, because the Word is God! And that
man says he’s got the Holy Ghost. I’m going to tell you something: you can be
anointed by the Holy Ghost and not have the Holy Ghost. You may wonder why it
is that a person must be born again, and it takes the Spirit of God to come
upon him to do it.
You
say, “Well if the man is seed in the first place, or the woman is the seed,
she’s got the soul from God, she’s got that part of God, that is Holy Spirit,
why do you need it?”
All
right then. Eve came from Adam; she had the very same life Adam had. That same
thing was in her egg. But I’ll tell you what; she had to have a further
infusion from Adam, that life, to bring forth that child. And so with you and
me. It takes an infusion from God. I want to tell you something: you can clear
anything in the Scripture, understand everything, if you follow this Message
and open your heart. You[‘ll] get your answers. I’ve pondered that for years,
but I got my answer this week.
Now
that’s what Jesus said, and it started back here in Ezek 28:15. “In vain do you
worship Me,” He said. Now worship then, should be pure and according to the
Word, and worship in vain is when people take what the Bible says what God
said, and they bend it or they pervert it, so it becomes a perversion. And
that’s a spiritual adultery. Exactly what it amounts to. So all right. Now, I
mentioned a while ago here that we’d already talked about this and put it on
the board concerning what we saw from the very beginning here. If I can go over
this quite rapidly, we’ll maybe get somewhere here.
36. All
right, we’re going to start at the very top here, where it is Spirit. That’s
God—Spirit. Now it’s undefined to begin with. You don’t even have to call it
holy. Because what is holy, unless there’s something that’s unholy. See? So
it’s holy in the first place, because there’s nothing there but that one. And
that can be w-h-o-l-e, whole, and h-o-l-y, holy. Because you can’t accuse God
of anything under any consideration: “Who art thou oh man to reply against God.
Who are you Satan to come and say something?” Or anything else.
But
under there now, we have then, we have over there, which is love, because God
is love, and we have omniscience and we have omnipotence. I’m just abbreviating
those, see? We have them there. Now that’s under the Holy Spirit. He’s love,
there’s… God’s in three. He is love, and He’s omniscient, omnipotent, and if He
weren’t love, you would have a very dangerous person there. Because total power
and total knowledge without total dedication to truth and a positive nature,
which is welcoming and keeping, you got problems. See? All right. So it’s
welcoming because God wants you to worship, and it’s keeping, because He’ll
keep you. Everything about this is beautiful. So all right, under here, then,
we have the same one. It’s a Rhema-Logos God; He’s a Rhema-Logos. That’s
Rhema-Logos Spirit.
Now,
He’s also faithful. That’s in Deuteronomy; He’s the faithful God. And what’s He
faithful to? His covenants. So therefore, you cannot talk about God being
faithful outside of the Word. Then, the minute that you pervert the Word, He’s
no longer faithful! You’re stupid. Yeah. You fooled yourself. Women preachers.
Pentecostals. Neo-Pentecostals. See the whole thing? Now let’s keep moving.
37. All
right, with that, then, we have “Predestinating God.” I’ve abbreviated that:
“Predestinating.” And that’s according to what we haven’t read, but it’s in
Romans 8. And it’s all based upon love. It’s in Ephesians. [Ephesians 1] “In
love having predestinated us. Whom He knew, He also called, whom He called,
them He justified, whom He justified, them He glorified.” It’s all under
predestination. See? So you got it right here.
38. Now
here’s what we’re looking at in the very beginning, before there’s a speck of
stardust—before there’s anything. Because God cannot change, and He cannot be
changed. As Bro. Branham said, “He never
has had one thought since.” Whatever He did the one time can never be
changed. It’s got to be in continuity.
38. Now
over here, (And we’re looking at worship.) we’re going to see over here, then,
from this coming from here, which is we see God, Father. Now actually, before
He is God, He’s got to have someone to worship Him. Now Bro. Branham said, “A light formed, before there was a speck of
stardust, before there was a breath of wind,” and then he said, “before there was an atom,” which he
should have said in the first place, or a molecule, or there’s so many things
you could say, as you go down, down, down, which is almost… Can a microscope
finally find it? I don’t know.
So,
you get way down here, He has to be a Father. And at the same time He is a
Father, then He automatically becomes God. But remember this, the Scripture
said, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” And the reason
It always puts in there, God before Father, is on the grounds that this is a
Son, and He’s subservient to the Father, and the Fatherhood is Godhood. So
therefore, it’s “blessed be God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” because He was all of this before He had a
Son. And the Son was the first one that takes out the full position of the
thought of God, the Word of God, the Only-begotten one, and in Him the fullness
of the Godhead is bodily. And I see it this way: not only was God in Him fully,
exposing Himself to the world in a bodily form, but every single thing that God
does in and through the Body had to come through Jesus, the Son, up here. So,
here He is up here, and out of this comes the Son. And He is the Son of God.
Okay.
39. Now
from down here, in this area here, comes sons and stars. And this is Job 38, as
we saw over here. Now all this here is life of God, Which is Spirit. Okay, over
here on this side here we have creation. And up here we have… Some say the
seraphim are higher than cherubim, but I kind of doubt it. And we’ll show you a
little later on. Cherubim. And then, we have archangels, and then, we have
angels. And there might be some kind of spirits. I don’t know. We just put a
question mark there. Angels or spirits; I don’t know.
Now,
in here then, we have the worship of God. This comes this way; this goes this
way. Here we have the worship of God. So this here, then, is your heavenly
Kingdom. And up here we have in the worship of God, we have Ezekiel 1, which
we’ll read some of, and we have Isaiah 6, of which we’ll read some, and then,
we have Ezek 10:8-15, and then over here we have also Rev 4:1-11. That’s about
right there. So let’s just take a look at this here now.
40. So,
if we’re going to look at worship, we got to go to Ezekiel 1. And we want to
notice right away [that] It says:
(1) Now
it came to pass… (down at) the river Chebar, (he said;) the heavens were
opened, and I saw visions of God.
Now
he had visions from God, but that’s not the truth. Although it’s the truth [that]
it came from God; God allowed it. It was visions of God. He was looking at
something of God appearing in a vision. Now, not like Moses. Numbers 12 [ ]
says, “If the man’s a prophet I’ll speak to him in dreams and visions, but
Moses My servant it’s not so, we can see him apparently.”
41. Now,
in here he said in verse 4:
(4) I
looked, and, behold, a whirlwind came out of the north, a great cloud, and a
fire infolding itself, and brightness was about it, and out of the midst
thereof the color of amber, out the midst of the fire.
(5) (And)
out of the midst thereof the likeness of four living creatures. And this was
their appearance; they had the likeness of man.
(6) (They)
had four faces, every one had four wings.
(7) Their
feet were straight feet; the sole of their feet like the sole of a calf… (and
so on and so on. And how they kept their wings, and how they turned, and how
they looked, and everything there, and you’re going to find that that is
speaking of the cherubims.)
And
then, over here in Ezek 10:8-15… I’ve got to go over this rapidly, because I
don’t need to take all of it. And It says here:
(8) And
there appeared in the cherubims the form of a man’s hand under their wings.
(9) And
when I looked, behold the four wheels by the cherubims, one wheel by one
cherub, another wheel by another cherub: and the appearance of the wheels was
as the color of a beryl stone.
And
then, It tells what their appearance was like again at that particular time.
Now we go over here to Isaiah 6.
(1) In
the year that king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
(2) Above
it stood the seraphims: each had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and
with twain he covered his feet, and twain he did fly. (See that’s different
from the cherubim.)
(3) And
one cried unto another, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: (and so on as
the door post moved and various things like that.)
Now
that’s why It says here, then:
(1) I
saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled
the temple.
(2) Above
it stood the seraphim:
So
they had a very, very high place in the economy of God. But I still don’t say
in my estimation here, because It says in Ezekiel, “sealing up the sum of
wisdom,” and the definitive power that Satan had, it could well be that he was
the most perfect and highly idealized one in God’s creation. We don’t hear a
seraphim going down the drain like the cherub did, and cherubims no doubt; and
perhaps even—[but] we don’t know about—[the]archangels. We just know that some
stayed steady. We do know that a lot of angels fell.
42. [ ]
What I’m looking at here [is] just for the simple understanding of the economy
of heaven. Now, in this government worship of God you have also Rev 4:1-11. And
you see there was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald, round the
throne were four and twenty seats, the elders, and so on. And before the throne
a sea of glass, crystal, and so on, and there were four living creatures, full
of eyes before and behind. And then, It tells you what they’re like. So you’ve
got the same picture all the way through the Bible. You’ve got an actual study
of worship in this whole area here that comes forth from Almighty God.
Now
Bro. Branham indicated that the Son of God in worship here actually took upon
himself the form of Michael, and he’s an archangel. And this one over here [ ]
[is] Satan, and he is a cherubim, and he is leading over here in the worship of
God also.
43. Now
I’m going to give you my understanding of exactly why I believe that Bro.
Branham used what has been used by other people in saying definitively that
Jesus actually was Michael at the very beginning. And I take it right out of
the Book of Ezekiel, which I read to you. And in there It tells you that he
said, “I saw visions of God.” So that God was actually manifested in and
through the cherubim. And so the same thing holds here: that this was a spirit
being, the Son of God. The same as God was. And was he invisible, the same as
God? I do not know the answers. I haven’t got anything to tell you. All I know
is that Bro. Branham said a light formed. And whatever came of that light, I
don’t know. And the prophet didn’t tell us to my knowledge, unless it’s on some
tape. So then, how was it that Jesus could be Michael? Because he simply would
manifest through him, just the same as God manifested through the cherubim.
44. Now
let’s also know this. That Jesus was, according to the Scripture, “Thou hast
made him a little lower than the angels.” Even though he was the Son of
Almighty God, he was put in a position of an archangel, not a seraphim or a
cherubim. He was put lower than that, because he would come down here as a man,
eventually then, take upon himself the form of a man, and take upon him a part of
the flesh, but not all flesh, because he was not born of sex. It was a created
egg and a created sperm. And thou hast made him a little lower than the angels,
and He made him for the suffering of death.
And
what I’m looking at here is this: that Satan had a superior position, or could
have had. See, I’m not a prophet, so I can’t tell you. But I’m looking at the
possibility of Satan being what he was, as Lucifer up there in the leading of
worship. He was the ultimate. He was the epitome. He was it when it came to
creation, in my understanding. Now God was not manifesting through him, but He
was manifesting through others that had the position of cherub, but did not
have the elevated position of the great cherub that Satan was in that leading
of worship.
45. Now
we want to go a little bit further on that to get our points. Well, I could
have read actually to you Hebrews 1 and 2, which would give you a better
understanding how that I’m placing Jesus at that time in an archangel, and
we’re placing Satan here, he was the cherub, and he had a great position. And
you’ll notice that nothing in here wanted to elevate itself above God. Michael
an archangel, Gabriel an archangel, none of these wanted to elevate themselves.
They were very happy to be what they were. And God being glorified in worship,
now the Son of God through Michael, and now Satan in the form of a cherub,
because they are the ones that were covering, even as you made the temple, or
the Ark of the Covenant, according to what was seen in the mount. They had the
Ark of the Covenant, remember, in there with the mercy seat overlaid with gold;
the cherubims in the original were made of solid gold. In the temple they were
made of olive wood overlaid with gold.
So
you can see, then, Michael standing here, an archangel. You’ve got a cherub
over here, and they’re both in solid gold. They have a tremendously high
position in the economy of God and worship. You simply can’t get away from it.
So Satan had that very, very high position. And he, actually, today, whether
people want to recognize it or not, still has a very high position, which we
don’t particularly want to have anything to do with.
46. Now
at this point it’s good to recall that we are dealing with the worship and
service of God from both sides: sons and created beings, or entities. And they
are now today in one lump. After Genesis 6 there’s no more human beings, true
human beings, because Noah was the last genetically pure one. And Romans tells
us it’s all of one lump. And [ ] the beast comes down, the children of the
enemy through animal life, comes right down through the human bodies as we have
them today, because they’re able to do it. And science can do it right now,
even at a greater measure. Remember, just before the flood and after the flood,
anything that entered their minds, they were able to do. They could do it.
That’s why the atomic bomb brought on the flood and those other things that
Bro. Branham tells us.
47. Now,
when Satan and his hosts were cast down from heaven, and no more led in
worship, Satan took over a created animal in
(14) Forasmuch
then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise
took part of the same;
Now
that tells you he took a part of it, but didn’t take all of it. He only took a
part of it. What flesh and blood he took was the human form, and it was a flesh
and blood Body. In the Besurrection it was a flesh and bone Body. It was not a
flesh, blood, and bone Body. “Handle me and see a spirit hath not flesh and
bone.” It didn’t say blood. So here he was right down here at the end time. And
Satan could not take him over. See? Now this in Hebrews here is based over here
on the Book of Luke 1, describing how Jesus Christ came into this earth. And It
tells you in 30-35:
(30) And
the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favor with God.
(31) And,
behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, bring forth a son, (you’ll) call his
name JESUS. (And so on.)
(34) (And)
Mary (said), How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
(35) And
the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and
the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee:
Now
remember, that man actually was tripartite in the sense of body, soul, and
spirit. And a part of him was original, from God, eternal, a part of him was
created, the spirit part, and the body part was actually formed. Now you’ll see
that Jesus literally goes through the same thing. But he does not come through
the human instrumentality of how Adam and Eve set the thing in movement,
although it was not only allowed of God, it was something that God knew was
going to happen there.
48. Now
don’t forget Lucifer didn’t cease to be Lucifer. Now over here in 2
Corinthians, now we’re taking right down from the worship above to the worship
down below here, so don’t get lost in your thinking with me, I know I’m going
too fast for my own good and for your good too.
Now
he says over here, 2 Cor 11:3:
(3) But
I fear, lest by any means, (that) as the serpent beguiled Eve through his
subtility…
Now
the serpent beguiling Eve is a beast that was very intelligent, and could mix
with the human race. He could talk, and he could think and, therefore, be
persuasive. Now remember, that this one who was able to talk had to be
controlled by the devil, because this animal perverts what God has said, and
that’s exactly what Satan did. So now you got the perfect identification of
another created entity working with the spirit being of great tremendous
perfection and power and position that is almost indescribable. [That] is how
great that Satan was.
49. Now,
and over here he says in verse 13:
(13) For
such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the
apostles of Christ.
These
are positions that they don’t own! They take upon themselves, and it’s allowed
of God, and anointed of God! Why? Because it’s created by God Who is Spirit!
But it’s not God’s Spirit coming upon His creation, as God’s Spirit comes upon
His Own sons. It’s simply position and gifts that endow the position and make
it work. And that’s why they’ve got these gifts. Now:
(14) And
no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.
(15) Therefore
it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as ministers of
righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.
Now
notice what It tells you there. It tells you these people here have an
understanding to a degree of Scripture. They can handle it, but they pervert
it. And they act as though they have the truth and know the truth, and they can
actually back it up at the end time with gifts. The same as It tells you in
Deuteronomy 13, where you begin to get the history of what this is all about
today. And I just threw that in there, but you remember anyway.
50. Now,
and don’t forget he is still a great creation to be reckoned with, because,
when he was as a cherub, he was above the archangels, for It tells you over
here in Jude 8-9:
(8) Likewise
these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, speak evil of
dignities.
That’s
these creations—these entities. That have taken on themselves religious
positions and offices, and they are literally anointed; because why? They need
to have something from God, because everything is of God. And the genuine Holy
Spirit anointing that was upon Jesus, [ ] was not the same anointing [that was]
upon Satan. It was from the same one that anointed, and he only had an
anointing to position. It was not to Sonship. He never had it.
(9) Yet
Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the
body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The
Lord rebuke thee.
So
you can see right here that Satan is a very formidable foe, and he’s something
that you would have to have a lot of power to deal with. And now notice how
Jesus in Matthew 4 dealt with Satan. He kept his position by repeating the Word
and staying with the Word and, then, defying him. And [he] said, “Depart from
me.” Just the same as at the end time God is going to say, “Depart from me you
workers of iniquity. Get thee behind Me Satan.” He said, “You shall worship
only the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve.” And Jesus stayed right
within the framework of his office, which was not to turn stones into bread, or
to jump off of buildings, or to make some kind of a superficial circus act—some
manifestation, like a Houdini as Bro. Branham called it.
51. All
right. Satan and his entities parallels Jesus and his sons or his children. And
they are the sons of God. Each is what he is by predestination as to
essentiality. Sons, creations, even as we today are one lump and one mixture,
according as it was said of Isaac, and his two sons that came out of Rebecca.
But all have offices. You’ll find that over in Rom 11:25.
(25) (But)
I would not, brethren, that (you) should be ignorant of this mystery, lest
(you) be wise in your own conceits; that blindness (that’s verse 25) is
happened (in part) to
(26) And
so all
(27) For
this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.
(28) As
concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the
election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.
(29) For
the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.
Now
It tells you right there the gifts and calling are without repentance. You can’t
change what you are, but you can live in what conditions that God wants you to
live in, and do those things that God wants us all to live in. Now, if we go to
1 Cor 12:4-14, you’ll find there’s many members; there’s many offices. Just
keep on going. Many members and many offices. And in Romans 12, you’re going to
find that there’s not only nine gifts of the spirit, as in 1 Corinthians 12, as
we noticed, but there’s also many other gifts. As Iraneaus said, “There’s
hundreds of gifts in the Bride of Jesus Christ.”
52. And
going to 1 Corinthians 3, you could read all the way from 9-23.
(9) We
are labourers together with God: (we) are God’s husbandry, (we) are God’s
building.
(10) According
to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have
laid the foundation, (see got the pattern from the heavenlies, exactly what
it’s supposed to be.) and buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he
build(s) thereupon. (Why? Because you got a blueprint! The Word within the
Word!)
(11) For
other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
You
got it. So you’re starting with him, as the great prophet, the messiah,
starting right down the line, working with him, the cornerstone that the
builders put at not, is now become the headstone, which is going to come down
and crush the nations that disobeyed Him, come right down, see, taking
vengeance on the enemies.
(12) Now
if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble:
(13) Every
man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, (make it
manifest you see. Prove it right out there; speak it out.) because it shall be
revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
(14) If
any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
(15) If
any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself saved;
(and) yet so by fire.
(16) Know
ye not that ye are the temples of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in
you?
It
tells you right there you’re sons of God. The Spirit of God has bound you back
to God. You’re completely born again, now in the Bride of the Lord Jesus
Christ, with the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You’re members in particular;
you’ve got a particular office; you’ve got specifications. Everything is there
for your usage. And so you stay within the framework of the Word. And remember,
those that are led of the Spirit, they are the children of God. And the Spirit
can never lead you against the Word, because He is the Word. Why is He the
Word? Because He’s the author and fulfiller of the Word—the manifestor of it.
So how can He not be? See, that’s why the Spirit of God is in the Word given to
us.
53. And
also in 2 Cor
(10) For
we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may
receive things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be
good or (whether it be) bad.
Then,
you go to the Book of Revelation 20, over here. And It says [in] Revelation
20:10-21. And we don’t have to read It all, but there you find:
(10) And
the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire…
(11) And
(then) I saw a great white throne… heaven (and earth) fled away; there was no
place for them.
(12) And I
saw the dead, great (and small), stand before God; and the books were opened:
and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their
works.
(13) And
the sea gave up the dead (and hell, and everything else, it said) they were
judged every man according to their works.
(14) And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
You
see right there what God is doing, there is no way that you can rescind exactly
what you are. Now, the point is, there is a reward for those that take
seriously their vocation, which is the calling that God gave them. Now in this
hour, we know that Bro. Branham told us there is one thing left for you and me
to do, which we of necessity do, is to live just good Christian lives and be
led of the Lord according to His Word, which Word we have had revealed to us in
this day.
54. Now
you can see this more clearly in Revelation 22, and you can start in verse 10:
(10) And
he saith (to) me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the
time is at hand.
So
between Rev 10:4, and
(11) He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still: filthy, filthy still: righteous,
righteous still: holy, holy still.
At
that particular time. And after that he said:
(12) Behold,
I come quickly; (that’s the second coming. There’s no doubt about it. You see,)
(13) I am
Alpha and Omega,
(14) (And)
blessed are they that do his commandments, (No, that wash their robes. Do his
commandments, that’s a gross mistranslation.) that they may have (the) right to
the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the (holy) city. (It
doesn’t say
(15) Without
are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers…
And
so, you got in there the sorcerer, which were your apothecaries. They’re your
drug dealers. So you’ve got a world that’s set on fire by drugs. They’re
illicit and everything else. If they’re not drugs, you can’t have it.
A
man got arrested in
But
you see right in here… And then you got your whoremongers. And who are the
whoremongers? They’re the ones that are fornicating with the devil and his
emissaries. The angel of light, so-called. And then, you’ve got the
murderers—those that are killing the souls of men. (That’s your clergy
again.)—and idolaters, in idolatry. And idolatry [ ], we know, is typed by
fornication. And no fornicator goes anywhere but the
Then,
It says here:
(19) If
any man shall take away the words of the book of this prophecy, God (will) take
away his part (from it. If he adds to it, he will get added the plagues.)
So,
we’re at the very end time here.
55. So
now, we’re getting into a conclusion, but it’s going to take a little time yet.
And that’s to see how the twins, these twins, which are true church Bride and a
false church, are paralleled in this day. So to do so, we follow in Scripture
how Bro. Branham said there’d be a razor blade difference. All right.
In
the beginning in the worship of heaven, Satan was anointed to worship, but not
as Jesus, the Son. There was two different anointings there, but what came to
each one came from God by reason of the fact there is nothing made that wasn’t
made by God. And there isn’t anything that’s not maintained by God. And there’s
not anything that’s not allowed by God. Nobody just wrested it from God and
said, “I’m going to do this.” It was there. And they had what Bro. Branham
called the free moral agency. He put Adam to it; He puts us to it. See?
56. Now
these ones here by nature, because they weren’t sons, positively could have
something from God—which is spiritual. But it is not the Spirit Himself. It is
a derivative. It is something from it, because that’s what you’re looking at.
As Bro. Branham very candidly said, “The
end time ones are anointed either to the Word, or they are anointed to gifts.”
Now
the true son of God is anointed to the Word, also having gifts, which he will
use within the framework of the Word, and according to the job description
which is written here in the Bible. The others don’t give a rip. That’s why
I’ve been so plagued by preachers that want people jumping up and down in the
church, speaking in tongues and interpreting so-called, and prophesying, and
wanting it.
And
[they] say, “You can’t have a good service without that.”
If
that’s what we’ve got to have here, I got news for you: I’m leaving. I won’t
even be back tomorrow morning. You take care of yourselves. You can have it.
I’m not interested. Why should I settle for the unreal, when the heavens are
full of the real? Now, if I can’t get my hands on the real, then I better stay
away just the same from the unreal! But I have got my hands on the real!
Because the real is the spirit filled Word of this hour, in which there’s no
mistakes. It’s the true plenary edition or fulfillment of the revelation of the
Word of God, that which is perfect is come. And we have at this point. So we
cannot take or add to it.
57. Now
Satan was anointed to worship, but not as Jesus, the Son. The same God that
anointed His Son, who worshiped manifestly in Michael, also anointed Satan, but
not as a son, only to an office. Right. Only seed can be anointed with the
spirit unto eternal life. As I gave an example of Eve: she came from Adam, and
yet she had to be pregnated by Adam, which was that life in him, which came to
her life already there, which was as we see a born-again experience. Bringing
forth a new member unto Christ, in the sense of redemption, and now you go
ahead with the Word of God and the power of God, to fulfill that which devolves
upon us as sons of God, which are to worship and to serve Him. And Bro. Branham
said, “You love and serve God even as you
love your brethren and serve them.” All right.
58. So,
we talked about Eve bringing forth that child in the correct lineage. Now, take
that to the rebirth, and apply this to the children of God, as the ones that
are twins today. And you look at
59. Now
I want to go to Mark 16. We’re taking your time. I’m sorry, but I knew I would
be a little bit long tonight. I have those flashes of genius when I know I’m
going to be long. But I got something to show you here. And maybe you thought
of it, I don’t know.
We’re
going to go to Mk 16:14, and this is after the Resurrection.
(14) He
appeared (to) the eleven… (he) upbraided them (for) their unbelief and hardness
of heart, because they believed not which had seen him after he was risen.
Now
they saw him before, and that didn’t do it. Then they saw him after, and that
still didn’t do it! What did it? The only thing that did it was because they
were seed, or they wouldn’t have had any chance at all. No way, shape, and
form. But God’s obligated to His children. He has to be, because that’s what
predestination is all about. Huh? Now, Mk 16:15:
(15) And
he said unto them, Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every
creature.
(16) He
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; (and) he that believeth not
shall be damned.
(17) And
these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name (they’ll) cast out
devils; they shall speak with new tongues;
(18) They
shall take up serpents; if they drink any deadly thing, it (will) not hurt
them; (they’ll) lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.
Now
this is what Jesus said, setting gifts within the church. Setting out gifts,
after His resurrection, as the Bible said, “When He rose and He went back, He
gave gifts.” He gave gifts of the five-fold ministry to perfect a Bride, and He
also gave gifts. And those gifts are found in Numbers, and Psalms 68, also. And
He gave gifts even to the wicked, the unrighteous, to show the Lord was amongst
them. Not in them, but amongst them. To show God, to prove God, to show His
Word.
60. Now
I want to just check with you on this. And as we check, I’m going to go to
Matthew 7. And in Mt
(22) Many
will say (unto) me, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? in thy name
cast out devils? in thy name done wonderful works?
(23) And I
will profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, (you) that work
iniquity.
Now,
let’s go to Matthew 24. And in 24, talking about the time of His Presence in
the end time, in verse 23:
(23) Then
if any man say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or (lo) there; believe it not.
(24) For
there shall arise false Christs, (even lying) prophets, (even) shall shew great
signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the
elect.
(25) Behold,
I have told you before.
When
did He tell them before? In Matthew 7. Now I want to ask you a question. Was
Mark 16 given before Matthew 7 and Matthew 24? The answer is no. Then, how come
Jesus is warning them about what he is going to set in the church after his
resurrection? Do you hear what I said? I’m asking you. Why did he warn them?
Why did He say…? Because these are gifts set in the church, and make no mistake
about it. They were set in the church after his resurrection. It was at
Pentecost they spoke in tongues and prophesied, right? It was after Pentecost
the great miracles were done, right? Make no mistake about it. And he turned
right around, he said right at this point, before he ever mentioned and set any
gifts in the church, he positively warned them about gifts in the church—and
gifts extant. Right? Oh come on. Let’s find out if it was carried on.
61. We
go to Acts 2. And in chapter 2, Peter is speaking. And he said:
(15) These
are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
(16) But
this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
(17) It
shall come to pass in the last days, I will pour my Spirit upon all flesh:
(a-double-l.)
Now,
if He’s going to pour His Spirit upon all flesh. All flesh is all flesh. One
lump. Anyone of the lump, no matter who it is. Let’s prove it.
(17) Your
sons and your daughters prophesy, your young men see visions, your old men
dream dreams:
(18) And
on my (men) servants and my (women servants) I will pour out my Spirit (in
those days);
“Last two days, Bro. Branham said, are here.” And watch what happens at the end time.
(18) …(they’ll)
prophesy:
And
at the very end time when the signs are multiplied, after Bro. Branham came on
the scene, even during the time of the latter rain when these gifts began to
manifest, the true prophet came on the scene with the true Word of God. But
they turned the true Word of God down, because they didn’t understand that the
warning that Jesus gave concerning the gifts of the Holy Spirit were there,
because it didn’t constitute a genuine anointing of the Holy Ghost Himself. It
was anointing by the Holy Ghost unto gifts.
62. Now
he says at that time:
(19) I
will shew wonders in heaven above, signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire,
and smoke:
The
great tribulation absolutely comes on at the end time manifestation and
proliferation of these gifts, and they’re everywhere. And they started back in
1904. And now you got it. And they’re right here to the very day in which we
live. And Jesus, before He even set them in order, He warned about them, and
the church went off in the first century, and Paul did his dead level best to
set the church in order and they wouldn’t listen! They wouldn’t do it.
Now,
what is the true church order? Those that are truly born again, having gifts of
the spirit, having that anointing of the Word upon them, knowing the truth.
Let’s go and find out what the Bible says.
63. We
go to Eph 3:20, and we find the secret.
(20) Now
unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all we ask or think,
according to the (spirit) that (is at work within) us,
It’s
the Spirit that’s doing the work within us. It’s not an anointing upon us. It’s
a genuine positive rebirth of the Holy Ghost coming down upon our souls,
redeeming us, sealing us right back to Almighty God, because you receive the
rebirth by the baptism with the Holy Ghost. And at the same time, the church
received gifts, they receive offices. And there isn’t anybody that’s not a
member in particular, although there’s only a true five-fold ministry. But
there’s a false five-fold ministry. The Bible speaks of false prophets; It
speaks of false apostles; It speaks of false teachers; It speaks of false
pastors. Then, there’s got to be false evangelists, and there are, because they
ran with the false gospel.
64. So
here’s what you’re looking at, where this razor blade is, and people cannot
understand it. But the difference is this: the Holy Spirit Himself has not only
given us the union and the sealing to the day of redemption, but has also
empowered us; and in the empowerment thereof, men can walk. And as Paul said,
“If you live in the Spirit, see that you walk in it.” And when you walk in the
Spirit, live in the Spirit, you are already in the Bride of Christ, you are
already ordained to your position, but see that you live according to the Word,
and the inspiration from that Word, joined with that life will positively bring
forth a ministry!
I
wanted to be an evangelist! Oh man, I used to get so mad when people didn’t
love my evangelistic sermons. And this is the truth, I’ve seen them lean
forward and grab the benches. And I thought, “Boy, I’m really getting there
now. I’ll get those white knuckles and get them up here too.” Nobody ever came.
And
they’d say, “Oh Bro. Vayle, we sure loved your morning sermon. My, where do you
get that material?”
I
could have gone, “Pow,” right in the puss—right in the teeth. I didn’t want to
be a teacher. But I’m happy today I am. I’m not an evangelist. [ ] I’m not the
kind of a midwife that brings them to the birth. But you turn them over to me
to teach them; I’ll do my level best to show them the Word of God—to bring it
all out. I’m not too good at it, but at least I know my office. It was
confirmed by Bro. Branham. So that’s there too.
But
I’m showing you something in here. These people stay with that Word. They stay
with the Spirit, because the Spirit is in the Word! And they’re not trying to
be something they aren’t. See? Because it’s a life; it’s natural. And, if
you’re called to the ministry, there’s nothing you’re not going to get away
from it. If you’re called to be a certain thing in life, you won’t get away
from it.
65. Now
here’s one thing the latter rain people were great at doing, but they’re wrong
in doing it. They took the Scripture where Paul said, “The gift that’s in you
by the laying on of my hands.” Bro. Branham said they don’t get gifts by laying
on of hands. The old Philadelphian confession of faith knew they didn’t get
gifts by the laying on of hands. Anybody could get them then. At latter rain
they conferred gifts.
“Oh,
they lay hands on me; tell me what I’ve got.”
And
there’s sixteen people told them sixteen different things. I used to do some of
that too, and I know I must have said some wrong things. Absolutely. I’m sure I
did. But I don’t remember ever telling any woman she was ever called to preach.
But time after time, women under my hands, [they were] so nervous. They [were]
just nervous. You could just feel their vibrations moving through you.
I
said, “Just a minute, you were called to preach years ago and never obeyed.”
I
didn’t know they never were called. They thought they were called. They got
married instead. [They] did something else. And their lives were just like this
here.
66. Another
time a guy sat under my hands, said, “My God man, you’re in terrible shape.”
And
something came before my eyes, and like a little black and white mental vision.
And
I said, “Hey, you spoke in tongues one time and somebody heard that language
and knew what that was, and they said you’re a missionary to a certain island
where those people are, and you didn’t go.”
He
said, “That’s right Bro. Vayle.”
I
said, “Forget it.”
Yeah.
Oh yeah, yeah. Satan just took him out of the Word. That’s what he did in the
beginning.
“You
were perfect in all your ways, hey you had it made! You’re my creation. I
anointed you: these gifts, this office. It’s wonderful! But you went out of the
Word.”
Now
let’s go and find out how it’s done, shall we? How do you get that way?
67. We
now go to Gal 2:20. All right.
(20) I am
crucified with Christ: (not so, I have been crucified with Christ.)
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I
now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and
gave himself for me.
And
you cannot have that Word ‘faith’ outside of Word. Because what is faithful
outside of definition? And what is definition outside of a Word? Only those
people that can speak and think and, therefore, act are the only ones that are
intelligent and, therefore, could understand anything about faith, God, or
anything else. The rest cannot. There’s no way they can do it. Your mind is the
most important thing you have, especially if you are a child of God, and you
let that mind get out of the way and do what Paul said.
68. Notice
what he said.
(20) I
(have been) crucified with Christ: (I am dead. I’m gone. My hands are tied. My
feet are tied. I can’t get down. I can’t do a thing. There’s nothing I can do.)
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life that I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, (He’s quoting
absolutely Eph 3:20 in the Galatian manner. I live in the flesh. I live by the
faith of the Son of God) who loved me, and gave himself for me. (As he was
faithful to the Word and now in me, so am I faithful to that Word.)
And
there you’re getting your picture where we are today. I know I cannot cover
these things and make them as clear as I’d like to. I don’t have the ability.
But there we see it. So there you can see it tonight, God has given us the
definitive revelation of our origin, our lives, official works and the end of
it all, and how we not only fit into the Kingdom, but glorify Him and,
consequently, ourselves by His rewards, and the grace and those things that He
bestows upon us. On the other hand we see those who are anointed only to an
office, but it is of God, created though they are, bestowed and maintained
until the day of reckoning, which is now. Stewardship, therefore, entails
responsibility unto judgment, either to glorification or destruction.
69. So
you see there’s more to stewardship than we thought there was. Stewardship is the
whole thing. It’s the whole thing. Satan went off that Word. He was entrusted
to worship God through that Word, the precepts, the blueprint, the
instructions, the manifestos, everything in there laid down; and Satan began
bending it—began bending it, see? Now that’s where the whole thing lies.
Now,
if people want to get it all messed up with works, and they want to say, “Well
just a minute. The fruit isn’t that Word, the fruit is how you’re acting.” No,
no, that’s not true my brother, my sister. That’s not true. That’s not true.
It’s not your acts. Not by acts of righteousness, which you have done, but
according to His mercy. Paul said, “If it’s works, it’s no longer grace. If
it’s grace, it’s no longer works.” You’ve got to get behind the whole scene and
listen to what the prophet said and try to bring it together, which I’ve tried
tonight to show you, and we’ll go into more and more of this, to show you
stewardship.
To
me stewardship opens up everything. It opens up the complete understanding of
predestination. It opens up the complete understanding of judgments and
rewards. It opens up the anointing of the false anointed. It opens up the whole
thing to me. [It] opens it all up. One of the great keys of the Bible.
So
let’s bow our heads in prayer.
Heavenly
Father, again we thank You for the time we spent together in fellowship around
Your Word, knowing we have learned much, and we pray now, Lord, that it shall
go deep within our hearts and become more and more a part of us, to realize
Lord that each one of us, those sons, we are members in particular, and each
ones are steward for those things that you have entrusted into our hands. And
the great thing, Lord, is that Paul himself said, “You’ve made me a steward,”
said he, “of the Word.”
We
are stewards with our Bro. Branham of the mysteries, and with Bro. Paul, and
with You Yourself, and with the blessed Son the Lord Jesus Christ, stewards of
the mysteries of all the grace and goodness from eternity into time and back to
eternity again, stewards of it. May we be faithful, Lord, and not hold back at
any time. Not try to justify ourselves, and not try to in any way add anything
or take from, but stand on this Word, and then, as Paul himself said, and Bro.
Branham asked us also to do, “If you live in the Spirit, see that you walk in
the Spirit.” As he said, “If you say you
believe me, you love me, why don’t you obey me?”
And
that’s what we see tonight Lord, to live within the framework of this Word. May
we not find it grievous, but may we find it joyful to do so, filling our lives
with joy. In Jesus’ Name we pray. Amen.
Communion
Service
1. I
want to go to Peter over here, just for a little bit for the Communion Service.
And reading in the first chapter, it says here in verse 18: [1 Peter 1]
(18) Forasmuch
as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and
gold, from your vain (behavior) received by tradition from your fathers;
(19) But
with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without
spot:
(20) Who
was (verily) foreordained…
There’s
your foreknowledge, election, predestination. Remember, Jesus was part of the
election, and even the Scripture talks about elect angels. They have their
callings. And no two ways about it, the whole thing is in there.
(20) Who
verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in
these last times for you,
You
know that Jesus was foreordained to do for the Gentiles what He did for Israel.
In other words God was obligated according to Matthew 4 and Matthew 12, which
was according to Isaiah, to do identically for the Gentiles at the end time
what He did when He was here in flesh for Israel. And He’s done it. He’s done
it; He’s manifested it that it is so. See, He’s the faithful God. What’s He faithful
to? Well, He’s not faithful to Himself, because He can’t change from being
love, omniscience, omnipotence. He can’t change from being Spirit. The only
thing God could ever do is go back on His Word. Well, He can’t go back on His
Word. You and I can’t change what we are. We can get off His Word, but not in
disbelief; disobedience, but not in disbelief. You know.
2. So
all right, It says here we have been redeemed, not with corruptible things as
silver and gold from our vain behavior, our traditions, the way we were due to
the traditions, which we got from our fathers. In other words, no religion of
itself can function or bring you to God outside of the intervention of the
slaying of the Lamb of God, and the shedding of the blood, which indicates, not
indicates, but actually shows and demonstrates that Jesus is our propitiation.
Which a propitiatory act, or propitiation, is one wherein the wrath of the
offended one is turned away from the offender. And the offender of course, they
were Adam and Eve. And from that time on, we have all offended God, and been
offenders of the Word. But there is one way that God can deal with us. Because
you can see from what I said tonight, and what I’m saying now, there’s only one
way that God can deal with us and that’s by the Word. And if we don’t really
understand the Word, or have a revelation of that Word, then tough luck! Let’s
just lay it out in slang. Tough luck.
3. Now
the question is, what are you going to do about it? No, that’s not the
question. What is God going to do about it? Because He’s the Redeemer. Redeem
means ‘to buy back’. It means to get you out of slavery and into freedom of the
Sonship of God. Like we read tonight in Eph 3:20 and Gal 2:20. Keep on quoting,
“If you live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit.” How do we get Him reconciled?
Well there’s only one way. And that is: blood comes between us and God, blood
comes between us and our sin, and though the sin be red like crimson and the
blood be red, as Bro. Branham brought out, you look through a piece of red
cloth through red glass, and it’s white. I mean that’s been done in schools
ever since we were little tiny kids and before we were born. And so we have
this beautiful spiritual chemistry, where God now, through the blood has
perfected a Bride. She has neither spot nor blemish because of that blood.
4. Now,
we have something to do with that as we take the table of the Lord. And that is
if the blood is propitiated, and the blood has cleansed us, and the walk in the
Spirit keeps us walking in the light, the life and the Spirit guarantees we
have the light in order to walk, those things are ours, then that is why Paul
said, I believe, in 1 Corinthians 11, there, that we ought to confess our
faults and get everything as right as we can at the table of the Lord.
So
the shed blood, which we take in emblem tonight, has two great values. Number
one: it cleanses from all unrighteousness. God cannot see any sin whatsoever.
But then there’s a life to reckon with, because that life comes back upon us.
The next thing is: can God now see that life in action? Many times no. And
that’s where the rub comes. But the blood does not allow us to get away where
God could harm us or destroy us. But what happens? We hurt ourselves. That’s
the thing. We hurt ourselves; we hurt others.
5. So
now we talk about the fact, okay, the blood, the emblem of the wine, perfect
clarity, perfect everything, there’s no problem, I don’t have a problem with
God, He doesn’t have one with me concerning sin. But I do have a problem with
God, and He has one with me: am I walking in the light? Now if I’m not walking
according to truth, then I have every right to go to the blood, to go through
Christ, confessing my sin, making things right with people – and the only
reason that is, because if you start making things right with people, you’re
not apt to do it again. It’s a lesson in there. If I made everything right with
everybody, that doesn’t give me any brownie points. That doesn’t make me a fine
upstanding Christian as though I’ve now worked myself into a position where God
must smile upon me and say, “Hey, I’m glad you did such a good job.” Well
that’s partly true, but it’s not the truth we’re driving at. The thing we’re
driving at is this: that we are strengthened when we confess our faults and we
make things right, we are now to the place of where the Bible says, “He that
suffers in the flesh ceases from sin.” Once we take that place of ignominy and
shame, in which we are involved, and we confess and make things right, then
things begin to move in the Bride and amongst ourselves, as they ought to move.
6. So
therefore, there is a hindrance that people don’t realize, that just because
you run, like a mini Pentecostal I’ve said many things, I can spit on the floor
and go to hell, but they can commit adultery and murder you and rob a bank,
hallelujah, forgive me Jesus, everything is fine. Forget it. Just don’t believe
that nonsense.
See
you can’t make the blood do that. You can’t wrap the blood around your own
ideas and creeds and dogmas, nor twist the Spirit around where their own creeds
and dogmas, that cannot be done. It simply cannot be done. We are celebrating
in emblem form two things: the broken body, the shed blood. We’re looking at
it. We have healing for our bodies, we have cleansing for our souls, we have
cleansing for our minds, anything that would keep us from fellowship with God
all goes by the board. Now the life gives us the power to walk in that Word.
The life gives us the power to be overcomers. The life gives us these things.
And we see that there’s an interference, there’s some obstruction, the thing
is, confess your faults, see, areas of weakness. Doesn’t mean get up and tell
everybody your sins, that’s ridiculous, that’s asinine, that’s not the Word of
God. Area of weakness is a different thing entirely, the faults. Anything
personal, we take care of those things.
7. Not
long ago I got a letter from somebody who tried to pull Matthew 18 on me, and I
was supposed to come to him. I didn’t even know what he was doing. How am I
going to go to a preacher that’s so messed up in sin and doing such terrible
things to his congregation, and I don’t know if the whole church is fallen
apart. So I didn’t answer his letter. If I do, I’ll just write someday, “And
sir,” I’ll say, “your ignorance and your arrogance is only superceded by your
ignorance and your arrogance.” That’s what I’ll write him. That’s not original,
I read that somewhere. But I added one word to it, and I thought it was pretty
good. But you see that’s a foolishness, that’s twisting the Word of God.
8. So
all right, we’re going to celebrate the Lord’s Supper tonight, remember the
blood has made us absolutely perfect before God according to what the blood is
supposed to do. The next thing the life, are we getting out of the way, bringing
our own thoughts down, and then doing, even though it’s hard to do, doing the
difficult things because God wants it to be done? One man once said, “Do the
hard thing.” Do the hard thing. And when you’ve done the hard thing, the rest
will fall in line.
So
we trust tonight then we get our hearts clear before the Lord. Let’s rise at
this time and the brethren come forward. Shall we pray at this time.
Heavenly
Father, as we set the emblems before the people we ask You now Lord, that even
as we’ve talked about it, and many times we feel maybe a spirit of a dissidence
Lord, or not exactly rebellion, but intimidation toward doing those things that
require confessing our faults or admitting to certain things in our lives that
we know should not be there. Help us Lord to realize as never before that this
is the hour when all things are made open to You, the thoughts and intents of
the heart, Lord, even dividing asunder soul and spirit, joint and marrow. This
Lord we know that all things are open. So judgment already is in the land. Help
us to realize that, and know then we would judge ourselves, we should not be
judged. And those things like sickness and various ailments and all could be
taken away, or brought more under control because people are now in the flow of
the Holy Spirit through the Word of the living God. And may that life then come
forward as we realize that we can get out of the way, we can allow Your Spirit
to come forth. Liberate us tonight Father in every way that according to
scripture we can be, and wherein Lord there is that liberty according to the
Word. May we literally pounce upon it by the power of the Holy Ghost, to seize
it, and become ours as we walk in the light, living through that blessed light.
May the emblems tonight be really real to us as never before, Father, because
this is what we want. And help us in our fellowship and foot washing. To You we
give glory in Jesus’ Name. Amen.