- "Behold I Stand At The Door and Knock" (Revelation 3:20) -
Two matters had to
be dealt with by the Holy Spirit in order to prepare a Church for the
manifestation of the Sons of God and the translation. First, it was
imperative to restore the elect to the apostolic faith and correct the
doctrinal mishmash created by hundreds of denominations. And there were
many revelations of Scripture essential to the end-time Bride that had
never been clearly taught. The wheat and tares of Matthew 13:24-30,36-43;
the anti-Christ of II Thessalonians 2:4: the mystery of the rapture; the
mysteries of the Book of Revelation, and others. This is precisely why a
prophetic forerunner, with a vindicated "Thus saith the Lord,"
was essential. You will notice ONLY the forerunner of Christ's first
Coming, John the Baptist, was able to identify the Scriptures such as
Isaiah 40:1-3 that were being fulfilled and only he was able to
identify the Lamb. So was it in the ministry of this end-time Elijah
concerning the multitudes of Scriptures coming to pass in his day!
The second matter concerned the conduct of the people. You will notice
that besides rebuking the traditions of the clergy, John also trumpeted
a call to repentance and holy living. Today, we find churches have
relaxed their standard of holiness to such an extent that the conduct of
their people conforms almost completely with that of the world.
In today's evangelical World, the focus has shifted from holiness to
finance. The various projects of many internationally famous preachers
are costing billions to build and to maintain. One can hardly attend a
meeting or turn on a religious broadcast without being accosted
repeatedly for enormous sums of money to pay for religious resorts,
hospitals, broadcasts, colleges, and universities. Adherents are
compelled to support real estate empires and worldwide organizational
systems.
In addition to this, mixed swimming, scantily clad women, social
drinking, smoking, necking and petting among the young people, etc., has
become acceptable in the churches.
Jesus identified these days with the days of Lot and Noah. In them, the
prevalent sin was sexual promiscuity and finally, total perversion. The
word 'unisex' has been widely used to describe the attitudes, styles and
appearances of today's men and women. Over the last 20 years, the trend
has evolved until now they are literally exchanging roles. Women are
cutting their hair, wearing men's garments, demanding equal rights and
have forsaken motherhood and home-keeping to pursue their own careers,
while men have become morally weak and perverse, growing their hair like
women, wearing blouse-like shirts, tight suggestive pants, high heels,
and even necklaces and earrings.
The churches, instead of resisting this perverse decline, have succumbed
and adopted most of its standards of conduct, dress, music, and
entertainment. Consequently God has given then the portion of the
unbeliever. Ichabod has been scratched across their ornate portals and
God has abandoned them to the harlot system and the irrevocable mark of
the Beast (Revelation 13:15-18).
God, however, cannot forsake His predestinated and in spite of this
dismal, end-time scenario, He promises "a glorious church not having
spot or wrinkle or any such thing" (Ephesians 5:27). Once again, God
has prepared an ark for a lovely but tiny end-time Bride. Her final call
is twofold. One, "Come out of her (Rome and her daughters) My
people" (Revelation 18:4); two, come into Christ (Ephesians 1:10),
the Living Word of God. She alone will recognize Christ's forerunner and
begin to busily prepare for the great translation; the rest will be
swept away by modern so-called revivals into the council of churches and
perdition. This truly is the last call - there will not be another. The
Jews are in their homeland, the Elijah of Malachi 4:5-6 has come and
gone, his Message is in the hands and hearts of God's people, and the
stage is now set for the rapture!
Multitudes of tapes and books of William Branham's sermons have been
distributed all over the world. In country after country, through the
still-speaking voice of His prophet (Revelation 10:7) God has raised up
churches, and thousands have been delivered from sin, the world and
denominationalism to walk according to the Scriptures. If you have been
baptized by some organization under the Titles Father, Son, and Holy
Ghost, you need to be rebaptized (Acts 19:1-5) in the Name of Jesus
Christ. Every Christian must realize that he cannot follow God without
following His Word! The evidence of our love for God is measured
directly by our obedience to His revealed Word (John 14:15) and we can
only know Him as we see Him unveiled in His Word. The Laodicean Church
Age (Revelation 3:14-22) presents a pitiful picture of Jesus Christ
knocking on the outside of the church, not the heart as so many suppose.
Notice the call sounds to the individual, "any man," and not to
the Word-rejecting systems. May whoever reads this, heed the Voice of
the Bridegroom and join Him on the outside of everything that has to do
with man and enter into His perfect Word!
Jesus promised in Matthew 24:45 that His faithful minority at the end of
the world who love to do the will of God would be given "meat
(spiritual food) in due season." He promised that while He
was withdrawing from an apostate world where there is "a famine for
hearing the Word," they would have provision and be nourished. Just
as Elijah provided meal and oil for the widow of Zarephath, so the
Elijah of this final age has been commissioned to leave a "Message"
which would carry the Bride through to the manifestation of the Sons of
God and the translation. (See the last page regarding "The Message").
The Greek word for
"angel" means "messenger." It is used in Scripture to mean mortal
men and, less frequently, supernatural beings. In both Luke 7:24 and
James 2:25, the word is translated "messengers" and obviously means men.
The following excerpt is from THE NEW SCOFIELD BIBLE footnote to Hebrews
1:4: "Angel, summary: Angel, i.e. 'messenger,' is used of God, of men,
and of an order of created, spiritual beings whose chief attributes are
strength and wisdom (II Samuel 14:20; Psalms 103:20; 104:4). In the Old
Testament, the expression "the angel of the Lord" (sometimes
"of God") usually implies the presence of Deity in angelic form
(Genesis 16:1-13; 21:17-19; 22:11-16; 31:11-13; Exodus 3:2-4; Judges
2:1; 6:12-16; 13:3-22). See Judges 2:1, note cp. Malachi 3:1, note the
word "angel" is used of men in Luke 7:24; James 2:25; Revelation
1:20; 2:1,8,13,18; 3:1,7,14.
ORAL ROBERTS:
"A humble devout man of God" (HEALING WATERS, July 1948).
GORDON LINDSAY: "Never had we known of any preacher calling deaf
mutes and blind people to be prayed for, and then to see those people
delivered on the spot - a ministry that was beyond any we had before
witnessed" (THE HOUSE THAT THE LORD BUILT).
JACK MOORE: "The most gifted of all the evangelists (ALL THINGS
ARE POSSIBLE, by David Edwin Harrell, jr).
F. F. BOSWORTH: "When the gift is operating, Bro. Branham is the
most sensitive person to the presence and working of the Holy Spirit and
to spiritual realities of any person I have ever known (A PROPHET VISITS
SOUTH AFRICA, by Julius Stadsklev).
TOMMY OSBORN: "God has chosen diverse and mysterious ways to
reveal Himself to His servants, especially those called for
dispensational purposes as was Brother Branham's call" (William
Branham's Memorial Service).
"In short, the man we know as William Branham, was sent to demonstrate
God again in the flesh" (William Branham's Memorial Service).
"So, He (God) sent forth a particular human vessel surrounded by
supernatural signs to attract attention, to make this wayward generation
stop and look and ponder and search and think. Thus the halo of Light
that appeared at his birth, the star, the angel, the discernment, the
gifts, all of these for that purpose. What for? To show us God again. To
repeat what He showed us in Jesus Christ when He came in the form of
flesh. To remind us one final time. Like Jesus, Brother Branham
redemonstrated the very things which made men believe that the true
Messiah had come" (William Branham's Memorial Service).
GEORGE EKEROTH: "God called this humble man ... and anointed his
ministry to a degree that within a few short years his name was known in
the most remote jungle out-station. Wherever you would go in this world
you would find that the name of this messenger had preceded you" (WIND
OVER THE 20TH CENTURY, by Morris Cerullo).
DAVID EDWIN HARRELL, JR: "Most of the participants of the Healing
Revival (that erupted in 1947) looked upon Branham as its initiator ...
William Branham became a prophet to a generation ... Night after night
before thousands of awed believers, he discerned the diseases of the
sick and pronounced them healed" (ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE).
"The power of a Branham service ... remains a legend unparalleled in the
history of the charismatic movement" (ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE).
JAMES MORRIS: "It was Branham, more than any other evangelist,
who started the post-World War II fundamental faith healing revival
allowing his encounter with an angel on May 7, 1946" (THE PREACHERS).
"Word radiated in every direction that all manner of diseases and
afflictions were healed instantly by the little Indiana preacher. Even
cases of raising the dead were published" (THE PREACHERS).
THOMAS R. NICKEL: "In Bible days, there were men of God who were
prophets and seers. But in all the sacred records, none of these had a
greater ministry than that of William Branham, a Prophet and Seer of
God, whose photograph appears on the front cover of this issue of "FULL
GOSPEL BUSINESSMAN'S VOICE. Branham has been used by God, in the Name of
Jesus, to raise the dead" (FULL GOSPEL MEN'S VOICE, February 1961).
JOSEPH MATTSON BOZE: "Sometimes I was scared because of the deep
sense of holiness that penetrated the meetings, but I never failed to
see the gift of God in operation through His servant and to feel the
warmth of love that flowed through his ministry" (THE HERALD OF FAITH,
February 1966).
JAMES
HASTINGS: "It has been customary to trace the institution of the
practice to the words of Christ in Matthew 28:19, but the authenticity
of this passage has been challenged on historical as well as textural
grounds. It must be acknowledged that the formula of the threefold name,
which is here enjoined, does not appear to have been used by the
primitive church, which so far as our information goes, baptized 'in' or
'into' the Name of Jesus, or Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus, without
any reference to the Father or the Spirit" (DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE,
Page 88).
SCRIBNERS: "The original form of words were into the Name of
Jesus Christ or Lord Jesus. Baptism into trinity was a later
development" (DICTIONARY OF THE BIBLE, Vol. I, Page 241).
CANNEY ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "The early church always baptized in the
Name of the Lord Jesus until the development of the trinity; afterward
they were baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost"
(Page 53).
ENCYCLOPAEDIA AMERICAN, INTERNATIONAL EDITION: "The term Trinity
was used by Theophilus of Antioch in AD 180" (Vol. 27, Page 116).
BRITANNICA ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "The triune and trinity formula was not
uniformly used from the beginning, and up until the third century,
baptism in the Name of Christ only was so widespread that Pope Stephen,
in opposition to St. Cyprian, said that baptism in the Name of Christ
was valid. But Catholic missionaries, by omitting one or more persons of
the Trinity when they were baptized, were anathematized by the Roman
church. Now the formula of Rome is, "I baptize thee in the name of the
Father, and in the name of the Son and in the name of the Holy Ghost"
(11th Ed., Vol. 3, Pages 365-366).
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIONS: "Persons were baptized at first in the
Name of Jesus Christ, or 'in the Name of the Lord Jesus.' Afterwards,
with the development of the doctrine of the Trinity, they were baptized
in the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost" (Page
53).
NEW INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "The Trinity doctrine. The
Catholic faith is this: 'We worship one in trinity, but there is one
person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost.
The glory equal - the majesty co-eternal.' The doctrine is not found in
its fully developed form in the Scriptures. Modern theology does not
seek to find it in the Old Testament. At the time of the Reformation,
the Protestant Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without
serious examination" (Vol. 22, Page 476)
HASTINGS ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION: "Christian baptism was
administered by using the words 'in the Name of Jesus.' The use of a
Trinity formula of any sort was not suggested in the early Church
history. Baptism was always in the Name of the Lord Jesus until the time
of Justin Martyr when the Triune formula was used" (Vol. 2, Pages
377-378, 389)
"NAME was an ancient synonym for "Person." Payment was always made in
the name of some person referring to ownership. Therefore one being
baptized in Jesus' Name became His personal property. "Ye are
Christ's." (Acts 1:15; Revelation 3:4; I Corinthians 3:23).
LIFE MAGAZINE: "The Catholics made this statement concerning
their doctrine of the Trinity to defend the dogma of the assumption of
Mary in an article by Graham Green: 'Our opponents sometimes claim that
no belief should be held dogmatically which is not explicitly stated in
the Scripture but the Protestant churches have themselves accepted such
dogma as the Trinity for which there exists no such authority in the
Gospels'" (October 30, 1950, vol. 29, Number 18, Page 51).
CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "The true doctrine of the sacrament of
baptism is not taught by the Roman church. Baptism given by heretics in
the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost with the
intention of performing what the church performs, is not true baptism"
(Vol. 2, Page 259).
NEW CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: "With regard to the form used for
Baptism in the early church, there is the difficulty that although
Matthew (28:19) speaks of the Trinitarian formula, which is now used,
the Acts of the Apostles (2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5) and Paul (I
Corinthians 1:13; 6:11; Galatians 3:27; Romans 6:3) speak only of
Baptism 'in the Name of Jesus.' Baptism in titles cannot be found in the
first centuries..." (McGraw Hill Publishing, Page 59).
WILLIAM PHILLIPS HALL: "In this very ancient version (Syriac
Peschito Version) which is believed by good authorities (Gwilliam,
Boners, and others) to represent a text much older that of the Greek
manuscript from which our English New Testament was largely derived,
'The Name of the Lord Jesus Messiah or Christ' appears in all four
readings given (Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48; 19:5)" (A REMARKABLE
DISCOVERY, Page 70).
INTERNATIONAL ENCYCLOPAEDIA: "The doctrine of the Trinity did not
form part of the Apostles' preachings, as this is reported in the New
Testament" (First Edition, Vol. 18, Page 226).
NEW INTERNATIONAL STANDARD BIBLE ENCYCLOPEDIA: "The term
'Trinity' was originated by ... Tertulian, a Roman Catholic church
father. No record of the Trinitarian formula can be discovered in the
Acts of the Apostles... At the time of the Reformation, the Protestant
Church took over the doctrine of the Trinity without serious
examination" (Vol. 1, Page 396).
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