The Presence
BY
Brian Joseph Kocourek
Pastor
Grace Fellowship
Tabernacle
(513) 932-2156
- preface -
During the ministry of William Branham, there were two things that
caused more controversy among the denominational and Pentecostal churches than
anything else, and these were:
· #1) Brother Branham's use of the term Vindication:
"That, God has a One man Message and He deals with One man only".
This caused much of the clergy to alienate brother Branham, which was due
mostly to professional jealousy.
·
#2) Brother Branham's teaching on the Godhead,
for He did not teach as the Oneness or Jesus Only, nor did he teach a Trinity.
He said, I stand in between them. I do not
believe in a Trinity where there is three persons, and he also
said, neither do I believe that Jesus is One
like your finger is One. In fact
most people seem to think he was oneness, but he denied being oneness. When he
preached the Godhead
Explained, E-74 he said, Many
of you people listening to this would say, "Brother Branham is a
Oneness." I am not. I think you're both wrong, both oneness and trinity.
Not to be different, but it's always the middle of the road."
These two doctrinal issues were
the "Rock of Offense" that kept brother Branham from being accepted
by the Church world in His day. Why is it that the Trinitarian Cult chasers
brandish brother Branham as a Oneness and yet the Oneness think he is
Trinitarian. It is because he was neither of these two schools of thought? He
stood right between them, and they could not discern the difference, but they
knew he didn't preach it like they do. He was not Oneness, neither was he
Two-ness or Three-ness. But he believed there is One God who had a Son. Not God
the Son, but the Son of God. It should come then as no surprise that amongst
the very followers of William Branham, these same two major doctrines have
caused more controversy and have been attacked more than all others.
· Doctrine #1) Again Vindication
is the issue: Not so much that it was God who backed up William Branham's
Message, for all Pentecostal people believe that God works out of heaven and
does fantastic things. They will even allow for God to come down to do certain
things, but the understanding that this Vindication comes in the form of God's
Personal Presence with His prophet, and that this Presence was referred to by
Brother Branham himself as the Appearing of Christ has become the central
doctrinal debate within the "Message clergy" because it comes into
direct conflict with their understanding of the Second coming of Christ as they
have always perceived it, and this is due to the fact that they do not
understand Godhead correctly.
DOORS
IN DOOR 65-0206 119 And then you see His appearing,
His Presence, and what He does. He's always with His people, His Bride. He's
courting her. Someday there's going to be a wedding supper.
·
Doctrine #2) Godhead : Again, most people who have come into the
"Message" have come from a Trinitarian background. The problem is
that they have left the Trinitarians and became Oneness in their thinking,
until perhaps 99% of the people who claim to follow the message today are
Oneness in their thinking. This is due to the fact they have failed to really
listen to what brother Branham taught us on the Godhead. And because of
professional jealousy amongst the clergy again, we see the same alienation of
those who have stood by what Brother Branham has taught pertaining to the
correct understanding of the Appearing and Godhead.
From pp. 202 [Identified
Christ of all ages], 64-0617 brother Branham said, "The Presence of Jesus Christ, which ought to
illuminate the church, to know that in this last days where creeds and
denominations and isms and everything has got the Word all smothered out,
and Jesus the Word on the outside of the church, [Rev 3: 20, James 5: 7-9, John 12: 48, 2 Thess 1: 7-10 , Matt
16:27,] and to see Him come right
back among the people and identify Himself as He promised, "in the
last days when the Son of man is being revealed." He was revealed in the
baptism; He was revealed in Divine healing; here He is in His last attribute.
Remember, that was the last thing that Abraham saw before the fire fell and Judged the Gentile world, and before the
promised son came on the scene, Isaac. This is the last thing that the
Christian church will see, in the sign of miracle, until the appearing of Jesus
Christ. If God has give me favor before you, believe me in the Name of the
Lord, there is nothing else left in the Bible to be done but take on the mark
of the beast; and you have the Seal of God. And What did
Abraham call him? He said, Shall not the Judge of the earth do right? So we
see that the Judge has once again come down in the Form of The Word to judge
amongst the Living and the dead. For if He must bring forth a resurrection,
then He must have already chosen who will come forth and He is here to execute
this Judgment. This is why in his Message [Perfect
Faith] he could say "I'm standing before the White
Throne, now."
Again we notice brother Branham's gift of discernment. And what is
discernment but a judging. And Who Judges but a Judge. And this is why brother
Branham made such a point in showing the people the Picture in [Life Magazine]
of the Cloud of angels which made up God's White Wig, which he called the
"Supreme Judge". Unless the people can see that the Judge is
here, they won't understand the last attribute that God is manifesting to them
before we are caught up to meet Jesus His Son in the air. We shall study this
more in the chapter on the Glory [Doxa] of Christ.
I hope you enjoy this book. I will publish more chapters as the Lord
permits. God bless you.
" This is my ministry, see, to declare Him,
that He's here!" [From
That Time PP. 227]
These eleven words could very well be the most profound statement that
Brother Branham ever said, and yet the majority of people who claim to follow
his message simply pass over these words and do not understand what he was
trying to tell them.
In [ACTS
The scripture tells us a man will fully declare the ministry of the resurrected Lord Christ among the people, yet the people who hear him will refuse to believe this declaration. "He came to His Own and His own received Him not." The Message of Christ's Appearing went forth from the lips of God's anointed servant William Branham to the Pentecostal people and God Himself backed up this Message of His own Appearing, showing infallible proofs of His resurrection and Presence, yet even those who claimed to receive Brother Branham and claim to believe every word he said, reject the very message he brought. I have heard these same men on their own tapes call this Presence of Christ, "just another doctrine" and some have even called it "Puke" because in their ignorance they could not pronounce the word "Parousia". Others have even called it "garbage". To think that these men know what this word means and yet would call the very Presence of God, "Garbage or Puke". Jesus Himself said, "To speak one word against the Holy Ghost when He comes will never be forgiven, no not in this world or the world to come."
The scripture says, "Had they known
who He was, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory".
So in their own ignorance they crucified Christ. And since the scriptures can
not be broken, [Hebrews 6:4-6] tells us
that this will repeat again in this last days. " For it is impossible for those who have been once for all
enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly Gift (The Lord Christ Himself)
and were made partakers (companions) of the Holy Ghost, having fallen
away, it is impossible for them to renew themselves again, seeing that they
crucify the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame ( public disgrace)."
Now brother Branham taught us that [Hebrews
6] refers to Christ in the Form of the Word in the last days.
So we see then that these men will be judged for their blasphemous words
and yet they claim that they have always known Christ is here, for, say they,
" He's always been here. I know He's here because I can feel Him in
my heart." They are simply deceived by their own indoctrination
and as the scripture calls them, "Ignorant in their our own conceit."
Brother Branham said in His message entitled 'A
DECEIVED CHURCH' "But as
He said, "This is My Ministry, see?
To declare Him! That He's
Here!" Now most of the people that follow the Message of
God's servant William Branham believe the Message of the hour is,
"God sent a prophet! "They believe that the Message was to
get you to see who brother Branham was. Now, I would like to ask, since when
has God sent forth a Messenger to declare himself. Since when has any
Messenger of God come forth with a Message, "Look, here I am. God sent
me!" Even Jesus said, "If I bear witness of myself,
my witness is not true." So for brother Branham to come and preach
about himself would make himself not true just as Jesus said. So then what is
the Message? He said, ""This is My
Ministry, see? To declare Him! That He's
Here!"
Now this is a two fold Message. Number 1)
To declare Christ, and Number 2 )
To declare His very Presence among us. I am sure that he said what he
meant and he meant what he said. He didn't come just to pass on more
Pentecostal teaching as some would like you to believe.
His whole Purpose in Life was to declare Christ, that He has
come down with a shout, which he said was a message to gather the bride
to Christ the Word, to get her ready for a rapture.
Now in examining what he said, we must know what it
means to declare something. The word
declare is a Greek word exegesis meaning to lead forth into
view; to make clearly known, to reveal. The scripture speaks in various
places that the Son of Man is to be revealed in the last days, yet why is
it that they will accept the fact that God has sent a
prophet, but they will deny the very ministry that the
prophet says he is sent to bring? Brother Branham's Message was surely greater
than the Pentecostal message that had preceded him by many years. If you
would just stop for a moment and examine the theme of
His Message to the End-time Bride, you will find even the
titles of his sermons a sure give away as to his real purpose.
1) [A GREATER THAN SOLOMON IS HERE] Now why would
he preach this? What is his purpose? Was he pointing the people to Himself, or
to the same One that John pointed the people to. Christ among us. John said,
"He's standing in your midst and you don't know it."
2) [IDENTIFIED CHRIST OF ALL AGES] What does
it mean the Identified Christ? How is Christ to be
identified? Who does the identifying? How does it take
place? When is it to take place? Why is it to take place?
3) [THE MIGHTY GOD UNVEILED BEFORE US] The
word unveiled let's us know that which was hidden comes into
plain view, that which was a mystery is now revealed. So the Mighty God must
now be in plain view. And if in plain view, then He must be here to be
viewed or on display. Then we must ask the question, How is He to be
unveiled? The answer lies in this very Message brother Branham preached.
4) [WHO DO YOU SAY THIS IS?] And that is the question. Many don't know who is
here. Who was brother Branham speaking about? It could not have been
himself, because when he uses the word THIS it refers to another, not self. Who
was that other if it wasn't Christ Himself? Also you will note, if he spoke of
Jesus back there he would have said, Who do you say that was? But he is
bringing it into present tense.
5) [THE UNRECOGNIZED PRESENCE OF GOD] This
title alone ought to let you know that He is here but
unrecognized. Why is He unrecognized? Because they expected Him to
come another way.
6) [WHO IS THIS MELCHISEDEC?] Notice the emphasis is on
WHO IS THIS, which signifies that he was pointing to someone. If he was
speaking only in a historical sense he would have said, WHO WAS THIS or WHO WAS
THAT?) I believe Brother Branham was trying to show us the same One Who came
down and indwelled the body of flesh in Abraham's day is here today doing the
same thing.
7) [LOOK] Brother Branham preached this sermon
shortly after he preached the Seven Seals and he began by saying, "now a
person says "LOOK"
when he wants you to see something that he sees but that you don’t".
8) [CHRIST IS THE MYSTERY OF GOD REVEALED] The
emphasis is not that Christ was the Mystery but that He is
the mystery that is being revealed here now, among us. If this was referring to
a historical Jesus of 2,000 years ago, he would have said, "Christ was the
Mystery of God Revealed.")
9) [WHAT SHALL I DO WITH THIS JESUS CALLED CHRIST?] That is a fair question to ask you today as you
read this book. What will you do with this Jesus Who is here?
10) [LOOKING UNTO JESUS] Now how could we look
unto Jesus if He is somewhere else and can not be seen?
11) [JESUS KEEPS ALL HIS APPOINTMENTS] And what
appointment do we expect in this last hour. He's here keeping His
appointments as He declared in His Word. As you read this book you shall
see many of the things we shall examine these in detail later in this book.
12) [CHRIST REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORD] The answer as
to how He has revealed His Presence and Himself to us in this last hour
is exactly what this message declares. He is revealed in His own Word.
As we can see, the central theme of His entire message
was to declare CHRIST, and His Presence among us. But the
Pentecostals have rejected His message in favor of there old worn out
message.
From [Q
& A ON THE HOLY GHOST] 59-1219 PG. 425-75,
he said, "When the Holy Spirit comes in and reveals the
Truth of anything and proves it by His Own Presence and by His Word,
you can’t expect the Pentecostal people to say I’ll agree with
it! You’ve got to stand alone like Luther did, like Wesley did, like the rest
of them did."
Now he said that His ministry was to declare that Christ was
here among us, and the word "declare" means: To make
known openly by an explicit or clear statement to show or reveal. So what was
he saying when he said, ""This
is My Ministry, see? To declare Him! That He's
Here!"
Brother Branham is telling us that His whole ministry was for
one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to introduce or
declare Christ's Presence. His great commission was thus, "As John the Baptist foreran My
first coming, so shall your Message forerun my second." John the Baptist's ministry was for one purpose and
one purpose only, to introduce Christ. Now, would
John's ministry even be needed if everyone had already known that Christ
was present? Wouldn't brother Branham's statement be considered
absurd if he came with a message to tell us what we already knew? Does
not the word Declare tell us by definition that it is to
"Make fully known", something that wasn't known. Brother
Branham was saying, " My ministry is to
declare Him, that He is here."
Just before he said these most notable words, he said the following.
E-102
"How many knows there’s a difference
between the Appearing of Christ and the Coming of Christ? It’s two different
words. Now’s the Appearing; the coming will soon be. He’s Appearing in the midst of us,
doing the works that He once did, in His church. Now
you are a part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of that
Church.' " Now if we truly believe that brother
Branham was God's ordained Messenger for this age, then we must
examine carefully what he was trying to tell us. If in fact
Christ has always been here, then what do we need a prophet to tell
us what we already know. In [JOHN 1:18]
we read " No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son,
which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." As
Scofield noted, "He hath literally led Him forth into full
revelation. The example we see of this declaring is in Jesus'
answer to Philip in [JOHN 14: 9]
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father. Jesus went on to say
that this declaring of the Father would repeat.
END TIME
EVANGELISM 62-0603 50
030 Same thing today, when you see His work. Now,
we have already seen and are witnessing the appearing
of the Lord. Now remember, appearing and coming is
two different words: to appear and then to come. Now is the appearing; He's
already appeared in these last days, right here with us in the last few years.
Now, it's a sign of His coming. He's appearing in His Church in the form of the
Holy Spirit, showing that it's Him, 'cause people cannot do these things that
you see the Holy Spirit doing; so that's the appearing of the Lord. Now, you remember, it spoke both places,
"appearing" and
"coming."
LETTING
OFF THE PRESSURE 62-0609E E-58 058
But if you can beat all that away from you,
say, "Lord God, I believe just exactly what Your Word says, and I believe
(as we preached last night), that the appearing
of the Lord comes before the coming of the Lord," for it's just two
different words altogether. See? Now's the appearing, as
He promised in the last days that He'd be with us.
IT
IS I BE NOT AFRAID 62-0611
E-81 081 You know,
there's a difference between the appearing of
Christ and the coming of Christ. That's two different
words altogether. He's appearing now in His church. We see Him; we know it's
Him. It's the Holy Spirit. See? We know it is.
BE
NOT AFRAID 62-0620 E-66 066 There's a different word used. The appearing of Christ and
the coming
of Christ (See?) it's, two different words altogether. See? Now, Christ is appearing in these last days in His
church, bringing His church together in unity, and faith, and power in the
Word, all together; that when He returns He will find the same church.
WE
WOULD SEE JESUS 62-0627 E-76 076 Civilization has traveled with the sun. The sun rose in the
east, and the same sun, s-u-n, that rises in the east is the same s-u-n that
sets in the west. We've had a dismal day, as the Bible said, neither called day
nor night--enough to join church, and to do good, and so forth. But it shall be
light about the evening time. And the same S-o-n, Son of God, that rose yonder
in the east on the eastern people, and showed His blessings and power... It's
been a dismal day, but now on the west coast... If we go any farther, we go
back to China again to the east, and back to the eastern country. Now, we're at
the west coast, and the S-o-n is appearing before His coming. Remember, appearing and coming is two different words.
See? He's appearing now in the church, showing
Himself alive after two thousand years. "Sirs, we would see Jesus."
FROM
THAT TIME 62-0713
E-102 102 How
many knows there's a difference between the appearing of Christ and the
coming of Christ? It's two different
words. Now's the appearing, the coming will soon be. He's
appearing in the midst of us, doing the works that He once did, in His church.
Now, you're a part of that church, and by grace you believe. I am a member of
that church.
GOD
HAS A PROVIDED WAY 62-0728 E-81 Now, remember these two words before I leave you: the
appearing of Christ and
the coming of
Christ is two different things. Christ is now appearing in the fullness of His power. His
coming will be afterwards: His appearing before
His coming.
We shall refer to the Greek word Parousia through out this study
by it's English equivalent (Presence). The word "Parousia"
actually means "the act of arrival and
subsequent presence." It focuses the attention not
on the arrival but on the events after the arrival, or the
Presence. It has been used to refer to Christ's
Presence here among us. It has been called a new
doctrine by some, but it is not. Actually the doctrine
of the Parousia or more commonly known as "The
Presence" is as old as the bible itself.
Jesus, in the book of Matthew spoke of it, Luke spoke of it, Peter
and John both spoke of it and so did Paul. This Revelation of
Christ and His divine Presence that was to strike the earth
in one final Glorious manifestation to the Gentiles before His second
coming, was lost during the dark ages of church history. The Catholic
church did the most to hide this Glorious Truth during her thousand
year reign in which she taught that Christ was here
ruling through her, Vicariously. The Pope was to be
God's mouth piece to man on earth, and it was through this blasphemous pretense
that Christ's Presence was displayed and established in the earth. This
was man's darkest hour.
As the light started coming back after Martin Luther, we see
in the age of man, various ministries rise up who began to
understand that Christ was to come in the form of the Holy Ghost in
the closing hours of humanity. In 1897,
the notable Christian author J. B. Rotherham of
Cincinnati, Ohio, wrote a Bible translation he called [The Emphasized Bible]. In his translation he
noted the following , "In this edition the word Parousia is uniformly
rendered "Presence" ("Coming," as a representative of this
word being set aside.)" He continued "The Parousia,... is
still in the future, and may therefore be enshrouded in a measure of obscurity
which only fulfillment can clear away: It may in fine be both
a period, more or less extended, during which certain things shall happen, an
event, coming on and passing away as one of a series of Divine interposition's,
Christ is raised as a first fruit, that is one event; He returns and vouchsafes
His "Presence," During which time He raises His own, That is another
event, However large and prolonged; and finally comes another cluster of events
constituting "The End." Hence after all, "Presence" may be
the most widely and permanently satisfying translation of the looked for
Parousia of the Son of Man."
Another author, Israel P. Warren DD of Portland Maine, wrote in
His book [The Parousia] 1879
in pp. 12-15 "We often speak of the second advent, the second coming,
etc., but the Scriptures never speak of a second Parousia.. Whatever was
to be it's nature, it was something peculiar, having never occurred before
and being never to occur again. It was to be a Presence differing
from and superior to all other manifestations of Himself to men, so
that It's designation should properly stand by Itself, without any qualifying
Epithet other than the article, "The Presence".
"From this view of the word it is evident, I think, that neither
the English word coming, nor the Latin Advent, is the best representative of
the word. They do not conform to It's etymology; they do not correspond to the
idea of the verb from which It is derived; nor could they appropriately be
substituted for the more exact word, "Presence". In the cases
where the translators used the latter, nor is the ratical <root> of them
the same. "Coming" and "Advent" give most
prominently the conception of an approach to us, motion toward
us; "Parousia" That of being with us, without reference
as to how it began. The force of coming or advent ends with arrival;
that of Presence begins with the arrival. Coming and advent are words of
motion whereas Presence shows rest. The space of time covered
by the action of coming or advent is limited, it may be momentary; that of Presence
is unlimited. Had our translators done with this technical word
"Parousia" as they did with "Baptisma" transferring it
unchanged, or if translated using It's exact etymological equivalent,
"Presence" and had It been well understood, as It then would have
been, that there is no such thing as a second "Presence,"' I
believe that the entire doctrine would have been different from what it
now is. The phrases, "second advent," and "Second coming,"
would never have been heard. The church would have been taught to speak of
the "Presence" of the Lord, as that from which It's hopes were to
be realized, whether in the future or at the remotest period, that
under which the world was to be made new, A resurrection both Spiritual and
corporeal should be attained, and justice and everlasting awards administered," ....He continued, "The word Parousia became the official
term for a visit of a person of high rank, especially Kings & Emperors
visiting a province."
Before we move on to other authors of ages gone by who knew that there
was to come a Parousia of Christ, I want to just stop here and reflect upon a
few things already said. First of all Rotherham said, "it was still
in the future but we would know it by it's coming to pass." This
is almost verbatim to what brother Branham said, when he said, "God
interprets His Word by bringing it to pass." Also Warren said
the Word Parousia or Presence implies rest. Brother Branham said,
"when the Seventh Seal is opened there is relaxation time,"
which is rest. Warren also said, "if we had understood that this
word is not coming but presence it will change our total perception of the
Parousia of Christ." Which it does. He also said, "the
church would have been taught to speak of the "Presence" of the Lord,
as that from which It's hopes were to be realized. From his
message called [Unrecognized
Presence] 6 - 18 - 64, Brother Branham said, "Working for this one purpose; for you to
recognize the Presence of Jesus Christ, See? If He is present then, why
everything is settled. He made the Word, He's here to confirm it." And
then he said in the same message, "If
we could realize He is Appearing to us in
these meetings for one purpose and that's to release our desires that we
have in Him to us. But we've got to recognize His presence. And how you
recognize His presence, is when the promised Word for this age is made
manifest."
In 1909, Scofield wrote in His [Bible edition] that the Word Parousia
speaks of Christ's' Personal Presence. (see page 1212).
Also, any [Greek Lexicon] will give
you the same definition. Brother Branham used the word "Presence"
himself quite often in referring to this great Appearing of
Christ in this last hour. But as always, there are some who would
throw off and say, "His Presence" is only some doctrine. But I say,
It should not be looked upon as merely a doctrine as it is
dealing with the very Person of Christ Himself. It should be referred to
as a doctrine only in the same way we would say that
"JESUS" is "The Doctrine". You can not say that Jesus
is only a doctrine, anymore than you could say "His Presence" is only
a doctrine?
The fact is, God HIMSELF has come down in this last hour in a
very special way in which He has not been here for 2,000 years. Br.
Branham said in [C.O.D.] 54-0103 pg. 102-263, "Just think, the very Lord Jesus
that was back in the days of the Apostles is right here now. And It's just
winding up the end of the Gentiles. A great move is going on amongst the
Supernatural believers because we believe that God is Here."
You might ask, "How was He here in the days of the Apostles?"
People tend to misunderstand Brother Branham in this area
the most. Their thoughts go back immediately to Jesus in His
flesh walking the shores of Galilee, not to the One Paul met
on the road to Damascus. Yes, Paul did meet the
very same ONE that walked in Galilee, only in another
form . Paul met Him in the form of the Pillar of Fire. The same
ONE Br. Branham refers to "as in the days of the Apostles." Now
remember, brother Branham did not say "in the days when Jesus walked
upon earth in His flesh." But he said, " in the days of
the Apostles." People have a tendency to read the Word
with their minds already made up by previous learning. Brother
Branham is not saying that Jesus is here in His Corporal body. In
fact from [THE
MESSAGE of GRACE] PP. 176 Brother Branham said, "There's only one thing different in Him being here
this morning than He was amongst the people at
In fact he said in, [SPIRITUAL
FOOD IN DUE SEASON] pp. 167 " Now, if He Appeared here as a physical body, looked
just exactly like Hoffman's head of Christ at 33, and blood running out his
hand, and so forth, nail scars all over Him, I wouldn't accept it." He goes on to say, "we don't believe these cults
and clans. We believe God is the Word."
William Branham was neither Oneness, nor was he Trinitarian.
He used the phrase quite often, "God changing His
mask." In Our opening statement to this study, I quoted
from [1 John 1:1-3]. The very Source of Life that John spoke of is
the very Presence of God Himself, and He is here. Notice what John was
trying to tell the people of his hour. "That Eternal Life that was with the Father and was
manifested unto us. " The
very Life of God had come down and had literally manifested Himself
to the people. GOD Declaring Himself. And how did He do it? Through a body ( a
mask, a veil ) called Jesus. This is exactly what Jesus was
telling Philip in [John 14] when He said, "He that has seen me has seen the Father," then
He said, "Believe me that I am in the
Father, and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works (
vindication) sake."
Again in [1 John 1:3]
"That which we have seen and heard, declare
we unto you, that you may have fellowship with us." John
tells us that the only way we can have true fellowship is to
receive the declaration of God's Presence and the manifested
Life (through vindication) which has come down into our
midst. God's very personal Presence among His people. I believe
the reason people miss this, has to do with expectations. Why
did the people miss Messiah at His first coming? They didn't expect
Him to come the way He did. And today, not many people will
argue and say God is not here, but when you tell them He is here in a different
way than He has been through the Church ages, they will habitually fall back to
their past theology that says, "He's always been here."
But, as we see in [1 John 1:1-3],
The Fountain of Life Himself has once again returned to earth in the same
way He was Present in the first Church Age.
From [I
KNOW MY REDEEMER LIVETH] pp. 47,
Notice here, brother Branham is telling us that it takes the new
birth to be able to recognize His Presence. People have a difficult
time being able to separate the Baptism of the Spirit from the
Baptizer Himself. [Ephesians 1:13-14]
speaks of the Baptism that is needed to prepare us to receive the very
Presence of God which Paul speaks of as the Spirit of Wisdom and
Revelation in the knowledge of Him in Vs [15-17].
One of the greatest Keys to understanding our day and it's
Message was introduced in the Seven
Church Age Book. That key is Alpha has become Omega.
Let me use an illustration from the scripture as we
will read from [John 1]. Now this let's
us know that His Presence among us is more than mere Doctrine, for it
says, " In Him was Life and the Life was the
light of men. And the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended
it not. There was a man sent from God who's name was <Wm. Branham>.
The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the
Light, that all men through him might believe. ( The Angel told him,
"If you can only get the people to believe
you".) He was not that Light, but
was sent to bear witness of that Light, which lighteth every man that cometh
into the world. He was in the world, and the World was made by Him, and the
World knew Him not." ( Didn't brother Branham teach us
that the Logos that went forth from God as a Light created the world?) And this is the condemnation, That Light is come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than That Light, neither cometh to the
Light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But
he, that doeth Truth, cometh to the Light, ( submits his own
thinking to the Light) That his deeds may be
manifested, that they are wrought ( have there source ) in God."
From the [Seven Church Ages] brother Branham said, "On the Isle of Patmos, Jesus spoke to John by vision and said, I am Alpha and Omega, The Beginning and the End. He never said anything in between. I am Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last! That's it! The First ministry and the last ministry is the same. The First Message and the last Message is the same thing."
Masterpiece 172, The Alpha and Omega is
the same. He said, "I am Alpha and Omega." He
never say anything in between, "I'm Alpha and Omega, the First and
the Last." That's it. The first
ministry and the last ministry is the same. The first Message and the
second--last Message is the same thing. "I'm--I
was in Alpha; I'm in Omega." "There'll be a day that won't
be called day nor night, but in the evening time it shall be Light." See?
Alpha and Omega; it's become the first and the last. Oh, my, brethren, we could
stay a--hours on that.
Then what was the first message? For if we knew what the
first message was, we will then know what the last message is
to be. People have been debating this question for over
2,000 years. What was the message to the first age? Again from the
CA book we read, "Paul was the first
Messenger. Remember, Paul come at the end of the Age. All Messengers come at
the end of the Age." So the question then
remains, "What was Paul's Message? To find the
answer let's turn to Paul's' own testimony in the book of
Acts. Here he tells us that the Pillar of Fire came to him and he heard
the Voice of Jesus which spoke and said, "I
have Appeared unto thee for this Purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness
both of these things which thou hast seen, ( The Pillar of Fire
returning to earth) and those things in which I will Appear unto thee."
[See Acts chapter 26]
We see then, the Message of Paul was the declaration that
Jesus Christ not only had risen from the dead, but that the Spirit
of God that had been in Him, had returned back again as the Pillar of
Fire. Brother Branham said, " How
many know that Jesus today, is the Pillar of Fire that followed the children of
Israel? I come from God and I go to God. Is that what He said? When Paul met
Him on the road to Damascus, what was He? The Great Light! The Pillar of Fire!
He is the same One today! The Holy Spirit of God! The Body of Jesus sits at the
right hand of God on His throne in heaven, but His Spirit is here on earth
completing and finishing His work. That same Spirit that was in that Angel that
lived in the Body of Jesus Christ was the same Spirit that was in the Angel
that come to Sodom and Gomorrah." Do you believe that? The same One that
followed the children of Israel, the Same God!"
Now, these statements surely must cause us to ask some
questions. For instance, why would brother Branham say, "To bring down His Holy Spirit" if the
Holy Spirit has always been here throughout the Seven Church Ages? Again,
why would brother Branham say "My ministry
is to declare Him, that He is here." if He, (God's
Presence), has been here all along? In fact brother
Branham also said, "After
almost 2,000 years He has visited us again." Why would
he say such a thing unless He hasn't been here for the past
2,000 years in the same way that He is here now?
Now if you are looking at the Message with the Glare of
another age, you will say that he was talking about the Jesus
of 2,000 years ago and your mind will picture the Body with
nail scarred hands. But, if you have correctly believed brother
Branham when he told us to not look back, and to not look forward
but to see what God is doing right now, then all of
these message titles point to one thing. He's here, Alpha has
become Omega. The One Who Appeared to Paul in the first age has come back
again in this last age to wind up His work. From [The
Message of Grace]pg. 30 he said, " There's only one thing different in Him being here this morning
than He was amongst the people at
In fact brother Branham said, in [Just
One More time Lord pp. 52 "Man
is always thinking back on what God did, and looking forward to what God will
do, but ignoring what God is doing". And he also said in
his audio letter to brother Vayle, " If they only see it in the hour past
there's no hope for the church. The church must see it in the present tense. So
God sends his prophet to manifest present tense of it." And He also said
from His Message [False
Anointed Ones] PP. 219 He said, "I AM sent
me." I AM, not I was, or will be, I AM, present tense, the Word now. Not
the Word that was or Word that will come, the Word that's now.... and
then he said in PP. 233, "For
it is impossible for those which were once enlightened and didn't move
on with the Word as it come to pass... They're dead, gone." This
is why it is so important to understand the Alpha and Omega principle
that brother Branham laid out for us. He said this was the very first principle
he learned as a Christian. What God did in the first age He is obligated to do
in this last age. Then, if we can look at what God did in the first age under
the Pillar of Fire ministry of Paul, and how He did it, we then will see what
He has done under the same Pillar of Fire ministry of William Branham in this
last hour, and what He is continuing to do after brother Branham went off the
seen.
Remember he taught us that there were Three
Exoduses and all three were under the Pillar
of Fire and leadership of a Vindicated Prophet. Moses, Paul and Wm.
Branham. And as you can see the people have missed the whole purpose of this
last time Exodus.
THE
UNVEILING OF GOD 64-0614M 297
Notice the same Pillar of Fire that sent Moses, the same Pillar of Fire
that was on Moses that wrote the Bible, the same Pillar of Fire that Paul met
on his road down to Damascus, and Paul wrote the New Testament... Remember,
Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, they only wrote what they seen, but Paul had the
revelation. He pulled it out, for he had met the Pillar of Fire, himself. And,
think, the same... There, Joseph, all them wrote what went on, everyone wrote
back in that day. But when Moses came on the scene, he had the revelation. He
had met the Pillar of Fire, and it was revealed to Moses how Genesis. He had
wrote the first four books of the Bible; Moses did. Is that right? For he met
God in the form of the Pillar of Fire, veiled in the Pillar of Fire.
When Paul met Him on the road... The disciples just wrote
what they seen Him do, but Moses had the revelation. Went down into Egypt for
three years and studied, and seen that God of the Old Testament was Jesus of
the New, the revelation, "I was not disobedient to the heavenly
vision." That's right. Right. And
think of It. The same Pillar of Fire that come upon those man that wrote the
Bible, is the same Pillar of Fire here today interpreting the Bible. Amen.
How we thank Him for that. Same... What a comfort, what identification. I'm so
glad to be identified in that; I don't know what to do. I'd rather be
identified in that than all the Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterian, Lutheran,
and all the rest of them. Identified in that Word where that Shekinah Glory and
revelation lays...
The Pillar
of Fire appearing visibly among us, identifying that the Message is right, like
He did at Mount Sinai... Remember, before the true message come forth,
Moses preached, and he led them out of Egypt, but there before the real commandments
was laid down (the seals was brought in), God come down before the people and
proved that Moses was sent from Him (Is that right?) in a Pillar of Fire, that
Moses said he had seen in a bush and talked to Him. Oh, in this last days to
see that same Pillar of Fire right among us, speaking the same Word, not only
that, but interpreting It by making It manifest and proving that It's the
Truth. So the people has not one way to disbelieve, lest they just wilfully
want to, and then, "He that sins wilfully after having a knowledge of the
Truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sin." Notice, same Pillar
of Fire sent to Moses and to Paul that wrote the Bible, now sent to reveal It.
Brother Branham was concerned for the people because they were
not recognizing what God was doing in their midst, but they were looking
forward to the Second Coming and backwards at a Pentecostal glare of another
age and they were failing to see the very Presence of God in their midst, as we
have already explained. If your memory serves you right you will remember that
when brother Branham was caught up beyond the curtain of time he was told that
He and His message would be judged. And He asked the question, "Will
Paul and His Message be judged?" And the angel answered, yes. Then
brother Branham said, " I only preached what Paul preached,"
and all those people who were looking on said, "we're counting on that
brother Branham." Now as Paul said in [Gal
1: 8] " if we or an angel ( a messenger ) from heaven preach
any other Gospel than that which has already been preached, let him be accursed."
Then brother Branham's Message to us in this hour had to be the same Exodus
Message. In fact in [2 Thes 1: 10] Paul
tells us there is coming a day when Christ will come in a way in which He will
be glorified in his saints, because he says, His (Paul's) Gospel will be
believed in that day. So here we see that day and that Message is Wm. Branham's
Message today.
Now in following up with this thought on Alpha and Omega we read in [Luke chapter 4] concerning the beginning of Jesus
Own Ministry in the first age, " And when the devil had ended all the
temptation, he departed from Him for a season and Jesus returned in the power
of the Spirit into Galilee. And there went out a fame of Him through all the
region round about. And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up, and as His custom was,
He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And
there was delivered unto Him the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And when He had
opened the book, He found the place where it was written, "The Spirit of
the Lord is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings
unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the broken hearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prisons to them that are bound,
to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, "
Now you will notice, at this point scripture tells us he
closed the book and handed it back and said, "This day this
scripture is fulfilled in your ears. Notice, Jesus never continued
reading where the Scripture continued. It read, "To proclaim
the acceptable year of our Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God."
Notice how the first part of this sentence pertained to His first coming
but the second pertains only to His second coming
and therefore He could not possibly have read it. He paused and said,
"This day this Scripture is fulfilled in your ears." 2,000
years separated by a comma.
In referring to Christ's presence here among us brother
Branham said, "I've read the
Scripture with a dozen or more evidences that we're living in the last days,
the generation that will see Jesus Christ return to earth, and I say to you
tonight, again! 'This
day this Scripture is fulfilled in your sight.'"
Again we hear brother Branham saying in the Message Jehovah
Jireh PP 174, "The Appearing of
Christ and then the coming of Christ. That's two different things altogether,
the Appearing and the Coming. He's Appearing now, working with us in the form
of the Holy Spirit, making it just perfect; the church. It has to."
And so, we must ask ourselves, if God has come in what brother Branham
and Scripture calls an Appearing, in what way is it perfecting the church as He
says here. And of Course we find in Scripture that the Word of God perfects the
church or Bride. So it is in the form of the Word that perfection comes. And
when that which is perfect comes, then that which is part must cease. And
brother Branham in quoting this in the COD
book, 1005-56 he said, "When that which is
perfect ... and we have today by God's help the perfect interpretation of the
Word with Divine vindication." Then later in the same
series of questions he said, " when that which is perfect is made
known." And then he said, "Now is there anything
perfect but God? And then he said, "And the Word's still God.
" So we can see once again His focus was to get the people to see God in
the form of the Word in our midst has come. And that is why he said, don't look
back and don't look forward but look to what God is doing now.
Now we know that we can not worship God apart from Revelation. But what
if our revelation is a wrong revelation. In [Romans
12] we are told that we receive our transformation by the renewing
of our minds. So we can see we are dependent upon a Word to give us a change of
the body. That is what [1 Thes 4 : 15 - 17] is all about. The Lord
Himself descends with a shout which is the Message getting us ready for a
rapture. Brother Branham told us that when Word cell is piled upon word cell,
it will build a word body, "And if you were ordained from the beginning of the earth to
that Word, every Word will come right on top of the Word. Like a human cell
will not have one human cell, and the next the cell of a dog, and the next the
cell of a cat; it'll be human cells. But it's got to have a cell first to start
with. Is that right? say, "Amen." [Congregation says,
"Amen."--Ed.] Well, if it is the Word
cell to start with, the other Word cells are ordained to make it a full
body. "Well, if it is the Word cell to start with, the other Word cells
are ordained to make it a full body". Then in other words,
when Word is piled upon Word, upon Word, it will take a hold of every fiber of
our bodies. So we are dependent upon the piling upon of the Word to take a hold
of every fiber of our bodies in order to get our change. But what if our minds
are renewed by a wrong understanding. By a corruptible word rather than an
incorruptible one. Then won't our change also be corruptible? That is why it is
essential to have a word come forth that is vindicated by God to be
incorruptible. [1 Peter 1: 23] tells us
"being are born again not of a corruptible seed, but by an
incorruptible, by the Word of God which lives and abides forever." So
we see here a person can be born again of a corruptible seed. And we know that
[Mark 4 & Luke 8] tells us
that the word is a seed which the sewer sewed. But we are told two sewers went
forth sewing seed or Word. The Son of Man and the Devil. So then One sewed
perfect Word Seed and the other corruptible word seed. And this word
corruptible comes from a Greek word Phthartos whose root word is phtheiro which
means something that is liable to decay or perish being death - doomed and
refers to the "withdrawal of Life".
Without the Shout there will be no change of the mind which then there
could be no change of the body which then there could be no resurrection of the
dead nor could there be a catching away. So the Shout starts the whole thing in
motion. And Jesus said, "As a man thinks in
His heart so is He and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh."
So then if God Himself comes forth with a shout, this can only be a declaration
of Himself. And that is exactly how we are to receive our change. In [1 John 3: 2] the scripture tells us, " Beloved, now we are the sons of God, but it does not Appear
what we shall be, but we know that when He Appears ( At His Appearing) We shall be like Him for we shall see
Him as He really is. " So we see here that we
receive our change by seeing Him as He really is. In fact in Col 3: 4 we read, " When
Christ who is our Life shall Appears, then shall we Appear with Him in Glory.
" So we see again that it takes His Appearing to bring out of us who we
really are. This Appearing then is instrumental to our change. Seeing Him
changes us. Earlier we quoted Br. Branham telling us when that which is perfect
comes and he told us He has come. It is God in the form of the Word. Now in
[1 Cor 13:12]
we are told, " For now we see through a
glass darkly, but then face to face: ( When? When God comes!) Now we know in part, but then shall we know even as also we
are known." We also see in [2
Cor 3: 18] that as we look into the mirror of Gods Word we only see
Christ and the more we look upon Him the more we are changed from image to
image and from Glory to Glory.
So we see that the Word is what brings about our change and if we are to receive a change that is incorruptible it must come by a Word which also is incorruptible. That is why it is so important for God Himself to come down. Br. Branham told us that Christ Himself is our Elijah of today. He said, Christ is the Messenger to this Age. And as we know he speaks to us through the lips of His Prophets. So God comes down with a Shout which is a Message which is a declaration of Himself. As He is He speaks. And we are caught up into the Revelation of Himself and this brings about our change. In [Ephesians 1: 17] Paul tells us that God will send forth the Spirit of wisdom and Revelation in the Knowledge of Him, that we might know what the hope or earnest expectation of this calling from God is. Br. Branham defines this for us in the Series, [Seventy Weeks of Daniel] pp. 67, "The Spirit of Wisdom comes into the church by the Revelation of the Holy Ghost bringing the church in and revealing what day that we are living in. Just the same as Gabriel come to Daniel, the Holy Spirit comes to the church in the last days to reveal these great deep secret things. Do you understand now?"
In [1 Corinthian 1: 4 - 10] we
see that Christ sends us a special dispensation of Grace also spoken of in [1: Peter 1: 13] that is to enrich us or
like fertilizer does other seeds. It is to help us to grow up into Him in all
things. He tells us that this is to help us so we come behind in no spiritual
gift which is a spiritual endowment or understanding in order that we might be
able to see and perceive what is taking place at the Unveiling or Revelation of
Christ. So we see the essentially of Christ among us in the form of the Holy
Ghost bringing forth His Word to quicken us and change our mortal bodies to
immortal. We also find that the Word will bring forth a righteous
Bride for a Righteous God. And the Word righteousness comes from an old English
word, right - wise - ness. So then if we are a righteous people it is
because we are a rightly wise people, or a people with a correct Word. Again,
He said, " Who is perfect but God and what is God but the Word, that's [John 1: 1]. And we see that It is by this same
Word that we are to be changed and caught up.
The emphasis is not on the baptism any more but the Baptizer, Himself.
Paul spoke in [Ephesians 1: 15 - 17]
about the Spirit of Wisdom coming to ones who were already prepared by the
baptism in verses [13 - 14]. So then we
can see the Message brother Branham spoke in this hour takes us beyond the
baptism of the Holy Ghost right into the very Presence of the Baptizer Himself,
Who is the Holy Ghost. In fact that is why there is so much flack amongst the
Pentecostal element in this Message. Br. Branham warned us this would come in [Q
& A on the Holy Ghost] pg. 19 "Now, when the Holy Ghost comes in and reveals the Truth of
anything and proves it by His Own
Presence and by His Word, you can't expect the Pentecostals to agree
with it. You've got to stand alone like Luther did, like Wesley did, like the
rest of them did."
I hope by now that you can see clearly by scripture and by God's
vindicated prophet that Christ is here now, in a way He hasn't been for
nearly 2,000 years. The next few paragraphs will deal with 11 reasons why
He is here now.
1) He is here
to make ready a prepared people. [Luke
1:17 Ephesian 1: 3 - 6, 17 - 21, 1 John 3: 1 - 3, 2 Cor 3: 18, Col 3: 4, 1 Cor
1: 4 - 10, 1 Peter 1: 10 - 13, 23,]
3) He is here
to save the righteous from perishing. [ 2 Thes: 1 & 2 , 13 1 Peter 1:
5,9,10 end time Revelation bringing salvation. 2 Peter 2: 12 - 13 while they
feast with you. 3: 9, 1 Thes 5:9, 2 Thes 2: 13Titus 2: 11, Hebrews 2: 1 - 4,
Hebrews 9: 28, ]
4) He is here
to save the Elect from deception. [Matt 24: 3 - 5, 11, 24, Mark 13: 5-6, Eph 1: 17-18, & 4: 14, 2 Thes:
1: 7 - 12, & 2: 2-3, 10 - 12, 2 John 8 - 10, 1 John 2: 19 - 20, 28, Luke
21: 8, 2 Tim 3: 13, Rev 13: 4 - 10, 14 - 16, 19: 20, Matt 13: 1- 17 Mark 4: 11
- 12, Luke 8:10, 1 Tim 4: 1 - 2, 2 Tim 3: 1 - 9, 4: 3-4 & 8]
5) He is here
to seal in the wise Virgins. [Matt 25:
1-13, Ephesians 1: 13 - 18, & 4: 30, 1 peter 1: 3 - 7]
ordained to pass the end time Faith test (Faith is a Revelation, there's
Only one Faith, Revelation, The Revelation of Jesus Christ, These
ordained to pass the test <Godhead etc.> but those who fall away from THE
Faith, THE Revelation of Jesus Christ are Reprobate concerning THE
Faith, The Revelation.
8) He is here
to change the living. [1 Thes 4:15-18, I Cor
15: all, 2 John 3: 1 - 3, 2 Cor 3: 18, Roman 12: 1-2, Col 3: 4, 1 Cor 13: 9 -
12, 2 Thes 1: 7, 10-12, Acts 3: 19-21, 1 Peter 1: 7 -9, 13, 2 Peter 1: 1-4,
10-12, 1 Cor 1: 4 - 10, Matt 24: 30 ]
9) He is here
to put us in a rapture. [1 Thes 4: 15-18,
] See also transformation and change.
10) He is here
to Glorify His saints [2 Thes 1: 7,
10-12, 2: 14, 2 Cor 3: 9-10, 18, 4:6, 1 John 3: 1-3, 1 Cor 1: 4-10, 13: 9-12,
Romans 12: 1-2, Matt 16: 27, 24:30, 25: 31, Luke 2: 32, 21: 27, John 17: 5, 22,
24, Acts 22: 11, Romans 5: 2, 8: 18, 9:4,23, 1 Cor 2: 7, 15:43, Eph 1: 14,
17-18, Phil 4: 19, 1 Peter 1: 7, 8,11,21, 4: 13-14, 5: 1, 4, 10, 5: 10-11, Col
1: 27 why should there be this hope of Glory? 3:
4, 1 Thes 2: 12, 1 Tim 3: 16, Heb 1: 3, 2: 7,9,10, Jude 1: 24]
[ Rev 3: 14-21, James 5: 7-9, John 12: 48,
Matt 3: 12, 7: 15-23, 13: 24-30, 36-43, 47-49, 25: 1-11, 2: Thes 1: 7-10]
Now there are various other questions that have risen as a result of
certain people trying to teach this Message of Christ's Appearing without
really understanding it. As a result many fanatical doctrines have been
superimposed which have caused much distress among Message believers. The
following questions and answers should help to quell some of these questions
that have arisen as a result of wrong understanding.
[QUESTION]"
Some people have said that the second coming is taking place
right now. Is this true?
[ANSWER]" Yes,
but not per'se ! What is taking place now is the
Appearing which Br. Branham said "it's a sign of His Coming.
Brother Branham said in the Seven
Seals, pg. 308, "Christ's
first coming, a mortal. He comes three times. Christ is in three. See? Watch
how he comes, he's a four. Watch Christ.
First coming, He come a mortal to bleed and die. Is that right? That's His
first coming. The second coming is the rapture. We meet Him in the skies,
immortal. His third coming, He's the incarnate God (Amen. Yeah.), God Emmanuel
to reign on earth. That's right. Only three...
He Comes three times.
Christ is in three. So, the second Coming in itself must be as His first
one was and the third one will be and that is in
His Corporeality. In other-words, He will come in a physical
manifestation just as He did His first coming. Notice the type in
Gen 18: when "Elohim" Appears" to Abraham. The
sign of discernment is performed. Then after the
burning the promised son comes to earth. Luke 17:30 says this is to repeat.
However, many of the scriptures we've associated with His second
coming are actually referring to His Appearing, which
is essential to the actual fulfillment of The Second Coming
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice at His First Coming, He comes to earth a mortal. He
is on earth when God descends like a dove from heaven and
incarnates Him on earth. God then leaves Him in Gethsemane to die a
mortal. At His Second Coming God is on earth having descended with a
Shout ( The Message), a Voice, (The Resurrection),
and Trumpet (the catching away)[1 Thes 4:13-18].
All of this is in preparation for the Meeting in the air. [SEE RAPTURE
SERMON] Jesus (the Body) is in heaven. As God gathers together His Bride [2
Thes 2:1] and catches her away to meet Jesus in the air, He
draws her up as He did the Apostles on Mount Transfiguration and
Incarnates Jesus again, this time midway between heaven and earth.
[ Matthew 17:1-2 ] His third Coming
which is His last, He then Comes to earth from heaven already
the Incarnate God. [Rev 19 & 20 ]
[QUESTION] You say, He
must return in a physical form as He did the first time. If
this is true, what was Paul telling us in [ II COR
5:16 ] when he said,
"Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea,
though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth
know we him so no more."?
[ANSWER] Remember
the disciples on the road to Emmaus? Also when Jesus appeared
to Peter and the Brethren who were fishing? What did these appearances
have in common? The Bible tells us they did not recognize Jesus.
But then He did something that made Him manifest in His true Character.
He broke the bread a certain way. Now today He has come and
has broken the Bread of Life in His own certain
way. But many have missed Him because He did not come in their
way but in His own way.
If you'll notice further down in vs.[18-21],
Paul is speaking of a relationship which does not exist by
mere acquaintance only, but rather is a ministry
imparted to us which reconciles us back to Him. Now this ministry
of reconciliation is needed because we have been separated from Him. The
word Reconcile is from two words "Re": a prefix meaning (anew or
again), and the word "Conciliate": which means to
(assemble, unite,). This then is a Word ministry which will
unite or assemble us again. This Word of reconciliation then places
us in a position of Ambassadorship as we see in Vs [ 20].
Thus as Ambassadors, we represent our Sovereign while resident on
foreign soil, thus separated from the one whom we represent. Therefore,
it is a Word of reconciliation because the
reconciliator Himself is not present. Thus by Word, we are brought
into a relationship to our Sovereign. As we have at His first coming a
reconciliation of man to God or (The Word). God used Jesus (the complete
manifestation of His Word) to bring man back to His Word. Now
He has come as Word (Logos) to assemble or unite us to the
Complete manifestation of His Word namely Jesus. When Jesus was here in
flesh at His first coming, no man knew Him, or Who He
represented, by looking at His flesh. Some Greeks had heard
that God was descended and they went to meet Him, but when
they saw only a man, they went away discouraged. The Bible tells us that
after His resurrection, He appeared unto many. If you
will notice, on many occasions He was not identifiable in His flesh,
It was what He said that made them take note that
"This was the Christ". If they did not know
Him after the flesh then, how is it that they will know Him by His flesh
now. "As a man thinketh in his heart so is he", and "out
of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". So we don't
really know any man by his flesh but rather by what he says, for
this is what bears witness to what he is and what he stands
for. So we do not know, and will not know Jesus after the
flesh but by a perfect Word description. After all He is the Word. In
fact He is the complete manifestation and the perfect interpretation of
the Word.
[QUESTION] Are you
then saying, that unless we somehow are given a clear
description by word of Jesus that we wouldn't really recognize Him
if He was to make Himself visible in flesh?
[ANSWER] Precisely. That
is what the ministry of His Appearing is all about. God has
come down in form of Logos to reveal or unveil Himself
to us. In this ministry He, as the Spirit of Truth, is to lead us
into all truth. He is The Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation that gives us
The Knowledge of Him. Without this ministry, we could not be caught away,
for we would not even be aware of the day or season of the catching
away and thus would not be prepared for such a great event. We'd still be
holding onto our own ideas of what is to take place and we would surely
miss it. Let me use an illustration to bring out my point. Eliezer was
sent to bring a bride home to a promised son Isaac. He met a
woman at the well who received him and his ministry. By word he
proceeded to tell her of this groom who had sent him to bring her home to
him. The more he spoke of this groom the more she longed to meet him. By
word then, she received this promise and was caught away to
meet going to meet for when they arrived she lighted off the camel
and ran into his awaiting arms. Now she was a virtuous
woman and a woman does not keep her virtue long
by running into the arms of complete strangers. This then
would truly be out of character for her to do, had she not already
known Him, before she actually met him in flesh.
[QUESTION] Are you then
saying that the Appearing is an introduction to His coming. And
without it we would still be wondering How, when, where, by
what etc.
[ANSWER] Yes, you are
very perceptive. The Appearing is that portion of time or season,
an epochal season whereby we are ushered into a transitory
state, a rapture. It is the season where after coming out
of Egypt so to speak they had to reach a point where
their coming out turned into an entering in. To come out of Egypt was not
enough. They had to enter in. It took the Holy Spirit in form
of Pillar of fire to lead them into the promised land. As
John the Baptist's ministry fore ran the first Coming, so too
this ministry of Elijah in our day was to fore run the Second Coming of
Christ. An introduction. Johns ministry was not The Coming, but The Coming
of Christ was subsequent to it
[QUESTION] Then, What you
are saying is there is a difference between the appearing and the coming.
[ANSWER] Yes, Brother
Branham said it in various places, for example in the Message [END TIME
EVANGELISM]" he said "Now,
we have already seen and are witnessing the appearing of the Lord.
Now remember, appearing and coming are two" different words, to
appear and then" to come. Now is the appearing, He's already appeared in
these last few days. Right here with us in the last few years. Now, it's a
sign" of His Coming." Notice that he cautions us to
remember that these are in fact two different words and two different
events. He says that it is a sign of His Coming. Remember the parable of
the thief, if the good man had known what hour the thief was coming he
would not have suffered his house to be broken into. This sign of the
appearing is a sign given that an epochal season is in process or in
motion. But remember, it is a sign only, it is not the event itself.
[QUESTION] Well, if our
Lord Himself is here in the form of a Pillar of fire or shall we say as
Logos, What more could we want. What more can the actual body of a
man add to us.
[ANSWER] First
of all we have two questions here. Let's take the last
one first. You ask what more could the Body of Jesus
add. Apparently you are aware that we receive our
change under the Shout, Voice and trumpet which
are three stages of the rapture. This is true. However the Seventh
seal goes plum into Eternity as a continual unfolding or as Brother
Branham put it, Like a Roman candle, one ball of fire
goes up and out of it comes another and another and on it
goes plum into Eternity. Now also remember that we are changed from Glory to
Glory and thus the meeting in the air is a further Glory from the
Appearing and the wedding supper is a further glory from the
meeting in the air. The whole thing is an adding Word upon Word upon Word
or from Glory to Glory beginning with the Appearing and swinging right
into the Second Coming. The Millennium is a Glory beyond the Wedding
Supper and New Jerusalem is a further Glory beyond the Millennium.
Now the first question which we chose to answer last is "If God
in the form of Logos or Pillar of Fire is now on the
scene, what more could I want". Remember, God was
also on the scene in the days of Abraham and Abraham
still longed to see his Promised Son. The promise
to Abraham was not complete until the actual
physical arrival of His son, Isaac. We are still under the
promise as we have not actually crossed the
[QUESTION] What you are
saying then, is that we have had our thinking all wrong for many
ages, so God had to Appear on the scene once again to straighten out the
mess we had gotten ourselves into and to bring us to a place
where we could truly receive Jesus as our Head and Husband.
[ANSWER] My, how
quick you learn. Yes, Even at His first coming He was looking for a Bride but
the church was in no condition to really be received as one. Paul reprimanded
them in Galatians for returning back to law so soon after they had come out
from under it. It took more than a prophet to return the hearts of the children
to their first love. It took the God Prophet Himself. He wanted our hearts and
our minds. How ironic in an age where women strive for personal freedom that He
has come for a Bride who has completely, willfully, and joyfully surrendered
all of her rights to Him. She has even come to a state of letting her thinking
go. Perfect rest because of perfect trust.
[QUESTION] My, what a
beautiful picture! So what you are saying is that He is here to ensure that she
doesn't fall like the first Eve fell.
[ANSWER] Correct! As she
becomes more aware of His Presence she enters more and more into a state of
rest. She completely trusts Him to bring her into a state of rest. She
completely trusts Him to bring her in and fulfill every promise that He has
given to her. In the first Exodus, Moses commanded the people to "Stand
Still and see the salvation of God." But they got antsy and wanted
something in it to do themselves. Ruth, another type of the Bride was told by
her bridegroom Boaz, to "rest until the morning." And in this third
exodus we are told to be at rest also. Br. Branham said that there is
"relaxation under the seventh Seal." He said, we must "Let go
and let God."
[QUESTION] Then, what
about winning souls to Christ and all these things that have been so important
to us all these years? Where does this fit in if we are to be resting?
[ANSWER] Well, that's
just the point. Jesus said I do nothing unless my Father shows me first. How
often have we tried to do God a service without it being His will. Jesus told
the Pharisees that they would compass land and sea for one proselyte and the
result would be someone who was now twofold more a child of hell than he began.
Br. Branham said, "The Bride will have 'Thus saith the Lord or she will
keep still." She is to "lay in the presence of the Son to
ripen." So, if God is truly in it, we will definitely see results. Now
remember, results are not numbers. What were the results of Jesus' preaching to
the totally lost?
[QUESTION] I'm beginning
to understand more clearly now than ever before. This last day Bride is not
concerned with trying to work her way into favor with God, she knows she is
already in His favor, so she is resting in what He has done for her and she
ministers back to Him what He has shown her already as Jesus did when He was
here in flesh.
[ANSWER] Yes, she loves
Him so much that she is only concerned with pleasing Him. As any good wife will
do, her first service is to her husband,. She's not interested in what her
neighbors got going. She then becomes in perfect image of Jesus Christ for that
is exactly what He did while here on earth in flesh.
[QUESTION] Oh, I see! And
we must come into this same image of Him before we can leave this world. Well,
how does this come about? I mean, how does the Holy Spirit Who is in our midst
bring this to pass?
[ANSWER] Brother Branham
said, "the right mental attitude toward any Divine promise of God will
bring it to pass." This is not works. Remember, God must show it first,
then your attitude toward it will bring the result. Just before the children of
From His Message, 182 I
HAVE HEARD BUT NOW I SEE 65-1127.2E, brother Branham said,
" Now, He promised that He would do that same
thing again, just before the world would be burnt, and the world would be in a